《The Innkeeper》 Chapter 1 A shooting star and a wish In a small room, in the center of a star, in sr system of little renown, a slightly chubby man was lying in bed with his feet up in the air. As he stared at his toes unknowingly his mind wandered through his memories of any time he even remotely did something interesting. He had changed his position multiple times, and although with his cultivation it was impossible for him to get cramps, he did his best to find the most ufortable position possible so that in the unlikely chance he finally did get a cramp, at least something rtively interesting would have happened to him. This young, unkempt man was barely 12 Elisian cycles old and was already one of the most promising treasure manufacturers on the Elisianwork. As such, he was entrusted with the task of manufacturing an incredibly strong and extremely rare treasure. To speed up the treasure manufacturing process his client even provided him with ess to Protos energy from a newly formed universe, and even paid a premium to ensure no one else could enter this new universe for almost half an Elisian cycle. That is how this young, bored out of his mind cramp-less man found himself all alone working the longest single stretch yet in his life. To put it in perspective, he has been working nonstop for 14 billion Earth years.. About one and a half billion years ago he finished setting up the foundation of the treasure, which meant that his remaining work although important did not require as much attention from him. As long as he was within a certain range he could continue manufacturing using only his spiritual senses. This left him rtively free to do as he wished, but being alone he got bored quickly. He had devised many ways to entertain himself. Histest and greatest idea was to manufacture multiple treasures with abundant spiritual energy until they formed their own souls. Then he set many restrictions on these spiritual treasures and made sure he could always monitor them, as well as provided them with ingrained tasks. He called them Systems. Finally, he released the Systems out into the vast universe. Now, all he needed to do was wait for some of the inhabitants of this universe to find them and his entertainment could begin. The man repositioned himself with his back against the wall, using only the side of his head and shoulder as support. All he needed to do now was wait. ***** On Earth, in New York City, at midnight in Chelsea Waterside Park a young man was sitting and staring out at the night sky in mncholy. He was exhausted, not physically, but mentally. From an outsiders point of view his life was going pretty great; he graduated from college early with honors and had gotten a job right out of the bat. In his spare time he made small video games and he only treated that as a hobby until some random online streamer uploaded a viral video raging at how horrible the mechanics of his game were. That caused more people to do the same. In the short span of four days wherein he was not even paying attention to his game, its sales had skyrocketed and out of nowhere he¡¯d suddenly made a pretty penny. Then, a gamingpany offered to buy it, and he ended up selling it for a little over $7 million. Yes, from an outsiders view his life was going great. To be honest even he himself had to admit that there was nothing he couldin about, but regardless he was bored with life. Socializing with friends bored him. His career bored him. He took up a few hobbies to try and find something interesting to do, but nothing worked. He reminisced about his days as a kid when everything was filled with wonder and everything excited him. ying was exciting, getting new clothes was exciting, meeting friends was exciting, even something as mundane as not losing a pencil till it waspletely used up was exciting. Lex let out a deep sigh before getting up. It was gettingte and there was no point staying out. He looked at the night sky onest time before returning, and saw a shooting star. ¡°Wish something fun woulde my way,¡± he mumbled and left. He had made the wish ironically since he did not believe in shooting stars granting wishes. But whether it was coincidence or fate, the shooting star turned its direction and flew towards Lex faster than made sense. The shooting star did not seem to suffer from any atmospheric drag and made no sound as it approached Lex, so he was caughtpletely unaware when something hit him in the back of his head and knocked him out. When he awoke, groggy and confused, he heard a sound in his head. ¡°Assimtionplete. Launching System. Wee to Midnight Inn. Host Designation: The Innkeeper.¡± This chapter is a preview, if you want to see a faster and more up-to-date chapter, please visit . for more content. Chapter 2 YouTube history The voice was loud and extremely clear. It jolted Lex awake from his somnolent state and found that he had been lying on the sidewalk all night. Rubbing his aching head he looked around but could not find who had been speaking to him. He quickly dismissed the voice from his mind and ventured towards home in slight rm. He couldn¡¯t quite remember what he was doingst but he was sure that he had no intentions of taking a nap on the sidewalk, and he couldn¡¯t help but think of all the diseases or ailments that would cause him to pass out. Did he have some kind of seizure? That was not the kind of excitement he was looking for in life. When he reached back his apartment he quickly went to the bathroom and undressed to observe his condition. A few slight bruises on his body suggested that he had fallen quite abruptly and quite hard on the floor when he passed out. ¡°I apologize for that,¡± Lex heard a voice in his head, and before him appeared a tiny floating woman who looked incredibly like the heroine from the Spiderman movie. ¡°There really is no safe way for assimtion designed in your body. A major design w in my opinion.¡± ¡°What!?¡± Lex yelled in rm and fell backwards. He stared at the tiny floating woman in shock. He was not scared but the appearance of a tiny floating woman had given him quite the jump scare. ¡°Oh dear, the host limation manual had something about reactions like this¡­let me see¡­ah yes, a self introduction is necessary. Allow me to introduce myself, I am the augmented reality avatar provided by the Midnight Inn for your limation. During the assimtion process between the Midnight Inn System and yourself, an analysis of your memories provided the temte to define the best interaction method, with the greatest ease of use, between yourself and the Midnight Inn.. The scan showed a recent increase in your fondness of novels with a System therefor that is temte that was chosen for assimtion. The scan also showed that you have the greatest affinity for this female character, and thus the avatar was created with her as a model. This is an irreversible process. In summary, you now have a System and I am its avatar. You may ask any rted questions to me.¡± Lex, who was on the bathroom floor shirtless, stared up at the tiny floating woman with his jaw dropped. It took him a few moments to process everything she had and mumbled to himself, ¡°am I going crazy?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± the floating woman replied, ¡°I meant you can ask me questions rted to the Midnight Inn. I do not have a grasp of your mental faculties. Would you like me to pull up your status for you to review?¡± Lex stared at the floating woman with the feeling that he had been made fun of. He picked himself and dusted himself off, his face expressionless. He walked to the kitchen wherein he pulled out a box of apple juice and poured himself some. He sat downfortably on a sofa and stared at the floating woman for sometime, slowly sipping his juice in the meantime. His thoughts were hidden, or so he imagined as his expressions changed from time to time while lost in thought. Sometimes he stared at the floating woman with a serious frown, sometimes with a quirky smile and sometimes he dazed off lot in his thoughts. ¡°What does the system do?¡± he finally asked, pulling himself together. ¡°The Midnight Inn is a universal establishment that provides amodation, sustenance, entertainment, safety and other facilities to those who wish to avail them. The universe is a dangerous ce, but also a prosperous one and the clients for Midnight Inn are various, from weary travelers to adventurers, from those who are lost to those who who seek change. The Midnight Inn is the most renown universal hoteling establishment in the entire universe. ¡°Please note, currently Midnight Inn is the only universal hoteling establishment in this universe.¡± Lex felt like facepalming when he heard thatst statement. ¡°So basically you want me to manage a hotel for the travelers of the universe? I guess that goes without saying, but does that mean there are aliens?¡± he asked. ¡°That is correct,¡± the floating woman replied with excitement. ¡°But there is much more to it than that. Midnight Inn will have many more features and amenities as your authority goes up. Currently the Midnight Inn has no physical existence and it will be up to you to develop it. You will be guided through quests on how to level up.¡± Lex sipped his apple juice as he processed everything he was just told. There was a small part of his that thought he was suffering from Dementia or Alzheimer¡¯s or something. He¡¯d never studied medicine so he wasn¡¯t clear on what those diseases were or how they presented, but the gist of it was he thought he might have gone crazy. But for the most part he believed what the floating woman told him, and even if he was going crazy there wasn¡¯t much he could do about it now. Best to enjoy what he could before someone locked him up in an insane asylum. ¡°So what do I call you? Or do you also go by Midnight Inn?¡± ¡°You may call me Mary Jane, or Mary for short, taken from your memories as a part of your first childhood crush. Only your establishment and the system are named as Midnight Inn, named after the time when you first encountered the system.¡± Lex blushed slightly in embarrassment; wasn¡¯t this taking naming too arbitrarily? But with the naming convention of system novels which followed trends such as Little ck and Little white he wasn¡¯t too surprised. ¡°Alright Mary,¡± he said the name hesitantly, ¡°where did the Systeme from? Why did it choose me?¡± ¡°As of right now your authority is insufficient to know the origin for the System. As for why you were chosen¡­ a thorough analysis of various factors such as IQ, Luck, Competency etc. throughout your world caused the system to¡­ momentarilyg during which¡­the system crashed into you and initiated assimtion.¡± Mary blushed as she told the details and looked up at the ceiling as if the worlds most beautiful painting were upon it. Lex facepalmed. It was better not to dwell on these philosophical questions such as why. What¡¯s important is that the System is here now. ¡°Can anyone else see you?¡± he asked. ¡°No, as of yet you have not unlocked projection capability. However it is a possibility. Furthermore no one can hear me either and you canmunicate with me through your thoughts, and can give meplex orders to carry out while you may be focused on other real-time tasks. I can only help with tasks rted to the Midnight Inn.¡± After a moment of thinking whether Lex had any other questions he might want to ask he said, ¡°Alright, time to get to business then. Show me my Status Panel.¡± ¡°With pleasure,¡± replied Mary and waved her and a panel appeared hovering in front of him. Name: Lex Williams Age: 23 Sex: Male Cultivation Level: Mortal Health: Suboptimal (developing brain tumor, damaged muscles, damaged joints, weakened digestive system, weakened lungs, weakened heart, mild nicotine addiction¡­*select to disy full list*) Midnight Points: 0 Midnight Inn Level: 0 Inventory: Starter Pack Quest: Open starter pack! Remark: Your YouTube history is more embarrassing than your inte search history! Chapter 3 Will there be pancakes? ¡°Brain tumor!¡± Lex eximed in shock. ¡°Yes,¡± Mary responded, ¡°ording to a full body scan you have a developing brain tumor which has been interfering with your normal brain chemistry. ording to my deduction this is what has been primarily responsible for your demotivated state for thest 8 months. Other than this your body is suffering from various minor ailments as a result of poor diet,ck of exercise and other environmental factors. However, this is not a reason for concern. Although the technology on your is not able to provide you treatment without inconvenience, in the universe this is but a mild issue. In fact, in some developed gctic civilizations this is not even considered a medical issue as normal foods and drinks in those civilizations can resolve this issue. Actually, simply elevating your cultivation level can also cure you of it.¡± Lex was relieved to hear Mary, but suddenly he was incredibly motivated to start the Midnight Inn. Although Mary said it was not a reason for rm, he was incredibly rmed! ¡°Open the starter pack!¡± Starter pack opening¡­ Starter pack opened, you have received: * Initial building permit ( 5000 square feet, 2 story) * Midnight Inn design Interface * Host attire * 2 AI 1 month lease certificate. * Fancy Monocle * Universal Language Converter * Bathroom slippers * Self Defense Butter Knife * 3 Golden Tickets * 500 Midnight points Lex got ten items from the pack, and though he was still mostly filled with anxiety a tinge of excitement crept in. He selected the items to look at their details. Initial Building Permit: A permit that allows host to design Midnight Inn building andyout without spending any Midnight Points. D¨¦cor and design options are limited and the final blueprint must contain 1 boundary wall,1 lobby, 1 eatery, 1 lounge, 3 guest rooms and an outdoor seating area. The building can have 1 additional level after ground level. Midnight Inn Design Interface: Once the Inn has been established all expansion, renovation and redecoration must be done manually by host. The interface will allow host to carry out those functions at the cost of Midnight Points. Host Attire: The Midnight Inn has many functions and features which can be seamlessly used by host when wearing Host Attire within the premises of the Inn. Using these functions otherwise would have to be carried out manually step by step through the System by host. Please note, the Host Attire also carries a design feature so its appearance can be altered ording to the theme of the Inn, and also has an invulnerable feature, meaning it cannot take damage. Please note, the attire does not serve as a defense item for the host. Please note, to protect the hosts identity the attire contains the rk Kent effect, meaning guests who have seen the host in the attire will not recognize him if they meet him outside the Inn. The attire cannot leave Inn property. 2 AI 1 month lease certificate: Running an establishment requires arge staff with various skills. This certificate will allow the user to rent 2 highly skilled andpetent AI that will follow the hosts demands. The host will have to make other arrangement for when the certificate expires. Fancy Monocle: The prestige of the Inn is carried by the Host. The Host will be expected to encounter various types of clients and situations and may need help identifying different items or materials. Note, the monocle¡¯s database is empty and must be filled by the host. The database can be filled by manually entering data, reading new data while having the monocle equipped or connecting it to another database. The monocle can retrieve data from any format. Universal Language Converter: A small device that analyzesnguage based on various factors. It can be attached onto the host as a tattoo behind an ear and can trante to and for host in real time. The host will hear everything in English and others will hear the host in their nativenguage. Bathroom Slippers: Entering different areas requires different kinds of preparation. Equip the bathroom slippers while leaving the Inn in foreign environments to protect yourself from hazardous environments. Note, the slipper only provides protection from environment and does not act as a defensive item. Self Defense Butter knife: The universe is a dangerous ce and not all guestse with honest intentions. The self defense butter knife can be used to instantly kill all beings Foundation realm and below. The butter knife carries a secondary function of intimidation, which is to let others think the host is so strong he can kill with a simple butter knife. The butter knife carries a tertiary function which is that beings on over Nacsent realm will appreciate the hosts choice it cutlery and will think of it as an actual butter knife. The butter knife cannot leave the Inn. The butter knife can be upgraded. Please increase authority for instructions on how to upgrade the butter knife. 3 Golden Tickets: The Physical Location of the Inn is a secret but its doors can be opened from anywhere. With a Golden Ticket the host can choose a world where entrances to the Inn can spawn randomly. 500 Midnight Points: The Host opened a starter pack not a nanny pack. Please use the points in the Midnight store to solve all misceneous issues. Quest update: Quest Complete! The Host is rewarded with: nothing! Remarks: You don¡¯t get rewards for doing something as basic as breathing. New Quest: Develop the Midnight Inn. Lex raised an eyebrow at the sassy attitude of the system but ignored it. Reading the details for each item his attention was brought to something he had just overlooked. ¡°What are the cultivation levels?¡± he asked, although he had some basic idea. ¡°In the vast universe exist many kinds of lifeforms, each with different capabilities and power structures. Some are naturally strong enough to travese the universe, while others are so weak they die after being exposed to a gust of wind. The process of enhancing oneself so that they be stronger and are able to interact with a higher level of existance is known as cultivation. ¡°The first few cultivation levels are Mortal, Body Tempering, Qi Training and Foundation Realm. To learn more about cultivation levels, increase your authority.¡± ¡°How can I increase my cultivation level?¡± Lex asked. ¡°I am unable to answer this question. I only have specific knowledge of things rted to Midnight Inn. Understanding cultivation levels is relevant to customers which is why I have some basic knowledge, however I have no information regarding how to alter someone¡¯s power level. I can only suggest the hostplete quests and collect Midnight Points. Midnight Points can be used to redeem various items and prizes.¡± Pretty standard, Lex thought to himself. After mentally reviewing all the items he received as well as their uses one more time, he prepared himself to begin. He had to admit, despite his anxiety over his brain tumor, he felt a tinge of excitement that he hadn¡¯t felt in a long time. ¡°How do I withdraw an item?¡± he asked. ¡°They can be withdrawn simply by thinking about it. All items given to you by the Inn are stored at the Inn, and can be stored or withdrawn at will.¡± With a thought he withdrew his monocle and appreciated it closely. At a nce there was nothing magical about it, a thin gold rim with a small loop on the side through which a petite gold chain was passed. After looking at it for a while he put it on over his left eye. ¡®Database empty¡¯ appeared in his vision floating in the air, yet somehow the words did not obstruct his vision or distract him in the least. It was as if instead of having to read the words, the information was passed directly to his brain. Lex gave a slight nod before taking off the monocle and walking towards his PC. The monocle, as if already understanding his intentions swung out of his hands andnded neatly on top of it. The end of the chain transformed into a USB port which fit itself into theputer. A pop up appeared on his screen which said ¡®Updating database¡¯. It was all quite convenient, Lex only worried about what his inte bill might be after it was done updating. In theory he had unlimited data, and that theory was probably going to be put to the test. With another thought an A4 sized paper appeared in his hand which boldly had the word ¡®PERMIT¡¯ imprinted on it. After a moment, the piece of paper started to glow brightly and when he finally recovered his sight he found himself floating in the air. Around him was an endless sea of clouds and directly beneath him a plot ofnd that would belong to his Inn. With another thought the Midnight Inn design Interface appeared around him. As if in a video game a panel appeared on the left side of his field of view with icons such as Construction, Landscaping, Fauna, Flora, Furniture, D¨¦cor, Weather and many more he could not see in detail because they were greyed out. The excitement in his heart that had been a small tinge now expanded and overwhelmed him. Now, how should he style his Inn. What kinds of incredible scenes will he bring out for his guests from across the universe in his establishment, and most importantly, will there be pancakes? Chapter 4 British Lords or Arab Sheikhs? Lex¡¯s thoughts ran wild for a few minutes before he finally forced himself to calm down. Video games that let him run his imagination wild were always his favorite, which is why he had lost countless hours in games such as Minecraft. But too much freedom, too many options, had its own problem which often led him to start various projects at once without finishing any. But he had learnt from his mistakes and knew it was better to move systematically rather than haphazardly. His first decision, before he put down a single block of stone, was how he would style his Inn. Obviously presentation was a big part of his Inn and he needed a clear direction to work in. So what shall it be? Should he style his Inn like a Lords Manor, with towers on his boundary walls, turrets and dormer windows withrge stained sswork visible on the building and regal sculptures dotting the gardens? Or should he go in a different direction and style it like the Pce of an Arab Sheikh, filled with towers with pointed domes and onion arches all around, gold iid geometric designs and calligraphy? Truth be told, despite his grand thoughts he knew next to nothing about architecture or design and anything spectacr he had ever made in video games was achieved through picking designs he liked from online and mixing and matching until he was satisfied. That was also his n for this, but what should his theme be? After thinking for a while, he settled on the making something like what he imagined a Lords Manor would look like, not that he knew specifically what that should look like. He¡¯d seen a couple of pictures of Birmingham pce online, maybe that¡¯s what he should aim towards. His decision was based on the fact that winter was on the horizon and when he imaginedfort in cold weather that¡¯s what he thought of. With his decision made he got to work. At first he thought he would have to drag and drop items form the panels like he did in games, but discovered that designing using the Interface was much more intuitive than that. With just his thoughts of how he wanted everything to look like the Inn started to take shape, and when his thoughts went outside the boundaries of what was allowed, or what would cost Midnight Points he would instantly be made aware and he altered his thoughts. The boundary wall was made of cobblestone though each piece was uniform in size and height. The wall was 12 feet high and 8 feet across, with a walkway on top where supposedly guards would patrol (or guests woulde to admire the view). Arge arch shaped wooden gate was framed in the center of the front facing wall, with a cobbled road cutting through a garden towards a small manor. Despite Lex¡¯s wishes there were no statues in the gardens as those cost Midnight Points, which he wanted to avoid using for the time being.. The road, which was otherwise straight, ended at a roundabout right at the staircase which was the entrance to the manor. The entrance led into a great hall which also served as the lobby. A long wooden bar was ced at the opposite end where the host would primarily greet a guest. Right beside the bar was a staircase which led from the ground floor to the first floor where three guest rooms were found, each furnished with a king-sized bed, a small walk in closet, two side tables, a dresser and some chairs as well as an individual restroom. To the right of the lobby was a room that would serve as the lounge, where guests could rx or mingle, furnished withfortable wooden furniture most of it facing the firece where a fire was perpetually lit, though through some magic it would give off no ash or strong heat, instead it gave off only warmth. On the left of the lobby was the eatery, still maintaining the elegant wooden furnishings but ced in a more casual setting. Beside the staircase was a door which exited towards the back of the manner where the garden wasndscaped with a few gentle hills, in contrast to the straight gardens in front, and was dotted withwn chairs and a couple orrge garden swings. Lex had wanted to add some flora and fauna, such as a few birds, squirrels and trees, but each cost Midnight Points, and though they seemed cheap right now he didn¡¯t know what else he would need those points for nor how easy or difficult they were to earn so he controlled himself. Everything the Inn had, in terms of structure and furniture, came free with the Building Permit. ¡°What do you think Mary?¡± he asked as he looked down at the Inn. He felt a bit of pride when he thought about how all this was his now. ¡°The Inn meets the basic requirements to function. It canfortably meet the basic needs of guests up to Qi Training and is eptable for guests at the Foundation Realm.¡± ¡°What if there¡¯s a guest above Foundation Realm?¡± ¡°The host does not have the necessary authority to ask questions pertaining to anything at or above Foundation Realm,¡± she answered cheerily. Lex nodded, he expected as much. Next he pulled out his 2 AI lease certificate and crushed it. The certificate started to glow and split in 2, slowly turning into 2 figures, an old but lean man and a young woman who looked slightly older than Lex. The old man had grey hair and a thick, grey moustache and was dressed in a suit. The woman had her hair tied in a bun and was simrly suited up. ¡°Greetings Innkeeper, we are your AI assistants. Please advise us,¡± they spoke in unison. ¡°What are your names and what can you help me with?¡± he asked. ¡°We can manage all tasks you assign us, from cooking, cleaning, entertainment, management, gardening or anything else you can think of. Please note, if you require us to fight you should know that ourbat level is below that of the average human child. Should you require us to assail a chicken, we will do so without hesitation and if luck is in our favor maye back alive, for anything else we cannot say. Currently we do not have any names, please guide us,¡± they replied in unison again. Lex¡¯s lips twitched. The Midnight Inn was really keen on not providing him with any help in keeping himself safe, wasn¡¯t it? What was he supposed to do if he encountered a violent guest with a high cultivation level? Well, at least he had the Butter Knife. ¡°Very well, you will be Gerard and you Velma,¡± he spoke to the old man and young woman respectively. ¡°Velma you should stay in the lobby and receive guests, Gerard you take care of any requests the guests have. I can¡¯t really think of much else so I¡¯ll give you more jobs as theye along.¡± Both the AI¡¯s nodded. ¡°Is there anything else I need to do Mary, or should I just use the golden tickets now?¡± ¡°You can use the golden tickets. The first ticket selection is fixed to hosts home world, however for the others you can select a world based on your authority. When choosing a world, the host should keeps in mind his current capability when receiving guests. Please note, the host can only use one golden ticket a week.¡± Lex nodded again, an instinct by now, and summoned a golden ticket. It was small, the size of his palm, and had Midnight Inn printed in bold ck letters. It was a shame that he¡¯d have to wait a week before he could start visiting other worlds as the first one would link the Inn to Earth, but Lex could bare with it. Filled with both traces of excitement and anxiety he tore his first golden ticket in two. The pieces started to shine and disappear like sand slipping through his fingers. Quest update: Quest Complete! The Host is rewarded with: Midnight Inn Level +1! Remarks: Your journey has just begun, don¡¯t ck off. New Quest: Receive your first guest! Lex raised an eye brow at the notification and then asked Mary, ¡°What does the increase in Midnight Inn Level mean?¡± ¡°It represents the authority level you have. The higher the Level of the Inn, the more ess you have to the various things the System can do for you.¡± Lex nodded, it was as he assumed, and took a look at his updated status. Name: Lex Williams Age: 23 Sex: Male Cultivation Level: Mortal Health: Suboptimal (developing brain tumor, damaged muscles, damaged joints, weakened digestive system, weakened lungs, weakened heart, mild nicotine addiction¡­*select to disy full list*) Midnight Points: 500 Midnight Inn Level: 1 Inventory: Bathroom Slippers, Self Defense Butter Knife, 2 Golden Tickets, Host Attire Quest: Receive your first guest! Remark: Your back has more hair than your chest! Please indulge in some selfcare and don¡¯t humiliate the Midnight Inn! It was done, all he had to do now was wait. In the meantime maybe he should look at all the things he could do with Midnight Points. And try not to focus on the remark! Chapter 5 Bastet Somewhere on Earth, in a small vige surrounded by mostly barrennd, a ck cat was sittingfortable on the roof of a shed. The cold night air did not seem to bother it as it looked at the vigers, as if surveying its realm and its people. The vigers were gathered around a bonfire and were mingling with one another in a warm and joyous atmosphere. Life was tough but it was pleasant. The cat yawned as if rxing after a hard days work and was ready to proceed with its nap when it suddenly noticed a golden glow beside it. When it turned to look, it saw a floating golden door in the air beside it, and from it the cat felt a warm, inviting aura. Curiosity filled the cats eyes and it slowly got up. ***** Lex was sittingfortably in awn chair in the back garden, sipping on a cold lemonade as he looked through the Midnight Store. He had changed from his normal clothes into his Host Attire which, for now, looked like a 3 piece suit. It was surprisinglyfortable and remarkably ttering on his figure, not to mention filled him with incredible power. Actually, Lex didn¡¯t know how incredible the power was but using the suit he could teleport anywhere in the Inn with a thought and that was exhrating! Other than that, the suit also brought him an incredible amount of awareness and Lex was instantly filled with all the knowledge regarding the Inn and everything in it. The first thing he learnt was that the Inn required a monthly expense of 25 Midnight points, and was a fixed expense that could not be evaded. It included a variety of misceneous items required for the Inns use that Lex hadpletely overlooked such as cutlery, linens for rooms, towels, soaps and shampoos, scents, room service items, general maintenance as well as groceries and various other things that gave Lex a headache. It was extremely fortunate that the Inn covered for these things automatically or Lex would have never even thought of them until it was toote, and he didn¡¯t want to imagine the consequences. He had Velma bring him a lemonade and a snack as he wanted to test her cooking abilities and was extremely satisfied with the results. It was a moment of immense pleasure for him until he received the notification that 1 Midnight Point had been deducted as payment for the food. He was bbergasted, but fortunately Mary informed him that this payment would cover his food for the rest of the month, as long as he only ate normal food aspared to spirit food. He was also informed the concept and division of spirit food was taken from his understanding of novels, meaning it was food that could aid someone with their cultivation. Since then he has been browsing the Midnight market to see exactly what it could offer. Many tabs were greyed out but the upgrades to the Inn section was avable and had options such as a Gift Shop which cost 325 Midnight Points, a Recovery Room for 500 points, a Greenhouse for 425 points and a Meditation room for a whopping 1200 points! Mary informed him that once he purchased one of these upgrades he would be able to buy more things to fill them up with, which could then be sold to guests. That led to another question that Lex had never considered, how would he collect payments from his guests? Another major thing he overlooked!. This was a bit moreplicated. The universe didn¡¯t have a unified currency which could be used so the Inn would analyze each guest and judged what form of currency they could pay, such as the mythical spirit stones, but as far as Lex was concerned the amount would always be in Midnight Points. For example if a guest wanted to stay in one of his rooms for one night, Lex would ask him for 50 Midnight Points but he would hear Lex asking him for whatever currency was relevant to him, be it dors or spirit stones or something else. Furthermore the payment for a guests duration of stay had to be made in advance, while payments made for things the guest purchased such as items or services had to be made at the time of the transaction. Lex nodded to himself and was just about to start looking at what else he could get from the Midnight market when he suddenly received a notification from the system: a guest has entered the Inn! Please receive the guest. Lex jumped up from thewn chair in rm and quickly summed both Velma and Gerard. Making sure they all looked presentable at a nce he quickly teleported them all to the gate. With a weing smile on his face Lex was ready to greet his first guest but was frozen instantly by what he saw. A white bull was slowly making its way down the main road, with a litter strapped onto its back. A ck cat was sitting in the litter, its pose filled with majesty as it surveyed thend around it. When the bull reached Lex finally the cat looked at Lex up and down, as if inspecting goods, and finally spoke, ¡°What is this ce, that has now availed the honor of my presence?¡± The cats voice was feminine and sweet to listen to, but filled with power and a demand for respect. Lex snapped out of his stupor and looked at the cat. Beside its head he could see a few floating words. Name: Bastest Power Level: ??? (Too high for host to see) Species: ??? Midnight Inn Prestige Level: Not yet avable The bull had its¡¯ information disyed as well. Name: Fk Power Level: ??? (Too high for host to see) Species: ??? Midnight Inn Prestige Level: Not yet avable What in the world was this? Was this a creature from Earth? A talking cat with a cultivation too high for him to see? On top of that even the bull that the cat was riding was too powerful for him to detect. He did not have a clear idea of what cultivation level would be too high for him to view, but he was sure it was akin to a monster way beyond the Foundation level that his authority extended to. Whatever, a guest was a guest, he should not discriminate as his future guests would be aliens. ¡°Wee guest to the Midnight Inn,¡± Lex said in a calm, confident voice. ¡°The Midnight Inn is a refuge for the weary traveler of the universe, a ce where you may rest and enjoy before continuing on your journey. You may call me the Innkeeper.¡± The cat Bastest stared at Lex for a moment, as if contemting what it had heard, before it continued asking, ¡°Your Inn brought me from Earth to a new space, Innkeeper, can it also send me to a different space that I wish to visit?¡± Lex froze again, unsure of how to answer, but the Host Attire that waspletely in tune with the Inn provided him with the answer. ¡°Unfortunately, we do not provide such transportation services at the moment. Guests must return to the area they came from. This is to avoid letting powerful guests interfere with other worlds, I¡¯m sure a guest as noble as yourself can understand.¡± Lex¡¯s voice was still quite professional, but inwardly he was wondering how a guest could interfere with an entire world. ¡°Pity, I forgot a ne at Hozathst time I was there, I was hoping to go an retrieve it. Regardless, show me what amenities you offer. I am quite interested in this ce, father has grounded me on Earth for far too long.¡± ¡°Please, follow me,¡± said Lex as he led the way to the Inn. Internally his emotions were quite a mix of anxiety and excitement, and under normal circumstances he would not have been able to maintain suchposure but it seemed assisting him in that regard was a hidden feature of the suit. ***** Bastet was quite intrigued by this new area that it had encountered. When she had seen the floating golden door it was just curiosity but as soon as she neared it she was filled with pure spirit energy! She was so excited that she couldn¡¯t control her excitement momentarily and caused a massive earthquake. Fortunately she recovered quickly and saved her worshippers. Nheless she decided immediately that she had to follow the door, she had spent too long on the spirit barren Earth and this was her chance to escape! One must understand, it¡¯s not that Earth itself did not have spirit energy at all, but that the quality and concentration was too low, andcked certain qualities that would leave it inconsequential to those of her cultivation. The spirit energying from the door was not too high in concentration, but it¡¯s quality was much better than Earth, and more importantly did notck those certain qualities that she needed! She hastily summoned her butler Fk, who had assumed the appearance of a bull, gathered all her belongings and followed through the door. The door led to what appeared to be a mansion with vast open gardens and a clear blue sky. At first nce it looked a bit empty and quiet, no trees or flowers, no birds or insects, and no people or other lifeforms visible but none of that mattered to Bastet because the air was dense with spirit energy! Though it was a far cry from the density in her fathers pce, it was like heaven aftering from Earth. She had already started recovering some of her strength, and if she could stay here for a few decades she could fully recover! At that time she would be able to leave Earth on her own! As she reveled in her thoughts and Fk slowly made his way down the road, three humans appeared in her path, surprising her. She did not feel any movement in the spirit energy around her which meant they appeared using some other means, which intimidated her a bit. She looked over the three humans and discovered two of them to bepletely normal while the third, who was a young man, gave off an aura of unquestionable authority, yet at the same time a weing friendliness. After a short exchange the young man exined that this was an Inn, much to Bastets¡¯ delight. She decided immediately that she must stay as long as possible! Chapter 6 The first guest Lex led the cat Bastet to the lobby and gave her a tour of his humble establishment. Initially he had been very pleased with the manor, but while showing her the eatery, the lounge and the back garden he was all too aware that Mary had said the Inn was at most eptable for those at the Foundation Realm, and Bastet was clearly above that. He did not know exactly what requirements beings at higher power levels had and how he was expected to meet them, thus he did his best to make his ce seem as amodating as possible. He did not want to lose his first guest. To his relief, Bastet did not voice anyints as he showed her around, though she didn¡¯t pay anypliments either. She viewed everything in silence and how she felt about the ce was known only to herself. When the small tour ended Bastet asked softly, ¡°What are the arrangements required to stay at your establishment?¡± Hearing those words immediately put a smile on Lex¡¯s face. He quickly looked over the information provided by the suit and informed Bastet, ¡°You can rent a room for 50 Midnight Points a day, and can share the room with one guest if you wish. At the time of check-in you have to pay in advance for the number of days you are nning on staying. Breakfast is provided with the room everyday between 6 am to 11 am.¡± Bastet paused for a moment before saying, ¡°I¡¯ll take two rooms for a month. This should cover the expense.¡± The cat turned its paw and a small, red ruby appeared in the air before her. Using his control over the Inn Lex epted the ruby and it vanished into this air. As soon as the ruby vanished Lex received a notification from the system but he temporarily ignored and turned to Gerard who had been quietly following them. ¡°Gerard, please show these guests to their rooms and help them with anything they need.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Gerard replied in a smooth, suave voice, and led the bull and cat up the stairs. It was somewhat of a peculiar sight, watching a bull with a cat atop its back effortlessly climbing up a staircase, yet Lex was hardly bothered by it now.. It seemed as if he was watching them leave but his attention was now diverted to the Systems notifications: System notification: 3000 Midnight Points epted! 2 rooms booked for 30 days! 2 guests of Demi-Daolord realm epted! Quest update: Quest Complete! The Host¡¯s rewarded is being calcted: ¨C Reward upgraded forpleting quests in less than 12 hours ¨C Reward upgraded for hosting multiple guests at the same time ¨C Reward upgraded for hosting guests many cultivation levels above host ¨C Reward upgraded for hosting the strongest being on: Earth Reward Rank: SSS+ Reward: 1 Unique Opportunity token! Midnight Inn Level +1! Remarks: Truly the luck of a protagonist! Maybe you should try the lottery! New Quest: As the most renown Inn in the universe, the Midnight Inn does not only host the rich and the powerful! Setup and develop the Pro Bono wing of the Inn and ept your first Pro Bono guest! Lex couldn¡¯t stop himself from grinning. The cat and bull really brought him a lot of gifts, and also inadvertently gave him a lot of information. Firstly, their realms were Demi-Daolords, which just by the name sounded extremely intimidating. From what Bastet had said he also learned that it had traveled to other worlds before, which meant inteary travel was possible for powerful beings although he had no idea yet how that was possible. Furthermore he learnt that both Bastet and Fk were the most powerful beings on Earth, and if he could befriend them there was much he could gain! He seriouslycked information about the cultivation world and cultivation, and this was one potential path for him to learn more, if nothing else. Another important thing he learnt was that rewards could be upgraded based on performance. Things like getting the most powerful being on the as a guest was something out of his control, for now at least, but finishing quests as quickly as possible was still something he could focus on. Thest, and potentially most important two things he learnt were about how he can get benefits from the Inn. So far anything given to him by the Inn made sure not to give him too many advantages, whether in terms of defense or cultivation. He also quickly learnt about the Unique Opportunity Token! The Inn rarely gave him any direct benefits but it provided him with the opportunity to interact with various kinds of people, and exposed him to unique treasures and opportunities. It was up to him to figure out how he can take advantage of them. As for the token, as soon as it entered his inventory the Host Attire suit informed him of its benefits, as well as the fact that he should use it as soon as possible. In this universe there were a few opportunities that could exist only once, through out the lifetime of the universe. Each one of these opportunities would taken billions of years to form, or woulde to exist through a series of coincidences, and could continue to exist for billions of years as well until someone harvested them. However, once they are harvested, they can never exist again. The token that Lex had obtained would automatically present him with one such opportunity. Theoretically, since they were so rare the chances of someone getting even one within his entire lifetime would be infinitesimal, yet there was no need to take a chance. He summed the token which looked like a small, gold coin with the letters MI (Midnight Inn) engraved in it. Lex looked at it for only a moment before crushing it. A hologram appeared in front of him with five items listed and their descriptions along with them. Mo¡¯s Blessing A cultivation technique carried by a specific being in the universe as a part of his collection. Mo¡¯s Blessing boasts the strongest attack power of any cultivation art and can let whoever cultivates it challenge those even above their cultivation level in a head on collision. It has stringent cultivation requirements but at it¡¯s highest level the cultivator can cut through the universe itself. Regal Embrace A cultivation technique carried by a specific being in the universe as a part of his collection. Regal Embrace let¡¯s the cultivator build an imprable defense which can take head on attacks even from those at a higher cultivation level. After certain aplishments in this cultivation technique, the cultivator can stand there and embrace his enemies attacks. At it¡¯s highest level it can allow its cultivator to survive even the destruction of a universe. Essence Wormhole A unique existence that can be absorbed by a living being. Once absorbed it will absorb the consciousness of the beings past, present and future so that the being is aware of the existence of its entire lifetime and all the events that take ce during it. However, a being that absorbs the Essence Wormhole will have all the events in its life be a fixed constant that cannot be changed. Bangle of Narn A single gxy condensed into a bangle that can be worn without any harmful consequences. Everything that exists within that gxy can be used and controlled by the wearer. The aura of the Bangle cannot be suppressed and can be easily identified by all Dao Lord realm cultivators within 99 million lightyears. Breath of Elizabeth An item in Elizabeth¡¯s possession. It¡¯s use and function cannot be identified by the system. It is suspected that anyone who takes the Breath of Elizabeth will attract Elizabeth¡¯s ire. Lex¡¯s body trembled as he read the description for these items. He directly disqualified the Essence Wormhole and the Breath of Elizabeth, he had no interest in bing enemies with some mysterious person nor did he want to live a life where he would be like an actor in a movie, ying out a role knowing the beginning and end without being able actually change anything. Surely there was more to the Essence Wormhole, but he did not want to take any chances. The other three items however greatly attracted his attention. When he envisioned Mo¡¯s Blessing he could help but let his mind wander and think of himself like every superhero or movie protagonist he knew, fighting through a hoard of enemies to get what he wanted. He even imagined himself saying the clich¨¦ line of destroying the heaven and earth if they stand in his way. Yet despite that he also couldn¡¯t stop himself from being attracted to Regal Embrace, as though that would not let him fight through a hoard of enemies, it would be what kept him safest. Managing the Midnight Inn sounded like it could attract some real trouble and being indestructible would really help with that. However what attracted him most was the Bangle of Narn. Lex never imagined himself as someone who was greedy, but owning an entire gxy and everything in it carried an irresistible temptation that wholly overwhelmed him. It was a kind of temptation that he had never understood before and honestly, if it weren¡¯t for the fact that the Bangle gave off an aura that could be sensed he would have chosen it without hesitation. He had no idea what a Dao Lord realm was nor how powerful that would make someone, but if that person could detect something 99 million lightyears away they would absolutely not be weak. There was a part of him that told him it¡¯d be safe so long as he took it and kept it in the Inn, since the Inn could only be essed through the doors he created with the golden tickets, but he had no way to be sure. The Host Attire would not tell him if anyone could ess the Inn directly from wherever it was built, nor how safe it was, nor if it could suppress the bangles aura. The temptation was great to the point of almost overwhelming him, but it was just too dangerous. Lex was struggling,pletely unsure of what to pick as his hand hovered over the Bangle. But then something happened and Lex was shocked! Chapter 7 Regal Embrace Mo¡¯s Blessing disappeared from the list! In the few moments during which Lex read the list and was deciding, someone actually took Mo¡¯s Blessing! Was it the being who had it in his collection, or did someone else use it? It didn¡¯t matter, Lex suddenly panicked. With one less option, he knew which one he had to choose and after giving the Bangle onest look filled with temptation and longing, he quickly selected Regal Embrace. Living was the most important, and maybe he could get another chance to get the bangle from the system but for that he¡¯d have to be alive first. Little did he know only a few moments after he selected Regal Embrace, the Bangle of Narn also disappeared from that list! A stream of information entered Lex¡¯s mind and instantly Lex felt the difference. Just the knowledge itself elevated his mind and filled his body with afortable feeling. It didn¡¯t take long, only a few minutes, and when Lex opened his eyes he was filled with vigor. He had gotten a cultivation method and it truly was an amazing one, not that he had any point of reference. Currently he only had the relevant knowledge on how to start, and the rest of the information would reveal itself to him as he slowly elevated his cultivation. But starting cultivation itself was a huge ordeal Lex must ovee. Regal Embrace was different from other cultivation techniques and in the information provided it stated clearly how it was different. A normal cultivation technique for humans would begin by tempering the mortal body with spirit energy, a special kind of energy present throughout the universe, and improve its strength and endurance, and this was called the Body Tempering realm. Once the body was tempered sufficiently it would be ready to ept spirit energy inside of it, and that is when the cultivation could truly be considered to have begun. Once inside the spirit energy would improve body function in everyway and make the cultivator faster and stronger as well as improve the cultivators mental faculties. Each realm would then focus on developing a specific aspect of a cultivator or put them in touch with new, more powerful energies. Regal Embrace, however, was different right from the get go. The Body Tempering realm was very different whilst cultivating Regal Embrace versus something else as it did not have 9 stages, instead the body would need to undergo 4 special procedures that would affect the body, the spirit and the soul. Every living being had a soul, and their life and death and even cultivation depended on it. Each time a cultivator progresses his or her cultivation realm the soul would be upgraded as well, even if not directly. Having said that, just because a being has a soul does not mean they have a body and a spirit either. A soul is simply what gives life, but the spirit is what allows the living being to think and make conscious decisions. A being with a soul but no spirit would only simply exist, and any interaction it has with the surrounding universe would just be a result of the characteristics of its soul and nothing else. A spirit is what would guide the soul to take action. Different beings exhibited that differently, for example, both an animal and a nt have spirits. Animals use them to hunt, eat, rest etc. whereas nts use it to grow towards sunlight, search for water with their roots and so on. There are also beings in the universe with just a soul and spirit, and are incorporeal beings.. Last was the body. The body hosts the soul and allows it to interact with the material world, as well as protect beings with weak souls from randomly disintegrating. For example, a regr human soul can only exist for a few moments outside the protection of a body, and would copse under the pressure of its own existence. Therefor the Regal Embrace had only 4 stages in Body Tempering. The difference does not end there, as for these 4 realms Lex did not actually need to go through any cultivation. The System would perform the 4 procedures for him, at a cost, of course. The first 3 procedures would alter his body, spirit and soul respectively and the fourth would fuse all three together to form a single unified existence. Since the focus of Regal Embrace was building the ultimate defense, it focused on all aspects of the cultivator, and once they all joined together, they would be stronger than any of them individually. Of course, this had both pros and cons. The biggest con was that any injury to his physical body would also injure his spirit and soul, and likewise an injury to the spirit or soul would also affect the other 2. As a result, healing would also take longer and would be harder. The pro, however, is that he would be much harder to injure in the first ce. An attack that could normally kill him would only injure him instead, and Lex would much rather be hurt than dead. Furthermore he would automatically be immune to many hazards or dangers, for example being in the presence of a higher leveled cultivator can sometimes put a lot of pressure on someone¡¯s soul if the difference in realms is too great, whereas for Lex pressure on the soul would not really be an issue. Another thing is that traditionally it is very difficult for a cultivator to improve the spirit or soul, however for Lex they would always grow along with his cultivation. He would have a huge advantage over normal cultivators who normally only focus on one aspect. There were a few other pros and cons, but they were minor and Lex couldn¡¯t be bothered with them right now. His only focus was on starting his cultivation. To start the first procedure, he would have to pay 1500 midnight points, after which the system would begin the first procedure to alter his physical body. What excited him the most was that this would fix tumor problem when he finished all 4 steps! It hadn¡¯t even been a full day, and he¡¯d already found the solution! Without any further hesitation, he paid the 1500 Midnight points and began his first step into the cultivation world! His body disappeared from the Inn and appeared in a white room where hey naked on a table. Before he had time to process what was happening, a syringe injected something in his arm and instantly he felt his mind rx. His thoughts faded, and he felt himself floating as if in a void, unaware of what was happening to his body, which for him was very fortunate. Various tubes had begun attaching themselves all over his body, injecting various serums into his blood. His muscles squirmed and his bones cracked and healed constantly. Filth and damaged tissue pushed themselves out of his pores, and his body was slowly built back up. Instead of bing skinny from all the exertion his body was undergoing, his body began to swell from the newly developing muscle. The process continued for 8 hours,pletely transforming Lex¡¯s body internally with minimal external changes. When the tubes fell off his body, he looked slightly more muscr and his posture and bone structure had improved to the optimal state. While he could not have been called fat or even chubby before, his cheeks had gone in and he had developed a sharp jawline. His skin was a lot clearer, and he had lost the few stretch marks he¡¯d developed growing up. Gradually Lex¡¯s mind cleared and he woke up, still on the table in the white room. All the filth and tubes and been cleared, so he saw none of it, but from the moment he woke up he knew he was different. If just his body¡¯s strength was measured, or rather his defense, it would be around the 3rd stage of Body Tempering, but that¡¯s not what Lex was feeling because he didn¡¯t know what 3rd stage Body Tempering should be like. Instead, he was amazed by how incredible he was feeling! He had aches and pain all over his body, but they were so light he never noticed them unless he focused on them, but now they were gone. Breathing had be so much easier as well as enjoyable than before. It came to the point where he just now realized that although he was not in pain before, his body was struggling just a bit every time he breathed. He had been freed from the burden his body had gradually ced on him without him ever even noticing. Even while justying down, he felt as if he was indulging in the greatest pleasure. Even without doing anything, he felt alive! Slowly, ever so slowly, as if his reality was a dream he might stir awake from if he rushed, Lex got off the table and looked down at himself. Although the changes to his appearance weren¡¯t drastic, they absolutely weren¡¯t negligible. He flexed his muscles and felt the strength in his new body. He felt lighter and stronger than he had ever before. He pulled up his status to view his changes. Name: Lex Williams Age: 23 Sex: Male Cultivation Level: Regal Embrace Body Tempering Stage 1 Health: Suboptimal (developing brain tumor) Midnight Points: 1974 Midnight Inn Level: 2 Inventory: Bathroom Slippers, Self Defense Butter Knife, 2 Golden Tickets, Host Attire Quest: New Quest: As the most renown Inn in the universe, the Midnight Inn does not only host the rich and the powerful! Setup and develop the Pro Bono wing of the Inn and ept your first Pro Bono guest! Remark: Keep working hard! If you raise your cultivation high enough, one day you¡¯ll be able to cast illusions to make yourself look better! Once again ignoring the remarks, Lex spent a few minutes going over his status and what it meant. Firstly, and most importantly, although his brain tumor wasn¡¯t gone, all his other physical ailments had been cured. Second, he had just a little under 2000 midnight points left. It seemed like a lot, but when you considered that 2 of his rooms were booked for the next month severely affecting his ability to earn points during that time, it did not seem like it was enough. Especially when the next upgrade in Regal Embrace cost 5000 points. He also had to use the points wisely to improve the Inn in the best and quickest way that he could think of. ¡°Mary where am I?¡± Lex asked finally once he was done organizing his thoughts. ¡°You¡¯re in a special area made for you to undergo the starting process of your cultivation journey. The payment to use it was taken when you paid to start the procedure. You can leave anytime you want, simr to how you use the Host Attire to teleport, however I suggest you limatize yourself to your new body and strength. Try walking, running, jumping and a few other basic exercises.¡± Lex first equipped the Host Attire, quickly remembering he was nude in front of Mary. Then he tried walking and realized his bnce was slightly off. His body weight had changed as well as his strength, but his brain was still not used to it. A fewps around the room and he was back to normal. Running again caused him a bit of an issue because he did not expect the length of his strides to be so great, however, he quickly got used to that as well. He did pushups, sit-ups, crunches and anything else he could think of and realized that his fitness had improved drastically. He basically did not need to stop at all while doing those exercises, whereas before, he could have managed a maximum of 20 if his life depended on it. Lex finally stopped with a grin on his face, clearly very impressed with his improvement. But he did not leave the white room yet, he still had more things he wanted to figure out. ¡°My Midnight Inn level has reached 2, what does that mean I can do?¡± ¡°A host of new features have be avable for you. Simr to the Pro Bono wing of the Inn that you learned about from your quest, the Inn has specialized areas that only cater to special guests, some of which you can now set up. Furthermore, you now have the ability to buy morend for the Inn as well as expand the initial Inn building as well. Currently you have 300 acres ofnd, but you can expand that as you wish and setup different areas with different climates, terrain, features or whatever else you can think of. ¡°Furthermore, a feature now avable to you is building your own residence as well as the residence for 1 staff member that you can recruit. The residences will have special security features that prevent anyone from entering unless invited by you or recruits. Currently, these are the only new features avable to you.¡± Lex nodded at Mary subconsciously, his thoughts already on his uing task. He liked to n things out before he did them, and now it was time for him to n. He needed to take another look at the Midnight Store, understand all it offered, and draw up a n of action. Chapter 8 Plan It was 6 in the morning, daylight was slowly creeping up, painting the horizon in a golden hue. A cool breeze was blowing and the soft tweeting of a few birds could be heard in the distance. Lex sat in a garden chair, a cup of hot chocte in his hand and before him on a tabley a notebook full of scribbles and random notes. Yesterday when Lex returned to the Inn it was already night. Bastet and Fk had not left either of their rooms nor requested anything either, so there was not much to do. Lex was not tired in the least so immediately began nning what to do. After about 20 minutes of brainstorming he came to the conclusion that the Inn was eerily quiet and still, and he couldn¡¯t think in such an environment. He opened up the Midnight store and immediately bought a couple dozen birds, squirrels and rabbits for a total of 30 MP (Midnight Points). It wasn¡¯t much considering how much space he had, but he wanted to be frugal with spending his Midnight Points and this was enough for now. In fact he wouldn¡¯t have wasted these points at all and would have preferred to bring small animals from Earth directly but apparently he did not have the authority to do that yet. He then opened the design interface and spent 1 MP to start a gentle, constant breeze for the next 24 hours. Using another 50 MP he bought a few flowering trees and sparsely ced across the back garden. It pained him to spend his points this way but environment mattered and if it was bothering him he couldn¡¯t even imagine how his guests would feel, and he absolutely could not afford to annoy his guests. With that distraction out of the way, he spent the night looking over the Midnight Store, understanding each and every item it sold and asking Mary questions about them in detail. When he finally asked everything he was curious about or get answers to, he set his mind to nning out exactly how to proceed. There were three important tasks ahead of him that he needed to aplish as soon as possible, at least as he saw it. Firstly he needed toplete the quest as soon as possible and try to get the best result he could manage. Secondly, he needed to buy and setup the Gift Shop. The Gift Shop itself would not provide him with anything, but having the gift shop could allow him to buy things from the Midnight Store to ce in the shop that he could then sell for a profit. It wouldn¡¯t immediately get him any profits but that was at least one new possible avenue of ie. More importantly, if he found something useful to himself instead of putting it in the Gift Shop he could just keep it for himself, since he was technically the owner of the item. Simrly, if he owned something he could put it in the shop to sell. That feature wouldn¡¯t be important for now, but when he had multiple worlds connected, selling interesting things from Earth could be an easy way to earn some Midnight Points. The third thing he needed to do was quit his job! Even after he¡¯d sold his video game he continued his regr job without telling anyone of his sess. It brought some semnce of routine to his life, and it wasn¡¯t as if he had much else he would be rather doing so he just went along with it. Furthermore he¡¯d built some friendship with a few of his coworkers and although they weren¡¯t too close Lex didn¡¯t feel like just leaving them behind.. He¡¯d also jotted down a few more ideas here and there, especially when he looked at his own residence as well as the concept of recruiting someone to work for the Inn. But those were thoughts forter, he should not take on more than he could handle at one time. He pulled up the Midnight Store and viewed the Pro Bono wing. It cost a sweeping 2500 MP and was out of his reach currently. Ignoring it he turned the page to the Gift Shop and instantly chose to buy it. With that he only had 1541 MP left, but he ignored the pinching feeling in his heart and focused on the Inn. The Manor expanded slightly and a small new room opened up with its entrance in the lobby. There was a small, wooden counter at the far end with a ss case and a few empty shelves. For now the space in the Gift shop was limited and only a few items could be ced in there, but once he expanded it he could add more stuff to it. Currently he only had 2 guests and both of them were from Earth so it was unlikely that he¡¯d be able to sell them anything from Earth. His only choice was to fill it with items from the Midnight Store. He navigated to the Gift Shop category of the store and took a look. The list of things he could buy currently was small, limited by his authority. There were only 4 items: Whistle of Bathelona ¨C 120MP A whistle that that summons a wisp named Bathelona. Wisps aremon pets for children in the Jotun System, and Bathelona is no different. Saturn Cake ¨C 100MP A mildly sweet cake, amon delicacy in the Jotun System. It causes feeling of euphoria in whoever eats it. If the consumer is below Qi Gathering realm he/she/it will be lost in the feeling of euphoria for a few hours,pletely unaware of what¡¯s happening to or around them. Icarus¡¯ wings ¨C 150MP Artificial wings that can be attached to anyone or thing, giving the ability for flight for 6 hours. The wings cannot sustain damage equivalent to Qi Gathering realm. Bom Dew ¨C 80MP Dew collected from nts on Bom hill. The dew has strong healing properties and can be used on various lifeforms below the Foundation realm. Botlem Dew is extremely poisonous to lesser demons. All 4 items looked interesting to Lex, and he could think of a few cases where some of them might be useful to himself but currently none of them helped him much. He needed to consider if he should buy all of them and put them in the store, or only one or two for now. Spending 450 MP currently didn¡¯t seem worth it for now but he wasn¡¯t sure what would or wouldn¡¯t attract his guests attention. After all, does a cat need a pet? Or would a cow be interested in flying? Neither of them had ordered any food and it was yet to be seen if they exited for breakfast, so would they be interested in a cake? He could instead use those points to buy a Green House, Recovery Room or Meditation Room. He was struck with confusion again as he didn¡¯t know what would attract his guests attention. Being a business owner was stressful, he wasn¡¯t sure what would e best for his Inn at the moment. Lex closed his eyes and took a slow, deep breath. Having too many options confused him. He needed to focus and not get distracted by random thoughts. That¡¯s why he¡¯d made a n. When he opened his eyes they were filled with determination once again and all his thoughts double guessing or doubting himself had disappeared. He bought one of each item and decisively ced them all in the store, spending a total of 450 MP, leaving with only 1091 MP. He summoned Velma and told her she¡¯d be in charge of Gift Shop should any of his guestse in. He priced all the items at 200 MP each. ¡°Mary I¡¯m heading back to my apartment, can you let me know if Bastet or Fk leave their rooms. I want to take the opportunity to talk to them a bit.¡± ¡°Sure, no problem,¡± said the tiny, floating woman who appeared right in front of him. ¡°Anything else?¡± ¡°Yes, how exactly should I try to find guests back on Earth? Can I just invite them? How would they enter?¡± ¡°Currently there are 3 ways for guests toe to the Inn. The first one is through random doors that will open throughout Earth as long as there are vacancies at the Inn. There is, however, no fixed schedule for those doors opening and it¡¯s impossible to predict where they will open. They could open at the bottom of the ocean or in someone¡¯s closet, there¡¯s jus no way of predicting. ¡°The second way is through golden keys that you can buy from the Midnight Store. You can give them to people or leave them for people to find. It¡¯s a one time use item that can bring one person to the Inn. However it is my rmendation that you do not directly give anyone the keys, for your own safety. Currently you are very weak, even with your new upgraded cultivation, and anyone with even the slightest malice could seriously harm you. Even if they do not suspect you are the owner of the Inn, someone could harm you just to learn about how you got ess to those keys. Furthermore, the Midnight Inn System was initiation by a spirit treasure that has merged with your soul. Currently it is inseparable, but if anyone kills you the treasure will reveal itself and will be avable for anyone to take. This should not be a problem for you on Earth where, based on your memories, people have limited knowledge of the soul and spirit treasures, but in other worlds this is a threat that you should be aware of.¡± Mary¡¯s words gripped Lex¡¯s heart with fear. It never even urred to him that people might want to hurt him if they found out about the System. Not that he had any intention of letting anyone find out, but he needed to be careful. Not noticing Lex¡¯s change of expression Mary continued, ¡°The third way of entering the Inn is to have been a guest once. Anyone who avails any of the Inns services receives aplimentary golden key with which they can return anytime they want. That golden key is also a one time use item. In the future, as the level of the Inn increases there will be more ways for guests to enter the Inn. ¡°Please note, currently there is no way to filter who can or cannot enter the Inn. This means anyone with a golden key will be able to enter, even if you do not wish them to, such as in the case of a bad guest or those who have malicious intent. To unlock such a feature you will have to raise the level of the Inn.¡± Lex groaned. It felt like raising the level of the Inn would be amon theme in his near future, but there was little he could do about that for now without finding a way to increase his ie. Either way, it was now time for him to go. He had a job to quit. Chapter 9 Resignation With a thought Lex returned from the Inn back to his apartment. He could return from the Inn back to wherever he entered with a thought. Returning back to the Inn, however, took a few minutes, during which if the process was interrupted it would be cancelled. Lex wasn¡¯t sure why there was a difference ining back from the Inn to going there, but it would go away when he raised the Inn level. Or so he assumed. The first thing he did when he was back was check on the Fancy Monocle. He was really concerned about how much data it would use up to fill its database. If it just learnt everything from Wikipedia or some online library that would still be bearable, but if it decided to download the entire inte to fill its database there was no way that wouldn¡¯t invite trouble. That¡¯s assuming that downloading is how the monocle fills its database. Who knew how these treasures from the System worked. Fortunately when he found the monocle the tab on theputer said ¡®database filled¡¯, and there didn¡¯t seem to be any problem so hopefully all was well. Lex put on the monocle over his right eye and took a look around the room and was instantly amazed. Random bits of data showed up around anything he focused on, and the data would disappear or expand based on his thoughts. He looked at a table and he was shown data about the kind of material, its dimensions, its durability, the amount of wear it had umted and so much more. He looked at himself in the mirror and he started seeing data on himself, his height at 6 feet 1 inch, his weight of 185 pounds, the length of his hair, the material his clothes were made from and much more. It was impressive, however Lex disabled all the bits of information and kept it so that it would only show details he was interested in. With a thought he returned the monocle to the system and went towards the shower. It had been over a day since hest showered and he felt a strong urge to wash. After a long, hot shower and an equally long time in front of the mirror admiring his new body, Lex put on some pants, a T-shirt and sneakers and left his apartment. He could have sent in his resignation via email but it didn¡¯t feel right. He wasn¡¯t close to his boss but still had an amicable, professional rtionship with her so it would be better. He also wanted to say farewell to a couple of his coworkers.. He plugged in his earphones, a New York standard, put his ylist on shuffle and was on his way towards the subway. Lex, lost in his thoughts, didn¡¯t notice but his stride was greater and his pace faster. He exuded a sense of purpose and confidence that hecked before and his now sturdy figure attracted just as much attention as the soft smirk on his face. Once he got on his train he opened the Midnight Store and bought a golden key to invite a guest. A key was for 100 MP and it¡¯s price would double after each purchase and the price would reset once every week. For Lex this presented a problem as buying keys was a bit of a gamble, as a guest would need to stay for at least 2 nights if he wanted to break even, or possibly buy something from the Gift Shop. From Mary he learned that 1 MP was approximately $1,000 if a guest was to use money. ording to her, paying using some kind of spiritual item rather than cash would be more feasible for his guests from Earth. How was he supposed to know where to look for guests who had spiritual items? He had absolutely no idea, but his luck had been great thest couple of days so he was nning on continuing to rely on it for this. When he reached his stop a Golden Key ¡®fell¡¯ out of his pocket onto his seat but before anyone could notice he was already gone. For a while nobody paid the key any attention, but eventually a young child was attracted to its shine and picked it up. He tried to show his mother but she was preupied with something on her phone. He decided to show herter. Unaware that his key had fallen into the hands of a child, Lex continued on his journey till he eventually reached a high rise building. He looked up to admire the building onest time, and reminisced about the years he¡¯d spent here. Hispany was on the 9th floor in this building with over 80 employees, many of whom Lex was familiar with. He worked as a web developer and the work was interesting enough at first, but he¡¯d be bored with it in his recent life like he¡¯d be bored with everything else. At least he knew the reason for that boredom now, and even without resolving it yet his current path in life left little room for anything but excitement. Taking a slow, deep breath onest time, inhaling the smells of the warm pretzels and bagels being sold from the food carts nearby, Lex shook himself free of his hesitation and moved towards his office with purpose. It was still early so people were stilling in. Harry and ine, his two coworkers who he was closest to hadn¡¯te in yet but his Boss, Jessica, was already sitting in her office. He knocked on her door and waited for Jessica to call e in¡± before he proceeded in. ¡°Hey Jessica, I¡¯m d I caught you early. I need to talk to you about something.¡± ¡°Lex?¡± Jessica looked up from herputer and saw hime in the door. ¡°I hope everything is well. When you didn¡¯te in yesterday I had someone try and contact you but they weren¡¯t able to reach you.¡± ¡°Yes yes, everything is fine. I¡¯m sorry I wasn¡¯t able toe in yesterday, but the reason why I wasn¡¯t able toe is what I¡¯m here to talk to you about.¡± Lex sat down on a chair opposite to Jessica and considered what to say for a moment before he spoke. ¡°I¡¯m here today to turn in my resignation.¡± ¡°What?¡± Jessica eximed, taken by surprise. ¡°Howe? Thepany has always treated all of its employees well and I¡¯ve never heard anyints from you before.¡± Lex let out a weak smile and replied, ¡°You¡¯re right, thepany has always treated me fairly and I¡¯ve never had anyints nor had I any intentions of leaving before. However I was recently offered a very promising position as team lead at a new start up. They needed a reply from me as soon as possible which is why I couldn¡¯te in yesterday as I was visiting their site.¡± ¡°Ah, well congrattions,¡± Jessica replied, quickly regaining herposure. She only knew Lex about as well as the other employees under her, which was enough to know that he was apetent worker and gave her very few problems. ¡°Will you be leaving immediately? I must remind you that if you forgo your two weeks notice you forfeit your gratuity and any other benefits thepany would normally afford you.¡± Lex smiled internally. Just the investments he¡¯d made from his $7 million gave him a regr return higher than his sry so money was the least of his concerns. ¡°Thank you for reminding me, but I must start immediately. I will just have to forfeit them.¡± ¡°Well in that case I wish you good luck on your new endeavors. To make it official please submit a written application to Henry from HR, who will then have you fill out some paperwork and collect anypany property you have, as well as have an exit interview. Once the process isplete, bring the papers back to me and I¡¯ll sign them.¡± Jessica was as formal as always, but in a way that made things easier. Lex exited her office but Harry and in were still not in so he went towards HR. The process took much longer than he expected and a little over 3 hourster Lex returned to Jessica. She looked over the papers and eventually signed off on them. ¡°Well, it seems you¡¯re moving onto bigger things Lex,¡± she said as she stood up from her chair. ¡°I wish you sess and great fortune in your future endeavors.¡± She reached out for a goodbye handshake and Lexplied, thinking it a good way to say farewell. What he did not expect was that as soon as they held hands Jessica¡¯s eyes widened in shock and she blurted out ¡°A cultivator?¡±. This chapter is a preview, if you want to see a faster and more up-to-date chapter, please visit . for more content. Chapter 10 Cultivators on Earth Cultivators on Earth Lex was taken aback and the surprise showed clearly on his face without the Host Attire to help him control his expressions. For a moment they both just stared at each other before they both quickly regained theirposure. ¡°How can you tell?¡± Lex asked, not bothering to try and hide the fact that he was cultivating. He needed to learn more about cultivators on Earth, and how he coulde in contact with them. An opportunity such as this would be impossible to find again. ¡°How can I not tell? You¡¯re not even trying to hide your internal strength. Hasn¡¯t anyone told you that you need to be careful, if I was a regr person you could have seriously hurt my hand.¡± Lex immediately realized that he was probably using more force in his handshake than a normal person. This meant he still didn¡¯t have a good grasp of his strength yet as he hadn¡¯t even noticed.. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I just broke through yesterday, I guess I¡¯m not used to my strength yet. Wait, does this mean you¡¯re a cultivator as well?¡± Jessica didn¡¯t reply but stared at him intently. Silence filled the room and slowly tension started to build until it began weighing on Lex. ¡°Who is your mentor?¡± she finally asked, her tone suddenly usatory. ¡°What district do you belong to? Why haven¡¯t you disclosed yourself in the Bluebird office?¡± Jessica¡¯s grip on his hand strengthened and Lex suddenly became aware that he couldn¡¯t pull it out. He was panicking a little now, but the situation wasn¡¯t out of control yet. He could still redeem himself. ¡°I don¡¯t have a mentor, I don¡¯t know what you mean by district. You¡¯re the first cultivator I¡¯m meeting.¡± ¡°How could you cultivate if you don¡¯t have a mentor? Don¡¯t lie to me, my cultivation is a lot higher than you and I¡¯d have no problem at all taking care of you. Exin yourself here clearly or I¡¯ll take you to the Bluebird office, you should know how they treat undocumented cultivators in their territory.¡± ¡°No please, listen to me,¡± Lex pleaded. He could feel the pressure she was applying on his hand, and he was sure she¡¯d crush his bones if she used even a little more strength. Even if Regal Embrace was focused on defense it could do little for him if the gap in strength between him and his opponent was huge. He needed to quicklye up with an exnation that didn¡¯t expose the System. He was too young to die! He¡¯d never have expected to encounter danger on Earth, he thought it was the other worlds that would endanger him. Fortunately, when he learnt Regal Embrace it also gave him general information about other cultivation techniques so that he would understand how Regal Embrace was different. He could use that information to exin how he taught himself. ¡°I found my cultivation technique on a piece of paper in a bottle on the beach. It exined a lot about cultivation but I just thought it was some kind of yoga. It wasn¡¯t until I tried it out and felt the changes in my body that I started taking it seriously. I just broke through yesterday for the first time. I don¡¯t know anything else about cultivation other than what I learnt from that bottle, and I¡¯ve never met another cultivator before.¡± Lex tried to sound as desperate and as honest as possible, which he was in the beginning as Jessica was very intimidating. It wasn¡¯t until he remembered that he could retreat to the Inn as long as he was given a little bit of time that he recovered internally. Jessica stared at him a while longer, trying to determine if he was telling the truth. Ultimately she let go of his hand, but just as Lex was beginning to feel relief he felt a strange aura surround him. It was the first time he felt something like that ¨C if he had to choose a word to describe it, it would be sharp. He felt as if any movement he made could hurt him, and that he was in more danger than before. The aura however disappeared just as quickly as it came. ¡°I will believe you, for now. But you have to follow me to the Bluebird office. All legal cultivators must be registered and have an identity token on them at all times. If you try anything funny or try to run away¡­well, I¡¯m sure you felt my Qi surround you just now. As the sub-district head I have the authority to eliminate any suspected threats.¡± Lex suddenly got goosebumps. This was bordering on insane! He was just trying to quit his job, and his life was threatened time and time again by his ex-Boss. The cultivation world really was dangerous. ¡°Fine, fine I¡¯ll follow you. We¡¯ve worked together for so many years, you know me. I won¡¯t do anything ¡®funny¡¯.¡± At Lex¡¯s words Jessica was suddenly reminded that she had indeed worked with Lex for a few years now, and although she did not have an intimate knowledge of the man, she¡¯d spent enough time with him to get an idea of the kind of person he was. She rxed visibly, but didn¡¯t drop her guardpletely. ¡°Follow me and act natural. If anyone in the office asks where we are going just say I¡¯m taking you downtown to the legal office to finalize your resignation.¡± Lex smiled weakly and nodded. He followed her out of her office and they cut through the building quickly. He noticed Henry was sitting at his workstation but this didn¡¯t really seem like the time to catch up. Fortunately no one questioned where they were going. When they reached the street a ck SUV was parked at the door with a chauffeur waiting for them holding the door open. Lex climbed into the car behind Jessica and they were off. For a time they sat in silence. Lex, who had once again regained hisposure after constantly being threatened, was thinking about how he could remedy the situation. A lot of it depended on how they treated him at this so-called Bluebird office. But waiting to see how things turned out wasn¡¯t something Lex could do, he had to take initiative. ¡°So¡­ are cultivators verymon?¡± Lex asked, sounding reluctant. Jessica hesitated but answered eventually. ¡°Cultivators are rare enough so that the general popce does not know about them, but aremon enough that there are specialws pertaining to them. Most powerful or old families have them and most of the upper echelon of anyrgepanies have them. In democratic governments they are rarer, but every military is full of them. You can consider it as if any person of a certain status has at least some interaction with cultivators, if they are not so themselves. Even a normal person who raises himself to sess will end up encountering them eventually, and may even be one.¡± ¡°So howe they¡¯re such a big secret? I never even believed they were real until I got my cultivation technique.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a secret, but not a closely guarded one. There¡¯s tons of books and movies and shows about them everywhere. But most news outlets strictly control what¡¯s reported as actual news and cultivators themselves have a huge incentive to keep things quiet. Cultivation resources are rare and the more demand there is for it, the greater thepetition will be.¡± ¡°If it¡¯s not such a big deal¡­then why did you react so strongly to finding out I¡¯m a cultivator?¡± ¡°There is a stark difference between a registered and unregistered cultivator. Because of their increased strength and abilities, if cultivators are not regted there would be chaos everywhere. In older days, ns or sects used to maintain the peace. In the modern day things have changed. In the US 3 privatepanies have the government contract to regte cultivator activity, Bluebird is one of them. They maintain a list of registered cultivators, and some basic information about them. This way if an incident urs they can more easily track whoever was responsible. Unregistered cultivators though are a different story. Registering has no real drawbacks, and instead has many benefits, which is why only those people who have something to hide don¡¯t register. Most of the time, they¡¯re criminals who¡¯ve run away from another country, or people with malicious intent.¡± Jessica hesitated a bit once again, unsure of how much more would be appropriate to reveal. Eventually she decided to give Lex a warning. ¡°You should be very careful. If you really did cultivate yourself and have no background to rely on, then you fall under the most vulnerable category of cultivators. Although cultivators have to follow specialws and their activities are regted, they are also afforded special privilege¡¯s. It¡¯s not so bad normally, but if a cultivator with a high level of cultivation ever perceives you as a threat to his or her interest they won¡¯t hesitate to kill you, and at most they¡¯ll just get a fine. If you want to survive, I strongly suggest you join an organization as soon as possible.¡± Chapter 11 Bluebird Office Lex frowned as he mulled over what Jessica told him. It seemed like he really had underestimated the dangers that came along with cultivation. He thought, simr to the many novels he¡¯d read, once he started cultivating he¡¯d have a huge advantage over everyone and people would admire him wherever he went. Now it seemed like he needed to be more careful. As for joining an organization, it all depended on what the requirements were. Lex was about to continue asking more questions but the car came to an abrupt stop. Jessica exited and signaled Lex to follow. Much to his surprise, they were at the Empire State Building. As soon as they entered a team of security guards surrounded Lex and escorted him to a private section of the building where they entered an elevator. The thing that caught him off guard was that the list of floors started from 1st and then went directly to the basement, with there being 44 levels of basements. Jessica pressed B10 and the elevator swiftly began its descent, and stopped just as abruptly. When they came out Lex was once again surprised; clearly Jessica hit the button for B10 and he clearly felt the elevator go down, yet the floor they came out on had windows to a breathtakingly beautiful view of a sea of clouds that surrounded the building, crashing against mountains in the distance. No sign of the city they were just in was visible, and it was as if they had been teleported to another cepletely. ¡°Follow them to the waiting room while I report your situation,¡± said Jessica. ¡°Someone wille and interview you and, if all goes well,plete your registration. Since you¡¯re new to the cultivation world I¡¯ll have someone send you all the brochures and pamphlets for all the organizations that ept itinerant or lone cultivators.¡± Before Lex could thank Jessica for her consideration or ask any questions he was ¡®led politely¡¯ to the ¡®waiting room¡¯ and left there alone. It was a small room with a couple of chairs at opposite ends of a small table and a window to the outside with a view. ¡°You should be careful in what you say,¡± Mary warned him, speaking for the first time since this ordeal started. ¡°If you lie in front of a cultivator with a higher cultivation, they can usually tell that you¡¯re lying. That¡¯s why I didn¡¯t even risk speaking to you earlier. Without the Host Attire to control your expressions Jessica would have immediately noticed you getting distracted while you were talking to me in your head. It would raise her suspicions.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be careful,¡± he said, suddenly remembering Mary. He was not yetpletely used to the system, and all the benefits it offered. ¡°Do you have any advice on what to do?¡±. ¡°Sorry, all the information I have on Earth is based on your memories and you currently have not unlocked any features of the Midnight Inn that can help you in this predicament. All I can say is that you are lucky that in terms of physical strength, your body is equivalent to a normal Body Tempering stage 1 cultivator. You can use that as an advantage to support your story that you only just broke through. You haven¡¯t done anything suspicious so if they investigate you a little they should discover that they have nothing to worry about.¡± Lex sat down on the chair and began thinking about what to say to his interrogators. If he really was investigated it would easily be discovered that he had received no actual job offer, but he could use his current worth and his newly developed interest in cultivation to exin why he quit: he needed more time to cultivate! If they asked to see his cultivation technique he would be in trouble. Although he knew the difference between Regal Embrace and others, he did not know an actual cultivation technique he could give someone. If they asked, he would have to insist on not telling. Saying he got his cultivation technique from a bottle on the beach was a flimsy excuse he made up in the moment, and was difficult to believe though he supposed it was not impossible. If they asked to see it he would say he destroyed it so as to keep it a secret. Lex was going over other details in his mind, considering different scenarios that he could encounter and how he would face them, when the door finally opened and a middle aged man entered the room. He lookedte 30s or early 40s at most, and had a congenial smile on his face. He unbuttoned his suit and took the chair opposite to Lex before cing a file on the table. ¡°I must apologize for Jessica¡¯s harshness in treating you,¡± the man said, his voice as if talking to a young child. ¡°Although her cultivation is high, she¡¯s never really encountered an actual unregistered cultivator or been in any dangerous situation. You know how kids are these days, thinking everything is a conspiracy.¡± Lex smiled weakly, unsure of how he was supposed to respond. The man, as if understanding Lex¡¯s thought, gave out a chuckle and opened the file in front of him. ¡°Let me start by introducing myself. My name is Hamid, I am the regional manager for cultivator registration. And you are Lex Williams, a new cultivator.¡± Hamid slid the top page from the folder to Lex for him to observe. It was filled with Lex¡¯s private details, from his name, date of birth, family details, total estimated worth, major life experiences and more. Reading all that information about himself was surreal. Is this what criminals in movies felt like when the government pulled up their entire life history? ¡°Do not worry, I am not using you of any crime. Your history is mostly very clear cut with no records of criminal activity other than the asional pirating of a movie online, and believe it or not you are not the only person to have identally discovered a cultivation technique and practiced it.¡± ¡°So I¡¯m not in trouble?¡± Lex finally asked, feeling a bit of relief. ¡°Mostly,¡± Hamid replied. ¡°Although you have not done anything wrong, you still need to register yourself and your cultivation technique needs to be analyzed. It is not umon for people to discover a cultivation technique that seems fine, but is iplete or causes problemster on. This is mostly for your own benefit, but since there is a precedent of cultivators exploding when trying to cross realms, this is also to ensure public safety.¡± ¡°How will you check my cultivation technique?¡± Lex asked, suddenly panicking again. He was not used to such a quick change from relief to panic so many times in one day. Hamid however smiled, as if he knew what Lex was thinking. ¡°Do not worry, we won¡¯t ask to see your cultivation technique. ording to Section 7 of the Cultivation Organizations Code of Conduct, unless suspected of terrorism or other extremely dangerous illegal activities, it is prohibited to forcefully procure a cultivators techniques and skills. Even then there are a great deal of restrictions and requirements. If you follow me, I will show you how we will check. It¡¯s a pretty standard check during registration to be honest.¡± Lex followed Hamid out the room and down the corridor into a long hallway. Wherever they went Lex kept staring out the windows which showed a view of a countrysidendscape, wondering if they had somehow teleported out of the city, or rather, how he could get such a teleporter if they did. Teleporting within the Inn was fine, but if he could use it regrly to travel the world that would be amazing. Hamid noticed him looking and chuckled again. ¡°That¡¯s augmented reality,¡± he exined. ¡°It¡¯s a mix between technology and spirit formations, to create an atmosphere and make it feel real. No one likes working underground and this is good for morale.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± Lex eximed, suddenly feeling stupid. ¡°I thought we teleported somehow. I was amazed by the cultivation world, though I suppose mixing formations and technology is an amazing aplishment in itself.¡± Hamidughed out loud and pped Lex on the back, as if he had cracked a hrious joke. ¡°The cultivation world is different, but don¡¯t let your head get pulled into science fiction. Not that I¡¯m saying teleportation isn¡¯t real, it probably is, but that¡¯s not the kind of stuff people at our cultivation level can be exposed to. When you see something new, assume the simplest exnation is the correct one. The only difference between things such as formations or cultivation and traditional science is the use of spiritual energy. ¡°Normal people eat nutritious food to improve their health, and normal technology uses electricity and other normal physical traits to operate, whereas cultivators use spiritual energy to improve their bodies and run their formations. In a way, you can consider cultivation a different branch of science, where everything depends on spiritual energy. So for teleportation, it¡¯s not to say that it doesn¡¯t or can¡¯t exist, but rather that it would require a great deal of resources, engineering and spiritual energy beyond what is avable to us. Cultivation isn¡¯t magic, if that¡¯s what you were thinking, and requires a great deal of studying, hard work and understanding. ¡°But all that is getting too hypothetical for you right now I think,¡± Hamid said, entering ab full of various machines and a group of doctors walking around inb coats. ¡°We should just focus on your registration. So Lex, tell me, are you ready to take your first steps into the cultivation world?¡± ¡°I am,¡± Lex answered, his eyes shining brightly. A lot of the things Hamid told him opened his mind and imagination. This was a truly exciting world. He couldn¡¯t wait to explore further. ****** Somewhere far, far away in a house built on a mountain top, a man was swinging a double sided sword, repeating the same motion time and time again. He was not bulky but his body was packed with muscle, ready to explode with vicious strength. He did not falter, his stance did not weaken and the momentum of each swing did not change. The man was focused. The man was determined. The man improved with each swing, and this improvement was like a drug that he was craving. His rhythm was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a creaking door, and a young, delicate looking girl entered. She did not look perturbed by the angry re the man was giving her, and walked up to him as if she was taking a stroll through a park. ¡°What is it?¡± the man finally asked gruffly. ¡°I just got a call from mom. Someone in Bluebird ran a background check on big brother, and it seems they¡¯re getting ready to register him as a cultivator.¡± The man¡¯s aura exploded! All the animals for miles around suddenly started fleeing, as if in a stampede, and the sun¡¯s light dimmed, as if the sun itself was afraid to be noticed by the man. ¡°Investigate,¡± said the man slowly, the word carrying an unspoken weight. ¡°I¡¯m already on it. Mom also said you¡¯re not allowed to return to Earth for the time being, so just keep focusing on Neelums sh.¡± The man clenched his empty fist, as if trying to suppress something, but eventually released his fist and returned to his practice. The girl left as if she did not notice his actions, actingpletely nonchnt. If someone looked at the scene from afar, they would not see running monkeys and wolves, nor would they see crows and eagles escaping far away in the skies. Instead, they would see Sabretooth Tigers and Mammoths, they would see Pterodactyls and Dragons, they would see animals long thought extinct or myth, they would see mountains toorge to be from Earth and in the now darkened sky they would see a starry constetionpletely distinct from the one visible on Earth. But to the girl and the man it was all too mundane to pay attention to. The man continued to swing and the young girl continued her casual stroll. Authors Note: I¡¯m adding this here to make sure the people who encounter this chapter get a chance to read this. I¡¯ve noticed that the family being cultivators has been a point of contention for many readers, but I can assure you that the novel is not going for a cliche ¡°family disregarded him for being a waste¡± type trope or anything. Maybe the reveal is a little early, but regardless this is something that had to happen for many things to make sense in the future. If you like the novel so far, continue to give it a chance. If you don¡¯t, then thanks for giving it a chance so far. Chapter 12 Test and Registration Theb was arge, rectangr hall with various machines ced in ss cabins. A few people inb coats were gathered around each machine discussing things in whispers. A few people were getting tested at various machines but Lex could not tell what the machines were for. ¡°Let¡¯s get the boring stuff out of the way shall we,¡± Hamid said, grabbing a clipboard a doctor brought to him. ¡°Since you are currently in the Body Tempering realm, your registration is currently quite simple. Other than testing your cultivation technique, we will need to collect a blood sample, gather your personal details, which we have already done, and finally make your personal identity token. That will conclude the requirements for registration at Bluebird, however there are a few more tests for Body Tempering realm if you want to take them. Information from any additional test you take will be saved onto your token and considering your results it can help you with recruitment if you wish to join an organization. You can consider thatter, let¡¯s begin with testing your cultivation. Follow me.¡± Hamid led Lex to a long cylindrical machine with a ss top that opened to a padded table. He spoke to a few people who quickly started preparing the machine. They opened the top and instructed Lex to lie down, attaching various node patches all over his body. Finally, after attaching 36 patches, they inserted 2 needles that were connected with wires into both of his arms. ¡°The needles will send small, quick bursts of spiritual energy into your body,¡± said Hamid as the machine was getting ready, ¡°and the patches will detect how your body reacts. Body Tempering cultivators temper their bodies so that they can amodate spiritual energy in the body atter realms. Since that is the case the spiritual energy that is put into your body should either be dispersed out of your body by your cultivation or should be absorbed evenly to temper your body. If the spiritual energy gets trapped anywhere in your body that means there is something wrong with your cultivation technique.¡±. Lex listened to his exnation, though he was not really worried about his cultivation at all. Although different in the beginning, Regal Embrace should not be underestimated at all. Eventually the machine started, and immediately Lex a sharp tingling in his arms near the needles, as if he were receiving a jolt of electricity, though the jolt barelysted. He could feel that it was supposed to be traveling through his body, but disappeared before it could even exit his arms. After a few seconds he received a second jolt, this time a slightly stronger one, however the oue was the same. This continued for a few minutes but regardless of how strong the jolt was, it never went past his arms. Although Hamid didn¡¯tment on what was happening, Lex could see him trying to hide his surprised expression. Eventually the machine stopped and the patches and needles were removed. ¡°Congrattions,¡± said Hamid as he helped Lex off the table, ¡°your cultivation technique is extremely stable. You should have no trouble cultivating all the way to Golden Core based on the stability of this cultivation technique, though if you wish to cultivate higher you will have to return for a different kind of test to ensure absolute safety.¡± ¡°Golden Core?¡± Lex repeated, a hint of a question in his tone. He still did not have a detailed understanding of cultivation. He was hoping Hamid would fill in the nks. ¡°Ah of course, I forgot you do not have anyone to guide you in the cultivation world. Well fret not, should you join an organization they will guide you carefully on your path. Considering your current cultivation, you should not worry about it anyway. It will probably be a very long time before that bes relevant to you. Come, let¡¯s take a blood sample.¡± Another doctor came at Hamid¡¯s call with a fresh syringe and extracted enough of Lex¡¯s blood to fill a small vial. Lex had to admit he was a little impressed at how easy it was for all these needles to poke him, as based on his understanding it should no longer be so easy to prate his skin. ¡°Now to finish off with getting you your personal identity token. This shouldn¡¯t take too long, follow me.¡± Hamid led Lex to a different part of theb to what looked like a 3D printer that was printing out what looked like a ck and red poker chip. ¡°This token is built using a spiritual metal,bined with thetest formation as well as modern technology. Once it isplete it can be personalized to you by dripping a drop of blood on it. In it will be a Bluebirds certificate of approval, signifying that you have gone through the Bluebird registration process and are recognized as a non-hostile entity. You need to carry it with you at all times, as it can be sensed by authorized Bluebird personnel. If you are caught without it on your person, you will be treated as if you had intent to do harm and will be detained pending an investigation on your activities! Which is why I must stress this again, always keep it on you! If you ever lose it, report it immediately to a Bluebird office near you to get a new one, though you have to pay for any recements. That¡¯s also why Jessica treated you so harshly, as a cultivator without a token you are a suspected threat, even if your actual cultivation is low. ¡°Other than that, you can also scan the token like a QR code to ess the Bluebirdwork, an online tform for cultivators, or ess other cultivatorworks as a guest, though that would limit what you are able to do.¡± Hamid continued to make introductions for Lex while they waited, and finally after a short 20 minutes the token wasplete. After ensuring that everything was in order, Hamid handed Lex the token along with a prick so he could draw some blood for it. Lex was filled with some anticipation, but after absorbing the drop of blood the token didn¡¯t do anything special, nor did Lex feel any kind of connection from it. That was to be expected though, Hamid already exined that to view the data stored on the token he would have to scan it as if it were a QR code. Hamid also introduced some of the other tests he could take, which included tests for physical strength, stamina, reaction, intellect, learning gradient and many more. After thinking about it for a moment, Lex decided not to take the tests currently. First of all, he didn¡¯t want to leave records for his capabilities since his cultivation wasn¡¯t ordinary and he could not predict how his stats would change. Secondly, although Hamid did his best to seem friendly, the frequency with which he brought up regtions, surveince and security measures, Lex started to feel as if things weren¡¯t so simple. He wanted to learn more before he made any decisions. Lex even asked Hamid why security was so strict and how dangerous the cultivation world really was. All he got for a reply was that as long as he stayed in a Bluebird supervised area, followed thew and avoided shady people he had no reason to be concerned. If that couldn¡¯t be considered dodging a question, Lex didn¡¯t know what could. When all the procedures wereplete he asked if he could leave, and Hamid escorted Lex out of the building. He didn¡¯t encounter Jessica again but he quickly put that out of his mind. He had gotten a lot of new information today, he needed to absorb it and see how he could use it to his advantage. His drive to make MP had increased and he wanted to increase his cultivation as quickly as possible. It seemed a little unfair how the protagonists in the novels never met cultivators much stronger than them in the real world, and so could always manage a solution. He apparently didn¡¯t have that luxury. For a good portion of the day he felt helpless. It wasn¡¯t a feeling he enjoyed. It wasn¡¯t a feeling he wanted to experience again. This chapter is a preview, if you want to see a faster and more up-to-date chapter, please visit . for more content. Chapter 13 Bluebird Portal Bluebird Portal Even though Lex was at the peak of his physical fitness, he felt exhausted when he got home. He¡¯d picked up an inordinate amount of Chinese take out on his way as well as a pack of cigarettes. He wasn¡¯t really a smoker, he¡¯d paid extra attention to ensure he never got addicted, and never kept any on him. He¡¯d only asionally buy them when he was feeling stressed, and would quickly discard the pack after smoking a few. Setting his food down on a table and turning on Netflix he quickly set the table with tes, juices, some water and chopsticks. But before he started his feast he pulled a stool by his open window, lit his cigarette and took a long, deep drag. It had been a few weeks since hest smoked, it felt nice. He took this time to look out on the traffic below, the peopleing and going, the sounds of the city and everything else in between. Even with all its hustle and bustle, viewed from a distance the rhythm of the city seemed so peaceful. When he finally finished his smoke Lex quickly blew whatever smoke he could out of the window and sprayed some air freshener. He washed his hands and sat down, ready to consume more food than was probably healthy and let his thoughts wander. So far there was limited progress towards making more MP, meaning there was none. He couldn¡¯tplete any quests right now, and since Bastet and Fk hadn¡¯t left their rooms there was no opportunity to try and sell them stuff from the gift shop. If his luck panned out someone might find the golden key he left behind and actually be able to use it, but there was no telling when that might be. He could try and see if there was some way he could give keys to cultivators. Or at least find an opportunity to have them ¡®discover¡¯ it on their own, since he felt it was unsafe to let anyone know he had any connection to them.. In cultivation novels the protagonist always auctioned items off or sold them to some giant tradingpany but that was unlikely here, as he literally had no idea what technology, typical or spiritual, could be used to trace the key back to him. Not to mention, he was absolutely sure the ¡®token¡¯ he was given had some kind of tracking function as well so he didn¡¯t want to take any unnecessary risks. If nothing changed, the best opportunity he could see was to wait a week and travel to the new world to see what opportunities it presented. But he would have to prepare for that as well, in whatever way he could. At some point through his meal he scanned his token and entered the Bluebird online portal to investigate it¡¯s features, and they were numerous. There were forums, chat rooms, news that wasn¡¯t avable to the public, trading tforms and much much more. He took his time going through the portal the rest of the day. Every few hours he¡¯d ask Mary if Bastet left her room, and the answer was always no. He also learnt a lot of basic information that he¡¯d been missing for a while. The first and most important thing he learnt was the first few cultivation levels: 1. Mortals (normal people) 2. Body Tempering (using spiritual energy to temper the body so it could absorb spiritual energy atter cultivation levels) 3. Qi Training (beginning to absorb spiritual energy in the body) 4. Foundation Realm (use the absorbed spiritual energy to create a foundation) 5. Golden Core (form a core in the body to store concentrated spiritual energy) Cultivation levels above Golden core were not mentioned at all, and even Golden core themselves were mentioned with extreme reverence. Something interesting he encountered was a cultivation version of the social media tform Twitter called Tempest, where many high leveled cultivators had huge followings, along with variouspanies and organizations. Most cultivators, he discovered, were at body tempering and Qi cultivation, with the numbers dropping drastically when it came to Foundation realm. Any random Foundation cultivator had at least a few million followers from over the globe. Another interesting thing he discovered was what was normally referred to as spiritual equipment in novels was called Spirit Tech, and had a huge variety. The prices varied too, so he found household spirit tech for cleaning, tidying,undry and even cooking for rtively cheap. But he also found body armor and weapons the prices for which went in the hundreds of thousands even at the cheapest models. Furthermore one had to present one¡¯s token when receiving such items and undergo some verification. Some random but interesting spirit tech Lex saw included fully functioning prosthetics, bioengineered nanobots that the user injected in his or her body that automatically healed the user whenever they got hurt, a various assortments of flying devices and fully immersive VR! He also saw various seminars that were held monthly for multiple organizations. Lex checked a few to see what kind of organizations there were, since he¡¯d heard about them so much, and broadly categorized them into three different groups: ones that conducted R & D, those that procured various resources and those that simply banded people together to protect themselves and their interests. Most organizations only gave very loose descriptions of their activities and purposes, such as developing thetest on spiritual farming technologies or mining for Blue Teltaro (whatever that is). For more details you would have to join, but what they did provide was a very detailed list of benefits they provided for each member. None of this specifically sounded illegal to Lex, but the level of secrecy made him cautious. Another thing he found, something that interested him specifically, was a self-defense ss for beginner cultivators. For someone going to another, this sounded essential. He tried to find the closest one to him and signup, and his first ss would be in a couple of days. Thest thing that he discovered, and the thing thatpletely surprised him, was the fact that cultivators were already inhabiting the moon and mars! And not just a few! Apparently there were quite a few cities there already, with extensive travel between the celestial bodies! Considering that he could travel between worlds this should not have been such a huge surprise, but thispletely changed a fundamental truth he maintained about the world he lived in. It came as a bigger surprise than he could have imagined. But traveling to either the Moon or Mars wasn¡¯t easy, he had to meet a few requirements, but he was kind of excited about that possibility as well. Just a few days ago he thought life was so boring, and now suddenly it was so exciting! This chapter is a preview, if you want to see a faster and more up-to-date chapter, please visit . for more content. Chapter 14 Marlos Self Defense for beginners Marlo¡¯s Self Defense for beginners At a specific penthouse in New York, a small child had dozed off in the living room in front of the TV. Drool flowed down the side of his face and the various colors of the cartoon that were shing on his innocent face made him look very adorable. His mother, who was standing over him, was smiling at her child ¨C but her smile was tinged with sadness and anxiety. After a short while she picked him up and took him to bed, before tucking herself in beside him. She noticed he had some kind of golden toy key in his hand, but he was holding onto it too tightly so she didn¡¯t try to force it from him. It was just the two of them living there, and it was thest of her inheritance she had received from her family. For the past few weeks she had been trying to find a job, but she¡¯d never worked anywhere in her life. Although she¡¯d graduated from a prestigious college, that was over a decade ago. Without any relevant experience no one was willing to take a chance on her. She could ask someone she knew for a favor and try to get a job that way, however up until now she had been too proud to do so. Maybe it was time to put away her pride soon. She closed her eyes and tried to go to sleep, tears streaming down her face.. ****** Next morning Lex stretched and as he tried to rouse his drowsy self. It was 11 am so he couldn¡¯t even say he was waking up early. In fact he wasn¡¯t waking up at all. Last night he¡¯d turned on his PC to y a few games and blow off some steam, but he was enthralled when he discovered his reaction speed and uracy had improved immensely. Game after game he broke all his previous records, and he was on the longest win streak of his life. His excitement had gripped him and regardless of what game he yed, his performance had improved readily. Briefly he even considered starting a career as a video game streamer, though tragically he had to force himself away from that thought as his focus had to remain the Midnight Inn. Still, he yed until right now when he could no longer ignore his rumbling stomach. Forcefully tearing himself away from theputer he washed his face before finding himself in front of the TV again, with various Chinese leftovers in front of him. Truly it had been a while since he had been so decadent. After enjoying himself by enveloping himself inziness for a couple more hours he changed into a track suit and went out. There was no progress on the Inn but he couldn¡¯t really let things rest without putting in any work at all. Jessica told him he was using too much strength in his handshake, and in factst night he ended up breaking a keyboardpletely in his excitement while gaming. There was an assortment of other things in his apartment that had suffered some damage due to his carelessness such as furniture, door knobs, walls and even his shower during a slipping incident. He had to learn how to better control his strength, and currently through exercise was the only thing he could think of. Tomorrow he would have his first self-defense lesson for new cultivators and he would use that opportunity to ask about it, but until then he would have to make do. He started with a light jog, focusingpletely on his legs and the strength he used. He controlled his stride as best as he could and did his best to control how much force he was using. Unfortunately after around half an hour a careless misstep caused him topletely tear his joggers. He bought himself several new pairs and spent the day utilizing his time focusing on trying to control his strength. He wouldn¡¯t admit it, but secretly he felt very giddy every time he ¡®identally¡¯ tore a shirt while flexing too much. The next day he woke up bright and early and got ready for his first ss. He wasn¡¯t sure what to expect, however he dressed up in a new tracksuit he purchased yesterday. At 7:50am he found himself in front of a private auditorium with a security guard at the entrance. He shed his Bluebird token to the man who promptly moved out of the way and let Lex in. Inside he discovered that there were only a few people, two girls and five guys who were chatting softly with one another. In the center of the auditorium was arge arena with padded floors and arge man, sitting on a folding chair with his eyes closed. When he entered the group of 7 who were chatting turned to look at him, and after a moment one of the guys waved him over. ¡°Hey man, name¡¯s Larry. You a new member too?¡± ¡°Yeah, name¡¯s Lex¡± he replied, observing the rather frail looking man. He noticed that none of the 7 people looked very fit or muscr, though he was sure they were at least cultivators since that was the minimum requirement to attend this ss. It was a little strange, as though he couldn¡¯t consider himself very muscr, his body was in much better shape than before. He used to think that cultivating naturally made one look more fit but that might not be the case it seemed. ¡°Wee, wee. We¡¯re all new as well, it¡¯s only been a few weeks myself since I became a cultivator. More people should being soon I guess, since the first ss is free. This is a great chance to make a few connections, if you know what I mean.¡± Larry winked at Lex before subtly hinting towards the two women in the group. Lex smiled weakly. Even as a cultivator, this guy¡¯s focus was only on girls. The others from the group introduced themselves, and it seemed all the people here were rogue cultivators who had either inherited cultivation from their families or found cultivation manuals somewhere by ident. It seemed that was a moremon urrence than Lex had imagined. What surprised Lex the most however, was that all five guys nned on joining the military once after today¡¯s free self defense lesson. Apparently the army offered the best benefits to lone cultivators and helped them further their cultivation. The two girls were friends and didn¡¯t share any details on their ns, however Lex got the sense that they also were either going to join or already had joined some organization. Another thing he learnt was that almost all of them took a few weeks to stabilize their cultivation before they felt confident enough in their control over their strength. Apparently it was verymon for new cultivators to be unable to control themselves, even worse than he was it seemed. A few more people came as time went by, and at 8:30 therge man finally opened his eyes and got up from his chair. Although he made no noise, he grabbed everyone¡¯s attention. Aware of the effect he had on the crowd he grinned slyly and spoke, ¡°Wee to Marlo¡¯s Self Defense for new cultivators. Everyone here has entered a new world of cultivation. Some of you may be familiar with this world already, and some of you may be new. Either way, let me be the one to help you take your first steps as you begin your new life.¡± His words were weing, but the manic excitement in his eyes, his wild hair, patchy stubble and his muscle bulging,towering figure told a different story. Lex gulped. Were all cultivators a little crazy? This chapter is a preview, if you want to see a faster and more up-to-date chapter, please visit . for more content. Chapter 15 Sudden Quest ¡°Comee, enter the arena everyone!¡± Marlo eximed, his body shaking with vigor as he spoke. ¡°Everyone line up next to each other and let me take a look at you!¡± Everyone quickly lined up nervously and stared at the giant man who was towering above them. Though he was not using his cultivation to pressure them, just his presence seemed to achieve the effect. ¡°15 young and talented people, ready to join my ss,¡± he said, his tone sounding all too rehearsed. ¡°15 people with hopes and dreams of sess and triumph, of mor and gold. But first you have to live long enough to achieve that. ording to a survey in 2019, only 47% of people who became body cultivators in that year progressed in their cultivation, 29% stagnated exactly where they were and the remaining 24% died!¡± He paused for a moment to let everyone absorb that information. Lex could not speak for others, but that percentage truly surprised him. One fourth of all new cultivators that year died! That was scarily high, and this was supposed to be a civilized society with organizations such as Bluebird maintaining the peace.. ¡°Now I¡¯m not saying that everyone who died was killed, but you¡¯d have to look far and hard for a body cultivator who died of something like a heart attack! That¡¯s why, if you want to survive and grow, you should always consider your security! If you progress too fast, you might attract the attention of someone who¡¯s cultivation has beengging, wondering if you have some kind of treasure that helped you along. If you progress too slow, you might attract the ire of someone who thinks you¡¯re using up resources that could be better used by them instead. The world is full of dangerous people, and one must know how to protect yourself! ¡°And that¡¯s why you are here today! To learn to protect yourself, and survive!¡± Marlo was practically yelling with excitement at this point, a wild grin painting his face. ¡°But today, we won¡¯t be doing any personalized training. No, today you will only be getting a taste of the hard work and dedication that will be required for you to take this course. That¡¯s why the first lesson is free, so that if you don¡¯t think you can do it, you can leave! Once you enroll in the course you cannot quit! It¡¯ll be in your contract! I have a reputation to uphold, and I can¡¯t have people saying that my students are easy to get rid of. So don¡¯t bother introducing your names and backgrounds yet. First, introduce me to your guts! Introduce me to your will! Introduce me to the passion in your hearts to seize the cultivation world and snatch all its glory!¡± Marlo burst into a manicughter that shook the entire arena and his overwhelming persona had all but intimidated most of his ss into running away right then and there. Lex himself was considering nevering back after the introductory ss, this guy was just a little too much! That is, until he heard a notification from the system! Sudden Quest initiated: With a great personality and abundant energy, Marlo is a great candidate to serve as a valet for the Inn! Hire Marlo as your first valet! Quest Time limit: 1 month Quest Reward: 1 small staff dormitory, 1000MP, +1 Midnight Inn Level Quest failure punishment: -1000MP (if host is unable to pay, it will result in immediate death!) Lex¡¯s eyes nearly popped out of his head when he read the notification, and he was filled with a mix of excitement and anxiety! A sudden quest was a good way to earn some rewards that he sorely needed right now, but the punishment for failure was too steep! And the quest didn¡¯t seem easy either, this Marlo fellow was too excitable. He had no idea how he would recruit him! How would¡­ Lex¡¯s thoughts were abruptly interrupted by Marlo who finally stoppedughing and pped his hands, upon which 15 uniformed, identical looking men entered the room and stood before each of the participants, a stoic look on their faces. ¡°These are my minions, ordered from Rent-a-minion! Each one of them will teach you how to defend against a certain kind of attack, and then attack you! The only way to stop is to sessfully block the attack! Otherwise they will not stop unless you pass out! So you better pay attention, and do your best!¡± Everyone was shocked! What kind of ss was it where they attacked the student until they passed out?! But before anyone could voice aint, each student was approached by a minion. The one that approached Lex showed him various moves he could use. The minion would try to distract him with a punch, and then trip him backwards by putting a leg behind Lex¡¯s and pushing him. Lex would first have to avoid the punch and then the attempt to trip him. He could do so by simply stepping back, blocking, evading, counterattacking and more. The minion, although not very talkative, spoke slowly and calmly, arge contrast to Marlo, and gave many demonstrations to Lex on each possible maneuver he could do. He repeated as many times as Lex asked, but when Lex asked something unrted to the content of the ss, such as what exactly was Rent-a-minion, the minion would not answer. Finally, after 20 minutes Lex felt ready to start. In this time many of the other students had already started, and they were all being taught to avoid different kinds of attacks. The onlymon theme was that everyone who had started was beaten up. One of the students, a young fellow, quickly asked to quit and said he wanted to stop. Unfortunately, the minion did not stop. He just kept attacking! Eventually the man identally tripped backwards and evaded the minions attack, triggering the condition for the minion to stop. As soon as he realized the minion had stopped, he ran out of the ss with a mix of crying and yelling at Marlo! Marlo however onlyughed and seemed to enjoy being scolded. All the other students however were thoroughly scared. That¡¯s why Lex made sure to absorb everything the minion had to teach before he started. The result? He gravely underestimated the speed of the minion and got punched right in the face, not even gaining the opportunity to avoid the rest of the attack! Fortunately, the punch didn¡¯t seem to hurt him and much as it hurt the other students, and other than being slightly shocked he was fine. The minions speed wasn¡¯t otherworldly or insanely fast, it was just the normal speed for someone trained inbat. As someone who had never been in a fight before though, Lex gravely underestimated just how fast that regr speed was. He picked himself up and readied himself for the minions next attack, fueled by a mix of vindictive energy aimed at the minion and a desire to seed. The second time he sessfully dodged the punch, but it was by pulling back too fast! That caused him to lose his bnce momentarily, a w the minion took quick advantage of! The third time, trying not to move in such a haphazard way asst time Lex tried to be more deliberate in his dodge, but was punched again! This continued for over an hour! Almost all the other students had seeded identally or passed out. Two of the students had seeded wlessly and were invited by Marlo for a private talk. Only Lex was still continuing at this point. It was mostly because the minions¡¯ attacks were unable to actually hurt Lex, though they did irritate him endlessly. He didn¡¯t get tired either from all the exercise, nor had his will to seed diminished! He even forgot about why he was doing this, his focus was only on being able to evade the minion perfectly. That wasn¡¯t to say he hadn¡¯t made progress. More than once he had actually dodged the minion and twice even blocked him, but Lex was never satisfied as he knew that so long as the fight continued after those 2 attacks his dodges and blocks left him in a bad position to continue. Eventually, Marlo stopped him, waking him from his reverie of practice. But when he stopped and looked towards Marlo, who was grinning at him malevolently, his entire body trembled. This giant dude was definitely crazy. Lex was worried for his future. Chapter 16 Introductions ¡°Excellent! EXCELLENT!¡± the madman roared as patted Lex on the shoulders with gusto, shaking him to his very core. Marlo¡¯s cultivation was definitely very high. ¡°I love it when a masochist joins the ss! They have so much energy, so much vigor!¡± ¡°I¡¯m not a masochist!¡± Lex quickly defended himself, but Marlo didn¡¯t seem to be paying attention. ¡°You can stop for today, I have other appointments to keep so I have to close down for now. The next ss is on Saturday, I hope I¡¯ll see you there. That¡¯s when the fun really begins. Oh, and all faction and organization members are wee to join my ss except Ultimate Fighting Fortress.¡± His expression suddenly darkened, and for a moment he seemed lost in thought, but quickly recovered. ¡°So if you are nning on joining someone you should not be worried thating to me might be a conflict of interest. My ss has quite the reputation. In fact, if you pass my ss before joining the army you can get recruited directly at the rank of Captain. It¡¯s quite beneficial.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t n on joining anyone at the moment,¡± Lex said, rubbing his aching shoulders. ¡°And I do n on continuing your sses. I am very attached to my life, you know, I¡¯d like to keep it if I can.¡± Marlo burst into a roaringughter at Lex¡¯sment, and gave Lex another pat on the back that sent him flying off the stage.. ¡°That¡¯s the spirit! See you Saturday then. The full self-defense course costs $1.7 million, you can pay upfront or sign a working use since you won¡¯t be having an organization sponsor you.¡± Marlo walked away, stillughing , the floor trembling at his footsteps, with a line of minions following him. Lex left, ignoring the fact that he had once again ripped his sneakers and tracksuit, thinking of ways he could recruit Marlo as a valet without revealing his identity. He seemed like a very straight forward man, but Lex would have to spend more time with him to figure out his personalitypletely. It was currently Thursday morning, so the next ss was two days away. It was enough time for him to n how to try and get closer to the excitable giant. He returned home and went directly into the shower. It urred to him that he wasn¡¯t hurt at all, and he was only sore where Marlo had patted him, whereas everyone else who had left the session looked considerably harmed. He smiled. Regal Embrace was already impressive, and it would only get better as he raised his cultivation. The next two days went by quickly. Bastet and Fk still had not made an appearance and no one had used his golden key, so there was no progress there. He had however spent a lot of time nning on what he would take with him when he traveled to the other world for the first time. He didn¡¯t want to be too conspicuous so he had prepared a backpack with a first aid kit, a swiss army knife, a shlight, some rations and a firestarter. He would add more things as he thought of them, and currently he was too poor or unqualified for Spirit Tech that might be useful. He had also spent more time trying to get used to his strength. He exercised for strength control and yed video games for delicate control, trying to avoid breaking his controller (that¡¯s totally the only reason he pulled an all nighter ying games). Finally Saturday morning he went back to Marlo¡¯s follow up ss and surprisingly only two other people from the previous 15 showed up, a young woman Lex hadn¡¯t really talked with and surprisingly Larry. Larry was one of those who had been beaten till he passed out, and judging from his behavior before ss Lex hadn¡¯t expected him to be so dedicated as toe back for another ss. But here he was, bruised but smiling and trying to flirt with the woman. ¡°Lex my good man, good to see you again! I knew you were a tough one when I saw you, unlike all the others who ran away. Comee, let me introduce you. This is Matilda, she cleared her trainingst time pretty quickly.¡± ¡°Hello,¡± Matilda said, her tone very formal, as she looked at Lex. It was clear that although Larry had been trying to get closer to her, she didn¡¯t want to be too familiar. Matilda was a fair bit shorter than the two of them, and healthier too, but she had a handsome face. ¡°Is it just us or will more peoplee?¡± Lex asked after greeting Matilda, but Larry shook his head. ¡°I expect more won¡¯t join. Honestly, Marlo has a bit of a reputation. His training gets only tougher as it progresses and if you don¡¯t have a strong mentality you can¡¯t really get through. Most people just want to pass his ss because you get better perks from your organization if you do, but passing it is not easy.¡± ¡°Is that why you¡¯re here?¡± Lex asked. He was slightly curious about Larry now, and it wasn¡¯t a bad idea to try and develop a few connections of his own. A potential future army captain wasn¡¯t a bad person to know. ¡°Me? I guess you could just say I¡¯m trying to make the most of my time¡­¡± Larry¡¯s usually chipper wasced with a tinge of defeat and exhaustion as he said so, but he quickly recovered as if nothing happened. ¡°What about you, my talented fellow? When I left you were still taking quite the beating, I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d see you again.¡± ¡°I just want to learn how to defend myself. I don¡¯t know much about the cultivation world, but everything I¡¯ve heard and seen makes me think it¡¯s a very dangerous ce.¡± ¡°INDEED!¡± came a roaring voice from behind them, followed by the hulking Marlo with his trademark grin. ¡°Life is hard and living is harder. A man must know how to defend himself. A woman more so!¡± Compared tost time, when Marlo was dressed casually, this time he came wearing a suit. His hair was properly kempt and he had a clean shave. Though his eyes were still filled with madness, he looked much more civilized. ¡°Once again I would like to wee you to Marlo¡¯s Self Defense for new cultivators. Just by being here today, you have proven yourself worthy of the title of cultivators. Just by being here today, you have earned the right to tell me your names. Just by being here today you have earned the right to hear my self-introduction.¡± Marlo paused and took a look at his three future students, carefully studying each one of their faces as if he was etching them into his memory forever. ¡°You may have done your own research about me before joining this ss, but nheless I will tell you a little bit about myself so you know whose hands you will be in in the future.¡± He paused for a moment, looking at his small audience, before continuing with a hint of solemnity in his voice. ¡°My name is Hanson Marlo Bravi III. The IIIes not from my family having predecessors with the same name, but is something I added myself for each time I faced death and emerged victorious. For each time I emerged a new, stronger man. ¡°The first time was when I was eight years old, and my vige was attacked by a pack of jackals that had gone through spiritual awakening. For hours I escaped through the wilderness, sometimes running, sometimes tumbling, carrying a newborn child with me until I eventually ran into an army unit conducting training in the wild. I led them back to my vige, only to discover nothing left. Only the child and I survived.¡± He paused once again, his grinpletely gone from his face this time as looked his three students in their eyes. He studied their expressions in silence, then he continued. ¡°The second time was when I was 28 years old, during the Australian Beast tide of 1981. A new Beast Alpha was expanding its territory and many other Alphas were using that opportunity to expand their own territories. I was a member of the Nosso private military at the time, and we were stationed near where the Beast Tide originated. Four days,¡± Marlo paused again, to give emphasis to his words. ¡°When the Beast Tide emerged our base was overwhelmed and for four days I was stuck in what was a red zone, surrounded by enraged beasts with no knowledge of what was going on as we had lostmunication. Out of the entire army base, I was the only survivor. When the UN response team found me, I was hiding in the carcass of an Inner Core level beast that I had killed. At the time I had only just entered the Foundation Realm.¡± Larry visibly trembled when he heard Marlo and Matilda¡¯splexion visibly paled. Lex was also quite shocked; an Inner Core level beast was equivalent to a Golden Core cultivator. ¡°The third time was during the war of 99 between Navo Corp. and the Pelican Sect in Western Europe. Navo Corp had provoked quite a few people here in the US as well, and I was acting as an escort for a diplomatic mission to France to see if we could potentially ally to put pressure on them, but were ambushed en route. 36 Golden Core experts against a team of 9. That incidentter came to be known as The Day of the Red Dawn. Every time a Golden Core expert dies the sky is covered in a red hue by the spirit energy released from the body, and that day the sun rose to a red sky. ¡°Every time I¡¯ve been closest to death, it was during something unforeseen. It was during something no one could have predicted, but that didn¡¯t change the fact that any of those incidents could have killed me. That is why a man must know how to defend himself, and how to survive. The world is a tough ce and dying in it is the easiest thing to do, it¡¯s surviving and living on that¡¯s hard.¡± Chapter 17 What is self defense? Lex found it hard to believe that the giant in front of him could be so profound, but it was exactly that giant¡¯s life and his words that gave him goosebumps. Dying was easy, living was hard. At first it was a strange thought, but it reminded Lex of all the struggles he¡¯d ever had in life. He recalled the worst and toughest parts of his life. Although his life up till now was very ordinary, no one could im there weren¡¯t parts of it where he felt very miserable. Living truly was difficult sometimes, but it was worth it. He was ready to go through harder difficulties for an even better life. ¡°Now one by one, introduce yourselves. Give as much or as little detail as you want, it doesn¡¯t matter.¡± ¡°Ladies first,¡± Larry quickly said as he looked towards Matilda with an honest smile. Her lips twitched but she controlled her annoyance and focused on Marlo.. ¡°My name is Matilda Ross. I am 22 years old and inherited my cultivation method in my brother¡¯s will. I want to continue on this path and not only survive, but also flourish. But first I need to focus on survival, so I am here to learn how to do that.¡± Marlo gave the woman an epting nod, his expression still serious. Lex almost found it unusual to see the man without some manic expression. ¡°I guess I¡¯m next huh?¡± said Larry with a hint of reluctance. ¡°I have a bit of ambition you could say. I want to do big things, and for that I need a solid start. Going through this ss will really help with that so I¡¯m here.¡± He smiled weakly at his fellow students, as if trying to portray a weak determination. ¡°My name is Larry Dershaw,¡± he finished, his volume lowering almost to a whisper, yet its effect was drastic. Marlo¡¯s expression changed to that of surprise, as if he had heard something truly unexpected. After a moment though, Marlo¡¯s expression returned to its former serious state, and he made a shortment, ¡°A man can be defeated but he cannot give up. Your journey may be long but every breath you take is a victory against your enemies.¡± After that all three of them turned to look at Lex, who was slightly distracted. It seemed Larry had a story behind him, and Matilda too for that matter. But thinking about that was forter, right now he had to focus. ¡°My name is Lex Williams, I am 23 years old and I was only just introduced to the world of cultivation. I don¡¯t have any grand ambitions or anything like that. I just feel like the world is very dangerous, and that if I am not prepared for it I won¡¯t even know how I died. The difference between what the world is really like and I used to think it was is too big. I want to be better prepared.¡± Lex¡¯s words were very simple, and he tried to downy his life as well as himself so that no one would think anything interesting is going on in it. He thought he had done a good job. The look on Marlo¡¯s face, however, said otherwise; he had a knowing smirk on his face as he eyed Lex up and down. It was quite a contrast to how he responded to the previous two, but he made noments. Eventually, he addressed all three together. ¡°Matilda, Larry, Lex, the three of you have an admirable will to show up here afterst ss. You have also demonstrated a knowledge of your current weaknesses, as well as a desire to improve. To me that is admirable, but actions are the best way tomunicate. Take these and sign them to officially start your sses. The training period will be a total of three months, during which you are not allowed to miss any sses. If you cannot attend a ss or need to miss an activity you will have to inform me prior with a good reason, otherwise it will be deemed as a vition of your contract. I¡¯ve said this before and I¡¯ll say it again, I have a reputation to uphold. Anyone who has attended my ss has a 87% better survival ratepared to other cultivators in up to level Blue danger situations. I won¡¯t have that number drop because a student is toozy toplete my training.¡± Marlo handed the three contracts and gave them time to review them. The contract only had a few main points, first about the payment and the forms eptable. The preferred method was actually 1 bloodline stone, after which were 5 spirit stones, after which was cash and finally an employment contract if you were unable to pay. It also epted sponsorships from any organization that might be backing the student. The second use was that if a student were to miss a single ss without sufficient reason he would be immediately expelled and could not im any rtion to Marlo or his self-defense ss under penalty ofw. The third use was an unusual one; it stated that so long as a student attended even a single paid ss with Marlo, even if they did not continue with the full course, the student was not allowed to join an organization called Ultimate Fight Fortress, and if this use were to be vited Marlo reserved the right to challenge the student to Legal Trial by Combat (LTC). Lex didn¡¯t know what that meant, but a quick search on the Bluebird portal told him it was basically a government sanctioned death fight. Whoever participated could kill the opponent inbat if they wished, suffering no convictions or punishments. The rest of the contract was pretty basic, and covered stuff like Marlo would not be responsible for injuries caused during training etc. After going through it Lex signed it, only to realize everyone else had already done so and were waiting for him. Finally, once the formalities (signing, setting up payment ns or methods etc.) werepleted Marlo brought them back to the arena where 3 minions were waiting for them. ¡°As of now, for the next three months, we have officially established a rtionship as students and as a teacher. Before we begin training practically, I would like to impart some of my experience onto you. The most important thing to teach you is what self defense actually is, and what it looks like for you now, and what it will look like for you in the future. ¡°Some of you may have an image in your head that we will be learning martial arts, or some form of hand to handbat, but that is a misconception. Whilebat skills are absolutely essential, you must realize thatbat between cultivators and mortals is very different. Right now you are basically just a slightly stronger mortal, if you will. This is because in the Body Tempering stage there aren¡¯t really any cultivation skills you can use. Later on, however, you will learn them and be able to use them. That doesn¡¯t, however, mean that right now you won¡¯t encounter an enemy that can¡¯t use cultivation skills. ¡°How do you deal with a situation where you encounter an enemy who can use cultivation skills? How do you deal with an enemy who is in the same realm, but higher level than you? What do you do if you encounter a beast? How do you deal with a hostile mortal carrying a gun? How to survive if you are being targeted by a spirit formation? If you are being poisoned? How to defend yourself when suffering from legal persecution? I will cover the basics on everything I have mentioned so far, and teach you with varying depths how to react in those situations. Everything that is a part of your sybus is a result of my direct personal experiences and I will do what I can to teach you how to react in those situations. Of course, this is only a beginners course so I will only cover stuff to a certain degree. If you wish to learn to a greater level, you can take up my intermediate and advanced coursester as well.¡± Lex had to admit, he was fairly impressed by Marlo. The man was extremely professional, and had not let his hysterical tendencies loose during the ss so far. It was no wonder he was so reputable. ¡°Let me ask you all a question. In any given situation, what do you think self-defense looks like?¡± The three students looked at one another, before Larry hesitantly answered, ¡°Ensuring your own survival¡­¡± Before Larry could finish his answer Marlo let out a deafening roar ¡°WRONG! Self defense means to kill your opponent as quickly and efficiently as possible! If the source of your danger is dead, then by default you are safe!¡± Marlo burst into a loud and hystericalughter after he finished saying. It was extremely brief, almost as if Lex had imagined itpletely, but it seemed as if the minions looked at the three students with eyes full of pity. Lex felt like beating himself up for believing Marlo was professional. The man was a giant child hopped up on a dozen energy drinks. Lex was once again worried for his future. Chapter 18 Preparing for the new World Once the giant man was doneughing he looked at the somewhat defeated faces of his three new students and grinned. ¡°Of course, this definition doesn¡¯t yet apply to you, yet. Right now you are weak. The ideal scenario for you right now is to hole up somewhere and steadily increase your cultivation to Qi training at the very least. Even if you go ahead and join an organization they would not put you through any dangerous situation so as to avoid needless casualties, but life is unpredictable. Situations can change quickly. So the question is, if you find yourself in a dangerous situation, what should you do?¡± Marlo¡¯s words were phrased as a question but he did not wait for an answer, instead he signaled his three minions who quickly quickly picked up an assorted pile of wooden panels and began putting together what seemed like a maze. ¡°Your first, and MOST important lesson will begin now. It won¡¯t cover something as mundane asbat. The most important aspect of self defense for you all is to learn to analyze and identify dangerous situations, and quickly map out your best course of actions.¡± The madman grinned, as was his norm, like a psychopath. ¡°This is always my favorite lesson.¡±. The three students trembled and the look of pity on the minions faces was tant now. ***** It was 7 pm when Lex got home and though it was not sote in the day, Lex could not remember when he had been so exhaustedst. He didn¡¯t have the energy to shower properly so he justy in the bath and began filling it with warm water. He closed his eyes and let his thoughts wander, asionally appreciating how the water seemed to massage his sore muscles. Yes, his ¡®sore muscles¡¯. Marlo had noticed how the minions on the same cultivation level as him didn¡¯t seem to push him much, so he had undergone his training with minions at the 7th stage of Body Tempering. Most of his bruises had already healed on the way home, but when he left Marlo¡¯s arena even his own mother would not have recognized him. Larry wasn¡¯t much better than him. Matilda, to Lex¡¯s great surprise, performed exceedingly well and Marlo had decided to give her lessons separate from the two boys so that she wouldn¡¯t be held back by their level. Lex was a little annoyed, not at Marlo or his training or anything of that sort. His annoyance was focused on the cultivation novels he¡¯d read. In just a few lines the novels dered the MC would train for months or years on end, always pushing himself to the limit beyond any of his peers. It seemed so easy on paper. Yet the novels never missed the gritty details of how difficult training was. It never mentioned the feeling of constantly being out of breath, of feeling extreme heat, of hearing your own heart beat so loud it was hard to focus on anything else. The novels never mentioned how sticky it felt to be in sweaty clothes all day, or how draining it was not just physically but also mentally. Lex keptining to himself until he slowly drowsed away in the tub. He was woken up with a start when he heard his phone ring! He hadn¡¯t even realized when he¡¯d fallen asleep and now his bathtub was overflowing, flooding his bathroom. Quickly he turned off the water and unplugged the bathtub drain to let some of the water flow out. After rubbing his eyes and trying to rouse himself a bit, he reached for his phone. It was a call from his youngest sister. ¡°Hey Moon,¡± he answered in a teasing voice, ¡°is it snowing in the Sahara? How did you remember to call me?¡± His youngest sister, who was probably 16, or 15 (he wasn¡¯t sure, he didn¡¯t remember exactly) wasn¡¯t actually called Moon, it was just a nickname she had since she was young. ¡°Ha ha very funny!¡± Moon answered in an annoyed voice. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be calling if you weren¡¯t causing trouble everywhere. When are youing to visit? You know mom and dad are very angry at big sister Liz but she won¡¯t listen to them about anything so they just spend all their timeining to me. You know she only listens to you. When are youing home? I can¡¯t take much more of this, I¡¯m telling you! If you don¡¯te home soon I¡¯m going to tell mom we should all visit you in New York!¡± ¡°No, don¡¯t!¡± Lex didn¡¯t know whether tough or cry. He had a bit of an unusual family, his parents were archeologists, but not the kind that worked in one ce. They worked with various groups and had to travel all over the world for their projects, as such his childhood was filled with traveling all over the world and he was mostly homeschooled. When he was younger he enjoyed it quite a bit, but eventually he got tired of constantly traveling so when he left for college he had bepletely independent. His two younger sisters however stuck with his parents, even though he had offered to let them live with him and attend school or college here. His older sister Belle also chose to stay with their parents. Anyway, it had been a few years since he stopped traveling with his family and now whenever they visited they would nitpick everything he did or didn¡¯t do. It was best to meet them outside of New York. ¡°I¡¯m a little busy with work, it¡¯s not easy to get a leave. I¡¯ll visit you guys as soon as I get the chance,¡± Lex tried to appease his little sister and spent some time catching up with her. Moon was mostly just calling to let him know that the family was missing him, but everyone was a little too proud to admit it. He promised he¡¯d call everyone and take some time to catch up. Eventually he hung up and looked at the time. It was 10:30 pm, he¡¯d slept for around 3 hours in the tub but already felt much better. He wasn¡¯t at 100% but he wasn¡¯tpletely drained like he was when he got home. He ordered himself some pizza and sat on a table and thought about the new world he would be visiting soon. He would be able to use the Golden Ticket again on Tuesday and he nned on using it the same day. His preparations were almostplete but his training today made him realize that he should at least carry some kind of weapon with him in case of an emergency. Buying Spirit Tech was out of the question, but he should be able to get some kind of weapon from Marlo during his next ss on Monday. Marlo had mentioned that his students could buy gear from him at a discount if they wished as he was also a certified trader. A surprising thing Lex learned about Marlo was that the eager giant was very industrious. He ran multiple businesses and side hustles. Today his formal attire was not because of ss but because he had arrived directly from some kind of meeting. He could also use that opportunity to ¡°identally¡± drop a hint that Lex was expecting some kind of fortuitous encounter and use that to build some kind of trust with the giant. He would use that as a foundation to somehow slip the giant a key to enter the Inn. He hadn¡¯t worked out the details yet but he had a vague n. ¡°Mary, can you tell me what the process of connecting to another world is like? How will I choose another world and what will the connecting process be like?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± said Mary cheerily as she appeared in the air in front of him. ¡°When you tear the Golden Ticket you will get a list of a few habitables within the Inn¡¯s current range, with some basic details about the such as the spiritual energy density, what kind of environment to expect etc. As for the details of what kind of beings inhabit the, you will have to find out for yourself when you visit. You can however make guesses, such as if the has temperatures and spiritual energy simr to Earth you might find humans, whereas if the conditions are drastically different then it¡¯s almost impossible to find humans.¡± ¡°There are humans on others?¡± Lex asked in surprise. Honestly he was expecting some kind of aliens. Humans were a species that evolved on Earth (as far as he knew) so unless Earth colonized theses he was honestly not expecting to see more humans. Bastet and Fk also supported his theory that he would be able to find intelligent aliens on others. ¡°Checking authority¡­surprisingly, you have enough authority to receive this information as it pertains to guests you can receive. In this universe, as long as any species exists for even a moment, the foundations of its existence be a core of the universe. That means, anytime an environment that can support the existence of that species urs thews of the universe naturally propagate its natural birth and creation. That means humans, for example, exist on multiples across the universe. However, just because the can support the life and existence of humans does not mean all humans have the same traits. ¡°Humans born on a with higher gravity will eventually evolve to adapt to it. Humans born on a that has 99% of its surface covered in water will evolve to be able to breath under water. There are numerous examples of this, which means there are various subspecies of humans across the universe. In fact, to you it seems like you are the normal version of humans, but that may not be necessary. ¡°Of course, this applies to other races as well. So across the universe you will encounter different versions of some intelligent species, and it is difficult to guess which will be the mostmon species to be your guests. This may also sometimes lead to conflicts between guests of different species, this is something you need to be aware of and prepare for.¡± ¡°Got it,¡± said Lex. For now his options were limited so there wasn¡¯t really anything to prepare. ¡°The range ofs avable for you depends primarily on your cultivation, the higher the cultivation the greater the range. Once you select a you will be transported to that, and will act as an anchor for the Inn to develop a connection to that. The connection building process may take anywhere from 1 day to 1 month to even a year, depending on how far it is. In the beginning, however, the connection process shouldn¡¯t be longer than a week at most as your range is currently very small.¡± Lex nodded, relieved that the process wouldn¡¯t take too long. Just to be safe though, he should also think of an excuse to give to Marlo in case he missed a ss. Chapter 19 New Planet: Vegus Minima Monday morning Lex arrived at Marlo¡¯s apartment bright and early. He lived in a penthouse downtown Manhattan so it was easy to find. They were all supposed to gather here and then travel together to the location for their next training session. It had to do with surviving in the wild, or something of vaguely that nature as Marlo had not been specific with the details. Lex however arrived an hour earlier than the designated time as he wanted to talk with Marlo alone before the other arrived. Lex was let in by someone he could only assume to be a butler, and escorted to where Marlo was resting. He found Marlo sittingfortably in a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, with his eyes closed, his feet in a bucket of what Lex could only assume was some kind of elixir and having his temples rubbed by a rather beautiful woman. She was an olderdy, clearly, but her wless skin and indifferent temperament made it difficult for Lex to guess her age. Could this be Marlo¡¯s wife? ¡°You¡¯re early. I¡¯m assuming that¡¯s on purpose?¡± Marlo asked, though he still kept his eyes closed. His tone and voice were rather normal, which was something Lex waspletely not used to, but he did not let this fool him into thinking the giant would not switch to his excitable personality at a moment¡¯s notice. He still had to be careful in what he said. ¡°Yes, there were a couple of things I needed to talk to you about.¡± He nced at thedy massaging him, wondering if it was okay to talk in front of a stranger, but she did not seem like she was going anywhere. ¡°Don¡¯t be shy,¡± Marlo said when he noticed Lex pausing. ¡°This is my foster mother, she¡¯s treating an old wound of mine. You can say what you want in front of her, trust me she doesn¡¯t care.¡± The woman continued with her massage,pletely indifferent to being talked about, as if to prove Marlo¡¯s point. Lex was shocked. Marlo was already in his 60¡¯s, something Lex knew from when Marlo introduced himself, yet his mother didn¡¯t look old at all. In fact, Marlo, despite looking very fit and energetic, looked like the older one of the two. Lex suppressed his surprise and focused back on the matter at hand. ¡°I need some kind of a weapon, something I can use in case I encounter some trouble, and I need it today.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Marlo eximed in an amused tone. ¡°Expecting some kind of trouble are we? That was quicker than I expected, if I¡¯m being honest. When I saw howmitted you were to taking a beating in our first ss I had a feeling you¡¯d be interesting. It¡¯s rare to see someone somitted without adequate motivation spurring them.¡±. Marlo paused for a moment, as if in thought, but then continued, ¡°Getting a weapon shouldn¡¯t be a problem, it all depends on your budget. That¡¯s the great thing about America, eh? It¡¯s as if people will almost be offended if you don¡¯t buy a weapon every now and then. What are you thinking? A gun? A dagger? A rocketuncher?¡± Marlo¡¯s casualness while discussing such matters brought a new kind of pressure on Lex. This guy was way too cool right? Selling a rocketuncher as soon as someone asked for a weapon? ¡°A de, or something quiet and that won¡¯t attract too much attention. While you¡¯re at it, some discrete kind of body armor would also be nice if it¡¯s avable.¡± ¡°Anything else? Tactical equipment of some kind? Night Vision goggles?¡± ¡°No no that¡¯s enough. Furthermore, I might not be able to make it to the next ss. Although it¡¯s unlikely, I thought I should give you a heads up anyway in case I¡¯m not able to make it back in time.¡± Marlo chuckled, as if Lex had told him a great joke. ¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind. I¡¯ll be looking forward to your return. It¡¯s always disappointing when a student disappears, especially an entertaining one.¡± Lex could almost hear the excitement in Marlo¡¯s voice being suppressed. It was clear the giant wanted to burst into his trademarkughter but was keeping himself from doing so. It seemed no matter the age, everyone had to behave in front of their mothers. ***** Tuesday Lex found himself resting in awn chair at the Inn with Velma serving him breakfast early in the morning. The food at the Inn really was better than getting home delivery, Lex had discovered, and he enjoyed it every opportunity he got. asionally he would still crave the junk food from Earth, and though that could also be made by Velma, there was just something special about home delivery. That was not the focus though for now. Right now Lex was waiting for the Systems notification that he could reuse the Golden Ticket. He was dressed in a tracksuit with a synthetic spirit armor under his shirt, and next to him was his backpack. Strapped to his left leg was a military knife with a spirit formation engraved into it that would allow it to heat up when used, making it easier for it to pierce and slice through things.The knife cost him a heavy $30,000 but that was nothingpared to the $400,000 that the armor cost. The armor could block basic attacks from an early Qi training cultivator, and was great at blocking sharp attacks below that level. He also kept enough rations to survive for a week. Just to be safe, he also bought himself two bottles of Bom Dew, in case he got injured. Those he left in the System inventory as they could be stored there. He had already put on the Bathroom Slippers, the item that would protect him from environmental damage when traveling to a new in case he forgot to equip it when he left. His Fancy Monocle had its database further updated using the Bluebird Portal, and he had already equipped that as well. This would be the first time he would be traveling to another world, he would take all the precautions necessary. Finally, after a few hours, he received a System Notification: Host can now use the Golden Ticket! Instantly a Golden Ticket appeared in his hand and, after appreciating its beauty for a moment, he tore it. Simr tost time the pieces started to shine and disappear, but different fromst time a panel appeared in front of him with two names on it. Lex¡¯s lips twitched. The System could never let a serious matter stay serious. But he ignored thement and asked Mary, ¡°What is this Star rating?¡± ¡°The Star rating is the cultivation environment on the. Earth¡¯s environment has been greatly damaged for some reason and now can only allow cultivators upto a certain level to grow. A 1 Star rating is the average star rating for a, while a 3 Star rating means that the amodates certain biomes that contain extremely precious materials that can be considered rare treasures. It also has a higher average spirit level and can allow cultivators to grow to a higher level. For reference, the Star level of the Inn is at 1 Star currently.¡± Lex nodded, currently he could not sense spirit energy so he could notpare but he did always feel the environment at the Inn was better than on Earth. He returned his attention to the list and looked at his options. The decision seemed pretty easy for now. Choosing Helios seemed dangerous, not only because of the environment but also because he was more likely to encounter higher leveled cultivators ergo he would encounter more danger. Without any further hesitation he put on his backpack and decisively selected Vagus Minima. He was enveloped in a bright, warm light and then disappeared. When he reappeared he found himself on a small hill with dark clouds covering the sky so he couldn¡¯t really see much. The weather, although a little windy, seemed normal and the air fresh. It seemed he wouldn¡¯t need the Bathroom Slippers. While he was looking at his environment and taking everything, his Fancy Monocle instantly shed ¡°Warning!¡± in big bright letters. ¡°Threat identified! Exact species: Unknown! Closest identifiable match: Zombies!¡± ¡°WHAT?!¡± blurted Lex, but before he had time to process what the Fancy Monocle told him, a swarm of zombies appeared before him! They were heading straight for him, and their numbers were not low! Chapter 20 Zombie Slayer Lex panicked and jumped backwards as fast as he could, quickly transitioning into a run. The hill was covered in tall grass and randomly growing bushes which made it hard for him to run, not to mention the dark making it difficult for him to see. After running for a few moments when he looked back he noticed that the zombies were moving pretty slowly, and he had opened up a gap between himself and the swarm. Now, at a distance, he calmed down a little from his initial panic and his brain started working again. Instantly his thoughts went back to the training he had received from Marlo during their first official training. He had to assess the situation and quickly determine the best course of action for himself. He was in an unknown environment, with hostiles iing, and he did not know their strength or numbers. The terrain on the hill made it difficult for him to see and move, which admittedly also hindered the zombies, hopefully, but it also prevented him from seeing theming towards him. He also didn¡¯t know if all zombies were all slow as the ones chasing him, or if there were any faster ones. He had to¡­ A hand suddenly gripped his ankle and Lex let out an involuntary scream in fright! He looked down to see a zombie with only an upper torso lying in the grass. With its arm that had gripped him, it was pulling itself closer to bite onto his leg! Lex let out another scream and kicked the zombie on its head, but the zombie¡¯s head was harder than he expected and he tripped instead! He started panicking again as he fell, and when he turned to look at his leg he was horrified to find the zombie barring its ugly teeth and chomping down towards his leg! He was frozen in horror! There was too little time, there was nothing he could do! Then¡­then nothing. The zombie tried to bite his leg but couldn¡¯t break through his skin! In that moment Lex was flooded with relief, which was instantly followed by wrath! Without any hesitation he drew the knife strapped to his leg and stabbed the zombie in the skull, instantly killing it. Lex pulled his leg free to observe to see if there was a wound, but all he saw was a hole torn in his tracksuit pants and his leg covered in dirty saliva. That was close, he didn¡¯t intend to risk another bite to see if his skin¡¯s defense kept up. He had to find his way to a clearing, this tall grass was an excellent ce for zombies to hide! The system that had been quiet so far gave out a notification:. Sudden Quest: Kill 20 zombies before returning to Midnight Inn! Quest status: 0/20 zombies killed Quest rewards: 1000MP Quest failure punishment: none Lex scoffed and without wasting any time got up and started running again, vignt this time for any surprise visits from zombies. He liked getting MP but right now he wasn¡¯t willing to take any risks. He kept looking in the distance to see if he could find any signs of habitation, so many zombies definitely meant there was or at least used to be a human settlement nearby. And indeed, after he actively started looking for signs he noticed houses in the distance. Lightning shed in the sky, followed by a p of thunder. It seemed like it was going to rain soon, and the sound from the rain should cover the sound of him running, but his visibility would be reduced even further. He should¡­ His foot fell into a pothole he missed in the darkness and he tripped again. Suddenly Lex felt like forgiving every clumsy character in a horror movie he had ever seen, he was not much better! ¡°Focus!¡± he told himself and picked himself back up, ready to run again, only to freeze. Three zombies slowly walked out in front of him from some bushes, if he hadn¡¯t tripped he would have run right into them without realizing. He turned to look behind him to see if he could find a way to run around the zombies, but although he could not see any figures he could hear zombies moving in the dark. He felt conflicted, should he go try and fight the zombies or look for a different route and risk running into even more of them, when he remembered one of Marlo¡¯s lessons shed in his mind, ¡°Hesitation means death!¡±. He turned to look at the zombies with a look of determination. He didn¡¯t really need to kill them, just bypass them. In a swift motion he took off his backpack and threw it at the zombie closest to him. The zombie was momentarily blinded by the iing backpack, and then stumbled backwards into the zombie behind when it was hit. Lex took advantage and bolted, grabbing the backpack with his free hand and swung it hard at the final zombie, knocking it over. He took the opportunity to stab the zombie that had fallen down in its head, and quickly ran past the other two that were starting to reorient themselves. The entire interaction from when Lex saw the zombies to when he escaped took maybe ten seconds, but Lex¡¯s heart was beating as if he had just ran a marathon. He was feeling a mix of fear, excitement and sess. But he had only a moment to enjoy the feeling as he noticed more bushes in his path shaking, as if something was trying to go through them. There was no time to waste. He started running towards the buildings at full speed, this time keeping an eye on his footing as well as the obstructions in his path. At this rate he would be able to reach the buildings in a few minutes. As he got closer he noticed arge, broken fence behind which seemed to be roads. It appeared he was in a park. He grinned, he was almost out. Then he came to a screeching halt. Of course his luck couldn¡¯t be so perfect. From behind a tree in his path a zombie stepped out and looked at him, as if observing him. This zombie wasrger than the ones he had seen before, and its actions seemed to be deliberate instead of instinctual like the previous ones. It was hiding behind a tree, waiting for him, instead of stumbling towards him like the rest, and even now it was holding back its instincts by just standing there and observing him. Lex instantly decided to treat this zombie as if it were stronger than the others, and smarter too. This was definitely an upgrade in danger, but Lex couldn¡¯t afford to wait. He had to deal with this zombie in its path right now, lest the ones behind him catch up and surround him. Likest time, Lex took off his backpack in one swift motion and threw it towards the zombie to distract it. But the tactic didn¡¯t work, the zombie dodged the backpack and let out a viscous growl as it lurched at Lex. The fight began instantly. Lex did his best to dodge all of the zombies attacks as he couldn¡¯t afford to get scratched, while the zombie blocked all of Lex¡¯s attacks with its limbs. With Lex¡¯s strength he should have been able to cut through a normal zombie, but the de would get stuck every time he hit bone. They had only a few exchanges, but every moment Lex felt the pressure building up. If more zombies caught up he would be dead! There¡¯s no way he could fight an entire swarm, and this particr zombie was fast enough that if Lex tried to run he would instantly be caught. A dilemma! How should he solve it? What should he do? Lex tried to think of solutions but all his focus was on dodging the zombie, how was he supposed to do anything else? After a couple more attempts at stabbing the zombie failed, Lex made up his mind. He didn¡¯t think about it, he didn¡¯t n it, but instinctively he knew that he couldn¡¯t afford to wait any longer and had to take a risk if he wanted to escape. He grabbed the dagger with all his strength as he eyed the zombie, waiting for it¡¯s next attack. When the attack came, instead of dodging, Lex lunged at the zombie so that its w would fall on his chest where his synthetic armor could help block the blow, and used all his strength to stab the zombie through the eye. The dagger stabbed the zombie but at the same time Lex felt its w smash his chest, blowing the air right out of his lungs and throwing him in the distance. Pain! Sharp pain shot through his chest and he instantly knew that he had broken at least a few ribs. He summoned a bottle of Bom Dew and drank it, hoping to quickly heal. Much to his chagrin he didn¡¯t instantly feel a warm feeling in his chest or his ribs healing, like he read in the novels, but right now he didn¡¯t have the time to think about it. He looked at the zombie to find it lying motionless in the ground, his knife sticking out of his skull. With great difficulty he picked himself up, pulled out the knife, picked up his bag and limped towards the city. He had to hide as quickly as possible, he was not cut out for this zombie ying business. Chapter 21 Survival Lex¡¯s speed instantly picked up once he exited the park onto the cobblestone road. The style and architecture of the buildings was dramatically different from what Lex was used to on Earth, but he couldn¡¯t be bothered with that now. All he cared about was getting to some ce safe. The road, a wide single path cutting through the city, was littered withrge rectangr objects Lex could only assume were vehicles, though he saw no tires. There were no windows in the ¡°cars¡± either so he couldn¡¯t look through them and didn¡¯t know how to open them, so they were automatically disqualified as a hiding ce. The buildings, which were only a couple stories high, seemed as if they were cut out ofrge rocks as they had no joints or seams, and most importantly, no doors or windows! How was he supposed to get in? Lex continued limping in the darkness, further and further away from the park. Fortunately there didn¡¯t seem to be any living zombies roaming the roads. He said ¡°living¡± zombies because the roads seemed to be littered with dead, rotten bodies he could only assume were zombies. That made him feel at ease as that probably meant there were living humans clearing the¡­ A loud crash attracted his attention, which was followed by more banging. It seemed someone was fighting. After thinking for a moment, he slowly started moving towards the sound, doing his best to stay out of sight. If he found a few people he could possibly consider joining them.. In the few minutes that he had been walking his pain had reduced, however slight. That at least proved Bom Dew seemed to be effective, for now. Leaning against the cars for support and cover, he peeked around a corner to see if he could get a view of the fight. What he saw was not humans fighting zombies, instead he saw an eight feet giant monster that looked like it might have once been a lion viciously devouring a small horde of zombies. The zombies, moving with their usual slow pace, gathered around the lion and tried attacking it. They scraped and bit the lion but seemed to be doing no damage, while the lion casually bit the head of a zombie and seemed to be sucking something out of its body. The already decayed zombie shriveled up before the lion flung it away, crashing it into a nearby car, and bit the next one. Lex was horrified. Then he slowly started moving backwards. Although his steps were already light, he did his best to not make even the slightest bit of noise as he retreated. Every time his backpack would rustle he would be horrified! This world was too scary! The situation, however, did not seem to be improving. When he turned around, he saw several zombies walking towards the lion from the distance, and he was directly in their path! The loud noise of the fight was too prominent in the silent night. He had to get out of the line of sight immediately! Quickly he changed his direction and walked down a different street gripping his knife tightly, as if it was the only thing giving him courage. Lightning shed through the sky again, and the thunder that followed seemed to signal the start of a devastating storm. The rain started spontaneously and fell with such speed and ferocity that it would put a charging army to shame. It was around this time that he finally saw a building with a small portion of the wall copsed. Thanking his miserable luck finally turning, he stumbled towards the building and entered it. It waspletely dark now, and except for the few shes of lightning asionally Lex had no other source of light. He was a little fearful; he didn¡¯t want to enter the building without being able to see. What if he walked right into a zombie? It was then, like a revtion from the heavens, that he remembered that he had packed a shlight. Stumbling through his backpack, he searched for the light and turned it on. Not wanting to attract too much attention in the darkness he immediately entered the building into what he assumed was once a living room. Broken furniture and shattered ss covered the floor like rubble and the room showed clear signs of a fight. A few skeletonsy on the ground, broken and dismembered. The one thing the room did not have, however, was a door that led deeper into the house. The people of this world must have had some other way to enter and exit, Lex would have to figure that out somehow. For now though, he needed rest. Lex stumbled to a corner in the room and dragged the remains of a couch to cover him as he sat to rest out of sight. He closed the torch so as to not attract attention, but remained vignt in case he discovered zombiesing towards him. The knife was still gripped tightly in his hand. ***** A woman stood nervously in arge drawing room, dressed in a very formal looking suit, gripping her son¡¯s hand tightly. Her son, a small boy who stood beside her, looked around therge room in wonder and awe. Once the child had been in rooms much morevish than this, but he was young and memories even a few months old were too ancient for him let alone those from further back. His left hand was a little ufortable ¨C his mother was squeezing too tightly, but he did not say anything as he knew his mother would only do that when she was not feeling well. His mother was often not feeling well these days, she thought he didn¡¯t know but he could tell. He didn¡¯t know how to make her feel better though, he was only a child. Sometimes he would share his cereal with her, or save some candy he got from school to give to her. In his right hand the child was holding a golden key. It was a toy he¡¯d gotten from somewhere, he couldn¡¯t remember where, and he really liked it. Holding the key made him feel stronger, and sometimes when he was cold it would keep him warm. He tried to give his mother the key so she would feel better, but she was usually busy with other things. He kept the key with him always, so that when his mother was less busy he could give it to her. While the child was lost in his own thoughts, an old man entered the room with a male nurse helping him walk and a female nurse pulling an IV pole with a drip that was attached to the man¡¯s hand. The old man looked weak, but his eyes were filled with energy as he looked at the woman before him. ¡°Hera my child, it¡¯s good to see you, it¡¯s good to see you. What an age it¡¯s been since west met. Come closer, let me get a better look at you.¡± The man spoke jovially, and waved at the woman toe closer. ¡°I remember your wedding, such a happy day. Much happier times, those,¡± the old man said while reminiscing. ¡°Yes,¡± Hera said softly, trying her best not to let herself think back to then. Her husband had died, along with the rest of her family, and thinking back to happier days brought her more pain than relief. The old man in front of her was not really that old. He was in histe 50¡¯s, and at her wedding he had been strong and healthy. A rare disease in recent years had sapped most of his strength, leaving him in his current predicament. He was also an old family friend, the only one so far who had agreed to meet her. It was funny, so many of the people who she used to think were close to her had suddenly be distant after her family died and she was left destitute. Even when this old man, Will, agreed to meet she was scared he had some ulterior motives. Still, she had no choice but to give it a shot. ¡°This must be young Jimmy. Such a handsome young boy,¡± the old man said, looking at the child. But Jimmy suddenly moved behind his mother, as if hiding from him. Hera smiled weakly at the old man, as if to apologize about the child¡¯s behavior, but Will didn¡¯t seem to mind and only looked at them fondly. ¡°I was very surprised to hear from you. I hadn¡¯t heard about your family¡­I¡¯m¡­sorry to hear about them,¡± the man uttered with a forlorn voice. ¡°I would have reached out to you myself if I had known. My health keeps me upied, I barely meet anybody these days.¡± ¡°It¡¯s¡­alright,¡± Hera said with some difficulty. ¡°You have troubles of your own. Just agreeing to meet with me is a great favor¡­¡± ¡°Nonsense!¡± the old man interrupted. ¡°You¡¯re like family, child, like family. How could I let you stay out there all alone when I heard about what you¡¯re going through? You will stay with me, and I will help you get back on your feet. It¡¯s settled.¡± ¡°No that¡¯s not¡­¡± the woman tried to speak, it was not her intention to ept handouts, but the old man would not have it. ¡°None of this ¡®no that¡¯s not¡¯ business child, none of it. There¡¯s not much that this old man can do anymore, but that doesn¡¯t mean I will let family suffer out in the world alone. Your father was like my brother, your mother was like my elder sister. How would I face them if they were to find out I let you suffer so much? No child, you mustn¡¯t treat me like an outsider. You must stay, and keep this old manpany. It¡¯s been so gloomy in this house these past few years, your presence will liven the ce up.¡± Hera almost teared up, though she controlled herself quickly. The old man was insistent and stubborn, but she felt from him a caring warmth she hadn¡¯t in a long time. The child, who had been listening to everything so far, kept looking between the old man and his mother. It seemed like they would be living with him now, and somehow that made his mother happy. The child thought for a bit, then slowly crept out from behind his mother and approached the scary looking old man. He was skinny and wrinkly and had veins showing all over his body, but he was a good guy if he could make his mother happy. Finally, he held up the golden key to the old man and mumbled, ¡°for you.¡± The old man was taken aback by the shy child¡¯s gesture, but smiled and reached out to take the golden key. When he touched the key though, he was rocked to his very core as he stared at it in horror and excitement! Chapter 22 Risk Hera noticed the old man¡¯s body tremble, his pale face regain color and his weakness change into strength. Immediately she knew something had happened. She signaled Jimmy to hand over the key and quickly pulled him back to her side, but the old man didn¡¯t seem to notice. All of his attention was focused on the key that was now in his hand, and the subtle warmth it spread into his body. ¡°How many years?¡± the man mumbled to himself. ¡°How many years has it been?¡± In fact, the man did not need to wonder as he could probably recall down to the exact minute how long it had been since hest felt theforting warmth of spiritual energy course through his body. He broke from his reverie and looked at Hera and Jimmy with immeasurable excitement and glee before asking, ¡°Where did you get this? Do you know what it is?¡± Hera looked at the key and tried to recall. She had no memory of it, except that she had seen her son holding it whilst he slept at the apartment. Where could he have gotten it from except from there? ¡°Isn¡¯t it just a key? It was in the apartment when I moved in, it probably belonged to my father ¨C he was the only one who ever lived there before.¡± ¡°In your apartment? Thest bit of your inheritance, I assume?¡± Will asked, his smile growing as though he suddenly understood something. ¡°Hera child, have a seat. We have some business to discuss.¡± The old man satfortably, gripping the key tightly in his right hand, while he asked his nurse to make a call to hiswyer. While they waited the old man¡¯s home staff served refreshments and they all made small talk, though no one was too interested at the moment. The old man was clearly distracted by the key, while Hera was very curious as to what Will was thinking. She had no money and resources, if the key was something valuable the old man could take it and there was no way for her to fight back. He could even say the key was repayment for him taking care of her, but the old man insisted that business was business and family was family, the two should not mix.. Twenty minutester hiswyer finally came, along with an entire team of important looking people all with theirptops in hand, ready to work at a moment¡¯s notice. ¡°Hera dear, you must be confused so let me exin the situation first. This key,¡± the old man said, holding up the golden key in his hand, ¡°is more than it appears. In the hands of someone who does not understand its value, it is simply a trinket. However, in my hands it instantly bes something of inestimable value. To be exact, currently even I cannot urately determine what it¡¯s value should be. Determining that will take time and research. Despite that, I want to purchase it from you. I have two propositions for you, you can pick the one you think is more suitable for you. ¡°First, I can pay you a total sum of $100,000,000 to purchase it from you. After that I will be the owner, and whether the key ends up being more or less valuable has nothing to do with you. Second, I can pay you an initial sum of $1,000,000 and then take my time to determine its exact value, before paying you that amount. This way it could end up being more than $100,000,000 or it could be less. The risk is yours to take.¡± Thewyer and his team had immediately opened theirptops and started working whilst the old man talked, and even now. The environment was suddenly so drastically different Hera was not able to limate. She shook her head and looked at the old man in slight confusion. ¡°Uncle Will, if you didn¡¯t tell me about it I would never even know there¡¯s anything special about the key. You could have just taken it and I would not have said anything. Why did you tell me?¡± The old man chuckled when he heard Hera¡¯s question, and looked at the girl with a look of endearment. ¡°I¡¯m an old man, on the verge of death. What value does money have for me? One million or a hundred million, neither will keep me from dying, nor will they affect how I live my life. You, on the other hand, still have a long life ahead of you and a son to take care of. This money will seriously affect you everyday for the rest of your life, this decision will follow every other decision you will make for the rest of your life. How can Ick this little bit of virtue and steal from you, who is like my own daughter? You should make the decision you think is best for you and your child.¡± Hera heard the old man¡¯s words and felt moved. Her life had been so miserable recently, and she did not see any brightness in her futureing soon. But now, everything felt so different. She looked at her son, tears forming in her eyes again, and the child looked back at her. ¡°It¡¯s very nice,¡± the child mumbled, telling his mother about the key. ¡°It keeps me warm.¡± Hera nodded, as if understanding what the child was trying to tell her. She hugged the child as she was filled with determination. Since this opportunity was brought to her by her son, she would listen to him and take a risk with $1,000,000. ***** The sound of thunder woke Lex up, who had not realized at all he had fallen asleep. Fortunately, nothing bad happened while he was dozing off. Instead, his chest felt much better and all his pain was gone. He also felt more clear headed now that he had time to gather his wits and wasn¡¯t constantly trying to survive. He was most surprised to discover that instead of feeling fear or panic, he was feeling excitement! The heart pumping, adrenaline filled adventure that he had felt more enjoyable than anything he had ever done. Obviously at the time he was taken by surprise and didn¡¯t have the time to think of anything else, but now it was different. It was only now that he felt like he was in the cultivation world, and that he felt most alive when he was fighting for his life! He had to survive long enough to connect this world to the Inn, and he could do so by hiding and surviving off of the stuff he had in his backpack, but he no longer felt like hiding in the dark till he could escape. He pulled up his quest menu and took a look. Quests: New Quest: As the most renown Inn in the universe, the Midnight Inn does not only host the rich and the powerful! Setup and develop the Pro Bono wing of the Inn and ept your first Pro Bono guest! Remark: Keep working hard! If you raise your cultivation high enough, one day you¡¯ll be able to cast illusions to make yourself look better! Quest: With a great personality and abundant energy, Marlo is a great candidate to serve as a valet for the Inn! Hire Marlo as your first valet! Quest Time limit: 1 month (6/30 days) Quest Reward: 1 small staff dormitory, 1000MP, +1 Midnight Inn Level Quest failure punishment: -1000MP (if host is unable to pay, it will result in immediate death!) Sudden Quest: Kill 20 zombies before returning to Midnight Inn! Quest status: 2/20 zombies killed Quest rewards: 1000MP Quest failure punishment: none He had killed two zombies while escaping the park since he had received the quest, and had 18 more to go. Lex grinned with excitement. He could envision himself, sneaking in the dark like a ninja, stealthily killing zombies. But he was not a man who did things in a rush, he had to be prepared first. He opened his backpack and took out a few gran bars to fill himself up. Fighting, running and then healing must have exhausted his body, even if he could not feel it yet. He collected rain water in an empty water bottle he had and drank some to rehydrate himself. Finally, he took off his shirt and armor to get a better look at his chest and assess his condition. He had no bites or scratches anywhere so there was no chance of infection, but his chest was mostly pink and purple, even after all that healing. The bruises ached, but he could tell that his bones at least weren¡¯t hurt anymore. He assessed his equipment, and other than his knife he only had a swiss army knife which barely gave him an advantage inbat. The firestarter would be useless in the rain so the only thing he could use to help him was his fancy monocle and shlight. That suddenly reminded him of his fancy monocle, and how he had manually set it to only show him data he thought was relevant because otherwise it showed too much data ¨C but the monocle could not always determine what was relevant. He had the monocle analyze the entire building and give him all the details. The building was made of igneous rock, the furniture of some kind of wood, and there were pieces of identifiable metals all around. The rain water was normal and everything seemed to be ordinary. The monocle discovered no secret entrance hidden in the walls or some mechanism to make a door appear. Lex felt it was a pity, but it was probably because it had not yet had ess to any kind of database from this world yet. Regardless, there was nothing more he could do at the moment to prepare. Now was the time to actually go out and take some risks. Lex grinned. It was time to kill some zombies. Chapter 23 Exciting life of a Rookie Assassin To a degree Lex had be used to the darkness and could make out vague shapes in the distance. The constant rain made it difficult for him to hear any walking zombies, but simrly it stopped them from hearing him as well. Lex¡¯s eyes gleamed with excitement as he confirmed everything was set and stepped out of the building to begin his hunt. First and foremost, he would not hunt anywhere near the building he was in. He was treating that as his home base and didn¡¯t want to risk attracting a horde near it. Secondly, he moved in the opposite direction from where he saw the giant lion ¨C that was an enemy he wasn¡¯t yet ready to face. He carefully memorized his path as he moved further and further away, crouching behind the cars as he surveyed the city. Simr to what he encountered previously, all the zombies along his way were dead bodies on the ground. It took him a decent amount of time before he finally encountered a few ¨C three of them were standing in a daze staring towards a certain building. They were dripping wet from the rain, though that did not seem to bother them. Lex watched them for a while, but they didn¡¯t move. Either they knew there was prey in that building or they were just standing there, waiting till they heard an indication of life from anywhere. When he was certain they wouldn¡¯t move, he thought about how he should attack them, and repeated the movements in his head a few times. When he was certain, he moved towards the zombie closest to him without hesitation.. In one swift movement he grabbed it by the neck and stabbed it through the base of the skull. The zombie died just like that, without any struggle or noise. Carefully, Lexid the body down on the ground and moved swiftly towards the other two zombies. They were standing side by side so it would be difficult to kill one without alerting the other, so this time Lex didn¡¯t bother trying. He repeated the maneuver fromst time, grabbing the zombie¡¯s neck and stabbing it in the skull, but instead ofying the body on the ground Lex threw the body at the other zombie! Thest zombie was knocked over, and before it could do anything Lex stomped hard on its head, killing it instantly. The whole affair wasplete in less than ten seconds, but Lex¡¯s heart was beating like a drum, adrenaline coursing through his veins. The entire process was wless, he couldn¡¯t think of a way he could have performed better. These zombies were normal slow ones, and Lex called them regrs. Regrs seemed easy to kill so long as they weren¡¯t in arge group. It was the one he faced in the park at the end, mini-boss as Lex had temporarily named it, that was tough. Appearance wise the mini-boss didn¡¯t look too different from regrs, but it¡¯s actions were distinct and driven with purpose. Lex wanted to avoid those if possible, he was not yet good enough atbat to be confident enough to defeat it every time they fought. As for the lion beast, the big-boss, that Lex wanted to avoid at all costs. He had no idea how strong it was, but Lex didn¡¯t doubt that he would certainly die if he fought it. He inspected the three zombies to see if he could find anything on their bodies that could tell him more about this world, but s there was nothing ¨C there were barely any clothes so how could he expect to find anything else. Ignoring his disappointment, he continued on his journey to hunt. After searching for a short while he found another group, this time however there were many of them bunched together moving randomly through the street. There were too many of them and he thought he should avoid them, yet fate had other ns. He heard barking, and suddenly from the horde two zombified dogs came bolting towards him. For a moment Lex was filled with panic, an instinctual reaction, but he quickly overcame it and stared at the two dogs. He absolutely had to kill them, he couldn¡¯t risk letting them bite at him at all! His heartbeat elerated as he watched the two dogs run towards him and his body trembled with nervous energy. The dogs lurched at him, and in a split second he knew they were too close to one another. If he tried attacking one, he would in turn be attacked by the other. He jumped and rolled to his side dodging them, but reached a building with no more room to go that way. Before the dogs could turn and attack him again heunched himself at them, not wasting any time. Attacking their skull with the knife put him too close to their mouth, he didn¡¯t want to risk it, so he kicked the first dog as hard as he could on its body, trying to disable it. The first dog was thrown away but the second one used this time to turn and attack Lex. Once again he jumped and rolled away, feeling slightly like a character from a certain, extremely difficult video game he¡¯d yed (any guesses?) to dodge the dog¡¯s attack. From the corner of his eye he noticed that the horde of zombies had started moving towards him! He didn¡¯t have time to waste, he kicked the second dog and turned to look at the first one. It was stilling at him, but was limping now so it had slowed down considerably. Lex grinned, it seemed he wasn¡¯t so bad at this. He attacked the first dog again and this time he kicked it on its head. The dog tried to bite at his leg but Lex was too fast. With thatst attack the dog¡¯s neck cracked and it becamepletely disabled, though it was still alive and staring viciously at Lex. With decent practice, he did the same to the second dog, which died instantly when he kicked its head. There was no time to celebrate though, the horde was almost upon him. This time, Lex decided to retreat. Though the regrs were very weak, they had a great advantage in numbers which Lex could not ovee. Not to mention, if a mini-boss was hiding in the horde Lex would be a goner. Better to run and fight another day. In the dark, with Lex¡¯s great running speed, and the roaring of the rain covering the sound of his footsteps he quickly lost the horde. He took some time to rest this time, not wanting to jump straight into another fight. He wasn¡¯t tired, but he didn¡¯t have aplete grasp of his body¡¯s new stamina and didn¡¯t want to risk fatigue in his next fight. After 15 minutes of sitting in the shade, away from the rain, he continued his search. Fortunately his body had be very resistant to the cold, otherwise he would have gotten sick from being in the rain so long. This time, he found zombies fairly quickly. They were in arge horde, muchrger than he had ever seen, and they were moving together all in the same direction at their usual pace. He didn¡¯t even need a moment to deliberate, Lex retreated and went in the opposite direction. But it was only a few minutester he found another group of zombies, this time only four, but they seemed to be heading in the same direction as therger group. Something was clearly happening, and Lex didn¡¯t want to risk his life to find out. Immediately he decided to give up going back to his ¡°home base¡± and started moving in the opposite direction to where all the zombies were going. A couple of times he saw some lone zombies limping down a street and used the opportunity to kill them, bringing his quest total to 8/20. Everything was going smoothly, until it wasn¡¯t. He heard a loud roar from the direction the zombies were going towards, shaking the city itself with its might, which was followed by a series of loud crashing noises. Someone, or something, was fighting a tough fight and it was making a lot of noise. For a moment Lex was grateful he decided to move away, but then the buildings around him started emitting a soft blue light in the shape of an archway. From within the buildings came out zombies who initially seemed to be attracted to the noise, but quickly caught sight of Lex. ¡°Bloody hell!¡± Lex cursed as he started sprinting as fast as he could. ¡°Mary, how much longer till I can leave this world?¡± Lex roared in his mind as he kept running. The zombies behind him were already a safe distance away, but new zombies kept exiting buildings around him. He needed to get to a clearing as fast as possible! ¡°You¡¯ve only been in this world for 6 hours,¡± Mary said sympathetically. ¡°You have at least 18 more hours to go, with the possibility of more.¡± ¡°Bloody hell!¡± Lex swore once again, and promised himself he would never again wish for more excitement in his life. THIS WAS TOO MUCH EXCITEMENT! This chapter is a preview, if you want to see a faster and more up-to-date chapter, please visit . for more content. Chapter 24 Awakening Lex picked up his speed and tried to run past the zombies before they noticed him. For the ones who came out as he was running past he was sessful, but there were many times where zombies had already exited buildings as he ran past. They would always be attracted to him and start moving in his direction. Initially he was still able to dodge them, but as time went by he had to preemptively start attacking them. Killing zombies wasn¡¯t his goal with these attacks. With one look he determined his optimal escape path, then stabbed or tripped any zombies in or near his path, turning them into a hindrance to the zombies behind them. Quick and efficient. Those two words could describe his actions at that moment. At first it was just a couple that woulde his way, but the hordes slowly grew. The once empty streets were filling up with the walking dead. Under normal circumstances Lex would be panicking once again, but unbeknownst to him, he had entered an extremely focused state. When two zombies would approach him from the front he would sh the first one¡¯s neck and push it towards the other with his body, acting too fast for the zombie to scratch or bite him. When more zombies came his way he would quickly duck and sh the zombies thighs, making it trip, creating an obstacle for the zombies behind to slow them down. Lex didn¡¯t know, but slowly and steadily, even though he didn¡¯t mean to, his zombie kill counter was increasing. This was because often when shed the neck he started cutting the head clean off and other zombies would then stampede over the head, killing it. In barely a few minutes hepleted the 20 kills, and the quest was updated, but Lex remainedpletely unaware.. This was because by now he was almostpletely surrounded. Giving up trying to run, he climbed up onto one of the cars. On an instinct he instructed the Fancy Monocle to collect data on how the ¡°blue light doors¡± that the zombies wereing from worked and updated him when it discovered something. The ¡°car¡± was rectangr and around 8 feet high and almost 15 feet long, which gave Lex a decent amount of space to maneuver. But he didn¡¯t have time to think further ¨C zombies were climbing up behind him. He kicked a zombie hard on its chest, flinging it away into the zombie behind it, knocking them all down, but there was no respite. Behind him he felt a zombie cling onto his shoulders and attempt to bite him, but before it could he elbowed it to push it away. He turned, stabbed it through the eye and moved onto the next zombie as if it were nothing. By this point he could no longer continue to dodge scratches. On his chest, his arms, his legs, everywhere zombies had tried to scratch him but fortunately so far it seemed they were unable to break through his skin ¨C but repeated attempts might still be able to pierce through. That¡¯s not to say he was unhurt, his body was covered in bruises both old and new, but he felt neither. Even his synthetic armor started to show signs of wear, but in the dark, rainy night who was paying attention to that? Slowly, his efficiency improved even further. He used the momentum from one attack to flow into another, turning from his rigid, repetitive motions to smooth, flowing ones. When he saw an attacking he could not avoid, he would try to catch it on his chest so his under armor could protect him. He got another notification from the System, but it was ignored just the same. The monocle gave him a notification, but as if it were an unnecessary distraction Lex ignored it. Lex was now a killing machine. With his right hand he would stab, and with his left hand he would use his index and middle finger to stab zombies through the eyes. It was not something he consciously thought of, it was something that he naturally started doing. A pile of bodies had fallen on the ground around the car which had built a path for zombies to climb up, which only increased the pressure on him. While this was happening, Lex was mowing through anything that approached him, his clothes ripped to shreds and his backpack lost somewhere along the way. He was covered in sweat and the spilled blood of his enemies. A zombie approached him slowly from the back, waiting to catch him off guard. It studied him, studied his attack patterns, and slowly crawled towards him. It was mixed in with the ¡°dead undead¡± bodies on the floor so as to not attract attention to itself. Lex turned his back towards the zombie to attack in the other direction, and the zombie immediatelyunched itself at him. In one quick jolt it had gone from the ground to almost on top of Lex, and just when it thought it was about to reach him, Lex moved. Spinning on his heel Lex avoided the zombies lurch and swiped at its neck with his knife, using its own momentum to cut its neck. From start to finish, Lex had not even seen the zombie. To him it was just a single moment between so many other intense moments, but he would be surprised to know that this was the third ¡°mini-boss¡± zombie he had dispatched so effortlessly whereas he had struggled so much with it before. Somewhere along the way Lex lost his knife too. It broke or got stuck or was pulled from his hand, he could not remember, but he had lost it. That had not slowed him down though. His punches delivered a devastating blow to the zombies skulls, his fingers piercing though as if daggers and his kicksunched zombies far away as if they were shot through a cannon. He had awakened a primal side of him he had never known, his brain was working faster than he had ever thought possible, and his actions followed almost as quickly as he thought of something. In this life or death moment, Lex hadpletely let his instincts take over, and if the ¡°mad¡± Marlo were to look at him now, it would be up for debate which one of them was the mad one. The downside of such feral fighting was that he had bepletely numb and so did not notice that along with battered bruises, his body was slowly starting to be covered in cuts and scratches. ¡°LEX QUICKLY HIDE!¡± he suddenly heard a roaring sound in his head, and he recognized it as Mary. Before he could ask her what happened, he noticed a red warning shing on his monocle, pointing towards his left. When he turned to look his pupils shrunk and he was filled with horror. The giant mutated lion was rushing in his direction, being chased by what looked like a giant ten feet tall zombie. Lex didn¡¯t need anymore motivation, he jumped as far off from the car as he could andunched into a sprint. ¡°Approach the center of a building and put your hand t against the wall!¡± Mary instructed urgently, and Lex obeyed, not wasting time on questions. To his great delight, as soon as he did so a blue light formed on the wall and he ran through. As soon as he crossed he turned his attention to listen to the sounds outside ¨C the lion and giant zombie seemed to pass right beside the building and crossed it. Lex waited a few more moments to ensure they had passed. When he was assured he asked the monocle how to lock the door and followed the instructions, after which he took a look around the room to see if there were any zombies. The room appeared to have been a lounge once. Sofas were arranged neatly around a table and various decorations filled the room. A few nts that had seemed to have overgrown let out a soft, green light, illuminating the room creating a pleasant environment. Lex, however, had no time to appreciate any of that. When he finally found there were no zombies he copsed onto the nearest couch. He was thoroughly exhausted. He had lost all his supplies and his clothes had been ripped to the point that he was practically nude. Without thinking too much he pulled out the second bottle of Bom Dew from the system and moved his aching hand to deliver it to his mouth, a simple action that had suddenly be immensely painful as soon as he let himself rx. Once he drank the bottle he closed his eyes and fell asleep. He waspletely mentally and physically exhausted. He did not know it, but he had spent nearly three hours continuously fighting zombies. His body waspletely ck and blue, and his originally pristine and wless skin could not be differentiated from an old piece of beaten leather. If he had known how bad his condition really was he would have panicked, but thest time he had checked his body the zombies had been unable to pierce his skin so he thought he was still safe. If he had known how many scratches his body had sustained he would have assumed that he was infected. Which he was, for a short time, but a closer examination of his wounds would show tiny droplets of Bom Dew killing off even tinier ck, wriggling spores. Unwittingly, he had saved himself. Even Mary did not notice, as she was not able to view the status of his body. She just appeared in the air and watched him sleep, worry painted across her tiny face. ¡°You can¡¯t die, not yet¡­¡± she whispered, her thoughtspletely unknown. This chapter is a preview, if you want to see a faster and more up-to-date chapter, please visit . for more content. Chapter 25 Epiphany When Lex finally woke the first thing he became aware of was pain. His entire body, from his toes to his head was filled with pain. He was also incredibly sore, and that was a feeling he had barely felt since he started cultivating Regal Embrace. With difficulty he got up, and all his bones cracked as he did. When he got up he was hit with a sudden bout of nausea and leaned to the side of the sofa to let out pitch ck vomit. Lex was horrified looking at it, but he suddenly felt much better once he was done. Other than the constant pain, the soreness and the weakness that filled his entire being, Lex felt pretty great! Shaking his head, he got up and moved to a different corner of the room to get away from the smell. He looked at hispletely bruised, almost bare body and was honestly impressed. Not a single cut was visible, Regal Embrace really lived up to its im of having the best defense in the universe, even at this level. Previously when he had Bom Dew it had almostpletely healed and reinvigorated him,pared to this time when he was clearly still pretty badly hurt. It was a testament to how miserable his condition must have been. He opened up the system to buy another bottle of Bom Dew but froze when he saw the list of notifications. Quest Completed: 20/20 zombies killed! Quest Reward: 1000MP delivered! Quest Updated: Kill 50 zombies before returning to Inn! Quest Reward: 1500MP Quest Completed: 50/50 zombies killed! Quest Reward: 1500MP delivered! Quest Updated: Kill 100 zombies before returning to Inn! Quest Reward: 2000MP. Quest Completed: 100/100 zombies killed! Quest Reward: 2000MP delivered! Quest Updated: Kill 5 Rank 2 zombies before returning to Inn! Quest Reward: 5000MP Quest Status: ? Rank 2 zombies killed He read the notifications multiple times before he could ept what was written. He had unwittingly earned 4500MP, and that was amazing. BUT HE HAD KILLED OVER 100 ZOMBIES!? Honestly he didn¡¯t even recall what happened. When he thought back, he could only remember shes. He remembered feeling sweaty, he remembered feeling pain from being hit, he remembered feeling that his body was extremely hot! At some point, he was on top of a car. He had lost track of his backpack, his knife, and most of his clothes. He vaguely remembered telling the monocle if it could figure out how the blue-light doors worked when it saw zombiesing out of buildings, and at some point it must have done that. He remembered¡­the giant lion¡­running? He remembered Mary¡¯s warning. ¡°Mary, are you there?¡± he croaked. His throat was very dry and his voice was barely audible. ¡°I¡¯m here,¡± she said, appearing in front of him. She was floating in the air before him, looking down at his beaten body with sympathy. ¡°You did really well. Who could have guessed your first trip to another world would be so dangerous?¡± Lex chuckled. He had anticipated many things when he thought of what he could encounter on another: hostile civilizations, primitive lifeforms, aliens, but he never considered zombies. ¡°How much time is left before I can leave?¡± he asked her, this time using his thoughts. ¡°It¡¯s been 21 hours since you¡¯ve been on his. 3 more hours before the minimum time required, and it could be any amount of time after that. I suggest you get as much rest as you can, in case it takes much longer. You¡¯ve lost your food so if it takes much longer than 24 hours for you to be able to go back, you might have to think of something.¡± ¡°If I can continue hiding, I¡¯ll just buy Saturn Cake from the Midnight Store. It¡¯s expensive, but I¡¯m in no condition to continue fighting. Anyway, I¡¯ve earned quite a few MP. Did I really kill that many zombies?¡± For a moment Mary just looked at Lex with aplicated expression on her face. ¡°You killed quite a few zombies, but you¡¯ve over exerted yourself. You lost yourself inbat, which was very dangerous. You could have easily escaped much earlier, but you were so focused on fighting that youpletely forgot about everything else. In the future, try to maintain your self awareness at all times.¡± Lex was startled. He was under the impression that he had done really well, but Mary¡¯s lecture reminded him that his primary purpose wasn¡¯t to kill zombies. He should have only fought as long as needed. Instead, he got caught up in a cycle of acting without thinking because the situation was too intense. As a result, he was not thoroughly exhausted. ¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind,¡± he said as he moved to buy another Bom Dew finally, but right before he made the purchase he had an idea. He had an idea for how to solve another problem he had been having. ¡°Mary, how do I recruit Marlo as a valet?¡± he asked. ¡°You can purchase an employment key from the Midnight Store. It¡¯s a tinum key you can give to someone, who can then use it to enter Midnight Inn. There they can view an employee contract that details their responsibilities, based on their job, and if they ept they will be your employee. You must also give them a test toplete before they can officially join, as bing an employee of the Midnight Inn should not be a leisurely task. ¡°Once you have an employee you will also have to provide them with an employee residence. The employee can choose to live in the residence permanently or travel back and forth between their world and the Inn, but either way they must have one. The employee can also never harm you, in any world, but you can also not harm an employee or ask them to perform a task that will kill them. You can only give them orders rted to the position they are filling, and anything else you tell them to do will be a request that they can turn down if they so wish. ¡°You also have to pay the employee in MP, and their sry will be based on their cultivation level as well as position and result during the test. If you are unable to pay your employee at the end of every month the system will instantly kill you. There is no such thing as credit when ites to the system. ¡°Right now you only have basic positions open to fill, such as valet, butter on you can recruit better and more skilled employees such as Pill refiners, cksmiths, Spirit Array refiners and more to provide the best services to your guests.¡± Lex understood the basics, and it was more or less as he expected it to be. Slowly a n formed in his mind, but enacting the n would depend on when he would be able to return to the Inn. He closed his eyes and rested while he waited for thest 3 hours to pass. Normally his body was very quick to recover since he cultivated Regal Embrace, this was the first time his feeling of weakness persisted. He checked his status mentally and was shocked at the state his body was in, especially since this was after he had drunk Bom Dew: Name: Lex Williams Age: 23 Sex: Male Cultivation Level: Regal Embrace Body Tempering Stage 1 Health: Suboptimal (developing brain tumor), severe muscle damage (recovering), severe exhaustion (recovering), multiple hairline fractures (recovering) Midnight Points: 5331 Midnight Inn Level: 2 Inventory: Bathroom Slippers, Self Defense Butter Knife, 1 Golden Tickets, Host Attire Quests: New Quest: As the most renown Inn in the universe, the Midnight Inn does not only host the rich and the powerful! Setup and develop the Pro Bono wing of the Inn and ept your first Pro Bono guest! Remark: Keep working hard! If you raise your cultivation high enough, one day you¡¯ll be able to cast illusions to make yourself look better! Sudden Quest: With a great personality and abundant energy, Marlo is a great candidate to serve as a valet for the Inn! Hire Marlo as your first valet! Quest Time limit: 1 month Quest Reward: 1 small staff dormitory, 1000MP, +1 Midnight Inn Level Quest failure punishment: -1000MP (if host is unable to pay, it will result in immediate death!) Lex rested with his eyes closed, though he was not able to fall asleep due to the pain. He waited patiently for his 24 hours to beplete, and prayed for the Inn to connect the worlds as soon as possible. Fortunately, his luck was good and he got the notification. Midnight Inn Update: World Vegus Minima connected! ess avable! Questspleted before connection: 3 Rating: C- Host Reward: Serene Whistle, Trials Lex didn¡¯t have the patience to go through his reward right now, he was in too much pain for goodness sakes! He could tolerate it if he had to, but he had no intentions of prolonging it. He quickly left Vegus Minima and returned to Earth. He threw on some random clothes and hailed a cab to Marlo¡¯s apartment. He did his best to make himself look as miserable as possible, which wasn¡¯t very hard to be honest as he was still covered in dried ck blood from the zombies and smelled like death. He rang the bell for Marlo¡¯s apartment and when the butler answered the door he gave one look at Lex and delivered an annoyed look rather than a surprised one. ¡°I will summon the master,¡± the butler said, escorting Lex to the least luxurious part of the apartment: a bathroom. Marlo appeared quick enough and his face was stered with thergest grin Lex had ever seen, and his eyes were practically screaming with excitement. ¡°I had an epiphany about self defense,¡± Lex said weakly as he chuckled. ¡°Giving up an opportunity that¡¯s too dangerous for you is also a form of self defense.¡± Before he could exin further the behemoth of a man before him burst into a roaringughter. Chapter 26 Platinum Key Lex found himself lying on his back on an observation table in nothing but his undergarments. Marlo, after his usual outburst, had Lex brought to a first aid room that he had in his apartment. As if everything was very routine, two female nurses entered the room and began Lex¡¯s examination using various Spirit Tech. In a few minutes Marlo had a full report and was reading through it very seriously, though every time he saw something interesting he gave Lex a wide grin. ¡°Took quite the beating, didn¡¯t you?¡± Marlo asked, his voice normal level for once. ¡°ording to your cell activity, your body has already been healing for quite a while, and at an elerated pace.¡± ¡°Yeah, I took something quite expensive for that,¡± Lex said, his voice still hoarse. ¡°Which basically means you were beaten up in even worse shape than you¡¯re in right now? And yet you made it back alive.¡± Marlo gave Lex a wide grin and looked at him as if he were a parent looking down with pride at his child. ¡°What about the other guy? Did he make it? I must warn you, if your enemy is alive you should prepare for retaliation.¡± ¡°The other¡­¡¯guys¡¯ are all dead. No one will being after me,¡± Lex closed his eyes as he felt relief. There was no chance he would be going back to Vegus Minima anytime soon. Not until he was much, much more powerful.. ¡°Not bad, not bad,¡± Marlomented, as if it were the most natural thing to kill off one¡¯s enemies. ¡°So if you don¡¯t need my help hiding from your enemies, what brought you to my doorstep I wonder?¡± Marlo¡¯s voice was unusually stable throughout all of this, which told Lex how seriously he was taking this. Now was the moment of truth. Lex had to be convincing, and for the most part he didn¡¯t have to lie. However, whether he couldplete his quest to recruit Marlo would depend a lot on how the next few minutes went. He stayed quiet, lying there for a while. His expression changed quite a few times, from anxiety to anger to relief to reluctance. It appeared as though he was struggling quite a bit with what he was thinking. Ultimately, his expression calmed down and he let out a sigh. ¡°I did some research on you. You have a pretty good reputation, and all your students praise you quite a bit. Everyone who has worked with you has said positive things. If it weren¡¯t so, I wouldn¡¯t have had the guts toe to you with this. Otherwise who knows, I might havee to you for your help but ended up losing my life instead.¡± Marlo looked at the young man with an amused smile, but said nothing. There was another short silence before Lex continued. ¡°I had no background for cultivation, and no knowledge of it either. That is, until I encountered something quite magical.¡± He raised his empty hand and showed Marlo, yet when he spun it once a beautiful, tinum key appeared in his hand. The key was not shining or glowing or anything of the sort to show it was special, yet just lying there in Lex¡¯s hand it had gripped all of Marlo¡¯s attention. He could instinctively feel that the key was not at all normal, and his instincts were telling him that he must have it. An old wound in his body, a testament to a time long passed, started aching again, as if hinting that the key was important to it. Marlo¡¯s smilepletely disappeared and he looked at the key with extreme seriousness, yet he made no move. He was waiting for Lex to continue speaking. ¡°The key can take you somece magical. Over there I encountered someone who gave me tests. If I pass the tests I could be rewarded, but if I failed chances were high that I would straight up die. At first, I thought I could stillplete them¡­¡± Lex looked at the key with reluctance and longing. ¡°But I know now that I can¡¯t. So long as I have the key I¡¯ll be tempted, and next time I might not be lucky enough to survive.¡± He held the key out to Marlo, as if indicating him to take it. ¡°I can sell it to you, if you¡¯re interested.¡± Marlo did not reply immediately, but instead kept staring at the key. Now it was his turn to have various expressions show on his face, though in his case it was only a change from serious to mad grin and back. ¡°How do you know you can trust me? What if I kill you and take the key directly? Did you ever think about that? No one can give me a bad review if everyone who thinks negatively is dead.¡± Lex chuckled, as if he had predicted the question. ¡°Of course I have, and I have already taken precautions. If I wasn¡¯t sure about getting out alive, would Ie here especially in such a beaten state?¡± In fact, Lex had made no preparations. From the moment the Inn had judged Marlo to be a good fit as a valet, Lex had dropped his guard against the man. Not to mention, Lex had looked him up on the Bluebird portal, and he did in fact have a ster reputation. Marlo nodded his head, and his grin grew wider as if he was proud to hear that answer. ¡°What do you want for it, and what does it do exactly?¡± ¡°When you crush the key you will be taken to a different ce where someone will give you a test. If you pass the test you get a reward, if you fail but survive you get sent back. I¡¯ve already been there twice, the first time I got my cultivation technique and this time¡­well let¡¯s say it will soon be worth the trip. But this is my limit, I know it. The only reason I survived this time was because of luck, nothing else. It¡¯s very hard for me to admit it, but I know I can¡¯t pass the next test. And it won¡¯t matter if I wait and raise my cultivation to go back, the test changes ording to your cultivation. Having a higher or lower level makes no difference. So long as I keep the key, I know I won¡¯t be able to resist using it, and will most likely die. Better to realize the truth right now and take whatever benefit I can, rather than blindly chasing an unreachable dream.¡± Marlo nodded, as if appreciating Lex¡¯s thoughts. Knowing your limits was important. ¡°You can have the key for $50 million, as well as a weapon suitable for me. I know the price sounds high, but it¡¯s worth it.¡± Lex had purposefully asked for a steep price. He had to give the impression that he really valued the key, and that he was very reluctant to give it up. Little did he know that his price seemed paltry to Marlo. Who could me him? Lex had very little experience in the cultivation world and did not fully understand what little value money had. Furthermore, he could not feel the attraction the key had towards other cultivators. To him it was just a key, to others it was an unbearable enticement. Still, Marlo did not respond immediately. He sat beside Lex and alternated between staring at the key and Lex, though he wore the most remarkable poker face Lex had ever seen ¨C Lex could not tell what he was thinking at all. Finally, after about fifteen minutes of deliberation, Marlo spoke, ¡°You are both very wise, and very na?ve.¡± This remark caught Lex by surprise. ¡°Your wisdom is in recognizing your strengths and weaknesses, your naivety is in assuming you understand the world and itsplexities. You will of course only find positive reviews of me online, because most people who thought differently are already dead!¡± Marlo chuckled, and patted Lex on the back, the strength of it shaking him to the core. ¡°Like how the cultivation world was hidden from the mortal world, the real face of the cultivation world is hidden from most cultivators as well. Unless your strength rises to a certain level, or you have a very powerful background it¡¯s impossible for you to see the truth. Without seeing and knowing the truth, it¡¯s impossible for you to judge the real danger in a situation. You think you can trust me and trade with me, and have backups prepared in case things go wrong. You think you are in control of the situation, but the truth is your entire existence is dependent on a whim of mine. Even if I try to attack you, and you escape, a simple bounty from me and I can have your entire family in my hands. It wouldn¡¯t even take more than a few hours.¡± Lex¡¯s expression changed, and he stared at the giant warily. It was true, he made a very simple yet obvious mistake ¨C he did not take into ount that his family could be threatened. He still didn¡¯t doubt Marlo, since the System thought he would be a good valet then Lex didn¡¯t doubt Marlo¡¯s character. Yet this was a good reminder that in the future anything he does, he would need to take his family¡¯s safety into ount as well. ¡°Take this as another lesson in self defense,¡± the giant said, getting back up and then staring down at Lex. ¡°I will give you an option. I can ept your offer, and pay you the money as well as the weapon, or I can forgo both of those but bring you into contact with the true face of the cultivation world. I cannot say if knowing this will necessarily bring you any benefits, that depends on many things, but at least you won¡¯t be caught unaware.¡± Lex thought for a second, but he already knew what he was going to answer. Chapter 27 Schemes Lex groaned as the taxi hit a bump on the road. Marlo had given some painkillers which made him mostly numb, but any sudden movement would bring back his pain. He was already on his way back home now, having given the giant hulking man his answer. What could he have chosen? The fifty million dors of course! Lex grinned to himself, despite the pain. What truth of the cultivation world, what hidden secrets? He had Earth¡¯s most powerful beings as guests at his Inn, a much better source of information than Marlo. Furthermore, since Earth was his home, he had decided that he was going to stay as lowkey as possible. He didn¡¯t want to attract any kind of attention at all, and having Marlo introduce him to the ¡®greater secrets of the cultivation world¡¯ would probably attract some kind of attention down the road. Lex suddenly frowned. A thought urred to him: Marlo giving him this option might have actually been a trap to test him. On the one hand he was saying that he was giving up a great opportunity so that he could ensure his security, but if he jumped at the chance to learn more secrets then that might not be inline with the mentality of someone trying to stay safe. It would only tempt someone who had hidden motives and was looking for benefits. Luckily, he hadn¡¯t hesitated much and chosen to take the money and weapon. Marlo would wire him the money in a few days ¨C even if it was a small amount for cultivators they had to be smart about their money and expenses to avoid paying endless taxes and fees ¨C and as for the weapon, Lex told him to wait for a bit. Lex needed to decide what kind of weapon suited him. This was no cultivation novel, this was real life. The romance between a man and his sword might sound appealing on paper, but it might not be the best at serving his needs. He had to be smart about it. Either way, all of that was forter. For now he just wanted to get home and sleep. ***** After seeing Lex off, Marlo returned to his apartment and sat in his lounge in a somber mood. He stared at the key in his hand gravely, and felt the warmth it gave off. In the short time he had the key in his possession he could feel it somehow heal him. Marlo wasn¡¯t a simple man, and he had faced far more dangers than the few stories he had told his students. His body carried numerous injuries, many of which would take years to heal, and one specific one that was impossible to heal. Yet now, with the tinum key in hand, he could feel that recovery wasn¡¯t actually impossible.. The amount that the key healed him, however, was miniscule. As a smart man he deduced instantly that the purpose wasn¡¯t to actually heal him, but to let him know that the key presented him with the opportunity to heal. Taking that opportunity was up to him. Marlo let out a low, withdrawn sigh. Initially this was just an assignment for him, and he didn¡¯t carry any more interest in it than any other assignment he had. Now, however, he waspletely invested. Making up his mind, he dialed a number on his phone, and when the call was answered a projector in his room turned on and a realistic hologram of his foster mother appeared before him. ¡°There¡¯s been progress on the assignment. The subject has delivered the source of his fortuitous encounter to me, and given me a brief description of what it entails.¡± The woman raised an eyebrow and for a moment a surprised expression appeared on her face, but her indifference soon returned. ¡°That was faster than anticipated. We have only just begun the subconscious suggestion program, and even the mental resistance dampener talismans have not been installed around his apartment. Why would he just give you the source? I do not believe you could have created such a strong rtionship with him so quickly.¡± ¡°No, I haven¡¯t given him any special preference in sses and our rtionship is not too extraordinary. I believe he was influenced by the data you manipted on the Bluebird portal, not that any of it was a lie, but he seems to have adopted a good impression of me. He gave me the source as he believed it was too dangerous for him, and that he could no longer profit from it, and instead he would be harmed by it. He sold it to me for fifty million, along with a weapon for himself. Based on his actions of signing up for a self defense ss, I believe his self preservation tendencies are real and his action of giving up the source for more immediate profit is inlign with his personality, and is not some sort of scheme or diversion. ¡°He is decisive and knows his limits. If he is an ally, he should be strongly supported. If he is an enemy, he should be influenced now whilst he is weak so that his stance changes.¡± The woman nodded, epting her fostersons report. ¡°Stay online, I have already reported the missionplete status. You will be required to give a more detailed report soon.¡± ¡°I¡¯m a little confused,¡± Marlo spoke, rxing a bit, ¡°what¡¯s so special about him that you reached out to me the moment he registered for my ss. Or is his fortuitous encounter so special that it would require such arge operation.¡± The woman was silent for a moment as she looked at her son. Their rtionship was more of a business venture than familial. Their family had adopted Marlo when he showed potential as a young child, and had given him numerous resources to nurture him. He had, in return, helped them a lot in dealing with various difficult situations. Lately however, they rarely asked him for assistance or to do missions as he had grown a lot in strength and influence in his own right. It would not suit his status if he was still treated as someone to run errands, which is exactly why this assignment seemed peculiar. His task was to build a positive rtionship with Lex and try to learn about how he entered onto the path of cultivation in as much detail as possible. That was it. The only condition was that he should not use force, or try to make his attempts obvious. As fate would have it, Lex gave him the source directly and fulfilled his mission. Little did he know that Lex¡¯s actions were influenced by the Systems quest and not any maniption on his family¡¯s part. Finally she said, ¡°Even I don¡¯t know. This was a mission someone assigned directly to the family head. We had no right to refuse.¡± Suddenly Marlo sat upright, his expression a lot more serious. He knew it, this could not have been simple. How could this key, that could allow him to heal his wounds, be simple? Before he could ask more questions though, another projection appeared in front of him; a young, delicate looking girl. If Lex saw her, he would be extremely surprised as it was his younger sister, Liz. She was the same little girl who had been told to investigate the situation by the monstrously strong man practicing the sword. ¡°That was quite fast,¡± she noted. ¡°I expected a few months at least before any progress was made. I hope you were subtle in your investigations.¡± Thest sentence carried a hint of a threat in it, though she was not looking at anyone in particr. Both Marlo and his foster mother felt the weight behind her words however, triggered by their honed instincts for danger. Marlo immediately stood up and reported everything he had just told his mother. He was not familiar with the girl, but clearly she was someone of status. Once she heard everything he had to say, she asked to see the ¡®source¡¯. Marlo presented the tinum key before him for the girl to observe. Unexpectedly, however, the projection moved forward and picked it up. Projections interacting with physical objects? This was beyond any technology Marlo knew of. She was staring at it from every angle before asking, ¡°You said this can teleport a person to an inheritancend? Have you tried it?¡± ¡°Not yet,¡± Marlo reported, fidgeting. He was surprised that a hologram could interact with the real world, but he took it in his stride as he had seen many strange things in his life. The only thing was that he was hoping the young girl would not notice the keys peculiarity as he was very interested in it. Luckily, after observing it for a while, the girl returned the key. ¡°You can keep it. Maintain contact with the target and if you learn anything of interest report it back. Don¡¯t, however, give him any preference beyond what your current rtionship would entail,¡± she said sinctly before her hologram disappeared. His mother, after a short chat disappeared as well. Marlo was left alone in his lounge with the key, and suddenly all his prior strict demeanor vanished. His face was painted with a massive grin, and he eventually erupted out in a roaring, manicughter as he gripped the key tightly in his hand. ***** Liz walked towards her mothers office with a clipboard in her hand, mumbling as she scribbled on the document in front of her. When she entered, she saw her mother slowly practicing a fist technique. Beside her stood her assistant, making a report of various things and noting downments. ¡°The investigation has results,¡± Liz interrupted, knowing full well that it would probably be hours before anyone noticed her unless she interrupted them. ¡°Big bro encountered a grade C inheritance item with spatial properties, but he¡¯s already given it up. Even if he didn¡¯t give it up, and got the key inheritance, with the conditions on Earth it would be impossible for him to make much progress. There is no evidence of outside interference in his life so far.¡± ¡°Very well, in that case we will maintain our prior arrangements,¡± replied Serene, her mother. Liz hesitated, confusion apparent on her face. ¡°Since he¡¯s already started cultivating, shouldn¡¯t we just let him know?¡± ¡°No, as long as there is no outside interference your father wants to keep things the same.¡± Liz hesitated once again, something clearly on her mind but unsure if she should say it. Eventually, she said, ¡°But you know your brother¡¯s temperament. If you just tell him, he will support elder sister Belle and¡­¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. Your father wants to go ording to the original n. We will tell him when he turns 50. For a cultivator a few years here or there won¡¯t make a difference. You girls are young which is why you¡¯re impatient. Let things progress naturally, and instead focus on your studies. Prima Ventura has shown an interest in recruiting you early, but it still depends on your uing results.¡± Liz groaned and the sudden reminder, and all thoughts of her brother were blown out of her mind. Whether it was on Earth or out in the universe, the most insidious evil was always homework. Chapter 28 Realization of truth Lex got home and the first thing he did was chug another bottle of Bom Dew and throw himself in bed. He slept for nearly 12 hours and woke up disoriented and in pain, and EXTREMELY hungry. Wiping the drool from his face, Lex grabbed his phone to check for notifications¡­and maybe order a lot of home delivery. He knew how to cook, but you couldn¡¯t expect an injured man to cook, right? That was totally the reason. Unfortunately, he did not get the notification for the money from Marlo yet ¨C which was expected. He did however have countless missed calls and messages from Harry and ine, his former coworkers and friends. He hadpletely forgotten to contact them and it had been a while since he quit as well. He sent both of them a message saying he¡¯d gotten an exciting new job which is why he had been extremely busy, and would reach out to them soon to catch up. He felt a tinge of guilt lying to them, they had apanied him through many things, but for now safety was all that mattered. Once he stabilized things and was at a higher cultivation level, who knows maybe he would introduce them to the world of cultivation as well. Groaning, he got out of bed and limped to the bathroom. He removed his clothes and stood in front of the mirror and grimaced at his condition. He wasn¡¯t ck and blue all over like when he had just returned, but his entire body was still covered in bruises. He pulled up his status to get a better understanding. Name: Lex Williams Age: 23 Sex: Male Cultivation Level: Regal Embrace Body Tempering Stage 1 Health: Suboptimal (developing brain tumor), serious muscle damage (recovering), serious exhaustion (recovering), multiple hairline fractures (recovering), vitality overdrawn (recovering), spirit drained (recovering), soul slightly damaged (recovering). Midnight Points: 5151 Midnight Inn Level: 2 Inventory: Bathroom Slippers, Self Defense Butter Knife, 1 Golden Tickets, Host Attire, Serene Whistle Midnight Events avable: Trials Quests: New Quest: As the most renown Inn in the universe, the Midnight Inn does not only host the rich and the powerful! Setup and develop the Pro Bono wing of the Inn and ept your first Pro Bono guest! Remark: Keep working hard! If you raise your cultivation high enough, one day you¡¯ll be able to cast illusions to make yourself look better! Sudden Quest initiated: With a great personality and abundant energy, Marlo is a great candidate to serve as a valet for the Inn! Hire Marlo as your first valet! Quest Time limit: 1 month Quest Reward: 1 small staff dormitory, 1000MP, +1 Midnight Inn Level Quest failure punishment: -1000MP (if host is unable to pay, it will result in immediate death!) Lex was slightly rmed when he saw the new ailments in his status affecting his vitality, spirit and soul andpletely missed the rest of his status. ¡°Mary, what is going on? How did my soul and spirit get damaged? And what does it mean when it says vitality overdrawn?¡± ¡°Maybe you can check your status history to figure out when your spirit and vitality were hurt. As for vitality, I can tell you that it was probably also hurt during your fight with the zombies. When a normal person gets hurt, their body recovers for them, and the same is true for cultivators. When a person gets hurt to an extent that they cannot heal even with the use of medicine on the same tier, their vitality gets hurt. At that point, for a person to recover, a medicine above their cultivation tier must be used to first treat their vitality to allow their body to heal. ¡°Your body was probably hurt beyond its capacity during your fight with the zombies, but you used Bom Dew which can heal those below the Foundation realm, which is what probably helped you recover.¡± Lex got chills when he heard the news, and quickly went over his status history to determine what affected his spirit and soul! Quickly he found the answer, and it sent further chills down his spine! The status read: Received cut by tier 1 zombie, infected by mutagen. Body resisting mutagen x 7 Received cut by tier 2 zombie, infected by mutagen. Body unable to resist, mutagen multiplying x 2 Mutagen affecting spirit x 8 Mutagen altering soul x 4 Bom Dew absorbed in blood. Bom Dew purifying mutagen, spirit and soul returning to normal x 3 Thank the holy system for Bom Dew! Lex chanted in his heart, and finally realized how close to his demise he really came. But, he also learnt something incredible: Bom Dew could purify the zombie mutagens, which meant that at least the zombies he encountered weren¡¯t like the ones he¡¯d seen in movies that didn¡¯t give the victim any chance to resist. Another thing was that the transformation wasn¡¯t instant, so a victim would have time to treat himself. Well, no point in stressing himself out further over the fact. The situation had already been remedied so better to focus on the future for now. Lex took a long, warm shower, washing off a lot of dried blood and dirt from his body, and returned to his living room just in time to collect the ridiculous amounts of barbecue that he¡¯d ordered. Several drinks and an entire cow`s worth of meatter, Lex decided to rx for a bit before tending to the Inn. Too much work wasn¡¯t good for a boy`s soul. Inmemoration of his recent des, he decided to y a zombie game. He turned on his pc, chose a game and started ying. At first when he started ying he felt a little ufortable: the game was too rigid, it didn¡¯t match his experience. Furthermore, the more he yed the more he felt like he would rather be training so that he¡¯d be able to handle the situation a bit better the next time he faced them. Just as he was about to quit the game, his character in the game did a certain action, and like a bulb turning on Lex felt like he¡¯d gotten an amazing idea! He made his character repeat the action, and the more he did it, the more he felt that his idea was amazing. He had an epiphany and suddenly he felt clearheaded. He realized that he had been confused, but didn¡¯t even know it himself. He had been deluded and had somehow gone down the wrong path when it came tobat, but fortunately he hade to realize the truth! He yed for a few more hours to confirm his idea, and the more he yed the more he felt that he was an unprecedented genius. Somehow, without realizing it, he had been influenced by some preconceived notions he had aboutbat, but he had finally broken free of those chains. That got him thinking, if he had been affected by false notions in terms ofbat, what else had he overlooked? Since video games had liberated his mindset, he turned to the arts to free himself further. To get some ideas for what he should do with the Inn he pulled out his phone and searched for the most popr cultivation novel these days. He found one and started reading, and what a book it was! The main character, who had been abandoned at birth and raised by his ¡°distant family¡± was severely ousted at every opportunity and treated horribly. Every single person he ever met hated him beyondprehension and went out of their way, so far as to even inconvenience themselves, to harm the main character. However, as the main character, the young boy of fifteen had ster morals and never needlessly harmed others and never hated anyone and always helped anyone he saw ¨C because somehow surrounded by all that negativity the inner morals of the MC could never be corrupted. The only person who was decent to him was his adopted sister who he had found as a child and raised himself even though he himself was a child. She was devastatingly beautiful to the point where anyone born before or after would never again be as beautiful, but somehow no one other than the main character ever noticed because her clothes and her face were covered by a little dirt because they used to do manualbor. She was also in love with him because apparently it¡¯s mandatory in cultivation novels for adopted siblings to either betray one another, or fall in love with one another. One day this group of people tore through the fabric of space and time and appeared in front of the main character and beat him up for no good reason. Then they spent several paragraphs insulting him. Then they beat him up some more. When they stopped the main character¡¯s sister somehow found them and lurched at them to stop them, but she was caught. It turned out those cultivators had descended to the mortal ne because the saintess of their family had somehow gotten lost and they were finding her, and the main character¡¯s adopted sister turned out to be the saintess. Happy that they found her, they decided to kill the main character because how dare he take care of her and raise her causing her to have feelings for him? The saintess sister threatened suicide if they harmed him, but agreed to go with them if they spared him. The group agreed and spared him, but little did everyone know as they left, instead of killing the main character they decided to blow up the whole world he was in. That way they wouldn¡¯t technically be directly killing him, thus not breaking their promise to the saintess sister, who at this point had been recognized to be so beautiful the universe itself was crying in admiration, because the little bit of dirt on her face had at some point fallen off. When the world was destroyed and as the MC was about to die, his heart was filled with hate and sorrow, for he didn¡¯t hate those guys for killing him but rather all those ¡°innocent¡± people in the world who had also died ¨C the same people who had been insulting him his whole life. This was because he had a heart of pure gold. In the moment before his death a treasure that his mysterious parents had left him started to glow, and saved him, granting him a second chance at life and cultivation. All of this happened in the first chapter of the novel Lex decided to read. Honestly, he was impressed by the word-count to clich¨¦ ratio the novel had achieved. Nheless, it did give him an idea. In most novels he¡¯d read previously, the MC goes out of his way to collect rare opportunities and treasures that could help him grow. But as the owner of the Inn, he had ess to several worlds, not just one. He could collect treasures from all over the universe and make them avable at the Inn, thus making the Inn even more luxurious. Such an amazing idea! Where else could he find inspiration? He opened up hisputer and started listening to thetest songs, trying to see if the lyrics inspired him some more. In the background Mary was floating in the air and watching Lex with a stupefied and irritated look. Whatever, she would ignore him for now. His spirit was damaged which affected how he thought. Once his spirit recovered, so would his sanity. She hoped. Chapter 29 New Guests Somewhere upstate New York in a mansion an old man sat in a meditation stance, holding a golden key in his hand trying to absorb spirit energy. The key would allow spirit energy to enter his body, and even pass through the meridians, but none of it was absorbed. It was like a teasing sensation, one that dangled his greatest desires in front of him, but kept them out of reach. Will let out a defeated sigh as he finally gave up. It was obvious to him, the key was whispering to him that it held the possibility that he yearned for, but to grasp it the old man would have to use the key instead of trying to derive benefits from it directly. But did he have the courage to use it? He could barely walk on his own, much less face any difficulties so it was impossible for him to use the key and search for opportunities. But who could he trust to use the key for him and search for opportunities on his behalf? His ¡°niece¡± who he got the key from was not a cultivator, otherwise he would trust her enough to do this for him. The old man had children of his own, but honestly he did not trust theirpetence. They¡¯d grown up privileged and sheltered, akin to a nt in a greenhouse. Even if it was their intention to help him, he could not rely on theirpetence. He could hire someone, but how trustworthy was a hired hand when it came to treasure? Truly a conundrum, and one he had to solve if he ever wanted to recover his former cultivation. The old man sighed again, and called for a nurse to help him. There was one trick he could use to resolve the situation, but he did not want to use it unless he had no choice, for it would truly put him on death¡¯s door. ***** Somewhere on Vegus Minima, two soldiers were running desperately through a forest. For someone at their cultivation level of peak Qi Training it was unusual for them to be so out of sorts, but it was apparent from their appearance that they had just been through a fight. Something peculiar about them though was the fact that they were covered in shlights and bells. As they ran they made endless noise and attracted all the zombies in the area. They were on a suicide mission. As far as weapons were concerned, they both only carried a single sword and an explosive each. The sword was for fighting and the explosive was for when they could no longer fight. Their mission was to attract as many zombies as possible so that the caravan they were with could safely pass through. They used to all belong to a small, safe town protected by a resonance shield, but of all things an earthquake urred and caused the building with the resonance shield to copse. The town was no longer safe and they had to migrate immediately, and today was already their third day since they started their migration. These two soldiers were not the first suicide party that had set out, and it was the bravery of these suicide parties that allowed the caravan to travel rtively undetected by zombie hordes.. ¡°Brother Chen, we have to set off the first explosive soon,¡± said one of the soldiers between ragged breaths. ¡°If we get too far from the zombies we run the risk of losing their attention. We can use the noise from the explosion to attract their attention again.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right, we should,¡± replied Brother Chen, finallying to a stop. A close inspection of the man would show that he was bleeding from his shoulder and chest, where he was covered in scratches. They both knew what that meant, but neither mentioned it. It was not like they carried the illusion of escape in the first ce. ¡°I¡¯ll do it,¡± said Chen in a matter-of-fact way. ¡°Help me tie these torches onto this tree, and then get as far as you can. I¡¯ll set it off when the horde approaches.¡± The other soldier only nodded, epting what Brother Chen told and got to work. What the two of them didn¡¯t know was that a short distance from them stood a tall, pole like zombie. It had undergone some mutations and grown to nine feet tall and was incredibly sleek, with ws that extended a foot long and teeth that barely fit in its mouth. It also had two horns protruding from its head. It observed the two soldiers work in silence. It analyzed their strength and condition, and then smiled when it realized that they were incredibly weakpared to it. Making no attempt to hide, it strode forward. The sound of the zombie crossing through the thicket attracted the soldiers attention, horrifying them when they noticed the zombie. ¡°A peak tier 3 zombie!¡± Brother Chen shrieked. The zombie made a grunting sound, as if enjoying their apparent panic, and slowed down its approach instead to savor their reaction. The zombie as well as the soldiers knew that the soldiers would not be able to escape. ¡°Brother Chen, if this zombie finds the caravan no one will survive,¡± said the soldier as he took out the explosive he was carrying. There was no need to deliberate, they knew what they had to do. Brother Chen took out his explosive as well, his hands trembling a little from the adrenaline. Even though he knew they were going to die, at the moment of his death he still felt fear in his heart. The fear did not slow his actions, but he felt it none-the-less. ¡°Throw it when it reaches 10 feet,¡± Brother Chen whispered, ¡°if we wait any longer, we might not get an opportunity to use it at all.¡± The soldier nodded, getting ready, but before either of them could do anything a floating golden door appeared beside them, shining brilliantly. The soldiers froze in confusion, and so did the zombie. The zombie felt a fatal attraction from the door, and lost all interest in the two soldiers. Moving as fast as it could, it attacked the two soldiers, instantly knocking them to the ground. Whether they were dead or alive was unknown. Then, with eyes filled with anticipation, the zombie moved towards the door. It dragged the two soldiers behind it, not forgetting to bring along its snack. ***** It was 4 am and Lex was asleep on his sofa, in front of him his television yed some random tv shows. Truth be told, although Lex had not noticed it, the sudden stress and anxiety from such a sudden near death experience, as well as the battered state of his body really did affect him strongly. Fortunately after a day of venting his emotions by ying games, watching tv and reading novels, as well as the recovery effects of Bom Dew, he had stabilized his drained mental state. ¡°WAKE UP!¡± roared Mary suddenly, appearing before him in the air. ¡°The Inn has new guestsing in, as well as a potential enemy!¡± Mary¡¯s roar scared Lex into jumping out of bed and grabbing a pillow, holding it close to himself as a self defense item as his brain worked overtime to understand what was happening. He was drowsy and confused, still unsure of what was going on. ¡°A zombie from Vegus Minima has entered the Inn through a golden door! You need to handle it quickly!¡± informed Mary, making Lex aware of the situation. Immediately, Lex gathered himself and began the process to return to the Inn, using the few minutes wait to fully wake up. Not being able to return to the Inn instantly was a real hindrance. It seemed Lex had to focus onpleting his quests quickly so that he could raise his authority level. The moment he reappeared at the Inn he adorned the Host Attire and equipped the butterknife, appearing before the zombie that had appeared at the gate. It stood there in silence, observing its new surroundings, with two limp bodies in its hands. Lex was tempted to directly attack the zombie and kill it, but as it had not yet shown any aggression the system categorized it as a guest and did not allow Lex to attack. Above the zombie it¡¯s information was clearly visible to Lex. Name: None Power Level: Peak Tier-3 (equivalent to peak Foundation realm) Species: Zombie (Bottom level demon) Midnight Inn Prestige Level: Not yet avable Internally Lex breathed a sigh of relief as even a Peak Foundation realm was still in the foundation realm, the Self Defence Butter Knife would still be able to handle it. ¡°This guest, it¡¯s a bit rude to show up somewhere with two bloody bodies at someone¡¯s door, don¡¯t you think?¡± said Lex as he approached the zombie. He had no idea if the zombie could understand him, but it didn¡¯t matter as his only goal was to agitate the zombie into action. Fortunately Bastet and Fk were still in their rooms, which were isted from the rest of the Inn once the doors closed, so they did not have to witness the zombie. He didn¡¯t want to discriminate against his guests, but he thought having zombies as guests would lower the prestige of the Inn, and he absolutely had to maintain the prestige of the Inn! He was depending on it to build a rtionship with Bastet, and that was a very important part of his future n. Fortunately, his n worked. Though even if he had not said anything the zombie would have acted soon. The moment Lex appeared in front of the zombie its instincts were screaming at it that if it managed to eat Lex it would benefit greatly! Completely dropping the two bodies on the ground it let out a roar andunched itself towards Lex. A pity for the zombie, while with his normal cultivation Lex would never be able to keep up with it, he was currently wearing the Host Attire which filled him with immense power. With a wave of his hand heunched the Butter Knife at the zombie, and literally as if it were a hot knife cutting through butter the knife pierced the zombies forehead and came out the other side. The zombie dropped dead immediately, bringing the minor ordeal to a very anticlimactic end. ¡°Clean this up, Gerard,¡± Lex spoke out into the air, and the old looking butler appeared instantly to take care of the matter. Just as Lex was about to leave, Gerard said, ¡°Host, what about these two guests? They are still alive, though they might not be for much longer.¡± With that, Lex brought his attention to the two ¡°bodies¡± the zombie had brought with it and came to the realization that the system categorized them as guests as well. Two, almost dead, probably soon to be zombie guests. Authers Note: This is the extra chapter you guys unlockedst week! Keep voting to unlock even more extra chapters! Chapter 30 Pro Bono wing and Recovery Room Looking at the two bodies he could clearly identify them as soldiers or guards based on their uniform. Above them their information was avable: Name: Chen Lee Power Level: Peak Qi Training Species: Human Midnight Inn Prestige Level: Not yet avable Name: ne Park Power Level: Peak Qi Training Species: Human. Midnight Inn Prestige Level: Not yet avable Initially he thought they were dead, but since they were alive it would be wrong if he just watched them die. It pinched his heart a bit when he thought of the expenditure, but ultimately he decided to buy two Bom Dews as well as the recovery room so that they could heal. He purchased Bom Dew and asked Gerard to feed it to them, but before he made the purchase of the Recovery Room Mary appeared before him and stopped him. ¡°Using the recovery room costs money as well. If you¡¯re nning on using it on them, then you should get the Pro bono wing first and ept them as Pro bono guests, which will make their use of the recovery room free!¡± Lex¡¯s eyes lit up when he thought of that, and purchased the Pro bono wing as well as the recovery room for a total of 3000MP, bringing his total MP down to 1991! Spending so much MP hurt him a little, especially since he needed MP to upgrade his cultivation. But he couldn¡¯t spare time to wallow in his worries, it was not good to leave two wounded guests out in the open. Entering the design interface he put the Pro bono wing 500 meters to the left of the main Inn, and gave it the shape simr to a small cottage from the English countryside. It¡¯s interior consisted of a small sitting and dining area right at the entrance, as well as two rooms in the back. The Recovery room he put in the furthest right of the Inn, as a small hut attached to the boundary wall. The Recovery room should be far away from the main area of the Inn so that any patients would not be disturbed by any guests. Under normal circumstances he would put more effort into designing the two new additions but for now it could all wait. He exited the Design Interface and directly epted the two as guests in his Pro bono wing, then transferred them to the Recover wing. Summoning Velma, he asked her to take care of them to whatever capacity their status as PB(Pro bono) Guests allowed. Quest Update: Quest Complete! PB wing established and guest epted Calcting Rating¡­ Rating: D+ Host Reward: 500 MP + A Babies Candy New Quest: Having a gueste once can be an ident, only repeat guests can reflect an institution¡¯s prestige! Have 5 individual repeat guests! Minimum Reward: Midnight Inn Prestige Remark: You can¡¯t live off your face only, stop beingzy and put in some work! Lex¡¯s lips twitched. This was the lowest reward he¡¯d gotten for a quest, probably because he took too long inpleting it. But even if it was a small reward, he was still interested in seeing what a Baby¡¯s Candy was. That reminded him, he hadn¡¯t checked out his reward for connecting Vegas Minima either. He opened his inventory and checked it out. A Baby¡¯s Candy Making a baby like you is as easy as giving it candy. Simrly, getting weaklings to like you is as easy as giving them some benefits. Instantly allows peak Body Tempering cultivator to break though Qi Training without any negative influence. Serene Whistle A whistle that cates beasts at Foundation realm and below during a taming attempt. Repeated use in a short time builds resistance. Midnight Events: Trials With ess to multiple worlds and a growing Inn, the number of tasks for the Innkeeper will increase but you can¡¯t do everything yourself. Create Trials for guests to undertake in various worlds with different objectives and rewards to secretlyplete tasks you can¡¯t do yourself! Both the rewards were nice, but of no use to him at the moment. The Trials, on the other hand, was probably one of the most useful things he¡¯d encountered so far. It¡¯s potential was amazing, but again, he didn¡¯t need it at the moment. He put both the reward items in the Gift Shop, the Candy for 500MP and the Whistle for 1500MP. His pricing was a little arbitrary, but he eyeballed it based on their use and what cultivation level they corresponded to. A true test of their pricing would be determined when he established more footfall. While he was thinking about pricing, Velma appeared to give him a report. ¡°The two guests have been put in healing pods, but they have suffered very serious injuries. The Bom Dew has neutralized the mutagen, but their internal organs have been seriouslypromised. Their meridians have also suffered damage, not to mention both their spirits and their souls.¡± Lex frowned, thinking it was inevitable that they would still die. The condition they had reached in the Inn was just too bad and¡­ ¡°Keeping all of that in mind, they should wake up within a few hours, and be able to leave by tomorrow morning.¡± That greatly surprised Lex! Damn the recovery room was pretty good. Lex dismissed Velma and summoned Mary. ¡°Introduce the features of the Recovery room to me.¡± ¡°The Recovery room (RR)is a special environment that promotes the body¡¯s ability to heal naturally. Currently it can host 6 guests at a time. It¡¯s limitation is that it can only speed up the healing process, so if the body is incapable of healing on its own, being in the room won¡¯t help. ¡°The recovery of a guest can be further aided by putting them in a Recovery Pod (RP). The room has 3 of those which not only elerates the body¡¯s self healing further, but also heals some wounds that the body itself is unable to heal as well. The pod also acts as a life support system. This is a great way for someone to heal without damaging their vitality. This is also great for developing immunity for poisons, as the pod keeps healing the body from the effects of poison until it develops a natural immunity. ¡°Finally, the Recovery room has a single Organic Reconstruction room (ORR), which instead of actual recovery, builds new body parts for the guest and reces them for the guest. The new body part will be identical to the original in optimal condition. The ORR is special, in that while the other facilities of the Recovery room can be upgraded, the ORR can only work on guests at the same cultivation or lower than the Host, meaning you. The ORR is also not avable on PB basis and needs to be paid for.¡± Lex raised an eyebrow, clearly impressed. Even if the ORR was limited in its capability right now, it was very impressive. ¡°Let me know as soon as those two guests wake up,¡± Lex told Mary, and quickly exited the Inn. Lex had beenzing around for thest day, but the sudden entrance by a zombie scared. He needed to upgrade his authority as quickly as possible so that he could at least stop zombies from entering. While he did not have a direct way of increasing his authority at the moment, increasing his strength was also a way of doing so in the long run. Picking up his phone he texted Marlo his requirements for the weapon he had asked for. Although yesterday he was a little out of sorts with his random ¡°enlightenments¡±, some of them truly did make sense. Having finally sent the message he put on a track suit and went out to jog. His body had recovered a lot by now but he was still sore, a little movement would do him good. Furthermore, he needed to think of ways to distribute more golden keys as thest one still had not been used. Lex let out a sigh when he thought of all that he had to do. It truly wasn¡¯t easy being an entrepreneur. Chapter 31 History of Vegus Minima Lex had left his apartment with the intention of jogging, but currently he could be found doing pull ups with the widest grin possible. It was still early in the day, around 6 am, so there was no one around to see him, otherwise people would either be extremely wary of his grinning face or would stop and spectate. Why was he grinning? It was because of how amazing he felt doing the pull ups. What¡¯s the big deal, he already knew he had be more fit so why was he suddenly so excited about his strength again? The answer was simple: he was doing shirtless pull ups,pletely showing off his abs! In his entire life, although Lex could not have been called fat or obese, he was never nearly fit enough to have visible abs. Now however, they had appeared naturally despite his increased appetite since he started cultivating! He thought he was over his initial excitement of bing stronger, but that was untrue! Time and time again he would encounter a new situation that would overwhelm him. Currently, he was daydreaming of a montage of himself doing insane things, wearing a leather jacket but with no shirt so he could show off his abs while he listened to epic music. He knew that if anyone saw him it would seem like he was showing off, but so what? He was definitely showing off, and he was definitely doing it on purpose! Ah, it felt good to be able to show off. ¡°Your two new guests are waking up,¡± said Mary, appearing before him. She was blushing as she tried to keep a straight face, but every few moments she would nce at his body. Suddenly, Lex was more embarrassed than excited. Lex stopped and coughed, pretending to clear his throat as quickly put his shirt back on. ¡°Good morning warmup,¡± he mumbled, just loud enough for Mary to hear. She didn¡¯t show any reaction, as if it were a matter of fact. The air hung with awkwardness for the few minutes it took Lex to return to the Inn.. In the Recovery Room, Brother Chen and ne had woken up but they were incredibly groggy. Theyy t on their backs in the Recovery pods, staring up at the ceiling. The pods were filled with dense spirit energy, several times higher in concentration than the outside, that the pod was using to elerate the healing process. On their own it may have taken a few more minutes for the two of them to collect themselves and gather their thoughts, but when a man appeared suddenly before them he drew their attention and woke them from their trance. ¡°Wee guests, to the Midnight Inn,¡± Lex spoke with a warm, charismatic voice. ¡°You were quite badly hurt when you arrived, but fortunately we were able to save your lives. It¡¯ll be quite a while though, before you¡¯ve fully recovered.¡± ¡°What? How?¡± Brother Chen asked in confusion, trying to get up. Thest thing he remembered was facing the tier 3 zombie when a floating golden door appeared. Before he could get up though, a loudmanding voice filled his ears. ¡°Be calm!¡± Lex, who had used some of the power of the Host Attire, put a little bit of pressure on Brother Chen so that he would lie back down, and stop moving. Just the simple attempt at getting up had already torn open some of his newly healed wounds, causing him to start bleeding again. ¡°Be at ease, we will not hurt you. You must be confused, surely, but I will answer all your questions. Try not to move too much, however, as you have not fully recovered and it would be a shame to dy yourplete recovery.¡± Brother Chen and ne both, who were still recovering mentally, realized their physical condition. Under normal circumstances they would have already died, it was best not to push their luck. ¡°I do not know what happened before, but when you arrived you were being dragged by a rather rude fellow who had no interest in being a guest. Naturally, upon his misbehavior he was punished ordingly.¡± Lex spoke in a rxed voice, but when the two realized that this gentleman in front of them had casually taken care of a tier 3 zombie they were horrified. How strong was he? ¡°You may not be familiar with the Inn so let me introduce you to it. The Midnight Inn is a refuge for the weary traveler of the universe, a ce where you may rest and enjoy before continuing on your journey. It is a ce filled with both pleasures and opportunities for you to avail. It is a ce where you can meet friends andrades from across the universe, and see beyond the only horizon you once knew. ¡°As for me, you may call me the Innkeeper. Your, Vegus Minima, is a newly connected one that has ess to the Inn, but one of many across the universe. I must congratte you on being the first guests from your to the Inn.¡± Both the soldiers froze as they processed what they heard, but quickly nes eyes shone with excitement. ¡°Can you ess others?¡± he asked, his voice filled with desperation as well as expectation. ¡°Does that mean you can take us away from Vegus Minima?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, we do not provide such a service at the moment. Perhaps in the future it might be a possibility.¡± ¡°Please,¡± ne pleaded, ¡°our is overrun by zombies! People die everyday, we can barely survive!¡± Lex felt a tinge of guilt, but he quickly suppressed it. First of all, it was not in his capability to help, but even if it was, God knew how manys out in the universe were undergoing such crises. If he became so strong that he could govern the universe in his hand maybe he would consider bringing peace across the universe, for now he had to focus on his own survival. Sympathy was good, but not when it put him on a path to self destruction. ¡°Dear guest, try to understand,¡± Lex spoke politely yet firmly. ¡°This is an Inn for the heroes of the universe, we provide safety and opportunities for those who are fated ¨C but even so nothing is free. I epted you as guests under our Pro bono wing, but if you want to avail more benefits from the Inn it will be up to your own capabilities.¡± ne and Brother Chen were both disappointed, but dared not beg the mysterious Innkeeper for help again. He had already helped them tremendously by healing with and curing them from the mutagen ¨C a fact they took for granted Lex was able to do since he could esss across the universe. Furthermore, they were slightly inspired; when Lex said it was up to their capabilities, it was a polite way of saying that it depended on how deep their pockets were ¨C HE NEEDED MP ¨C but the two mistook his meaning. The fact that he talked about heroes and opportunities in the same breath made them think he was hinting that the Inn would provide them with a chance to solve the problem, but ultimately they had to solve the problem themselves. No one would do something for others for free, it was already a blessing that he was willing to help them at all. ¡°We understand,¡± said Brother Chen. ¡°Thank you for the help you¡¯ve given us, please let us know if there¡¯s any way we can repay you.¡± Lex smiled ¨C that was a better attitude. ¡°No need to be so formal, helping guests is my duty. But while I have you here, and since you can¡¯t leave the recovery pod for a short while, why don¡¯t you introduce your to me. I can¡¯t help you guys directly, but maybe I can think of a few services that might be helpful to you.¡± Their eyes shone with hope, and the two soldiers began introducing their to Lex. The history of Vegus Minima was a long one, but the zombie pandemic had urred from before the two soldiers were even born so they hadn¡¯t received any formal education on it. Despite that, what they knew was plenty for Lex to be amazed at. Vegus Minima was one of threes that had been upied in the Vegus sr system, and was the smallest one. The other was called Vegus Magnum and was thergest, while the world that humans in that sr system had originated from was called Vegus Prime. Theirs was a civilization based on technology, which seemed to be much more advanced than that of Earth. They had no cultivation system in the sense of the cultivation that was followed on Earth; they used to grow their strength via gic enhancements, and then used spirit energy to further strengthen their genes. That had since changed as the zombie pandemic made it impossible for the people to manufacture overlyplex machinery, as most countries and cities had since been destroyed. The threes had been disconnected for a long time now, and it was unknown what the situation on the other twos was. Humans lived a more nomadic life now, forming temporary viges or towns for a few years at most before stronger zombies would notice them. Or at least, that¡¯s how the soldiers had lived their lives. If there was a ce with the strength to deter zombies and protect their citizens long term, it was far away from the continent they had lived on. As for how they cultivated, that had also changed. No longer able to rely on advanced technology, the people now relied on what was called zombie cores, found in the brains of zombies, and used its special nature to strengthen their bodies. It was still spirit energy, but of a different kind. That was to say, while they could use normal spirit stones to strengthen their bodies as well, it would not have the same effect as using zombie cores. The strength of the zombie cores corresponded to the zombies strength, with tier one, two and three being equivalent to Body Tempering, Qi Training and Foundation respectively. The two soldiers continued to tell Lex whatever random information they could think of for a few more hours, before ultimately they became too tired and Lex asked them to rest. As he left the Recovery room, his eyes were filled with a capitalist gleam as he thought of all the possibilities. Chapter 32 Guests meet ¡°By the way,¡± Lex asked Mary casually as he munched on some homemade ¨C no sorry, Innmade ¨C baked chips. ¡°What are the requirements for a PB Guest (Pro bono guest)?¡± He needed to calcte how long Chen and ke would be at the Inn, and if they would have any free time after they left the recovery room or if they would be immediately sent back. ¡°The most basic necessity I guess is someone who can¡¯t afford the Innsmodities,¡± she replied, sitting on Lex¡¯s shoulder. ¡°But there are a few conditions. Firstly, no one can be a BP Guest more than once. Secondly, they must have a certain need that the Inn can fulfill. You can¡¯t randomly ept a homeless man as a guest; even though staying at the Inn for a while would solve his homeless problem, once he returned he would not be any better off. This means that anyone who bes a PB Guest needs to be better off somehow when they leave. As the foremost universal establishment, our services can¡¯t be shallow or withoutsting effect. Once a PB Guests¡¯ needs have been met, they can stay for at most one day to rest and prepare before they leave. Thirdly, PB Guests don¡¯t need to use a golden key to enter. If you see someone you think deserves to be a PB guest, you can directly assign them the status and when they should be invited, and the Inn will directly bring them in at the time you chose. You can only assign PB Guests once a month though, most of the time PB Guests will be chosen directly by the Inn. When and how the Inn will choose, I cannot say.¡± Lex nodded, shoving a spoonful of chocte fudge sundae in his mouth. Where were the chips? He already ate them and had moved on, how long do you expect someone to keep eating the same thing? ¡°And will they get golden keys upon leaving?¡± ¡°Yes of course, any guest who leaves the Inn will get a golden key. How else do you expect to get return customers? At least, until you level up your authority, that is the most reliable method for guests.¡± ¡°By the way, since there are two others near Vegus Minima that are inhabited, why didn¡¯t they show up on the list when I was using the golden ticket?¡±. ¡°Each time you use a Golden Ticket the list shown is random. There is no guarantee that you will see all the inhabiteds in an area. However, since you have ess to Vegus Minima now, you can directly gain ess to the others in its sr system by purchasing ess via the Midnight Inn Market. The same applies for thes in Earth¡¯s sr system, but that ess is just a little more expensive than you can afford at the moment. For example, let alone Mars, just to gain ess to the Moon you would have to spend 10,000MP!¡± Lex nodded again, taking a sip from his Oreo shake. The Inn really had some amazing food service. Not being able to afford ess to thoses was a minor surprise, because he was expecting not to have enough authority. Either way it was out of reach for now. The question on his mind was how much to invest in his two guests? If they just left with their own golden keys, they may not share the knowledge with others out of greed for keeping the key for themselves. If he gave them a few extra keys, maybe they would distribute them to their confidantes, which would increase the number of guests. Other than that, should he also give them something from the gift shop to act as an incentive? But they were rtively weak, if he invested too much in them and they died once they returned to their world it would be a waste. His n was to use them to distribute some keys and invite more people in. When his authority increased he would build an Armory so that he could also sell weapons, something the people of Vegus Minima dearly needed, as well as a few entertainment establishments so that his guests could blow off some steam and rx. Currently those buildings weren¡¯t avable to him, not to mention that he did not have MP to spare. Speaking of increasing his authority, Marlo was taking his sweet time using his key. Taking a few days to prepare made sense, but Lex could not afford it if he took a few weeks to prepare, as that would put him past the Quest deadline. He had just a little more than two weeks before that deadline ended. Lex nned out his next series of actions for a while, before deciding on practicing a bit. To be honest he would rather rx and y games, but after his experience in Vegus Minima they seemed boring to him. What he really wanted was the adventure and excitement of exploring news, but logic told him he should wait till he was a little stronger before returning. Till then, practicingbat and getting used to his strength would be the best use of his time. Furthermore, his hand to handbat was actually quite terrible. Although he had learnt a few things in Marlo¡¯s ss, most of them were ways to avoid or trip up his opponents instead of fighting. Marlo¡¯s ss focused on self defense, and ording to Marlo until they entered Qi Training and were able to use spiritual techniques there was no point in focusing too much on fighting and instead focus on escape and evasion. Still, for those who wanted to do extra work online tutorials were made avable by Marlo. The reason why Lex followed Marlo¡¯s tutorials instead of others he found online was because his techniques set the foundation for other techniques he would learn at Qi Training. It was good to build a foundation. As he trained, he did not notice the hours go by as in his mind he was always focused on zombies. He kept imagining fighting them, in one-on-onebat as well as in groups. He had also asked Velma to make recordings of his training so he could watch himself backter, and when he did it became apparent to him that his techniques were quite bad. It was hard to tell when performing them, but the deviation between his moves each time he performed them was huge. It was fortunate that most zombies were not intelligent or he might not have survived. He was unaware of how refined his techniques had be when he had zoned out while actually fighting. He continued nonstop, until finally Gerard stopped him to tell him his two guests had left the Recovery room. ***** ¡°We should learn everything we can about this ce,¡± whispered Chen as he and ne walked out of the small, circr building. Around them they saw arge garden, popted with trees few and far between. In the distance he could see arge building, which he assumed was the Inn. The weather was pleasant and the atmosphere was serene. It all seemed quite calm and normal, different from what Chen had assumed when he had met his impressive yet intimidating host. Yet after a few moments, he realized the quiet and peaceful environment was much more impressive than anything else. His entire life Chen had never feltpletely safe, even when he was in towns protected by walls and barriers. Yet here, he couldn¡¯t help himself from letting his guard down. Here, he felt at peace. Just that feeling of security made this ce extremely attractive, let alone anything else they could offer. ¡°I¡¯d like to bring Iris here,¡± mumbled ne as he walked barefoot through the grass. Where his shoes had gone he did not know, but both he and Brother Chen were garbed in a simple cotton tunic and pants. He had none of his gear, and hadn¡¯t seen it in the room they had left either, but he wasn¡¯t worried ¨C it was unlikely that his things would be stolen. They weren¡¯t worth much to begin with anyway. The two soldiers made their way through the garden towards the Inn, both lost in their own thoughts, when they saw their enigmatic host ¨C the Innkeeper ¨C walking towards them with a smile. Behind the Innkeeper walked a short, youngdy who was dressed simrly, carrying a tray with a couple of sses on it. ¡°It¡¯s good to see you two recovered,¡± the Innkeeper said in a warm voice. He smiled at them in a weing way, but neither of the two soldiers could forget that this was the man who had easily taken down a Tier 3 zombie and this could not treat him lightly. ¡°Have a drink, it¡¯s lemonade,¡± the Innkeeper signaled towards the youngdy holding the tray. ¡°I thought you two could use some refreshments as I give you a tour of our humble establishment.¡± ¡°Thanks,¡± the soldiers quickly said as they grabbed the drinks, wary of offending the Innkeeper. ¡°Come, let me take you to the Inn. And please, if you have any questions don¡¯t hesitate to ask.¡± The two soldiers hesitated and looked at each other, before Brother Chen spoke up. ¡°How can someone get ess to the Inn?¡± Even if the Innkeeper never mentioned it, it seemed obvious that the Inn wasn¡¯t actually in their world, and they had been teleported through the golden door. However, how reliable was it to wait for a floating door? There had to be a better way toe in. ¡°Some people can ess it the way you did, by encountering the golden door. Most people will have to use a golden key. All guests get one when they leave, so you don¡¯t need to worry about not being able toe back. As thanks for answering my questions earlier, I will give you two a spare key each, so you can invite someone else if you wish.¡± The Innkeeper waved his hand and two golden keys presenting themselves before the soldiers, floating in midair ¨C waiting for them to be taken. The two soldiers quickly grabbed the keys and thanked the Innkeeper profusely, who only smiled at them in return. ¡°What do you need to do to be a guest here?¡± ne asked, his mind thinking of Iris again. ¡°You can spend 50MP to reserve a room for a day, and can host one guest with yourself in the room. You don¡¯t have to get a room, and can just simply use our other services such as the gift shop, the recovery room, visit the restaurant ¨C whatever you¡¯d like. However, please be aware that if you visit the Inn and leave without availing any of our services, you won¡¯t receive a golden key upon your return!¡± The two soldiers continued to ask Lex questions, and he answered them casually whilst showing them the Inn and introducing things. When the two soldiers discovered Bom Dew could prevent someone from being infected and turning into a zombie their eyes shone with overwhelming greed ¨C they didn¡¯t do anything though and only made a mental note of its price. The tour finally concluded and the two soldiers were getting ready to visit the restaurant for theirplimentary meal as PB Guests when a thin, middle-aged man entered the lobby from the stairs. He gave the two soldiers a look before turning his attention towards the Innkeeper standing next to them. Lex smiled as he read the name above the man¡¯s head ¨C Fk! Chapter 33 Eavesdropping Slowly, Fk made his way towards the Innkeeper as he used his spirit sense to investigate the area. Spirit sense was an ability those at a higher cultivation level attained that would allow them to perceive things in the greatest of details which were covered by their spirit sense. They could extract and withdraw their spiritual senses and use it to cover anything that was within their spiritual range. There were, of course, more uses to spiritual sense but that was the mostmon one. He was surprised to see there were a few changes in the Inn as well as new people ¨C something he had not sensed at all from his room. This, along with the fact that he was not able to determine the Innkeepers strength, made the Midnight Inn extremely mysterious. Yet it did not matter much to Fk; he was not there to make enemies with the man so his strength mattered little, only his capability as a host did. As for the two other guests, they were too weak to hide anything from him, and he immediately saw through them. In fact, from the moment Fk had been born he was already much stronger than the two soldiers, so he did not even have a concept for what the Qi Training realm was. In terms of strength they were virtually indistinguishable from the mortals who did not cultivate at all to him. ¡°Innkeeper,¡± Fk said in an acknowledging tone. ¡°There have been a few changes to the Inn while I was sleeping. I¡¯m surprised you were able to achieve such a thing without even letting me notice.¡± Lex felt like if the Host Attire wasn¡¯t helping him control his facial features his lip would have twitched. The man had been asleep this whole time? ¡°Of course,¡± he replied, as if it was the most natural thing. ¡°All our guest rooms have an isting array so that no one outside can sense what is happening inside, while those inside remain undisturbed by things outside. Naturally, if you want to turn the array off you can let me know and I can have it done for you.¡± That statement surprised Fk. He had not noticed any arrays in his room at all!. ¡°No wonder I was unable to contact the youngdy through themunication talisman, the rooms are isted. In that case, please remove the arrays around my room. It would be a shame if the youngdy tried to contact me, but was unable to.¡± Lex nodded and used his control over the Inn to deactivate the isting power over the rooms. In fact, there were no arrays covering the rooms, the Inn naturally kept the rooms isted but it was easier to exin to guests this way. ¡°It¡¯s done,¡± Lex told, his mind running through a million things. For a moment he considered asking Fk about the Earth the same way he had the two soldiers, but then disregarded the idea. The less he revealed to Fk and Bastet the easier it would be to keep up his fa?ade in front of them. ¡°These two young friends,¡± Fk said, turning to Chen and ne. ¡°I can sense the aura of the Vegus System on you. It has been quite a while since I was therest. Would you mind telling me about what¡¯s been happening theretely? I have been quite cut off from the universetely.¡± The man¡¯s words overwhelmed and intimidated the two soldiers, but it wasn¡¯t just that. He was infinitely stronger than the two and exuded a natural aura that should have overwhelmed them being so close. It was not something he would have had to do, just the strength of the man existing before them should have crushed their souls ¨C though they didn¡¯t know that, they only knew that they should have been oppressed and that something was preventing them from suffering. It was the Inn, naturally protecting its guests, but the two soldiers attributed it to the Innkeeper helping them out. ¡°Senior I don¡¯t know when you camest, but for almost two hundred years now Vegus Minima has been overrun by zombies. As for the other twos, we lostmunication with them long ago and don¡¯t know what their status is. They are probably in the same situation, if not worse.¡± ¡°Zombies?¡± Fk repeated the unfamiliar term, slightly curious. ¡°Bottom level demons,¡± Lex rified, repeating the information he had received from the Inn. ¡°Ah, bottom level demons!¡± Fk grimaced for a moment, but quickly his expression returned to normal. ¡°I¡¯m sorry my young friends, I would like to help you ¨C demons are truly despicable ¨C but ording to the Henali Convention I am unable to interfere. You will have to deal with this on your own.¡± The two soldiers smiled wryly ¨C they did not expect any help anyway. The Innkeeper had already let them know that their fate was in their own hands, and could only be changed through their own efforts. ¡°Thank you for your care senior,¡± Chen said, ¡°although we have suffered, we are not without hope. We will reim our through our own efforts.¡± Chen was only trying to portray himself as heroic, but his words truly gave Fk a good impression of the man. ¡°Come young friends, tell me a little more about these zombies.¡± Fk led the two soldiers to the restaurant where they sat and discussed zombies and everything else about their world, while ordering a truly tremendous amount of food. Fk turned out to be vegetarian, but instead of sds he ordered a list of Indian foods while the two soldiers had steak. As a reliable A.I. assistant, Velma would take care of the cooking like she had been doing for Lex this entire time. Lex left them to their privacy so they could talk ¨C but not really! How could he give up this opportunity to learn interesting things from them ¨C mostly Fk since he had already interviewed the soldiers. For example, this Henali Convention, although Lex had no idea what it was, he knew it was something that prevented Fk from helping the two soldiers ¨C maybe that information would be useful one day. Sittingfortably in the garden he used the power of the Host Attire to secretly listen to everything his three guests were saying. ***** Upstate New York, Will Bentham¡¯s Mansion Old man Will sat in a wheelchair looking at the kneeling young mercenary in front of him. He had been thinking of solutions to his problem as ofte, and suddenly remembered a rumor he had heard once. Death soldiers. Soldiers trained to sacrifice themselves for a cause. A lot of families and organizations cultivated them, and they were only loyal to them. But there was another way someone could get a death soldier, and that was by wielding the endless, unsurmountable power of money! Okay putting it like that was an exaggeration, but asionally some cultivators who were in desperate need sometimes agreed to bind themselves to others in exchange for what they needed. The binding was done through a soul contract, which in itself was a rare item, but a very useful one as it gave the binder the power of life or death over the bonded person. But still, such a situation was rare. Will called a few old friends to put the word out he was looking for a Death soldier. Initially he expected to wait a few months at the very least to get a response, but who knew he got a call just one dayter. In front of him was a young mercenary who had made a small name for himself doing expeditions on the moon. Unfortunately, the cultivation world is not a peaceful one and someone had killed the soldier¡¯s family while he was away on one of his expeditions. It had been a few years since that incident but try as he might, the mercenary was unable to find out who the culprit was and what was their motive. On the moon things were a lot more chaotic than on Earth, for example while Bluebird tried its best to maintain the peace and investigate any crimes in its designated areas of control, there was no suchw enforcing organization on the moon. There each and everyone only looked out for themselves and their own interests. So the man had finally turned to desperate measures. He agreed to be old man Will¡¯s death soldier as long as he helped him investigate his family¡¯s death and help him with his revenge. ¡°I have given the order. The Bentham family has officially started looking into the death of your family, quietly for now ¨C to avoid attracting attention. I will let you know as soon as there are any results.¡± ¡°Thank you, my lord,¡± the kneeling mercenary replied. ¡°I will fulfill my end of the bargain.¡± Will smiled, hearing the young man¡¯s words. He waved his hand and a man dressed up in a suit brought what looked like an empty syringe to the kneeling mercenary and handed it to him. Without any hesitation the mercenary stabbed himself in his heart with the needle of the syringe and pulled the plunger outwards. However the syringe didn¡¯t pull out any blood, instead it was filled with a silvery translucent material. The process looked painful and the man grunted a couple of times, but did not stop. Once he was done the mercenary handed the syringe back to the suited man, who then presented it to Will. Will carefully picked it up and injected the silvery substance into his hand. When he finished a small tattoo that looked like the mercenary before him appeared on the back of Will¡¯s hand. The soul contract wasplete and the mercenary had handed a small portion of his soul to old man Will. Naturally, Will did not haveplete control over the mercenary¡¯s soul, as the conditions of the contract had been imprinted into the syringe used to extract and deliver the soul. If Will tried to force the mercenary to do anything outside of the bounds of the agreed upon contract he would immediately lose control of the small piece of soul and it would dissipate. Simrly, if the mercenary tried to break his word or go against Will, the soul contract would immediately alert Will who could then punish the mercenary. ¡°Now then,¡± Will said, excitement filling his body, ¡°I believe you know your assignment.¡± He presented the golden key to the mercenary, who took the key and immediately crushed it. There was no hesitation in his actions or fear in his eyes. The man was willing to do whatever it took to get revenge. There was a sh in the room and the mercenary disappeared. Chapter 34 Hugo Hugo Laurent was a self made man even though his life had never been easy. But he was not one to make excuses and always worked towards improving himself. Despite hisck of resources and backing, on Earth he was considered a cultivation genius and the rate of his growth drew many eyes. Eventually he joined the Deepwater Brotherhood, an organization simr to a private military that operated on the Moon and epted various tasks too difficult or dangerous for ordinary cultivators. It was not the best treatment he could have gotten, but he could ept tasks as and when he liked and had rtive freedom, as well as the protection of the Brotherhood as long as he didn¡¯t proactively offend someone. During his years working he built up a small fortune and started a family. With the way things were going he could imagine himself retiring early and returning to Earth. But when have things ever gone ording to n? Hugo dismissed his random thoughts and prepared for the worst as the sh faded and he found himself in a new environment. He was wearing synthetic body armor from head to toe and held what looked like an assault rifle positioned across his chest with a bay at its end. At his waist was what looked like a pistol, as well as an extremely sharp de. In a small bag that was hung from his back he carried emergency medical equipment, as well as a few lightweight items that could prove useful in a difficult situation. He looked like a man ready for war, so he stood out like a sore thumb in his new environment. He found himself at the gate of what looked like arge estate. It gave off a warm and weing feeling, but Hugo would not let that fool him as he did not let down his guard. Having people drop their guard through a weing environment was amon tactic in various minor realms he had visited, though this did not seem like a minor realm. His primary mission in this ce was to collect as much information as he could, and his secondary mission was to recover any treasures he could find. Therefore he scanned the area around him and made sure to memorize even the smallest of details. Before he could think of doing much else, a mysterious man suddenly appeared before him. Hugo¡¯s eyes shrunk in horror as he had only heard rumors of teleportation in very high level cultivators, but had never seen it. He tensed up and got ready for an altercation, but did not make any sudden movements. He did not want to provoke the other without understanding the situation first. ¡°Wee to the Midnight Inn, dear guest,¡± the mysterious man said with a smile. His voice had a magical effect, and made Hugo want to naturally trust him. But the feeling of wanting to trust him rmed Hugo even more! ¡°Be at ease,¡± the man said,ughing at Hugo¡¯s tense demeanor. ¡°We are a reputable establishment. We do not hurt our guests. Would you like a tour?¡±. ¡°Sure,¡± replied Hugo curtly. He let go of his assault rifle and let it hang from its strap, but remained ready at any moment to use it. The mysterious man had an amused look in his eye, but said nothing as he led him towards a manor in the distance. ¡°The Midnight Inn is an establishment that is connected to many worlds across the universe. We provide our guests with a rare ce to rest and rx, away from their troubles. Of course, we provide services other than residence as well. Currently we only have a small gift shop with a few items from different worlds, and a recovery room to allow guests to heal from various injuries, but over time we will include more options. By the way, it seems I forgot to introduce myself. You can call me the Innkeeper, I run this small establishment.¡± The Innkeepers exnation seemed far fetched and Hugo instinctually felt like it was impossible, how can there be an Inn that connects to various worlds across the universe. Then he remembered that he entered this ce by teleporting using a golden key, and that made him a little unsure. During the tour, when they entered the restaurant he saw three people sitting at a table being served food by a youngdy, discussing in great detail about the history of some ce called Vegus Prime. He instantly recognized that two of those people were in the Qi Training realm, but the third man gave him an oppressive feeling like he¡¯d never felt before. Without any doubt Hugo knew this man was the strongest being he¡¯d ever met, but he was just sitting casually eating what looked like a Spinach dish with some Naan. A part of Hugo told him that this was all an illusion, that the Innkeeper was still trying to fool him, but a much greater part told him that he was not qualified to be fooled by such a man. When he epted the reality of what was happening, his mindset changed immediately! He dropped his guardpletely and paid greater attention to everything around him. In theory, the ce seemed like a simple estate, and not even the most impressive one Hugo had seen. But in practice, everything around him made him feel like he was in a mystical ce. While walking through the garden towards the recovery room, Hugo instantly realized that his cultivation seemed to have loosened up a bit, and it once again was possible for him to progress. That truly shocked him since he hadn¡¯t even been here for thirty minutes! ¡°I rmend you spend a day in our recovery pod,¡± the Innkeeper told Hugo when they visited the recovery room. ¡°You don¡¯t have any obvious injuries, but I can see that you have various hidden injuries in your body that haven¡¯t fully recovered and have hampered your cultivation. Once you heal them, you will notice that the speed of your cultivation will increase exponentially.¡± Hugo thought for a minute, and analyzed his situation. Everything he encountered was vastly different from what he expected going into this, but his mission parameters were to get as much information as possible. Using the recovery pod fulfilled and determining its effectiveness fell into that category, right? Hugo stopped hesitating and pulled his small backpack forward and unzipped it. He reached in, and pulled out what could possibly be the most powerful weapon he had ever wielded: Will Bentham¡¯s credit card! ¡°Do you ept cards?¡± he asked. ¡°Naturally,¡± the Innkeeper replied. ***** Lex smiled as he allowed the Inn to swipe the card in Hugo¡¯s room. The man didn¡¯t even ask the price, and this was exactly the kind of customer Lex liked the most. Using the recovery room cost the Inn 30MP a day, so Lex had set the price as 50MP. Using the recovery pod a day cost the Inn 150MP, so he set the price as 250MP! As for the ORR, it cost the Inn 1000MP per hour! Lex hadn¡¯t determined a price for that yet, and would consider it when he needed to. The payment was epted and Lex led the man to the recovery pod. Above his head Lex could see his details Name: Hugo Laurent Power: Middle Foundation realm Species: Human Midnight Inn Prestige Level: Not yet avable Below this was a unique set of information that only became avable after they entered the recovery room. Conditions: ¨C Meridians stretched ¨C Slightly damaged ribs, spine, skull, left shin, left knee, left arm, left hand ¨C Intestines slightly damaged ¨C Liver slightly damaged ¨C Cardiovascr system slightly damaged Report: The patient has umted various injuries all over his body that neverpletely healed. The patient will suffer no deterioration in their quality of life, but will suffer from a negative impact on their cultivation speed. If untreated, the patient will never surpass the Foundation realm. Any attempt to cross the Foundation realm will exacerbate the damage to the body and cause the Foundation cultivation to copse. Lex was pleasantly surprised when he saw the information, and was quite thankful he had another way to pull guests into the Inn. Furthermore, he was also filled with anticipation: if Hugo decided to rent a room before the two soldiers left then he would reach maximum capacity, and Lex had a gut feeling that something good would happen if he did. Lex¡¯s smile grew as he watched the fully armored man get in the recovery pod. His luck really was good, and that one key he had left on the train hade in handy just at the right time! Chapter 35 Gun It had been a few hours since Hugo went into the recovery pod, and on Earth it was evening now. The Inn reflected that as the ¡°sun¡± in the sky was setting. It wasn¡¯t an actual sun, but rather a projection of one. The Manor was well lit and tiki torches were ced around the garden along with arge bonfire. These were sudden changes Lex implemented since he had guests sitting outside, enjoying now. Honestly he was quite surprised that Fk was getting along so well with Chen and ne, but after listening for a while he realized that it was mostly him telling them the history of their world. He looked like an amicable elder teaching young kids while reminiscing about the past. Lex listened in but after a while he lost interest. Right now he was just waiting for Hugo to leave the recovery pod, and hoping for him to rent a room. Healing his wounds would naturally take longer than the two soldiers since he was at a higher realm, but it should be close now. Lex was also interested in Hugo¡¯s weapons; even if they had the shape of regr guns he didn¡¯t believe for a second that they shot normal bullets. During this time he also looked at his 2291 MP leftover from all his expenditure and considered if he should add a few more features to the Inn. Currently he could add the greenhouse or the meditation room. Once he bought the greenhouse he could buy seeds from the Midnight market or bring some of his own and nt them in the greenhouse to grow. When the nts grow he could use them for various purposes but there was a catch, getting a greenhouse required him to get a dedicated employee. For now he had Velma and Gerard doing multiple tasks, but the greenhouse would require an employee dedicated only to it, regardless of whether there was anything growing or not. That sounded expensive. The meditation room, on the other hand, was arge one time purchase and required no maintenance and was very beneficial to cultivators Qi Training and above, but that single one time purchase was kind of expensive. He wanted to save up to raise his cultivation level, not to mention he felt the need to keep an emergency fund in case he ever failed a quest or needed to make a payment. While he was considering his options, Mary appeared to let him know that his phone was ringing back on Earth. Curious, he returned back to his apartment and was pleasantly surprised when he saw who was calling. It was Marlo.. ¡°Hello,¡± he greeted picking up the call, only to be responded with the sound of uproariousughter. ¡°How does it feel to be rich, huh boy? Bet you already spent your first million!¡± Lex smiled and looked at his phone. He¡¯d gotten a notification that the payment had been transferred to his ount. ¡°Not yet,¡± Lex answered truthfully. ¡°I was busy and didn¡¯t check my phone. But you can rest assured now that I know the money has been transferred I won¡¯t hold myself back from spending it.¡± ¡°Great! GREAT!¡± the man roared. ¡°I was afraid you were like one of those people who like to hoard money and spend only a little. You can¡¯t grow if you don¡¯t use what you have. Anyway, I have your weapon as well. If possible,e over today to pick it up. I have a few things as well I¡¯d like to discuss with you.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be right over!¡± Lex eximed and left his apartment as quickly as he could. He hailed a cab and in 20 minutes was at Marlo¡¯s apartment. The door was opened by Marlo¡¯s butler who was expecting Lex this time, and led him directly to the gym where the giant man was attending a call. Noticing Lex¡¯s arrival he quickly told the person on the call he had to go and hung up. The human shaped bear said nothing to Lex and only pointed towards a briefcase with a mischievous grin. This time Lex was also excited as he reached for it and, with trembling hands, opened it. Before himy a silver handgun in the shape of a desert eagle, with two magazines as well. But this was no ordinary gun ¨C this was a spirit weapon! ¡°Let me introduce you to your new weapon, the Heavy Harley! Each magazine takes a different kind of ammo,¡± the giant said, picking up the gun. He loaded the first magazine that had a silver stripe on it and aimed at a minion-bot from Rent-a-minion that was standing nearby. Without hesitation he fired five bullets, firmly denting the minion all over its body. The gunshots, surprisingly, didn¡¯t make a lot of sound. ¡°The first kind of magazine fires spirit bullets. The strength of each bullet is equivalent to the strongest attack of a ninth grade Qi Training cultivator. The bullets are quiet and fast, and each magazine can carry upto 100 bullets. Once the magazine runs out you can use spirit tokens to refill the magazine.¡± Spirit tokens were a rtivelymonmodity in the cultivator world, at least between low level cultivators. 100 spirit tokens were equal to one spirit stone, in price at least. Marlo unloaded the magazine and put the other one in the gun, this one with a bronze stripe. ¡°This one takes actual physical ammunition. The Heavy Harley can take iron ranked low caliber rounds, and can in theory gravely injure an initial Foundation realm cultivator. The magazine can carry 10 bullets.¡± He fired a single bullet at the minion and its head exploded! This gunshot was still not as loud as he expected, but was like a firecracker exploding next to them. The headless minion kept standing, as if the head made no difference, but its shoulders slumped as if it was depressed. Marlo fired a few more shots until there was nothing of the minion left standing, only random robot parts on the floor. Lex grinned and took the gun from Marlo, feeling the cold metal in his hand. It was heavier than expected, but nothing Lex couldn¡¯t handle. This was the realization that Lex had; why should he try to be low key and use swords when better and more convenient options were avable? Not to mention that it took care of enemies at long distance, ording to Marlo there were various spirit techniques avable even for guns from as low as Qi Training. As for standing out too much in a low tech world? The world of cultivators was full of mysteries, trying to ount for every possible situation would leave one unable to ever leave their homes. He would handle it when the situation arose. Marlo summoned another minion who stood 20 feet away from Lex, awaiting its fate. ¡°Try the spirit magazine first, get a feel for it.¡± Lex swapped out the magazines and aimed at the minion. His stance wasn¡¯t that great and considering that this was his first time using a gun he should have held it with both hands instead of one, but Marlo did notment. Experience was the best teacher, he would value advice more after knowing what he did wrong. Lex aimed for a few seconds at the minions head, and then fired. The sound of the shot was still suppressed, but everything else waspletely different from when Marlo used the gun. Let alone that he missed the minionpletely, the recoil of the shot bent his stretched arm and the gun was now pointing up in the air. ¡°Damn!¡± Lex eximed, taken by surprise, but Marlo only grinned. The show had just begun. Using both his hands this time Lex lined up the shot and after a few tries managed to hit the minion. It was not that Lex¡¯s aim was bad, but that even with the strength of Body Tempering he could not handle the recoil, which deviated his shots. ¡°Try the other one,¡± Marlo said, swapping out the magazines. If Lex had paid attention he would have noticed the anticipation on the man¡¯s face, but he was too focused on the gun. Lex aimed at the minion again, holding the gun with both hands again. When he felt ready, he fired. Whether the bullet hit the minion or not was something Lex never found out because he felt like his body had been hit by a truck, and he actually fell backwards. He felt an intense pain in shoulder, and knew that he had dislocated his arm. The recoil was too strong for Lex, there was no way he could use this magazine without raising his strength first. Marlo, who had been waiting, finally burst out inughter. Nothing in life was easy, if Lex wanted to use guns to fight cultivators he was only setting himself up for just a different kind of difficulty. Chapter 36 Changes Afterughing for a bit, Marlo yanked the disoriented Lex off the ground and skillfully popped his dislocated arm back into its ce. After making sure that Lex wasn¡¯t hurt anywhere else Marlo put the handgun back into the briefcase and signaled Lex to follow him. Lex, still in shock at what happened, followed the giant man. The difference between Marlo¡¯s steady hand repeatedly firing shocks without any visible change, and himself beingunched off his feet after a single shot was too mind-blowing. They retreated to the lounge where a butler served them some herbal tea. ¡°Have some, it¡¯ll nourish your body. You¡¯ve been through a lottely.¡± Lex took a sip, and was pleasantly surprised. The tea had a very subtle taste of honey, but more importantly he immediately felt a warm sensation spread through his body. It was like his muscles were being massaged from the inside, making him feel veryfortable. ¡°This is tea from a hidden monastery near Mount Tupungato. It¡¯s something I used to drink when I started body cultivating. It¡¯s not useful to me anymore, but I still enjoy the taste so I keep it on hand. For you though, it should be very beneficial.¡± ¡°I can tell, thanks,¡± replied Lex, having recovered from his previous shock.. ¡°Do you know why, even as a Body Tempering cultivator you need to use a spirit gun when it¡¯s so difficult to use? It¡¯s because regr guns, even high caliber ones, only rely on basic force to deal damage. The basic concept is, if I hit something harder or with more explosive energy it¡¯ll do more damage. In theory, that is not wrong, but in practice anything with spirit energy is extremely resistant to any forcecking spirit energy. So against a cultivator, in practice most of the time even an assault rifle will inflict less damage than the weakest spirit weapon. This is only considering a cultivators body that has been tempered by spiritual energy, and their internal spiritual energy. Body armor, talismans, spirit techniques and anything else a cultivator can use only add more variables to ovee. A normal Foundation realm expert, with his average gear, can easily withstand an attack from a tank. ¡°The Heavy Harley is named as such because of its heavy recoil, but it is the best gun for someone at Body Tempering to use on the market. Once you raise your level a bit, you¡¯ll be able to withstand the recoil better.¡± Marlo exined a bit, in case Lex was dissatisfied with his weapon, although all of this wasmon knowledge and if Lex did his own research he would learn all this sooner orter. During this period Marlo was rtively calm, and went almost fifteen minutes without bursting intoughter. Clearly he was treating this very seriously. Lex smiled after listening to his exnation, and said, ¡°I understand. There is no gain for free, if I want to use the gun I need to improve a bit. You do not need to be concerned, I am very satisfied with it. But you could have just sent the gun to me. Since you called me here, there must be something else you want to discuss as well.¡± Marlo let out a knowing smile before he chugged his tea in a single gulp and put the cup down. Hezily put his back against his sofa and spread his arms on the side. His appearance looked very casual, yet he gave off the aura of a King in his own kingdom. ¡°I want to know more about the tests you encountered when you used the key. What were your tasks? What were the dangers, how were you evaluated? What do you think I can expect when I use the key? Since I am about to undertake this test, I should be fully prepared, don¡¯t you think?¡± Lex smiled, and internally he was filled with jubtion. Marlo was finally about to use the key. ¡°The first time I encountered the key the test was really simple. I was given a cultivation method, and I had to cultivate it in a set time. Who evaluated me, or how they did it I don¡¯t know. As a reward, I was given a pill that increased the durability of my body. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve already noticed thatpared to others, I can really take a beating.¡± Marlo only grinned, but said nothing. ¡°The second time, before the test began I met someone and was offered something, and if I epted the offer I could take the test, otherwise I could go back. What I was offered and who offered it, I don¡¯t remember anymore but I remember thinking that this was a valuable opportunity. ¡°After epting, I was sent to a different ce. Where that ce was I have no idea, but I remember thinking it felt like a different world. My task was to kill a certain number of zombies and ¡­¡± ¡°Zombies, did you say?¡± Marlo interrupted, leaning forward. ¡°Like in the movies and games?¡± ¡°Yes, zombies. If they scratch you, you¡¯ll be infected after a certain amount of time. But it¡¯s not entirely like movies and games because not all zombies have the same strength. Some are stronger than others. One on one I had no problem fighting them, but the hordes are too dangerous because they¡¯re too many and the stronger ones mix in and you can¡¯t tell the difference¡­¡± As far as his experience fighting the zombies was concerned Lex told Marlo everything. If he lied or made something up, there were greater chances of failure. Since he nned on having Marlo fight zombies as well for his test, this was the most appropriate solution. From time to time Marlo interrupted Lex to ask questions in greater detail or rify some things. The meeting continued for several more hours before Lex found himself repeating what he already knew. Still Marlo asked him again and again to ensure he understood everything. In the end, when the finished Marlo helped Lex register the gun to his name on the Bluebird portal. As soon as Lex left he got a text message from Marlo addressing his Beginners Self Defense ss where he canceled all sses for the next week, and assigned them some non-mandatory tasks in case they wanted to do some extra practice. Lex returned to his apartment and immediately returned to the Inn to await Marlo¡¯s appearance. A part of him wanted to practice with his gun, but his logical side told him he wasn¡¯t ready for that yet and he should not waste his rtively expensive ammunition. First he would go to a shooting range and work on his aim with regr guns before trying to use the Heavy Harley. When he returned to the Inn he also found out that Fk had returned to his room and the soldiers to theirs. Apparently the soldiers were going to leave the Inn but suddenly felt like they could break through to the Foundation Realm. Previously it was all but impossible, but once they recovered from all their old, unhealed injuries due to the recovery pod their cultivation became smoother. After a few hours to stabilize, they immediately felt like they could break through. They decided to try and see if they could seed before they returned to their as that would greatly improve their chance of survival. Eventually, Lex¡¯s patience paid off. It still wasn¡¯t Marlo, instead Hugo who left the recovery room and excitedly asked to rent a room for a week. Lex happily epted the 350MP from the man¡¯s credit card, which was followed by another notification from the Inn that he temporarily ignored, and asked Gerard to take Hugo to his room. When the man left his view Lex quickly checked his status and was delighted. New Notification: Hidden Achievement Unlocked! Hidden Achievement: At maximum Capacity Reward: Authority +1, 1 Free Inn Expansion, Inn Star Rating + 0.5, + 2000MP As soon as Lex checked the rewards, a subtle change swept through the Inn. Like a wave, spirit energy rushed across the Inn as the area of the Inn increased exponentially. Lex could not feel the change in spirit energy, but all of his guests were overwhelmed! The two soldiers, both meditating in their PB rooms, felt a rush of extremely pure spirit energy enter their bodies and suddenly consolidated their cultivation to form their Foundation realm. Their bodies shivered with excitement, but they couldn¡¯t afford to stop and continued to cultivate to stabilize their new realm. Hugo, who hadn¡¯t even begun to cultivate in his room yet, felt a wave of spirit energy fill his body and strengthen his Foundation to the point where he almost immediately entered Peak Foundation realm! For the first time in years Hugo felt excited for a moment before he stabilized his emotions and quickly sat down on the floor and began to cultivate. The biggest shock, however, was received by Bastet and Fk. When the wave of spirit energy entered the Inn, it wasn¡¯t spirit energy that entered their bodies, but a higher and moreplex form of energy! Bastet, who was asleep, woke up to a feeling of horror and excitement! Excitement, because she had instantly recovered enough to where she could leave Earth immediately on her own, and horror because she knew all too well what level of power that energy represented. Fk, likewise, knew what it meant and immediately stood outside Bastet¡¯s room, awaiting his mistresses exit in case she needed him. At this moment Lex didn¡¯t know how the changes had affected his guests. As the only person in the Inn unable to feel spirit energy he did not know how tremendous an opportunity he had missed. His focus was on better understanding his reward and thinking about the hidden achievement. Thend avable to the Inn had increased by a couple of acres, that he understood easily enough. The half star rating meant he could now better cater to guests at a higher realm, or at least that¡¯s what he assumed. He was looking into all the new things he could do with his new-found authority, and they really were exciting! Chapter 37 Growing With the increase in authority there were new upgrades for the Inn avable for Lex to buy. Firstly, he could increase the size of the building and add new rooms, as well as purchase a private courtyard that could be rented to guests as well. There were three new buildings he could buy as well: a Training room, a Guild room and a Patisserie! The training room hadbat dummies at various levels that a person could spar with. The Guild room was less of a ce where the Inn offered services and more of a ce for guests to interact; guests could put up and ept requests in the guild, at a price of course. The Patisserie, naturally, was a bakery that sold pastries and sweets ¨C though for that he would need to hire an actual baker. Furthermore he could increase the level of the buildings he already had as well! Another very important thing that he was rather concerned about was that he couldpletely purchase A.I. ¡®s for the Inn, though currently he still had some time with Velma and Gerard. Lex had to think of how he could use these new upgrades to increase the Inn¡¯s ie. He had only just begun nning when he noticed both Fk and Bastet exiting the Manor. Fk had returned to his form of a bull, and Bastet was once again seated upon his back in her litter. With a warm smile, Lex made his way to the unusual duo. He had been waiting for Bastet to leave her room so he could have an opportunity to talk to her. s, his desire would remain unfulfilled. ¡°Wee guest, I hope you¡¯ve rested well.¡± ¡°Indeed, I have,¡± the cat replied with her previous pomp reduced though Lex didn¡¯t seem to notice. ¡°It has been a very pleasurable experience resting here, but unfortunately I must depart. I wanted to thank you for your hospitality.¡± Lex was taken aback, he had not expected them to leave so suddenly when they had already paid for a month.. ¡°It¡¯s my pleasure to host you. We will keep your room reserved for the rest of your original duration if you wish to return.¡± The cat hesitated, but eventually said nothing. Internally she couldn¡¯t wait to leave! The power she felt earlier was tremendous, and someone with that strength would not be afraid of her fathers influence. That meant that she wasn¡¯t really safe, and she did not dare to tarry. In the end the two left without saying anything. Leaving the Midnight Inn for a guest was extremely easy, they only needed to think about their intention to leave and they would be returned to the area they were received from ¨C with the golden key in hand. The bull and cat returned to Earth for less than a millionth of a second before they tore open a hole in space and escaped. The tear was quickly repaired and there was no proof of them having ever been there, except for two keys which eventually dropped on the ground. The two didn¡¯t dare take the keys with them, even if it could allow them to return to the Inn as they knew a higher powered being would be able to track them if they carried his treasure. Hours went by and the two keysy on the barren ground until a hawker from the nearby vige was leaving towards the city. He saw a shining glint on the ground and picked them up. He observed them for a while before trying to bite into one of the keys. He wasn¡¯t able to leave a mark which meant it wasn¡¯t gold, but regardless they looked pretty enough to where he could sell them. The hawker added the two keys to his wares. Lex had no idea that his two keys had been abandoned by his most powerful patrons, and then dismissed by a hawker as cheap trinkets, which was for the best as he would be dumbfounded and unable to react if he did. ***** In Marlo¡¯s apartment, the giant behemoth of a man was nearly ready to depart using the tinum key. He had pushed all hismitments forward and prepared the little gear he nned to take with him. Before him were a few pills that he nned on taking right before leaving, as well as a protective talisman he had nned on activating. But right as he was about to begin, his butler told him he had a guest. When the man saw who it was he raised an eyebrow in curiosity. It was Lex¡¯s female ss fellow in his self defense ss, Matilda. From head-to-toe she was covered in blood, most of it dried, some of it fresh from her wounds. The scene looked very familiar to how Lex hade to him just a short while ago. His new students really didn¡¯t like living safely. That thought put a wide grin on his face. ¡°Come, let me fix you up!¡± Without asking the young girl anything he carried her to a small clinic that he had in his apartment. As a multimillionaire, what did he not have in his apartment? He lit up an incense and sprinkled a red powder over Matilda¡¯s wounds that made her grimace. ¡°Clean her up,¡± he said to a nurse who was standing by. ¡°Come to me when you¡¯re done.¡± Marlo walked to his lounge and waited for his student. None of his three students were normal this time around. Lex was someone his family was ordered to investigate ¨C something that would shake the whole world if word got out because everyone would ask the question, who exactly could order around the Bravi family? Lex, as the target of the investigation, naturally wasn¡¯t as normal as he tried to portray. His acting was not so bad, but as an experienced man Marlo could instantly tell when he was hiding something. Then there was Larry, the renown good-for-nothing of the once famous Dershaw family. His reputation was so astounding that when the Dershaw family was destroyed, and the few survivors banished to the moon, he was specially exempt from the banishment because his enemies found it amusing to watch him try and struggle. Finally, there was Matilda Ross. At first nce there didn¡¯t seem to be anything too special about her, but in the little over a week that she had been his student she had risen from a stage 1 body tempering cultivator to stage 4! She also picked upbat skills like she was picking up money from the floor and her focus was the most extreme Marlo had ever seen. Marlo continued to muse until finally Matilda entered the room. It appeared as if she had taken a shower and had changed into a pair of jeans and a shirt, with most of her body being wrapped in bandages under her clothes. ¡°How are you feeling?¡± Marlo asked, his voice filled with amusement instead of concern. ¡°Excellent,¡± Matilda replied, as if she did not look like she was at death¡¯s door. ¡°I need a little help. I want to enter the Grand Canyon tournament in two months, I need to get an invite but I don¡¯t n on joining any organization.¡± ¡°You know, you need to be at least a Qi Training cultivator to join, right?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t I have two whole months to reach it?¡± Matilda asked, nonchntly, before getting up to leave. Marlo burst into an excitedughter as he thought about what his student was nning. He never actually said he would help her, and she didn¡¯t stay long enough to chitchat either. It was as if just letting her intentions be known was enough. When she left Marlo¡¯s building two Bluebird agents were waiting for her, wanting to take her in for questioning. She expected as much, and didn¡¯t resist. Her mind seemed to be elsewhere as they escorted her, and her eyes were filled with determination. ***** Larry Dershaw, the heir to the family that used to be the richest in all of North America, slowly picked himself up off the floor with wobbling arms. He had a ck eye and several bruises, but that¡¯s what one should expect when they ept a job as a sparring partner in the Greavers Club. The Greavers Club was a small business that catered to the newly rich. They catered to those who had just entered the cultivation world, and had not had enough time to build up their resources and foundation. To train their children in livebat, they would join the Greavers Club and pay for sparring partners ¨C thoughtely they had tremendous demand for one specific partner: Larry. Who didn¡¯t like to take advantage of those who were down on their luck? Since Larry got paid for it with resources, he usually epted all requests. The Greavers Club would cover his medical expenses anyway, and weapons weren¡¯t allowed so he never got seriously hurt. If his opponents tried attacking too viciously, the Club had overseers to stop them. Even as amusing as it was to bully others, they couldn¡¯t afford an inquiry by Blue Bird. ¡°See you tomorrow kid,¡± said a particrly fat man as he watched Larry leave the practice room. Larry didn¡¯t respond, but the fat man didn¡¯t mind and simply watched him leave with a mocking look on his face. Who could believe that the welp before him once underwent a $300 billion procedure to allow him to cultivate, but still failed to do so. Nobody knew why he could cultivate now, but nobody cared too much either. Not everyone in the cultivatormunity took pleasure in bullying him, but everyone took him as an example of how quickly the mighty can fall in the cultivation world. Larry was oblivious to all of this. Deep in his heart he knew the only reason he was continuing to struggle was because he had seen a small glimmer of hope. Would that glimmer of hope be strong enough to carry him on his journey? Even he didn¡¯t know. Chapter 38 I refuse Bastet and Fk left quickly and everyone else returned to their rooms, leaving Lex free so he thought about how he could increase his MP earnings. Of the 3 new buildings avable none were suitable for purchase at the moment. The Greenhouse could allow him to raise some rare nts but he had no seeds at the moment so that was also useless. The meditation room was the most suitable for purchase, as well as upgrading the recovery room. But both of those had a hefty price and he didn¡¯t want to pay that at the moment. Instead, he bought two more rooms for 500MP each as well as a courtyard for 1000MP, spending a total of 2000MP, leaving his remaining MP at 2641. The rooms were added on the first floor, like the others, but the courtyard was built on the ground. It was rectangr in shape and had two rooms on the opposite end of a small garden that was right in the middle. The garden had only a single Blossom tree, a stone bench and a small pond. The courtyard could house a total of 4 guests, but 3 of them had to be with the primary guest who rented the courtyard. Even though the courtyard was bigger and could house more people, they all had to be from the same party. After he was done he decided to curb his spending for the moment and roam the expanded area of the Inn and think of how tondscape it, but before he could start a certain tiny assistant popped up before him in the air. ¡°Get ready,¡± said Mary, ¡°Marlo is using the tinum key.¡± Lex smiled, thinking ¡®finally!¡¯ ¡°Where will he appear when he uses the tinum key? At the Inn?¡± ¡°No,¡± Mary said. She snapped her finger and suddenly Lex appeared in a familiar, white room. ¡°All misceneous Inn activities will happen here until you designate a ce.¡± Lex looked around the brightly lit, empty room. Not bad, it looked exactly the kind of room a mysterious organization would use.. ¡°Before he gets here, how exactly is this supposed to work? And what exactly does a valet do?¡± ¡°When Marlo arrives the system will give you a detailed report about him and his cultivation. Then you can propose a test, and the system will adjust the difficulty to match the Inn¡¯s standards. Of course, the test will have to be relevant to the position they¡¯re taking. For example, you cannot test a chef by asking him to paint. ¡°As for the job requirements for a valet, they are pretty simple. Sometimes a guest staying at the Inn might want to invite others to stay with them at the Inn, or want some personal belongings they left back in their world. A valet¡¯s job is to go to the guests¡¯ world and escort the ¡®others¡¯ back to the Inn, or bring back their belongings. It¡¯s notplicated, but to avoid unexpected incidents it¡¯s usually best if the valet has a high cultivation. Of course, if the request is too dangerous for the valet¡¯s cultivation level, the system will warn you in advance.¡± ¡°Sounds simple enough. And once a valet has been hired, will the system pay them automatically?¡± ¡°Indeed. The system will evaluate the strength and skill of any employee and pay them through MP ording to their level. They can then use the MP to purchase things or services from the Inn.¡± ¡°Sounds simple enough.¡± For a moment, Lex quickly analyzed what the Inn could offer Marlo as an incentive. The man was at least in the Golden Core realm. It seems that currently the only incentive he could give currently was the ability to travel to other worlds. He had to make it sound as appealing as possible¡­ A silver colored door appeared before Lex and through it came the hulking figure of the man Lex was expecting. He was wearing a simple sleeveless shirt, shorts and sneakers. His exposed arms and legs showed off his extremely well defined muscles, as well as numerous scars! At a higher cultivation level scars were actually rare since the body had a stronger healing capacity, therefore the presence of the scars spoke volumes about the strength of those that inflicted them. On his neck was a golden tattoo that hadn¡¯t been there previously, and it gave off the subtlest glow. That was it. That was all Marlo had brought with him on this dangerous endeavor, no weapons, no other gear or healing items. Or at least, that¡¯s what it seemed like on the surface. He felt Marlo¡¯s gaze upon him, as he also inspected the man. Then he turned to the system¡¯s report. Name: Hanson Marlo Bravi III Age: 67 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: ¨C Spirit cultivation: Golden Core (crippled) ¨C Body Cultivation: Golden Core Peak (unique cultivation) Species: Human/Prime Human Bloodline: Evolving Remarks: Extremely unstable energy has detected coursing through his body. Please treat him like a walking volcano! For a moment, Lex went into shock! His Golden Core had been crippled? And what was a Prime Human? This was also the first time he saw a mention of bloodlines. Nevertheless, he couldn¡¯t waste time thinking about these things, he had to maintain his prestige. ¡°Wee to the Midnight Inn. I am the Innkeeper.¡± Marlo grinned upon hearing the man talk, and looked around the room. ¡°My name¡¯s Marlo. This is a little different from what I expected.¡± ¡°Oh, and what did you expect?¡± ¡°To be honest, I thought I¡¯d be led to a minor realm connected to Earth and spirit treasure would administer a test for a Nascent soul inheritance. But clearly, this is something else.¡± ¡°What makes you say that?¡± ¡°The spirit energy! There¡¯s no ce in the entire sr system with spirit energy this concentrated and pure!¡± Marlo spoke with zeal and his excitement was evident from the glow in his eyes. ¡°Indeed, the Midnight Inn is not on, or anywhere near Earth. In fact, we are not on any, and our purview is not any single sr system but the entire universe!¡± Lex paused, to let Marlo absorb what he was saying. ¡°We ept guests from all over the universe, and provide services that they can only dream of! Naturally, an establishment of our size also leaves small tokens of fate across many worlds for those with the strength to seize them!¡± ¡°So what I encountered was a ¡®token of fate¡¯?¡± Marlo asked. ¡°Naturally. I won¡¯t say it¡¯s impossible, but for anyone on your it would be incredibly difficult to ever ovee the constraints of their birth and encounter the greater universe! Only through an unsurpassed lucky encounter would they have the chance to venture out to the civilizations beyond your own! It just so happens that you have encountered such a lucky chance by being given the opportunity to join the Midnight Inn¡­¡± ¡°So the test is like a job interview?¡± Marlo suddenly cut in between Lex¡¯s speech. ¡°And if I pass I join the Inn as an employee?¡± Lex waved his hand and a silver contract appeared floating in the air before Marlo. The contract stated, in simple terms, his responsibilities and his remuneration. Marlo, who had been so far maintaining his calm, suddenly started hyperventting! From the contract he felt the same power that had been tempting him for long through the key. His crippled core started aching again, as if signaling him that through this he would find the opportunity to heal it. The blood coursing through his veins started heating up, as if letting him know that he had found that opportunity he was looking for for a breakthrough! His bones rattled as if letting him know that there were great rewards waiting for him! ¡°And if I sign this, and I pass the test, will I join the Inn forever?¡± Marlo asked through gritted teeth. It was a testament to his will that he kept asking questions and hadn¡¯t signed it already. ¡°Naturally,¡± Lex answered, not noticing the peculiar wording of the question. ¡°Through the Inn the universe is within your reach, and it¡¯s secrets are yours to discover! Which is why we are very picky with who joins, but once they have joined we take the utmost care of them.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Marlo replied, his entire body tensing up, ¡°in that case I refuse!¡± Chapter 39 Trial ¡°I refuse!¡± The words weren¡¯t spoken loud but pped like thunder in Lex¡¯s ear. He froze in surprise, unaware of how to react. Mary, who was secretly watching, also froze in shock! The system itself forgot to give the notification for the failed quest as the present circumstance was so unexpected. Marlo¡¯s body began to tense up and his muscle slightly flexed, preparing for any reaction. Lex, with his low cultivation, would never have noticed the minute changes on his own but the aid of the system and the Host Attire made him cognizant of anything happening around him while he was there. He let out a defeated smile, Marlo was adamant in his answer even if it meant he might encounter a fight. ¡°Rx,¡± Lex said, ¡°the choice is yours, no one will force you. But if you don¡¯t mind me asking, why did you decline? I don¡¯t think our offer iscking.¡± ¡°For anyone else, it¡¯s not. I¡¯ve spent half my life with a crippled core and never heard of anything that could fix it, but your contract I could feel a chance to heal. I¡¯ve spent my entire life looking up to the Nascent realm, but out in the universe I can¡¯t even imagine what else there is to find¡­maybe, things I dare not even think of¡­¡± Marlo¡¯s voice trailed off, as if he was thinking of something. Lex did not disturb him, and Marlo did not leave him waiting for too long.. ¡°But no matter how tempting the offer, if I ept I will be a subordinate for life. I will have to bend my knee, have to bow my head, and that I cannot ept!¡± His voice was suddenly full of vigor again, his eyes burning with determination. ¡°Maybe to others it may seem like a stupid notion to give up such an opportunity for my pride, but to me there is no reward high enough or threat grave enough to make me yeild! Everything I am, I have built step by step, encountering foe after foe, oveing death time and time again! Maybe because of this, I will be stuck on Earth for the rest of my life, with no hope of breaking through. Maybe there will be countless others who will surpass me in the universe, reaching heights far greater than my own, but no one, NO ONE, on Earth or in the rest of the universe can ever make Hanson Marlo Bravi III kneel!¡± As soon as the enthusiastic giant was done with his speech Lex received the painful notification of failed Quest as well as the 1000MP that he lost. But at the moment he wasn¡¯t paying attention to it, his focus was entirely on Marlo. To be honest, he was really starting to admire the man. It was a pity that he could not get him to join as an employee. ¡°Mary, is there anything else I can do right now?¡± Lex asked,municating mentally. ¡°I really don¡¯t want to miss out on this opportunity of having Marlo work for the Inn.¡± The tiny floating assistant appeared before him, her brows scrunched up as if she was deep in thought. After a moment she said, ¡°The influence of the Inn spans the universe, it¡¯s services are numerous, and its reach infinite. Naturally, to support all of this you will need to gather subordinates of your own, but not everything has to be done by yourself and your subordinates. That¡¯s exactly what the Trials were made for. You can use the them as a way of maintaining a rtionship with Marlo, the only thing you need to consider is how to reward him. Based on Marlo¡¯s current condition, there are two things he currently really needs ¨C firstly he needs his core fixed, and secondly he needs the various injuries in his body healed. Right now you cannot fix his core, but if you upgrade the recovery room once you can heal his body through the RP. That is the opportunity you can provide him.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s do that,¡± Lex said, suppressing his once again bleeding heart at the MP he¡¯d have to spend to upgrade the recovery room if Marlopleted the trial. But it was a short term loss for a long term gain, he wanted to establish a rtionship with the giant. Furthermore, he knew exactly what kind of ¡®contract work¡¯ he could offer Marlo as he had long been trying to figure out a way to get his hands on some special items. ¡°I admire your spirit,¡± Lex said aloud to Marlo. ¡°Normally, if someone were to reject my contract ¨C which has never happened before, just by the way ¨C I would simply send them back. But you¡­I feel like offering you another path¡­ a trial, if you will. If you seed you will get a reward, if you fail you get nothing.¡± Marlo frowned when he heard the offer, not immediately epting it. ¡°Why would you offer me another ¡®path¡¯? You don¡¯t stand to gain anything from it.¡± ¡°Think of it as me taking an interest in you. I¡¯ve shown you a path to surpass your world. If you have the guts to take it, if you have the strength, that remains to be seen¡­¡± with that Lex waved his hand again and another contract appeared before Marlo. It stated the conditions for the Trial, and the option to ept or decline. If he epted he would be transferred to the location of the trial, and if he denied he would be returned to Earth. Before Marlo could finish reading the conditions, Lex disappeared. There was nothing left for them to talk about, and if Lex tried to persuade Marlo that would diminish his image as the Innkeeper. Marlo noticed the Innkeeper disappearing, but returned his attention to the trial conditions. It read: ¡®Within 7 days kill 10,000 tier 1, 1000 tier 2, 100 tier 3 and 10 tier 4 zombies and recover their cores. After 7 days, or when you have recovered the cores you will automatically be returned to the Inn. Reward: Heal all injuries in your body besides the core.¡¯ From talking to Lex he had some idea that the tiers reflected Body Tempering, Qi Training and Foundation realms reflected tier 1, 2 and 3 respectively so tier 4 probably was also equivalent to Golden core. Considering he couldn¡¯t afford to get scratched this was a difficult task, but when had he shied away from difficulty? Marlo let out a mad grin and epted. As soon as he disappeared, Lex and Mary reappeared, looking at the ce where the giant once stood. ¡°10 tier 4 zombies might be too difficult, don¡¯t you think you made it too hard?¡± ¡°Since he wants me to pay for his recovery, he should also pay the price.¡± Lex would not admit he was slightly bitter about being rejected. It was totally to cover the cost of his MP. ***** When Marlo reappeared, the first thing he saw was war! He was standing on a cliff, looking down at a city under siege. The city had walls over thirty feet high and ten feet wide, made of some kind of metal. The walls were covered in some kind of forcefield that started to burn any zombies that came within, but the burning was not enough to stop the zombies. Massive cannons and turrets shot nonstop at the endless hordes, and soldiers unleashed their techniques at any zombies that were nearby. But all that firepower barely caused a ripple in the horde that looked like it contained several million zombies! Not to mention, not all zombies were the size of regr humans. Massive beasts that looked like giant twenty feet tall lizards with six legs as well as wings formed what looked like a cavalry as they charged at the city from the skies, only to be shot down by air turrets as well as cultivators flying using some kind of strange body suits. Although Marlo had lost his spiritual sense when his Golden Core was crippled, his instincts had been honed when he cultivated his body, and his instincts were telling him that Golden Core level cultivators were dime a dozen on this battlefield, and there were many who surpassed that realm. This was the most astounding battle he had ever seen, and instead of fear he was filled with endless drive and excitement. Earth had be too boring for him, and since his cultivation journey hade to an end he barely had anything to drive his ambitions. Although he had discovered some ways to increase his strength without increasing his cultivation, it was a slow and new process so it was unknown where it would lead him. But in front of him now was a new world with a much broader horizon, and it was up to him to reap its gifts. The first thing he did was analyze the situation. Someone who only knew of his reputation might find that strange, as they would have expected the excitable giant to charge right in. But he was not stupid, in fact he was quite a bit smarter than anyone knew. He did not reach his level through blindly charging into fights, he was actually quite meticulous. His massive appearance and excitable personality were in fact his greatest ruse, to trick people into underestimating him. He loved being underestimated, especially when people underestimated his intelligence ¨C it made his tasks so much easier. Furthermore, he was cultivating his body using a method he came up with himself, but it also filled him with unstable power that often hurt his body and caused him great pain. When he was unable to keep from yelling from pain, he would startughing and use that as a cover to scream. Right now, the most foolish thing he could do was to attract attention, from the zombies or the people of the city. He would attack the hordes from the sides and slowlyplete his trial. He kept observing for a few hours, and when he had a good understanding of the flow of battle as well as the terrain, he jumped off the cliff and right into the edge of the zombie horde. It was time to begin the trial! Chapter 40 Mad Marlo Although he jumped from a great height, Marlonded on the ground softly as if he were a feather floating in the wind. The millions of zombies in front of him didn¡¯t seem to notice him as they were busy stampeding towards the city mindlessly, which was perfect for Marlo. He looked through the horde and could easily tell that various tiered zombies were mixed throughout. 10,000 tier 1, 1000 tier 2, 100 tier 3 and 10 tier 4 zombies were a lot, but to Marlo it was nothing difficult, he just needed to decide the best method to do it. The glow of the tattoo on his neck increased before small gold colored sand-like particles starteding out from it and spread over Marlo¡¯s body to form a full body armor. The tattoo on his neck was actually a Talisman. A Talisman was a special kind of product made by cultivators that basically performed a function ¨C any function. How a Talisman was made, how it functioned and what were its limitations was aplex science that eluded everyone except for the most aplished academics. The only thing most people cared about was that Talismans could aplish various tasks, and even perform attacks like spirit techniques, and used up no spirit energy from the user which is why they were always in high demand. But unlike ordinary talismans, the one on Marlo¡¯s neck was made up of hundreds of smaller talismans, each with their own use. Even superheroes in movies these days used Nano-bots as if they were candy bought from a store, so why couldn¡¯t he, a dignified cultivator, use ¡®Nano-talismans¡¯? The concept was his own, and these specific talismans were invented and are still created only by apany that Marlo founded ¨C though the best of this kind of Nano-spirit tech he kept for himself. People tried to giarize the idea ¨C Marlo personally escorted those people to their own funerals. The golden armor quickly changed colors once it wasplete, and produced a camouge effect. The man pointed a finger at the nearest zombie, a dignified tier 3 zombie, and a needle shot out from his armor hitting the zombie in the brain killing it. Marlo pulled the dead body towards himself and retreated to a cave in the cliffside. He examined the zombie¡¯s body thoroughly, but its biology made no sense to him. Broadly it still resembled a man in that it had two arms, two legs, a torso and a head, but that was where the resemnce ended. It¡¯s skin was almost metallic to touch and its internal body was nothing except bones, muscle and what he assumed were meridians ¨C there was no other organ in the body! The head had a wide mouth and two eyes as well as abnormallyrge ears. When he cracked open its head he did not find a brain, but instead a crystal in its skull suspended by what Marlo had earlier assumed were meridians. The needle Marlo shot earlier had torn all the meridians to pieces, but the crystal waspletely intact! He reached to pick up the ¡®crystal¡¯ but as soon as he picked it up, it disappeared from his hand and he received a mental notification that he had submitted 1 Tier 3 zombie core to the Midnight Inn. ¡°So that¡¯s how it is¡­¡± he murmured softly, before bringing out his signature mad grin. It was time to hunt! This time he did not bother being subtle, and mmed his body directly into the horde as if he were a bull charging through a wheat field. Within a few moments the momentum of his body had already killed dozens of zombies, but the needles he shot out were numerous and extremely precise! In but a few moments all the zombies within fifty feet of him fell onto the floor, dead! Yet his achievement was akin to a drop of waterpared to the raging tide of zombies, and before anyone could notice the dead zombies, more had filled the area. Thoroughly in the center of things now, he did not release anymore needles and stuck to killing those zombies within his reach. Unbeknownst to anyone else, small grains of sand fell off his armor and clumped together on the floor until they formed a small, robotic looking snake. The snake slithered to the nearest zombie Marlo had killed and quickly swallowed its core, before moving onto the next. Marlo did not stop killing zombies for even a second as this happened. The armored glove on his fist changed shape to add spikes, so that each of his punches tore directly through the tough skin of the zombies and attacked the core. In but a few minutes he had already killed over a hundred zombies ¨C what their tiers were, he did not bother keeping track of. Some zombies tried attacking him, and he was so thoroughly surrounded that it was impossible to dodge, yet they could do nothing to his defenses. That is until, three tier four 4 zombies took notice of him and surrounded him, signaling the lesser tiered zombies to keep distance from Marlo. ¡°Surprisingly organized,¡± Marlo murmured, his grin still ever present. Three tier 4 zombies, meaning 3 enemies equivalent to Golden Core surrounded him, but he was not intimidated. This was but a warm up, his real goal, one even beyond what the trial had asked of him, was far greater than this! ***** After Marlo left, the first thing Lex did was question Mary. ¡°What¡¯s a Prime Human? Why is it written differently from a normal Human?¡± ¡°As I already told you before, there are many subspecies even among humans. This is merely one of them. Prime humans, or a Prime of any physical lifeform, are those that focus on growing stronger by elevating their physical body. They are distinct from body cultivators, as body cultivators still use spirit energy to temper their bodies, but Primes directly alter and elevate their genes. They aremonly also mistaken for bloodline cultivators, because of the various simrities, however there is one distinct difference between the two. Bloodline cultivators often absorb the bloodline of stronger beings and merge with them, taking on some of the traits of the stronger being. Primes, however, only use other bloodlines as nutrition to elevate their own inherent bloodline. This form of cultivation is extremely rare in the universe, and extremely difficult. You may not encounter a single Prime in a million worlds, not because others don¡¯t try it but simply because the chances of dying are so high.¡±. Lex epted the answer, and silently gave praise to the mad giant in his head. He truly was a unique character. But for now none of that had anything to do with him so he returned to the Inn and started exploring all the extrand that the Inn had gained. It was tnd, without the few sparse trees he had previously nted, and looked very mundane. Originally Lex was of the mind to simply add more trees, but then decided to alter thendscape a bit. West of the main Inn building Lex started altering thend to form a few hills. Originally he wanted to add more foliage and include a few hidden areas as well, but when he looked at the cost he was incurring he simply decided to cover the hills with various flowers. For now this would do, but Lex¡¯s eyes glowed as he envisioned all that he could do in the future when his ie increased. For now, this small expense of 200MP to add the hills and flowers was already a burden on him. When he returned to the Inn he learnt that Brother Chen and ne had already left. As soon as they stabilized their new realm they returned to the forest where they came from as they were anxious to get back to their caravan. It was unfortunate that Lex missed their departure, but he was hopeful that they would return. Or at least pass on their keys to others. But with almost all guests gone, Lex turned his attention to other things. He returned to his apartment on Earth and logged into the Bluebird portal to investigate something that had been on his mind. It took him only a short while, but he had his answer. He promptly changed his clothes and left, catching a cab to a nearby gym. The gym itself was pretty normal, and was of a popr local chain of gyms in the city, but when he showed his Bluebird identity token at the reception he was led to a storage closet towards the back instead of the gym. As these things normally go, the storage closet was actually an elevator that took Lex deep underground. ¡°Nice cover,¡± Lexmented to the receptionist who was escorting him. ¡°It¡¯s not a cover, the ground floor actually belongs to the gym. Bluebird is just subletting the basement. Getting your own space is too difficult, property is prime in New York.¡± Lex¡¯s lips twitched. And here he thought the gym was a clever disguise like in spy movies. When the elevator opened he was weed to a sight more fitting to what he had been expecting: a shooting range. His aim with the Heavy Harley was horrible, and he absolutely could not expect to use it without practice, and what better ce to practice than a shooting range for spirit tech? Although it was quite expensive, as he soon learned. You could not bring your own weapons, and had to get one from the armory in the shooting range. A single spirit magazine for the Heavy Harley cost him $12,000 in the shooting range! Given, a single magazine had 100 rounds but still! Fortunately he had plenty of money to spare, and couldn¡¯t be bothered to find a cheaper alternative. To be fair, arge portion of the cost was because the shooting range would provide him with a private room in which he could practice shooting, and the room had been reinforced to be able to take damage from all the spirit weapons. He also had ess to numerous video guides on how to best use the weapons avable via augmented reality in his private room, which should speed things up. When he entered his room and received his weapon, he set his target to be around fifty feet away and took his stance. He took his time to aim and fired a couple shots. He missed both of them entirely! Dumbfounded, he brought the target closer and tried again, barely hitting it this time. Eventually he turned on the AR tutorial for the Heavy Harley, and before him appeared a stunningly beautiful girl holding the same weapon in her hand! ¡°The minimum base required to use the Heavy Harley is 4th tier Body Tempering, and that too is only for the spirit bullets! This is not only because of the heavy recoil, which the body has to absorb and adjust for, but also because repeated use will harm the joints and tendons of the body unless the body is strong enough. ¡°Once you¡¯ve met the basic requirements, the next thing you have to do is understand how the weapon works. The spirit bullets and physical bullets differ in how they areunched from the weapon! The spirit bullet is formed by first creating a spirit casing, which is then filled to capacity with unstable spirit energy. When the bullet is actually fired, the spirit energy in the bullet is allowed to leak, propelling the spirit casing forward with great momentum! However, since the propelling force of the bullet is the spirit energy within the bullet itself, the farther it travels the slower and weaker it bes. Upon impact to a target, the spirit casing breaks causing the unstable spirit energy to explode, inflicting damage. From this you can summarize that the closer the enemy the greater the damage the spirit bullet will inflict. The optimal range for the spirit bullet is within 100 feet or 30 meters. ¡°The physical bullet is different, in that the propelling force for each bullet is equivalent to the entire spirit energy used in a spirit bullet. Furthermore the casing is made from a spirit metal called Haliver-6, which gives its high spirit prating properties in addition to its regr physical pration capabilities. The optimal range for the physical bullet is in fact less than the spirit bullet, because the bullet suffers from a bullet drop effect due to gravity and a greater air resistance, and cannot be reliably used over 50 feet. ¡°Now that you have a basic understanding of the weapon and ammunition, it¡¯s time to tackle usage. Forplete amateurs, if you need to use the weapon in livebat it is rmended that you equip an aim assist attachment which will predict where and how you should shoot. However, do not be too dependent on those as they can only factor in a few variables and ultimately only slightly improve uracy. The best course is for you to be familiar on your own and improve your skills. ¡°First we will work on your standing uracy, meaning your stance and shooting uracy while standing still¡­¡± The AR tutorial continued for hours, teaching Lex various techniques and skills required for shooting that he had not even imagined. By the time he had shot 20 spirit bullets his entire arm started to ache and he could feel that his body was not used to the recoil. However Lex was not concerned, he had a good way to heal if he ever got injured and he was also confident in his cultivation method. The only thing he had to do now was improve his shooting. After a few hours he sighed to himself as he took a small break. ¡®I¡¯m so hardworking,¡¯ he thought to himself, silently admiring his work attitude and diligence. ***** ¡°DIE¡± roared Marlo as he split a tier 4 zombie in half from head to toe with a golden scythe. But there was no time to rest as two other tier 4 zombiesunched bone spikes towards him. His body vibrated as he used Golden Sparrow, a movement technique to quickly move forward! The ground was crushed from the force of his feet, but he was already gone by the time the cracks in the ground spread. A tier 3 zombie stood in front of him, trying to stall him, but Marlo simply headbutted the zombie so hard its head was crushed! He swung the scythe in his right hand endlessly, killing all kinds of zombies near him, while holding a three feet wide, circr shield in his left hand to defend himself from attacks. The original three tier 4 zombies that had surrounded him were long dead, and instead he was now being attacked by six tier 4 zombies and several lesser tiers as well. The golden armor he had originally donned was long gone, broken from the intense fight he was having, yet not a single drop of blood that covered his body was his own. Three of the tier 4 zombies attacked him, each from a different angle. Marlo, who was surrounded, was not anxious but instead excited! ¡°Endless Halo!¡± he roared, activating another talisman from his neck tattoo! A bright white light covered him, before taking the shape of a ring around him and spread out hitting the three zombies. The zombies were burned severely by the ring of light, but it did not stop them ¨C it only slowed them. That, however, was enough for Marlo who swung his scythe with all his strength,unching some kind of spirit attack at them that destroyed their heads! The attack, however, destroyed the scythe as well. Marlo did not let that stop him, as he activated another talisman that formed a golden double sided sword in his hand. Using Golden Sparrow once again he left his spot just in time to avoid another barrage of bone spikesunched by some zombies. This time he did not immediately attack again, as he retreated for a bit and activated another talisman, making a vial with a brown liquid appear in his hand. He chugged the liquid and threw away the vial, turning towards the three zombies who were only attacking him from a distance. ¡°I just had 10 shots of espresso, you think a little distance can stop me?¡± Marlo said whileughing. The sword in his right hand that originally had a golden de turned bright red and started giving off searing heat. He was using the only technique in his arsenal that was of his own creation. It was a very stupid technique, one that involved filling a weapon with immense energy andunching it at an enemy, but it was extremely lethal! ¡°Hadron Collider!¡± Marlo shouted and threw the glowing red de at the farthest zombie. Before the zombie even had time to register what was happening, it¡¯s body blew up ¨C and so did the few hundreds of zombies behind that zombie that the de ended up piercing! Marlo tried to activate another talisman for another weapon, but learnt that he had already exhausted all his weapon talisman. He didn¡¯t let that stop him though, he activated a different talisman that formed braces around his legs. He used Golden Sparrow once again, his speed increased this time, tounch himself at the other zombies but thesest two tier 4 zombies kept dodging him, only using long range attacks. They alsomanded lesser tiered zombies to form circles around them and attack Marlo when he approached! Marlo wasn¡¯t too concerned however, he had plenty of ways to ovee the situation. He was simply trying his best to not waste his energy too quickly. He was considering how to defeat thest two zombies as quickly as possible when he heard a voice. ¡°Ben arth hanguvay shagohath!¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Marlo looked for the source of the voice, but before he could do anything a woman appeared in front of one of the two tier 4 zombies and killed with a simple swing of her sword. She had donned a simple silver armor and held a single sword in her hand, her visage clean and pristine ¨C arge contrast to her environment. ¡°I don¡¯t speak yournguage,¡± Marlo said, grinning madly at the woman. He could feel a great strengthing from her body. She was a body cultivator as well, and one at a higher realm than him! ¡°I said,¡± this time Marlo heard a voice directly in his head, already tranted to English, ¡°that you are very wasteful with your weapons.¡± Marlo instantly understood that she was using her spirit sense to talk to him, meaning that besides being a Body Cultivator she was also at least a Golden Core spirit cultivator. Marlo¡¯s grin widened, and he burst into a madughter. His body let out a golden glow and he suddenly disappeared. His body reappeared, body mming thest tier 4 zombie crushing it into minced zombie. ¡°I can¡¯t help it, it¡¯s been a long time since I¡¯ve let loose like this,¡± Marlo said, casually killing the lesser tiered zombies around him. The woman gave him an odd look, but quickly refocused on her purpose. ¡°You have garnered the attention of a tier 5 zombie. Retreat to the city, I will cover you,¡± the woman said in a very manner-of-fact way. ¡°You¡¯ve been fighting for almost 12 hours straight and have already fulfilled your kill quota for the month long ago. You can rest now.¡± That made Marlo burst into a madughter. His body started to radiate even more power, quickly attracting even more zombies towards himself. ¡°Isn¡¯t that perfect? I¡¯ve been warming up this whole time just for that! A tier 5 zombie, meaning a Nascent level zombie! I really want to know what it feels like to fight one!¡± In truth, this was exactly Marlo¡¯s goal. From the moment he saw the zombie tide, it¡¯s size and all the enemies it had, he had already put the trial from the Inn behind him. Completing it was not difficult for him at all. No, what he wanted to do was kill a zombie at a higher level than him. As a child and as a mortal, he had killed a beast with the strength of a body tempering cultivator when his vige was attacked. When he started training and reached the peak of Body Cultivating, he killed a rogue cultivator at the Qi Training realm. When he was in Qi training, he had killed an enemy at the Foundation realm, and likewise at Foundation he had killed enemies in the Golden Core realm. He had never seen a Nascent cultivator before, and never thought he had an opportunity to fight one, but now that an opportunity had presented itself how could he retreat? ¡°Are you sure?¡± the woman asked, looking at him like he was crazy. ¡°Of course!¡± Upon hearing Marlo¡¯s reply the woman left, as she could not afford to waste more time on him. If she ever saw him again, she would ask how his venture went. Most likely, if she ever did see him again, he would be a zombie. As soon as the woman left Marlo felt a hostile gaze fall upon him. All the zombies that were surrounding him retreated and Marlo was left in a rare clearing within the massive zombie horde. He looked in the direction the gaze wasing from and found a single zombie floating in the air, looking down upon him. This particr zombie did not look like it had rotting skin, but instead like a young handsome man, if you ignore his paleness. His hair was groomed and the most surprising thing was that he was wearing proper clothes, not torn shred left from an unknown time. ¡°I can feel your blood will aid me greatly,¡± Marlo heard a raspy voice in his head. ¡°Slit your own throat, and your end will be painless. Resist your destiny as my prey, and your end will be miserable.¡± Marlo stared at the zombie with a bit of surprise. ¡°I didn¡¯t know zombies could talk.¡± Before the zombie had any time to respond, Marlo appeared in the air before him andunched a vicious attack. ¡°But I have no interest in talking!¡± His punch, which had his entire brute strength behind it, could not even move the zombie back from where he was floating. But it did put a small smile on that delicate looking face. ¡°I¡¯m d you chose to resist.¡± The zombie flicked a finger and Marlo was thrown to the floor, his so far rxed expression suddenly turning grave. He coughed out a mouth full of blood and used Golden Sparrow to create some distance between himself and the zombie. His shield, which was in his left hand, crumbled into pieces from blocking that single attack. His weapons breaking had no impact on Marlo but the shield breaking woke him up to a serious reality. Taking on the zombie was no joke, he had to go at full strength and could not waste a single moment testing the zombie. If he ended up taking even a couple of attacks like the one he just blocked directly then it would be unlikely he could survive! His punch earlier used hisplete strength without using any techniques, but that would have been more than enough topletely obliterate any Golden Core cultivator. On the Nascent level zombie however it was not even enough to give him a push. Marlo summoned all his strength in his body and then, for the first time in his life, activated his hidden bloodline! His giant body started to shrink, and his massively bulging muscles started to withdraw. His aged face slowly became young again, and the crazy glint in his eyes only increased! The pain in his body was amplified, not decreased, and he knew he could only stay in this form for a few minutes as the transformation of his bloodline was notplete yet. But in exchange, the power he received was beyond what anyone could imagine! This was the source of his confidence in facing the Tier 5 zombie! The now toned Marlo let out one of his signature mad grins, that somehow made him look handsome with his new figure, and attacked! In this form he was unable to use any spirit techniques as his body was too unstable, but he had already nned for that. The golden tattoo on his neck glowed, and instead of a nano-talisman activating, the whole tattoo was activated! A golden glow covered his fists as if he were wearing boxing gloves. The zombie that was so far treating Marlo as a snack suddenly felt a threat, but could not react in time. When Marlo¡¯s fist connected with the zombie it let out a sonic boom and catapulted the zombie into the horde! But Marlo gave the zombie no time to respond, no time to fight back as he followed the zombie down and continued punching! He was not directly hitting any other zombie, but the constant sonic booms from his attack hurt any of them that were close. Within twenty seconds Marlo had punched the zombie in the face over a hundred times. The zombie¡¯s skin was like armor, and protected it well, but you could begin to see it cracking! The zombie tried to retaliate, but Marlo was relentless and interrupted each of its attacks! The zombie opened its mouth to scream but Marlo grabbed its jaw and tried to pull out its teeth! In the horde of a million zombies and a war beyond normalprehension Marlos attacks were but a small blip that no one else paid attention to, but all the zombies nearby could not even understand why they were the ones dying when they weren¡¯t even the ones getting attacked! When sixty seconds passed and Marlo reached half of his power limit, and knew he would only be able to stay in this form for sixty more seconds, he decided he could no longer wait. He focused all his strength and bloodline power in his right hand and released it all with a single punch! The ground beneath him caved in for a dozen feet and all the debris around him was blown away! All that was left was Marlo, standing magnificently over the headless corpse of a Tier 5 zombie! Seeing that he had won Marlo used thest of his strength tough, his body drained of energy but filled with satisfaction. Even as his body fell backwards he keptughing, and even as the zombie horde closed in on him, he did not stop. Fortunately, before any enemies that could reach him a fat, golden snake slithered towards him and entered into his tattoo. He heard a notification in his head: 10,000 Tier 1 cores submitted 1000 Tier 2 cores submitted 100 Tier 3 cores submitted 10 Tier 4 cores submitted 1 Tier 5 core submitted Trialplete! Returning to the Inn! And with that, his body disappeared, with no one the wiser of the great feat the once giant man hadpleted. Authors Note: 1/2 extra chapters you guys unlockedst week! And it happened to be a super long one as well, enjoy! Chapter 41 Tempest Lexy on his bed trying to go to sleep, but his arms were in too much pain and kept him awake. He¡¯d practiced a lot at the shooting range and his aim and uracy improved considerably. The price, other than the actual price, was that all the muscles in his arms were incredibly sore and his joints hurt. He wanted to try and heal normally as he couldn¡¯t afford to pay in MP at the moment, especially since he had to upgrade the Recovery room for Marlo. ¡°Oh my beloved MP, where art thou?¡± Lex whispered, clearly suffering from sleep deprivation. But his drowsy musings were cut short by Mary who appeared to tell him Marlo had alreadypleted the trial! It hadn¡¯t even been a full day! Lex jumped out of bed and prepared himself mentally to face the giant, but when he returned to the Inn what greeted him was a very average sized, unconscious man. Other than the fact that his height had been reduced to around six feet ¨C yes, reduced ¨C and his massive bulging fortress of a body had changed to a toned one, and that somehow the man¡¯s appearance was younger, Marlo seemed fine. To be honest, those few changes themselves seemed so drastic that he would never have recognized him as Marlo if the system didn¡¯t tell him.. ¡°Externally he does not seem hurt, but internally his body seems to be digesting itself. He¡¯s in a state of severe energy exhaustion, you need to put him in a Recovery Pod immediately!¡± said Mary, seeming rmed. Lex didn¡¯t waste any time and spent 1000MP to upgrade the Recovery Room and sent Marlo to the Recovery Pod, which cost him another 150MP! He was left with only 291MP, the lowest he¡¯d ever had! But he couldn¡¯t focus on that for now, ultimately this would be worth it in the long term. After ensuring that the giant was safely put into the Recovery Pod and that it was working, Lex turned his attention to what he had gained from the Trial. The conditions for the trial were 10,000 Tier 1, 1000 Tier 2, 100 Tier 3 and 10 Tier 4 Zombie cores which Marlo had sessfully submitted, but along with that the man had also submitted a Tier 5 zombie core! That was a level above Marlo¡¯s own cultivation, it was incredible. Lex wondered how he had done it. Unfortunately, Lex could not keep the Tier 5 core, as he would need to provide Marlo with a likewise additional reward but at the moment he had nothing to give. When Marlo woke up, he would return the core to him. For now he entered the Gift Shop and ced one of each core on the shelf and priced them. Using these cores helped Body Cultivators further their cultivation without any negative effects. Tier 1 cores helped Body Tempering, and Lex priced them at 200 MP. Tier 2 helped Qi Tempering, which he priced at 500 MP, Tier 3 helped Foundation which he priced at 1500 MP and Tier 4 helped Golden Bones which he priced at 5000 MP. He only needed to sell a few of these and we would already be in profit. Now all he had to do was wait for more guests. There were a few keys in cirction now, not to mention the chance of random people encountering doors. Hopefully he would receive some guests soon as he could no longer afford anymore upgrades or expenses. With that done he returned to Earth and tried to sleep, eventually seeding. He spent the following day surfing the Bluebird portal. His arms hurt too much to practice shooting so he thought he¡¯d acquaint himself more with the cultivation world. He made an ount on Tempest, the twitter equivalent of the cultivation world, and browsed to see what was happening in the world. The mostmon thing he saw was fights and tournaments between Qi Training cultivators! Most recently a family had resurged in India, iming to be descendants of ancient Mughal Kings. After they had lost some wars that nearly drove their family to extinction they had escaped into a hidden minor realm they possessed. Minor realms were realms that existed like miniature worlds, isted from the greater world around them. They only had a few entrances or exits, sometimes even only one, or none at all until the realm destabilized. After this family grew back in strength they returned to Earth, and since their return had sent their younger generation to participate in various Qi Training tournaments to collect resources. Over the past six months they had won every tournament they had entered, and had suddenly be a massive presence in the cultivation world. One such member of the younger generation from the Mughal family, named Babur, was extremely active on Tempest and had a lot of poprity. But his sudden poprity had drawn a lot of negative attention, and had been challenged to a fight by a user called RussianPrincess77. When he arrived for the challenge, it turned out to be a trap and he was beaten mercilessly by Foundation realm cultivators, which had in turn fostered a lot of tension between all families that had lost something to the new Mughal family as no one can discover the identity of the attackers on their purpose. Since Babur wasn¡¯t actually killed, the authorities weren¡¯t treating the matter too seriously. Many such dramatic incidents were taking ce all over the world, and Lex found himself spending hours embroiled in the drama on Tempest. Something interesting he learnt was that although there was a lot of fighting andpetition, it was rare for any cultivator to die in cities. Most deaths seemed to be in remote ces or in newly discovered minor realms. The few instances where deaths urred in cities or towns, the organizations responsible for monitoring cultivator activity took swift and serious action. Apparently, if the number of unclosed cases ever exceeds 5% of registered cases the organization would be very seriously penalized. Lex found this slightly strange: he was all for increased security, but all these organizations seemed a little too desperate to maintain the peace on Earth, while on the Moon and Mars everyone was responsible for their own security. And who exactly would penalize an organization that failed to meet the mark? There were a lot of obvious holes in the information, but none of it mattered to Lex. He only needed to care about how to get more guests. Somehow getting a popr Tempest user as a guest might not be a bad idea. He just had to pick his target now. He followed a few celebrities so that he could stay up to date on what was happening. While he was randomly surfing, he found a Tempest ount that he found shocking. It was the ount for the owner of Fight Fortress, who turned out to be the wife of¡­ ¡°Marlo is awake,¡± Mary said, appearing before him. ¡°I think he broke his brain, he¡¯s just beenughing since he woke up.¡± ¡°No no, that¡¯s how you know he¡¯s still normal,¡± replied Lex as he closed the portal and prepared to meet his first ever trial taker. Authors Note: 2/2 extra chapter you guys unlocked fromst week! This chapter is a preview, if you want to see a faster and more up-to-date chapter, please visit . for more content. Chapter 42 Alexander the great Alexander sat quietly in a boardroom, contemting morosely the events that had urred this past week. They were very unexpected, and greatly influenced his mood. He was a 17 year old handsome young man, but his eyes and posture dictated power andposure umon among his peers. His life experiences were extremely unusual, to the point where he thought it was unlikely anyone had ever been through what he had. Born heir to one of the most, if not the most, powerful family in all the sr system he had been groomed from birth to be the best. A team of over 300 psychologists, biologists, cultivators, philosophers, historians and many more were brought together to design the most perfect upbringing to make him the most capable human to have ever lived. The n had begun long before he was even conceived. Both his parents were brought to their optimal physical health before they conceived, and his mother was nourished and nurtured by the best spiritual herbs and medicine known to man while she carried him. His first five years he underwent training as well as observation, but not strictly. He was allowed to explore and grow as a normal child, but certain habits of hard work and thirst for excellence were nurtured. After he was five was when his real training began. The training was extremely careful, they did not want to influence his personality to be something specific, but while his interests and pursuits were in his own control he had to be taught certain skills and ways of thinking. He was made to face failure, again and again, in every field, and taught not to give up just because he failed. But that also did not mean he had to try and seed endlessly like an idiot stuck on something. After each failure or sess he had to analyze and understand what had happened, and determine the best path to either try again or grow in a different direction. At seven years his training became more strict and he had fewer freedoms. It was also the first time he was made to kill an animal. It was a sedated animal, and he had been taught the best and most effective way to kill it. He was left in a room with the animal unsupervised, and was told he could leave once he had done it. The room was not locked, and to be honest he did not feel too much pressure as he had always known it wasing. But he felt an unusual reluctance, one he could never fully understand. It was like he knew once he took this step, he would forever be on a path he could never return from. Nevertheless, he did not hesitate too long. He did the deed and left, moving onto his next training. A weekter he was presented with another animal and told to kill it. This time there was no hesitation. From then on every week he would kill one animal, and they would eventually stop being sedated. When he was nine years old, there was a change. He was not told to kill an animal, instead he was dropped in the habitat of a young, wild animal, and told to survive for 30 minutes. By then he had already receivedbat training, and he killed the animal long before his 30 minutes were over. Yet he had to stay theplete 30 minutes. As humans could not begin cultivation until the age of 15 he did not face any spiritual beasts, but over the years he faced everything from wild dogs to ferocious bears. Eventually he reached a point in his skill and temperament that he no longer needed to kill the animals. When he would enter the habitat he would face off the animals, and more often than not the animals would recognize his strength, and bow down. When he left the habitat, the animal would still be alive, still wild and ferocious should anyone else enter but tame as a pet in front of Alexander. In his studies he was not expected to be the best in his ss and receive only A¡¯s, he was only expected to understand the material well enough to be able to use it. To test this, every year he was given a certain amount of funds and told to start a new business based on what he had learnt the previous year. This started when he was ten, and since then every single one of his ventures was a sess. Some were better than others, but they were all profitable.. He was taught how to socialize, with his elders as well as peers, and from different financial strengths and cultures. He was trained in the art of recruiting followers, in determining ulterior motives, in detecting threats and signs of friendships. His training became extremely difficult once he started cultivating, both mentally and physically. At that point, almost all freedom was stripped from him. He could only follow the training routine, with the freedom of only a single choice: the freedom to quit. At any point since he had started his training at the young age of 5, he was told that he could quit whenever he wanted. If he quit he would be allowed to let go of all his training, and would be allowed to lead a normal life. But if he quit, although his position as his parents¡¯ eldest child would remain, he would lose the status of heir. What could the position of heir ever mean to a five year old? He would be rich even if he didn¡¯t have that status, and he would be loved with or without it, but for some reason he could never rationalize quitting. He didn¡¯t know what it meant, what it signified, or what the result would be, but it was the only expectation his family ever had from him and he would never let them down! Even when it hurt so much he secretly cried, even when he had to study alone while his peers yed with one another, even when he faced death time and time again, he never quit. He lost many battles in life, lost in many ventures, lost in many of the risks he took, but among those his age he was always the best. Never, since even before the age of five, had he ever seen a peer in age as an actual challenge, those who could threaten him were older and more experienced. His peers were only ever followers or admirers, it was natural, it was a matter of fact. Untilst week! When he started cultivating almost all his freedoms were taken from him, but he was also told thereplete freedom would be given to him when he fulfilled one of two conditions: either he turned 20 years of age, or he entered the Foundation realm. He could even determine whether or not to continue his training, as after that he would wield full authority over his own life. Unexpectedly to almost everyone, he had already entered the Foundation realm at 17 years old! In only 2 years of cultivating he had entered the Foundation realm, somethingpletely unprecedented in recorded history! But entering the Foundation realm was not easy, he needed a specific opportunity, and that opportunityy in a minor realm in Cairo. This minor realm was special, in that it opened once a decade and was treated as a training zone by a few academies and organizations for their cultivators. It was filled with ancient ruins and various spiritual beasts, and those that entered had to find their opportunities on their own. Alexander naturally gained permission to enter the minor zone through special channels, but whether he could gain the opportunity he seeked was up to his own skills. For Alexander this was not a problem at all as he was already at peak Qi Training and was especially skilled. Events yed out as he expected, and all his challengers ultimately failed, allowing him to easily find the opportunity he was looking for: a special meditation chamber left behind by an ancient, unknown civilization. Every decade it allowed one person to enter, and allowed them to breakthrough smoothly whatever realm they were in. Right before he entered the chamber, however, he was stopped by a mysterious woman. She was wearing a mask so he could not determine her identity, but he was certain that she was younger than him! He did not spite her for stopping him, the opportunity was for whomever could grasp it, and fought her fairly for the right to enter. What he was not expecting however was to lose! It was not that her techniques were better, or her equipment, or her cultivation. He was superior to her in all those things, but her judgment and battle effectiveness was beyond anything he had ever seen! She retaliated in ways he could not expect and was never caught off guard regardless of whatever he did. Her temperament and bearing were also extraordinary, something he had never seen in someone his age. If she was from a renown or powerful background as he was, he definitely would have heard of her, but this woman waspletely unheard of! Ultimately, he lost the fight. But before she could enter, he offered her a trade in exchange for letting him use the chamber. Once he broke through he would gain his freedom and have all the resources of his family under his control, so long term he could offer her a lot more benefits than the chamber they werepeting for. After a bit of consideration, the woman asked for his contact information and then disappeared, allowing him to use the chamber. He used the chamber and broke through, but he had no time at all to enjoy his newfound freedom and power. He was too focused on the identity of the woman who defeated him! Once he left the minor realm he used all the power at his disposal to investigate all the people who entered the realm, but could not find anything on her. It was apparent that she had snuck into the realm somehow, an incredible feat as well. The mystery around her only increased, and Alexander grew even more curious. Finally he let out a deep sigh, and stopped thinking about it. He could only wait for her to contact him to learn more about her. Until then it was better to focus on things he could actually focus on. The first thing was to reign in his arrogance: he already thought that he treated every foe seriously, but his loss had made it evident to him that he never treated people his own age as a serious challenge and threat. This was a loophole in his mentality, and could be used against him by anyone who noticed the w. The second was to finally celebrate a bit. For the first time in his seventeen years he could do whatever he wanted. ¡°Send them in,¡± he said over the inte, and shortly after three teenagers burst into his room screaming! ¡°ALEX I CAN¡¯T BELIEVE YOU DID IT!¡± shouted the first boy, who was quite a bit taller than everyone else. Looking at his incredibly skinny figure you could not tell that he was a 2nd step Qi Training cultivator! ¡°HAHAHAHA DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I BET THAT YOU¡¯D BREAK THROUGH BEFORE HENRY, THAT OLD GOAT? I¡¯M GOING TO BE RICH!¡± The boyughed uproariously and excitedly, as if he could see his dreamsing true. ¡°Oh shut up Greg!¡± Shouted a girl, pushing him out of the way. She had long, ck hair that fell all the way to her hips, and gorgeous ck eyes. She was smiling softly as she looked at Alexander in admiration and worship. ¡°Congrattions Alex, you¡¯ve worked hard.¡± Her name was Helen and her cultivation was the highest in the room besides Alexander, at 7th step Qi Training. Only a few weeks older than Alexander, she would be considered an unprecedented genius anywhere, but next to Alexander her brilliance was shadowed. ¡°We must celebrate! I¡¯ve already booked us a shuttle, we can head for the moon in a couple of days! Haha, with no one to watch over us anymore we can go crazy in New Las Vegas!¡± The third teenager was a rather mboyant youngman with bright red hair and an orange tattoo of a ming bird on his neck! His cultivation was the lowest, at only 1st step Qi Training, but considering his young age he could still be considered a genius. ¡°Shut up Zeus, no one is going to the moon!¡± scolded Helen while she kicked the grinning boy directly out of the room. Her soft and gentle demeanour had vanished, and she looked angry and annoyed at the stupid boy. He only ever had dirty things on his mind, she could not allow Alexander¡¯s brilliance to be tainted by this aspiring hedonist! ¡°Forget them! Forget them! Update your level status on Tempest! I need proof or else that old dog will never pay his bet!¡± said Greg, quickly running to Alexander with his phone out. Amused, Alexander acquiesced and logged onto Tempest with his phone and used a detection talisman to check his cultivation level, which then automatically updated his level and status on Tempest. Greg burst into another bout ofughter and quickly dialed his phone, waiting for Henry, his eldest brother, to pick up the phone. ¡°Helen is right, Zeus, I can¡¯t go to the moon just yet. But still, the event does call for celebration. Do you have any suggestions?¡± ¡°There¡¯s an auction tonight near Tahrir Square,¡± said Helen, not giving the others a chance to speak. ¡°You should go there to buy gifts for your parents and your teachers. After that, I heard that a restaurant called Cleopatra¡¯s Garden has a special dish they make from Spiritual Awakening beasts, and they have live spirit music.¡± ¡°That sounds great,¡±mented Alexander, ¡°let¡¯s do that.¡± ***** Lex stood in front of Marlo¡¯s Recovery Pod, slightly heart broken. The man had woken up, but his recovery was ongoing. The way things were going, it seemed he would need to pay for another day of recovery for the giant, which would hurt his pockets. But he did not let that show. Even though Marlo was awake, he was incredibly weak at the moment. Despite the recovery from a lot of his wounds, he had to use all his focus on taming his unstable bloodline, which was not a short process. So the Recovery Pod healed him while his own blood harmed him. Gradually his bloodline was stabilizing, indicating that he was heading towards the right direction, but it would take much longer than Lex had expected. ¡°I¡¯m very surprised at how quickly youpleted the trail. I¡¯m even more surprised that you took down a Tier 5 zombie, you must share the story of it when you recover,¡± said Lex praisingly. Marlo smirked, but could not say anything. ¡°For now you can continue to rest. Once you¡¯ve recovered, we can talk a bit. Believe me, you will be extremely satisfied with the state of your body once we¡¯re done with you.¡± Marlo believed what the Innkeeper told him, but for some strange reason he could not muster any excitement at the thought of his body recovering. He found his thoughts trailing back to the overwhelmingly strong woman he¡¯d seen on the full of zombies. Before he fell back asleep, hisst thought was that he wanted to fight her. How dare she say he was wasteful with his weapons? Chapter 43 Auction Lex stood silently, slightly unustomed to how normal Marlo looked. The sleeping giant¡­ no, the normal sized man was very pale and to be honest did not look much better despite having been in the Recovery Pod for so long. He used the Recovery room¡¯s special ability to look at his injuries. Name: Hanson Marlo Bravi III Age: 67 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: ¨C Spirit cultivation: Golden Core (crippled) ¨C Body Cultivation: Golden Core Peak (unique cultivation) Species: Human/Prime Human Bloodline: Evolving Remarks: Extremely unstable energy has detected coursing through his body. Please treat him like a walking volcano! Conditions: ¨C Severe muscle atrophy ¨C Severely damaged organs (all). ¨C Severely Damaged Meridians (all) ¨C Golden Core Crippled ¨C Body Cultivation suppressed to Foundation realm due to injuries ¨C Blood extremely corrosive and vtile ¨C Multiple Bloodlines detected ¨C Skeleton Severely damaged ¨C Brain functionpromised ¨C Trace tier 5 zombie mutagen ¨C Traces of soul corruption ¨C Traces of spirit corruption ¨C Vitality severelypromised Report: The primary source of the patient¡¯s injuries is the patient¡¯s own blood! The blood is forcefully being evolved by absorbing multiple superior bloodlines, which has caused severe damage throughout the body. The long duration of the process has severely overdrawn the cultivators vitality and natural healing ability, greatlypromising the cultivators lifespan. The evolving bloodline has further tried to absorb the zombie mutagen, an irreversible process that will either result in sess or death. The patient¡¯s soul and spirit are also severely damaged, a result of overdrawing the strength of the Golden Core before it was crippled. Lex frowned, he hadn¡¯t realized that Marlo had also been infected. Furthermore, ording to his status, he would either absorb it or die! He wasn¡¯t worried about Marlo bing a zombie, if that were a possibility his status would have revealed it. What Lex was worried about was the fact that it was unlikely for him to healpletely in one, or even a few days. He thought of a solution, which was to use the Golden Ticket. He was sure he¡¯d activate a new quest if he used it, but it had not yet been a week since he used hisst one so he couldn¡¯t use it yet. The only alternatives he had was hope for another guest, or hope Hugo left his room and bought something from the gift shop. Lex didn¡¯t like leaving things to chance so he started thinking of a good excuse to get Hugo out of his room and into the Gift shop. ***** Alexander was sitting in a private room with Helen, Zeus and Greg at the auction house. His three friends were arguing amongst themselves, as they usually did, and he was working on aptop. Although this was supposed to be a celebration, Alexander could notpletely avoid some work. Naturally he had to report to his parents and elders, as well as begin preparations for a few projects he had nned. It might seem dull to others his age, but he liked the feeling of making progress. The auction had already started a while ago, but things that could attract the attention of the few in his private room would be at the end. Other than Alexander himself, the three in his room also had powerful backgrounds. They were friends he made in Troy academy, the school he¡¯d attended since he was young. Suffice to say, Troy academy was one of the most, if not the most, popr academy on Earth for cultivator families to send their kids to. For some it was a great opportunity to nurture their kids, but for people of Alexander¡¯s background the only purpose of attending the academy was to gain exposure and make connections with other families of strong background. Alexander¡¯s family was based on and controlled all of Mars as well as its moons, so he was quite popr at the academy even though he never attended full-time. Zeus¡¯ family founded New Las Vegas, a city on the moon based on gambling and luxuries that would be illegal on Earth, and to be able to maintain such a city his family was notcking in strength either. Helen was an orphan raised by a prominent family in Ennd. There was no sugarcoating it, Helen was raised and supported for the sole purpose for alliance by marriage which was the reason she was sent to the academy. If she could not attract someone influential herself, her family would take the matter in their own hands. Still, to be worthy of an alliance by marriage her status was not low and she had been exposed to the highest rungs of society. She didn¡¯t feel sorry for herself though, she understood that there was a price for everything she had received. Greg was from an ancient andrge cultivation family, and it was impossible to say he was from anywhere specifically as his family was spread all over Earth as well as the Moon and Mars. Still, Alexander had not befriended these few because of their statuses as someone like him did not need to do that. He sincerely felt that these three were good friends of his. But if they felt the same way about him or were close to him for his status¡­he didn¡¯t think about it for now. Alexander¡¯s phone vibrated and when he checked he had received a strange text. ¡°6 sword slice, Meteorunch, dodge, dodge, 33 Fists of Troy, Propulsion grenade.¡± For a second Alexander was confused until he quickly realized those were his first six moves when fighting the mysterious woman from the Minor realm. It was a message from her. A few momentster. He received another text. ¡°2 keys will be auctioned soon. Give me 1 and we are even.¡± Alexander let out an amused smile. He was impressed that she knew his location, as well as new additions to the auction list, because as far as he knew there were no keys to the list of items to be auctioned tonight. It showed her resourcefulness, but the fact that she could not get the keys herself also gave him a bit of information to specte on. Then he received a third message, and while the smile on his face did not change, the look in his eyes became serious. ¡°I can handle it. Consider your task done.¡± He replied. He looked out at the auctioneer, but at the moment they were auctioning a painting. Alexander had no interest in it. ¡°Score!¡± Zeus suddenly yelled, looking at his phone. Suddenly he looked abashed as he realized he yelled out loud. ¡°Ahem, excuse me. I uhh¡­I have something to do, I¡¯ll be right back,¡± he said, suddenly moving towards the door. ¡°What¡¯s her name?¡± Helen asked in a ridiculing tone. ¡°Betty,¡± Zeus replied without thinking, but suddenly realized his mistake. Hiding his embarrassment at getting caught, he strutted out the room as if he had nothing to hide. Helen let out a deriding snort and turned away, while Greg let out a chuckle. This was nothing new, as Zeus was always flirting and Helen was always looking down on him for it. An exchange like this had happened a million times, it was almost like a routine, but how could the small irregrities in it escape Alexander? Not only had his senses been elevated since his rise in cultivation, he had been paying attention to every action everyone in the room took even while he was working. The irregrity was not in Helen or Greg, but in Zeus who had flinched when Alexander received a text. It was a very small reaction that was suppressed almost immediately, but how could it escape Alexander Morrison? ¡°Helen, I have to step out for a bit. If they auction any keys while I¡¯m gone, get all of them and charge them to the room. I¡¯ll take care of itter.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± replied Helen in a gentle tone, smiling. Of the three friends, Alexander only ever asked her to do things and that always made her proud. Shepletely ignored the fact that of the three friends she was the only one who was even slightly responsible so he could only ever ask her. He stepped out of the room but Zeus had already disappeared, but Alexander could track him effortlessly. He walked calmly, as if he was in no hurry, for a couple of minutes before he found his way outside a different private room. Without any hesitation he broke the lock on the door with a piece of Spirit Tech he had and entered the sight of Zeus hurriedly setting up a formation. When Zeus saw Alexander he froze and his eyes filled with panic, but Alexander only looked back at him calmly. Alexander entered the room and closed the door. Silence filled the room for a few minutes as the two boys stared at each other, until Zeus¡¯ look finally changed from panic to defeat. ¡°Of course, how could you, the great Alexander Morrison, not already know everything? Was it fun, watching us mere mortals dancing about?¡± Alexander didn¡¯t reply immediately, and stared at him for a while longer. Finally, he said, ¡°I thought we were friends.¡± ¡°Friends? Do people like us have the luxury of having friends?¡± Zeus said, andughed despondently. He sat down on a chair, his shoulders sulked and his body reeking of depression ¨C a stark contrast from his earlier demeanor and energy. ¡°Of course, when I say people like us that does not include you, Alexander! Your family loves you and is supporting you with everything they have. Who in the sr system doesn¡¯t know the name of Alexander Morrison, the golden child of destiny? But it¡¯s people like us, Helen, Greg and I, who are treated like we were born with a golden spoon in our mouths, but is that really the truth? Who doesn¡¯t know that Helen is being raised to marry off, that despite all her efforts and achievements, they only serve as embellishments to her worth as a wife? Who doesn¡¯t know that between his 4 brothers, and 17 cousins, the only support Greg can get from his family is that of a prestigious name? Or me¡­¡± Zeus¡¯ voice trailed off. At the moment, he did not look like a young heir to arge family and strong cultivator, he only looked like a defeated teenager who was in way over his head. ¡°Or me,¡± he finally continued, ¡°whose greatest threat is not from the enemies of my family, but from my family itself? If I ever break into the foundation realm, I¡¯ll immediately be a threat to the old geezers in my family in the Golden Core realm. They¡¯ll start considering the day I might break into the Golden Core, when they¡¯ll have to share their resources with me. The sr system is saturated with cultivators, there¡¯s too few resources to go around. There¡¯s barely enough to support the geezers in my family as it is¡­having to share more? They¡¯ll kill me. But I also can¡¯t not cultivate, because if I¡¯m too weak that would harm the prestige of the family. Everything I do, I have to worry about whether I can live or not. Do you think that I have the luxury of making friends?¡± Alexander looked at the person who he once thought was his friend, but there was no anger on his face. There was no pity either. ¡°So what is this then? After all these years, why are you taking action now?¡± ¡°What is this?¡± Zeus mimicked. ¡°Don¡¯t you already know? The moment you became a Foundation realm cultivator, your family announced your status as the next head of the family. The sr system is rampant with rumors that the day you break into Golden Core your father will attempt breaking into¡­into the Nascent realm. One family with two Nascent realm cultivators? The sr system cannot afford such a force. If you¡¯re dead, your father will not be able to focus on his ascension, or will at least dy it. That¡¯s what those old geezers are after¡­¡± ¡°And what was your role in this,¡± Alexander asked, no longer hesitating with his questions. ¡°I was supposed to iste you from the outside world. The formation is set and all signals were supposed to be cut, you weren¡¯t supposed to be able to message anyone or receive any messages. But the moment you received a text message I knew I had failed.¡± ¡°So you were what, trying to renew the formation?¡± ¡°What?¡± Zeus asked, confused, then looked at the formation he was setting up and understood the confusion. ¡°No no, this is a mini-teleportation formation. I was escaping. I don¡¯t want to risk my life. When you received a text, I knew something was wrong. There¡¯s no way someone like you had no protection.¡± Alexander looked at his once friend, and after a moment took out his phone and forwarded Zeus a message. ¡°Read it,¡± Alexander said. Zeus took out his phone and when he saw the message his eyes widened in horror. ¡°Zeus ¨C responsible for istion formation. Helen ¨C responsible for 10 poisons of Ishkbaal. Greg ¨C host for Heart Meridian Mother Gu. They will act at different stages of the assassination attempt depending on the situation.¡± The text Alexander had forwarded was a small part of the third message the mysterious girl had forwarded him. In the end she had also offered to help him out if he needed, in exchange for another favor of course. Alexander had turned down her help, although he did not know about the details, but he already anticipated the assassination attempt. ¡°If you already knew, why are you going along with it? You¡¯re putting yourself in danger for nothing!¡± ¡°Not for nothing,¡± Alexander said, looking the young boy in the eyes. ¡°After all these years, I wanted to know if you were really my friends.¡± Alexander¡¯s words froze Zeus, and shocked him as well. Alexander was not some na?ve, inexperienced young man. Zeus knew for a fact that Alexander himself had killed more people in his training than most could even imagine. A concept such as friendship should have been driven out of his mind years ago, he should have only had rtionships for benefit. Of course, he would never portray himself as utilitarian, and would be generous in his actions, but he should not have associated with such childish concepts. And yet, here he was braving a threat to his life to get an answer he wanted. ¡°You can leave,¡± Alexander said. ¡°What? You¡¯re letting me go?¡± Zeus was shocked! He could not believe what he was hearing! ¡°Treat it as a gift, in exchange for all these years of apanying me. Since you have not directly acted against me, I can let you go. When you return, tell your father he is being used like a puppet. Killing me to affect my father, that is just a stupid fairytale. War on Earth, and even on the moon, is impossible, even though that¡¯s what the people behind you want. Even if you seeded in killing me, there would be no war. Instead, you all would be directly massacred. Honestly, these nouveau riche don¡¯t know anything.¡± Zeus was still in shock, but since Alexander said he could go, Zeus did not suspect him. Under his supervision Zeuspleted the formation and stood in it. Before he activated the formation, he left Alexander, the man who had once thought of him as a friend, a few words. ¡°The 10 poisons of Ishkbaal have been injected into Helen¡¯s blood. If she does not transfer the poison to someone else soon, she will die.¡± With that the formation turned on and Zeus disappeared, leaving only Alexander in the room. When he heard about Helen there was a glint in Alexander¡¯s eyes, but his expression did not change. No one could tell what he was thinking. Chapter 44 A Play Alexander Morrison, confirmed heir of the Morrison family, the golden child of destiny, the youngest Foundation realm cultivator in the recorded history of Earth, walked back into his private booth as casually as he left. By looking at his expression no one would be able to guess he had just confronted one of his oldest friends for participating in an assassination attempt against him. You would also not be able to tell that he had casually let him leave, and continued to pretend as if he knew nothing. One must realize that if Zeus wanted to betray Alexander, the moment he escaped he could let the other assassins know that Alexander was already aware of the nned assassination. But he didn¡¯t consider it a big deal. To be honest, even before he received a text message from the mysterious girl warning him, he already knew that there would likely be some attempt on his life today. In fact it would be more apt to say this opportunity for an assassination attempt had been specifically engineered by him and his teachers, and took years of nning. Due to his status he was always followed by a protective entourage and his itinerary was always secret. The only foreseeable event in his life where he could potentially havex security was during an asion where he lowered his guard. The moment he broke through the Foundation realm and left the security of his family and academy seemed like such an opportunity. During the years leading up to his breakthrough, he ¡®coincidentally¡¯ mentioned in front of a few groups of people that when he broke through he would arrange for a shuffle in his protective detail because he wanted to choose his bodyguards himself rather than the ones his family gave him. He also let his friends know when he was nning on breaking through, which should have otherwise been a huge secret no one could have discovered. The reason for all this was simple: he really wanted to know who was truly loyal to him and who was only putting up a front. To be honest, knowing or not knowing didn¡¯t really matter as he fully understood the concepts of searching for benefits andpetition for resources. The people he couldpletely trust was predetermined from birth, so whether the others in his life took the chance to participate in this assassination or not would not change that. But Alexander wanted to do it anyway. He was treating it as an experiment, as well as a learning experience. He had always treated everyone with sincerity. A part of him wanted to know if sincerity and loyalty really affected his rtionships, or was the world as cutthroat as it seemed. It could be said that the oue of this evening would greatly determine the future actions and decisions of this destiny¡¯s golden child. ¡°There were no keys auctioned,¡± Helen told warmly, looking at Alexander with puppy eyes. Alexander nodded and said, ¡°What¡¯s wrong with him?¡± Greg was sitting in the corner of the room sulking. In his hand he was squeezing a stress ball, it was quite apparent that he was in a bad mood. ¡°Can¡¯t you guess? He tried to bid for one of the items, but lo and behold, Alissa outbid him?¡±. ¡°Alissa?¡± Alexander repeated, surprised. That was the name of Greg¡¯s girlfriend, or ex-girlfriend. It was hard to keep track, they kept breaking up and getting back together so frequently one never knew what their status was from day to day. ¡°What is she even doing here?¡± ¡°Who knows?¡± Greg answered, his annoyance apparent in his voice. ¡°She probably couldn¡¯t live with the fact that I broke it off once and for all. She¡¯s just trying to get my attention.¡± ¡°How many times have you broken up with her ¡®once and for all¡¯ by now? Six? Seven times?¡± ¡°Seven times,¡± Helen confirmed,pletely disregarding Greg¡¯s annoyance. ¡°But only if you don¡¯t count when they broke up twice on the same dayst Christmas.¡± ¡°This is not funny!¡± Greg roared, giving Helen a dirty look. But unfortunately for him, neither of his friends took him seriously. The mood in the private room was rxed and full of banter, as one would expect from a group of teenagers. No one mentioned Zeus even as time went on, but the longer it went the more Greg squeezed his stress ball ¨C though only Alexander seemed to notice. Finally something happened that attracted Alexander¡¯s attention. The auctioneer mentioned ast minute addition to the auction. Alexander leaned forward and focused on stage. He was truly a bit curious as to what could attract the attention of the mysterious girl. ¡°Ladies and gents, you truly will not believe the treat we have for you today. Everyone here must have heard rumors of a vige in Egypt inessible to all cultivators, even if they may be in the Body Tempering realm. The vige that seems to be nothing special, but is said to be protected by the Goddess Bastet. For thousands of years, as far back as records go, this vige and its residents have been left undisturbed by history. Protected from war, protected from famine, protected from any kind of tribtion, this unnamed vige has passed through the annals of history as a mystery.¡± It was true, what the auctioneer said. Alexander had also heard about it, the vige that worshiped the Goddess Bastet was one of the forbidden zones of the world that no cultivator had ever entered. Mortals, however, had found their way in and even made videos, but could not discover anything significant about the vige. Any mortals who tried to harm the vige however would mysteriously disappear. Although it was a forbidden zone, if no one tried to invade its territory no one would be harmed so it was considered the least threatening. Before Alexander started cultivating he had tried to look for the vige himself once, but unfortunately the entrance to the vige could not always be found and depended on luck. ¡°Well our guests would be pleased to learn that earlier today, a resident from that vige sold two spirit artifacts the likes of which have never been seen! The artifacts are in the shape of a key,¡± the auctioneer waved his hand signaling a woman who walked onto the stage holding a purple, velvet pillow. On the pillow were ced two golden keys, attracting all the eyes in the venue. ¡°The use for these artifacts cannot be determined yet, but when held they release a warm current of spiritual energy through the body that seem to have a healing effect. Our appraises strongly suspect that the keys lead to an ancient, unknown heritage waiting to be discovered.¡± The auctioneer beamed as he spoke, and waited for a moment for his audience to absorb what was said. ¡°Both keys will be auctioned separately. We will begin the bidding at fifty million dors as well as 5 thousand spirit stones! All bids must be at least one hundred thousand dors and one hundred spirit stones!¡± Auctions in the cultivation world were often like this. Money on its own was too useless to a cultivator, so spirit coins or spirit stones would also be used. Sometimes spirit stones would be used alone, but although money didn¡¯t help with cultivation it wasn¡¯t as if money had no value at all, which is why most often it was somebination of both. Before anyone had a chance to consider whether to bid or not, Alexander had already ced his bid. ¡°Five hundred million dors, ten thousand spirit stones and one grade four Purple Spirit pill!¡± Everyone in the hall froze in shock! A grade four pill was one meant for Foundation realm cultivators, and the Purple Spirit pill was a rather famous pill used to heal internal wounds quickly. It was an extremely rare pill that most people used in life or death situations, and now it was being used to pay for a key. Although the auctioneer had hyped up the key saying it could lead to a heritage, there was no proof of that, it was only a possibility. It really wasn¡¯t the kind of thing someone would gamble on, at least this much. But to Alexander this price was irrelevant. He simply wanted to quickly get the key before his conspirators began their little ¡®y¡¯. After a few moments, when no one else bid the auctioneer shouted ¡°sold¡± with all his enthusiasm and started the bidding for the next key, but once again a voice rang out in the hall. ¡°Five hundred million dors, ten thousand spirit stones and one grade four Purple Spirit pill!¡± Shock! Awe! Horror! These feelings gripped everyone in the hall, and even the auctioneer began to wonder if there were more secrets behind the keys they weren¡¯t aware of. In fact, even Helen and Greg were surprised by Alexander¡¯s brazen spending! He was not someone who carelessly wasted money, even if he had a lot of it. ¡°Do you know what those keys do?¡± Helen finally asked, her voice trembling a bit. ¡°No, but someone asked me to get the keys. I am just getting them for that person.¡± Alexander¡¯s words scared the two kids in his room a bit. Who would dare use Alexander Morrison as a middleman? Could it be¡­the elder from his family? Before the conversation could go any further someone knocked on Alexander¡¯s door. The young man raised an eyebrow in curiosity. The keys were still on stage with the auctioneer, so it couldn¡¯t be someone from the auction house bringing him his prize. Were his assassins about to begin their little performance? Chapter 45 The keys ¡°Come in,¡± Alexander said casually, as if unsuspecting of anything. He pretended not to notice Greg squeezing his stress ball even harder. Internally he was amused quite a bit ¨C should a would-be assassin really be using a stress ball? In fact, what he did not know was that Greg was constantly in a lot of pain, as he was not inherently a Gu cultivator. Gu were simr to spiritual beasts, but instead of beasts they were insects. Gu cultivators nurtured the Gu in their own bodies and shared everything from nutrients to spiritual energy. It was quite a rare form of cultivation, and was widely frowned upon not only because of how dark the practices were, but also because most people found it too disgusting to let Gu enter their bodies. Nevertheless, Gu allowed people with low inherent cultivation talent to easily surpass their natural limits as their cultivation depended on the Gu instead. The door opened and an elderly man entered followed by two bodyguards. The old man had a slight hunch and snow white hair, but his eyes were energetic and warm. ¡°Senior Hammad¡± Alexander acknowledged, slightly surprised, as he quickly got up to greet the old man. This old man was actually quite old, at around 230 years. Although the average life expectancy for a Golden Core cultivator was 250 years, it was rare for them to actually reach ore close to such an age as 250 was considered the maximum and not a necessity. If Golden Core cultivators had a weak foundation or suffered from injuries their life expectancy would naturally be reduced. Which is why his long life was a surprise to many people as he was a war veteran from one of thest cultivator wars to take ce on Earth. Naturally as someone with status this senior had crossed paths with Alexander¡¯s family before, even though they had never met themselves. ¡°Sit, sit, there¡¯s no need for formalities. I just had toe see you when I recognized your voice, I hadn¡¯t realized that you hade to Cairo.¡±. Since Alexander was standing, Greg and Helen had stood up as well and stood behind him respectfully. They bowed to the senior but didn¡¯t say anything. ¡°I came on vacation with my friends. We¡¯re celebrating my breakthrough.¡± ¡°Ah yes, your breakthrough!¡± the old man said, taking a seat. His two bodyguards stood behind him with their backs against the wall. ¡°Congrattions! My boy, congrattions! What an age the world hase to, what an age! Back in my day, one could not even dare to imagine entering the Foundation realm before the age of fifty.¡± The old man¡¯s eyes stared out into the distance, as if reminiscing. ¡°Indeed,¡± Alexander agreed, taking a seat as well, ¡°with space travel and terraforming technology, we have ess to more Spirit Stone mines than ever before. In fact, we have already started preparing for asteroid mining as well as nning to explore Jupiter¡¯s moons. In the future, things will only get better.¡± ¡°Phenomenal, what a time to be alive. But as they say, an age is built by the men of it¡¯s times. I have no doubt that you¡¯ll be setting even more records soon. Not to mention, you¡¯ve even gotten your hands on those two inheritance keys from the Goddesses vige.¡± There was a subtle change in Hammad¡¯s voice at this point, and an air of tension filled the room. Hammad was still smiling, and the body guards had not moved, but Alexander sensed a stir in the natural flow of spirit energy in the room. Spirit energy was like air, it seemed to be present everywhere in the world. When something interacted with it, the spirit energy tended to develop a flow, simr to the wind. But random things did not cause a stir in spirit energy, meaning a person walking through a room would not affect the spirit energy in the room. But if there was a person meditating in the corner of the room, spirit energy would flow towards that person, and the people sensitive to spirit energy would feel that flow simr to how a person could feel wind on their skin. Currently, it wasn¡¯t the spirit energy of the room that was moving but rather of the general area. ¡°Well so far there is no telling what the keys are. They may turn out to be nothing more than decoration pieces. Otherwise the owner would not have sold them.¡± ¡°True, true, there¡¯s no telling what their use is yet. Still, you were quite decisive in the way you bought both of them. Some people may think you may know what they¡¯re used for.¡± Alexander smirked internally. He was giving the man respect due to age and achievements, but that did not mean it gave the old man the right to interrogate him. Who could question what Alexander did? But all this was only an internal monologue, he still wanted to see the performance that had been prepared for him. ¡°A friend of mine took interest in the keys so I am only acquiring them for her. I have no personal interest in the keys, nor do I know much about them.¡± ¡°How fortunate it is to be your friend,¡± the old man remarked and let out a chuckle. Before the conversation could continue there was a knock on the door, and a smartly dresseddy walked in with a briefcase. ¡°Your keys,¡± she said to Alexander with a warm smile and handed over the briefcase before quickly leaving. At this time, all eyes in the room were on the briefcase in Alexander¡¯s hand. Even Helen, who had so far maintained a calm expression, wore a worried look. Alexander, though, pretended like he did not notice at all and calmly opened the briefcase to take a closer look at his prize. The truth was, the mysterious girl had only asked for one of the keys but he had gotten both because he wanted to know what was so special about them. On a closer look, Alexander could immediately tell they were not ¡®decoration pieces¡¯. Even without touching them he could feel them radiating warmth, and they seemed to have an alluring shine to them. Though what was a little strange was that while the auctioneer said that they had a healing effect, Alexander¡¯s instincts were telling him otherwise. He felt like a wider horizon awaited him so long as he took hold of the keys. How was he supposed to know that the key affected everyone differently? It was just that the spirit energy on Earth was scarce, not to mention polluted. Most cultivators here carried injuries due to improper cultivation, which is why the key always gave them a feeling that it could heal them. Alexander, on the other hand, had been guided and taken care of by numerous professionals. Even when he sustained injuries or made mistakes in cultivation, his recovery was always assured. Which is why the feeling he got was not one of healing, but of freedom. Although he was not constrained anymore by his training and had the freedom to live how he wanted, the freedom was rtively new and he had not had a chance to taste it yet, so naturally that is what his heart still yearned for. ¡°May I take a look?¡± Hammad asked, waking Alexander from his reverie. His voice was no longer as soft as it had been, and his expression not as gentle as it was. Alexander looked at the old man with an amused look, but handed the briefcase over. Helen and Greg both looked tense now, though they sat behind Alexander so he could not see their faces. The atmosphere in the room had be even more tense, but Alexander maintained his calm as if he had not noticed. The old man stared at the keys with evident greed in his eyes, and slowly crept one of his hands closer to the keys. Just as it was about to touch the key, however, he stopped himself and quickly withdrew his hand. ¡°It¡¯s a shame I didn¡¯t know the keys would be auctioned sooner, or else I might have prepared to buy them as well.¡± The old man closed the briefcase and held it out for Alexander to take back. The young man reached forward to take it, and just as Alexander took it back it happened! The old man, ate Golden Core stage cultivator,unched a dagger at Alexander, who was only a few feet away from him. The dagger was not a normal dagger, as it had the special function of being able to piece through any kind of spirit energy shield. But that was not all. At the same time that the old man attacked, the walls of the private room exploded and it seemed several projectiles shot towards Alexander, and even Helen as well as Greg. All this happened in a moment, and in less than a tenth of a second the old man¡¯s dagger had reached Alexander¡¯s throat. ***** While a momentous event was taking ce on Earth, Lex found himself soaking in a bath in one of his free guest rooms, drinking a Pina Cda. Figuring out how to make MP was really too stressful, anding this close to potentially dying was way too much for him to take right now. So he decided to take a little break ¨C to give his brain rest so that it could work betterter! That was totally the reason! It definitely wasn¡¯t because he discovered that the Inn also provided bath bombs should a guest ask for one, and wanted to try it out! He took another sip of his drink ¨C from a paper straw of course ¨C before mentally adjusting the temperature of the water and raising it by a few degrees. He should think about adding some hot springs to the Inn. Chapter 46 60 seconds Alexander, who had been reaching out earlier to retrieve the keys, did not move to evade the iing dagger, but only looked at Hammad with amusement in his eyes. The dagger reached him unimpeded, but when it struck his neck it sounded as if it hit a metal wall and sparks flew. Debris and dust flew into the room as several other attacks broke through the walls towards him, making it hard to see for a moment. However, when the dust cleared Alexander could be seen sitting casually on his chair, leaning back with his right leg atop his left. Helen and Greg, who were caughtpletely unprepared by the attacks, were picking themselves up from the floor, somehow unhurt as well. Hammad stood up, his two bodyguards standing beside him, and seven other people in masks entered the room and surrounded the teens, giving off a threatening aura. All the people who had surrounded them were Golden Core cultivators. ¡°Go on, continue,¡± said Alexander mockingly. ¡°Attack a few more times, I won¡¯t dodge, I promise.¡± But the ten cultivators didn¡¯t attack, and only stared at them. They were trying to figure out how the three kids survived the attack, but could not see anything. Helen and Greg came and stood close to Alexander, the fear on their faces real. ¡°Do you know what you¡¯re doing?¡± Greg asked, trying to sound threatening. ¡°Do you know who we are?¡± ¡°Oh they know,¡±mented Alexander, slowly standing up. He looked Hammad dead in the eyes, the earlier amused expression changing to something more serious. ¡°What¡¯s the matter, old geezer, confused? Times have changed since youst saw action. The world isn¡¯t so simple anymore.¡±. Alexander would, of course, not exin how or why he had managed to remain intact from the earlier attacks. The truth was his body was covered by something called Red-Gold Dust, a unique metal his family discovered and processed on Mars. It was an unreactive metal, and had few if any uses at all normally. However whenever spiritual energy was released by a Golden Core cultivator, the ore would absorb it readily, to the point of disrupting spiritual techniques and formations. Whether the energy was directed towards the metal or not, it would absorb it. When the metal absorbed enough energy, it would evaporate. Alexander¡¯s family had processed it into a defensive treasure that would not absorb all Golden Core energy, only attacks in a certain radius. This is why even Helen and Greg remained rtively unharmed by the attacks. Of course, even with most of its energy gone the dagger that attacked Alexander still had enough momentum to cut through him, but Alexander had employed a defensive technique for body cultivators that turned his skin into metal. The only drawback of that technique was that he could not move while he used it. ¡°I¡¯m impressed,¡± said Hammad, ¡°I cannot figure out how you avoided the attacks. But I believe if we keep attacking, your defensive measures will eventually run out.¡± ¡°So what, you¡¯re going to threaten me now? Follow you, or you¡¯ll kill me?¡± Alexander looked around, trying to see if he could recognize any features of his assants. Though they were wearing masks, he could recognize some of the techniques they had used earlier so he had a good guess as to their identities. They were all experts, and Alexander thought it was highly likely that there were more assassins still hiding. The auction house was in chaos, guests were screaming and running around, yet somehow no security wasing towards them. ¡°I could ask you all why you¡¯re doing this, and what¡¯s your motive. But to be honest, I don¡¯t care. Since you¡¯ve attacked me, you should all just die!¡± As soon as Alexander spoke he pulled out what looked like a tarot card from his pocket and crumpled it. The ten assassins tried to stop him, but even at this distance, before they could reach the three teenagers disappeared. ¡°Find them!¡± Hammad roared. ¡°They must be nearby!¡± Indeed, they had not teleported far. The three of them appeared on the road outside the auction house, only some 50 meters away. ¡°We need to hold out for about 60 seconds,¡± Alexander said, looking at his two panions¡¯. ¡°Do you have any defensive equipment?¡± ¡°None that can defend against Golden Core cultivators,¡± Greg said, in a shaky voice. Helen gave Alexander a reluctant smile, indicating the same. ¡°We¡¯ll just have to make do!¡± Alexander said, before grabbing the two and bolting away from the auction house. Only a couple secondster their ten assants broke through the building and appeared right behind them. Searching for the kids wasn¡¯t a difficult task, a simple sweep of their spirit sense eventually revealed them. Fortunately for the three teenagers, Alexander was practically covered in Spirit Tech, although it was not quite apparent. His shoes aided him in running which, along with his body cultivation and movement technique, had already put him at quite the distance. ¡°What about Zeus?¡± Helen asked as Alexander sprinted down the busy road. ¡°We¡¯ll find himter, we just need to wait for 50 more seconds,¡± the running teenager said. His expression was focused, but he did not look too worried. However, even with his many advantages his pursuers ultimately had a higher cultivation level and were approaching quickly. Hammad, who was at the forefront of the ten cultivators, threw another dagger at the teenager, holding nothing back! The dagger was covered in a visible red aura that gave off a malevolent feeling! Before the dagger could reach Alexander it was blocked by a de that appeared floating behind the boy. Five more des, all two feet long, appeared hovering in the air behind Alexander and began defending him from some attacks as he continued to run. The six des were Alexander¡¯s primary weapons, and all were coated in Red-Gold Dust, but even then blocking attacks put a great strain on Alexander, especially since he was using his spirit sense to determine where the attacks wereing from and blocking them. Unfortunately, things only be more difficult. Some of the assassins ran ahead of them and intercepted Alexander. Alexander immediately tried to change directions and run into a building, but it was already toote. He had once again been surrounded. He dropped his two friends on the ground to free his hands, and turned all his focus on his enemies. Since he had teleported out, only 27 seconds had passed. He needed to dy for another 33 seconds! ¡°Stay close to me,¡± Alexander said, but before he could exin more he felt someone grab his leg. He looked down to see his friend¡­to see the person who was once his friend, Greg, firmly grabbing onto his right calf. From his hand an extremely gruesome looking worm protruded out and tried to burrow into Alexander¡¯s leg. Alexander quickly deployed his defensive technique, Titanium Skin, but to his immense surprise the worm was able to tear through his hardened skin and enter his leg. ¡°A valiant effort,¡± Hammad said, as he slowly pped. ¡°But you¡¯re still just a boy. Though you put up a good fight for someone your age¡­¡± Hammad was continuing his speech but Alexander was not listening. He was only looking at Greg, who wore a look of shame and guilt. Ultimately Greg looked away, unable to bear the gaze of the young man he had just condemned to death. Alexander turned to look at Helen and found that she too was looking at Greg, disappointment painting her beautiful face. ¡°Did you know?¡± he asked her softly. The young girl paused for a moment, biting her lower lip till it started bleeding. Ultimately she shook her head and said, ¡°I didn¡¯t know anything about Greg.¡± ¡°And did you know about Zeus?¡± ¡°Was Zeus involved as well?¡± she asked, surprised. Her question in it of itself gave him an answer. ¡°So you didn¡¯t know about these two, but you did know about the assassination. What was your role in all this?¡± Helen was about to answer but Hammad, who was bing impatient, interrupted. ¡°Enough! Boy you¡¯ve been imnted with a worm from the Heart Meridian Mother Gu! Your life is in my hands, so obediently put down your des and stop resisting or you¡¯ll soon know the meaning of wishing for death!¡± Alexander looked towards the old geezer indifferently, before looking up at the night sky. Only 7 seconds remained, and in the night sky he could see 10 shooting stars streaking through the night sky towards him. Chapter 47 Traitors? Hammad was about to lose his temper at Alexander¡¯s casual attitude when he suddenly heard a soft roaring in the distance. The sound, though soft at first, was quickly bing louder. He looked up in the sky towards where Alexander was looking and saw ten ming balls shooting towards them at breakneck speed! ¡°Dodge!¡± was all he had time to shout before the ten ming balls crashed into the ground before them,pletely destroying the road andunching debris everywhere. A cloud of dust filled the air, but it was quickly blown away by a gust of wind revealing ten tall, cylindrical pods. A hatch on one of them was kicked open, revealing a soldier, fully armored in ck, synthetic gear. Immediately after the other pods were opened as well, revealing the soldiers within. They all were dressed identically, and with a mask over their face you would not be able to tell them apart if they weren¡¯t all carrying different weapons. One of the soldiers who was carrying an ax and a shield walked towards Alexander and kneeled before shouting, ¡°Titan 036 reporting for duty.¡± Alexander looked at the Golden Core cultivator kneeling before him, but maintained an indifferent expression on his face. ¡°I want the airspace above all of Egypt sealed and all outgoing traffic stopped. I want full deployment of the 3rd Morrison Brigade in all of Egypt, and all cultivator movement needs to be temporarily stopped. I want the owner of that auction house found and captured, and I want the regional head for A.D.F. in our custody as well. Evacuate nearby civilians and capture all of my assants. If capture bes too difficult simply kill them. I also need a set of acupuncture needles, but if none of you have a set, a very sharp knife will do.¡±. ¡°You have your orders Titans,¡± roared Titan 036, as he quickly turned around and started chasing Alexander¡¯s assassins. As soon as the pods had crashed onto the road the assassins started to flee, deploying all kinds of techniques eliminating their traces ¨C but that was none of Alexander¡¯s concerns. He did not doubt the Titans ability to find them. One of the Titans approached Alexander and handed him a ck pouch, before quickly leaving as well. None of the Titans stayed behind to protect Alexander in case more assassins came after him ¨C it was as if the idea of him being in danger never urred to them at all. Greg and Helen stood frozen, feeling a mix of shock and horror at what was happening. Soldiers had dropped from the sky? Deploying troops in all of Egypt? CAPTURE THE REGION HEAD OF A.D.F.? The A.D.F. was the African Defense Front, simr to Blue Bird in that it was responsible for monitoring cultivator activity in Africa, but different from Blue Bird in that instead of being one organization it was a cluster of smaller organizations banding together. Still, that did not mean the A.D.F. was weak, or something that could be casually be messed with. Ignoring their confusion, Alexander turned towards Greg and dashed towards him. Before he had time to realize what was happening, Alexander punched hard directly in the stomach! The wind left Greg¡¯s body as he keeled over in pain, vomiting out the contents of his stomach. But that wasn¡¯t the worst of it ¨C Alexander had not only punched him, he had released a burst of spiritual energy in Greg¡¯s body directly burning his meridians. All the spiritual energy Greg had umted in his life left his body, for he had be crippled. Paying no mind to his reaction Alexander flipped him over and removed his shirt, before taking out four acupuncture needles. The Titans naturally didn¡¯t keep these needles for medicinal purposes! They were coated in poison and could be used as hidden weapons, not to mention they were made from a metal that conducted spiritual energy increasing their uses manifold. Using a simple spirit technique, Alexander summoned a me in his hand which he used to sterilize the acupuncture needles and vaporize any poison on it ¨C he could not afford to identally kill Greg before his task wasplete. Once the needles were sterilized he directly injected them into Greg¡¯s heart, until they eventually reached the Heart Meridian Mother Gu. As it¡¯s name suggested, the Heart Meridian Mother Gu attached itself to the meridians around one¡¯s heart. The Mother Gu fed on the spiritual energy coursing through the meridians toy eggs, which would eventually hatch and then could be imnted to other bodies. The child Gu would also find its way to the heart of its new host, but unlike its mother instead of feeding on the spiritual energy it would go dormant. The user of the Mother Gu could send signals to the child Gu and control it to attack its host¡¯s heart, ultimately gaining control over the host¡¯s life. Alexander was familiar with the Gu, and thus naturally knew effective ways to deal with it. Removing both the Mother and child Gu had to be done carefully, as any damage to the meridians was extremely difficult to heal. That¡¯s why the first thing Alexander did was cripple Greg, so that he would lose control over the Mother Gu. Then, before the Mother Gu had a chance to do anything Alexander pierced its body with the acupuncture needles and channeled his own spiritual energy through them to gain control of the Mother Gu. At this point he slowed down, as he could not afford to be careless, andmanded the Mother Gu to remove the child Gu from his body. The Mother Gu resisted for a bit, as it was unfamiliar with this new spiritual energy, but eventually sensing a threat to its life the Gu gave in. Alexander felt the child Gu in his body making its way to his skin. The time was too short and it had not yet reached Alexander¡¯s heart, which made the process simpler. Finally, from near his stomach it broke through his skin and fell out, wriggling on the ground. Alexander gave it a disgusted look before burning it! Finally free from danger, Alexander removed the acupuncture needles from Greg and turned to look towards Helen. By now, she had calmed down a lot and she only looked towards her two friends with sadness in her eyes. ¡°I believe we were in the middle of a conversation,¡± Alexander said, his tone calm and casual as if he had not just crippled one of his oldest friends and then left him on the ground to die. ¡°You asked me what my role was in this,¡± Helen said, strangely quite calm herself. ¡°To be honest, I don¡¯t know what they wanted, but I can specte.¡± ¡°By ¡®they¡¯ you mean your family? Was it your parents?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± she said forlornly. ¡°I received instructions via the official family channels, but I cannot be sure who gave the orders. I guess that was a contingency, in case things don¡¯t go ording to n. In fact, I think they depended on things not going ording to their ns.¡± ¡°Oh, what makes you say that?¡± ¡°My only job was to poison you. There were ten poisons, called the 10 poisons of Ishkbaal. Do you know what they do?¡± This question troubled Alexander slightly, as despite his extensive education he had never heard of them before. Based on his dy in answering Helen was able to guess the answer. ¡°They¡¯re strange. On their own, the poisons do nothing. Theyy dormant in your body, potentially forever, but if all ten arebined together in the bloodstream, they all begin to act independently. All ten have different effects, and not all are lethal. One affects the stability of your meridian, one pollutes your spiritual energy, one develops extremely painful rashes all over your body, one affects your brain, the rest I wasn¡¯t able to figure out. But I think the purpose is to confuse doctors, instead of realizing that they¡¯re ten different poisons doctors might think all these symptoms are of one. If they¡¯re able to cure the lethal effects, the other poisons will still be able to destroy your cultivation talent, making it impossible for you to ever reach a higher level. Of course, this is just my guess. They gave me next to no information, maybe everything I guessed was wrong to begin with.¡± ¡°Those are bold guesses,¡± Alexander said, admittedly rmed by this dastardly poison. ¡°So then, if your family didn¡¯t give you any information how were you able to specte so much, even guessing some of the poison¡¯s effects?¡± Helen smiled weakly at her friend. He was so smart in so many ways, but sometimes it was the obvious answers that eluded him. ¡°You know, I never resented my family,¡± she said, looking out into the distance. ¡°Even though it was obvious that they were raising me to use me, I knew that nothing in this world is free. Instead of the difficult life of an orphan, I lived the pampered life of a rich girl in high society. I got to cultivate with the best resources that others can only even dream of, and had experiences one can ask. In exchange, if all I had to do was marry well then I never thought it was a huge price to pay, not to mention it¡¯s not necessary that a political marriage had to be a bad one.¡± She looked at Alexander with tears in her eyes, but he only looked back at her calmly. He was a strange person, sometimes she would think he had a heart of steel, and other times she felt like he was the softest person on Earth. Right now before her stood his steel hearted version, but could he be med? His closest friends his entire life had just tried to kill him. ¡°I was never ungrateful, and I would have done whatever they asked of me, but when they asked me to betray my friends, how could I?¡± Carefully she reached out towards her hair and pulled at it. She was wearing a wig! Under her wig, her scalp was covered in red boils! ¡°I had to ingest the poisons to prime them. They taught me a technique that would transfer all the poison into one drop of blood, and all I needed to do was expose that drop to your skin and then you would be poisoned. But would I really need to expose you to a drop of blood? They gave me so little information, what if the method of transmission is something else? Maybe I only had to be close to you and the poison would be transmitted on its own. Since they had already decided to use me as a pawn, why did they need to tell me the truth? I couldn¡¯t take the risk, so I directly used the technique and activated the poison. It¡¯s already been a few days, the poison has already been thoroughly absorbed by my body. I don¡¯t know what else the poison does, but I expect I don¡¯t have much longer to live.¡± This time, Alexander was thoroughly surprised. Zeus escaping like a coward and Greg betraying him at the first opportunity did not phase him too much, somehow deep down he expected it. But Helen¡­the more he looked at her, the more he suddenly started to realize that herplexion wasn¡¯t normal. He walked to her and slowly, gently raised his hand to her face. Softly, making sure not to use too much force, he brushed his thumb across her face, removing the manyyers of makeup. She looked beautiful, as always, and only a small straight line revealed that beneath the beautiful fa?ade was her deathly pale skin, like that of someone on their deathbed. Chapter 48 Puppy Dog Love ¡°Why didn¡¯t you just tell me?¡± Alexander asked after a long silence. At this moment he was regretting his earlier confidence. He had many contingencies and ns for today, the cloaked ship that hovered above that sent out the 10 Titans was just one of them. At no point during the attack of the chase did he ever feel like he was in any real danger. He truly did feel like he was just watching a y, and was waiting for all the actors to try and attack him one by one. The Gu breaking through his skin was a surprise, but even so he handled it effortlessly. Now however, he felt lost. He had no idea what he should do. ¡°You were in the Minor realm when I got the orders. I had no idea about Zeus or Greg, I was only told that someone will try to attack you and that would be the best time to poison you. I guess they never assumed that I wouldn¡¯t follow their orders, since they thought I¡¯d be too scared to leave the poison in my own body. I didn¡¯t want to take any chances, and I didn¡¯t want to live with any regrets. I¡¯ve led a good and full life, I am not afraid if it ends here.¡± Alexander was once again left speechless. How had he not noticed his friends¡¯ peril? Why did it never ur to him that his friends could have been threatened or ckmailed in participating in his assassination? ¡°Ugh, puppy dog love. It really makes me nauseous,¡± someone said, startling both Alexander and Helen. They turned to see a short girl with blonde hair standing behind them. She was wearing a mask so her identity was hidden, but Alexander recognized her as the mysterious girl from the Minor realm. ¡°Here,¡± she said, throwing a briefcase towards Alexander. ¡°I¡¯ve already taken one of the keys, so we can be considered even. If you use the other key, you can take your friend somewhere special. There should be a cure for her there. You don¡¯t need to have a dramatic farewell in public like this, it really makes people sick.¡± The mysterious girl sounded irritated, but her immature voice made it difficult for her listeners to take her seriously. She didn¡¯t bother waiting for Alexander¡¯s reply and turned to leave. ¡°Wait, how do I use the key?¡± Alexander asked. ¡°I¡¯m not sure but you should be able to figure it out, it should not be tooplicated.¡± ¡°If I want to contact you in the future, how do I find you?¡± Alexander asked once again, hoping to receive a name. The mysterious girl paused for a moment, as if lost in thought, before giving a reply.. ¡°My Tempest username is RussianPrincess77. You can contact me through that.¡± Before Alexander had any time to ask her any more questions, she ran away. Alexander noticed that her cultivation level had also reached the Foundation realm. ¡°Who was that?¡± Helen asked, her voice unusually strained, but Alexander ignored her. He opened up the briefcase and took out the remaining key. He held it in his hand, and felt a familiar temptation. He hesitated, should he trust the words of the mysterious RussianPrincess77? But the hesitationsted only a few moments. Alexander took Helens hand but before he could do anything else, as if sensing Alexander¡¯s intention to use the key it broke. There was a golden sh and the two kids disappeared, leaving a semiconscious Greg still out on the street. ***** It may have seemed like Lex was wasting time when he was in a serious predicament, but from the moment he¡¯d decided to somehow get Hugo to exit his room and into the gift shop only an hour had passed. His bath had been warm and rxing, something he needed to calm himself down so that he didn¡¯t take any drastic decisions. The more precarious his situation, the calmer he needed to be. He had gotten redressed and was just about to exit the Inn to go smoke, but to his much wee surprise two new guests appeared at the Inn! Ensuring that he looked fine, Lex teleported to the gate to wee his guests. Two teenagers stood at the entrance holding hands, bewildered as they looked around at their new surroundings. The boy was tall and handsome, and even in his surprised state gave off an aura of self confidence. The girl was once beautiful as well, but with the power of the Inn Lex could clearly see that she had been badly disfigured by various rashes all over her body. Ignoring their appearances Lex quickly checked their details. Name: Alexander Morrison Power Level: Foundation realm (initial) Species: Human Midnight Inn Prestige Level: Not yet avable Name: Helen Sigmund Power Level: Qi Training (7th step) Species: Human Midnight Inn Prestige Level: Not yet avable ¡°Wee guests, to the Midnight Inn,¡± he said warmly. ¡°The universe¡¯s foremost establishment for rest, recovery and anything else you may desire. I am the Innkeeper, your host.¡± Wasting no time, Alexander said, ¡°My friend has been poisoned and I was told that you have a way of curing her. Is that true?¡± ¡®Told?¡¯ Lex thought curiously. But instead of pondering on it, Lex turned towards Helen and focused. Normally a guest would have to enter the Recovery Room for him to see a detailed report on their health, but ultimately the Inn was his and if he focused on a guest he could still view their condition. Name: Helen Sigmund Condition: Several poisons absorbed in the bloodstream Severe rashes all over body Slight bruising Report: Several poisons have affected the patient¡¯s system, but the potency of the poisons is not strong. Can be healed with Recover Pod or Bom Dew. ¡°Indeed, such a simple request is easily taken care of. You can choose one of two treatments. We have a remedy called Bom Dew for 200MP, if given to your friend it can easily resolve the issue in a few hours. The other treatment is to take your friend to the Recovery Pod, which will allow the body to naturally ovee the poison. This method is slower and more expensive at 250MP, but it will allow her body to gain a natural immunity to such poisons.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll use the Recovery Pod,¡± Alexander said decisively, not giving Helen a chance to say anything. From his pocket he withdrew a ck credit card and handed it to Lex. ¡°You can charge all our expenses on this.¡± Sensing the young man¡¯s urgency, Lex smiled and waved his hand, teleporting the three to the Recovery Room. ¡°Please lie down on the table, the treatment will begin shortly.¡± Helen gave Alexander a meaningful look before lying down in the Recovery Pod. The recovery started and Lex felt the sweet, sweet exhration of earning some MP. But from the way Alexander didn¡¯t seem to care at all about the price, Lex had the sneaking suspicion that he could earn more. He had to y his cards right. For now he didn¡¯t say anything, letting Alexander watch as the Recovery Pod began its work, though there really wasn¡¯t much that could be seen from the outside. The Recovery Pod pushed the body¡¯s ability to heal, so all the work that was being done was internal and would take a while. Eventually, when he realized that all he could do now was wait, Alexander stepped away from the Recovery Pod and for the first time took a good look at his surroundings. The other Recovery Pod quickly caught his eye, and when he saw who was inside he was startled. ¡°Is that Marlo? Is he here as well?¡± ¡°Oh, do you recognize him?¡± said Lex, stepping towards the normally sized man. It urred to him that Marlo looked very different from his normal state, it was unusual for anyone to recognize him. ¡°Yes, he used to be my teacher once. What happened to him?¡± Lex smiled and said, ¡°If you stay here a while, you can ask him yourself when he recovers. It would be rude of me to divulge our guests¡¯ affairs.¡± Alexander nodded, as if what Lex said made sense. Hepletely did not realize that Lex had already begun his ns to make Alexander a long term guest at the Inn. Chapter 49 House arrest Alexander stared at Marlo for a while, his thoughts hidden behind his stoic face. Externally Marlo lookedpletely fine so Alexander could not tell how severe the man¡¯s condition was, but he must have gone through something extremely drastic to change so much. ¡°Did you say this is an Inn?¡± he finally asked, turning away from his old mentor and towards the mysterious Innkeeper. ¡°Indeed,¡± Lex answered, d to have his customers¡¯ attention back. ¡°Our patronse from all across the universe, ande to get away from the troubles of mundane, everyday life. Come, let me give you a tour. Your friend will need some time to heal.¡± ¡°Thank you. My name is Alexander, my friend¡¯s name is Helen. I apologize for not introducing ourselves earlier.¡± ¡°Nonsense, there is no need to apologize. You came here to resolve your troubles, and that is the first thing that you did once you arrived. It is only right.¡±. ¡°Do you get many guests from Earth?¡± Alexander asked as the Innkeeper led him out of the Recovery room. The Midnight Inn must be a huge secret since he hadn¡¯t heard of it before. Lex, on the other hand, found hisck of response at there being sentient life out in the universe interesting, as other than Bastet and Fk, the few guests he had all were overwhelmed. ¡°A few,¡± Lex responded. ¡°We have only recently connected the Inn to Earth, which is why it is understandable that not many Earthlings have had a chance to visit so far. I expect that it should not be long before they start visiting more often.¡± ¡°And anyone with a Golden Key can enter?¡± ¡°Naturally. We ept all guests, so long as they do not break any rules of the Midnight Inn. Golden keys can be randomly found across your, and anyone who has been a guest receives another one when they leave. Of course, if a guest desires to get more keys to give out to friends and family they can purchase them at the Gift shop.¡± As Lex took Alexander to walk around the Inn, he noticed that his guest took everything in his stride. The Inn, the scenery, the peaceful environment all seemed as if they werepletely natural to him. Based on that Lex guessed that Alexander¡¯s identity might not be simple on Earth, but he would not intentionally probe him. At most, he would search him up when Lex returned to his apartment. When Lex took him to the Gift shop, however, he finally received the shocked and surprised reaction he hade to enjoy from his new guests. Looking at the few items on disy Alexander naturally would not recognize them, however each time he focused on an item he would somehow be informed of its use in his head. ¡°How long do you think Helen will need before she recovers,¡± Alexander asked, his attention still on the items in the Gift Shop. The items on disy were only a few, and it wasn¡¯t as if he hadn¡¯t seen other treasures with simr effects, but they were rare and would not be sold easily. What really amazed Alexander was the Tier 4 Core, which would help Golden Core Body refiners. Items that could affect Golden Core cultivators were EXTREMELY rare on Earth, let alone ones that could affect Body Cultivators. He needed to confirm if it really did as it was promoted. ¡°It should take a day or two at most. It really depends on how quickly her own body adapts to the poisons.¡± ¡°In that case, if I rent a room can she stay there?¡± ¡°Yes, if you rent a regr room one other guest can apany you during your stay. If you rent a courtyard, three other guests can apany you.¡± ¡°I¡¯d like to rent a regr room for a week then, and I¡¯d like a Tier 3 Core as well.¡± Alexander once again took out his ck credit card and Lex quickly swiped it for a total of 1850! His total MP was 2241 now, filling his immediate need for MP! Velma, who was behind the counter in the gift shop, took out a Tier 3 Core and transformed it from a Core into a card with a picture of the Core on one side and the initials MI on the back in gold! This was the packaging for items sold through the Gift Shop. Instead of getting the item directly, it would be transformed into a card. When the guest would need the item he would only need to think about it while holding the card, and it would transform back into the item sold. This did not seem so important at the moment, but in the future if a guest bought many items, or items of a considerable size this would make it easy for them to transport the items. Alexander¡¯s eyes gleamed as he saw the core turn into a card, and when Lex exined to him how to use the card he was most pleased! This was a very discreet way of transporting items, if he could somehow learn how to turn items into cards the benefits would be endless. Yet he was not so delusional as to think anyone would casually teach him such a technique. Little did he know, even if Lex were willing to teach him, Lex himself had no idea how to do it. This was a function the Inn performed automatically. Alexander took the card and followed Gerard, who had appeared with a tray of lemonade, to his room. Alexander was in a bit of a rush, he had to return to Egypt quickly, but he wanted to confirm the Core¡¯s ability first. It was too important! It would drastically change his ns if the effects were real. As soon as he entered his room he turned the card back into a Core and sat down with it in his hand. He closed his eyes and started absorbing the energy in the Core. He wanted to start slowly, to be careful in case some ident happened, but the energy burst into his body like a raging flood and he was not able to control it. Yet he also knew immediately that the effects were real, and much better than he had anticipated! When he had broken through to the Foundation realm earlier, he had broken through in his body cultivation as well as spirit cultivation. He did not expect to make any progress in the short term, yet right now he knew that that would not be the case. ***** Lex was swooning as he truly admired how amazing his luck was! Just as he desperately needed MP to continue healing Marlo, a guest had appeared out of nowhere to shower him in MP! Based on his reactions, Lex suspected that this Alexander would not shy away from buying even more things from the Gift Shop. But he was also curious about how Alexander got his key, and who exactly told him that Helen could be healed here. After thinking about it for a while, he could only assume that Bastet had passed one of her two keys to him. That made Alexander¡¯s identity even more worthy of notice! He returned to his apartment and opened up hisptop to search the names of both of his two new guests to see if he could find anything on them. But before he could do anything he received an emergency notice from Blue Bird: ¡°All cultivators are immediately put under house arrest! Any non-authorized cultivator found roaming the city would be persecuted as a terrorist! All organizations are to cease any ongoing activities immediately.¡± Before he could fathom exactly what could prompt such a drastic notice, hisputer screen was flooded with tempest posts about war breaking out in Egypt! Civilian websites were reporting a terrorist attack, but ording to random posts on Tempest a battle between cultivators had broken out! A.D.F. was unreachable and no one could tell what was happening on ground because allworks in the area had been shut down. While Lex was absorbed in the shock of what was happening his phone started ringing. He picked it up and was slightly surprised to find that Larry was calling him. ¡°Hey Larry,¡± Lex said in an unsure tone. ¡°Hey Lex,¡± replied the voice in an anxious tone. ¡°I don¡¯t mean to inconvenience you but I was hoping for a favor. I¡¯m in the city but my apartment is too far out for me to return to it quickly. Would it be possible for me to stay at your ce for a short while? I really don¡¯t want to be arrested by random BlueBird agents for not getting back home quick enough!¡± Lex was stunned for a moment, but quickly told Larry toe over. He sent him the address to his apartment and began waiting. Maybe Larry would have a better idea of what was happening. Chapter 50 ICPA While waiting for Larry, Lex continued to search the Blue Bird Portal for details of what happened.There were countless rumors, about war breaking out in the region, about an ancient heritage that had been uncovered, about a unique treasure that had been uncovered that attracted all the rich and powerful. However there was no credible news. Neither Blue Bird nor any other organization released a statement about what was actually happening, just that all cultivator activity had to cease temporarily. Regardless of whatever it was, Lex was most confused about why he would be affected by it in New York if a battle happened in Egypt. Based on everything he knew, despite the fact that there was always a lot of security cultivators engaged in battles all the time. Lex was lost in his thoughts for a while before he was woken from his reverie by the sound of knocking on his door. He opened the door a badly bruised and sweaty Larry, standing at his doorstep with a small duffle bag full of clothes. ¡°What happened?¡± Lex asked out of concern. ¡°Are you alright? Did you get into a fight?¡± ¡°No no, don¡¯t be rmed!¡± Larry said, his voice still as energetic and cheery as ever. ¡°I was at work when the Blue Bird notification went out. I work as abat partner, a few bruises here and there are prettymon. Normally I go to a doctor after my sessions who fixes this right up, but the Club had to shut down in a hurry so I didn¡¯t get time. I was gonna go home but themute is usually an hour long, I didn¡¯t know what the Blue Bird agents would have done to me if they found me still out so long after the emergency broadcast. I didn¡¯t want to risk it, I hope you don¡¯t mind.¡± ¡°Not at all,¡± Lex said, bringing Larry in. ¡°Why don¡¯t you shower and freshen up first, we can talk after.¡±. ¡°Thanks,¡± Larry said, showing a grateful smile, and walked into the bathroom with his bag. Lex grew a little more curious about this ss fellow of his. He didn¡¯t doubt that Larry worked as a sparrer or trainer or whatever, but Lex had seen Larry fight during the self defense ss. He wasn¡¯t so easily beaten, nor was he so easily bruised. There was more to his situation than he let on, but since Larry didn¡¯t want to say he would not intrude. While waiting for Larry he continued to surf the portal for more news. There were countless conspiracies, but little of anything concrete. Someone had even brought to attention the fact that Marlo had canceled some of his business meetings for this entire week and had recently just disappeared from public view. Although Lex knew that Marlo was famous, he was surprised that someone would so thoroughly check his details and bring him into whatever this incident was. Half an hourter Larry exited the bathroom in a fresh set of clothes, and although his bruises were still there at least he wasn¡¯t sweaty anymore. ¡°That felt great,¡± Larry said, throwing himself onto the couch. ¡°Sorry for intruding like that, I hope your girlfriend doesnt mind me staying here.¡± Larry winked at Lex lecherously, and looked around the apartment for any signs of the ¡®girlfriend¡¯. ¡°I live alone,¡± Lex said, amused at Larry¡¯s obsession with girls. ¡°Ah, living the bachelor¡¯s life. That¡¯s fair, no reason to tie yourself down.¡± Lex shook his head, not bothering to exin. In this regard, Larry was hopeless. ¡°Do you have any idea what happened? Why did Blue Bird send out an emergency broadcast? Whatever happened, it couldn¡¯t have been that big. I mean, the non-cultivation world seems to be going on with business as usual.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I can take a guess. It must be something to do with one of the International Cultivator Policing Agencies (ICPA). Like Blue Bird takes care of New York and a few other states in North America, there are a bunch of such agencies across the world. Whenever one of these agencies encounters an emergency, all agencies worldwide employ a cultivator house arrest. It¡¯s notmon, but it has happened before.¡± ¡°But isn¡¯t that a little extreme? I mean, as far as I can tell whatever the cause, it happened in Egypt. Why do we need to be ced under house arrest here? Or the rest of the world for that matter?¡± Instead of replying immediately, Larry looked at Lex with an amused and entertained look. ¡°Come on my friend, chasing after girls is fine. But you can¡¯t be so absorbed in the act that you bepletely uninformed about the rest of the world.¡± Lex rolled his eyes. Which of the two of them waspletely absorbed in thoughts of girls? ¡°I can tell you haven¡¯t really joined any organization, or met any other cultivators outside of ss. Otherwise you wouldn¡¯t be asking such a basic question. Or at least, you¡¯d have some idea of the reason. Ah I guess it¡¯s up to me to educate you. This is going to take a while, do you have any food?¡± Lex had no food at home as he had been eating at the Inntely, so he ordered them a fewrge pizzas. It might have seemed too much for the two of them, but Lex enjoyed arger appetite since he started cultivating. ¡°Have you ever heard of the Godplex?¡± Larry asked, once Lex finished ordering. But before Lex could answer, Larry continued talking. ¡°The Godplex is when a person starts believing themself to be infallible. They start thinking their abilities are better than everyone else, or that they themselves are inherently better. Amongst mortals, very sessful surgeons are known for developing theseplexes. Among cultivators, it¡¯s even moremon.¡± Larry¡¯s voice had lost its jovial tone, and for the first time he seemed to be taking something seriously. ¡°That¡¯s not to say cultivators be bad people. No, most cultivators staywful and peaceful and live their own lives without thoughts of hurting others. But the longer one cultivates, and the stronger they be, the more a cultivator slowly starts to see themselves as more than they once were. I mean, with such clear cut divisions in cultivation it¡¯s only natural that as your cultivation rises you think of yourself as better and better. After a certain amount of time, without realizing it, cultivators start thinking of themselves as different, or superior to mortals. I mean, just think about the terminology for non-cultivators: mortals. ¡°For the most part, it doesn¡¯t make a difference in anyone¡¯s day to day life. But out of a thousand cultivators, if even one develops an inted ego, can you imagine what that person would do to any mortals he didn¡¯t like? If a Body Tempering cultivator canpletely dominate mortals, can you imagine what a Qi cultivator who is having a bad day could do to mortals? Or a Qi cultivator who feels a mortal has offended him? Have you ever been bit by a mosquito? Did you feel like squatting all the mosquitoes in the world after feeling that irritating itch? ¡°In the past, it was ridiculouslymon for cultivators to kill mortals over the tiniest inconveniences. That is the real reason the ICPA¡¯s were formed. To protect mortals from cultivators. Yes, they do much more than that. But if a cultivator killed another cultivator, they may take action, but depending on who the offender is they may get away with a p on the wrist. However, if a cultivator is caught killing mortals, even if it¡¯s a Golden Core cultivator the ICPA¡¯s take serious action. ¡°So when an emergency situation urs, all the ICPA¡¯s in the world enforce a house arrest. You¡¯re saying whatever the incident that happened was in Egypt, so most likely the authorities over there have their hands full and can¡¯t focus on anything else. To avoid cultivators going there and taking advantage of the situation, everyone is put on house arrest. Most people won¡¯t even think of taking advantage of something like that, but it only takes one Golden Core cultivator and the damage can be beyond imagination.¡± A solemn mood hung in the air as Lex absorbed everything Larry had told him. The fact that this is such a big deal means something like that must have happened in the past. ¡°But aren¡¯t the ICPA¡¯s full of cultivators themselves? Who¡¯s going to stop them if they¡¯re the ones who want to take advantage of a bad situation?¡± Larry shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know. That¡¯s the kind of stuff those higher level cultivators need to think about. We¡¯re just at the bottom of the barrel for now, none of this has anything to do with us. Anyway,e on let¡¯s see if there¡¯s any news on what actually happened. I was too busy before, I haven¡¯t been online at all.¡± Lex agreed as he was also curious about the cause of all thismotion. Surprisingly, when he went back onto the portal the first headline he saw read ¡®Alexander Morrison assassinated in Egypt!¡¯. The familiar name took him by surprise so hepletely missed the horrified look on Larry¡¯s face. Chapter 51 Change of plans Lex clicked on the article to read more. The article was on a small blog site where the author interviewed some people who imed to be present when the ¡®assassination¡¯ took ce. ording to the unnamed sources, they were present at an auction where an unlisted item was being sold. Supposedly it was a golden key that unlocked some kind of hidden heritage of an ancient cultivator. Alexander bought the keys but before he could get his hands on them he was attacked and robbed, before the assants escaped the auction house. That was how the event started, and in anger Alexander¡¯s family deployed their private military force and were hunting the assassins all over Egypt. Even the A.D.F. was too afraid to step in. The article continued to specte on a few other things, but Lex and Larry both were too caught up in their thoughts to continue reading. Lex knew for a fact that Alexander was alive, so he took most of the article with a grain of salt, but he was thinking about the golden key. It had been auctioned? Which probably meant that Bastet wasn¡¯t the one who gave Alexander the keys, but auctioned them off instead. Did a cultivator at her level run short on money? What was going on? ¡°This is much worse than I expected,¡± Larry murmured as he took out his phone and made a call. Unfortunately for him, whoever he was calling didn¡¯t pick up which agitated him further. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Lex asked. ¡°Alexander Morrison, do you know who that is? He¡¯s the heir to Mars. His family literally owns Mars. There¡¯s even some spection that they¡¯ve already started mining the various moons of the differents in the sr system as well. There are even rumors that their family is harvesting spirit energy directly from the sun to create cultivators even stronger than Golden Core.Not only is his family rich, they have more Golden Core cultivators than any other force in the sr system. Of course,bined all the other forces are stronger, but who would be crazy enough to ally against them? If someone really has managed to kill Alexander, then things won¡¯t end as simply as a lockdown. This could lead to war.¡± Larry continued to make phone calls, but whoever he was calling still wasn¡¯t answering.. ¡°Don¡¯t put too much trust in this article,¡± Lex said, aware that Alexander was alive. ¡°This isn¡¯t even a proper news site. It¡¯s just another conspiracy. How can it be easy to assassinate someone that important? He must have been surrounded by bodyguards.¡± ¡°I hope you¡¯re right. If this¡­¡± before he could continue whoever he was calling picked up and started talking. Larry didn¡¯t speak and only listened. A few momentster he shut the phone and breathed a sigh of relief. ¡°You were right, the article wasn¡¯t true. Or at least, the part about Alexander being dead isn¡¯t true.¡± Lex raised an eyebrow. ¡°You must have some insane contacts if they can tell you about what actually happened. Even Blue Bird hasn¡¯t released a statement yet.¡± Larry froze, realizing that he had lost hisposure and exposed a little too much. He let out a defeatedugh and his shoulder slouched, as if letting go of a pretense. ¡°I guess there¡¯s no point in hiding anything. It¡¯s not like it¡¯s much of a secret anyway. The only reason you haven¡¯t heard is because you¡¯re still too new to the cultivation world. Originally, Ie from a cultivation family as well ¨C the Dershaw family. We used to own a few spirit stone mines here on Earth, and ran the Dershaw Bank. When I was growing up I even met Alexander a few times. Our families partnered up in various business ventures. Unfortunately, a few years ago there was an explosion in one of the mines. A lot of the elders from my family went to investigate, but never returned. I don¡¯t know the exact details of what happened, but most of the people in my family died that day. Afterwards, a few Sects showed up, saying that the Dershaw Bank had taken loans from them and it was time to pay it back. All the mines were seized and my family was imprisoned. They probably would have killed my entire family, me included, but the ICPA¡¯s intervened. My family was used of a lot of crimes and banished to somewhere on the Moon. I was left behind because I hadn¡¯t started cultivating yet. So yeah, that¡¯s my story. I still have a few contacts who help me out asionally secretly, but that¡¯s about it.¡± Lex froze after listening to Larry¡¯s story, unsure of how he should respond. He was not expecting Larry to unload something so heavy. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t know,¡± Lex said awkwardly but Larry waved it off, returning to his energetic and jovial self. ¡°It¡¯s old news, don¡¯t worry about it. Instead of that, do you know what I found out recently? You remember Matilda, she took a couple of sses with us before she started getting private sses. I heard she¡¯s already Body Tempering 4th level. When I heard I waspletely blown away. What a woman¡­¡± Larry continued talking about Matilda and Lex smiled warily. This guy¡­ ***** Alexander continued to absorb the energy in the Core for a few more hours until it was eventually depleted. It took him a few minutes to adjust his state and check his body for any abnormalities. When he finally got up he was exhrated! The effects of the Core were beyond anything he¡¯d used before. He left his room and returned to the Gift Shop where Velma appeared behind the counter as soon as he entered. ¡°Good day, dear guest,¡± she said, her voice soft and pleasant to hear. ¡°I hope you are enjoying your stay with us. Please let me know if there is anything you need.¡± ¡°My stay has been incredible, but unfortunately I have some tasks I need toplete so I need to leave. Is it possible for me to have a word with the Innkeeper?¡± Mary, who was aware of everything that was happening in the Inn told Lex, but with Larry in his apartment it was inconvenient for him to leave so he told her to handle the situation. Mary then mentally passed her a few instructions to Velma, who told Alexander, ¡°The Innkeeper is away on some business at the moment. If there¡¯s something I can help you with then do please let me know.¡± ¡°In that case, I would like to ask you to take care of Helen while I am away. If she needs further treatment you can charge it on my card, and once she is better please allow her to stay in my room till Ie back. I¡¯d also like 5 more Tier 3 Cores, 1 Tier 4 Core and a spare Golden Key.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Velma said, handing Alexander the 6 cards containing his items as well as the key. The five Tier 3 Cores cost 7500MP, the Tier 4 core 5000MP and the Golden Key 100MP, although since he was technically buying the key directly from the Inn and not from Lex, Lex would get no profit from it. All in all, Lex received another 12,500 MP from Alexander though the young man seemed to think nothing of the cost. As for charging his card? Even random websites could save credit card information, how could the Midnight Inn not be able to do the same? The query for how would the Inn receive the payments from the bank? It was using an ancient mystical technique called ¡°This is definitely not a plot hole¡± to carry out the transactions. It left no traces behind and could not be tracked. Done with his tasks, Alexander promptly returned to Earth. It was deep into the night in Egypt at this point, and the street where Alexander returned was dark. The streetlights had been damaged in the brief battle that took ce earlier, not to mention from the arrival of the Titans pods. Alexander took out a phone from pocket and made a video call. On his screen appeared a young man, though despite his youth he wore a look of experience and maturity. ¡°You¡¯re back,¡± the man said. ¡°When your tracker suddenly disappeared I was worried. The Titans have been sweeping the city for you but no one could find you.¡± ¡°Yes, I encountered something unexpected. We¡¯re going to have to make a few changes to the n. I need toe back to Mars immediately.¡± ¡°What?¡± asked the man, surprised. ¡°Are you sure? You¡¯ve been nning for this for years.¡± ¡°Yeah Dad,¡± Alexander said. Surprisingly the young man in the video call was Alexander¡¯s father, though if you consider that when someone reaches a higher cultivation level their aging seems to slow or even stop, it wasn¡¯t that big a deal. ¡°Something big has happened. You can release the news that I¡¯ve been poisoned with some new kind of poison. Also, let a few rumors slip that Helen is dead. As for the details of what actually happened¡­I better wait till I reach Mars. You should also call Grandfather. I feel like he¡¯ll be interested in this too.¡± When Alexander mentioned his grandfather, his fathers demeanorpletely changed and he simply nodded, as if understanding that this matter was unordinary. ¡°Also, have someone look into Marlo¡¯s recent actions. I¡¯ll see you soon.¡± With that he ended the call and left the area. He seemedpletely unaffected by the fact that his previous actions had shaken the entire world. Someone would naturally take care of any fallout. Chapter 52 Gossip Somewhere deep in the Sahara desert, a lone stranger was walking in the shade of a dune, following the directions of a strangepass. Thepass did not point North, but was instead guiding the man towards something specific. Eventually the man reached a point where thepass pointed directly dowards. Not wasting any time, the man set up a tent at that exact location before entering. Once inside and out of view, he removed the needle of thepass and let it fall into the sand. The needle, as if sentient, began moving downward and the man followed using a spirit technique that let him traverse through the ground. After a few minutes of going down he encountered a strange shield made of energy ¨C formally known as a Formation ¨C but the needle made a hole in the shield justrge enough for the man to pass through. Once inside the formation the man increased his descent speed until he reached an underground bunker. Once inside he removed the white cloth he had wrapped around his face, along with the other gear he was wearing and changed into somefortable robes that he had brought with himself. Not wasting any time he moved deeper into the bunker to what looked like a conference room. All the seats in the conference room were already filled, mostly with holograms but a few with people actually present.. ¡°Do you have the news?¡± one of the projected men asked. ¡°Yes yes,¡± the robed man answered. ¡°n A and B failed, however ording to what I heard n C seems to have sessfully passed the initial stage. Alexander has been poisoned and is retreating to Mars in an emergency vessel, probably to treat the poison. The Helen girl is dead, so for now they will turn their attention towards the Sigmund family. The infiltration was done cleanly, so there is no evidence that anyone outside of the Sigmund family contacted her. They will be the prime suspects, which should upy all of the Morrison families attention. Greg Benice was also killed and even though the Benice family has no idea how he got involved in this, I¡¯m sure they won¡¯t hesitate in handing over all of Greg¡¯s immediate family to the Morrisons and cooperating with their investigationpletely. All-in-all, it should serve to waste more time. The Zeus Leventis kid however¡­he has disappeared for now. No one knows where he is, and the Leventis family has reacted unexpectedly. The current Leventis family head has left directly for Mars, his intentions are yet unknown but considering Zeus¡¯ role in the assassination, going directly to Mars is a bold y.¡± ¡°If the Morrisons take their anger out on them it¡¯ll be great, but if they don¡¯t it still doesn¡¯t matter,¡± said one of the holograms. ¡°They¡¯re not connected to us in any way. What I¡¯m curious about is how the A.D.F. matter will be handled? No one expected the kid to directly deploy troops on Earth, I can¡¯t even begin to imagine what he would have done had he not been poisoned. The reaction was too swift. We will need to be even more careful proceeding forward.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve already handled the matter. Some key personnel have been killed and it¡¯s been made to look like suicide. Upon investigation it¡¯ll look like they panicked when their n failed and so took their own lives to hide their trail. No matter how it¡¯s investigated, it¡¯ll be a deadend. You do not need to waste your time fretting over these details. What matters now is that everyone begins their part in the n. The top powers on Earth are too secretive, we still cannot figure out how or why, but in thest 200 years anyone who caused too much trouble on Earth has mysteriously vanished. Taking over Mars is our only chance for freedom¡­and our only chance to break through! There can¡¯t be any mistakes!¡± ¡°You don¡¯t need to tell me,¡± said azy voice from a different hologram. ¡°You¡¯ve only been working here for a few years. We¡¯ve been preparing for this from the day the Morrison familynded on Mars. As for the rest of you, we need to step up on recruitment¡­¡± the meeting continued as everyone in the room began coordinating on the different steps required for their n. Unknown to everyone, the fate of billions was being decided casually in this bunker under the desert. ***** Lex and Larry had gotten to know each other quite well in the few hours that they were together in the apartment. From him Lex had also learned a lot about the different organizations in the spirit world, along with correcting some misconceptions he had. For some reason, he always thought that joining an organization was like getting a job at apany. They would give him benefits but make him work in exchange. This was true for a lot of them, but not all. One in particr that aroused Lex¡¯s interest was called Ballor¡¯s Castle. This was an organization made by, and solely for rogue or lone cultivators. Their main purpose, first and foremost, was to provide protection to its members and then secondly it had a lot of misceneous services. Joining also had different levels. If you joined as a basic member, then as long as you were in the territory owned by Ballor¡¯s Castle, they would protect you regardless of who was your enemy, even ICPA. For this level of membership you weren¡¯t expected to do anything else, but they heavily promoted helping other members if you ever met them. For higher level members there were obviously more perks, but then of course you had to make a relevant level of contribution. This is what Lex found most interesting. The contribution could be in many forms, and thus it was very flexible. This organization was Internationally founded and had almost a dozen Golden Core leaders across the globe. It was something that could be very helpful to Lex, and he jotted down its name in case he ever wanted to join. Larry had also learned a lot from Lex, though Lex sort of regretted sharing. At some point during Larry¡¯s incessant prodding Lex had let slip that he had only ever had one girlfriend, during his first year at college. The fact that Lex hadn¡¯t dated after that led Larry to weave a tale of a heartbroken Lex, forever pining after his one true love, lost to the materialist allure of modern society. Lex balked, but who had told him to share? Eventually the conversation changed towards their self defense ss, and then Marlo. This was when, for the first time in his life, Lex participated in gossip excitedly. The owner of Ultimate Fighting Fortress was Marlo¡¯s wife! It was apparently something that wasmonly known but Lex had only found out through Tempest. Nobody knew why there was apparently such enmity between husband and wife, and Larry shared a few oundish stories he had heard online. The hours went by quickly and the two did not even notice their growing friendship, untilte at night when Blue Bird released another broadcast ending the house arrest and returning things to normal. Reluctantly Larry left, for he had much work he needed to do. Oddly enough, Lex found that he had enjoyed thepany of the over enthusiastic fellow. But there was no reluctance on his part, he couldn¡¯t wait for Larry to leave. He did not miss the new addition to his MP, and he was practically dying to upgrade his Inn! This chapter is a preview, if you want to see a faster and more up-to-date chapter, please visit . for more content. Chapter 53 Disappointment Lex immediately returned to the Inn and excitedly asked Mary, ¡°What happened? Where did all this MPe from? Who was it?¡± The tiny tologram appeared before, sparkling as she glittered and sparkled while gliding through the air, clearly infected by Lex¡¯s emotions. ¡°It was Alexander! He bought the zombie cores and left Helen in our care, saying that he¡¯d be back soon.¡±. Lex was slightly disappointed that Alexander had left, but he couldn¡¯t care at this point. Finally he had a decent amount of MP to spend and he knew exactly how he wanted to spend it. Flying high into the air he looked down at the Inn, deciding where exactly he wanted to make some changes. After a few moments of consideration he flew over to the west where he¡¯d created some hills earlier. He made the hills higher and added trees and shrubbery across them, but built a smooth yet winding path through them. At the peak of the highest hill he created nd dusted with various wild flowers. In the middle he put the one building he¡¯d had his eye on for a while now, the Meditation room! It cost him 1200MP, along with another 300MP for the remodeling of the hills but it was a necessary expenditure. All of his guests so far had been cultivators, and though they seemed satisfied with the amenities so far, how could they not be provided a ce to cultivate? The Meditation room was at level 1, which meant it provided only the most basic of advantages for now but that was enough for the moment. On the outside it looked like a hut, but the inside would change ording to whoever was using it and would create the most rxing environment. It provided a higher concentration of spirit energy, and made it easier for people to enter meditation and focus. There was a slight boost to the usersprehension ¨C meaning anything they were contemting or meditating on would be easier for them to understand. The Meditation room could only host one user at a time, but if he ever needed more he¡¯d create them as necessary. The use of it cost him nothing, so he decided to price it at 100MP a day. This would be a great attraction, Lex imagined, for his guests. He¡¯d noticed that a lot of them spent some time cultivating or meditating in their room. A specific ce that would provide a boost would be even better. Done with his little side project, Lex grinned and did what he had truly been waiting for! He paid 5000MP for his cultivation upgrade! His new total was instantly brought down to 8241MP but he didn¡¯t care. It was still a lot, and he¡¯d really been waiting to elevate his cultivation. He closed his eyes and waited to be transported to the white room and¡­nothing! After waiting a bit more, he asked Mary in a confused tone, ¡°What¡¯s happening? Does the Inn need to prepare to elevate my cultivation?¡± ¡°Not exactly,¡± she replied after a moment, as ifmunicating with the Inn. ¡°Your body hasn¡¯t settled down from your first procedure. You underwent a major change, and although it seems like you are fine, your body has not reached the optimal stage to undergo the next procedure. Don¡¯t think of this as a video game in which you can upgrade whenever you want, things need to be done step by step. When your body has stabilized and is ready for the next procedure the Inn will let you know. If you want to speed up the process, rigorously exerting yourself and then fully recovering will hasten your body¡¯s stabilization. On the bright side, since you¡¯ve already paid the price for the upgrade you won¡¯t need to worry about it when you¡¯re ready.¡± Lex groaned. Of course, his system would never make things easy. Other MC¡¯s had systems that made them OP instantly. Other MC¡¯s could instantly rule their worlds. He on the other hand had to continuously train and get beat up by a made giant and fight zombies senselessly. The news was disappointing, and it made a dent in his ns. He needed to consider what to do for now. He could slowly take his time, and wait till he¡¯s ready and then upgrade before returning to Vegus Minima to drop more Golden Keys. But he didn¡¯t want to go back to that zombie infestednd till he was stronger. Little did he know that he had only encountered the lowest of the low zombies on that. If he hadnded in the same ce as Marlo he would never have survived. Another option was to use the third Golden Ticket when it was ready. It was another thing he wanted to put off till he was stronger, but it seemed that might take too long. Although there was no rush really, Lex could take all the time in the world, he didn¡¯t like being excessivelyzy. After thinking for a while, he made up his mind. He was already experienced at going to another world, he would be better prepared this time around. It seemed like it was time to expand his customer base to another world! This chapter is a preview, if you want to see a faster and more up-to-date chapter, please visit . for more content. Chapter 54 Shopping Having made up his mind, Lex first checked up on his guests to see how they were doing. Hugo was still in his room, stabilizing his new realm. Marlo was still undergoing a process of healing and being corroded by his own blood, while Helen was almostpletely cured. The only reason Helen hadn¡¯t been cured by now, in fact, was because she¡¯d had the poison in her system so long it had seeped into her brain and affected it, healing which was a slow and delicate process. Still, she¡¯d be out soon. Lex instructed Velma to stay by her side and to give her a tour once everything was done. With that he was done for now. He considered adding the Guild room to the Inn as well, it only cost 1000MP, but he decided to wait till he had more guests frequenting his Inn. There was no shortage of things he could buy, for example he could make Gerard and Velma permanent instead of keeping them on their temporary one month lease, but he still had a few more weeks left for that. He was nning on making the change closer to their end date, that way he¡¯d keep some MP incase of an emergency ¨C failing that Marlo quest really affected him. He returned to his apartment and slept for a few hours before getting up at the break of dawn to go and exercise. He¡¯d need to keep exerting himself if he wanted to speed up his body¡¯s stabilization process. He strapped some weights onto his body and went out for a run. At around 9 am he messaged Larry, asking him if he knew where he could quickly buy some gear. Larry replied with a location, asking Lex to meet him there in an hour. Unexpectedly, it was the Javits Center. A lot ofrge events took ce there, and Lex had visited the ce himself a few times duringic con. He really wasn¡¯t expecting such a public ce to have anything to do with cultivators ¨C it really took hiding in in sight to another level. Lex showered and left immediately, quickly reaching his destination but arriving early was pointless as he still ended up waiting for Larry to arrive. When the exuberant young Larry arrived he looked much better than yesterday, with no sign of the many bruises he had earlier. Whether it was makeup or medicine that did the job, Lex could not tell at all.. ¡°What kind of gear are you looking for?¡± Larry asked after they greeted each other. ¡°Survival gear, body armor, weapons. I¡¯ll have to look at what¡¯s avable, it really depends on what¡¯s avable and what I can afford. Normally I¡¯d ask Marlo, but he¡¯s away and God only knows when he¡¯ll be back.¡± ¡°No no, it¡¯s a good thing you asked me instead. Not that Marlo wouldn¡¯t be able to help you out, but you really need to mix a little more with other cultivators. You need to be able to do things on your own incase you¡¯re ever in a pinch.¡± Larry led the way, all the while telling Lex that he needed to expose himself more to the cultivation world and not be a recluse. When the two got in an elevator that led them deep into a basement Lex was not surprised at all, as he seemed to understand that this would be a continuing pattern in New York. When he exited the elevator he entered arge hall that looked identical to the one on the ground floor, and with the same AR technology used everywhere else it looked like they were out in the open instead of deep underground. ¡°Wee to the main trading center for anything cultivator rted in all of New York. Here, you can find anything from weapons to armor to med kits, spirit tech, cultivation techniques, spirit techniques to literally anything you can imagine as well as many things you can¡¯t imagine. The stalls are set up by individuals, organizations,panies, colleges, think tanks ¨C basically anyone with anything to sell! And the security here is all maintained by Bluebird, and they¡¯re very thorough so you don¡¯t need to be afraid that you¡¯ll be robbed or ripped off. It might be slightly pricier than if you buy things from Marlo, but you¡¯ll get a whole lot more options as well!¡± Lex was amazed by the giant underground market. Larry did not embellish at all, just from where he was standing he could see more variety in things for sale than he ever saw on the Bluebird portal. ¡°Listen, I¡¯m sure you can handle yourself from here. I have a few chores I need to run myself,¡± Larry spoke, less enthused than usual, but Lex didn¡¯t mind. ¡°Go ahead, thanks for bringing me here. I¡¯ll take my time looking at things so I might take a while anyway.¡± And indeed, Lex spent quite a few hours there. At first he only looked through all the stalls. Contrary to what he expected, most things being sold had less to do withbat and cultivation and more to do with luxury or day to day convenience. Fashion was also something that was given a lot of importance, as a lot of apparel was being sold ¨C with the added bonus that the clothes won¡¯t identally rip due to your increased strength. In the end, Lex could not help himself and bought himself a lot of sportswear as well as camouged armor for his legs as well as his upper body. He bought himself sses that had automatic night vision as well as zoom, a backpack that could resist ripping from the strength of an average body cultivator, high calorie rations, a wrist watch that would automatically create a map of anywhere he went when turned on, all terrain boots, protective gloves and, unbelievably, deodorant for cultivators! It did not have a nice smell like other deodorants, but instead eliminated any and all smells on his body so that he could not be tracked. He bought various books onbat and survival, and for the cheap, cheap price of $12 million he bought two generic cultivation techniques that went up to the peak of Qi Training. He wanted them for reference, so that he could understand how regr people cultivated and how it differed from Regal Embrace. Finally, he also bought a short sword and a dagger, both strengthened beyond regr cold weapons. He did not have to carry bags as he shopped as all the items would be delivered to his apartment within the day, so he explored the market freely. When he felt satisfied that he had seen everything that could be offered here, he sent Larry a message and left. Everything he bought was in preparation for his next adventure to a new world, it would only be a couple more days till the next Golden Ticket was avable for use. ***** Deep in a forest in Vegus Minima the sounds of battle echoed. A swift and merciless man cut through a small horde of zombies, using no weapons other than his bare hands. His trained body knew exactly how to move to avoid getting attacked, while giving him the vantage to attack as he pleased. In but a few minutes the horde was reduced to nothing but a pile of dead bodies and the man wasted no time in recovering the cores from their bodies. Just as he was removing the core from thest body, another man appeared behind, emitting an even stronger aura of bloodlust. ¡°Any signs?¡± the first man asked, not bothering to look back. ¡°Nothing yet,¡± the second man answered. If Lex saw them now he would be thoroughly surprised to find these two incredibly ferocious men were Brother Chen and ne, his two Pro Bono guests. The surprise would be because while they were at the Inn they behaved so meekly, but once they were back to their own world their true, battle hardened selves were revealed. ne, who took out thest zombie core, frowned as he heard Brother Chen¡¯s words. When they returned from the Inn they came back to the same ce that they had made their final stand against the Tier 3 zombie. Finding their way back to the caravan should not have been a problem for them at all, especially since they were both good at tracking. However the caravan had mysteriously disappeared. No matter how they looked, they could not even find the caravans trail let alone the caravan itself. Even if the caravan was destroyed by zombies there should have been some signs of battle. Yet there was nothing. It was as if they were teleported, much in the same way the two soldiers had been teleported to the Inn. ¡°Rest up. Come dawn, we¡¯ll continue our search. This time, we¡¯ll try to be quiet and avoid fighting, it wastes too much time. If we¡¯re unable to find the caravan in the next few days, I think we should return to the Inn and see if they have something that can help us.¡± ne only nodded, grimacing. ¡®I hope you¡¯re okay Iris¡¯, he thought. ¡®You have to be.¡¯ Chapter 55 Tom The next day during Lex¡¯s early morning workout Mary informed him that Helen had beenpletely healed. However, since she had woken up she had not spoken with anyone and had asked to be left alone. She had been sitting in thewn behind the Inn, looking forlorn and lost in thought. Since she wanted to be left alone Lex did not disturb her, but instructed Mary to have a Saturn cake sent to her when she was feeling better. Lex did not know if there were other things on her mind, buting so close to death would definitely traumatize anyone. Although he¡¯d be paying for the cake himself, he considered it a little gift to Alexander for all his spending ¨C not to mention it would give him a good idea of how effective the Saturn cake was at making the eater feel euphoric. With that he put her out of his thoughts and continued his training. He also tried to look up other information about what happened in Egypt, but there were only rumors online. He also finally met up with ine and Harry, his friends from his previous job. Giving as little detail as possible he filled them in on his new job and asked them how things were going at their old ce. He was particrly interested in what Jessica, his old boss, was up to but his friends mistook his interest as romantic. ine and Harry shared a secret look, but Lex missed it and was thuspletely unaware that his friends had started considering how to get Lex and Jessica together for a romantic rendezvous. Lex also finally got around to having a video call with his family, taking particr care in letting them know that New York was not a ce they¡¯d be interested in visiting and should not consider doing so. His youngest sister, Moon, was behaving especially suspicious during the call but Lex couldn¡¯t be bothered to investigate. Lex was basically checking all the chores he had been avoiding off his list before his travel to the new world. Last time he had been fortunate enough that he returned within a day, but there was no guarantee of such a thing happening again. Finally, after all his waiting, he received a system notification: Host can now use the Golden Ticket! Without hesitation he summoned the ticket and tore it in half. The two pieces disappeared in a shining light and a panel appeared before his eyes. s Avable:. These were the only twos avable this time around, but before Lex could get a good read on he received another notification. New Quest: Host has encountered a extremely suitable for finding guests. Build a connection to Dunya! Quest Time limit: None! Quest Reward: 1 Free Inn upgrade! Remarks: Please wash your face before going to Dunya. The system will be embarrassed if it is associated with a dirty looking fellow! Lex¡¯s lips twitched, and he felt like beating someone up. He had been waiting for a quest, but it was a good thing that this quest had no time limit as there was no way he¡¯d be going to a 5 Star world with his current cultivation. A 1 star world had almost killed him. This would be something for the future. Without wasting any further time he selected Nibiru and disappeared. Lex was extremely tense when he reappeared, and quickly analyzed his surroundings for any threats! Fortunately, his arrival this time was different fromst. He found himself standing alone in the middle of a wide, dirt road on a teau. It seemed like early morning, and the pleasant weather and cool breeze weed Lex like a fond friend. Some distance on his left there seemed to be a forest, but on his right down the teau Lex could see some farmers working in what looked like rice fields. Lex rxed a little, and moved his hand away from the Heavy Harley that he was wearing on his hip. The short sword that he had recently bought was strapped to his back, and his dagger in his boot. He was wearing his defensive, camouge gear as well as his new backpack so he stood out like a nail in this very rural environment, but he was more concerned with his immediate security rather than attracting attention. Making sure that nothing was amiss, he sent the bathroom slipper back into the system inventory. But since he was wearing boots, how was he also wearing the slippers? Well Lex had realized that he didn¡¯t really need to be wearing the slippers on his feet for them to have an effect, only have them on his body. So he used a sparece he had in his apartment and tied both ends onto one slipper each, then hung the slippers around his neck. It looked hideous but it was more practical. Not to mention no one saw it so it didn¡¯t really matter. Just as he was about to move, he heard rustling from the forest and looked just in time to see a ruffled young man running out of the forest,pletely out of breath. The young man was wearing what looked like schr¡¯s robes, something very unfit for running, and had numerous scratches on his somewhat dirty face. Glee could be seen on his face when he exited the forest, and scurried towards the road. Yet when the boy noticed Lex on the road he froze, gripped with shock and horror. The both of them stood facing one another a few feet apart, analyzing the other. Lex was dressed too peculiarly, and judging by the other face he could tell that all sorts of assumptions were being made about him. It would be better to take control of the situation before something unexpected happened. ¡°Hello there friend,¡± Lex spoke warmly with a smile, ¡°My name is Lex. I seem to have gotten lost. Could you point me towards the nearest town or vige? I would appreciate it.¡± The young man gathered himself up when he heard Lex speak. The fear on his face disappeared, but suspicion clearly painted his face. Clearly whatever he had originally assumed about Lex was wrong, but he could not judge the truthfulness of his words. ¡°My name is Tif- no, Tom. You can call me Tom,¡± he said. Or rather, she said. The moment she spoke Lex could tell it was a girl, her voice a clear give away. She had disguised herself well, not to mention her short hair and dirty face adding to it. But once Lex realized, it became obvious that this wasn¡¯t really a boy. ¡°You¡¯ll only find farmers here. The nearest vige is two days away by a donkey cart. You only need to follow the road. Now if you¡¯ll excuse me, I need to be leaving.¡± ¡®Tom¡¯ fixed up her robes and started strutting down the road as if she had nothing to hide, though her unusually quick pace spoke otherwise. ¡°Are you alright, Tom? Do you need any help?¡± Lex asked, amused. ¡°No, I mean yes, I ampletely alright. I am very, very alright. I don¡¯t need any help. Ipletely do not need help at all¡­¡± just as Tom was speaking, four men dressedpletely in ck broke out of the forest in a fury. They were holding daggers in their hands, and as soon as they saw Tom and Lex they yelled and attacked. Before Tom could react Lex picked her up and started running, a grin on his face. Tom, taken by surprise, yelled, but quickly stopped when she heard Lex say, ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re totallypletely alright? You don¡¯t even need a little help?¡± The four pursuers were mortals and thus would not be able to keep up with Lex¡¯s pace, so he felt no pressure at all. He could have also fought them, but he didn¡¯t want to fight ¨C and potentially kill ¨C random people for no reason at all. More importantly, Tom¡¯s bad acting and disheveled appearance filled Lex with the urge to tease her. But most importantly, he received another notification from the system: New Quest: You have encountered someone carrying the will of the world Nibiru. Protect their safety and help themplete their task to gain goodwill from Nibiru. Quest Reward: Depends on time taken toplete. The quicker thepletion, the better the reward! Quest failure punishment: Drastic drop of luck whilst in Nibiru! -1000MP (if the host is unable to pay, it will result in immediate death)! Chapter 56 Red Nation Although he was being chased, Lex felt no pressure at all as his physique had improved immensely. Even when carrying the girl in his arms he felt at ease. ¡°You¡¯re¡­you¡¯re kidnapping me!¡± stammered Tom with a flustered expression. ¡°Oh? Should I put you down then?¡± he asked, smirking. Tom leaned over to look behind Lex¡¯s shoulder and saw their pursuers. Although they had startedgging behind, they were very much still in their view. ¡°Kidnap me faster,¡± Tom said finally, deciding that the men in ck were scarier.. Lex let out an amusedugh and picked up his pace. For some reason he found this young girl to be very adorable and instinctually wanted to help her. Only a few minutester the men in ck had stopped chasing as they werepletely out of breath, and Lex had left them far behind. ¡°Run into the field,¡± Tom said. ¡°I know a good ce.¡± Lex listened to the girl¡¯s instructions and followed where she directed. Soon he found himself in the wild, far away from any indication of civilization. Ultimately they stopped by a small creek with a hidden tunnel and that began from the base of the tree. Tom, climbing out of Lex¡¯s embrace, led Lex into the tunnel before covering the entrance with a wooden board. The tunnel was not dark however, as luminescent flora lined the walls. Eventually the tunnel opened up to a small yet cosy room with a few chairs, a cot, a table and a LOT of books! Tom sat herself down on one of the chairs before she started breathing raggedly, as if she had been the one running. Then she did an action to indicate she was wiping the sweat off her brow, before turning to look at Lex. ¡°You are wee,¡± she said, her voice loud and magnanimous. ¡°If I hadn¡¯t told you where to go you would have probably kept on running on the road and then the bad guys would have caught you.¡± Lex¡¯s lips twitched. It seemed he had a knack for finding unusual people. ¡°Thank you, but I get the feeling they were more interested in you than in me.¡± As soon as he said that Tom¡¯s face grimaced, her hands clenched into fists. ¡°Do you need any help?¡± Lex found himself asking. ¡°Those bad men want to hurt the Lord Protector! Father Henry found out about them, but before he could tell anyone they came to hurt him. He wrote a letter and told me to take it to the capital, but before I could do anything those bad guys started chasing after me. If I don¡¯t take the letter to the capital soon, they might end up hurting Lord Protector!¡± ¡°In that case, let me take you to the capital. We shouldn¡¯t waste time sitting around here, we should be moving.¡± Lex needed to help the girl with her task for his quest, not to mention she seemed very upfront so would be a great source of information about this world. Tom hesitated. ¡°Why do you want to help me? If you stay with me, those bad guys wille after you as well.¡± ¡°Of course, it¡¯s for the Lord Protector!¡± Lex boldly imed, having no idea who he was talking about at all. ¡°How can I rx when I know someone wants to hurt the Lord Protector! Not to mention, I also need to go to the capital, and as I told you already, I¡¯m kinda lost.¡± Tom was hesitating, deciding whether she could trust Lex, until she finally decided that if he wanted to hurt her he could have done it already. ¡°Okay, then we should go. But I need to rest a little first, I¡¯ve been running all night. By the way, my name is Tiffany. I¡¯m sorry I lied to you, I thought you were also a bad man.¡± ¡°Haha I can¡¯t me you. I am dressed a little strangely, anyone would be afraid. But these clothes are really good for traveling, which is why I¡¯m wearing them.¡± After that little exchange Tiffany let her guard down, and Lex began asking her random questions to try and understand the world a little bit. He could not ask directly, but fortunately Tiffany did not think his questions were strange and answered him honestly. First of all, he was in a country called Red Nation. Tiffany didn¡¯t know much about the world, but Red Nation shared a border with at least 3 other countries. Civilization on this seemed to be developed at the level of the middle ages on Earth, but there was one very prominent difference between Nibiru and Earth. Humans were one of the lowest on the food chain on this. This world was ruled by beasts, and humans did not seem to have any knowledge of cultivation at all. The countries weren¡¯t dictated ording to the will of the people, but ording to the territory of the Beast Alpha that upied thends. How the people of each country were treated waspletely up to the will of the Beast Alpha, however it seemed the consensus was that humans made very good workers and soldiers. The people in Red Nation were treated rtively extremely well, but in some of the neighboring countries humans werepletely treated as ves. This information was extremely shocking to Lex, and it left him with a strange bitter aftertaste in his mouth. All the humans on this entire, or at least in the nearby countries, lived at the mercy of beasts. Of the three worlds Lex had been on, he now realized how blessed he was that Earth was where he lived. To distract himself he asked Tiffany a little more about herself. She was 13 years old, almost 14 now, and was raised by the priest she called Father Henry. Father Henry and his colleagues worked directly for the Lord Protector, and were given tasks that helped keep their country vibrant. After asking a few more questions, Lex came to the conclusion that the Lord Protector of Red Nation might not actually be a beast, but some kind of spirit nt that had gained sentience. That was because all the priests of Red Nation were tasked with taking care of all the flora of the country, and often performed rituals that involved taking care of forests. From starting controlled fires, eliminating pests, spreading fertilizers, collecting or spreading seeds to many more tasks that Lex could not understand, all their actions had something to do with nts. Fortunately for him, he also learned that humans were a protected ss in Red Nation, which meant that as long as he stuck close to the roads he would note under attack from spirit beasts. If they strayed too far into the wild, however, then their survival was in their own hands. As a mere Body Tempering cultivator, Lex decided that even if had to risk running into those pursuers, he would promptly return to the main road once they left. Eventually, after all that talking, Tiffany became drowsy andy down for a nap. As soon as she woke up, they would leave and begin their new adventure. Chapter 57 Idea While Tiffany slept, Lex went through the books in the small room. Most of them were children¡¯s stories about heroic and magnanimous beasts helping and guiding the humans to safety. Others were on random subjects such as herbology or carpentry, to biographies of some Beast Alphas who had a great influence on humans, both for the better and worse. Naturally, Lex used the books as a database to feed his Fancy monocle with some knowledge of this world. Furthermore, while a lot of the stories were surely fictional, Lex was able to piece out the history of this world, at least in regards to humans. They truly were at the lowest step of the food chain, living like nomads in the most deste ces to avoid wild beasts. At some point in history a few tribes either tried to domesticate, or rescued young beasts and raised them as a part of the tribe. The exact details could only be guessed, but the basic story was that the first time humans came out of hiding was when a Beast Alpha was born that considered itself a part of a human tribe. It gave them territory and protected them, and allowed them to grow and prosper. Under their new found protection, humans thrived and prospered, and slowly starteding out of the stone age. They created viges andmunities, and as their knowledge grew what they developed a symbiotic rtionship with the Beasts that protected them. Their study of different environments as well as farming and medicine allowed them to aid the cultivation of not only the Beast Alphas, but Beasts of all cultivation stages. Slowly other Alpha¡¯s also learnt of the benefits of letting humans manage their territories, and thus humans went from being an almost extinct species on this to coveted workers. Of course each Alpha had a different way of using humans, but the trend had been established. This same trend had been going on for thousands and thousands of years, and the positions of humans had been cemented at the bottom. asionally some lucky humans would encounter some spiritual fruits of treasures that would enhance and strengthen their bodies, making them stronger than mortals, but not only was such progress inconsistent and irreplicable, the benefit was not strong enough to give humans independent territory of their own. All these details were simply what Lex had surmised from reading the various books, and could be wrong. He would have to investigate more to find out. And speaking of investigating¡­. ¡°Hey Tiffany, wake up,¡± Lex said as he woke up the young girl. It had been a couple of hours, and though he had no doubt that she could sleep more, he didn¡¯t want to waste anymore time. The quicker he helped herplete her task, the better his reward would be. And who knew how long it would take to get to the capital? Not to mention he doubted her pursuers would give up so easily. Waking up the young girl was an ordeal of its own, but he finally managed to do it by telling her the longer they took the more danger the Lord Protector would be in. Then came an issue that Lex did not anticipate. The capital was likely far away so he asked if there was a ce where they could get horses. That was where the issue came in, no one on this could conceive a human riding an animal or a beast. Even if it were a normal animal and not a spirit beast, riding atop it would antagonize any beast that saw it. Hunting for food was eptable, enving or using for domestic purposes was not. That meant he would have to run all the way to the vige, from where he could trade for a cycle. After some effort Lex convinced Tiffany to climb onto his back as he would be faster and departed at a light jog. Tiffany tried to guide him through the wild, insisting that she knew this ce well enough to avoid any danger but Lex ignored her and directly returned towards the dirt road. ¡°Hey wait, head that way,¡± Tiffany said excitedly from Lex¡¯s shortly after they left. They head towards a tree with its bark covered in some kind of vine. Not waiting to exin, Tiffany reached out and grabbed one of the vines, ripped one of the leaves in half and rubbed the sap all over her hands. ¡°You try it as well,¡± she said, sniffing her hands with a smile. Lex, curious as to her intentions, did the same. When he rubbed the sap from the leaf on his hands he felt a cooling sensation entering his body from his hands, rxing him. In a few moments he waspletely refreshed, and the slight fatigue he had umtedpletely disappeared. ¡°Smell your hands,¡± Tiffany said, still doing the same. Lex raised his hands expectantly and was weed by a pleasant aroma. It smelled simr to Night Jasmine, but more than the aroma Lex was enthralled by the cooling sensation he felt entering his brain. Itsted only a few seconds, but he was hooked. ¡°What is that?¡± Lex asked, breaking another leaf and squeezing the sap into his hands. ¡°I call it Tiffanys treasure, although I don¡¯t know what other people call it. I love the smell and it feels so good, and look, it¡¯s so good for the skin!¡± She showed him her hand where she previously had a scratch fromst night, however the sap was visibly healing her hand. In a few minutes, there would be no trace of the wound having ever existed. Watching her hand as if he was watching a miracle, Lex suddenly had an idea. ¡°Do you know what the seed for Tiffany¡¯s Treasure looks like?¡± The young girl nodded,pletely ignoring the fact that she was on his back and Lex could not see her. But at the moment, neither of them cared. They both were distracted by their own ideas. ***** In a dark room arge, brown foxyfortably on an equallyrge pillow. There were no torches in the room, and the few windows had curtains drawn in front of them. There was no other furniture or other decoration in the room, as if the fox was supposed to be the only and main attraction. The silence was broken, however, by the sound of an opening door followed by a man dressed in ck entering and sitting on his knees before therge fox. ¡°My lord, there¡¯s a report from the Eastern Temple in the Red Nation. All the priests have been captured, but a human child witnessed the event and escaped. So far we have been unable to capture the child.¡± The foxzily opened a single eye and looked at the man in front of her, before saying, ¡°tell me, are human children traditionally faster than the adults? They must be, otherwise why would none of your people be unable to capture the child?¡± ¡°No my lord! The child was just lucky! My men chased after the child, but in the darkness they were slowed down in the forest. A couple times they almost caught the child, but they happened to run into wild beasts and had to fend them off. In the end the child ran into another human who we believe has taken a strengthening fruit. They were able to run away faster than my men could keep up. Fortunately the man did not know how to hide his tracks. My men are chasing after them as we speak. I believe in a few hours, both the child and man will be captured.¡± The fox looked at the desperate face the man before her was making, and thought for a few moments. Finally she said, ¡°send word to the Brown Bari Wolf pack. Tell them I want the entire pack after the two humans. Also send word back to the Iron Mountains, tell them moving forward they should assume that details of our actions in Red Nation have been leaked. Speed up the infiltration, and don¡¯t hesitate to use drastic measures if necessary.¡± ¡°But my lord,¡± the man cried out, gripped in fear, ¡°we can capture the two humans. We can! We won¡¯t let the news leak!¡± ¡°Even if you capture them now, there¡¯s no guarantee that they haven¡¯t spread the news already, or sent some kind of message. Since you lost sight of them, assume the news has already disseminated. Do not try to cover up your failures, and do not be afraid to make changes to the n. Now go, I want to continue napping.¡± The man¡¯s entire body trembled as he epted his orders, and left the room to carry out his orders. Compared to other spirit beasts, this fox was very calm and didn¡¯t bother with unnecessary details. But once news of his failure made its way back to the Iron Mountains, there was no way he would escape punishment, and in the Iron Mountains the lightest punishment for humans was death. Chapter 58 Trouble It had been a few hours since they left and despite slowing down asionally to collect seeds or roots of some nts Lex thought had interesting uses, the duo had made good progress. Lex was traveling at a light jog so as to not exhaust his stamina, but speed up their journey. In fact, they were already in sight of a town from where Lex would be able to purchase a bicycle. As for how to make the payment¡­Lex was embarrassed to admit that he would have to borrow money from Tiffany, as he had no idea what kind of currency worked in this world. Fortunately the little girl had already assured him that she would be able to buy it. The town was very different from what Lex was expecting. Most noticeably, it was extremely clean which was a great feat considering their limited technology. Even a lot of Manhattan wasn¡¯t as clean as this town appeared to be. There was no trash anywhere on the ground, the roads and streets were made of stone and the buildings made out of what looked like extremelyrge bricks. But despite the apparent urbanization of the area, nature was also dominant in the city, with fruit trees every dozen or so feet and neat, trimmed gardens right beside the roads. The people were all dressed in cotton tunics and dresses, and moved about their way normally. If Lex didn¡¯t see the asional giant Beast strolling the streets he could practically mistake it for Earth. Still, as fascinating as it was, Lex didn¡¯t want to waste time admiring the town. The two found their way to the market and bought themselves a cycle. When it was time for payment, instead of paying Tiffany took out a medallion with the words Eastern Temple written on it. The man was iparably excited when he saw the medallion, and reced the cycle Lex had gotten with the best one he sold for no cost at all. Lex wanted to depart immediately but Tiffany insisted that they stop to eat. Lex tried to insist but who could win an argument against someone so young? They entered what could be considered avish restaurant and ordered a vegetable soup and some fruit. Based on what Lex saw everyone was eating vegetables or fruit, with no meat to be seen anywhere. It made sense, with no domestication a stable meat source would be incredibly difficult to find. The two ate while chatting, ignoring all the strange looks Lex¡¯s attire was attracting as they had anticipated it.. ¡°So does the token from the temple let you buy whatever you want?¡± ¡°Of course! The temple enacts the will of the Lord Protector, and everything in Red Nation naturally belongs to the Lord Protector. So it is not that I am not paying them, but rather they are just returning to me the property of the Lord Protector. But of course, I can¡¯t use the token to just take whatever I want. In the first ce, it¡¯s not even mine, it¡¯s Father Henrys.¡± Tiffany seemedpletely fine talking about the priest Father Henry, which Lex thought was slightly unusual. He was the man that raised Tiffany and had been captured by unknown people, shouldn¡¯t she be more concerned? ¡°Speaking of Father Henry, do you know why those people went after him? Even if they want to hurt the Lord Protector, I can¡¯t imagine some humans being able to hurt him.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± she said, taking a bite out of what looked like a purple apple. ¡°But they must be working for some other Beast. But even so, they can¡¯t hurt Father Henry. He¡¯s been marked by the Lord Protector, if he dies then the Lord Protector will know immediately.¡± That exined why she was so rxed. ¡°Anyway, do you know the way to the Capital? Or how long it will take to get there? We need to n our travel time ordingly.¡± ¡°Actually, we don¡¯t really need to go all the way to the capital. That would take almost a month, or even more! We just need to travel to the Power city, which is just a few days away. From there we can have the letter sent to the Temple in the capital directly.¡± ¡°And do you know the way to Power city?¡± ¡°Naturally, I know everything!¡± she said, with pride painted on her face. If she didn¡¯t have bits of fruit stuck right above her lips it might have even seemed impressive. ¡°Then let¡¯s stop wasting time,¡± Lex said getting up. ¡°The longer we dy, the greater there is a chance of something going wrong. We should hurry up.¡± Tiffany, the little glutton, seemed reluctant to leave the restaurant but ultimately followed Lex. Lex got on the cycle and Tiffany climbed on the small, extra seat attached behind and they finally departed. The road once outside the town was once again a dirt road, but Lex was impressed by the fact that it was leveled and uniform all the way, with no bumps or potholes. He wondered who maintained the roads, but it was just a passing thought. There were no signs anywhere but Tiffany gave him directions whenever they were needed, and truly did seem to know where they were going. Lex maintained an even pace so that he would not get tired, but they were already much faster than when he was jogging. After a few hours they stopped encountering farms and the scenery was filled with verdant hills that were slowly bing smaller. In the distance Lex could see a forest that seemed to reach out into the horizon. This ce really did have a lot of vegetation, which made him more sure of his conjecture that the Beast Alpha of this country was not actually a Beast but a Spirit nt. He wondered if he could get a seed or a cutting¡­ Suddenly Lex felt goosebumps all over his body and his body stiffened, as if sensing danger. He looked around to locate the source of his unease, but did not need to look for long. Some distance behind them Lex saw a lone, brown colored wolf standing in the middle or the road staring at them. The distance made it hard to tell but Lex felt like the wolf was at least five feet in height, which would make it thergest canine he had ever seen. Tiffany noticed him staring at the wolf and tried to reassure him, ¡°don¡¯t worry. As long as we¡¯re on the road no beast will attack humans, not to mention I have the token of the Temple. It will be able to sense the aura of the Lord Protector on it and¡­¡± before Tiffany could finish the wolf looked up into the sky and let out a loud, savage howl. A tide of wolves emerged from the trees behind it and surged towards the duo. ¡°Hold on!¡± Lex roared, and started cycling at full speed. Tiffany was extremely frightened and was hugging his back tightly. Lex also felt fear, but he also felt excitement and exhration. Last time with the zombies he was caught unprepared, but this time he was ready for trouble. This chapter is a preview, if you want to see a faster and more up-to-date chapter, please visit . for more content. Chapter 59 Zombie slayer returns Chapter 59 Zombie yer returns Lex was cycling as fast as he could, but he knew that he would not be able to match the stamina of an entire wolf pack. Eventually, they would catch up. Fitting the Fancy Monocle in his eye, he turned around once more to take a look at his assants. A single nce was all it took for the monocle to record all the data he needed. The giant wolf, which Lex assumed was the leader of the pack, was at Qi training, while the rest were normal wolves. It was basically the realm where animals first entered into spiritual cultivation and became beasts. The fact that the rest of the pack consisted of normal wolves did not make Lex''s life any easier either, as their numbers continued to increase! So far, sixty wolves were already chasing after him, with the leader of the pack still standing in the back. Various thoughts raced through Lex''s mind as he decided on the best course of action. The most obvious option was to take out his gun and shoot, but the recoil on that was too strong and would probably knock him off his cycle. He could use his short sword to attack them if they get close, but if they overwhelmed him with numbers, he wasn''t sure about being able to protect himself, let alone Tiffany. A few other thoughts ran through his mind before he looked up at the sky. The sun was getting low, but it was still about an hour away from dusk. "Tiffany, do you know any good ces we can hide? Or get a vantage against the wolves?" he asked, but the young girl was frozen in fear and she was not able to answer. Lex shook his head and swiftly made a n. He reached a hand into his backpack and rummaged around till he found two small cylindrical items. When he pulled them out, he held items that looked like shotgun shells, but they served a different purpose. He cracked one and thick gray smoke started pouring out,pletely covering the road behind them. This was apact smokescreen-maker that he had bought. The smoke not only affected visibility, it would sting the eyes, nose and throat of anyone in the smoke. Lex was not sure how strong the effect would be on these wolves, but he was certain it would at least slow them down and affect their senses. Waiting till night was a very important part of his n, and he had to dy things as much as he could. "Tiffany, hold this," Lex said as he handed her the smokescreen maker. He had to repeat himself a few times, but the young girl eventually obeyed, and held onto it tightly. Slowly, she wasing out of her initial shock and, although she was still afraid, she was no longer frozen. "Tell me when the smoke stopsing out," he instructed, and put his hand back into his bag. Some more rummaging, and he took out what looked like an injection. Wasting no time, he stabbed himself in the arm and squeezed the injection. This was a booster that would act like adrenaline, boosting his speed and giving him energy, and it simultaneously relieved the fatigue his muscles built up. With that done, he turned his attention to cycling and sped up even further. After a few minutes, the smokescreen maker stopped working, but Lex didn''t immediately use the second one. He only had two, and he had to use them effectively! The wolves had slowed down and the distance between them had increased. The pursuit continued like that for another twenty minutes before the wolves seemed to have recovered from the effects of the smokescreen and sped up their chase. He waited till they came closer and used the second smokescreen as well. This was nothing more than a dying tactic, as he would not be able to go far enough topletely escape them, no matter what he did. Besides, running away was never his n to begin with. The second smokescreen bought him some time, as the wolves seemed to be affected even worse the second time. They were also hesitant ining near him, and Lex was sure that if it weren''t for the orders of the leader of the pack, they would have stopped chasing after him. Speaking of the leader, it seemedpletely unaffected by the smoke, but did not venture away from the pack to hunt Lex alone. That was quite fortunate, as Lex would have to risk using his gun if therge wolf chased. The sun eventually set, and fortunately it set earlier than Lex had expected. He put on his night vision goggles and, to Tiffany''s dismay, veered off the road and directly into the forest. His cycle was already the best in the shop that he had gotten it from, but he doubted it wouldst long with such rough use. Cycling on no clear path, over tough tree roots and various jagged rocks, he expected at least the tyres would give out soon. He reached into his bag one more time and took out a shbang, pressed a red button and dropped it on the floor. It had a ten second dy, which should be enough to blind the wolves immediately behind him and give him some time. Not slowing down at all, he made his way through the increasingly dark forest. "Tiffany, listen to me," he said, once again reaching into his bag. "I''m going to hide you and attract the wolves. Wait till they''re out of sight and run away!" "What? No!" the young girl eximed in fear and shock. "There''s no choice. We can''t risk you getting caught. Listen to me, I''ll be fine. But you need to run! For the Lord Protector, you have to be safe!" Lex''s words seemed to resonate with the girl, but she had gonepletely pale and bit her in anxiousness and frustration. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she did her best to keep them from falling. Finally, Lex pulled his hand out of his bag with his special deodorant. He sprayed Tiffany from top to bottom, making sure to eliminate any and all smell on her. "Get ready," he said when he heard the shbang go off in the distance. He stopped for only a moment, grabbed the girl with a single hand and lurched her high up onto a branch of a very tall tree. That should keep her out of sight, and with no smell, the wolves shouldn''t be able to track her. But still, despite that, he didn''t want to risk going too far. He cycled just a little further and waited till the wolves were in sight. He needed to ensure that they kept pursuing him. He only needed to wait a few more seconds till they came into view. "Hey you filthy mutts!" he roared as he started cycling away again. "Do you think I''m easy prey? Keep chasing after me if you have the guts! We''ll see who hunts who!" Lex kept yelling as he cycled away. Coming closer to the inevitable confrontation, Lex was filled with nervousness, but also excitement. Lex the zombie yer was about to try his hand on ying some wolves! ***** Tiffany was hugging the trunk of the tree, having covered her body in some leaves she had broken off the branches. In the dark it was already hard to see, but there was no harm in trying to camouge herself some more. When the first wolf crossed from near the tree, she almost let out a startled cry, but she was able to control herself. After that the wolves kept passing her by, and as she saw their vast numbers, fear gripped her. She knew Lex said that he would be fine, but she was not an idiot. She did not believe he could survive all these wolves attacking him. She closed her eyes and tried to distract her thoughts. For the Lord Protector, she had to survive! She couldn''t let Lex''s sacrifice be in vain. After a few minutes, peace returned to the surrounding forest. No more wolves had run past her tree for a while now, and she could no longer even hear Lex yelling and taunting. As much as she wanted to stay in the tree and continue hiding, she knew she had to move. She stopped hugging the tree and dropped all the leaves attached to her body, ready to climb down, but when she turned, her body froze. Right in front of her, a giant sparrow sat in the tree, staring directly at her. Tiffany gulped as she tried to stop her body from trembling. Chapter 60 Wanna-be-tarzan As Lex made his way through the forest, he could feel the condition of his cycle deteriorating. The tyres¡¯ frame was losing shape and was bing bumpy. After a few more minutes he eventually gave up on the cycle and started running. Now he was really in the thick of things. He was not afraid of fighting a few wolves, but there really were too many after him for him to make a stand. He had to fight them off while he kept running. He held his short sword in his right hand and the Heavy Harley in his left hand. When he was cycling on the road he had managed to pull quite a distance, but in the forest and on foot it wouldn¡¯t be long now till they caught up to him. His aim wasn¡¯t that good yet, not to mention with his left hand, but since he would be fighting in close range he would manage. As Lex jumped over a fallen tree he entered a clearing. Just as he was nning how to engage he felt goosebumps on his back and leaped to his side without any dy. A wolf had pounced on him, but barely missed him. He aimed the Harley at the wolf and without hesitation shot at its body. The wolf was hit, but was only wounded. Lex got up, ready to stab the downed wolf but three more wolves jumped at him from the trees. He dodged to the side but swung his short sword at the nearest wolf while shooting at the one immediately behind it. The sword shed at the wolf¡¯s face but because he had swung without any form or force it only cut the wolf and didn¡¯t kill it, while his shot missed entirely but at least deterred the chasing wolf. The wolves stopped attacking, and started arranging themselves in a formation to surround him but Lex had no intention of waiting. Lex lunged towards the wolf he had shot earlier and stabbed his short sword towards its face. The wolf tried to dodge but its injury prevented it from moving quickly and Lex¡¯s sword found its way into its neck. The first wolf copsed but before he could do anything else the other three wolves attacked from behind. Lex, who had spent some time preparing for fights using some of the most knowledge rich video games ever, knew exactly what to do ¨C The Dark Souls Roll! Coming out of the roll Lex quickly took aim behind him and shot a few rounds at the wolves before they could reach him. He was embarrassed to discover that even at such a close range he missed some of his shots ¨C the recoil was nothing to scoff at. Fortunately he hit enough shots, and he wounded the wolves enough that he was easily able to stab them to death.. The small engagement left Lex out of breath, but in actuality it had not even been an entire minute long. ¡°You should have given up on the quest,¡± said Mary who had appeared in the air in front of him. She wore a worried look as she looked deep into the forest. ¡°There¡¯s no way you can handle so many wolves.¡± ¡°As long as I keep moving and pick them off a few at a time, I¡¯ll be fine.¡± Lex didn¡¯t wait for the rest of the wolves, he turned and started running deeper into the forest. Truth be told, logically it seemed impossible for Lex to survive this but he had a gut feeling that he could. It was as if his instincts were driving his actions, leading him onto the path that would help him survive. ¡°Mary, if I make any mistakes then let me know. The gun has 93 bullets left, when they run out remind me to refill the magazine. I have a few spirit tokens in my bag. If you see any wolves sneaking up from behind when I¡¯m in a fight, warn me.¡± ¡°You should also keep an eye out for other Beasts,¡± Mary warned, sitting on his head as he ran. ¡°Such amotion is bound to attract attention.¡± Lex took her advice in his stride as he ran. His biggest concern was the darkness. He could only see because of his night vision sses but he had confirmed using the fancy monocle that the wolves could see just fine, or at least better than he naturally could in the dark. He could not afford to damage his sses. He heard the sounds of his pursuers and he nced back to see two more wolves closing in on him. He turned towards the wolves and put his back against a tree so nothing would sneak up on him from behind. He aimed the Heavy Harley, making sure his stance was correct, before shooting at the nearest wolf. He didn¡¯t know if he was lucky or his aim was good when he actually took his time, but he shot the wolf in the head, instantly killing it. Aware that he didn¡¯t have the time to aim properly again, heunched himself towards the second wolf and stabbed at it, making sure to not get hit in return. He managed to stab it above its right leg, crippling its movement. ¡®I do more damage with stabs than shes,¡¯ he had a passing thought. But he had no time to waste on contemtion. With the wolf injured and unable to give chase, Lex left, not bothering to finish the kill. Every second was important to him right now, he had to make the correct decision at every turn. He had to stay ahead of the pack. The young man ran aimlessly through the woods,pletely lost, but behind him he left a trail of dead or wounded wolves. With each encounter he became more familiar with how the wolves attacked, with each encounter he learned the limits of his ability, with each encounter he became more deadly. Given his untrained and amatear state, were anyone to see him they would be taken aback by the fact that he had yet to be hit even a single time by the wolves so far! His aim with the gun improved, and after a while he began adjusting for the recoil instinctively. Eventually he reached the point where he became better with the gun in his left hand than he was in the right. Like on Vegus Minima, his actions became seamless and his body knew exactly how to move. At a certain point he ran into wolves, but this time they wereing at him from the front as well as from behind him. They must have surrounded him, but he waspletely unaware. Without a moment¡¯s hesitation, as if that had been his n all along, he holstered his weapons and climbed up a tree with the speed and efficiency of a monkey. But that was not an escape, the wolves would find a way to reach him, so he leaped from the branch of one tree to the next. But how could running in a forest be so easy? He leaped onto thetest tree branch, ready to keep moving, but instead of the firm bark of a tree his foot handed on something squishy, causing him to lose his footing and fall out of the tree. Panicking a little, he raced to get up, the wolves were right behind him, but his thoughts were interrupted by a loud and angry screech! He looked up to see a barrel of angry monkeys, jumping up and down ready to attack. Before aplete idea could even form in his mind, Lex was racing away from the tree and towards the wolves. He shot the Harley a few times at the wolves, injuring them and causing them to stumble, before he ran right through the small pack. From the howling and screeching behind him Lex was sure the two groups of animals had started fighting. He smirked, and looked back once to ensure that they were indeed fighting and not chasing him together, before continuing his escape. It was at this moment, when a small amount of pride and confidence were beginning to fill Lex¡¯s heart, when he saw thergest wolf ¨C the Alpha ¨C standing right in his path with a dozen or so wolves behind it. ¡°Bloody hell!¡± he eximed as he started shooting the Harley as quickly as he could manage! This chapter is a preview, if you want to see a faster and more up-to-date chapter, please visit . for more content. Chapter 61 Cant catch a break The first shot hit the Alpha directly in the face, but the Alpha did not even flinch. The shot barely broke its skin, and after a couple of drops of blood the woundpletely healed. Lex felt like cursing, but instead focused his fire on the other wolves behind the Alpha while retreating. He had retreated only a few steps when he felt his body tense, his instincts screaming at him to dodge! Lex did not hesitate in throwing himself to the side, but he was still too slow. He felt something hit him on the chest,unching him off to the side. The air left his body and he puked all over the ground as soon as hended. He did not let that stop him, however, as he reached into his bag and pulled out hisst shbang. He pressed the button on it and started running ¨C or stumbling ¨C away from the wolves. The ten second dy seemed like infinity, and he kept shooting towards the wolves to try and keep them at a distance. When there were only a couple seconds left he threw the shbang towards the Alpha and bolted away. He heard a bang behind him, followed by the howling of wounded wolves. ¡®Bloody hell!¡¯ he eximed internally as he ran. He had no idea what had hit him, and he just realized that he had lost his grip on his short sword when he was hit. Fortunately the gun was still in his hand, but there was no way he could go back for the sword. Hopefully he bought himself a few- Lex felt his body tense and immediately rolled to the side, just in time to see arge object fly by where he was just running. He looked back and saw the Alpha standing in the distance,unching some kind of air st from its mouth towards him. Lex rolled again to dodge, and immediately aimed the Heavy Harley towards the Alpha. He tried to shoot it in the mouth, but he was too disoriented to aim properly and missed all his shots!. ¡®Bloody hell give me a break!¡¯ he screamed internally and he threw himself behind a tree to break line of sight with the Alpha, and kept running. ¡°You have 20 bullets remaining. You should also drink a Bom Dew in case you have internal injuries,¡± said Mary, but stayed out of his sight to avoid distracting him. Immediately Lex bought a Bom Dew mentally and drank it, ignoring the familiar taste. He was in trouble, reloading his magazine took a couple of minutes. He needed to get somewhere he could hide for a few minutes. But how could the wolves give him any time? The few wolves left that had been apanying the Alpha ran in front of him, cutting off his escape path as the growling Alpha slowly made its way towards him. Lex backed up against a tree once again, to keep the wolves from attacking him from his back, and focused on the Alpha. ¡®Never gonna wish for some more excitement ever again,¡¯ he said to himself internally. His initial excitement forbat had worn off, but it wasn¡¯t fear that reced it. He was filled with immense focus and determination. It would be a lie to say that he wasn¡¯t still nervous, but he had his nerves firmly in control. Right now he was in a tough situation, but not an impossible one. He already felt his body recovering, not to mention he was sure that his body armor had reduced the damage he had taken from the Alphas projectile attack. When it was about fifteen feet away the Alpha lurched at him, ready to bite his throat off, but Lex was also ready. In one fluid motion Lex raised the Heavy Harley and shot one single bullet straight into its open maw. Before the shot even connected he¡¯d already aimed the gun away, shooting continuously at the other wolves around him. The Alpha was injured and it fell on the ground, but it was far from weak enough for Lex to take advantage. Lex bolted into the forest once again, his gun finally out of bullets. He removed the magazine and threw the empty one into his backpack, hoping the close proximity to the spirit tokens would work in refilling it while he took out the magazine with the iron ranked low caliber rounds. He really hoped he could find some time to rest, the recoil from these bullets was still too strong for him. ¡°I think I hear the sound of running water!¡± Mary eximed. ¡°It could be a river, you coils use it to hide. That way,¡± she said, pointing Lex in the right direction. Panting heavily now, Lex forced himself to run where Mary pointed and hoped the wolves would give him some time. But the very next second an angry but somehow gargled howl from behind him let him know that the Alpha had started the chase again. Lex grit his teeth and forced himself to run faster. Fortunately the river was closeby, and Lex reached it quickly. Unfortunately, so was the chasing Alpha and its speed had picked up beyond anything it had shown before. Its speed really was too fast, and before Lex could aim his gun it was almost on top of him. Lex¡¯s body tensed again, and for the first time Lex felt like he was staring death right in the mouth. To be more specific, the open mouth of the wolf that was lunging towards his throat once again. For an instant time seemed to freeze and Lex¡¯s thoughts forze as well. He could only see the sharp and bloody teeth of the wolf, each one as big as one of Lex¡¯s fingers. He absolutely could not get bitten! Without nning or realizing, Lex raised his right arm defensively ¨C blocking the wolf from reaching his throat. The angry Alpha chomped down on his arm and Lex felt insane, unbelievable pain as he felt his muscles rip and his bones shatter. The boy and the wolf fell into the raging river, but even as their bodies were carried by the cold, rushing water they did not separate. Angry, incoherent and exhausted, Lex did the only thing he could think of. He fought against the force of the water to bring the gun upto where he assumed the wolf¡¯s eyes were and shot! The recoil hit him like a hammer, and threatened to tear the gun out of his arm but he held on. The pain of his wound, the vertigo of being flung around like a rag doll by the water, the exhaustion of running and fighting all day threatened to knock him unconscious, but he fought to keep himself awake. The wolf, still biting into his arm, iled its paws around in an attempt to find something to grab onto, to pull itself out of the water but to no avail. Lex brought the gun to the wolf¡¯s skull and shot one more time, finally prying its jaw loose and separating the two. But Lex did not have any time to celebrate, the force of the river was beyond what he had anticipated and he had absolutely no control over his body as it was rushed down river. He moved his one good arm around to try and maneuver himself but there was no luck. Just as he was beginning to lose hope ¨C what little hope he had left ¨C he felt something grab his leg and pull him aside. He felt a tinge of panic, and readied himself to shoot, but then he realized that he was being pulled out of the river! Hallelujah! It only took a few moments, but felt as if an eternity had passed by the time he was pulled out. He raised his head to see a giant turtle with a horn on its head staring fondly at him. ¡°Silly humans, why are you always so helpless,¡± Lex heard a soft voice in his head, and almost chuckled despite his condition. ¡°Stop chuckling and bandage your hand. You¡¯re losing a lot of blood, you¡¯ll bleed to death!¡± told Mary, appearing above him. ¡®Can¡¯t catch a break,¡¯ he murmured to himself. This chapter is a preview, if you want to see a faster and more up-to-date chapter, please visit . for more content. Chapter 62 Oh dear Taking a deep breath, Lex forced himself to sit up ¨C a task that was monumental given how exhausted he was. Nheless, he pushed himself upright and holstered his gun before taking off his backpack to search for his mini-medkit. The giant turtle watched him with great interest, as if he were watching a pet perform a trick. Lex withdrew the medkit and took out the gauze to wrap his hand with, but when he took a look at his right arm he was extremely rmed! There weren¡¯t just a few bite holes like he was expecting, his entire right arm was disfigured and ripped in various ces. In normal cases a wound like this would require major reconstruction surgery or even amputation. The Recovery Pod should be able to handle it when he gets back to the Inn, but he had to make sure he didn¡¯t bleed to death before that. ¡°That doesn¡¯t look like a wound from the river,¡± the giant turtle spoke in Lex¡¯s head again, bringing its head closer to his arm for a look. ¡°Oh dear, that does look really bad. Let me help you a bit.¡± The grass from the ground started growing rapidly and started gently wrapping itself around his arm. Lex winced, a sharp pain shot through his entire body, but suddenly he felt a cooling sensation run through his right arm, which was followed by his entire arm going numb. ¡°Oh dear oh dear, this is very bad. This is very very bad. Let me see what I have.¡± The giant turtle withdrew its head into its shell and made a few mumbling noises, as if talking to itself. Then, unexpectedly, from its shell Lex started hearing the sound of various things being moved around ¨C as if someone were rearranging stuff in a storeroom. Finally it brought its head out again with arge fruit hanging in its mouth. It brought the fruit over Lex¡¯s arm and crushed it, letting the juices fall on the cast made of leaves. The leaves greedily sucked all the juices without letting a single drop fall, but Lex felt no difference. His entire right arm was numb, but as long as the bleeding had stopped he was content. He¡¯d led the Recovery Pod handle whatever the injury was. ¡°How did you ever get yourself into so much trouble,¡± the turtle gently asked, sitting down in front of Lex. ¡°I was being chased by a pack of wolves. They chased me from the road into the forest. I thought the roads were supposed to be safe.¡± ¡°Wolves? Oh dear, why would wolves be chasing you? No offense, but you don¡¯t look like you could feed even a couple of them.¡± Lex looked at the harmless looking giant turtle in front of him, and suddenly became slightly wary. It had saved him, and even helped him, but did it truly have no ulterior motives? Whether it did or did not, Lex was in a bad condition right now. He was in no shape to protect himself. He reached his left hand into his backpack and bought a Golden key from the Inn, pulling it out for the turtle to see.. ¡°They were chasing me because they wanted this piece of treasure I found.¡± He held it up so the turtle could take a good look at it. ¡°As thanks for saving me, I¡¯d like to give it to you.¡± The turtle looked strangely at the key, and for a moment seemed attracted to it, but as soon as the moment passed it returned to normal. ¡°Oh dear little human, I don¡¯t want your treasure. I was only asking why you got in trouble. You humans are so interesting. You¡¯re always running around doing different things. All I ever do is tend to the forest. Meeting you humans adds a little color to my life.¡± Lex was taken aback at the fact that the turtle resisted the temptation of the key, based on his understanding it should be very attractive to anyone who sees it. But still, since he had already bought the key there was no point in wasting it. ¡°No please, I insist. You should take it. If I keep it with me, the wolves wille back for me.¡± The turtle was silent for a while and stared at him. ¡°I know you are just saying that so I ept the gift. Oh dear oh dear. You are such a kind human. I suppose I can ept your treasure. But I have no use for treasures anyway. I only like to stay in the forest and take care of my nts.¡± The turtle reached forward and picked the key up with its mouth before retracting its head back into its shell, cing the key somewhere in there. When its head came back out the turtle was smiling. ¡°Why don¡¯t youe with me, I will take you somewhere safe. The wolves won¡¯t find you there and you can eat some food. When you¡¯re feeling better you can leave, I know you humans don¡¯t like staying too long in the forest.¡± Without waiting for Lex to reply the turtle lifted Lex off the ground with its mouth and ced him gently on its shell. The turtle then lifted itself off the ground and slowly started making its way into the forest. It was still dark and Lex had lost his night vision sses somewhere in the river, but his eyesight had limatized enough for him to be able to vaguely see around himself. ¡°This is free territory, no one can im thend right next to the river. But right after this is my garden. I let the rabbits and owls live in my garden, and they take care of my things for me. It¡¯s a little trouble keeping the rabbits safe though, they¡¯re so mischievous¡­¡± The turtle began telling Lex about the forest and the creatures that lived in it. The turtle seemed to have a good rtionship with all of them, and treated all of them as children. Lex tried to keep listening, but found the turtle¡¯s voice carried a certain charm that was making him drowsy. Eventually he could not help himself and dozed off. The turtle, as if unaware, kept talking as it slowly made its way deeper into the forest. Eventually it reached a treehouse built on arge Oak tree and lifted Lex up, cing him inside one of the rooms through a window. Then the turtle continued its stroll through the woods, still softly talking even with no one around. Lex slept soundly through the night and woke up the following noon to the sound of a notification from the Inn. Quest update: Quest Complete! The host has helped the carrier of the will of Nibiruplete her task. The Host¡¯s reward is being calcted: Questpleted in 26 hours Host influenced the carrier¡¯s personality Host has influenced certain events, affecting the trajectory of Nibiru¡¯s development Reward Rank: B+ Reward: Mystery trials! 10,000 MP! Lex was pleasantly surprised, the quest was alreadypleted! To be honest he never doubted that Tiffany would be safe. She carried the will of the entire ¨C although Lex did not know what that exactly meant, he could at least guess that she was extremely lucky. The way she had escaped her pursuers when she was alone was already very telling, not to mention the fact that Lex teleported directly in her path when he reached the. He was sure that this was by no means a coincidence. Still, he wondered how she was able toplete the quest so quickly. ¡°Hey Mary, what are these Mystery trails?¡± he asked, in a good mood. His right arm was still numb, and he was grateful for it as he assumed otherwise he would be in excruciating pain. The tiny floating assistant appeared before him, but she didn¡¯t immediately answer. She stared at the young man with a very serious look, as if contemting something. ¡°Lex, let me ask you a question. Why did you fight the wolves?¡± ¡°Huh? Because I was confident in myself, not to mention all the preparations I made beforehand. Didn¡¯t everything turn out fine?¡± ¡°No, based on your personality you would never take such a huge risk like that. Since you¡¯ve gotten the Inn, your first priority has always been protecting yourself. Your cultivation is based on defense and you¡¯ve even registered for self defense lessons instead of directbat training. Taking such a huge risk doesn¡¯t match your habits.¡± Lex was stunned. What she said did make sense, but he was free to decide to do things differently whenever he wanted. Just because he did things a certain way previously didn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯t do them differently in the future. ¡°I have a feeling¡­but it¡¯s best to be sure. Why don¡¯t you check your status first, just to be sure.¡± Lex shrugged and pulled up his status. Name: Lex Williams Age: 23 Sex: Male Cultivation Level: Regal Embrace Body Tempering Stage 1 Health: Suboptimal (erged brain tumor), crippled right hand, bruised torso, bruised legs Midnight Points: 17,961 Midnight Inn Level: 3 Inventory: Bathroom Slippers, Self Defense Butter Knife, Host Attire When Lex saw the tab about his health he froze. He was not concerned about the hand or his body, the Recovery Pod could take care of that. He was focused on the part that said erged brain tumor. It had grown! Chapter 63 Mystery Trials Name: Lex Williams Age: 23 Sex: Male Cultivation Level: Regal Embrace Body Tempering Stage 1 Health: Suboptimal (erged brain tumor), crippled right hand, bruised torso, bruised legs. Midnight Points: 17,961 Midnight Inn Level: 3 Inventory: Bathroom Slippers, Self Defense Butter Knife, Host Attire After recovering from his shock, Lex focused on his health tab for more details. Health: Erged Brain Tumor: After growing a certain amount, it has started affecting the hosts¡¯ decision making capabilities. It may result in headaches, ckouts, moon swings, impaired decision making, memory loss and more. ¡°It says my brain tumor has grown and will affect my decision making process,¡± Lex told Mary seriously. ¡°Is this what you thought when you told me to check my status?¡± ¡°It¡¯s what I was afraid of. This might be an inadvertent effect of the first procedure whilst cultivating Regal Embrace, which causes all your bodily functions to be more optimized. It even optimized the growth of your tumor. The problem should still be solved once youplete all four procedures, but just to be on the safe side you should do your best to make sure you cultivate as quickly as possible.¡± Lex tensed up in frustration, but after a few moments let out a sigh and rxed. There was no point dwelling on things he could not affect. He would focus on other things. ¡°So what¡¯s this Mystery trial?¡± he asked again. ¡°It¡¯s an upgrade for the Inn. Guests can enter and undergo a trial based on their cultivation as well as their personalities. The ¡®mystery¡¯ in its namees from the fact that no one can know what kind of trial they will encounter. So a soldier or someone who enjoys fighting will have abat trial, but someone who likes carpentry will have a trial based on building or fixing something. The trial allows you to discover your ws and grow your skills, and if you seed then there are even small prizes. The prizes however are only a minor focus, and the growth of your skills and abilities is the real focus of the Mystery Trials.¡± Lex and Mary kept talking, as Lex was in no mood to explore the further and was simply waiting till he could return to the Inn. Hopefully it won¡¯t be much longer. ***** Hugo Laurant left his room, and for the first time in many years felt a sense of contentment. He had reached the Peak Foundation realm and even stabilized his cultivation in only a few days. For the first time in years he saw hope in his future. Although far off, his cultivation was going smoothly enough now that he imagined that he would be able to enter Golden Core sometime in the future. Once that happened, even if the Bentham family could not help him find his enemies, he would have enough influence to find out on his own. A part of him wanted to continue cultivating in this ce, but his soul contract mildly influenced him to let him know that he should either continue investigating or return to old man Will with his information as quickly as possible. Still he was content with his gains. He was nning on visiting the Gift Shop once and then returning to Earth, but as soon as he ventured outside he noticed that the area surrounding the Inn seemed to have changed. Not only did it seem bigger and fuller, but a few hills appeared in the distance. He went to Gerard to ask about it, and was pleasantly surprised to discover that a Meditation room had been built on the hills in the distance, which aided one in cultivation! Still, as much as he wanted to go test out the new addition, his soul contract kept reminding him to focus on what was important. He went directly to the Gift Shop and carefully went through all the items, memorizing their effects. He only bought a bottle of Bom¡¯s Dew however, as he assumed that it could be useful to the old man. When he received it in card form he was extremely shocked and impressed. If he could learn how to store items in cards it would be immensely useful to him. With that done, Hugo left the building to explore the rest of the Inn. He saw a new guest sitting in the garden, a young girl. At first Hugo was tempted to go talk to her, but then remembering that he was armed to the teeth he thought it might not be such a good idea. He explored the grounds and then ventured towards the hills. When he finally reached the Meditation room he took his time to admire it, but ultimately resisted his urge to venture in. Making sure he had seen everything at least once and remembered all the details, he summoned Gerard and asked him if the Innkeeper was avable. He wanted to say his farewell before leaving, but unfortunately was told that the Innkeeper was away on some business. With nothing left to do, he thought about returning ¨C the way Gerard told him he could leave ¨C and felt himself being transported away. Slowly his surroundings faded away and he found himself back in the hall in Will¡¯s house. He found a couple people waiting for him in the room, and as soon as he appeared they rushed to him to ensure that he was alright. After making sure that he was hurt anywhere, one of the staff members ran off to report to Will while the other led Hugo to a clinic. Even though he said he was unhurt, tests needed to be conducted to be sure. A team of doctors was ready waiting for him when he arrived. They took blood samples, conducted X-rays, MRI¡¯s, eyesight tests, psychological tests to determine his mental state and many more. Hugo went along with all these as he had already been through them once before he ventured to the Inn, so that the doctors would have his baseline. Eventually, while he was still being tested, Will was brought into the room on a wheelchair. His skin had paled even beyond what it was before, and he looked incredibly weak. He was wearing an oxygen mask and it was clear that his situation had deteriorated drastically while Hugo was gone. This could also exin why his soul contract had been prompting him to hurry so muchtely. The old man didn¡¯t speak, but he looked at the mercenary with hopeful eyes. ¡°I believe you¡¯ll be very happy to hear what I have to report,¡± Hugo told the old man as he kneeled before him. He handed the old man the Golden Key he had received when he returned from the Inn, and began his tale. Chapter 64 Spirit Energy poisoning It only took a few more hours, but the connection to Nibiru wasplete. Lex did not wait any longer and immediately chose to return to the Inn. He had a few things he wanted to do, but the first and foremost was recovering. When went to the Recovery room he found that Marlo was still in his chamber, eating up his MP, not any better than before. Well technically his vitality and spirit had recovered a lot, but was not fully healed. It seemed like it would take much longer than Lex guessed to heal the man. It could be because of the Recovery rooms¡¯ low level and Marlo¡¯s high cultivation, but Lex paid no mind to that for now. Without hesitation hey himself down in a Recovery Pod and allowed the healing process for his arm to begin. ¡°Hey Mary, howe the Recovery room or Recovery Pod can¡¯t fix my tumor?¡± he asked mentally. ¡°While they both have strong healing capabilities, they only provide basic healing. There are many kinds of wounds that they cannot heal. Your tumor, for example, is something that needs to be removed from your body, so it does note under the purview of this kind of healing. Simr to how they could not directly remove the poison from Helen¡¯s body, or the zombie mutagen from Marlo. Once you start dealing with higher leveled cultivators, their injuries will carry a hostile spirit energy which is again not something these rooms can heal. For something like that you would have to look out for talented doctors or healers across the universe and hire them. In that case, the benefits the Inn provides will improve their inherent capabilities, but can never rece them. Hiring such people will elevate the services you can provide and increase the prestige of the Inn as well.¡± Lex nodded, understanding that hiring a worthy staff was an important part of running the Inn. Lex closed his eyes and allowed himself to fall asleep while his hand was being fixed. At some point the numb feeling had faded, but instead of pain Lex felt hollow and drained. He was too afraid to remove his grass bandages to actually look at the condition of his hand, but fortunately it would not be a concern much longer.. A few hourster he was woken up to the notification that his hand had been fixed. He jumped out of the Pod and squeezed the fingers on his right hand, feeling his strength. It still felt a little tired, but at least he was better now. Then another problem urred to him. The Recovery Pods were right in the recovery room, and anyone could see who was being healed. If a customer ever saw him recovering it would mar his image. He needed to make a few changes, to keep the privacy of his customers as well. For example, Alexander had seen Marlo and recognized him. That was all well, but what if the next person to recognize him was not on friendly terms. He went into the Design Interface and began making changes. Each Pod was put in an individual room, the small change costing him 200 MP. While he was making changes, he might as well add the Mystery Trail as well. While all the additions he¡¯d made to the Inn so far were far away from the main building, he decided to add the Mystery Trial close to it. He flew to the back of the Inn¡¯s building and chose a suitable ce five hundred meters away. When he selected the spot for the Mystery Trial, a mound of earth rose up from the ground fifteen meters high and ten meters in diameter. Arge, metallic double faced door was fixed on the side of the mound facing the Inn. The door gave off an ancient feeling, as if it had withstood the flow of time for eons, undisturbed and unaffected. Lex frowned a little, and used the interface to make the mound of earth a little neater, and then chose to grow some grass over it. He didn¡¯t understand why the door had to be connected to the mound, but he could not remove it. ¡°How much does the mystery trial cost?¡± he asked. He had to decide how much to charge his guests. ¡°For any guest who has used any of the Inn¡¯s services, the first entry is free and costs you nothing either. Each consecutive use will cost you 500MP. The Mystery Trial is unique, and you will not be able to buy more of those from the Inn in the future. Its level is also linked to the level of the Inn, so as the level of the Inn increases the trial will give better feedback to its users as well as better rewards. For those whose trials includebat, if they die in the trial they won¡¯t actually die in real life so that is an added benefit for those who want to train inbat.¡± ¡°I understand,¡± he said, turning his attention to the next matter. From Nibiru he had brought back a bunch of seeds. Although he was sure many or all of them may have died tussling about in his backpack while he fought, this might be a good time to set up the greenhouse. There was one catch however. While he was not nting anything too precious right now, he wanted to keep the greenhouse somewhere secure so that guests would not barge in. What if they stole or damaged his goods? He was nning on using or selling whatever he grew, he could not afford to leave them out in the open. Before he could make any decisions however, he felt someone using a Golden key to enter the Inn. Lex smiled, made sure he looked presentable, and appeared at the entrance of the Inn awaiting his new guest. From a sh of light two guests appeared, and Lex was surprised to see a familiar face. But before Lex could greet the guest he came to a horrible, awkward realization! He was standing at the entrance of the Inn, right at the end of the stairs that led up to the Inn. His familiar guest, Hugo Laurent, was standing at the foot of the staircase. The problem was, in front of Hugo the second guest was sitting in a wheelchair WITH NO WAY UP THE STAIRS! This was also when Lex realized that most of his guest rooms were above the ground floor AND A PERSON IN A WHEELCHAIR WOULD HAVE NO WAY OF GETTING TO THEM! It was a good thing that the Host Attire kept his image calm and presentable, otherwise his guests would be exposed to the visage of him blushing in embarrassment. Still, Lex recovered quickly. Before Hugo had a chance to say anything, Lex quickly essed the Design Interface and waved his right hand as he willed a ramp to appear beside the stairs, giving the image that he had made the change himself. Hugo froze, shocked by the sudden change, which gave Lex the chance to quickly mentally add an elevator inside the Inn right beside the stairs for guests to use. From the outside no one was able to tell anything had changed at all, and no one was able to see the image of a tiny, floating Mary giggling at Lex¡¯s embarrassment. Or at least, the guests weren¡¯t able to. ¡°Wee back Hugo. I see you¡¯ve brought someone with you this time, I¡¯m d the Midnight Inn is able to get your rmendation.¡± Hugo, who snapped out of his surprise, smiled at the mysterious Innkeeper. ¡°Of course! Your Inn is impressive beyond all of my expectations, even beyond all of my wildest dreams. Who wouldn¡¯t want to go on vacation, heal from their old wounds and even elevate their cultivation level while they were at it? There¡¯s nothing that canpare. ¡°In fact, that¡¯s why I¡¯ve brought my boss this time as well. He¡¯s been suffering from a disease for a long time, I was hoping that he would be able to be healed as well.¡± Lex turned his attention to the man in the wheelchair and indeed his condition didn¡¯t look good at all. In fact, it could be said that he was almost at death¡¯s door. He checked the man¡¯s status. Name: William Bentham Age: 59 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: Initial Foundation realm Species: Human Midnight Inn Prestige Level: Not yet avable Conditions: Fatal Spirit Energy poisoning Report: The patient is cultivating spirit energy with an affinity that directly shes with his body¡¯s affinity. The more spirit energy he absorbs, the faster the rate of poisoning! The only way to treat the patient is topletely dissolve his Foundation realm and then use the Recovery Pod to slowly heal him. It is rmended that the patient also drinks Bom¡¯s Dew immediately following the dissolution of his Foundation to prevent dying before recovery can begin! Patient is on the verge of death, immediate treatment is rmended! Chapter 65 Old man Will Lex frowned as he read the report on Will. Spiritual affinity was something he¡¯d never heard of before, he wasn¡¯t exactly sure what that meant. He was also confused by what the system meant by saying ¡®dissolve the Foundation¡¯. Was a person¡¯s cultivation realm something they could just give up? He asked Mary about the details. ¡°Originally this is something I did not know, but as you¡¯ve elevated your authority by a few levels I have received the answer from the system. Spiritual energy originally is neutral, but it can gain affinities. For example, if a person is using a cultivation technique that is based on fire, or relies on heated environments or natural treasures that have the fire element, then when that person absorbs spiritual energy, his cultivation technique will give it a fire affinity. That means the spiritual energy that person has stored in his body will have the characteristics of fire, and he can use spiritual attacks based on fire. ¡°The case with Will is simr. The cultivation technique he is using is based on fire, but his body inherently has an affinity for water. Not everyone has natural affinities, and people who have them can be considered to have special constitutions. As a result of Will¡¯s natural affinity shing with the affinity of the spirit energy he is absorbing, instead of bing stronger he is being poisoned. ¡°As for dissolving his Foundation, that is an easy way of describing it. To understand, let me exin to you how the different levels of cultivation work. Body Tempering strengthens the body to absorb spiritual energy within it without being hurt by it.. ¡°Qi training, which also has nine realms, involves absorbing spiritual energy in the body, and then pushing the limits of how much energy the body can store. Each time a cultivator breaks through a subrealm in Qi training their capacity for spiritual energy is increased. But where in the body is this energy being stored? Later, in the Golden Core realm, the energy is stored in the core, however before that the energy is stored in the muscles, tissues and organs of the body. ¡°In simple words, Qi training only focuses on the quantity of spirit energy that the body can hold. It forces the body to absorb as much energy as possible. Suffice to say, the better the cultivation technique or the talent of the cultivator, the more energy they can absorb. However, this changes in the Foundation realm. The spirit energy that has so far been absorbed by the body is neutral, and of very low quality. In fact, if spiritual energy that is purer or higher in concentration can actually harm the cultivator. The Foundation realm starts building a foundation in the body to sustain higher concentrations as well as quality of spiritual energy. One of the steps involved in this naturally changes the neutral spiritual energy in the body to that of one with an affinity. ¡°How that works is irrelevant to you right now, what you need to know right now is what ¡®dissolving the foundation¡¯ means. It¡¯s a nice way of putting it, but basically if all the muscles and tissue in the body simultaneously sustain enough damage ¨C without directly killing the cultivator ¨C then the spiritual energy in the body will be released and the cultivation realm of the person will drop. Usually, if a person survives such an ordeal, their body is so damaged that they can never cultivate again. ¡°You should be able to avoid that happening by immediately putting him in the Recovery Pod so that his body heals correctly. However the old man is weak, I don¡¯t know if he can survive such a shock. Also, even weak, he¡¯s in the Foundation realm and you¡¯re in the body tempering. There¡¯s no way you can help him ¡®dissolve his Foundation¡¯. You¡¯ll have to get Hugo to do it.¡± That was a lot of information to absorb, and he had silently been staring at the old man for a bit now. Hugo was starting to get worried, but just as he was about to ask a question the Innkeeper spoke up. ¡°His condition isplicated. Whether he can be healed or not depends on whether or not you trust me, and are willing to take a risk.¡± Hugo looked down at the old man with a questioning gaze. Even though he himself had a higher cultivation than Will, the old man¡¯s family had been in the cultivation world for centuries and had a lot of influence. Hugo needed his help to find his families murderers, so he really hoped that Will could be healed. Will, who had been silent so far, removed the oxygen mask from his face and gave the mysterious Innkeeper a weak smile. For some reason, Will felt like he could trust the old man unconditionally. If he wasn¡¯t in unbearable pain, he would have liked to have a chat with him. For now though, he would trust his gut and put his life in the mysterious man¡¯s hands. ¡°I have nothing left to lose. We¡¯ll do whatever you say.¡± Lex nodded at the old man¡¯s determination. Then he exined Will¡¯s problem, exactly as he read about it in the report. He did not know if affinities weremon knowledge, and would only exin if asked. When the old man heard what the issue was, he suddenly came to a realization. It¡¯s as if the pains of his entire life suddenly made sense to him, as well as why his condition had suddenly deteriorated. Originally he was going to wait for Hugo to return and see if there was a way for him to heal, but after feeling spirit energy from the key he thought maybe he was getting better and tried to absorb energy from a medium spirit stone. His condition had drastically gotten worse since. He chuckled to himself. He did know about affinities, as well as special constitutions. Who could have guessed that he was someone countless people considered a genius, but he made a mistake right at the first step and chose the wrong cultivation technique. Lex exined the procedure that Will needed to undergo, and while Hugo was startled Will did not have much of a reaction. He was too exhausted, mentally and physically, at this point. Since Hugo had already bought a bottle of Bom¡¯s Dew, they went directly to the room with a Recovery Pod (RP). ¡°Eh, are you sure you want me to dissolve his cultivation? Wouldn¡¯t it be better if you did it?¡± asked Hugo, reluctant to hurt Will. He didn¡¯t want to use too much strength and identally kill him. Lex shook his head and answered, ¡°I apologize, but I cannot harm a guest ¨C even to help them ¨C unless they break a rule of the Midnight Inn. It will have to be you.¡± That was the excuse Lex had thought up, and though it was flimsy it would have to do. Willy down in the Recovery Pod and Hugo put his hand over the old man¡¯s chest. Slowly and carefully he channeled his spirit energy all over the old man¡¯s body, till a thinyer of it covered him. Looking in the eyes of Will onest time Hugo gave him a nod, to let him know he was about to do it, and then let his spirit energy attack Will. In an instant the old man went from being pale and trembling to covered in blood andpletely still. Using his fastest speed Hugo chugged the bottle of Bom¡¯s Dew down his throat and closed the lid for the RP. The RP started working immediately, but the old many still and unresponsive. He looked like a corpse being poked and prodded, but Lex could use the system to monitor his status. The old man went to within an inch of his life. To be more exact, his heart stopped beating for a few moments and his brain activity started to decrease, but the Bom¡¯s Dew kept him frompletely dying for a few critical seconds. Just because he was in the Pod did not mean he could not die, as was the case with Marlo as well, but fortunately after a couple of minutes he went out being in a critical condition. At this point the spirit energy was leaking out of his body, his cultivation falling, and the RP was more focused on keeping him alive than healing him. The Botam¡¯s Dew, which normally took a long time to show its full effect, had already been used up in keeping him alive long enough for the RP to take over. If nothing unexpected happened, he would survive, though he most likely would have to start cultivating from Qi training again. ¡°It¡¯s okay. He¡¯s passed the critical stage. He should be fine.¡± Hugo let out a breath of relief. He thought he had killed the old man. Lex left the two alone, the healing process would take a long time and no doubt Hugo wanted to stay with Will a bit longer to ensure he was okay. But instead of returning to previous activity of improving the Inn and considering where to add the greenhouse, he walked in a particr direction. He remembered that he had another guest at his Inn, and he had previously sent her a Saturn Cake. Lex wanted to check up on her, and if the opportunity presented itself learn more about her famous friend ¨C Alexander. Chapter 66 Spendthrift ¡°Velma, has Helen¡¯s mood improved at all while I was gone?¡± Lex asked as he walked towards the hills that carried the meditation room. His Host Attire which was in sync with the Inn let him know where all his guests were at all times, so he had no problem locating her in therge area of the Inn. But while normally he teleported directly wherever he wanted, this time he chose to walk. Firstly it was because he was considering a good ce to ce his greenhouse, and secondly he wanted to understand how his guests felt walking around. ¡°Her mood did seem to improve when she had the cake, and instead of sulking in one ce she¡¯s been wandering around the grounds of the Inn. Still, she hasn¡¯t interacted with Gerard or I much, and hasn¡¯t eaten much food.¡± Lex nodded as he continued to stroll through the Inn. For now the grounds around the Inn weren¡¯t too big, just a few acres in fact, which meant you could see end to end easily. However, walking from one corner to another, such as the Recovery room to the Meditation room, still took a bit of time. It was fine for him, but he had to keep in mind that not all of his guests could traverse the area easily ¨C such as Will. He twitched his lips, but mentally bought a golf cart from the Midnight market that he parked beside the manor. He then instructed his A.I. to offer to drive his guests around whenever they saw them walking to a specific destination. Eventually, even with his slow pace, he reached the hills and found Helen sitting in the grass with a couple of rabbits ying around her. She also had one in herp that she was gently stroking, her gaze off into the distance. She was brought back from her thoughts by the sound of someone approaching, and looked to see the Innkeeper. She had seen him when she had just arrived at the Inn, but since then the mysterious man had disappeared. She had been too preupied with her thoughts and hadpletely forgotten about him.. ¡°Good afternoon,¡± the Innkeeper greeted her, his voice smooth as butter. ¡°I hope your stay here has been satisfactory.¡± ¡°Yes, it has been great. I wanted to thank you for the cake, it was delicious.¡± ¡°You¡¯re very wee, it is a delicacy from the Jotun System that is fairly popr. I n on opening up a patisserie for my guests in the future, but until then it should hold them over.¡± The Innkeeper spoke softly and calmly, with a warm and easy going presence. He sat down in the grass nearby, and a few rabbits hopped on over to him, as if attracted by his aura. He gently petted them, as if he were meeting an old friend after a long time. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind my mentioning,¡± he said, turning his gaze from the fluffy animal to her, ¡°my staff told me that you haven¡¯t eaten much. Although you have been healed from your poisoned state, it has extracted a lot of strength from your body. If you do not take care of yourself then you will fall ill.¡± Helen blushed, and for the first time in a long time she felt like an admonished child. She felt like she had been behaving like a spoiled little girl, throwing a tantrum at being treated unfairly. ¡°I will take better care of myself,¡± she said meekly. Helen was not a meek woman ¨C she was confident and strong, and while she gave respect to her superiors, it was not out of weakness but from her upbringing. As someone being raised for political marriage, she was not raised to be only a pretty face but a strong asset and ally for whoever she ended up with. She was extremely capable and was always treated as such. Even Alexander, who generally treated her very well, knew that she was more reliable than most and so treated her as someone strong and someone who did not need to be looked after. After all, treating someone strong with delicacy was not care but disrespectful. However, for some reason, she did not seem to mind it when this mysterious man was looking out for her like this. ¡°I¡¯m d to hear it,¡± the man said, a smile appearing on his handsome face. ¡°If you have any other troubles, feel free to talk to me about them. Maybe I won¡¯t be able to offer you any direct help, but as someone who has been to many worlds and seen many cultures across the universe my perspective is probably different from anyone you¡¯ve met.¡± Various thoughts ran across her mind as the Innkeeper made his offer. She was not having a small crisis but one that overturned her whole life. Even though she knew she was being raised for a purpose, she loved her family dearly. Yet she had been thrown aside, and there was nowhere left for her on Earth unless she returned with a new identity. And even if she returned, what would she do? She had lost her direction in life. She did not want revenge, but she also did not know what she did want. ¡°Thank you for the offer,¡± she said shaking her head, ¡°but this is something I must figure out on my own.¡± ¡°I understand,¡± the Innkeeper said, getting up. ¡°If you need me, feel free to reach out through one of my staff. If you get bored during your stay, I rmend you try out the Mystery Trial behind the manor ¨C it is something I just added to the Inn. First try is free for guests, so you have nothing to lose and the trials are perfectly safe.¡± The Innkeeper smiled at her one more time and then disappeared. Helen felt a sense of loss when he left, but she picked herself up and started walking back to the manor. She would eat something, and then she would continue to think. Moping was not her style, but she needed to figure out her new direction in life before she would feel better. Lex was slightly disappointed when the girl refused to confide in him, but he could not insist on getting her to talk. He had to maintain his mystique. He reappeared at the northernmost point of the Inn and prepared himself for some heavy spending. Spending 5000 MP in the Midnight Market, he bought himself a rtively powerful array that was arranged from trees. As soon as he made the purchase pine trees started growing around, and ultimately covered an entire acre ofnd around him. Then in the center of the new forest, he chose to purchase the greenhouse for another 425 MP, transforming thend five thousand square feet around him into arablend. After all his expenditure he was left with 11,836 MP. That was still quite a lot, but did it really allow him to spend his MP so randomly? The answer was, this was not a random purchase. The forest array served an important purpose, which was that it would redirect anyone who entered away from the center without letting them realize. The effect was very simple and did not harm anyone in any way, but it was exactly for that reason that the array could affect even those of a very high cultivation level. This way his greenhouse which was directly in the center of the forest would be out of reach for the guests. Of course, as the owner and controller of the array Lex could choose to allow someone to pass through if he wanted. What was an array exactly? Simr to how spirit techniques used spirit energy to give rise to different effects, and talismans used spirit energy as well as theplex science of spirit engineering to give birth to seemingly magical results, arrays used natural treasures and spirit treasures to have different effects over a certain piece ofnd. By arranging treasures, or array gs (spirit treasures that served a single, very specific purpose) in aplex design one could arrange an array that served various purposes. It could be a protective array that stopped iing enemies or attacks from entering an area. It could be an attacking array that attacked enemies with it. It could even be a spirit gathering array that gathered spirit energy from the atmosphere and filled the area of the array with concentrated spirit energy ¨C a boon for cultivation. In short, it could have various effects and all depended on the user¡¯s purpose. With that out of the way, Lex spent another 2000MP to purchase a permanent A.I. worker for the greenhouse. Despite the heavy cost, the A.I¡¯s that Lex purchased could only be human shaped and could have no special abilities, only a certain amount of knowledge regarding certain fields. Lex didn¡¯t name this A.I. and instead decided to just call him the gardener, to keep it simple and easy to remember. He handed The Gardener all the seeds and cuttings he brought from Nibiru and told him to begin nting them, and try to save as many of them as he could. As he watched the gardener begin to work, he came to the painful realization that he may have to hire an actual living person with an affinity or ability for raising nts as the Inn let him know of the various special needs of each nt that was being nted, and they were not simple to say the least. Chapter 67 Protagonist Halo Lex watched silently as the gardener carefully started digging potholes for the cuttings he had brought. The greenhouse had few special features that greatly aided in the growth of nts. Firstly the soil was filled with concentrated spirit energy, which would not only increase the speed of growth of nts it would also improve their quality. Evenmon nts grown here would absorb spirit energy. Secondly, the chances of transported nts or nt cuttings dying was reduced drastically. However this was only the first level of the Greenhouse and the benefits it could provide were limited. It pained him to learn that for more valuable nts, such as those that granted humans extra strength back on Nibiru, he would need to provide special fertilizers and spirit water. Both of those things would cost him a lot of MP. Fortunately, for now he could make do without them. He told the gardener that he wanted him to focus on growing a lot of the vine Tiffany¡¯s treasure. Using the system he could get the proper name for the nt, but he¡¯d decided to stick to the name the little girl had told him. He was just about to leave the garden when he received another notification. New Quest: With a garden avable in your backyard, it¡¯s time to improve the quality of your food. Grow spiritual vegetables for the Inns kitchen Quest time limit: 2 weeks Quest Reward: Rare nt seeds. Quest failure punishment: -1000MP Remarks: In certain parts of the worldmon farmers have abs, but you even as a cultivator only have b! Roll up your sleeves and put some work in! Lex was incensed! He had abs okay! Maybe not to the level of Instagram models, but he was getting there! Anyway, he ignored the ignorant, insensitive system for now and focused on the time limit. 2 weeks! It was too short, could he grow anything in this time? ¡°You don¡¯t need to worry and just nt normal seeds, they will grow quickly enough. You don¡¯t need to even have arge variety at the moment. Even if just a couple of ingredients in a dish are spiritual then it will have apletely different result. Just look for whatever is easily avable.¡± Lex nodded, and decided to make this his first priority. This was a rtively easy quest, he wanted the quickest reward he could get, along with hopefully some upgrades! He returned to his apartment, already nning on getting seeds with same day delivery, but the moment he returned all thoughts of vegetables were thrown out the window. He was standing in his room, but everything had been overturned. His mattress had been ripped up, his things were cluttered on the floor and his clothes thrown out of his closet. Warily he crept outside his room to find the rest of his apartment in the same state. His first thought was robbery, but that didn¡¯t make sense. His tv and gaming consoles, the easiest items to steal, were still there ¨C they were just broken. His furniture was either broken into pieces or ripped through with daggers. Someone had clearly ransacked the ce. He was standing still, trying to figure out what the most appropriate reaction should be. He couldn¡¯t report this incident to Bluebird, his token was at home but he was not there during the incident. That could only mean that he had left his apartment without the token. Whether Bluebird would be able to find the culprit was an entirely different matter, they would most likely prosecute him first. For the same reason he couldn¡¯t go to the police. He was still thinking of what to do when he heard his ringtone, and traced the sound to his phone which had fallen underneath his bed. A nce he was able to tell that he had missed a few calls, all from Larry. He picked up and heard an urgent voice from the other end, ¡°Lex? Lex! Is that you? Are you alright? I¡¯ve been trying to reach you for hours.¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± he replied. ¡°But something tells me that you think I shouldn¡¯t be.¡± ¡°I ran into some goons from Ultimate Fighting Fortress, and suffice to say they roughed me up. So did Matilda, and that ended really badly. She¡¯s in Bluebird custody right now, and I heard quite a few people were sent to the CCU in a hospital. When you weren¡¯t picking up I feared the worst, but I¡¯m being monitored so there¡¯s no way I coulde to you.¡± Lex frowned. What did Ultimate Fighting Fortress want with them? Their fight should be with Marlo, and he hasn¡¯t even been on Earth in a while. ¡°I just got back to my apartment, and the ce has beenpletely trashed. I was wondering what happened, it looks like they paid me a visit as well. Do you know what they want?¡± ¡°I looked into it. Apparently Marlo has disappeared, and that¡¯s caused some people to worry. When he didn¡¯t reappear after the Alexander incident in Egypt, some of his enemies started worrying that he was nning a move against him. They picked a fight with his family as well, and I heard there was even an incident with his mother. Someone is trying to provoke him into reappearing. You, Matilda and I are just coteral damage.¡± ¡°So what now? Won¡¯t the Bluebird do anything?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t understand. He¡¯s a very high leveled cultivator, his sudden disappearance makes all the ICPA¡¯s nervous as well. They won¡¯t directly act against him, but as long as no one goes too overboard, they won¡¯t interfere in this matter.¡± ¡°But God only knows how long Marlo will be gone,¡± Lex said exasperated, for more than one reason. Everyday that former giant stayed away cost Lex MP! ¡°What are we supposed to do in the meantime? I can¡¯t get pulled into a fight like this, I¡­¡± before Lex could continue someone kicked in his door and three shady looking men walked into his apartment. ¡°Well well well, look who¡¯s finally returned,¡± said the short man who was in the lead. He was wearing a tracksuit and a few chains and was covered in tattoos. Lex didn¡¯t mean to stereotype, but the guy definitely looked like trouble. ¡°Who are you? What do you want?¡± Lex asked forcefully. Deep down, he really wanted to avoid trouble. Earth was supposed to be the ce where heyed low, without attracting any attention. He didn¡¯t mind getting into trouble in other ces, but his family was on Earth! He absolutely could not risk them. Before the man could reply, Lex reached into his backpack and pulled out the Heavy Harley. He did not aim it at anyone, but the threat was evident. The three men stopped in their tracks when they saw the gun, but didn¡¯t leave. The short man let out a whistle as he admired the weapon. ¡°You know, it¡¯s pretty hard to get a carry permit for one of those in New York. You must have friends in high ces. But that¡¯s okay, we just want to be friends too.¡± Lex eyed the three, still a little hesitant. He wanted to avoid a confrontation if possible. He put the phone back to his ear and said, ¡°Let Bluebird know I have a few guests in my apartment.¡± He shut the phone and threw it away, his stance still hostile towards the three. ¡°I¡¯ll ask again, who are you and what do you want? The authorities will be here soon, and I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll be in everyone¡¯s interest if you¡¯re not here when they arrive.¡± The short man was still looking at the gun. ¡°You know, I vaguely recall that Marlo registered one of these guns recently. That¡¯s a pretty strange thing, that he would do it himself. He¡¯s a big man, he has secretaries for stuff like that ¨C even minions. I wonder, could it be your gun that he registered? You guys must be close.¡± The short man was smirking now, and looking at Lex with eager eyes. ¡°I sold him a treasure, in exchange he gave me a weapon. However, that¡¯s none of your business. Please leave, before I get agitated. My finger starts twitching when I¡¯m nervous.¡± ¡°Hey, alright alright. We¡¯re leaving,¡± the man said, signaling his men to slowly back out. ¡°But I believe we got off on the wrong foot. We only want to be friends, and have a little chat if at all possible. You know what, I¡¯ll give you a call sometime. We¡¯ll meet outside, somewhere in public, so you don¡¯t need to be nervous. I believe it¡¯ll be in your interest as well. After all, you don¡¯t want rumors spreading around about yourself. You know the inte is a crazy ce, people love cooking up conspiracies about illegitimate children and what not.¡± ¡°Buddy I don¡¯t know if you¡¯re saying that I have kids, or that I¡¯m someone¡¯s illegitimate child. But someone broke my TV and I¡¯m pissed, so if you don¡¯t get out of here right now I think I might decide to keep you till Bluebird shows up.¡± This time, Lex aimed the gun directly towards the man. The man didn¡¯t retort, and left the apartment, giving Lex a wink right before he left. Lex waited a while, and then checked the hallway outside to find it empty. He let out a sigh. Was this the famous ¡®get into trouble for no reason¡¯ protagonist halo he¡¯d read in so many novels? Chapter 68 Marital problems A tall, beautifuldy sat with her legs crossed on a sofa, her long blonde hair falling over her shoulders. She was wearing a suit but had taken off her shoes, but the casual look did nothing to diminish her overwhelming charm. She was sitting in a private lounge, the table before filled with various sushi dishes. She was listening to a man making a report and she leaned forward and grabbed a California roll with her chopsticks and ate. Guards were standing in the corners of the room, all extremely serious. The setting right now seemed quite harmonious, but everyone knew that the truth was contrary to how it appeared. The woman¡¯s name was Sophia Ramos, formerly known as Sophia Bravi ¨C Marlo¡¯s wife! Officially the two were still married, but their separation had been quite public, and in the original sense of the word, epic. No one knew the exact reason for their separation, but the consequences were so drastic that multiple ICPA¡¯s had to get involved. A small town had been destroyed in their fight, and the officials had to report it to the public as a sudden earthquake. It was said that when they were together no one had ever been in as much love as Sophia was with her husband, and when they separated no one could hate someone the way she did. Like her husband, she was a Golden Core cultivator. She was also the head of one of thergest and most influential cultivator families in Europe, the Ramos family. However, she did not live in Spain, where her family¡¯s strength was focused. She lived in New York, where she could keep a close eye on her ¡®dear husband¡¯. Some time ago, the man disappeared from the public eye. It was not surprising as he was one of the strongest members, if not the strongest member, of the Bravi family. Although he had long since paid back whatever he owed that family, there were times when the family requested him to use his specific skills. This was not to mention that Marlo himself ran multiple enterprises, and sometimes they would require him to handle sensitive matters. But matters became different after the Egypt incident. Even ignoring the serious political waves the incident brought throughout the cultivation world, Marlo himself had a rtionship with the Morrison family. An incident of that scale did not simply finish, there were repercussions that wouldst years if not decades. Everyone would have to make their stance clear, alliances had to be made or broken, forces strengthened, protections and precautions had to be taken. Yet the man still had no response. Even the Bravi family was rmed by his absence, and quietly started looking for him. If he kept his silence for too long, and did not reappear, people might even begin to suspect that that he was directly involved in the assassination attempt, as he had disappeared right before it. Whether other people were beginning to be suspicious of his actions or not was still unclear, but Ultimate Fighting Fortress, Sophia¡¯s personal organization, was very open in their search for him. When traces of him could not be found using official methods, they started getting aggressive. A distant observer might think that perhaps the wife was concerned about him, that he needed to clear his name before the Morrison family took notice, but at least the people standing in this room did not think so.. A phone rang, breaking the subtle peace in the room, but everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Sophia picking her own up and answering. ¡°Any updates?¡± ¡°We¡¯ve finished looking up all of his recent students. He¡¯s had a closer rtionship with two of them, a Matilda Ross and a Lex William. The scope of his extra interactions with them has not been too unusual, but it¡¯s still a lead. A background check of Lex revealed to be quite ordinary, but Matilda¡¯s background is clearly forged. She also sent some of our men to the hospital. We¡¯re looking further into her, but thetest report said that she disappeared from Bluebird custody.¡± ¡°Were you able to extract any information from them?¡± ¡°His other students said he gave them a week off before leaving, but they don¡¯t know anything else. Matilda attacked our men as soon as they tried to intimidate her, and Lex pulled out a gun as soon as he made contact. Both of them showed a very aggressive response, which does not reflect their social standing or cultivation level. Although at the moment we do not believe Lex was rted to his disappearance, for several hours our men were unable to locate him as he had gone without his Bluebird token, which is why he¡¯s still under suspicion.¡± ¡°Keep investigating. Also, send my dear mother-inw some flowers, and invite her over for some coffee.¡± ¡°Understood,¡± said the man at the other end of the phone before hanging up. For a few moments Sophia was still, as if thinking, before her face warped into a grimace and she crushed the phone in her hand. She threw the broken pieces across the room before screaming, ¡°THAT SCUM IS CHEATING ON ME! I KNOW IT!¡± The men in the room trembled, but said nothing. Marlo himself had a fearsome reputation, but Sophia was the name people used to scare their children at night. ***** Lex propped his broken door against the entrance where it used to reside and returned to his apartment. He took a look around before saying, ¡°Mary I don¡¯t trust my judgment right now. I need some advice.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t tell you what to do, but I can give you a few suggestions based on what you want to do. What are you thinking?¡± ¡°I need to decide how to respond to this. I really don¡¯t want to get involved in any trouble on Earth, but I¡¯m also really pissed at those people for trashing my apartment.¡± ¡°Hmm that¡¯s too vague. Let me ask you another question, what are your top priorities right now?¡± Lex thought for a while before answering, ¡°Raising my cultivation, developing my Inn and keeping my family safe.¡± ¡°In that case, you should n ording to what you want. Although originally a self defense ss was not a bad idea, right now it has caused you problems. Drop out of the ss immediately, and then figure out the easiest way to get out of the public eye. Focus only on your cultivation and the Inn. In fact, you should know that the Inn will allow you to have your own home in a separate space from the Inn. You shouldplete quests till you unlock that, and thenpletely move away from Earth until your cultivation is strong enough. There is no reason to put yourself in unnecessary danger. As for your family, simply introduce them to the cultivation world, and then tell them to remain lowkey as well. There¡¯s no need to keep cultivation a secret from them, it serves no purpose.¡± ¡°Dropping out? Don¡¯t you think that¡¯s a little drastic?¡± ¡°Let me guess,¡± Mary said with a knowing look, ¡°you don¡¯t want to drop out because you¡¯ll feel guilty or because you don¡¯t want topromise your rtionship with Marlo. Is that right?¡± Lex didn¡¯t answer immediately, but eventually gave a reluctant nod. ¡°Lex you can¡¯t risk yourself for such a stupid reason. You may like Marlo but hisplicated life has directly caused you to be in danger, or at least some trouble. You have to get your priorities straight and act ordingly. With the system and the Inn you can grow so much stronger and be exposed to so much, but that doesn¡¯t mean you¡¯re immortal or won¡¯t die. The system may feel like a cheat or a shortcut, but if it¡¯s not used properly then that¡¯s on you. Even the best cheat can¡¯t help you if you don¡¯t use it well and keep getting distracted.¡± Lex felt like he was getting scolded, but ultimately agreed with the tiny floating projection. He was making things moreplicated than they needed to be. He should focus on the Inn and his cultivation, and once he was as strong or even stronger than Marlo, he could do whatever he wanted on Earth and he would have no worries. Just as Lex made his decision there was a knock on his broken door, before someone moved it aside and entered his apartment. Lex, to his great surprise, saw his old boss Jessica entering his apartment followed by a few men. She was dressed formally, in a beige dress, but the men behind her were in police uniforms. ¡°Are you okay? We were told there were intruders,¡± she said with some concern in her voice. Lex however was not buying it. Even if she worked for Bluebird, it was too coincidental that the one person he knew answered his distress call. Larry told him that even Bluebird was concerned about Marlo¡¯s whereabouts, and it seemed they wanted to try and see if they could get any answers from him. Chapter 69 Capitalistic mentality ¡°Of course there were intruders! Does this look like the kind of redecoration I would do?¡± Lex said between barred teeth. Someone hade in and trashed his entire apartment, and then came once again to threaten him, but Bluebird dyed their response to find Jessica because she had a connection to him. He was feeling pissed at Ultimate Fighting Fortress (UFF) and annoyed at Bluebird, and it wasing out right now. ¡°Lex calm down, you¡¯re being too aggressive,¡± Mary told him. ¡°You need to maintain a good rtionship with the authorities.¡± Lex realized his words and tone were too strong. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, holding it in for a few seconds before breathing out. ¡°I apologize,¡± he said looking at Jessica again. ¡°I was a bit emotional. I am not used to this kind of thing.¡± ¡°It¡¯spletely understandable,¡± Jessica replied, looking around the apartment. To be honest, handling incidents of cultivator violence was not her domain in Bluebird. Her work was more logistical, and she rarely ever entered the field. It was true, however, that she was called on an emergency basis to handle this case because of her connection with Lex. She had been on a date that had to be cut short which annoyed her, but she maintained her professionalism. She had been briefed that other than handling the immediate incident, she should try to investigate Lex¡¯s rtionship with Marlo as well as if he had any information on him. No one expected Lex to know, but there was no harm in being thorough.. ¡°Before anything else, are you hurt? Do you require any medical attention?¡± ¡°No, no I¡¯m fine.¡± ¡°Then can you walk me through what happened?¡± As the two of them talked, the two police officers were looking around the apartment to get a clear idea of the scope of the incident. There wasn¡¯t a single part of the apartment that hadn¡¯t seen some damage. ¡°Three guys broke into my apartment and started trashing the ce. I tried to ask them what they wanted but they were very forceful.¡± Lex lied through his teeth wlessly, as if the truth was exactly as he described. He didn¡¯t want Bluebird to know he was gone for a while and the apartment was destroyed behind his back. ¡°They seemed to be looking for something. When they couldn¡¯t find it, they came for me. Fortunately I have this for self defense,¡± he said, pulling out the Heavy Harley. ¡°As soon as I took out the gun I threatened them to leave. Maybe I could have told them to wait till you guys appeared but I didn¡¯t want to take a chance.¡± Jessica took a look at the gun and said, ¡°Yes, we saw that you had a registered weapon. But you should be more careful, if they had weapons as well it could have turned into a confrontation. Do you have any idea what they were after?¡± ¡°No clue, they weren¡¯t exactly chatty and I wasn¡¯t in the mood to ask.¡± Although Lex was trying to control himself, it was apparent that he was agitated, though no one thought that was unusual as he had just been through a traumatic experience. Jessica asked him a few more questions, but Lex would always answer that he did not know anything. He did not know who these people were, why they were after him or what they were looking for. He waspletely attempting to distance himself from the situation. Finally, with no actual information on hand and no way to lead the conversation Jessica had to ask the question she was wondering up front. ¡°It says on your profile that you¡¯ve registered for self defense sses, but your trainer took a leave. Do you know anything about that?¡± ¡°No not much, he just gave us a week off¡­wait, was this because of him? Did these people find me because they were looking for him?¡± Lex asked, feigning his shock and anger extremely well. ¡°No, of course not. I just thought that if he were around you could ask him what to do in a breakin situation. Having a direct confrontation against three intruders is not a smart idea.¡± Jessica covered herself really well, but Lex showed a doubtful look. They asked him a few more questions, until they finally left. They told him they¡¯d contact him again if they made any progress on the investigation, and asked him if he wanted to follow them to a safe house. Lex naturally declined to follow them as he had other ns. He took Mary¡¯s suggestion and decided he was going to drop out of Marlo¡¯s ss and leave for a while. As for his family¡­he decided that he¡¯d tell them about cultivation whenever he met them personally next time. Actually there was a Bluebird program that helped new cultivators exin to their immediate families about the cultivation world. This was so that there would be a bit of credibility when these people talked to their families, and to avoid idents. However Lex didn¡¯t want to think about that right now. Dealing with family was alwaysplicated, he wanted to avoid thinking about it. Leaving Marlo¡¯s ss was not normally an easy procedure, as it was in his contract that once you started you could not stop or you would be prosecuted. It was an unusual use, but in this situation Lex had an easy out as he could im his life had been endangered because of Marlo. He wrote up an email and sent it to the official email attached to the self defense ss before he left his apartment. He only grabbed his phone, wallet, Bluebird token and Heavy Harley that he stored in his backpack, nothing else in the apartment was worth putting any effort into. He hailed a taxi and told the driver an address he¡¯d looked up online. He arrived at a skyscraper and quickly made his way in. At the reception he showed his token and said, ¡°I¡¯m here to register at Ballor¡¯s castle.¡± The receptionist scanned the token, and after checking if everything was in order, told him to take the elevator to the 20th level. Of course, the 20th level she was referring to was the basement level, not the floors in the highrise. Lex, already used to this system by now, and directly went underground. The reason why he was so decisive abouting here was because he¡¯d done a lot of research on Ballor¡¯s castle since Larry told him about it. They took their role of protection quite seriously, and had a very positive reputation in the cultivatormunity. He would relocate using their help, and also finally gain an affiliation with an organization on Earth. Although he wanted to avoid doing so, it couldn¡¯t be helped. At least this one was not so demanding of its members. When he reached the floor he was greeted with a bold ¡®Ballor¡¯s Castle¡¯ imprinted on the wall, along with various images of its leading members. Lex only nced at it before heading towards the reception on this level. Joining an organization was not as quick and straightforward as he had seen so many characters do in books. After scanning his token and checking his profile on the Bluebird database, they checked his criminal history. Once they were done with that, they checked his social media to check if he had any extremist views or dubious connections. Then came the paperwork. Oh lord, there was so much paperwork! Lex felt like he¡¯d spent hours filling out forms, answering questions, and then redoing some parts that the receptionist told him he did wrong. They wanted to know everything about him, from his academic records to his professional experience, his medical history to his political affiliations if he had any. When it came to his cultivation, it was mandatory to list his level as well as how long he had been cultivating for, followed by optional questions where he could write down the details of his cultivation technique. Lex left all the optional questions and then submitted the paperwork and began waiting for the final process, the personal interview. Under normal circumstances he was told that the interview would be scheduled in a few weeks, but he told them that he was in an emergency, after which they revealed to him the option to pay for an express interview. He didn¡¯t know if he should be cursing or grateful for the capitalistic mentality. Naturally he paid the $5000 express fee and was led to the interview room where he waited silently for his interview to begin. To be honest, he was surprised by how thorough the organization was in its joining process. He assumed it would have been easier and more straightforward. The receptionist then told him that because Ballor¡¯s castle took their role so seriously, they were also very selective in who they allowed in. Criminals or people with potential ulterior motives were not allowed to join. He supposed that was good for him, as long as his interview went smoothly and he could join. For now, all he could do was wait. Chapter 70 Teenagers Two men and a woman entered the room, all holding folders Lex assumed held information about him. They all looked rtively rxed and gave off friendly vibes that made Lex feel more confident about his chances. They sat down across from him and after and introduced themselves before diving right into the interview. ¡°Mr. Lex, can you tell me what interested you about Ballor¡¯s castle?¡± ¡°The freedom and safety,¡± Lex answered promptly, ¡°especially the safety part. Since I identally learned about the cultivation world, the strongest impression I¡¯ve gotten is that it is very unsafe. I spent a lot of time researching various organizations, but Ballor¡¯s castle is the one I felt could best safeguard me and my interests.¡± ¡°Well we would like to thank you for your confidence in us. We try our best to uphold our standards to the best of our abilities. Have you tried joining any organization before, and if so which ones?¡± ¡°No, I haven¡¯t tried joining any organization before. I am very new to the cultivation world, and considering how dangerous it seems I¡¯ve tried to minimize my contact with other cultivators as much as I can. I did take a self defense ss for cultivators, but even then I have kept mostly to myself.¡± ¡°Mr. Lex, you¡¯ve mentioned a few times that you are concerned about your safety. Do you have any enemies?¡± ¡°No of course not! Why would I have any enemies?¡±. ¡°Mr. Lex, I hope you don¡¯t mind but it is standard procedure to run background checks on our applicants. ording to our research, there was an incident report at your apartment just a few hours ago. Could you tell us about that?¡± ¡°There was a breakin at my apartment. Theypletely destroyed everything I own and even threatened me. That is what prompted me toe here, I realized that I wasn¡¯t safe on my own.¡± ¡°Yes, of course, I can understand how such an incident can be traumatic and make one want to protect oneself. But tell me, do you have any idea why you were targeted?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯ve never seen them before and have no rtion with them.¡± ¡°Mr. Lex, I don¡¯t know if you¡¯re aware, but the cultivatormunity in New York is very tight knit. Rumors get around quickly, and rumor is that a lot of people have been investigating your self defense instructor, Mr. Marlo. Do you think you could have been targeted because of your connection to him?¡± ¡°He is my instructor, and other than that I have no connection to him. I don¡¯t know why I would be targeted because of him.¡± The three investigators looked at one another, before pulling out a picture to show Lex. As soon as Lex saw his lips twitched ¨C it was a picture of him when he was going to Marlo¡¯s apartment right after returning from Vegus Minima. He was battered and bruised andpletely covered in dry blood. Suddenly he felt his chances in this interview had dropped drastically. ¡°Mr. Lex this picture was pulled from security footage of you entering Mr. Marlo¡¯s building some time ago. Having no context about this picture at all, it does not seem to me that your rtionship with Mr. Marlo is simple.¡± Lex gulped as quickly started thinking of a good excuse. ***** Velma was standing silently in the Gift shop. She was an A.I. that worked at the Midnight Inn, however that did not mean that she was an emotionless and cold machine. It just meant that she was created and given intelligence artificially, and not born in the usual way. Although technically her age was less than a month old, she was mentally around seventeen. She was extremely disciplined and obeyed orders so her mental age neverpromised her work at the Inn, but when she had no work to do she felt extremely bored. Gerard had the mental age of a fifty year old man, so the two of them could not rte very much at all. The new addition to the Inn, the Gardener, was very boorish and Velma did not get along with him at all. All he wanted to do was dig and dig and dig. Her 2nd boss, the tiny floating projection called Mary, was a little more fun. She would asionally gossip with Velma about her first boss, the Innkeeper. Speaking of whom, the Innkeeper was incredibly handsome and Velma always felt very shy around him. A few times she wanted to strike up a conversation with him, but every time she wanted to she could not make herself do it. She let out a sigh, she was really bored. But right then her 2nd boss appeared before her. ¡°Velma, the Innkeeper is busy and some new guests are entering the Inn. Receive them.¡± ¡°Immediately,¡± she answered as she disappeared, reappearing at the entrance. From a bright light a young man ran out, holding the hand of a young woman. The pair of teenagers looked very troubled. ¡°Haris, where are we?¡± asked the young woman, panting. ¡°I have no idea Ayesha, but I think we¡¯ve lost them for now,¡± the teenager replied, wiping the imaginary sweat off his brow. Ayesha, who was relieved to hear that they had lost their pursuers, threw herself into Haris¡¯ arms and started sobbing. ¡°Oh Haris, what are we going to do? They¡¯re never going to let us be together! Your family will move away across the oceans and I¡¯ll never see you again!¡± ¡°Then I will swim the oceans if I have to. Nothing can separate me from you!¡± The two lovers continued to talk to one another, professing their love and imagining the various struggles the world would throw their way, denying them the one thing that they both wanted ¨C love. It was as if it was predestined that they were not to be, their difficulties far beyond the petty hurdles of Romeo and Juliet. Velma, who was waiting for a chance to introduce them to the Inn,pletely forgot her purpose, and was listening to their sweet nothings with glowing eyes. Since there was no television, or basically any kind of media avable at the Inn, this was the first time the young A.I. was getting a taste of teen romance and she was hooked. ¡°But long distance never works,¡± said Ayesha, breaking free from his arms and looking away. ¡°You¡¯ll go to college and make new friends and fall in love with some blonde bimbo, and I¡¯ll be left alone, with nothing but a memory of a time I was happy, if only for a moment.¡± Their extremely cheesy lines and over the top emotions held Velma in a vice, and at the thought that the two lovers would be separated Velma suddenly remembered her job, and along with that she came up with an idea. ¡°Wee guests,¡± she said loudly, interrupting Haris¡¯ monologue about ying all the bimbos that would stand between the two, ¡°to the Midnight Inn, the universe¡¯s best rendezvous for estranged lovers.¡± The two teenagers turned their attention to Velma with a frown, but then suddenly realized that they were not alone. Ayesha quickly pulled herself out of Haris¡¯ arms ¨C he had hugged her once again ¨C and quickly straightened her clothes, as if removing all proof or memory of the lovers embrace. ¡°Our humble Inn caters to people from across the universe, wherever they may be. It brings lovers together so that they can spend time with one another, walking in our gardens, climbing our hills, making memories free from pursuit or judgment.¡± ¡°Across the universe you say?¡± asked Haris, intrigued. He epted Velma¡¯s words quickly, as if traveling the universe were the most natural thing, and started rubbing his chin as if he wereing up with a n. ¡°So this is like a dating spot?¡± Ayesha asked, curious. ¡°How scandalous, I love it.¡± Velma lost a bit of herposure when she heard the Inn being called a dating spot ¨C if her bosses ever found out she¡¯d be too embarrassed! ¡°Uh, well, no the Inn doesn¡¯t cater to just lovers. Anyone who wants to enjoy our services cane. But lovers, especially lovers who have been separated, cane to the Inn to enjoy their time together, so that their love can ovee all adversity.¡± Poor Velma did not know that to some people what she was saying could be taken as the description of a ¡®Love Hotel¡¯ that charged by the hour. It truly was a good thing that neither Mary nor Lex were here to hear this. Ayesha¡¯s eyes started to slow as she looked at Haris excitedly. The both shared a look, and it was as if they both had found the solution to their problem. ¡°Why don¡¯t you show us around,¡± said Haris with a smile. ¡°I feel like we¡¯ll being here a lot.¡± ¡°Please follow me, I believe you¡¯ll like what we have to offer.¡± Just as she began to lead the two towards the Inn, she came close to Haris and whispered, ¡°You should buy her a Saturn cake, trust me. I¡¯ll show it to youter.¡± The three ¡®teenagers¡¯ excitedly made their way into the manor, all of them thinking of their exciting futures. Chapter 71 Love Birds Velma led the two teenagers into the manor and after providing a quick summary of everything they offered, she quickly took them to the Gift shop. Since Velma was giving the tour, Gerard was behind the counter awaiting his customers patiently. The gift shop was small, and with only 11 items on disy the shop looked almost empty but each of the items was very eye-catching. Ayesha and Haris looked at the items with interest, and were amazed when a description of each item appeared directly in their minds when they focused on them. The Babys candy and Zombie cores were dismissed by them directly. The Golden Key, however, attracted their attention immediately. A key that let them enter the Inn as they pleased, from anywhere in the universe, was exactly what the duo needed to organize their secret reunions at the Inn. Without any hesitation Ayesha bought two keys and gave one to Haris. Instead of paying with a credit card, as the guests before her had been doing, she opened up her purse and took out a jade bottle. She opened the top and with a dripper took out a single drop of a clear liquid from the bottle. Before she could exin what the liquid was, the single drop mysteriously disappeared from the dripper. Gerard smiled and said, ¡°Your payment has been epted, but you have a remaining credit bnce of around 10,000MP. Would you like to keep the credit for further purchases or would you like your change?¡± ¡°You can keep it for now,¡± Ayesha said, putting the jade bottle along with her Golden Key back.. ¡°Hey Ayesha look at this,¡± Haris said with excitement in his eyes. He was looking at a pair of prosthetic wings. In the disy case their size had been reduced so they didn¡¯t attract too much attention, but once Haris learned what they did he was enamored. Ayesha looked not at the wings but at the silly, excited boy ¨C her gaze soft and loving. ¡°We¡¯ll take two of those as well,¡± she said, pointing at the wings. Once she received the wings in card form the two lovers looked at everything else the Gift Shop had to offer. Bom Dew, one of the most popr items and Lex¡¯s personal favorite, was dismissed by the kids as none of them were hurt and didn¡¯t really have a need for it. The Serene whistle, the item that helps with taming beasts, aroused some interest but not enough to purchase. The Whistle of Bathelona, however, attracted Ayesha¡¯s interest and she bought it for herself. The Whistle of Bathelona was a one of a kind item that summoned a wisp named Bathelona, which was a popr pet for children in the Jotun system ¨C at least that¡¯s what the description said. Haris bought the Saturn Cake, but with his credit card instead of using Ayesha¡¯s tab, and put the cake that had been turned into a card for convenience into his pocket. With that they had seen everything in the Gift shop and left the manor excitedly. ¡°Can we explore the rest on our own?¡± Haris asked Velma. ¡°Of course, please enjoy yourselves. If you need me at any time, you only need to call out my name and I will appear by your side.¡± ¡°Thanks, we will,¡± Haris said politely. He turned to Ayesha who handed him a pair of Icarus¡¯ wings and he quickly attached them on his back. Putting them on was easy, all he had to do was touch his back to them and they would automatically attach themselves. They linked themselves to his mind so he could control them seamlessly, and before you knew it the pair was ready to take flight. The pair looked at each other and smiled. They were feeling slightly nervous but also extremely excited. They were gonna take each other¡¯s hand before taking off, but Velma suggested they get a hang of flying before trying something like that. It would be embarrassing if they crashed into each other right at take off. Ayesha stuck her tongue out and then took off. The speed of her ascent was phenomenal, and it was as if she had spent her entire life flying. Haris took off as well, chasing after her as if they were ying a game of tag. The two young lovers soared through the sky, grinning and smiling as they chased after one another. The two were quickly joined by a pandemonium of parrots who flew around them gazing curiously at the two new giant birds. Ayeshaughed as she saw the parrots flying around her, and she started leading them around. They did barrel rolls and nose dives, experimenting as their skill in flight grew. The sounds ofughter filled the Inn and Helen, who was sitting in awn chair with a rabbit in herp, looked up to see what looked like two humans with wings flying around, ying in the air. Her jaw dropped in shock as she tried to absorb what she was seeing. The two kids were too far away for her to see properly, so she could not tell that what was on their backs were prosthetics. She imagined that these were visitors from somewhere else in the universe who looked like angels. Hugo, who was still with Will, heard the sound ofughter as well and came out to investigate. He was taken aback when he saw two kids flying in the air, but not as much as Helen. He already epted that the Inn was a magical ce, so he would not be surprised even if he saw stranger things. Right now what he wanted to do was to continue cultivating, but it was important he be there when Will recovered so returned to the RP room. When the two kids were done ying in the air, they started flying over the Inn grounds, admiring the scenery, hand in hand. Holding hands in the air was MUCH harder than they had imagined as their wings kept colliding, but ultimately they got the timing and rhythm required to do so. From the air the Inn looked very simple, yet beautiful. There were only two significantndmarks that attracted their interest. The hills, covered in a field of flowers which gave off a feeling of seclusion and serenity. The Meditation room on top of the hill looked interesting as well. The secondndmark was the forest. The two flew towards the forest and were interested when they saw a clearing in the center, but for some reason as they started to fly towards the clearing they would always diverge. It was strange, all they had to do was fly straight, but somehow whenever they got close to the middle they would turn away without realizing and somehow wind up at the exit. After trying a couple of times, the kids gave up and started looking for a nice spot for a pic. They chose a spot underneath the shade of a tree and the two kids, exhausted from their adventure, sat down side by side. Haris took out a card from his pocket and summoned the cake. Ayesha called Velma, who brought them a nket, some tes, utensils and drinks. The two kids had never tasted such freedom before, and would remember this rtively simple day for the rest of their lives. Velma, who left the two kids to enjoy each other¡¯spany, kept looking out towards them ¨C hoping that the kids would call her so she could hear more of their cheesy lines. ***** Lex sighed as he stepped out the skyscraper, feeling tired. As one could imagine, his interview did not go too well. He was unable to answer why he was covered in blood, why he registered so many weapons under his name, why he bought so much tactical gear or what his rtionship with Marlo was. To be honest, even he started to think of himself as a suspicious character after realizing how much information they had on him. He thought he was being sneaky, but there was a very clear trail of all his activities. Of course, there was no proof he had done anything wrong or uwful otherwise Bluebird would have called him in for questioning the way they had taken in Matilda, but Lex did not know that. The interviewers did not reject him outright, but only said that they would contact him after reviewing his profile, but he was under no delusion that he would be able to get in. If he had been paying attention, he would have been clued in on how his interview was going to go right at the beginning. After all, his three interviewers had introduced themselves as Irrelevant Character A, Irrelevant Character B and Irrelevant Character C. For some reason he had casually epted their names, as if there was no obvious fourth wall being broken right there. ¡°So what are you going to do now?¡± asked Mary, with a concerned look. ¡°Well, I¡¯m a little disappointed, but there¡¯s an even easier solution than looking for someone else. I¡¯ll just live at the Inn. Who says I need a home on Earth? I can juste back whenever I need to do something. This way, no one will ever be able to track me.¡± Mary nodded, as if she liked his answer. Lex grinned to himself, and then disappeared. Chapter 72 [Bonus chapter]Upgrade the Dating spot Haris and Ayesha were both lying down on their pic nket, looking up at the parrots in the trees above them. All the parrots in the Inn had gathered on the tree above the teenagers, as if acknowledging the pair as their leaders. After flying around everywhere they were already exhausted, and once they had their little pic the duo felt sleepy. They didn¡¯t actually go to sleep, but theyy there, enjoying each other¡¯spany silently. Aspared to their earlier enthusiastic and cheesy selves, they were a lot more sombre. ¡°We should head back,¡± Haris said eventually, his voice reluctant. ¡°When will your family head out?¡± ¡°Tonight, probably.¡± ¡°Do you know where you¡¯ll be going?¡±. ¡°They¡¯ll probably send me to some academy. I¡¯ll probably be under supervision until that¡¯s done.¡± Ayesha didn¡¯t reply, but only nodded. Haris spent a few more minutes struggling ¨C he had something he wanted to say, but he couldn¡¯t bring himself up to say it. Despite all his earlier bravado, he was still just a teenager and his experiences in life were limited ¨C he could not help but be afraid of certain things. Even without looking at him Ayesha could tell there was something on his mind. She waited a few minutes to see if he spoke on his own, but when he continued to hesitate she said, ¡°Don¡¯t keep your thoughts hidden. Secrets are not good for your soul, say whatever you want to say.¡± Haris turned to look at his beloved, and she turned to look back at him. The two kids stared in each other¡¯s eyes in silence until Haris finally spoke. ¡°Ayesha do you think we¡¯re making a mistake? I mean you¡­ I¡¯m just¡­.just¡­¡± Ayesha chuckled. ¡°Who put these doubts in your mind? Was it your parents? Or was it mine? Are you trying to say I could have anyone, so why should I be with you?¡± Haris didn¡¯t reply, but the worried look on his face said it all. ¡°If I can be with anyone, then why can¡¯t I be with you? What¡¯s the point of being rich, of being powerful, if you still can¡¯t do what you want? If you¡¯re forced to do things you don¡¯t want to do just to keep your status or power, then aren¡¯t you just a ve to those things? My parents think I don¡¯t know better because I¡¯m young, but just because I¡¯m young doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯m wrong. Or are your concerns different? Is there something else on your mind?¡± Haris shook his head and said, ¡°I¡¯m not afraid of anything else, not my parents, not hardship or struggle¡­but I¡¯m afraid¡­I¡¯m afraid that one day I will be your regret.¡± Ayesha smiled as she caressed the young man¡¯s face with her hand. ¡°As long as you love me the way that you do, I will never regret being with you.¡± The two kids smiled as they finished pouring their hearts out to each other. It would be a while before they got to spend time with one another again. Eventually the two left, and both received a key additional to the one they had bought because they both had made purchases in the Gift shop. Mere moments after the duo left, Lex arrived back at the Inn. He took in a deep breath, and after holding it in for a few seconds, let out a relieved sigh. ¡°The air is so much better here,¡± Lexmented to the flying hologram around him. ¡°Living at the Inn is fine, but what will you do about your family?¡± ¡°The only reason there is any focus on me at all is because of Marlo. I¡¯ll wait till he returns and have him clear everything up. Once the focus is off of me, I¡¯ll think of something. I don¡¯t want to introduce them to cultivation till I¡¯m strong enough to protect them.¡± ¡°Makes sense,¡± Mary said, nodding. ¡°I see my MP has gone up again. What did I miss while I was gone?¡± Mary summoned Velma, who gave Lex a detailed report of Haris and Ayesha. She did not get any additional information about them because only Lex could see his guests statuses, but Lex was sure that there was more than met the eye with the teenagers, especially considering that Ayesha left a tab of 10,855MP! Lex would not have ess to that MP till she actually used it up, but her bnce would be saved and she could use it at any time. When he learned about their flying adventures he was slightly surprised, and then relieved to hear about the fact that they could not enter the Greenhouse even while flying. It would take someone who had a deep understanding of arrays to manoeuvre through the forest. Lex also had some ideas when he thought of his guests flying around the Inn. Using the design interface he added a few permanent clouds in the sky, and introduced a looping air current. If his guests ever flew, they could ride the aircurrent and it would be like a ride. Having a few clouds in the air would also add a little more variety. He also decided to introduce a few more animals and birds. Love birds, pigeons and peacocks appeared magically throughout the Inn. But he wasn¡¯t done yet, he created a small, crystal clearke near the Recovery room and introduced some cute looking fish. He didn¡¯t know many fish except for Goldfish, and would need to research about which would be a good addition to hiske. For now theke was small and shallow, as he didn¡¯t have much space, but in the future he nned on expanding it. He ced a row boat in theke, and then smiled to himself. If the two teenagers came back for another date, at least they would have a few more things to do. All the upgrades cost him 1500MP, but it was totally worth it. Lex could not help but imagine himself bringing a girl to the Inn for a date in the future, unaware that he wore a silly grin on his face. Everyone who saw him could guess exactly what the Innkeeper was thinking, and resisted the urge to facepalm. Chapter 73 The reclamation has begun Once Lex was satisfied with his changes in regards to making a dating spot, he turned his attention back to the Inn. Currently of his rooms, two were still booked under Bastet and Fks name, one was booked by Hugo and one was booked by Alexander. That left only one regr room free which he was nning on booking for himself in the short term, but he didn¡¯t want to leave the Inn with no free rooms avable. He spent 1000MP to buy two regr rooms, but instead of the first floor with the rest of the rooms, he ced them alone in separate parts of the Inn. He got this idea when he thought about Helen, who seemed to want to stay away from everyone. A secluded room would award her and anyone else who wanted it with their privacy. Lex asked Velma to ask Helen if she¡¯d like to shift her room to one of the secluded ones. Once that was done, he booked the room for himself for a week. Like regr guests he had to pay 50MP per day for the room, but since the profit from each room was also 50MP he basically suffered no loss. It was a strange loophole which would allow him to have a room for himself at the Inn forever, but the downside was he would have one less room for his guests. He teleported to the room directly andy down on the bed. He was exhausted, more mentally than physically. He went through all the things that he needed to do in his head. Bastets¡¯ and Fks¡¯ rooms only had a few more days until their reservation was over, which would free up two of his rooms. It was disappointing, Lex was hoping to get closer to them, but probably for the best as well since his cultivation was too low. Speaking of cultivation¡­Lex let out a sigh and picked himself off the bed. Reluctantly he spent another 1500MP and bought the Training room, leaving him with a total of 6016MP left. He thought about where to ce it, he didn¡¯t want to put it close to the Meditation room or cultivation room as he wanted to keep traffic in those ces at a minimum. After thinking for a short while, he created a walkway near the manor that led towards the main gate. When he was satisfied with the distance, he put the Training room at the end of the path. He decided that all future additions to the Inn would be close together. In the future he would eventually form a street with all his main attractions on both ends. Maybe if the Inn grew big enough, he would redesign it to the shape of a town.. The Training room was a in looking, square building. On the inside it was well lit despite theck of any windows, and had a wooden floor. There were five wooden dummies in the shape of humans standing on the far end, five wooden dummies in the shape of wolves on his right and five wooden dummies in the shape of giant birds on his left. He set the price for the training room at 200MP with a profit of 100MP, and became his own first customer. He needed to exhaust himself continuously for his body to adapt to his cultivation, and could no longer afford toze around. He started hisbat training fighting against one human dummy for now. He could select the strength of the attacking dummy all the way to the peak of Qi training, but for now settled for the dummy being slightly stronger than himself. He also had the option to use wooden weapons, but settled for hand-to-handbat. Even now he was not actuallybat trained, but this training dummy would automatically train him. ***** Somewhere on Vegus Minima, two men stood with arms folded in front of a small team of soldiers. The soldiers all had their guns pointed towards the two men, yet it was the team of soldiers who were more anxious. The soldiers were all on various levels of Qi training, while the two men were in the Foundation realm. The soldiers had no way of knowing how strong the two men really were, but it was fair to say that the soldiers basically stood no chance of winning a fight. At most, they would be able to injure or wound the two men. ¡°I¡¯m going to ask you onest time,¡± said one of the two men, his voice full of suppressed rage, ¡°where did you get that ring?¡± One of the soldiers was wearing a gold ring on his hand, with a ruby carved in the shape of a dragon on it. The man speaking was Brother Chen, and the reason he had his arms folded was to keep himself from attacking the soldiers and ripping them limb from limb. The ring used to belong to Brother Chen¡¯s father, but after his father passed away his sister took it and started wearing it on a chain around her neck. The two soldiers had been searching for their lost caravan since they had returned from the Inn, with no luck. Their tracks had been destroyed and there was no sign of them anywhere. Despite searching for days the two had no luck, right up until they ran into these soldiers while scavenging in the ruins of an old town. Meeting unfamiliar survivors was always a risky business on vegus Minima, as humans were just as dangerous as zombies, if not more. These soldiers however attracted the two mens attention because of their unusually neat gear as well as advanced weapons. They even handled themselves with a coordination that spoke of military training. Such things were so rare that Brother Chen and ne had never encountered them their entire lives. This was because there was no actual military to speak of, each settlement only had a ragtag bunch of people who had somehow managed to raise their cultivation. When they approached to make inquiries, both of them immediately recognized the ring. That¡¯s when the confrontation started. ¡°I¡¯m telling you, I bought it at the remation outpost,¡± the man spoke, hiding the nervousness in his voice. Despite the fear he felt, his training prevented him from backing down. ¡°Thisnd is being reimed by the Jotun Empire, and all settlements and survivors are being relocated. Since you have not encountered the¡­¡± ¡°Bullsh*t!¡± Brother Chen roared. ¡°Lily would never sell her ring, and I¡¯ve never heard of this Jotun Empire! This is yourst warning, tell me how you got the ring or I won¡¯t bother being polite with you anymore!¡± The soldiers tightened their position and kept their aim, ready forbat at any moment. ¡°I¡¯m telling you, follow us to the remation outpost and you can see for yourself. A new country is being founded on thisnd, remation work has begun. In the future you will be citizens of the Jotum Empire, but if you dare to attack soldiers of the Empire then despite your cultivation you will not be spared.¡± ne and Brother Chen shared a look, as if unsure whether to believe the soldier or not. A country being formed? That was the most ridiculous thing he¡¯d ever heard, no one had the strength to fight off the zombie hordes that would be attracted to such a massive gathering of people. Under normal circumstances they would have alreadybeled these soldiers as liars and attacked them, yet these circumstances were anything but normal. The two had just returned from a mysticalnd that could transport guests from all over the universe, and met the most ridiculously powerful people. If that were possible¡­a country being formed didn¡¯t seem so farfetched. The question now was, should they follow the soldiers to confirm their stories? If they were lying, the two would no doubt be led to a trap that would spell their doom. But the two had Golden keys that would allow them to escape any trap, so they were considering it. Eventually ne was the one who spoke, ¡°Alright then, take us to the remation outpost you¡¯re talking of. But know this, if you¡¯re lying then even if we¡¯re unable to escape, we have more than enough ways to kill you!¡± The soldiers finally rxed a little at hearing the news. The captain of this squad, who had been speaking with Brother Chen earlier, took out a transponder and said, ¡°Home base this team remation team 6, we have found two Foundation realm survivors. Requesting immediate extraction, over.¡± ¡°Copy that remation team, a Slingshot is on the way, over.¡± The soldier put themunication device away and looked back at the two angry men. ¡°There will be some paperwork when you enter the outpost, and you¡¯ll need to fill in your data. If the person you¡¯re looking for¡­this ¡®Lily¡¯ has been to the remation outpost then her data should also be in the database. You¡¯ll be able to contact her from there.¡± The two nodded, but still kept their guard up. The story these soldiers were telling was too fantastical. They had spent their entire lives, fighting and running, with only very little time spent in settlements because of how rare they were. Now they were being told that an entire country was being established. Despite their recent experiences, they found it a little hard to believe. Chapter 74 First trial Lex continued to fight with the training dummy for hours. After his initial burst of energy, he stopped trying to learnbat from it and simply just focused on survival. Every now and again he¡¯d take a break due to exhaustion, but after lying down for around twenty minutes in the Training room he¡¯d get back up again. By evening he was so physically drained that he decided to end it for the day. He teleported to his room and drew himself a bath, falling asleep almost the instant hey down in the tub. Only a few momentster, he disappeared from the bathtub and reappeared in the white room where he first cultivated. Even though he was already asleep, a sedative was injected into his arm to ensure he did not wake up during the process. Instead of tubes connecting to his body likest time, a metallic helmet was attached to his head which began softly vibrating. The first procedure he underwent affected his body, while the second one would affect his spirit. The third would affect his soul, and the final procedure would merge his body, soul and spirit into one entity that had the characteristics of all three. After the fourth procedure wasplete, Lex would finally gain control of his cultivation and would have to consciously cultivate to grow his strength. That, however, was a matter for ater time. ***** William Benthan, for the first time in many many years, woke up without the sensation of pain in his body. It was so surreal that initially he did not even realize he was awake and that this was not a dream. When he finally did realize what was happening, he raised his arm and looked at it in disbelief. He pinched himself, just to ensure this was real and when he felt the sharp sensation of pain run through his body he did not wince but insteadughed. He felt light as a feather, and in better health than even when he was young. His cultivation had regressed, yes, but with his resources it would take him no time at all to restart. He exited the Recovery Pod(RP) and found Hugo patiently waiting for him on the side.. ¡°How do you feel?¡± the man asked. ¡°Like a young man,¡± Will replied, jumping onto the ground. Then, so amused by the sensation, he jumped a few more times to test his body. His back wasn¡¯t jolted by the shock of the movement, his knees didn¡¯t hurt and his muscles didn¡¯t ache. This truly was much better than he even hoped for. ¡°Come, show me around this ce.¡± Will said, as he exited the room. A part of the soul contract for Hugo was to explore whatever the golden key led to, but afterwards he would be Will¡¯s body guard. Hugo¡¯s temperament and experience didn¡¯t really make him suitable as a bodyguard, but he was strong enough for the job and that¡¯s all that really mattered. ¡°This ce has changed somewhat,¡± Hugomented, looking at the smallke outside the Recovery Room (RR). ¡°I think it would be better if we let the staff show us around.¡± With that, he called for Gerard to give him and the old man a tour. Gerard showed up driving the golf cart, secretly quite satisfied with the opportunity to drive this vehicle around. ¡°Thiske is for resting, and for fishing,¡± Gerardmented as he began his tour. ¡°The Innkeeper is usually busy, off visiting other worlds, but every time he returns he improves the Inn to better cater to his guests. Thiske is one of his newer additions to the Inn¡¯s environment, but he has not fallen behind in adding new services for his guests as well.¡± Gerard drove them around to the Training room, the meditation room, the forest and finally the Mystery trial. Along the way they encountered Helen as well, who was surrounded by peacocks. Will asked about her but Gerardmented that he is not at liberty to discuss other guests. Gerard did let him know that if he was interested he could go and talk to her, but Will put it off forter. He was curious about the Mystery trial and decided that he would enter, but decided to wait till he saw the Gift Shop. As expected, he was very interested in the items he saw there. He had no use for the Zombie Cores as he was not a body cultivator, but he knew their value. Besides that, Bom Dew attracted his attention and he directly bought ten bottles. He also bought seven Golden keys and a Saturn cake. With that he was quite satisfied. ¡°Would you happen to have any water affinity cultivation techniques?¡± he asked Gerard. The fact that they were not shown in the Gift shop did not mean they weren¡¯t avable, however he was destined to be disappointed. ¡°Unfortunately, at the moment we do not have any. Perhaps I can forward your request to the Innkeeper the next time he returns.¡± ¡°No, no need to trouble the Innkeeper,¡± Will said cheerily. He would have been happy if he could find a cultivation technique here ¨C he expected it to be better than whatever he could find on Earth ¨C yet he was not disappointed by theck of one. It would not be troublesome for him to find one on his own. Once he was done seeing everything, Will retired to Hugo¡¯s room where he set the cake and invited the bodyguard to have some as well. The two ate in silence. For Hugo, it was simply a delicious cake, but as Will had dropped his cultivation and was no longer even in Qi Training, he lost himself in euphoria. It was not a physical sensation, as if it was like a drug giving him pleasure, but it brought his mental state to a peak, and slowly he went through all his pleasant memories. At some point, the man dozed off and took a short nap. He woke uppletely refreshed and feeling good. ¡°Hugo return back to Earth and summon all my children. Tell them they need to be physically present when I return. Also, summon Hera as well. It is time I let her know the worth of her gamble. Also, contact Bluebird. I want to view their collection of cultivation techniques, but also tell my Butler to invite a few private dealers so that I can have a wider pool to choose from.¡± ¡°What will you do?¡± ¡°Me? I¡¯m very curious about the Mystery trial. Gerard said that there is a reward if I¡¯m able to pass. Since my first visit is free, and it¡¯s not dangerous, I see no reason why I can¡¯t visit it.¡± Hugo nodded, and left the Inn. This time, he didn¡¯t get a Golden key since he himself didn¡¯t actually purchase anything or avail any services. Once Hugo left, Will walked towards the trial. Arge metal door awaited him, giving off an ancient feel. It was as if the door had existed since the beginning of time, and had trapped behind it an ancient power. As if the door knew his intention, it slowly opened, revealing a dark hall behind it. Will mustered up his courage and stepped through, and was taken aback by the sudden change. The moment he stepped through the threshold of the door, his environment changed. He found himself dressed formally, surrounded by various dignitaries and noblemen at a ball. He did not recognize anyone there, and yet he knew everyone. To be clear, he had never met anyone here before in his life, but somehow he knew the name and details of everyone here. He also found that he knew that he was not here as William Benthan, but under the guise of another strange identity. The ball was being hosted by the King of whichever country this was, and everyone was specting as to the reason for the ball. Somehow, Will knew that his trial was to befriend as many people as possible, and learn the truth of what was happening behind the scenes. This was a strange trial, andpletely different from what Will had been expecting. Yet on some level, it made sense. If Will had to define his strongest ability, he would say that it wasworking. Despite his feeble cultivation and illness, he boasted arge financial empire and strong contacts in both the mortal and cultivation world. He knew how to win hearts, and how to influence people when he wanted something. Since Will knew the details of his trial he saw no reason to dy. He approached a middle aged old man who was sporting a rather handsome handlebar mustache, and said, ¡°Bernie! It¡¯s good to see you here! I was rather worried you wouldn¡¯t be able to make it due to the whole smuggler business.¡± The man Bernie recognized Will, andughed as he reached out for a hug. Will thought everything was going well, until he saw a red colored ¡®+1¡¯ appearing above Bernie¡¯s head. When Will focused on it, he learnt that Will had negatively impacted Bernie¡¯s mood by reminding him of something unpleasant. Although the middle aged man didn¡¯t let it show, he did not appreciate Will¡¯sment. A smuggling ring had been caught by the local authorities in the area under his charge, and was now under investigation to see if he had any connections to the smuggling ring. While such a small incident would not affect their rtionship, nurturing positive feelings was the most basic rule ofworking. It seems Will had made a very basic mistake. Will continued to talk to the man, and realized that his attention would somehow be naturally attracted to small gestures the man made, or minor details about his behavior. When he associated those gestures or behaviors with the blue numbers that would represent positive feelings or red that would represent negative, Will found himself learning a bit about how to anticipate the others reaction. Soon, he found himself experimenting with the others as well as he tried to charm them. He was already good at socializing and grasping at people¡¯s hearts, but now he found his skill improving. Soon, he forgot all about the purpose of his trial, and was more absorbed in improving hisworking and reading people as much as possible. Chapter 75 Getting serious As soon as Lex woke up his mind was clear, without the usual grogginess thates after a long nap. He noticed that he was not in his bathtub, thest ce he remembered being. He was in the familiar white room. A grin painted his face when he realized what had happened and jumped off the table, ready to test out his increased strength. The focus of the second procedure was his spirit, but naturally an increase in his cultivation realm would also increase his basic physical capabilities. He felt stronger, but he would need to test out his strength in the Training room to get a clear understanding of how much stronger he really was. The change that felt most obvious to him was his mind. He could not say that he had gotten smarter, but that he could do more. An easy way to exin it was that if Lex had to do a math equation mentally that would take him five seconds to solve, he could now solve it one. His mental capability had improved, but if Lex did not know how to solve that math equation in the first ce no amount of improvements would change that. Although, perhaps he¡¯d be able to learn how to solve the equation with greater ease now. He should test out the theory by going over some of his old college material. Since he¡¯d forgotten almost all of it, it could be treated as if he was learning that stuff for the first time. It would give him a decent benchmark to test how much his learning capability had improved. Naturally, there was more to his improvements than just that. With an increase in his spirit, he would be more resistant to spirit attacks or invasions, and would more easily be able to see through illusions. It would take time and experimentation to learn exactly what else his increased spirit allowed him to do. ¡°Congrattions,¡± said Mary, appearing before him. Something that surprised Lex was that Mary had changed her clothes, and now appeared to be wearing the white Taekwondo uniform. ¡°Thank you, I¡¯m relieved that the upgrade happened. I don¡¯t know how much longer I could have taken getting beaten up by those dummies.¡±. ¡°Haha your training is far from over young man. After yourtest increase in cultivation, your spirit is unstable. Before you can increase your cultivation again, you need to wait for your spirit to stabilize. You can speed up that process by meditating, so that¡¯ll be your next task. For some people, that¡¯s even worse than getting beaten up by a dummy.¡± Lex groaned, thinking about that. He had never tried meditating before, but he couldn¡¯t imagine it would be easy. He checked how much his next upgrade would be, and predictably the price had increased to 10,000MP! He needed to figure out a way to increase his ie. ¡°Mary, how can I increase the number of guests that I receive? My ie is too low, it can¡¯t keep up with my expenses.¡± ¡°If you want to increase your ie, your focus should be onpleting quests. You haven¡¯t even started the farming quest yet, let alone the one for repeat guests. Completing quests will directly help you improve the Inn and increase your authority. The greater your authority, the more things you can do.¡± Lex cursed, he hadpletely forgotten about getting the seeds! He would return to Earth as soon as possible to figure that out. But the other quest¡­ ¡°But how am I supposed to get repeat guests? The only thing I can do there is wait for them toe back.¡± ¡°That¡¯s too passive. Yes, some guests will eventuallye back, ultimately fulfilling the requirements for the quest, but if that¡¯s all it took then why would the Inn give you the quest. You have to be more active, and figure out how to bring those customers back. You always wait for the system or the Inn to give you things, but never take initiative to figure things out on your own. ¡°The Marlo quest was the only one you put any effort into at all. Be more imaginative. To be honest, this quest was so, SO easy. I don¡¯t want to give you any bad ideas, but all you needed to do was find some poor sap on Earth, give them keys and make theme back to the Inn repeatedly. In fact, you earned a decent amount of money, you could have even paid them directly to buy things from the Inn toplete the quest.¡± Lex frowned, realizing that he really had been too nonchnt about the quests. Mary was right, his quest that he had been treating as difficult had such an easy loophole. He pulled up his status to look at his ongoing quests. Quests: Having a gueste once can be an ident, only repeat guests can reflect an institution¡¯s prestige! Have 5 individual repeat guests! (Progress: ? (Repeated guest: Hugo)) Host has encountered a extremely suitable for finding guests. Build a connection to Dunya! With a garden avable in your backyard, it¡¯s time to improve the quality of your food. Grow spiritual vegetables for the Inns kitchen. He was happy to see that Hugo returning counted him as a repeat guest. He was expecting Alexander to return soon, and those two teenage love birds definitely nned on using this ce as a rendezvous but it was unknown when exactly they would return. He could wait a little to see if he had any repeat guests, but at the moment he was inclined towards using the loophole Mary told him of. Of course, he had to carefully n out how to do it so that he would not be connected to the Inn. He was already surprised at the extent of surveince he had encountered on Earth. As for going to Dunya, forget it! The twos he had gone to were only 1 star and yet he had nearly died on both of them. There was no way in hell he would be going to Dunya right now, even his brain tumor did not make him stupid enough to do something like that. The easiest one for now was the vegetable one. He wouldplete it as soon as possible. ¡°By the way, while you were asleep Will recovered and has entered the Mystery trail. He has been in there for about an hour now.¡± ¡°Oh interesting. Is there any way we can see what his trial is?¡± ¡°No, but you can ask him about it when he¡¯s done. I think it might not be a bad idea for you to go through the trial once as well.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll think about it, but not now. I¡¯m returning to Earth to buy some seeds, keep me updated in case he leaves the trial.¡± Lex exited the white room and returned directly to Earth. He took out his phone and turned it on, only to receive a dozen or so notifications. He directly ignored most of them, responding only to Moon and Larry. He told his youngest sister by telling her he¡¯d be going on a trip for work so he¡¯d be outside the service area so if she is unable to reach him she should not be rmed. He messaged Larry thanking him for calling Bluebird, and then messaged him that he dropped out of Marlo¡¯s ss and that he¡¯d be leaving for a while. He googled the closest Farmers Market and went there directly and bought a few packets of every kind of seed they had. Then he put up an ad on eBay for four people to help him make a special delivery. He only listed the payment for the ad as $50 per person. He wanted to attract the kind of people who would not ask too many questions and were desperate for cash. He would check the response on the ad tomorrow, and promptly returned to the Inn. Of course, before returning to the Inn he went to a discreet location without any cameras. He didn¡¯t want to leave behind any evidence of him appearing and disappearing ¨C especially since he was walking around without his Bluebird token. He didn¡¯t want his location being tracked. He returned to the Inn and teleported directly to the greenhouse. The Gardener had done some decent work, and prepared some support beams for the vines to grow on. He¡¯d divided the area into four different sections, one for vines, one for precious herbs, one for trees and one for the vegetables that Lex would bring. So far the growth was not too prominent, but it had barely been a day. It would take some time at least for the cuttings to regain their vigor. Lex handed over the seeds and was about to discuss the growth n with the gardener when Velma appeared beside him, telling him that Helen was asking for him. Apparently she had an important request. Chapter 76 Morrison family Lex walked to the youngdy who always seemed to be surrounded by animals. Currently Helen had a rabbit in herp, a pigeon on her shoulder and several peacocks surrounding her. Her affinity with animals was remarkably high. ¡°I see you are enjoying thepany of our new residents,¡± Lex said with a smile. ¡°I was told you had a request, what may I do for you?¡± Helen, who was sitting on the grass, looked up at the mysterious Innkeeper. Although her mood had been downtely, the Innkeeper somehow always had a warm and weing feeling around him. Just his presence was so rxing. ¡®He would make a good body pillow,¡¯ she thought to herself, before turning her attention to the matter at hand. ¡°It¡¯s an unusual request, I hope you don¡¯t mind,¡± she warned hesitantly. ¡°Not at all. Please, let me know what¡¯s on your mind and I¡¯ll see what I can do about it.¡± ¡°I noticed one of your new guests earlier, and recognized him ¨C William Bentham, CEO of Bentham corp. I¡¯m sure there is no reason he would recognize me, but I was worried that you may have other guests who might recognize me in the future, which might cause some problems. Is there any way for you to hide my identity? If not, can you give me a mask? I don¡¯t want to spend my time hiding in my room.¡±. This was an unusual request, but made Lex realize that this was another aspect of the Inn he had not anticipated. In the future, guests maye to the Inn to hide from their enemies in which case it would be important to hide their identities. Something lille wearing a mask would not fool everyone since not everyone could have the ¡®rk Kent effect¡¯, he needed a better solution. ¡°I suggest you tell her to wait a bit. Once you unlock the Inn prestige for guests, hiding their identities will naturally be a perk for them,¡± said Mary, who was still dressed in her Taekwondo uniform. ¡°Your uniform looks nice,¡± hemented mentally, before looking towards Helen and saying, ¡°I am working on something for that. It should be avable for you by tomorrow. Until then I can ask Velma to bring you a mask, or you can rest in your room.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± Helen responded. After that Lex teleported to his room and looked at his system. Only a few days were left till the end of his contract with Velma and Gerard. He wanted to wait as long as he could before he changed their status to permanent, but at this point he guessed it would be better to just change it lest he miss the deadline by ident. Paying a hefty 4000 MP, Lex changed their status to permanent, leaving him with only 3316MP. He was once again feeling poor. The Innkeeper let out a sigh before he sat cross legged on his bed and started trying to meditate. He had never done it before and had no idea how to sessfully meditate, and to be honest didn¡¯t really want to try either. But he still had to do it. He wanted to upgrade his cultivation as quickly as possible, and with his life on the line he had to be a little more disciplined. While Lex was learning the art of meditation, Will finally exited the trial. It was fair to say he had failed spectacrly. Till the end of the trial he did not learn anything about the true purpose behind the ball at all. He did however learn a lot about the different ways in which people behave. When up against an ordinary man, it was easy to read what he was thinking or feeling simply from his facial expressions and bodynguage. Against the cream of the crop of an entire nation, however, it was much harder. They had a mastery over their body and expressions, and only showed what they wanted the other to see. They could be smiling andughing, but cursing you on the inside and you would never know. In fact, Will encountered a particrdy who took up most of his time in the trial. He was ashamed to admit that he had ended up spending a good amount of time flirting with the woman. The interesting thing was, when confronted or even insulted, the woman¡¯s impression of Will increased. Of course, not all insults improved her impression, and some just in made her mad. But within a certain boundary the more aggressive Will was the more she appreciated him internally, but externally no one could tell. He also met a rather interesting fellow who, without letting Will realize, got Will to disclose a few of his own secrets ¨C or rather the secrets of the character he was ying. When Will realized what was happening he was quite shook. It then dawned on him that while he was trying to gauge others, others were doing the same to him ¨C perhaps with even a greater mastery than himself. It was an important lesson. All in all, even though Will failed the trial, he found the experience very insightful. He would take some time to digest everything he had learnt and then return. With that done, he left for Earth. He was about to be a very busy man once again, and he could feel the excitement coursing through his veins. ***** Alexander got off a space shuttle and onto the Red. He did not need a space suit as the atmosphere on Mars had beenpletely altered using arrays and technology to make it suitable for human habitation. His travel time from Earth to Mars was one of the quickest ever recorded, one because the twos happened to be near each other in their orbit, and two because he had used hundreds of spirit stones to speed up his flight. He was normally not impatient, but this matter was important. ¡°Alexander, wee home,¡± said a well dressed man who approached him with a smile. His name was Percy, and was one of Alexander¡¯s personal assistants. ¡°News about you is still suppressed so this is the only weingmittee for you this time around, I¡¯m afraid.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. Take me home directly, I need to meet with my father.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± replied Percy, and led him to his car. Alexander was silent all the way home, something unusual Percy thought, but then this was an unusual time. Percy of course did not know that Alexander had anticipated the assassination attempt, so he thought the young man was in a bad mood because of it. His home was surprisingly not arge mansion, but was a small, single story building surrounded by a vast forest. The Morrison family home was a very private building, and they almost never received guests. Other than a few, very old and trustworthy staff members, everyone in the building was a Morrison. The first thing Alexander did when he got home was meet his mother, to assure her that he was unhurt from the recent incident, before quickly entering his fathers study room. Two young men who bore a strong resemnce to Alexander were sitting in the room chatting when he arrived. If anyone saw the three of them together they would assume they were brothers, but no they were son, father and grandfather. Alexander¡¯s father and grandfather both had a very high cultivation level, which drastically slowed down their aging process. ¡°Ah my dear Alexander, you¡¯ve grown so much since Ist saw you. Give your grandfather a hug.¡± Alexander quickly and unceremoniously rejected his grandfather. Who the hell was he kidding? His grandfather was at the peak of Golden Core in body cultivation, thest time Alexander hugged him he broke a few ribs. ¡°I see you¡¯ve gotten a new tattoo,¡± Alexander said, looking at the crow on his grandfather¡¯s neck. Unlike the other two, Alexander¡¯s grandfather was covered in tattoos from head to toe. They came in every shape and size you could imagine. Alexander remembered that once when he was very young he yed a game of tictactoe with his grandfather on one of his biceps using an ink gun. The evidence of that game was still there. ¡°Don¡¯t encourage him,¡± said Rorick, Alexander¡¯s father. ¡°Your grandmother has introduced the old man to anime. You don¡¯t know how much effort it took me to stop him from getting a ninjutsu tattooed on himself. Unfortunately, I was not able to stop him from altering some of the family spirit techniques.¡± Alexander¡¯s grandfather, Brandon, grinned and activated a technique to show him when Rorick was referring to. Alexander immediately dismissed the chain made of fire that appeared in Brandon¡¯s hand, his focus was on the golden, glowing aura around his grandfather as well as his suddenly spiked hair. He was both impressed and embarrassed. Alexander shook his head in defeat and quickly took out the Tier 4 Zombie core and threw it towards his grandfather. He knew that unless he intervened, the two would keep antagonizing each other. His grandparents were both very free spirited people. They wore their hearts on their sleeve, weren¡¯t afraid to show exactly how they felt and did exactly what they wanted. His parents were the exact opposite ¨C they were extremely formal and disciplined, and paid great attention to propriety. Other than when they talked about cultivation, they never got along with each other ¨C mostly because it was his grandfather¡¯s passion to irritate his father. When Brandon held the zombie core his casual smilepletely disappeared, and he looked at the item in his hand with doubtful eyes. ¡°I think you should listen to what happened on Earth. This will affect all our ns.¡± Chapter 77 Harry Styles ¡°Wait, so you¡¯veunched a hunt for Marlo?¡± asked Alexander. ¡°Yes, when you told us to look at Marlo¡¯s recent actions we noticed that he disappeared shortly before the assassination. We did not suspect his involvement at all until then, it¡¯s a good thing you tipped us off. We haven¡¯t started looking for him directly, but we¡¯ve already hinted to a few organizations on Earth that we want to know his whereabouts. They¡¯ve already begun their hunt, it won¡¯t be long before we find him.¡± ¡°No no no! He was not involved at all, that¡¯s not why I told you to look for him. I already know where he is, I wanted to know about his recent actions because I wanted to know who could hurt him so badly. This is what happened¡­¡± Alexander began exining to his family where he saw Marlo, unaware that his casual remark had inadvertently caused the mysterious Innkeeper to move out of his apartment and escape Earth. ***** The next day Lex woke up, unrested and groggy. He was not in his room, but in the meditation room instead. Yesterday he had tried meditating, but found he could not stop himself from having random thoughts. After trying to avoid daydreaming for thirty minutes, he had identally fallen asleep. When he woke up Mary told him that mediating would be harder for him than others because his spirit was currently unstable, but that was exactly why it was so important that he keep trying. After another short period with no sess, it urred to him to try the meditation room. The change was drastic, and he immediately felt much calmer once inside. Lex was not sure exactly what state constituted as meditation, as he never fully went without a few random thoughts crossing his mind, but he had a firmer grasp on his thoughts at least. Still, it got boring pretty quickly. However the young Innkeeper persevered. At some point he had once again fallen asleep without realizing, and was only waking up now. He got up and stretched, cracking his various joints as he stood up. Sleeping whilst in a sitting pose was notfortable at all, even with his improved physique.. He had breakfast in his room and then teleported back to Earth. It was time toplete his quest. He made his way to the particr coffeeshop he had requested as the meeting location on his eBay ad. After exchanging various messages with the people who contacted him and waiting for a few hours, he finally selected four men to help himplete his task. Three of them were older, and wore old, worn out clothes. The fourth looked like a teenager, and though he was also wearing old clothes looked very presentable. ¡°Your task is simple, and should not take more than twenty minutes. I¡¯m shooting a film and you¡¯ll be helping me during a scene. You¡¯ll all wear blindfolds, and I will lead you somewhere. I¡¯ll give you all a check which you will have to hand over to someone in exchange for a bottle of ¡®Bom Dew¡¯. Once you¡¯ve received the bottle I¡¯ll bring you back. We may shoot the scene a couple of times. Once I¡¯m satisfied with the result, I¡¯ll pay you all in cash.¡± The four men didn¡¯t seem too bothered by his instructions and were just impatient to get started. Lex led them to a secluded area in Central Park and handed them all blindfolds and handed them signed nk checks, as well as a Golden Key each once they were wearing the blindfolds. ¡°Action,¡± Lex yelled loudly while pretending to record them from his phone. He helped them activate the keys, and they were all teleported to the Inn. Lex used his control over the Inn to teleport them directly to the Gift shop, he didn¡¯t want anyone to see what was happening Velma greeted them all, and one by one they handed over the check and asked for a bottle of Botam Dew. Once they all had their bottles, he ejected them from the Inn. When they all returned they all received a Golden key each, for buying something from the Inn. This way Lex didn¡¯t need to buy them for them himself again, which was a hefty cost. The base price for a Golden key was 100MP, but every time he bought the key again during the same week the price would double. This double price wouldn¡¯t count if a guest would buy a key themself from the Gift shop, but for Lex buying these 4 keys had already cost him 1500MP! Fortunately, even though the checks these four people used to buy the Bom Dew were from Lex¡¯s own ount, the System did not discriminate and epted the MP so he recovered 480MP. With one sessful transaction he told them they were going to shoot one more time and quickly repeated the process. As soon as the four returned back to Earth, he got the notification for Quest Completion. Quest Complete! The Host¡¯s rewarded is being calcted: ¨C No upgrade applied Reward Rank: D Reward: Midnight Inn Prestige Remarks: If you put in all your effort, work hard, and focus with all your might, somehow you might seed at being evenzier than you are. New Quest: Hire a permanent Employee Quest details: Due to the system¡¯s serious doubt in the Host, no restrictions are being ced on the kind of employee. Please hire anyone who will not somehow harm the Inn, and you will be rewarded ordingly. Quest reward: Subject to change based on performance. Lex¡¯s lips twitched once again at the heavy criticism, but he hade to expect it now. Why was the system so much more annoying than Mary? She was so cute and adorable, the system should be more like her. At least with that out of the way, Lex turned his attention to his ¡®actors¡¯. He quickly took back the blindfolds, keys and Bom Dews as the ¡®props¡¯ he had given them and paid them all $50. Some of them tried to argue for more, ready with the intention to create trouble, but Lex was a cultivator now. As soon as he frowned, his intimidating figure promptly shut them up. Thest ¡®actor¡¯, the teenager, didn¡¯t leave immediately after receiving his money. He kept staring at Lex for a bit, and just as Lex was ready to brush off any attempts for more money, the kid said, ¡°Your haircut doesn¡¯t suit your face.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Lex said, not expecting such a remark. ¡°When you get your haircut and the hair is freshly cut, it may not look so bad, but once a few days pass and your hair bes more natural the look changes. Your current haircut makes your face look round, and bigger than it is. You should try out a different style. If you want, I can cut your hair.¡± Lex smiled, amused at the boys¡¯ attempted hustle. ¡°And how much will you charge for the haircut?¡± he asked, not dismissing the kid immediately. ¡°The first time is free. If you like the haircut, and decide in the future that you want me to continue cutting your hair, you can give me a call. You should also get a shave too while you¡¯re at it, by the way. I can tell you shave using a trimmer instead of a de. That causes your hair to be cut unevenly and doesn¡¯t give you a clean look. A close shave will improve your look and make you more presentable. I perform hot towel shaves, which will not only help you rx, it¡¯llpletely change the way you feel about shaving.¡± Originally Lex wanted to leave immediately as he was in a hurry to see what the prestige system did. However the prestige system had been unlocked and implemented, so whether he learnt about it immediately or a littleter did not matter. ¡°What¡¯s your name kid?¡± Lex asked. ¡°Harry, just Harry. I used to go by Harry Styles when I started cutting hair, but I just found out that there¡¯s already some guy who goes by that name, so until I think of a better one I just go by Harry.¡± ¡°Alright Harry, I could go for a haircut. Where are we doing this, right here?¡± ¡°No, I don¡¯t have my equipment with me. You¡¯ll have to follow me to my apartment, I either do house calls or do my grooming at my apartment.¡± Lex didn¡¯t mind, and he liked Harry¡¯s enterprising attitude so he followed him back to his apartment. Harry lived in Harlem so they had to take the subway but it did not take too long. Lex walked into the small studio to find a messy but cozy ce. In the corner Harry had set a barbers chair in front of a full sized mirror. Although the ce was small, it did not look like something a broke teenager should be able to afford on his own. ¡°This is your apartment alone?¡± he asked, curious if he shared the ce with someone. ¡°Pretty much,¡± he said, gathering his supplies. ¡°How do you afford the rent?¡± ¡°I cut hair for the whole building,¡± Harry replied casually. ¡°And some of the neighboring buildings as well. Don¡¯t underestimate my skill, trust me, you¡¯ll look like a whole other person once I¡¯m done with you. Now, have a seat.¡± He dusted the chair and weed Lex to sit down as he filled his spray bottle with water. Lex sat, impressed by the child. Now all that was left to see how good he actually was. Chapter 78 Rose Soceity Harry wrapped Lex in the Barbers cape and sprayed his hair with cool water. ¡°Before I begin I just want to be sure, you¡¯re okay with me styling it as I want, right?¡± ¡°Yeah no problem.¡± Harry nodded and as soon as he began his expression abruptly changed. Lex was staring at the kid in the mirror and saw his focused and serious look as hebed Lex¡¯s hair into various styles. Once he decided what he wanted to go with, he started snipping. The teenager was snipping at an even pace, as if he knew exactly how many times he needed to cut in one area and by how much. With hisb in his hand he would measure Lex¡¯s hair length and then cut it as was required. After a while Lex stopped paying attention to Harry and just rxed. For some reason Lex always found the process of getting a haircut very rxing. The gentlebing, the snipping sound of the scissors, the asional cool spray of water, all soothed him. Without realizing it, Lex closed his eyes and slowly started meditating. His thoughts didn¡¯t wander towards the Inn, or his guests, or his cultivation. He was simply existing. The sound of the cutting and the feeling of Harry moving around him kept him from falling asleep, but the gentle rhythm rxed him. Time passed and eventually Harry finished grooming Lex¡¯s hair, but Lex himself waspletely unaware and he was already meditating deeply. Harry noticed Lex¡¯s peculiar state, but did nothing as he had many customers who had inadvertently fallen asleep while he worked. He took it as apliment, and was proud of his skills that would allow his customers to enjoy so much. Harry gently took Lex¡¯s head and had him rest it backwards on the neck rest to get him ready for the shave. At some point earlier he had ced a face towel under hot running water which he now grabbed using tongs. He ced the towel of his forearm once first, to ensure the temperature was not too hot, then gently ced the towel over Lex¡¯s cheeks and neck. The warm, wet towel heated up Lex¡¯s face and opened up his pores. The sudden high temperature almost woke Lex from his meditation, but Harry quickly started massaging Lex behind the ears which helped calm him down.. After a short while he stopped the massage and prepared thether, before removing the towel and applying it to Lex¡¯s face. Once that was done Harry took out a fresh de and started to shave Lex. The shave itself did not take too long and once it was done Harry took out another face towel that he had ced in an icebox and put it on Lex¡¯s face like he did previously. This time the cold woke Lex up from his meditation, but the man discovered that he was feeling extremely refreshed. He felt even better than after waking up from a short nap, and was genuinely amazed at the experience. He had never gotten someone else to shave him before, but now he could say that the experience wasn¡¯t bad. Removing the towel Harry messed up Lex¡¯s hair once with his hand, before using a blowdryer on it. Afterwards he quickly styled it and then retrieved a mirror to show Lex his hair from the back. Lex was surprised by how much he liked the new hair style and enjoyed the experience. He decided right there and then, he MUST hire Harry for his Inn. He was sure his guests would enjoy the experience, and even if they didn¡¯t he definitely would. ¡°You¡¯re better than I was expecting,¡± Lex said as he took out another $50 from his wallet. ¡°I¡¯m impressed.¡± ¡°I said for the first time there¡¯s no charge,¡± Harry said, as if very disciplined. Although Lex tried to say it was a tip, the young man was proud and refused to submit. For some reason, that made Lex like him even more. They exchanged contact information so Lex could contact him in the future, but Harry was unaware that Lex was nning on seeing him much sooner than he anticipated. Lex exited the building and returned to the Inn from somewhere nearby. He would wait a few hours before secretly sending Harry a tinum key to recruit him so that he does not associate Lex with the Inn. Back at the Inn he teleported directly to his room and investigated what prestige did. Prestige: Gives guests different levels of perks based on how much MP they spend at the Inn. Perks at Prestige level 1: Can receive sses equipped with rk Kent effect (only work while at the Inn) Perks at Prestige level 2: Can instantly teleport to the Inn from anywhere in the universe once (great for escaping enemies) Perks at Prestige level 3: Can travel to a world connected to the Inn Raise host authority for higher prestige sses. All guests who arrived at the Inn would automatically reach Prestige level 1, but to reach level 2 they would need to spend 10,000MP and then 100,000MP for level 3! Since the prestige system was just unlocked it only just started counting the MP expenditure, and did not count any MP anyone had spent prior to this. Lex was quite happy with this as it gave his guests an incentive to spend more while at his Inn. With nothing else to do now Lex really wanted to just rx and game for a bit, but for now he could not let himself rx. Once his cultivation was raised he could afford to take a few more breaks. He promptly returned to the meditation room and spent the next few hours both seeding and failing at meditation. Once it had been long enough he teleported back to Earth, ready to send Harry the tinum key. Something interesting he learnt was that he did not need to wait for people to use his keys, as long as they were holding them Lex could remotely activate them. This way he would not need to wait for Harry for a few hours or days or weeks like he did with Marlo. How would he reach Harry¡¯s apartment? Of course, the easy way. It was already night so after making sure no one was in the area Lex equipped Icarus¡¯ wings and quickly flew to Harry¡¯s apartment window and snuck in. He had made sure to secretly unlock the window while he was at Harry¡¯s apartment. The teenager was asleep at his desk, on hisptop in front of him a video about styling hair was ying. Lex nodded in appreciation at the dedication and dropped the tinum key in the kids hand before sneaking back out. As much as Lex felt the urge to fly around the city, he knew he would get into trouble so he resisted. As soon as he returned to the Inn he mentally activated the tinum key and was once again teleported to the familiar white room. Soon Harry appeared in the room as well, still in a half asleep state. Drool was dripping down his chin and though he was standing, it looked like he himself was unaware that he was awake now. Lex viewed his status to check for any unexpected information before he began. Name: Harry Age: 17 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: ¨C None Species: Human Remarks: Seems extremely ordinary, so already better than the host! Once he was sure all was as it seemed, he was ready for his performance. ¡°Wee, young Harry, to the Midnight Inn,¡± a booming voice shook the poor teenager awake from his reverie. The teenager was rmed when he realized he was in an unfamiliar ce, but before his thoughts could stray further away, his attention was attracted to the man standing in the middle. ¡°I am in the Innkeeper, and I have summoned you here because I¡¯ve had an eye on your talent. The universe is a vast ce, it would be a shame if your skills would be left unearthed¡­¡± Lex was using the full might of the Host Attire on the young man so that he could make a strong impression on him. He did not want to lose another potentially great employee due to carelessness. ***** Hera was still dazed as she stood beside Will, who was weing a few guests to his house. Yesterday when she saw him looking so young and energetic she did not recognize him at all. The old man looked as if he had never been sick a day in his life, and as if he were the model for good health. Just as Hera was dealing with the shock of his recovery, the old man introduced her to the world of cultivation. He told her the repayment that he had promised her that was worth much more than money was cultivation, for her and when he came of age, for her son. Since then she had seen countless amazing things, and the old man had already gotten an instructor for her and her son. She had started training her body today, but since she was not too athletic andpletely out of shape it was very tough for her. Yet the old man promised that soon, he would help her ovee that barrier. Once thest of the guests entered the room the doors were firmly closed and Will¡¯s bodyguard, Hugo, stood at the door. ¡°Wee backdies and gentlemen, to the Rose Society, where we left off so many unfinished things long ago. I have found for us the path to salvation and redemption.¡± With a wide grin Will took out seven shining, golden keys from a pouch and started passing them around. Chapter 79 Glamor Sorceror Harry was in awe of the man before him, and all the amazing things he told him. Cultivation? Multiple worlds? The whole universe? These things were too vast and vague for him toprehend ¨C but the one thing he did understand was that this was an amazing opportunity for him. Harry had a hustling attitude. Every minute of every day his mind was either on how to make money or how to improve his skills and make connections. Truth be told the apartment he was living in wasn¡¯t under his name, even though he paid the rent. Harry was an orphan and at the age of fifteen he ran away from his foster home and came to New York. It took him some time, but eventually he worked his way into a decent life. His apartment was under the name of a rich student Harry met at an event at NYU. He liked Harry¡¯s skills, and had him cut his hair every two weeks. He even did all the paperwork to help Harry get the apartment, though he was very clear about the fact that Harry would have to pay the deposit and rent himself. He was able to achieve all of this because he availed every opportunity that came his way, and he wasn¡¯t about to miss this one either. But before he could officially be a member of the Midnight Inn, he had to undergo a test. And what were the details of the test? He had topletely restyle some girl named Velma¡¯s hair. Harry was a little nervous as he usually cut men¡¯s hair, but he had seen a lot of tutorials online on cutting womens hair. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, suppressing his nerves. When he opened his eyes again they were filled with focus and determination. He would not fail. Lex watched as Harry worked. He only set the test that he wanted to have Harry cut some hair. The system decided that the test would be cutting Velma¡¯s hair, but just the haircut wasn¡¯t enough. It would test various things, such as professionalism, knowledge, skill, Velma¡¯s satisfaction, her charm factor ¨C whatever that was ¨C and many more. To be honest, he wanted to use some loopholes and just hire him directly, but the system would never rx its standards for anyone ¨C even its host. The equipment was provided by the Inn, and the haircut took ce in the white room. When Harry asked what kind of a look Velma wanted, she said that as she dealt with guests a lot a formal look is what she wanted. Other than that she did not have much in mind, as this was literally the first makeover of her very short life and she knew nothing about them! As Harry worked everyone waited, filled with anticipation.. ***** Brother Chen and ne had been through a lot thest couple of days. When they reached the ¡®remation outpost¡¯ they were shocked to see that this simple ¡®outpost¡¯ was already bigger than any settlement they had ever seen. They were led to the registration and background check department, where they were questioned by Golden Core cultivators about their past in general such as if they had any affiliations with other settlements, if they acted against any settlements and what kind of crimes they hadmitted. They were hooked up to lie detectors so they could only tell the truth. Fortunately, although the two had killed humans before it was mostly against bandits and they never attacked settlements for resources ormitted heinous crimes. Once their background check waspleted and they were approved for registration, they were sent to a rehabilitation and reeducation center. The purpose of the rehabilitation and reeducation center was to diagnose what mental health issues they had, what disorders they had developed, and determine if they were suitable to join society. The Jotun Empire took it as a foregone conclusion that living their entire lives in survival mode, attacked at every opportunity all natives of Vegus Minima would have some mental health issues and disorders. Not that they would be discriminated against for having disorders, they would receive the appropriate help. Once they were diagnosed, they eventually learnt why all this was happening. The Jotun Empire was not an empire founded by anyone on Vegus Minima, but was a gctic empire that had many sr systems under their domain. They were in a massive war against demons that spanned the entire known universe. It wasn¡¯t just the Jotun Empire that was at war against them, but various other Empires, Sects, Families, Organizations and powers. The war was aplex issue and the two did not get too many details about it, but they were assured that as recognized citizens of the Jotun Empire they would be protected and no longer needed to fight ¨C unless they wanted to! The two could not believe it, and were in shock. They didn¡¯t know what their lives would look like now that they had a chance to live peacefully. Before they could wrap their heads around it, they decided to look for their lost caravan. It must be said that the people at the remation outpost were extremely organized. As soon as the two provided information about their caravan, they were informed about their whereabouts. The caravan had actually split up once they reached the outpost. The Jotun Empire offered them homes, security and jobs as well as professional training as to how to fit into a peaceful society and live meaningful lives. More than half the caravan took that offer and were relocated off. Among these people was Iris, ne¡¯s girlfriend. Others, who had a strong hatred for zombies which were identified as lesser demons, joined the war efforts. Lily, Brother Chen¡¯s sister, was among those people. The two soldiers looked at each other with mixed feelings as they knew that soon they would have to split up. For now however, they decided to go find Lily as she was nearby. She no doubt thought that Brother Chen was dead, and they had to let her know they were alive, as well as about the Inn. Even with the Jotun Empire bringing change to Vegus Minima, it was true that the Midnight Inn would be the best way to raise their strength. ***** The Rose Society was an organization Will and his High School friends had formed. It was meant to signify that they looked harmless like a beautiful rose, but their thorns could cut if you try to pluck them. It represented a fanciful dream, but to them it was their lives work. The cultivation resources of Earth were limited, that much was evident, but how exactly were they limited? The actual fact of the matter was, there was an abundance of cultivation materials for cultivators at the Foundation realm and below. However, the real scarcity was for Golden Core cultivators. In fact, most of them never make any progress after entering the Golden Core realm at all. Yet because the world was controlled by these cultivators, a resource shortage was artificially created so that fewer people would ever even reach the Golden Core realm. The Rose Society was supposed to be a secret organization that worked behind the scenes to slowly take control of the resources from the few. Even though Golden Core cultivators were the strongest, it wasn¡¯t as if they could stay on their farms, mines and manufacturing nts all the time, or that they had a good or even adequate understanding of buisness. These things were managed by those at lower cultivations, so taking control of the flow of resources slowly but subtly was entirely possible. Yet the dream was cut short because the Society could not garner enough momentum and keep their activities secretive enough. Now however, Will wanted to restart the organization. The six other members as well as Hera looked at Will curiously, wondering what he wanted to do. ¡°Thank you for trusting me,¡± Will said with a smile. ¡°I know you all have questions. But this is not the ce to answer them. To get your answers, we have to go to another ce.¡± Will smiled as he picked up the Golden key and activated it. ***** ¡°If what you¡¯re saying is true,¡± said Brandon with a rare, serious expression, ¡°then this truly will change a lot of things. We should go investigate this Midnight Inn with you. I¡¯ll call your grandma over and we¡¯ll leave once she arrives.¡± Alexander and Rorick nodded and began waiting. Everyone in the room was filled with anticipation. ***** Somewhere in a forest in Nibiru, a giant turtle finally ended its daily tasks, and stopped to take a rest. Unexpectedly, in a rare urrence, the Turtle actually fell asleep. It had recently experienced a breakthrough in its cultivation, so its control over its spirit energy was shaky, and in one of those moments where its spirit energy broke free of its control, it was attracted towards a Golden key it had ced in its shell, activating it. ***** ¡°But mom, I was only ying!¡± cried RussianPrincess77, but her mother would have none of it. ¡°I¡¯ve told you a million times, you¡¯re not allowed to touch the book of prophecies! Now hand over the key and go to your room!¡± ¡°Never!¡± the young girl eximed and started running andughing. ¡°I told you to hand it over!¡± the mother roared as she took off her slipper in an experienced manner and threw it towards her fleeing daughter. Like a homing beacon it followed RussianPrincess77 until it gave her a solid whack on her bum. The girl fell over, identally releasing some spirit energy and activating the key. ***** Somewhere on a space shuttle near Vegus Minima, a lone man was meditating in a prison cell. His body was impaled with various chains that restricted the flow of spirit energy, yet the man did not seem to mind. The pain in his body did not torment him, it only served to strengthen his will and solidify his focus. Suddenly, a floating, golden door appeared in the cell in front of him, offering him freedom. The man did not even hesitate. Before anyone one the ship could realize what was happening, the door was gone and the prisoner along with it. ***** Lex was grinning as he read the notification. Quest Complete! The Host¡¯s rewarded is being calcted: ¨C Reward upgraded forpleting the quest in less than 24 hours ¨C Reward upgraded for locating employee with unique talent Reward Rank: B- Reward: Heritage for mor Sorcerer (given directly to employee), 1 barber shop, 1 employee residence, 1000MP, Event Manager panel The little Innkeeper was too excited about his recent sess, with no idea that he was about to wee more guests than he¡¯d ever had before! Chapter 80 Eccentric guests Lex tried to view the details for mor Sorcerer but unfortunately all he could see was that sorcery was a different school of power elevation (increasing one¡¯s strength) than cultivation. It would be too awkward if Lex, as the Innkeeper and his boss, had to ask Harry what it was, which is why he would have to investigate in some other way. He then looked at the Event manager panel, barber shop and employee residence.The newly unlocked panel allowed him to easily organize and manage events at the Inn, whether they were hosted by himself or his guests. After all, evenmon fast food restaurants hosted birthdays, why couldn¡¯t the Inn? The organizing included setting up temporary venues that were much cheaper than establishing permanent buildings, hiring temporary staff, arranging prizes and many more features. The most important feature ¨C to Lex at least ¨C was the autorun, which entailed that if Lex was too busy to personally oversee an event the system could manage the event based on a set temte. As for the shop and residence, well the name was pretty clear on what they were and what function they performed. Since he had decided earlier that all his next expansions would be near one another, he ced the barber shop opposite the Training room. It was a quaint little shop with arge window that let you see inside. A small red, white and blue barber shop pole was spinning next to the door which Lex found amusing. Inside on the left there were a few sofas for people to sit, on the right there were three barber chairs ced in front of full size mirrors and in the far end of the shop was the till. Originally that was all there was to it, but Lex had an idea and ced the employee residence right on top of the barber shop, with an entrance directly from the back of the shop. Technically, the employee residence was in a separate space and no one would enter it other than the employee, or anyone the employee invited in. However, Lex thought linking it to the shop and having it physically manifest here might not be a bad idea. It was just visualization, and he suspected Harry would like it. Though at the moment the residence was empty except for a bed ¨C Harry would have to popte it with furniture himself using MP. Speaking of which, since Harry worked with guests directly Lex did not need to pay him. Instead, 40% of whatever Harry charged his clients would go to Harry and the rest would go to Lex. ¡°Wee to your barber shop, Harry. What do you think?¡± The young man stood frozen at the entrance. A building appearing out of thin air surprised him, but it was being told that this shop was his that froze him. He had tears in his eyes and his mind had stopped working. Even though he was doing well on Earth, he couldn¡¯t even get a job as a barber until he got a barbers license and now he had an entire store of his own. Before Lex could tease the young man he realized some guests were about to enter the Inn so he left Harry to enjoy this moment on his own. Lex appeared in front of the Inn just in time to see a young girl picking herself off the ground, rubbing her rear as if she had just been hit. Behind the girl stood a tall, maturedy who looked absolutely outraged. Lex noticed the two were wearing sses with the ¡®rk Kent¡¯ effect, which would work on everyone else in the Inn except him. He looked at their statuses before saying anything. Name: Kristine Joel Age: 99. Sex: Female Cultivation Details: Insufficient authority to view (cultivation sealed) Species: Human Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Remarks: Hello mama *whistling noise* Name: Vera Joel Age: 16 Sex: Feale Cultivation Details: ¨C Foundation Initial Species: Human Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Remarks: She has the aura of a new oracle, stay away! They are all scammers! Lex raised an eyebrow. There were multiple things in their status that caught his eye, yet it would be rude to keep his guests waiting. However before he could say anything, the olderdy waved her right hand, summoning what looked like a bathroom slipper. ¡°I told you to behave!¡± she roared as she threw the slipper, yet the young girl dodged effortlessly. ¡°What¡¯s so good about behaving? I told you we should have run away with dad, then we wouldn¡¯t be in this mess!¡± ¡°DON¡¯T BRING YOUR NO GOOD FATHER INTO THIS!¡± she roared once as she began sprinting after her running daughter. Lex stood there frozen, unsure of how to respond. The mother and daughter pair were actually running in circles around, yelling at each other. Lex coughed loudly and used a bit of the power of the Host Attire to attract their attention. ¡°Wee guests to the Midnight Inn,¡± he said, smiling warily. ¡°Midnight? Such an ominous name,¡± said the mother, who finally stopped. ¡°It¡¯s not ominous, it¡¯s romantic,¡± replied the daughter confidently. ¡°Innkeeper, I would like to travel to a different. Any with a Star ss civilization would do.¡± Lex instantly froze when he heard what the mother and child were saying. They seemed to be familiar with the concept of the Inn, but did not know the details. ¡°If you want to travel to another world, you would need to increase your Midnight Inn Level to 3. Currently, you are at level 1,¡± he told Vera. ¡°You can increase your prestige by spending a total of 100,000MP at the Inn.¡± ¡°Please ignore her nonsense, Innkeeper. Her father has spoiled her silly,¡± said the mother with an apologetic smile. ¡°Haha it¡¯s alright. I¡¯ve heard oracle¡¯s are mischievous, it must be tough on you.¡± As soon as Lex said that, both the mother and daughter froze. Clearly that was supposed to be a secret. Lex was curious about what an oracle was, he could venture a guess based on the name but it would be nice to know the details. Yet he couldn¡¯t ask directly so he thought he¡¯d stir the pot a little by mentioning it, but it seemed to have a different effect. The mother coughed as she straightened herself up and looked at the man in front of her as her daughter quickly stood behind her. She could not determine his cultivation, especially since hers was sealed, but based on what her daughter had read in the book of prophecies he was not a simple man. She opened her mouth to say something but before she could utter a word a bright light shed, and a giant sleeping turtle appeared in the middle of the road. The three of them looked at the turtle, unsure of how to react. Lex recognized it from the horn on its head and checked its status. Name: Not avable Age: 2017 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: Inner Core Species: Gctic Sovereign turtle (infant) Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Remarks: It¡¯s a newborn baby, so get a babysitter! Lex stared at its age for a bit, trying to digest what he was seeing. But then, this was the cultivation world. He should get used to it. He used his suit¡¯s powers to gently lift the turtle and ce it in the shade of a tree. ¡°Please excuse the interruption, we receive all kinds of guests.¡± ¡°Clearly,¡± responded the mother, still looking at the turtle. ¡°Please excuse our earlier disy. It was quite rude of us.¡± ¡°No no, not at all. Such a close family rtionship is quite enviable. Would you like a tour of the Inn? You seem to be familiar with some of it already.¡± ¡°Yes of course, that would be lovely.¡± Lex was about to take them on a tour himself when he felt more guests entering the Inn. This was quite a surprise, it was rare to have guests let alone so many at the same time. ¡°Gerard, why don¡¯t you show our guests around,¡± he said, summoning the old man. Gerard quickly led the mother and daughter duo not to the manor that was right in front of them, but to the Golf cart nearby. It seemed he had discovered a passion. Just as the two left, a bright light shone, after which Will appeared at the Inn along with Hugo ¨C who still had a room rented ¨C as well as seven other guests. ¡°Wee to the Midnight Inn,¡± the old man said excitedly to his guests, who were looking at their new surroundings in rm. ¡°Will, you seem to have stolen my life,¡± Lex said, approaching the crowd with a smile. Will was the first person who had brought so many guests to him at once, which drastically improved his impression of the old man. ¡°Haha my apologies Innkeeper, I was too excited,¡± said the old man, grinning like a child with his favorite toy. ¡°In that case, would you also like to give the tour to your guests as well?¡± ¡°It would be my pleasure.¡± With that the man began leading his guests, as if he was extremely familiar with the ce. Lex was amused at his expression and was about to return to the mother and daughter before he realized even more guests were on the way. What a busy day. Chapter 81 Silly humans Lex stood patiently as he awaited the arriving guests. This was by far the busiest day his Inn had ever seen, and he had to be ready to face any kind of hurdle. He would create more rooms, rent more A.I. assistants or do whatever else was needed to make sure everything went smoothly. A bright light shed and Lex saw a few familiar faces. Brother Chen and ne appeared, followed by ady who bore a sharp resemnce to Chen. ¡°Innkeeper,¡± the two soldiers acknowledged together as soon as they saw Lex. The girl looked at him with curiosity. ¡°Wee back,¡± said Lex with a smile. ¡°I did not expect to see you so soon. Were you able to find your caravan?¡± Lex had heard enough of their conversations with Fk to know a bit about them and what they were going through. ¡°Yes, fortunately they were all safe and we were able to locate them. This is my sister, I brought her here because I wanted her to be familiar with the Inn.¡± ¡°I hope you find it to your liking,¡± he said, looking at the girl. Name: Lily Age: 24 Sex: Female. Cultivation Details: Qi Training 7th realm Species: Human Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 ¡°Would you like me to show you around?¡± Brother Chen and ne looked each other in the eye and instantly knew what the other was thinking. ¡°Eh, no thank you. You must be busy, we can show her around.¡± ¡°Very well. Give me a call if you need me.¡± The three walked towards the manor leaving Lex behind. When they had walked some distance Lily whispered, ¡°I¡¯ve never seen you behave like that. Is that guy so scary?¡± ¡°You have no idea,¡± her brother replied gravely. ¡°Last time we were here we met another guest who was so powerful that we cannot even guess his realm, and even that guy was polite to the Innkeeper. He can open portals all over the universe to retrieve his guests from whichever they¡¯re on. I dare not even think how powerful he is.¡± Lily gulped, as if understanding what her brother meant. ¡°But even so,¡± said ne, ¡°he is running this Inn and takes care of all his guests very well. I cannot guess what is going on in the mind of someone that powerful, but as long as we don¡¯t get on his bad side we¡¯ll be fine.¡± Lex, who waspletely not eavesdropping on their conversation, identally overheard what they were saying and chuckled to himself. ¡®Ah it¡¯s nice to be respected. Or is it feared?¡¯ With all his guests taking care of themselves, Lex turned his attention to the napping turtle. A part of him wanted to let the turtle sleep, but God only knew how long a 2000 year old baby¡¯s nap would be. ¡°Wake up,¡± Lex said gently, but with his voice infused with the power of his suit. The turtle that had no namezily opened its eyes, but as soon as it saw its new location it jolted awake. It looked around confused, and kept sniffing the air. ¡°Wee to the Midnight Inn. I did not want to disturb your sleep, but I thought you might find it more restful in a room.¡± The turtle wore an rmed look on its face, and hearing Lex its worry did not lessen but increased. ¡°Oh dear oh dear oh dear. You silly humans really give me a lot of trouble,¡± the turtle said, before it started walking hurriedly towards the forest. ¡°Do you know all the animals here are hungry, and are forcefully feeding on spirit energy to survive,¡± the turtle lectured Lex as it paced forward. How the turtle knew this was a mystery, but it was confident that it was right. ¡°There are no insects around, no worms, no seeds. What are they supposed to feed on? Oh you silly humans, don¡¯t you know you¡¯re supposed to feed someone when they¡¯re hungry?¡± Upon hearing the turtle Lex was embarrassed and rmed. He had gotten the animals from the system so he naturally assumed the system would feed them as well. He never considered theck of their natural food in the environment. Suddenly it urred to him that the reason Helen might be so popr with the animals was because she was probably feeding them. He purchased various kinds of animal food and mentallymanded Velma to feed the animals every day. No wait, Velma was usually busy with guests and other duties, maybe he should get another assistant to help with the animals and maybe even the environment¡­ As Lex was thinking of a solution, he did not realize he had followed the turtle into the forest, nor had he realized that wherever the turtle would step wild grass would grow. Mushrooms, small shrubs and different wild nts all started appearing in a trail behind the turtle, and before long small animals could be seen eating them. Lex was woken from his thoughts, however, when he realized that the turtle had walked directly in a straight line RIGHT TO THE GREENHOUSE! The array seemed to have no effect on it. Before he could say anything though, he heard a worried voice. ¡°Oh dear oh dear oh dear, you silly silly human. You are drowning the nts, they don¡¯t need so much water, and the soil is all wrong. Too much fertilizer can be poisonous, not all nts need the same things,¡± the turtle told the gardener, and started using its ability to rearrange the nts. ¡°Get away you fat lizard,¡± the gardener said angrily, ¡°you¡¯re ruining my arrangements! When the nts grow, their arrangement will form words that will form poetry! You¡¯re ruining my poetry!¡± ¡°No, no silly human, these nts cannot be so close together or their roots will harm each other.¡± The gardener and the turtle started arguing with each other, both trying to determine how the garden should be managed, leaving Lex standing there with his mouth hanging open. ¡°Close your mouth or a fly will go in,¡± said Mary who appeared wearing an amused look. ¡°There are no flies in the Inn,¡± Lex retorted, but he closed his mouth. This was the first time he was seeing an A.I. showing some personality, he did not know they could do that. He was under the impression they were like those A.I. assistants he saw in TV shows that only do the task they¡¯re told. ¡°You should hire the turtle to maintain the greenhouse. It has a strong affinity to nature, and could speed up the nts growth.¡± Lex¡¯s eye¡¯s lit up at the idea, but before he could make the offer he heard the turtle say, ¡°Oh dear oh dear. Such a wonderful garden, I can¡¯t let a silly human ruin it. I better look after it.¡± System Notification: The Gctic Sovereign turtle has hired itself as an employee! All permanent employees must have a residence. Automatically purchasing employee residence. -1500MP. Residence purchased, please allocate residence entrance! Lex¡¯s mouth dropped open once again at the sudden events. What the hell was happening? Mary burst outughing at Lex¡¯s impression, but when she received his re she stoppedughing to exin. Well, more like she eventually stoppedughing to exin. ¡°You¡¯re probably wondering why all the steps for hiring were skipped, like giving it the tinum key and going through the test.¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± ¡°The tinum key is for people you want to employ out in the various worlds. If whoever you want to employ is already at the Inn then you can make an offer to them for the job directly. Normally that would then proceed to the test, but a Gctic Sovereign turtle, even an infant one, is too overqualified for such a simple position. Since the turtle directly expressed its intention to work, and you expressed your interest in hiring it, the process was skipped.¡± Lex kept ring at her. The exnation she gave made sense, kind of, but he had a strong feeling she was just making an excuse and the system acted on its own because it didn¡¯t trust him enough to hire the turtle. He walked up to the turtle and said, ¡°Since you are interested in joining my Inn I would like to wee you. I have prepared a residence for you and connected the entrance to the greenhouse.¡± He pointed in a corner where a giant double door had appeared connected to a massive tree. Lex had spent a little MP to make the entrance look like it was inside of a tree since he thought the turtle might like it. He was not sure exactly what kind of habitat turtles, especially gctic ones, liked. The Gctic Sovereign turtle nodded in understanding. Of course the system hadn¡¯t forcefully hired it, and the turtle had received its contract directly in its mind. It didn¡¯t bother with the contract though and directly epted. It didn¡¯t haveplex desires or needs ¨C all it saw was that this ce had the potential for a good garden, and the turtle wanted to tend to it. ¡°Nooooooooooooooooo Innkeeper,¡± the gardener let out a sorrowful roar, ¡°you must not let it touch the greenhouse. It has no style, no sense of aesthetic. It will ruin everything.¡± The gardener looked like a childining to his parent. Well, he was only a few days old so technically both the gardener and the turtle were babies by their own standards. Chapter 82 Outer beauty and inner peace While the various new guests were roaming around the Inn, Helen was exploring the ce herself as well. At first she was hesitant to move around the Inn lest she run into someone who recognizes her, but now with her sses she moved around without worry. She noticed every few days some changes would be made to the Inn¡¯s environment or new buildings would be added, and she liked exploring them. Everything was improving all the time, and the already pleasant environment was getting even better. Previously she felt that some ces of the Inn would be too quiet which would make it eerie. However one day randomly more birds and small animals appeared, so if nothing else you would always hear the pping or singing of birds. A few moments ago she had even seen a massive turtle hurrying across the grounds next to the Innkeeper. She supposed that was one of the animals from a different because she had never seen a turtle that big on Earth. Currently she was heading towards a new building she saw appear opposite to the Training room. While on her way she noticed that today seemed to be rtively busy for the Inn. She saw William Bentham again, leading a group of followers towards the Recovery room. She saw two intimidating men walking besides a woman like her bodyguards. Most interestingly, she saw what appeared to be a mother chasing her daughter with a bedroom slipper in her hand, with Gerard following the pair in a golf cart. The daughter kept screaming ¡°I¡¯m going to date an Oolin! I¡¯m going to date an Oolin, I¡¯ve already seen it!¡±. Every time she yelled she would antagonize her mother even more, which would cause the daughter tough. Although the daughter was the oneughing, Gerard who was driving behind the pair seemed to be the one enjoying the most. Helen chuckled as she thought about it, and continued on her journey. She was quite noticeable as she was followed by an ostentation of Peacocks wherever she went. She received a few nces from the new guests, but the sses gave her the confidence to ignore them. When she finally arrived near the training room, she was surprised to find that the new building was a barbershop. She didn¡¯t even need to guess, the spinning barbers pole outside was very distinctive and telling. This surprised her, as she was expecting something more exciting. Everything at the Inn so far seemed targeted towards cultivation. The Meditation room, Training room, Recovery room and Mystery trial were all good examples of this. Compared to their utilitarian purposes, this seemed almost mundane. But she didn¡¯t underestimate it just because it seemed normal. She went inside to see a young man, probably around her age, excitedly looking through all the cupboards. When she entered the shop a bell hung above the door rang, alerting the young man of her presence. He was startled at the noise, but quickly his excitement returned as he looked at Helen. ¡°Wee!¡± he said jovially as he pulled her in. ¡°Wee to Harry¡¯s! Or wait, Harry¡¯s Barbershop! No wait¡­¡± he became distracted and started mumbling to himself about the name. ¡°Is this your shop?¡± Helen asked, analyzing the young man. ¡°Yes! Yes, of course it is! Have a seat, what would you like? Since you¡¯re my first customer, there¡¯s no charge!¡± ¡°No I don¡¯t want to have anything done,¡± Helen rified, ¡°I was just curious about the new building and wanted to see what it was.¡±. ¡°Oh,¡± said Harry, his excitement dimming noticeably. ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t want to try anything? Trust me I¡¯m very good. And I won¡¯t charge, promise!¡± ¡°Eh,¡± Helen suddenly felt awkward. It was clear to her that Harry really wanted her to have something done, and was looking at her with longing eyes. She didn¡¯t want to offend anyone at the Inn so she reluctantly said, ¡°Fine, why don¡¯t you give me a little trim. Not too much, mind you!¡± Helen¡¯s hair was already short, barely reaching her shoulders, and she didn¡¯t want to cut it much shorter, but she thought there wouldn¡¯t be much harm in trying out the shop. Something at the Midnight Inn clearly couldn¡¯t be normal. She took a seat and Harry stood behind her excitedly as stared at her face in the mirror. He was deciding what sort of look would suit her most, but he did not realize that his eyes started emitting a purple glow as he did. Under his re Helen didn¡¯t feel ufortable, and instead seemed to enter a trance. She started hearing her own previous thoughts in her head, as if they were being reyed. At some point Harry decided what he wanted to do and grabbed a spray bottle and sprayed her hair. No one noticed that the spray bottle seemed to just appear in Harry¡¯s hand, or that as the water touched her hair it seemed to wash away some of the thoughts full of self doubt that she was hearing in her head. A floatingb appeared and started brushing her hair. As if by magic or some sorcery, not only did the brush untangle all her hair in a single stroke without having to pull or tug, it rearranged her thoughts so that they became more organized. Lately her thoughts would bounce from Alexander to her family to the assassination attempt to her unkown future. Everything was full of uncertainty and she had trouble thinking straight, but now the randomness of her thoughts started disappearing. Harry himself did not notice that as he worked he started mumbling incantations or that two pairs of scissors appeared in the air around him. Both the scissors started cutting rapidly, yet very little hair was actually being cut. If someone could peer into Helen¡¯s mind and visualize it as a garden, then they would notice that anxiety was growing in that garden like weed. Yet each time the scissors snipped some of that anxiety was cut away. Slowly and steadily, Helens appearance started to change and if this were a video game instead of real life ¡®+1 charm¡¯ would be seen floating above her head every few minutes. Yet the biggest change was in her mind. Mortals called it mental health and cultivators called it inner demons, but regardless of whatever one called it, Helen¡¯s state was improving. Slowly and steadily, she was receiving a makeover that would change her entire life. She was achieving both outer beauty and inner peace. ***** Lex was chuckling to himself as he walked out of the forest. He had gotten the gardener and turtle to agree to working with each other, but even as he left the greenhouse he could hear them bickering. It reminded him of his youth, when he was a kid and used to fight with his elder sister, Belle. Despite her feminine name, she was a real tomboy and the two used to fight a lot. He had also given the turtle a name, which the turtlepletely ignored and did not acknowledge at all. No, he did not name the turtle Leonardo or Michngelo. He was not about to follow that cliche. He was determined to follow in the footsteps of all the main characters of all the cultivation and system novels he had read before, and named the turtle ¡®Little ck¡¯. The turtle was neither little nor ck, but those main characters never seemed to care and neither would Lex. He was slightly annoyed when the system didn¡¯t reflect that name in the turtle¡¯s status, but he would call it by that name regardless. Lex was in an unusually good mood, and suddenly he felt even better when he found out even more guests were about to enter the Inn. He teleported to the entrance just in time to see Alexander appearing with two men and a woman behind him. The entire group looked quite young, he guessed they were his friends or ssfellows. At least until he read their statuses. Name: Rorick Morrison Age: 48 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: Golden Core Mid Species: Human Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Remarks: This fellow seems to have identally tucked his shirt into his undergarments Name: Brandon Morrison Age: 104 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: Spirit Cultivation: Insufficient Authority Body Cultivation: Golden Core Peak Species: Human Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Remarks: The real OG! Name: Audrey Morrison Age: 101 Sex: female Cultivation Details: Spirit Cultivation: Golden Core Peak Body Cultivation: Golden Core Peak Species: Human Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Remarks: Extremely, extremely dangerous! Host must maintain distance at all times! The system will not associate with the host if he falls in love with someone four times his age! Lex felt his lips about to twitch but he controlled himself. He could no longer let the system¡¯s remarks affect him! Yet as he was ruminating over the system¡¯s remarks and the difference between their looks and their actual age, the three Morrisons who had entered the Inn for barely a second froze. Then they looked at each other with disbelief and excitement in their eyes, as if to confirm what they were feeling wasn¡¯t just an illusion. Alexander noticed his family¡¯s strange behavior and asked, ¡°what is it?¡± ¡°I can break through to the Nascent realm here!¡± replied Rorick. Chapter 83 A light heart ¡°Are you sure?¡± Alexander asked excitedly. ¡°You can break through to the Nascent realm here?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± answered Brandon with gleaming eyes. ¡°The environment here is like inside the Fusion chamber except without all the danger and instability. I can feel the bottleneck for my body cultivation loosening. In fact, even my spiritual cultivation is already improving. This ce is definitely not in our sr system.¡± The Morrison¡¯s all shared a knowing look, as they tried to process the ramifications of what they had just learnt. An environment which would allow cultivators to breakthrough above the Golden Core was absent on Earth. Even the Minor realms that opened up on Earth had a simr environment, and did not allow for such growth. The reason for why exactly no one could breakthrough was unknown, but it was generally agreed that Earth wascking something. It was important to note, only humans suffered this blockage and Beasts were often able to ascend to the higher realm. As for why the Beasts never took over Earth since they had an advantage, that was a secret few knew¡­ A secret almost no one knew was that on Earth currently there were five Nascent realm cultivators. Each of the five had ascended through unique chances or coincidences that could not be replicated. Brandon had made the breakthrough in a specially designed chamber called the Fusion chamber. The reason for that name was because the chamber was bombarded with concentrated spiritual energy and radiation from several Nuclear Reactors. The theory was that the radiation could be treated using spirit arrays and technology to convert it into extremely concentrated spiritual energy which would create the necessary prerequisite to breakthrough. The idea was inspired by Nuclear power nts. Yet while Brandon had seeded in breaking through, everyone else who had tried so far died instead, which is why it was not an idea that was being widely used. The Morrison family was conducting various types of research on how to stabilize the energy in the chamber, or to increase the efficiency of the conversion of energy. Yet that was all redundant now. The Inn gave them a convenient ce to make their breakthroughs! All their current expansion ns, as well as their ns to snub out the little rebellion that was being nned on Earth had to be put on hold.. ¡°I¡¯m d you¡¯re enjoying yourselves,¡± said the Innkeeper, who had been standing there for a while now. ¡°If you want to cultivate or breakthrough a realm, I rmend you try out our Meditation room. Its environment is very conducive to cultivation.¡± ¡°Hello Innkeeper,¡± said Alexander, who remembered just realized that they had been ignoring their host in their excitement. ¡°This is my father, Rorick. These are my grandparents, Brandon and Audery.¡± The family politely greeted the Innkeeper. ¡°Wee,¡± replied the Innkeeper. ¡°I hope you find my little establishment to your liking. If you need anything, do not hesitate to ask.¡± ¡°How is Helen doing? Is she feeling alright?¡± Alexander asked, concerned about his friend. Lex mentally swept the Inn for her and found her at the barbershop. ¡°She is currently receiving a makeover at our barbershop. Would you like me to take you over?¡± ¡°That would be great, thank you.¡± Lex started leading the family towards the barbershop at a gentle pace. They looked around where they walked, but with the power of the suit he could feel them using their spiritual sense to observe the ce. ¡°Alexander tells me that you receive guests from all over the universe and not just Earth. Is that true?¡± asked Rorick. ¡°Yes of course. The Midnight Inn can be essed from anywhere in the universe. Even right now we have guests from multiples in our grounds. Everyonees with their own purposes, and we try to fulfill all their needs.¡± He was monitoring all his guests with his powers right now, as there were a lot of them and he would need to manage any situation that came up. Will had led his group to the Recovery Room so he quickly told Velma to go there mentally in case they needed to use any of the rooms. He was shorthanded and thought of just hiring another A.I. for the Recovery room, but he only had 2126MP on hand at the moment and didn¡¯t want to spend thest of it on another big expense. He had to leave himself some buffer space, especially considering Marlo was consuming MP everyday! ¡°Our Recovery room is usually a big hit amongst guests. Even Alexander found use for it with Helen being poisoned. We have Meditation rooms for anyone who wants to cultivate, and Training rooms for anyone who wants to hone theirbat skills. We have a Mystery trial as well, that tests the guests greatest skill whatever it may be. Anyone who canplete the trial can receive an award, though that may be harder than it seems. It ispletely safe though, so there is no need to worry. Other than that we, of course, have our Inn where guests can stay to rest and recuperate. Soon we will have even more attractions, so keep visiting if you want to keep up with the excitement.¡± ¡°Would it be possible for us to meet some of the guests from others? We¡¯ve never met someone from the rest of the universe before, it would be an enlightening experience.¡± Lex looked back at Brandon who had made the request. His request made sense, who wouldn¡¯t be curious in this situation. Yet Lex was slightly concerned, he did not want anyone to get into a fight over anything since Lex had the lowest cultivation here and wouldn¡¯t be able to stop anyone! ¡°I can naturally introduce you to some of our guests. If they are so inclined, you can chat with them as much as you want about the rest of the universe. But if they are not up to it, I hope you respect their wishes. Disturbing other guests and causing issues can get you banned from the Inn.¡± This family wanted to cultivate at the Inn, so naturally a ban was the greatest threat to them. ¡°I will make sure my parents behave,¡± said Rorick very seriously. The look on his face was grave, as if he was embarking on a suicide mission. By this time they reached the barbershop and entered to find Harry working very seriously on Helen¡¯s hair. A floating towel would dab Harry¡¯s forehead from time to time to wipe off his sweat, because while all the actual work was being done by the floating utensils Harry was exhausting himself by simply reciting his incantations. The family looked at Helen curiously, but Audery was the one who immediately noticed something unusual. She had seen this girl, or at least pictures of this girl, before. Although it could be said that she was a prettyss, she would not stand out in a crowd. Right now, however, she was radiating charm and charisma that would catch anyone¡¯s eye. The strange thing was, she didn¡¯t look any different. Her skin wasn¡¯t any clearer or fairer, she was wearing no makeup, her hair style was fairly ordinary. The source of the change was her expression. It was as if she was free and happy, from the bottom of her heart. It was such a simple thing, but the soft smile of her lips was pure enough to touch people¡¯s hearts. Finally Harry finished, and threw himself on the sofas behind himself. He waspletely out of breath, as if he had run a marathon and could barely stand on his own. ¡°Get some rest Harry, I think you¡¯ve done enough for the day.¡± Harry smiled weakly at the Innkeeper and said, ¡°yes, that was more exhausting than I imagined. But at least let me see the result of my hard work first.¡± With that the two looked towards Helen, who finally woke up from her trance. She felt a strange sense of lightness. For a moment, she felt like a child again, pure and happy with no worry or care in the world. She looked at herself in the mirror to find that instead of her hair getting shorter, it had somehow gotten longer. It fell halfway down her back, but with a natural flow that looked elegant. She smiled,pletely unaware that she captivated everyone in the room. ¡°Helen, how are you feeling?¡± asked Alexander. She hadn¡¯t noticed the extra people in the room, but the young man¡¯s voice alerted her to their presence. When she looked at Alexander she found that curiously, she didn¡¯t feel anything. Previously, whenever she looked at him she would feel love and longing, along with the bitter pain of knowing that they were never meant to be, as well as a little hope, deep inside her heart that maybe someday, somehow they could be together. Yet now, looking at him she felt the same way she did when looking at just another friend. Who could have med her for falling in love with him? Or maybe it was infatuation instead. He was a handsome and brilliant young man, polite yet assertive, strong yet sensible. He had achievements people could only dream of and a destiny that eclipsed anyone around her. Naturally she, along with most of the girls in her ss, gravitated towards Alexander. But now suddenly she no longer felt that longing. She simply felt that even if he was the best person in the whole universe, if he was not the one for her then it did not matter. She would only give her heart to someone who appreciated and loved her. This did not mean that she disliked Alexander, or liked him less. It simply meant she could finally simply be friends with him, without other thoughts. ¡°I¡¯m great, Alexander. I¡¯m great,¡± the girl replied. Chapter 84 The bold and the broke Alexander was relieved to hear that Helen was doing well. ¡°I had the Sigmund family investigated while I was away. Things are not as straightforward as they appear to be. I¡¯ll share the report with you once we return to Mars.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± she responded simply. She was curious to know the details of what actually happened, and if her parents were involved in the decision to use her in the assassination. Alexander and Helen were catching up and his seniors were watching from a distance, his grandpa smirking. Lex went to help Harry up, as he could not even stand on his own. ¡°That really took a lot out of you. In the future don¡¯t use your new heritage without training yourself first. If you are not careful, you could hurt yourself.¡± Harry¡¯s eyes were filled with excitement even if his body was trembling from weakness. What he had done with Helen was only the tip of the iceberg of all the new knowledge he had received. He knew his weakness was a result of him not training his body and soul enough, but the heritage also let him know how exactly he should be training. In the future what he could do would be even more. He especially couldn¡¯t wait to go and try out his new found powers on Earth, right up until the Innkeeper said, ¡°for now don¡¯t use your heritage on Earth. Your is moreplicated than it appears. I will have someonepile some things you should familiarize yourself with first, lest you identally get into trouble.¡± Harry nodded repeatedly as the Innkeeper helped him to the entrance of his own residence. He stumbled in and copsed on the mattress, asleep as soon as he shut his eyes. When Lex returned to the Morrison family he saw the two soldiers and the girl from Vegus Minima outside the shop window and thought it the perfect time to introduce the two groups. ¡°I see some of our guests from a different just outside, would you like me to introduce you?¡±. ¡°Please,¡± replied Rorick. As Lex led the group out, he spent 100MP on a one-day universalnguage trantor that applied to the whole Inn. Cultivators with a higher level couldmunicate through their spiritual sense but not everyone could. To facilitatemunication between guests from differents Lex would have to buy this trantor. A permanent trantor instead of a one day one would cost 100,000MP! Lex could definitely put off buying it. ¡°Ah ne, Chen, Lily, it¡¯s good that I ran into you. There¡¯s someone I want to introduce you to.¡± The Morrison family stood behind him and observed their counterparts silently, while the three from Vegus Minima also looked at the family as they immediately understood that they were the ones they were being introduced to. ¡°These are some of my guests from a different than yours. This is their first opportunity to meet someone from outside their own sr system, so I thought I would introduce them to you. I think both of you will find an exchange very beneficial.¡± ne and Chen exchanged a look. They paid great detail to whatever the Innkeeper said, and him mentioning that meeting these people could be ¡®beneficial¡¯ seemed like him hinting at something. They nodded to one another, as if they were both epting a mission. Just as the soldiers were about to introduce themselves Lex felt another guest about to enter the Inn. It was unfortunate, he wanted to be present when these groups from different worlds met and see what they talked about, but a new guest would take priority. ¡°Please excuse me while I go tend to another matter. If you need any help, just call out.¡± With that Lex disappeared. Helen and the soldiers were already used to the Innkeeper appearing and disappearing as he wished, but the Morrison family was caught by surprise. But that worked to their advantage as the soldiers rxed when they saw that this other group was intimidated by the Innkeeper as well. ¡°My name is ne, this is Brother Chen and Lily. It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you.¡± ***** Lex appeared at the entrance once again, ready to greet his guest, but before the guest, Mary appeared before him. ¡°Lex, you need to listen to me very carefully. When this next guest appears, you will receive a quest. It¡¯s very, VERY important that you receive at least an S rank on that quest.¡± Lex was taken aback by Mary¡¯s sudden serious demeanor. ¡°Why? Is something the matter?¡± ¡°Just trust me,¡± is all she said before disappearing again. A giant golden door appeared and from it entered a middle aged man. When he crossed the door he felt as if time froze and in his mind he received a prompt ¡®Would you like to hide your identity?¡¯. Intrigued, he selected yet. A pair of aviator sunsses appeared in front of him and somehow he knew that if he wore those his entire appearance and aura would be hidden. After he put those on and exited, his attire had changed from a prison garb to skinny jeans, a ck T-shirt and a leather jacket ¨C of course he was wearing aviators as well. The many chains that hung from his body changed their appearance from bindings to jewellry. As soon as the man appeared, true to what Mary said, a new Quest appeared. New Quest: 20 guests have appeared together at the Inn for the first time. Instead of waiting for them toe to you with their needs, it¡¯s time you do something for them proactively! Prepare an event for your guests to participate in! Quest time: Start the event in 2 weeks! Quest Reward: Subject to change based on guests response Quest failure punishment: -5000MP Remarks: Why have you stopped offering your guests drinks when they enter the Inn? Go back to college and take a few hospitality courses! Lex raised an eyebrow. This quest was interesting, and it gave him some time to prepare as well. He would have to n this carefully ¨C especially with Mary¡¯s reminder of stating its importance as well. But for now he should take care of his guest first. He checked the man¡¯s status. Name: *&%error%&* Age: *&%error%&* Sex: *&%error%&* Cultivation Details: *&%error%&* (sealed) Species: *&%error%&* Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Remarks: This man is very suspicious. Charge him extra MP! Even with the Host Attire helping him to maintain his expression Lex could not keep himself from raising an eyebrow. He had nevere across a situation where the Inn could not read someone¡¯s status. Even with Bastet and Fk, the Inn only told him that his authority was insufficient to view their information instead of reporting an error message. Of course, to the man walking the gesture of an eyebrow being raised represented something else. He suspected the man had seen through his details, and he was not surprised. The man standing there as if waiting for him gave off an aura that even he had never felt before. ¡°Wee guest, to the Midnight Inn. You may call me Innkeeper,¡± Lex said warmly as he readied the Self Defense Butter knife should anything go wrong. Even the system thought he was suspicious so Lex had to be careful. ¡°Whenever you feel tired, wherever you are in the universe, the Midnight Inn will be your best refuge.¡± ¡°Thank you. You may call me John. May I ask, did you open the portal to lead me here?¡± Lex shook his head. ¡°The Midnight Inn finds weary travelers on its own, so that they cane rest and recuperate before they may return on their journey. Of course, we have many other services than just offering a ce to stay. It is up to our guests what services they wish to avail.¡± The middle aged man smiled and took a deep breath. It had been a long time since he breathed in fresh air. He nced at the scenery around him before turning his attention to the Innkeeper. The Innkeeper was the most imminent threat to the man, and in his current condition he could not defend himself at all. He had to stabilize his situation before anything else as he did not want the Innkeeper to send him back to the ship he came from. ¡°This is an embarrassing question, but I assume you charge your guests to stay at your Inn.¡± ¡°Naturally. Our services are the best in the universe, and so are our rates.¡± Lex, while still wary of the man, was also amused. Who knew that the first bargainer he woulde across would be such an enigmatic figure. ¡°Well there¡¯s a bit of an issue. You see, I was robbed of all my possessions and don¡¯t currently have any money on me. Is there any other way I can pay to stay here?¡± Lex frowned as he looked at the man. He was not expecting him to have no money at all. ¡°Don¡¯t dismiss him directly,¡± said Mary who reappeared. ¡°While there is no official way to temporarily hire people, can¡¯t you just pay for his stay with your own MP? Ask him what services he can provide. Maybe he¡¯ll have some useful abilities or skills.¡± Lex put on the face of an intimidatingndlord and said, ¡°What can you do for me? If you have any skills that I find useful, I don¡¯t mind giving you a part time job.¡± Chapter 85 Slap you with money John stood silently as he thought of which of his skills he could offer up. Someone with his life experiences was notcking in personal skill or ability, but he had to pick the right one. Lex waited patiently for him as the man ruminated. Even if Mary hadn¡¯t told him to give John a chance, he would have. He wanted to learn more about this person that even the System couldn¡¯t identify. He was more than sure that ¡®John¡¯ was just an alias and was not this man¡¯s real name. Finally the man decided and said, ¡°I have extensive knowledge about various cultivation techniques and styles. I can custom create spirit techniques for your guests based on their cultivation. It will be a technique that suits them the most.¡± Lex raised an eyebrow at John¡¯s offer. It was tempting, and was something he would not have thought of on his own. As a service it would be a great attraction, but how could he test it out? The System would only conduct a test for permanent employees, and did not have a concept for temporary ones. Just as he was considering his options, Gerard pulled up in the golf cart and Vera hopped out. She presented herself to the Innkeeper with a smile and said ¡°I¡¯m ready.¡± ¡°Huh? Ready for what?¡±. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± she said with a shrug. ¡°But I got the feeling that I would receive some kind of reward if I came to you, so here I am. Even my mom agreed this time, see.¡± Lex turned to see Kristine who was still sitting in the golf cart. She nodded when the Innkeeper looked at her, as if to indicate her consent. Her daughter was an oracle, a very talented one at that, and most of the time that got their family in a lot of trouble. But one thing they had to acknowledge was that Vera had a keen nose for benefits, and never had they suffered a loss when she said they would make a profit. In fact, the first sentence Vera ever said as a child was ¡®Buy Bitcoin!¡¯. So when it came to matters like this, Kristine reluctantly let her daughter do as she pleased. Lex immediately understood what was happening. Although he did not know the specifics, he could determine from the title of oracle that Vera could predict things, and right now she predicted she would gain something good bying to him at this exact moment. This made John¡¯s case promising. ¡°Very well then, in that case John you have your first opportunity. Design a technique for our guest here, and if youplete your task satisfactorily then I will hire you.¡± John came to Vera and told her to start running her cultivation technique for him to observe, and started asking her what kind of technique she would like. Vera was very cooperative in this regard, and Lex watched silently. After a moment he turned his attention from John to the Morrisons. Since Vera said something good wasing her way he was fairly confident that John would seed, so he wanted to know how the conversation between the groups from those two worlds was going. They were sitting inside the restaurant in the manor, and the Morrisons had just finished talking about Earth. Alexander and Helen were missing, but Lex didn¡¯t think it was strange ¨C they had a lot to catch up on surely. Although they were brief and did not give specific information about a lot of things, everything the family told already sounded like paradise to Chen, ne and Lily. ¡°Our¡¯s technology seems to be more advanced than yours,¡± Lily said. ¡°Or at least, it used to be before the invasion.¡± Although she was the youngest, Lily was actually the previous leader of her settlement. This was not because she was stronger than others, but because she was good at strategizing and managing logistics. Her many years of experience as a leader also made her better at dealing with peoplepared to the two brutes besides her, so they unanimously decided to let her do the talking with these otherworlders. ¡°A few hundred years ago, demons infiltrated ours and opened up spawning portals on all thes of our sr system and started using the resources of ours as well as our people to cultivate stronger demons. Recently, our sr system was discovered by the Jotun Empire and they took back control of thes, though the spawning portals still haven¡¯t been destroyed. Our entire lives, we¡¯ve been surviving. Now finally, we¡¯ve gone from surviving to fighting a war.¡± This was new information Lily learnt at the remation camp. She had voluntarily joined the Jotun army when she thought her brother was dead. She wanted revenge as she had nothing left to live for and didn¡¯t bother to learn much about the actual war. She just wanted to fight. When she found out her brother was alive, he brought her directly here so she hadn¡¯t had time yet to learn more. As their conversation progressed, it changed from the circumstances of each other¡¯ss to the kinds of resources they had ess to. The Morrison family was very intrigued when they learnt that the Zombie cores they took such a liking to in the gift shop could be readily found on Vegus Minima, if one was strong enough to retrieve them of course. Eventually, Rorick said, ¡°Lily, I wonder if you¡¯re interested in conducting a trade.¡± ne and Chen shared a look and nodded, as if affirming the ¡®benefits¡¯ the Innkeeper spoke of were about to be revealed. ¡°What do you have in mind? And more importantly, what can you offer?¡± Lily asked casually. She was not at all intimidated by her counterparts¡¯ higher cultivation. They were at the Midnight Inn, which assured their security. ¡°We can offer you spirit stones, but I think such a trade would be very mundane. We have various industries backing us up, so we can offer yourge quantities of weapons and ammunition. If you find our weapons unsuitable, we can also directly trade in precious ores and minerals. We can also provide you with protective gear and armors, inrge quantities. Of course, I¡¯m sure that the empire you belong to also has those things, or even better items, but how easy would it be for you to get ess to higher level items at your cultivation? We can provide you with whatever you need directly.¡± Rorick was speaking from the viewpoint of a very sessful businessman with a massive corporate empire at his disposal, which is why he valued resources more than something simple like money, or in this case ¡®spirit stones¡¯. To Lily and the others, however, spirit stones indeed were the best option. That way they could purchase whatever they needed directly from the Jotun Empire. It was true, they could sell whatever resources they took back to the Jotun Empire but they would have no exnation for how they came to obtain those resources, which could lead to trouble. ¡°And what do you want in exchange?¡± ¡°Your has many resources that ourscks. Firstly, we¡¯ll take all the Zombie cores you can provide, whatever level they may be at. Secondly, you are right in saying your seems to be more technologically advanced which is why we¡¯re also interested in blueprints. Blueprints of any technology you can get your hands on, whether it be for militaristic use or civil we¡¯re interested. Naturally, we¡¯re interested in any technology you can bring as well. We¡¯ll buy those too. If you have books, guides, research papers on any advanced scientific topics we¡¯re willing to purchase those as well. Basically anything you can provide that your has that weck, we¡¯ll buy. ¡°Don¡¯t be shy, use your own imagination. If youe across anything you think is useful, you can sell it to us, but the first priority is always cultivation resources. Of course, if there is something you specifically need you can mention it and we will do our best to meet your needs. We can even provide cultivation techniques or resources from our if you need.¡± The two soldiers and Lily exchanged looks. They all had a lot on their mind, and would need to discuss the details of exactly what they were going to do, but it was evident that this was an opportunity they could not miss. For now this trade route betweens could be monopolized by them, however once more people became aware of the Inn they would lose their advantage. They had to make a decision fast. ¡°I think this deal is eptable to us, but we¡¯ll need some time to gather up supplies. How about we meet up after one week to conduct our first trade? For now, we¡¯ll directly take spirit stones.¡± Rorick shook Lily¡¯s hand and confirmed the deal. Just as they were about to discuss further details, Alexander and Helen walked in holding a massive pile of cards. ¡°10,000 Tier 1 Zombie cores, 1000 Tier 2 Zombie cores, 94 Tier 3 Zombie cores and 9 Tier 4 zombie cores all here,¡± Alexander said as he ced the cards in front of his grandparents. ¡°Those are all the cores the Gift shop had avable.¡± ne, Chen and Lily were horrified as they knew the prices for those items, but it was Lex who was spying on this meeting whopletely lost hisputer and screamed internally in excitement. ¡®WHAT!!!!¡¯ Fortunately, the Host Attire helped him control himself otherwise the mother daughter duo and John would have witnessed the mysterious Innkeeperpletely embarrass himself. The Morrison family did not have the resources of one rich family or a single country backing them up, but the entire wealth of the Mars. The expense of maintaining a single city for a single day was already beyond what the family had spent at the gift shop, let alone a whole. Alexander was a true rich third generation, and smacking people with his wealth was a maneuver he had mastered from an early age. Chapter 86 Party planner Externally Lex looked as calm as still water, as immovable as a mountain. Internally he was screaming like a diehard fan of a sports team that had their first win in years! Alexander had literally bought EVERY Zombie core they had in the shop! He thought it would take months for him to sell all of them, and his ie would be spread out. Who knew that happiness came like a tidal wave and swept him off his feet! Each Tier 1 Zombie core was for 200MP, Tier 2 Zombie core for 500MP, Tier 3 Zombie core for 1500MP and Tier 4 Zombie core for 5000MP! When Alexander bought them all, he spent a total of 2,686,000MP! That¡¯s two million six hundred and eighty thousand Midnight Points! That,bined with the puny 2026MP Lex already had, he now had a total of 2,688,026MP! The euphoria he was feeling was simr to when he first sold his video game and suddenly became rich. Only this time, it was much greater! He was struggling to contain himself. He needed to spend some MP to relieve some of his excitement, but this stupid John person was taking too long in designing his technique! Lex cursed him a hundred times in his head, then started looking through the Midnight Market for things to buy. Later, when he calmed down, he would spend his newly earned MP more strategically, but for now he must taste the lifestyle of a nouveau riche!. The first thing he ended up doing was buy an A.I. dedicated to the Recovery room. The name of the new staff member was Nurse Jubtion. Lexpletely did not name her that because it was the first synonym that came up based on the name of another very famous and beloved nurse (if you know, you know). What else should he buy? After a moment of contemtion, he decided to upgrade the Recovery room again for a whopping 20,000MP. This was because he was sick of keeping Marlo here while having to pay his medical fees, and wanted him to recover already. He had quite conveniently forgotten that Marlo was the one who procured those Zombie Cores for him. After a couple big expenditures Lex felt much better, but he needed to vent some more. He directly bought the permanent universal trantor for 100,000MP! But that was not enough, just a little more careless shopping before he should rein himself in. But what should he buy? He looked at Gerard, who was standing dutifully on the side, and an idea urred to him. He used to treat his A.I. staff like robots, but it seemed to him that they were very lifelike and had personalities. In that case, he hadn¡¯t been really treating them well and had them working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. He should do something about that. With a cost of 1500MP per room, he bought 4 employee residences for his A.I. staff. There was no physical manifestation this time, they were wholly in a separate space but their residences had windows that allowed them to see the Inn as if from inside the manor. The A.I. would be able to directly teleport there when they wished. With that Lex breathed a sigh of relief as he felt much better. After this he would continue to spend MP, but in a nned manner to systematically improve the Inn. He turned his attention back to John who still seemed to be working, but it was only fair. He couldn¡¯t expect him to rush such a thing. He started nning his expansion in his mind as he stood there silently, not paying attention at all to what was happening right in front of him. Around an hourter, John finallypleted his task. He quickly exined the technique to Vera, who implemented it directly. It was not an attack or something visually impressive. Instead, Lex suddenly felt Vera¡¯s sense of existence diminish. In fact, if he didn¡¯t have the Host Attire to tune him into everything and everyone at the Inn, he would directly ignore the girl standing right in front of her. Even her mother, who had been paying close attention to her, started looking elsewhere as if shepletely forgot about her daughter at all. Only John and Lex managed to keep looking at her directly. ¡°It¡¯s wonderful,¡± she eximed as she stopped using her technique. Although she had a bombastic personality, she was not ignorant. She knew how to hide herself, and even when she secretly roamed the Earth and yed pranks on various cultivators, she made sure to hide her identity. She knew better than anyone else the kind of trouble her family had gotten in because of her identity, so she wanted to make sure that no one would be able to discover her secrets again. It was also due to that desire that she asked for a technique to help her side, but instead of a technique that would aid her in evasion or erasing her trace, John created a technique to hide her sense of existence. ¡°Very well then John, you passed the test. Come with me, I will show you where you will be working. Vera, Kristine, I would like to thank you for your participation. Do stick around for a while, I¡¯m preparing a little something that I think you would be interested in.¡± The mother and daughter assured the Innkeeper that they would not leave before they saw what the Innkeeper had to show them. He led John to the street with the Training room and barbershop, and directly spent 5000MP to create a building that had a ground plus one floor, simr to the barber shop. The front of the building was undecorated for now, but the interior was very straight forward. The entrance was a small waiting room with a reception and door that led to the back. The room at the back consisted of a few different chairs and sofas, including a reclining sofa he imagined psychologists had in their offices. This was for the customers to sit and rx while theymunicated the technique they wanted and then waited for John to finish. There was also another door that led to a staircase that went to the first floor which would serve as John¡¯s residence. This was not like employee residences that were in separate spaces, but was an actual room. ¡°This will be your shop while you work here,¡± Lex said,pletely ignoring everyone¡¯s wonder at him manifesting a building with a wave of your hand. ¡°You can live on the top floor. You can charge customers ording to their cultivation levels as I¡¯m sure it¡¯s tougher to create a technique for higher cultivations. This is Doe,¡± Lex said, purchasing another A.I. he named Doe. ¡°He will carry out the transactions with your customers as well as pay you your share of the fee, so you don¡¯t need to worry about any of that. Think of a name for your shop and let Doe know. I¡¯ve given him authority to create your banner directly in front.¡± With that said, the impatient Lex directly disappeared leaving John and Doe to get acquainted with one another. Lex couldn¡¯t wait to get started on his expansion n, but first he was going to prepare his event. He wanted to let all his guests know of its details before anyone left so he could get maximum participation. But he didn¡¯t really have a ce to host events and it didn¡¯t feel right to create an auditorium or something. The location for his event had to be a little grander than that. He went into the event manager panel and started exploring his options. Other than the venue he also wanted to see what kind of events he could host. He tried asking Mary for advice on this, but she told him directly that he needed toplete this quest on his own. Eventually, he decided on everything and appeared behind the manor. Visualizing what he wanted, he summoned a giant building with a wave of his hand. Well, to be more urate he summoned a coliseum. He was renting this building from the event management panel as buying such a massive building would cost him a lot of MP that he didn¡¯t want to spend right now. But he would not be embarrassed if he held events in such a venue, and it directly suited his taste. A few guests immediately noticed the giant addition to the Inn ¨C a building that dwarfed the manor in front of it was hard to miss. Lex made sure one more time if everything was in order, confirmed his n of action one more time, then made an announcement directly in the mind of all of his guests. ¡°Dear guests, please make your way to the coliseum in one hours time. The Midnight Inn is preparing a special event, and I¡¯d like all of you to be the first to know the details.¡± This chapter is a preview, if you want to see a faster and more up-to-date chapter, please visit . for more content. Chapter 87 A talent show for the universe? Lex¡¯s announcement reached everyone who was at the Inn, even the recovering Marlo. It immediately attracted their attention, and they all started concluding their businesses. Letting them conclude or pause whatever they were doing was also primarily the reason Lex timed the invitation to an hourter. In the Recovery room, three of the guests who had apanied Will were being healed in the Recovery Pod(RP), but they would be done soon due to the upgrade the Recovery Room received. Even Marlo¡¯s recovery had sped up, but the root of his issue was not an existing energy but the unstable nature of his blood. That was something he would have to solve himself, but what the RP was doing was healing his vitality. It would not take long for that topletely recover, at which point Marlo would be able to leave. John, who was resting for the first time in years in his new office, opened his eyes and forced himself to stay awake. This mysterious Inn had given him plenty of surprises, and he couldn¡¯t wait to see what else it had instored for him. Hera, who was still overwhelmed by the new world she had just encountered, was freaked out when she heard a voice in her head. That is, until she learnt that everyone heard it. The Morrisons, who had concluded their initial deal with the natives of Vegus Minima and were having a discussion of their own about how to proceed, immediately stopped their discussion and moved towards the Coliseum. The mother daughter pair had already seen it earlier and were making their way towards it when the announcement happened. Harry, who had dozed off, was woken up and tried to pick himself up but copsed and fell back asleep. Only the Gctic Sovereign turtle did not care about the announcement and continued to drag a tree through the ground using vines, the previously annoyed gardener now excitedly leading him somewhere. If anyone were to see it, they would see a sight simr to one dragging a stick through the mud. Somehow, the tree did not break as it was being dragged and the ground remained undisturbed once it left. Lex, who was waiting for everyone, continued to look through the event management panel. Something interesting he learnt was that if something significant enough was happening on one of thes connected to the Inn, he could incorporate it into his own events.. For example, he learnt from the panel that apparently there were a few forbidden zones that no cultivators could enter on Earth, and currently arge expedition was underway to explore the one on Mount Everest. To the mortals it seemed like a few daredevils were attempting to climb the highest mountain in the world for personal satisfaction or something, but only cultivators knew that there was a legend of a Holynd somewhere in those mountains that they were trying to discover. Lex could incorporate that expedition into his event and send guests to join in. He also learnt that he could set certain rules or protocols that would be activated if something happened during the event. This could both be tobat emergency situations or award prizes ¨C that was up to Lex. The only things that limited him were his imagination and his wallet! Slowly and steadily, his guests started arriving. The first to arrive were naturally Kristine and Vera. They were closely followed by the Morrison family and Helen. When Vera saw Alexander she whispered something to her mother who looked over and then whispered something back. Brandon, seeing that they were the only ones there, went up to introduce himself to the duo to try and learn where they were from. Unbeknownst to him, the mother and daughter had an intricate and imaginative yet false backstory ready on hand, though they refused to mention which they were from. Shortly after, Will, his six followers along with Hera and Hugo entered the coliseum. Since neither the Morrisons nor anyone from Will¡¯s party were wearing the disguise sses, they came face to face in their original appearance. Helen quickly whispered to Alexander Will¡¯s identity on Earth, along with a few of his followers she recognized. Alexander naturally passed the information along to his father who looked at the party with interest. Will on the other hand immediately recognized all of them, and froze in horror and fear! The entire purpose of the Rose Society was to steal control of resources from the cultivation giants of the world, and yet he was now in the presence of one of the greatest of those giants. Naturally others would not know the purpose of his society, but even still someone at his level wouldpletely be expected to fear the Morrison family. ¡°You seem to recognize us, friend,¡± said Rorick with a sly smile. ¡°Could you be a fellow guest from Earth?¡± ¡°Yes my lord,¡± Will replied immediately, and then gave a bow. Everyone in his party bowed as well ¨C other than Hera, who eventually copied everyone when she realized something was amiss. ¡°Please, no need for such formalities. Here, we are allrades from Earth. Treat me as you would anyone else,¡± Rorick spoke casually, as if he was used to such behavior. Although his family did not im to be royalty or demand such gestures, everyone else did not dare to treat them any less. ¡°How dare I, my lord? How dare I? My name is William Bentham, of Bentham Corp. My father had the privilege of working for your family once, he told me to his dying day that it was his greatest honor. This is my adopted daughter, my lord, Hera, and these are my friends.¡± Will had not really adopted Hera, but he long told her that he treated her as his own daughter, so it was not a stretch to tell others as such. ¡°It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you all. Come, sit, befortable. It¡¯s rare to meet someone from home so far away. Tell me, what brought you here?¡± Rorick was interested in how others from Earth arrived here, how long they had beening and howmon it was for people from Earth toe to the Inn. Will¡¯s party was muchrger than their own, so there may be a chance that some of them were frequent guests of the Inn. As the various groups mingled, John finally arrived as well. His¡­unique appearance drew a lot of attention, but before anyone could approach him he chose to sit far away from the crowd. Naturally Vera and Kristine introduced the man as an employee of the Inn who designed techniques for guests, which attracted even more attention. ne, Chen and Lily arrived at and also chose to sit on their own, as they whispered amongst themselves. Even the free A.I. staff made their way to the coliseum and sat together in a group. They didn¡¯t understand the concept of chatting, at least they didn¡¯t understand it yet, so they sat in silence and looked at their boss on stage. As the hour closed and it seemed no one else would arrive, a lean, grinning man strutted in. ¡°What a nap!¡± he roared with satisfaction. ¡°Innkeeper, you¡¯ve really got a nice ce here.¡± Lex resisted the urge to yell at the no-longer-giant maniac, but suddenly he saw Marlo¡¯s eyes light up when he sasw Brandon. ¡°Take my punch old man! You still haven¡¯t paid me the tuition for teaching your grandson!¡± True to his words, Marlo hurled towards Brandon and punched him. Brandon casually caught the punch, and though he was not pushed back by the force his eyes widened in shock as he muttered, ¡°this strength!¡± Yet before the two could continue their exchange, a loud, clear voice interrupted them. ¡°If you break anything, Marlo, you¡¯ll have to pay in Zombie cores!¡± It was the Innkeeper who was looking at him with an amused smile, as if daring him to continue his antics. ¡°Excuse me Innkeeper, I just saw an old debtor and could not control myself,¡± said Marlo before he burst intoughter, as if calling the Morrisons debtors was hrious. ¡°Well, since it looks like everyone with the intention toe is already here, why don¡¯t we begin.¡± Lex looked at his guests as he mentally prepared himself to introduce his event. He hated public speaking, thank the Inn that the Host Attire hid his nervousness. ¡°I called you all here to let you know of an event that the Midnight Inn is organizing in two weeks time. The Midnight Inn is a ce for guests from all over the universe to rest and vacation, to let go of their burdens and look ahead in life. We provide our guests with the best hospitality and services, but we also like to go above and beyond. ¡°Earth, Vegus Minima and Nibiru are the newests to be connected to the Inn, and in celebration of that we are preparing a culture sharing event so that you all may expand your horizons and get to know the customs of the universe!¡± Chapter 88 Event Management? More like anger management The guests promptly memorized the names of the others mentioned. Although no one seemed to have met any guests from Nibiru, it was irrelevant. If the Innkeeper said the world was connected then that¡¯s all that mattered. Their attention then turned towards the ¡®culture sharing¡¯ aspect of the event he talked about. Somehow, a lot of them thought of world culture day in schools. Were they supposed to bring food and items from their world? While everyone was staring at him and wondering what exactly the event would entail, Lex was also observing them for their reactions. When Lex was deciding on his event, the first decision he had to make was what kind of event he wanted and who his target demographic were. So far, he had mostly dealt with cultivators. In a sense, they could be called the elite members of society. Should he continue to focus on cultivators, or should he focus on mortals as well? Lex didn¡¯t need to think too much, the more people that came the better his ie would be. That meant he needed to n an event with maximum participation from all worlds, as well as an incentive for everyone to participate. For that he needed to prepare some sort of prize, but if the prize was for an individual no one would make an effort to bring more people from their owns. That meant the prize had to be for all participants from a specific, not a specific individual. It was fortunate then that the event management panel also had a specific tab for prizes. The only catch was, the prizes were pricey. ¡°Any guest from any of the threes may participate in the event. Of course, any kind of festivity is iplete unless there is a grand prize so whichever puts on the best show will¡­¡± Lex¡¯s speech was interrupted by the appearance of the floating golden door right in front of him. Some of the audience recognized the golden door, some of them didn¡¯t, but Lex knew a new guest was arriving. The timing was slightly inconvenient, but another guest couldn¡¯t hurt¡­. A zombie walked out of the door, its body emitting a putrid rotting smell. It had dried blood all over its face and its naked body was covered in mud and dirt. The zombie was at Mid Foundation level and as soon as it appeared Lex summoned the Self Defense Butter Knife in his hand, but waited for it to attack before he made a move. The guests froze as no one was expecting such a scene. Marlo and the guests from Vegus recognized thetest ¡®guest¡¯ and readied themselves for any potential trouble but the rest looked on with interest. The Zombie took a few moments to look around its new surroundings, but when it saw Lex it let out an aggressive roar and prepared to attack. Yet before it had taken so much as a single step, Lex threw the Butter Knife straight through its forehead, killing it. His actions were swift and decisive, which led to an anticlimactic end to the sudden intrusion. ¡°It¡¯s a tragedy when certain guests just can¡¯t abide by the rules of the Inn,¡± Lex said as he appeared indifferent. He mentally instructed Gerard to dispose of the zombie¡¯s body but recover its core. ¡°Please excuse me for exposing you to such vulgarity,¡± he said looking at his awaiting guests. Only Hera looked bothered by what just happened, and Will was consoling her, which was fortunate. ¡°Will the event include sharing some of my ¡®culture¡¯ with the zombie?¡± Marlo asked, smirking. ¡°I don¡¯t mind paying them a visit again. It was quite enjoyable.¡± ¡°No,¡± Lex said chuckling ¨C of course the barbarian wannabe would only think of fighting. ¡°Variouss have different circumstances and differentbat standards, having abat portion in the event would make it unfair to certains¡­¡± Lex was interrupted once again by another Zombie, but this time the status of the zombie read Mid Golden Core! For a moment Lex froze in fear, but quickly recovered and his thoughts started racing. ¡®The zombie is too close to me, if it attacks I¡¯ll be the first victim. I can teleport away, but that¡¯ll expose my weakness in front of everyone. What can I do? The Butter Knife can only deal with Foundation realm enemies¡­No wait, I have MP I can pay for an upgrade! How do I upgrade?¡¯ Just as these various thoughts were going through his head and he was about to upgrade the Butter Knife through the Midnight market, the Zombie identified Lex as its prey! This zombie¡¯s eyes were more animated than the previous ones, and Lex could see excitement in them. Yet before the zombie could make any actual moves, vines grew out of the ground and wrapped themselves around it. The zombie tried to resist, but new vines kept growing and wrapping it simr to the bindings around a mummy. Once the zombie waspletely wrapped, it fell over to the ground. One could still clearly see the zombie struggling within its wrappings, but it bore no results. The grass around where the zombie fell grew and lifted it up, and started moving the zombie away from the coliseum as if the zombie were a celebrity crowd-surfing and the grass were all of its fans carrying it. ¡°I told the turtle you brought it some fertilizer,¡± Mary whispered in his ear, as if exining what happened, but didn¡¯t appear in front of him. She didn¡¯t want to distract Lex, he was supposed to be presenting in front of his guests and had already been disturbed enough. Once the zombie left the stadium Lex turned his attention to the golden door, which stayed in the air for a few more moments before disappearing ¨C as if detecting Lex¡¯s displeasure. When the vines surrounded the zombie and took care of it, the first thing Lex felt in his heart was relief ¨C instant, immense relief. Yet right after that, he started feeling angry. This was supposed to be his Inn, yet he had no control over it because his authority for everything was too low! He was in the middle of presenting, but he kept getting interrupted with intruders and embarrassed in front of his guests. As Lex¡¯s internal monologue continued, he did not notice that he had clenched his fists tightly or that even his Host Attire could not stop him from frowning. He was not controlling the weather directly, but as if affected by his mood the clear sky started filling with clouds and his anger started exerting pressure on everyone simr to what one felt when they reached the bottom of the deep end of a pool. ¡°Lex you¡¯re getting angry again, control your emotions!¡± Mary said, appearing in front of him this time. Lex immediately snapped out of his thoughts, and realized what he was doing. With a single thought he returned the sky to what it was and eliminated the pressure, as if it was all a dream. Yet none of the guests thought it was a dream, they had all clearly felt what had just happened. The soldiers and Lily seemed the least affected by what they just witnessed ¨C in their minds the Innkeeper was already an extremely dangerous figure. ¡°You know what Marlo, I changed my mind.¡± Lex looked towards his guests. ¡°Two weeks from now the event will be divided into abat portion and a cultural portion. Thebat portion will be limited to the Foundation and Golden Core level for fairness, but everyone can participate in the cultural one. There will be no age or race restrictions. Specific details about both events and how to participate will be released in ten days, so don¡¯t forget to check back in. And remember, the winning will get an attractive prize so do your best.¡± With that Lex disappeared, leaving his guests to absorb everything he had just said and all that had happened. The staff were the first to leave, followed closely by John. ¡°Looks like our host has a bit of a temper,¡± Marlo said with a grin, then looked towards Alexander. ¡°Little brat, you shouldn¡¯t bring your family with you when you¡¯re out on a date.¡± Despite having gotten over her feelings, Helen blushed but made noment. ¡°Old geezer, it seems to me like you¡¯re getting weaker. Now you even need toe to the Inn to recover after getting beaten up.¡± ¡°Oh, am I getting weaker? Maybe you should ask your grandfather.¡± Marlo waited for Brandon toment on his increased strength, but it was Rorick who said ¡°Can we focus on the matter at hand. Does anyone know what that thing was that kept interrupting the Innkeeper? And what do we think about this cultural andbat event?¡± ¡°That was a zombie,¡± informed Marlo. ¡°And what do you mean, what do we think about it? Didn¡¯t you hear the man say there is a prize? We¡¯re of course going to go after it.¡± At this point Marlo¡¯s jolly demeanor changed, and he looked very seriously at Rorick, ¡°But as someone who¡¯s seen the Zombie battlefield let me tell you this. If we even want a chance at winning, we¡¯re going to need thebined strength of the entire sr system. Or, at least, the strength of all five ruling families.¡± Chapter 89 Insert title here When Lex disappeared, he teleported directly to his room. He told Mary to let him know if something required his attention, for example if all the rooms were booked and he needed to create more rooms, but otherwise he should not be disturbed. He realized that he was having severe mood swings, and needed to calm down. He sat down cross legged on his bed and started trying to meditate. It was not a skill he had mastered yet, and it usually took him some time before he could enter a state of meditation. Yet whenever he was able to meditate it helped his mental state tremendously. Back at the coliseum the guests had split up. Will and his party retreated to Hugo¡¯s room, although not before Rorick took down their names and contact information. The mother and daughter left the Inn entirely despite Vera¡¯s best efforts to stay a little longer. ne, Chen and Lily also left the Inn as they had a lot of things they needed to take care of. The Morrison¡¯s, along with Marlo, left to the room Alexander had rented earlier on. ¡°What are we going to do?¡± asked one of the members of the Rose Society. This one trip, which was originally just supposed to be about catching up with Will, had turned out to be beyond anything they had ever expected. All the members of the society were very old ording to mortal standards, but as cultivators they were only middle aged at best. It was not unusual for a Foundation realm expert to live up to two hundred years old, especially when even mortals asionally lived past a hundred these days. So with their long life ahead, they did not want to court death by messing with the Morrison family, even if it was for the purpose of the Rose Society. Their passion to challenge the world had been worn out with age and experience. ¡°We canpletely forget about the battle portion of the event,¡± said Will. ¡°But we can make preparations for the cultural aspect of it. For now we don¡¯t know what the details will be, so just organize your forces. Pick out people with various talents and prepare a cultural exhibition. But do not underestimate the impact of this event, or the Midnight Inn. If we y our cards right, the Midnight Inn can be a great source for all the resources we need. We can trade directly with the guests here, or the Inn itself, and distribute the resources on Earth. We just need to be careful about how we do it.¡±. ¡°We can form a newpany,¡± added Hera. She had little to no knowledge about cultivation, but she had been a business major and had recently entered the workforce, which made her realize that she had a skill for these kinds of things. ¡°Thepany will be the front but we can distribute the work amongst ourselves. We¡¯ll pool our resources and develop distribution channels all over the world. We would need a list of resources avable at the Inn, and what kinds of resources we can trade with guests. It will take time in the beginning, but if we can establish a stable source for multiple unique resources, we can use them to establish our brand recognition¡­¡± The meeting continued for a few hours while they all discussed their ideas on how to expand the influence of the Rose Society. Only Hugo stood in the corner in silence, watching the cabal. He did not care about these things, but if the influence of the Rose Society grew his chances for learning who harmed his family would increase. His fist tightened and his nails dug into his hand, but he did not feel that pain. His entire focus was on revenge. ***** ¡°Why I know these things, or how I was involved, I cannot tell you,¡± Marlo said up front. Even though he had rejected the job offer from the Inn, he had a feeling that he should keep those things a secret. The Innkeeper already told him that he would not be persecuted for his choice, but it would not be good to antagonize the man. ¡°What I can tell you is that I have witnessed a battlefield on another against these zombies, and they number in the millions. They have thousands of Golden Core zombies and hundreds of Nascent ones as well. In an up front fight, Earth wouldpletely be decimated with no chance at survival. Which is why I don¡¯t think the fighting will be directly putting us in the battlefield, nor can I imagine a tournament style one on one with the zombies. Whatever it may be, I think collecting the zombie cores will be an important aspect of the event.¡± ¡°Once we return I¡¯ll head directly to Earth and call for a meeting,¡± said Brandon as he yed with Audrey¡¯s hair. ¡°We will need to organize most of our forces, but we also can¡¯t leave Earth and Marspletely unprotected. We¡¯ll have to figure out those details. But even so, based on what Marlo said and what we learnt from those kids on Vegus Minima, the chances of us winning thebat portion of the event are slim. Our focus should be on the culture aspect of it. Earth has been rtively peaceful for the past few decades and has developed well in that regard. I think that¡¯s where our advantage lies.¡± ¡°Are you going to bring the other 4 families here?¡± asked Alexander. Right now, as far as he knew, his family was the only one who knew about the Inn and had an advantage over the rest. Even if they lost the events, he thought it was worth it to maintain the advantage of keeping the Inn a secret so that they could develop their own family. He expected that the others would eventually also learn about the Inn, since even Marlo hade here somehow, but until then he wanted to maintain whatever advantage he could keep. ¡°Yes, there¡¯s no point in keeping it a secret,¡± said Rorick. ¡°I¡¯ve told you this before, but all 5 of the families do not have apetitive rtionship. We all have the same goal of maintaining the peace of Earth, and working together on this will be beneficial for all of us. Do not be short sighted.¡± Alexander sighed. The rtionship between the five families that secretly controlled the Earth was unusually cooperative. Not that Alexander had a problem with that, but in such a cutthroat environment it simply didn¡¯t make sense. But he was not privy to the details of their rtionship, in fact even his father was not in the know. Only his grandparents knew the exact details of why the families cooperated. The discussion continued for a few more hours before the Morrisons left, leaving Helen and Marlo behind. Helen could not leave yet as she would return to Egypt and would be exposed, so until Alexander returned to Earth and secured her exit she would have to stay. Marlo stayed behind because while his old injuries had been healed, his problem with his blood made him vulnerable and he did not want to leave until that was taken care of. He winked at the young girl once with a grin, then exited the room. He found Gerard and asked the old man, ¡°I need to cultivate a bit. What would be the best ce for that? Should I rent a room?¡± ¡°No, we have a better ce especially suited for cultivation. Please follow me,¡± he said cheerily and hopped into the Golf cart and drove to the Meditation room. As soon as the former behemoth entered the Meditation room he felt its effects and smiled in satisfaction. Wasting no time he sat in a meditation pose and started focusing on tempering his blood. He had a strong feeling that when he seeded, the results would be staggering. After a few hours of hubbub, the Inn returned to its usual calm. John took this time to explore the ground of the Inn, with Doe following closely behind. Doe was equipped with all the knowledge the regr staff of the Inn automatically received and so served as an adequate tour guide for John. Most of the things John saw did not surprise him, as it was no big deal for someone of the Innkeeper¡¯s status to be able to provide such services. The array in the forest drew a bit of his curiosity, as although he could recognize the array he could not break through it. The thing that attracted him the most, however, was the Mystery Trial. Even though John¡¯s cultivation was sealed, his intuition was sharp and well honed, and he immediately felt attracted to the Trial. Once Doe told him the first attempt was free, he did not hesitate and walked in. As soon as he stepped through the ancient door, he felt his surroundings change. He was not standing or walking, but crouching in the shadow behind a rock. The peculiar thing was that the rock was at the far end of a white, rectangr room that was extremely well lit. There was no furniture in the room, no windows, nothing to distract the eye at all except the rock at one end, and a man standing at the other end looking directly at the rock. The only other shadow in the room, besides the one John was taking a refuge in, was at the feet of the man who was looking at the rock. John smiled as he learnt the condition to pass the trial. He had to kill the man while remaining undetected. It would have been difficult for anyone else, but as his cultivation had somehow been restored in this trial, he found it to be extremely simple. ¡°System, activate perimeter scan and check for traps,¡± John said mentally. ¡°Instruction received. Activating scan,¡± replied a robotic voice in his head. This chapter is a preview, if you want to see a faster and more up-to-date chapter, please visit . for more content. Chapter 90 Starting expansion ¡°Scanplete, no anomaly detected,¡± replied the system. John let out a satisfied smile when he heard that familiar, monotone voice. He asked the system to scan instead of using his spiritual senses because the system was a lot more covert. ¡°Scan the target and formte a detailed n of action for eliminating the target.¡± ¡°Scanning the target. Formting n of action based on gathered data. Presenting the data now¡­¡±. John looked over the n and yed it out in his head multiple times. Once he was sure he was ready, he took a step back and entered a void. The void existed in parallel to the existing universe and he could traverse it easily using the system¡¯s abilities, entering and exiting wherever he wished. He exited in the air above and behind the target, but when he exited he was surprised to see the man looking directly at him. Before John could respond he felt a sharp, painful rip in his neck. The next thing he knew, he was back behind the boulder, as if nothing had happened. In his mind, a countdown started. He had 59 minutes left to sessfully kill the target without being detected. ***** Lex found it hard to start meditating, but once he did he stayed in the state for several hours. When he was done, contrary to what one might expect, he felt mentally exhausted. Stabilizing his overactive spirit drained him, but he felt satisfied as he could feel himself making progress. It was slow, but it existed. He made a resolution to meditate for a few hours everyday. But for now, he needed sleep. Sweeping the Inn with his mind once he made sure there was nothing that needed his attention, then went to sleep. He woke up the next day feeling refreshed and despite wanting to stay in bed for a bit longer, he jumped out and headed towards the shower while he ordered Gerard to deliver a hearty breakfast to his room. Once he showered and dressed himself in his Host Attire, he sat down to a breakfast of eggs, bacon, hash browns, sausages, buttered bread, tea, cereal, poptarts, cold pizza (he had to tell Gerard specifically he wanted the pizza to be cold, as if just taken out of the fridge) croissants, bagels, donuts, cottage cheese, crackers, hummus, grapes and several other dishes that would make one wonder if the Innkeeper ad gone insane. No, the Innkeeper had not gone insane. It was just that his appetite had exploded with his increased cultivation and while previously he could eat endlessly without gaining weight, now he felt like if he did not eat enough he would faint. This was actually an extreme case of what most cultivators went through before they started drawing spiritual energy into their body. The energy requirement of their body would increase, and since his only source of energy was food he would need to drastically increase his intake. Later, once his body developed the capability for absorbing spiritual energy, he would be able to reduce his dependence on eating ridiculous amounts of food. Not that he wasining, it was a different kind of pleasure being able to eat so much. While he ate, he opened up the System and took a look at what he could do. Currently he had 2,551,526 MP and there were many things he could do. He directly set aside one million MP for the event ¨C he was actually expecting to spend around 500,000MP but he thought he would leave himself a buffer. While looking at the system he was surprised to see that the rooms booked by Bastet and Fk were both free now. It had already been a month. Lex took a moment to reminisce about all the things that had happened thest month then got to work. Lex was expecting a lot more guests at his Inn as a result of the uing event, so he needed to increase his capacity. Currently he had 7 regr rooms, so he purchased 13 more for an expense of 6500MP. He also hired 3 more A.I. whose sole job would be to take care of the guests in the manor. They would clean, take care of room service, act as a concierge or whatever else would be required of them within the manor. He naturally also purchased residences for them, for abined expense of 10,500MP. He made Velma in charge of the new staff. Originally he was going to give Gerard the responsibility, but if he was restricted to the manor then the old man would be deprived of the joy of driving around the gold cart so decided to give the old man a different job. That job, as one can expect, was head chauffeur. He bought 3 more golf carts, and hired three new A.I. staff to be chauffeurs. Of course, it goes without saying, he bought them employee residences as well. His total expense for this was 11,100MP (each golf cart was 200MP). Before he turned his attention away from the manor and towards the rest of the Inn, he also hired a final A.I. to be the chef at the restaurant and named him Ramsey. With that done, and no new required alterations to the manor that Lex could think of, he turned his attention to the rest of the Inn. The only two new rooms he could build at the moment were the Patisserie and the Guild room. For the Patisserie Lex had something special in mind so he didn¡¯t build it for now. Lex bought the Guild room for the cheap price of 1000MP and ced it beside the barbershop, and then paused because of how insignificant the amount seemed right now yet how much it had intimidated him earlier. Yet he didn¡¯t dwell on it for long as the Guild room required more of his attention. It required another full time employee so Lex hired yet another A.I. and at this point it should be automatically understood that along with each A.I. camee its own room. The Guild room, contrary to its name, did not allow guests to set up guilds. Instead, it allowed guests to more easily interact with other guests. They could submit tasks or requests in the Guild room along with a reward forpletion of the task, which other guests could ept. Both, the guests who submitted and epted the task could do so with their identity hidden or shown, whichever they preferred. On the surface this looked like a simple ce where one could hire mercenaries or adventurers to perform tasks, but it could also serve as an excellent trading tform. For example, if one guest had a surplus of a certain resource, such as Zombie cores, they could put them in as a reward for a task that is asking someone to submit a corresponding number of spirit stones. Anyone who was in need of the cores could pay or ¡®submit¡¯ the spirit stones and receive the cores. This eliminated the need for guests who wanted to trade with one another to coordinate timings and arrive at the Inn at the same time to conduct the trade. The guests also did not need to be at the Inn to receive payments as they would directly be sent to the relevant guest wherever they were in the universe. Lex really wanted to open up armories so he could sell weapons, which he could in theory but then he would need to supply the weapons as the System had not unlocked the building yet. He also wanted to build a Library to store cultivation techniques, but did not have enough of those yet either. He had an idea to open up a movie theater, but it would be suspicious if he only had Earth¡¯s media on it so he had to dy that n till he had movies from other ces. Then, while he was browsing the Midnight market he saw a tab he had never seen before called ¡®Employee Benefits¡¯. Intrigued, he opened it and was immediately filled with excitement! Apparently the tab was unlocked when he hired Harry, but since he had given all of his A.I. staff employee residences, they also became eligible to receive these benefits. So why was Lex excited about the prospect of his employee getting benefits? It was because the first option under benefits was cultivation. All of his A.I. staff were absolutely loyal to Lex, as assured by the System, so he had no qualms about funding their cultivation. He opened the cultivation tab which presented him with a list of all his employees and which cultivation techniques were suitable for them. Without hesitation Lex spent 20,000MP and bought all the A.I. staff the most suitable cultivation techniques and told them all to start practicing in their free time. He also told them to write them down and submit a copy of each to him. After all, he had to start his collection for his library from somewhere. This chapter is a preview, if you want to see a faster and more up-to-date chapter, please visit . for more content. Chapter 91 Leaders from the universe So far, on his little expansion during breakfast Lex had already spent 56,100MP. It truly spoke volumes about how criminally understaffed he had been. He should give Velma and Gerard some kind of reward. He¡¯d put it on his to do list, because for now he wasn¡¯t done. There was one more thing that he had been putting off, one more thing he had been dreading to even look at because of his severeck of MP. Yet now, he could not wait to explore. He opened up the Gift Shop tab to look at what else he could purchase, and indeed, a few new items were waiting for him. He smiled as he read through the new items descriptions. Bath towel: Don¡¯t you hate it when you get something disgusting on yourself? Cleaning up is such a hassle. The Bath towel rids the user of negative status that are affecting the user via the skin i.e. poison, paralysis paste, petrification, tracking powder, bad makeup etc. Can affect Foundation realm and below Travel size face washing kit: Sometimes, when you don¡¯t feel like yourself, it¡¯s good to be someone else. Allows user to change their appearance as they wish for 24 hours. Please note, only physical appearance changes, not height, body structure, finger prints, spiritual signature, gait etc.. Selfie stick: Whether you¡¯re traveling the countryside, shopping in a mall, fighting a legion of enemies, there is no wrong time to take a selfie. Whoever you hit with the stick will temporarily be petrified, as if posing for a selfie. Duration of petrification is variable, but Qi training cultivators can be petrified for 10 seconds. Lex smiled, satisfied with the few new additions and directly purchased them and put them in the shop. The Bath towel was sold for 300MP, while the other two were sold for 200MP, all of them giving a profit of 100MP. Lex concluded this just as he finished his breakfast. Lex grinned in satisfaction as he stood up. He felt slightly bloated, but the feeling would pass in a bit. Now, he had to focus on where else he could make improvements. He had upgraded the Recovery room twice and had reached his limit, so he supposed he could upgrade the other ces as well¡­ Lex frowned. Currently he didn¡¯t really need to upgrade them, and though he had a lot of MP he should not treat it as infinite. He would let the other ce be for now, but there was one thing that did require an upgrade. Lex disappeared and reappeared in his greenhouse. Currently neither the garner nor the turtle were present, though Lex did not suspect them of cking. Even if they were resting, just looking at the condition of the greenhouse let him know the amount of work they had been doing. The nts had all been rearranged. At first they were divided by their use and type, while now they seemed to be mixed. Lex was sure that this arrangement served some kind of purpose, but even beyond that they formed a strange symmetry that felt pleasant to look at. What pleased him the most was that his vegetables looked almost ready. Admittedly, he did not know what vegetables ready to be picked looked like, but just the fact that from seeds they had grown into sizable nts was enough to tell him what he needed to know. Without any hesitation, Lex upgraded the greenhouse twice, spending 15,000MP. The upgrade seemed veryckluster in Lex¡¯s opinion as there was no visible change, but he didn¡¯t doubt the system system so he disappeared. What he did not know was that the gardener instantly became aware of the upgrade as well as the new functions of the greenhouse. The Gardener almost copsed when he found out as he knew that the turtle would want to rearrange the garden, once again. With that done, Lex turned his attention towards more selfish tasks. He had given all of his employee¡¯s residences, but had ignored his own. As the owner of the Inn, he too could have a residence in a separate space ¨C though his would be more expensive. Yet since he was going to be spending all his time here now, he didn¡¯t see why he shouldn¡¯t reward himself. He spent a hefty 20,000MP on establishing his own residence. It was nothing too fancy, though there were options for those as well, and only built himself a single story apartment. The apartment had a living room that was simultaneously also the dining room, along with a small kitchen, two bedrooms, a study, a restroom, a meditation room and a training room. Yes, Lex liked to live simply and humbly. The meditation room and training room had the same effects as the ones in the Inn, and despite the fact that he still had to pay to use them they were very convenient. The apartment was, of course, fully furnished. Satisfied, Lex went to his study room and began working towards his uing event. Although the event was thirteen days away, and the announcement of the details would be in nine days, Lex had a lot of preparations to do. He opened up the event management panel and looked at a very important tab that read ¡®paid promotion¡¯. Yes, it was exactly what one would expect. Lex could pay MP to promote his event in all three worlds. Since he was nning on having arge event, how could he rely on word of mouth to spread the news. The scope of the event would be too limited if only a few dozen, or even a few hundred people came. He was running the Midnight Inn, not a smallmunityic con ¨C he needed attendance! But letting guestse early would not be good, and he needed to establish a premise for his publicity and an incentive for participation. He noted down a few ideas, yed them out in his head, then crossed out a few and then worked on them again. When he was finally satisfied with what he wanted he smiled, and paid the 150,000MP promotion fee! That was 50,000MP per, but considering how he was doing his promotion it felt cheap. ***** Somewhere on Nibiru, in arge pce underwater, a young mermaid was ying with a simrly young sea serpent. Large, intricate runes formed chandeliers above the ying child, and changed colors ording to her mood. The mermaid, who was only a few weeks old, was easily entertained. Watching over her in the distance was a muchrger and more ferocious looking sea serpent. If someone from Earth saw this blue colored monstrosity they would think of a chinese dragon, yet despite its power and prestige, the serpent did not have the audacity to add dragon to its title. ¡°They will grow up as friends,¡± the serpent murmured. ¡°It will be a happy childhood,¡± replied a beast that looked like a massive lobster. ¡°It would be best if the child¡¯s identity is forever forgotten. She does not need to bear such burdens. She should be free to choose the path her heart desires.¡± The serpent was about to reply, but suddenly it felt a massive surge in spiritual energy. It felt the surge pass through the underwater pce until it reached him, and then froze around the serpent. It felt like it was locked under the gaze of an unknown entity, and though the serpent felt no hostility, the strength of that gaze caused the serpent to tense up. ¡°Havval El¡¯Yun,¡± a booming voice spoke in its mind, ¡°ruler of the Jade Sea, King of Serpents, your strength is recognized and your reign acknowledged. You are invited in nine days time to the Midnight Inn to discuss participation of your kingdom in the Midnight Games. Strength and glory to those who win, a chance to witness history for those who lose. Which of those will be yours?¡± The spiritual energy disappeared along with the unknown gaze, but in their ce a single silver key was left. Somehow, Havval knew that the key would turn golden in nine days and take him away ¨C if he had the guts to follow it. What Havval did not know, however, was that it was not the only one on Nibiru to hear the voice. All the Kings, Queens and rulers of all the nations felt the spiritual surge and heard a corresponding message ¨C the universal equivalent of spam messaging. ***** On Vegus Minima, General Ragnar sat in front of a hologram that depicted the entire. Every inch ofnd, every battlefield, every citizen were shown on that hologram, because it was being streamed directly to him from the several Juggernaut ss vessels in space. He watched, not with his eyes, but with his spiritual sense every single detail and remembered all of them. Every moment he was receiving more information than even the best and most powerfulputers on Earth could handle. But the frown on his face was not because he was getting too much information, but because he was not getting what he was searching for. Eventually he sighed and began preparing his report that they were still not able to locate the Demon¡¯s spawning portals but stopped when the devices around him reported an unusual surge in spiritual energy. ¡°Ragnar Asulf,¡± a voice boomed in his head, ¡°Son of the Empire, Hells Butcher, your ruthlessness is known and your leadership is admired¡­¡± Chapter 92 Not welcome without the wife When General Ragnar heard theplete message and received the silver key, he did not act rmed nor was he surprised by the sudden event. He knew enough about high leveled cultivators to know what they were capable of. He simply epted the key after scanning it for potential traps or poisons, and then sent an emergencymunication to themand carrier exining what he had encountered. Themand carrier was like a forward operating base, but for space instead. It was a massive spaceship that harbored the mainbat and logistics ships for any space based deployment. Themand carrier assigned to this remation deployment of the Vegus System was actually hidden somewhere outside the sr system. Not only was it equipped with weapons that couldpletely decimates and shields so powerful that it could protect the ship from a direct collision with a sun, it couldmunicate directly back to the Jotun Empire¡¯s centralmand from anywhere in the known universe. Shortly after hismunication he received some information as well as new orders. Apparently, he was not the only one who received the message. Although he was assigned the entire, there were several colonels under him who controlled several bases around it. All colonels with enough power (not cultivation power, power tomand) also received the message. It was also suspected that all themanding officers of the Demon¡¯s legions also received themunication. He was ordered tomand the delegation that would head to the Midnight Inn. His purpose was to gather intel on the nature of the organization known as ¡®Midnight Inn¡¯ and establish a preliminary rtionship with it representing the Jotun Empire. He also had the discretion to make decisions based on the evolving situation once he went to the Midnight Inn keeping the interests of the Empire in mind. Ragnar did not hesitate, and immediately started preparation. His first order of business, establish a new chain ofmand on the while he was gone in case this was a trap. In the meantime, he did not stop the search for the spawn portal either.. Somewhere on the other side of the, an especially malevolent looking zombie stared at the floating silver key in front of it. It took a moment before it made some sort of decision, and changed its appearance, retracting its several extra limbs, ws, fangs, wings and tail. In the end, the zombie looked like a frail, malnourished college student with no features to distinguish it from a zombie. It grabbed the key before retreating through a portal. ***** On Earth things had finally calmed down slightly after the tense few days following the Alexander assassination attempt, yet suddenly yesterday everything changed. Every ICPA on the started enforcing a very strict curfew and mortal armies of several nations were deployed to their borders. Most people did not understand what was happening and conspiracy theories were abundant. Only a select few knew that the current situation was a result of some actions taken by the Morrison family. Even fewer knew what those actions were. Four separate families received an emergency summon from Brandon Morrison, who also imed that he was returning to Earth to hold the meeting in person. This had various consequences, as the four heads of those families were immediately informed. All four of them grimaced at the news, as such a meeting would only be called if it concerned gravely important matters. While they were preparing themselves for the worst, the situation escted further. An open broadcast sent out on a secret channel known only to the top echelon of Earth sent out the message that if Brandon Morrison dared tond on Earth without his wife present, hisnding shuttle would be nuked! This was the exact message that caused every ICPA, every nation and every top cultivator on Earth to panic and prepare for the worst. This was because the origin of the message was not hidden. In fact, not only was it not hidden, the person who sent out the message even identified themself during the broadcast. It was sent by the oldest and most mysterious figure in the cultivation world. This mysterious personage was known the world over only by the title of ¡®The Queen¡¯, and no one knew her actual name. How strong was she? How old was she? What was her origin? What were her intentions? No one knew the answer to any of these questions. The only thing people knew was that The Queen lived in a certain pce in London and that her image was often printed on various currencies across the globe! Although Brandon assured everyone that he wasing with his wife, everyone was still tense. Very few actually knew the significance of himing with his wife as opposed to without, and this caused everyone to specte madly. While all this was happening, one of the primary people responsible for the confusion on Earth, The Queen, was sitting casually in her garden sipping a Pi?a Cda while her pet Corgis ran around beside her. One would expect that a cultivator of such prestige would have high leveled beasts as pets, but no, these were just regr dogs. It was raining in London, but naturally none of the rain fell in The Queens garden. How would the rain dare to fall there without acquiescence from the ancient one? She did not at all look concerned regarding the uing meeting or its contents, let alone the status of the world. No, her attention was towards a TV screen on which a cricket match was being yed. The World Cup was going to be held the next year, how could she not follow the progress of her favorite team? It was while she was focused on the TV that she felt a surge in spirit energy, and a booming voice said, ¡°Your majesty The Queen, your kingdom is prosperous and your wisdom is legend. You are invited in nine days time to the Midnight Inn¡­¡± She heard the whole message, received the key and then turned her attention back to the match. The timing of the message was too coincidental. It seemed she had deduced the purpose of her uing meeting of the five families. ***** Lex chuckled to himself as he imagined the reactions of the various leaders on the threes. It was extremely annoying receiving spam emails and messages all the time on Earth, but he had to say sending his own messages felt rather interesting. Yet he could not linger in his musings. Once the promotion was taken care of, he had a few other key things to take care of. He had titled this event the Midnight Games, since he could not think of a better title, but he still had not exactly figured out the content of the ¡®games¡¯ or how the event would proceed. He needed to do a lot of research for that before he made a decision, this was also the reason why he had a 10 day buffer before announcing the details of the event. It would give him time to decide the exact details. But that was not all. How could he not take advantage of such an opportunity to make some more MP? He had to figure out the best way to mize this event ¨C fortunately the event panel gave him a few options there as well. What were these options? Why, limited edition merchandise based on the event of course! How could you doubt the business sense of the young man who spent so much time in capitalist America? It was the most amazing feature of America, after all. The only people whoined about it were the ones who could not learn to take advantage of it. Tshirts, caps, drinks, flyers, posters, food, drinks, toys and more were all options avable to him. Even better was the fact that all of these items could be designed and altered at a moments notice, so if any one person performed well and gained a lot of fans during the events Lex could immediately create merchandise around that person. Would this affect the prestige of the Inn? Lex didn¡¯t think so, and even if it did, he could just hire a PR consultant. Why sweat the small stuff when he could pay someone to do that for him? Another, and much more important aspect for Lex to look at was security. He was expecting thousands of participants, and tens of thousands of viewers. Most of those would be cultivators? There was bound to be troublemakers and even if he upgraded his Butter Knife there was no way he could handle all of it. Fortunately, the event manager panel provided a solution to this. Unfortunately, the solution was expensive. Yet how much exactly was Lex willing to spend, that was the conundrum he was facing at the moment. It was better to be safe than sorry, but he hadn¡¯t even paid for the event yet, he could not blow his entire budget just on security. Or, at the very least, he would have to increase his budget and somehow get even more MP. If only the system epted mortgages. Chapter 93 Leo For Lex, security was very important, but it was also very expensive. After staring at his options for a long while, he decided to deal with it at the end. How much MP he had left once he¡¯d nned for the event would determine how much he would spend. ¡°Mary, is there something the system can do to help me speed up my cultivation? Or, at least, my employees¡¯ cultivation?¡± ¡°There are many things that can speed up your cultivation. Unfortunately, the System cannot provide them to you. Maybe if you get lucky one day you¡¯ll receive something in a quest reward that¡¯ll help you. But it¡¯s unlikely as the focus of the system is to develop the Inn, not your cultivation. You have to rely on yourself for that.¡± Lex sighed in defeat. Since he had a cheat anyway, why didn¡¯t it let him cheat all the way? He turned his attention back to the event panel and looked at temporary amodation. He didn¡¯t want to build too many permanent rooms right now as his Inn would get cramped, and as someone who spent several years in New York he¡¯d had enough of that. Another solid 100,000MP was tucked towards 1000 temporary rooms that guests could rent during the event. The cultural event would take ce in the coliseum, and would precede thebat portion. There were multiple phases for both, and the way Lex had nned it out was that the first phase was simr to a festival with several booths or ¡®stalls¡¯ held concurrently. Guests could view them from their rooms or go and view them in person. Lex was initially nning on having some kind of voting system that would promote the best stalls, or perhaps choose them himself, but he found the event nner had options for that as well. Whichever exhibit garnered the best responses could automatically be detected and promoted. Of course, doing it this way turned things into some sort of performance rather than just showing cultural exhibits or historical pieces. For example, if someone wanted to show historically relevant paintings that affected their culture they could garner interest once by people but in theter phases showing the same stuff would not elicit the same reaction.. Lex had thought of a solution for that as well. Should an exhibit want to do that, during the first phase they could show the historical painting or artifact, and during theter phases they could make new paintings or whatever else to show how the previous ones influenced modern creation. And if some people didn¡¯t like that idea? Well tough luck. From the moment the concept of a prize for the winning was introduced the event changed from a pure cultural sharing experience to some sort ofpetition. Such was the nature of the world. Or the universe. Whatever. Lex spent the next few hours fine tuning the details for the cultural portion of the event and the proceedings. Eventually when he was done he prepared to go back and continue meditating, but scanned the Inn once first. Marlo was still in the meditation room and Helen was sitting in awn chair surrounded by peacocks once again. Yet this time Lex noticed a difference in Helen. While all previous times he had seen her she seemed preupied or lost in thought, this time, she just seemed bored. She was stuck at the Inn, and with her thoughts much clearer now she felt she had nothing to do. She spent some time cultivating, but simr to extraneous exercise, it had to be done in moderation or she would hurt herself. This left her with nothing to do. Just as Lex was considering if he should do something about that, he received a new notification. Emergency Quest: Your guest has stayed at the Inn for several days and has be disillusioned by your paltry attempts to seem grand. Provide a distraction or entertainment for your guest! Quest time limit: 3 hours Quest failure punishment: -1000MP Quest reward: Elegant top hat The punishment was almost negligible to Lex now, but he still didn¡¯t want to fail. But how should he distract her? How should he entertain her? He quickly looked through the Midnight Market but found no new buildings or options for entertainment. ¡°Any ideas?¡± he asked Mary. She shook her head and said, ¡°I can¡¯t help you with Quests, Lex. You¡¯re the host, not me. These are things you need to figure out on your own.¡± Lex frowned as he thought of what he could do. Previously he wanted to bring in movies and shows from Earth, but then it would be suspicious if he only had content from Earth and not others. Not to mention, it would seem strange if he as the Innkeeper fretted over each and every minor detail, such as providing entertainment for a single guest so he should not be directly involved as well. He needed to maintain his image as a mysterious and powerful being. It would be so much more convenient he could create a clone to do stuff or¡­ Lex froze as he felt an ideaing to him. He could feel it, it was right there, on the tip of his thoughts, just out of reach. It was like a word he knew but forgot when someone asked him for it. Just out of reach. Quickly he went through his thoughts again to see what triggered it. It would be convenient if he could have a clone or someone who could pretend to be an employee to do the things he could not as the Innkeeper! Eureka! He had an epiphany! He quickly checked the Midnight market to see if he could do what he wanted. It didn¡¯t have what he wanted exactly, but he checked a few different things and tested a certain item he had to see if they worked together, and, unexpectedly, things worked out. Lex grinned and bought a building and put it right next to John¡¯s shop that had a banner reading ¡®Battle Ax¡¯. It was a strange name choice, but Lex didn¡¯t question it. Lex smiled as he quickly designed the new building, and designed its interior. He had to admit, as he thought of the possibilities of what he could do he was having a little fun. ***** Helen satzily in herwn chair as she thought of random things. She was bored, but she didn¡¯t mind too much. It was rare for her to have so much free time in her life. Even idle boredom was a novel experience. Yet when she heard some noise in the distance and immediately recognized it to be the sound of a new building being raised at the Inn. She¡¯d seen enough of them to appear to be familiar with it by now. A new building also meant a new service, which intrigued her. She got off her chair and asked Gerard to bring a golf cart to take her to themotion. She didn¡¯t mind the walk, but she liked indulging the old man. She¡¯d spent some time talking with Gerard, as she had with all the other staff at the Inn. Most of them were very simple and pure, and had straightforward personalities. The only thing they wanted was to serve the guests and make sure they were happy, and had very few interests beyond that. Velma, she had noticed, absolutely loved gossip. But because of her professionalism, she never spied on guests. Yet whenever Helen chatted with her, the young girl listened with the eager interest of a child with wanderlust. Gerard was easier to please, as all she had to do was let him drive her ces. She didn¡¯t envy them as she was quite content with her own life, but she found it remarkable that they all enjoyed such simple pleasures. When she approached the part of the Inn she now called Main street, she saw the new building and when she read the name her jaw dropped. ¡®No way! It can¡¯t be,¡¯ she thought. This was the Midnight Inn, how could such a ce find its way here? Yet she was even more curious to find out. Without any hesitation Helen entered the building that wore a banner reading ¡°Gamer¡¯s Den¡¯. The first thing she saw was a rtively young man standing in the shop wearing jeans and a Tshirt. She noticed that he was also wearing the rk Kent sses, but so was she so she was not one to judge. When the young man saw her he revealed an excited grin and said, ¡°Wee! Wow, my first guest already. That was faster than I was expecting. You can call me Leo and this is my Gaming Center! If you give me just a moment, I¡¯m still downloading all the games onto theputers. As soon as they¡¯re done I¡¯ll show you this game I think you¡¯ll absolutely love. It¡¯s called League of Lex¡¯s, or LOL for short. LOL is super popr, I think you¡¯ll learn it pretty quickly.¡± ¡®Leo¡¯ paused for a second when he got a notification for questpletion, but then turned his attention back to Helen and started asking her if she¡¯d yed any games before. Oh yes, this was going to be fun. Chapter 94 Playing games to cultivate Leo was, naturally, Lex. He simply took off his Host Attire and put on one of the sses to stay anonymous. He still did not use his actual name though, to avoid even the chance of any suspicion. He was excited because he had finally figured out a way to interact with his guests without having to worry about how he appears. He could ask the stupidest questions ¨C after all, he was just the owner of a gaming shop. It wasn¡¯t even magical, like the barber shop or the Battle Ax. It was straight up video games onputers. It was unfortunate that he couldn¡¯t connect the shop to the Inte back on Earth but he could make do. Other than video games theputers would have an extensive library of movies and videos to watch, but it would take time to transfer all the data. How did Lex manage to get all these games and videos if the shop couldn¡¯t connect to the inte, you ask? As it turns out, through the Fancy Monocle! When Lex had connected it to the inte to build up its own database, it had absorbed everything. Lex could selectively upload the data from the Fancy Monocle onto hisputers. Who knew other than its original purpose the Monocle could act as a USB? It just went to show that he should not limit his understanding of things ording to the system¡¯s descriptions. ¡°I¡¯ve never yed video games before, is it tooplicated?¡± asked Helen. She was up to try it ¨C when else would she get the chance to game so casually? ¡°No, not at all. It¡¯s very simple. I¡¯ll teach you, it¡¯ll be very easy. And if you don¡¯t like this game, just wait a bit. New games are being added to the system as we speak, it¡¯ll just take some time.¡±. The gaming shop was both on the ground and first floor. On the ground floor guests would be able to rent a chair and desk where they would get ess to aputer along with all the essentials such as mouse, keyboard, controllers (if you prefer) headset and whatever else you wanted. On the first floor guests could rent private rooms so that they could game in peace without the distraction of being in public. He kept both options avable because sometimes the atmosphere of the shop contributed to the gaming experience, but sometimes during important matches you could not deal with any distractions. This way both options would be fulfilled. Also, for anyone who wanted to y VR games they would have to rent the rooms. Lex took Helen to a seat and started the game for her. He took the desk beside her and booted the game up for himself as well. ¡°I¡¯ll help you through a few games while you get the hang of it,¡± he said, as he set up the LAN party. From the counter a small figure watched the two. The A.I. for the store, who was known only as Z, was the first A.I. who already had a name upon being summoned. He was also different from the other A.I. staff in another important manner ¨C the rest were all adults, even Velma was in her teens. Z on the other hand looked like he was ten years old. When he was sure that the two were preupied with whatever they were doing, Z opened the adminputer and started watching an anime called Initial C. It was a racing anime with the main character being an old man who looked somewhat simr to Gerard. Summoning one of the snacks sold at the Gaming shop and unceremoniously charging it on Lex¡¯s tab, Z started watching anime. Neither Lex nor Helen noticed this as Lex was walking her through the tutorial and controls. League of Lex¡¯s, or LOL, was yed using several different heroes all of whom had different abilities. It was a game where one had topete for limited resources and equipment with the enemy, all the while attacking the enemy base to keep pressure on them and prevent them from getting those resources as well. ¡°These heroes are based on real life cultivators on Earth,¡± Leo said, once he was done exining the various Hero abilities. ¡°Really?¡± Helen asked, surprised. ¡°I dunno, probably,¡± Leo replied. By now he had already selected his own Hero and hadpletely forgotten about Helen. Helen was annoyed at Leo, but also curious about him. He was older than her by a lot, at least by her standards it was a lot, but he was the one acting like an excitable child. He started the game and they were ying against theputer, and contrary to her surprise he did not abandon her to go y, but walked her through the map and introduced her to the many mechanics of the game. He helped her fight enemies, collect resources, get familiar with her abilities, learn about cool downs and more. When enemy Heros attacked them he helped hold them off so she could practicebat. The speed at which she was picking up the controls was astonishing, and within ten minutes she did not need Leo¡¯s help at all. At this point he left her alone, so she could try and get used to ying alone while he went to a different part of the map. Surprisingly, they had good synergy and quickly defeated theputer. Satisfied with Helen¡¯s skill level, Leo said that this time he¡¯d y against her so that there was more of a challenge. She was very receptive to the idea and Leo started a new game. For the first few minutes Leo almost felt bad for her, as not only was he very experienced in the game, his skill had only increased since he started cultivating. But quickly he noticed that Helen was dominating the game. She was killing off the Heros on his team and stealing all the resources she would need to build her armies. Leo went to block her, but found that he was always one step behind her. Something was definitely wrong. It was then it urred to him, SHE WAS ALSO A CULTIVATOR! Not only was she a cultivator, her realm was above his so her response would naturally be even better. The game shop owner took this personally and started ying without holding anything back as this was no longer a matter of entertaining a guest but a matter of honor. The match finally ended with Leo taking a reluctant lead, but Helen asked to y again. The second match was a draw, the third in Helen¡¯s favor and the fourth another draw! Without realizing it, the two had been ying for over two hours! When Leo noticed the time he knew he had to stop as he had other things to take care of, so he left Helen to her own devices. He let her know that other games would also have been downloaded by now if she wanted to explore, and that since she was his first guest he wouldn¡¯t charge her this time around so she could y as long as she wanted. The young girl was a little disappointed to see Leo go, as she wanted to defeat him thoroughly, but consoled herself by saying she would do so next time. Leo asked Z to take care of Helen if she needed anything, and left the shop. The shop owner disappeared, and reappeared in his apartment. He took off his sses and changed back into Lex. The Innkeeper was a little pale as he had exhausted a lot of mental energy focusing on the game. Helen still had not mastered the full mechanics of the game, but her reaction time made it difficult topete with her. He would get his revenge next time and show her what real skill was. He took a nice, long shower to rx before he went to the Meditation room. Lex had decided to meditate everyday to increase his cultivation. Just as he was getting into position and about to begin, Mary appeared in front of him looking hesitant and confused. ¡°What is it?¡± Lex asked, ready to receive some bad news. ¡°I can¡¯t be sure, but I think¡­¡± There was a lot of hesitation as she took a pause, before finally deciding to state the insane fact she had discovered. ¡°It seems like ying video games has the same effect on you as meditation.¡± ¡°WHAT?¡± Lex asked excitedly as he jumped up. This was too good to be true, right? Meditation was difficult and sometimes boring, while gaming was the exact opposite. How could they be interchangeable? ¡°Well, I¡¯m not sure yet and there¡¯s no conclusive proof. You should keep meditating for now, but this is definitely something we can research. If it¡¯s true, who knows, your gaming shop could actually qualify to be a real Midnight Inn service.¡± Lex grinned. One research paper he wrote in college were the mental benefits of gaming. As a true gamer ¨C one who regrly showered and took care of his hygiene, Lex was strictly against gamer stereotypes ¨C how could he miss the opportunity to benefit the gamingmunity? Chapter 95 The five families As much as Lex would have liked to go back and y some games, he could not take any risks. He sat down to meditate and after a few hours of varied sess, he went to sleep. It was a rare peaceful day, but Lex knew theing days would be super busy so he needed to rest while he had the chance. ***** Brandon¡¯s shuttlended on a private airfield yet thending itself was not a private affair. Various interested parties and powers were watching from a distance. Audery was the first to exit the shuttle, much to the relief of the viewers. She was followed closely by Brandon, and Alexander who waspletely wrapped in bandages. Although he waspletely fine, they wanted to give the impression that he had been seriously affected by the poison they proimed had affected him. Yet the onlookers didn¡¯t have much time to analyze his condition as the family quickly got into a car and left. What they did not know was that the Alexander who followed Brandon was a decoy, and the real Alexander left the area wearing a synthetic facemask that gave him a different appearance. His grandfather was on the way to the meeting while Alexander would go and retrieve Helen before meeting up with them. Unbeknownst to the world, four of the five Nascent realm cultivators of Earth had gathered in Geneva and were awaiting Brandon¡¯s arrival. Of the four, only the Queen was a public figure. The others stayed out of the limelight and could not be bothered to put up a public front. A tall yet skinny old man named Sam satzily on a Lazy Boy sofa. In his younger days he was very active in North America, and was the true origin of the term ¡®Uncle Sam¡¯ that represented the government¡¯s authority in America. Yettely he had retreated from the front stage to live a secr life. A rather ordinary looking Chinese man sat opposite to Sam, dressed very modestly. He also looked rather aged, though no one knew how old he really was. He went by the English name of Richard and no one here knew his actual name. Behind him stood a young girl dressed in traditional attire. She looked around the room with a lot of curiosity, but did not speak or interact with anyone. While in her normal day to day life she was treated with a lot of importance, in this room she was the most insignificant.. In a stark contrast to all the aged yet physically fit looking cultivators present, a fat, middle aged man was sitting by himself munching on chili chips. Although he was not asian, he was making use of chopsticks to pick each individual chip and eat it to avoid getting the chili dust on his fingers. Wearing an extremely loose Tshirt and gray pajamas, the man looked as if he was lounging. His attention was on a phone screen in front of him that was ying a movie, and he had headphones in. They continued this way for a short while until Brandon finally arrived, Audery following closely behind. All eyes turned to him when he entered, and then turned to Audery. Everyone, even the fat man, breathed a secret sigh of relief when they saw her. The couple smiled at the response, they were quite used to it. Compared to everyone else, Brandon looked much younger as he had broken into the Nascent realm at a very young age. He was also actually much younger than everyone else as well, so he maintained his youthful vigor inparison to the rest. That,bined with the natural charm emitted by a high leveled cultivator paired with Brandon¡¯s usual cavalier attitude gave everyone here a headache. More than one youngdy from their respective families had fallen prey to the old man¡¯s flirtations, though thankfully he never did anything beyond that. In the entire world, very literally on all of Earth, Audery was the only person who could control Brandon. Not that bringing her along made things much better, the two were known for their endless shenanigans. There were countless international incidents that the two were suspected of being behind. The only time they had been caught was during an incident when Brandon was going around using the alias D. B. Cooper. They were also the reason that the Mona Lisa was stored behind a bullet proof ss case that actually had spiritual enhancements as well. No one could prove it, but it was also suspected that they were the source of the mystery at the Bermuda triangle. All-in-all, the two were a troublesome duo, but they were still much better together than alone. Even Audrey, who seemed so demure most of the time, was not any less dangerous than Brandon. She had once changed the regime in an actual country because she felt the leader was not very handsome. The recement, who she did consider good looking, then had a bounty ced on his head by Brandon. ¡°Wee back to Earth Brandon. I hope you had a pleasant trip,¡± said Richard politely. ¡°It was long but not bad, Rich. How have you been? How¡¯s the family?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been well. My family is doing well. This is my great-granddaughter, Selene. She is quite talented in cultivation, I¡¯m hoping she will seed me one day.¡± He pointed to the young girl behind him, who bowed to the youngest Nascent cultivator, but had a look of hesitation in her eyes. Clearly she had been briefed to keep a distance from him. ¡°If you want her to seed you, you need to feed her more. Look at how skinny the poor girl is, she¡¯s practically anorexic,¡± said the fat middle aged man. Everyone directly ignored whatever he had to say. Unlike everyone else here, the fat man was not originally a cultivator. He was a mortal who got lost in a forest once and ate some random nt that elevated his cultivation all the way to Nascent overnight! Since then it had be this guy¡¯s hobby to eat anything and everything edible all the time. All he did was eat. He owned several restaurants around the world and had even developed his own cultivation technique that revolved around eating that he passed down in his family. ¡°Can we focus on the matter at hand? I have things I¡¯d rather be doing,¡± said the Queen. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s better not to dy,¡± agreed Sam, fixing his posture from his previous slouch. ¡°I believe everyone here heard the invitation to the Midnight Games. I¡¯m assuming that¡¯s why you¡¯re here as well, Brandon.¡± ¡°Midnight games?¡± he said, questioningly. Like all the other twos, the announcement was only made to leaders who were on the, so Brandon, who was traveling through space at the time, did not hear it. ¡°I¡¯m not sure how you guys know about it, but I suspect we are talking about the same thing. Richard, since you¡¯ve already selected an heir, you will also be particrly interested in this. I believe I¡¯ve discovered a ce where anyone can naturally break through to the Nascent.¡± All five other people in the room suddenly lost their cked demeanor and looked at Brandon with eager eyes. This was not a joking matter. ¡°Let me start from the beginning,¡± Brandon said, and started telling the group everything that happened, starting with Alexander¡¯s assassination attempt. Once they all heard the story, they simrly told him how they all heard the invitation by name to an event called the Midnight Games. It did not even need to be debated if the games had anything to do with the Inn, it was already obvious. No, the people in that room were pondering over another question ¡°Selene, go out for a while. The following discussion is not for you,¡± said Richard, dismissing his granddaughter. This was the point where normally Brandon would have dismissed Audrey as well, but no one suffered the illusion that the man kept any secrets from his wife. ¡°The question now is, do we report to them?¡± asked the fat man hesitantly. ¡°Naturally, we don¡¯t have any other choice,¡± stated Sam bluntly. ¡°If it ister discovered that we have been keeping secrets, we will immediately be reced.¡± The room fell into silence. The Midnight Inn represented a great opportunity for them as well as for all of Earth, but whether or not they could avail such an opportunity was not up to them. After a few more minutes, the Queen took out aptop from a bag she was carrying and opened it. Instead of booting up, theptop projected the image of a woman up into the air. She seemed surprised by the call of the five. ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Has something happened? Is it another Beast tide? It seems too soon for that.¡± The five exchanged looks, before turning towards Brandon. Since he was the only one to have been to the Inn, he should be the one to make the report. ¡°Earth hase into contact with other Star level civilizations,¡± Brandon started off. ¡°That¡¯s impossible. Up to one million light years of space surrounding the sr system are under our surveince. No one can enter undetected.¡± ¡°¡±It¡¯s not so simple. Let me exin¡­¡± Brandon started giving his report to the floating projection, giving clear details of everything he had seen and experienced. If anyone else were to see him they would be shocked! He was one of the leaders of one of the sr system. Hemanded thergest cultivator army, and had endless resources at his disposal. Who could make him report to them? Yet here he was, along with all the other powerful cultivators of Earth, giving a simple report, hoping for a favorable response. At this moment, he was no longer amander of legions ¨C he was a simple subordinate. He was even well behaved in front of her. Though, whether that was because of the woman¡¯s status or his wife standing behind him, no one could say. Chapter 96 Interlude When Brandon finished giving his exnation, the woman stared in silence as she contemted his words. It did not take long, however, before she reached a decision. ¡°Increase surveince on the guests I¡¯ve sent to Earth. Make sure they¡¯refortable, but don¡¯t limit them. Try to keep them from going to the Inn, but if you can¡¯t then just report to me. Regarding the Inn and the Midnight games, you may do as you see fit so long as it does notpromise the safety of Earth. Before the gathering in a week, I¡¯ll send someone over to join you and observe.¡± With those instructions given, the woman¡¯s hologram disappeared and the people in the room breathed a sigh of relief. With that out of the way, they now needed to decide their own actions. ¡°Brandon, you¡¯re the one who¡¯s been there. How do you suggest we prepare for the uing games?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve already put a considerable amount of thought into this. I¡¯ll let you know how I n on deploying my family¡¯s resources. What you decide to do is up to you¡­¡± The meeting continued for the better part of the day, and by the time they dispersed it was well into the night. Silently, all five families started preparing for the uing Midnight Games, but what they did not know was that shortly after their own meeting finished another one was held in a bunker deep underneath the Sahara desert. ¡°Our opportunity has arrived,¡± said one of the people sitting in the bunker. ¡°It¡¯s a lot earlier than expected, but we¡¯ll never get another chance like this again. Ready our forces, and start moving our assets into ce. A revolution is on the horizon.¡±. ***** When Lex woke up the next morning, not only was he feeling extremely refreshed, he also felt extremely motivated. Today he needed to do some research on how events were held and what format to keep thebat portion of the games in. The original reason he wanted to avoid having abat portion was because he did not want the death of multiple people on his conscience. When he kept getting interrupted and lost his temper he spontaneously decided to fight against the zombies, but even so he didn¡¯t want to host an upfront war scenario as that would result in many deaths and he would feel responsible since the only reason they died was because they participated in his event. But what exactly was the format going to be? He did not know yet, and that¡¯s where the research aspect came in. After having a hearty breakfast and scanning the Inn once to make sure everything was in order, he promptly returned to Earth. After turning his phone back on and responding to his family¡¯s text, he found his way to the nearest public library. He hopped onto aputer and started looking up every famouspetition in history. He checked out everything from the Olympics and CommonWealth games to World Championships and municipal tournaments. He looked at high school and college events to small cultural ceremonies andpetitions in various third world countries. While he was researching, he got a notification for Questpletion and checked to find out that he hadpleted his quest to grow spiritual vegetables! He received three seeds for rare nts and directly transferred them to the gardener and had him nt them, along with instructions to nt a lot more vegetables as he was expecting a lot of guests in a couple of weeks. Lex returned to his research, treating the interaction as an ordinary interlude, but what he did not realize was how important those seeds would be to him. When they were titled as rare, they were not rare on a continental orary basis, but instead they were rare in the whole universe. He wouldter learn that, in fact, he would not even have been able to sessfully nt them without the aid of the Gctic Sovereign turtle. He stayed there until one of the librarians came to tell him that the library is getting ready to close. Lex exited, but before he returned to the Inn he sent Larry a text asking if he was okay. Lex was expecting to have messages from him waiting when he turned on his phone, but there was nothing. The silence was unusual and Lex was slightly concerned, especially considering the circumstances when he left. When Lex did not receive a reply after a short while, he decided to return to the Inn and check again tomorrow morning. If he still didn¡¯t hear anything, he would consider what to do. Maybe he would kick Marlo out of the Inn to go clean up his mess. When he returned to the Inn, he was surprised to find that at some point Helen had left. It was worth noticing that Hugo¡¯s booked room had also been freed up recently, so after a lnn time the Inn was once again without any guests. If it weren¡¯t for Harry who was practicing his sorcery in his shop and John who was actually ying video games in the Gamer¡¯s Den. Intrigued, Lex checked up on him to find him ying the AAA game called Hitmale, about a man who was raised his entire life as an assassin carrying out multiple missions. Lex himself had never yed the game, but it was popr for how broken the game was. Yet as long as people found it entertaining, who cared? Lex was tempted to don the Leo persona and go interact a little with John, but he had work to do. Lex returned to the study in his own residence and started working on the event. He started determining the distinctions between each stage, how guests woulde, where they would stay between stages. He had to make a distinction between participants and viewers. He also needed to prepare for the announcement meeting he had called. For that meeting the invitations had gone out to all the various leaders on the threes. Such a meeting could not be taken lightly, and he needed to have all his preparations done by then. After working for a few hours, Lex retreated to the meditation room before eventually heading to bed. The next few days went by in a simr, peaceful manner. Without any unexpected surprises or interruptions, Lex slowly felt his state of mind improving. His fast progress was surprising not only to himself but to Mary as well, though she did not tell him that. At the current pace, he would undergo the procedure right before the Midnight Games started. Finally, three days before the meeting took ce a new guest entered the Inn via the Pro Bono program, alerting Lex. If that¡¯s all there was to it, Lex may not have been concerned at all since he had a well trained staff and system now. What really threw him for a loop was the notification from the System that he did not have adequate facilities to cater to the guest. Confused, Lex scanned the Inn to investigate the situation and was rmed by what he discovered. In the smallke he had built next to the Recovery room a baby whale was swimming in circles, full of confusion and rm! Theke was too small for the baby whale, and it kept getting trapped as soon as it swam even slightly close to the edge. ¡°Mary, what can I do?¡± Lex asked as he looked at the calf. ¡°Would I have to expand theke?¡± ¡°Expanding theke and establishing a different biome for other types of guests is definitely a good idea, but that way you¡¯ll have to duplicate all the buildings in each biome. There¡¯s an easier solution. You can buy the Multi-Environmental Subsistence facility. Buying one for all environment types may be out of your budget, but you can definitely buy focused ones for water based guests.¡± Without hesitation Lex went to the Midnight market, searched for the Multi-Environmental Subsistence facility and bought it for 300,000MP! It must be noted, this facility was focused and would only allow marine based guests to survive in the open. The change was immediate. A thinyer of water surrounded the baby whale and allowed it to swim directly out of theke. The water followed the whale wherever it went, giving rise to the unique sight of a baby whale flying around the Inn surrounded by a kitty pool worth of water. The whale was freed from its immediate conundrum of being constricted to a tiny body of water, but it was not relieved yet. It was apparent to Lex from the way the whale flew around frantically that it was still confused or scared, maybe even both. ¡°I guess it¡¯s time for me to go to work,¡± Lex said to Mary with a smile, and disappeared. Lex reappeared right in the whale path, as if he was standing on thin air. ¡°Please guest, be at ease. You are safe here, no one will harm you.¡± Lex¡¯s voice carried with it a calming effect, soothing the distressed whale. The whale did not question why it could understand Lex, but once it understood that it was safe it stopped swimming haphazardly. Then it started crying. Chapter 97 Good or evil? Lex was dumbfounded by the crying whale. He looked towards Mary for some advice, but the hologram looked confused and defeated as well. Lex tried multiple times to console or question the baby whale, but it would only cry without saying anything. He checked its status to see if he could discover some details that would help him. Name: ¨C Age: <1 year Sex: Male Cultivation Details: Mortal Species: Whale. Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Bloodline: Ordinary Remarks: The whale suffers from a broken heart Lex learned that the whale was less than a year old and had no cultivation at all, but that did not help him much. For once, the remarks were not snarky and only said that the whale had a broken heart, but Lex did not know what to do about that. But Lex did not need to do anything as very soon the Gctic Sovereign turtle appeared on the scene, softly saying ¡°oh dear¡± repeatedly. It grew out a vine from the ground that softly wrapped itself around the whale and brought it down. The turtle made a hand out of grass and used it to softly caress the crying whale as he whispered things to it. The whale seemed immediately fond of the turtle, and continued to whimper as it listened to the turtle. Eventually, the turtle led the whale towards the forest, pulling its giant body with the vine. Lex watched the two leave in silence, relieved that the situation was handled yet strangely concerned about the whale as well. He decided to check up on the whale in a little while to see what had happened. For now, he turned his attention to the Inn. The Midnight Games were about to begin and while he had his preparations done, he was concerned about his two non-A.I. employees. Harry did not seem at all disturbed by theck of gueststely and could always be found practicing his sorcery in his barber shop. Lex had handed him a new cultivators guide that he downloaded directly from the Bluebird online tform. The young barber had already registered himself as a ¡®cultivator¡¯ back on Earth and had attained a legal status. In fact, he had also joined a rather loose organization of beauticians who happened to be cultivators. They were all low level, with the highest in the organization being peak Qi training realm, but the focus of all the cultivators in that group was fashion and style. Or at least that¡¯s what Lex understood they did, he did not look too deeply into it. Lex had also used his identity as Leo to get some information out of the young barber about sorcery. Unlike cultivators who grew stronger using spirit energy, sorcers channeled their abilities using the strength of their soul, as well as external artifacts. Cultivators grew stronger inherently, which then raised the level of their souls. Sorcerers directly strengthened their souls, which then reflected in the growth of their strength. Harry did not exin in too much detail, but Lex understood that a simplified exnation for one of the main ways to grow stronger in sorcery was to constantly practice and use your abilities. A result of his constant practice was that he would notpletely exhaust himself after giving a single haircut using his abilities, like before, although his stamina had not increased by much. Something interesting that Lex also learned was that Harry also received mini-quests of his own from the system that he fulfilled back on Earth which helped him raise his strength. It seemed like the system was grooming his employees well. Lex turned his attention to John, and found him once again in the Gamer¡¯s Den. This time he was not ying games, but watching anime with Z. Lex did not know how to feel about John. He would never practice or meditate or do anything productive. He would always only be found in the Gamer¡¯s Den. Using his Leo identity, Lex had asked him some details as well. It seemed like the only thing John was interested in was going into the Mystery Trial, yet since he had had no customers, John had no MP to go to the trial. This intrigued Lex. Apparently John had gone into the Mystery Trial, but did not gain anything. He did not learn any new skills or discover any ws in his existing ones. He was only beaten up, and that too quite terribly. That was unusual as the Trial was supposed to be very helpful, but if it was John was not willing to mention it. Lex decided that once he was done with the Midnight Games he would try the trials as well. For now he didn¡¯t want to distract himself. Speaking of distraction, a couple days ago Lex had wasted the whole day because he was slightly careless. Histest quest reward was an item called Elegant Top hat. As is usual, Lex had forgotten about it when hepleted the quest and only looked at it muchter. It had a very useful ability. While wearing it, it could enhance the capability of his brain by upto a hundred times, depending on how one used it. Lex put it on to try it out. He only elevated his ability by five, and at first he felt no difference. He thought he would be smarter or more enlightened or something. It turned out the wording was not clear about what the ability of the hat was. It sped up his thoughts, so that anything that was happening in front of him seemed to be happening in slow motion. The event wasn¡¯t actually slowed down, just his perception of it had increased so much that it appeared to be happening incredibly slowly. Lex yed around with the hat a lot, but a side effect of using it was that it would drain you mentally. Lex quickly discovered that after using it for only a short amount of time, he was so mentally drained that he slept for 18 hours afterwards. Suffice to say he got no actual work done that day. Lex continued to check up on all aspects of the Inn. Marlo was still in the meditation room, with no indication of when he woulde out. His A.I. staff had mostly entered the Body Tempering realm, which Lex was happy about. Everything was as it should be. Finally, Lex went to the turtle to inquire about the whale. What he did not expect at all was that when he arrived at the forest, the whale¡¯s status had changed from a Pro Bono guest to the turtle¡¯s pet! HOW HAD THE TURTLE TAKEN ONE OF HIS GUESTS AS A PET?! Not only had the system recognized the whale as a pet, its name had been changed to Little Blue! Lex cursed a hundred times in his head! Why didn¡¯t the system care when he was naming the turtle Little ck? Whose system was this anyway? ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± he finally managed to ask, looking grim. All jokes aside, he couldn¡¯t allow his guests to be scammed. He needed to learn the details, or otherwise wouldn¡¯t his reputation be ruined in the universe. ¡°Little Blue¡¯s family was hunted down and killed by fishermen,¡± answered the gardener, who looked at the whale with pity. The turtle and the whale were practically stuck together right now, and although the whale did not look sad at the moment the turtle was not taking any risks. Lex silently listened to the gardener exin what it had learnt. The whale was not from any other, it was from Earth! It waspletely ordinary and had no cultivation whatsoever, and neither did any of the whales it grew up with. His family had been hunted by fishermen and Little Blue had either escaped or was let go for being too young ¨C that point was a little unclear. Lex grimaced as he heard the story, then let out a sorrowful sigh. The whale¡¯s story was tragic, but he understood the perpetrators probably weren¡¯t evil. Although whaling had been reduced in recent years, it was notpletely banned and some countries still partook in it. Suddenly Lex had a bitter taste in his mouth. He was reminded of Nibiru, where humans were the ones who were at the bottom of the food chain. In either case, could the perpetrators be called evil? It was just how the natural food chain set them up. For the first time in his life, he understood the saying hemonly read in novels. Weakness is the original sin. No one was inherently evil, usually, but it often happened that one person¡¯s interests harmed another. Lex¡¯s mood started fluctuating so he quickly retreated back to his residence and started meditating. He was probably going to see a lot more situations like this across the universe. He needed to get used to it, or figure out how he was going to deal with it. Chapter 98 Spoiler Title at the end of chapter It took some time for Lex to stabalize his emotions this time around. His mind kept slowly inching him towards feeling guilt towards Little Blue for what had happened to it. He had to constantly stop himself from having wandering thoughts and focus back on meditating. Eventually, when he finally stabilized his mood and meditated. When he was done, he discovered that while it was harder for him to meditate this time around, the benefits had also been greater. With his mood calmed down and his thoughts clear, he firmly came to the conclusion that he cannot take ownership of guilt on behalf of others, even if they were from the same race as him. He only had to focus on his own actions and act ording to his own conscience. Even if others were saints he would get no credit, and if others were devils he would get no me. With that out of the way, Lex turned his attention back towards his event. He was feeling a little excited now, and it was only a couple days away from the arrival of all the leaders. He looked at his MP and had around two million one hundred thousand. Originally he kept a budget of only 1 million MP for the event, but with the scope of what he was nning it was not enough. He had been waiting till thest moment to spend his MP as he did not want to rent stuff for too long, as each day would cost him more. But now it was time. First, he had to get the big stuff out of the way. He had already decided on the awards for both portions of the event, so he spent 250,000MP on each. The amount might seem like a lot, but considering that the prize was for a whole, it was actually very cheap. In fact, it was one of the cheapest options avable in the event management panel under rewards for an entire. Before the prize was actually awarded he would be able to upgrade them if he wanted, but Lex would only do that if he earned an enormous amount during the event itself. Right now it was difficult to judge the earning potential, so he would have to wait and see.. His next expense would be the extra staff for the event. This cost him only 50,000MP. In this package he would not get any actual new staff, but each individual guest would get a private hologram assistant when they arrived at the Inn during this period. The assistant would be able to answer all their questions regarding the Inn or the event, and if they needed any actual service they would be able to use the power of the System to automatically provide them. His next two expenses were the ones that strained his budget the most, but were one¡¯s he absolutely could not do without. The first one was event security. He was expecting a lot of guests to attend the event, not only because he would tell the various leaders who were going to attend to bring as many guests as they wanted, but he was going to distribute silver keys throughout the three worlds that would automatically activate when the event started. Due to the massive number of guests, he was absolutely sure that someone would disturb the peace. Parents fought each other during their kids talent shows let alone crowds during such arge event that would be representing worlds. So Lex put a heavy hand on his heart and spent 450,000MP on security. This would get him 200 peak Golden Core guards, 50 peak Nascent realm guards, and 10 guards at the peak of the realm above Nascent. Lex found it slightly humorous that he could hire guards at that cultivation level, but his authority with the Inn was not enough to view the name or learn details about that realm. Still, he felt that these guards should be adequate to maintain the crowds. He wasn¡¯t sure what the highest cultivators on the others were, but he was hoping none of them were on the same level as Bastet as he was sure she was much more powerful than even his strongest guards. Though, based on public knowledge of cultivators on Earth, his guards should be more than enough to handle any trouble. All the guards that appeared seemed to be wearing suits, fashioned after the style of his own Host Attire. Lex absolutely did not mind having tough but well dressed guards keeping the discipline. In total, the two awards, the extra staff and the event security cost him exactly 1,000,000MP! He had already spent his entire original budget. Keep in mind, so far he had not purchased any event rted items to be sold, any decorations, any constory prizes, not to mention keep an emergency fund for unforeseen expenses. Still, he had 1,195,526 MP left. That should be more than enough to cover any unexpected expenses. Or so he originally thought. Although Mary did not give him any advice whatsoever, he would often tell her his ns while he was drafting them. The holographic assistant, unbeknownst to herself, had a terrible poker face and Lex would often find it easy to read her thoughts. So when he saw her hesitant and worried look after he finished his ns, he realized he was missing something. After a little trial and error, he came to a single conclusion: he was missing a private bodyguard. A private bodyguard was different from the event security. Their attention would be divided amongst the entire crowd all throughout the event. His private bodyguard would focus solely on defending himself. Still, considering the great deal he got for 450,000 MP, it should not be a problem to get a good deal on a private bodyguard. He mentioned the amount he was nning on spending to Mary, but discovered that while she still did not say anything, her appearance did not get better. Lex frowned, thought about it a bit, and decided his own personal safety was worth splurging on. After all, if he were dead, what was the point of saving MP? So he resolutely decided to spend 500,000MP on a personal bodyguard! Just as he was about to make the expense, he noticed that Mary still looked worried. That stopped him in his tracks. This was no longer a simple expense. The fact that such arge amount still did not assure her meant that he was clearly underestimating the strength of his iing guests. But it did not make sense, all threes were 1 Star, and should have had the same level of cultivators. He was not expecting cultivators on the level of Bastet because she clearly stated that she had been put on Earth as punishment by her father, meaning someone of her level should not have been on such a. She was an anomaly, not a norm. In that case 500,000 MP on a single bodyguard should have been overkill. But the fact that it wasn¡¯t meant that he was missing something. Lex thought about it a little, and went back to everything he knew about each. It only took a little contemtion before he remembered something incredibly obvious that he had overlooked. When ne, Chen and Lily hadest time he had spied on their conversations just a bit. He had learnt that the Jotun Empire was reiming theirs. Lex did not know the Jotun Empire, but clearly an Empire that could colonize others frompletely different gxies could not have been simple. Since he invited the leaders on Vegus Minima, they would have learnt about the Inn. It waspletely possible for them to send some very powerful cultivators to investigate. Realizing his mistake, Lex no longer hesitated. It hurt his heart to spend so much, but he ultimately decided to spend 1,000,000 MP on a body guard! That left him with only 195,526 MP but Lex could make it work.. ***** Somewhere on the opposite end of the universe, far beyond the reach of simple entities such as the Jotun Empire or Demons or Bastet and Fk, a cultivator was practicing a new attack skill. He needed to practice only once to learn an attacking skill to its highest level, but for all other types of skills he would require extra effort. Yet he did not mind, he firmly believed that offense was the strongest offense, and had learnt various attacks that ranged from physical to spiritual to even soul attacks. He could attack using elements, he could attack using dreams, beliefs, thoughts, and most recently he had learned to attack even withws. He was blessed when it came to hisbat capabilities. To be more exact, he had Mo¡¯s Blessing, a cultivation technique that could destroy the universe itself when he reached the highest level. Yet what he was practicing right now was not an attack but a stealth technique, so it would require some time. Still, he did not mind as he had all the time in the universe. ¡°Host, you have a new Limited Edition Quest. You can choose to ept or reject it. You have five minutes to decide,¡± he heard a feminine voice in his head. ¡°A Limited Edition Quest? I haven¡¯t encountered quests like that before, what¡¯s the difference?¡± ¡°Checking host authority¡­host authority insufficient to learn details¡­using special bloodline clearance¡­host authority partially epted. A Limited Time Quest is one thates with certain conditions. You have the option of epting or rejecting without any consequence, however if you ept the Quest and fail you will be punished heavily. Yet if you seed in the quest you will be rewarded correspondingly.¡± ¡°What are the details of this quest?¡± ¡°You have to act as someone¡¯s bodyguard for a week. The special condition for this quest is that after you finish, all your memories of the duration of the quest will be erased by the system to protect the identity of the person you were protecting.¡± The man smiled in amusement. ¡°Interesting. Can I decide the reward for the quest? I want to change the quest reward to simply raise my authority as much as possible. The level of the system is too low, it cannot benefit me at my strength right now whatsoever.¡± ¡°Negative, the reward is fixed¡­using special bloodline clearance¡­reward changed. If you ept the quest your authority will be raised by 10 levels, if you fail you will have 0.5 bad hair days while you are in public. Do you ept?¡± The man¡¯s smile grew. The system was too amusing. If he didn¡¯t know better, he would say the system was in love with him. ¡°I ept.¡± CHAPTER TITLE: Mo¡¯s Blessing Chapter 99 The Bodyguard Lex had to wait a few minutes before his bodyguard finally showed up. Emerging from a bright light, Lex saw a handsome man walk out. He had long, silky blonde hair and sunkissed skin. At first nce Lex assumed the bodyguard was human, but after looking at him for a while something started to feel off. While he had the appearance of a human, something about him told Lex that the being in front of him absolutely wasn¡¯t human. What Lex did not know was that he was being protected by the natural aura emitted by the bodyguard. If he could have felt the aura, he would have been even more assured of his guess. ¡°Wee, you can call me the Innkeeper,¡± Lex finally said. While Lex had been observing the bodyguard, the bodyguard had simrly been observing the Innkeeper. He was unable to determine the Innkeeper¡¯s cultivation, and was surprised that the Innkeeper remained unaffected by his natural aura. This had nothing to do with cultivation ¨C his natural aura suppressed others on a biological level so even those with a higher cultivation than himself would be affected. The only exception the bodyguard had seen was when he suppressed his own aura consciously to prevent it from affecting others. Lex took this time while they observed one another to check the bodyguards status and was surprised by what he saw. Name: *&%error%&* Age: *&%error%&* Sex: *&%error%&* Cultivation Details: *&%error%&*. Species: *&%error%&* Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 His status was almost identical to John¡¯s, which was unusual. Lex had to figure out what exactly it was that caused these errors in his status, it didn¡¯t feel good being left out of the loop. Finally the bodyguard nodded in acknowledgment, but did not say anything. After that the bodyguard disappeared, as if he had teleported somewhere but Lex knew he was still closeby. The system had informed him of the bodyguards duties. The bodyguard would protect him anytime anyone took action against Lex with malicious or hostile intent, but was under no obligation to listen to Lex¡¯s orders. To assure Lex, the system also told him that the bodyguard was incredibly powerful and had a strong incentive to protect Lex otherwise he would suffer a strong punishment for failure. If only Lex knew what that punishment was, he would not have been so assured. With that out of the way, Lex returned to his preparations. A little something that irked him was that Marlo was still in the meditation room. Despite his inner voice telling him to save his MP at the moment, Lex spent 10,000 MP to upgrade the Meditation room so that whatever Marlo was trying to achieve would be done sooner. Something worth nothing was that he eventually managed to contact Larry on Earth, but Larry was behaving strangely. Lex assumed it might have something to do with Marlo¡¯s disappearance so he really wanted the old geezer to return. Lex started changing the appearance of the Inn a bit, putting up lights and adding skynterns in the sky so that the Inn would look more festive. He even spent 10 MP to buy a suit that could be worn by Little Blue. Despite hisrge size, the baby whale looked adorable in the new costume. It was during this time that Lex started receiving some guests. Naturally it wasn¡¯t the guests invited for the event, but those that already had Golden keys. It was Chen and Lily, who arrived with several bags in tow. Literally they were covered from head to toe with bags, and as soon as they arrived at the Inn they copsed, dropping the bags on the ground. Various cores, papers and other gadgets fell out of their bags but the duo quickly started cleaning up. ¡°Please, allow me,¡± Lex said as he summoned Gerard and his subordinates who loaded all the stuff onto their golf carts. ¡°That¡¯s quite a lot of luggage. Are you nning on having a longer trip?¡± ¡°Thank you for your assistance,¡± said Lily, handing her bags to the staff. ¡°These are not actually our luggage but some things for your guests from Earth that we metst time ¨C Rorick and his party. We agreed to trade a few things.¡± ¡°In that case, you should have them bring your stuff to the Guild room. You can explore it yourself as well in the meantime, I think it will serve you well.¡± ¡°Thank you, we will,¡± she said as she sat in the golf cart and allowed Gerard to take them away. Lex was curious about why the duo came without ne this time around as he had always apanied Chen, but they weren¡¯t talking about it so spying on them would not change anything. He took a backseat on things and watched as his staff handled the two guests, to see if there was something he would need to correct. Having a well trained staff that didn¡¯t always require his supervision was extremely important. And now that those two had arrived, he expected more guests would start arriving shortly as well. He was correct, though he could not have guessed who his next guest was. It was Ayesha, one of the few guests that Lex hadpletely missed. She arrived at the Inn, looking a little forlorn. Lex was quite curious about this guest of his. Not only did she leave a surplus of 10,855 MP at the Inn, she and her counterpart were probably the ones who enjoyed the Inn the most. Lex had watched a yback of them flying around the Inn, enjoying themselves. Such youthful spirit was something Lex greatly appreciated. He checked her status once before approaching her. Name: Ayesha Shehzad Age: 15 Sex: Female Cultivation Details: None Species: Human Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 ¡°Wee guest, to the Midnight Inn. I am the Innkeeper, owner of this humble establishment. I greatly regret missing your previous arrival, I hope you found our services to be adequate.¡± Ayesha was surprised to see the Innkeeper, and for a moment forgot about her worries. So this was the mystery man behind this mysterious dating spot. ¡°It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you,¡± she replied politely. ¡°Your services were excellent, and I was very happy that someone appreciates the universe¡¯s needs for romantic getaways.¡± Lex chuckled at Ayesha¡¯s strange focus. He had seen how Ayesha called the Inn a dating spotst time she came. It seemed the teenager¡¯s mind waspletely focused on romance. ¡°s, even with such romantic ces to visit, the heart is left cold and hollow without his warm embrace,¡± Ayesha said as dramatically as she could manage. She even turned away from Lex, as if to hide tears in her eyes. The act would have been quite convincing if Ayesha hadn¡¯t caught sight of Little Blue, swimming slowly across the sky. The turtle was using Little Blue¡¯s tie as a leash to walk¡­swim, no fly? The turtle was using the leash to lead the Whale across the sky and anyone would be stuck in a daze at such a sight. ¡°That¡¯s Little ck, our gardener, and Little Blue, its pet. Why don¡¯t I introduce you,¡± Lex said, leading the young girl towards the two animals wearing a smug smile. Lex had forgotten that he was being silently observed by his bodyguard, who was taking everything in with a lot of interest. He did not understand what this ce was, or what the Innkeepers purpose was. Was he just ying around? But the Innkeeper did not seem like a simple person, there had to be a deeper meaning behind his actions. From what he could tell, he was running some kind of hotel. Maybe this was a kind of cultivation? Or maybe it was some kind of organization? But what was the goal? So far, he had only seen the Innkeeper interact with low leveled cultivators. Admittedly, the bodyguard was surprised when he saw the Gctic Sovereign turtle, but it was still young and weak. It would be tens of thousands of years before the turtle had any kind of real strength. ¡°System, scan the Inn for anomalies,¡± the bodyguard said in his mind. ¡°Sorry host, for the duration of the quest, to maintain the clients privacy, the systems scan capabilities have been sealed.¡± ¡°Interesting,¡± the bodyguard said once again. He scanned the Inn himself with his spiritual sense, but found nothing out of the ordinary except the Mystery Trial. For some reason, he felt a slight attraction to the Trial, but the attraction was so slight that it clearly meant it had no significant impact on his strength or cultivation. Intrigued, the bodyguard continued to keep watch over his new client. The bodyguard was patient, and didn¡¯t mind waiting to learn more secrets. Afterall, since the quest would forcefully erase his memory that meant that at some point the bodyguard would be exposed to great secrets. He was very curious to see what those secrets were, and if they were worth having a half a bad hair day over. Chapter 100 Hidden Quest Lex walked Ayesha to the turtle, entertained by her amazed gaze. The young girl had already forgotten that she was supposed to be sad ¨C or maybe she was hiding it. Lex wondered if he would see her counterpart, the young man. Thest time they came, the Inn wasparatively bare. This time the couple would have many more options for their date. Lex especially wanted them to row the small boat on the tinyke he created. He did not know why, but Lex was looking forward to it. ¡°Little ck, I¡¯d like to introduce you to a guest. This is Ayesha.¡± The turtle turned his head towards the little girl, then slowly brought its head down to her level to get a better look at her. ¡°Hello, little human. How are you today?¡± ¡°You can talk?¡± she gasped in surprise, and then looked at the flying whale with eager eyes. ¡°Can he talk too?¡± ¡°Little Blue is shy,¡± said the turtle, looking up at it like a proud parent. ¡°But if you be friends with it, maybe he¡¯ll talk to you.¡± The turtle lowered the whale¡¯s tie and offered it to her. ¡°Would you like to try?¡±. Ayesha grabbed onto the tie instantly, and was about to speak when she was whisked off her feet by the whale. The turtle was too heavy for the whale to pull up, but the girl had no choice but to get pulled into the air. At first she let out a surprised scream, but that quickly turned intoughter as the whale pulled her around. She yelled out to purchase another pair of Icarus¡¯ wings and a card appeared in her hand with a picture of the wings on it since her previous ones had been used up. She quickly equipped it and started flying around with the whale, challenging it. She flew in front of it and did a loopty loop, as if showing off. The whale, not to be outdone, started swirling its body as it swam through the air. The pair flew in between the skynterns, using them as obstacles. Lex smiled as he watched them in the air. He immediately took a liking to Ayesha, she was a good kid. Turning his attention back to the turtle he said, ¡°Little ck, we¡¯ll be having a lot of guestsing soon. Make sure no one gets into the greenhouse, it would be a waste if someone ruined all those nts. Also, I¡¯d like it if you could nt vines of Tiffany¡¯s treasure all around the Inn. They smell nice.¡± The turtle looked at him once before turning away, murmuring ¡°silly, silly human¡± as it went. Lex didn¡¯t mind. He knew the turtle would do as he said. The past few days the turtle and the gardener had done tremendous work, and Lex had gathered arge supply of spirit vegetables, ready to serve his guests. Naturally, anything they ordered that was spirit food would cost more than normal food but he never doubted that they would order it. Only a short whileter, Hera and Will entered the Inn along with her son, Jimmy. The young boy did not look too surprised to be appearing in a random new ce, he was hiding behind his mother and holding her hand, focusing on staying close to her. Lex¡¯s eyes lit up when he saw them, more specifically, when he saw Hera. He noticed thest time she came that she had a keen eye and sharp mind. She was helping Will in expanding his Rose Societies operations but Lex felt that her talent was being wasted. This was not a decision he intended to make quickly or lightly, but he kept an eye on her as a potential employee forter on. Eventually when the size of the Inn grew, he would need someone to help him manage certain portions of it. He had to observe how well she managed the Rose Society, and if she performed well it would help his decision. ¡°Wee back,¡± he said, approaching them. ¡°I see you brought along a new guest today. I hope you enjoy yourself.¡± Lex smiled, and handed the young boy a piece of chocte. The chocte was wrapped in a golden and silver wrapper with the initials MI on it. It was a little something he added to the Inn earlier, so that he could have the system leave chocte on the guests pillow after the turndown service. The chocte would automatically taste like whatever chocte the guest preferred. There was no other benefit to it, but Lex liked the idea. Jimmy hesitated, but when his mother encouraged him he took the chocte and nodded at the Innkeeper as thanks. Lex smiled at the shy boy, before turning his attention back to Hera and Will. ¡°Congrattions are in order, I see you¡¯ve restarted your cultivation journey,¡± he said to Will. Looking at Will¡¯s status Lex could see that he had once again entered the Qi training stage. ¡°Thank you, I could not have done it without your help and guidance,¡± the old man said sincerely. Only he knew how truly grateful he was to Lex for freeing him from the pain he¡¯d been feeling for the better part of his life. ¡°It is my duty to help my guests the best I can. Speaking of which, I think you should visit our Guild room. I think you will find it very interesting. You can find it on the Main street.¡± ¡°I definitely will. I would also like to rent a courtyard for a week. I intend on hosting a few guests here before the event begins.¡± ¡°Of course, you are most wee. Velma, please show Will to his courtyard and help him with anything else that he needs.¡± Velma appeared in the signature Midnight way, which was out of thin air, and led the trio towards the manor. The system naturally charged Will the 1400 MP cost and Lex was not bothered at all by the details of how the transaction took ce. He had to say, that was one of his favourite parts about the system. Will and Hera immediately noticed that the environment was different this time around as not only did it look more festive aspared to its usual peaceful appearance, suited guards could be seen walking around in the distance. They were not sure how strong the guards were, but it was easily apparent that they were much stronger than Will¡¯s bodyguard Hugo. It seemed the Inn had undergone a lot of changes for the uing meeting. They were also more curious about the Guild room now ¨C since a suggestion by the Innkeeper himself could not be simple. The reason Lex had guided them towards the Guild room was because he knew they wanted to trade and so would find the features of the room helpful. More importantly, Lex would receive 1% of all transactions that urred in the Guild room so he waspletely shameless about promoting it to his guests. It appeared as though some of his usual guests were arriving a little early and would wait here for the meeting, but Lex did not mind that at all. A short whileter, Alexander and Helen also entered the Inn. Lex was a little surprised to see him without his family, as he was expecting them toe. Perhaps they would jointer. ¡°Wee back,¡± Lex said warmly, smiling at Helen. It must be said that he had gotten so used to her being at the Inn, the past few days almost felt strange with her gone. ¡°Thank you, it feels good to be back,¡± she responded. Her response was not perfunctory either. After spending so much time here she had forgotten how dilute the spiritual energy and polluted the air on Earth was. She almost felt suffocated there. ¡°We¡¯d like to rent a courtyard for the next couple of weeks,¡± Helen said. Although in all technicality Alexander was the one who needed to rent a courtyard for his family, he had achieved Prestige level 3 with his previous transaction at the Gift shop. He felt it would be better if he got others to carry out the following transactions so everyone could raise their prestige level as the perks were very useful. ¡°Of course,¡± Lex said, summoning one of the newer A.I. staff members to lead the duo. ¡°By the way, you have guests waiting for you in the Guild room ¨C the ones from Vegus Minima.¡± ¡°They¡¯re earlier than we were expecting, I will go see them soon. By the way, my grandfather will be joining uster but he had a question he wanted me to ask. Instead of renting rooms, is it possible to buy a permanent room at the Inn?¡± Lex was surprised by the question as he had never considered guests wanting to buy a permanent room, but he supposed the Morrison family¡¯s vision was naturally beyond that of ordinary guests. Before he could answer though, he heard the familiar sound of a system notification. Hidden Quest Activated! Chapter 101 Secret Dream Lex internally raised an eyebrow as he was surprised at the Hidden Quest notification. Thest time he got it was when hepleted a hidden requirement, but this time his conversation with Alexander triggered the quest. He couldn¡¯t tell what exactly was the difference between triggering a normal quest and a hidden one, but based on the rewards he gotst time he was looking forward to it. He quickly read the quest. Hidden Quest: Despite yourckluster performance, a guest has be interested in bing a permanent resident of the Midnight Inn. Develop a permanent guest district! To develop a permanent guest district you must: Purchase a permanent guest district pass Allocate area of permanent guest district Raise Inn rating to 3 Stars Grow a Winding Road Vine Have at least 1 Karmic Lily. Time limit: none Quest reward: subject to change based on performance Lex was quite surprised. This was the first time he encountered a quest that had multiple requirements, with each one being very difficult to achieve. Along with the details of each step in the quest, Lex also received additional information about thest two parts of the quest. They were extremely difficult, as at least the first three could bepleted with the system¡¯s help. Thest two were nts that Lex needed to grow, but first he would need to find their seeds or the actual nts themselves. Winding Road Vine was an unusual vine that only grew in the cracks between space, whatever that meant. The Karmic Lily itself had no use, but was used as a supplementary ingredient for many things from alchemy to crafting items to setting up arrays and more. The reason why it was so useful was that it enabled one to influence karma. He was also given brief requirements from guests to be able to get a permanent residence at the Midnight Inn, which made him breathe a sigh of relief as even the Morrison¡¯s would not be able to get a permanent residence, giving him plenty of time to set it up. ¡°Yes,¡± Lex replied to Alexander, ¡°we offer permanent residences instead of rooms to guests. But before one can get a permanent room they need to fulfill certain requirements. The first one is to spend 1 trillion MP at the Inn.¡± Lex¡¯s smile did not waver as he spoke but Alexander was visibly shook. But he recovered quickly. It made sense. The Inn catered to the whole universe, how can the wealth of a family that only owns onepare to the wealth to those that might even own entire sr systems, or more? ¡°In that case, I¡¯d just like the courtyard for 2 weeks.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± replied Lex and charged Helen. The duo was just about to head out when they saw a strange shadow pass them by, and looked up into the air to see Ayesha flying with Little Blue. Alexander only took a moment before he started walking to Main street. He had quickly adjusted his mindset to not be bothered by what he saw at the Inn. Furthermore, he had another objective ining here. Last time he returned to Earth he received a message from RussianPrincess77. She asked him to send her money in a certain ount, and in exchange she will give him some very useful information. Since he had not been disappointed by her before, Alexander transferred the money. She responded by telling him he should see John at the Midnight Inn to get something useful. Most likely, Alexander would have encountered John anyway, so the mischievous girl extorted him for some money before he got the chance. As Lex watched them go he smiled as he was ready to do something he had been wanting to do for a while now. He simply had to wait for a few guests to appear before he could do what he wanted, yet right before he was about to leave he felt more guestsing. This time the guests wereing through the Golden door, and since its origin was Vegus Minima he readied his Butter knife. Fortunately, the guest that appeared this time was not a zombie. A man came limping out of the door, moving as quickly as he could manage. He was bleeding from his forehead and his right arm and leg seemed to be severely hurt. He must have been running from something because it took him a moment to realize his surroundings had changed. rmed, he stopped to survey his new environment and when he saw Lex he quickly took a step back and assumed a defensive position. Name: g Age: 99 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: Golden Core mid Species: Human Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Condition: Debilitating wounds across his body, but his cultivation is secure and will heal quickly given the chance Remarks: He has the smell of a soldier all over him. He¡¯s probably broke. Meh ¡°No need to be rmed, dear guest. No one will harm you. Wee to the Midnight Inn, you may call me the Innkeeper.¡± As soon as g heard the term ¡®Midnight¡¯ he was greatly surprised. All Captain level soldiers and above were briefed a few days ago that they might be embarking on mission ¡®Midnight¡¯ and all nonessential operations were halted for the time. He did not know the details nor the relevance of the term, but he did not believe for even a second that the term being repeated here was a coincidence. ¡°It appears as though you are injured. Would you like to go to the Recovery room?¡± g quickly realized that he hadn¡¯t responded to the Innkeeper and quickly gathered his thoughts. His priority in this situation was to quickly learn his new circumstances, gather as much information as possible and return to Vegus Minima as soon as possible. ¡°Where are my manners, excuse me. I am Lieutenant g of the 7th Forward Battalion, under themand of General Ragnar of the Jotun Empire. If you have any medical facility then I would be grateful for your timely assistance and be sure to pass on news of your aid to the Empire.¡± Informing the other of his true background may seem like a stupid idea to some, but g had enough training to judge the situation urately. The Innkeeper was clearly someone with a higher cultivation than himself, and usually it was very difficult to lie or keep secrets when the difference in cultivation between two people was massive. Furthermore, the identity of belonging to a Battalion from the Jotun Empire was nothing to scoff at, and carried sufficient deterrence to assure his safety in most situations. In fact, very few other than Demons would even consider any kind of hostility against him. Yet he was slightly disappointed when he saw the other had no significant reaction at the mention of the Empire. ¡°Follow me,¡± said the Innkeeper warmly and started leading g towards the Recovery room. ¡°The Midnight Inn offers many services, not just medical attention. Once you have recovered, I encourage you to tour the ce. In a couple of days we¡¯re going to be having a grand event hosting dignitaries from manys, if you¡¯re free then you might want to stay for the event.¡± g mentally linked the date of the event with the date for operation Midnight and confirmed that this ce definitely had something to do with the operation. When they reached the Recovery room, g was dumbfounded to learn that he was expected to pay. He had no money on his person, and no payment tool. ¡°You just need to agree to pay and decide which of your assets you want to pay with, and the Inn will take care of it. Or, you can forward the bill to your battalion as this is technically an operational expense, don¡¯t you think?¡± g was dumbfounded and confused by what the Innkeeper said, but then found a digital panel that appeared in the air in front of him that required his signature. Should he sign, his expenses from the Inn would be forwarded to the Battalion. Unsure if this was a scam, g eventually signed as he was sure no one could scam the Battalion and got in the Recovery Pod. Leaving his newest guest to recover, Lex was finally free to do what he had wanted earlier. He returned to his residence, removed his suit and wore the rk Kent sses. Donning the appearance of Leo, Lex quickly teleported to the Gamer¡¯s Den, ready to finally interact with his guests without worry. He found Z sobbing in the corner as he watched an episode of My truth in December (can you guess this one) and shook his head. This kid had too much time, Lex should think of ways to go and y outside. He froze as soon as that thought came to him. ¡®Great, now I¡¯m sounding like my parents,¡¯ heined, but quickly put it behind him. He would startying the road for his secret dream of hosting an inteary gaming tournament today! Chapter 102 The mind of the weak, the will of the strong With a wide grin Leo walked out of the Gamer¡¯s Den and looked around. Other than the patrolling guards he didn¡¯t see anyone. He had already nted the seeds of bing a gamer in Helen so she would be an easy pull, therefore he should look for other unsuspecting targets. Lily and Chen were decent options. As natives of Earth he doubted he could entice Hera and William, and Jimmy was still too young. He also doubted that he could get g to put up his feet and game casually. With his decision made, he strode into the Guild room to find the pair having a discussion with the staff. Clearly they were interested in what the Guild offered. ¡°Hello, hope I¡¯m not disturbing anything important. I just wanted to introduce myself,¡± Leo said enthusiastically. ¡°My name¡¯s Leo, the owner of the humble Gamer¡¯s Den next door.¡± Lily and Chen looked at the young man, responding politely with a ¡°hello,¡±. They were not sure what services the Gamer¡¯s Den offered, but nothing here was simple so they dared not dismiss it. ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯re wondering what the Gamer¡¯s Den does, and what we have to offer. Let me cut right to the chase, what we offer is nothing short of enriching your life and elevating your state of mind.¡± Leo¡¯s words clearly attracted their attention. But Leo smirked, he would not tell them all the details directly. Building suspense and curiosity were an integral part of tricking- no, of enlightening non-gamers into entering a new world. ¡°I don¡¯t want to take up too much of your time, clearly you are busy. But when you get the chance, do drop by. We have something for everyone.¡± ¡°We will definitely drop by,¡± said Lily politely. It was evident that they would not leave until they finished their business with the Morrison family, so he didn¡¯t even try to pull them away right now.. He wondered where the others were. WIthout the Host Attire connecting him to the Inn he could not do his usual scan to locate all his guests. It was an unfortunate drawback, maybe once his authority increased he would be able to do it even without the suit. He exited the Guild room just in time to see Alexander and Helen enter the Battle Ax. Finally, John would get his first customer. Since no one else was in view, he retreated to the Gamer¡¯s Den and teleported back to his residence and donned the Host Attire. He would use it to spy on how things were going with Alexander and monitor everyone else. As soon as they entered Main street he would return as Leo and proceed with his n. In the Battle Ax, Alexander and Helen politely told Doe that they wanted to meet with John. After only a few moments John let them into his office. Alexander did not show any reaction at the appearance of the man covered in chains, but Helen looked at him oddly. ¡°Well, then, which one of you wants it done? Or is it both of you?¡± John asked excitedly. He finally had some customers and could earn some MP. ¡°Before anything, could you tell me what exactly you are going to do?¡± ¡°Huh? Don¡¯t you know?¡± John asked them, surprised. Then it urred to him that he had put up no details outside his shop, nor advertised his service. How was anyone supposed to know what he did? A significant oversight, but it was not toote to fix it now. ¡°Well let me exin. I design spirit techniques most suited to a person. You can tell me what kind of technique you want and based on your cultivation, affinity, strength and many more things I will design the technique for you. That¡¯s not to say that if you teach it to others they won¡¯t be able to perform the technique as well, but if, say for example you can use 100% of the techniques capabilities, others might be able to use 50%.¡± For once, the duo was not surprised. They had surprise fatigue. Nothing could surprise them anymore. Nodding as if he had heard the most natural thing, Alexander took out the six floating des behind him. ¡°These are my weapons. I can move them freely within 100 meters of myself and can imbue them with my spirit energy regardless of how far they are. I have various techniques that allow me to attack with them, but I want a stronger attack. A secret technique or trump card, whatever you want to call it, I want a technique that will maximize their damage.¡± John smiled at the young man who did not even ask him the price. If it were up to him, he would charge him a ridiculous amount, unfortunately Doe handled the transactions and the price for each cultivation level was fixed. Furthermore, the Innkeeper would directly deduct 50% of all his ie as payment for keeping him here. The fee for making a technique for a Foundation realm cultivator was 1000MP, so John would make 500MP ¨C just enough to go to the Mystery trial. ¡°I want a technique to detect if someone is spying on me,¡± Helen interrupted his thoughts with her own request. John, however, was not irritated at the interruption but happy instead. 2 customers. Even though the fee for a Qi training cultivator was only 300MP, ie was still ie. ¡°Let¡¯s start with the youngdy first,¡± John said as he began questioning Helen in detail. The duo stayed at the Battle Ax for well over an hour, adding an expense of another 1300MP under Helen¡¯s prestige counter. During that time Will and Hera visited the Guild room as well. Recognizing each other from their previous visit, the two groups started chatting. Learning that Lily and Chen were here for trade, Hera quickly offered them a few deals as well. Since they already had an agreement with the Morrisons they did not give up any of their current haul, but agreed to conduct future trades with them as well. Eventually Will and Hera left as well, and Chen and Lily decided it was unwise to simply wait for the Morrisons. They asked the staff member to inform them when the Morrions came, and left to investigate the Gamer¡¯s Den. Lex immediately returned to the Den in the appearance of Leo and awaited his clients. Behind the counter Z was dozing off on the keyboard. Even though the child had his own residence, he barely left the Den. He had fallen asleep watching anime, again. Leo really would have to think of a solution for this. But his thoughts were interrupted by Chen entering the shop, looking around curiously. ¡°Wee guests, I¡¯m d you decided to drop by,¡± Leo said, rubbing his hands like a merchant ready to rip some people off. Chen and Lily looked around the shop, but did not recognize theputers. Even though their own civilization was more advanced, the way their technology advanced was different so they did not haveputers that looked like this. ¡°I must admit, I was curious about how this ce could enrich my life,¡± said Lily. Leoughed. Of course this ce could enrich their lives, but he could not do so by saying they should y games. People who had spent their entire lives fighting for survival,bating vicious enemies and barely scraping by would not have the temperament to rx and y games. They would not be able to immerse themselves in the game with that mentality. Leo would have to prime them first. ¡°How the Gamer¡¯s Den does that is very simple, yet at the same time very sophisticated. Please, have a seat. Let me ask you a few questions first.¡± Lily sat down on one of the gamer chairs and looked at Leo, awaiting his instructions. ¡°Now close your eyes and rx. Let your body loosen up, rx your shoulders, and your back. For a moment, remove all the thoughts of your various responsibilities from your mind.¡± For a few moments Leo stopped talking, letting Lily reach the mental state he had described. ¡°Now, tell me, if you could do anything you wanted, what would you do? If you could learn anything, what would it be? Don¡¯t think about what the world demands from you, about others¡¯ expectations. For now, simply tell me, in your heart, with all the distractions gone, what do you want?¡± Leo¡¯s voice echoed in Lilys mind, as if hypnotizing her. But contrary to what Leo said, she was unable to let go of her worries. One by one, all the important moments in her life shed in her mind. And as they shed through her mind, it wasn¡¯t all the pain, the struggle, the fighting that affected her. It was the loss of her settlement that sat heaviest in her mind. Watching the people she had protected die one by one, unable to do anything else. Making the difficult decision to move, and look for safety elsewhere. Letting all her trusted soldiers go, one by one, on suicide missions to protect her caravan, and when the number of soldiers finally dwindled, ordering her own brother to sacrifice himself to protect the caravan. And after all that, when they finally found salvation under the protection of the empire, losing all of her followers in a few days. She could not me them for wanting a better life. But when they ultimately all left her, despite all her sacrifices to protect them, they left her feeling hollow. It was the most painful day of her life. But she was not dragged down by the pain, or the memory of it. Weak-minded people, people who could not endure pain to grow stronger, were the first ones to die in the zombie apocalypse. The pain only made her feel one thing ¨C the desire to grow stronger. To be better. No, not better. To be the best. ¡°I want to be the best leader. To be able to lead my followers through rain and drought, through war and terror, ande out only stronger, not weaker.¡± The conviction in her voice was strong and moved Leo. He understood immediately what the woman was saying. She wanted to y a colony management game. ¡°Great, now let me get you started,¡± Leo said, as he searched for a very specific game and turned it on. Chapter 103 Filthy Human Leo did not even need to browse through the list, he directly searched Brimworld and started the game. While he turned the game on in one screen, he opened some tutorial videos on another screen next to her. ¡°I suggest you go through the tutorial once before starting a colony, but if you¡¯re not able to understand the mechanics thoroughly or get confused, you can watch the videos on the other screen.¡± Lily nodded and after quickly understanding the role of the mouse and keyboard began her journey. The price for ying games at the Gamer¡¯s Den was only 1 MP per day so Lex directly paid the amount for their first experience himself. Then he turned his attention towards Chen who was silently looking at Lily. Only he had some idea of the pain his sister endured, but it was not the way of the survivors of Vegus Minima to point it out. She was not weak, and did not need his pity. The best thing he could do for her was grow stronger himself. Chen looked directly at Leo and said, ¡°I don¡¯t need anything like my sister. I just need to get acquainted with my own strength. I recently raised my cultivation and I still feel like I¡¯m not using my strength to the best of my capabilities.¡± Hearing Chen¡¯s request Leo frowned a bit. Clearly Chen wanted to y a game that included physical movement, so VR could work for that. But it would not allow him to use his strength and experiment freely. The best thing for that would be going to the Training room. But while fighting dummies was challenging, Leo felt that it still didn¡¯t provide the immersion and nuances that a game provided with. Training would always only feel like training, and would not provide the weight and tension of a realbat situation that games could build using rich environments and timely music cues. If only he could integrate the Training room dummies with his Gamer¡¯s Den¡­Wait. Leo¡¯s eyes lit up. Why couldn¡¯t he do that? Mary had told him that he should find loopholes in the system to get the result he wanted. The Training room was strictly a system provided service and could not be changed by him, but the Gamer¡¯s Den was created by him directly using the Host Interface. So why was he limited to having a regr gaming setup? He could make it as advanced or different as he wanted so long as he had enough MP.. Opening the Midnight Market in his mind he searched for training dummies or robots with high strength and durability ¨C he didn¡¯t want to use an A.I. staff since he was treating them like real people. He found one a permanent training robot that could be programmed at Initial Foundation realm for 35,000 MP! This price seemed like a lot when considering he got 260 guards for 450,000 MP, all of them at higher cultivation levels. That came out to be around 1730 MP per guard. But those guards were temporary, and would disappear once the event period ended, the training robot was permanent. Or at least until it was damaged. ¡°Please, follow me,¡± Leo said casually, leading Chen upstairs to the VR rooms. The entire top floor was divided into only 3 VR rooms so there was plenty of space for Chen to move around and fight in there. But to do what Leo had in mind, he would still need some new additions so he spent 3000 MP renovating the rooms and reinforcing them. This would no longer be only a VR room, but also an Augmented Reality (AR) room. The training robot was waiting at the opposite end of the room but Leo didn¡¯t address it yet. He set the room to the theme of a game called Immortal Combat, and suddenly the appearance of the room changed. It looked like they were standing in the remains of a difficult battle, with debris and corpses everywhere. Music started ying in the background and though at first Chen thought it was strange, he quickly realized that the music fit the atmosphere well. The appearance of the Training dummy changed as well, and he looked like a demon garbed in yellow clothing. His movement andbat style was adapted to a specific character from the game. ¡°You can change the difficulty by saying Easy, Regr or Hard before you start the fight. If you get too used to thebat you can also change the enemybat style by selecting the enemy you want to face. All you need to do is say menu to open up the character selection panel. ¡°Furthermore, you won¡¯t be fighting to defeat the enemy. Both you and the enemy will have a health bar above your heads. If your health bar runs out, it will automatically be considered your loss, simrly if the enemies health bar runs out it will be considered your win. Please, enjoy.¡± Leo left Chen to explore his newest installed feature. For the AR segment he was nning on charging more, maybe around 200 MP a day but for now he wouldn¡¯t charge Chen. He had to get them hooked first. Leo chuckled as he went downstairs. Lily was already engrossed in the game in the few minutes she¡¯d been ying, and wore an extremely serious face as she navigated the obstacles. ¡°Z, keep an eye on the guests. If they need anything make sure to help them out, alright?¡± The boy nodded firmly before returning to watch some more anime. Leo didn¡¯t know which one he was watching but it urred to him the boy was watching multiple anime concurrently. Somehow, that just seemed wrong. But traumatized by the thought that he may be acting like his parents, Leo said nothing and returned to his residence. He scanned the Inn once again to check everyone¡¯s location, but no one was walking around. Alexander and Helen were still at Battle Ax and Will and Hera were in their courtyard having a meeting. He waited for a while for someone to be essible for him to trap, but after a while he got tired. Instead of waiting he decided to meditate and check up on everyone once he was done. A few hours went by and as the sun set, the Inn looked beautiful under the warm, yellow light of all the skynterns. Lex just finished a round of meditation and immediately scanned the Inn just in time to catch Lily and Chen walking towards the manor, both seriously discussing their experience at the Gamer¡¯s Den. What surprised him was that Alexander and Helen were sitting in the restaurant in the manor, and so were Will, Hera and Jimmy. Ayesha was also sitting in the corner, looking tired, and maybe sad. He realized that almost all of his guests would soon be gathered in the restaurant in the manor. If he appeared as the bartender, casually wiping the bar with a cloth he could recreate the perfect mental image of what he imagined an Inn was like the first time he thought of the Inn. Of course, he was not about to wipe the bar, but he changed into his Host Attire and teleported to the restaurant. Alexander and Helen were having burgers, Ayesha was wallowing over arge te of fries, Jimmy was having dinosaur shaped nuggets, his mother was only having a cup of coffee and Will having a cup of mint green tea. The food items weren¡¯t exactly what Lex envisioned when he thought of food served at an Inn, but who cared? Lily and Chen sat down in a corner and ordered two steaks, two sds and a lot of fruit. They weren¡¯t picky eaters but understood better than everyone else here the importance of nutrition. Even Foundation realm cultivators hadn¡¯t gotten rid of their dependance on food and improper nutrition not only affected their health andbat performance, it affected cultivation as well. Not eating properly was a mistake they would never make. Lex enjoyed the pleasant atmosphere. Everyone was gathered together in the same room, and though they kept to themselves, their general presence created a merry environment. A short whileter, g also joined in. He was notpletely healed, but he was healed enough that he gave priority to his mission of reconnaissance. The room went silent for a second when he entered, as everyone turned to look at the new guest, but they all quickly resumed their own conversations. Lily and Chen recognized his uniform and started whispering to one another, trying to not attract his attention. g came and sat at the bar, directly opposite to Lex. ¡°Would you happen to have a nutritional supplement drink?¡± ¡°Yes, but wouldn¡¯t you rather prefer a fruit juice or something? It doesn¡¯t sound very appealing.¡± g shook his head, indicating he was fine with choice in drink, then turned around to look at all the guests in the room. ¡°So these guests are all from Minima Vegus?¡± ¡°I cannot share the private details of our guests. But in general, we ept guests from all over the universe so naturally Minima Vegus is included.¡± ¡°Entire universe?¡± g repeated, confused. ¡°How do they get here?¡± ¡°Using our keys, naturally. Or they encounter the golden door, the same way you did. Either way, everyone is teleported here directly.¡± g frowned, but said nothing. Teleportation, even across a sr system, was very costly. He could not fathom what it would require to have teleportation on such arge scale. While they were talking Lex felt another guest entering the Inn, but since he was in the middle of a conversation with g he mentally told Gerard to greet the guest once he made sure it wasn¡¯t a zombie. But only a few secondster a loud roar reverberated through the manor, ¡°KNEEL YOU FILTHY HUMAN!¡± Chapter 104 Useless Scrub The conversations in the restaurant hushed. All the guests looked at each other, then turned to look at the Innkeeper who stood behind the bar. ¡°Excuse me for a moment,¡± the Innkeeper said to g calmly, as if he was in no hurry, but then disappeared from his ce. The resident teenagers, namely Alexander, Helen and Ayesha rushed to the window to peek at what was happening outside. After a few moments, the rest joined them. Outside, a pale and trembling Gerard stood before an eight feet tall beast that looked something akin to a Liger. Its whiskers were thick and long, waving in the air with ferocity. Its feline eyes stared angrily at the human before it, its fangs exposed threateningly. Lex quickly looked at its status. Name: Useless Scrub Age: 432 Sex: Male. Cultivation Details: Doesn¡¯t matter Species: Dead meat Midnight Inn Prestige Level: No Remarks: Those who disrespect the Inn do not deserve to live! If Lex wasn¡¯t in such a serious situation, he would have chuckled. The system was clearly pissed! ¡°What seems to be the issue here?¡± Lex asked calmly. He thought that as the great and noble Innkeeper, he needed to handle the situation maturely and- ¡°ANOTHER CRETIN! HOW DARE YOU STAND WHILE IN MY PRESCIENCE?¡± the Liger roared. Its anger lit its fur in a blue me causing the air to ripple from the heat. ¡°Calm down, you are-¡± Lex¡¯s speech was cut short by the Liger roaring in anger and smashing its paw towards him. Its ws extended out, covered in blue mes as well. Yet before the w could even reach near Lex it was stopped mid air by a hand. The hand did not belong to Lex¡¯s bodyguard, who would have simply disintegrated the Liger, but one of the ten security guards above the Nascent realm that Lex hand rented for the Midnight Games. The Liger tried to pull back its hand, but realized it could not. Sensing that the situation may be getting out of hand the Liger tried to retreat, but discovered that its entire body was frozen solid by an extremely domineering aura. It could not move, it could not speak and it could not even initialize its spirit energy anymore. Looking at the Liger, Lex frowned. Screw maturity, now Lex was pissed. But he did not want to kill the Liger directly, the way the Liger had tried to do to him. No, he was not so easily satisfied. Even if he knew his emotions were running amok, this time he did not try to control them. Sometimes, it was better to let himself feel whatever it was he was feeling. Silently Lex spent 2500 MP then looked at the guard and said, ¡°I¡¯ve created a detention room in the Greenhouse. Take this¡­well it¡¯s no longer a guest, so take this deviant and hold him in the detention room. I will join you shortly.¡± The guard nodded with an emotionless face and effortlessly used his spiritual sense and carried it in the air behind him as he casually walked towards the greenhouse. ¡°How are you feeling, are you okay?¡± Lex asked, looking at Gerard. The old man was still trembling, but he tried to put on a brave face. ¡°I¡¯m good sir, thank you for asking.¡± ¡°Go to the Recovery room and have Nurse Jubtion check you out. Then take a rest, you¡¯ve earned some time off.¡± ¡°Thank you sir,¡± Gerard replied, and teleported away. Lex looked back at his guests who were peeking from the window and smiled at them, then disappeared as well. In the forest near the greenhouse, a square building had cropped up. It was gray and had no windows, only a single door in the front. This was the detention room Lex had spent 2500 MP making. It was smallpared to his other buildings such as the Gamer¡¯s Den and the Barbershop because Lex didn¡¯t need much out of it. It was a small, reinforced and soundproof building where Lex was nning on interrogating the Liger¡­sorry, where Lex was nning on interrogating Useless Scrub. The reason it was near the greenhouse was because he didn¡¯t want customers identally finding it. Inside the room was simply an incredibly bright room with chains on the far wall, and a chair for Lex to sit in. He waited a few minutes before the guard finally showed up with Useless Scrub who now looked incredibly afraid. It had been trying for a long time to get loose, but still could not move. ¡°I want to know everything about it. I want to know where it came from, what its background is, what it does, everything,¡± Lex instructed the security guard. While Lex wanted information, that did not mean he was condoning violence or torture. He was angry, not cruel. The security guard was of such a high cultivation level, if he had no methods to extract a truthful confession then Lex would be disappointed. Even simple intimidation should probably work. ***** Back at the manor everyone returned to their seats, not at all surprised by the oue. Yet despite that, the mood in the room was much more serious. The beast that had attacked clearly gave off an aura of a Golden Core beast, many of the guests there recognized that. It was the security guard that had most of them confused, he was so immensely powerful but gave off no aura at all. Only g saw some signs of what the guards¡¯ cultivation level could be, only because of the kind of exposure he had as a Lieutenant. He was suddenly very happy that he left the Recovery Pod early. ¡°Well, at least we know the uing event will be secure,¡± said Will. He was speaking to Hera but his voice was loud enough for everyone to hear. The man¡¯s words immediately caught gs attention. The soldier immediately made sure he looked presentable before approaching the old man. ¡°Excuse me, I couldn¡¯t help but overhear. Did you say there¡¯s going to be an event here? Do you know what it¡¯s about?¡± g paused for a moment, before continuing, ¡°Where are my manners? Let me introduce myself first. Lieutenant g of the 7th Forward Battalion of the Jotum Empire, at your service.¡± g analyzed the two as he introduced himself. The Innkeeper was a different matter but he was sure he could easily read these two who had a lower cultivation than him. Theirck of reaction at the mention of the Jotun Empire told him they either also had a simrly powerful background or were unaware of the Empire. He was more willing to bet on thetter, which only meant one thing. They were from an uncharted part of the universe. That in itself was very important information. ¡°My name is Will,¡± said the old man. ¡°This is Hera and little Jimmy. Please, have a seat.¡± g took a seat at the table with them and carefully analyzed them without making it obvious. Their cultivation levels were pathetically low, that much g could tell even without scanning them with his spiritual sense. For now he was avoiding scanning his guests with his spiritual sense as he felt his host might not like that. ¡°In around a week¡¯s time, the Innkeeper is nning on having an event for the guests of three different worlds, namely Earth, Vegus Minima and Nibiru. In two days, the Innkeeper will release the details of the event so that interested guests may prepare. There will be a cultural portion of the event, as well as abat one.¡± ¡°Do you know the purpose of the event?¡± he asked, slightly confused. Why would half of it be cultural and halfbat? And why was the event targeted towards these threes? What was the Innkeeper trying to achieve? How will it benefit him? Little did he know that Lex¡¯s bodyguard was also wondering the exact same thing since he arrived. When Will indicated that he did not know the exact purpose of the Innkeeper, g asked ¡°I am not familiar with Earth and Nibiru. Are they a part of some Empire? Or alliance?¡± He was hoping to get more information about why these twos would be selected in addition to Vegus Minima but his question only confused the two. Will and Hera looked at one another, unsure of how to answer. Will was fairly certain that Earth had never contacted any other civilization out in space, so could not join any alliance nor was it under the rule of any empire. The closest thing he could think of was the Morrison family owning. Speaking of the Morrisons¡­ Will looked towards Alexander and Helen who were sitting nearby. Perhaps it was best if they were involved in this conversation as well. Will himself wasn¡¯t so sure if he should share information about Earth to begin with. But he also did not want topletely end this conversation as this Lieutenant could be a great source of information on other civilizations. ¡°I think I know someone else better suited for this conversation. Follow me,¡± the old man got up and walked towards the teenagers. ¡°Excuse me, your highness,¡± Will said, bowing to Alexander. ¡°I was meeting with Lieutenant g of the Jotun Empire, who was curious about Earth. I thought perhaps it would be better that you answered his questions.¡± Chapter 105 Painful decisions Alexander looked at Will and then g. He immediately understood the situation. Foreign civilizations might have ulterior intentions and sharing information about Earth might end up being detrimental. Alexander himself raised the same concern with his grandfather. His grandfather told him that they could stop people for some time, but as more people started frequenting the Inn they would not be able to stop people from talking. To paraphrase what he said next, he should use his advantage to glean as much information about others as he could. The actual phrase about ¡®stripping and whipping¡¯ others Alexander didn¡¯t want to think about. ¡°Please, no need for such formalities,¡± Alexander said to Will, and gestured to them to have a seat. ¡°Lieutenant g, please have a set as well. My name is Alexander.¡± The Lieutenant saluted Alexander but did not bow. As a proud member of the Jotum Empire he did not need to bow before others, but he was still respectful. This youth seemed to be someone important on Earth and had a very decent cultivation for his age. It was not unprecedented to him, but he would definitely be acknowledged as someone very capable even in the Empire. ¡°I am not familiar with the Jotun Empire, so please excuse anyck in my etiquettes,¡± Alexander said, taking the lead in the conversation. ¡°Is this your first time at the Inn?¡± Instead of asking directly about the empire, Alexander asked about how much they frequent the Inn. This would give the other an opportunity to talk a little about himself and introduce information about the empire that Alexander could then use to further the conversation. It was quite fortunate that he began the conversation this way, because in Alexander¡¯s mind the empire was perhaps based on a continent, or a. It did not even ur to him that it spanned entire Gxies. ¡°Haha yes, this is my first time visiting the Midnight Inn. As for etiquette, no need to worry at all, the empire is quite liberal in such matters. After all, with so many gxies and cultures under the empire¡¯s control, who can keep track of etiquettes? Since you are not familiar with the empire, I will give a brief introduction.. ¡°The Jotun Empire is one of the leading forces in the known universe, with control over various gxies, and a proud member of the Henali alliance. We have a proud history of over 400,000 years and have yed a vital role in reiming numerous worlds from the grasp of demons.¡± Alexander did not show any look of surprise or shock as he heard g¡¯s introduction, though the same could not be said of Will. Not even considering the matter of whether Alexander actually believed what g said, the Inn had trained him in the subtle art of not being surprised. ¡°It is very impressive to be able to maintain control over so much space,¡± Alexander said after a moment of careful consideration. ¡°We on Earth are still gaining control over our sr system.¡± Alexander¡¯s answer was vague, but gave g enough detail to let him know the background of Earth. From what g knew, there were no inhabiteds outside the Vegus System in its proximity, and if the empire hadn¡¯t interfered, it could be considered a with a weak poption. Based on Alexander¡¯s exnation, Earth might not be much better than Vegus Minima. In that case, maybe the Inn was promoting the growth of weaks. Suddenly g felt enlightened, as if he had gleaned some inner purpose behind the mysterious man¡¯s actions. It was not enough to uncover hisplete intentions, but it was a start. ¡°Tell me, Lieutenant g, will your empire be participating in the uing event?¡± Alexander asked, waking the man from his reverie. He still did not know if what he imed was true, but if it was there would be nopetition in thebat portion at least. ¡°I cannot specte on the intentions of the empire, but I see no reason not to. The Innkeeper has been very hospitable and I¡¯m sure whatever he has nned will be worth the effort.¡± Both of them were speaking politely and vaguely, but neither of them were lying. Will, who was good at reading people, could understand the subtleties of what was going on, but did not feel qualified enough to participate. ¡°Tell me, young Alexander, have you ever wanted to explore the universe? You seem like a very talented and bright man, and the empire loves to nurture young talents. If you¡­¡± ¡°You know, at a nce your routine sure looks like that of a kidnapper,¡± a booming voice interrupted g, attracting everyone¡¯s attention. A lean and handsome man was sauntering through the restaurant door. Without his truckload worth of muscles Marlo looked a lot less intimidating, but g immediately felt like someone had their hand wrapped around his heart. It was not the feeling of danger, or an impending threat, but the feeling of impending certain death. g immediately stood up and readied himself for a fight. Even though his instincts were telling him he could not survive a sh, and his mind was telling him that the Innkeeper would not allow a fight, as a soldier of the empire he feared no enemy and shied away from no fight. ¡®This must be Alexander¡¯s protector¡¯, g thought. ¡®He must have assumed I have ulterior motives.¡¯ Before g could rationalize the situation some more Marlo roared, ¡°I¡¯m a hundred times more talented than my stupid student. If you want to poach someone, poach me!¡± With that, the man burst into a round ofughter as he came and sat down at the table. ¡°Velma, give me food. And lots of it, I haven¡¯t eaten in days.¡± ¡°What would you like,¡± she asked, appearing beside the former behemoth. ¡°Anything. Everything. Bring me different dishes, and bring me lots of them. I¡¯m not used to being so tiny, I feel ufortable. I need to put some more meat on my bones.¡± ¡°Chef¡¯s choice, I understand,¡± she said, before disappearing once again. Turning back to g, Marlo gave a wide grin. He was feeling great today, he had almost fixed the issue with his blood. He came out to celebrate and overheard g¡¯s introduction. His instincts were telling him g was not lying, so he immediately became curious. Earth could no longer satisfy him, he wanted arger stage. If this so-called Jotun Empire was poaching talents, he would happily volunteer. ¡°Now tell me g, what do I need to do to explore the universe?¡± ***** Lex was standing silently in the detention room, looking directly at Useless Scrub. The investigation was much easier than he had anticipated. Faced with a much stronger enemy, the Liger was extremely cooperative. On the question of what he was from, the Liger waspletely lost. He had no concept of what a was. A few more questionster Lex could safely deduce that it was from Nibiru, as previously suspected. It was an overlord and in its territory it treated humans as ves or servants. He did notpletely oppress them, but only because he discovered that too much fear and oppression would only reduce their productivity. Just because he was arrogant did not mean he was stupid. Humans were the best farmers, miners, carpenters and all-in-all general workers around. It grew up in an environment of the survival of the fittest, and after many years of not only surviving but thriving it became extremely arrogant. Seeing a human standing upright in its prescience the Liger could not tolerate it, as it considered humans beneath it. To be clear, it was not discriminating towards humans specifically. All non-feline animals in its opinions were base creatures. As a ruler, it treated its feline followers extremely well and had created a very intricate society based on promoting its followers¡¯ strength. With such a mind and experience, if it had not offended the system and then Lex, the Liger could have greatly benefited from the Inn. But its fate would be very different now. Lex¡¯s anger had already waned by now. His impulsive desire to have the guard kill the beast had also diminished. Lex looked the beast directly in the eyes as he thought about what to decide. Lex saw intelligence, fear, and confusion. No longer being threatened for his life, Lex thought he would feel guilty if he ordered his death. After all, the situation arose from the beast¡¯s ignorance. If he was taught there was arger world outside the one it knew, and that humans and other animals weren¡¯t inherently worse than it then perhaps the Liger would not react that way in the future. Perhaps, the Liger could be reeducated and reintroduced into its world to bring arger positive impact. These were the thoughts going through Lex¡¯s mind. Or rather, his heart. For in his mind he knew that regardless of the reason, the animal had tried to kill him without a second¡¯s hesitation. He could not show mercy to such an animal, now or in the future. So while his heart was still full of reluctance he simply ordered, ¡°kill it.¡± The guard shot a single ray of spirit energy into the Ligers skull, and it died like the Useless Scrub the system had named it after. Lex had killed zombies before, and wolves. Both of them were in situations where his life was in danger. This was the first time he was responsible for a death while he himself was not being actively threatened, and while his heart was full of guilt, this was a decision he made with his mind. He could allow himself to feel pain over a difficult decision, but he could not allow himself to get into the habit of making stupid decisions out of guilt. Chapter 106 Shenanigans Once the Liger was dead, Lex told the guard to pass the body to the gardener. The body of a powerful beast would probably serve as a wonderful fertilizer. Lex didn¡¯t know the exact details of how to use it but he didn¡¯t doubt that the gardener or turtle knew how to. Once that was done, Lex stayed in the detention room for a few moments longer, looking at where the Liger was held. Just as he was about to leave, his bodyguard appeared beside him. ¡°Do you mind if I ask you a question?¡± the bodyguard asked. His voice was deep and smooth, making it very pleasant to hear. ¡°Go ahead,¡± Lex responded. ¡°Why do you care so much about the beast? Why did it affect you?¡± The bodyguard was genuinely curious. In his mind, the Innkeeper was an existence close to itself, otherwise the bodyguard would have been able to view the Innkeepers cultivation. At their level, a lot of things became irrelevant. So then the bodyguard could not understand why Lex was burdening himself so much by caring, or to be more specific, by having an emotional response to killing an enemy? ¡°I just think it¡¯s a pity,¡± Lex said, looking back at where the body of the beast used to be. ¡°It was not a bad leader, and it stumbled upon an immense opportunity bying here. It could have not only raised its own cultivation but also of all its followers, and exposed them to a much wider horizon than the one they lived with. Yet instead of availing the opportunity, in its arrogance it chose to be my enemy. Even when I tried to give it a second chance, it wasted it.¡± The bodyguard shook his head. What Lex said was true, the Liger did waste an amazing opportunity, but he did not understand why Lex cared one way or another about the beast.. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if you understand or not,¡± said Lex, feeling slightly contemtive after the incident. ¡°Your belief or understanding of something only affects how you experience life, nothing else. Whether you believe you are the best, or the strongest, or better than others does not affect the universe at all. It only affects how you perceive the universe around you. And if one day, you encounter someone or something that challenges your belief, how well you can adapt will determine your oue. The beast believed it was superior to humans, and thus lost the opportunity to better itself using an opportunity provided by humans. Simrly, if you believe that you are the best, you will never surpass your current self since you have already deemed it the best.¡± The bodyguard quietly listened, trying to dissect what Lex had said. He was attempting to see the relevance or purpose behind Lex¡¯s actions using this logic. Whether he would be able to seed or not didn¡¯t matter, for Lex only felt like being randomly philosophical. With his emotions vented, Lex put on a wide grin and returned to the manor. He returned to the unusual scene of Marlo stuffing his face with spaghetti and meatballs with his left hand and arm wrestling Alexander, Helen and Jimmy with his right. A pale and obviously defeated g was standing in the corner, observing the situation. Hera was watching with a smile, and she watched her son finally interact with others. Even the previously morose Ayesha was standing in the crowd, cheering on the kids. Harry and John had also appeared in the room and seemed to be egging them on. Harry was ying intense music on his phone, as if to set the scene. That made Lex realize he should hire a musician, but he put it at the back of his mind and watched his guests goof off. He did not know how the situation became like this, but he was suddenly tempted to offer Marlo another job as the resident joker. Just as Marlo finished his food his right arm came crashing down, defeating the kids without any suspense. ¡°Who¡¯s next?¡± the now giant wannabe Marlo screamed as he swapped out the empty te for a dish ofsagna. Lex felt personally offended when he saw Marlo eat thesagna with a spoon. Surprisingly, Chen stood up and sat opposite to Marlo, recing the defeated kids. As he grabbed Marlo¡¯s hand, Lily tied a rope around their hands and stood on the side, ready to pull Marlo¡¯s hand down. ¡°I¡¯m going to need some help, who else hasn¡¯t gone yet,¡± Lily asked, looking around the room. Harry raised his hand as he hopped towards Lily and grabbed the rope. He changed the music as well, pumping himself up. At this point no one noticed Lex disappearing, and Leo running into the room. Lex¡¯s bodyguard simply lost track of the Innkeeper, but did not put it to heart. His job was only to protect the Innkeeper while he was in the Inn. If he left of his own ord, the bodyguard did not need to be bothered. Leo grabbed onto the rope excitedly as well, asking Harry, ¡± what¡¯s going on?¡± Harry did not react at all to Leo¡¯s sudden appearance and said, ¡°The loud guy sealed his body cultivation and challenged everyone to an armwrestling match. He said he won¡¯t use any strength while he eats, but once he finishes you will win the match. The goal is to beat him before he finishes his meal.¡± At this point Chen started trying to push Marlo¡¯s hand down, and the others pulled on the rope. As one of the weakest cultivators there Lex did not expect his contribution to matter, but he was getting severe FOMO (fear or missing out) just standing there watching. The trio pulled hard on the rope and it seemed for a moment that Marlo¡¯s hand moved down a bit, but no one could be too sure. Only a few momentster Marlo had finished thesagna like a vacuum sucking up dirt, and mmed Chen¡¯s hand down! ¡°Next,¡± he roared, though whether he meant the next meal or armwrestler, no one could be sure. Velma hopped towards him and put down a te of fresh BBQ, politely handing him a fork as well. At this point, almost everyone in the room had already lost. Just when everyone thought that no one would step up, one of the suited guards sat opposite to Marlo. This guard¡¯s cultivation was Peak Golden Core, so he was not weak at all. Yet the look g gave the guard was one of ridicule. The people in the room cheered as the new match started, and someone started a chant of ¡°kick Marlo¡¯s butt!¡±. Jimmy was the most vocal with that chant, and stood up on a table to watch the exciting match. Hera almost cried, watching her son enjoying the festivity. Jimmy had been so reclusive the past few months, he was finally behaving like a child again. The guard surprised everyone by putting up a strong fight. Marlo¡¯s hand moved down till it was at a 45 degrees angle, but before he could move it down further Marlo had devoured his food and started fighting back. Unlike the previous matches, he was not able to simply m down the guard, which prompted another round of cheering. ¡°You¡¯re getting weak, old timer,¡± Alexander yelled, smirking at his former teacher. As if to answer Alexander, Marlo started exerting even more strength. His shirt ripped at the bicep and veins started running up his arm. Finally, after a tough fight, the guard was defeated. A round of booing and cheering took ce as Marlo chugged down a jar of mead and mmed it down on the ground. ¡°Next,¡± his roar echoed, prompting Velma to reappear with a te of deep fried cheeseballs, nuggets, sausages and french fries. Marlo, like a ravenous animal, set upon the te without waiting for his next opponent. While everyone waited to see if anyone would step up, perhaps another guard, John casually strolled to the table. In a great show of arrogance, instead of sping Marlo¡¯s hand, he only stuck out a single finger. ¡°Velma, be a dear and get me that drink you offeredst time. What was it called, Pina Colorado?¡± ¡°Pi?a cda,¡± she said, handing him the drink. John epted the drink with a smile, and looked at Marlo. ¡°I¡¯ll give you until I finish this ss to defeat me. By the way, all my spirit energy is already sealed so you don¡¯t need to worry about that.¡± Marlo let out a viscous grin and grabbed the man¡¯s finger. The match started immediately, but neither the hand nor the finger moved from the middle. The room was full of hooting and chanting, with Leo participating as well. John casually drank his drink while Marlo hurriedly swallowed his food. The two finished at the same time and after giving each other a dirty look, began using full force. The table cracked immediately, but they continued to wrestle as if the air itself was solid. For exactly 1 second it looked like it would be a tie, but then John smashed his finger down hard, throwing Marlo¡¯s body across the room after a crushing defeat. Marlo¡¯s body hit a window, and though the window did not break, cracks appeared The whole room exploded in celebration as almost everyone had been defeated by Marlo. Even g let out a smirk. To everyone here, this victory was more dear than if they themselves had won. The celebration, however, was interrupted by the Innkeepers voice giving an announcement in the room saying, ¡°For broken and damaged furniture, Marlo and John will be fined 300MP each!¡± Everyone startedughing, Marlo shrugged it off, but John started scowling! He was the most broke person here! Chapter 107 Assembly With Marlo¡¯s devastating defeat, the merry-making and festivities slowly came to a close. Will, Hera and Jimmy eventually returned to their rooms, Jimmy still bouncing up and down from the excitement. Ayesha stayed a while longer, but then took a look at her watch and eventually returned. g, who no longer wished to associate with anyone in Marlo¡¯s prescience, went out to stroll about the Inn and collect more information. Maybe Lex should just make a booklet for new guests so that they don¡¯t need to explore themselves. John, whose sense of satisfaction from the victory had been ruined, returned to the Battle Ax and Harry returned to Earth. Eventually it was just Marlo, Alexander and Helen left, mainly because Marlo was still eating like a ravenous wolf. At a certain point Lex realized that he wasn¡¯t just being a glutton, his body needed sustenance and since he could no longer absorb spirit energy due to his broken core, food was his primary source! ¡°Would you like to try our spirit food instead of just regr meals?¡± the Innkeeper asked, finally halting the man¡¯s actions. Lex reminded himself that despite Marlo¡¯s bombastic actions, the man was a very focused and dedicated individual. Everything he did served a hidden purpose, so he should have realized sooner that he was finally suffering the toll of trying to resolve the issue with his blood without the support of the Recovery Pod. ¡°Why not? Send them my way,¡± he finally said after swallowing, but then continued to eat the food that he had. Marlo was the first person trying the spirit food made from the vegetables Lex had grown in the greenhouse. In terms of price, it was still very reasonable, changing the price for a single meal from 1 MP to 10. As much as Lex wanted to watch Marlo try out the new food, see him discover the brilliance of the Inn¡¯s cooking that would bring him to a world where champagne flowed from the sky and rose petals appeared beneath his feet ¨C maybe Lex had spent some time watching a certain cooking anime in the past ¨C he decided to leave.. Although he felt well enough, he wanted to meditate some more and calibrate his mood for the uing meeting. Today¡¯s incident also reminded him that not everyone would go along with his designs willy nilly, and he needed to be in best form. Back at the manor, with some privacy finally, Alexander turned to Marlo with a serious matter to discuss. ¡°When are you going back to Earth? Your disappearance has caused some issues. Your wife has caused a lot of problems. Even Bluebird finally could not ignore it and sanctioned her, but that has not redeemed the situation.¡± Marlo did not slow down eating and it didn¡¯t look like he cared much either way, but a careful observer would notice the shing sadness in his eyes. ¡°I cannot leave this ce until I finish my new method of cultivation. The meditation room speeds up my progress astronomically, and I might need to go to the Recovery room at a moment¡¯s notice if something goes wrong.¡± Alexander sat in silence as he contemted what Marlo told him. Like his grandfather, all the Nascent level cultivators on Earth reached that level through unique and unrepeatable ways. Following that road, Marlo had devised a new cultivation technique that could be summed up by describing it as rapid evolution under the influence of spirit energy. With his core crippled and no resources to push his body cultivation further, this is the solution he came up with. The rapid evolution would be induced under the influence of spirit energy, but by doing so he would essentially be changing his very body. This change went beyond the scope of change brought about by cultivation, and would bring his body¡¯s natural state to be equivalent to higher cultivation levels. This was a theory that Marlo came up with based on his study of Beasts, as they had no problem reaching the Nascent realm even when humans could not. What Marlo did not know was that he had embarked on a path that was already known by some in the universe, but very few tried and even fewer seeded in ¨C the path of the Prime. In fact, without the aid of the Inn Marlo would never have even made it this far. ¡°And how long do you think that will take? Will you be able to join the Midnight Games?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure,¡± Marlo replied. ¡°I feel like I¡¯m on the verge of sess. But like any breakthrough, thatst step coulde quickly or it could take years.¡± After a moment of silence, ¡°Well even if you miss the games, I think you should take some time when you¡¯re able to go back and settle things on Earth before they be too ugly.¡± ¡°Speaking of things getting ugly, what are the geezers nning on doing about the Inn? I don¡¯t know if what g said was true, but it¡¯s only a matter of time before someone sends a tracker or something of the sort back to Earth with a guest who wants to venture out into the universe. Or someone who gets bribed. Or tricked. Either way, the end result will not be good.¡± ¡°I asked my grandfather,¡± Alexander said with a confused expression. ¡°He only said that I don¡¯t need to worry about it, and if possible, ept the biggest bribes. He told me to get the most I can out of anyone who is willing to throw money our way, and then continue to get some more.¡± The room returned to silence, as everyone contemted the future. Eventually they parted ways, and as Marlo walked back towards the Meditation room his eyes became resolute and a Tier 5 zombie core appeared in his hand. ***** The rest of the day past peacefully. After a round of meditation Lex eventually went to bed. For some reason, his meditation was extremely fruitful today. He felt like he was on the verge of stabilizing his spirit. He didn¡¯t know if his progress was faster than normal, but since his cultivation technique was unorthodox he simply epted it. Not that he wasining, he wanted to be stronger as fast as possible. The next day, Lex held an assembly for all his guards. He was not sure if his guards were very well designed robots or constructs of the system or real people, like he suspected his bodyguard might be. Either way, instructing them once himself would not be a bad idea. In the forest surrounding the greenhouse 260 guards stood in 10 straight lines, facing the Innkeeper. The A.I. staff was also standing on the side even though Lex could pass orders to them mentally. They didn¡¯t want to feel left out. ¡°I¡¯ve been observing you and you¡¯ve been doing a good job. I can see you patrolling the grounds diligently, and even the quick response to yesterday¡¯s event made me proud. Tomorrow we¡¯ll be expecting a lot more guests, and with more people I expect there will be more altercations. You have to stop any incidents before any of the guests can get hurt. Should anyone cause an issue, you should only detain them, try not to harm them. Once you¡¯ve detained them, hold them until you can contact me, no need to be polite against offenders. If the opponent is too strong or attacks with intention to kill, then no need to hold back. You can attack with extreme prejudice. This meeting will be practice for the muchrger event in a few days, so make sure to perfect your rounds.¡± Lex did not give them too many instructions, they were doing their job well enough and probably knew what to know better than he did. It was just, he needed to make sure they knew how to handle most situations. He did not want guards killing or crippling any guests, at least on their own discretion. Then he informed them on the protocol for various different situations from medical emergencies to massive zombie invasions to lost children and more. Honestly he did not expect any such situation to arise but he had learnt that he could never adequately predict things when it came to the system. When it came to his regr staff he did not give them many instructions, but instead told them to note down areas where they werecking that they noticed during therger crowd. This would be a good time to test the limits of how the Inn was running and what things needed to be changed. Finally, he also told them not to overburden themselves as he had arranged for temp staff for each guest during the event. Before Lex could finish his briefing, Z raised his hand and asked if he could go back to the Gamer¡¯s Den. Lex mentally facepalmed, but nodded nheless. He needed to find this little boy some friends. That was the only solution. Chapter 108 Lex freakin Williams Lex rubbed his forehead with index and middle fingers as he worried about Z. But this was not the time or the ce for that. He forced his attention back to the matter at hand and gave the rest of the staff a motivational speech. He needed them to be at their best. With that done he sent the rest to return to their duties, but told Gerard and Velma to stay back. Something important he realized, only while giving them the speech, was that he had been giving them instructions but never received any feedback from them. Other than when they responded to his requests, he never really talked to his staff. This was not good practice. Even if he did not be friends with them, he should at least know their thoughts in regards to the Inn. ¡°What do you guys think of the preparations? Do you think there¡¯s anything we need to do?¡± he asked them. Since they were his oldest employees, they would have the most insight. The duo looked at each other, confused, then thought about the answer for a moment. ¡°You should choose a second in-charge to tackle any situation while you¡¯re busy. If there are too many guests, waiting till you¡¯re free to resolve the issue would take up a lot of time,¡± said Gerard after a moment. ¡°Hmm that makes sense,¡± Lex replied thoughtfully. After thinking about it for a moment he said, ¡°For now Mary will be second-in-charge. Since others can¡¯tmunicate with her, Gerard, you can act as hermunicator. Others cane to you with their issues, and then you canmunicate her instructions.¡±. ¡°Very good, Sir,¡± Gerard responded with a bow. ¡°Anything else?¡± ¡°I think having maps would be a good idea,¡± said Velma. ¡°All the guests have to walk around themselves if they want to find out about the Inn, a map would make it much easier.¡± ¡°Excellent, why didn¡¯t I think of that!¡± Lex said, surprised by his own obtuseness. He went directly to the Midnight market and looked at what options he had. Simple printed maps that would be updated every time he made an addition to the Inn would be the cheapest and cost him 10,000 MP total. Once paid, he could have an unlimited amount of such maps. Maps that would pin the user around as they traveled on the map were even more expensive, going directly up to 50,000 mp! There were more sophisticated maps as well, such as digital or holographic maps, but Lex didn¡¯t even bother with those at the moment. He directly bought the cheapest option for 10,000 MP. ¡°That was a great suggestion, anything else?¡± The both of them thought for a minute, and could note up with anything else so they just shook their heads. ¡°Alright, then what about yourselves? How are your work hours? Do you need more rest? What about your residences, are they satisfactory? Do you want anything more?¡± Honestly, Lex felt a little bad as their residences were very bare and without a lot of furniture and they didn¡¯t really do much else other than work or cultivate. ¡°It¡¯s more than enough,¡± answered Gerard truthfully. ¡°Yes yes, I never even thought about having a ce of my own. It¡¯s already very great, we don¡¯t need anything else!¡± Velma answered with a lot of enthusiasm. Watching their earnest faces and listening to their satisfied responses, Lex felt even more guilty. The simple minded A.I. staff were too easily cated. He vowed to himself that the next time he made a lot of MP he would do more for them. With everything done, he sent them off and returned to his own residence. A fact that he didn¡¯t want to acknowledge was that he was actually feeling quite a bit nervous. Thinking about speaking to arge crowd consisting of the most powerful people from severals made his heart jitter, just a little bit. It was not like he¡¯d never given a speech or presentation to a crowd before. He did it often while he was working, but this was an entirely different scale of things. Not to mention, all of them probably had monumentally high cultivation levels and he was barely a beginner. Even with a cheat such as the system, he felt dwarfed. He didn¡¯t want to distract himself from the feeling however. He had a gut feeling that if he didn¡¯t acknowledge it and n for it, even with the help of the Host Attire he¡¯d mess up tomorrow. So he did not shy away from the feeling, nor did he go to meditate. He let himself feel the nervousness for a while. He felt his gut plummeting, his muscles tightening up, nerves jittering. He felt his bones tremble. He felt his hairs stand on their ends. He felt the dread setting in. Then, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, holding the air in. When he could hold it in no longer, he released his breath slowly. When he opened his eyes, despite his anxiety and apprehension, they were filled with conviction. Fear would not stop him, anxiety would not deter him and the unknown would not slow his steps. His audience for tomorrow might consist of the leaders of three differents, but he was Lex freaking Williams, the goddamn Innkeeper! They should be the ones nervous in his presence, not the other way around. He went back to his study and prepared all his talking points. He did not write a speech, but jotted down a list of all the important things he needed to discuss. He wrote down all the rules for the events and repeated them in his mind multiple times, so that he would not forget to inform them. He imagined questions others would ask, and jotted down potential answers. He thought of various scenarios he could encounter tomorrow, and prepared his responses. He visualized himself on stage, and thought about how exactly he needed to speak. He thought about his bodynguage and gestures. Most of the time, Lex was a pretty rxed fellow. Even though he had decided to keep his persona as the Innkeeper mysterious, he could not help himself from chatting and asionally joking with his guests because it was hard to act as someone he wasn¡¯t. But tomorrow, even if he maintained his rxed demeanor, he could not allow others to take him lightly. As he prepared for the following day and imagined the various scenarios, his nervousness did not actually fade. The bottomless feeling in his gut remained with him, and asionally he even felt randomly cold, but he let none of that deter his actions. As a result something unexpected happened. Through working amidst difficulty, he honed his spirit faster and better than during any meditation session. By the time night fell, his spiritpletely stabilized and he was ready for the next procedure! Lex felt as if his spirit made a ¡®pop¡¯ sound, and suddenly the world became much clearer. It was as if previously he had been trudging through mud, exerting all his strength with each step he took, but now suddenly he had been freed to walk freely. No, it did not feel like he was walking freely, but that he was walking along a travtor that was going in the same direction. He did not need Mary to tell him what had happened, he realized on his own. But right now was not the time to undergo a procedure and raise his cultivation. He would have to wait until after the meeting. Even though he didn¡¯t need to anymore, he got up and went to meditate. He stabilized his thoughts and let his body rx. He did not let his thoughts return to tomorrow¡¯s meetings, andpletely freed himself of all future worries. Eventually, he reached a mental state equivalent of floating freely in a swimming pool. When he was done, he got up, showered and went directly to bed. The shower was warm and the sleep deep and dreamless. As the Innkeeper slept silently, countless people around the universe waited impatiently for the next day to arrive. They did not dare to rx, lest they miss their opportunity. Others were not impatient, but looked at their silver keys with eager attitudes. Others simply didn¡¯t care. Some people summoned countless soldiers and guards, with weapons equipped and armors worn. Others called for trantors and dignitaries. Others yet collected their best booze and hallucinogens. A specific fellow on Earth prepared his visiting cards, each one hand made with the best calligraphy he could muster. On Nibiru, a slothzily opened its eyes. The world seemed to distort under the weight of his vision, so he closed his eyes again. On Vegus Minima a youthnded on the, surrounded by some of the most elite guards of the Empire. He was reading a briefing of the reason he was sent here. The Empire had certain suspicions. As unlikely as they were, some things could not be put to chance so he was sent. Somewhere in a realm known as Garvitz, a small gathering of elite demons was gathered. Surprisingly, all of them looked like humans. Well, mostly human. An asional pair of horns or wings and such were still visible. They were oddly disciplined, and stood ording to rank and position. At the forefront sat a pure blooded devil. His smirk was remarkably enchanting and his eyes full of mischief. Back at the Inn, as the sun rose, the Innkeeper opened his eyes. Chapter 109 Respect Lex did not wake up groggy, nor was it a slow process. The moment his eyes opened he was wide awake, fully aware that today was the day he had been preparing for. He got up, showered and put on his suit. But he did not leave his residence, he simply scanned the Inn. His guards were already patrolling the grounds and all his staff was in ce. Even Harry, who originally had amitment back on Earth today, was here. It was around 8:20 am right now, and the keys would activate at 9 am. He did not select his targets individually, that would have cost too much MP, but set a general criteria of leadership of an adequate number of living beings. Then he chose tounch 300 silver keys per. Each key would allow the main guest to bring up to two other guests, so at minimum he was expecting 300 guests per and at most 900. This was not including the few random guests who already had Golden Keys. So if each guest brought along two colleagues or guards, he could have upto 2700 guests here today. 2700 guests who were all at a much higher cultivation level than him. Suddenly, he stopped himself. His thoughts were spiraling again. He closed his eyes and regted his breathing. He was not in a meditative state, as he still kept an eye on the Inn, but he had a strict control over his wandering thoughts. Time ticked by slowly, and as soon as it was 9 am, Lex exhaled slowly, then opened his eyes. Right now, he was no longer a young man who had made a simple wish for excitement in his life. Right now, he was the Innkeeper. His heart no longer beat irregrly and his nerves no longer tingled him. He had no distracting thoughts. Normally, the Host Attire helped him keepposure, but it did little in the way of elevating his mind and bodynguage. Yet now, not only was heposed, even with his casual smile his demeanor demanded the utmost respect. Lex had somehow entered a state of total concentration, simr to what he had so long ago when he was fighting zombies. Every thought, every nerve, every instinct was honed on the mission he had set for himself. The first portal finally opened, and out stepped a massive, 9 foot tall wolf with green fur. Behind it, two other canines followed closely. The wolf¡¯s followers had ck fur, and were in fact muchrger than the wolf, at nearly 15 feet, but made sure to stay a step behind the wolf. Lex instantly checked the wolf¡¯s status.. Name: Blood Fang Age: 4555 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: ???(Too high for host to view) Species: Inferior Lykaios Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Bloodline: Inferior Lykaios/Unique variant Remarks: Unsatisfied with its stock in life, the wolf has decided to carve out its own path. A hungry, ambitious and cunning beast like this is excellent prey for price gouging, charge without restraint! Lex was happy that the wolf¡¯s status could be viewed, even if he could not tell its cultivation. With back to back error warningstely, he was getting concerned that most high leveled cultivators would have ways to avoid detection from his system scan. Yet even as he scanned Blood Fang, Lex made no move to greet it. There was no way he could individually greet all guests, so he would greet none of them. Instead, the personal hologram staff that he hired was responsible for the greeting. A holographic wolf appeared before Blood Fang, though its size was nowhere near that of Blood Fang and its entourage. It was sized ording to a normal wolf on Earth. ¡°Greetings guests, and wee to the Midnight Inn, the best Inn that caters to the entire universe!¡± The hologram said. ¡°I am your personal hologram, there to assist you with anything you need and answer all of your questions. The meeting will begin shortly. Would you like me to take you to the coliseum, where the meeting will be held, or would you like a tour first?¡± The wolf stared silently at the hologram, and Lex stared silently at the wolf. He hoped the wolf would not do anything drastic, but if it did his guards were there to resolve the situation. As he could not see their cultivation levels, he was not sure if his guards could handle it, but if they couldn¡¯t he would step in personally and his bodyguard would be forced to intervene. Lex had every confidence in his bodyguard that cost him a ridiculous amount of money! Just as the wolf was about to speak, another portal opened nearby. A massive, 98 foot tall Gori stepped through. After sweeping the area for immediate threats or traps, the Gori stepped aside and allowed a Deer to enter. The deer was not only normal sized, it actually looked petite, yet the obvious deference of the giant gori spoke volumes of its status. The deer was followed by a stag. ¡°Greens Haven,¡± Blood Fang called out to the deer, and gave it an acknowledging nod. ¡°Good to see you, Blood Fang,¡± the deer responded casually, and took a look around. A holographic deer appeared before Greens Haven, and repeated the exact line that had been said to Blood Fang. ¡°This is so interesting,¡± the deer said to the stag. ¡°It¡¯s like a picture, but it has a spirit. Tell me spirit, what do you mean by ¡®universe¡¯?¡± ¡°Thendmass on which you live is known as a, and exists in space. It revolves around your sun, along with a collection of others although not all of them may contain life. This collection ofs that revolve around a sun form a cohesive system called a sr system. A gxy is formed of millions or billions of sr systems, and there are billions of gxies. The space which these gxies exist in, and more, is known as the universe.¡± ¡°Nonsense!¡± Blood Fang roared angrily! ¡°Nothing that big can exist! What lies are you spouting? What is your purpose?¡± The holograms were not affected, but the guards surrounding them suddenly became alert. Fortunately, that seemed to have an effect as both the deer and wolf felt the intimidation of the ten guards with unknown cultivations. ¡°Now, Blood Fang, no need to be so closed minded. Don¡¯t tell me you can¡¯t feel that the spiritual energy of this ce is different from our. This at least proves that there arends other than ours, far away from our reach.¡± The wolf reluctantly nodded. Before they could continue their conversation, more portals opened and new beasts started emerging from them. It seemed that Nibiru was the first to be connected, as only Beasts wereing through the portal. Fortunately, the beasts that wereing out now were mostly at the Golden Core realm, with an asional Nascent realm one. Lex was slightly concerned that if all of them were at the unknown level his ten measly guards would not be enough to maintain the peace. And the peace definitely needed to be maintained, as only a few minutes after beasts started emerging through, two enemy beasts identified each other. The first one did not look like any animal Lex knew. It stood on six legs with a massive hairy torso connecting them. Instead of hands or ws it had wings and tentacles, and on its three heads it had horns, tusks and protruding fangs respectively. The other animal was a fairly ordinary looking Fox. Yet their encounter was anything but ordinary! The two beasts did not seem to care that they were surrounded by other beasts and immediatelyunched an assault, along with the guards they brought along. The six beasts had a single exchange that caused shockwaves to spread throughout the Inn. The few guests who still did not know that beasts had made an appearance, namely, Alexander, Will and Chen¡¯s parties, instantly woke up from the noise. The fight had only begun and the beasts were alreadyunching their next attacks when they were all suppressed by a massive force! All six animals were sprawled on the ground, unable to move and barely able to breath under the suppressive force. Confusion and fear filled their eyes, as they had never been suppressed sopletely since they had started their reign. The other beasts that surrounded them that were previously enjoying the show all took a few steps back, afraid to be involved. ¡°No free fighting is allowed on the Inn premises!¡± a voice boomed through the Inn. It was Lex¡¯s voice, firmlyying down thew. ¡°Guests who wish to engage inbat may request to go to thebat arena, but due to today¡¯s asion thebat arena is not avable!¡± Well, also because Lex hadn¡¯t made abat arena at all, but that was an irrelevant detail. ¡°This is your first, and only warning! Anyone who engages in a fight, or tries to harm other guests will be strictly punished, and banned from the Inn!¡± With that announcement concluded and the force suppressing the six beasts disappeared, yet they were too afraid to stand up. The force had been thebined effort of all 10 guards above the Nascent realm, suppressing these beasts with their spiritual force! It was not something lightly endured, and probably left mental trauma in the victims, not to mention the physical trauma they experienced being squeezed into the ground. This was something Lex had expected, and already instructed the guards on how to react. This was the Midnight Inn, a ce people came to rest and rx, but also a ce that must be respected! Chapter 110 Happy Sloth For a moment the crowd hushed as everyone whispered to one another. They waited for a while, but when nothing else happened the Beasts finally rxed. The Beasts slowly formed into small clusters, gathering with those they knew and were on good terms with. They whispered amongst themselves, discussing what they thought was happening. Some of them were gravely intimidated by the 6 Beasts getting suppressed, as they themselves were weaker than them. Others smugly gloated over their stupidity. A very few of them silently observed the gathering. In the history of Nibiru there had never been an incident where so many top tiered cultivators gathered together. This was not only because the was divided into multiple continents that were kept apart by the ocean, it was also because Beasts were generally territorial. This meant that not only would they stay in their ownnds to protect them if other powerful Beasts entered their territory, even if only to travel, they would view it with hostility. Eventually the clusters started breaking apart, as some of the Beasts headed towards the Coliseum while others roamed about to explore the Inn. Noticing this, and realizing the variable sizes of the Beasts, Lex quickly opened the Event management panel and quickly rented the Size Regtor for 20,000 MP! With this, once any Beast tries to approach any building their size would automatically be reduced to a maximum of 7 feet without affecting their strength of abilities. This feature was actually quite expensive to buy, fortunately to rent for a single event it was rtively cheap. This left Lex with 125,106 MP in total. This was cutting his budget a little close, as he wanted to spend a lot of souvenirs for his new guests to buy. Basic souvenirs would be cheap, less than 10,000 MP for enough tost the whole event in fact, but Lex wanted ones that had some use or ability. After a moment¡¯s consideration, Lex decided to take a risk. He wanted to save MP in case of emergencies, but retail was an excellent way to earn back some of what he spent. Lex spent 50,000 MP to purchasememorative golden coins.. On one side of the coin was an image of the Midnight manor, with the initials M.I. on it. On the other side was a giant number 1. The initials as well as the number weren¡¯t written in English, but were written using a special crafting technique so that they would change so that whoever viewed the coin would always see and understand those initials and number. The coin served no purpose, but simply acted as amemorative souvenir to celebrate the first ever Midnight Games. Another thing to note, the coin was golden in color but was not made of actual gold. It was made from a much tougher, much rarer metal and more durable metal. The engravings would not fade as a result of time and the coin was extremely resistant to any kind of damage. Maybe, after a long time once the Inn became more popr, these coins would be worth a lot to collectors. Each coin could be purchased for 500 MP, from either the gift shop or through the assistants, for now. If he made enough MP and he could add more stuff to sell, he would ce stalls near the coliseum. Lex had stopped viewing the statuses for his guests as they were just too manying in now. There were already over 500 Beasts, and moreing. Alexander, Helen, Will, Hera, Jimmy, Chen and Lily all watched the gathering from the lobby of Midnight manor. Even knowing that the Inn would protect them, looking at the massive Beasts roaming around some of them felt intimidated. Since Lex had stopped viewing statuses, he missed out on a single sloth that stood alone in the crowd. It had no followers, and no one interacted with it. The sloth simply stood amongst the crowd, looking around with interest. The world did not seem to distort under its gaze, and even if it moved around the ground would not crack. A small, innocent smile grew out on the sloth¡¯s face. Slowly, as slowly as it could physically manage, the sloth moved a single w on its foot and its position changed. The sloth was no longer in the crowd, but in a strange little building. It looked at a human who had been startled by its appearance, and its smile grew even wider. The human did not die under its gaze. The rules of this world protected the human. The human, who finally gathered himself, smiled and said, ¡°Wee to Harry¡¯s barber shop. Would you like a makeover?¡± To be clear, the rules of the Inn weren¡¯t protecting Harry from an attack by the sloth. The sloth naturally released an aura that was harmful to those around it if they were not of a certain cultivation level. Since this was not an active act, the system deemed it eptable to curb the aura so that others would not be affected by it. This was simr to how Chen and ne were unaffected by Fk¡¯s natural aura when they were talking to him, whereas should they have tried on Earth without Fk actively withdrawing his aura, they would have immediately died. The difference here was that the sloth was incapable of withdrawing its aura. ¡°Go ahead,¡± the sloth answered, amused by the human. ¡°Please, take a seat,¡± Harry instructed as he turned the chair for the sloth. He had no idea of the sloths¡¯ cultivation and normally should not know how to groom a Beast. But his Sorcery heritage was extremely thorough, and the species of his target was irrelevant as he was not grooming the physical body, but the soul and spirit directly. The physical changes that appeared after his grooming were an indirect result of that. Once the sloth was seated Harry¡¯s eyes started to glow purple again and a pair of flying scissors appeared beside him. After careful consideration of what to do, Harry proceeded to cut the sloth¡¯s hair. That is when something unexpected happened. After a single cut, Harry copsed on the floor, fainting due to exhaustion. The scissors that he used had also snapped. On the sloth¡¯s body, the top 1 mm of a single hair had changed color from its natural light brown to a much deeper brown. The sloth was not rmed by this, but in fact marveled at the change it felt in its single hair. It was the most pleasant sensation it had felt in a long, long time. A holographic sloth appeared before it and said, ¡°Don¡¯t forget to pay when you leave. You can pay me directly, and I will transfer the money.¡± The sloth smiled and summoned a single, glowing spirit stone. ¡°Keep the change and tip the little human. I enjoyed the ¡®makeover¡¯ very much.¡± The spirit stone disappeared from its hand, along with the hologram. The sloth was now very curious about the Inn. It moved another w and suddenly appeared in a forest. Once it entered, the sloth gotpletely lost and was unable to exit at all. Eventually it decided to climb one of the trees and take a nap. Someone would wake it up once the meeting started. ***** As Lex was overlooking his some 700 + guests, Mary informed him that Harry had copsed due to overconsumption of his soul power, and Mary had transferred him to the Recovery room. Harry would fully recover, but it was unlikely that he would wake up today. After making sure that Harry had not been attacked, Lex turned his attention back to his guests. Despite his earlier warning, the newer Beasts who entered had no prior knowledge of it and so a few more fights broke out. Fortunately all the fights were handled quickly and safely, without anyone getting hurt. Since none of the offenders were repeat offenders, Lex could not ban them from the Inn for viting his rules since they did not know them. To fix this issue he made a little change. He arranged his 10 most powerful guards, who he had decided to call his Tier 7 guards since he did not know their cultivation level, at the entrance and had them st their spirit senses in full. All new guests would undergo a single, quick wave of pressure from his guards before a hologram would appear and tell them the nobat rule of the Inn. This seemed to solve the issue. As for why the guards were called Tier 7? He numbered it ording to the cultivation realm. Mortals was Tier 1, Body Tempering was Tier 2, Qi Training was Tier 3, Foundation was Tier 4, Golden Core was Tier 5, Nascent was Tier 6 and the unknown was Tier 7. This division also intimidated Lex a bit. He never thought about it so he never realized how far he really was in terms of cultivation levels, but dividing it in terms of numbers made it a lot more obvious. Yet he put that thought out of his mind. Just because he was not there yet did not mean he would not get there eventually. His focus returned to the Inn. It had been exactly 3 minutes since a new Beast entered the Inn, and at a total of 798 Beasts, it seemed that would most likely be all the guests he would get from Nibiru. Soon, guests from Earth would start to arrive. Having humans and Beasts mix together might cause some problems initially so he needed to be focused to solve them. Speaking of which, Blood Fang had just made its way to the Midnight manor and was about to encounter his other guests. He silently transferred some guards nearby to handle any potential issues. Chapter 111 Not a coward A holographic wolf was giving Blood Fang a tour and was leading it to the Midnight manor when it halted in its steps. It saw humans standing in the building, looking out at it. These humans were clearly different from the so-called ¡®guards¡¯. It suspected that they were also guests. Truth be told, Blood Fang has great trouble adjusting to the fact that these humans were so powerful. On its they were nothing more than insects. In fact, since insects could also cultivate, calling them insects was apliment. They were simply humans, the name an insult unto itself. Yet now in this mysterious ce it encountered countless humans who were ridiculously strong, some even stronger than itself. This enraged Blood Fang, yet it dared not do anything lest he upset its host. Blood Fang firmly decided to vent his anger on the humans back on its own once it returned. For now, it would adapt. As the wolf walked towards the manor it felt its height shrink, until it was no more than 7 feet. Even its guards were suppressed to seven feet, though nothing else seemed to change. This made Blood Fang ufortable, but it understood that the buildings here weren¡¯t designed for Beasts and thus some changes were needed. ¡°Greetings¡­humans,¡± Blood Fang said in a low, throaty voice. Perhaps it tried to be friendly, but his voice was too full of disdain. Yet none of the humans reacted to it. The Beast was clearly extremely powerful, and had a right to be disdainful towards them. ¡°Greetings, sir,¡± Alexander responded with a slight, respectful bow. ¡°You must be from the called Nibiru, I assume. I look forward to your participation in the Midnight Games.¡±. ¡°Yes¡­the Nibiru,¡± the wolf responded. It was still struggling with the concept of a and had never heard the name Nibiru before, but how could it say that to a measly human? ¡°What¡­do you humanse from?¡± ¡°Wee from Earth,¡± Alexander said simply. ¡°And wee from Vegus Minima,¡± replied Lily. ¡®Two differents¡­¡¯ the wolf contemted. It had difficult epting this new change, but it considered the possibility. Should suchs exist, its path would open exponentially. It only needed to find a with weaker beings and conquer it. The wolf was on a journey to rece the bloodline it was born with with one of its own design. Such an endeavour required countless resources, but the wolf only had a limited supply in its territory. It could not expand further because it controlled an entire continent, albeit a small one, and could not venture out to the sea. Not to mention, the deer had strongly threatened it: should the wolf start a senseless massacre the deer would not sit still. How could the wolf conquer morend without exhibiting its might? Yet the deer was stronger, so the wolf had to obey. The exchange ended there. The wolf said nothing more, and the humans did not question it. The hologram continued to give the tour, and Blood Fang continued to follow it. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief that there was no conflict, and everyone mentally prepared themselves for more such encounters in the future. Lex simply epted it. Even if there was a conflict he could handle it. Everything was in his control. Ten minutes had passed since thest portal opened, bringing a Beast, when finally new portals started opening. They did not open one by one, but simultaneously, as if they had been orchestrated as such. Dozens of humans stepped forth, entering the Inn for the first time. These humans had a much lower cultivationpared to the Beasts, mostly belonging to thete Foundation realm, with one or two Golden Core cultivators here and there. Yet even so, with prior experience the guards took no risk, and a wave of spiritual force passed over all of them before a hologram appeared in front of each guest, weing them and giving them instructions about fighting. Lex kept an eye on the people from Earth to see if he recognized anyone. Most of the people were strangers but he managed to see a few familiar faces belonging to popr Tempest profiles. If it could be said that the Beasts from Nibiru had him on guard, the people from Earth only provided him with entertainment. Firstly, everyone was dressed strangely. He expected a lot of suits, but it seemed everyone wore very traditional attire. It seemed that Lex still didn¡¯t fully understand the cultivation culture of Earth. He saw everything from kimonos to ted armors to quilts to skirts to this one particr hairyd who was wearing ufortably short shorts. As in, Lex had never seen a man wear such short shorts. Who the hell was he and how did he get here? Lex decided to look away. He wanted to forget the image the very next moment. The next thing that amused me was that the humans did not realize that they couldmunicate without utilizing their spirit sense. This caused a small verbal argument when an Estonian man passed ament on an Arabic woman to one of his followers. Almost the entire crowd surrounding him froze when they realized they could understand him. This was followed by a very aggressive argument that would no doubt have turned into a fight had they been anywhere else other than the Inn. In the Estonian man¡¯s defense, he was only admiring her thick mustache. Fortunately the embarrassment the humans were causing themselves was lost on all the Beasts otherwise Lex would have been ashamed to associate with Earthlings. A few momentster, more leaders arrived and the situation finally took a more formal tone. This was because, amongst the newest arrivals was The Queen. The one true monarch widely recognized on Earth. Of course, although recognition did not mean approval as there were a few people who gave her frustrated looks. But that was the extent of what they did. Who had the guts to go against her? Even Lex recognized her, and was surprised to realize that it never urred to him that she was a cultivator. While Lex was undergoing his own epiphany, the Queen and her followers were undergoing a realization of their own. Brandon¡¯s ims about being able to cultivate here were real. This was ground breaking news! This would drastically affect the power dynamics of Earth. They had to be sure to maintain their lead in utilizing this new resource over the rest of Earth. ¡°You may begin the tour,¡± The Queen said to her hologram, ignoring the crowd of Beasts staring at them from a distance. Even though they were powerful, the humans from Earth had never been afraid of Beasts. ***** On Earth it was early morning, and all seemed normal. Everyone was going about their day, no one realizing that some of the top leadership on all of Earth had almost simultaneously disappeared. Well, almost no one. After waiting thirty minutes and ensuring that enough time had passed, in a bunker under the Sahara a meeting was started. ¡°We have official confirmation, wherever they have gone they do not have ess tomunication. Immediately begin the operation,¡± said a hoarse voice. ¡°Begin moving all units into ce. However, only move the units into ce. No one, I repeat, no one is to start any action right now! ¡°Establish reconnaissance on the five families and start repositioning troops worldwide. Make sure everything looks official and there are no loopholes. This opportunity is too good to miss!¡± All the members of the meeting turned off their holograms and began taking actions personally. This opportunity was heaven sent, they could not mess this up. Troops started to be repositioned all over Earth, under the guise of drills, or practice, or some reassignment. Variouspanies started relocating valuable resources, many banks raised their interest rates on loans, various currencies strengthened and many others weakened. No pattern or corrtion could be seen between these seemingly separate incidents. Only very few people knew what they signified. One of those people was a soldier, following his troops¡¯ repositioning. Only, these troops weren¡¯t on Earth ¨C they were on the moon. A few hours after leaving their original base, they arrived at an underground base full of various kinds of jets and ships. Under orders from their superiors, some of the soldiers started climbing into the ships. Others started loading supplies. The only soldier here who knew what was actually happening stood quietly as he waited his turn to board a ship. His actions seemedpletely normal, and no one could tell something was amiss, so it was fortunate that he was wearing a helmet that covered his face otherwise someone would see the nervous eyes of a teenager. Even as he climbed onto the ship and the doors closed behind him, he said or did nothing suspicious. But in his mind, he only hoped that what he was doing would redeem him, and that he lived long enough to go back and tell his friend Alexander that he, Zeus Levintis, was not a coward. As the ship lifted off Zeus¡¯ knees trembled. Well, he was mostly not a coward. Chapter 112 Underwear models Unaware of the silent changes happening on Earth, the leaders of the various factions on Earth began to tour the Inn guided by their holograms. All of the leaders had already been identified by the five families in the days leading up to the meeting, and had been given a non-interference order. They could do as they wished as individuals, but only the five families would represent Earth and make appropriate decisions. This may seem like bullying, but the fact that they were allowed toe to such a ce at all was generous in the eyes of the five families. Besides, as Brandon put it, ¡®I¡¯m a bully, what can you do about it?¡¯. The answer was nothing. They could do nothing about it, so they all epted. So they all simply toured the ce. Honestly, even if there was nothing here and it was a barrennd, just based on the premise that it could aid their cultivation they would consider it a holynd. Yet even as the humans spread out in small clusters, they avoided the Beasts. None of them wanted to be the first to experiment by talking to them, and since none of them were the main characters here anyway why should they take a risk? Soon the other members of the five families arrived as well. There was a stark difference between the Morrison family and the rest, however. While the other families only came with two followers each, the Morrison family which had ess to the golden keys appeared with over twenty Golden Core cultivators, not including Rorick and Audrey. ¡°Show off,¡± the fat man ¨C the only fat Nascent cultivator in sight ¨C muttered. Instead of getting offended, Brandon grinned at the remark. Yes, he did in fact like showing off. In fact, in the 1970s Brandon traveled the Earth as the world¡¯s most sessful underwear model. His youthful looks and well sculpted body drew admiration and praise everywhere he went, not to mention various sponsorships. Yet he decided to stop when Audrey, following in his footsteps, also became a model. ss, while Brandon listened to his wife dutifully, she herself didn¡¯t give a rats behind what anyone told her and did as she pleased, and only gave up the career when she grew bored of it. Those were some of the darkest days of Rorick Morrisons life. ¡°Shall we head to the coliseum?¡± asked Sam, ignoring the gloating narcissist.. ¡°Wait for my grandson. I sent him here a few days in advance, he will update us on the matters here.¡± Richard, the fat man and Sam only nodded, and patiently waited for Alexander. The Queen had not bothered waiting for them as she had another objective. One of her two designated followers was someone sent by thedy in the hologram that the five Nascents had reported to. His only job was to observe everything so that he could report back once he returned. The Queen had volunteered for the job and the rest decided to keep their distance. Even though they knew it was a fundamental truth, none of the Nascents liked being reminded that they reported to someone higher up. On Earth they were without equal, but in the vast universe that meant little. It did not take long before Alexander found the group. Helen had to stay back at the manor this time, as they may need to discuss sensitive matters and her presence might be inappropriate. No one asked it of her, she volunteered on her own, but the effect was the same. ¡°Little man, you¡¯re growing up so fast. When I was your age, I hadn¡¯t even embarked on the path of cultivation. Ahh, those summer days, working in the city, flirting with girls¡­¡± the fat man seemed to be reminiscing but his casual musings were cut short by Audery who said, ¡°Are you telling my grandson to go around flirting with girls? I suppose you have a few candidates in mind?¡± The fat man froze, feeling awkward. Compared to the rest, the fat man had a very casual attitude and almost behaved like a mortal. In his views, there was nothing wrong with a teenager flirting with some girls, right? However, for some reason he didn¡¯t understand, everyone of the other Nascent families assumed he was always trying to set up his daughters or granddaughters to their families. Please, he couldn¡¯t be bothered with such old fashioned thoughts, yet somehow that was the impression everyone had of him. ¡°Little Alexander, tell grandpa, has anything interesting happened so far?¡± Alexander quickly briefed everyone on his encounter with g, and shared the information that he got from him. He was observing everyone else¡¯s reactions, hoping to learn something. They were curious, and asked many questions about the Empire, but none of them seemed surprised by the talk of gxies of empires. Alexander said nothing, countless thoughts were running through his head. After asking Alexander a few more questions, Sam said, ¡°So only representatives from twos have made it here so far? The third, this Vegus Minima, must be next then. We should wait and see what they look like.¡± The rest were about to nod at his suggestion but then, just as he finished speaking, 200 portals opened simultaneously. The timing was oddly coincidental, and not at all purposeful the work of mystical forces that did not want to waste more time on idle conversations. In true military fashion, 600 uniformed men and women stepped through the portal at the exact same time. Most of them were Golden Core cultivators, but there were at least 80 Nascent realm cultivators and at least a couple above that realm. Lex focused all his attention on this new iing force, as their strength was by far the biggest and most dangerous. It was clear that these neers were a part of an army, and Lex did not even need to guess to know that they must be from the same Battalion as g. The army underwent the same pressure of the Tier 7 guards as well as the warning and wee from the hologram, but had the smallest reaction. Quickly, the 600 men started arranging themselves in small teams that they had probably agreed upon beforehand. They did not takebat stances and appeared only to be standing together in small groups of ten, yet Lex could feel that not a single one of these soldiers had their guards down. They were ready to fight to the death at a moment¡¯s notice. General Ragnar, who stood with an entourage of nine people behind him, looked at the various guests at the Inn. He noticed all the Beasts in the vicinity eyeing them, as well as oddly dressed humans that were from a different. Before he could do anything, g marched as quickly as he could without breaking into a run and appeared before the General and saluted him. ¡°Lieutenant g of the 7th Forward Battalion, reporting for dirty, sir!¡± he said in a very robotic fashion. ¡°Authenticate,¡± Ragnar said, and one of his followers stepped forward with a machine that he ced in front of gs eye. The machine scanned not only his face and eye, but his brain directly. A green light lit up on the machine, along with details about g. ¡°Lieutenant g, ording to reports, you went M.I.A. a few days ago. What are you doing here?¡± Ragnar asked, directly using his spirit sense to speak into gs mind. ¡°I stumbled through a Golden door while escaping enemybatants and arrived here, sir! I thought it would be more useful if I collect data about the Midnight Inn than return immediately. I havepiled a report of my findings.¡± ¡°Alright, fall into line,¡± Ragnar said, indicating that g should join his personal entourage. ¡°Tell the soldiers to disperse and act ording to their directives. We will regroup at the coliseum.¡± His orders were passed down and the soldiers had just started to move around when the remaining 100 portals opened up simultaneously as well. Thetest arrivals did note in the uniform style of the military, and walked through the portals one by one, yet the impact of their arrival was the biggest so far! The Beasts, the humans from Earth and especially the soldiers of the empire all tensed up when they saw zombies walking through. In fact, unseen by everyone, it was Lex who was shocked the most! Zombies? How could theye? He had made sure in his selection parameters for the silver keys to enter that the leaders should be sentient and intelligent. These zombies, that ranged all the way from Tier 2 to Tier 5 definitely should have not entered. Although immediately he noticed that the zombies at Tier 5 showed a remarkable level of intelligence, for a zombie that is. Finally, out of thest few portals stepped a few more guests who looked human at first nce. Yet it was only limited to the first nce, as one would quickly notice the various horns and tails these guests so proudly brandished. ¡°Devils,¡± Ragnar muttered through gritted teeth. Chapter 113 Crossdressing Devil Even though Ragnar was not loud, as Lex was paying extra attention he clearly heard the term ¡®Devil¡¯. Were these the leaders of the zombies? Did they get the keys? That was the only exnation. The atmosphere was extremely tense as the 600 Jotun soldiers immediately got in position for battle. The humans from Earth were dumbstruck watching these supposed fictional horror story creations appear. When they noticed the soldiers gearing up for a battle they started backing away quickly, so as not to get caught in the crossfire. Unexpectedly it was the Beasts who had no affiliation with the humans and should not have known the demons who showed the greatest hostility. In fact, were it not for the quick reminder by a few smart Beasts about the Inns nonbat rules, they may have already attacked. The Devil did not seem to notice the ridiculous hostility pointed at them, and took a look around the Inn as if they were truly admiring theirtest vacation destination. They were amused by the holograms that took on the shape of the kind of Devil they were, as they did not believe real Devils would ever work here. Lex did not make any early announcements or reminders. After he calmed down from his initial shock, he did not panic either. He was still in a state of flow, and his mind and body were reacting perfectly to his intentions. His guards seemed insufficient to handle the situation should a battle arise, simply because he had not nned for them to deal with a battle. They were supposed to stop random fights and minor incidents. Individually or even in small groups, his guards could handle most situations that could arise. However, an organized fight between hundreds of soldiers and demons that not only outnumbered them but were also stronger than them overall was not something they could face. Yet what allowed Lex to remain calm was the knowledge that his bodyguard should be able to handle any of the leaders here. He did not need to fight the entire army, simply intimidate the leaders. Yet while intimidating them, he still had to maintain the facade of the strong yet mysterious Innkeeper. If he reacted preemptively to prevent a fight it could be viewed as him acting out of fear for the situation to deteriorate. He had to wait for someone to take the first step, and then he would react. He was very grateful he hadn¡¯t been a miser and spentvishly on his bodyguard. Yet it was not as if Lex did nothing at all. He identified the Devil as well as the man that looked like leaders of the two armies and checked their statuses. Name: Ragnar Asulf Age: 3574 Sex: Male. Cultivation Details: ???(Too high for host to view) Species: Human Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Condition: Remarks: *Knock knock* Who¡¯s there? It doesn¡¯t matter, because Hells Butcher does not crack jokes, he cracks his enemies¡¯ will to fight! Name: Loretta Pendal Val Kilger Age: 971 Sex: Female Cultivation Details: ???(Too high for host to view) Species: Devil Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Remarks: Don¡¯t look into her eyes, she¡¯s very shy. She may just blush and kill you! Lex¡¯s flow almost copsed and the strict control he had on his twitchy lip almost broke when he read Loretta¡¯s status. That was because while the status clearly stated Loretta was a female, and even had a femanine name¡­sort of¡­he was clearly looking at a man! Or maybe the difference was curtailed in Devils, he was not sure, but if Lex had to guess he would have clearly guessed that this was a man wearing cosy horns! Even the ck, leathery wings behind his¡­her back looked like a mans¡­eh, looked masculine? Maybe Loretta was just wearing a disguise. Yes, that must be it. Not that he needed any new reasons to discriminate against Devils, but seriously if that¡¯s how female Devils looked he knew a lot of anime crazed humans who would be seriously disappointed. The silence was going on for too long. Lex decided to proceed with the event as nned and deal with any situation that arises as it happens. The holograms for all the guests appeared simultaneously and said, ¡°Now that all the guests are here, the event will begin shortly. Please make your way to the coliseum.¡± Somewhere on the other side of the Inn in a forest a sloth was woken up from its slumber, only to see a whale staring at it directly in the eye. Holding onto the whale¡¯s tie was a turtle that seemed to be whispering something to one of the trees nearby. Back at the Inns entrance the tension could be cut with a knife, yet no one dared to be the first one to act. It was one of the Devil¡¯s who finally chuckled and said, ¡°Oh children, why don¡¯t you take a seat while papa goes for a round with the boys. Don¡¯t do anything naughty while I¡¯m gone.¡± The zombie¡¯s, as if taking his instructions very seriously, sat down on the ground ¨C taking a seat on the dirt. Lex looked at this Devil¡¯s information, curious to see if he could get any information on how he ordered the zombies. Was it something all Devils could do, or this specific one? Name: Warheil Heil Fendal Age: 12100 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: ???(Too high for host to view) Species: Devil Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Remarks: Don¡¯t be fooled by appearances, the clothes he¡¯s wearing are worth more MP than you¡¯ve ever collected! Quick, offer him some cake! This was by far the oldest guest Lex ever had so he naturally assumed he was probably very strong. For a moment, he started feeling doubtful ¨C would his bodyguard be enough? But the doubt was momentary. He spent 1 million on a single individual. Whatever his realm was, Lex was sure that it would be enough. Warheil may have started first, but he was careful to stay one step behind Loretta ¨C something that everyone noticed. Ragnar was struggling with a decision. His instinct was to immediately take this opportunity to kill the Devils, yet logic told him that they would not have appeared in public unprepared for an assault. Furthermore, he had yet to learn anything about the Midnight Inn. If the owner of the Inn was able to contact him directly, as well as others all over the world without leaving a trace he was not a simple man. Not to mention, even the Jotun Empire did not lightly use inteary teleportation, yet here it was being used casually to teleport random Beasts and people over. But Ragnar was not an indecisive man. He hesitated but for a few moments, before he ordered his troops to march towards the coliseum. The holograms guided everyone, but the building was massive and clearly visible so they really didn¡¯t need any help. Seeing that both the Devils as well as the soldiers were moving without incident, the Beasts as well as the Earthlings decided to do the same. ¡°Alexander, listen to me,¡± said Brandon seriously. ¡°Go call Marlo, tell him toe to me immediately. Once that is done, you and Helen both return to Earth immediately. Once there, I want you to seal yourself in the safety bunker, don¡¯t let anyone know you¡¯re back. I will summon you out once I return to Earth.¡± ¡°Marlo¡¯s in the meditation room, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able to go in,¡± he replied. ¡°Do what you can. He¡¯s faced zombies before inbat, his experience will guide us if things take a turn for the worse. Not to mention, it isn¡¯t only for us. If something were to happen and he was meditating then he would be gravely injured.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll see what I can do,¡± Alexander said, and started sprinting towards the manor. He nned on getting Helen first, then going to fetch Marlo. Everyone moved towards the coliseum, the original jovial mood changed drastically. Even Will and Hera, who originally nned on attending the meeting, returned back to Earth. Will briefly considered sending Hugo, but then decided that to be safe he would wait until tomorrow. At that time he could directly ask the Innkeeper or some of the staff the details for the event. Soon, nearly 2700 guests were seated in the coliseum, leavingrge empty gaps between each group. Even with this many people, most of the seats were empty so it wasn¡¯t really a problem to find a suitable seat. Sam was filling the Queen in on what she missed, and her follower who had been sent to observe was greatly shocked to hear about the Devils. It appeared as though he knew of them. The five Nascants naturally noticed his reaction, and looked towards him, waiting for an exnation. The follower, noticing this, cleared his throat and said, ¡°You don¡¯t need to know much. Just know, the Devils are our enemies. The weakest Devil is still far beyond what your can handle, so it is in your best interest to turn the other way should you ever encounter one. If something happens here, don¡¯t wait to see how things turn out. Escape back to Earth directly.¡± Before anyone could ask him any questions, a man finally appeared on center stage. His casual smile and rxed demeanor did not match the tense atmosphere at all. ¡°Wee guests to the Midnight Inn.¡± Chapter 114 An itch Under normal circumstances, Lex would have been extremely nervous with almost 2700 people focused on him. Even up until yesterday, or to be more urate, earlier this morning, Lex did not feel ready to address such a crowd without stuttering or at least mumbling or mispronouncing a few words. Yet right now, the way he looked at the crowd waspletely calm and natural. It was as if he believed they should be the ones nervous in his presence, not the other way around. He scanned the crowd briefly once, his eyes passing over the four divided groups. His gaze paused a second longer when he looked at the Devils, but continued on as if they were just ordinary guests. ¡°It brings me great pleasure that you all could make it,¡± he said, his voice loud yet still casual. ¡°For those of you who did not get the opportunity to take a tour, or skipped it, let me introduce you to the Inn. For the travelers of the universe, or those who just want a home away from home, for the adventurers who want a respite, or the schrs who want to broaden their horizons, for anyone in need, anywhere in the universe, the Midnight Inn is the destination for you. We offer you rest, security, opportunity, adventure, excitement, enlightenment and more. I am the Innkeeper, and this is my humble establishment.¡± Lex paused for a moment. He had just received a new quest from the system, and he was going to ignore reading it till he was done, yet a simple nce at the notification let him know how serious this quest was. He quickly made a n in his head, and decided how to deal with it. This was going to be the fastest quest he everpleted. ¡°Recently, three news gained ess to the Inn. To celebrate this, and to nurture an environment that promotes mutual growth and camaraderie I decided to host the Midnight Games, which will allow the three worlds to share their culture with one another, andpete in some games for prizes.¡± He paused again, this time a little longer, as he looked through his guests. He spotted Marlo entering the coliseum, clearly agitated. Some of his muscle had returned, but Lex did not bother paying attention to that right now. He looked at all the guests¡¯ faces, looked in their eyes, to see if he still had their attention. The oddly dressed humans, crossdressed devils and confused Beasts all had their eyes focused on him. No one had said a single word so far, but he would give them an opportunity to speak soon enough. Not to mention, some guests might not really wait to be given an opportunity.. ¡°The Midnight Games will be divided into two portions. The first portion will be a cultural show. Any and all guests from each can participate, and the event will entail whatever format the guest requires, whether it be a show, a presentation, a game or anything else. Of course, you cannot harm other guests in the process. ¡°This portion will be divided into a few stages. The first is the general stage, where everyone will be allocated a space and will have their presentations simultaneously. Based on genuine audience response, appreciation and poprity, candidates will be selected into the qualifying round, where they will be given the stage to present in front of the entire audience. ¡°That will lead to the finale, where thest two finalists will be given center stage. The winning team will win a prize not only for themselves, but for their entire as well. I hope that through that experience the people of allse closer together, and learn from each other¡¯s strengths and weaknesses. ¡°After that, of course, will then lead to thebat and the actual ¡®games¡¯ portion of the Midnight Games ¨C much to some peoples delight.¡± Lex gave Marlo a look before continuing. ¡°This portion is a little different, and also dangerous. Instead of taking ce here at the Inn, these games will be taking ce on Vegus Minima.¡± That statement made Ragnar frown slightly, and caused Loretta to raise an eyebrow in curiosity. ¡°Some of you already know, though most do not, that there is a great undertaking going on in Vegus Minima at the moment. For those of you that do not know, I will exin the details a little.¡± Naturally Lex himself did not know about events happening on Vegus Minima, but under the events panel he can view major events going on in alls connected to the Inn. He can incorporate those events into his own using the panel, which is how he learned about thergest event taking ce on Vegus Minima ¨C the hunt for the spawning portal, as well as a detailed description of events rting to it. ¡°Currently, the is divided. Much of it is under the control of demons known as zombies, while the rest of it is under the control of humans.¡± This was a simple statement, but it attracted the attention of almost all guests. Some of the Beasts suspected as much, but learning that an entire ¨C though they still did not understand the concept of a ¨C was being controlled by humans shocked them! The Jotun soldiers and Devils were focused because clearly these ¡®games¡¯ were about to have a direct impact upon their confrontation that had just begun. Based on the direction of the games, support could go on either side. As for the Earthlings, well, which one of them had never seen a zombie apocalypse movie? It was as if their fantasies wereing to life in front of their eyes, and they were truly enraptured. ¡°Some of you may think that it is a simple battle, since the zombies have no direct way of reproducing, killing them would slowly but surely eliminate the zombies from the once and for all. But it is not so simple. You see, there is a spawning portal on the that lets more zombies enter the infinitely from another realm. ¡°The humans are desperately trying to locate the spawning portal, while the demons are doing everything in their power to keep it hidden. But in this struggle, the demons have had the advantage of time. ¡°They¡¯ve taken a long time to set up a formation that not only hides the portal, it protects it from interster attacks. Should any weapons of mass destruction be used, the formation will channel the destructive energy directly into the¡¯s core, destabilizing it and ultimately destroying the whole.¡± Lex¡¯s words caused not only Ragnar to grimace, it caused the Devils to frown as well. This was not a new tactic used in the war against Demons, and was in fact a verymon one. Unless the upants are ready to sacrifice the entire, such a formation would prevent the use of not only high leveled cultivators, it would prevent the use of heavily destructive technological weapons. Unless the formation can be located, that is. ¡°With that background information, I think I can begin to exin the games. The protective formation has ten, very important nodes that keep it running, and so there will be ten games!¡± ¡°Dear Innkeeper,¡± Loretta finally interrupted Lex, havingpletely understood the direction this was going in. But even while interrupting, her disguised masculine voice did not sound aggressive or usatory, but rather remorseful and regretful. ¡°It seems to me that there is a lot of discrimination going on in your ¡®Midnight Games¡¯. I thought the point of this event was to get along together, build camaraderie and learn about each other¡¯s cultures. Yet now it seems to me that this is all just a build up to a ughter¡­a ughter of my people.¡± Loretta wiped an imaginary tear off her cheek as she said thest part. ¡°That¡¯s not very nice, is it? Not the kind of behavior I would expect from an Inn. Especially not one that is trying to operate without needlessly provoking some enemies.¡± Lex smirked. He was waiting for this ¨C and so were a lot of people, and Beasts. ¡°I think there has been some kind of misunderstanding,¡± he said, amusement quite evident in his tone. ¡°The Midnight Inn only ever promotes peaceful gatherings that help not only our guests, but the entiremunities that they belong to. As a business, we have no interest in having ¡®enemies¡¯, only more guests. Our sole focus is on spreading our name across the universe, so that anyone who needs to rest knows exactly where they cane to.¡± ¡°See, again. Your actions and intentions aren¡¯t really a reflection of your words. How can you say you¡¯re not making any enemies when you¡¯re clearly targeting us? How can you condem an entire full of my precious zombies to death, and yet im to be looking for more guests?¡± At her question, Lex startedughing. It was not a chuckle or a giggle, or a smallugh that ended quickly. It was a clear, loudugh full of mirth and amusement. The sound of his voice echoed across the coliseum. It was not oppressive or tinged with hidden anger, but genuine amusement. Yet the more it was like this, the more the Devil¡¯s frowned, and the more Ragnar looked confused. They needed no exnation to understand that the Innkeeper did not take them as a serious threat at all. ¡°Loretta dear,¡± Lex said, wiping actual tears from his eyes, ¡°I am not provoking enemies, I am just hosting some games, do you understand? I am not condemning a full of zombies to death, these are just simple games.¡± The Devils and even the humans felt their back tingle at the man who considered the fate of an entire as a game. ¡°I have guests from all over the universe. I do not discriminate, and host everyone equally, so long as they obey the rules of the Inn. Do you understand? But when certain guestse to my Inn and repeatedly attack me, well, I don¡¯t mind tweaking my games just a bit. After all, how long can one ignore an itch before scratching it?¡± Lex asked the question wearing his brightest and most genuine smile, yet no one felt as lighthearted as he looked right now. This was the Innkeeper, and even the Devil¡¯s threat was nothing more than an itch to him! Chapter 115 A Celestial The coliseum was silent ¨C each group for their own reasons. The Beasts, despite having very strong representation, were the most confused. They did not understand a lot of the concepts that were being discussed, not because they were stupid, but because they focused their society on individual growth, and not the growth of the whole. They formed and stayed in their own territories, and the only exchange they had with their neighbors was defending from expansion, or expanding themselves. This caused their growth as a civilization to stagnate, and their individual power levels weren¡¯t high enough to leave the, so their knowledge base existed only up to a certain point. The Beasts technically could not be med for this, as the term ¡®Beasts¡¯ was a generic term. For example, humans treated feline Beasts and avian Beasts both as if they were under the same category, but were they really? That Beasts treated those of the same species kindly, but were mostly hostile to other species. Looking at it from this point of view, it made sense that they were not eager to share their knowledge and progress with other Beasts. After all, even on Earth, despite all the humans¡¯ technological progress, did they share any of it with the Beasts? They were both sentient beings so technically they could, but the species barrier was a difficult one to ovee. The Earthlings were silent, not because they couldn¡¯t understand what was happening, but because they were clearly the weakest ones here. They were ready to participate in the Midnight Games, but if participating in them meant provoking the Devils as enemies, they would need to run a cost-benefit analysis.. For the Jotun soldiers, it was even simpler. They were there to fill the numbers and act as soldiers. Only Ragnar and his entourage had the authority to speak here. As for why Ragnar was silent? Some of it was because of the weight of what the Innkeeper said, but mostly because he was staring at the Devil the Innkeeper called Loretta. He did not know the identity of this Devil, but he knew very well that there was a high importance target amongst the Devils called Loretta. Could this really be the same one? And if so, how did the Innkeeper know? Despite the empire¡¯s best efforts, they were not able to get a lot of details about this ¡®Loretta¡¯. The Devil¡¯s, of course, were filled with a hostile silence. They were ready to attack at their leader¡¯s order. It was true that the Innkeepers attitude depicted him as an extremely strong individual who treated an entire as nothing more than a ything, but then again, were they as Devils any weaker? Their might was feared by even the strongest across the universe, and their influence undeniable. Yet the reason Loretta herself was silent was because of the shock! How did the Innkeeper know her identity? It was impossible! Her disguise was perfect, and even those stronger than her should not have been able to determine who she was. Unless, of course, the Innkeeper was even stronger than they had first suspected. ¡°Speaking of an itch,¡± Lex continued, deciding this was the perfect time toplete thetest quest he had just received. ¡°Since I was in the middle of my introduction for the Midnight Games, I did not bother addressing this. But you have interrupted to address grievances, so this will have to serve as an opportune moment. My Inn has some rules, not too many, and I don¡¯t need to share them because it is consideredmon sense. Yet I understand that there are many species across the universe, and they have a unique concept for what entailsmon sense. So I will take this time to borate on some of the rules. ¡°All guests are wee, regardless of their age, background, species, affiliation, or anything else. Yet what is not wee is a hostile attitude. Attacking, threatening or harming any guest or employee of the Inn ispletely uneptable. On three separate incidents, your zombies have found their way to my Inn and directly attacked me! But I do not me you for others¡¯ actions, so that is fine. Yet now, in my presence, your fellow Devil has been nting tracers on a number of my guests. Tell me, Loretta, should I now hold all your Devils ountable for his actions, since you came together? Or just that single delinquent?¡± Suddenly all the guests besides the Devils froze, and started sweeping themselves for the so-called tracers. Instantly, the coliseum was filled with hundreds of spirit senses, yet none of them were able to locate the tracers. How could it be that easy? After all, the Devil¡¯s cultivation was much higher than the rest, and even Lex himself, with ess to knowledge of everything happening in the Inn, didn¡¯t notice until the quest. The quest stated that one of the Devil¡¯s had been nting tracers on various guests in order to trace them back to theirs, and that as the Innkeeper he could not allow such hostile behavior to go unnoticed! He not only had to eliminate the tracers, he had to punish the Devil in question. The guests were beginning to get confused, as none of them were able to find the tracers. Lex did not break his eye contact with Loretta during this time, and was able to pick up the surprise in her eyes. Yet before she responded, one of the Devils made a move! He was too fast for Lex to even spot, let alone react to. One moment he was sitting behind Loretta, the next he was in front of Lex with a dagger pointed towards Lex¡¯s skull. In fact, the Devil did not mean to stop or slow down enough to be seen. He was aiming to stab Lex through the skull, but right as he was exactly one foot away from Lex, he froze! None of the guests were able to see the Devil make a move, other than Ragnar and a particr sloth. Without flinching or reacting at all, Lex turned to look casually from Loretta towards the ck dagger that was pointed towards him. He could physically feel the sinister intent nted within that dagger, and let alone a stab, Lex knew that if the dagger had even touched him, he would have died. So why had the demon stopped? Because behind him stood Lex¡¯s bodyguard, with his hand ced on the Devil¡¯s shoulder. Several audible gasps could be heard from the audience as people came to realize what had just happened. Someone had tried to attack the Innkeeper so quickly they were not even able to notice! A wave of fear filled the guests as they looked at the Devils, who were still sitting there casually. Some members of the audience, however, were staring at the bodyguard in absolute horror! ¡®A Celestial!¡¯ John screamed in his mind as he did his best to stop himself from trembling. What kind of insane maniac was he working for, that also had a Celestial working for him? What ridiculous kind of existence could even convince those arrogant freaks to work for him? ¡°It appears as though the punishment shall go to the delinquent alone,¡± Lex said, looking at Loretta. ¡°When you dispose of him, please do so neatly. It would be a shame to waste excellent fertilizer,¡± Lex told the bodyguard. The bodyguard chuckled despite himself, as he could not believe the Innkeeper had the guts to kill a devil? But what did it matter to him? Indeed, as John had guessed, this bodyguard was from a race known as Celestials. There was no one in the universe they feared! He performed no visible action, but the Devil fell down, dead. As soon as the corpse hit the ground, Lex received the questplete notification. For now, he ignored the notification and sent the body to the greenhouse. He smiled at Loretta, as if he did not just order the death of herpanion, and said, ¡°Please don¡¯t think this means that you are not wee here. So long as you follow the rules, you¡¯re more than wee to stay. You may even participate in the Games though, unfortunately, I will not be able to change the conditions of the Games for you so you will still be fighting zombies.¡± But how could Loretta be in the mood to stay here any longer? The Innkeeper had a freaking Celestial working for him! Not to mention, he looked right through her disguise. Despite arranging for the Devil¡¯s to attend this meeting along with a small army of zombies, it seemed that they had underestimated the Midnight Inn. They may need to rethink the kind of rtionship they wanted to have with this newly encountered organization. Not that they feared the Inn, but they would suffer more than they would gain by being enemies. Moreover, she now needed to deal with the aftermath of the death of a Devil under hermand. The Jotum Empire would serve as an adequate scapegoat ¨C especially since Ragnar was here. Even with her status and power, she did not consider assigning me to the Celestial that did the deed, or the anomaly that could casually order one around. Chapter 116 Im running out of titles The coliseum was once again filled with silence. The tension was palpable, and though no one was actively exerting the pressure of their cultivation, some of the weaker Earthlings felt like they were going to faint. Yet even with such a scene, there were a few who did not take the situation too seriously. Firstly, as could be predicted, was Marlo. The former behemoth satfortably in his chair near the 5 Nascent cultivators, with a tableid out in front of him. He was casually eating some Egg Fried Rice with a side of Dry Beef Chilli, as if he were watching a movie in his bedroom. Second was the sloth. It was asleep. The third, sitting amongst the Beasts, was actually a tree. Well, technically, it was not sitting; it was standing. It had rolled up all its roots beneath it, and stood firmly in its seat. Its focus was not on what was happening in the coliseum, but on shaking off the birds that would keeping to sit in its branches. The endeavor was truly frustrating. ¡°I see,¡± Loretta finally replied calmly. ¡°Thank you for clearing up that misunderstanding. Please, continue with your exnation. I am eager to hear the details of the games.¡± Lex smiled approvingly at her, as if an adult proud of a little girl who finally managed to calcte 1 + 1 when she first started school. ¡°I¡¯m d you understand. Games are only fun when everyone participates. If you have to keep changing the rules of the game because of a few people, then it affects everyone¡¯s enjoyment.¡± Lex¡¯s words were polite, but who there did not understand the naked threat in his words. While Lex was exchanging words with the Devil, the Celestial bodyguard was looking around at the crowd with an internal frown. Earlier, he was hidden, so it made sense that his natural aura was not affecting everyone. Yet now that he was out in the open, they were still unaffected. He was not used to so many beings existing so casually in his presence. He noticed a few here and there who recognized who, or rather, what he was and that filled them with an appropriate amount of dread, yet seeing the restpletely unaware bothered him. When in his life had he gone anywhere without entire nations kneeling at even the reminiscent of his aura?. ¡°Are you the one restraining my aura?¡± he asked the Innkeeper, clearly unsatisfied. He did not bother using his spirit sense, and asked directly. When had he, as a Celestial, needed to care for subtlety or keeping others¡¯ faces? He intended to have the Innkeeper end the restraint on his aura, or else he may have to consider whether this quest was worth his effort. Lex looked at his bodyguard and immediately understood that he was unsatisfied. This put him in a bit of a dilemma as he had no way to deal with the bodyguard should he renege on his duty, but for now, he could not show weakness. ¡°Naturally. Since your aura is not a conscious attack on my guests, it is naturally suppressed in my Inn, and there is no punishment for it. After all, how can I let my guests randomly suffer for no reason?¡± In less than a millionth of a second after Lex finished speaking, the bodyguard was about to disy his displeasure towards Lex, after all, since the Innkeeper required a bodyguard, he must be weaker than the bodyguard himself! Yet before he could act he heard a system notification in a tone he¡¯d never heard before! ¡°Alert! Alert! Quest interference detected! Quest parameters changed! The punishment for quest failure has changed! ¡°New quest parameters: Ensure the safety of everyone in the Midnight Inn for the duration of the quest! New quest failure punishment: Cultivation will bepletely sealed for 0.5 years!¡± ¡°System, what is going on? Why did the quest change? This has never happened before?¡± ¡°Checking host authority¡­host authority is insufficient to learn details¡­using special bloodline clearance¡­host authority partially epted¡­host authority suppressed¡­please raise your authority to learn the answer!¡± His special bloodline clearance was suppressed! Yet another situation he had never encountered. At this point he could only specte, yet the reason was most likely the Innkeeper warning him. How the Innkeeper could influence his system, he did not know. For now, he decided to behave ¨C after all, being suppressed was also a novel feeling for him. The Innkeeper was more mysterious than he seemed. ¡°Interesting,¡± he murmured and disappeared. Seeing his bodyguard disappear, Lex was internally relieved, but did not let it show on his face. He believed that the bodyguard behaved because his system restrained him. Everyone in the audience believed that the Innkeeper must have admonished his bodyguard secretly, which scared the very few who recognized the Celestial. Even the bodyguard himself believed it was the Innkeepers¡¯ doing. No one knew that a tiny, floating projection of a girl hovered behind Lex¡¯s head, looking at where the bodyguard had once stood. She snorted, then disappeared. ¡°Now, as I was saying. There are ten very important nodes that keep the formation protecting the spawning portal protected. As a result, there will be ten games, five for Foundation realm cultivators and five for Golden Core cultivators. Each game will include alls participating at the same time, and will be a group effort for each rather than an individual¡¯s efforts. The sess or failure of each game will give each a certain number of points. Once all the games are concluded, the with the highest number of points will win. As for what will happen to the spawning portal once the games are over? That has nothing to do with the games, so it won¡¯t affect the oue of the Midnight Games.¡± Lex smiled and was about to proceed to the questions portion of this meeting when something urred to him. ¡°Naturally, since it¡¯s a team effort, if certain team members from a try to sabotage the game, they will be immediately disqualified and removed.¡± He did not look at or point towards anyone as he said this, but the Devils grimaced and the Jotun soldiers breathed a sigh of relief. As much as Ragnar was interested in the reward, so long as the portal was revealed, he would consider it reward enough, which is why he never cared if the zombies or devils would try to participate and sabotage. In fact, he hoped such low leveled Devils would participate and give him the opportunity to kill them. ¡°If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask.¡± Silence once again filled the air as they all waited for someone to ask the first question. It did not take long, however, before a Marlo who had just finished his meal stood up and asked, ¡°Is there an age limit on the cultivators for the games?¡± ¡°No, so long as you fall within the category, anyone can participate.¡± ¡°And how safe are the games?¡± This was a question many people had in mind, and one Lex had also fretted over a lot. He did not want a lot of people to die, so he did his best to make it as safe as possible. Yet he was limited by his funds, and was unable to make itpletely safe. ¡°The difficulty of each game will be based on the cultivation. But it will ultimately still be dangerous, and anyone who is not careful risks losing his life. This is one of the reasons that the games will be based on teamwork rather than individual games, to support and protect one another to achieve the goal. How well the contestants use this is up to them.¡± Marlo did not seem disappointed by the answer, and sat down with a grin. Unfortunately, he did not realize that even though his new cultivation method was iplete, he no longer qualified as a Golden Core cultivator. The tree that had previously been shaking away the birds raised a single root, as if raising its hand to be called on. Lex looked at the tree¡¯s status and called out to it. ¡°Yes, Igishima, what is your question?¡± The tree had no mouth so Lex expected it to speak using its spirit sense, yet who could have expected its leaves to start vibrating rapidly, causing a sound akin to the voice of a youngdy toe out? ¡°I will need a few days to set up for the culture show. Is that fine?¡± ¡°Yes, it is not a problem. As soon as this meeting ends, anyone who wants to participate can register, and those that need to prepare beforehand can start doing so. The Inn will cooperate with your needs.¡± Once a few questions were asked, the guests became morefortable asking questions and more and more started opening up. This continued for a while before Ragnar gave one of the men beside him a look, prompting him to stand up to ask a question. ¡°I have a question that¡¯s not strictly rted to the games, I hope you don¡¯t mind,¡± he said, shing the Innkeeper an apologetic smile. This man did not look bulky or muscr like the rest of the Jotun soldiers. In fact, standing next to them his clear skin and delicate physique seemed even more prominent. It made one wonder how such a character ended up alongside these elite soldiers. ¡°Go ahead.¡± Lex was looking forward to interacting more with the Jotun soldiers. He nned to learn more about this so-called ¡®known universe¡¯ from them since eventually he was bound to have guests froms in this territory. The more knowledge he had, the lesser his chances of making an ignorant mistake. ¡°Is it alright if, during the Midnight Games, the empire sets up a recruitment stall?¡± Lex raised an eyebrow in curiosity. This truly was not what he was expecting. Chapter 117 Sudden conclusion Lex was immediately faced with a conundrum. His decision here would set a precedent and would impact his future rtionship with the many powers of the universe. On the one hand, he thought that this might be a good way of earning some MP and could charge them for the stall. On the other hand, should such a presence be a permanent part of his Inn it would automatically tag him as an ally or subordinate of the Jotun Empire to new powers. This was because he was sure that if he allowed them such a stall, they would try to keep it permanent. Not to mention, should the Jotun Empire realize they can get a permanent residence here, they won¡¯t hesitate to set up a permanent stall. He weighed the pros and cons in his head for a moment. Ultimately, the decision waspletely up to him, and since he was feeling good, he allowed it ¨C with some rules. ¡°For the duration of the event, you may host a stall for recruitment. However, you must follow some rules. You cannot solicit others, only if theye to you can you try to recruit them. You cannot coerce my guests, and you cannot manipte them using theirck of understanding. You must exin to them in ?detail what you may recruit them for. Furthermore, I will assign a staff member to apany you in your stall for the duration of its existence.¡± Thenky man thanked the Innkeeper as he did not mind those rules, but before he could sit back down, a voice he was not expecting to hear again spoke up. ¡°In that case, you won¡¯t mind if the Devils want to set up such a stall as well, right?¡± asked Loretta. The question not only froze the man, it stilled Ragnar¡¯s heart as well as everyone else¡¯s. Lex internally cursed himself. He had just told himself that if he allowed one, others would also follow, but conveniently forgot that another major force was also here.. ¡°Naturally, so long as you follow all the rules, there should be no problem,¡± Lex replied to her. Loretta smiled, and let no satisfaction or reluctance show. She may have been testing the Innkeepers¡¯ so called ¡®neutrality¡¯ or may have been trying to create a divide between Lex and the Jotun Empire. Whatever the case, Lex already knew that if he catered to everyone, he would make some people dissatisfied. Yet even if it were not the rules of the Inn itself, he would have done the same thing. There was a momentary pause in the questions, but this time the Queen stood up and asked, ¡°How do we bring the participants to the Inn for each portion? And what about guests? How many people can we bring to view the Games? Or can we watch the Games from ours?¡± ¡°Good questions,¡± Lex said, d things were getting back on topic, instead of being mired with politics. ¡°Each of the leaders who were invited to this meeting will be given a certain number of keys that they can take back to their to give to the participating guests. Each key will ?bring in 10 guests maximum. Should you require more keys, you can purchase them directly from your personal holographic assistants. The same is true for the audience as well ¨C each leader will get keys for audience members. If you want to bring more, you can purchase the keys. ¡°Anyone will be able to watch the Games live from the coliseum or anywhere else in the Inn, but not on your owns.¡± With that question, things came back into flow, and more people started asking questions again. One enthusiastic Beast asked if he could travel to other s¡¯ from the Inn, which sparked everyone¡¯s curiosity, to which Lex answered not at the moment, perhaps in the future. More questions came, mostly about what kind of disy would qualify as ¡®culture¡¯. Lex left it as open to interpretation as possible, setting only a very few restrictions. Most of the restrictions actually originated from the Devil¡¯s questions, who at some point decided to participate as well. The restrictions were along the lines of no killing, no torture, no corrupting the souls of the damned, no furys ¨C eh no, what he meant to say was, no human or animal amalgamation tests, etc. Finally, after a while, the questions came to a close, and just as Lex was about to conclude the meeting, a sloth raised its hand. ¡°Yes?¡± Les asked ¡°I do not have a question,¡± the sloth saidzily, ¡°but I have a humble request for the others.¡± Intrigued, Lex raised an eyebrow. ¡°I have noticed that no Beasts were invited from the other twos. If you have any, I would request that you invite them as well, and give them an opportunity to broaden their horizons. I would also like to meet them.¡± Lex was not expecting such a request, but saw no reason to interfere, so he only looked on in silence at the other groups. While the Earthlings were hesitating, one of the Devil¡¯s spoke. ¡°Beasts, we have a few back in Garvitz. We could bring some, if you feel lonely.¡± ¡°That would be splendid,¡± the sloth replied, as if ignorant of the sinister tone of the Devil. ¡°Be careful dealing with the Devils, sloth,¡± Ragnar finally spoke. ¡°They are treacherous.¡± ¡°Thank you for your warning, young human. But Nibiru is not a with an allegiance. We can handle some trials.¡± The sloth¡¯s reply raised quite a few eyebrows, as so far the Beasts had only disyed apleteck of knowledge of the universe, let alone their own¡¯s name. It seemed things were not so simple. ¡°We will extend the invitation,¡± the Queen answered the sloth. ¡°Though whether or not they attend is out of our control.¡± Seeing that matter settled, Ragnar stood up as well and said and looked towards the Innkeeper, as if seeking permission to speak. Seeing Lex nod, he said, ¡°I too have a request. Before you all return, I would like to have an individual meeting with the leaders of your.¡± Without missing a beat, Loretta asked, ¡°You want a meeting? Even with us?¡± ¡°Especially with you,¡± Ragnar said, not hiding his aggression at all. It was only out to respect or perhaps fear of the Innkeeper that he had kept himself restrained so far. ¡°It seems to me that everyone is done with questions. If that is the case, let¡¯s conclude the meeting,¡± said Lex. Yet before he could say anything else, Marlo stood up abruptly, as if to emphasize that he had onest question. ¡°Yes?¡± Lex asked in a tired voice, sure that this would not be a productive question. ¡°I remember hearing something about abat arena? Can I challenge other guests to fights?¡± ¡°Not during the Midnight Games,¡± Lex stated tly. ¡°I think that should do it for now. You all can ask your personal holograms if you have anything else. Feel free to stay as long as you want, though my suggestion is that you return to start preparations.¡± With those words said, Lex disappeared from view, heading straight to his apartment. As soon as he returned, his previous state of ¡®flow¡¯ that he was in broke. From being absolutely okay, he quickly went panting heavily. His rosy skin went pale and Lex started sweating. He felt the energy drain out of him like water leaking from a tank, and his previously clear head started fogging up. Unable to understand what was happening, Lex tried to stay awake, but copsed the very next moment. He had been absolutely fine just up until a few minutes ago, but suddenly started feeling like he needed to wrap things up. At first he ignored the feeling, but the feeling only grew till it became apparent something was incredibly wrong. His initial n was to stay around much longer and keep an eye on how his guests reacted to the information he provided. He especially wanted to spy on the meetings Ragnar was nning, yet in the end, he had to return to his apartment. What he did not know was that his ability to enter a ¡®flow¡¯ and perform absolutely perfectly ording to the situation was not a normal state. It fed heavily on his spirit, or mental energy. In fact, had his spirit not stabilized just in time for the meeting he would not have been able to maintain that state for nearly as long. This was not to say that he could not have held the meeting without being in such a state, but he definitely would not have handled things as well ¨C especially with the pressure of the Devils and the Jotun Empire. Since his cultivation was low, he could not urately gauge his mental energy. Normally when he was running out, he would feel a physical signal from his body, such as mental exhaustion or fatigue, but his state of ¡®flow¡¯ allowed him to ignore it. Well, he could ignore it right up until thest moment. Had he not ended the meeting quickly, he would have copsed in front of everyone. Chapter 118 Ragnar starts to move The Innkeepers¡¯ sudden departure left the audience in an awkward silence. When was thest time any of them had been dismissed in such a cavalier manner? Yet the Innkeeper leaving in such a manner did not arouse any suspicion, but only strengthened the perception that he was much stronger than them and that he really was only treating these as games. Summoning his holographic assistant, Ragnar asked, ¡°Is there some ce I can have a private meeting? Some ce I won¡¯t be overheard?¡± ¡°Naturally,¡± the hologram answered. ¡°You can rent one of our regr rooms, all of whiches with natural sound instion andplete protection from outside snooping. You can also rent a room within the coliseum, which has the same benefits. Please note, should you choose to rent a room in the coliseum, the longest you can rent for is the duration of the event.¡± ¡°Good, we¡¯ll rent a room in the coliseum till the event ends,¡± he told the hologram, not bothering to ask about the price. It didn¡¯t make a difference though, the price was the same. Turning to his followers, he started giving instructions immediately.. ¡°Have the soldiers split up. Have the reconnaissance team 1 through 5 undergo the tour, and have team 6 explore on their own. Have the rest of the soldiers positioned within view of the zombies, and keep tabs on their movements. Have delegations approach each of the¡¯s leaders and set a time for a meeting. I¡¯ve marked down the suspected leaders for the Beasts as well as the humans, but you can ask around just to be sure. ¡°Also, have Alpha team 1 follow the Devil¡¯s every move. No need to be subtle about it, I want them to know that we¡¯re following them. Send back someone to Vegus Minima to submit a preliminary report of events to the Command Carrier. But for now, in the report, no need to mention the trigger terms ¡®Loretta¡¯ or ¡®Celestial¡¯. In fact, let all the soldiers know, all information about the Midnight Inn is considered tinum level confidential. Also, pass word to themanders on Vegus Magnum and Vegus Prime to adjust their searching method ording to the new information we have about the formation ¡°Once done with the report, have them run a full database search on the names Nibiru and Earth. I want to know any information we have about them. g, you¡¯re with me. It¡¯s time you gave your report.¡± As soon as Ragnar was done speaking, his soldiers dispersed in an orderly fashion, moving with direction and purpose. Their clear focus and discipline impressed the Earthlings, who were watching from afar. The disy told them that their chances at thebat portion of the Games would be weak, yet some of them wanted to try anyway. Ragnar and his entourage teleported directly into the room that he had rented. The first thing Ragnar did was sweep the room with his spiritual senses very thoroughly. When he found nothing, and noticed that his senses were not able to pry into neighboring rooms, he felt reassured. That did not mean he left things as is. Simple eye contact with one of his followers prompted him to start setting up seclusion formation around the room. This would prevent prying spiritual senses from entering, as well as stop any signals from the room going out. The signal block was to stop any recon device, formation or treasure they may have missed. Their actions were practiced and professional, and only ten minutester the already secure room became even harder to spy on. But they were not done yet. Each man in the room summoned their private assistant and told them to give them some privacy until they left the room. The assistants obliged and disappeared. Immediately it urred to Ragnar that this could be a potential loophole in the Inns¡¯ security. If the rooms really were as private as they imed, and if even the assistants were sent away, someone could easilymit murder in their room. Of course, getting someone into your room and then having them dismiss their assistant without arousing suspicion was a difficult task in itself. Maybe there were other ways in which the Inn provided security, but those were thoughts for another time. ¡°Lieutenant g, I¡¯ve already gone through the report youpiled,¡± Ragnar said, looking at the man. ¡°Is there anything else of importance you would like to bring attention to? Speak freely.¡± ¡°Yes sir! After investigating the Inn and its guests for the past few days, there are a few things I¡¯ve spected on. I could not investigate the guests too closely without offending the Innkeeper, but I took this opportunity to converse with almost everyone and havee to certain inferences. ¡°Firstly, in the time I¡¯ve been here, I¡¯ve only seen guests from Vegus Minima, Earth and Nibiru. Yet the Innkeeper ims that they have guests from all over the universe. Assuming that is true, I suspect that there is more than one Inn. The Inns should be divided either by the level of thes, or more likely, there should be a separate Inn for a certain given quadrant of space. If that were true, this specific Inn might be the newest one which is why it is still only epting guests from threes. From time to time the Innkeeper disappears, so it would make sense if he was handling matters at the other Inns. Of course, I have no proof of this, so this is mere spection. ¡°Secondly, from my analysis of the event and my conversation with guests who have stayed at the Inn previously, I suspect I may have gained insight into the true reason behind the Midnight Games. On the premise that there were no outside interference such as that of the Devils or our Empire, the threes selected all would have civilizations below Star level. None of them would have exceeded the scope of their own sr systems. Keeping this knowledge in mind, along with the various facilities provided at the Inn that promote nurturing and trade, I believe the goal of the Innkeeper is to elerate the growth of theses or civilizations. ¡°Thirdly, I did not get an opportunity to meet guests from Nibiru, other than an incident where a Beast attacked the Innkeeper, so I have no information on them. Yet I did meet a lot of them from Earth, and spotted some guests I suspect are from Vegus Minima, but cannot confirm because they kept avoiding me. ¡°Earth seems to be a human dominant with no clear cut wide ruler. I cannot ascertain the level of the average cultivators, but I had a run in with two elites. One of them was a youth at the Foundation realm named Alexander. I did not even need my spirit sense to determine that his cultivation has few, if any weaknesses, and that he has great potential to grow. The second was a man named Marlo. You saw him at the coliseum, he¡¯s the one who asked the question about thebat arena.¡± At this point, g stopped for a moment. He would never even consider hiding information from his General, yet this next bit embarrassed him greatly and was not easy to say. ¡°My encounter with Marlo may not have been¡­under the best of circumstances. Seeing the potential of the youth, and the fact that he was from a supposedly free from intergctic influence, I attempted to recruit him. Unfortunately, it seems Alexander was Marlo¡¯s student and the other did not take kindly to my recruitment attempt. ¡°Using one hand, with his cultivation sealed, Marlo defeated me in apetition of strength while I used my full force.¡± Hisst statement rmed not only Ragnar, but the rest in the room. None of them knew g personally, how could they be expected to know each soldier when they had hundreds of thousands under theirmand? Yet the fact that he was a Lieutenant spoke for itself. It was impossible to gain rank unless you had the equivalent strength. However, he was defeated one handed? ¡°Fortunately, they did not drop pretenses and maintained a non-hostile rtionship with me following. Marlo subsequently asked me various times to join if he could join the empire, but it is tantly obvious that he has ulterior motives. I dared not promise him anything. ¡°Other than them, I encountered a businessman from Earth named Will. He was extremely eager to discuss potential trade opportunities. I told him I would refer him to the appropriate people when the time came.¡± Ragnar listened to g¡¯s report very seriously, but at thest statement, he could not stop himself from showing a smile. Ragnar had read g¡¯s report during the meeting, and also checked up on g¡¯s history in the army, as well as his personality report. Very simr to Ragnar himself, g was an orphan and lived his entire life parallel to, or in the army. His early education had been in an Army Public School, and at age 15 he had enrolled into an army boarding school. His life and career path had been mostly straightforward, simr to Ragnar himself. So then how could Ragnar not understand that when g said that he would refer Will to the appropriate people, what he really meant was he had no knowledge of trade and would let someone else carry that headache. Honestly, even at their level, the army was full of muscle heads. Ragnar was a very serious man, but even then, as someone who had spent every waking moment of his life in the army, how could he not be amused by the simple plights of his soldiers? Chapter 119 Fruit of his labor 1 second. That was exactly how long it took for Ragnar to absorb all the information g had given him, remove the unnecessary parts, focus on things he thought were unimportant but actually might be, and form his own theories different from what g originally thought. He was quick not because the information was brief, but because his thoughts worked imperceptibly faster than normal humans. There was one, very important thing that g had not realized in his assessment of the Inn. His mistake wasn¡¯t really his fault actually, it was a result of his understanding of the universe being limited. Guessing on the possibility of there being other Inns was not something that could be done at the moment, because early conjecture without sufficient evidence would blind them to other possibilities and cause them to misinterpret new evidence to somehow fit into the narrative they thought most likely. It also led to an entirely different line of thought such as, were there different Innkeepers for each Inn, or did the same one manage them all? How were they formed? Where did they exist? How were they hidden? All of these questions were extremely important, but also distractions. Everything had to be done in a systematic manner, haphazardly making guesses would lead to inefficiency. One of the first things that needed to be focused on was where the Inn was. Before arriving at the Inn, Ragnar had equipped a special device that would transmit his location to any Jotun carrier,, server, satellite, or basically anything that could connect to their main database. He did not expect to get a result immediately, but based on theirtest technology, if within 24 hours the signals were unable to reach such a device, it would lead to a few very interesting possibilities. The first and foremost of those was that the Inn was in an alternate space, cut off from the main universe. This was the most likely option, as such a thing wasn¡¯t altogether umon. Another possibility was that his signals were somehow blocked. This was a little more unlikely. This signal was based on the newest technology that most did not even know existed yet. Basically, so long as any form of energy existed, the signal could use it to carry itself forward. This went beyond justmon forms of energy such as kic, light, gravitational, spirit etc. Even higher forms of energy, that most beings could not even perceive or interact with, could be used as a medium.. Another possibility, one that Ragnar thought had a high chance of being correct, was that the Inn was so far from anywhere in the known universe that it was taking much longer for the signal to be transmitted. Such a theory also meant that the entity known as the Midnight Inn was a power from the uncharted territories of the universe, and the Innkeeper was a cultivator that no existing topmost cultivator had ever interacted with yet. This theory was troublesome. Still, he would not specte until he had more information. ¡°Good. You will follow me from now on, and if you think of any new information you may inform me directly via spirit sense. Anthony, start running tests immediately. I want to know the density of the spiritual energy, the gravity index, the day cycle, the oxygen concentration of the air, basically everything there is to know about this ce!¡± ¡°Yes sir,¡± answered the rtively weak looking man who had asked Lex about setting up a recruitment stall. Without waiting to see what they did, Ragnar exited the room, g following behind him. Outside a soldier was waiting for him. ¡°Did the Devils agree to the meeting?¡± ¡°Yes sir, they¡¯ve invited you to their room for the meeting. All of them are there, none of them have split from the main room. Only one is waiting outside for you to invite you in.¡± ¡°Good, let¡¯s go.¡± Ragnar decided to meet the Devils first as he had a very important task he wanted toplete. With the other delegates, there were actual important matters that needed to be discussed. With the Devils, Ragnar simply wanted to vent by insulting them! The man had spent over a thousand years fighting devils, and had long since evolved past mundane emotions as hating Devils for righteous reasons. The way he saw it now was simple. Since they were the enemy, he would take pleasure in their difort. ¡°You can only enter alone,¡± the Devil standing outside their room told Ragnar as he approached. He had a mischievous smile as he waited for Ragnar to argue with him, but this Devil had never interacted with Ragnar before. How could he know the butcher¡¯s personality? ¡°Then let¡¯s get on with it,¡± he said bluntly, as if he could not have cared less even if he tried. Ragnar did not put even a second thought into the fact that he had discovered a security w in the room earlier. As far as he was concerned, nothing would make him happier if the Devils would ambush him in the room. The remaining soldiers stood face to face with the Devil as he teleported Ragnar inside. They grinned at him, as if weing any trouble he would cause. These were the elitist soldiers in their battalion. If they didn¡¯t face a near death experience every day, it would feel like they were wasting their time. Inside the room, several Devils sat on sofas and on the bed, like a group of friends hanging out. Somehow, they already had drinks and food in the room and there was one, particrly emo-looking Devil ying a musical instrument in the corner. What did an emo Devil look like? Like an 80 year old man dressed like a teenager, with a single piercing that looked out of ce and long unbrushed hair that covered his eyes. Loretta was sitting in the corner, eating jumbo shrimp with a look that screamed avarice. This was the first time she had tried a ¡®shrimp¡¯ and had decided that she loved them. ¡°Tell me, Loretta, you wouldn¡¯t happen to be Stefan¡¯s daughter, would you? Or would it be son? Or some other third thing that I don¡¯t know the name for?¡± Ragnar¡¯s voice was very serious, as if he was not asking a question and insulting her at the same time. ¡°Why would you link me with Stefan, General? Do I look like a progeny of the elves?¡± she asked in return, unbothered by the man¡¯s attempt at an insult. ¡°Not really. But I¡¯ve already killed three of his sons. I thought killing one of his daughters would be a nice change of pace.¡± Though this time he was not insulting her, the hostility he received from the Devils was manifold. Basking in their killing intent, Ragnar revealed a generous smile, as if he were receiving the most rxing of massages. After ring at the man for a moment, Loretta rxed again. ¡°I¡¯m a little disappointed, General. Is that why you came here? To insult us? I would have expected a little more from the Son of the Empire. Ragnar grinned and looked around the room. He looked each Devil in the eyes, and none turned away from his gaze as if challenging him. Both parties knew that in a situation where a Celestial could potentially be offended, there would be nobat. That effectively turned any interaction between the parties moot as they could not fight, and would not parley. In that case, it really did seem that Ragnar only came to insult them. Finally, when he had looked each Devil in the eye, he turned back to Loretta and said, ¡°12 Devils. Other than Warheil Heil Fendal, who is a confirmed anomaly, the rest don¡¯t seem to have an affiliation with Stefan the seditious. That means it¡¯s already time for the new generation to enter the battlefield, and you¡¯re probably the first, right? I¡¯m sure the alliance will be interested to know that things are about to get heated once again.¡± Without waiting for a response, Ragnar left the room. He would have liked to stay and bask in their difort, but he could not risk letting them realize what he had actually done. The new generation of Devils sat there ignoring the man known as Hell¡¯s Butcher, unaware that he had absorbed all of their auras in a special recording device imnted in his eyes. They thought he only meant to provoke them, yet how could such an important man waste his precious time just to antagonize them? Soon, they would learn of his cunning. ¡°Who¡¯s next?¡± Ragnar asked his soldier, already moving away from the room. The humans of Earth seem to be conducting a meeting of their own at the moment, so the Beasts of Nibiru will be next. Only the sloth and deer agreed to meet, the rest have either already returned home or started preparing for the games. ¡°Lead me to them,¡± he said, as he started nning out his moves in his head. So far, this meeting had been very fruitful for the Empire. He was eager to see what other gains he could harvest. Chapter 120 Fiery Mammoths Unlike the Devils, the Beasts did not rent a room to host the meeting in. The sloth and the deer both were simply sitting in the grass that hosted the meditation room, chatting amongst themselves. ¡°I don¡¯t understand,¡± said Greens Haven. ¡°You say that it is your job to protect ¡®Nibiru¡¯ and select talented Beasts, but why have I never heard of you? Or of any Beasts getting selected?¡± ¡°The universe is a cruel ce,¡± the sloth said slowly, suppressing a yawn. ¡°Staying on a small, living out a peaceful life is already a great gift. Only the most talented can be selected to be transferred off. Not all Beasts have a powerful presence in the universe. If those talents belonged to a species that do, It is my job to send them there. If those talents do not belong to a species that have such a presence, then they are most likely subordinate to someone else. In that case, I would send the talents to the superior species.¡± ¡°Then what is the qualification to be ssified as a ¡®talent¡¯?¡± Green Haven asked. Its question was asked casually as it seemed to have already epted that it was not good enough. After all, it had never heard of any Beast stronger than itself, and its predecessors who had reached its level did not know of the sloth either so obviously, their realm was not good enough. The sloth did not answer immediately, but looked at its single hair that had a golden tip. It really liked it. ¡°Actually, you and that little wolf have already surpassed the qualification level. When we return, I can get in touch to find out who will be recruiting you.¡± The deer was astounded. What did it mean they had already surpassed the qualification? Why then had they never heard of anyone else being recruited?. ¡°Then howe you waited so long? I¡¯ve been in this realm for hundreds of years.¡± ¡°I was sleeping,¡± the sloth replied, as if it was the most natural answer ever. The deer was dumbfounded. HOW LONG HAD THE SLOTH BEEN SLEEPING? But before their conversation could continue, a party of very strong humans approached them. Even though Greens Haven knew that they were safe at the Inn, the thought of humans stronger than itself made it feel unsettled. Yet the sloth besides it was also very strong, so that reassured it a little. ¡°Greetings. I am Ragnar Asulf of the Jotun Empire. Thank you for agreeing to meet with me.¡± ¡°Greetings, Ragnar Asulf of the Jotum Empire,¡± the sloth replied with declining energy. For some reason, the atmosphere at the Inn made it feel sofortable all it did was want to sleep. Both the deer and Ragnar watched the sloth, waiting for it to introduce itself, but only saw it struggle to keep its eyes open. ¡°Greetings Ragnar Asulf of the Jotun Empire. I am Green Havens,¡± the deer introduced itself loudly, hoping to wake up the sloth. Its knowledge of the universe still bordered on nonexistent, but it was beginning to get concerned for being assigned such an irresponsible Beast. Startled awake the sloth looked around, before remembering where it was. ¡°I am¡­I am¡­I am¡­¡± the sloth said a few times, suddenly realizing it did not remember its own name. ¡°You can call me Golden Hair of the Three-toed Bradious n,¡± the sloth proimed, renaming itself. Ragnar quickly went through all the Beast ns he knew of, but could not recall this . Still, that did not mean that this n was small or weak. The universe was vast and Ragnar¡¯s only concern had always been the demons, so it made sense that he was not familiar with it. ¡°It is well that you came,¡± Golden Hair continued, ¡°the others at the meeting promised to fulfill my request to bring the Beasts of theirs ¨C only you did not. I request you again, bring the Beasts and expose them to broader horizons. They should not miss out on such an opportunity.¡± Greens Haven looked at the sloth with a confused look, wondering if it realized how many Beasts had missed out on opportunities because it was sleeping. ¡°Our presence on Vegus Minima is fairly new, and we have not had time to establish rtions with the Beasts yet. However, I will try to reach out to them. If they are willing, I will invite them.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± the sloth said simply. Its eyelids started to get heavy again, and Ragnar recognized the potential for an awkward silence building up once again, so he decided to be upfront with his questions ¨C it was quite clear that a long conversation was out of the question. ¡°Earlier you said that your is not without allegiance. I was wondering to whom you were referring. The Jotun Empire has many allies, it could turn out that our rtions are deep.¡± ¡°Nibiru is one of the nurturings controlled by the Fiery Mammoth n,¡± the sloth replied with eyes practically closed. His answer doused any interest Ragnar had in building an alliance. In fact, he was suddenly grateful that the Devils were ready to create some trouble for the sloth. He hoped that they would seed. ¡°I can see that you have important matters to deal with so I won¡¯t take up more of your time. I look forward to seeing your performance in the Games.¡± With that Ragnar quickly left. It almost seemed like he was doing his best not to run away. Suddenly, on observing the humans reaction at hearing the answer to his question, Greens Haven was very concerned for its future. ¡°Anthony, when we get back I want you topile a report on ourtest status on rtions with the Fiery Mammoth n. Also, send someone back to Minima Vegus to immediately request a diplomatic rtions officer from home base. I refuse to deal with this myself.¡± ¡°Yes sir,¡± Anthony replied, but looked at the General with pity in his eyes. They were too far from home base, it would take weeks for a qualified officer toe, meaning Ragnar would still have to deal with it should a situation arise. Furthermore, there was no need to look up rtions as everyone was clear on what the status was. Who here did not know that scandalous story? It was the talk of the empire for centuries, when one of the noble families of the Empire had¡­ Anthony shuddered. His rank was too low to gossip about such things. All he could say was, some men really had¡­heavy¡­tastes. ¡°What¡¯s next?¡± Ragnar asked, already setting the matter behind him. ¡°The humans from Earth are still conducting their own meeting. The meeting with the Devils and Beasts went by faster than expected, so we still have some time. Might I rmend that you tour the Inn in the meantime.¡± ¡°g, do you have a rmendation for what I should investigate first?¡± ¡°Of the services I¡¯ve tried so far, Battle Ax and the Recovery room are very interesting. Although they have limited effect on higher level cultivators, they are still worth investigating. Other than those, I would rmend investigating the Mystery trial, but that takes a long time so you should wait till after the meeting for that. Apparently, there is a prize forpleting the trial, but I have been unable to do so. Yet despite that, I gained a lot during my various attempts at the trial. True to its name, it is very mysterious.¡± ¡°Understood. Let¡¯s investigate Battle Ax first.¡± The soldiers made their way to Battle Ax, only to find arge crowd already waiting. Most of the Beasts had already left the Inn, so it was the humans of Earth that crowded around the building. As most of them were at the Foundation realm and had limited resources and heritages, a chance to get a technique based on your own requirements was unbelievable to them. As soon as the first person discovered this hidden treasure, its poprity exploded! John could not be happier and was working nonstop. Yet even with his expertise, each technique would take a few hours at the least. His greatest regret was that he could not split himself so that he could work on more work. Simr to the Battle Ax, there were crowds outside the training room and Gamers Den as well. If Lex were awake he would have used this opportunity to buy more Training and Meditation rooms to meet the demand, but he was asleep so for now the problem would persist. The crowd at Gamers Den didn¡¯t consist of Earthlings, oddly enough. They were already familiar with the games so they had no interest. It was the soldiers who had discovered the AR gaming mode that Lex had installed for Chen¡¯s ¡®training¡¯ that crowded that building, much to Z¡¯s chagrin. He had never dealt with so many people before. He hated it. All he wanted was to watch some Tv, was that too much to ask? Chapter 121 A little bit of tact Since all the services around had sizeable crowds and long queues, Ragnar instead decided to walk around the Inn and observe everything for himself. He investigated the Mystery trial as well, but it could only amodate one person at a time and was already in use. He saw some people sitting and eating in the garden. Some of them were eating spirit food ¨C a huge surprise for Earthlings but nothing special for Ragnar. He walked to the Meditation room as well as the Recovery room and saw first hand their capabilities. Although he could not be sure about the effectiveness of the Meditation room, judging from the level of all the other services he could garner a guess. The more he saw, the more he believed that the Inn was designed to cater to low leveled cultivators, and really only served the purpose of a vacation spot. Naturally the services were a great boon for Earthlings and Beasts from Nibiru even, but anyone with a certain amount of standing in a Star ss civilization or greater could receive the same benefits through spending money. All in all, the Inn seemed unique enough to attract attention, but was generic enough not to step on any high leveled toes. Perhaps the Innkeeper did not have any hidden, ulterior motives, and was only fulfilling a whim of his to run an inn. Who knew what these ancient, powerful beings did to pass the time? Since he had to pass the time waiting for the humans to conclude their meeting, he decided to try out their food. Thorough reconnaissance required every part of the Inn to be investigated. *****. In a private room in the coliseum, the five human Nascent cultivators were sitting along with the observer sent by thedy in the hologram, and Audery, of course. Who said ancestor level cultivators can¡¯t be simps? The observer, Adrian, did not contribute much to their discussion, much to the frustration of the others. They were hoping he would provide some insight about the forces of the universe, but he told them nothing. All Adrian said was, ¡°My role on this mission is to only record everything down so I can report itter. I don¡¯t have the qualifications or the authority to share information with you freely, as it may affect ns that I am not aware of. All I can say is, you do not need to worry too much. The Jotun Empire is a friendly force, and not our enemy. Having said that, you should maintain the facade that you have no contact with anyone outside of your gxy.¡± ¡°What about the Devils?¡± the fat man asked. Out of everyone here, he was the only one who had little to nobat experience. Even with his strength, the stigma of Devils affected him. Adrian let out an exasperated sigh. ¡°I keep telling you, I am just a clerk. I don¡¯t know these things, I am only here to observe! Before this, I didn¡¯t even know that Devils were a race! Instead of asking me, you should ask the soldiers from the empire these questions. They will have answers for you.¡± ¡°How long are we going to drill him on useless things?¡± Brandon asked in annoyance, before anyone could question Adrian some more. ¡°Let¡¯s focus on what really matters. How has there been no progress on those rebels? My grandson suffered an assassination attempt just so that we could get a few leads. Several families on Earth and the Moon were implicated, not to mention an ICPA. We had the entire country of Egypt on lockdown, yet still we got nothing besides a few deadends.¡± Brandons question caused everyone to grimace. This really was a conundrum. Many years ago, the five families had noticed a certain force manipting people and events to harm their interests. For a while, the force tried to sow discord between the families ¨C something that could have worked if they weren¡¯t all actually secretly working together. Losses, scandals, assassinations and more threatened to bring the families to war. Yet, for reasons unknown to the rest, they never worked against one another. At a certain point it became evident that such a strategy would not work, which suppressed that mysterious forces movements ¨C but did notpletely finish them. Slowly and steadily the force kept working in the shadows, slowly chipping away at the families¡¯ influence and strength. Yet that was also meaningless since the foundation of their strength were the Nascent cultivators and there were few that could threaten them. At one point, those forces instigated Beasts to act out so that the Nascants would be forced to act. That was actually the incident in which Marlo had also been caught, the time he was in Australia. Yet that yielded no results either. The five families did not actually feel threatened by the force, they were just concerned that they may be desperate and do something that would harm the masses. Yet despite their best efforts for years, they were not able to learn the details regarding whoever was behind it all. They did not even know the name of the organization or entity, choosing to call them ¡®rebels¡¯ for simplicity. ¡°It was handled too cleanly, as if they were already expecting to be traced. The entire Sigmund family has been implicated, but we have not been able to find any actual proof of their involvement in the matter. It seems as if they themselves were duped. It¡¯s the same with every other lead we have.¡± ¡°Then I think it¡¯s about time we ask the hard questions. Why do they always know what steps we are going to take? Why are they familiar with our forces and how we are going to act?¡± Brandon¡¯sst question caused the rest to grimace even more. ¡°Are you saying some of our families are involved?¡± ¡°No,¡± Brandon said, shaking his head. ¡°I¡¯m saying at least one person from EACH family is involved. And not just any random person, someone with influence and knowledge of how the family operates.¡± Silence filled the room, but no one chose to refute him. At this point, even if no one said it out loud, they had all been thinking about the possibility. ¡°I think the Midnight Games will be an opportunity. It¡¯s impossible for them not to know that we would be going, even if they weren¡¯t involved with the families. They must be nning to make a few big moves during the games. If we¡¯re still not able to trace them, then we need to start nning on how to investigate the families themselves. Meeting at the Inn will be the most convenient, as we can teleport here directly with no one aware of when we¡¯ll be meeting.¡± Everyone eventually came to a consensus, though what they were actually thinking could only be spected. How easy was it to suspect one¡¯s own family? With their dirtyundry handled, it was now time to meet with the Jotun soldiers. The Queen had one of her followers let the empire¡¯s soldiers know they were ready to meet. At the same time, Marlo was also brought into the meeting. Marlo, in fact, was not too popr. Other than the Morrison family, the other families all had a bad impression of him, or at least wanted to keep some distance. But he had interacted with both the zombies and a soldier of the empire before, so his input could serve to be useful. After a short wait, Ragnar entered the room followed by g and Anthony. Marlo shed g a grin, but did nothing else. Despite his boisterous behavior he was a shrewd man, and knew when to behave. ¡°Greetings, I am General Ragnar Asulf of the Jotun Empire. Thank you for agreeing to meet with me.¡± ¡°Not at all General. I think we both have much to gain from this meeting¡± spoke Sam somewhat directly. ¡°My name is Sam, and this is Elizabeth,¡± he said, pointing towards the Queen. ¡°This is Fateh,¡± he said, pointing towards the fat man. ¡°This is Richard, and this is Brandon. We have been looking forward to meeting with you.¡± ¡°Indeed, it can be quite productive for us both. I¡¯ve heard a little about Earth from my subordinate,¡± he said, pointing towards g. ¡°And I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve heard a little about the Empire as well. We can spend more time getting to know one another, but I think the first and foremost thing on everyone¡¯s mind is how we can benefit one another.¡± Compared to the Beasts, he was more direct with the humans. There were two reasons for this. Firstly, he was sure that of the threes, Earth was the weakest in terms of military strength. And secondly, in the entire universe, the Jotun Empire was the biggest backer for humans. So whether the Earthlings realized it or not, they were already in the same camp. And if they were in the same camp, they were already Ragnar¡¯s subordinates. He just had to make them aware of that fact, with some tact of course. Chapter 122 Fodder By being so direct, Ragnar took control of the flow of the conversation. The Earthlings had not nned on being so direct, as it was not the way of things. At least, it was not the way of things on Earth. First they had nned on conversing a little, and establishing the basis for a rtionship. Now, with the conversation moving directly to the topics of benefits, they had lesser room to manoeuvre the conversation. This was not mentioning the fact that, if what g said was true, there was hardly anything Earth could provide that the empire didn¡¯t already have ess to. Unlike when the Morrisons had negotiated with Chen and Lily, who did not have ess to unlimited resources and were in great need of support, the empire probably did not need them to provide spirit stones or ores, or even weapons. So then the question came, what exactly could Earth do for such a giant? Whatever the case may be, the first rule of negotiation was to never let the other know the cards you were holding. Brandon may not have been a good negotiator, but he was definitely shameless enough to lie with a straight face. ¡°Indeed, I imagine you would want everyone¡¯s full cooperation during the Midnight Games to ensure that the nodes are destroyed. I¡¯m sure I can convince everyone to send an elite force to the Games to assure sess if the Empire is willing to concede victory of the games to us,¡± Brandon said in a very serious tone, as if he were doing Ragnar a favor.. Fateh, or rather the fat man as Brandon had titled him because he would always pretend to mispronounce the name, suddenly felt a great deal of sympathy for Ragnar. Brandons shamelessness was astronomical. If he were pretending to mispronounce the name he should at least say fatty so that it would at least sound remotely simr to his name. Not that he particrly minded being fat. He was secretly quite pleased with his girth. Ragnar, though, did not seem phased by Brandon¡¯s remark. He pondered for a moment, as if truly considering the proposal, and then said, ¡°The Innkeeper has not stated an upper limit for the number of cultivators per game but I¡¯m sure there is a limit. The Empire will have no problem bringing out and equipping tens of thousands of cultivators at each realm, all armed with thetest spirit tech. Yet with a number limit, only the elitist of the elite will have to be selected. If your forces prove to be stronger or more effective than ours, I do not mind working together. It is true, to the empire sessfully destroying the formation is worth more than a prize. If the situation permits, working together is a good option.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a pity then that the Innkeeper has shut down thebat arena during the games otherwise we could have our forcespete to settle the matter before the games. After all, if our forces sh during the games, it would be a shame if too many ¡®elites¡¯ go out ofmission before the battle with the zombies even begins.¡± Brandonpletely ignored the not so hidden boast about huge armies with trained elites that were probably better equipped than anyone from Earth, andpletely pretended as if Earth were the superior force. ¡°I¡¯m sure we can hash out the details. Please, have a seat. We have much to discuss, it seems.¡± They had all still been standing to greet Ragnar when he entered. By telling everyone to be seated, Ragnar once again put himself in a position of power during the meeting. Such subtle nuances, when constantly reinforced, had tremendous ramifications on the subconscious mind. This was a truth even cultivators could not ignore, and was a tactic Marlo often used when purchasing businesses. It was unfortunate, then, that the recipient of Ragnar¡¯s mind games put everyone other than his wife beneath him. His shameless antics had somewhat been an inspiration for Marlo¡¯s own personality, a small detail no one knew. ¡°Indeed, with a constant battle against zombies and the added pressure of these Devils, I¡¯m sure there are many areas in which Vegus Minima needs Earth¡¯s help.¡± The difference between saying Vegus Minima needs help rather than the empire was a bit of mental maniption of Brandon¡¯s own. It put the in a weak position of needing help without directly calling the empire weak. Ragnar smiled. He did not mind Brandon¡¯s aggressive maniption of the conversation at all. In his eyes, Brandon was a junior nurturing whom would ultimately benefit the empire. ¡°Vegus Minima has been surviving for hundreds of years even before the empire came to help. It is not in as weak a position as it seems. I¡¯m more curious about Earth. From what I understand, you have just started terraforming the others in your sr system. Starting your expansion outwards, you should be careful. Most foreign forces are quite hostile towards others. I¡¯m sure in such a situation, you¡¯re in desperate need of information about the universe.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Brandon replied without skipping a beat. ¡°We Earthlings need to be careful not to offend any other forces and attract unwanted attention. Especially those Devils, they seem especially dangerous, not to mention all those zombies. Perhaps we need to also consider if it¡¯s worth antagonizing such forces just to win an award in the games.¡± Ragnar grinned internally. This Brandon had sessfully attracted his attention. If his performance in other areas continued to be ster, he would definitely mark the man as someone to be nurtured. Yet before Ragnar could respond Audery reached out and gently helped Brandon¡¯s hand, before speaking in the gentlest of voices. ¡°Darling, put your ego away. We¡¯re in a meeting, not a cock fight. And General, a little birdie told me that we do not need to be concerned as the Empire would be a friendly force towards us. With that in mind, why don¡¯t we inaugurate the first ever meeting between Earth and the empire with a little bit of sincerity instead of politics?¡± Once she said her piece, Audery casually leaned back into her chair as if she did not care about the oue one way or another. She had changed the flow of conversation once again, and in an ingenious way. Bringing up ¡®sincerity¡¯, she made it so that if Ragnar once again tried to elevate his position in the conversation, or threaten Earth with the unknown, he would immediately mar the rtionship between the two. That did not mean that they could not work together, but that any future cooperation would be reserved as everyone protected their own interests. The truth was, Audery¡¯s intentions in speaking up weren¡¯t so pure. She was just impatient and didn¡¯t want to wait around for the ¡®men¡¯ to stroke their egos before getting to the important stuff. g and Anthony frowned, as they did not like the way she spoke to the General, but the man himself let out a visible smile. ¡°Indeed, helping out one another will build a stronger rtionship. Let me then begin by briefly introducing you all to the forces of the universe. Since you have already been introduced to Demons and Devils, let me start from there. ¡°You all cultivate spiritual energy, as do most beings in the universe. That automatically makes you an enemy of the Demons, whether you want it or not. There is no noble cause there, no greater purpose to eliminate evil in the universe. It is simply a matter of survival. Let me borate. ¡°Demons do not have a specific species or race. Simply put, anyone or anything that cultivates demonic energy is ssified as a demon. As for why all demons are your enemies? That¡¯s even simpler. Demons grow stronger by feeding on those who cultivate spiritual energy, while those who cultivate spiritual energy grow stronger by feeding on demons. You have already seen the zombies. By absorbing the energy found in the zombies¡¯ cores, you can elevate your body cultivation faster than by using most other treasures or medicine you can find. Simrly, as zombies feed on spiritual beings, not only do they grow stronger, they grow smarter as well. The presence of Demons in the universe is not weak, and despite being enemies with almost every other force, their threat is very real. ¡°Thenes the matter of Devils. Things there are more troublesome. As Devils do not cultivate demonic energy, the universe is not united against them. Yet somehow, Demons treat themselves as the Devil¡¯s subordinates. Any demon that encounters a Devil of the same level or higher will unequivocally obey their orders. Because of this, the Devils are able to raise and farm demons in a manner so efficient they are one of the strongest forces in the universe. If the Empire were on its own, there is no doubt at all that it would be eradicated by the Devils.¡± At this point Ragnar paused, his smile vanished, and he looked at the representatives with utter seriousness. ¡°Unfortunately for you, you once again do not have a say in garnering their hostility. Humans happen to be one of the races the Devils love to use as the demons fodder. Should your ever be discovered by a Devil, there is no doubt at all that you will undergo the same fate as Minima Vegus ¨C to be brought to the brink of extinction, yet allowed just enough room so that you can survive for centuries, bing a renewable source for the demons to feed on.¡± Chapter 123 Test A heavy silence hung in the room as everyone absorbed what Ragnar had said. Marlo especially recalled the scene where a city was constantly being invaded by endless hordes of zombies. He treated it seriously even when he saw it for the first time, but he imagined that one way or another the zombies would run out, as the rate at which they were being killed was incredible. But when he learnt of the spawning portal, he realized the truth was not so simple. They really were on the brink of extinction. What Marlo did not know was the city he had visited was founded by the Jotun Empire, and it was their presence that garnered such a strong response from the demons. Before their arrival, such a fierce battle had not urred since the first fell. Even though they all knew that Earth was not as alone as they portrayed, it was good to be reminded that the universe was a cruel ce. They could not evenpletely secure their from internal strife, strong external threats could spell their doom. ¡°Any other enemies that we should know of?¡± Brandon asked. ¡°Enemies who target humans specifically? Not so many. But any random force can be your enemy should they see profit in doing so. Even allies of the Empire are only allies of the Empire in a broad sense. That does not prevent them from seizing control of individuals or sr systems where they can gain benefits. The only way to gain security is to have a strong enough backer.¡±. ¡°Isn¡¯t that always the case?¡± Brandon remarked offhandedly. It was just arger example of paying a thug protection money. ¡°Most notable forces in the universe are based around their species. For example, of the Beasts, some of the strongest ns are the Leviathan n, the Terror Crow n and? the Serpent n. Other notable examples are the Dread n and, ironically, the Goliath n.¡± ¡°Why ironically?¡± asked Brandon. ¡°Rtively speaking, the Goliath n is the newest power in the known universe. Their species started out as a mutation of humans that originated on a single. When they were discovered by other humans, they were shunned and even persecuted. But as fate would have it, a Prince of the Jotun Empire ended up befriending a Goliath. Out of friendship, the Prince granted the Goliaths protection, and allowed them room to grow. ¡°Since no one was paying attention to them, no one noticed how quickly their strength grew. What should have been the beginning of an amazing friendship and partnership soured when that Prince suddenly died. Long story short, the Goliaths broke away from the humans, and quickly surpassed them. Fortunately, they do not hold a grudge against the humans, but they are in no way allies of humans either.¡± Ragnar paused for a moment, as if thinking about something, but quickly returned back to the topic. ¡°This does not mean that all forces are based around their species. Most recently, after many millennia of war against one another, Dwarves and Elves have actually formed a coalition. Simrly, many forces are formed from the union of various groups. I cannot even begin to list out all the forces. It would take too long. ¡°The purpose in me telling you this is to let you know that since you have started expanding outwards, you must also prepare for the threats. It is entirely possible that your may not encounter other forces for centuries, or could run into a band of pirates tomorrow.¡± ¡°And let me guess, you suggest ?we join the Empire?¡± Ragnar grinned, watching the children with amusement. To be clear, to the three and a half thousand year old Ragnar, these Nascent cultivators of Earth were indeed children. ¡°Joining the Empire is not so easy or simple. Your cannot join simply because you are human, or because you wish it. At most, talented individuals from your can be recruited for now. Before even beginning to consider the requirements of the Empire, the location of your will determine whether you are even eligible. If your falls under the domain of another force, then unfortunately, you are on your own.¡± Technically, they weren¡¯t on their own even if they were in someone else¡¯s domain, but Ragnar could not be bothered to exin the details. The politics of the universe were a lot moreplicated and had many moreyers than that of Earth. For now, this level of detail was sufficient. What he did not expect was that instead of feeling pressured, they felt a burden lift off their shoulders, knowing that the Empire was not recruiting them directly. Even as arrogant as Brandon was, he did not want to imagine the consequences of offending such an entity by refusing their offer. ¡°So if you are not looking to recruit Earth, other than help in the games, what benefits are you actually looking for?¡± asked the Queen directly. ¡°It is always in the interest of the Empire to see humans grow and prosper, even if they are not under the banner of the Empire itself. But even with that in mind, nothing in the world is absolutely free. ¡°There are many ways in which we can benefit one another, but I directly propose what I think is the best deal to you. Earth will send five hundred thousand men and women under the age of thirty to receive training in various fields such as medicine, mechanics,puting, cultivation, crafting and more for five hundred years ¨C during which they will be employed by the empire. Another five hundred thousand will be employed under the same conditions for three hundred years, and another five hundred thousand for one hundred years. ¡°As a part of their sry, the Empire will provide Earth with some basic knowledge and technology that will boost the growth of your own civilization, while the rest of the sry will be paid to them directly. Once the employment period for these people is over, they are free to return to Earth, at which point their own skills and expertise will be enough to slingshot your¡¯s growth while also strengthening its own foundations.¡± The Earthlings did not reply immediately, and only exchanged looks with one another filled with a meaning they all understood very well. Ragnar¡¯s offer seemed straightforward, but wasyered with both benefits as well as tests. He did not say it, but the offer was a tant test of their character. Theoretically speaking, as Nascent leveled cultivators, their life expectancy barely reached five hundred years. This meant that if they epted the offer, in the future, Earth would be flooded with cultivators at their level, along with the potential to surpass them. This may not affect them directly as they may never break through a higher realm and may not even live to see the day thest recruits return, but it would be clear that the position of their respective families would be threatened very seriously. This was not even considering the two waves of recruits who woulde back first, who would also be brimming with the strength and potential that came with the nurturing of a superior civilization. It was a test to first see if they valued the growth and prosperity of their people over their own desire for power. Second, to see if they had the courage to send their own families as a part of the recruitment, as that would possibly be the only way they could continue to maintain their position of power in the future. Anotheryer of the test was that even if they sent their own children or grandchildren, which one of the three waves of recruits would they be a part of? The longer they stayed away, the lesser their attachment to the they spent the first few decades of their life on be. So then, would they even be willing to return to the backwards to struggle and help it grow? ¡°We will need some time to discuss this,¡± Brandon finally said. ¡°Take your time. Watching your people during the games will also give me a chance to see the caliber of the people of Earth. In the future, Anthony will coordinate with you on this, so you can approach him once you¡¯ve decided on how you want to proceed. He will also coordinate with you on how we can cooperate during the games.¡± After seeing all that he wanted to see, Ragnar delegated handling the nitty gritty of things to his subordinates. Over all, the trip to the Inn had been very beneficial, but he had to return to focusing on his original task. Since the Innkeeper was no longer around and the Midnight Inn itself wanted to establish itself as a neutral organization, the things that required his personal attention were all taken care of. Now it was time for him to return to Vegus Minima and start preparing for what came next. Chapter 124 The third procedure Once Ragnar left, Anthony took over the negotiations. Compared to the general, he was a lot more straightforward. He directly set the terms and conditions and if the earthlings found it disagreeable or difficult to meet or wanted to negotiate a bit, he would dismiss it and move on to the next potential point for cooperation. In the end, they didn¡¯t end up agreeing on anything as the Earthlings either wanted time to discuss amongst themselves or were contingent upon their performance in the first round of thebat portion of the games. Still, Anthony was not disappointed or disgruntled and scheduled a time for their next meeting in which they would finalize a lot of their cooperation. The difference in treatment between how Ragnar and Anthony treated them was like night and day. Ragnar could be willful, but Anthony was strictly professional. It also gave them a clear understanding of how little importance they were to the empire. Perhaps the only reason they received any attention at all in the first ce was because they met at the Inn. If the empire had encountered them elsewhere, with their current strength and standing, they may as well have been ignored. Once the meeting was concluded, they passed any instructions they had to their own subordinates and returned to Earth to once again convene with the woman in the hologram. Brandon, who was the most concerned about the rebels, inquired about any suspicious movement or activities while they were gone. The answer he received was that everything was normal, which worried him more than relieved him.. There was no way the rebels didn¡¯t know about the meeting. If they didn¡¯t use this opportunity to make any moves, then maybe they would do so during the games. There was also the potential that they would not do anything during the games as well, but he did not think an organization with the guts to try and assassinate his grandson would miss out on such opportunities. With limited forces on Earth and no new information to act on, he decided to put Mars under martialw. Any and all activity was stopped until further notice and all military forces were put on full alert. Truthfully speaking, Mars was in the least danger, as it was impossible to approach the without being spotted, and he had strict control over everything on Mars, unlike on Earth, where the division of power was too great. Still, he did not want to take chances. They reconvened the meeting with thedy, and instead of giving the report themselves, Adrian was the one who made the report. Once she heard the report, she ruminated for a bit before saying, ¡°You are free to send anyone you want to the Jotun Empire for training, but only if you can send your recruits through the Inn itself. You cannot, under any circumstance, ept any deal that would need you to reveal the location of Earth. Furthermore, keep in mind that while it is okay to send people away from Earth, those sent away cannote back ¨C ever! ¡°As for matters of running into outside forces, you need not concern yourself with it. If you should ever encounter such a threat, we will take care of it. Not to mention, the space near and around your sr system is under our supervision. Should another advanced civilization have existed, we would have already known of it. The chances of space pirates are even lower, so you need not concern yourself.¡± The discussion went on for a while longer, but the gist of it was that thedy in the hologram did not care what they did as long as they did not expose the location of Earth and followed her orders regarding her ¡®guests¡¯ that she had sent to Earth. The rtive freedom and general assurances provided by the woman relieved the Earthlings a lot. All they had to consider now was what to do about Ragnar¡¯s offer? Sending people away was not a problem, but if they ultimately could never return, then what even was the point of sending them in the first ce? Maybe they could send out people they hoped could create a better life for themselves amongst the uncertainty of the universe. Little did they know, they weren¡¯t the only ones deliberating over this deal. Far, far in the universe on the Vegus Minima, Ragnar was looking solemnly at a report. More specifically, he was looking at the words ¡®Earth: ssified¡¯. Once he returned from Vegus Minima he needed to report the situation, but the gains were drastically more than expected. As a result, instead of providing a report in the usual way, he had to initiate a tinum level confidential transmission. As a result of his transmission, it wasn¡¯t only the army that was notified, but also the aristocracy of the empire. A nobleman and amanding general appeared as holograms before him, staring at him with a dignified look. Unfortunately, when a transmission over a certain rank urred, usually it was bad news. Such was the vtility of the universe. Ragnar began his report by first stating his assessment of the Midnight Inn as a neutral organization with a SS rank danger potential. To emphasize this point, he informed them that a Celestial seemed to be a subordinate of the Innkeeper. The key word here was ¡®seemed¡¯ as they did not know the details, but putting up such an appearance in itself was impressive. Then he reported about Earth and Nibiru. Finally, he reported on the Demons and Devils. When he told them that he had managed to capture their aura signatures using the device in his eye, they were over the moon! Even Ragnar did not know why Loretta was so high up on the wanted list, but the fact that he had obtained her aura was of the utmost importance to the empire. Of course, it was more than likely that the aura she exuded was fake, and had undergone some concealing or transformation technique. The Empire would still have ways to make use of it. This was a game of subterfuge they had been ying with the Devils for hundreds of thousands of years. Once the transmission was concluded, Ragnar was undertaking preparation for the days toe when he got a report. He had searched for the names Nibiru and Earth, just in case, to see if there was anything about them in the empire¡¯s database. As expected, there was no information on Nibiru, so he made an entry and associated it with the Fiery Mammoths. Unexpectedly, though, there was an entry on Earth. However, it was ssified. If, even with his level, he was unable to view the details, then matters rting to Earth were not so simple. After a moment, he simply put the report aside. He could not be bothered to delve into the details regarding Earth. His only focus ever was the demons. If Earth could aid him then he would make use of them, otherwise he would forget about them by the next day. On Nibiru, the response waspletely different. Most beasts were not interested at all. Being suppressed made them feel ufortable, and they had no interest in returning. The few that were interested put everything aside and began preparations. During this time, the letter that Tiffany and Lex had put much effort into having delivered to the Lord Protector of Red Nation arrived at the protector¡¯s shrine. Yet Igishima, the Lord Protector, was still in the Midnight Inn,pletely unaware that it was being plotted against. Back at the Inn, things were progressing smoothly even without Lex¡¯s presence. Which was fortunate because he only woke up some eight hourster, still feeling somewhat fatigued. Without leaving his bed, he ordered a ridiculous amount of food as he slowly watched reys of everything that had happened while he was asleep. Lex would not describe himself as a spy, stalker or voyeur, but anyone else who saw him so frequently listening in on his guests definitely would. Still, it was important to know what was happening. When he caught up, he decided to stay put for a while. In the few hours he¡¯d been asleep, he¡¯d made 20,000MP from guests purchasing various products and using his services, bringing his total to 95356 MP. Which was nice, because he decided that before the games start, he will undergo the third procedure to upgrade his cultivation which would affect his soul. It was not a small expense, but he did not want to wait either. The stronger he was, the easier it would be for him. Lex paid, and the next moment found himself in the white room. He did not even get enough time to finish his sigh before he was once again knocked unconscious, and the process to evolve his soul began. Compared to the previous two, this one was a lot harder and would take a longer time. But fortunately he would be done before the event actually started. Chapter 125 Capitalism across the universe There were four days between the meeting of the three worlds and the Midnight Games. A lot happened during those four days, not only on the threes and the Midnight Inn, but amongst the various forces inhabiting the world. Starting at the lowest level, the atmosphere on Earth became very lively all of a sudden. Rumor had it that variouspanies, families and organizations received a mysterious invitation. Only the heads of those organizations got the invitation, but when considering that the invitations were sent worldwide, the number easily reached thousands. A lesser known fact was that the elite troops and cultivators for each power and organization were quickly recalled. An even lesser known fact, and one that scared the few who even heard it, was that the five ruling families released a statement inviting the head of the ¡®rebels¡¯ to a meeting. What happened as a result of that, and if the meeting was ever held was unknown. A secret that was spread only in the Morrison family was that Alexander left his family¡¯s security bunker and relocated to one that he had had built himself. Even his father or grandfather were not privy to the details of this bunker, as Alexander has used his own power and forces nurtured by himself since youth to have it made. It must be remembered that since Alexander reached the Foundation realm, his family could no longer tell him what to do. His intention to participate in the games was clear. What the rest could only do was pray. Something that wasn¡¯t a secret, and was the source of much spection and gossip, was Marlo¡¯s brief return to New York. His visit was swift, as he was still not healed. He did not meet his mother, who had returned from the hospital, nor did he greet his students or address his many businesses. He went directly to his wife.. Their confrontation was extremely violent and caused the immediate deployment of Blue Bird special forces. Even though higher leveled cultivators were given many allowances, it was only up until a certain point. Some lines could not be crossed. An arrest warrant for both husband and wife was issued, but both of them disappeared just as spontaneously as Marlo appeared. What was the conclusion of the fight? Why did it happen? What was the fallout? All of these were questions that currently remained unanswered. Another interesting rumor also spread on the online cultivator portals. The Brown family, the family led by Sam Brown, one of the five Nascants, revealed a secret regiment so powerful and technologically advanced, it outshone the strongest Morrison force. Such rumors were flying rampantly on the web, and everyone was waiting in anticipation for something to happen. Themon masses were unaware what caused all thismotion, but they were awaiting the oue. On Nibiru there were fewer movements, but that did not mean there were none. Blood Fang gathered all its subordinates, not only in its own territory, but in the surrounding territories as well. Some other beasts were also preparing their forces, though whether it was for the games or other purposes, no one knew. Yet Nibiru was not connected via the web like Earth, so more or less there was no change for the masses. On Vegus Minima, however, the tension was palpable. All forces were put on reserve. Full forces were deployed in each city. All travel off the was stopped. All volunteers were called for deployment and all civilians were put under house arrest. Ragnar did not know how the Innkeeper would prevent external interference during the attack on nodes, but he would not take any risks. All his soldiers were deployed with location trackers. As soon as they reentered the during the games, their locations would be revealed. Regardless of how the games went, Ragnar would have the location of the nodes and would attack in full force ¨C once the games were over, of course. There was no point in provoking the Innkeeper. Not to mention, how could the Innkeeper make such a low level mistake? He was sure that there would be some precautions to prevent external interference. The Devils, likewise, made their own preparations, though their preparations were very different. They simply recalled the five strongest zombies on the and sent them back to Garvitz. It was a pity that they could not be nurtured longer, but it was simply a matter of sending them to a different farm. The loss of a farm as small as Vegus Minima mattered little to them. Not to mention, it was not as if the uing battle would leave them without benefits. Using formations already in ce, they would automatically harvest all the zombie cores for all the zombies that died in the uing battle. The realm was a little low, but even Devils had low leveled youths that needed resources so they would not go to waste. In fact, this was the greatest tragedy that the Jotun Empire had to face. They utilized all their resources and forces at great personal cost to fight the demons, but the loss of demons would never make the Devils weaker. It would only enhance their personal strength. Somewhere else in Garvitz, the upper echelon passed an order regarding the Midnight Inn. As to what the order was, no one could know. Simrly, the details of the Midnight Inn were presented in front of the highest authorities of the Empire, besides the royal family itself. In fact, even the William family was presented with information that it was suspected that the treasure Lex originally received may have had something to do with the Inn. But since he had given the treasure up already, they did not pay it any more attention. Each and everyone of them had many matters to deal with. The changes in the Inn were the most drastic. More and more people and Beasts entered the Inn, and started renting rooms and preparing for the Games. Disappointing many, the Innkeeper did not appear again during this time. Yet there were a few members of the Inn who became extremely well known. It went without saying that Little Blue was dered the unofficial mascot of the Inn. It was still very young and easily startled, so only a few people were allowed by the Gctic Sovereign turtle to approach it at one time. The second prominent member, unexpectedly, was Gerard. You could often see him leading a fleet of golf carts across the Inn premises. Initially, he just enjoyed the ride. However, with experience, his handling of the cart improved, and with that, his driving style changed. The old man could now be seen taking guests around as if he were drag racing, often drifting the cart in ways that should not have been possible ¨C literally. The speed and momentum of his golf cart did not make sense or obey thews of physics. Many wondered what secrets he had, but no one had the courage to make him reveal them. The third most popr, to his great dismay, was Z. It was unknown when exactly, but a group of women that was sent to the Midnight Inn to prepare for the culture show discovered him, instantly activating their motherly instincts. The ¡®poor¡¯, ¡®frail¡¯ and ¡®overworked¡¯ child was constantly smothered by the group. His poprity was due to the fact that he could often be seen walking around the Inn, surrounded by a protective entourage of mothers. He kept telling them that he didn¡¯t need to be outdoors and had already ¡®touched grass¡¯ but when has a mother ever felt her instincts were wrong. John was also fairly popr, but very few people actually saw him because he had not taken a single moment¡¯s break and was constantly making techniques. Since he could only see one customer at a time, in four days he had only met around seventy customers. Harry had seen even fewer guests, as he was very careful about whose hair he cut now. His previous incident left him with a migraine that he would not soon forget. Still, everyone who had the privilege of experiencing his craft was aplete fan. Finally, early on the fourth day, the Innkeeper reappeared. He announced the opening ceremony would take ce at 1 pm, so there were a few hours left. He instructed all participants to start getting ready. The stage in the coliseum seemed to expand, and the more people that entered it the bigger it became. Yet from the outside, the size of the coliseum remained the same. Lex observed the crowds with a smile on his face. He did not expect to feel so happy seeing so many guests in his Inn, but he was. There were just a few minor additions that he needed to make before he could begin the ceremony. Fortunately, over the past 4 days, he¡¯d earned another 64,000 MP ¨C mostly from people buying the Midnight Gamememorative coin and the rest from his services. Even after spending 20,000 MP on his third procedure, he had 139,400 MP! There was just enough for him to spend. After all, since the first portion of the games was about sharing one¡¯s culture, how could he not share capitalism with the universe? Chapter 126 Circus Lex wanted to sell merchandise, but shing banners and passing out flyers were too tacky. He also didn¡¯t want to be like a low budget techpany and sell T-shirts. No, whatever he sold had to have ss, first and foremost. It also had to be exclusive. He opened his panel and quickly designed the item he had in mind. Unlike the Midnight Gamesmemorative coin, which was made from a special material, the next item he designed was not special in its material. Instead, its look and feel were what Lex focused on as well as, oddly enough, its smell. What Lex was designing was a suit. It was the same suit that all his guards wore and, more importantly, the one Little Blue wore. As much as Lex wanted to give the suit special protective abilities, that would be too expensive for him at the moment. He settled for the suit¡¯s ability to look ttering regardless of who wore it, feel great to wear and always smell amazing. It also came with a goldpel pin with the initials MI that one could wear or take off. The price for the suit was 9000 MP! It was the single most expensive item he was selling at the moment, priced far more than even the Tier 4 zombie core that he once sold. The suit did not have a functional purpose like the core, but Lex had no doubt that it would definitely sell. When people achieved a certain level of sess, they spent more on luxury than other things. Lex made a quick mental note to hire a really good tailor. The one drawback to this was it was bing rtively apparent that the Inn put a lot of emphasis on attire that originated on Earth. But Lex did not care. He was the Innkeeper. Who did he need to exin himself to?. With that done, and an embarrassing 40,000 MP spent on preparing 100 of those suits, Lex was ready to proceed. Quickly making an appearance as Leo, he went towards the Guild room and added amission for items that could nurture low level souls. This was necessary, as Mary let him know that, unlike his previous two procedures, there was nothing he could do to elerate the stabilization process himself. The only option he had was to use medicine or natural treasures that nurtured the soul, both of which were rare and expensive. He could only hope someone would quickly respond to hismission. Following that, he changed back to the Innkeeper and appeared in the coliseum, where hundreds of smaller, individual stages were set up on the main stage. When the event began, guests would be able to walk between the smaller stages and view them from up close or stay seated and watch projections of them. For those who were in their rooms or sitting elsewhere, they would be able to summon individual projections to view the several stages. They would be able to flick through the different stages like channels on a TV in the pre-streaming era. The event management panel would record live the genuine response from each audience member to each stage that they saw. For those whose presentationprised a y or performance, the Inn would automatically record it and y it back for anyone who wanted to view it. This would avoid having them constantly perform. Something interesting Lex noticed was that many people from Earth who were setting up their stages actually did not know where they were, or the significance of what they were doing. They had just been given massive financial incentives by their superiors and thought they were performing at a special event. Lex wondered what they thought about arriving here by the use of the key, but it seemed some sort of exnation must have been given to them prior, as they just casually epted it. Just as the center stage was filling up, so were the seats. Most of the viewers were human, even those were mostly from Earth. A few of the guests were from Vegus Minima, and even those were mostly soldiers. The only civilians from Vegus Minima seemed to be a small group brought by Chen and Lily. The number of Beasts was in double digits. It seemed that such an event did not really appeal to Beasts. For future reference, he would have to remember that. What did make him happy was that many of his guests were enjoying a Saturn cake, and the smell of it was enticing the other guests nearby. The environment was jolly and festive, and all the guests were behaving. That¡¯s what he liked to see. At 12 pm Lex made an Inn wide announcement that the opening ceremony will begin in one hour, prompting all the bigwigs to show up. The representatives of the five families sat together, while Ragnar and his entourage sat in another corner. Worth noticing was that only two Devils remained, probably the ones who would be managing the stalls, and the rest had disappeared somewhere. Of the Beasts, Golden Hair and Greens Haven sat side by side. As the time neared for the opening ceremony, Lex once again felt himself getting nervous. He closed his eyes and took deep breaths. Entering the state of ¡®flow¡¯ was not easy, and not something he could control. To be exact, he did not even know what that state was or why it drained him so much. Even Mary was unclear about it, though to be fair her knowledge was limited by the Inns authority level. As much as he wanted to re-enter that state, he was unable to. So, when it was finally 1 pm, he appeared in the air in front of the massive crowd with some nervousness in his heart. He was unable to calm himself down, but he continuously brainwashed himself by saying that he waspletely calm. ¡°Wee,¡± he said with a loud and forceful voice, hushing the various crowds around the Inn. ¡°Wee to the Midnight Games! Some of you may already know about them, and some of you may not, so I will simply say this. The Midnight Games are to promote friendship and camaraderie between different worlds, and to introduce you to new possibilities. By understanding and experiencing each other¡¯s cultures, you may develop bonds that you carry with you throughout your lives. I won¡¯t say much, long speeches are not really my style. I hereby announce that the Midnight Games now begin!¡± He pped his hands loudly as he concluded, and as if on cue, two streams of fireworks spread into the sky and exploded in a spectacr disy of colors. His ¡®speech¡¯ was exactly one minute long and as soon as it ended, various things started happening at once. Invisible walls were constructed around the individual stages, so that the performers would not be interrupted by any heckling ¨C only positive sounds would be let through, such as pping and apuds, and even those in moderate amounts so as to not disturb them. On the stages, the air itself seemed to be fresher. All the performers felt invigorated and felt as if they could go all day if they needed to. From silence the Inn slowly went to the steady buzz that apanied any festival. In total, there were 3427 stages, of which 3000 came from Earth. Although Lex did not want to jump the gun, it was safe to say that Earth had a great advantage in this portion. Around 70 of the stages were from various Beasts, and the rest were all soldiers. Lex himself was a little curious about the various disys, but first he had to ensure that everything was progressing smoothly. At opposite ends of the main stage were two recruitment stalls, one for the empire and one for the Devils. What they hoped to achieve was beyond Lex but a part of him had really been concerned about facilitating leading Devils back to Earth. Fortunately, he overheard Brandon saying that Earth was under some kind of protection and it would be impossible for anyone to find the location of Earth, even if someone was tricked into taking back a transmitter or locator of some sort. Nibiru most likely did not have such protection but the sloth did not seem to be worried. After spending a dozen minutes to see if any problems arose, Lex finally breathed a sigh of relief when nothing happened. Finally he turned his attention to the various stages and started admiring them. Internally he was extremely nervous, hoping that the performances were a sess. It was not only the incentive of the quest that motivated Lex ¨C he did not want the Inns first major event to end up in failure. He walked to the first stage and noticed acrobats swinging around using tight ropes. At first he thought this was circus, until he noticed the performers were all at Qi training realm. In that case, there had to be more to it, right? Chapter 127 Exhibisionists This particr stage was fifty feet wide and thirty feet long. There were two individual tight ropes going from end to end on either side that some of the acrobats were walking atop. Several ropes hung from the ceiling as well that the rest of the acrobats used to swing from side to side. Synchronously acrobats from the left and right swung towards the center at the same time. Hey let go of the ropes and did a few flips in the air beforetching onto the rope that the other had just used with their feet. Lex himself had never been to a circus, but had seen enough of them on the television. Their performance was very impressive and the timing of it was immacte, especially when you considered there was no safety below. Yet somehow, Lex had expected a little more when he noticed they were cultivators. To be fair, their performance had just begun. They were likely warming up the crowd before. But Lex did not want to wait as there were many other stages as well. He would watch a rey of thister to see if they did anything more interesting.. Driven by curiosity, Lex skipped all the human stages and went to a Beast one. This particr stage was not raised like the rest, but was instead lowered so that the viewers would have a top-down view. Ayer of sand covered the stage, and various snakes slithered through it. At first, Lex did not understand what they were meant to be doing. He observed each snake individually and focused on it as it went from slithering on the surface to somewhere below it. The confusion disappeared, however, when he noticed that his focus should not be on the snakes but on the sand. Influenced by dozens of snakes moving in calcted coordination, the sand pulsed, as if a beating hearty right under it. Dunes rose and fell quickly in the sand, making it feel as if Lex was watching an elerated view of a changing dessert. Slowly, he became aware of patterns in the rise and fall of the sand, but to view it he had to stop focusing on the sand, and somehow focus on the whole. This was a little difficult for humans, as the human eye was designed to be attracted to and focus on certain points. To forcefully stop yourself from focusing on a certain point and somehow taking in the whole was a bit of a challenge, and something most others would miss out on unless they were actively trying to do so. Lex had an easy out in this, as he could rely on his awareness of the entire Inn to view this stage as a whole, rather than focusing on it with his eyes. But the moment he did so was when Lex realized just how much he was actually missing and was momentarily stunned. The movement of the sand had a strange kind of symmetry. The rise and fall of the dunes started forming patterns in thendscape and started to form some kind of art. This was unlike the art humans created, but seemed like it was a creation of nature. It was so wholly random even while maintaining its previous pattern. It was like Lex was bing aware of the course of how things progressed as nature intended. He was reminded of an old documentary he saw about repeating shapes and patterns in nature called fractals ¨C where the shape or pattern would be repeated on various scales. Whether you focused in on a certain part, or focused out on therger whole, the patterns would be present. The strange way of repeating the pattern is also what gave birth to the sense of symmetry. But if all there was to it, Lex would not have been so overwhelmed. The depth of the snake¡¯s art was not just limited to the visage of it. When Lex used his awareness to view the stage, he also felt the vibrations in the sand. As the snakes moved through the differentyers, the way the sand in between theyers rose and fell between them, the way they rubbed against other grains of sand and the way they pressed against the scales of the snakes produced a sensation Lex could only describe as music. The oscitions weren¡¯trge enough to produce a sound greater than a gentle hum, one that could easily have been mistaken for wind, gently caressing the dunes into its desired shape like the paintbrush of an artist. Yet since Lex was aware of it in greater detail, he felt the same visual pattern emerge in each and every vibration. He saw the pattern in the way that each grain of sand fell, and in the way that each grain of sand rose. The pattern that emerged was so much greater than the two-dimensional ones he had seen on paper, or a three-dimensional one a person might encounter in an art exhibit. The pattern existed in the top down view. It existed between theyers. It existed in the vibrations. It existed in the way the snakes moved. For a moment, Lex felt himself enter a trance, and felt a strange thought form right outside of his range of perception. It was like a word on the tip on his tongue ¨C he knew what it was, but could not say it. The feeling was abstract, yet at the same time concrete. ¡°Not bad,¡± Lex murmured, and decided to make a change to this stage. Currently, to prevent the performers, each stage prevented spiritual senses froming through. Yet now, Lex changed it so that others would be able to use their spiritual senses only to view the stage. This would still prevent them from using it to pressure ormunicate with the performers. Lex did not want others to disturb the snakes, yet at the same time he wanted them to enjoy it on a greater level as just simply viewing the sand would leave them missing out. Indeed, if some simply focused on the snakes, and did not take in the whole, this was probably one of the least interesting exhibits. It was only snakes moving in the sand. He hoped others would also be able to pick up on the intricacies of this disy. What Lex did not realize was that all the people at the top of each respective world were paying a lot of attention to the Innkeepers¡¯ every move. His murmur may have been soft, but it was like an announcement on a loudspeaker for them. Especially when they felt the changes on this stage, they immediately used their spiritual senses to try and observe the peculiarity of this disy. Whether any of them noticed it to the depth that Lex had, there was no way of knowing. Impressed by what he had just witnessed, Lex went to the next Beast stage. This one only had two Beasts that Lex had never seen or recognized before. This Beast¡¯s hind legs were simr to that of a frog and allowed it to leap long distances and far into the air. Yet, unlike a frog, this Beast was around four feet in length and three feet in height. Its body was covered in violet hexagonal scales that reflected light in an unusual way. Lex had never encountered light that he had to describe as ¡®dark¡¯, but that was the only description he could think of at the moment. Near the neck of the Beast, colorful feathers started emerging from within the scales and covered its forelegs and shoulder des. It did not seem enough to allow the Beast to fly, but Lex imagined that the Beast could glide great distances. Yet as the stage provided was not big enough, the two Beasts were not gliding, but seemed to be doing a dance. They would leap towards one another from the ends of the stage and twirled effortlessly in the air. Its shining scales, bright feathers and intricate moves enamored the viewers, making thempletely oblivious to how lethal its moves exactly were. As the Beasts approached one another they did not collide, but somersaulted in the air and pped their hind legs against each others. Then, pushing against one another, they leaped higher into the air, all the while not forgetting to twirl. Once they reached the peak of the jump, and had no other tform to push against, they spread their forelegs and formed thin wings akin to the gliders used by humans. Moving counterclockwise, they glided down in the air, dancing in the air, near one another. It was a spectacr show indeed, and Lex was very impressed by the visuals. It was unfortunate then that his wonder waspletely deted when he overheard another Beasts saying that they were disying their mating ritual. He supposed exhibitionism transcended species and even worlds. Lex quickly moved away from the stage before he saw something he would regret. Chapter 128 Ballerina While Lex was strolling through the various stages, taking on the role of a tourist, he waspletely unaware that seeds of chaos had been nted on the threes, and were getting ready to sprout. On Earth, the rebel forces started rearranging their forces with a little more aggression. They only had a limited amount of time where they could get ready, and they had to take chances at getting caught to ensure they were ready when the second portion of the games started. Thebat portion of the games, when the various military forces the five families had taken with them would bemitted, would be the beacon that lights the beginning of their revolution. How their movements remained undetected by not only the forces of the families but the ICPA¡¯s, which were supposed to be independent organizations, was a total mystery. Even if they somehow managed to take control of the Earth before the return of the Nascants and their forces, how they would deal with the raw power of the five strongest humans on Earth was another mystery that yet had no answer. While on Earth the chaos was only on the edge, hiding from the view of potential informants, on Nibiru there was no such case. Various territories had been brought to war by sudden invasions from their neighbors. The absence of the territory leader, such as Igishima, or of arge chunk ofbatants, made the territories vulnerable. In Red Nation, azy looking brown fox stood, or rather,y groggily at the head of the invading forces. The real viin behind the scenes, the enigmatic head of the Iron Mountain, was as of yet absent. Though despite his own absence, his forces were definitely present.. Yet, even without Igishima present tomand its Beasts, Red Nation, which was heavily reliant on human management, had an organized army which managed to hold off the invading forces. Even the 13-year-old Tiffany, who had been awarded a strengthening fruit for her brave actions of delivering the letter, fought valiantly at the front lines. She had assumed her good friend Lex had died so that she could escape, which filled her with a sorrow and anger she had never felt before in her life. It was even worse than when Father Henry was captured, because at least she still knew he was alive. It must be pointed out that eating a strengthening fruit did not technically count as cultivation, which is why it did not adhere to the general rule that humans cannot cultivate before the age of 15. Even then, the rule that one cannot cultivate until they were 15 was not a hard and fast rule. Can you imagine someone waiting arduously for their fifteenth birthday, and then on their birthday they have to wait for some specific hour, such as 2 pm, because that was the exact hour they were born in? The moment the clock hit 2 pm, that person would start cultivating ¨C only to fail miserably. Turns out they were born in a different time zone and needed to wait a few more hours till they were exactly 15. No, the 15 year old age limit was more of a guideline, because that is the age by which a human body would have developed enough to withstand the arduous journey which was cultivation. Using special treatments to strengthen the body was one of the ways a person could get ready to cultivate in advance. It just so happened, eating strengthening fruits was one of those ways. On Vegus Minima the Devils really started treating the if they were about to lose it, and sent all their zombie hordes to attack human settlements. They also deployed a special kind of demon known as Grubber worms, which specialized in recovery. The worms recovered not only the dead zombies, but the dead humans as well. What they intended with those bodies, besides the zombie cores, was as yet unknown. Of the threes, Vegus Minima was the most chaotic, yet somehow it was also the one dealing with the situation best. But the chaos had only just begun, and there were many opportunities to make mistakes. Lex, the person who could be said to have indirectly caused all three situations, waspletely unaware. He had seen various performances already, but there were many more left to go. Fortunately, the first part of the cultural event would go on all day, and the second part would only begin the next day. At a certain point, Lex decided to depart, ande back in his Leo persona. He noticed quickly that any time he would approach a stage as the Innkeeper people would either move away or hush up, scared to offend him. When Lex, or rather Leo, returned his attention was caught by a stage where he saw a single ballerina dancing. So far Lex had enjoyed the Beasts performances more, but maybe that was because those were novel sights, whereas he had some knowledge of Earth¡¯s culture already. Yet this ballerina was different. Suffice to say, she was breathtakingly beautiful. Lex felt a little shallow, thinking that the first thing that caught his attention was her looks, especially when her performance was extraordinary. Yet at the same time, he would be a hypocrite if he did not admit that the best and most apt description of this woman could be summarized in a single word: beautiful. Lex was not paying attention to her gorgeous phoenix eyes, her thin pink lips, her sleek jaw, her smooth cheeks or her flowing brown hair. No, he was mesmerized by her entire visage. The various silkyers of her tutu flowed in the air like dancing birds as she twirled on a string so thin it was invisible to the naked eye. The gray see through cape she wore sparkled, leaving behind a trail of images of dancing butterflies, following her wherever she went. Lex had never seen a ballet before and so did not have an understanding of what it was supposed to entail, but he was pretty sure that the enrapturing performance being put on by this one woman was only possible because of her ridiculously high cultivation of Peak Golden core! Yes, unexpectedly, this woman was a soldier from Vegus Minima! Maybe Lex should not have been so surprised, as even soldiers were human, but he was just not expecting such a spectacr disy from a soldier. It took a while for Lex to wake from his trance. At this point, the ballerina was no longer simply dancing on an impossibly thin string. She was dancing vertically and horizontally as the strings went in every direction. At some points, she even danced upside down. This was an experience he would have missed had he been wearing the Host Attire as it would have prevented him from fully falling into a trance. Finally, when Lex started feeling embarrassed from staring at the beautiful woman for too long, he decided to leave. Instead of heading towards another disy, this time he walked towards the Empire¡¯s recruitment stall. He was very curious about what their intentions were, and wanted to experience it for himself. The Inn was not facilitating transport from one to another en masse yet, and Earth was determined to stay hidden, so what were their intentions? What Lex did not know was that Ragnar hadpletely dropped all of his ns and intentions for Earth after discovering that it had some secret. He did not want to get involved, nor did he care enough to distract himself from his mission. Still, when Lex arrived at the stall there was a small line. At the forefront was the smallest beast Lex had seen so far. Generally, once beasts started cultivating their size would grow. This one was roughly the size of a hamster. It had six legs, a scaly body and a face that looked like a dogs. What it was, Lex had no idea, but it was in the Golden core realm, so it definitely wasn¡¯t weak. Lex was unable to hear the discussion between the Beast and the soldiers, a result of a small formation they set up on their own. Yet from the looks of it, they both were very satisfied by the result. A few people were ahead of him in line, but Lex waited patiently. When it was finally his turn he spoke first, not giving them a chance. ¡°What kind of performance are you guys doing? Howe your stage is different from the rest?¡± ¡°Ours is not a performance,¡± one of the soldiers said amicably. ¡°We¡¯re here representing the Jotun Empire, thergest human force in the universe. Our job here is to provide you with information not just about the universe, but about how to grow individually as well as bring growth to your own society. After all, the prosperity and growth of humans is in both of our interests.¡± ¡°Oh, how so?¡± Lex asked,pletely ready for the uing barrage of propaganda. Chapter 129 Civilization ranks The soldiers studied Lex for a moment, with him still being in his Leo persona, and quickly judged him to be an inexperienced youth. This did not put him at ease, as he had not intended to fool Lex to begin with. He was just disappointed that the effectiveness of their instructional course would drop. ¡°There are a few things to keep note of about the universe. ording to our notes, your civilization has not achieved interster travel nor has it been contacted by external civilizations, so it is unlikely you will need this information, but life is unpredictable, so you should memorize it anyway. ¡°The first thing to take note of are civilization levels. The first and most basic level is identified by a civilization that has been unable to leave their home world. That is called a Ground level civilization. The next is one that has inhabited all the others, or in the process of inhabiting thes in its sr system, which is identified at the Sky level. The next is known as Star level, in which a civilization has the means to be able to travel from one star to the next within a reasonably short amount of time. ¡°This is varied, as civilizations that are creating their own technology usually have a teething period where travel between stars starts out taking centuries, but eventually gets whittled down to a few decades. But that is not enough to earn the Star rank as a civilization. If the average distance between two stars is considered to be 5 light years, then the travel between them must take no longer than 10 years minimum to earn the Star rank.. ¡°The Jotun Empire is one rank higher than that, which is known as the Gctic rank. The minimum requirement for that is to be able to travel between two gxies in a minimum of a century. ¡°If you¡¯re wondering whether there are levels above even that, then the answer is most definitely yes. What those levels are, even I do not know, so you definitely don¡¯t need to worry about it. ¡°I won¡¯t go into detail about the average civilization rank distribution, as that knowledge won¡¯t serve you with any purpose. What you need to do need to know, however, is identify if a given force is neutral or friendly towards you. In the known universe, the qualification for a ¡®neutral¡¯ or ¡®friendly¡¯ force is very difficult to get, with a lot of qualifications that need to be met. ¡°Among other requirements, these forces or civilizations must maintain their neutrality to everyone. For friendly forces, they have to have a long history of cooperation and friendly rtions with your associated force. ¡°Whether a force is neutral or friendly towards you, there is a very simple way to identify either. You can log onto the Henali portal and check the forces affiliation there. As for what the Henali portal is, it¡¯s a digital tform with a live connection throughout most of the known universe. A force that ims ¡®neutral¡¯ status without having its status confirmed on the portal is most likely unreliable. There is no real consequence for doing so, but only when its status can be confirmed on the portal will it bepletely neutral and trustworthy.¡± ¡°Wait, are you saying there¡¯s a universe wide inte? How is that even possible?¡± Lex asked, genuinely shocked! ¡°No, not universe wide. I said it covers most of the known universe, not all of it. That¡¯s not to mention that there are clear borders to the unknown, or as yet unexplored, universe. The portal is maintained by all forces that are a part of the Henali alliance, such as the Jotun Empire. The empire is responsible for building and maintaining connectors throughout its territory.¡± ¡°How do I log onto the portal?¡± Lex asked curiously. The Earth probably wasn¡¯t a part of the portal, but he was definitely interested in checking it out. Since he traveled to multiples, there was no doubt he¡¯d get a chance to log on at some point. ¡°The first time you log on, it has to be at a registration point. However, once you¡¯ve finished registration, you can log on using simple verbalmands that will prompt the minimum interface required to use basic functions. The verbalmands will work no matter where you are in the universe, so long as a connection is avable. Naturally, the connection can be blocked using technology or formations, otherwise there would be a serious threat of invasion of privacy. For more detailed interactions, you would obviously need to purchase a login device. Those can be anything from a simple smartwatch to an entire body immersive VR chamber. For the purpose of identifying a force¡¯s status, the verbalmands should be enough. ¡°Still, as dangerous and treacherous as the universe is, some simple safety precautions will get you a long way. Your biggest threat is, and always will be, the demons!¡± At this point, the soldiers wore a terrible grimace and exuded a killing intent so powerful Lex could physically feel it pressing up against his body. It was like a feeling of being submerged in water, but instead of your skin getting wet, it was constantly being pricked by tiny little needles. Lex had to constantly look at himself to ensure he wasn¡¯t actually bleeding. ¡°If you had been here at the meeting, a few days before the Games started, you would have had a chance to see them for yourself. They are nothing but vile, ravenous monsters that want nothing more than to destroy everything they touch and consume anything that has life. But you don¡¯t need to take my word for it, every force in the universe is hostile against them! This is a war you have no way of staying away from, even if you want to. The moment you see a demon, you will have to judge if you can fight it. If you can¡¯t, then you must run. They will kill you every chance they get!¡± At this point, the soldiers spiraled into a long barrage about the evils of demonic beings, how they were the sin of existence, the bane of all that was pure, etc. etc. The soldier gave Lex a lot of information before he began peddling his propaganda, although Lex agreed that the demons were most likely a threat to most people. But he had seen them obey the Devils, not to mention he had seen them be progressively smarter as they grew stronger. There was definitely more to it than what the soldier said, yet Lex had no interest in investigating on his own. He looked forward to the information that would help him ¡®grow¡¯ not only as an individual but also his society. Yet it was nothing more than a lot of rhetoric about helping the whole rather than the individual, the greater good over personal gain, etc. He was honestly expecting more, since they specifically asked for a recruitment stall, but maybe they had their own ns. Lex would watch a rey of thingster on to see if they did something he missed, but for now, his interest waned. Little did he know, their original seminar was supposed to be very different. Thanking the soldiers, he left before turning his attention to the Devil¡¯s stall. He was curious about what they were doing. Maybe he had a bias, but he did not believe for even a second that they did not have any ulterior motives. He also wanted to know their stance on this ¡®Henali¡¯ term that kepting up repeatedly. He tried asking the soldier if it meant or represented something special, but got no real reply. Strolling casually, as if he was watching the different stages and looking for something interesting, he made his way to the Devil¡¯s stall. As much as he expected this stall to be barren and despondent, it was quite crowded and lively. Humans and Beasts alike stood in line, waiting their turn to get an opportunity. There was no way the soldiers would line up, so these humans must be from Earth. They should already have been informed to stay away from the Devils, or provided some basic information about what happened at the meeting, but it seemed they did not care. ¡°Hey, what¡¯s the deal with this stall?¡± Lex asked one of the men in line, and received a questioning gaze instead. Once the other man had made sure that Lex was not trying to cut in line he said, ¡°My brother told me about this ce. Apparently, they help you raise your cultivation level! He¡¯s already returned back to Earth, and he¡¯s getting ready to break into the Foundation realm! Can you believe it?¡± No, Lex could not believe it. Unlike the man in line who had a huge grin, Lex was frowning. There was no free lunch in the world. The devils must definitely be taking advantage of everyone somehow. He needed to figure out what they were doing immediately, lest they damage the reputation of his Inn! Chapter 130 Future coworkers Lex¡¯s first instinct was to leave and watch a rey of what the Devils were doing with his guests. He felt kinda stupid, he should have kept an eye on the Devils from the very getgo. Even though he kept it as a priority in his mind, keeping an eye on so many various aspects of the event, it was understandable that Lex overlooked it for a while. Butparing his performance to when he was in the ¡®flow¡¯ definitely shone a light on his shorings. Still, he was only human. He would learn from his mistakes. Resisting his urge to watch a rey, Lex decided to continue waiting in line and see things for himself first hand. Besides, it would seem odd if he left right after being told he could have a breakthrough in his cultivation. Lex waited patiently in line and chatted with the guy. His name was Batsa Acharya and was from a cultivation family in Nepal. Due to suffering from ack of resources, he and his elder brother joined the ICPA policing the region and, over the course of many years, rose up in ranks. Still, their positions weren¡¯t really high enough to be on the list of people who got an invitation to the Inn. He was a victim of the ssic in the right ce at the right time ¨C his boss worked closely with one of the five ruling families and got an invitation and since Batsa was there as well, his boss brought him along. Batsa pulled some strings and brought his brother along as well. Since they were chatting, and Lex was using his Leo persona, he had to introduce himself as well. But that was fine, Lex had already decided on a backstory for Leo. It went a little something like ¡®I am from Earth¡¯ and then provided no more details whatsoever. He avoided talking about himself by talking about random things he liked on Earth, such as movies, games, etc. Eventually, as they chatted, the line moved along until it was Batsa¡¯s turn, who went ahead excitedly. Like the other recruitment stall, this one was surrounded by a formation to prevent sound from getting out. But there was no obstruction to sight, and Lex could see Batsa talking with animated excitement with the Devils.. Speaking of Devils, Lex turned his attention to the two but did not recognize them. These must be different from the ones that came in the first party. It was unfortunate that Lex could not view their statuses since he was not wearing the Host Attire. Although it was irritating that so many of his abilities in the Inn were linked to the suit, it made sense from a logical standpoint. Lex¡¯s own individual cultivation was weak, and so to use abilities that came with a higher cultivation, he would need an intermediary. Rather than saying it was unfortunate that he needed the suit to use the Inn powerspletely, it should be said he was lucky to get the suit in the first ce. The only reason the suit had any power at all to begin with was because it was tapping into the systems control over the Inns territory to give Lex those abilities. It was a good beginners item as without it, Lex would not have performed nearly as well. Turning his attention back to the Devils, he noticed that these two looked particrly young. On Earth, they would have qualified as teenagers ¨C at most. Cultivation slowing down aging made it difficult to guess their actual age, but Lex bet they were rtively very young. The only alternative was that their cultivation was very, VERY high and that seemed unlikely. One of the Devils had two sabertooth-like fangs sticking out of his mouth that extended even below his chin. His hair was golden brown, and with his fair skin and green eyes, a good description of him was devilishly handsome. The other Devil looked like he could actually be human ¨C one of those humans who joined hardcore gangs, covered his skin in various tattoos and even tattooed the whites of his eyes ck, but human nheless. The ¡®tattoos¡¯ that covered this Devil¡¯s skin seemed to be some kind of writing Lex did not recognize. It was unfortunate that his universal trantor was limited to speech and not writing, but he could purchase one of those for himselfter. When Batsa was finished, he directly teleported out of the Inn, impatient to begin his cultivation no doubt. There was no doubt that the various shows were interesting, but they meant little to Batsa. Quickly forgetting about his new Nepali friend, Lex looked towards the Devils, who were patiently waiting for him. It was strange. Not that he was the kind of guy who judged a book by its cover, but the Devils really did not look like they would have a demure demeanor. Yet they wee him with bright, albeit scary looking, smiles as he walked up to them. ¡°Hello, I was told you were helping people breakthrough in their cultivation here?¡± Lex said, putting on his best ¡®innocent face¡¯. He had decided that Leo¡¯s personality would be a happy-go-lucky, naive and innocent one. That would make it easy for him to broach difficult subjects and ask questions people would rather avoid. For a short moment, he considered making Leo¡¯s personality very secretive and hidden, so no one would ever be able to discern what his true intentions were as he secretly controlled things behind the scenes. It was only for a moment, though. He did not have the patience or the temperament to do that kind of thing, nor was he such a good actor. Simple and straightforward would work best for him. ¡°Quick to the chase, huh?¡± the Devil with the dark eyes said, chuckling. ¡°Indeed, we¡¯re helping those wee across. But whether you can achieve a breakthrough or not is entirely up to you. We are simply giving out gifts to celebrate our first meeting. An introductory gift, if you will.¡± ¡°First meeting? Are you nning another meeting?¡± ¡°Yes, the environment is very enjoyable here. We¡¯ve decided toe to the Inn often to rx ¨C life can be stressful, you know. And because of the reputation of Devils, it¡¯s not easy to make new friends. So we thought about giving out gifts. Everyone likes gifts, right? By the way, my name is Creel.¡± ¡°And my name is Ahjour,¡± said the Devil with sabertooth fangs. ¡°Oh, right! My name is Leo! I should have introduced myself first.¡± ¡°Leo? You wouldn¡¯t happen to be the Leo that runs the Gamer¡¯s Den, would you?¡± asked Creel. ¡°Indeed, the one and the same. I¡¯m surprised you recognized me.¡± ¡°Haha, naturally we did,¡± Creel said, bing more animated all of a sudden. He truly looked like he was over the moon at meeting Leo. ¡°I told you, we really enjoyed the Inn. We¡¯ve met all the others from the Inn. Harry¡¯s promised to give me a haircut ¨C when his cultivation increases. His cultivation was dependent on his soul, so for our meeting gift we gave him a little something to help his soul. He was really excited about that. John¡­¡± Creel gave out a defeated smile. ¡°He was not so excited about the gifts and didn¡¯t seem to want to be friends. It is truly unfortunate. Still, although we did not get a chance to meet before, we heard your name from Z. It is truly a pleasure to meet you.¡± ¡°Likewise. I like making friends, let me know whenever youe by! Or if I¡¯m not around, which is most of the time unfortunately, you can leave a message with Z. I would love to learn more about the ¡®Devils¡¯.¡± ¡°Likewise, I would love to chat with you some more. I¡¯m very interested in learning how you became an employee. Who knows, maybe in the future we could be coworkers! Unfortunately, I can¡¯t spend too much time right now. The line is quite long,¡± he said, pointing towards the guests waiting in line behind Lex. ¡°Who knows, I don¡¯t mind more coworkers, but you have to get the Innkeepers¡¯ approval.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll bet that¡¯s not easy to do. But we can discuss thatter. Tell me, what kind of gift would you like?¡± This gift was one Lex would not miss out on, as he wanted to test it for potential traps. ¡°I need stuff to strengthen my soul as well. I¡¯ve even put amission for it in the Guild room. So if you have any more of the stuff you gave to Harry, something along those lines would be great.¡± Creel smiled, and with a wave of his hand, an opaque bottle appeared in the air. ¡°Drink this all in one go. It¡¯ll put you to sleep for some time, but when you wake up, your soul should be stronger.¡± ¡°Thank you very much. Let me know when you have free time. I¡¯m looking forward to seeing you again.¡± ¡°Likewise.¡± Their conversation ended with that pleasant exchange, but as Lex turned to leave, his previous smile disappeared and he stared at the bottle heatedly ¨C the exact look that the Devils were giving him. Lex didn¡¯t know this, but his conversation had prompted the Devils into thinking that a requirement to be an employee at the Inn was a strong soul. They started analyzing this little detail to the best of their efforts, trying to look into what it could mean. None of them expected that it was a simple misunderstanding. Chapter 131 Beasts take the stage Lex walked away quickly, showing excitement on his face. As much as he wanted to disappear immediately, it urred to him that he had spent too little time as Leo since this persona was created. The same way the Devils learnt of his name from Z, others might take notice of his quick patterns of appearance and disappearance. Of course, that alone would not be enough to give rise to suspicion about Leo being a fake persona. Still, Lex believed he should be a little proactive and create a solid background for Leo a little at a time. He needed to spend a little more time with his ¡®coworkers¡¯ the way Harry and John seemed to have developed a rtionship. That could wait for now, yet he really should at least check up on Z. The poor kid must have been working hard in his absence. True to his expectations, Z was hard at work convincing people to leave him alone. As usual, theputers in the store were mostly unused, while the AR rooms were fully booked. Z was trying to convince a horde of aunties that he would not make a good boyfriend for their daughters or granddaughters and that he simply just wanted to bezy. Yet the more he refused, the more adamant they became in their choice. Lex let out a genuine smile and decided he would meet Z another time. He disappeared, returning to his apartment. His little feel good moment was over, it was now time to focus on the real task at hand. He stared at the opaque bottle, trying to discern anything. Of course, with his distinctck of cultivation, he would learn nothing new about the bottle. He put on his suit and prepared to use a loophole he had discovered to learn the details of this bottle. Unlike with guests, he could not analyze items and identify their properties. Yet what he could do was put his belongings into the Gift shop for sale. As soon as he entered an item in the Gift Shop, a description of that item would appear. All he needed to do was add the bottle to the shop to learn about its properties. This was a little something he discovered after Mary told him to start looking for loopholes. He was a little proud of himself when he did.. Truth be told, he did not anticipate anything harmful in the bottle or the other gifts the Devils had handed out. This was because should such a thing happen, the system would warn him the same way it had warned him about Devils putting trackers on his guests. But he needed to identify what their goal was and any little bit of information would help. Lex added the bottle to the Gift shop, read its description and quickly removed it. As he suspected, there was no tampering with the item. It¡¯s description was: Purified Wraiths blood The purified blood of a wraith. In this purified form, it has a soothing effect on the soul by strengthening the cohesiveness of the body. Only effective for cultivators below the Foundation realm. Lex set the bottle aside forter and decided to keep a close eye on the Devils. It was likely that, because they recognized him, their interaction with him was different from the one they had with other guests. He watched a rey of their interactions with a few different guests, and indeed there was a small detail they had missed out on when talking to him. They told all of their guests they will return to the Inn every 100 days or so, so if they were interested in meeting again they can time it ordingly. Every 100 days signified a dedicated, strategic n. The Devils definitely had some kind of ulterior motives. Lex would have to watch out. They mentioned wanting to join the Inn, maybe that was their end goal. Either way, that was a matter forter. He turned his attention back to the various performances and looked for the stages with thergest crowds. He immediately picked out a pattern ¨C whether the performers were Earthlings, soldiers or Beasts, the stages where they were ying music gathered thergest crowds. Maybe it was because such a thing was easier to appreciate and didn¡¯t require the level of attention the snake¡¯s performance did, or maybe there was a greater hidden secret to the matter. Either way, they were the most popr. For Earthlings, the music they yed was not that of bands or popr songs, but cultural music from unusual or lesser known instruments. He listened to each one, taking in their unique charm. It was as if each instrument had a personality. The bagpipes, because of course there were bagpipes, were like loud and boisterous children,ughing and ying in the open, sharing their joy with everyone. Lex personally did not understand why people enjoyed listening to it, but he could certainly admit it was great to set a mood. There were a few different kinds of unusually massive guitars. Lex could not identify what they were or what was special about them ¨C he was not trained in music theory ¨C but it sounded nice enough to gather crowds and that¡¯s what mattered. He recognized the zither, but only because he¡¯d seen it mentioned in so many novels. It sounded nice, but not as soul shakingly beautiful as it had been described in the novels. Of course, in the novels, the instrument was also always being yed by a devastatingly beautiful girl who, often enough, ended up being the protagonists¡¯ love interest. Just to be safe, Lex decided to keep a distance from the bearded old man who was ying the instrument. There were a few different variations on drums as well. There was one particr one that was being yed by hand instead of sticks, which had a rhythm and tempo the others could not match. The man ying the drums by hand also happened to be a cultivator, much like the ballerina, so it made sense that his craft seemed better than the rest. Yet out of all the various musical performances, once again, Lex¡¯s favorite was the one being performed by Beasts. On a particr stage, birds sat in organized rows and sang in a coordination that would put symphonies to shame. Parrots, Mockingbirds, Ravens, Blue jays and many more different kinds of birds Lex either did not know the names of or had never seen beforebined their voices together to produce music that was so sweet and pure to listen to. Lex closed his eyes and let himself be swept away by the sounds. It was filled with a freshness and vitality that was hard to exin. It was like the first gust of wind in the early morning after a night of rain, like the soft tickle of dew felt on bare feet. It felt like a deep breath of fresh mountain air, chilly enough to wake you up but not enough to cause you to tremble. Lex enjoyed the music for an unexpectedly long time. Prior to this, he was confident that the humans would have thispetition in the bag, but suddenly he wasn¡¯t so sure. Still, there were many other stages to visit and Lex went through them one by one. He saw Igishima¡¯s disy ¨C the tree that needed time to prepare. His stage was covered in soil, out of which grew a field of flowers. In the center stood the tree, tall and firm, overlooking its children. The flowers bloomed and waned in a wave, traveling from one corner to another. Each flower lived just long enough to let out its beautiful smell, which, whenbined with the smells of the other flowers, made Lex feel a freshness entirely different from the ones the birds made him feel. It was so unusual, Lex had never used his sense of smell so much and so consistently without losing the ability to distinguish smells. Yet here it was, happening clearly and with direction. Even without the smell, watching the flowers move in such an organized way was already entertaining, yet the smells only elevated the performance. This was most likely another strong contender. He viewed the other performances, each one unique and interesting in their own way. He could not say for his guests, maybe they would enjoy a different kind of entertainment, but Lex thoroughly enjoyed himself. He felt like this was the perfect activity for a vacation. It was not strenuous, yet was interesting and exciting enough to keep him captivated. There was no doubt that a lot of them were waiting for the second portion of the games, however. As enjoyable as these performances were, there was always a crowd ready to watch the excitement of battle. With that, the day slowly passed and the first part of the cultural event came to a close. The guests could sleep here, or they could return to their, as the next portion would only begin in the morning. Chapter 132 The small family As the day came to a close, most people returned to theirs. Still, with only a few of them choosing to stay at the Inn, there were a couple hundred people roaming the grounds. The usual peaceful atmosphere was still full of the buzz of many conversations taking ce at the same time. The seats at the restaurant were full and so were the garden chairs outside. Most people who wanted to eat did so in their rooms or in the coliseum, simply because they had nowhere else to sit. As proud as Lex was of everything he had done, and as much as he was growing the Inn, it was not ready to facilitate hundreds of people at once, let alone thousands. It was also not conducive to the Beasts, as he could shrink their size to make them fit in, but he wanted to make facilities that would allow them to stay their own sizefortably. This was a stark reminder for him that, even with the millions he had earned and spent, the Inn wasn¡¯t as developed as it could be. Realistically speaking, any decent hotel in a normal city could amodate more people than his Inn couldfortably. He always needed to be thinking of ways in which he could improve. As he watched the hundreds of people, some of whom were simply sitting in the grass, having a pic, he decided to take notes on things to improve. This event was like a round of testing for a new app, so that ws could be determined and fixed. Firstly, he needed more ces to sit. But he needed to be creative with his solution, as he didn¡¯t want a giant structure that would be empty and useless at any time he had fewer guests. Of course, maybe there woulde a time where he constantly had a lot of guests, in which case his giant structure would always be in use. Yet in his heart, Lex wanted the manor to remain unchanged. He did not want to increase its size to amodate the growing number of guests. There was another solution to this. Maybe he could leave the manor as is and buildrger structures somewhere far away. This way, he could use the manor or guests with a high enough prestige level, or he could only take the guests he really liked there. But for that he would need to expand the size of the Midnight world as well. Midnight world ¨C that¡¯s what he decided to call the separate realm or space his Inn resided in, as he couldn¡¯t just keep referring to them as the grounds or the hills or even the inn. Next, if the Inn really was supposed to be a vacation spot, he needed to add more activities. Even on vacation, if a person did not have anything to do for an extended period of time, they would get bored. Right now, if a guest wanted to go swimming, the only option they had was the tinyke near the Recovery room. Considering the size of theke, it was not a good option.. Fortunately, all was not lost. At least he had improved options in terms of food by adding the spiritual food, which was a big hit amongst the Earthlings. The soldiers were used to farmed spiritual food, so they treated it as usual and ate it casually, while Nibiru was an extremely vibrant world that gave birth to many spiritual nts and vegetables. For the Beasts, it was also ordinary. For the Earthlings, it was an amazing delicacy that not only tasted phenomenal; it aided their health and cultivation. Either way, whether it was maintaining a high standard or providing an out of reach service, for different guests the spiritual food had aplished different kinds of sess and Lex was happy with that. This was an independent happiness that Lex felt, aside from the 12,333 MP Lex had made from the food! Not to mention, he had sold 10 of his Midnight Inn suits,ting him another 90,000 MP! He also earned another 7000 MP from selling morememorative coins and 7000 MP from his various services. This brought his new total to 212,733 MP! He looked into why his ie from the various services was the least and quickly came to a conclusion. Whether it was the Meditation room, Training room, Mystery trial, Barber shop or Battle Ax, they could only provide service to one person at a time. It was already a big deal to earn so much. With those rooms, the way to earn more was to have more of them to cater to multiple guests rather than increase their prices. Adding multiple of those would also make the ce more crowded, but he did not mind expanding Main street. After all, that was the whole point of putting everything together. Lex was constantly scanning the Inn, checking on all his guests, when he spotted something in the Recovery room. Marlo, who had lost ess to the Meditation room when he briefly visited Earth, was standing inside a particr recovery pod room with another woman, looking down at the person in the pod. They were both staring silently, and continued to do so as long as Lex watched. A quick rewind showed Lex that they had been that way for a few days now. asionally, Marlo left to go into a Recovery pod himself so his body¡¯s condition still wasn¡¯t stabilized, but would promptly return once he was good enough. Curious about the situation, Lex checked the woman¡¯s status. Name: Sophia Ramos/Bravi Age: 60 Sex: Female Cultivation Details: Golden Core Mid Species: Human Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Remarks: That is one emotionaldy! Do not approach her in crocs, mismatched socks or smelling like food. Lex was slightly confused about why her name had a sh in it, but suddenly understood that this was Marlos¡¯ wife. Larry had told him rumors about her rtionship with the madman, but it seemed there was more to it. Lex checked the status of the person in the Recovery pod. Name: Rafael Carter Bravi Age: 37 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: crippled Species: Human Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Condition: The patient¡¯s body is extremely damaged! The patient suffers from hundreds of hairline fractures, amputated limbs, torn muscles and ligaments, a missing lung, failing kidneys, failing liver, severely damaged spine, fractured skull, severe brain damage, missing teeth, missing eyes, missing nose and a severely atrophied soul. It would be impossible to keep the patient alive with only the Recovery pod, but an unidentifiable source of vitality has been detected in the patient¡¯s heart ¨C the only organpletely undamaged. Assuming the vitality is continuously produced, it would take the patient 3 weeks and 4 days to reach optimum health in the Recovery pod. Further treatment via ORR (organic reconstruction room) is then rmended. The soul will require treatment, but no such facility is currently avable at the Inn. Please figure out the necessary treatment on your own Remarks: If it is one¡¯s destiny to die, the universe itself cannot stop it. If one is destined to live, then the universe itself will bend itself around you to provide the conditions for you to live. Lex was startled when he read the status. This was clearly Marlo¡¯s son! He had never heard of Marlo having a kid, let alone one that was in such a bad condition. Maybe this was the reason why he and his wife had such a bad falling out. It was also the first time he got a rmendation for the ORR. So far, he hadn¡¯t even set a price for that, as no guest had used it. That was because, for it to be usable, the patient¡¯s cultivation had to be below Lex¡¯s. Since Rafael¡¯s cultivation was crippled, he was technically below Lex. For a moment, Lex hesitated. Considering his rtionship with Marlo, he felt he should go say something. Or at least, he should let him know about the ORR. Yet at the same time, he felt awkward approaching the man in such a situation. Finally, after letting out an exhausted sigh, Lex decided to go talk to the couple. The longer he waited, the more awkward he would be. Teleporting right outside the Recovery pod room, Lex knocked. The sound startled the couple, as for the duration of their stay, no one had interrupted them. Marlo opened the door and felt a strange kind of relief when he saw the Innkeeper. ¡°Innkeeper,¡± he greeted with a nod, his voice low and absent of his usual energy. ¡°Marlo,¡± Lex acknowledged the man with a corresponding nod. ¡°Pleasee in. This is my wife, Sophia. Sophia, this is the Innkeeper that I was telling you about.¡± ¡°Hello,¡± she said simply, her gaze quickly returning to her son. ¡°I noticed you¡¯ve spent thest few days here, so I thought I¡¯de in and check on the patient myself. I have some good news for you as well as some bad news for you. What would you like to hear first?¡± Chapter 133 What happened Upon mention of checking in on the patient, the couple¡¯s necks snapped towards the Innkeeper with the speed and ferocity of a fired bullet. They had been in closemunication with nurse Jubtion since they appeared, but she could not provide them with any information. Truth be told, Sophia was very hesitant to bring her son here in the first ce. His condition was extremely fragile and had been preserved using special means in her Ramos family. Unlike her, a cultivation and battle maniac, her family¡¯s area of influence was in herbs and medicine. They were one of the most prominent families, if not the most prominent family, when it came to refining medicine to aid in cultivation. In their oldest and most secretive ntation grew a tree so old that it surpassed any historical records. It was an average sized tree and looked no different from a regr pine tree. One could not sense any spiritual energy from it, nor could they detect any anomaly. Combined with the fact that it was in a forest, its speciality was almost undetectable. It was only by ident that the Ramos family had discovered its use, and then slowly discovered its peculiarity. The pinecones from that tree could be removed, and then reced with any kind of nt or herb, and the tree would nurture it endlessly. A normal nt would gain spiritual effects in only a few weeks, and spiritual nts would be strengthened in only a few months. The affinity, type or requirements of the nts seemed to bepletely irrelevant, as that tree would nurture them all. This was a closely guarded secret of her family, and even its code name was simple ¡®Pine tree¡¯ to avoid arousing curiosity to anyone who might one day steal or stumble upon confidential documents. While Sophia herself had no knowledge or interest in medicinal matters, her parents were another matter. Therefore, when Rafael was injured, they were able to react immediately. Using a special technique, they wrapped the then young man in a hemp bandage and coated his skin with an artificial sap. Then, treating him like a nt, they attached him to the tree.. Like this, the boy had continued to live for almost 15 years. But he had only continued to live, he was not healing. So when a few days ago Marlo returned and imed he had discovered a way to heal their son, she was desperate to believe him, but she did not dare to hope. If they removed him from the tree, it was unknown if he would live long enough to go anywhere. He may as well die within a few minutes. Filled with her built up rage, frustration and desperation, she attacked Marlo with a ferocity she had never before revealed. After letting her vent a little, Marlo finally used his strength to stop her. He did not have time to waste, as not only was his own body¡¯s condition unstable, he knew full well that the situation on Earth was rapidly deteriorating. As much as he wanted her to understand reason ande with him willingly, he would have to force things until they reached the Inn. With strength that far surpassed anything he had before, Marlo controlled his wife and traveled to Spain in the fastest jet he had. Once there, he brought her directly to the tree. At this point, she had stopped struggling and was only filled with a desperate prayer in her heart that what Marlo said was true. Removing Rafael from the tree would endanger his life, which was a decision she, as a mother, simply could not take. As much as she knew that this was not a solution, as much as she knew that Marlo would not joke about such things, she could not make herself do it. Ultimately, all she could do was watch as Marlo did everything. Marlo removed the artificial fruit and revealed his son¡¯s body. He did not stop to look at it, to reminisce or feel sorrow or pity. He directly poured a bottle of Bom¡¯s Dew down the kid¡¯s throat and used a Golden key, transporting the three of them to the Inn. Everything after that had been very uneventful so far. While Rafael did not die immediately, like Sophia suspected he would, despite being in the Recovery pod he did not seem to be getting better. Wasn¡¯t this only slightly different from how things were before? During this time Marlo had exined to her what the Inn was, as well as what he knew about the Innkeeper. Which is why his arrival, along with him saying that he had some news about the ¡®patient¡¯, immediately attracted her attention. ¡°The good news,¡± Sophia said immediately. Lex smiled, as even without the need for the suit, he could feel her motherly love. ¡°The good news is that in 3 weeks and 4 days, the patient will bepletely healed. After that, you can take him to the Organic Reconstruction room, where he will be able to regrow his missing limbs.¡± tion and happiness hit Sophia like a tsunami. She chose to blindly ept what the man said, despite it being againstmon sense. Considering Rafael¡¯s condition, how could he possibly be healed so quickly, if at all? In truth, this was not quick at all. It must be remembered that even Marlo, a golden core cultivator, healed much quicker than that. The fact that it would take three weeks was a true testament to how devastatingly injured the boy was. In fact, his status had clearly stated that without the aid of whatever it was in his heart that kept him alive, the Recovery pod would not be able to heal him at all. Sophia was desperate for any kind of good news, which is why she dly epted it, but Marlo frowned. If, after three weeks, his son would be healed, why was there still some bad news? ¡°And what about the bad news?¡± Marlo asked heavily. ¡°The bad news is that the patient¡¯s injury exceeds just his body. His soul has atrophied, and will require treatment as well, otherwise even when he is healed, he will not wake up. Unfortunately, at the moment, the Inn does not have the facility to heal the soul.¡± From her newfound zenith, Sophia quickly fell to her nadir. Belonging to a family focused on medicine, she knew exactly how difficult it was healing injuries to the soul. Simply put, her family had never actually seeded in aiding anyone with a damaged soul. Resources that could affect the soul were practically nonexistent. ¡°You said ¡®at the moment¡¯. Does that mean you could get something to heal the soulter?¡± ¡°Three weeks is a long time. It is entirely possible that such a facility may be avable by then. Even if not by then, down the line, getting something like is highly likely. Of course, if you do not wish to wait, you can put up a request for treasures or medicine that heals the soul in the Guild room. You can pay in unique treasures or simply MP, and just wait for another guest to fulfill the request. You could also look for such treasures on your own in your own world. ¡°This is not a dead end, just another hurdle that you must face. How long it takes to ovee such a hurdle is the only thing that remains a question.¡± The parents felt a wave of relief mixed with distress hit them. Rafael¡¯s injury had truly weighed on them for a long, long time. Now that an end to their undesired journey was in sight, they became even more impatient, yet could not allow themselves to make a mistake. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind me asking, do you know how the patient was injured to such a degree? I¡¯m afraid if it wasn¡¯t for the artifact in the patient¡¯s heart, even the Recovery pod would not be able to keep him alive let alone heal him.¡± His question was multifaceted. Firstly, he was curious about what actually happened to Rafael and how exactly he managed to live after getting injured so horribly. Even his soul was seriously damaged, so it could not have been something simple. Secondly, he was curious about what the artifact was in his heart that could keep him alive. If Lex could find something like that for himself, it would aid him greatly in case he ever got injured. Yet their immediate response told Lex that the couple knew nothing about the artifact as they looked at each other with confused yet questioning gazes. Finally, Marlo let out a sigh and said, ¡°Come, let¡¯s take a walk. I¡¯ll tell you about my son.¡± Leaving Sophia to watch over Rafael, the two silently walked out of the room. There were a few moments where Marlo let sorrow show on his face, but he quickly controlled himself and brought himself back to normal. He wasn¡¯t exactly in his mischievous state, but anyone who looked at him would not be able to tell that this was a grieving father. Chapter 134 A mission Marlo and Lex continued to walk in silence. The soft buzz of the various crowds in the distance was a nice change to the usual serenity of the Inn, and it lightened the mood considerably. This was a good thing, in Lex¡¯s opinion, as the situation was not hopeless. With time, Rafael would eventually be healed ¨C even of his soul injuries. Lex had no doubt that if he continued to upgrade his Recovery room, a feature to heal the soul would eventually show up. In fact, he was even certain that somewhere down the line, he would acquire a way to heal Rafael¡¯s crippled cultivation. That was not to say he would immediately return to his previous power, but that he would regain the ability to cultivate. Having one¡¯s cultivation crippled was a strange thing, simr to Marlo¡¯s crippled golden core. Even those below the Golden core who had their cultivation crippled would not be able to cultivate ordinarily, even if their body healedpletely. Lex did not know or understand the reason behind this, but that¡¯s just the way things were. Eventually the two reached the hills where the Meditation room was located. Compared to the rest of the Midnight world, there were fewer people here. The night sky, lit with skynterns, made it seem like the stars were hanging just overheard. It made one feel like if one reached out their hand, they might just be able to capture it. But of course, it just seemed like that. Even the avian Beasts present in the Midnight world would be kept from touching them, just for safety purposes. ¡°Rafael was born just a couple years after we got married,¡± Marlo said suddenly, his voice deep and somber. ¡°He was a chubby little kid, and would y with just about anyone who would give him any attention.. ¡°All his life, his mother spoiled him way too much. I was also approaching my peak back then, andbined with my family¡¯s background and Sophia¡¯s, there was no one who didn¡¯t try to fawn on him. Compared to the life I had lived, filled with pain and struggle and nonstop fighting, his life was too cushy. ¡°Maybe I should have been happy that I had managed to protect my son from suffering like I had, but back then all I could think of was that if he lived like this, he would grow up to be weak. So, I pushed him hard. ¡°From an early age, I started training his body. I started embedding discipline into his very bones. I treated him like a soldier, not like a son. To optimize the development of his muscles, I put the kid through medical baths. Too much strain on his bones would be bad at an early age, so I had him practice yoga to increase his muscle flexibility as I gave himbat training. ¡°He was seven years old when I made him kill his first human.¡± At this point, Marlo went silent again. He did not look sad or regretful, and his voice was steady. One would assume he was talking about something nonconsequential, like buying shoes. Only he himself knew how much anguish he suffered. ¡°I made many mistakes in raising him, but the worst of it wasparing his life to my own. At each level, at each achievement, at each breakthrough, I would tell him that I had it much worse than him when I was his age, yet had far more achievements. I was not trying to tear him down. All I meant was that he had better facilities than I did, so that he could surpass me. More than anything, I wanted him to be better than I ever was. More than anything, I wanted him to be more sessful than me. ¡°The kid was good. He took everything I threw at him and worked hard to ovee every challenge. But at some point¡­I don¡¯t even know when, his personality changed. He went from being that happy, friendly kid to someone desperate. He was training desperately, working desperately¡­searching desperately for anything that would make him good enough. Instead of training him, showing him how he could be great, all I did was constantly remind him that he was not as good as me at his age.¡± Another bout of silence came, this time hanging between the two men longer. Marlo waspletely stoic. Someone who did not know him would assume he waspletely fine, yet anyone who knew Marlos regr personality would understand just how unordinary this was. ¡°Many yearster, when I heard the Morrison family was training their heir crazily, I forced them to ept me as one of his teachers. Instead of pushing him forcefully, I taught the kid at every level how he should be thinking, how he should ovee each challenge, and how he should view the world. I could not let someone else make the same mistakes I did. ¡°Although the kid was training at a level beyond what anyone his age should be doing, he ever developed the same desperation that Rafael did. All because of a simple choice ¨C the choice to quit whenever he wanted. That simple choice turned everything that was happening from something that was being forced upon him, to something he chose to do. Every time he overcame an obstacle, it was a result of his own training. Every time hepleted a mission, it was his own sess rather than his families. Every time he felt overwhelmed, it was his own choice to continue rather than something that was forced upon him. ¡°Such a small difference, to be honest, brought about such a tremendous change. Instead of bing desperate like Rafael, the kid has grown into a confident young man ¨C because everything he did was something he chose to do to better himself, rather than something his family chose for him. If only I had done the same with my own kid. ¡°Back then I didn¡¯t see the problem, but I warped his personality. I wish I could say that the reason Rafael is in his current condition is because an enemy of mine attacked him, or he was ambushed, or something evil happened. Yet the simple truth is, he forced himself to cultivate too hard. He pushed himself beyond his body¡¯s limits. ¡°In his early twenties, he was about to break into the Foundation realm. It can¡¯tpare with that Alexander kid, but then again, he never had the same amount of resources either. But he forced the breakthrough before he was ready, which caused the spiritual energy inside his body to destabilize and explode. ¡°Back on Earth, cultivation techniques are tested for their stability, to ensure their chances of deviation are minimum, but it¡¯s impossible to eliminate them. His poor state of mind, his desperation to seed, all led him down this path. ¡°Sophia and I weren¡¯t home when this happened, but fortunately, his grandparents were. They managed to keep him alive, but that¡¯s about all they could do. It was impossible to treat him. ¡°Sophia med me. She said I killed her son by pushing him too hard. To be frank, I can¡¯t honestly say she is wrong. ¡°You know, when I think back to that time, I can¡¯t remember what the rush was. I can¡¯t remember why I was in such a hurry to have him grow stronger so quickly. We had all the time in the world. Instead of pushing him to be as miserable as I was, I should have been teaching him how to live. Instead of having him kill people, I should have been teaching him how to defend himself and live the life he wanted to live. I just¡­ I can¡¯t remember.¡± As Marlo vented his feelings, Lex said nothing. He was not sure what he should be saying anyway, and he was not tactless enough to ask him about the artifact again while he was telling him about his son. But this did reveal to Lex another question he had been wondering about. It always felt peculiar to him, a multimillionaire high leveled cultivator spending his time teaching self defense ss to a bunch of nobodies. But suddenly, Lex understood. Through them, Marlo was trying to relieve some of his guilt. He was doing for them what he wished he had done for his son. By teaching them to survive, he was giving them enough time to live long enough to actually enjoy their lives. From his expression, one could not tell that the mad giant was in pain, but if one analyzed his actions it was in as day. ¡°As for the artifact,¡± Marlo continued, ¡°I have no idea what you are talking about. As much as I wished it was something I gave him, neither I nor Sophia have any treasures that would allow someone to continue to live in such a beaten up state. It¡¯s something we can only ask him once I find a way to heal his soul,¡± Marlo said, with unwavering determination. There was no pain in his voice, no regret in his eyes. There was only a mission. Chapter 135 Qualifying rounds Marlo and Lex did not talk much after that. He simply escorted the former giant to the Guild room and showed him how he could put up requests. Marlo directly put up several requests, from information about the soul and soul rted items, to treasures and medicine that could aid in the healing of the soul. At some point after they left, one of the Devils stumbled into the Guild room and saw the various quests rted to souls. This only increased their confidence that the Innkeeper or his subordinates were greatly interested in the soul. He passed their information back to his superiors, who started making various ns. Just like that, the night passed quietly and quickly. Most of the guests had no need for sleep in the short term due to their cultivation, and thus spent the entire night awake. Some of them enjoyed pics, some of them stargazed, some of them waited for their turn in the Battle Ax of the Mystery trials. Thosest two had quickly be the most popr attractions of the Inn. Most guests from Earth, however, spent the night in their rooms, cultivating. The rooms did not have the amplification effect of the Meditation room, yet for the Earthlings cultivating here was already amplified enough. In a single night there had been various breakthroughs in minor and major realms. Lex himself stayed awake for quite a while. For some reason, he found it very peaceful watching his guests enjoy themselves at his inn. No, he was not awakening his inner voyeur! It filled him with a sense of pride and aplishment that people were enjoying his hard work. Eventually, though, he went back to his room to sleep for a few hours. He could, of course, continue to stay awake and he would still be fine the next day, but there was no reason not to be well rested.. Early in the morning, Lex woke up and checked on all the winners for the qualifying round. There were ten qualifiers, but he learnt that one of them ¨C the ballerina he had seen yesterday ¨C had dropped out for some reason and so only nine were left. Of the nine, Lex had already seen a few. The orchestra of birds was included, naturally, along with Igishima¡¯s disy. Thest performance to be included into the qualifiers was by a single, unusual Beast that Lex must have missed. It¡¯s body¡¯s shape was like that of a jaguar, yet it¡¯s body was made out of a silverish liquid. Every time it moved it felt like looking at water moving in a sealed bottle. Lex must have missed this performance, and was quite interested in it. He had never seen something like that. He was so intrigued he even checked its status. Name: Rezin Age: 1 Sex: ¨C Cultivation Details: Initial Foundation realm Species: Mercury Gloubin Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Remarks: Extremely, extremely toxic! Do not touch (or date) under any circumstances! Lex raised an eyebrow as he wondered if this Beast was actually made out of mercury, or was that just a name? Whatever the case, since it managed to be a finalist, he was sure it would put on a good performance. Other than the Beasts, there was one other qualifier that wasposed of two soldiers, while the remaining qualifiers were all from Earth. Lex honestly did not know whether to be surprised or not when he recognized one of Earth¡¯s finalists as a youtuber. She was a¡­ Lex almost blushed when he recalled the first ever remark he got from the system about his YouTube history. She was an ASMR artist but also had another channel where was a solo vocalist and did covers for songs. Lex had never heard her covers¡­ Lex quickly gathered his thoughts and began preparing for the qualifying rounds. He needed to step up on the sales and earn more MP before the next round began. There was a reason for this. Due to his unexpectedly high cost for his bodyguard, he had actually not finished paying for thebat portion of the games. This was the real reason he was so focused on selling merchandise. As of now, he had enough to ensure that the games would actually happen, but considering that Mary told him he needed to ace this quest, he wanted to go all in. The more MP he had to spend, the better he could make it out to be. During the night, he had sold three more suits and made another 3000 MP from the Battle Ax alone! The rest of the services and the coins, along with the items from the gift shop generated 4000 MP, making his overnight total to be 34,000 MP. That brought his total to 249,733 MP! By the end of the day, he should have crossed 250,000 MP, which was his minimum requirement. It was unlikely, but if he sold enough suits and brought his total up to 500,000 MP, then that would be ideal. Something that must be noted was that the three suit purchasesst night were not from humans, but Beasts who were impressed by Little Blue¡¯s own suit. Somewhere around the Inn, three rams were walking around wearing a suit. At 9 am, fireworks went off at the coliseum, letting the guests know that the event was about to begin. Many of the guests came, but most watched the event from their rooms. This time, each performance would happen one at a time to let everyone appreciate thempletely. As such, they didn¡¯t need to be at the coliseum and watched in thefort of their privacy. Soon the event began. The birds gave the first performance, and their light but sweet voice was a refreshing way to begin the day. Most of the guests enjoyed the performance thoroughly, and since they performed a new music piece this time, even those who had already seen them before were entertained. The birds were followed by the duo of soldiers. They wore some dress that Lex assumed was traditional to where they were from, but on Earth was recognized as a sundress mostmonly worn by women during the summer. Their performance, despite their unusual image to the Earthlings, was genuinely entertaining despite being simple. They were fighting. Each held a massive and unwieldy looking de and shed head on! It was a disy of unfettered strength, yet at the same time, had the elegance of a sophisticated dance. As far as Lex could tell, this was not a rehearsed skit. They were genuinely fighting, and often, genuinely getting hurt. Massive cuts and gashes were carved into their bodies, but their traditional dress quickly wrapped itself around each wound, preventing it from bleeding. As the performance progressed, the dress went from looking like a sundress to skin tight sportswear. The two soldiers had the ability to dodge or block, but they didn¡¯t do that. Each attack was met only with another attack, and the one with greater strength or technique woulde out as the winner. Eventually, the show came to a close when one of the soldiers could no longer hold on to the de and it went flying away. Contrary to other performances Lex had seen, this was not pleasurably entertaining but thrilling instead! It received loud apuse despite its simplicity and received greater crowd engagement than Lex had seen before. The next performance was Igishima¡¯s. Like before, his performance was filled with a lot of visual stimtion. The colors of various flowers as they moved and aged melded with one another to give birth to a living, moving piece of art. That, along with its stimtion of the sense of smell, gave a performance that many members of the audience enjoyed. Unfortunately, it was not as engaging as the soldiers, so this was likely the trees end in the performances. Next was the YouTuber. Hers was a very simple performance. She sat on a stool at center stage and sang softly. There was no apanying music, just her voice as she sang her own version of Hallelujah. As simple and straightforward as it was, Lex had to admit that he was surprised by how much he enjoyed it. He doubted that she would win thepetition, but there was no question about the fact that she would gain many fans today. In fact, a part of him wondered if he should hire her as a singer for the Inn. Her singing, along with live music, would really create a special ambiance at the restaurant. That was followed by another performance by the Earthlings. It was a band. They yed a few songs, and the insanely quick tempo and rhythm of the drummer as well as the masterful performance of the guitarist who was ying an electric guitar won the praise of much of the audience ¨C even the Beasts. After that came Rezin, the liquid Jaguar. Lex himself was very interested in seeing just what this unique Beast would do. Chapter 136 Right out of an anime When the performance began, there was not much to it. Rezin walked around the stage in circles, the liquid that made up his body bobbing back and forth as if in an invisible container. One moment it was as if it had aplete head, but as the liquid receded, it seemed as if it was just a neck. The liquid did not spill, nor did it move around outside the clear border that defined the jaguar¡¯s shape. Had the jaguar not been moving, Lex could have mistaken it for the most clear ss container. Yet it was moving, and as it slowly picked up the pace the liquid started moving even more violently. Suddenly Rezin let out a roar and leaped into the air, its liquid body quickly changing shape to that of a sparrow. The now bird glided through the air in an elegant disy, before pping its wings right before it hit the stage. With each p, Rezin changed into the shape of a different bird, flying higher with increasing speed. When Rezin reached its crescendo, it changed to the shape of a human and dove like a swimmer about to enter the water. Right before it hit the stage floor, it changed shape again and turned into a snake, slithering onto the ground. Rezin continued its performance for a few minutes more, entertaining the guests as it switched form. The few Beasts watching were intrigued while most of the humans watched it as a spectacle. Ragnar and his followers, however, looked on with a grave look in their eyes. In front of Ragnar were a few reports, some containing the information his soldiers were able to collect about Nibiru, while the rest were about the Midnight Inn. There was a distinctck of reports on Earth in the pile.. Both had interesting information, but right now, Ragnar was concerned with the reports on Nibiru. At first, he had thought that Nibiru was just another that was heavily popted with Beasts. It was not unusual and considering that the definition of ¡®Beasts¡¯ used by humans included most non-humanoid or insectoid living creatures, they were some of the mostmon kinds ofs that supported life in the universe. But quickly, an anomaly was spotted. Since the Beasts were not unified and did not have the concept of keeping matters confidential, any person who was even slightly friendly with any of the Beasts was able to extract a lot of information about the. What Ragnar had learnt was that Nibiru hosted an extremely high number of extremely rare bloodlines and Beasts. An excellent example was the Mercury Gloubin performing on stage. This was one of the most deadly Beasts in the entire known universe. It did not need to fight. It could simply use its liquid body to intrude into the body of cultivators with realms much higher than itself and poison them. A single drop of its body could eliminate an entire Star ss civilization should it want to do so. Another example was the sentient tree, Igishima. It did not qualify as a Beast, but that did not change the fact that a sentient spiritual nt was so rare that entire civilizations would go to war to obtain it. Such a tree could greatly aid in the cultivation of spiritual nts and was greatly coveted by the Gctic Pharmacology Society, also known more traditionally as the Pill Refining society. The two Beasts, Greens Haven and Blood Fang, were suspected to have rare and valuable bloodlines as well. This was not to mention, after Ragnar did a little research, he discovered that the Three toed Bradious n that the sloth Golden Hair was actually a n that ruled over an entire gxy. Such a thing must not be underestimated, even by a force such as the Jotun Empire. Since they controlled many gxies, they knew exactly how much strength it took to take control and maintain control of an entire gxy. This was not to mention that some forces were strong enough to take control of multiple gxies, but actually chose not to. This was because, even with control over an entire gxy, actually harvesting and using the resources of that gxy was not an easy task. Even the Jotun Empire did not fully utilize the resources of any one of the gxies under their control. There were even more examples of rare Beasts on Nibiru, and if Ragnar knew that the Sovereign Gctic Turtle he¡¯d seen in the Inn also came from there, he would be even more sure that there was something unusual about this. All of that aside, what truly caught Ragnar¡¯s attention was a rumor. It was a simple rumor, with little evidence to support it, but still was not one he could ignore. It was a rumor that a mermaid existed in Nibiru. While Ragnar could ignore all other potential gains or dangers, a mermaid he could not ignore. ¡°Anthony,pile a report. Make a list of all known and suspected Beasts found in Nibiru, and also add the suspected presence of a mermaid in the report. Send the report directly to the Royal Family. Let me know when it¡¯s done.¡± ¡°Yes sir,¡± Anthony replied, and quickly got to work. Other than Ragnar¡¯s assistant, Anthony had another identity, which was actually the main reason he got assigned to Ragnar as an assistant. He was distantly rted to the Royal family of Jotun. His rtion was not enough to be anyone important, but still he served as a means ofmunication with the royal family in case of an emergency. Such was amon practice, and each General level and above in the Jotun army had such an assistant. This was because if normally Ragnar wanted an audience with the royal family, he would need to go through proper procedure, which would take too long. This was a shortcut. A shortcut that Ragnar was using for the first time. Considering his mission, he could not divert his attention towards Nibiru. The royal family would decide how to deal with the situation. In a different room, Havval El¡¯Yun, the Serpent King of the Jade Sea stood before the sloth. The serpent had a serious and angry look in his eyes, but the sloth was enjoying Rezin¡¯s performance. Greens Haven stood in the back with a somewhat defeated look on its face. ¡°This is a dereliction of duty!¡± Havval roared at the sloth, barely containing itself. ¡°Yourziness has resulted in great losses! You did not even make your presence known when you arrived and slept through many millennia of destruction! Had I known a representative was on the, how could I have let the Kinari tribe fall? Only a single descendant lives!¡± ¡°Life and death are a part of nature, child. As painful as it may be, as important as some may be to you, to the universe, all lives are equal.¡± ¡°DO NOT¡­¡± Havval began roaring, but despite his anger controlled himself. After suppressing his anger, he spoke again, in an aggressive but quieter tone, ¡°The child is in danger. The shark tribes have discovered the effects of their blood and have devoured almost the entire tribe. I was able to hide her, but the shark tribes have be too strong. They will challenge my reign, and I do not know the oue. She must be taken off the, somewhere safe. The humans will no doubt hear of the tribe¡¯s existence.¡± For the first time, the sloth frowned a little. After a moment, it seemed to make a decision. ¡°I will be taking some of the Beasts to the Mammoths soon. Have the girl ready, I will take her too. If you want to send someone else as well, for your service, I will allow it. But I will not interfere between your feud with the sharks. They are as much residents of Nibiru as you.¡± ¡°I do not need your help in my fight, sloth! Were I not held down by duty and responsibility, the whole would be under my reign. I do not ask for you aid, just that you perform your own duty.¡± With that Havval gave the sloth a derisive look and left. He had no interest in the games, nor did he care for Greens Haven who was standing in the corner. He had to ready the mermaid and his daughter so that they could leave prepared. Once they were safely off the, Havvel would have no more constraints. He would be able to finally begin his conquest. Though he had not earned the honor of being called a Dragon yet, he would snatch the title with his own ws. And even that would be just the beginning of his journey. In the background, thest three performances took ce ¨C an artist who could make a painting and then enter it, changing it from within, a standupedian who got an unusuallyrge audience response and finally an entire cast of actors and actresses that performed a y that resonated with almost all the humans as well as the Beasts. After a short break, the finale would begin and the selected two performances would take ce. Yet Lex was not paying attention to that. He was focused on the status for theedian. He could not believe what he was seeing. If he did not know better, he would think theedian had walked out of a harem anime. Chapter 137 Incubus Theedian¡¯s status was quite interesting to Lex. Name: James Brent Age: 21 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: Mortal Species: Human Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Bloodline: Incubus. Remarks: Ensure that he does not elope with any Inn staff! It will be too embarrassing! Right off the bat, the first thing that stood out to Lex was that James¡¯ species was identified as only human, but he had the bloodline of an Incubus. He did not know if actual Incubi were different in any way from what he knew in stories from Earth, but they were definitely not supposed to be human. So either he had some way to hide details from his scan, or the reality of things were moreplicated than they appeared. The second thing he noted was that, supposedly, Incubi and Subi were supposed to hold untold charm towards the opposite sex, yet James¡¯ charisma was resonating not only with all the humans present, it was even affecting beasts! Yet despite influencing so many, Lex saw none of them having any sexual reaction to anything James said or did. Maybe that part of Earthen lore was incorrect. The thing that surprised most, however, was that James was a mortal but his influence, though subtle, affected even those multiple cultivation realms above him. In his heart, Lex treated this as one of the most dangerous abilities he hade across yet. The reason he was sure this was an ability or effect that James was having instead of natural, normal charisma, was because he could feel himself being protected by the system from it. Yet for some reason, the system was not preventing the guests from the effect, the way it protected them from the natural aura of his bodyguard. Lex made a mental note to learn more about James. Though he was not sure how he felt about it yet, because ording to Earthen lore Incubi were demons, he did keep in mind that such an influential person could make a good addition to the Inn. Should things have been different, Ragnar and Golden Hair would have also picked up on James¡¯ anomaly, yet since they were busy, and the effect was not malicious, they did not pick up on it. Since the qualifying rounds had ended, there was a short lunch break. This was not specifically timed so that the guests would eat his spiritual food. Not at all. That was, to say the least, the farthest thing on Lex¡¯s mind. Absolutely! In his heart, Lex actually felt an itch to mingle a little with his guests. He wanted to ask them what they thought of the event so far, and what they would like to see in thebat portion of the games. But he had a feeling that they would be too formal in front of the Innkeeper, so donning his Leo persona, he stepped out to the coliseum. The first person he headed towards was Harry. He still needed to establish a rtionship with his ¡®coworkers¡¯ for this persona, and Harry seemed friendly enough. ¡°Hey, you¡¯re Harry, right? My name¡¯s Leo, owner of the Gamers den. We haven¡¯t had a chance to meet.¡± Harry, who looked a little pale from overworking himself, looked at the jolly fellow in surprise. Indeed, although Harry had seen him around they had never gotten a chance to get to know one another. ¡°Yeah, though I¡¯ve had the opportunity to meet Z. You work the fellow too hard.¡± Leoughed, as if he had heard a hrious joke and said, ¡°That kid needs to be a little more social. If no one came and talked to him, he would watch anime all day everyday! But I try to show up and share some of his burden, but it¡¯s hard for me to disappear back on Earth. The folks would get suspicious if they don¡¯t know where I am or can¡¯t reach me.¡± With this simple statement he created a strong alibi for why he couldn¡¯t stay much at the Inn. Anyone who heard it would assume that he had many people around him who would notice if he were gone for long intervals. Lex nned on repeating versions of this statement while staying as vague as possible to let people fill in their own assumptions. It worked, Harry immediately realized how inconvenient it would be for him toe here if he weren¡¯t living alone. All he needed to do was keep track of his appointments back on Earth and he could spend the rest of his time at the Inn. He hadn¡¯t done so yet, but he was nning on giving up his apartment on Earth as well. This way he wouldn¡¯t need to pay rent, and he could live in his room at the Inn all the time. ¡°Yeah, it must be tough. It¡¯s easy for me since I live alone, but I can imagine the hassle of trying to dodge people so you cane to the Inn.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay, I¡¯ve gotten used to it. What do you think of the Midnight Games so far?¡± Like that, the duo continued to chat and started gettingfortable with one another. It helped that Harry was enjoying the games and keptplimenting them, which directly fed Lex¡¯s ego. After a short break, the finalists were announced. To Lex¡¯s great surprise, the finalists were the YouTuber and theedian! He truly was not expecting such an oue. Since he had decided to watch the finale with Harry to give his Leo persona more presence, he had to be very discreet when checking how exactly those two had be the winners. As it turned out, despite their few numbers, the Beasts became the deciding factors. Unlike the humans, who spent a lot of time thinking about things on a deeper level, and gauging how much or how little they liked things, the Beasts were a lot more straightforward. They liked simplicity, and relied more on their instincts than humans. While the other performances had depth andplexity to them, these two performances resonated with them so much that their enjoyment was overwhelming. So while the humans enjoyed each performance, because they were more analytical and critical, their enjoyment was also measured. Long story short, those two were the winners. It seemed regardless of whichever one of them won, Earth already had the prize in the bag. Theedian went up on stage again, and gave his performance. It was unfortunate that he didn¡¯t have many more jokes so much of his performance was a repeat. His effect on the crowd was tempered due to that, but it also allowed Lex to carefully understand how much of his influence was his own natural charisma and talent, and how much of it was the effect of the bloodline. ¡°There¡¯s something a little strange about thisedian, don¡¯t you think?¡± Leo asked Harry. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I mean, he¡¯s repeating his jokes, but people are still finding him to be hrious. I just think it¡¯s a little curious. It¡¯s not an easy thing to have so many people like you so quickly.¡± Harry stopped to think about it, and wondered if he could notice something strange. Yet before he could think of anything, a voice came from behind them. ¡°You are very sharp. It¡¯s the effect of a bloodline, and a very high level one at that. All bloodlines naturally affect all living beings around them in a certain way.¡± John stepped up beside them, revealing a smirk. He was not happy because he knew the answer, but because he had managed to save up enough MP to go to the Mystery trial many more times. What his reaction would be when he discovered the long queue at the Mystery trial was unknown. ¡°Mary, why is the Inn not stopping the effect of this bloodline?¡± Lex asked in his mind. ¡°Because it¡¯s not detrimental in any way to any of the guests. Were it to harm the guests physically or spiritually, the way your bodyguard¡¯s aura from his bloodline would have, the system will intervene.¡± ¡°Do you know what his bloodline is?¡± Leo asked John ¡°No, it¡¯s not developed enough for me to identify, but I can tell it¡¯s powerful. If he were to cultivate his body, its effects would grow and eventually I¡¯d be able to tell.¡± ¡°Do you know a lot about bloodlines? Can you tell me?¡± Leo asked again with excitement. John would be a good source of information. ¡°Yeah sure¡­¡± John started, but then froze. An idea urred to him and after clearing his throat he said, ¡°Since you are my colleague, I don¡¯t mind sharing some information with you. But I must charge you 1000MP per topic.¡± ¡°Sure, I don¡¯t mind,¡± Leo said quickly, before John had a chance to change his mind. He suddenly felt so much better knowing there was someone he could ask questions. Not that Mary didn¡¯t answer his questions, but every time he heard he didn¡¯t have enough authority he felt like choking the system. Chapter 138 Bloodlines Soon after, theedian went offstage, and the YouTuber went on. Simr to herst performance, she sat on stage alone on a stool. Her excitement was clearly visible on her face, though Lex did not think she cared for the award that would be granted to the entire. Clearly, whoever had brought her had promised her other prizes should she manage to get first ce. After taking a few moments to calm herself, she began her performance. This time she sang the song ¡®A thousand years¡¯. Her voice was melodic and sweet and had great harmony. Still, it was surprising to Lex that this is what the Beasts appreciated. He could have sworn that the two fighters smashing each other¡¯s guts out was more appealing to them. Guess he learnt his lesson on stereotyping. For a few minutes, the Inn went silent. The YouTubers¡¯ voice could be heard in every corner, and all the guests stopped whatever they were doing to enjoy the song. The birds and parrots native to the Inn arrived at the coliseum and started flying in circles around the stage. Even Little Blue, who had been throwing a tantrum, stopped to listen, much to the relief of the Gardener as only he was watching the whale. The Sovereign Gctic Turtle did not stop what he was doing, as he was busy using the Devil/fertilizer to nurture the three rare seeds Le had given it, yet gently bobbed its head along. For the first time, Lex noticed that cultivators and Beasts alike were captivated by the young woman¡¯s voice, despite her being aplete mortal and having no bloodline to help her. Lex could not help but think of the ballerina at this moment. Had she not dropped out, would she have made it to the finals?. The thought was fleeting, and Lex quickly forgot about it as he lost himself in the moment. Hers was the quickest performance, yet its impact was undeniable. Once the performance ended, it was officially the end of the first part of the show. Lex suddenly realized that at this moment he should have gone on stage to announce the winners, and share some details about the next portion of the games. But he was standing next to Harry and John, and it would be extremely suspicious if he suddenly disappeared, right before the Innkeeper appeared. He could not tell if this was just a result of him being forgetful or his tumor was affecting his decision making again. Either way, he needed to handle it. After considering what to do for a moment, he made his decision. An announcement was heard across the Inn. ¡°The winner for the first portion will be dered at 6 pm, along with the details for thebat portion of the Games.¡± With that, those who were waiting for the prize ceremony rxed. It also gave them time to call everyone who was absent so that they could also attend the ceremony. Once again, it all seemed nned for the benefit of the guests, and not at all like a nning debacle, which it actually was. ¡°It seems like the ceremony is a few hours away,¡± Leo said, turning to John. ¡°How about you tell me about bloodlines in the meantime?¡± ¡°Oh, do you already have 1000 MP saved up? Your Gamers den must make more MP than I realized. Sure, follow me to my room. I would rather not have such conversations in public.¡± Leo almost flinched as he realized another mistake. His ie from the Gamers¡¯ den wasn¡¯t that much considering the cost of renting a PC was only 1MP, yet he dismissed the 1000 MP because he was considering his massive supply of MP as Lex. Leo should have tried to negotiate down the cost. This huge sum would also limit how many questions he could ask at a time. But what was done was done, there was no use in crying over spilt milk. ¡°Sure, let¡¯s go. Harry, do you want to join us?¡± ¡°Uh, can I?¡± he asked hesitantly. ¡°Of course, since I¡¯m paying anyway there¡¯s no reason you shouldn¡¯t take advantage.¡± With that, the three of them retreated to Battle Ax. Even now, there were a few people waiting to avail John¡¯s services, but he was taking a break for the rest of the day and told them as much. Inside the trio made themselvesfortable as Leo sent John the 1000 MP. This was a hefty amount, no doubt, but the understanding was that anytime Lex had questions about bloodlines John would answer them now. ¡°Bloodlines are a vague concept,¡± John began, his voice deeper than normal. ¡°There is a general understanding of how they work based on many millennia of study, but there will asionally be a new bloodline that contradicts previously understood convention, which is why they are not considered having strict rules. ¡°When talking of bloodlines, the first question thates up is, what is the difference between a being with a bloodline and one without? This is because, even in the same species, there can be various bloodlines. The clearest example is the previous human who had a bloodline, but there are so many other humans present here who do not. ¡°The effect of bloodlines can be expressed in two main ways. The first is the effect on the person carrying the bloodline, and the second is the effect on those near the carrier. Usually, the effect on the person carrying the bloodline is some kind of enhancement to strength or ability, while to those near the carrier are some kind of suppression. I am being as general as possible, because bloodlines really are too varied and have too many effects. ¡°For example, the human performer. His bloodline did not seem to suppress those around him, but had some kind of charm effect. In Beasts, the role of bloodlines is moremon and apparent. A Beast with a bloodline will have an easier time growing stronger, but its growth will be guided ording to its bloodline. Here, they also suffer a drawback which is that if they encounter another Beast with the same bloodline, the one with a weaker or thinner bloodline will suffer an innate suppression. ¡°The second question that is asked often is how is a bloodline formed? Even this has a few different answers. The purest bloodlines are formed as a result of cultivation. When a being reaches a very high level of cultivation, his or her bloodline naturally gains certain abilities or attributes ording to how that being cultivated. ¡°For example, if a human cultivator who is focused on cultivating with a technique with an affinity for fire reaches a high enough level, his bloodline will gain attributes that support fire based techniques. If that human has any children after that, a bloodline that aids in cultivating fire based techniques will be formed and passed on to his descendants. ¡°The second, and the mostmon way, that bloodlines are formed is through the descendants of two different species. For example, if a human and a devil were to have a child, while the child will be born in the same species as the mother, the child will also inherit a bloodline that mixes the strengths of both races. ¡°The third way, and perhaps the most unstable way, that produces special bloodlines is to absorb the blood essence of any being with a much higher cultivation than oneself. To seed in this there are many precautions one must take, and one has to be very careful when selecting the blood essence. Any mistake orplication can easily end up in death. For those that survive the mistake may end up with a bloodline that is more detrimental than beneficial. This kind of bloodline also rarely passes down to descendants, and may pass many generations before showing up again. ¡°But this kind of bloodline is also the easiest to upgrade or grow, due to its unstable nature. All one has to do is continue to absorb the same or simr bloodlines at a higher realm or concentration. Usually, only those who are unable to continue cultivating choose such a path.¡± John kept giving the two a lecture, and they both listened avidly. They were both neers to the world of cultivation and their knowledge and experience was extremelycking. They asked him various questions, and as if he were a living library John was able to give them all the answers they required. John¡¯s depth of knowledge was trulymendable, but then, considering his profession at the Inn, such a fact should already have been obvious. John was incredibly patient in answering all their questions, as his actual profession, an assassin, also required an insurmountable level of patience. Just as the conversation wasing to a close, and Leo started thinking of excuses to leave, Harry asked, ¡°Hey John, is it okay if I ask questions unrted to this as well? I can also pay, I¡¯ve saved up enough.¡± ¡°Sure, I see no harm,¡± the man replied with a smile. It seemed poverty was no longer written in his destiny, as the MP came towards him without him even putting in any effort. ¡°I want to know how to raise the level of my soul.¡± John raised an interested eyebrow, and Leo froze where he stood. Maybe he should stick around a little longer. Chapter 139 Simple prizes Once the topic of the soul was touched upon, both Leo and John became interested. Leo because he himself was looking for ways to stabilize his soul, while John because it was such a rare topic for low level cultivators. Even at higher realms, while it was more important to take note of, rarely would anyone specifically focus on it. Harry sent John the MP, which prompted him to wake from his stupor. ¡°If you¡¯re interested in the soul, you¡¯re very lucky to have met me. Few people are as knowledgeable about the soul as I. It¡¯s not a topic many focus on. Let¡¯s start with what the soul actually is. ¡°The soul is the very foundation for any living being. A being can live without a spirit, and it can live without a body, and asionally even without both, but in order for a being to be alive it must have a soul! ¡°Souls are the onlymon feature shared by all living beings, yet at the same time, for something somon, it is the most elusive. As rare as they are, you will oftene across natural treasures that aid in spirit or body cultivation, but hardly ever will youe across something that aids in the growth of the soul. Inmon cultivation convention, you only start actively strengthening the soul when you reach the Nascent realm.. ¡°Cultivation techniques that focus on using or strengthening the soul are so rare that even I have never actually seen them.¡± John paused for a moment and eyed Harry. He already knew that Harry was practicing some strange technique that used his soul strength to affect his clients. It was something he had nevere across before. Had the situation been different, maybe he would have been tempted to ¡®ask¡¯ Harry the details about his cultivation. Now though, John was properly terrified of the Innkeeper and was on his best behavior. There were some enemies even assassins would not dare cross. ¡°If you want me to make techniques that aid in strengthening your soul, I cannot help you. But I am familiar with some of the mostmon treasures that can aid in soul cultivation, so I can provide you with some guidance there. ¡°Much like spirit stones, which contain pure spirit energy, there are soul stones that can be used. But the thing about soul stones is that they can be used by anyone at all to strengthen their soul, which is why they are absolutely rare. Like spirit stones, they alsoe in different levels of strength and purity, but again, they are so rare that you are unlikely to encounter one easily. ¡°The next best thing for someone at your level to use is Angel dust, Faerie grass or Purified Wraiths blood. Angel dust is incredibly powerful, yet at the same time very stable and nurturing so it can be used even at your low level. But to get some, you would have to buy it from the Angels. It¡¯s expensive and rare, but at least you know the source. The Purified Wraith¡¯s blood is a product sold by Devils. If you have the guts, you can go buy it from them. ¡°The Faerie grass is probably the best option for you, as it¡¯s a naturally urring treasure. But it is extremely, extremely rare. The good news is that it only works for low level cultivators, so the chances of you finding it are much higher than any of the others. ¡°The next best way, but an incredibly slow way, for you to increase your soul strength is topletely exhaust it and then let it recover naturally. The way your body builds muscle after great exertion, the soul also grows. It might be somewhat beneficial to you at your current level, but in the long run it¡¯s so slow that the natural growth experienced by your soul when you cultivate, though limited, out paces it.¡± John paused again, because he knew this was what Harry was most interested in and wanted to give him time to absorb the information. But since he had been paid to give information on the soul, he would do his job properly. His pride demanded it. ¡°While nurturing a soul is incredibly difficult, harming it on the other hand is very easy, which is why soul protection treasures are very valuable. One of the ways¡­¡± Though he tried to hide it, his excitement when talking about all the ways to kill a person by harming their soul came out just a little. The basic summary of everything he said that Leo took away was that if he found a way to hurt souls, under the Nascent realm he¡¯d be extremely dangerous. It also gave him a better idea of how incredible Regal Embrace was as it allowed his soul to heal naturally alongside his body, something that was otherwise unthinkable. No souls healed on their own and would always require external aid. Once John was done, Leo excused himself and teleported away. Shedding his persona, Lex donned his suit once more and readied himself for the award ceremony. He¡¯d learnt a lot of important things that would help him a lot in the cultivation of his soul, but those were things he would focus on after the Midnight Games. He spent the next few hours meditating. He¡¯d noticed himself making more and more mistakes recently, something he could not allow himself to do as the Innkeeper. He had to calm his mind and, preferably, get in the state of ¡®flow¡¯ that he¡¯d gotten in earlier somehow. Unfortunately, the state eluded him once again. As a backup, he exined his n to Marry in great detail to vet for any obvious mistakes. Fortunately there were none. He repeated his n to himself a couple of times to prepare. He didn¡¯t understand why he still felt nervous. He¡¯d already addressed these people a few times, you¡¯d think he¡¯d be used to it by now. He put all such thoughts out of his mind, took a deep breath, and focused on the task at hand. He teleported out to the main stage wearing the warm, gentle smile that the Innkeeper often wore. ¡°How quickly the performances have already ended,¡± he said looking at the full coliseum. Unlike during the performances when everyone was in their rooms, this time everyone sat out in the open. It was a sign of respect towards the Innkeeper. ¡°The performances, in my humble opinion, were ster. It was great to see so many simrities in culture, not only across various worlds, but across many species as well. It just shows, whether it¡¯s a disy of strength, beauty, art or music, everyone can appreciate it. I hope this event serves as a foundation for a friendship that willst the ages. ¡°I could continue to stand here andpliment each performance endlessly, but I think it would be best if we just got on with the show. So, without any more dys, I would like to announce the winner of the first portion of the Midnight Games. ¡°Alissa Harmony from Earth, congrattions on putting on a performance that moved the heart and soul of your audience. Please, stand so that you may be recognized.¡± In the crowd, the young youtuber stood up feeling a rush of exhration withoutparison. She was dressed in a long red gown whichplimented fair skin and blushing cheeks splendidly. Lex almost felt bad that the award was being shared by the whole without a special prize for her, but he also knew that as a mortal she would be in great danger if she received any prizes from him. No one would harm her at the Inn, of course, but back on Earth someone may not be able to control their greed. ¡°Naturally since there is a winner, there must be an award. But this time, the prize is not only for the winner, but the whole that they represent. The first prize is for all the performers of Earth. Whenever someone on your gives a performance that is able to resonate with enough people, they will automatically be invited to perform at the Midnight Inn. Of course, whether they ept or not is up to them, but should they ept they will be able to perform for audiences from across the universe!¡± This waspletely a prize for the performers and not a secret way for Lex to get free and frequent entertaining events at the Inn. No sir, it only benefited the performers. ¡°The second and final award, though simple, can be shared by the entire. After one month, a new hidden realm will be opened on Earth containing the heritage of an ancient cultivator, and will remain open for one entire year. What kind of treasures you can reap will bepletely up to you, but whatever they may be, this will be a great opportunity.¡± The Innkeeper spoke in his usual casual tone, but whether it was the humans, the Devils or the Beasts, they all had a change in expression. This was no ¡®simple¡¯ prize. Chapter 140 Gather your armies Whether they be called minor realms, hidden realms, secret realms, pocket dimensions or anything else, the concept was the same. It was basically a separate pocket of space, disconnected from the main universe. Sometimes they formed naturally, and in some cases, a very high leveled cultivator could open them up on their own. These separate dimensions had their own ecosystem and existed in their own sustained bnce. Sometimes, this ecosystem was extremely hazardous and could not support life. But in cases like this, such realms often give birth to extremely precious and rare treasures, whether they be in the form of precious ores, liquids, gasses or anything else. Most of the time, however, these realms had a very stable environment, rich in spiritual energy. If these realms were left untouched by outside interference, they often gave birth to extremely powerful Beasts or other species with incredibly high talents. Most such realms found on Earth were extremely small and were full of opportunities for anyone to take. They opened at fixed or random intervals, and so could only be treated as ces for small, quick incursions. That was also why, after so many years, these realms still had not been stripped of all their treasures ¨C they just didn¡¯t have the time to do so. Having a realm remain open for one year continuously was unheard of on Earth, which is why they could not believe it. This was too good to be true. This was not mentioning that the realm the Innkeeper was talking about was most likely a new realm to the Earthlings, so far unexplored. The reason why Sloth of the Beasts, and the remaining Devils were surprised waspletely different. Space wasplex beyond what most people could normallyprehend. Most people saw it as a linear existence. Some incredibly intelligent scientists on Earth theorized the nature of space to be curved. Yet high leveled cultivators who could directly feel theplexity of space knew just how much moreplicated than that it was. Based on the assumption that the realm the Innkeeper opened for Earth was one that was already anchored to Earth, his achievement was already amazing. Finding and artificially opening hidden realms without causing them to copse and retain their stable ecosystem required a deep understanding of space beyond what was normally seen. This waspletely ignoring the level of cultivation required.. But there was another possibility, one that was truly mind blowing. Hidden realms that were anchored to a moved in space alongside the as it not only orbited its sun, but as its sr system moved in the universe. This is why they could be opened repeatedly in the same ce on the multiple times. But some hidden realms had no anchors and moved through space like a leaf flying through the wind. These hidden realms were much more difficult to find, to the point where one might not be discovered in a hundred thousand years. Once they were found, they needed to be artificially anchored to a point before they could be opened, yet doing so would tamper with the internal ecosystem of the hidden realm. Being able to anchor it without tampering with the ecosystem was even rarer than finding such a realm, and then maintaining the opening for a long time was even harder. Whether the Innkeeper had achieved the former or thetter, both were extremely impressive. And daunting. It also led to the possibility that the Inn existed in a hidden realm that the Innkeeper either discovered or created ¨C whichever the case, the result was very telling about the Innkeepers¡¯ capabilities. Lex, of course, had no idea about the variousplexities involving him opening such a realm. All he knew was that he selected one of the cheapest prizes the system offered. The prize would be different depending on which won, as the same realm could not be essed by all threes. Whatever the truth of the matter was, Lex was pleased to see that his prize had thoroughly impressed the crowd. If only he knew the true ramifications of what he had done. In one of the rooms in the coliseum sat two beings that appeared to be human. They ¡®appeared¡¯ to be human, because one of them was Loretta in apletely different disguise. This time when she came to the Inn she avoided all the Devils. In fact, she avoided meeting anyone. She appeared, rented the room, and hadn¡¯t left since. The ¡®man¡¯ who was sitting beside her had only appeared yesterday. He watched the Innkeeper with great interest and observed each and every action of his. He analyzed every word and focused on every expression he made. ¡°He is somewhat interesting,¡± the man said softly to Loretta. He was not worried about being overheard because they had, naturally, set up their own istion formation in the room. ¡°I cannot get a read on his cultivation, but the Celestial I¡¯ve basically seen through. When the Innkeeper is not around, he monitors the whole Inn. But as soon as the Innkeeper appears, he follows the Innkeeper closely. If I didn¡¯t know better, I would say the Celestial is acting like a bodyguard.¡± The man had managed to get all this information without using his spiritual sense, which may have alerted the Innkeeper. How exactly he obtained this information, though, was a mystery. ¡°If the Innkeeper needs a bodyguard, maybe he¡¯s not that strong,¡± Loretta said. They themselves had not seen the Innkeeper make a move personally, so there was still some room for spection. But realistically speaking, no one believed the Innkeeper was weak. ¡°It¡¯s unlikely. He is most probably just using the Celestial as a deterrent, and so that he himself does not need to make a move. This way, he can keep his spiritual signature hidden. This Innkeeper may be some old acquaintance we previously thought dead, and by not making a move personally, he can continue to hide his identity.¡± The man thought for a moment before he continued. ¡°There is also the possibility he is from the unknown regions of space. That would make things more tricky.¡± ¡°So, what do you think we should do?¡± ¡°For now, wait. I want to see exactly how he will conduct his ¡®games¡¯. ording to what you told me, the contestants are limited to Foundation and Golden Core realms, but I¡¯ve had a few secret guards assigned to each node. How will he avoid them, I wonder?¡± Loretta nodded, silently epting what the man said. All they had to do now was wait. In a different room, a lone human sat as he watched the Innkeeper. He had a mischievous grin on his face, and under his breath he also kept muttering ¡®interesting¡¯. In front of himy a report personally written by Ragnar. Back on stage, Lex only waited for a couple of moments for his audience to absorb the details of his reward before he continued his speech. ¡°With that concluded, let¡¯s now turn our attention to thebat portion of the Midnight Games. There are ten nodes that need to be destroyed, and so there will be ten games. The first five of those games will be yed by the Foundation realm contestants, and thetter five by the Golden Core contestants. ¡°Going along with the theme of five, each may bring five thousand contestants for the Foundation and Golden core stages each. But I advise you to take this matter very seriously, as even though they are titled ¡®games¡¯, each round will be fraught with real danger. Once you enter the round, until victory or defeat is determined, your life is very much in real danger. ¡°The games will take ce one by one, and only the survivors of the first game can enter the second. The teams for each world will enter the round at the same time and it¡¯s entirely up to you if you want to work together, work independently or even sabotage one another. ¡°At the end of each round, all three worlds will gain points based on three things: total number of zombie kills by contestants of that world, total contribution to the destruction of the node and total number of survivors. ¡°The rounds will be yed in a siege format, with the zombies defending and the three worlds attacking. However, during each round unexpected events may ur that make each round more interesting. ¡°Thebat portion of the Midnight Games will begin in exactly 24 hours, and all contestants for the first five games must be registered and present in the Inn at that time or they won¡¯t get an opportunity to participate.¡± The Innkeeper paused for a moment, and looked at the serious faces of his various guests. ¡°We¡¯ve already seen how the three worlds live when they have harmony. Now it¡¯s time to see how they perform during times of war. I encourage you all to do your best, as the prizes for this portion of the games will only be better than the previous ones, not worse.¡± Not giving them any time for questions, Lex disappeared from the stage. They had much to prepare and it was best if they utilized their time properly. Even the sloth, who was so far uninterested inpeting, turned to look at Greens Haven and said, ¡°gather your armies. We must win this award.¡± Chapter 141 Mobilizing forces The reward of a new hidden realm was extremely enticing to every party present. The potential of a reward the Innkeeper said was even more valuable directly affected everyone¡¯s ns. Thezy sloth that originally could not be bothered at all with the Midnight Games suddenly returned to Nibiru and, for the first time, made his presence known worldwide. There was no drowsiness in his eyes as he flew over the various continents of the, scanning all beings with his spiritual senses. Just getting the strongest Beasts at the Foundation and Golden Core would not work. He needed the proper cohesiveness of an army, or at least various smaller units, who could work together. Originally, he had nned to use this time to evaluate the Beasts from Earth and Vegus Minima, very few of whom had actually arrived. Now he had just met them, shed them with his cultivation level, and told them that he would meet with them once the next event finally began. If they waited for him, they might receive some benefits. If not, Golden Hair no longer cared as much. Greens Haven was also mobilizing his subordinates while Blood Fang, who had already prepared to fight, was directly informed by the sloth that he would be takingmand. At first the wolf was dissatisfied, as even though the sloth was stronger, it did not mean the wolf was a coward and would easily hand overmand of its forces. Yet the sloth pacified the wolf easily by guiding it on how it could further transform its Inferior Lykaios bloodline, something that it had been trying to do its whole life. Since the reward would be shared by the whole instead of an individual, Blood Fang decided to temporarily give the sloth control of its various forces.. The Earthlings¡¯ reaction was just as substantial. Immediately, the five Nascants called a meeting and started discussing their ns. There were multiple things they needed to take into ount when deciding their actions. Their first priority was Earth. Despite their best efforts to negotiate with the rebels, their efforts remained unrewarded. They needed to leave enough forces on Earth to protect their interests which, unfortunately, meant it was impossible for them to send an army of five thousand Golden Core cultivators to fight. This was especially so since, on Earth, Golden Core cultivators were no longer considered soldiers and were at the very top level of each force. With such a ring disadvantage, they directly decided to forgo trying to win thebat portion of the games. They would instead negotiate with the Jotun Empire and try to gain the greatest advantages they could in exchange for helping the Empire attain victory. This in itself would not be an easy feat, as their rtionship with the empire had undergone an undesirable change. They were not able to ept Ragnar¡¯s deal of recruiting 1.5 million people unless the Inn acted as a conduit for transporting them, nor were they willing to give up Earth¡¯s location. The fallout from that was not as bad as they expected. When they informed Anthony of their decision, he seemed to have expected as much. The real difficulty was then in deciding what further benefits they could gain from one another. Anthony was in no way as flexible as Ragnar had been during their meeting and maintained a superior stance throughout every subsequent meeting they had. Though he did not explicitly say so, his actions strongly let them know that they had nothing to give to the Empire outside of their performance during the games. Now with such a prize up for grabs, the Earthlings¡¯ support became more valuable. The families decided amongst themselves what exactly they wanted and how much they were willing to contribute. It went without saying that most of them wanted resources to promote their Nascent cultivation. Only Fateh and Brandon decided to put the needs of their families first. With the decision made, the five of them went to find Anthony and begin a new round of negotiations. The soldiers from the Empire had the mildest reaction. This wasn¡¯t because they did not want the award ¨C on the contrary, the award was extremely important to them. ess to a hidden realm could provide them with precious resources that would aid them in their conquest, even on the other two Veguss. Even though the Empire itself was immeasurably rich, distant waters could not put out nearby fires. No, the soldiers had the mildest reaction because they had nned on doing their best from the very getgo. Tens of thousands of their soldiers were already on standby, awaiting their orders. The games wouldn¡¯t even be that different from their normal jobs, as they were tasked with killing zombies anyway. Gathering up Foundation realm soldiers had been a slight ¨C emphasis on ¡®slight¡¯ ¨C problem for them. This was because Foundation realm was actually too low a level for them to be considered active service soldiers. Their proper designation was trainee soldiers. But even as trainees, they were strong enough to outss most others at their level. For the Empire, this was slightly akin to asking high school level kids to undertake a dangerous yet important task. The difference being these ¡®high school kids¡¯ were heavily trained for the task. There was no doubt that to an imaginative mind, such a situation would be akin to an integral story arc for one of those ¡®high school kids¡¯ that would actually be the main character of a novel. Maybe some of those trainees even thought of themselves as such. Only time would tell what their results were. As soon as the details for the games were announced, in a calm and orderly fashion orders were passed out and before the Earthlings even arrived to ask for a meeting, ten thousand fully geared soldiers appeared at the Inn. The sight of five thousand peak Golden Core soldiers and five thousand peak Foundation realm soldiers was extraordinary. They exuded a battle hardened aura and their expressions were thirsty forbat. The five earthlings, though not unexposed to massive armies, stopped where they stood and stared in awe at the sight. Their battle intent was reigned in, to not offend the Innkeeper, yet just their visage was enough to send shivers down the earthlings¡¯ spines. Their confidence in negotiating diminished a bit, as it truly did not seem like the Empire would need any help. While all this was going on, the Devils did not remain idle either. The mysterious man and Loretta continued to sit in the room, as they had long since already given out their orders. The two remaining Devils did not know that Loretta was still here, but even if they did, it would not matter. They were quite looking forward to seeing the Empires¡¯ reactions once they were done. Ahjour, the Devil with the sabertooth fangs summoned his personal assistant. Looking at a miniversion of himself, he said, ¡°There is an important matter we need to discuss with the Innkeeper. Is it possible for us to meet with him?¡± ¡°I can pass along a message to the Innkeeper. What shall I say it is about?¡± ¡°Why, our participation in the Midnight Games, of course,¡± he replied, giving a toothy grin. The Devil was trying to look sincere but his giant fangs and sharp teeth made him look menacing instead. ¡°I will pass along the message. Please wait,¡± the hologram said, and disappeared. Lex, who was observing the various reactions everyone was having, was fairly surprised to learn that someone was asking for an audience with him. When he learnt the request was from the two Devils, he frowned a bit. He supposed it was too much to hope that they wouldn¡¯t create any trouble when he was so openly targeting them. ¡°You wanted to see me?¡± he asked with a warm smile, appearing before the two. ¡°My most sincere apologies for disturbing you Innkeeper,¡± said Creel, his dark eyes trained on Lex. ¡°But I just had a small question. I thought it would be best to ask you, instead of making my own assumptions.¡± ¡°There is no need for apologies. Ask away.¡± ¡°Since only five thousand participants are allowed by each, when we bring forth our participants, how will it be decided whether our participants enter or the humans? This is not really an issue we can hash out with the humans on Vegus Minima. They don¡¯t really seem amenable to our cause.¡± It was a good thing that Lex was wearing the Host Attire suit because otherwise his eyes would have been stretched open when he realized the ring w in his n for the games. The Vegus Minima was shared by the Devils and the humans, and so both would technically be allowed to bring forth participants. The rules of the event set by him dictated it be so, and the system would not allow him to prevent them from participating, since they represented the as well. Lex sighed internally as he quickly thought of solutions. Chapter 142 Half Lex¡¯s brain went into overdrive. Within less than a single second, he tried to find various solutions. He tried blocking the devils from entering, simply because it was the easiest solution. Yet before he began the event, he had to decide on its rules and format. Everything that happened was based on those rules. Let alone Lex, even the system could not randomly change the rules once the event had started. Since the parameters of ¡®anyone from that¡¯ had been defined ¨C albeit a loose definition ¨C Lex could do nothing to prevent their participation. As a developer himself, Lex understood the logic behind it. Often a client would ask him to ¡®simply remove something¡¯ or to create a magic button that simply performed a certain action. Yet, as simple as these requests sounded conceptually, theplexity behind even the tiniest of details was not to be underestimated. Then Lex tried to identify them as a separate entity and give them a separate quota of soldiers, but that didn¡¯t work either. He tried adding them as a part of the original zombies that were defending the node, but it could not work. He tried a dozen other solutions, but none of them bore fruit. Eventually, Lex was only left with one option that Lex had wanted to avoid. After checking if hisst solution would work, Lex looked at Creel and said, ¡°I thought the answer was fairly obvious. But I guess it was an oversight of mine, considering the kind of rtionship you have with each other. Since you both share the, you can fill half the quota for participants each. If you two cane to apromise on your own then you can decide the split, otherwise each will get exactly fifty percent.¡± Creel grinned at the answer. Truthfully, the devils knew that the moment the nodes underwent any interference, fluctuations in their protection formation would give away their location. It was only a matter of time before the devils lost control of Vegus Minima because, to them, it was only another farm. They weren¡¯t putting any serious effort into protecting it. But at the same time, there was no reason to make it too easy for the humans to reim their. ¡°That is splendid,¡± the devil answered. ¡°We will begin preparations immediately.¡±. ¡°Good luck,¡± Lex said, and teleported away. He felt a little bad for the Jotuns, but he was literally the one that said participants could sabotage one another. When he said that, he simply thought that thes would at most kill-steal from each other to deprive points, since it was still in their best interest to destroy the nodes. Yet now, there was another element ofplexity to the games. The previous favorites to win, the Jotun Empire, were suddenly at a great disadvantage. The beasts might have the greatest chances of winning now. At the same time, all three of them were at a greater disadvantage now as well. ¡°I suppose I should let the Jotuns know as well,¡± Lex thought. It was too bad. He was looking forward to their army¡¯s performance the next day. They looked so impressive just standing and posing, he was sure they would have given a phenomenal performance at full force. Back at the makeshift Jotun Empire operations camp, which was nothing more than a room that Anthony had rented, a meeting was taking ce between Anthony and the Earthlings. ¡°Listen here, pal,¡± Brandon said, frustration and anger evident in his voice. ¡°We are here offering an alliance, not begging for scraps. We came to you first because of the sincerity that Ragnar showed us. That does not mean you are our only option. We can just as easily go to the beasts from Nibiru. I¡¯m sure they¡¯re interested in the prize as well by now.¡± Anthony looked at the five dangerously. His personality was very different from that of Ragnar. Ragnar, despite his brutal and savage nature, was very softhearted when it came to humans. He always wanted to nurture them and help them grow. Perhaps this is what happened after thousands of years of fighting a war, liberating humans from the demons¡¯ control. Anthony, on the other hand, was ingrained with the arrogance not only of his noble birth but also that ofing from a superior civilization. His usualplicity came from the fact that Ragnar was a man who had proved himself time and time again, and was worthy ofmanding him. These plebeians, on the other hand, had not yet earned his respect. It was not that he was against epting their alliance, but that they were clearly asking for too much! The massive amounts of resources required to raise three Nascants all the way to the peak of the realm were honestly not so much to Anthony. It was the damned cultivation techniques that the other two requested that were absurd! They had very specific requirements for the cultivation techniques, which were not impossible for the Empire to fulfill. It was the caliber of the techniques that was the problem. This was not mentioning the instructors they requested, as well as the various banks of knowledge of medicine and advanced technology! A few demands were eptable, but they were asking for too much! ¡°If you find uscking, then feel free to go and cooperate with those animals. It is of no consequence to me if you wish to put your forces in harm¡¯s way. If they really do ept your proposals and decide to cooperate with you, I wish you the best of luck. How the distinctck of discipline and engineered precision of an experienced army will put your own forces in greater risk is no concern of mine.¡± ¡°We would not consider cooperating with someone else if you at least negotiated! You have not changed your initial offer even a single time!¡± ¡°You should be grateful,¡± Anthony finally said, no longer having the patience to hide what he was thinking, ¡°that you are even allowed an opportunity to fight alongside a Jotun army. The battle experience your soldiers will gain will be invaluable. It is not something you can gain with working from beasts. You¡­¡± Anthony was going to continue his tirade but was interrupted when his personal attendant appeared and mentally passed a message from the Innkeeper. The revtion that their number of participants was cut in half disturbed Anthony greatly, but was not enough to demoralize him. Just as the announcements for the details of the game were announced, Ragnar told Anthony to take charge of their deployment and strategy during the games. Ragnar would return to Vegus Minima and begin a wide assault. He needed to be present on the tounch their attack as soon as the formation protecting the spawning portal revealed itself. He also needed to make sure the devils didn¡¯t do anything desperate, just as they were about to lose the. Due to certain precedents, it was unlikely they would forcefully destroy the before abandoning it, but they could do a various number of frustrating things. That left Anthony to decide on his own what his objectives were and how he wanted to achieve them. Winning thepetition was a greatly attractive opportunity, but much more important than that was ensuring that each of the nodes was destroyed. Even if they had to purposefully give up on winning the prize, their first priority must always be that. After deciding how he wanted to proceed, he turned his attention back to the Earthlings. Truthfully, he still disdained them. Yet his training did not let him ignore any potential useful tool in war. ¡°I will inform you of two things, and that will conclude our meeting. What you decide to do after you hear those things is up to you, but I will not waste more time exining myself. ¡°First, the devils will also be participating in the Midnight Games. Their participation has cut down the number of recruits we can send to half. This was something you would learn eventually, so there was no point in hiding this from you. ¡°The second thing I want to tell you is that ¡®negotiations¡¯ take ce between two equals. When one is in a superior position than the other, they do not negotiate, they dictate the terms. Even with our forces cut in half, I personally don¡¯t think that you will be our equal. I think that despite our disadvantage, Earth will still perform the weakest out of everyone. ¡°But, considering the situation, I will give you an opportunity. I will give you the chance to prove if you are my equal, and deserve to negotiate with us. If, during the first game, Earth is able to umte points even remotely close to that of the Jotun Empire, then you can negotiate with me. If not, then you can fall in line and take what you¡¯re given, or you can choose to see if the beasts give you a better offer.¡± With his piece said, Anthony invited them to leave. Though not something he enjoyed, Anthony could also y a few mind games. By making their performance the foundation for further cooperation, he would prompt them to do their absolute best. Had they been promised rewards before the battle even began, their soldiers still would have fought, but would have kept more of a survival mentality. Regardless of the oue, the Earthlings would achieve their goals, so they would do what they could while being safe. But by making the reward based on performance, their soldiers would have to fight with everything and take more risks. Going forward, they would need to continue that level of performance to assure sessful cooperation. At that point, whether the Earthlings decided to help the Empire or the Beasts, it would not change the fact that they would be fighting their hardest. Anthony was busy with his own schemes while the five Nascants held another meeting to decide their future line of action. Unfortunately for all of them, Alexander Morrison was going to be the one participating in the games, and he had ns of his own. Chapter 143 Alexander the arrogant Helen stood silently in the soft, dim light. For the greater part of an hour, she had not moved an inch. She only watched the teenager as he meditated. Initially, she could barely see anything, but as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she found herself mesmerized by the intense, focused look on Alexander¡¯s face. It was not the look of someone searching for peace in meditation, but that of a warrior preparing forbat. Right now, Helen was in Alexander¡¯s private security bunker. She had been with him for the past few days, and just a while ago Alexander had asked to take care of a few things. When she returned, she found him like this in the small gym inside the bunker. When she had arrived, he had already been meditating, but she could tell by his heavy breathing and sweat covered body that he had only recently finished working out. She did not want to disturb him, so she waited. But at some point, when she found herself biting her lower lip, and staring as the sweat roll down his slightly swollen arms, she realized that she needed to distance herself from the man. Otherwise, despite her decision to look for someone who loved and valued her the way she wanted, she might just spend the rest of her life just like this: standing in the darkness, watching the contours of his face in silence as he strode forward, farther and farther from her reach. While Helen was battling her inner demons and gearing up to make a difficult decision, Alexander was going through an ordeal of his own. He was doing his best to harness the raging energy coursing through his body. It was not as simple as it sounded, not only because he had just recentlypleted his breakthrough into the Foundation realm in body cultivation as well, thanks to the many zombie cores he used. No, his energy had been raging as if he was just about to fight an entire war on his own. This was because his body was reacting to his will and what he had been nning. But even then, as much as he appreciated and needed the energy, it had to be firmly under his own control.. One may wonder, considering Alexander¡¯s background, why he was never arrogant towards others. Some may specte it was a result of proper upbringing, or that his endless training had tempered Alexander¡¯s arrogance. But that was far from the truth. Son to excellent parents, grandson to the best of the best, heir to the Morrison family, an only child and trained rigorously not only to surpass his peers but many of his seniors as well, Alexander did not need to act arrogant ¨C it was ingrained into his very bones. But despite all that, he did not behave rudely or with an aura of superiority to those around him. This was because, to Alexander, such petty behavior could not epass his innate arrogance. Alexander¡¯s arrogance could be described and epassed in only two words: absolute control! This was a lesson his grandmother, the person he was closest to in his family, had taught him. His excellence, his superiority, his endless dedication could all only be truly disyed when he was in absolute control. This meant his demeanor, his speech, even his gait were all a certain way because that¡¯s how he wanted to disy them. Some may think that such rigid control may be unhealthy and may limit his emotional growth, but it was quite the contrary. He did not stop himself from feeling or thinking about certain things, just how he exhibited or reacted to them. For example, if something made him angry, he would not randomlysh out. He would measure the situation and make a decision ordingly. This was a fancy way of saying he did not do things in a reaction to something, but because he chose to. Oftentimes, based on the situation, the result may end up being the same, but it was the mentality that made all the difference. He never did things because he had to, but because he chose to. So then, in a world where he was practically destined to be the best, and his greatest challenges came in the form of pushing himself, Alexander¡¯s arrogance remained hidden away from view. Even when Hammad was attempting to assassinate Alexander, he did not behave arrogantly, not because it was not the appropriate reaction, but because he deemed them unworthy of the response. Hammad was not even significant enough of a threat for Alexander to disy a behavior letting him know that Alexander thought of the assassin as beneath him. To the young man, he was merely ying a game of chess with predetermined moves ¨C one that would result in his own victory. This was simrly why RussianPrincess77 had been able to elicit such a strong reaction from him. She was a piece in the chess game he never anticipated. She had earned the right of his curiosity, but still not enough for his curiosity to rule him and dictate his actions. But the Midnight Games, they provided him with a stage he never knew he craved. On Earth, the only possible rivals to his family were all actually secretly allies. There was nothing in his life that challenged him from his core. That was not to say that he found everything easy ¨C far from it. Yet, things were only difficult because they were new to him. With the guidance and training of his family, there was nothing he could not ovee. Yet in the Midnight Games, there was a challenge waiting for him that offered no protection. There was no safety provided by his family, no secret bodyguards, no backup ns. The only thing he could rely on was his own ability. And, as if such a tantalizing new experience was not enough, he was suddenly brought face to face with forces that far outmatched and outssed anything the Earth had to offer. For the first time in his life, he did not have the advantage simply by existing ¨C and that excited him in a way he had never experienced before. It was exactly for this reason he decided the moment he learned that the Midnight Games would have abat portion that he would participate no matter what, so long as he was eligible. And, as if guided by the hand of destiny itself, he had just stepped into the realm that allowed him to participate. But, true to his mantra of absolute control, he did not let anyone see his seething excitement. He simply started making ns in the background, unknown even to his own family. This was because of a certain fact even his family forgot. The day he reached the Foundation realm, he no longer needed to listen to anyone, and wielded the full authority of his family. He finally opened his eyes to the image of the teenage girl standing in the distance, looking at him. His sudden gaze made her tremble softly, as if she was unprepared for the power and hunger in his eyes. ¡°Have they sent the location?¡± he asked with a level voice, standing up. ¡°Yes,¡± she replied in a whisper for some reason. She did not even realize that she was doing so. ¡°Get ready. We¡¯ll leave in ten.¡± Helen did not reply and just stood by and watched him leave the room. Alexander took a quick shower and dressed casually in ck pants and a white button shirt with blue flower patterns on it in a Hawaiian style. Outside the bunker, it was a bright and sunny day. Putting on a pair of aviators, Alexander got in the driver¡¯s seat of a silver convertible Porsche and immediately sped off. Helen was already sitting in the passenger seat, but for some reason would not even look at him. She just watched the beautiful scenery as the duo drove towards their destination. It was her first time in Brazil so she was just admiring its beauty. That was the excuse she was repeating to herself. It was unfortunate that, because she was turned away the entire time, Alexander did not notice her slightly blushed cheeks and missed out on some beautiful scenery himself. But with the wind blowing in his hair, the vibration of the purring engine felt through the steering wheel, the song ¡®Unstoppable¡¯ sting on the speakers, Alexander was feeling good. In fact, he was feeling very good. So while various forces plotted and nned, not only for the uing games for the dominance of each of their respective worlds, he, as a yet unknown yer, was simply enjoying himself. Even he did not know that by acting ording to own wishes for the first time in his life, he was nting the seeds for a legend that would one day rock the very universe. Softly, without realizing it, he started humming along to the song. He was unstoppable today. Chapter 144 Ready, set, start gambling Alexander and Helen drove all the way to a private airport, far away from any town or city. It was not the kind of ce you could identally stumble into. After confirming his identity, the two of them were led to a hangar with a military helicopter. Getting in the pilot¡¯s seats, the two of them hurried through the takeoff protocols and left. Alexander was naturally trained to pilot all vehicles so that he could deal with any situation, and Helen, who had been trained to be a wife to a cultivator, excelled in various seemingly random skills. Piloting an aircraft was just one of her many talents. This was exactly why among his close friend¡¯s group ¨C when he still had one ¨C Alexander would usually trust Helen with a request rather than the others. As much as he tried to hide it, he found it difficult to rte to the usual unengaged and unmotivated rich kids his age. At least Helen always applied herself in whatever she was doing. About an hour after they started flying overndpletely untouched by civilization, they suddenly found themselves in a very well hidden base in a valley. After having his identity confirmed, the two teenagersnded in one of the Morrison family¡¯s hidden military bases. While the Morrisons had a minimum military presence on Earth, it wasn¡¯t as if they had none. Yet today, the base was a lot busier than usual. Before the Midnight Games began, Alexander had spent some time talking to some of the other guests. He had learnt from Chen that Vegus Minima was not the only that humans popted within that sr system. Despite that, the others were not mentioned by the Innkeeper when he announced the uing event. That led Alexander to suspect that only people from the nameds would be able to participate. While he shared his suspicions with his family so that they would make any preparations they needed to, it was only after carefully selecting soldiers for his own small battalion. Technically, organizing a personal battalion for himself would take longer and more careful nning, but this would suffice for his current needs. After careful and deliberate consideration, he selected 1000 of the best Foundation realm soldiers under his family¡¯smand. Originally, he thought that the number was overkill, and that there was no way he would need so many to follow him in the games. As it turned out, the number was still notrge enough. But it would have to suffice.. Moving any number of troops from one to another took time. The only reason he¡¯d even been able to gather 1000 Foundation experts was because most of them were already on Earth. The ones he had sent from Mars were only the elite few. ¡°How is their battle readiness,mander?¡± Alexander asked the man in-charge of this base. ¡°They¡¯re fully armed, fully prepped and fully briefed. We can have them ready to go in 30 minutes.¡± ¡°Excellent. Do it. I want to be out of here ASAP.¡± Themander nodded and quickly ran off, screaming somemands in the distance. The teenagers simply remained where they were and watched as a 1000 soldiers fell into 100 straight lines in front of them. Alexander naturally did not know all of them, but he had had detailed conversations with all the team captains. They had rehearsed different formations and covered a lot of what to do shouldmunication be disrupted during the games. But, since Alexander had only theoretical knowledge in leading troops and no practical experience, he expected there to be a learning curve, which is why all the captains were also wearing cameras. Alexander wouldter on review the footage to see how his orders actually reflected on how he could improve. Once he was satisfied, he nodded towards Helen, who opened a bag full of keys. A few hours ago he had her go to the Inn and retrieve them. ording to thetest update he had received, Earth had not registered any of their participants yet at all. They were involved in whatever they were nning and had not made any actual moves yet. Or, even if they were making moves on Earth, they had not reached the Inn yet, which was great for him. Once everyone had the keys, Alexander gave themand and they all simultaneously teleported away with a sh of light. They appeared at the Inn in a rtively open area, away from the buildings and the manor. Yet almost instantly, their presence was noticed by the various guests. Their numbers were fewer, and they did not carry the same aura as the Jotun soldiers, but they looked impressive nheless. ¡°I¡¯d like to register for the tournament,¡± Alexander said to his personal hologram, the same as every one of his soldiers was doing. ¡°No problem, just give me a moment to start the registration process. We just need to make sure you are eligible to enter the tournament.¡± He could not feel the system scan him, but after just a few moments, he saw a holographic screen appear in his vision. Contestant Name: Alexander Morrison Contestant Affiliation: Earth Contestant ID: E0001 Contestant Points: 0 In just a few more minutes, the rest of his troop was registered as well, thest one receiving the ID E1001. The E represented Earth, and the numbers represented the order in which they registered. Once the tournament started, there would, of course, be a rankings board and with thousands of names it would be difficult to identify which each participant belonged to. The ID number would make it easier. ¡°Your registration isplete,¡± the hologram said politely. ¡°Please refrain from returning to your world during the period of the games. If you are not present when a game begins, you will automatically be disqualified.¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Alexander replied casually. The teenager expected that soon he would be summoned by his grandfather and the others, inquiring over his entry and why he didn¡¯t at least coordinate with them first. But oddly enough, the summon didn¡¯te. It was ironic then that the highest echelon of Earth remained ignorant of the army that entered under the banner of their because they were in a meeting, yet everyone else learned of it. It would be a few hours more before the Earthling realized what had happened and quickly reacted. What their reaction was and how it affected their ns, only time would tell. Lex was too busy to pay attention to what was happening at the Inn. As for what Lex was doing? He had returned to Earth and was looking up some information on thetest idea he had. Not that he couldn¡¯t figure it out on his own, but he wanted to know how he could benefit the most. As for what he was looking at specifically? Why, he was looking up how to set up gambling at the Inn. More specifically, he wanted to know how to set up the stakes. There was no way in hell that he would go around setting up stakes that gave twice or thrice the returns for a single bet. He had read enough light novels to know that all it took was some lucky, MC type character and a very unlikely bet topletely destroy his setup. For a moment, he wondered if he was being corrupted. He himself had never gambled in his life. He hadn¡¯t even bought a lottery ticket, but now he was setting up gambling on an interster scale. Then he saw a Banana store that sold phones for thousands of dors and then sold the chargers separately. He then realized he was not corrupt. He was simply embracing the human heritage of pursuing profit. When dealing with so many species across the universe, it was important that he remembered his roots. Just like that, the hours flew by and the time came close and closer to the beginning of the games. The Inn became unprecedentedly crowded. Thousands upon thousands of soldiers filled the once empty gardens. Anticipating such a situation, Lex had preemptively taken care of things. Sending the soldiers into their separate individual rooms may cause a problemter for theirmanders, so he had three makeshift bases built representing the three worlds. Hundreds of tents filled each of the base, taking care of everything from temporary housing, dining, plumbing to even things like meeting rooms and storage tents. The three armies looked vastly different. Even though two of the armies consisted of humans, the ones from Earth were wearing a mix of ker and Spirit-tech while the ones from the Jotun Empire appeared to be wearing armor that looked like it came out of a renaissance fair. The beasts, of course, were not wearing any armor, but the fact that many of them were shrunk to the maximum height cap made it evident that once the time came, they would be of a formidable size. It was three armies, because as of yet the devils had not brought theirs. But he had no doubts that they would make it in time. Lex almost wanted to take a picture. In fact, once the idea came to him, he could not get it out of his head. Taking out his phone he took a few snaps of everything secretly. This would be a great story to tell one day. Chapter 145 Lexs woes Lex was sitting in his room, casually sipping a cappino, observing his Inn. Setting up the three bases had cost him 30,000 MP, and he deposited another 220,000 MP in setting the stage for the remainder of the games. That 250,000 MP expenditure wiped out most of the umtion over the past few days, but fortunately, the truth was quite different. This was a direct result of the many soldiers and beasts at the Inn. Even though Lex had notified the Jotun leaders that the zombies would likely participate, they did not bother to send back their soldiers. Those 10,000, along with the eventual 10,000 beasts that eventually arrived, made his Inn tremendously crowded. Earth had only summoned 5000 of the Foundation soldiers that would participate in the games, as they absolutely could not afford to bring so many Golden Core cultivators and have them simply wait. Even though they had their individual bases, they did not stay there all the time. At this point, the Inn¡¯sck of growth in size became an issue, as there was no ce that remained free of guests. Even the forest surrounding the greenhouse was full of crowds by now. They mistook the formation surrounding the forest for some kind of puzzle or game, keeping in theme with the rest of points of interest at the Inn. The sloth and the devils had been unable to reach the middle, fortunately, and Ragnar had not tried, so Lex¡¯s farm was safe. The farm, ironically, became Lex¡¯s main source of ie during this period. His services were not made to handle such a load of guests and were thus always at capacity, and so limited his daily ie. But his spirit food, at the cost of 10 MP a meal, could simultaneously feed many. Just counting the soldiers, the 25,000 soldiers and their meals three times a day earned him a whopping 750,000 MP! But there were not only these few, as most of the guests who had participated during the first portion of the games also came and went at varying frequencies. He also managed to sell five more of his MI suits. This resulted in him making a total of 810,000 MP in thest 1 day. Naturally, with his spirit food literally being his cash crop, he was especially concerned with not running low on supply. He had stored as much as he could leading up to the event, and using the Liger as fertilizer had greatly helped in boosting production, though he had no idea why that would elerate production speed instead of affecting yield quality. Still, the area of his farm was limited and so could only produce a limited amount at a time.. While Lex could do nothing about increasing the size of the farm, at least at the moment, he spent 100,000 MP upgrading the greenhouse to the maximum amount his authority would allow. That upgrade, along with the tremendous aid provided by the Sovereign Gctic turtle, ensured that he would be able to barely meet the demand. For now. As much as Lex enjoyed the feeling of sitting on a pile of MP, he used another 500,000 MP as the deposit for setting up gambling through the event panel. He would get the deposit back along with whatever profit he made once the event was over, so it was a sacrifice he was willing to make. Lex let out a sigh as he rubbed his head. Managing an event with thousands of people, even with the help of the system, was a great hassle. He had decided, after this event was over, he would take a break and maybe go on a vacation himself. He was constantly on crisis control. As it turned out, while he was enjoying the cultural show, Gerard, under themand of Mary, had been working nonstop. Although there were no upfront fights anymore, there were more than a few minor altercations between humans and beasts. This was mainly a result of beasts still thinking of humans beneath them, and not realizing their actions or words were offensive. More than once, one of the giant beasts had almost stepped on a human, and was only stopped in time by his guards. Another series of incidents that happened with embarrassing frequency was Earthling cultivators getting high and not being able to handle it. They were too used to the kind of substances produced on Earth, which barely had any effect on them once they cultivated. Yet many of the guests from Minima Vegus, who were mostly locals of the who had been epted into one of the cities built by the empire, brought a supply that the Earthlings just could not handle. These did not end up in fights or arguments, but Lex did not like having intoxicated guests lying around. Eventually, he had to make an announcement limiting such substances to their rooms only. There was still another group who were causing Lex problems that left feeling severe, crippling fear because more than once he had reacted simrly to how his parents used to react to him when he was young. This was a group of over 100 students from Troy academy, the school that Alexander was technically still a student of as well. These students, naturally being connected to the cr¨¨me de cr¨¨me of Earthen society, were given the opportunity toe here when enough of their parents visited the Inn and discovered how amazing it was, especially for cultivation. The dean of the school, as a man of great influence, happened to be one of the earliest humans to be invited by the five families when they were still recruiting people for the cultural show. Once he had seen everything for himself, and was assured by the five families that the Inn was safe, immediately coordinated with the parents he was able to meet at the Inn and organized a field trip. These students were only the first batch to arrive. More would jointer. Truth be told, Lex did not mind the kids. In fact, he thought many of them were pretty clever and fun. But when they kept inadvertently leading Gerard into racing with the other chauffeurs, kept trying to climb Little Blue to ride, kept flirting with Velma, and more than once tried to convince the girls to go skinny dip in the tinyke, as the person responsible for everything Lex had to deal with the situations. He needed to find permanent, nonaggressive solutions, as he could not keep following the kids repeating ¡®no¡¯. The skinny dipping incident especially nearly gave him a heart attack. They were all underage! Lex did not want to go to moral jail! Rubbing his forehead, Lex cast a look towards the Gamer¡¯s den. The bright side in all of this was that Z had seemed to find a friend. At least, he thought they were friends. There was a girl with an appearance simr to Z¡¯s age sitting with him, watching an anime called Full Wooden Alchemist, both of them struggling to hold back their tears. He wished them both the best. Just as Lex was watching a group of kids who had discovered Icarus¡¯ wings, just trying to imagine what kind of trouble they were about to cause, something happened to divert his attention. The devil¡¯s army had finally arrived at the Minima Vegus camp in a predictably sinister fashion. They did not have the discipline of the human armies, nor did they have the naturally aggressive aura of predators that reeked off the beasts. But hundreds of partially rotting corpses astride various sized zombie beasts that were rotting as well made them intimidating in a way that could not be replicated. Just their presence was an assault of nauseating smells. But that was not all. The army of zombies was not being led by a devil, as Lex had expected. Standing at the forefront was a seven feet tall massive humanoid being covered in an armor that looked more like a collection of scales of various animals than anything forged. Since the requisite to join the games were that they had to be from the, Lex assumed that this must be another kind of demon that the devils had assigned on the to lead the zombies. He was only partially correct, as while this demon did lead the zombie armies, it was born and raised on Minima Vegus. The devils had merely discovered and used it, not sent it to the. Curiosity got the best of Lex and he checked its status. Name: Pramod Age: 17 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: Peak Foundation realm Species: Nightmare/Heart Demon Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Bloodline: Human Remarks: Do not invite him over for dinner, lest he eat you up! Lex frowned. Pramods species was clearly indicated as a demon, yet its bloodline was stated as human. Could humans turn into demons? Or was this one of those instances where two species procreated and gave birth to a being with a unique bloodline? Chapter 146 Yandere zombie The soldiers of the Empire were naturally the first to notice the newly arrived zombie army after Lex. A hush fell upon the entire camp as they angrily eyed the undead horde, wishing that they could attack. As much as therge forces of the universe treated the demons as natural resources to benefit their cultivation, the lower echelons of all civilizations detested them with a burning passion. Many, if not all, of the soldiers present in the camp had suffered the loss of a close friend or rtive at the hands of demons. Of course, this also had to do with the fact that, as soldiers, they were more likely to encounter demons than random people. But fortunately, their discipline held, and no one made a move. They had already been informed that there was to be no fighting at the Inn. Of course, if the zombies made the first move¡­ But unfortunately, despite their desire to attack, Pramod had a firm hold over them. The demon moved his head, as if looking at the soldiers surrounding him, but there were no eye holes in his scaly armor. Still, after ncing at everyone, he followed his personal hologram as it led him to their part of the camp. Yet even as he led his army away, unbothered by anyone or anything, another army appeared to take its ce. These zombies did not appear to be rotting, and some of them could even be said to look somewhat clean. These zombies, all in the Golden core realm, had various shapes and figures. Though it was still evident that their form used to be basically humanoid, all sorts of extra limbs grew out of them now. Some of them had scales, some of them had wings, some of them had long ck nails and hair long enough to be Rapunzels. Besides looking more disgusting and dangerous, they also looked more intelligent. These zombies stood in a somewhat casual formation and carefully observed their surroundings. They growled at the humans nearby, but despite their instincts, they stopped themselves from attacking without the need for someone tomand them. Yet, even though they did not need to bemanded, a leader was still assigned. But unlike Pramod, the leader this time was a zombie. A four feet tall, fairly ordinary looking girl stood at the forefront of the army, focusing intently on a small mirror in her hand. Ignoring the various onlookers, she slowly and carefully applied foundation to her face, ensuring that, despite her undead state, no one would be able to tell. In fact, if it weren¡¯t for the ridiculously strong demonic aura she was emitting, many would have actually assumed she was a human.. Lex checked her status as well. Name: Harriot Shelby Ruby Selma Jane Age: 122 Sex: Female Cultivation Details: Golden Core Species: Zombie Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Condition: The patient is suffering from the side effects from a failed artificial animation. The Midnight Inn currently does not have the means to cure the patient. Remarks: Do not let her fragmented mind, undead body, and devious intent fool you. This is a true yandere in the flesh. Lex was confused by the unusually long list of first names that made up this zombie¡¯s name, and the rest of her status did not make much sense to him, either. Was she, as a zombie, sick? Did zombies need medical attention? Would he one day have a zombie as a guest, who would then try to use the Recovery room? While Lex was pondering, Harriet seemed to finish up herst-minute makeup. She looked at the crowd with a bright smile and then frolicked away. If one did not see the army of zombies following behind her, they really would believe that this was a little girl having fun. By now, the rest of the Inn also became aware of the arrival of the zombies. The guests from Earth stood in line at a distance and watched with awe as the hordes disappeared into their own tents. No one had expected such well behaved zombies, and some of them were even a little disappointed at the anticlimactic arrival. Even Alexander, who was having a serious discussion with his grandfather, was informed of themotion and came out to observe them. His personal ns did not go over well with the rest of the families, and the fact that he was unwilling to relinquish control of the soldiers following him was a point of contention amongst the humans. Ultimately, they had reached apromise, but while Alexander was uncaring, the rest of the families were furious at thepromise. Brandon was too supportive of his grandson. The grandfather and grandson duo stood and observed in silence. While Brandon¡¯s thoughts were unknown, Alexander¡¯s arm slowly started to tremble as he watched the undead army. His eyes wandered over his future enemies, and the more zombies he saw, the tighter his hand clenched into a fist. As it happened, Alexander caught sight of Pramod just as the demon was about to enter its tent. The teenager could not determine the other¡¯s cultivation, but his intimidating visage attracted the boy¡¯s attention. Pramod, as if sensing a gaze upon himself, stopped and turned directly to Alexander, who stood in the distance. The two stared at each other, as if inspecting prey. Alexander could not stop himself from revealing a smile before his hand suddenly stopped trembling. He turned to leave, suddenly bing indifferent to whatever was happening. He needed to hone his mood before the games began ¨C his excitement was affecting his control. There were only two hours left before the games began and a lot of people could feel the tension in the air. The soldiers did not get nervous, but as the clock came close and closer to the moment of truth, their murderous aura started to leak. Movement across the Inn settled down, and slowly everyone returned to their rooms. Even the children from the academy were summoned by their teachers and forced to enter their respective rooms. An artificial silence took hold of the Inn. An hour before the event began, the Innkeeper appeared at the coliseum. A disy of fireworks over the coliseum attracted everyone¡¯s attention, letting them know it was time for another announcement. The leaders of various factions made their way to their seats and awaited any news their host had to give. As if unaware of the mood that had gripped his guests, the Innkeeper let out his usual smile and greeted everyone. ¡°Wee, one and all. The time for the next portion has nearly begun, so I thought I would kick things off and start the party.¡± Lex had been so busy handling the various affairs of the Inn that he did not even realize that he was no longer feeling nervous. He was dealing with things as they came and was so preupied with making sure everything went smoothly, he appeared before thergest crowd the Inn had even held without a second thought. ¡°There are just a few things everyone needs to know before we begin. Firstly, as with the previous performances, you will be able to view the games from anywhere in the Inn. You can choose to focus on any person or army, and your screens will show them. You can also stay in the coliseum and watch as it shows the most heated parts of the games. ¡°Each game willst 12 hours at most. If the node is not destroyed within that time frame, the game will be considered a loss and no one will receive any points for the destruction of the node though you¡¯ll still be able to receive total points for number of participants survived, and individual points per participant for number of zombies killed.¡± A giant screen appeared above the Innkeeper with a few headings: zombies killed, achievements and total points. ¡°But where¡¯s the excitement of watching such a game if you don¡¯t feel involved? Before the match begins, you can bet on your favorite armies and contenders. Which person will have the highest points? Which will take the lead? Who will have the highest kills? Will your favorite contender survive the round? Will the node be destroyed, or will the zombies be able to defend it? Show how much confidence you have in those you support with your bets!¡± The Innkeeper shed everyone a grin. All bets could only be ced before each game began, and Lex, aware of the deep background of the Jotun Empire and the devils, had ced an upper cap on each bet. His deposit was only so much, he could not risk it. But that was just a precaution. It was unlikely that anyone would ce a single bet with such high stakes. ¡°When the game begins, each¡¯s armies will be teleported to a random ce and will begin from there. As for what they can expect once they arrive at their location¡­ Well, I can¡¯t give everything away now, can I?¡± Unlike previous times where the Innkeeper would disappear after each announcement, he walked offstage and took a seat right in front to watch the games. Even he was feeling excited. Chapter 147 And so it begins All eyes were on the massive numbers above the coliseum as they counted down from 15. The guests, the soldiers, the beasts and the various agents, waiting to report back to theirs as soon as the event began, almost felt as if their heart beats synchronized with the countdown. Loretta and the mysterious devil watched while sipping some green liquid. As casual as their demeanor seemed at first nce, the slightest increase in pressure as she clenched her teeth said otherwise. The sloth that had practically wrecked havoc back on Nibiru looking for eligible beasts, and for the first time made its presence known on the, sat extremelyfortably. It had forgotten that it still could not control its strength, and its very sight could destroy mountains back on Nibiru. It would go back and fix thingster. Anthony was standing in his room surrounded by various recording and analysis equipment. He nned on recording each game for analysis and reviewter. Lex was also patiently waiting, though he was no longer sitting alone. A couple of the guests he hadn¡¯t had the opportunity to meet before came and introduced themselves. To his left sat Akihiko Tanaka, a Japanese man in his fifties. Oddly, despite his apparent vast influence, he had decided not to cultivate. To his right sat a young man named Remy Lavern. He was an interesting person. He directly came up to Lex and informed him he wanted to use the Inn to host a meeting for a secret society and was wondering what kind of benefits Lex could provide, which as could be expected triggered a quest. Lex told him toe and ask him once the Midnight Games were over ¨C he didn¡¯t want to focus on two long quests at the same time. As the seconds passed and the numbers got lower and lower, the anticipation that filled the air was practically palpable. Alexander, adorn in a thin silver armor that only covered his chest, waspletely still. His excitement, his anticipation, his anxiety and everything else that he was feeling were buried deep. A mistake he had made when he met RussianPrincess77 was overconfidence, and Alexander never repeated a mistake twice. Even though he was adamant about doing things his own way, he was treating this extremely seriously. So while everyone was looking in the air as the countdown went from 3, to 2, to 1, Alexander only looked forward and tightened his grip on the sword in his right hand and the briefcase in his left hand. The next second a bright light shed across the Inn, momentarily blinding even the strongest cultivator. All the Foundation level armies disappeared. The screens in the air turned on and a wild grasnd appeared in view. The ins were vast with nothing but random shrubbery, trees, and tall grass. The devil besides Loretta frowned as he recognized the area, but this was only the beginning. A massive horde consisting of tens of thousands of zombies of all shapes and sizes suddenly appeared right in the center. About 5 miles away from the zombies in three different directions, three different armies appeared.. The beasts and Earthling still had a moment to adjust, but for the soldiers of the Empire, the battle began immediately! ***** Right as the event was about to begin, Ragnar had the entire under supervision, not only by the several Juggernaut ss vessels that surrounded it, but with his own spiritual sense as well. He even had special spatial fluctuation detection devices installed wide so that he would know immediately when the various armies arrived on the. But things did not y out ording to the simplest and easiest prediction of teleporting the three armies onto the, which in a way is exactly what Ragnar expected. The spatial fluctuation devices started beeping, but before anyone had any time to investigate their results, Ragnar physically felt a change in the fabric of space around the. He opened scans of the from the Juggernauts view and ten opaque domes became visible on various parts of the. He located the closest one and immediately dashed towards it to investigate. Completely ignoring the hordes of zombies that surrounded the dome, Ragnar approached it and tested it out using a device because he was doubtful of his suspicions. But the result corroborated what he thought. The area within the dome had somehow been transformed into a pocket realm, without actually cutting off the space from the itself. How this was possible, Ragnar did not know, nor could he understand. What he was able to determine, though, was that, because the space was not cut off, the pocket dimension shared the same atmosphere and ecosystem as the instead of developing one itself. This also allowed the nodes to continue to function, as if they had been teleported away or moved into a pocket dimension cut off from the formation they were supposed to be running the formation would fail. But that was not all. All zombies above the Golden core realm within the dome were being ejected outside. He suspected that likewise, all zombies above the Foundation realm were being ejected from whichever dome was hosting the current game. Just as he was about to return, he noticed a particrly strong demon ejected from the dome. A demon of this level was not supposed to be on this ¨C clearly it had been hiding near the node, protecting it, but how could it escape the sight of the Innkeeper? Ragnar was now thoroughly convinced that the Innkeeper was many levels above himself. The General and the demon exchanged looks, but did not engage. Ragnar was still the stronger one, but a fight of their level would activate the formation surrounding this. He had no choice but to let the demon leave. Ragnar returned to hismand room and gave the order for an all out attack. While the games handled the destruction of the nodes, he would handle the rest of the. ***** The moment the game began, various beasts and humans disappeared from the Inn. One particr beast reappeared in a jungle, face to face with a massive snake. ¡°The games have begun,¡± the beast said, ¡°and the sloth is preupied. It will not return to Nibiru for at least 12 hours while the games take ce. I did not spot Igishima in the coliseum, but it is likely in its room. Considering ack of response from Red Nation, I think it¡¯s still unaware of the situation. It likely won¡¯t return before the games end.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve done well,¡± the snake replied, its voice much happier than its expression portrayed. ¡°Pass down my orders, begin a full assault! We must take all of its territory before it returns. I¡¯ll have a nice surprise waiting for it when ites back home.¡± ¡°Yes sir,¡± the beast replied, and immediately left. ***** On Earth, a virtual meeting was once again taking ce in the bunker under the Sahara. But no one was speaking, they were all waiting silently. Eventually, a person appeared in the room as if teleporting from somewhere. ¡°The games have begun, they will be upied. But they¡¯ll likely return the moment they get news that something is happening, are you sure you want to do this? Why not wait till the Golden core soldiers aremitted instead of the Foundation ones?¡± ¡°Cowardice will not ignite the mes of revolution,¡± said a feminine voice. ¡°We were preparing to take on their full strength anyway, the disappearance of a few thousand Foundation realm experts is already a great boon. Not to mention, the longer we wait, the longer there is a chance for a mistake. Since the preparations have been made, we will begin now. Pass down the orders. Everyone get into your marked positions and prepare the weapons. In two hours exactly, we¡¯ll strike all targets at the same time. Even if the family heads return, the moment we start, it¡¯ll be toote for them to do anything.¡± Without replying, the various holograms started disappearing. In two hours, the destiny of Earth would change. ***** On the battlefield, Alexander quickly scanned the terrain for potential threats the moment he appeared. Seeing no immediate danger, he sent out a few scouts before kneeling to start the device that looked like a briefcase in his left hand. It took him a few minutes, which was enough time for his soldiers to secure the surrounding area. Fortunately, there were no enemies nearby, so they would be uninterrupted in the short term. The rest of the human army separated from them, clearly acting under a differentmander. Alexander did not mind. When the device was ready, he took a few steps back and watched as a dozen mini-satellites wereunched into the air. When they reached high enough and their rocket trails ended, the satellites activated their cloaking mechanism, hiding them from in sight. They could still be detected using spiritual sense, they weren¡¯tpletely covert, but this was good enough. In only a few minutes, Alexander obtained a live projection of the entire terrain. Identifying the location where the Empire¡¯s soldiers were shing with the zombies that arrived with them, Alexander passed out orders and began moving. Even if he wanted to test himself, he would do it in the smartest and most efficient way. Chapter 148 Cara Deathsworn The sound of screaming, fighting, explosions and the shing of metal resounded as Crawford-41 directed his troops. The moment they were teleported, exactly 100 zombies adorning their zombified beasts each assaulted them. Their suicide attack was vicious and extremely lethal. These zombies had some kind of ability that affected arge area which directly immobilized the side of the Jotun forces facing them. Acidic mucus rained down upon them while sharp bone splinters crashed against their defenses, threatening to split them apart. The ground was split asunder as bloody tentacles erupted from beneath, trying to cut through anything in its path. The roars of over a hundred angry zombie beasts thundered across the army, threatening to tear their ear drums. With ws sharp enough to tear through metal, they shed at the defending soldiers. It was as if armageddon was raining down upon the humans. An overwhelming evil was crashing against a small army, one that had gripped the entire universe with fear and hate. Yet even as fire and fury rained upon the humans, like a scene depicting the end times in many religions, the humans stood firm. Against steel and bone, against bloody maws and spiked ws, against the full strength of this suicide squad, not a single soldier fell. Shoulder to shoulder, the front line dug in and stood their ground, protecting their brothers and sisters behind them. Death could not scare them and a maelstrom of attacks could not make them stumble. Wielding shields that grew into massive, eight feet tall and three feet wide versions of themselves, these soldiers were the pride of an Empire. Known only as the Bulwark team, they were the dedicated protectors of each Jotun army. Finally, the zombies reached the soldiers and crashed against the makeshift wall of shields. The beasts rammed their bodies as the zombies used their unusual limbs and ws to cut through the barricade. The very ground shook from the force of the collision, and even the viewers back at the Inn trembled unconsciously as they saw the sight, but true to their prestige, the Bulwark team¡¯s defense remained unprated.. From the time the game had started, not even a minute had passed. Yet the moment the zombies crashed against the shields, their momentum was interrupted. This was the opportunity that the Jotun soldiers had been waiting for. ¡°Squads three and five, circle around and attack from behind. Bulwark team, hold them down!¡± Crawford-41manded. In a calm yet quick way, the soldiers started moving, acting ording to their orders. The purpose of this suicide squad of zombies was to hold the soldiers in ce as the rest of the zombies retreated to meet with their main force. Tier 3 zombies, equivalent to Foundation cultivators, started to attain intelligence, but it was still in a very primitive form. They could understand their instinctual desires to feed, and to a degree n how to get what they wanted, but the concept of teamwork or long-term nning escaped them. The Jotun forces did not know how big the main force of zombies would be, but under themand of a proper leader such as Pramod, their lethality would increase exponentially. Pramod wanted to get to the main force while maintaining his initial number of zombies, while the Jotun soldiers wanted to stop him, no matter what. While the soldiers fought, Pramod and his mounted units had already gained a huge lead. Soon, a chase would begin that would determine how the rest of the games went. As strong as the army was, dealing with suicidal enemies was not easy. It took an entire thirty minutes before the zombies were dealt with ¨C with no Jotun casualties or injuries, of course. Once the suicide zombies had been eliminated, Crawford-41 checked on his soldiers as well as the fallen corpses. After running a quick scan, they realized that these zombies had been poisoned with a deadly, fact acting virus. Had even a single soldier been injured, within minutes he would have died, and then subsequently turned into a zombie. It was unknown if only the 2500 zombies were poisoned, or if all of them were. Depending on the answer, this could be even more dangerous. Furthermore, none of the zombies dropped cores. This was because the devils had attached a collection formation to each node to automatically collect all zombie cores within a certain area. Since they knew a battle was uing, there was no reason to leave such a boon to their enemies. ¡°ording to preliminary scans, the chances of this battlefield being sector 776 are incredibly high,¡± a technician informed Crawford-41. ¡°As we move, I¡¯ll continue to scan the terrain, which should confirm our location. Once the location has been determined, we can crossmatch our location with a scan of the to get a detailed map of the area.¡± ¡°Good. Once the location has been determined, forward the map to me. Everyone, assume pursuit formation and immediately begin chasing after target 1, but keep an eye out for ambushes. They will not let us catch up easily, but we cannot let them meet up with their main force!¡± Needing no further instructions, the soldiers reorganized themselves to facilitate a chase and immediately began. As expected, Pramod had left behind various traps and ambushes to slow them down. The good news was the Jotun soldiers suffered no casualties. The bad news was that Pramod and his army, atop their mounts, were gaining the lead. While Crawford-41 and his soldiers gave chase, and Alexander and his soldiers made a beeline to cut Pramod off, the rest of the human soldiers had set up a temporary camp and started scouting the area using drones. Their first objective was locating the enemies and understanding the terrain before making a n of action. It was not as simple as simply fighting the zombies as the Innkeeper had said unexpected things may happen during the games. Since their objective was to get as many points as possible to prove their worth, they had to act ordingly. Unlike the humans, who all moved with clear purpose, the beasts divided themselves into three different groups, each with their own ns. Thergest group was formed of wolves who were originally from Blood Fangs territory. They wasted no time whatsoever and ran off on their own. They were searching for their prey, and would decide what to do once they found them. The secondrgest group was one made of elephants. The elephants all boasted a natural advantage in brute strength and defense. They had been forced by the sloth to participate, and behaved begrudgingly. They knew that if they did nothing, there would be hell to pay once the game was over, yet at the same time, they did not want to be too proactive. The sloth might have been a little more lenient had any of the elephants inherited the Fiery Mammoth bloodline, but none of them had. It was not so far as to say that the elephants were disposable, but forcing them to participate in the games, at least, would not get the sloth in trouble. The third and smallest group was a random collection of strong beasts. Some of them came willingly for the promised rewards by their territory leaders, some of them had been threatened, all of them were uninformed about what they should be doing. Reaching an unspoken consensus, they decided to simply follow the elephants from a distance. Only thirty minutes had passed and another eleven and a half hours remained, yet even while most were still nning their moves, the crowd at the Inn was going wild! Everyone was expecting a sh right at the start due to the presence of the zombies, but the ferocity of the fight had taken them by surprise. The humans hooted and chanted for the valiant soldiers, and the five Nascants looked on with the utmost seriousness at the soldiers that surpassed anything they could have imagined. Not a single soldier had died so far, despite the onught! It let them know firmly what their ce in the universe was. Lex was especially amazed, this being the first time he¡¯d properly seen cultivators fight. It was a shame that he had to maintain his distant image as the Innkeeper, otherwise he would be chanting with the crowds as well. Even he did not know what surprises were in store for the participants, so he, too, was watching on in suspense. Besides the various screens showing what was happening to the participants, another screen depicting the points received a lot of attention. The Jotun Empire had 200 points for killing 100 zombies and 100 of their mounts, but the distribution for the individuals was what attracted the most attention. While most of the names on the list so far had one or two kills to their name, a single name stood out: Cara Deathsworn ¨C V2001. Cara Deathsworn was her name and V2001 was her registration number. The V let people know that she was from Vegus Minima. The reason why her name attracted so much attention was because of the number of points she had umted: 29. While each of the soldiers had one or two kills, she had 29. A lot of the guests found themselves turning their screens to her and watching reys of her fight. Maybe a lot of them were expecting to see some beautiful warrior, cutting through the zombies like a valiant hero. Unfortunately, they could not see her face under her helmet, and armor was not designed with visual appeal as a priority, so it did not look too ttering. What they were able to catch was a moment when her armor was damaged around her arm. Before the armor stretched itself to cover the damaged area, the guests were able to catch a glimpse of rock-hard, extremely lean muscles. It woke many of the viewers up to the truth that Deathsworn was not a fairy warrior out of an anime. She was a soldier, and she was built like a killer. For some reason, that only increased her number of fans. Chapter 149 Pride of the weeb community A few minutes into the chase, the crowd started diverting their attention to the other participants. At first, it seemed that the others were just doing their own form of recon, until someone noticed that Alexander and his army were moving too quickly in a straight line for it to be reconnaissance. Unlike the actual participants, the guests had ess to a map which showed the location for each of the participants. When someone finally realized that Alexander was moving directly to intercept Pramod, excitement filled them and they spread the word. Alexander wasing from Pramod¡¯s left, and based on the distance would intercept them only 1 and a half miles away from the main zombie horde. The fact that the previously mentioned horde was also slowly moving outwards made the point where the two would sh ufortably close, but only for the participants. For the guests, the possibility of arger sh only made it more thrilling. One would think that Alexander¡¯s family would be worried for him at this point, as the other Nascants slightly were ¨C though their reasons were different. No, the Morrisons could be seen sitting together, casually chatting amongst themselves. Brandon would sometimes whisper something in his wife¡¯s ear that would make her chuckle, while Ragnar and Hiry ¨C Alexander¡¯s mother ¨C seemed to be discussing the details of the other armies. A few moments of peace filled the time, but instead of boring the guests, it only served to build the anticipation. Alexander¡¯s sh would be extremely dangerous, especially considering that he was outnumbered almost two to one. He was aware of this fact, as his satellites gave him the most detailed information amongst the participants. He knew he only needed to hold them long enough for the Jotun soldiers to catch up. He was not doing this because of some agreement with the Empire, or because his family told him. This was simply the best course of action for him. Numerically, this was the smallest target and also one with the greatest return in terms of weakening his enemy.. The wait was not long ¨C in only a few minutes, the two armies came within sight of one another. If he did not move into position to block them, Alexander would have employed a long range attack, but that would only slow down their speed. So at this moment, he urged his troops to move even faster while the enemy had not noticed them. This was a drawback of having zombies as subordinates. They could not warn Pramod of the approaching army, even if they spotted it due to theircking intelligence. But they were fighting in a in ¨C the view wasrgely uninterrupted. Pramod finally noticed the army when they were almost directly in their path, and without hesitation, passed out amand. The army of zombies split in two, one continuing to move in a straight line and another turning right and moving that way. Alexander had no way of knowing which of the groups Pramod was in, as his satellite was not capable of providing such detailed information, not that he could have done much even if he knew. In a few moments, Alexander got into position to block the iing horde. ¡°Lay down suppressive fire!¡± Alexandermanded into a mic, prompting a barrage of artillery fire. But even as bullets tore through the air, they were unable to deter the oing horde. The zombiesunched their own counterattack as they neared, ready to directly tear into Alexander¡¯s army. Yet the spirit tech used by the Morrison family, while unable to match the quality of the Empire, was extremely imaginative. Some of the soldiers were wearing an unusual backpack out of which hundreds of mini-drones kept flying out. Flying in front of Alexander, they seemed to form some kind of formation. They remained unreactive as friendly fire passed them by, but whenever an enemy attack neared, an electric field was formed between the drones that zapped the attack. Unfortunately, while the field served to destroy some of the attacks, some of them were only weakened. As the soldiers suffered the attacks, the stark difference between their armor and gearpared to the Jotuns once again became evident. Although there were no casualties so far, many soldiers were already injured in the first volley. But since the two forces were different in many ways, there was no need for them to use the same tactics. Alexander was not nning on taking on a direct collision of a charging force. He was nning on tearing them apart! ¡°Pration tactic 1,¡± Alexander calmlymanded, as if he was not under attack. Behind him, his 6 des became airborne. The defining difference inbat between Foundation realm cultivators and those below that realm were the spiritual techniques that one could use. They became more versatile, and a wider array of options were avable to you. While most techniques served a single purpose and were driven by the energy a single person could provide, such techniques were lessmon in war. One hundred of the soldiers behind Alexander wielded unusually heavy weapons that had the shape of a rocketuncher. The fact that, despite their cultivation, the soldiers were struggling to hold it demonstrated their weight. But while there were only 100 soldiers with such weapons, a thin blue line was formed in the air, connecting the weapons to the rest of the surrounding soldiers. They were all using an energy build up technique. Such a spiritual technique was usually the buildup for arger attack, but this took things one step further. In the presence of another person using the same technique, a blue line made of spiritual energy connected them, multiplying the speed at which they gathered energy. In the presence of 1000 people using the same technique, a web was formed and the energy buildup was so quick and massive it threatened to blow up the very people using the technique. Then, via the blue lines, the energy was transferred to the weapons, which had already been aimed. It barely took a few seconds for all of this to happen, and just as the zombie horde was about to crash into the soldiers, the weapons fired! 100 blue balls of mesunched with the ferocity of a bolt of lightning and roared like a continuous p of thunder. Completely eviscerating the zombies in their path, the blue mes traveled fifty feet before destabilizing and exploding. The force of the attackunched the zombies in the air, the heat of the mes burning those in its path to a crisp, the shockwave of the attack causing them to fall over. Yet this was not meant to be Alexander¡¯s main attack. This only broke the momentum of the charging army. Sword in hand, de hovering behind his back, Alexander was the first to charge into the zombie horde, followed closely by his soldiers. Originally, Alexander would have liked a long range battle where he could use his spirit tech to destroy the zombies before they even got close. But since they were already too close to the horde by the time they blocked their path, he would not shy from doing things up close and personal. Considering his recent entry into the Foundation realm, Alexander should have been at a disadvantage. But someone forgot to tell that to his des that were ripping through enemies like paper. He could not act with the flexibility and precision he liked, and so often only cut off limbs instead of beheading zombies, allowing them to survive. But his soldiers would take care of the weakened zombies, he only needed to guide them and lead them on the path to victory. His des carried a red hue, a visual effect of the spiritual technique he was using: Unending Solder. Its effect was simple yet powerful, it gave his des a massive increase in cutting power. A zombie that had somehow turned invisible suddenlytched itself onto Alexander with octopus like tentacles and bit at his throat. Yet before the zombie could seed, a st of spiritual energy emerged from Alexander¡¯s body and ripped the tentacles away and threw the zombie far away. This was the effect of a defensive body technique Marlo had gifted him when he entered the Foundation realm: Maic pulse. Unfortunately, Alexander¡¯s grandfather got his hands on the technique and changed it just a bit before Alexander learned it. As a result, Alexander¡¯s hair was not standing up straight as his body was surrounded by a visible, golden aura ¨C looking very much like a certain anime character. The 100 students from Troy academy who were watching their senior fight were losing their minds as they screamed and shouted. This was the pride of their academy. This was the pride of Earth. And this was the pride of the weebmunity. Alexander himself did not notice his peculiarity and continued to ruthlessly cut down his enemies, which only kindled the passion in his fans¡¯ hearts. Even some of the Jotun soldiers who were watching the fight were attracted to the literal golden child of Earth. Chapter 150 Anthonys surprise The crowd was heated up. The hooting and the chanting were the least of it. Whether it was the demons, the Earthlings of the Empire, they were all analyzing each and every moment, recording all the data they could for their own reasons. Earth¡¯s technology was subpar, as expected, but their application of it was interesting. The most interesting, though, was the way the soldiers fought. Charging behind Alexander, they cut through the zombie ranks like grass. Once surrounded, they broke off into pairs, each wielding a sword and a shield. Each pair attacked and defended when needed, making up for their partner¡¯s weaknesses. It went beyond simple partnership ¨C that was not something unseen in the universe. The pairs used spiritual techniques one at a time, alternating between them, but it was almost as if each technique strengthened the subsequent one. It was as if the new technique was feeding off the remaining spiritual residue of the previous one, somehow increasing its own strength. But the umtion had a flexibility to it that seemed almost impossible. The duo did not need to attack consecutively to gather energy ¨C even if they used a defensive technique, it fit perfectly into the cycle of gathering momentum. It almost seemed as if the soldiers had an entire repertoire of techniques that fed off each other. Finally, when the umted strength reached the limit of what the soldiers could maintain, they shed their swords in the air together, releasing a de of spiritual energy that traveled through the zombie horde, cutting them in half. As if that wasn¡¯t impressive enough already, the spiritual des somehow didn¡¯t injure the other Earthlings at all. At this point, even Anthony admitted that he had severely underestimated these specific humans. Their technology was backwards and so was their cultivation. Many of them were getting injured as they fought ¨C a much shakier performance than the soldiers of the empire. Instead of fighting like onerge, cohesive army, they were fighting in smaller, weaker units. Yet, despite all that, they were killing the zombies faster than the empire had.They employed a way of fighting Anthony had never seen before. Recording them as they fought, Anthony was sure that when the experts of the Empire saw this footage, they¡¯d be able to identify the underlying logic and create even better techniques. For now though, Earth had the lead in this new way of fighting.. While the soldiers fought in pairs, the golden boy of Earth ¨C a title that he had officially earned now ¨C Alexander fought on his own. Two of his des were spinning like the des of a blender at imperceptible speeds, mincing any zombies that tried to attack him from the back. The other four des attacked the zombies at his sides, as if they had eyes of their own. In front of him, Alexander used his own sword to cut a path ¨C though asionally he would be ovee by barbaric tendencies and smash the zombies in his path with his free hand. To the viewers, it seemed like an unending symphony. To them, he was dancing wlessly, finding the perfect way to move in a situation where the slightest mistake would cost him his life. It was the epitome of elegance. To Alexander, it was chaos. It was heat. It was loud. And it. Was. Bloody. This was not the first time he had led soldiers on a mission, but it was the first time he was in a war. His mind was working in overdrive, not only to anticipate how the zombies would attack him and what he needed to do to retaliate, but also keeping track of his soldiers. He needed to give orders if their performance deviated, or if they were doing better or worse than expected. Yet, after a certain point, he could no longer keep track of the soldiers. As much as he didn¡¯t want to, he ended up making the decision that the best thing he could do in this situation was kill as many zombies as possible instead of keeping track of the army. So, he went from doing his best to going beyond his limits. He was already using spiritual and body techniques at the same time, a feat that marked him on a level beyond genius. Now it was time to do even more. His speed and strength suddenly increased, and the golden aura around him intensified. He went from reacting to the zombies¡¯ attacks to cutting them down before they could even make a move. With his des in the air and his sword in his hand, Alexander attacked in each direction, bing a cyclone of death and devastation. Five minutes into the battle, the chasing soldiers finally caught up. As surprised as he was to see the situation, Crawford-41 did not waste any time in giving his orders. Like a charging cavalry, the soldiers crashed into the zombies that had their backs turned. Over a hundred zombies died immediately, and the remaining ones were only just beginning to realize that they were being attacked on both sides. Alexander immediately felt the change, and dove even deeper into the horde, moving away from the rtive safety of his soldiers. His efficiency increased, and now that he no longer felt overwhelmed, Alexander finally began to feel exhration. This is what he was searching for ¨C to prove himself through fire and steel and war. Amongst the bloody and ugly horde, Alexander suddenly caught sight of a single soldier in a familiar armor. It was the armor of the Jotun empire. Quickly, he realized that the empire had joined and passed new orders into his mic. ¡°Retreat and initiate tear down tactic 2.¡± With reinforcements grabbing the zombies¡¯ attention, he could take more effective and less dangerous methods of attack. The battle was evolving quickly and before even realizing it, Alexander found himself fighting closely with that soldier. It was then that he realized, despite not having as many weapons as him, this soldier¡¯s killing efficiency was close to his. As the soldier¡¯s two-handed sword cleaved down to split a zombie in half, one of Alexander¡¯s des collided with it just a little, causing the de to deviate. Instead of slicing the zombie in half, it only cut off the zombies¡¯ various tentacles, giving Alexander¡¯s de just enough time to cut its head off. The soldier looked at Alexander for a split second with a frown under her helmet, but didn¡¯t waste any time on him. She continued her attack, but quickly noticed that every time she was about to go for a kill, one of the flying des just ¡®happened¡¯ to deviate her sword just a bit. ¡°What the hell are you doing?¡± she finally roared at the teenager, unable to keep her anger suppressed. ¡°Winning,¡± was his one-word reply. He did not slow down his assault, nor did he turn to look at her. In fact, his killing prowess increased. Cara ground her teeth as she stared at him like she wanted to slice him in half. She finally understood what was happening: he was preventing her from getting kills and stealing her points. Truth be told, she did not care for the points at all. But the more Alexander stopped her from getting them, the more she wanted them. Tightening her grip on her sword, the lone soldier went on an absolute rampage. At this point, it seemed more like apetition between the two than an actual battle. But thepetition ended quickly. With the zombies diverting their attention to the new soldiers, the Morrison troops were able to retreat and got enough time to assemble and ready one of the heavy weapons they had brought. ¡°Tear down tactic 2 ready,¡± Alexander heard a voice say in his ear. ¡°Take cover,¡± was all Alexander said to the soldier, before leaping into the air to escape. Caught unprepared by the sudden action, Cara did not know whether to listen to the golden bastards¡¯ instructions. That¡¯s when she heard the roaring, and leaped for cover. Back at the Inn all the guests were once again filled with excitement as they saw all the Morrison troops once again connected to one another with blue spirit lines. But this time, instead of feeding the energy to 100 soldiers, it was fed to just one. The soldier, whose legs were bolted to the ground using tethers and tes dug into the dirt, pulled the trigger. As the barrels started spinning it seemed for a moment like any other ordinary gun. That illusion was quickly dispersed the moment it started firing. Red spirit bullets started shooting out of the gun so fast, instead of a stream of bullets it seemed like the soldier was shooting aser. At a speed of a little over 150 bullets a second, this gun, at the cost of a massive amount of spirit energy,pletely eviscerated everything in its path. The soldier was able to fire for almost two minutes before the strain of so much spirit energy coursing through his body made him copse, but that was enough. Only a few zombies were left anyway. Some of the soldiers that followed Alexander had died, many of them were injured and almost all of them were exhausted. Compared to the near peak state of the Jotun forces, their performance seemed pathetic. But that was only if you could not see the points board hanging in the air in the coliseum, which showed just how many zombies the army had killed in a little under 20 minutes. Chapter 151 Developments Alexander and his troops regrouped while the Jotuns finished the zombies off. Other than Alexander, who was simply tired, all his troops looked beaten and battered. This was not to say that they were weak or inexperienced. Their equipment just didn¡¯t match up to the standard of the Jotuns, and their techniques, while ingenious, did not have the same spirit energy efficiency. But despite all that, Alexander was quite satisfied. This had been a quick skirmish after a long chase, which gave them little to no time to prepare. When they attacked the main zombie horde, they would have better preparations. The only regret that Alexander had, other than his few dead soldiers, was that they were not able to attack Pramod. He clearly had escaped with the other group of zombies. By now, he had already joined the main horde. Once thest of the zombies were finally killed, Alexander ordered his soldiers to retrieve the bodies for their soldiers. They needed to understand how they died, in case it was something preventable. In the meantime, Alexander walked towards Crawford-41. Over the past day, everyone had already gained some idea of who themanders of each army was, which is why Alexander knew exactly who he needed to talk with. On the other side, Crawford-41 looked at Alexander with a mix of amusement and respect. Though there were areas in which they werecking, this was probably one of the best performances he had seen from someone belonging to a Sky level civilization (a civilization unable to leave their star system). Not to mention, their killing efficiency was very high and their losses, considering their limited resources, were very few. That was where his respect came from. His amusement originated when he heard a report saying that Alexander actually tried topete with Cara. Alexander could not be med for not knowing about the Deathsworn family, he did not have the relevant exposure. Still, considering the crazy and suicidal antics of the Deathsworn, it was rare to see someone even be in a situation dangerous enough topete with them, let alone have the frame of mind necessary topete rather than survive. ¡°Crawford,¡± Alexander acknowledged the young man, approaching him. They were actually simr in age, with Crawford-41 being in histe 20s. One would think that with the background of the universe, cultivators would have already surpassed the Foundation realm by theirte 20s, but that was not so. Unlike on Earth, where it was an amazing feat for Alexander to break into Foundation in 2 years, it was not considered impossible for the rest of the universe. They just simply didn¡¯t, despite being able to, because there was no real advantage to rushing their cultivation. It was a difference in perspective brought about by a difference in environment. ¡°If you¡¯re going to shorten my name, I prefer you call me 41,¡± the man replied. ¡°Did you encounter the armored demon?¡±. ¡°I tried to intercept him, but they broke off. He¡¯s met up with the main horde by now.¡± Crawford-41 frowned. They had already failed one objective, which was not a good start. Then he looked towards the teenager. His previous golden aura had disappeared, and he could see a bit of fatigue in his eyes. They were technicallypetitors for the prize, but the main objective was still to destroy the nodes and this teenager had already proved useful. With all of that in mind, Crawford-41 said, ¡°You should check up on your soldiers. These zombies have all beenced with a special poison that makes even the slightest of scratches lethal.¡± Alexander grimaced and immediately passed on the news. All his soldiers who had been wounded were mostly suffering from blunt force trauma. The ones who had suffered scratches or bite were the ones that were dead. He would have to change some of his ns, but that was forter. Currently, he came to Crawford-41 for only one reason. ¡°I don¡¯t know if you know this already or not, but the main zombie horde is massive. We are gravely outnumbered. I¡¯m not sure of the exact numbers, but they range anywhere from thirty to forty thousand zombies. This is not a fight we can engage in alone, especially now that there is a demon capable of nning in charge of them.¡± Crawford-41 was not aware of this, but he only slightly frowned before his expression returned to normal. ¡°This is crucial information. We need tomunicate with the other humans and beasts and n an attack, but we can¡¯t waste too much time either.¡± ¡°I have the means tomunicate with the other Earthlings,¡± Alexander said. ¡°We just need to contact the beasts and hope they listen.¡± The two immediately started nning. Even though they werepetitors, without each other¡¯s help, neither of them would seed. Like this, another hour passed by before they were ready toy siege to the main force. Alexander¡¯s army used this time to rest and recover their spent spirit energy. All was progressing smoothly, or smooth enough. But as the two-hour mark approached and all the armies readied positioned themselves for the attack, something simr was happening on Earth. ***** Zeus Leventis, a descendant of the Leventis family from New Las Vegas on the moon, stood nervously in the space carrier. Hovering silently over a mining facility on the dark side of the moon, the space carrier was one of many, each holding dozens of soldiers. The greatest irony of it all was that this particr mission was being overseen by one of Zeus¡¯ great uncles. They were attacking this facility not for the benefits it would provide, but to arrest control from the forces that upied it. This was a strategic resource, the absence of which would cripple the economy on the moon. This was¡­ Zeus was woken from his daydreaming when the speakers released a very determined voice saying, ¡°all forces, attack!¡± As if a switch had been flipped, the night went from calm and peaceful to immediately being extremely chaotic! All the carriers open fired, not only prating the oxygen dome formation surrounding the facility, but the various outposts as well. The doors opened, and the soldiers jumped out, a jetpack elerating their descent that was slowed by the weak gravity. The craziest thing was that despite all the chaos, it was eerily silent due to theck of atmosphere. Except for the tremors that could be felt on the surface of the moon and the asional shing light of a grenade, there was no evidence of the chaos taking ce. Zeus also jumped and followed his team as they descended. He needed to get to aputer still connected to the intearywork as soon as possible. Deep inside his heart, he already knew that thework was likely already shut down by whoever orchestrated this attack, but still, he hoped. He needed tomunicate with Alexander. That was the only way either of them would have any hope of surviving. Little did he know, Alexander was nowhere near Earth to begin with. On Earth itself, the situation was both extremely chaotic and extremely peaceful. Various soldiers positioned in strategic locations began an attack at the same exact time worldwide. For some unusual reason, there was little to no resistance to the attacks. Dams, sr power fields, nuclear reactors and basically any kind of power supply stations worldwide were taken over and shut down. Government buildings were invaded with an efficiency that should have been impossible. The few inds of resistance that could be found worldwide were mostly independent groups, caught in the wrong ce at the wrong time. Quickly, though, they too surrendered. Most, if not all, nuclear weapons facilities were overrun. All nuclear submarines lost contact with the surface. Before any of the soldiers left behind by the five family heads could use their keys and report the situation, they were killed. The precision with which each person loyal to the family heads, in possession of a golden key, was killed, spoke volumes. ***** In London, in a quaint little house, there was a young girl ying games on her phone when suddenly she disconnected from the inte. She groaned and got up to reset her inte router, but suddenly her house lost power. Confused by the sudden development, the girl¡¯s mind had only just begun to think of possible reasons for why this could be happening, such as a broken wire to the main transformer or something, when one of her elder sisters barged into her room. ¡°Something is happening. I was on a call when I heard gunshots on the other side, and the phone disconnected. Then the electricity went out.¡± ¡°We need to contact mom and dad,¡± the younger girl was only beginning to say, when her second, and oldest sister walked into the room. ¡°No, in case of an unexpected development, we need to establishmunication with the ry station and ask for instructions.¡± her voice was cold andmanding, just like her eyes. ¡°Belle, what about big brother?¡± the young girl reluctantly asked, slightly afraid of the answer. ¡°ording to our surveince, Lex¡¯s location is unknown. He is most likely safe¡­¡± Belle frowned slightly. ¡°He is most likely safe, but I¡¯ll request the ry station to send down some security. Dad won¡¯t like the interference, but if the situation is dangerous enough, he¡¯ll allow it.¡± ¡°What about us?¡± the middle sister, Liz, asked. ¡°What about us?¡± Belle replied ndly. ¡°First of all, we don¡¯t even know if something serious is even happening in the first ce. And even if something serious is happening, these bodies are just spirit clones ¨C even if they die, nothing will happen to us. Not to mention, their purpose has already been fulfilled. We only need to contact the ry station and act ording to their orders.¡± Just as the younger girls were hoping everything was alright, the sudden sound of gunfire woke them to the truth. Then someone kicked down their house door and soldiers started pouring in. Chapter 152 The pride of Uncle Sam It seemed that all of a sudden, Earth was in chaos. In the most well executed and efficient manner in the history of the, regimes fell and new rulers took their ce. One would think that the ICPAs would resist the change, but ironically, it was the ICPAs that led most of the rebelling armies. With an in-depth understanding of the regions they policed, they knew exactly what to do to seize actual control rather than simply protect them. At the rate that things were progressing, even though all the family heads¡¯ spies were killed, it would only be a matter of time till someone else with a golden key escaped to the Inn. Yet that was a matter for the future. Right now, all eyes were on the massive screen as the first joint assault on the zombie horde was about to begin. Earth was in the lead with the highest number of points, and as for the person with the most kills¡­ It was neither Alexander nor Cara Deathsworn. It was the soldier wielding the gatling gun ¨C NPC1. But no one focused on him, or why he had such an unusual name. Their focus was on the fact that Cara had a total of 51 kills now, while Alexander had 53. Alexander had quickly taken the lead from her, and by denying her kills kept her total behind his. The audience had inadvertently dubbed the two rivals and could not wait to see how things continued. The assault was not as coordinated as Crawford-41 would have liked, but the fact that everyone agreed to attack at the same time was already good enough for him. A total of twelve thousand five hundred going up against anywhere between thirty to forty thousand, not to mention less than ten hours left, gave them abysmal odds. He could not believe the Innkeeper thought such a difficult ordeal was a game. To be fair, Lex himself was caught unaware by the number of zombies. When he was designing the games, he ensured that all zombies above the required level would be ejected from the game zone. Yet, while he tried to estimate how many zombies would be defending each point, he grossly underestimated the numbers. He expected that the devils may beef up defenses after they found out about the games, but this seemed a little too much. Fortunately, the game had an upper limit to the number of zombies based on the number of participants. Otherwise, if an army of a million zombies showed up in one of the future games¡­ Lex shuddered internally just thinking about it.. As Alexander and his troops neared the zombies, he realized that the mass of zombies could no longer be called a horde. From a random mix, the zombies had turned into an organized fighting force. Zombies with long range were mobilized in the back, protected by several groups of zombies, with a clear advantage in closebat. In the air, massive undead birds circled as they kept a close eye on the approaching prey. For better or worse ¨C most definitely worse though ¨C this was the enemy they had to face now. Still, everyone remained undeterred. As dangerous as zombies were, on thedder of demons, they were at the very bottom ¨C as Alexander had learnt in a crash course the Jotuns had provided him. Their individual fighting force was usually weaker than the average cultivator. So long as they approached this systematically, they could still win. A green re went up in the sky, indicating that the Jotuns had begun their assault. Unlike Alexander and the other Earthlings who nned on using long rangebat to weaken the enemies, they directly charged in. Based on what Crawford-41 told Alexander, considering their equipment and training, the Jotuns were expecting to go through the whole games without a single casualty. The limited time was truly the only difficulty they faced in this war. As advanced as they were, looking through a scope that aimed his newly assembled mortar, Alexander could not help but think the Jotuns were a bit pretentious. Why not use the advantage of technology? He fired the first shot, using actual physical ammunition this time, which prompted several other teams to fire as well. The Earthlings watched from a safe distance as the first of their artillery hit the zombies and, with the energy of a bunch of teenagers ying video games at midnight, started taking more shots. Even the 4000 other Earthlings were taking a simr approach. Under the supervision of a few soldiers who were also trained as spirit-tech engineers, the soldiers created a minimal version of a catapult. As primitive as the device seemed, its ammunition was thetest technology and pride of Uncle Sam. They loaded what looked like a moored mine into the catapult and fired freely. Rtively speaking, the massive metal ball flying through the air was slow and easy to target, which is exactly what the zombies did. Amongst the many other kinds of attacks, a bone-spike was the first to hit the metal ball, and instead of a fiery explosion, the ball burst into hundreds of smaller balls that quickly fell into the crowd. The zombies made no effort to avoid the falling balls as theycked the momentum to be dangerous, and just watched them when they finallynded on the ground. For a split second, it seemed as if nothing would happen. Then one of the balls released an annoyingly loud, sharp screech. As if activated by the sound, each of the balls suddenly absorbed a massive amount of spirit energy andunched towards the screeching ball, as if pulled by a maic force, and ripped through the zombies in their path. When all the balls finally reunited, they trembled, and then caused a massive spirit explosion! The force of the st absolutely eviscerated all the zombies within a hundred feet, and the traveling spirit shock-wave killed many more zombies by crushing their zombie cores with an overload of spirit energy. Many things on Earth could be disputed, but no one could deny that the Americas had the greatest talent in making things explode. On the beasts¡¯ side, simr to the Jotun army, they decided on an upfront charge. The elephants took the lead, breaking through the zombie ranks, allowing the rest of the beasts to attack freely. At a nce, there seemed to be little to no tactic being employed by the beasts. Yet the truth was, with their incredible strength and defense, this was their best y to begin with. The wolves were close behind the elephants, and attacked with extreme prejudice! Despitecking in technology, in the simplicity of their savagery, they were keeping up with the Earthlings in number of kills. In less than a minute, over a thousand zombies were already dead by thebined armies. At the Inn, the mood was extremely positive, as humans and beasts alike rooted for those they supported. Despite their initial intimidation, it seemed like the zombies were bound to lose. But as hopeful as Lex was that things would continue to y out this way, he doubted the devils would give up so easily. Perhaps if Pramod had not joined, Lex could believe that the trend for the battle was set, but he could not believe the devils had him join just to let the zombies be ughtered so easily. Without even realizing it, they hit the four-hour mark. At exactly this time, there was an announcement across the battlefield. ¡°Two treasure chests have been ced at opposite ends of the battlefield. Each chest contains 100 tokens that will be absorbed by the first 100 contestants to reach them. One of the chests contains tokens that will fill the owning participant¡¯s endless spirit energy and physical stamina for the duration of this match, while the others will give the owner a secret advantage during the next game.¡± The announcement ended as abruptly as it came, but the words had an abrupt reaction. The most immediate effect was on the soldiers, who were momentarily stunned by what they heard. But pausing in battle was extremely lethal, as the zombies did not bother to stop attacking, pushing them into a precarious situation. The second reaction was by the variousmanders. The repercussions of the announcement had varying levels of effect, not only on this game, but on the next one as well. Most importantly, endless stamina and spirit energy would allow them to gain a massive number of points, while a secret advantage in the next game would also put them at an advantage. Almost as if it was rehearsed, all the armies immediately retreated. The announcement said that the chests were in opposite directions, but their specific location was unknown. Everyone sent out their scouts and drones. Even the flying zombies were sent out by Pramod to search for the chest. Only Alexander, who had satellites in the sky and got a live feed of the entire map, immediately knew where the chests were. By the next game, everyone would know about his satellites and he would lose the advantage, but for this game, they yed a critical role. Immediately he set out towards the nearest one, while pretending to send out scouting units. Just as the mood on the battlefield had immediately changed, so too did the mood in the coliseum when a man covered in blood came running in, wearing a look of panic. He looked around till he identified Fateh, one of the five Nascants, and ran towards him. The man tried to whisper but those nearby, as well as Lex who had the power of the Host Attire, heard him when he said, ¡°war has broken out on Earth!¡± Chapter 153 Refugees Sitting cross-legged on the floor in the very center of the zombie horde, Pramod looked at the vile organ in his hand. It looked like a beating heart, but instead of muscle and tissue, it seemed to be made of rotting leaves and bark. His one and only mission was to kill as many humans and beasts, all if at all possible. Originally, his n was to use this Cursed Quibly Heart on his enemies after they had been worn out after fighting the zombies endlessly, but the two treasure chests presented another opportunity. If he could manage to get to the endless spirit energy, during this round he could kill as many as possible with his own two hands, and save the heart for the next game. Or maybe, if he got an advantage for the next game, he could use it to set up traps. Either way, there was not too much pressure on him. The devil that hadmanded him had given him the mission, but also told him to treat these games as a training opportunity since the nodes would be lost regardless of the situation. With no pressure for sess or failure, he could do as he pleased. So for now, he waited. As soon as his birds informed him of the location of the chests, he would make a drastic move. The loss of a little over 10,000 zombies in the past hour did not phase him in the slightest, and he continued to sit on the ground as if he were meditating in a park. A few dozen feet below him, the node was hidden in an underground base. A part of him also wondered, if he destroyed the node himself and gained all the points, would it be worth it? Would the prize still go to the Vegus Minima, or would it go to the devils? ***** Lex was slightly confused when he heard the panicked man¡¯s whisper. What did he mean war had broken down on Earth? War, even in this modern day and age, was not necessarily rare on Earth. Without taking any sides on the matter, there were many conflicts not only between what was described as the West and the East, many countries had high tensions with their neighbors.. An embarrassingly long list of countries¡¯ names shed through Lex¡¯s mind when he thought of countries it would be troublesome to be neighbors with. This was also only considering the affairs of the so-called ¡®mortals¡¯. Large-scale war between cultivators had also been curtailed by the ICPAs. Yet before the man could exin more to Fateh, or Lex coulde up with a usible exnation, the familiar ring of a new quest rang in Lex¡¯s mind. New Quest: You have encountered a special event called ¡®World War¡¯. All guestsing from the experiencing the World War will have a period of 70% discount on all expenses. All guests below the age of 15 will have a 99% discount on all expenses. As the most prestigious establishment in the universe, the Midnight Inn must be a safe haven during troubled times. Host as many refugees as possible! Quest time limit: Duration of World War Quest Reward: Subject to number of refugees hosted Remarks: Some things are worth more than MP, such as a good reputation! Scam everyone till you get it! Lex froze when he read the quest, and his shock was so huge that even the Host Attire wasn¡¯t able to stop his body from tensing up. Though no one dared to scan the Innkeeper with their spiritual sense, many had their focus on him at all times. Let alone Remy and Akihiko, who were sitting beside him, the mystery devil along with a number of other prominent guests noticed the anomaly in the Innkeepers¡¯ behavior immediately. ¡°LEX SNAP OUT OF IT¡± Mary roared in his mind, quickly snapping him back to his natural state. Yet the damage was already done. Many people started wondering what had happened to elicit a reaction from the Innkeeper. They started reying scenes from the games, wondering if something had happened there. A few people wondered if his reaction had to do with something that happened at the Inn. The mysterious devil, whose senses were by far the strongest here, naturally overheard the words the bloody man had whispered. For a moment he considered if that was the reason, but then dismissed it. There was a dy of several seconds between the words and his reaction. At their level, even a single second could be stretched to fit a billion thoughts, let alone a few of them, so it was unlikely. What he did not know was that the dy in reaction was because Lex was listening to his new quest. Such a simple misunderstanding had saved Lex from revealing a huge secret, yet no one realized it. But even as Lex had recovered hisposure slightly, his mind was in chaos. What did the system mean by a world war? What was happening? There was no indication of this whatsoever beforehand. He was not worried about anyone else at this moment except his family. He had been waiting to bring them to the Inn because he wanted to be stronger first, but how could have anticipated such a situation? A million thoughts ran through his head before he calmed down. At this moment, he could not give a rat¡¯s ass about maintaining his facade. His focus was entirely on the bloody man¡¯s words as he exined the situation and thought of what he could do. ¡°At first, they cut the connection to the inte, then the power. Communications were severelypromised, so we had to wait for the backup generators and privatemunication channels to understand what was happening. ¡°All governments are already under their control! Many countries¡¯ militaries tried to put up a fight, but they were either quickly defeated or their leaders were captured. Dozens of sects are taking part in this, and from what it seems like, so are the ICPAs. Anyone who could put up a strong resistance has either been detained or killed. Nuclear facilities have fallen and many holynds have lost control of their formations. ¡°And this is just the bits and pieces of information we were able to gather before we lostmunication. All key points worldwide have been taken over. Civilians haven¡¯t been hurt so far, or at least, the ones who didn¡¯t try to fight back haven¡¯t¡­¡± ¡°Lex, you need to be clear headed,¡± Mary said loudly in his mind, attracting his attention. ¡°Your greatest asset is the system and the Inn. You need to maintain their power and prestige. On Earth, you have no contacts, no power and no say. If you¡¯re worried about your family¡­ well, to bepletely honest, unless you use the Inn, there¡¯s nothing you can do for them. So don¡¯t break character and don¡¯t let anyone know the Innkeeper is interested in Earth. It will only spell trouble for you.¡± Lex grimaced, but eventually acknowledged what Mary said. ¡°Thank you,¡± is all he said to her. He needed to clear his head and understand the situation clearly, only then could he react appropriately. While chaos was beginning to spread across Earth, and among their representatives at the Inn, Alexander had already reached the first chest. After leaving sight of the other armies, he had headed in a straight line at maximum speed, not caring to preserve his spirit energy or stamina, and he was rewarded ordingly. Without any suspense, and with none the wiser, Alexander opened the first chest and felt a tokentch onto his arm. Spirit energy coursed through his body,pletely refreshing him. He felt a special artificial film coat his meridians, preventing them from suffering any wear or tear due to the excessive amount of spiritual energy. The feeling was more intoxicating than any drug ¨C and yes, Alexander had tried various drugs, under supervision of course ¨C that he had ever experienced. For a while, he even forgot what he was supposed to be doing. But the feeling passed, and the boy recovered. He opened his map to check the location of the second chest, and to see if any of the armies were near it. Preferably, he wanted the second one as well. To his horror, he saw that nearly 80% of the zombie horde was moving towards the second chest, and had nearly reached it. There was no way Alexander would be able to get the other chest. Suddenly, his eyes narrowed as he had an idea. ¡°All units assume bulldozer formation and await my return. The node is vulnerable, we have to destroy it before the others return.¡± As the 99 soldiers who were with him also recovered from the euphoria of the endless spirit energy, he gave the order for them to return. Activating his body technique to the absolute maximum, Alexander rocketed towards his destination ¨C his gold aura shining brighter than ever before! Chapter 154 Nuclear deterrant As nonchnt as Brandon usually was, even he was not smiling right now. He¡¯d had a strong feeling that something would happen during the games, but despite all their investigations, they yielded no results. Now it seemed the answer was in front of them. It was impossible for such a massive conspiracy to be hidden from all five families, unless the members of each family were also involved in them. It seemed they had suppressed everyone¡¯s ambitions for too long. He was sitting in a room with the other family¡¯s heads. The bloody man was present as well, and had been thoroughly interrogated. To ensure the truth of what he was saying, the family heads had sent back several of their assistants and followers back to Earth, but none of them had returned yet. That in itself was information enough. ¡°The fact that we return to Earth from the exact ce we left is a big w,¡± Richard finally said. ¡°It lets the enemy prepare a trap for us in advance.¡± ¡°There is no point in dying this. Even if there are traps, what can they do to us? We just need to return and take care of anyone who gets in our way.¡± ¡°Matters are already beyond that. Do you even know who you can trust? Who will you ¡®take care of¡¯ once you return? How many people will you kill as a demonstration? You know, the whole point of leaving us in-charge was to avoid chaos. If we go back and start killing everyone who resists us, what will we do when ¡®they¡¯ be dissatisfied?¡± Silence filled the room once again. From the moment they had started the meeting, none of them had been able toe to a conclusion on what to do. The truth was, everyone was just evading the problem as long as they could, because once they did, it was likely they would have to kill their own kin. Other than Brandon, who was only 104 years old, the rest were a fair bit older ¨C though they did their best to hide their ages. Theycked the youthful vigor required to tackle difficult situations.. Just as they were about to begin arguing again, Richard¡¯s personal hologram appeared before him. ¡°Excuse me for disturbing you, but your granddaughter Selene is trying to reach you. Would you like to allow her into the room?¡± ¡°Yes, let her in,¡± he said quickly. Selene had been on Earth and had not joined him for the games, so her presence here was a great relief. But it also left a hint of dread in his heart ¨C what if she was the one who betrayed him? The girl that entered no longer had her prior grace and elegance, instead her face was painted with anxiety. The moment she saw her grandfather, she handed him a letter, unsure of her voice tomunicate effectively at this moment. Richard read the letter, his body trembling in anger as read the words, until he reached the end, when his shoulders slumped in defeat. ¡°The letter is from my nephew,¡± Richard said, passing it to the others. ¡°That ten nuclear devices have been nted in cities across the world. They have all of our locations of departure from Earth under surveince. If any of the family heads return to Earth, they will set off 2 nuclear devices for each family head. Someone wille to the Inn to negotiate with us in a few hours, until then we¡¯ve been instructed to stay here.¡± His words chilled everyone¡¯s hearts. It not only confirmed their worst fears about being betrayed by their families, it put them in a position where they could take no chances. Unless someone could prove to them that there were no nuclear devices ready, with the people of Earth as hostages, the family heads were unable to do anything. Furthermore, from the Inn they could not evenmunicate with the mysteriousdy they talked to previously and let her know of the situation. All they could do now was wait. Lex, who had been spying in on the meeting, grimaced. Originally, his knowledge about the politics of Earth had been very limited, but asionally, whenever he found free time, he would spy on these high leveled Earthlings to learn more about his. He had a basic understanding of the five families, and now concluded that the so-called ¡®World War¡¯ was a result of their family members revolting against the leaders. He didn¡¯t care much for their internal strife, but if any of his family members got hurt as a result of this, he would make them pay dearly. In this moment, Lex learnt something about himself. He never realized it, but he had a very serious anger issue, and when thinking of all the things he would do to them should his family get implicated, he was a strong believer in revenge. ***** Somewhere on Earth, in what looked like a very modern version of the Taj Mahal, Kristine and Vera Joel stood close together, whispering amongst themselves. Around them were various security guards and only a few other people who were dressed casually. Among those dressed casually was Ayesha Shehzad, looking forlorn. ¡°Are you sure about this?¡± Kristine asked her daughter nervously. ¡°Yes, yes, trust me. Well, I¡¯m not so sure about you, but I¡¯ve already determined that I¡¯ll be absolutely safe here,¡± Vera answered with too much honesty. ¡°We just need to wait out the month, then we can leave this deste.¡± ¡°I hope you¡¯re right,¡± Kristine answered bitterly. Suddenly, Vera turned her head towards a wall, a smirk suddenly appearing on her face. It appeared as though she was looking at nothing, but a few rooms away in that direction, one of the guards started making a report about the sudden war to a hologram of a woman. It was the same women the five family heads reported to. ***** Alexander had no knowledge of what was happening on Earth and had his entire attention focused on the task before him. If all went ording to n, not only would this game end earlier than the 12 hour mark, he would take a huge lead on the number of points. He and his 99 soldiers were running at maximum speed, radiating spirit energy far and wide for anyone to sense. But even if they were noticed, it would make no difference now as they had already taken the tokens. Despite running at his utmost speed and using as much energy as he could, Alexander had never felt better. Imagine doing the most arduous physical task your body could endure without dying. Now imagine being able to repeatedly do that task without fatigue or danger of hurting yourself. That was how Alexander was feeling, all he was really doing right now was running. Well, he was doing more than running. He was the beacon that led his troops to battle, the tip of the spear that would pierce the enemy, the front of the vanguard that would clear the path for those who followed. His idea was simple. He and his 99 troops would charge through the zombies and continuously bombard the node with the strongest, most deadly and destructive weapons they had. With unlimited spirit energy, they were literally experiencing video game cheats in real life. The first of the zombies entered his line of sight, and he entered theirs. By the time the zombies realized it was not a ball of golden me approaching them but a person, he was already upon them. Cutting through the horde like a bullet through a loaf of bread, Alexander has his destination marked. As heughed in mirth at the wonderful feeling of endless power, his troops began a coordinated assault on the horde. But in this scenario where their brains were slightly overstimted by the endless euphoria, coordination simply meant screaming ¡®watch how many I kill in this direction¡¯ before throwing their strongest attack that would usually leave thempletely drained. As ridiculously as the situation had be, those who were still watching the match realized that these troops may have slightly¡­ lost their sanity. But who cared? It made for an entertaining show. Alexander reached the center of what remained of the horde to realize he could not see the node. Was it hidden somewhere? While he analyzed the situation, his six des spun around him like a saw with a ferocity never before seen, slicing anything that tried toe close. ¡®Underground maybe,¡¯ Alexander thought to himself and looked down. It was at that exact moment the ground burst open and an armored hand reached for his leg. Alexander leaped out of the way, but the hand was faster and longer than he expected. The seven foot tall demon revealed himself, the scaly armor adorning his body free from any dirt despiteing out of the ground, and caught hold of the teenager. Before Alexander could do anything to protect himself, Pramod used Alexander¡¯s body like a hammer and smashed him into the ground. It was impossible to tell under the helmet, but the viewers got the sensation that Pramod was grinning. Chapter 155 Expected more There were numerous battles taking ce in the games, mainly around the second chest. It was a frantic free for all, yet despite their best efforts, the chest remained in the control of the zombie horde that seemed to be slowly taking it back towards the center. The elephants met their match in zombies ten feet tall, the wolves were stalled by the zombies with tentacles; the humans slowed down by a special breed of zombies that could dig into the ground. It truly was a spectacle. Near the center of the map, 99 fearless soldiers wereunching repeated attacks out of what looked like rocketunchers, as if they would never run out of ammo. The truth was, these weapons were powered by spirit energy, so under their current circumstances, they really wouldn¡¯t run out of ammo. That, apanied by their overly excited emotions due to the excess energy running through their brains, resulted in a situation where they were fighting the hordes like kids in a video game instead of backing up Alexander who was deeper in. Yet despite all that, at this particr moment, most people who were still watching the games had their attention turned towards Alexander. The first time he was smashed into the ground, he becamepletely disoriented, the golden aura around him vanishing and the air knockedpletely out of him. But that was only the beginning. Pramod did not slow his movements, and started smashing Alexander around like a rag-doll. With a grip tight enough to crumple steel mping onto the teenager¡¯s leg, he swung him over his own head and smashed him into the ground. Once. Twice. Thrice. As he was about to smash Alexander into the ground the fourth time without any resistance, people had begun to suspect him already dead, but that is when the six des that had fallen onto the ground flew into the air, aiming to pierce through Pramods hand. Originally, the giant demon meant to ignore the des, as he had every confidence in his scaly armor, but when the first de cut into his forearm, the demon had no choice but to release Alexander and retreat.. The demon stared at his bleeding arm with a mix of pain and fascination, giving the beaten teenager some time to pick himself up. Even as Alexander wobbled to his feet, his head was spinning and he could not think straight. For the first time in a long, long time, Alexander had been takenpletely by surprise and was disoriented. Before his infinite physical stamina helped himpletely recover, Pramod decided to attack him once again. But things did not go ording to n. Even without the ability of coherent thought, this was not Alexander¡¯s first time in battle. His instincts were honed through hours of endlessbat and expert training. His six des, still as sharp and lethal as ever, immediately attacked Pramod the moment he moved towards Alexander. The few seconds they dyed him were enough for Alexander to barely recover. He no longer looked like a handsome youth, straight out from the cover of a magazine. Messy hair and ayer of dirt on his face were the least of his worries. He was suffering from a broken nose, several hairline fractures in his ribs and probably a severely messed up leg. Whether the bone was crushed or not could still be debated, but his muscles and tendons were surely ruptured. But even as he raised his hands towards his face to pop his nose back into ce, Alexander wore a messy grin. What had he cultivated his body for if not to be able to handle such injuries, if not worse ones? This was not even taking into consideration how quickly he would be able to heal with his endless spirit energy. ¡°Dat wash goodsh,¡± he said, before frowning. After wiggling his tongue around in his mouth for a second and discovering the problem, he spit out a few broken teeth. ¡°That was a good surprise you gave me there,¡± he said once again, his ent only slightly changed due to his missing teeth. ¡°I don¡¯t even remember thest time I suffered a concussion.¡± ¡°It was not aimed towards you specifically,¡± Pramod said, his voice surprisingly mild and sweet, as if he was a kid. ¡°But I¡¯m d I came across you. With your annoying stoic face and attitude that says the whole world revolves around you, you were really beginning to annoy me. I¡¯ll thoroughly enjoy taking you down.¡± Alexander grinning, and looked at the massive demon in front of him. The teenager himself had not yet reached six feet in height, so he had to turn his head upwards, but his demeanor screamed as if he was still looking down at Pramod. For a moment, he considered exchanging a few more lines with his opponent, then decided to directly get on with it. The golden aura around Alexander returned, and he charged towards the demon. The six des flew into the air, distancing themselves from the two, but kept their aim directed towards Pramod. Even without doing anything, the threat of being attacked from six different directions was very real, even for Pramod, but the most pressing threat was the sword in Alexander¡¯s hand. But the demon did not shy away. A purple aura wrapped itself around the demon¡¯s hands as it directly pped the sword away, directly pushing Alexander aside. Pramod¡¯s massive brute strength was already dangerous enough, but the purple aura had a corrosive effect on the sword as well. Alexander had to quickly use his own spirit energy to wash away the lingering purple aura, only to find his sword had dulled slightly from the middle. Alexander ducked, still looking at his sword, just in time to dodge a massive palm, and stepped closer towards the demon¡¯s body. Using both his arms, he swung his sword upward, shing at the demon¡¯s neck. The demon dodged nimbly, its speed not at all affected by its hulking body. The two exchanged moves, each more lethal than the next, doing their best to kill one another. Yet despite their speed and impressive skill, so far all their techniques had been limited to simple augmentation types. Alexander augmented his sword¡¯s lethality, while the demon did so for his hands. The human teenager was the first to break the pattern, a golden bolt of energy escaping from the tip of his sword just as it passed Pramod¡¯s face after a dodge. Alexander was already readying his next move for when the demon dodged but, unexpectedly, the bolt hit it directly in the face. Pramod yelled as he fell backwards. Immediately, Alexander took advantage of the moment and directly attacked. Unable to deflect the attack skillfully, as he had been doing before, Pramod released a massive burst of purple energy from his palm, sting the sword out of Alexander¡¯s hand. For a moment, it seemed the demon had managed to protect himself. Then, one of Alexander¡¯s des that had long been forgotten pierced through the demon¡¯s neck from the back. Through the helmet that the massive demon wore, Alexander could only see its eyes showing surprise mixed with horror. Then another one of his des cut through the demon¡¯s neck, and another, until the head was cut clean off from the body. Back at the Inn, everyone sat frozen at the sudden conclusion of the fight. It had only just begun. Where was the desperate battle? Where were the hidden techniques? How could it end so quickly? Was that all there really was to the demonmander? Either his end was extremely anticlimactic, or this Alexander was much stronger than he seemed. The kids from Troy academy burst into cheers, waking up the rest from their reverie. In her room, Loretta continued to watch the screen with a cid look. It did not appear as if she cared about Pramod¡¯s demise. ¡°To be honest, I was expecting more,¡± Alexander said, as he looked down at the demon¡¯s detached head. There were still things he held in reserve. He was just getting warmed up. But this was a good reminder to him. Life wasn¡¯t always like a movie. You wouldn¡¯t always get a long, drawn out battle. A moment¡¯s carelessness could prematurely decide even an expert¡¯s fate. Using all his physical and spiritual strength, Alexander suddenly moved to the side as dread suddenly filled his heart, but it was barely enough. A sword ¨C his discarded sword ¨C pierced through Alexander¡¯s back and through his chest, puncturing his left lung. The crowds at the Inn, humans and beast alike, froze as they saw the scene. Behind Alexander stood a headless body. ¡°To be honest, I expected more,¡± Alexander heard a sweet voice. His eyes bent downwards at the head to see its eyes staring back at the body. His expression did not need to be seen, just from the look in his eyes, one could tell he was grinning. Chapter 156 Let me give it a try ¡°NO!¡± a scream echoed through the Inn, apanied by a horror-stricken Helen. She did not know when she stood up, nor did she realize that she had screamed. All she felt currently was panic so deep it and firmly grasped her heart. Even Lex, who had been marinating in his own endless anger, was woken up from his thoughts by her yell. He was startled again to see Alexander on his screen, standing with a sword running through his chest. ¡°Absolutely pathetic,¡± the head said, as its body left the sword in Alexander¡¯s body and approached it. ¡°For all your arrogance and bravado, I expected a better fight. But you fell so easily for the first trick I used. Although I must give you props from moving out of the way just enough to protect your heart.¡± The demon picked up the head and reattached it to its body, now looking down upon Alexander, who was still standing in the same posture he had been stabbed in. ¡°But then again, it was my own fault for expecting so much from such a pathetic species as humans. How can you even begin to imagine my power? You probably thought I was dead after you cut my head off. But I¡¯m not a low level demon like the zombies. I¡¯m a nightmare demon, understand? I¡¯m immortal!¡± With that the demon burst into a fit ofughter. It seemed like he was enjoying talking down to Alexander, but the truth was the demon was only casually chatting while its head properly reattached to its body.. A being such as that really was outside the understanding of humans. Even the guests at the Inn or the Jotun soldiers had a dark expression on their faces. Alexander was someone who had attracted a lot of attention, and his current condition left a bitter taste in the mouth. Butpared to a demon that could live even after getting its head chopped off, let alone Alexander, all humans looked weak and insignificant. What inherent power did humans have? What was their strong suit? If they did not cultivate, humans were so weak that a fall down a small flight of stairs could end their lives. All humans were really good at was adapting. They could understand the rules of the world around them, and since they could not bend the rules, they could use them to their own advantage. They could fashion weapons out of wood, make utensils out of stone. They could grow crops in the dirt and predict the weather from the wind. Even if they advanced enough to build a civilization advanced enough to fly in the sky and travel through the stars, all their aplishments were external. They could harness the energy of the universe to make the mostplex of tools to aid them, but in the absence of those tools, they were still weak. They could not reattach their own severed heads the way the demon had. Of course, if humans ever gained the ability to directly interact with and control energy themselves, instead of just taking advantage of their understanding of how energy normally behaved, what they could possibly aplish was¡­ unimaginable. ¡°Rx girl,¡± a calm voice washed over Helen, attracting her attention from the nightmare on screen. Behind her stood Audrey, Alexander¡¯s grandmother. ¡°My grandson is not so easy to kill.¡± Helen was taken aback by the old woman¡¯s seemingly calm attitude. If Brandon were not in a meeting and saw the current situation, his reaction would not be much different from Audreys. They had unwavering faith, not only in their grandson, but in the life-threatening training he had undergone his whole life. They had confidence even more so because what was spirit energy if not a supreme form of energy, and what was cultivation if not¡­ controlling and manipting that energy? Pramod continued to give a condescending speech, not at all noticing that the golden aura around Alexander had not diminished at all, unlike thest time he had taken Alexander by surprise. If anything, the color seemed to be getting richer. If one could see into Alexander¡¯s body on a microscopic level, they would notice millions upon millions of nanobots repairing the wounds in Alexander¡¯s body. The nanobots gathered in clumps around where the de pierced his lungs, preventing blood from entering them as well as getting ready to seal the wound as soon as the sword was removed. But that was not all. Normally, when a human healed, his cells would undergo a division to rece the lost or damaged cells. But there was a limit to how many times a cell would divide during a person¡¯s lifetime. However, there was a technique used by cultivators who practiced both their body and spiritual cultivation at the same time which would use up all the spiritual energy in a person¡¯s body not only to force the cells to split, but undergo a rejuvenation which would actually increase the number of times the cells could split. That was only one aspect of the technique called Buddha¡¯s Grace, and the technique was a lot moreplicated than that. It was meant to be used when one was critically injured, and would allow the person to heal just enough to survive a little longer. That was because, normally, the amount of spirit energy a person wielded was limited. But what if there was unlimited spiritual energy? And what if the body would not be exhausted no matter how much it healed itself? By now, even some of the guests noticed that the teenager who had a sword hanging out from both sides of his body was still standing, while he should have fallen down a long time ago. ¡°Immortality,¡± a single word from Alexander¡¯s lips interrupted Pramod¡¯s speech, who suddenly woke up to the fact that the human still had not keeled over and died. ¡°It sounds interesting. Let me give it a try.¡± He grabbed onto the de protruding from his chest and slowly pushed it back out, all the while maintaining eye contact. When the sword was pushed all the way out and fell to the ground, only a small amount of blood squirted out of the wound before a metallic sheen covered the wound. If people didn¡¯t know better, they would assume that instead of a human, a robot stood before them. ¡°While I¡¯m at it, let me put your immortality to the test!¡± he said with gritted teeth, a twinge of angering through. He was putting on a brave face, but only he knew how close he actually came to death. If his heart had been punctured instead of his lung, while he could have continued to live, he would not have been able to move. The demon could have easily finished him off. Right now, his body was still healing and using a tremendous amount of spiritual energy while at it. The more energy that he burned, the darker the surrounding aura became. Without any words, the two suddenlyunched towards each other and shed, fist against fist. They had prepared to smash each other to bits, but a small spark from their first shpletely ignited the aura around Alexander. Instead of gold, he now appeared to be covered in me, but he did not slow down even for a moment. An ungodly amount of strength flowed through his arms as he punched the demon¡¯s face, determined to see if he could still live after he squished it to a pulp. While Alexander himself still remained unaware of the fire surrounding him, the guests, and especially Pramod, were extremely aware of its awesome power. The strength of Alexander¡¯s augmented fists could be dulled by his armor, but the heat of the me seemed to reach directly into his being. Pramod roared as his ominous purple aura exploded around him, but before he could use it to his advantage, six ming des attacked him from different angles. Pramod barely defended himself, but his aura was eviscerated. Alexander did not give him any time to rest, though. He raised his right hand in the air, and the six des oriented themselves right beside it. Small yellow balls of light floated out of his fingers and started collecting at the tip of each de, influenced by the zing glory of the me around the teenager, the balls slowly became alight. Normally this would be a slow process, but the rate at which Alexander was burning spirit energy sped up the process so that in a couple of seconds, six ming balls hung in the air. This was the technique he had learnt from John, called Final Glory ¨C meant to be used as ast resort that would normally drain him of all his spirit energy. Alexander did not care much for the name, but its effect was truly amazing. Alexander pointed his hand at Pramod and shot the des towards the demon as if out of a bazooka. Each de passed through the ming ball, absorbing its energy as it passed. Pramod immediately sensed the threat and let out a ferocious roar before mming the ground. A wall of dust rose into the air, hiding the demon from view, but that did not prevent the now ming des from reaching him. Six earth-shattering explosions rocked the entire small pocket dimension, immediately attracting the attention of each participant. They looked towards the center, wondering what had happened. But while everyone was feeling a mix of shock and awe and reverie, Alexander cracked his neck a couple of times before he slowly started walking towards the dust cloud. ¡°Who knew immortals could make such great punching bags?¡± An angry and crazed roar responded to his casual remark, but he did not care. Six des were floating around his right arm again, gathering six balls of me, as he prepared his next round of attacks. Today, he would beat the crap out of an immortal. Chapter 157 First game ends The crowd at the Inn was going wild. They enjoyed the twists and turns in each fight, swooned as they saw the various weapons on disy. Alexander¡¯s fight was just one of many, quite a few had managed to make a name for themselves. A few outstanding beasts attracted a lot of attention, and naturally many of the humans. The Jotun soldiers did not dazzle with ostentatious disys, but their extremely consistent and steady performance was an award winner. Even up until now, they had not suffered a single casualty. The participants themselves, though, had a very different mindset. Most of them were extremely tired. Large-scale battles were very different from small scale fights, and they had to bnce their physical and spiritual stamina, something that not many were trained for. The mental fatigue had also started to wear them down. But despite all of that, they had around 5 hours left, and somewhere between fifteen to twenty thousand zombies still standing. They didn¡¯t even want to kill the zombies, they just wanted to get their hands on the treasure chest the horde was quickly escorting back, but just that seemed a momentous task. And if they weren¡¯t able to do this much, destroying the node would be even harder. But little did they know, the node was almost destroyed simply by ident. Pramod, battered and beaten, kept trying to lure Alexander away from the center. For a while now, he had just been using devastatingly powerful attacks that threatened to destroy the node just by attacking the vicinity near it. He himself was bleeding from all over, and his armor seemed destroyed in many ces. But he truly did not care about the damage he was taking ¨C in a sense, he had not lied when he said he was immortal. Such attacks, no matter how many times he received, would never kill him. Of course, he would not exin that to Alexander. The only thing on his mind now was to hold Alexander off long enough till his zombies brought the treasure chest to him. After that, he would let Alexander destroy the node because the truth was he had realized it was impossible for him to actually kill Alexander right now.. While all of this was happening, Lex had calmed down now and was watching the game with a critical eye. He did not know enough about cultivation to understand theplexities of the techniques and abilities being used, but the one thing he could understand very clearly was his own inferiority. As ofte, he had been getting slightly arrogant with all the influence he held at the Inn. People older and stronger than him hung on his every word, and he made decisions arbitrarily. In brainwashing himself to seem more confident for his performance, he had at some point really started believing himself something great. But all it took was a single crisis on Earth to bring him back to reality. As much influence as he had at the Inn, outside of it he was nothing. His personal strength was weak, and Lex Williams¡¯ connections were all for naught. He was so caught up in avoiding trouble on Earth that when trouble came, he had no one he could ask for help. Even his connection with Marlo he had terminated. But this realization did not mean he was indulging in self pity. Far from it, in fact. He was waking up to the cold hard truth, so that he could remedy it. If he stayed within his delusions, a simple ident was all it would take to cause him irreparable damage. With his self-actualization achieved, he needed to decide what to do next. He already put up amission for items to heal the soul or information about it, so now in that regard all he could do is wait. Much more importantly, Lex was worried about his family. Without moving a muscle, he used his ability to put up anothermission in the Guild room for detailed information about the situation in London, which is where his family was currently staying. He also put up anothermission for general information about the details behind what was happening on Earth. Once he had enough information, he would then decide what to do. His greatest power and asset was the Inn and its influence, and he intended to use it fully. Currently, his attention was split between the family heads and the games. They seemed to be waiting for someone, which was good enough. The moment they learnt anything, so would he. And in case his family was in trouble¡­ he would hold events, put upmissions, offer jobs, give out trials, whatever it took to make sure they¡¯d be safe. ¡°Lex, you¡¯re getting angry again,¡± Mary said softly, waking him from his thoughts. She was sitting on his shoulder, looking at him with a little bit of pity. Lately she had spent less and less time with him, because she realized she could not help herself but give him rmendations. That in itself was not a bad thing, but he needed to learn how to make decisions based on whatever information he had himself. After all, if her way of doing things was so great, she wouldn¡¯t be¡­ ¡°Thanks,¡± Lex muttered, and turned his attention back to the game. He needed to keep himself upied. Back in the game, the horde had neared Pramod enough that hepletely ignored Alexander and sprinted towards the horde. He couldn¡¯t let the human realize that the horde had the chest or he would use his overwhelming firepower to steal it. From Alexander¡¯s point of view, it merely seemed like Pramod was running away. Initially, he thought to chase after him, but by now even he had realized that despite doing a lot of damage, he was unable to kill the demon. And with various other forces chasing close behind the horde, Alexander decided it was a better idea to look for and destroy the node before they arrived. He didn¡¯t know which of them was able to get the prize, but it hardly mattered to him anymore. ¡°Squads 1 and 2¡­¡± before Alexander could continue to give orders, he realized that his earpiece had fallen out or had been destroyed at some point. He could notmunicate with his soldiers, so he would have to figure this out on his own. Right now, he had no equipment or weapons other than his des, so it would be a little hard to determine the location of the node. His emotions, in the heightened state that they were in, made it difficult for him to make a detailed n, so he went with the most basic and brutal one. He started bombarding the ground with an endless barrage of Final Glory. The ground shattered and quaked as his attacksnded. Each attack brought about its own cloud of dust and dirt to the point where Alexander felt like a smoke machine, but he did not stop. And, just like that, in the stupidest way possible, one of his attacks finally reached deep enough and hit the node, destroying it. A siren rang throughout the battlefield before the Innkeeper¡¯s voice was heard, full of energy and mirth. ¡°Congrattions to Alexander Morrison for single-handedly destroying the first node, and kicking off the games in such a splendid way! The rest of you performed remarkably as well. Why don¡¯t we get you some well-deserved rest?¡± With that, all the participants were covered by a protective bubble, and teleported back to the Inn. Since many of them were inbat, when they returned, they were spaced far apart so as to not identally harm one another. The sudden change caught many of them with surprise, and most of them felt frustrated rather than relieved that the game was over. After all their hard work, the points for the node had been single-handedly snatched by Alexander! Of course, the other Earthlings were ecstatic. Though they separated from Alexander, his points would ultimately count towards Earth¡¯s total as well. Followed by the feeling of frustration, they were hit by exhaustion. The next game was supposed to be in around 17 hours, which was definitely not enough time topletely rest up. This was not even considering those of them that had been wounded. But of course, since they could think this far, so could Lex, and he had already taken care of it. ¡°To all the contestants, I rmend you return to your allocated bases and get some rest. The housing in each base has been fitted with the healing capabilities of the Recovery room, so that all remaining participants will be in tiptop shape for the next match.¡± The participants, too tired to think about anything else, started marching back towards their bases to get some rest. The sounds of hooting and cheering from the coliseum made a nice backdrop to their return, but while most Earthling participants were reveling in their victory, Alexander was staring at his grandmother. His grandfather was missing, and so were the other family heads. Something must have happened. Something bad. Chapter 158 What the hell The hours after the game ended passed in a much needed lull, at least for the guests. After watching for several hours straight, despite the excellent excitement, they were getting tired. Many chose to stay in their rooms to sleep, some decided to return to their respectives. Those that returned to Earth soon received a big surprise. Everyone had ns to return to watch the next match, but how many would actually return was yet to be determined? Will Bentham was one of the guests who had decided to stay at the Inn. Truth be told, he was seriously considering living at the Inn perpetually, as the air on Earth was too putrid for him to tolerate after spending time in this heaven. This n of his was slowly starting to seem more likely because he had ced a nominal sum as a bet to show support for Alexander. Keeping in mind thed¡¯s excellent performance, he had received a whopping 11,000 MP as credit! This solidified his n to continue betting, small amounts of course, and could use that money to supplement his ns ¨C not that he was really short of money, but he had never disliked a sudden windfall. While Will had be an unexpected winner, most people had lost their bets ¨C including Anthony, who had ced a personal bet that the Jotuns would be the ones to destroy the node. Since this was the first match, people had bet only small amounts, as they did not know what to expect from the participants. The next match would likely be when the real betting began. Despite that, Lex had made a spectacr 330,765 MP profit from the bets alone. Something worth noting was that other than Will, Igishima won nearly 8000 MP in bets. Oddly enough, his prizes didn¡¯te from a single win, but from various random bets. It seemed as if the tree did not understand the concept of gambling very well and randomly ced bets on whoever it thought looked good. Other than that, his ie from food and other services was only 440,765 MP since about 15,000 of the mouths he was feeding were participating in the games. Even though he was not really in the mood to pay attention to these things, he could not help but remember just a month back when he was struggling to raise a measly 10,000 MP. Inparison, his current total was 981,530 MP. But he did not touch the MP this time. He nned no upgrades and didn¡¯t think of fixing any issues. This MP would stay in reserve for now in case he needed to use it for any particr reason. He spent his time meditating back in his room and told Mary to inform him when the people who were going to negotiate with the family heads came. While Lex was meditating, a lot of people were waiting in anxiously.. Brandon, of course, had already cooled down and was spending time with his grandson,ughing at his reaction when Alexander finally learnt about the golden aura. As it turned out, Brandon had specially modified the technique so the user would not be able to see the aura. It was the only way to have people actually practice the technique all the way. Helen sat quietly in the corner. Since she learnt about the war, she had not spoken a word. Anthony was having all the data analyzed and discussing the strategy for the next match with Crawford-41. It was confirmed now that Pramod had been able to get his hands on the second chest, which would likely make the next match incredibly hard. He had also sent someone to invite the leaders from Earth to discuss the strategy, but apparently they were preupied at the moment. By now, as dismissive as he was of Earth, he at least recognized they were notpletely worthless. He had even sent a clip of Alexander¡¯s battle to Ragnar back on Vegus Minima. Speaking of which, the bubble surrounding the first battlefield had disappeared once all the contestants retreated. Ragnar immediately secured the location and had his troops try to locate any remnants of the node. If they could understand it better, they would be able to search for it themselves on the others. The beasts were undergoing their own form of strategy meetings. They had racked up a decent number of points, but not enough. The sloth was having a few discussions with the various leaders from the about how they can improve performance. The consensus, generally, was that during the first five games, they only needed to get a decent number of points. It was thest five games during which they would steal the show. Like this, the time passed and just as the first light of the new day shone down on the Inn, three new guests appeared at the Inn. In the lead was a woman, and behind her two men. This was the first time they hade to the Inn and took a look around. When their personal holograms showed up and introduced them to the rules and asked if they needed help with anything, they were particrly impressed. ¡°This is a good ce. If I can cultivate here, I feel like I¡¯ll be able to break through in just a few months,¡± said the man with short, blonde hair. ¡°We need to find out more about this Inn. If we can cultivate our forces here¡­¡± ¡°Focus on the task at hand,¡± the woman said in a tired voice. She was exhausted from babysitting these two. Why couldn¡¯t hidden co-conspirators be more serious, like in the movies? Little did she know, her two partners were thinking the same thing about her. She had an unusual form of OCD (obsessivepulsive disorder) wherein she could only focus on one task. Anything at all that was notpletely relevant to that task would irritate her to no end, and she would, in turn, irritate them to no end. ¡°Fine, fine, let¡¯s just get on with it.¡± The three asked their holographic-assistants to escort them to the family heads. As soon as they met someone from the entourage from one of the families, they were escorted to a room for a meeting. Mary naturally woke Lex up so he could pay attention. In the room, four of the family heads and a few other relevant dignitaries were staring at the three neers with murder in their eyes. The three of them were quite nonchnt about it though ¨C they already knew about the security provided by the Inn. ¡°Don¡¯t look at me like that, grandpappy Sam. What will you do if I get scared and run away?¡± asked the blonde man sarcastically. ¡°You have some gall to speak to me like that, Kevin!¡± The blonde man only chuckled and ignored the senile fool. ¡°So you really have betrayed us,¡± said Richard, looking at the other man. ¡°Is it really a betrayal, old man? The way I see it, we just took our inheritance a little before you died. It¡¯s not a big deal.¡± ¡°You disappoint me, Lee.¡± ¡°The feeling is mutual,¡± he said, as hefortably took a seat. To be honest, Lee felt like annoying these geezers a little more, but he could tell the preamble conversation was already irritating Miranda, and he¡¯d had a long day taking over the world. He didn¡¯t want to hear her bickering. ¡°Were all families involved?¡± the Queen asked Miranda. ¡°Does it matter? That¡¯s not what we¡¯re here to discuss. Someone hurry up and call Brandon so we can begin.¡± ¡°Ho ho, I didn¡¯t know you were missing me so much,¡± rang Brandon¡¯s voice as he appeared close behind Miranda. She didn¡¯t know if she was imagining it, but she could feel his warmth behind her. Despite herself, Miranda blushed. Then Audrey appeared in the room and pulled the century old yboy to his seat ¨C pulled him by the ear, of course. The other family heads felt stifled. They didn¡¯t know if they were angrier at their descendants who had appeared before them or this stupid old man who had somehowpletely stopped caring that the Earth was being taken over. ¡°Let¡¯s begin,¡± Miranda said, sitting down, her gaze still lingering on Brandon. He had gotten a few new tattoos since thest time she saw him¡­ Miranda gulped as she suppressed her wandering thoughts and regainedposure. To help her retain her focus, she made direct eye contact with the Queen ¨C the unofficial leader of the five family heads. ¡°It is only out of filial¡­ pity¡­ that we are even meeting. A lot of the members from the council wanted to directly wait for you with Gravedigger formations back on Earth and finish you off once and for all.¡± The family heads suddenly grimaced when they heard those words. Gravedigger formations were the nuclear deterrents of the cultivation world. It was a hassle to set one up, simply because of the resources required to actually make one, but they had no theoretical upper power limit. If used properly, and if they were caught unaware, those formations could be a real threat to them. ¡°Hey, don¡¯t forget about Sam jr. who wanted to use hydrogen bombs,¡± pitched in Kevin. Miranda gave Kevin a dirty look, but continued, ¡°Yes, many ways of¡­ disposing of you were discussed. You should be thankful that in the end the council only decided to imprison you at the Inn.¡± ¡°Hey, I can think of a few ways to thank you,¡± said Brandon with a wink. Without missing a beat, Audrey stabbed Brandon in the leg with a small dagger,pletely unconcerned that the Innkeeper would consider it an attack. As if to emphasize to her husband to behave, she looked towards the two men sitting beside Miranda and said, ¡°I¡¯m considering taking concubines. Would you be interested?¡± Back in his room, Lex felt like flipping a table. This was supposed to be a serious meeting. WHAT THE HELL WAS GOING ON? Chapter 159 Oppressed cultivators As annoyed as Lex was by the two senior Morrisons, he noticed that neither the family heads nor the other three responded to them. It was as if years of experience had taught them the best way to handle them was to ignore them. The strong blush running down Miranda¡¯s neck waspletely not a giveaway about how she felt about Brandon¡¯s flirting, not at all. ¡°Do you really expect this to work?¡± Richard asked. ¡°You cannot trap us here. We can leave, and even if you do bomb two cities, or even more, as long as we return to Earth, all of you will die.¡± ¡°Do not try to bluff, old man,¡± Lee said, yawning. He was not at all intimidated by these few who had controlled Earth for so long. ¡°You bend over backwards to stop any cultivator conflict, and step in even if a mortal conflict is getting too big. You think you are being secretive, but the truth is old timer, other than your cultivation, you are not superior in anything else. The same goes for the rest of you as well.¡± Lee gave a derisive look to all in the room. ¡°You are not good leaders. You are not good businessmen. You are not good politicians. You make yourselves feel good by saying you¡¯re protecting people¡¯s lives, but all you¡¯re doing is suppressing your own people. Your shoddy rules and improper management are literally destroying Earth, but the mortals are protected from the truth, so who cares?¡± At the end of his little triad, Lee got a little heated, no doubt from holding in years of resentment, but decided to stop so Miranda would not pester him. But just as she was about to speak again, he discovered that he really could not stop himself.. ¡°You¡¯re uneducated and stuck in bygone traditions! You trained your descendants to be the best, but then forced them to hide and suppress themselves. You taught them to have ambition and then buried it with your own hands. It is not betrayal when you betrayed us first! You¡­¡± ¡°Lee, stop,¡± interrupted Kevin. ¡°Go take a breather. We¡¯ll handle this.¡± Lee realized that he had, indeed, lost his temper. It really was better to go cool off ¨C they still had many things to take care of after this. He gave Richard a dirty look and said onest thing before leaving. ¡°As much as you all look down on him, at least Brandon gave his descendants a ce to thrive. Of all the families, his has the least members on the Council of the New Order.¡± At this, Brandon and Audrey both raised an eyebrow. Council of the New Order is probably what they called themselves, but what truly attracted him was the part about the least members. Least did not mean none. So even the Morrison family had traitors. With Lee leaving the room, Miranda took a deep breath and turned back to the Queen. ¡°We have much to do, so I¡¯m not going to waste any more time. We did note here to negotiate, we only came here to tell what¡¯s going to happen from now on. You can choose how to react to this information, but the consequences will be your own. You can believe us about the nuclear bombs or you can test it out, it¡¯ll be up to you. ¡°The mortals have ruled and the cultivators have hid long enough. It¡¯s time to restore proper order ¨C for both their sakes and ours. Soon, the borders of many countries will change. Sects will once again openly recruit and cultivators will take over positions of power. All efforts will be put towards the growth and expansion of the cultivation civilization. ¡°As for you¡­ you will remain at the Inn until a time that the council decides you may return. Don¡¯t worry, treat it like retirement. y bingo, watch some tv, whatever it is retired people do. Because, even if you doe back, you¡¯ll find that your influence is gone. No one will listen to you. Any authority you thought you had¡­ was only because none of the council members wanted to fight you up front. Anyone who was still loyal to you¡­ well, let¡¯s not get into the specifics.¡± ¡°Is it so easy for you to massacre so many people?¡± the Queen asked in an even voice. If she was feeling anger or frustration, it was not evident. Miranda looked at the Queen cidly, as if she had asked the stupidest question in the world. ¡°About as easy as it was for you to let my father die.¡± ¡°I think I¡¯ve heard about enough,¡± Brandon said, standing up, a dagger still sticking out of his leg. ¡°Little girl, I wish you the best in your endeavors. I never cared much for ruling Earth anyway, too much responsibility ¨C I would rather chill at the beach with my wife. I will only give you one piece of advice: don¡¯t kill too many people during your little revolution. If you piss off the bossdy, you might really learn just about how much power you really have. Oh and uh, I¡¯ll stay at the Inn, but someone uses that as an excuse to harm my kids or grandkids¡­¡± He didn¡¯t finish his sentence as he left the room, but his message was clear. Miranda let out a little sigh, even as she swooned a little internally. Their biggest concern really was the Morrison family. Although mostly focused on Mars, their army was sizable. Naturally, against all the cultivators of Earth it was still inferior in strength, but the damage the council would take fighting them would be considerable. ¡°Are you sure about this?¡± Audrey asked as the old, but somehow very young looking, couple walked away. ¡°You know I never cared much for the responsibility. If Rorick or the others want to do something about it, they can, but I say good riddance. Keeping that woman happy was too annoying. Now we can just focus on what we want to do. Hey berry, want to have another kid?¡± Audrey smacked the man on the back of his head, effectivelymunicating her feelings about that notion, as they continued to stroll around. They had many hours before the next match. Alexander was sleeping, recovering from the mental exhaustion, and Rorick was cultivating in his room,pletely unaware of what was happening in the outside world. While the Morrisons strode off, Lex was still focused on the meeting. The family heads learnt of how deeply the betrayal ran, and they all had mixed feelings. Basically, anyone not from their immediate family was very dissatisfied with them, to put it mildly. They were born at the peak of the world, raised to be the best, then suppressed and forced to hide their brilliance so that the mortal world would not be destabilized. Lex honestly didn¡¯t care about any of that, and currently he had no thoughts on what the family heads could have done better. He was slowly getting agitated by not being able to learn any specific details about Earth. A part of him wanted to simply return to New York and see if he could call his family. But of course, he knew that allmunication had been shut down so he would learn nothing. Eventually, he decided to wait one more day to see if someone would answer hismission, or else he would start to take more¡­ drastic¡­ measures. ***** Somewhere in the universe, far away, Serene Williams was looking at her husband as he practiced. On her face she wore expressions of both disappointment and annoyance, but the man did not notice as he was focused on his sword. He was practicing shirtless, his taut muscles rippling with each move, his rolling sweat giving his body a nice sheen. His each swing was slow and deliberate, but despite that each time he finished a swing the very room would tremble. The man frowned, he still could not prevent energy from leaking. When he was able to perform each move without any sound or wind, without any energy leaking at all, he would finally reach a satisfactory level of mastery. Finally, unable to wait for him to notice her, Serene said, ¡°There¡¯s news from Earth.¡± ¡°Oh, did the kid finally do something interesting?¡± Serene gave her husband an exasperated look. ¡°He¡¯s only just started cultivating, what can he even do? No, this is more serious. Cultivators have revolted against the proctors we assigned to keep the peace, war has erupted.¡± This attracted the man¡¯s attention, and he finally stopped practicing and turned towards his wife, wearing a look of ¡®I told you so¡¯. ¡°Even that isn¡¯t the serious part. When I heard about the war, I had the local sentries call back all the ¡®guests¡¯ we¡¯ve sent on Earth for their own protection. They¡¯re all there, except¡­¡± Serene paused, and despite her usualposure, wore a look of exasperation. ¡°No one can get in touch with Bastet. She has left the.¡± The man was startled, but the look of horror quickly changed to that of great amusement. He burst outughing, his energy causing an earthquake on the continent where they were. Chapter 160 Panic ¡°Stopughing,¡± Serene said, but the chiseled man only roared out harder. The room was shaking and paintings had started falling off the walls, but he could not care less. ¡°Stopughing,¡± she said again, feeling slightly embarrassed, but to no avail. Finally, her expression turned serious, and she said in a bitingly cold voice, ¡°stopughing!¡± As if he had been faking it all this time, the man went from almost falling over to a modest smirk. Seeing that he had listened, her expression softened and continued, ¡°What are we going to do about this?¡± ¡°How did she escape? Do you have any clues?¡±. ¡°I strongly suspect the newly discovered entity known as ¡®Midnight Inn¡¯ may have yed a role. Although Earth is in a deadzone,cking higher forms of spiritual energy and making it the perfect ce for high leveled political prisoners, if they can travel to the Midnight Inn and recuperate their energy, escaping bes an option.¡± ¡°Oh please, how many of those prisoners can travel directly in space or teleport? We don¡¯t need to do anything. Earth can continue to serve as a prison, just no longer for anyone approaching the Daolord realm. Send a report back to the family, there¡¯s no need to hide the matter. If they want to pick an issue, they can go find the Midnight Inn, I don¡¯t care.¡± With that, the matter was resolved, and the man returned to his practice. Serene sighed as she opened a tablet to write up her report. Shepletely ignored a small notification in the corner with the title ¡®your daughter has run away from school again¡¯. She could only handle one disaster at a time. ***** Slowly the hours passed and many things happened at the Inn. The meeting between the family heads and the representatives of the council did not go over well and, as Lex predicted, his guards had to get involved. Still, none of the family heads returned to Earth. They only sent back their assistants and followers and tried to control the situation through them. Unfortunately, it seemed that they truly had lost all authority. The few who were still willing to follow themand of the family heads were locked in battle with the council¡¯s forces. Most countries worldwide were already under their control. Strangely enough, only South Korea and Japan were able to resist the influence of the council. As for why that was, the family heads were receiving only bits and pieces of information, so it could not yet be determined. In the meantime, the armies were preparing for their next match. The recovery afforded to them in their bases was remarkable and almost all were fully healed. Only a few who had extremely serious injuries had to preemptively forfeit. About 900 of Alexander¡¯s soldiers were still capable of fighting. While most of them were resting, a few of them were submitting a report for new supplies and gear to be brought from Mars. While this was happening, they received a dossier from the Jotun army. Considering Earth¡¯s ster performance, Anthony decided to give them more support so long as they continued to deliver at the same level. In the dossier was information about the terrain for the remaining 9 nodes. Since the nodes¡¯ location had been identified back on the, they quickly drew up maps based on previous satellite images and marked down the terrain and notablendmarks. They could not predict where the next game would be, but at least they would not be surprised no matter what they faced. This was extremely important because two of the nodes were underwater! Without proper gear, the soldiers would literally drown and die within the first hour! In the dossier was also a report on Pramod! The empire could not confirm it just from watching him fight Alexander, but they had strong suspicions about his species. They suspected he was a Nightmare demon. This was a very rare, very dangerous breed of demons that was named not because of how they originated, but because they were a nightmare for anyone to face! The document gave a lot of details on how to properly fight a nightmare demon, but to spare everyone the issue of figuring out how to apply this information, they also provided a spiritual technique that could actually damage them. It was not very strong, but at least it did more harm than Alexander¡¯s attacks did, and at a fraction of the energy cost. Like this, the calm was kept right up until a few hours before the next match. So far, most of the guests at the Inn from Earth didn¡¯t actually know what was happening. But as if nned, several panicked guests entered the Inn at the same time. They tripped and tumbled as they ran towards those they knew. Unable to be discreet in their mental condition, they shouted ¡®war¡¯ when they finally saw theirpatriots. In but a few minutes, news spread. The guests that arrived didn¡¯t know the global situation, but when enough of them got together and told simr stories, it became apparent that the issue was widespread. Fortunately, it seemed that so far cities were being upied and put under martialw, and there were no reports of widespread massacres. But theck of information and abundance of over-imagination caused panic. At this point, despite his own agitated state, Lex had to intervene. Honestly, he was feeling a little annoyed at the family heads for not addressing the people from Earth who were at the Inn, but it didn¡¯t matter. They were caught up in their own world. ¡°Please, be calm,¡± a warm yet firm voice washed over the citizens of Earth. Somehow, Lex had figured out how to give targeted announcements, so only Earthlings were hearing his voice right now. From Ragnar, who was cultivating, to those who were asleep, to Sophia, who had not left her son¡¯s side, they all heard the voice. ¡°It appears that your hase under conflict. Such a time of difficulty is dreaded by all, but as citizens of your, it is also your responsibility to shape the destiny of your. But at the same time, how can you fearlessly face the future if you are concerned for your loved ones? For the people of Earth, the Midnight Inn will offer great discounts to provide you and your loved one¡¯s safety and security, so long as the conflict remains. Please, if you think you or yours are in danger, do not hesitate to bring them to the Inn.¡± The announcement was short and direct, and delivered the message well enough. Immediately, most of them realized the security and safety the Inn could provide and started returning to Earth to fetch their families. The 100 students from Troy academy felt scared, but surprisingly handled the information better than most adults. It made sense, their regr lives weren¡¯t exactly normal either. Actually, it suddenly urred to Lex that some of them might be kids of the people leading this worldwide revolution, which is exactly why they were sent here ¨C for the security, or to be spies. As much as Lex hated the feeling that he was simply doing this to fulfill the refugee quest, the truth was that he genuinely wasn¡¯t. Previously, he was so concerned about his own family that he forgot about the quest. But the fact that he remembered now was good enough. One thing he might need to addresster was housing for the refugees if the conflictsted longer than the Midnight Games. For now, there was temporary housing due to the event panel, but once the event ended, that would go away. It seemed like he needed to save more MP, just in case. It was at this time he also thought of his friends in New York. The fact that he couldn¡¯t reach his family was one matter, but those in New York were still within reach. Lex was not indecisive at all this time around. Deep down, he felt like maybe he was just looking for an excuse to not be logical and just return to Earth. But if an excuse was what he needed, his friend¡¯s safety gave him just that. He had to at least check on them. After all, as odd as it may be, despite their short time knowing each other, Lex thought of Larry as a good friend. He returned to his room and donned the damaged armor he¡¯d bought before going to Nibirust time, and wore a hoodie on top of it. He ensured the safety was on before hiding the Heavy harley in the back of his pants like in the movies. As ufortable as it was, he dealt with it. Making sure he had all the items he needed onest time, he was ready. The next game would start in a few hours, he should be back by then, but if he weren¡¯t he told Mary to start without him. With that, he disappeared from his room and returned to Earth. Chapter 161 Not suspicious enough Lex did not know exactly what to expect when he returned. A part of him expected tond in the middle of a war-torn battleground, with buildings half destroyed and bullets flying in the air. Maybe he expected the city to be under lockdown. Maybe he was thinking he would see soldiers pushing innocent civilians around, and a band of resistance fighters made up from civilians fighting back. The fanciful stories he had filled his head with were many, but the one thing he was not expecting at all was for everything to be normal. Though it was early in the day, people could be seen walking around the streets casually. Some were walking their dogs, others were sitting on benches and reading books. The wind raised a few skirts, a few men mmed cabs and yelled ¡®I¡¯m walking here¡¯ and a few other,pletely standard and not at all stereotypical everyday things happened. At first, Lex was amazed. Then he frowned. War was definitely happening ¨C the system had confirmed it and so many guests had confirmed it, so how was everything so normal? Completely underwhelmed, Lex walked into a cafe and tried to eavesdrop on nearby conversations. If anything significant had happened, the people would be talking about it. Significant news there was, just not what Lex was expecting. The people were talking about the unusual inte outage that was apparently affecting everyone. News channels were not reporting on it and no official statement was being released. Just a single hour of blocked inte ess could send variouspanies into massive loss in this city, yet somehow everyone was okay with it. Lex took out his phone and turned it on to see if he was getting any signals. He didn¡¯t know how else he would contact Larry, or anyone else, for that matter. Contrary to what Lex expected, his phone was working just fine. He was about to try an international call to his family when he started receiving messages. The first was from Bluebird: Until further notice, the Bluebird portal will not be avable. Please contact your nearby Bluebird office if you need any help. The second, again, was from Bluebird:. A curfew is now in effect. All cultivators must remain home unless provided a pass. Any cultivator discovered breaking curfew, or without their Bluebird token, will be detained pending a treason trial. The third was from Larry: Your phone is powered off, but you should get this if you turn your phone back on. Things are not as they seem. Be safe. Contact me if you need help. Subtly, Lex nodded. The suspicious behavior was more inline with what he expected. Based on what he had heard so far, the ICPAs were locking down their regions of control and were a part of the war. Since all of New York was so thoroughly under Bluebirds control, they probably didn¡¯t need to use soldiers to snatch control. They just needed to maintain as much normalcy as they could manage until the global situation stabilizes. Lex tried calling his family, but the call would not connect. He tried calling Larry, and the phone was off. He tried calling Larry again, but this time on a second number he had given Lex to use in case of emergencies. The call went through, but after it was picked up, there wasplete silence. No one on the other side said anything. ¡°Is anyone there?¡± Lex asked hesitantly. ¡°Lex? Is that you?¡± Larry asked, his voice easily identifiable. But before Lex could answer, he said, ¡°Don¡¯t say anything. I¡¯m sending you a location. Come alone. Don¡¯t bring your token.¡± After receiving the text, Lex followed the directions only to find himself standing before a dor store in uptown. He explored the store and could not find Larry, so he tried calling again, but the phone was powered off. At this point, Lex frowned. It was dangerous to randomly roam around the city, especially since he did not have his token. He could still recall how his previous boss had immediately identified him as a cultivator. They had to get extremely close for her to notice, but then again, she wasn¡¯t actively searching for anyone, either. Just as he was wondering what to do, a man in a hoodie with the hood down approached him. ¡°Hey Lex, follow me,¡± Larry said in a hushed voice, and quickly led him to an apartment building nearby. Silently climbing up seven flights of stairs, they reached the room where Larry was hiding. As soon as they entered, Larry activated some formation he had in the room and let out an audible sigh of relief. ¡°Damn, this thing is so hot,¡± he said as he took off his hoodie. ¡°What¡¯s with all the drama?¡± Lex asked casually. As per usual, Larry¡¯s face was covered in bruises ¨C probably from working in that club where he fought people. ¡°Yeah, I have some bad news for you, buddy. By the way, turn your phone off while we talk. I¡¯m carrying a signal jammer on me, so no one could have followed us through tracking your phone, but better safe than sorry.¡± ¡°Is your bad news about the war?¡± Larry paused, clearly surprised to hear Lex. ¡°You already know?¡± ¡°A little. What do you know?¡± ¡°Not much, but¡­ a lot of people I know got ¡®picked up¡¯ by Bluebird. I haven¡¯t heard from them since. Then a contact of mine, an old¡­ associate of my family, told me about the war. I don¡¯t even know who is fighting who, but it must be pretty bad. All markets, like the one that I took you tost time, have been shut down. Considering the shutdown inmunication and the curfew¡­ I¡¯ve never seen it this bad. I¡¯ve tried a hundred things, but I haven¡¯t been able to connect to the.¡± As Lex followed Larry into the apartment, he realized it was nothing like the beat-up and worn down building it was hiding in. There wereputers EVERYWHERE! Wires crisscrossed the apartment, though bolted to the floor or walls so as to not get in the way. There were at least a dozen different monitors, all showing different things. Lex was not a tech illiterate person, but this¡­ was even beyond him. ¡°Listen, do you have any way of contacting anyone abroad?¡± ¡°Currently, no. The moment I¡¯m able to connect to the, I¡¯ll be able to. But god knows when that¡¯ll be.¡± Lex took a look at things and finally felt a sense of relief. At least his friend was okay. He spent a couple hours chatting with Larry, finding out as much as he could about Bluebirds actions. They had been very discreet, but certain forces had been targeted by them as far as Larry knew. If any fights broke out, they were handled swiftly and efficiently, so that no news had spread so far. They were keeping the peace for the general public right now, but who knew how long this would go on. ¡°Well, I¡¯m d you¡¯re safe Larry, I just came to check up on you. You¡¯re doing a good job staying low-key, but if you get in trouble, use this.¡± Lex handed him a golden key, preparing to exin to him how to use it, but Larry froze when heid eyes on it. ¡°That¡­ that¡¯s¡­ that¡¯s the golden key!¡± he eximed. ¡°It¡¯s the key that¡¯s been all over the! There have been so many conspiracy theories in such a short time¡­ don¡¯t tell me they¡¯re real?¡± ¡°Conspiracy theories?¡± Lex asked, confused. ¡°Yes, if the were working, I¡¯d show you. They say that such keys have been passing around top government officials and high leveled cultivators recently. No one knows for sure what they do, but those conspiracy theorists im the keys can take you to a secret society that only the rich and powerful are a part of. They im that our world is ruled by families, hidden in the dark, who have been using these keys to signify members of their secret society. Don¡¯t¡­ don¡¯t tell me this is real!¡± Lex chuckled, and despite all that was happening, suddenly felt amused. He did not realize that one day he would be a source of conspiracy theories. The funny thing was, those theorists were remarkably close to the truth about many things. ¡°I don¡¯t know about all of that, but if you get into trouble with Bluebird or anyone else, break the key. Despite Larry asking multiple times, Lex didn¡¯t say what the key did. At this point, it wasn¡¯t for safety or secrecy purposes, he just wanted to see the surprised look on Larrys face when he used the key for the first time. Of course, he would still not tell anyone he was the Innkeeper. But now that the keys were circting on Earth, it was much safer for him to hand them out to people. As he walked out of Larry¡¯s building, chuckling as he thought about how Larry would react, he did not notice two men staring at him. ¡°The variable has left. The target is alone in the building. What are your orders?¡± one of them said into an earpiece. After getting the reply, the man nodded to his partner and the two of them entered Larry¡¯s building, each carrying a gun. Chapter 162 Take a shower Other than Larry, there were a few other people Lex wanted to check up on, but meeting everyone in person would take too much time. He gave everyone a call and left a few voice messages, all the while making his way to a park. Finding a remote area, he hid between some bushes and teleported back to the Inn. His mood was somewhat better now and only improved when he learnt that someone hadpleted hismision for information about London. He wasted no time and retrieved the report, expecting a situation simr to New York. But the situation in the UK was actually quite different. Even though the council had vast influence, basically feeding off of the original connections, they could not influence everyone. As the Queen¡¯s ce of residence, her pce was full of her closest followers. In many ces around the world, armed forces were directly neutralized by turning their own defensive formations against them by spies, yet the Queen¡¯s guard was exceptionally well trained. Even under such strenuous circumstances, they put up a fierce fight and escaped. The pce was destroyed and a few other fights broke out all across the nation as the elite guards made their escape. The good news, for Lex anyway, was that while many soldiers and cultivators suffered casualties, there were minimal civilian casualties, and those too were only near the pce. The bad news was that the entire nation was in a strict lockdown. The official news being spread to the public was that there was an assassination attempt on the royal family orchestrated by terrorists and rival nations. A decent number of those experts had escaped and there was no information of where they might be, so it could not be determined when the situation would change. But since his family had nothing to do with any such matters, he felt that they were probably safe. With that stone off his shoulders, he suddenly realized how effective the Inn could be at collecting information. ¡°Hey Mary, can I ask you for a favor?¡± ¡°What is it?¡±. ¡°Can you keep an eye on my guests? I¡¯m thinking of building a news collection service, and need someone who would be good at something like that. But I need someone with a real knack for something like this, as I¡¯ll want him to collect sensitive information in every world we connect to.¡± Before Mary could answer, the familiar ting of a quest rang in Lex¡¯s mind. New Quest: Find an employee who can run a news service Quest time limit: none Quest Reward: Midnight News building Remarks: For the first time, the host has taken a decent initiative. Now take the initiative to take a bath! After a long, long time, Lex lost his self-control, and his lip once again twitched! The twitch! It had returned! Lex could not help it, it was a reflex to the lethal remarks of the system. What embarrassed him the most was¡­ he had been so busytely that¡­ he forgot, and it had indeed been a few days since he showered. Taking in a deep breath, he pushed down his agitation and looked back at Mary. ¡°I¡¯ll keep an eye out. For something like there, there are a few races that are better suited than others. It¡¯ll be your luck if you run across one, and you¡¯ll be luckier to find one suited to work for you. All I can do is pay attention.¡± ¡°That¡¯ll be enough,¡± he remarked. The new quest reminded Lex that he had quite a few quests racked up, and he had not even checked the reward for the quest to expose the devil¡¯s nting trackers on his guests. He went through the quests list, just as a reminder. Quests: 1. Prepare an event for your guests to participate in Status: Ongoing 2. Build a connection to Dunya! 3. Develop a permanent guest district 4. One of your guests wants to use the Inn to host a secret society. Aid your guest. 5. Host refugees 6. Find an employee who can run a news service Many of these quests could not bepleted in the short term. The permanent district was too difficult for him at the moment, and the world Dunya he had encountered while using a Golden Ticket was too dangerous for the current him. The secret society meeting he had decided toplete after the Midnight Games ended, for the refugees, he had already spread the word and as far as finding an employee was concerned, it was up to luck. Shaking his head, he decided to look at his quest reward. Surprisingly, it was pretty good! Security room: As a prominent establishment, the Midnight Inn must ensure the safety of its guests. But as an Inn for the entire universe, even a trillion guests at a time are too few. The security room can be used by the Inns security guards to monitor malicious intent among the guests, to protect them as well as prevent them from making trouble! This was an incredible, incredible reward, probably one of the best and most practical he¡¯d received yet. It improved his mood tremendously. Lex made a n on how to install it and what to do about security now that he had a decent amount of MP, but all that could wait till after the games. Speaking of which, a quick scan of the Inn let him know that the second game had already begun. Not for all parties though, only for Pramod and 99 of his zombies. They¡¯d entered the map 2 hours early. The secret advantage they had received was invincibility! For one minute, they would be able to activate the ability to bepletely invincible to any and all external influence. This was a tremendous ability that could aid them in attacking as well as defending, but other than themselves, no one knew what the ability was. That made them even more dangerous. Pramod used the extra time he had gained to alter the terrain. The map this time was the side of a mountain covered by a forest, with a castle carved into the mountain at a certain point. The node was, naturally, inside the castle. Pramod immediately controlled the zombies to start cutting down trees and building various walls and digging various ditches. He could not do anything too insidious, as all the guests outside could see everything on the screens, but still, he manipted the environment to give himself an advantage. At first, Lex thought of watching the match outside again, but then disregarded it. The system could take care of everything and at least this did not need his supervision. With that, he had some free time on his hands. Now it was time to do something he had been putting off for a while. Lexy down on his bed and summoned the bottle of Purified Wraiths blood. This little reward would help him strengthen his soul, but also put him to sleep for a few hours. Now, more than ever, he was anxious to raise his cultivation. Watching a 17 year old Foundation cultivator was only a part of the motivation. As cliche as it sounded, he realized how little power he really had. Sure, normally on Earth, he could survive and thrive with his skills by earning a decent living. But that was only if he operated inside a working system that governed society. During exceptional times, such as war, when that system could not influence anything, he was powerless. Strong personal connections and strong personal strength were the things he decided would help him. Without waiting anymore, he gulped down the Wraiths blood andy down in bed. Sleep did not suddenlye to him, but slowly and steadily his mind slowed, until he fell asleep without even realizing when. Just as Lex fell asleep, at the front of Midnight Manor, a light shed and a bleeding Larry appeared. His body was coveredpletely by a thinyer of metal that rippled as he fell to the ground. It was as if his skin was made of mercury. But despite the metal skin, several gunshot wounds littered his body. His legs, especially, had nearly a dozen bleeding holes in them, though somehow he was not bleeding as much as he should have been. He looked around for a moment, confused and muddle headed, but could not understand where he was. A momentter a few panicked A.I.s approached him, followed by Velma. ¡°Dear guest, you are gravely wounded. Do you give me permission to take you to the recovery room?¡± Larry looked at her, and nodded, only hearing the word ¡®recovery¡¯, but then copsed right after. ¡°Quickly, call Gerard! We cannot let a guest die on our watch!¡± The A.I.s scrambled to do as they were told, and Larry quickly found himself in a recovery pod. Just by happenstance, as he was being taken in, Marlo was exiting another room, and happened to see his bleeding student. His eyes went red with fury. Chapter 163 Smoking hot On Earth, two pale looking agents stood in Larry¡¯s room, leaning against furniture for support. Bullet casings littered the ground, along with bits and pieces of broken furniture. Clearly, there had been an intense fight here, and the two armed men did not hold an overwhelming advantage. ¡°We have a problem,¡± one of the men said, after calling someone. ¡°The target used an unknown item and escaped. But he suffered multiple gunshot wounds so he should not have gotten far.¡± ¡°Search the area and see if you can find a trail. Have someone waiting at nearby hospitals as well. If you can¡¯t¡­ Do you have any pictures or the person the target was just with?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Send the picture to Bluebird and put out an arrest warrant. If we can¡¯t find him, his friends will have to do.¡± ¡°Got it,¡± the man answered and closed the phone. But instead of searching for Larry like he had been instructed, the man threw himself on a nearby sofa to recuperate. ¡°Aren¡¯t we supposed to look for him?¡± the man¡¯s partner asked.. ¡°Are you crazy? What if we actually end up finding him? I don¡¯t want to fight that crazy maniac again. Pretty soon, this assignment will be someone else¡¯s problem. Make sure to forward the pictures to Bluebird. And check the kids¡¯ fridge for some drinks. I could use one about now.¡± The partner breathed a sigh of relief, then walked towards the fridge. ***** As the hours passed by, the other guests noticed that the behavior of the guests from Earth changed dramatically. They had long stopped betting, and none of them were as jovial as before. Soon the empire got word that a civil war had erupted on Earth. This was bad for them as it would probably affect the number of participants Earth would send to the games. Just as Anthony was about to send someone to the family heads to discuss if their cooperation would be affected, someone by the name of Lee showed up. He introduced himself as a member of the new council that was overlooking Earth. He discussed new terms that were entirely different and less stringent. Anthony didn¡¯t care one way or another, but said the agreement would depend on performance. And thus, the soldiers who were participating in the games had switched allegiance, but other than some of their superiors, they had no idea. Eventually, the second match startedpletely, and was much more intense than the first round. Many of the guests from Earth had stopped watching, as watching such dangerousbat only made them fear what was happening at home. But that did not reduce the number of guests, however, as by now the empire had distributed the golden keys amongst their staff on all threes in the Vegus System, as well as the natives with a considerable amount of contributions. Arge batch of keys was also being sent to the Command Carrier. So, for the first time in centuries, residents from all threes of the Vegus system had an opportunity to meet. Yet despite theirmon origin, their societies had developed differently and they did not have much to talk about. The onlymon thing they shared was that they all thoroughly enjoyed watching zombies die on the big screens! As a result, the Earthlings filled the distant corners of the Inn to get away from the noise as they hid and waited for news from home, and the rest filled the coliseum seats. All of this, apanying the various army camps, made the Inn as crowded as an amusement park. But Lex knew none of this as he slept. But it was not a deep, restful sleep. His body heated up despite the ambient temperature being quite cool, and soon he was covered in sweat. His face was entirely red, and soon, white smoke starteding out of his nose and ears. The smell of something burning filled the air, but no one was around to notice. Along with Lex¡¯s sweat, dark-colored filth came out but did not have a chance to umte as it was quickly burnt away. Mary watched Lex nervously, unaware if this was a typical reaction to the medicine or if the devils really had done something to it. But whatever the case may be, she could only watch. Things continued like that for nearly six hours before Lex finally woke up. He was expecting to feel amazing, which is how he usually felt after getting stronger, but the reality was the exact opposite. Not only did he not feel stronger, Lex felt incredibly weak. He felt wet from all the sweat, but thirsty at the same time. His body felt drained, as if he had starved for days. ¡°Water,¡± he murmured to Mary in a hoarse voice, as his mind was currently not clear enough to mentally summon it himself. When he finally started drinking, it was like he was sipping from the well of life! Strength immediately started returning to him, and his mind started clearing up. That¡¯s when he noticed that his room looked a little foggy, as if a smoke machine had been running for hours. But he could not mind that as the stench from his own body nearly incapacitated him. He stumbled his way to the restroom where hey in a tub and turned on the water. It took him nearly an hour more before he finally cleaned up and all his exhaustion left him. ¡°Do you feel better?¡± Mary asked, now that he was finally recovered. ¡°Can you tell if the medicine worked?¡± ¡°Not really,¡± Lex said, frowning. ¡°I feel about the same as before I drank it. Let me check my status.¡± Name: Lex Williams Age: 23 Sex: Male Cultivation Level: Regal Embrace Body Tempering Stage 3 Health: Suboptimal (erged brain tumor), mild dehydration, mild starvation Midnight Points: 1,331,530 Remarks: asionally, decent people also brush their teeth after cleaning up with a shower. Just saying. He was happy to see he had earned some more MP while he slept, but there was no information on the status of his soul. Well, at least there was nothing seriously wrong with him except bad breath, apparently. He summoned food directly into his apartment and donned the Host Attire so he could check up on what had happened at the Inn while he was asleep. Immediately, he noticed the massive crowd. Not only were the refugees ¨C which were not too many actuallypared to the rest ¨C but new guests piling in from God knows where. Originally, Lex had nned to expand the Inn after the games were over. But now it seemed like it was something he could not push off for too long. He did not like the massive crowd. It was also affecting the wildlife that he had at the Inn, as all of them had gone to the forest to hide. That¡¯s when he noticed the littering! Were people actually littering at his Inn? Immediately he passed an order to his guards to clean up, and informed all his staff as well as holograms of a new rule. If someone littered, the first time they would get a warning from the hologram, but the second time onwards they would get a fine! It seemed like it was high time he upgraded the Inn and its capabilities. He could not keep waiting for the system to upgrade the Inn for him with rewards. He opened the Midnight Market to check how much it would cost to increase the size of the Inn. Considering that the system would literally be creatingnd out of nothing, the price was a reasonable 100 acres ofnd for 1,000,000 MP. Lex didn¡¯t immediately go for the upgrade, though. He scrolled through all the avable options. Buying buildings and A.I.s was just one aspect of the Midnight market. It also provided various other options. One very interesting option that caught Lex¡¯s eye was a one time upgrade to the Mystery trial. The upgrade would not benefit the guests, however, as Lex was the intended beneficiary for this upgrade. Since the Mystery trials purpose was to refine the users strongest skill, the upgrade would allow Lex to add certain search parameters. Whenever a guest would use the Mystery trial and their skill fell into one of those parameters, Lex would be notified. This was an excellent way of scouting talents. The upgrade only cost 50,000 MP! Lex bought it without any hesitation and started entering the parameters. The first one he entered was for a chef. The second one was for a musician. If Z were here to watch as Lex kept entering his parameters, he would be reminded of a certain anime about pirates. Why else was he looking for a sharpshoo- eh, no, why else was he searching for a marksman? And a swordsman. And a historian. Even Mary was confused as she watched him enter meteorologist. The climate at the Inn was under his control, why did he need a weatherman? Chapter 164 Fruit knife In one of the Recovery pod rooms, a man and a woman stood across from each other. The woman was ring at the man, who did not seem to care. ¡°No, do it yourself,¡± Sophia finally said. ¡°Sophia, don¡¯t piss me off. Go bring my mother to the Inn,¡± he said sternly. ¡°Why do you even care about them? They¡¯ve used you enough. And even if you care, why should I care? Let them die in the war for all I care.¡± ¡°If my mother dies, I¡¯ll go down to Earth and kill your father.¡± ¡°YOU!¡± Sophia roared, before attacking Marlo head on. But her attack came to nothing. There was no loud explosion, no devastating spread of spirit energy, nothing. Her hand was simply stuck in the air right before Marlo. In his room, Lex was alerted to the outbreak of the fight, but when he checked who it was, he decided to ignore it. He would send Marlo a bill if anything broke. ¡°I¡¯ve already crossed that realm. You¡¯ll have to up your game if you want to continue fighting with me,¡± Marlo said with a teasing smirk. ¡°What?¡± Sophia was stunned, and for a moment, a sh of joy filled her eyes before anger and bitterness clouded them. Finally, instead of saying anything, Sophia disappeared. She had gone back to Earth to ¡®invite¡¯ her mother-inw. Marlo took a look at his son, then left the room. He had asked nurse Jubtion about the details regarding Larry, but due to privacy rules, she told him nothing. Finally, she agreed to have someone inform him once Larry woke up. Satisfied with the result, he finally left the building and located two extremely popr people at the Inn.. They were not members of the Inn staff, no; they were Chen and Lily. After conducting a trade with the Morrison family, they gained enough capital to start their own business back at Vegus Minima. Of course, their interest did noty in mundane and paltry things such as money, they wanted power and revenge. It just so happened that earning money would make that path easier, so they started a little private business at the Inn. They started selling zombie cores. Of course, all trades were conducted through the guild room. Marlo arrived to see the siblings sitting together watching the match. They were watching the imprable Jotun soldiers as theyy siege to the castle. They still had not suffered a single death, it was remarkable. ¡°I need zombie cores,¡± Marlo said, walking up to them. ¡°Tier 5 Zombie cores, as many as you have.¡± The siblings were startled by the sudden order, then broke out into a grin. They had a big client. ***** ¡°I must say, your choices are a little confusing,¡± Mary said as she saw Lex enter a parameter for a detective into the Mystery trial. ¡°It¡¯s to build a reserve of candidates for when we need them. I have an idea for what I want the Midnight Inn to be like. It has to be a lot bigger, and with a lot more services. To be honest, there are hotels even on Earth that can host more guests than us. They have water parks and shopping malls, spas and gyms, and so many more things I can¡¯t even imagine. So we have to be open-minded. In fact, I was thinking that after the war on Earth is over, I¡¯d go interview a few hotel managers in Lax Vegas and Dubai. Get a little professional with things.¡± ¡°Yes, I get that, that is indeed a good idea. What I don¡¯t get is¡­ why do you need ¡®cosy enthusiasts¡¯?¡± ¡°It¡¯splicated, don¡¯t worry about it.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± said Mary hesitantly. She was really starting to get concerned about how much the tumor was affecting Lex. When Lex finally ran out of ideas for skills to look for, he once again started searching the Midnight Market for other upgrades. That¡¯s when he came across the upgrade for his beloved Butter Knife. Currently, it was limited to a one-hit-kill to anyone at Foundation realm and below, but that was too weak for Lex now. The upgrade that was avable for 100,000 MP was an ingredient that Lex was supposed to dip the knife in. It would then be upgraded to Self defense fruit knife, and would be capable of one hitting a Golden Core cultivator. Unfortunately, that was still far from sufficient, but it would do. Once again, Lex did not hesitate and purchased the ingredient, which appeared in front of him, in a neatly wrapped silver cover. On the cover, a few words were printed: ¡®I can¡¯t believe it¡¯s not butter¡¯. Lex chuckled and stabbed the block with the self-defense butter knife. The knife started glowing andpletely submerged itself in the block. The process would beplete in a few hours. Just as he was about to spend more time looking at more options, Mary appeared and said, ¡°There are a couple of things that require your attention at the Inn.¡± ¡°Oh, what happened?¡± ¡°First, there is a guest in a Recovery pod with a unique constitution. The pod is not able to heal him, and if nothing is done, soon, the guest will die. Second, there is a guest by the name of Miranda who wants to meet you.¡± Both those news¡¯ took Lex by surprise. It was rare that the RP was unable to heal someone, and would usually be the result of a wound such as that of Rafael. He also had an idea of who Miranda might be. She was one of the representatives that spoke with the family heads. Lex himself had already thought of speaking with her, but he felt that he would not be able to stop himself from asking questions about London. That would not be inline with the persona of the Innkeeper. ¡°I¡¯ll check on the RP first,¡± he said, before teleporting directly to the recovery pod in question. He was startled to see an unconscious Larry covered in bullet wounds. He quickly checked Larry¡¯s status. Name: Larry Dershaw Condition: Multiple gunshot wounds Ruptured kidney Multiple fractures Crushed knee Severe blood loss Blocked blood vessels Non-organic living tissue damaged Report: Guest has a unique constitution mixing his organic tissue with spiritual metals. The Recovery pod is able to aid the body in healing organic matter, but spiritual metal is required topletely heal. Please provide any kind of spiritual metal to facilitate the body¡¯s healing. Lex was greatly confused at seeing such a strange requirement, but also relieved that the conditions could be easily met. In fact, he did not even need to go look for spiritual metal elsewhere. He summoned his Heavy harleys magazine and started popping the physical rounds into the recovery pod. By the sixth bullet, the pod no longer needed any more metal and started incorporating the metal into Larry¡¯s body. Of course, the useless materials in the bullets were pushed out of the pod. He had only just started rxing, thinking that the situation on Earth wasn¡¯t so bad, and then this happened. His concern for his family came back. Seeing that Larry¡¯s condition was stable, Lex left to go see Miranda. It was time to see what this person wanted with him. When he teleported to the garden behind the manor where Miranda was currently sitting, conversing with her partners, he expected to see evil incarnate. He was ready to see the face of someone he would hate. Instead, he saw a pale-looking woman with dark circles under her eyes and a frail voice. Yet despite her seemingly tired state, her clothes were neat and clean, without a single extra crease. He checked her status. Name: Miranda Charles Age: 31 Sex: Female Cultivation Details: Foundation Peak Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Condition: Severely damaged meridians, unable to cultivate further without treatment Remarks: A revolutionary with a ssh of pumpkin spice Ignoring the remark that made no sense to him, her damaged meridians may have exined why she was so exhausted despite her deep cultivation. Maybe she was also working a lot. Miranda and her partners were startled by the Innkeepers¡¯ arrival, but then again, they had been informed that he would join them shortly. ¡°Greetings guests, I am the Innkeeper. I was informed you were looking for me. I hope you have not found any of our facilitiescking.¡± ¡°Not at all sir, not at all,¡± Miranda said, standing up to greet the Innkeeper. ¡°I hope I am not being rude. I have heard many things about you, and wanted an opportunity to introduce myself, and hoped that we may be able to work together in a few endeavors.¡± Miranda was slightly nervous. She had heard many things about the Innkeeper, both from the council¡¯s spies and from the many guests she had met here. The scope of the Innpletely overwhelmed her and opened her to a whole new world. It made her realize just how insignificant Earth really was. It also made her realize how much time and potential the five families had wasted by stagnating. She would not make the same mistake. She would bring Earth to a new dawn. She did not know that while she was belittling the family heads, they were meeting with Adrian, who was previously the observer assigned to them, and hade with a message from thedy they answered to. Chapter 165 Sponsored by... Lex, as the Innkeeper, maintained a warm smile as he gestured to Miranda to take a seat. Her associates also greeted Lex, but made it clear with their bodynguage that they would leave all the talking to her. ¡°So, Miranda, how can I help you?¡± the Innkeeper said, taking a seat on a chair he summoned out of thin air. ¡°Let me introduce myself first,¡± she said as she fixed her posture, trying to appear as proper as possible despite her apparent exhaustion. ¡°My name is Miranda, as you already know, and I am a leading member of the Council of New Order, as well as their foreign rtions director. Due to the gross negligence, stagnation of progress and greed of the previous rulers of Earth, we have taken it upon ourselves to lead our towards a brighter future.¡± ¡°Yes, I am aware,¡± Lex said softly, ¡°of the changes happening on Earth. I¡¯m hosting quite a few refugees at my Inn at the moment, all escaping from your.¡± ¡°I heard about that,¡± she said, letting out a defeated and exasperated sigh. ¡°I want to thank you for looking out for our citizens. After decades of nning and build up, we¡¯ve made the transition of power as peaceful as we possibly could. We have to thank your Inn for that as well. Had the family heads not left Earth long enough for us to make preparations, the battle to lure them into a trap would have been extremely bloody. But still, as much as we want things to happen peacefully, not everything goes ording to n. Some disturbances are unavoidable. Still, things should calm down within the week.¡± ¡°I, naturally, have no opinion on how you do things on your. I am simply running an Inn.¡± Lex smiled at her, his warm and calm demeanor rxing her tense nerves. Then he continued to say, ¡°of course, some of my staff members are from Earth. I¡¯m sure they may have some concerns.¡±. ¡°Who are they? I¡¯ll make sure to take special care of them,¡± Miranda replied suddenly, then realized her question might not bepletely appropriate. But she, as well as the other guests, could not differentiate between the A.I.s and actual employees. Other than Leo, who obviously ran a gaming den with games from Earth, other employees¡¯ origins were a mystery to most. ¡°Their identity is their privacy, but I will let them know to contact you if they have concerns.¡± Miranda nodded, as if to assure the Innkeeper that she would take the utmost care if any of his employees approached her. ¡°While we are still finishing dealing with¡­ unstable factors, it is still true that we have assumed control of most of Earth. As such, I was hoping to cooperate with the Inn on certain matters.¡± ¡°Please borate. I will do what I can.¡± ¡°The first matter I would like to discuss is if it is possible to ban certain people from entering the Inn. There are many criminals and terrorists who have taken advantage of the momentary chaos to wreak havoc, and may escape to the Inn. It would be extremely detrimental to everyone if they stay atrge.¡± ¡°Miss Miranda, that is impossible,¡± Lex replied immediately and firmly. ¡°The Midnight Inn is open to all so long as they can pay our nominal charges and adhere to the rules of the Inn itself. The Inn does not interfere in the civil or political matters of others, and will also not adjust its rules ording to the wishes of others.¡± Just as he finished his small yet clear rejection, a loud crashing noise attracted the duo¡¯s attention. They turned to see some guests on the side, ardently watching the second match. The beasts had demolished one of the walls of the castle and were charging in. Blood, fire and chaos filled the screen as various racesbated the zombies. ¡°Of course, that does not mean the Inn will stay unresponsive if antagonized,¡± Lex quickly added. What was an all out war if not interfering in civil and political matters? He mentally wiped some sweat off his forehead. Miranda was disappointed but not surprised. It took her quite a while to ept the facts when she learnt about the Inn and other civilizations, but she had adjusted her mentality now and knew that in front of those other giants, Earth was nothing. ¡°I understand. Then I would like to move onto my next request. I would like to host an expo at your Inn. The culture part of your event already gave a lot of people a preview of Earth, and these games are a good opportunity to show off our military. But I would like to host a more detailed event focusing on everything Earth has to offer in search of anyone who might want to invest in the development of Earth. I was hoping that you would help with spreading invitations to the expo as well.¡± Her request truly took Lex by surprise. He could not believe he had heard correctly, despite the awesome power of the Host Attire. She was looking for¡­ sponsors¡­ for Earth? ¡°Can you borate on what you are trying to achieve? So that I can understand the scope of the event.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve spent some time getting to know some of the guests and the powers behind them at the Inn. Giants such as the Empire naturally would not be interested, but I¡¯m sure there are merchants or businesses who would be interested in sponsoring Earth. Of course, we would not be selling equity, but perhaps they may want resources or thebor force or have some manufacturing done on our. I¡¯m sure we have something that someone wants. The premise would remain that all cooperation be done via the Inn. We would never invite danger to our for some profit. I¡¯ve prepared a rough list of the kinds of things we would be willing to ept as sponsorships.¡± With that she handed Lex a document listing, in great detail and with much specificity, the kinds of things Miranda wanted. In the end, the document also stated that they would be open to receiving other offers. If nothing else, at least this woman was well organized. ¡°There would be no issue in holding such an event, but it would have to wait till the Midnight Games are over. I can start advertising for your event as soon as you submit a down payment. My suggestion, however, is that you wait till you have aplete grasp on your before you do any such thing. It would be embarrassing if interested parties arrive to attend, but you are not in a condition to host.¡± ¡°Of course, of course, we would also need to take of many things on our end to host such an event if we want to disy our best attributes. Now that I know such an option is avable, I will begin work on it as soon as I return.¡± ¡°Was that everything, or did you have more things you wanted to discuss?¡± ¡°Just a few more things, if you have the time. I wanted¡­¡± The meeting with Miranda truly went on much longer than Lex expected. But as much as he disliked her for helping to start the war, he truly did benefit from meeting with her. She bought 50,000 bottles of Bom Dew, 10,000 Bath towels (removes negative statuses such as poison, paralysis paste, petrification, tracking powder, bad makeup etc.) and 1000 Travel face wash kits. For a moment, Lex was afraid he might run out. Fortunately, he did not, as there seemed to be no limit on purchases for these items. The profit from one bottle of Dew was 120 MP and 100 MP each for the other items. This one transactionted Lex 7,100,000 MP! But the joy from the sale was mired by the knowledge that these items were going to the council. After the meeting ended, Lex checked to see how the game was going. It was almost the end as a wolf, Alexander and Cara together besieged Pramod. Without the advantage of endless spiritual energy fighting the demon was a lot more difficult. It did not help that the technique given by the Empire did not do as much damage as they had promised. ¡®They¡¯ll manage,¡¯ Lex told himself as he returned to his room to continue his expansion n for the Inn,pletely missing the moment Pramod finally activated his invincibility. The demon allowed himself to be attacked by the wolf freely before grabbing its neck and breaking it in one swift motion. Wasting no time, the demon grabbed ance that had fallen on the ground nearby and stabbed towards Alexander. The demon¡¯s movements were too swift and his totalck of care for defending against any attacks put the two humans at a disadvantage. Alexander tried to dodge but was unable, and thence pierced through his stomach and pinned him to the ground. The teenager yelled in pain, but did not stop for even a second and pushed his body forward to escape thence going through his body from the other end. Pramod attacked again with endless savagery in his eyes, but suddenly Cara appeared before him and parried his attack. Since the demon was immune to attacks, she did not attack and only defended. Fortunately she was able to buy Alexander the time he needed to free himself, but now he was wounded and bleeding, and Pramod was invincible. Things did not look good. Chapter 166 Midnight Mountain The demon grinned at Cara and the teenager, then turned around and sprinted away. Both of them were confused as to why the demon left when it had such an advantage, but given the situation, they were relieved. Alexander was exhausted from the long siege and almost drained of all his spirit energy, relying mostly on his impressive body cultivation. This was an opportunity for him to retreat. Cara, on the other hand, was now free from distractions and ran towards a corridor leading to the chamber with the node in it. It was defended by zombies, of course, but so long as they were not as difficult to deal with as Pramod, she would end this match in a few minutes. But while they were celebrating, they did not realize that the reason Pramod left them was because he did not take them too seriously. His real goal was the main Jotun force which was nearby. With his invincibility running out, he found his way to the main force and rammed through all of their attacks to reach the center of their ranks. Then, he withdrew the cursed Quibly heart and crushed it, releasing ck toxic juices and fumes. Then, before his invincibility ran out, Pramod quickly escaped. He did not bother looking back at the effects of the artifact that he used, but he knew it would do sufficient damage. The Midnight games automatically prevented him from bringing in any artifacts at a level greater than what a Foundation expert could use, so it was not enough to destroy the whole army, but it would do its job. For the first time since the games started, the Empire suffered its first casualty. Then it¡¯s second. As the numbers started to climb up, Pramod did not look back. A few minutester, Cara managed to destroy the node with the help of a few beasts and the match was over. The Empire¡¯s doctors ran to diagnose their soldiers, but the damage was terrifying. Those that did not immediately die seemed crippled. ***** On Earth, yet another council meeting was being held. But this time, instead of an underground bunker, they were holding their meeting in the UN office in Geneva. The holograms did not hide the members¡¯ identities, and no one was using voice modtors.. Despite its public location, the meeting was a private one with almost full attendance of the council members. Among the council members, there was a distinction in importance, with five members having greater authority than the rest, but even the lesser members had a voice here. They had to, otherwise how would they fulfill their ambitions. Currently, they were hearing about the situation in Africa, which was the most stable continent in the world at the moment. The transition of power was as smooth as silk and any opposition had been¡­ diplomatically convinced to change their stance, much to the disappointment of a few warlords. After this would be Miranda¡¯s turn, and everyone was looking forward to the new opportunity she represented. Originally, a lot of members were against her joining the council as she had no real power to bring, but her ingenuity won them over. She could turn any situation to her advantage, and they were now ready to see what advantages she had brought this time. But the situation suddenly changed when a floating woman appeared in midair. She gave off no aura, so they were not able to tell what level she was at, but getting past so many people and suddenly appearing in front of them was no small feat. ¡°So this is the Council of New Order,¡± she said with a look of derision. ¡°Such a stupid name, how do you bring yourselves to keep it?¡± ¡°Who are you?¡± one of the holograms suddenly roared. The guards in the room suddenly pointed their guns at her, but then froze. They had lost control of their bodies. The woman looked at the hologram that screamed at her, then appeared in front of it. She grabbed the hologram by the throat, as if it were a real entity, and lifted it. But somehow, despite how bizarre her actions were, the hologram was lifted into the air, the man wing at his throat as if to free her hand. ¡°My name is Fernanda, and I have a message for you all so you better listen silently.¡± She turned to look at the members in the eyes and saw a lot of panic, but she also saw a lot of calm faces. ¡°Mydy, in her evesting benevolence, has decided not to interfere in your actions. Since you are the people of Earth, and you all want a change in the way things are done, she has allowed you this modicum of control over your fates.¡± Fernanda¡¯s voice was full of disgust and hate, not because her mistress felt that way, but because letting such major changes ur on Earth was a failure on her part. She had looked like a fool in front of her mistress, and wished she could tear the council apart. But of course, she knew better than to do that. ¡°But there are things you need to understand. The Earth, the moon, thes that orbit the sun and even the star itself, all of these were a betrothal gift from the young master to the mistress. Since you want change, you can have it. Since you want to reveal cultivators to the public, you may. Since you have ambitions that reach the stars, then reach for them. In how you choose to lead the, she will not control you, as she did not control your predecessors. ¡°But know that everything you do is with the permission of the mistress, and if you cross her line, then a wave of a hand is all it will take to rece you.¡± Fernanda waved her hand and suddenly every member of the council felt themselves choking. The feelingsted barely a moment, but it was real enough to remember. ¡°You have one week, you better end your wars within this period. The mistress does not like it when innocents are involved, so don¡¯t involve any civilians in the rest of your actions. Settling personal vendettas is eptable during this period, but there should be no genocide. Remember, the Earth is her gift, so you should not even dream of marring its beauty. Does anyone have any questions?¡± Dead silence filled the room as everyone stared at the angry woman. It seemed no one had the courage to do anything else. Just as she got ready to leave, though, one of the men sitting at the head table stood up. ¡°Miss Fernanda, it is a pleasure to meet you,¡± the middle-aged man said, his voice as smooth and alluring as a radio show host. ¡°My name is Bernard Brown. I do have some questions, I hope you do not mind answering.¡± Fernanda red at him, clearly upset that he spoke up, but she could not continue to ignore her duties. ¡°I¡¯ve seen you before, you¡¯re that Sam¡¯s kid. Sure, ask away.¡± ¡°Grandchild, actually,¡± he corrected her with a smile, as if he was not admitting to nning parricide. ¡°Thank you for humoring me. Would it be alright if I asked more about this ¡®mistress¡¯¡­¡± The meeting took a very sharp turn from what everyone had expected. ***** Back in his room, Lex finalized his expansion ns. With 8,281,530 MP avable to him, there were many things he could do now. No longer dying the matter, Lex spent 5,000,000 MP on increasing the size of the Inn by 500 acres. There were no massive earthquakes or mystical indications. At a moment¡¯s notice, the boundary wall of the Inn expanded out and newnd filled in the space. If all thatnd had been added to one corner instead of the boundaries, it would have been more noticeable, but this would do. Behind the hills upon which stood the meditation hall Lex raised a mountain that could rival Everst, its peak going high up into the clouds. The singr mountain was nothing but one massive, pointy rock so Lex addedyers of extremely fertile, volcanic soil. Then came ayer of fresh, powdered snow. With another wave of his hand, thousands of coniferous trees started sprouting and in the blink of an eye grew. Like Salt Bae, he sprinkled his hands over the projection of the mountain, and various animals fell from the sky and into the new forests, somehowpletely unhurt. He paused, looked at the projection, and suddenly came up with another idea. He cleared one corner of the mountain with a wave of his hand, as if he were photoshopping an image instead of an actual mountain, then dotted it with only a few obstacles. This would be a ski slope. Turning back to the other parts of the mountain, he carved out some trails for guests to climb. Naturally, he made sure to add some extremely scenic spots for the climbers to rest or camp, and added a fair share of small ledges for lovers to sit on and whisper corny lines to one another. Alright, a part of him was still just thinking of those two teenagers who came to the Inn for a date. But he was not done. With the trails carved out, he then nned for the adventurous types, who went where no path led. He filled the mountain with secret caves and tunnels. He hid simple and tiny gifts, such as Bom Dew, a few MI suits and more, in various corners of the mountain in small chests. He would not tell anyone about these and the guests would have to stumble into them. He spent a good while perfecting the mountain, or Midnight mountain as it would eventually be called,pletely unaware that all the guests in the Inn stood and watched in awe as a mountain appeared out of thin air, and then kept changing, as if being yed with by a god. Chapter 167 Avallon Let alone the Earthlings and the Beasts, even Anthony stood in awe. The moment the expansion started, he was startled and sent someone to summon Ragnar. This was thoroughly beyond his scope of understanding, despite his own background. Loretta watched silently from the window of her room, the mysterious man saying nothing as he saw the changes. Unlike the rest, he was not concerned about the rising mountain and expandingnd. His mind was still on that onepse in behavior the Innkeeper had disyed. Right now, he was only waiting. He had sent some devils to go and investigate the farthest reaches of the known universe. Something had to have startled the Innkeeper, and he needed to know what it was. In the greenhouse, the Gctic Sovereign turtle turned its head towards the mountain, and then once again shook its head. These were not the kind of trees perfect for such an environment. He¡¯d better go take a look. Little Blue happily followed the turtle, treating it like its father. The gardener, who was still plowing thend, waspletely oblivious to changes since his sight was focused on the ground. Crowds started to gather as they stared up into the skies. Children stopped ying. The gamblers who were wincing at their losses orughing at their winnings paused to admire the magnificent beauty. But because the mountain was sorge and evident, they missed the other changes taking ce around the Inn. Once Lex was satisfied with the mountain, for now, he turned his attention to the next big change he was nning. He turned to the smallke in front of the Recovery room and plucked it from the ground, like a piece of lego. He brought it to the edge of the Inn behind the recovery room, and ced it against the wall. Then, as if he were zooming into a picture, he stretched the projection of theke. But the projection did not zoom in, instead, theke became bigger. He pushed theke in to make it much, much deeper, and then dipped the boundary wall into theke.. Now it seemed like the boundary wall was running through a muchrgerke, splitting off a portion of it for the Inn to enjoy. In its deepest part, theke could easily amodate beasts even several times the size of a blue whale. At first he considered covering theke side with sand ¨C like a beach ¨C but decided against it. Lex didn¡¯t like sand. It was coarse and rough and irritating ¡ª and it got everywhere. Instead, he left the grass. In a corner of ake, he built a small pier with a dozen or so rowing boats, and nearby created a refreshment stand. He bought a couple more A.I.s to take care of the boats and refreshment, then turned his attention back to theke. Theke was made of freshwater, and looked so clear that one could barely tell there was water even there. In a certain corner of theke he added some corals, then dropped in various small fish. He knew nothing about fish other than how to eat them, so he took the ones that were the smallest sizes and dropped a bunch of them in. They would develop their own ecosystem ¨C probably. He didn¡¯t want to add nts underwater, because when he imagined himself swimming in ake, he hated the nts that would get stuck on his feet. Then he turned to the forest surrounding the greenhouse. He moved that all the way back to the edge once again, but built a buffer forest in front of it that guests would have to cross to reach the array. He built a few regr rooms near the front of the woods, but changed their appearance to small wooden cabins that looked like they were made of wood from the nearby trees. Of course, then he added a few courtyards and converted them intorger, more sophisticated wooden cabins. It then urred to him he could do the same on the mountain. He shaved out one small corner of the mountain and ttened thend, just enough to fit in two small cabins and one big once. Between the three houses, he built a bonfire pit, a dry wood shed, and another shed with supplies for homemade hot chocte. Then he did something simr by thekeside. He did not add too many rooms because he did not like crowding, but just a few were not an issue. These few changes just covered the edges of the Inn, there was a lot ofnd in the middle to fill as well. But he did not feel like randomly dropping houses or decorations. He needed to think about what he would do to use the area, without making a mess of it. There was, however, one thing he did have an idea for. He increased the distance between Midnight Manor and Main street, then built a modest 40 story high rise on the street. With five rooms on each floor, other than the first floor and top floor, that made 190 rooms. He turned the entire top floor into a penthouse and the ground floor there was a marquee, a few restaurants and the lobby. Such arge building obviously warranted a lot more staff, so he hired 50 more A.I. and after consulting with her, made Velma incharge of all staff. Lex breathed out an exhausted sigh. He¡¯d suddenly made so many changes in one day, and while he had more ideas, he decided to slow down first. He would see how guests responded to these changes, take care of and fix any issues that may rise up, and then continue his expansion. He eyed the high rise, and it urred to him that this would likely be hosting more guests than his manor, and that he would need to name it. Resisting the urge to p the name Midnight tower onto it, Lex actually spent a little time thinking about it. It was his first high rise, and represented his first changes to the Inn that he did himself without the prompting of the system. It kind of went against what he had been wanting, which was to avoid the vibe of New York, but with literally thousands of people in his grounds, he needed a solution. It meant a lot to him, and so the name should be special. At the same time, Lex felt that if he named itpletely randomly, that would be hrious. Unable to decide, he looked to Mary and said, ¡°Give the building a name.¡± ¡°Me?¡± she asked, surprised. ¡°You want me to name the building?¡± ¡°Yeah, why not? You¡¯ve helped me so much, you should get some credit. Or do you think I should just name it Mary tower?¡± he asked with a modest smirk. Unexpectedly, the tiny, floating woman did not react to his joke. She was silent for a few minutes before she finally said, ¡°Name the tower, Avallon. It sounds nice.¡± ¡°Good name,¡± Lex simplymented, before the name Avallon was spelled out on the front of the tower. The letters that spelled it out were magical, in that anyone who saw them would see them in their native tongue. This was not directed towards making them understand, the Inns trantion system would handle that. It was focused on evoking feelings of nostalgia and closeness. Anyone who would see it would be reminded of home. ¡°It looks nice,¡± she said, her gaze falling softly on the name. Lex did not notice any peculiarity, his focus was on other things. This little show of power should be enough to build him some more prestige, it was time to meet Miranda again, but as Leo. Yet when he scanned the Inn with his mind to look for her, she wasn¡¯t there. He waspletely unaware that she had left right after her meeting with him, and missed out on his magnificent performance. Lex grunted, and instead decided to go meditate and regte his mood. He also asked Mary to let him know the moment Miranda or any of her two followers returned as Lex wanted to meet with them, but did not notice that the floating woman did not respond. Soon, he had lost himself trying to meditate, while Mary remained hovering in the air, looking at Avallon. ¡°It is a good name,¡± she finally uttered, agreeing with Lex, then disappeared. With both Lex and Mary preupied, they missed the scene when Z excitedly dragged Gerard into the Gamers¡¯ den and started up an anime called Initial B ¨C an anime filled with mountain racing. Nobody saw the dangerous gleam in Z¡¯s eyes, and they missed the burning passion in Gerards as well. Behind Gerard stood his fleet of golf cart drivers, no longer dressed in the formal attire of the Inn. No, these A.I.s were wearing leather jackets and jeans, with hair styles that defied physics. Z was the one who rmended the styles, and Harry was the one who brought the boy¡¯s vision to life. ¡°The trail is not built for vehicles, we¡¯ll never be able to do it,¡± one of Gerards followers said to the old man. ¡°Do not doubt my skills,¡± the old man said, a silver light shing in his eyes. It had been a long time since Lex checked up on his workers, but if he had paid even a little attention to them, he would have noticed that Gerard was already in the Qi training realm, and had awoken special powers. Chapter 168 Missing Full of determination, Gerard watched a few episodes of Initial B and then walked out. Waiting for him on the street was an olddy with a small child in her hand. She was one of the guests, and had taken a liking to being driven around by Gerard, despite the fact that her Qi training cultivation allowed her to be fit enough to get around on her own. ¡°Thank you for waiting, mademoiselle,¡± Gerard said to thedy. She had insisted that was how Gerard should address her. Were Gerard familiar with the cultures of Earth, he would have picked up on the fact that such an address was typically for unmarried women, and then may have wondered why thedy made a point to let him know. But since he was unfamiliar, he did not respond. Thedy, however, was undeterred ¨C she was not beyond being more forward if she needed to be. ¡°It was no trouble at all. Are we all set?¡± ¡°Indeed, mademoiselle, we are. Please, climb aboard my barouchendau, and I shall take you to your destination.¡± Barouchendau is what she called his golf cart, and eventually Gerard started copying her. He helped thedy climb into the golf cart and, once he settled them in, sat on the driver¡¯s seat. A silver light shone in his eyes when he grabbed onto the steering wheel, and a simr silver light coated the tyres. Releasing a handbrake that should not have existed on a golf cart, Gerard elerated at speeds that rivaled a regr car. With the wind flowing through his silver hair and the melodicughter of a femme fatale apanying him, Gerard was ready to drive fast and drive furiously. ***** Lex ended his meditation after nearly an hour, but there was no update. He did some exercise, ate some food, took another shower, and did everything else he could think of to fill the time, but neither Miranda nor anyone else that followed her came back to the Inn. At this point, Lex was nearing his limits of self-control.. He decided to go to sleep, and if they did not appear by morning, then he would go find someone else to help him check up on his family. Reason told him he should not connect anyone to his Leo identity as it would be dangerous for him in the future, but he no longer cared. In truth, the distraction from worrying about his own family was causing him to miss out on many things. He missed Ragnaring back to the Inn, and hearing about the changes that had happened before his eyes. He also missed Ragnar telling Anthony that they had new orders and would be leaving the Vegus system right after this war and that someone else would take over. He missed the increasing number of devils who wereing and going from the Inn. Many of them were reporting to the mysterious devil apanying Loretta, but many of them came randomly from unknown ces. Unaware or uncaring of the things that happened before, many of those devils caused multiple problems. Well, they tried to cause problems. When Lex¡¯s guards took care of matters, they would stop and detail the devils because Lex had ordered them not to kill. In the one instance Lex¡¯s bodyguard had to step in, he destroyed the devil¡¯s soul and handed the body over to the Sovereign Gctic turtle. Unexpectedly, the bodyguard and the turtle had developed a good friendship. That did not present a long-term solution to the number of devils entering the Inn, however. One may wonder why so many devils wereing in. The truth was, the devils had ess to teleportation portals that could not be replicated by the Jotun Empire. Using those portals, they could travel far and wide, which is how they managed all their various demon farms. As a result of those portals, the golden keys had been spread far and wide across the universe already, though not all demons understood the perceived background of the Inn. Lex also missed all the joy of his guests. He missed the beasts diving into theke and rxing. He missed the students from the academy climbing up Midnight mountain and having a snowball fight. He missed the coalition of mothers who often followed Z around, introducing the boy to their own kids, who had also finally entered the Inn. He missed the moment when all the new rooms he¡¯d built were promptly upied. He¡¯d missed the moment when John exited the Mystery trial for the third time, suffering from rapid mood swings, going from depressed to frustrated and back. Most importantly, he missed the moment when Larry finally woke up. It was safe to say that there were numerous things that Lex was unaware of that he would have thoroughly enjoyed, but until this ordeal passed, he would not be able to focus. The next morning, the first thing he did when he woke up was scan the Inn for Miranda. Unfortunately, she was not there. Then he made a list of anyone he could potentially ask a favor from. As much as he would have liked to ask the Morrisons for help, it seemed like they were not on good terms with the council and we wanted to avoid any unnecessary trouble. Eventually, his sightnded on Will Bentham. The old man hade to the Inn in a wheelchair, but was now well on his way to good health. He had started cultivating again, and despite all the time he spent rxing at the Inn, he was also a dedicated businessman. In fact, currently, he was having a meeting with some members of the Rose Society. His bodyguard, who had stopped appearing for a while, was also back. He listened in to their meeting for a moment, and when he discovered they were in a good mood, decided that things had not turned out badly for them during the worldwide revolution. Putting on his sses that disguised him as Leo, Lex decided to teleport directly outside Will¡¯s courtyard and knocked. Hugo, Will¡¯s bodyguard, opened the door and was surprised to see Leo. He, like many other people, had memorized the faces of some of the prominent Inn employees. This Leo, who rarely appeared, had been titled one of the more mysterious ones. ¡°Excuse me for bothering you, my name is Leo and I run the Gamer¡¯s den. Is it possible for me to meet with Mr. Will?¡± ¡°Yes,e in. I¡¯ll let him know you¡¯re here.¡± Hugo guided Lex to an empty room and then hurried away to let Will know about the unexpected guest. He could have directly taken Leo to the old man, but he had a feeling that the young man wanted a private meeting, which was indeed the case. Barely a minuteter, the old man walked in with a warm smile and seemingly genuine delight. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Leo got directly to the point. ¡°Mr. Will, it¡¯s slightly embarrassing for me to find you like this, but I had an urgent situation and wondered if you might be able to help me.¡± ¡°Please, speak freely,¡± Will said. Though Leo surely tried to hide it, as someone who was great in social situations, Will could immediately identify the various indicators of extreme anxiety. From the constantly fidgeting fingers, shaking leg, to the hurried speech and eyes that kept scanning the room, Leo had them all. He couldn¡¯t believe his luck that an Inn employee actually came to him for help. If he was able to do this, even if he got nothing in return, at least his rtionship with the Innkeeper should improve, right? ¡°I am aware that youe from Earth. I have a¡­ let¡¯s say friend on Earth who is extremely concerned about his family. If you could somehow help him get in contact with them, or reach them, I would greatly appreciate it. I will remember this favor.¡± ¡°Transporting your friend will not be an issue at all. Where is he, and where does he need to go?¡± ¡°From New York to London,¡± he answered. ¡°Extremely simple, consider the matter done.¡± He took a piece of paper and wrote down a phone number. ¡°Have your friend call this number and let the driver pick him up. I will arrange everything else.¡± ¡°Thank you, Mr. Will. I will give this to him straight away.¡± ¡°Please, just call me Will. Such a small matter is not even worth calling a favor. It is my pleasure to be able to help you out.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± Leo said, this time a little more heartfelt. ¡°I won¡¯t forget this.¡± Without extending his stay, Leo left the courtyard, and then teleported back to his room. He was so excited, hepletely did not pick up on Will¡¯s excitement. Lex wasted no time and returned to Earth, and dialed the number he was given. ¡°I was given this number by Will, he told me to have you pick me up,¡± he said, finally rxing a little now that things were finally in motion. Though, he still had his armor underneath his clothes and the Heavy Harley hidden. Half an hourter, he was sitting in a ck car with tinted windows on his way to the airport. He did not notice that along the way, his phone ran out of battery, but even if he did he would not have been surprised. He spent very little time on Earthtely and hadn¡¯t charged his phone in a long time. Fifteen minutes after he had left, several Bluebird agents appeared near the area where he had called from. ¡°Target has disappeared and his phone can no longer be traced,¡± one of the agents reported on a call. ¡°Can you trace the person he called?¡± ¡°It was a private number, we can¡¯t trace it.¡± ¡°Keep searching. The target is reusing his regr phone number so that likely means he still does not know he is being tracked. As soon as he shows back up on the grid I want him detained!¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Chapter 169 Growing up ¡°I just got word, the ne has taken off and is on its way to London,¡± one of Wills assistants said. ¡°We followed all the instructions you gave, there weren¡¯t any issues. Bluebird agents here, and the Royal Guard agents in the UK will all look the other way to any people getting on or off.¡± ¡°Good, that will be all,¡± Will said, as he finally let himself lean back into his chair. It had not even been an hour since Leo came to him looking for the favor, but he had handled it well. Most importantly, no one other than him knew anything about the details of their conversation, and he had kept strict control on information about the passenger as well. Even he himself did not know anything about Leo¡¯s ¡®friend¡¯ that was traveling in his private ne. The driver that drove that passenger to the airport had been administered with a spirit disruption pill. It was not something that was harmful, but would cause the driver to forget everything that had happened during the past few days. It had no long term harmful effects, unless it was used frequently, and the driver was wellpensated for it. The pilot for the private jet and anyone else who had been in contact with the ¡®friend¡¯ would undergo the same procedure. Will was documenting all of this and would submit a report about it to Leo before even he himself would take one of those pills. One would think that by causing him to forget the details of what happened, Will would be losing out on the value of the favor. The truth was to the contrary. As a man of the world, Will knew exactly how to ingratiate himself to people in power, and by doing all of this he would show the Innkeeper, or at least Leo, that he was someone reliable, so that in the future if they ever needed help, they woulde to him. He did not fear theming to him for help repeatedly, what he feared was them having no use for him at all. As long as he was reliable, he had great value. As long as he was valuable, he would be taken care of.. This was the fundamental difference between Will and all his partners in the Rose Society. Since the Council had taken over Earth, they had contacted Will and many of his partners to acquire resources from them. So while the whole world destabilized, not only did Will and his partners excel, the council was heavily investing in their operations to help them grow. Of course, the Rose Society itself was still a hidden organization and no one knew that all of these influential people from across the world were actually partners. That was the primary reason they were able to attract so much business. The council¡¯s agenda was to break up the monopoly held by certain groups that had previously been supported by the family heads. What they did not know was that they were, inadvertently, setting up another monopoly. All of that was a matter for the future. What mattered now was that while his partners were indulging in their own sess and celebrating, Will did not let sess blind him. He was already making ns for what to do if he fell out of grace with the council by developing rtions with the Midnight Inn. Slowly, Will was returning to his former glorious self, before he was struck with a nearly crippled body ¨C and as his cultivation progressed and he regained his vigor, he would one day surpass his old self. ***** Lex felt his thoughts wander as he sat in the private jet. This was the first time he sat on a private ne, but even with all the privilege it afforded, he did not think his experience was the norm. He didn¡¯t even have any documents on him, no one asked for ID or a passport ¨C he was directly escorted to the ne that was waiting for him on the empty runway. Like most other people, he hated the extreme privilege of the rich and powerful. But he also had to admit, the sofas on this private jet felt incredible! As he waited in the ne, and his thoughts wandered, it urred to him that he could still be transported to the Inn from the ne. If he teleported to the Inn right now, when he teleported back, would he still be in the ne, or would he reappear in the space the ne was in when he left? He asked Mary who responded immediately. ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious? You¡¯ll reappear in the ne! If the Inn used absolute positioning for teleportation, then if you stayed in the Inn for a few days and reappeared, you¡¯d be in space because your would have already moved away from that space that it upied when you left.¡± ¡°Right, right, of course,¡± he said, thinking it made sense. Yet he still had a few more hours to burn and he didn¡¯t feel tired enough to nap so he continued to have the randomest of thoughts. ¡°Hey, what if I get a guest that¡¯s microscopic? How will I see it? What if someone has a baby at the Inn? Does the baby get special privileges? What do I do if someone I knowes as a guest? What if it¡¯s someone I hate, do I still need to be nice to them? Where do the items I buy from the systeme from? Is there someone called Bom whose dew we are stealing? Where do the A.I.se from? Does the system just make them out of nothing? Or does the basement have a creepy basement somewhere full of bodies to fit A.I. into?¡± Lex kept asking questions, but never really gave Mary any time to answer. Eventually, after the longest seven hours of Mary¡¯s short life, theynded in Heathrow airport. Before theynded, Lex looked out the window to see how the city looked. It was difficult to tell from so high up but he didn¡¯t see any explosions so that was nice. Afternding in the unusually empty airport, Lex was once again escorted to a private car. When asked where he wanted to get dropped, Lex pulled out his phone where he had saved his family¡¯s address, to finally realize it was dead. Fortunately, after a couple minutes of trying to remember, Lex was able to recall the general area where they lived and told the driver. He¡¯d be able to walk to his parents house once he was close enough. As they drove by, they passed through various security checks conducted by heavily armed guards. After a very long, long time, Lex once again pulled out an item that would help him identify anything he missed. He put on the Fancy Monocle. Immediately he was informed that all of these guards were equipped with spirit weapons, not just regr guns, and many of them had various spirit tech on them. Lex¡¯s war was being checked for weapons and explosives using some devices the monocle was able to identify, which gave Lex a small heart attack. He had the Heavy Harley on him. But it seemed like they did not care much for a single sidearm and let the car pass. The city, while unable to match the regr energy New York had somehow managed to retain, was still quite busy. People could be seen walking around in small groups, keeping mostly to themselves. At least the city wasn¡¯t deserted. This gave him no small amount of relief since this most likely meant his family was also alright. Eventually, after getting dropped off, he walked the familiar path home. When he was growing up, his family never had a fixed home as they traveled a lot globally. His parents were fans of such a lifestyle, and the kids learnt to love it as well. It was only after Lex left for higher education, while throwing a tantrum that his parents weren¡¯t letting them live normal lives, that his parents got this home in London. They still traveled a lot, but at least his sisters could stay in one ce for high school and university. He had three sisters. His elder sister, Belle, was theplete opposite of her name. She was cold and aggressive, and liked to do things her own way. When they were kids growing up, she used to wrestle with Lex a lot. He was not embarrassed about the fact that he never won. Anyone who knew her knew that maniac could not bepleted with. But despite all that, in her own way, Belle took good care of her younger siblings. After Belle, Lex was born, and after him came his younger sister Liz followed by the baby of the family, Moon. Moon was not actually a baby anymore, she was 16, or 15, or something along those lines, but as the youngest, she was spoiled by everyone. Not just the parents, even all the siblings spoiled little Moon. Her nickname ¡®Moon¡¯ originated from Lex¡¯s father promising to gifting the moon to her. To this his mother replied that the man had given her the same promise. Before the embarrassed man could defend himself, little Moon fell in love with the promise and kept ranting about it to everyone. Liz, who along with Lex formed the duo of middle children, was by far the most normal of all the siblings. She loved and hated her family, depending on the mood, loved making friends, loved traveling the world, and at one point dered she wanted to go to France and fall in love. Any time she mentioned wanting to fall in love Belle would beat her up, Lex found it hrious, but of course as the victim of many beatings himself, never intervened. Lost in his thoughts, Lex found himself in front of a small house far out in the suburbs. There was enough room for one car in the driveway and the house itself, despite its ground and first floor, looked extremely cramped. Yet this was home. And the front door of his home was broken ¨C kicked in, by the look of it. Lex¡¯s face darkened as he pulled out the Heavy Harley. Chapter 170 Assistant to the mayor The third Midnight game started in a heavy mood. Not only was the location a desert, a sandstorm was raging. There was no visibility and no way for Alexander to deploy his satellite in this weather. That was not to mention that he wasn¡¯t fully recovered from his previous wound. To top it all off, in the surprise attack Pramod had pulled off on the Jotun soldiers with the curse, over 300 of them had died and 800 of them were critically injured. Crawford-41 was also amongst the soldiers that died. The only slightly positive thing was that Pramod no longer joined the games and had left already. ¡°Find shelter,¡± Alexander said to his few over 600 remaining soldiers. Too many of them had been critically injured and could no longer fight for now. ¡°We¡¯re going to hunker down and wait this one out.¡± Alexander felt it was unfortunate that he had to avoid fighting today, he would lose his lead in points over Cara, but it was better than being reckless. But while the Empire and the Earthlings had suffered greatly, the Beasts took this opportunity to gain some points. Their performance had not been the best, but the difficult environment for humans posed no problems to them. The tournament was far from over. ***** On Earth, the council was having yet another meeting. All the participating members were in a grave mood. Just a short while ago, they were celebrating their grand victory and subsequent freedom, only to be brought to heel by some mysterious ¡®mistress¡¯ and her secretary Fernanda. It was fortunate that she didn¡¯t have many requirements ¨C only that civilians remain uninvolved in the conflict and to avoid major damage to the Earth. The good news was, upon being given the ultimatum, they had responded quickly and eliminated those that could be, or made deals with those that could not be.. ¡°ording to thetest report,st night South Koreaunched a surprise attack on the North. Within a single night they took over the country. Their attack was extremely precise and calcted, as if they had been preparing for this for a long time. We just received a missive from them. Starting today, there will no longer be a South or North Korea, only a single Korea. They¡¯ve agreed to join the council so long as they can rule without any external interference. We¡¯ve gone over a preliminary list of rules they n to implement and have no issues, so expect one of their members to join us soon. ¡°The issue about Japan, however, remains. We¡¯ve lost all contact from all of our agents, and we¡¯re not the only ones who¡¯ve suffered as such. The entire country seems to have stopped all externalmunications. We¡¯re preparing a diplomatic envoy to go and meet with their leaders, but just to be safe, I want a Foundation realm expert on the team. ¡°Is there anything else on the agenda we need to discuss?¡± The room was silent, and no one answered Bernard, who had been speaking. Aware of everyone¡¯s mood, he smiled and said, ¡°No need to be upset my friends. This is not a bad thing. Previously, we were going to look towards the Midnight Inn to fuel our progress, but now we know that we have some kind of backing in this vast universe. In a week¡¯s time, we will meet Fernanda again, and then we can discuss the future of Earth. We are no longer limited to a single star system, and grander horizons await us.¡± His words seemed to lift spirits, but only Bernard knew what he was thinking behind his warm, hazel eyes. ***** Lex did not rush into the house, but walked with quiet and steady steps. When he reached the door he paused to check for any soundsing from the house, but there were none. He looked at the broken door and saw the imprint of a shoe embedded dead center. The door had broken along with the hinges. Such a kick could not have been delivered by an ordinary person. Tightening his grip on his gun, Lex slowly entered the house, careful not to step on anything that would make any sound. He ignored the stairs leading upstairs and walked past to check the ground level first. The kitchen was at the far end of the corridor, the living room to the right, and a bathroom under the stairs. Just as he entered the living room to check it out, the cold, hard barrel of a gun pressed firmly against the side of his head. Lex froze, suddenly caught by surprise by how quietly and calmly the attack had caught him. Before he could make any ns or try anything though, a familiar, cold voice started to harshly scold him. ¡°What are you doing, walking around with a gun? Watched too many movies, have you?¡± Relief flooded through Lex¡¯s veins as he recognized Belle¡¯s voice and turned to look at his elder sister. It was not a gun she was holding up to his forehead, but the front of an unusually shaped candle stand. His own imagination had done the job of mistaking it for a weapon. ¡°Belle I¡¯m so d you¡¯re alright,¡± he said, taking a step back to get a good look at his sister. She did not look hurt or harmed at all, and was dressed extremely formally. Behind her, Lex could see an openptop and several documents. It seemed like she had been working when he came in. ¡°Why would I not be alright? You think everyone is as ipetent as you?¡± ¡°I saw the broken door, I thought that¡­¡± ¡°Yes, yes, the broken door. That gave little Moon quite the scare,¡± she said, her voice seemingly still as cold and even as before. Only someone who grew up with her could pick up the trace of concern in that voice. ¡°Since you¡¯re here with a gun, I¡¯m guessing you already know about the situation.¡± ¡°Yeah, there¡¯s a war.¡± ¡°Yes, a war. But it¡¯s very different from normal wars. They¡¯re not targeting cities or civilians, only the top brass. Well, that has nothing to do with me. The only reason we¡¯re even slightly involved was because I recently started a job in the municipal government. I had been having meetings with a few people of interest to the council, and they were checking to see if I was harboring anyone.¡± ¡°Wait, you know about the council?¡± Lex asked, surprised. The only reason he knew about the council was because of the Inn ¨C how did his sister know? ¡°Yes. They¡¯re very reasonable people. After I pointed out the ws in a number of their ns while they were interrogating me, they hired me. If things go ording to n, I should be assigned assistant to the new acting mayor of London by the end of the month.¡± ¡°What? I¡­ you¡­ what? You¡¯re¡­ working for the council?¡± ¡°Yes, they were very impressed with me,¡± Belle said in a nd voice. ¡°Instead of an assistant, I might have be the new acting mayor directly if I was a cultivator. ording to their new policy, only cultivators can hold important government positions like that.¡± ¡°Wait, you know about cultivators?¡± Lex asked, even more surprised this time. ?[0)??? Instead of answering him though, Belle only let out an exasperated sigh. ¡°Do you have a list of things I shouldn¡¯t know about? Can we go over it right now? I hate having to repeat myself.¡± ¡°No, no, that¡¯s not what I meant¡­ just that I only learnt about cultivators myself recently as well. But now that you know, it¡¯s great. I won¡¯t need to bother exining it to you. Do you have cultivation techniques? If you don¡¯t, I can find some for you guys.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t bother with that, tell me first, are you ill? You don¡¯t look so good.¡± Lex was startled by her sudden question. As far as he knew, his tumor had not affected his appearance at all, but before he could answer, Lex fell limp to the ground, unconscious. Belle did not bother to stop his fall, with his constitution, he would be alright. It was his soul she was concerned about. Taking a silver pen out of her pocket, she twisted the cap, shooting a ray of energy at Lex that covered his entire body. Since Belle did not know what secrets Lex had, she did not want to take any risks andpletely blocked out all of his senses. Even Mary, who was connected to Lex by the system, did not notice his condition as her focus was diverted towards managing the Inn. ¡°Moon, get down here. Check Lex¡¯s soul, it¡¯s extremely unstable.¡± The teenager who had been spying on her siblings was startled when she heard her elder sister and quickly came towards Lex. ¡°I can¡¯t use my abilities like this. I need to connect to the ry station and establish a connection with my main body.¡± ¡°Then why are you still standing here?¡± Belle asked, her voice still cold and nd. But little Moon picked up the impatience in her voice and quickly ran before Belle got angry. Chapter 171 No plot holes here Moon ran to her room and retrieved a pair of bangles and what looked like a VR headset. Alone, none of these items were anything special, but when worn together, they connected the wearer¡¯s consciousness to something called a ry station ¨C a small base hidden in space somewhere within the sr system. Although Lex¡¯s family on Earth were clones of his original family, that did not mean they were connected to the main consciousness of the original body. If the distance between the clone and the original was small enough, they would be, but in the case of interster distances, it was all but impossible. The ry station allowed the clones to connect with the consciousness of the main body, but only for a short time. The time duration was a result of the clone being much, much too weak to sustain such pressure for a long time. In Moon¡¯s case, the ry station also served a secondary function. It allowed her to utilize her main body¡¯s special abilities ¨C abilities that werepletely independent of her cultivation. Arriving in front of Lex¡¯s body, she sat on the ground on her knees and put on the equipment and prepared herself to connect to the ry station. This was not a quick procedure. Connecting to the station was the easy part, but then to wait for the station to locate and then connect to her main body was the difficult part. This was also extremely expensive and consumed resources the cultivators of Earth could not even dream of, but they never paid any mind to it. ?[0)??? Nearly three hourster, the connection finally stabilized and Moon gained some of her main body¡¯s powers. Not wasting any time, she immediately brought her hands over Lex¡¯s forehead and started to scan him. Considering she was checking Lex¡¯s soul, there was a great danger of her discovering the system! This was because, as yet, the system still only existed in the form of the magical treasure that had collided with Lex¡¯s body so long ago, and the magical treasure was taking refuge in Lex¡¯s soul. Fortunately, as a result of Moon only being a clone, her ability was greatly weakened and she did not discover the system. ¡°His soul is¡­ weird,¡± Moon said, in an unsure voice. ¡°It¡¯s like it¡¯s been changed, but I can¡¯t tell how. It¡¯s stronger than it should be, so there¡¯s no chance of it identally disappearing.¡±. If one was observing Belle carefully, they would be able to tell her shoulders rxed just a little. ¡°I can sense¡­ I think¡­ it¡¯s Purified Wraiths blood. It strengthened Lex¡¯s soul, but since his soul was in an unstable state, the increase in strength only increased the instability. I think Lex knew there was something wrong with his soul, and then tried to strengthen it, but that¡¯s not fixing the problem at all.¡± ¡°He may try to do that again unless the issue is fixed. Just use whatever strength you have left to stabilize his soul as much as you can. Whoever taught him how to fix his soul must be an amateur.¡± If John knew that he had been called an amateur by a couple of kids, who knew how he would react? But fortunately for everyone, no one was around to see this. Liz, the only remaining sister, had at some point appeared in the room and watched in silence while eating ice cream out of a tub. A few minutester, Moon copsed as well. Belle carefully removed the helmet and carried Moon to her room, leaving Lex lying there on the ground. After a few minutes, when she did not return, Liz sighed in defeat and carried her brother and threw him onto a sofa. It was a good thing his body had improved due to his cultivation, or God knows what condition he would have been in after being handled so roughly. Liz walked to the kitchen where Belle was perusing through the fridge, eventually pulled out a cold slice of pizza and started eating it directly. If nothing else, the unusual fondness for cold pizza was something Lex shared with this sister of his. ¡°Do you really have to treat him like that?¡± ¡°Like what? Going through the whole drama of acting like I¡¯m in the dark is pointless, I just saved us a lot of time. And besides, I¡¯ve thought it through. My story is solid, with no plot holes. The reason we know about cultivation is because of the council, and now that I have a job working for the council, our security will be assured. Furthermore, because our bodies are made up of spirit energy, if we try absorbing more, the cloning technique will destabilize and we will die. So now all we need to do is let him know that despite knowing about cultivation, we ourselves cannot cultivate. ¡°To recap, we know everything about cultivation so he does not need to keep secrets from us, we are safe so he does not need to worry about us, and we cannot cultivate so he does not need to care about resources for us. This will solve all of his problems and he can continue to live his life as he was previously. If he was able to travel from New York and get his hands on something like Purified Wraith¡¯s blood, he must have developed some decent connections. Maybe he¡¯s following one of the political prisoners mom has sent to the. He can now focus on his own growth without worrying about us.¡± Liz was silent for a few moments, and then eventually said, ¡°You really don¡¯t want him to be around, huh?¡± Belle looked at her sister and understood what she was actually trying to say. ¡°He¡¯s my little brother, and I¡¯m looking out for him the way I look out for you two. I do not hate him, if that is what you mean. My situation is not his fault¡­ it is simply the result of something as simple as being born a girl instead of a boy. But it is better this way. I do not need someone to hand power to me on a tter, I can take it for myself.¡± ¡°What you need is a boyfriend,¡± Liz said under her breath as she rolled her eyes at her overly dramatic sister. It was such a burden being the only normal person in a family. No longer paying attention to Belle, Liz went and got some pink nail polish and pulled out a chair in front of Lex. As his beloved younger sister, she had to, of course, make his life miserable in the cutest way possible. When she lifted his hand, she noticed Lex¡¯s phone halfway outside his pocket. She picked it up, naturally, to snoop, only to find it dead. She shrugged and put it on charge, before turning back to her beloved brother. He would not wake up till his body adapted to his soul, so she had plenty of time to work. She recalled once, when they were children, Lex cut her hair while she was sleeping. The result was so bad that she had to get a bob cut. To this day, many yearster, she had not forgiven him. Today, for the third time, she would get her revenge. The hours went by quickly, and the day passed calmly for the Williams family. This was mostly because Moon and Lex were passed out. Moon woke up early the next day, but Lex was still asleep. By now Mary had checked up on Lex, but only thought he was asleep on the couch, so she returned to her duties. The games were progressing with much excitement, and refugees had stoppeding in from Earth. In fact, many of them had even returned now, as things seemed to have calmed down. The fourth match finally started, this time in a rainforest. The beasts had taken the lead in points during thest match, so this time Alexander felt extremely motivated to regain his ce in the front. At the same time, on Earth, a small diplomatic team was approaching Japan by boat. Most of the team were mortals, with only a single Foundation realm cultivator who had hidden his identity. Unbelievably, they had used a pigeon to deliver a message to the small nation to inform them of their arrival, since there was no other way tomunicate at the moment. The members of the team looked onwards nervously, knowing full well what had happened with all the previous attempts atmunication. But this time they came without any hostility, in hopes to simply negotiate, so hopefully things would end differently. When they arrived at the designated pier, they were surprised to see itpletely devoid of other people. There was no movement, no noise, as if they were arriving at a ghost town. With no other option but to go on, the team disembarked and had only begun discussing how to proceed when they heard a voice. ¡°Speak, what is it you came here to say.¡± Startled, the envoys turned to see a handsome Japanese youth, leaning against a nearby building. He was dressed in a gray hakama and stood so perfectly still that up until this moment, he had melded into the background. Even the cultivator had not noticed him, which raised his wariness. ¡°We are diplomatic envoys from the council, here to meet with the Prime minister and discuss rtions between Japan and the rest of the world. We have been unable tomunicate with anyone from the country.¡± ¡°Japan¡¯s diplomatic stance is that gaijin are no longer wee here. You may return with this message.¡± The envoys looked at one another, then secretly turned to the cultivator. They did not know how to proceed. They did not want to antagonize the locals, but their own bosses weren¡¯t people who could be messed with either. Finally, the cultivator stepped forward and tried to talk to the youth. ¡°Young man, we are here for an important matter. We cannot¡­¡± before the cultivator could continue his words, the youth took a single step forward. His movement was strange, and the diplomats were unable to clearly see what he had done, but the effect was only taking a step forward. Or so it seemed, until the cultivator¡¯s head fell clean off his neck. ¡°I will not repeat myself again after this. You may return with this message.¡± The envoys were so scared they practically tripped over themselves as they ran back to their boat, hoping this monster would not change his mind. They had not even seen what he had done to cut the cultivators head off, but it was not something they wanted to know either. As he watched the gaijin leave, the man revealed his right hand that he had been hiding behind his body to reveal a katana. Slowly, as if he was savoring the action, he returned the weapon to its sheath. A voice spoke in his head, ¡°quest to kill an enemy with a higher cultivation of one major realm,pleted. Hosts authorization of the Samurai System is being raised.¡± The young man did not respond to the notification, and only watched the water. He was lost in his thoughts. Chapter 172 Something wrong Waking up was a slow process for Lex, and it was taking a while for his grogginess to clear. Using immense will power he opened a single eye to look around. He did not immediately recognize the ce, which filled his still half asleep mind with confusion. But slowly, his memories returned and realized he was in his parents house. His single eye shut again and it was nearly twenty minutester that he opened his eyes again, yawning as soon as he did. Despite just waking up, Lex felt incredibly tired, a sensation he hardly felt since he started cultivating. Hey there for a while longer, as the gears of his mind slowly started to turn and he started properly waking up. The first thing he noticed was theforting beating of rain drops. He looked outside the window and saw rain. The room that he was in was dark, and slightly chilly, despite the nket that covered him. Somewhere else, in the background, Lex could hear the muffled noise of a television. It was strangely peaceful. Lex wanted to continueying there, so he did. His memories came back to him, and he remembered talking to his elder sister, Belle. She was the same, cold and emotionless yet somehow frustrated at the same time elder sister that he remembered. Somehow, that filled him with relief. ¡°Mary, what¡¯s going on at the Inn?¡± he asked in his mind, not bothering to get up. ¡°The fourth match is going on, and should end in a few hours. A lot of guests from Earth have returned to their, but other than that, nothing majorly significant. On a level more relevant to you, your friend Larry has fully recovered. It was quite fortunate that he qualified as a refugee, otherwise he would not have been able to pay the Inn to stay there, all his assets on Earth have been seized. He was able to pay for a few days using some artifacts that he happened to have when he arrived at the Inn, but then he ran into Marlo who¡¯s paid for a long stay on Larry¡¯s behalf.¡± Lex nodded, taking a mental note to meet up with Larry soon and find out what happened. For now, he finally got up from his sofa and stumbled in the dark to turn on the lights. The first thing he saw when the lights came on, on his outstretched hand, were pink nails. Lex froze in horror. He had experienced incidents like this before. He quickly ran to the bathroom to look in the mirror and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw there was nothing on his face. He forcefully scraped the polish off his nails, before exiting and yelling, ¡°is anyone home?¡± Upon receiving no reply, he walked towards the sound of the television, and found his youngest sister, Moon, watching a video with headphones on in the dark.. ¡°Hey,¡± Lex casually greeted her as he flicked her headphones off. ¡°Hey hey hey I¡¯m watching something,¡± she yelled, quickly pulling her headphones back, but then turned and looked at Lex. She paused her video and turned to look at her brother. For a moment they only looked at one another, before Moon finally said, ¡°What¡¯s up with the gun? You been watching too many American rap videos?¡± Lex immediately facepalmed. ¡°It¡¯s dangerous these days, it¡¯s for protection.¡± ¡°Yeah, must be tough, a lone boy living in the big city in America. Not at all like three girls living together in London, pretty safe here.¡± Lex¡¯s lips twitched, but chose to divert the subject. ¡°Where are mom and dad?¡± ¡°Bandesh.¡± ¡°Bandesh? What are they doing in Bandesh? Where even is Bandesh?¡± As startled as he was, he should have expected his parents to be off in some other country. But how was he supposed to check up on them? Ask Will again for another transport? ¡°¡®Where is Bandesh¡¯ he asks. You¡¯ve been to Bandesh, idiot. How can you not remember? We talked to mom and dad yesterday, after you dozed off, so no need to go gunslinging off to SOUTH ASIA, they¡¯re perfectly fine.¡± Lex rxed a little, and smiled at his sister. He didn¡¯t bother asking how they were able to contact their parents, Moon wouldn¡¯t lie to him, all that mattered was that they were fine. ¡°Speaking of which, what happened yesterday? I don¡¯t remember going to sleep.¡± ¡°I dunno, you were on the couch when I got home.¡± ¡°What about Liz and Belle? Are they home?¡± ¡°Belle went out to work, Liz went out to do groceries. Speaking of which, follow me.¡± Moon got up and quickly led Lex to the kitchen. She pulled a pot out of the fridge and put it on the stove and started to heat it. ¡°Liz made you soup and Belle left a few messages for you.¡± She pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket and read off of it. ¡°My new job has a lot of security so tell that idiot not to worry, and that he should quickly go back to New York because one of mom and dads friends in Bandesh has taught them way too much about arranged marriage and they¡¯ve started looking at girls for Lex¡­¡± at that point Moon burst intoughter and dropped the paper. Lex¡¯s lips twitched as he watched his sisterugh at him. He understood Belle well enough, though she never said things up front, she must have understood that Lex had to go through unusual means toe and check up on them and wanted to assure him they were alright. It was well enough, now that he knew they were alright he could return to the Inn to take care of things there. To top it all off, he didn¡¯t really need to return to New York and could go to the Inn directly from London. But since he was here, he might as well spend some time before he left. He pulled out a couple of bowls andid a table, and caught up with Moon. He asked her about school and life here, and about any¡­ boys she might be interested in. When Moon only took the names of various celebrities Lex secretly breathed a sigh of relief. If she was really interested in someone she would tell him. Despite theirrge gap in age, they were close to one another and Moon was incapable of keeping secrets from him ¨C as far as he knew. If she really was interested in someone, he wanted to y the role of the cool brother who was okay with it, but secretly it stressed him out. They exchanged stories for a long time, and eventually the topic of cultivation came up once again. Moon exined how some people from Belle¡¯s new work came and told them about cultivation and tested them out. Apparently all of them shared a gic defect that made them unable to cultivate. Lex had a few doubts, but he buried them deep in his heart. It wasn¡¯t as if he didn¡¯t have secrets of his own, and one day when he raised the level of the Inn high enough where he could treat any kind of mdy, he would bring his family to the Inn. So until that day came, he would choose to believe his sister¡¯s words. The hours passed, and Mary let him know that the forth game had ended. Liz finally came home, but Belle never showed up. The three siblings spent more time together, chatting and making fun of one another. Liz showed him the changes she had made to the Heavy Harley. Last night she decided to paint his gun instead of his face, and so a purple butterfly was painted on the handle of his gun. Eventually, when it was gettingte at night, Lex decided it was time for him to leave. Now that he had checked up on his family, he could focus on the Inn without any worries. Not to mention, even if he did get worried, he could secretly check up on them since he was not nning on leaving London. After a long, drawn out goodbye, Lex finally left. He told them he would check up on them from time to time, but both his sisters had already stopped paying attention to him as he crossed the door. Unsure of how to react to his siblings, Lex simply continued walking. After walking a short distance, his smile slowly turned into a frown. As a fledgling cultivator, his instincts had sharpened, and as much as he wanted to ignore it, he had a strong feeling something was wrong. He instinctively overlooked his family, as if there could be nothing suspicious about them, but could not figure out what it was. He was about to ask Mary what was happening at the Inn when two men walked up in front of him and stopped. Lex¡¯s mind clicked, as if understanding that this is what his instincts were warning him about, and his hand hovered over the handle of his gun, ready to reach for it at a moment¡¯s notice. ¡°Can I help you?¡± Lex asked, his tone slightly aggressive. Even an idiot would not expect friendly intentions from random strangers sote at night. ¡°Hello, my name is Ben, I work for INTERPOL,¡± one of the men said, and pulled out a badge for Lex to see. At a nce the badge looked real, but Lex had no way of knowing for sure. ¡°We¡¯re conducting an investigation connected to terrorist organization and have reason to believe you have been in contact with some suspicious characters. Tell me, do you recognize this man?¡± Ben shed Lex a picture of Larry on his phone, and despite trying to be cautious, Lex could not help being startled at seeing his friend¡¯s picture. ¡°I suspected as much,¡± Ben said upon seeing Lex¡¯s reaction. He then yed a video of Lex walking out of Larys apartment building and asked, ¡°Is that you?¡± Instead of answering, Lex asked, ¡°What is this about?¡± ¡°Larry Dershaw is a protected citizen, affiliated with various influential people and organizations. Shortly after your visit,¡± Ben pointed at the video of Lex walking out of the building, ¡°we believe there was an assassination attempt on Larry, after which he disappeared. We need to bring you in for questioning.¡± ?[0)??? Lex suddenly did not know how to respond. It was indeed a fact that Larry had shown up at the Inn, wounded and bloody shortly after his visit, but Lex had not had an opportunity to ask him yet what had happened. These agents seemed to be real, in which case he should cooperate, right? In the distance, a man was watching the interaction using a pair of binocrs. ¡°Tell the client we can only hold the target for a few hours, after which we¡¯ll have to let him go. If he wants to get his hands on the target, he¡¯ll have to do it himself,¡± the man said on a phone call. ¡°Understood. In the meantime, find out what he knows about the Larry kid. A proper interrogation before we get our hands on him might be helpful.¡± Chapter 173 Return to the Inn For a moment Lex hesitated, considering following the two officers. But the whole incident was weird. How did they find him? Why did they have a video of him leaving Larry¡¯s house? The video did not look like it was from a security footage, the video was shot from street level. This meant that they had agents present at the time. If that was the case, how could they have allowed Larry to be attacked? Most of all, he knew that Larry was struggling. If Larry had connections that could lead an investigation to follow him across the world, at a time where cross continentalmunication waspromised, then he would not have a job at a club where he gets beat up for a living. His hesitation disappeared and he looked at the officer directly in the eyes, his hand practically touching his gun now. Should they make any sudden movements, he would be ready. ¡°I am sorry, but I am a US citizen, I don¡¯t believe you can just randomly take me in for questioning. I am going to the embassy, if you have any concerns you can contact me there.¡± Bringing up the embassy was a strong deterrent in Lex¡¯s mind, as ording to some convention on international Diplomatic rtions embassies were immune to localw enforcement ¨C or at least, something along those lines ording to some tv show Lex had once seen. Moreover, embassies were usually very protective of their citizens. Not that Lex needed any protection. He had his gun, and if the worst came to worst, he would retreat to the Inn. The reason he brought it up was because he wanted to see what reaction these ¡®agents¡¯ would have. That would let him know if this was normal procedure or there was something more going on.. ¡°I¡¯m afraid I can¡¯t let you do that,¡± Ben said as his partner slowly moved to corner Lex from another side. ¡°You need to follow us for some questioning. I assure you, you will be let go in a few hours at most. Please cooperate, it is for your own good.¡± To this, Lex did not reply. He kept his eyes trained on Ben, ignoring the other agent who was circling to get behind him. Though he remained silent, his stance as well as the aggression on his face let Ben know Lex had no intentions of cooperating. Since the situation had progressed as such, Ben reached out aggressively to grab Lex. But who was Lex? Even without his identity as the Innkeeper, he was someone who had fought his way out of hordes of zombies and survived being hunted by hundreds of wolves. He was not a person that could be casually messed with. Moving with a burst of speed, Lex grabbed Ben¡¯s arm and twisted it, so that Lex appeared behind Ben with his arm firmly pressed against his back. It was at this point that Lex realized that while these agents were cultivators, their strength was not much greater than him. Lex kicked Ben on the back of his knee, causing the man to buckle and fall onto the ground. This was just in time to see Ben¡¯s partner leaping towards Lex, trying to tackle him. Despite the strength of his plunge, Lex felt the man¡¯s move amateurish. Not even moving from his spot, Lex turned in one smooth motion and kicked up into the air. The lunging agent¡¯s face practically flew into Lex¡¯s kick on its own, and the man fell to the ground, unconscious. With both attackers defeated, Lex was momentarily stunned. He was so used to getting beaten up that he was expecting a difficult fight. The only reason he hadn¡¯t used his gun was that he knew the sound would have attracted a lot of attention in the silence of the night. But apparently, he did not even need it. ¡°I think you broke my arm,¡± Ben said with a grimace, as he tried to pick himself up from the ground. But how could Lex allow him to so easily get up? Lex turned the man onto his back and stepped on his chest, to prevent him from getting up. ¡°I¡¯m only going to be polite once. Tell me what you¡¯re really after, and no one will get hurt.¡± ¡°I told you, I¡¯m with INTERPOL, we¡­¡± Lex did not bother wasting more time listening to him. He withdrew his gun, making sure to let Ben get a good look at it, then aimed it at Ben. ¡°I said, I¡¯ll only be polite once. Every time you waste your breath, I¡¯ll progressively ruder with you. So now, tell me, what do you want?¡± Ben did not reply immediately, as he was frozen on the ground in fear. What he had experienced did not match Lex¡¯s report. He was supposed to be an inexperienced, new cultivator, not a battle hardened fighter! Realizing that Ben was shocked, Lex waved his gun to attract his attention and said, ¡°I¡¯m not known for being patient. Now, what do you want?¡± Ben grit his teeth, but then promptly gave up. He wasn¡¯t an idiot to risk his life over an unofficial assignment. ¡°Okay look, I¡¯ll tell you! But I really am from INTERPOL! I got an assignment to interrogate you about Larry, and hold you for a few hours before letting you go! That¡¯s all I know!¡± Lex frowned, then kicked Ben on the head, knocking him unconscious. He looked around to make sure no one was watching, and then quickly left the area. He jogged for about twenty minutes, constantly checking to see if he was being followed, before he found a secluded corner and teleported back to the Inn. A short whileter, Ben finally woke up, groggy and in pain. First he checked up on his partner who, fortunately, was still alive. Then he made a call to report the situation. Whoever Larry was or why anyone was interested in waspletely irrelevant to him. What he cared about was that Lex¡¯s cultivation and strength did not match his files at all. He was too strong. Something like that would always attract someone¡¯s attention. ***** At the Inn, Lex was sitting at his study table, wondering about what had just happened. Larry was aplicated guy, but now his troubles had involved him as well. Lex needed to find out what was actually happening, but a sweep of the Inn told him that Larry was currently asleep in his room. He would wait till morning to talk to him, so until then Lex decided to focus on the Inn. His additions were a huge hit, and guests lined the mountain and filled the forest andke. But the problems that Lex did not even consider came just as quickly. More than one guest had slipped or tripped off the mountain. Though they were cultivators, had it not been for Lex¡¯s guards quickly catching them, they would have been seriously hurt. In theke, unexpectedly, it was not a case of drowning that caused an issue, but a swimming human bumping into a swimming beast. Lex had to say beast because he had never seen any animal on Earth that could match this beast¡¯s appearance; it had a lot of limbs and a lot of heads connected to what looked like a ball of y-dough but was hard as steel. The bump seriously injured the human, but since it was an ident Lex could not me either party. The forest had more predictable issues. Some people decided to camp out in the forest, but ran into some beasts who had a simr idea in the middle of the night. Suffice to say, the humans were greatly frightened. How was he even supposed to fix an issue like that? Truth be told, it was not something that could be fixed. But he could reduce the scary atmosphere in the forest. Lex released tens of thousands of fireflies into the first and told the Gctic Sovereign turtle to feed them something that would promote their cultivation just a bit. With the soft yet natural light they gave off, the forest should not be as scary in the darkness. Theke was also somewhat of an easy solution. He just expanded theke, and divided the areas into humans and beasts. This was not a permanent solution, but would work for now. The mountain was slightly tougher to deal with, so for now, he added various railings on the trails. But to deal with the situation properly, he told his A.I. staff to hike the mountain trails and take note of every climb that seemed dangerous to him. He would fix them one by one. But that was not all. While talking to Moon, he had a few ideas of how he could fill in the emptynd in the Inn meaningfully. One that he particrly liked and was currently nning was azy river! But, because of the freedom that the system allowed, he could take things even farther. In front of him he had a hologram of the Inn opened, and he was slowly nning its path. Chapter 174 Breakfast buffet A Lazy river is a water ride often found in water parks, recreation centers and other ces that attract a lot of tourists and visitors. Usually, it would consist of a rtively shallow and narrow pool spread across arge area, with a gentle current flowing in one direction which would carry anyone floating in the water along with it. To Lex, this was an amazing idea because he could incorporate a few more features into it. Firstly, the Lazy river provided Lex with another way to get around the Inn, though not as urgently as Gerards golf cart crew. Whoever would enter the river would be able to receive a small stic raft in which they could lie and be carried along by the current. Another option would be to ride a gond, a few of which Lex would have his AI¡¯s control in the river. But if Lex left it like that, it would be too ordinary. While Lex was testing out the river, and nning what he would do with it, an option that was as of yet grayed out suddenly became viable. For any guest riding along the river in the gond, there was a chance for them to encounter a thick fog. Once they entered the fog, they would be transported and, for a short time, take a ride while viewing sights from a world they were not originally from! The gond would be transported to another world, and should a resident of the world be lucky enough, they would be able to see the outline of a gond going by in a spontaneously appearing veil of fog. Of course, guests would be prevented from leaving the gond by the system, and residents of the world would be blocked from climbing the gond. But Lex had been inspired; in the future, he nned to have a ship that would travel from world to world, and anyone lucky enough to climb abroad would be brought to the Inn. For now, though, Lex was focused on the river and the gond. After a short, picturesque trip to another world, the gond would return to the river. There were a couple of issues Lex was having with the Lazy river, though. First of all was the path! Howrge the river should be, and what parts of the Inn it should circle were important to decide because Lex would have to give bridges over the parts that were divided by the river, not to mention build railings so anyone wouldn¡¯t identally fall in. He would be effectively cutting off those parts of the Inn from being entered besides the built paths. The second issue was of lifeguards and the kind of staff he wanted. Theke, regardless of its size, was in one fixed position and could be viewed in its entirety from one ce. The river, however, was long and narrow, and would require various staff members to keep an eye out for the sake of security for his guests. Hiring staff in itself was not the issue, Lex was earning enough on a daily basis to cover that. The issue was, for the river, as well as for theke, he wanted to hire a different kind of staff. ¡°Mary, can I hire AIs that are not human? For example, can I use one of the species I¡¯ve seen in Nibiru? Or a random one I can think of, like mermaids, for example?¡±. ¡°Yes, you can hire AIs that are a different species. But there are a few constraints. Unlike what you may imagine, the Artificial Intelligent beings that the Inn provides are actual, living breathing beings who have been provided with intelligence artificially, so that in addition to whatever biological inclinations they may have, they give priority to the Inn and the Innkeeper. ¡°So, for the system to create an AI of a different species, you must first submit some DNA of the species you wish to choose. There are certain things you may also want to take note of, that while these AI are birthed with the information relevant to serving the Inn, their personalities are formed naturally and cannot be controlled. So, in the scenario that you choose a species with a strong inclination for hunting, for example, you may want to use them in an environment where they do not mistake a guest for prey. Also, any species created by the system will always be at the mortal realm, even if the original species normally started out at a much higher cultivation realm.¡± This information opened up a whole new array of options for Lex, but also limited him. Some time ago he remembered hearing one of his guests say something about mermaids, though he did not remember what, and thought they would make the perfect AI for his water based attractions. He worked on the Lazy river for a while longer, before deciding to take a break. He did not need to decide everything in one sitting. After a round of meditation, Lex did some exercise, showered, and then got dressed. Larry had woken up some time ago, and Lex was about to enter the Inn for the first time using his original identity. After making sure everything was in order, Lex appeared in front of Midnight manor as himself for the first time. He looked around, imagining what first time guests must feel like. It urred to him that,pared to the rest of the Inn which had expanded rapidly, the manor was still rtively small. Shaking his head and not worrying about it for now, he asked Mary to guide him towards where Lary was. After a short walk, Lex found himself behind the manor and in front of an array ofwn chairs and an outdoor breakfast buffet, where he identified Larry piling his tes with waffles. ¡°Those must be good,¡± Lex said, casually stepping beside him and grabbing a te. ¡°But I prefer pancakes.¡± ¡°Lex!¡± Larry eximed, nearly dropping his te. ¡°You old dog, I¡¯ve finally understood why you never paid attention to any of the girls I pointed out,¡± he said whileughing. ¡°It¡¯s because you¡¯ve beening to this little slice of heaven.¡± As much as Lex would have wished Larry was talking about the environment, his longing gaze towards one of the nearby AI staff let Lex know exactly what was on his mind. ¡°Let alone here, even if I handed you a key to the underworld, you¡¯d find some girls to gaze at.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Larry said,ughing even harder. ¡°Don¡¯t you know what kind of girls would end up in the underworld? I¡¯d go there every weekend if I could.¡± Lex smiled as he looked at Larry. The man was ever in a good mood, or at least, the front he put up was phenomenal. Lex did not think he¡¯d be able to even pretend to be this jolly if he had suffered such a serious assassination attempt. ¡°Come, fill your te and let¡¯s find a seat. I¡¯m d I ran into you here, I have something to talk to you about.¡± ¡°Is it about Sophia?¡± he asked in an excited whisper. ¡°It¡¯s about her, isn¡¯t it? That old geezer Marlo, he¡¯s having a honeymoon here with his wife and no one even knew!¡± Lex listened to the little gossip as they filled their tes with an unttering amount of food and then found a table to sit at. ¡°I¡¯d like to talk privately,¡± Lex said to Mary, who then summoned a tinted ss dome around the duo. ¡°Wow, how did you do that?¡± Larry asked, surprised. ¡°If you ask your personal hologram, in case of small stuff like this, they can help you out.¡± ¡°No way! Hey little fe, what else can you do?¡± Larry asked, summoning his own personal holographic assistant. But before he got engrossed in an unrted conversation, Lex said, ¡°I gave you the key in case you even ran into trouble, so the fact that you¡¯re here should mean you ran into trouble, right?¡± Larry¡¯s smiled skewed. He knew this conversation wasing, but he didn¡¯t want to involve his friend. His troubles were more serious than they seemed. Before he could think of how to answer, though, Lex continued. ¡°Actually, I know for a fact that you ran into some trouble, because justst night I was intercepted by INTERPOL agents who wanted to take me into custody and question me about you.¡± At this, Larry froze. He did not expect that Lex had already been involved. But, as unfortunate as it was, the timing of theirst interaction automatically brought attention to Lex for anyone that may have been watching Larry. ¡°After I¡­ questioned, shall we say, those agents, they revealed that someone had tasked them to hold me in interrogation long enough for them to arrive on scene. They were very interested in learning more about you, by hook or by crook.¡± Finally, Larry sighed, and his smile withered off his face. ¡°The situation is pretty bad. I guess I better exin.¡± Chapter 175 Seized assets ¡°Do you remember Matilda? She was with us in our self-defense ss at the start?¡± Larry asked, as he cut into his waffles. ¡°Yeah, I remember.¡± ¡°It all started with her, sometime ago. You remember around the time some thugs came to your apartment and roughed things up? Around the same time, some people came to harass Matilda and me as well. But with Matilda¡­ things went much, much farther. A lot of people ended up dead, and Bluebird got involved.¡± Larry paused for a moment as he chewed his food. It seemed to Lex that he was considering his next words carefully. ¡°I don¡¯t know if you caught on since you visited my apartment, but I¡¯m really good withputers. Like, really, REALLY good. I uh¡­ let¡¯s say I fudged with the authority level on my Bluebird token, logged onto theirwork and found out everything that happened with her. I don¡¯t know if I got lucky, or if the agents at Bluebird just overlooked things, but I quickly found Matilda¡¯s trail. She was hiding out in a 24 hour gym, and seemed badly hurt. I don¡¯t know why, but¡­ I couldn¡¯t just leave her like that. I deleted her trail and then went and found her.¡± At this point, Larry let out a sigh. ¡°I must say, she is an extremely formidable woman. Did you know she¡¯s already in the Qi training realm? In just a little more than a month! The Body tempering realm is not necessarily one that takes too long, but, damn!. ¡°Anyway, after I convinced her that I wasn¡¯t an enemy, I secretly brought her back to my apartment and helped her heal. We spent some time together after that¡­ that¡¯s when I learnt a secret that¡¯s pretty mind-blowing. ¡°You know the war that suddenly broke out? The one that overtook the world? I¡¯ve spent a few days here at the Inn, and learnt a lot of things I didn¡¯t know before. You remember you once asked me, if the ICPA¡¯s keep normal cultivators in line, who keeps them in line? Well, apparently, Earth was being ruled by five families ¨C the Morrisons being one of them. The ICPAs used to answer to them. To be more specific, they answered to the five family heads. ¡°But for a while now, they¡¯ve secretly been nning to revolt against the family heads. They¡¯ve been gathering allies, and getting rid of those who were too loyal to the family heads. Apparently, Matilda¡¯s older brother, the one who died and passed on his cultivation technique to her, was one of the people that had been ¡®silenced¡¯ for his loyalty. Matilda felt like she was being hunted because her hunters were afraid that her brother had given her too much information, which indeed, he had.¡± Larry paused for a moment, and he stared at his hands with desperate eyes. ¡°But even if she knew the truth, who could she tell? There was no way for her to get in contact with anyone that mattered, so all she focused on was getting stronger and getting revenge. I was incredibly moved by her story, and promised to help her hide her tracks. ¡°But as much as I wanted to help her, her story also got me thinking about what happened to my own family¡­ About how, we went from being one of the richest, most powerful families, to being nearly wiped out, framed, and then exiled. Could my family have also been¡­ one of the families that was ¡®silenced¡¯ for being too loyal? I mean, if they had been nning this revolution for years, they had to have their agents in all the right ces. How could they leave a family that ran one of the banks of the cultivation world out of their ns? And if, for whatever reason, my family chose not to cooperate, they could have wiped out anyone who knew the truth and banished the nonconsequential ones. Once I got the idea in my head¡­ I couldn¡¯t let go of it. ¡°I asked Matilda if she knew anything about this, but her brother never mentioned my family. That¡¯s when I started digging. That¡¯s when I started hacking into differentpanies¡¯ databases and looking for some answers. I thought I was hiding my trail well, but the day those guys came for me, I knew I must have messed up. ¡°They wanted me to follow them. They weren¡¯t really there to kill me, at least not yet. But I resisted, and a fight broke out. I got shot too many times¡­ if I didn¡¯t have the key you gave me, I probably would have died.¡± For a moment, Lex took in everything that Larry had told him. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, a part of him really wondered if the world war really happened because of him ¨C because he¡¯d held the Midnight games and managed to get all the family heads to leave Earth. But if things really were the way Larry told him, they had been nning for this for a long time, and if they hadn¡¯t discovered a rtively easy way to handle the family heads, when the war ultimately broke out, it may have been much, much worse! Finally, Lex said, ¡°I remember you once telling me that you¡¯ve met Alexander Morrison before when you were kids. Is that true?¡± ¡°Of course, back then, my family was connected to all the big shots.¡± ¡°Well, if you¡¯ve been here a while, you probably know about the Midnight Games. Then you should also know about the fact that Alexander is also here, with his family. Maybe you could go to him and let him know about your suspicions. If your family really was killed for being loyal, then chances are, a lot of their other supporters were secretly silenced. Even if they don¡¯t want to help you, and even if they¡¯ve lost a lot of influence on Earth, to protect themselves in the future, there¡¯s no way they won¡¯t investigate this. Or, even if they won¡¯t investigate, maybe they¡¯ll help you and Matilda out.¡± ¡°Heh, what am I supposed to say? Hey Alexander, remember me? I¡¯m a nobody right now, but when I was a kid our families used to work together? They have enough problems of their own to handle. They don¡¯t have time to help anyone else, not to mention I don¡¯t have anything worth them spending time on, anyway.¡± ¡°Hmm, maybe that¡¯s true. But you¡¯re already being hunted, so asking for help can¡¯t make things worse. I can¡¯t stay here for too long. I have a few things I need to take care of, but I¡¯ll be back sometime tonight. I¡¯ll talk to you then, maybe we can figure something else out.¡± ¡°Yeah, sure,¡± replied Larry, and watched as Lex disappeared. After a few moments of frowning, his wide smile returned to his face, and he started gulping down his breakfast while enjoying the beautiful scenery known as women in uniform. Lex left the meeting abruptly, not only because he got the information he wanted, but because he got two very significant notifications from the system that required his attention. Quest Complete: The World War has ended. Calcting hosts performance: Reward upgraded for over 1000 refugees Reward rank: C- Reward: Detective¡¯s Magnifying ss Lex was pleasantly surprised that the world war had already ended, but at the same time relieved. He had no love for the council or their shady business, but if the war was over, that hopefully meant the situation had stabilized and that all fighting had ended. He looked at his next notification. New notification: Guest with level 1 prestige is unable to pay for services. Please cater to the guest urgently. Focus on the notification for further details on payment blockage. When Lex focused on the notification he was greatly amused, and despite the awkward situation of a guest being unable to pay, looked forward to their reaction when he told them. Quickly dining his Host Attire, Lex teleported directly in front of the Meditation room where a now, only slightly abnormallyrge man was standing. ¡°Marlo,¡± the Innkeeper said in a warm, pleasant voice, ¡°we meet again. I hope you have been well.¡± ¡°Much better now,¡± he said, wearing his signature mad grin. ¡°It took me years to build up all that muscle previously, but with the help of spirit food, I expect I¡¯ll be able to return to my former glory quickly.¡± ¡°I wish you the very best on your journey. But I foresee a small obstacle on your journey, which is why I¡¯m here to inform you of it.¡± ¡°Oh? I¡¯m all ears.¡± ¡°It appears that¡­ your bank ounts have been frozen and your assets have been seized, which is why the Midnight Inn is unable to process your payment to use the Meditation room. You¡¯ve already paid in advance for your stay, as well as your son¡¯s treatment, so that should not be an issue, but if you wish to buy spirit food or use the Meditation room, this may be an issue you want to address.¡± Marlo stood there frozen, his grin still stuck on his face, mostly because he was too shocked to even react! He couldn¡¯t¡­ pay? When was thest time he, Hanson Marlo Bravi IV, was unable to pay for something? He honestly couldn¡¯t remember. Then, his eyes went red with fury he waspletely unable to hold in any longer, and he disappeared from the Innkeepers sight, promptly returning to Earth. Lex chuckled, secretly hoping it was people from the council who froze his ounts. Whoever it was, they were about to receive Marlo¡¯s special care. Chapter 176 The flower that blooms in spring Larry let out a sigh filled with amazement as he finished his breakfast and slowly leaned back into his chair with a clear bulge evident under his shirt. It had been a long time since he¡¯d eaten food that he didn¡¯t cook for himself, and to be able to eat so luxuriously was a splendor he had been divorced from for a long time. Fortunately, Marlo had paid for his stay for the next few days, so he should be able to enjoy this for a while longer. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the gentle winds as it whispered in his ear. But along with the whistling wind, Larry was also listening to the conversations of the surrounding people. Lex had told him how to prevent their conversation from being overheard, but it appeared not many others knew about such features. Larry was learning a lot during his stay here, and it was important that he kept increasing his knowledge. The more information he had, the easier it would be for him to n for things in the future because, contrary to what Lex thought, by going to Alexander for help, Larry¡¯s situation could get a lot worse. When he told Lex that he suspected his family was hunted for being loyal to the family heads, he was not lying. But at the same time, he was not telling the entire truth. There was a secret he kept close to his heart, and one that might have been the real reason for his family¡¯s demise. It was also the reason why, although he could not cultivate originally, he was able to cultivate now. Not to mention, it was also the reason why he could absorb spiritual metals. But the depth of his secret went a lot farther than that, and as much as he trusted and appreciated Lex, some secrets were better left unshared. His secret, along with this Midnight Inn, gave him the opportunity of a lifetime. If anyone paid attention to his right hand, they would notice that he was ying with a golden coin in between his fingers. As the coin danced in the palm of his hands, one might have been able to see the signature MI engraved on it, since it was thememorative Midnight Games coin that Lex had made. It was supposed to be made from an extremely resilient metal, and could supposedlyst the test of time, but the coin in Larry¡¯s hand already looked dull, as if it had suffered the wear and tear of a million years.. If someone used their spiritual sense to observe him, they would notice every few hours, the smallest conceivable portion of the coin was absorbed by Larry into his body. They would also notice that each time he absorbed a bit of the coin, his cultivation would rise. At this rate, before the day was over, he would break into the Qi training realm. ¡°Excuse me, is it alright if I clear up the table?¡± a soft and gentle voice asked Larry, prompting him to open his eyes. It was one of the AI staff, a young woman with blonde hair and spectacr green eyes. ¡°Haven¡¯t I told you before? How can I let you clean up after me? The most wonderful thing you can do for me is not to pick up my tes, but to allow me to apany you.¡± The waitress blushed and looked away, unable to maintain eye contact with Larry. ¡°Little Z says that¡­ you are a bad man, and that I should stay away from you.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Larry said with amusement in his voice. ¡°And what does your heart say?¡± ¡°My heart?¡± she repeated for a moment, before getting lost in thought. Finally she said, ¡°My heart says¡­ that the Innkeeper is a lot more handsome than you.¡± The waitress quickly picked up Larry¡¯s tes and rushed away, leaving the man there wondering whether he shouldugh or cry. ***** When Marlo left, Lex also returned to his room. Now that he had some time, he thought about his future. Someone was hunting him on Earth, but that didn¡¯t matter to him because he could simply choose not to return to the Earth. He knew his family would be safe, with Belle having a job with the council, so he could focus entirely on his own tasks. The Inn had gotten a lot of exposure, so he no longer needed to return to the days of desperately looking for guests to scrounge up some MP. What he needed to do now was develop it. He also needed to raise his own cultivation. He had decided to tantly use whatever loopholes he could discover, so he started nning for that as well. He asked the Gctic Sovereign turtle what nts could aid in the cultivation of a Qi training cultivator, but the turtle did not have such specific knowledge. In the end, he asked the turtle to nt whatever nts it could think of that aided in cultivation. But then the issue of seeds came up. Lex could only buy them if the system gave the option, but if it didn¡¯t he would have to manually search for them. To cater to this problem, the turtle returned to Nibiru for a while to search for some nts it knew that could provide aid. The next thing Lex needed to do was expand more and build more rooms, something he was putting off until the games ended. He did not like the feeling of all his rooms being booked ¨C this was an indicator that, despite such a cheat, he could not keep up with demand. But he would have a better idea for how many rooms he required when the extra rush because of the games disappeared. He had already thought of various ways to add more rooms: on the ground, underground, underwater and even in the air ¨C all options were avable to him. Yet another issue was, though he did not need to, he felt bad having his AI work without pay. But at the same time, he could not afford to pay them a lot as he needed to keep expanding which required a massive consumption of MP. He needed to spend some time on the math to analyze histest earning trend, and create some projection charts for anticipated ie growth and expenses to ultimately decide how much he could afford as fixed expenses in terms of sries. This was absolutely not some technical vocabry usage just to avoid thinking of paying his employees, not at all! Lex groaned. He had too much work to do, and he felt like doing none of it. Suddenly, he felt like taking care of his guests. In the beginning, he used to take care of his guests personally, buttely his staff had been handling everything and he rarely got to engage with any of his guests. He missed the feeling of being a host, and watching his guests amazement first hand. Suddenly, he decided to put his work away and search for some guests to cater to. He scanned the Inn a few times, trying to see if anyone was doing something interesting. That¡¯s when he happened to see a guest that he hadn¡¯t seen in a long time, and smiled. He really should wee his old guests personally. In front of the Midnight Manor, ne looked at the changed scenery, holding his girlfriend¡¯s hand. The first time he¡¯de here, he had been dragged in by a zombie along with his brother in arms, Chen. The both of them had their wounds treated by the Innkeeper, and had somehow survived. He¡¯d had a long journey after that, and ultimately split with Chen to go search for his girlfriend, Iris, who had been taken off. It had taken some time, but he finally tracked her down and, after contacting her and letting her know he was alive, had to go through a very long process to be transported onto the same space ship as her. Today, after so many days, they had finally reunited. Since he first came to the Inn, he had been wanting to bring Iris here, and finally he had the opportunity. But while some things remained the same, the world of the Inn had also changed tremendously. ¡°The air smells so nice here,¡± said Iris, bewildered. One might have expected that the girlfriend ne was so in love with was a world shakingly beautiful, but on Vegus Minima there were no fair maidens, only warriors. The woman who stood beside ne was extremely muscr, and was garbed in battle gear, despite their change in environment. He had an eyepatch ¨C to help with healing while her body got ustomed to a new imnt. Before the imnt, she wore the eyepatch to protect her dead eye. A few lines marked her forehead, and her age showed around her eyes, but none of that mattered to ne. To him, she was the flower that bloomed in spring, and the honey that tasted sweeter than most resplendent spiritual fruit. He had brought her here because to him, after her embrace, this was the ce that brought him the most happiness, and he wanted to share it with her. ¡°Wee guest,¡± said the Innkeeper with a fond and warm voice, as he stepped out a shining light. ¡°It has been a while since I saw youst, I hope you have been well.¡± Chapter 177 Penetration ¡°I hope you understand, Mr Marlo,¡± the man said as he pulled on his cor with one finger, loosening it. ¡°I am only here on behalf of my client. None of these things are my doing, I¡¯m just delivering a message.¡± Despite the smile on the man¡¯s face, his nervousness could be seen by the amount he was sweating. ¡°Please, enlighten me as to what your client wants to convey,¡± Marlo said, as he leaned back in his chair. He was not sitting in the luxurious furniture he had picked out for himself in his apartment. No, he was currently sitting in the seat of the Regional Director for Bluebird in the main Bluebird office. Thewyer did not know how, or why, the man could so casually sit upon such an important seat, and why no one else in the building seemed to be saying anything to the man, but it was toote to change the n. ¡°It¡¯s like this, Mr. Marlo. You have built up a lot of prestige for yourself over the years, but at the same time, everyone also knows that you are gravely injured. You could probably put up a good fight against other Golden Core experts, but that fight would be yourst. And with your recent disappearance, everyone is suspecting that your old wounds have made your situation worse. I mean, your students were harassed so much, one of them even quit your ss and yet you did nothing. Your reputation has taken a hit.¡± The more thewyer spoke, the wider Marlo¡¯s grin grew, but for some reason, it only made thewyer more nervous. ¡°Having said that, my client deeply respects you and does not want to cause you any trouble. We only need Larry Dershaws whereabouts. So long as you tell us where he is, your bank ounts will be restored and all your businesses will once again run normally.¡± Instead of replying, Marlo startedughing. But the harder heughed, the louder his voice became, the more pressure thewyer felt. He was only at the beginning of the Foundation realm, so even Marlos regr aura would easily suppress him, let alone his rising aura now.. The more Marloughed, the angrier he got. Until, suddenly, something in his body clicked. His new form of cultivation, that had been suppressed on the verge ofpletion for so long, was finallyplete. He was no longer a cultivator. He now walked the path of a Prime. With his breakthroughplete, Marlo¡¯s aura exploded outwards with a strength Earth had rarely witnessed. Had any of the five family heads, previously the strongest humans on the, been here, even they would have been suppressed. Thewyer fell out of his chair as he looked at the madman, roaring withughter. ***** Midnight Manor, The Midnight Inn ¡°Innkeeper!¡± ne eximed in excitement, ¡°it has definitely been a while! But I¡¯m great! I finally got to reunite with my girlfriend, Iris!¡± ne looked towards the girls whose hand he had firmly gripped, and the wide grin on his face could not be more pure. Thest time Lex had seen ne, and even to this day when he saw Chen, the duo was usually very submissive in front of Lex. After all, they had met Fk, and seen how even he was respectful to the Innkeeper. But now, ne was radiating endless joy and excitement, nothing else. Lex observed the heroic woman that caused ne¡¯s heart to swoon and read her status. Name: Iris Age: 24 Sex: Female Cultivation Details: Qi training 4th level Species: Human Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Condition: Has suffered grave injuries and can no longer cultivate or undergo severe exertion! Her lungs have been severely injured, and can only be treated to reduce pain, but cannot fully be healed. Multiple small wounds across her body were detected. Patient suffers from greatly depleted vitality! Remarks: She has lived the life of a warrior, but managed to escape the death of one. Definitely deserves a soft onesie! Lex did not let it show on his face, but her condition let him know just how difficult a life she had lived. It made sense, since living on Vegus Minima was all but hell until recently. ¡°It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you,¡± Lex said to Iris, his voice filled with sincerity. ¡°No, no, the pleasure is mine,¡± Iris said, as she bowed towards Lex. ¡°ne told me how you saved his and Chen¡¯s life. I had almost given up on everything when I thought he was dead. I can¡¯t tell you how relieved I was when he contacted me! Please, ept my thanks.¡± Though she managed to keep her tears from falling, how could Lex not notice her watery eyes? ¡°It is my duty, and my privilege. Please, stand up straight. Would you like me to show you around? Chen and Lily are also at the Inn, so if you like, I could take you to them as well.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll get around to meeting Brother Chen,¡± ne said, ¡°but first I thought I¡¯d show Iris around. The ce has changed so much, it seems like I¡¯ll have to explore it again as well.¡± ¡°Then please, by all means, enjoy yourselves. If you need anything, your personal holographic assistant is always avable.¡± Lex let the happy couple explore on their own, as it was perfectly clear that ne wanted to spend some time alone with her. But, right before they left, Lex sent him a mental message knowing that Iris, though notpletely heble, would benefit greatly from visiting the Recovery room. He took this time to interact with a few more of his guests, until the fifth Midnight Game began. This time, the terrain seemed difficult to determine. Everyone appeared in tunnels, some wide and some small, and were split into various groups. Before any of them could begin to explore, however, the surprise challenge for this round was announced immediately! All the contestants could use whatever points they had umted so far to increase their strength! The more points they spent, the greater the increase. But at the same time, the increase was also temporary, so it had to be timed perfectly! This was a huge risk. By utilizing their points, they could gain a lead on the other world in destroying the node, but if too many participants used too many points, the gain in points from destroying a node would be outweighed by the points lost. To top it all off, since the contestants were so split up, they could not n properly either. The crowds watching the match went crazy, and the anticipation was at an all-time high. ne and Iris had gotten seats in the Coliseum, and for the first time enjoyed a cheering crowd. But Lex was distracted by a notification he received. Apparently, one of the skills he¡¯d entered into the Mystery trial that he was looking for, had been found. The skill he had discovered was assassination, and the person who had it happened to already work for him: John. This was interesting, the man seemed so amicable, Lex would have guessed he was an assassin. But that was likely what made him good at it. Lex decided to observe him for a while, and then decide how he was going to ask him for what Lex had nned. And no, Lex was not nning on carrying out assassinations. In the IT field on Earth, there was a certain job called Pration Testing. It was when someone checked a software, a business, a building, anything really, for vulnerabilities. For example, if security was weak at a data center, regardless of how secure the firewalls were, they could not prevent them from being physically essed. If a software had obvious ws, it could easily be hacked. If a business was not taking precautions, it could be taken advantage of. Following this line of thought, Lex thought of offering a form of pration testing as a service, up to a certain level, of course. The client would hire a tester, who would then try to infiltrate or ¡®assassinate¡¯ the client, then provide a detailed report on whatever weaknesses or ws they encountered. Considering how dangerous the universe probably was, Lex thought it was a good idea. Now all he needed to do was get a good idea of how skilled John really was, and what his cultivation level was. To be honest, he had some doubts about John. Apparently, he had been to the Mystery trial numerous times, but had not solved it yet. Was he really any good? Then again, to be fair, so far no one hadpleted the Mystery trial. In his room above the Battle Ax, John sat on a sofa as he considered his gains for the day. Today, finally, for the first time, he had made some progress towards solving the Mystery trial. So far, each and every assassination he had attempted had been nned and provided guidance from by his own Assassination System. Each time, however, he failed. Out of frustration, this time John did not wait for his system to guide him and used his own instincts to attack, and finally made some progress! Though he still failed, he figured something out. If he wanted to pass the trial, he could not rely on his system. But instead of relief and finding a breakthrough, John was filled with fear. How could the trial differentiate between when he used the system and when he didn¡¯t? And if the trial could do so, did that mean¡­ the Innkeeper had also seen through his system? Chapter 178 Space Pirates Far out in the vast universe, a small spaceship was flying through the expanse. The crew consisted of only four men, since the ship itself was too small to amodate more. Though not exactly routine, their mission was not exactly unheard of either. Aboard a ship designed to be covert and quick, they were personally tasked by Ragnar to deliver a batch of goods to the nearest Jotun operational. Their cargo included various rare metals, some extremely rare demonic resources, a few nts, and some documents. What they were unaware of was a small box full of hundreds of Golden keys that had been secretly ced alongside the cargo. This was one of a dozen such ships that had been sent out, but what made this one unique was that three of the crew members were dead and the remaining member seemed to be casually eating a meal and waiting for something. Soon, the ship was intercepted by a muchrger vessel. As much as the crewmember would have liked to stop the ship himself, he could not control the ship, so rougher means were required. Once the ship¡¯s engines were disabled, the Jotun ship was pulled into the cargo hold of therger ship which, upon closer inspection, bore the insignia or some random space pirates. ¡°You wasted a cover you¡¯ve held for seven years,¡± said one of the pirates that weed the remaining crew member. ¡°I hope it was worth it.¡± ¡°Oh ho, you have no idea. There¡¯s a whole batch of high leveled demonic resources! We¡¯re going to be rich!¡± The pirate was startled at the news, but suddenly startedughing with excitement! Indeed, they were about to get rich! ***** Lex secretly watched John for a while, but the man did nothing except pace around his room. This would not get him any results. Lex had to think of a different way to determine John¡¯s abilities. He could think of only two ways: either he sent John on a trial, the way he had sent Marlo, and analyze his skills that way, or he set a condition for John to pass the mystery trial.. They both came with their own problems, however. Lex had no way of knowing John¡¯s cultivation level, and so any trial he coulde up with might not be urate. The Mystery trial itself had never been finished, and it was unknown what the difficulty level for that was. After considering his options for a while, Lex still decided to stick to the Mystery trial. Its difficulty was a form of quality control, and Lex was in no particr rush. Furthermore, there was another very important issue with giving John a trial. The only information Lex had received from John¡¯s status was that his cultivation was sealed, and finding a way to fix that issue would also be an important factor in having him do his second job, so more time was a good thing. He appeared in Battle Axes lobby, and asked Doe, John¡¯s AI assistant, to let John know that the Innkeeper wished to speak to him. Doe dutifully hurried to inform John, whose expression stilled when he heard the news. Instead of letting panic take over, John settled his emotions and receded into a state of suppressing his emotions. His previous upation put him in a lot of difficult situations and he would not be able to survive if he lost control so easily. Furthermore, even if the Innkeeper knew something about the system, there was no guarantee that he would even be interested in it. John entered the lobby with a smile and weed the Innkeeper inside, as he observed the Innkeeper. He was as warm and genial as ever, and John was unable to garner any other information about him at all. Even his finely honed instincts only told him that in front of him was a regr human with no cultivation, which was impossible! ¡°How have you been doing, John? It seems you¡¯ve adjusted well to the Inn.¡± As ever, John was dressed like a biker from Earth. His leather jacket and jeansbination had made him easily identifiable to the many guests, and he always wore his aviator sses, even indoors. Of course, everyone knew those sses could hide one¡¯s appearance and identity, many guests wore them, but no onemented on them. ¡°I have been doing very well, Innkeeper. The work is rewarding, the environment is safe and rxing, and there is always something interesting happening to keep me entertained. I have earned quite a bit of MP betting on a particr beast during the games, and I¡¯m very hopeful about its performance.¡± ¡°Oh, which one?¡± Lex asked, curious about who his employee supported. John waved to pull up a screen that automatically focused on one of the participants. But at viewing the scene, Lex quietly looked away and John went pale. The beast he had bet on was dead! He was broke again! Lex coughed, waking John from his misery, allowing him to dismiss the window. ¡°I also get to meet a lot of interesting people,¡± he said, smiling weakly. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s a diverse crowd here at the Inn. I¡¯m d to know you¡¯re getting along fine. But I wonder, have you thought about your future?¡± ¡°My future?¡± ¡°Yes, I mean. Do you want to stay here at the Inn, working at the Battle Ax? Are there other things you are interested in? Or perhaps, do you want to leave the Inn one day? Something along those lines.¡± John was silent for a moment, before saying, ¡°Since you¡¯ve brought this up, do you have something in mind?¡± At this point, he was all but sure that this matter had to do with his system, but he would never admit it unless the cards wereid on the table. ¡°Indeed, I do, actually. I have an opportunity for you, if you can grasp it. I was looking for someone with the skills of an assassin and thought you would be a good fit.¡± ¡°Innkeeper, there must be some mistake. I am no assassin.¡± The Innkeeper gave John a knowing smile before saying, ¡°Haha no John, I never said I was looking for an assassin, nor am I interested in having anyone assassinated. I said I was interested in someone with the skills of an assassin for a job. No need for any concern. I don¡¯t mean to harm anyone ¨C quite the opposite, in fact. ¡°But I won¡¯t speak more on it for now. If you are interested in grasping the opportunity, there are still things you need to do to qualify. But I won¡¯t make it too difficult for you. How about you sessfullyplete the Mystery trial and unseal your cultivation. Once you¡¯ve done that, you cane find me for the other job.¡± Without giving John any time to respond, Lex left. By letting John take care of his own sealed cultivation, he was reducing a burden on Lex¡¯s shoulders and elevating Lex¡¯s image in John¡¯s mind. And if he took too long to do either of those conditions, Lex could just look for another candidate. Then John would have no one else to me but himself. With that taken care of, Lex considered watching the ongoing game. He really hadn¡¯t been following the games too closely and was surprised to find that the Beasts had taken the lead in points. But, just as he was deciding on what to do, he felt something strange happen to his body. It was the feeling of relief one got when they cracked their bones after sitting still all day, but¡­ the feeling wasn¡¯ting from his bones. It wasing from something deeper¡­ Lex teleported to his apartment and then pulled up his status to see if anything changed, especially with his tumor, but what he saw surprised him greatly. Name: Lex Williams Age: 23 Sex: Male Cultivation Level: Regal Embrace Body Tempering Stage 3 Complete He was too stunned to view the rest of his status as his gaze was fixed on his cultivation. The third stage was alreadyplete? ¡°Hey Mary, I think my third stage is¡­plete,¡± in equal parts confusion and excitement. ¡°In that case, I suggest you eitherplete the fourth stage right now, or after the event ends, as this process should take 2 to 3 days.¡± Lex hesitated for a moment, but his excitement got the better of him. He had 6 days before the event ended, so he could make it in time for the closing ceremony, even if the procedure took a little longer. ¡°In that case, Mary, take care of things while I¡¯m away.¡± Not waiting any longer, Lex immediately began the fourth process. Once again, teleported to the familiar white room, Lexy downfortably on the bed and fell asleep. This time, his body was no longer injected with anything, and it appeared as if he was just sleeping. But if anyone else were to enter that room, if their cultivation was not strong enough, they would explode under enormous pressure. Slowly, his body, spirit and soul were being melded into onepletely new entity, never before seen in this universe. At the same time, in his Inn, a group of drunk space pirates stumbled through a bright light,pletely unaware of what happened. Chapter 179 King Mary¡¯s projection floated over Lex¡¯s sleeping body, utterly confused. His soul had stabilized way too quickly, right? But, whatever. There was a saying on Earth that went like, ¡®don¡¯t look a gift horse in the mouth¡¯. She had no idea who would gift someone a horse, but the idea was all that mattered. Before she could ponder more about the metaphors and phrases from Earth, she was notified about an issue. A bunch of new guests had shown up, and had started a fight. The problem was, they were fighting amongst one another, so the guards weren¡¯t sure if they needed to stop them and so they contacted her. Mary disappeared to take care of the issue, only to find most of them were already asleep or unconscious on her arrival. A few were fighting amongst themselves, but shortly after pulling them apart, they too fell asleep. Now Mary really was lost, they had never taken care of drunk guests before. But perhaps it would be too much to punish them just for this, so she had the guards carry them somewhere secluded where they could nap out in the field. She would deal with them when they woke up. Just like that, Mary was putting out fires all over the Inn while the Innkeeper slept like a baby. The hours passed and the final game for the Foundation experts finally ended. Of the 1000 soldiers that had followed Alexander, only 600 were in fighting condition by the end. Almost 200 of them died while the rest were gravely wounded. The casualties for the rest were drastic as well, though the Jotuns only had casualties because of Pramod¡¯s surprise attack. Surprising everyone, the Beasts had taken the lead in points during thest two matches, and Earth had fallen far behind both. This was because, split up as they were, many soldiers ended up using their points for extra strength whenever they were in precarious situations.. The next day, the sixth match, and the first of the Golden Core experts, would begin. The zombies, the Jotuns and the beasts had armies ready and waiting, but the Earthlings only managed only 800 Golden core experts of their 5000 quota. This was because, to begin with, Golden Core cultivators were rare on Earth, and the ones that managed to reach that realm often were not fighters. Of those 800, only 10 were Brandon Morrisons followers. The Morrison family had decided not to participate heavily in this section of the games, as they no longer had much to gain. The only reason these 10 were even going was because they wanted to follow Brandon. As for the reason Brandon wanted to go, he imed he needed the exertion to help him breakthrough the Nascent realm. ¡°You performed well,¡± Brandon said to his son, who was busy recovering from histest wounds, ¡°but you took on too many wounds. Yourbat style is immature. Compare yourself to the Jotun soldiers, who suffered almost no casualties and few wounds under normal circumstances. Think on how you can improve, and if you need inspiration, watch my match tomorrow.¡± Brandon was always extremely serious, arge contrast to his own father, but he was also extremely remarkable. Despite the fact that Ragnar was the Nascent realm cultivator of their family, Brandon was the one that had built up their strength and raised their armies. Alexander had never seen his father fight properly, so he was looking forward to it. In a different part of the Inn, ne had taken Iris to the Recovery room to heal. Behind him stood Chen and Lily. ne waspletely broke, since he had spent his time looking for Iris and had not worked at all in that time, so he had to ask Chen for a loan to heal Iris. Yet again, in another part of the Inn, Little Blue was searching for its father, the Gctic Sovereign turtle. But the turtle had gone back to its temporarily, and so the whale was unable to find him, which caused it a lot of distress. Unaware of what else to do, the whale went towards Main street to find Z. Unknowingly, somehow this reclusive and anime obsessed AI had be the support system for many of the Inns permanent residents. As night fell and the pirates finally woke up, Mary quickly appeared and had the guards reproach them heavily. Confused, scared, but mostly hungover, the pirates got a vague understanding of things before promptly returning to wherever they came from. In a different ce, Larry was waiting for Lex, who had said he would return at night. But as the hours passed and Lex never showed up, Larry began to worry. His thoughts, however, were hidden well behind his smile and constant flirting. The night passed, and the next day the first match for the Golden Core experts began. Some people found it strange that the Innkeeper didn¡¯t make an appearance, but things continued as usual. Harriot Shelby Ruby Selma Jane, the zombie leader whose name only Lex knew, did not behave as pragmatically as Pramod when the first match started. Since the zombies and the Jotun empire spawned in the same ce, she instantly ordered a fight to the death. Unlike the fight with Foundation realm experts, which somewhat resembled a fight between mortal armies in terms of formation and weapons, a fight between Golden Core experts was vastly different. The spiritual techniques were of another realm, and the repercussions of the fight could be felt across the current map. Speaking of which, the environment was actually underwater! They were literally fighting against not only each other, but the ocean currents as well! Brandon made a beeline for the ongoing fight while the Beasts headed towards the node. Compared to their somewhat mediocre performance in the previous rounds, this time, the Beasts were a lot more aggressive. A lot of viewers had their eyes on Brandon, despite so many other options, as a lot of bets had been ced on him. As the father of such a well-performing candidate, Alexander, the crowd expected nothing less from him. And, true to the Morrison name, Brandon was extremely lethal on the field. If Alexander¡¯s performance could be described as explosive, then Brandon was steady. In less than an hour, he killed over a dozen Golden Core zombies, and was involved in a direct sh against Harriot. To be more exact, he was fighting the third body Harriot inhabited! Every time he killed the zombie, even crushing the zombie core to dust once, Harriot would somehow take over another zombie. Were Lex watching this match, he would recall that Harriot suffered from a condition the system described as a failed artificial animation, and would wonder if this had anything to do with how she kepting back. If she had been smart, Brandon would have had no way of knowing that she had taken over another zombie, but each time she would start cursing and screaming at him, even going so far as saying she was immortal and that she would not rest until she took over Brandon¡¯s body in revenge! If the situation bothered him, no one could tell, as Brandon¡¯s expression did not change even a little throughout the game. Even when the game ended in only four hours because the beasts had somehow decimated the zombie army defending the node, Brandon was unperturbed. Like that, Brandon became a fan favorite, even more than Alexander, and quite a fewdies tried to court him. It was unfortunate for them that he treated them with the same indifference as the zombies that he killed. The very same indifference he kept when Harriot herself courted him between matches. Like that, two more days passed by, and nothing too out of the ordinary happened. The Beasts had an irrecoverable lead now, as they continued to destroy the nodes on their own in the following two matches. At this point, even the Jotun army had changed their strategy from trying to destroy the node to keeping the pressure off the beasts. All they cared about was reiming the, so if they did not win the final prize, it was alright. It had to be noted that only 200 of the Golden Core cultivators from Earth were still participating. The casualties they had suffered in the first match had been extremely heavy, and most of the survivors refused to participate anymore. The only ones still fighting were like Brandon, wanting to ready themselves for a potential breakthrough in the future. With ess to the Midnight Inn, the Golden Core realm was not the end of the path for them and their buried ambitions had been rekindled. It was on the morning of the ninth Midnight game, and the secondst match, that something unusual happened ¨C at least for those who came from Earth. New York had been dered an independent country as well as a monarchy, under the rule of its first King, Hanson Marlo Bravi IV, as recognized by the Council of New Order. No one saw thising, and everyone was extremely confused by what had happened. Though Marlo had a reputation, it was not as if everyone on Earth knew him, so many were wondering who this random upstart was that had somehow obtained recognition from the council. Only a very few people knew that it wasn¡¯t Marlo receiving their recognition, but him sparing their lives for provoking him in the first ce. Based on his personality, he could not be threatened the same way the other family heads were, and they had not nned for a sudden new powerhouse either. In fact, he was not even too interested in taking over New York, but the council had already offered it to him to cate him, and he did quite like the sound of King. What they didn¡¯t know was that it was not Marlo¡¯sck of ambition that saved them. He was too worried about his son¡¯s condition to care about measly titles. In fact, if someone from the council hadn¡¯t specifically provoked him, he would never have even bothered with them at all. As for what happened after his son recovered¡­ that remained to be seen. Chapter 180 Body Tempering Stage 4 Although Marlo had dered himself King, and New York had gone from being a state to an independent country, practically there were no changes in the way things operated. Nows were changed, no new government bodies were created, and no one got any special privileges. Still, for the people of Earth, such a change overnight was too drastic to ept. Riots and protests erupted the very next day and filled the streets of Manhattan. Instead of dispersing them, though, the police only maintained the peace. At the end of the day, the Governor of New York made an announcement that, in summary, stated whether the people epted or rejected the truth made no difference. The whole world was changing, let alone New York, and they could ept the changes or test their luck. Perhaps once he had dealt with his private matters, Marlo would turn his attention back to New York or even all of Earth, but neither the council nor the politicians in New York had any way of knowing what would happen. Of course, the council was not going to leave this threat hanging over their head, and while Marlo returned to the Inn, they already began taking precautions. How effective the precautions would be could not yet be determined. The council considered him a normal Nascent cultivator, and did not have a concept of what it meant to be a Prime. Who could me them? Few in the entire universe did. ***** Sometimeter that day, Lex finally woke up. Unlike his previous procedures, it was not a gradual process. One moment he was asleep, the next he waspletely and fully awake. Even without moving, or opening his eyes, Lex felt a tremendous difference! It was not just his strength that had increased, but the fluidity with which his thoughts flowed was unprecedented. It was like he had been wearing shackles that were keeping him in ce, but had finally broken free of them. Still lying in bed, without opening his eyes, Lex called up his status. Name: Lex Williams Age: 23. Sex: Male Cultivation Level: Regal Embrace Body Tempering Stage 4 Complete Health: Optimal Midnight Points: 9,730,745 Midnight Inn Level: 3 Remarks: Even hibernating bears aren¡¯t as irresponsible as you! Go take care of your guests! A relieved smile crept onto Lex¡¯s face. As he had learnt, oh so long ago, bypleting all four stages of the Regal Embrace, his tumor had been removed. He was in perfect physical and mental condition, and for the first time in a long time, Lex felt like himself again. He felt like that guy who had made video games in his spare time, like the guy who had negotiated a $7,000,000 deal, like the guy who had graduated with honors by pulling off nothing butst-minute all-nighters. ¡°Mary,¡± he called out, as he slowly sat up. He was slow, not because he needed to relearn how to control his strength. No, despite the massive increase in strength, he felt like he could control himself even better now. He got up slowly, because he was preupied with thoughts of how his journey had begun. He thought back to that night when he felt so restless in his home that he went to a park in the middle of the night. He thought of the shooting star he saw. He thought of the wish he made. He thought of the first time he heard Mary¡¯s voice, and thought himself crazy. ¡°You¡¯re finally done,¡± Mary appeared in front of him with a smile. She was suited up, simr to Lex, and her red hair was tied up into a neat bun. Lex remembered when they had met, she had taken on the appearance of Mary Jane, and was named after her too, but now somehow he felt like she had subtly changed. ¡°Yeah, I am. Finally.¡± He smiled warmly at her, but didn¡¯t move, and didn¡¯t say anything else. After a couple of moments, Mary looked at him with a confused look. ¡°Is anything the matter?¡± ¡°No no, nothing¡¯s the matter. I was just thinking back on everything I¡¯ve done with the Inn so far. I¡¯ve been to different worlds. I¡¯ve fought zombies and I¡¯ve fought wolves. I¡¯ve had guests from different species and different gxies, maybe even realms. I hired some AI, got a barber, made a smallke then a big one. I hired a gardener and then hired a turtle to garden. Everything was so¡­ so random. I guess having a tumor made it hard for me to focus on one thing for too long.¡± He shed Mary a smile, who responded with a weak smile of her own. Lex¡¯s words and tone did not seem to match. The words sounded like he should be happy, but his tone sounded scrutinizing. ¡°But I guess life¡¯s random sometimes, huh? As random as a system falling out of the sky. A system that can transport people from across the universe, but somehowgged and fell into me while scanning Earth.¡± At this point, Mary definitely understood that Lex was suspicious, and not just about the system, or else he would not have been giving her such a strange look. ¡°Yes, I suppose that¡¯s how it is. Life¡¯s as random as an ¡®augmented reality avatar provided by the Midnight Inn for my limation¡¯. Those were your exact words, right? God, you talked a lot like a robot back then, though that changed pretty quickly.¡± Mary let out a defeated sigh and said, ¡°You can just ask what you want to ask, there¡¯s no need to be so sassy. I can¡¯t lie to you, anyway.¡± Lex chuckled, his previous critical demeanor gone, and he was back to his usual self. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry. I just felt a little dramatic. But even if I ask, I¡¯m pretty sure I already know the answers. Something about my authority not being enough. But, let¡¯s try anyway. Who knows, maybe I have enough authority for a hint.¡± Now, Lex was just being cheeky and Mary looked at him with annoyance in her eyes. ¡°Let¡¯s get reacquainted, shall we? Where did the systeme from?¡± ¡°As of right now, your authority is insufficient to know the origin of the system.¡± ¡°Alright, guessed as much. Next question, are there other systems out there?¡± Mary let out a defeated smile. It seemed the disappearance of the tumor had affected Lex greatly, and some things that were hidden in in sight could no longer fool Lex. ¡°As of right now, your authority is insufficient to know such a question.¡± ¡°Why did I get the system?¡± ¡°It was coincidental. The systemgged, and you happened to be in its path.¡± ¡°Yes, yes, a system that can literally create AIs out of nothinggged while flying over my head. I thought you said you couldn¡¯t lie.¡± ¡°I cannot, this is the answer provided to me by the system.¡± Lex rubbed his chin as he observed Mary, trying to decide whether he believed her or not. Truthfully, he trusted her. But there was a lot of ambiguity about the system that just made him feel unsettled. ¡°Alright moving on. The system talks to me using ¡®remarks¡¯. Does that mean the system is alive?¡± ¡°As of right now, your authority is insufficient to know such details about the system.¡± ¡°Predictable, predictable. But it remains a fact that the system can talk to me, since it does so in the form of remarks. But you, Mary, are not the system itself, correct?¡± ¡°Yes, I am an assistant provided by the system to help the host.¡± ¡°See now, I find it strange that the system gave me such a good helper. I can¡¯t seem to understand the purpose of the system. From the beginning, when I opened the starter pack, the system has made a point not to help me out and let me do things on my own. It did not help with my cultivation, it did not help with information about the universe, it did not give me the option to keep out hostile guests. It wasplete, dumb luck that I ended up getting the Regal Embrace. It even went as far as threatening death in its first few quests, when I was at my most vulnerable and most likely to fail. With everything about the system designed to make me do stuff on my own, and give me a tough time while doing it, why would it give me such a helpful assistant? It feels¡­ contradictory.¡± ¡°If you are asking the purpose of the system, it is to host the greatest and grandest Inn in the universe, without anyparison.¡± ¡°Ahan, and why is that?¡± ¡°As of right now, your authority is insufficient to know the reasoning behind the system. You know, for someone who benefited a lot from the system himself, you sure are sounding ungrateful.¡± Lexughed at Mary¡¯s usation. ¡°I don¡¯t mean to be ungrateful, honestly. The system is amazing, and has improved my life in a million different ways, not to mention it literally saved my life by removing a tumor I would not have even known about without the system. I just feel like things aren¡¯t as simple as I was assuming them to be.¡± While talking to Mary, Lex was also adjusting his emotions. When he got the system, he¡¯d epted such a massive change way too easily, probably under the influence of his tumor. Now that he was free to think properly, he was just processing the shock that probably should have hit him right on the first day. ¡°Right,st question. And you don¡¯t have to answer if you don¡¯t want to.¡± At this, Mary raised an eyebrow. This new and improved Lex was¡­ way too thorough. ¡°Before the Midnight Games, before I even got the quest, you told me to ace the next quest. I don¡¯t think the system would let you give me hints even before it gave me a quest. So, what was that about?¡± Chapter 181 Wedding blades Mary looked at Lex with a mix of frustration and pride. It frustrated her at how critically he was questioning her, but at the same time she was proud of how careful he was being. The system really was an entity that was beyond Lex¡¯s understanding. It let him confuse beings so much more powerful than him that currently, Lex could not even properlyprehend how weak he was. Using the system, he was affecting events on a gctic scale, if not universal yet. So an adequate amount of prudence was a good thing. It just made things slightly awkward for her. ¡°I can answer that question, there is a bit of leeway there. But if I answer it, you¡¯ll be able to draw a lot of conclusions, Lex. And those conclusions won¡¯t be any good for you, and will in fact get in the way of your growth. So, if you trust me, then I would give you the advice to stop asking questions about the system until you are much stronger. I¡¯d say the minimum eptable level would be Ragnar¡¯s. But if you still want to know, I can answer.¡± Lex wondered for just a moment, then dropped the matter. For better or for worse, he was stuck with the system. Even if it wanted to harm him, there was nothing he could do about it. Waiting until he got stronger was the correct move. Lex pped his hands and jumped off the bed. ¡°Alright then, let¡¯s get to work.¡± With that, both Lex and Mary disappeared from the white room and returned to Lex¡¯s apartment. ¡°Anything important happen while I was asleep?¡± ¡°A group of pirates entered the Inn. I don¡¯t know where they got the golden keys from, but they left as soon as they were sober enough to understand that our guards were stronger than them. They didn¡¯t cause too much trouble though, so that¡¯s good. Other than that, the fourth Golden Core Midnight game is currently going on. Tomorrow will be thest match, so you woke up just in time. Other than that, not much rted to the Inn has happened. ne was looking for you, but you weren¡¯t avable, so he said he would wait. He said he wanted to meet you privately, without hispanions finding out.¡±. ¡°ne¡­¡± Lex muttered as he scanned the Inn, and found the man sitting in the guild room with Chen, Lily and Iris, and watching the match. ¡°Alright, have his personal hologram tell him I¡¯m avable. If he wants to see me privately, he should step outside the room and I¡¯ll summon him to me.¡± The message was passed along, and a few minutester, ne excused himself and stepped out of the Guild room. Lex teleported him, but not to Lex¡¯s bedroom where he was when he sent the message. ne appeared in a secluded campsite on Midnight mountain, overlooking the rest of the Inn. Lex was already sitting on a bench, staring out at his Inn. ¡°I hope you did not have to wait too long,¡± Lex said, without turning back. At the moment, looking at the Inn, he was feeling extremely emotional and didn¡¯t feel like putting up a front. ¡°Not at all. You must have many matters to take care of. I apologize for disturbing you.¡± Lex did not correct him, nor did he dissuade him from the excessive ttery as he usually would. He simply said, ¡°How can I help you, ne?¡± ¡°That¡­ er¡­¡± ne felt slightly awkward bringing up his request, but eventually worked up the courage. ¡°I was hoping to get married to Iris, at the Inn. But eh¡­ I didn¡¯t know if you would allow that here¡­ and eh, I don¡¯t exactly know how to get married either.¡± Lex was startled by the revtion, and looked at ne in wonder. He supposed it made sense, considering how much the man loved the woman. Lex just somehow never considered that someone might want to get married at his Inn. ¡°Well, of course, you can have a wedding. What do you mean you don¡¯t know how to get married? Don¡¯t they have weddings back at Vegus Minima?¡± ¡°People remember marriages, but, the way life was, it¡¯s probably been over a 100 years since anyone got married. After all, your partner could die the next day. Not to mention, there was no shortage of other problems to worry about. That isn¡¯t to say that there weren¡¯t any couples. But, at least I don¡¯t remember seeing anyone get married. Even Chen and Lily, their parents, probably weren¡¯t married. Wait, they probably don¡¯t even share both parents.¡± Lex was both amazed and filled with pity at listening to ne¡¯s story. ¡°Do you have anything in mind about how you want to do it? Or would you like some suggestions?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know how it¡¯s supposed to be done, but I have an idea. I wanted to¡­¡± ne discussed his marriage n with Lex, and as simplistic as it was, for warriors such as them, Lex felt like it was perfect. ne let Lex know that he had taken a loan from Chen for the wedding, and would pay whatever the Inn charged. Although technically this was an event, and Lex nned on using the event panel to hold the wedding, he only charged ne 1 MP for the wedding. He wouldn¡¯t be so sentimental if the wedding had been happening at any other time, but currently he was very emotional and did not feel like charging the man for his wedding. If Alexander could get up and go to war on a whim, why couldn¡¯t Lex sponsor a wedding on one? ¡°Go back, I¡¯ll prepare things. We¡¯ll start at night,¡± Lex said, and then sent ne back. If he was gone too long, his friends might start wondering where he was. Lex teleported to the absolute peak of the Midnight mountain. The peak was barely a dozen feet across and had nothing except snow. Furthermore, it was forever surrounded by clouds, making it invisible for anyone to view. But the peak also contained a secret Lex had prepared for any curious adventurers who climbed so far, but the secret would only reveal itself if the guests climbed manually and did not fly over or somehow use their cultivation. Actually, the surprise was likely not a big deal to high leveled cultivators, but Lex liked it nheless. Once someone climbed to the peak, if the secret activated, they would be able to climb the clouds as well, as if they were solid, until they climbed to the top of the cloud. The view was a sea of clouds, illuminated by hundreds of skynterns. There was no need to embellish, as to Lex, the sight was absolutely amazing. Lex activated the event panel and started the second event, which was nes¡¯ wedding. He built a small stage on top of the clouds, with a simple bonfire in the middle. The warrior did not want roses or flowers; he wanted simple and straightforward. Though getting married on top of a literal cloud was anything but straightforward, Lex could not help himself from up-scaling the wedding a little. Then, using the event panel, he made two silver-colored daggers, each engraved with a name. Making these daggers was the real reason Lex wanted to use the event panel, as these were momentos rted to the event. Without it, Lex would not be able to make them. They were nothing too special and had no attacking power over a normal dagger. But they wouldst. A few hourster, once the match was over and night had fallen, ne asked his friends to follow him. Curious about why their friend was acting so mysterious, they followed him to the base of the mountain, where the Innkeeper was waiting. ¡°Are you ready?¡± the Innkeeper asked. ¡°Yes,¡± ne replied simply. With that, the Innkeeper gave a simple nod and teleported ne, Chen, Lily and Iris along with himself to the stage on top of the clouds. For a few minutes, everyone was stunned by the sight, as they had never witnessed anything like it. A cold wind blew over the clouds, but the gentle warmth of the bonfire kept everyonefortable. ¡°ne, what is this?¡± Iris asked, finally turning to look at her boyfriend. That¡¯s when she noticed that while everyone else was looking at thenterns floating in the sky, as if stars that were within reach, ne was only looking at her. ¡°Iris, I cannot say that the thought has never crossed my mind, but the time was never right,¡± ne began. By now, Chen and Lily were also observing him as an idea of what might be happening crept in their minds. ¡°Whether it was war or famine, or zombies or hunters, the future was too uncertain, and I did not want to make a promise that I would eventually break. But things are different now, and our lives have changed. Yet even if they had not changed, I would have no doubt in my mind that the reason I live, the reason I fight, the reason I survive is for you.¡± He took the silver knife that had his name on it from Lex, and cut the palm of his hand, staining the de with his blood. ¡°I do not have much to give you, Iris, only the blood in my body. But if you will have me, then everything that is mine will be yours. Iris, will you be my wife?¡± ne held out the dagger to her with his bleeding hand, the drops of his blood falling into the clouds. For a moment, Iris was too dazed to respond, but when she came to, she quickly cut her hand on the other dagger and exchanged it with ne. Before the man could spew more nauseating romantic lines, Iris had hurled herself into ne¡¯s arms and kissed him furiously. Throughout the process, Lex never got the opportunity to speak at all, and it appeared that he did not need to ordain the event. Just like that, with a simple exchange of blood and daggers, the first Vegus Minima wedding in over a hundred years took ce amongst the clouds. Lex did not receive any notifications or quests from the system, but he did not care. While he did not understand the metric with which the system judged events as important, he knew that he would remember this simple wedding forever. Chapter 182 Qi training Once the small wedding was over, Lex returned to his room and went to his study. Although, ording to Mary, not many big things happened at the Inn while he was asleep, there were many things for him to do. First of all, the Midnight Games wille to a close tomorrow. Once they concluded, many of the benefits he had been retaining woulde to a close. Lex needed to n ordingly. His first priority was security, but Mary advised him to put that on hold till after the event. When he asked her why, she only stated that the system would prevent her from answering. Since her advice about the bodyguard had been so valuable, he decided to trust her once again on this. The next item on Lex¡¯s list was the personal holographic assistant every guest received upon entering the Inn. Although those personal assistants could not do any actual work, they were great at answering questions and disseminating information. Unfortunately, while they were cheap to procure during an event, buying them permanently was extremely expensive. In the end, Lex decided to purchase holographic assistants with only very basic capabilities as a permanent addition to the Inn for 500,000 MP. These holograms would answer basic questions, but could not do all the additional tasks such as provide a ce for a private conversation, like Lex had with Larry, or send messages to other guests. The third concern Lex had was rooms. While he did not go and buy a few more skyscrapers, he started nning for them already. When the time came, he would be able to directly make the changes he¡¯d nned and thus avoid doing things haphazardly. To cater to his preliminary vision, the size of the Inn would also need to be expanded, but obviously that was expensive. He needed to divide his MP between expansion of the Inn and construction of properties, and would do so based on his requirements. So, he would build and expand in phases. This was especially important because while he was earning an average of 1 million MP a day, he expected to see that number fall once the games ended. This was because a majority of that ie was from food and gambling. Lex worked directly through the night as hepiled ns, not only for the Inn, but for himself. He made himself a priority list so that instead of doing things randomly, he could make a focused effort towards getting certain results.. The priority list was: 1. Security 2. Lex¡¯s own cultivation 3. More infrastructure to cater to guests 4. More managers so he could effectively divide tasks and not overburden his AI 5. Teachers, not for his guests but for his staff. Lex expected to be in a state of constant expansion for the foreseeable future, and the AI he hired only came with basic knowledge. He wanted teachers who could constantly raise the quality of his staff and services. Theck wasn¡¯t so evident now, but that was only because his services were limited. 6. Entertainment for his guests. Only after the basic and important requirements to host a guest were fulfilled could he start thinking of entertainment. 7. Expansion. Ideally, he would expand before a need for it arose, so that he was always one step ahead, but a lot of it would depend on his MP expenditure. For now, this is all he had on the list. He might add more items to the list, or revise the order of things as he saw fit, but it would serve him well at the moment. It was important that he keep reminding himself of this because an unorganized way of doing things would be inefficient, and Lex did not want to slow down at all as he was now determined to raise his strength. Another correction he decided to make was how he behaved while in the Innkeeper persona. Previously, he was obsessed with letting everyone think that he was incredibly powerful and mysterious. However, this was a knee-jerk reaction caused by his own insecurity at being so weak while being surrounded by those so strong. In his mind, when he envisioned an Innkeeper, the image he had in his head was someone very close to the ground level, and someone who had a good rtionship with his guests and clients. Though he could not suddenly change his persona, Lex nned to slowly be more approachable instead of enigmatic. With all his nning for the Inn taken care of, there were still a few hours until thest match began. This gave Lex just enough time to do something he was very excited about: start cultivating! From now on, his cultivation would no longer be in the hands of the system and would require him to make his own efforts. In a way, this was tougher. But Lex preferred not to be too dependent on the system for stuff like this. He left his study and went to the ce where he usually meditated and sat down, cross-legged. He closed his eyes and began meditating. This was not cultivation, but would help him hone his state of mind for when he did. For this next part, he did not need any guidance from Mary, as the Regal Embrace had provided him with the relevant information on how to proceed. The body tempering realm, for humans, was about tempering the body internally to make it capable of absorbing and storing spiritual energy. An increase in strength and stamina was only a side effect of such a process, and not the preliminary purpose. As a result of this, depending on how one cultivated, there were often mortal athletes who were stronger and more physically fit than Body tempering cultivators. This is why, on the first day Lex started his self-defense training, he felt like some of his peerscked in the fitness department. Lex, of course, was strengthened to the extreme due to the prowess of his cultivation technique. It was important to note that this description was only fit for spiritual cultivation, as body cultivators obviously honed their bodies well. Furthermore, if one wanted to be a body cultivator, while the stages were the same, the effects were different. It was exactly for this reason why, if someone wanted to dual cultivate spirit and body, they had to start both together as the body would undergo various changes in each stage. If, for example, someone reached the Golden Core in spiritual cultivation, then decided to start cultivating their body, not only would they be unable to do so, chances were high it would even negatively affect your spiritual cultivation. There were, of course, exceptions to everything, and maybe there were ways in the universe that would allow a person to start body cultivating at ater stage. But, in general, that was the exception and not the rule. Encountering such a situation could only be based on luck. Naturally, none of that mattered to someone like Lex who would, henceforth, cultivate his spirit, body and soul all at once. The next stage of cultivation was called Qi training. It did not matter much, but Qi was just another name for spirit energy. To be more specific, a single strand of spiritual energy was called Qi. In the various worlds, spiritual energy took on various names, and thus the cultivation levels were often called differently as well. Fortunately for Lex, his universal trantor would trante all the different terminology into the same few words. The reason for the next stage being called Qi training was because, since the body had only just be capable of withstanding the presence of spiritual energy inside it, a cultivator would begin by only absorbing a single strand into their body at a time. Even then, with having only absorbed a single strand, the cultivator had to be very careful. This was because the body maintained an internal pressure that prevented the spiritual energy flowing around it from entering inside. By absorbing a strand of spiritual energy, or Qi, the cultivator was actively pushing against this internal pressure. This was a delicate process, as cultivators would be required to constantly breakthrough the limits of their body by absorbing Qi, but at the same time if they were too rough, the increase in pressure could cause a meridian in the body to rupture, which would severely damage the body. In extreme cases, if too much Qi was absorbed, the body could even explode ¨C the reason why Bluebird tested Lex¡¯s cultivation. Such a test did not eliminate the possibility of something like that happening, but at least a faulty cultivation technique would no longer be the cause for it. Meridians were extremely important, as they were the vessels in the body that allowed Qi to flow through them, the way veins and arteries transported blood. Without meridians, or with damaged meridians, it was obvious that one would not be able to cultivate. In fact, the very reason Larry had been unable to cultivate was because he was born without meridians whatsoever ¨C though people did not know that fact. They only knew he could not cultivate from birth. What Lex needed to do to go from Body Tempering realm to the Qi training realm was simply to sense spiritual energy. That¡¯s right, he didn¡¯t even need to absorb it yet. As soon as he was able to sense the energy with his body, he would officially break through the realm and finally begin his cultivation journey. The process for sensing spiritual energy was described clearly by Regal Embrace, and once he had calmed his mind and entered the most suitable state of mind, he began. Four minutester, Lex, for the first time in his life, sensed spiritual energy and broke through to the Qi training realm. Chapter 183 Ballom Typically, while the realm had changed, something as simple as just sensing spiritual energy should not provide an increase in strength or capability. Yet that was not the case because what was happening was more than the body simply sensing spiritual energy. A simplified exnation of it would be that the body was awakening. This was because, while during the body tempering spiritual energy was used to temper the body, the cultivator could not actually feel the spiritual energy, just the effects of it. So when a cultivator entered the Qi gathering realm, the action they performed was only sensing the energy for the first time, but the result was quite a bit more. The cultivator usually senses the energy for the first time on his or her skin and that initiates an automatic process whereby the body starts absorbing spiritual energy. This spiritual energy does not count towards cultivation, and is instead absorbed by the body itself as it is elevated to a higher stage of existence. This elevation, in turn, would allow the cultivator to sense the Qi that entered their body henceforth, and even use the internal pressure of their body to manipte the movement of the Qi within their body. The movement of Qi in certain ways was necessary to use spiritual techniques. So, ultimately, that elevation to a higher stage of existence is what strengthened cultivators when they transitioned through realms. For Lex, the spiritual energy absorbed did a lot more. His soul, spirit, and body had been melded together under an external force, but the spiritual energy being absorbed now was finalizing the process. Once the process wasplete, Lex would forever be different from all cultivators in the rest of the universe. This is when the true power of the cultivation technique with the strongest defense would start to show. While the transition in the realm happened almost instantly, Lex remained seated for another hour before his ascendance waspleted. When Lex opened his eyes and finally regained control of his body, he shuddered. The process of his soul, spirit and body melding was extremely painful, yet somehow it was the kind of pain one liked. The more he felt it, the more he enjoyed it. He shuddered because he had a shback of Marlo calling him a masochist. But he wasn¡¯t! Honest! Lex stood up, and all the bones in his body let out satisfying cracks as he moved. He stretched his limbs and tried to sense the difference. But, once his body had finished adjusting to the changes, he only felt normal. In fact, he felt like he had better and more precise control of his body than ever before! This was just one of the many side effects of his existence going from being into three different forms to joining into a single one.. He wished he could have had more time to experiment, but thest match was about to begin and Lex wanted to watch it in the coliseum with the crowds. He had to suppress his longing to experiment with spiritual techniques, test out his strength and even y online games with his newly developed reflexes. He would definitely do all those things once he had the time. For now, he only had one thing left that he had to do first. He opened the event management panel and looked at the prize for games. Originally, he was going to go for the second cheapest option, since the cheapest already had such a positive reaction. But he also understood that to get, you also had to give. The better the reward he gave out this time, the more participation he could expect next time. He looked at his total MP which, by now, had umted to 9,430,675. After a moment¡¯s consideration, he spent 1,430,675 MP on upgrading the final reward! A small bonus to anyone suffering from OCD was that he was left with an even 8,000,000 MP. Once that was done, Lex donned his suit, looked at himself in the mirror, admiring his own dashing good looks, and was off. When he arrived at the coliseum, the match had already begun. By now Harriot, the zombie leader, like Pramod, and long since stopped participating in the matches. While that made the battle easier, considering the severeck of forces from Earth, each of the battles was extremely tough. Still, while Golden Core zombies were more formidable, it was a fact that zombies were inherently weaker than most beings at their level. With the Jotun forces¡¯ steady attacks and the Beast¡¯s savagery, they had won all the previous matches, and it seemed like the trend would continue. While somewhat watching the match, Lex also paid attention to the various guests in the coliseum. It was mostly empty, as people watched from thefort of their rooms or wherever they happened to be. But a few groups still watched in the coliseum. He noticed that the two people who sat beside him on the first day, Remy, the guy who wanted to have meetings for a secret society, and Akihiko, the influential man from Japan who chose not to cultivate for some reason, were seated side by side, chatting. There was arge group from Earth that consisted of a few core members, and the rest were merely their entourages. Surprisingly, there was one group that Lex summarized from snooping on their conversations, that consisted of Beasts from Earth, Vegus Minima and Nibiru. Lex recalled that Golden hair had once requested everyone that they summon beasts from their respectives, and it had finally happened ¨C though Lex did not understand his incentive for doing this. Thergest group consisted of a mix of people and beast alike who were discussing their bets. It seemed there were a few core favorites that most bet on who seemed to perform well consistently. Rorick was, of course, one of them, but his points were too low. He fought very slowly and casually, though he always won and avoided all injuries. He also never tried to attack the node, and so had no contributions to boost his points. The biggest bet regarding him wasn¡¯t if he would die, but rather how many zombies he would kill before the game ended. Suddenly, while Lex was enjoying watching his guests mingle, he got a very loud and abrupt notification from the system: Warning! Entity capable of detecting system¡¯s signature detected! Going into hibernation mode! The very next moment, Lex realized that he had lost his connection to the system and all its features! It was fortunate that the Host Attire kept its functions, but Lex was scarcely able to do anything at the moment. He noticed, then, with the power of the suit, that two men had exited their rooms in the coliseum and were approaching him. Perhaps if this had been before his breakthrough, Lex would have panicked at the sudden turn of events, but right now he was inplete control of himself. He wouldn¡¯t even need the Host Attires¡¯ help to control his facial expressions. So, instantly, he decided to y it casually, as if he were in a good mood. He turned to look at the two guests but did not recognize them, but gave them a warm smile anyway. If the system had not been suppressed, his scan would have shown him that one of the men was actually Loretta in disguise. ¡°I hope you¡¯ve been enjoying yourselves,¡± Lex said calmly, as he turned his attention back towards the screen. ¡°Yes, my small vacation has been very¡­ informative. It¡¯s a pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Ballom, I¡¯m Loretta¡¯s father.¡± ¡°You may call me the Innkeeper,¡± Lex replied as he turned to look, not at Ballom, but at the other man. Lex assumed this man was Loretta in disguise, since Ballom had brought her up, but did not say anything. ¡°Innkeeper, I was looking forward to your finale, but an urgent task has required my attention and so I must leave. It appears, some trouble has been brewing in the uncharted territories of space.¡± ¡°I wish you well then, on your journey. If you ever need to rest while on your journey, pleasee again.¡± Balloon had been staring closely at the Innkeeper, trying to pry some information from his reactions, but got nothing. It was true that there was some trouble brewing for the devils, but what he wanted to see is if this trouble had something to do with the way the Innkeeper reacted that one time. It seemed that either it was unrted, or the Innkeeper kept his matters close to his chest. ¡°Farewell then, I look forward to seeing you again. I hope that next time, I may invite you over to try our hospitality.¡± Lex merely smiled, but gave no response. A few momentster, both Loretta and the man disappeared. A familiar ting went off in his head as the system gave him a notification: System is back online. Before Lex could ask any questions though, Mary appeared in front of him, filled with excitement! ¡°I can¡¯t believe how lucky you are!¡± She eximed. ¡°Your reward for this quest will be huge!¡± Chapter 184 Hells Butcher makes his move ¡°I¡¯m lucky? What do you mean? And what happened to the system?¡± ¡°Yes, you¡¯re extremely lucky! That man, don¡¯t think of his name or he might sense it, was an incredibly powerful cultivator! He was even stronger than Bastet, who, by the way, was the sole reason your quest was upgraded enough for you to receive the Regal Embrace! Now imagine what influence someone even stronger than Bastet would have on your quest reward for this quest! Even if he didn¡¯t do anything, just merely entering the Inn during the period of the event should be more than enough to upgrade your rewards. At the same time, however, his incredibly high cultivation level is also the reason why the system had to go into hibernation. The chances were very high that a cultivator of his level would be able to detect the system if he came close enough and the system were still active.¡± Mary¡¯s reply was more or less what Lex imagined it would be. It was disturbing to know that his system could be exposed just by being close to certain cultivators, but there really wasn¡¯t anything Lex could do about that at the moment, so he stopped worrying about it. Ironically, his reaction was a lot more calm than his own bodyguard. The Celestial was practically sweating buckets worth, even when his system came back online. Unlike Lex, the Celestials¡¯ authority with his system was a lot higher, so he knew a lot more about it, and the risks involved in having the system be detected. At the same time, he was also stressed because this was the first time he had encountered a being on that level. Not that there weren¡¯t other Celestials who had reached that realm, there were, but Celestials were so rare that even he had not met another in his long life. His longevity also spoke about how rare it was to encounter a being at such a level. Yet after the fear faded, the Celestial was filled with endless ambition! Reaching the same level as that being was his goal, and the system provided him with an opportunity to do that, which is exactly why he was so concerned about raising his system¡¯s level. One day, he too would reach that realm!. Although Lex had rxed, he was not happy about the fact that such a being had been in his Inn, and Lex had never even realized it. It wasn¡¯t Lex¡¯s fault really, considering that even though the Attire made him aware of everything that was happening at the Inn, unless he focused on it specifically, he would not be conscious of it. It was like how a person was always aware of the condition of their whole body, yet they probably wouldn¡¯t pay attention to something like the third toe on their left foot unless an itch or pain attracted their attention to it specifically. So, while he was still free, he started scanning the Inn more thoroughly. Each sweep he performed slower than before, and paid attention to guests more to get an idea of who they were or what they were doing. In true anticlimactic fashion, he discovered no other hiding experts, nor did he discover any secret meetings or impending conspiracies. The closest thing to a ¡®secret meeting¡¯ was the family heads from Earth, convening yet again to make ns ¨C except Brandon, of course. Lex found it very curious to learn that Earth was secretly being controlled by some people out in the universe, that they were the ones responsible for keeping the peace that ensured cultivators did not kill mortals. At the same time, though, Lex had learnt so many secrets about the universe that he was not too surprised. He didn¡¯t pay it much mind and stopped paying attention to them. He had to admit, albeit reluctantly, that other than their cultivation, these family heads really didn¡¯t have much going for them. They had easily been threatened into not returning to Earth by the council, and put their hopes in the fact that many years of service to Fernanda would ensure their return to power. Who could have guessed they would be discarded so easily? On the bright side, they had been informed that the threat of the nuclear bombs had been removed, and should they want to retake power, so long as they do not cause heavy casualties amongst the mortals, they would not be stopped. Unfortunately, there would be very targeted arrays and formations waiting for them the moment they returned to Earth. They were currently nning on how to ovee this obstacle. But, considering they still did not even know about Marlo¡¯s increase in cultivation, Lex did not expect much from them. He turned his mind away from them and focused on the rest of his guests. The Jotun presence waspletely ready to evacuate once the games ended. In fact, many of the soldiers had already left. The beasts from Nibiru weren¡¯t particrly interested in the Inn anyway, and were onlying due to the pressure from Golden Hair, and could not wait to return. For better or worse, it seemed like after a busy few weeks, the Inn would return to rtive calm after the games. That would give him an opportunity to focus more on each guest specifically. While nning things, he continued to watch the match as well. As expected, the beasts were in the lead. Lex paid special attention to the beasts so that he could learn as much about them as possible. At the same time, something he had only done today when his thoughts were flowing more smoothly was to connect his Fancy Monocle to a monitor that surveyed the entire Inn. This way, his Monocle¡¯s database would increase at an exponential level, and be more useful to him in his ventures to news. Just like that, with Lex scanning his Inn and asionally watching the match, with the guests mingling amongst themselves or going about their day, the final match came to a close. With 2,500 Jotun soldiers, 1,879 beasts and 144 Earthlings remaining at the end of the final match, the node was destroyed. The participants were teleported back, some tired, some wounded, some dying, and somepletely unharmed. While the participants were being taken care of, all the leaders turned their attention towards the Innkeeper, who had once again appeared center stage, with all the screens focused on him. ¡°What an immacte performance by all our valiant participants. Such ferocity and camaraderie were truly a splendid sight to see, not in the least when it gave birth to yet another story of the righteous triumphing over evil. I could praise their efforts endlessly, yet, I think, they are more interested in their prize than mere words.¡± Lex¡¯s performance this time wasing off much more friendly this time, despite their vast gap in status to all his guests. This was mostly due to a shift in his own mindset, but also because now he was not so desperately hoping to fall into the state of ¡®flow¡¯ he sometimes encountered. Now, Lex did not need external aid as he himself was enough for this small task. ¡°Without any further adieu, I announce the winner of the Midnight Games, the beasts of Nibiru!¡± As the Innkeepers¡¯ voice echoed, thousands of beasts broke into a cacophony of roars! They were looked down upon in the beginning for their ignorance, but ignorant as they may be, whether on their or over here, they reigned the strongest! For these individual beasts, the prize did not mean nearly as much as the validation of this mysterious being. Yet the sloth gazed upon Lex with expectant eyes. ¡°Though the winner has been announced, the award ceremony will be held in 6 hours. This is so that all those whose valiant efforts gave us this result may be able to recover, and receive the proper award with honor and dignity.¡± With that, the Innkeeper once again disappeared, much to the sloth¡¯s distress. But it recovered quickly, as a few hours changed nothing. It was also true that this would give the participants enough time to recover and be present at the ceremony in a much better condition. Lex did it this way because, though they would get no individual awards, he wanted to give them some recognition. So, while it was not technically an award, he prepared something for the exceptional performers. So, while during these final moments everyone got ready for the ceremony, back on Vegus Minima, Ragnar had struck with relentless fury! As soon as the final node was destroyed, the ships orbiting the detected the unique signature of the spawning portal. With the formation threatening to destroy the if a high leveled cultivator struck being disabled, finally unleashed hisplete strength. When Hells Butcher made his move, why would anyone else¡¯s support be necessary? The troops stood by as he eradicated thergest zombie hordes on the entire with nothing but a cleaver. Five hourster, while there were still some zombies left on the, they weren¡¯t nearly the threat they had been previously. With plenty of time to spare, Ragnar took a nice, long shower, adorned his military uniform, and went to the Midnight Inn to watch the award ceremony. A couple of moments after he appeared, the ceremony finally began. Authors Note: Read the Creator¡¯s thoughts below for some important information Chapter 185 Simple days[Bonus chapter] In the haunted forest, as some of the kids from Earth had started calling it, Helen sat alone. Well, she wasn¡¯t alone if you counted the various peacocks, pigeons and squirrels that followed her. Though they did not need to rely on her to be fed, as they did in the early days of the Inn, they continued to follow her whenever they encountered her. They had formed a friendship that none of the new or recent guests at the Inn could form. Helen did not mind, and in fact sort of preferred thepany of these simple animals these days. She wanted to change something in her life, and until she figured out what exactly that was, she would spend her time like this. Sometimes, she imagined herself to be like those cartoon princesses that all the forest creatures loved and responded to. But she was no princess, nor did she want to be one. She was sitting on a pic nket, and Velma had brought her a lovely basket full of sandwiches, pastries, some drinks, as well as some things she could feed the animals. Sometimes Velma would apany her and ask her so many questions! In those days, Helen would share some stories of her childhood and schooldays with her. Though technically Velma was still in a school going age, she hadn¡¯t been back in a while. Velma especially loved gossip of any kind, and the more scandalous, the better. Yet, somehow, Helen felt like they had very different understandings of what constituted scandalous. The most outrageous scandal, ording to Velma, that Helen had shared so far was once when their school organized a trip, but due to poor nning, left all the kids alone in a hotel unsupervised. The scandalous part, for Velma, was the abysmal service the hotel had provided to those annoying, bratty teenage kids. Today, though, Velma was too busy to join her, so Helen was back to her regr activities. Or so she had thought.. Normally, she would be ying with the animals and eating her snacks, but today her focus was on something else entirely. One of her little squirrel friends had brought her here and shown her something wonderful. It had had squirrel babies! Unbeknownst to all, these were the first beings to be born in the Inn, and could be called true natives of this wondrousnd. Helen only smiled and watched the new squirrel parents as they fussed over their babies and proudly showed them off to her. The sleeping babies were nestled in the mother¡¯s embrace, who seemed to be gloating at all the other squirrels watching. If she didn¡¯t know better, Helen could almost believe the other squirrels looked at her with envious looks. But she did know better, so why did she still think they were jealous? This kind of behavior may seem unlike a normal squirrel, and though these squirrels had not yet cultivated, they were to some degree influenced by that once colossal change the Inn had undergone that had scared Bastet away. If one day they began to cultivate, they would be true prodigies. For now, they were simply proud parents that had aplex understanding of social rtions between species, and knew how to make other jealous. ¡°You¡¯re not chipmunks,¡± Helen said as she looked down on the babies fondly, ¡°but I¡¯ll name you Alvin, you can be Theodore and you can be Simon. When you grow up, you can sing and put on a performance for me, and I will bring you delicious food from the Inn.¡± Of course, no one other than her would know these names, but who cared? Helen had given names not only to these babies, but to many of the animals as well. ¡°Today is a day that calls for celebration. Let¡¯s have a feast!¡± she summoned her personal hologram and ordered a rather extravagant order of pet food, before holding her own feast for her furry friends. She made tes out of leaves and made all the animals sit around the pic basket before beginning. They seemed to be unusually obedient, as well as intelligent! She did not need to repeat her orders even once! In the distance, Little Blue watched all the fun as it hid between the trees. It was too shy to approach on its own, but enjoyed watching all the fun, nheless. It had often seen Helen in the forest, and though she seemed nice, it still had a phobia of most humans. Secretly, in its heart, the baby whale wished Helen would discover it, and force it to join in their activities. Yet it was too good at hiding, and Helen never expected anyone to be spying on her, so its secret fantasies were left unfulfilled. All the hubbub of the ¡®tea party¡¯ eventually woke the baby squirrels, and Alvin looked at Helen with curious eyes. It¡¯s parents talked to it and its brothers, as if exining that Helen was their godmother. Helen smiled at them, but did not try to touch or pick them up. As much as she trusted the animals, being protective of newborns was a very strong instinct ingrained in all living beings, and she did not want to agitate them. She just waved and took a bite from an eir. As unusual as it sounded, and as strange as it may seem to an outsider to view, Helen truly felt happy during these short moments. She forgot to worry about the future and forgot the troubles of her past. The expectations she had for herself slipped away, followed quickly by the weight of the expectations of others. In a small corner of the vast universe, these simple beings enjoyed their simple happinesses. Their activities neither touched upon the destiny of worlds, nor influenced the grand scheme of things, yet in these simple moments of shared joy, they captured one of the most profound meanings of life, one that often escaped even the wisest of beings. Chapter 186 Endings The award ceremony kicked off with a disy of fireworks over the coliseum. It was nothing too fancy visually,pared to some of the big disys Lex had seen on Earth, but he noticed for the first time that the fireworks he had been setting off gave a unique fluctuation in spiritual energy that was pleasant to experience! Who could have guessed? Other than the sound of the fireworks, and the dazzling lights, another sensation had been added to the ones at the Inn. This made them wonderful in their simplicity. After admiring the fireworks for a moment, he looked at the massive crowd. He recalled the nervousness he had felt the first day. He recalled how he had stressed over every single exchange, every conversation. He remembered his panic when the zombies had entered the Inn, followed by the devils revealing themselves. It was not so long ago, yet at the same time Lex felt like so much had changed since. His Inn had changed a lot during that time, and so had he. The coliseum was packed with beasts and humans alike, all looking at him. In one particr corner, Pramod, Harriot, Creel and Ahjour sat and watched as well. Well, at least some of them were watching him ¨C Harriot¡¯s attention was solely focused on Rorick, whom she was pining for. He noticed a few of his other guests that had stood out to him as well during this period, but Lex only chuckled and moved on, otherwise he¡¯d spend the whole chapter ¨C eh, no, the whole day reminiscing. ¡°Dear guests, we are gathered here once again, finally, to end this small interlude in our lives that has been the Midnight games. I think by now you will know that I am not one for long ceremonies, so we¡¯ll get right to the matters we have all been waiting for. p¡¢and a-n¡¢o¡¢vel ¡°The first order of business is to recognize that while for many of us, this was but a small interlude, for many, it was the end of a journey. They may not have wished for it, but regardless, they have be heroes for the people of and, and so Imemorate them with this statue, so that their names may be remembered till the end of time.¡± He waved his hand, a fifteen feet tall statue appeared beside him. Cut from the purest of white marbles, the statue depicted a man with a sword, fighting side by side against an unseen foe with a wolf. They stood upon a rectangr base, upon which the names of all the fallen participants were written, along with a story of how they fought for the freedom of the people of Vegus Minima. Once the event was over, Lex would relocate this statue somewhere else in the Inn. After giving a moment for everyone to admire the statue, Lex continued. ¡°Now that we have paid respect to those gone, a smallmemorative token to those who participated in the games. May you remember your time fondly.¡± Lex snapped his fingers, and all those who participated in the games, whether in the cultural portion or the fighting, received a small golden token with the words Midnight Games engraved into them. The humans received rings, and the beasts received other small ornaments that they could wear in various ces on their body depending on their species. Of course, many of those who participated in the games were not at the Inn and had returned to their respectives, but since when had distance stopped the system? ¡°And now, finally, for the award that everyone has been anticipating for so long.¡± Lex turned his hand and, like a street magician, revealed the prize in his hand from seemingly nowhere. ¡°For the Nibiru, and its inhabitants, the prize will be a single drop of Bailey¡¯s Vitalizing Dwarf Star Ferment.¡± Lex waited a moment to see if anyone recognized the name, but it did not appear to be the case. It appeared that this reward was extremely rare, and not many knew about its existence or use. But that only made sense, when Lex received the reward from the system and read its description, he was amazed. The reward did not look too spectacr, only like a drop of water that had a crystal suspended in the middle. Lex closed his hand into a fist, and the reward disappeared, already being teleported into the core of Nibiru. ¡°Since you all do not seem too familiar with the reward, I shall exin, briefly, some of its uses. The Dwarf Star Ferment has already been mixed into the core of Nibiru and will initiate a great change. Not only will it raise the Star rating of the drastically, over the next few years, and potentially give birth to a spirit, but all the natives of Nibiru will gain a massive increase in strength! For Beasts, your bloodlines will be refined into the best versions of themselves, or will undergo enhancing mutations! The chances for some Beasts being born with some extremely rare bloodline being born will increase greatly, and their cultivation talents will be vastly superior to their peers. As the changes, natural treasures will be born with every changing season, and opportunities will fall from the skies like rain in a monsoon.¡± Some people may have felt like Lex was exaggerating a little, but true to his word, he had indeed been extremely brief in the benefits it provided. Only those that lived on the would truly understand how much things would change soon. His mind went out to that little girl he had met on Nibiru, Tiffany, who had been called the carrier of the will of Nibiru by the system. She would likely benefit a lot as well, based on his limited understanding of the ¡®will of the world¡¯ and ¡®world spirits¡¯. The system had provided him with some information on those topics, but not much. But recalling all that would have to wait, as Lex didn¡¯t want his thoughts wandering. The same thing had happened to him when read the description for this prize and almost shed tears when learnt that the prize could also be used on a human rather than a. Considering how beneficial it was to an entire, he could only begin to imagine what it would do for a person. Different guests had different reactions to hearing his description, but Lex only focused on a few. First of all, the devils quickly noted down the benefits and whispered to one another about turning it into a prospective farm. Ragnar¡¯s eyes widened when Lex mentioned ¡®world spirit¡¯, but recovered quickly. The sloth, Golden Hair, had the greatest reaction, and was grinning as widely as possible. It did not care about any other thing, just the increase in star rating meant that the would be able to bear the strength that he was unable to control, and he would be able to spend more time awake from now on. The most curious reaction, however, was by Marlo. He seemed way too excited for someone who should have no interest in this, since he could never go to Nibiru. What Lex didn¡¯t know was that Marlo¡¯s intuition had be extremely strong after his change into a Prime human, and his intuition was now telling him that an opportunity for his son¡¯s recoveryy on Nibiru after the change. ¡°And with that, dear guests, the Midnight Games are concluded! I hope you all enjoyed thoroughly, and had noints about your stay at the Midnight Inn. I hope you will remember the Inn the next time you are nning a vacation.¡± Contrary to what many expected, the Innkeeper did not disappear after his grand announcement, and climbed down from the stage and mingled with the guests. It was mostly some of the guests who wanted to introduce themselves before leaving, but not everyone took this opportunity. Many guests decided they woulde and meet the Innkeeperter, once the crowd remaining from the event had all gone. And indeed, many guests were leaving quickly. The soldiers had all retreated as they had work to do in clearing out the rest of Vegus Minima. The beasts also quickly disappeared, as they were eager to go home Igishima, the tree, had thoroughly enjoyed its time at the games, but it too had to return home. But it saw itself returning often to the Inn in the future, after all, it had about 20,000 MP worth of winnings from betting to blow away. ***** Nibiru, Igishima¡¯s personal garden Tiffany stared out into therge empty patch ofnd where Igishima normally slept. From her hiding ce inside a hollow portion in a tree, all she could really do was look. If Lex saw her now, he would not recognize her at all. This was not only because she had grown a lot in height and size due to the many fruits she ate that increased her power, but also because of the various scars she wore on her body. She could currently only see out of her left eye, as her right eye was swollen shut. Many of her bones were covered in hairline fractures, and her muscles screamed in pain as if they were being torn apart. In fact, once she had retreated from thetest battlefield and hidden here, her body hadpletely stopped responding to her. She was paralyzed, at least while her body finished healing. For reasons she did not know, she would always heal very quickly from her wounds. That was the only reason she was still alive. Had Igishima been here earlier, it could have participated in the defense of what was once the Red Nation. As much as she had prayed for the Lord Protector¡¯s return before, she wished just as much that the tree would not return. Yet since when did life go ording to one¡¯s wishes? With a sh of bright light, Igishima returned to its home after weeks, feeling good. The feelingsted barely a moment, as an ambushy waiting for it. Several Nascent level beasts attacked at once, not giving it any time to defend. Tiffany could only watch with a teary eye as the Lord Protector, once a mighty being that had protected this nation and its people and beasts alike, died and its legacy ended. Back at the Inn, Lex received an unusual notification. One of your guests with MP credit at the Inn had died. Transferring the MP to the inheritor. Chapter 187 Just the beginning Lex, who had been conversing with his guests, was extremely confused by the notification, but noting that it was not something urgent, set the matter aside forter. Currently, he was preupied with his guests. Seeing that the Innkeeper wasn¡¯t actually disappearing, and actually greeting his guests, many wanted to take an opportunity to get acquainted. Lex knew for a fact that even with his enhanced mental capabilities, he would never be able to remember all the people he was meeting, but Mary¡¯s memory was reliable so that was his reliance on if he should ever meet them again. It was nearly five hourster that Lex finally got some room to breathe. By now, most of the guests were gone. He had gone from several thousand guests to only a few hundred in the span of a few short hours. Even then, of the few hundred, nearly 50 people were those close supporters of the family heads who were too afraid to return home. The Morrison family was still also here, but a few moments of spying let Lex know that they were already forming a n on how to go back to Mars. Despite ending the event, the coliseum had not vanished nor had the guards because, contrary to what one might expect, the official end to an event did not actually signify the end of that event. Normally, the end of an event would be followed by the cleanup and packing up of everything. While those were not of any concern to Lex, he had received 24 hours after the end to see off guests and make any arrangements if he needed. This was naturally important, considering that many of his guests had been staying at the coliseum instead of his actual residences. Once he was done, he considered going back to his room, but then, on second thought, went towards Midnight Manor instead. Rather than teleporting, Lex walked into the restaurant inside and took a seat. Only a few other people were here, as Main Street had started pulling most of the crowds as ofte, but that suited Lex just fine. ¡°Would you like something to eat?¡± asked Velma, who approached the Innkeeper. ¡°Bring me whatever was the most popr dish during the Midnight games,¡± he told her as he leaned back in his chair. Noting the rtive silence in the Manor, he recalled that he had been considering hiring a musician, but never got around to it. Not giving it too much thought, he purchased another AI named Frank and had him start ying the piano in the lobby. The few people who were sitting in the restaurant instantly noticed when a soft melody started ying, as if to apany them for the evening. A lot of them guessed that the Innkeeper was in a good mood, but none of them tried to take advantage of it. A few momentster, Lex was served a dish that made him chuckle. How could he have known that the dish that was most popr during the games, enjoyed by humans and beasts alike, was a burrito? Not that it left him with anyints. For once, Lex enjoyed his meal out in the open, for his guests to see, rather than in the privacy of his room. Currently, he did not look like some overbearing entity that was beyond theirprehension, but like a simple man enjoying a burrito after pulling off a sessful event. Once he was done, Lex looked around the room one more time, then disappeared. Of course, before leaving, he also decided to pay for the meals of all the guests who shared the room with him. What was the point of being rich if you couldn¡¯t do things like that? . Back in his room, Lex ordered 100 more burritos ¨C his new appetite would not be sated with just one, but he didn¡¯t want to embarrass himself by eating so much in public ¨C and began looking at his notifications. Much to his surprise, Igishima was the guest that died! The MP he had in credit had been transferred to his inheritor, whoever that was. That was quite unfortunate. This was probably the first guest that Lex knew of that passed away. He decided that he¡¯d take special care of whoever Igishima¡¯s inheritor was, if he ever met them. Then he looked over the rest of his notifications. Despite his heavy expenditure on thest minute trinkets and awards, he still ended up making a profit of 780,000 MP during thest day, bringing his total MP to 8,780,000. Now that he had only a few hundred guests left at the moment, he had to be a lot more careful with how he spent it. Next, he went over a deluge of misceneous issues and matters, anywhere from how many Midnight Suits were left, what areas required more AI staff to manage high guest densities, a request from Gerard regarding upgrades to his golf cart and more. To be honest, Lex was filling his time with small, less important matters because he didn¡¯t want to do anything big until he received his quest reward. The final wait usually felt the longest, so he kept himself busy so that time would pass faster. Unexpectedly, the day passed by very quickly, and atst the massive coliseum disappeared from the Inn skyline. The hundreds of guards disappeared, and from his hiding spot from which he viewed the entire Inn, Lex¡¯s personal bodyguard vanished as well. There were literally dozens of things he wanted to do now that the event was over, but first things first, it was time to view his quest rewards! Quest Complete! The Host¡¯s rewarded is being calcted: ¨C Reward upgraded for having over 1000 participants! ¨C Reward upgraded for having participants many cultivation levels above host ¨C Reward upgraded for attracting attention of several Dao level cultivators ¨C Reward upgraded for changing destiny of 3s (Earth, Nibiru, Vegus Minima) ¨C Reward upgraded for hosting Dao Lord level guest ¨C Reward upgraded for spreading prestige of Inn ¨C Reward demoted for letting guests die ¨C Reward demoted for discriminating against guests (devils + zombies) ¨C Reward Rank: SSS+ -> Destiny rank achieved Reward: ¨C Authority +1 ¨C 1 Free Inn Expansion (Size double) ¨C Inn Star Rating + 0.5 ¨C 1,000,000 MP ¨C 1 SSS Rank Protector recruitment token ¨C 1 Destiny Protection upgrade for Inn ¨C Unlocked Special System feature: Special Quests ¨C 1 System upgrade (blocked) Remarks: With your tumor gone, who will you me for your bad decisions? Quickly deploy preparations for the amnesia trope! Notification: System upgrade reward blocked due to unknown errors! Reward being reced! Reward received: Bathroom robe! Notification: Set items detected! When items ¡®Bathroom Slippers¡¯, ¡®Bathroom robe¡¯ and ¡®Bathroom towel¡¯ are equipped at the same time, they will unlock a special ability! Just like thest time Lex received a reward that upgraded his Inn, a subtle change swept through his Inn. A wave of spirit energy swept across the Inn, washing all of his guests in such concentrated and pure spirit energy as they could never have imagined. It was unfortunate that the stronger guests Lex had recently hosted had already left when this happened, or they would get to enjoy untold benefits. Well, all the strong guests except for Remy, the man who wanted the Inn to be the official meeting of his secret society. All of Lex¡¯s guests, whether they were the arguing family heads, to Marlo who was butting heads with his wife, to Chen and ne who had once experienced this sensation before, immediately stopped what they were doing and sat down to cultivate wherever they were. Since Lex himself could finally sense Spirit energy, he too was suddenly overwhelmed by the sensation of having a breakthrough, and had to stop pursuing his notifications to sit and cultivate instead. Those of Lex¡¯s workers who could sense spiritual energy also stopped all their tasks to cultivate. The Gctic Sovereign Turtle that had literally just returned from Nibiru was so surprised that even as it sat down and retreated into its shell, it did not know why it was instinctively behaving this way. Little Blue suddenly felt sleepy and decided to nap on top of its father¡¯s shell. The gardener, who was cultivating an unusual technique given to him by the turtle instead of the one given by the Innkeeper, went into a daze as spirit nts that surrounded him started growing rapidly. Even the few extremely rare seeds Lex had received that had yet to actually sprout, despite the turtle¡¯s personal care and attention, vibrated just a little. Then one of them immediately burst open and formed a Lotus. Only Mary, a few mortal guests and a few of the AIs who had not yet entered Qi gathering remained undisturbed during this time, and only they got to see how the Inn quickly began to increase in size as well. To be more specific, the Inn had doubled in size. It was no longer possible to easily see from one end of the Inn to another, unless one climbed the Midnight Mountain. A few hourster, as the first of the guests who had begun cultivating finally stabilized their realms, opened their eyes to a world that seemed more magical than ever. But how could they know that for the Midnight Inn, this was just the beginning. Chapter 188 Exploring Rewards When Lex finally opened his eyes, he was so shocked he barely understood what was happening. He had only just entered the Qi Training realm, and yet a couple of dayster he had a spontaneous, repeated breakthrough and entered Qi training level 3! A part of him wanted to believe that Lex was just an unprecedented genius of epic proportions when it came to cultivation, but knew that that was probably not the truth. ¡°Mary, what just happened?¡± Lex asked as he quickly started to munch on his burritos. He did not expect that raising your cultivation was hungry work, but he was starving! ¡°Your Inn¡¯s Star ranking was upgraded. The Midnight Inn is now equivalent to a 2 Star ranked and is now the ideal destination for higher leveled cultivators. Every time there is an upgrade in the Star ranking, the Inn undergoes a qualitative change. The initial burst of spirit energy during that qualitative change is extremely useful to all cultivators, but is not something that can be easily sought out. ¡°It is almost impossible to find spiritual energy of that concentration and purity, which is simultaneously very docile in nature. This is why, whenever a cultivator encounters such a wave, their body will naturally absorb it and strengthen their cultivation based on how much they are able to absorb. In fact, if you recall, Bastet and Fk also left shortly after one of your upgrades. I¡¯ve always strongly suspected that the surge in spiritual energy is what prompted them to leave, for whatever reason. If you look out to the rest of the Inn, you¡¯ll notice that there aren¡¯t just a few of your guests undergoing a breakthrough.¡± Lex scanned the Inn, and he was bbergasted. Almost all of his guests were sitting on the ground, cross-legged, and were cultivating wherever they happened to be. As amazing as it was, it was also incredibly dangerous! Just the Qi training stage was so dangerous it could cause ruptures in the meridians if not done properly, so one can only imagine how much more difficult it was in a higher realm. Yet all of them seemed to bepletely fine. In fact, some were more than fine. Lex immediately noticed not only Rorick but also Audrey Morrison breaking through to the Nascent realm, along with various other Earthlings making great progress in the Golden Core realms. Lex let out a sigh. As great as it was that these cultivators were growing, Earth was currently too unstable. Their breakthroughs, albeit great for them individually, might destabilize the situation once again. But while the growth of the Earthlings might be problematic down the road, his various AIs that were undergoing a breakthrough were nothing but great assets! In fact, Lex was astonished that any of them had reached the Qi training stage at all, but a quick nce let him know that at least a dozen of them had done so. Gerard, Velma, the gardener and nurse Jubtion were only a few amongst the many who had surprised him like this. And here Lex was feeling great about his own quick breakthrough, but had already been surpassed by his workers. He needed to start paying more attention to them. Lex quickly moved on from that thought, as he had many things to do. He also noticed, during his scan, that the area of the Inn had expanded greatly! Furthermore, unlike when he purposefully expanded the edges, this natural growth happened differently. Thend literally doubled, which meant the distance between any two points was twice what it used to be. For example, the distance from Midnight Manor to Main street had doubled. This was not necessarily a bad thing, as he felt that these two areas had extremely different vibes, and needed some distance from each other. Yet now, more desperately than before, Lex needed to figure out a way to fill in all that empty space. Landscaping was an option, but even that could only do so much. What Lex needed was a YouTube tutorial on city nning and rural development. And a vineyard. Lex looked at his notification and read through it properly this time. While his reward had been increased for several feats he had aplished, ultimately raising the reward ranking from SSS+ to Destiny rank, whatever that meant, Lex noticed that his quest rank had also suffered some demerits. One was because he allowed guests to die during his event, and another because he purposefully targeted zombies, and subsequently devils, which the system did not approve of. Still, his rewards were plentiful. His authority had been raised once again, which came with the usual upgrades he could perform on his various buildings and a few new ones. The size of the Inn was also increased. The Inns Star ranking had been raised as well, which would definitely serve to attract more guests in the future. He received 1 million MP, which was always nice ¨C who didn¡¯t like free money? But after this was when the new and interesting rewards began. He looked at his inventory and saw the SSS Rank Protector recruitment token. He summoned the token that was in the usual gold color associated with the Inn, but was in the shape of a shield. The token that filled his hand also filled him with a sense of security, and put his mind at ease. ¡°Is this why you didn¡¯t want me to get security yet? Because you knew I would be getting something like this.¡± Lex asked Mary, who was sitting on his shoulder. ,??m ¡°Yes, but not exactly. Though it may seem random to you, there is a method to the quest given out by the system, as well as the rewards. Ultimately, the goal is to help you grow the Inn. The quests you receive will progressively get harder as youplete them, but still, you managed to perform well over the expected level on this quest. ¡°Normally, you would have only received something to help you beef up security, but would require your supervision or control. Ultimately, the security would still depend on how you handle the situation. But this token is much higher ranked and falls into apletely different category of rewards. ¡°Simr to the unique opportunity token you used to get the Regal Embrace, when you use this token, the system will scan the entire universe for a suitable protector for the Inn who will bepletely loyal to the Inn. But you still have to be careful when you make your choice. Suitable can mean many things, and you may not end up with what you want if you aren¡¯t careful.¡± Lex nodded. It was basically pretty much what Lex himself expected. Even when he was receiving the Regal Embrace, some of the rewards seemed questionable to him. Then he turned his attention to the next reward. Apparently, he had received a Destiny Protection upgrade for the Inn, but got no description of what that meant. He could specte on his own, but his understanding of the universe was too shallow, so he asked Mary once again. ¡°What does this Destiny Protection upgrade do?¡± Lex expected to receive either a straightforward answer, or to be told he did not have the authority to know. Mary¡¯s answer, however,pletely took him by surprise. Chapter 189 Bathrrom Set With a confused look on her face, Mary said, ¡°I¡­ genuinely have no idea. The only information I received from the Inn says, and I quote, ¡®While at the Inn, one is protected from the influence of destiny¡¯. Destiny is a very¡­ abstract concept. I guess we¡¯ll have to wait till you reach a higher realm, or develop your own understanding of destiny to fully understand what this means.¡± Lex frowned. He could guess what destiny meant, but his understanding of destiny was heavily influenced by Earthly media and culture. In the context of the universe atrge, it may have a different meaning. Either way, since the Inn provided protection from the influence of destiny, then he did not need to worry about it. Unless his destiny was actually very positive, then he felt like me may be missing out. But, again, this was based on his understanding of destiny as perceived by those on Earth. The reality may be different. Putting the matter aside, he looked at the newest unlocked feature for the system, Special quests. Currently, there were no quests avable in that tab, but the description of this feature was very interesting. Special quests were ones that would be avable to him from time to time based on special circumstances or during special asions, and he could choose whether he wanted to ept them or not. Furthermore, the rewards for special quests were not predetermined, and he could actually specify what he wanted. His request may or may not be epted, but would definitely be considered and influence the final reward. That was it. That was all the information he was given, without any knowledge of what would qualify as a special event or circumstance, and what kind of quests he could expect. So far, all his quests were rted to the Inn in one way or another, but Lex felt like this might not be the case for special quests, after all, his normal quests could handle those matters. Only time would tell. Then finally came one of the most curious matters which was his System upgrade, or rather theck thereof. It had been blocked, for some reason, and his reward had been reced. There was no information whatsoever about why his upgrade was blocked or what caused it. ¡°Hey Mary, any idea why the system upgrade didn¡¯t work?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± she asked, confused. ¡°The system upgrade I got as a reward. It was blocked, and I got a different reward instead. Any idea why that happened?¡± Mary looked at him curiously, then seemed to go through some records in her mind. ¡°I¡¯m sorry Lex, but my records don¡¯t show any system upgrade other than the destiny protection one. The only remaining reward I see is the Bathroom robe.¡± Lex frowned as he thought about it. First, the upgrade was blocked, and then, ording to Mary, he never received an upgrade in the first ce. There was something fishy going on, but like so many other things when it came to the system, Lex could only sit back and wait till he got more information. He turned his attention to the set equipment. He had no idea that his various equipment were a part of sets, and this opened new doors for him. For example, his Fancy Monocle was already amazing. If it was a part of some set, then he could only imagine what its effects would be once worn together. Lex visualized himself wearing his Fancy Monocle, a Fancy Top Hat alongside a Fancy pocket watch, strolling in some forest, decimating wolves wherever he went. Realistically, he knew the system would never give him something OP, but one could dream. With a smile, he woke up from his daydream and viewed the Bath robe and read its effects. Bath robe: When worn, the host enters an extremely rxed state, as if justing back from a day at the spa, boosting the host¡¯sprehension. The host can use it toprehend new techniques, understand difficult concepts, make various ns, etc. Lex smiled. As unusual as it was to be wearing a bathrobe while working, he could see this benefiting him greatly while he nned various aspects of the Inn. He just had to be sure not to let anyone see him working like that. Then he checked the set ability of wearing the Bathroom slippers and Bathroom towel at the same time. Bathroom slippers: Entering different areas requires different kinds of preparation. Equip the bathroom slippers while leaving the Inn in foreign environments to protect yourself from hazardous environments. Note, the slipper only provides protection from the environment and does not act as a defensive item. Bathroom towel: p?(??)? ?o??? Don¡¯t you hate it when you get something disgusting on yourself? Cleaning up is such a hassle. The Bath towel rids the user of any negative statuses that are affecting the user via the skin, i.e. poison, paralysis paste, petrification, tracking powder, bad makeup etc. Can affect Foundation realm and below. Bathroom set: When all bathroom essories are worn together, the Host is cleansedpletely from both internal and external factors. Internal factors include soul poisoning, artificially induced inner demons, constipation, indigestion, bad breath, etc. External factors include tracking techniques, poisons, curses, body odor, dandruff, wrinkly skin, etc. Note: Please collect more items from the Bathroom set to enhance the effects of the set. Remarks: Since the host is toozy to shower, the system has provided a solution. Please maintain a high standard of hygiene. Despite being used to the system, and despite ascending to a higher level, giving himplete and total control of his body, Lex could not stop his lip from twitching as he read the remarks. He was an extremely clean person! No one had everined to him about body odor! If the system were a person, Lex would kick its behind! Still, the set seemed extremely useful, especially considering there was no restriction on taking it out of the Inn. The original Butter Knife, now known as the Fruit knife, despite its amazing ability could not be taken out of the Inn. This would be useful to him when he was out exploring other worlds if he ever got into a precarious situation. Slightly curious, Lex equipped the Bathroom set to see how it feels. The robe, warm and soft as it was, released a gentle energy that Lex felt wash over his body and pass through him. It was like being massaged by the hand of a hundred angels, and when the energy disappeared, Lex felt extremely refreshed and¡­ lighter ¨C both mentally and physically. It took less than a second for him to recall the set also cleansed him in case he was¡­ constipated¡­ and now he suddenly felt physically lighter¡­ ¡°System, you are a goddamn pervert,¡± Lex said loudly before he removed the robe and moved on to his next task. He could not help but stop to notice that he smelled like Lavender. Chapter 190 Protector Token Putting everything aside, Lex focused on the Protector token. There was no use in waiting to use it, as every moment he didn¡¯t was a moment he was left without protection. Without any further hesitation, Lex crushed the token. Immediately, a disy appeared before him with a few lines of instructions, which read: Please wait while the system scans for suitable protectors of SSS rank. Please note, you may only select one of the disyed protectors. Please note, to protect the identity of the protectors, their names will not be disyed. Please note, the protector selected will be a real existing entity in the universe, and not a newly created AI. Any loyalty disyed by the protector will be a result of his/her/its particr circumstances, as the system will not influence or manipte the mind of a preexisting being. Please note that while the protector will be subject to certain restrictions by the system as an employee, should the difference between cultivation realms between the host and protector be too vast, the system will not be able to prevent the protector from betraying the host in case the intention to do so should arise. Lex could not help but chuckle. He should have known things were never so straightforward. Originally, he was looking forward to picking the strongest protector for his Inn, but now the situation had taken a dire turn. What should he do? It would depend on his options. Of course, it was more realistic this way as well. How convenient would it be if a Dao Lord directly agreed to be his protector? But at the same time, even with the immense power of the system, how was it possible to restrict someone at that level? Even if not necessarily at the Dao Lord realm, any strong entity that realized that Lex depended on them for security might develop thoughts about gaining Lex¡¯s power. Even if they did not know about the system, it would not stop a greedy person from attacking an interrogating Lex. This was why choosing a protector suddenly became a lot more difficult. Finally, the writing on the disy changed, and five options showed up. Protector A Cultivation: ??? History: A lone warrior on a mission of vengeance, Protector A was left alone from the tender age of 8 when his family was killed by assassins. Escaping only due to the sacrifice of his siblings, this protector spent his life raising his skill and strength. He was eventually able to defeat his enemies and retook his ce as rightful king. Once he became King, he gave rise to the most glorious Kingdom in the history of his, but even that could not escape from the sands of time. The King¡¯s cultivation rose endlessly due to his limitless potential, but only resulted in him having to watch as his new family died, and his once glorious kingdom eventually fell to ruin in the hands of his descendants. Defeated not by any enemy, but from the sorrow of his own heart, he roams thends, searching for something that will not fade before his eyes, and can apany him on his endless journey of cultivation. Inviting him to the Inn, an entity even beyond his own strength, may invigorate his beat heart and nt the seeds of wanting to protect it in his soul Protector B Cultivation: Nascent History: Once a valiant warrior with endless potential, this protector suffered a grave wound that nearly destroyed his cultivation and took his life. With the loss of his talent and potential, he fell into depression and has spent 100 years in bed. If his talent were restored, he could cultivate back to his peak and beyond on his own, and his gratitude would be endless. Protector C Cultivation: None History: A protection formation array that gained sentience, but awoke only to discover that the sect it once protected had long since perished. A protection array without anything to protect, the array feels like its existence is pointless. Although unable to move, the array has endless potential and can grow limitlessly as it has a deep understanding of how to grow the strength of its own array endlessly. The only thing itcks is resources. By inviting it to the Inn and providing it a ce to protect, you could give its life purpose. Protector D Cultivation: Mortal History: A pup that has just been born a few minutes ago. It has no cultivation, but has a bloodline that will allow it to grow extremely quickly, with the only limits to its potential being the kind of resources it can absorb. It was put to sleep the instant it was born, and so its personality is unknown, but could easily be trained. Protector E Cultivation: ??? History: The sun and the moon are her food, and her very existence defies fate. Her glory is boundless and her supremacy is without question. She was trapped by her Father on a in a deadzone known as Earth where she protected a vige of humans who worshiped her for thousands of years, but eventually escaped due to her own ingenuity. Now free, the Protector sought to roam the universe freely, but her escape alerted her father quicker than anticipated. This Goddess of pleasure and prosperity is searching for a ce where she may hide from her father, without losing her freedom. If allowed to hide in the Inn, she will be extremely grateful. Probably. As long as she is worshiped properly. Lex read through all the descriptions and had several thoughts. The first of them being, in the entire universe, were these the only qualified protectors? When he asked Mary, she gave him an answer he should have expected. ¡°No, these are not the only ones avable, but the limit you have on options is only 5. It¡¯s simr to when you only received 5 options for your previous rewards from which you picked Regal Embrace. So, when the system discovers any 5 that fall into the qualification category, it stops the search and presents you with the information. So these aren¡¯t the only ones in the universe, but the first 5 the system encountered. ¡°Since you have raised your authority sufficiently, I can tell you that in the future, once your authority rises even more, you can enter the search parameters for such rewards on your own. Of course, the premise for that is to once again receive an award at this level. I¡¯m going to be honest, I never expected you to receive such an award even once, let alone twice, and it¡¯ll only get harder in the future.¡± ¡°Teh,zy system. Okay, now that I understand that much¡­ look at Protector E and tell me that isn¡¯t Bastet. That¡¯s definitely her, right?¡± Mary read the description and¡­ based on what she knew¡­ it did seem like it. But how was that possible? This was too much of a coincidence, right? One may think it made sense, as she was probably somewhere close to Earth, and any scan performed by the system would find her first, but the system did not work that way. The concept of space was vastly different from how mortals or lower leveled cultivators perceived it. The only thing she could chalk this up to was fate. ¡°Anyway, it doesn¡¯t matter if she is or isn¡¯t. She¡¯s not amongst the ones I was considering.¡± Lex¡¯s considerations were Protector C, the formation, and D, the pup. They both came with their pros and cons. First, the formation. Since its primary purpose was defense and protection, using it to protect the Inn was perfect. Furthermore, as the formation was sentient, it could help guide Lex in letting him know how to strengthen and grow the formation. But for all the good it brought him, the sentience also presented him with a problem. Since the system could not guarantee loyalty, Lex felt hesitant about hiring it. He did not know what kind of personality the formation would have, and how effectively his orders would be. Lex was extremely vulnerable right now, and had to make a decision before any incidents could take ce, after all, his Inn had garnered a lot more attention now, and from various groups of people. Lex was confident that he could continue to put on a performance so that the array would never realize how weak and dependent on it Lex truly was. Yet at the same time, a single slip up was all it would take to reveal that Lex was relying on the formation for protection. Of course, none of this truly even mattered if a random security incident ended up killing Lex while he was busy pretending to be strong in the first ce. If he showed any kind of weakness¡­ well, Lex did not need to imagine what would happen to him. It was too dreadful. Then he turned his attention to the pup. The system said it could grow quickly, depending on the kind of resources it was fed. Resources, with a bit of imagination on Lex¡¯s part, could easily be arranged. He rubbed his hands together like an evil viin in a movie. Chapter 191 Fenrir Tuning into the piano music being yed at the Midnight manor, Lex slowly rubbed his fingers together as he listed down the pros and cons of Protector D, the pup. The pro was obvious. Since it was a newborn pup, Lex could train it from birth, which would mean that loyalty was not an issue. After all, dogs were extremely loyal. But the con was also fairly obvious. The whole point of having a protector in the first ce was to provide security, but if the protector was even weaker than Lex, then its position would be pointless. While it had limitless potential, and could benefit Lex far in the future, it would not help Lex from any troubles today or tomorrow. Basically, Lex¡¯s issue was boiled down to only two factors. He could choose immediate strength and questionable loyalty, or eventual strength but assured loyalty. It was¡­ surprisingly difficult to choose. Hmm, but tomorrow, or the days that followed, wouldn¡¯t matter if he could not live past today. He had to deal with his immediate protection first. Lex opened up his system and investigated what kind of protection he could purchase directly from the system, as this should help him decide. Fortunately, because of his increase in authority, he had more options avable to him. One of the options, though very expensive, immediately caught Lex¡¯s eye. While this would not provide an immediate solution, it was still very quick. He scanned his Inn and found the Sovereign Gctic turtle sleeping in its shell near the greenhouse. A quick scan showed him that the turtle did not have a breakthrough to a higher realm, and had only increased its cultivation level within the Golden Core realm. This was good news, as Lex would not have been able to wake it up otherwise since a breakthrough like that would put it into a very deep slumber. Teleporting directly to the turtle, Lex directly woke it up by knocking on its shell like a guest, knocking on a door. After a few tries, the sleepy turtle eventually brought out its head to investigate what was going on. ¡°Hey turtle, if I raise the effectiveness of the greenhouse and give you a cutting of a Delinquent Viper Vine, how quickly can you raise it to maturity?¡± The turtle was confused by the question, mostly because it did not know the name of most of the nts he worked with. Lex showed him a picture and, after considering for a while, gave an answer Lex found eptable. With a heavy heart, Lex spent 5 million MP, leaving him with only 4,780,000 MP, and purchased a cutting of a Delinquent Viper Vine. He then spent another 100,000 MP upgrading the Greenhouse to the maximum amount his authority would allow. With both of those tasks done, Lex handed the cutting to the turtle and said, ¡°This is your immediate priority for now and everything else can be taken care ofter. nt this in the Greenhouse and grow it as quickly as you can. I¡¯m counting on you.¡± With that, Lex disappeared back to his room, as he had a decision to make. The turtle let out a tired sigh and slowly stood up,pletely unaware that Little Blue was sleeping on its shell. Just like that, the gardener woke up to the unusual sight of the baby whale sleeping on a giant turtle that was walking across the greenhouse. Then he noticed all the overgrown nts and cried out, ¡°my art!¡± He quickly took out a pair of shears and began trimming them where he could, to try to reim what had been lost of his artwork. The gardener had been trying so hard to create his own art using the nts. If taken care of properly, when they grew up ording to his desires, they would be a disy worthy of the Inn. But somehow, something always got in the way! The gardener kept cutting with tears running down his face, unaware that wherever he tears would drop, new nts would start to grow and¡­ ruin his artwork. Back in his room, Lex did not dy any further and selected his protector before he ended up changing his mind. A blindingly bright light shed in front of his eyes, and when it disappeared, it left him with a pup before his eyes. A white and ck dog, one that Lex assumed was a husky,y before Lex, sleeping soundly. The reason Lex assumed, and was not sure that it was a husky, was because¡­ the pup was as big as a grown horse! Even as a mortal¡­ he was afraid of what would happen if this dog tried to give him a hug, or tackled him with love. Who the heck would train this massive puppy about where to relieve itself? He felt a headacheing on, but regardless of what happened, his choice was made. He could not allow a being that was much stronger than him to stay in the Inn permanently. Regardless of how loyal it might be at the start, there was no guarantee that with time, it would not have a change of heart. With this puppy, though, Lex could train it well, and provide it with the best resources to help it grow. Best of all, the turtle would help him grow the Delinquent Viper Vine. Although it was very expensive, at full maturity it could grow up to one level above the Nascent realm. Furthermore, it normally lived underground and could cover an area of up to 20,000 acres! The best part was, this vine could be controlled directly by Lex via the system! He could even pass the control over to Mary! Over time, ording to the system¡¯s information, he could nurture the vine¡¯s spirit so that when it formed, it waspletely loyal to Lex! Of course, it would not immediately reach that realm, but the turtle promised to speed it up as much as possible. Until then, Lex would have to get by with using the Fruit knife. This was a dangerous move for Lex, but he was betting on the fact that there would be a short lull in terms of guests after the games. This got in the way of some of Lex¡¯s ns, but it wasn¡¯t a big deal to spend some time at the Inn and just concentrate on improving it in the meantime. Anyway, now Lex turned his attention to something very, VERY important. He had to name the puppy. Somewhere deep inside, he felt a calling to inherit his ce as an MC and name the dog Little White, but could not find it in himself to name the dog so casually. He scanned the pup once to learn more about it first. Name: None Age: 0 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: Mortal Species: Dog -n¡¢o¡¢ve,l Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Bloodline: Fenrir 100% purity Condition: The dog has been injected with a powerful sleeping and priming agent, making it susceptible to bloodline theft. If left alone, it should recover on its own in a day. Remarks: You have probably made a powerful enemy somewhere in the universe by stealing this dog. Lol, get rekt. Of course, Lex made an enemy somewhere in the universe, but he couldn¡¯t care less. How would that person ever track Lex down? Lex rubbed his hand over the massive pup¡¯s head and looked at it fondly. He had no idea what a 100% purity Fenrir bloodline meant, but he liked the sound of it. Henceforth, he would be called Fenrir. ***** As is the way with these things, far away somewhere in the universe, a massive wolf stared at an empty cage with red eyes. It took it 1 million years to finally breed a purebred Fenrir, the source for the final ingredient to evolve its own Superior Lykaios bloodline. Yet, as he was preparing for the extraction ceremony, the pup disappeared from right in front of its eyes. How was it possible for the pup to disappear before his very eyes, in his own private domain? The wolf searched its domain for the intruder using its senses, but it was no use. The most frustrating part was that while giving birth to the pup, its mother, which had long been the subject of its various experiments, finally died. Originally, the wolf did not care, but now he was left without a mature breeder. The wolf turned its eyes to another cage which held a simrly sleeping dog, the original pup¡¯s sister. At least he did not need to start from scratch this time. A 99% purity whelp like this would greatly increase his chance to breed a 100% one again. It needed to raise this new breeder to maturity, which would no doubt take a while, but at least it didn¡¯t start from scratch. More importantly, it needed to figure out how the original pup disappeared, and how to prevent any future pups from disappearing. It would never repeat its mistake again. Chapter 192 Fanatics While Fenrir was currently sleeping in Lex¡¯s room, he wanted to create a real home for it. He looked at its thick coat and immediately knew where it should live. Since it was a newborn, Lex would not be leaving it alone for now, but in the future, its home would be near the peak of Midnight Mountain. Lex made a few quick alterations and a small, yet hidden cave appeared near the peak of the mountain. He left the cave empty for now, as he nned on designing it based on Fenrir¡¯s personality, but carved the pup¡¯s name into the wall. He wanted to ensure that the cave would not easily be located by his guests, so he also moved all the trailsing even close to this location. But as much as Lex wanted the pup to live in its own home, it was likely that it would be living with Lex for a while so he needed to rearrange his own apartment. Of course, Lex could have some of the AI take care of the pup, but since he was nurturing it to be absolutely loyal to Lex himself, he would have to spend a considerable amount of time with it. There were no shortcuts in this regard. Lex purchased a massive doggie bed and ced it near his own, and then bought a collection of chew toys. Lex added a new room to his apartment which would be keeping all the dogs¡¯ things temporarily. Something this big would definitely consume a lot of space. He also wished he had some kind of guide or manual about this breed of dogs, and even checked the system for something like that, but had no luck finding anything of the sort. He would need to keep an eye out for an expert on beasts so he could ask him some questions, such as, what was he supposed to feed the dog? Was a dog like this still allergic to chocte? Because, to be honest, Lex had a lot of chocte in his apartment. His excuse was that he left some on his guest¡¯s pillows to improve their experience, but he had been munching on it every chance he got. But for now, he had done everything he could regarding the dog. With the rewards finally handled and the event finally over, Lex could now turn his attention to a matter he had been putting off, which was meeting Remy Lavern and learning more about this secret society. Personally, he didn¡¯t think it was such a big deal, even as far as prompting the system to give him a quest regarding it. Without dying the matter any longer, Lex teleported from his room to theke where the young man seemed to be reading a book by the water. Surprisingly, the book was in Japanese. It must have been given to him by Akihiko. The two seemed to have be decent friends over the course of the games. ¡°I see you seem to be getting along with Akihiko,¡± Lex said, as he came up and sat beside Remy. ¡°Yes, Akihiko-san is surprisingly wise for someone so young. I have learnt much from him.¡± Suddenly Lex realized that this man who looked very young might actually be very old, but maintained his appearance due to cultivation. On the other hand, despite his vigor and good health, Akihiko was a human mortal in his fifties, and so naturally looked like an old man. Judging people by their appearance, despite the old adage not to do so, was a habit that Lex would have to ovee. Lex scanned him, to learn a little more about this man who prompted a quest. Name: Remy Lavern Age: 9999 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: ??? Species: At-Morpher Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Remarks: Very literally the slippers on his feet are worth more than you, so scam him like a call center based out of a basement Ah, yet another old geezer in disguise. But what in the world was an At-Morpher? He looked human, and if he were hiding or altering his appearance, the Host Attire would have detected it. ¡°Mortality and short age bring a perspective to time many cultivatorsck,¡± Lex replied to Remy¡¯sment about Akihiko¡¯s wisdom. ¡°I am curious though, what would someone like him have to teach someone like you? Your lives must be extremely different from one another.¡± ¡°That¡¯s also what I thought, at first at least. But the details can vary, pursuits can vary, even desires can vary, but the pattern remains the same. He took the experiences of his short life and superimposed them upon mine. The lessons he learnt in a year, I could not even learn in a thousand.¡± ¡°He must be a wise man, then.¡± ¡°It is a tragedy that the line between wisdom and idiocy is so thin. No matter what I say, Akihiko-san refuses to cultivate. Why would anyone willingly forsake a better and longer life?¡± ¡°Everyone has a story, he must have his reasons. I am more interested in hearing about you, though. I hope you¡¯ve been enjoying your stay.¡± ¡°Heh, I just had the easiest breakthrough of my entire life and saved thousands of years of work, so how could I be anything but great?¡± Remy asked with a massive grin on his face. ¡°At first, I was only considering this ce because of the ease of teleportation, not to mention the phenomenal entertainment, but after that breakthrough, I¡¯m convinced. Our base can be in nowhere other than here. That¡¯s not to mention at all, what ce could be safer than here? I saw with my own eyes how that young chap Ragnar stayed in line. If even someone like him behaved, what else do I have to worry about?¡± ¡°Are you so sure?¡± Lex asked, amused. ¡°I have no problem with it, so long as all your members follow the rules, but this is a public ce and I have many guests. It is not really a good idea to have this as a base for a secret society. That¡¯s not to mention at all the very fact that you and I are having this discussion. Shouldn¡¯t you be hiding the fact that you want to host your society here instead of tantly telling me?¡± ¡°I doubt I could keep secrets from you,¡± Remy said very casually, ¡°and I¡¯m sure if we had any secret meetings here, you¡¯d eventually find out. The point is not to keep the secret from you, but to get your help keeping the secret from everyone else. Besides, isn¡¯t this being a public ce the perfect disguise? Even if our memberse often, with such a diverse clientele, no one will pay extra attention to us.¡± Lex raised his eyebrow. What Remy said did make sense, in a way. Lex felt like he was insisting on using video game logic, but since he was fulfilling a quest, who was he to stop him? ¡°So then, what would you like to do? I doubt simply renting a room for a meeting is all you had in mind.¡± ¡°If only things were so simple. You see, the first step in hosting the society would be distributing the golden keys to the few members of my organization. The problem is, some of them are in other gxies and I do not have the time to spare to travel for so long just to distribute keys, as I have a job. So, while I¡¯ve already had keys sent to the ones within my reach, if possible, the first thing I would like you to do is distribute the keys.¡± This request by Remy was extremely reasonable, based on the premise that Lex could teleport people across the universe. Unfortunately, he could not actually freely teleport wherever he chose, and totally depended on the location of thes connected to his system. ¡°Mary, is there any way I can control whats the Inn connects to?¡± ¡°Well, your authority has increased significantly from when you started. If you get some item from the, it might be possible to target it specifically. It would still depend on how far it is, though, from the regions the Inn normally starts searching from. ¡°How can I find these people?¡± Lex asked, to which Remy scratched his head. ¡°Would their names and descriptions work?¡± Lex only stared back at Remy as if he were an idiot. Let alone the whole universe, there were billions of people on any given, many of whom would share a name. How were those two details good enough in any capacity? Even if Lex were really as powerful as everyone believed, that was still too much, right? ¡°Some kind of personal item will suffice,¡± Lex said, finally. ¡°Eh, yeah I guess that¡¯s fair. I¡¯ll see if I can get my hands on anything like that. I guess sending them the keys will have to wait. Now, onto my second request. The thing is, the purpose of our society is very specific, and we require a certain kind of environment to carry out our activities, so¡­¡± As Remy began outlining what he needed, Lex started to get worried. Was he about to host¡­ a society of BDSM fanatics? Chapter 193 Employees In a rtively remote corner of the Inn, far away from any of the main attractions, Lex built a cabin. The cabin itself wasn¡¯t toorge, with 3 individual bedrooms and one living room that also had a kitchen in it. If anything, the unique part of this cabin was the secret basement. The entrance to the basement waspletely hidden and could not be detected, as arranged by Lex, by using his powers, so that if Remy ever needed to bring someone else into the cabin, they would never detect the opening. A verticaldder from the opening led into the first room of the basement was just one that led to four other rooms. This is where the real magic of the Inn shone, as building the specifications of those rooms would require extensive engineering andbor, along with expensive and rare materials. Yet Lex was easily able to iste the unique environments in each room. The first room waspletely empty except for a small pool ofva right in the middle. The second room waspletely empty, except that it was -100 degrees celsius and perfectly insted. The third room had dirt instead of concrete as the floor, with perfect artificial lighting and humidity to act as a greenhouse. The fourth room waspletely normal andpletely empty. Lex could not even begin to imagine what he needed such unusual rooms for, especially so close together, but he did not ask. At most, he would just spy on them whenever they actually used the room, which Remy was quite upfront about in saying that he did not expect to be able to keep secrets from Lex. He did add, though, that they themselves weren¡¯tpletely certain about what kind of requirements they needed, but would make the corresponding changes themselves after some experimentation. The only thing Lex said was that Remy wasn¡¯t allowed to hold people against their will, or harm them in any way, in the Inn, to which Remy agreed. Oddly enough the quest wasn¡¯tpleted yet, but Lex didn¡¯t know what more he could do so he just ignored it for now. Due to the uniqueness of the cabin, Lex charged Remmy 400MP per night for it, and Remy booked it directly for 300 days, the maximum amount he was allowed to rent out a ce at a time, as Lex learnt. Well, earning 120,000 MP so easily wasn¡¯t something Lex would fret over. Once he was done inspecting the cabin, Remy was extremely satisfied, and finally left the Inn to continue his job ¨C the details of which he very openly shared with Lex. On a side note, Lex did not think Remy was a good person to hire to conduct secretive jobs, as Remy was actually sent by the Jotun empire topile an independent report on the Inn. Apparently, ording to Ragnar¡¯s report, they suspected Lex to be at the Dao Lord realm or above, and it was Remy¡¯s job to evaluate the legitimacy of such a im. Remy even offered to show Lex the report, which he politely declined. Once this entric guest finally left, Lex finally had some free time. There were, of course, many things he needed to do, but none so urgent that they required his immediate attention, which is why he could take his time and choose what he wanted. Teleporting away from the cabin, he reappeared at the Manor where Velma was currently passing out orders to some of the other AIs. As soon as she was done, she quickly came to him and asked, ¡°Is there anything you need, Innkeeper?¡± ¡°I just came to check up on you. How are you doing? Is there anything that you need?¡± ¡°I¡¯m doing well,¡± Velma replied, suddenly getting flustered. She felt incredibly ttered that the Innkeeper was checking up on her. ¡°It is a little difficult to manage all the guests at the Manor as well as at Avalon at the same time. Maybe you should put someone else in charge of the Avalon.¡± ¡°That makes sense. Take some time to evaluate everyone working there and give me a suggestion about who would be good for that position. Any other suggestions? Is there anything you want?¡± ¡°No, I am extremely satisfied with the way things are.¡± ¡°How¡¯s your cultivation going? I see you¡¯ve already entered the Qi training stage.¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s excellent,¡± she said as she suddenly jumped with excitement. ¡°Cultivating was really easy, and I broke through the Qi training stage even before Gerard! I even unlocked a bloodline ability, look.¡± As she said that, a silver light shone in her eyes, before more silver light appeared in her hand, taking the shape of a washcloth. ¡°Using this, I can wipe the whole manor in minutes,¡± she said, as she disyed her prowess by having the washcloth fly around at astonishing speeds, wiping down each and every surface. ¡°That¡¯s amazing,¡± Lex said genuinely, not realizing his AIs could even exhibit bloodline powers. He scanned Velma to learn more about her. Name: Velma Age: 0 Sex: Female Cultivation Details: Qi training Species: Human (artificially created) Midnight Inn Designation: Midnight Manor supervisor Bloodline: Regalia Bloom Remarks: Just so you know, this qualifies as childbor ¡°Hey Mary,¡± Lex asked, with a hint of hesitation in his voice. ¡°Does Velma have a soul?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± she answered immediately. ¡°As a living being, of course, she has a soul.¡± Suddenly, Lex was filled with guilt. He had literally been treating them like AI, because of his assumption that they were artificial beings but¡­ although different in the way they were born, they were still human. Lex suppressed his guilt and immediately made a decision. Instead of AI, Velma and the rest would be referred to as his employees or workers ¨C he would not demean them like that now that he was in the know. ¡°Velma, I n to start paying all the workers a sry. Since I¡¯m already taking care of your housing and food, how about 100MP a week sound?¡± ¡°Oh no!¡± she said in a panic, her silver washcloth disappearing. ¡°We do not need sries. You have already given us enough!¡± ¡°Nonsense, since you are working, of course you must be paid. At the Inn, everyone is like family. And not only sries, we need to work out everyone¡¯s schedules so we can figure out how we n on giving holidays and vacations. We can¡¯t have everyone working every day.¡± This conversation ended up taking much longer than Lex anticipated, but eventually Velma reluctantly agreed and told him she would help him n out the schedules. Lex also wanted to have a casual, non-work rted conversation with her¡­ but he felt like he should take it slow. This little girl¡­ or baby? This loyal employee of his was way too excitable. Chapter 194 You have Booty A week went by since Lex¡¯s conversation with Velma. It was oddly peaceful and the least hectic week Lex had in a while, which allowed him to spend the time very productively. He finalized the employees¡¯ pay at 100 MP a week. Counting employees that worked at the Avalon and manor, as well as the various misceneous jobs across the Inn, he had roughly 150 workers. He was momentarily mind blown when he realized how many people he had working for them. He deducted 360,000 MP from his total and set the system to pay the employees on a weekly basis. He took this time to meet more of his employees and learn about them as well. Learning that Gerard, the employee with the appearance and personality of an old man, had developed a craze for driving and racing, Lex was extremely surprised. He was surprised even more when he learnt how much game the old man had. Out of all his employees, Gerard worked the most, because there was always a line of olderdies wanting to be driven around by him. And sometimes, some youngdies as well. Of course, all he ever did was to drive them around and chat with them. Lex offered to buy him an actual car, but he insisted on keeping his golf cart, and just requested a few upgrades, only some of which Lex was able to facilitate him with. Despite the system¡¯s seeming ability to make absolutely anything, it actually had very strict limitations. For the rest of his requested upgrades, Lex would need to find a mechanic. He put that on the Mystery trial list as well. Lex also finally installed thezy river close to theke. He scrapped his original n to have it extend across the Inn as a way of transport, and kept it to a corner of the Inn. Still, it was widely appreciated by his guests. He also built a few sshouses underwater. His primary target for those were beasts or guests that could only exist in water, but a few special functions would allow humans to live there as well. The water could be added or removed from the houses as needed, and the ss could go from clear to opaque, as per the guest requirements. That was also a huge hit among his guests. He added a few tree houses in the forest as well, and inspired by the Hobbits, built a few houses that seemed to meld into thendscaped hills. Overall, he increased his guest capacity by now having a total of 400 rooms overall, many of which were empty. He needed empty rooms, otherwise the random golden door would not spawn on thes. Speaking ofs, Lex spent 250,000MP, 300,000MP and 500,000MP to extend the reach of the Inn from just Earth, Vegus Minima and Nibiru to their entire star systems respectively. This meant the Inn was connected to not only all thes in their systems, but moons, satellites and spaceships in that area as well. Not only did this spread the range for where the golden door would appear to ept new guests, Lex could directly teleport to any in those systems that he wanted. The Vegus system only had 2 other habitables, as Lex remembered, but apparently Nibiru had 7 others and hundreds of moons in its system that were inhabited, which is why it was the most expensive of the 3 systems. Of course, Lex did not n on visiting thoses, not yet anyway, but it was good to spread the reach of the Inn. During this time, the Delinquent Viper Vine (DVV) had already started to grow. Though nted in the greenhouse, it could extend its vine up to 1 acres away from its location right now. Its strength was still very low, at only the Qi training stage equivalent, but the turtle assured him that within a month it could get it to the base of the golden core realm. When speaking of the Vine, it was natural to also think of the pup that caused Lex to purchase it in the first ce. As promised by the system, Fenrir had woken up a dayter. Yet it did not have the energy Lex was expecting from a massive newborn pup. It seemed to be extremely depressed. The good news was that it acknowledged Lex easily, and grew extremely attached to him. The bad news was, Fenrir was a cuddler. Lex had been sleeping with the pup for the past week. Today, Lex finally managed to get the depressed pup and the shy baby whale to spend some time together. After acknowledging each other, the respective babies quickly returned to their ¡®fathers¡¯ after having drained their social batteries. As for what Lex fed the pup, a lot of thought had gone into it. Lex fed him a lot of spiritual food, along with 1 Tier 1 zombie core, as well as a lot of meat every day. The pup ate till it was full, and already its strength had shown rapid growth. In fact, Lex felt no shame whatsoever, so he rode the pup around his Inn like a horse. Like Little Blue, Fenrir was an immediate hit with all the Earthlings, but since he was always with Lex, they could only admire him from afar. Yes, as far as Lex was concerned, this past one week was extremely enjoyable. But today, finally, he weed a few guests that could spell potential trouble if not handled correctly, which is why he already had the Fruit knife hidden within his sleeve. A small group of pirates had returned to the Inn, this time sober. They were led by an almost frail looking man, but one that wore the look of authority on his face. None of them were subtle as they looked around the ce, as one group searched for the guards that ¡®took care¡¯ of them thest time they were here, while another admired the scenery they saw for the first time. ¡°Wee guests, to the Midnight Inn,¡± Lex said, his usual smile on his face. The pirates had already been informed about the Inn and its rules by their personal holographic assistants, but Lex liked to wee them nheless. The leader, maintaining his stern expression, looked at Lex dead in the eyes as he said, ¡°I was told you have Booty.¡± Chapter 195 Captain Hooker ¡°I was told you have Booty,¡± the leader said, his expression deadly serious. Lex, on the other hand, almost broke character. ¡°Excuse me?¡± he said, unsure of how exactly to respond to that statement. Before the man could repeat himself, though, a golf cart approached them with a rtively short and bulky man hanging out the side. ¡°Captain, you¡¯re finally here,¡± the man yelled with a massive grin. Looking at the telling man, the leader¡¯s expression softened a bit, and he simply waited for him to catch up with them. ¡°Booty, why the hell did you not return to the ship?¡± the leader asked when Booty approached. ¡°Haha captain, smell the fresh air. Who would want to return to that tin can and breathe in recycled air when you can spend time here, rxing?¡± The captain did not respond, and only red at Booty. ¡°Alright, alright, it¡¯s because I knew there was no other way to get you to visit this ce yourself. It¡¯s incredible! I¡¯ve spent some time here, and look, I even had a breakthrough!¡± Booty then disyed his Mid Golden core aura to his fellow pirates with pride. ¡°And, most importantly, we can even unload stuff here! Captain, you have to check out the Guild room, it¡¯s so much more convenient than that shop on Beneroof, and we can just teleport here whenever we want. This is a great ce!¡± Booty was in a great mood, and the rest of the crew was indeed surprised by his sudden breakthrough. The Captain, though, did not seem pleased. He was a firm believer in if things were too good to be true, they usually weren¡¯t. Lex, who had only been observing so far, chimed in, ¡°Well, it seems you have found yourpanion. Feel free to take a tour of the ce on your own, or if you need any help, don¡¯t hesitate to ask. The Midnight Inn wees everyone¡­ as long as they follow rules.¡± With that said, Lex disappeared, not giving them any time to respond. But though he had disappeared, his attention was still focused on the pirates. If they made any trouble, Lex would need to solve it immediately. The good news was, most of these pirates were in the Foundation realm, and could easily be resolved using the Fruit knife if they made trouble. The bad news was¡­ the captain wasn¡¯t. Lex scanned the space pirate captain. Name: Captain Hooker Age: 86 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: Nascent initial Species: Human Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Bloodline: Orc Condition: The body is in a state of starvation. Remarks: Space pirates are either very rich or very poor. They look poor. Firstly, he was surprised by the realms of these space pirates. He expected pirates to be stronger, though it was a good thing they weren¡¯t. What Lex didn¡¯t know was, space pirates could get away with being weaker, because as long as they destroyed or disabled an enemy ship, their raid was practicallyplete. Space fighting was extremely dangerous, as well as difficult. A good enough spaceship was a million times better than having stronger pirates by your side. Of course, this was dependent on what kind of enemies you targeted, but it was true for the majority. While Booty was convincing the Captain to explore the Inn, and Lex was listening in, Mary appeared to tell him that Marlo was requesting to speak with him. Lex raised his eyebrow in curiosity, butplied. Lex teleported to thekeside, the most popr spot in his Inn at the moment, and greeted Marlo who was busy eating endlessly. ¡°It has been a while, ¡®King Marlo¡¯,¡± Lex said with schadenfreude in his voice. Marlo instantly burst into a fit ofughter, which forced him to finally stop eating. ¡°It is just a title, it doesn¡¯t matter much,¡± Marlo said in false humility as the massive grin on his face told Lex. ¡°But I have been good nheless. I had an important question I wanted to ask you about something very serious.¡± ¡°Go ahead.¡± ¡°Before the Midnight Games started, you said there was abat arena that had been temporarily shut down. Can I use it now? I¡¯m itching to have a go with that old geezer Brandon.¡± Of course, fighting is what this maniac wanted to do. ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll open the arena. But I hope you know when to stop on your own.¡± ¡°Yes, yes, of course. It¡¯ll just be a friendly spar.¡± ¡®I hope so,¡¯ Lex said internally, because if it wasn¡¯t a friendly spar he would have no way to intervene. But the timing also wasn¡¯t bad. If he could have them fight where the pirates could see, it would intimidate them enough to not cause trouble. Lex thought about where to ce the arena, and then decided near the Recovery room was a good idea. A few hundred feet away from the Recovery room, Lex built an open-air arena around 5000 square feet in size. He reinforced the ground a few times so it wouldn¡¯t break, and then purchased a small array to cover the arena to stop their attacks from exiting. Even then, such a small array with a defensive purpose cost him 100,000 MP. On the topic of arrays, one might wonder why Lex never purchased a defence array for the Inn if he was so concerned about security. The truth was, of the security options avable to him, arrays were one of the options. But to cover the space of the entire Inn would cost a few billion MP. That, too, was only a defensive array. To stop the assants from attacking further, or to control them, would cost several times more. So, for now, this would have to do. He built a few seating stands for anyone who wanted to view the match, as well as a broadcasting upgrade for 10,000MP. This would broadcast any matches in the Inn like what happened during the games, so that if anyone wanted to watch from thefort of their room, they could. ¡°It¡¯s done,¡± he transmitted to Marlo, and sent him the location. Chapter 196 Supreme Emperor News of the newly crowned King of New York, Marlo, challenging the newly dered Supreme Emperor of Mars, Brandon, spread fast. Mostly because Marlo roared his challenge at Brandon as loud as he could without causing something to break. Supreme Emperor Brandon was once again celebrating his honeymoon with the Supreme Empress Audrey, and so was in no mood to respond immediately. This gave enough time for news to spread across the Inn. Rorick, the acting ruler of Mars ¨C as the title his parents had imparted upon him ¨C was currently not at the Inn or else he may have tried to downy this fight. But he had been gone for nearly a week, as the heir apparent ¨C that would be the title Brandon gave to Alexander ¨C had briefly returned to Earth since no one was supposed to know his location on Earth, and had returned with grave news. Alexander¡¯s friend, Zeus, had managed to send him some extremely vital news at the risk of his own life. He had transmitted the identity of the traitor in the Morrison family, as well as some aspects of the council¡¯s n to take over Mars as well. Though the news transmitted did not contain too many details, there was enough for them to ascertain that the n was extremely thorough. Apparently, the council had tampered with all the atmospheric regtion formations on the, not to mention any other ns they may have. Originally, this may have presented a problem for the Morrisons, as they were weak and exposed during transit from Earth to Mars, but with three Nascents in the family, now they could literally just destroy the council. Thus Rorick was currently on Earth, handling the situation as he saw fit, as Brandon had given him permission to do whatever he wanted. The family heads had also used this opportunity to return to Earth and test if their newfound strength could ovee the arrays trapping them. Usually this was the kind of stuff Lex would worry about, since it might affect stability on Earth, but through spying on his guests Lex already knew that Fernanda, who was under a lot of pressure, had told the council that she would interfere if the situation deteriorated. All in all, the situation was soplex on Earth that Lex simply stopped following it. Should the situation get bad, he would return to rescue his family, otherwise he would just not care. A result of this unusual situation caused a massive crowd to gather at the newly built arena. The environment was different from the coliseum, but that was a nice change as well. Marlo, of course, had arrived on stage. Behind him was his own group of supporters, including his mother and Larry. Sophia, predictably, had not deigned this important enough to leave her son¡¯s side and watched via hologram. Brandon had his own group of supporters, despite his current absence. Even the pirates happened to find their way to the arena and had in no way been manipted by Lex having his staff give them the wrong directions. The crowd especially got excited when the Innkeeper himself showed up and sat beside him. Lex was extremely friendly and charismatic, and in no way let anyone know that the only reason he was here was because the Fruit knife was currently the only deterrent he had. In fact, Lex had even tried to upgrade the Fruit knife into the fabled Chef¡¯s knife, but unfortunately hecked the key ingredient ¨C 50 Millenium Crystal Watermelon. Only by slicing open this apparently legendary and rare fruit could the fruit knife be upgraded. Eventually, Brandon finally appeared holding hands with his wife. He was wearing shorts and a white undershirt, showing off his various tattoos. Audrey, who now looked even younger than she had before, was wearing a long skirt and a random T-shirt. The two really did look like a couple of youngsters. In fact, if Lex stood beside Brandon, it would be tough to decide who was older. ¡°Brat, you better be ready to get your behind whopped. Don¡¯t you know not to disturb your elders.¡± ¡°Shut up you old, irresponsible geezer, I¡¯ve been wanting to beat you up from the moment I heard about how you raised Alexander. That¡¯s no way to raise a child.¡± ¡°He¡¯s my grandchild, I can do what I want.¡± ¡°Oh yeah, well, this is my leg and I can kick whoever I want with it.¡± The duo¡¯s pre-match trash-talk was truly¡­ unique. ¡°Before you two begin,¡± Lex interrupted, ¡°I would just like to remind you not to push things too far. If I need to get involved¡­ things will not end well.¡± ¡®Things will not end well for me,¡¯ Lex silentlypleted his sentence. They acknowledged the Innkeeper before Brandon stepped into the ring. The crowd hushed, and even the pirates stopped their chatter to pay attention. This was the first time Lex would see a fight between two Nascent level cultivators, so naturally all his attention was on stage. The fight began and reached peak intensity immediately, without any warm up. With eyes wide open and bated breaths, everyone watched two old men fight each other. During all the hubbub, though, Lex missed the fact that two new guests entered the Inn. One of them was Haris, the overly dramatic teenager who was in love with Ayesha. It just so happened that another guest appeared at the same time ¨C a guest who was slightly older than Haris. Lex would have recognized this second guest as Babur, the celebrity he read about on Tempest from the ancient Mughal family. The two guests who should not have had anything to do with each other locked eyes the moment they appeared, and then disyed animosity filled grimaces. ¡°I thought you died,¡± Haris finally spat through gritted teeth. ¡°I heard you got scammed by some girl on Tempest and beaten to death.¡± ¡°And I heard your family made you dump your girlfriend. Must be nice, out there in the universe, being spoiled and pampered like some rich heir.¡± Haris immediately drew a sword and stared at Babur with eyes that screamed murder. Chapter 197 Ventura While the standoff between Brandon and Marlo was one worthy of being contested, between these two kids, there was no point in fighting. Babur was a Qi training cultivator and Haris had only just entered the Body Tempering realm. But the passion of youth did not seek logic, and currently Haris was ready to kill. That is, until Alexander, who was passing by, saw them. He did not recognize them, but the situation was obvious to read. ¡°I advise you not to fight here,¡± he said in passing, not paying too much attention to them. ¡°Not only will it be pointless, you¡¯ll get banned froming to the Inn. If you¡¯re really desperate for a fight, go to the battle arena.¡± Despite his anger, Haris controlled himself and sheathed his sword. Babur, on the other hand, was startled when he saw Alexander. Even before Brandon proimed his own family royalty out of jealousy for the attention Marlo was getting, Alexander was considered a Prince on Earth. He was strongly admired by his own generation and those near him in age, and Babur was no exception. Though technically Babur could also be considered a prince due to his ancient heritage, he did not behave arrogantly in front of the real deal. His attitude became even more docile when he thought of the reason he even came to this ¡®Inn¡¯. ¡°Excuse me for the crass disy, your grace,¡± Babur said promptly,pletely ignoring Haris. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± Alexander said. ¡°Your grace, would it be possible to talk for a moment,¡± Babur said, quickly catching up to Alexander who was already leaving. ¡°I have a message for you from¡­ RussianPrincess77.¡± Babur almost blushed as he said the name. Not only had he been beaten up badly by a prank she pulled, butter, through a series of coincidences, he ended up working for her. Alexander paused and turned to look at Babur. RussianPrincess77 had been a great help to him many times, and he took her very seriously, but at the same time, he still knew next to nothing about her. This might be a good opportunity to resolve that issue. Alexander eyed Haris, who was standing nearby, and said, ¡°follow me.¡± After walking a short distance, he asked, ¡°what¡¯s the message?¡± ¡°RussianPrincess77 said that she has some information that will greatly influence your future. If you want to hear it, then you have to agree to owe her a favor.¡± Alexander thought about this for a moment, but then eventually nodded and said, ¡°alright, I¡¯ll owe her. What¡¯s the information?¡± ¡°She said it¡¯s very important that you enter the new Minor realm that will open on Earth as early as possible, the one gifted by the Inn. She says that if you miss this, you¡¯ll lose someone very important in your life without any way of getting them back.¡± Alexander frowned as he ruminated on her exact words. The phrasing mattered immensely. Still, he had some time to think this over before the realm opened. For now, he looked back at Babur and smiled. ¡°So you¡¯re her friend?¡± he asked, as he thought of ways to extract information about her. ***** If Lex did not have the power of the Host Attire, he would never be able to keep up with this fight. He was expecting to see some new forms of fighting, but the direction this fight had taken was very surprising. Marlo, in his new form of cultivation, had lost ess to spiritual energy as well as spiritual techniques, but instead gained various bloodline abilities. Brandon, on the other hand, was practically the poster child for conventional cultivation, and sounched techniques like a toddler throwing candy at a duck ¨C which was to say, very frequently. The end result was Lex watching what looked like an anime battle, but in real life. He understood nothing about theplexities of their fight, but at a nce, Marlo seemed to be winning. At a certain point in the battle, Brandon opened up his belt and started whipping Marlo with it, who onlyughed as he dodged each attack. This was taking¡­ an unusual turn. ¡°Lex, one of your guests wants to speak with you,¡± Mary told him as she munched on holographic popcorn while watching the battle. ¡°Just when it was getting kinky,¡± Lex muttered, before disappearing. At the restaurant in the Midnight manor, a lonely teenage boy was slumped over one of the tables. There was a club sandwich on a te beside him, but he had not touched it yet as he was lost in his thoughts. When Lex appeared and saw him, he recognized the boy. He was one of the two teenagers who¡¯d used the Inn for a date. He¡¯d been anticipating the return of the two very dramatic kids, but they had not appeared together since. Last time, Ayesha appeared alone, and now this time it was Haris. ¡°Dear guest, are you alright?¡± Lex asked, his voice heavy with concern. Haris was startled by the sudden intrusion, but quickly recovered when he noticed the Innkeeper. They had never really met, but he asked the bartender about the owner of this ce and learnt about the Innkeeper. He really didn¡¯t know much about the Inn, despiteing here before, but only hoped the owner of the ce was trustworthy. ¡°I heard you¡¯re the owner of this ce,¡± Haris said directly. ¡°I have a request for you, and I can pay if I need to.¡± ¡°What do you need?¡± Lex asked simply. Haris took out a green-colored crystal from his pocket and held it out to the Innkeeper. ¡°I came herest time with a girl named Ayesha. If shees back looking for me, can you give her this and tell her I¡¯m being enrolled in Ventura Brown, and that I¡¯ll find a way to get to Ventura Silver? I have her picture here so you can recognize her.¡± ¡°No need for a picture, I know Ayesha. I will pass along your message if she visits the Inn, there¡¯s no need for any payment.¡± ¡°Thanks,¡± Haris said, smiling weakly. He stuffed the club sandwich in his mouth, and directly disappeared. It seemed he was in a hurry. Lex stared at the crystal in his hand, and wondered about what the teenager had just said. He was being enrolled somewhere? An academy for cultivators? Interesting. Chapter 198 Tickets Lex eventually put the crystal away without investigating it further and told Mary to let him know whenever Ayesha came into the Inn again. He scanned the arena, and the fight was still going on. Lex returned and watched the fight, but fortunately, it ended without anyone getting hurt. Just as Lex had hoped, the pirates were greatly intimidated by the fight and behaved well while they were at the Inn. Without wasting any time, they made their way to the Guild room under Bootys¡¯ insistence, where they ran into Chen and Lily. Unexpectedly, to both the pirates and the siblings, the two parties immediately became interested in each other¡¯s goods. The pirates sold many of the rare metals they¡¯d just stolen to the siblings, and put up the rest of the goods they were willing to sell in the Guild room. In exchange, they purchased hundreds of zombie cores. This was a good opportunity for the siblings, as zombie cores were a business they would soon lose, as the was almost free of zombies. With these rare metals, as well as the umted wealth, they could start nning for their future. As fruitful as it was to make money like this, their ultimate pursuit was still as warriors. The pirates had finally been convinced to use the Inn as one of the ways they sold their stolen goods, but a one time deal was not good enough. If their goods continued to sell, they would consider making the Inn their permanent spot, but for now they were still testing waters. Lex had already earned a few thousand MP just from the charges on this single transaction so he hoped they decided toe back. With their work done, they left, and Lex¡¯s peaceful days once again resumed. During this time, Lex focused on his cultivation and improving the Inn. Using his Leo persona, he had put up some requests in the Guild room for various techniques for the Qi training realm, but while some people offered to sell him some techniques, he was never satisfied with their descriptions. A few dayster, news spread that the Minor realm that Earth had been awarded by the Inn had finally appeared in d. Many of the guests at the Inn from Earth left, as everyone was curious about it, with Alexander being one of them. A couple of days after that, representatives of the council appeared at the Inn, followed by Fernanda, and had a meeting with the family heads and eventually reached an agreement. It appeared that the new realm was much bigger than anyone had imagined, and besides a few of the starting regions, none of the Earthlings could proceed. They reached some kind of resolution, and eventually all the family heads finally also left the Inn, along with the Morrisons as well. Other than a few random guests that appeared every so often, the Inn only had a few dozen guests left who had been staying for a while now. One may think that Lex would be upset at the slowed down business, but this suited him perfectly as the Viper Vine was still growing. One weekter, the Vine had reached the peak of the Foundation realm, and could spread as far as 500 acres. Soon, it would reach the Golden Core realm, after which its progress would slow down. This was because Lex, as well as the greenhouse,cked the necessary resources to speed up its growth beyond this level. Lex was already dumbstruck when he learnt that the turtle had been having the gardener cry above the vine as his tears seemed to help and put a stop to it. Although he was in a hurry, he wasn¡¯t that desperate, right? Fenrir had also starteding out of its depressed and introverted phase, and could often be seen ying with Little Blue in the forest. Its strength had also grown to the Qi training realm. At this point, as progress was slowing down, Lex finally started nning for the future of the Inn again. ¡°Hey Mary, is there any way to kind of¡­ I don¡¯t know, to be more specific in the kind of I search for to connect to the Inn?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I mean, I¡¯d like to connect to a without almost dying for once. If we can connect to one of thes being ruled by the Jotun empire, or anyone else who has a decent security or civilization in ce will work.¡± Maryughed at hearing Lex¡¯s request exined. ¡°No, there¡¯s nothing that specific, but you can be a little more targeted. Previously, you were using Golden Tickets, which not only have a wide range, but are free from many restrictions. You can buy cheaper tickets for your next expansion that have more restrictions. The drawback will be the time to connect the Inn to the will be longer, but at least the list ofs you¡¯ll get will be more reasonable for your level.¡± Lex rubbed his hands in the typical evil viin fashion as he thought about what to do, and checked his options in the system. ***** Alexander leaned against a tree as he took deep, heavy breaths. He was covered in the blood of yet another monster he killed, and his entire armor suffered a great deal of damage. That¡¯s right, monster, not beast. This minor realm was filled with strange and unusual things he could never even imagine, and his understanding of ¡®living things¡¯ underwent a huge drastic change. But the monsters made of rocks and metal and even dirt aside, it was the monsters made of materials he didn¡¯t recognize that gave him a tough time. He thought the Midnight games had been tough, but at least there he only fought enemies in his own realm. Here, there was no guarantee of what he might encounter next. Just as he was about to move forward, a bright light in the distance caught his eye. He turned to look at what appeared to be the ruins of some kind of temple and saw a giant portal. In front of the portal, he saw a familiar figure, trying to resist the pull but failing. ¡°Helen!¡± Alexander roared in a panic, as he started sprinting towards her, but she was too far and his voice did not carry. What the hell was she doing here? Unlike him, Helen was not a fighter, and had no training except the most basic self defense, so how could she even reach here? As these thoughts ran through his mind, and as he sprinted towards her, he watched in horror as she was pulled into the portal before the portal shut down. She had disappeared before his very eyes. Despite receiving a warning before this realm even opened, Alexander could not stop his friend from disappearing, potentially forever. Chapter 199 Spiritual Techniques Lex was sitting in hiswn chair, sipping a smoothie as he surfed the system. Lately, he had begun avoiding rxing in public to maintain his mysterious persona. But after Lex decided to be more approachable rather than mysterious, he had returned to lounging in the open. The first day he had done this, his guests avoided him, but by now they had gotten used to it. His horse sized pup was lightly snoring beside him, attracting loving gazes from many of his guests. Lex was not paying attention to that, however, as he was currently looking up the kinds of tickets he could buy. The Golden Ticket he used previously was the most expensive one avable to him, at 100,000,000 MP! The reason why it was so expensive was because not only did it have the greatest range, it resulted in the fastest connection between the system and the world, and was capable of searching for extremely powerful worlds, such as the 5 Star world Lex came across called Dunya. The cheapest ticket avable was only 100,000MP. This was incredibly cheap considering how expensive some of the things Lex purchased were, not to mention that it could still cover vast distances in space. It had many shorings, but somehow ended up being perfect for Lex. First of all, it was restricted to 1 Stars only. Secondly, Lex would have to pick one of thes he was already connected to, and the ticket would only search within the same gxy. Thirdly, being there were any beings too strong on the, it would interfere with the detection and so the ticket would be unable to detect the, depending on the strength of the person. Fourthly, the shortest amount of time it would take to connect the was about a week. Thest point was not one Lex counted in his favor, as a week was still the shortest avable time for the connection to bepleted. Although he was thinking of getting this ticket, he hadn¡¯t bought it yet. Lex would not go anywhere unprepared, and he was still not ready. For one, he had only finally managed to purchase a few techniques for the Qi gathering realm. They had note from the Guild room, but rather from John. He visited John in with his Leo persona and described exactly what kind of techniques he was looking for, and had John make them to his needs and specifications. Lex had asked for two different attacking techniques, one defensive technique, one to improve his speed and one to hide. Until Lex learnt all techniques to a satisfactory level, he would not even think of going to another. This was also not considering the fact that he needed a lot of new equipment as well, some of which he had ordered from Chen and some from Will. Done perusing the system, Lex stretched a bit, nodded to some of his nearby guests and returned to his apartment with Fenrir. He changed into the Bathrobe and entered his Meditation room. Considering Lex had never learnt any spiritual techniques before, he expected it would be difficult. For most of them, that was true. For the defensive technique, however, a single nce was all it took for Lex to learn it to the maximum proficiency possible! Even Lex himself was dumbstruck by how easy it had been. But, it made sense. Regal Embrace had only just begun to show its worth, and not only had Lex¡¯s defense improved, his understanding of anything rted to defense had also improved. But, practicing the defensive technique made it much easier to practice the others, as it gave him a deep understanding how these techniques actually worked. Lex was currently at Qi training level 3. There were a total of 9 levels in the Qi training realm, and with each realm Lex would hold an increasing number of Qi in his body. To use these techniques, he would need to manipte the Qi in his body along certain pathways, these being the meridians, in certain patterns in very exact amounts to give birth to various phenomena. Why these phenomena were birthed was a topic of a different study. It was like asking why a maic field was created by passing electricity through a wire. The why of it waspletely irrelevant to someone who was an electroma to perform a task. This person only needed to know how to turn the ma on and off, not the hows and whys behind it. This was currently the situation for Lex with these techniques. He did not understand theplexities behind the techniques, but memorized the techniques themselves. The defensive technique was called Qi Repulsor. It worked by building up charged Qi anywhere on Lex¡¯s body, and when the built up Qi encountered a sufficient force, it would release a pulse of Qi that would push back against the force. For example, if an enemy were punching Lex, and Lex blocked it with his hand that had been charged with Qi Repulsor, the released pulse of Qi would either neutralize a lot of the punches force, or in the case that the pulse was stronger than the attack, push the enemy back. This type was a very standard defensive technique for Qi cultivators, as they did not yet have enough Qi tounch techniques far from their bodies. If Lex had to learn this himself, it would take him a long time, as not only did he have to run sufficient Qi strands at very specific speeds in very specific patterns near the area where he wanted to use the technique, he then had to control the built up Qi that was outside his body ¨C something incredibly difficult for Qi training cultivators who were only just learning to control Qi within their bodies. But by understanding and practicing such aplex technique repeatedly using his over the top proficiency in it, he eventually got the hang of how to properly manipte Qi within his body. It was an extremely novel experience, and he loved it! Chapter 200 Misbehaving Qi Despite being thoroughly familiar with the technique, Lex continuously practiced it for over an hour. He practiced gathering the Qi for Qi Repulsor on various parts of his body, from his palms to his chest to his legs and even his forehead. Only when he waspletely drained of his Qi did he finally stop. Tired and sweaty, Lex went and took a nice long shower, before he re-equipped the Bathrobe and returned to the Meditation room. Sitting cross-legged, he started cultivating using Regal Embrace. Each cultivation style was different, and would slightly transform the absorbed Qi into the unique form of Qi each cultivator contained within their body. For people who had affinities, such as Will Bentham who had a water affinity, the Qi or spiritual energy they stored in their body would be more concentrated and special. The Qi in Lex¡¯s body, though, was on an entirely different level. It contained aspects of spiritual energy, soul energy, and vitality. This uniquebination of aspects meant that Lex was not limited to only using spirit techniques, though at the moment he only had ess to those. It meant he could also use his Qi to use the rare and especially potent soul techniques, as well as the special techniques of body cultivators. While a normal cultivator would have to build up a reserve of each respective type of energy to use the techniques associated, Lex could use all three directly using his Qi. This also made his Qi more potent than that of his peers, though this potency was disyed in a form of resilience instead of attacking power. The bright side of this was, since he was technically drawing from 3 sources while people only drew from one, he could replenish his Qi faster. The drawback of this was that each of his breakthroughs would be three times as hard as an ordinary cultivator. Lex had personally experienced this difficulty while trying to cultivate these past few days. But Lex wasn¡¯t trying to cultivate right now, he was only replenishing his Qi so that he could practice his techniques. He scanned the Inn once, to ensure nothing required his attention, and then resumed his training. The next technique he practiced was the one he found easiest after Qi Repulsor, which was the technique to increase his speed. It was called Falcons relief. Instead of focusing on something like the legs, the Qi was focused around the heart and the lungs. The effect was not something as mundane as ensuring he got plenty of oxygen in his blood, no. By focusing on those two areas, the Qi would slowly dissolve from his meridians into his blood, and provide him with an overall boost in speed, not just in his legs, but everywhere. He could run faster, but he could also attack faster, turn faster, eat faster or digest faster. What he wanted to speed up was up to him. The duration of the techniquested as long as all the Qi did not dissolve into the blood. Whether Lex used that for an increase in burst speed or long distance running or something else was entirely up to him. But while this was the next easiest technique after Qi Repulsor, it didn¡¯t mean it was actually easy at all. In fact, while Lex had barely started using it after a few days practice, he could say for certain that without the Meditation room and Bathrobe helping him concentrate and learn faster, it would have taken him much longer. Learning these techniques also gave him a new respect for all the fights he saw previously, because using the techniques while you¡¯re standing still was one thing, but using it while also doing any other action was incredibly difficult. But Lex was not too hard on himself, he had only just begun training and it made sense that he was bad. He especially could not fathom how people used multiple techniques at the same time. But Lex was getting ahead of himself. He had to take things one step at a time and focused on Falcons¡¯ relief. The hours flowed by like grains of sand falling in an hourss, and by the time night fell, Lex was extremely tired. Not only was he drained of his Qi, he even felt physically and mentally exhausted. Taking yet another shower ¨C see, he wasn¡¯t unhygienic ¨C Lex proceeded to eat some food. At this point, he exclusively only ate spirit food as it helped him replenish his Qi passively, and even slowly helped him increase his cultivation. Once he was done, Lex threw himself onto his bed and instantly passed out. The next morning, before he could even ask, Mary let him know that Alexander wanted to meet with him. The meeting was short, as Alexander wanted to know if Lex could track Helen. Lex obviously could not do that, and said so in a diplomatic way. Alexander then asked if there was anywhere in the universe that was blocked from essing the Inn, as Helen had disappeared through a portal, yet had not returned to the Inn using a golden key. Lex assured him the Inn could be essed from anywhere, ording to what Mary told him. He did not spend more time with Alexander, as the kid seemed troubled by his own thoughts and Lex had his own tasks toplete. Once again, Lex started the day by practicing Qi Repulsor, then spent the rest of the day practicing Falcons¡¯ relief. By the end of the day, Lex was able to use the technique and also run at the same time, a huge achievement as it required an immense level of multitasking. The following day, Lex practiced Falcons¡¯ relief for half the day, before moving onto his two offensive techniques. The two techniques, Qi de and Auxiliary burst, were very difficult for Lex to master. It was not just the inherentplexity of the techniques that overwhelmed him; he felt like Regal Embrace was giving off an inherent disgust for the techniques. He could feel it in the way his Qi would misbehave whenever he tried to practice. But instead of being discouraged, the challenge somehow increased his motivation. Instead of trying to develop the techniques as instincts or reflexes, he practiced them mindfully. He paid extra attention to the speed, density and flexibility of each strand of Qi while he practiced the technique, and learned to anticipate when and how his Qi would misbehave, and ended up learning the techniques even faster than Falcon¡¯s relief. That only left his final technique for Lex to learn, simply called Mirage. Mirage could help him hide by camouging him and making him difficult to detect using sight, but currently, Lex was unable to master it. This wasn¡¯t simply because of theplexity of the technique, it was also the scale of the technique as well as the amount of Qi required to use it. Since he had to cover his whole body while using the technique, the scale was bigger than anything Lex had done previously, and the amount of Qi was nearly everything he had in his body. At this point, he went back to John for some consultation. As much as Lex would like to do everything on his own, it just wasn¡¯t possible. Receiving the guidance of those more experienced than him would make the learning process drastically easier. In his Leo persona, he demonstrated each of the techniques to John, as well as talked about his experiences while learning the techniques. John was secretly very impressed by Leo¡¯s speed, but did not let it show. Was he learning multiple techniques within a single month? No, it had not even been two weeks yet. When Lex exined how he managed to learn the two offensive techniques, John¡¯s eyes shone and he realized something, but did not say anything yet. John spent a good few hours exining his mistakes to Lex, and instructing him on how he should proceed with his practice in the future. Once he was done with that, though, John sat downfortably in his chair and stared at Lex for a few moments while he considered something. In the end, he let out a sigh and said, ¡°Young Leo, are you familiar with arrays?¡± ¡°Yeah, aren¡¯t those the formations used to protect ces and stuff? I heard we had some guests who stayed at the Inn for a long time because back on their, their return location had been surrounded by them.¡± ¡°My young friend, never say something so illiterate again,¡± John said as he chuckled at Leo¡¯sck of understanding. ¡°To ayman, indeed formations and arrays are the same thing. This is because both of them have the same origin, and often a person who is a master in one, is usually also a master in the other. But arrays and formations, while asionally simr in effect, have vastly different purposes. ¡°Formations make use of various items, some manufactured and some natural, along with the intricate andplex knowledge of the science of cause and effect to give birth to various effects. They can be defensive in nature, or offensive, or auxiliary, or even a mix of the three. Arrays, however, are madepletely and only of spiritual energy.¡± John watched Leo, who was payingplete attention to his words, but for some reason lost the will to say more. He handed Lex a ring and said, ¡°Insert your Qi into this and you¡¯ll be able to read the book inside. Let me know what you think.¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Leo answered, feeling unsure about why John brought all this up. But he went along with it anyway. Chapter 201 Expo date Once Lex returned to his apartment, he investigated the ring given to him by John, but when he saw the size of the massive book that appeared in his mind, he quietly and respectfully put it away. That was not to say that he had given up on the book, but that currently he had his hands full with learning his techniques and didn¡¯t have the mental energy to read what looked like a physical representation of Wikipedia. He spent the day practicing, as usual, but at night he did not immediately fall asleep despite his exhaustion. His mind wandered to the situation with Helen. Alexander had spent all his time at the Inn since hest talked to Lex, hoping for Helen¡¯s return, but to no avail. He had finally left today, and at a nce he did not seem too bothered, but with the power of the Host Attire, Lex could tell just how stressed he was. Lex even overheard a conversation he had with his family about her. Since Alexander was so busy with his own things, he had not realized how neglected Helen was, though no one could be med for this. His family were caught up in their own tasks, and though they shared a courtyard with her, they would usually only see her once every few days. Alexander felt guilty for neglecting her, but there was nothing for it. Lex, however, had his mind on another matter. He was considering whether there was a w with the keys, but he didn¡¯t have enough information. The only thing he could conclude was that if Helen didn¡¯t use the key, it meant that she didn¡¯t want to, she had lost it or, as much as he didn¡¯t want to consider it, that she was dead. Lex sighed and pushed the thoughts away and allowed himself to fall asleep. The next few days Lex followed the same routine, and slowly built up his familiarity with using his spiritual techniques. He also used his Leo persona more often, for two main reasons. First, he wanted to build up more rtionships as Leo, not to mention he couldn¡¯t leave Z to run the Gamer¡¯s Den all the time. Secondly, he used the Leo persona to learn as much as he could about the universe. One of Leo¡¯s most frequent guests at the Gamer¡¯s Den was called Crawford-981. He was a very friendly guy, but had been suspended from duty for the next month over something he only called ¡®the incident¡¯. Leo didn¡¯t care much about the details of the incident, but spent a lot of time chatting and gaming with 981. The man was like a walking encyclopedia for the universe, and Leo learned a lot about the kind of worlds one can expect to encounter when traveling the universe. Despite the massive size of the empire, and the prospering cultivation not to mention technology, it seemed that the Empire actually did not interact with about 90% of the inhabiteds in its territory, for various reasons. The quickest summary of it was, they simply didn¡¯t have the manpower for it and often enough, it wasn¡¯t worth it. They would let the worlds continue to exist on their own, unless they encountered a demon invasion, birthed a sufficiently strong enough cultivator, or possessed rare resources. Theses that had been left ignored were almost always Ground of Sky level civilizations. Ground level meant that they had not yet even left their home, and Sky level meant they had colonized multiples in their star system. Over the period of a few days, Leo learnt a lot ofmon practices and trends among these kinds of worlds, as well as some of what one can expect. Of course, this was Lex building up his knowledge base for when he starts connecting new worlds again. He learntmon forms of currency, frequently repeated etiquettes across the universe, and many more details that might be useful to him should he end up at such a. One more thing Lex learnt from him, the most important thing, was the name of the Star system that hosted the Jotun Empire¡¯s mains in the gxy that hosted the Vegus system. It was known as the Pendal system, and hosted 11s that had all been inhabited, and hosted the various bodies of the Jotun Empire¡¯s governance system. Leo didn¡¯t care much for the details of that, but memorized the name in case it ever came up. As leisurely as the days were passing, Lex was now only waiting for the Vine to enter the Golden Core stage. Once that was done, Lex would leave the security of the Inn in Mary¡¯s hands and start traveling once again. This was not only to increase the Inn¡¯s connectivity, as during this extended lull it was experiencing, Lex had only earned a total of 21,000 MP since the Midnight Games ended, but also for an event he knew would being. One day, Miranda reappeared at the Inn. She looked just as exhausted as ever, with the number of dark circles under her eyes ever increasing. This was a rare sight amongst cultivators, but she made it evident that it was still possible. She did not waste any time, however, on any services, and directly asked to meet with the Innkeeper. Lex, who was in the middle of practicing his techniques, had her wait a while as he finished up and showered. ¡°Miranda, it¡¯s good to see you again. I hope you¡¯ve been well,¡± the Innkeeper said, as he appeared in the private room she had rented while waiting for him. ¡°Not as well as I would have liked,¡± she replied with a mocking smile on her face, though it appeared she was mocking herself. For some reason, in front of the Innkeeper, she did not maintain her usual facade. It was as if she expected that the Innkeeper would be able to see through her attempts at keeping things together, and so did not even try. Obviously, the council¡¯s rule over the Earth was not progressing as they had hoped. They had broken away from the chains of the family heads seeking freedom, only to be brought down by an even stronger, more mysterious force. Waking up from her daydreams, Mirandaposed herself and focused on the business at hand. ¡°Innkeeper, I would like to talk to you again about the Expo I brought up previously. Earth¡¯s political situation has stabilized, and we are ready to begin nning colonization of the rest of the Sr system, but before we begin that we want to know what kind of support we can garner via business rtions out in the universe. ¡°We¡¯ve also obtained some rare and unusual resources from the new Minor realm that has opened up, the uses of which we cannot yet identify. Perhaps they will have a high demand, or perhaps they can shed a light on their uses to us. Regardless, we have much to gain and offer from this, but at the same time, we are not yet ready to host it. ¡°We want to have the Expo at the Inn in six months¡¯ time, and by then we will bepletely ready with a very thorough list of all that we can offer, as well as what we are looking for. This should also be sufficient time for any interested parties to get ready, as well as word for such an event to spread.¡± ¡°Well, if you are sure, I will book the date for you. For an event like this, the deposit will be 1,000,000 MP and the rest will depend on how exactly you want the Expo to proceed and what kind of services you require. You cane to me one month prior to the event, and then we can discuss in greater detail the options avable to you.¡± They spent some more time hashing out the details before Miranda quickly left, as there was no shortage of work for her to do. Lex, on the other hand, returned to his room and looked at his calendar. 6 months of time before the Expo was more time than he was expecting, but that was a good thing for him. This event was also one of the reasons Lex was in a hurry to extend his reach to mores. If he only advertised this uing event to the same threes, the image the Inn had built up of reaching the whole universe would be greatly affected. It was currently October, so the event would happen in the middle of March. It was up to him now to expand the Inns¡¯ reach as much as he could without overwhelming himself. He was not worried, though, as the equipment he had ordered had already arrived, and his practice was going along well. Whatever the next world could throw at him, Lex was ready for. Three dayster, the Vine finally entered the Golden Core realm, and its speedy growth slowed down considerably. The only way to speed it up once again would either be to increase the level of the Greenhouse, or provide it with very high leveled resources as fertilizer, neither of which Lex could do at the moment. It seemed as if everything was telling him, it was time to move forward. Chapter 202 X-142 Secretly, Lex spent a good amount of time testing the Delinquent Viper Vines ability. Naturally, he spread the vines around the entire Inn, underground of course. What Lex was testing was how quickly the vines coulde out of the ground and restrain someone. He tested it out in areas devoid of guests, of course, and on practice dummies. The speed naturally could not match that of his previous guards as well as bodyguards, but a portion of that faulty with Lex himself. His mind could not work at the same speeds as them, and so his response would take longer. The remainder of the issue was, of course, that the Vine itself had only just entered the Golden Core realm. Mary was no better at controlling it than Lex, but she was no worse either, which was nice. Still, the Vine was fast enough and would have to do for now. Lex spent the remainder of the day going over the misceneous details of the Inn with each and every worker, in case there was something he needed to fix, or a system he needed to refine. A prominent problem he was facing was that, while he had various vegetables to serve in the form of spirit food, there was a distinctck of meat. At the moment, Lex had no solution for this, as there was no ranch option in the system. Other than that, however, fortunately the Inn was running smoothly. In fact, there was a surprise for him at the greenhouse, in the form of a Lotus. The turtle brought it to Lex¡¯s attention, and for good reason. If it remained in the Inn much longer, the Lotus was going to die. The turtle told Lex various things about the Lotus, but imed to only know as much as its instincts would tell it. To be sure, the turtle was correct, Lex scanned the Lotus. Name: World Seed Lotus Age: 0 Species: Primordial Origin Lotus series Condition: Decaying Report: The World Seed Lotus is deprived of Primordial Spirit Energy in the Inn. Expose it to the universe outside the Inn, or raise the Inn Star level to 8 to let the Lotus survive. Remarks: It¡¯s dying anyway, make Lotus cake The system scan didn¡¯t give Lex the information he wanted, but the name was very telling. Still, he found it difficult toprehend. ¡°Are you sure this thing can create a world?¡± Lex asked, eyeing the simple ck colored Lotus. ¡°Look at it. How can you not tell that it will give birth to a new world? But it¡¯s suffocating, you need to take it out.¡± ¡°How do I do that?¡± ¡°The Lotus is, naturally, sentient. Reach your hand out to it, and it will apany you.¡± Sentient? Lex eyes the Lotus, but could not tell anything. Still, he reached his hand towards the Lotus, only for it to promptly jump up from the ground andnd in Lex¡¯s hand. Yet when it fell in Lex¡¯s hand, it fell into his skin like a tattoo, and crawled all the way to Lex¡¯s back, where it found afortable position to sit. Then, as if it were a real tattoo, it stopped moving. ¡°Thanks,¡± Lex heard a squeaky voice say in his mind, startling him. He tried to talk back to the Lotus, but it had stopped replying. The idea of a¡­ sentient Lotus living on Lex¡¯s back may have freaked him out, if he couldn¡¯t feel a continuous stream of warm energy entering his body from his back. He had no idea what the Lotus was doing, but instinctively he knew it was good for him. ¡°The Lotus can give birth to a,¡± the turtle repeated. ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean a massive rock will suddenly appear in space. It will be a new, with an established and awake world spirit. Since the Lotus can create something so wonderful, naturally it will also provide some help to you for aiding in its growth.¡± ¡°How long will it take for it to birth a?¡± Lex asked curiously. A world spirit was a great thing, if he had enough time before the was born, he could¡­ ¡°Not long, I think. Anywhere between 500,000 to 800,000 years.¡± Lex immediately put the Lotus and the world it would create behind him. ¡®I¡¯ll think about it again in 499,999 years,¡¯ Lex thought to himself and chuckled. With everything in the Inn taken care of, Lex returned to his apartment to gear up. This time around, he had refined his kit even more after hisst trip visiting a world. It was sufficient to say that everything he wore, from his boots to his pants and shirt to even his undergarments, were actually armor in disguise. Unlikest time, when his clothes looked like tactical gear worn by an Earthen soldier, his clothes this time looked like normal clothes. Other than that, he had a knife strapped to his leg, a sword along with the Heavy Harley at his waist, a deployable talisman shield, tactical tracking drones, a generic Jotunmunication wristwatch and a couple of other gadgets. These were just the things he wore on his body, and did not include the items in his armored backpack. Since he had to be selective with the items in his backpack, he had 10 spirit coins, 10 gold coins, an emergency first aid kit, some dry rations, various tiny grenades, stimnts, sedatives, and a cultivators version of a Swiss army knife, gifted to him by Will. A lot of thought had gone into his gear, and though he was still missing out on many things, he had to be selective. Each item served a specific purpose, and could mean the difference between life or death. That was not exaggerated at all. For example, spirit coins, which were amonly seen currency in the universe, even used on Earth. Lex could have brought more, or even spirit stones if he wanted to, but too much wealth might attract the wrong kind of attention. Though only 10 coins would notst him a long time, it would be enough to get him started if he were in a situation that requiredmerce. The gold coins served the same purpose. A familiar feeling of excitement and nervousness filled Lex as he spent 100,000 MP on purchasing the Wooden Ticket. As embarrassing as the name was, Lex did not dwell on it as he crushed it, and a familiar screen opened in front of his eyes. Lex was pleasantly surprised to see a few options presented to him, which was more than he was expecting. He wished it was a tough choice after reading his options, but Alf immediately seemed dangerous with its ¡®extremely diverse biomes¡¯. Nothing about that actually indicated that the biomes had to be dangerous, but it did not assure him either. Y-44 was an ore farm, whatever that meant, but Lex could only associate that term with mining. Not only did that make it seem like the was hospitable, it probably did not have the kind of habitation Lex was targeting either. X-142 was also risky, as ¡®strictly regted¡¯ indicated the was under someone¡¯s control, but it could also be a good thing. Such a might have a civilized society with established security systems to protect societies and such. Of course, no matter which he picked, it would involve a great deal of risk. So Lex simply stopped hesitating, put on his Bathroom slippers and monocle, and selected X-142. One drawback to it was that it was 3 sectors away, so it would take longer for the system to build a connection to the, but nothing was perfect. Lex was enveloped by a bright, warm light, and then disappeared. When Lex reappeared, both his hands were near his weapons, ready to draw at a moment¡¯s notice. Both times he had visited a, something had happened to him quickly after he arrived on the, so he wasn¡¯t expecting anything different. Yet what he did not expect was to be immediately assaulted by the smells of street food and the sounds of downtown New York. Lex was standing in the middle of a busy bazaar, with beings walking past him in both directions. No one seemed bothered by him suddenly appearing from a ball of light, and in fact, he received a few annoyed looks from the nearby stall vendors. His monocle was going crazy as it identified everything in his vision, but he didn¡¯t need its help right now. Other than the ordinary humans passing him, how could he not identify the flying fairies, the floating balls of slime and, most importantly, the cat-men and women shopping around him. Had he teleported into an anime? That¡¯s when he heard the familiar ting of a new quest in his mind. Chapter 203 Infinity Emporium Lex, after moving to a corner so that he wasn¡¯t literally standing in the middle of all that foot traffic, checked the system for the quest. New Special Quest: Sell a rare item to Infinity Emporium Quest Reward: Subject change based on value of item sold Remarks: Gotta get that cash money, baby Lex was¡­ intrigued, to say the least, not only by the quest but by the remark the system gave. Had the system been watchingte night tv? Still, this was the first special quest he had received, and he was interested in learning about it. But first, he had to investigate the situation on this, and learn if there was anything he should avoid. He turned on his ¡®generic Jotunmunication wristwatch¡¯ to see if it worked. A hologram appeared before him as the watch tried to connect to any avableworks and, after a few minutes, sessfully connected to the localarywork. As much as he wished he could Google things, the watch provided him with simr functions and Lex looked up anything he could about X-142. Soon, the watch opened up a historical and cultural website that detailed the upation of this. About 3000 years ago, this star system hade under the control of the Dimitri family, a legally recognized noble family in the Jotun Empire. They were a business oriented family, and used this entire star system as the foundation of their agricultural business. Not only had they colonized all thes in this system, the X-14 system, and regted each to be suitable to grow certain kinds of crops, they provided safe and amodatings for the citizens of the empire to settle and work in. The rest of the page was filled with endless praise for the Dimitri family, which Lex directly dismissed as propaganda. He breathed a sigh of relief, as he hadnded on a under the control of the Empire. He knew from the conversation with Crawford-981 that the gxy that Vegus Minima was from wasn¡¯t fully under the Empire¡¯s control, so it was really up to his luck whether he wouldnd on such a. Fortunately, he had, and even had a n of action he had devised in such a situation. The first and most important thing to remember was that while it was alright for Lex to create an ount on the Henali portal, something akin to a universal inte, he must absolutely not get himself registered in any Jotun empire facility. This was because the Jotun database was apparently shared, if not gxy wide, then at least over several stay systems. Furthermore, every few decades, the databases would bepiled together. Lex doubted that amongst the probably hundreds of trillions of citizens in their database, they would notice him even if he did regrly get registered or scanned at variouss, but Lex did not want to leave a record. As for why it was rtively safer to log into the Henali portal? It was because no one he ever talked to had ever heard of any kind of disciplinary force, or in fact any force altogether, associated with Henali. Whatever it was, it was clearly targeted towards much higher leveled cultivators, and people with less power or authority than a certain level weren¡¯t even qualified to know about it. As a result, the Henali was very openly used to conduct shady business, and even the Empire couldn¡¯t do anything about it, as they could not even get the real identities of the users. Still, all of that was forter. Right now, Lex had to do a few things. He had to find cheap amodation, find Infinity Emporium, and think of a way to earn enough money to help him survive however long he would be here. ¡®How convenient would it be if I had a branch of the Inn here,¡¯ Lex thought with a chuckle, then froze. That wasn¡¯t a bad idea. He quickly put down having branches of the Inn on variouss as an idea to look into. Lex looked towards the nearest vendor, a man¡­ er, beast? The nearest vendor was humanoid, but with thick, purple skin and a face that looked like that of a tiger, but with two protruding horns on his forehead, with long, flowing white hair. Lex had no idea what race he was, but walked up to the man and asked, ¡°Hey, any idea where I can find the Infinity Emporium?¡± Unaware of the particr customs on this, Lex was concerned about somehow offending the man, but apparently he did not need to be. ¡°Maybe you buy something, it¡¯ll jog my memory,¡± the vendor said with a smile. It waspletely not the vendor¡¯s fault that his toothy smile exposed some vicious-looking teeth and looked more intimidating than friendly. Lex looked at the vendor¡¯s wares, and his monocle scanned the items. He wanted to find the cheapest looking thing but¡­ he had no idea what anything on the stall was. There were des, that much was certain. But these des were unusually shaped, with odd curves and blunt ends that clearly indicated they had a very specific purpose. ¡°My friend, I need to sell something to the shop, as I don¡¯t currently have any money at all.¡± ¡°Teh, cheap,¡± the vendor muttered under his breath, but then exined the directions to Lex anyway. It seemed that despite his grumpiness, the vendor was a good man- eh, beast-person-thing. As Lex started following the directions ¨C and only then realizing he was still wearing his bathroom slippers ¨C Lex thought about what to do once he reached the Emporium. The easiest thing would be to sell an item from the Inn, but he didn¡¯t want to do that. He could sell one of the items or pieces of gear he brought with him, but that would depend on what kind of shop the Emporium was. When he reached, he saw a modest sized building, but one with a spectacr finish. That was not to say the other buildings weren¡¯t well designed, but something about the Emporium was just eye-catching. Lex considered inquiring about its architect for a moment. One other thing that stood out about the Emporium was therge number of people going in and out. The shop was clearly a popr one. Since there was no particr line, Lex simply stepped in the shop, following one of its customers, but was taken aback once he stepped in. The shop, though simple, was absolutely gorgeous! A red carpet ran from the front door to the counter, spread over a milky white marble floor. The walls were carved with various designs, with a few pirs half protruding from the walls. The ceiling was painted as well, not to mention lined with borate woodwork. But despite its spectacr splendor, what surprised Lex was that he was the only other customer in the shop. All the people Lex had seen entering had disappeared, and only a single man stood behind the counter, grinning at Lex. It seemed as if he was able to tell what had surprised Lex, and was thoroughly enjoying the reaction. ¡°Wee to the Infinity Emporium. Please, do not be rmed. This is just a bit of clever use of formations to give each customer their privacy while shopping. We value our clients¡¯ privacy highly.¡± ¡°Not bad,¡± Lexmented as he stepped into the shop. He took a look around, and though the shop looked amazing, he could not actually see any wares. Should shops disy what they¡¯re selling? ¡°What kind of business do you do here?¡± Lex asked curiously. ¡°We can provide anything you wish for. Anything legal, that is. Of course, we have a membership program, and if your membership level is high enough, even some things that aren¡¯t legal can be an option.¡± ¡°Uh, are you sure you should be saying something like that so¡­ openly?¡± ¡°Why, of course,¡± the shopkeeper replied whileughing. ¡°The Dimitri family, and everyone else relevant, know about our business. They are not very concerned, and even they themselves sometimes shop with us.¡± Lex raised an eyebrow as he wondered about the man¡¯s words. ¡°And do you buy things from customers?¡± Lex asked. ¡°So long as an item has any kind of mary value, we can take it off your hands.¡± Lex wondered about the man¡¯s answer and considered his actions. The rarer the item he sold, the better his reward from the system would be. Since there was no time limit, it wasn¡¯t as if he had to sell something right away. He decided to wait a while before selling something, hoping he could find something on the. And, if he wasn¡¯t able to find anything, he¡¯d just sell a golden key. ¡°Since you sell everything¡­ I¡¯m pretty broke right now, and need information on a cheap but safe ce to stay, and a possible way I can earn some money.¡± ¡°Excellent. Since you are on a budget, I¡¯llpile the cheapest folder I can. That¡¯ll be 1 spirit coin, sir.¡± Lex handed over the coin, which, by the way, wasn¡¯t exactly a cheap price for some basic information. But since Lex didn¡¯t want to waste time figuring out things on his own, this would have to do. After epting the coin, the shopkeeper handed over a simple folder, summoning it out of thin air and grinned at Lex, as if he had just spent millions in the store instead of a single coin. Chapter 204 New Races Lex opened the folder that had only a few pages inside. On the first page was a list of cheap ces he could stay, listed in terms of geographical distance from Lex¡¯s current location, which was the Emporium. The rest of the pages had lists of jobs he could do that didn¡¯t require a long vetting process, as well as the basic requirements of each job. It need not be said that each job was targeted towards Qi training realm cultivators. It was not a surprise that the shopkeeper was able to determine his cultivation realm as there was no way for Lex to hide it unless he used some kind of treasure, but what did surprise Lex was how quickly the man was able to provide such a detailed and well-organized list. Lex had only asked, and the man immediately provided it. ¡°Hey, I uhh,e from a human only. Would you happen to have a list of all the different races on this and a little bit of information about them?¡± ¡°Such a list is not a problem at all,¡± the shopkeeper said, summoning another file. ¡°Since this information is allmon knowledge, it is much cheaper than your first request ¨C only 2 gold coins. I can also provide a more detailed list, should you need it, but that will raise the price.¡± ¡°No, this will do for now,¡± Lex said as he paid the man and put both folders in his bag and turned to leave, but the shopkeeper stopped him. ¡°Excuse me sir, before you leave there are a couple of things which are my responsibility to tell you if you have a few minutes to spare.¡± Lex was in general very impressed by the shop, and so decided to hear him out. ¡°Firstly sir, the Emporium ces a great deal of emphasis on maintaining the client¡¯s privacy, and so I would like to assure you that details of a client¡¯s purchase history will never be leaked under any circumstances, this is an Infinity Emporium guarantee. Secondly, upon a total expenditure at the value of 10mon grade spirit stones, you be eligible for a basic membership card. The membership has various levels and at each level, more and more items be avable to you to purchase. And thirdly, the Emporium currently has an ongoing sale on skin, wing and horn care products that will end in 7 hours.¡± ¡°Got it, thanks,¡± Lex said, and chuckled as he left. The only skincare he ever indulged in was moving away from body wash, shampoo and shaving foam all in one bottle and getting three separate products instead. That was quite enough for him. As soon as Lex left the Emporium, the shopkeeper couldn¡¯t help but raise an eyebrow as he muttered, ¡°A Fancy Monocle, eh? Haven¡¯t seen one of those in a while. How retro.¡± The first thing Lex did once leaving the fancy shop was head in the direction of the nearest tavern where he could stay, sightseeing along the way. This city he was in was an unusual mix of extremely advanced and extremely basic technology. A good example of that was the hundreds of vehicles flying about in the skies, while an alien equivalent of a donkey cart pulled someone along the street. Or the simple wooden stalls, but with virtual or holographic vendors. He also saw many different races of beings walking around, though humans still maintained the majority. When Lex finally arrived at the Tavern, he read the name Bent Benches spelled out in a neon sign, hung across a balcony in the wooden building. It was a curious name, but Lex didn¡¯t put much thought into it. When he walked in, though, the building waspletely empty. Lex would have expected such a cheap ce to be packed with guests, yet not a soul could be seen ¨C not even a worker. On his left was a long, wooden bar and on his right a long, rectangr room full of empty tables. There was a corridor leading deeper into the building right in front of him, but Lex felt strange about randomly strolling into the building. Maybe there was something he didn¡¯t know about how taverns worked in this world. Yet just as he was pondering, he picked up the sound of slow, deliberate breathing. He leaned over the bar and saw a man rocking back and forth in the fetal position, taking deep breaths with his eyes closed. ¡°Uhh, are you alright?¡± Lex asked awkwardly. The man was surprised when he heard Lex¡¯s voice, and turned to look at him. When he noticed a guest, he shed him a bright smile and said, ¡°Could you wait just a few minutes? I¡¯m right in the middle of dealing with an anxiety attack.¡± ¡°Uhh, sure, I guess,¡± Lex replied, as the man shed him another smile before once again closing his eyes and returning to what he was doing. Lex took a step back to give the man his privacy, as he awkwardly waited for the man. About 15 minutester, the man stood up as he dusted himself off and approached Lex, with a smile. ¡°Sorry about that, was just dealing with some stuff. You know how it is.¡± The bartender looked fairly young, with ruffled hair and a wrinkled uniform, but at the same time, looked quite presentable. ¡°Uh, yeah, sure, totally, no problem. Are you sure you¡¯re okay? Do you need more time?¡± ¡°No, no, I¡¯m good. I¡¯ve gotten pretty good at dealing with those. How can I help you today?¡± ¡°I¡¯d like to rent a room for a week.¡± ¡°Not a problem at all, that¡¯ll be 4 gold coins.¡± Lex handed the man the coins, but the barkeep didn¡¯t immediately ept it. He eyed the coins curiously, and then scanned them with a device. ¡°Well, it¡¯s real gold, but I don¡¯t recognize where it¡¯s from. Let me guess, you¡¯re fresh on the? You came at a good time, my friend. It¡¯s almost time to harvest the Gugu fruit, but you need to be at least in the initial Foundation realm to be a harvester. Tough luck my friend, that¡¯s the kind of stuff those scammers leave out when they just want you to fill in the seats in their transport ships. Each year we get a lot of people whoe looking for jobs, only to find outter that their level is too low.¡± Lex shed the man a weak smile, but said nothing. The bartender jumped over the counter and led Lex down the corridor towards his room. ¡°There¡¯s no room service, so try to keep the ce as clean as you can or you¡¯ll end up living in a mess. The kitchen¡¯s currently out of order as well, so if you want to eat you¡¯ll have to go out. I can give you a list of nice ces nearby where I usually eat from, if you¡¯re interested.¡± The man continued to list everything that was wrong with the ce, making Lex wonder if it was even worth the few gold pieces he paid, but when he saw the room that thought went away. Unlike the old and disheveled state of the building, the room was immacte. There was a massive window with a balcony, a neat king sized bed, a study table with what Lex assumed was aputer, and a private bathroom. Everything was clean and tidy, and looked rtively new as well. ¡°Here¡¯s the key, and have a good stay,¡± the bartender said before leaving. The man had a smile on his face the entire time he was with Lex, and had a cheery attitude, so it was hard for Lex to imagine what caused him so many anxiety attacks. Lex put the thought behind him and entered the room, scanning everything with his Monocle. After ensuring there weren¡¯t any cameras or mics or such in the room, Lex finally rxed, and took out the folders he received from the Emporium. He scanned both the documents again with his monocle, then began reading the list of potential jobs. Considering the cheap price of amodation, Lex was no longer in a rush to find a job, but it wasn¡¯t a bad idea to be in the know. As could be expected, none of the jobs looked too alluring to Lex, but there were a couple of alternative options listed that Lex wouldn¡¯t mind trying. As one can guess, one of those options was betting. Apparently there was some kind of tournament being held nearby by one of the agricultural academies ahead of harvest season. Lex made a mental note of it, not because he was interested in gambling but because he wanted to learn more about the culture of this world. Once he was done with that, it was time for the other list ¨C the one with all the races on this. Of course, this did not literally list all species and races, as that would include various wild animals and cattle, but only the species recognized by the Empire as legal citizens. The one that Lex immediately noticed was Dragons! Chapter 205 The return of the crazy cultivation novel Lex could scarcely believe what he was seeing! Dragons. Actual, living dragons! For a few moments, Lex¡¯s imagination went wild as he thought of every fantasy movie he had ever seen, and envisioned the massive, powerful behemoths they depicted. When he finally woke from his fantasies, Lex quickly read the description. Dragons: Massive, reptilian beings with immense power. No actual Dragons have been reported in the X-14 star system, but various species of Drakes ¨C dragons with impure lineage ¨C were original inhabitants of the system, leading to the belief that Dragons may have once lived here. Drakes still reside on multiples in the X-14 star system, and are renown jewelers. Alongside the description was an image of a lizard like being the size of a Rhino. It was covered in brown scales and hadrge ws. Lex had no idea how a being with ws made jewelry, but he didn¡¯t want to sound racist so he just epted the description. While going over the list, he discovered that the beings Lex assumed were cat-men and women were just a subspecies of humans called Neko, and were just one of the many human subspecies that existed. The list was surprisingly long, and also included At-Morpher, the race that Remy belonged to. At-Morpher: New species formed from a mutation of the human subspecies: At¡¯s. They are able to shapeshift to assume the appearance of any humanoid species, and are born with the ability to traverse space. At-Morphers are known to be highly aggressive in nature, and own many businesses in the X-14 star system. That was a curious description and caused Lex to wonder why they were listed as a separate race from humans, while so many others were listed as subspecies. Lex noticed amon trend of new species being born from preexisting ones from the list. He would probably need an in-depth study or report to learn the difference between a subspecies and new species, and how they were identified. For now, he just manually went over the list so that he had some notion of the various races, and made sure that the Fancy Monocle recorded them all. After that Lex tried to use theputer so that he couldfortably look up more information, but when he could not figure it out after 20 minutes decided to simply learn the old-fashioned way ¨C walking around and investigating himself. With no specific idea of where to go, he asked the bartender for directions to the tournament, and then started to stroll in its direction. He took his time and often stopped to listen in on the conversations people were having around him. He didn¡¯t want to seem shady, but it was the best way to learn whatever was most relevant at the moment. Most conversations seemed to be focused on the uing harvest season. Apparently, the Gugu fruit was one of the major cash crops of this, with an incredibly high demand for it. Not only was it an incredible spirit fruit, it had many applications in medicine, pill making, alchemy, and many more fields which Lex had no idea about. Most importantly, it was a favorite snack of a type of mount that was very popr among high level cultivators. As he listened in on conversations, he could not help but imagine what life must be like for a family that used entires as farms. Of course, devils were the same, but the Dimitri family consisted of humans, so Lex could rte to them somewhat. It also let him know that his Inn wasn¡¯t unique or interesting enough for these kinds of guests. Maybe they woulde due to the prestige he had built as the Innkeeper, but the Inn itself wascking. Eventually, Lex climbed aboard what looked like a tram because reaching his destination was taking too long. Originally, he thought he might get lost, but it seemed a majority of people were heading to the same ce. The venue was a massive, square building with endless crowds streaming in. It really bewildered Lex from the poprity this harvesting tournament had, but since most people¡¯s livelihoods on the were connected to it in some way, it made sense. The entry ticket was a steep, 8 spirit coins. Lex almost immediately decided to skip it, but just as he was turning around, he noticed something. He stood perfectly still as he tantly listened to a conversation some people were having. ¡®No,¡¯ Lex thought to himself. ¡®This can¡¯t be. It¡¯s impossible.¡¯ To make sure, Lex walked around outside the venue for a good thirty minutes, and slowly his expression turned from disbelief, to shock, to excitement, then back to disbelief. This was¡­ it was impossible. Things like this didn¡¯t happen in real life. It¡­ it just couldn¡¯t be. But it was. Lex hesitated for a moment, then decided to take a risk. Anyway, he had already paid for his stay for a week, so if he fell short on money, he would have time to make it back. As Lex paid for the cheapest possible entry ticket, his mind wandered back to when hest read a very popr cultivation novel, ¡°Ultimate King Emperor: All the Gods call me Daddy¡±. It was the novel Lex read where the MC¡¯s adopted sister was a Saintess who was kidnapped by celestial beings and who then killed the MC by destroying his entire, but the MC actually reincarnated. Lex had already read the next 1000 chapters after that, which firmly concluded the first arc, and allowed the MC to finally leave the he reincarnated on with a harem of 9 women who were all strong, independent women who were originally stronger than the MC, but somehow lost their will, goals, and personalities once they fell in love and spent their days nting flowers in a garden, waiting for him endlessly, because that¡¯s how harems work. Of course, most of those women felt bitter and slight resentment towards the MC, not because he had too many women, but because of his noble and pure heart, which caused him to reject many women. They were upset because he rejected them. Anyway, Lex usually skipped those parts, so that wasn¡¯t what he was focused on. During one of the mini-arcs, the MC enters a tournament. Lex remembered that he had to read 17 chapters straight that just consisted of all the viewers simply insulting the MC for no particr reason. Honestly, Lex would have skipped those 17 chapters, but the insults were just so creative that he couldn¡¯t stop himself from reading. In the 18th chapter, it was finally revealed that everyone was just sucking up to some bigshot who, by happenstance, had only slightly indicated that they had a minor conflict with the MC. Naturally, that minor conflict resulted in a fight that destroyed not only the antagonists¡¯ entire family, but several other organizations. He recalled vaguely the original fight being that the MC wore the same color clothes as the antagonist, or something mundane like that. Lex was getting sidetracked in his thoughts again. The main point was, while the MC participated in that tournament, he was the underdog and the tournament, for reasons unknown, started gambling with 10,000 times the return if the MC won. Such a stake in itself was stupid, but the point was the MC finally won and earned a lot of money by betting on himself. The reason Lex was bewildered currently was¡­ word for word, Lex could hear the surrounding people insulting someone called Tetsuya Seigan with the same insults. Furthermore, Lex learnt that Tetsuya had only entered the Foundation realm, the minimum requirement to participate, mere minutes before the deadline to enter the tournament. As if that wasn¡¯t enough, the rumor was that Tetsuya had a rivalry against the son of the owner of the academy he studied at, who stole Tetsuya¡¯s girlfriend. To top it all off, the gambling stakes for Tetsuya were a ten times return, something Lex actually thought was crazy high. As a sane person, cognizant of the fact that this was reality and not a cultivation novel, Lex did not believe for a second that the cliche scenario from cultivation novels was going to y out in front of him. But that could not stop him from betting hisst spirit coin on Tetsuya, and finding his way to his seat in a daze. The surrounding people made fun of him too for betting on Tetsuya ¨C how they knew who he bet on was another mystery. But it was too surreal. Everything was happening like in the novel. What Lex didn¡¯t realize was that since everything was following such an established cliche trend, in a private room a second generation brat who was staring at Tetsuya¡¯s picture with eyes filled with hate and ridicule was just informed that someone had just ced a bet on Tetsuya. He frowned. How dare someone not follow his exact wishes and actually take advantage of the great odds he himself had personally put up against the brat? ¡°Remember him,¡± the spoiled brat said. ¡°I¡¯ll personally take care of him after the tournament.¡± Chapter 206 Consequence of arrogance When Lex arrived at his seat, there were already some preliminary matches going on. But Lex had no idea what was happening on stage, so he could not help but ask the people sitting next to him. Sitting beside him was a Roslo, the same species as the purple skinned, doubled horned vendor Lex met the first time. ording to the description Lex had of their species, they were extremely easy to aggravate, but also very easy to befriend. They were known for their extreme physical prowess, along with the ability to disy that prowess with skill and precision. Still, Lex had no trouble having a friendly chat with the Roslo, and asked about how the tournament worked and what he was supposed to be looking for. This particr Roslo was apparently a very skilled harvester and loved talking about it, so it ended up helping Lex. The exnation started with the origin of the tournament. Harvesting Gugu fruit, as some may have noticed, was a major trend on the. But the harvesting process was not as simple as picking an apple from a tree. The first and most basic requirement was to be in the Foundation realm. This was because, when the fruit was removed from its tree, regardless of whether it was a sessful harvest or a failed one, a great deal of spirit energy would be released. Some people may think that being exposed to a great deal of spirit energy was a good thing, but such was not actually the case. Qi training cultivators could not handle a great deal of spirit energy in their body, which is why they cultivated only a few strands of Qi. In fact, at each level in the Qi training realm, a cultivator would only absorb 11 strands of Qi, so that by the 9th level the cultivator would have 99 strands of Qi. Absorbing that 100th strand was a part of breaking into the Foundation realm. Therefore, if arge surge of nonneutral spirit energy entered their body, they would immediately suffer from spirit energy poisoning, the effects of which ranged from being bedridden to straight up death. The next requirement of harvesting Gugu fruit was technique, precision, and skill. The fruit that looked like a Red Mango, but with a harsh exterior like that of Pineapple, had to be removed in a certain way to preserve its potency from dropping, and allowing it to be transported for use at ater date. This was a very brief description of the process, like saying a person used fire to heat ingredients as a description for cooking ¨C it wasn¡¯t inurate but there was a lot more to it. Such techniques were obviously not practiced on the actual fruit itself, as they had a long maturing period and were extremely valuable, so certain fruits were artificially designed to have the same extraction requirements as the Gugu fruit, but had no other value. Naturally, when an environment that had high stakes as well as many highly skilled people was created, it nurturedpetition. That is how these tournaments originated. Having a greater understanding of events, Lex paid great attention to the stage. He wanted to get a good understanding of what to expect when Tetsuya finally came on stage. Lex wasn¡¯t anticipating his arrival because he wasparing it to the MC from that ridiculous novel that he could not stop binge reading. As free spirited as he was, he would not waste 80% of his money on a hunch. He had actually received a quest from the system when he first heard people discussing him. New Quest: The Inn caters to all the universe, but not all guests are the same. The Inn is not only a ce where guests stay; it is a ce to where they may seek refuge on their tumultuous journey in the cultivation world. Help Tetsuya Seigan avoid cmity by having him retreat to the Inn. Quest time limit: 10 hours Quest Reward: Support token! Remarks: The system is literally finding good guests for you. Go do something on your own once in a while. Since the Inn gave such a high review of Tetsuya, Lex didn¡¯t mind betting his money on him. Besides, it wasn¡¯t like he was taking any personal risk by doing so. At worst, he would just lose some money, not a big deal. Thinking that, Lex stretched his body as he gotfortable in his seat. He could feel the crowd¡¯s anticipation slowly building, and soon the preliminary matches ended and the main event finally started! Lex noticed quite the hype as the contestants came up on stage one by one. One person, in particr, attracted a lot of attention. ¡°That¡¯s Brent,¡± the Roslo sitting beside told Lex. ¡°He¡¯s the son of the head of the academy hosting this tournament. Last year, he was in the top 10 for most Gugu fruits harvested during the harvest period. There are rumors that this year he¡¯s been recruited by the Dimitri family to harvest in their premium fields.¡± ¡°Wow, that must pay well,¡± Lex said casually as he stared at Brent. So this was the guy Tetsuya had a rivalry with? Just as Lex was ying out an borate backstory in his mind for how their rivalry would y out, another contestant stepped out on stage. It wasn¡¯t as far as the crowd starting to boo him, but the negative opinion of the crowd was evident. On the stage a tall, thin man had stepped out with bright red hair and a proud smirk. Lex did not need to be told that this was Tetsuya, but his next actions immediately confused Lex. He went up and greeted Brent, and the two seemed to be having a pleasant conversation. ¡°Isn¡¯t that Tetsuya? I thought he had a rivalry with Brent.¡± ¡°No, not with Brent,¡± the Roslo said with excitement. It seemed like he thoroughly enjoyed gossiping. ¡°Brent is the bast*rd son of the owner, and grew up on the streets with Tetsuya. The two of them are like brothers, and it¡¯s even said that the whole reason why Brent raised his cultivation so high was because Tetsuya gave him some kind of treasure he found. ¡°But the academy owner¡¯s rightful son and heir, Darius, who was raised in thep of luxury, apparently hates Brent, and hates Tetsuya, too. There are even rumors that there have been assassination attempts on Tetsuya,¡± at this point the Roslo was whispering. ¡°If people know that he¡¯s the victim¡­ why does everyone seem to hate him so much?¡± Lex asked in confusion. In the novel, everyone hated the MC because the viin hated him, but that did not seem to be the case here. ¡°The kid is very skilled inbat, and his harvesting technique is not bad,¡± the Roslo said with the air of an expert, ¡°but he¡¯s too arrogant. He¡¯s had a tough life, sure, but who hasn¡¯t? He uses oveing difficulty as an excuse to look down on everyone else. He¡¯s always picking fights and insulting everyone, so why would anyone like him? Even when he¡¯s in the right, he¡¯s too proud to exin, as if everyone should be omniscient and just know not to me him. Instead of considering that there could be a misunderstanding, he directly picks a fight. And of course, since he¡¯s so talented, he wins the fights more often than he loses, which makes people hate him even more. People don¡¯t hate him because of anything someone else did, he can manage to attract all that hate on his own.¡± Lex frowned, as he continued to watch the stage. The matches had already begun, and massive trees were raised from holes on the stage, each with various sized fruits hanging from them. The contestants were already harvesting them, with manyrge screens focused on each of the contestants. Tetsuya¡¯s description was quite different from what he expected, but there were all kinds of people, so he couldn¡¯t reallyment on how Tetsuya should be. Not to mention, this seemed to just be an outsider¡¯s opinion on the matter. Maybe things were actually quite different. Regardless, Lex wasn¡¯t really interested in making friends, anyway. He just had to slip Tetsuya a key, and let him use it to avoid whatever catastrophe he was about to face. Once that was done, his quest would beplete and Lex could continue exploring this and learning about their culture, so he could n on how to host them better. As much as the crowd was riled up, Lex quickly got bored. That was not to say the tournament was easy, as Lex learnt. Harvesting each fruit was a long and arduous process. But in the end, Lex was just not interested in¡­ watching fruit be harvested. Nearly five hourster, the tournament finally ended, with Brenting in first and Tetsuyaing in second. There were moments in the tournament where it seemed Tetsuya was either extremely unlucky or that he was being targeted, as three of the fruits he tried to harvest exploded just as he was about toplete the harvest, revealing pests hidden inside the fruit. Despite such a setback, he had somehow managed toe in second, and win some prizes, as well as the right to participate during the actual harvest. Lex quickly went to gather his winnings, 10 spirit coins, and then began to think about how he was going to meet Tetsuya. As he was not experienced in these matters, and since he was not expecting it, Lex waspletely unaware that he was being followed from the moment he collected his winnings. Some people in the crowd noticed when the number of followers slowly increased, but they said nothing. It was best to stay uninvolved in other peoples trouble, not to mention they could soon be getting a free show. Chapter 207 Volcanic rage Once the tournament was over and he collected all his winnings, Tetsuya did not forget to go collect his winnings from the bet. Although he did not get first which, even without his ¡®bad luck¡¯ he probably would not have gotten, the bets were on his being in the top three. Unlike Brent, who had multiple sources of ie to support him, Tetsuya did not so every spirit coin mattered. Naturally, since he was stepping into the public, he was wearing a facemask to hide his identity. He wasn¡¯t oblivious to the fact that he wasn¡¯t well liked, but couldn¡¯t find it in himself to care. The only reason he even wore a mask was because his time was valuable and better spent elsewhere than arguing with an idiotic mob. When he went up to the counter to collect his winnings, he did not bother with any small tack and just handed the man his slip. The man, on the other hand, could not prevent himself from chatting a little. ¡°Must be to catch a break like this huh? You know, you¡¯re the second person to collect winnings from betting on that Tetsuya kid. Though, your winnings are a lot more than his, I can tell you that.¡± ¡°Someone else bet on Tetsuya?¡± he couldn¡¯t help but ask, surprised. ¡°Isn¡¯t he afraid of Darius?¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you?¡± the man asked, finally handing over Tetsuya¡¯s winnings. ¡°He looked like a foreigner, and didn¡¯t bet much. It doesn¡¯t look like he knew what he was doing, maybe he just saw the stakes and couldn¡¯t help himself. Stuff like this happens.¡± Tetsuya nodded to the man, and left with his winnings. He could not help but find himself musing. On the off chance that this wasn¡¯t a foreigner being ignorant, he better go check things out. It was not like he wanted to go and help Darius out, but in the event that this was a trap and something happened to him, Tetsuya would shoulder the me. As for the possibility that Darius wouldn¡¯t pursue this matter? It was impossible, that brat was too small minded and egotistical to leave things like this alone. On the bright side, because of that, tracking Darius would be extremely easy. He just hoped he made it in time. ***** Lex was casually looking for a restaurant to eat nearby. He wanted to treat himself a little before he went looking for Tetsuya. At first he was concerned that he wouldn¡¯t have a way to reach him, but it turned out that he was extremely notorious and many people knew the location of his apartment, as the ce always attracted a lot of trouble. In a situation like this, finding him wouldn¡¯t be the issue. It was convincing him to use the key when he was in trouble that was difficult. During this time, he was woefully ignorant of the few people following him from a distance. They were waiting for the moment Darius would catch up with them. If not for that, they would have taken care of the target already. They followed him to a restaurant, and then decided to clear the street outside while they waited. Soon, the crowds disbursed, and the unusually quiet street stood out drastically in such a busy city. They didn¡¯t care though, as that had nothing to do with them. When Darius finally arrived, it was obvious that he was in a bad mood. Not only had that insufferable Tetsuyae in second, more importantly, Brent hade first. The more they disyed their talents, the worse off Darius would look. After all, while they were busy harvesting the fruit, Darius had not even broken into the Foundation realm yet. He was at the peak of Qi training, but because he had relied heavily on medication to reach this realm, he couldn¡¯t breakthrough so easily. It would require sufficient preparation. ¡°Where is he?¡± Darius roared as soon as he entered the street. ¡°He¡¯s in the restaurant, boss,¡± one of his faithful goons answered. ¡°Should we go drag him out?¡± ¡°No, I have a better idea,¡± he said with an ugly, evil grin. A short whileter, Lex exited the restaurant feeling extremely satisfied. He had no idea what he had eaten, and as far as he could tell the dish consisted mostly of some kind of vegetables he¡¯d never seen. But not only was it spirit food, the vor was beyond anything he had ever tried. Lex had already decided to gather as many seeds from this as he could. While he was lost in his thoughts, something distracted him the moment he stepped out of the shop. Why was the street empty? But, before he could think more on the matter, something smacked him straight on the forehead! Lex¡¯s body was hurled off to the side and smashed into a nearby pole. The attack was so sudden and so heavy, even after he had fallen to the ground, he did notpletely understand what was happening. His head was spinning and his ears were ringing. He tried to gather his thoughts, but it seemed he was concussed. He saw dirt and blood. He tried moving his arms, but suddenly felt like he couldn¡¯t find them. After a couple of moments, he started to recover, and could hear the sound ofughter. He picked up his head to look around, as he brought his hand to his head, and felt the blood dripping down his face. ¡°Boss, I think he¡¯s still alive,¡± one of the goons said, noticing Lex move. ¡°Well I¡¯ll be damned, he survived a hit of my full strength. I guess he needs a little bit more of my love,¡± Darius said with a malevolent grin as he walked towards Lex, holding something simr to a baseball bat in his hand. The end of the bat was covered in sharp spikes, one of which was covered in blood. The next moment, Lex finally recovered, his thoughts started to flow once again. At first he was confused. He was being attacked? Why? Then came the anger. In his entire life, Lex had never been assaulted by another human. The training with Marlo hardly counted, as that was training. Neither the zombies nor the wolves that once nearly killed him either affected him in the same way as he was being affected now. In Lex¡¯s mind, they were beings of a different species, and so it made sense that they would fight. But while he had been in difficult situations with humans, he had never been sessfully attacked like this. Not to mention, since he was homeschooled, Lex had no experience with bullies either. So now that he was attacked by humans, for seemingly no reason, he was filled with a rage the likes of which he had never known! The Qi in his body flowed like burningva and he used Auxiliary Burst wlessly, one of the two offensive spirit techniques he knew, and fired the Heavy Harley directly at his attacker¡¯s face! Auxiliary burst increased the damage of any attack it supplemented, which,bined with the close range and power of the gun, all smashed into his attack like a cannon! Lex was attacking to kill, and currently he had no thoughts of morality or right and wrong in his mind, he only wanted them to die! His rage affected him in a way Lex had never experienced before, and he had already entered the state of ¡®flow¡¯ he was so familiar with, but this time it was stronger than ever before. Lex¡¯s uracy was on target to the millimeter, and even as the man with the bat fell backwards, each bullet continued to hit him directly in the center of his forehead ¨C though they couldn¡¯t seem to pierce his skin. The goons who had beenughing and enjoying themselves so far were shocked by the sudden change, and by the time any of them reacted, Lex had already fired ten shots! Shouts of anger and panic filled the street as some sprinter towards Lex while others towards Darius. But even outnumbered, they held no advantage over the enraged Lex, who had by now gotten on his feet. After ten shots, he was fairly certain that the man with the bat was wearing some kind of treasure that Lex could not break, so he turned his target to the others. Drawing his short sword and holding it in his left hand and the gun in his right, Lex released a vicious battle cry as he met his foes in battle. Lex did not even realize that he was using Falcon relief, Qi repulsor and Qi de and Auxiliary Burst all at once, as his focus was on his foes. Bncing on the heel of his foot, he twisted as he dodged an attack and swung his de towards the nearest goon, and shot his gun at one farther away without looking. It was not a fight but a ughter, as even once none of the goons were able to exchange a single attack with Lex. In the distance, Tetsuya munched on a snack as he watched the fight. The kid was young, but he wasn¡¯t bad. Yet despite his amazing disy, his inexperience was evident in Tetsuya¡¯s eyes. Still, for now, he only watched. Chapter 208 Exhausted Chapter 208 Exhausted After a couple of minutes, four bodiesy on the ground near Lex, either groaning in pain or passed out. While there was blood on the floor, it wasn¡¯t nearly as much when considering the kinds of wounds inflicted by Lex. These goons must have had some kind of protective or healing treasures on them, yet that mattered little right now to Lex. While four goons were down, four more stood by Darius, who had gotten up from the ground, holding a hand over his forehead where Lex had shot him. His face was entirely red, though you could not tell if it was from pain or anger. ¡°I¡¯ll kill you!¡± he roared as he gave Lex his ugliest and most despicable re. Yet Lex did not give him the reaction he wanted. Lex did not cower in fear or beg for forgiveness, but just gave him a sneer. Though blinded by rage himself, Lex was cognizant of the fact that this person had note here to simply rough him up. Let alone that he was smacked directly on his head by a metal bat using the full physical strength of what Lex assumed was a peak Qi training realm cultivator, but the end of the bat was covered in sharp pikes. He could distinctly see blood only on one of the spikes, and was aware of the fact that he had just gotten extremely lucky that the spike hadn¡¯t been able to puncture his skull. Otherwise, Lex would be dead. When that thought went through his mind, Lex was enraged even more. He holstered his gun and reached his hand into his bag. Since Lex was able to sense spirit energy now, he was better able to gauge the realms of those near him. Just based on the sheer magnitude of the pressure that two of them gave off, Lex knew they were Foundation realm experts. But so what? Since he had started traveling acrosss again, he had taken precautions for even if he faced Golden core experts, let alone two Foundation realm ones. Of course, neither Darius nor the others intended to give him the time to retrieve whatever he wanted from the bad and attacked him. While Lex was still able to keep up with the speed of the other goons and dodge them, there was nothing he could do to keep up with the Foundation realm ones, so he immediately deployed the Talisman shield. The shield was one and a half foot wide and four feet long, and hovered around Lex freely. Once activated, it would block attacks on its own, and wouldst as long as the energy in the Talisman didn¡¯t fade or until Lex dismissed it. Activating and dismissing it were easy, but they both required Lex to consciously choose to do so. Fortunately, this Talisman shield Lex bought from Chen was actually a Jotun product, and was quite strong. This was because the two foundation experts¡¯ attacksnded as soon as he deployed the shield, hurling Lex back. But even as Lex fell back, he was not distracted, and pulled out a few tiny cylindrical items from the bag and flung one of them at the goons. The strongest two goons immediately realized the threat and retreated, but the rest were not so fast and were struck by a spiritual st. The two Qi training realm goons were directly knocked out as their bodies flung into the air. Darius was protected by some kind of treasure once again, but even that could not stop him from falling backwards. Just as Lex was about to rush forward to continue attacking them, he ran out of Qi! All the techniques he was using immediately stopped, and exhaustion hit Lex like a sledgehammer. This was the first time he had beenpletely drained of Qi since he entered the realm, and he nearly cked out from the shock of running out of Qi and his techniques being forcefully stopped. But while he managed to keep himself awake, his state of rage fueled flow was broken. But while Lex was suddenly out of breath, and it took a great deal of effort to use his brain, and he was almost entirely physically drained, he could still continue to fight. As if making a decision, his face hardened as he reached into his backpack one more time to search for something. But before the goons could attack him again, and before Lex could continue to fight, another person appeared in Lex¡¯s sight. He wasted no time and smashed a brick against the goons¡¯ heads, knocking them out, before kicking Darius in the face to reach the same result. Lex recognized this new person immediately, it was Tetsuya. Up close, he looked even more ordinary than he had on the screen, and Lex couldn¡¯t help noticing that his cheeks had a slight dip, as if he was starved and malnourished. ¡°Not a bad performance,¡± Tetsuya said casually, and he reached down and started patting Darius and his goons. Lex was momentarily confused before realizing¡­ he was robbing them! ¡°You were a little heavy-handed on the Qi usage, which was a mistake. Always try to leave at least 30% of your Qi reserves to run away. If you dip that low and the fight hasn¡¯t ended, it¡¯s time for you to run away.¡± ¡°I could still fight them,¡± Lex said hoarsely. ¡°Yeah, I noticed,¡± he said, as he eyed Lex¡¯s backpack warily. ¡°But I suspect anything you did now would kill these guys. Don¡¯t misunderstand me, I have no love for these guys. But, as much as I want to, I can¡¯t let this guy die.¡± Tetsuya said as he stripped Darius of all his valuables. ¡°Why?¡± Lex asked, ignoring the increasingly frustrating headache he was developing. The ringing in his ears had only gotten worse after he ran out of Qi, and while he was slowly catching his breath again, it was very irritating. ¡°You see, this little brat has a great enmity against me. It¡¯s no secret that he¡¯s moved against me both openly and under the table. The problem with such a situation is that, should anything happen to this runt, I will be the first person med. That will make it impossible for me to ever leave this. So, as long as I am on this, I have to take care of this idiot.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you just leave?¡± Lex asked, confused. But Tetsuya didn¡¯t reply, and only smiled at Lex. ¡°I take it you¡¯re a foreigner here, since you were stupid enough to bet on me. In that case, I¡¯ll help you a little. While this kid and his family can be considered local big shots, it¡¯s only in this city. If you stay here, they¡¯lle back for revenge unless you find a backer. But if you leave the city discreetly, then they¡¯ll be hard pressed to find you. Also, while I don¡¯t really care about the rest, my suggestion is that you don¡¯t kill them. That way, the local police will be forced to start an investigation.¡± Lex looked at the various goonsying on the floor. Now that his anger had disappeared, his inclination to kill them had also gone as well. In fact, he was feeling a little conflicted about how easy it was for him to decide to kill them. Tetsuya saw the hesitation in Lex¡¯s eyes, but did notment on it. ¡°Since I only came at the end, I won¡¯t take much. This is your share of the loot,¡± he said, as he neatly put an assortment of seemingly random items in a bag and handed them to Lex. He did, however, easily recognize the few dozen spirit stones and a pouch full of spirit coins that also went in the bag. With that, Tetsuya grabbed Darius by the leg, and began pulling him away with a casual smile. It was as if he didn¡¯t take the situation seriously at all. ¡°Wait, take this,¡± Lex called out, as he threw a golden key at the man. ¡°Take it as a thank you gift for helping me out. Crush it, if you¡¯re ever in trouble you can¡¯t handle.¡± Tetsuya caught the golden key, and observed it carefully. He had noticed Lex using various weapons, so he assumed this was just one more and put it in his pocket. Lex had used some powerful weapons, weapons that weren¡¯t so easy to get on X-142, so he took his words seriously. ¡°If I were you, I would get on the first ride out of this city. There¡¯s a train station nearby, so if you have nothing holding you back, that¡¯s the destination I would suggest for you.¡± With that, Tetsuya left. He had already spoken more to Lex than he did to most people, and his social battery was running dry. Lex, who stood there for a couple more moments, let out an exhausted sigh as he turned and started jogging away with two bags on his back. He regretted paying rent at his hotel already, but this wasn¡¯t so bad either. Why should he spend his time on this cooped up in a tavern? No, Lex would take on the role of a tourist, and explore. Once he had left, some people finally stuck their heads out of the shops nearby, and quickly started sharing the videos they took of the fight. It wasn¡¯t everyday you got entertainment like this on X-142. Chapter 209 Get that cash money, baby Chapter 209 Get that cash money, baby After jogging for a couple of minutes and finally entering a busy street, Lex entered a random shop and asked to use the restroom, dropping a spirit coin in the shopkeeper¡¯s hands. The obvious bribe, along with his blood-covered face and clothes prompted the shopkeeper to quickly guide him to the restroom. Cleaning the clothes was fairly easy, as the blood washed right off whatever synthetic material they were made from. He cleaned his sword as well and quickly checked to see if any of his other pieces of equipment had blood on them. Once that was done, Lex pulled out a first aid kit from his bag and looked at himself in the mirror. He¡¯d never done anything like this before, and though Lex was not squeamish, he still needed to mentally prepare himself before he began. Something like the needle failing to pierce his skin due to his increased defence did not happen because Lex had ensured to get equipment suitable for his body. While it did not pierce his skin easily, it got the job done. Having zero prior experience and only a YouTube tutorial seen long ago as a guide, Lex¡¯s stitches were not neat, but he managed to close the wound on his left temple. He put a bandaid over it to hide his shoddy work and downed a bottle of Bom Dew. It was convenient having a quick fix potion, and Lex nned on enjoying it while he could as once he entered the Foundation realm it would no longer be effective on him. As it was, due to his body, soul and spirit beingbined, his healing capability was already slowed down. Yet Lex did not mind that at all, as had he been even slightly weaker. That thought kept shaking him every time he thought about it, and his guilt at wanting to kill those guys had long disappeared. Maybe if he actually ended up killing someone, Lex might have reacted differently, but as it was, Lex actually found it difficult to make himself feel anything other than anger. A lifetime of watching TV and reading novels told Lex that maybe he should have been feeling some kind of negative reaction to the thought, but he honestly wasn¡¯t and he couldn¡¯t be bothered to care more about it. Once he was done, Lex quickly put his clothes back on and left, asking the shopkeeper if there was something akin to a taxi. There was, and soon Lex found himself sitting in a flying pod that was dashing through the air towards his destination. The Air pod, as it was called, was just big enough to fit a sofa on which Lex sat, and amodate a holographic screen in front of him. The experience was amazing, but unfortunately, Lex had only just begun to explore intergctic tv when the pod stopped, and opened up to reveal the Infinity Emporium. Since Lex was nning on leaving, there was no way he would leave the quest unfinished. Lex had spent some time thinking of what exactly to sell to the Emporium. Naturally, all the items supplied by the Inn were considered by him, including even the Lotus he carried on his back, but a random idea struck him. Since the Emporium sold everything, they also likely bought everything ¨C including information. As far as information was concerned, there were a lot of things that could be sold, including the information about the devil Loretta¡¯s father being an insanely powerful cultivator. But, Lex did not want to get involved in selling any of his guests personal information as that might lead to problems down the road. He did, however, recall something that he once longed for. He wrote down the exact information he got from the system regarding this specific matter, and wanted to see if the Emporium would buy it. He entered the shop, once again marveling at how effortlessly the shop separated him from the other guests, and walked towards the familiar shopkeeper. ¡°Hey man, I have a few things I wanted to buy, as well as a few things I wanted to sell. I was hoping you could help me out.¡± ¡°I would be most happy to help with that,¡± the shopkeeper said with an air of familiarity. ¡°I never caught your namest time, I¡¯m Lex, by the way.¡± ¡°How rude of me. My name is Powell Grant. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lex.¡± ¡°Likewise, Powell, likewise. Now, Powell, I¡¯m facing a bit of a conundrum and I was hoping you could help me out. Most of the things I intend to sell should be pretty easy for you to appraise,¡± he said, as he slung the bag Tetsuya had given him off his shoulder. ¡°But I do have something that I¡¯m concerned you might not be able to identify the proper worth of.¡± ¡°Oh? Please, do borate, and I¡¯ll help you however I can. I assure you, so long as the business is authentic, we never turn it away.¡± ¡°See, that¡¯s just the thing. I have a piece of information I¡¯m looking to sell, some very valuable information at that. Now, I know the information I¡¯m selling is urate, but how do I convince you that it is true? Because if I hand it over, and you don¡¯t believe it, that¡¯ll be quite a loss for me.¡± ¡°I see your point,¡± Powell said, nodding his head. ¡°Normally informationes from reputable sources, but what does someone who does not yet have a reputation do? Of course, we have a few ways of authenticating information. Please, follow me.¡± Powell opened up atch on the side and lifted the counter, providing Lex a way to follow him to the back of the store. Lex followed the shopkeeper into a room, but paused the moment he stepped in. This room was like something out of a movie. Everything in the room was white, from the walls to the furniture and even the paintings that were made from different shades of white. In the center of the room were two sofas facing each other, with a table between them. On the table was a white orb. ¡°Please, have a seat,¡± Powell said, his voiceing out in a whisper. That¡¯s when Lex noticed that the man¡¯s clothes had also changed color and be white. He looked down, and even his own clothes, while still being exactly the same, had changed their colors to white. ¡°Strange room,¡± Lex said, and was shocked to find that even his voice became a whisper without him meaning to do so. Intrigued, he sat opposite Powell, who had summoned a white paper cuff. ¡°There are two ways we use to authenticate information, both of which are employed in this room. You can wear this cuff, and put your hand over the orb and provide me with the information you wish to sell. The cuff will detect if you are lying, and will change color if you are. But that is not normally enough, as informants can sometimes be misinformed. The second judge is the orb, as it detects your karma regarding the information you provide. If anyone has tampered with you, or the information, the orb will detect it. If you pass both of these tests, we consider the information you provide to be true and urate.¡± Lex put on the cuff, but before he ced his hand on the orb, asked, ¡°and what will you do if the information is extremely valuable? Are you sure you can pay me appropriately?¡± ¡°It¡¯s an Infinity Emporium guarantee. So long as the business is authentic, we can handle it.¡± Lex raised an eyebrow and decided to test it. It wasn¡¯t like he was losing anything by trying this out, as he was just giving away some information that was useless to him. On the off chance that the Emporium wasn¡¯t able to buy the information he was selling, he wondered what would happen to the quest. After all, the information directly referenced Dao Lords. ¡°Some time ago, I managed to secretly obtain information about a unique item called the Bangle of Narn. The bangle is actually a single gxy condensed into a bangle form, that can be worn without any harmful consequences. Everything that exists within that gxy can be used and controlled by the wearer. The aura of the Bangle cannot be suppressed and can be easily identified by all Daolord realm cultivators within 99 million lightyears.¡± Lex eyed the cuff as well as the orb, but neither of them had any reaction. When he looked at Powell though, his reaction was very satisfying. His jaw hung open in shock as he stared at the orb for any signs of a lie or interference, but there were none. But, as shocked as he was, he quickly recovered, and gave Lex a smile with the warmth and passion of a lover. ¡°Lex, no no, Mr. Lex, do you happen to know anything about the bangles¡¯ location? Or the owner?¡± ¡°Unfortunately not,¡± Lex replied with a chuckle. He himself almost became the owner of it once, but as tempting as it was to own an entire gxy¡¯s wealth, he did not regret giving it up. He tried not to dwell on the fact that even the Jotun Empire was not able to wlessly wield the wealth of an entire gxy, despite owning many. ¡°How unfortunate,¡± Powell replied with actual regret on his face. But heposed himself quickly and returned to the matter at hand. ¡°Mr. Lex, the information you have provided is truly valuable, despite not having any information on its location. First, I would like to thank you for trusting the Emporium with this boon. Second, I would like to ask, how would you like to get paid?¡± Chapter 210 When the arrogant fall ¡°I would like to ask, how would you like to get paid?¡± Powell asked, smiling as if he was the one getting paid instead. ¡°Well why don¡¯t you tell me what options I have and then I¡¯ll consider it.¡± ¡°Yes, of course. I¡¯ll start by exining how the Emporium membership works. The most basic customers we cater to are non-members, but depending on how much money they spend, they can get membership for our establishment. But, the membership is not so simple, as it has levels. ¡°To grow from one level to the next, the first requirement is to spend a certain amount of money. However, clients of a certain stature automatically membership based on their cultivation. Body Tempering is equivalent to level 1, though they don¡¯t get automatic membership, Qi Training is level 2, Foundation is level 3, and so forth. ¡°To make it easier to understand, each level member has ess to a greater number of our items. The information you sold to us touches upon the boundary of level 9 membership, but doesn¡¯t quite cross it, and so it is categorized at level 8. Suffice to say, for selling such information to us, you automatically get level 8 membership and have ess to all our treasures or information up to that level. ¡°You can ept payment in the form of spirit stones, treasures, information, or store credit as you desire. I must let you know that this is only a small store, so we don¡¯t have all the items you might see on the list, but as long as it is within a branch on this we can have them teleported over from our other branches immediately, so it should not be a concern.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great, show me the list. But at the same time, there are a few things I need, so how about I ask you about them, and you can guide me.¡± ¡°Certainly,¡± said Powell, as he handed Lex a tablet with a long list disyed on it. ¡°Well, first of all, if I¡¯m going to trade for a lot of items, it¡¯ll be a hassle to carry all of them around, as I will be traveling for a short while.¡± ¡°We do have a few items with spatial properties that are categorized as level 7, but unfortunately, none of them are on this. An alternative I can offer you is a locker. You can ce any items you get in the locker where the Emporium will take responsibility for their safety. The locker alsoes with a key, which you can use to teleport the contents of the locker inside to yourself. The key will be linked to you, so that in case you lose it, someone else cannot use it to retrieve your items.¡± ¡°I guess that¡¯ll do,¡± Lex said, disappointed he couldn¡¯t get the spatial items. He really wanted to be able to summon and put away his belongings the way he did with Inn rted items from his inventory. Unfortunately, as uncooperative as the system was, Lex could only ce items he got from the system in his inventory, not other things. ¡°Alright, the first thing I need, and I think this is the perfect for that, is some fertilizer for a nt I have at the Golden Core realm. I want to help it grow as fast as I can.¡± ¡°Indeed, we have an excellent selection for that,¡± Powell said, and pulled up some items on the tablet to show Lex. Lex did not hesitate to buy double the rmended amount of fertilizer for the Delinquent Vine back at the Inn. It was unfortunate that this only grew nts up to a certain level, as the options of fertilizers would have been even better options. Lex also bought various seeds and saplings for fruit trees and vegetables. He would need to grow the area for the greenhouse once he got back, but he didn¡¯t mind. This was a good problem to have. Next, he bought an excellent binding technique for pets. It wasn¡¯t that he doubted Fenrir would not be loyal, but a binding technique would not only make it easier for Lex tomunicate, and help grow Fenrir, it would aid in the growth of both Fenrir and Lex. As long as one of them was stronger than the other, the technique would have a nurturing effect on the weaker one, as a result of the technique. Of course, regardless of who was stronger, Lex would remain the controller of the technique. He also bought some ointments that would help him increase the speed of his cultivation. It had be abundantly obvious to him that because he was cultivating the trinity, his body, soul and spirit, his speed was devastatingly slow. It was literally impossible to cultivate without external help. He bought himself a self-activating defense treasure, in case he suffered a surprise attack likest time. He also did not forget to buy more detailed information about the X-14 system as well as the Dimitri family. That took care of the things he already had in mind. After that, he began perusing the list for what they had. The list was¡­ expansive, to say the least. He ended up buying a lot of things, as well as information, that he thought would serve him well in the future ¨C including a seemingly indestructible locket. There was nothing else special about it, as far as anyone could tell, but Lex had a workaround for that, and anything indestructible had to be precious.. Unfortunately, Lex was severely limited in what he could buy as there was almost nothing above level 4 on this, in keeping with the buying power of this. With quite a bit of credit left, and no idea of what else to buy, Lex spent it all on spirit stones, seeds, ores and a few pieces of technology. He had no interest in maintaining any credit at the Emporium, as he had no idea when he would encounter it again. Then, stuffing everything he bought into one of the Emporiums lockers, Lex finally left. He¡¯d ended up spending over an hour here, much longer than he was expecting, and now he just wanted to leave as quickly as possible to avoid any possible trouble. Putting on a mask he bought before leaving the shop, Lex stepped out confidently and hailed an Air pod to the train station. He was expecting that the ¡®trains¡¯ here would actually be vastly different from what he was used to on Earth, but that wasn¡¯t actually the case. The trains looked remarkably simr to bullet trains back on Earth, but Lex wasn¡¯t in the mood to specte on the reason at the moment. Since he had obtained information on this entire star system, he naturally also knew a lot about this. He already had a destination in mind, and after buying a ticket for a private room, boarded the train. To Lex¡¯s great relief, no problems urred while he waited, and eventually, the train departed safely. ***** Tetsuya did not avoid the public crowd as he dragged Darius¡¯ body back to his house, and left him lying in front of the gate once he arrived. If something still happened to him after Tetsuya brought him back home, then no one could me him. He wasn¡¯t really afraid of any retaliation, as the only ones on this he feared was the Dimitri family. This was because on this, anyone who surpassed the Foundation realm and entered the Golden core was asked to leave the. The only Golden core experts on this were direct Dimitri family members of employees. The reasoning for this wasplex and served many purposes, but the result was that Tetsuya felt extremely safe. He had even fought off Foundation enemies while he was still in the Qi training realm, let alone now that he was in the Foundation himself. It was this well earned arrogance that resulted in what happened next. Darius had hired sufficiently skilled people long before today to take care of Tetsuya, it was just that they happened to act shortly after Lx thoroughly humiliated Darius in a public way as they were making preparations. The moment Tetsuya entered his home, it exploded. This was not a small explosion that could be covered up by local forces, this would directly attract the attention of the Dimitri family. But the assassination was far from over. Wounded, Tetsuya was trying to understand what happened from behind the protective cover of a defensive treasure, when something rammed through the cover of the treasure and directly blew his right arm off! It was only after he suffered the injury that the sound of a sniper shot rang through the street. Tetsuya, despite still being in shock, tried to move away but the trap this time was too well devised. Before he could move, however, another shot sted a hole directly through his chest. Tetsuya could not even fall as he was already on the ground, his eyes wide open in shock, his brains slowly shutting down, when a piece of debris fell on top of him, supposedly crushing him. But before he was crushed, it happened to break the golden key, teleporting the critically wounded man away. But no one saw him disappear. All the cameras which had been recording the whole incident caught a massive piece of debris crushing his body, before it too was covered in the fire that the explosion had started. Far away, the sniper sent the video to Darius before packing up and starting to run away. He had to get off this, or he would be the next one to suffer. Chapter 211 Peacock warriors[Bonus chapter] A little girl was walking by herself as she explored the Inn. Even though she was currently walking in the in garden behind the Midnight Manor, this was the most beautiful ce she had ever seen. But she was not lost in wonder as she explored this new terrain. No, she was scouting this new and probably dangerous ce, no matter what Grandma Noo said. As a 7-year-old, she was already a big girl now, so she had to do her part in keeping her family safe. Speaking of family, hers was the equivalent of royalty back on Vegus Minima. Grandma Noo told her that her parents were the strongest natives of the, and before the arrival of the Jotun forces, they used their own power to protect thergest remaining human sanctuary on the. Although it was a city, it housed nearly 10 million people, all of whom were under her parents¡¯ protection for almost 200 years. The little girl, La, had grown up hardly ever meeting her parents, since they were always fighting zombies, and spent most of her time under Grandma Noo¡¯s care. That care, on a such as Vegus Minima, took the form of extreme discipline and training. Not a day in her life had gone by, as far as she could remember, that Grandma Noo didn¡¯t strap down and bound a zombie, and then made her kill it. She had grown up under the constant threat of annihtion, so the sudden change on the caught her unaware and she could not cope. Many people told her that she was safe now, and didn¡¯t need to worry, but she could not adapt. So she continued her training and maintained her vignce. This morning, Grandma Noo told her that her father had been appointed governor of Vegus Minima on behalf of the Jotun Empire, and once things were finally settled, she would be able to live with them soon. Then her Grandma brought her here, in wait for her parents, who were apparently somewhere far away. But while her Grandma said this ce was safe, La would not risk anyone¡¯s life, and so took it upon herself to scout the area. She saw a lot of strangely dressed people and strange animals. Though they looked to be non-hostile, she kept her distance, and a dagger neatly tucked into her sleeve. That is when she encountered her first threat, and it was extremely menacing. It had an oval head, with a beak sharp enough to pierce through a man. Its eyes were hidden in a streak of ck feathers, with white streaks surrounding the ck like war paint. It had a long, blue neck to give it extreme reach, and the feathers behind its neck had opened up into a massive fan. Dozens of eyes were imprinted on the feathers, all staring at La, as if ready to hunt. Just as she was about to grip her dagger, one of thedies wearing the Inn uniform approached her. ¡°This bird is called a peacock. It¡¯s extremely gentle and loving, you do not need to be afraid.¡± ¡°I am not afraid!¡± La quickly said, though her eyes were still focused on this obvious predator. ¡°My name is Valma. What¡¯s your name?¡± thedy asked with a smile. La, however, did not reply, and eyed Velma suspiciously. Was thisdy getting close to her to reach her parents? It was not the first time that had happened, and she would not let her seed. Noticing the little girl¡¯s wariness, Velma decided to change the topic. ¡°Are you here with someone? Did you get lost? I can help you find them if you¡¯re looking for them.¡± ¡°No, Grandma Noo knows where I am. She¡¯s very strong, so she always knows where I am!¡± La said, her voice carrying an underlying threat. Velma, however, only chuckled when she heard her. ¡°In that case, do you want me to show you around? If you want, I can ask Little Blue to let you ride on its back.¡± Before La could ask who Little Blue was, Velma pointed towards a baby whale that was flying close to the ground. Behind it, Fenrir chased as quickly as it could. Though Fenrir had a higher cultivation than Little Blue, since thetter was flying, it was much quicker. At first, the two animals looked extremely scary to La, but then she noticed the many flowers sticking out of Fenrir¡¯s fur. Little Blue had showered Fenrir in flowers from near the greenhouse, and many of them had gotten stuck. Since then, they had started a game of tag that never ended ¨C mostly because Little Blue would fly out of reach whenever Fenrir got too close. After watching them for a bit, she admitted that the two animals looked cute. But the thing was¡­ she did not understand what cute was. Instead of thinking about it, it was more of a feeling she had never felt before. She was too confused to respond to Velma. ¡°I¡¯ll just go back to Grandma,¡± she said, deciding this ce was too strange. ¡°Sure,¡± Velma said, and apanied her back to the manor. Inside the manor, a middle-aged woman sat leaning back in a chair in the restaurant, smoking a cigar. In front of her sat Hera, who was borating on the details of a trade agreement that Will had proposed between the twos ¨C or more specifically, the two parties from these twos. Normally Hera would not have brought her son Jimmy with her in such an environment, but fortunately the air in the Inn was very clean, and none of the smoke from the cigar ever made it to her child, who was standing meekly behind her chair. Just as they were in the middle of their discussion, a little girl ran into the middle-aged woman¡¯s arms and whispered, ¡°Grandma Noo, this ce is very dangerous. I saw a lot of monsters.¡± ¡°If it¡¯s dangerous, then form a hunting party. We do not shy away from it,¡± Noo said, smiling at her granddaughter. ¡°Look, even that little kid is here, and he¡¯s even younger than you.¡± La turned to look at Jimmy, who was peeking at her from behind his mother, andpetition shed in her eyes. ¡°Hmph, I¡¯m not afraid. I¡¯m just submitting my scouting report,¡± she said stubbornly, before pulling out of her grandmother¡¯s arms and eyed the little boy. ¡°Come, you¡¯re in my hunting party now,¡± she boldly dered, before pulling Jimmy away to hunt some peacocks! Hera was hesitant, but eventually she said nothing. It was good that Jimmy finally had a chance to make some friends. On that day, in that backyard, the gant peacock warriors gathered its first two members. Chapter 212 Support token Lex satfortably in his private room, with his legs stretched out on an ottoman in front of him. A te of small, wrapped sweets had been waiting for him when he entered the room, some of which he had picked through and they were phenomenal. More and more, Lex was beginning to like this for its food, but that may simply be a result of excellent ingredients. After all, this was an agricultural so their ingredients must be extremely fresh. Lex munched on another sweet as he read through the description of his reward forpleting the quest to sell something to the Emporium. His quest ranking had ended up being an A, which influenced his reward naturally. But that¡¯s where the peculiarity of the Special quest came in, as the system asked him if he had a reward in mind. Lex went through his quests that remained iplete, and was reminded of one to find someone to help him run a new service. With that in mind, he asked to find the perfect employee that fit this role. The system could not reward an employee directly, but the reward was still influenced by the request. It directly scanned all thes connected to the Inn, and provided him with a list of beings most suitable for the job. The list was very lengthy, with over 100 candidates, and Lex intended to go through the list thoroughly before he made a decision. It was while he was doing this that he got another questplete notification. Questplete: Help Tetsuya avoid cmity by having him retreat to the Inn. Quest reward: Support token! Remarks:pleted the quest on a technicality, now you¡¯re thinking like an entrepreneur! Lex was confused by the remark, as he could not tell if the system was insulting him orplimenting him. ¡°Hey Mary, have we received a new guest? His name should be Tetsuya, he might be hurt.¡± ¡°Yeah, we did,¡± she replied hesitantly. ¡°But he¡¯s not just wounded, he¡¯s on the verge of death! His cultivation has been scrapped, and he has a massive hole in his chest and a missing arm! Since he had a lot of treasures on his body, and his cultivation level fell below yours, I used those as payments and sent him directly to the ORR (Organic Reconstruction Room). However, since you never set a price for the ORR, it was charged at cost, which is 1000MP per hour.¡± Lex bolted upright when he heard the news. Tetsuya was pretty strong, as Lex had witnessed himself, as he managed to incapacitate Foundation realm experts with ease. Lex could not imagine how he ended up in such a wounded state. Despite all he had been through, this was the first time someone had used his ORR, which could reconstruct missing or crippled body parts. The only limitation to the ORR was that it was limited by his own cultivation, and could only work on those at his level or below it. ¡°Alright, keep me updated on his condition.¡± With that taken care of, Lex leaned back in his chair and wondered if Tetsuya had been implicated because of him. It seemed unlikely, as he had received a quest long before he even decided to enter the arena. As for being concerned whether he would get dragged into this mess? Lex wasn¡¯t worried at all. One of the items Lex had purchased from the Emporium was called the Insincere medallion. Its effect was not perfect, but it was good enough to hide his tracks in a situation where he wasn¡¯t being directly followed. The medallion basically hid everything about him as long as he was wearing it. If he left a fingerprint on an item, it would not be his. If he dropped hair, it would not match his DNA. If he was photographed by a surveince camera, the image that would show up would not be his. Dogs would not be able to track his scent and his footprints would be wrong. Basically, any tracks he left behind would be wrong in some way. Of course, if someone had their eyes on him, and followed him directly, the medallion could do nothing about that. But he felt safe, for now at least. He looked at histest quest reward, the Support token, and smiled. It was very useful. Support token Select an Inn employee. Once selected, you can summon that employee from the Inn to your location, regardless of where you are in the universe. You can also unsummon the employee. This token was actually perfect. It was not like he was getting attached or anything¡­ but he had been concerned about leaving Fenrir alone for long periods. Although he left the pup in the care of the turtle, and he had Little Blue to apany him, Fenrir was still extremely attached to Lex. As he was a member of the Inn in an official capacity as Protector, this token worked perfectly on him. Lex used the token to bind it to Fenrir, and directly summoned him into the private room. That was a mistake, as Lex had momentarily forgotten how big the wolf was, not to mention it had been slowly growing bigger as time went by. The private room was immediately filled by the giant dog that looked confused for a moment, then immediately recognized Lex, and sat down as it tried to rub its massive head against Lex¡¯s body. Lex had spent time in front of Fenrir without the Host Attire on when they were staying in the apartment, which is why the pup suffered from no confusion in recognizing him. Lex scratched the massive pup, unaware of the warm smile that had appeared on his face. Finally, after spending some time consoling the pet, he started preparing to use the binding technique on Fenrir. Technically, Lex himself was too weak to use the technique, so what he got was a primed talisman that would automatically implement the technique when he activated it. Not wasting any time, Lex activated the talisman, and felt a warmth starting to fill him, and a bright light covered both him and Fenrir. Chapter 213 Never ending job When Darius woke up in his room, surrounded by medical equipment and nurses, the first and only thing he felt was rage. Absolute freaking rage! He wanted to scream and yell, but he had to contain himself. Although he was spoiled, he was not an idiot. The one thing he could not do was embarrass his father, so he needed to find out exactly what had happened. He signaled someone to retrieve his personalputer and sent everyone out of the room. In his mailbox, the first thing he saw was the video of Tetsuya¡¯s execution. Immense gratification filled his heart as he watched this old nemesis die. It was a shame he couldn¡¯t send this assassin after his step-brother as well, but he was already employed by the Dimitri family, so he was off limits. He watched the video a few times, then deleted it. This matter was definitely going to be investigated, and he could leave no evidence connecting himself to it. Everyone would suspect him, but as long as there was no evidence, no one would convict him. That¡¯s when he saw the various videos of himself being dragged through the streets by Tetsuya, as well as videos of himself being beaten by that kid he had attacked on the street. He wanted to explode in anger once again, but he contained himself. He took out a phone and dialed a certain number, which was picked up immediately. ¡°Are you satisfied with the results?¡± the person on the other end asked. ¡°Very, but I have another job for you.¡± ¡°Unfortunately, we can no longer work together. Our associate who did the previous job has already left the, and we have no more resources to spare.¡± ¡°I did you a favor,¡± Darius said, through gritted teeth. ¡°And in return, we did you one as well. We are now even. If, in the future, the possibility of working together arises again, we will contact you. Until then, farewell.¡± The other person shut the phone, further ruining Darius¡¯ mood. But at the same time, he understood that they hadpleted their original deal. There was no reason for them to go above and beyond. He grit his teeth and decided to take matters into his own hands. He dialed a second number, this time, to a private detective. He needed to know where that brat was staying. What to do about him wouldeter. ***** In an office, a uniformed man was filling out some paperwork. His expression was grim, though this wasn¡¯t because of any recent incident. He was just always in a grim mood. His door opened and someone entered, and just as the uniformed man was about to scold the person for interrupting him, he noticed who it was and his grim expression changed to that of surprise. Compared to the uniformed man, the person entering was much younger in appearance. But the matter only went as far as appearance, because unlike everyone else in his family, this person¡¯s first name was Dimitri. He was the founder of their family, and though it had been many years since he took part in family matters, his position of authority would never change. ¡°Ancestor, forgive me for not greeting you. I did not know of your arrival,¡± the uniformed man said as he quickly got up. ¡°Be at ease child, I don¡¯t care for formalities. I just awoke from my cultivation for an important matter. I am truly saddened to hear about your fathers passing, and would normally spend time with you to mourn, but I have urgent matters that need to be taken care of. I am told that you are in-charge of security now.¡± This was amon urrence in cultivation families. Higher leveled cultivators would often outlive many of their younger generations who did not have the same level of cultivation talent, and so could not extend their lifespan. To an outsider, this may seem tragic, but the cultivation families were already used to it. ¡°It is an honor for my father to be remembered by you, ancestor, that is enough. Indeed, after retiring from the Jotun army, I took charge of our family¡¯s forces.¡± ¡°Good. I have received a personal missive from the Jotun Empire. Increase security on alls by a hundred times and decrease sales by 40% and use whatever is not sold to increase our reserves.¡± ¡°Did something happen?¡± the uniformed man asked, his signature grim look on his face. ¡°I¡¯m not sure. I reached out to a few acquaintances, and everyone was being told to slowly start mobilizing. The few who haven¡¯t been informed yet will probably get the call soon.¡± This was highly unusual. Although the Dimitri family had leased this X-14 system from the Jotun Empire for 10,000 years, after the original lease was signed, they had not been contacted again even once by the empire, and were left to their own devices. Such a missive out of the blue was not a good sign. ¡°Do not worry too much. While this is unusual, the situation is not grave yet. I¡¯ve even reached out to all battle fronts, and there is no unusual activity. All we need to worry about is ensuring everything stays normal at our end. Has anything unusual happened on any of thes recently?¡± ¡°There was a terrorist attack in X-142, but I was going to let local authorities investigate it.¡± ¡°No, go investigate yourself. The timing might just be a coincidence, but since we¡¯re mobilizing, we¡¯ll leave nothing to chance.¡± ¡°Understood,¡± the man answered, his voice as grave as possible. When his ancestor departed, the man left his office with the determination to face a fight to the death. His subordinates did not react to his expression, however, as for them this was naught but an ordinary Monday. ***** A day passed calmly, and Lex finally departed the train at his destination. He had arrived at the Fergen Forest, one of the original and untampered sites of the. The trees in this forest were massive, with even the smallest being 200 meters in height and over 50 meters in circumference. This was thergest natural forest on the, and at least the first few miles of it were considered a tourist attraction. Beyond that there was a gray zone where people were encouraged not to enter, and after that began the territories of the wildlife. While the Dimitri family could obviously eradicate all hostile beasts or animals on the, they did not as they wanted to maintain the natural ecology of the as much as they could manage. Lex had no interest in going to those dangerous areas though, he was here purely as a tourist. ¡°What do you think, Fenrir? A beautiful sight, isn¡¯t it?¡± he said, as he walked towards one of the concession stands. Fenrir, of course, could not respond, even in his thoughts through their shared link. But, because they were now bound, Lex could at least better understand the pups feelings. What surprised Lex was that the dog had a lot of memories of pain, despite being born only a few minutes before Lex summoned him. Fortunately, those were only vague memories, and Fenrir was quickly overwriting them with new, happy ones. From the stand, Lex grabbed a map, some snacks for himself as well as some for Fenrir, and then quickly climbed onto the pup¡¯s back. ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± Lex said, and the pup started jogging towards the giant trees. The duo made an unusual sight, but still no one gave him a second look. The trees gave off a pleasant aroma, and the first was rich with all kinds of interesting nts and insects. With the help of the Fancy Monocle, they harvested some of the edible wild fruits, and the two feasted on their harvests. Towards the night, they followed the map to a designated camping area in the forest that overlooked a waterfalling out of one of the giant trees. Massive fireflies flew around the forest, giving off purple light that illuminated the campsite like a scene out of a cartoon movie. A massive bonfire in the middle of the campsite attracted the most crowds, where a group was sitting on the ground ying musical instruments that looked simr to a flute. Lex traded some of his fruits for some barbeque and rented one of the better looking tents since he hadn¡¯t brought one of his own. Fenrir made friends with a massive green colored slime and jumped on it like a trampoline. After a few jumps, he discovered the slime suddenly changed and instead of bouncing off, Fenrir fell right into the slime. Some of the kids who were watching from nearbyughed, and the pup looked aggrieved when the slime let it out. Lex chuckled, as he took the time and chatted with the locals. It may have seemed like he was just making friends and enjoying himself, but in actuality, he was doing research. What kind of activities did the citizens of X-142 like? Currently, the answer seemed to overwhelmingly be spending time in nature. He had at least until the rest of the week to find out what that exactly meant, and if there was anything else on the list. Being an Innkeeper was a never ending job. Chapter 214 Execution Two days after Lex originally checked in, a small group of people entered the Bent Benches tavern. As could be expected, the ce waspletely devoid of any customers. ¡°Is anyone here?¡± one of the men yelled in an annoyed tone. ¡°Just give me a moment, I¡¯m dealing with something,¡± replied a voice from behind the counter. The group leaned over to see a thin young man, rolled up in the fetal position. ¡°We¡¯re looking for this man, have you seen him?¡± the first man asked, holding out a picture of Lex. ¡°Just a few minutes, please, I¡¯ll be right with you,¡± the man replied, as he started rocking, his breathing bing heavier and louder. ¡°What do you mean, a few minutes? Stand up and answer me brat, you don¡¯t know who you¡¯re dealing with,¡± the man said as he jumped over the counter and reached to grab the man on the floor. But things did not proceed how they usually did. The tavern keeper reached out his hand and grabbed, not only the man¡¯s neck, but his entire body as his hand had erged into a massive w. ¡°I said, give me a few minutes,¡± he repeated himself, but his voice was no longer that of a human. It was unfortunate that the man never heard his voice, as his body had been squished within the tavern keeper¡¯s w. The rest of the group yelled as they retreated in horror at the gory sight they had just witnessed, yet their noise only aggravated the tavern keeper further. His pupils thinned into vertical slits and his face started growing into a massive maw. Green scales started to cover his skin, but before the transformation could continue, a single streak of me breathed out of his nose burnt the group to a crisp. With the interference gone, the tavern keeper closed his eyes and started taking deep breaths, slowly transforming back into the shape of a human. ¡°Take deep breaths,¡± the man kept murmuring to himself, as he continued to calm himself down in peace. ***** Lex woke up feeling rested and great, as he let out a big yawn while stretching. It was not that he let himself fall asleep and let down his guard, but that with Fenrir nearby it was a lot harder for anyone to sneak up on Lex. Fenrir was not strong in his cultivation, but his senses were unmatched. Not only could he sense living things or fruits or basically anything edible nearby, he could even urately sense the emotions of those nearby. Using that ability, Lex had spent thest day getting to know the others at the campsite. In fact¡­ ¡°Hey Joel, you guys ready?¡± Lex asked as he walked out of his tent, scratching his head. ¡°Just about,¡± answered a cat-man, or more urately a male Neko. ¡°I¡¯m just cooking up breakfast while the rest pack up. We can leave once everyone has eaten.¡± ¡°Sounds like a n to me,¡± replied Lex as he watched the group. The group wasposed of five guys and four girls¡­ eh, five males and four females. Joel and his girlfriend were Neko, but the rest were from various other races. They were tourists who came together and formed a tourist group, under the lead of an avian beast that ran a local tourismpany. As Fenrir had identified them as honest and friendly, Lex had joined their group, at least until their next destination. After that, he would decide whether to stay with them or not. After all, there was no better way to understand aliens on vacation other than to join them. As usual, Lex leapt onto Fenrir¡¯s back, and the duo went into the forest hunting for fruit. Lex had tried hunting for actual game, but there didn¡¯t seem to be many animals near the tourist areas. While Fenrir ran, Lex¡¯s mind wandered back to what Mary had told him about Tetsuya. He had not had much of a reaction to learning about the Inn, or even that he had been saved despite the seriousness of his wounds. He simply bought a Travel face wash kit, which allowed him to change his appearance for 24 hours, and left the Inn. Let alone Lex, even Mary was confused by his behavior. But there was nothing either of them could do about it. After gathering enough fruit, Lex returned to the campsite and shared his harvest with the group. Since he was tagging along, it was only right that he contributed in some way to the group. After breakfast, they left for their next tourist destination, Heaven Ind. This was a popr destination because of the unusual feature that the ind was floating! This was not a man-made ind, but was one naturally formed. ording to the tourist guide, the reason the ind floated was because the ¡®ind¡¯ was originally a massive asteroid that had unusual maic properties. It floated around constantly in the sky above arge canyon and waspletely unable to leave the canyon¡¯s boundaries. It was suspected that the canyon emitted a certain spiritual field that prevented the ind from falling, but also from moving out of the canyon itself. After a brief study conducted by the Dimitri family revealed that the ind did not contain any extremely rare ores, they renovated the top enough to amodate nt life, and turned it into a tourist destination. After extensive study, as well asmunication with the locals, Lex learnt that all thes in the X-14 system had a strong tourism industry going. The reason, as far as Lex could tell, was that since alls were firmly under the control of the Dimitri family, there was no room for internal strife. Thes were not divided into countries, but zones ording to their agricultural produce, and none of the tourist attractions were anywhere near important agriculturalnds. Theck ofrge-scale internal strife, presence of security and various attractions focused towards different species made the¡¯s prime location for a booming industry. For example, while Lex was heading towards the Ind, he learnt that swamps were a major attraction towards slimes. Another interesting, and unexpected thing Lex learnt, was that slimes were first-ss citizens of the Jotun Empire. Apparently, as far as the brief description on the list provided by the Emporium told, not only were slimes born without a lifespan, meaning they would never die unless killed, they had an unequivocally strong backing, so much so that the Empire allowed them to travel their territory without any intergctic visas. This did not match Lex¡¯s impression of the squishy, jelly-like beings that could change their bodies to immediately be excellent trampolines, but he decided to ept it. The universe was a strange ce, he had to be flexible in this thinking. The group Lex was with did not travel by train, but by a vehicle called Hover tes. It was literally what it sounded like; it was arge, t tform that rose into the air and flew in the direction you wanted. Of course, it had several formations on it to control how much wind blew into the tray so the riders wouldn¡¯t be bothered, and to prevent them from falling off. Once they arrived at the Ind, they checked into a hotel for two days, after which they would continue on their journey elsewhere. Although Lex didn¡¯t have a booking, he spent nearly all the spirit coins he brought with himself to get a room. This was really good for his research. He would take detailed notes about the hotel and reflect on how he could improve the Inn. ***** Darius was sitting in his room, smoking out of a pipe while he watched a show. It had been a while since he hired someone to look for that kid he had a fight with, and though they didn¡¯t reach out to him yet, he was confident in their abilities. After all, he had worked with them before. Suddenly, however, the door to his room was kicked down and his father entered the room with a look of such fury on his face that Darius had never seen anything close to it. He didn¡¯t know what had sparked his father¡¯s anger, but he had a strong guess. He had to maintain his innocence. ¡°Father,¡± he began saying, but before he could continue, he was pped across the face so hard his body hurled across the room! Confused, in pain, and panicking, Darius tried to look at his attack to understand what exactly was happening. That¡¯s when he noticed them. There was a group of guards, all wearing the uniform of the Dimitri family¡¯s elite forces. At their head stood a middle-aged man wearing office clothes, but there was no doubt for even a second that he was inmand. ¡°Little brat, before you start speaking, it¡¯ll be best if you hear me first. I don¡¯t care whether you were involved or not in the terrorist attack or not, since you had an enmity with the only victim, you¡¯re already on the suspects list. Do you know what that means? It means you¡¯ve already been sentenced to death, without a trial.¡± Darius physically felt his stomach lurch, and his heart stop beating for a moment as he listened to the man. No, he couldn¡¯t die! But just as he was about to speak again, the man reached forward and mped Darius¡¯ mouth shut with his hand. ¡°Whether you did anything or not, you¡¯re already guilty. I¡¯ll give you one chance to speak, so I better hear something that¡¯ll help me trace those terrorists. If I hear something I like, maybe I¡¯ll reduce your punishment. Otherwise, I¡¯ll personally make sure there¡¯s nothing left of you to put into a grave.¡± With that, the man let go of Darius¡¯ mouth and took a step back to let him speak. By now, Darius¡¯ mind had almost shut down from fear. He could not think, not even of a way to save himself. His eyes shifted to his dad, but instead of support, he only saw unbridled anger. After a few moments, when he didn¡¯t answer, the man no longer bothered wasting any time with him. He stepped forth and injected some serum into his neck. A minuteter, he asked, ¡°what connection do you have with the terrorists?¡± ¡°They reached out to me a few weeks back,¡± Darius answered, his mindpletely numbed now, and his eyes vacant. ¡°It was the day Tetsuya broke through to the Foundation realm, and he had beaten me up badly when I tried to ambush him during an academy trip. They offered to kill Tetsuya for me, as long as I did them a favor. I used my connections to distract one of the guards in the space station in the city, the one for people traveling to and from this. It was barely for a few minutes, and nothing happened, but they considered the favor done. After that, they didn¡¯t contact me again for so long I thought someone was ying a prank on me. Until they sent me a video of them killing Tetsuya.¡± The man nodded, as if he heard exactly what he expected. He turned to one of the men behind him and said, ¡°interrogate him thoroughly. Get all the information we need. Once you¡¯re done, kill him.¡± Darius did not react, as his mind was still numb, but his father did. Instead of feeling aggrieved, he was instead relieved. If they killed Darius, their anger should be reduced. Or at least, that¡¯s what he thought until the middle-aged man turned to him and said, ¡°for raising such a treasonous child, you share in the me of his crime for not providing a better upbringing. You better start thinking of ways you can help with the investigation, or your execution will be next.¡± The father fell on his knees. He was doomed. Chapter 215 Track me down Lex took a long, deep breath and held it in for a moment before he let out a sigh of rxation. Other than that small brush with near death on his first day, his trip on X-142 had been as different from his trips to other worlds as possible. This was already his 8th day on the, and he was expecting the connection to form with the Inn any day now. He had spent these days traveling and rxing, and though he ran out of money very quickly, that only made traveling even more interesting. Of course, despite the casual activities, he did not let his guard down again during the entire trip. But when he was lying on a beach chair, being served some kind of fruit juice by a sassy fairy that used her powers to levitate the tray behind her where she went, it was hard not to enjoy the moment. Often, he could not help butpare the fairy to Mary, since they were simr in size. At least, most of the time. Mary could change the size of her projection to whatever size she wanted, but mostly maintained her tiny stature. ¡°Hey Lex, we¡¯re about to head out. You want to join?¡± asked a young man. ¡°Yeah, give me a moment. I¡¯ll join you,¡± said Lex as he finally picked himself up. He was on a beach and while he normally wasn¡¯t one for sunbathing, this beach was surrounded by a formation that helped in cultivating under direct sunlight. The aid of the formation, along with the ointment he took from the Infinity Emporium, boosted his cultivation speed considerably. He had managed to increase the total number of Qi strands in his body to 32. At 33 strands of Qi, he¡¯d reach the limit of the 3rd level of Qi training, and at 34 he¡¯d officially enter the fourth level. Each level consisted of absorbing 11 strands of Qi, and while growing within each level was easy, rtively speaking, going from one level to the next was always a challenge. Of course, to onlookers, it merely looked like Lex rubbed himself in sunscreen and spent the day sleeping on the beach chair in his shorts. He stretched for a bit after getting up, winked to the fairy that had been passingments on his body all day, and left to convince Fenrir to get out of the water. The same way Lex had been lying on the beach nonstop, Fenrir had been swimming in the ocean, asionally catching some fish while he was at it. Getting him out was a greater challenge than Lex expected, and he only agreed when Lex promised to let him hunt something onnd as well. It seemed like the pup was developing a knack of hunting. Once they were ready, Lex joined Teena and Teema, two human twins who were touring the during their vacations from what Lex assumed was the equivalent of college. They were 19 years old, and though their cultivation was still in the Body Tempering phase, they were more inclined towards normal life, anyway. They did not have much talent for cultivation, and the little that they did cultivate was under parental pressure ¨C mostly for the health benefits. Their destination this time was an oasis in the only desert on the. They all sat in what looked like a massive jeep, and let the automated driving feature take them towards their destination. The journey was about six hours long, and halfway through it Lex got the notification that the Inn had sessfully been connected to X-142, and he could leave whenever he wanted. Lex smiled. This was his favorite venture to another so far! Yet, when has life been simple and straightforward? On the way to the oasis, once they had already entered the desert, they encountered three vehicles stopped in the middle of nowhere. Smoke wasing out of the farthest one, rising high up into the clear sky like a beacon, and it seemed like the other two had stopped to help. ¡°Should we check if they need help?¡± Teena asked, looking at her brother. ¡°I guess it can¡¯t really hurt,¡± Teema replied, shrugging, and inputmands to slow down the vehicle. Since he was just tagging along with them, Lex didn¡¯t give any opinion on the matter. He was just waiting till he reached the Oasis, so he could get out of sight and teleport away without arousing any suspicion. ¡°Hey, is everyone alright?¡± Teema yelled once they had stopped nearby and jumped out into the sand. Teena was looking for a water bottle in case they needed it, and Lex was also getting ready to disembark and see if he could help, when Fenrir let out a low growl. Lex was immediately alerted, as for the first time the pup took the initiative tomunicate with him through his feelings, and he wasmunicating only one specific feeling that was slowly getting stronger: danger! Fenrir¡¯s ability to sense others emotions was unimpaired by cultivation levels, as Lex had learnt, and was very urate. Lex quickly turned and noticed that the crowd that had gathered near the third vehicle were all dressed oddly. Lex had gotten a sense for how people dressed on X-142, and it was mostly very casual. These people, however, seemed to be fully equipped with some kind of tactical equipment. Suddenly, Fenrir let out a yelp as he ducked low. Hismunication this time was even more clear: they were much stronger than Lex and Fenrir, and they had decided to kill all of them. ¡°Teena don¡¯t get out of the car,¡± Lex whispered, his tone extremely grave, and without exining he quickly jumped out and ran to Teema. ¡°Get in the car and run,¡± Lex told him quickly, before he raised his hand up in the air holding some kind of device. ¡°If anyone moves, I¡¯ll fire the S.O.S beacon!¡± Lex yelled at the crowd. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Teema asked, still confused. He had lived his entire life on a unmarred by major conflict, and with little to no crime. The fact that others might want to harm him was not something he could even conceive. Yet while Teema was confused, the crowds clearly understood what was happening. They didn¡¯t know what it was that gave away their intentions, or maybe their identity, but they didn¡¯t care. They all turned towards Lex, and eyed the device in his hand as if trying to judge if he was lying. An S.O.S. beacon sent out an emergency distress signal to the nearest city or town, and alerted all emergency services. If Lex fired one off, within 15 minutes max, this ce would be swarming with police and rescue forces. ¡°Teema, there¡¯s something very wrong with these people, get in the damn car and drive!¡± Lex yelled this time, as he did not have the time to exin to the teenager. ¡°Or do you want to be responsible for Teena¡¯s death?¡± That seemed to get the message across, and the teenager was suddenly afraid. But still, before he retreated, he stopped to ask, ¡°what about you?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be fine, I have protective gear. You need to get out of here! Go!¡± Although Teema did not understand what was happening, he turned around and ran. The people did not move to pursue Teema, and instead looked at Lex with amusement. In fact, their cavalier attitude told Lex that they didn¡¯t even care about the S.O.S anymore. Whoever they were, and whatever they were doing, maybe they had contingency ns in case they got discovered. ¡°Hey kid, do you know who you¡¯re messing with?¡± one of the men asked, as he slowly started walking towards Lex. ¡°Don¡¯t move or I¡¯ll fire the beacon!¡± Lex yelled, once again. ¡°Fire the beacon, see if I care,¡± the man said, not slowing down his pace at all. By now, Teema and Teena had started their vehicle and were already leaving, but Lex noticed one of the people aiming some kind of weapon towards them. ¡°Aw to hell with it,¡± Lex said, suddenly losing his worried look, his expression turning into a casual smile. He fired the device in his hand, which was not an S.O.S. beacon, but a regr re from Earth. He did not know if anyone would see it, but it was no longer his concern. Without any outward indication, Lex wlessly entered the state of ¡®flow¡¯ and drew the Heavy Harley, firing a perfectly aimed shot towards the man aiming at the twins¡¯ vehicle. The man did not bother to dodge, as his cultivation was much higher than Lex, and could easily determine that this weapon could not hurt him, but was caught by surprise when the bullet hit his weapon instead of him, throwing off his aim. ¡°Interesting,¡± the first man, who was walking towards Lex said. ¡°Are you, a 3rd level Qi training cultivator, ying games with us?¡± ¡°So what if I am? So what if I¡¯m not? What can you do about it?¡± Lex replied, his casual voice making it perfectly clear that he was not afraid of the man. At the same time, he fired off a couple more shots, disrupting them from firing at the teenagers. They were quite a distance away by now, but Lex did not know the range of their weapons so maintained the interference. ¡°You¡¯re protecting those kids, but aren¡¯t you worried about yourself?¡± ¡°Not at all. I¡¯m standing right here, what can you do to me?¡± The man, as if aggravated, fired off a brown colored beam from his finger towards Lex, but before it got anywhere near him, a translucent blue energy shield appeared around him and blocked the attack effortlessly. This was a protective treasure Lex bought from the Emporium, capable of even defending against Nascent level attacks, and the source of Lex¡¯s confidence. ¡°Well well, so you have some protection. But can that protect you forever? Even if we can¡¯t break it now, we¡¯ve already seen what you look like. Aren¡¯t you afraid we¡¯ll track you down and kill you?¡± ¡°Hah!¡± Lex almost burst intoughter, but had to control himself. ¡°Sure, if you can, then go ahead and track me down!¡± Hoping the teenagers were far enough by now, Lex decided to stop tempting fate. He threw out all the explosives he had in his backpack at the man, activated the key he got from the Emporium, summoned all the things he bought, and teleported back to the Inn with all his things. When the smoke from the various explosions cleared, the man waspletely unharmed. In fact, even his clothes were not damaged by the explosions. His eyes, though, wore a grave look as they stared in the ce Lex stood before he disappeared. ¡°Did you get a picture of the brat?¡± he asked one of his followers. ¡°Yes, but there seems to be some interference. This image is different from his actual appearance.¡± The man pursed his lips in annoyance, then put the matter behind him. ¡°Implement n C. Moving forward, assume our location and numbers have been revealed, but the Dimitri family still doesn¡¯t know our objective, so we can take advantage of that.¡± ¡°What about the kids who got away?¡± ¡°Forget them, since our location has already been exposed, there¡¯s no reason to chase them down.¡± This group of people all seemed to be wearing the same kind of gear as the man who tried to assassinate Tetsuya, but since no one had seen them or the assassin, no one knew that there were dozens of enemies. The Dimitri family was still just hunting down that one terrorist, unaware of the danger that lurked hidden across the. After all, this was just one of the various groups that had infiltrated the. Chapter 216 Dragonburn Locket Once Lex returned to his apartment at the Inn, he automatically exited his state of ¡®flow¡¯ and breathed a sigh of relief. Although he had nned to retreat at the first sign of trouble, and had various defensive treasures, facing an uncertain situation still weighed heavily on him. Fortunately, everything went well. He could only hope that Teena and Teema managed to get far enough away. ¡°I¡¯d like to see you ¡®track me down¡¯,¡± Lex murmured once he finally rxed, and chuckled. At worst, he would just not return to that, or even that star system. How would they ever find him? Fenrir, who had also returned to the Inn as Lex dismissed his summoning, came and rubbed his massive face against Lex¡¯s body. Part of it was over his worry for Lex, and part of him was still reeling from his first experience with danger. Regardless of his size and heritage, he was still a pup of only a few weeks in age. After consoling him, Lex turned his attention to all things he had brought with him to the Inn. After a week of rest, he had a lot of work to do, and that was not considering catching up with anything that had happened at the Inn while he was gone. He directly sent the fertilizer meant for the Delinquent Vine, as well as the hundreds of seeds and saplings he bought directly to the turtle. He told the turtle to n the more important ones in the greenhouse, and the rest all over the Inn. He wasn¡¯t going to turn the entire Inn into a farm, but if a wandering guest encountered a fruit tree and wanted to pick and eat some fruit, they would soon be able to. He had no use for the various ores and technology he bought for the Emporium, so he added a storeroom to his apartment and ced all the stuff he didn¡¯t currently need there. He also stashed all the spirit stones he bought there, as not only did he not know what to spend them on, he himself could not use them for cultivation yet. Spirit stones, as with everything else in the universe, it seemed, had different levels as well. The ones avable at the Emporium were low, medium level, and very few high leveled ones. Since Lex actually had a lot of credit at the store, and didn¡¯t want to leave it there, Lex had a massive amount of spirit stones of low and medium level. It was to the extent that if the Emporium had not employed some kind of shrinking technique and stuffed them all in a special kind of chest that would prevent their aura from leaking, Lex would have been crushed to death just by the spirit stones when he used the key to teleport all his belongings to him from the locker. Lex took the various files of information he bought and neatly ced them on a shelf in his study room. These were important, and he would go over them when he had the time. Then, Lex turned his attention to the mysterious locket he had bought that even the Emporium could not identify. On a surface level, the only special thing about this locket was that it was indestructible. Yet Lex did not believe it was so simple. Or at least, he hoped not. Lex had an amazing way of figuring out the locket¡¯s speciality. He put it in the gift shop, then read its description. Dragonburn Locket A locket that was forged in the fires of a master dragon¡¯s firebreath. A dragon can study the locket to gain a deeper understanding of the intricacies of breathing fire. Lex raised an eyebrow. The locket was not useful to him personally, but it was not a bad item to leave in the gift shop. The only question was¡­ ¡°Hey Mary, any idea on how I should price this item? Its description does not mention any realms at all, so I don¡¯t know what realm of dragons it¡¯s useful for.¡± ¡°I¡¯m checking your authority, and it seems, yes, you can learn something about dragons from the system, maybe that¡¯ll help you. Dragons are a very strong, very proud, and very individualistic race. They do not focus on growing as a civilization, and instead focus more on personal growth, or at most, the growth of their individual ns. On a universal scale, their threat is greatly diminished due to theirck of unity, but on a one-to-one scale, few species exist that can match, let alone supersede, the might of a pureblooded dragon. Dragons are greatly loved by thews of the universe, and often, natural treasures will bloom near them. The natural umtion of treasures around dragons, over time, gave birth to the misconception that dragons love treasures.¡± ¡°Well, it tells me that dragons are usually rich, but I still don¡¯t know how to price the item.¡± ¡°Well, if you don¡¯t know, just pick a random price. It¡¯s not like you¡¯re suffering any losses either way.¡± Lex pondered for a moment. Since even the system thought they were rich, or at least had many treasures, it would be alright if overcharged a bit, right? Unsure of what exactly constitutes rich on a universal scale, Lex decided to price the item 10 million MP! If, after a long time, no one bought it, maybe he¡¯d reduce the price. With that done, Lex turned his attention towards the Inn, finally. ¡°Alright Mary, give me the updates on what¡¯s been happening while I was gone.¡± ¡°Well, since you connected all thes from the three star systems, we¡¯ve had a lot more guestsing in from the golden doors. Some of them decided to stay, most of them left immediately. It seems you might need to improve the wee message delivered by the holographic assistant. Finally, some of the beasts from thes around Nibiru have caused trouble. Although the higher cultivation ones seem to already know about the Inn, and haven¡¯t caused any trouble, those at lower levels have caused problems a few times.¡± ¡°Were you able to resolve the problems?¡± ¡°For now, yes. But not only do you need to invest in growing the Vine more, you need to look into other forms of security as well. As more and more racese to the Inn, the harder it will be to control them all by simply using the Vine. After all, each race has its own strengths and weaknesses. All it will take is someone good at controlling fire, and the Vine will suffer great damage.¡± ¡°Yes, I know. I¡¯ve been thinking of other ways to improve security, you don¡¯t need to remind me. That¡¯s why I¡¯m only focused on connecting to low-levels for now, to avoid the chance of stronger guests till we¡¯re ready. What else has happened at the Inn?¡± ¡°Some people with the skills you were looking for at the Inn showed up. Though they¡¯ve already left the Inn, you can still look at their information.¡± ¡°That reminds me, I have a few candidates in mind for certain jobs. Is there any way I can hire them without having to go to them personally?¡± ¡°If you¡¯d managed to hire Marlo as a valet, finding people on the variouss was a job that could have been left to him. Currently, you still don¡¯t have the ability to reach out to specific people on variouss using the system unless it¡¯s through the event panel. As your authority increases, you¡¯ll be able to eventually do it. For now, I guess the first person you should consider hiring is someone you can trust with tasks that require visiting the variouss.¡± Lex had guessed as much, and then took a deep sigh of regret. He had already thought of someone he wanted to hire for the job of collecting news, but to hire him, Lex would have to travel to Vegus Maxima, one of the three inhabiteds in the Vegus system. The situation there should be a lot better with the presence of the Jotun Forces, yet Lex still didn¡¯t want to risk it. He¡¯d already seen immortal zombies and extremely strong devils, so he wanted to stay as far away from thoses as possible. ¡°Anything else I should know about?¡± ¡°Oh yeah, Marlo¡¯s son finally woke up while you were gone.¡± That attracted Lex¡¯s attention. It need not be said that Marlo was one of the most prominent guests Lex had, and he suspected that this would not change any time soon. Lex scanned the Inn to find that Marlo, Sophia and Rafael were outside the Recovery room while Rafael was in the ORR, receiving treatment. When Rafael had been brought to the Inn, he was seriously injured, and was not only amputated, he was missing several organs as well. Now, at least his face had fully recovered while the rest of his body was still undergoing treatment. Although Rafael¡¯s eyes were open, they were vacant, with no signs of intelligence behind them. Lex expected as much, since his soul was gravely injured. Marlo should still be working on getting something to heal the soul¡­ Lex paused, because when he checked Rafael¡¯s status, he saw something extremely unusual. Once again, feeling like he owed it to Marlo to let him know what was happening due to their rtionship, he wore his Host Attire and teleported directly to them. ¡°I was checking up on the patient, and thought I¡¯d update you,¡± he said with a smile to the couple. ¡°This time, though, I only have good news.¡± Chapter 217 Xeon Already familiar with the Innkeeper somewhat now, Sophia put a great deal of stock in whatever he had to say, which is why all her attention was now focused on the Innkeeper. She did not find it strange at all that the Innkeeper teleported so abruptly, or that he immediately started speaking without any preamble. Everyone who spent some time at the Inn knew that the Innkeeper had a tendency to appear and disappear as he wished. Lex observed Rafael¡¯s status one more time before he spoke. Name: Rafael Carter Bravi Age: 37 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: crippled Species: Human Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Condition: Because a majority of the patient¡¯s body is newly constructed, or is still undergoing reconstruction, it is taking time for the soul to adjust to the new vessel. However, the soul is being quickly replenished and strengthened by an artifact within the patient¡¯s heart. Letting the patient stay in the ORR until the rest of the body undergoes reconstruction is rmended. Remarks: If it is one¡¯s destiny to die, the universe itself cannot stop it. If one is destined to live, then the universe itself will bend itself around you to provide the conditions for you to live. He felt like he should leave the matter about the artifact out, as he should afford the man some privacy at least. After all, although he himself was not aware, he was also a guest at the Inn. Not to mention, an artifact that not only keeps him from dying for 15 years but also heals the soul was ridiculously rare as far as Lex knew, so the fewer people that knew about it, the better. ¡°As your son¡¯s body is being reconstructed, his soul is also automatically healing itself. Although it¡¯s unexpected, it¡¯s not unprecedented. So, congrattions. Your son should recoverpletely soon.¡± Sophia trembled as heard the news, and couldn¡¯t stop tears from falling from her eyes. Despite all the resentment that had built up over the years, she instinctively hugged Marlo and squeezed with all her might as she tried to control her emotions. ¡°Thank you for the news,¡± was all Marlo said, as he held his wife in his embrace. His voice was just as even as when he was telling Lex his son¡¯s story. He was a strong man, in more ways than one. After checking up on the situation one more time, Lex left to give the couple their privacy. He had many things to take care of. ***** Xeon was tired. Not physically, although that drain was also there, but his exhaustion was mental. As a preeminent celebrity, exceptional artist, and all-in-all genius in the way of crafting and refining, he never got a moment¡¯s rest. Everywhere he went, he would be swarmed by a crowd of admirers, asking for autographs or requesting him to make jewelry or equipment. For goodness sakes, all he did was craft a crown that made its wear 10,000% more likely to encounter an epiphany under the Nascent realm, and a ne that absorbed harmful radiation and released it as gentle spirit energy for the wearer to absorb. Was that any reason to overwhelm him? As far as he was concerned, it was not even his best work ¨C visually speaking, of course. The exhausted drake opened the window of his 30 story castle, but was immediately inundated by the cheers of endless crowds. Immediately, he closed the window again. This is what he got for identally being discovered for hiding his identity and helping ordinary people by crafting them Gold grade equipment. What he wouldn¡¯t give to get away from it all. As if an answer to his prayer, a magnificently carved, golden door appeared in front of his eyes, hovering midair. He felt a weing call from the door, as if freedomy just a step away. He didn¡¯t even care how suspicious this was. He needed to get away from all females, and some males, who kept hurling themselves at him in the heat of lust. So, without any nning or precaution, the drake stepped through the door. Half an hourter, a suspiciously dressed man sneaked into the room where Xeon had left from, and searched. After ensuring the drake was not hiding, the man called someone. ¡°Team leader, the target has disappeared. He is not at home.¡± ¡°Continue hiding. If he doesn¡¯t reappear in a week, we can only apud the Dimitri family for being exceptionally cautious.¡± ¡°Understood,¡± the man replied before retreating into the shadows. He was not here for an assassination, but to kidnap his target. He did not often fail his missions, but in the scenario where the target disappeared, there was nothing he could do except wait and hope for his return. ***** When Xeon stepped through the door, he received a prompt asking him if he wanted to hide his identity. Although he did not know where he was going, his deepest fear was being recognized once again, so he selected ¡®Yes¡¯ and wore the sses that appeared in front of him. The drake found himself standing in front of a manor, surrounded by vast open fields and a clear blue sky. The air was so clean, breathing felt like he was partaking in a delicacy. As a drake, with much sharper senses than many other species like humans, he was extremely sensitive to noise and air pollution. It was also for this reason that he enjoyed the atmosphere at the Inn more than others as well. This wasn¡¯t even considering the concentration and purity of spirit energy in the air, that made him feel like each of his scales absorbing the energy in the air and growing stronger naturally. Two humans stood in front of the manor, and it seemed like they had been talking before Xeon¡¯s arrival, but now he had attracted their attention. He silentlymented in his heart. Such was the burden of a genius. Even with his identity hidden, he became the center of attention. It seemed gold would always shine. ¡°Wee guest, to the Midnight Inn. I am the Innkeeper, owner of this humble establishment. You look¡­ tired. Would you like to rest by our lovely and peacefulke? It is most¡­ rxing.¡± Xeon was surprised. Firstly, he was not expecting to arrive at an Inn. Secondly, he did not expect this Innkeeper was so insightful as to be able to immediately guess what he needed. ¡°Why yes, that sounds lovely,¡± Xeon said happily. ¡°You said this is an Inn? Can you tell me more about it? I desperately need a vacation.¡± Lex walked side by side with the massive, five feet tall and eight feet long drake,pletely undeterred by the sharp contrast in the appearance and personality of his guest. He looked like a living, breathing war machine, with talons so sharp they could pierce through bones like butter and glossy but heavy looking scales. Along his spine and all the way to the edge of his tail ran some kind of exoskeleton, ck, with sharp grooves and ridges. His eyes were that of an apex predator and his fangs looked like they hade out of a horror movie. His personality, however, was like that of a child. Of course, Lex had barely talked with him and so it was too soon to judge, but he had a strong gut feeling about him. He recalled the drakes status. Name: Xeon Age: 112 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: Golden Core Species: Drake Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Bloodline: Volcanic Drake Condition: Suffering from severe mental exhaustion from being worshiped for too long. Rest and rxation are rmended. Remarks: It is not without reason that dragons look down on drakes, but some try harder than others to shame their lineage. As they walked, Lex introduced the Inn to the drake, giving him the usual spiel about catering to the whole universe etc. The more the drake heard, the happier it became. In the grand scheme of things, his poprity was probably infinitesimal. There was probably no other guest in the entire Inn who knew about him, which meant that he would no longer be endlessly hounded so long as he was here. He had not even reached theke yet, and already the drake was feeling good. Lex, however, was thinking about something else. He either had to get Gerard a new vehicle, or he seriously needed to find someone to upgrade it ording to his requirements. If more drakes showed up, they could not chauffeured around in a tiny cart as they simply would not fit, and if they had to be walked everywhere, it would take forever. Speaking of Gerard¡­ Lex had just been talking to him in front of the manor. The old looking man had started showing signs of his age regressing BECAUSE HE WAS ALREADY AT THE PEAK OF QI TRAINING! Lex wanted to rip his own hair out. Not that he wasn¡¯t happy for Gerard, but he was the one with the system, so wasn¡¯t he supposed to be the fastest in cultivating? Ifpared to the standards on Earth, his cultivation was increasing like a rocket. But whenpared to Gerard, Lex felt like he was barely moving. To give reference to Gerards incredible speed of cultivation, it must be remembered that it took Alexander two years to break into the Foundation realm, and he set a world record. Gerard, technically speaking, had barely been cultivating for two months! Not only that, Gerard informed Lex that he felt like his bloodline was about to have a breakthrough, and requested a small break so he could focus on that. Lex really needed to step up his own game. Chapter 218 Prestige levels Once they arrived at theke, Xeonfortably nestled himself on a massive recliner Lex had designed specifically for beasts, and simply decided to enjoy being around people without being the center of attention. He was intrigued about how people behaved in their free time, and what they normally did. More than the rxing environment, it was the anonymity that he enjoyed. Making sure that he did not need anything else, Lex left. During his research on the X-142, the one thing he discovered wasn¡¯t that hecked many of themon features of a luxury resort, such as a spa or massage clinic. No, what Lex realized was that he had not given enough emphasis to his special features. He did not need to replicate the facilities of other ces; he needed to focus on what made him special and expand it. He looked at his MP, and noticed that he had only made a profit of 12,000 MP in the week he was gone, a result of his various services and items sold in the gift shop. This made his total MP at 4,942,000. He looked at the various rooms he had, at least the ones provided by the system. He had the Guild room, Meditation room, Mystery trial, which wasn¡¯t really a ¡®room¡¯ but it was provided by the system and Lex earned a hefty profit from it, the various recovery rooms and the training room. The first thing Lex did was upgrade each of the rooms to the maximum he could with his authority, which was the same as his authority: level 4. The mystery trial, of course, was not included in these since Lex could not directly upgrade that. The next thing he did was to increase the number of rooms. He expanded his recovery room to the size of a proper hospital building, so that it could easily amodate more patients. He turned the training room on Main street into a high-rise tower, with each floor being a training room. This was the second high rise in the Midnight Inn skyline, but Lex had alreadye to ept that he would end up having at least one metropolitan area as he expanded. The guild room was unique in that Lex did not need multiple versions of it, as just a single one could cater to the needs of all his guests. Furthermore, while the other rooms only enhanced the service they provided as they were upgraded or added slight enhancements, such as the training room providing a yback feature of the trainee when they use their techniques, the guild room gained a couple entirely new features. While Lex found most of the new features barely a moderate improvement, such as allowing guests to post requests to the guild from anywhere in the Inn and a small notification to someone whenever their request waspleted, regardless of whether they were in the Inn or not, there was one he found particrly impressive. A feature offered by the gift shop was that when someone bought an item, they delivered the item in apressed form of a card, which could then be converted back into the original item whenever the user required. The new feature of the guild was that theymissioned empty such cards called Requisition cards, which the person would have to purchase separately, of course. But these cards could not be used randomly, as they served a very specific purpose. A person epting a request that would require the submission of certain materials could take the card, and then absorb the item directly into the card when they were back on the they came from. At that point, the card would automatically teleport to the Inn, and submit the material to the guild room. Since the card had a limit to the amount of material it could absorb, this wasn¡¯t a perfect solution for everyone. But it did add an element of convenience. Most importantly, it gave Lex hope that one day the Inn would provide him some way to instantly store any item he wanted in a separate space. The System inventory was too picky in this matter. The improvement in the meditation room was not anything new, it still helped with cultivation and understanding, just with a stronger effect now. It did not sound phenomenal, but sometimes, that was enough. The Meditation room did not require any bells and whistles, just improving its existing functions was more than enough. With these things taken care of, Lex was nning on meeting with Harry to see how he could help Harry grow his abilities, but was informed by Mary that Alexander wanted to meet him. As his first big client, Lex had a special fondness for Alexander, and so did not waste any time in scanning the Inn and appearing near his location. He was with his grandmother, Audrey, and the two of them were sitting alone in one of the secluded viewpoints of the Midnight mountain. Lex immediately sensed that the mood was somewhat unusual, but guessed it had to do with the fact that Helen still had not returned to the Inn after so long. ¡°Innkeeper,¡± the grandchild and grandmother duo greeted him together. Their tone was formal, as usual, but they carried an air of solemnity about them. Considering the fact that even Audrey was being so serious, this might be about more than just the girl. ¡°Please, be at ease. What can I do for you?¡± Alexander exchanged looks with his grandmother once, before he turned to the Innkeeper and said, ¡°I remember you once mentioned Prestige levels and their perks. With my current spending, I should be around Prestige level 3, right?¡± Lex was surprised. To be honest, hepletely forgot that prestige was even a thing, other than just a category on the status screen. He scanned Alexander to check his status. Name: Alexander Morrison Age: 17 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: Initial Foundation realm Species: Human Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 3 Remarks: A walking, talking main character without the tragic backstory. Rob him blind, give him something to be sad about. ¡°Indeed, your current Prestige level is 3,¡± Lex told him, as he quickly checked on the perks each level gave mentally. Prestige Level 1: Can receive sses equipped with rk Kent effect (only work while at the Inn) Prestige Level 2: Can instantly teleport to the Inn from anywhere in the universe once (great for escaping enemies) Prestige Level 3: Can travel to one-way a world connected to the Inn (can only be used once every 10 years) Prestige Level 4: 5% discount on all Inn services, ess to special services, allow you to use any Inn service once (every ten years) while not at the Inn (effect of meditation room while cultivation, recovery pod, etc.). The fourth prestige level was new, and probably unlocked with his increased authority. But since literally not a single person had used their prestige perk, other than the sses to hide your identity, Lex had not even remembered to check it out. ¡°Alright, well, I¡¯d like to use the perk awarded to me by my level three Prestige and travel to Vegus Minima.¡± ¡°Are you sure? It¡¯s a one-way trip, meaning you will not be able to return to Earth or Mars. At least, you won¡¯t be able to return for the next 10 years, until the perk resets.¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯m sure. Whether it¡¯s Earth, Mars or even the new Minor realm, my family can handle them fine without my aid. The best way for me to contribute to the family, and speed up my own progress, is to leave and head out on my own.¡± For a moment, Lex didn¡¯t know if he admired Alexander or thought he was idiotic. Leaving thefort of home and going to face the unknown required a lot of courage. Then again, there were probably millions of people who would literally kill to be in his position, but he was giving it to take risks that may harm him greatly. ¡°Well, alright then. Are you ready? I can send you off whenever you need.¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯m ready,¡± he said, as he picked up a backpack. ¡°Is there somewhere in particr on the you want to go?¡± Lex asked as he prepared to activate the system. He learnt that being able to pick a location not blocked by protective formations to be teleported to. Even then, the restriction of the protective formations wasn¡¯t because the system couldn¡¯t teleport there, but to honor the privacy of the¡¯s inhabitants. Otherwise, people could directly teleport into bank vaults or secure locations and cause havoc. ¡°Yes, I¡¯ve already discussed my arrival with Lieutenant g, who will then help me enroll in the army. So, I would like to be teleported to him.¡± Upon discovering that the system considered that an eptable target, Lex looked at Alexander onest time, before teleporting the boy away. His life would be drastically different now, but Lex was rooting for him. Then he turned to look at Audrey and asked, ¡°this was a brave decision.¡± ¡°Not really,¡± the breathtakingly beautiful woman replied. ¡°His stupid father is too controlling, the boy needs a bit of freedom. Do you know, he still hasn¡¯t had a single girlfriend?¡± The woman genuinely seemed angry as she said that, before walking away. Try as he might, Lex could find no deep or hidden concern for the boy, disguised in her behavior. She must really want him to start dating. Chapter 219 Younger generation Once he was done with Alexander, Lex went to check up on Harry. The barber kid was doing exceptionally well. His cheeks had filled out a little and his eyes had vigor that he hadcked when Lex first met him. Lex could not tell heads or tails of his cultivation, but he was confident enough to cut the hair of several Qi training cultivators each day, and that¡¯s all that Lex needed to know. When asked if there was something he needed, he blushed, and after thinking for a few moments, said he didn¡¯t need anything. He was thoroughly confused about what he was thinking, but if it was important, he would eventually reach out. John happened to be in the Mystery trial, so Lex decided to skip meeting him for now. Done with these tasks, Lex returned to his room, rubbed himself down with the ointment he received, and started cultivating. Using his Leo persona, Lex had previously ced several orders of equipment and ammunition to be delivered at fixed intervals, both to Will and Chen. This way, he wouldn¡¯t need to ask them again each time he was done visiting a world, and avoid ovepping the appearance of Leo with the Innkeeper. As far as anyone was concerned, and ording to what Leo told Z, Leo had to go to handle some personal affairs and would not appear for a long time. Once he received his next batch of equipment, he would head out to another. X-142 was a very suitable for the purpose of attracting clients for the expo in six months, but he would need more. Until then, however, Lex simply focused on his cultivation. Two dayster, Lex had managed to gather a total of 34 strands of Qi and had entered the 4th level of Qi training. He had no intentions of stopping training, however, as the feeling of getting stronger was actually quite addictive. Until¡­ ¡°Hey Lex, there¡¯s an unusual situation. You might want to pay attention to this.¡± It was quite rare for Mary to interrupt his cultivation, as she would normally wait for one of his breaks, so the seriousness of the matter was apparent. Lex concluded his cultivation, stabilizing his absorbed Qi, and got up. ¡°What¡¯s the issue?¡± ¡°One of the guests has gotten into an argument with one of the waitresses.¡± Lex raised an eyebrow and quickly scanned the Inn, found the problem and sighed. Lex was not surprised that the culprit was one of the teenagers from Troy academy. ¡°Shut your mouth you stupid skank, I know what you were doing!¡± hollered a girl ballistically at one of his waitresses. Lex did not have much personal interaction with this waitress, and did not know her name, but that did not mean he would let one of his workers get bullied. But he needed to understand the situation first, so he quietly listened. ¡°Please, guest, it¡¯s nothing like that. You must be misunderstanding¡­¡± ¡°Misunderstand my ass,¡± the overly privileged teenager yelled again. ¡°You were flirting with my boyfriend. I saw how you were ogling him. Keep your skanky ws away from him or I¡¯ll make you regret it. You¡¯re lucky the principal has strictly banned us from fighting, or I¡¯d be squeezing your head into the ground and shaving it bald.¡± ¡°I assure you,¡± the waitress replied, panic and desperation in her voice, ¡°I was not making any advances on the guest. He requested some help, and I was only inquiring¨C¡° ¡°Oh, you¡¯re calling me a liar? We can just ask Sean. Hey Sean, did you call this skank?¡± The screaming girl turned towards her boyfriend. He was standing together with a group of friends, snickering as they whispered amongst themselves. When asked, he quickly denied asking the waitress for anything. Lex frowned. Since he could review any events happening at the Inn at any time, he quickly rewinded and saw that the boy had indeed asked for the waitress specifically. In fact, when Lex heard some of the remarks the boys were passing when they called her¡­ Lex¡¯s demeanor darkened. He scanned the Inn and found the principal of the academy, who was sitting with a few friends and chatting in a restaurant in Avalon. Lex directly sent his voice and told him to show up at the location of the argument, ensuring the displeasure in his voice was evident. The principal nearly fell out of his seat when he recognized the voice, but Lex was already not paying attention anymore. As pissed off as he was, he slightly regretted that the screaming brat hadn¡¯t actually physically attacked at any time. That would have made the situation simpler to resolve; he could have directly retaliated. Before the fight could continue any further, and before Lex had to hear anymore screaming, he took a deep breath to stabilize his mood, and teleported over. ¡°What seems to be the issue here?¡± he asked as soon as he appeared. His voice was neutral, and did not betray his true feelings, but it was loud and carried clearly to the ears of all who were watching. Many of his workers who were also watching breathed a sigh of relief, and hope twinkled in their eyes. The guests had a different sparkle in their eyes, as they avidly waited to watch the drama unfold. The screaming girl was not intimidated by the Innkeepers arrival, but instead became excited. She had grown in thep of luxury, and was used to getting her way, but that did not mean that she was an idiot. She had a clear understanding of businesses, and she understood the extent they would go to to preserve their image. Her reason for causing amotion was valid, as the waitress had indeed been overly friendly with her boyfriend, in her opinion, and in such a scenario where she was in the right, along with her background, usually yed out pretty much in the manner she wanted. It was unfortunate for her that her experience was limited to Earth where her background actually mattered, and that Lex did not have a boss he needed to appease by maintaining a positive rtion with his customers ¨C even the annoying ones. ¡°This desperate skank here was throwing herself at my boyfriend!¡± she exined to the Innkeeper in a haughty voice. ¡°Is that the kind of establishment you run here? Interfering in your guests¡¯ lives and taking what you want?¡± The girl was quite proud of her usation, and just waiting for the Innkeeper to start appeasing her. Lex looked at his waitress, who was staring back at him with hesitation and fear in her eyes. ¡°What happened?¡± he asked her, his voice noticeably softer. ¡°The¡­ the guest¡­ kept asking¡­ me to bring things¡­ for his friends. I was only¡­ doing what the guest wanted,¡± she replied, trying hard to keep herself from stuttering. ¡°Lies! She¡¯s lying! She kept flirting with¨C¡° ¡°Stop,¡± Lex said, his voice rippling through the air and freezing the screaming girl. He waved his hand, and a screen appeared in the air in front of everyone, disying the events as they yed out. Everyone watched, including the aggrieved waitress, as the boys kept taunting and flirting with the waitress. Something Lex didn¡¯t catch the first time, but noticed this time, was that one of the boys even tried to pinch her, and winked at her when she managed to avoid it. The situation was clear to everyone who watched it, and the screaming girl blushed with her fists clenched as she watched. It was evident that her boyfriend was the one harassing the waitress, but she couldn¡¯t ept it. But the situation was escting, as their principal had also run over by now, and immediately panicked when he saw what the screen disyed. Unaware of what actually urred, he thought it was the horrendous behavior of the boys that agitated the Innkeeper. ¡°I think it¡¯s obvious what really happened,¡± Lex said, as he looked at the girl. To be honest, he really wanted to punish her in some way, but at the same time didn¡¯t want to go as far as to use violence. He controlled the agitation in his heart and suppressed his rising anger as he turned to the principal. ¡°This is an establishment that takes care of its guests, but never at the expense of my staff. As this is the first time something like this has happened, I will let it go by simply banning the girl and those boys. Should it happen again, the repercussions won¡¯t be as simple as a ban.¡± ¡°My gravest apologies Innkeeper,¡± the principal began, wiping the actual sweat off his forehead. ¡°I promise you, something like¡­¡± ¡°I disagree!¡± the girl screamed loudly, cutting the principal off, as she red at the Innkeeper. Not only had the Innkeeper ignored her, and dictated a ¡®punishment¡¯ for her to her principal, just the fact that he had exposed her and humiliated her in public drove her insane. Normally, she really knew what lines not to cross, but as a spoiled child experiencing anything but adoration and support, the logical part of her brain was overridden by her erupting anger! Of course, she was angry at her boyfriend, soon to be ex-boyfriend as well for shamelessly flirting with other girls. Currently, however, she was still focused on the waitress and the Innkeeper. ¡°Just because she didn¡¯t say anything doesn¡¯t mean she¡¯s not guilty! It¡¯s her fault for unting herself in front of all those boys! And you! Do you feel proud, bullying a little girl? Since this is a problem between me and her, you should let us handle it ourselves! If you¡¯re shameless enough to interfere in a fight between the younger generation, don¡¯t be surprised when the same happens to one of your workers in the future!¡± The principal nearly fainted as he heard the girl screaming, and almost already epted today as the date for his funeral. Lex, however, turned to look at her, his neutral appearance turning grim, his anger beginning to seethe. Chapter 220 A hero straight out of an anime ¡°Before you do anything, someone sent you a message I think you should listen to,¡± Mary suddenly interrupted Lex¡¯s thoughts, before directly ying the message. Considering the current situation, Lex knew Mary would only interrupt him if it was important, and indeed it was. Firstly, her timely interruption woke Lex from his stupor. He realized that he had once again be furious, the same way he had on X-142, though obviously not at the same level. It was strange, Lex never had any anger issues in his life prior to this. But then again, he lived a life where he never really encountered any bullying or tant antagonization. Fortunately, once he realized that, he quickly calmed down. Secondly, the message provided him with a way to resolve this situation without having to resort to violence. Well, without directly having to resort to violence. Before he said anything, though, he scanned the audacious girl. Name: Heidi Age:18 Sex: Female Cultivation Details: Qi training level 3 Species: Human Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Remarks: She reeks of a girl with Daddy issues. Her boyfriend could either be extremely fortunate, or extremely unfortunate ¨C there is no third option. With nothing special in her status worthy of note, in Lex¡¯s mind this matter was no longer worthy of his attention. So far, he had avoided trouble at his Inn due to the clear intimidating reputation he had established, but there would always be people who were not guided by logic. In fact, there were likely more of those out there than the logical type, it was just that Lex had the good fortune of avoiding most of them so far. Normally, Lex would address others as ¡®dear guest¡¯ to make them feelfortable and respected, but this time, he could not be bothered. ¡°Heidi, this is the Midnight Inn. We take pride in our service to any and all guests who honor decorum, but for those who disy impropriety, we have no patience. This is not a feud between the ¡®younger generation¡¯. It is simply you mistreating one of my staff, and me not standing for it. It is already a testament to my good temper that I even bothered to provide an exnation for my decision, let alone the light punishment I dered.¡± The Innkeeper¡¯s expression was only mildly perturbed, but all who were watching felt the pressure of his words. It was like a suffocating feeling, pressing down on one¡¯s chest, keeping them from breathing. For a moment, some were truly afraid of what would happen next, and were ready to escape at a moment¡¯s notice. It just so happened that Ragnar, the General in charge of the Jotun forces in the Vegus system, happened toe to the Inn just in time to witness these things. He had originallye to the Inn because he needed to consult the Innkeeper on certain matters, but decided it was best to wait till the situation was resolved. ¡°Since you are from an underdeveloped, it makes sense that you cannot understand that being served by my employees is a privilege and an honor, but it is not my ce to exin these things to you. Originally, since you were sensible enough not to actually try to harm my employee, I was simply going to send you back to your and end this farce. Yet it seems your words have struck a nerve with someone, and so, I will indeed let the ¡®younger generation¡¯ handle it.¡± Heidi, who was originally furious, was now flushed with embarrassment and wild jealousy. She used him of bullying and tried to discredit him in public since she was so used to being around people who cared more for face than anything else, but the ring indifference in his eyes let her know that if she had not harassed one of his employees, she would never enter his eyes for the rest of his life. His apathy for her was only matched by his concern for his employee. When was thest time someone had cared like that for her? Before she could think much further, however, someone came and stepped in front of her. He was one of the more renowned workers at the Inn, Z. Not only did he have a crowd of mothers wanting to spoil him, and the odd girl finding his shyness cute, but he was extremely popr amongst Lex¡¯s employees as well. While they all had unique personalities, most of Lex¡¯s workers had an air of naivety to them, and it was only with Z¡¯s incessant guidance that they took care of themselves somewhat. Of course, he still would not show his concern openly. With everyone¡¯s first paycheck of 100 MP, he had them buy phones, and he shared all his concerns over a discord server for the Inn employees only. Right now, though, he did not look like a shy geek who spent all his time in front of a screen. Currently, he was looking up at Heidi (he was shorter than her) with his arms folded and a look of disgust on his face. No one could tell at all that he practiced this look in the mirror every time he saw an awesome anime protagonist. ¡°For insulting big sister Pam, I could diss you so long and hard, it would put shame to every diss track in history. But I don¡¯t have time to waste on the likes of you, I¡¯m right in the middle of watching Ovedy, so how about we get right to it. I challenge you to a fight in the arena. If I win, apologize to sister Pam. If you win, I¡¯ll apologize on sisters behalf and give you all the MP I have.¡± Internally, Z snickered. He only had 1 MP left. Heidi suddenly realized that a massive crowd had gathered, and now they were all watching her. Not only were there numerous guests, slowly more and more of the Inns workers had started to gather. This was the first time any of them faced such a situation, and as a tightknitmunity, they were all extremely concerned for Pam. Even with her inted ego, anger and embarrassment clouding her mind, she started feeling pressure under the gaze of the enormous crowd, and was thinking of what she could do. But before she could think of anything, Z spoke once again. ¡°Of course, since the whole matter started with you guys taking advantage of sister Pam, you must join in the challenge as well.¡± He was, of course, looking at Sean and his friends. ¡°Naturally, I¡¯ll take you all on together. Don¡¯t worry, I know this is too unfair a fight for you guys, so I¡¯ll only use one hand.¡± As soon as Z said those words, the crowd erupted in murmurs. Lex felt his heart drop, but he did not let it show on his face. He wasn¡¯t even sure if this was the same Z who never moved from in front of the TV screen. He had never seen him jog, let alone fight, and now he was handicapping himself. If he failed, Lex wouldn¡¯t know where to bury his face from embarrassment. Heidi, on the other hand, suddenly saw hope. Like she knew how to escte situations, she recognized the current one very well. This kid was trying to show off in front of some girl, she herself had experienced such things a hundred times. She had to take advantage of the situation before the kids¡¯ heads cooled down. She would vent all her frustrations on him! ¡°I¡¯ve really seen it all,¡± she yelled, making sure all the crowd heard her voice clearly. ¡°The Innkeeper of the famous Midnight Inn likes to bully little girls, and the rest of you like to force us into fights! I¡¯m not as barbarish as you, but that doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯m afraid of you! Come on Sean, let¡¯s go! Or is the only thing you can do is ogle at dirty skanks? And you, little kid, don¡¯t cry when you lose! I¡¯ll have you beg for an apology for every dirty look that ugly wench threw at my boyfriend.¡± By calling out her boyfriend, she put the pressure on him to join her in the fight alongside her. She really needed him and his friends as she herself¡­ could not fight at all! They were living in the 21st century, with her prestigious background when would she ever need to fight? Her cultivation realm was only to prolong her youth and keep up with her siblings. Word of the fight spread across the Inn almost immediately, and almost all the guests showed up to the arena to watch the fight! There had been a few matches here regrly since Marlo and Brandon had their duel, and it had be one of the most popr spots and always hosted a crowd, either supporting a fighter or just enjoying the match. None of that couldpare, however, with the massive crowd that was gathering now. Not only because of all the guests, but because after asking special permission, all the workers across the Inn came here to show their support for Z. Every one of them seemed to take the feeble looking kids win for granted. Only Lex was worried inside, though one would not be able to tell by looking at him. Chapter 221 A bitter fight The battle arena was much smaller than the coliseum that used to host massive crowds, even the few hundred guests and workers now had their vision blocked. The few existing seats were filled to beyond their capacity, with many people sitting on each other¡¯sps. Lex, who was watching the scene with his arms folded, standing midair, let loose a sigh as he had no choice but to make the arena and its stands bigger. He really wanted to avoid spending his MP on nonessential things, but in the end quality of life improvements did count as essential for an Inn. With a wave of his hand, and 30,000 MP from his bnce, the arena spontaneously turned into an open-air stadium. The crowd that was standing suddenly found themselves sitting. The nearby food stall was naturally incorporated into the stadium, and some of the workers found themselves holding a tray with a strap round their neck, full of hot dogs, fries, and a few foreign dishes from the others the Inn was attached to. Ragnar, who had been floating in the air right beside the Innkeeper, was impressed as usual. The Innkeeper had a certain ir in doing seemingly impossible tasks with casual effort. Xeon, who also suddenly found himself sitting down, was fairly impressed, but more inspired! This Inn was just lovely! He was too used to being able to predict things, which affected his creativity, but now he was bursting with ideas. He really wanted to go ask the Innkeeper if he created this out of thin air, or summoned a pre-existing building from somewhere else. The answer would guide him in his next invention. On stage, Z stood casually with his arms still folded, looking indifferently towards Heidi. From time to time, his armor would crack and his cool expression would momentarily shift to an awkward smile, but he always regained his cool quick enough for anyone to notice. He hoped. On the other end stood Heidi and Sean, along with four of his friends. To be honest, his friends did not want to get involved in this, they were just having some fun earlier by teasing the waitress. But they didn¡¯t even have time to process what happened when Z challenged them, and Heidi epted on their behalf. Even after she epted, they tried to get out of it, but the crowds were too big, and they were under too much pressure. Anyway they saw it, it looked like they were bullying a little kid. They were hoping to get Z to take back his challenge by pressuring him until someone told them that it wasn¡¯t an unfair fight. After all, Z was an employee for the Innkeeper. How could he be judged by normal standards? Maybe if they were able to fight him, or even beat him, they might be able to earn the opportunity to impress the Innkeeper and get hired by him. The logic of being rewarded by the Innkeeper for beating his own employee was extremely wed, but from the point of view of these kids whose lives only revolved around their own needs, it made perfect sense. Everyone was split on who they thought would win, some anticipating the Inns employee to wipe the floor with these kids, while others thinking he would be overpowered due to their numbers. Lex was among the people who were undecided. Z, albeit his introverted personality, was not stupid so he should know what he can handle. At the same time, Lex had never seen any of his workers fight so he really didn¡¯t know what to expect. He hadn¡¯t even given them any techniques, only providing them with cultivation methods, so what could he really achieve? Just as the tension was slowly building up, and Heidi was furiously whispering to Sean, telling him how to attack, the Innkeeper finally spoke. ¡°I would like to give a reminder to stop the fight in a timely manner in case the opponent is unable to continue. I also do not want anyone attacking to kill.¡± His voice was cid, as if he already knew the result, but was only speaking for the formality of it. As Lex did not like giving long speeches or dramatic build ups, he directly said, ¡°begin.¡± The group of teenagers from Troy academy as well as Z were taken by surprise by the sudden start, but Z recovered first. True to his words, Z folded his left arm behind himself and extended his right arm forward and flicked his fingers, as if indicating them toe attack him. As if that wasn¡¯t provocation enough for the extremely prideful teenagers, music started ying catching the audience by surprise. Then someone noticed that there was a bluetooth speaker hanging from one of Z¡¯s belt loops which was the source of the music. ¡°What do you think you¡¯re doing?¡± Heidi asked, her body trembling from fury. Let alone being insulted as such, she felt like the level of disregard being shown to her was monumental. This kid was totally taking this fight as a joke! ¡°It¡¯s my theme music,¡± Z answered very seriously. ¡°I¡¯m still working on it, but all the heroes have background music when they fight right? This is just an electronic copy of the music from Attack on Tetanus, but it¡¯s all I had right now.¡± Unable to process what Z was saying she let out a frustrated scream, before yelling at her partners. ¡°What are you waiting for? Can¡¯t you see he¡¯s humiliating you? Hurry up and end this!¡± Sean was a typical bully and liked to take advantage of people when no one was watching. Being under the scrutiny of hundreds of people made him hesitant, but his ego and pride prevented him from backing down. ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± he said to his friends, as he slowly started walking towards Z, trying to look cool. 5 secondter, when he was still walking and had not even covered a third of the distance, he suddenly became hyper-aware of the hundreds of eyes on him, and how long it would take to reach Z at this rate. Suddenly getting flustered, he let out an angry yell, and bolted towards him. Despite what Heidi thought, Z was taking this fight very seriously from the beginning. Seeing his opponents rush at him, Z¡¯s eyes suddenly shone with a silver light as he activated Regalia Bloom, the bloodline all the Inn¡¯s workers seemed to share. From his pocket emerged a trading card of an anime Z liked to watch, covered in a silver light as well. A lot of the guests watching assumed it was some kind of weapon, the higher realm cultivators recognized it as some kind of card, and only some very few cultural connoisseurs from Earth recognized what it really was ¨C after all, the figure of a small ming lizard on it was unmistakable. Z waited till his foes were closer and, timing it perfectly with the beat drop,unched his attack! The silver card flew too fast for the kids to follow and so Sean was caughtpletely unprepared when he felt the t of the card smack him on the face so hard that he lost bnce and tripped! While the attack itself had not been too hard, Z did not identally want to kill him so he controlled his strength, the sound of the smack was like a p of thunder that rang across the stadium. The crowd erupted in cheer and Lex secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but the four boys behind Sean panicked! The sound was loud enough to scare them, and the way Sean had fallen over made them assume it was a devastating blow. Feeling a mix of anxiousness, fear, anger, hesitation and confusion, they did the only thing they could think of, and attacked Z blindly! The man of the hour, Z, did not bother to move from his stance as his eyes followed the four boys who were trying to attack him from all sides. With a blinding silver glow, the card streaked through the air, smacking faces before anyone could get close. Since the attacks weren¡¯t strong enough to actually knock them unconscious, Sean and the boys picked themselves back up, thinking themselves hardened warriors who could resist a lethal blow. Battle cries drowned Z¡¯s music, and various techniques shed through the air, but the symphony of pping faces never paused, and Z had yed his music on repeat so it didn¡¯t matter if he missed any of the good parts. It was bitter fight and a testament to Z¡¯s endless will that he never ttered under the relentless onught. After all, standing still in the sunlight for so long had caused him to start sweating, and he had forgotten to wear deodorant! It was only a slight absolution from his plight that every time he hurled an opponent with a face p worth of a shounen MC, their bodies would blow a gentle wind that somewhat cooled him. In the stands, the Troy academy principal didn¡¯t know whether to be relieved whether his students did not harm the Innkeepers worker, or embarrassed at their predicament. Any positive image Alexander had created for the academy during the Midnight Games had been wasted by these fools. In the end, all he could do was console himself by saying that it was an honor to lose to someone from the Midnight Inn. Yes, that was it. For all he knew, Z might even be the Innkeepers personal disciple. Yes, it waspletely honorable to lose to such a fighter. On stage, Z finally used up 4% of his bloodline power. These were formidable enemies indeed. Chapter 222 Ragnar gets a room While Z felt that the fight had gone on forever, barely a few minutes had passed. Even with him holding back, being pped in the face repeatedly by a card reinforced by his bloodline power made Sean and the kidsy on the ground with swollen faces, unable to get up. Heidi instead, stood frozen. It was not fear that painted her face, but shock! Sean and the rest may not be at Alexander¡¯s level ¨C to be honest who was? Yet still, they had a decent standing within Troy academy. Their physical fitness was high, they excelled at sports and they had all taken some form ofbat training. Z¡¯s statement about fighting with only one hand had turned into a joke. From start to end, he had not moved an inch. She grit her teeth, but as much as she didn¡¯t want to feel pain, the dire situation had woken her from her privilege induced rage. Vaguely, some of the things her father told her shed in her mind, and, as much as she hated to do it, she walked forward. The rage, the frustration, the bitterness on her face only entuated the audience¡¯s enjoyment. It was like watching a scene from a drama. Most of them did not even know what had prompted the fight, but that no longer mattered. In situations like this, the winner was in the right. They were waiting to see what she would do. Would she attack? Would she scream? Would she use him of cheating? Her actual decision surprised everyone. When she reached close enough to Z, she suppressed all her feelings and made herself say, ¡°end it. I refuse to give up, and I don¡¯t want to be insulted by some ¡®I don¡¯t hit women¡¯ speech.¡± Z, who could already feel a bead of sweat roll down his forehead, could not wait to finish the match either. Like silver lightning, the card shed through the air, followed by the resounding sound of thunder that was caused by the p on Heidi¡¯s face. Once she fell on the ground, she did not bother getting up, and only focused on holding back the tears that were welling up in her eyes. She searched the crowd until her eyesnded on Pam. She had heard many people say that emotional pain was a lot worse than physical pain, but her stinging, throbbing cheek felt a lot worse than any embarrassment. Of course, thebination of being embarrassed and being in pain definitely superseded all of them. ¡°I apologize for insulting you,¡± she said through gritted teeth. ¡°It was my fault for jumping to conclusions.¡± Z nodded, at seeing her apologize, then walked off stage to ensure Pame was alright. Heidi, though, wasn¡¯t done yet. She then turned towards the Innkeeper who had been watching from the sky and said, ¡°I apologize for my misbehavior. I was not able to control my emotions.¡± The Innkeeper only nodded at her apology, before departing. Having her apologize to him wasn¡¯t a part of the bet, she did it of her free will. Lex could clearly tell that she had forced herself, but the fact that she had done it all was a big deal. Unwilling to stay the center of attention much longer, Heidi directly left the Inn. The crowd was disappointed the match ended so quickly, but since they were all gathered here anyway, many people took this opportunity to promote themselves. Rivals began challenging each other in a public way, and another few rounds of fights were quickly scheduled. Lex, however, was no longer paying attention to that any longer, as he had turned his attention to Ragnar. The General actually looked to be in a good mood, which was a nice change. Normally, whenever someone looked for him, it was due to some kind of bad news. ¡°It¡¯s been a long time, General. How have you been?¡± ¡°Great,¡± he replied with a smirk on his face. ¡°After Vegus Minima, we¡¯ve retaken Vegus Prime as well. Now, only Vegus Maxima remains, and we should be able to regain control in a few weeks at most.¡± ¡°It is good that your mission is going well, though I expect it is too soon for you to being for a vacation. What can I do for you?¡± ¡°Hah, vacation! I don¡¯t remember thest time I had a vacation!¡± the general could not stop himself fromughing. ¡°Indeed, I do require your aid in a sensitive matter. Furthermore, I have to apologize in advance if any of my actions offended you.¡± Lex raised an eyebrow in curiosity. Ragnar, despite his reputation, struck Lex as a very friendly man considering his position. He borated, ¡°during the Midnight Games, I had the opportunity to encounter the devil Loretta and her counterparts. I used that chance to record their aura and energy signatures. While recording the energy signatures themselves do not in any way harm them, they provide us with the potential to possibly track them, or at least identify them should they infiltrate some highly secure auras. The Empire also has a few other uses for them. ¡°Loretta is a high value target, even though I myself am not privy as to why. I suspected that once I reported the matter, I would be approached by an envoy, asked to return to one of the mains. This is because for the past few hundred years, I¡¯ve been on remation missions ¨C essentially taking backnd lost to demons. Yet that is not what happened. ¡°Instead of being summoned, my existing orders were overridden and I was ordered to wind up matters in the Vegus system in 6 months, after which my entire fleet and I were ordered to the gctic front lines.¡± As he said thest line, Ragnar¡¯s face was extremely grim, and even without him saying, Lex understood what he meant. ¡°You think someone is sending you to a dangerous ce to possibly harm you, and prevent you from passing on the recorded signatures?¡± ¡°Yes. As a general, my chain ofmand in the military is transparent, so it¡¯s easy to track where my orderse from. Yet my orders did not originate from the army, but from the home of a certain Duke. While my authority in the Empire is usually higher, in times of crisis, the authority of local administrative nobility is increased drastically, and so I have no choice but to obey the orders. Keeping the gxy from being invaded takes priority over reiming somes.¡± ¡°You suspect this Duke?¡± ¡°No, I think the Duke¡¯s need is valid, but I think circumstances have been manipted to create the need for reinforcements artificially. I also think someone brought attention to my information in front of the Duke, prompting him to choose me over other nearby forces. ¡°Maybe this is a conspiracy, maybe this isn¡¯t. Either way, I would like to deposit the recorded aura from you until I take it back, or in the case of my demise, an appointed sessor might collect it.¡± ¡°Unfortunately Ragnar, I cannot hold an item for you,¡± the Innkeeper said in an apologetic tone. Yet before he could get too disappointed, he continued, ¡°but I can guarantee that if you rent a room from me, and leave any belongings, that no one will touch those belongings for the duration that you have the room.¡± Ragnar grinned and immediately rented a room. ***** Slowly, Rafael opened his eyes. Because his body had just covered, and this was the first time he regained consciousness in over a decade, his head was a little groggy, and he had not recovered his memories. His blurry vision just showed him the ceiling, and time seemed to be moving in slow motion. A dull, ringing sound filled his ears, though he did not seem to notice, and for a few minutes he remained like that. ¡®Where¡­ am¡­ I?¡¯ he thought to himself, taking quite a while toplete the thought. But, as soon as the thought wasplete, his memories started rushing back to him. They weren¡¯t memories just of right before his ¡®ident¡¯, but the memories of his entire life. His parents, his friends, his hopes, his dreams¡­ Tears started falling down his face as he lifted his trembling hand and brought it in front of his eyes. His youthful hand, free of scars and wrinkles, filled him with more joy than he had ever felt in his entire life. At that moment, the doors to the room opened, and both his parents were struck by the sight of their son crying as he looked at his hand. They thought he was in pain, or that he was traumatized by the ident, and rushed to his side. They called out to him, and tried talking to him, but Rafael did not hear their words. He only looked at his hands with unending joy, and thought to himself, ¡®I can¡¯t believe it worked! I did it! I really came back in time!¡¯ Chapter 223 Butterfly effect A few hourster, Rafael found himself being pushed in a wheelchair by his mother, who was grinning ear to ear. When she wasn¡¯t grinning, she was talking to her boy nonstop, and Marlo was walking alongside them silently. He may be a King in his own domain, but right now it was his wife who was giving the orders, and so for once, he suppressed himself and simply followed along. Rafael, though, was currently lost in his own thoughts. Firstly, he was in a wheelchair because after 15 years of not moving at all, he had lost nearly all the muscle mass in his body and even moving his arms put him out of breath. The Recovery pod could do nothing for his strength and stamina as long as he was technically healthy. Secondly, though he hade back far, FAR into the past, the timeline had already changed drastically despite his inaction. In fact, the timeline had already changed so much that he was having serious doubts if he could use a lot of the information he knew for his benefit. He had asked his parents what he had missed in the past 15 years, and while they only gave him a few minor details to fill him in, he was sure that he held almost no advantage when it came to his knowledge of future events rting to Earth for at least another few years. He had strong suspicions about what had caused the timeline to diverge, he just could not understand how the effect of it was so big. In his original timeline, he had never suffered from the grave injury that caused him to be suspended in life support for 15 years. The reason for that was simple. While Marlo suspected his injury was caused by a breakthrough gone wrong, but the truth of the matter was, he was injured by the treasure that had travelled back in time. The treasure that was currently in his heart was one he could easily control in the future. But his current body was too weak, and so the fusion process of the treasure, along with Rafael¡¯s memories from the future, almost ended up killing him. So, technically speaking, the only difference between his original timeline and this one should have been his 15 years in aa. What he could not have imagined was how such a simple thing affected the world in a subtle way that ended up drastically changing the future. First of all, in his original timeline, since Rafael never got injured, Marlo never had the moment of self-reflection. This was fine for Rafael, as though Marlo was a harsh dad, it was his training that actually allowed Rafael to get so far in life. Without that self-reflection, though, Marlo never ended up bing Alexander¡¯s teacher, and he never hosted his self-defense lessons, which caused him to meet Lex. Without his delicate touch in training Alexander, his personality developed in a different way. Instead of being open-minded and humble in his approach to power, Alexander developed a ruthless arrogance that was rightfully fed from his relentless training and strength. That minor yet prominent shift in personality reflected in how he influenced the Morrison family to develop, and how they interacted with the rest of Earth. Furthermore, because Lex was never trained by Marlo, his experience at Vegus Minima was extremely different, during which he nearly died and had to be treated in the Recovery pod as well as ORR, which prompted him to take a drastically different approach in developing the Inn. He was much slower in developing the Inn, despite the quests and prompts from the system, and waited many years until his own cultivation was much higher before he started spreading the Inn to the rest of the universe. The Butterfly effect was a theory in science on Earth that, when simply exined, stated something as simple as a p of a butterfly¡¯s wing can, through a series of events, cause a hurricane. Simrly, Rafael had no way of knowing how far-reaching the effects of him being injured truly were. With Lex developing the Inn slower, he would never have been able to help Tiffany, the little girl from Nibiru, never saved Chen and ne, never influenced the war in the Vegus system, never give Ragnar the opportunity to record Loretta¡¯s energy signature, never met Loretta¡¯s father, never have saved Fenrir and so many other, seemingly minor things that would one day have monumental effects. With his limited knowledge, however, Rafael did know a few simple changes that had happened. When the Council of New Order attacked the five families in his timeline, the effects were extremely drastic ¨C to the point where the ecosystem of the entire had changed. His father, who never got an opportunity toplete his new cultivation system, died during that war since he could not recover from his wounds. North America had be all but a destend. Massive shifts in tectonic tes under the pressure of countless battles ended up causing super volcanic eruptions on the continent that not only killed most of the poption, it would have clouded the Earth in dust for years without the aid of technology. The war, which had been dubbed World War 3, had also affected the mortal poption so badly, which, followed by the subsequent food shortages, caused the global poption to drop below 1 billion. When the situation was still not resolved, Fernanda ultimately revealed herself to the world and not only killed the five family heads for their ipetence, but all members of the council. She then became Regent of Earth, ruling with the world with an unquestionable strictness. Many called her a tyrant, but under her rule, Earth made tremendous progress. Many, many more things happened, but of course they were much farther in the future. Rafael neither had any way of knowing if the events he knew of would still happen, nor was he currently focused on them. With the timeline changed, many of his initial worries were already resolved. All he needed to do now was wait for the treasure in his heart to fully heal his body till it was no longer crippled on the path to cultivation, something he knew for a fact it would be able to do, and then raise his cultivation. Though many problems had inadvertently been fixed, there were a few uing events in the future he strongly believed would not change. This mysterious ce known as the Midnight Inn would help him tremendously, though had never actually been here in his previous timeline. But instead of relying on something he could on fully understand, he nned on getting close to a few people he knew would be prominent in the future. If Lex had somehow been able to read the list of names he was going through, he would have been surprised to learn that he personally knew quite a few of them, or had at least heard of them. Larry Dershaw and Matilda Ross had been Lex¡¯s ss-fellows, and Marlo¡¯s students, though Rafael didn¡¯t know that yet. But while their names were high on the list, the name highest on the list was Andrew Sigmund, Helen¡¯s older step-brother and new CEO of Sigmund crop. But, before he could start nning, he needed to understand the current timeline, and that would not be a short endeavor. ***** Back on Earth, Vera Joel, moremonly known as RussianPrincess77, was silently cursing her luck. She had told Alexander that he would lose someone important to him, so that he would venture into the Minor realm and prevent Helen from being teleported away. While Alexander was distraught that he had been unable to save Helen, Vera was also upset because that portal was supposed to be her way out of Earth. But that was the drawback of being an oracle. She could not always urately predict the future. What¡¯s more, her peculiarity as an oracle made it even harder for her to give urate predictions to other people because, quite simply, she could only see her own future! If she had been able to see other people¡¯s futures, she would have given Alexander better information. Instead, all she saw was that for her to escape Earth, Alexander needed to save someone in the Minor realm. She let out a disappointed sigh. Well, there will be opportunities in the future. She turned just in time to see a few guards escorting someone new through thepound where they stayed as ¡®guests¡¯. This new person happened to be Heidi. The spoiled girl, as much as she didn¡¯t want to, had to report what happened to her, to her Father. As much as she feared his punishment, she knew keeping secrets would result in something even worse, so she had to fess up. When she was finally brought to his room, he was surprised to see her father was actually in a very good moon. He was humming to himself as he tied his tie before fixing his cor and putting on his zer. ¡°Good morning, father,¡± she said, with a bright smile, hoping to improve his mood. ¡°Ah, Heidi. You¡¯re here. I have wonderful news, the Williams family is finally letting me out of this hellhole of a. Today is going to be a good day.¡± Chapter 224 7 Nation Crystal realm ¡°Ah, Heidi. You¡¯re here. I have wonderful news, the Williams family is finally letting me out of this hellhole of a. Today is going to be a good day.¡± Heidi almost stumbled when she heard the news! Even with her best effort to maintain a smiling face, she could not stop her jaw from dropping as she continued to stare at her father. Heidi, along with all of her other siblings, were born on Earth over the past few decades, but they all knew that their father had a prestigious position somewhere out in the universe. They knew, because their father was very vocal about how disgusting it was to be stuck as a political prisoner. For an unknown amount of time, considering the severeck of spiritual energy in his region of space, Earth had been used as a where the Williams family hosted their political prisoners. They were given free reign, as well as all the luxury Earth had to offer during their stay, but they could just never leave. At least until their purpose in keeping them prisoner was fulfilled. Heidi¡¯s father was being held because the ¡®Williams¡¯ family he had heard so much about was pressuring the organization he worked for into giving them a good deal on something they were working on. Officially, Heidi¡¯s father was a guest of the Williams family, but unofficially he had been dumped on this until further notice. Considering his own personal worth, after a long, exhaustive negotiation, they had finallye to an agreement and he was allowed to leave. For him, this was excellent news. For Heidi and her siblings, not so much. This was because on Earth they had free reign to do whatever they wanted as long as they refrain from things like murder and kidnapping. Out in the universe though¡­ Heidi at least had no idea how she would fare. Her father was not a traditional father figure. Not only did he not raise them personally, his severe detachment from everything rted to Earth made her pretty sure he did not truly care for them either. Noticing her faltering expression, he asked, ¡°what is it child? Something the matter?¡± Heidi took a deep breath and then exined in great detail what had happened to her. She did not bother exaggerating or lying, she had never seen anyone sessfully lie to her father. She was observing his face to see if his expression changed, but he continued to smile and hum. She did not know whether to be afraid or relieved. When she finished, her father pointed to an urn in the side of his room. ¡°You see that dear? You know what that is?¡± Heidi looked at it, but had never seen it before, so she shook her head. ¡°That urn is full of all the ashes of your siblings,¡± the man said nonchntly as he continued to pack. Heidi¡¯s face drained of color and she struggled to keep standing. ¡°You¡¯ve all had good lives, I don¡¯t see any reason for you toin about it being cut short. You see, I can¡¯t afford any liability, and you kids honestly¡­ you¡¯ve probably never done a single hard thing in your lives. Well, your siblings, not you. I¡¯m proud of you for not quitting the match, and apologizing without being beaten into it. For that, I think I¡¯ll let you live. You can maintain whatever bank bnce you have in your ount, but from now on, you¡¯ll have to depend on yourself for everything else. Good luck, Heidi. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll make me proud.¡± The girl finally couldn¡¯t hold it together anymore, and fainted, though that never stopped her father from continuing to pack. Once he was done, he simply took his luggage and left the room with only an urn full of ashes, and an unconscious girl still lying in it. ***** Xeon could not suppress hisughter as he felt the wind blow over its scaly body. He was lying t over the roof of the golf cart encased in silver light, spreading its limbs like it was flying around. Gerard had to reinforce the roof of the golf cart with his bloodline power, which drastically affected how much he could speed up the cart, but he was determined to fulfill the guests request. He had interrupted his retreat so that he could watch Z¡¯s match, and just as he was done, he ran into this new scaly guest that oozed endless enthusiasm. Pulling a handbrake made of silver light, Gerard abruptly brought the golf cart into a drift, the sudden change in directionunching Xeon off the roof of the cart and straight into thezy river. ¡°That was excellent,¡± the Drake roared as it climbed out, the drops of wate on its body causing it to shine. ¡°I¡¯m d I could fulfill your request, guest. Hopefully in the near future we will be able to upgrade my vehicle, which will allow me tounch you even further.¡± ¡°Oh? You want to upgrade your vehicle? How so?¡± ¡°A few changes to increase the power, and make its drive more flexible. I cannot promise when we will get our hands on the upgrades, but I assure you the ride will be even more excellent then.¡± ¡°Do you mind if I take a crack at it?¡± Xeon asked as he observed Gerards noble chariot with renewed interest. He had never seen anything like it, and it stroked his once exhausted curiosity. Gerard hesitated, wondering if he should consult the Innkeeper on the matter first, but it was toote. The Drake was breathing fire out of his nose to heat up its ws, and then began dismantling it. Gerard shrugged. Since he had already begun there was no harm in investigating. ***** Things at the Inn were running smoothly, and though Lex had connected to a new, since he didn¡¯t leave behind any golden keys, he was not expecting a surge in guests any time soon. This was perfect, as X-142 was the most ideal for him to send invitations to the expo in a few months, but one was not enough. Which is exactly why, after Lex renewed his gear, and took care of all issues, he was ready to connect to a new again. The wooden ticket had served him well so, hoping for the best, he spent another 100,000 MP on it, before crushing it to activate it. He was looking forward to a new selection ofs, but this time, the menu looked different. Realms avable: Realm: 7 Nation Crystal realm Realm Rating: 2 Stars Realm Environment: A single crack in an otherwise perfect existence Lex was extremely confused, but before he had the chance to ask Mary any questions, he disappeared in a sh of light. When he reappeared, Lex found himself facing a wall in the dark. He looked around, and found himself in arge hall that looked like it had been ransacked. There was nothing there except broken furniture and a dim, depressing mood. It was raining heavily outside, with the asional sh of lightning and p of thunder, echoing endlessly in the hall. In the brief moments of light, Lex realized that he wasn¡¯t the only one in this hall. There were nearly a dozen others, all seemingly young, and all of them covered in dirt. A few of them even looked like they were crying. The situation here wasn¡¯t normal, but Lex wasn¡¯t sure how to start a conversation with any of them to ask the situation. What he did realize was that unlike the rest, he waspletely dry andpletely clean, and would stand out in case anyone paid any attention to him. Not willing to take any chances, Lex slowly exited the hall and stepped into the rain. As he reluctantly covered his clothes with a little bit of mud, he tried to get a sense for his location but visibility was poor. As best as he could tell, the hall seemed to be located on a hill, far away from any other kind of manmade structure. Just as he was pondering on how to proceed, he saw movement in the rain. He looked up to see four men, flying in the air, quickly approaching the hall. ¡°Get inside, young one,¡± one of them spoke directly in Lex¡¯s mind using their spirit sense. ¡°Otherwise you will get sick.¡± Lex obeyed since he was still not sure of the situation, but it was quite fortunate he had taken the time to alter his appearance, for as soon as the men entered the hall, they summoned a ball of light, illuminating the area. The kids in the hall looked at the four men, and they likewise looked at the kids. There were a few moments where the hall was filled with silence and, Lex assumed, some kind of sorrow. Finally, letting out a painful sigh, one of the men said, ¡°Gristol has fallen, the armies of Mendy are retreating. We don¡¯t have much time, the Kraven will find this ce soon, so as much as I want to wait for more survivors¡­ we can¡¯t. But you, at least, don¡¯t need to worry. From now on, the Academy will take care of you. Remember the pain you feel today in the days ahead, it will help you in your training.¡± Just as Lex was trying to make sense of everything he just heard, he felt an invisible force wrap around him, and lift him up in the air. The next thing he knew, he, along with all the other survivors in the hall, were lifted into the air and pulled along as the four men escaped whatever catastrophe that was heading their way. Chapter 225 Realms ¡°Mary, what¡¯s a realm?¡± Lex finally asked. Currently, he was being carried high in the air by some force, flying quickly away from whatever danger the man had been talking about. It was fortunate that whatever force held him also protected him from the rain and wind. Yet after a while, he was left with nothing to do, and with poor visibility, he wasn¡¯t able to see much around him either. That allowed his mind to wander, and he was finally able to ask some questions. ¡°The universe is bigger and moreplicated than your understanding of it. Your original perception was that the universe, as infinitely vast as it is, is connected by physical space, and that you can traverse that space to reach any destination. That, however, is incorrect. ¡°The easiest way to exin it to you, so that you can understand, is to think of the universe as a multistory building. The realm that you are from, let¡¯s call it the Origin realm, since that is where you originate from, is just a single floor in that building. ¡°Above and below that floor are other floors, all of which are also realms. The size of each realm is not necessarily the same, and the rules that govern each realm do not have to be the same either.¡± Lex whistled mentally. The universe, as massive as it already was, had suddenly be much bigger. ¡°I¡¯m afraid there¡¯s more to a realm than just that,¡± Mary said, appearing before him with a worried look on her face. ¡°The information I¡¯m providing you is actually above your authority level. A special event has triggered emergency protocols, which have temporarily given you a higher authority. See, traveling between realms is no simple task. It is something way beyond your authority level, and is definitely way, WAY beyond anything a Wooden ticket should have been able to do. ¡°Some kind of ident must have happened while the system was scanning fors, which resulted in you being teleported to a different realm. Now, there¡¯s good news and bad news. Which would you like to hear first?¡± ¡°The bad news,¡± Lex said, as he mentally prepared himself. ¡°To understand the bad news, I need to exin a few things to you first, taking advantage of your increased authority. See, the capabilities of the system are actually linked directly to the user, meaning you. The system is constantly absorbing a higher form of spiritual energy, but how much and how quickly it can absorb the energy is based on you. The stronger you are, the faster the system can absorb this energy. ¡°The system uses this energy to function, as well as grow its capabilities. The system hides this growth behind the authority system, which is designed in such a way as to promote you to increase your strength directly or indirectly. ¡°This is also the reason behind why it takes so long for the system to anchor itself to thes you visit. If you had a higher cultivation realm, the system itself would be stronger, and the speed at which the is anchored would be quicker. ¡°Now, with that in mind, since you have been sent to a different realm, but you are not as strong as you should have been, the time it will take for the system to anchor to this realm¡­ honestly, I have no idea.¡± Lex visibly paled when he heard the news, but then quickly recovered. First of all, he was thankful that he wasn¡¯t in this situation because of some mistake he himself made. Self doubt was an extremely difficult enemy to ovee in any situation, and didn¡¯t need his help in growing it. Secondly, since he had gotten the system, he had been constantly dealing with various difficult situations of different degrees. If this had been Lex prior to the Midnight Games, maybe he would have spent quite a while panicking. Now, however, he quickly took hold of himself and focused on the solution. ¡°And what¡¯s the good news?¡± he asked, his tone unwavering. Unaware if he was doing it on purpose or by ident, Lex had stepped into his Innkeeper persona. The Innkeeper was strong. The Innkeeper was calm. The Innkeeper would be able to handle any situation thrown at him. ¡°The good news is your increased authority, as well as the emergency protocols. Instead of waiting for you to grow stronger yourself, to speed up your return, the system has initiated a special feature. You can feed the system any kind of energy you encounter, which will directly go towards speeding up your return. There¡¯s a progress bar in the system you can check. Furthermore, during the period of your increased authority, the system will divulge more information to you than you normally would have ess to.¡± Lex silently absorbed the information as he wrapped his head around the new information. His first reaction was cursing at the fact that he put all his spirit stones in his apartment instead of the gift shop. If they were in the gift shop, he would be able to immediately withdraw them and feed them to the system. His second reaction was asking Mary, ¡°do you still have ess to the Inn? Can you still control the Vine?¡± ¡°Yes, fortunately, I still have ess to the Inn.¡± ¡°Well that¡¯s good at least. In case I get stuck here for too long, I can directly start the expo from here, as well as manage the Inn directly through the system. People might get suspicious though if I don¡¯t show up for a long time, if only I had hired a manager or something.¡± ¡°Hello, what did I tell you? You have increased authority, which means I can directly appear as a hologram at the Inn now. I can stand in as the manager while you¡¯re away.¡± ¡°Yes, that¡¯s a good idea,¡± Lex said. At this point, he was not forcing himself to be calm, he still felt stressed and panicked somewhere in the back of his mind. He had just be trained in handling difficult things so that he was able to continue to function even in difficult times. ¡°If I have increased authority, can I learn extra information about this realm?¡± ¡°Yes, as a matter of fact, you can. This ce is called the 7 Nation Crystal realm. Unlike the Origin realm, which consists ofs and stars, this realm consists only of one gigantd mass that covers the entire realm. The size of this realm is approximately the size of your sr system, and its name originates from the seven dominant countries that rule this realm, consisting of 7 different races. ¡°There is something unusual about this realm that the system is unable to identify, mainly because the diagnostic function of the system is extremely basic. Whatever the anomaly is, though, it is likely whatever caused you to be pulled in ¨C that¡¯s just my personal guess, though.¡± ¡°Is there any way you can tell me anything specific about this realm and its inhabitants?¡± ¡°No, not really. The system¡­¡± Before Mary could continue to talk, there was a sh of lightning particrly close to Lex, and suddenly he saw something in the air in front of them. Before he could process what the ¡®thing¡¯ was, or react in any way, Lex heard a loud boom, and it wasn¡¯t from the thunder. A fight had broken out in front of them, and three of the men who had been leading them started fighting the enemy while the fourth person quickly brought Lex and the rest to the ground. ¡°Hide and wait for us,¡± was all the man said, before quickly returning to the sky to fight. Lex tried to see if his Fancy monocle could observe what was happening up in the sky, but it was too dark and everyone was moving too fast for even the Fancy monocle to detect what was happening. ¡°What are you doing?¡± one of the guys from the group whispered aggressively as he yanked Lex and pulled him along. It was still raining heavily and the ground had be very muddy, making it difficult to run, but the fear for their lives pushed the group to keep moving. Lex was surprised at the group¡¯s sense of unity, but that didn¡¯t change the fact that since all of their cultivation levels were below Lex, they moved very slowly. ¡°Where are we going?¡± Lex asked the boy, pulling him along. He hoped they had a n instead of running randomly, and indeed they did have a n. It was to run in a straight line as far away from the fight as possible. ¡°There¡¯s no use hiding, the Kraven can track us using our body temperatures. The only thing we can do is get as far from the fight as possible and hope we don¡¯t get caught up in the crossfire.¡± Lex had no idea what these ¡®Kraven¡¯ were, he had only gotten a glimpse, but they definitely weren¡¯t human. Despite knowing how weak he waspared to those fighting in the sky, Lex pulled out the Heavy Harley. Then something crashed in the ground behind them, releasing a shockwave so strong they were all flung onto the ground. Lex quickly picked himself up and looked behind himself. He still could not see anything, so he may as well have just kept running. That¡¯s when the Fancy monocle shed in giant red letters, ¡°DANGER!¡± Chapter 226 Kraven The ring red letters screaming danger were telling Lex to run, but he suddenly found himself unable to move. It was not his body that refused to move, but his mind that was frozen. It was like his mind was dipped in sludge, where he was unable toplete even a single thought. He could only stand there, a silent observer of his own impending demise. Of course, even with his eyes open, he had to wait for lightning to sh before he could even see anything. Would he even have enough time? As it turns out, yes. Whatever was holding him captive made no moves, and after a minute, when lightning finally shed, Lex was able to see a ball of ck goo with broken bones jutting out in a crater in front of him. Whatever it was, it was severely injured, which was fortunate for him, though that was a concept he could notprehend currently. He was stuck, staring into the dark, with brief moments of light asionally. In a way, his inability to think may have been a good thing, because every sh of light revealed the blob moving. It was inching towards Lex, bit by bit. After what felt like eternity, the ¡®goo¡¯ had moved close enough for Lex to better observe it. It was not really some kind of goo or slime being, just that its flesh had beenpletely destroyed by whatever attack it suffered, leaving it in poor shape. Perhaps originally the creature had distinct features, as the various bones sticking out of its flesh indicated, but currently it was a disgusting ball of slimy ck flesh, moving towards him. If Lex¡¯s mind were working, he may have been thinking of a way to escape, yet now, he only stood still, drenched in the rain. Up above in the air, the fight continued, either oblivious to what was happening down below, or too preupied to be able to help. The creature started to gain momentum as it closed in on Lex, and soon was only 20 feet away. The next time lightning shed, it was at 10 feet. Soon, even in the darkness, Lex could identify a vague shape moving towards him. Suddenly, Lex¡¯s protective talisman covered him in a blue light, illuminating the ck blob that was pressed against the shield generated by the talisman. 2 feet right in front of Lex, the ck blob monster was right in his line of sight. There were no eyes, but anyone observing from a distance may have assumed the sight to be two lovers, staring each other in the eyes ¨C a scene directly out of a romantic horror movie. The next moment a sword fell out of the sky and eviscerated the blob, freeing Lex from his prison. All the emotions that Lex was unable to feel suddenly hit him like a tsunami, overwhelming him and dropping him to his knees. ¡°Good job holding the Kraven back,¡± a man said as he touched Lex¡¯s shoulder and scanned his body for injuries. ¡°The light attracted my attention, otherwise it would have been toote by the time I noticed. Just hold tight child, we¡¯ll be done soon.¡± The man quickly went back into the sky, but Lex barely noticed. His body felt extremely weak, and his mind was so tired he struggled to stay awake. In the back of his mind, he could hear Mary calling out to him, but he could not focus. Soon, the rest of the group that had been dropped to the ground surrounded him. They too had been stuck wherever they stood, but since Lex was the closest to the blob, he took the brunt of whatever attack it unleashed. In the end, he was unable to hold out, and fell unconscious. He woke up with a jolt, panic and fear gripping his heart, but there was no danger around him. He was in bed in arge hall, and his sudden movement attracted some attention, but not much. A nearby nurse came up to him and smiled softly. ¡°How are you feeling?¡± she asked, her voice sweet like honey. ¡°You¡¯ve been unconscious for almost a day, so you¡¯re probably hungry, but it¡¯s best you don¡¯t eat anything until we know your condition.¡± ¡°I¡­uhh¡­¡± Lex was trying to recall what had happened, but his memories were slow to return. ¡°My head¡¯s killing me. What happened? I can¡¯t remember.¡± ¡°Headaches and memory loss¡­¡± she murmured as the nurse pulled out a strange looking device and put it against his forehead. ¡°No concussion¡­ seems like¡­ yes, probably a mild destabilization of the spirit. Very impressive.¡± Once the nurse was done examining him and jotting down her findings, she turned to Lex and said, ¡°You suffered from the coercion of an adult Kraven. Even though it was almost dead itself, it¡¯s very impressive you were able to stay alive under the circumstances. You¡¯ve suffered some damage to your spirit, which exins the memory loss, but it¡¯s not enough to cause permanent damage. But, you don¡¯t need to worry. You¡¯re at the Academy now, we¡¯ll take good care of you.¡± ¡°The¡­ academy?¡± Lex asked, confused. Slowly his memories wereing back to him, but he did not recall anything about any academy. ¡°Yes child, the academy. Take some rest today, I¡¯ll send you some food, and check up with you in the evening. That should be enough time for your spirit to recover, and then I can answer any questions you still have.¡± The nurse left and soon brought Lex some porridge, which he slowly ate. The nurse¡¯s assessment of Lex¡¯s condition was urate, but what she didn¡¯t realize was that had it been anyone else, their mind would have already been shattered. Since the nurse did not know the power of the Kraven, her assessment made sense. The only reason Lex¡¯s mind had been seemingly frozen, instead of directly shattered, was the impable defense of Regal Embrace. Lex ate the porridge in a seeming haze and, instinctually, drank a bottle of Bom Dew before falling back asleep. When he woke up a few hourster, he was feeling much better. All his memories came back to him, and the haze around his mind disappeared. ¡°What the hell was that?¡± was the first thing Lex asked, not really expecting an answer. He quickly yed back the events in his mind, and the horror of having his mind frozen was something entirely new to him. It wasn¡¯t even frozen because of fear, or locked in a struggle. It was like someone poured tar into his mind and he becamepletely unable to formte a single thought. Lex closed his eyes, took a long, deep breath, and released. He could not eliminate his fear, it was still there in his mind and his heart, but he could choose not to dwell on it. He needed to understand what that creature was, and more about this world, as soon as possible. Fortunately, the nurse said on her own initiative that Lex lost his memory so he could ask her questions without seeming suspicious. A short whileter, when the nurse started doing her rounds again, Lex waved at her like a child at an amusement park and called her over. Giggling at Lex¡¯s antics, she came over and said, ¡°I see someone is feeling better.¡± ¡°Better? No! Not at all! I feel miserable. What the hell was that ck blob thing?¡± ¡°Oh, still some memory loss?¡± she questioned as she observed him, but when she didn¡¯t notice anything else off about him, she shrugged and answered. ¡°ording to the report I was given, you were injured in an encounter with a Kraven, so I¡¯m assuming you are referring to that.¡± ¡°What¡¯s a Kraven? Are there a lot of them?¡± At this point the nurse giggled, and felt like she was exining the world to a child. ¡°A Kraven is a Kraven, you saw it. What more am I supposed to exin? As for if they¡¯re a lot? You¡¯re from Gristol county, right? I don¡¯t know if you know this yet, but, Gristol county was overtaken by Kraven. Very few people managed to escape, with you being one of the lucky few. The neighboring counties of Mendy and Farwa have strengthened their borders, from what I hear. ¡°I¡¯ve never been far away, but from what I hear, all 7 nations have a problem with Kraven. So yeah, I¡¯d say there¡¯s a lot of them. But, you don¡¯t need to be worried about that, for now at least. You¡¯re at the Academy now, far from any border and extremely well protected, so you¡¯re safe.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the academy?¡± ¡°Oh dear, you really did go through a lot to have even forgotten the Academy. This is the holynd of the Hum nation, the holynd of all humans. This is where the epitome of humanity lies, the dream destination of countless people. Whether it¡¯s in terms of crafting, woodworking, medicine, science, cultivation, politics or anything else in which humanity has even a modicum of sess, it¡¯s taught here. ¡°For hundreds of years, all people who have been disced by the Kraven war are relocated to the Academy, where they are taught whatever skill they can best use to contribute to the nation. In times of war, even a single free hand cannot be spared. So, prepare yourself. Once you¡¯re feeling better, you¡¯ll be off to the assessment center. I know it can¡¯t be easy for you, suffering from so much loss, which is why it¡¯s even better to focus on something positive.¡± Chapter 227 Assessment Center The good news was, as Lex understood it, that he was in an academy, so he could finally undergo a systematic learning of cultivation. The bad news was, he was either expected to be a student, or work to somehow contribute to the war efforts of the nation. He wasn¡¯t against contributing per se, but that would likely make it harder for him to gatherrge amounts of energy for the system. Speaking of which¡­ Lex opened the system and was surprised to find that it looked quite different. Not only were there many more options avable to him, but the system was much more flexible in how it operated. This meant that, for example, if Lex wanted to start a service that wasn¡¯t officially offered by the system, he could have the system design it. An example of this was how the barbershop was something Lex designed on his own, but it wasn¡¯t inherently a part of the system. He could not upgrade the shop the same way he could upgrade everything else. Yet now he was able to ask the system to design a barbershop, and not only would the system create it, but it would automatically give it various perks. The downside to this was that every time Lex used one of the system features that were above his normal authority, the energy consumption from that woulde from his pool of energy that he was building to return from this realm. Speaking of which, there was a progress bar in the system detailing the amount of energy built up for that exact purpose. Currently, it was at 0%, and should Lex leave it up to the system to gather energy on its own, it would take exactly 100 years. Ways in which Lex could contribute to the energy build up included but were not limited to, absorbing energy on his own ¨C which would barely help ¨C or deposit arge amount of spiritual stones or other treasures which had a high concentration of energy, go to areas with a general higher concentration of energy etc. Lex spent the night nning ahead, and went over some of the more advanced features of the system he wanted to use. Although using them would slow down his return, god only knew when Lex would actually be able to return, and using these features would help him tremendously. Of course, he needed to wait till he had at least some energy at his disposal until he could use them. With his nning done, Lex decided to try something out. Since one of his most immediate priorities was to absorb energy, there was a possibility that he had the perfect helper for that. ¡°Hey, World Seed Lotus, are you awake?¡± Lex whispered, as he rubbed his hand across the tattoo on his back. ¡®Yes, Mr. Innkeeper, how can I help you?¡¯ Lex heard a drowsy, infantile voice in his head. He also noticed that the gentle stream of energy he was always receiving from the tattoo became slightly warmer. Maybe that was an indication of when the Lotus was awake or asleep. ¡®I¡¯m looking for areas or items with a very high energy density,¡¯ Lex replied in his mind. ¡®You think you could point them out to me if Ie near one?¡¯ ¡®Okay Mr. Innkeeper,¡¯ the Lotus replied, followed by the sound of a yawn. Once that was done, the tattoo returned to its normal temperature, indicating that it had returned to its slumber. Lex didn¡¯t know if the Lotus would be able to help him, but he could only hope. Once he was done, he went to sleep, as tomorrow would be a long day. He was woken up early in the morning by the nurse, who took him for a checkup. After answering a number of questions, and ensuring the nurse that he was fine despite the fact that ¡®his memories did not return¡¯, he was escorted to a doctor¡¯s room. The doctor, an old man rifling through a horde of papers, mumbling to himself, eyed Lex once he entered the room and told him to stand on the silver tform. The technology in this realm was quite advanced, but did not progress in the same way as humans on Earth who relied on a version of sciencecking any understanding of spirit energy, and fueled by electricity. Here, not only was their understanding of science moreplete, their technology was fueled by spirit energy. As soon as Lex was positioned on the silver tform correctly, the doctor turned it on. Small grains of light started floating upwards from the tform, and every time one would touch Lex, his body would absorb it. After a few minutes, the tform stopped releasing light, and the doctor indicated Lex to take a seat as he pulled up a hologram of Lex¡¯s body. ¡°A detailed report indicates that your spirit is still slightly injured, and you have a minor wound on your left temple. Neither of those are a major concern. I¡¯ll write you a prescription, and you should be as good as new in a couple of days. These wounds should not prevent you from undergoing the assessment, so I¡¯ll have the nurse discharge you.¡± Lex was surprised that his left temple was still wounded. It was, of course, from the injury he had received back on X-142, but while it seemed his skin had recovered, his skull had not yet fully healed. Once Lex was discharged, the nurse returned all his personal items he had when he was admitted into the hospital, including his backpack, weapons and clothes. After that, she led him to a train that would lead him to the assessment center. ¡°Once you register for the academy, feel free to look for me if you¡¯re feeling under the weather,¡± the nurse said as she winked at Lex. ¡°My name¡¯s Honey, from the School of Medicine.¡± Before Lex could reply, the nurse had run off, giggling. Lex was dumbstruck. Had she been flirting with him the entire time, or was it just now? Completely unaware that he was grinning, Lex climbed onto the train, still thinking about Honey. She was definitely very pretty, and her voice was like a sweet melody. But this wasn¡¯t a good time to get caught up in a rtionship. Or was it? As wonderful as it was catching the eye of a lovelydy, Lex snapped out of his stupor as he arrived at the assessment center. To be clear, Lex was currently inside the academy, and it was bigger than any campus or university Lex had ever seen back on Earth. Considering he had to take a train while still within the Academy was a clear indicator of howrge it really was. Lex admired the architecture of the building in front of him. Unlike Earth, where buildings often repeated squares or rectangles in their design often, the buildings here rarely had sharp corners. Instead, they were melded into the environment so naturally, Lex could have almost believed that the buildings were natural traits of this world. Heck, since this realm operated under its own rules, that might actually be the case. Lex walked into the building where a number of hosts were standing at the ready, asking those who entered the building for their purpose, then guiding them into the appropriate line. Things were operating so smoothly and efficiently that, as a New Yorker, Lex was slightly freaked out. As Lex had been told he needed to report for an assessment before officially starting at the academy, he was brought to one of the shorter lines. Only a few minutester, Lex reached the front of the line where ady in uniform was registering everyone. ¡°Name?¡± she asked, not looking up from the silver pad in herp. Lex could not see anything on the pad, but then again, maybe that was a security feature. ¡°Lex.¡± ¡°Sponsor?¡± ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°Who sponsored your entry into the academy?¡± she asked with irritation evident in her voice. ¡°I¡¯m not sure. I woke up at the hospital, and the nurse told me to get assessed.¡± ¡°Woke up at the¡­?¡± The woman was startled as she quickly looked up and seemed to recognize Lex. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re the survivor from Gristol? Please follow me. Your registration will be handled by someone else.¡± Lex felt it strange that people knew about him. What the nurse told him made him think surviving an attack by Kraven was amon urrence, but special treatment meant something else. Whether this was a good thing or bad thing was yet to be determined, mostly by how much it would interfere with his n. He was hoping the academy would be a good source of information, not just about cultivation and stuff, but about this world¡­ or realm, whatever the correct terminology was. He was led into a room where a man in some kind of military uniform had been waiting. When he saw Lex he tantly observed him, but refrained from saying anything, and only took the silver pad from thedy before she left. ¡°Now let¡¯s get started, shall we,¡± the man said with a ring smile. Somehow, his smile only made Lex nervous. Chapter 228 Fernain Village ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± the uniformed man asked. ¡°Lex.¡± ¡°Just Lex?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Alright, Lex from Gristol, stand on this tform,¡± the man indicated to a silver tform identical to the one used by the doctor. ¡°My health has already been verified by a doctor, I¡¯m good to take the assessment.¡± ¡°This is not a health check up child, this IS the assessment. Or at least, the start of it.¡± Letting out an exasperated sigh, Lex went and stood on the tform, once again prompting the release of the grains of floating light. ¡°Are you familiar with how the assessment goes?¡± the man asked while reviewing the result of Lex¡¯s exam. ¡°No.¡± ¡°The assessment is not so simple or straightforward, and it is a lengthy ordeal. It does not have a fixed format, because the result of each test affects the proceeding test. When the Academy started, the way we operated was mundane, and we let the students choose what they wanted to study. Eventually we learnt, not only was such a method inefficient in garnering results, students were choosing their subjects on things as arbitrary as happiness.¡± The man paused at this moment and grinned at Lex, as if waiting for him to respond. When Lex gave him a deadpan look,pletely uncaring, he chuckled and continued. ¡°Maybe things such as pursuing happiness and personal interests can be done in times of peace. But we are not at peace, we are at war. And not only that, we are in a war we have been slowly losing for hundreds of years. So, the Academy is not a ce for you to pursue your hobbies or passions, it¡¯s a ce where your most useful skill is identified and then trained. ¡°People think they know what they are good at, or what they like, based on what they¡¯ve experienced. But out of hundreds of professions and skills, how many could you have really tried? So, child, we designed an assessment to urately determine what profession is most suited to you.¡± The uniformed man paused again, but Lex gave him no reaction. He had plenty of experience with weirdos, and this guy was giving Lex very strong Marlo vibes. Yes, he had yet to burst into maniacalughter. But, his grinning every five seconds was creeping Lex out, and there was no way Lex was going to give the man more reasons to unveil his weirdness. Besides, as it was, Lex didn¡¯t care what profession he was assigned as long as it didn¡¯t hamper him from getting the information he wantedter on. With limited options, and a limited understanding of how things operated here, Lex remained silent, his facepletely nk of all expressions. Lex could visibly see the disappointment in his eyes when he got no reaction, but he continued. ¡°However, the assessment is not limited to what happens once you start. Sometimes, if you have notable moments in your life, they are fed into the assessment before you even begin, which influences how your tests go. The reason why I am taking your personal details, instead of going through the regr procedure, is because of what you encountered on your way here.¡± ¡°Wasn¡¯t it just a Kraven? I thought they were verymon.¡± ¡°JUST A KRAVEN!¡± the man finally yelled in excitement, confirming Lex¡¯s suspicions that this man was kin to the mad Marlo. ¡°No, my child, that was not JUST a Kraven. I can¡¯t believe after facing that thing, you still have the guts to call it ¡®just a Kraven¡¯. I was actually the one to personally debrief the rescue party, and what you faced technically wasn¡¯t even a Kraven. It was merely the cut off flesh of a Kraven, acting on instinct. But that¡¯s not what¡¯s important. The important thing here is that the flesh belonged to an Earth Immortal Kraven.¡± That term attracted Lex¡¯s attention, as he strongly suspected it was the name of yet another cultivation level, but the man did not seem to notice. ¡°Child, even if it was a piece of flesh, I have never seen a kid face even the flesh of an Immortal and survive, let alone a Qi training brat! The how, the why, the maybe of it all doesn¡¯t matter to me. What matters is, all the other survivors gave testimony of how you faced the brunt of that beings focus, and your mind hasn¡¯t exploded! ¡°So, I am here to view your assessment personally, and to let you know, child, that the end result of the assessment can still be anything, but you¡¯re already being tested for the most elite special forces of the Hum Nation.¡± The man grinned as he stared at Lex, as if he was looking at the most beautiful woman in the world. ¡°The assessment is long and arduous, and can sometimes take days or weeks. I will give you only one piece of advice: survive. The assessments are open-ended, with no specific objective designated, so my suggestion to you is, take in all the information you are given, and focus on survival, and if you face any opposition, just remember the Academy¡¯s motto.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the motto?¡± Lex asked, before suddenly remembering he was trying to avoid reacting to the man. But the man did not answer, and only grinned, making Lex flinch. There was definitely something wrong with the motto, just like there was something wrong with this man. Maybe all strong people were a little crazy. ¡°When you¡¯re ready, step onto the gold tform and your assessment will begin,¡± the man said, before stepping out of the room and leaving Lex on his own. The theory behind the Academy¡¯s assessment was amazing. Lex didn¡¯t like it one bit, but it was amazing nheless ¨C if it truly achieved what it imed. Lex took a deep breath, and let out a sigh. Lex was stuck in this realm for a while, so it was best to integrate into this world as seamlessly as possible, but the way things were going¡­ Lex strongly doubted the people here were believers of democracy and choice. Whatever the case was, Lex knew he could not under any circumstances qualify as an ¡®elite special forces¡¯. Lex had seen enough movies to know how they all ended up, and he had no intention of bogging himself down with endless training and fighting. No one had stopped Lex from taking his equipment along with him so, after checking if everything was in ce, Lex stepped off the silver tform and stepped onto the gold one. A green ring of light seemed to scan Lex once, before Lex suddenly felt a whish and fell backwards. Suddenly, he was no longer in an office. Lex had fallen into a deep pile of snow, burying his body all the way to his chest. He was at the edge of a snow-covered forest, with an endless sea of trees behind him and a clearing leading towards a valley in front of him. Some distance off, Lex could see a small vige, with smokeing out of multiple chimneys. The streets were nearly empty, with only a few people moving about. A ball of yellow light appeared in front of Lex, and started to say, ¡°Assessment Number 1: In front of you is Fernain Vige. In 24 hours, the vige will be hit with a tremendous snowstorm. In approximately 26 hours, a tribe of Kalter Flug will pass through this area. In approximately 30 hours, the Sol birds are expected to leave the area. In 40 hours, the assessment will beplete.¡± With the information given, the yellow light disappeared, leaving a confused and bbergasted Lex behind. What the hell kind of an assessment was this? There was no objective, no instructions, no¡­ Lex paused as something suddenly clicked in his mind. He didn¡¯t know how they would assess him, if this was a real ce or a simtion of some kind, and if he was being recorded, but he had a theory. By dropping him in a potentially dangerous environment, with forewarning of various impending threats and events, his reaction would reveal a lot. How he handled the stress, how he gathered information, how he survived, whether he helped people or used them, everything could be analyzed. Suffering from a severeck of information, Lex picked himself up, first looked at the vige, then turned towards the forest as he equipped his Fancy Monocle. He would eventually go to the vige, but scouting out the forest a bit wasn¡¯t a bad idea either. If a snowstorm wasing, the ideal ce to survive would be in the vige. But the building¡¯s strength and integrity also mattered a lot, not to mention they would need firewood, as well as a small supply of food. Since it was winter time wherever this ce was, hunting was probably hard, so fruits and nuts would be his main source of food. Of course, Lex had some dry rations in his backpack, but that was not something he nned on revealing to a vige full of strangers. He also needed to find out what these ¡®Kalter Flug¡¯ and ¡®Sol birds¡¯ were. Chances were high that these beings were native to the area, and so the vigers would have at least some basic information about them, and how to deal with them if they became a problem. The most important thing to figure out was, could he get hurt during the assessment or were there some kind of safety measures? It would be a bad idea to kill your students before you even had a chance to teach them anything, but this wouldn¡¯t be the first society to take a spartan approach to training, and Lex didn¡¯t want to take any chances. Just as Lex was monologuing in his mind, Mary reappeared after a long time. ¡°Hey Lex, there¡¯s a situation at the Inn,¡± she said, looking awkward. Chapter 229 Husband and Wife ¡°What happened?¡± Lex asked calmly, keeping himself from expecting the worst. Being a universal business owner meant constantly putting out fires. He no longer let something as minor as being trapped in another realm, or hups with his primary business, cause him to panic. ¡°Well, remember how you were searching for people with special skills using the Mystery trial? A couple showed up yesterday, both went into the Mystery trial, and after a few tries, both of thempleted the trial! On top of that, the husband is a swordsman, and the wife is a historian, two of the kinds of people you were looking for. I¡­ cannot see what prize the trial gave them, but they both seemed very pleased with the results, and wanted to talk to you. ¡°Since you obviously cannot meet with them, I took the liberty to do so, but uh¡­ I cannot help them with their concern. Both of them want to be hired at the Inn.¡± ¡°That¡­ doesn¡¯t sound like a problem. Why are you so embarrassed?¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s the first time I appeared in front of a guest, and I really wanted to help them¡­ but I¡­ anyway, with your increased authority you can scan them even though you¡¯re not at the Inn. And then, you can initiate the hiring test via the tinum key directly from there as well, if you wish.¡± Lex paused for a moment as he tried to focus on the Inn, and an image popped in his head like a surveince camera. The couple in question were¡­ unusual, to say the least. The husband was wearing a robe, while his hands, feet and face were covered in bandages, making him look like a mummy out of a movie. The wife, instead of bandages, had covered her entire body in mismatching clothes, ensuring that none of her skin was visible either. To top it all off, ck smoke hovered around her, making it hard for people to see her figure in the first ce. Lex scanned them mentally and was quite intrigued by the results. The husbands scan was: Name: Qawiun Age: 120,384 Sex: -/Male Cultivation Details: Earth Immortal Species: -/Sentient Sword Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 History: A sword that gained sentience through a twist of fate. Starting out as amon sword, it was given to a soldier who made many contributions, until it became nothing more than a memento and family heirloom. Eventually, as the family declined, the sword was sold to an adventurer, whoter died in a spirit well, leaving the sword there for several millennia. For reasons unknown, instead of developing a spirit stone mine, the well channeled all its energy into the sword until it gained sentience. Remarks: A sword identifying as a man gives a whole new meaning to gender identity The wife¡¯s scan was: Name: Anita Age: 499,999 Sex: Female Cultivation Details: Earth Immortal Species: Human/Lich Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Bloodline: -/Luminous Spirit History: At the dawn of human civilization on her, she was the Queen the led, the warrior that fought, the murderer that massacred, and the mother of innovation. When she felt her subjects were too stupid to rule, she ended her retirement and discovered a way around death and led the humans out from the brink of extinction. Then, one day, she decided to nap, but forgot to wake up. 350,000 yearster, she was woken from her slumber by the sword that became her husband. Condition: The patient has been pregnant for 2950 years. Her expected date of delivery is in 50 years. The patient is in an extremely weakened state and should avoid strenuous activities such as traversing space, disinfecting in active volcanoes, leading a revolution against the zombies, trying to subvert fate and relinquish the control of her own destiny, etc. Remarks: Impending motherhood has made her docile. She no longer tortures the souls of her enemies and even lets them go sometimes. Lex sighed in awe of how unusual the universe was, but didn¡¯t dwell on it for too long. He shared the information with Mary, before telling her, ¡°they are too powerful to enter the Inn permanently. I can still ept them, but I need to wait till I have at least 1% energy in the system so I can use some of the higher authority functions. Tell them that I¡¯m slightly busy, and will give an answer soon. Considering their long lives, even making them wait a dozen years probably won¡¯t mean much to them.¡± Mary nodded and turned to her task. Lex would have loved to observe the Inn some more, but he had more pressing matters at the moment. Getting a decent understanding of the terrain and the kind of trees in the forest, and more importantly, feeding all that information to his monocle, gave him the edge he needed. He gathered some pinecones ¨C or the equivalent in this realm ¨C as well as some fruit that the monocle said was not poisonous to him, and then headed towards the vige. As he expected, he didn¡¯t run into any wildlife while he scouted and the path towards the vige waspletely deste. Well, mostly deste¡­ Lex saw a familiar green ring of light and then saw someone fall in the snow. However, unlike Lex¡¯s bewildered reaction, the boy, who seemed much younger than Lex, quickly got up and assessed his surroundings. Upon noticing Lex, he took a step back and drew out a short sword, instantly creating a standoff. The strange situation onlysted a few seconds before a yellow orb appeared and informed the boy of his assessment details, which were identical to Lex¡¯s. ¡°What¡¯s with the dagger? Are we supposed to bepeting for the assessment or something?¡± Lex was not taking the kids¡¯ threat too seriously, mostly because, as a defense mechanism, Lex could easily gauge the threat level of anyone weaker than him, or near his cultivation level. It was instinctual. The kid¡¯s cultivation was higher than Lex¡¯s, but his threat was minimal to none. ¡°You¡¯re also taking this assessment?¡± he asked, surprised. ¡°Yeah, though I didn¡¯t know other people could take the assessment with you. I guess they¡¯re checking teamwork or something. Do you have any idea if this is a simtion or if this ce is real?¡± ¡°Simtion? What are you talking about? Of course this ce is real. Didn¡¯t they brief you about the assessment before sending you?¡± ¡°No, I didn¡¯t get any briefings. To be honest, I didn¡¯t even feel like asking questions because the guy assessing me was smiling at me like some kind of predator. The first thing I¡¯m going to do once I get out of here is report him to the police as some kind of threat.¡± Back in the assessment center, in a room full of people watching this particr assessment, the uniformed man¡¯s wide grin suddenly twitched and everyone in the room turned to look at him with wary eyes. ¡°He¡¯s just joking,¡± the uniformed man managed to say between gritted teeth, right before Lex said, ¡°I swear I¡¯m not joking. It was so creepy, I would have jumped into a lion¡¯s den without asking questions to get away from him. Speaking of which, do you know what the academy¡¯s motto is? Also, if this ce is real, does that mean our life is in danger?¡± The man¡¯s face spasmed as he tried to control himself, but that made his grin look even creepier. Back on the snowy mountain, the kid exined to Lex, ¡°our life is not in danger because as soon as it¡¯s threatened, we¡¯ll be teleported back. But, if that happens, that¡¯ll affect our assessment score. To pass the assessment, we just need to survive long enough for the assessment to end. But barely anyone does that. The more stuff you do, the better and more urate your result will be. ¡°A snowstorm ising, not to mention a tribe of Kalter Flug. We can survive on our own if we hide or run far away, but the damage that vige will suffer is real. Their houses could be damaged and lives could be lost. Even if I have to risk cutting the assessment short, I can¡¯t just ignore real human lives over something like that.¡± Lex thought for a second. Even with his increased strength, he would not risk being without shelter in a snowstorm. Hypothermia was a real risk, even to cultivators, not to mention any other danger a snowstorm would bring with it. That was absolutely fine because it had never even urred to Lex to run away from the vige like the boy was suggesting, but if he nned on helping out, he needed to understand the iing dangers some more.¡± ¡°Do you know what a Kalter Flug is? Because I¡¯ve never heard of it. And while we¡¯re on that topic, why did you dismiss the Sol birds? Are they not a threat?¡± ¡°How do you not know what a Sol bird is?¡± the boy asked, genuinely startled by Lex¡¯s ignorance. Even the uniformed man and his team who were watching the assessment frowned at this revtion. Lex shrugged as he casually answered, ¡°I suffered some damage to my spirit and lost some memories. The nurse told me I¡¯ll either get them back or make up for them.¡± ¡°But¡­ how bad is your memory loss if you even forgot that? How could they let you take the assessment like this?¡± Upon seeing Lex only casually shrug, the boy pointed a finger up into the sky towards the sun. ¡°That up there is a flock of Sol birds. They¡¯re the primary source of light in our world.¡± Chapter 230 False expectations Lex¡¯s jaw dropped as he looked up into the sky with squinted eyes. It was only then that he noticed that what he had so far assumed was the ¡®sun¡¯ seemed to be moving in the sky. The birds were too bright for Lex to observe them directly, but now that he was looking up in the sky, he was able to notice that there was no great ball of fire in the sky. It was only now that Mary¡¯s description of a realm had sunk in. This realm or world orrgendmass, whatever it was, existed as a single entity asrge as Earth¡¯s sr system. First of all, that was so muchnd that Lex found it difficult toprehend. Secondly, if the entire realm existed as onendmass, how did the season¡¯s work? What was the distinction between night and day? What would happen if you kept traveling directly up? Would you hit some kind of ceiling? What would happen if one of those birds wanted to take a rest, and flew down? Were they just a source of light, or were they extremely hot as well, like the sun? How did the nts survive if this world was dependent on birds for light? Was there a secondary source of light? Lex suppressed all his curiosity and focused on the matter at hand. His survival was not in question since he would be pulled back if his life was in danger, but that did not mean he was looking forward to being pushed to that brink. The birds were¡­ a matter he would look intoter. It was clear to him now that hecked certain mon sense and knowledge¡¯ when it came to this realm, so sticking with this kid would be for the best. After all, between these Kraven everyone was at war with, and these birds that gave sunlight¡­ sol-light? Basically, with all the weird stuff going on, he had no idea what to expect. ¡°My name is Lex,¡± he introduced himself. ¡°My memory may be foggy, but I think we¡¯ll do better if we stick together, don¡¯t you? Mybat skills are not bad, so if we encounter any danger I should be able to take care of it.¡± The boy quickly went over a few thoughts in his mind, and suddenly realized this for the opportunity that it was. If he could get Lex to follow him, it would show leadership skill in his assessment, and affect his final role. ¡°The name is Drum,¡± the boy said, putting his short-sword away finally. ¡°Since your memory is affected, I think it might be a good idea if you follow my lead. This is already my third assessment, and I did really well in all the previous ones, so this should be no different.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the n then, Drum?¡± Lex asked, neither saying yes nor no to his suggestion. Although Lex himself had the idea of using the kid to cover his gaps in knowledge, taking orders from him felt¡­ icky. Of course, that didn¡¯t mean he wouldn¡¯t listen to good sense when he heard it. Besides, the feeling had nothing to do with the kid in question. Rather, Lex had gotten so used to being in charge and then giving orders as the Innkeeper, suddenly taking orders felt wrong to him. That was also part of the reason why Lex was so uncooperative with the uniformed man. Lex had no authority here while that man could do as he pleased, a thought that was off-putting. Drum didn¡¯t seem to notice, and started heading towards the vige. ¡°They need to be warned about the snowstorm and everything else. We can just tell them we¡¯re students of the academy, that should help convince them that we¡¯re telling the truth. And, to answer your earlier question, I don¡¯t know much about Kalter Flug so we can also collect some information about them if the vigers know anything.¡± ¡°Do you have a student ID or something to prove what you¡¯re saying? Unless you do, I suggest we own up about taking an assessment, and be truthful about the iing dangers. More importantly, we need to find the vige head, or someone well respected in the vige. Exining the situation to one person will be a lot easier than exining the story to every person in the vige. Once that¡¯s done, we can take suggestions from him about how to n for the uing storm. A native of the area would know better than us about how to survive in these conditions.¡± Drum nodded and epted Lex¡¯s suggestions. As long as he was the one walking in front, and the so-called ¡®party leader¡¯, he waspletely fine listening to Lex¡¯s suggestions. As the duo approached the vige, they discussed ways in which they could help ovee the iing issues. That¡¯s when Lex realized that he was severelycking in skills. Drum boasted some basic woodworking and engineering skills, which should help reinforce some buildings if required, as well as advanced knowledge of formations. Well, advanced for his level. Either way, the only help Lex could provide was manualbor. While Drums¡¯ ego was boosted seeing how he was more skilled than his older counterpart, Lex was actually happy with how things were turning out. The more Drum shined, the less likely he would be selected for some elite squad. All Lex wanted was some decent guidance on cultivation and ess to a library. He had no idea how he would gather the energy he needed and would have to do plenty of research. The duo attracted quite a bit of attention as they neared the vige, as two men walking through waist high snow to reach an unremarkable vige was not amon sight. A small crowd of what Lex assumed was the patrol or volunteer guards waited for them on the boundary of the vige. ¡°Ahoy strangers, you¡¯re pretty far off from civilization. Are ye lost or something?¡± one of the men yelled towards them. ¡°Not lost, we¡¯re assessment takers for the Academy,¡± Drum yelled back, which seemed to garner a positive response. ¡°Take us to your vige elder, we need to have a discussion with him.¡± The modestly armed vigers happily ¡®escorted¡¯ Lex and Drum to the vige leader so that they could talk, and so that they¡¯d be near at hand should the leader decide the two were untrustworthy. Drum exined the iing danger, as well as how they knew the information. There was a risk in doing this, for if the vigers didn¡¯t believe them, then they would have no recourse. If they had instead lied and just asked for lodging, and weathered the storm while hiding and not informing anyone of the iing danger, it would have been easier to survive, but it would have also affected how they would be designated. Drum had exined the grading process to Lex. The assessment would give two results, the first being what profession was most suitable for the student to pursue, and the second being their grade within that profession. For example, Drum exined that he hoped to be designated a formation master. But not all formation masters were the same, as some were better than others. The better your grade within the profession, the more you would be nurtured by the academy. It need not be said that Drum was aiming for the highest level. Lex didn¡¯t care much for trying to pick a specific profession, since he was not familiar with the options. He would just take things as they came, and currently, things were not going ording to how Drum wanted. The vigers believed the two about the iing storm as well as danger, but Drum had envisioned the vige then treating him as some kind of leader afterwards, which would give him a chance to show off his skills. They should have been grateful for the information and impressed by their status as students of the academy. They should have been awed and honored. Instead, as the vigers were so used to these problems, they already had a system in ce of how to react, leaving Lex and Drum with little to contribute. At most, they could help with manualbor. Furthermore, because Drum was fairly young, and Lex only justing into proper adulthood, they did not give either of them any of the reverence Drum had been expecting. Drum didn¡¯t like being sidelined and was sulking, while Lex had already inquired about where they could stay, and how they could get food. The vigers may have a way to take care of themselves, but that didn¡¯t mean that the hospitality they extended would provide the same security. Now Lex had to look out for himself. Lex also asked about heating, and if they required chopping down trees and logging, but he had underestimated the vige. All the houses had central heating, powered by spirit stones, with each house having its own independent supply so they didn¡¯t need to worry about power loss during the storm. Chapter 231 Another Programming language ¡°How can you be okay with this?¡± asked an exasperated Drum. It had been a few hours since they arrived and both he and Lex had been given one room to share in the vige leader¡¯s house. While Drum had tried hard to impress upon the vigers that he could help reinforce their buildings, or perhaps build some formations, the vigers did not take up his suggestions. First of all, their houses were not weak structures, and had survived their fair share of snow storms. Secondly, due to the weather in these parts, they had encountered many wild beasts and so long as they stayed inside their well-built homes, they would be fine. Not only were their homes sturdy, the wood they had used was actually an excellent instor, so they could remain warm and cozy even in the harshest of conditions. The only thing they had to care about was food. ¡°If they don¡¯t want our help, then it¡¯s not like you can force them. Just take your own precautions. The assessment willst a long time, and I don¡¯t like relying on others. Maybe you should scavenge some food, 40 hours is a long time. Or, if you really want to build a formation, build one in our room. We tried to help the vigers, if they don¡¯t want help it¡¯s on them, doesn¡¯t mean we need to risk our own lives.¡± ¡°Fine, let¡¯s go scavenge what we can.¡± ¡°Not right now, I¡¯m taking a nap.¡± Lex¡¯s reply irked Drum, which in turn entertained Lex. Once Lex was done with his ¡®nap¡¯ they went out to gather some more food from the forest and helped out around the vige however they could. Once they returned to their room, Drum confessed that he couldn¡¯t build a formation because he didn¡¯t have any of the materials required, as he had hoped that the vigers would be able to provide him with the basics since he was supposed to be helping them. That reminded Lex of the ring John had given him which stored a book about arrays. Since they were stuck in a room for 40 hours, or so it seemed, Lex took out the ring and started reading up on it. The books did not seem to be written in an instructive format, but was rather the author¡¯s introspection on the topics being discussed. Let alone the universe, even a single gxy was too wide a scope for the author to specte on the origin of formations and arrays within it, so he simply discussed how he himself first discovered them. It started when the author became the strongest being on his, but was not strong enough to actually leave the, nor was his civilization technologically advanced enough. With endless power and nothing to do, the author began to explore his world when he encountered a strange phenomenon. There was a single point in an otherwise unremarkable ce that had the highest concentration of spirit energy he had ever seen. But the energy only covered roughly ten square feet of area. A single step outside, and not only would he return to an area ofmon energy concentration, he could not even detect the higher concentration energy, as it was perfectly camouged. After studying it for a while, he discovered that there was no hidden heritage or overwhelming secret. The way physical features influenced themon world, like wind speeding up in a valley or the chill of winter turning rain into snow, so too were various coincidental spiritual features resulting in this specific oue. The small area happened to be above the tip of an undiscovered spirit stone vein. But the vein was covered by a certain type of rock that acted as an instor. However, a recent earthquake caused a crack to form, which allowed the spiritual energy to break through. Then, there was a certain type of vegetation in the area that had deep roots and absorbed any stray spiritual energy, but the specific ten square feet area was devoid of roots as it was host to a kind of insect that fed on roots. Long story short, basically a series of seemingly mundane events led to a phenomenal result. That¡¯s when the author started experimenting, since he literally had nothing better to do. He did not delve into the nature of his experiments, and skipped directly to the result. ording to the author, formations and arrays both were simply taking the mundane and using them to produce extraordinary results. After that the book was abridged and directly went to the topic of arrays. Lex read for about five minutes before he facepalmed. Then he read the description again and then facepalmed one more time. Drum noticed Lex¡¯s strange behavior, but he was not in the mood to inquire. After a few minutes of feeling sorry for himself, Lex resumed reading the book. The author gave a long and convoluted, as well as unnecessarily philosophical exnation for what arrays were and how they functioned. Lex, instead, could define an array in three words. It was programming. Arrays could theoretically do everything a formation could do, albeit a weaker version of it, but the benefit was that arrays did not require any external material the way formations did. Arrays only required the array master, spiritual energy and a series of symbols that the author had categorized as the universalnguage. The symbols weren¡¯t really anguage, but the author observed that when spiritual energy was manipted in certain shapes outside of one¡¯s body, in the natural environment, they gave birth to certain effects. The authorpiled these symbols by studying things that existed in nature. For example, by studying a nt that released frosty spiritual energy, after a lot of trial and error, he was able to surmise a symbol that did the same ¨C again, on a much weaker level than the actual physical nt. The symbol itself was identical to the venation of that nt. After collecting thousands of such symbols, he gathered them together and called them the universalnguage, since these patterns were what the universe used to express its design. Of course, just having the symbols was not good enough, he needed to understand the ¡®grammar¡¯ of thenguage to understand how the multiple symbols could be arranged. So much fancy jargon, but to Lex, it meant something simple. An ¡®array master¡¯ was the programmer, the array itself was the software, and the universalnguage was the programmingnguage, and the ¡®grammar¡¯ was the syntax. No doubt, arrays were an extremely useful tool as the author had given many examples of scenarios where he had used them, but just thinking about the fact that Lex had to learn yet ANOTHER programmingnguage made him facepalm. Chapter 232 Death flags As daunting as it was, trying to learn another programmingng- no, uh, trying to learn arrays, Lex only paused temporarily toment. Once he got it out of his system, he continued to read the book. The first and most basic principle of arrays was that to use one, you needed to control spirit energy outside of your body. This was not something Qi training cultivators could do, but the author had stated a few ways around this drawback. To use any of them though, Lex would need certain tools which he did not currently have, so he skipped that part and continued onwards to how arrays worked. It was¡­ both very simple, and yetplex at the same time. Perhaps because Lex was used to writing code, he was used to thinking in a systematic manner which would allow him to create working software from scratch. In this scenario, he could understand the building blocks of a functioning array and could envision how to reach a certain effect from scratch. It remained to be tested if things would be as simple as he assumed, but, in theory, it should be. What was hard for him was memorizing the thousands of symbols and their subsequent effects. Actual programmingnguage was easier for Lex to learn because it was written in English and the syntax was usually designed to make sense. These symbols, however, were not an actualnguage and did not have meanings but effects. Lex could already tell that it would take him a long, long time before he began to grasp the nature of the symbols well enough to make his own arrays rather than copy existing ones. Of course, it must not be forgotten that even copying existing arrays was not a simple and easy task or else everyone would be doing it. Lex lost himself in studying so deeply that he did not feel the time pass at all. He did not notice Drum pacing in the room, nor when a soft, constant buzzing sound started to creep into the room. For Lex, it felt like one moment it wasplete silence and he was engrossed in his studies, and the next second a loud, constant scraping sound filled the room, breaking his concentration. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Lex asked in rm. ¡°It¡¯s the snowstorm,¡± Drum answered. By now, he had calmed down and was meditating in a corner. ¡°It¡¯s odd because only 18 hours have passed since I arrived. The snowstorm is early. Usually, the academy¡¯s information is urate.¡± ¡°Were the vigers able to finish their preparations?¡± ¡°Yes, though when they saw the storm on the horizon, even they were worried. It¡¯srger and faster than usual, which could mean trouble. I asked about the Kalter Flug. They¡¯re an unusual species of spirits that live in snowstorms. They fuse with snowkes or hail, and are extremely vicious. They have short lives, but are generally very strong and very violent, and will attack any living thing caught in the storm.¡± ¡°Sounds excellent. Any idea on how one is supposed to fight them? Or at least, hide from them?¡± ¡°When they¡¯re born, they¡¯re very small, but the more time they spend in the storm, the bigger they get. Small ones are easy to deal with, if you are able to hit them. A simple bash of any kind will destroy them. But the bigger they get, the harder they are to deal with. Not only does their defense increase, the ones made from snowkes have extremely sharp bodies that could cut you in half in a split second. Again, the only real way to fight them is to destroy their bodies.¡± Lex rubbed his eyes. This was excellent news. Who didn¡¯t love being stuck in a snowstorm surrounded by monsters that grew stronger the longer they spent in the storm? ¡°The assessment didn¡¯t state how long the storm wouldst, but I¡¯m going to assume it¡¯llst the entire time we¡¯re here. The Kalter Fluf may be weak in the beginning, but they¡¯ll grow stronger towards the end, which is why we should get as much rest as we can,¡± Lex said, as he put the book away. He ate most of the food he had managed to scavenge and theny down to sleep. Despite the constant noise, it was not a problem for Lex to fall asleep. Drum continued to meditate, and the duo remained that way until a sharp, screeching sound abruptly woke up Lex. Before he could ask what happened, the building shook, as if something had struck it. It happened a few more times before the shaking finally stopped. ¡°They¡¯re here,¡± Drum said as he looked Lex in the eye. Outside, the storm was still raging, and the Kalter Flug had finally shown up. asionally, they would hear more screeches, and the building would shake, but nothing more happened. Just to be safe, the duo decided to go ask their host if this was normal. The vige leader¡¯s house was only slightly bigger than the rest of the houses in the vige, and so it was not hard at all for them to locate him. He was sitting in the dining hall, drinking tea while his wife read a story to his two children. Seeing them so calm and peaceful, Lex was able to rx a bit and set his worries aside. He also pretended the vige leader, whose name Lex could not remember for even a moment, did not raise any death gs when heughed and told Lex that their houses were absolutely secure and there had never been an incident where the storm or the spirits were able break in. Yes, no death gs were raised at all, even by Drum, whoughed and said this would be the easiest assessment he ever had. As for why Lex took out Heavy Harley and started counting his ammunition and checking up on all his defensive gear? No reason in particr. Then, a few hourster, the Sol birds also left. Even though all the windows to the outside had been shut, Lex was easily able to tell the birds left because the temperature dropped sharply. Even with a heavily insted house and central heating, Lex was able to see fog when he exhaled. An hourter, the lights in the house shutdown and the heating stopped. Something had gone awry. Chapter 233 Snowflakes ¡°Wake up,¡± said Lex very seriously as took out a shlight and attached it to his gun. Drum had been sleepingfortably after stuffing himself. Lex had spent this time reading the array book and resting, making sure that he was ready in case anything happened. While Drum woke up and tried to understand what was happening while still groggy, Lex went out and searched for the vige leader. ¡°What happened?¡± Lex asked, his voice somber. ¡°Nothing, young man,¡± the vige leader replied while chucking. ¡°There seems to be an issue with my house¡¯s internal wiring. We¡¯ll have to wait till the storm is over to fix it, so it¡¯ll be a little tough having to make do with the cold, but it¡¯s nothing too serious. I was justing over to give you boys some nkets.¡± Since he was insisting that there was no issue, Lex did not press the matter, but he kept his guard up. The very next moment the vige leader¡¯s house was hit once again, as it continuously had been for the past few hours, but this time, the whole house wobbled. ¡®Mr. Innkeeper,¡¯ the Lotus suddenly spoke in Lex¡¯s mind. ¡®There¡¯s a wave of very strong spiritual energy heading our way. It¡¯ll pass us by in around an hour.¡¯ As soon as the Lotus spoke, Lex was sure that things would not go by smoothly. He could not tell if the wave of energy was the result of the snowstorm, or vice versa, but he was sure that this would not be ¡®just another storm¡¯ as the vige leader kept insisting. Unfortunately, Lex was right. The house suffered yet another attack, followed by a screech so loud it shook Lex to his core, apanied by the sound of a copsing wall. The temperature in the house dropped immediately as all the doors were banged open by a raging wind. It was fortunate that the wall that copsed was of their living room, which was empty at the moment. It didn¡¯t matter for much though, as the Kalter Flug were already swarming in the house. All Lex saw was the snow carried by the wind, but his protective treasure turned on and covered Lex in a blue light. It saved him from getting cut in half, but could not stop the momentum of the attackunching him back. Whatever had attacked him was way stronger than him! What the hell kind of test was this? Lex picked himself up just in time to see the vige leader get sliced into many pieces. Many ravenous, massive snowkes piled up on the leader¡¯s body, ready to eat the corpse. Horror and shock filled Lex¡¯s heart, but not panic. As if he had practiced a million times, Lex raised his gun and started shooting at the snowkes. Despite their incredible strength, their bodies were extremely fragile, and each bullet was able to easily kill them. Yet the sound only attracted the snowkes, and more and more swarmed towards him. In the Heavy Harley, Lex had loaded the spirit magazine, which could fire up to 100 bullets with one magazine. But while 100 was a lot, it was not infinite so Lex had to be mindful and not shoot endlessly. Lex failed on his first try, but on his second try, Lex started using Falcon¡¯s relief to speed up his movements as he dodged the snowkes as he tried to kill him. The raging winds chilled and slowed down Lex, and fought against him to slow him down, the Kalter Flug rushed him in swarms, moving faster than his eyes could track. Lex was not dodging consciously, but moving around randomly to try to avoid as many as he could because they were just too fast. Suddenly, Drum was beside Lex and he fired a weapon that released some kind of pulse that shattered all the snowkes in the room, giving them a much needed moment of respite. ¡°I went¡­ the family¡­ dead¡­¡± Drum stuttered between ragged breaths, his face as pale as the snow that was quickly filling up the house. ¡°We need to hide¡­¡± Lex had only begun to say, when more Kalter Flug, this time evenrger than the previous ones, entered the room and rushed at them. It was too dark for Lex to have noticed them when they entered, and by the time he saw them, they were mere millimeters away from Drums neck. A light shed, and Drum disappeared, causing the clump of snowkes to fly right past Lex. No longer wasting any time, Lex started running again, but could not dodge an attack that once again flung him across the room. ¡°Shit,¡± Lex cursed as he hurried to pick himself up. His protective treasure managed to keep him from taking the worst damage, but it still hurt like hell every time he was flung around like a rag doll. But this time, despite Lex¡¯s quick reflexes and endless resilience, the Kalter Flug were too strong, too many, and too fast! Smart enough to realize attacks didn¡¯t work on Lex, theytched onto him harmlessly and dragged him out of the house. At this point, Lex could not even shoot because the snowkes were hugging his body so tight he could not move and the hand holding the Harley was pressed against his chest, aiming directly at Lex¡¯s mouth. Yet while they restrained him, they made sure not to hurt him to avoid triggering his treasure. Everything was happening too fast. Lex felt like he was on a rollercoaster that never stopped spinning. Unexpectedly, once they brought him out of the house, they flung Lex into a pile of snow and backed off. Dizzy, groggy, beaten and in pain, Lex picked himself up, his will still raging to crush some snowkes! Yet, when he got his bearings, he froze. Hundreds, no thousands, no millions of Kalter Flug of all shapes and sizes surrounded him, looking at him even though they had no eyes. The vige was already gone, the houses already reduced to rubble, with little proof left that humans had once lived here. He felt their hunger, their cruelty, their desire to consume everything as they surrounded him. Yet none of them moved. Even Lex knew that his treasure could not possibly protect him from such a horde, so what were they waiting for? Lex was not quite sure why but, slowly, he looked up. Above him, in the sky that should have been as dark as the deepest void, a snowke as massive as a mountain, with a pattern that drew a face, looked down upon him. The snowke gave off a light of its own, which is why Lex was able to see that its face was toorge to even fit into this valley, yet for some reason, the actual mountains that formed this valley suddenly seemed fragile. Lex looked at the face that could even terrify death. Then he pointed his gun at the sky and fired. Chapter 234 Crazy assessments A few minutes before Lex¡¯s battle, back at the assessment center, a room full of analysts calmly watched what they knew would be the end of this humble human settlement. ¡°Isn¡¯t this a little too cruel?¡± asked a man before he started chewing on some nuts. This was the man that had saved Lex¡¯s life from the Kraven, and the one who had personally carried Lex back to the academy. ¡°He just escaped the Kraven, aren¡¯t you worried you¡¯ll cripple him mentally?¡± ¡°Cripple him?¡± asked the uniformed man. ¡°The little brat asked me what the big deal was in facing a Kraven even after facing the coercion of immortal Kraven flesh. He has no signs of mental trauma, but he also doesn¡¯t have any signs of the strong will for revenge that ismon in Kraven attack survivors. His entire county died and the kid still had no reaction. You think he¡¯ll flinch because some vigers died? I doubt it. But I¡¯m still curious to see how he reacts to the situation. At least this vige will get a chance to contribute slightly to the human cause before it¡¯s wiped.¡± No one in the room had any visible reaction as they saw the next scene unfold and the fight that ensued. Everyone was busy taking notes, but when the massive snowke appeared, even they took a pause. Then Lex shot at the sky, and they all freaked out! The uniform man yelled as he rushed to hit the emergency bail button that teleported Lex out from his location, but it was toote. By the time Lex was teleported away, he had already fired three shots. Lex had been sent to his next assessment, but now the academy had to deal with an angry tyrant. ¡°Send our Vice-Dean Elvis. That thing needs to die before it explodes!¡± the uniformed man yelled, his back drenched in sweat. What the hell kind of maniac was this kid? Then he grinned. He would definitely get this kid in his ss. ***** The teleportation applied by the academy had none of the finesse and gentleness of the Inns. Lex, who had been firing in the air, had been hit with another whish, and when he got up, he found himself standing on a teau. There were two Sol birds in the sky, but at opposite ends and both far on the horizon. It was like watching two sunsets at the same time. A warm, gentle breeze blew across the slope, filling Lex¡¯s lungs with the smell of wild flowers. Animals grazed on the tall grass and flocks of birds flew in the air. The dissonance from what Lex had just been experiencing, and what he was experiencing now was jarring. Before he had time to think, a yellow orb appeared before him and started giving him instructions. ¡°3 kilometers directly to your right, a wounded academy student is fighting against a Red eared Gojur. The assessment will end in 30 minutes.¡± ¡°What the shit!¡± Lex cursed loudly. He could not stop himself from getting angry. What kind of twisted game was this? They threw him into a vige just to watch it be destroyed? If they teleported him there, then the academy could surely teleport some stronger people there as well. They could have saved all those people, but instead they turned it into a test. And now, before he even had time to adjust to what happened, they were throwing another student¡¯s life away. Lex really wanted to curse again. Instead, he activated Falcon¡¯s relief and started running ¡®to his right¡¯. What the hell kind of stupid instructions were those? Though Lex was running, he made sure not to run too fast, as he was in no mood to exhaust himself if he was going to face a fight. He reached into his backpack, took out a shot of adrenaline mixed with rejuvenating serum, and stabbed it into his arm. His fight with the Kalter Flug had been short, but extremely draining. 15 minutester, he finally saw the wounded student. It was a man covered in blood fighting against what could only be described as a kangaroo with the skin of a rhino, size of a hippo and the aggression of a chihuahua. Lex didn¡¯t bother to get a good look because he immediately turned around and ran in the opposite direction. Both the student and whatever he was fighting were way too strong for Lex. He didn¡¯t need to use his instincts to tell, just the various craters in the ground told him enough. Fortunately, as he was still far away, neither of them noticed him and continued to fight with each other. Once he was far enough, Lex took a break and started eating some dry rations. Once his thirty minutes were up, Lex felt another whish teleporting him away. This time, Lex stood on the mouth of a volcano. He looked down into the massive hole, despite the waves of boiling hot air emerging, and saw a pool ofva. ¡°I have a bad feeling about this,¡± he murmured. ¡®Mr. Innkeeper,¡¯ the Lotus called, once again. ¡®I can feel a wave of spirit energying at us from underground. It¡¯ll arrive in about an hour.¡¯ ¡°No, this can¡¯t be happening,¡± Lex said to himself. His luck possibly couldn¡¯t be that bad. A yellow ball of light appeared in the air and started narrating the details of his assessment. ¡°In one hour, this volcano will explode. In three hours, the assessment will end.¡± A vein appeared in Lex¡¯s neck as he tried to suppress his anger. There was no way this was normal. They had to be doing this to him on purpose. A part of him wanted to jump right into theva, knowing that the academy would teleport him out an end this stupid assessment. But, he could not bring himself to trust the academy so much. Lex turned around and started sprinting. It was a tragedy that Lex had to save his breath for running, otherwise the people viewing him would have witnessed a series of curses so creative, they would have qualified as poetry. Chapter 235 A blur Lex was running low on Qi, but he couldn¡¯t afford to be conservative. The only detail he had was that the volcano would erupt, not how strong orrge the eruption would be. But, with his luck, and the fact that he felt like that uniformed man from earlier was targeting him somehow, he was sure it would be a massive eruption. In that case, even running would not put him out of the danger zone, but he couldn¡¯t think of any other solution. He could buy Icarus¡¯ wings from the Gift shop at the Inn, but a part of him was sure he was under surveince and did not want the extra attention pulling something out of thin air would garner him. It was while he was thinking of solutions while running downhill from the volcano as fast as he could without tripping, that he heard a sound simr to the new quest sound in his mind. He stopped running for a moment to check the system and then grinned. System notification: A massive buildup of natural spirit energy detected. Should the system absorb it? ¡°Mary, why is the system asking me if it can absorb the energy now, but not during the snowstorm?¡± ¡°ording to system surveince¡­ the energy signature within the snowstorm belonged to something, and so was under its influence. The energy signature now is the result of a natural phenomenon and is not under the influence of anyone or thing, which means the system can absorb it. I suspect the impending volcanic eruption is partly due to the massive surge in energy.¡± ¡°Which means if the system absorbs the energy, the eruption shouldn¡¯t happen, or at least should not be as big.¡± Without waiting for Mary¡¯s answer, he directly let the system absorb the energy. He expected it would take a while, but only a few momentster, the system had already absorbed it, and his progress bar for energy umtion went up to 0.5%. Immediately after, a few things happened. Firstly, Lex felt a minor earthquake, but that was it. Secondly, he received a bunch of system updates, which were apparently a thing. Thirdly, he finally received a quest. Lex checked the updates, but they all culminated into a performance index. Basically, because the system had been forced to activate additional features due to the advanced authority, while not meeting the energy requirements to actually run those features, the system had selectively turned off features topensate. Long story short, the system was currently performing a lot of features at a subpar level. That was also the reason why he had only just received a quest ¨C the absorbed energy helped the system loosen its restrictions. This was also bad news for Lex in a way, since if the system kept using the energy he absorbed to run its features, the umted energy would slowly decline. Lex put that thought out of his mind for now, since he literally could do nothing about it except avoid using advanced features, and checked out his quest. New Quest: Investigate the source of the anomaly in 7 Nation Crystal Realm Quest Reward: Realm Seed Remarks: Your reflection is not the anomaly, you really are that ugly. ¡°What is the anomaly? The quest doesn¡¯t say,¡± Lex asked Mary. ¡°Whatever caused you to enter the realm is the anomaly. Entering and exiting a realm is no simple feat, even for a small one like this.¡± ¡°And how exactly am I supposed to look for it?¡± ¡°To be honest, I don¡¯t really think you can. My suggestion is that you just focus on getting enough energy toe back. If this quest were easy, the reward wouldn¡¯t be so big.¡± ¡°The Realm Seed? What is that?¡± ¡°It¡¯s an upgrade for the system. It¡¯ll allow you to convert the Midnight Inn into its own realm. Currently, the Inn exists inside an artificial Minor realm inside the Origin realm, but upgrading to its own realm will massively increase the Inn¡¯s capabilities.¡± Lex¡¯s jaw nearly dropped, and a familiar tinge of greed appeared in his heart before he quickly suppressed it. Since the quest had no time-limit¡­ it was definitely one he wouldplete one day. But for now, Mary was right. Returning took priority. Lex continued to jog for the rest of the assessment, but nothing happened the entire time. There was no eruption, or earthquake, or anything that might even remotely endanger him. His next assessment sent him to a detention center. He shared a cell with another prisoner and had to wait 4 hours before the assessment was over. Lex knocked him out and tied him up, not taking any chances that he may call guards. The assessment after that put him on stage in front of thousands of people who were waiting for him to give a speech. Lex did not know what the event was for, or what subject he was supposed to give a speech on, but he had to survive for 30 minutes before it ended. Lex wlessly gave a speech about the importance of having fun. As for stage fright? Please, Lex was used to talking down to devils, let alone a crowd of humans. The assessment after that put him in a pitch ck environment. There was no source of light, but Lex could hear a lot of things moving in the darkness close to him. He didn¡¯t risk trying to turn on his own shlight, as even the usual yellow ball was reced by something that whispered his assessment in his ear. All he had to do to pass was remain undetected for 10 minutes. Lex slowed down his breathing, and didn¡¯t move even when something brushed against him, easily passing the assessment. Like this, the assessments continued for what felt like days. Lex did everything from teaching kids a subject, to cooking at a restaurant, to fighting for a crowds entertainment. Most of the assessments were a blur to him, but the one that he remembered clearly was executing an imprisoned Kraven. Lex paused for a moment, to observe the strange creature that had caused a war that continued for centuries. Then his quest, the one that he had given up on, updated. Chapter 236 Hint The Kraven, the ugly beast, was tied with multiple chains holding it in ce, so Lex felt no concern in pausing to read his quest update. Quest update: Anomaly signature detected. Identified foreign species ¨C current designation: Kraven. Quest hint: The anomaly may be rted to the non-indigenous species of Kraven. Lex raised an eyebrow. That was a major hint, as Kraven seemed to be a big theme in this realm. Doing some research about them should not be too difficult. It was unlikely that some simple research in a library would resolve the quest, but it wouldn¡¯t hurt to try. Without stepping too close, Lex turned his attention to the Kraven, and observed it. It was a ck, four-legged creature withrge forelegs, but even the hind legs did notck muscle. He wasn¡¯t sure if this was the only skeleton, but the creature had its bones on the outside, covering its body and vitals like armor. The head had two round eyes that red at Lex with hunger, and a mouth that Lex assumed was once full of sharp teeth, that had now been removed. The flesh of this creature released some kind of slime that made its body perpetually look wet, though Lex was sure it served other purposes than just making it more repulsive. Feeling exhausted from all the assessments, Lex could not be bothered to think more about it, or study its body further. Having run dangerously low on ammo for his gun, he instead drew his short sword and stabbed the creature in the base of its skull, cutting through its neck. Yet, when he pulled the sword back out, its slime quickly covered the area of the cut, and prevented it from bleeding out. Lex was surprised, but back in the assessment center, everyone who had seen him use his gun repeatedly assumed Lex was doing it on purpose and trying to torture the beast. Like he was getting some kind of revenge. Instead of being appalled, understanding was the mostmon reaction of those who watched Lex¡¯s assessment. Some even built a positive impression of Lex. Not wasting any more time, used Qi de, one of his two offensive techniques. This technique did not form actual des from Qi, but was an attack that enhanced the sharpness of des, making it easier to slice or cleave. Holding his sword in both hands, Lex sliced with all his strength, cutting right through the bone and cutting its head off. This Kraven was not nearly as strong as the one he had seen earlier, so his single attack was more than enough. Once the head fell on the ground, Lex was teleported away, back to a familiar room. He was back in the assessment center, and the uniformed man was standing there, looking at him with a smirk. ¡°Well done, child,¡± was all he said, not at all bringing up Lex¡¯s remarks about himself. ¡°It will take some time for your result toe out, but in the meantime, why don¡¯t I show you to your dorm? I¡¯ve heard you¡¯ve suffered some memory loss, so I¡¯ll introduce you to the academy along the way.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not joining any elite squads,¡± Lex said straight up. ¡°I know the academy chooses the professions or skill or whatever, but if I don¡¯t cooperate, I doubt it¡¯ll be ¡®efficient¡¯. I won¡¯t be a part of any ck ops teams, or a part of any job that¡¯ll take over my life. There¡¯s no shortage of ways I can contribute to the Hum nation, but throwing away my life isn¡¯t one of them.¡± Being so direct may not have been such a good thing, because he was in need of the academy, not the other way around. But, at the same time, he was more than sure that whatever this uniformed guy was doing was not a part of how the academy¡¯s system worked. The man grinned at Lex, happy that the kid was finally responding to him. Of course, arge part of it was probably because he had been taking assessments back to back for days, and was extremely sleep deprived. In this state, people usually lost a lot of their inhibitions and it was difficult to focus. ¡°No need for concern, child. Even if you did want to be a part of the elites, it¡¯s not something you can achieve by taking a simple assessment. You¡¯re right though, I was getting ahead of myself earlier. Let¡¯s just start from the beginning and wait to see what your assessment results say.¡± Lex reluctantly nodded, mostly because he was sure this man wouldn¡¯t leave him alone. ¡°Perfect. You can call me Vernan. I¡¯m the Professor in charge of physical education, and hand-to-handbat. Come on, let¡¯s take you to your dorm before you fall asleep right here.¡± Vernan brought Lex outside the assessment center where what looked like a carriage without any horses was waiting for them. Once inside, the carriage started moving and Vernan started telling Lex what his near future would look like at the academy. For a moment, to Lex¡¯s dull and exhausted mind, it almost seemed like the worst of it was over and things would proceed normally now. That was because Lex had no idea about his psych evaluation that Vernan had read right before greeting Lex. A preliminary evaluation, based on his assessments, and particrly the moments where he fired up at the giant monster, as well as when he left the student to fight the Red eared Gojur when he saw it was too strong for him,stated that Lex had a strong sense of self and reacted negatively to being pressured or forced. He had basic sympathy where he would aid someone if he could, but would not do so if the target of the aid resisted or put Lex¡¯s life in danger. He had strong survival skills and strong instincts, if somewhat unpolished still. There was a chance his loyalty could be built, but if he felt the slightest indication of coercion or threat, he would react strongly. Such a tough mentality also exined why he was able to survive while facing the Immortal level Kraven flesh. Vernan chuckled in his mind as he watched Lex slightly lower his guard. Oh yes, he would definitely have Lex as a student. Chapter 237 Consultant What Vernan did not know was that for each of the situations, there was another exnation. Lex survived the Immortal level Kraven¡¯s coercion because of Regal Embrace. He was not intimidated by the massive, mountain sized Kalter Flug because Lex had seen stronger beings at his Inn, and also because the giant snowke had not restricted Lex by using its coercion. When Lex encountered the student fighting the Red-eared whatever the hell that was, Lex¡¯s instincts directly told him that Lex would die if he interfered. Likewise, for each point of interest, his evaluation was incorrect because no one would be able to understand Lex¡¯s reasoning for his actions. After all, only body cultivators had honed instincts, and that too at a higher level. But Lex did not disy any of the key indicators of a body cultivator, whereas his spirit cultivation was prominent. This was yet again another subtle self defense mechanism employed by Regal Embrace, where he had all the perks of body cultivators, spirit cultivators and soul cultivators, but all the prominent indicators of these perks would be hidden until Lex disyed them. Unfortunately, Lex did not know how to disy them because he had not even realized they existed. For example, something like instinct was often described as a gut feeling. Lex had been listening to his ¡®gut feeling¡¯ subconsciously, but on a conscious level, he never analyzed his actions to realize what had prompted them. Heck, he hadn¡¯t even noticed that it was much easier for him to enter the state of ¡®flow¡¯ and just took it for granted. Maybe over time, he would slowly realize what instincts were, and notice the increased frequency of him entering that special flow state, but for now, his focus was on his dorm room. It was tiny as hell. There was a single bed, a small study desk, a bathroom, and that was it. It must be mentioned that all of this could easily fit into Lex¡¯s bathroom back at the Inn, that¡¯s how cramped his dorm was. Considering how big the academy was, and how much space they left to open fields, his room should have been at least bigger than a prison cell, right? Unfortunately, there was no one toin to. Vernan had left after dropping Lex off and giving him the details of what he would be doing. The academy did not have a semester or ss system, because students woulde and go all year around. Some would have to leave at random times ande back months or even yearster to continue to study. Instead, the sses split into smaller, more specialized ranks that would be repealed continuously throughout the year, so anyone could join at any time. For example, if Lex ended up taking array sses, he would start at the lowest rank and division, which would be Iron grade level 1. sses for this would happen every month, and would be 1 month long. If, during that time, Lex learned enough to go to a higher ss, he would be promoted to level 2 and so forth. He would have to wait till tomorrow to find out what his profession designation would be, and that would determine his sses. Lex took a shower and threw himself into his bed, ready to get some sleep. It made sense that he was dead tired, during the relentless onught of assessments, he hadn¡¯t slept in well over 40 hours. At some point, while he was asleep, his designation was published. ording to his psych and skill evaluation, he was not fit for any military roles due to the high chance of noncooperation. But the way the designation worked was that it would list the best fit as the highest rmendation, and a series of alternative options down below, with these options usually being hidden unless some kind of extraneous circumstances prevented the student from following the primary selection. So, while orthodox military roles had been disqualified for Lex, somewhere down on the list, Lex had been rmended for a group called Red Hands. While Red Hands were not the elite of the elite, they consisted of highly specialized trained operatives that operated independently in highly vtile and extremely dangerous situations. It was the kind of team that would be sent behind enemy lines to do recon before a high value target assassination. The kind of team sent into Kraven infestednds to sabotage supply lines, and then escape on their own. The kind of team one sent into situations too dangerous for any sane man to walk into ¨C exactly what was expected from a man who looked death in the eyes and then shot at it. It was the kind of team Vernan loved. He chuckled as he manually altered the order of Lex¡¯s designations. His Red Hands designation ended up being second to top, and thus conveniently hidden from view. His primary designation was changed to Combat zone strategic consultant. This kind of job required Lex to be highly trained and experienced in variousbat situations, as well as to have a detailed understanding of the military capability and operations of all 7 nations of the Crystal realm. This was because he would be a consultant for businesses that operated in active and potential war zones. It would provide him with the perfect foundation for if he wanted to enter anybat unit himself in the future, due to unforeseen andpletely coincidental reasons that in no way had anything to do with Vernan. After making sure everything was in order, and going over the predicted path for Lex during his stay at the academy, Vernan closed Lex¡¯s personal file and had it sealed under his authority. Then he turned his attention to the next student that had caught his eye. After all, Lex was just one of many that joined the academy everyday. Vernan would not limit himself by focusing on only him, no. The world was his oyster, and he was determined to fill it with highly trained murderers. Chapter 238 First day at the academy When Lex woke up, the first thing he did was open the academy console, aputer connected to the academy¡¯s database provided on Lex¡¯s study desk, and checked his designation. Lex had been designated as abat zone strategic consultant. At first, he was highly suspicious that Vernan had somehow influenced his designation. But when he started reading the kinds of sses he would be enrolled in, he realized that this job was perfect. He would have to learn both the history and geography of the Crystal realm, which could help him locate more areas like that volcano that provided him with energy. He would have to learn the political rtions between the nations, which kind of sucked, but he could tolerate it. Other than that, he would have to study cultivation, as well as its many forms used in this realm. Basicbat was a ss all designations had to take, but then Lex wouldter be entered into more specializedbat sses. Hisst mandatory ss was the basics of strategic nning. After that, he had the option of taking two elective sses. He selected studying arrays and left the second elective open for now. He had a few days free, since all the sses started anew each month, which is when he would begin. After changing into his uniform, which had been provided to him along with the dorm, Lex left towards the mess hall to get some food. Since he had some time, Lex was finally able to turn his attention to how the Inn had been doing. He shared some of the things he was nning with Mary and asked her if this was eptable with the level of energy he had umted, since it involved using his higher authority. She told him how much energy it would use up and, after a long internal struggle, Lex decided to go ahead with it anyway. After all, he had no idea how long he would be stuck here, and 0.5% was not a lot. It would be safer to use it up now to prevent issues with the Inn in the long run. The first thing he did was raise the level of the greenhouse to level 5, basically one level above his allowed limit. This would put a strain on the Inns energy usage, but it was important since it could speed up the development of the Vine. The upgrade cost him 250,000 MP! Since thest time he checked, he had only made a profit of 40,000 MP so this was another strain on his wallet, leaving him only 4,202,000 MP. His second he did was lower the frequency of the golden door appearing on random worlds to a minimum. While this would affect his ie and the growth of his Inn, right now it was better to focus on maintaining the status quo. The third thing he did was use his increased authority to produce two of the strictest and most binding versions of the tinum keys ¨C which brought his energy reserves down to 0.1%. This was necessary if he wanted to hire the husband and wife duo, since they were too strong! This would not enve them or anything of the sort, it would just ensure that they were unable to harm the Inn or its interests directly or indirectly. He passed the keys to Mary and told her to give them to the husband and wife. He also told her to let them know the restrictions they would be under, as he did not want to trick anyone, especially if they were going to be working for him. Next he¡­ ¡°What are you doing?¡± a loud and forceful voice woke Lex up from his focus on the Inn. Startled, Lex looked around to see he had sat down at a table with 5 other fairly beautiful girls. While he was working at the Inn and giving Marymands, he had also arrived at the mess hall. He took some food, none of which he truly recognized, and sat down in the first empty seat he saw without paying too much attention to his surroundings. It appeared he had¡­ imposed upon a group of friends. ¡°Uhh, sorry, I was distracted,¡± Lex said as he got up, perfectly hiding his embarrassment. But the girl¡¯s loud voice had already carried across the hall, and the moment Lex got up to move away, he noticed the entire mess hall was staring at him. Some with hostile eyes, some with curious ones, while others were just observing, but all eyes were trained at him. But how could he, Lex Williams, the Innkeeper, easily expose his awkwardness? He simply nodded to the girls and walked away, as if he did not care at all, before finding an empty table and sitting down. As he stared at his food and tried to figure out how one was supposed to eat it, a single thought crossed his mind. Was it time for the ¡®harassed for attracting the academy belle¡¯s attention¡¯ trope to trigger? ***** Midnight Inn, Cabin on Midnight Mountain Qawain, the sentient sword that had assumed the shape of a human, looked fondly at his wife, Anita, the lich who hid her features not because she was an ugly pile of bones, but because she had attained an evesting beauty that would always attract unnecessary troubles. ¡°Do not worry my dear, I¡¯m sure things will turn out for the best,¡± Qawain said. ¡°I hope so,¡± his wife replied, her voice so angelic it could stir the hearts of deadmen. Literally. Like, she literally used her voice to raise the dead. It was one of her abilities as a lich. ¡°From the moment I entered this ce, I felt the ties of destiny disappear. This is the only ce we can deliver our child safely. We have to stay here!¡± ¡°And we are staying here,¡± Qawain reassured. ¡°From the moment that golden light brought us here from Vegus Prime, I have had no thoughts of returning. To top it all off, this ce is an Inn. We can stay as long as we want, even forever, as long as we can pay.¡± ¡°But it¡¯s not enough. If we can work for this mysterious Innkeeper, we can ensure our safety. After all, if he can even interfere with destiny, who knows how powerful he is.¡± Just as Qawain was about to answer, there was a knock on their door. Mary had appeared with the tinum keys. Chapter 239 Weaponsmith ¡°Please,e in,¡± said Qawain as soon as he saw the assistant innkeeper. She was a sinct and disciplined woman, who was supposedly taking care of the Inn during the Innkeepers absence. Qawain and Anita, the socialites that they were, had quickly made friends as soon as they arrived at the Inn. When word spread that they had both sessivelypleted the Mystery trial, they became even more popr, to the point that even some of the Midnight Inn¡¯s staff, namely John, approached them. They had quickly learnt about the Innkeeper, who was generally very genial and had a positive reputation. This assistant innkeeper had only recently appeared, and while most of the staff knew her, the guests felt that she was extremely formal. Still, she maintained order and performed all her tasks without bias, so there was nothing toin about. ¡°I have good news,¡± she said after stepping inside the cabin. ¡°The Innkeeper has sent word. To join the Midnight Inn, you must undergo a trial to prove yourself. Should you pass the trial, you can join the Inn as a tutor in swordsmanship and a historian. However, the Innkeeper also wanted me to let you know the conditions for joining the Midnight Inn. Once you join, you will be a permanent member of the Inn, and cannot quit. Furthermore, a restriction will be ced on you so that you cannot harm the Inn, its interests or any employee of the Inn either.¡± She handed both of them their tinum keys and then left to give both of them their privacy. ¡°A historian,¡± Qawain said with a hint of curiosity. ¡°I wonder what kind of job they¡¯ll have you do. I hope it¡¯s not fieldwork, that¡¯ll defeat the purpose ofing here.¡± ¡°I will go ask the assistant innkeeper, and exin our situation. Wait for me before you take the test.¡± Qawain nodded as he thought about the tutoring job. He had never taught anyone before, it would be an interesting experience. ***** After Lex ate, he had a lot of free time on his hands. He found a nice, scenic ce near the mess hall where he sat down to rest. Although physically he wasn¡¯t tired, it had been a while since he rxed. It just urred to him that he couldn¡¯t remember thest time he yed a video game. Not that he was sad about it, he spent his time doing interesting things and dealing with entertaining people ¨C usually. Working towards his own goals, and feeling himself slowly getting stronger, and the Inn improving was a kind of satisfaction he had never felt before. It was not the kind of grind of a 9 to 5 job, which both physically and mentally drained him. This instead felt rewarding. Still, that did not mean that he should forget to rx from time to time. Unfortunately, with no games to y, no movies to watch and no friends to hang out with, his rxation soon turned into boredom. Stretching as he got up, Lex decided instead to tick something off his to do list ¨C get a job. The academy provided him with the most pathetic amodation Lex had ever seen, but at least there was a roof over his head. At the mess hall, he could eat for free after showing his student ID. But if he needed anything else, he would have to pay for it himself. Besides, from his college days, Lex knew that working a campus job was an excellent way to expand your social group and just simply meet new people. The only people Lex knew in this realm were Honey, the nurse, and Vernan, the creepy guy, which meant he wanted to avoid about half the people he knew. As almost everything was far away in this academy, Lex had to get on a bus to hail a ride to the career services department. This was where Lex could apply for jobs, and the process was much easier than expected. The person at the counter first checked Lex¡¯s uing schedule, checked his designation, and then provided him with a list of avable jobs that would not sh with his schedule and also provided him with work experience relevant to his designation. From the list, two jobs in particr appealed to him greatly. The first was as an assistant to a weaponsmith. This job would expose him to the various kinds of weapons used in this world, though he would take no part in the manufacturing process. He was only to take care of misceneous work such as cleaning and categorization. The second job was transcription. It would involve writing down and recording the research of various professors and tutors at the academy. This job, while extremely boring, should provide him with vast sources of information about various topics. In the end, Lex ended up choosing to be assistant to the weaponsmith. The transcription job was too unreliable, what if he got stuck recording the work of some ridiculous job? As soon as he was done selecting, he was told where to go, and that he had to check in immediately. It surprised Lex how quickly the job started, but it wasn¡¯t like he had anything else to do. He once again got on a bus, but his destination this time was different from all the ones he had been to before. So far, all the buildings he saw in the academy were far apart and seemed to blend into nature. Now, however, it seemed like he was heading into a city. Skyscrapers that would put New York to shame filled the skyline with an endless stream of vehicles going in and out. Roads seemed to be stacked atop one another, all going in the same direction to facilitate speedy travel. What looked like small flying ships zoomed up above in the air, and in the distance, it seemed like Lex could see a river full of ships heading into the city as well. It seemed like he had just stepped from a fantasy wondend into a utopian cyberpunk future. The craziest thing was that¡­ this was still just a single region in the academy. Lex took in the sights, mostly because once he got off the bus, he got lost on the way to his job. He was not used to navigating a city without a map on his phone. Eventually, with the help of numerous strangers on the streets, Lex found himself in front of a quaint little house with a small front yard and a yellow picket fence. This¡­ was not what he was expecting from a ¡®weaponsmith¡¯. Chapter 240 Dirty mind Convinced that he had found the wrong ce, Lex went up to knock on the door anyway. At least he would be able to ask for directions. But when he knocked on the wooden door, it divided in two and split open to what looked like the inside of aputer¡­ if theputer was the size of a house. A floating orb appeared and scanned Lex and said, ¡°follow me¡±. The orb led Lex inside the house and into a room full of what seemed like clothes made of ck chain mail. The orb scanned the clothes until it found one appropriate for Lex¡¯s size and said, ¡°put these on. Cover your entire body and ensure that there is no skin exposed.¡± Confused and curious, Lex put on the chain mail clothes and gear, even an unusual head piece that not only covered his face but also had goggles and breathing gear. Once Lex was geared up, Lex led him deeper into the house until he entered a particrly hot room. That¡¯s when he saw another person, possibly the fat- no uh,rge- no uh, healthiest human Lex had ever seen. With a waist that had to be just ten feet across, the figure showed none of theck of dexterity one would expect. Taking a step closer, Lex noticed the person had their hands in a tub of¡­ it looked likeva. Lex¡¯s eyes widened in shock, but before he could make sense of what was happening, the woman ¨C Lex assumed it was a woman due to the feminine voice ¨C spoke. ¡°Hurry up ande here. Put your hands in the tub and start scraping the rod clean. Don¡¯t worry, your gear will protect you from getting burned.¡± Lex walked up hesitantly, not really excited about putting his hands inva, but the woman wasn¡¯t having it. Moving faster than Lex couldprehend, she grabbed his hand and plunged it deep into theva. ¡°Grab the rod and start rubbing it! It¡¯s releasing a lot of impurities and we can¡¯t let any of them settle on the rod.¡± What happened next was probably one of the most horrific experiences of Lex¡¯s life. Not because of theva or the danger or anything, but because of the weaponsmith¡¯s choice of words. Lex did not know if she was doing it on purpose, or he was just dirty minded, but¡­ it seemed like she was only speaking in innuendos. The ¡®rod¡¯ that she had been asking him to ¡®stroke¡¯ and ¡®rub¡¯ was the body of a spear. He did not understand the logic of it, just as he could not understand what material it was made from, but by dipping the spear in theva and exerting great pressure on it, impurities within the metal were pushed out. However, unless manually removed from the spear, the impurities would quickly encase the spear like an outer coat. All Lex had to do was scrap the impurities from it. But that was not all. After he was done with the spear, in the words of the weaponsmith, he had to work on swords that ¡®needed to go deep¡¯, meaning bury them in sandpits made of some unusual metal, work on certain guns that needed to be ¡®jerked until they were done¡¯ meaning theponents were too tight and he had to push them into ce, and so much more. Whether Lex would ever learn anything about weapons was a mystery because he spent the rest of his days at this job trying not to get scarred. The weaponsmith, for all her quirkiness, never seemed to stop working. She would be working when he left at night, and would still be working when he returned the next day. In her words, if she ever stopped giving it her all, a lot of people would be left unsatisfied. He did not once see what she looked like, because she was always in her chain mail gear, nor did he get her name because she only talked about her weapons and what Lex needed to do. He worked on numerous weapons that he didn¡¯t even understand. They consisted of some kind of technology Lex had never seen or experienced, and after he was done washing it inva, walking it through an electric field, literally smashing it relentlessly with a hammer, or polishing it with oil, he still could not make sense of it. At least he got paid well, since few others were willing to do this job. He earned 100 crystals a day. That was what the currency of this realm was called. He never actually saw the crystals as they were deposited in his student ount, but he could ess the money whenever he wanted. Finally, after 8 days of such torture, the new month started, and Lex¡¯s work hours were reduced just a few hours each week so he could properly focus on his sses. He hadbat sses 3 times a week, while for the rest of the subjects, he had each of them every day. At this point, as he walked into his first ss early in the morning, Lex was feeling extremely restless. Not only was it because of how hectic his job was, but he had already been in this realm for around 2 weeks, give or take. He had not even begun to understand how he could gather enough energy for his system, and ording to the speed at which things were progressing, it would be months before he¡¯d be able to do it. Maybe even years. Lex had been trying hard not to stress about things he could not control, and focus only on the task at hand, yet sometimes it was impossible. Not to mention, the unnecessarily longmute from his dorm to where his sses would be held gave him plenty of free time to fret. So, by the time Lex finally sat down, he waspletely out of it. He kept worrying about the Inn, about his life, about¡­ ¡°Why is it you again?¡± an aggressive but familiar tone woke Lex up from his thoughts. He looked up to see that he was sitting beside a cute looking girl. Had he seen her somewhere before? She looked so familiar. Chapter 241 War ¡°Have we met?¡± Lex asked,pletely oblivious to her angry looking expression, mostly because she looked like a cute little doll. ¡°You seem familiar, but I don¡¯t know many people here.¡± ¡°You sat next to me at the mess hall! And now you¡¯ve done it again. The entire hall is empty, why do you have to sit next to me? I like my personal space!¡± Suddenly, Lex recalled the embarrassing encounter and couldn¡¯t help butugh. He took a look around the hall and, indeed, there were many empty chairs. ¡°My bad, I¡¯ve been really out of it so I¡¯ve kinda just been running on autopilot,¡± Lex exined as he got up and moved to a different chair. But, while he was no longer sitting right next to the familiar girl, he was still close to her. ¡°My name is Lex by the way,¡± he introduced himself, but the girl just made a ¡®hmph¡¯ sound and looked away dramatically flipping her hair as she did. Despite his stressed mood, Lex chuckled. To be honest, he really wasn¡¯t in the mood to be chasing girls. But, on the other hand, socializing a bit might be good for him. It wouldn¡¯t help anyone if he burnt out due to stress. A short whileter, their professor entered the room. He was an old man, with a massive bald spot on his head, crowned by streaks of white hair. He was a thin man, almost frail looking, but walked with the vigor of youth. ¡°Wee to the ¡®Basic History of the Crystal realm¡¯. Despite the title, we do not study history too far back, and our course begins 100 years prior to the Kraven war. As most of you know, most of the basic level subjects focus on things rted to the Kraven, for they have dominated the trend of the realm these past few centuries. If you want to advance your knowledge beyond the region of influence of the Kraven, you will need to take the more advanced courses. ¡°Our lesson begins on the day of the coronation of King Cornelius II, after his father passed away on the battlefield. Back then, he was still a boy at the tender young age of 16. The Hum nation did not exist back then, and the territory thatposed it¡­¡± Contrary to Lex¡¯s expectations, he actually enjoyed the history ss a lot. The focus of ss was not specific dates, or remembering numerous people, but rather a few key people who influenced monumental events. For example, neither the heritage nor any significant life events of King Cornelius II were discussed before his crowning, because it was only after he became a King that he became relevant to the history of the realm. Back then, the Hum nation consisted of hundreds of smaller countries ¨C of course, smaller only being a rtive term. From Lex¡¯s understanding, some of the smaller countries here were bigger than continents back on Earth. Cornelius, who inherited a country at war, led the most sessful campaign conducted by a human, and expanded his country by so much over the next century, no one dared to challenge his reign. When the Kraven war started, approximately 300 years ago, Humans were not originally involved. There were two races whose territories neighbored the humans, namely the Sentinels and Varns. The Kraven came from somewhere far away, beyond the scope of understanding of the humans, and waged war with whoever they could reach. Roughly 80 years after the humans heard of the Varns being at war, the Kraven¡¯s finally took enough to be exposed to human territories as well. No one expected that they would involve the humans in the war, for that should be to their disadvantage, but they did. Not only did they wage war, they came with a fury that wiped countries from existence in a matter of days. Realizing the seriousness of the matter, Cornelius convinced the humans to band together to face this threat, and paid a great deal to even request the Sentinels¡¯ help. Finally, the humans were able to hold off the assault. But hold off did not mean reim, as slowly and steadily the human forces were worn out, and once again started to losend. That was when, under the leadership of Cornelius, the Hum Nation was founded. For the first time in history, faced with the threat of extinction, humans put away their petty grievances and joined together to face the threat. As for those who resisted, Cornelius gathered them up and used them and their entire families as the first line of defense against the Kraven. But even so, slowly and steadily, they continued to losend. It came to the point where the border to the Sentinels was exposed, and they too became involved in the war, not for profit from the humans, but to defend their ownnds. While humans had been on the losing end of the war, guided by one concentrated effort, human technology and civilization underwent a time of rapid expansion. Their cultivation techniques improved. Their weapons became deadlier, their warriors fiercer, their resolve stronger. That¡¯s when grave news came from the Varn. The Poliods, the first race to encounter the Kraven had beenpletely defeated, and the remnants of their race escaped wherever they could. They joined the other nations in their war efforts, for though they had lost their home, the race was not dead. They fought for the hope that one day, they would seed. All of this happened in the first 150 years of war, and there was another 150 years or so to cover when the ss ended. Their professor told them that he would first give them a general overview of the history of the relevant time periods before they delved more deeply into significant events. The ss ended, and the students started to disperse, but Lex remained seated. All the other students had some knowledge of the war. Only he was just learning of it for the first time. This war, whether he wanted it or not, was very significant to his immediate future for unless he found a way to return to the Inn, this was his war too. Chapter 242 Crystal race The girl who had been irritated with Lex saw the pensive look on his face and made another ¡®hmph¡¯ sound. ¡°Why are you pretending like this is the first time you¡¯re hearing of this? Even toddlers know this history,¡± she said, for some reason feeling annoyed at him. ¡°My spirit was injured in an encounter with a Kraven while escaping from Gristol, so my memories are messed up,¡± Lex gave the excuse that had be his standard exnation for everything the past few days without really thinking of it. His mind was currently upied wondering how he was supposed to investigate the origin of the Kraven. His absent minded words, however, shook the girl. In her mind, she suddenly connected his odd and absent behavior to damage to his spirit, and suddenly felt guilty for being so aggressive with him. ¡°I heard about Gristol, I¡¯m sorry for your loss,¡± she said, her voice suddenly soft and caring. ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± Lex said, not sure how else to reply. He literally knew nothing about Gristol or the events that took ce there, so it was best to avoid talking about it. ¡°I have to head to my next ss, it¡¯s geography. I wouldn¡¯t want to miss out,¡± he said as he got up. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m taking geography too. Do you know the way?¡± ¡°Nope, but I¡¯m sure we can figure it out between the two of us.¡± The girl, Amelia, was very talkative once she became familiar with Lex. Or maybe she was justpensating due to guilt for her attitude earlier. Either way, Lex found herpany enjoyable as they found their way to their next ss. Lex was looking forward to geography since he wanted to learn more about active volcanic regions, or really any ce that seemed like it would have abundant spirit energy. Unfortunately, the ss was just as dry as history was enjoyable. He learnt about city cements, settlement patterns, defensible locations, and so on and so forth. Nothing in the ss seemed useful to Lex¡¯s predicament. Worst of all was the fact that Lex could not even ck off out of fear that he would end up missing what he was actually awaiting. Yet, in their first ss at least, Lex discovered nothing useful to him. After geography, he and Amelia split, as his next ss was politics, in and simple. There were seven major races in the crystal realm, and each of those seven were mostly and conveniently within their own regions. Of course, there were some from each race that traveled far and wide for various purposes, but as far as nations were concerned, these were only stragglers. As a whole, humans mostly only had rtions with Sentinels and Varns. Throughout history, there have both been periods of war and peace between the humans and these two races, but most of the time, they minded their own business. This was because, when matters came to conflict between races, internal conflict would always be suppressed. Two constant potential threats had a way of ensuring that even when humans warred amongst themselves, they never weakened themselves too far. The Varn were a reptilian race and could assume two forms, their ordinary form andbat form. While theirbat form neversted too long, making them unsuited for longbat, their strength was disastrously strong. Furthermore, the Varn all shared a strong affinity for earth and minerals, and so fighting them on the ground was usually akin to suicide. Unexpected to Lex, the humans and Varn shared a long history of cooperation and friendship, mostly because there was hardly ever a conflict of interest. The things humans found valuable, especially for cultivation, were usually poisonous to the Varn, and vice versa. The Sentinels, instead, who were a humanoid species, often had conflicts with humans. The Sentinels were a unique, spirit-based species, meaning their bodies were their greatest weaknesses. As it would happen, the resources they required to strengthen their bodies were also strongly suited for cultivation amongst the humans. There was no need to discuss deeper reasons or divisions. All discrimination originated from a conflict of interest. While the two races sometimes traded or even worked together, they also often waged war for resources wherever they shared a border. Of course, this was mostly old news now. Since the Kraven war, everyone was desperate for any kind of victory, which had resulted in unprecedented cooperation between the races. Before the professor went to discuss more recent rtions, he took a pause to take note of a particr race ¨C the Crystal race. They were the true hegemons of this realm, and far surpassed all the other races. In fact, it was a popr opinion that if they took this war seriously, the Crystal race alone could end the war. Yet, for reasons unknown, they settled for defending theirnds and not interfering beyond their borders. The reason the professor made a special note of this race was not to inform the students about them, for who truly didn¡¯t know of the crystal race? No, it was to let the students know never to me them, or use them of ignorance or arrogance for not protecting the other races from Kraven. He ensured that each student knew that should anyone be caught cursing or insulting the crystal race, the lightest punishment was life imprisonment. This drew Lex¡¯s curiosity. Such a strong punishment should not have been warranted for a race so far away ¨C especially one uninterested in the affairs of the world outside their own borders. But Lex had a broader view of things than most people. He knew full well that, once a cultivator reached a certain level, even talking about them could draw their attention. That actually reminded Lex of Ballom, Loretta¡¯s father. He wondered if that being would still be able to tell if Lex was thinking about him from a realm away. Just as quickly as the thought urred to him, he put the thought behind him, for he didn¡¯t believe that Ballom would. In this instance, as in so many others, Lex was wrong. Ballom, who had been searching the fringes of the universe for whatever attracted the Innkeeper¡¯s attention, felt a pull from beyond the veil of the Origin realm. That caused him to pause. That was strange as the attraction he felt was from another realm. Yet the only realms he had ever visited were Garvitz, the realm from which the devils originated, and the origin realm where he currently was. Why would he feel an attraction from yet another realm? Suddenly, something urred to him, and he used the golden key. A few minutester, he returned from the Midnight Inn to his original location. It seemed his suspicions were true. The Innkeeper had gone to another realm. Thisplicated things, as the Innkeepers origins became even more mysterious. But wasn¡¯t that for the best? Life would be too boring without a little mystery. Chapter 243 Rumors While Lex was in his politics ss, learning the basics of the rtions between the Hum nation and the others, Amelia was sitting with her usual group of friends. ¡°You¡¯ll never guess who I ran into,¡± she said excitedly, before sharing Lex¡¯s story. In this day and age, where everything in their society revolved around fighting the Kraven, the greatest celebrity was one who had fought a Kraven. ¡°Did he really face a Kraven though? Maybe he¡¯s just lying to get your attention,¡± said Misceneous Friend A. ¡°No, this makes sense,¡± said another one of her friends excitedly. ¡°You said his name is Lex, right? I heard a story about a survivor from Gristol named Lex! It wasn¡¯t just a Kraven he faced. I heard it was the flesh of an Immortal! I heard he fought it off with his bare hands to save his fellow survivors¡­¡± Unbeknownst to Lex, rumors of his unwitting endeavor had already started to spread amongst the student body, growing more wild and wonderful with each retelling. Whether it was by design or coincidence, the stars in Amelia¡¯s eyes and jealousy in others were a clear indicator that his story had taken on a life of its own. As for whether there would be any consequences for this¡­ Lex would soon find out. ***** After his politics ss, Lex had some free time before his first basicbat ss. He did nothing special during that time and just reviewed the information he had learnt today in case there was anything important he missed. Once it was time for ss, he went over expecting to arrive at a gymnasium full of people, since this was the one mandatory ss amongst all professions, but the reality was quite contrary. He arrived in a small room with only 9 other students as well as the trainer, who were all waiting for him, despite the fact that he was early. He expected the trainer would motivate them to learn to the best of their abilities, but his expectations were once again superseded. ¡°This ss is the basics of the basics, and it serves only one purpose,¡± the trainer said with the utmost seriousness. ¡°That should you be in a life or death situation, you kill at least one Kraven before you die. As humans, killing at least one Kraven is your most basic responsibility to your nation, and to your race!¡± The trainer did not look like he was kidding, and in fact looked a little disgusted with these students who could only fulfill the most basic requirements. ¡°I understand that not everyone is a soldier, and the Hum nation also needs more than just soldiers. We need farmers, we need scientists, we need teachers, we need ountants, we need all the cogs and gear in the machine that is this nation. And that is exactly who this ss is for. You will not be burdened with more difficult techniques, you will not be burdened with relentless practice, you will not be burdened with borate attacks. ¡°In your life, as thewyers and gardeners and anything else that does not require a soldier¡¯s training, should youe into a situation where you need to fight for your life against a Kraven, it is best to consider your life already forfeit! All you need to focus on is taking down the enemy with you. And, if somehow you manage to take down two Kraven instead of just one, then consider your nation proud of your achievements!¡± Lex was shocked by how brutal and direct the trainer was in diminishing the value of their lives, but none of the other students were. In fact, many of them were nodding along. In moments like this, it would have helped Lex if he had actually investigated the motto of the academy and learnt about the meaning behind it. But that wouldeter. For now, the trainer continued, ¡°Of course, if you feel motivated to do more, to learn more, to be more, afterpleting this mandatory course, you can take more advancedbat sses. They do not focus on damage for sacrifice and instead train actual warriors who may have a chance of fighting longer and harder. But the rest of you should just hone your skills here.¡± Once the trainer was done with the ¡®pep talk¡¯, he immediately began the ss. Each student received a personal trainer, with the main trainer supervising. As soon as the training began, Lex realized two things. First, the thing their training was focused on was trading injuries and doing the maximum amount of damage in any exchange. For this, each trainer took special care in teaching them how to identify weak spots in the enemies defense. They began, of course, with human targets because that was the body each student was most familiar with, and once the students showed some mastery of the skill, they would move onto Kraven, and even the other races. The second thing Lex realized was this kind ofbat was actually strongly suited for Lex. Obviously, at his current stage, it was not so evident. Butter on, when his defense would be much stronger than the enemies he would most likely face, trading blows, when he was likely to not take any injuries, was a fast and easy way of winning fights. Naturally, he would need to be better trained not only inbat but also judging the strength of his enemies before he could employ such tactics. But it was a good n, for now. After a long and arduous ss where Lex learned as much theoretical knowledge as he practiced, it was time for his most unusually named ss: strategic nning. Did people normally perform non-strategic nning? Or did they normally make foolish ns on purpose? It was almost as if whoever named the ss was doing some sort of mass naming of sses, and releasing them on the go, which caused this oversight. A sort of mass release, if you will. But, even besides the name, this ss had many oddities. There were only two other students in this ss. Furthermore, usually Lex was the oldest or at least one of the oldest in his other sses, but this time he seemed to be within his own age group. Lastly, the two students seemed to be wary of him. This was strange as Lex was sure he¡¯d never met them, nor had he done anything too outrageous that he should develop some kind of reputation. Just as he was about to greet the other students and inquire if anything was wrong, the professor stepped in. ¡°Wee students,¡± said the professor as she looked them over, a maturedy with a no-nonsense look on her face. ¡°I am professor Adide, and I will conduct your sses for this subject regardless of whichever level you take, so it is best if you get familiar with my way of doing things as soon as possible. ¡°This is not a ss that is avable to everyone, and if you have been selected for this ss, you have disyed some sort of level headedness under dire circumstances. This ss is, and will be, the most important ss you will take. You may be wondering why I say that. It¡¯s because while every other ss you take may be creating a foundation for your future, how you perform in this ss will determine whether you live to see that future or not. After all, if you fail this ss, that means you¡¯re dead.¡± Adide paused for a moment for her three students to absorb what she said before she continued. ¡°Unlike your other sses, this one will have a field test and the end of the course. The test will be different for each one of you, since you have different designations, and I will pass to you the details of that field test today, so you may already begin preparing. What will be the same for all of you, however, is that each test will contain some element of danger. If you are not able to ovee it, then that likely means you will die. In other courses, if you fail, you can get a second chance by applying again. In this course, the only second chance you will get is the one you create for yourself.¡± Before getting into specific details about her course, however, she looked directly at Lex and said, ¡°Lex, the legendary survivor of Gristol that fought off an Immortal with your teeth, I¡¯ve heard a lot about you already. If half the rumors I¡¯ve heard are true, then I look forward to seeing your performance. Lex, who was staring at the professor with a dropped jaw, was unable to respond. Fought off an immortal with his teeth? What the hell? Suddenly, he realized something, and looked at his ss fellows, and their wary looks suddenly made sense. What were these rumors his professor was speaking about? How had they spread so fast so far? Before he had a chance to ask, the professor began their ss. Chapter 244 A rudimentary system Chapter 244 A rudimentary system The course for the strategic nning ss was a lot more abstract than his other sses, at least in the beginning. Instead of teaching him concrete topics, the ss focused rather on the way of thinking. How to evaluate situations, how to juggle objectives, how to prioritize and so much more. He was given theoretical problems simr to the famous trolley problem, only in this case, instead of people¡¯s lives, he usually had topromise on his objectives. The professor told them that, after some theoretical practice, they would go through some drills to practice decision making under duress. When the ss ended, Adide, the professor, handed each student a folder with the details of their field test in it. Since Lex¡¯s designation was abat zone consultant, his field test put him in the same position. A month from now, there would be an expedition led by some students to some uninhabitednds within the territory of Hum nation. The group would be a mix of students of various designations, and the group would simrly have a mix of objectives. The group had to not only explore these newnds; they had to scout for potential valuable resources, mark down areas suitable for new settlements, and finally establish a forward camp for future explorations. These were just the publicly stated objectives, for there was always the possibility of hidden objectives as well. Lex would not only serve as themunication channel between thebatant students or ¡®soldiers¡¯ and the leader of the expedition, Lex would have to advise the leader in matters of security andbat. As for what the territory they were exploring held, what kind of dangers could he expect, and what he needed to watch out for were all things he would have to research on his own. Conducting research and being adequately prepared were also parts of being such a consultant, so the quality of his preparation depended solely on him. Lex felt a headache developing. From having too much time on his hands, he went directly to feeling like he was overworked. Next, it was time for his arrays ss. For once, the ss was as he expected, and the study of arrays was very simr to what he read in the book given to him by John. But simr did not mean the same. The approach to arrays in the Crystal realm seemed to be a lot more stringent than what the book stated. There was a very specific way in which the ¡®characters¡¯ could be arranged. They had discovered certain rules, and how the characters responded in certain situations, and somehow reverse engineered a fixed temte for all arrays to follow. In this way,pared to the book Lex was reading, it was much easier to form new arrays, as you could simply follow those rules. But it was alsoparatively a lot more wasteful. They heavily employed the use of conjunction characters ¨C characters that had no effects on their own, but could bond the effect of two apanying characters without a vtile reaction. For example, if someone were trying to fuse characters that represented fire and air together, if the characters were notpatible, instead of resulting in an explosion, the characters would just fizzle away instead of working together. This was important for even for something as simple as fire there were hundreds of characters, each personifying a different characteristic or behavior of the me. In this way, discovering which one suited the needs of your situation was not only a hassle, it was dangerous. The conjunction characters eliminated the danger. This not only allowed the array masters of the crystal realm to have a much more diverse library of arrays, it allowed them to experiment safely whenever they were creating new arrays. But there were also drawbacks. Since arrays were cast using spirit energy, the more characters an array had, the more draining it would be. Furthermore, due to the dampening effect of conjunction characters, defensive and offensive arrays were a lot weaker. Since both techniques worked, Lex decided to continue studying both of them. Although the arrays of the crystal realm were weaker in strength and wasteful in energy, they allowed Lex to learn the behavior of each character safely. Furthermore, once he had a deep understanding of the characters, as well as how an array worked, he could try to recreate the arrays from the crystal realm using the method of the author. Theoretically, those arrays should maintain the same effects, but with stronger results. By the time he was done with all his sses, it was already evening. After making up for his missed meal, Lex returned to his dorm, mentally exhausted. But, as much as Lex wanted to do nothing, leaving himself with so much time to think did him no good. His mind would wander towards the Inn, towards the fact that he was far from home, towards being in a different realm. It made him realize how small and insignificant he was whenpared to the universe, to a realm, even. But, just as his mind veered towards these dark thoughts, he would pull himself back up. He would spend some time meditating before he began cultivating. Instead of feeling small, he would tell himself that he was strong. That so long as he had breath in his body, the vast universe had not defeated him yet. Instead of exhaustion and weakness, a fierce will shone in his eyes. In a time where he should have felt the most helpless, ironically, Lex became the most focused he had ever been. His mind worked faster than ever before, repeating and memorizing each and everything he covered in sses, and then, when he had free time, he went to a library to do more research. When he worked for the weaponsmith, he observed and memorized each action, and asked every question his brain could conjure. Most of the time, the weaponsmith was too preupied to answer, but when she did, she exined thoroughly. When he hadbat sses, he gave everything he had, and he was fearless in his attacks. Objectively speaking, Lex was actually bing a worse fighter since he ended up taking more hits, but from this ss¡¯s point of view, Lex was excelling. The subject that most held Lex¡¯s attention, though, was arrays. It was difficult andplex, with seemingly an ocean¡¯s worth of characters to learn. But, one time, when his professor demonstrated an array that artificially created the circumstances required for rain, before letting nature take over, resulting in impromptu rain, Lex felt something click in his mind. It was like he had an epiphany, not on a specific array, but on arrays in general. Initially, when Lex had described arrays as a programmingnguage, he treated it half as a joke. But, if he were to consider for a moment, and treat arrays as a way of programming nature, or the universe itself, what he could achieve was immeasurable. The fire in his eyes only grew stronger. He knew that his perspective was limited, and that there were many things he didn¡¯t know, but in his professor doing something as simple as causing rain, Lex saw his own limitless future. If he could create rain, why stop there? He didn¡¯t believe in ¡®magic¡¯, and so started to think of everything the system did in terms of arrays. If the system could do something, then one day he¡¯d be able to do it too. And if there was something his system couldn¡¯t do, that didn¡¯t mean it was something Lex couldn¡¯t do. So long as he was at the system¡¯s mercy, he could get stuck on a different, or in a different realm, the moment something went wrong. But if he could traverse the universe on his own, why would he care what the system can or cannot do? Why would he care about his authority not being high enough? Authority was shit, arrays were what truly mattered. But, just as Lex began to think in this way, he was faced with the ring weakness of arrays which was that they themselves were weak. How could he get around them? Formations were stronger than arrays because they relied on various physical items and treasures, but that made them immobile and weak in their own way. The best result would be if he could craft something, a treasure, an item, a piece of technology, anything, and then engrave his arrays onto it. The array would then be as strong as the item, and could function as long as the engraved arrays weren¡¯tpromised. But then he would require an energy source¡­ Countless thought went through Lex¡¯s mind and he didn¡¯t limit his thoughts either. He allowed himself to think big, because that was the only way he would achieve big results. He consulted the weaponsmith about his idea of imbuing weapons with arrays, and when she finally replied, learnt that such a thing already existed and showed him multiple examples. Little did Lex know that on his journey to ovee the system, and form arrays that would allow him to replicate the systems functions, he had stumbled upon a very rudimentary exnation for the system itself. Chapter 245 One month Chapter 245 One month Suffice to say, Lex''s first month in the academy was extremely busy. Between his various sses, doing his own research for the impending field test, and cultivating when able, he barely had any free time. That limited free time that he had was often spent in thepany of Amelia and a few of her friends. Truth be told, she was as helpful, if not more, in bridging the gap between Lex''s knowledge andmon sense in the Crystal realm than many of his sses. For example, the device that looked like a watch he was wearing today was called PT (personal terminal) which, for all intents and purposes, was like a mobile phone but with more features, given to him by Amelia. He was also better able to get ustomed to the day/night cycle here, as well as understand how the calendar in the crystal realm worked. Each day was 25 hours long, with five days in a week and six weeks in a month. Since Sol-light did not have a fixed pattern, the nts, the people and the civilizations had adjusted to it ordingly. Not all, but many of the nts as well as insects were luminescent, and many animals had developed extra senses to amodate for the long periods of time without light. The humans here, in general, had much better eyesight than Lex, as well as a small degree of night vision. But for academy students, that wasn''t an issue, as apparently the academy had its own dedicated Sol birds. Apparently, the dean had a flock of them as pets, so at least in the academy it was never dark. Other than that, Amelia also helped him get ustomed to the social norms. As his geography ss proceeded, and he began to understand how vast the area controlled by humans really was, he truly began to wonder why everyone suffered from such a sense of crisis when after hundreds of years of war, the Kraven had barely taken over 1% of theirnd. The answer, once again, was Cornelius II. As a farsighted man, as well as one of the strongest, if not the strongest, human, he understood the threat of the Kraven early on. After that, well, it was merely a matter of might being right. He forcibly converged all the strength and resources of the humans, created the Hum nation, and organized a unified effort to defend against the Kraven. Time had proved him right, as only with such a strong and dedicated approach were the humans able to prevent the Kraven frompletely destroying them the way they had done to the Poliods. Eventually, human society became ustomed to such a ruthless style of existence - mostly because they had no other option. This was because King Cornelius II had a personal motto which, as dean of the academy, he implemented here as well. The motto was simply ''I don''t give a shit''. You don''t want to fight? No one cared. You don''t like the style of government? No one cared. You think the world is round instead of a t, endless mass ofnd? No one cared. The only way to get people to care was to first fulfill your minimum responsibility to the war efforts, one way or another. Then your opinion became relevant, to a degree. Slowly, and steadily, that motto as well as the singr mentality of doing everything to defeat the Kraven had seeped into the minds and habits of everyone. So long as you cooperated with the system, it was fine, but the moment you stopped cooperating¡­ well, Lex finally understood why no one cared at all about the vige that had been destroyed during his assessment. He suddenly realized how dangerous his rant to Vernan about not joining special forces had been. Even the generallypassionate and understanding Amelia showed no reaction when he mentioned the destroyed vige to her, nor did her friends. It chilled Lex at how normal death was here. During this time, he also focused on managing the Inn when he could. Surprisingly, the husband and wife duo still had not finished their test to join the Inn. But, in a way, it made sense. Since they were the strongest to join to date, they had the toughest test. The one issue he was unable to solve was getting ess to more worlds for the iing expo hosted by Earth. There were some options he could use if push came to shove, but those would best-minute options. Furthermore, he would also need to use some umted energy by the system to ess the more advanced features. He had also given his all to his part-time job, even if he could not understand the forging methods his boss employed. With all that on his te, despite Lex managing to deal with his stress, he had an increasing urge to smoke. Unfortunately, smoking did not seem to be amon practice here, and without anything to smoke, Lex could only make do. That did trigger an old habit of his, of ying with something in his fingers. Since he had no cigarettes, nor pens to y with, without realizing it, Lex had begun to y around with the Inns golden key in his fingers. He was passing it from finger to finger, twisting and turning it around his hand, while not really paying any attention to it. That is, until one day, it urred to him¡­ to try to use the key to go back to the Inn! Unfortunately, since this realm had not been anchored to the Inn, the teleportation didn''t work. Furthermore, as the Innkeeper, the system restricted him from using the key himself. Since he had increased authority, Lex asked why there was such a stupid restriction. The only reply Mary was able to give was that it would make things ''too easy''. Unable to understand, Lex put it behind him. He had long since made it his goal to be stronger than the system, and though such a goal could not be achieved any time soon, it allowed him to detach from the system mentally. All this led him to where he was now, once again in the mess hall with Amelia and her friends. As the month was almost over, they were all already focusing on what their new sses would be next month, mostly a higher level of the same sses. Only Lex had not registered yet, for his field test would take him away from the academy. "You''re so lucky," said Misceneous Friend A as she looked at Lex with envy. "A vacation after a single month, while we have to work our butts off." "It''s not a vacation," Amelia very seriously corrected her friend. "He''s going on an expedition. It could be dangerous." "What danger? There''s no Kraven in the inner-territories. At most, he''ll run into some wild beasts, or maybe encounter some uncivilized tribes that have never been outside their own regions. Can they even be considered a threat? The way I see it, it''s a vacation with seniors from the academy. Maybe there will be some beautiful seniors who would like to y with their juniors," she said, and winked. Although technically Lex was the most junior here, that was only in terms of sses. In age, his seniors would at most be his peers. "Well, in that case, I shouldn''t keep those seniors waiting," Lex said with a chuckle, before he said his farewell and left. The group of friends watched him leave, and the moment he left the room, they started whispering in hushed tones. "Amelia, do you think THAT rumor is true?" asked one of the friends. "I¡­ don''t think so," she said hesitantly. She didn''t like gossiping about Lex now that he was her friend. "His age is too high and cultivation too low. It wouldn''t make sense." "Who cares about cultivation? He faced off an immortal! The way I see it, he''s definitely from ''that'' family. Not to mention, you''ve seen how hard he works. He''s too focused for someone with no background. The way I see it, you should make your move on him before someone else does." Amelia kept looking towards where Lex left, feeling confused. Originally, after the rumors about Lex spread, they disappeared just as quickly. Lex himself didn''t think anything of it, because he was familiar with the concept of 15 minutes of fame. His reputation was unearned, so it was natural that it would vanish. What he didn''t know was that, in truth, an even wilder rumor started spreading about him after he developed a reputation as a good student and hard worker. One that was so¡­ scandalous, that people only whispered about it, and only discussed it amongst themselves. And so, as Lex left to meet his seniors for the first time, he had no idea what his real reputation was. ***** Origin Realm, Somewhere in the Milky Way A man stepped out of one spaceship and into another, taking in a deep breath as if smelling freedom for the first time in a long time. He was escorted by the crew to his private room, where a few people were waiting for him. "Mr. Jeckal, everything went ording to your n. The Williams family had no idea about your worth, and just a few decades of waiting ended up using you to trade for some minor benefits. If they had any idea of who you really are, things could have gotten tricky." "It''s basic psychology," Jeckal said, as he sat down on one of the sofas, making himselffortable. "If you ignore something, everyone will assume it''s worthless. But, now that I''ve escaped their clutches, let''s make sure nothing like this happens again." Although Jeckal was smiling, everyone else in the room shivered. "Take me out of the Gxy and back home where I can be safe. And, while you''re at it, but some bounties out for some of the Williams family kids, I want them to feel ufortable. Also, I had to leave one of my daughters, Heidi, back in that infernal prison alive because she got mixed up with some unknown entity called Midnight Inn. Look into it, and if their background isn''t an issue, I want you to make them ufortable as well. I had to leave a loose end because of them, and if my wife finds out I had kids, it''ll be a problem." "Right away," answered one of the people. They were used to this kind of behavior. This Jeckal was a cmity for countless people, but he was useful and he knew it, so he knew exactly how to take advantage of his situation. The name Midnight Inn was just one of many he put on a list to cause trouble for, and who would honestly take the trouble of researching all of them? Usually, all these people had to do was pass the name along, and the organization or people on that list would vanish. So, for better or for worse, they did the same for this list, and a certain powerful organization started killing anyone who used the name Midnight Inn. After all, who would stop them? Chapter 246 Departure The expedition party had 120 students, each a part of a subgroup that had a certain purpose. Only 30 of the students hadbat rted designations, with the remaining having their own reasons for joining the group ¨C from prospectors, to cartographers, to wilderness explorers and more. Despite their various fields, Lex was still the person with the lowest cultivation level here. Although he had made sure to spend time cultivating, and the rich spiritual energy of this world helped speed up his growth, he had still only reached Qi training level 5. But, as a consultant and advisor, he would not be on the front lines should they encounter any danger. Well, that was what was technically supposed to happen, but once Lex reported to the leader of the expedition, and confirmed his role, his grimace let Lex know exactly what the man thought of him. Ptolemy Woodman, the leader of this expedition, had worked ridiculously hard to have this expedition organized. This was not a mission from the academy for him, this was something he had to convince the academy to let him do. He proved himself time and time again, and did endless research and preparation to show the academy that this expedition would be profitable. Not only that, he had to sign a contract, stating that should the expedition end up a failure, he would work for 10 years for the academy to make up for it. Yet, in the end, they stuck him with some consultant to help him advise on security measures? He was not an amateur who had never seenbat! He had gained experience doing time on both the front lines during such expeditions and in themand center during army drills. This was an insult. But, as someone who understood the rules, he knew throwing a tantrum was pointless. If this is what it took to lead his own expedition, he would tolerate it. For now. ¡°We¡¯re leaving in three days,¡± Ptolemy said, handing Lex a list. ¡°In this time, be familiar with the roles of everyone in the expedition. Also, if you have any requests in terms of gear or personal equipment, turn it in by today. Since the academy is funding the expedition, there is a certain allowance for equipment needed for it.¡± Lex was surprised by the fact that he could request gear, as he had spent most of his personal earnings during the past month to purchase all sorts of stuff for this expedition. If he could request more for free¡­ Well, as a New Yorker, it went against his personal code of conduct to refuse free things. The most expensive things he needed were ingredients for a special kind of ink he could use to form arrays even in the Qi training realm, so he did not hesitate to request as many of those as he could. Ptolemy was confused by the request, but didn¡¯t care enough to inquire about their uses. Over the next three days, Lex spent all his time getting acquainted with the students on the expedition. This is where the skills he had picked up at the Inn shone the most. Lex had be charismatic enough to strike up a conversation with anyone he met, and make a favorable impression when he left. Of course, this was not what he was normally like, but in this instance where he was trying to get to know everyone, and build a positive rtionship so that the expedition wouldn¡¯t be affected, he could turn on the charm like a switch. In fact, internally, even he was a little surprised by how easy it was. The contrast between how easily he had ingratiated himself to the members of the expedition, and how much of a loner he had been for the past month was drastic. It seemed sometimes, making an effort was the only difference between two entirely different oues. That, and the fact that no one had yet connected Lex to the rumors about him that had spread. Though, that did not mean he regretted having a small social circle. His focus was on making the best use of his time at the academy, not making friends. Only a small part of him admitted that his time during this past month would have been absolutely miserable if it hadn¡¯t been for Amelia¡¯spany. Finally, on the day of departure, Lex stood alongside the 120 other members, his backpack filled to the brim, and a small duffle bag on the ground beside him. Of everyone, he had the least luggage, mostly because he skipped out on bringing many spare clothes and focused only on the essentials ¨C a decision he would soone to regret. They did not have to wait for long, as soon Ptolemy arrived alongside some school staff. They would have no chaperones during their excursion, and would have to rely on themselves, but for them to reach their destination, they would require the academy¡¯s help. It need not be said that the Crystal realm was massive. The equivalent of a million Earths would not even cover the amount ofnd held by just the Kraven¡¯s, let alone the other races. This exined why so muchnd was left unexplored, even in established counties. They followed them to the teleportation terminal, one of the most important and most well supervised regions of the academy. Trying to move around Hum nation on a vehicle would take exceedingly long times, which is why teleportation was such an important feature. Teleporting a few individuals around, like it had been done to Lex during his assessment, was rtively easy. But to move 120 students far off, all at once, would require them to use the teleportation formation. ¡°Lex, to me,¡± Ptolemy saidmandingly, summoning Lex to his side. Lex did not like his tone or demeanor, but he listened nheless. ¡°From here, we¡¯ll be teleporting directly to Karom city, the nearest settlement to our excursion zone. From there, we will head out, and it will take us a few days to reach the boundary of the explorednds. Since you¡¯re here on an advisory role regarding security, do you have any suggestions?¡± Lex had already done plenty of research on where they would be heading, so he was not surprised by the mention of the city or their route. He was, however, surprised that Ptolemy asked for his advice. ¡°The outskirts of Karom city¡¯s domain is a dense forest, which we will have to travel through unless you have nned some kind of air transport. Moving on foot will be exhausting and difficult, considering the difficult terrain, so I rmend we rent some Dim lizards as mounts. ¡°Furthermore, it¡¯ll be difficult to set up camp in a forest, so before we enter, we should send scouts ahead to check any for areas suitable or defensible. Considering the fact that we don¡¯t know what we¡¯ll be facing as we proceed, it¡¯s a good idea to always be as rested as possible. For now, that¡¯s all I have.¡± Dim lizards were a six-legged species of lizards that were as long as alligators and asrge as bulls. Despite their aggressive nature, they weremonly used as mounts in Hum nation as they had mastered the art of subduing them. Admittedly, a forest was not the kind of terrain where they could show their advantage, it was better than nothing. Also, despite being somewhat tame, they could also serve as good guard lizards for when they set camp or rested. Lex had already noted down this suggestion while he was doing research, along with a few other things. Unfortunately, since the ce they were going to was unexplored, there were only so many things Lex could prepare in advance. Any other advice he had to give would have to be as things developed. Luckily, he had his Fancy Monocle to help him out in case they encountered something they didn¡¯t know about, so he wasn¡¯t too worried. Ptolemy did notment on whether he was satisfied with Lex¡¯s advice, nor did he let show what he really thought. He simply epted what Lex said, but showed no indication of whether he nned on listening to Lex. Going through the procedure to teleport so many people took a couple of hours, but it was still nothingpared to TSA. ¡°Brace yourself,¡± a student advised Lex as they walked into the formation. Lex thought he knew what to expect, but the moment the teleportation formation activated, he knew he was wrong. His previous teleportations had hit him with a whish, but this time Lex felt like a sledgehammer smashed into his chest. Barely managing to keep himself from falling over, Lex managed to prevent embarrassing himself as soon as the expedition started. But, he was not prepared for the chill that hit him next. He looked around and found himself in a small chamber, along with all the other students who were quickly putting on some sweaters and gloves. A momentter, he identified the sounds of an unabating gale. He looked out the window and saw what seemed like dunes of snow, and a snowstorm that threatened to freeze Lex to his very core. What was this? His research never said anything about snow. A momentter, he realized he hadn¡¯t packed anything thicker than a T-shirt! Chapter 247 I can be OP too For a moment, Lex watched the raging snowstorm, he suffered shbacks of being surrounded by millions of Kalter Flug. But instead of fear of anxiety, Lex only felt curiosity. He had long since learned that much of the weather patterns in the Crystal realm were dictated by ridiculously strong beings. For example, the way Sol birds brought sunshine and warmth, he was convinced the snow storm he experienced during his assessment was the result of that massive Kalter Flug he saw at the end. Which caused him to wonder if the weather here was also a result of some massive snow creature. Considering this was an established city, they should have some defenses against creatures like that, right? But before he had an opportunity to sate his curiosity, he felt a look full of disdain fall onto him. He turned to see Ptolemy, fully dressed in winter clothing, watching him. Though his face was neutral, Lex was 100% sure he was internally mocking him. How could Lex serve as an advisor if he couldn¡¯t even manage his own wardrobe? This matter went farther than just needing a sweater, as normal cold would not influence Lex at all. But the cultivation world always addedyers ofplexity to everything. If Lex normally experienced temperatures such as 0 degrees celsius without trouble, once the chill was enhanced by spirit energy, it was no longer a matter of simple temperature. It was the spirit energy itself that chilled him rather than the weather. The clothes everyone was dawning surely had some protective functions to protect against such a spiritualized chill. One of the other students, who was on good terms with Lex, noticed thetter wasn¡¯t changing his clothes. Realizing he might have not brought anything to protect against such an environment, he offered Lex a spare. Perhaps if Lex wasn¡¯t suffering from the mocking gaze of Ptolemy, he would have simply epted. That was the simpler solution. But he didn¡¯t want to give Ptolemy the satisfaction of knowing he was right and that Lex hadn¡¯t brought clothes. Instead¡­ ¡°Thanks, but weather like this doesn¡¯t mean much to me,¡± Lex said with a smile. Lex wasn¡¯t just putting up a brave front. If there was one thing Lex had learnt during this one month at the academy, it was that he had seriously underestimated the worth of a SSS+ rank award. While his defense was steadily increasing, and now at level 5 Qi training, he could face most Qi training level cultivators without fear of being killed, it had not yet veered into the realm of overpowered. Instead, it was the immense ease with which he picked up any kind of defensive technique, and the ridiculous mastery he had over each one of those techniques that amazed him. He remembered once, during his job with the weaponsmith, she gave him a technique that would allow him to negate cold so that he could dip his hands into a liquid so cold it made liquid nitrogen look like fresh soup. Strictly speaking, it was not a defensive technique, since its actual purpose was to concentrate all the cold he would have felt on his hands to the tip of his fingers, which he could then channel into another object, forcefully dropping its temperature. It was an auxiliary technique used during crafting special equipment. But Regal Embrace begged to differ. To it, this was a technique designed to protect Lex from element based damage, and so with a nce he learnt it. Even still, Lex did not realize the treasure trove he had until one day, while he was in the library, he encountered a section with various cultivation techniques. One could not learn those techniques at a whim, as not only did you need proper qualification, you actually needed to pay. Yet, so long as it was a defensive technique, just the introductory paragraph with a vague description of how it manipted Qi to give birth to various effects were enough for Lex to learn it. As if that wasn¡¯t enough, he even managed to learn the techniques that seemed to originate frompletely different forms of cultivation! So, in this moment, when Lex was being assaulted by the passive effects of chilled spiritual energy, he activated one of the many techniques he had learnt ¨C one of his favorites, actually. Immediately, Lex stopped feeling the chill and, in fact, felt a little warm, while an array character that represented ice appeared on the back of his right hand in a blueish-silver light. It was important to note that while the character that formed on his hand was used in arrays, the characters themselves were symbols born of the universe and represented its power. Even those who did not study arrays had some basic knowledge of such matters, and so, when the character appeared on his hand, and Lex moved around as if truly unaffected by the chill, some of the students who knew his role during this trip suddenly had a better impression of him. As an advisor, he did not need to be strong, but instead versatile. While he received a few acknowledging nods, he shed a smug grin at Ptolemy. Sometimes, being petty felt good. The expedition leader snorted, but quickly turned his attention back to important matters. ¡°The presence of Frio birdsplicates things a bit, but we have already nned for this as well. We¡¯ll be riding Dim lizards to cross the terrain and we¡¯ll have to get some Hover coaches. We¡­¡± Ptolemy did not bother giving everyone the briefing on what they had to do, only let them know that things were under control. It seemed that, even before Lex¡¯s suggestion, he had arranged for the lizards to be their mounts. As the expedition prepared themselves to move out despite the weather, Lex looked up into the sky. There were no giant monsters, and clouds covered the sky, but sometimes Lex felt like he vaguely saw the shape of birds. After asking what seemed to bemon sense, he learnt that Frio birds were the counterparts of Sol birds. A Frio and Sol bird each formed a couple, but they would only meet during mating season, which usually spelt disaster for the weather. Both these species of birds, while ridiculously strong, were not usually aggressive, as they did not feed on food to sustain themselves, only spiritual energy. Of course, if someone tried to provoke them, they would show that they were far from harmless. After exiting the teleportation hall, they made their way outside the city, where 120 saddled Dim Lizards were waiting for them, with another 30 harnessed to several floating carriages. After loading most of their luggage into the carriages, and purchasing some supplies locally, they left immediately. Ptolemy had arranged for guides, so the poor visibility and the harsh weather did not seem to slow them down. Other than that, they had also employed some of the city¡¯s local guards as an escort ¨C just to avoid any unnecessary problems. These were just some of the visible things Ptolemy had done, for Lex, who had been apanying since they set off saw for himself how he kept preemptively preparing for any trouble. As annoying as Lex found Ptolemy, he found himself learning a lot by following him. Maybe that was the real test, not to effectively advise, but to learn as much as possible. But, while Lex was having this epiphany, and was considering trying to mend their rtionship, Ptolemy knew from the very start that he was not in need of any advice, but rather he was being used to groom this new and uing student, which is why he resented Lex even more. While Ptolemy himself worked to gain everything he had, the path was being carved for Lex even if he did not realize it. What neither of them knew was that the circumstances of their meeting had been carefully orchestrated behind the scenes by a certain department in the academy. They were not meant to be friends, but rather somewhat akin to rivals. Lex would learn from Ptolemy, while thetter was supposed to be egged on by the favor being shown to Lex and work even harder to prove himself. Currently, as things stood, they were ying along perfectly. Slowed down by the storm, they trod along for almost 12 hours before they reached their first campsite, which, as it turned out, had already been prepared long before their arrival. This camp was right outside the forest, and they would rest here until their path forward had been properly mapped by the forward team. Moving a small team through the forest might have been easy, but with so many people and carriages to take along, a proper path would be required, and it would take some time to plot such a path. Just as Lex was beginning to admire Ptolemy, and almost made up his mind to mend their rtionship, thetter looked at him and said, ¡°you sure you can keep yourself warm like that for long? It would be a shame if I need your advice, but I find my advisor frozen in a corner somewhere.¡± Chapter 248 Invasion Lex was suddenly struck by Ptolemy¡¯s sudden outburst. While it could not veer into the domain of an actual insult, up until this moment, the man had kept his disdain in check. He behaved professionally and did not let his personal feelings affect how he was supposed to behave. So then, why the sudden change? After a moment, Lex realized what had happened. Once they reached the first campsite, they were officially on their own, as even the escorts from the nearby city had begun to retreat. Now, Ptolemy was the true leader, and did not need to put up on a front. This did not spell well. But Lex was not one to back down so easily. ¡°Even if I maintain this technique for a thousand years, it won¡¯t tire me,¡± he replied, as if he was talking about something mundane, like a crease on his shirt. But he had not lied. The only Qi required on Lex¡¯s behalf to use this technique was the one required to activate it. Once activated, and the character on his hand formed, the technique would continue to run so long as there was ambient chilled spiritual energy, as it was that very energy that powered the technique. At a nce, this seemed like a very powerful technique which could make him immune to all cold elemental damage, but that was just a facade. Absorbing the cold was just the auxiliary purpose of this defensive technique, as its true purposey elsewhere. Therefore, while it could absorb the energy seemingly endlessly, such absorption was only focused on the ambient energy that passively surrounded Lex. In the case of an attack, this effect would not be able to absorb any of the energy, and the true purpose of the ability would be triggered. Although he had mastered this technique, it took a while for Lex to understand the concept behind this technique itself. This was because the definition of cold on Earth was the absence of heat. Since cold in itself was nothing except the rtive distribution of heat, absorbing cold actually meant distributing heat away. Yet in an environment colder than his body temperature, the technique was ¡®absorbing¡¯ the surrounding cold, therefore making him feel warm. Where was this warmthing from? Eventually Lex understood. The heat wasing from the physics ss he decided to drop in college. With that, he stopped thinking about it. His current focus was on Ptolemy, who was looking back at Lex with mild disgust. ¡°I think it¡¯s time we figure a few things out. To me, your aid is unnecessary and your presence is an irritation distraction at best. To you, this expedition is your passing grade. So, you can stick around, but stay out of my way and everything will go smoothly for the both of us. Stick to the middle of camp where you¡¯ll be safe, and treat this like a vacation and soon it¡¯ll all be over. Dismissed.¡± Not bothering with Lex anymore, the man left. Lex, on the other hand, felt extremely aggravated, but at the same time, considering the circumstances, being ignored was the best thing that could havee from the situation. Had Ptolemy decided to do more¡­ dastardly things to express his discontent, life would have be very difficult for Lex. This still did not mean that Ptolemy wouldn¡¯t decide to take out his frustration on Lex againter, that was still a possibility, so Lex did not let down his guard. But, freed from responsibility, Lex could now spend more time learning arrays. Not to mention, there was another purpose this expedition happened to fill for Lex. Since they were soon going to enter unexplorednds, there was a possibility of Lex running into untapped energy sources. Although rare, it was not unheard of for an expedition to discover spirit stone mines, energy wells, natural formations and more wonderful things. In fact, searching for such things was a big part of every expedition. With nothing left to do, Lex returned to his tent to get some rest and chat with Mary. While things had not been all sunshine and rainbows, at least there hadn¡¯t been any major events at the Inn to worry him, which was nice. ***** In front of Avallon building, Midnight Inn A small group of 6 aliens called Raskals appeared and immediately started looking around, assessing for any threats. They were wearing regr clothes, or so it seemed, for under their clothes they were all wearing skin tightbat armor. Unlike in the old days, when Lex or one of his workers would greet new guests, personal holograms did that these days. These Raskals received the standard wee and exnation, but that did not diminish their wariness towards the Inn. The Raskals were an aggressive, war prone race with limited intelligence. The upside to this was that, when trained, they followed their training dutifully without any extra thoughts ¨C mostly because they had no extra thoughts. Not to mention, their intelligence had no detriment to theirbat prowess, and so they served as excellent soldiers and scouts. These four feet tall, leathery aliens were humanoid, but had four arms, two facing forwards and two backwards, as well as retractable wings that had coiled on their backs. The closest thing on Earth that resembled these aliens were skin rats. But, just because they looked weird, did not mean they would be refused service. The six Raskals exchanged looks, and then split up, each heading in a different direction. They had arrived here using golden keys provided by Jeckal, Heidi¡¯s father. Their preliminary purpose was to study the Inn and gather as much information as possible, as well as anything on any forces that might be backing them, and the strength of their members. Jackal was a very vindictive man, but he was extremely useful for his organization, and so many of his desires were fulfilled. That did not, however, mean the organization would recklessly kill everyone the man wanted killed. They would at least do some background research first. They had no information about the Midnight Inn in their database, which dropped their evaluation of the Inn by a lot. After all, if they were important, they would be known. Sending the Raskals at this point was just a formality. A few hourster, when the Raskals returned and submitted their report, the organization assessed it to be a lot of unverifiable ims. The staff that the Raskals encountered were pathetically weak, and though there were rumors of the Innkeeper being a hegemon of the universe, it appeared that currently he was away from the Inn. The organization determined it was nothing more than bolstering and bluffing, and deemed the Midnight Inn inconsequential. Of course, one w in their report was that they did not mention arriving at the Inn via teleportation across space activated using a key. Since it was not mentioned, the organization assumed it was a ce reached by more regr means, and one of the things that had intimidated so many others who visited the Inn became overlooked. In the end, to satisfy Jeckal, an execution order was sent. A team of 500 Raskals was organized, with the strongest few being in the Nascent realm. The original team of six distributed enough keys for all of them and then, the first ever invasion of the Innmenced. ***** John clenched his fists as he kept himself from screaming out of frustration. He hade so ruddy close to finishing the Mystery trial, but once again failed! The most frustrating thing was that this time, his failure was all his own fault. For the first time, he executed his own assassination n without his systems help, and actually seeded! He had stabbed the enemy in the neck, and the moment felt so great that he momentarily forgot that at higher levels, that was not enough to kill. The single moment he took to celebrate his victory was all his target needed to kill him in return. Just as he was writhing in bitter agony, four short guests appeared before him. He groaned internally, and just as he was about to put on a friendly face, they attacked him! The two nearest to him threw what looked like metals covered in spikes at him, while the two further backunched blow darts at his face. Before the attack evennded, they considered the man dead, for they could feel no cultivation from him. They were already looking for their next target when the two Raskals holding thes were yanked into the air. Grabbing the two metals with his hand, he pulled the enemies towards himself with no regard for the spikes. As the two Raskals flew towards him, a simple backhand p cracked their skulls and knocked them unconscious. He grinned at the remaining two Raskals, his teeth conveniently holding the darts that shot at him. Then, as if they were candy, he sucked the darts into his mouth and started to chew. Fear and horror gripped the Raskals as they realized they had encountered a formidable foe, a sharp contrast to the delight on John¡¯s face. He was just happy he had someone to vent on. After all, the Innkeeper couldn¡¯t me him for ying a little if the guests attacked him first, right? Chapter 249 4 seconds Rafael was sitting in his wheelchair, sunbathing. Since he had woken up, he barely returned to Earth for a few days before returning to the Inn. Not only was the Inn safer, considering Earth¡¯s vtile political situation, it was better for his recovery as well. Not to mention, he had thoroughly confirmed that most of his information about the future in the near future was useless now. Only events further out in the future, or events unrted to the situation on Earth itself, were still relevant. This meant he had to spend a lot of time figuring out what he needed to do. Just as his internal monologue was going on, two ugly, leathery rat monsters appeared in front of him. No, wait, that was insensitive. Rat aliens appeared in front of him. They took a look around to get an understanding of the situation, and then their sightnded on Rafael. As an experienced war veteran, he immediately recognized the look in their eyes, but instead of being rmed, he raised an eyebrow in curiosity? Really? They were going to attack him? The answer was yes. The closest ugly, skinny, leathery rat monster immediately lunged at him with a frail-looking spear, aiming towards his skull. Given his current condition there wasn¡¯t much he could do anyway, but Rafael did not as much as flinch as he watched the spear closing in on him with a smirk. From the initial distance of a few feet, the spear closed in on him in a sh. As it drew close, aiming somewhere towards the middle of his face, he even took the time to observe the craftsmanship of the spear. It was made of some kind of white material and he could not tell if it was something synthetic or a kind of material he¡¯d never seen before. It had green colored lines running up and down its body, as if the odd material had some kind of disgusting veins sticking out of its body. Even as the spear was a few inches from his face, he did not move. Even as the squeaky battle cry of the rat monster hit him, his smirk did not disappear. The tip of the spear was but a few centimeters from his face. Then it hit him. That is, the gust of wind carried by the spear hit him, but the spear itself was held firmly in ce by a vine that suddenly emerged from the ground. To be clear, the vine had wrapped itself not only around the spear, but the ugly, stinky, disgusting rat monster as well as its counterpart. For a moment everything was still, as the monsters tried to struggle within the vines, but could not. Then the vine pulled the two into the ground, the grass quickly covering up the area the vine hade from, as if nothing ever happened. ***** Crystal realm, Karom Forest, Lex¡¯s tent Lex had been sitting on the ground, chatting with Mary about the Inn and the Crystal realm, when suddenly he received the loudest system notification to date. He did not need to go and check the notification because, for the first time, in a robotic yet disgruntled voice, the system directly read the notification out to him. Quest: MIDNIGHT INN IS BEING INVADED! WARD OFF THE INVASION WITHOUT ALLOWING THE GUESTS TO SUFFER HARM Quest time limit: IMMEDIATELY Quest Reward: Gamblers coin Quest failure punishment: REDUCTION IN AUTHORITY! For a time that seemed to stretch to eternity, Lex was frozen as he suddenly panicked! This was exactly what he had been fearing! Not only was the Inn under attack, he was far away and could not do anything. But Lex was not inexperienced anymore! He managed to recover from his panic and his mind went into overdrive! From the moment of the system¡¯s announcement, to him panicking, to his eventual recovery, exactly one second had passed. The system had given the quest before the Raskals even appeared, but by the time Lex had recovered, they were already in the Inn. Working faster than his mind had ever done before, he scanned the entire Inn with his mind, identifying the various locations of the invaders. Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, most of the invaders appeared in three different ces. Most of them, around 300, appeared near the gate built into the boundary wall of the Inn. This was amon ce for new guests to appear, but as there was no attraction near it, it was fortunately empty of guests. The second ce a lot of them appeared was on Main street, near Avallon. Around 100 well equipped Raskals had just appeared, and unfortunately, it was a crowded spot. The third ce they appeared in arge group was in front of Midnight manor, a couple dozen or so of them. This ce also had guests around, though not as many as Main street. The remainder appeared in random locations throughout the Inn. Once Lex understood their locations, he scanned them for their strengths. The strongest Raskals¡¯ status was: Name: K-789465 Age: 110 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: Nascent realm middle Species: Raskal Midnight Inn Prestige Level: ¨C Remarks: He¡¯s cannon fodder for the universe, and a boss for you. He immediately understood the division in power levels. 400 of them were at various levels in the foundation realm, 80 of them were in the Golden core and 20 of them were in the Nascent realm. This was an army that could decimate the Inn! He didn¡¯t have any workers in those realms and the vine was only in the Initial Golden Core realm. What could he do? If the husband and wife duo had managed to pass their tests by now, he could have used them, but currently they were both away, conducting their respective tests. There had to be a solution. Another second passed. He had to think of solutions fast, and he had to protect his guests and workers as well! He had over 4 million MP at his disposal, as well as 0.1% energy umted. If this wasn¡¯t enough to eradicate his enemies from the face of this universe, then as the Innkeeper he should just retire. Lex¡¯s overworking mind suddenly entered a state of flow and he began doing multiple things at once. He immediately identified the Raskals that were near guests and workers, other than the ones on Main street. There were 12 such situations, including the ones near Rafael. Of these 12 situations, most guests were faced with foundation Raskals, one guest was faced with a Golden Core Raskal and thest one was Gerard and Velma, who faced a Nascent realm Raskal! ¡®Mary, control the Vine and stop these Raskal immediately!¡¯ Lex said as he mentally sent her the image of the locations as well as the Raskals that needed to be stopped. He was not aware if she would be able to multitask and control the Vine in so many ces at once, so he sent her images in decreasing order of urgency. The first image was of the Raskal closest to harming someone, then one slightly further off and so forth. In the meantime, he spent 100,000MP to create a teleportation circle on Main street and teleported all the Raskals away, directly to the front gate with the rest of the Raskals. Unfortunately, this was not targeted teleportation, as he was able to do when he himself was at the Inn, so anyone within was also teleported along, Raskal or not. He quickly scanned the Inn again, to understand what was the most pressing situation, expecting it to be Gerard and Velma but, beyond anything he could have expected, the situation was under control. In fact, the circumstances of those two and the Raskal were so peculiar Lex actually lost 0.4 second in shock, despite the state of flow! But he moved on. The situation was far from handled, as a couple of fights had already broken out! Fortunately, the two fights involved John and Fenrir. He should have been worried for Fenrir, but in the single second he had not been observing the dog, it had already killed all the Raskal near it. John, on the other hand, was¡­ eating darts? Not wasting any more time, he bought a formation for the sole purpose of trapping an army for 1.5 million MP and then started buying smaller, targeted teleportation circles to teleport his guests out of the formation one by one. Despite being smaller, each circle cost him 10,000 MP, but he couldn¡¯t be picky right now. Another second passed. By now John had taken care of his Raskal and Rafael had been rescued. But some guests were still being attacked. Fortunately, a couple of the guests, being warriors themselves, didn¡¯t wait for a rescue and directly retaliated as soon as they were threatened. As another second passed, the most immediate threat had been handled, but the battle had not yet even begun. Chapter 250 Welcome to the Midnight Inn Gerard was having a very good day. He was at the peak of the Qi training realm, and his bloodline had upgraded! A bloodline evolution was ridiculously difficult, because there was no set way to make a bloodline evolve and level up. Of the people who had bloodlines, most went their entire lives without upgrading their bloodline, regardless of what their cultivation level was. Of course, Gerard didn¡¯t know that. All he was concerned about was that, with the golf cart that Xeon had upgraded and his new bloodline, his rides would be a lot smoother. Furthermore, today was his day off, so he was spending time with his friend. How could he not be happy? ¡°How is Pam doing? Has she recovered from the incident?¡± he asked as he took a sip of hot chocte from the finest china. ¡°She¡¯s fine, she¡¯s fine. She was over it in a couple of hours. These days though, she seems to be spending all of her free time at the Gamer¡¯s Den,¡± Velma replied, a special gleam in her eyes. She loved to gossip ¨C it gave her such a thrill. Since Helen had disappeared, she had lost her gossiping buddy, so now she rarely had an opportunity. ¡°It¡¯s good that the kids are getting along,¡± replied Gerard, the worker who, himself, was only a few months old. Just as Velma was about to borate on the juicy gossip surrounding Pam and Z, a Raskal appeared in front of them. The duo had been having their chat in a pic spot in the forest near the greenhouse, so that they could have their privacy. The appearance of a guest here, so far from all the main structures, was unusual, but not impossible. Despite being on a break, the duo prepared to greet the guest when the Nascentunched a spirit attack on them. There was a devastating explosion and a smoke cloud filled the air while some of the surrounding trees fell over, now leaning against the trees that had not yet broken. The Raskal had already looked past the two Qi training insects and was sweeping the area with his spirit sense, his attention attracted towards a formation he discovered in the forest. ¡°That was quite rude,¡± said Gerard with a frown, as he dusted off his waistcoat with a frown. His right was still holding onto the cup, the hot chocte in it without a single ripple. Behind him, Velma was disoriented and leaning against Gerard for support, her hair a mess but otherwise unharmed. The Raskal was taken aback, but suddenly started sweeping the area with his spirit sense, trying to see the hidden expert that had protected the two. But, after a few seconds of searching, he found no one. ¡°The assistant innkeeper has informed me that you are from a group of invader, and that we are understaffed at the moment, so I¡¯ll have to take care of you myself,¡± Gerard spoke, as he put the teacup on the floor, his eyes starting to shine with a silver light as he did so. Gerard, like the other workers at the Inn, was the proud owner of the Regalia Bloom bloodline. This was an incredibly powerful bloodline that came along with an immense cost. The bloodline allowed the user to take control of energy within a certain zone around himself. As for what kind of energy? Any energy that the user can perceive, whether it be gravitational, kic, heat, electromaic, chaos, primordial, spiritual, etc. They could then manipte that energy to coat any item or weapon of their choosing as a medium for that energy. It sounded straightforward, but it was anything but simple. An example would be that if Gerard stood in the epicenter of an explosion, he could channel all the heat, sound and kic energy produced into the thrusters of his new golf cart, and then use it to propel the cart, all without suffering any harm. Of course, there were limits to how much he could transfer, as each time he used the ability, he would suffer physical exhaustion, and his bloodline would also need to recover. So it was not like he could be dropped into a nuclear explosion, and then be expected to transfer all of that energy away from himself. Even if he had a dozen hot choctes, he would eventually be physically exhausted to the point where he could not use the ability, and then the explosion would kill him. If, however, he had the physical capabilities of Marlo, then it could not be a problem at all for him to channel the energy from a nuclear st. But, no great power came without price. The Regalia Bloom was the same. In exchange for granting him ess to all the energy in the universe, the bloodline altered his body, slowly and steadily, like a cancer that could not be treated. Yes, no matter how he tried to resist, Gerard was unable to avoid the price. The Regalia Bloom continued to work on his body, slowly making him irresistibly attractive. Do not underestimate the seriousness of this burden. This was not the kind of delicate beauty mentioned in novels that would make the MC fairer and more beautiful. No, this was an attraction that transcended space and time. Without actually changing his appearance, Gerard would slowly be beloved by any who saw him, regardless of their preferences or tastes. He originally underestimated the effects of the bloodline when he gathered a host of olddies who only wanted to be chauffeured by him. Now, even countless middle-aged women expressed their love to him, unable to resist the sheen of his white hair. But how could he, a gentleman, tear up their families? The burden of their endless love was one he had barely learnt to tolerate. But, it was important to remember, all that was the effect and price of the Regalia Bloom bloodline before he upgraded it. Now though¡­ As the silver shine in his eyes grew stronger, Gerards body was lifted up into the air and he looked down at the Raskal like a King, looking down at a peasant. ¡°Don¡¯t you know it¡¯s against etiquette to strike ady?¡± he said, his voice hitting the Raskal like a shockwave, threatening to tear his ear drums. ¡°Let me teach you some manners.¡± Gerard¡¯s new and improved golf cart, which had been parked outside the forest, flew to him like a silver star shooting through the sky. Gerard carefully took off his zer and put it down, just in time for the golf cart to appear, setting the zer on the passenger seat as he himself took his ce behind the wheel. Giving no time to the Raskal to respond, the moving golf cart drifted through the air and smashed against the side of its body against him without so much as scratching the new paint job. The Raskal wasunched mercilessly through the forest, crashing through a series of trees. Even as the alien tried to stop itself using its spirit sense, the golf cart appeared again, this time smacking him in the face with one of the tires. ¡°Oh and, wee to the Midnight Inn.¡± Chapter 251 Precarious situation The Raskal was smashed into the ground, forming arge crater with spiderweb cracks that spread across the forest floor. He was injured and a trail of blood flowed down from his lip, but that was the extent of his injury. It was not anger that filled the Raskals¡¯ eyes, but discipline. He was a trained soldier, but more importantly, he did not have much room to think. In this disadvantaged situation, the only thing running through his brain was the training he received. He drew his weapon, a section staff with four chained staffs instead of the usual three. Each one of his hands firmly held onto one of the sections. Letting out a battle cry, he attacked! Dashing up into the air, the Raskal swung his staff furiously at the flying, shining golf cart in an attempt to squash it like a fly. Yet, instead of shing, the staff gently patted the cart as all its energy had already been diverted. A green me shot out of two exhausts at the back of the cart, before the cart seemed to jet out towards the flying alien. Yet, the cart was still in its original location. What flew towards the Raskal was an attack in the image of the cart, followed closely by a few more! No longer underestimating the opponent, the Raskal promptly dodged the raining golf carts and pulled back his staff. Holding the two ends of the staff, he started swinging it around himself like a jump rope, while his two free hands pulled out a slingshot and took aim at Gerard. It did not matter if his attacks were useful or not; the Raskal was not able to think so far ahead. All it knew was to attack, and so it did. Launching endless projectiles at the cart, the Raskal also moved closer to smash the cart with his staff that he was constantly swinging. Even if Gerard absorbed some energy from it, the alien was providing energy constantly. And yet, it seemed to make no difference. Like a swan gliding across ake, the golf cart moved around the forest, easily dodging the attacks. Realizing his attacks up until had now failed, a seriousness entered Gerard¡¯s eyes as a silver, shining clutch and gear appeared beside him. Wiping off the first bead of sweat he had ever experienced in his entire life, Gerard revved the cart. He was far from done. ***** Near the forest, four Raskals were searching for enemies. Since they had appeared in an isted area, Lex had yet to teleport them into the formation because they were not a priority and he was too busy taking care of nonstop emergencies. Suddenly, they heard a familiar battle-crying from the forest, and immediately turned that way. The battle-cry was actually a signal of a tough fight and a call for reinforcements. Since their aid was needed, they would respond, for that was how they had been trained. They began jogging towards their goal, pulling out their weapons as they did. ***** Z was at the edge of his seat, watching an anime called Sasuke, doing his best to hold back his tears. The start of the show was so emotional, and he could really feel the protagonist¡¯s pain, while cursing the antagonist of the show, Sakura, with all his heart. But then, suddenly, everything changed. One moment he was in the Gamer¡¯s Den, the next moment he was at the front gate of the Inn. Before he could even begin to feel confused about what had just happened, the assistant innkeeper sent him, as well as all the other workers, a message telling them that they were being invaded. Still amped up by all the emotions he had been feeling, and filled with frustration and hate, he immediately turned on his battle music and let loose a war cry. Instead of a single card, all 52 cards from his deck started flying in the surrounding air, before they flew directly into the army of Raskals. This time, he did not use the t of the cards, and used their sharp edges to cut through the enemy horde! He was visualizing all the enemies from every anime he had ever seen, and did not forget to yell the name of his attack while he was at it. ¡°Is-this-your-card jutsu!¡± But, as spirited as Z was, unlike Gerard, he was neither at the peak of Qi training nor had his bloodline evolved. Let alone killing, even hurting the Foundation realm Raskals was a difficult task for him. Fortunately, even as his cards swept through the enemy ranks, and the surrounding guests were starting to realize something unusual was happening, he was not the only staff member there. Doe, the rarely seen worker who was John¡¯s assistant, along with Pam, were up on their feet and quickly bringing the guests to a corner away from the fighting that had abruptly erupted. Gerards fellow chauffeurs were also doing their best at separating the enemies and the guests, even as Lex began teleporting them away one by one. The caretakers and staff from Avallon were doing their parts as well. On one side, Harry was frozen in fear, unable to fight because he was just a normal human until recently¡­ not! He was standing still because he was using his sorcery and literally burning the souls of any Raskals that dared near him. He was born and bred in New York. Something as mundane as a fight to the death could not phase him at all. But, even with all their help, as well as the hundreds of vines that started to emerge from the ground to attack the Raskals, the Inn staff was but a single strong attack from the Nascents away from being destroyed. So far, the only reason the strongest of the Raskals hadn¡¯t attacked yet was because, ording to their training, they had to let their subordinates test out the enemy¡¯s strength first. They would wait 2 whole minutes before attacking, unlike what they would have done if they were alone, in which case they would have attacked immediately. The Golden core Raskals would attack after 1 minute. While these intervals were short, they were enough to analyze the enemy¡¯s battle strength. Fortunately for the Inn, this is where theirck of intellect yed in. The strategy they employed was for direct or pitched battles, and not a surprise raid, in which case they should have used their strongest attacks first. This gave the Inn¡¯s staff, Mary and Lex enough time to respond. ***** While Lex was still teleporting his guests away, managing to move several each second, Mary was not resting either. She was controlling the vines, yes, but she was also doing something else equally important. John had not even begun to torture- no, eh, to interrogate his attacks when she appeared right before him. ¡°John, the Inn is under attack. I need you to go to the front gate and help out,¡± she said in amanding tone. John, however, was not too keen on it. Not that he didn¡¯t want to help, but that he would rather not get involved with anyone with the guts to attack this Inn, whether they were misguided or not. He was even more reluctant to fight since his cultivation was actually sealed, and while he had a tough body, in actuality, he was not a body cultivator. Not to mention, he was not an actual official Inn staff member as he had never used the tinum key, so technically, it was none of his business. Finally, while the Innkeeper was mysterious and powerful, he could tell this assistant was nothing more than a hologram. She did not intimidate him. ¡°Assistant innkeeper, I don¡¯t mean to be rude, but you probably know that my cultivation is actually sealed. Although it may not seem like it, I am not really able to fight.¡± Mary, who had been about to leave, froze. She turned and gave John a look that spelled death. John was not deterred, and just as he was waiting for her to threaten him or something, he heard a sound that he never would have expected. It was the familiar ping of his system. New Quest: Eliminate invaders Quest time limit: 5 minutes Quest Reward: Jericho puzzle piece Quest failure punishment: Permanent drop in cultivation by 1 major realm Remarks: A good assassin needs to be able to eliminate armies John was not only startled, he was aghast. This was not the kind of quests his system usually gave him, and he had never encountered a ques punishment before. But more than that, he dreaded a single thought that was roaming in his mind. ¡°But, despite my inability, as a part of the Inn, I will do my best to protect it,¡± he quickly said, and bolted towards the Inn¡¯s gates. 5 minutes was not a lot of time, he absolutely could not suffer such a disability as letting his cultivation drop. To be fair, he had gained all his cultivation through the system so it made sense that it could also take it away. Still, it was not something he wanted to experience. Especially since, in the back of his mind, he could not stop imagining the death stare Mary gave him moments before his quest popped up. ¡®Could she have¡­ No, It was Impossible!¡¯ he thought to himself, but his grimace only worsened. Chapter ?252 Punishment Chapter ?252 Punishment From the moment the Raskals entered the Inn to Mary telling John to fight, roughly 40 seconds had passed. In this time, Lex had teleported nearly 100 guests away and coordinated with Mary to have her attack certain areas with the Delinquent Viper Vine. With the immediate threat to most guests and his staff gone, Lex started going through his various new permissions to see the best way to resolve the situation. Back in his tent, Lex had gone pale and his entire body was drenched in sweat. His mental exertion had gone beyond anything he had ever experienced before. Between constantly scanning the Inn, coordinating, teleporting and ensuring everyone''s security, in these few seconds, he had already done hundreds of tasks, and he was not done yet. The quicker he found a solution, the better, so now all his focus was on searching for an answer. ***** Gerard was already panting and his hands were trembling, but his grip on the steering wheel never loosened. Even now, he had not suffered a single attack, but he was showing signs of exhaustion. After all, regardless of how powerful his bloodline was, he was facing an enemy 3 major realms higher than himself! But, despite his severe disadvantage, surprisingly, the Raskal was in a worse condition. He was not bleeding or hurt, but his leathery skin was pressing against his bones as if he was malnourished. The frequency of his attacks had dropped, and he had stopped flying, deciding instead to stand on the ground. There was no time for hesitation so Gerard sped his cart towards the Raskal in an attempt to ram it once again. Suddenly, as if out of thin air, a massive ball of me appeared in Gerards path, threatening to crash into him, but just as it touched the cart, it seemed to vanish, as if siphoned into the cart itself. The four Raskals that had worked together to set up the ambush were dumbstruck, as that attack should have worked. The next thing they saw was two jet blue mes erupting from behind the cart as it smashed into the Nascent Raskal, once againunching him into a crater. Gerard was not surprised at the presence of the additional enemies, for he had identified them as soon as they started using their techniques. He was, however, concerned about facing more foes. Velma, fortunately, had already retreated somewhere, so at least he didn''t need to worry about her. It wasn''t that she didn''t want to help, but that she was too weakpared to these enemies to make a meaningful difference. Quite sure that he hadn''t managed to deal significant damage to the first Raskal, Gerard instead turned his attention to the other four that had just arrived. Two of them were in the Golden core, and two of them were in the Foundation realm. They, at least, shouldn''t be as much of a challenge.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Gerard reversed the cart without looking back and swiftly made a turn, changing the direction of the cart to face where the Raskals had been hidden amongst the tree branches. Not giving them any time to evade, he promptlyunched the long range attack that traveled forth in the shape of the cart. The two Golden core Raskals managed to evade, barely, but the two Foundation ones were hit dead on, blowing up their bodies in the process. An attack hit the golf cart from behind, as the Nascent realm Raskal climbed out of the crater, but it was impossible to surprise Gerard as he was aware of all changes in the surrounding energy. Like all the others before, this attack vanished, and the energy from it was channeled into another attack that Gerardunched towards the other Golden Core experts. At this point, despite his best efforts, Gerard was having a tough time keeping his eyes open. It might be a good time to retreat. "Oh dear, oh dear, you Raskals really know how to make a mess," the Gctic Sovereign turtle said, as it walked through the woods. Somewhere behind it stood Velma and the gardener. Velma was looking at Gerard with worry and concern, while the gardener¡­ well, he was crying over the trunk of a broken tree. His art, it seemed, would never see the light of day. "It seems some punishment is in order," it said, once it got a clear view of all the destruction. What happened next will shock you! No, eh, what happened next was very anticlimactic. The grass on the ground started growing around the Raskals, tying them up. They tried to resist, but whether it was brute strength or aplicated spiritual attack, the grass seemed impervious. The Nascent Raskal was especially concerned because it discovered that not only was the grass trapping its body, it was also trapping its soul. In such a dangerous situation, with no alternative, it decided to use the final ultimate attack it had been trained to carry out - the destruction of his core! As soon as it activated the technique¡­ nothing happened. Like a mummy wrapped in grass instead of cloth, thest Raskal fell over as Little Blue flew over to pick them up one by one. Seeing the situation resolved, Gerard finally rxed his grip on the steering wheel and nearly fell out, but Velma quickly appeared to help him. They turned to thank the turtle, but it had already moved on, dragging the weeping gardener behind it. As for the Raskals¡­ back in the day, Lex had made an interrogation room near the greenhouse where Little Blue went and deposited the still struggling Raskals. There were already a few in the room, neatly stacked in a corner. ***** For the first minute of the fight, the Inn''s staff managed to hold their own against the small army of Raskals. But, as the second minute started, they immediately fell into a disadvantaged situation. After all, on one side was a trained army and on the other side were waiters and waitresses. More than Z, who had caused a lot of the Raskals to nearly bleed out, Harry proved to be the man of the hour. Dozens of bodiesy on the ground around him. They were not dead, and in fact, seemed the exact picture of health, as they were still at their physical peak. It was their souls that had been badly damaged. Harry didn''t even need to try to kill anyone, as at lower levels, even the mildest of damage to the soul left one nearly crippled and unable to move. Whether they were Foundation experts or Golden Core ones, just an altered version of the spell he used to cut hair left them with cuts all over their souls. Even if they managed to avoid being crippled, the pain was enough to leave them powerless. Yet despite his sess, he was no longer actively attacking enemies. Now he was focused on defending the Inn''s staff. The golf carts, unfortunately, had been destroyed and a lot of the staff were injured to various degrees. On this battlefield, only three warriors from the Inn remained in rtively good condition. One was Harry, of course, while another was Z, and thest was one of the lifeguards from theke called Todd. Standing at 6 feet eight inches with a body sculpted as if the after in a ''before and after'' coge, Todd had activated his Regalia Bloom bloodline mid battle, and used it on his surfboard to smash enemies like beavers in a carnival game. With thebined efforts of the three, they had managed to barely hold off the enemies, but no one knew how long it wouldst. Then, just as the song on Z''s speaker changed, and the first chords of ''Seven Nation Armwrestlers'' yed, John fell from the sky right in front of the three. He did not waste any time in talking and immediately started a massacre, his speed only increasing the deeper he went into the enemy lines, not slowing down. Out of everyone here, he seemed the most anxious to resolve this battle. This was because, while his cultivation was sealed, as he had achieved the Earth Immortal realm, his body had gone through a transformation to immortality. Compared to these lower leveled cultivators, his body seemed like an unrelenting force of nature. As someone who had benefited from such an advantage, it made perfect sense that he was determined toplete his quest, otherwise his cultivation would fall back down to the Nascent realm. His skills as an assassin were finally put on full disy, and even unarmed, he was like a scythe cutting down grass. For a moment, it seemed like the tide had turned, but then the strongest few of the Raskal army decided to change their ns. ording to their training, when fighting an enemy much stronger than themselves, they should focus on causing as much coteral damage as possible. Following that logic, they gave up on observing the fight and all ran in different directions, determined to kill as many people as they could manage before John got to them. Chapter ?253 Lex, the harbinger of loopholes Chapter ?253 Lex, the harbinger of loopholes In his tent, Lex waspletely drenched in sweat. His shirt was stuck to this skin and his eyes were squeezed shut because he could not continuously wipe them. Right now, it was only due to his ''flow'' state that he was not panicking. No matter what his authority, the Inn never provided him with a single direct way of defending itself. There were a few very specific defensive formations he could buy, but he had neither the MP nor the energy to power them. Every few seconds he would scan the Inn to ensure everything was not deteriorating into a mess and, fortunately, things had taken a positive turn. John had joined the fight and was rampaging amidst the enemy army. If only he could buy guards simr to that who could just fight alongside him, but the Inn prevented him from doing that. The only way he could buy anyone with any fighting ability... "Eureka!" Lex literally yelled out as his mind quickly moved to implement his idea! ***** 20 Nascent Raskals invaded the Inn. Of those, 1 had fought Gerard and 1 was currently exploring the Midnight Mountain, unaware of what else was happening, and the remaining 18 were on the battlefield. When they decided to split, all 18 moved at the same time. 3 of them decided to target John, to hold his attention and distract him from what the rest were doing. Of the remaining 15, 2 decided to attack the Inn''s staff for the same purpose, while the remainder tried to escape the formation. The speed of a Nascent cultivator was one that was near impossible to keep up with under normal circumstances, and their attacks were only faster. Z and Todd sensed a massive surge in some kind of energy, and immediately tried to divert it all, but not only were they limited in how much energy they could divert at a time, the attack was too fast! They only saw a bright light, and before they could understand what was happening, they were blown away, crashing into those they had been trying so hard to save. Harry simrly had sensed a surge in soul energy, and immediately attacked it! His attack had slowed down the other Nascent soul Raskal attacking them, but could not stop it. The Raskal didn''t even need to attack Harry - he fainted from exhaustion on his own. The battle, which had so far been a concert of yelling and shing weapons, had been nketed by a shocking silence, followed by endless explosions.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om John was an assassin, not a frontal fighter, so the three Raskals that went after him were more than enough to trouble him. He had dodged a dozen sudden attacks without any chance of retaliating. The Raskals, who knew they were ultimately the weaker ones, continued to use long range area of effect attacks, resulting in dozens of explosions that, ironically, did more damage to other Raskals than anyone else. It was a split second, and the tide of the battle had drastically shifted. The worker who was holding onto Z''s bloodied and unconscious body had only just recognized what, or rather who, he was holding when their assants shed in front of them. The workers could not even respond. They only looked at the four-armed, leathery alien like the harbinger of death. The Raskal did not waste any time and gathered a shining white energy in its arms to attack when a shadow fell over its body. Surprised, it looked around to see for any iing attackers when a giant, ivory foot crushed him into the ground. The other Nascent Raskal, who had seen the giant appear out of thin air, tried to retreat. Unfortunately for it, the giants size did not diminish its speed in any way, and before the Raskal could move but a few feet, the giant kicked it, breaking dozens of bones and incapacitating it. The appearance of the giant caused a huge disturbance, as almost everyone turned to look at it as neither the Raskals nor the workers had seen it before. But, after the initial shock, many immediately realized that the giant strongly resembled the faceless training dummies in the Training room. But while the other training dummies had been made of wood and did not do much other than attack physically, this one seemed to be made of ivory and actually used various techniques. The ivory giant did not wait around to observe or give his opponents any time to react. It identified its next target and rushed, breaking the sound barrier as it did so, before seriously damaging each one of its targets. The dummy did not kill any of the Raskals, its sole purpose was training after all. Instead, it helped them train their will power by leaving them with broken bodies and extreme pain. Just as drastically and quickly as the battle had begun, it ended, and the dummy left the formation to pursue the remaining few Raskals. Except that no one pped or wooed as the crowds usually did after a tournament. They were still in shock. "What are you just standing round for?" Mary asked, as she appeared in front of the workers. "Take all the injured to the Recovery room, quickly! The danger has ended." She quickly started organizing those that were uninjured or less hurt and, after giving one look to the ruinedndscape of the Inn and a kneeling, panting John, turned to her duties. The Raskals were not killed and if left alone, they could cause more of a mess. Fortunately, Lex let her know that the Gctic Sovereign turtle was on the way, and that he would take care of imprisoning the Raskals and fixing the damage from the battle. She had to focus on only a few things now. First, she had to make sure no one died by immediately sending them to the Recovery room. Second, she had to apologize to all the guests who were caught up in this mess and give them all a one week free stay at the Inn, as instructed by Lex. Of course, it wasn''t really free as he could pay for their stay. Thirdly, and perhaps, most importantly, it was her job to oversee the interrogation of the Raskals and find out exactly why they hade and what was their goal. They needed to know if more enemies would be on the way. The only suspects Lex had at the moment were the pirates who visited every so often, just because of the nature of their work. But that didn''t make sense. She needed to find out if there was any lingering danger. ***** Lex copsed onto the ground, his state of flow immediately breaking once the situation at the Inn was resolved. Although the system did not let him directly buy any kind of defensive measures, he had once again found a loophole. He upgraded the Training room even more than he previously had the greenhouse, spending 500,000 MP on the upgrades alone. Then he spent another 250,000 MP on this massive, incredibly powered Training dummy that could reach the peak of the Nascent realm in strength. This was of course the theoretical peak of the Nascent realm, and also took in mind species much stronger than the Raskals as well, which is why it would be able to easily defeat them. But, technically the training dummies shouldn''t have been able to leave the training room, however once upgraded, the room had more features. Not every kind of training can be done in a secure environment, and not every technique can be carried out alone. This is why the Training room allowed for the training to be conducted in any environment within the Inn, and could target not just one person, but entire groups. Using a massive amount of MP and his remaining energy, he bought and powered this massive training dummy, while registering the entire invading army for training sessions for near death harm and threats. This was a method Lex would be able to replicate in the future should he be invaded again, but this massive dummy would need him to absorb extra energy to run. This was not to mention that, now that he was once again down to 0% energy, the systems operations were once againpromised and it was running on metaphorical energy saving mode. While Lexy on the ground panting like he had just run a marathon, his mind still recovering from the extreme exertion it had just experienced, two thin wooden roots emerged from the ground behind him. At first, they froze once they left the ground, as if to see whether they would be detected. But, after a few seconds, when Lex didn''t show any reaction, they slowly continued to pull out of the ground silently, and stealthily moved towards Lex''s neck. The two roots slithered in the air, as if snakes, slowly approaching helpless prey and only took a few moments before reaching Lex. Too tired, and too caught up with the invasion at the Inn, Lex waspletely unprepared when the roots wrapped around his neck! Chapter 254 Bro Chapter 254 Bro Lex was so mentally drained that at first, he didn''t even notice the increased pressure around his neck. But when his head actually moved a little because of one of the roots, he promptly realized¡­ someone was giving him a massage.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om rmed, he jolted up and turned around to see two roots bending upwards, as if someone was holding up their hands to exin they meant no harm. "What the¡­" Lex murmured while he tried to make sense of the situation. "Bro, broseph, brobert, brosellini, rx. You''re so stressed. It''s totally killing my peaceful vibe." The voice¡­ seemed to being from the roots. Lex saw no mouth and no one else, so it could only be that. "Are you a¡­ Trelop?" Lex asked, suddenly remembering something from one of his sses. Trelops were one of the main 7 races of this realm, but the information about them seemed to be vague. What he could firmly conclude, however, was that they were some kind of sentient nts. "Bro, of course I''m a Trelop. The name''s Karom, nice to meet you. I must say, the negative vibes you''ve been giving off got me shook, bro. You need to rx. It doesn''t suit your aura." "Karom, like the Forest? The forest is named after you?" "Bro, why you gotta do me like that? If you must use my full legal name, it is Karom Alejandro Forest III. I am the forest bro, it''s not named after me. Well, I''m the forest up until the Deadfall cliff. After that is my cousin, Goli Malevolent Forest. Don''t let his fresh maple appearance fool you, that bro is a racist. He don''t deal with no one other than Trelops." Lex was once again confused, but he tried to let go of his normal precepts about living beings, since he was in a new realm now. This was a forest full of hundreds of different species of nts and probably hundreds of thousands of trees. Yet Karom imed to be the whole forest itself - how was that possible? But, it seemed that it wasn''t that the definitions of Trelops that were vague in his ss, just that he was unable toprehend them properly. "Well, it''s nice to meet you too," Lex finally replied, getting a handle on the situation. "In the future, you shouldn''t wrap your roots around someone''s neck without asking, it can be considered rude." "Bro, can you me me? You''re the one thaty down on my roots. If anything, that was rude. But it''s fine, I get it, you humans are weird. I keep telling that other human as well that Goli won''t like it if you pass through him, but he''s adamant. Well, it''s no bark off my trunk what you guys do. Say bro, you wearing some cologne or something on your back? It smells really nice." "No cologne," Lex replied briefly as he sat back down on the ground. The surprise of having roots around his neck gave him a boost of adrenaline, but now that the situation had calmed down, Lex was once again reminded that he was tired. Furthermore, he suspected the ''nice smell'' that Karom was referring to was from the Lotus on his back. There would be no way Lex would share any information about that. Just another half a million years and the Lotus would give him a 5 star world. "Damn bro, that sucks," the roots replied as they slumped, looking disappointed. "I was hoping to use a cologne to impress some meadows. My moms been on my case about getting a girlfriend. It''s true what they say, even when you move out of your parents'' forest, they never stop trying to control you. She says if I don''t get a girlfriend on my own, she''ll set me up with a swamp! Swamps are too clingy bro, trust me, you don''t want to get with a swamp!" "Is that the reason you came to me? To ask about the cologne?" Lex was a little protective when it came to matters of the Lotus, predictably, and this was the first time anyone had shown any indication of sensing the Lotus. "Partially. You smell nice, so it won''t be a problem for you to get along with most Trelops. Not Goli though, so don''t even bother trying." Lex nodded and continued, "this other human you''re talking to. His name wouldn''t be Ptolemy, would it?" "Yes bro, Ptolemy. He reached out to me a few weeks ago, and we cut a deal. I''ll be moving the trees out of his way until Deadfall cliff, and in exchange, he brought me some very rare seeds for my forest. Bro, once I''m done renovating, you won''t recognize me anymore." On some level, Lex had to admire how well prepared Ptolemy was for this expedition. In that case, he should take a page from Ptolemy''s book and start making his own preparations. "Hey Karom, since you can cover a muchrger area than me, I have a question for you. Do you know about any spirit stone mines orrge reservoirs of energy nearby?" "Many bro, and they''re all underground. But, I can''t tell you bro because I need them. But, I don''t mind telling you of a few in Goli''s territory. If he had to move away, I would be so happy, bro. He''s so annoying." Unexpectedly, just like that, Lex learnt the location of several spirit stone mines. If their expedition could uncover even one it would be considered a sess, which is why Lex knew that it shouldn''t have been so easy learning about them. He spent the rest of the day chatting with Karom, asking him indirect questions to learn more about Trelops. He refused to believe that there wasn''t more to it, and that a living being could be something that should be a part of thendscape. It was too strange. When he went out for dinner, Karom did not follow as he was not used to talking in front of too many humans. When Lex left his tent, he was surprised to see how much the area surrounding the camp had changed. The trees had started moving out of the way on their own, and as if that wasn''t enough, they were using their roots to stamp down the ground where they moved from to create an even and level road. He could see the rtively straight road leading deep into the forest, but some moving or shuffling of trees in the distance made it clear that the path wasn''tplete yet. After dinner, when he returned to his tent, Karom was missing, which Lex waspletely fine with. He scanned the Inn once, to make sure everything was in order, before he went to sleep. He needed rest, for tomorrow the expedition would once again start moving. ***** Mary stood silently in the interrogation room near the greenhouse, her expression frosty. A part of her, admittedly, was slightly upset that they weren''t able to properly interrogate the Raskals. This was because the Sovereign turtle had done something to them that turned them into mindless puppets. Since she hadn''t seen him do anything, she wasn''t sure exactly what he had done. Regardless, the result was that the Raskals would answer any question that was asked obediently. What she learnt was¡­ truly frustrating. The Raskals had no idea what organization they worked for, simply because they had never been curious about it. In a way, they were the perfect soldiers because they could not retain any valuable information to leak. They did not know the reason for the attack, nor did they know if there would be any follow up. All they could share was that their objective was to destroy the Inn, in and simple. She resisted the urge to rub her forehead as she thought of the problems thaty ahead. Let alone the fact that Z and Todd were injured, and that they would have to remain in their respective RPs for the night, they had no effective measure against any subsequent attacks. Whoever attacked should not give up so easily, and if that were the case, they would need to prepare. If there was any bright side to all this mess, it was that the turtle was nning on using all the dead Raskals as fertilizer, and was thus very satisfied. They should help speed up the Delinquent Vines growth, or so she was told. Just as she was struggling with indecision about what to do, she noticed something wonderful! The Lich, Anita, hadpleted her trial and had officially be a member of the Inns staff. A wide grin painted her face. Lex had told her about Anita''s strength, and it would definitelye in handy should they suffer another attack. Quickly, new ns started to form in her mind as she decided to get to know Anita a little better. This way, when Lex woke up, she would at least have something to present. Chapter ?255 Dont do me like that Chapter ?255 Don''t do me like that After a much needed rest, Lex woke up to the sound of shuffling and moving. At first, he didn''t pay much attention to it as he yawned and tried to summon the energy to get up. But then, all of a sudden, it urred to him that the sound was way too close. He jolted up to find a small clump of humanoid shape of leaves munching through some of the dry rations from Lex''s backpack. "Hey bro, you finally exited from your hibernation. I was getting bored." "Karom?" Lex asked as he looked at his ransacked backpack. The small leaf man came up to Lex''s was it, and the facial features looked oddly simr to his own. "Of course, bro, who else could so easily enter your tent? Do you have any idea the kind of wards that Ptolemy guy has around this camp? If you don''t, well, neither do I. But damn, were they a pain to bypass. I doubt anyone else could do it so easily. Anyway, I have like a serious proposition for you," Karom said as he shoved another protein bar in his leafy mouth. "Those are my emergency rations you''re snacking on," Lex said as he looked through his backpack and checked to see if anything was missing. "Come on bro, don''t be like that. I''ll drop you some fruit before you leave, it''s not a problem at all. Let''s focus on the important stuff. My proposition. If you ept, I''ll pay you half up front, and half onpletion. What do you say?" Lex did not reply immediately, and took a moment to deliberate. While Lex was still in the dark about various customs and basicmon knowledge of this realm, his sses had enlightened him somewhat about how humans perceived and interacted with the other races. Understanding that, while all 7 races had a simr level of intelligence, because of their inherent physiology, each race perceived the world around them and their rtionships differently, was the absolute foundation of the human race''s foreign policy. In a situation where Lex was in the dark about many things, following the broad stance human leadership took towards the various races should somewhat keep him protected. Trelops were the only nt-based race of the 7 major ones, and like the rest, they had their own territory. But, unlike the rest, they were also widely spread across the regions for the rest of the races, as they usually had good rtions with all races, for they had strong influence over nts which could aid any race, not just the main 7. But this did not mean that their poption was huge. Quite the contrary, they were probably the race with the smallest poption. Anyway, all of that was unnecessary information for Lex. What his focus was on were the major trade deals of the Hum nation with the Trelops, which usually had to deal with food, mostly. After going through all the information he had received in his political rtions ss, he suddenly realized how important that ss woulde to be if he stayed here long term. "First, tell me what your proposal is." "Yessssssssss bro! I knew I could count on you!" Karom fist pumped, as if the deal was already done. "It''s quite simple, really. My roots have been getting a little stifftely, and I need to expand my territory a bit, or I won''t really be able to reach adulthood. I was just musing about where to spread my forest, you know I have neighbors on all sides. It''s the humans on one, my cousin Goli on another, some really, really hot dudes in the radiation wastnd, and then my aunty Jeena. "Now bro, trust me when I say, ain''t no one got the acorns to mess with aunty Jeena bro. And bro, I really wanna hang in the wastnd, but since I haven''t reached adulthood yet, it''s bad for myplexion. I have a really good thing going with the humans, so that just leaves my cousin Goli."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om The Trelop paused, and threw another protein bar in his mouth, then continued. "Now, I remember you asking me about some spirit mines, and I told you about some in my cousin''s territory. But how will you ever get to them? Bro, not to look down on you, but they''re at least a dozen miles below ground." Lex did not answer, for technically even he didn''t have an answer. He had hoped that maybe he''d be able to buy something from the system gift shop the way he kept on buying Bom Dew, but with 0% energy, currently he couldn''t even buy that. Karom continued, "which is where my proposales in. I''ll help you find a way to get to those mines, and you..." Out from the ground a root came out, holding a bag full of acorns, and handed them to Lex and Karom exined the deal he wanted. Just as Lex had suspected, Karom wanted Lex''s help to take over parts of his cousin''s forest. "Won''t that hurt your cousin though?" Lex asked, out of curiosity. "Bro it''s no hard feelings, bro. Bro, it''s a strategic acquisition of property of declining value, bro. Yeah man, I know big words too. I once attended human business school as a potted nt for the ss, I know all about assets and stuff. If anything, Goli will appreciate my help. After all, I doubt you''d just leave those spirit stone mines alone after finding them. Once they disappear, the fertility of thend will quickly decline. In human terminology, that healthy part of Goli''s body will quickly turn into cancer." "In that case, why do you want it?" Lex asked, curious. He did notment on Karom''s suspicions about what Lex would do to the spirit stones. Strictly speaking, by taking those mines for himself instead of dering them, Lex wasmitting a crime. But, by helping Karom expand his territory of control without letting anyone know about it was also not something easily shrugged off. Both of them had a vested interest in keeping their deal secret, and such a mutual threat would force them to be good allies. "Don''t do me like that bro! Have some faith, I have my own ns." Karom shared more of his proposition, and in the end, considering Lex''s dire need for energy, Lex said yes. This first half of Karom''s payment was the method to reach the crystal mines in Goli''s territory. Lex stuffed his acorns, as well as his payment and the fruit he delivered, into his backpack and finally exited the tent. Now that he had a n to get some energy, Lex felt much better, and he could finally focus on other stuff. One major part of making a positive impression on a group of new people is to constantly reaffirm it. He had to go socialize with the rest of the expedition while they were still at camp, because it would be too difficult once they started moving. After a hearty breakfast that he shared with the group of meteorologists, and gaining some basic understanding of the kind of weather he could expecting up, he started going around camp and spending some time with various groups. It was easy to spot Lex, he was the only one amongst heavily clothed people to wear a half sleeve shirt. The character of Ice on his hand was giving off a gentle sheen, but it only continued to absorb all the cold energy. Some of the members of the expedition thought it was a unique tattoo, and he didn''t bother to correct them. Finally, after lunch, Ptolemy called for a group meeting and exined the next part of the expedition. They would leave shortly, and their next camp would be at Deadfall cliffs, the border for human exploration. He exined their goals for the expedition once again, though everyone was quite familiar with them, the safety measures that would be needed and what kind of cooperation he expected from everyone. Lex couldn''t help but notice that he never mentioned Karom, or his cousin Goli. He had understood enough of Ptolemy by now to know that the man must have made some preparations to face the uing hostile Trelop, and Lex was curious. It did not hurt Lex''s ego to admit that he found it quite insightful to study how Ptolemy operated. But, since the other person had clearly drawn a metaphorical line in the sand between them, if Lex were to go up and ask him now, he would stir up the possibility of trouble. After a moment''s consideration, he decided to go ask, anyway. Of course, he wouldn''t directly ask him the question. If there was anything Lex learnt from being the Innkeeper, it was to hold the power and authority in a conversation. If Lex asked him the question, he would directly be putting himself in the weaker position from the start of the conversation, and there was the chance Ptolemy wouldn''t answer. He had a much better strategy to get his answer. After the meeting, he went and waited by Ptolemy''s tent until thetter arrived. Lex gave him an amused look, as if he was watching a performance, before saying, "I noticed you didn''t tell anyone about the uing dangers of a hostile Trelop. Not a bad n, no need to cause unnecessary panic. After all, since you don''t need my help, I''m sure you have your own n for how to deal with an entire forest that hates humans." Chapter ?256 Odyssey Chapter ?256 Odyssey Ptolemy didn''t show any visible reaction to Lex''s goading, but he was internally surprised by Lex''sments. Information about the Trelops was not exactly roadside knowledge, and to a certain degree, it was even kept hidden. This was because Trelops more often than not yed a significant role in food production. The human poption was not small, with it being quitemon for counties to have several billion humans. Even as organized as the Hum nation was, arranging for food at such a scale was a massive undertaking. In the scenario they were facing, there were a few neighboring Trelops, with Karom being one of the weakest, and hence the most cooperative. Unfortunately, right after Karom''s territory was that of another, extremely hostile and very aggressive Trelop. That Trelop alone was the reason why humans stop expanding in this direction. Of course, that didn''t mean that this Trelop was so strong that humans couldn''t fight it at all, but that high leveled cultivators didn''t usually take care of things like these. Not only did they have their own duties, the Hum nation felt strongly against the idea of bing used to having others take care of all your problems. While it was true that higher leveled cultivators could take care of everything, first of all, they were not omnipotent and couldn''t be everywhere all the time. Secondly, if they did everything, then what would the lower leveled cultivators contribution be? They were not living in some utopia. Humans needed to be used to the habit of facing trials and dangers to achieve what they want, instead of having someone hand it to them. Ptolemy was going through various thoughts in his head, but the few moments of silence that created gave Lex the impression that he was ignoring him. In that case, some more goading would be required.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Or is it possible you hadn''t thought so far ahead? If you need help, I don''t mind giving you some advice. After all, I wouldn''t want to affect the safety of those in the expedition over a little spat." "The situation is handled," Ptolemy replied, his voice full of vinegar. "If you must know, the guards of the expedition have been fully informed of all the uing threats and have made ample preparations. Dealing with a Trelop is not too hard, for at the end of the day, they are just nts. As hostile as they may be, the threat of a forest fire will put them in their ce." After that, Ptolemy did not bother exining further and went inside his tent. He honestly didn''t even want to exin this much to Lex, but he couldn''t have him going around telling the expedition that they were heading to certain death. As the leader, he needed to provide some assurances, even to the members of the expedition he didn''t like - such was the burden of a leader. Lex didn''t push him any further. The answer was fairly simple, but he doubted that Ptolemy''s preparation wascking. Still, it was interesting to know that sometimes he did not need to search forplicated solutions to everything. Lex returned to his tent and packed up his stuff. Since this was their first camp, and was built even before they arrived, it would stay here even after they left. Ptolemy had hired a small group of guards to maintain this camp for their return journey, but that was forter. For now, everyone got on their Dim lizards and started wading through the snow that had umted on their newly built road. Since the Frio birds still seemed to be nearby, the weather had not changed at all, and the endless snow storm raged on. One might wonder how the expedition was able to see and navigate during such a relentless storm. The answer was that the fresh, falling snow produced in this storm gave off an ethereal, silverish light that made the whole world look like it was in a fairytale. Its beauty was like moonlight but on steroids. As long as one had a sleeping mask for the hours they were resting, no one wouldin about it. So, while they made their way through the forest on the rtively straight-and-level road, Lex finally had the time to divert his attention to the Inn. Things at the Inn were¡­ well, they were great, considering the circumstances. The invasion had naturally affected the Inn''s reputation a bit, and some of the guests had stopped visiting as the Inn no longer seemed as safe as before - at least until the Innkeeper returned. However, that number was still low. Furthermore, despite the invasion ending over a day ago, another one had not happened. Considering that they still did not know the identity of the attacker and their true motives, this was a grand sign. Last, but not least, after having been abruptly exposed to a life-and-death situation, Fenrir''s growth had undergone an explosion. Currently, he was the same size as the Gctic Sovereign turtle, meaning he was much bigger than Lex. Moreover, while his cultivation growth was the same, he had unlocked various abilities from his bloodline. One of them was the ability to change his appearance - though size was still not an option. This had helped him tremendously, as, by sheer coincidence, one of the slimes Fenrir had befriended back on X-142 was teleported to the Inn through a Golden door. Fortunately, Fenrir was not alone at the time, and as soon as he recognized the slime and was about to greet it, he was stopped. Then Mary exined to Fenrir that it could not expose its identity and, unexpectedly, the dog understood andplied. Lex wiped some metaphorical sweat off his brow, as hepletely forgot about the whole identity issue when he summoned Fenrir to X-142 with him. He would have to be more careful in the future. His giant training dummy had assumed the role of a statue beside Midnight Mountain, since there really wasn''t any energy to control it. Fortunately, people were used to the Inn changing all the time, so no one questioned it. His staff was recovering nicely, and surprisingly, none of them seemed to have any mental trauma about going through such an incident. In fact, many of them seemed to consider it normal. That made Lex realize that he had seriously underestimated his workers, and especially the ones that had unlocked their bloodlines. The fact that Gerard was able to hold his own against a Nascent level Raskal while in the Qi realm¡­ he did not think such an ability could be easily replicated, even in the vast universe. He decided to emphasize their cultivation and training some more. If all of them became powerhouses simr to Gerard, would he need to be worried? He further reduced their work hours and added mandatory training and cultivation time to their routines. Furthermore, despite Gerards reluctance, Lex upgraded him to head of security. If there was any constion, it was that Lex allowed him to keep the golf cart. Furthermore, he told Mary to approach the Drake that had upgraded the cart, and see if it was willing to work for the Inn. Of course, actual hiring would have to wait for now, but there was no harm in testing the water. Which finally led to their newest hire, Anita the Lich. While due to her amazing cultivation prowess, she was an important member of the Inn, Lex''s real purpose in hiring her was actually very different. Once Lex''s tumor was removed, he finally became aware of the real weight of what it meant to be a cultivator, as well as the Innkeeper. He had no intentions of being mundane whatsoever, which meant that he had the expectation of reaching a very high cultivation realm. Along with such a cultivation came a long lifespan. He had already seen many of his guests who had lived for thousands of years, let alone Anita herself, who had lived for a ridiculously long time. Currently, his experience made it impossible for Lex to imagine what living for so long would be like, but he understood the importance of history and recording it. So, among the many other things Lex had nned, Anita''s first and most important role was to record the history of the Inn. He told Mary to have her interview all the workers and start recording a detailed ount of all the events that happened within the Inn itself. This history would be highly ssified, for now, and Lex had an idea for he would make it essible in the future, but that would have to wait till he had spare energy to use. Once she was done with recording the history of the Inn, he told Mary to have her start recording the histories of thes that were connected to the Inn, one by one. This seemed like a tedious and endless task, one with no seeming purpose or reward, but not only did Lex have a n on how to use all this, Anita herself, as a person who had once created history, had a strong interest in learning and recording history. As someone who had firsthand experienced how the events of her time were changed from memories to stories, to legends, to myths, she was endlessly intrigued by learning other myths, and trying to figure out the stories that had inspired them. It seemed thating to the Inn was the correct decision, at least for her. And so, it was with this giddy enthusiasm that Antia began recording what would one day be known as the odyssey of the Innkeeper. Chapter ?257 Sinister intentions Chapter ?257 Sinister intentions The ride from the camp to Deadfall cliff was long and monotonous. It was difficult to talk to those around you unless you were in a carriage or sharing the lizard with another person, for you would end up having to yell over the blowing wind. For most, this was a boring part of the trip that was necessary, but for Lex it gave him much needed time to catch up on what was happening at the Inn. After he was done distributing tasks and making important decisions, he spent some time just catching up. Unfortunately, Mary could not spy on guests'' conversations the way Lex could when he was at the Inn, so he had no idea how Earth was doing these days. Had the political instability finally calmed down or were there new issues now? Had the Jotun Empire finally reimed all of the Veguss or was the war still ongoing? How was the harvest back on X-142 doing? How was Nibiru progressing? Lex quite enjoyed knowing about his guests, but it seemed all of that would have to wait tillter. Eventually, when he ran out of things to check up on even at the Inn, Lex decided to use the time to continue reading the book in his ring on arrays. He would have preferred to cultivate, but that wasn''t something you could easily do while riding a traveling lizard. They traveled continuously much longer than a day, but fortunately, the physique of everyone on the trip could handle such exertion without issue. When they finally arrived at their destination, it was abruptly made clear by the drastic change in scenery. A steep and sudden cliff appeared, marking the end of the forest, as well as the border of human exploration. Hundreds of feet down below was a forest of orangish yellow maple trees, the leaves moving gently in the wind as if weing everyone down below. Even the weather across the cliff was different, as there seemed to be an invisible dividing line that prevented the snowstorm from extending past the cliff, instead reced by the warm breeze of early summer. Yet, as weing and picturesque as it seemed, no one was fooled. There was a reason this was called Deadfall cliff. As cheesy as the name was, the name was naturally picked up when few, if any, ever returned after venturing past the invisible border. It was the exact ce they were going, and was the ce where Lex''s true trial would finally begin. Ptolemy did not waste time on any needless ceremony. After ensuring everyone was arranged into proper formation, with the 30 student-soldiers making up the outermostyer of their expedition while the rest formed a close circle within. Then, after ensuring everyone was seated securely on their lizards, they ventured forth into the warm abyss, their lizards climbing down the cliffside as easily as they walked through Karom forest. Despite the confident demeanor of Ptolemy and their protectors, Lex could not help but tighten his grip on his lizard''s leash as he felt a silent tension fill the air. As the temperature around him changed, going from cold to suddenly warm, the array character on his right hand stopped glowing though it did not disappear. Karom forest had been frigid cold, yet safe and secure. Goli forest was warm and inviting, but his instincts warned him of a sinister evil. It was not fear that filled him, but wariness. None in this expedition were untested and unaware, for beneath their casual banter and smiling faces, each and every person here was born in times of chaos. It was not just the external threat of an unbeatable enemy that tempered them, but the knowledge that they would be abandoned by their own race if they did not prove to be useful. It wasn''t that there were none in this realm that procrastinated, or werezy. It was that those who did were already dead. Still, while they had skill and strength, making light of the danger ahead was a mistake none made. It was their experienced caution that created a mood Lex mistook for tension. Instead, what he would soone to realize was, it was their anticipation for whoever dared to bar their way. After all that build up, their descent was uneventful. As soon as they reached the bottom, Ptolemy sent out scouts to check for nearby threats, as well as to locate a ce to establish their new camp. Before wading into danger, they needed to create a secure base of operations. In a way, staying beside the cliff was both very dangerous and the most secure. This was because, if they built their camp in the forest, they would have to deal with a hostile Trelop. Lex did not fully understand how dangerous Trelops were, but he was not looking forward to fighting a forest. But, if they stayed by the cliff, then they would literally have their backs against a wall should theye under attack. The situation was bad either way, so it depended more on how they responded. A short, tension filled waitter, the scouts returned, stating that there were no signs of any dangerous predators nearby. But, at the same time, there was no source of running water in the vicinity either. Even though they were cultivators, a source of fresh water would be important for any long term base, not only for their consumption but for other uses as well. Of course, they could use water affinity spiritual techniques to artificially create water for themselves, but this was not a good solution as it would exhaust their cultivators energy.N?v(el)B\\jnn So, as much as Ptolemy wanted to build a base near the cliff, the party eventually moved into the forest. Their speed was much slower now since the trees had not cleared a path for them and the carriages with their luggage needed to maneuver around them. Initially, everything seemed to be going fine. But, after a certain amount of time, unknowingly, Lex started to feel a certain anxiety growing in his chest. Moving the carriages was taking too long. The expedition party, while trying to stay close, somehow still ended up being divided into clumps. The weather had gone from warm to hot, humid and sticky. The sound of the lizards walking through the grass was too loud. Suddenly, it struck Lex. The sound of the walking lizards was too loud. The forest, as warm and weing as it seemed, was instead too quiet. The bright orange leaves were too prominent. Immediately, without even realizing what he was doing, Lex lifted his hand from the Heavy Harley attached to his waist and put it on his sword, before prompting his lizard to move up to Ptolemy. The man was not happy to see him, but the seriousness in Lex''s eyes caused him to hesitate from insulting him. But, at the end of the day, no matter how strong Lex''s instincts were and how urate his premonition, his level was just too low. By the time his instincts had warned him, it was already toote. Before Lex could even speak, chaos erupted. Chapter ?258 A will to challenge the heavens Chapter ?258 A will to challenge the heavens On a battlefield of giants, every step they take would be like an earthquake to the mortals living down below. Their battlecry would be the sonic boom that threatened to tear the eardrums of lesser beings, each of their shes a biblical armageddon for those suffering the misfortune of being nearby. So when Lex, a mere Qi training cultivator, was caught in the middle of an ambush, with ming, razor sharp leaves slicing through the air threatening to cut the world in half, and batons of tree branches beat down on them to crush their backs, it was a testament to Regal Embrace that he remained unharmed. One moment he was looking Ptolemy in the eyes, about to warn him about danger, the next moment his pupils constricted when he saw the canopy alight with mes. The array character for ice on his hand shone with a silverish blue light, and an armor made of ice suddenly covered not only Lex, but his lizard as well. The raining bullets made of leaves could not melt his armor, for unbeknownst even to Lex himself, the ice was that of the Frio birds themselves. But, while he was saved from the temperature, he doubted he would be safe from the branches that came crashing down on him. After such a long time of riding Fenrir, Lex was long ustomed to controlling his mount effortlessly and so it was with finesse undeserving of its race that the lizard dodged all attacks. He had been saved from the rising temperature, and avoided the direct shes, but there was nothing that could protect him from the shockwaves that traveled through the air. The weakest of these attacks was in the Golden core realm, while most were in the Nascent realm. How could Lex expect to survive such shockwaves traveling through his body? The answer was with a straight back, eyes full of unyielding determination and a will to challenge the heavens! Also, he still had the talisman to protect him from Nascent level attacks that automatically turned on when he was threatened. So, when death rained down on the expedition and the forest tried to beat them like drums, the weakest of the expedition, Lex, was the most unhurt. But though they had been taken by surprise, if a simple, extremely lethal ambush was all it took to eliminate the students of the academy, then as the holynd of the human race, its reputation was undeserved. The moment Lex''s armor had appeared, Ptolemy already reacted andunched a counterattack! Unlike the orange mes produced by the forest, Ptolemy produced green mes that spread around as if he was someone who vaped,peting with a smoke machine! The green mes consumed the orange ones, and shed as if the two were solid entities. Around them, while the other students did not respond as fast, many of them were able to quickly retaliate. Especially the 30 students trained as soldiers. Lex could not understand exactly what they had done, because he was busy trying not to die, but they all looked very cool whenever he saw them. The fight was not short, but for Lex it only involved controlling his lizard to stay out of everyone''s way. An hourter, or maybe it was several hourster, the fight ended just as abruptly as it had begun. While initially they had been surrounded by a dense forest, they now appeared to be in a burnt down clearing. As Lex saw green mes spreading in the distance, eating at the trees, Lex suddenly understood what Ptolemy meant when he said he threatened a forest fire. Maybe Goli would not be afraid of normal mes, as it appeared Goli himself was adept at controlling fire, but the green, malevolent mes produced by Ptolemy was anything but normal. Suddenly, the armor around Lex receded, and the character on his right hand reformed, although much dimmer now. While Lex was analyzing their situation, suddenly it urred to him that the whole expedition was staring at him. Over a 100 soot-covered, bruised and beaten students looked at the neat and clean Lex, seatedfortably upon his uninjured noble lizard. It was like a scene out of a story and, unbeknownst to Lex, the few members of the expedition who had heard rumors about him, suddenly recalled thetest one. It was said that even immortal Kravens could not injure a hair from his head, and though he had been born from ''that'' family, he had forsaken his family name so that any prestige he built, it would be of his own design. Reverence shed in a few eyes, before it quickly disappeared. They were still in danger, and now was not the time to dwell on such things. Ptolemy did a quick check, and though there were a dozen injured, no one had died. No longer bothering to be gentle, the expedition bulldozed through the forest to the camp site one of the scouts had picked for them and immediately beganying down defense. For the first time, Lex saw formation masters at work as they erected protective formations around their new campsite. Others chopped down all nearby trees, while others still used their techniques to level the ground. In a few hours, the expedition managed to monopolize a sizable pond with fresh running water from multiple small streams, put up formation reinforced, wooden fences and built watch towers. The efficiency with which they worked was only matched by the nonchnce of the students. None of them were at all bothered by the ambush, and even the injured had conveniently taken sedatives and gone to sleep so as to elerate their healing process. Lex was only just beginning toprehend the mentality of humans who had been raised knowing they would die at war when one of the watchtowers sounded an rm. Their camp, which they had not even finished setting up, was facing its first attack already. As if that wasn''t enough the enemy this time even managed to scare Lex. It was snakes. Tens of thousands of snakes.N?v(el)B\\jnn Chapter ?259 The expedition begins Chapter ?259 The expedition begins The battle that followed left Lex unusually flustered. Their camp''s defenses, despite only having just been built, seemed imprable, which meant there was no actual threat to Lex. But at the same time, he couldn''t just rx or focus on something else, because if the defenses fell short, he would need to protect himself. He couldn''t participate in repelling the attack because, frankly, he was too weak to make a meaningful contribution. He couldn''t even watch the fight because if he came too close, he would make himself vulnerable to shockwaves from the battle, and might even get in the way of his allies. In the end, he spent multiple hours just¡­ waiting for something to happen. In the end, the battle ended with their camp managing to defend sessfully. Ptolemy, afterwards, went into the forest with a few guards, and though he did not say what he did, assured the camp there would be no of such more attacks once he returned.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om With his assurance began the true purpose of the expedition. This entire region was unmapped, with little to no knowledge of anything. Cartographers built themselves their own watch tower, from where they used telescopes and other devices to map out the surrounding terrain, as well as try to figure out the best direction for their expedition to proceed. Others started studying the snakes physiology, as they were the first living things they had encountered other than the trees. Speaking of which, from mingling with the various small groups, Lex learnt that these were not actually maple trees, but an as of yet unknown species of trees, the bark of which was extremely resistant to me while the leaves themselves were very mmable. They had already begun studying the sap and the roots of the trees they had cut down, and were proposing new uses for them. Others were studying the soil and mineralposition while other groups still were studying the currents of spiritual energy in the area. The camp had trulye alive, which brought a lot of emphasis on the fact that Lex had nothing to do. Well, officially he had nothing to do, since Ptolemy could not be bothered with him. Unofficially, though, Lex had a lot to do. This expedition had only just begun, and would likely continue for months if not years, but Lex only had a limited time with them as he was just undergoing a trial. That meant, in the next few weeks, Lex had to get ess to at least one of the buried spirit stone mines without alerting anyone. The trouble was, Karom had not given him a map of their location, rather, he had only told Lex key or identifying features of the area nearby. To help Karom fulfill his own agenda as well, he had provided Lex a way of escaping Goli''s supervision as well, but that did nothing for hiding Lex from the beasts. Over the next few days, small hunting and exploration parties would venture out from the camp several times a day, and Lex would apany at least one such party everyday. He had proven capable of ensuring his own security, so no one really minded, not to mention that everyone more or less knew that Lex was supposed to have a say in their defenses, so just epted this as a part of his duty. Furthermore, even on the trips that Lex did not venture out on, he made sure to interview the scouts or guards that went out so he could develop a deeper understanding of the terrain, as well as the habits of the fauna of the region. He corroborated all of his analysis with the zoologists in the expedition so that he could be sure instead of forming baseless spections. What Lex was actually doing was creating his own map, and formting his own n for how he would get the spirit stones. To the people of the expedition, however, it seemed like Lex was taking his job very seriously, and was working hard to ensure they suffered no more unexpected attacks. Some people had noticed how, even before their first ambush, Lex seemed to have sensed some danger and tried to warn Ptolemy about it. The extra attention, of course, was due to the rumors about him. Cut off from society, the only thing the people from the expedition had to do during their free time was gossip. Of course, there were many more people being gossiped about as well, with Ptolemy being a key figure. However, it was exactly because rumors of Lex were mixed in with so many other stories that people actually forgot that they were supposed to be just rumors, instead of facts. Of course, none of that had anything to do with Lex. After a week of scouting and research, he was prepared to venture out of the camp alone to properly begin looking for the mines. There was just one problem. "Why are you going out alone?" asked the student who was watching the gate. It wasn''t an interrogation, since they all somewhat knew one another now, but he still had to ask. "To do some personal reconnaissance. There are some ces it''s much easier to scout alone." "Are you sure? Not that I mean to doubt you or anything, but, if you run into trouble¡­ you might have a hard time surviving on your own." "Not to worry, I have taken adequate precautions." "Still¡­ I think I need to let Ptolemy know about this, just to be safe." "Sure," Lex replied, letting out an exhausted sigh. Considering that they were living in such close quarters, Lex did not expect to be able to hide the fact that he was going out alone from anyone. He was just hoping for more of an ''apology instead of permission'' approach. He didn''t relish having to exin his actions to Ptolemy. Ptolemy, likewise, was not happy about the fact that Lex had been so active. If Lex had just been azy, entitled brat, it would have better fit his internal narrative about him just being someone who was handed everything instead of earning it. Even though he knew he should have looked into how Lex was able to detect the ambush before him, his existing bias had prevented him from doing so. His strategy for dealing with Lex had been out of sight, out of mind. But when thetter was literally taking the initiative to contribute by scouting on his own, it was entirely impossible to ignore him. "You''re not a scout, and we have no scouting missions that require going alone. What exactly do you want to do? We don''t have the manpower to waste on a rescue mission if you get yourself in trouble." "Then don''t," Lex replied, rolling his eyes. "I thought you didn''t care what I did as long as I didn''t get in your way. And I''m literally getting out of your way, so why do you even care?" "Do whatever," Ptolemy replied. "Just remember, I''m not going to waste any manpower on saving you if you disappear." Lex was relieved that Ptolemy wasn''t going to try to stop him from leaving, but it also increased the pressure on him as well knowing there would be no fall back or rescue should things go wrong. Chapter ?260 Druk Chapter ?260 Druk The crunch of stepping on dead leaves on the ground was unusually audible as Lex stepped out of the camp alone for the first time. While normally he would have admired the satisfaction of such a crisp sound, this time Lex could only worry about the fact that he was not trained to move silently through a forest, or without leaving a trail. But there was no room for self doubt on this journey through a sentient forest, stuck in a realm that was not his own, without so much as a GPS or even apass for that matter. No, there was no kind of hand holding going on. The only way Lex would ever get back was if he took the steps and risks necessary. Anyway, who needed a GPS when he had the Fancy Monocle? Fitting the monocle in front of his left eye, Lex quickly departed. Since Lex did not have the skill to hide his trail, he had decided to actually submit a scouting report when he returned, to make his venture more credible. With the monocle feeding him information, he was bound to learn more than the expedition members, anyway. Lex moved at a light jog for fifteen minutes until he was on the border of the camp''s radius of influence. He didn''t know what Ptolemy had done, but Goli hadn''t attacked the camp after the first day, and most animals had vacated the area. That did not mean the danger was eliminated, but at least they weren''t being targeted in the same way. Lex took out an acorn from his backpack and crushed it in his fist before covering himself with acorn dust. This acorn provided by Karom would allow Lex to hide from Goli''s senses and eliminate much of the danger for him. But, moving forward, he would still need to be more careful. The best he could do to stay hidden was move close to trees and crouch between the tall grass or behind random bushes. That would in no way hide his figure, nor would it prevent the sound of his footsteps on crunchy leaves. Fortunately, things were not as bad as he made them seem, as he had gotten somewhat used to moving through the forest while he apanied previous scouting parties. He was currently following a stream of water, hoping to find its source. One of the mines nearest to him was deep underneath ake, Karom had told him, but no one had as of yet found one. It was hard to tell how much time passed in the forest, as there was no concept of the sun rising or declining in this realm. Instead, the leaves seemed to always emit a warm, candescent yellow light that made it seem like the forest was stuck in perpetually at noon. At least that made it easier for Lex to identify any creatures in his path. Up ahead, he saw a small scaly creature that looked somewhat like a grasshopper, only about 3 feet wide, drinking water from the stream. Not wanting to take any chances, Lex moved around the creature, as he had done so many times before, when the monocle showed him something interesting. It identified gold! Hidden behind a few bushes was a naturally formed tunnel that seemed to descend underground at a 30-degree angle. Right at the mouth of the tunnel, however, was a small rock with bits of gold in it.N?v(el)B\\jnn Having worked with the weaponsmith for so long, Lex learned an interesting tidbit that he suspected fed the actual reason for the value of gold back on Earth. It was a great conductor for spiritual energy, and when mixed with other metals in the manufacturing of weapons, or any item really, it served to enhance its capabilities greatly. Could this be a gold mine? Lex put the gold infused rock in his backpack and decided to carefully explore the tunnel. The immediately dark tunnel was a sharp contrast to the ever bright forest, but while it troubled Lex, the monocle was in no way impeded from functioning. As Lex slowly descended, the monocle started to detect other valuable ores and minerals. Lex was congratting himself on making a huge discovery when the monocle shed a familiar red sign stating danger. Thankfully, the danger was not in the usual bold letters that meant Lex was about to be attacked. Up ahead in the cave, hidden in the darkness, was some kind of creature, asleep thankfully, that the monocle did not have any information on in its repository. But, while it could not identify the creature, it gave Lex plenty of information on it. It was massive, with the length of its body at 20 feet (6.1 meters), nearly a dozen short and fat legs, two scythe-like ws and a face that seemed to exist directly on its torso. Its body was not scaly or lethargy, but instead consisted of an unusual blend of metals and minerals. Whatever it was, it weighed a few tonnes and Lex thought that the metals that made up its body were extremely valuable. Deciding not to take any more risks, Lex silently exited the cave and grabbed a few more rocks on the way out. Lex spent another few hours searching for any identifyingndmark that could help him locate one of the mines he was looking for, but when he could not, he decided it was safe to share the story about the tunnel with the camp. With this, if the tunnel proved to be valuable, their attention would be focused here, making it easier for Lex to explore other ces in the forest. Once he returned to the camp, much to the relief of the student on gate duty, Lex first went to someone called Barry and told him about the tunnel and showed him the rocks he had brought out. Barry was a sort of jack of all trades kind of guy, and had deep knowledge of geology, metallurgy, energetics, thermodynamics and a bunch of other fields Lex did not know the meaning of. Initially, Barry was listening with interest, but as soon as Lx began to describe the creature he jumped off his seat and yelled, "Druk! You found a Drukir? Rich! We''re going to be rich! Quick, someone called Ptolemy! Tell him we''re going to be rich!" Lex was startled and confused at Barry, who wasughing like a maniac. "Barry, what the hell is a Druk and why are we going to be rich?" "Druks are creatures that live in Spirit Well, Lex! If we can confirm the presence of a Spirit Well, then the academy itself will reward us for this discovery!" Suddenly, Lex felt like cursing Karom from the bottom of his heart. Chapter 261 Spirit well Chapter 261 Spirit well In the dead of night, which was to say, during the well lit, and fairly active portion of the day that Lex usually slept ¨C since it was never dark in this forest ¨C Lex stood alone in front of the Deadfall cliff. It had been 3 days since he visited the tunnel, and this was the first opportunity he had gotten for some privacy ¨C mainly because everyone was focusing on the tunnel so much, Ptolemy included. Of course, because of all the hubbub created due to his discovery, Lex had learnt a great deal about Spirit wells, which is what caused him the most frustration! Some people at the camp had started calling him their lucky charm, but he didn¡¯t feel lucky at all! After ensuring that he really was alone, and that there were no animals or beasts around, Lex withdrew one of the many acorns in his bag and crushed it against the cliff side. A short whileter, a thin and weak looking root emerged from the cliff. ¡°Everything alright bro? You contacted me a lot sooner than I was expecting. Don¡¯t tell me Goli discovered you?¡± ¡°No, Goli did not find me. But why didn¡¯t you tell me about the Spirit well? That would have helped even more than a mine! Because I didn¡¯t know what it was, I ended up telling the camp about it, and now neither I nor you will be able to benefit from it!¡± The root froze for a moment as it tried to process what it had heard. Spiritual energy tended to flow from one area to another and had currents much in the way there were ocean or air currents. Of course, the flow was not based on going from regions of high to low concentration, as this energy had its own sets of behaviors, but that was besides the point. Sometimes these currents faced an obstruction, and instead of flowing, spiritual energy started to gather in spots with increasing concentration. At this point, there were many ways in which spirit stones could be formed, and the way in which they would be formed would dictate their purity and concentration. What was more important to Lex, however, was the fact that, even after the spirit mine was created, the concentration of energy did not drop but continued to increase, there were chances of a well being formed. If scientists from Earth studied this phenomenon, their attention would be most attracted to the fact that, following this logic, spiritual energy being contained in a liquid state of spirit water had a higher concentration than in the solid state of a spirit stone. The truth behind such an urrence was that spiritual energy was a lot moreplicated than it seemed at a nce, and many more matters were at y here, but at Lex¡¯s level there was no need for him to know of them. All that mattered was, a single spirit well was better than several spirit mines put together. If he had known this matter beforehand, he would have directly used the method Karom gave him to dig underground and bypass the Druk. Eventually, Karom spoke hesitantly, ¡°I was there when Goli moved in. I swept the whole area myself, there was no Spirit well anywhere that I recall.¡±N?v(el)B\\jnn ¡°Well, how long ago was that?¡± Lex asked the question that really had him feeling frustrated. It urred to him that an oversight on his part was treating a Trelop simr to humans when he clearly recalled that due to their different physiology, they treat the world differently. Trelops especially¡­ ¡°It was some 60,000 years ago, I think,¡± Karom said, as it was counting the years in his mind. Lex let out a defeated sigh, as his suspicion had proven true. Trelops had a very different sense of time, since their lifespans were infinitely longer than humans. The amount of time Karom was talking about was more than enough for a spirit mine to turn into a spirit well, not to mention all thendmarks he knew to change that could be used to identify the location of the mines. There was no point in exining to Karom how it had messed up, Lex would rather move on to the next issue. ¡°Alright listen up Karom, the situation has changed. There¡¯s no way of knowing if the spirit mines you knew about still even exist, let alone being able to find them. On top of that, if they end up really discovering a spirit well, then it¡¯ll only be a matter of time before the academy takes over. When that happens, I won¡¯t be able to get any spirit mines and you won¡¯t be able to absorb any of your cousins¡¯ foresnd. So, if you want to go ahead with your n, we need toe up with a solution and act on it within the next few days or at most a week.¡± Karom was once again silent for a while, before he answered. ¡°I understand bro. I will think of something,e back in a short while.¡± ¡°Make sure you confirm with me before doing anything,¡± Lex told him, not at all trusting the sensibility of the Trelop. In the end, although Karom agreed with him, Lex ultimately decided not to rely only on him. ¡°Hey Lotus, if there was a Spirit well there, why weren¡¯t you able to sense it?¡± Lex asked, after tapping his back. ¡°Mr. Innkeeper, I can only detect spiritual energy if I physically feel it. With mines and wells, their energy ispletely shielded and blocked from escaping, which is what causes a mine to develop in the first ce. Otherwise, not only me, but everyone would easily be able to detect mines.¡± ¡°Figures,¡± Lex muttered as he made his way back to the camp. His trip to the cliff had not been so simple, and he had to hide and run from some predators a few times, but even when he came back to camp with his clothes clearly having suffered damage, no one batted an eye. Instead, whoever saw Lex let out an excited cheer. He was the man of the hour, the good luck charm, and some even called him the noble prince. Lex naturally maintained the banter with everyone, but did not stay for long as he needed to get back to his tent and rest up. The backup n he had made was fairly simple. He had already shown everyone where the tunnel was, but they had not proceeded to exploring it yet as a Druk was not an easy foe to face, even assuming there was the only one Lex saw instead of a whole family of them. Lex had decided, despite his better judgment, to join them on their exploration of the tunnel, for even if they did discover a spirit well, no one would notice if he ended up absorbing some energy from that as well. Right? He figured, as long as the well wasn¡¯tpletely drained, he would be alright. Ptolemy, on the other hand, took Lex¡¯s insistence on apanying them as a form of mistrust, as if he would deny Lex¡¯s role in finding the well if he didn¡¯t apany them. He felt so frustrated, in fact, that a part of him even wished that there was no well to begin with. While all of this was going on, back in his own domain, a small humanoid clump of leaves that sort of looked like Lex walked back and forth trying to figure something out. Karom had spent too long as an adolescent, and unless he could find a way of expanding his territory, he would be stuck like that. ¡°Broooooooooooooooooo I got it!¡± he suddenly yelled, as an idea came to him. If the humans were too preupied to determine the existence of the well, that would give Lex more time to find spirit mines andy down his seeds. Why was he stressing out over such a minor issue? All he had to do was distract the humans, maybe even trap them for a few years ¨C that would give Lex plenty of time to search. He was so enthused by his new idea that hepletely forgot about Lex¡¯s warning not to do anything without consulting him. ¡®Dear aunty Jeena,¡¯ he started to write down on a rock, preparing to send it as a letter. ¡®You will never guess what I just saw. Goli has been meeting with humans¡­¡¯ Karom wrote down his own version of the test gossip¡¯ of how Goli had decided to embrace the humans. The fastest way for Trelops to grow stronger was to absorb parts of other Trelops. This was why there were so few of them, not to mention the fact that so few of them ever remained close to one another. Karom did not specificallyy down any allegations, but the fact that he was so nonchnt about Goli deciding to work with humans would obviously insinuate that Karom was not the target of Goli¡¯s and the humans¡¯ cooperation. How this beloved aunty would take this news, he did not bother specting. Soon, a massive boulder could be seen being pulled by hundreds of roots through the forest, its body entirely covered in writing. Chapter ?262 Heartbeat ?262 Heartbeat Instead of sleeping, Lex chose to cultivate to recover. He needed to be in top shape to protect himself while the rest of his cohorts fought the Druks or any other enemies that might crop up. A benefit of all the exertion he was experiencing was that his cultivation was progressing quickly. While the concentration of spiritual energy mattered little for Qi training, since he was absorbing individual strands of Qi, the indirect benefits he was receiving of being in an energy rich environment, such as eating healthier food or recovering from fatigue quicker, were speeding up his cultivation nheless. The whole process of forcing a higher number of Qi into your body, and then having your body get ustomed to it, was apparently greatly facilitated by being beaten up and then recovering quickly. Considering Lex''s defense, this was not how should have been cultivating, but just based on the fact that he was always surrounded by higher realm enemies made it so that the effect of his defense was always mitigated. Lex firmly entered the 6th level of Qi training, and was already on his way to the peak of it. The good news was, if he continued to get hassled the way he was, it would speed up his cultivation. The bad news was, the protection talisman he had to protect him from Nascent realm attacks had limited energy. While it had sustained itself so far, it was because he had not yet taken any direct hits and mostly suffered shockwave damage. Even so, eventually it would run out. While it was not a concern yet, it was something Lex had to keep in mind. Finally, it was time to explore the tunnel. The group going would be thergest group that ventured out into the forest yet, since the camp was founded. Other than Ptolemy himself, 20 of the 30 guards would be joining as well as another 10 students that would serve auxiliary purposes to help in thebat of Druks. Lex and Barry were the only purely nobatants joining in - Lex because he insisted on going and Barry because, should the tunnel end prematurely, or instead form an underground maze, he would be the one to guide them and carve out a new path should it be needed. Their party set out, once again mounted on their lizards since there was no hope of being discreet with such arge group. Many animals would run away as soon as they saw the size of their party, but some of the stronger beasts still fought with them. However, no matter how much they fought or how much noise they made, the forest no longer made any moves on them. Lex genuinely wondered what Ptolemy had done to achieve such a result. A few hourster, they finally reached the mouth of the tunnel. At the sight of the descending path, a new mood overtook the group. It was not anxiety, or fear, this time, but that of excitement. One of the group members ventured ahead while the rest stayed back and secured the area. A small concealing formation was set up so that no other beast would identally discover it and attack them from behind. A short whileter, the group member that ventured into the tunnel came back out, a grim look on his face. "ording to the probe, there''s three Druks down there." The group members had various reactions with most grimacing as well, but a few jumped up with ecstatic faces. "What happened?" Lex asked his fellow nobatant, Barry. "Three Druks means the size of the Spirit well isrge enough to support three of them. But, at the same time, each Druk is ridiculously difficult to defeat. They eat various metals and absorb them into their body, augmenting their defense. Adolescent Druks, like the one you saw, get their tough body as a result of the metals, but adult Druks form a unique alloy that is even more difficult to prate. Three Druks signifies that two are probably parents while one is probably a child. Facing two adult Druks... it''s not an exciting concept. But, at the same time, the reward will be all the greater." Lex silently watched as Ptolemy discussed the n with the rest of thebatants. He silently wondered, should he use the distraction from the fight to reach the well? If someone found out, it would be highly suspicious. Once they were done with their ns, the group continued into the tunnel. Their primary n was to try to capture the younger Druk, if possible, to use against the older ones. However, if capture seemed impossible, they would find ways to fight the beasts one at a time. They held no illusion that fighting all three together would be their demise. It did not take long, barely a few minutes, before they once again ran into the Druk that Lex had encountered, still asleep. The built up anticipation mixed with anxiety as the group quietly assumed their positions. Barry and Lex were farthest back, while a few went ahead to ensure the two adults weren''t nearby. The longer they took, the greater the tension that built up. Lex suddenly became very aware of his heartbeat. It was not beating fast, and maintained an even pace, but suddenly he felt like each beat was like a hammer trying to break through his chest.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Ba-dump. One of the guards, a female, moved close to the Druk, holding a rope made of bark. Ba-dump. Three others surrounded the group, trying to set up a suppression array. Ba-dump. Everyone drew their weapons, the sheen of their des cutting through the darkness of the tunnel. Ba-dump. A drop of sweat rolled down Ptolemy''s brow. Ba-dump. A nod, so subtle one could have missed it if they weren''t watching for it, from one of the group members was all the confirmation they needed. The adults were far away. Ba-dump. Just as they had been ambushed so suddenly a short while ago, the group ambushed the Druk this time. Any kind of metal was useless against Druks, so the weapons they used were made of special synthesized materials and should have been harder and sharper than steel. Despite the surprise, though, their attacks failed to pierce the beast all the way through. The Druk did not roar angrily when it opened its eyes. No, the tunnel itself released a sharp wail at their sphemy. The walls shivered under the weight of the beast picking itself up, and then shivered again as all the metal ores were pulled straight out of them and fell to the ground like melting ice. The sight of a massive, angry beast ring them down with murder in its eyes would have intimidated a lesser group, but not this one. So far, things were going ording to n. As soon as the beast stood up, various members of the group swung their ropes through the beast''s legs. Their intention wasn''t to tie it up, but rather, flip it. With inhuman strength, members of the group used the ropes to pull the beast in the air, while others attacked it once again, flipping it over. Its two front ws, its primary weapons, were pushed deep into the tunnel walls so that the Druk wouldn''t be able to pull it out easily. Upside down, and immobile, the beast was unable to retaliate as the group started to suppress it with their arrays. The beast was definitely a young one, and was too used to its foes being intimidated by its disy of power. What it didn''t know was that to these academy students, threats meant nothing except time gained to counter attack. So far, things were going ording to n. But when the Druk finally awoke from the shock of what was happening to it, it finally roared in anger! Stctites shattered from the power of its voice alone, and Lex was pushed back, having to take Barrys support, but not much else happened. It''s ws were already stuck in the wall, and it had been manipted in such a way that it wasn''t able to exert its full strength to pull them out. An unusual stalemate was formed where the Druk wasn''t able to attack, but none of the humans attacks hurt the Druk. But the stalemate wouldn''tst long. If the humans weren''t able to do something, the other two would eventually notice something wrong. Time was against them. "Try taming or subduing techniques," Lex suddenly suggested. It''s physical defense was astounding, but that did not necessarily mean the same for its mind. Ptolemy gave Lex a dirty look before turning to someone else and giving them the nod. They were already going to do that, but with Lex''s suggestion, it now seemed like it was his idea. Over all, it didn''t matter, but Ptolemy was irked by the fact that Lex seemed to be getting the credit. Suddenly, Lex''s heart started beating faster. Something was wrong. Chapter ?263 Aunty Jeena ?263 Aunty Jeena This time, Lex did not bother warning Ptolemy and the rest for he had understood that their resilience was beyond what he imagined. He grabbed Barry, used Falcons relief, and sped back as fast as he could. As they moved back, and their view of the tunnel increased, their pupils constricted! The fight, so far, had been in a realm that Lex could understand. The students were hitting the Druk with all their strength to hurt it, while the Druks'' abnormal defense kept it safe. Any tactics or strategies employed still made sense to him, and the way they manipted the inexperienced Druk to flip him over, and put him in his most vulnerable position also made sense. But there was a fundamental fact that Lex overlooked, simply because he was used to being around extremely powerful cultivators. Up until the Golden core realm, cultivators gained ess to greater and more powerful techniques that allowed them to do increasingly incredible things. However, in the Nascent realm, things became moreplex. Yes, Nascent level cultivators could, of course, use more powerful and destructive techniques than Golden core ones. But, in that realm, their strength transcended realms such as simple physical damage. Even something as simple as a me produced by them would carry a sense of profoundness anyone other than the desensitized Lex would sense.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om But, irrespective of how desensitized he was, currently he could feel it. The various metals that had been pulled out of the tunnel walls, which everyone had been ignoring up until now, surged as if they hade to life and formed a tsunami of liquid metal! But more than the physical intimidation of a giant wave of molten metal, hurling towards you, the wave had a sense of oppression that pressed on Lex''s very existence. Even as Lex retreated and tried to get away, he was reminded of the coercion he faced against the Kraven on his first day in this realm. There was nothing about this oppression that Lex could defend against, as it touched on matters beyond his understanding. A part of him also suddenly understood why the Inn was so spectacr. When the difference between two beings was too vast, even without them doing anything, the lesser being would naturally be oppressed. The Inn prevented that and created a safe environment where everyone could interact safely as equals. But this understanding was fleeting. Currently, Lex was running for his life! He did not turn to see how Ptolemy and the rest would react to the attack, he was sure they had contingencies; he was only concerned about saving his skin! If they hadn''t left their lizard mounts outside the tunnel, he might have escaped quicker, but the entrance of the tunnel was too small and narrow, and so now he had to rely on his two feet. "Let me," said Barry, as soon as he realized what was happening. Instead of being pulled along by Lex, he grabbed thetter and ran at a speed dozens of times faster than Lex! In a few seconds, they hadpletely escaped the battleground. "That was¡­ really something," Lex said, as he tried to catch his breath. "Yeah, it really was. I had heard rumors about your incredible foreshadowing ability, but seeing it in action as something else entirely." "My what?" asked the distracted Lex. "Your foreshadowing ability. Your ability to sense danger. I heard that when we were ambushed on the first day, you detected the attack beforehand and managed to warn Ptolemy. This time again, you detected the Druks attack before anyone else." "Oh, that. It''s just a gut feeling, no ability or anything," Lex said dismissively. Barry did notment further, but all it took was a single look to detect that he had other thoughts on the matter. "What now?" Lex finally asked once he had gotten over the shock of the coercion. Mentally, he was nning out how he should get Barry to help him find the Spirit well. However, it seemed like he didn''t need to do anything. "They''ll take care of the Druk, don''t doubt them, but it might take some time. My objective, however, has always been to find the Spirit well. Since we''ve already gone deeper into the tunnels, I suggest we don''t waste our time and continue searching. I''ll leave covert tracks so that the main group will be able to follow us once they''re done." "I agree," Lex said promptly. Barry opened up his own backpack and took out a pair of ck gloves and a few items to help him find the way, while Lex took out his Fancy monocle and put it on. Barry put his right arm against the tunnel wall and started to slowly move forward. The descending slope in the tunnel slowly started to get steeper until it was almost at a forty-five degree angle. While not ideal, it was not able to stop their progress forward, yet soon they encountered a problem. It was not the usual, left or right diverging paths in the tunnel, but a direct vertical drop on one side and another descending slope on the other. Personally, Lex felt they should go directly down, as based on his understanding, the well should be somewhere deep underground. But, in this instance, Lex didn''t need to guess, as he had the luxury of being guided by an expert. In this case, it turned out Le''s instinct was correct, and Barry grabbed hold of Lex before slowly descending the vertical drop. "How do you tell what way to go?" Lex asked after they finally reached the bottom, only to be weed by a few diverging paths. "Spirit stone mines," Barry began to answer, absentmindedly, as his focus was still on determining their path, "are formed due to a few recurring reasons. Two of the mostmon reasons for such mines to form are due to two different kinds of ores, Orichalcum and Deatite ores. Both are naturally formed ores, but they both behave exactly opposite to one another. Orichalcum, in its natural state, greedily absorbs spirit energy. When enough of it is found together, and absorbs enough energy, the ore automatically turns into spirit stones." Lex was suddenly reminded of the ''Red Gold dust'', a specific kind of metal found on Mars used by the Morrison family that was great at absorbing spiritual energy. He wondered if it was the same thing. "Deatite, on the other hand, is an excellent instor for spiritual energy, and blocks, or in some cases, even traps spiritual energy when it encounters it. Eventually, if enough energy is absorbed, spirit stones naturally begin to form automatically. "There are a few more ways in which mines are formed, but they are rtively rare. Anyway, this is not an exact science as more often than not, these ores can be found without the presence of any mines, but if you ever suspect the presence of a mine, just go to the area with the highest concentration of these ores. If such a mine exists, it''s bound to be located there. Of course, detecting specific ores through severalyers of dirt and rocks and other materials is not so simply achieved. Even I need special tools." Lex asked no more, but he tried to use the monocle to pick up traces of these ores Barry mentioned. He did not see the names, but the monocle detected many ores qualified as unknown, one of which Lex suspected was either one of the ores Barry was talking about. This was good, he had discovered another way to search for mines. ***** Goli forest, Inside a wooden hut in the middle of the forest A massive snake with a body made entirely of hundreds of tree branches was slithering around in circles. Goli was furious, but there was not much it could do for now. The cursed human had some kind of evil me that could not only feed on Goli''s own mes but could even attack any of Goli''s spirit attached to any nt Goli controlled. Until he found a solution to that me, attacking the humans would only end up hurting it instead. There was a knock on the door of the hut, breaking Goli from his reverie. But, more than curious, Goli felt afraid. What kind of entity could reach his hut without him even realizing? He could even think of one. Before his thoughts could continue, the door to the hut fell onto the ground, and in walked the mostscivious rose bush Goli had ever seen. "Aunty Jeena," he croaked, chills running down his wooden spine. "What brings you to my humble home?" He could not stop his voice from quivering or his body from trembling. The smell of roses filled his hut and Goli, despite his subdued nt nature, started to feel urges that were more¡­ human than nt. "Little Goli, you''ve grown so big," the bush whispered as it ran a thorny stem across the wooden snake. "And I heard Little Goli wants to grow up. Do you want your good old Aunty to help you¡­ be an adult?" Chapter ?264 Buried ?264 Buried Goli trembled so hard his snake form almost unraveled. It may seem like Aunty Jeena was only teasing, but amongst Trelops, using another Trelop to reach adulthood was a very serious issue. One way for them to reach adulthood, naturally, was to slowly age and eventually grow into it. But this was one of the rare cases where a long lifespan worked against them. Growing into adulthood would take so long that your chances of being killed were incredibly high in the meantime. The second method was to take over some naturalndscape and grow it, but realistically speaking, it was difficult to find an unupied arearge enough to achieve this. The third and fastest way was to forcefully encroach upon andscape that was once upied by a Trelop. To be clear, this was not lethal to the other Trelop, but it would naturally weaken them a lot. In this case, if Goli admitted to wanting to use her help to reach adulthood, it would mean encroaching on hernd. Jeena was so incredibly strong that even the thought of it was borderline insane. To exin the power difference, Goli, who used his forest to strongly suppress the human expedition, and had for so long resulted in a halt of human expansion of territory, was himself only in the Golden core realm. Despite his own individual low cultivation, the might he could wield was muchrger, due to having the entire forest and its energy at his beck and call. Karom too was in the Golden core realm, albeit he was weaker than Goli. So then it could be imagined how powerful Jeena was, as an Earth Immortal Trelop. "No aunty, not at all," the wooden snake barely managed to say. "Oh? But then, why am I hearing something else? That you are partnering up with some humans to upgrade your fire and take mynd?" "No! No aunty it''s¡­" "Stop stuttering. Just answer this: are there humans in the forest, yes or no?" "Yes," Goli replied meekly. "And do they not have a me stronger than your own?" "Yes," he replied, suddenly feeling like something bad was about to happen. No matter how he tried to exin, it would definitely seem like he wanted the humans'' help to upgrade his beautiful, golden mes to that nasty, stinky green me. Jeena only chuckled as she saw the young Trelop shy away. "Dear young Goli, you may not want my help. But, I have some thoughts of my own. I think it''s about time you boys grew up, or at least one of you did. Your younger cousin Karom told me that you had partnered up with the humans to take over mynd. The fact that he wanted to pit me against you makes me think that he''s the one who has partnered with the humans. "But I don''t care about any of that. I see you boys, too content with life and it makes me sad. So I think it was time you boys matured a little. One of you needs to grow up. I don''t care who and I don''t care how. But if I see you two cking again, then I might be the one to take over both of yournds. It would be a waste to leave it to either of you." "What about the humans?" Goli suddenly asked, as he watched his aunt turn around and leave. "What about them? I don''t care about humans, I just want results." ***** Instead of a groan, Lex just let out an exasperated sigh as he covered the bleeding wound on his chest. It did not matter for squat how good his defenses were if his enemies were just too strong. On the bright side, he had gotten better at responding to his instincts of danger, and dodged almost all attacks. He watched impassively as Barry crushed some kind of rock monster. Even though he was not a fighter, all humans here had at least somebat background. That, apanied by his peak Golden core cultivation, made it so that he could at least defend the two of them. Lex and Barry had been ambushed by some kind of a rock monster that had escaped the detection of Barry as well as the Fancy monocle. Even now, as Barry broke its body to pieces, his monocle only identified it as sedimentary rock and not a living thing. After a few moments, when Lex removed his hand, his bleeding had stopped. This was not because he had recovered, but instead because he had gotten injured so many times in thest few hours, he suddenly learnt he could control his body the way body cultivators could. While it would not mitigate the damage done, he could stretch his skin to cover sharp cuts and move his muscles around to amodate his injuries. For the ss half full kind of people, it would seem that Lex had gained something from being mercilessly attacked numerous times. For Lex, it just seemed like they still hadn''t made it to the mine. "How much farther?" Lex asked as he surveyed the surrounding area. Suddenly, more rock monsters would be fine for Barry, but they could spell real trouble for him. "I cannot detect the ores that deep. I can only progressively move to an area of higher concentration of the relevant ore."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Then we should keep moving." At some point, Lex considered ditching Barry and directly using the method Karom had given him to directly go underground till he reached the mine. But these tunnels were infested with various Gu, not to mention rock monsters and the like, so he would never make it far on his own. So he continued to stick by Barry and made slow progress. "Yeah." They had been slowly moving deeper underground for hours now, and the farther down they got, the hotter the tunnels started to be. They also started getting wider andrger, and Lex hade across many more rocks containing gold. A part of him was sad that he couldn''t carry all that gold with him, even though he didn''t really have a need for gold. Twenty minutester, they reached a deadend. This wasn''t the first deadend they had been faced with, but this one was different because¡­ "I think we''ve reached the mine," Barry said with excitement. "Then why are we stopping?" "Because it''s most likely that the other two Druks we detected are in the mine. Are you sure you want to go ahead without waiting for the rest to catch up?" Lex could not reply as his mouth was left open. He remembered how strong the ''juvenile'' Druk had been, he didn''t want to face two adults alone. Instead, he limited himself to looking at the wall fondly. In truth, he was trying to see if the system could detect the energy yet. But the world, or rather the Crystal realm, never truly cared for the ns of others. While Barry was content with waiting for the rest, the situation would not allow it. The ground began to tremble, and the walls of the tunnel started to groan. There was an earthquake, and the tunnel didn''t really seem to be handling it well. For once, even Lex was caught off guard, and had no idea how to respond. But as the tunnel started to copse, and they suffered a cave in, he quickly moved next to Barry, which ended up being the right move. Barry''s training and forethought suddenly failed him as his first true life and death situation filled his mind with panic. He used his digging technique to push through the wall towards the mine, trying to escape the copsing tunnel. No matter how strong he was, he couldn''t tolerate hundreds of tonnes of earth crashing down onto him. Despite his panic, his speed was incredible, and he tore through the supposed deadend until he reached another open cave. Barry and Lex were both hit by a sudden gust of wind, and Lex grinned as the system finally let him know it could detect a massive store of energy. Just as he told the system to absorb ''some'' of the energy, the situation went from bad to horrifically apocalyptic. The earthquake hadn''t stopped, and while they had entered the outermostyer of the spirit mine, or well, instead of tunnel walls filled with shining spirit stones, or caverns full of spirit water, they were weed by eruptingva! Barry let out a scream filled with fear and horror as theva enveloped them, and before they could even think of retreat, the cave-in caught up with them, pushing the duo firmly into theke ofva. Up above, the Trelop Goli was shifting the roots of all the trees in the forest, pushing and pulling the ground with an endless fury as he prepared for a decisive battle with its cousin! Hundreds of trees that were thousands of years old pulled out their roots from the confines of the ground, causing countless artificial quakes and drastically changed thendscape. Goli channeled all the energy of the forest, whether it was held underground in his mines, or in his trees or treasures, all into his emerging army. He was as furious at Karom as he was afraid of Jeena. Someone would definitely pay for disturbing his peaceful life. Chapter 265 Annihilation In movies, being burnt byva was a slow and agonizing process where the person exposed to theva was slowly absorbed into it as if he were being pulled into quicksand. The truth of it was quite different. Lava was thick and heavy, and being pressed against literally thousands of tons of it felt just about as solid as being pressed against a wall. Of course, this wall was on fire, and the air was on fire and the ground was on fire and basically everything other than Lex himself was on fire. His protective talisman had turned on, and sandwiched between theva and debris, Lex remained unhurt, even if only for now. Acting on instinct alone, Lex quickly pulled up his backpack and quickly opened it to find the acorns given to him by Karom. While at a nce, all the acorns looked the same, they all actually served many purposes. The only one he had used so far was to hide his special ¡®scent¡¯ from Goli, but there were others in here, as well. Some of them were meant to be crushed by Lex once he was inside a spirit mine, while others would drill down and bring him deep underground. As soon as he found the acorn, he reached out to grab Barry so that the two of them could escape together. That was when, under thebined weight of the debris and the burning fury of theva, his talisman extinguished. What Lex felt next was too extreme to be quantified and too varied to be called pain. The pressure on his body was so sudden and so immense that he physically felt himself being squeezed to death. Yet, his mind did not have the time or the capacity to think thoughts such as ¡®I¡¯m dead¡¯ or even ¡®this hurts¡¯. It was not a slow process, in the millionth of a second that it took for his body to start being squeezed to death, theva not only burnt his clothes, his skin, his hair, his muscles, but the small metallic chunks in theva that had not fully melted started to attach to his body, as if welded together. There was no n, no thoughts, no escape, only an orchestra of extremes that bombarded Lex. It was indistinguishable through the glow of theva, but a piece of his exposed skull shone for a brief moment, and a single word that had been carved into his skull long ago disappeared. Furthermore, had his mind been coherent, he would have realized that his back started to feel cool, and even the temperature of theva dropped drastically. But none of that mattered, for the single moment in which Lex felt annihtion close in on his body and mind, the acorns in his hand were also crushed. A thin, woodenyer covered Lex¡¯s skin, and in extension Barry, who Lex was holding onto, formed a wooden shell before it started to pull them underground. The heat of theva and the pressure of the ground seemed to do nothing to the frail-lookingyer of wood, and if anything, seemed to strengthen it further. After all, which root was afraid of digging through the dirt, and which root did not strip the ground of its resources to act as fertilizer for itself? In front of the power of a Trelop, theva was nothing more than a consolidated pool of fertilizer. The duo kept moving deeper into theva, but Lex had already fainted, so he had no idea. Instead, it was the severely burnt and wounded Barry who gained the awareness that he was no longer in pain. Confused and disoriented, he could not tell what had happened, but he could tell that something seemed to be moving. Safe now, or at least saved from all that pain, Barry let his mind wander as he allowed his body to slowly heal. Sometimeter, they had moved right through theva, and the wooden shell was now digging through rock and dirt, continuously bringing them deeper underground. Eventually, instead of ground, they dug into a cavern and the duo went into a freefall until they were dropped into a clear, cool pool. As if sensing its taskplete, the wooden shell broke open, letting the cool liquid rush in and wash the burnt duo. This was, of course, spirit water. While it did not have magical, mystical properties that could miraculously heal them, the spirit water nourished their bodies and provided them with the energy to heal. Barry, who was already somewhat conscious, was quickly roused by the cooling, refreshing feeling bathing his body. For a moment, he lost himself in the endless soothing feeling, until he remembered what had happened to him and jolted up. The darkness of the cavern was not a problem for him, for he had excellent vision even in the dark and fortunately, his eyes had not been damaged. It took but a moment for him to realize they had discovered the Spirit well and ecstasy flooded his battered mind before it converted to panic just as quickly. Spirit water was extremely nourishing to him for he was in the Golden core realm, but for Lex, who was still in Qi training, it was naught but poison! Qi training cultivators absolutely could not allow a high concentration of spirit energy to enter their body, as they were still only dealing with individual strands of energy ¨C Qi. He grabbed Lex¡¯s unconscious body and quickly jumped out of the pool before carefully examining him, ready to expect the worst. Somehow, though, Lex seemed to be alright. Well, about as alright as one could be after having their entire body burnt and buried. He was exhibiting signs of energy poisoning, and though his body was covered in severe burns from top to bottom, he was breathing normally and did not seem to be dying.N?v(el)B\\jnn Notpletely relieved, Barry decided to check Lex¡¯s condition thoroughly to ensure the boy was alright. Although he was not sure how they escaped, he knew for a fact that it wasn¡¯t due to anything he did, nor did he believe in some God blessing them and allowing them to miraculously survive. That obviously only left Lex ¨C he must have done something or used some treasure that allowed them to survive. Unfortunately, while Lex did not seem to be dying, his condition otherwise could not be called good by any measure. He had severe burns on every part of his body, except a small patch on his back that somehow survived, and some parts of his body had even burned directly to the bone. To be frank, Barry had no idea how Lex was even alive in this condition. While he himself was in a simr state, at least he had his cultivation to support him. What did Lex have? But while this may have been a good question in another situation, after making sure Lex was alright, Barry turned his attention to the cavern. They had finally reached the spirit well, but he had not yet seen the remaining two Druks. Where were they? Chapter 266 Reforging Lex Slowly and carefully, the naked Barry searched the cavern. All signs pointed towards the fact that the two Druks had been here only a short while ago, but had just left. Maybe they had finally been attracted to Ptolemy and the rest. What he didn¡¯t know was that Goli had summoned all the strongest beasts living in his territory for the uing war. They had managed to avoid the Druks by only a few minutes. Whatever the case, they seemed to be safe for now, but just barely. Barry had none of his treasures with him, they had been lost, except for one of the gloves he previously wore and had melted right into his hand. They didn¡¯t have any medicine either. All Barry could do was submerge himself in the spirit water to help elerate his healing, and when he felt strong enough, he would start to look for a way out. Contrary to what one might expect, Barry was not actually being greedy for the spirit water and was just doing whatever he thought the best thing was to escape because¡­ HE WAS IN AN INSANE AMOUNT OF PAIN! The fact that he wasn¡¯t yelling and groaning around despite the condition of his body, wincing at the slightest movement, was a testament to his determination, as well as how afraid he was for his life. His only thought right now was how to get back to the camp. But, without any medicine, and without a mystical Inn that would heal all their wounds to retreat to, recovery was slow. Soon, the cavern became so quiet that the sound of Lex¡¯s breathing could be heard like a concert. As for Lex, his situation wasplicated. Being squeezed like a lemon while also being burnt like BBQ prepared by an amateur cook, all the while having his mind bombarded with the most intense stimuli he had ever experienced, was not really enough to kill him. Maybe if he had stayed in that situation a while longer, he would have died, but currently he was only wounded. Due to the special condition of his body, it was not so easy to kill him or hamper his recovery. For all intents and purposes, a majority of his wounds were only cosmetic. Furthermore, since the experience he had undergone was extremely intense, as a function of Regal Embrace, his thoughts and feelings about the experience had been packed away in a corner of his brain until he was strong enough to handle them. This didn¡¯t mean his memory was erased. It just meant that when he thought back to the experience of being cooked alive, he would only feel emotionless. So, Lex was alive and not in mortal danger. Then what was his current situation? He was extremely, severely physically exhausted, and so had fallen asleep. It would take him exceptionally long to heal ¨C or it should have if his body was only operating under the influence of the Regal Embrace. But, while it only appeared like a tattoo on his back, in truth, his body was housing a World Seed Lotus. The most basic function of this Lotus was to create a 5 star world, but was that it? Was such a function enough for the seed to this flower to be considered rare in the entire universe? That would be like saying 5 star worlds were rare in the universe, which was not the case. But while the other functions of the Lotus remained a mystery, just its ability to create a world, any world let alone a 5 star one, was more than enough to give the Lotus the energy to help heal a simple Qi training human body. But it could not create something out of nothing. So it began to absorb the bits of metal from theva that had welded onto Lex¡¯s body, into Lex¡¯s body. It absorbed the melted remains of the Fancy monocle that had covered Lex¡¯s left eye, into his left eye. It absorbed the spirit water into Lex¡¯s body to rece some of his blood that had boiled away. It absorbed the ash from the numerous acorns Karom had given Lex into his body. It absorbed the clump of metal that had once been the Heavy Harley. And, when it discovered that all of this was not enough, slowly and steadily it began absorbing the unusual alloy that filled the walls of the cavern around Lex. To the Lotus, these were just ingredients, and all it had to do was use them in the best possible way to create whatever it wanted. As a creator of worlds, this was as natural to it as breathing was to humans, so it did not even need to use all its attention for this matter. 99% of the Lotus was still asleep and only 1% of the infant Lotus worked on Lex, which is why it was taking so long to begin with. Otherwise, had it fully woken up, it would have taken mere moments. But this ended up working in Lex¡¯s favor, as such an abrupt recovery would have rmed Barry. So, for the next six hours, the duo remained where they were, silently recovering. After six hours, Barry still had not recovered enough toe even close to his full strength, but he was too nervous to stay in the Drukir any longer. He picked up Lex¡¯s body and, for a moment, wondered why Lex¡¯s body felt heavier than he remembered. But he attributed the change to his own exhaustion, to be honest, he was still amazed that Lex was even alive. He used a technique to engrave some markers into the walls here, so that he would be able to find this ce again, and quickly made his way out one of the many exits. He no longer had his treasures to detect ore density and the like, so he could only go down a path blindly, hoping for the best.N?v(el)B\\jnn ***** Midnight Inn, In front of thezy river. Rafael Carter Bravi, son of King Hanson Marlo Bravi IV, slowly stood up from his wheelchair and grinned. As he took his first, unsteady step towards thezy river, he felt a sleeping tiger within him waking up. He had note back from the future toze around. He hade to dominate. Much like the first literal step he had just taken, it was time to take his first step towards his new, glorious future. Chapter ?267 Bare survival ?267 Bare survival They had suffered a cave in, were lurking in theyer of two incredibly strong beasts and had their entire bodies cindered, which is exactly why Barry was not at all concerned that he was buck naked, carrying another unconscious naked man through the darkness. But while he slowly explored the tunnel, looking for a way out, he did not know that they were probably the most rxed in the entire forest right now. However, such good luck would notst much longer. With the two Druks gone, for a while the underground tunnels were filled with peace. But, as perceptive as they were, the numerous creatures that the Druks had suppressed, and were subsequently kept away from the spirit well, began to detect their absence. With such a once in a lifetime opportunity before them, how could they remain calm for long? At first, Barry was only assaulted by some of the unusual rock monsters that could even escape his detection. Fortunately, while their camouge was immacte, their strength was well within Barry''s capacity to face. It was when Barry started to see strange insects that the situation took a turn for the worse. A millipede with a massive body and each leg the size of Barry himself suddenly dug out of the roof in front of Barry and paused for a moment as it scanned the two humans. It considered whether to stop its journey for a snack, but then continued to dig downwards, its tunnel copsing behind it. Ants that came all the way up to Barrys waist started to appear in the tunnels, scurrying around as if searching for something. They were still ignoring them, but Barry began getting more and more nervous. It was only a matter of time before some decided to attack him, and while he could hold his own for now, he would easily get outnumbered. It was while Barry was having this crisis that Lex, who had been asleep so far, suddenly opened his eyes. His instincts were screaming death and time was too short tomunicate. Flipping over, he fell out of Barry''s grasp and onto the floor, immediately employed Falcon''s relief and bolted while dragging Barry behind him. An evil, gut wrenching screech reverberated through the tunnels, as if mad that its ambush had been detected, before a bony, metallic creature fell from the ceiling right above where the two humans had been. "Bloody hell!" Barry eximed as the hairs on his back lifted and he felt the malevolent hunger the creature looked at them with. "Guide me," he said, as he took over running once again, and lifted Lex on his back. Initially, a deep part of him was feeling like some kind of savior for bringing the wounded Lex with him, but now he knew well enough that without Lex''s keen sense for danger, he may not even get out. Due to the urgency of the situation, Lex did not notice that despite his current situation, he was not in any pain. This was not a result of any mystical magic, in fact, all his nerves had burnt and so he could not feel anything. It was only when he tried to speak, but no sound came out, that he somewhat realized that his body''s condition was not the best. Still, now was not the time to waste on stuff like that. He patted Barry''s left shoulder to let him know to turn left, and thereafter startedmunicating through taps. While his physical condition was far from ideal, his instincts for danger were as keen as ever. This was not to say that Barry was unable to detect enemies with his own spirit senses, but just that in this situation Lex served as a betterpass. He was not guiding Barry towards the outside, he had no way of knowing that, he was simply guiding him on the path that felt the least dangerous. But as the current situation was far from ideal, they still ended up encountering some enemies on their path. This was when Barry showed his real ruthlessness. He had no time for a careful, drawn out fight. He used the most direct and overpowering methods to bulldoze his way through any obstacle. There was another earthquake, and despite himself, Barry paused to look at the ceiling. Even the many monsters and insects that were fighting paused, though for entirely different reasons. Up above, on the ground, the war had begun. Since he made the first move, Goli caught Karom unprepared and managed to deal a considerable amount of damage. But Karom had a strategically superior position that made it easier for him to retaliate. While the ''bro'' was not able to drive out Goli''s invading forces, he could easily counterattack while he defended. The matter was as simple as hurling a massive boulder off the cliff. Just the force generated from gravity was enough to deal considerable damage. The quake that they felt was the result of one such attack. The insects and monsters, however, were not responding to a call for arms by Goli. Instead, they, or at least the leaders for their respective colonies, were realizing that the situation might be more beneficial than they thought. Unlike the beasts, the insects, or Gu, did not have a cooperative rtionship with the Trelops. A situation in which the Trelop was distracted was the perfect opportunity for them to plunder. Lex suddenly squeezed Barry''s shoulders hard, a sign that they were in intense danger. And indeed, the moment Barry began running once again, a cacophony of celebratory shrieks filled the tunnels and chaos erupted. The insects were not even chasing after the humans anymore. They were outright destroying the tunnel walls and eating any ores or roots that they discovered. Of course, if Barry and Lex came their way, they were more than delighted to add them to the menu. Tunnels started copsing left and right, and more quakes seemed to follow. Suddenly, when Lex went from squeezing Barrys shoulder to digging his nails into him, he knew the situation called for drastic measures. "Hold on," Barry yelled, and activated a technique he was trying to avoid using. A violent surge of spirit energy erupted from Barry and coated the two in a bronze light. Like a bullet, Barry shot directly upwards even as the ground copsed under him, and instead of crashing into the ceiling, he fell into the rock as if he were diving into a pool. They were moving at incredible speeds, but the already wounded and exhausted Barry could maintain the technique for only a few seconds, bringing them much higher and closer to the surface. Once the technique ended, Barry''s legs crumpled as his exhaustion caught up to him. But instead of falling on the ground, Lex swapped positions and put the man on his back. Not wasting any time, Lex began running. His skin and nerves were burnt so he could not feel the warm breeze, and his nose was broken so he could not smell the scent of burning wood, but his vision had improved - though he hadn''t realized that yet - and even in the darkness he could see the grooves of the rocks in the tunnel walls. For some reason, looking at them and observing the shape and direction they were bent in, he could determine the direction the tunnel met the surface. He did not know the nuances behind why he knew this, but he was not in the mood to question anything right now. He attributed it to his instincts and ran for his life.N?v(el)B\\jnn But, just because he was the one running now instead of Barry did not mean the insects disappeared, or ignored him. That would have been too coincidental and fortunate. No, the chaos was only increasing and the attacks Lex faced were even more numerous than Barry had. But, instead of facing them head on, he did something that would surprise even him when he thought back to this momentter on. He started dodging his enemies with the precision and uracy of an American football yer dodging tackles. He swerved just enough to dodge a scythe-like w, jumped just high enough to avoid a biting ant and evaded just enough to feel the wind of an attacking monster, but avoid its body. For a moment, Lex even felt like he heard thunderous pping of a crowd. Then his mind connected the sound not to a stadium crowd, but the thumping sound of a marching army. Lex saw a part of the tunnel copse, and light shone in like the rays of salvation that would rescue them from their plight. With skill Lex had no right to possess, he dodged every attack - well not really, he just couldn''t feel pain so he had no idea that he had actually been struck a few times - and finally exited the ursed tunnel. But whaty awaiting him was not salvation. It was a horde of massive ape like beasts, equipped with wooden spears that might as well have been small trees. Then, as if he had not just walked into an enemy force that could eliminate him, Lex looked at the nearest beast and somehow, in a croaking voice said, "Quickly inform lord Goli! Karom has invaded the tunnel from the underground and is taking the spirit water! Send your armies underground, we cannot let the enemy seed!" Chapter ?268 Luck ?268 Luck In English, the term ''beast'' carried with it a negative or derogatory connotation. It was often used to describe another as lower or less intellectual than oneself. But in the context of actual beasts, as in a group of living beings, that was far from the truth. First of all, it was important to understand what a beast was in the context of the cultivation world. Amon misconception, at least amongst humans, was that beasts were animals that began cultivating. They could not be judged for having this view, for this often was the case for many species of beasts who had an animalistic nature andcked intelligence whilst in the mortal realm. But strictly speaking, that was not what defined a creature as a beast. In the cultivation world, a beast was a creature whose cultivation depended upon heritage and would, while growing in cultivation, slowly undergo evolution until it achieved the species that stood at the apex of its heritage. This was exactly why so many beasts paid so much attention to rare or powerful bloodlines, as they provided a much higher end point than weaker ones. This is also what contributed to Fenrir''s high evaluation - not only its heritage, but the purity of that heritage. This should not be confused with other species that rely on bloodline abilities. For example, even though there were many subspecies of humans, and many humans that carried foreign bloodline, as a human grew in cultivation, his or her species would ultimately change from what it was. Yes, the bloodline ability may be more pronounced, but at the end of the day, it would only be limited to the ability. Of course, Marlo who was undergoing the path of a prime was different, as his cultivation also depended on evolution, but any kids he had would not be primes but regr humans. Thus, regardless of whatever height he achieved, he could not leave behind a heritage, only a strong bloodline. What was the point in bringing all this up right now? It was the simple fact that, should anyone be na?¡¥ve enough to imagine it would be easy to fool a beast, they would be gravely mistaken. The massive apes that surrounded Lex and Barry were not one of the main 7 races only because theycked the poption for such a im. As limited as they were, each one of them boasted ridiculous physical strength and an inherent affinity for wielding the spear. If anyone ever thought that an affinity for a weapon would make them weaker than someone with an affinity for an element, such as fire or lightning, for example, was more than wee to try. But besides theirbat prowess, they had a very intricate tribal system that gave equal value to intelligence and strength. So when they were marching together, off to war, there most certainly was some sort of leader within their ranks who had the ability to distinguish a facy. This leader would also know that, while the current war did not seem to target humans, Goli was infamously racist towards humans and would never work with them. So, regardless of what kind of important or vital information a human brought, they would never escape suspicion. Which is why it was incredibly fortunate that neither Lex nor Barry seemed like they had anything to do with humans. Lex may have been bipedal, but then so were the apes, so that was not enough to arouse doubt. Instead of the soft and fragile skin that humans were mostmonly identified by, these two creatures were covered in char and soot. They wore dirt and small rocks on their bodies the way humans wore clothes, and the muscles on their limbs were tough and wore signs of being tempered in fire. Furthermore, they did not smell of humans either, but of fire and smoke. The ape identified them as some variant of moles with a strong fire affinity - perfect subordinates for the Druks that would temper their bodies in molten metal. "I will pass on your message," the leader of this troop said, giving an acknowledging nod to these two valiant beasts. They had suffered great harm to bring them this important news, when they could have easily hidden instead. Taking that as his sign to leave, Lex identified the direction the apes were heading in, and decided to run in the opposite direction,pletely unhindered by the beasts who saw them interact with the apes. His face only showed his determined expression, but internally Lex was flooded with relief. He had taken a big gamble back there, because honestly, he saw no way of surviving should they get into a fight. His mind worked at incredible speeds to determine the best way he could resolve the situation. Since they had already suffered many attacks from various beasts, and he could determine that the beasts had attacked under the instruction of Goli, he estimated that Goli was the leader of all the beasts. That guess was not urate, but functionally, such a guess worked well enough. Second, because of his contact with Karom, he knew the two Trelops were not on the best of terms and even harbored subtle hostilities towards one another. Third, he knew that the spirit well would be an important asset regardless of the situation. Keeping in mind these points, he instantly fabricated a story that put him in the right. It was not some intricate n he concocted, but something he did so instinctively he was speaking before he even realized. A number of other factors yed into his ruse working, including the ongoing war and his current appearance, but Lex would never know how lucky he had just been. However, even though he was lucky, it was because of his believable story that they got away, so he still deserved some credit. Lex did not know about the ongoing war but he suspected that his remarks may spark some tension, but he couldn''t be bothered about that right now. His attentiony elsewhere. The tunnel they exited from was not the one they went in from, and so he had no idea which direction their camp was in. Theck of any celestial bodies in the sky made it impossible for him to determine the location he was heading in. The best he could do, currently, was climb a tree to determine the direction of the cliff and head that way. The task was harder than he expected, even when leaving Barry on the ground, not only because of his exhaustion, but because he had not given his body any rest after being wounded. Such strenuous exertion in such a wounded state only served to exacerbate the seriousness of his injuries. Lex was just thinking of how he would finally rest when he breached the forest canopy and froze. The cliff, as massive as it was, was easy to find. The searing ss between two forests, one ame while the other fiercely resisting, was not a sight easily overlooked. If he ignored the trees that had uprooted themselves and seemed to be climbing the cliffs, and the hordes of birds that shed in the skies, and even the countless beasts that seemed to be using the cliff as a battlefield, the boulders being flung towards Goli forest were not so easy to escape because one could fall on him at any time. ''Safety consultant my arse, I''m going to be a painter when I return.''n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om While scouting the forest, Lex suddenly noticed another area in the forest that seemed unusually devoid of trees. After focusing for a bit, he realized it wasn''t that there were no trees there, but that they had all been burnt down. He found the camp! For the first time ever, Lex praised Ptolemy and his green mes as he climbed back down the tree. He wasn''t too far, and should be able to reach it fairly quickly if he ran. Chapter ?269 The legend of Lex ?269 The legend of Lex The expedition camp was filled with an eerie silence, as everyone who was able, stood guard with their weapons drawn. At first, when Ptolemy and the rest set out, all was normal. But when the war began, Goli''s first target was the humans. They faced an assault the likes of which could fit in with the greatest legends in human history. Beasts, trees, mes, all assaulted them with passion hitherto unseen. But against all odds, with the fury of the world against them, the humans banded together and proved their resilience. There was no fear of death in their eyes as they battled the horde that had no end, no reluctance, only the one core value all humans in this realm had ingrained in them from birth. If they were going to die, then the enemy would die with them. In history, it is said that humans fought their greatest battle in the darkness, abandoned by the graceful light of the Sol birds, abandoned by hope, abandoned by any notion of tomorrow. It was in the darkness that they forged the greatest of their legends, and it was from the darkness that the humans had wed their way to bing one of the seven great races. But these students fought under the light of their enemies burning leaves, under the re of senseless hate, so that when their end came, they would see iting. Hourster, when the strength of their limbs was leaving them, and thest of their swords were breaking, it was not the abyss that came for them, but Ptolemy and his group. Lizard astride, bloodied warriors tore through the enemy ranks behind the charge of their leader, shrouded in green mes. And when they finally reached the camp, Ptolemy made good on his promise of starting a forest fire. A me so greedy it absorbed the yellow color of life itself engulfed the forest that surrounded them, and the wails of beasts filled the skies. Unable to counter such a sinister viin, Goli abandoned the area around the human camp and focused solely on Karom - for now. But even abandoned, the mes roared for hours until everyst shred of life surrounding the camp was erased from existence. In the end, the humans finally had their rest. Many of them fell onto their knees, and then onto the ground. How many of them would ever get back up was a question no one had an answer to. No one asked about Lex and Barry, for in the chaos, who knew how many of them had gone missing? No, they only rested, as the camp doctors made their rounds, doing whatever their failing strength allowed. For who knew when the next battle woulde down upon them? The once green and lush camp was now carpeted in ash, with tendrils of smoke rising up into the air all around. "Movement from the front!" a yell from a watchtower broke the silence, rousing all to their feet. They hade to the expedition as specialists in their fields, as geologists, doctors, cartographers and more, but none would regret ending the expedition as warriors dead on the field of battle. Ptolemy stood at the forefront of the camp, looking out towards? the trees in the distance. Normally his vision would allow him to see unabated even at a greater distance, but through the gray smoke he could only see vague figures. Slowly, a crowd gathered behind him, swords and spears drawn, arrows knocked, shields at the ready. At the moment, no one med the expedition for being a failure. The truth was, if expanding to regions where entire human settlements had withdrawn from was easy, then it would never have been their turn toplete this task. Everything that happened, to some extent, was already expected. With the ever present threat of the Kraven hanging over their heads, the human race needed brave men and women to face the dangers of the unknown, and carve out the path to their survival.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Just as Ptolemy tightened his grip on his sword, thinking about the fact that he had not yet recovered enough strength from the previous battle, a dark shape was outlined in the smoke. All the warriors turned their eyes to that approaching shape, as the scouts on the watchtower looked elsewhere to ensure they were not ambushed from another side. The dark figure in the smoke looked too alien to identify what creature it belonged to, but if it was following up after the previous attack, there was no doubt that it must be the forest''s champion. Yet just as they harden themselves to face whatever monstrosity emerged, from the smoke emerged a thin, charred creature that stumbled more than it walked. It seemed to be carrying something on its shoulder. But it only took a moment before the confusion was swept away and Ptolemy recognized that damned figure. More of a walking charcoal than a person, he would have never recognized the figure if it wasn''t for those damned, determined eyes! Suddenly he recalled the rumors he had been hearing in camp, the stories that made him spit on the ground and somehow hate Lex even more. No, not rumors¡­ legends. Legends of a lone human who walked through the carnage of Gristol and gathered a group of survivors, fighting an endless horde of enemies until they were saved by the representatives of the academy. Legends of how, when they faced an ambush, the human stood tall and strong against the flesh of an Immortal Kraven, teeth barred as if ready to bite, his knees unwilling to bend even in the face of death. He recalled the legend of the human thrown in the path of the Kalter Flug, to a vige destined to be erased from memory, which, ironically, became a vige whose name people would never forget. It was the vige where that human stood his ground against a cmity of nature and even dared to attack the strongest Kalter Flug that caused a Vice Dean of the academy some trouble, all to protect his fellow humans. Ptolemy recalled legends of the man so distraught with his weakness, he worked all day and all night to grow stronger, so he would never fail again. He recalled the legend of the human that had forsaken his surname so as not to rely on the prestige of his forefathers. He recalled the legend of Lex, noble son of Gristol¡­ suspected heir of Cornelius II. Despite all the frustration he had felt towards the man, as he watched the charred body of the irritating plebeian that refused to die, carrying on his back a cultivator much stronger than himself, he couldn''t help but believe the legends for a moment. "Call the doctors," Ptolemy told the crowd that was still ready to fight. "They''re with us." Chapter 270 The return of Booty 270 The return of Booty Lex¡¯s journey to the camp was, for theck of a better word, boring. A few times he ran into a few beasts, and just as he was preparing to give an exnation to avoid a fight, or perhaps even run away, the beasts would only nod at him and move away. How was he supposed to know that he was being identified as a mutated mole? So in the end, the return ended up being him carrying the exhausted Barry through the forest for hours until he finally reached the camp. He hadn¡¯t had any time yet to think about his future ns, but this incident would surely affect them. Just as he was about to enter the camp though, Mary gave him an update about something happening at the Inn that put him in a foul mood. He was cursing and whining internally, not realizing that he had made it to camp. This led to the misunderstanding where his eyes full of frustration were mistaken for unwavering determination by Ptolemy. This was a misunderstanding destined to never be cleared up, for when would two men actively talk about the expression in each other¡¯s eyes? As matters at the Inn didn¡¯t actually require his attention, he put the matter behind him as he refocused on the matter at hand. It was only when the doctors came and wrapped him and Barry in nkets that he actually realized he was nude. They started testing him and applying various salves on his skin, but it was only when he saw them prick his skin and he felt nothing that he realized that he had no sensation. Well, maybe considering the circumstances, that was for the better. The doctors asked him some questions, and when he tried to answer, he discovered once again how difficult it was to speak. If he forced himself, like he had with the apes, he would release a grotesque, hoarse sound that did not sound human so in the end they stopped asking him questions for now. During the entire process, Lex felt nothing, and in fact was once again bored so much so that he hoped he could fall asleep or at least faint so he could in a way ¡®fast forward¡¯ this process. But to his viewers, Lex showed a silent resilience, and refused to utter a single wince even as his burnt and battered body was treated. Surrounded by valiant warriors who had fought off death and destruction with tooth and nail, it was instead Lex who did nothing but run whose legend once again began to grow. Apanied by the already positive impression everyone had of Lex, everyone was more than happy to fill in the nks of his no doubt perilous journey with the most arduous of trials. Of course, Ptolemy refused to be one of those. So what if he was the heir to Cornelius II? The King had lived for hundreds of years, had thousands of wives and concubines and literally had tens of thousands of children. He never favored any until they made real, quantifiable contributions to the human race. It was actually because of how little he cared for his children that made the story of relinquishing his family name more believable. Who could know the real reason Lex never gave his family name was because he was seriously creeped out by the guy interviewing him, and didn¡¯t want to give him any urate information. In the end, one of the doctors gave Lex a powerful sedative and put him to sleep. Barry, however, did not receive the same treatment. This was not because they were being harsh on him, but because he would be able tomunicate with his spirit sense at least, and Ptolemy really needed to know the details of what happened. But Barry was in much better condition than Lex, and after being given a dose of stimnts, quickly recovered. He did not need to use his spirit sense, and told the tale of how Lex saved him multiple times; from somehow bringing them out of the cave in, to guiding him to avoid danger, to carrying him after he thoroughly exhausted himself. Ptolemy, of course, was no longer listening. He had gotten the news he was hoping for: the spirit well existed! One of the many objectives of the expedition was to locate valuable resources. Since he was hunting for resources, naturally the resources had been allocated ranks and value quantifiers. Spirit wells, while not being the highest value target, were still high on the list since about only one in a hundred mines ever even had the chance to be one. It was high enough that, using the potential danger to the well due to the ongoing war, he could request academy intervention! Naturally, the academy would not interfere in the struggle between the Trelops, but as this was still the human domain, they retained the rights to any valuable resources. Distribution rights would be discussedter, for that had nothing to do with Ptolemy. He only had to report the situation back to the academy, and they would send someone over to secure the well ¨C and, hopefully, take that irritating Lex away considering his situation. ***** Midnight Inn, Gamer¡¯s Den ¡°I¡¯LL MURDER YOUR WHOLE CLAN!¡± roared a wrinkled old man, dressed in traditional daosit clothes. His beard, hundreds of feet long and previously wild and untamed, now bore the signs of having been treated by Harry and braided in viking fashion. His weapon, an eight feet (2.4 meters) long spear, leaned against the wall, gathering dust. Instead, the tool he was using to inflict damage was a controller. His character in Immortal Combat was constantly being beaten by his opponent who used the forbidden technique of repeatedly doing low attacks that knocked him back. He did not know how to block low attacks, nor did he know how to attack low either ¨C the cause of his frustration! ¡°OLD MAN, YOU¡¯RE MY FATHER! DOES THAT MEAN YOU¡¯LL KILL YOURSELF?¡± yelled back another man who looked equally old. In fact, he was also dressed simrly and had a weapon that looked almost identical to his father, so that the two looked more like twins than parents and child. He was instead fighting using a mouse and keyboard ¨C the superior option! Hundreds of viewers gathered around them and hooted and chanted for the ones they supported. The group looked like they were taken from aic con convention, as they were too varied and unique to look like they came from the same ce. In the end, the son won the round, using his forbidden technique,unching his supporters into a frenzy. ¡°Do not be so smug, child, for the journey to victory is long and filled with obstacles.¡± ¡°The proverbs of a failure who could not even get past the qualifying rounds mean nothing to me,¡± replied the son, as he ran his hands down his new beard braid. The father, enraged, snorted before he left with his weapon. While the father son match ended quickly, many matches in the Gamer¡¯s den were still going on. A gaming tournament organized by Booty, the pirate was taking ce. After the Iron Heart pirates discovered the Inn, they began using it on and off until one of them had the idea to sell the keys as treasures. Their business was good, since they visited numerous space stations ands on their journey to loot and pige. After they had distributed the keys to many ces, however, it urred to Booty that they could take things a step further. Immediately, he sent out a message to his entirework, and they organized a ¡®friendly tournament¡¯ over some of the video games Booty liked. The idea was an instant sess, and hundreds of people paid a good deal of money. It made sense, for not everyone who was a cultivator was highly motivated. After living over a 100 years, most people would actively pursue new forms of entertainment. Of course, Booty specifically targeted the non-problematic people from hiswork for this tournament. He didn¡¯t want to risk a fight breaking out over disagreements and then being med by the Inn staff for it. It was the entrepreneurial efforts of Booty that saw a sudden spike in new Inn guests, and what¡¯s more, ended up in a gaming tournament for contestants from around a gxy. Lex was extremely bitter over missing the tournament, for he wanted to be there for it. Z was also bitter, because the Gamer¡¯s Den had never been more popr, and he didn¡¯t like being around so many people. Another round of cheers erupted as an intense match finally came to a close. As for what game they were ying? Call of Da-money: Modern Capitalism II. There were a few tournaments happening concurrently, and this game was the one that had the highest anticipated finale. That was because, in one qualifying bracket was a team from Earth formed by famous Youtubers who just happened to be visiting the Inn, while in the other, soldiers trained to remotely operatebat robots in active war zones. To them, this was more than just a game. It was a matter of pride. And good quality content for their channels. No one would back down.N?v(el)B\\jnn Chapter ?271 Peculiarities ?271 Peculiaritiesn/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Three days passed before the representative for the academy finally arrived. The war did not cease for even a moment, but fortunately, the humans were left alone during this time. The rep had a long meeting with Ptolemy wherein he conducted a detailed interview of everything that had happened so far, as well as the reason for summoning him. Once he learnt about the Spirit well, he picked up Ptolemy to guide him, and directly flew over the forest until they reached the tunnel. The original tunnel that Lex had discovered had copsed, but it was not a problem for the rep to dig it up once again. Not bothering with any of the creatures in his path, he zipped through the tunnels as he followed the marker Barry had ced down by the well. When he reached the well, he checked the authenticity of the well, and then sealed it using a special talisman. No one would be able to ess the well until the seal was removed, which was easier said than done. Naturally, any Gu or monster or beast that protested against the seal met with a swift end. The details such as figuring out the size of the well, how it would be used, who would be allocated the rights to harvest the water all were someone else''s responsibility - he was just there to verify the report to the academy. He would not help the expedition too much, as this was also a kind of graduation test for these students, nor would he interfere with the Trelops war, as that was not his job. In the future, should Goli refuse topromise and insist on keeping the spirit well, then someone else would be sent to deal with him. The matter would be handled in a way that best served human interests. But, while he did not interfere, the timing of the war was too coincidental, so it required further investigation. The representative was not exactly ''polite'' with his investigation, either. With his superior cultivation, it was not a problem at all finding the Trelops'' real bodies, not the leaf-humanoid form or snake form the Trelops liked to show the world. He did not bother sharing the result of his investigation with Ptolemy, but considering the fact that the war continued as it had previously, there must not have been any big issues. It was time for him to return, and he was supposed to bring all the seriously injured members of the expedition as well, as they were no longer fit to continue. But one of the doctors stopped him. To be more specific, the doctor that had been looking after Lex. "I have to report some special circumstances rting to the patient," the doctor said with a lot of hesitation in his voice. "What''s the matter?" the rep asked without dismissing the doctor. Normally, it was unlikely for something like a patient''s condition to be relevant to someone like him, but he trusted thepetence and professionalism of the academy students. "The patient in question is at the Qi training level, and suffered severe burns and blunt force trauma from being smashed into a pool ofva by a copsing wall. Furthermore, his body''s condition was worsened during escape, where he carried an incapacitated student back to the camp. Under normal circumstances, with injuries like these, we would not expect full recovery, ever, and partial recovery would take well up to a year at least - if he managed to live that long at all. However, not only is the patient''s recovery the fastest I''ve ever seen, there are a few factors that don''t strictly adhere tomon medical logic with the patient." "Show me," the rep said, reserving his final judgment until the report wasplete. The doctor led the red into a medical tent where Lex was being treated separately from all the other patients. His body was floating three feet in the air over a white marble tform on the ground, and various tubes were connected to his body. He had been kept sedated this entire time, as the doctors expected Lex would go into shock if he saw the actual situation of his body. With all the char, dirt and grime cleaned from his body, you could now see that he looked more like a diagram for the human cardiovascr system than a living person. This was because he had nearly no skin left and was wrapped in a white gauze that was mostly see-through. Where his skeleton was exposed, visible cracks ran through the bone. The rep was not a squeamish man, but even he was surprised by what he saw. "You say he''s recovering the fastest? What was he like before this?" "Much, much worse," the doctor replied gravely. "A lot of the meat on his body was cooked, rocks and dirt had stabbed through his organs and he hadpletely drained all his Qi. I honestly have no idea how he was even able to run from the tunnel all the way back to the camp. A normal man would have died a million times over just from the exertion from breathing, let alone carrying someone else." Silence once again filled the tent for a moment, before the doctor continued. "But, that''s not why I brought you here. I was the first to notice the patient''s peculiarities, and so I ordered that I alone would take care of this patient to keep the matter from getting out. Let me show you the first peculiarity," the doctor said before turning Lex around. Since Lex''s body was floating in the air, turning him around was easy, but the moment his back was exposed it became evident what the issue was. Just because his back hadn''t been directly exposed to theva didn''t mean it suffered no burns. But, while his back carried various degrees of injuries, there was a patch of skin on his backpletely unblemished - except for a tattoo of a Lotus on it. "Not only did his skin around the tattoo not suffer any burns," the doctor said, his eyes stuck on Lex''s back, "but even his spine directly below the tattoo remainedpletely unharmed. I suspect this yed a major role in him being able toe back to the camp on his own two feet." The rep, now truly curious, scanned Lex''s back, and his body, thoroughly. But the system was able to hide itself even from Ballom, this rep was no obstacle. The Lotus, on the other hand, did not even try to hide - its existence was on apletely different realmpared to the rep. Let alone the Lotus, the rep could not even sense the various energies the Lotus was always absorbing to feed itself. "What else?" the rep asked, when he was unable to find anything out of the ordinary in Lex''s body. "This next bit is truly remarkable. Like I told you, the patient is recovering faster than I''ve seen anyone recover, and that was no exaggeration. You see all these tubes connected to him? Only one of them carries any medicine, the rest are all nutrition solutions. This is because any medicine we give him, no matter what kind, is thousands of times more effective on him than it should be, and is actively recovering his body so fast, if we don''t feed him with these nutrition solutions, he will literally starve to death. "I have a theory about why this is so, but I can''t think of a way to prove the theory yet. You see, when we administer medicine, any medicine, not all of it is being used. If we''re really lucky, mabe a few percent of the medicine will be absorbed and properly work as intended while the rest never makes it to the targeted area, or is even excreted from the body as waste. Yet, based on my study of the patient, I believe that regardless of what kind of medicine we administer, it is being used up to 100% of its capacity!" The doctor had excitement and fervor in his eyes, but this was much less impressive to the rep than the back tattoo. While the truth of the matter was that the Lotus was using any and all ingredients absorbed by Lex to best help him recover, going even beyond the 100% theoretical efficiency of the medicine, the rep had apletely different understanding of the situation. "This is a gap in your knowledge," the rep patiently exined to the doctor. "You''ve focused your study on general medicine, and so have a limited understanding of the various cultivation techniques. Your patient is clearly a body cultivator, there is nothing unusual about him having elevated recovery and absorption. Was there anything else you meant to report?" The doctor naturally understood the advantages of body cultivation, and knew this went beyond that, but could not argue with the rep. "The final thing is about the patient''s cultivation. Considering the state of his body, I thought it would copse, but if not, the best should have been him being able to keep his cultivation. However, based on his absorption rate of Qi, and the state of his body, I estimate that by the time he recoverspletely, he will have reached the peak of Qi training. I and many others from the camp can verify that he was not at that level at the time he entered the tunnels." "Alright," the rep replied impassively, giving nothing of his thoughts away. "If that''s everything, I''ll be taking him back to the academy now." With has taskspleted, the academy representative returned, flying out of the forest and over the ongoing war. While he was flying though, he started to write a letter from his personal terminal to Vernan - the crazy man responsible for Lex''s insane tests. ''I think I found an interesting one for you,'' he wrote, not knowing that Vernan had long been paying attention to Lex. Chapter ?272 Oh Honey ?272 Oh Honey Lex woke up feeling extremely well rested. There was no stiffness in his body, no bed sores and if anything, he felt thoroughly reinvigorated. He drowsily picked himself up and stretched while letting out a massive yawn that forced him to close his eyes.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om When he was done stretching, he wiped the umted sleep dust from his eyes. He just felt like he just woke up from the best nap of his life. He looked at his fair, spotless hands and felt there was something strange about them. It took him a moment to realize he had no hair on his arm. Had he waxed recently? Just as he tried to recall, memories of what he hadst experienced came flooding back. The emotions he felt from being boiled inva were still locked away, so after impassively going over everything, Lex focused on the next important thing. He checked how much energy he had managed to umte after all that hassle, and was pleasantly surprised to discover a huge 2.5% umtion! The umtion was not bad at all, but in the process he had also lost a lot. The Heavy Harley was gone, the Fancy Monocle... that one really hurt Lex. More than once the monocle had directly saved his life, and it had helped him tremendously otherwise as well. In fact, had it not been for the monocle, he would have never found the tunnel leading to the spirit well in the first ce. He would need to figure out some other way to detect or scan things. He had also lost basically every other personal item that he had. The expensive inks he bought for using arrays... Just as Lex was wallowing in the losses he suffered, the white curtain around his bed was pulled aside and a familiar, smiling face weed Lex. "Good morning sleepy head. I know I asked to see you again, but you can see me too withouting in as a patient," said Honey, the nurse that took care of Lex thest time as well. "I''ll keep that in mind for next time," Lex said with a smile, but his hoarse voice ruined the effect he was trying to create. Honey giggled as she approached Lex and started giving him a check up. "You''ve recovered quite well. I thought it would take months, at least, but it''s barely been a few weeks and you''re as good as new." "A few weeks?" Lex asked, suddenly realizing he had no idea how much time had passed. Honey stuck out her tongue, realizing she had made a mistake, but then slowly exined Lex''s condition on arrival, the treatment he received and how long it had been. Throughout the course of treatment Lex was kept unconscious on purpose to relieve him from the pain he would feel during the healing process. Many things that Honey told Lex surprised him. Learning the true condition of his body surprised him, because honestly, he genuinely didn''t feel like he was on the verge of death like everyone kept iming. This matter went beyond not being able to feel pain because of lost nerve endings. As a cultivator, he had an inherent understanding of his body and the seriousness of his wounds. He could only attribute the situation to how his body was abination of his body, spirit and soul. He was much more resilient than it seemed. The matter that shocked him most, however, was how quickly he healed. This was contrary to his understanding of his body, and genuinely confused him. He didn''t even need to ask to know that it wasn''t the system that helped him for that was not how the system worked. But, even with his rtively quick healing, when he calcted the amount of time he had spent, Lex could not help but let out an audible sigh. Honey, who was doing her best to give Lex her cheeriest smile and keep his mood positive, couldn''t help but look at Lex withpassion. She could not even imagine what he must have gone through to get so gravely wounded. Surely he also lost a few partners in the endeavor. It must have been tough. She squeezed his hand a bit and warmly said, "hey, what''s with the sad look? I haven''t even told you the best part yet. Apparently, you''ve rued quite a reward. I was told to let you know not to break through the Foundation realm before you see Instructor Vernan - he has something for you that should help with your breakthrough." "Huh?" Lex was confused by what she said until he paid attention to his cultivation. His body currently contained 76 Qi, which was almost the limit of the 7th level of Qi training. But, more importantly, he did not feel the usual bloatedness that came with filling his body with the maximum amount of Qi he could hold. Had his cultivation somehow... grown? Did he really grow stronger by getting beaten up? Was he going to have to walk down the path of a masochist? Lex pushed away all his thoughts, he was not thinking clearly, and turned his attention to Honey. "So what''s my situation now? Am I good to go?" "Almost. Your results are all clear, and you''ve almostpletely healed, but we''ll keep you under observation till tomorrow. After that, you''re good to go. Why? Is there anywhere you need to be?" "I was thinking we could go and grab some lunch, and I could show you what I''m like when I''m not a patient." "Hah!" Honeyughed loudly, despite trying to control herself. "My time off work is very precious, Mr. Lex. You''re going to have to try harder than that if you want to see me off work. Although, if you''re hungry, I''ll get someone to bring you some food." Lex smiled weakly. He was not actually trying to ask Honey out, as nice as she was, for he was too preupied with working to get back to the Inn. A part of him was also sure that Honey wasn''t actually interested in him, but just had a friendly personality. Whatever it was, after conversing a little more, she left him to go check on his other patients and Lex properly organized his thoughts while feasting on... he had no idea what he was eating, but it was some kind of soup. After some deduction, Lex only came to one conclusion about why his body had healed so quickly. "Hey Lotus," he said, once again lightly tapping his tattoo. "Did you speed up my body''s reconstruction?" "Yes, Mr. Innkeeper. I sensed that you were reconstructing your body, and so I helped a little. I sensed that the makeup of your body was too... wasteful, and too inefficient, so I made some alterations. There was a special alloy in the tunnel that was extremely malleable, and very good at conducting spiritual energy, so I remade your meridians with that. Previously, your meridians were made from some carbon-based material which was very fragile. I sensed the remains of a special lense that had great optical features, so I integrated that into your left eye. There was some metal..." The Lotus very excitedly told Lex all the alterations it made to his body, like a child showing a parent some macaroni art. In its opinion, it was only flexing its natural instincts to create just a bit, forpared to what its abilities would grow into, it truly was unskilled at the moment. However, unskilled as it was, it hadpletely altered the makeup on a living being without affecting its life, or abilities in any negative way whatsoever. Lex had no idea if the reason all the Lotus'' alterations were sessful was because of the unique state of his body, or because it was just that skilled, but his gut feeling told him it was thetter. He refrained from actually letting the Lotus know that it had helped heal Lex instead of helping him ''reconstruct'' his body, as it assumed he was doing. He onlymended it on a job well done before he turned his attention to other matters. Internally, he was both horrified and amazed. As long as he had the Lotus with him in the future, any time he got injured, he could take its aid in healing him. He just had to keep in mind that, even with the Lotus'' help, he could not heal overnight as it had still taken him weeks to recover this time. Though, that was the extent he nned on relying on the Lotus, for he did not know if extensive alterations to his body had adverse effects. Next, he turned his attention towards the Inn. With 2.5% energy, he could now implement some of the changes he had nned earlier that would help him in the long run. He also had to n for histest two employees, the sword and the lich. In the time Lex was unconscious, the sword had also managed toplete its trial and became an employee, though based on its condition, Lex could surmise that it had barely done so. Chapter ?273 Security 273 Security A lot of time had passed with Lex unconscious and it was fortunate that so far that the Raskals had not caused any trouble, but Lex no longer wanted to leave things to chance. With enough energy, as well as 2,845,000 MP due to his ie of nearly 243,000 MP from all the guests entering due to the gaming tournament, he was ready to implement some changes. Firstly, he finally put to use the Security room he received as a quest reward for exposing the Devil''s plot to nt trackers on his various guests. Unlike the private rooms he could give to his workers, the Security room required a physical location. To keep it private and away from his guests, he put down the security room beside the greenhouse, and then immediately spent 500,000 MP on upgrading the room to level 5, one level above his regr authority. The security room had a few vital functions, and the upgrades not only strengthened them but also added a few new ones. First and foremost, the Security room could immediately detect anyone who had any malicious intent not only towards the Inn or its staff, but towards other guests as well. How the Security room detected them was beyond Lex''s understanding, but after identifying a threat, the security room could perform a very basic form of the scan function to let security best decide how to deal with the threat. Secondly, just by existing, the Security room allowed any staff registered as guards to directlymunicate with one another across the Inn seamlessly. This made it much easier to coordinate than having Mary pass out instructions to each one of them. Thirdly, the additional upgrade Lex got allowed his guards to teleport to the location of another guard quickly. Once again, it was a watered-down version of Lex''s own teleportation abilities, but it was good enough. Fourthly, having the Security room made various penalties avable to Lex, as well as to his guards. Misconduct by a guest towards other guests or staff could allow them to now issue a temporary or permanent ban from entering the Inn. Believe it or not, this was the first time Lex was getting this ability.N?v(el)B\\jnn Fifth, and perhaps what Lex cared about most right now, the Security room could track associates for offenders, regardless of whether the associates were at the Inn at the time of the offense or not. This meant that as soon as someone rted to the Raskal attack entered the Inn, the Security room would alert the guards as well as Lex. Finally, the Security room gave all the guards some basic strength and defense buffs, as well as some special equipment and uniforms. As Gerard was the head of Security, Lex let him pick how many workers he wanted to hire for the position, and gave him the option of selecting existing employees or hiring/creating new ones. Gerard ended up picking someone named Chad to be his deputy, and Lex used all the strength he could to avoid cracking up at that. Gerard immediately began to work, as it surprised Lex to learn that there were well over 20 guests with malicious intent towards the Inn staying there immediately. However, they kept it to their intent and did not take any action - for now. After looking into it, Lex let out a defeated sigh. 19 of the 20 guests were thinking of urinating in the Lazy river, but as soon as they even considered it, they felt intense danger. It seemed, for certain things, the system did not need instruction to prevent. Lex paused for a second, as it suddenly urred to him that sometimes the system exhibited behavior outside of its usual crankiness, or insulting him. He was reminded of the time the Gctic Turtle was automatically hired - even though he was leading up to that, anyway. Preventing public urination was also good, but considering all the rules it put in ce for Lex, something like giving guests a threatening feeling should not have been possible. It was something to think about. He already had various suspicions towards the system - he could not outright call it evil or malevolent since it was helping him out a lot technically, but he didn''t quite believe it had no purpose either. This thought only bothered him for a second, for this was yet again another thing he could do nothing about with his current strength. It was just something to remember for now. Then, using his advanced authority, he purchased a building that he technically hadn''t gained ess to yet - the Library. Sustaining the Library would be a huge drain on his energy, but fortunately Lex was not nning on using most of its features, which saved him a lot of energy. The Library was a monumentally important building at the Inn, for when guests from around the universe stayed, providing entertainment or distractions was crucial. Its importance was proportional to its size, as it had taken the shape of a massive castle, simr in design to the Red Fort in India, connected to Main street by a diverging road. The majesty of the building and the intricacy of the artwork spoke volumes about the importance it was given. It was not an invisible pedestal of importance that the Inn gave to the preservation and impartation of knowledge, but a structure too glorious for even kings. The Library, when it was operational, required a librarian - for which there would be stringent requirements - as well as knowledge on topics far and wide. Lex did not think for even a moment that he had even 1% of the knowledge required to open the library. He did, however, have a historian. A single branch of the Library would be open, and would contain the history of the variouss and star systems connected to the Inn. The purpose of opening a library, for Lex, was twofold. Firstly, themonly known history of each would be openly avable for any of his guests to peruse - after Anita filled it in, of course. Secondly, while Anita had been stuck interviewing guests and staff to learn various histories so far, now she had a special privilege. Following certain rules of noninterference and maintaining anonymity, she could travel to the variouss connected to the Inn! This would be much more helpful in recording down the history of thes than interviewing a few select guests. But, as a pregnant woman, Lex had no intention of sending her around the universe to conduct interviews. She could just summon her undead and send them on her behalf - it was all the same. Not to mention, he had already seen the kind of undead she summoned. No one would ever be able to determine the truth of their nature just by looking at them. Next, it was time for Qawain. He was to be a sword instructor. Guests could hire him for guidance in helping them learn special techniques, figuring out their ws, or just pointing them in the correct direction for exponential growth. Of course, while his services could be paid for, it waspletely at his own discretion. Not only were his services the most expensive to acquire, a guest had to earn Qawain''s approval before he could even consider spending his money. Unlike his wife, who had a location provided by the system, there was no integrated swordsman room or anything of the sort ready for deployment. So, after having Mary consult the sword itself, Lex created a very... dramatic spot for Qawain''s dojo. A sword sh cut vertically across the entire body of Midnight mountain was formed, leaving behind a dark and narrow, yet prominent corridor. The corridor, imbued with some of Qawain''s own sword intent, led deep into the mountain itself, where it opened up into a hall seemingly carved directly into the mountain rock. These were some of the more normal things Lex did with his authority. Next were the few things that would really take advantage of his increased authority as well as energy. He disabled random teleportation of guests, and made sure all new guests arrived at the front gates, as far as they may be from all the other main buildings. Then, he spent an entire 1% of the energy on upgrading the formation he ced here during the assault of the Raskals that prevented anyone from leaving. Now, not only was the formation much sturdier, it could selectively let people enter or exit as well as obtained a suppression function. This may seem a simple enough use for an entire 1% of the energy it would require for Lex to travel back from another realm, but that just spoke to the new strength of the formation. He doubted even Qawain could damage it now. Just as he was feeling proud of his work, and was about to turn his attention elsewhere, Mary alerted him to a very serious issue one of his guests was having. The guest was a proud centaur from Nibiru called F''ther ze and when Lex scanned him, he saw in his eyes a look of a man on the verge of death. Chapter 274 A Deal With The Devil Lex observed the centaur for a moment, for he had yet to see one before. He fit the build of every cartoon or animation of a centaur he had ever seen, except that he never realized how big they would end up being. F''ther ze had long, red hair falling down his human back - their fiery color perhaps the inspiration for the ze in his name. The centaur, of course, could not see Lex, as he had just made hisint to his personal assistant and was waiting for a response. "What''s the issue?" Lex asked as he inspected the guest. His hands were clenched tight and his jaw was squeezing hard, showing the veins running down his neck. "The guest¡­ needs to¡­ use the restroom, but the toilet¡­ is designed for humans¡­" Mary could not look Lex in the eyes as she gave her report, and Lex was not drinking anything but he felt like he just sprayed out something, anyway. Remembering the deathly look in the centaurs'' eyes, Lex felt a tide of sympathy for the guest and quickly looked at the system and found an upgrade for his toilets! For a measly 4000 MP, he bought an upgrade for all his toilets so that they would automatically adjust themselves ording to the guest that rented the room or wanted to use them! Too embarrassed to focus on the topic any longer, Lex didn''t ask Mary why they''d never run into a situation like this before. If he had, the answer would have been very predictable. As cultivators grew in strength, their body''s ability to absorb and process food - or anything else absorbed - grew to levels where they hardly needed to relieve themselves anymore. However, certain races, such as centaurs, had a moreplex biological structure and, well, long story short, their need for restrooms would never disappear. With the matter taken care of, Lex put away his thoughts about the Inn, and finally feeling no anxiety over security for the Inn, and being safe himself, felt himself rx in a way he hadn''t in a long time. Originally, he was nning on cultivating a bit, but he decided to sleep instead. It wasn''t the best idea to cultivate in public ces, anyway. The following day he was discharged, and after some friendly banter with Honey, he finally left. He only had a few things on his agenda for the day and finding out about his so-called ''reward'' was first on the list. He had forgotten about how massive the academy was, and once again, taking public transport that took forever was starting to annoy him after the novelty wore off. There had to be a better way to get around. When he reached his destination, he walked into an office building and towards Instructor Vernan''s room. During his time at the academy, he had learnt a lot about the ''special forces'' Vernan had once told him about, and had learnt about Vernan as well.N?v(el)B\\jnn The crystal realm was anything but simple, and the Hum Nation, representing one of the 7 major races of the realm, was not so simple either. The division of power was alsoplicated, and while as a whole the entire nation was focused on warring with the Kraven, maintaining that cohesion was also a monumental task. While the royal family, other noble families, national and county level armies and a plethora of private entities had established aplicated and interlinked power distribution, there was only 1 entity focused on keeping the peace within the nation itself: the academy. It may seem unusual for an educational institute to take care of policing a nation, the truth of the matter was the academy was much more than an educational facility. The most direct example was that the academy directly took in all survivors from Gristol to provide them basic amenities and a new direction in life. On surface level, it may seem like the academy was using these people with nothing to lose for all their worth, but an observation at a deeper level would note that people who went through such deeply traumatic experiences would, to a degree, be unstable themselves. By bringing them to the academy, they were put into a controlled environment where not only could they get medical and psychological help, the academy would help them cope by keeping them incredibly busy! If they were too busy to think, they were too busy to wallow and regret. Simrly, the academy took care of numerous issues guing the nation that weren''t directly rted to the Kraven, and somehow, in the process of dealing with them, did not forget to propagate their narrative about the war. These were not things anyone told Lex, these were conclusions he made on his own. This was because the ''special forces'' designation was a general term, and both the military and the academy had their own special forces that dealt with various issues. Lex naturally did not know that Vernan had already pegged Lex to enter the special operations group called Red Hands. In his opinion, Vernan wanted to guide Lex into the kind of special forces that would deal with high risk human targets within the nation. In a way, Lex''s evaluation of what Vernan wanted was actually safer than what was actually nned. Still, Lex had no intentions of getting dragged by the maniac into his schemes. He just wanted the reward, and that''s it. Putting on his passive, emotionless face, Lex knocked on Vernan''s door and entered when he heard an excited e in''. The office looked¡­ quite mundane, very unsuited for the unstable man who upied it. Steadingfortably behind a desk, Vernan was holding a physical file with the name Lex printed out in bold in one corner. Other than Vernan''s immediate surroundings, the office looked too neat and clean. It was to the point where Lex could not detect any dust in the room, regardless of what surface he looked at. Immediately, he got the impression that this office was almost never used, and was more of a staging area. Not bothering to say anything, he stood there silently until the man who was posing became impatient. He put down the file and acted surprised to see who hade into his room. "Oh you, I remember you. You''re the kid whose assessment started in Fernain vige." Ignoring hisment, Lex said, "I was told toe see you for some reward." "Reward? Oh wait, don''t tell me, were you the kid who, while in the Qi training realm, surrounded by Golden core and Nascents cultivators, found a Spirit well, went underground to locate it, marked the location and then returned to camp while saving a higher leveled cultivator?" Lex continued to look at the man impassively, and did not respond to him in any way. The more you reacted to people like this, the more you would encourage their behavior. Vernan, despite his original script, chuckled and threw the file away. He stopped acting, for he wasn''t too good at it anyway, and looked at Lex in the eyes. Since Lex had been in the academy for so long, his psychological evaluation had been updated, and Vernan now knew exactly how he should deal with Lex. Leading him by the nose would only cause him to resist, in which case¡­ "You have a talent for survival, kid. Even more than I expected. And you have drive, you have ambition. I don''t know if it''s revenge against the Kraven you''re after, or something else. But the way you forced yourself to work in your first month here, I know you''re after something. As it so happens, so am I. "So let''s not beat around the bush, kid, let''s just get down to it. Tell me what you want, what you need. The assessment program in the academy is focused on squeezing out the potential of average students, but for people like you, who have the drive to squeeze out their own potential, it''s just a distraction. That''s where people like mee in. I can change your sses, change your designation, do whatever I want, as long as it furthers your cause. So don''t be shy, let''s talk like adults, kid." Despite his resolution to not give in to Vernan''s antics, the bait he threw was too tempting. If Lex could really choose his own sses, and his own direction for growth, it would help him tremendously. But, that was not enough to get Lex to lower his guard. He would not bet his life away to y into someone else''s hands. "And what do you get from that?" he asked, looking Vernan in the eyes. "What do I get? Kid, you have tremendous potential, but right now, you''re not even qualified to even dream of being useful to me. So, I want to help you grow. To nurture you. To strengthen you into the finest de and the strongest shield. Because what I want is not something as simple as killing Kraven, we have soldiers for that kind of stuff. I want to create a living nightmare that will haunt the Kraven from their dreams to their reality! So don''t worry about me, kid. As long as you keep showing the potential to grow more, then all I want from you¡­ is to keep on growing." Chapter 275 Sometimes, Size Matters "Very eloquent way of avoiding the answer," Lex said, not letting his thoughts show. Of course, internally, he had already decided. Whatever long-term goals Vernan had meant nothing to Lex, for if everything went ording to n, he would be long gone by then. This was because there was one very important detail involved in this transaction that was not mentioned, because it was consideredmon knowledge in the crystal realm. Since everyone, at least in the academy, was a cultivator, they had a much longer average life expectancy than humans from Earth. The average academy graduate was a golden core cultivator, who normally had a life expectancy of around 250 years. Keeping that in mind, the average student spent well over 15 years in the academy before they graduated - since the course was muchrger than then. Vernan paused, then smiled. The more wary Lex was, the more Vernan liked him. "The ideal situation would be for you to join the army," Vernan said finally. "But I can see that you don''t like being forced, which is fine. My ultimate goal is to create as many experts at the highest level as possible, so long as they help the nation. Even indirect help from a single immortal is often worth more than a million Nascent cultivators efforts." Lex did not immediately reply, and furrowed his brows as if he was considering something difficult. Internally, though, he was already nning on what sses he wanted to take. Vernan too was gloating in his mind for as far as he was concerned, his only objective right now was to have Lex drop his guard and agree to him once. So long as a precedent was established, getting Lex to follow along in the future would be much easier. His true purpose would be fulfilled then. Eventually, Lex relented and decided not to keep the matter hanging too long. "Fine, that is eptable," was all he said before they began hashing out the details. Lex quickly thought of what his priorities were. He needed to umte energy, but to be able to go around exploring the first thing he needed was to increase his survivability. For that, he needed to get stronger. He also focused on receiving morebat training, leadership skills, business management, learning more about the crystal realm and learning more about the Kraven in particr. As much as he wanted to take even more subjects, such as a higher level array ss, he ended up having to refrain for one very important reason.N?v(el)B\\jnn Since he was taking more specialized sses, his basic academy covered allowance was no longer enough. He needed to pay some kind of tuition! Lex had no way of paying for his sses with money, for he barely had any. Fortunately, during the expedition, he ended up umting some academy credit. He could pay for sses with his credits, but the more sses he took, the quicker he would run out of those credits. So now, other than taking sses, he had to think of ways to either make a lot of money, or gather more credit. Those were all issues for another day, however, as at least during this next round of sses, Lex''s tuition was covered. After that wasplete, they discussed Lex''s reward. For all of Lex''s contributions, other than just the academy credit, he received some of the spirit water as well. Currently, it would be poisonous to Lex, but if he absorbed it, the exact moment he broke through to the Foundation realm, it would boost his cultivation by arge margin. Lex collected the small, sealed container with the spirit water and finally was free to return. He sent Amelia, his only close friend at the academy, a message from a new PT he got before he got on public transport and returned to his apartment. He did not focus on how depressingly bare the apartment was, considering all his belongings were lost or burnt. Lex took a shower and then sat down on his bed. He had only one thing left on his agenda for today: cultivation. Without wasting any time, Lex began cultivating because he was eager to know what his new limit was. But as the time started to pass, and from an hour it went to two, and from two to four, Lex never stopped cultivating. Not only was Lex absorbing Qi seamlessly, he even felt, to a degree, that controlling it within his body had be easier. For a moment, around the time he was absorbing his 85th strand of Qi, he became confused. Something was off. Even if his cultivation grew a little, it should not have grown so much. In Qi training, the goal was to absorb Qi slowly into the body, and start getting the body ustomed to the increased amount of Qi. This was a slow process. Even his meridians, thework through which Qi traveled within Lex''s body, were being subject to spiritual energy for the first time, and so were supposed to be sensitive and could not¡­ Suddenly, he remembered what the Lotus told him. It had thought his meridians were too fragile, and so remade them with the alloy it found in the tunnel where Lex had been. While the Lotus had not been specific, Lex knew exactly what alloy it was talking about. An adolescent Druk strengthened its body by absorbing various ores, but an adult Druk refined them into a special alloy that not only strengthened its body immeasurably, it was an excellent conductor for spirit energy - something they severely needed since having their body covered in metal made it difficult for them to sense the energy in the first ce. If that alloy had been used to reforge his meridians¡­ it seemed, for all intents and purposes, Lex had already surpassed the Qi training realm, and all that was required now was for him to take the official steps. Still, not taking any risks, Lex continued to cultivate at a stable, measured pace. If things continued at this rate then he would be in the Foundation realm by morning. ***** Crystal realm, The academy, Perleen Building On the top floor of the massive skyscraper, a chaotic party was taking ce. There was a band ying live music, hundreds of students dancing, a fighting arena right in the center of the dance floor and hundreds of flying Thimble fairies, not only absorbing the ever present re of the Sol birds, but recing them with a mellow, auburn light. The party was the subject of desire for tens of thousands of students, but the host was sitting in a private room, away from all the noise, watching the festivities through a camera. She was a young girl, maybe 17 or 18 years in age, with extremely prominent features. While she had long hair, on the right side she had shaved all her hair off, revealing a tattoo of a wolf, curled behind her ear. She had a couple of piercings on the left side of her lip, a scar that ran across her jaw and down her neck, as well as clear green eyes. Were she not radiating charisma and confidence, some may have considered her appearance too much. As things were, however, the worst thing one could possibly say about her appearance was that she only captivated them for a short while. That, too, was only because anyone who got caught staring at her would usually have their faces bashed in - by her. "Cwenhild, I heard some interesting news," said one of the dozens of followers she had. "It seems another one of your brothers has joined the academy." Cwenhild gagged, as if to demonstrate what she thought about that. Cwenhild Cornellius could not care less about her many siblings even if she actively tried. While the whole nation swooned after her father, she actively hated him and she was not subtle about her feelings. In fact, she had never even met the man. "That''s not the part that''s interesting. What''s interesting is¡­ no one knows anything about his past, except that he''s a war veteran and survivor of a Kraven invasion, facing off even immortals. Oh and, somehow, he managed to drop hisst name¡­" Before the follower could even continue, he felt himself lifted into the air. "Who is he? Where is he? HOW DID HE DO IT?" Cwenhild screamed, not in anger, but excitement! There was nothing of her usual dark demeanor, only the giddy excitement of a child about to open some presents. It had been a lifelong dream of hers to take up her mothers name instead of her fathers, but even she dared not drop the name, for fear of the consequences. ***** Outside the Vegus Star System, on a Juggernaut ship He was ahead of schedule, but that was the way he liked it. With the Jotun Empire iming control over all three invaded Veguss, he could now turn his attention to his new task. Of course, he did not leave thes unattended. Between soldiers, administrators, workers, educators and more, Ragnar had left some 30 billion humans behind to expand their presence and integrate the Vegus natives into their empire. But that was all in the past now. His vision turned to the Command Carrier, the forward operating base for Jotun expeditions, and the ship that hemanded. The vessel was sorge that it had to remain outside the star system, at a safe distance, lest it affect the gravity of the system and destroy the delicate equilibrium. How would one even begin to describe the size of this vessel that he used to travel across and even between gxies? Aparison could be made withs. The surface area of the Earth was around 197 million square miles (510 million square kilometers) but just the ship hanger of this blimp shaped vessel, where smaller space ships such as the Juggernaut ships were parked, was bigger than that. Perhaps anotherparison could be made byparing it to a star. If themand carrier crashed head on with the sun, it would continue to move, almost entirely undamaged, with the star beingpletely decimated. To exin the size and strength of this vessel¡­ to say it was beyond theprehension of mortals was enough. How many barren star systems had been mined dry to make this vessel, even Ragnar did not know. For why would he care? This was just one of manymand carriers owned by the Empire. On the battlefield he was heading to, he would probably see more of them. Chapter 276 A Little Bit As the Juggernaut vessel docked into themand carrier, Ragnar thought back to his most recent visit to the Inn. He just learnt that the Innkeeper was gone and, for the first time, felt a little curious what the Innkeeper did when he was away. Was he opening up another Inn? Or maybe he was dealing with a few problems. Well it was a pity that they could not meet, but there was always next time. But perhaps it was for the best that Lex was not there for Ragnar''sst visit. Otherwise he would have drowned in a sea of sorrow for not increasing the price of the golden keys, even just a little more than their cost price. After all, Ragnar just bought 300 million keys to distribute among some of the important personel on hismand carrier. After all, in a war zone, having a safe ce to retreat to was invaluable. ***** Lex cultivated all night long and, just as he suspected, reached 99 Qi seamlessly. 99 Qi strands was the absolute limit of Qi training. There was no such concept as Lex absorbing more Qi strands than normal just because his body could sustain the pressure - mainly because it was redundant. Whether it was 100, 200 or even a million strands of Qi, individual strands of Qi could do nothing against spirit energy in its natural state. Which is why, the process for the breakthrough to the Foundation realm began at the 100th strand of Qi. Once it was absorbed, under the careful guidance of one''s cultivation technique, the remaining 99 strands would nket it, until the strands began to merge, and instead of Qi strands, they would form a spiritual energy stream.N?v(el)B\\jnn Once the stream was formed was when the actual process of the breakthrough would begin, as the single stream would attract more and more spiritual energy. One might think that, since only a short while ago, even a moderately high concentration of spiritual energy was poisonous, absorbing so much energy would be bad for the cultivator. This would make sense if that''s all there was to it. It was important to remember that cultivation and cultivation techniques were actually quiteplicated, and a description of the behavior of Qi or spiritual energy was just the surface mostyer of what was actually happening. So, the spiritual energy a cultivator would begin to absorb after forming an energy stream was not absorbed to increase cultivation, but to fuel the change that took ce as a cultivator entered the Foundation realm. In simple words, the cultivator would be undergoing a process of literally reaching a higher realm of existence, which would be fueled by the energy absorbed. This is also why Lex was given spirit water for his breakthrough. By drinking it at the time of his breakthrough, the conversion would be more thorough and provide him with longsting benefits. For Lex in particr, the conversion would be much greater, since it was affecting more than just his spirit. It was for that reason that he was taking so long to absorb thest strand. But, after making sure he was in peak condition for the third time, and making sure none of the Qi he absorbed was acting vtile, he absorbed thest strand of Qi. Everything that followed seemed to happen on autopilot. The Qi was guided to his chest, and the rest of the strands that were spread throughout his body started to move towards it on their own. The Qi strands began to join together and, in the smoothest way possible, fused to form a stream of spiritual energy, flowing throughout Lex''s body. It was an endless stream, with no beginning and end, and flowed through Lex like an endless loop. Spiritual energy ebbed and flowed into the meridian branches leading to Lex''s extremities. Lex almost lost himself in the ecstasy of spirit energy filling his entire body, but somehow managed to remember to drink the spirit water. That''s when the hurricane began. Normally, the absorption process of spirit energy would be slow and measured, since the attracting force was exuded by the limited energy within the cultivator''s body. But, fueled by the spirit water that Lex drank, the pull was turned from a gentle breeze to a natural cmity. The flow of spiritual energy in Lex''s entire building was affected, and many people had to stop cultivating because the energy had gone into a frenzy! Lex could feel every inch of his body slowly getting stronger, somehow being enhanced into something¡­ beyond what he already was. This was also true for his meridians, which were already incredibly resilient, made from the special alloy as they were. He felt his consciousness being altered, and amidst the bizarre sensations that flooded his body, he felt more alive than he had ever been. Considering the fact that life was a product of a soul, and that his soul was literally bing stronger, his feeling was technically true. The breakthrough, even as bombastic as it was, would notst too long and then it would be time for him to get ustomed to his new realm. But fate had different ns. Amelia finally checked her message after one of her sses and was ecstatic to learn about Lex''s return. She made her way to his apartment to catch up and ask him all about his trip. Since she wasing directly after a ss she was dressed quite normally, but someone familiar with her may notice a light sparkle around her eyes and a gentle blush on her cheeks, an unusual addition. She was wearing something called Fantasy skin, the equivalent of make up in this realm. She noticed a particrly eye-catching girl enter the building before her, with beautiful brown hair and captivating green eyes. Amelia only caught a glimpse of her, so she did not think much of it, but when she reached Lex''s floor, she saw the girl again. The girl was not alone, and was discussing the unusual behavior of spirit energy nearby with one of her two followers. When Amelia entered the floor, she and that girl exchanged nces for a moment, before looking away again. Neither of them were interested in the other, as they were not in the habit of snooping on random passersby. But, when they both stopped in front of Lex''s door, they realized they had the same destination. Amelia froze, for she did not recognize this girl, but she knew all of Lex''s acquaintances well. Since he was such a focused and dedicated worker, he barely socialized with anyone other than her and her friends at the academy, so who was this? A hundred different thoughts ran through her head, of which 99 were some form of girlfriend. Cwenhild, on the other hand, deeply analyzed Amelia quite openly. She recognized the Fantasy skin, as well as the fact that Amelia was quite an amateur in the field based on the way she used it. She checked her cultivation, her demeanor, her appearance and everything else before she snorted mentally. As a daughter of Cornelius, she had lived her whole life surrounded by people trying to get close to her because of her father. As such, she was extremely skilled in detecting people who had such intentions, and currently, Amelia was ticking a lot of boxes. "Hello, my name is Cwenhild. I''m looking for Lex, is this his apartment?" she asked, politely. This was absolutely not Cwenhild''s normal attitude, but since she wasing to see Lex, a person who had pulled off something even she could not, she humbled herself a little. "Hi, I''m Amelia, Lex''s friend. Yeah, this is his apartment. How do you know him?" "I have some business with Lex. He has an¡­ impressive record." Amelia felt this girl was strange and clearly had some kind of agenda. She looked a little younger than Amelia, but her piercings and tattoos screamed that she was bolder than her age would predict. Deciding to simply nod, Amelia knocked on Lex''s door, which was followed by an awkward silence where no one responded. "Maybe he''s in the restroom," Cwenhildmented as she stayed put, not indicating any sign of wanting to move. Naturally, if their cultivation was high enough, they would be able to detect that the spirit energy was being pulled into his room and deduce that he was having a breakthrough. As things were, they could only sense its odd behavior, not the direction of its flow. And so the two girls waited outside Lex''s room, staring at one another. "And how do you know Lex?" Cwenhild finally asked as well, trying to fill the silence. Her two followers maintained silence as if their only job was to stand guard. "It was quite funny actually, we met due to a misunderstanding," Amelie said with a smile, as she thought back to the moment Lex sat beside her for the first time. She was sure he was a shameless stalker. Lost in memory, she didn''t even realize as she began to regale Cwenhild with her story, filling in the nks with her own misunderstandings andmentary. Did it seem like she was trying to show off the depth of her friendship with Lex to a potential rival? A little bit. Chapter 277 The Food Has Arrived Lex''s breakthrough took around 20 minutes. The moment it waspleted, Lex was momentarily overwhelmed by the immense burst of information he started receiving, but quickly adapted. His senses had be infinitely more sensitive, to the point where on his skin, he could even feel the subtle vibration of the blood flowing through his veins. He could hear his own breathing like a gale and see everything in such detail that he could notprehend it. But the sensory overloadsted only a moment, for his brain quickly adapted, and as if he had been doing so his entire life, he started filtering out the information he didn''t need subconsciously. It was exactly for this reason as well that he immediately picked up the muffled sounds of a prolonged conversation, even through the insulted material that made his door. Carefully, he got up from the bed, remembering the time when he started cultivating and almost destroyed his own apartment due to ack of control. He tiptoed to the door and opened the door. He was pleasantly surprised to see Amelia, but also shocked by the overload of information he got from looking at Cwenhild. His instincts were a lot stronger now, and he picked up on a lot more than just immediate danger to himself. He could tell just by being in her proximity that she was extremely dangerous, and at the same time, that she could do absolutely nothing to him. Likewise, Amelia, who was somewhere towards the peak of the Foundation realm, suddenly posed no threat to him at all. At the same time, he picked up a strange feeling from her, as if she were ufortable or nervous or something. "Amelia, what''re you doing here sote?" he asked, temporarily ignoring Cwenhild. "I just got done with ss and I saw your message, so I came to see you. The way you just showed up without sending any message first, did you get kicked out of the expedition for wooing too many seniors?"n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Not at all. My return was just too hectic to send any messages," he replied with a smile, not going into too much detail at the moment. Then he turned to Cwenhild and her twopanions and said, "hi I''m Lex. I don''t believe we''ve met." "No, we haven''t," Cwenhild said in the most polite tone she could muster, shing Lex a smile that could cause anyone to swoon. Honestly, her rtionship with her other step-siblings was horrible, so she didn''t want to get off on the wrong foot with Lex. "But your reputation roars like thunder among the students, so I wanted to introduce myself to you." Lex raised an eyebrow out of curiosity. His reputation? He hardly knew anyone here. What reputation was there to talk about? Still, he was curious about her, so he invited them in. "Well,e on inside. I would offer you all something to drink or eat, but I don''t really have much at home." Even as he said that, he ordered some snacks to be delivered to his apartment via the dorms room service application. Amelia had been to his ce before, so she knew what condition he lived in, and was not surprised but Cwenhild¡­ well, she hid her feelings well, but internally she was a little surprised. It was a good thing she dismissed her attendants beforeing in. It would not do if rumors about Lex started to spread because of her. Even though the famous King did not care much for his children, each and everyone of his partners was from an extremely prominent family, or were themselves extremely well off. Someone living in such squalor was¡­ unheard of. He almost had no personal belongings at all. Considering the fact that Lex was currently dressed in the academy uniform¡­ she wondered if he even had other clothes. The uniform was expected during sses, but otherwise was not mandatory. "Not at all," said Cwenhild, "I came over unannounced as is. How can I expect you to host me under such circumstances?" "I am curious about what you''ve heard about me," said Lex as he carefully sat down. So far, he hadn''t shown any indication of losing control of his strength, despite not having any time to adjust his state after his breakthrough, and he was quite proud of it. "Instead of asking what I''ve heard about you, I think the question should be, what have I not heard?" she said with a lightugh. "The stories were so outrageous, from facing an Immortal to shooting at one with a simple weapon, to the tales of your numerous feats at yourtest expedition. Even if I took them with a grain of salt, or a whole fistful of it, they were too much. I had to investigate. But the school reports I found were¡­ even more bizarre than the stories." "I can''t believe¡­ people are actually talking about me, especially about the expedition - that literally just happened." Lex didn''t know whether to feel ttered or creeped out. Who were these people talking about him, and how had his stories spread? "Ohe now, don''t be humble. You weren''t the only one who was brought back from the expedition, and everyone who came back was full of praise for you. Actually, I head to the hospital first to meet you, because when I read the report on the returnees, I thought you''d still be in the hospital. Based on the pictures¡­ I''m surprised you''re awake, let alone good enough to return home." Amelia was suddenly rmed at hearing the mention of Lex being hospitalized, but Lex instead was intrigued about what that revealed about Cwenhild. He knew that someone would definitely report everything that had happened with him during the expedition, but being able to get ess to academy records like that was no simple task. Even among school personnel, one would need relevant authority to read files pertaining to things like this. In a situation where a Spirit well was involved, Lex imagined the authority should have been even higher. "You''ve heard a lot about me, but I don''t seem to know anything about you," said Lex, shifting the focus of the conversation. He didn''t think a simple introduction warranted someone like her looking for him all over. Cwenhild smiled, as if anticipating this change, and said, "What''s there to say about me? My life is not nearly as interesting as yours. I''m just a simple girl, stuck under a couple of overbearing parents. That''s the reason why I wanted to meet with you, in fact. Of all your achievements, dropping your family name might be the greatest of them all." Amelia suddenly became extremely tense, as she too had heard the rumors about Lex''s origins. In the time she had known him, he never brought it up, and she never asked him about his past, but it would be a lie to say she never wondered about it. "My greatest achievement?" Lex repeated, confused. Suddenly, he felt a little offended. There was no shortage of incredibly insane things that he had done since he came to the Crystal realm. How could iming he had nost name be a greater achievement? It was ridiculous. Seeing that Lex continued with the facade, Cwenhild smiled. "Well, isn''t it? The rumor is, you dropped your family name because you were dissatisfied with your father. That you wanted to carve out your own legend and create your own legacy, unrted to the Cornelius name." Lex did not immediately make the connection between the name she mentioned and the king, for he was too bewildered by the story attached to him. "Me? Carve out a legend?" he said,ughing. "I have no interest in legend, I am¡­ no, wait, did you say Cornelius? As in, the royal family?" His ignorance of the implied meaning behind Cwenhilds words did notst long, for with his increase in cultivation, his brain worked much faster. "That''s ridiculous," Lex said,ughing even harder. "How can I be connected to the royal family? I''m just a simple man, trying to survive in a chaotic world. I am not trying to create any legends, I''m just trying to live a good life. Besides, how believable is it for a member of the royal family to be randomly roaming around? I''m afraid that''s one of the more ridiculous rumors you''ve probably heard." "Why can''t the children of the King randomly walk around?" she asked with an eyebrow raised. She was careful not to say members of the royal family, for one would need the King''s actual recognition before could make that im. "After all, I, Cwenhild Haugen Cornelius, am a daughter of the Kings and aren''t I here, ''walking around'' right beside you?" Both Lex and Amelia were startled by her revtion. Lex, who had been so meticulous so far, lost control of his strength, and ripped the arm off his chair and in the silence that followed, both by the revtion and Lex''s minor disy of strength, there was a knock on the door. The food had arrived. Chapter 278 Wild Imagination Lex and Amelia both were taken aback by Cwenhild''s surprise, and while Lex''spse was due to his recent breakthrough, Cwenhild saw it in a different light. King Cornelius II had done much for mankind, and was seen as a savior by the masses, but his personality was in no way temperate. He was a ruthless, coldhearted and yet focused man who lived guided by a very strict code of conduct. Unfortunately, his code of conduct did not include kindness. In fact, he could even be extremely cruel to people who he did not see as useful or productive. His focus on pragmatism bled into every facet of his life, and while this was a huge boon for the nation, it was often a huge burden for those close to him. It was often his wives, concubines or children who suffered the most due to this. She could well imagine the kind of hate Lex probably felt for the man, based on whatever his experiences were, mostly because she herself hated him as well. This small ''w'' in Lex''s otherwise perfect facade convinced her even more that she was correct. "Excuse me," Lex said awkwardly as he put down the broken chair handle and opened the door. He grabbed the food and turned back, but froze again. Was he really about to serve royalty... rice pudding cups? Lex did not doubt for even a moment that Cwenhild was lying about her parentage, mostly because how crazy would you have to be to make such a im? Back on Earth, in his youth he had traveled the world, and he remembered strongly how ardent people who lived in monarchies were about their ruler. This was mostly because, if you dared to insult the monarchy in any way, and word got out, no one would even know how you disappeared. Here, in the Crystal realm, he couldn''t imagine things were much different. Yet Lex''s feeling of awkwardness did notst long. Hecked a fundamental reverence many people felt towards the strong or in high positions, mostly because he was so used to being around so many strong people. For example, just based on the fluctuations he could vaguely feel, he knew that Ragnar, the Jotun general, was stronger than anyone he had seen or met in the Crystal realm so far. Likewise, the Celestial bodyguard he had for a while was even stronger than Ragnar. And then, he had met multiple people even stronger than his bodyguard. This was exactly why, even though he was still vulnerable if strong cultivators used their coercion to physically restrain him - whatever that was - mentally, they could not intimidate him. "I''m sorry to disappoint you, your highness," Lex said, unsure of how he was supposed to address royalty here, "but that rumor really is just a rumor. I don''t have a surname because I don''t have any family in the Crystal realm. But, even if I did, for example, have any rtion to the royal family, from what I understand, they wouldn''t really care if I removed their name or not as long as I don''t directly insult them while doing it. After all, isn''t the King''s motto ''I don''t give a shit''? If he doesn''t care, why should anyone else?" Heid out the pudding cups on the table, along with some fruit. He froze again for a moment, recalling that he had no cutlery, nor any tes to offer his guests. He really should stalk his apartment a little more, but he was so used to not spending any time at home that it never urred to him. Amelia and Cwenhild, on the other hand, looked at Lex who wasying the table, his back turned to them, and felt numerous emotions well up in their hearts when he paused. The way he said he had no family in the Crystal realm seemed too sincere, and clearly this line of questioning had brought back dark memories. That, alongside his statement of the King''s motto, told the story of a neglected son, severing ties after a painful loss. They filled in numerous nks, and made up weird scenarios in their head that would exin hiscking cultivation, and why he would be in Gristol in the middle of his invasion. Somehow, in the midst of imaginingpletely different scenarios, the two girls'' thoughts coincided as they visualized Lex standing in the rain, alone in front of a grave with the marching hordes of the Kraven, slowly gainingnd. The filial son stayed until thest moment, and as he turned his back on the grave for thest time, so too did he turn his back on the father that had failed him. Lex, meanwhile, was chiding himself for being a bad host. His reputation as the Innkeeper would be tarnished if anyone ever found out he didn''t even have a napkin to offer alongside his snacks to literal royalty. "It''s not much, but please, help yourselves," he finally said, perfectly hiding his embarrassment.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The girls helped themselves, and since the pudding cups came with their own disposable utensils, it wasn''t really an issue. "Well, if you insist it was just a rumor, then I''ll believe you. Such topics are more fit for gossiping little children, anyway. Let''s talk about something more practical. Have you heard of the Realm Races?" "Not really, no." "Considering your short time at the academy, I assumed you probably hadn''t. Every few decades, the academy opens up a bunch of new Minor realms altogether and lets the students scout them out. Despite what it sounds like, it''s not a tournament, and there are no prizes, but the students can keep anything they find in any of the Minor realms. Since it''s usually so beneficial, many students treat it like a race, trying to go through as many of the Minor realms as possible before the event finishes. "But, not everyone has the same objective. I am nning on participating in the Race, but with apletely different agenda. If I can subdue an entire Minor realm before the race ends, and takeplete control of it, the academy will let me keep the minor realm till I graduate. Your excellent performance recently has attracted a lot of attention, and surely a lot of people will approach you to recruit you - I just wanted to be the one to make the first bid." After that, the conversation became transactional in nature, wherein Cwenhild exined her ns to Lex briefly, and her offer to recruit him for her team during the races. There was no theoretical upper or lower limit on any team, as long as all the participants were students, but quite sensibly, Cwenhild took a quality over quantity approach. At no point at all during the conversation did it feel like this conversation wasn''t the primary reason she had approached Lex, and even Amelia began believing. In fact, Cwenhild was so well prepared, and the detail Lex received on his offer was so extensive that if his instincts weren''t telling him that she was hiding something, he would have believed it. He didn''t immediately ept her offer, and told her he would get back to her. Since the races were still some time off, she didn''t mind. Once their conversation was done, she excused herself, leaving Lex and a perplexed Amelia behind. "Don''t tell me you heard those rumors too," Lex said to her, after Cwenhild left. Looking embarrassed, she smiled weakly and said, "some people did mention it to me, seeing how much time we spent together." Lexughed at the absurdity of the im, but didn''t address it again, for he genuinely believed no reasonable person would actually believe the rumor. Instead, the two friends started catching up, and Lex honestly told her about the things that happened on the expedition that weren''t a secret. She was startled to learn of the seriousness of his injuries and apologized for making fun of him, but Lex didn''t mind. What else were friends for if not teasing one another? Eventually, she left and Lex was genuinely surprised that she didn''t notice his breakthrough - not that he brought it up either. He spent the rest of the day meditating and cultivating, slowly getting used to his newfound strength and abilities. Tomorrow was going to be exciting, for he would go look for new techniques to use, and more importantly, he would finally start using arrays. He also needed new weapons, so he would have to visit his old boss. He wondered if he should look for another gun, or ranged weapon basically, or go for something more traditional? Lex waspletely engrossed in his own thoughts, oblivious to the earth shattering statement that would rock the gossip columns of the nation. Well, it wasn''t as much of a statement as a discovery. Cwenhild Haugen had removed the Cornelius name from her student documents at the academy, and when questioned for the reasons, or if she was afraid of any repercussions, she gave a simple reply. "I don''t give a shit about that name." Chapter 279 Unlimited Access King Cornelius II was not an idle man. Every minute of every day was filled with purpose, and not the kind where others schedule meetings or appointments, giving youmitments that you had to keep. No, he was a man who nned his day himself, and filled each part of it with a conscious effort to fulfill his goals. Due to this stringent discipline he maintained, he was often called callous or uncaring towards those close to him. The truth, however, was not that he was uncaring specifically towards them, but that he cared too much about his goals. The people he chose to surround himself with knew this well, and so were selective in providing him news unrted to whatever he asked. Sometimes, however, there were situations that could not be expected and needed hisments. For events like these, Cornelius had allocated a certain time during his regr briefings. Of course, all of this was dictated by the fact that the event did not require urgency! In case of an emergency, his assistants would obviously interrupt him. Today, however, was not such a case, which is why, as he ate breakfast, he received various bits of news. To be clear, he wasn''t receiving news while eating breakfast, but that so much time was wasted on these things, he decided to eat to fill the time. Someone like him didn''t actually have any need for food. He was an immortal, after all. "There is a bit of news about one of your children again," said Misceneous Assistant A. Despite having the same first name, there was no connection and Misceneous Assistant A and Misceneous Friend A. "Ah, tell me, another disappointment or did one of them achieve something worthy of note?" the King asked. Assistant A paused, unsure how to respond, directly shared the news. "Cwenhild, your daughter from the Haugen estate, has dropped your name from her academy identification papers and when asked about the reason, responded with, ''I don''t give a shit about that name,''." Despite himself, Cornelius chuckled, then paused. He didn''t care about the name being dropped or herment - he was a King by right and power, and had forged his position through blood and carnage. He did not feel his position threatened by such things. No, he paused because the mention of the Haugen estate reminded him of some unpleasant memories. In his life, due to his position and power, there were few who dared ost him, and fewer still of those were humans. Cwenhilds'' mother happened to be one of them, though. She was his only legal wife who he did not actively pursue. Instead, she was the one who approached him and, very bluntly, negotiated the title of wife as well as a child from him. It was not like she was in love with him or anything. She was an extremely capable woman of influence and merely needed the title to progress her own agenda. Of course, she could not threaten him because, honestly, who could? But her influence was genuine, and she could create endless problems for him, and she was not afraid even in the slightest that he would be offended by her bluntness, or think he would harm her. In the end, she outmaneuvered him politically, gained what she wanted, and then left of her own vition. Thetest news he had of her, she had expanded her influence to the realm of the Sentinels and actually controlled vast territories there! "Next," he said cidly, unconcerned by the news. ? "On the topic of your children, there is another one showing potential, just that... it is actually unconfirmed if he''s actually your child." "Oh?" Cornelius was actually genuinely surprised. "borate." Assistant A briefly detailed Lex''s various achievements with a degree of uracy that would have shocked Lex himself had he heard - especially his involvement in the battle between the Trelops. The details of his actions on that front were stated as inconclusive, but he was listed as the primary instigator of the battle. His breakthrough to the Foundation realm was not mentioned, for that had only just happened, but a medical report stating that his body seemed ready to undergo the breakthrough at any time was attached as well. "The issue arose when he was being treated for his wounds. Having heard the rumor as well, Vernan, the local instructor, ordered his bloodline tested to see if he was rted to you. The tests were inconclusive! There''s something in his blood that prevents it from being traced to any rtive, and he showed signs of a lineage bloodline, but that too has been hidden somehow. He, or at least someone, has taken great care to ensure the boy cannot be connected to his family in any way." "Inconsequential," Cornelius answered, having lost interest in Lex''s origin. Whether Lex was his son or not, why did it matter? "But I like his focus and initiative. Update his file. So long as his purpose is to improve himself, help him however the academy can. Reassess him in six months, and if he maintains such discipline, notify me again." Of everything he heard, he really liked the way Lex spent all his time either working, studying or improving himself in one way or another.Thi kind of focus he appreciated, and wouldn''t mind helping to nurture. "While we''re on the topic of your children, 12 of them have tried to breakthrough to the Earth Immortal realm since Ist updated you. 11 of them failed, and their funerals were organized. The one that seeded..." The reports continued for only a short while longer, for the King had too many other things to do. ***** Lex hummed the tune to ''I feel good,'' as he walked into the academy library, a ridiculous grin painting his handsome face. Despite its size, the academy had only one library that had been built directly into a mountain range. There was only limited alteration to the natural appearance of the mountain Lex was currently on, mostly to mark the entrance to the library. How far the library itself ran, and how many mountains it filled, perhaps only a few handful of people knew. None of that mattered to Lex, for early in the morning he received a notification on his PT, and it was one that surprised him, as well as filled him with enormous glee. Due to the size of his contribution during the expedition, he was provided free ess to a limited portion of the library, which included the spirit techniques section! The free ess would onlyst for 6 months, but that was more than enough time for Lex! Oh yes, Lex felt good because he was about to have a free hand at whatever technique he wanted for the Foundation realm! "Good morning," Lex said in the warmest way he knew how to one of the librarians as he passed his student identification. "I''d like to look at the list of Foundation realm techniques, please." "That''s a big list. Do you have anything specific you want?"n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "I''m good for now, thanks," replied Lex, shing a generous smile. The librarian shrugged and led Lex to a private room, and helped him log onto the library''s terminal. After that, he opened up the entire list of techniques they had avable, and showed Lex how to narrow the search if he needed to. After thanking the librarian, Lex looked at the list. A list of 130 million techniques was before him. The size of the list did not overwhelm him, but instead made him sad. He would have loved to see how helpful the Fancy monocle could have been if it had ess to this library. But, it was best not to dwell too much on these things. He went through the list randomly for a bit, to get an idea for the kinds of techniques they had. But Lex was not here without any focus. He remembered the Midnight Games well, and recalled the performance of the best few Foundation realm yers. Alexander Morrison and Cara Deathsworn were two of the best performers, and he thought back well to their fighting styles. He thought back to all the kinds of techniques they deployed, and how they used them. He had a few days before his sses began, and he was in no rush, so it was best to take his time and choose well. He thought back to the battle with the Druk that he saw. Despite being an almost indestructible beast, it was captured and incapacitated due to cleverly using its own sturdiness against it. Lex had excellent defense, but that would be pointless if he ever got in a situation where he was captured. Then, it would only be a matter of time before his enemies defeated him. So, his first order of business was to investigate mobility and or escape techniques. He narrowed down the list in front of him and began searching. ***** Origin realm, unnamed region of space An escape ship crashnded on a deep in the wilderness. The pilot, a simple merchant, ran out of the ship, covered in blood, and escaped in a random direction. Mere minutester, a small but vicious looking spaceshipnded near the escape vessel, and its inhabitants investigated the escape ship. Among the various belongings the merchant had been too panicked to bring along with him was a golden key. Along with everything else of value, the key was brought back onto the spaceship, to be brought before the captain. Chapter 280 Midnight Madness Nzaar, the captain of the small ship, was a Qwash. Qwash were an extremely violent species and lived as nomads throughout the universe. They were not too significant on arge scale because of their severelycking poption, since they never settled anywhere, and they didn''t really focus on developing their civilization. Despite these extremely negative aspects, they could be considered amon sight in many interster metropolises due to the simple fact that they were a very talented species. They had a higher growth rate in the lower cultivation levels than many other species, humans included, and were more often than not winners in most fights. And, for the fights that they lost, a lot of the time they managed to escape. With six, sturdy legs spread across its long, muscr body, four sets of ws, two on either side of its long body, and the ability to move its internal organs as it wanted, a Qwash was a menace in a fight. Naturally, they had their own weapons designed to suit their bodies that were very different from swords and guns, and since they were notmonly seen, they were all the more dangerous. Nzaar operated as a sort of space pirate, but not exactly. In the Origin realm, pirates were obviously a menace and extremely notorious for their danger, but they weren''t inherently evil. Many of them were driven by circumstances of their own, and their target was more towards getting rich and then secretly retiring than anything else. Rather than a pirate, Nzaar qualified as a piger. He and his crew actively looked for undefended or weak prey and attacked just as much for resources as for the thrill of the hunt. They would take what was useful to them, and burn the rest - something a pirate would never do, or they would take along even what wasn''t useful in an effort to sell it. He was in the middle of a hunt when his crew, a mix of various species, from slimes to beasts and more, brought him a golden key. As a species that did not have eyes, Qwash had other senses topensate, which is why he became aware of the key long before it was actually brought to him. Unlike the humans of Earth, who only felt vague sensations of what the key could offer to them, Nzaar immediately picked up on the purpose of the key - it would teleport him to a special Minor realm. Interested, he gathered his crew to explore this new arena. ***** At the Midnight Inn, Gerard was currently on his regr patrols in his reliable old golf cart. The video game tournament was going well, as the semi-finals were taking ce, and the Inn was more lively than it had been in a while. Old man Will and Hera were going to finalize a trade agreement today with the Governor of Vegus Minima worth billions of dors, and so were present with arge entourage. Jimmy and La were, as usual, conducting a raid towards the heinous and malevolent peacocks of the Inn. Queen Sophia of New York was celebrating with her son, Rafael, for not only was he walking once again, he had miraculously learnt about the location of an incredible panacea on Earth that would heal him and allow him to cultivate once more. King Marlo was currently busy retrieving that medicine himself, as it was too important to leave to someone else. The Morrison family was also gathered at the Inn in its entirety, for Alexander hade to the Inn after many months. His journey in joining the Jotun army had been anything but smooth, but his horizons had expanded rapidly. He was currently having a meeting with his family, discussing the future direction of the family. ne, Chen, Lily and Iris also happened to be at the Inn, discussing old times. Considering the fact that ne and Lily had left on a spaceship, the only time they got to interact with their friends was at the Inn. Many of the original Nacsents from Earth were here as well, drinking to forget their problems. It had been long enough for the Inn to be connected to Earth, not to mention the new Minor realm that never closed, that the number of Nascent cultivators on Earth had exploded. Of course, these new Nascent cultivators could notpare to the old ones, but suffice to say, the original 5 families had long since lost much of the power they held. Just the Morrison family had 4 Nascent cultivators, in fact, and Marlo was obscenely strong for iprehensible reasons making it so he was currently the strongest individual on Earth - at least on the surface. At this particr time, there were even a few Devils at the Inn. They had imed that they would visit the Inn regrly to recruit Earthlings, and this was their first ever visit. Pramod and Harriot Shelby Ruby Selma Jane happened to be visiting as well. Suffice to say, through a random coincidence, the Inn was currently hosting almost all of its most regr or renown guests. As it so happened, it was at this time that Nzaar and his small crew of 100 aliens entered the Inn. As soon as Nzaar entered the Inn, he got a sense for the size and spiritual concentration of the Inn, and immediately decided to seize the Inn. Without wasting any time, he ordered his subordinates to begin scouting the Inn for all its dangers. Such insidious intent was obviously picked up by the Security room. Chad, the deputy head of security, was currently in the room and as soon as he got the notification, he activated the formation around the entrance of the Inn, trapping the pigers there. Calmly, he notified Gerard of the situation while also reporting to Mary. Mary then reported to Lex, who was currently reviewing spiritual techniques. As soon as he scanned the Inn, and understood the situation not only of the invaders but of his guests as well, he smiled. He had been waiting for the next time the Inn was invaded, and the situation of the invasion couldn''t be better even if he nned it himself. He passed along some instructions to Marry, stunning her, before he turned his attention to the Event Management panel. A small 100,000 MPter, his n was set in motion. Just to be sure no problems urred, Lex used his advanced authority to disable the invaders ability to return from the Inn - since they hade here with ill intentions, there was no reason to leave. Across the Inn, the sound of a gong was heard, followed by the voice of the assistant Innkeeper.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Dear guests, the Midnight Inn is having a spontaneous, special event for your entertainment. A small horde of invaders have entered the Inn but, under the direction of the Innkeeper, instead of being eliminated, they have been ced in a trapping formation. "Since there are 101 invaders, 101 participants may enter the special event and take ce. The participants will enter the formation and fight the invaders. Killing an enemy gives you one point, but capturing an enemy gets you two points. At the end of the event, the participant with the most points gets an award of 50,000 MP! Betting and specialmemorative items for the event will be avable. The event will begin in 30 minutes." As soon as the announcements ended, projected screens showing the invaders army appeared in front of all guests. All spots for the event were filled within the first second, as numerous guests were attracted by the prize, while the others just wanted to join in the fun. When the list of participants was concluded, the betting pool over the winner began and immediately excitement filled the air. Many guests left the Inn to call their friends to join in the festivities. Once they returned, since the primary teleportation point was locked, they were teleported to a secondary point surrounded by various Inn guards to ensure no one with evil intentions could enter. After ensuring they were normal guests, they were allowed to go as they pleased. Rafael watched the screen curiously. This event was titled Midnight madness, and he had no recollection of anything like that from his previous life. But then again, since hecked all interaction with the Inn, it was not a surprise. He ordered a Saturn cake in anticipation for the event, and ced a few bets himself, though they were mostly small. By now, Nzaar had noticed that he was trapped in a formation and was trying to figure out a way to bypass it. Little did he know, all his actions were being watched by thousands of people. In a few minutes, as it so happened, the merchant that he had been chasing finally remembered the specialness of the golden keys. He had never tried it before, but he was desperate enough to try anything, since he was too wounded to properly hide his tracks. When he arrived at the Inn, and then learnt about what was happening, he burst out into a melodiousughter, before eventually fainting due to blood loss. Though, before fainting, he took advantage of a special feature of the event. A ced a special, individually financed bounty on Nzaar that could only be imed if the person who killed Nzaar sent the unaware Qwash the merchants regards right before killing him. That was bound to haunt him even into the afterlife. Chapter 281 The Return Of Tiffany It was like a sudden festival at the Inn, and everyone was suddenly enjoying the festivities. Many people were watching from thefort of their rooms, but many hade out into public spaces to enjoy the atmosphere. There were two topics that were being discussed mostmonly. First, who was crazy enough to attack the Inn? Even though there was an invasion a short while ago as well, no guests were hurt, which showed just how in control the Inn was of everything. Second, the topic was who would be the winner for the 50,000 MP prize? The contestants'' names were shared, and if the contestant permitted, some information about their cultivation and ability. The crowd favorites were Rorick Morrison, for naturally he had a ster reputation on Earth, a well-respected captain from the Jotun army, here on vacation from the Vegus system, and finally a young devil.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om But the bets were not only one who would win, but on how many points any of the participants could get. Considering the limited number of enemies, no one was expected to have an overwhelming lead, but there were still a few who were expected to get at least 10 points. While the crowd was hyping themselves up, the Inn''s staff was preparing for the event. Mary was spreading the delinquent vines underneath the battleground, and Qawain was requested to help out as well. He would only interfere if a participant was about to die, and would remove them from the formation. This technically wasn''t a part of his job, but the Inn staff was all so friendly - a stark difference from the humans he had met early when he gained sentience - that he had be fast friends with many of them, and so did not mind helping out. In the meantime, some of the staff who were free stood in awe. For example, Z, who had been slightly traumatized from how badly he was wounded, could not help butpare how they had handled the situation, versus the Innkeepers arrangements. This invading force, despite being fewer in number, was much stronger since most of their forces were in the Golden Core realm, with quite a few Nascents as well. Despite that, not only had they been easily herded into the formation, but the Innkeeper, instead of getting angry at the invaders, actually used them to entertain his guests. He was so vastly different from Z''s direct boss, Leo, the original caretaker of the Gamer''s den. Z could not remember thest time he saw Leo, and of all the Inn''s staff and workers, he was the most absent. His sheerziness andck of effort was all the more apparent in front of the Innkeepers silent dedication towards the Inn. Velma had a day off and was, surprisingly, sitting alongside Larry. If Lex noticed him, he would be tremendously surprised to discover that Larry was in the Golden core realm. His cultivation was more focused on absorbing various rare metals into his body than anything else, and the Inn had been a good source for that. During all his time here, his many attempts at wooing one of the waitresses had failed miserably, but he had developed a decent friendship with Velma out of it. She especially loved hearing stories of his failed exploits back on Earth and often encouraged him to keep on trying. In fact, she even set Larry up with a Neko (cat-human) from X-142 and, well, it wasn''t aplete failure - yet! "Are you cing any bets?" Velma asked as she looked at the screen. "I don''t have the MP to spare. I''m a wanted man, back on my, so it''s hard toe by any money. What about you? ce any bets?" "Heh, of course I did, and not just a small bet. I ced all my savings on a single participant," she said with a sly smirk. "If you beg me, maybe I''ll share with you what I know." "Oh? In that case, oh noble miss of the Inn, I implore you to impart onto me some information. I could really use some MP. You know if I go back to my, my life will be in danger." "Cheh, fool someone else. I know you''ve been hiding in King Marlo''s new mansion, disguised as a gardener. Who has the guts to do anything to you there?" "How did you know?" Larry asked, genuinely startled, only to be responded with a knowing smile. "Well, anyway, since you asked so nicely, I''ll tell you. The winner is going to be a human from Nibiru. She''s extremely powerful, extremely ruthless, and she benefited greatly from the upgrade Nibiru is undergoing in its star level. She''s been hiding at the Inntely, because she''s caused a lot of problems back on Nibiru, but if she wins this 50,000 MP, it''ll be tremendously helpful to her so she won''t let anyone else get it. Her name is Tiffany." Having full faith in Velma, Larry bet quite a decent amount on her. Countless conversations simr to that one were taking ce, but little Tiffany from Nibiru remained overlooked in almost all the bets, since no one knew her. Eventually the time ran out as 30 minutes was just a short interval, and the event was finally beginning. Mary instructed all the participants to make their way to the battleground while she exined the rules once again. Killing an enemy got them 1 point, but capturing an enemy got them two points. This wasn''t really a fair event, considering the higher leveled cultivators had a tant advantage, but as an impromptu event held in the absence of the Innkeeper, it could not be perfect. Another rule was stated right before the contestants went in, which is that anyone who attacked a fellow contestant would get disqualified. With that, the event began and all the contestants walked through the white wall of the formation, appearing at the far end from where the invaders were. Nzaar immediately noticed their entry, and immediately picked up on the fact that they were exactly the same number of enemies as him and his crew. Many thoughts ran through his mind, but his orders to his crew were ruthless and efficient, as usual. There was no buildup to the fight as it immediately began! It was absolute chaos, and in the very first second, Qawain separated several participants who were going to die under Nascent level attacks. These participants were, naturally, disqualified. On Nzaar''s end, however, they had no immortal to protect them, so immediately there were some deaths. The Nascent cultivators took to the skies, fighting in midair. The pigers and participants both wanted to avoid friendly fire, for their own reasons, which formed an unspoken understanding. On the ground, however, it was absolute chaos. No one had even tried to capture an enemy instead of killing, for the battle was too dangerous to take any risks. The numbers dropped quickly and in just the first few minutes; it went from 101 pigers to mid-60s while the participants actually dropped to the 40s! The pigers fought for a living, while the participants were just the lucky ones who managed to enter the tournament first. It was fortunate that Qawain was able to save all of them with great skill, removing them without harming them or their enemies. But, after the first massive drop in numbers, the fight stabilized as the remaining few were simr in strength and skill. It was here that the strength of the pigers became evident, for not only were they skilled in fights, but they had incredible cooperation as well. The participants, on the other hand, were just fighting randomly. Even when they paired up, they could not match the synergy of the enemies. But, while they were the ones under pressure, the remaining participants were elites in their own rights. It was now that a few names started to stand out on the leaderboard. A surprise to everyone, except two specific people, was that on the top of the leaderboard was the name Tiffany. She already had 20 points! This wasn''t because she had killed 20 people, but that she incapacitated every foe effortlessly, at which point a vine would emerge from the ground and take the captured enemy away. When Tiffany struck a foe, it was no longer a matter of skill. Her ability was so astounding that even the viewers could not urately understand what happened - despite the effect being quite simple. If she attacked a piger with a punch, and the piger blocked her punch, without moving anywhere, the piger would be struck by a sonic boom before fainting. If a piger managed to dodge her punch, however¡­ still sonic boom. If a piger saw that she had the intention to attack, and ran away¡­ sonic boom. If a piger thought about attacking her, he would suffer a sonic boom. One piger, in fact, only gave her a dirty look before suffering a sonic boom. The mostmon wound her victims suffered was ruptured eardrums - if they had those! She was a force of nature, an unstoppable entity with a relentless will. She was the living embodiment of the drumming in a good rock song, because wherever anyone heard her strike, they would get chills! Chapter 282 Dont Forget The Esthetics Lex was not observing the event too closely, and was more focused on monitoring its sess overall. It was for that reason that he did not recognize Tiffany, not to mention that she looked vastly different from when hest saw her. The guests, however, could not take their eyes off her! She was ruthless, not in the sense that she was defeating every enemy she came across. Her staggering performance was throwing off all the bets people had ced! Some noticed that there was more to her attacks than the simple sonic booms, but even if they could discover the secret, it would not help them remedy the situation! It was fortunate then that the battle entered a bnced phase. The pigers'' coordination was keeping them from suffering any more losses while the participants'' extreme powers and skills saved them. Whichever side gave in first would suffer tremendously. In the air, the battle was a lot more hectic! Nzaar was proving his worth and fighting three Nascent participants on his own, and seemed to be winning! Furthermore, he was better equipped than the participants for the fight, which gave him an edge in both offense and defense. The various pigers under him also seemed to be more skilled than the participants and even Rorick found himself suppressed - something he hadn''t encountered in a long time. "Marry, I''m busy over here, so I''ll check back inter," said Lex, once he was satisfied with how the event was progressing. "Don''t hesitate to call me if any issues arise, but if there aren''t any problems, then just wait for me to get done to give me the report." Lex turned his attention back to the issue of deciding on his techniques. He could have continued to focus on the Inn, it would have taken at most a few more hours, but Lex was pressed for time. Not only did he have to go through this massive list and decide on his techniques, he had to practice them as well. If he had ess to a Meditation room from the Inn, it would be no problem learning them, but as things were, he didn''t know how long it would take. In a few days, when his sses started, he would be even more strapped for time, which is why he had to make the most of every moment. His first priority was evasion and escape. Evasion could fall under movement type techniques, but escape covered ast array of technique types. This would help him escape from any enemies who were too strong for him, or escape in a situation where he gets trapped the way that Druk had. The options were truly diverse, and it was at this point that techniques with spiritual affinities started toe into y. Wind, lightning and ice were some of the moremon affinities seen in movement techniques, but the most incredible and effective ones seemed to be from space affinity. Lex did not have any affinities, as far as he knew, but he tried out the simplest movement technique with a wind affinity to see if he could use the technique. He could not. It would require more research to understand why this was so, but for now, he epted that fact and moved on. For rification, while he could not use any techniques that required his spiritual energy to have an affinity, a neutral technique that took advantage of an element in nature was an entirely different concept. An example was the defensive technique he used that absorbed ''cold energy''. It did not require Lex to have an icy affinity at all. In the end, Lex decided on two movement techniques. The first, Hearts Marathon, was simr to his previous movement technique Falcon relief in the sense that it boosted his overall speed in every sense. This would not only help in escaping, it was great for evasion, blocking, attacking and everything else that required any form of movement. It had a fixed cost in terms of spiritual energy, meaning it would use up Lex''s energy at a constant rate while he was using the technique. The second technique, Home Sweet Home, was used for a linear burst that would increase Lex''s speed tremendously! Its most obvious use was for escape, or to gain a lead during a chase, but Lex could imagine himself using it to close in on an enemy as well. Its peculiar name was due to the technique''s creator''s deep wish to run back home any time he left his house. The escape techniques, which were next, gave Lex a migraine. They seemed to be as useless as they were diverse, and all the good ones seemed to require an affinity. Or they had extreme requirements which were difficult to fulfill. In the end, Lex picked one called the In-Law effect that Lex suspected he would be able to use due to a loophole. The requirement was stringent, and required Lex to stay in one location for up to 3 hours while he used the technique. But once the technique was done, it was supposed to let the user''s soul leave the body, and move up to several miles away, depending on how much energy was used. This technique was not designed for humans, whose souls were too weak to leave their physical body at this level. However, Lex suspected that due to the nature of his body and soul, he would be able to use the technique without issue. It would require some testing to determine, but if it didn''t work, Lex could always pick another one. Next, Lex nned on picking defensive techniques, offensive techniques, and some misceneous techniques, in that order. The reason he was picking techniques in that order was that, now that the options avable to him were more versatile, he nned on using his uncanny ability to learn defensive techniques in various ways. Blocking attacks and protecting himself definitely was a priority, but why should he limit himself to just that? If, for example, he created a shield so sturdy his enemies could not break it, then could he not use that shield to trap his enemy as well? Theoretically, couldn''t he create some kind of defensive barrier and then¡­ walk over it to form an impromptu bridge? To be honest, he didn''t know the limits to which he could use these techniques, but he fully intended to find out. But while he could learn endless defensive techniques, it was best to focus on just a few for now. Too many techniques would make it difficult for him to choose the best one in the heat of battle, and drastically reduce his efficiency in utilizing them. The first one he picked was called Talk to the Hand. It allowed him to extend an invisible barrier from his hand that could extend 12 feet (3.6 meters) in length and 8 feet (2.4 meters) in height. The best part was, the strength, or technically defense, of the barrier was directly proportional to Lex''s bodies. It was unfortunate that it required Lex''s hand to be up, which limited its distance and eliminated the element of surprise, but Lex was looking forward to the day he could block a barrage of long range attacks simply by holding out his hand. His next technique was called Ripple shell. It formed an stic barrier around him that spread any damage received across its entire surface to reduce the effect. What Lex liked most about this was that this barrier would not stop Lex from attacking or doing anything else, and once Lex used it, it would continue to exist without being a drain on Lex''s energy pool. Following that Lex picked up a few circumstantial techniques, for example there was one that strengthened the defensive capabilities of objects, there was another designed to protect inner organs and one in particr that required an external energy source to sustain once established.N?v(el)B\\jnn With just these few techniques, Lex already had a few ns about how he could implement them in different situations. Next up, the attack techniques. For this, Lex already had a clear cut idea of what he wanted. He was searching for overwhelming attacks, to serve as trump cards or secret aces to use in opportune moments. This was because Lex already knew that Regal Embrace would cause him problems when learning attacks. The solution Lex had thought of was to focus more on his technique, weapons, and arrays for attacking. He thought it would be hard to pick out such a technique, but it turned out to be the easiest. Lex was extremely satisfied with the techniques description, build up and implementation. The technique was called Evisceration, and was for what it did¡­ it was all in the name. Finally, it was time for the misceneous techniques. The techniques that weren''t strictly designed for battle, and could be used in multiple scenarios. Choosing these took the longest for these were the mostmonly used techniques, and would apany Lex on a day to day basis. Not only would they affect his quality of life, they would affect his future as well. These included techniques to dormant formations, traps, arrays or other techniques. It also included things such as healing and preservation techniques, cleaning techniques, air and water filtration techniques. Heck, it even contained things Lex had never even considered, such as refining the etiquette of your energy implementation and signature. In high society, where even things such as forks and knives had to be used in the proper fashion, how could it be possible for one to let their energy signature run rampantly? These esthetic based techniques, in fact, were the rarest of all. Some would even give your energy a pleasant scent and sensation. Muchter, Lex did not even realize how much time he had spent looking through these techniques, and eventually fell asleep in the library, still scrolling through the many options. He could not help but think, in hisst waking moments, how helpful some kind of smart,puterized assistant would be that could sift through all this mess and just tell him the techniques most optimal for him. Chapter 283 Lady Velma While Lex looked through the techniques and selected them, the Midnight Madness eventually came to a somewhat unexpected end. Despite Tiffany''s admirable start, the favorites for victory were still the Nascent level cultivators. Yet there was an unexpected turn. While all his subordinates and lieutenants were defeated, Nzaar himself held up the remaining Nascents by himself. This gave plenty of time for Tiffany to rack up an irrecoverable lead. In the end, literally besieged by all the participants, Nzaar still managed to survive. He was defeated, not killed, though his condition wasn''t the best. There was a small celebration after the event ended, and Tiffany received her 50,000 MP as well as a special token tomemorate her victory. Larry and Velma became the biggest winner from all the bets - other than Lex, of course. Due to how unexpected the event went, most people lost their bets and Lex ended up raking in a neat 210,000 MP via all the gambling, feasting and celebrations. Had Lex been paying attention to the Inn at this time, he would have noticed a few interesting things happening at this point. Tiffany, along with her winnings, headed straight towards the greenhouse and waited in the forest for the Sovereign Gctic turtle to emerge. They talked for a bit, before Tiffany pulled up her makeshift backpack and from it extracted what looked like burnt up roots. The turtle took the root from her, and the Gardener appeared beside Tiffany and epted 40,000 MP from her. It may seem like she only had 10,000 MP remaining, but she had also inherited 20,000 MP from Igishima when he died, so she currently had 30,000 MP for herself! As for the details of the transaction that had urred between her and the turtle¡­ they were a secret known only to them. While this was happening, Will Bentham finally signed the deal with the Governor of Vegus Minima, with Mary as the assistant Innkeeper as the witness, and through the Guild room conducted their first major transaction. Through the 1% charge of all transactions, Lex earned another 4 million MP! It may seem like this was a lot, but the truth was, this was only a small part of the cooperation they were nning. Will Bentham was supplying the Governor with extremely rare resources they had managed to collect from their new Minor realm, but did not understand how to use. In exchange, the governor was not only providing them with various new technologies, far beyond anything Earth had, but also weapons and, most importantly, the knowledge to build a sufficiently advanced spacemand center! After all their matters were concluded, Will went to attend another meeting in the Inn, this time followed only by his verypetent bodyguard, Hugo. When he arrived at the new room, it was Larry and Matilda who were waiting for him. Larry did not wear his usual cavalier smile, and in fact, had a grave look in his eyes. "I was informed you have information about Hugo''s family," Will said, sitting down. His bodyguard, Hugo Laurent, had only agreed to work with Will on the condition that Will help him investigate what happened to his family that had been killed behind his back. Larry and Matilda provided the first real lead he had been able to find. "I hope you have some evidence to back up your ims. This is not a matter I treat lightly." "Neither do we," said Larry, his fists clenched tight. "Actually, finding out about Hugo''s family was coincidental. Let me introduce myself. I am Larry Dershaw, from the Dershaw family." Will was startled, for he recognized the name. "I''m sure you''ve heard the stories about my family being banished to the moon. Well, sometime during the upheaval caused by the Council taking over Earth and the moon, my family disappeared. This is my associate, Matilda. Her brother was also killed by someone from the council. We were working together when¡­" While this meeting was going on, yet another one was taking ce between Sam Brown and Richard, two of the original Nascents from Earth, with a Devil. The details of the meeting were unsurprisingly cliche. The two, unwilling toe to terms with their lost power, were striking up a deal with a Devil. Something that was surprising, however, was happening not in these meetings, but in the interrogation room near the greenhouse. All the captured pigers were held prisoner here. To make things quite simple, and ensure that none of them cause any problems, Anita had volunteered her aid. She resurrected all the dead pigers and had them guard these few survivors.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om The undead pigers, it must be pointed out, did not have the gruesome and decaying appearance one would assume. Not only had they recovered their appearance to what it was before they died, they had undergone some sort of cleansing. Since it was Anita''s angelic voice that revived these bodies, as beautiful and pure as it was, the bodies were washed from their impurities. The shackles of a cruel life were lifted from them, the karma absolved, and what they turned into was if they had been saints, living a humble life of piety. They were as pure as the day they were born. One extremely important thing to know about undead was that they did not retain their original souls, but new, extremely weak and feeble energy filled their body, recing the function that the soul would have performed. The security measures aside, the surprising urrence here was not Anita''s help in security, but who was performing the interrogations. There was no bloodshed, no weapons, no threats or ckmail. Instead, one of Nzaar''s lieutenants, an alien known as Grumbal that looked simr to a Doberman with small, batlike wings on its back as well as a third eye on its forehead, was sitting nervously at a table with tea and biscuits ced in front of him. Opposite to him sat Velma, taking a small sip of her tea and then nodding, as if appreciating the taste. "Please, I''ll tell you whatever you want," the Grumbal pleaded, with tears welling up in its three eyes. At the same time, it nervously eyed its capturedpanions, but they were all unconscious. "We''re pigers, killers! We''ve looted all over the gxy! Entire worlds have known our wrath¡­" "Oh hush, why are you speaking of all these boring things?" Velma said chidingly. "I am ady, and my friend Larry told me thatdies should not spend their time talking about violence. You know, you''re not the first Grumbal I''ve met. "Some time ago, we had this lovely couple visit us on their honeymoon. Well, actually, they were going to X-142 for their honeymoon, but through a twist of fate, ended up here. Oh their love story was so wonderful, I heard it from them a million times. I remember how the wife dedicated her life to her husband, and the mark of love she left on her husband, to tie their fates together." As she said that, Velma''s eyes wandered to a patch of gray fur beneath one of the Grumbal''s wings. "They told me that through the mark, they can always feel one another." "No please no," the Grumbal trembled once again. "Please, I''ll tell you whatever you want!" "You will? How lovely. Then tell me, how did you two meet?" The Grumbal trembled once again, and then, reluctantly started telling Velma his own love story. He made sure to fit in all the information about Nzaar he could, every opportunity he got, and gave as little information about his beloved as he could. If he didn''t know any better, he really would start to feel that this wicked woman was more interested in his love life than their origins, but he was no fool. The moment he saw that evil woman, raise his formerrades to life, heal them of their injuries and then enve their minds, he knew they had finallye across someone they should not have offended. It was fortunate that those who came back to life did not seem to have their memories, or else he suspected he would not be given a chance to be interrogated at all. Velma, on the other hand, listened to his story eagerly. Her endless curiosity, friendly attitude and love for gossiping had resulted in a unique situation that no one had yet realized. Even though she had never left the Inn itself, through talking to the various guests and learning all about their lives, along with the diverse crowd that the Inn had started to receive, in the entire Inn she knew more about the universe than anyone else. She had be a living encyclopedia, and at the speed at which she gathered new information, soon it would be more fitting if Lex asked her questions about the universe than Mary. At least Velma wasn''t limited by the system with what she could say. As for whether she truly was only listening for love stories or actually fully interrogating the Grumbal, well, only the Innkeeper would find out when he eventually returned. She had prepared many reports for him about things she found interesting, reports even Mary did not know of. Chapter 284 Midnight Tavern Once Lex woke up he finished up his selection and returned to his apartment. There were many things he needed to practice, attacking with arrays and his new techniques among them. There was a part of Lex that wondered why he couldn''t just use the techniques he already knew. After all, considering those same techniques would be powered by a stronger fuel source, they should be more powerful as well, right? That was not what happened, as even fueled with spiritual energy rather than Qi, the techniques could not perform much better, for they apparently had an upper threshold. The techniques themselves were just not designed to be used on such a scale. The intricacies of that Lex would learn during one of his new sses focused on cultivation, for now though, he was catching up with what urred at the Inn. When he saw his MP bnce at 6,451,000 he smiled. Once he had gotten the full update, the first thing that needed to be done was decide what to do with the prisoners. He didn''t want to kill them outright, but considering their past, just kicking them out of the Inn wasn''t the best solution either, since then Lex would feel responsible if they harmed someone. In the end, he deferred the decision, and told Mary to make sure they wouldn''t break free from their imprisonment. The second thing he needed to do, or rather, wanted to do, was something he had been thinking about for a while. "Mary, now that we have decent security at the Inn, and our ie has increased, there''s something I want to try. I want to use the increased authority that I have and open up a branch of the Inn in this realm." Mary was taken aback, as this was something that had never urred to her. But, after her initial surprise, she replied, "that would be redundant. It may make sense for you to try to make another Inn there, but as soon as you are able to connect this realm back to the main Inn, the new branch would be redundant." "Not necessarily," Lex replied confidently. "This is not a spur-of-the-moment idea. I''ve been thinking about this for a while. The main Inn will always be that one but, I want a few physical locations for the Inn in a few worlds as well. These new locations won''t be operating the same way as the main one, they''ll be a lot more low-key. But, for certain customers, if I like them, we can give them ess to our better services, such as the Meditation room or Recovery room. "After all, being teleported away to a new location is not ideal for everyone. This way, the Inn can be a part of amunity and, once the realm is connected, it can even be a way we can give out golden keys. Furthermore, once we''ve connected this realm back to the main Inn, and we have a few more physical locations, it''ll be a lot easier to find capable employees we want to hire. Plus, we can develop awork of Inns. We can gather information across the universe, offer the best services, make the best use of all resources. Our options are endless, we shouldn''t limit ourselves by just doing the obvious. Weren''t you the one who said to find ways to make use of the system''s loopholes? Besides, how can the Midnight Inn be the best Inn in the universe if it only has one branch?" Lex''sst statement was one he said as a random justification for his idea, but it was as if Lex had somehow insulted the system''s honor, and immediately prompted the release of a new quest! New Quest: Establish a branch of the Midnight Inn: The Midnight Tavern! Pay 5% umted energy Pay 10 million MP Quest Reward: Pocket Watch Remarks: The Midnight Inn is the best universal hoteling establishment in this universe! How can it not have branches? Lex, for once, was amused by the system''s reaction while Mary was astounded by it. The truth was, she had a lot of ideas for how to develop the Inn, but she held back in expressing them because she didn''t want Lex to be dependent on her for ideas. Lex''s unorthodox way of thinking, however, seemed to have surpassed her wildest expectations for how to develop the Inn. It seemed, more and more, he was proving himself a capable Innkeeper. After all, he was no longer the one chasing quests to improve the Inn, but the system was giving out quests to meet his vision. "Well, to be honest, this is not something I ever even expected," said Mary. "I had no way of figuring out how to even approach this, but with a quest, everything will be much easier." "Easier, yes. But the wording on this quest makes it look like the system will form the tavern on its own once I pay up the MP as well as the energy. This is not good. While I save up for this, you have to think of a way to let me control where and how the tavern is formed. This has to go ording to what I want." "I''ll look into it." Lex came out of this much happier than he expected. He waspletely prepared for there to be multiple problems with his idea, for he had already scoured the system interface and did not find any way to establish branches anywhere. The next thing for him to focus on now was once again on collecting energy. Fortunately, Cwenhild provided him with a solution. The fact that the academy was going to open up multiple new Minor realms,pletely unexplored, meant there were suddenly many areas easily within his reach where he could search for energy. He had not yet decided if he would join her group or go on his own. Once he had more information about this event, he would decide. The drawback of joining Cwenhild was that she was nning on focusing on a single Minor realm, instead of exploring many, while the advantage was that it would clearly be safer in a group than alone. Lex put all these thoughts aside for now and focused on practicing forming arrays. He was a little excited, for this would be his first time trying to draw one. Since he was just starting out, he chose an extremely simple and stable array. It only had a few characters and its only effect was to provide a small degree of warmth. This was an arraymonly used while traveling to heat up ces like rooms, tents, beds or even baths. He stuck out his index finger and slowly started to draw a character in the air. You did not really need to draw each character like this by finger, but considering that Lex had only just reached the Foundation realm, his control over spiritual energy was not the best and this made it much easier. As he released the energy from his finger, it remained in the air with a silver hue. The hue was the effect of one of the ''esthetic'' techniques Lex had picked up, since normal spirit energy would be invisible. He did this on purpose, for he needed to see if he was drawing properly and if any deviations urred in the character. It need not be said that Lex''s handwriting was not... the best. Of course, that was before he started cultivating. Now he had much better control over his body, and though his handwriting had improved, drawing characters for arrays needed extreme precision. After hepleted the first character, the silver hue of the spiritual energy faded, and the character took on an orangish color. This was normal, as this character represented a type of ember. After a moment, when the character did not explode or go horribly wrong in some way, Lex continued with the next one. Honestly, a part of him was expecting him to mess up somehow, but his control over his energy remained stable and each character he drew was perfect. A couple of minutester, once the array wasplete, the characters merged and a soft, yellow light emit a gentle warmth into his room. It was like putting on a cozy pair of socks, still warm froming out of a dryer. For a moment, Lex was stunned. He actually did it on his first try? Wasn''t this supposed to be a test ofmitment and dedication, something that was supposed to take countless tries? Was he a natural at this? No, going as far as calling himself a natural was surely conceited. After a moment of deliberation, though, he started drawing some new characters. This time, he was not drawing a tried and tested array, but one that he had thought up on his own. Theoretically, it should work, and now he would find out. There were nine characters in this one, so it took much longer, for he was drawing very slowly. Eventually though, when he drew thest character, and all the characters started to merge into one, his heart skipped a beat. Could it really be possible? An emotionless, electronic voice whispered in his ear, "Hello World."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Lex burst into a madughter. This would be fun. Chapter 285 Understanding His Instincts The process of getting acquainted with casting arrays was a tedious one. After his initial ''Hello World'' experiment, Lex no longer tried to cast any original arrays, and instead repeatedly cast the warming array he first tried. After sessfully casting the array ten times, he paused to take note of his progress. The first thing he noticed was that, for now, he was stuck being extremely slow at forming an array. If he tried to speed up writing a character even a little, the character would be disrupted and all the spiritual energy would disappear. That was only the case in this simple array, as for moreplicated arrays, instead of disappearing, it may result in an adverse reaction. The second thing he noticed was that, since he was taking so long in forming an array,rge changes in the ambient spiritual energy could interfere with the array, causing it to fail. This was an issue he would need to address. He also learnt that if he ended up taking too long to form an array, that would also result in the array failing. Fortunately, he had already taken a beginner''s ss for arrays and knew how to tackle many of these problems. All it would take now was the asional adjustment and a lot of practice. The next few days, all Lex did was practice his techniques or arrays, and met Amelia when she was free to get some rest and make sure he didn''t burn out. When his sses began, he had to reduce his practice time, but while it slowed down his progress with regards to his techniques, it helped him in other areas. Especially his ss, that taught him more about cultivation in general. In fact, in the very first ss, Lex was able to understand why his ''danger instincts'' were so much keener than the surrounding people. "Cultivation is different for different species, and they each have various barriers," the professor exined. "However, we will only be focusing on human cultivation for now. Regardless of what kind of cultivation system you follow, human cultivation is divided into three basic categories, namely the soul, spirit and body. "Spiritual cultivation is one of the most widespread, mainly because the resources required to follow this cultivation path are readily avable. That does not, however, mean that it is stronger or weaker than the other paths. Each of them have unique benefits. For instance, it may seem like it is more difficult to defeat an enemy that cultivates the body, but that is only because most people are more used to fighting against spiritual cultivators. "The truth of the matter is, the most ideal cultivation would be to cultivate all three at the same time, but that is extremely impractical because of how difficult it would be, time and resource consuming it would be, andstly, finding threepatible techniques to cultivate at the same time borders on impossible. But, all is not lost, for even if you only cultivate a single path, as you progress across the cultivation levels, the other two will also gradually be affected. "When talking about specific benefits, let''s begin with spiritual cultivation. Following the spiritual cultivation path grants the cultivator a strong and precise control over spiritual energy. This control can then serve to benefit the cultivator through the use of various professions, such as weaponsmiths, array masters, formation masters, and more.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "Furthermore, at the Golden core stage, it grants the cultivator ess to spiritual sense, a sixth sense that cultivators can not only use to observe the world around them but also interact with it. It can allow you to directlymunicate with others, and makes you more sensitive to the change in spiritual energy in the world around you. Another benefit, one that is often overlooked, is how cultivating the spiritual path allows you to increase the capacity of your brain. This doesn''t mean it directly makes you smarter, but increases your capacity for multitasking, extrapting better, and in general refines your thought processes." The professor didn''t borate, but Lex got a general idea. It was like improving the processor as well as RAM in aputer. If the tasks you were performing with theputer were affected by ack of those things, then you would suddenly notice a boost in performance. If, however, you weren''t doing much to begin with, then no matter how much theputer improved, it would not affect things. Or, a simpler way of putting it was that if you were smart to begin with, then you''d suddenly be able to do a lot more. If you were dumb, however, then an improvement in cultivation would still leave you dumb, but just faster at being dumb. Lex snickered to himself before turning his attention back to the professor. "The next mostmon form of cultivation is Body cultivation. It need not be said that the body is the foundation of our life, and cultivating your body makes you more resilient and harder to kill. Amon misconception is that body cultivators are focused on great physical strength, and while that is true for many of them, it is not the essence of body cultivation. "The essence of body cultivation is preserving life. At the same time, as a secondary effect, it drastically strengthens the subconscious mind. That means not only is your brain better at taking care of the various functions of your body, you be more sensitive to the minute details of what''s happening around you. "For example, if there is a person in front of you who suddenly decides to attack you, your body will automatically sense the miniscule changes his body would exhibit before he attacked and warn you about it. On a conscious level, you may not notice his change in stance, tightening of the muscles, his eyes scanning you for a weak point, but your brain would, and warn you in the form of instincts or gut feeling. "But it goes beyond just that. Sometimes, the threat to your life is noting from a person, but from some external factor outside of your current view. Since the focus of body cultivators is on preserving life, sometimes body cultivators are able to detect threats or danger from far off, with no apparent indication of the danger itself. The theory behind this is studied in a more advanced ss, you only need to know that this is something they can do. "We now know the individual benefits of cultivating two paths, but what if you cultivate both at the same time? Would the effects stay the same or possibly be even stronger? The answer is, not only would the effects remain, the growth in the effects would increase by an exponential amount. The cultivator would already have the energy sensitivity of a spiritual cultivator, but enhanced by the strength of the body cultivator''s subconscious mind, the cultivator''s control would quickly enter the levels of the most capable masters, and their precision would be exemry as well. That is not to say, someone who does not cultivate both paths cannot reach this level, but just that it would require more work. "The cultivators'' sensitivity towards danger would also increase, and this time, the increase is even more ridiculous. It has been reported that dual cultivators can sometimes even sense the exact moment someone decided to harm them, even if in a minor way. Furthermore, due to the granted sensitivity towards energy, the cultivator could also possibly detect dangers from nature, or natural disasters. In summary, it takes the advantages of both and multiplies it manifold. Of course, I''m sure all of you are also familiar with the difficulty of following such a path. It is absolutely not something that can be done on a whim. "This finally leaves thest path, that of the soul. In a way, soul cultivators are considered both the weakest and the strongest. They are the weakest, because their distinctck of spiritual techniques as well as a strong body make them more vulnerable. However, they are also considered the strongest because it is incredibly difficult to defend against a soul attack. Most cultivators arepletely incapable of defending their souls before the Nascent realm. "It''s not just a matter of being unable to defend. Soul techniques are so rare that even those who want to learn to defend their souls may not be able to. Soul cultivators are also adept at various fields, such as tracking, cursing, enchanting and the like. Furthermore, it is nearly impossible to lie or deceive a soul cultivator in the same realm. "This is because, while theyck the sensitivity towards energy or danger, they can easily detect any living being''s intentions from the fluctuations of their soul. When soul cultivators reach the Golden core realm, they gain the ability tomunicate with any living being directly through their soul, making their ability more versatile than spirit sense in this regard." Chapter 286 The True Path There was a moment of silence in ss as everyone took a moment to absorb all the information. Soul cultivators were very rare, and often had odd upations that made them difficult to counter. Lex thought back to the Raskal invasion. Harry, despite being weaker than many, ended up doing some of the most damage to his enemies. But he wasn''t just limited to that. As he was growing stronger, he was able to unlock more and more of his mor Sorcery abilities. While at the start, his skills were limited to giving people mental rity, these days he could even grant a few buffs to customers that wouldst days. After giving his students enough time to ruminate about the new information he provided, the professor continued. "Naturally, in the way body and spirit dual cultivators get the best of both worlds, anyone who dual cultivates the soul and spirit or soul and body also gets tremendous advantages. However, thesebinations are even more difficult to achieve. Setting aside the difficulty of cultivating two paths, the real hurdlees from the fact that unless the secondary cultivation path follows a technique that isplementary to the soul cultivation technique being used, it is nigh impossible to dual cultivate. It won''t stop your progress in one, but rather, outright end your cultivation for both paths. "It is for this reason that anyone who manages to find twoplementary techniques often ends up killed, or creates a lineage. Even in the academy, getting ess to such cultivation techniques is an extremely difficult task - not to mention the difficulty of following such a path afterwards. It is for that reason that you will rarelye across someone with these twobinations. "But, while we''re on the topic of cultivating multiple paths, I''m sure many of you are already wondering if it''s possible to cultivate all three paths." All the students held their breath, and Lex felt an unusual sense of anticipation fill the ss. Lex furrowed his brows. The students seemed to know something he didn''t. But it didn''t matter. Lex focused his attention on the professor, for this information would help him understand his limits better. He already had an exnation for why he was able to form an array so easily, his energy sensitivity had been heightened. Now it was time to know what else he could do. "As you all probably suspect, it is indeed possible. In fact, not only is it possible, cultivating all three paths simultaneously is the actual true form of cultivation, and is what differentiates the many races in different categories. "The Crystal race, for example, all cultivate all three paths simultaneously. In fact, for them it is normal cultivation, as they do not have divisions in the paths the way we do. Theoretically, it is still possible for all humans to practice all three paths as well, if enough of the right kinds of cultivation techniques are spread. But that begs the question, since the King is so adamant in developing the human race, why hasn''t he done so? "The answer is fairly simple. Humans inherently are not very suited to cultivate. Cultivating two paths already more than doubles the difficulty in raising realms, but cultivating all three, with the talent of the average human, would require hundreds of years just to break through one major realm to the next. Of course, one of the greatest benefits humans have over other races is our high reproduction rate. No matter how difficult or rare, someone capable enough to cultivate all three paths is bound to appear. I''m sure you are all familiar with one of the only two publicly known humans to cultivate all three paths, the King!" Excitement, enthusiasm and admiration all filled the students. No one even seemed to care that none of them would ever be able to cultivate all three paths. After all, how could theypare to the King? Lex however, was waiting for the professor to continue his exnation, but when he noticed that the professor was about to continue the ss by progressing to a different topic, he interrupted to ask, "Professor, if the King is one of the two publicly known people to cultivate all three paths, who''s the second? Also, what are the benefits of cultivating all three paths?" The students looked at him oddly, and even the professor was surprised by the question, but answered anyway. "The second person is naturally the Crown Prince, who is set to inherit the throne. As for the benefits, well, I can only specte. Firstly, and perhaps most impressively, the survival instinct of the cultivator, amplified by the energy sensitivity and soul sensitivity, will be enhanced a hundredfold. In fact, it may even transcend the realm of survival instinct, and take another form that can sense more than just danger, due to the way the soul can sense intentions. I''d say, the cultivators'' danger sense would probably end up being even better than cultivators in a higher realm. "The control and sensitivity towards energy will also be exceptional. In the lower levels, it might not be so apparent, but in the Nascent realm, when cultivators deal with different forms and levels of spiritual energy, the advantage will truly bear fruit. In fact, those cultivators can probably pursue some truly unique professions, bybining variouspatible soul and spiritual professions. A simple example is bybining Talismans and curses. Such things already exist, but require two or more cultivators to work together to form. "The cultivator would also be extremely resilient. Fueled by spiritual energy, preserved by a strong body, and resistant to destruction due to the souls own strength, the cultivator could probably easily survive wounds that would otherwise kill them. In fact, it would be so difficult to kill such a cultivator, I wouldn''t be surprised if they walked through an erupting volcano-" the professor suddenly froze as he seemed to recognize the student who had asked the question, and suddenly recalled some oundish stories¡­ could it be? "Your name is Lex, right?" the professor asked. "Yeah," Lex answered, suddenly getting a bad feeling. In his mind, the professor was judging him for asking a question everyone knew the answer to, specifically, the one about who the second cultivator of all three paths was. It was because he had judged the rumor he heard about himself to be so oundish, he never even considered people could take it seriously. How was he supposed to know that not only did this professor take it seriously, he suddenly filled in a few nks about how the crown prince oppressed Lex, which was the reason he dropped his name. Furthermore, the stories of Lex''s achievements, his survival during the expedition¡­ along with his question about all three paths¡­ could it be possible? In the most absurd, roundabout way, the professor made a conclusion about Lex cultivating all three paths - the first true conclusion anyone had made about Lex. Still, as a professor, he was mature enough to know not to spread rumors that he shouldn''t. He did, however, silently decide to guide Lex to the best of his abilities. "A basic enhancement of the individual abilities of all three paths is somewhat expected," the professor continued his ss, suddenly a lot more serious. "But if that were all, this would not be considered the true form of cultivation, and the gap between us and the Crystal race would not be so huge. The higher the realm, the more evident the advantages will be, but even at a lower realm, such as the Foundation realm, the cultivator outsses his peers." The professor had to try very hard not to look at Lex as he said that. "Each path has its own techniques. Spiritual techniques for the spirit path, body techniques for body cultivators and soul for soul cultivators. But, there are rumors that for the true path, as some people call it, there is another form of techniques that take advantage of all three paths. Simrly, some records of the King from his youth suggest that he used to practice a unique profession Oblivator that no one else could, though there are no details of it avable to the public. "But, while those two previous aspects would require special information or heritages, there are other benefits as well. As many people know, the Foundation realm is when cultivatorsmonly begin to explore specializations. Sword intent is a good example of a verymonly pursued specialization. It is said those who follow the true path have an entire field of specializations that they can realize on their own. For example, if a true cultivator pursued the sword, it would not be the sword intent they realized, but something¡­ more.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Finally, thest rumor, and this is strictly a rumor, and has no proof or grounds for spection, is that true cultivators can¡­ adopt any spiritual affinity they desire." This time, despite his efforts, the professor ended up looking Lex directly in the eyes. Lex gave away nothing, and wore the look of a simple, curious student. But it was alreadymonly epted that Lex was exceptional, in which case, perfectly hiding his feelings fell perfectly within the realm of what he could achieve. The ss continued normally after that, and once it was concluded, the professor submitted an application to see the Dean - the King. Since he was just a normal professor, it would take months before he was granted the requested audience, if ever, but his spections were too important to let slip, to anyone. After ss Lex checked his PT and noticed he had a letter from Cwenhild. She was inviting him once again to discuss her n for the Minor realms. After a moments thought, he epted the invitation. Chapter 287 Headache For once Lex did not need to take public transport as Cwenhild sent a private, small ne to pick Lex up. It was no bigger than the size of a regr car and was exceptionally fast. It was extremely luxurious, but that did not surprise him, considering her background. If only he knew that, after talking to him, she had severed her rtionship with her father. Unfortunately for her, since her act was rather public, she had to face tremendous bacsh. Even though the King himself could not be bothered to reprimand her, as the most worshiped figure in the nation, it was many of his fanatic followers who could not swallow the insult. But none of that had anything to do with Lex, nor did he know about it. The small nended on a rooftopnding pad in the highrise building where Cwenhild lived and Lex was escorted in. After being brought to a sitting room, he had to wait for a short while before Cwenhild burst into the room, a wide grin on her face. Lex immediately noticed that she looked exhaustedpared to thest time he saw her, but she was also clearly more energetic. "Lex, I''m so d you came. I would have liked to invite you over just to get to know each other better before getting down to business, but I''m on a time crunch these days. I have to finalize my team for the Minor realm so that we can start training together, which is why I''ll get straight to the point. What can I do to convince you to join my team? Your survival skills and consultation could make a huge difference in trying to take over a Minor realm." She was a lot more upfront than Lex expected, but the end result was the same. Lex had already given some thought to this, and was leaning towards joining her anyway, but since she was so open with her offer¡­ "Since you''ve been so direct, then there''s no point in me beating around the bush. There are a couple of things I have in mind, and if you can help me out, then I''ll be more than happy to join you." "Go ahead. What do you need?" "Truth be told, I myself am searching for something that I expect can be found in the Minor realms. I was nning on going to a few myself to search, but I have never been to a Minor realm and don''t know what to expect. I was, of course, going to start researching Minor realms on my own but I expect, since you are nning on capturing a Minor realm you''ve already done quite a bit of research. If you can provide me with all the information of the kinds of Minor realms, the academy has opened up before, as well as what to expect, I wouldn''t mind helping you out first. As for the second thing, well, considering I have to take care of my own expenses, let''s keep it simple and settle on some money." It did ur to Lex to set some ridiculous conditions in exchange for his help, but doing so would put a strain on their rtionship. Lex was not necessarily a materialistic person, but one would still have to be an idiot to ruin a good working rtionship with an influential person for short-term gain. As it happened, his two requests perfectly fulfilled his needs, so it was good enough. Cwenhild, who was expecting something much morevish, was surprised by the simplicity of Lex''s request. Her demure demeanor in front of Lex did not mean she was a simple or inexperienced person, and was well versed in the ways of the world. Considering theplexity of her request, Lex asking for such simple remuneration could be nothing other than a gesture of friendship. "If you don''t mind me asking, what are you looking for in the Minor realms? Maybe I can help you out with that." Lex did not reply, but only gave her a sly smile. There was no way to exin that he was searching forrge reserves of natural energy, and he did not consider it a big deal that he should want to keep a few secrets. Seeing that Lex did not want to borate, she understood that it was likely a private matter. Regardless, she was not being greedy, and had only wanted to help. Since she could not help directly, then she would think of another way to respond to his gesture. "Well, no matter. Your requests are simple enough so we can begin immediately. I''ll introduce you to my team. There will be a total of 12 of us, including you. The academy will open the Minor realms in six weeks, so during this time we need to work on our coordination and cooperation." Cwenhild immediately started debriefing Lex over her ns, many of which surprised Lex. 12 was a very small number, how were they supposed to take over a Minor realm with that? Or maybe his understanding of what it meant to take over a Minor realm was wed. Moreover, as he listened to her breakdown her n for the next few weeks, and then the uing event itself, he let out a small, internal sigh. A veryrge part of him already knew this, but a small part of him had been hoping for some kind of miracle. He was hoping to stumble into a big enough pool of energy and somehow make it back in only a few short months, but more realistically, he was stuck here. The thought did not depress him, he had be more resilient than that, but it snuffed out the small hope he had been carrying. As it so happened that with the death of that small hope, Lex''s mind opened up to a new series of possibilities. As he listened to Cwenhild''s n, and saw how she took advantage of every possible opportunity, he became inspired. His new frame of thought was simple. As long as he was stuck here, he could continue to take advantage of his increased authority. In that case, instead of filling 100% of his energy reserves, he should continue to expand and improve the Inn with his increased authority. This way, when he returned to the Inn, it would be extremely well equipped to help him progress, not only as the Innkeeper, but in his cultivation as well. After all, he did not want to spend 100s of years on a single breakthrough, like his professor predicted. Though, he had a sneaking suspicion that if he could continue to have the Lotus improve his body, his cultivation would be much quicker. Still, it made no sense not to use the advantages that he had. With this renewed mindset, Lex threw himself into his studies, practice, and preparation. Over the next few weeks, Lex thoroughly prepared himself by bing familiar with his new techniques, upgrading his equipment with the truly insane amount of money Cwenhild had paid him - as an advance, only - and began to familiarize himself with Cwenhild''s team. Despite Lex''s focus and determination, however, things did not always go over smoothly. First of all, his progress with the offensive technique Evisceration was very slow. Lex had to be extremely careful while practicing it, for if something went wrong, he would end up injuring himself a lot. Furthermore, as predicted, Regal Embrace seemed to resist his efforts at using his technique. The only fortunate news he had in that regard was that his progress with arrays was good, and Regal Embrace did not seem to trouble him when the attack came from an array rather than a technique. Secondly, there were a couple members of Cwenhild''s team who clearly had a strong bias against Lex. They never showed it when thedy herself was around, but whenever she was absent, not only would they stop cooperating with him, they would actively try to antagonize him. Lex tried to mend the rtionship, but after they rebuffed his attempts, he stopped caring. After all, he wasn''t responsible if Cwenhild''s endeavor failed due to them. Furthermore, he was not at all afraid of them, for everyone in the group was in the Foundation realm, and Lex''s instincts told him they could not harm a single hair on his body. Not to mention, if they ever tried to act against him, his survival instincts would warn him well in advance. Lastly, there were a couple of matters at the Inn that kept distracting him. Not only was the date for Earth''s Expoing closer, requiring him to start preparing for that somehow, but there was a group of troublesome people at the Inn.N?v(el)B\\jnn Tiffany, after her victory at the Midnight Madness, had attracted a lot of attention, which was the true origin of the problem. Things got so out of hand that Mary finally informed Lex, who eventually recognized the once sweet and immature little girl. The problem now, though, was that despite her actual young age, she had the body of an adult. Since that was the case, no one suspected otherwise and¡­ a Tiffany fan club had been established by a group of bachelors and bachelorettes from variouss. Every day, they would duel each other in public to attract her attention, recite the sappiest poems about her strength and reenact ys about her supremacy. Such a group, naturally, incited others and quickly various fan clubs started meeting at the Inn. Things were now already out of hand. The true problem urred when¡­ Audrey Morrison, Alexander''s grandmother, learnt that she had a fan club who waspeting with¡­ a fan club for Velma who, in turn, waspeting with a fan club for Gerard! Lex rubbed his forehead, trying to alleviate his headache, as he never knew dealing with a bunch of simps was so difficult. After all, Audrey was not content with leaving things as they were, and insisted on the targets of the various fan clubs directlypeting with one another. As for the method ofpeting? Naturally it was¡­ Chapter 288 Lady Cosmos Since Audrey was the one proposing the method ofpetition, and the focus of the challenge was to see who was the best and more worthy of having fans, she proposed a pageant. A tournament would have been more straightforward, but Audrey was not much of a fighter herself, not to mention the contestants were in various realms as well. That was all well and good, but it wasn''t like anyone could be forced into participating in the pageant. Tiffany neither understood the concept, nor cared for such a pointless contest. A few others as well were not so keen on the idea. That''s when the crowds started getting rowdy, and some even tried to harass the focus of various fan clubs. Let alone the fact that no oneing to the Inn was weak, the huge fan bases themselves weren''t ready to see their idols being targeted. A fight nearly broke out and was only contained due to the timely action by the Security guards. Lex was very firm in his decision that such actions will not be tolerated! Anyone who harassed another guest would suffer a temporary ban from the Inn, and the holographic personal assistants conveyed this message clearly to all guests. He hoped that this would be the end of the matter, but as he had be somewhat familiar with Audrey, he doubted it. And, indeed, the matter did not end there, though fortunately Audrey decided to be a lot more sensible in her next action. She went to Earth, acquired the rights to thepetition known as Lady Cosmos, an annual international beauty pageant, and decided the next one would be held at the Inn. Not only would the contestants be from the sr system, but from any star system that wished to join - making it the first ever, true Lady Cosmos. Brandon, who always supported his wife in every endeavor, immediately opened up his wallet. He immediately spent an astounding 1.5 million MP on the event, and had a detailed meeting with Mary about what they wanted for the event. Since they were nning the event to happen soon, only 1 Earth month away, Lex had to take time out from his already jam-packed schedule to settle the details for the event. This was not such a straightforward matter, as Audrey and Brandon were apanied by theirwyer, who wanted to establish a detailed understanding of everything the event would entail. It was fortunate that Lex was not so easily flustered, regardless of how eloquently thewyer spoke. Since thewyer was bringing up various requirements, Lex cut the conversation short by asking one crucial thing. Would the Inn simply be the venue for the event, or also take part in the organization of it? If the Inn were only the venue, then they would only provide the basic facilities. However, if the Inn were also organizing, then they would try to fulfill thepetition''s needs, but ording to their own regtions. Lex neither had a detailed grasp of the variousws on Earth, nor cared for them. The Inn was not subject to Earthenw. In the end, they decided that the Inn should help organize the event for them, but there were a couple of important conditions for that. There was no way to enforce Earth''s trademarks or copyrights in space, but since the Inn was helping to organize this event, they had to agree not to host another beauty pageant with the same name in the future if it was sponsored by someone else. Furthermore, although Audrey did not care, the pageant was a business and so they wanted to hash out the details of how they would generate ie. Lex let Mary handle the details of negotiating how the ie would be split after giving her an overview of what he wanted - he really didn''t have the time to be dealing with stuff like that, but he did want a cut for organizing the event would take a lot more than a simple 1.5 million MP. In the end, after everything was concluded, Mary briefed Lex on everything so that he could use the Event management panel to take care of everything. This was a prime example of how his increased authority wasing into use, for normally he would only be able to broadcast any event happening within the Inn. However, Audrey wanted the event to be broadcast to every that sent a contestant - something he could barely manage. But first, he had to prepare for the event as well as advertise it. When he was holding the Midnight games, he spent 50,000 MP per he advertised to, and sent the invitations to the leaders directly. This time, he nned to be slightly more subtle in his advertising, and also nned to advertise a little within the Inn as well. He had a lot of guests going in and out every day, even from parts of the universe he had not connecteds to yet, so word of mouth would also serve him well. Counting Earth and Mars, as well as all the inhabiteds in the Nibiru, Vegus, and X-14 star systems, as well as the advanced way in which he wanted to spread the word, Lex directly spent 1 million MP on advertising. He spent another 40,000 MP on the venue, arge rectangr building with statues of gorgeous women wearing crowns, carved out of the finest marble standing fifty feet (15.2 meters) tall near the entrance. They were the previous winner of the contest. The entrance was sealed for now, but arge marble que outside the venue stated the purpose of the venue, the details of the event, and how to register if anyone was interested. He would arrange for security, the broadcasting and other misceneous tasks closer to the event itself. Done for now, Lex returned his attention back to training and studies. Currently, he was sitting in his Kraven ss, and the professor was discussing the biology of the strange creature that had managed to dominate their realm. Lex tried to focus back on ss as he rubbed his temple. No matter how cultivation made his brain faster, it could not make up for how much he hated studying biology. Amidst all his studying, training, doing research and practicing his arrays, Lex had overlooked two simple facts. He had overlooked how vast the reach of his Inn had actually be, and he had overlooked the universal love for beauty. He had grossly underestimated how many guests this next event would attract. ***** X-142, A farming vige Hailey was slowly trudging back home after a long, exhausting day at the farm. Considering her peak Foundation realm cultivation, the difficulty of her routine was self-evident. She had lived her whole life in a farming vige and from a young age she had been taught the wonders their farming produced. The value of their crop was phenomenal, which is why it took years of hard work for a single crop yield. She had believed, she had worked, and she had toiled just to be qualified to be a farmer. But when she actually got to work, spending 16 hours a day, waist deep in mud, nourishing the crops with fertilizer with her own hands she realized... there was no mor in the life she had always pursued, and there was next to no reward. She got paid for her work, but even if one ignored the ridiculously small amount of pay considering her cultivation, she never had the physical or mental energy to do anything. Today was more of the same, and after returning home and taking a shower, she flung her frail body in bed. But, as much as she wished to immediately fall asleep, her body ached too much to let her fall asleep. Eventually, she gave up, and pulled out an old news crystal. She got this thest time she visited a city, many months ago, but by now she had memorized the entire thing. Every news article, every bit of gossip, every adv- eh? In the uing events, something new had suddenly appeared. For a moment she was dazed, and tried to remember if she had seen this before. But that was impossible, her memory would not fail her, especially when she had read through this crystal numerous times. What was going on?n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om More curious than anything, she read the new article that had appeared out of thin air. It was a pageant for the most capable and talented women in the cosmos. For a moment, she let herself imagine a life in which she could enter something like that, and her wings, fair and beautiful, involuntarily stuttered. Then, the news article shone with a golden light and enveloped her. When the light disappeared, she was no longer in her home, but stood in the middle of a road, cutting through a massive field. A hologram of another Cheonsa, a winged subspecies of humans, appeared before her and said with the most radiant of smiles, "Wee to the Midnight Inn." Chapter 289 The Capitalist Returns Hailey was bewildered, and for a moment, couldn''t understand what was happening. Then she tried pinching herself to ensure she was awake. Just as her thoughts were about to spiral, her assistant continued speaking. "Do not be rmed, dear guest, if this is your first visit to the Midnight Inn. The only way in and out of the Inn is through teleportation, and you were teleported here due to your interest in the Lady Cosmos pageant. You are free to leave whenever you so desire, and the Inn takes special care of security, so you arepletely safe here." "The Lady Cosmospetition?" she repeated, her attention directly diverting to what she cared most about. "Why would I be brought here for the Lady Cosmos pageant?" "Why, to register, of course. The pageant is in a month, but participants are suggested to arrive a few days before the event so that you can be familiar with the format of the pageant and make preparations. Of course, you can register any time between now and when the event actually starts." "I can¡­ be in the pageant?" she repeated, dumbstruck. "Naturally," the hologram replied once again. Hailey was dumbstruck, and she looked once again at the wondend that she had been transported to. Was this really not a dream? ? ***** Earth, Interster Confinement facility Vera Joel, a political prisoner and a secret oracle, was scribbling mindlessly in her notebook. She was bored out of her mind. It wasn''t because the facility they were locked in was like a prison. No, the facility had everything from various sports courts, cinemas, shopping malls, schools and much, much more. After all, the difference between a political prisoner and a real prisoner was vast - they couldn''t really be mistreated. The one constraint on them, though, was that after the discovery of the Midnight Inn, they were regrly checked for golden keys. Even if they wouldn''t be able to go anywhere else from the Inn, no one wanted to take a chance. And so she was stuck. Until something changed, and she saw a vision of a new future. Her expression changed from boredom to excitement in a sh and she sprinted to find her mother, Kristine Joel. She whispered something in her ears, before the two jaunted off to a nearby store. From the shelf, they picked up a couple of magazines and quickly returned to their rooms. "Are you sure?" Kristine asked, but the only response she got was a sh of golden light. Her daughter had already found a small ad for the Lady Cosmos pageant and had teleported to the Inn. Kristine shook her head and quickly looked through her own magazine. A moment and a shter, she too was gone. ***** Countless other women, or it would be more urate to say females, from various parts of the universe began to learn about the Lady Cosmos pageant and started arriving at the Inn, one by one. Some saw the ads in magazines, some in news crystals, some in unskippable YouTube ads and some saw the venue at the Inn itself. But, surprisingly enough, it wasn''t Lex''s own advertising that spread the word the most. It was the Iron Heart pirates, the one for which Booty was first mate, that did the brunt of the work. From port to port, to, star system to star system, they spread the word and enticed any who would be willing to listen. It need not be said that they recruited more members for the audience than they did actual candidates, for the love of beauty andpetition thrived just as much in the worst of degenerates as it did in cultured socialites. Naturally, they charged a premium for anyone who wanted a key for the Inn from them. After all, the Innkeeper wouldn''t mind if they made a little pocket money while doing so much legwork, right? ***** Completely unbothered by the steadily increasing traffic at the Inn, Lex continued his routine. Maintaining the mindset that Mary would let him know if anything went wrong, Lex waspletely dedicated to being fully prepared for the Minor realm. After all, this was the only time he would have. The pageant would begin right before he had to head to the Minor realm, and the two events would likely ovep. Soon after that would be Earth''s Expo. Speaking of which, Miranda should probably being by the Inn soon to discuss the details for the event. It was like this that Lex spent his time, the month gradually passing by, right up until 8 days before the Lady Cosmos pageant. One week before the event began, the participants were encouraged toe to the Inn so that they could start preparing. Lex thought everything was under control, for he had once again purchased the unlimited rooms option that he had once gotten for the Midnight Games. He was nning on purchasing the same kind of security as well and continued to let Mary handle things, but that''s when she called for his attention. "Lex, I think the venue for the event¡­ is going to end up being too small. We''re also going to need more temporary staff to handle the influx of new guests." "Oh? Howe? Did we end up getting a lot of participants?" ''A lot'' was a rtive term, and Mary didn''t know what Lex was expecting. When he only advertised briefly on only threes, he had tens of thousands of guests, so he should have adjusted for the Inn''s new reach, right? "Not too many. Due to Audrey handling things on Earth, we only have about 30,000 contestants from there and Marsbined. Due to various other restrictions as well, such as sex, age, and the requirement for a physical body, the number of contestants was also dropped to about only 2.6 million. After -" Mary had to stop giving her report because Lex, who had been leaning against a wall when he heard the report, slipped and fell, attracting the attention of Cwenhild and their teammates. "Excuse me, I''ll be right back," Lex said quickly as he quickly got up and rushed to the toilet. "Repeat that again! How many contestants do we have?" "Approximately 2.6 million," Mary replied calmly. "After having a discussion with the marketing and publicity manager Audrey has hired for the event, we came to the conclusion that the low turnout is due to ack of trust or recognition of the pageant in the universe. After the first one airs, and people be familiar with the brand, turnout should be much higher. Of course, we can keep the participants in their rooms while it''s not their turn, and thus manage them. But we can''t force the guests to stay in their rooms all the time. Some of them will want to view the event in person." "Mary, did you say¡­ there are 2,600,000 contestants in the beauty pageant?" "Yes. It''s a good thing Audrey was incharge on sifting through the applicants from Earth, otherwise, if everyone who applied was able to participate, we would have tens of millions of contestants during the first portion of the event." After he recovered from the initial shock, Lex''s mind started working in overdrive and he quickly realized he had been underestimating the allure of a model on a catwalk. Leaving the bathroom, he promptly told Cwenhild that he had some urgent business he needed to take care of, and left.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om On his journey back to his apartments, he continued to listen to Mary''s briefing. It was tough to estimate how many guests there would be for this event, but Mary informed Lex that¡­ the Iron Heart pirates had bought several million keys from them thest few weeks. Honestly, the pirates hard work needed to bemended. It was not easy to travel to so many star systems in such a short time. Not only had they divided their crew into various, smaller groups to advertise to as many systems as possible, they had been working nonstop. After all, there was no such thing as a repeat customer for them. Once their customer visited the Inn a single time, they would be able to get their own keys. So, to make money, they worked nonstop. Lex momentarily considered hiring the pirate crew before dismissing the thought. He had other things to focus on for now. As soon as he reached home, a particr gleam filled his eyes. If Lex were a cartoon, his eyes would have transformed into giant dor signs, as the capitalist in him had woken up once again - now with added authority. First and foremost, Lex checked how much MP he currently had. Over the past few weeks, due to the increased number of guests, his ie had seen a small boost. During this time, he had made a decent 400,000 MP. Considering how cheap his rooms, services and food were, this figure spoke volumes about the number of guests he''d had. That left him with a total of 7,311,000 MP. It had been a while since Lex went on a crazy spending spree. He cracked his knuckles and got to work. Chapter 290 Lexs First The burden the Inn was about to be ced under was immense. The most guests it had had at its peak was a few tens of thousands. Going from that to a few million was a massive jump, and the Inncked the infrastructure to manage such demand. A lot of temporary solutions would be avable in the event management panel, but the foundation of the Inn itself would also require an upgrade. First things first, Lex had to upgrade his supply for spiritual food, which would require an upgrade of the greenhouse. Speaking of which, it had been many months now since the greenhouse had beenpletely overhauled, and the gardeners ''art'' was really beginning to show. The way the nts grow, the way the bushes create outlines, the shading of the various kinds of grass as well as the growing vegetables, all came together to form an image of Little Blue when seen from above. But even so, the image was not fully formed. Suddenly, Lex felt like he really had been wasting the gardener''s talents. After thinking on it for a moment, Lex bought 10 more permanent workers and put the gardener incharge of them. Instead of taking care of the greenhouse, Lex let him take care of the greenery around the Midnight Manor. Having him take care of the entire Inn would require too many workers. The workers cost him 35,000 MP and setting aside their sry for the next three months cost him another 16,000 MP. Being given a job where he only needed to care for the aesthetics and presentation dramatically improved the gardeners mood. After that, Lex spent another 100,000 MP on increasing the size of the greenhouse by 10 acres. The turtle would remain in charge of growing food and now, without the gardener focusing on using the nts to supplement his art, he would be able to focus on maximum sustainable productivity. Now, he turned his attention to the Inn. Quite frankly, with the current size of the Inn, it was impossible to fit several million people here, let alone tens of millions, without severely crowding the entire ce. He turned his attention to Main street. As much as he wanted to avoid this initially, it was inevitable. He created a street branching off, henceforth known as Avalon street for that was the first building in it, and created 4 more high rises of simr size. Since the Avalon had cost him 300,000 MP, adding 4 more took up 1.2 million MP. He created more branches off Main street, and added another Battle tower, full of Training rooms. On another street, he created a temple simr to the Blue Mosque in design, and filled it with Meditation rooms. He had to create several more restaurants as well, and overall expanded Main street several times its size. All of these expenses took up another 200,000 MP, and hiring all the relevant staff, which was about another 100 workers, cost him a devastating 510,000 MP which included hiring them, giving them living quarters and setting aside their pay for the next three months. He spent another 2 million MP on increasing the size of the Inn by another 200 acres, and filled the area with countless small, lone cabins as well as smaller settlements. Previously, the biggest rental room he could build was a courtyard, which had 4 individual rooms. Now, taking advantage of his increased authority, he could also build small houses,rge houses, mansions and a small vige! These were not the houses and viges Lex built on his own, but rather rental units backed by the system, meaning they could only be rented by a single person or group. The small house charged 600 MP a night, and had five bedrooms, each with their own restroom, a lounge, a living room, a small store room and a kitchen. Therge house charged 2000 MP a night, and had eight bedrooms,a lounge, two living rooms, an empty basement, arge kitchen, a single meditation room and a small swimming pool. Though the meditation room was a part of the house, to use it would cost its usual daily fee of 100 MP a day. A mansion... was about half the size of the Midnight Manor, had 12 rooms, a conference room, a lounge, a couple of living rooms, a basement, 2 kitchens, 3 meditation rooms, 3 training rooms, 1 recovery room, a massive swimming pool, a massive backyard and a dedicated butler. Lex decided to keep the rent for the mansion at 5000 MP a night. It need not be said that the mansion, as well as the houses, afforded total privacy and no one would be able to peek in, even if you were in the backyard.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om The small vige consisted of 5 courtyards, 3 small houses, 2rge houses and a single mansion, its own restaurant, its own team of dedicated workers, a massive open ground and a small monument in the center of the vige. Since Lex could customize the monument, he decided to shape it after the Gctic Sovereign turtle. Again, it needed to be mentioned that, despite its size and capacity, this vige could not be rented by the house or courtyard, but had to be rented collectively by a person or group. Lex decided to set the rent of the small vige at 15,000 MP a night. This was technically, not actually the limit of what he could build, as there were still options after a small vige, but at this point they were getting too expensive for him to ce as he still needed to save MP for the actual event management itself. In the end, he ended up spending 500,000 MP on cing the various rooms, courtyards, houses and viges. This left him with 2,750,000 MP remaining. To be honest, he had not evene close to making enough arrangements for dealing with millions of people, but that would have to wait for when he started earning money from this event. Since the Inn was a part in organizing the event as well, instead of only hosting it, all further payments for the event that Brandon was supposed to make were deferred and instead, a percentage of the ie generated from the event itself would go towards the Inn. To be clear, this did not count any profit the Inn made by renting out rooms or giving out services. Only the ie generated from aspects directly rted to the event would count as earnings from the event, and Mary had negotiated a hefty 80% share in the Inns favor for the ie. In her words, she had been very generous even leaving them with 20% of the profits. Whether it was generous or not, when Lex saw the various ways in which they expected to earn from the event he was extremely satisfied. He spent another 200,000 MP on erging the venue. If this was a permanent building, it would cost much more, but since it was only temporary, this was more than enough to erge the building enough to seat 500,000 people. He could continue to erge the building, but after a certain point it just became ridiculous to expand further. He told Mary to think of ways in which they couldfortably seat more people. Then, he spent 1,500,000 MP on event security! Thest time, he had spent 450,000 MP and had gotten 10 Earth Immortals guards and a few hundred below that level. This time, he was looking forward to what he got. ? Still, Mary told him not to expect too much. The reason his bodyguard has been so powerfulst time was because he had spent all that money on one individual. Since this time the amount was spread amongst various guards, they likely wouldn''t be at that level. As it turned out, she was right. 2000 Golden Core peak guards, 200 Nascent peak guards, 30 Peak Earth Immortals guards, and 1 guard at the realm above Earth Immortal were summoned from a sh of golden light. Lex found it interesting that even with his increased authority, he could not see above the Earth immortal realm. Yet what he found even more interesting was that he recognized many of these guards! They were the same ones he had summonedst time during the Midnight Games. It seemed like the system was getting these guards from a specific ce. That was something Lex needed to remember, for it was another clue into understanding the system and how it worked. It was also important to note that, up until Earth Immortal, all guards were humans, but the guard above it was not. As for the species of the strongest guard? With brown scales as smooth as polished metal covering its reptilian body, four wings that spanned a hundred feet (30 meters) each, ws that could rip through a moon and a maw as rugged as it was malevolent, Lex did not even need to scan to recognize a dragon. The first he had ever seen. Chapter 291 Party Village It was not just Lex who was awestruck by the massive beast, nay, dragon that had appeared in a vast, open area of the Inn. Longtime guests, and especially all the workers, had be ustomed to the unannounced expansions the Inn asionally went through. They would alle outside and admire the buildings appearing out of thin air, and the Inn spontaneously bing bigger. It was a good reminder of the power wielded by the mysterious Innkeeper. But the number of guests who were seeing this for the first time outnumbered those who knew what was happening. Even after they were assured this was a normal urrence, they were curious. They had heard about the Innkeeper, but it had been months since he was gone, and since the number of guestsing had only increased recently, most had never met him, or even actually know about him. After all, how frequently would one bump into the owner of any establishment? So when these first timers were basking in the changes, and a massive, deadly looking dragon appeared surrounded by what looked like an army, many of them instantly froze. An air of tension and uncertainty filled the air. They were unsure if they should be screaming or running, or if this was just another urrence at the Inn. But the tensionsted only a moment, for Mary announced the identity of the new arrivals, and everyone disbursed. While they were only temporary guards, they were guards nheless and so all came under Gerardsmand. For all other than the Immortals and the dragon, he started passing out instructions and began exining their ns for security during the event. While it may seem that a few thousand guards were too few to manage millions of people, when considering the average person in the universe, a golden core cultivator was already much stronger than them. But, even if they weren''t enough, Immortals were absolutely rare. Under normal circumstances, a leisure-based event such as this would not usually attract the attention of anyone at that level. The only reason, in fact, that the Midnight Games managed to attract so many high-level cultivators was because it directly interfered with the interests of various powerful entities. Even then, it was the silent deterrence of the Celestial, Lex''s bodyguard at the time, that managed to dissuade the devils from causing problems. Otherwise, there was no telling what kind of mess they would have caused. Lex finally finished admiring the dragon, and then turned his attention to his current remaining MP of 1,050,000. He had to stop spending now to handle any emergencies that rose up, but the ie from the event should start pouring in soon. Just to be sure, however, he instructed Mary to, in passing, show the dragon the Dragonburn Locket. It was an item he had gotten from the Emporium back on X-142 and had priced it at 10,000,000 MP. It could help dragons gain a deeper understanding of the intricacies of breathing fire. Lex did not have aplete understanding of Dragons and how valuable their fire breathing powers were, so he originally felt like a price of 10 million was very hefty. Now though, when he considered how vast the universe really was, and the fact that he could earn millions from a single, if, by chance, dragons were really as esteemed as myths on Earth, that price may be too low. After deliberating a bit, he altered the price to 50 million. If it was too high a price, he would change it eventually, and if it was too low a price, he would treat it as a learning experience. Either way, he was done for now. Over the next five days, Lex kept a close eye on the Inn while he went about his daily routine. The number of guestsing in had jumped drastically, and about 400,000 guests had alreadye into the Inn. All the permanent rooms were eventually booked out, and the temporary rooms that Lex had paid for that didn''t really upy any space started to take in the rest of the guests. Even if each guest only took a normal room, which most did not, with the price being 50 MP a night, and there being 400,000 guests, Lex would have been earning 20 million MP a night. The actual figure currently was around 31 million MPst night, just from rooms! And this figure was rising each day, for more and more guests started to arrive. The total MP he umted in these five days, with rental and food and services all included was 145,000,000 MP! Well, actually it was a bit more than that, but for the sanity of the OCD prone, he quickly spent the extra MP rounding it off to a nice number. The official event hadn''t even started yet and Lex was practically drowning in MP! The absolute ecstasy of his wealth was only matched by the overwhelming effort it took to manage such a crowd! He had to take more days off from training as well as sses, causing Cwenhild to be slightly concerned, but Lex assured her that everything was under control. In fact, everything was not under control! From Main street to the manor, to theke and thezy river, to Midnight Mountain, there was a massive crowd of people.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om In the end, Lex had to do something drastic since he didn''t want to destroy the careful atmosphere he had been nurturing in the Inn! Spending a no longer significant 30,000,000 MP, he added 3000 acres ofnd to the Inn. Up until now, whenever he expanded the Inn, he ensured to maintain a round shape for the Inn. Thetest expansion, however, was not bnced, and instead stretched the Inn behind Midnight Mountain, letting the lone mountain stand as a sort of border between the two sides of the Inn. In the new area, he decided to create a party vige. That was a bad name, he hadn''t decided what to officially call it yet, but the concept was that this was the part of the Inn where all futurerge events would take ce from now on. This way, the main area could remain rtively uncrowded for those guests who just wanted to visit the Inn. For those that wanted a more happening scene, the vige was the destination. Since he currently had an abundance of MP, he decided to make permanent additions instead of temporary ones to design the vige. Furthermore, he really let his creativity flow this time around. Starting out with a few big attractions, in the center of the vige was a very traditional-looking colosseum that could easily seat 1 million guests - nothing too extravagant. Then, just for good measure, he added a massive, floating orb of water above the colosseum, inspired by something he saw in a game called Final Fanta X. What was the purpose of a giant ball of water, how could it be used, what would people think? These were all questions he decided to let his guests answer themselves. Of course, the orb was high enough that it would not obstruct any activities happening in the colosseum grounds themselves. Next, he created a 1000 story pagoda in another corner of the vige. Its purpose? To be determined. Next, for good measure, he built 50, 100 story highrises filled with rentable rooms, all interconnected with bridges built on different levels in a corner of the vige. Of course, he was no architect, so making the bridges look nice was somewhat of a challenge, so he decided to turn all the bridges into parks as well, with grass and bushes and trees, connecting each of the buildings. In another corner of the vige, he added a small, crystal clearke. It wasn''t too big, only 20 acresrge and built a few hundred houses, added pathways, reced what could have been parks with coral reefs, and of course, did not forget to designate a portion as an underwaterbat arena. Over another portion of the vige that he popted with various kinds ofrge auditoriums, music halls, pces, and the likes, was the aerial part of the vige. 100 buildings ranging from small to medium, floating at a certain point in the air, all connected thin walkways. Clouds floated through the city, and many birds visited this unique paradise that one could reach either by flying, or taking one of the many elevator tforms. Hot air balloons surrounded the floating vige, adding bright colors to the otherwise mostly silver site. Of course, Lex also had to take care of transport between the vige and the main portion of the Inn. Several trails existed for those who wanted to walk, going around, and some even over the mountain. For those that did not want to walk, he provided many options that could be taken from a few terminals he ced around the Inn. There was naturally the option for horse, rhino, and golf cart riding. Azy river was also an option, this time with the option of gonds as well as the floating stic doughnuts. But it was when Lex was designing a train route when he was struck by another brilliant idea - if he did say so himself. Chapter 292 Steam Train Lex looked at how much MP he had spent. Due to the size of his many massive structures, the cost ended up being a lot more than anticipated. For example, just a single one of the 100 story highrises cost him 450,000 MP each. Adding 50 of them then cost him 22.5 million MP. The colosseum, the city in the sky and the underwater city, as well as all the additional buildings in between them, cost him another 31 million MP. Obviously maintaining all these buildings would require sufficient staff as well. Although the Inn automatically took care of maintenance and various other services, minimizing the need for actual workers, it was only minimized and not reduced. He hired 3000 more workers solely for the vige, with the full expectation that he would need to hire more soon. Hiring them plus putting away their sries for the next few months cost Lex another 11.7 million MP. While he allowed Mary to decide their jobs and the division ofbor for most of them, he gave her instructions to select 100 of them for a special designation. In his system he had a panel called employee benefits which he had so far only used to distribute pay, give them homes and pass out basic cultivation techniques. Now, however, it was time to make further use of the panel. He went into specializations and selected architecture, civil engineering and city nning and designated those 100 workers with these specializations. They wouldn''t be overnight specialists in these fields, but would be provided relevant knowledge about them. The same way they had to cultivate on their own, the workers would have to study the new material. Once they were sufficiently educated in the fields, he would have them work on expansion ns for the vige and, if he was satisfied, then on Main street and the rest of the Inn. After all, currently, while the vige seemed fine, itcked a sense of cohesion. Therge structures in various corners all had drastically different styles, and the city looked more like a hotpot of different designs than a unified whole. He nned on having these workers, who were now a part of the nning and expansion division of the Inn, gain experience with the vige, which had more allowance for errors. After all, the whole purpose of the vige was to hostrge events, so the focus could be slightly diverted towards function over finesse. With that done, though, he turned his attention back to transport. This was yet another thing that would be under the purview of the nning department, but he created several terminals for an underground subway system. The ''trains'' created by the system werepletely silent and levitated off the ground, so they caused no vibrations. This way, guests could be quickly transported throughout the Inn without hassle. Naturally this did not mean he discontinued the golf cart service led by Gerards former crew. They had developed some fans of their own. Unexpectedly, the underground train system was more expensive than he expected, and cost 15 million MP. This, however, still left him with 35,850,000 MP to spend on his idea. He remembered, when he was a child, and would travel with his family, they would often take trains to travel overnight. For some reason, the allure of spending the night on a train was beyondparison when he was a child. Since it was something he used to enjoy, there was no reason others wouldn''t enjoy it as well. He spent the next few hours fiddling with the system interface, trying to get his idea just right. Once he was done with that, he spent several more hours nning a train route. The route had to be close enough so that those onboard could see the various sites and sceneries the Inn offered. This train''s only terminal was in a street branching off from Main street, and its path would begin with a visit around theke. It would then loop around to the forest surrounding the greenhouse, and would make its way through the grassy slopes toe into view of the Midnight manor. From there it would go towards the hill with the Meditation rooms, visit the mystery trial, go through a tunnel in the Midnight Mountain and then visit the various sites in the vige, including the underwater and floating portions of the city since it wasn''t actually a steam train, before looping around and ending back at the terminal. This ''train'', which bore the appearance of a steam train, would move much slower on its track, allowing its passengers to enjoy the scenery passing them by. But, the purpose of this train was not transport. No, this train was full of rooms that could be booked. Unfortunately, due to needing to meet the standards of the Inn, there could only be a very limited number of rooms. The train had nine cabins behind the engine, and eight of those cabins could only be rented as a whole. Each cabin contained a small, cozy room, a rtivelyrge sitting area furnished with the finest carpets, sofas and tables, with a view on either side, and a bathroom. Naturally, anyone who rented a cabin could share it and bring multiple guests along, but ultimately each cabin would belong to one person or party. The ninth cabin was the kitchen and, through clever use of teleportation that Lex''s increased authority allowed him to enable, a waiter could go directly from the kitchen to any cabin that ordered food. This particr project cost Lex another 2 million MP, and he decided to set the rent for each cabin at 1000 MP a night. Now, there were a few other things that needed his attention. ***** Even today, a monthter, Hailey found everything surreal. Even as she listened to the exnation for the different portions of the pageant, how each portion would be judged, and how she should prepare, she felt like she was in a dream. She was but a simple farmer girl, who would spend her days working thend, and her nights dreaming while still awake. She longed for a different life, imagined herself changing overnight and seizing the day, living fabulously without any regrets. But her longings were supposed to remain as longings, her dreams remain as dreams. Whether it was ack of courage, or an addiction to the pain of a substandard life, something was stopping her either way. But, in the mundane routine that was her life, an ident had flipped everything over. After all, it had to be an ident. Someone like her couldn''t be destined for such things. But whatever it was, her life had changed with that one sh of gold that night. As she explored the Inn, on that day she had stumbled into this fairy tale - too afraid that she would wake up the next second - she ran into a rather... handsome man named Harry. One look at her, in her dusty old clothes, tangled hair, untidy wings and eyes full of wonder, was all it took for him to see something she herself had never seen. He asked her to let him do a makeover, and when she told him she couldn''t afford his prices, for she truly could not, he said he''d do it for free. Hailey was a proud woman, simple though she may be, and would have normally never epted such charity. But whether it was the magic in the air, or the excited look in his eyes when he saw her, something forced her to ept his offer - the second ident that day.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om That man - Hailey blushed, the color running down to her neck as she thought of him - was a maestro. When he wielded his scissors and hisb, his expression changed. His eyes were sharp and his hands fast, yet Hailey felt not a single tug of her hair as he worked on her - only a tenderness that nearly caused her to shiver. It wasn''t as if Hailey was unaware of the ways of the world, nor was she a prude, but somehow she lost all her words that day. It was not just her hair that he worked on, no, he also groomed her wings. When folded, they fit nicely behind her back, barely visible, but when extended, they stretched even beyond the length of her arms. Her wings, as dark as her hair, had never been groomed, for they would just get dirty and messed up again the next day at the farm. But as he untangled her curls and brushed their length, she felt like ropes that had been tying her down had been cut. Many hourster, when she stepped out of his store, her sun-kissed skin practically glowed under the light of the skynterns and her long, flowing hair hiding her wings perfectly. When she looked in the mirror, she saw a stranger looking back at her. The stranger was too neat, too clean, too perfect. It was not like how real people looked, at least in her experience. But, instead of the mirror, when she looked at Harry with his crooked smile and dazed eyes, she got a feeling, deep in her heart, that she must have looked beautiful. Chapter 293 Builder Of Bonfires Gathering herself, Hailey thanked Harry for the makeover, and they started talking. She exined that she had been summoned to the Inn for the pageant but, after the initial overwhelming rush of emotions, she was having serious doubts about entering. It wasn''t like she was unaware of what a pageant was - just because she was a farm-girl did not mean she was uneducated or uncultured. Instead, she felt like she would only end up making a fool of herself bypeting. Harry, the stranger she had just met today, listened quietly to her story as she expressed her doubts, and in the end, only said one thing. He said that if she felt reluctant, or pressured by it, then she did not need to force herself, after all, the Inn would not force her to enter just because she hade here - but that he felt it would be a pity if she didn''t. After that they parted ways, for Harry had his own tasks he needed to take care of, but more importantly, she had been gone quite a while and was probably alreadyte for her duties at the farm. But she could not leave. Her mind kept wondering about the things that had been left unsaid. Why would it be a pity if she didn''t participate? Was it because he thought she had a shot at winning, or did he just want to see her more? But, a bigger question also burdened her mind. What did it mean for her if she entered the pageant? Would her life change? Or would she just end up back at the farm after a fleeting moment of freedom? A hundred different thoughts were running through her mind, so that she did not notice a few kids in her path, and bumped into them. Just as she was about to apologize, the kids looked up at her in wonder and eximed, "a fairy!" Perhaps he meant that Hailey looked like a beautiful and enchanting woman, straight out of a storybook when he called her that. She, instead, heard something different. On her, and often in most other ces in the universe, Fairies were one of the most oppressed species. Their high affinity for spiritual abilities and innate abilities, paired with the general weakness of their species, made them perfect targets to be taken advantage of. Of course, in X-142 they were not treated like ve but¡­ whatever the case, she did not want to live the life of a fairy! With her decision made, she registered for the pageant, and now, nearly a monthter, she had let the other farmhands know she was taking an extended leave and hade to the Inn. Two dayster, the pageant would begin, and it would be broadcast to many worlds. They were already being briefed on the many divisions of the pageant, and what to do when their turnes. Though, the first thing they were advised, and very strongly at that, was they should not reveal their names and thes they were from - for their own safety. Should any opportunities for a career as a celebrity or anything else really present itself, then they would contact the Lady Cosmos organization in the Inn first, and the organization would then contact the participants. With that, not at all scary advice out of the way, Hailey began practicing. In two days, when the event began, the first portion would be talent. ording to the cultivation level, each contestant would be ced in a different group and judged on different parameters. This was so everyone was judged fairly, and no one used their cultivation as an advantage. ***** Over thest two days, as more and more people came to the Inn, Lex was entirely focused on managing the crowd and ensuring there were no problems. Once the event actually began, he would be rtively freer since he was not the one overseeing the event. In these past two days, he earned another 63 million MP, bringing his total to 96,850,000 MP. The MP came just in time, for now he had to finish setting up the actual event. Spending 68 million MP and 0.3% of his remaining 1.5% energy umtion, he established the broadcasting for the event. Any, moon, asteroid, spaceship or anything else from which a participant came would end up receiving a broadcast of the show. The ce of origin was advanced enough to have some form of television or streaming service, the system would integrate the broadcast into it. Otherwise, a massive projection in the sky would appear anywhere with arge enough group of living beings. Another 5 million MP went into establishing a sentiment analysis feature, which would judge how the audience reacted to different participants, which would end up being one of three categories in which they would be judged. Finally, he came to the part that personally interested him the most - his ie! The Inn itself would not put any advertisements during its broadcast, but if any local entities tried to put in ads between the show, then 95% of their profits would be transferred to the Inn automatically! Then, naturally, there was the numerous merchandise for the Lady Cosmos show. The apparel was no longer limited to just Tshirts, but also included suits, dresses, gowns, saris, kimonos, and hundreds of other traditional dresses from each participating in the show. Then, as per usual, there was the betting pool. Finally, he would also implement an idea Mary gave him. ording to her, a majority of the participants were financially struggling. So they decided to implement a verymon feature of many tforms on Earth, wherein the audience could support the participants they liked by sending them gifts. The Inn would take 1% of the value for each gift as revenue for Lady Cosmos, but the rest would be given to the participants themselves. Setting up all this cost him another 10 million MP, leaving him 13,850,000 MP. That was more than enough to deal with any emergency that popped up. One dayter, the event finally kicked off. In the end, the number of participants who actually showed up for the event was only 1.5 million, a lot lower than the number who registered, but no one wasining. With a majority of all issues handled, Lex breathed a sigh of relief, and turned his attention back to the Crystal realm. They would begin their excursion to the Minor realm in less than 2 weeks. He had to be ready. ***** Earth, Unnamed Ind in the middle of the ocean Emperor Silius, First of his name, Savior of the luggage, Fisherman Supreme, Builder of bonfires and makeshift barbeques, stared in a daze at the broken tv screen that was still embedded into the airne seat. It had been¡­ he had no idea how long it had been since themercial ne he was on crashnded on this ind. Almost everyone on the ne survived, but after what seemed like thousands of years and no rescue, nothing to do and barely surviving by foraging what little they could, most had lost hope and some, unlike Emperor Silius, had lost their minds. Of course, the patchy beard on his face indicated barely a month had passed, but who cared about these technicalities? But the supremely important thoughts in which he was lost were interrupted by a sound too alien to this ind: music. rmed, he looked up and saw that the tv screentched into the seat in front of him had turned on, despite the prominentck of electricity and any kind of signals, and was ying some kind of introduction. Confounded, he looked around and saw that all the tv screens had turned on, and he wasn''t the only one who had noticed. All the passengers who had been resting in the shade of the ne were rmed. Was this a case of mass hysteria? "Lady Cosmos!" screamed the Diva Queen in excitement, a ruthless and ferocious adversary who had kept Emperor Silius on his toes. But, since this strange magic seemed to be the domain of this Queen, the various Lords and Ladies turned to her for guidance. But she was too engrossed in the show to pay attention.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om ***** Four separate armies shed together in an epic free for all. There was no indication of what these beasts and aliens fought for, or where their allegiancey, for none wore armor or identifying tags, but the soldiers themselves seemed to know their enemies. Like rain, blood fell to the ground, like thunder, bodies shed in the skies, like the wind, carnage washed over all. This was a owned by no one, but housed thergest ck market in the nearest thousand star systems. Anyone from pirates, merchants, contractors, artists and even actual lords anddies visited this for some reason or another. On an unowned, where the rules and regtions of the wild were rampant, such a brutal war was not an umon sight. What was umon, however, was a massive projection appearing randomly in the sky above said armies, with the most unusual music ying. The soldiers did not stop fighting, but themanders of the armies looked up in confusion. Was this some new tactic? Since when had their enemies be so devious? Chapter 294 Small Performance Each of themanders for the four armies looked warily at one another, while also keeping an eye on the projection in the sky. Their senses were deployed to the maximum, and as soon as something unusual happened they would be able to respond to it. But, once the introductory song ended, instead of a conniving n of some kind, a fabulously dressed woman appeared in the projection. It was Audrey. "Wee one and all, to the first ever, Interster Lady Cosmos pageant," rang her voice across the ins. Oddly enough, the one army that consisted of a race that had no ears felt her meaningmunicated to them through the extrasensory form ofmunication they normally used. Audrey began exining a little about the pageant, since most viewers were probably not familiar with the concept, but themanders were simply bewildered. Try as they might, they could not find the source of the projection. The battle on the ground continued, and while the soldiers were slightly distracted by Audrey talking, they managed to continue the fight. Until, that is, over Audreys monologue they started a slideshow of glimpses of some of the contestants, dressed up in breathtaking attire. "Martha!" All four of themanders yelled at the same time, recognizing an image of a half fairy, half human celebrity. She started out as a pirate, until one of the spaceships she was robbing belonged to an interster marketing agency, where one of the recruiters risked his life to get her to sign for one of clients as a model. From there her charm and natural charismaunched her career, and she became a celebrity in many star systems. Themanders, realizing they momentarily lostposure quickly gathered themselves, until they also realized that the others had done the same. "Why did you say Martha?" one of them asked hesitantly. "Martha is my idol!" dered one of the aliens, a humanoid, four armed being with six thin eye slits on its face. "My daughter is obsessed with her," said another alien. The fourth, instead of saying anything, showed a tattoo of the name Martha over his heart. Just as the fourmanders were suddenly considering what to do next, Audrey up on the screen said, "follow us on our journey as we showcase and celebrate the best that our contestants have to offer, topete for the final glory of being titled the first ever, Interster Lady Cosmos." "I''ll spare your life today," said one alien, before immediately ordering a retreat back to the nearest city. Another two shouted some random excuse while the third one didn''t even bother, and immediately ordered his soldiers to return to base and start a feast. He liked to eat something while he watched stuff. ***** The show finally started. Lex watched for a few minutes, and also observed his Inn. Currently, other than the contestants themselves, there were only 1 million observers. The early, rtively empty vige now seemed somewhat full. Every park, every restaurant, every rooftop had small gatherings and, Lex noticed, that a majority of his guests were some subspecies of humans. That was probably because most of his exposure so far had been with humans. Or were humans just thatmon in the universe? Time would tell. Naturally to take care of 1 million guests, and probably more iing, was not something a few thousand staff members could handle. But Lex was not ready to hire hundreds of thousands of permanent workers just yet. Fortunately, the event management panel gave him the option of temporary workers. For the price of 8 million MP, he hired 300,000 temporary workers, all of them at the peak of the Body tempering realm. They came highly trained, and seemed to be easily handling the pressure so far. He sighed, and then stopped paying attention to the festivities. He really didn''t have the time. He had mastered quite a few arrays in the past month, but his deployment time was still low. He would focus on that for now. As for the Lady Cosmos pageant? With the number of participants they had, even if they aired 24 hours a day, everyday, it would take quite a while for the preliminary round to end. Since the pageant was no longer primarily focusing on beauty, since with many different species involved judging beauty became more difficult, a great emphasis was ced on talent. The first portion would allow the participants to showcase their talents. Any participants who were mortals took on tasks such as ying instruments, ying sports, creating arts etc. and would only be judged amongst themselves. They would not be pit against someone at the Foundation realm, who would most likely be using their cultivation as a part of showcasing their talents. If Lex had been watching, he would notice that one of the first participants being shown was a ballerina, and a familiar one at that. This ballerina had also performed once during the cultural part of the Midnight Games before disappearing. Since then, not only had the poise and technique of the ballerina improved immensely, but so had her ethereal beauty. Even nonhumans who hadpletely different criteria for beauty could not help but be attracted to her performance. But, as moving as her performance was, it was one out of over a million. When the participant disappeared from the Inn after her single performance, almost no one seemed to notice. Almost because Anita, who had a detailed record of everything that happened during the Midnight Games was also currently recording everything happening at the pageant, immediately picked up on the detail, as well as the pattern of disappearance. It was also at this point that someone tried to harass one of the participants who was waiting her turn. A slim and greasy fellow tried to slip his hand over the small of the contestants back and pull her close. The girl yelped and moved away, for she had not been expecting to suddenly be grabbed. "Ohe on dear, I was only-" the man never got to finish his words. The Delinquent Viper Vine burst from the ground and tightly wrapped itself around the man. Themotion attracted a lot of attention, and by the time people began to look, the man was being held upside down in the air, 100 feet (30 meters) in the air. The man continued to hang in the air until the current participant showcasing her talent finished, at which point instead of the next contestant, the screen turned to a projection of the man. The Dragon, which had up until now kept its distance from the crowds, flew up into the air, its wings spreading strong gusts of wind threatening to topple over anyone nearby. "This is the first and only warning," the dragon said in a deeply terrifying, gruntled voice. "On orders of the Innkeeper, anyone who targets a guest of the Inn in anyway will be treated as an enemy of the Inn." The appearance of a dragon on the show was nearly enough to shock anyone watching, but the fact that the dragon took orders from someone was about to rock several worlds. Lex had nned this little performance early on, anticipating someone trying to take advantage of the numerous girls. His aim had been to dissuade any trouble makers. While he did achieve that, what he did not expect was that the viewership of the show was about to explode, along with the poprity of the Inn! "I¡­ was¡­ only¡­ try¡­" the man tried to speak with a trembling voice, but before he could finish, he disappeared. He had been kicked out of the Inn, but none of the viewers knew that. Instead of horrified, they were enamored! Strong, decisive, cruel. These were the things people loved. Well, at least the people on thes the pirates had spread the Inns keys to. At the same time, many people who were hiding from various threats or enemies suddenly gained a new destination to run towards. With such a dramatic start, the Lady Cosmos show was kicked off. Ragnar too was shown a recording of the scene where the dragon made an appearance, and suddenly raised an eyebrow. First a Celestial, and now a dragon? The Innkeeper really knew how to pick his guards. He was tempted to go see the dragon firsthand, but now that he was on his way to a battlefield, his every move was likely being monitored. He did not want it to seem like he paid too much attention to the Inn, so he dismissed the video, Back at the Inn, Xeon, the Drake refiner who was vacationing at the Inn had juste out of his room after a several weeks long nap, and was dumbstruck. A¡­ a¡­ a real dragon? And it seemed to be¡­ working for the Inn!n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Suddenly, he ran at his fastest speed to search for Gerard, the only person he really knew at the Inn. He had to get a job at the Inn! HE ABSOLUTELY HAD TO! Chapter 295 How Fancy "Bearin, cover me," yelled a woman who leaped into the air and fell behind her cohorts, her focus already on another task she waspleting. As it happened, shended furthest back at the group, directly behind Jovi, the synergist, and Lex, the all around survival expert of the group. The group was locked inbat, fighting against a pack of Ra''s. Ra''s were actually parasites that often took over hosts'' bodies and used them to fight, mostmonly affecting slimes. In exchange forpletely destroying the body in a short time, they would be able to exert power countless times more than the actual strength of the original body''s owner. The pack they were facing had, as usual, taken over slimes, but that did not mean that they were weak. On the contrary, every drop of a slime''s body was energy rich, making the Ra''s particrly formidable. Bearin, one of the mainbatants of the group, moved to intercept the Ra''s attack, but missed it by mere centimeters. He could not be med, for the orange beam moved at inhuman speeds and with devastating strength. The target of the attack remained Sohee, the girl who had yelled, but since she had fallen back, and the attack seemed to have adjusted to follow her direction, it lined up perfectly to hit Lex instead. Too quick to block, or even yell out a warning, the group could only watch as the beam struck Lex. It wasn''t like Lex was a weakling, or that he couldn''t fight, but that his role in the group was as a safety and survival advisor, and had proved himself capable in that regard. As for fighting¡­ it was generally understood thatbatants were better trained and stronger than nobatants, so in a situation where Lex suffered a surprise attack, they expected him to be gravely injured. When the group recovered from the bright sh of light and looked towards Lex to investigate the degree of Lex''s injury, they were surprised to find him unharmed. He remained standing in the same spot, a rather bored look on his face and not a single ruffle on his clothes, with his left hand extended out and his palm stretched out, as if to block the attack with his bare hands. In truth, he had employed the technique Talk to the Hand, but since the barrier erected was invisible, no one noticed. It truly did seem like he blocked the attack with his bare head. "Don''t get distracted, keep blocking," Lex said, breaking the group from their reverie. His tone was instructive, as if he was still continuing his job as a safety advisor.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Too busy to feel embarrassed, the group continued to defend, while Lex continued to stand there, putting his hands in his pockets as he observed the fight. Cwenhild had already informed him that he was not expected to fight, and each member of this group was as elite as they got, which is why he did not really feel bad about not helping out. A short whileter, Sohee, the girl taking cover behind Lex, finally finished her task. Her hair turned purple and her pupils took on a lc hue. She took in a deep breath and, after looking towards the main group of Ra''s, shrieked. As if the sound of her scream had be visible, purple zigzagging streaks ran through the air, doing no harm to her allies but directly crushing the parasites inside the slime bodies. A few still survived, but having lost their numerical advantage, they were quickly crushed. As soon as the fight finished, the group gathered around Cwenhild, who had been silently observing the fight from the side. By now, Lex had learnt a number of things about her. First of all, she was not at all as amicable as she usually was with him. No, she was extremely decisive and firm, and took great pleasure in bending others to her will. That did not, however, mean that she was arrogant or ipetent. In fact, she was quite capable, which is where the issue actually originated from. She assumed, rightfully most of the time, that others could not match up to the standards she held for herself, and so gave little to no importance to their opinions. After all, their perspectives on any issue would end up being vastly different. Most would look up to something as an achievement to something she would consider a failure. Secondly, he had finally heard about her dropping her name, as well as the statement she gave when doing it. It was quite unfortunate but Lex could now determine that she did not at all believe his story about not being a child of the Kings, and instead felt that both of them were in the same boat. He also learnt about why their party was only 12 people instead of more. Yes, this party was made up of the elite of the elite, but even if Cwenhild was limited to only foundation realm cultivators, there was no need to stop at 12. The reason was since she publicly dropped her name, certain people had started targeting her as a form of punishment for her arrogance. No one would have the gall to actually harm her, since the presence or absence of a name did not change her lineage, but many could not swallow the insult to the King her actions had wrought. Fortunately, no one knew her actions were prompted by his hypothetical advice or he would have attracted a whole host of trouble for himself as well. The members of her party, or at least the two that were targeting him, did have some suspicions about him though. They assumed that Lex was trying to win her heart, which is why they wanted to remove him. Initially, Lex was ready to retaliate lethally if her two followers dared try anything over the line. Now, however, he could not see them as any more than little kids fighting over a crush. "Good job on the block, Lex. After this group session, I''ll have to have your defenses tested. If they''re adequate, you can serve the perfect role as Sohee''s defender while she readies her spells." Sohee, the girl who yelled, was a witch, meaning she had a special profession that made use of spiritual energy and soul energybined. Indeed, she was a dual cultivator. In fact, everyone in Cwenhild''s party other than Lex was a dual cultivator, hence their status as the elite. "It was nothing. I always anticipate Bearin''s ipetence," Lex replied casually. Bearin, one of the two guys who always tried to pick on Lex, red at him, but he dared not say anything in front of Cwenhild. It was not just her temper that was scary, but her strength as well. "Sohee, good job with your spell. Jovi, if you''d been faster with augmenting Bearin''s speed he wouldn''t have missed that block. The rest of you, good job, you''ve been performing excellently. Tomorrow we''ll take a rest, and instead of practicing, I''ll be providing all of you with your gear. Day after tomorrow, as you know, the Minor realms open. We''ll be facing the real deal, and the fights won''t be as tame as the ones we''ve been having." A rarepliment invigorated many of the group members, but Lex had diverted his attention towards the Inn while Cwenild spoke. He was not paying attention to the pageant, or the many guests, but instead his attention was on Midnight Mountain. Velma was sitting opposite to the dragon and¡­ drinking tea? No, it was Boba tea. As long as he was paying attention, the dragon did no more than grunt, but Velma was not at all bothered by the dragon''s dismissive attitude and kept regaling it with tales from different worlds. As if that was not odd enough¡­ Gerard was bringing with him, pulled by the strength of his upgraded golf cart, a thirty foot long tea cup up the mountain. Were they¡­ about to offer the dragon tea? Where did they get the massive cup from? Oh, it was a standard cup for massive guests, Mary informed him. Once the empty cup was in ce, Velma put adder against the cup and climbed, all the while holding an ordinary sized tea kettle and continuing her story. When she reached the top, she tilted the kettle to pour, and a thin, unending stream of tea came out, filling the cup with unusual speed. After he recovered from the shock of what was happening, he felt proud. Yes, this was the Inn. Why should his workers feel intimidated by dragons, or extend less courtesy? Once the cup was filled, and Velma climbed down, the dragon finally opened an eye and looked at the little human girl. She looked like a teenager, barely 16, but her eyes contained only an innocent curiosity, and were distinctlycking fear. After a moment, it extended one of its limbs, and picked up the cup. Lex could not help but notice the pinky equivalent of its w extended as it took a sip. How fancy. Chapter 296 Condottiere After taking a big, deep gulp, the dragon blew out steam through its nose and its scales vibrated. "That feels so good, I was absolutely parched," the dragon said, its voice changing drastically from the previous grumble to a surprisingly cute one, that too with a perfectly polished British ent. Lex was standing perfectly still when he heard it, but still nearly fell over. "It''s been a long time since someone has offered me tea. Not since back in the early days when the Condottiere would have a lot more time. How long it has been." "Condottiere? Your leader?" Velma asked, positively beaming with excitement and curiosity. At this point, Lex stopped paying attention, leaving Velma to continue her gossip, for Cwenhild was done with her remarks and they were once again about to begin practice. The timing was a shame. A few more moments, and Lex would have heard the dragons next remarks. "Leader? No, more like the owner. The Condottiere is the owner of thergest mercenary group in the universe. Where trouble brews, and there is gold to be made, the Reaving Dread shall send forth its armies. Well, based on how much gold the client pays." The dragon took another sip of the tea, quite pleased with itself. Velma did not care much for that news, since she worked at the best hotel in the universe. And weren''t the mercenaries working for their hotel? That meant the hierarchy was clearly established, the Innkeeper was better than the Condottiere. She was more curious about other things. Like, do dragons date? And do they have a type? Back in the Crystal realm, Lex spent the next day training, as promised, followed by Cwenhild privately testing out Lex''s defense. He was not one to brag, but when a girl asked for a show, well, Lex put on a show. In the end, without having to use any ridiculous weapons, Cwenhild wasn''t even able to breakthrough Talk to the Hand. To be fair, the technique built a defense proportional to Lex''s own. As it was, a Foundation realm cultivator would have to really put in some effort to hurt Lex, and so the defensive ability of the technique was remarkable, to say the least. He did not have the heart to tell her that he still had the Ripple shell, another powerful defensive technique waiting for anyone who broke through Talk to the Hand. And, should someone finally seed in breaking both, every millimeter of his flesh has the same defensive capability. But while he still had these techniques in reserve, he didn''t doubt that Cwenhild, a Body and Spirit cultivator, didn''t have secret techniques of her own that would deliver awesome power. The next day, as promised, Cwenhild outfitted her entire group personally. That was to say, each member received personalized equipment that would strengthen their strongest aspects and make up for their weaknesses. But while everyone received lithe, maneuverable armor, Lex got a solid metal, sleeveless vest. Not only was it incredibly heavy, actually almost causing Lex''s knees to buckle, it had abs engraved right onto the armor! It felt like he was walking around shirtless! ording to Cwenhild, his defense was so ridiculous that trying to run or dodge was a waste of his efforts, and he should just continue to increase his defense further, even at the expense of movement speed. Everyone received a simr helmet that would protect them from soul tracks and physical tracks, but also let Cwenhildmunicate with all of them simultaneously. Next, Lex received a massive, round shield, and a single-handed sword. While the rest were getting fancy weapons, guns and even a self aiming mini-gun attachable to a wrist, Lex looked like a Spartan knockoff from a cheap y. If there was any constion, it was that Lex''s vambraces had an enchantment that would aid him in drawing arrays. Also, they were extremely durable and further improved Lex''s defense. He was so well protected, a turtle would shy away in shame. The remainder of the day was free, so Lex said his farewell to Amelia before spending a few hours checking up on the Inn. They were still continuing with the preliminary round. With over a million participants in the first round, it was bound to take time. Finally, he went to Cwenhild''s apartment at night. The entire group was gathered there, as they had nned to venture off together. Lex was expecting that the next day there would be some kind of ceremony as well as inauguration. Technically, there would be. But certain elite and privileged students were given an unwritten privilege. The Minor realms were officially opened at midnight, under the bright light of the ever present Sol birds, and before a majority of participants even knew of it, Cwenhild and her group entered a Minor realm. A teacher had especiallye to open the entrance right inside her apartment. The opening to the Minor realm was unusual. It was not dark, nor was it vague. It felt like there was a window, and Lex could look right into the Minor realm. But at the same time, looking at the entrance hurt Lex''s eye, and his brain could not actually absorb the image of the realm beyond. Passing through the opening, which Lex did with steady steps, felt even weirder. It was like Lex suddenly became aware of the sensation of phantom pain, but instead of feeling pain in some missing limb, he felt it in an entire phantom body that was connected to his consciousness, but not his actual body. But, the next second, the phantom body and actual body switched ces, while his consciousness remained absolutely centered between the two. The next moment, the strangeness receded, and Lex found himself standing knee deep in a bog. The water was warm, and bubbles were releasing some kind of green gas. There was no Sol bird in the sky, nor any celestial body. Instead, a light blue light seemed to be emanating from a mountain range in the distance. As peaceful as the light seemed, there was an urgent matter that required his attention. Neither the warm water nor the strange gas did anything to Lex, but he knew instinctively that it was not good for hispanions. "Activate your istion talismans, the air is poisonous," Lex said out loud, warning the rest of the group. They didn''t hesitate, not only because of how weird the air looked, but because Lex had proven his survival skills to them. More than once during training, he had made excellent calls and had earned the group''s trust. Or at least, Cwenhilds.N?v(el)B\\jnn Other than just armor and weapons, they had also been gifted with the best survival equipment and gear. It may seem like Cwenhild was being extremely generous, but none of what she gave them couldpare to a single corner of a Minor realm. "So how do we take control of this Minor realm?" Lex finally asked the big question. It wasn''t like he hadn''t asked before, but all the answers he would receive in the end were that it would be different for each realm. "Jovi, scan the area. Bearin, look for a temporary base rest point. Ness, stop drinking that water. Patrick, ready the beacon¡­" Instead of directly answering Lex, Cwenhild first gave out a few different orders. Before they did anything, they needed to get their bearing, and preferably step out of the bog - though no dry area seemed to be in sight at the moment. Finally, she turned to Lex. "Each of these realms was discovered by the academy, but none of them were naturally made. No one knows how old the Crystal realm is, other than perhaps the Crystal race. The history, the heritage, possibly even the key to defeating the Kraven could be in any of these realms, which is the real reason the academy has us explore them. But, it''s not like they''re sending us to unknown realms. They can estimate the rtive level of each realm, which is why we have the chance to take control of this realm. As for how we do it¡­ I don''t know yet. Once Patrick can deploy the beacon, it will collect information about this realm and I''ll¡­" "Enemies!" Lex interrupted her, suddenly looking in a different direction. "There are hundreds of them, they''re traversing under water, and they''re strong. We need to run, they''reing our way." Cwenhild didn''t doubt him for even a moment, despite the fact that she could not see these enemies and there seemed to be no indication of them yet. The group started running, and after using Hearts Marathon, even Lex was able to keep up despite his heavy armor. Barely. But, despite their attempts at escape, the pursuers seemed to be catching up, and soon everyone was able to sense something swimming through the murky water in the distance behind them. "Mr. Innkeeper," an innocent voice spoke in his mind. "There''s a lot of energy in this realm, but¡­ something seems to be eating it. You should get to it quickly, or there might be none left." Chapter 297 Too Easy "What direction?" Lex asked the Lotus in his mind. "In the distance, where the light from behind the mountain ising from." Lex nodded and approached Cwenhild. "Cwen, I''m not sure if this helps with taking control of the Minor realm but there''s a massive energy source in the direction of those mountains." Cwenhild was genuinely surprised at the information that Lex provided, for those mountains were miles away and it should have been impossible for any of them to detect something so far away unaided. Regardless, she still could not determine if what they were searching for was there, but it was a good guess. "Jovi, any day now," Cwenhild yelled with a hint of impatience in her voice while she looked at the man. An inexperienced person may look at the members of her group and assume that Jovi was one of the weakest and most useless members, whereas that was far from the truth. Jovi was a synergist, a profession adopted by those who dual cultivated the soul and spirit paths. Due to his extreme sensitivity towards life as well as energy, he was able to greatly bolster his allies. Based on his strength and skill, he could even directly double someone''s strength. "Give me a moment¡­ done!" the exasperated Jovi yelled, before his body started to emit a yellow light, enveloping the group. The moment Lex felt the subtle warmth of the light fall on him he felt his speed pick up drastically. The entire group''s strength had increased, and they changed their direction towards the mountains. Running in a bog was frustrating to say the least, and while theirbined teamwork should have allowed them to fight off most enemies, there was no point in wasting their energy doing so. After all, it had to be remembered that while they entered the realm early, others would also enter in a few hours. While a majority of them would simply be hunting for anything valuable, some may also have the same objective. It would be best to take the greatest advantage of their head start. "Tim, do your things," Cwenhild yelled, and the tall man nodded and stopped running, getting left behind. No one questioned it, for they were all familiar with Tim. He was a body and spirit cultivator, and though he did not have a unique profession to set him apart, he had a strong bloodline that made him a demolition expert, as well as extremely capable in setting up traps. A few minutester he caught up, looking slightly pale. But his face showed only a satisfied expression, and only a few momentster when an earthshaking explosion took ce, his smile grew wider. Whatever had been following them stopped after that and the group encountered a massive boulder, jutting out of the ground, giving them a dry ce to rest for a while. Not that any of them other than Tim needed a rest. The real reason they stopped was so that Patrick, a soul and spirit cultivator, could scan the realm using a special beacon.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Looking at this group might cause one to begin doubting the rarity of dual cultivators, but it had to be remembered that even to be qualified to have Cwenhild consider them, they had to be the best in their respective fields. It would not be an exaggeration to say that they were each one out of a million. In fact, it was probably an underestimation. Regardless, what set Patrick apart was his unusual cultivation technique. For various,plex reasons, all originating from that technique, he had developed his spiritual sense prior to the Golden Core realm. In exchange, until he reached the Golden core realm, his body would be very frail, and could not take strenuous exertion. But the advantage that he gained in reconnaissance abilities with the help of various equipment was too great to give up. The rest took this time to check their equipment and keep an eye out for any more trouble. Lex simrly remained vignt. There was no doubt that his instincts would warn him should any danger approach, but that did not mean he should becent. His own experiences were enough to let him know that there were always exceptions to anything you might think is a concrete rule. A few times, he sensed some creatures approach them beneath the murky water. But each time, after sensing the strength and vignce of his group, the creatures would retreat. He had not yet actually seen what form the creatures in this realm actually were. The fact that they hid in the water so far may be one reason, but considering the only light source in this minor realm was very dim, he may as well have missed a few creatures passing by in the distance. "The scan isplete," Patrick said after some time, attracting the attention of the group. "The approximate size of this realm is around 100,000 acres, though with areas thatrge it bes difficult to get an urate guess. There are several, distinct biomes all beside one another. More importantly, there seem to be signs ofrge ruins in many areas, all of which may contain valuable treasures, or perhaps records about the origin of this realm. There''s a lot of interference around the mountains, so I can''t get a detailed reading, but I can vaguely detectrge structures there as well. There''s a good possibility that thergest, or perhaps most intact ruins are there." Cwenhild considered the possibilities for a moment, then had Patrick chart out a path for them towards the mountain while exploring any nearby ruins. With slight detours, they would be able to fit two different ruins on their journey. "There we go, we already know what to do. This conquering minor realms stuff is a lot easier than you said it would be," said one of the group members called Ness. Lex''s lip twitched as he looked at the girl raising death gs. Ness was¡­ not the brightest person Lex had ever met. Even trying to be reserved with his judgement, she could only be called dumb. In fact, when they arrived at this realm, Cwenhild had to stop her from drinking the murky bog water from which the poisonous gas was being released. But, for everything shecked, she was perhaps the most dangerous person Lex had seen at the Foundation realm. To be fair, he had yet to see Cwinhild fight seriously. But Ness, who followed the body path and a rare and dangerous path called Tino, which was also actually a form of the body path, was extremely fast, strong and vicious. He just hoped that her strength would help herbat the endless death gs she was raising, for even as they left the boulder and headed towards the first ruins, she kept emphasizing how boring this was turning out to be. After an hour more of jogging Lex couldn''t help but admit that the journey had, indeed, so far been much easier than anticipated. Maybe visiting multiple realms and absorbing energy won''t be such an ordeal after all. No sooner had Lexpleted the thought that the ground erupted from beneath them, with no forewarning whatsoever. By the time Lex''s instincts kicked in, he was already flying through the air, a sharp stone like spear stuck in arge dent in his armor. In the air, with no sense of what was happening to the rest, he quickly pulled his legs up to his chest, just in time to dodge another rock spear. Despite the surprise attack, Lex wasn''t at all injured. This wasn''t a result of his sturdiness, but rather of his preparations. He had used Ripple shell, a defensive technique that covered his body the moment he entered the minor realm. The best part was that the technique would stay active until disabled or defeated. When Lex finallynded, he quickly leaped aside, in case anyone was attacking hisnding spot, and took note of the situation. The enemy was¡­ it looked like some kind of sentient rock that could manipte the minerals in the ground around it. He took note of the clothes and found that Jovi, Sohee and Patrick were hurt, with Patrick in the worst condition. Without wasting a moment, he employed Hearts Marathon to boost his speed and sprinted right into the fray. With the element of surprise lost, and with his instincts fully working, he dodged each of the stone spearsunched his way with ease. Without a thought for attacking the rock, he grabbed all the injured and promptly retreated from the fight. This was not cowardice, but the simple fact that if he attacked, he would interfere with the coordinated attack the rest were performing. In any given situation, he would first follow his training, and only take the initiative to make different decisions should a drastic change ur. Just as he retreated from thebat zone, and set the three down, the ground behind him burst once again, and a barrage of stone spears flew at him. Chapter 298 Irony A cloud of dust and smoke closely followed the eruption of the ground, which, along with the already low visibility, made it impossible to see. "Damn!" eximed Cwenhild as she dashed into the dust cloud. She had no doubt that Lex would survive even if he was taken by surprise, but the other three might not. She used a seemingly simple palm attack in the air, causing a gust of wind to clear the cloud, revealing Lex heroically blocking the stone spears from attacking the three behind him. If it had just been a single stone attacking him, or even multiple attacking from the same direction, he could have gotten by with using Talk to the Hand. But three different sentient stones seemed to be attacking him from various directions, causing him to run around, blocking each attack with his shield. The three injured members weren''t just sitting idly by either. Jovi had Patrick on his back and was trying to build some distance, while Sohee prepared a spell to attack, her attentionpletely diverted, leaving her vulnerable. Upon learning the situation was under control, Cwenhild diverted her momentum and attacked one of the sentient stones. Were this a normal stone, her single attack would have pulverized it, but on this rock it only spread a few cracks. The rocks had no mouths so they could not scream, but the spirit energy surrounding them vibrated violently, causing everyone to be hit by a wave of dizziness. Sohee, however, was able to finish her spell in time. A dome of purple light formed around the three sentient stones, blocking their attacks while simultaneously attacking their souls! The spirit energy in the air began to vibrate even more frenziedly, giving birth to the illusion of shrieking. Just as Sohee was about to sigh in relief, the ground started cracking, revealing more and more stones. "We need to regroup!" yelled Lex to Cwenhild. "I can''t tell how many there are, but even as is, we''re surrounded." Even Lex could only block attacks from a single direction at a time, and with them being surrounded and outnumbered, they would need to work together. "Leave it to me," yelled Patrick and pped his hands together. An invisible, yet strangely tangible ripple traveled through the air, originating from his p, slowing down the rocks attacks. He did not need to exin what he had done for all the team members knew each other''s abilities. The rocks did not have eyes, and while no one could tell exactly how they perceived the world around them, there was a good chance that their perception was based on spiritual energy - simr to the way spiritual sense was derived from spiritual energy. Patricks p could create energy ripples within a small radius, effectively weakening all spiritual perception abilities. It was originally designed to work against scouts, but for creatures solely dependent on such abilities, the ripple was even more effective. Taking advantage of the short interruption, Lex and the others regrouped, though there seemed to be no hope of escaping. More and more rocks were revealing themselves, already increasing the numbers to over a dozen, and during the brief shes they had, they were not able to kill any of the rocks. "Can you tell why you aren''t able to sense them?" Cwenhild asked Lex. This was the first time Lex hadn''t been able to foretell an attack, and they needed to understand if this was a unique circumstance or something that could be replicated. "Pretty much. I didn''t sense anything, because this wasn''t a trap. These rocks just happened to be in the ground we were covering. Even so, if they had been asleep, I would still have been able to sense the danger. It''s more like they were in some kind of stasis that made them no different from ordinary rocks in the ground." Cwenhild nodded, understanding the limits of Lex''s ability, and moved on to the next matter. "The situation is serious, but not impossibly so. Form a circle, and coordinate on the attack. Ness, you take lead on the attack and the rest will support you." "I''ll cover the ground so that it doesn''t erupt under us," Lex added. "But the range is only about 10 feet so stay close." Lex''s defensive technique, Talk to the Hand, was originally designed only to be used from the hands. However for Lex, who mastered the technique with a depth that may have even surpassed the creator of the technique, making small alterations to use it from his feet was no issue. The three injured gathered in the center of the circle, all the while activating their abilities to support the team. Silvia, another one of the group members, a body and soul cultivator, began healing them while the rest focused on attacking and defending. Having collected themselves, and working together once again, their lethality shot through the roof. Ness was a human torpedo, shooting through the distance that separated herself and the target, leaving only destruction in her wake. Tim was using his bloodline to boost the explosiveness of her attacks while Jovi was increasing her speed. Patrick kept causing ripples, to distract the rocks, while the rest either intercepted attacks aimed towards Ness or protected their circle. The tides changed like a flip of a switch, and the number of rocks finally started decreasing instead of increasing. In just a few seconds, when she managed to destroy 5 of the rocks, even the rocks changed their strategies. Instead of endlessly barraging the circle with stone spears, the rocks rolled towards one another. The rocks attached themselves to one another with practiced precision, and in a moment, they went from being numerous individual sentient rocks to one massive, humanoid monster made of many small rocks. Ironically, though, the shift made it even easier for them to destroy the newly formed rock monster. The only reason they were disadvantaged to begin with was the overwhelming numbers, attacking them from different angles. With that advantage lost, it did not matter at all that the rock monster was stronger in this form. After all, their group was notcking in strength. "Investigate the rocks, see if there is anything of value. If not, we''ll move from here before taking a rest once we put some distance between this ce and us," said Cwinheld. Since Patrick was best at investigation, he scanned the rocks and discovered these rocks were not normal. They could serve as valuable crafting or forging material, but unfortunately that was as far as their speciality went. The rocks were too heavy to take along, and after they grabbed a small memento of the fight, the group sprinted away, this time more vignt. ? As it turned out, the prudence was well founded, for only a few minutes after they left, many strange creatures had been attracted by the sound of fighting. Finding nothing other than the corpses of the rock monsters, the creatures dispersed. Some who were interested in the corpses fought with one another. Yet none of that had anything to do with Lex''s group.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om They ran all the way to the entrance of a forest and, after scouting for a bit, found a secluded area to rest in. They weren''t tired enough to warrant rest, but if the three injured members of the group weren''t adequately healed, they would not be able to keep up with the group. All in all, they had performed well, considering this was their first actual encounter as a group, but the three who were injured couldn''t help but feel embarrassed. After all that training, they had been the first to falter. Of course, there were two other people who were feeling something else entirely. Bearin and Nick, the two who had been targeting Lex, stared at him with disgust. In their opinion, Lex was entire ipetent, and had proved as much by the fact that he hadn''t warned them about the attack. One could argue that detecting enemies wasn''t what Lex was brought onboard for in the first ce, so a misstep in this regard mattered little. After all, every warning he gave them benefited them greatly, and was a bonus on the fact he was supposed to advise them on survival. It was just that, he had been so good and so consistent with it that this little matter had slipped their minds. Once the three were finally healed, or rather healed enough, the group continued their journey. As they were running in a forest now, they encountered more beasts, but fortunately Lex was able to warn them with ample time, allowing them to ovee the ordeal smoothly. A few hourster, they finally reached the first ruin, and the moment theyid eyes on the ancient structure, everyone other than Lex gasped in excitement. A momentter though, lex caught on as well. These were no ordinary buildings - their design, their material, even the size of them, they all signified who the inhabitants of these buildings had once been. The Crystal race! Chapter 299 An Interesting Guest It would not require a genius to realize the value this realm held if it used to belong to the Crystal race - after all, they were the strongest race around. Furthermore, in the long history of the Crystal realm, it would be unrealistic to say that the Crystal race had never suffered any defeat, or given up any realms. But, while suffering defeat was a possibility, it was much, much rarer for the Crystal race for several reasons. To fully exin the reasoning, aparison between a settlement of the Crystal race and the human race can be made. The first and foremost challenge of a human settlement woulde from a hostile environment. The time required for a newborn human to even embark upon the cultivation road was 15 years, and so it was reasonable to say that on average, at least 20 years were required for humans to train a basic soldier from birth. If, during this time, a human settlement faced too many losses or deaths from hostile forces, the settlement would then be vulnerable. In contrast, a newborn from the Crystal race was born with the power level equivalent to a human Golden core cultivator. Even if at birth they could not contribute to security, just by existing, the Crystal race had a higher threshold for the danger they could tolerate. The second challenge a settlement would face would be transmitting knowledge or skills. For example, a carpenter, no matter how good, is limited in how much they can work. More would have to be trained just to maintain the minimum requirements of a settlement, and regardless of field, the process was a long and tedious one. The Crystal race, however, had a much faster way of transmitting information, in which they could imbue their experiences to those who wanted to learn. While skill would still require training and effort, the learning period was drastically reduced this way. This not only allowed them to retain their settlement, but also easily expand if needed. Lastly, one of the greatest challenges every settlement would face was the inevitable march of time, and the changes it brought. Leaders would die, buildings would copse, policies would be outdated and so much more. If each sessive generation of that settlement did not rise to the challenges of their times, a single lifetime was enough to destroy even the sturdiest of foundations. But for the Crystal race, while time brought its own challenges, the one thing it did not bring was old age and deterioration. This was because every member of the Crystal race, regardless of age or cultivation, was born immortal. This was not to say that they never got sick, or could not be killed. Rather, it just meant that the declines that humans faced after they passed their prime was something the Crystal race would never encounter. This meant that they would forever retain their great leaders, their best doctors, their legendary crafters, and since each of them had all but infinity to master their crafts, their standard for ''legendary'' was something the other races considered myths. So now, looking at the ruins of what must have been some kind of Crystal race settlement, the entire group could not help but wonder what had happened here. "Can you sense anything?" Cwenhild asked Patrick, who was already scanning the buildings using his beacon. "There are many energy signatures in the buildings - but they''re not living. Which means there are either items or treasures of very high value in there or, the most likely scenario, is that the buildings still have some functioning formations." "Scout the area, I want to know if any beasts have made this their territory before going inside." Most of the group waited while Patrick and Cindy, the tracking expert, a body and spirit cultivator, went out to scout the area. When they returned, they brought back predictable news. The ruins had be the nest for arge predator, the Bloody Jit. It was a flightless bird, not because itcked wings, but because its body was so massive, its wings could not support its weight. It was extremely deadly, ridiculously strong and had the ferocity of a tornado, so naturally the first order of business was killing the bird. This is where all their training began to shine, and as soon as Patrick provided the group with a map of the ruins and the surrounding terrain, they began nning the fight. One would expect that in a battle like this, Lex would serve as the bait to bring the beast to an ambush spot. But no, he had a different job, one that would finally allow him to put his arrays to use. Once the creature was lured to wherever the group wanted to fight, and thebatants began fighting, they would have to ensure that the beast did not escape once the tide of the battle turned against it. Essentially, he would have to create an inescapable cage. For requests of this level, Lex would have to rely on the book he had gotten from John. The author had recorded a number of excellent arrays, seemingly for any scenario and now Lex would put them to use. But, as he was still a beginner, it would take him well over an hour to create such an array.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Fortunately, preparing to fight the Bloody Jit would also take time. The group began working. ***** This, which was several timesrger than Jupiter, was one of the most popr tourist spots in all of Jotun territory. Such a im was no small matter, as it was not just considering a single gxy, but all the gxies under Jotun rule. The reason for that was not only the fact that this was abundant in every kind of resource, rich in beauty, absolutely secure as well as a hub formerce on an interster scale, but because this was the private property of one of the most noble families in the Jotun Empire. The Jotun Empire, along with its royal family, had several noble families as well, all with varying levels of importance. Of those families, there were three ranked directly below the royal family, in both prestige and power. Each family had their own speciality, but in such a utilitarian universe, absolute power was the most important factor in deciding a family''s worth. The intricacies of the Jotun societal system wereplex, and the standings of the noble families even more so, however, allplexities aside, no matter what, it was absolutely unusual that a member of such a family was running in such panic, on his own no less! The 19 year old Golden core cultivator looked nothing like a scion as he ran through the empty, but usually crowded fruit farm. There was no one chasing him. In fact, this entire region of the seemed to be devoid of any people beside the running boy. But theck of pursuers did not soothe the boy. At this point, he was running on fumes, as not only had he been awake for several days, he had already overdrawn his spiritual energy. In a few minutes at most, he would copse. As if aware of this, whoever was after the boy made no effort to close the distance. They were content to watch and wait. "Where is it... where is it?" he mumbled to himself, his mind on the brink of copse. Just as he was losing hope, the bracelet on his wrist vibrated and the boy''s eyes widened in joy. With no energy left to put on a performance, he did not hide his actions as he suddenly stopped and started digging in the ground. As if sensing something unusual about his actions, hundreds of figures suddenly appeared in the farm, all of them hooded, ethereal figures. But, their arrogance had cost them. The boy suddenly dug up a small container and smashed it open, revealing a golden key and a letter. Not wasting any time, he grabbed the letter and crushed the key, disappearing in a golden light mere moments before the nearest hooded figure reached his spot. "I''ve lost his trace," the hooded figure said, devoid of all emotions. As if that was all they needed to hear, the remaining figures vanished into thin air, as if they had never been there. ***** As soon as the boy arrived at the Inn, he fell to his knees, fighting to keep his consciousness. He didn''t know where he was, or if it was safe. As if sensing his distress, a hologram of a human appeared in front of him and informed him that he was at the Midnight Inn, and that he was absolutely safe. Help was already on the way to give him medical aid. Upon hearing that, the boy smiled, and allowed himself to lose consciousness. After all, he, Noman Butt, was born with a very special power. No one or thing in the universe, regardless of their cultivation level, could lie to him without him finding out. The hologram had not lied when it introduced the Inn, and so he knew he was safe. For now. Chapter 300 Arrogance Or Confidence? Some timeter, Noman woke up in the Recovery room. He wasn''t in the Recovery Pod for he hadn''t actually suffered any grave injuries, just severe exhaustion. It was not something that would recover quickly, and he would be in a weakened state for weeks if not months toe. However, it did seem like the Recovery room had a positive effect on him, so maybe that time could be cut short. He was in a private room, so he was alone, which allowed him to rx - a little. The letter he brought alongside him was on a table beside him, so he tore it open to read. The message it conveyed was short and simple: Stay at the Inn as long as you can, it will be able to hide your trace. Adopt a false identity and only leave the Inn once you''re able to block all forms of scrying or prophecy. Your helper in the dark Noman grimaced when he read the letter. His ability to detect truth was not as simple as it seemed. Regardless of the medium, his ability would stay active. This meant that, even just by reading this letter, he could tell whoever wrote this letter was telling the truth. Furthermore, it was not so easy-to-use technicalities to mislead him. If a person told a truth, but with the intention of providing a false perception, then Noman''s ability would detect that as a lie as well. This was an ability he had since birth, and though he did not understand itpletely when he was a child, since the moment he realized what it was, he had kept this ability secret. He was not an heir, or some high-ranking member of the Butt family, but even just as a regr member, the exposure he had was beyond what others couldprehend. As such, he never even told his parents, or the seniors in his family, about this ability, for more than once he heard the seniors lie. Of course, detecting a lie did not mean he would automatically learn the truth, but sometimes, just knowing falsehood was enough. After all, he had seen many speeches made by prominent politicians and nobles, some even from the royal family, and would immediately know when they were lying. People would kill him to keep their secrets, and others would kill just to get their hands on his ability. All in all, he just wanted to pretend to be a regr boy from a big family. But it was not meant to be.N?v(el)B\\jnn Some time ago, he received a letter from the mysterious ''helper in the dark'' iming that, using some kind of oracle, a certain organization had learnt the truth of his ability and wasing to kidnap him for their own purposes. Since then, his life had turned upside down. Infiltrating his family''s was already a big deal, but somehow isting him from everyone, and blocking off anyone else from approaching, took power and influence he could not even imagine. At the very least, they hadn''t been tant about their motives, which meant they were still wary of his family. He considered just informing his family of his secret as well, but he knew that would lead to a life of being a puppet, which was not something he wanted. He closed his eyes and went back to sleep. When he was feeling a little better, he would go investigate this Inn. At least they were nice enough to not ask him for money before treating him. But how was he supposed to know that the Inn had directly sent the invoice to his family, who had paid without bothering to investigate what it was for? ***** Lex stood calmly out in an open field, his mind wandering. He had already finished the array, and all that was needed now was to wait for the Bloody Jit to enter the trap so he could finally activate it. Until he did that, he could not move away. Eventually, the beast was lured here. He heard it before he saw it, the sharp screeching of a furious bird apanied by the dull sound of earth being ripped apart, like a massive till cutting through thend. When it came into sight, to his surprise, Lex found that the bird simply looked like an eagle, just expanded to about fifty feet (15 meters). Its body was pressed directly against the ground, and Lex didn''t me it, for he doubted its leg would be able to carry the weight of its massive body. Instead, it was using its wings to pull itself forward, like a baby just learning to crawl. Despite the odd nature in which it moved, it was not slow at all. It moved like a train, hurling anything in its path away. It was chasing after Bearin originally, but something about the way Lex stood in the open casually, looking at it as if watching a show, greatly antagonized it. Letting loose another deafening screech, it changed its target to Lex. Yet still, even as its hulking figure bore down towards Lex, he did not so much as flinch. The calm in his eyes was more deafening than any screech, and his stationary figure more arrogant than any beast. The Bloody Jit was looking forward to crushing the puny human, but it was not meant to be. Just as the Jit was a few feet away from bulldozing Lex into a bloody pulp, he snapped his fingers and a barrier of light and air erected itself in front of him. The Jit was too close to evenprehend slowing down and crashed into the barrier full force. Within the barrier, the earth shattered as if struck by a missile,unching massive clumps of dirt and rocks into the air, yet the barrier itself did not even tremble. The Bloody Jit had turned bloody, with its beak caved in, its head disfigured and its body morphed into a ball. Many of its bones were likely broken if not entirely crushed, and Lex did not even want to imagine the condition its spine was in. Yet the anger in the Jit''s eyes did not diminish or weaken, and it red at Lex like the very purpose of its existence was to murder him. A whim struck Lex as he watched the unyielding beast and he asked, "Can you understand me? A beast at your level should have some basic intelligence, right? This is a fight you''ve already lost. Yield to me, and I''ll stop them from killing you." The Bloody Jits aura exploded as it screeched up into the sky, a deration of its power and hatred. "A pity," Lex said, feeling disappointed. But he no longer paid the bird any heed. Ness, Bearin and Tim had entered the barrier as well to deal with it, and he did not doubt their ability to y it even when the Jit was in good health, let alone now. With his hands in his pockets, Lex began to make his way towards the ruins. He strolled towards the nearest building, ignoring the sounds ofbat behind him, and instead he was contemting his own behavior. It urred to him that as his cultivation, and along with it his various abilities, grew, his personality was also slowly changing. This was his first outing since the expedition with Ptolemy, and already he could feel the difference. He was no longer wrecked with worry about his survival, and in fact tested the limits of ability and his control over it. Previously, he would have never waited until the bird almost reached the end of the barrier. As soon as it entered, he would have activated it. Now, though, he pushed it to the absolutest minute. Maybe it was arrogance in his new found power. Maybe it was an inherent confidence in knowing his limits. Maybe it was just him experimenting with something new. All he knew for certain, though, was that it felt good not to be worried about dying at the slightest incident. The calm, confident expression on his face finally broke, letting through a small smile. Now he finally felt like he was living. Now he could finally start actually enjoying all the blessings the Inn brought him. He had to be careful not to let his newfound power go to his head, but he could also let himself enjoy it a little. He suddenly recalled a feeling he once got when he first started hosting the Midnight Games. When the strong and powerful deferred to him, and when he overcame fear to take control of the situation. It was feeling your heart beat in your chest, it was feeling the blood course through your veins. He took in a deep breath, taking in all the smells of the forest, and as he let the air out of his lungs, he clenched his fists. ''Lex freaking Williams,'' he said in his mind, his smile bing even bigger. Then he stepped into the first ruins - and froze. Chapter 301 Mysterious Figure The ruins that Lex and the group had encountered were notrge. Though covered in nt growth and suffering from obvious signs of wear, some of the buildings had copsed roofs or walls, evenbining all of them there were less than 10 buildings. That meant this was too small to be a town or even a vige, if those existed in the Crystle race culture. Lex assumed that this must have either been a travel outpost, a small research camp, maybe even the private property of someone rich, or something along those lines. A small, adventurous part of him had been hoping that when he entered the building, through some mystical magic or miracle of the Crystal race, he would discover the interior untouched by time, and whatever event drove the race from here. That clearly wasn''t the case. However, when he entered the building, for the briefest of moments, Lex felt like he saw a figure standing inside. The figure disappeared so fast that under normal circumstances, Lex would have questioned if he even saw something at all. After all, it wasn''t usual to catch something from the corner of your eye, but when you turn to look, it was something entirely different.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om What made him so certain the figure really had existed, though, were the goosebumps on the back of his neck. In that absolute split second, he had felt extreme danger. There was a certainty with which his instincts told him that the figure could ovee his defenses easily, and pose a very real risk to his life. But, for whatever reason, the figure had no intentions of confronting him. Lex squinted his eyes as he scanned the littered room. The floor was covered in dirt and rocks, alongside broken debris that might have once belonged to this building, but was no longer recognizable. He remained standing in the doorway, observing the room, until Cwenhild finally joined him. "What are you looking for?" she asked, having noticed him standing there for a while. "There was someone here before us," Lex informed her. "Whoever it was, they disappeared as soon as I approached. I''m checking for traps, but I don''t sense anything out of the ordinary." "That''s not possible, we''re the first ones in this realm. There''s still a few hours before others start entering." "I don''t know what to tell you, except that there was definitely someone here." Cwenhild pursed her lips as she took in Lex''s statement. A list of scenarios went through her head, including someone sneaking on to punish or even assassinate her for giving up her family name. But it did not seem likely. "I''ll check out the building. Maybe we''ll be able to discover what the person wanted." Cwenhild nodded, and slowly followed Lex. There was too little information to start specting, and should not cause her to start suspecting anyone, but it was a fact that the group following her all consisted of people she was paying. They followed her for the prestige and the reward, but considering their qualifications and caliber, none of them were people without sufficient backgrounds. Despite the ongoing war, the politics between the various forces in the human race did not disappear. It became a lot more subtle, and hardly would anyone push things too far, but she was well aware of the cult-like following her father enjoyed. Lex and Cwenhild swept the entire building but found nothing of note. They could see that over the years, multiple animals and beasts had turned these buildings into their nests, which, in turn, spoke volumes about the strength of these buildings. But that was it. By the time they exited, the rest of the group was also catching up, Ness panting andpletely drenched in yellow blood, but otherwise fine. "Good job, you guys. Ness, Bearin and Tim, you guys take a rest in this building. Cindy, harvest anything useful from the Bloody Jit. The rest, look through all the buildings and see if you find anything useful. Report back here once you''re done. After a short rest and some lunch, we''ll move out." The group dispersed as they went about to perform their tasks. None of them needed the rest, but the threebatants had exerted themselves and it was best to keep them in peak condition than continuously push them. Furthermore, had Lex not encountered the mysterious person, perhaps Cwenhild would have chosen to quickly look through the ruins before moving on. Now though, she preferred to be more cautious. Lex noticed that she didn''t pass on information about the intruder, but chose not to say anything. The ruins, despite all the promise of the Crystal race, held nothing too special. In the Bloody Jits nest they discovered a small pond of green liquid that apparently had phenomenal value. Since they could not transport it, the entire group took turns drinking from the pond directly. If Cwenhild was able to take control of this Minor realm, they would be able to ess it as much as they wanted. Until then, though, it was best not to burden themselves by carrying sks or waterskins full of the stuff. When Lex drank it he felt his entire body heat up for a few minutes before returning to normal. Apparently, this liquid was excellent for cleansing meridians and helped boost cultivation speed. But soon, Lex, as well as the entire group, realized that the situation with Lex was unusual. Everyone, Cwenhild included, turned red from the rising body temperature and soon steam seemed toe out of their bodies. No onemented on it, but the implications of the anomaly were shocking. It was quite simple: Lex''s meridians were pure to such a level that the liquid could not provide him with any boost. Everyone quietly contemted Lex''s background, while Cwenhild wondered even more what this ''half-brother'' of hers had encountered. Other than the liquid they encountered a few more precious resources that would have otherwise caused the group to squeal, but considering their expectations from the ruins, it was somewhat disappointing. Eventually, the group continued their journey, on towards the next set of ruins. As they ventured back into the forest, a figure appeared on the top of one of the buildings and looked at the group. Specifically, the figure stared at Lex. But, for now, that was all the figure did. The trek through the forest this time was much easier. They were not attacked at all, and all beasts kept their distance. The reason was fairly simple. Ness reeked of the blood of an apex predator, and there was no beast that was aggressive to the point of being suicidal. One time the group even spotted an extremely rare and precious nt in the territory of a tiger like beast. When they decided to take a risk for the nt because of how genuinely precious it was, the tiger actually ran away! Lex made a mental note: use the blood of a strong beast to ward off attacks. For the simple fact that they were no longer obstructed, the group''s travel speed picked up and they soon found the next set of ruins, still within the forest. These ruins were bigger, with hundreds of buildings easily, and were simultaneously in a worse condition. "Are we going to search through these as well?" Lex asked as he looked down at the buildings that had somehow be a part of the forest now. He and the group were looking down from the tip of a particrly long tree that gave them a clear sight over the surrounding area. He had nothing against looking through the ruins, but it would take too long, and he still wanted to go towards the energy source behind the mountains. He didn''t know if it was his imagination, but he felt the blue light behind the mountains had dimmed slightly. "Patrick, scan the ruins. Are there any concentrated or high energy signatures?" said Cwenhild, prompting the man to take out his trusted beacon. But, before he got to use it, the group spotted hundreds of shes of light across the Minor realm, spread far apart. At the same time, a massive current was formed in the spiritual energy of the realm, indicating that the realm had formed a permanent open door somewhere leading out of it. The group immediately picked up on what this meant and turned to look at Cwenhild to see if she changed her orders. She was considering it. She had not shared this information, but to take over a realm, she would need to find a focal point for the Minor realm. The artificially created Minor realms did not move through space, the way they did in the origin realm, but instead had an entirely different set of rulers governing them. One of those rulers was about the focal point. A seemingly easy guess would be that the focal point of this Minor realm should be in the energy dense area behind the mountains, but that was not necessarily true as the... "We''re being attacked," Lex said, interrupting her thoughts. Before she could ask about, or even realize, the origin of the attack, he held out his hand and erected his barrier, just in time to intercept an entirely ck arrow. Chapter 302 Welcome Guests The arrow bounced off Lex''s barrier with a simple ng sound, as if nothing happened, but Lex''s casual expression turned serious. Although there was no visible sign of it, the arrow had nearly punctured his barrier! "We''re too exposed, jump down," Cwenhild said, before jumping down herself as well. Indeed, the entire group standing near the tip of a very long tree made them easy targets. Lex jumped down as well, his guard up the entire time, but there was no follow up attack. Considering that they hadn''t even been able to see who the attacker was, the group raised their guard instead of rxing in the absence of a follow up. "Do you think they gave up after their first attack failed?" one of the group members asked.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Possibly. But that attack was very misleading. The speed and sound of the arrow made it seem like it was ordinary, but if anyone else would have blocked it, the arrow would have torn through your defense. Whoever attacked was very powerful. If they were just probing, then it''s likely that they''re gone, but if they''re targeting us, then they''re probably just waiting for us to drop our guard." "Lex, say on guard. Warn us as soon as you sense something off. Patrick, scan the ruins. We''re looking for high or concentrated energy signatures. If we don''t pick up anything, we''ll make a beeline for the mountains." The group spread out a bit, while Cindy and Ness went out to see if they could learn anything about their tracker. Patrick scanned the ruins, but this time it took much longer for he was being careful not to attract too much attention. When Cindy and Ness returned, their report was worrying. They couldn''t pick up any signs of their attacker whatsoever. This meant that whoever it was, they were extremely proficient in counter tracking, not to mention there was no way of knowing if they were around or had left. Lex couldn''t sense anything at the moment, but that wasn''t any assurance. "There are three extremely concentrated energy zones in the ruins, as well as many life forms. I can''t differentiate between beasts and people from a basic scan, but regardless, the ruins are full." "Lead us to the nearest one. We''ll take the most direct route." Cwenhild''s focus now was on being as direct as possible to save time, but for better or for worse, the peaceful portion of their journey came to an end. While they still created an intimidating enemy for beasts, the beasts were already being attacked by numerous students who teleported near these ruins. In the midst of battle, even if they faced an impossible foe, they had no choice but to fight - and fight they did. The group quickly figured out that the ruins had split into three territories belonging to two different beast packs and one flock or avian beasts, and all of them were ferocious. Perhaps under normal circumstances, it would have taken them time to cut through them, but Cwenhild had finally stepped away from justmanding, and was leading the group directly beside Patrick. Her choice of weapon was an enchanted ive, though Lex had yet to see her use her enchantments because no foe could survive more than a single cut. Lex wasn''t measuring time, but they reached the first concentrated energy zone fairly quickly - and it became immediately apparent why the energy was so dense here. There was a formation, surrounding a single story building. The building waspletely untouched, and gave the group a glimpse of what these ruins must have looked like in their glory days. But neither the smooth white walls nor the intricate blue tile patterns drew the group''s attention here. Instead, it was a battle between a group of humans and beasts that drew their sight. Cwenhild frowned, then sighed. She could foresee how this would end, but¡­ the beasts had to die for them to figure out how to get through the formation, so she led her group to attack. The beasts gave them no problem at all, and in a few minutes, the fighting ended. The humans didn''t immediately thank them for the assistance, though, and eyed them warily. A nce was all it took to tell that Cwenhild and the rest were together, while the others hade together out of the necessity of the moment. Cwenhild held the advantage but the allure of whatever treasure this building held was enough to get them to try. There was a silent stand off between the two groups, each waiting to see how the other would react, until Lex let out an annoyed sigh. "Alright, alright. Let''s get on with it. Which one of you is the strongest? Try and attack me. If you can prick my finger, you can join us. If not, I suggest you leave. This is not me forcing you, just by the way. This is me strongly advising you not to fling yourself off a cliff, because you won''t like the ending." Without waiting for a reply, Lex held out his hand, as if inviting them to attack. His nonchnce irritated the other group, while hispanions silently observed him. In the end, a particrly well dressed student broke out of the group, looking at Lex with disdain. "Who do you think you are, to advise me? I''m advising you, little kid. Get lost, and never show me your face again. If I unleash an attack, let alone your finger, even your ancestors will be decimated. Next time, wash your teeth before talking to me, because your breath stinks just as bad as your threats. You¡­" Lex stopped listening as his expression fell. He was not one to be easily irked by insults, but he suddenly had shbacks of the system telling him to brush as well. He was an extremely clean and hygienic person, goddammit! "Do whatever you want," Lex said as he put down his arm and returned to the group, ignoring the verbal diarrhea being spewed by the arrogant prick. The group was smirking and chuckling as Lex walked back, all enjoying his slight humiliation. It was not out of spite. It was just that Lex was the only one who ever came out of their fights and training unharmed, so now that he finally suffered some kind of loss they couldn''t help but enjoy it. Cwenhild, too, felt the urge to tease Lex, but ultimately didn''t as she wanted to stay on task. Without any forewarning, Cwenhild appeared before the ranting student and rammed the backend of her ive into his stomach, throwing him to the ground. The remaining students, caught off guard, were shocked, and then angered. Though before they could respond, Bearin appeared in front of them and crashed right into their group. He was careful not to use too much force, as he didn''t want to kill anyone. But the difference between an elite, dual path cultivator and a single path cultivator became easily apparent. "This is your only warning," Cwenhild said, looking at the group with stern eyes. "Get lost or we''ll stop holding back." As he watched the fear and anger paint the students faces, Lex snorted. That''s what they got for wasting his good intentions. "Any idea how to open the formation?" Tim asked. "I can try using my bloodline to do some damage, but if opening this was as simple as brute force, I doubt this formation would havested this long." "I could try to read the formation, but that would take a while," said Lex. "No need, we''vee prepared. Jovi, link up." Jovi quickly ran up to the formation and opened up his backpack, taking out a number of items that looked like hex nuts. One by one, he began attaching them to the formation surrounding the building, making sure he attached them perfectly level with one another. In the end, he handed thest one to Cwenhild who did not waste time on exnations or ceremony. She channeled her spirit energy, activating whatever items these were. The formation immediately reacted, warping into odd shapes until, eventually, the formation shattered. A wave of dense spirit energy flooded out when the formation copsed, causing Lex to be momentarily stunned. He was not the only one, as the entire group froze. Not only was this energy extremely concentrated, it was of a much higher quality than whatever they were absorbing. But the stun effect onlysted a moment, mostly because the system absorbed it all! The umtion rose by 0.1%, bringing his total to 1.3%. Once the rest of the group recovered as well, their eyes became frenzied with excitement and greed as they looked at the building. Whatever it was holding had to be absolutely amazing! "Let go," Cwenhild said, "but don''t drop your guard. If whoever shot that arrow is still around, they''ll take advantage of any distraction." The group quickly rposed themselves and went towards the building, only for the doors to open on their own. "Wee guests," said a warm, deep voice. Chapter 303 Sleeping Bunker Lex felt weird being at the opposite end of a wee, but he did not let the greeting drop his guard. He peered inside the door, but could not see anyone. The little he could make of the room inside gave him the impression that it was a cozy, carpeted reception, well lit and with a line of chairs to sit in, as well as an empty reception desk. But when he was done looking, he realized that hispanions seemed much more wary than him. "What''s wrong?" he asked. "Didn''t you hear that creepy noise?" Bearin remarked, slightly annoyed. The sound¡­ whatever that sound was gave him chills down his spine. The best way to describe it was an utter gut wrenching squeal of a dying man. "The noise? You mean the wee?" he asked, confused. But the confusionsted only a moment, as he quickly realized what happened. Lex could speak and understand allnguages in the universe due to the Universal Language Converter that had been tattooed behind his ear. In fact, most of the time he wasn''t even aware that he was speaking in anothernguage, as to him, it was all in English. But the difference became evident in a situation like this, where they encountered anguage no one else spoke. The greatest problem Lex had now was¡­ he had no idea whatnguage he was speaking, so if anyone asked, he''d have to make something up. "The ''sound'' was a greeting which said ''wee guests''. Though, I can''t seem to see who was speaking." "Alright, get in defensive formation. Lex, you lead. No matter what the situation, we need to investigate the house." Lex nodded, and walked in, his shield in his hand. It wasn''t that he didn''t trust his own defenses, but after that arrow nearly broke through his barrier, he decided to stop underestimating everyone. As soon as they entered, a projection appeared behind the reception desk and looked at them. The projection seemed to be a female from the Crystal race. Their body structure - externally, at least - was remarkably simr to humans except, instead of skin, their body was made up of see through crystals. The way humans? wore clothes to cover their skin, the Crystal race covered their bodies in cloth and colored gems. To allow others to look through their clear body was considered extremely indecent, equivalent to a human in the nude. But even wrapped in a simple cloth, with turquoise crystals forming a smooth mask to cover her face, the projection looked immacte. Under the gaze of her purple eyes, Lex felt a warmth in his heart, as if it pleased him to be looked at by her. The innocence in her eyes, the gentleness of her¡­ Lex''s soft expression turned hard as he brought his shield forward and drew his sword, ring at the projection like an enemy. His sudden action startled the group, as well as the projection, but before anyone could inquire, Lex spoke in the same gut wrenchingnguage that the group had heard earlier. "If the hospitality of your race involves influencing your guests spirit, then I must say, I am quite disgusted by the Crystal race." The projection of the woman was suddenly even more surprised by his words, but then giggled. "Silly human, why do you resist? Is it not your honor to be deemed a guest by the great- the great - the great¡­" the projection started stuttering, while her seemingly simple and innocent visage began to morph.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "There''s something wrong with the projection," Lex warned but, just as he was expecting the worst, the projection disappeared and the lights turned off. They waited a few more moments to see if anything would happen, but nothing did. It seemed time had eventually caught up with whatever mechanism was keeping this building operating. Turning on the talisman equivalent of a shlight, the group continued further in. From the outside, it appeared as though the building was only one storyrge. Yet when they began exploring, they found stairs leading to a basement. Since the remainder of the building was empty Lex continued to lead the group down as he tried hard not to think of every horror movie he had ever seen. It seemed that the hold horror movies had on a dark basement guarded by a crazy, hostile projection could affect even cultivators. Yet nothing crazy happened. Instead, after a couple flights down the stairs, they encountered a sealed metal door. There was no grip, handle or anything of the sort so he had no idea how to open it. While Lex wasparing everything he saw to a zombie movie called Evil Resident, Cwenhild was keeping herself from having too much hope. Her instincts told her that such a well protected and guarded ce would surely by the focal point, right? But at the same time, experience told her not to jump to conclusions. To get through this sealed door, Cwenhild turned to thest two members of the group, the jade twins. They were both body and spirit path dual cultivators, but that was where the simrity between the two ended. Jade 1, as the older twin was called, was an intellectual, and specialized in materials engineering. Long story short, he was exceptionally good at destroying any object. Jade 2 was strong. That was all there was to Jade 2, but when something excelled to a certain level, it entered a league of its own. Although he had not been able to break Lex''s defense with his brute strength, he once picked Lex up and flung him hundreds of feet away with a single flick of the hand. Owing to the hurry they were in, Jade 1 approached the metal wall and, after observing it, began to concoct some kind of solution from different items he had in his backpack. Barely a few minutester, he added the solution to a stic spray bottle and lightly sprayed the metal door, immediately causing it to start sizzling, and then eventually dissolve. "Hold your breath," was all Jade 1 said as he returned the items to his bag. Unfortunately, though, the mystery of the building was not immediately solved as they continued down a few more stories before reaching a massive hall that seemed to extend far beyond what their feeble lights could reveal. "What are the chances this is a wedding hall?" Lex asked aloud while mentally telling himself that he had already killed zombies before so he should not be afraid. "There''s too much security for it to be something mundane, yet we haven''t seen anything that would reveal what this ce is," said Cwenhild, doing her best to figure out where they could be. "The highest concentration of energy is that way," revealed Patrick, pointing straight ahead. With his shield and sword still in hand, Lex slowly continued towards where Patrick pointed before he reached arge, ss wall. He could vaguely make out a few shapes on the other end of the wall so he squinted his eyes and brightened up his talisman to get a better view. With the talisman shining brighter, Lex noticed a bit of writing on the ss wall but suddenly, it didn''t matter. He no longer needed to read to understand what this ce was. "No way," he muttered in disbelief. "What is it?" Patrick asked,ing closer. As the one with the best idea of how high the energy concentration was, he was the most excited. But the excitement turned into horror the moment he scanned the area beyond the ss with his spiritual sense. "This is a sleeping bunker," Lex revealed to hispanions, as he recalled what he knew of the Crystal races'' culture. As a species that enjoyed immortality, one of the favorite pastimes among their citizens was to visit the future. More specifically, since they could live for millions of years, their brains and psyches were developed in such a way that they were not depressed by the thought of living to infinity. As such, the dread of the future was often reced by curiosity and wonder. But, actually waiting a million years to see what the future held was a bit tedious. A much better way to see the future was to fast forward through the present - or as near to that as they could achieve. This desire brought forth the idea of ''sleeping bunkers''. It was like amunity time capsule service. Anyone interested could visit a sleeping bunker, state how much time they wanted to sleep, and then be put to rest for dozens, hundreds, thousands of years, or even longer. The bunker would provide them with absolute security, so they need not worry about the hassle of finding an appropriate ce to go to sleep for extended periods of time. This was such a popr concept among the Crystal race that many knew of it. Lex had even studied about it in one of his sses. And now, standing in front of hundreds of ss capsules with sleeping members of the Crystal race, Lex was in one. Chapter 304 For Now Silence filled the room as everyone took in the sight. It was extremely rare for humans to get to see anything of the Crystal races society, let alone something as well protected as a sleeping bunker. Considering the fact that this minor realm had been unupied for a countless number of years, he could not even imagine how old these people- eh, crystals? He could not imagine how old these dudes were. But the level of security suddenly made sense. It was no joke for a protection formation to continue running unsupervised for so many years, let alone the projection that ''weed'' them once they came inside. But, now that it had been established that this was a sleeping bunker, the next question was, now what? The implications of this discovery were monumental, but no matter what, they could not be allowed to wake up before Cwenhild took control of this realm. Lex did not want to specte on whether they would be friendly or not, since he could not even exin to them why this realm had been abandoned in the first ce should they wake. It would be perfectly understandable if they assumed the worst at seeing intruders as soon as they awoke. "Do you think the other high energy spots are sleeping bunkers as well?" Lex asked, after the silence had gone long enough. Patrick had discovered 2 other high energy concentration ces that they had yet to visit. "Unlikely. It wouldn''t make sense to have multiple bunkers nearby. Anyway, let''s go. This ss wall should be thest barrier to the bunker and should not be easily prated. It will keep anyone else from trying to wake them up, but we should not waste any time." Cwenhild''s voice was even, and did not betray any emotion besides calm, but internally she was practically swooning. The value of this realm had suddenly exceeded anything they could have imagined, and as long as she obtained this realm before the crystals woke up, she could even negotiate certain terms with her own mother. "What do you think it''s like, sleeping for years at a time?" Lex asked while they rushed towards the next spot. "Their consciousness enters an artificial dream shared by all in the sleeping bunker," Jade 1 answered sinctly. "They have to maintain such a state to provide stimuli to their spirit, since they''re only asleep, not dead. Still, in the dream, time passes by much slower than in real life. A day in the dream may as well be a year." "Cool," Lexmented, as he made a mental note of the idea. Maybe he could do something like that in the Inn for guests who rent rooms for extended periods of time. While no one said anything regarding it, the speed at which the group moved betrayed a sense of urgency that filled them. The second spot they reached seemed like some sort of temple. Countless students already filled the area, all of them exploring the massive structure in small groups or on their own. Lex and his group paid them no mind and directly followed as Patrick led them to their destination, and if anyone tried to stop them, or worse, rob them¡­ Lex had learnt his lesson and no longer tried to y the good guy, meaning the least any of them got was multiple broken bones. Deep underground, after exploring for a few hours, they finally reached an extremely well protected chamber. Formations, projections, and automated guards protected the chamber, but their strength had fallen greatly over the course of time and so, after some effort, they broke through.N?v(el)B\\jnn For a moment, it felt like they had actually discovered what they were looking for. The room was filled with literal treasure. Crystal coins, weapons, clothes, books, tokens, talismans and more filled the room. As tempting as the sight was, it was a floating, gold and crystal crown that attracted everyone''s attention. But, after probing it, Cwenhild revealed that the crown was not what they were looking for. Thus, as much as it physically pained them, the group left all that treasure and went towards their next objective. Trying to carry it would only slow them down, and the realm was more valuable than this measly treasure, anyway. The only thing they took was the crown. They did not know what it was, or what it did, but it clearly was significant and did not weigh them down. The third and final spot in these ruins ended up being a crater. A deep, dark hole, tearing directly through a building and the ground was violently gushing spiritual energy. They could not even get close, as even Lex started to bleed spontaneously when he approached it, let alone anyone else. Lex could not even absorb the abundant spiritual energy as it was not neutral, and had a very destructive nature. Whatever the cause or origin, it was beyond anything they could handle. With that, they were only left with one option - to head towards the mountains. There were still other ruins they could explore, but they were out of the way, and it just seemed probably that whatever Cwinheld needed to im the realm would be at the most energy dense spot in the realm. It was a shame, for crossing the mountain would not be a quick task. Even if they ran uninterrupted, it would take them hours to simply reach the mountain. As for crossing the mountain and reaching whatever was causing the glow¡­ it would take a while - to say the least. Not wasting any time, they immediately began their journey, taking the most direct route. Their intimidating presence and urgency caused most to move out of their way, whether they were humans or beasts but a few still sought to stand in their way, either out of misced ego or greed. But with the group no longer pulling any punches, no one could stop them for long. Ness especially enjoyed such violent, full force shes and kept hoping for more of them. Since the only source of light in the realm was that glow behind the mountains it was hard to track time, but Lex felt like half a day passed before they reached the foot of the mountains. Here they took another break, using the time to eat and drink some water, and take short naps. An hourter, they resumed their journey. Lex had been expecting crossing the mountains to be dangerous, since they were getting closer to the most energy rich part of the realm. Instead, the journey became even smoother. Let alone encounter a fight, the group did not even see another living being in the vicinity. While this was good for maintaining their travel speed, the eerie silence caused the group to raise their guard. At a certain point, as they trekked through a particrly steep valley, the sound of their footsteps echoed for miles, and yet not even a sleeping bird was disturbed. The mountains had been as still and silent as death before their arrival, and after a while, the peaks started to weigh down on them. An unknown pressure filled the air and began stifling them. Crossing the mountains unabated somehow became more tiring than their journey before. After what felt like an entire day since they entered the mountains, they took their second break. This time, instead of a short break, they rested properly since they had be mentally exhausted. Keeping their guard up continuously for an entire day was more exhausting than actually fighting. But while the group took turns sleeping, Lex sat in a corner with a frown. A strange sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu was hitting him. Normally this wasn''t exactly enough to worry him, since the feeling would pass. But that was just it - the feeling wasn''t passing, but getting stronger as they crossed the mountains. Try as he might, though, he could not figure out what was causing this feeling. In the end, he chose to focus on the Inn instead. It would likely be another day before they reached their destination, and there was no point in wasting his time dwelling on nonsense in the meantime. ***** Unknown, Origin realm A group of angry and anxious looking men were gathered around in a circle, their eyes focused on a young man, as well as a shaman who sat opposite to him. The shaman was burning some kind of paper with a pink me, the smoke released blood red and the ash falling yellow like sand. His eyes were shut, and he seemed to be in some kind of trance. Despite all the focus on the shaman, no one noticed as the tips of his hair started glowing red, and then burning away. At first, one could have mistaken the scene and thought that the group''s attention was focused elsewhere, but even as his hair went from simply glowing to being fully ame, no one noticed. It was only when the mes touched his scalp, and the shaman screamed and let go of the burning paper, that the group suddenly became aware of what had happened. Like magic, the moment the shaman let go of the paper, the me also disappeared. Yet even in the brief moment that the me had touched him, all the flesh on his scalp had been burnt away to ash. The shaman copsed, losing consciousness, but the group, instead of attending to him, swarmed the young man to ensure he was unharmed. Physically, he was fine, but his frustration was eating him alive. "Trash! Vermin! Frauds! Can''t do anything right! Find someone else, and this time make sure they''re not a fake! I need to be able to track my soulmate before Lady Cosmos ends, or I''ll never be able to find her!" The young man had been trying to divine the location of one of the contestants of the Lady Cosmos show, but how could it be so simple to peek into the secrets of the Midnight Inn? Just like him, countless others all over the universe had learnt of the Lady Cosmos show as its poprity had exploded! And just like him, countless others were undeterred by whatever prestige the Inn may have had, and tried to find its guests, or learn its secrets. For now, only the shamans and prophets who were trying to learn the Inns secrets had suffered its bacsh. For now. Chapter 305 Boss Battle Lex had been checking the Inn on and off, ensuring that no issues urred. Unfortunately, despite the deterrence of a dragon, petty fights still broke out often. Not all guests were as particr about how they behaved, and others believed themselves special. Lex actuallyughed the first time he overheard someone screaming ''do you know who my father is?''.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Now, though, even mild irritation was a huge reaction for such behavior. After all, it was just toomon. But, considering that currently he had a little over 5 million guests in the vige, it was excusable! The pressure of so many guests was immense, but so was the reward. On average, most guests came in parties between 2 to 4. Even if all of them shared a room, and only rented the cheapest room, then on the average of 4 guests to a room Lex was earning 62.5 million MP a night! But they most certainly were not just renting the most basic room, and they didn''t always cohabitate either. Other than the rooms, Lex was earning a lot from food not to mention the ie Lady Cosmos was generating directly. All in all, Lex currently had 978,666,432 MP! This was after he spent another 10 million MP on more security, and another 5 million on more temporary employees. This time there were no more dragons or other over the top cultivators, mostly because what Lex needed was a higher number of guards, not higher quality of guards. After all, just the 30 Earth immortals he already had as guards were more than enough. As of yet, despite the massive influx of guests, Nascent realm was the highest level guest this event attracted. This proved that the kind of attendance he got for the Midnight Games was an anomaly. Lex was very excited because with this kind of MP, and his elevated authority, he could really upgrade the Inn way beyond its current situation. But that would have to wait till he had more time. Currently, he was just checking in. He saw a system notification stating that due to the Destiny Protection upgrade Lex had previously received as a reward for the Midnight Games, many attempts at scrying or tracking his guests had been blocked. For once, he was d an issue was resolved before he even had to do anything. Feeling slightly generous due to his newfound wealth, Lex distributed 566,432 MP to all his permanent workers as a bonus. Obviously, the higher-ranking workers, such as Gerard and Velma, received a higher cut, but either way, it was sufficient for all his workers to enjoy for a while. As it happened, through sheer coincidence, after the bonus, Lex was left with a neat 978,100,000 MP. With that, Lex stopped monitoring the Inn and decided to get some sleep. Tomorrow would be a long day. A few hourster, Lex was woken up, and the group continued their journey in the deste silence. For the most part, they were going through valleys, or around hills, but thest stretch was too wide a diversion, causing them to climb directly towards the top of thest mountain to get to the other side. The gentle blue glow seemed to get brighter as they neared the top, but it was in sharp contrast to the weight that seemed to be pressing them down into the ground. With each step, it grew stronger and by now, it was no longer something that could simply be ignored. There was something up ahead that was influencing them from afar, everyone had alreadye to that conclusion. All they could really do was bear with it and be prepared for anything. As they approached the final peak, along with the pressure, suspense grew. Lex felt his heart beating in his chest, each beat harder than thest. In the silence, he felt like he could even hear it. But Lex did not feel like letting the moment lord over him, so his speed only grew until he found himself standing at the peak of the mountain, looking over. In front of himy a wastnd. Time had surely corroded away the truth of what happened here, but hundreds of bare craters covered thend. Bits and pieces of armor were still visible, after all this time, but most of it had faded away. In certain areas, the earth as ck, as if scorched eternally from the fiercest of mes, marking thend forever. This was the site of a once great battle, that much was certain. In the center of it all, in a structure like a Roman Pantheon, was a gold dish with a massive blue me. Right in front of that me, however, stood a dark figure with its back turned to them. Yet even from so far away Lex could identify who, or rather what, that figure belonged to. Suddenly it all made sense. The pressure they had been feeling, the sense of deja vu, all of it. It was a Kraven, as well as its coercion. No doubt it had already killed every beast and animal in these mountains. It made no sense though. What was a Kraven doing here? How did it get here? Why was there only one? But that didn''t matter. As if orchestrated by an invisible hand, before them stood their mortal enemy guarding what Lex suspected was their objective to begin with. "Mr. Innkeeper, that me is absorbing all the energy in the area. If you put it out, the energy will be free for you to take." Lex nodded, showing his understanding, but hispanions mistook his gesture. To them it seemed like Lex had mentally prepared himself for a tough fight. "What the hell is a Kraven doing here?" asked Ness, dumbstruck. "I don''t know about that, but I suspect that blue me has something to do with it," answered Lex. "It''s refining the realm," answered Cwenhild gravely. "It''s found the focal point, and is taking the realm for itself. Patrick, can you scan it? How strong is it?" ? "I can''t confirm how strong it is specifically, but it''s somewhere in the Golden core realm," Patrick answered with a look of disgust. He knew that they would have to fight that thing, and he wasn''t really looking forward to it. "A lone opponent in the Golden core realm, it''s nothing we can''t deal with. This is exactly what we''ve trained for, to fight enemies stronger than us. Once we beat it, the prize is ours. Cindy, scout out the area. Make sure there are no other surprises waiting for us. Silvia, bring everyone to top shape. Jovi, start nning the best approach. Tim, replenish your strength as much as you can, we''ll be depending on your bloodline. Sohee..." Cwenhild did not let anyone dwell on the task thaty ahead of them and immediately started making preparations. It was fitting for the final enemy to be a Kraven. No one would hold back, and everyone here had trained exceptionally long on how to defeat one. Furthermore, everyone here was an elite. The difference in a major realm was not one they couldn''t ovee. Whether Cwenhild''s distractions worked or not, Lex didn''t care. He wanted that fire put out so he could get the energy, so he was ready to fight, he needed no pumping. No one was taking the uing fight lightly so the preparations took a few hours. There were no indications of any other Kraven which was a huge relief for them. With everyone ready, they directly trekked down the mountain. They did not try to be stealthy, or hide their approach. Their actions were not out of bravado, but simple knowledge of their enemy. None of the races had studied the Kraven with as much depth as the humans, which is why everyone knew that this creature that had been dominating the Crystal realm was not doing it out of sheer luck. Its senses and awareness were beyond many other races, and had several extra senses than just sight or hearing to detect enemies. Let alone the echoes that had been heralding their approach, just the slight temperature difference their bodies caused in the ground was enough to alert this enemy. A simple example of its foreknowledge was the coercion it had been putting out on them thest two days. Coercion was not a trait specific to Kraven, and even humans could do it once their cultivation rose a bit, which is why there was such a deep understanding of it. Coercion didn''t naturally exist, and had to be exhibited. Just this was proof that the Kraven had been warning them not to approach. But since when had the human race taken instructions from Kraven? Bearin loudly popped his knuckles as they continued their approach, and Ness was sharpening her de. Sohee''s eyes were already emitted a purple glow as she readied her spells. The rest were also winding themselves up for the iing fight. As for Lex? It seemed like he was simply walking with his hands in his pocket, but internally he was debating. Should he risk using an array, or should he risk using Evisceration? Chapter 306 Lex The Defender As the group walked up towards the Kraven, they spread out and assumed their proper formation. Ness, Bearin, Jade 2 and Tim were at the forefront, as they would be attacking. Behind them were Lex and Cwinheld. This was so that Lex could quickly move forward if he needed to block an attack, but mostly it was so that Lex could stop any attacks towards the rest behind him. Cwinheld was close enough to attack as needed, but also a step back so she could coordinate the group. Behind the two were Jovi, Sohee and Jade 1, to provide support, with the rest farthest back as not only were they the weakest in terms ofbat ability, their actual roles allowed them to work from a distance.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex recalled everything he had learnt about Kraven so far. First of all, other than the usual sight, sound and spirit sense, Kraven had another sense that made them extremely sensitive to any changes on the ground - whether it was the pressure of someone walking, the moisture from a single drop of sweat, the mild change in temperature due to body heat, all could be sensed by the Kraven. Their superiority on the ground was unmatched, not because they could manipte it, but because it basically served as another sensory organ for them. Furthermore, they werepletely equipped to not only absorb all that information, they could fully process and act on that information in real time. This meant it was effectively impossible to ambush a Kraven unless one could fly. Secondly, Kraven had an incredibly muscr structure, but in weaves andyers that somehow multiplied their strength. They had two legs and two arms, but a majority of the time they stood and moved using all their limbs, simr to a gori. In lieu of skin, their bodies were covered in a thick, gray leather like material. But, at all times, their bodies excreted and were covered in a viscous, ck slime that moved around their bodies. Kraven could use and control that slime as they wished, but not only was it poisonous to almost every other living being, it was very selectively sticky. That meant that normally the slime would not drip from the Kraven''s body, but if a creature came close to it, the slime wouldtch on to their bodies and was almost impossible to take off conventionally. This way, the slime would often end up endlessly poisoning all of a Kraven''s enemies. Thirdly, Kraven''s bones and joints functioned differently from humans, or most other creatures, for that matter. It had to be repeatedly emphasized that Kravens had a very muscr structure, but also that the muscles wereyered in weaves, with the Kraven maintaining fine control over every singleyer. What did this mean? It meant that while human limbs, for example, were limited in the directions they could move due to their joints, Kraven could move any limb in any direction it wanted whatsoever - a fact that made it incredibly difficult to predict their movements. After all that, only a few minor details and specifics remained, such as nails that could cut through metal, teeth that could endlessly regrew matched with jaw strength that could allow it to eat a building, not to mention any individual strengths, talents, skills or affinities any individual Kraven may have. Also, its only physical weakness, its energy core, was hidden in its chest surrounded by a dense, metallic structure. That''s correct, its ONLY physical weakness. Even if you cut off a Kraven''s head, or even went as far as dicing up its entire body, so long as the core existed, the Kraven would still be alive, and could eventually recover. It was this single fact that allowed the Kraven to fight the entire realm on their own, and stille up as the winning side. This was their own form of immortality, and some believed they were even superior to the Crystal race in this regard. Of course, the fact that the Kraven had not been able to affect the Crystal race in any way whatsoever said otherwise. Lex took in a long, deep breath before slowly letting it out. This was the first time he was going to participate in killing an immortal - it was alright if he was slightly nervous. As if Lex''s sigh was the signal, the obviously preupied Kraven turned around, pointing its long ugly face towards them. It growled aggressively, the sound causing the groups advance to slow as they coped with a sudden wave of dizziness. Oh yeah, the Kraven could alsounch spiritual attacks with their voice Lex suddenly remembered. It was not an overwhelmingly strong attack, but still an incredibly frustrating one to deal with, especially in the heat of battle. He was so nonchnt because he was the only one unaffected by the spiritual attack, since his natural defense worked against all paths, body, spirit and soul. The next moment, the fight abruptly started. There was no probe or buildup of any sort. The Kraven lunged towards the group, swinging its right arm to cleave the entire group in half with a single attack. Yet instead of the distracted humans affected by its growl, what awaited it was Lex, standing in its path with both his arms held forward. This was yet another alteration he made to Talk to the Hand. By using the technique in both hands simultaneously and ovepping them with each other, he fused them together, making them much stronger. The Kraven''s attacknded on the barrier, but did not manage to break it! Lex was pushed back, his feet digging deep into the ground, his arms nearly buckling under the weight of the armageddon he just blocked, but he managed to hold. Ness and Bearin raced past him as they kicked off the battle with their strongest attacks. Jovi, though slightlyte, had used a technique to increase their resistance to spiritual attacks to prevent such mishaps in the future. Ness and Bearin''s technique did little more than cause the Kraven to stumble backwards, and as they attacked with their weapons, the ever vicious slime coating the Kraven''s body absorbed the strength of their attacks. Just as it seemed that their weapons would get stuck in the slime, a familiar shriek filled the air, followed by purple purple ribbons flying through the air to surround the Kraven - Sohee was using one of the numerous attacks that made her profession as a witch so revered. It tried to dodge, sensing danger, but as it happened Tim was standing behind it, prepared. A massive, fiery explosion urred. While the Kraven remained unhurt, it had been slowed just enough for the purple ribbons to wrap around its body. The slime on its body sizzled and then was lit ame in a purple fire. The Kraven, in pain and angry, let out roar that shook the very ground, but its anger could do nothing about the fact that it had suddenly be naked of its slime! Still, the roar disoriented the group once more, for even with Jovi''s support, the effect of the spirit attacks had only been weakened, not eliminated. The Kraven, still on fire, smashed down a palm to kill Tim, but Lex appeared once again in the nick of time. This time, Lex was using his shield to cover his body as he pushed Tim away just in time. Still, without the barrier to block the attack, Lex would have to face the full brunt of the Kraven''s anger - or so it seemed. When the Kraven''s palmnded on the shield, instead of the expected sound of metal being crushed, only a solid thud was heard, followed by the sight of Lex sliding back, rtively unharmed. Lex had used Ripple shell on the shield, so any impact on its surface was equally distributed over its body, making it easier for Lex to manage. But the fact Lex''s left arm had dislocated said much about how sessful that n had been, and even more about Lex''s own ridiculous endurance. But there was no follow up attack for the split second it took the Kraven to attack Lex, Cwenhild hadunched her own attack. The Kraven, of course, was not at all surprised by her attack and used its other arm to block her attack. But she was Cwenhild, the daughter of a woman who dared to ckmail even the King, so how could her weapon be simple. Her ive encountered little resistance, and cut through the Kraven''s hand like, well like a hot ive through butter. "WHAT THE SHIT?" the Kraven roared, genuinely surprised. But, for Lex atst, it''s yell was by far the most surprising thing. Oddly enough, no one told him Kraven could talk. But Lex didn''t have time to be surprised, or enjoy Cwenhlid''s sessful attack, as a feeling of dread fell upon him. "Ambush!" he roared, and used Home Sweet Home, throwing his body at full speed, just in time to block a ck arrow with his shield, saving Cwenhild. But the rest of the group had not been so lucky, and their cries filled the air. Chapter 307 Puppets Unlike the first time they were attacked, when the arrow had all the indications of just being a normal attack, this time, the attack was silent, swift, and deadly. The group was too split up for Lex to defend them, and while he had perfectly dodged the arrow aiming for him and protected Cwenhild from hers, the rest of the group were left to defend themselves. Surprisingly, Patrick had managed to dodge the arrow aiming for him perfectly, and even managed to save Silvia, the healer. Everyone else, however, was unable to dodge. Due to Lex''s warning, they had dodged a fatal attack, but from Bearin to Ness to Jovi and the rest, everyone had suffered. Cindy and Jade 1 were hurt the worst, with the arrow tearing through their torsos, and were retreating with pale faces, only the fact that they were also body cultivators kept them from immediately copsing. The timing of the attack had been perfect, not only ensuring Lex was too far to help but also happened just as everyone was coping with the Kraven''s spirit attack. Had it not been for Lex''s warning, this simple surprise attack would have ended the entire group.N?v(el)B\\jnn Very aware of the fact that an angry Kraven was right behind them, Lex leapt forward to get some distance while a furious Cwenhild searched for the attackers. Unexpectedly, they did not hide this time. Twelve figures covered from head to toe in ck clothes, all holding bows stood a short distance from them. She squinted. The number of attackers could not have been a coincidence. Someone had been aiming for them from the very start. But who was crazy enough to do that? Even if she cut her ties with her father, she still had her mothers support, not to mention that each one of the members of her group came from one powerful background or another. If even a single one of them died, it was not something that could be suppressed, and there would be a full investigation, with Immortals at the lead. But, it did not matter. They were in a tough spot now. Had there been no interference, they had a good chance of killing the Kraven. But with these assassins attacking from the back, they were done for. "Lex, can you dy the Kraven?" she asked, desperately thinking of a n. "For a short time, sure." "Give me five minutes," she said, as she stepped to the ground. From the moment he saved her, Lex had been running while carrying her. "Five is pushing it, aim for 3. I''m just a man in the Foundation realm, and that''s a Kraven in the Golden core. Every second I upy his time is a miracle, technically." Cwenhild snorted at Lex''s remark. The urgency of the situation and her erupting anger did not mean she didn''t notice thepleteck of anxiety or tension in his voice. It was not the tone of one praying for a miracle, but that of one who had the situationpletely under control. During their time together, she had noticed a mild resistance Lex exhibited when following her orders, though with time, he had managed to learn how to hide it better. But since she already knew what to look for, she always found it. The look in his eyes, the way he stood, even the way he spoke all hinted at the fact that he was used to authority, backed by real power. It was ironic that he, the one sibling of hers who went without his family name, carried the nobility of his royal bloodline the best. Even now, while he tried to hide the true extent of his abilities behind modest words, his temperament did not allow his diminishing words to actually diminish his image. All of that was but a passing thought as Cwenhild turned her attention towards the assassins who were once again nocking their arrows, and bolted off. She yelled orders as she ran, quickly reorganizing the groups formation towards attacking the assassins, and allowing the injured to retreat. Lex was left alone to deal with the Kraven. Speaking of which, Lex turned towards the Kraven in confusion - he was expecting a swift retaliation that never came. But he immediately realized why. The Kraven had picked up its hand and was reattaching it to its body, holding it in ce with a lot of slime. "You know, it actually never urred to me that Kraven could talk. Though I guess everyone considered this knowledge too basic to even mention to me. Anyway, hi. I''m Lex. I think we got off on the wrong foot. Why don''t we just talk this out. I''ve always been very curious about you Kraven, I have so many questions." The Kraven looked at Lex with its head twisted, as if looking at something strange. Lex could see it trying to move the ws on its severed hand. It seemed the reattaching process was not so easy. "It is because inferior races cannot understand ournguage, or tolerate the resonance our voice brings. How curious that you can understand." A single w flinched, but it had not yet perfected its movement. "Resonance? Is that what causes the spiritual attack in your voice? What is that?" The Kraven didn''t answer, and turned its head to look back at its arm. It was regaining movement. "You''re right, that''s a bad question. Let''s focus on other, more important questions. You see, I have a unique perspective when ites to looking at the bigger picture. I can see things that others really can''t. But I still don''t understand - why are the Kraven at war with the whole realm? What''s the point of fighting everyone?" Lex was walking as he talked, positioning himself between the Kraven and the rest. In a rush to save Cwenhild, he had dropped his sword somewhere, but his shield was very much still in his hand. "ording to my teachers, you don''t have a biological need driving you. You don''t need to ughter all the races endlessly for your own survival, and I doubt your resource consumption is so high that you need the whole realm." The Kraven still did not talk. It had regained almost perfect control of its hand, and its body and slowly started to once again secrete the slime that usually covered it. "Alright, if you don''t¡­" Lex''s next question was cut short by the Kraven bursting into motion. One moment it was still, the next it had the full speed and ferocity of an avnche. It was not running towards Lex, though, and instead its eyes red angrily towards Cwenhild. But, regardless of how abruptly it had moved, Lex had been expecting it. Holding out both his hands, Lex appeared in its paths, causing the Kraven to smash directly into the barrier. Since it was a crash instead of an attack, Lex''s barrier withstood the force withparative ease, but Lex was still almost knocked over. "Move out of the way, vermin!" the Kraven roared, still not even bothering to look at Lex. "I can tell that you think you''re a superior race," Lex said, his voice somehow managing to retain its sense of calm and curiosity, even as he ran to once again block the Kraven. "But if that''s the case, why are the Kraven allowing themselves to be used like puppets by all the races?" The genuine innocence in Lex''s voice as he asked was somehow more grating than the question itself. "WE ARE NO ONES PUPPETS!" the Kraven roared, finally turning to look at Lex. "THE ENTIRE REALM TREMBLES BENEATH OUT MIGHT!" Lex should not have considered attracting the creature''s fury an aplishment, as the Kraven smashed towards Lex''s barrier with both hands, this time firmly breaking it! Lex tried to jump back, but one of its ws firmlynded on his chest, cutting his armor to ribbons. Three ugly gashes cut open on his chest - though he did not bleed, for slime had covered them up! Well, it was a good thing he had Ripple shell used on himself the entire time, or instead of a few gashes, he would have a hole in his body. Of course, that single attack had destroyed the shell, so unless he used the technique again, it was best not to get hit. Lex grimaced. The Kraven''s brute strength was already a hassle to face, but its ws were just too damn deadly. As for the slime¡­ Lex looked down, then ignored it. If he tried to pull it off, it would only glue his hand to his chest. The slime would slowly poison him, but he should have some resistance to poison. He would be able to get rid of it if he used an array, but the Kraven would not give him the time to form one. He really needed to practice with them more. "Oh yes, the realm is firmly at war with the Kraven, and everyone is losing, and there''s so much fear," Lex said ndly, as if he was that water was wet. "And yeah, you managed to somehow take over the territory of an entire race. But since then, what have you done? There''s constant progress, but it''s slow. The threat of the Kraven is ever present, but you know¡­" Lex used Talk to the Hand with both hands, but also jumped back as the Kraven attacked once again. He couldn''t dodge too much or the Kraven would go towards Cwenhild, but he also couldn''t take head-on attacks. Why was life so hard? "But you know, like I said, I have a different perspective on things. Between all the fear, the propaganda, the fighting and mobilizing all the races'' strength to fight against the Kraven, all you''ve really achieved¡­ is strengthening the reign of each of the races respective King. After all, before the Kraven, none of the races had ever banded together to form a unified nation. Now¡­ well yes, you takend each year, but it seems to me that the humans at least put up just enough resistance to slow down your approach to an eptable level. Speaking just for the humans, all you''ve really done is strengthen the King''s control on thesends. I can tell that much just by studying the basic history for thest few hundred years, so others should be able to tell that much as well, right? Which is why I asked¡­ why are the Kraven acting like puppets?" Chapter 308 A Double Edged Sword To a degree, Lex was speaking randomly, doing whatever it took to distract the Kraven even for a moment. But at the same time, a lot of what Lex said was based on his own spections. He had been studying the history of the realm, and while it was mostly focused on the development of the Hum nation, while studying politics, he gots bits and pieces of what was going on with the other races. Under the very real threat of the Kraven, behind the massive war machine that the human race was morphing into, beyond even the endless waves of brainwashing and propaganda that taught the masses the very purpose of their existence was to fight off or kill the Kraven, Lex sensed a severeck of desperation. That was not to say that themon man wasn''t desperate. No, the life of the average person was lived under the shadow of an ever impending doom and a relentless struggle to do absolutely anything to ovee it one day. Even the middle, and some of the upper sses of society had their lives painted with desperation. But at the highest level, where policies and strategies were made, where the future was nned and the direction of the people''s lives were decided, Lex sensed a very focused and calcted calm. Since his background was supposed to be from Gristol, or at least that''s where he had been brought from, Lex had studied the retreat and eventual fall of the human forces from there. The very calcted way in which reinforcements had been sent to the border, and not Gristol itself, and the precise way in which important forces were withdrawn while letting the main part of the army in Gristol fight to the death felt all too calcted to Lex. Had true desperation been present among those in power, they would have sacrificed as much as they could to ensure the Kraven suffered the most damage they could inflict, instead of just retreating. Lex remembered, back when Vegus Minima had not yete under control of the Jotun forces, how Chen and ne went on a suicide mission to distract zombies so that their caravan could pass through without being detected. The will and determination of Lily, the head of the caravan, to send her own brother on a suicide mission reeked of the desperation to struggle and survive. The Hum nation, despite all the efforts it was putting into it, had not yete even close to that. There were a few other hints he picked up here and there, but the basic gist of it was, the massive realm epassing war was not as straightforward, or dire as it seemed. He was hoping to extract some answers from this particr Kraven, but after all that Lex said, the Kraven simply looked at him. It was not that it didn''t get baited in by what Lex had said, but that it just did not bother responding. The hate and anger in its eyes though were unusual. It was more than just being taunted - or at least, that''s what Lex thought. "Alright not puppets, but what¡­" Lex jumped back while using Talk to the Hand with both hands as he tried to avoid the hurtling Kraven. Lex had goosebumps all over his body and he felt with certainty that the fight was no longer the same. If the Kraven was taking things lightly before, which unfortunately for Lex it had been, it was no longer doing so now. Lex narrowly avoided the sh due to his instincts warning him in advance, butparing speed with a Golden core cultivator was a stupid decision. The Kraven, when it stood up straight on its legs, was twice the size of Lex but its nimbleness was remarkable. Lex was too close to it forrge maneuvers and the tempo of the fight was too fast for him to ask any more questions. While Lex would have jumpedpletely out of the way before to dodge a punch, now he had to limit himself to moving just his torso just enough to avoid a direct hit. It was a scene out of a movie, or perhaps an anime, as Lex dodged each of the Kravens ws perfectly, moving his body before the creature had even begun its attack, For a time, they became a blur as their bodies wove the fight into the most intricate dance, with each of them moving just right as if they had practiced the performance a million times. Instead of enemies they seemed two machines, working with mechanical precision. In the few seconds Lex had bepletely drenched in sweat, and then the sweat started rising from his body as steam. Incredibly, he could actually feel his muscles rip, ever so slightly, not from the Kraven''s attacks but from the extreme duress he was putting them under. As much as he wanted to pull away and create some distance between them, the Kraven gave him no time at all. But the seemingly splendid tango ended just as swiftly as it began when a small rock under Lex''s foot crumbled. It was not enough of a difference to cause him to fall, or even stumble, but it was enough to affect his bnce for a split second. It was in that split second, as if the Kraven had nned for the moment, that Lex found not its arms, but its leg kicking towards his face. Time seemed to slow as Lex looked right at the ws, gleaming under the soft blue light, heading towards him. Lotus or no Lotus, if his brain was punctured there was no saving him. But what could he do? The beast was too fast. Even knowing how to defend, it would take too much time to actually move his limbs in ce. Even if he had a technique that could save him from this situation, he could not move the spirit energy fast enough to perform a whole technique. A million thoughts ran through his head and he thought of every technique, array, item that could move his body just slightly to get out of the way just enough. When Lex could not think of a good solution¡­ he settled for a bad one. With his index finger he started drawing the character for fire, and then screwed it up!n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Lex''s body was flung back, deep orange mes licking his body as he flew through the sky. Lex ignored the ufortably familiar sensation of burning skin as he quickly took a look around. Much like him, the Kraven was covered in mes, though they seemed to be dying out quickly. He looked towards Cwenhild and the rest, and found that their battle was still ongoing. With a groan, he looked back towards the Kraven. Purely defending was getting him nowhere. As much as he wanted to avoid it, he had to attack. The Kraven had been stunned. Not by the strength of the explosion, or some attack, but by the fact that he had taken the fight seriously and yet, the inferior creature had managed to survive. Then the feeling changed to shame. Then to anger. It roared, lifting its head to the sky to warn even the heavens of the consequence of crossing it. Everyone in the vicinity save for Lex was affected by the tsunami-like spiritual attack carried in its voice, but that pleased the Kraven. It would be too easy otherwise. It would slowly and purposefully rip that inferior creature limb from limb. Once again, the Kraven ran towards the inferior creature, this time at full speed. Oddly enough, the creature seemed not to be avoiding this time, and only stood still. Perhaps it had epted the inevitable. But just as the Kraven reached its prey, and was about to dismember it, the inferior beings'' eyes changed! His pupils turned ck, as if hiding a void behind them, and from the void the Kraven felt the threat of death. There was no ray of light, no shockwave, no sound to mark the attack that came from Lex''s ck eyes, except maybe the guttural cry of the Kraven as it crashed into the ground, its body dragged by its remaining momentum to Lex''s feet. Lex was still standing straight, like a hunter before its fallen prey, but his sudden paleness hinted at something more. He vomited out some blood, but he wiped his mouth as he looked at the effects of Evisceration. It was an extremely potent soul attackunched from one''s eyes. All the attack needed was for Lex to be looking at whoever he wanted to attack. It could not be blocked using normal means, and would require tools or techniques specifically focused on defending the soul. Furthermore, it did not matter how close or far the enemy was. Without any indication or forewarning, the technique wouldnd on the target as soon as it was used. Moreover, as it so happened, while Kraven had only that one physical weakness of the core in their chest, their soul was as vulnerable as everyone else''s. Under the Nascent realm, wherein most creaturescked a means to protect their souls, such an attack was the most dangerous. But there was a good reason Lex hadn''t used the technique right from the start. He had not yetpletely mastered it, and as such, he would also take a lot of damage whenever he used it. A tremor ran through the Kravens body as it lifted its head to look at Lex with murder in its eyes. Chapter 309 Greater Than The Rumors "Don''t give me that look, I didn''t want this. I just wanted to chat," said Lex as he held out his index finger. Right before he started to draw an array, however, he paused, withdrew the index finger, stuck out his middle finger and started to draw. A stream of blood started to flow from Lex''s nose but he ignored it, and instead continued to talk to the Kraven. "I doubt you''ve had a change of heart though, right?" The Kraven said nothing as it tried to move its body. Physically, he was still in peak condition, but his soul was just in too much pain. All the rage in the world couldn''t keep it from losing its control. What''s worse, though, was that the pain was slowly getting stronger. His soul was like dry wood, and a me had started to spread from one corner. No amount of pride could douse such a me. "I had so many questions. Where did the Kravene from? Were they always indigenous to this realm, did theye from somewhere else, or were they just a new species that was somehow born?" The Kraven was growling as it struggled to gain control even through the pain. The ground gently trembled under the terrifying gurgle but Lex paid it no mind. First of all, if he did something, he would have to give up on his array. Secondly, he had read enough about soul damage to know how debilitating it was. Not everyone could brush it off the way he could. "Once I had a random thought. What if the Kraven were actually looking for something? Like a treasure or something, right? But since they didn''t know what they were looking for, they just fought all the races for theirnd till they found it. But I have nothing to base that thought on, so I scrapped it. I do have one, slightly more specific question though - maybe you could help me out. How did you get in here?" Lex paused to look at the Kraven, but it was still growling, so he continued to talk. Honestly, his talking was more to just distract himself from the pain he was feeling - he did not expect the Kraven to give him any answers. "Like, I''m sure that this realm was searched at least briefly before students were let in. How could a Kraven escape the academy''s notice? Did youe in after us? Or have you been here for a long time?" The Kraven, while still disoriented, managed to move its arm and pressed it against the ground. It was trying to pick itself up. "What were you doing with that fire, anyway? Were you trying to capture the realm? Wait, was the reason these mountains were empty because of your coercion? If that''s the case, you must have been here for a while. Did the Crystal race abandon this realm because of Kravens?" The answer to his questions didn''t matter, for he finally finished his array. It was a very simple, very focused array that served only one purpose - one that Lex would not enjoy. A bright yellow me formed midair, where Lex finished the array, and slowly moved towards Lex''s bare chest. The ck slime covering his wounds sizzled as the mes approached and soon started boiling. Lex clenched his teeth and groaned as he allowed the me to burn away the slime and cauterize his wounds. Somehow, he managed not to yell. But once the array faded, Lex did not feel any better. There was poison in his system and Evisceration had caused him internal injuries. He could not even focus on whether his scars would look cool over his abs as he turned to look towards Cwenhild and the rest. Their fight was almost over, with only a few assants left. Had he managed to defeat the Kraven before they finished their fight? It seemed so. It would be smart to use this time to crush the Kraven''s core, but he was not strong enough, and a sufficient array would take too much time. He turned his attention towards the blue me. So long as he put that out, he would be able to absorb some energy. But he didn''t know if putting out the me would somehow affect Cwenhild taking the realm, so he did the most anticlimactic thing ever. He just waited for them to finish. The Kraven was grunting and even yelling as it continued to lift its body, but kept on stumbling. Lex would be highly impressed if it could do anything in this state. The pain from its soul aside, the soul is literally what gave it life. With a damaged soul, its ability to continue to even stay alive was highlypromised, let alone anything else. If anything, its state was a testament to how superior Kraven actually were, for a lesser beings'' soul would have already copsed after taking such a hit. About a minuteter, the group finished their fight. Not taking any time to rx, they quickly turned to give Lex aid, and froze. The Kraveny there, copsed on the ground, grunting like its mind had been fractured, while Lex stood casually beside it. The slight sweat that covered his body did not make him look exhausted, but rather was a testament to how little he had exerted himself. The char from the me that burned his chest covered his body, hiding how pale he really was, and instead made him look like a man who had walked out of hell fire. Neither his shield nor his sword were anywhere in sight, but the way the Kraven kept wailing gave the impression that he had used his bare hands to bring the creature to its current state. Even more impressive was the fact that none of the spiritual attacks in the Kraven''s voice did anything to Lex as he just stood there casually next to it. Cwenhild had studied in great detail all the rumors about Lex, and came to the conclusion that while true, they had been somewhat embellished. Now though, she could not help but believe. In fact, at this moment, he even seemed somewhat greater than his rumors. Ness was gravely injured. In fact, she had to sit still and let Silvia heal her, or there was a strong chance she would go into shock. But as she stared at the man standing beside humanity''s greatest foe, she had to remind herself not to move for she found herself filled with lust. To be more specific, she was filled with lust for battle! Lex had been hiding his capabilities and her heart was filled with the greatest desire to find out to what degree. Bearin was pale, and not just because of his blood loss. He disliked and picked on Lex to show his superiority, so as to let Lex know his ce in thepetition from Cwenhild. But all he was good for was defending and running away, so never felt seriously threatened. But now he felt threatened. "What are you waiting for?" Lex asked, waking everyone up from their reverie. "Kill the Kraven and take the realm. It''s best not to let these things wait, lest something unexpected happens." As if listening to Lex, Cwenhild dashed to him and pierced the Kraven through its back towards its core. Her ive, like always, cut smoothly through all opposition and abruptly ended the creature''s life. There was a sense of disbelief that filled the air as the creature fell limp onto the ground, no longer grunting or moving.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om That was¡­ it? But apparently, it seemed so. Cwenhild paused to look at the Kraven''s body, but could not find a single external wound. She looked towards Lex and saw tired eyes and a nosebleed, nothing else. It seemed¡­ she had still underestimated Lex. She wanted to talk to him but his words were right. It was best to finish things quickly lest anything else unexpected happened. Lex saw her turn towards the blue me and excitement surged within him. He wondered how much energy he would get. Then, a familiar sense of danger filled his body. Before he could react in any way, though, at a speed iprehensible to him, a figure appeared in front of him and ced a single finger on his forehead. Lex felt the cold finger press against him, unable to tell if the sensation was actual temperature or his instincts warning him about death. Yet nothing else happened. The world seemed to have frozen and his body alongside it, with only his thoughts remaining unfrozen. He focused towards the figure and realized two things. First, this was the same figure he had seen earlier, back in the first ruins. Second, standing in front of him was a member of the Crystal race, and he was far stronger than anything Lex could go up against. "Do not be rmed, young human," spoke a warm voice inside his head. "I only came to talk to you. I found your fight quite interesting. But more importantly, I was fascinated by the questions you asked." Chapter 310 Focal Point Lex rxed considerably, though there was just something about having a finger on his forehead that could drill into his brain at any moment that didn''t let him feelpletely at ease. He looked at the stranger in front of him. Besides a small gap around his eyes that showed the figure was made of crystal with a blue tint in it, he was covered in wrappings from head to toe. All it would take was a pair of sunsses and no one would ever be able to tell the figure was from the crystal race, and would mistake him for a human. He also noticed that bymenting on the fact that he liked Lex''s questions to the Kraven, he revealed that he could understand whatevernguage they had been speaking. Yet, the Kraven had clearly stated that hisnguage could not be understood by inferior races. This either meant that he was lying, which waspletely possible, or that the Crystal race did not fall into the category of an inferior race. "Do you know the answers? Do you know where the Kraven came from?" Lex asked with excitement in his voice. It was a lot harder to mask his emotions when the conversation was taking ce in his own brain. The manughed before answering. "Of course I know the answers, and more. In fact, the reason I''m in this realm to begin with is to erase any evidence or historical records that are not formon eyes."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Lex tried to analyze his words, but the man did not give away any details. All he had managed to convey so far was that the origin of the Kraven, or perhaps their goals, may not be such a mystery to everyone. This man at least knew the answers, but wanted to avoid spreading the information. "I''ll give you a few hints though, if you''re interested in searching for the answers. Matters rting to the Kraven are moreplicated than you realize. At the same time, however, those that need to know about these matters, do. So, there are two ways for you to learn the answers you seek. First, you be important enough to the people who know that they share this knowledge with you. Who they are and how you can be important to them, I will leave for you to figure out on your own. Second, you find old ruins like the ones in this realm, but in an area that has been long forgotten. After all, any time a new Minor realm is opened, someone like mees along to scrub the ce clean. And any ruins back in the Crystal realm that aremon knowledge have already been scrubbed clean. The only way for you to learn the truth through this method is to find a realm, or some ruins, on your own that no one else knows about." For a moment, Lex did not respond as he thought about the information given to him. In the end, he could not stop himself from asking, "If this information is meant to be kept a secret, why are you telling me how to find it?" "Why else? Because I think it will be entertaining. If you''re able to learn the truth, you can find me in a city called Valesco to share the story of how you found out. If I like the story, for every secret you uncovered, I''ll reveal another one. But I think you''re still far away from that for now, so I''ll give you a little help to speed up the process. The crown that the little girl is carrying around is called the Issle''Garb. It is useless to humans, unless they happen to follow what you call the True Path of cultivation." The crystal winked at Lex as he said that. "Next, a small tip about Minor realms. Minor realms are a tear in space and so are exposed to a lot of chaotic energy, also known as radiation. If a Minor realm is naturally formed, this chaotic energy will soon cause the realm to copse, but if a Minor realm is created, the creator naturally equips the realm with a way to harness the radiation, and spread it throughout the realm as spiritual energy. Some of it, however, is saved up in an area known as the focal point which is a treasure that can be used to influence the realm. If someone were to enter an unowned realm, and take control of the focal point, they can absorb all that energy. It''s a safe way to quickly raise your cultivation." The man winked again. "After all that excess energy is absorbed, the cultivator can still cultivate much faster so long as they do so near the focal point. Of course, it can''tpete with taking a new focal point but, typically, a person can only own one focal point at a time." The man paused after that, almost as if considering if he wanted to give Lex a few more hints to help him, but in the end, decided not to make it too easy for Lex. "I''ll leave you with a letter. If you want to find me, just give that letter to one of the guards in Valesco." With that the man vanished, as if he had never been there, and time seemed to flow again. Cwenhild was still walking towards the blue me while the rest of the group was either healing or inspecting the dead Kraven. In Lex''s hand was a sealed letter with no name or destination written on any side. He put away the letter and took a deep breath of relief. Then he thought over the new information the man had given him. So other than absorb the abundant energy in the realms into the system, he could absorb it himself and speed up his cultivation. This was good news, because it meant that all Minor realms would have a massive amount of energy stored up. While Cwenhild did whatever she needed to do with the me, Lex walked towards the dead assassins. Their demise had not been peaceful, as almost all of them had their bodies split in half, while others had been crushed or burned to death. Lex removed their masks but, as expected, did not recognize any of them. He searched their bodies but, other than their weapons, they carried nothing else that may reveal their origins. "Find anything?" Jovi asked, limping up to Lex. "Not a thing," he replied impassively. In Lex''s mind, he was already nning his next move. The chances that these assassins were after him was extremely slim, and he was sure Cwenhild would get to the bottom of it, so he already put it out of his mind. "I¡­ can probably guess their origin," said Jovi as he looked around, making sure no one was close. "I can tell you, but you have to answer a question of mine first." Lex raised an eyebrow as he looked at Jovi with curiosity. Intrigued, he said, "ask away." "What kind of rtionship do you have with Cwenhild?" Lex almost felt stupid for being curious. All that build up, and what was it for? Petty jealousy? Did he think they had a romantic rtionship or something? "Strictly professional. My designated profession at the academy is Survival Consultant, and based on my performance during a previous expedition, she thought I would be of assistance and hired me." Jovi let out a breath of relief, and then actuallyughed, for he didn''t even realize he had been holding his breath. "I''m sorry, I just¡­ after you¡­ the Kraven¡­ I¡­" Jovi stopped and chuckled at his state. He collected his thoughts and asked, "are you familiar with the distinctions between academy students?" "By profession?" "No, not like that. Let me exin. The academy, as you probably know it, is a tool used by the King to train the leaders in every possible industry from the entire Hum nation. Its campus, as you''ve probably noticed, is ridiculously huge. That''s because the academy covers morend than entire provinces such as Gristol. I''m not sure how many students the academy has at any one point, butst year, 30 billion students graduated from the academy. After they graduate, those students are sent throughout the realm and assume roles that help their respectivemunities in massive ways. But, all of that is just the most basic and out level of the academy. These students are, in a way, probationary students. Only by achieving something extraordinary before you graduate can you be eligible to be a true student. Another way of putting it would be that, only after you prove yourself, can you be a core student of the academy." He paused, and turned to look at Cwenhild. "She''s been proving herself for a while now, and once she gains this Minor realm, she''ll be eligible to be a core student. I''m guessing¡­ the assassins were sent by someone who''speting with her for that position." Chapter 311 Cursed System "Is there a quota on how many core students there can be?" Lex asked curiously. "No, there''s no quota. But there''s only so many things you can do that count towards getting you a spot as a core student that are as ''easy'' as taking control of a Minor realm. There will be a lot of Minor realms, and the fight for the focal point for each of them will be intense. We are probably the first ones to actually reach a focal point, all thanks to you and Patrick sensing the energy signatures. Most others will probably spend weeks scouring the realms for it." He paused for a moment, looked at Lex, then continued. "The real prize Cwenhild is after is not this Minor realm, despite how valuable it is. It''s the admission into the core of the academy. And when she bes a member, she can nominate 5 people toe along with her. They won''t be core members themselves, but they''ll still be better than normal students." Realization dawned on Lex, and he understood now why Jovi had asked about his rtionship with Cwenhild. He probably also understood the animosity Bearin had towards him. The group was full ofpetitors, and everyone wanted to be the one Cwenhild nominated. "What actually happens when you be a core disciple?" Lex asked curiously. If the benefits were worth it, he would consider it as well. After all, he had ns on absorbing energy from the other Minor realms, anyway. He didn''t mind iming one if the benefits were worth it. He''d also thought of iming the Minor realms for himself if possible, but if that opportunity arose, he''d already thought of an alternative that suited him more. "What happens once you''ve be a core student is a closely guarded matter. Cwenhild may know a bit, but mostly it is kept secret. What ismonly known, however, is that every student who enters goes through explosive growth. But¡­ most importantly¡­ almost 30% of core students¡­ end up bing Immortals." Jovi became out of breath as he said thest sentence, and his eyes widened with longing. Even Lex paused his thoughts, then shook his head. Higher realms were not his focus right now. He needed energy, and that''s where his focusy. The process of taking control of the focal point was not quick, and it actually took a few hours before Cwenhild finished. As unfortunate as it was, as soon as she did, she ended up absorbing all the umted energy. Somehow, the loss of the energy hurt Lex more than the severe burns on his chest and the poison still coursing through his veins. With the realm under her control now, the blue me died out. But instead of the realm falling into darkness, an orb of gentle yellow light appeared in the sky, illuminating thends. She did not pay attention to the change in lighting and instead the first thing Cwenhild did was give Lex aplicated look full of wonder, gratitude and admiration. "It''s done, the Minor realm is under my control. I''ll take you all back to get treated, and then we can discuss payment and the next steps after everyone is healed. But first, let''s get rid of all those treasure hunters snooping around my new realm." No one protested, for everyone needed medical aid, but they all looked at one another withplicated eyes. Lex especially received the most looks of envy and jealousy. Cwenhild ced a hand on top of the dish in which the fire was lit and, after a moment, let out a sigh of relief. "It''s done, and the timing couldn''t be better. Some people were actually trying to break the barrier to the sleeping Crystals. Anyway, let''s get out of here."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Instead of a portal opening up for them to walk though, likest time, Lex was directly with the strange yet familiar feeling of the disconnect between his body and his consciousness. But having already experienced it once, Lex handled it like a pro. A momentter, he was back in the familiar setting of Cwenhild''s apartment. A team of doctors and emergency responders were already waiting for them and quickly swarmed the group. Those who were in the worst conditions were immediately taken away while the slightly less injured were given support while the doctors examined them directly where they stood. While Lex could also use medical attention, there was something slightly more urgent to take care of. Under the horrified gaze of the doctor who was looking at the massive cauterized wounds on Lex''s chest, he signaled Cwenhild to meet him on the side. "How are you doing?" she asked, now that she could better see his condition. The nonchnce on his face earlier had fooled her into thinking he took on no injuries, but seeing the fact that he had simply been ignoring his wounds worried her. From their voice to their ridiculous strength to the poisonous slime, everything about Kraven was designed to kill. In a way, surviving with injuries was more impressive than not getting injured at all. "I have a request, a favor and business proposition for you," Lex said, after considering his words. "I''ll start with the request. I''d like to rece my payment with the crown you''re carrying." "This?" Cwenhild asked, holding up the crown that had been hung around her waist, surprised. They''d had the crown for many days, which had given her plenty of time to experiment with it, but she had discovered nothing special. She''d even worn it, and besides acting as a beautiful headpiece, it seemed to offer nothing else. "Do you know what it does?" "I know a little about it," Lex said, without borating. Cwenhild shrugged and handed it over without much consideration. As valuable as it might be, it could notpete with the hundreds of actual sleeping Crystals in her realm, and Lex had helped tremendously. He more than earned it. "Take it as a bonus for beating the Kraven on your own, and expect your payment in full. We cooperated well. I hope we''ll be able to do so again in the future/" "Much appreciated," he said without being pedantic. "Now, for the request. As you know, I still n on visiting other Minor realms, but I don''t want to waste too much time healing. At the same time, I can''t afford to go if I''m not in top condition. I need to speed up my recovery as much as possible, and I''m guessing you''d have ess to better facilities than anywhere else. If you could help me out, I''d greatly appreciate it." "Consider it done," Cwenhild said. Even if she didn''t believe Lex was her half brother, he had proved himself extremely valuable and she would have wanted to maintain an excellent rtionship with him. If she could use something as simple as resources to win over his favor, she''d consider it a bargain. "But it still won''t be a miraculous recovery. First the doctors will need to check your condition to figure out the extent of your injuries, and based on that, we can move forward." "Not a problem. Finally, the business proposal. So I was thinking¡­" As Lex exined his n to her, she gave him a befuddled look, which then fluctuated between absolute disgust and amazement. If he could pull off what he was thinking, it would be the most broken way to earn money she had ever encountered. She had to be a part of this. ***** Osaka, Japan, Earth Souta Ito slowly wiped the blood from his Katana, ignoring the dozens of dismembered bodies around him. A faint smell of death had begun to envelope the area, but theing storm clouds should wash away the stain of his sins. In the distance, a crowd had gathered as they watched, horrified but at the same time, numbed. For a time, while the Council of New Order ruled Earth, Souta had purged Japan of all external influence, and taken control. The fact that every time he overcame an obstacle, or killed a strong opponent, his system would give him generous rewards was in fact just a bonus to him. The people of Japan had long since be used to his ruthlessness and brutality. Most looked at him with disgust and hate, though they did their best to hide it. Some formed a zealous cult, worshiping his actions of bringing Japan back to its roots. What no one knew was that, deep inside, this was not what he wanted. Souta had lived a simple life before receiving the Samurai system, and lived in a small town. His ambitions extended as far as retiring his parents and starting a family, and nothing more. When he received his system, instead of glory and wonder, it brought him hell. The reason was simple. The Samurai system made him incredibly strong, and as a system that directly increased his strength andbat abilities, made it so that there was no danger he could not face. But it came with one great w. In the old days, samurais were retainers under their feudal lords. Simrly now, as a Samurai, his system made him unquestionably loyal to his ''feudal lord''. Unfortunately, through a twist of fate, he had pledged his loyalty to an extremely ambitious man who, while ignorant of the system, understood full well how to take advantage of Souta''s strength. This man, who went only by the name Suzuki, had tasted the power of ruling, before Fernanda retook control of the Earth and stabilized everything. Now though, he spent all his time venting his anger on the weak, through Souta, of course. "Come Souta," the extremely well dressed man said as he walked away from the bloody scene, even less bothered by the surrounding gore. "We have a newmission - someone named Larry who''s been hiding at the Midnight Inn. For now though, we''ll only collect information on the target. I''ve heard security is very tight at the Inn." Souta said nothing, and followed Suzuki, his expression indifferent. He had learned to hide his emotions from his lord. Until he found a way to regain his freedom from this cursed system, he needed to hide as much as he could. Chapter 312 Error Lex sat cross-legged, wearing an oxygen mask in a tube of a viscous green liquid. His recovery was a lot slower this time around, considering the fact that the Lotus on his back wasn''t helping. In the first ce, it had helpedst time due to a misunderstanding and Lex didn''t want to ask it for help again unless the situation was dire. Thus, he was stuck at the mercy of this healing liquid. The greatest obstacle to his recovery was the poison in his blood. As he expected, his body was very resistant to the effects of the poison, but resistant was not the same as immune. Fortunately, if there was one thing that humans were well prepared for, it was anything rted to Kravens. The green liquid was not exactlyfortable to sit in and caused Lex''s body to itch all over. But, for the sake of a swift recovery, he bore the inconvenience in silence, and instead turned his attention towards the Inn. The first stage of Lady Cosmos finally ended, and a mere 400,000 contestants would move onto the next stage. This phase of thepetition was filled with trials that contestants had toplete in small teams. Lex had given Mary 5 million MP to help Audrey form any kind of trials she wanted, and a short nce at the venue showed them clearing some kind of life-sized maze that required ingenuity and teamwork. The size of the audience for Lady Cosmos had not decreased with the number of contestants, but had rather increased vastly. For the first time, Lex noticed a couple of Earth Immortals amongst his guests at the Inn. They were not mixed in with the crowd, but rented entire small viges and stayed there with their followers. They could not be considered his average guests, but he needed to upgrade the Inn to better cater to them as well. Another aspect of the Inn he was concerned about was security. Things had finally stabilized. This did not mean that there were no incidents, but that the frequency of incidents stabilized and that the hired security was working well with the Inns own security to handle things smoothly. In fact, it was while he was monitoring his guards that he noticed something strange. One of the Security rooms functions was picking up on malicious intent, either towards the Inn or even its guests. This feature allowed them to often prevent an incident from taking ce and was one of the main reasons that the Inn had managed to keep the peace. After all, more than once, a guest had approached one of the contestants from Lady Cosmos with the intention to harass or ckmail, and they had been dealt with swiftly. It was this feature that picked up a certain pair spying on Larry, with the intention of collecting information on him, and harming him once he left the Inn. Since they had done nothing wrong, they were not punished, but Chad, Gerards deputy, sent a few guards their way to ''advise'' them to honor their guests'' privacy. This was very routine, and Lex would have forgotten the incident the moment he looked away, but while he was scanning them, he saw something that he had actually forgotten about. Of the pair, one had an unusual status. Name: *&%error%&* Age: *&%error%&* Sex: *&%error%&* Cultivation Details: *&%error%&* Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Remarks: This man is pouting with his eyes. Maybe some Saturn cake will cheer him up - and form an addiction that will keep himing back for more! Lex frowned as he recalled thest few times he had seen an error message with his scan. First was his unofficial employee, John, and second was the Celestial, who was his bodyguard. They had been enigmatic figures with a mysterious past and unknown origin, so he would understand it if there was something unusual about them that eluded the system. After all, the system had proven that it was not perfect, and there were many loopholes in its functionality. But Lex had seen enough anime to recognize Japanese when he heard it, even if it was automatically being tranted for him. So now the question was, what did these three have inmon that could elude the systems scan? Or did they each have separate reasons for avoiding the scans results? "Mary, I want you to keep a close eye on that guest," he said, pointing towards Souta. "I want you to collect all the information on him and save it for me. While you''re at it,pile all the information we have on John, as well as my bodyguard, during the Midnight Games."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex made a mental note to consider the cause before turning his attention to other matters. The group of workers he''d hired earlier to n and design the vige had submitted their first report, and Lex took a look at it. They had proposed many additions to the vige, but had also suggested some changes to the already existing design as well. They studied areas with highest and lowest density of guests and tracked their movements, as well as analyzed why those were more or less popr areas for guests. Things such as attractions, restaurants, parks, and residential areas were generally high density areas, but some were more than others. The reason was the easier flow of traffic. All of Lex''s designs had an air of Earth about them, but the best or mostmon forms of traffic flow were not necessarily the best for other demographics. The n they proposed was only the first step in overhauling the entire vige - this being only the first because they wanted to study how the changes affected the flow and distribution of guests. The first change was a major one. Lex, in his pursuit to make the vige seem as if it had grown and expanded organically, had ced the various districts slightly haphazardly. The nners proposed small but significant alterations that would make it easier to have awork of roads and paths connected to each area, while at the same time organizing each area into smaller sub-districts. Furthermore, rather than tile walking paths or usual roads, different species of grass were used to mark different paths. Awork of canals was also added alongside these roads in many districts, linking them to the underwater portion of the vige. Moreover, transport through only subways or golf carts and such was also distinctly Earth like, and entirely unnecessary. All transport vehicles were designated an aerial level, and would not obstruct the crowds on the ground. From various silent pods, to booths on ground that would levitate once upied, to entire small tram like cabins became the main mode of transport. Not only were they extremely quick and silent, through clever use of formations, the level at which all of these vehicles would be traveling became almost invisible, revealing their existence only when focused on. The random clutter of the city suddenly seemed to take on a more organized look and feel. The massive features of the vige, such as the colosseum or giant pagoda, were no longer intrusions, but rather attractions, bing sufficiently distanced from residential and recreational areas. Impressed by the detail of their proposal, Lex decided to implement all of it, theplete changes only costing him 3 million MP. Considering the fact that Lex now had 1.1 billion MP, he considered it pocket change. Next, he looked at the changes they suggested for the floating portion of the vige. They believed that keeping the floating portion stationary was a waste, and proposed to turn it into an independent district of the vige that could move through the air over the vige. Not only that, the floating vige would y an integral role in controlling the climate of the vige down below. They reced the former method of arrival to the floating vige and instead created a few terminals through which guests would be brought or taken away. They also reduced the use of ss, and instead added greater elements of nature, making it seem like a paradise, hiding in the clouds. All kinds of birds made their homes here, so an orchard was also added which would be the designated spot for wildlife. Lex once again approved all the suggestions without any alterations and, with a snap of his fingers, the system started implementing the changes. The guests were initially rmed, but then watched in awe as the vige moved around them, improving right under their eyes. The frequent guests took the changes in their stride, but the millions of new guests observed in awe. Some of the workers revealed that this was the work of the enigmatic Innkeeper that none of them had seen, and they all began to wonder what kind of a figure this Innkeeper was. The Immortals especially were rmed. It was not everyday they encountered a sight that could amaze them. Chapter 313 Right On The Nose It took nearly eight hours for the poison to be cleansed from Lex''s body. He wasn''tpletely healed by the time that was done, but he was well enough that he exited the tube toplete some of his other tasks. During this previous expedition, though he had a sword, he had not ended up using it even once. He had practiced using it a little, but the matter of fact was that he was nowhere nearpetent enough to use it skillfully. Heck, he had only been a cultivator less than a year, or a little more - he had lost track of time - but he had been so busy during that time that something like training methodically and systematically was impossible. He had gotten better with his gun, but only because his enhanced senses made using it simple. The amount of time he had trained was miniscule. As such, for now at least, carrying such a weapon was not feasible for him. Perhapster, when he had the time to train, he woulde back to it. Now, though, he decided to go even simpler. He made his way to the weaponsmith who he previously used to work for and used his newfound wealth to purchase a pair of ck gloves. Other than providing basic protection for his hands, the gloves provided him with a series of benefits due to their enchantments. The gloves conducted spiritual energy, and so would not get in the way of his array casting, while another enchantment would stabilize his hands and fingers to help his precision while drawing characters. It also had a simple yet powerful shockwave ability. Lex could store spiritual energy into it and activate it while hitting something tounch the shockwaves. He also bought new armor and gear. He no longer lived with the delusion that either the armor or gear would serve him for long, so he went for items with greater immediate benefits rather than that could serve him long term. After all, it was all toomon for him to lose or break whatever gear he had. He still couldn''t get over the loss of his Fancy Monocle. With that done, he returned to Cwenhild. While he was recovering, she had submitted the report of her sess, as well as the numerous sleeping Crystals in her new realm. Even the admin for the academy had been startled by the news. An investigation was ongoing and this would most likely turn into a bargaining chip for the academy with the Crystal race. It was not easy to earn their favor, and so they would be sure to make the best use of this opportunity. Suffice to say, once her realm was thoroughly explored, and the scope of her situation was understood, Cwenhild would be appropriately rewarded. Entrance into the core of the academy was all but guaranteed for her at this point. Of course, she had also silently and secretly sent information about this event to her mother. Who knew, maybe this could prompt the woman to evene back to the academy, which was something Cwenhild would have enjoyed. After all, there were certain things she could only do with her mother around. Cwenhilds ambitions were no less than her mothers.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Of course, none of that had anything to do with Lex. What he was after was something else entirely. "This is the list of Minor realms with Foundation realm only designations," Cwenhild said, as she handed Lex a list. "A detailed report of what''s happening inside is hard to get, as currently the only source of information is the students who have left. There is one, however, that I think fits your criteria well, though I personally am not so sure about it. "It has the highest chances that no one has gotten even close to figuring out where the focal point is because the realm is overrun by Imps. And when I say overrun, I''m being modest. Tens of thousands of imps upy this realm, all part of various warring ns that, I assume usually fight each other, but as soon as the students appeared they all attacked them immediately. There have been dozens of casualties confirmed, with hundreds of missing students, presumed dead or captured. There''s a massive battle that''s been going on for the past few hours between students and thousands of imps. It is by far the most chaotic realm so far." "Ah such terrible news, so many innocent studentsing to harm. I suppose it is my responsibility to go and end their suffering by taking over the realm and ejecting them from whatever prisons the imps have kept them in." Cwenhild gave him a nd look, as if she was not at all impressed by his humor. Lex chuckled and said, "Don''t worry, just have a buyer ready for me by the time Ie back. You''re sure there are no reports of Kravens in the realm? Or any other Golden core creatures?" "No, that Kraven was an anomaly that the academy is looking into. Such a thing should not happen. As for other Golden core creatures, that''s entirely possible. In such matters, as long as the disadvantage is not overwhelming, the academy does not interfere. But Lex, are you really sure you want to do this alone? You''ve experienced firsthand how difficult it was to im a realm." "Don''t worry. Even if I can''t get this one, I''m sure I can manage at least one. As for going alone, I think it''s for the best. No one will be looking for or expecting a lone person to take a realm. Besides, if I don''t need to worry about warning others about danger all the time, and only have to look after myself, I''ll be much faster." Cwenhild did not argue. She did not believe in being pedantic, and showing concern for his wellbeing once was already uncharacteristic for her usual self. Besides, Lex''s business proposal of capturing realms, and then instead of reporting it to the academy, selling them to students who are pursuing the core of the academy was an extremely... lucrative idea. It was madness to be honest. Who would value money over getting to the core of the academy? Lex apparently. If anything, it seemed he thought of it as an inconvenience to avoid. She shook her head and then signaled one of her attendants. An academy administrator came into the room and, after being informed of which one, opened a portal for Lex to the realm. By going to the realms from Cwenhilds apartment instead of the public entrances, they could better hide their movements. After all, if the academy registered the achievement of iming a realm under Lex''s name, the value of selling the realm would diminish drastically. Lex was all too familiar with the sensation of passing through a portal by now and took it in his stride. He was looking forward to the next few days. He had been nning on going to Minor realms in search of energy reserves anyway, but now he could gain double the benefits. The moment he arrived in the Minor realm, however, a massive hammer the size of a car door smashed him directly in the face. It happened too fast for him to even sense, let alone dodge. His body was thrown in the air but the disorientationsted only a moment, and he gathered himself before he evennded. He didn''t even need to nce around to realize that he had arrived right in the middle of a massive battle. Lex crashed into a few imps and while the force of the crash severely damaged them, Lex quickly hopped onto his feet to look around. Hundreds of students were fighting against thousands of imps, as well as trolls. Lex was already familiar with these two races, as he had studied them in his sses. Imps and trolls were both humanoid creatures, but drastically different in size. Imps were usually around 3 feet (0.9 meters) in size, and were feral creatures with only basic intelligence. They were, however, feral in nature and carriers of various diseases. Trolls were usually anywhere between 8 to 12 feet (2.4 - 3.7 meters) in size and were even dumber, making them easily manipted by the imps. They boasted mild immunity to spiritual energy and great physical strength. Still, the academy students were not pushovers and the numerical disadvantage did not deter them. Yet the fight was a wild skirmish, with each doing whatever they saw fit, which only served to increase the chaos. Lex paid no attention to any of that, though. Masterfully dodging any attacksing his way, he rubbed his nose that had taken the brunt of that hammer, and waited for the Lotus to tell him about any nearby energy reserves. He was not disappointed, and as soon as he got a direction, he used Hearts marathon to bolster his speed and ran off. The one thing he had learnt while helping Cwenhild was that, as long as he only faced those in the Foundation realm, he had little to fear. That''s what gave him his confidence in trying to im multiple realms. Now, he had to put his skills to the test. ***** Origin realm, Pendal Gctic Battlefront Ragnar''smand carrier did not alter its paths as it tore through asteroids bigger than Earth, though it had begun to slow down. Six othermand carriers were stationed on the border of this battlefront; a void without any stars, let alone star systems ands. Only an endless field of rocks and destion as far as the eye could see, with no indication of what this region had once been. This would be the first time, in a long time, that Ragnar would face an enemy other than demons. But just as that was a war he had to face, so too was this. But, unlike the sh humans had against Devils, which was personal, this battlefield was one they were obligated to fight in, so long as they took advantage of the Henali conventions. Somewhere else in themand carrier, a tired Alexander looked out into space. The former golden child of destiny was now naught but an exhausted soldier. Yet, hidden deep in his eyes was a fire that burned brighter than the stars. So long as he was alive, the universe had not beaten him. Chapter 314 Flow When themand carrier appeared close enough to the battlefront, Ragnar retreated to his private chambers and enabled all the security measures the room came with. Soon he heard the sound of a notification he was waiting for and sat down on a throne in the center of his room. When he sat, his surroundings seemed to change, and he was no longer in his room, but instead he found himself in a cave, facing several other men sitting in simr thrones. This was not holographic projection; the throne had special enchantments that only he could activate which would lead him to a nearby Minor realm, temporarily formed just for the purpose of holding secret meetings. Only other generals of the Jotun empire had ess to such thrones, or those with authority even superior to the generals. This was because every word they spoke had major repercussions on the entire empire, and no chances could be taken for their conversations to be overheard. Even their casual conversations required sufficient authority for one to hear. "Oh my, we have the honor of Hell''s butcher joining us today. Don''t tell me the Devils have decided to interfere here as well," said one of the six other men in the hall teasingly. "You must remember, he is not just a butcher," said another one. "When his rank was raised to general, his Highness Serafol called him Son of the Empire. Where the empire has a need, the son will appear to fulfill it. But that does not bode well for us." Ragnar only smiled mildly while the other generals joked about. Even the youngest of them were tens of thousands of years older than him. He, at a mere three and a half thousand years, was one of the youngest generals in the entire empire. Furthermore, he always had a soft spot for other humans. His ferocity would usually be reserved for demons and devils, or any of the other races that targeted humans. Now, among his peers in rank and strength, Ragnar did not mind filling the role of being the younger brother. "This is no time for joking about," a harsh voice cut through the cave. A man walked in from the darkness, his face locked in a stern expression even as he spoke. All generals recognized this being, for it was no man but the spirit body of a sentient treasure that was stored in the center of the Pendal Gxy. "Now that Ragnar is finally here, I can begin your briefing. Things have changed, and drastically. While it seems that everything has been as usual on the battlefront, we''ve gotten reports of anomalies. Within thest five years, over 300 star systems just outside the quarantine zone have mysteriously been destroyed." The battlefront was actually a specific zone just at the border of their gxy, where this war was fought. What was happening beyond this border, or in the gxy opposite to them, was none of their concern, their only job was to ensure their so called ''enemies'' did not sneak into their gxy. It was not easy, but at least it was notplicated since their enemies would onlye from a specific region of space, so there was no threat of being backstabbed. Outside the battlefront was a quarantine zone, which was a no development zone, in case the battle ever spread to those regions. Yet now there was trouble right outside the quarantine zone. Typically, it should not have been possible for anyone to sneak past them. Which meant there were two most likely possibilities: either their ''enemies'' had somehow gotten reinforcements which were gearing up to attack the generals from the back and front, or that they had discovered a method to sneak past them. Whichever one it was, it was bad for them.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "It gets worse," the man said, his expression somehow bing even more grave. "We suspect¡­ they''re nurturing a Jom." All six generals stood up from their thrones, shock and a hint of fear showing in their eyes, Ragnar included. A Jom was an absolutely massive creature born in space such that the average star would be smaller than its eyeball. They were so extremely, ridiculously rare, that in the entire history of the Jotun empire, let alone encountering one, even rumors of a living one had not been heard. If the enemy was ''nurturing'' one that meant it had already been born, and that was already too dangerous. The entire Pendal gxy was at risk of being destroyed. "We need proof of the Jom before we can ask for aid from the Henali alliance, but not only do we have no idea where it might be hiding, we have no way to get close without being detected." A heavy silence filled the cave while everyone absorbed the information, and were waiting for the spirit body to continue, when suddenly, Ragnar had an idea. "I may have a solution," Ragnar said, attracting disbelieving looks not only from his peers but from the spirit body as well. "News has probably not spread to you all, so first let me update you on my most recent assignment. There is an Inn¡­" ***** Escaping from the battlefield was actually harder than Lex expected, though it was mostly due to the difficult terrain. Towards the edge of the battle, the ground turned soft and malleable, but his foot didn''t actually sink in. The ground itself would stretch under the weight of his body. It was like running on stic rubber. In the end, he didn''t even bother avoiding attacks because they did next to no harm. He just focused on maintaining his bnce and getting away. This Minor realm was extremely deste, even away from the battle. He had yet to see any vegetation of any kind, and so he could only imagine what the imps and trolls used for sustenance. Instead he saw unusualndscapes and terrains that made no sense. Currently he was standing at the base of a mountain range, except, unlike a normal mountain range that would extend across thend, this one¡­ was shaped like an upside-down pyramid and rose into the sky. Out of one mountain, grew three that rose vertically, and out of those, three more grew out and so on. The strange thing was that the base of each mountain was extremely small, and instead grew wider the higher it rose into the sky. Stranger still was that, considering the massive structure filling up the sky, it should be extremely dark where Lex stood - but it wasn''t. Each of the mountains was covered in crystals that refracted light so perfectly, sending beams of light to other crystals which then spread the light even further, that it was as bright as midday. He did not even try to understand how this formation came about, or whether it was natural or artificial. He just identified his path towards the energy source, which was somewhere in this range. To be clear, he wouldn''t have to climb the mountains vertically. There were roads carved into the mountain sides just like one would see in any mountain that suffered from a flow of traffic. Once he got a good idea of where he was headed, he didn''t embark immediately. Although he had confidence in his defense and other abilities, there was nothing wrong with being fully prepared. Which brought his attention to the crown hanging by his waist. He held it in his hands and observed it. As far as appearance was concerned, it was wholly unremarkable. There were no gems or intricate designs. It was a simple gold band with a few ridges throughout. But the function mattered more than appearance. He channeled his spiritual energy into it, but nothing seemed to happen. The energy circled through the crown and entered back into his body. The fact that the energy was able to seamlessly reenter his body was unusual, but not enough to be of any use. The Crystal man he had met earlier told him those following the True path could use it, so maybe he had to wear it to actually use it. He hesitated for a moment, then carefully set the crown on his head. A gentle current of spiritual energy flowed around him as it was absorbed into his body, then directed towards the crown. A few momentster, the crown vibrated and activated. Lex''s senses merged with the crown as if it weren''t a piece of jewelry but rather a part of his body. He could feel the crown act as an external meridian wrapped around his forehead with a stream of spiritual energy constantly flowing through it. But, most importantly, Lex felt a familiar, yet somehow foreign sensation ovee him. He entered a state of ''flow''. It had been a long time since he naturally entered that state of ''flow'', and he could immediately tell the difference between the state induced by the crown and the natural one. He had not yet entered the flow since he entered the Foundation realm, but he suspected that the benefits it had on him would have increased manifold. Comparatively, this artificial state still calmed his mind, elerated his thoughts and helped him gain remarkably precise control over his body - more than he used to back when he was in the Qi training realm at least - but he was all too aware that it was artificial. This would be extremely helpful to him in forming arrays quickly, as well as boost the effects of his instincts as well. However, Lex was not focused on the benefits he had gained. Instead, he began to wonder what this state of flow really was. After all, he assumed this crown was an incredibly special tool based on the emphasis it received in the chamber they took it from. It was a great piece of equipment that could only be used by the Crystal race and those on the True path, and yet, it could only provide a pale imitation of something Lex had achieved naturally, albeit, he could not turn it on as and when he wished. It must really be something special. He would have to put it to the test. Chapter 315 Mental Clarity Taking even steps, Lex walked slowly up the path on the mountain, the fingers of his left hand dragging against the wall in the path cut into the mountainside. At his current pace, it would take Lex years to reach the focal point, but his mind was not on that. Instead, currently, he was doing multiple things at the same time. The state of ''flow'' was remarkable, and gave Lex the mental rity he needed to sort out various matters, as well as notice many things he had overlooked. The first thing he noticed, though he could not really me himself for this, was that due to how busy he had been, Lex had made no progress at all in his cultivation. Lex felt great satisfaction in his achievements so far, and at his amazing performance in general, but he had only just stepped onto the starting line of the Foundation realm. His performance would improve exponentially so long as his cultivation also improved. But for that Lex needed time he didn''t have, so he directly dismissed the thought. The second thing he noticed was a peculiarity of Regal Embrace. It was excellent at helping him learn defensive techniques, but caused him great issues if he tried to learn offensive techniques. Yet it gave him no benefits or obstacles when he was performing either defensive or offensive arrays. The difference was that arrays were not fueled by his own spiritual energy despite being drawn using it, which is where the influence of Regal Embrace vanished. This helped him determine that his spiritual energy had certain behavior. But what was the underlying cause in the difference in behavior? It wasn''t like the cultivation technique could read his mind to determine what kind of technique he was using, or else he could just say he''s learning a defensive technique while learning attacks. After all, self hypnosis was a thing. That meant there was something on a fundamental level about the makeup of these techniques that he did not know about that influenced how his spiritual energy behaved. If he could figure out what that was, he could ovee the obstacle of his techniques. A simple analogy of the situation could be made using mas. If Lex had two mas in his hand, and wanted to join them, but kept trying to do so by pushing the north pole of each ma towards one another, he would face great resistance. Yet the same situation could easily be resolved if just used the opposite pole for one of the mas. The situation with Lex''s techniques was no doubt much moreplex than simply swapping poles, but as long as he understood the difference, he would be able to channel the speed at which he learned defensive techniques into all other kinds of techniques. This, again, was a topic that required a lot of time to conduct research, and so Lex pushed it to the back of his mind. The next thing he noticed was his greatest problem with arrays. While drawing one, he could do almost nothing else, and was stuck in ce. This made sense, after all, the characters would remain stuck in the ce where he drew them, right? That was actually incorrect. If his control over his spiritual energy was enough he could make an invisible tform on which he could draw the characters. That way, he could control the tform to move with him.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om This level of multitasking was simple for him in a state of flow, but without it, it was still beyond him. This let him appreciate how truly skilled Alexander was, back when he was fighting in the Midnight Games. He would use different spiritual and body techniques simultaneously. He did not even have the advantage Lex had of being able to use all techniques with the same energy, and would have to make sure to fuel his techniques with the relevant energy. Yet not only was he seamless, he controlled six floating des behind him at the same time as all those techniques. Truly it was only when you became more familiar with something that you could appreciate the difficulty it involved. But Lex was getting sidetracked. His focus had been on arrays. While drawing, his speed and stability greatly depended on his finger, but did he really need to use his finger like a pen? Instead of moving his finger to draw, couldn''t he directly control the spiritual energy to take the relevant shape? That was the experiment he was conducting as he slowly walked. The state of flow was not a miracle, and Lex didn''t automatically be able to achieve the task. It did, however, speed up the learning process endlessly. This was all Lex had been doing consciously. That did not, however, mean that Lex did not leave any tasks for his subconscious mind. It urred to him that so far he had been treating his instincts as a radar for danger, but was that all they were limited to? He hypothesized that it was not so. The concept of identifying danger or a threat signified that his instincts had a sense of self, and could gauge what was good or bad for him. In that case, his instincts should not only react to harmful things but also notify him if there was something beneficial to him nearby. In simple terms, along with being a radar for danger, his instincts should also work as a radar for treasures that were beneficial to him. It was for this reason that he was running his fingers across the wall. He was using as many of his senses as he could to absorb all the information from the environment. From the toughness of the rock, to the natural grooves formed by differentyers of rock, to the temperature, all of it could end up ying a part in guiding him. Everything he did portrayed ack of urgency, which was the opposite of what he should have been doing, considering he was in a rush to gain the realm. But in the state of flow, Lex had a slightly different perspective. In this state, his emotions were considerably numbed, though notpletely, so he felt no anxiety or stress to influence his decision making. He simply retained his objective and made the necessary decision. As things were, he was alreadyte to this realm by many days. There was a chance that no one had found the focal point yet, but based on the premise of assuming hispetitors were extremelypetent, it was most likely they had a lead on him. The more this was so, the more Lex had to remain calm. If he rushed, he could easily fall into any traps they had set for followingpetitors, or give away his position. He also believed that, based on the same premise, if hispetitors had not yet taken the focal point, it meant they likely faced some obstruction. It was best to gain a full understanding of the situation before making any decisions. In the end, Lex maintained his slow tempo for a couple of hours, and only sped up when he made decent progress with drawing arrays while walking. By increasing his speed, he also increased the difficulty of drawing the array, but at this point, it was all training for him. The pattern of maintaining a certain speed until he got ustomed to drawing arrays, then speeding up, continued well into the next day. Just as he was due to speed up further andunch into a fast jog, he instead stopped. It happened. His instincts were acting up, and this time instead of danger, it was greed Lex felt. He felt it in his entire body, from his gut to his muscles, down to his very bones! There was something nearby that his body was craving! He took a short break to replenish his stamina beforeunching into a run. The closer he got, the stronger the sensation became, to the point where his physical desire almost started to interfere with the calm the state of low provided. At a certain point, he had to step away from the path, and had to climb the mountain with his hands and legs. With the dexterity of a spider, Lex crawled up the mountain until he found a small, hidden tunnel. His body blocked the light from the reflecting crystals as he entered the tunnel, but he didn''t really need his sight to guide him. At the opposite end, he exited to a small clearing with a cozy little hut carved into the mountain beside a small fountain. Crystal clear water seemed to drip from the fountain, but evaporated before it could fall to the ground. The hairs on his body stood up and he could feel his body longing for that water. Curious to see what its effects were, he put his hand into the fountain, only to see his hand sucking in the water like a dry sponge. Then his fingers began to turn to stone. Chapter 316 Exhausted Panic set in, and Lex tried to withdraw his hand, but he was frozen still. He had no choice but to watch as the skin on his hand slowly turned gray, the color cascading up his hand. At the same time, the water from the fountain was quickly being absorbed, and by the time his elbow turned to stone, the fountain was empty. Besides panic, Lex felt immense confusion because the difference between what he was experiencing and what his body was telling him was different. Pure andplete satisfaction filled him to his very core. Before he could think further on the subject, his fingers cracked, and then, as if the stone had been nothing more than an outeryer, it started to fall, revealing his hand,pletely unharmed. A momentter, it was as if nothing had happened at all. Lex felt no mystical warmth run down his hand, or noticed any change to his cultivation or anything else. What just happened? Unsure of how to react, almost instinctively, Lex clenched his right hand into a fist and punched the mountain wall. With a loud bang, his fist buried itself directly into the wall. Now Lex was really surprised, because there was no way he was that strong. This entire mountain seemed to be one giant stone, carrying the weight of several other mountains. How could it be so fragile? Yet the evidence was in front of him. He pulled out his hand to find itpletely unharmed. He blew on his knuckles and dust flew off, revealing his unharmed skin. To test things further, he clenched his left hand and punched the wall to the predictable result of absolutely nothing happening. Let alone crushing through the stone, there was not even a single crack. Excitement gleamed in his eyes as he turned to look at the now dry fountain. Oddly enough, there was no water source, so where had the water beening from? As if to answer his question, a single, smooth green pebble at the bottom of the fountain spurted out a single drop of water. When he touched the drop, the tip of his finger turned to stone once again. "Haha, this is excellent," he said as he picked up the green pebble. It was considerably heavier than he expected, but still within a tolerable range. He took the water bottle from his backpack, drank it in its entirety, and then dropped the pebble in there. He had picked up something incredible without much hassle. Wait a minute, was it supposed to be so easy? Lex looked towards the stone hut, but it seemed uninhabited. A brief investigation revealed that the hut was empty, with no indication of anyone having been here in a while. Lex shrugged and decided to take a break before continuing. He had been wearing the crown for a long time, and could feel the strain on his mind. One power napter, Lex left the clearing and headed towards the focal point. He did not notice, as he left, that the bottle he had ced the pebble in had turned to stone. He picked up his speed now, even going as far as stopping his array practice. He had finished his water and had only a small amount of rations left. When he had packed his gear for this trip, he had packed enough with the assumption that he could supplement his reserves by foraging or hunting, but this realm had yet to show him a single nt and the creatures he encountered... were simply too disgusting to be edible. But, with the crown on his head, and his thoughts much clearer, it did not take long for him toe up with a possible solution. He found it too coincidental that just as he tried to attune his instincts towards treasure, he found some yet had never given him any such indications before. The most likely possibility was that he could channel his instincts towards something, instead of relying on them to work on their own. Danger was probably the only thing that would automatically trigger them. To put this theory to the test, he firmly made his mind to search for food while he continued to journey towards the focal point. Speaking of which, his journey was by no means simple or uneventful. The mountain was infested with 3 feet (0.9 meters) long lizards that had bodies as hard as rocks. Fighting them off was extremely tedious, as Lex could ultimately only use brute strength to defeat them. They were too numerous to attempt Evisceration on, as it would only target a single enemy at a time, and they moved and attacked too quickly for him toplete an entire array. The ridiculous strength of his right arm ended up being his saving grace, and he became somewhat of an expert in this real-life version of whac-a-mole. The lizards, of course, did not provide Lex with any meat once disposed of because as soon as they died, their bodies could crumble to dust. At least it provided him an opportunity to practice his newfound strength. That, alongside the fact that he had chosen enchanted gloves instead of a weapon, would make anyone think Lex had pre-nned this. Several hourster, when Lex ate thest of his rations without finding anything to replenish his supply, he frowned slightly despite the crown dimming his usual emotions. It was not like he couldn''t survive without food or water, just that he would continuously get weaker. In case he encountered a tough fight, it would put him at a disadvantage. How he missed the days when he could just buy stuff from the gift shop. With a sigh, Lex pushed away any distractions and picked up his speed. He made a mental note to ask Cwenhild if there were any storage space items or easier way to transport goods avable for sale. The convenience of the Inns inventory was remarkable, but it was limited by the system''s various rules. If he could get something like that without the restrictions, it would solve many of his problems. Lex''s journey through the mountains continued for another four days. He did not find anything to replenish his food supply or his water, and he dared not drink the water produced by the green pebble without testing it on another creature first. Instead, he repeatedly used the water to wash his body. Now, his entire right arm and left fist had undergone the strange process of turning to stone and converting back. The boost in strength was extremely wee, for he was beginning to feel weak otherwise. It was not severe yet, and Lex couldst much longer due to the fact that he was a body cultivator, but undoubtedly the decline had begun. But atst, on the final day, he approached the focal point. A massive arch was built right on the side of one of the mountains, revealing a tunnel that led deep within the mountain''s core. The tunnel was littered with corpses of imps and trolls, and sounds of an ongoing fight could be heard from deep within. The fact that someone had made their way here was within Lex''s expectations. In fact, it was probably a good thing because he would have had real trouble facing so many enemies. Utilizing his arrays would have been the only option avable to him.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Lex reached into his backpack and retrieved an item given to him by Cwenhild: a silver mask. Since they were doing something shady, they should follow the usual protocols and hide Lex''s identity. Putting on the silver mask, Lex proceeded into the tunnel, doing his best to avoid making too much noise. The tunnel, still well lit by the reflected rays of light, took Lex nearly half an hour to cross with his reduced speed, and opened up into a massive cave. It waspletely bare, giving Lex no option to hide from the battle taking ce. Nearly 20 humans were fighting over 30 trolls, with no imps having survived the battle so far. Lex could not see the focal point, leading him to believe it was right in the center. Tired, and more mentally drained than anything else, Lex let out a deep sigh. But, the next moment, he looked extremely energized as he used Hearts Marathon and dashed right into the fight. He did not actually mean to participate in the battle which, alongside guidance from his keen intuition, allowed him to avoid most of the trolls. It was only when he reached the middle of the battlefield that his presence was noticed, both by the trolls and the humans. But none of it mattered. In front of him was the focal point, an oddly shaped rock bnced perfectly on a metallic dais. "Who are you?" one of the fighting men roared in anger, while a troll just screamed at him. Perhaps, if he had been well rested and fed, Lex would have taken the opportunity to deliver a quip, but as it was, he simply dodged all attempts to stop him and jumped at the focal point. Like a mother hen protecting her egg, Lex sat upon the boulder and began channeling his spirit energy into it, while he held out both his hands and used Talk to the Hand, blocking all attacks. Even the state of flow could not help hime up with a better n, and only guided him how to best implement his stupid n, which was to unt his defence for as long as it took. Chapter 317 Private Audience The nearest troll and human both stopped their fight and attacked Lex with a burning fury, only to be blocked by his invisible barrier. The troll''s anger only grew, and it redoubled its efforts, but the human paused after the shock of a failed attempt. Still, it only took a nce to be able to pick out a w in Lex''s so-called defense. If the barrier extended from his hand, and he was holding it forward, all he needed to do was attack from a different angle. It was the deduction of an experienced fighter, but s, it made no difference, as Lex simply moved one of his hands so that instead of one strengthened barrier, he had two. His n was simple: he would block as many attacks as he could, and should any get through, he''d just suffer them. There were a few reasons why he chose to follow this method. First, he was confident in his defense, obviously. Second, while he was confident he could fight the humans and the trolls here if he met them one on one, in a group like this he had no doubt that he could not win. The coordination of a team was something that would put him at a severe disadvantage. Third, and most importantly, it was only when he finally sat on the rock that it urred to him that he could have waited for them to at least finish fighting before making a move. That way, there would at least be fewer opponents targeting him. But after days of no food, water and limited sleep, Lex was finding it hard to think clearly. There was, however, one unexpected pleasant surprise for Lex. He was anticipating taking control of the focal point to be a process thatsted several hours. Yet when he channeled his spirit energy into the rock, he felt none of the resistance Cwenhild warned him of. Instead, it flowed freely into the core and started binding the rock to him. In the meantime, the troll and the human continued to attack him, to no avail. After a minute, the furious fight surrounding had slowed down, as the trolls and humans alike tried to understand what was happening. Then it stopped. There was a moment of disbelief shared by both parties as they looked at Lex who was actually sitting on the rock with his legs wrapped around it, gripping it tightly. The humans quickly retreated, freeing the trolls to surround Lex and battering him from all sides. They weren''t really afraid, for they knew the usual time to take control of the focal point was a few hours. Instead, they used this reprieve to rest and recover their strength. They nned on letting Lex attract all the trolls'' attention. Either when Lex fell off, or when they were ready, they would attack again, kill the further exhausted trolls and finally achieve their goal. It was a good n. Furthermore, they took great pleasure in watching the asional troll attack slip past Lex''s barrier and smash him - though he seemed mostly unhurt. Their n came to an end, though, five minutester when Lex finished merging with the focal point. The all too familiar feeling of control over the realm filled Lex and, with a wave of his hand, all the humans were kicked out of the realm, and the surrounding trolls kicked off to some distant corner of the Minor realm. He felt a tide of energy begin to rush into his body, but before it could make any real progress, it suddenly disappeared, absorbed by the system. Lex nced at the amount of energy umted, smiled as he saw the number at 4%, and teleported out as well. He appeared in Cwenhild''s living room once again, and received the same treatment of being swarmed by doctors. "Water¡­" he said hoarsely. To his dismay, the doctors refused to cater to his request until they fully understood his situation. He rolled his eyes in annoyance, but let them do their job. Eventually, when they were finished with their diagnosis, Lex was provided with a small portion of some kind of soup. It would serve to both rehydrate him and quench his hunger. Furthermore, it was filled with several extremely valuable spirit nts that would speed up recovery. Forgoing all etiquette, Lex picked up the bowl, put it to his mouth and began gulping it down. A part of him told him to take it slow, as he should not just eat so much so quickly, and another part of him said screw it, he was a cultivator, he could handle it. Lex let out a satisfied and long ''ah'' once he finished, and threw himself on a sofa to rx. He took off the crown and the mask, mostly because being so focused all the time drained him greatly. He would think about its limitationster, when he wasn''t so groggy. Just before he fell asleep, Cwenhild arrived in the room with a look of excitement and anticipation in her eyes. Before she could ask anything, Lex said, "have your buyer ready. We''ll make the deal when I wake up." He closed his eyes and instantly fell asleep, snoring lightly. Cwenhild chuckled as she signaled everyone to leave the room and dimmed the lights. Outside, a woman who looked remarkably simr to Cwenhild was standing, an amused look on her face. Nora Haugen, head of the Haugen estate, Earth Immortal and an official wife of King Cornelius, was not an easy woman to meet, even for Cwenhild. She was an enigma to everyone, her child included. No one knew what her goals were, they only knew that she was a woman who got what she wanted. Even the King ended up marrying her. Yet, such a woman had promptly dropped everything and returned to the academy upon hearing news of her daughter''s confirmation into the core of the academy. Was it out of pride and love? Not really. Cwenhild sent her a message informing her that if she didn''te, Cwenhild would destroy her art collection.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Is that your half brother?" she asked, amused. "I can see a bit of Cornelius'' ir in him, but it''s too mild for now." "Right now, he''s not my half brother, he''s my business partner. Have you arranged everything?" "Yes, the buyer is ready. He will never know who sold him the realm, but the price still needs to be negotiated. We''ll need ess to the realm to gauge its worth." "What about the assassins? Did you find out who sent them?" "I''m your mother, not your nanny. You can take care of these minor things on your own." Cwenhild pursed her lips in mild frustration, but suppressed her rising emotions. "Well, what about ''that'' thing? I''ve entered the core academy before entering the Golden core realm, and fulfilled your requirements. When will we leave?" "''That'' thing? Why the need to be so secretive? It''s just going over to the Crystal realm and having them disperse your cultivation and designing a custom cultivation technique for you to cultivate the truth path. The arrangements are made. We can leave once your business is concluded. But, you have to remember, if we do this, you owe me two favors." "Say whatever you want, I''m not letting you pick my husband," Cwenhild said as she rolled her eyes. This mother of hers¡­ all she wanted was grandkids. "What? I would never. But two favors, remember that." "I don''t owe you anything, you''re the one who set the conditions for this exchange." "That''s because you were being annoying and kept breaking my things. Two favors." "Zero favors, no husband, and you have to help with negotiations. Don''t test me, I know where you''ve nted your Pink Dream Tea. I''ll feed it to the dogs!" "Is this how you talk to your mother?" Nora eximed, her face contorting in anger and her immortal aura leaking a bit, but Cwenhild was unperturbed. This woman who could manipte kings and had more than one nation wrapped around her finger had no idea how to be a mother, and Cwenhild knew her weakness well. "By the way, did you hear about my name¡­" Cwenhild continued the conversation, uncaring. One of the main reasons she dropped her father''s name¡­ was because it would irritate her mother to no end. It would be so entertaining to watch. ***** Lex''s cultivation professor, the one who had taught about the true path, and suspected Lex''s cultivation path, had just left one of his sses when he received a letter. A long time ago, he had requested to see the King. He was only a normal professor at the academy, so he did not hold much influence. Yet to be selected as a professor at the academy was no small feat, so even with his limited influence, he was eventually able finally get a response. One monthter, he would be granted a private audience. Chapter 318 Friendly Fish Lex woke up feeling extremely refreshed. His body felt as if he had juste from a hot spring, and the mental drain from the prolonged use of the crown, as well as the physical strain fromck of food, was gone. He credited it to his nap but if he were to know the value of the ingredients used in the soup he had he would be startled. Even the Midnight Inn did not serve food of that quality - yet. Naturally Cwenhild would not treat her business partner poorly. Before he got up, though, he had to attend to a small matter. Back at the Inn, the Lady Cosmos show was still ongoing, but it was now time for him to set up the Expo for Earth. Unlike Lady Cosmos, which required the Inn to manage the event, the Expo only required the Inn to host it, and market it. Since it was his home he didn''t want to treat it lightly, and asked the nning department to design an appropriate auditorium for the event. At the same time, he spent 800,000MP on marketing. While the reach of the Inn had spread far and wide, he chose to target two fronts for this. All thes in from the X-14 star system would be targeted, since they weremercials in a way. More importantly though, indirectly, he gave Booty amision to spread the word inrge and small trades. He didn''t need to worry about much else, as the preparations for the Lady Cosmos event could be shared for this. With that done, he picked himself up from the sofa and stretched. Unfortunately, a drawback of having his body brought back into peak condition was that he was unable to get the satisfying cracks in his knuckles or any of his bones while he stretched. He sent Cwenhlid a message, and soon she arrived. It did not take a detective to notice the extra spring in her step, which Lex took as a sign that she had arranged a buyer. "Did you sleep well?" she asked as she sat down. A host of waiters had followed her into the room and began toy down a feast for Lex and her. "I slept perfectly. How long was I out?" "Almost 13 hours. You''re lucky you woke up when you did, I almost couldn''t wait anymore and dumped a tub of water on you." "Patience is a virtue," Lex said as he stuffed 6 dumplings in his mouth. "The only virtue I subscribe to is money. We can''t begin negotiations until we get an idea of what the realm is like, but you''ve blocked off the entrance. Open it up so I can send in a team of appraisers." "Oh, my bad," Lex said as he snapped, unsealing the realm. "Once we have a detailed understanding of the realm, we can assign a price to it. We already have more than one buyer ready, so we''ll get the best price for it. Do you have any special requirements as far as the payment is concerned?" "I have a few things in mind," said Lex, though he had not slowed down his consumption of food for even a moment during this conversation. There was a look of deep regret in his eyes as he looked at the now empty dish of dumplings, but he turned his attention elsewhere. "What are the chances of getting hands on a spatial treasure? Something you can store gear or items in?" Before Cwenhild could even answer, a woman chuckled. The sound of herughter filled Lex with immense shock and dread, for she had been standing right beside him this entire time, but he had failed to notice her till she made a sound. The feeling onlysted a moment, though, and Lex started attacking a te of fresh barbecue with vigor. "Spatial treasures exist, but they don''t fall out of the sky. It would require someone with advanced knowledge of spatialws to even attempt constructing one. Even most immortals don''t have one, so you can forget about getting your hands on one. Oh no, wait, actually, if you stumble onto another realm full of sleeping Crystals, you can trade with the Crystal race for it. Unfortunately for you, we''ve already cashed in the favor we received for thest batch." Cwenhild looked at her mother with irritation. Even she had not realized her mother had been snooping. "Lex, this is my mother, Nora. We''ll be using her channels to sell the realm." "It''s a pleasure to meet you," Lex said with a sly half smile. If he did not have a cheek full of meat, he may have even looked suave. Honestly, he was too hungry to care right now.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "If a spatial treasure is out of reach, then I want my share all to be in energy crystals. Or spirit water. Whatever the densest form of energy is avable, really. First, go for quality, but when that runs out, you can rece it with quantity." Both Cwenhild and Nora were taken aback by the unusual request. "All of it? Are you sure?" Cwenhild asked hesitantly. She knew Lex had his own motives, but did he really understand the amount of wealth being discussed right now? There was a huge possibility that he was underestimating what that would result in. "Yeah, all of it. If possible, make the sale as quickly as possible, and while you''re doing it, give me another list of the remaining Minor realms and their details. I''ll also give you a list of new supplies, you should prepare those as well. There are just a few things I need to take care of in the meantime." "Wait, you''re nning on going again?" Cwenhild asked. "This is not really the kind of business that can remain under the table for long. Someone will surely notice, and they won''t like that we''re cheating with the core academy tests." "Don''t worry about it. At most, you can just put the me on me if anything goes wrong. Besides, they can''t me me for being more skilled than their other students. And I have an entrepreneurial spirit, what''s wrong with that? At most, I can just say I was inspired by the academy''s motto of not giving a shit." Cwenhild paused as she thought of the various obstacles they would face should they continue, but Nora had a massive grin on her face. It was good to see the kids growing on their own. She decided not to help in case they got into trouble. This Lex had been using the academy''s motto too frequently, and had even influenced her daughter. She hoped he got a spanking. In fact, she would look forward to it. The discussion went on for a while, but Lex eventually convinced her of his n. After all, Lex was going after that energy in more Minor realms regardless of anything. Might as well make the most of it. Once he was done with dinner, though, Lex left to go to the library. He knew he couldn''t achieve mastery overnight, but his experience gave him insight into more techniques that he needed to learn. First, he needed a stealth technique, followed by a reconnaissance one. He also needed lighter and more versatile attacks. His increased strength gave him many new options. Finally, he wanted to look up information on the green pebble that he found. He really wanted to know if the water it produced was safe to drink, and what effects it would yield. He spent the next day doing research, and when he returned to Cwenhild, the negotiations for the sale of the realm wereplete. She presented Lex with a contract that detailed their division of profits, as well as the remuneration he would be getting and a bunch of minor legalities. He signed it, transferred the Minor realm through a method she taught him to an intermediary who would then pass it to the client. As much as he wanted to see his ie with his own eyes, he had little time to waste. There were only a few dozen realms left at the Foundation realm that were unimed, and he wanted to get his hands on as many of them as possible. Lex chose the next realm and went through the next portal. It was supposed to be a winter wondend, with ice and snow nketing everything. The subzero temperatures and local beasts made it difficult for others to operate in the realm, but Lex could simply use the same technique he used to avoid the cold produced by the Frio birds. But nothing was destined to go ording to n. When Lex teleported to the realm, he found himself submerged in freezing water. Above him, there was a thickyer of ice sealing whatever water body he was in shut, and surrounding him were hundreds of fish. What were the chances they were friendly? Chapter 319 Magikarpet He readied himself to be swarmed by the fish, but nothing happened. The school of fat, red fish stared at him with their wide eyes full of curiosity. One hesitantly broke free from the rest and came close to Lex, as if observing an animal at a zoo. It swam in a circle around Lex to look at him from all sides before it came closer, as if to test Lex''s intentions. Amused at the fish, Lex slowly reached out his hand and softly rubbed the fish''s scales, which the fish seemed to enjoy. Its eyes rolled back slightly and gurgled a little, as if to show enjoyment. Lex smirked. He was reminded of fat red fish he''d seen in an anime before called Magikarpet. He made special note of this fish and decided to add some whenever he got back to the Inn. For now, though, he turned his attention back to the ice above him. If he didn''t exert himself too much, he could survive underwater for a couple of hours, but that was no reason to stay underwater any longer than he needed to. Under the fish''s supervision, Lex swam to the ice and after testing its sturdiness, punched it as hard as he could with his right hand. There was a loud bang, and massive cracks spread in the ice, but besides that there was nothing else. Surprisingly the fish did not swim away, as if they were not at all intimidated by his disy of strength. Were he not underwater, he would have sighed. These Minor realms really tested his versatility. Fortunately he was not in a rush nor was he under attack, which gave him plenty of time to form an array. But first, Lex used the same technique he used back then against the Frio birds cold storm. The chill of the freezing water stopped affecting and an array character meaning ice appeared on the back of his hand. With his hand he rubbed the cracks and tried to get a sense for how thick the ice was. It was impossible to simply see through it, and at most he could vaguely see how deep the crack traveled in the ice. He roughly estimated the ice was 3 or 4 (0.9 - 1.2 meters) feet thick. He took a moment to recall if the book inside the ring given to him by John had any pre-established arrays he could use in his current situation. There were a few, but they were inelegant solutions that either deployed excessive brute force or fire power. This was a good opportunity for him to try creating his own array. He broke down the task into two simple actions. He needed to cut a hole in the ice, and push the cut ice out to create an opening for him to escape. He then further broke down each action into individual steps. To create a hole, the ice needed to be cut continuously, preferably in a circr shape with a diameter of at least 3 feet (0.9 meters). The cutting force also needed to be sufficient to cut all the way through for the process to be effective. Pushing the ice out also required sufficient force applied in the appropriate direction for an adequate amount of time. The pushing force should only activate after the cut has beenplete, otherwise the upwards force,bined with the action of the ice being cut, could cause the ice to fracture, making it more difficult to remove. He identified a few more parameters for the required array, then began to think about what characters he needed. Each character existed naturally in nature and had a unique purpose and ce so he needed to pick carefully. For example, while there may not necessarily be a character for ''cut'', there may be one with the same effect. Furthermore, that character then needed to be paired with other characters determining shape, but at the same time bepatible with the kind of character being used to cut. In this situation, a cylindrical shape was the best option. Moreover, the kind of force used also had to bepatible with the task as well as the material. Minor details such as the timing and order of tasks would be determined by the format and syntax of the array, not the characters themselves. Lex equipped the crown, which he had named as his ''thinking cap'', and quickly thought about the makeup of the array. Typically, this was the kind of thing that would take him a while to figure out. But his elevated cultivation as well as state of flow allowed him to determine the entire array in a couple of minutes, even allowing him to run some mental simtions of how he expected things to y out. So far, he had been very lucky in that all of his self created arrays so far had worked as intended. It was time to test his skill once again. Using his index finger he began to draw the characters required, his drawing speed elevated due to the state of flow. The next moment, the array disappeared and before Lex''s eyes he saw the ice started to be cut¡­ cut¡­ cut¡­ It was too slow. At this rate, it would take him an hour to escape the ice. He made a few adjustments to the array, swam slightly to the side and drew the array again. This time, it worked as he imagined. A perfect circle was cut right into the ice and, after a seconds dy, the cylindrical ice was shot up into the air with a loud bang, moving faster than Lex could track it. ''Good enough,'' Lex thought, as he waved goodbye to all the fish, and began climbing out of the hole, right into a raging snowstorm. Lex literally could not see more than a few feet out in front of him, though fortunately that had no impact on the Lotus'' ability to detect the direction of the umted energy in this realm. The cold was hardly an obstacle for Lex, and the additional armor provided to him through the ice character helped him out a lot when he was attacked by the annoying yet familiar Kalter Flug. He had been attacked by these irritating snowke spirits back during his assessment, but he was much more capable this time. Rtive to his previous realm, this one was a lot easier to tackle for Lex often encountered creatures he could hunt and cook, though cooking was difficult since the snowstorm never ceased. Eight dayster, Lex managed to capture this realm as well. The focal point was in the shape of, of all things, a firece. Due to the intensity of the storm, no other humans had been able to find it and it was not defended by any creature either, making it extremely easy for Lex to capture the realm. Once it was done, and Lex absorbed the energy, he had umted a total of 9% of his total required energy. He only needed to pay 5% toplete his quest and establish the Midnight tavern, though he nned on umting more than the minimum required. Once he returned, Cwenhild told him the previous realm had been sold, and that only 7 unowned realms at the Foundation level remained. Lex quickly handed over control of this realm as well and, after some rest, continued to travel to more realms. This time, his luck was not so good, as after 4 days, before he even managed to approach the focal point, someone else captured it. But, such a thing was predictable, since he was enteringte to begin with. He did not waste time and continued to enter more realms. He was so focused during this period that he did not even notice his steady improvements in using his techniques, or his skill with arrays. More than once, he managed to use arrays in the heat of battle, but he was in such a time crunch that he could not slow down to celebrate. It would not be easy to once again encounter random reserves of energy just sitting around. Three and a half weekster, he had managed to only capture one more realm, due to the fact that someone else would im it before him. Still, it was pretty good as he had brought his energy umtion up to 12%. One final realm remained, still unowned, and apparently the difficulty in capturing this realm was incredibly high. More than one group had given up, though that was not enough to deter Lex. Not only was his situation unique, allowing him to have a higher threshold for danger, but he was incredibly skilled. Moreover, he had begun to enjoy challenging himself like this. But, just as Cwenhild had the portal opened for him, and he was about to step through, his oh so reliable instincts acted up, and gave him a warning he had never encountered before.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Chapter 320 Impending Danger Cwenhild, her assistants, the professor who opened the portal and Nora all immediately picked up on Lex''s oddity when he suddenly stopped. Over the past few weeks, the actual umted time they''d spent with Lex was probably less than a day, but he''d made an impression on them nheless. Just the simple fact that he, alone, could im a Minor realm, while others usually went in massive teams and still often failed, was already enough to crown all the legends floating around about Lex already. The fact that he did it more than once was even more ridiculous. But, it was more than that. Every time they saw Lex, it was after a long, extensive period where he would be trying to im a Minor realm. As such, the changes brought about in Lex were always loud and pronounced. Everything from the way he stood, sat, walked and talked seemed to change each time. Instead of bing more coarse, as one would expect after spending an extended time in the wild, he became more refined. In the beginning, after capturing his first Minor realm, Lex began to radiate confidence befitting a warrior of his skill and standing. Yet, with each sessive trip, instead of that overwhelming, tant confidence that would cause others to feel inferior or insecure about themselves, he began to carry himself with charm and charisma. His smile was deeper, his eyes brighter, his each move a flourishing dance. Instead of feeling inferior in the presence of his sess, others would feel uplifted by his warmth. Of course, the foundation of all that growth was built on a basis of self-confidence. During this period, not only had Lex ovee unimaginable trials, he''d washed his entire body in the water from the green pebble until it no longer affected him. His strength now was devastating. While it wasn''t as ridiculous as his defense, he was definitely living up to the usual standards of body cultivators now. All that remained now was to drink as much of that water as his body could absorb. Moreover, Lex knew his limits well, and knew exactly how and when to push them to further his growth. Once he said he would do something, he would do it without hesitation or reluctance, and with an excited smile on his face. It could be said that if earlier on, he was filled with potential, then his numerous experiences and challenges in the realms allowed him to truly bring out that potential. Yet now, suddenly, he froze. Not only that, the expression on his face, for the briefest moment, shed with concern. It was only a single moment, after which he quickly collected himself, his usual carefree expression returning to his face. "You know what?" Lex said, as he turned back towards Cwenhild. "I change my mind. Instead of pushing my luck endlessly, I should take a step back, and enjoy my sess so far. How long do you think it''ll take you to sell thest realm?" "A few days, a week, max. We still need toplete an analysis of the realms worth before taking bids," Cwenhild answered, reserving her curiosity. The amount of money they''d made so far was truly phenomenal, so she did not feel disappointed. Being too greedy could cause problems, so it was best to know when to stop. Still, she would ask Lex what happened when there were fewer people around. "Haha, I would expect nothing less. I have a few things I need to take care of, so I''m going to head out." Then, casually, as if nothing unusual happened, Lex left her apartment. During this time, he''d be a lot more familiar with Cwenhild, so he didn''t mind using some of her things, which is why he got in one of the many self-driving vehicles she had and entered his destination. When he finally left her apartment, his expression changed to a frown. He was getting very¡­ unusual feedback from his instincts. He was not being warned of danger in the typical sense. Instead, he felt like his time was running out. It was a very suffocating feeling, since he could not tell exactly what he was being warned from. All he knew was that with each passing second, something¡­ unfavorable to him wasing closer. He sent Cwenhild a message, telling her to speed up the sale as much as possible. It was fine to suffer a loss in profits if needed, but she should conclude the sale today. Since he had asked for payment in the form of energy in the densest avable forms, whether it was spirit stones or water or anything else, she had been holding his payment for him in a bank vault. He also asked her to have everything prepared as he would visit the vault with her as soon as the sale was concluded. He knew they had noticed something in his behavior, but since Lex did not know the origin of whatever wasing his way, he decided not to share too much. There were a couple of things Lex wanted to do in the meantime. First, he wanted to visit the library and quickly jot down a few more techniques he''d thought of. His system was really pathetic in the ways of helping him out with his cultivation journey, so kept having to anticipate anything he would need. Secondly, he wanted to say goodbye to Amelia. She was the only friend he had at the academy, besides Cwenhild. He felt bad not being able to spend time with her the past couple of months, but he had been extremely busy and he had to prioritize. At the library, among other techniques, the one Lex really needed was called Tranquil Mind. He had often been using his ''thinking cap'' and excessive use would often cause him to suffer from extreme mental exhaustion. Sometimes, even a long sleep would not help him recover, and it would take days before he was back in peak form. Tranquil Mind was a meditation technique focused on not only strengthening his mind, regting his emotions and calming his thoughts, but also replenishing his mental energy. He spent a few more hours here, trying to learn any random technique he thought mighte in handy. He didn''t need to worry about not remembering them, for with the help of his thinking cap, his memories became extremely sharp and this was a non-issue. Then it was time to say goodbye to Amelia. He found her exactly as she was the first time he bumped into her, eating with her other friends. He did not borate on what he would be doing, but only apologized about being so busy, and said that there was a decent chance they might not have the opportunity to meet again in a long time. He saw a lot ofplicated emotions in her eyes but, ultimately, she only called him silly for apologizing, as there was no need, and wished him well. He would have liked to have said more, but his instincts were beginning to send tingles down his spine now. He messaged Cwenhild asking about the bank''s details, and directly set off towards it. When he arrived, she was waiting for him with her mother beside her. She was no longer hiding her curiosity, as a hint of concern showed on her face. "Is everything alright?" she asked, unsure if she should be intruding. "Haha everything is great," Lex replied with genuine excitement in his eyes. "Let''s go see how much money I''ve made." The procedure for entering the bank''s vault was extremelyplicated, and Lex just found out that if it weren''t for Cwenhilds mother apanying them, it would take a couple of weeks before Lex''s verification process wasplete, which would allow him to enter the vault. As for the fact that it was his own wealth that had been stored there, it was inconsequential. Cwenhild was the one who put it in the bank, so as far as they were concerned, Lex was just there to apany her. Lex rubbed his hands as he let his thoughts run wild, his imagination going to a cartoon he used to watch as a child of a cat and mouse called Timothy and Jeremy, in which their eyes used to turn into dor signs when they were about to receive money. He could imagine what that felt like. But it was not a mountain of coins waiting for him, nor a pile of spirit stones. Instead, 10 neatly stacked crystals were the only things waiting for him when he entered. "Underwhelmed?" Nora asked, as she saw him observing them. "I''m assuming they''re the densest form of energy avable," he guessed as he tried to sense something from the crystals. They were so clear, they would have been invisible had there not been a thin, blue ribbon tied to each one. "Not the densest, but it''s up there," she said, looking at them. "Since it''ll be hard for you to understand, I''ll put it like this. These are used by the Crystal race to cultivate. They''re extremely precious resources that the Hum nation exports, since the energy is too violent for humans to absorb. But if humans could, this is what immortals would be using." "Not bad," Lex said with an approving nod. "Can I have a moment alone?" Nora raised an eyebrow, but quietly left so that Lex could be alone. The whole reason she hade along, other than to sate her curiosity, was for Lex''s security should he want to take them out of the bank, as a favor to her daughter. Most likely, he still did not understand how valuable they were. But it was none of her business. She just wondered what he needed it for. Inside the bank vault, Lex ced his hand on the crystals and, after a moment, they vanished. To Lex''s immense surprise, his energy umtion actually increased by a whole 8%!n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om He now had a total of 20%. Without any hesitation, he paid 10 million MP and 5% energy needed to establish the Midnight tavern, and heard the familiar ting of a system notification. ***** Lex''s professor sat nervously in the pce as he waited his turn to see the King. Honestly, he never thought he''d get an opportunity to see the King upclose, let alone have an audience with him. This was, of course, because he never expected to have a reason good enough to request an audience. But now, soon, he would have his chance. His attention was attracted to the sound of a door opening, and an escort of guards came in. It was time to meet the King. Chapter 321 Another Kid Cornelius once again found himself eating an entire feast as he listened to various reports. He had a busy schedule ahead of him, so he had to make up for it and handle all the governing matters that required his attention today. In his absence, he had others to keep things running, and he was slowly distributing these responsibilities to his sons and daughters, but in the end, some things could only be handled by him. A nervous-looking man entered the chamber and gave him an extremely deep bow, but before he could continue with any more formalities, Cornelius used his spirit sense to stop him. "Save the flourishing for public settings, it is not important. I was told you have some important matters to report to me. You may begin." The professor was caught in surprise, but he quickly gathered himself, recalled the information he had rehearsed. The fact that Lex was suspected to be the king''s son was something he need not mention, for it was irrelevant to the revtion he was going to present. As a professor, he was used to summarizing important aspects of his lecture as bullet points in his head, before delivering the lecture flexibly. "I suspect one of my students is secretly cultivating the true path," the professor began, but already the demeanor of not only the king, but of everyone else in the room changed as well. "His name is Lex, and after I began to suspect as such, I did a thorough background check on him as well as kept a close eye on his actions afterwards. My background check only¡­" "Wait," Cornelius said, interrupting him. "Assistant A, bring up a picture of the Lex you previously informed me of." Misceneous Assistant A, the king''s closest and most loyal assistant, quickly turned on a terminal nearby, and brought up a picture of Lex. "Is this the student you''re referring to?" the king asked. "Yes, yes that''s him!" the professor replied with excitement. Just the thought that he may have once been a teacher to a cultivator of the true path filled him with excitement. "Misceneous, fill me in on what Lex has done since youst gave me a report. Stick to major things only." Cornellius actually expected a very brief result. He remembered that what he liked most about Lex was his extreme focus and dedication. It was the same mentality that got him to his position today, and it was the same mindset he tried to nurture in his kids. "Let me see¡­ He broke through to the Foundation realm, as predicted, spent over a month training for the Realm races with your daughter Cwenhild, and sessfully helped her be the first person to take control of a Minor realm. It was reported he single-handedly defeated a Kraven in the Golden core realm. During the fight, he is reported to have shown great resilience to spirit attacks, and a sturdy body. Autopsy of the Kraven after the fact revealed minimal to no physical damage other than the killing blow, leading to the suspicion he defeated the Kraven using spirit or soul attacks." Cornelius'' hands paused halfway through cutting his steak. Just as he was about toment, Misceneous continued with his report. "Once he sessfully gained experience in capturing a realm, he entered multiple other realms on his own and was able to take control of 2, or possibly more. This information was hidden from the academy, and the only reason we know about it is because of the spy you ced in your wife Nora''s estate." The professor paled, as he felt like he heard something he shouldn''t have. The king though didn''t care about his private life being revealed. In fact, it wasn''t as if Nora herself did not know about the spies. The fact that she still revealed the information meant she wanted him to know. She was clever like that. She never outright asked people for what she wanted, but manipted events to make certain things happen. Well, for better or for worse, she had attracted his attention. "You have done well," the king said, looking at the professor. "You deserve a reward. Tidy up your affairs at the academy and report back here tomorrow. I''ll have an immortal be your teacher for a year." Before the professor could even begin to process what he heard, and his tion begin to show, the king disappeared. ***** Upon hearing the familiar ting of the system, Lex checked to see a new notification. Quest Complete! Midnight Tavern being established! Host Authority sufficient for manual setup. Would you like to manually set up the Midnight Tavern? Y/N Please note: manually epting the Midnight Tavern will cost an extra 5 million MP! Lex didn''t even hesitate to select yes. He already had an image in his mind of how he wanted to do things this time around, and for the Midnight Tavern, he nned on doing things differently than the Midnight Inn. Aplete map of the entire Crystal realm was projected into Lex''s mind, alongside hundreds of thousands of undiscovered Minor realms, as well as millions of discovered Minor realms. As if that wasn''t enough, he also received a lot of information about each and every region of the Crystal realm that he would focus on. If he wasn''t in a time crunch, he would spend hours, maybe even days, agonizing over every detail. Unfortunately, time was the one thing he did not have. "Mark all the areas on the map controlled by Kraven as ck," Lex said to Mary. A very massive chunk of the map turned ck, nearly 8% of the entire realm. When considering that the total amount ofnd controlled by the 7 racesbined didn''t even cover 40% of the realm, that 8% seemed massive. "Now mark all the regions with ongoing wars and conflicts as red. Mark all neutral zones as yellow. Mark all areas where are at least basicws enforced as brown. Mark all areas where all races are freely allowed to enter as green." Different colors filled the map as he looked over it. The best case scenario was a ce that had all the colors representing aspects he liked, while being far away from ck and red. Still, there were too many options. "Marks areas with low supervision as silver. Mark areas rich in treasures and resources as gold. Mark areas with a high concentration of travelers as blue." The map was still vast, but suddenly, one area stood out to him as was colorful enough to be a rainbow. It was rich in resources, was in neutralnds, had a high concentration of travelers and, most importantly, it was far away from any major conflict so Lex didn''t need to worry about war disrupting his ns any time soon. He would have liked to study the map some more but, his instincts suddenly started screaming so he made his choice. The next moment, he vanished from where he stood. 40 secondster, the king appeared outside the bank, his expression one of intrigue. "How did he teleport without emitting any spatial waves?" the king asked, assuming Nora was responsible. "How am I supposed to know? Shouldn''t you be the one keeping an eye on your kids. I already have my hands full taking care of one of yours" "How can you call that taking care of? From what I understand, you see her maybe once a year." Cornelius had originallye, not for Lex, but for whatever cultivation technique he cultivated. His own personal one was too difficult for most people, but if more and more cultivation techniques for the true path could be discovered, slowly the nation would have more true cultivators. But since Lex was gone, quite mysteriously at that, he turned his mind to other things. Namely, Nora. He had been so irritated by her behavior that hepletely forgot that she was actually quite beautiful. Suddenly, he felt like giving her another kid. On the side, Cwenhild was frozen still. Literally. Nora was using her spiritual sense to freeze Cwenhild because she had no idea what this daughter of hers would say to her father, and she just couldn''t handle the embarrassment if something went wrong. After all, she had worked hard to build her reputation. *****N?v(el)B\\jnn In the bustling town of Babylon, two streets away from the busy dock, on Bakers street, a three story building stood empty. It was a wooden building, with age and history embedded in every board and nk. But as it often was, when things were described as aged, they were often just run down. Yet beneath its shabby exterior, was a building with a strong foundation, that had stood for as long as the town had existed. However, on this busy street, full of wealthy traders, skilled workers, soldiers, sailors and vagabonds, no one cared for history, age or nostalgia. This was a center ofmerce, and as such, the people longed for something new, something bold, something adventurous, something that would add to the charm of the town. That something or rather, someone, stepped out of the wooden building and took a deep breath of the salty sea air. With a grin on his face, Lex turned back in. It was time to renovate. Chapter 322 Welcome To The Tavern Stepping into the building he now owned, Lex ran his hand across the wooden bar, feeling the subtle, weathered grooves. He didn''t mind the dust that gathered on his fingers, as his focus was only on absorbing the feel of this building. Before the system gave Lex the ownership of this building, it had belonged to a once wealthy family. Due to a series of unfortunate events, as well as poor management, the family had fallen on tough times. They didn''t have the money to repair what was now the tavern building, yet at the same time, they were too greedy to sell it to anyone else at a cheap price. The extra 5 million MP Lex actually spent was converted by the system into local currency to pay off the owners more than a hundred times what the building was actually worth. A condition of the payment was that they would never mention it to anyone, ore back to give Lex any problems. Regardless, Lex was now legally the owner of this building. Furthermore, this property had integrated itself with the system. But, since the tavern was in the middle of a town, and not in its own realm like the Midnight Inn, Lex had an entirely different idea of how to run it. Most of the time, for the day-to-day clients, it would be nothing more than an ordinary tavern. Yet for some people... Lex chuckled. He opened the system interface and allowed himself to get familiar with theyout of the building. The entrance of the building had a small porch with enough space for four or five people to sit in chairs without blocking the door. After the porch was a tiny patch ofwn which, currently, was nothing more than a collection of weeds and overgrown bushes. A small, tiled path cut through thewn onto Bakers street, though the tiles had long since been covered in dirt, and were no longer visible. On the inside, the condition of the building was actually worse. While the major structure appeared to be fine, a system scan showed a massive termite infestation. Most of the windows of the building had also been boarded up, but some were left as is, leaving the building to the mercy of the elements. As strange and unpredictable as the weather was in the Crystal realm, he could not even imagine what this building had suffered. The list of things wrong with the building was actually quiterge, but for the most part, it did not matter. Since the Midnight Tavern was in a public ce, Lex had no ns to miraculously fix the building overnight and attract the entire town''s attention. Yet, at the same time, while he could take his time to fix the external appearance of the building, if he used the system to fix the inside of the building, no one would know. So what had to be determined now was theyout. Ignoring the existingyout of the building, Lex began to tinker with the system interface. Above the front door would be a small banner that read Midnight Tavern, and the door would open up to the main hall. There would be no separate reception, and instead, only a long bar attached to the left side of the hall. Right beside the bar was a door to the kitchen, probably one of the most important ces in a tavern, right after the bar itself. He set a few stools in front of the bar and ten tables in the main hall. At the far end of the hall, there was also a small stage for a bard or musician to entertain his guests. In the back, there were also two private rooms guests could rent for their meals, if they wanted to avoid the hubbub of the crowd. As in and simple as it was, that was all there was on the ground floor. On the first floor, there were three private rooms for lodging, equipped with a small bathroom, as well as a smaller hall that could be booked for private events. On the second floor, there were five private rooms avable for booking. The rooftop was modeled onto a terrace, equipped with a grill, barbeque station and a minibar. It allowed for a spectacr view of the sea, as well as the town, and made for an overall excellent spot for a small get-together. The area behind the building could be entered through the kitchen, and led to an enclosed space surrounded by arge wooden fence. It had three small, attached rooms for any live-in staff, aundry room and a small storage room. He did not make the tavern look posh and refined, and while he fixed as well as strengthened the building''s structure, he maintained a weathered and rustic aesthetic throughout. Yes, this was nothing more than the average tavern, nothing special about it whatsoever. The renovation for the entire building cost him 7000 MP. He snapped his finger, and by that it meant he spent some more MP, and the tavern bar became fully stocked, all the furniture appeared, and he was basically ready to open for business. All he needed now was to hire some staff. Then Lex cracked his neck and began spending the big bucks. Using his increased authority, and a whopping 300 million MP, Lex bought a spatial formation for the building. Its purpose was very simple. It hid a folded space within it, like a manufactured Minor realm, but one that couldn''t continue to exist without the formation itself. There was no fixed entrance to the hidden space, as any door that Lex wished could turn into the entrance, or exit of the hidden space. Lex frowned. He couldn''t keep calling it the hidden space, so he decided to call it the backyard. Yes, it was the tavern''s backyard. The backyard wasn''t big, only about 4 acres ofnd, but it waspletely bare. Lex had to add everything, from the dirt to the grass, to the air. He fixed the light so that it seemed like it was always early morning, and the air was fresh and crisp, like a breeze blowing from a snow-capped mountain. This is where the selected guests of the tavern would be allowed to enter and receive all their services. He couldn''t wait, he thought of... With a bang, the front door of the tavern mmed open, and a massive man walked in. He was eight feet (2.4 meters) tall and seemed just as wide. His grizzly face was furnished with an ugly scowl, though Lex found it hard to focus on the man''s face when his entire body was covered in blood. With heavy steps that caused the wooden floor to creek, the man trudged into the hall. He gave Lex the ugliest re possible before throwing his massive body onto one of the stools. Miraculously, the stool did not break. "Barkeep, pour me a drink," the man bellowed, before resting his head on the bar. He grabbed his hair with his hands, as if he would pull it out any second, though he resisted. Lex was stunned, partly because he didn''t expect his first guest to walk in merely a few moments after he installed the tavern sign outside, and partly because he had no idea what drinks to pour! Suffice to say, he had no experience behind a bar, nor was he familiar with the unusual spirits he had filled his shelves with, but you couldn''t keep a client waiting. Even a blood-covered, giant monstrous client. He hopped behind the bar, grabbed a green colored bottle that looked like something out of a pirate movie, and poured from it into a random ss. These were drinks he''d never even heard of back on Earth, so he had no idea what the proportions should be, but he guessed he would find out. Filling the ss to the brim, he slid it near the giant and said, "you alright there, buddy?" "How can I be alright? How can I be alright? The Babylon killer has struck again, my captains dead and worst of all, my only good clothes are covered in blood. I was supposed to meet ady tonight!" The giant man lifted his head, grabbed the ss without looking and chugged it down. "The Babylon killer?" Lex asked curiously. At the same time, he was going through the system to hire a worker for the tavern that could run the bar. "Yeah, there''s a serial killer in Babylon, haven''t you heard? Say, did you pour..." the before the man could finish his sentence, his eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he fell to the ground. Steam starteding out of the man''s open mouth and nose, and he turned red like a tomato.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om At that exact moment, a few more guests walked in and froze at the sight of the copsed giant, and Lex''s newest worker stepped out of the kitchen door, and froze as well. Lex smiled weakly at the new guests, scratched his head and said, "Wee to the Midnight Tavern." Chapter 323 Theme Music Three men stood at the entrance to the Midnight tavern, their eyes aimed at the blood covered, copsed man on the floor. The steam rising from his mouth was very visible, and his face was redder than the blood covering him, which had started to turn brown. Behind the bar stood a casually dressed, very young man who was shing them an awkward smile, and at the other door stood a tall, mature man wearing a ck coast vest, white shirt and ck pants. Silence hung in the air as the man leading the trio slowly pointed at the man on the floor and said, "I''ll have whatever he had."N?v(el)B\\jnn "My god, Big Ben is t on the floor," said one of the two men behind him. "Why is he out cold? Doesn''t he know the constable wille around to ask him questions?" "Who knows¡­" The three men started chatting amongst themselves as they happily walked over the man on the ground continuing their chat. By the sound of it, they seemed to know ''Big Ben'' well, and even knew that he had recently witnessed some kind of murder. Compared to how distraught Big Ben had been, they werepletely nonchnt. Lex breathed a sigh of relief, and looked towards the new barkeep, who promptly introduced himself. "My name is Roan, sir. I can man the bar, and I can also cook." "Very good," Lex said, allowing Roan to rece him behind the bar. "You make the drinks, and I''ll take them over. Also, take care of Big Ben here as well. Take him somewhere he can take a napfortably." "Yes sir," he said, his hands moving with experienced deftness, as he poured the drink from the green bottle in shot sses. He put them on a tray, allowing Lex to take it over. Lex could have just hired a bunch more workers from the system, but for the tavern he wanted to fit seamlessly in with the town. That is why, other than a few core employees, he nned on hiring the rest of his workers from amongst the locals. Seeing familiar faces instead of all strangers would allow the tavern to quickly be epted by the locals, and provide a fresh experience for Lex. "Here you go gents," Lex said, as he put down the tray on the table. "Drinks today are on the house, seeing how it''s the tavern''s first day." "I was wondering when this opened up," said the man who had been in the lead earlier. "It''s about time we got a decent tavern¡­" the man paused, took a slow look around the ce, and then continued, "well, a somewhat decent tavern. I was tired of drinking old Husky''s homemade spinach brew. Yuck!" Grabbing the shot ss, the man raised the ss to Lex, and then downed the ss in one go. His two friends did the same, and in only a few moments, they started to blush, though fortunately none of them fainted. "Before Big Ben, eh, took a nap, he was telling me about some murders that have been happening here. Do you know anything about that?" Lex asked. "Yes yes, the Babylon killer, the serial psycho, the rat barber, people have given him different names depending on the district. What, you didn''t look into it before opening the tavern? Worried it''ll affect business? Well, yeah things are bad, but that''s also good. As of today, there''s been 22 murders in thest two weeks, all of them a bloody sight. "The local constables can''t seem to catch the guy and no one has any idea who it is. Things are getting worse, but that''s good, because the local lord is bound to take notice if it starts affecting his profits. When the lord finally gets here, everything will get better. Until then, just keep on going, and pray that if the psycho is gonna strike again, he''ll strike you because at least that way you don''t need to listen to batty Marge''s ramblings." The man''s two friends cheered andughed, before they all started rambling about this ''batt Marge''. Lex went back to the bar and waited for Roan to return from putting Big Ben away. His mind had been focused towards developing the tavern''s backyard, but it seemed his first priority needed to be protection. After all, the town apparently had a serial killer on the loose. But, he wasn''t totally without protection. After all, a 300 million MP formation wasn''t simple. Moreover, for whatever reason, the system seemed to be cing fewer restrictions on tha tavern than the Inn, so Lex had a lot more room to maneuver. His first form of protection was the fact that no one could sneak into the tavern. No matter where or how they tried to enter, they would always be brought to the front hall. This was because the spatial formation freely allowed Lex to set several safety measures as he wanted in the tavern building upied space. Simrly, while he could not teleport people freely, he could easily manipte the location any door led to, effectively making the tavern building asplex a maze as he wanted to make. But, for trouble makers whoe barging in the front door, this was no obstacle. Unfortunately, the system still did not provide him with any formations with any offensive capabilities, but he could set up a formation to trap people, and then just keep them as prisoners indefinitely. This wasn''t a perfect solution, but it was good enough for now. The best part was, once the second formation trapped someone, Lex could treat that trapped area as a room, and use the spatial formation to move it around. Yes, this would work out nicely. After all, Lex wasn''t a fighter, he was a billionaire Innkeeper, he had other ways to handle troublemakers. The trapping formation, due to its simple requirements, was only 1 million MP for one of its best versions. He doubted anyone could break out of it. By the time he was done with that, Roan came back after putting Big Ben in a bed in one of the rooms. "Will he be okay?" Lex asked, with a hint of guilt. "Yes, the Jade Heart ferment that you gave him is a very potent, but safe spirit. It''s a little hard for most people to tolerate normally, since it burns impurities and diseases in one''s body. When he wakes up, he''ll be the healthiest he''s been in a long time." "That''s good, that''s good. By the way, for today, the drinks are free. But, starting tomorrow, make sure the guest knows how much each drink is worth when they order it." The drinks that had been stocked in his bar were not random drinks. The same way the Midnight Inn was connected to all thes Lex anchored to it, the Midnight Tavern was connected to the Crystal realm. All the drinks here were drinks that existed in the Crystal realm, but all of varying rarity. These were still rtively cheap ones, but from the system interface Lex could stock his bar with extremely precious drinks. In fact, there were a few drinks that cost energy as well as MP. Lex was truly curious what they were like, but now was not the time to be wasteful. Other than Roan, he needed one more worker who would maintain the ce. Somehow, the tavern''s banner had managed to attract some customers, but Lex really preferred if the front of the building looked presentable as well. Since he didn''t want to use the system interface for that, his next worker would have to be skilled in these things. Lex started entering his requirements into the system. ***** Gamer''s Den, Midnight Inn Z was pacing around the busy store, waiting. He didn''t need to manage all the guests because, under Lex''s instructions, Mary had hired more workers for the Den, allowing Z to be the manager. A result of that change in position was naturally a raise in sry. A raise in sry meant Z could easily get whatever he wanted. But after a while, he ran out of things to buy. So he stopped thinking about it. Moreover, since the invasion of the Raskals, Z had been feeling down, though he never let anyone know. He had been trying to figure out why he hadn''t been able to ovee the difficult ordeal like all the anime main characters he''d seen. After all, Z had all the things they had. From spikey hair, to the power of friendship, to a training montage that he made in his free time, to even a speaker forbat music. So what was missing? How could he fail? Then, one day, the answer came to him. He''d been using generic music. All the heroes had their own, dedicated theme music, but Z had been using random stuff he found online. What he needed was his own theme music, and he couldn''t be limited in that either. He needed his signature music for when he was stoic, when he was pumped, when he was fighting, and especially when he needed to ovee his limits, and let the power of friendship make him stronger, leaving his enemies saying ''nani?'' So, using favors with friends he managed to make at the Inn, he hired the bestposer he could find. The next moment, the door to the Gamer''s Den opened and a figure walked in. At first, Z could only see his silhouette, due to the bright lighting in from outside, but as the man stepped in, Z felt relief flood him. "Mr. Hans Simmerz, I''m so d you could make it." Chapter 324 Hot Tub Lex''s second worker for the tavern had to be good at repair work, carpentry, have modicum expertise at gardening and should have some knowledge of various fields. He entered all the relevant information and summoned histest worker. Soon, a man walked out of the kitchen door and presented himself before Lex. Lex immediatelypared him to Roan, who had a mature and suave air about him, with the dress and demeanor somewhat simr to that of a gentleman - as strange as a sight that was in a tavern. The new man, Rick, as he introduced himself, instead was dressed very casually, with a shirt much toorge for him, and had somewhat of a belly. His hands and face were covered in dirt, and it looked like he had juste from hardbor. Despite hisnguid appearance, as an employee of the tavern, he would fulfill his duties perfectly. "Clean up the front of the building," Lex said to Rick. "The weeds need to be removed, the tiles need to be uncovered from the dirt and cleaned, and the porch probably needs some repair work as well. You can judge what needs to be done with that on your own." Rick only grunted in reply before he headed out. Lex nced at the three guests who were chatting loudly, before he turned his attention back to the backyard. He needed to spruce the ce up, add the facilities he was nning, as well as finally create his own living space. After that, he nned on exploring Babylon a bit to spread the word about the tavern. Furthermore, he needed to hire a few locals as well. A couple of barmaids, a few people to man the kitchen, a few more to maintain the rooms andplete minor chores such asundry, room service and such, and finally, he needed one or two bouncers. While Lex had veryx requirements for the other positions, who the bouncer would be would reflect on the authority and security of the tavern. The bouncer would need to develop or have an existing reputation, and he could not be easily reced. As such, Lex''s initial n was to make whomever he chose as a bouncer a permanent employee of the system, rather than just a temporary one.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om For all of that, first he would need to get acquainted with the locals and then hold interviews for any interested applicants. But for now, the backyard. He checked the new building options that had been unlocked in the system due to the tavern, and one by one, read through their introductions. First was the Wine cer. Despite its name, the cer wasn''t dedicated only for wines. Instead, all spirit drinks could be stored there, as the room had a special function. It would age, develop, and even enhance all drinks ced in the room. Some drinks, for example, served medical purposes, but needed time to mature into the appropriate properties, and leaving such a drink here would speed up that process. Second was the Secret room. Its entrance could be as inconspicuous as Lex wanted, and led to a room equipped with a makeshift bed, a bathroom and, most importantly, isting properties that would prevent tracking frommon forms of tracing. Of course, it wasn''t as effective as the Destiny protection the Inn afforded, but that wasn''t something Lex could casually buy, either. The third room was a peculiar one called the Rumor room. Any rumors circting in the vicinity of the tavern that were repeated with great frequency would automatically be listed there. There was no indication of the veracity of the rumors, or how they originated. Lex felt that one was for him, mostly. After all, in many novels he''d read, people came to the barkeep to hear thetest news. Lastly, there was the Hot tub room. The hot tub was not massive, as he could have expected, and instead could at mostfortably amodate 6 people. It did, however,e with various benefits. The hot tub served as a disinfectant, but it was not just germs or disease it was ridding you of, but any unnatural entitytched onto your body. This included but was not limited to minor curses, minor to mediocre poisons, most tracking techniques, artificially inflicted bad luck, etc. It also served to rx the users mental state in case they were inordinately stressed and helped the body recover in case of unusual exertion. Without hesitation, Lex added all these rooms to the backyard, except the Security room which he created an entrance for right behind the bar. Moreover, he also added a meditation room, recovery room, recovery pod, and a training room. Each room was separate, and unlike the wooden exterior of the tavern, were built from the most exquisite marble. He created one more room, of a simr design to the Hot tub room, but changed the size of the hot tub to only amodate one person. Then, in a small cage at the bottom of the hot tub, inserted the green pebble that produced the magical water. He still did not fully understand the pebble, and so currently did not n on letting this room be open to the public. For the time being, only Lex would use the room. After all, he did not know if the water produced by the pebble was limited. Next, he turned his attention to the Wine cer. Much in the way that the Gift shop had its selection of items Lex could buy, the Wine cer had a selection of drinks on its own. But, unlike the Gift shop, the selection for the Wine cer was massive. He suspected it had to do with his increased authority. The drinks started all the way from 1 MP, and went well into tens of millions of MP. He strongly suspected that the most expensive drinks were meant only for immortals. He would study the list in detail at ater date, but for now, he bought a dozen drinks in the 100 - 10,000 MP range. Each drink, other than just its name, gave a small description of their effects. These dozen drinks that Lex bought all helped solidify and speed up the cultivation for those in the Foundation realm. Heh, he was biased to his needs. Who could fault him? In the spirit of celebrating his new tavern, and the satisfaction of being able to use his system again, he bought a single bottle of wine for 1 million MP. Although he could afford to splurge, there were other things he had in mind for that. "Hey Mary, now that I have a tavern, as well as a private space, can I just use a spirit energy formation to gather the energy the system requires?" "Yes, it''spletely possible. But to have any significant effect on your energy umtion, you would need a formation designed for immortals. To purchase such a formation, you would need to spend 20% energy as well as 5 billion MP." Lex paused, as looked towards his MP. Currently he had 2.2 billion MP! In fact, considering how long Lady Cosmos had been going on, he should have had a lot more! But despite his best efforts, he ran out of spiritual food to serve his guests. While his increased authority allowed him to directly buy spiritual food, it was expensive, which meant he was selling it at a loss, since he didn''t want to randomly increase the food price. All he could do was increase the size of his greenhouse by another 3000 acres, and give the turtle all kinds of new seeds to nt. He didn''t want to expand too much, since he fully expected demand to go back down after Lady Cosmos ended, and he wanted sustainable growth. Speaking of Lady Cosmos, it was actually in its final stages. There were only 100 contestants left,st time he checked. One of these days, he would take some time out to actually watch the show. "Another thing," Mary said, interrupting Lex''s thoughts. "Since you now have a tavern as well as an Inn, the system''s energy consumption has increased. This means, every 3 months, your umted energy will drop by 1%. If it reaches 0%, the system will have to shut down some essential functions of both ces to continue operating. I highly rmend you don''t let that happen." "Got it," Lex said, suddenly feeling the urge to jump into that hot tub and let his stress melt away! But his situation was not as bad as it seemed. He had already turned his attention from seeking random pockets of umted energy towards those crystals he absorbed in the bank. Moreover, he had not selected the location of the tavern randomly. It might not seem like much, since at a nce the technological level of the town was vastly below that of the academy, but what did technology have to do with resources? When he was selecting a ce on the map, his current location was bathed in gold - the color he decided for treasures and resources. He was literally in one of the richest ces in the whole realm! Chapter 325 Getting Started Lex''s thoughts wandered back to the map of the Crystal realm. He''d seen it for less than a minute, but even so, it had revealed a lot of information to Lex. Of the many things he learned, the most unbelievable was that the Crystal realm was t! It consisted of hundreds, possibly thousands of continents, and how deep the ground went was not revealed on the map, but the borders where the realm ended were clearly marked. About 1000 miles (1609 km) from the edge, on all sides, was an absolute dead zone, where no living thing could enter. The edge of the realm did not open into nothingness, leaving the realm as if floating in space, but was tightly blocked. On this, there was too little information, but a preliminary guess Lex made on his own was that there was a solid wall of space blocking off the edge. Of course, Lex''s understanding of space was entirely based on fiction novels, so there was likely a better exnation for it. He had a few other theories, and at another time it would make a good subject for research, but currently he had other priorities, so he left it as something unbelievable. Something much more pressing, and relevant to him, was the information he gathered on the Kraven. Unlike the rest of the races, which were spread out across the entire realm, the Kraven were inside a bubble. Slowly they were expanding their borders, and reaching the rest of the realm, but nheless, it was a fact that they were concentrated in a certain region of the realm. Lex had too little information regarding the matter, but based on what he knew, he could venture a bold guess that they either originated in, or adjacent to, the Poliod territory - the first race to encounter, and then be defeated by the Kravens. This meant that if he wanted to discover their origin, he would have to venture into that territory. It was a quest he had from the system, but not one he was actively trying to fulfill. His first priority now was to develop the tavern as his base, and start collecting those energy filled crystals. The first step to that was spreading the tavern''s poprity. He opened the event management panel, created a one-day event called ''Opening Celebrations'' and printed out a few hundred fliers for the tavern. He didn''t need anything else from the panel, and wasn''t nning on doing any mystical or magical advertising, so these fliers would suffice. Lex took a few and walked over to the three guests, who wereughing amongst themselves. Even though they hadn''t had a single drink after Jade Heart, they seemed intoxicated already. "Lads, you seem to be having a good time," Lex said, putting down some fliers. "But what''s a good time if you''re having it alone? Take a few and spread them out, invite a few friends over. Remember, drinks are free only today." "Hahaha if you think you''ll have any drinks left for tomorrow after offering them free today, then you''re dreaming! Don''t worry, I''ll spread the word. Just after one more drink." The way the man insisted on ''just one more drink'' Lex gave up any hope of the man getting anywhere. Lex returned to Roan and instructed him to make sure no more incidents like ''Big Ben'' happened, before stepping out of the tavern, fliers in hand. Bakers street, where the tavern was located, was an extremely busy street. Buildings lined both sides, filled with various shops and offices, and the wide road was filled with bustling crowds. The crowds were not just limited to humans either, as just from his doorstep Lex could see some Sentinels, with bodies seemingly made of metallic skeletal frames held together not by joints, but some strange visible gas. Once or twice he saw some kind of nt walking around, and rightfully assumed that they were the bodies some Trelops were using. To this day, Lex still did not know what their actual bodies looked like.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om There were a few other, lessmon races as well, such as fairies, but the mostmon other than humans were the Varn. The Varn had two forms, theirmon form in which they walked on all four legs, their scales covered their body with a smooth flow and other than their rtively sharp ws and fangs, they did not look too scary. In theirbat form, their bodies would expand, they would stand up on their hind legs, their scales would shift and form spikes all over their bodies, and they became the stuff of nightmares. Lex took in the sight, and then started walking down the street. He familiarized himself with the shops beside his tavern, as they would be neighbors, and made a mental note to visit them on his way back. His current objective was the docks, where he imagined most of his uing clientele would be. At the same time, he wanted to learn more about the town. After all, it would be strange for him to open up a new business without knowing anything about the town itself. Babylon was far beyond the borders of the Hum nation, or any of the other nations for that matter. These were neutralnds, considered property of powerful families or organizations. The rules in thesends were a lot morex, and besides the basics, such as paying tax, and avoiding arson and murder, there was limited enforcement of variousws here. Well, at least, that was the case for normal neutralnds. Considering the supposed wealth surrounding this region, Lex imagined that security was somewhat better. The town itself was surprisingly beautiful, and well nned out. The streets were wide, the buildings beautiful, and there was greenery everywhere. Most importantly, it was clean. It was a bit backwards, though. All around Lex were beast pulled carriages, people carrying swords and spears, people dressed in either simple cotton tunics or leather armor. It was as if he had stepped into a fantasy themed renaissance fair. In a corner, he spotted a few children selling newspapers, or rather, news crystals. With a smile, Lex walked towards them, fliers still in hand. "Hey there, mister," called out one of the children, dressed in blue overalls. "Want to buy thetest news? The Babylon killer, the Green reef pirates, Lord Bori''stest divorce, we have all the news right here, just 6 copper pieces." The kid held out a green quartz crystal. "Nah kid, I''m here about a job. I opened up a new tavern on Bakers street. If you hand out all these fliers and spread the word that drinks are free, today only, then you and your friends cane to my tavern and eat for free for a week." "Hey I''m not a kid!" the kid protested fiercely. "I''m 13 years old now, and I''m the man of the house! And as a man, a job with no cash payment sounds like a scam. No deal." Lexughed despite his best efforts not to. The kid was attempting to look serious, but his chubby cheeks and tiny brown eyes just made him look like a teddy bear. "Alright fine, spread the fliers and I''ll pay you. You can find me at the Midnight tavern when you''re done. "What''s your name?" "Rnd," the kid replied, as he pulled the stack of fliers with a grin. He picked one up and looked at it from all angles, extremely fascinated by the material. It seemed these kinds of fliers were notmon here. "Well, remember Rnd, drinks are free, but only for today. Spread the word." Outsourcing his task to Rnd, Lex put his hands in his pockets and continued to explore. He was not too concerned about money as with his newfound authority, he could convert MP into local currency, though the exchange rate put him at a loss. For example, if a customer spent 1 gold coin making it equivalent to 1 MP, Lex would have to spend 10 MP to get 1 gold coin back. Furthermore, for the foreseeable future, he expected the tavern to run at a loss, or at most, give him very little ie. This was because, unlike the Midnight Inn, wherepared to themon man, the prices were very high, the tavern''s prices were very low. Well, they weren''t very low, just that he only expected to sell the low priced drinks. It would be a while before he could start earning a decent ie from here. But, as a new MP billionaire, Lex didn''t care about these minor expenses. Much. As Lex continued to explore the town, most things were within his expectations. When he reached the docks, however, Lex had to pause. It wasn''t the massive wooden ships, warehouses, shipyards, fishmongers or anything else that caused this. No, it was because the moment he stepped here, he felt his instincts act up. This ce... was dangerous. Chapter 326 Why Would He Run? After a few moments, Lex realized that it wasn''t that he was in danger, but that the people in this area were mostly at a higher cultivation level. At the academy he learned that for humans, on average, reaching the Foundation realm in your early life was considered normal, and reaching the Golden core realm before you die fell in the realm of moderately talented. This was keeping in mind that, for a Foundation cultivator with a life span of 150 years, even up to the age of 50 was considered early in his or her life. But these people would only be very average cultivators and carry no or limited danger to someone like Lex. That was why he walkedfortably through the town without feeling much danger. Yes, there were other races as well, but not all races carried the overwhelming advantages that the Crystal race or Kraven boasted.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The docks, however, were filled with cultivators who were vastly superior to Lex in cultivation, most likely near the peak of the Golden core, or even in the Nascent realm. Moreover, they were not ''average'' cultivators. Lex rxed a bit, and continued to explore the docks. It made sense that there was more security in such an important location, not to mention news of that serial killer was everywhere. He even had a witness to a murder sleeping at his tavern right at this moment. Putting such thoughts away, Lex continued his tour. He couldn''t approach the ships, for that area had been sealed off, but he could see from afar that the activity was unceasing. That was good - it meant that there was a lot of trading going on. He dropped off another batch of fliers with some kids here as well, before asking directions and going towards the biggest market in Babylon. The market, found on Edmonton square, once again exceeded Lex''s expectations. In a town he expected that there would only be a limited number of citizens of the upper ss, and that most would be lower or lower-middle ss. Yet this seemed to be untrue. The contrast was massive, as people went from simple tunic and garbs, to multyered dresses, extravagant gowns and exquisite suits. There was more than one tailoring shop in Edmonton square, several apothecaries, weaponsmiths, jewelers, furniture shops, fabulous cafes and restaurants. After taking in the scenery, Lex decided to return. These were not the kind of people he expected would visit the tavern. The Inn would more likely be to their liking. Instead, he would introduce himself to his neighbors, and invite them to visit once they closed their shops. ***** Cornellius was sitting in his throne room continuously tapping his finger on the armrest. Opposite to him sat Nora, her expression one of extreme boredom. She couldn''t decide if she appreciated Lex for his guts, or hated him for getting her into this mess. After all, it was difficult to escape suspicion when she had met him only minutes prior to his disappearance. "I don''t understand. Why would he run?" he finally said, giving up. "Well, if you listen to the rumors, the boy is not too fond of you," Nora replied casually. "You can''t trust rumors. I had someone do a background check on him. There''s no record of him prior to entering the academy. As for the rumor that he''s the son of a fallen lover of mine, I''ve had it investigated as well. All of my lovers, past and present, are ounted for, and none of them gave birth to a mystery kid. So we can''t judge based on that." "Maybe he just didn''t want to share his technique, that''s all." "But why? All true path techniques are extremely stringent, so the chances anyone else would be able to cultivate them anyway is miniscule. All it would have done is provide us with a better repository to design new techniques on our own. And he would have been rewarded. He spent enough time at the academy to know he would be rewarded." "He has his own goals. My - our daughter told me that when he found out about the core academy, he was not tempted at all." Cornelius let out an exasperated sigh. Kids could be so frustrating. And he was just beginning to like Lex, too. "Well, no matter. On to the next topic. I heard you''re getting the crystal race to design Cwenhild a new cultivation technique." "Yeah. She made it really easy. I don''t know if you''ve heard, but she found a sleeping bunker in her realm. That helped with negotiations." Cornelius squinted his eyes and stared at Nora, trying to decipher her thoughts. "If a true path technique were that cheap, or if the Crystal race were so amenable, I''d be swimming in cultivation techniques. You must have paid them something else as well." "Oh hush now, let''s not get into these trivialities. Let Cwenhild believe she earned it, it''s good for her self-confidence." "If you insist, then I''ll let it go. But if the technique works, you must give me a copy." "Oh? And how exactly do you expect to pay me for it? I assure you, whatever you would have given Lex is of no interest to me." Cornelius was silent as he stared at Nora, his thoughts unknown. She hid it very well, but deep down, she was actually nervous. An immortal though she may be, she knew her ce. Even in her dreams, she could notpete with her husband in strength, and he was not truly as mild-mannered as he appeared to be. Eventually, though, Cornelius let out a sigh. He held out his empty hand to Nora, and a ck, metallic card suddenly appeared in it. Engraved in the middle was a single word - Ventura. Nora smiled, but otherwise hid her relief well. She grabbed the card and left. After she left, Cornelius disappeared from the throne room and reappeared in what looked like a lounge. There were a few people in the room who had been drinking, but at the appearance of the king, they all froze in horror. "Out," was all he said, but everyone in the room scrambled to exit as fast as possible. Only one person remained in the room beside Cornelius: a man who was sleeping upside down on a table, a mug of ale held firmly in his hand. Unable to hold back his frustration, Cornelius kicked his son on his ass, waking him up. "What? Who? Al-Algard I to-told you, I could out drink you!" said the drunk, but suddenly he noticed the room was empty, except for his very angry father. "You brat, one of my daughters is about to embark on the true path, and I''ve found a student cultivating it as well. You better clean up your act, or your title as the crown prince will be stripped!" Chapter 327 Bakery Lex spent a surprising number of hours visiting the shops on Bakers street. He thought he''d just pop in, introduce himself and the tavern, and invite the shopkeepers for a drink afterwards. But most shopkeepers started to chat with him, often eximing he was so young to be able to open up a tavern. They were friendly enough, and the offer for free drinks made them even friendlier. By the time he visited the fourth store, upon noticing the excitement for free drinks, he wondered if he should add a home drop off service for his customers once they were done. It was definitely something he would look into. Finally, he approached thest store, which happened to also be his immediate neighbor - a bakery. Walking into the store filled with the smell of fresh bread, Lex could not be happier at his tavern''s location. Most of the shelves seemed to be empty, with only a few rolls of bread and some pastries left. Either this was a very popr or unpopr shop. "Hey hey, wee friend," eximed a particrly jolly man from behind the counter. "Wee to Bakers street bakery." The man chuckled as he said the name. Something told Lex he did that often. "Clever name," replied Lex with a smirk. "Ah yeah, the wife dared me just when I opened up the shop. I was going to call it Dino''s bakery, after myself but, well, a dare is a dare." "Should have just gone for Bakers bakery directly." "Hah! That would have been a st. But, well, it''s done now." "Well met, Dino," said Lex as he reached over to shake the man''s hand. "My name is Lex, I just opened up a tavern right next door. You shoulde on over after you''re done. Drinks are free the first day, in celebration of the opening." "Free? Well now brother, free is the magic word. I''ll be sure to drop by. Better yet, I''ll bring the wife too. Ain''t no reason she can''t enjoy a free drink as well." "I''ll be d to have you. Spread the word if you can, otherwise people won''t even know that there''s a tavern here." "Will do brother." With the exchangeplete, Lex exited the shop, breathing a sigh of relief. Fortunately, while Dino was friendly, he was not chatty. That had been his quickest visit yet.N?v(el)B\\jnn He returned to the tavern to find Big Ben finally awake and sitting at the bar, looking much weaker. His cheeks had gone in noticeably and his once tight shirt hung loose. That, however, did not seem to be his concern - if he had noticed at all - as he was moaning about how his date tonight would be ruined. "Has the constable alreadye and questioned you?" Lex asked, surprised that he was still here. "No, of course not. When the murder happened, I just ran as fast as I could. When I couldn''t run anymore, and stopped for breath, I looked up and saw your tavern. I''ve been here since. The constable probably has no idea I''m even here." Lex was dumbstruck for a moment. If all the witnesses in the case were like this, it was no wonder the murderer hadn''t been caught yet. "I have an idea," Lex said. "Why don''t you tell the girl you were going to see that you witnessed a murder, and you''re distraught? That way, she cane here to console you. At the same time, I''ll call the constable. When she hears the story of how you survived, I''m sure she''ll be impressed." "Yeah? Do you think so?" he asked, looking at Lex like a messiah. "Either way, you need to tell someone what you saw. Otherwise, what if the murderer ruins another date for you?" Big Ben was convinced, though Lex was seriously beginning to wonder how the big lug had made it through life. Lex told Rick to go find a constable, and bring them to the bar. In the meanwhile, Lex had Roan pour Big Ben something to revitalize him. He also looked at the rtively empty tavern and couldn''t wait for people to starting in. He checked the time and discovered it was only 3 pm. The perpetual daylight was very disorienting, and Lex still wasn''t used to it, as it was almost impossible to tell what time of day it was by the sol-light. But just because the tavern was empty didn''t mean there wasn''t anything to do. Lex had Roan start cooking up some finger food for when the rush started. Since there was no kitchen staff, all the food they would serve would need to be prepared in advance, and would require Lex and Rick to serve. A day of serving food at a tavern. Just thinking about it made Lex impatient to hire his staff. ***** Noman Butt dragged his exhausted body out of the recovery room. Never in his life had he felt so good and terrible at the same time. He felt good, because he had been fully healed. He felt terrible, because unbeknownst to him, during his pursuit, he had been poisoned. It took him weeks in the recovery pod for his body topletely be immune to the poison, and the entire time he was in pain. If there was one thing to celebrate, it was that his funds never ran out. When he finally woke up after he first passed out, he was informed by Nurse Jubtion about how much treatment was costing him, and how his family was being charged directly for his expenses. Heh, for other people this might be arge sum, but for his family it was akin to peanuts. Even if they were deducting it from his personal pocket money, he would have enough to survive for years here. Now what he needed to do was rx, and recover. The rk Kent sses ensured that his identity remained hidden while he was here. With his new anonymity, he''d be free of the people finding trouble for him. "Oh Juliet, I love you with all my heart. I could die for you!" someone eximed within Noman''s earshot. He turned to look at the couple, and before the girl could reply, Noman said, "He''s lying." The duo was startled, but before they could ask any questions, he moved on. Yes, he was finally free from all troubles, and a lifetime''s worth of experience hiding his unique power ensured that no one would bother him again. Chapter 328 First Night It took 20 minutes for Rick to find a constable ande back, though he didn''t really bother exining the situation to them. Using a series of grunts and sighs, the perpetually tired worker somehow got the constable to follow him. The moment he realized he was being brought to a tavern, the constable groaned as well, for he was almost entirely certain that he had to deal with the result of a brawl. What awaited him, instead, was the massive Ben, covered in dry blood, being fawned over by his girlfriend. She had instantly noticed the man''s weakened state, and directly attributed it to the trauma he suffered, and began coddling the eight foot man like a baby. The girlfriend, Betty, stood at 7 feet and eight inches herself, so her presence was no joke. The dichotomy of a massive woman, her arms rippling with muscles, babying an evenrger man was, however, quite funny. Despite Ben''s best efforts to be interrogated right in the tavern, the constable who happened to know the couple eventually convinced them to follow him back to the constable''s office. The tavern was pretty quiet after that, until at exactly 5:30 pm, when Rnd entered the Midnight Tavern, followed closely by a group of other kids. Considering their job, they were rtively well dressed, with no obvious tears or holes in their clothes, and even they themselves were clean enough to tell they had showered sometime within thest few days.N?v(el)B\\jnn Perhaps it was just a stereotype that kids doing jobs in small towns such as this were all homeless orphans. Maybe they were just doing extra work to help around the house. "We sessfully passed out all the fliers you gave us, specifically, 712 of them, each to a separate individual. At 10 fliers per copper coin, that''s 71 coppers." Lex smiled at the kids and asked, "are you sure you wouldn''t rather just eat here for a week?" "Money is money man, don''t renege on our deal. You can''t bully us just because we''re young entrepreneurs." All the kids behind Rnd firmly nodded their heads, looking at Lex fiercely. Lex chuckled and pulled out a silver coin, worth 100 copper coins, and handed it to Rnd. "Well, good job. Here, you can keep the change. I''ll keep an eye out, and if I get a lot of customers who got your fliers, I''ll contact you again." Rnds eyes shone as he grabbed the coin, but he managed to keep his voice steady. "It was a pleasure doing business with you." "Why don''t you and your friends grab a table? Since stuff''s free the first day, let me treat you to something." "Eh... we''re kids - no I mean, young entrepreneurs," he said, hesitantly. "Don''t worry, I''ll only serve you tea. It''ll be good for you." The kids exchanged a few looks and in the end decided that it would be in poor business spirit to turn down the irresistible offer of ''free''! Lex had a few tes of french fries, along with sweet iced tea sent over in mugs for the kids. Unlike the sugar water that was iced tea back on Earth, this one was made using the leaves of a spirit nt. Not only would it be refreshing, it would nourish their bodies and heal any injuries they have. It was a tea with very mild effects, perfect for non-cultivators. The entry of Rnd seemed to be some kind of trigger, as after the kids sat down, small groups started pouring in. Many of them were holding the fliers that had been passed out, but even more of them came asking about the free drinks. This is when Lex turned on his charm. With a grin on his face that made it seem like he was having the most fun in the world, and a tray in his hand that was never empty of drinks, Lex began weing all his guests. First it was only a few, but quickly the tavern started to fill up with sailors and workers who''d gotten free from work. As soon as a crowd started to develop, Lex took the sitting kids to one of the private rooms, and allowed them to finish up their snacks at their own pace. But with that, he returned to the main hall, and began serving everyone who dared enter the crowded room. By 7 pm, there was no longer any room in the tavern hall, and Lex began to carry drinks outside so that guests could at least get something to drink even if they didn''t stay. He knew that most of the people who came today wouldn''t end up bing regr customers, but at least this way his tavern would be the talk of the town overnight. He also made sure to pay special attention in case anyone became rowdy. Brawls and tavern fights were amon urrence, or so he assumed, but Lex had no intentions of tolerating fights in his establishment. Lex saw hundreds of different faces, and people came and went faster than he could keep track. It was only due to the system that he was able to monitor the situation. By 8 pm he had served so many people that even his guests were amazed, and someone by the name of Dirty Rye started a bet for what time the tavern would run out of drinks. One of the sailors brought out a harmonica and took to the stage while another two started dancing. One man, a hauler at the docks, tried to sing along to the tune, but he was so bad that he was quickly pulled down from stage, apanied by uproariousughter. Dino the baker dropped by along with his wife, a plump woman who worked as a school teacher. She knew half the crowd in the tavern by name, and the other half by their kids'' names. After cracking a few jokes, the couple gave Lex a wee basket full of fresh muffins as a wee to the street before leaving. By 9 pm, the tavern was booming with jovial energy andughter. At 9:01 pm there was pin drop silence, as a carriage arrived in front of the tavern, its presence announced by a trumpet that cut through the noise and froze everyone in their seats. Chapter 329 Getting Married The opal white carriage, pulled by a single Brown feathered Fantasy Lion, stopped directly in front of the tavern. The driver disembarked from the carriage in proper form and stepped in front of the door and opened it. During this entire process he neither looked at the venue nor deigned to study the surrounding crowd. His gaze was strictly focused only on the ground. From the carriage stepped forth a handsome young man, his fair skin dazzling under the night time sol-light. He had a soft smile on his face, as if he was enjoying life, and eyes full of curiosity. "My ship just arrived at the dock and I heard say that someone was giving out free drinks," the man said softly, as if to exin his arrival. Yet no one said or did everything, and all eyes were still stuck on him. The man let out a defeated sigh, and shook his head, as if he was all too familiar with such a scene. "I told you to let me walk here and blend in. Now look, you''ve caused a scene." "It is their honor to be in your presence," responded someone from the carriage, his visage strangely hidden from view. "If you are dissatisfied with the reaction, then get back in the carriage and let''s leave. These people will not befortable with a lord among them." The young man passed his gaze over the crowd one more time, as if confirming the other man''s statement, and indeed everyone had frozen expressions, filled with panic and confusion. What he did not know was that the person apanying him was secretly exposing everyone in the tavern to his aura. He was not suppressing anyone, as the signs of that would be easily identified, but just his aura of an immortal was enough to have the whole tavern in fear for days toe. The man''s n worked - almost. While everyone else was frozen, Lex took out a tray and put a mug and a ss on it. In the mug he poured the cheapest drink in his tavern: Dimmelon juice, and in the ss he poured the most expensive drink he had: Sunset Wine. Of course, it was only the most expensive drink not including the ones in his wine cer. Then, Lex picked up the tray and casually walked towards the carriage. In truth, it only seemed it was casual, and in actuality he was under a lot of pressure. But it was only because the immortal was not actually targeting him with the aura that Lex could even think, let alone move. After all, he''d already experienced how the coercion from the Kraven stopped even his thoughts, let alone actions. "Indeed, there are free drinks, though only for tonight," he said, and brought the tray before the man. "In celebration of the opening of my tavern." The man was first startled at Lex''s demeanor, and then he grinned widely. Without saying a single word he grabbed the mug and chugged it down. He expected that he would have to force himself to drink, for he did not know what to expect from such a¡­ mediocre level establishment. Yet whatever he drank was genuinely amazing, strengthening his resolve. In a brute life fashion he allowed the drink to spill from the mug down his face, and once he was finished he wiped it clean with a sleeve. "Well if it''s a celebration, then we must also celebrate," the young man dered. "You can go on without me, because I for one cannot turn down my host''s hospitality." The man in the carriage only let out a deep sigh, after which the driver closed the carriage door, got back in his seat and drove it away. Now free from the aura, the crowd in the tavern had begun to murmur, and they all watched the young man with fear. A good number of them silently slipped away, but most of them remained. "The name is Pvarti," the young man said with excitement as he looked around the tavern. It was his first time in such a ce. "What was that drink you poured? It was excellent! I dare day even my brother would like it." "Dimmelon juice. Technically speaking, it''s just the juice of the Dimmelon fruit. It just so happens that the fruit is alcoholic in nature, so it needs no fermentation to be served." In the entire bar only Pvarti and Lex were talking and the rest were watching, at most whispering amongst themselves. The situation was not ideal, and Lex had only just begun to think of ways to dissolve the awkwardness when a familiar voice yelled across the street. "BARKEEP POUR THE DRINKS, I''M GETTING MARRIED!" Before anyone could even wonder who had yelled, a shirtless giant burst in, holding a simrly giant woman in a dress. Big Ben and his fiance were grinning ear to ear, and paid no heed to the unusual silence in the tavern. Before Lex could reply, Pvarti grabbed the tray from his hand and brought it to Big Ben. "Congrattions brother," he said as he gave Big Ben a p on his back. "Here, have this." ? Without thinking Big Ben grabbed the drink, and before Lex could utter a warning, gulled it down in one go. "Ah that¡­ was for Nascent realm cultivators and above," Lex said, awkwardly.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "What?" Big Ben asked, unsure of what Lex meant. The next moment his eyes rolled up, and he fell back on the floor, unconscious. The tavern burst intoughter, Ben''s fiance included. Before the situation could change again, Lex quickly started passing out drinks again while Rick carried Ben to a room once again. He had poured Sunset Wine intending to pass it to the person in the carriage, but the person never gave Lex the opportunity. Lex turned to look at Roan and asked him if Ben would be okay. After scratching his head a moment, all he could say was "probably." Chapter 330 Triplets The night was long and bright, and the brightness did not help the hundreds of sleeping guests in and around his tavern. Lex scratched his head as he looked around him and began to wonder if he took the free drink thing too far. He himself was not a big drinker and had little experience with the habits of sailors. On top of that, he did not ount for the fact that a higher cultivation allowed his guests to drink even more. Logically speaking, he definitely should have run out of drinks considering how much was drankst night. Yet with the unlimited supply of the system it never happened, and so it was in theter part of the night when Lex abruptly noticed that the noise in the tavern had been dropping. By the time he picked up on what was happening and told Roan to stop giving out drinks, it was toote. Fortunately, the chances of an ident happening were low to none. This was because the drinks served at his tavern induced intoxication not through alcohol, but through the drinks'' spiritual properties. The person drinking would fall asleep if they drank too much so that their body could better absorb all the nutrients and nurturing energies within the drink. Big Ben, for example, would likely have a breakthrough in his cultivation. Whenever he woke up, that is. This was more or less the version of his statement that Lex prepared for when the constables eventually came to investigate why there were so many people asleep around his tavern. Lex, Rick and Roan made sure everyone was alright, turned them on their sides and put down nkets, but¡­ that was more or less all they could do. Even Pvarti was well and truly hammered, though he had the good sense to rent a room instead of passing out on the ground. Eventually, though, the constables never came. At 6 am, as if clockwork, everyone started waking up. Those that didn''t wake would be roused by the people beside them and, after cracking a few jokes about having a ''breakfast'' drink, they started making their way back. Though, it needed to be emphasized that it was only a ''joke'' because Lex firmly confirmed that the free drinks were over now. Just like that, his first day as a tavern day owner ended without any major idents, and just a few tiny idents. He ended up spending around 250,000MP yesterday, despite the fact that most drinks were actually very cheap. But it was worth it, because that was the fastest way to spread word about his tavern. Now came the hard part, of slowly developing a reputation amongst actual guests, as well as hiring the appropriate staff. He told many people yesterday he was looking to hire, so word should definitely spread. But that was a matter that could not be rushed. Now though, he finally had time to rest. Unfortunately for him, he did not intend on getting any sleep. He entered the tavern''s backyard and began cultivating in the Meditation room. He did not forget how his professor told him that cultivating the true path was actually slower, let alone Regal Embrace which should be even harder. He could not afford to ck off. He only cultivated for a few hours though before stopping. This was both because he needed to pace himself, and because there were a few guests at the tavern who seemed to be waiting for him. Although being a tavern owner did not necessitate him to be as presentable as the standard he kept for the Inn, he still took time to freshen up before exiting. Two people were sitting and waiting for him at the bar, one massive and anxiousdy and another young looking man in extremely formal attire. "Big Ben is still sleeping," the giantdy, Betty, said. "He always wakes up on time for work. Is he going to be okay?"n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Yes yes, I assure you," Lex said in a soothing voice. "He will be fine, but he will probably sleep for a few more days. He drank a ss of Sunset Wine, which is not something he can easily absorb at his cultivation level. Once he is done absorbing all the spirit energy, he will naturally wake up, and he''ll be feeling better than ever." Betty let out a sigh of relief, although she was still a little worried about how this would affect his work. People at their level couldn''t just take unannounced holidays. "You have Sunset Wine in this ce?" asked the young man with a hint of surprise. Lex immediately recognized the voice - it belonged to the person who apanied Pvarti to the tavern but didn''t get off. This person was an immortal. "Yes, I keep a bottle onhand incase I get a guest with a more¡­ demanding pallet," replied Lex. At the same time, he used a function of the system he dearly missed. He scanned the person sitting in front of him. Name: Bertram Noel Age: 876 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: Earth Immortal Species: Human Remarks: He reeks of prestige. Will be offended if he is not upcharged for services rendered. "Would you like some?" Lex asked. "I originally poured the ss yesterday for you." "You were able to recognize me?" Bertream asked, intrigued even further. "Sure, pour me a ss. I want to see if you have the authentic article." "I recognized your voice," Lex said, as he signaled Roan to pour. "As a tavern owner, I need to be good at recognizing people." Betty wasn''t the least bit interested in their conversation, and went back to Ben. Since the fellow had copsed during the free drinks period, Lex decided not to charge him for a room until he eventually woke up. After all, it would help him build rtions in this town, and Lex wasn''t really desperately in need of the rent. Roan poured a ss of Sunset wine for Bertram, and left the bottle on the table. A single ss of this wine cost 20,000 MP since it was targeted towards Nascent realm cultivators. The young man showed a pleasant expression as he lifted the ss and smelled. His attitude was much better than Lex expected based on his behavior the previous day. Still, he only thought that and didn''t say it. He was not in the mood to test his formations against an immortal on the second day of having a tavern. "It''s the real deal," he said, then looked at Lex as if reanalyzing the man. "It''s not easy to get a bottle like this. I''m impressed." "Thank you. I hoped I''d be able to satisfy an important guest when I got it, I suppose I was able to fulfill that criteria. Let me take this opportune moment to introduce myself. My name is Lex, and this is my humble tavern." "Well Lex, your ''humble tavern'' has impressed me." "Are you waiting for Pvarti? It seemed like you weren''t too happy about himing herest night," Lex said, as he sipped some tea from a mug Roan passed to him. Lex had selected an entire menu of drinks that would aid him in his cultivation, and had exined their uses to Roan. As someone with plenty of experience managing a bar, he knew best when to give Lex what for the greatest effects. Bertram chuckled as he poured himself another ss and said, "Do you think this is the first time he''s done something like this? Or did it seem like this was a novel experience for him? The truth is, it''s definitely not. He''s just using any excuse possible to dy our trip home for he knows how much trouble he''s in." Les smiled weakly and did not continue to ask. It was good to be friendly towards people in positions of power, but it definitely wasn''t a good thing to pry into their lives. Before he could change the subject though, the man in question finally arrived, his appearance befitting someone who just came from a brawl. "I''ve done no such thing, and I''m avoiding no one. In fact, let''s go home directly. I''m not afraid," he dered, his voice still as full of energy asst night. "Lex, this is a fine tavern. I''ll be sure to tell my father about it, and get him to waive your taxes or something. Keep your stock of Dimmelon juice from falling, I''ll definitely be back for some more." Then, like a protagonist from a show, Pvarti marched out of the tavern, making a grand exit. Bertram rolled his eyes as he paid for the bottle of Sunset Wine and took it with him. Silence once again returned to the tavern, and Lex was about to return to his cultivation, but his neighbor Dino made a sudden appearance, followed by a few girls. "Lex I remember you saying you were looking to hire for your tavern, so I brought you some applicants." Behind him, three identical looking girls stepped in, looking around curiously. They were triplets, so Lex had a feeling he would have to hire all of them or none of them. Chapter 331 Princess Syndrome The three girls standing in front of Lex seemed to be in their early 20s, and a quick scan showed Lex that they were all still in the early phases of Qi training. This wasn''t abnormal, since with the average life expectancy in this realm, people were a lot more used to taking their time with things. Theycked a certain sense of urgency that was hidden deep within the psyche of Earthlings. Yet, considering the resource avable in this realm, the uniformity of their cultivation realm, and the realm itself told Lex that they had not focused much on cultivating. This meant that they were eitherzy, orcked the time to cultivate. The faded colors on their clothes indicated that it was probably their financial situation that took up most of their time in the form of various jobs. "Introduce yourselves," Lex said simply, after a brief moment of introspection. "My name is Naki, and I''m the oldest sister," said the one wearing green. "My name is Nami, and I''m the middle sister," said the one wearing yellow. "My name is Nani, and I''m the youngest sister," said the one wearing orange. "We have jobs already, but we all work separately. If we could all work in the same ce, it would be a lot easier on us," said Naki. "Yes, yes, it would be better for us, and better for you. We''re hard workers, and everyone loves us," said Nami. "Naki works as a floor worker in a grocery store, Nami works at aundry service for rich people and I work in a kitchen in a restaurant, helping the chefs" said Nani. The three girls radiated a vibrant and positive energy, and Lex had no issues hiring them, but he would first have to test their capabilities and decide what position they''d be good for. "Your jobs sound good, are you sure you want to change them? The crowd at a tavern can be rough, and the work can be rougher. Of course, you won''t need to worry about your safety, as I will make sure to take care of all my workers, but it still won''t be easy." "Yes, we''re not shy," the three sisters answered at the same time. "We have 9 brothers so we grew up around boys, we know how to take care of ourselves." 9 brothers? Lex prayed for their mothers good health and didn''t let his thoughts dwell on the subject. "There''s a few positions open. First, I need a few cooks and I also need barmaids. Rick handles the cleaning for now so I''m not worried about anything else, but whoever takes up the position will have long hours. Moreover, I need someone for housekeeping as well. Which of those jobs are you interested in? I have to let you know that I''ll have to see how you perform in that position before I hire you." All three sisters wanted to be housekeepers, but Lex didn''t need that many. So they opted for a few different positions, but the premise was that they have the same work hours. Otherwise, there was no point in them changing their jobs. Lex told them he''d make a decision after he saw them work, and instructed Rick to show them around and tell them where they''d be working. Dino, who had been standing silently on the side till now, finally stepped up and said, "I heard your tavern was visited by the Noel brothersst night. If you managed to make a good impression then I''d say you''re in luck, and your tavern will soon be visited by all the rich folk in town." "They were brothers?" Lex asked as hepared their two extremely different personalities. "I take it that they''re famous around here." While they spoke Lex invited Dino to sit, and poured him a reinvigorating juice. It was way too early in the day for anything else. "Of course they are," Dino said with augh. "They''re the sons of lord Noel, the ruler of thesends. Babylon is just one of the hundreds of small towns under their family''s rule, so it''s very rare for any of them to visit. Every dozen or so years, someone from the lord''s family makes an appearance to make sure everything is going okay. "As for the Noel brothers, they''re even more beloved than the lord himself. Though they''re upper ss folk, they both are very friendly. There are even countless stories of them even helping themon folk if they spot someone in trouble. Lord Pvarti even saved my grandfather''s farm once," Dino told with pride in his voice. His story, though, made Lex realize that Pvarti was probably a few hundred years old himself, despite him acting like a teenager in search of excitement. The fact that baffled Lex, though, was that the lord of thesends was actually a human. Not that he was looking down on the human race or anything, but when hepared the wealth that the map showed in this area, he was expecting it to be ruled by the Crystal race. That wasn''t to say that this was the richest plot ofnd in the realm, but it was definitely up there on the list, so he expected a more powerful race to control it. If not the Crystal race, then even the Trelops would make more sense. The unusual way in which they integrated with nature, making entire forests and otherndscapes their bodies made them ridiculously powerful. Lex even expected that, if Trelops existed back in the Origin realm, if they became strong enough they could probably even treat entires as their bodies.N?v(el)B\\jnn He made a note to learn more about this neutral territory, without arousing suspicion of course. "There''s a rumor," Dino continued his story, not noticing Lex lost in his thoughts, "that lord Pvarti actually broke off an engagement that his father arranged for him. They say the lord is furious, and is nning on seriously punishing the young lord." "That makes sense. Bertram said that he was dying going home," Lex informed Dino, adding to the juicy piece of gossip. Nothing helped integrate people intomunities more than sharing gossip. "Hahahaha indeed! Oh my wife will be so sad we missed them when she hears about this," Dino said, barely containing hisughter. "I should get back to my bakery or else we''ll just spend the day chatting like this. Good luck with the sisters, though you don''t have to be lenient on my ount. They''re good girls so I expect they''ll work hard, but if you don''t think so, then don''t hesitate to tell them no." "Thanks, I''ll let you know how things go," Lex said. How well they performed really depended on if he got any guests. An empty tavern would make it very hard for him to judge how well they worked. "Oh and uh," Dino suddenly said, his bright disposition suddenly changing to one full of hesitation and concern. "I meant what I said. If the Noel brotherspliment your tavern, expect a lot of rich folk to drop by. But well, just¡­ just be careful if their sisteres as well. Just as much as the brothers are beloved, the sister¡­ uhh, well she¡­ just take care if shees." With that, before Lex could ask any questions, Dino rushed off, afraid Lex would ask him what he meant. Lex raised an eyebrow in curiosity. If there really was some trouble heading his way, it would be best to get some information on it. He used the spatial formation to walk through the kitchen door and enter the backyard instead, and headed towards the Rumor room. Since whatever information Dino was sharing was likely rumors and gossip anyway, he believed this room would be just as reliable. The room was akin to a small study station, with an oakwood desk ced against the wall, with a book ced on the desk. Lex took a seat and opened the book that seemed to have endless pages. This book would list all the currently ongoing rumors in the tavern''s vicinity. He didn''t know howrge the range was, but he assumed it would at most cover Babylon. He could read the rumors randomly, or he could specifically pick a certain topic. Directing choosing ''Noel family - sister'' mentally, Lex began to read from the mostmonly circted rumor, and slowly his expression started to worsen. The fact that all the rumors seemed so typical and predictable made Lex certain that they were likely true. In summary, Pam Noel, older sister to Pvarti and Bertram Noel, was an extremely spoiled girl. All signs indicated she suffered from princess syndrome, and was extremely dominating in her ways. To make it worse, her cultivation was not weak either, at the Nascent realm, but worst of all was that she was greatly indulged by not only her father, but by her brothers as well. Lex prayed in his heart that she wouldn''t visit the tavern, he was in no mood to babysit. Just as Lex was reading through these rumors, at the other side of Babylon, another person had entered the Noel brothers carriage. Pvarti was sharing various stories of his adventures with this person, and when his tale finally reached a certain tavern, even Bertram couldn''t help but mention that it had a surprisingly pleasant wine collection. "Oh?" the woman eximed. "Even little Bert likes it. I''ll remember to check it out next time I''m around." Chapter 332 Hes Lying Larry Dershaw was sunbathing near theke in the Midnight Inn, the one near the Recovery room. Nearby, his girlfriend, a Neko, meaning a cat-human, was nappingfortably. From time to time, Larry would softly run his fingers through her hair and lightly scratch her head, causing her to purr in her sleep. His life right now could be said to be perfect, if one ignored the fact that he was still a fugitive on his home, being hunted by some unknown powerful person, while at the same time his family that had been exiled to the moon had mysteriously vanished, with no indication of whether they were alive or not. On the bright side, he was able to absorb many strange new ores while at the Midnight Inn, pushing his cultivation to the Golden Core realm. Furthermore, he had just gotten another new shipment of ''spaceship scrap'' which, after he absorbed, would boost his cultivation once again. Affording such scrap was pretty easy for him once he gained a mastery of his powers, since he was able to use them to start a new business. People would sell him their metal scraps, and the only corresponding price he had to pay was to retrieve a purified form of certain metals within that scrap. For example, someone could sell him a tonne of electrical waste and only ask for the gold retrieved from it. After a recent kidnapping attempt back on Earth that he was only able to escape since the kidnappers weren''t aware of his cultivation, Larry had more or less moved to the Inn. With the business running through the Guild room, not only was he progressing in cultivation, he was making a decent amount of money. Yes, if he could just let go of the fetters he had on Earth, Larry would have a great life. Just as Larry was musing as such, he felt a shadow covering his body and blocking the sunlight. For a few moments he ignored it, but after a few seconds when the shadow did not move, Larry opened an eye to look at what was going on. Two asian men were standing in front of him, staring directly at Larry. "Can I help you?" he asked without really getting up. Although he was running a business, everything was handled through the Guild room, so no one knew his identity. As such, there was really no reason for anyone to be looking for him, especially people he did not know.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "Mr. Dershaw, would it be possible to have a moment of your time? We have a proposition we believe you would be greatly interested in." Larry''s good mood swiftly vanished, and he took in the two men standing in front of him once again. He was trying to recall if he knew them, or had met them ever before, but was drawing a nk. His girlfriend, Irene, sensed the change in Larrys mood and instantly woke up as well. She looked at the two men standing above them with obvious hostility. "What is it regarding?" he asked, standing up. His height had increased recently, and at six feet two inches (1.87 meters) he suddenly found himself looking down at the two men. The change in perspective seemed not to affect them as the one who spoke previously continued, "My associate and I were working for our client, searching for a mysterious Minor realm. On Earth, we finally found a lead, but the person in question who has the relevant information refused to cooperate with us. Through some private investigation, we were able to determine that the person in question had close ties with the Dershaw family. We are hoping that we would be able to work out a deal with you to help us out. Regardless of whether the person knows anything or not, you will bepensated for your time." Larry pursed his lips as he thought about what they had said, and the chances it was real. "Oh, I should mention, the Minon realm we''re searching for is suspected to have an opening on the moon, as well as on Earth." Larry, who had only just begun to question whether these people were telling the truth, was suddenly shook. He had long assumed that after his family was banished to the moon, they were secretly imprisoned or killed, but the presence of a secret Minor realm revealed another possibility. Just as he was about to ask more questions, a random man passing behind Larry mumbled "They''re lying." This time, both Larry and the asian man who was speaking were startled. They turned to look and saw a random teenager passing them by, not even looking at them as if he had said nothing. "What do you mean?" Larry asked the kid, having suddenly regained his vignce. "Huh?" he asked, looking back at them. "What are you talking about?" "You said they''re lying," Larry rified. "Indeed, I would like to know your motives in interfering in our business," the asian man asked, his voice polite yet cold. "I said nothing of the sort. I don''t know you. How could I possibly tell that almost everything that man said is a lie?" the teenager asked, though the question sounded incredibly faked, as if it was a scene yed out by a very bad actor. In the asian man''s eyes, though, it just seemed as if he was being mocked. "Kid, I advise you to mind your own business and not interfere in other people''s matters. A careless remark or prank such as this couldnd you in big trouble." "See, you can tell the truth," the kid replied with great enthusiasm. "I mean, yes, yes, you are right. I won''t interfere in other people''s matters." With that the kid promptly turned around and quickly walked away. An awkward silence was left between Larry and the two men, who were just exchanging looks. "Please consider the matter," the asian man said, as he passed a business card to Larry. "You can conduct your own investigation about this matter if you require, before reaching out. I go by the name Suzuki. I''ll visit the Inn again in a few days, and we can discuss the matter further then." "Sure," was all Larry said, as he took the card. The two men withdrew, leaving Larry and his girlfriend alone. By the time they regained their privacy, Larry had lost the mood to sunbathe. He looked in the direction the teenager had gone off and, after a moment''s hesitation, followed the same path. Elsewhere in the Inn, Ragnar appeared, with three others appearing behind him. They were also generals, and each had amand carrier of their own. In terms of strength and seniority, they were Ragnar''s equal. In terms of experience, they far surpassed him. For the past few weeks, the generals had been discussing how to investigate the presence of a Jom within their gxy. Despite Ragnar informing them about the Midnight Inn, and especially the mysterious Innkeeper, relying on the Inn was not the method they decided to go with. This was because this was an extremely serious matter that required the highest level of discretion and secrecy. Relying on an Innkeeper with a mysterious background was just too dangerous. In the end, however, the Inn still ended up being theirst contingency n. If all else failed, they would have to take certain risks. After all, if a Jom matured, let alone their gxy, all the neighboring gxies, and even the entire Jotun Empire was at risk. But they would not just directly give out the details of the mission, however. They had to know the qualifications of whoever would be helping them, and so, they had toe up with a list of difficult tasks as tests. "Would it be possible to meet the Innkeeper?" Ragnar asked his personal holographic assistant. "Unfortunately, the Innkeeper is not avable at the moment. The assistant Innkeeper, however, is avable if you wish to meet her." "Then please, request the assistant Innkeepers presence. I have a series of tasks I would like to put up in the Guild room, but they have special requirements, and are not fit to be disyed for everyone. The reward for the first task would be in the price range of about 100 trillion MP." Before the hologram could even reply, a projection of Mary appeared in front of Ragnar and the rest. "Please, guests, let us go somewhere more fit to discuss business," she said gently. At the same time, she sent every single kind of notification she could think of to attract Lex''s attention. Their energy problem might just have been solved. "Littledy, if you don''t mind me asking, will the Innkeeper be free any time soon?" asked one of the generals following Ragnar. "Dear guest, I cannot specte on the Innkeepers schedule. After all, he has left the Origin realm to run an errand. He could be back tomorrow, or he could take a while longer," she replied very calmly. Her answer, however, caused the generals to exchange a certain look amongst one another. Only Ragnar wasn''t too surprised. After all, for someone who could recruit a Celestial, this should not be a big issue. It was then that he noticed a familiar type of aura. He looked towards the Midnight mountain and saw a massive dragon wrapped around the peak, sleeping. He froze. Chapter 333 Destiny In the vast universe, an inestimable number of events were taking ce at any given moment. Separated by vast amounts of space, and sometimes even realms, any number of seemingly ordinary andpletely unrted events sometimes brought about strange and seemingly impossible results. A number of people, some oracles, some mystics, some sorcerers, some cultivators, some who could pry the secrets of the foundations of the universe, and some who just happened to have unusual dreams, asionally could see glimpses of the results before they happened, without understanding the process or cause. These people often imed these visions as prophecies, or, often, an undeniable destiny. The truth of destiny was a secret hidden within the machinations of the universe, if there even was a truth to be found. The only thing that could be determined, however, is that in the entire universe, there were very few ces cut off from the influence of destiny. This did not mean that the existence of these ces would change the destiny of the universe, for even if key people were hiding in these ces, the destiny of the universe would remain unchanged. To the universe, there were no real ''key'' people to influence events. If one person or being was unavable, another could take its ce to perform a separate action to bring about the same result. A very simple example of this was a hungry man at home. If he went into the kitchen but found he had no groceries, instead of cooking himself, he could order food to be delivered to his home. Whether he cooked the food himself or someone else brought it to him, the end result of the man eating food remained unchanged. But there was an important question that needed to be pondered. In these few ces that were cut off from the destiny of the universe, would a new and unrted destiny arise? If so, it needed to be wondered if destiny was something that was influenced by a person or entity, or was it just a natural state of the universe? Perhaps destiny did not even exist in the first ce, and was simply an abstract concept created by the minds of sentient beings to exin a series of unusual events or unusual results. This was a debate discussed by many philosophers, existentialists, scientists, cultivators, beings of unimaginable power, and simple mortals under the influence of hallucinogens. The origin of the debate, throughout time, often stemmed from a single thought. A single coincidence could be attributed to entropy, for in the endless chaos of events taking ce, two events happening at the same time and influencing each other to bring about unexpected results could still be eptable. An example of this was the fact that despite being at the Midnight Inn for a long time, Noman Butt, the man with the unusual power to determine truth, happened to recover from his wounded state just in time to encounter a plot targeting Larry Dershaw. The timing was phenomenal, but it could be attributed to coincidence. But then, if a series of unrted coincidences, brought about in unpredictable ways, happened at the same time, subtly influencing one another, most minds would be able to ept that there was no underlying entity secretly influencing things. Back in the Crystal realm, Lex had entered the meditation room and had muted all system notifications so that he could focus on his study of arrays. He had made excellent progresstely, and now with thebined effect of his thinking cap and the meditation room, Lex felt he could finally solve his long-standing problem of not being able to use arrays quickly in battle. As a result of this, he happened to miss Mary''s attempt to attract his attention so that he could give his input on the deal Ragnar was requesting, leveraging a series of tasks with the minimum payment being 100 trillion MP. The timing of Lex''s retreat waspletely unrted to anything happening at the Inn, for there was nothing foreseeable that required his attention at the Inn. Moreover, it was still early in the day at the Crystal realm, so he had plenty of time to focus on his research before he expected any guests. At the same time, Cwenhild, his supposed half-sister, who just obtained the qualifications to enter the core of the academy, disappeared. The five people she sponsored entered the core academy, discovering that no one knew where she was. Near the border of the Hum nation, the crown prince stood in the center of a battlefield that had turned silent. Around himy the corpses of Kraven, but he treated them like nothing. He was sober for the first time in years, and the look in his eyes was extremelyplex. In his hand, he was holding a stic fork. It was from a cutlery set Amelia had gifted Lex, after she ate at his apartment once and realized he had no utensils at home. Back in Babylon, rumors of Pvarti spending the night in the small town spread like wildfire. It caused all the townspeople to scurry and make preparations, for any rumor caused by the lord''s family usually caused an influx of lesser nobles and various other wealthy people searching for some way to gain their favor.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The surge in work, the recent death of the captain and a number of prior debts and agreements with private investors caused the ship on which Big Ben worked to be seized. All those who happened to be on the ship at the time were hired or given other jobs, while the rest were left to sort out their own matters. At the same time, the serial killer inhabiting Babylon struck again. But this time, having learnt from his previous mistake, he killed in a ce with no witnesses. He killed his victim in his own home. Moreover, due to his research, he knew the victim lived alone, so it would be a long time before anyone actually discovered the murder. This was not a bad idea. Killing people in their own homes provided him with a new kind of satisfaction. It just so happened that this victim was neighbors with the triplets who were applying for new jobs at the tavern. The triplets had arge family, so they were protected from being targeted by the killer based on the premise that he was avoiding any witnesses to his murders - for now. While all this was happening at the Midnight Inn, a number of odd coincidences were taking ce as well. Larry caught up with Noman and tried to investigate his motives. Before the conversation could even begin properly, or rather, before Noman could no doubt wlessly act his way out of the situation without arousing any suspicion whatsoever, someone recognized Larry and called out to him. It was Marlo, followed by his wife Sophia, and their son Rafael. In this way, three people with unusual secrets, Larry, Noman and Rafael, came face to face for the first time. In another corner of the Inn, Ragnar was looking at the Dragon sleeping atop the mountain. Unlike humans, who were born weak and had to grow in strength, dragons from the first moment of their existence were near the epitome of the entire universe. Were it not for their very individualistic nature, Dragons could establish a civilization at the Overlord level, or even beyond, if such a level existed. Most civilizations, human or otherwise, were at the Ground level, stuck on the where they originated. Many had reached the Sky level, meaning they could escape theirs and spread their influence within their star system. Some eventually grew to the Star level, meaning they could spread their influence between star systems. Very few could grow to the Gctic level, such as the Jotun empire, and span several gxies. Above the Gctic level was the Overlord level, such as the mysterious Henali. Ragnar knew next to nothing about what kind of a level the Overlord level really was, or who or even what species the Henali were from. All he knew was that the Jotun empire relied heavily on them for protection, and abided by their rules. In the case that the existence of the Jom was proved, it was Henali that the Jotun empire would rely on to resolve the issue, for only someone at their level were qualified to deal with such an existence. So then the presence of a dragon, a being that could potentially rival Henali, reassured Ragnar that he had made the correct decision bying to the Inn. Of course, he would not approach the dragon himself. These things were still better left to the Innkeeper. He exchanged a look with the other generals before continuing to follow Mary. Elsewhere in the Inn, Remy Lavern, the At-Morpher who caused Lex to get the quest to establish a space for a secret organization, appeared once again. Casually, he walked to the cabin he had rented out for a year and entered. This cabin had been especially redesigned by Lex to meet Remy''s requirements, and was the space in which he was nning on convening his secret organization. A short whileter, a second person arrived at the cabin. Chapter 334 1% The person outside Remy''s cabin waited for a while until yet another person appeared and then politely knocked on the door. Remy opened and weed his guests, but the three exchanged no words. The three descended into the basement and each of them entered one of the rooms with the unusual environments. Remy entered the one with ava pool and began setting up some kind of formation, while hispanions did the same in the freezing room, and the room with dirt. A few hourster, when they concluded their work, the three entered the fourth room that happened to bepletely normal. There they worked together to finish setting up the formation which, when finished, created a small Minor realm around 2000 square feetrge. The three entered the realm that not only already had air and gravity, but waspletely furnished withfortable sofas, tables, various stationary, and warm lighting. Just because they were from a secret organization, it did not mean they had to meet in a dark and dingy environment. "Remy, Remy, Remy, you''ve done it this time. This ce is great. Once we spread enough golden keys across the gxies, the organization will be able to exchange information and hand out tasks much faster. The bishop will definitely reward you." "It''s still notpletely safe," Remy pointed out. "I have no idea if this formation and minor realm will be able to prevent the mysterious Innkeeper from listening in." "Why would the Innkeeper even be interested in what we have to say? Besides, he''s running an Inn, so I''m sure he will respect his guests'' privacy," replied one of the other men. The third person had his lips stitched, so it was unlikely that he would speak. "I''m just saying this is something we need to keep in mind. Now let''s get onto business, I can''t stay at the Inn much longer, I have work. If I disappear for too long, people will be suspicious." "Fine, our most urgent task right now is to get these golden keys in the hands of as many members as possible. This is a task that will likely take years, but we must begin immediately." "Agreed," replied Remy. "While we do that, though, I have to update you on mytest missions from the empire." Remy was actually someone in the employ of the Jotun empire. He was usually tasked with extremely sensitive matters that involved great secrets, such as investigating the Midnight Inn itself when they suspected Lex of being a Dao Lord. Yet at the same time, during his investigation of the Inn, he directly informed Lex of his purpose, and now apparently he was also a part of a secret organization. Despite his cavalier attitude, there was clearly more to him than met the eye. Or he was just really lucky. "There have been a lot of unusual phenomena taking ce on the of Hozath, and the involvement of a Dao Lord is suspected. They want me to¡­" ***** A few hourster, Lex exited the meditation room feeling extremely satisfied with his progress. His n currently was two-pronged. First, it was topletely memorize an array of¡­ arrays, all with different purposes, and practice employing them at a moment''s notice. Second was to better familiarize himself with the process of creating new arrays, so that he could easily improvise a new array in an unusual situation. He had made great progress with both of those, and was feeling quite aplished. It waste afternoon now, so he opened the system to check if he had any guests in the tavern while he was busy, and was taken aback by the numerous notifications. He quickly checked them and learnt about Ragnar''s visit and his requests. His request of putting up his task, but only for qualified people, was actually very simple. All it would require was further upgrading the Guild room, so that tasks could be divided into various levels of difficulty. Finding someone capable of fulfilling those tasks would be the actual hard part. But there was great incentive for Lex to do so, because he received 1% of all transactions through the Guild room. Mathematics was sometimes veryplicated for people when involving massive numbers, especially for people who stood to profit, causing them to recheck their calctions multiple times. In this scenario, no matter how one checked their working, the answer would always be that 1% of 100 trillion MP was 1 trillion MP. That was 1,000,000,000,000 with 12 0''s involved. Lex could notprehend such a massive amount of wealth. Even as a billionaire, he struggled to fully understand how to best use his money. He could blindly throw it at randomly upgrading the Inn, but doing something blindly, and doing something with direction and purpose gave vastly different results. The difference between the vige Lex made, and how the nning division made alterations to make it more cohesive was an excellent example of this. Still, what to do with the money was a worry forter. First, he had to acquire it. Furthermore, Mary iming that this could solve their energy requirements made him realize a simple oversight on his part.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om He was looking for energy manually here, whereas he could just simply put up tasks in the Guild room with MP as a reward. Doing things like this opened up another path for him in his quest as well. Since the same races could exist in different realms, he could search for information on Kraven from the Inn as well. While that would not tell him the origin of Kraven in the Crystal realm, having a deeper understanding of Kraven could guide his search here as well. Before he began upgrading the Guild room and setting up his tasks, Lex checked the rest of his notifications, and was pleasantly surprised to discover that one of his quests that had been pending for a long time finally ended. Quest: Host a secret society. Quest Complete! The Host''s rewarded is being calcted: - Hosted an intergctic secret society - Hosted a secret society rted to multiple empires - Hosted a secret society in the first year Reward Rank: A+ Reward: Chamber of secrets Remarks: No copyrights were infringed upon in the creation of this chamber He had no idea what exactly caused the quest to bepleted, but he wasn''tining. He investigated the details of his reward. Chamber of secrets: Some secrets can weigh heavy on your mind, body and soul. The Chamber of secrets allows users to deposit secrets, effectively erasing them from your memory as well. The secret will be protected, even from the Innkeeper, and can only be withdrawn by the user, or as per the user''s conditions, at the time of depositing the secret. The price of depositing the secret varies and depends on the user''s cultivation. The chamber of secrets was an interesting reward, but Lex did not know how useful it would end up being. He ced the building which looked like a small, round chapel near the Midnight manor. Since the price of each secret would vary, Lex did not set any price variables and let this building function without any profit for him. He wasn''t worried, as he didn''t know how much use this building would get in the first ce. Next he diverted his attention to the Guild room. Using his increased authority, he upgraded the Guild room to level 5. This effectively divided all tasks into different levels, and changed theyout of the guild room as well. Anyone could set a request at any level, but the moment anyone set a request at the immortal realm and above, they would need to pay a 50% deposit to ensure guests would not randomly ce requests. To view the request would, however, require relevant authority. There were two ways to get the relevant authority. The first and easiest was to be of the cultivation level or greater than the one required for the task. For example, a Foundation realm guest could not view tasks at the Golden core realm, but the opposite was true. The second way to get the appropriate authority was toplete sufficient requests of a steadily increasing difficulty to prove that, despite a lower cultivation realm, you had sufficient strength and recognition. This meant that when Ragnar came back, he would be able to set a request, and had to pay a deposit. While Lex would not have ess to the MP in the deposit, the thought of it still excited him. With that done, he diverted his attention back to the tavern. Even if more guests did note, he had to interview the triplets, as well as look for more workers. The tavern required more work and supervision on his part than the Inn, but that was okay with Lex for he was the one who nned this. He was also looking forward to meeting some guests and chatting with them. Last nights party was too hectic to do any research, but now he could take his time and get a better understanding of the wealth of this region, and more about the lords of thisnd as well. Having human rulers presented a problem for him. He just ran away from Cornelius, so if the rulers of thesends had any rtions with him, it might cause problems. Chapter 335 The Goatfather That day, the Sol-birds in the sky disappeared on the horizon, giving birth to a rare sunset in thesends, and bringing forth darkness that wouldst for many days. The temperature dropped drastically, so much so that fog started to form with every breath. The tavern wasn''t temperature controlled in the way the Inn was, and the addition of a firece was something Lex hadn''t thought of at the time of his initial renovations. After considering the situation for a moment, Lex purchased a simple formation to resolve the problem. But, instead of deploying it directly, he had Rick set it up manually, for his guests to see. It would take a few hours to set up, and would only cover the main hall, but that was good enough. Yes, this was nothing more than a simple tavern. Even the formation for heating was simple. Unlike the academy, which had Sol-light perpetually all the time, and had well-defined and automated systems for when the light disappeared, the rest of the realm was quite different. The darkness was absolutely lethal in this realm, in more ways than one. In the absence of light, for reasons unknown, spirit energy would begin to mutate, poisoning anyone who tried to absorb it. Even the Crystal race and Kraven were not immune to this kind of poisoning. If the darkness persisted, the mutated spirit energy would begin to clump together, giving birth to strange monstrosities. There was no fixed pattern for the kind of evil entity the darkness could birth, and there was even a widely popr theory that the Kravens themselves were born of the dark, due to the ck slime that covers their entire body. The monsters formed had basic sentience, just enough to fill them with avarice for flesh and blood of any kind. Fortunately, the monsters formed were usually weak, and it would take months of darkness to actually give birth to monsters strong enough to actually threaten entire towns. Still, lone travelers, small parties and unsecured outposts of any kind were vulnerable to such monsters, and actually consisted of the main casualties. These still were just the mostmon form of danger that existed in the dark. The longer an area suffered from darkness, the greater and more unique the danger would form. This was why towns and cities in the Crystal realm operated differently based on whether it was light or dark. The single most important difference was that all travel outside the town area would be strictly restricted. Most people were given either paid holidays or had reduced working hours based on their jobs. There was no danger of mutation or poisoning in the town itself because any kind of light at all would prevent this from happening, so all towns were well lit. The danger, usually, was from the areas surrounding the town. For Lex, the sudden arrival of darkness actually meant an increase in business. From sailors to haulers, from menial workers to rich merchants, from farmers tondlords, all of them had a habit of enjoying themselves the most during the first few days of darkness. Work hours were reduced, and there was little to no danger from the surroundings. Of course, not everyone got their time off immediately, but enough people did that Lex suddenly went from an almost entirely empty tavern, to one where all the seats were nearly filled in less than an hour. The triplets immediately got to work, showing off their skills to Lex. Considering the fact that Lex was still short staffed, he expected them to struggle more in handling the crowd, but their experience of living in a house with 9 other siblings made them particrly skilled in handling a crowd. He immediately decided to hire them. Which brought him a new challenge, which was he wasn''t sure how much he should pay them, for he didn''t know what the normal sry was in Babylon. He''d discuss it with Dinoter. The day passed by quickly, and though Lex''s tavern was full, it was not nearly as boisterous as yesterday. Lex took this time to acquaint himself with some of the locals, while at the same time spreading the word that he was still looking for a good chef. As the night was concluded, Lex nodded at himself for sessfully getting through the day without any idents or problems. Yes, he was running apletely normal tavern with nothing excessive or mysterious going on. Of course, that was only his opinion based on his perspective. Because of the limited time he had spent in the cultivation world, and the unusual experiences he had, he waspletely oblivious to the fact that the Midnight Tavern had already developed a certain reputation, with the tavern owner being the most mysterious. Ignoring the fact that he suddenly moved in and opened up a tavern seemingly overnight, without anyone hearing about it prior to the actual opening, there were still a few things that struck out as odd or impressive. His behavior under the pressure of an immortal need not be mentioned at all, for it was already understood that that single action marked Lex as someone with a powerful and mysterious background. The way he was able to converse with Pvarti, treating him as a normal guest instead of fawning all over him also attracted a lot of attention. The timing of him opening the tavern too was suspicious, just in time to receive the Noel brothers. But these few things were just noticed by the keen eyed. Moreover, Lex knew that not cowering under the pressure exerted by Bertram would attract some attention, but his n was to solely build up some kind of deterrence against the rowdy and aggressive folk. This was something he was nning on taking time with.N?v(el)B\\jnn No, what really caused the Midnight Tavern to develop an inexplicable reputation was that the drinks he served were just too good. Even the cheapest drink he served not only had excellent taste, they had yet to give a single person a hangover, and even left many people feeling healthier the next day. No matter how ordinary Lex behaved, just this simple fact was destined to never let him seem ordinary. Currently, there was no real consensus on what Lex''s background was, as the rumors had only just started to develop. What everyone seemed to agree on, however, was that it was unordinary. The ''everyone'' here, though, only referred to the actual customers he had received so far, which was a miniscule number. Many others had only just heard of the tavern, without a significant impression of it. Just as thest of Lex''s guests were getting ready to leave, three such men, who had only heard of the tavern, without really understanding it, entered. As a respectable tavern, the bar and kitchen were not open all night, and Lex was just about to inform them as such, when he noticed the energy in the room change. His guests, who were getting ready to leave, stopped, their eyes glued to the three men. There was a look of apprehension on their faces, mixed with a trace of pity. The guests'' actions seemed extremely prominent, especially since they were openly looking at the three men, but the men in question seemed not to notice. The two men standing at the back wererge and muscr, while the man in front was short, shorter than Lex even, but his appearance was striking for another reason. He was wearing formal clothing, but his attire seemed mismatched. It was as if his clothes were close to working well together, but the colors were just a fraction away from being cohesive. Moreover, the hat he was wearing looked very odd as well. It was rude to judge or assume, but at a nce, it seemed like the man was trying very hard to replicate the wardrobe of someone from a higher stratum of society, without a proper understanding of what it actually entailed. Still, none of that had anything to do with Lex, and he was not really one to judge others based on superficial things. "The bar''s about to close for the night," Lex said in a regretful tone. "You can still check into a room though, if that''s what you''re looking for." The short man, who was up until now surveying the hall, turned and looked at Lex. He gave a warm, enthusiastic smile, took off his hat and put it on the bar. "Oh, that''s no trouble. I was in the area, and I heard about the crazy party you had herest night. I just wanted to take a look and make some introductions. The name is Elio Ri." "Pleasure to meet you Elio, I''m Lex." "Ai Mr. Lex, you seem very young for someone who owns a tavern, I''m impressed. If you don''t mind, I''d like to bring my father here tomorrow to enjoy your hospitality. If there''s one thing my father enjoys, almost as much as a mean drink, it''s meeting new people and making new friends." "It would be my honor," Lex replied very simply. So far, Elio had done nothing unusual, so lex would not treat him differently from a normal guest. Yet he was all too aware that his other guests were still frozen in their ce, meaning Elio was anything but ordinary. "Very good, Mr. Lex. Very good. I''ll see you in the morning." With that, he picked up his hat and stepped out of the tavern, followed closely by his goons, maintaining a warm smile throughout. His exit, however, finally allowed the remainder of his guests to rx. "That was Mr. Ri''s son, Elio Ri," Naki, the oldest of the triplets, whispered to Lex. "Bakers street is a part of their territory. They take protection money from all the shops." Lex suddenly understood what he had encountered. Instead of being troubled, Lex was actually excited. Yes, yes, as an ordinary tavern, he definitely had to pay protection money to the local gangsters. Maybe they''d have their secret meetings often in his tavern. Maybe the head of the gang, or, dare he say, mafia, was called the Goatfather like a very famous movie from back on Earth. Oh yes, Lex was definitely getting excited. His one mistake, though, was that he forgot to hide his excitement, leading everyone in the tavern to look at him oddly. Chapter 336 The Chronicle Of Faloofa [Bonus ] The Nibiru was an extremely energy rich, causing it to develop a vibrant and diversely popted world. Not only were tens of millions of different species of beasts found in this world, but they also had incredible strength. An unexpected result of this, however, was that it became an extremely chaotic. Battles happened night and day, and only a few overlords who could controlrge regions of space managed to bring some semnce of calm to theirnds - if they chose to do so. But in the endless battlefield that was this, there was a certain mountain range that gave birth to a very unique environment. The mountains themselves contained hundreds of spirit stone mines, buried deep in their cores. But instead of the spirit stones leaking out energy, as these mines sometimes did, they expanded until they ended upbining with one another. With regions of higher and lower concentration of spirit stones, yet an endless connection of underground mines that somehow managed to form a closed loop, the mines somehow formed a natural formation.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om This formation gave birth to andpletely separated from the struggles and strife of the outside world, creating a sanctuary for the beasts living within. Those beasts, living in such an environment for hundreds of thousands of years, evolved without the need for any kind ofbat ability. In such an environment, they flourished, and established entire nations. Among the many such nations was one called the Bunny nation. Popted only by rabbits, some with fur as white as snow, others orange like the light of the setting sun, and others still brown, like a young oak tree, these rabbits were at the forefront of science, technology, art, literature, music and much more. Such a flourishing nation had many influential rabbits, but none more so than the bunny known as herald for the birth of a new ideology, pontiff Faloofa. Thetest generation of rabbits were not satisfied with living in a cage, and as the voice for these new and heretical thoughts, Faloofa took it upon himself to educate the masses of the kind of preparations they needed to bring to even consider such a pilgrimage. His ideas were just as hated amongst the older poption as much as his wisdom, foresight, and thoughtfulness were appreciated by the young. But before the debate between generations could be settled, fate took it upon itself to provide them with an answer. In the Midnight games, the Nibiru won the prize known as Bailey''s Vitalizing Dwarf Star Ferment. The single drop of the ferment caused the to undergo major changes, as it prepared itself for a rise in its star rating. All the inhabitants of the underwent some degree of elevation in their strength and bloodline, and the environment of the underwent some changes as well. The mountain range, already rich in spirit stone mines, underwent an evolution and came to life in the form of Earth giants. The formation protecting thends disappeared, and the many nations underwent an upheaval. Many died, simply due to the giants standing up from where they were born, and entire nations copsed in the earthquakes that followed. The few survivors were then, for the first time in living memory, faced with the ferocity of the beasts outside. What ensued could not be called a war, for ughter and very were more apt descriptions. Pontiff Faloofa, during this upheaval, was separated from the Bunny nation. With no idea of his strength, or cultivation level, since it had never mattered before this, Faloofa faced the endless onught of madness with his ears held up high. With kicks that could shatter not just hide and bone, but the very will of his enemies, the pontiff scoured thends for his fellow bunnies. Over time, the pure white fur became synonymous with terror as he slowly went from surviving, to thriving, to hunting. Lions kneeled at the sight of his fluffy cheeks, wolves ran in terror at the sound of the hopping hurricane, snakes coiled up under his gaze and, eventually, even the earth giant crawled back into the ground and pretended to be mountains at the sound of his name. Yet pontiff Faloofa, the bunny wearing only a ck bandana across its head, like the hero from the movie Roomba, was not satisfied with his achievements. He did not crave strength; he craved a safend for his people. No matter how strong he was, the Bunny nation could not thrive if they relied on him alone. Not to mention, he rarely ever found his fellow countryrabbits. The few he found were filled with fear and covered with scars. He could not leave them alone, for they would never survive. In the beginning, this was fine, for they were few. But when they grew in number, and word spread that the nightmare Faloofa was trying to protect his people alone, all those who feared him banded together to hunt him down. Unable to exert his strength because he was too busy protecting his fellow rabbits, Faloofa feared the worst. But then, like a holy blessing from the heavens themselves, at the moment before demise, a shining, golden door appeared. With no recourse, the pontiff led his fellow rabbits into the light, hoping for salvation. What he found, instead, was the Midnight Inn. Millions of humans, hundreds of thousands of beasts, base animals, all mingled happily and seamlessly without any violence. It was and that smelled sweeter than carrots, felt warmer than the fuzziest fur, and felt safer than the deepest burrow. But how would they stay? The projection that appeared before them like a holy deity told them that this was an Inn, and that they could stay as long as they paid. Faloofa had no concept of money, but he had undertaken the gravest of dangers to protect his cohorts, so he was determined to take this burden upon its tiny shoulders. It was then that, like a holy messiah, a kind and benevolent turtle appeared before them, followed by a whale flying in the air, as well as a lone wolf with fur almost as white as Faloofa''s. Almost. The turtle that had a single horn on its head looked at the refugees from the Bunny nation with kindness in his eyes. "Oh dear, oh dear," the majestic turtle eximed, the rumble in his voice shaking the very ground beneath Faloofa''s feet. "You children seem to have a very special bloodline. Would you like to work in my greenhouse?" When the turtle spoke the words that were sweeter than the best honey, he seemed to be taking on the position of one requesting for help, yet it was the Bunny nation that was saved. The survivors, one and all, epted the turtle''s offer. Yes, the survivors epted, but the nightmare that Faloofa had evolved into did not enter the hallowednds known as ''the greenhouse''. Instead, he made a pact with the turtle. The pontiff would return to Nibiru in search of his lost brethren, save them from the hell thatnd had turned into, and bring them to this heaven. All the bunnies that Faloofa brought would be hired by the turtle as its workers, tending to its garden. The turtle epted the deal and gave Faloofa a golden key to return to this kingdom with golden chariots known as golf carts. Yet, just before Faloofa left, the fire in his heart reignited, an angel in the shape of a human came to him. Faloofa was a rabbit pure of heart, and had eyes only for other rabbits, but even he had to admit that thisdy who introduced herself as Anita was spectacrly beautiful. She asked the pontiff his life story, as well as the history of Bunny nation. She promised that in exchange for his story, she would personally take care of the rabbits he brought to the Inn. Enamored not only by her beauty, but by the heart that offered safety in exchange for a story, Faloofa began his recitation of the history of the bunnies. He told her of the great bunny pope, the first to enlighten the simple minds of the rabbits. He told her of the king, who turned random rabbits in a garden into a nation. He told her of mother Treesap, who brought love and peace to the hearts of the rabbits. He even told her of the rumors of the one true bunny god, his true name forgotten in the annals of history, now known only by his holy title ''Bugs''. He also told her of the nightmare, who had sworn an oath to never remove his bandana until everyst rabbit was saved. When he had told her all there was to tell, he promised her that he would tell her more every time he returned, and she epted. Faloofa looked onest time at his fellow rabbits who would, no doubt, take a long time to recover, before returning to Nibiru. So it was written and thusly recorded in the Midnight library, the first chronicle of intiff Faloofa, the roomba rabbit. Chapter 337 Preparing For A Heist That night, Lex finally decided to get some sleep. He could have meditated or practiced his techniques some more, but going too long without sleep was still detrimental to him, despite being a cultivator. Speaking of sleep, Big Ben was still knocked out as well. His new fiance was very concerned about him, if for nothing else then because he hadn''t eaten in a while, but Roan, the barkeep, assured her that he would be absolutely fine. As he got into his bed in the cozy little room he''d designed for himself in the backyard, he asked Mary for an update. Other than the usual stuff, there were only two things worth mentioning. First was that the Gctic Sovereign turtle had encountered some beasts with a unique bloodline that would aid him in managing the greenhouse, and thus had taken it upon himself to hire them. Viewed only on the surface level, there was nothing wrong with this. In fact, it was even great since the greenhouse was getting big anyway, and it required specialized workers to manage. The issue with the situation was that even Mary could not directly hire people on behalf of Lex, let alone anyone else. The hiring process required the potential employee to undergo a test generated by a tinum key, and only then would they be acknowledged as a proper employee. Even when Anita and Qawain entered the Inn, and directly expressed their desire to work there, Mary needed Lex to generate the tinum keys. Yet on more than one asion, the turtle had shown itself to be an exception to this rule. Not only did it hire itself as Lex''s gardener, it adopted Little Blue as a pet,pet, and now it had hired beasts to tend its garden. The turtle, although having only helped Lex with everything he needed, proved itself to be immune to the rules of the system. Or at least, it was able to interact with the system in a way no one else could. Heck, even Lex could not hire someone officially without using a tinum key. Since Lex was trying to get a deeper understanding of the system, this was something he needed to pay attention to. While he was at it, it would be best if he did some research on the details of the turtle''s species. The second thing was that the date for the Earth Expo wasing up. Miranda, the representative for the council back on Earth, had a huge list of requests for the expo venue and itinerary that Mary required Lex to approve. With everything else done, Lex went to sleep. Tomorrow would be an interesting day. He would have to pay protection money. He wondered how much was an appropriate amount. He would have to talk to Dino about this as well.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om ***** Earth, USA Anakin Indiana e resisted the urge to smile. He had to look like a normal employee, and not attract any unnecessary attention. He had been nning his heist for months, from the first moment he got his hands on a golden key to the Midnight Inn. He was not some idiot who would pull off a heist, only to get caughtter. He had nned this heist in excruciating detail, so much so that he had shaved every hair on his body, put on a wig, and was wearing an artificial skin suit with fake fingerprints. Using modified shoes, he looked taller than he really was, and had especially learnt a spiritual technique to alter his voice. All of these were necessary, for he wasn''t acting as a person he made up. No, he had taken the ce of the real employee who worked at this bank. He didn''t harm the man, he just put him to sleep with a powerful sedative. It was easy to get away with using this identity, for he hadn''t reced the bank manager, but the janitor who cleaned the bank. He did his job regrly, right up until he saw someone heading towards the bank vault. He activated a special talisman he''d bought from the Midnight Inn guild room, and turned invisible. He followed the customer into the bank vault and, instead of robbing the bank, he activated the golden key and entered the Inn. A few hourster, when the bank closed, the heist would begin. ***** The next day, Lex woke up refreshed and full of energy. After washing up and making sure he looked presentable, he quickly exited his tavern. It was still early, so the street was mostly empty, especially since it was still dark, but fortunately Dino''s bakery was open. After getting a suggestion from him about what kind of sry the girls expected, he brought up a question about Elio Ri. This greatly troubled Dino, and it was clear that he was hesitant to say anything on the subject, especially since his rtionship with Lex was still new. In the end, he said enough to let Lex know that should the Ri family feel like he owed them money, they would be very open and clear inmunicating it. Before then, he should not offer to pay them, as that may actually end up offending them. With a better understanding of what to expect, Lex returned to the tavern. The streetlight outside was well lit due to street lights as well as lights embedded directly in the streets. There was no room to allow even shadows to form too deeply. This was starkly different from how things were when either Sol or Frio birds were around. Though the Frio birds brought along with them snowstorms, they gave off an ethereal light that could somehow shine through the snow softly, simr to moonlight. As such, whether it was Sol-light or Frio-light, when they were around, no one needed to be so careful of the dark. An example of this was how you could sleep in a dark room without a night light. Overall, there was not enough darkness to contaminate the spiritual energy. Now, though, with the town surrounded by the unending void, they had to be extra careful. After appreciating the beauty of the well lit town, he returned to his tavern. Whether it was dark or light, it did not matter to Lex. After all, the town''s security was handled by someone else, and since the town had survived this long, they surely knew what they were doing. The day seemed slow, not only for the tavern, but for the whole town, as the number of people walking on the streets had visibly reduced. Around noon, however, things suddenly picked up for the tavern. A small crowd of sailors entered the tavern with a thirst that could only be quenched by the strongest of drinks. After chatting with them a bit, it turned out they were a part of a merchant ship that had to take an emergency break at Babylon after it got dark while they traveled. They would have to stay till some Sol-birds returned. Lex was especially active while chatting with them, for he wanted to understand what kind of trade the merchants in the area conducted. The answers he heard only confused him and betrayed his expectations. Time seemed to fly, for Lex had joined a group of sailors on their table and, while conducting his investigation, listened to the various stories they had to share. As interesting as this new group was, however, Lex eventually had to get up, for the guests he was most anticipating had arrived. Elio Ri walked into the tavern followed by eight other men, all of them sharing the trait of lookingrge and mean, while he himself followed another man. Unlike Elio, who had once again attempted to dress formally, the man in the lead made no such attempt. He had his sleeves rolled up to his elbows and wore loose and casual pants. His hair was long and messy, despite being tied in a pony, and he was growing stubble that told it had been a few days since hest shaved. The man looked older than Elio, but in no way did he look old. This was the one thing about cultivation that Lex could not get used to. A person''s appearance usually had nothing to do with how much they had aged, so it was often difficult to tell someone''s actual age. "Mr. Lex," Elio said, his tone warm and his smile casual. "Meet my father, Mario Ri. I told you we''de." "Yes, of course. It''s a pleasure, Mr. Mario." Mario, after he was done surveying the tavern, looked at Lex up and down. Finally he said, "no need to call me Mr. Mario, just Mario will do. I''m not like these young kids who pay attention to so many things. Back in my day, respect was in one''s eyes, not in one''s words." ''What does that even mean?'' Lex thought, but did not let it show on his expression. "In that case, Mario, have a seat. What kind of a drink would you like? I''m sure you''ll enjoy our selection." Before Mario had a chance to answer, however, the door to the tavern was loudly mmed open, followed by a jeering voice. "Is this the trash heap that''s iming Pvarti spent the night here? How drab. This ce is too dirty even for my servants." Chapter 338 Something Snapped The carriage was absent of all conversation as it rolled into the Loen manor. Only the sound of the creaking of the carriage wheel and the asional growl of the lion pulling the carriage could be heard. From Pvarti to Bertram to their sister Greta, to the carriage driver and, as well as all the guards and workers around the manor, they all maintain silence. As much as he tried to avoid or dy it, eventually they returned home. The pale-looking Pvarti smiled weakly at his siblings, but did not have it in him to crack jokes. It was time to face the music. Regardless of the circumstances, it was true that Pvarti had ended up breaking his engagement and ruining the wedding his father had arranged. His father was well known for not handling bad news well, and the news of his ruined engagement, and all that it entailed, made bad news look like a sprinkle before a thunderstorm. Even the pampered Greta did not have the courage to say anything today. The dark and Sol-bird absent sky seemed fitting for today''s events. Pvarti took a deep breath, pped his brother on the back, and jumped out of the carriage before it even stopped. Whatever was going to happen, it was best he faced it alone. ***** The tavern fell dead silent as everyone turned to look at the woman who yelled. Standing in the doorway was a woman with fair and delicate skin, her purple dress falling elegantly across her supple figure, her arms arched and pressing against her waist. She wore a twisted yet satisfied grin as she surveyed the hall, looking at all the people who were beneath her. The hallcked the disgusting stench of poverty she had been expecting and was surprisingly clean. For a moment, she was almost confused. After all, the lower ss should have the characteristics of the lower ss, and be covered in filth, ripe with a stench of desperation, and begging to be saved by the rich and the beautiful. This ce clearly was not. But then her sight fell upon the sailors. Wearing ruffled clothes and covered dried sweat, they reaffirmed her belief that this ce was truly the lowest rung of society, and all the people here were beneath her. "Do not speak too loudly, Hena," said a man who entered right after her. "You must take care of your singing voice. Should your performanceter be affected due to all these..." he paused for a movement, as if thinking, but then shrugged and continued. "Should your performance be affected due to all these, then even if they sell their souls, they will not be able to make up for the travesty." Lex was momentarily stunned in his ce. He could not believe that there were actually people this snobby and rude, and moreover, he could not believe that they had the gall to act this way in public. Were they not afraid that someone in the tavern would show them the repercussions of such behavior? His first thought was that they must be incredibly powerful, and thus, were arrogant. Yet a simple scan showed that these two were just in thete Foundation realm. His next thought was that they must be from an influential background, possibly even the upper echelon of Babylon or a nearby town or city. A few more people walked in behind the two, almost assuring Lex that his second guess was right. What he needed to consider now, however, was how to react. If the Midnight tavern were just a normal tavern, how would the owner react? He would probably tolerate them, or at most, try to get them to leave. A normal tavern owner would not pick a fight with nobility, or, at least, important people. "Pvarti has such a benevolent heart, spending his time in such a base environment. He never tires of providing the charity of his presence, even in such a slum."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Lex''s lips twitched as he suppressed his irritation. "Excuse me for a moment," he said to Mario as he stepped away, who only silently nodded. While the entire tavern had their attention on the two who were badmouthing everyone there, Mario and Elio had their gazes fixed on Lex. They said nothing, nor did they exchange any looks. They just wore an amused smile as they watched. Mario even ordered a drink from Roan. "It''s not about charity," the woman who had been addressed as Hena said in an instructive voice. "It''s about making use of his noble character for their own nefarious purposes. Pvarti is too gracious to bother with such rumors, so they probably spread them to gain customers. Maybe if the mayor or even a noble ever actually visited this ce, they''d hug their legs and beg for charity like they always do." "I assure you," began Lex as he approached the duo, trying his best to maintain decorum and resolve the situation before things escted. Yet before he could say anything else, the man promptly lifted his cane and pressed it against Lex''s chest. "Keep your distance, vermin," the manmanded. "You may speak to us, but keep your face directed towards the floor. Your gaze is an affront to the civilized. Not to mention, who would bear the consequence if someone ended up smelling your breath. I''m getting sick just thinking about it." It was not Lex''s lips that twitched this time, but a vein running down his forehead. In his life Lex had never been insulted like this. But, showing great tenacity, Lex managed to control himself. ''Just an ordinary tavern,'' Lex repeated in his mind as he struggled to control himself. He had managed to cool himself down, and was about to ''kindly'' request these people to leave the tavern. It was at this time that Nani, the youngest of the triplets, exited the kitchen holding a tray full of food previously ordered by the sailors. Lex did not notice, for he was focused on controlling himself. The man with the cane and the woman Hena too did not notice, for they were focused on belittling Lex. Hena, in fact, had a hint of an excited grin on her face. They were putting these poor people in their ce. Pvarti would secretly be pleased, surely. The group apanying the two, however, did. One of the men, feeling proud and excited, found the young and energetic Nani pleasing to the eye. Without warning or any prior indication, he reached out and yanked the waitress towards himself. Lex heard a sharp yelp and the tter of falling tes and when he looked, he found his new waitress having literally fallen into a man''s arms. Something snapped. Chapter 339 Losing Inhibition Lex William had grown up with three sisters but, oddly enough, never in his life did he ever feel like he needed to protect them. He had traveled the world with his family, so he was quite familiar with the fact that in most countries, brothers were culturally taught to be protective of their sisters. Even in the countries where this was not a thing, simply out of sibling affection, brothers and sisters would look after one another. Yet, despite knowing all this, he never felt weird for not feeling protective of his sisters. There was one very simple reason for this. His elder sister, Belle, was a freaking maniac. Not only was she cold and aggressive, she actively made it a point to be as merciless as she could possibly be. To top it all off, she had not a shred of fear in her body, and could not be intimidated at all. Even when they were kids, Lex clearly remembered that Belle would not shy away from scolding even her parents if she thought they were in the wrong.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om But, at the same time, despite the fact that she portrayed herself as an emotionless robot to the whole world, it was very evident that she cared for her younger siblings. In his entire life, Lex never even had the opportunity of simply facing a bully, let alone actually being bullied, because Belle was always around. His parents were a little quirky, but the moment Belle felt like they were affecting her siblings'' education or normal growth, she would set them in ce. In a way, she was the parent for the whole family. As such, Lex spent his entire life without a strong feeling of responsibility towards protecting the women in his life. That didn''t mean he would leave them to suffer should they ever face danger, but just that the thought never crossed his mind. In the moment that he saw Nani pulled into the arms of a strange man, though, something inside Lex''s mind snapped. He had been handling the stress and pressure of being stranded in a different realm, far away from home, and everyone he knew quite well, but that did not mean he didn''t feel it. Moreover, less than a year ago, he was just an ordinary man, living an ordinary life. He never faced mortal danger, never was hunted by animals, was never burnt alive byva, never had his mind, body and soul assaulted by slimy monsters. Overall, he handled the stress of the change well. But clearly it had been building up somewhere in Lex, and now, suddenly, with a tide of anger, it broke through whatever dam Lex had built up inside of himself, and tore away at all his inhibitions. Lex clenched his fist, not to punch, but to control the formation in the tavern. He had already nned that, should he ever encounter trouble, he''d put the offender in a room made by the space formation, trapping them. In his mind, he had nned on simply creating a small, invisible room to iste them from the rest. Yet when he acted out of anger, he overcame limitations that he had on his understanding of how the formation worked. Who said that the invisible ''room'' he created using the spatial formation to trap people had to be cubes or cuboids in shape? He instantly created several rooms, exactly in the shape of these ''important people'', and trapped them in it. They suddenly found themselves unable to move in the slightest, and felt something squeezing against their bodies, trapping them, yet they couldn''t see what it was. Standing still, and suddenly being forced to be as stationary as a statue, were vastly different, and everyone in the room immediately noticed that something had happened, but they couldn''t understand what. Ignoring everything, Lex walked to Nani and helped her get out of that man''s arms. "You''re alright now," he said in a warm, soothing voice. "Everything is fine. It''s over." He checked her hands to see if she had any bruises and, fortunately, she was not harmed. Fortunate for the people who stood frozen. The girl who had suffered more from the surprise of being pulled than anything else, quickly calmed down. Lex had reacted all too quickly, so much so that she had not even understood someone had grabbed her by the time Lex pulled her away. Her two sisters, who had heard the yell, suddenly came to the hall as well to investigate, but Nani seemed to be fine. "I apologize for not stopping the man sooner," Lex said sincerely. "I was distracted, it won''t happen again." "Oh, it''s nothing," Nani said with augh when she finally got her bearings. "We wouldn''t be in this business if we couldn''t handle a little trouble." Though she said she was fine, she quickly grabbed the fallen tray and retreated to the kitchen. Even a blind man would notice by now that some guests in the hall were... unnaturally still. Though their expressions remained frozen, since they didn''t even have the space to maneuver their faces, their eyes kept darting about in fear and confusion. Lex nodded and turned back to the ''cream of society''. To be honest, he was extremely pissed at them. Not only because they assaulted Nani and insulted him, along with everyone else in the room, but they also destroyed his attempt at seeming like an ordinary tavern. When something snapped in Lex, it wasn''t a blind rage that filled him, though there was definitely an abundance of anger. It was more like his inhibition broke. He kept holding himself back, keeping himself from showing all his cards. It was definitely smart to not reveal all his secrets, for his life was in greater danger while he was not at the Inn. Yet now that he had the tavern, and the system''s functions could help him once again, there was no reason to be so repressed. Lex clenched his fist harder, and the ''room'' that had been trapping all the offenders tightened just a bit more, squeezing their bodies. It was not lethal, or even dangerous, yet, but it definitely wasn''tfortable. Chapter 340 Convenient Coincidence Lex was deciding what to do with these fellows. There was no way he would just let them go. Not only did they need to be punished, but they needed to understand that if they tried to retaliate against Lex or his workers at ater date, there would be far worse consequences. But first¡­ Lex turned to the rest of the guests in the hall, mainly the sailors, and said, "I''m sorry you had to see that. At most you can consider it a little bit of entertainment. For those of you who feel like you want to avoid trouble, now would be the time to leave. If, however, any of you feel like watching some drama, then feel free to stay and enjoy." The sailors cheered and hooted, and none of them moved. Why should they give up free entertainment for no reason? "Now that that''s out of the way, does anyone recognize any of these guys?" The room fell silent. It was to be expected, as these sailors were not locals. Mario and his crew said nothing either. Lex frowned, then walked right up to the man with a cane and freed his face so that he could talk. Immediately he started gasping, taking big breaths as he looked at Lex with horror and panic on his face. "You¡­ you¡­. You can''t¡­. You can''t¡­" the man started stuttering, unable to finish his sentence. Lex on the other hand, did nothing. He stood in front of him, and continued to look at him with an impassive face. The sheer extent of the indifference on Lex''s face scared the man even more for some reason, and he quickly found himself unable to maintain eye contact with Lex. When he looked away from Lex, Lex finally nodded and began to speak. "Who are you, and where are you from?" he asked, making sure to leave his voice as nd as possible. "I¡­ I¡­ You¡­" "Stop," Lex suddenly said, realizing the man wouldn''t be able to speak. "Just stop. Take a breath. Calm down. And answer my question." The man obeyed Lex''s orders, but when he calmed down, and finally was able to talk, he also regained a bit of his wits.N?v(el)B\\jnn "Do you know how much trouble you''re in? Do you know who I am?" he asked, his voice still trembling, though he was trying to seem more confident. "Obviously I don''t know who you are, otherwise I would not ask. And before you try to threaten me with your identity, know that I don''t care in the slightest about it. So, now, answer my questions carefully. Or else, I''ll just throw you lot in the back room and wait till someonees to find you, and then I''ll ask them instead." Lex''s threat seemed to do wonders, and the man quickly began to exin their background, no doubt doing his best to exaggerate as much as he could. In summary, thew was very loose in neutralnds, and as long as one wasn''t too excessive, they could live as they liked. Since this neutral territory was controlled by a human, many powerful and wealthy human families settled in this region, forming a society of elites who more or less treated themselves as kings and queens. So long as they didn''t antagonize the Noel family, they could do pretty much whatever they wished. After he understood everything, Lex freed one of the random followers from his bindings, and instructed him to go find their backers, whoever they were. He was very clear in exining the fact that he had no intentions of letting the rest of the group go until each of the respective families or powers behind them came. Since he had already messed up his ''ordinary tavern'' routine, it was best to go all out. Once the freed man scurried away, Lex turned his attention to Mario. Without saying a word he came and sat opposite to the man, his mood clearly very different from when they started their conversation earlier. "You know, I''ve heard about you. Not a lot, but just enough to get an impression," said Lex, slowly. "Oh? And what is your impression?" Mario asked, curiously. "My impression¡­ is that it''s quite a convenient coincidence that the stupidest lot of self titled nobles came to cause trouble at my tavern the very day you came to visit." Mario raised an eyebrow in question. ***** Anakin I. e finished his drink and stood up reluctantly. The Lady Cosmos show was just too¡­ too amazing, making him want to never leave! Moreover, he heard a rumor that a bikini segment was supposed toe up. Yet as alluring as it was, he had to get to work. He knew that the moment he entered the bank vault, chances were high he''d trigger some kind of rm. He could have bought more stuff to help him remain undetected from the Inn, but if he had the money to afford that stuff in the first ce, he wouldn''t be robbing a bank. He picked up the various bags he''d left in a room he previously rented at the Inn, put on a mask and exited,ing out right in the middle of the vault. Surprisingly, the vault was well lit even at night. It only made it more convenient for him. Not bothering with any kind of stealth, he took out the only weapon he bought from the Inn, a heated knife that could easily cut through the toughest zombie hide. He''d blown all his savings on this, but it was about to pay off. Starting from a random corner, Anakin began to cut open the safety deposit boxes and began filling his backpacks with whatever he found. There were an annoying number of documents, a lot of nudes, someputer hard drives, but mostly it was just cash, jewelry and gold. Anakin did not get greedy, as soon as the rm he set on his wrist watch went off, he packed his bags and returned to the Inn. Maybe he would have had more time, and maybe his little heist hadn''t even been noticed yet. Or maybe it had. None of it mattered. Anakin had set rules for himself, and he would abide by those rules. Besides, he had money to spare now. Just to be safe, he''d be spending a week at the Inn before he tried to return. Chapter 341 Death Approaching Mario felt an interesting cocktail of emotions at being so bluntly used. At first, he felt amused and that this tavern owner was very interesting. He''d been in Babylon for so long that he had pretty much established the list of people who he should not cross, and it had fewer people than one would assume. Then, however, he felt caution and apprehension. Lex had used some strange method to trap all the troublemakers, and Mario had not been able to sense what it was. But then his experienced mind got to work, and he calmed down, and in fact, looked at Lex in an admiring light. The very fact that Lex wasing to question him meant that he wasn''t sure if Mario was involved in the first ce. Otherwise, instead of asking, he would have directly acted. Moreover, if one carefully analyzed the situation, the timing of Mario''s arrival was perfectly in time to watch this little performance and it did seem too coincidental. No matter how the situation would have been resolved, it would have given Mario a deeper understanding of this mysterious young man who appeared out of nowhere. As for the matter of whether Mario really instigated the little situation that developed at the tavern or not, it didn''t matter. What mattered was that Lex thought there was a possibility he did, and was now confronting him about it. What this told Mario was that Lex was a man of means, but he did not let his capability turn him arrogant. It was more beneficial to everyone if he directly confronted Mario and reached a resolution. This could even create room for some kind of cooperation in the future. "It does look suspicious, I''ll admit," Mario said calmly, as if he was in no hurry to exin himself. "But I think, Lex, that you are both overestimating my deviousness, and the reputation of your tavern. I had not heard of this ce until my son told me about it, which was this morning. I am only here for a drink, and maybe something to eat. After all, everyone knows, we have a lot of work to do once it gets dark. This town is full of people who require our... protection." Lex did not respond immediately, and kept looking at Mario. He was trying to decide whether or not to believe this self proimed ''protector''. He scanned Mario for some extra information. Name: Mario Ri Age: 283 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: Nascent mid Species: Human Condition: His body has umted a lot of injuries over the years that have not fully healed. While it is not a solution, a dip in the hot tub will improve his health Remarks: The most valuable item on his body is his wedding ring. Such a devoted husband. And a cheapskate - not a target customer. After reading the remark, Lex took a look at Mario''s ring in passing and, almost instantly, decided on his following line of action. His wedding ring was a simple silver band, with a single, small gem infused right in the middle. It did not, in fact, seem like much if one did not pay attention to it. Yet the small, incredibly clear gem was not a diamond. It was the same crystal from which Lex absorbed so much energy. This was an important clue for Lex on the wealth of this region, for the result of his queries for the past few days told him that there were no valuable resources in the area, and the main lines of trade in the region focused around items and treasures made by the Noel family using some secret family technique. This did not coincide with the information Lex got from the map. That, along with the fact that such a supposedly resource rich area was under human control, told Lex that there must be something going on in the region in secret. When he came to that conclusion, he immediately stopped asking such questions openly, lest he attract any unnecessary attention. Now, finally, on Maio''s ring he''d seen his first indication of the hidden wealth of this region. That meant that, regardless of whether Mario was involved in the current situation or not, Lex nned on letting him go. Moreover, he nned on improving rtions with the man.N?v(el)B\\jnn "You''re right," Lex finally said, rxing his stance. "The tavern probably isn''t as popr yet as I imagine. So let me do something about that." He got up from his seat and walked to the bar and, after having a short chat with Roan, came back with a round crystal ss filled with some kind of drink. "Here, have a ss, on the house," said Lex after putting it on the table. "If you''ll excuse me, I have some other matters to attend to." With that he left, the ss on the table acting as the main attraction at this point. Mario and Elio exchanged a look. They didn''t know what Lex had poured, but a thought entered both their minds. What if it was poisoned? Yet, after only a moment, Mario chuckled, and then chugged the ss. The taste was fruity, and the drink did not have the kick that Mario usually enjoyed. It was not something he would have normally liked, but before he could even make ament, he felt a cooling sensation spread in his body from his stomach. He couldn''t tell what it was doing, but it felt pleasant. He only nodded and signaled his son and his men to sit alongside him. Since they were already here, and had passed the hurdle of Lex''s suspicion, there was no point in missing the uing show. The proceeding wait ended up being much longer than expected, and it was only several hourster that a line of carriages arrived in front of the tavern. Hena and the rest remained frozen this entire time, but Lex had moved them to the middle of the hall to avoid blocking the door. After all, he had a business to run - despite what it seemed, with him constantly giving stuff away for free. Five men dressed in the most ufortably formal suit Lex had ever seen walked into the room, followed closely by a mob of no doubt guards and goons. A quick scan revealed to Lex that the strongest of the group, despite the many followers, were the five men themselves, each in the Nascent realm. When they saw the frozen Hena, as well as the rest, their expression worsened but they said nothing yet. The entire hall had fallen silent at their entrance, and all eyes had fallen on them. There was a distinctck of fear in those gazes, which annoyed the five gentlemen, but that was a matter forter. For now, they all focused on Lex who had been waiting for their arrival. They had their aura on full disy, like wild cats raising their hair to warn their enemies. Yet Lex was not bothered in the least, for inside the tavern controlled by the system, he had the blind confidence of a billionaire. He did not wear his usual amicable smile, and left his face with a neutral expression. Somehow, though, he looked more intimidating than the five men. The silence continued until one of the men, a tall gentleman with arge and curly mustache, could wait no longer. "Do you know the trouble you''re inviting for yourself, young man?" he asked with a stern voice. "Do you think this is a simple matter that will just go away?" "I definitely don''t think this is a simple matter," Lex said, his voice extremely grave. He pointed at the mustached man and enveloped him in the same room that froze Hena. He then raised the finger, while at the same time controlling the room encasing the gentleman, lifting him up into the air. Then, ignoring the additionalyer of shock and silence that had filled the room, he curled the finger towards himself, as if summoning the man. Naturally, he did not forget to control the room, and bring the man directly in front of himself. The man was actually taller than Lex, but he lowered the man until they could look each other in the eyes. "I am a simple tavern owner," Lex tantly lied with an even tone. "We serve food and drink to the hungry and thirsty, and provide lodging to those who need a ce to rest. asionally we provide entertainment and music, and more often than not we let our guests have a good time. A service we do not provide, however, is one where we let vermin harm the staff. Where I''m from, if a manes into another man''s home and assaults someone, it can be taken as a deration of war. So that is why I have summoned you here today, to ask you. Shall I take this as an announcement of war?" Even if the five men wanted to answer, at that moment, they could not, for much like the force strapping Hena, and the force holding the mustached man in front of Lex, there was a force wrapped around their necks, squeezing. In the silence that followed Lex''s question, they could hear death approaching. Chapter 342 Solving Problems The question boomed like thunder in the five men''s ears, especially because they had no idea why they were so helpless. They felt no pressure of a superior spiritual sense, and the usual resonance and disturbance created by formations wascking. How were they supposed to know that the formation provided by the system was vastly superior to anything they had ever encountered, therefore it created no disturbance in the ambient spiritual energy. Half the spectators got goosebumps all over their bodies when they saw the confrontation, and the other half were giving each other dirty looks and continued drinking. Lex wasn''t paying attention to that, though. He was looking the five men in the eyes. He had raised the stakes now, but it was also up to him to lower them. If he really did end up killing these people, it would create more problems for him - problems that he wanted to avoid. "Of course the possibility remains that these kids did note with the intention of starting a war. Maybe they are just spoiled, entitled brats." Lex paused again, and this time, instead of the men, he paid attention to everyone else''s reaction to what he was saying. For this next part, how much everyone believed his words were more important than the men he was threatening. Lex had some experience with wild, crazy rumors, and now it was time for him to create some on purpose. "Maybe they''re so used to not being punished for taking advantage of moners'' that they never even considered it was anything wrong. Or maybe they know that, no matter what they do, they can get away with it. Speaking of which, it kind of reminds me of the serial killer roaming about." Suddenly, even the sailors who wereughing at the noble''s misfortune, froze, and then turned to Lex to listen to what he had to say. The moment they docked in this town they heard about a crazy killer on the loose. This was not the kind of ce they would want to stay, but considering the darkness, they did not have the opportunity to go elsewhere. Mario especially paid attention, for the killer had seriously affected him - in more ways than most people realized. "I heard that no one can catch the killer, and that no one even knows who it is. The killer, who had been killing nonstop everyday, and apparently stopped thest couple of days - maybe to honor the presence of the Noel brothers. The more I think about it, the more it sounds like a bunch of noble kids having fun killing themon folk, and then using their influence to derail before it can point to them." Lex paused again to let his words settle in. This time he was no longer choking the 5 men, simply keeping them from speaking, but the dread they felt was the same. No matter what they did or how influential they became, they absolutely could not cross the Noel family. If word spread that they were using their authority to randomly kill people in thends under the Noel family''s protection, they would not survive! The sailors who at this point were intoxicated, high or exhausted from work or just in dumb, did not think for even a second deeper and epted this new information as truth. Some were suddenly afraid of being silenced and started to leave, while others looked at the nobles with anger. The five gentlemen never considered themon folk as a threat, for they themselves were nascent realm cultivators. While such a realm was far moremon here than on a like Earth, it was still not something casually reached. In this entire town, besides the five of them, who were only living here temporarily due to the darkness, only the mayor and Mario were in the nascent realm. "So which is it? Are you here for war or are you just so used to keeling over whenever you want that you never even considered that I might actually take issue with being yourtest victim?" At this point, he released the five gentlemen from his hold, allowing them the opportunity to respond. The mustached man nearly fell to his knees when the force holding him up disappeared, but he recovered quickly and took a few steps back, to join his cohorts. The men were rubbing their neck, as if loosening their ties, and looked at Lex with newfound caution. This matter needed to be handled delicately. ***** "God damnit" roared Anakin as he fell to his knees, cursing the very skies, and even the Gods if they existed. He returned to the Inn just in time to hear thetest rumor: because of suspicious behavior on the part of the husband of the woman running the Lady Cosmospetition, a certain Brandon Morrison, the bikini portion of thepetition had been canceled. Then he cried, along with many other men, and even women, yet their dream would remain a dream. Even the happiness of his newfound wealth could not console him as he walked listlessly around the Inn. He knew not where he was going, nor where he was. He only knew the name of his enemy: surname Morrison, first name Brandon. It was amidst his mindless wanderings that he ended up in an almost entirely remote area of the Inn, save a group of three boys who sat around a circle table silently, their expressions grave. Suddenly he felt that they too knew his pain, and that if they shared with one another the stories of their idols, maybe the pain would be lessened. "Fret not, those who have dared to love," he said dramatically as he approached the three men. "Though our dreams have been sabotaged this time, there is always hope next year." He looked with gleaming eyes, expecting understanding and recognition amongst his fellow men. Instead, all he received were curious stares and silence, at least until one of them said, "He''s lying. He probably has no hope for next year either." As if his heart had been pierced by an arrow, Anakin copsed onto the ground. Indeed, his heart was cynical, and he did not believe there would be bikinis next time either. Rafael and Larry both looked towards Noman with anger and frustration. Were it not for the rules of the Inn, they would have murdered Noman a hundred times over. This human lie detector didn''t know was pretty much an idiot, but for reasons they could not exin, he was immediately able to tell when someone around him lied. Moreover, every time he heard a lie, he would mumble as much under his breath, as if cultivators didn''t have hearing sharp enough to pick up on it! The truth had yet to be revealed, but Rafeal waspletely unable to build a connection with Larry when they first met because Noman kept revealing his lies. At the same time, Larry felt frustrated because people kept trying to approach him, and Noman apparently knew more than he revealed, but only pointed out when others lied. In fact, even when Larry casually lied, Noman picked it up. Larry and Rafael both had secrets that could not be revealed to the world, and they needed to know how much Noman knew. But he never admitted to anything, yet kept pointing out lies. It was frustrating the hell out of them. It actually came to the point that the two of them, despite not knowing each other much, felt a sense of camaraderie in their hate for Noman. "Alright, alright. I can see you all are having an important meeting and don''t care about Lady Cosmos," said Anakin. "I''ll get out of your way and let you continue. After all, I''m just an ordinary,pletely average person. It''s all the same no matter where I go." Before Anakin could even turn around, however, he heard the same boy mumble, "he''s lying." The wary Larry and Rafael suddenly looked towards Anakin, who was also looking suspiciously at Noman. Why did the situation keep getting worse? "Hey hey, what do you mean, I''m lying? You''re lying! Your mother is lying! I never lie!" "He''s lying again," he mumbled, before speaking out loud, "hey there''s no need to bring my mother into this, although she did indeed lie a lot." Instead of getting annoyed or frustrated, the way the other two did, Anakin stared at Nomaan for a moment before he got a brilliant idea.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "The sky is green," he said. "He''s lying," Noman mumbled. "My name is James Pot." "He''s lying." "I have an excellent business idea." "He''s actually telling the truth. I wonder what it is." Anakin grinned and patted Noman on the back. "My friend, you and I are going to make a lot of money together." Anakin tried to lead Noman away, but Larry and Rafael immediately stopped him. "Not so fast there buddy. He''s not going anywhere until we solve our¡­ situation." The extremely perceptive Anakin immediately guessed the intricacies between what happened with the three of them. With Noman''s disposition, he was bound to create problems if left unmonitored. A part of him wondered how Noman had survived so long outside the Inn. All of that was forter. For now¡­ "Why of course, firste first serve. Let me introduce myself. My name is Anakin Indiana e, and in the field of solving problems, I am a master." Chapter 343 Reparations "I believe there has been a misunderstanding," one of the men said, taking off his top hat. "Perhaps we could discuss this matter privately." Of the five men, this one showed the mostposure and was likely the leader of the group. Lex simply nodded and led them to one of his two private rooms on the ground floor. So long as they were in the tavern, he did not mind wherever they talked. But, at the same time, he could not let them know that his confidence was limited to the tavern. While Lex himself maintained a psychological advantage, in the few short moments it took them to enter the room, the rest of the men also regained theirposure. They were not inexperienced, nor did they share their children''s spoilt and skewed world views. If theycked aplomb, then they simply would not have made it this far in life. The only reason their mindset was disturbed earlier on in the first ce was because they were facing something new and unexpected. Lexpared their mindsets to the original 5 Nascent cultivators who ruled Earth. Other than Brandon, whose mental state could not be gauged using normal means, the rest were severelycking. "I believe we have not yet been introduced," said the leader, his voice calm and dignified. "My name is Reginald Maud, head of the Shipwrights Association, owner of most of the shipyards in the locale and founder of the Naval Research and Engineering facility." The rest also introduced themselves, one by one, as well as their upations. They truly did have the right to be arrogant, for the industries under theirmand were both numerous and expansive. From construction to agriculture to medicine and more, every facet of a normal people''s life in Babylon was directly or indirectly controlled by these men. Moreover, they did not fail to imply that they were not the only nobles in the area, just the nobles close to Babylon when the darkness arrived, causing them to take shelter here. Based on how one viewed it, their statement could be taken as a threat. Lex, however, was of the mind that he could use these 5 nobles to gain ess to the rest. This was important to his ns, for while the Inn was one way of gathering energy, he did not want to give up what he established in the Crystal realm either. He could use them to gain a deeper understanding of the region and develop awork of his own. There were many uses he could think of off the top of his head. "I am Lex, the owner of the Midnight Tavern," he said simply. In this situation, a mysterious background was to his advantage. "It''s a pleasure to meet you, Lex. It is very unfortunate that our meeting was under such troubled circumstances, but I assure you that the intentions behind the ''incident'' were not so nefarious as they appear. It is with great dismay that I must confess that our children are somewhat... unustomed to the ways of the world. But, at the end of the day, they are still just children, so it is not toote to educate them on proper decorum. I''m sure that between us, we can work something out to put this matter behind us, and look forward to a better working rtionship." Lex did not respond immediately, and spent some time evaluating Reginald. The man was definitely formidable. Not everyone who achieved great sess could so quickly adapt to being threatened, and even look for a way to resolve the situation without getting even for the threat. Naturally, there was still the possibility that Reginald was waiting till they saved the kids before plotting some revenge, but Lex didn''t think it was likely. There was nothing to gain, and a lot to risk by further offending Lex. A business minded man like Reginald would not do something that offered him no profit while leveraging his safety and stability. "If it really was just a simple mistake, and you are sincere in your attempt to make amends, then I see a simple solution that will satisfy everyone," said Lex slowly, as if testing them out. "You see, I have only recently opened this tavern, and am sorely understaffed. You, on the other hand, need your children to expand their worldviews, while at the same time disciplining them. This presents an opportunity for both of us. Everyone who was involved cane and work at my tavern for one week. The principal offender, of course, needs to be punished more than the rest, so he can work here for a month. This can both be a humbling experience for them, as well as reparations for their misbehavior. If you find this agreeable, they can start tomorrow." On the surface it seemed like Lex was letting the kids get away with a mild punishment as a favor to the five gentlemen, but in truth, by increasing the amount of contact they had, Lex was hoping to develop a deeper rtionship. At the same time, by letting the kids return once, he showed them that he was not afraid of them reneging on the deal, thus making it seem that Lex''s confidence was inherent, and had nothing to do with the tavern itself. During this time, Lex would also let the kids ''identally'' witness some of the more profound aspects of the tavern for them to report to their parents, further increasing the mystery behind Lex. Reginald did not dy, and immediately epted Lex''s offer. Lex unfroze the kids, allowing their parents to take them back home. This would give them time to recover and give the parents an opportunity to properly interview them about what actually happened. ***** The serial killer licked the blood off his de, relishing in the excitement of histest kill. The darkness made it easier for him to perform his deeds in secret, but it would also speed up the decaying process. Soon people would discover the odd smelling from the houses in this area, so he would have to find a new hunting ground. Maybe he should make use of the dark and attempt a more difficult hunt. He chuckled as he walked out of the house, wondering where to go next. He was already bored of the poverty stricken portions of Babylon. Next, he would see if the rich bled differently from the poor.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om ***** Midnight Inn, The Vige Miranda took in a deep breath as she looked through the curtains at the massive crowd in the auditorium. The turn out was good, but she didn''t know if the results would be satisfactory either. The Earth Expo wouldst a month, and if they could get some solid backing or funding from some interster source, it would greatly speed up Earth''s development. The number of cultivators had grown exponentiallytely, but even with the new Minor realm open, they could not hope to meet the demand for resources. Moreover, the Minor realm would only remain open for another 6 months, after which they would have to be self-sufficient. Colonizing the rest of thes in the sr system would greatly help in this endeavor. For that, though, they need better technology and resources. "Are you nervous?" asked Bernard, who stood behind her. He was one of the leaders of the Council of New Order, and was one of the main instigators behind deposing the previous five heads of the world. "I just hope we have something to offer. The more time I spend at the Inn, the more I realize how insignificant Earth really is." "So insignificant that a single beauty pageant from Earth has severalspletely hooked," he said in an amused voice. Bernard had a unique way of always finding opportunities in even the more dire circumstances. He was the one who kept the council from copsing when the holographic woman Fernanda appeared, and the one who gained permission for this event from Fernando in the first ce. "Do not fret," he said, his voice as calm as ever. "We have ovee many challenges, and will continue to do so. Our destiny cannot be contained by Earth. It is simply theunching pad for our stories. Next, we will find a way to repair your meridians, and then you can start to cultivate once again. With your lifespan expanded, you won''t need to worry about the speed of our progress. We will have all the time in the universe." Hope and excitement flickered in her eyes, but she did not let it show on her face. When Miranda had work to do, she could not let anything else distract her. Currently, she had an Expo to begin, and then only a month to secure everything they needed. Suppressing her excitement, as well as her nervousness, she walked through the curtain and onto the center stage. The opening ceremony for the first ever interster Earth Expo had begun. Chapter 344 Pvarti Party Lex thought his problems would be over once the noblemen and their children left. But a new, unexpected problem cropped up. Big Ben, the newly engaged man who had spent thest few days sleeping, finally woke up. He was healthier and more energetic than he had ever been in his life, but he did not celebrate his newfound health for long. It did not take long for him to find out the crew he previously worked with had been disbanded, and since he was asleep at the time, he was not amongst the few who were immediately taken into employment by his previous captain''s debtors. This was technically not Lex''s problem, but he felt guilty for putting Big Ben in that state. Moreover, he was looking for workers, anyway. So he ended up hiring the big guy as his security. Big Ben seemed quite sociable and knew almost everyone who visited the tavern by name. While this was not a trait that made him intimidating, like Lex had imagined for his bouncer, sometimes this would work out even better. Besides, who said Lex was limited to a single guard? He could hire more if he found someone suitable. The one extremely important rule for his employment was that he couldn''t drink while working. It was not Big Ben''s fault, but in Lex''s mind, he''d developed a reputation for knocking himself out a lot. The rest of the day passed calmly, and due to the darkness, Lex had Big Ben walk the triplets home. They insisted that they didn''t need the escort, but Lex didn''t change his mind. That night, Lex spent another few hours practicing arrays in the meditation room before eventually taking a break to watch some Lady Cosmos. It was the top 30 now and Lex was fairly surprised to find a familiar face amongst them. It was Alissa Harmony, the youtuber who had won the Midnight Games. She was the only remaining contestant from Earth and had the backing of the entire. The remaining contestants weren''t any weaker in terms of support, either. One in particr, Lex noticed, seemed to get a lot of support from the Midnight Inn staff members. Her name was Hailey, and her charm seemed to have infected quite a few. Well, Lex couldn''t exactly say he didn''t understand the appeal of a beautiful woman with wings. As someone who had watched a lot of anime, he knew that she may have even stolen some supporters from Earth. He asked Mary and learnt that the Inns barber, Harry Styles, had developed a rtionship with her. They had left many things unsaid, and had not made anything official, as for now, both of them werepletely focused on thepetition. Regardless, all the staff from the Midnight Inn silently supported the duo. In fact, they had to be extra careful about supporting her silently, because if word spread that the Inn''s staff had a favorite, it might influence others. Lex was at first surprised when he heard the news. Then he sighed. It seemed more and more couples would being to the Inn, while he had more or less firmly cemented his position as forever alone. He briefly recalled hisst girlfriend, who also happened to be his first girlfriend. He was not madly in love with her or anything, nor did he miss her, but watching his staff start dating while the noble Innkeeper himself remained single... Egh. Lex ruffled his hair and quickly shook off such thoughts. After that, Lex totally did not go to the bar and pour himself a drink. It was even more impossible that he directly chugged the bottle and quickly threw himself in bed, leaving the poured ss on the countertop. It was simply false if one were to say that the following night Lex suffered from countless nightmares. In the morning, for reasonspletely unrted to anything that had happened the prior day, Lex had a ridiculous headache. Fortunately, he had the perfect solution. He took a dip in the hot tub and allowed himself to rx while he scanned the Inn. Either consciously or unconsciously, he avoided the Lady Cosmospetition in his scan. Eventually, his curiositynded on his new workers for the greenhouse, the rabbits. He scanned a random one to see what he could learn. Name: Maradona Leopold Agnieszka Age: 0 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: Qi training Species: Nibiruian Rabbits Bloodline: Wild Root Ravager Condition: A newborn rabbit that was born at the Inn. It is a pure creature born without malice, but should malice enter its heart, its bloodline will mutate. Remarks: Prepare yourself for a rabbit infestation. Lex told Mary to inquire about the details of the bloodline and let him know what was special about it. If it had attracted the turtles attention, then it probably was pretty good. Done with that, he went to the main hall. It was still dark out, which meant that besides the sailors who were living at the tavern, no one else hade. Even they had limited what they ordered, and only stuck to ordering meals, for no one knew how long they would have to live in the dark.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Lex didn''t mind though, for the margins on his moremon drinks and food were so ridiculously low that it effectively made no real contribution towards his total MP. It was just enough to break even and pay all his employees. The real source of ie for the tavern would be the more exotic drinks, and when he could asionally let guests into the backyard. Unfortunately, as much as he wanted to let people into the backyard randomly, the services were not cheap and could not be afforded by everyone. It was while Lex was ruminating on the tavern''s finances that the main hall door opened, revealing Lex''stest workers. With Hena in the lead, all the troublemakers from yesterday walked in one by one. The clothes they wore were very simple, with no frills or patterns of any kind, though the fabric was still the best. Still, you could tell how self-conscious they all were with their tiny, uncertain steps and the way they dared to only look down, and refused to examine the room. It was already arge contrast from yesterday. Lex, however, did not take too long to observe them, andpletely treated them like actual new employees. "So tell me, what kind of experience do you have so that I can assign you the appropriate tasks? I take it that none of you know how to cook, am I right? What about scrubbing? Has anyone scrubbed the floor before?" ***** With a weak, almost inaudible sigh, Pvarti stepped out of the Noel manor. There was no carriage for him to take, nor were there any servants following him this time around. His father''s reaction could have been said to be mild this time around, for there was no screaming, yelling, or throwing him to join the armies to fight off the abominations of the dark. At the same time, it could be said to be extremely severe. All he said was that Pvarti was a man now, and obviously had his own thoughts on how he should live his life. As such, he should no longer burden himself with the responsibilities and expectations that came with the Noel name. His family name was stripped from him, and he was made to leave with nothing but the clothes on his back. The only glimmer of hope he was given to return was that if he made some exceptional contributions to the family, he would be allowed to appeal his expulsion. Such a punishment was already severe enough, but out in the dark, he would be exposed to the harshest evils that the Crystal realm had until he found the refuge of another settlement. But one should not assume that the manor was nearby to other towns, based on how quickly they arrived from Babylon. Not only was the carriage special, so was the beast pulling it. To make matters worse, Pvarti didn''t really know the way to any of the nearby towns either. After all, he always traveled by carriage, so why would he need to learn the routes? The pale man chuckled to himself as he started walking. In the manor, his brother, sister and mother watched him walk out of sight. As much as they wanted to protest, they could not. Pvarti truly had been too willful this time around, and it was not just a matter of honor or disgrace anymore. The family his former fiance was from was too formidable. If they didn''t satisfy them by punishing Pvarti sufficiently, then the entire Noel family would be threatened. Pvarti, who somewhat expected a harsh oue, quickly regained his energy for a few minutes. He forced himself to smile and said loudly, "from now on, my name is Pvarti Party." After a few moments, he groaned, and gave up that idea. He had to think of a better name. "I need a drink," he said, as his hand pierced through the head of a creature beginning to take form from mist. Suddenly he recalled the tavern he had recently visited, and decided to go there. There was just one problem. He recalled neither the name of the tavern, or the town it was in. This would take a while. Chapter 345 More Guests There was an awkward silence in the hall, following Lex''s questions. Well, this much was to be expected. He more or less knew that these noble born kids who had been spoiled rotten would have never even perceived that they would ever need to do such things. However, what Lex didn''t know was that he still overestimated them. Let alone have experience in them, this was the first time they had ever heard of such chores? Scrub the floor? Clean windows? Wash... dirty dishes? Were these things that actually had to be done?n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "I have a lot of experience overseeing groceries. I can help with that," said one of them weakly. Only he knew that the extent of his experience was borrowing from his father''s warehouses without showing any discrepancies. Unfortunately for him, that was one of the departments that the system handled for Lex, and since he had more or less given up pretending to be ordinary, he did not need to put up that front. "I... I''ve hosted a few orchestras. I can probably arrange good entertainment," said another. "I can probably source excellent wine." "I can..." "I have..." "I..." Once they started, they went on a roll, but almost all of their experiences were utterly useless to Lex. In the end, Lex decided to give them the absolutely most basic jobs, making it more difficult for them to mess up. "Stop, all of you, just stop," Lex said, hushing their attempts to list their ''skills and experience''. "I''ll give you all simple tasks, but I doubt you''ll be able to master them, so we will treat today as training. Training days won''t count towards your week long punishment, so I suggest you pick up your tasks as soon as possible." All of them, except the one who knew an orchestra, and the original offender who assaulted Nini, were tasked with various cleaning duties, from cleaning rooms, taking out trash, making the bed, clearing the kitchen, washing dishes, and more. The triplets and Rick were tasked with teaching them and overseeing their duty. He had to say, he was actually quite satisfied with how hard the girls worked, and was actually nning on increasing their sry right from the beginning. Currently, they were each being paid 1 silver coin each for a week''s work, and he nned on doubling it. As for the two remaining miscreants, Lex was actually quite interested in arranging a musician to visit the tavern regrly, so he tasked the one who arranged orchestras to find him a musician willing to y at his tavern. Lex would then see how well the musician performed. As for the guy who tried assaulting Nini, Lex had him scrubbing the main hall floor - with nothing but a towel rag. That would be his only duty for the entire week, and Lex had no intentions of letting him take breaks or clean half heartedly. Besides that, today Betty, Big Ben''s wife, would be in charge of the cooking. She applied for the position when Big Ben was hired here, and Lex said that he would decide based on her performance. A few others were also scheduled toe today to interview for various positions. It would be a full day. ***** Although it was not cold, Anakin folded his cashmere scarf - one of the times he stole - inside his velvet coat and buttoned up. He picked the gold embossed smoking pipe from his mouth and blew out some smoke into the wind. With his free hand, he reached into his coat pocket and lifted the jewel encrusted pocket watch and checked the time. Histest business associates werete, and he could not really tell by how much because his pocket watch had no batteries in it, which annoyed him. He slid the watch back in his pocket, put the pipe back in his mouth and continued to smoke. He did not mind his associates beingte, for the Lady Cosmospetition was on break. The contestants needed to replenish their strength and bepletely rejuvenated for thest portion of the event. Therefore, he really had nothing else to do. It was not his intention, but circumstances forced him to rx in decadent luxury. He did not have to wait much longer though, as the three men he was waiting for quickly entered his sight. To be specific, they didn''t really agree to work with him, but he told them where to find him when they could not figure out a solution on their own. Eventually, despite their reluctance, they ended uping here. To be clear, Noman had no issue he wanted to resolve, but no one else dared let him roam free and unsupervised. After all, if he truly knew their secrets, or at least some of them, they would have too much to lose. He was, however, mildly interested in the business opportunity Anakin mentioned, for he wasn''t lying when he said it. "Gentlemen, I see you finally decided to avail my services," Anakin said in an extremely practiced manner. "Before I tell you the solution to your problems, and guide you through them, I have prepared a small contract. I believe we''ll be able to enact it through the Guild room. You can read it at your leisure. It''s just the basics, really. I''ll ept a 1000 MP payment from each of you, up front, and you''ll share any expenses incurred during the resolution process on my behalf." The three men red at him angrily, but Anakin was immune to any such looks. He was a self-made man, so even when he gained a lot of wealth, he kept an eye out for more opportunities. "What assurance do we have that you''ll actually resolve the problem?" asked Rafael. "Moreover, how will you ensure that this one never interferes with my business again?" He asked, pointing towards Noman. "Even if the problem is resolved now, if he keeps going around spouting nonsense around me, it''ll affect my business." "For the resolution, you have no choice but to trust me. As for future encounters, I believe Mr. Butt and I will be business partners in the near future, so you won''t need to worry. I''ll make sure he no longer shares his gift with anyone for free." The rest grumbled but, eventually, gave in and signed the contract. Pleased with the small fortune he just made for himself, Anakin took a moment to dwell in his aplishment, before he became serious. He had the trio follow him until he brought them to a building at the Inn they''d never seen before. "Gentlemen, the building behind me is like none other. It is an exclusive feature of the Midnight Inn and is known as the Chamber of Secrets. Within it, you can deposit any knowledge you have to store, effectively removing it from your brain. Moreover, at the time of the deposit, you can set the required conditions to reim the secrets. "So, to resolve your situation, you can openly ask each other any questions you need to relieve your concerns. Once you''re convinced, everyone in the know can go into the chamber and directly deposit all sensitive information rted to each other, with the condition that it cannot be retrieved unless all three of you agree. Naturally, you can skip the sharing process and directly go and deposit the secrets, but where''s the fun in that?" For a moment, everyone was dumbstruck. Did they just pay 1000MP... to learn about something they could have found out for free? No wonder there was a no refund use in the contract. ***** Lex was in the kitchen trying the soup Betty made, which was really very good, when a sudden ruckus from the main hall attracted his attention. There were multiple voices yelling and a woman screaming desperately above them all. Lex''s heart dropped, and he suddenly thought of the serial killer on the loose. He bolted to the hall, ready for a fight, but the sight that awaited him was not of a murder, but of a family with many small children. The mother, who had a baby strapped to her chest and was holding several bags, kept the main door open using her body while four prepubescent children ran in the hall. A couple of older kids, teenagers seemingly, trudged in as well, over encumbered with bags and boxes, barely able to see where they were going. Outside, there were a series of carriages and more families disembarking. There were numerous kids, the source of most of the yelling, and several mothers as well, trying to reign in the kids. "Excuse me," a man yelled over the noise, finally attracting Lex''s attention. The man looked battle weary, though maybe that was just the result of the many kids. "Do you have any rooms avable? If you do, we''ll take them all. We got lost in the darkness and barely made it to town. Most of the other ces we''ve run across so far are full up, with everyone waiting for the darkness to pass. If you can fit us all in, I''ll pay extra." Before Lex could reply to the man, one of the kids ran headfirst into the bar and started crying, attracting the man''s attention. Then another one puked. Chapter 346 Day Care Lex had seen the hell of battle, but this was a kind of anarchy he had never beheld. If only things had ended with one kid crying and one vomiting, it would not have been so bad. But, as if inspired by the first child, every kid in the vicinity started crying. Some kids who were still outside, and had not yet entered the tavern, also began to cry. But the crying was independent of running, as they continued to do both actions separately. Even the kids who vomited started crying and running, leaving tracks behind him. "George, make them stop," yelled a woman from outside. "I''m trying," responded the man who had been talking to Lex. But between checking up on one kid''s wound and tapping another on the back, trying to calm them down, he was incapable of reaching the one, leaving a trail across the hall. The teenagers ran after that one kid, but he seemed adept at dodging, and navigated the hall like a battlefield, narrowly avoiding capture. But all was not lost, for in the moment right before the mother copsed, like angels sent from the heavens for salvation, the triplets swept in. With a practiced hand, Naki grabbed the evasion expert directly by the ear, though she did not pull, and only used it as a threat to hold him in ce. Nami used a napkin to cover the wounded child''s bleeding nose, and startedplimenting him on his bravery. Nani rubbed her cold hand across a crying child''s neck and massaged him. The cold hand grasped the child''s attention, and the massage soothed it. Showing the prowess of sisters with many siblings, they pacified the hurricane into a gentle wind. "We only have two rooms remaining," Lex informed the weary man. Before even responding to Lex, he looked towards the exit and yelled, "Two families disembark! The rest, keep searching." He waited a moment for confirmation, before he turned towards Lex and began listing his requirements. "We''re going to need mattresses in both rooms, and extra nkets and pillows. Also a hot shower if you have it, and food, for 16 people. Also, if you can send someone for a doctor, some of us have injuries. Also, if you have someone to carry the luggage. Also, we''ll take the food in our rooms. Also, can you send someone for the news? We''ve been in the wilderness for too long." The man paused, as if to question if he had forgotten anything, and then asked, "oh yeah, how much for the rooms?" "1 MP per night," Lex responded, taking the man by surprise. "That''s a little expensive for a tavern, isn''t it? You taking advantage of the fact that it''s dark out? You know, that''s illegal. If I report you, you can get in trouble." "That''s the price, whether it''s light out or dark. Our prices are fixed, they never change." The man was skeptical, but he couldn''t take the risk of losing these rooms, so he simply epted it. Lex had histest workers, the miscreants who were causing trouble at the tavern, to carry all the bags up to thest two remaining rooms, which happened to be on the highest floor. Betty began preparing meals for the new families, and Lex sent out Rick to find a doctor, as well as Rnd to bring thetest news. Lex himself temporarily retired to his own room during this because he had something indescribably important to do. "Mary, we need to start a daycare service," Lex said very gravely. "What?" she asked, confused. She had been preupied with other things, and it took her a moment to absorb what Lex said. "A daycare service? Why?" "Just trust me on this," he said, as he recalled the look in the eyes of the parents he just saw. "This is imperative, and will take priority for now. I want the entire nning team toe together and design a ce for kids. Design it keeping various age ranges in mind, and provide arge range of activities. "In fact, I want you to work with them as well. You''re familiar with my authority and all that I can do now, so take full advantage of it while designing it. Make it so that not only are we taking care of the kids, we''re helping them in some way too. "It''s fine if you have to design different areas for different races, but I want it to be great. We can even use some of those rabbits working at the greenhouse as caretakers, they seem friendly enough. "Give me an update when you''ve made some progress." "Sure," she replied, still confused about how Lex was behaving. Only after she gave an affirmative response did Lex allow himself to rx. Yes, the tavern really was a good idea. It was giving him new perspectives already, and would be good exposure for him on the finer details of hospitality. He thought about returning to the hall, but he trembled, and decided to cultivate instead. Recently, he had discovered a new way to cultivate that would speed up the process. Back when he was in Qi training, he rubbed a special oil all over his body to help with cultivation. For the foundation realm, he came up with a method on his own.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om He went to the bathroom attached to the room he made for himself and approached the bathtub. He summoned a bottle of expensive chilled tea, and began pouring it in the tub. A single bottle was 150 MP, a skyhigh price for the average Foundation realm cultivator. It was, however, worth it because this tea was very rich in spiritual energy which was extremely easy to absorb. As a true path cultivator, Lex''s requirements for energy were much higher, so the benefit from drinking it wasn''t so obvious. So he nned on submerging himself in it, and then cultivating. Theoretically, it should boost his cultivation speed. He had to spend nearly 23,000 MP before he filled the bathtubpletely. Lex quickly stripped before submerging himself, as if the tea warmed up it would lose much of its effects. He closed his eyes and began cultivating. Hopefully this would work, or else he''d have to use even more expensive stuff. ***** The town of Babylon, like many other towns and cities, had a very extensive formation in ce to light it up whenever the darkness fell. Maintaining and protecting this formation was extremely important, as it was linked to the very survival of the town. After all, periods of darkness couldst anywhere from a few days to weeks, months or even, sometimes, years. The formation lit up not only the boundary wall, as well as the lighthouse near the harbor, but every street, building and any other area within the town. It was so extensive, that, functionally speaking, the town was just as well lit during the dark as it was when there was light. Only looking up into the empty sky would remind them that it was still dark, and dangers were all about. Such thorough preparations were absolutely essential, though, for the town''s survival. While it was filled with cultivators, if they had to rely on themselves, the town would be able to survive at most one week before enemies became too powerful. That wasn''t to say the town would bepletely destroyed after that, but a majority of the people who were weak, rtively speaking, would most likely die. This deadline was something that had been tried and tested over thousands of years, so everyone was familiar with it. Now, it had already been a few days since darkness fell, and it was approaching a week. The longer this went on, the more severe and serious the protection and surveince on the formation there would be. But even the strongest protection was only as strong as its weakest part. The serial killer, who was sitting on top of a pile of corpses, was reading a document that described in detail the light formation, and all the important parts of it that needed extra protection. It was only natural that one of his victims should have such a document, for he was the deputy head of the constables in Babylon. He had been relentless in his search for the killer, so the killer decided to pay him a house call. This time, though, he had killed using poison. He had no other choice, as the targets this time were too strong for him to confront head on. The fact that he was able to get his hands on poison strong enough to deal with the deputy spoke of his resourcefulness. But while he filled his kill quota for the day, being unable to cut living flesh or taste the blood of his prey left him unsatisfied. After all, he was crazy, but not stupid. He wouldn''t drink poisoned blood. But his lust for blood had not been quenched, and that put him in an irritable mood. But that was okay, for this document had given him a new idea. He was really enjoying this darkness, and he wanted more of it. Chapter 347 Waves Of Pleasure It was well into the night when Lex finished his cultivation session. His body felt slightly bloated, but that was excusable when one considered that he had basically absorbed a tub worth of tea into his body. Or, more specifically, he had absorbed the energy contained within that tea into his body. The sense of bloating was both good and bad. It was good because it basically meant that Lex'' estimate about using this particr tea was urate, and all he needed to do was slightly reduce the amount of tea he used the next time. It was bad because cultivation was not a mindless process of absorbing energy. Each and every realm served a specific purpose, and cultivating within that realm had to adhere to the logic upon which that purpose was dictated. Qi training, for example, strengthened the body by absorbing Qi, and prepared it to be able to absorb a stream of spiritual energy rather than individual strands of it. The Foundation realm absorbed spiritual energy and, instead of strengthening the body, fused with it. The fusion process of spiritual energy with the cultivator''s body was roughly divided into three different realms, which made the beginning, middle andte stage of the Foundation realm. The first stage was fusing spiritual energy in all the muscles, tissue, blood, fat and other, rtively simpler parts of the body. The middle stage was fusing energy with the bones, and the final was fusing with all the organs. In essence, it was as simple as that. There was no higher or deeper meaning to it at all. At least, that was the case if your only purpose was to simply advance your base cultivation. As Lex had taken some courses teaching the basics of cultivation, he had a deeper understanding of it than what the Regal Embrace informed him of. After all, that was only a cultivation technique, and would not contain the deeper, more sophisticated intricacies of cultivation. A very simple exnation of this was that the process described previously only entailed the changes that took ce in spiritual cultivation, and not in body and soul cultivation, as well as in the true path. Moreover, from the Foundation realm onwards, cultivation began to be influenced by the sentience of the being cultivating. The exnation of cultivation was beginning to get abstract, and would continue to get even moreplex with each sessive realm soprehending exactly what it entailed correctly was very important. Simply stated, the purpose of the Foundation realm was to build a foundation for the cultivator to be able to achieve higher realms of cultivation. By having the body fuse with spirit energy, it used the body itself as a foundation for a higher, more concentrated energy used during higher realms. Simrly, in body cultivation, it strengthened the vitality of the body itself to be able to amodate a body that would be drastically stronger, maybe evenrger, and much moreplex. For the soul, it was even simpler, making it stronger in every sense, lessening its dependance on the body, and allowing the cultivator to tap into more soul energy. The true path achieved all of these in a moreprehensive and unified manner, ensuring that the changes allplemented one another.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om But that left the question of what role sentience yed in all this. In theory and in practice, this was all that was needed for a human to raise his or her cultivation. If that was the case, and the act of cultivation was so simple as to simply follow a set pattern of actions to achieve ascendance, then surely sentience didn''t matter at all. In fact, one could use various technologies or techniques to put an unlimited number of humans into suspended animation, and then have their bodies perform the required actions. That way, it would be like going to sleep, and when you wake up, your cultivation would be much higher, without requiring you to put in any effort. Not only was this something many scientists had theorized, many organizations had put it into practice. Even the Raskals that attacked the Inn had gone through a simr process to some extent. But while on paper, this achieved results, the end product would always be cultivators who would always be the weakest within their own realm. No amount of resources would ever make them apex predators within the same realm. They would only be good for hunting lower level enemies. This was precisely because, from the Foundation realm onwards, it was not just the cultivation technique that determined your strength, but you as a person. While the cultivation technique established the foundation for higher realms, the cultivator himself had to set the foundation for what kind of cultivator he or she wanted to be. What exactly that meant was something Lex had not been taught. All he was told was that it touched upon certain traits of cultivation that were best he did not dwell on for now. He had, however, been guided on how he could develop his foundation as a cultivator. It was fairly simple. It was to select one, or a few fields which interested him and spend considerable time on it until he achieved what he considered decent progress. There was no metric for this other than his own self evaluation. For example, a painter could paint, a writer could write, a marksman could practice his aim, a fighter could refine his technique, and so on. For himself, predictably, Lex had chosen to practice arrays. Anyway, Lex''s thoughts had gone on a tangent. In summary, the reason why feeling bloated was not good was that he could not force his foundation to form. It had to be a natural process, and any excessive pressure could end up having the opposite effects. Lex took a warm shower once he was done, and decided to check up on the Inn and tavern. To his surprise, despite thete hour, there were still a few people sitting in the hall. Specifically, it was all the adults from the 2 families that had moved in today. They were not talking, or eating, or even drinking. They were simply sitting in silence, allowing their weary bodies and minds to slowly recover. It was not just the kids that had caused tem endless exertion, and drove them to the edge of sanity. It was the few days they spent in the darkness. Were it not for the fact that they had roads to follow, they would have never found a way to any town. During that time they could not rest for even a moment, as they had to protect the carriages. Their families as well as the beasts pulling the carriages. Moreover, they were all in the Foundation realm, so they weren''t exceptionally strong either. They were just a group of families who had timed their vacation poorly. Upon observing their exhausted faces, a sense of pity filled Lex''s heart. He decided instantly to wee his first guests into the tavern''s backyard. Silently, and without attracting any attention, a new door appeared in one of the walls of the hall, very close to where the families sat. At first, nothing happened, for no one noticed anything at all. But, after a few minutes, the man who had previously talked to Lex, George, noticed something amiss. He looked beside him and saw a door he hadn''t noticed before. For a moment he was confused, for he didn''t recall there being a door here. But he attributed it to him being too tired or distracted to notice. But then, his wife saw him staring to the side and took a look as well. "Was this always here?" she asked as soon as the thought urred in her head, bringing everyone''s attention to it. "I¡­ don''t remember¡­ but it must have been, right?" replied George. "I wasn''t paying attention. I''m still reeling from that medicine the doctor gave me. My stomach is still burning." "I don''t recall it, but then again, I wasn''t paying attention." The conversation repeated itself a few times before George''s wife stood up, deciding to sate her curiosity. "Don''t," said George. "What if it''s someone''s room?" "I''ll apologize," she replied offhandedly, and opened the door. What she saw caused her to tremble and weaken in the knees. A small, cozy wooden room with a couple of changing sectionals on the side appeared before her eyes. But what really caught her attention was the hot tub right in the center. Steamy mist was floating up the bubbling water, inviting her in to rest her weary bones, while a rxing, soothing scent oozed out the door. The darkness had brought with it cold as well, but just the warm gush of wind that escaped the door seemed to drive the cold right out of he body. Mesmerized, she forgot to inform George. She even forgot to change her clothes. Before she knew what she was doing, she dipped herself in and a long, deep moan escaped her lips. She closed her eyes and rested her head on the edge of the tub. What husband? What kids? Right now, she forgot all of it and simply savored the waves of pleasure, washing through her body. Chapter 348 Sharing Secrets "Honey?" George called out, confused. From his angle, he couldn''t see into the room very well, so all he knew was that she simply entered the room with a look of reverence. He exchanged looks with the other couple, who were just as confused. Synchronously, they got up and walked towards the door, intrigued, and the moment they smelled the scent wafting through, they entered a trance almost. Their tired bodies, aching muscles, exhausted mind all gave in at the same time, and surrendered to the pleasant aroma. When they arrived, they didn''t go through the same surprise as George''s wife, mainly because they were already hooked. They did not notice at all when the door closed on its own behind them, and the entrance from the hall mysteriously vanished. Absentmindedly, they approached the hot tub, and all got in, one by one, all forgetting to remove their clothes. A collective groan could be heard as they all got in, and the hot, healing water began working on their injured bodies. The two families could not be med for their state. They had just exited an incredibly high stress period, so not only were they high strung, but their bodies had undergone exertion they werepletely not used to. The only reason the situation was not worse, and they had suffered no fatalities, was because the foul creatures formed early in the darkness were weak - rtively speaking. Moreover, this was no ordinary hot tub. How could it be, when this was one of the services offered by the system? The hot tub was not a recement for the recovery room or recovery pod, but it would definitely help the body rx and speed up its natural recovery. Moreover, the waters were mixed with healing and soothing concoctions that not only helped the body, but the spirit as well. The waves of pleasure that were washing over them was actually all the knots in their muscles being untied, and their bodies rapidly recovering. While this would not drastically help them recover, for example, it won''t fix broken bones, but it would bring the body into the optimal state to recover on its own. As if that wasn''t enough, small dark waste started washing out of their pores, instantly evaporating under the waters purifying effects. While it could not perform the process thoroughly, the hot tub could purify the toxins they had umted in their bodies throughout their life. Once they were done, not only would their health improve, so would their cultivation. For one hour, the two families sat in the water in silence, letting their bodies be nourished by the magic waters. They reached a point, however, when they all suddenly felt that whatever process had been happening wasplete, and staying in the water any longer would no longer help them. It was a subconscious thought, and they could not source where it had originated from, but they all had it at the same time. One by one, they exited the hot tub and took short, wobbly steps towards the door. Their wet clothes dried in a few steps, the water evaporating magically, as if it could not exist too far from the hot tub. When they exited the room, both the couples somehow exited into their respective rooms. It was magical, but for some reason, at the moment, none of them questioned it. The gentle aroma of the hot tub room seeped into their bed rooms, rxing the numerous kids sleeping on mattresses, and pushing them into a deeper sleep. The parents, once again without changing, climbed into bed - amongst the youngest of their children, and fell asleep instantly. It was a deep and dreamless sleep, letting their mind and body recover. The hot tub room disappeared as magically as it appeared, and there was no indication on whether the families would even remember it or just consider it a strange dream they all shared. *****n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om In front of the chamber of secrets, Anakin, Larry, Rafael and Noman once again gathered. Although Anakin had informed them about the function of the chamber, they were notpletely satisfied. Each of them tested the room by depositing and recollecting small, inconsequential memories and testing each other on it. Once all of them had tried it out, and were satisfied with it, they decided on forming an agreement via the guild room that they would honestly answer each other''s questions, and then deposit each other''s secrets in the chamber, leaving only the memory of the surety that their own secrets or matters were secure. That left the matter for why Anakin was still amongst them. While he had no secret to share, for he truly was just an ordinary person adept at finding and using opportunities, he had convinced Noman that he would benefit greatly by following Anakin from then onwards. How he had done it was unknown to the rest, but Nomanpletely believed Anakin, and involved him in this matter as well. Thus the four of them signed the agreement and arrived at the chamber. Since it was so secure, they decided to exchange their secrets right inside the chamber. First up was Noman. Everyone was staring at him intently, making him slightly ufortable. He was also nervous because he had never shared his secret with anyone before, but at the same time, it also filled him with a strange sense of relief. "I was born with a special power," he said, scratching his cheek. "Whenever I hear or read a lie, I can instantly detect it. That is not to say that I automatically know or understand the truth. It just means that whenever Ie across anything that has the intention tomunicate anything so that it is perceived as anything but the truth, I can detect it. "For example, if a person named Harry says to you that you can call him Adam, he is not lying. You, indeed, can call him Adam. But, if in saying that, his intention is not to say that you can call him that, but to make you believe his name is Adam, I can tell that he is lying. "This ability of mine has no restrictions. It can detect lies in any format, and it does not matter how high or low someone''s cultivation is. I have yet to see anyone who can hide from my ability." His short and simple dictation was followed by utter silence, as everyone absorbed the weight of everything he had just said. His ability was... absolutely broken. Being able to detect lies, regardless of cultivation. In the right hands, or maybe even the wrong hands, this ability could wreak havoc. Of course, the premise was that it had to be someone smart enough to use the ability effectively. Anakin''s eyes were gleaming as various thoughts ran through his mind, though his expression revealed nothing. Larry went next. He had none of the nervousness of Noman, and directly began his tale. "My family was an extremely wealthy family back on Earth, and owned several spirit stone mines. That made me extremely lucky, but I was also extremely unlucky because I was born without the ability to cultivate. Even the tiniest bit of spiritual energy would be poison to me, so regardless of the method or type of cultivation, I could not use it. "But my fate changed one day when, in one of my family''s mines, a unique treasure was born. The birth of the treasure caused a major disturbance in the spiritual energy of the region, and attracted a lot of attention. Many people attacked my family in secret, trying to uncover whatever was found. Many of my family members died to protect it. "But, the treasure ended up beingpletely inane to everyone other than me. As such, I got it, and after an expensive and dangerous surgery, my father had the treasure merge with my spine. "It took a few years, but when my body finally limatized to it, I gained the ability to cultivate. But it was no longer ordinary cultivation. I could cultivate by absorbing new and various kinds of metals into my body. The rarer the metal, the greater it would boost my cultivation. But at the same time, the more I absorbed one kind of metal, the less it boosted my cultivation. "At the same time, my body has developed an incredibly high affinity for metals, to the point where it''s almost impossible to harm me with a metal weapon. A while back, I was being hunted on Earth, and I fell into an ambush. Someone shot me in the head. That should have been the end of my life, but instead of my brain blowing up from the bullet, it simply absorbed the bullet. I was still hurt a little, because I couldn''t absorb the bullet fast enough, but the more metals I absorb, the stronger my body bes. I was able to survive the shot, and quickly killed the ambusher. "But I suspect someone knew, or somehow learned, about this unique treasure, and began targeting my family for it. They ignored me at first, because I was simply a mortal, but eventually they must have realized something was wrong. "I have been looking into this matter for a long time, but I cannot find out who the person hunting me is. At first, I thought it was someone from the Council of New Order, for only they would have the ability to target my family. But the matter seems moreplicated than that." Everyone looked at Larry with interest and curiosity, but it could not garner the level of attention of Noman''s secret. Larry did not regret this, for he was notpeting for who had the deeper secret. Moreover, no one other than him understood how amazing his ability to cultivate using metals really was. Soon, he would enter the Nascent level. Then he would return to Earth and get his revenge, on whoever it was that was hunting them. Then, finally, they all looked at Rafael. It was his turn to share. Chapter 349 The Future Now that Larry knew the truth behind Noman''s random murmurs, he was truly anticipating what Rafael had to say. After all, he was extremely suspicious of anyone who tried to approach him randomly, and there was definitely some ulterior motive behind Rafael trying to befriend him. The man in question, Rafael, kept his cool. He was thinking exactly what and how much to share, as his secret was much wider, and had much more immediate repercussions than either of the other two. "Before I begin, don''t you think you should share a little something as well. If you have no secret to hide, how about a little about your life." Rafael was looking towards the nonchnt Anakin and, after his words registered, the rest looked towards him as well. It did seem a little unfair if he was the only one who shared nothing. Anakin only chuckled in response, but did not dy. "My life is pretty straight forward. I grew up in a town called Springfield. My dad was a plumber and my mom worked at the local post office. We had a pretty good house my dad bought with some of his savings and money he inherited from my grandpa, so we had no debt to speak of - the American dream. I did pretty well on my SATs and even got a schrship for college. Life was swell¡­ and boring. "That''s when things got messed up. The Council of New Order appeared, the world became strange, cultivators appeared, and I found a golden key to the Inn. Well, since then, I''ve never looked back. It''s an interesting life for me, or nothing at all. Oh and uhh, one day randomly in my dream, some random old dude appeared and imed I have a great affinity for the dark side- no eh, I mean, I have great affinity for darkness and gave me a cultivation technique which I''m currently cultivating." "He''s telling the truth," Noman murmured absentmindedly. Anakin''s history was both surprising and unimpressive. Rafael had not heard of him in his previous life, so it was likely he never made any great achievements back then. But things were too different this time around, so it was hard to tell if it would be the same. Not bothering toment on his story, Rafael cleared his throat and began. "My name is Rafael Carter Bravi and many years ago, I was struck by an ident. It destroyed my entire body. But that is only what happened on the surface, the truth of the matter is entirely different." He paused for a moment, as he thought back on the memories of his previous life. He remembered everything so vividly; every emotion, every ache, every hope, every moment of despair, all of it. It was that level of rity that brought some doubt, for none of his other memories were so clear. The truth¡­ was something he would most likely never know, nor that it mattered, but for the first time, he could voice his suspicions. "The truth is, I''ve actually traveled back in time from the future. My original life¡­ my original timeline was vastly different from this one, yet at the same time, it was so simr. Everyone who existed in my original life exists now, and I was able to live and witness the history of Earth for a total of 134 years. "The Earth in my original life was very different, and the war between the Council of New Order and the five Nascent heads was also very different. When all was said and done, Earth was almost destroyed, and humans were brought to a fraction of their current poption." He paused again, this time paying attention to Larry''s disbelieving reaction. He waited for the subtle ''he''s telling the truth'' murmur before he continued. "So far, many of the things that were supposed to happen in my original timeline have already changed. Although I don''t know why they changed, I strongly suspect it has something to do with the appearance of the golden keys for the Midnight Inn on Earth. But, while immediate disasters have been averted, there are more dangers ahead. I''ve already checked by various means that this timeline is mostly identical to my original one, and so I strongly believe that the troubles thaty ahead will stille, especially since they don''t originate from Earth itself. "So, to fight against these dangers and prepare for the worst, it has been my goal to find the strongest people in the future, and band them together so that we can work together to solve the situation. That is why I approached Larry, because he is supposed to be one of the strongest people on Earth in the future." He finally stopped, for the amount he had shared was enough to cover the contract they had signed. But, he knew, or rather, anticipated something, and it happened immediately in the next moment. "He''s telling the truth, but he''s also hiding something. The truth is iplete," said Noman, his voice filled with genuine wonder. Even with his vast experience, this was beyond anything he had ever encountered. Rafael sighed and said, "Well, actually, the thing is, I''ve been having some doubtstely - though whether they are true or not changes nothing, for now. I am not so sure if I actually traveled back in time, or just had a vision of the future. At first, I thought I had traveled back, but there are certain things that make me think that instead of me traveling back in time, I just had visions of the future. As for what those things are, and why I think that, I believe I don''t need to share them as our contract doesn''t cover it. I''ve already revealed the matters that pertained to Larry and why I was searching for him."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Everyone looked towards Noman, who simply nodded to confirm he was telling the truth. They were all reeling from what they heard, but neither of them was more devastated than Anakin. Because of how apocalyptic the future Rafael witnessed was, he had no opportunity to learn any lottery numbers or know the leading stocks! Valuable investment opportunities were lost! The shame! Oh, the shame! What he did not know was that he should have been rejoicing that the future was different from what Rafael knew, for Anakin had been one of the many casualties in the war that had covered the globe. That was why he never had a chance to reveal his stunning skills and capabilities in that future. "There''s no need to share more¡­" Larry said slowly. "At least ording to the old contract. But we can make a new deal. If you can answer some of my questions about the future, I''d be willing to help you out in whatever you need." Rafael took a moment to think, but then shook his head. "There''s no need for another contract. I''ll tell you what you want to know, since you''ll already remove the important bits of my secret from your memory." Actually, Rafael was taking a risk. He was betting that while Larry would forget other things, he would not forget his sense of goodwill developed by him answering honestly, because there was no reason to deposit that. "In the future you saw¡­ did I have a family?" he asked, barely keeping his voice from wavering. Rafael shook his head. "I didn''t know you personally, so I don''t know the details of your life. I did, however, know that you didn''t seem to have any family or friends." He paused, to let him absorb that information, and then continued. "Since three of us are all from Earth, I''ll share a bit more with all of you. After all, it has to do with our futures, and I''m hoping we can work together on this. After all, even if you remove your memories, the sense of belief or trust should still stay, so I''m hoping you''ll help me." Anakin and Larry both nodded, though Larry was visibly upset right now. Anakin, though not taking things too seriously, did, after all, live on Earth, so he wanted to know what was going to happen. "Earth has a huge secret that no one knows, though many suspect. If you''ve heard of the original 5 Nascent cultivators who used to rule Earth, you might be familiar with the fact that one of them went from being a mortal to a Nascent cultivator overnight. Larry himself found an incredible treasure, and I encountered something that allowed me to view the future. Anakin had dreams telling him about cultivation techniques. There are many, many more examples of people bing way too lucky on Earth. You may think that it''s all just coincidence, but if a coincidence repeats too often, it starts to seem suspicious. "And the truth is, it really isn''t a coincidence. Earth¡­ Earth is not as it seems. The is actually a prison for an evil goddess named Bastet, and many others. This is because Earth, and its surrounding region in space, are in what is known as a deadzone in the universe. I don''t know much about these, just that they are severely suffocated of spiritual energy. But I do know that in the year 2025 something happens, and the deadzone changes, and Earth, along with the sr system, bes flooded with spiritual energy much more concentrated than the normal universe. "The flood of spiritual energy causes the goddess to break free of her restraints, and that''s when¡­" There was pin drop silence as everyone listened to Rafael very seriously, even Noman. This was because¡­ he had heard of Bastet before. ***** Origin realm, Hozath The entire world was filled with a deathly silence as every living being, from single-celled organisms to sentient lifeforms, were under the coercion of a ck furred cat. "I have returned, you wretched traitors," her voice echoed over the. "Know this, and live in fear. The moment I break through my shackles, your end shall be nigh." There was nothing more that Bastet wanted than to decimate this entire, but as someone who had touched upon the Dao, she was under heavy restrictions. Even she did not dare unt Henali''s rules, but hopefully soon, that would no longer be a concern. Chapter 350 Blanket Of Darkness Lex was extremely pleased with how satisfied his guests were with the hot tub room. They only woke up around 2 pm the next day, and when they came down to the hall, they were extremely refreshed. And hungry. They were so energetic that they were having no trouble handling their kids, and for once, they sat at a few tables like a civilized family, chatting andughing together. Betty was hard at work in the kitchen, making sure they didn''t run short of food, and his delinquent helpers were also hard at work, doing whatever they could. Strangely enough, though, the triplets had not shown up to work as of yet. Considering their disciplined behavior so far, Lex was a little concerned at their absence and sent Big Ben over to investigate. He had been gone a while now, and should be back any time now. In the meantime, Lex leaned back in his chair and listened to the new musician he had temporarily hired. His performance and poprity would determine if Lex kept him, but so far he and his ordion had delivered a splendid performance. A short whileter, Big Ben returned with the three girls, but the expressions on their faces warned of grave news. Lex quickly got up and checked if the girls were alright before asking what happened. "Their neighbors were killed," said Big Ben gravely. "Almost all of them. It was the serial killer. The bodies were discoveredst night by ident. The constables suspected their family, since they were unharmed amidst all that, and arrested them. But the entire family works, so they all had alibis and had to be let go." The hair on Lex''s back stood up as he imagined discovering all your neighbors had been killed in their own homes. That was genuinely horrific, especially when one considered that it could easily have been them instead of their neighbors who had been murdered. "Where''s your family? Do they have a ce to stay? If not, bring them to the tavern and we''ll figure something out." "They''re at the town shelter, along with Dino and his wife. They lived nearby as well, and they''re too scared to go back." Lex hesitated, but then nodded. He didn''t know what the town shelter was like, but at least it would be more secure since it was being overseen by the town. He told the girls again that they could bring their family to the tavern if needed and offered them a holiday. But the girls refused and said that they were fine and wanted to work. They tried their best to seem normal, but anyone could see the absence of the usual mirth they carried with them. Lex, too, was perturbed by the situation. He had been taking the serial killer lightly, as hepletely expected that he or she would be caught soon. But the situation was bing drastically worse, and the constables seemed incapable of handling the situation. The security here was worse than he expected. He sent someone to find and call Rnd over. He really wanted to see what the news had to say about the discovered murders. Everything was happening contrary tomon sense. He could still ept that this region, which was supposed to be one of the richest in the realm, showed no opulence. He could redit it to the excellent management of the Noel family. But if their management and control over this region was excellent, why were so many murders going unimpeded? This was especially the case when the Noel brothers themselves passed through the town as well. Unless it was the Noel family itself behind the murders for whatever reason. Whatever the case, Lex started to get a bad feeling. He needed to prepare in case things got worse. ***** Babylon Town, 800 meters below the ground The murderer licked the blood off the de, his body trembling as he savored his kills. He was currently in the underground chambers that housed the formation epassing Babylon. Even if someone knew the supposed ''weaknesses'' of the formation, it was not so straightforward to reach it. Weakness was only a rtive term, as no expenses were spared. After all, the lives of all the townspeople depended on this formation. Providing light to the town was only one of the many functions of the formation, amongst a low level spiritual gathering function, a barrier function to lock down the town, and others. With the importance of the formation, it can easily be guessed how difficult it would be to reach it, yet the killer strolled carelessly through the hall. "System, how many points do I need to get something that can override this formation?" asked a surprisingly charming and energetic voice. "No points required. Host has already received a reward for a previous quest that can both upgrade and override the formation." "How lucky," the killer replied, wearing a handsome grin. "How very lucky." His system did notment on his remark, so the only remaining sound was that of steady footsteps walking through the chambers, leaving a trail of bloody footprints behind. ***** "Try this, it''s called hot chocte. It''s perfect for cold weather," said Lex as he slid a mug across the counter to Rnd. The young businessman went nowhere without his entourage, and this time it wasrger thanst, consisting of 15 other kids. It couldn''t be helped, as even though the city was well lit even in the dark, they were, after all, children. They would use 100 excuses to hide it, but they were afraid of the horrors of the dark. Even though they had experienced a period of darkness well over 20 times in their short lives without incident, the promise of monsters hiding in the dark never failed to strike fear. "I can''t. I''m on a budget. Dark times are always bad for business."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Lex shrugged and took a sip from the mug himself. He was tempted to offer it for free, but he had noticed during his daily meditations that he was bing more and morefortable giving out things for free. It was a habit he needed to curb, lest it seep into other areas of his life. "When do you expect to get thetest news?" Lex asked, wiping the whipped cream from his upper lip. "Like I said, business is bad during dark times. They onlypile newscrystals once a week rather than daily, because less happens during dark times. You''ll have to wait for 3 more days." "Well, just make sure to have it delivered to the tavern when it''s ready. Treat me like a fixed client, I''ll even get a few for some of my tenants so bring a few." "No problem. Consider it done. But, I''m not here today to talk about that. I have a business proposal for you. You ever get tired of running errands through the town? Of sending someone out every time you need to grab a delivery, send a message, or find someone? Of wasting valuable time on petty chores? Well, with our errand boy service, with a subscription of only 2 silver coins a week¡­" Lex was listening to Rnd''s pitch with amusement when goosebumps covered his body, and his instincts acted up. But the feeling of danger vanished just as quickly as it came. Lex was momentarily confused, not understanding what his instincts were trying to warn him of when he noticed the hall looked just a bit dimmer. That was strange, none of the lights in the hall had gone out. What could¡­ he looked out the window and looked at Bakers street. It was dark. Some light was still falling onto the street from the windows of the various buildings, but the various street lights that kept the town as bright as Times Square had gone out. Ignoring Rnd who had not noticed and was still delivering a pitch, Lex quickly rushed to the window and took a look outside. All the lights on the street that had been put up by the town had shut down, leaving only those being used by people privately. Even that would notst for long, as the people would eventually run out of spirit stones to power the lights endlessly. Rnd and some of the folks in the hall noticed Lex''s odd behavior and looked outside as well, trying to discover what happened. The first thought everyone had was another murder, so they didn''t immediately notice the darkness as they were looking for bodies. Soon, though, people started to notice the oddity. But by then, Lex was already gone. Swiftly, he climbed the stairs and reached the rooftop terrace to get a good look at the town. Sadly, the situation was just as he expected. A nket of darkness had covered Babylon, with faint lights twinkling in the dark like fireflies in the distance. Lex let out a sigh as his mind started racing. He had a decision to make. Chapter 351 Screams Standing on the rooftop, there were numerous thoughts running through his head. He was thinking of his tenants, of the people of the town, of the Noel family,of the killer, of the darkness and, most importantly, about himself. There was a very subtle feeling in his gut, something much milder than any warning he had ever received from his instincts. He could not exactly identify what it was, and it was so mild in fact, that it was only now that he realized that it had been building up for a while now. He closed his eyes and tried to focus. He could feel the cold wind running across his body, hear it whispering in his ear like a close friend. He could feel weight. It was the weight of his body, but also of responsibility.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om He had with him the ability to shelter the entire town should he wish, but in doing so he would paint a massive target on his back. Maybe, during the darkness no one would target him, or maybe he would be targeted by a few greedy people. He wasn''t concerned about that. His concern was the immortals that might be curious if the mysteries surrounding the tavern seemed just a little too far fetched. With his impressive formation, and the amount of MP he had, he was sure he could survive an immortaling to the tavern. But if more than one came, or they used some means beyond his understanding, he would be vulnerable. It was best not to enter their sights. But that more or less meant condemning the town to care for itself. It was a very difficult decision, but fortunately not one he had to make immediately. He didn''t know what caused the issue with the formation, and maybe it could be fixed. Moreover, there were too many variables in this uncertain time for him to ount for. After some consideration, he decided to face things as they came. For now, he would not do anything too drastic. But one thing was certain, he had no intentions of taking a single step outside the tavern. The feeling in his gut¡­ it was like he had identally wandered into the territory of a predator. The signs were around him. But he did not know if he was the target. Moreover, it was not just danger he sensed. It was something¡­ more. Something beyond his understanding that was attracting him. It went beyond the scope of treasure or something valuable. It felt like¡­ a piece of his soul that he didn''t know he was missing. It was too confusing to actually understand. Instead, he settled for preparing for the worst. Having made up his mind, he quickly returned to the main hall, where guests had gathered at the windows and began to panic. "Ladies and gents," his loud but calm voice nketed the hall, grabbing everyone''s attention. "Before discussing anything else, I would like to assure you that so long as you are within the premises of this tavern, you arepletely safe." He stopped talking for a moment as he continued to descend the stairs, his movements marked with a blindingck of haste or concern. It was as if he was taking a casual stroll in his own home¡­ which, in a way, he was. "I am not sure why the lights went out, but I''m sure that the issue will be fixed shortly. Even if it isn''t, once again, I have to remind you that the tavern is safe and we have enough food reserves to feed everyone for a long, long time. "At this time, it is very important that everyone maintain the utmost calm. Have some food, have a few drinks, rx, listen to some music, go take a nap, whatever you want. But do not create a panic." At this time, the rxed demeanor Lex had been nurturing as a tavern owner disappeared and his characteristics as the Innkeeper shone through. He was calm andmanding, reassuring everyone while at the same time taking control of the situation. So long as they were inside his tavern, during this emergency period, they would have to listen to his orders. While the numerous guests calmed down a bit, and began discussing amongst themselves what they thought might have happened, a few approached him with questions. Based on his performance, many assumed that he might have some information on what happened, but unfortunately, he did not. For now, at least. The Rumor room might provide him with a few ideas of what happened, but that would have to wait. He went up to Rnd, who, despite his young age, seemed to have maintained hisposure. Or, at least that''s what he disyed upfront. Lex could tell at a nce that the kid was just pretending, so his friends would feel reassured. "You guys go sit in the private room fromst time," Lex told him. "I''ll send some food over, and it''s on the house, so don''t worry. I strongly rmend you do not travel anywhere in the dark. From what I understand, it only takes a few minutes for some of the weaker monsters to form during the darkness." Rnd hesitated, but eventually nodded. It was not obvious to the unobservant, but Rnd was actually very proud. He detested taking handouts, and only ever relied on himself for anything he wanted. Even now, he had to struggle to ept Lex''s help, and were it not for his friends behind him, he would have struggled even more. Sending the kids away, he summoned all his employees and temp workers to the kitchen. "I know everyone might be worried about their families and friends out there," Lex said, looking at the triplets. "And I won''t stop anyone who wants to leave, but I don''t rmend leaving the tavern. The mayor is probably working on a solution as we speak, and things might get better soon. But in case they don''t staying here is the best solution." Hena and the rest of the spoilt kids had gonepletely pale and they were panicking too hard to think clearly. They wanted nothing more than to return to the safety of their homes, but at the same time, they were too afraid to traverse the darkness. Lex didn''t particrly care for them. It might sound harsh, but while Lex had a newly emerging sense of protectiveness, it only extended to his employees and guests. He would of course not throw them out to fend for themselves, but they would get no pity or leniency from him. After the triplets, despite their extreme distraught states, decided on staying at the tavern, Lex continued. "We don''t know how long this willst, but I believe in preparing for the worst. Follow me." He led them to a remote corner of the kitchen and moved a table, revealing a hatch in the floor. He decided to use the system and added a couple of secret underground rooms, pretending as if he had them hidden all along. One set of secret rooms, entered through the kitchen, would be for his employees to live at. He created another one with a secret entrance right in the main hall, hidden behind the bar. It was not massive, but it could amodate a few more people incase the situation developed to them requiring refugees. He opened the hatch and climbed downthe dimly lit vertical stairs, revealing a corridor with 5 small rooms. He assigned one to Big Ben and Betty, and the triplets shared another. Roan and Rick, who had previously been living in the backyard, would also take a room each, to keep up appearances. Once everyone got familiar with the rooms, they returned to the ground floor and everyone continued with their jobs. Betty began cooking, because it would be lunch time soon and because eating would temporarily distract people. Lex sent Big Ben to his neighbors bakery to summon Dino and his wife over. Since the street seemed to be empty, of both people and monsters, it took him but a couple of minutes. The baker and his wife epted the offer and quickly came over. As neighbors, they naturally heard about the speciality of the tavern, and were too afraid to remain in their own bakery. Strangely though, none of the other shop owners on the street came over. Lex didn''t bother extending the invite either, for he didn''t want Big Ben going too far. After the first half an hour, which was spent making minor preparations and passing out instructions, Lex ran out of things to do. All there really was to do was wait now. Wait and hope to either see the lights or the town guard patrolling the streets. Unfortunately, the first person Lex saw on his street was not a guard, but a corpse than had been thrown out of a building. The loud sound of a body crashing through a wall attracted everyone''s attention, just in time to watch a long, bony¡­ thing emerge from a house. It looked more like an abstract piece of art than a creature. That did not, however, stop it from emitted a howl that shattered countless windows on Bakers street. The howl was followed by screams. Chapter 352 Lunch Is Served It had been nearly a year since the Midnight Inn first appeared, and regardless of its apparent poprity, on a universal scale, it was not even equivalent to a blip. First of all, a majority of all living beings in existence were simply not destined to ever make use of the Inn because it would take months of savings to umte even 1 MP. Second of all, despite its excellent services, they simply had no need for it. Even if one wanted a vacation, traveling somewhere local made more sense than some remote area in the universe. Among certain crowds, however, its poprity was spreading. This crowd mostly contained Foundation realm and Golden core realm cultivators. The price was steep but eptable, and the services were truly unmatched by anything on theirs. Moreover, the entertainment was excellent. But while this crowd made up the majority of the guests the Inn received, there was another strata of universal beings taking note of the Inn. This consisted of those who kept tabs on rumors of any and all Daolords, and thetest rumor was of an unknown Daolord behind the scenes at the Inn. Credibility was added to this rumor when the devil known as Loretta let it slip that she strongly suspected it was true. For the people who did not know the weight of her words, they meant nothing. For those that did, it changed everything. In the Milky Way Gxy,, on a spaceship traveling at full speed across the stars, a man was hung in the air by chains that pierced into his corbone. His legs had been chopped off clean, and his body was covered in brutal scars, but his hands and his face were not harmed in the slightest. This man was known as Mr. Jeckal, and was the instigator behind the Raskal attack on the Midnight Inn. His life had been just peachy up until recently, when the organization backing him learned of the rumor about the Midnight Inn. Upon hiring independent investigators, unrted to the organization, they learnt that not only was the Inn unharmed by their small skirmish, they had a very mysterious backer. Although this organization could afford to mess with the William family, messing with a Daolord was out of the question. But, considering the fact that there was no retaliation, they assumed that the Daolord could not be bothered with them. They did, however, need to punish Mr. Jeckal so that he would rein in his arrogance and stop offending anymore people unnecessarily. They had humored him this much because of his unique ability, but it wasn''t worth being destroyed over. "That''s enough rest," echoed a voice from the dark. "Let''s continue your punishment." ***** If the rumor about a Daolord had spread so far that even simple organizations could discover it, then therger ones would also soon be in the know. The matter of fact was that as soon as the Jotun royal family gained a certain level of surety in the matter, they spread the news in the relevant circles. It may seem like thoserger organizations hadn''t taken any action, but it was only because they operated on a universal scale. Let alone less than a year, even 10,000 years was a short time frame for them. But, the preliminary process had already begun, and today, they officially began acknowledging the Inns'' existence. With a sh of light, several humanoid beings appeared at the Inn at the same time. If one were to judge them based on the myths and lores from Earth, they looked like a Devil, an Angel, an Elf, a Dwarf, some unknown being of which there were no myths, and a human. They looked at one another silently while contemting something. Finally, the Angel spoke. "6 beings from 6 different gxies, but we arrived at the exact same time. This is unlike any teleportation I am familiar with." "You do not need to be familiar," spoke the Devil in a matter of fact way. "You only need to do your job. Remember, Angel, we are only here as messengers. Do not provoke trouble, for us Devils have been ordered not to provoke the Midnight Inn." "I see a dragon," said the elf, ignoring the existing conversation. "It has the mark of the Condottiere. If the Inn needs to hire security, maybe they do not have strong manpower," said the dwarf. "Stop probing lest you offend someone," said the being from the unknown race. "Toote," replied the Elf. They looked up into the sky and saw a baby whale, swimming through the skies. Walking slowly beneath it was arge turtle with a single horn protruding from its head. At first, the group did not pay much attention because it was weak. Then they recognized its race, and froze! "Crap," said the human, ready to escape. This was much scarier than a dragon. But the turtle paid them no attention at all, and just kept moving. After all, it waspletely normal for new guests to scan the Inn with their spirit sense. He was already used to it. Only after it left did the 6 humanoid beings, all on the verge of bing Immortals, finally breathe. Even if they became actual Immortals, they would not be insane enough to offend a being with the word Sovereign right in the name of its race. ***** The creature''s howl was the signal that ushered in chaos. From stunning silence to the sounds of shattering ss everywhere, followed by bitter screams. The situation should not have been as bad as it was, since these creatures were rtively weak and everyone was a cultivator.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om To be specific, Lex couldn''t see how good or bad the situation was, since most of the fights were happening inside the various buildings. For a moment Lex thought it was because of the sudden fear of the dark but then a thought struck him like thunder. This was the Crystal realm, not Earth. This may have been Lex''s first time encountering darkness like this here, but it should not have been the case for the citizens. They should have been mentally prepared to encounter an ident at any time. Yet nothing he saw indicated that even a single person was attempting to fight back. Something was very wrong, and it wasn''t just the abrupt shut down of the light formation. Something was elevating everyone''s fear and preventing them from thinking clearly. At first when Lex saw everyone feel afraid he thought it was the natural reaction, but now it seemed that it wasn''t. Moreover, they weren''t the only ones affected! Even Lex''s first reaction to the darkness was one of fear. He lost hisposure easily and even began fearing being attacked by immortals. While his thought process was logical, Lex was not someone so easily frightened anymore. He had ovee too many unforeseen obstacles to be afraid of something that ''might'' happen. Lex thought of several ways he could test his theory, but that would have to wait forter. Mentally using the system, he outfitted the rooftop with an extremely strong light and turned it on, pointing it towards the sky. Not only did it brighten up the surrounding area, it stood as a beacon in the dark, signaling everyone toe here. As for the consequences if he attracted too much attention? He would deal with it when the matter arose. Worstes to worst, he could im his dad was an immortal. It wouldn''t be the first time someone in the Crystal realm would believe that anyway. But while he could attract attention with light, that was about all he could do. Even though the monsters formed now were weak and he could face them, something strange was going on and he was not enough of a saint to risk his life for strangers. The weird bony monster that let out the howl looked directly towards Lex after it finished with its first meal. The guests in the hall were immediately frightened, and fell backwards, but Lex remained standing. As if provoked, the monster lurched towards Lex. But, before it could even get close to the window in front of which Lex was standing, it froze. It had entered the boundary of the tavern when it crossed the small garden in front, and was thus within the space formation. Lex put it in a room of the exact shape of its body, and then squeezed. The monster blew up, unable to even touch the tavern building. Lex looked on as if he had seen something unremarkable. In fact, he was no longer paying attention to the street. He was discussing contingency measures with Mary, and using the system scan constantly to monitor the tavern. After all, they would not be polite enough to only attack from the front. He had to keep an eye out on all sides. Upon seeing the monster explode the guests were slightly reassured. Bang! The kitchen door mmed open, startling everyone, but instead of monsters, it revealed the triplets walking out with trays of food. "Lunch is served," said Naki with a smile. Chapter 353 Epistle The six humanoid beings toured the Inn separately, for though they had the same objective and represented the same organization, the differences ingrained in them due to their races kept them from truly working together. The Devil had the easiest time, for he simply walked to the stall the devils had set up at the Inn in their attempts to make deals with various beings from various worlds. The devils were one of the richest races in the Origin realm, and while their uncanny control over demons was a major source of wealth, their never ending enterprising mentality also yed a huge role. The others either explored on their own or took their personal holograms as guides to fully understand everything about the Inn. Most aspects of the Inn were very normal to them, since their experience was extremely vast. Yet a few things still stood out to them here and there. The Mystery trial was one unique building they could not fully understand, though they could not try it themselves, for it was one of the most popr attractions and always had a line. Another was the way the Lady Cosmospetition was being broadcast so randomly throughout the Origin realm. A rather important one was how the Inn was cut off from the rest of the Origin realm. They could notmunicate with anyone outside the Inn while inside it - something they had special equipment for. All in all, the Inn seemed very ordinary on the surface most of the time, but once in a while it would let slip its specialness. After their judgment, they regrouped, and made a joint request to meet with the Innkeeper. As Lex was not avable, they ended up meeting Mary, as had been the case with everyone who wanted to meet the Innkeeper since Lex left. "How may I be of assistance?" Mary asked politely as she observed the 6 guests. Though she could not scan them, a nce was all that was required to determine that they were of unusual origins. Unexpectedly, of the 6 races, it was the human that stepped forward and spoke. "Would it be possible to meet the Innkeeper? We represent a special organization we believe the Innkeeper would be most interested in." "The Innkeeper has left the Inn on some important business. I cannot say when he will be back, as I do not know, but you can deliver your message to me and I can directly transmit it to him." The six were not surprised at being unable to meet the Innkeeper, for how could it be possible to meet a Daolord at a simple request? In fact, it was not even their objective to meet the Innkeeper. Their only job was to initiate contact between their organization and the Innkeeper, and what followed afterwards was none of their concern. "In that case, I would like to officially present to you, for the Innkeeper, an invitation to the Henali assembly." The human withdrew from his robe an epistle with the word ''Henali'' embossed in purple on the envelope. "The esteemed Innkeeper can attend at his discretion, and will officially be weed as a member of the assembly at the time of his attendance. Of course, it goes without saying that the Innkeeper can maintain his anonymity during the entire process and no one will try to pry into his personal matters. At the same time, I bring on behalf of the assembly a small wee gift to the Origin realm for the Innkeeper, as well as a copy of the Henali conventions should he wish to peruse." The elf stepped forward and revealed a small, wooden treasure chest. ***** For the sake of his guests, Lex put a small illusion formation over the windows so that they would be unable to see the monsters outside, or hear their gruesome screams. The truth was Lex expected an influx of refugees after his beacon lit up the dark sky, but not a single person arrived. Hourster, the sounds of fighting and screaming on Bakers street disappeared and only a deluge of monsters remained, all charging towards the tavern building. The ease with which Lex killed them told him that they should barely be equivalent to the Foundation realm in strength, yet somehow none of the residents were able to ovee them. More than the monsters, it was the mystery of what was affecting everyone that scared Lex. But now that he knew that something was artificially enhancing his fear and trying to disparage his mental faculties, he did his best to not let it affect him. His thinking cap helped greatly in this regard. In the town if Lex was able to realize this, so were many others. The town guard, consisting of soldiers who would regrly see battle, had honed instincts and excellent battle awareness, so that even if they were afraid, they could hold their own wherever they were. Naturally the five nobles, Mario Ri and the mayor all were just too strong to fall to enemies of this level, and were able to not only protect themselves but also their nearby subordinates.N?v(el)B\\jnn This way, a few pockets of survivors and resistance were formed within the city formed of either battle hardened soldiers and mercenaries or nascent level cultivators. All of them saw the giant beacon of light, and while they did not know what it meant, started guiding their survivors that way. But they weren''t the only ones who saw the beacon. So did the killer. But instead of being enraged by the clear indicator of survivors, he grinned with glee. As silent and deadly as an assassin, the killer moved through the darkness, one by one picking off any love survivors heading towards the light. This was too much fun! Just too much fun! His sight was not at all hindered by the darkness, for as the wielder of the Murder System, he was uniquely equipped for the task. In contrast to the deathly desperation engulfing the city, the tavern hall was filled with light and soothing ordion music. The kids, those that came with the guests as well as Rnds friends, were all sitting in a private room ying a bunch of board games Lex magically produced. The adults all sat in the hall which crowded the room considerably, but they were just too afraid to go into their rooms and be alone. The triplets were serving a soothing green tea which acted as a mild sedative to calm their minds and keep them from overreacting to anything. Big Ben had to retreat, for all the energy he umted in his body from the various drinks he had at the tavern finally caused him to have a breakthrough. Betty was cooking in the kitchen, along with Dino who was baking pies. Lex had done his best to keep everyone busy so that their minds would remain upied and would spend less time thinking about the disaster uring outside. Rick and Roan were the only ones who didn''t need to be distracted, for they had unwavering faith in the tavern owner. Only Lex himself stood still, facing Bakers street while standing on the rooftop. He was looking out for any signs of survivors, but he only saw monsters. Speaking of which, it was a good thing that he had set an illusion formation, or the guests would never be able to calm down. After all, in the short period since the monsters appeared, Lex had killed over 3000 monsters that attacked the tavern, with even more visible from where he stood. Things were glum. But, in that moment of dread, Lex heard a familiar sound - the sound of a system notification. New Quest: Host a Henali assembly at the Midnight Inn Quest Reward: Subject to sess of assembly Remarks: Maybe if you had friends, you could have hosted them. Instead, you can settle for hosting the oldest geezers in the realm New Quest: Have the Midnight Inn officially recognized by the Henali assembly Quest Reward: Guest Registry Remarks: You''re getting fat Lex was surprised, for he was expecting to get a quest rted to the events happening in Babylon, but this waspletely unrted. In fact, he had to scan the Inn to understand what had triggered the quest. But the 6 representatives who came to deliver the epistle and gifts did not stay long to borate, and bid their farewell. He asked Mary if she knew anything about them, but the system provided her with no knowledge regarding anything they said. Lex was more or lesspletely in the dark about what the assembly even was. When he asked her to open the epistle, she was unable. In fact, she was unable to open any of the items left behind. Lex sighed and told her to put them away. These were destined to be just two more quests that would sit in his system collecting dust for a long time. An explosion nearby attracted his attention, and Lex finally saw the first survivors heading towards the tavern. It was just two people. Chapter 354 Bazooka Though it was dark, with Lex''s improved eyesight, it was easy for him to see their actions clearly. They were trained warriors, of that there was no doubt, and they had excellent teamwork as well. They were much stronger than the monsters assaulting them, but there was strength in numbers as well. Moreover, the monsters born of darkness had no set pattern, and so it was difficult toe up with a fixed strategy to face them. Some attacked from afar, and some slithered right at them. Lex watched silently as they slowly made their way towards the tavern. A few times, he noticed that some monsters were able to sneak up on them and managed tond a few hits. They were mostly unharmed, but that was solely due to their armor, which seemed to have some kind of enchantments. He mentally added a few spotlights to the top of the tavern and lit up the entire street. He didn''t want to put the light directly on the two warriors as that might attract unnecessary attention. Now, instead, with the entire street lit up, it was easier for them to view the monsters. Calmly he walked down to the main hall and awaited the two warriors'' arrival. He was looking forward to any new information they could provide. A few minutester the warriors arrived at the front of the tavern, and noticed that as soon as any monster approached the building they would automatically explode. They were hesitant, and even afraid, to approach the tavern out of concern that the same may happen to them, but they had no choice. Originally things should not have been so bad, but the town''s guard had been overrun when they let fear interfere with their duty, and less than a third of them remained. They needed to understand more about this building throwing light into the air. Such an action not only assured them that this building had arge supply of spirit stones or some other form of energy to carelessly waste, but whatever defensive formation they had in ce was still functioning. The truth was that the town had multiple contingency safe zones and secondary defensive formations in ce in the event that the main formation shut down or broke. But when the anomaly with the main formation urred, it suppressed all other formations within the city. This seemed to be the only one still working. And how could it not? 300 million MP for a formation that only covered a small region and only had the function of manipting space made it far beyond anything local formations couldpete against. Finally they took a risk and stepped in, and were greatly relieved when nothing happened. Still they did not let down their guard as they stepped in, but not even in their wildest dreams would they have been prepared for what awaited them. While outside the temperature was well below freezing, a warm cozy breeze blew from the tavern door, apanied by music and the sound ofughter. A waitress was carrying a tray full of steaming soup across the hall, some of the sailors were ying a dice game while others were ying cards. A bartender was casually wiping a ss clean while standing ready at his station, awaiting a guest toe with an order. "Wee guests," said Lex, when he noticed the men stood frozen at the entrance. "Come in, don''t let all the warm air out." Lex''s voice woke the men from their reverie, but also alerted all the guests of the new arrivals. They paused whatever they were doing and turned towards the door. The music stopped, and the room seemed to reach a standstill. The two men walked in, their gazes fixed on Lex, analyzing the man. Lex was also checking up on them and only retained the most important point - they were in the Golden Core realm. "Do you happen to know what is happening outside?" Lex asked, his voice as calm and soothing as always. But the two men did not perceive it as so. To them, it sounded like he waspletely ignorant of what was going on, and was relying on some kind of backing to keep him safe. They scanned the tavern with their spirit sense to see if they could detect anyone else that was actually a threat. "We''re with the city guard," said one of the men gruffly. "Under orders of the mayor, we''re here to investigate the source of light. Give us some food and water, and stop wasting all your spirit stones on useless lights, and stop wasting all this food needlessly. Everyone here will take up arms and obey my orders. As of now, this building is beingmandeered as a military checkpoint and you''re all conscripted. Promptly prepare everything and in the meantime..." The man''s eyes wandered to Nami, who had been serving soup and just as he was about to say what was on his mind, the man''s body shot out of the tavern like a rocket from a bazooka.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om His body smashed through dozens of monsters like the strongest artillery fire and even through the front wall of the building on the opposite street. Lex had no idea if the man was alive or dead, and he frankly didn''t care. Lex was more than happy waiting for him to finish before correcting him that the tavern would do no such thing, but the moment he turned his eyes onto Nami, Lex''s patience evaporated. In all fairness, it was entirely possible that he was not about to make an uncouth demand towards Lex''s staff, but just the look in his eyes was enough to turn Lex off. Were this the Inn, Lex would have been bound by the system''s rules and been unable to do anything until the man actually broke some rules. At the tavern, though, things were a lot more flexible and Lex could do as he pleased. In this case, what pleased Lex was to manipte the space around the man and hurl him out of the building like yesterday''s trash. "Please excuse that disturbance," Lex said, with a polite smile towards his guests, before turning back to the other man who had frozen still of his own ord. He still could not understand what had happened, and so did not dare to do anything rash. "As I asked yourpanion earlier, do you happen to know what''s going on with the town?" The man did not think too much and obediently began answering. "Something has gone wrong with the town''s array. Instead of keeping the town lit and secure, it''s actively suppressing all light formations within and instead of keeping monsters out, has trapped everyone within the town itself. We suspect sabotage, but haven''t been able to investigate yet. "The mayor is trying to rally all the town guards before he begins scouring the town looking for survivors, but because of the suppressed formations, there''s no good ce to gather everyone. That''s when the light from your building appeared, and he tasked us with investigating it. Whether we respond or not, he will being here with the gathered soldiers soon enough." To the warriors disappointment, Lex did not seem bothered by the news of the mayor''s arrival, as if he wasn''t threatened in any way whatsoever. "That''s great news," said Lex. "I''m d to see that the mayor is prioritizing the safety of his citizens. The formation''s malfunction, though, is troubling news. I have no proof, but my gut tells me this may have something to do with the serial killer on the loose. Do you by chance happen to know the travel paths of any nearby Sol birds? How long can we expect this darkness tost?" The man grit his teeth and answered truthfully. "It''s really hard to predict. Unless the Noel family learns of our plight and makes a move personally, the darkness shouldst anywhere between one to three months. Unfortunately, allmunication with the outside has also been suspended." Lex nodded as he started making ns. It was best to prepare for the worst case scenario. ***** The serial killer was frowning hard as he killed another monster. The citizens in the town were dying way too quickly, and most of them to the monsters. This was not satisfying to him. He needed to make a few changes to make the game more fun. Yes, it needed to be even more fun. He manipted the formation and created 6 safe zones in the town, where other protective formations weren''t suppressed. He needed the people to live. They were supposed to fear him, and die by his hands. The monsters and the darkness were only apanying characters to his performance. He had to make sure everything was just right. "System, list down all high value targets in the area. I have to make sure they don''t identally die. "Several high value targets are gathered at the beacon of life, and are safe from monster attacks." "How lucky," he said with a chuckle. Chapter 355 Slimey Business "Now that you''vepleted your task, do you want to take some time to rest and eat, or will you be returning to finish your report?" asked Lex to the remaining warrior. The warrior trembled upon hearing the question. Fear of the unknown was the mostmon thing, and what kind of danger the tavern represented was more or less unknown to the man. He only knew that it was enough to crush him. But, at the same time, returning now, on his own, would present him with a great danger as well. Eventually he grit his teeth and decided to return to the mayor while the option was still avable. He did not dare to hope that the tavern owner would actually provide him with food and rest.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om As for going back and checking on his partner? Even if he had survived crashing through hordes of monsters and a building, possibly more than one building actually, he would most likely have been besieged by monsters by now. Even if, by some miracle, he had survived the monster attacks, he would be heavily wounded and his movement impaired. He would be a burden on the return journey, not an asset. Not wanting to waste another moment, the man quickly departed. His former partnerunching out of the building had distracted the nearby monsters sufficiently for him to begin his escape with ease. Lex shrugged. It wasn''t like he intended to punish this man as well, and so long as he paid, Lex would have let him rest. The carefully built environment of harmony in the tavern had been disrupted by the arrival of the two men. The news they shared wasn''t what everyone had been hoping for. There was a problem with the town formation, and there was nomunication with the outside. It would take months before the light returned. By then, the number of monsters would be much greater, and some of them may even be nearing the peak of the foundation realm. When it came to monsters, their strength grew quickly in the beginning but would eventually slow down. Most never surpassed the golden core realm, if they reached it at all. But their threat did not lie in their strength, but their numbers. Lex wasn''t too bothered by the news, because he more or less was expecting only bad news. So far, everything was still within the range where he could survive with just the tavern. "I know some of you may be concerned about the duration," Lex addressed his guests. "But don''t worry, whether it''s months or years, the one thing the tavern will not be short of is supplies and food. You also don''t need to worry about the lights turning off in here. The greatest challenge for you is to find something to entertain yourself with." Lex''sst sentence ended as a joke, and visibly rxed everyone, but deep down, he meant it. Trapped in a building with nothing to do for a long time would slowly drive everyone insane. At the same time, this experience gave Lex a new perspective on the Pro Bono function of the Inn. Across the many worlds, how many people would be in simr situations where they werepletely trapped and needed aid? He understood that charity was not the purpose of the system, but suddenly he had a new appreciation for the feature. Maybe the system wasn''t so bad. Maybe. Two more days passed without anyone else arriving at the tavern. From the rooftop, Lex was able to see a few portions of the town where lights had appeared, which reassured him. He even shared the news with the guests. This meant that at least some people had found some kind of solution, and there were other survivors in the town. Moreover, if someone had found a way to turn on the light formations in those few areas, there was a chance that soon they would be able to fix the town''s formation. Unbeknownst to Lex, there areas had lights because the killer eased up the formation in those areas. He allowed the strong warriors and soldiers in the town to lead survivors into those zones, so that all his targets would umte in a few areas. Currently, he was picking apart one of the newly created safe zones, killing one survivor every hour. Of course, he was doing it personally instead of using monsters or the formations. How else was he to enjoy it as much as possible? While things had slowed down considerably at the tavern, back at the Inn, things were climaxing. The final 10 of the Lady Cosmos had been selected. At any given time, there were 13 million guests at the Inn to enjoy the show. While not all of these guests were staying at the Inn, they would more or less still spend some MP. Still, even 1 MP at a time, Lex had managed to umte 7.8 billion MP more, bringing his total to 10 billion more or less. Actually, it was 10,057,007,000 MP. Lex took the opportunity to create a request in the Guild room for pure energy crystals and put down a deposit of 57,007,000 MP. He would use this to test the waters and see if absorbing energy from within the Inn would help his energy umtion. If it was... despite Lex''s earlier ns, he might speed up his return. After all, things were just too unpredictable at the tavern right now, and he did not want to spend months and possibly years trapped, unable to do anything. But while he had a lot of free time, Lex was not free for he had to constantly manipte the formation to kill monsters. This was not feasible as he would never have the time to sleep or rest. As such he ended up spending 0.3% of his umted energy to add the Security room feature to the tavern as well. He temporarily made Rick incharge of security via the security room, and gave him control over the formation as well. This way, while Lex wasn''t managing the security himself, Rick would do it. ? With that done, he spent a good deal of time cultivating, and when he got tired he would watch the Lady Cosmos show. Surprisingly, of the top 10, only 2 were actually humans! One was Hailey, the farmer from X-142 that Harry had grown fond of, and the other was Alissa, the YouTuber from Earth. The favorite to win at the moment was a fair, followed closely by a slime. As surprising as it was for Lex to learn that slimes could be female, he was even more surprised to learn that this particr slime would manipte its shape to form a very seductive humanoid figure. Moreover, it could manipte the color of its slime to give itself the appearance of a woman in beautiful clothing. Itstest figure was that of an elf that it had seen at the Inn, which managed to steal a decent bit of the votes from Earth. There was also a Fox beast from Nibiru which, after undergrowning an evolution in its bloodline due to the growth of the itself, could shapeshift into a human appearance. The remaining five contestants were from a race Lex wasn''t familiar with called Echos. They were not humanoid at all, but their cuteness level was astonishing! They were like cuddly teddy bears with eyes that could melt ice and augh that could fill one with glee. The next stage of thepetition would be an intense one, for it was not on stage or in a stadium. Instead, in the floating city above the vige, the remaining girls would have to live for 5 days unaided. Moreover, lucky viewers, and some wealthy ones who paid for the opportunity, would be living in the city alongside them. The final judgment would actually be influenced by votes of the viewers in the city, and the girls would have to convince them to gain their vote. This would be a live test of not only their charisma and social skills, but of their ingenuity and survival skills. This was because, other than a house to live in, the girls would not be provided with anything else. Of course, during this portion, the girls would be provided with security to ensure something untoward did not happen. Moreover, it had to be ensured that the girls would not buy votes using some kind of shady deals or offers, and that only their ability to convince fans would be at y. Lex was watching the slime have a jovial conversation with a group ofdies over coffee, regaling them with tales of its life, when Rick came to alert him of something. From the rooftop, he has seen an entire group of people approach the tavern, slowly and steadily fighting against the hordes. In the lead of that group was Mario Ri, the Goatfather. Chapter 356 Disappeared Lex was not at all surprised that Mario was unhurt. After all, he was much too strong for monsters of this level to overwhelm him. But when he reached his rooftop and saw the size of his party, he was extremely surprised. It was much too small. Only around 10 people were following him. All of whom were excellent fighters on their own as well. Clearly they would have survived even without Mario as long as the rest were together. But their small numbers and, most of all, slow and steady speed told Lex something was going on That''s when Lex noticed that Mario''s son, Elio, was not with the group. He did not jump to conclusions, but he kept the thought in mind.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Despite how near they were, the group did not get impatient at all, and continued on their pace. It took nearly an hour before they finally reached the tavern. Like the previous two warriors, the group was hit hard by how contrasting the environment within the tavern was. But unlike the first group, they did not be overly arrogant once they reached this establishment filled with civilians. Thugs like them had a deeper understanding of the way of the world. In the killing field that Babylon had now be, only disgustingly overwhelming strength would allow one to live in suchfort. Lex had prepared food for everyone already, and at the sight of the steaming bowls of soup beingid down for them, these rough and tumble men gave Lex a lok filled with sheer appreciation and gratitude, and sat down to savor their first meal in days! Mario, however, did not go towards the food and instead sat himself down at the bar, his deep set eyes gazing out into the distance. He ordered hard liquor with nothing but a gesture and downed the ss like a parched man chugging water. "Your party is smaller than I would have expected," said Lex as he approached the man. Men like Mario did not need constion or words to ease them. Instead, treating them softly or carefully might actually offend them. In such a case, it was best to just be upfront with them about what you were curious about. "It was that damn killer," Mario said, his voice hoarse. He downed another ss and began to pour one more drink for himself. "He shepherded us like cattle towards the light, only to pick us off one by one. Even I couldn''t catch him. He has clever ways to hide in the shadows, and of making people disappear, only for their corpses to reappear a short whileter." "Do you think he had something to do with the light formation failing?" "He shouldn''t. While he is very tricky and clever, he is not strong enough. The formation is heavily guarded. It would take at least a nascent cultivator to break through all of its defenses, and if he were that strong, he wouldn''t be picking off the weak like that. He would be aiming for me. Instead, what he''s been doing is not targeting me, but targeting people right in front of me. There''s a small but significant difference." Lex did not need to ask to know what the difference was. One meant that the killer was strong enough to challenge Mario, while the other meant the killer knew he couldn''t take on Mario himself, but was skilled or crazy enough to antagonize him. Lex asked him if he knew the situation in the rest of the city, which Mario did not. He had stuck close to his own turf until it became obvious that the killer would pick them off one by one unless they left. One thing that caught Lex''s curiosity was that the killer somehow had a way to not be targeted by the monsters in the dark. While everyone else was fighting for their lives, the killer was sailing through the darkness like a ship in calm waters. Mario did not say much else, but the addition of new guests quickly caught everyone''s attention. With not much else to do, they talked and exchanged stories, and quickly a new fear began to spread between those staying at the tavern - that Mario and his gang had led the killer right to them. But nothing of the sort happened. The tavern was as safe as always. While Big Ben and Betty were just d to be alive and safe, the triplets along with the bakers had many minor panic attacks. They all had family out in the dark, but they knew there was nothing they could do to search for them. The small spark of stimtion provided with the addition of new guests soon waned as the days returned to their previous monotony. Lex had somehow produced more mattresses and bedding, and opened up the hidden chamber underneath the bar so the tavern wouldn''t get even more crowded. Seven more days passed like that and, just as everyone - the kids especially - were about to lose their minds, another group was spotted heading towards the tavern. This group was muchrger than Mario''s, but when they arrived, they were also in much worse shape. This group had been led by one of the nobles and the parents of one of the ''extra staff'' Lex had helping at the tavern. Unsurprisingly, their story was very simr to Mario''s. They were surviving, barely, in one of the safe zones that had developed around the town, until one day when the killer appeared and started killing them off one by one. It was out of sheer desperation that they ventured out into the dark, but the giant beacon of light was not their first destination. It was like they had been forced by the killer toe this way, for when they head in any other direction, the murders would increase. Lex received this news with surprising calm. It made sense. He had been feeling something was slowly building from the moment the lights failed. Four dayster, another man appeared. He walked through the darkness alone, the monsters dying around him. He was another noble, and he had been unable to save a single person. It was mostly the monsters that killed everyone he had tried to protect, and the few survivors had been picked off by the killer. The next day, the remaining three nobles arrived as well, once again alone. By now the tavern building was jam-packed, even with the secret storage downstairs. The mood was grim. It seemed like they were thest survivors in the town, for no one knew what was happening with the mayor and town guards. Even with nearly a 100 people packed into the tavern building, it felt like the loneliest ce in the world. They lived on a small ind of safety, surrounded by a hungry abyss. At least, that was until Dino and Betty started getting creative with their foods, and started asking everyone what their favorite was. With the endless supply of ingredients that Rick somehow always provided them with, the mealtimes at the tavern became the most anticipated times of the day. People would ce bets, and y guessing games as to what would be the meals of the day. The music never stopped ying, and Lex provided an infinite variety of board game ideas for everyone to entertain themselves. It really did feel like there was a festival going on inside. This was because one day Lex had an epiphany. If everyone''s mood was being disrupted artificially by some means, could he not do the same? He purchased a formation that blocked any outside interference in emotions, and another that slightly eased the mind. That was all that was needed, for the numerous children inside immediately became joyful, and entertained all the guests. They created their own ys and put on their own performances. Deep down, no one forgot that they were in a desperate situation. But at the same time, they could do nothing about it, so they chose to indulge in whatever joys they could im. Unbeknownst to them, for thest three days, the killer had been outside the tavern, hiding from the spotlight that lit up the street. He had been watching. His n to lure all the high value targets in one ce was a sess. What he did not expect, however, was that his system would fail to provide a safe way to infiltrate the tavern. So, for thest few days, he had been using his X-ray sight to carefully observe the tavern and its inhabitants. There were too many peculiar things going on in there that could not be exined, so the killer didn''t really try. His entire focus was on finding a way to infiltrate. In the end, when he could not find a way on his own, he had to rely on one of the quest rewards he had been saving up to kill the mayor. "System, prepare the Death Bubble. Target the highest value person in that building." Suddenly, Lex, who was busy cultivating in his room, disappeared. Chapter 357 Lucky Lex was, as usual, cultivating in a tub of iced tea. Not only did the tea bath speed up his cultivation, it left his body smelling nice after he was done. In the past couple of weeks, his constant dedication had actually somewhat helped him make progress in the Foundation realm. Today, however, while he was cultivating, he was hit with a sense of extreme danger! The danger was not external, but was a result of a disruption in his cultivation technique! Something had happened and before he could begin toprehend it, there was an abrupt change in the amount of spirit energy his body was absorbing, causing the cultivation technique to immediately shut down. Such a forceful interruption would normally be enough topletely rip away someone''s meridians. Lex, however, managed to survive because of his incredibly sturdy body, as well as the fact that his meridians had been reforged out of metal. It still hurt like hell, though. Though he managed to survive the disruption, his sense of danger did not disappear. Lex opened his eyes to find himself in apletely foreign ce. He was standing on a t dirt road surrounded by the rubble of copsed buildings. The sky was dark, as usual, but the familiar glint of starlight could be seen across the expanse. Lex was suddenly hit with a wave of nostalgia looking up at the heavens, but now was not the time to get lost in thought. He turned around to his left and saw nothing more than rubble. Broken pieces of stone with rusted bits of metal sticking out of them sat in piles, undisturbed in this strange ce for God knows how long. But it was not the rubble that Lex was looking at. He was looking at the ground right before the rubble. No one was there, or at least, his eyes saw no one, but his gut was telling him otherwise. It told him there was a predator standing before him, and that he was in a situation he hadn''t been in, in a long time. He was being hunted! It was like when he was chased by zombies back on Vegus Minima, or the pack of wolves back on Nibiru. But there was one stark difference between now and then. It was that he was not afraid! "How did I get here?" Lex asked, his voice calm and steady. Though he saw no one, his instincts had never been wrong before. Moreover, he had a pretty good idea of who he was about to meet. It was as if the gut feeling he had back when the lights failed wasing true. His question was followed by silence for a few moments, but eventually he got a reply. "This ce is called Death Bubble. I can teleport anyone I target here, and then neither of us can leave until the other person dies." A couple of momentster, a man appeared right where Lex was looking. He was pale andnky, with short dark hair. His thin figure made him look malnourished, but his eyes were full of life. He grinned at Lex, revealing sharpened, yellow teeth. "You''re the first person to not panic at all whening here," the murderer said in a gleeful voice. "I''m used to teleporting," Lex replied inly. Though he was standing still, it wasn''t as if he was doing nothing. Lex''s mind was running as fast as it could, and he was already making ns on how to kill the other. "Good, good, you''re strong. I''ve never killed a brave one before. This will be a new experience." "Are you so sure that I''ll be the one to die, and not you?" "I''m very lucky. I wouldn''t have met you if I couldn''t kill you!" he answered excitedly, the saliva practically dripping from his lips. Then the battle began. The murderer stood still in front of Lex''s eyes, but a figure appeared behind Lex silently and tried to stab his kidney. Lex, who no longer only relied on his vision and sense of sound, was not taken by surprise and turned perfectly to avoid the dagger. At the same time, a small array of merely a few characters quickly formed in front of his left hand. Using the momentum from his turn Lex jabbed forward with his left hand aiming at the figure''s neck, a small spear point de of ice forming around his middle finger. The figure, which was revealed to be the murderer, was surprised and could not react fast enough to avoid the jab. But, just as the small ice de touched the murderer''s neck somethingpletely unexpected happened. The rubble upon which Lexus was standing came loose, causing him to suddenly slip! Lex lost his bnce, causing his jab to miss and making him vulnerable once again to the killer. A grin formed on the murderer''s face as he realized what had happened and swung his dagger towards Lex. But while Lex could not dodge, he was not helpless. Using his right hand, Lex used Talk to the hand, forming an invisible barrier which blocked the de. With his attack blocked, the murderer took a jump back to regroup and Lex quickly got up as well. Lex couldn''t believe that he actually stumbled on some rumble, he normally wouldn''t make a mistake like that. The array he used earlier was one of the quickest and easiest arrays he memorized. It absorbed the moisture in the air to form a de that was very sharp and sturdy. But because it was a very basic array, the de did not have a proper grip, and would only sit on his finger when attacking directly straight. If he tried a cutting or sweeping attack, the de would fall off. Still, the lethality of the de should not be underestimated. Moreover, this was just one of the many arrays Lex memorized. Lastly, Lex had also gone a step beyond just memorization. He had formed a very simple system of his own to help him create new arrays on the fly. Since attacking with arrays was not hampered in any way by Regal Embrace, Lex''s lethality had shot up. Now, equipped with an arsenal of his own, Lex no longer waited for the murderer to attack again and took the initiative. Two arrays began to quickly form, each in front of his hands. A ball of orange fire formed above his left hand and he used his right hand to aim at the murderer. Before the murderer could even react, the ball of fire went hurtling towards him at a speed too great to avoid. This was the second time the murderer was taken by surprise, and didn''t have time to react. But, by sheer coincidence, a nearby ruin that had survived the untold number of years these ruins had existed broke, stimted by the small vibrations of their fight. The wall fell down just perfectly to block the ball of fire before it reached the murderer, causing it to explode. A cloud of dust exploded in the air, blocking Lex''s sight and hiding the murderer behind its veil. When the dust cleared, the murderer had disappeared once more. Lex could temporarily not locate him, most likely because he was no longer being tantly targeted by the murderer. He remained standing in ce as he employed Ripple shell in case the murderer seeded innding a hidden blow, all the while trying to figure out what happened.Twice he nearly killed the murderer. He wouldn''t be surprised if the murderer found some way to dodge or block the attack, but strange things kept happening to protect him. Was this the murderers doing, or were they all coincidences? How was he supposed to ovee this? A few ideas crossed Lex''s mind and he began forming one of therger arrays he knew. It would take a few seconds to ready, during which he would not be able to block so he needed to keep his wits about him. His back tingled and he dodged to the side once again, just in time to see the murderer ring at him, his earlier joy gone, shing towards him with his knife. "I will make your death slow," the murderer said between gritted teeth. He was genuinely afraid for his life for a moment. If his luck hadn''t been so good, he would have died to that fire ball. Angered by the retaliation, the murderer no longer cared about holding back, and used all the quest items his system had given him. It was lucky for him, they suited his attack pattern really well. The murderer kept stabbing and swiping, showing a certain degree of amateurishness in his moves. But no matter how careless he seemed, he had too many kills under his belt for Lex to take him lightly, which is why he didn''t dare take on his attacks directly. Just as he was about to finish the array, he felt something stab him in the back. The sharp pain, that was far beyond anything it should have been, caused Lex to lose control of the array, causing a massive explosion.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Chapter 358 Like A King More than the heat of the me or the roar of thunder, it was the pressure of the explosion that rocked Lex. His body shot up into the air like a bullet, spinning and flipping like a gymnast giving his best performance. It took a few seconds before the overwhelmed and dizzy Lex found a few moments of rity, and a few seconds more before he was able to stabilize his body. In a heartbeat, he analyzed the damage to his body, and discovered, to his great surprise, that his back waspletely unharmed. There was no stab wound, and the pain hadpletely disappeared, as if it was only his mind. Other than that, though, he was not in his best state. The shockwave that passed through his body had rattled Lex to his bones, and though he wasrgely unhurt, the tant w in his array n hurt him more. Deciding not to take any more chances, Lex decided to scrap every array he nned on using that would take more than 2 seconds to form. But before he could do anything to attack the murderer, he had to ensure hended safely. He formed quick and small arrays to immediately change his trajectory, in case the murderer had something nned for him where he would fall, and immediately slowed down his descent. But changing the direction did not work, for the moment hended on the floor, two stabbing pains shot up through his feet, as if he hadnded straight into two pikes. Despite the experience from earlier, Lex couldn''t help but look down to see that his feet werepletely unharmed. His back tingled, warning of an impending attack, but the pain in his feet and his knee-jerk reaction to investigate them wasted precious moments, making it so he couldn''t retaliate like usual. Instead, he leaped forward and fell into a roll to get some distance. But when he turned back, the murderer was not in sight. Lex narrowed his eyes. As amateurish as he was in his attacks, the murderer wielded abilities that were genuine and quite lethal. By now Lex had understood that whenever he felt piercing pain, it was fake and served just as a distraction. But he dared notpletely ignore the pain in case this was a feint, so that a real attack would follow when he learnt to expect nothing. He had also somewhat gotten used to the murderer disappearing and consistently attacking from behind him. But even that he dared not get toofortable with either. But no matter what he did, Lex would not ovee him by waiting for him to attack first. He thought up a n quickly and formed an array that caused fog to slowly umte at the knee level. This way, he''d be able to determine as soon as the attacker attempted a single attack. He also formed another array, using the low level fog to hide a trap. But the effectiveness of the trap would depend on if the murderer continued to attack from the back, and the nature of the attack. If he had managed to bring his thinking cap with him, he would have been able to use moreplex and powerful traps, but s life does not follow one''s wishes. His back tingled once again and, to hide the existence of the trap, Lex dodged normally and just as he turned around to look, his back tingled again. This time the attack was too fast for him to dodge even with the warning, and something mmed into his back, throwing him onto the ground. The attack was not sharp and piercing, like he had been expecting from the knife. Instead, it was arge blunt force, as if he had been hit by a beanbag or something. "You are nothing, idiot!" the murderer yelled, his voice filled with both anger and jubtion. "You are nothing. You are dead. All that remains is your final struggle." Even disoriented, Lex was paying attention to his surroundings and the moment he located the direction the sound wasing from he fired off another fireball. But this time no ident happened to block the attack, and the murderer himself dodged it easily.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Yet when he turned to Lex to gloat, he was startled to find a ming man walking his way. Lex had actually lit himself on fire! This was not a diversionary tactic. Instead, Lex was acting off of his instincts. He felt that some kind of goo hadtched onto his body where he had been hit earlier, and the goo was alive and trying to prate his skin! He felt actual, genuine danger for his life from the goo. But the information provided by his instincts was jumbled and vague, he could only determine that the goo was alive, and that it would note off his skin easily now that it hadtched on. So, taking advantage of his body''s toughness, Lex lit himself on fire using an array. But that was not all. More than pain, Lex felt a minor sense of humiliation at having to rely on having to light himself on fire. This feeling of humiliation came from a recent sense of pride that had nted itself in Lex as he overcame so many trials. Now this pride was fueling a me much brighter than the one covering his body, and it sent Lex''s mind into a state of overdrive. It was simr to the sense of ''flow'' that Lex used to get, but much greater, and with far fewer restrictions. Not only did his mind work faster to absorb all the information his various senses and instincts were providing him, he could almost split his mind into two. He could focus a majority of his attention on a certain task while leaving a portion of his thoughts to focus on a separate task withoutpromising the quality of work. Moreover, the boost in his thought process was dozens of times greater than when he used the crown made by the crystal race, or even when he used to enter the state of flow before he entered the Foundation realm. This boost would have been great if Lex had anticipated it. Since Lex did not anticipate it, and was caught in the state unaware, all his extra mental energy was focused on his anger at the murderer. Lex used the technique he hadn''t used a single time since he learnt it, Home Sweet Home, and, in a burst of speed, barelyprehensible, arrived before the murder in the blink of an eye and mmed his burning body right into him! Burned and crushed, the murderer''s body was flung away but Lex caught his ankle, keeping him from flying away! With a furious bellowing roar Lex mmed his body into the ground and put his ming foot on his chest. He aimed his array at the murderer''s face andunched a me ball at him. But, just as the me ball was about to hit him, the ground beneath him copsed, revealing a sinkhole, moving his body out of the way. Lex immediately absorbed a lot of information and quickly drew the conclusion that for nonlethal attacks, there would be no idents, but as soon as he tried to kill the murderer, something would prevent it. A few theories propped into his mind, but before he could try them out, the murderer let out an angry yelp as he dangled over the sinkhole and disappeared right from within his hand. Lex squinted his eyes as he drew another conclusion. The murderer was not turning invisible but disappearing entirely, or teleporting somewhere else. Lex formed two more arrays, entirely ignoring the fact that he was still on fire and the goo that hadtched onto his shoulder had beenpletely burnt off by now. The two arrays took him 2.4 seconds to form, even in his overdrive state. But, once they werepleted a surge of spiritual energy started flowing around him, spinning in a circle. His burning body acted like a flint, and lit up the energy into a fiery tornado that began expanding outwards, quickly burning everything it touched. This attack would reveal the limitations of the murderers teleportation if there were any. Well, it could not entirely test the limitation of his ability, but Lex would eliminate them one by one. In only a few moments the tornado had spread across half the visiblend and continued to grow when, spontaneously and without warning, a burning meteor fell from the sky! The meteor crashed into the ground some distance from Lex, causing a massive explosion that startled even Lex. He quickly deployed Talk to the Hand, using both his hands to block the aftermath of the sh between the fiery tornado and meteor! Cracks formed in the invisible shield, but it ultimately held until the force of the explosion passed, leaving in its wake a site fit for armageddon. Only two small patches ofnd seemed unharmed - one behind Lex''s shield, and another, conveniently blocked by a massive rock that jutted into the ground. Behind that rock stood the murderer, panting and in pain. Though his ears were ringing, the murderer managed to hear a small sound. When he looked up to investigate he saw a ming Lex, looking down at him from the top of the rock, like a King about to sentence one to death. Chapter 359 Beatdown Before the murderer could cry out or yell, Lex smashed his body into him using Home Sweet Home once again. The fire on Lex''s body had gone out but the one in his heart was raging on as he continued to attack relentlessly. Letting go of arrays, Lex used his bare fists to beat his body into submission. Since fatal attacks would trigger the coincidences, Lex aimed only to cripple him. Punch after punchnded on the murderer''s skinny body, breaking it bit by bit. Compared to other body cultivators Lex''s strength may not be as impressive, but to a person who was not a body cultivator, each of Lex''s punches was like being smashed by a wrecking ball. Unable to retaliate or even avoid, the murderer disappeared once again. But the ruins had beenpletely destroyed by the st, eliminating all hiding spots. The moment Lex climbed up onto the big rock, he could easily see the copsed body of the murderer in the distance. Not interested in giving him any time to retaliate, Lex dashed towards him once again. But the murderer had been pushed to the brink of desperation by Lex''s relentless assault, and he began mindlessly using anything and everything in his arsenal. A blue bubble appeared around his body just in time to stop Lex, causing him to crash head first into it. Unable to stop in time, Lex''s body hit the bubble hard, and fell back with a strong rebound. His nose broke and started bleeding. Even in his state of anger, a part of himself could not stop himself frommenting on the irony that the greatest wounds he''d suffered so far were self-inflicted. The murderer was not interested in Lex''s self depreciation as he began to spend his Murder Points, or MP, to buy everything avable to him. Mannequins started appearing out of thin air, all holding des simr to the murderer, all looking at Lex with dark eyes. When 109 such mannequins appeared, they attacked Lex in unison. Their coordination was immacte, and it was as if a higher power was controlling each of their movements. Each of their attacks were smoother and deadlier than the murderers, though Lex could detect a hint of simrity in their attack patterns. Still, none of it mattered. Something as simple and straightforward as physical attacks could not overwhelm Lex unless there was a massive difference in speed and strength, which there was not. Guided by his instincts, Lex dodged so smoothly and seemingly effortlessly that were anyone to see it, it would seem that Lex and the mannequins were working together to purposefully avoid him. It was like he decided where he would move to dodge before they even decided to attack, and it was more or less exactly what was happening. This was a result of a w due to how perfect their coordination was. That perfect coordination made it so that their next moves became predictable, even to the point where, in his overdrive state, Lex was able to determine what would happen four or five moves ahead. Lex was moving as fast as he possibly could, but at the same time he was under no pressure. This allowed him to begin forming arrays to deal with the mannequins. But the murderer was not done either, as he had killed enough people to umte quite a bit of MP. A mannequin was hovering over him, healing his broken body while two, much more intimidating ones stood around him as guards. Moreover, armor filled with metal spikes slowly appeared around the murderer''s body. At a small distance, dirt from the ground was automatically piling up on itself, forming some kind of massive monster. Up in the sky, the starlight was blocked by thunder clouds that were beginning to form. All of this was taken in by Lex, even though he was busy dodging the mannequins. He did not know how the murderer was suddenly doing all these things but it was best to let him fully prepare. His mind went through the various arrays he memorized, but none were suitable for the situation. He also didn''t want to risk using Evisceration, as while he had increased his mastery over the technique, with the unusual coincidences happening, Lex didn''t want to risk it. If the coincidence went from blocking the attack to somehow interrupting Lex''s Evisceration, the result would be catastrophic. He took a deep breath just as the arrays he was forming ended. The ground trembled and hundreds of sharp earthen spikes erupted from the ground, impaling most of the mannequins.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om It was time to employ the rest of Lex''s preparation with arrays. The conundrum of forming new arrays to match various situations was an extremely difficult one. If he had time it was not an issue, but in the heat of battle it was not possible. So, Lex found a loophole using his knowledge of programming, and the unique connecting method employed in the Crystal realm for their arrays. It would somewhat diminish the power of the arrays, but it was good enough as it provided versatility. Lex memorized over a hundred, extremely small arrays that performed very simple and basic tasks. He originally wanted to call them ''functions'' but ended up just calling them letters. The reason for this was because the concept he was working towards wasbining the various small arrays in the way lettersbine to form words, and then wordsbine to form sentences. Combining the so-called ''letters'' was still not exactly straight forward, for evennguage has rules about how the alphabets behave let alone something asplex as arrays. Yet the concept of joining many small arrays to form one big array was too attractive to overlook, and much easier to design. What he needed now was immense, concentrated fire power and so he began forming just such an array. At his current speed, within 1 second he could form up to 10 mini-arrays with the function of gathering heat. For the array he had nned he would need hundreds of such arrays, so he couldn''t wait and began immediately. A few seconds went by when the murderer realized that Lex was not attacking, as he usually did, and was instead preparing something. "Attack!" he roared to his final two mannequins that acted as his bodyguards, as well as the arachnid shaped dirt monster. "Attack! Attack! ATTACK! KILL HIM FOR ME!" A sharp, piercing pain stabbed him directly through the eyes and into his brain, but Lex did not even flinch in his overdrive state. Pain meant absolutely nothing to him right now. The mannequins reached him in the blink of an eye, these ones armed with a sword and shield each. They were also much faster, and much stronger than the previous ones. Truly, they were formidable foes. Well, they were formidable if their opponent wasn''t Lex. With the forewarning from his instincts, Lex dodged each attack easily. In fact, Lex did not even look away from the murderer as he casually avoided each swing of the mannequin''s sword. The dirt monster, 12 feet (3.65 meters)tall, also arrived and started smashing at Lex with its numerous legs. It was not as fast as the other two, but it was much stronger. Dirt and rubble flew into the air under the explosion caused by its massive legs, yet Lex was as elusive as the wind. A hint of fear crept into the murderer''s mind as he observed Lex who never broke eye contact. But the fear was followed quickly by madness. He joined his hands together forming a strange symbol and began reciting some unusual prayer. From the moment he uttered the first syble, Lex felt the danger around him increase, and he knew he could waste no more time. Whatever he was doing had to be stopped! But his array was not ready either. It would take a few more seconds. The duel suddenly turned into a lethal waiting game, and whoever struck first would gain the advantage. Normally Lex might have felt nervous under so much pressure, but his overdrive state allowed him maximum control of his every thought. Nervousness was not a useful emotion right now, so it would never be activated. Of course, a part of his also had to do with the fact that Lex''s mind had been flooded with pride and anger. Just as 2 seconds were all that remained for Lex''s array to beplete, he dodged his attackers and rushed towards the murderer. A monster that had previously not existed suddenly appeared in front of Lex, blocking him. Unwilling to change his actions, Lex used Home Sweet Home and continued in a straight line. Either he would tear through the monster''s body, or take him along with him. But how could a monster formed from dirt be sturdy enough to block Lex. Bursting right through the monster''s chest, Lex appeared before the blue bubble that blocked the murderer and aimed his right palm at him. Even Lex was interested to see what kind of coincidence could block him now. Chapter 360 Muderer System Time seemed to freeze as the murderer looked at Lex''s palm. He forgot that he was wearing special armor, and even forgot that he could do something to move. The sight of Lex bursting directly through the body of a monster to approach his bubble was eared into his brain. Though the monster was made of dirt, when dirt waspacted enough it was not easy or simple to break through it. Then there was the look in his eyes. The disdain in his eyes was as clear as day, and the murderer was spellbound. He could look nowhere else. They were eyes that told him that no amount of luck could deter him. No amount of help from his system was enough. No sword was fast enough or strong enough. They were eyes that told him death was nigh. The murderer''s mind copsed, but there was not enough time to show it. A bright, yellow light shone out of Lex''s palm. The next moment, a beam of yellow light with a 10 feet (3 meter) diameter wasunched out of Lex''s hand. It was silent. There was no loud bang, no sonic booms. Moreover, there was no sound of a collision, or something crashing. One moment all was well, and the next a massive yellow beam seemed to appear, and traveled to infinity. From afar, it actually looked pleasant. Nearby, however, anyone would be too distracted by the searing, immting heat the beam gave off. When the light disappeared, everything that had been in its path disappeared. Even the ground disappeared perfectly in the shape of the circr beam of light where the light touched it, its cooked edges slowly giving off smoke. The attack had been the most devastating that Lex had ever released, clearing almost everything in its path. Almost because a single figure fell to the ground when the light disappeared. The armor the murderer had been wearing had melted into a puddle and had been blown away, yet the murderer had survived because of a protective amulet he had been wearing on his person. The amulet, through some unusual coincidence, had been specifically made to protect from heat based attacks, and had been used up entirely to protect the murderer. Lex was not disappointed to see the murderer survive. He felt nothing. No matter how many times he avoided death, all Lex had to do was try again. Wasting no time, Lex arrived in front of the murderer and lifted him by the throat. The murderer was unresponsive, for his mind had copsed due to fear. Lex ripped off his shirt and removed any and all jewelry or talismans he wore to further reduce his chances of survival. It was much easier now that the murderer was simply limp. Once he was sure the murderer had nothing else on his body, Lex punched his face,pletely determined to kill him with that hit. A bolt of lightning fell from the sky,nding directly on Lex''s crown, paralyzing him and preventing him frompleting his punch. Oddly enough, the lightning did not affect the murderer. When Lex recovered he tried again, but the unusualnd they were in experienced an Earthquake, causing Lex to stumble. He tried again and cramped in the foot. He tried again and a massive gale started, pushing Lex to the ground. He tried again and darkness fell, causing him to miss. He tried again, his expression constant throughout. He was Lex freaking Williams, and even an act of God, or several acts, would save the murderer from him after crossing him. *****n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Serene Williams, mother of Lex Williams, trembled as she looked at the person who arrived on the. It was her eldest daughter, Belle. Her face was as expressionless and cold as ever, and only the fierce determination in her eyes set her apart from an emotionless doll. The silence echoed through the hall as the two marinated in the tumultuous emotions that filled this moment. Finally, unable to control herself, Serene opened her mouth to speak, but Belle beat her to it. "I''ve officially graduated from Ventura Gold, but I have no intentions of continuing onto Ventura itself." After trying to speak and failing multiple times, all Serene could say was, "how?" "How could I not? I had the love and affection of my parents supporting me. All that was left was to break through my limits time and time again, use all the resources avable to me and steal the ones that weren''t, and force myself into the Immortal realm." Even as she said this, and hinted at the grave dangers she faced all without informing her family, her expression remained impassive as ever. "And you''re leaving Ventura to go back to¡­ them?" "It is my duty and my ce. I do not need the honor given to me as a birthright. I will take it on my own." "You¡­ you do not know the full story. They will kill your brother if they ever meet him. They are not the angels that they im." "Even better then, that I be sovereign of the William family then, isn''t it? I can then protect my baby brother with my own hands." "You do not understand¡­" "Enough!" said Belle firmly. "I am not here for this. I only came to let you know that I have be Immortal, and to ask you a question. Will you continue to create a cultivation technique tailored to me, or shall I go to the family and take aplete one on my own?" There was a painful moment of silence before Serene''s eyes also became determined. Belle was always like this, from the time she was a baby. If she could not prevent her from taking this path, all she could do was help her. "I''ll continue to create a technique for you," she said, her voice regaining themand normally embedded in a parent''s voice. "But since you are determined to take your own path, do not me others for doing so as well. If you change your name to Evangeline, then your fathers sword will be drawn before its time - you know how he is about these things. Nowe, exin your breakthrough to me thoroughly. We need to establish what tenants your future cultivation will be based on. No child of mine will ever cultivate a subpar technique, it needs to be perfect." Despite her usual impassiveness, Belle could not help her lip twitching at her mother''sments. Only she, Serene Williams, could call the cultivation technique provided at the Ventura academy and Williams family subpar. After all, as far as humans were concerned, no one could form a better cultivation technique than her. Even her own father gave up his entire cultivation to start again under her guidance. Although his cultivation realm was now much lower than what it once was, no one dared to test his sword. No one. ***** A beaten and battered Lex punched the murderer once again. It was ridiculous that the murderer himself had not been able to hurt Lex, yet the unusual coincidences had him drenched in his own blood. But even then, it was just to the extent of spilling a little blood. Whether it was earthquakes, tornados, lightning strikes, meteors, copsing buildings, sudden cramps, loss of control of spiritual energy and even a minor heart attack, Lex remained undeterred. He was genuinely amazed that even his body was susceptible to these coincidences. He really wanted to understand what was the cause, but he wanted to kill the murderer even more. Moreover, while the attacks his body suffered were lethal for normal people, to him they were naught but minor inconveniences. He could live for hours and hours even if his heartpletely stopped beating, so a small heart attack was nothing. Due to the resilience of his meridians, the loss of control of spiritual energy was even less dangerous. Of course, if the coincidences became too dangerous, he would stop. For now though, they were within an eptable range. But, the next moment, though he was not expecting it, nothing stopped his fist from connecting to the murderer''s face. His end was quite abrupt and gruesome. Lex suddenly left the overdrive state and was hit by the urge to wipe his hand. Not to be graphic, but not much remained of the murderer''s face at all, simply because Lex had used too much strength. Much of it had been blown away, but some of it was still stuck to Lex''s hand. He did not know when or how he would return, as apparently he would be sent back after one of them died, but then something unexpected happened. He heard the familiar sound of a notification from his system. System Notification: New system detected! Analyzing the secondary system. Murder system grade D+ detected. Host can choose to assimte with the secondary system and have two concurrent systems, or absorb it to strengthen the existing system. Please note: this decision will be fixed and final, and will result in the same action for all subsequent systems discovered. Chapter 361 Lucky Sutra For a moment, Lex didn''t register what he read and his mind nked. Then he rubbed his eyes and read the notification again. System Notification: New system detected! Analyzing the secondary system. Murder system grade D+ detected. Host can choose to assimte with the secondary system and have two concurrent systems, or absorb it to strengthen the existing system. Please note: this decision will be fixed and final, and will result in the same action for all subsequent systems discovered. System Notification: Murder system grade D+ detected. Murder in cold blood, one and all, to gain system points and receive a boost to your strength, as well as tools to help n out intricate murders. The greater the murder, the better the reward. Murdering special, high value targets yields better results and rewards. From weapons to technique to formations and golems, the system will provide you a smooth path to the most efficient murders. Lex read the notification again and again, his mind racing. This answered one of the greatest questions he''d had about his system for a very long time, and yet also resulted in more questions. First of all, he was not the only one with a system. While his system may be unique, though he wasn''t even sure of that at the moment, it was a fact that others also had systems. It also did not mention any grade in his system or anywhere else, so he had no idea what grade his own system was, if it even had one. Moreover, the purpose of the systems did not seem to ovep much. After all, his system was targeted towards hosting guests and even promoted charity work of sorts, while this fellow literally had a system that encouraged murder! That raised the question, where did these systemse from, and what was their purpose? His system, especially, confused him greatly. As his understanding of the universe was expanding, he began to understand how truly miniscule he was in front of the capabilities of his own system. In that case, what could it ever hope to get from him? This was a question for which he had no answer. After all, it could directly use its abilities to trap Lex and take whatever it wanted from him, but it didn''t.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Maybe there was something the system needed him to do. After all, he did not know if this fellow was already a murderer before he got the system, or had been influenced by the rewards the system promised to enter onto this path. Whatever the truth of the matter may be, it was a fact that Lex''s life had been inherently linked to the systems for good. Even if he wanted to escape the influence of the systems, he would have to do it by getting stronger first. For that, ironically, the system itself yed the greatest role. If, somehow, his system could be stronger, then it would aid him greatly. Especially because he was not at all interested in going on random murdering sprees. Just as he was having these thoughts, a change appeared on the murderer''s body, and a couple of items appeared. There was one crystal as well as a wide bracelet of pure gold. Before Lex could pick them up to observe, he appeared once again in his room back at the tavern, the murderer''s bodyying at his feet. He quickly scanned the tavern to ensure all was well and breathed a sigh of relief. Rick was controlling the space array around the tavern, so no monster was able to enter during his absence. "Mary, do you care to exin?" Lex said, calming himself down. He knew this was not an opportunity he wanted to miss, but before he did anything, he wanted to get as much information about it as possible. "I do not have the authority toment on anything rted to the system beyond what I''ve already told you. If you want my rmendation on what option to choose, I am not allowed toment on that either. All I can say is, think back to your own experience when the system was new. How did it encourage you toplete its quests? How did it threaten you? I am not saying that other systems will do the same, just that it is something you should remember." As soon as she spoke, Lex''s mind shed back to the early days when the system would threaten him toplete quests by stating the punishment for failure was death. If the murder system gave him a quest and set a simr punishment, Lex would be stuck. He would have no option but toplete the quest. The thought gave him shivers. He absolutely could not get more systems. As for the Midnight system? It was already strong enough to send him to other realms, and so firmly had his life under his control. Making it stronger would not change that fact, but it could at least increase whatever benefits he could get from it. With his mind made up, Lex selected to have his system absorb the murder system to be stronger. The murderer''s body exploded and a small golden ball rushed into Lex''s body the next moment! ? A strong sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu hit Lex as he recalled a shooting star, but this time, fortunately, Lex was not knocked out. Instead, his system interface disappeared, and only the words ''updating'' appeared in its ce. This made Lex nervous, for he used the system for a lot of things, even at the tavern, but all he could do now was wait. Also, he could clean. For once, the system''s automatic cleaning function wasn''t avable, so he had to clean up the mess created by the murderer''s body by himself. Well over an hour Lex sat back down beside the window he opened to air out his room, and investigated the two items that appeared from the murderer''s body. The gold bracelet looked like pretty standard jewelry, right up until Lex channeled his spirit energy into it. Much like the book that appeared in the ring given to him by John, his worker at the Inn, a scripture appeared in his mind from the bangle. For some reason, though, reading a single word seemed to drain him mentally. He was only able to make out ''Lucky Sutra'' before he became too exhausted to continue. In fact, he became so tired, Lex fell asleep the very moment he stopped reading. He woke up groggy and with a throbbing headache. It was only after he asked Roan to bring him a rejuvenating tea that felt better, slightly. He put the bangle away, unwilling to look too deeply into it for now, though he seemed to have understood much about his fight with the killer. This so-called Lucky Sutra must have yed a role in constantly keeping him alive, and why he mentioned that he was very lucky. It was definitely something to look forward to -ter. Rubbing his throbbing head, Lex reached out towards the crystal and reluctantly poured his energy inside. This time, instead of a book, the crystal revealed itself as the controlling mechanism for the formation around the town! "How lucky," Lex couldn''t help butment, his facial expression eerily simr to the killers as he said so. Lex himself, though, did not feel anything odd. It was natural that, if the killer had something to control the formation, it would fall into Lex''s hands after the killer had been dispatched. Not wasting a single moment, Lex started to focus on the crystal, trying to understand how it worked and how he could control it to restore the town to its previous state. During this time he did not notice at all as he subconsciously wore the gold bracelet onto his left hand. His body, which had gone through an arduous battle, also did not warn him via the usual instincts that anything was wrong, as he subconsciously used a portion of his spirit energy and started channeling it through the bangle. As the gold bangle tightened around his wrist, Lex felt nothing, and when it began to fuse into his hand Lex was too engrossed in the crystal. But that''s when things became odd. The bangle, which at first seemed to be quickly melding into Lex''s hand, slowed down. It was supposed to have fused into his hand seamlessly, like a person jumping into the sea holding rocks. Instead, it became like a person slowly falling in tar. It was thick and sticky, and while the bangle was still fusing with his hand, it was way too slow. Still, Lex was oblivious to all of this. When he finally managed to figure out the controls of the formation, he murmured ''how lucky'' and began setting things straight. Turning on the lights would not make the existing monsters go away, but at least it would stop new ones from forming. The mayor, if he was still alive, would have a much easier time reiming the town. Chapter 362 Overdrive State Turning the lights back on was not as straightforward as it seemed, mainly because every formation Lex had ever interacted with before this was generated by his system. As such, the formations would directly act ording to his intentions and Lex did not need to bother with the details of how the formation actually performed the relevant action. Now, on the other hand, there were hundreds of options for Lex to interact with and he could not easily figure out what they did. A simple example of this is taking an avian beast that''s been flying all its life with the aid of its wings, with each and every manoeuvre easily performed at a whim, and putting it in the pilot seat of amercial airline. It could not even begin toprehend what the various buttons did. After a good bit of trying with no significant result, Lex decided to stop and take a break. He needed to reflect on his battle with the killer a bit. At the time, he hadn''t noticed, but the signs of the killer being a system user were all there. From the get go, being able to teleport Lex without any prior warning was a significant indicator that he was not simple. Moreover, being able to spontaneously summon monsters and mannequins, having a mannequin heal him, randomly disappearing or teleporting away. To be honest, any one of these abilities was extremely powerful, and had they been in the hands of anyone morepetent, the fight would have been much harder. Lex was not belittling himself, for he had literally survived a meteor crash, but he also needed to be aware of the fact that the opponent had a system that directly increased his battle prowess. Should he face such an opponent again, and the possibility that he would encounter such foes in the future was great, he needed to be better prepared.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om After all, now that he was sure other systems existed, he would constantly be on the lookout for any hints or clues of system users. Simrly with the renown of the Inn increasing, he had to anticipate that other system users might suspect him as well. He tried to summarize the simrity between himself and the murderer that could be used to identify a system user and be on the lookout for those attributes, while hiding the same features in himself. The mostmon was the random appearance of new items, such as the mannequins. This was bad, as he had already disyed that ability multiple times at the Inn. Next was the ability to teleport. He had disyed that as well. As for his other peculiarities, Lex suspected they had much to do with the Lucky Sutra and not the system. He would need to do more research on the matter toe to a conclusion. With that out of the way, Lex then thought of the ''overdrive'' state that he had entered during hisst fight. It was significantly different from his ''flow'' state. During the ''flow'' state, he would achieve extreme mental rity. His focus would improve and he would be able to perform any and all actions to the best of his physical capabilities due to the extreme control and precision he gained over his own body. The overdrive state was all that and more. It was not tapping into the maximum mental rity or aptitude or focus he could physically achieve, but directly increasing it for a short duration. But, for now at least, the increase was limited to the mind only. That meant he was technically not any stronger than his normal maximum physical limit. But, with his mind working much faster and with greater and more detailed control of his body, he could easily create the necessary situation to exceed his limits. The drawback was, once the overdrive state ended, if he overused it, he would bepletely mentally drained. The greatest benefit, at least as far as Lex was concerned, was that he could sense how to enter such a state. It had originally been triggered by his strong sense of pride. He could feel that, with a little effort, he could enter the state again. He closed his eyes and focused, concentrating on his pride. What was he proud of? It was not something that appeared out of thin air. Even if he set aside everything the system gave him and his sess with the Inn, his repeated sess and achievements in the Crystal realm were definitely his own. Just the fact that the crazy man Vernan wanted to recruit him into strange sses and that everyone mistook him for being born from royalty spoke volumes. Heck, he single handedly took control of various minor realms when even someone like Cwenhild went with a group. He was not just Lex Williams, a simple programmer from New York anymore. He was a genuine cultivator who was cutting out his own path in the universe. Just as he was swelling on these thoughts, his overdrive state was triggered. This time since he was not overtaken by feelings of wanting to kill someone, he could actually take the time to appreciate all the changes. He could feel how his brain influenced his emotions. He could feel how each heartbeat affected every step he took. He could feel each breath nourishing his body. He could feel his arm... wait a minute. Lex turned to look at his left arm and was very seriously surprised to find himself wearing the golden bracelet, but more than that, he was surprised to find it melding with his arm! rm bells rang in his head as he analyzed what was going on, and realized that, even without being conscious of it, he had been running his spirit energy through his arm and into the bracelet. The moment he cut off the energy the fusion stopped and, after a few agonizing moments, the bracelet popped free of his hand and fell to the ground. He dared not pick it up and checked the condition of his body again and again. All seemed to be fine, and his instincts gave him no warning of anything good or bad happening. It was as if his body failed to recognize this as anything but an ordinary piece of jewelry. He didn''t know if that was a good thing or bad, but he used the space formation to seal the bracelet for now. He dared not mess with it again before the system returned. Maybe then he could use something to scan this item. In fact, when he thought about it, it was very lucky that he even considered trying out his new overdrive state. Had he dyed the matter for a few hours more, the bracelet may havepletely fused with him. He did not know what would have happened if it did, but he didn''t want to find out by experimenting on himself. Lex exited his overdrive state and went back to the bar. He needed a drink. As usual, the hall was as crowded as could be. Most people were forcing themselves into a state of escapism by ying board games and drinking all day and night long, and with the tavern at beyond capacity, there was almost no room. It would have felt extremely congested if everyone wasn''t cooperating with each other very well and behaving appropriately. Of course, Lex''s firm control over the space in the tavern, and his emphasis on maintaining decorum greatly helped as well. "You don''t normally drink," said Rnd, the enterprising young businessman who was sipping hot chocte while sitting at the bar. He looked sleep deprived and worn out, with heavy dark circles under his eyes. Lex did not know much about his personal life, despite spending so much time together, but he understood the kid enough to realize he was mature beyond his age. Unfortunately, with that maturity came stress and anxiety that not everyone knew how to manage. "I''m celebrating," said Lex as he took a sip of a chilled ss of Cocaina C. "Celebrating? What is there to celebrate?" the kid asked in a defeated voice. "I have a scoop," said Lex, teasingly. "Are you interested in thetest news? From beyond the tavern?" "From beyond the tavern?" he asked, suspiciously. Unable to guess anything, the kid relented and asked Lex the news. "The problem with the light formation is going to be fixed real soon," Lex whispered. Rnd was startled upon hearing the news, but then gave Lex a defeated smile. "I''m not a kid, you can''t fool me." Shaking his head in disappointment, Rnd got off his seat and went to look for his friends. Although he knew nothing would happen to them at the tavern, he couldn''t help but worry. Lex said nothing and only watched him leave, his hand fumbling the crystal in his pocket. After he got some rest, he would test his overdrive state on figuring out how to manipte the formation. That should speed things up. A loud mming sound woke Lex from his musings. Chapter 363 Abnormal Luck Startled by the sound, the whole tavern looked towards the door that had been swung open. A brutish man, covered from head to toe in filth and monster blood, stumbled in, dragging behind him a massive double sided ax. Well, it was formerly double sided but now one side had been corroded away by something. Even now the ax gave off the scent of burning metal. The man looked at the crowded tavern room, his weary face showing confusion and noprehension. Before he could say anything, Mario Ri rushed up to him with a concerned face and checked up on his body. They said nothing, but Lex strongly suspected that they were already talking through their spirit sense. "Lex, is it possible to get a private room for a short while?" Mario suddenly asked, turning towards him. Lex raised an eyebrow out of curiosity. He ced a great deal of importance on Mario because of his ring, and possible connection to the Noel family. As such, his current reaction greatly attracted Lex''s attention, and aroused his interest towards this mysterious man. After all, as someone who had spent some time at the tavern, he should have known that there was basically no room at the tavern currently. Before he formed any theories on the identity of the worn out man, Mario continued to speak. "Let me introduce you. This is the honorable mayor of Babylon, and a distant rtive of the Noel family. There are some matters we need to handle that require a bit of privacy." A distant rtive of the Noel family - Lex immediately wished he had the ability to snoop on conversations like he could back at the Inn. At the moment, the only way he had to properly even scan what was happening in the tavern was using the space formation. Still, the better his rtions with these people, the better his chances of learning the secrets of this ce. "Don''t take too long," Lex finally said, deciding to amodate their request. "As you know, we''re extremely short on space, and forcing too many people in one space will make everyone ufortable."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The mayor was still groggy, and barely registering what was happening as Mario led him by the hand to one of the private rooms Lex emptied out. After spending so much time at this ce he hade to understand how excellent the sound instion in the private rooms were, so he was not at all worried that they would be spied upon. Moreover, any conversation they would have would be through their spirit senses anyway. After inquiring if the mayor required any medical attention, to which Mario answered no, they closed the door and began their meeting. Lex too retreated from the main hall, back to his room. So far the monsters that had spawned were not too strong, with only their numbers as their greatest asset. But if even the mayor had been brought down to this level, then things must be getting bad. He immediately entered his overdrive state and began deciphering how to use the formation crystal properly. Even if he could not restore the lights, allowingmunication with outside the formation should allow them to request for help. The crystal allowed him to observe each and every change that was happening to the formation, so with every proverbial ''button'' he flicked using the crystal he looked for changes. He spent an entire hour doing this before he was too exhausted to continue his overdrive state and took a rest. This would be a tedious process. ***** A teleportation formation shed, and the crown prince of the Hum nation appeared amongst a crowd of people who were traveling to the Noel family''snds. Although this piece ofnd seemed like it was independent of any nation, it was only because geographically it was too far from any of the nations borders. That did not mean, in any whatsoever, that it escaped the influence of the nations. As a human ruler, no matter how far he actually was from Hum nation, there was no way he would be able to continue his reign without the hidden support from Cornelius. Such was the case for many so called independent states. It was just that the public did not need to know what went on behind closed doors. Regardless of all that, it was that connection that resulted in various teleportation formations that allowed travel even from the farthest regions. After all, it was unknown when they would need emergency help, and even Cornelius himself would take months if not years to travel to the farthest regions without these formations. In his hand he still held a stic fork and, after checking something, the prince dashed out into the darkness, uncaring of any monsters in his path. A short while into his journey, however, he encountered another man making his way through the darkness. Considering that he might be lost and in need of aid, the prince stopped near him. But, after appearing right beside the man, he stood awkwardly. It had been too long since he had spoken to another person while sober. He wasn''t sure what to say. Pvarti, on the other hand, was as genial and excited as always. "Hello friend," he eximed while slicing an elephant sized monster in half. "Would you happen to know where Babil is? Or Baby? Maybe it was Baba? Ah darn, I cannot remember the name of the town, but it had an amazing tavern." The crown prince''s eyes flickered at the mention of a tavern, but then they dulled. How could he expect to find something that could get him drunk out here in the middle of nowhere? "I do not know the name, but I''m heading towards a town. You can follow me and ask for directions from there." "Excellent," he replied, his mood improving drastically. As soon as he agreed, the prince put his hand on Pvarti''s shoulder and carried him along as he zoomed through the darkness. The speed was faster than anything Pvarti had ever experienced and he was startled, but he quickly realized that he was not affected by the speed at all, and began to enjoy the experience. That is, until they reached Babylon and found the formation shutting the town shut. Both Pvarti and the prince grew extremely serious upon witnessing such a sight. ***** Four dayster, Lex chugged a drink very simr to coffee, except that instead of caffeine, it flooded his body with easy to absorb spiritual energy. Unless Lex quickly used up the energy, it would dissipate and not get absorbed into his body. But the benefit of this was, if Lex was drastically using up the spiritual energy in his body, it would automatically get absorbed into his spirit energy pool and allow him to continue using energy for much longer. He needed this drink to facillitate his use of the overdrive state. After four days of continuous use, he learned that it was not only his mental energy that was drained, but it exhausted him physically as well as put a strain on his spiritual energy. Still, after 4 arduous days, he could proudly say he had gained enough of an understanding of the formation that he could finally return things to normal. It would take one final push. He entered the overdrive state and immediately began manipting the formation. He had to be careful, for he had learnt through continuous experimentation that controlling the lights in the town was perhaps the simplest function of this formation. It definitely did many more things way tooplex for him to understand, but they were not his problem. Soon things would return to normal. But Lex remained unaware that, in the main hall of his tavern, the mayor and Mario exchanged worried looks. Things had turned extremely bleak when an importantponent of the town''s formation had been turned off a few days earlier for just a few minutes. That was actually Lex testing out the function of the formation crystal. As a result, some energy signatures that the formation kept hidden had leaked for a few moments, and monsters hidden in the deep, dark depths of the sea had been attracted. Those monsters were way too strong for even the mayor to handle. No matter what happened, they needed to make sure that they could request for aid from the Noel family before something else happened to the formation. Otherwise, the repercussions would spread far beyond just Babylon. Unfortunately, the luck of the entire town had been undergoing abnormal changes ofte. Of the millions of buttons, Lex messed with the single most dangerous one, just long enough to attract trouble. And now, at the worst possible time, he finally figured out how to turn the formation off. Just as suddenly as the town had been nketed in darkness, the lights turned back on, revealing a town nearly destroyed, and an army of monsters filling the streets. The gentle hum of various formations returning to life filled the town. The hum was followed by an earth shattering howl as a massive creature exited from the sea. Chapter 364 Fruit Trifle From the dark, ebbing waters of the coast, two massive ws emerged and set themselves deep within the docks. The ground crumbled under their weight, and the earth itself began to split when the creature they belonged to put pressure on them to pull itself out of the water. A massive head, 30 feet (9.1 meters)rge emerged from the water, two equally massive tusks emerging from the base of its jaw and ran closely down the length of its face. The weight of its gaze froze countless monsters nearby, but their existence was too paltry to even notice to the behemoth. Unable to sense the aura it had traced all the way here, the creature continued to lift itself out of the water, its body emerging from depths like a nightmare escaping a dream. Zagan, the ocean king, was not impatient. It would take its time and search thoroughly. On the other side of the town, Pvarti and the crown prince had been testing the formation for its abnormalities. They did not want to take any drastic action until they fully understood the situation. So when the formation returned to normal, they were taken by surprise. But when the town full of monsters revealed itself to them, their expressions fell. Before they could evenpletelyprehend the situation and even consider eliminating the monsters, Zagan had revealed itself. Pvarti instantly reached into his pocket, looking for the emergency summoning talisman for his father, but found his pockets empty. Now, weeks after it happened, Pvarti was struck hard by the truth once more. He was no longer a part of the Noel family. The prince wasted not a single moment and unleashed his strength in full, the radiance of his immortal aura illuminating the war-torn town with its splendor. With speed mere mortals could notprehend, he appeared in front of Zagan, only acting in deterrence and daring not to attack first. Of the many monsters born from the darkness, very few ever reached the immortal realm. Moreover, for them to reach the immortal realm, they would need to live in the darkness for hundreds of thousands of years. But even amongst the immortal monsters, there was a higher ss that not only gainedplete sentience, but had strength and recognition so great they had names and titles that were passed down through generations. Zagan, the ocean king, was one such monster, and the prince recognized him immediately. "This is human territory, Zagan," the crown prince said in a warning tone. "Withdraw lest the situation escte." It was not that the prince feared Zagan. Honestly speaking, the prince feared no one other than his own father. Instead, it was the certainty that if they fought, the entire town would be destroyed that kept him from taking action. His appearance was right out terrifying, but Zagan did not have a feisty personality. He did not get aggravated or agitated. This was because, with his strength, getting what he wanted was always a certainty. It was merely a matter of getting what he wanted a bit sooner orter. So Zagan did not bother replying. Veryzily, he focused on the prince and shotsers from his eyes. In the beaten and batterednds that had just experienced the greatest struggle it had witnessed in years, two immortals began to fight. The mere mortals down below could do naught but cower in fear and hope to avoid even the gusts released from their battle, for it would be lethal. As anarchy rained from the skies and thews of the world itself bent in the air, the triplets served fruit trifles to the tavern guests. With illusion formations protecting the tavern from the view of what happened on their doorsteps, and a space formation protecting the building, everyone inside waspletely unaware of what was happening. Lex, after fixing the formation, surveyed everything. Technically, the formation also had defensive features to attack monsters, but he dared not try to activate them for he had no way of differentiating friends from foes. But now that new monsters wouldn''t spawn, the Nascents and even the Golden core cultivators would easily handle the monsters. Especially since the unusual interference to everyone''s emotions, making everyone afraid, had also been deactivated by him. Satisfied with his progress, Lex decided to finally rx a little. He entered the Hot tub room and soaked himself in the warm bubbling water for an hour to allow himself to unwind. Once he was done with that, Lex donned a cozy night suit and slipped into his bed. He fell asleep almost instantly, for he''d had very little actual rest thest few days. Outside the tavern, the state of the town was even worse. Buildings had copsed and rubble fell from the sky like rain, crushing monsters left and right.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om While Pvarti could not help with the fight, there were other things he could do. Though he was no longer from the Noel family, his entire life had been spent in it so he knew their secrets in and out. He broke into the formation chamber underground and forcefully served the connection of the formation with its control crystal and reconnected it to a new one. He searched the town for signs of life, and was ted to discover that a good number of citizens had survived by hiding in underground bunkers. What he didn''t know was that this was not a coincidence. The murderer had created safe zones in areas with emergency survival bunkers and herded all survivors that way. He immediately began using the formation, which was the only thing unaffected by the fight happening due to it being buried so deep underground, to further secure the survivors. Well, almost the only thing as the Midnight tavern stood tall and proud on what was once known as Bakers street. It was the only building still standing in the vicinity, with all others having copsed due to the aftershocks of the battle. Still, Pvarti knew none of that. Pvarti also enabled the emergency aid broadcast, alerting the Noel family to the situation here. He did not think he''d be meeting his father again so soon, but it couldn''t be helped. While all this was happening, the ts of the Midnight tavern were ying a game invented by the tavern owner called bingo. It was immediately a crowd favorite, and Lex even allotted a few sses of very expensive drinks as the ultimate prize to keep the audience hooked. Around 8 hourster, Lex woke feelingpletely refreshed. The first thing he did was check on the status of the system, but it still only said ''updating''. The long duration of disconnect had made him nervous. He did not know what was happening at the Inn and he wasn''t used to it. Hopefully, things were alright. ***** Fenrir growled aggressively, ready to rend the world asunder under its might. But it was futile. In the face of overwhelming strength, even the little deterrence afforded to it by its bloodline meant nothing. The Gctic Sovereign turtle lifted Fenrir up by its leg using a vine, and threw him into a pool of water. The dog really needed to get used to showering. Fenrir yelped and struggled, but the turtle didn''t care. It liked its garden to smell nice, not like a sweaty dog. Little Blue, which had entered the Foundation realm,ughed at Fenrir''s state. Its little brother, Fenrir, was far too powerful for the whale to handle or even run from anymore, so whenever it got bullied by the turtle Little Blue would enjoy it endlessly. Unfortunately, it''s fun times were about to end. Under the orders of Mary, Little Blue was about to start its first job. Lex had once instructed them to n out a y area for kids and, after extensive research, it was discovered that Little Blue had a natural instinct when it came to effectivelymunicating with kids, regardless of its species. Although Mary could not contact Lex at the moment, she could not let anyone know. So, unofficially, work was still in progress on all his projects. But, soon, things would spiral even out of Mary''s hands. That was because the final for the Lady Cosmospetition wasing up, and more than oneplication had arisen. Things were under control so far, mainly because of Lex''s thorough preparation, but she could not guess how long it wouldst. Up on Midnight Mountain, the dragon no longer slept and was instead watching the Inn intently. A fight had broken out just a day ago when a rather powerful cohort appeared, iming that one of the finalists in thepetition was their ve and that the Inn needed to hand her over. The dragon had to personally make a move to prevent the situation from going downhill quickly, for no one else at the Inn, even Qawain, could handle them. More importantly, there was a notorious yboy whose reputation had been spread across the gxy who had been attracted to the Inn, and a fight between him and Harry Styles had nearly broken out - and he wasn''t the only one who nearly fought with him. The situation was incredibly tense, and everyone was awaiting the finals to see if any drama would ur. Chapter 365 Dragons Wake Unable to check up on the Inn, Lex decided to have some breakfast before going up onto the roof and investigating the state of the town. Once he confirmed everything was alright, he would go and alert the necessary people about the changes. ? Since Lex hadn''t really been following a fixed schedule when he slept, it was well into the night when he awoke meaning most of the guests were asleep. The few who were awake sat in silence mostly by themselves, or whispered to someone nearby. Lex paid them no mind and got himself some leftovers, heated them up and enjoyed his meal. Feeling good at his recent aplishment, he decided to pair his ''breakfast'' with a 10,000 MP ss of warm malt. Taking his time, Lex began to think about what to do during the next few days. It was unknown when the system would finish updating, and he was limited to the tavern building, so the most he could honestly do is cultivate. He was also thinking of how to keep the tavern guests upied. Bingo had been a great sess so his next n was karaoke night, but he was not familiar with local songs and did not know if there was much of a culture based on singing.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex''s musings stopped when he noticed that Rick was walking towards him. Lex was startled, for he was supposed to be controlling the space formation which, for Rick, would usuallypletely upy him. "We haven''t been attacked by a single monster in well over an hour," Rick exined when Lex asked. "But I had to solidify the entire space around the tavern, preventing anyone froming in or out, because the tavern seemed to be suffering from some kind of long range attack." Treating the matter extremely seriously, Lex took back control of the formation and quickly climbed up to the roof. Yet when he expected to see a brightly lit yet monster filled town, all he saw was a warzone. The wooden tavern building was the only structure still standing as far as the eye could see, and stood out like a sore thumb. Everything else - every building, every wall, every statue, every monument - had been reduced to rubble under the might of an epic battle. In the air, a man battled ferociously with a massive monster that looked like it came out of Godzi''s nightmare. Each gust of wind released from their sh blew fiercer than a hurricane, and carried with it massive boulders like kes of snow in a winter storm. The town''s formation, despite the state of what could no longer be called a town, seemed to be active and running for the battleground was well lit, and it seemed to restrict the monster somewhat. With each sh the human would release a roar that would put thunder to shame, his fists carrying might that made lightning seem like mere static, yet the monster remained unperturbed. In fact, the monster was not even paying full attention to the man. From time to time, it would try to attack the ground, as if looking for some buried treasure. The man, who looked more like a single flea in front of the creature, however managed to block each and everyone one of its attacks. Lex gulped as his brain finally managed to process the sh straight out of science fiction that was actually taking ce before him. It would be fair to say that, at the moment, Lex was at his most vulnerable. He did not have ess to the system right now and could not make additions to the formations, or use some other method to help him out from this predicament should the battle divert towards the tavern. He should have felt fear. Instead, his gaze was focused yet calm. He put on this thinking cap to put him in the artificial state of ''flow'' so that he would not make a mistake or miss out on something important. While he could not make anyst minute additions to the tavern using the system, he was not unprepared. From the moment his gut gave him the unusual warning from earlier, he made plenty of additions. While he stillcked a means of attack, as ever, he had more than one formation to protect himself. In fact, as absurd and crazy as it may seem, Lex spent 780 million MP just on adding different formations to the tavern to increase its protection. It may seem like an absurd amount, but there was no amount of MP Lex wasn''t willing to spend for his own protection. But even though he was willing to spend MP, the reason he ended up spending so much was because he did not know what kind of trouble to anticipate. He had to add various formations to cater to as many possibilities as he could imagine. "Zagan, this is yourst warning," yelled the man, his voice sounding more irritated than angered. "Retreat. If this goes on much longer then even if it means I have to stop holding back, I''ll make you regret it." Lex was startled to learn that the state of the town was a result of a battle where the participants were still holding back. He didn''t know what had caused the battle, but he really hoped the monster would be deterred. Unfortunately, that was not the case. The monster only increased its pace of attack, bombarding the humans and the ground with pulses of energy. The human tried, but he was not fast enough to block all attacks, causing them to create massive craters in the ground. The lights produced by the formation flickered as the formation was finally being threatened, though it still seemed to be holding on. "Mr. Innkeeper," whispered a familiar voice in Lex''s mind. "I sensed something really, really wonderful underground for a moment. If you can find it and eat it, I think it would be very delicious. Even I''m feeling a little hungry after sensing it." Lex was startled, but quickly made the connection. Indeed, there was some kind of treasure hidden here, and the formation''s real purpose was to hide its aura! Well, Lex couldn''t bepletely certain of this fact, but it seemedpletely usible to him that someone would build a town here so that the addition of such a massive formation wouldn''t be questioned, and it could continue to hide the prescience of whatever treasure was here. But the monster''s attacks seemed to be threatening the integrity of the formation, causing it to leak the aura of whatever it hid. The World Seed Lotus on Lex''s back wasn''t the only one to notice the aura. The monster had as well, and its eyes lit up as it began to concentrate its attacks. But the human was no pushover. True to his earlier threats, he had stopped holding back, and instead of blocking the monster, he now focused on attacking. Cracks seemed to appear in the sky itself whenever he attacked, and the monster was finally forced to take things seriously. It stopped attacking the floor and instead defended itself. The speed of their fight soon exceeded what Lex couldprehend, and all he could witness was the continuous aftermath of the battle. Before things reached their crescendo, two more humans seemed to arrive from a distance and immediately joined the battle. Lex had no idea who they were, but they were definitely also extremely powerful. The fight, still beyond hisprehension, only seemed to be getting more intense with the addition of the new participants. There was no indication that they were close to defeating, or even intimidating the monster. Moreover, the cracks left behind in the sky from the various shes seemed to be increasing and Lex could feel an acute threat from them. It was best to resolve the situation as quickly as possible. He thought for a moment which one of his formations would be most helpful, for no matter which one he used, he could not directly defeat the monster, only fool or intimidate it. There was a gentle shift in Lex''s expression as he shifted into his Innkeeper persona, exuding innate confidence even in the face of the most powerful guest. He activated the formation called Dragon''s wake, a formation that had cost him 180 million MP and performed only one function. It acutely replicated the dragon''s aura that was released by the dragon back at the Inn, though in greater intensity - even if only for a short moment. The aura spread from the lonely tavern building and, in the blink of an eye, covered the entire battlefield. Zagan, the crown prince, Bertram Noel and his father, both of whom had just arrived, were washed in the feeling of being eyed by a predator. Their hearts froze as an inborn terror filled them, and in their heads they all saw the image of a single reptilian eye quivering just a little. It was as if a dragon was on the verge of waking up. Chapter 366 Flood Of Colors The aura disappeared just as fast as it appeared. It was but a single moment of pure suppression but it hadpletely stopped the flow of battle. Each participant eyed each other warily, as if to determine if the others knew the origin of the aura, yet they were all equally surprised. Lex considered making a statement. A simple one liner to let them know that he was displeased or that he would let the matter stay so long as they ended their battle. But the move didn''t feel right. As the Innkeeper, if he gave excessive exnations while in the Inn, it would still make sense since he had to provide an exnation to his guests. Outside, however, he did not need to exin. Since he was ying the role of a powerhouse, no matter how down to earth he made his personality seem, some things would be beneath him. In such a situation, the fact that he supposedly shed his aura at them was already enough of a warning. Giving further exnations would make him seem weak. So, with arms folded across his chest and an impassive face, he just looked up in the air and watched everything. Whether or not the battle continued would determine his follow up. In fact, he was already preparing for the battle to continue. After all, while he was using the mindset of a powerful overlord to judge the situation, he had to live in the reality where he was pathetically weak in front of those up in the sky. A single second went by since the aura disappeared. For Lex it was a miniscule amount of time, barely enough to form a couple of thoughts, but for the immortals in the sky, a single second was akin to a lifetime. The speed at which their minds worked was notprehensible to mere mortals and so, a single second of indecision was actually an immense deal. It showed just how much of a deterrent that aura had been. Zagan understood that the target of the aura had been him all along, since he was the one who came here and started making trouble. Since whoever released the aura marked this ce as his territory, he surely had an understanding with the humans. The only question that remained was if he was willing to risk fighting whoever released the aura for the treasure. After all, it need not be exined that for a being of such level to reside here, the only attraction was whatever that treasure had been. Zagan was confident in his own strength, but if he had to fight the owner of that aura, alongside these humans, it would be a little difficult. Zagan hated things that were difficult, for he was somewhatzy by nature. Letting out an irritated groan, Zagan turned around and returned to the watery depths. The immediate threat of the beast was gone, but the humans remained frozen in the air. This was because they did not understand where the aura hade from. Was there some ancient monster sleeping in the area from long before they ever even arrived? It seemed like it. Yet even as they waited, nothing happened. No monster arrived. There was no follow up. When they were convinced that all was well, Bertram and Joseph Noel, the patriarch of the Noel family, finally turned their attention to the battlefield that had once been Babylon. Bertram was especially hit hard by the town''s current state because he had visited it so recently. It was hard to believe that there would be a single survivor. Then they turned to look at the Midnight tavern. Amidst the brokennd, filled with monster corpses and the burnt up remnants of what might have once been houses, a single, three story wooden building stood pristine. The small garden at the front had the sheen of freshly cut grass but other than that, it did not seem like it had even suffered from strong winds. They even noticed that, by a particr window sill, a robin had made a small nest. It was safely nestled on top of its tiny eggs, asleep without fear or concern of the carnage that had struck thends. It was too peculiar. If there was any chance of survivors, it would be there. Suddenly, Bertram was struck by a memory of a visit on his passage through the town. "Midnight tavern¡­" he mumbled, softly remembering the ce where his brother hadst partied. But, before he even had the time to reminisce, a hole was blown open in the ground, and Pvarti emerged.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "There are survivors," he yelled up into the sky, uncaring that his family would treat him as a stranger. "But the entrances have been buried, and the formation isn''t working properly, it''s been too badly damaged." The family that did not expect a reunion so soon quickly began excavating an entrance to the underground bunkers. Finding survivors would help them understand what exactly had happened here, and what exactly that one building was. Back inside the tavern, Lex descended from the rooftop in a jolly mood and pped his hands loudly to attract everyone''s attention. "Ladies and gentlemen I have excellent news," Lex said slightly formally, forgetting to step out of his Innkeeper persona. "The town''s formation has returned to functioning normally, and all the monsters outside have been taken care of. For safety reasons, I suggest you still stay indoors for a bit longer but someone should be visiting us soon to let us know it''s safe outside." The crowded tavern was frozen still, unsure if they believed what they were hearing. The problem had been resolved? That was¡­ easier than it should have been, right? Though they were crowded, they were never hungry or bored. They realized long ago that some kind of illusion had been cast on the windows for they could never see a single monster outside. Even now, things seemed exactly the same if they looked outside. But the tavern owner had no reason to lie to them for this was a lie easily exposed. That must mean it was true. Cheers erupted altogether, and even those who weren''t in the hall quickly found out what happened. The kids especially were the happiest, and some started crying. It had been too long that they had been away from their parents, and they were too afraid to even think of what had happened to them. In the jubtion and merrymaking, no one besides Lex noticed that the front door softly opened and a single man stepped in. He was holding, in his hand, a remarkably familiar looking stic fork and he was looking directly towards Lex. The two exchanged nces before the man turned towards the bar and, after hesitating for a moment, went and sat down. Lex went and sat beside him. "What can I get you?" Roan, the barkeep, asked. "The strongest drink you have," the man answered. "The strongest? You sure? It''s expensive." "Yeah, yeah, I can afford it," he said casually. Roan looked at Lex who only nodded, before he retreated towards the kitchen. He had to go to the Wine cer to bring out the truly expensive drinks. There was silence between the man and Lex, as neither said anything first. A few minutester, Roan returned holding a small jade bottle sealed by a cork. After showing the man the bottle, and clearly stating the price just to be sure, he poured him a drink. This single bottle had been worth 1 million MP and held only two servings worth of spirit. Which meant the drink the man was having was 500,000 MP in value. When he heard the price the man almost thought he was being ripped off, but when the bottle was opened the man went into shock. The stic fork dropped from his hand and his attention was solely focused on the small white bowl in which the drink was poured. A milky white drink with chilled fog hovering around it appeared in his eyes, and became the only thing in his world. As the drink poured from the bottle he observed its flow like he was watching the most beautiful woman in the world. When the bowl was ready the man reached forward with shaking hands, but when he held the cup his hands became steady. In his world silence descended as he brought the cup near his face and took a deep sniff. Even with eyes closed the man saw an explosion of colors in his mind. Waves of red shed with yellow and green, forming a tempest of raging beauty. The colors changed form and became a river flowing from the highest peak, filled with fish swimming up and down the stream. Birds chirped as they flew over the river and rainbows bloomed. Grass spurt from the ground along with the most fragrant of flowers. The man was lost in his own world, for he had gotten drunk just from the smell - the cup still full in front of his nose. Chapter 367 Tears The crown prince of Hum had lost himself in the intoxicating smell of his drink, his world now a sh of vibrant visuals and obscure concepts. He seemed to have lost himself in the world where grass grew in moments and life flourished in rivers of milk, where honey dripped from trees and the concepts of beauty and peace merged together to form angels with the sole purpose of giving him their love. The blue skies were filled with Sol birds, dancing in the distance. Fairies formedmunities in trees and the wind carried within it the sound ofughter always. It was heaven, for the world was perfect, and it was hell, because it was forever out of reach. His eyes still shut, the crown prince moved the cup to his lips and took a single sip. As refreshing as the morning dew, the spirit sat in his mouth, refreshing all of his senses. He savored the soft vor for a while but he finally drank. The heaven that had filled his mind now enveloped his body, but not as strongly as it had captured his mind. It was like a tingle on the back of his neck, like a teasing wink of a lover just out of reach. Unable to stop himself, the prince downed the whole cup in one go and let the sensation fill him. It was like the embrace he had longed for, the warmth of a hug he never knew he needed. He felt everything that was broken inside of himself, and then he felt a gentle hand run through his hair, ying with his curls. He heard a whisper - no one would heal the injuries in his heart for him, but there was no rush for him to heal either. He could be weak, for as long as he needed, until he had the strength to heal himself. Lex did not know what was happening inside the man''s mind. He was simply curious as to the man''s mission. He could guess much, simply based on the fork that he recognized. That was not to say that he believed the fork was extremely unique orpletely unavable on the market. It was more of the fact that the chances of him running into a mysterious stranger who was incredibly powerful and happened to be walking around with a fork that was identical to his. He was more inclined to believe that the man had used it to somehow track Lex down. When Lex had left the Hum nation, he did not actually know what danger he had been avoiding. He was blissfully unaware that the king himself had made an appearance in search of him, and wanted to procure his cultivation technique. He was also ignorant of everything that had happened after. It was for this reason he did not immediately make the connection between the man and the King himself. His first thought was that the crazy professor Vernan had sent someone to track him down. He was patiently waiting for the man to finish enjoying his drink, but was taken aback when the man suddenly started bawling his eyes out. One moment he was fine, and the next tears were streaming down his eyes like a waterfall and he was wailing like a baby. His face had turnedpletely red, and he hadpletely lost all control of himself. Others, who were celebrating, and were caught in the emotional tempest that the announcement of the end of their self-imposed imprisonment in the tavern was ending, saw the man crying and began crying as well. The triplets themselves were too anxious to work so Roan and Rick were passing out drinks the fastest they were able to, and the presence of the drinks made everyone even more vulnerable to the fluctuating emotions. The doors to the tavern opened and Joseph and Bertram Noel stepped in, ready to encounter a life and death battle, only to encounter the scene of hundreds of men and women drinking and crying.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om They were frozen still, unsure of what to say or do, when an annoyingly familiar voice sounded out from behind them. "Drinks all around, barkeep! The Noel family will foot the bill today!" Pvarti, who no longer had any responsibility towards helping his family out, strutted into the tavern and ordered a Dimmelon juice. He had forgotten the name of everything, but he did not forget the name of his new favorite drink. The crowd did not cheer as he expected, but he could not be bothered as he crossed his family and made his way to the bar. He found Aegis, who he had spent some time with already, wailing away. Slightly creeped out, Pvarti decided to ignore the man for the moment and just drank on his own. Lex, upon noticing the arrival of Bertram, dissolved the illusion formation around the tavern. Even if his guests saw the mayhem that had urred, there were others who would deal with it. But before he could go greet the man himself, the mayor quickly arrived in front of the duo and began whispering something to them. Lex decided to let them have their privacy and kept their distance for the meantime. Soon, the crowd began to notice the situation outside the tavern and were struck by horror and disbelief. What was happening? Where was Babylon? Had they teleported somewhere? Too afraid to exit the building, they gathered by the door and windows and looked outside as a hush fell over the tavern, with only Aegis still crying loudly. But the mayor was an aplished man. He did not let chaos descend, and quickly conscripted most into his rescue party. He had sent arge number of soldiers to gather the town''s citizens and lead them towards underground bunkers. The bunkers had now been buried by the rubble, and needed to be excavated. The truth was, this was something that could have been easily achieved if he did it himself but the people could not be allowed time to wallow. They had to work, and helping to save people would give them some hope in this situation where they had been struck by despair. Soon, the tavern was rtively empty once again. Many of the children had to be put to sleep because they became hysterical upon seeing the destruction, but some, like Rnd, managed to keep themselves from acting out. As he watched everyone leave, the triplets along with the baker and his wife included, Lex had a heavy heart. He was not sure how many survivors there were, but he''d venture that most of those who went out had lost someone. Even the formerly spoiled workers at his tavern went out to search, doing their best to keep themselves from trembling as they saw the destruction. Soon, only the now drunk Pvarti, Aegis, Bertram and Joseph were left in the hall. Lex exchanged a look with the two who still stood at the entrance, shrugged, and went to the bar as well and poured himself a drink. He could not decide what was the best exnation to give as to how his tavern remained unharmed, but decided to be as vague as humanly possible about it. Upon noticing that Lex was making no moves to approach them, Bertram stepped forward and ordered a ss of Sunset wine. "We meet again," he said as he swung the wine in his ss, making no actual move to drink it again. "So we do," replied Lex, as if there was nothing unusual going on at all. "Your tavern has made quite the impression on me," Bertram said, slowly introducing the topic. "Thank you, though I must say, the neighborhood isn''t as safe as advertised when I bought the property." Bertram smiled weakly. It seemed the tavern owner was taking a dig at him. He readied himself to broach the topic directly, since if Lex hadn''t shown any hostility so far there was no reason to believe there was any. Yet, as luck would have it, at that exact moment, the Midnight system finished updating! Along with a mental notification beep that only Lex could hear, a sort of spatial tremor released itself from Lex''s body startling Bertram and his father. The tremor did not travel far, only till the boundary of the tavern building, but that was more than enough to give the two much to specte on. Lex, who was also taken by surprise, felt an immense change overtake him. Moreover, the system kept giving him multiple notifications, drowning his mind with the repeated beeps. "Excuse me for a moment," Lex could not help but say to Bertram. "I have a small matter to take care of. Please make yourselffortable, I''ll be back shortly." Though he said he was back, the Noel family had already received the answer they were looking for. Lex was some kind of hidden expert, and a powerful one. But, he seemed to not want to get involved in others matters, which is why the tremor only went as far as the tavern premises. It was a silent way of letting them know that whatever happened outside the boundary of his tavern was none of his business. In truth, they were forming their own exnation for what had been a coincidence. Or rather, a lucky coincidence. Chapter 368 Upgrade At the moment, Lex did not care much what the Noel family was thinking because he was feeling too impatient about the upgrades to his system. The fight with the murderer had been incredibly tough, but at the same time, Lex could feel that the killer himself was too much of an amateur, and perhaps had not been using the system for long. It was unlikely Lex would ever encounter such a weak system user again. Moreover, even if he did, Lex was not a mindless killer. He could not ept randomly killing someone just to steal their system - unless they provided him with a sufficient reason to get rid of them, of course. Setting all that aside for now, Lex looked towards his notifications. New notification: System upgradeplete! New System status unlocked: System: Midnight Inn System Grade: Divine (broken ~ SSS - B+ ) System Owner: Lex Williams System functionality: 12% System self-repair time: 33,312 billion years New Notification: New features unlocked. New features include: Beyond the grave Blend reality Fishing well Murderer New Notification: Inheritance detected! Unlocking the Inheritance lounge. Please submit the inheritance to activate the Inheritance lounge. New Notification: Live map function unlocked! New Notification: Inter-realm broadcast unlocked! New Notification: Murder ground unlocked! New Notification: Targeted scan unlocked! New Notification: Remote prescience unlocked! New Quest: elerate the system''s recovery by absorbing more systems! Quest Reward: 1 Maximum grade level reward Remarks: Sometimes, helping yourself is the same as helping others New Quest: Help your guest ovee his alcoholism Quest time limit: 3 days Quest Reward: Midnight Signature Brew Coffee Remarks: There is more than one way to serve a guest New Quest: Recruit Zagan the ocean King as a Midnight Inn valet Quest reward: Rainbow bridge Remarks: Good luck, bro Lex blinked several times as he read the many notifications, as there was a lot of information to absorb. Right off the bat, his system''s level was way too highpared to the murder system, so why did it appear as if that system was more proactive in directly helping its user? At least, he seemed to have abilities that Lex would have guessed came from the system because the killer himself did not seem skilled enough to learn them - especially something asplicated as teleporting at his cultivation level. He had a few guesses of his own, but he ventured that it was most likely because either their systems were of different types, or because his was apparently broken. As far as system types were concerned, Lex had too little information to make an urate judgment. All he could venture was that his system was focused around running a business and the killer''s was directly focused on a type of action. This was why his system only gave him support in terms of helping that business, while the killer''s system focused on making it easier for him to perform that action. He would need to encounter and study a few more systems to work out how the division happened or what they were based on. Then came the focus on his system''s broken status. Considering the fact that his system could reach the entire universe while being broken, apparently, made it so that the system''s true capabilities were genuinely beyond hisprehension. Apparently it was only working at 12% of its maximum capabilities, which left a lot of room for Lex to imagine what kind of services it really had. As for the time required for it to heal on its own, Lexpletely ignored it. He had no idea what would happen to him tomorrow, let alone 33,000,000,000,000 yearster. Next, his attention directly snapped to the 4 new features the system added. He didn''t even need to ask Mary about them, for the system informed him of its own. Beyond the grave: If a guest enters the Inn right before the moment of their death, in exchange for all their umted wealth, they can continue to exist at the Inn as a guest in the form of a spirit. The amount of time the guest can stay as a spirit depends on the amount of wealth exchanged. Blend reality: The Midnight Inn can sometimes merge with portions of the worlds connected to the Inn, allowing guests to directly enter or sometimes see into the Inn. Fishing well: Guests can attempt to fish in the well. The well leads to worlds connected to the Midnight Inn and unowned items can be fished through it. The item can be immensely precious orpletelymon and depends on luck. Murderer: Every time the host kills someone stronger than them outside of system grounds, the host can learn one of the victims abilities/techniques Just these new features were incredible, and Lex could see them bing very popr in the future. But, a part of him could not help but feel that Beyond the grave and Murderer were not normal features of the Inn, and had instead been unlocked because the system had merged with the murder system. If this theory was true, then in the future he would be able to unlock new cool features depending on the system he merged with his own. This theory was both easy to prove and incredibly hard. It was easy because all he had to do was merge with a system, while it was hard because Lex had no idea how to look for other system users. He could spend more time pondering these matterster, but for now, his attention turned to the next unlocked room: the Inheritance lounge. He did not need to wonder what the inheritance was as the next feature unlocked by the system, the live map function, clearly outlined it for him! It was the bracelet that had the Lucky Sutra inside of it! That was the inheritance. Not wasting a moment Lex picked it up and submitted it to the system, activating the Inheritance lounge! New Notification:n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Lucky Sovereigns inheritance detected. Malicious karma was detected! Eradicating karma and absorbing the inheritance. New Inheritance: Lucky Sovereigns Lucky Sutra The Lucky Sovereign ran out of luck one day and died in the 7 Nation Crystal realm. Before his death, he condensed his ties of karma into a bracelet and embedded it with his Lucky Sutra. Anyone who cultivates the Lucky Sutra would slowly be influenced by the Sovereign''s karma. Once they cultivated sufficiently, due to the influence of karma, the Lucky Sovereign would be reborn in the cultivators body! The Lucky Sutra is not a direct cultivation technique, but rather an auxiliary technique used to influence Luck. One of the many ways it can be used is to allow the wielder to steal the luck of any victim he kills, activating it to save himself from bad luck at critical moments. But beware, stealing good luck inherently attracts bad luck! Notification: Inheritance lounge can now be ced. Guests can attempt to gain the inheritance, though the chance of failure is high. The Inheritance will not disappear upon being learnt, and can continue to exist in the lounge! ''Bloody hell!'' Lex thought to himself as he read the description of the inheritance. On the one hand, he suddenly understood why it was so hard to kill the killer! He had absorbed the luck of so many victims. On the other hand, he had really dodged a bullet by not trying to read the Lucky Sutra. Though,e to think of it, had he not entered his overdrive state he would have absorbed the bracelet into his body, and then may have been forced to cultivate it. He wouldn''t be surprised if that''s what happened to the killer. In a way, his luck was pretty good that he chose to enter the overdrive state at that time and notter. Shuddering at the thought, he set the matter aside, for the system had taken care of it for him! He then turned his attention to the live map function! It was incredible, and, in a way, was a deeper version of his normal scan function. His scan allowed him to check the status of anyone within the system grounds while the live map showed him everything that was happening at the Inn and the tavern, and highlighted different people and items in various colors, giving him even more information. Stuff like friendly or hostile, treasure or poison, a potential Inn recruit or someone to be wary of were all things that the map allowed him to do. It was like the maps in video games, only more details. The only unfortunate thing was that, once again, it was only limited to the system grounds or else he''d never have any problems avoiding trouble again. Lex then looked at the next unlocked feature and his eyes shone with excitement. The Inter-realm broadcast would save him a lot of trouble , and make life much, MUCH easier for him. Most of all... Lex held out his hand and activated it. After a moment, Fenrir, the wolf he was normally able to summon from the Inn to the various worlds with him, appeared in front of him. Chapter 369 I Have A Question Fenrir had been undergoing a growth spurt, but it quickly learnt that therger it grew, the more obvious its existence became to the bossy turtle. As such, he had been trying hard to repress his growth. He was not able to do that, but by focusing so much on a specific thing, he was able to unlock a bloodline ability that let it manipte its size. These days, it spent most of its time either the size of an ordinary dog or the size of a pup. It was unfortunate, since therger he became, the more love the various guests would give him, which was nice. But the turtle was too scary, he had to avoid it. As for what made it scary? No matter how Fenrir disyed its bloodline repression, the turtle would remain unaffected. At least in other beasts, this was not an ordinary reaction. Even the grumpy dragon atop the mountain gave him at least a snort when he used his repression. So, when Fenrir was summoned, he appeared before Lex in the size of a pup. He was asleep, for it had exhausted itself from fighting the turtle. The change in the environment, though, immediately startled it awake. Its size immediately more than tripled as it readied itself for a fight, yet it was immediately assaulted by a familiar scent. The next moment, its eyesid on Lex, and its body froze. It sniffed a few times to check, but Lex''s scent was both familiar and yet different. Who could me him? His body had absorbed so many metals, his scent was the least of the changes he had undergone. Yet it was neither the scent nor the familiar sight that assured them of each other''s identity. It was the bond they shared that tied them together as partners. Fenrir howled in excitement as it quickly leaped onto Lex, not bothering to care that in its current size it was muchrger than Lex. Had this urred before Lex''s breakthrough, he would have fallen over, but now the massive size was naught but a minor inconvenience. Compared to Fenrir''s excitement, Lex was a lot more emotional. It had been months since he had gotten stuck at the Inn, and a part of him believed that it would be years before he ever got a chance to return. He had resigned himself to being unable to meet anyone he was familiar with, and in honesty, he had made decent friends here as well. That did not change the fact that, deep down, Lex had missed the Inn terribly. Somehow, he missed it even more than Earth itself. As for his family¡­ Lex had been keeping himself from thinking about them for quite a while. Still, the joy in his heart swelled at finally seeing a familiar face. He had used a support token on Fenrir which allowed him to summon and un-summon him from the Inn to wherever he was. Unfortunately, he had been sent to the Crystal realm, which was not another world but another realm. Due to theplexities involved in traveling from one realm to another, not only was Lex stuck behind until he gathered enough energy, he could not exchange items from the Inn in the way he usually could. For example, he used to be able to buy healing items from the gift shop and use them on himself, but was no longer able to do so. Now, with the Inter-realm broadcast unlocked, not only was this issue resolved, it would change the nature of Lex''s stay at the Inn. To be specific, all the Inter-realm broadcast allowed the Inn to do was, when required, broadcast a special signal to other realms, allowing the system to, temporarily, form a connection between the Inn and that realm. This was different from how the system acted within the Origin realm, which could be essed by the system at any time all at once. But, by having a broadcast, through whatever unique method it used, the Inn could maintain its normal functionality to other realms as well. There was only one drawback to this, which is that while in the Origin realm, things like the golden key could instantly connect, in other realms, there would be a considerable dy. For Lex, this represented two major changes. The first was that, from now on, not only would he be able to connect other worlds, but other realms to the Inn as well. This meant that the golden door that randomly opened sometimes ons connected to the Inn would now open randomly anywhere in any realm connected to the Inn. The second major change this represented for Lex was his current status in the Crystal realm. He had been pulled into this realm by an ident caused by an unknown anomaly, and to return he had to manually gather enough energy to allow the system to return him. He also had a quest to uncover what the anomaly was. Now, however, due to the existence of the Inter-realm broadcast, the energy requirement to transport him back had dropped so dramatically that the emergency protocol that gave him additional authority had been withdrawn. In a short time, he would eventually link this realm to the Inn, which would allow him to return naturally. He could still, however, absorb vast amounts of pure energy to speed up the process further. His excitement at the prospect of being able to return actually managed to overshadow his feeling of grief that he no longer had the additional authority. That made many things much easier. For example, the drink that had been served to the man back at the bar who was crying was something he was only able to buy with his increased authority. He was no longer able to buy such high level drinks. In fact, let alone drinks, even the formations he could now buy were limited to, at most, being able to affect Nascent level cultivators. But, what was done was done, Lex couldn''t be bothered to pay attention to it. He spent a good amount of time hugging and ying with Fenrir before he turned his attention back to the system. There were still many other notifications he needed to understand. After the Inter-realm broadcast was the ominous sounding Murder ground! Murder ground: When on a linked to the Inn, you can select a target and instantly teleport both the target and yourself to the murder ground! Neither can leave while the other still lives! Selecting a target requires marking them through physical touch. Additionally, the Murder ground can be rented out to resolve fights and wars without disrupting the environment of the original. Please Note: surrender is not an option when using the Murder ground, as only the victor can be living to exit the Murder ground! Lex did not doubt for even a single moment that the Murder ground was an ability the system got from the Murder system. This was exactly like what had happened between himself and the murderer, except that he was pretty sure he had been marked without physical contact. Still, this ability was too powerful and ominous, as it could teleport others away from their home ground. Moreover, the option of not allowing surrender also ensured that the battle would be bloody, with no recourse. From an environmental perspective it was good, as it would spare the from suffering through the trial of war and its apanying destruction, but by leaving no survivors, it merely channeled that destruction from towards the environment to the opposing enemies. Lex continued to read the new additions. Targeted Scan: The host can scan living beings outside of the system grounds. However, the amount of information received will be diminished aspared to the scan in the system grounds. He nodded, appreciating the ability. Even if it was limited, it would help him immensely. Remote prescience:n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om You can project your image anywhere in the system grounds and interact with guests via the image. The keen observer will be able to detect that it is an image and not a real body. Lex raised an eyebrow. This was a good ability, especially since he did not intend to stay at the tavern once the Inn was also unlocked. Whether he was at the Inn or the tavern, he could use his Remote prescience to handle matters personally. Next, he turned his attention to the quests. Whether he was required or not, he more or less intended to help the system recover, though he wondered greatly about how the system was damaged in the first ce. Based on the knowledge that others also had systems, Lex could conclude that there was a great possibility that someone had the system before him. Suddenly, he froze, and a few things clicked in his mind. He might not have been¡­ the first person to use this system! "Mary," he said suddenly, his voice very even. "I have a question for you." Chapter 370 Greatest Weakness "Yes?" Mary asked, unaware of what was going on in Lex''s mind. She had be aware of when the connection was restored and was waiting for Lex to finish up his business before she began briefing him on the situation at the Inn. Things really were getting bad.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "I know you''re probably going to tell me your authority isn''t enough but¡­ did the Midnight system have an owner before me?" There was a moment of silence as Mary did not answer immediately. He did not know if she was hesitating, or investigating the truth for herself, or checking her authority, but the silence itself was very telling. Regardless of what she said, Lex had made a conclusion on his own. "Thest time we had a conversation about systems¡­ I told you that you should be much stronger before you learn about these things. But, since you have already encountered another system user, it is imperative for you to learn as much as possible about other systems lest you are caught unprepared. Since you also have a quest rting to absorbing more systems, your authority and rights to sensitive information in this regard has been adjusted. I will share with you what you can know. "First of all, a system exists in the form of an item. It is currently residing in your soul, and not inside your body, but from the moment you gained the Midnight system, the system has been operating through that item as its core. When you reach that Nascent realm, the system will sessfully merge with your soul. At that point, both you and the system will experience a minor overhaul. You will have a great increase in authority, and the system will have a much easier time operating." Mary paused again, distress painting her holographic image. "As you have guessed, this is not the first time your system has had an owner. Such is the case for most systems in the universe, for they have existed for a very long time already. When one owner dies, the system continues to exist and simply changes its owner. But, and this is the most important part, no two systems arepletely identical. They may be extremely simr, but they will never be the same. At least, so far it has been like this. This is because, when a system changes owners, only the grade of the system remains the same, not how the system operates. "So, your system, when it had a previous owner, did not exist as the Midnight Inn, or even a hotel of any sort at all. The only thing that has remained is the grade, though due to severe damage, while the grade remains, the functionality of your system has dropped immensely." Lex was honestly not expecting to receive an answer, but now that he did, it left him feeling kind of hollow. The user dies, but the system remains. So maybe, there really isn''t something special about him that the system wants. Maybe it''s just riding in his body until he dies, and it moves onto another host. "Did you know the previous host?" Lex asked soberly. "My memories began the moment you absorbed the system," Mary answered sinctly. After another brief pause, Mary continued. "While systems have great abilities, they are not omnipotent. Strong beings and cultivators can easily detect the prescience of soul treasures in lower-level cultivators, and if their attention is focused on you they will easily be able to detect the system. The only reason you''ve avoided this, so far, is because each time you met an overwhelmingly powerful cultivator, it was in the system grounds, where the system has the most ability to hide itself. "But, that is not the only way to detect a system. Depending on the grade of the system, the way in which it interacts with the universe atrge is different. For lower grade systems, there are many ways to detect its interference if one is looking for it. "For you this, at least, is not a concern because even while your system''s functionality has been lowered, the level it is operating at has already transcended the letter grading system." "Can a system''s grade be raised?" Lex asked, his interest piqued. "All systems began at the E- grade," Mary answered. "If its grade is higher, then it''s because its owner or previous owner has raised it himself. For you, this is irrelevant, because the level of your system is too highpared to yourself. The chances of you encountering something that can help you raise your systems level is too low. Of course, you can also raise your systems level by absorbing other systems. But you already had so much trouble facing the Murder system, a grade D system. Trying to absorb higher level systems is something you shouldpletely forget about for now." Mary paused again, as if thinking about something, then said, "You will gain more authority regarding systems when you reach the Immortal level. If you want to learn anything else about systems before then, you will have to figure it out on your own." Lex took in a moment to absorb all the information he received, his hand mindlessly running over Fenrir''s thick coat. He could not even imagine how strong the previous owner of his system must have been for it to reach the Destiny realm. Yet, he died all the same. Moreover, considering the system''s damaged condition, there was a real possibility that the death wasn''t pleasant or peaceful. Of course, there could be other exnations, but he put it out of his mind for now. "Any tips on how to identify other system users?" Lex asked. He hadn''t had much time to consider this, but he had been wondering if he had run into any other system users while running the Inn. Considering the kind of business model it was, even if he hadn''t yet, there was a good chance that he would in the future. "A systems greatest weakness¡­ is another system," is all Mary replied. Chapter 371 Merciless Onslaught "What is that supposed to mean?" Lex asked. A system''s greatest weakness was another system. So was his system supposed to help him out in looking for other system users? "That is all I can say," Mary said, shaking her head. Lex mused on everything he had learned today, and thought about things he needed to do in the future. One very important thing to take note of was that if he was outside the Inn or tavern, the prescience of a treasure within his soul might be perceivable. While the system could hide itself, as it had once done when he encountered Loretta''s dad, Lex needed to take a more active role in its protection. If he was on the lookout for more systems, there would be others as well. He didn''t want to spend too much time thinking about these things, for he hadn''t forgotten that he had guests waiting for him. "What''s the update on the Inn?" Lex finally asked. "Did I miss anything important?" "Many things," Mary replied in an exhausted tone. "The Lady Cosmos is nearing its end. Only two contenders remain, but a few days ago an incredibly strong cultivator arrived iming that one of them was her ve and that we should return her immediately. The dragon managed to subdue him, and the security team managed to kick him out of the Inn, but now the contestant is too afraid to go on. She is very concerned that, once thepetition ends, and she returns to her, someone will show up to turn her into a ve." Lex narrowed his eyes. He truly had no solution for what someone might do outside of the Inn. "Tell me about her," Lex said. "Her name is Jill. She is a Fox from Nibiru that underwent an evolution and became able to convert into a human. She ims that she has lived her whole life on Nibiru and has always been free. The person who ims to be her owner is from a species known as Gti, and was very strong. Even Qawain was unable to deal with him, and only the dragon''s assistance resolved the situation." "Well, what''s the issue, then? If he''s not her master, then there''s no way he''ll be able to locate her or her. I believe everyone was very carefully informed not to share personal information during the show."N?v(el)B\\jnn "She did not reveal anything, but someone from Nibiru recognized her and spread her information. Although the person hunting her may never be able to find her, she is extremely afraid of returning - he was just that strong. She''s beenpletely crippled with fear. Even if that Gti can''t find her, she''s too afraid of being found by others." Lex nodded and said, "I''ll create a new room called the Hot tub room. Send her there to rx and relieve the stress on her mind first. Afterwards, send her to Harry and have him help her out in removing the excess fear that has taken hold of her mind. In the meantime, we''ll think of solutions. In fact, send me her details. If she''s skilled and has a good personality, we can hire her as a staff member and then she can live here. That''ll solve her problem." Mary nodded and said, "Since you''ve brought up Harry, there''s also a matter concerning him. He''s been asking me to find out... if he gets married, can his wife live at the Inn with him as well?" Lex was genuinely startled by the question. Harry was 17 years old, or maybe he was 18 now. Either way, he was extremely young. Why was he thinking of getting married? Not waiting for Lex to ask, Mary exined how Harry and quickly developed a rtionship with one of the contestants for Lady Cosmos. Though she did not win, she had made it to the top 5. Once thepetition was over for her, she and Harry had spent so much time together and had developed feelings quickly. As abrupt as it seemed, both wanted nothing more than to get married at once, hence the question. After all, without the Inn, they both lived on differents and would not be able to have a life together. Lex, of course, knew a bit about what was going on between Harry and Hailey, but this was a little too much. Still, he was happy for them, and allowed them to live at the Inn together once they got married. After all, Harry already had a room at the Inn. Next were a few other misceneous problems, including the children''s area Lex requested. At the time, he had allocated a massive empty plot ofnd at the Inn and wanted to turn it into some kind of childcare/ festival type area, where parents or guardians could temporarily drop off their kids. The design was ready and, after getting Lex''s approval, he spent 2 million MP to make it happen. It wasn''t too borate since it was targeted towards kids. It was mostly just colorful and full of y areas that were child friendly. While Lex was receiving a report of the Inn''s situation, at the Inn, near the area where the kids'' area was designed, two kids were riding Peacocks across thewn. The peacocks, which had lived at the Inn for nearly a year, had naturally been nurtured by the turtle and had grown powerful enough to support the weight of fully grown men, let alone two children. "Princess La, new territory straight ahead," said the boy, looking through a pocket telescope at the new structure that was inly visible to the naked eye. "Well then, deputymander Captain Jimmy, full speed ahead! Peacock warriors, we will conquer all thesends!" As if to answer her deration, a few other children riding peacocks appeared on the horizon. The battle for the yground was nigh, but would the staff of the Midnight Inn be able to handle the merciless onught that awaited them? Chapter 372 Time To Hunt The Midnight Inn day care service, which had existed for an entire 3 minutes 21 seconds, fell under the siege of the Peacock warriors. Astride their viscous mounts, they leaped over the padded, childproof boundary walls and right into the children''s zone. Somended in the hedge maze, filled with ripe, delicious fruit ready to be plucked and eaten. Others who leaped over the wallsnded in the ball pool, or rather, in the sea of colorful stic balls. Others stillnded in houses made entirely of trampoline like surfaces, while somended on the jungle gym that stood above a massive pool. Delicious candy was stashed like treasure in the center of the jungle for all to see, but the path to it was perilous. "Princess La, the enemy hasid booby-traps," Jimmy said, his eyes affixed on the jiggliest te of jelly ever known to man, hidden in the center of a mirror maze. "The Peacock warriors know no fear," she replied gantly. "Forward march! Thends shall know our might!" But before the march could even begin, the rabbits from Bunny nation appeared one by one, confused. They had been hired as caretakers at the daycare, but no one hade to drop off any children, so where had these little ones popped out from? Unfortunately, no one would answer them. The bunnies barely had any training on how to deal with kids, so they began hopping around trying to calm them down. Unfortunately, they only made themselves easy targets for the Peacock warriors. Like this, the first of the great Peacock-Bunny skirmishes began. Lex, woefully unaware of the plight of his workers, dismissed Mary and finally returned to the main hall of the tavern. Having regained control of the system, not to mention having attained great upgrades and benefits, Lex''s mood was noticeably better when he returned to the Noel family. The man on the bar was still crying with his head covered by a towel that Rick threw his way. Bertram and the other man were also sitting at the bar, casually sipping on a hot beverage as they waited for Lex to return. Although the town needed their help and supervision, there was no longer any emergency so they could take their time. After all, all monsters were dead and the people who were trapped underground were only trapped and not harmed - probably. Even if they were, understanding the truth behind not only the tavern, but possibly even that mysterious aura from earlier took precedence. After all, it would be too much of a coincidence for a tavern capable of surviving Zagan''s attacks to appear at the same time as an unknown, powerful entity they had never discovered in the region before. Even if it was not hostile towards them, they could not simply ignore it. After all, this was their territory, and they had plenty of secrets to hide. Even if they had no conflict now didn''t mean there wouldn''t be a conflict in the future if their secrets were revealed. "Please excuse my behavior from earlier. There was a matter that required my attention," said Lex as he walked up to Bertram. "Considering all that''s happened here recently, it''spletely understandable if there are a few fires to put out here and there," Bertram replied. "Allow me to introduce you. This is my father, Joseph Noel - lord of this territory." "It''s an honor to meet you," Lex said politely, though he only gave a slight nod instead of an borate bow as one might do before such an important person. It was already toote for him to start pretending to be ordinary, so there was no point in him being too deferential now. "Your establishment provides surprisingly good service," Joseph said, as he raised his mug a bit. "I''m surprised you opened up in such a small town rather than one of the big cities." "Small towns have their own rustic charm," Lex replied. "Besides, I was not really in the mood for too much hustle and bustle. A simple tavern in a simple town is enough for me." "A simple tavern?" Joseph repeated with an amused tone. "Indeed, in a simple town," Lex replied, looking the man in the eye. "By the way, I have something for you." From his pocket, Lex took out a stack of papers and presented it to the man. "Not to be rude or anything, but I''m assuming as the lord of the territory, you''ll take care of the lodging and food expenses for all the survivors during this period." The papers were an itemized bill for all the services he had provided during this time to all the people who had crammed themselves at the tavern. At first, in the name of humanity, Lex decided not to charge them since it was an emergency situation. But since the ''lord of the territory'' was here, there wasn''t any reason for him to continue to bear the cost. After all, he was running a business, not a charity. Joseph struggled to keep his face straight as he received the bill and handed it to his son without even looking at it. "Of course we''ll take care of it," Joseph answered. "Though speaking of taking care of survivors during an emergency, it''s quite impressive that your tavern was able to survive Zagan''s destruction." It was time. Lex had to give some kind of answer, no matter how vague. "Very fortunate, I think," said Lex. "It was due to a protective formation left behind by a friend of mine who was very concerned for my health." "God bless such friends," Joseph replied, though it was unknown whether he believed the story. "Is your friend still around? With skill like his, even I wouldn''t mind paying for his services to build a formation or two. After all, danger is around every corner in these parts. Even Zagan, the ocean King, himself was scared away by the aura of another powerful being nearby. Even I was startled by it, yet I noticed none of the survivors who escaped your tavern even felt the aura. Such protection truly is remarkable." "My friend already left a while ago, though I''ll thank you on his behalf forplimenting his skill. I''m not sure what aura you''re talking about, since I didn''t feel it either, but maybe you should check underground. There have been a number of strange aurasing from undergroundtely." The words spoken were all polite, but the subtle testing and probing by the lord were all deflected by Lex. When Joseph hinted that Lex might know or have something to do with the aura that scared away Zagan, or that it might even belong to his mysterious ''friend'', Lex replied by letting him know that he had no intentions of revealing anything, and that if questions needed to be asked, there were a few he could ask himself about what was happening under the town. After all, even the Lotus on his back had been attracted to the aura that had been revealed earlier. Whatever was hidden down there was truly something unimaginably precious. Maybe, just maybe, the whole reason the town was formed here in the first ce was to use a protection formation as a guise for a much more borate formation, the true purpose of which was to hide the treasures underneath. There was a moment of silence after which Joseph was about to reply to Lex when the weeping man beside them quickly got up. He removed the towel over his head and looked at Lex with eyes filled with red streaks! "I want more!" he said hoarsely. It had been a long time since he had been as splendidly drunk as what he had just experienced. Unfortunately, the effects of the drink, while splendid, did notst a long time. With his cultivation level, he could barely remain drunk for an hour. As an addict, he was naturally desperate to drink it again. Yet Lex did not forget histest quest. He had to help the man ovee his alcoholism, and he had to do it in 3 days.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om This would not be easy, but Lex would definitely try. In fact, he already had 2 ns in mind on how to tackle the problem. The first was aplex n that hinged on the man''s own willingness to cooperate. The second was to turn him from an alcoholic into a druggie. It was not the most moral solution, but with only 3 days, he had to be a little creative. "I''m sorry, but I only have one more serving of the drink left, and the price of the drink has changed." "It doesn''t matter. No matter what the price is, I can pay it." "It''s not a matter of money," said Lex as he said goodbye to the 500,000 MP he would get from selling it. "You have to do a few things for me. Let''s start with this." Lex let out a low whistle, summoning Fenrir from the kitchen wagging its tail. "Take him out of the town and help him hunt the monsters for a bit. He''s never had such an opportunity, so it''s the best time to practice. Of course, you can''t let it get hurt." Honestly, since Fenrir''s original role was supposed to be a protector of the Inn, it was about time it started training a little on how to hunt. Chapter 373 Impressive Pup Bertram, Joseph and the drunk all looked at Fenrir with curiosity. Although only a very short time had passed since they arrived. Bertram and Joseph at least had gotten a full debriefing of everything that happened during this period and had paid special attention to everything rting to the tavern. There had been no mention of a pet dog whatsoever, and in a building as cramped as this had been, it was impossible to hide such an animal. After all, even if the animal itself was hidden, any sound it made would still be heard by the various guests. The drunk, instead, looked at Fenrir like a man parched in the dessert, finding a ss of water before him. By instinct, without even realizing that it would be inappropriate, all three immortals scanned the dog with their spiritual senses. It had been a split second only before they snapped out of it, and recalled that Lex may find the gesture rude. Yet that split second was more than enough to give them an overwhelming amount of information. First of all, even under the pressure of three immortals, Fenrir did not flinch. He continued to wag his tail and stroll towards Lex. He had entered a whole new world full of new energies and new smells and, best of all, no scary turtle to give it baths. He was incredibly happy. The fact that he had returned to Lex also greatly improved its mood. Just his amazing resilience to their aura was enough to rm them, but then what their scan revealed was even more amazing. A simple scan was not enough to reveal to them the secrets of Fenrir''s bloodline, but it was enough to let them know that Fenrir was of an astounding pedigree. So much so that Joseph and Bertram came to a tacit understanding that the beast that had revealed its aura earlier had been rted to this dog here in some way. Now they were certain that Lex himself was a powerful person, hiding his identity for some reason, and had an even stronger entity hiding in the tavern. They did not do something as immature or juvenile as ming or judging Lex, despite his immense strength, for not helping out the town instead of sticking to his tavern. The strong did not need to give an exnation for what they did, and it was not their responsibility to begin with. In fact, saving as many as he did, and even going so far as only charging Joseph something as paltry as money for his service, already spoke of Lex''s immense magnanimity. All these thoughts went through the immortal''s heads in merely the first second of Fenrir''s arrival, and though Lex noticed something, he did notment on it. "Of course, if you remove all danger, then it won''t count as proper training," continued Lex. "Let him battle on his own, but if the situation gets too dangerous, you can help him out. A few scrapes here and there won''t be a big deal either." "Understood," said the drunk as he epted the task. Lex was not worried that he would end up not doing his task properly and let Fenrir get hurt. First of all, Lex had seen how he fought Zagan. Despite his drunken appearance, the man was a legitimate powerhouse. Secondly, with his connection to Fenrir, he would always know if Fenrir got hurt, and could summon him right back to himself in case of an emergency. Still, as a precaution, Lex scanned the drunken man. Name: Aegis Cornellius Age: 88 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: Earth Immortal Species: Human Condition: Drunk Remarks: A child that never grew up.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex raised an eyebrow out of curiosity. He had dealt with Cwenhild enough so that he was no longer intimidated by the thought of someone from the royal family. But an immortal who also happened to be from the royal family, tracking him down specifically with the stic fork in his hand. This required a bit more caution. But it mattered not. Not only did Lex have ways of protecting himself, Aegis seemed to have forgotten whatever his task was. The remark, alongside his reaction from when he had his drink, gave Lex some ideas on how to proceed with helping him ovee his drinking addiction. Once Lex told Fenrir that Aegis would take him hunting, he became extremely excited and began jumping up and down with excitement. Aegis too wasted no time and quickly took Fenrir alongside him outside the town formation. The darkness did not intimidate the dog, and the various monsters that suddenly turned their attention towards them seemed only like y things. Fenrir looked at them with his head turned out of curiosity. He was supposed to hunt these things? He felt no threat from them though. Whatever, he would treat it as a game. He bared his teeth and leaped into the closing horde. Weak as they werepared to Fenrir''s own strength, the pups totalck ofbat experience immediately began to show. Fenrir did not give up though, as the pain from the various attacks unlocked a memory it had suppressed. It recalled the pain it had been feeling from even before it was born. It remembered its flesh being torn open and stitched back again and again, helpless and unable to even understand. Most of all, it remembered a vague memory of another pup... of a sibling, maybe. Slowly the anger that had been buried deep within its bones, but had turned cold due to a simple and easy life, began to rekindle. Slowly, his viciousness began to return. Slowly, Fenrir began to step onto the path destined for it. Back at the tavern, Lex turned to Joseph. Before they were interrupted, they had been probing each other silently and secretly. Now, though, before they could return to such a state, Lex took control of the situation and diverted the conversation. "I''m sure you have much on your te right now, with all that has happened, but if you get some free time, there are some things I could use your help with. Of course, I would not take your help for free, and will see how I can repay you. Maybe I can even ask my ''friend'' to help out with some matters, though at most he will help get some precious materials instead of directly helping out." Bertram and Joseph both turned towards Lex, interested in what he had to say. Pvarti, who had been drinking on his own all this time, had fallen asleep at the bar and was lightly snoring. Though Lex still did not know the details of what had happened to their family, he assumed that his presence was not required for such important conversations. After all, his personality seemed more inline with partying than actually working. "I''m in need of energy, massive stores of energy. Something like spirit stones won''t cut it. I''ve seen crystals before,pletely clear crystals that contain extremely pure and dense energy that are used by the Crystal race for cultivation. If you can get your hands on those, I''ll try my best to satisfy your requirements as well." "How many do you need?" Bertram asked, his voice steady, not revealing what he was thinking. "Not many, about a hundred would do." "A hundred!" Bertram and Joseph were both startled. Unbeknownst to Lex, they actually had a mine from which they extracted such crystals, but even so, producing 100 of them was a monumental task. "A hundred is impossible, but I''ll see what I can do. The question is, how will you pay for them?" "Providing you with a formation like mine is impossible," Lex said t out. "But I can procure other precious materials for you. I''m not sure what will be avable, but you can provide a list of things you need and I''ll see what I can get." The father and son exchanged a nce and no doubt had a mental conversation, discussing the details of their trade. The truth was, Lex wasn''t really in need of energy. Asking for the crystals was only the first step in helping them be morefortable trading with Lex. This was because the rare items he said he could procure woulde from various requests in the guild room. Since he could ask for rare materials, he could skip the middleman and directly ask for concentrated energy stores. In fact, he had already put up various requests in the guild room for energy stores or batteries or whatever. Since he had Inter-realm broadcast now, he''d be able to summon items from the Inn which had, essentially, resolved his energy crisis. It was only a matter of time now. What Lex was truly after now was secrets only strong natives would know. He wanted to know the history of Kraven. Although the elder from the Crystal realm he met hinted at the fact that he could find out from him, Lex did not want to ce all his chips on a single horse. Once the Noel family began to trust him a bit, he could begin his investigation. Chapter 374 Making A Plan "SAVE ME!" roared a bunny, but it was of no avail. It was each rabbit for itself right now. Deputymander Captain Jimmy was having trouble holding onto the rabbit he had begun to ride, but he was, after all, not ordinary. He had built up the Peacock warriors side by side with Princess La and had conquered many beasts. Only the ever elusive flying whale had remained safe from him - not even the miniboss of the Inn, the giant turtle, had been able to avoid being his mount. Though to be fair the turtle never tried to resist to begin with. Still, Jimmy was a relentless child. He had affixed himself onto therge rabbits back by mping his thighs shut, and he was holding onto its ears like a harness. It could jump around was much as it wanted, but he would never let go. Or so he thought. "Jimmy, it''s time to go," called his mother who casually walked through the chaos of the child zone, informally now known as no-man''snd. When all the children in all the Inn, human, beast or otherwise, all gathered together in one area there was bound to be chaos. In fact, egged on by the antics of their counterparts, a few gangs had already formed in the No-man topete against the Peacock warriors. Furthermore, whoever was running the child care area was extremely sharp minded. Instead of dispersing the gangs, they organized small friendly games to buildpetition between the gangs. They went from hide and seek, tag, puzzle solving, cooking, crafting and more. Eachpetition would the winning team some points, and at the end of each week the winning team would have their name put up on a recognition board and win small prizes in a ceremony. Moreover, thepetitions were short and were formatted in such a way that the entire gang did not need to participate all the time. Whenever someone from Peacock warriors was avable, they could take part in anypetitions going on at the time. "Just a minute mom!" Jimmy yelled back as he maintained his tight grip on the rabbit''s body. A few seconds of crazed hopingter, an rm ran announcing the end of thepetition, allowing Jimmy to finally rx his grip. The rabbit and the boy both fell to the ground in exhaustion, but the difference was that while the rabbit was mourning the fuzzing of its fur, Jimmy had a wide grin. He had yet to lose a singlepetition. "Jimmy lets go," said his mother once again, picking the boy up from the ground. "You have toplete your homework before your bedtime. Mrs. Evilteacher has beenining about your worktely." "No mom, noooooooooo," he wailed, his good mood ruined. But s, it was to no avail as his mother took his hand before both of them disappeared. In the distance stood Rafael, who had been watching the entirepetition. His eyes were filled with strange emotions. In his past life, he had known Jimmy as a silent but hard man. He was a warrior like no other, and though he was not strong, he had distinguished himself from the rest due to his sheer grit. Watching him now, like this, enjoying games with friends and going to school like an ordinary kid, Rafael could not imagine this was the same person. He did not know what had happened in his life to turn him from this normal, happy child to such a dark and grim person. Whatever it was, Rafael swore he would not let it happen again. Jimmy had not been the closest friend he had in the future, and his achievements on therger scale of things were unremarkable. Still, whatever he had was worth protecting. After all, there would be no point in his return to the past, or maybe his visions of the future, if he didn''t change the future. Even if it was a small change that would only affect or protect one child, he would do it. This was merely his beginning. In the future, he would change everything. *****n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Joseph and Bertram were left feeling slightly awkward. Lex had asked for extremely precious resources, but in exchange, had offered vague payments. Saying stuff like he could procure ''precious or rare'' materials or treasures sounded more like a scam than anything else. Plus, whatever it would be would have to be equal in value, and then something they actually needed. After all, there was no point in gathering something valuable, butpletely useless. Fortunately, Lex was not asking for delivery first and instead requested that they submit a list of items for him to locate first. If he insisted that they provide the crystals first, they would start to think that he was trying to ckmail them. Regardless, since Lex had requested that they provide him a list of items, Joseph quickly prepared one. The Noel family''s speciality, publicly, was their treasure manufacturing. For certain items their production was halted or slowed due to the absence of some rare materials. It was not a matter of the Noel family being unable to pay for them, but rather of the items not being avable in the market all the time. The list he gave Lex only had items that were either not avable on the market frequently, or were so rare it would take decades for it to appear at all. Lex perused the list casually before putting it away. He would put down these items and their descriptions in the Guild room. Hopefully, he would get a response quickly. With their initial business concluded, the Noel family left to go oversee and help with the citizen rescue. Lex was left nearly alone in the tavern, with only Rick, Roan, the sleeping Pvarti and the children that had been put to sleep to keep himpany. All others had gone in search of their friends or rtives. He knew for a fact that most of them were about to be met with disappointment. Even if they had survived the darkness, the killer and the monsters, the destruction of Zagan''s battle was thorough. Unless one was hiding underground, Lex did not think they would have any hope of surviving. And even then, it was only a hope and not a certainty. But, of all of them, he hoped that at least the triplets and Dino''s families were alright. Only time would tell now. With that done, Lex retreated to the meditation room and put on his thinking cap. With everything that had been happening the past few days, Lex hadn''t had time to properly reflect on all that had happened. By nature, Lex liked to have a n to follow, and liked to think things out. It was not necessary to follow the n to the letter, but at least the n gave him direction. If he started from the beginning of recent events, the first was that he had been pulled into the killer''s Death Bubble without any forewarning whatsoever. It was the first time his instincts had failed him entirely. He always knew that his instincts couldn''t be entirely perfect, but he always assumed that it would be someone with a much higher cultivation level than him that would beat him. Instead, it was someone with a system. That revealed to him that, most likely, in all things rted to systems, his instincts would likely not work. This theory needed further testing, but it made sense. The systems were something beyondmon understanding after all. The next matter was that he was teleported outpletely without any protection. Even though the tavern wasn''t exactly as secure and in sync with the system as the Inn, he had safety measures in ce but he was still at the mercy of the system. ording to Mary, only a system was another system''s weakness, so if he wanted to be protected all the time, he should never leave the Inn - although he wasn''t so sure he wanted to do that either. The next point of concern was that his new battle style using arrays was more or less a sess. What he needed to do now was increase his implementation speed and thinking speed. Implementation could be sped up with practice, but increasing his thinking speed would likely require him to train in some kind of mental technique. That led to his next issue. He needed a reliable source of cultivation techniques. He could, theoretically, return to the Hum nation and go back to the academy and search for techniques there, but he''d rather not risk it. He didn''t know what danger had driven him away from there and he was in no mood to find out. He had John who could design techniques, but how long would that be a viable solution? He needed a new venue for techniques. The next issue was that he needed to up his practice with Evisceration. If he hadpletely mastered the technique, even Lex was curious to see what kind of coincidence could have saved the killer from him. With these few, rtively simple points addressed, he now had to think about systems, and system users. Chapter 375 Dont Kill It was a matter of fact that, from now on, no matter who he met, a part of him would always wonder if the other person was a system user. But excessive suspicion was not only really bad for him, it would actually distract him from locating actual system users since his attention would be spread so thin. What he needed to do was, keeping in mind everything he knew about systems, maintain a vignt state for clues. Only if a person behaves oddly or did something out of the ordinary would he consider analyzing the likelihood of them having a system. Maybe this way he would miss out on actual system users, but the fact of the matter was that he had other objectives than just looking for system users, and if he didn''t ration his mental capacity, he would fail in all his tasks. Moreover, once he did identify someone he suspected had a system, his surveince had to be as discreet as possible. In fact, it would be best if he could spy on them at the Inn. He did not enjoy undertaking unknown risks. As for what he would do once he was sure someone had a system¡­ that was a decision that would have to wait till the actual situation urred. Another thing he had to do was go through the list of people he actually knew, or guests from the Inn, and gauge whether or not they likely had a system. From his actual personal life, he directly dismissed everyone he knew. There was no point in even considering he had lived too ordinary a life before the Inn to even suspect anything mildly supernatural, let alone someone having a system. Then came his various guests. In lieu of their insane cultivation levels, Lex wanted to suspect Bastet and Fk but then dismissed the idea. Though they were strong, they did not do anything unusual enough to warrant suspicion. Next he thought of Marlo. To be honest, just based on how crazy his life had been, Lex wanted to believe he had a system. But if he did, he would not have lived with an injury for so long, nor would he have ignored his son''s plight. Next was Alexander Morrison, but he was just rich and privileged, not crazy supernatural life system users. Then he thought of Ragnar. The general from the Jotun empire sure had an epic story, even if Lex didn''t know too much of it. But, again, he was strong and aplished, but nowhere near supernatural enough. One by one, Lex went through the list of his guests. He considered the bodyguard he had during the Midnight games, he considered Loretta''s dad, he considered the various beasts he''d met and more. None of them had done things crazy enough for him to suspect they had a system. However, there were a few things that caught Lex''s interest. Maybe if Lex wasn''t sitting in the meditation room, which boosts his focus and concentration, and maybe if he wasn''t wearing his thinking cap, Lex might not have remembered, or even considered these few suspicious points. The first was that the Sovereign Gctic turtle could influence his system. Not only that, the system had ''hired'' the turtle on its own. This was much too suspicious. Lex could not exin it and his ''authority'' was not high enough for Mary to exin it to him yet. It came to the point where Lex began to wonder if the turtle had some kind of interference system that only worked on other systems, allowing him to share some of the authority. Still, Lex left some room in his mind to consider the fact that there was much he didn''t understand yet about systems, and there could be other answers. Maybe the turtle''s race was special and was being treated as such by the system. The next thing Lex noticed, or rather remembered, was that he encountered a few people his system could not scan. To be more specific, it scanned them, but Lex only got an error message. One was the bodyguard he had during the Midnight games. This was the only reason Lex still didn''t know his real name, and onlyter learned that he belonged to some race known as the Celestials. The second was his temporary worker, John. Just the error message was not enough to prove anything, but the error could possibly be exined with the statement that only a system was another system''s weakness. Still, this was not enough to be sure. It was, however, enough to suspect them a little. His bodyguard was too strong, not to mention out of reach, but John was avable right at his Inn. He asked Mary if John had done anything suspicious, but the man had never done anything other than work and often visited the Mystery trial. During the invasion the Inn suffered, he helped out a bit, but none of his performance was too out of the ordinary. Lex told her to keep an eye on him and let him know if anything popped up. But other than those two people, he could not even begin to even mildly suspect that anyone had a system. It made sense, to be honest, for if systems weremonce, then they would not be such a secret. Lex spent the rest of the day nning his future actions, and how he nned on growing the Inn, as well as bing stronger. The next day, Lex was faced with some good and some bad news. The bad news, predictably, was that a lot of people died. Dino and his wife''s entire family was gone, as well as all their friends and everyone they knew from their neighborhood.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om The good news was that, since the triplets had several murders take ce near their house, their entire family had moved out of fear. They were temporarily living in a town shelter. When darkness fell, they had been protected by the town guards and moved into the underground bunkers, which had been kept well lit using candles andnterns. When Zagan attacked, the entrance to the bunker had been destroyed, but fortunately they had been resuced before all those trapped ran out of oxygen. Lex also found out that the Noel family would be migrating arge number of people to rebuild and repopte Babylon as they said it was a strategic point too valuable to give up. Lex did notment. Instead, he turned his attention to Aegis. Fenrir had hunted all night long and the effects had been drastic. Though the pup waspletely covered in wounds, he was not deterred. In fact, he started to disy a bit of bloodlust that even Lex could feel. Even the look in his eyes became more savage. The change had been so drastic that Lex stopped the hunt temporarily to let him recover, both physically and mentally. Aegis was waiting patiently for Lex to give his next request for he was extremely parched and it was not water that would quench his thirst. "Sit," said Lex, as he invited the man to a private room. "Before we get on to the matter of further payment, would you mind telling me why you were looking for me." Aegis showed signs of struggle for a mere moment before he shamelessly betrayed his father. "Old pops wanted me to go and get your cultivation technique. He told me to agree to whatever price you wanted, so long as you agreed to hand over the True path cultivation technique." Lex raised an eyebrow out of curiosity. There was a lot to unpack from that one simple statement, but he didn''t want to divert his attention from his quest for now. He had only 2 days left and he had to use them wisely. "For the next part of the payment¡­ tell me about yourself." "Myself?" Aegis repeated, surprised. "Yes, tell me about yourself. About why you started drinking in the first ce. Tell me in detail, don''t skip over anything." This time, Aegis struggled a bit longer. The look in his eyes was of one who did not want to look back at life, of one who had suffered immense torture and struggle. His eyes were a well filled only with pain, and now someone had asked him to bring out that pain, one bucket at a time. Still, the struggle did notst long. He gave in, and with a deep, depressed sigh, began talking. "I started drinking because¡­ life was just too damn boring. It''s just¡­ it''s just, so so boring. When I was a few years old, maybe 6 or 7, I heard someone mention that old pops was really strong because he cultivated the True path. I looked at the cultivation technique and, after a few days, learned all of it and began cultivating even in my sleep. Then I heard Kraven were very strong, so I went to kill them, but then I killed so many that old pops came and stopped me. I heard girls were¡­" "Wait wait wait wait," said Lex, suddenly freezing. "You''re saying¡­ the King actually prevented you from killing too many Kraven?" Chapter 376 Lucky Chance "Wait, you''re saying the King prevented you from killing Kraven?" asked Lex, realizing he had finally touched upon the real secrets of this realm. "Yeah," replied Aegis, not at all phased by the severity of what he was revealing. "I was very young back then, like maybe 11 years old, so old pops never really knew who I was yet. But when I started killing too many Kraven, he had toe and stop me. He said I was too young, and wanted to hide my potential." Lex calmed down a bit upon hearing that. If it was to protect and hide a very promising child, then preventing him from killing Kraven made sense. It was still not incriminating enough. "He said I should hide properly until I''m stronger and just focus on cultivation because it wasn''t really easy. I got really excited when he said that. I never knew what it meant for something to be hard, everything was always so easy. But in the end, it turned out to be a lie. My cultivation was slowed because I was cultivating the True path, but I still easily reached the immortal realm. "Everything I did was too easy. Learning was easy, fighting was easy, cultivating was too easy, killing Kraven was too easy, finding a girlfriend was too easy. Life was just so boring. In the end, I gave up. There was nothing fun to do at all. I even considered taking on the Kraven in a war, but old pops stopped me again." At this point, Aegis stopped, his drunken visage retreating a bit and his expression turning serious. "When I told old pops about my conundrum, he offered me a new solution. He wanted me to defeat him, and if I did, I could be king. He said the challenge of running a country was immense, since it did not depend just on my efforts, but on the efforts of all its people. The offer finally enticed me. So we fought. "It shouldn''t have been hard. I had never lost a fight before, and pops and I were in the same realm." At this point, Aegis trembled. "But man oh man, a single p from the old man nearly killed me. All the bones in my body broke and, in fact, shards of my ribs filled my lungs. To top it off, my spirit waspletely disoriented and my soul seemed to lose its shape. "But it wasn''t all bad. I was excited, in fact. I finally found something that wasn''t easy." He paused again, and looked at Lex with red eyes full of tears. "Can you imagine? Finally, for the first time in my life, I found a challenge. I found something that I couldn''t aplish with just a little bit of effort. I found something to work towards. I trained like a mad man, and improved beyond what I could have even thought, yet still only a single p put me out ofmission. "But, instead of being deterred, I was even more excited. I worked, for years and years and years, training and growing beyond anything anyone can imagine. I fought Kraven and Crystal race alike until I could find no threats, I fought monsters born in caves so deep underground they''ve never seen light for as long as time has existed. My strength grew and even my realm grew, until I reached the very peak of the Earth Immortal realm, surpassing my father who was still somewhere in the middle. "After all of that, when we finally fought again, this time he didn''t even need to p me." Aegis startedughing as tears streamed down his face. "He didn''t need to p me. He simply blew a whistle, the tune of which caused my spirit to copse, putting me in aa for years." The drunk beganughing as if he told the funniest joke ever heard, yet the tears never stopped rolling down his face. "Can you imagine the feeling of finally finding something to look forward to, but it''s not a challenge? Instead, it''s an impossibility!" For a long time, Aegis continued tough, while Lex felt slightly bad for him. Based on the little he heard, Aegis seemed to be some kind of never before seen genius, learning everything with ease. But the first time he encountered a challenge, it was instead an impossible wall to ovee. But fortunately, if this is what caused him to start drinking, he had a few ideas on how to solve it. But first... "Why did the King continue to stop you from killing the Kraven even after you became an immortal?" "He said that, instead of the strength of one man, humankind needed to grow strong in its entirety. He said that even if I killed all the Kraven, some other threat would rece them. The only real answer was that if the entire human race started producing geniuses like me more frequently." Lex frowned. One need not be a genius to know that the King was just providing a barely logical sounding reason to prevent the Kraven from being eradicated. This was such a strong contrast between the ideology he spread amongst themon people of the nation that Lex could not identify what the real reason behind it was. "Do you know if any of the other races do the same thing, by preventing the truly strong cultivators from eradicating the Kraven?" "I''m not sure. All I know is that the Kraven no longer try to invade the Crystal race. Thest time they did, the Crystal race retaliated so strongly that the Kravens war with all the races was affected. Unfortunately, the Crystal race isn''t too interested in the state of the realm, since no one can really affect them. "The truth is, although I said that no one in the Crystal race could fight me, that was only counting Crystals around my own age. As an immortal race, they have way too many unbelievably strong cultivators just randomly sleeping around. "For the rest though... maybe on average, humans aren''t as strong as them, but humans have their own advantages. We are not pushovers either." Lex pursed his lips as he thought hard. The old man from the Crystal race told him that those that needed to know the truth of the Kraven knew it, and the way for him to learn was bing important enough to have them tell him. He could tell that Aegis was on the periphery of that list, but not quite on it. He had not earned the trust of his father, or proven himself enough, and quite frankly, Lex could understand why. He had not hesitated at all to sell out the trust of his father, or maybe he never even perceived this information as a secret at all to begin with. Whatever the case, it made sense that he had not been brought into the fold. Yet Lex was not ready to give up so quickly. Maybe he didn''t know about the Kraven, but his position still exposed him to many secrets. Lex would thoroughly take advantage of this situation. "What do you know of the Noel family?" Lex asked, diverting the topic. "Joseph Noel was amon adventurer who stumbled onto some huge secrets," Aegis replied just as casually as before. "But he was smart about it. Instead of trying to hoard everything for himself, he made a pact with old pops and gained his protection. In exchange for his protection, he offered old pops a lot of immortal grade treasures. I don''t know all the treasures he provides, to be honest, but I know a few. In fact, I''m pretty sure that there is an ancient Trelop graveyard under this town, full of immortal grade fruits. I remember right before I became an immortal old pops offered me one of the fruits. It really helped with my breakthrough." Lex''s eyes lit up as he thought of many ideas. A secret garden full of valuable fruits. He wondered if he could find anything that would be useful to him. Moreover, since Joseph had proven himself a smart and capable partner of the Kings, Lex wondered if he was exposed to the secrets of the Kraven. Lex asked a few more questions and when he was satisfied, moved onto actually trying to remedy Aegis'' alcoholism. Though the man was 88 years old, Lex felt that in many ways, he was actually still a kid. His exposure was limited and so was his thought process.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Listen here," said Lex, leaning forward over the table as he looked him in the eyes. "I''m about to reveal the secret of why you can''t beat your father to you, so pay attention." Lex''s words struck Aegis hard, and he immediately started paying attention even though in his mind he was skeptical. He had simply epted his father as all powerful. "The way Joseph discovered some secrets, so did your dad," said Lex,pletely making something up. "And now its your luck kid, because you''ve encountered your lucky chance as well." Chapter 377 Return Of The Butter Knife "What do you mean?" Aegis asked, feeling confused. "You guys are in the same realm, yet you cannot even touch your fathers sleeve. Don''t you think it''s unusual?" There was a gleam in Lex''s eyes as he recalled several novels in his mind. Good fiction was rooted in the truth, and so nothing he said could deviate too far from the truth.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Isn''t it normal? He''s old pops, founder of the Hum nation. How can he achieve so much if he was normal?" "That''s different," Lex said as he shook his head. "I''m sure that you have realized that not everyone is as talented as you. Not everyone can cultivate as easily as you, nor do they achieve things at the same rate as you." "Of course I understand," replied Aegis. "If everyone was as talented as me, pops would not need to stop me from killing the Kraven. "It''s because they''re not as talented as me that we''re in this situation." "Well, now that you know everyone is not as talented as you, do you really believe that the only reason your old man is stronger than you is because he''s more talented than you?" Before Aegis even had the time to answer, Lex continued. "Because I can firmly tell you he''s not. In fact, I can firmly tell you that the rtionship between talent and strength is not nearly as important as you think it is. Otherwise the human race would be doomed. After all, most humans can''t even cultivate the true path. Everyone is stuck on a single path, yet that does not stop them from reaching the immortal realm." In fact, Lex had no idea what it took to reach the immortal realm, but he knew that ording to his professor there were only very few True path cultivators, perhaps in the single digits, and though immortal cultivators were rare, they were not nearly as rare as that. "Moreover, you may think that even if they reach the immortal realm, they''re not as strong as you, or your dad. But I can tell you clearly that there are many people, many humans, who are not even tenth as talented as you, who are much, much stronger than you." Aegis looked at Lex skeptically, but before he could speak, Lex continued. "Maybe you''re having a hard time believing me, but that''s because your knowledge is extremely limited. For example..." Lex used the tavern''s formation to create a ''room'' right around Aegis'' body and trapped him where he stood. Shock filled his eyes as he tried to resist, but he could do nothing as Lex slowly lifted his body in the air, twisted him around and sat him back down. "Don''t overreact, I''m about to let you go," said Lex a few seconds before letting the formation rest and having the room around Aegis disappear. Aegis did not react once he found he was freed, but he was certainly rmed. It had been a long time since he felt so helpless. True, he did not go all out with his strength in resisting the power that held him, but as an immortal, it was not so easy to trap him to begin with. "The point of showing you that was not to intimidate you, but to make you realize that there are many things that exist in this universe of which you have no idea. Your father may not be as talented as you, but he''s much stronger than you. Why is that? The answer is simple, he had tools or opportunities that helped him push his strength far past what you can dream. "It''s like you''re trying to fight him with a butter knife while he wields a sword. No matter how talented you are, a butter knife is no match for a full sword. Butpared to your father, you''re not even holding a butter knife. You''re holding a toothpick and he has a spear. There is noparison at all." Aegis was extremely skeptical, but he was also hooked. He wanted to deny everything, and just ept that his old man was akin to a deity, invincible and undefeatable. But, a small, resilient voice in his heart refused to give up. It wanted to hold on so badly to any hope at all, and kept him frompletely epting defeat. "So, what are you saying? That you can help me defeat old pops?" "Not at all," Lex rified. "I just said that your old man no doubt had some kind of lucky encounter that helped him reach his current level of strength. As for whether you can reach his level of strength, or surpass it, ispletely up to you. What I can offer you is an opportunity. What you make of it is up to you." Aegis bit his lower lip and looked down to the ground, a million thoughts racing through his head. At this point, he hadpletely forgotten his original objective of getting Lex''s cultivation technique. To be entirely honest, he did not care about it at all, nor did the title of the crown prince entice him. He had long since gone past his pursuit of wanting to find something difficult to challenge him. Now all he wanted was to ovee the obsession in his heart of defeating his own father and then, maybe, look for something in life to live for. There were hundreds of billions of humans in the crystal realm, he didn''t believe that he was unable to connect with any of them. "Alright, I''ll take it. I''ll take whatever you have to offer," he said, his voice a mix of desperation and dedication. "Not so easy there," Lex said, as he leaned back against his chair. "I have an opportunity for you, yes. But I never said I''ll give it to you for free." "What do you want?" Aegis asked with pain filling his heart. Just because he was desperate didn''t mean he was stupid. He knew that people might want to take advantage of him and his situation. A part of him even epted that Lex was about to scam him when he heard talk of price, but he asked the question nheless, he was just that desperate. "Want? Nothing. But the opportunity I have can''t be given so easily just to anyone. The person has to be worthy of it so, now, before I give it to you, or even tell you about it, you have a choice to make." Slowly Lex lifted his hand and revealed the small jade bottle from which he had gotten his previous drink, before cing it on the table in front of Aegis. "You have to choose. You can choose the drink in front of you, and get lost in the feeling it provides you. Or, you can take an oath, the most powerful, meaningful oath you can, to never touch any intoxicant again until you defeat your father." Lex paused for a moment for Aegis to absorb his words, then said, "Now choose." There was a slight moment of relief as Aegis was finally convinced Lex was not trying to scam him. After all, it made sense for Lex to only want to give the opportunity he wanted to the most worthy. But that relief was followed by an intense struggle. He wanted that drink so bad. The sensation, the feeling, the pleasure it gave was all too great. But the small voice in his heart could not let go. Finally, when it could see hope again, it could not give up. At first it was only a small voice, but eventually it consumed him until Aegis could no longer see the bottle, but only the defeated figure of his father. Suddenly, he stood up, pushing away the seat upon which he sat, and said in an ominous voice, "I swear upon the ts of my immortality that I, Aegis Cornelius, will never touch another drink again until I have defeated my father." As the echo of his voice dimmed, Aegis'' aura exploded and his entire being seemed to undergo a huge change. If Lex hadn''t locked Aegis down in a small room, the aura from his sudden elevation would have squashed all the surviving residents of Babylon and destroyed the tavern building. His drunk eyes seemed to clear as drive and focus filled them, and hisnguid posture straightened to that of a soldier. Lex cared for none of that, though. He instead, was focused on his system notification. New Notification: Questplete! Reward: Midnight Signature Brew Coffee, 1 Minute Butter Knife token Lex was perplexed since the reward for this quest had already been dered as only the signature coffee brew, so where did this new tokene from? He read its description to further investigate. 1 Minute Butter Knife token The butter knife is the God of all weapons and a measly spear is pudding in front of it. Use this token to strengthen the Butter knife to its final form for 1 minute. Remarks: Even the Gods will kneel before toast that has been buttered well! Chapter 378 Only The Best Lex had to stifle hisugh as he read the remarks for the 1 Minute Butter Knife token. It seemed the system had felt offended at his disregard of the Butter Knife. To be honest, his remark had been somewhat motivated by how little the knife had helped him ofte. Indeed in the beginning it had helped him, but even with its upgrade from Butter Knife to Fruit Knife, it was merely able to handle Golden core cultivators. Sure, that was still above Lex''s power level, but he had many powerful workers at the Inn now in front of whom a measly Golden core cultivator was nothing. But it seemed he had taken the Butter knife lightly, as its upgrade sounded monumentally strong. Its description did not give an exact power level at which the knife was effective, but the remarks made it sound especially strong. Lex knew that the system liked to joke or make fun of him, but in these matters it was extremely serious. Just the mention of so-called ''Gods'' in the remarks made Lex believe that it was incredibly powerful. Well, he hoped he was not wrong, and so he kept it as a backup during an emergency. After all, unlike the Butter Knife itself, which could only be used within the Midnight Inn, the token could be used by him anywhere. It was a decent reward, not to mention the original reward. Midnight Signature Brew Coffee: A reinvigorating brew that canpletely replenish a drained mind for an hour. Can be strengthened to match various cultivation levels based on the Hosts authority. Repeated use in a short time reduces its effects. It was not a bad addition, and it was rtively cheap. But, since the strength of the coffee could be changed based on the cultivation level, he decided to use different prices for different levels. While the most basic version, which reinvigorated Qi training cultivators had a profit of only 1 MP, the highest authority Lex had to serve, which was the Nascent level, had a profit margin of 150 MP. But Lex moved his thoughts away from his notification and turned his attention back to Aegis. Now that he hadpleted his quest, it was now time to deliver. Even for that, Lex''s capitalistic mind- eh, no, his resourcefulness, allowed him toe up with a n that would benefit them both. Lex waited a few more minutes for Aegis'' apparent breakthrough to conclude and for him to settle down, before he asked, "Tell me, Aegis, what do you know about the universe?" "The universe?" Aegis repeated, confused. Lex had been speaking their localnguage, so the word he used for ''universe'' was correct, but thereiny the issue. Whenever anyone referred to their world or area within which they exist, they used the word ''realm''. Even the word ''universe'' was a secret known only to a few, to the point where it waspletely alien to Aegis. "Simply put, the world that you know, the realm, the people, everything is only a small part of a much bigger one, that being the universe. The entire Crystal realm is like a grain of sandpared to the universe atrge, and it is full of countless other realms just like the Crystal realm. "There, not only can you meet those much stronger than yourself, you can learn and experience things far beyond your imagination." "The Ascension realm!" Aegis suddenly said with a startled face, as if suddenly realizing something. "There are rumors that when someone surpasses the Earth Immortal realm, the Crystal realm can no longer amodate them, and sends them away to the Ascension realm! Honestly, for fear of being sent away is the only reason I can think of for why my father hasn''t broken through yet! So it''s true¡­" Lex paused, for he had just heard something new. No one had mentioned this so-called Ascension realm to him so far, but it made sense since he was so far away from entering the immortal realm. But whatever it was, he was d that Aegis knew of it, for it made his job easier. "Yes, like the Ascension realm. But even that realm is merely one of many, many realms in the vast, never ending universe. Yet despite its vastness, there exists a ce that can reach even the far corners of the universe, and can connect all the many realms. The name of that ce¡­ is the Midnight Inn." Lex barely whispered the name, yet it pped like thunder in Aegis'' ears. He could not even imagine, despite his immense strength, a ce that could connect all the realms in the so-called ''universe''. In fact, he could barelyprehend that there existed more realms even beyond the Ascension realm. Suddenly a thought urred to him and his eyes shrunk to pinholes. "Midnight tavern," he said, as if just the name was a connection unto itself. Lex merely smiled, and made noment on that. Instead, he continued with his exnation. "The Midnight Inn is a ce where everyone is wee as a guest, so long as one follows the rules. Yet one has to be extremely lucky if they wish to be something more than a simple guest at the Inn, and actually work for it. The opportunity I can present you with is a single chance to try and be an employee of the Inn. Of course, it''spletely up to you if you don''t want to, and can back out right up until thest moment if you think it isn''t worth it. But, at least, you can go there and see for yourself." Aegis absorbed the information, and though he didn''t show it on his face, he had doubts about bing an employee for a ce he didn''t understand. Fortunately, Lex was in no rush - mostly because golden and tinum keys couldn''t be used here until he officially returned to the Inn and linked the Crystal realm to the Inn. "You don''t have to decide so quickly, for it will take me some time before I can provide you with the opportunity to enter the Inn. But just know this, I can provide you with an opportunity to enter the Inn for free - once. But if you really want to avail the chance and be an employee, you have to do something else first."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "What''s that?" "Nothing much, you simply have to deliver a tinum key to Zagan, and convince him to use it." Aegis smiled weakly. Of course, nothing so great coulde easily. The question was¡­ how was he even supposed to track the ocean king? Even though he didn''t know what he would do in the future, he began nning already for how to find the monster. ***** In front of Cornelius stood Nora Haugen, his wife, and Cwenhild Haugen Cornelius, his daughter. Though something unusual was that his daughter seemed to have lost all of her cultivation, and was akin to a mortal. Yet she was not disappointed with that fact. Instead, there was a hint of pride hidden in her eyes. "So you''ve seeded?" Cornelius asked. "Yes, and I''m here toplete our deal," said Nora, as she handed Cornelius a crystal with Cwenhild''stest cultivation method inside of it. Throughout this process, Cwenhild said nothing. The reason for that was her mother had sealed her mouth and body, for the little girl would no doubt pick a fight with Cornelius. She couldn''t allow her daughter to ruin her ns when they were about to bear fruit. "Good job little Cwen," he said, not letting on the fact that he had once again forgotten about her right up until they showed up here. "You will be my second child to cultivate the True path, though I hope your performance is better than little Aegis. If you''re half as good as that Lex child once you start on the True path, I''ll consider rewarding you again." Cwenhild, because she was frozen still, could not show her rm when she heard Lex was a True path cultivator, but suddenly everything made so much sense. No wonder he was so strong. But after amazement, sorrow filled her heart. Despite everything Nora told her, she still considered Lex as her half-brother and had already decided that he must have had a very tragic past. Hopefully, his future would be better. "We''ll be off then," Nora said, and summoned the metallic card given to her by Cornelius as payment for the technique. She held onto her daughter''s shoulder and crushed it, disappearing instantly from where they stood. A secondter, they appeared in a hall in an entirely different realm, with an old man with a long, white beard standing waiting for them. "Wee to Ventura, thergest school in the universe," the man said politely. "If you have arrived here, you most likely already know our policies, but I will repeat them for you nheless. "Here, in Ventura, we only ept the best of the best. Whether it''s your talent, your will, your character, your determination, your cultivation, or anything else, at least some aspect of yours needs to be of sufficient standard to gain entry. But fret not, for if you fail our admission test, there is still hope for you in one of our subsidiary schools, such as Ventura tinum, Amethyst, Gold and so on. Now, which one of you will be taking the test, or will it be the both of you?" Chapter 379 Appreciation "This is not part of our deal," said Joseph warily, as he eyed the crown prince of Hum. It had been a few days since theyst met and Joseph was busy taking care of things, still trying to understand exactly how or why the formation lost control. Yet while the duration was small, the change in his demeanor was massive. No longer did he look like a sickly child, movingzily to do a tedious chore. He was a man with a straight back and a fire in his eyes. Everything from the way he looked to his expression, his voice and even his actions seemed to have changed. While previously he was indifferent to the world, now his every action was filled with purpose. "To be clear, this is not a part of your deal with Hum. This is a deal you''re making with me, Aegis. Name your price, you will find that my reach will surpass your expectations. But at the same time, do not think this is something that can be avoided. At times, it is simply best to make use of the opportunity before you." Joseph actually felt a great threat from Aegis as he said this. He was literally being ckmailed into selling secrets to Aegis, and being threatened of the consequences if he continued to state a price. Basically, Aegis did not care how high or low the price was, so long as one existed. As much as he hated being bullied like this, he had to face the truth that in both status and strength he was below Aegis, and so there was really nothing left to negotiate with. He had to concede. Suddenly, he had an idea. "In fact, there is something you can help me with. A son of mine broke off his engagement with his former finance, who is from a family of... great means. If you can get rid of the pressure from that family and ensure they won''t attack us in the future, the prize will be yours." "Simple enough," Aegismented ndly. "Tell me the name and location of this family. I will deal with the situation myself." "Excellent." ***** It had been over ten days since Lexst spoke to Aegis, and the man had disappeared since. That did not worry Lex, as the man had taken his oath and was definitely interested in what Lex had to offer. Well, if he didn''t, Lex would find some other way to hire Zagan. Though that was not his concern right now. Currently, he was watching the finale of the Lady Cosmos show. The winner, after a lot of drama, was the Fox from Nibiru called Jill. Not only was she officially crowned the first, intergctic Lady Cosmos, but she was awarded a cash prize equivalent to 30 million MP, raised from the profits the show generated. Of course, they were only a small portion of the profits. Jill, now an extremely wealthy woman, decided not to return to Nibiru. She had not taken up Lex''s offer to work as an employee at the Inn yet, but with 30 million MP, and a normal room costing 50 MP a night, she had 600,000 days to decide on an alternative solution.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Once the show concluded, the number of guests at the Inn began to drop drastically, so much so that for the first time in a while, Lex had fewer than a million guests. Though he did not mind whatsoever. Just from his own profits, Lex had generated a massive 22 billion MP more in thest few days, and 770 million MP was given to him by the Lady Cosmos show as his share of the profits. This put his total MP to 31.9 billion MP. Suffice to say Lex was not worried about his finances at the moment. In fact, it was to the degree that he had been dropping MP like crazy to umte energy. At the moment, he had already filled his progress bar to 91%. If he still had his elevated authority he would have been tempted to stay a little longer and use this umted energy to enhance the Inn. Now all he wanted to do was return home - to the Midnight Inn. Especially because, in another 10 days, Harry Styles would officially be marrying Hailey, the contestant from the Lady Cosmos show. He did not want to miss the wedding. After all, it was the first time one of his employees would be getting married. During this time work on the reconstruction of the town Babylon had already begun, and because of the intensive requirement inbor, everyone had been conscripted. As such, Lex had almost no guests these days, and any who came would usually only stay for a meal. It was almost, because he did have one guest staying - Rnd. The young entrepreneur had be an orphan, like many other of his friends. He did not have a massive outburst like many of the other children when he heard the news, but he had barely spoken since. While the other children had been taken into the care of the town, Rnd somehow convinced the mayor to let him be on his own. He had since been living at the tavern. Lex had tried striking up a conversation a few times, but the boy was not ready to speak just yet. While Lex was lost in his own thoughts, Rick knocked on his door and told him that Aegis hade to see him. Curious as to what the crown prince wanted, he got up and walked into the main hall where, surprisingly, Aegis was sitting on a table with Rnd. The two had been whispering something, but the moment Lex entered they hushed up. "I heard you were looking for me," Lex inquired politely, more interested in what he had been talking to the child about. "Yes. I know you did not ask for it, but I cannot ept favors from others lightly. Though it pales greatly inparison with what you''re offering, I got something as a token of my appreciation." Chapter 380 Glow Lex was taken by surprise as he was honestly not expecting it. Mostly it was because the ''opportunity'' he was presenting to Aegis was already actually taking advantage of him to do his own work. Still, he could understand the gesture. After all, as a crown prince, he was surely taught etiquette and surely put a great deal of emphasis on reciprocation. "You really did not need to," said Lex, "but since you have already gotten something, I will not refuse your good will." "Great," Aegis said with a hint of excitement in his voice. "We need to go somewhere to get to it, so whenever you''re ready we can head out." Had it been before, Lex would have hesitated to leave the tavern. He had already exposed himself and if he left the boundary of the tavern he would have been defenceless. But, since he had the Butter knife token, Lex could barely convince himself to head out. After all, in matters such as this, he still trusted the system''s integrity. "We can head out now," said Lex casually, as if he had nothing to lose by leaving the tavern building. He passed a few instructions to Roan in case they had guests while they were gone, and left the tavern with Aegis. "Do you mind if I speed us there?" aske Aegis once they stepped out. Since the tavern did not have the same protection as the Inn, Lex''s foundation realm cultivation was evident for all to see. Some were convinced he was actually just hiding his own cultivation level and was secretly an expert. Aegis did not try to test him and directly proposed taking the both of them himself. Once Lex agreed, he ced a hand on Lex''s shoulder and rushed them to the other side of Babylon. It barely took a single second. Yet from the tavern building they had quickly arrived at one of thetest buildings that had been temporarily set up whilst reconstruction took ce. He led Lex in, where Joseph and Berterm were waiting for them. "The formation is ready, I can take you in whenever," said Joseph, leaving his son behind to stand guard. With a nod from Aegis, they prepared the formation and stepped on it. Like an elevator, the formation started to descend downwards - only it seemed to be taking them down directly through the ground. Lex did not let his surprise show and only calmly observed as they descended for a good two minutes, before arriving in some kind of underground cave. The cave was filled with a sharp, blue light that illuminated every nook and cranny, even causing Lex to squint. Yet the blue light was not a fashion choice, and was being exuded by a single, small crystal. Lex did not need to be introduced to know that he had arrived in front of some kind of immense treasure, for the cave was so dense with spiritual energy that it started to condense right on Lex''s skin. Had his meridians not been remolded out of metal, he would have suffered from spiritual energy poisoning just from standing there. The two immortals that came along with Lex slightly nodded at the scene of him being unaffected by the spiritual energy, silently confirming that he was well above his apparent cultivation level.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Normally, Lex would have caught the action, but currently he was too distracted by a voice speaking directly in his mind. "Mr. Innkeeper sir, I detect something amazing in front of you," said the juvenile voice of the Lotus in his mind. "Can I have it please Mr. Innkeeper sir? I''ll pay you back, I promise!" In his mind, Lex visualized a child tearing up as he heard the Lotus'' pleading. He had no idea what the crystal was, but if even the Lotus wanted it, it had to be amazing. "It''s not much," said Aegis, "but please ept this token of gratitude from me." Joseph was startled by what he heard, and suddenly started wondering what had happened between the two, but knew better than to ask. "I''ve kept a small piece of the crystal as well to lure out Zagan when I need to, but the rest is all here." The shining crystal was only asrge as an adult human fingernail, but its small size did not deceive Lex at all. It must be filled with either immense power or energy. ''How can I give it to you?'' Lex asked the Lotus. "Just eat it, and I''ll absorb it from within your body!" the lotus eximed with shrieking excitement. This was the first time in its short life it had ever wanted something, and the first time it was getting it. The experience was overwhelming, especially since the noble Innkeeper had to suffer a loss just so that it could have the crystal. How was the Lotus to ever know that to Lex, the Lotus was already way more valuable than any crystal. "Well don''t mind if I help myself," said Lex out loud and walked up to the crystal. Joseph was just about to exin to Lex the safety precautions required to handle the extremely radioactive crystal when his jaw dropped as he saw Lex pick the crystal from the cave wall and pop it in his mouth like a tic tac. He did not even need to swallow it, as the moment the crystal touched his tongue it was absorbed into his body, filling him with overwhelming heat. But, just as quickly as the heat arrived it disappeared, leaving only the sensation of warmth on his back where he had a Lotus tattoo. Joseph and Aegis both had not recovered from the horror they had just witnessed when Lex released afortable groan. A pool of spiritual energy had started flowing through his body, quickly elevating his cultivation level. In a matter of moments, it raised his cultivation level to the peak of the Foundation realm. When his body could absorb no more, the energy instead started being absorbed by the system. The progress bar instant crossed 100%, and in fact had already reached 379%. But the energy in his body kept overflowing, and soon, his body started to release a blue glow! Chapter 381 Stupid Regal Embrace was a cultivation technique with the sole purpose of building the strongest defense possible. Every aspect, every facet of it was geared towards that one goal. As such, it was fundamentally impossible to cultivate it and have an ''unstable foundation'' due to rapid growth. This was because the cultivation level would simply not grow if it was forced in such a manner. But, in the situation where the cultivation level did grow, time had little to do with it. For the cultivation technique to progress, the relevant aspect of it that each specific cultivation realm required had to be fulfilled. For the Foundation realm, cultivation would not progress by pumping the body full of endless energy, but by slowly and steadily building the foundation for cultivation within the body. In Lex''s case, a steady foundation had to be built not only for his spirit, but his body and soul as well. It had to be exactly perfect ording to the requirements of the cultivation technique, and the built foundation, while taking only a single form, was actually elevating all three. This was because Lex''s body, soul and spirit had all merged into one entity. So then, the fact that the energy released by the blue crystal was able to wlessly raise Lex''s cultivation level to the peak of the Foundation realm was already an unbelievable testament to the absolute purity, vitality and gentleness of the energy itself. This was because Lex never actually used his cultivation technique, or rather he did not get a chance to, before the energy automatically started merging with his body so wlessly it raised his cultivation level. In fact, the moment Lex reached the peak of the Foundation realm, he felt the information to enter the Golden core realm reveal itself to him, but he purposefully chose not to enter the realm at that moment. This was because, while his physical cultivation had built up its foundation, his professor heavily emphasized the need for some kind of achievement to create a mental foundation for him. The achievement waspletely up to him to decide, so he could have gone with his fight with the murderer, or his upgrade on the system. But he had already decided that he would use arrays as the base for his achievement. So while the use of many small arrays joining to formrge arrays quickly was ingenious, he was not satisfied with his application of it. He felt like he could do better. As a result, this energy found other channels to divert itself. It was a shame that Lex''s pride got the better of him, or else he may have potentially entered the Nascent realm today, or even higher. With his foundation built, the energy sought to heal his body. But how could he have the perfect defense if his body was full of ws? A hidden aspect of Regal Embrace came into y here, which was that while he could heal, he would eventually heal perfectly! Only inherent ws already existing in his body would escape the healing powers of Regal Embrace. So then where should it go, for it could not physically strengthen Lex''s body any further? It found a sieve within Lex''s soul, and poured itself in, bombarding the system with endless energy. One may wonder, why would so much energy travel towards the system, and not the Lotus which had requested the energy to begin with? The answer was simple. The energy that was flooding Lex''s body was simply the small leftovers that managed to escape the Lotus'' control. The Lotus itself was going mad from excitement with the energy it was absorbing, but that was hidden for now. Aegis and Joseph were struck dumb because while the energy released from the crystal was being described as ''gentle and nourishing'' in Lex''s situation, it was mostly because it was less than 1% of the energy the crystal contained. Were the Lotus not absorbing the rest of it, Lex''s body would literally have exploded before the system even got a chance to absorb the excess energy. Blue light was escaping from Lex''s body, at first only from his fingernails, ears and nose. But eventually the brightness increased, and even his skin began to glow. His body started levitating until it was three feet in the air and a violent, oppressive force began to form around his body that gave both the immortals chills. The force was not generated because of Lex, but the tattoo on his back. Immortal though they may be, how could theypare to a seed that would give birth to a 5 Star world? More importantly, its status as a 5 star world was only the lowest guaranteed achievement, and did not ount for its upper limit. Most importantly, whatever world it would form would already have an already awakened consciousness. Lex waspletely unaware of all of this, as he had entered some kind of trance as the energy transferred from his body to the system. In a few seconds, it reached 500%, and then while it began to slow down, when his body returned to the ground a few minutester, he had 1200% energy!n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om That was to say, the less than 1% energy that the Lotus was unable to control actually provided Lex with enough energy to travel from one realm to another 11 times! This was a level of energy even Earth immortals could not wield. No wonder the two immortals who were watching this were thoroughly startled. When Lex woke up from the trance, he heard a few system notifications but he didn''t want to delve into them in public. He smiled as he enjoyed the warm, fuzzy feeling enveloping his body and looked towards Joseph and said, "Thanks, that was actually quite fun. Shall we head back now, or do you have more?" "Let''s head back," he said, barely able to keep his voice steady. The worst part of all of this, for him at least, was that Lex was only showing his cultivation as peak Foundation realm after that. How stupid did he think they were? Chapter 382 Home "You said you''ve kept a small piece to lure out Zagan?" Lex asked casually as they returned the formation that would take them out of here. "Indeed," replied Aegis, as he gulped nervously. "It''s much, much smaller than the one you took, but it should be more than enough to attract Zagan" "Not bad, what''s this crystal called?" he asked, still enjoying the warm fuzzy feeling that had enveloped his body. "We''re not sure if it has another name, as there''s been no record of it before. Joseph, who found the crystal, called it Blue Crystal Essence. It is filled with an extremely potent destructive energy that is normally used to power formations."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Aegis gave him a look from the side of his eye but said nothing more. Lex on the other hand was quite confused by the destructive description, but how could he be med for considering it gentle when he only had less than 1% of the energy in his body. "I''ve spent many years studying it, trying to figure out how it was formed," said Joseph, who politely included himself in the conversation. He suddenly felt it was very important to maintain good rtions with Lex. "I was unable to figure out how it was actually formed, but I did learn how it definitely wasn''t formed. The formation of the Blue Crystal Essence was in no way familiar to that of spirit stones, and there was no energy umtion process in the vicinity. In fact, there are no spirit stone mines anywhere nearby this area." "Do you have any more in the area? I''d be willing to trade for it. Speaking of which, I''ve managed to get my hands on many of the items you put down on your list for me. You can drop by whenever you want to check them out." "I''ll make sure to visit soon," Joseph replied, looking away. He knew for a fact that no unknown people hade in or gone out of the tavern these past few days, so how did he get his hands on the required material? Not to mention, he got it so quickly. Once Lex returned to the tavern safely, he told Aegis to stick by as he would give him the tinum key soon. Aegis wanted to take Fenrir out hunting again today, as the pup had shown great promise during theirst venture out, but Lex told him next time. Since it was very likely he was about to return to the Inn, Fenrir would be returning with him. Once alone, Lex did not immediately check his system. His body was still warm, and while he felt great after such a massive increase in strength, he felt slightly disoriented. His brain was not yet used to controlling his new strength and was causing him problems. Not bothering with anything, Lex jumped directly into bed and took a nap. Though what he assumed was a napsted two whole days. A part of his rest was because of his brain once again getting used to a new, more powerful body, but also because of the tattoo on his back. It had grown bigger, slightly, and more petals had appeared in eachyer. Previously, the petals had been arranged in threeyers, with five petals in eachyer. Now, instead, there were 6 in eachyer. Such a change did not seem drastic, but that was only from a visual point of view. The Lotus had grown much stronger and gained immense potential, but as a result, had also increased the strength of its body with Lex''s body. When Lex finally woke up,pletely unaware of the amount of time that had passed, he stretched like a cat beforezily checking the system from right inside his bed. New Notification: 100% progress reached, host can return to the Inn at any time! New Notification: 100% energy surpassed, channeling excess energy into dormant system functions. New Notification: 1100% excess energy being transferred, new building/features unlocked! New Features: New status panel for monitoring Inn unlocked New status panel for workers unlocked New status panel for tracking multiple events unlocked New status panel for locating quest potentials unlocked New Building: Innkeeper''s office building unlocked Innkeeper''s office building A small building where the Innkeeper may see guests who wish to meet. Lex raised an eyebrow, caught by surprise that he had actually surpassed the energy requirements. Moreover, while the description for his new unlocked features seemed simple, he doubted that was the case. But all of that could wait. It was time to go home! Lex immediately selected to return to the Inn, and felt a familiar sensation take hold of him. The teleportation was not as quick as he was used to from the Inn, but for some strange reason he lost track of time while teleporting. He only knew it wasn''t quick. But the moment it disappeared, Lex, who had his eyes closed, could immediately tell that he had returned. It was in the freshness of the air, the smell carried on the breeze, the gentle sunlight on his skin. A smile formed on his face as he took in a deep breath and, after holding it in for a moment, let it all out with a satisfied sigh. When he opened his eyes, a projection of Mary was standing there waiting for him. The smile on her face was no less than his. Truth be told, she was extremely nervous the entire time Lex was gone. "Wee back, Innkeeper," she said simply. "It''s good to be back," he said with a grin. "It''s excellent that you''re in a bright mood," she continued, "because someone showed an interest in the jobs put up by Ragnar, but he said he wanted to meet with the Innkeeper before he epts the tasks. I hope you''re ready to convince him to take up the tasks, because depending on how this goes, you could be on the verge of bing a trillionaire." Chapter 383 Anachronistic Ignition Lex was not ready nor was he expecting to get right to work the absolute minute he arrived at the Inn. But the incentive to be a trillionaire was exceptional. Not that he was in need of a great deal of money at the moment, but he knew that he would be in a state of expansion for the foreseeable future. Not only would the expansion cost a lot of money, buying anything for a higher cultivation level always cost more money. He had merely bought a drink that could affect an immortal and the price had gone in the millions, were he to buy a building or service the price may even go in the hundreds of millions. Getting toofortable would be a mistake. With that mindset, he put away all thoughts of going out for a stroll and decided to get right into the thick of things. Before anything, however, he looked at the Innkeeper''s office building. While the building existed as a service, the shape and design werepletely up to him. If he had extensive time he would have assigned the task to the nningmission, but since he did not, he took matters into his own hands. He thought for a minute about the kind of office someone of the Innkeepers status should have. He could go overly grand, but to Lex it seemed slightly desperate to prove the status of his position, or just in gaudy, which he did not like. He could go for extremely simple and basic, but he felt like the whole ''transcended the need for worldly possessions'' and ''find the truth in simplicity'' bit was an exhausted and overused spiel. In the end, he just decided to keep it as he liked. His mind, now faster than ever before due to the boost provided by his elevated cultivation, recalled every office he ever liked and tried to find amonality. He''d visited a few penthouse offices as well when he worked back in New York, not to mention his own regr offices, so he had some ammunition for his thoughts. Once he figured out what he liked, he began picking out a position.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om On a small teau near the Midnight Manor, a rectangr building appeared. There was a torch lit, pebbled path leading up to it, with open gardens on each side. There was not much in the building, since it only served as his office. The entrance led to arge hall with marble flooring and granite walls, with a reception desk at the far end. There was a waiting room that could be entered from on the right, but the entrance to Lex''s office was in the corner behind the reception desk. Unlike the entrance hall, the floor of which was gray, Lex''s office floor was ck marble. But it was not in ck, as streaks of gold flowed through the midnight ck, like water flowing down into the dirt. On the left and right side of the office were ceiling high bookshelves, stacked with hardcover books that had no titles. There were a few sofas ced in the center of the room, amidst a few decorations and nts here and there. Opposite those sofas, towards the far wall, was a single desk with an office chair tucked neatly in. Speaking of the far wall, unlike the rest of the building, it was made entirely out of one-sided ss with an extensive view of the Midnight manor, and the rest of the Inn. Lex teleported into the building to see it for himself, and was immediately hit with an oppressive feeling. Lex remained unaffected, for what could truly affect him at the Inn? But he felt the oppression nheless, and knew immediately that it radiated from the very walls of his office. Each and every step was daunting, but somehow the oppressive feeling was not exactly intimidating. Instead, it was a sort of reminder of who one was about to meet. As he walked, the sound of his footsteps echoed loudly in the empty hall, prompting him to stop immediately, a frown upon his face. He snapped once, and then continued to walk. The sound was no longer a loud and never ending echo. Instead, each of his footsteps was incredibly light and respectful, yet not entirely gone. Not bothering to check out the waiting room, Lex headed right into his office. Unlike the entrance hall, there was no oppressive feeling here. Instead, the room wafted with a clean and refreshing scent that reinvigorated Lex as soon as he stepped in, despite the fact that he had just recently woken up and had been full of energy. Lex felt incredibly calm and peaceful in his office, as if he knew from deep within his heart that this was a safe space. He walked to his table and pulled out his seat and sat down. The moment he sat, he became even more in sync with the Inn than when he wore the Host Attire. The Host Attire, which was currently in the shape of a three piece suit, allowed Lex to fully control everything happening at the Inn. It was a conduit between himself and the system, for he knew now that he was simply unable to even begin to process everything his system did, let alone control it directly. When he sat down in the chair, however, it was kicked up a notch. For example, while he could be aware of everything at the Inn at any time, he would need to scan the Inn, or look for someone in particr to know what was happening. Once in the chair, however, it was like a portion of his newly acquired mental strength was diverted towards always keeping in touch with the system. Every action taking ce within the system was being ranked by a level of importance from 0 to 100, and at the back of his mind he knew the numbers for each action. As soon as a number appeared that was abnormally high, or even a minor anomaly for that matter, he would know immediately. Moreover, while previously he could perform generic scans, now he could look for something more specific. While this was not entirely new for him, since he was always able to directly ask Mary whenever he needed to know something, it was still a good feature. His attention turned towards a few items that had been ced on his desk. There was a journal, an ink pen, an ink well, a letter opener and a card holder full of cards that only said ''Innkeeper'' below ''Midnight Inn'' written in bold letters. He was convinced that these things were not ordinary, but he decided that first he would deal with the matter of the person wanting to take Ragnar''s requests before anything else. Yet even that required him to do two things before he addressed the matter. The first was the matter of having a receptionist. Lex could hire one of his workers randomly, but he wanted instead to have a dedicated receptionist, who would perhaps even be his assistant. Not to mention, it gave him an opportunity to use his new workers status panel. While previously he could directly hire what the system called A.I. to create living workers who could take up jobs at the Inn, leaving their skills and traits up to fate, he could now be so much more specific in his requirements. First of all, for gender he chose male. As a bachelor it would be inappropriate for him to have a female receptionist, mostly because it would trigger the memory of every corny tv show he had ever seen in his life. The trope of falling in love with your employee was too cliche for him to even joke about. He skipped over stuff like age, appearance, height etc. and went directly to his skills, abilities, bloodline, and cultivation. Every amendment he made would drastically increase the price of his worker, but Lex had money to spare. Without hesitation, he picked anything that sounded even remotely helpful, from eidetic memory, perfect recollection, exceptional multitasking, strong mental calction abilities, exceptional perception, excellent reflexes, the best possible health recovery, immense vitality, and so much more. He made sure the assistant had a strong sense for etiquette and morality. Unfortunately, he could not have the assistant created with an elevated cultivation system, as everyone would still start as a mortal, but he could choose the bloodline. Other than Regalia Bloom, which all his workers seemed to start with, he had two other options. The Regalia Bloom was of great assistance in manipting energy but it was not necessarily the best choice for his assistant, so he looked at the other two. The next one was called Anachronistic Ignition. When he read the description Lex''s jaw dropped, and for the first time he actually felt incredibly jealous. It was hard for him not to envy his workers, who were all born with such an amazing bloodline right from the start. But he controlled his emotions for he knew he had advantages of his own - especially when Regal Embrace was unique in the whole universe. This next one though... it was just ridiculous. Chapter 384 Luthor The Regalia Bloom bloodline allowed the user to take control of all kinds of energy within a certain zone, with only physical strength and stamina as the determining factors for how much energy the user could manipte. The energy could be used by channeling it into any weapon or item as the medium for energy transfer. Though there were a few limitations and price, such as the endless beautification of the bloodline holder, and the user''s ability to transfer the energy fast enough, theoretically such a bloodline would make one night invincible. If Lex had this bloodline, along with his incredible reflexes and abilities, he most likely wouldn''t even get a chance to use that incredible defense of his. Just the fact that, as a Qi training cultivator Gerard was able tobat a Nascent level cultivator should be a clear indicator for how powerful and deadly this bloodline was. Yet Anachronistic Ignition, while supposedly on the same level, seemed ridiculous to Lex. Unlike the Regalia Blood, which had an area effect, the Anachronistic Ignition waspletely confined to the user''s body. What it could do, though, was that it couldpletely disce any kind of effect, status or feature acting on, or part of the body, to ater date. In simple terminology, it could manipte time with the user''s body as the medium for time discement. The use could be from something small to anything incredibly massive. For example, if the user was fatigued, he could use his bloodline to disce the effects of the fatigue over the next several hours, days, or years, depending on the users ability. Moreover, he could do so endlessly as long as the bloodline was not exhausted. But the beautiful part was that bloodline exhaustion, in itself, was an aspect of the body that could be disced, making the use of the bloodline potentially endless. Of course, at ater time the user would still have to suffer the disced effect, but the potency of the effects could also be determined at the time of use, for example in the case of fatigue, only 5% of the original fatigue will affect the user, but the duration is extended to make up for it. These were the simple things being disced. The moreplicated things could be something like severe wounds, such as stabs, illness, burns, poisoning, organ damage, and even, if one were fast enough, death. But something as mundane as indefinitely dying death, or instantly recovering from severe damage such as a stab wound through the heart, was no longer enough to startle Lex. Whatpletely drove him overboard was the second effect of the bloodline, as so far only the Anachronistic portion of it had been discussed. The way topletely and properly utilize Anachronistic Ignition was to take something the body was suffering from, and instead of sending it forward in time,pletely ignite it and remove it from ever returning in the timeline! This part was not as easy as the first part, but if seeded, and say the user took a lethal injury and ignited its urrence on his body from ever returning, based on the event being ignited, the user would be filled with a massive burst of energy - as a sort of reward from time itself! So, in essence, a skilled user of the bloodline, could not only endlessly suffer lethal attacks only to erase them momentster, with each injury he erased the user would not get weaker but stronger and more energetic! There was almost no drawback. Almost, because once the user activated this bloodline for the first time, they would suffer an unspeakably horrific curse! Their body would stop aging forever, making them essentially immortal. Oh, how burdensome it was to know you could never take another sick day from work ever again because your body is forever stuck in its peak, healthy state! Lex gulped and turned his attention to thest bloodline. He was almost afraid to read about it. Fortunately, its name was simple, and not as unique or intimidating as thest two. Moreover, unlike the previous two its effects were not so multifaceted. It was simply called Death Counter. Its effects were that the user could hide a drop of blood anywhere and, once the user died, 24 hourster, the user woulde back to life from that drop of blood, in perfect health and at the peak of his power. There was no distance or realm restriction to where the blood could be hidden, and in the case the drop was hidden behind some kind of barrier such as the one that secluded the Inn, and 24 hours passed, the user woulde back to life whenever the barrier had any disruption at all. It was not at all too fancy, and just made one essentially immortal, even beyond the previous bloodline. Lex needed a minute to stabilize his mood as he struggled with the thought that such insanely cool bloodlines existed, which his system could give his workers, but he himself was forever without any bloodline. After all, if he had a bloodline, it should have been activated by now, right? Regardless, Lex didn''t waste any time and selected Anachronistic Ignition as his receptionist''s bloodline, which raised the price to 350 million MP, but it would not change his mind. He didn''t know why there was such a gap in price between Regalia Bloom and Anachronistic Ignition, since they were both impressive in their own right, but they were thoughts forter. Having made all his selections, Lexpleted his purchase. A familiar gold light shed in front of him, and from within the light stepped for a young man. His appearance seemed to be in his early 20s, and he was wearing the signature suit of the Midnight Inn. He could have been called handsome, were it not for the fact that he had an entirely too delicate frame. He was a petite man, as if he could be blown away by the wind, but his expression was stern and serious.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "Luthor reporting for duty, sir." Chapter 385 Lord "Luthor, you will be my receptionist," said Lex with a smile. "Yours will be a heavy responsibility, so I hope you will be up to the task. I do not expect to be seeing a lot of guests too frequently, so you will have a lot of time on your hands. I hope you use that tie wisely and raise your cultivation level as soon as possible. It would be slightly embarrassing if my own receptionist has too low a cultivation level." "As you wish," Luthor said with a bow, his expression forever unchanging. "I am expecting a guest soon, Mary will update you on the details. Send him in once he arrives." Luthor bowed even deeper, before he promptly stepped outside Lex''s office and took his ce at the desk. A deep, almost malevolent look shed in his eyes once he left Lex''s office, but he quickly suppressed it. He was nothing more than amon receptionist, and things would remain that way¡­ for now. "Mary, send me the list of Ragnar''s requests and any information about them," said Lex as he once again sat down on his seat. "There are a total of 7 requests he''s set, and they have been listed in order. To do the second one, you must firstplete the first one. All requests have to be carried out in order, though they don''t seem to be connected. ording to what Ragnar mentioned, his true request has not yet been written. Only after someone is able toplete all 7 tasks in a satisfactory manner can they be qualified to learn about the real task." Lex nodded and looked through the 7 tasks. To be honest, they werepletely beyond hisprehension. Even while reading them, he could not understand what it was Ragnar wanted. For example, the first task was to light a Jaded horn Lantern in a field of Bedravens underneath a sky full of moons blocking out a star. The fifth task was to swim in the ash of Gilder, while the final task was to whisper the name of the deathly precinct under the shade of a Divine Mango tree. Literally he had no idea what answer he was supposed to give if the person who came asked him what any of that meant. Well, Lex shrugged. If he was unable to answer, he''d just tell him to ask Ragnar instead. A short whileter, Luthor opened the door to his office and weed in the person who wanted to attempt Ragnar''s tasks. What walked in was an eight feet (2.4 meters) tall creature in the shape of a centaur. But instead of the lower body of a horse, it was a gray skinned, six legged creature with massive rippling muscles all over its body. Its upper body, still gray in color, was humanoid, but had four hands instead of two, and six eyes. The creature had long, straight hair falling down his back and all over his face and a sharp and pointed beard. Curious, Lex scanned it. Name: Dillion Jormander Age: 6755 Sex: Femalen/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Cultivation Details: ??? (Too high for host to view) Species: Bravenharbinger Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Remarks: The only thing more lethal than a Bravenharbinger with a weapon, is one without. Not to be biased, but Lex would never have been able to guess that Dillion was a female just based on how muscr her figure was. But then, he had never seen anyone from her species before so he had no point of reference to judge the appearance of a male or female. Whatever the case, it was true that she struck a formidable sight. While Lex was undergoing musings of his own, Dillion had several of her own thoughts going on. She was from the Henali court, and had recently heard about the appearance of a new potential member. Out of curiosity she came to the Inn at the same time as the representatives who left Lex a gift behind. Other than the teleportation, she saw nothing too impressive. Yes, there was a lot of potential here, for example that toddler Gctic Sovereign turtle, but nothing that struck her as worthy of a new member of the Henali assembly. Even the dragon was clearly not a member of the In. The tasks she saw put up on the board in the Guild room interested her, if only slightly. It was actually the price that attracted her most. She wanted to use those requests as an excuse to meet the Innkeeper, but the moment she stepped into the office, she regretted her earlier arrogance. How could she even begin to suspect a potential member? When had her station been high enough for that kind of judgment? The pressure that each and every brick of this building exuded shook her to her very core, yet the ease with which it transitioned from the hall to the office, which was calm andfortable, scared her even more. She was wise enough to recognize a silent warning when she encountered one. So the moment sheid eyes on the Innkeeper she expected to have her spirit shook and her soul pressured. Instead she saw a rather handsome human, his sleek and suave appearance which would have usually disgusted her, appeared rather pleasing to her eyes. He had a soft smile on his fair face, and his eyes were filled with politeness rather than the usual disdain she witnessed in Daolords. Suddenly she was startled at her thoughts, and suddenly realized her mistake! Without an ounce of hesitation Dillion dropped to her knees and lowered her gaze, pleading "please excuse my transgression noble one, my eyes were unworthy to gaze upon you." Her heart was trembling with fear. As someone who worked at the Henali court, it was unimaginable that she would make a mistake as basic of looking towards a lord without permission. Yet she had made it. Now, she could only hope for forgiveness and leniency. "Rx," said Lex, his voice filled with brilliant gentleness. "Here at the Midnight Inn, we treat our guests with great care." Chapter 386 Evil Intentions Dillion rxed upon hearing the Innkeepers answer. It was not unheard of for Daolords to be nonchnt about etiquette, but whether or not they were was their prerogative. Regardless of her status or strength, unless she touched upon the Dao, she had to prostrate herself before them. Now that he had told her to rx, however, she must not emphasize on continuing her disy. Another very important rule about dealing with Daolords was not giving them a reason to repeat themselves. She silently chided herself for ever doubting the veracity of the rumors regarding the Innkeeper. If she had not been arrogant enough to request an audience with the Innkeeper to further investigate the Inn, she would not have ended up in this situation. Upon noticing Dillion instantly obeying his instructions, yet detecting the strong sense of fear and regret radiating from her body, Lex connected many dots and immediately came to a conclusion of his own about what was happening. He chuckled and said, "sometimes our own extensive experience can be our own detriment. At the Inn, so long as you do not break any of the Inns rules, you arepletely safe. Now tell me, how can I help you?" Dillion''s body trembled, but she managed to keep herself from having any stray thoughts and bowed deeply towards Lex. Only after a minute, when she got up from her deep bow, did she say in a reverent voice, "I am Dillion Jormander, great lord, a custodian in the Henali court. I came to seek some rification on the tasks posted in the Guild hall." "In that case, why did you seek me out, and not the person who put down these tasks?" "Great lord, I feared that checking the details of these tasks was beneath you, and the person who put up these tasks may have been using your tform with insidious intent. That way, should news of the taskse to light, the one to suffer the fallout would be the Inn instead of the original author of these tasks." Strictly speaking, Dillion''s words were true, which was the best answer she could give in this circumstance. Naturally the whole truth was that she doubted the Innkeeper''s actual strength and status, but the coercion she suffered back in the hall before his office set the record straight. It was not something that could be easily fabricated. "Oh?" Lex said, suddenly pulling up the tasks and looking at them again. To be honest, even with this new information he could not make heads or tails of it - yet he could not allow her to realize as much. The second request was a little strange, to tickle the soul of an aged Marble moon fruit. Was that the one that was insidious? Lex, an extremely ticklish man, always felt that the act was the devil''s work. Or was it the third request, to steal the death of an Akhroat? It literally had the words death and steal in it. Nope, Lex could not make heads or tails of it, so he had to look at the matter from another angle. The tasks were put up by Ragnar, so did Lex judge the man to be one with machinations behind his actions. He had a strong feeling that Ragnar was not such a man, so he would not use the Inn to perform any evil tasks. He was a man with a lot of responsibility on his shoulders, so he wouldn''t be out here wasting time over nothing. There had to be more to these tasks, but whatever the secret was, Lex was convinced it was not something evil. Also, he really wanted that 1 trillion MP! "The tasks have been put up by a repeated guest of the Inn, one I have met personally many times" Lex said, his voice as reassuring as the warmth of the winter sun. "I trust that there is sufficient reason for him to put up such requests." Dillion did not know much about the Innkeeper, mostly because there was not much information about him avable. However, his reputation at the Inn seemed to be very good and based on what she heard he did not seem to have many evil practices. In fact, he seemed to care very little about anything unrted to the Inn itself. So, perhaps, in his eyes, the task that seemed very dangerous, with potentially catastrophic repercussions if not handled carefully, was of no importance whatsoever. She was hesitating about whether or not she should borate, or if it would seem rude for her to continue on with a topic the Innkeeper already deemed safe. Lex, who was now more in sync with the system and its space than ever before, was naturally able to pick out the expressions on her face. While he was not familiar with her race, his instincts, in this heightened state, were naturally able to detect what was on her mind. "Do not be afraid to say what''s on your mind." After all, the more you speak, the more I will learn. Naturally, Lex did not say the second part, and only thought about it.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "Thest task, of speaking under the shade of a Divine Mango tree, especially taking the name of the deathly precinct¡­ if it is not performed with the utmost care, it could end up interfering with the preparations for the Henali Champions tourney. Such a transgression¡­ it is not one that can be easily borne." Dillion dared not look directly at the Innkeeper, despite his assurance that it was alright, but she was observing for any reaction that the Innkeeper had at this information. After all, even Daolords had to obey the Henali. But there was none. The Innkeeper was as casual as before, as if he did not care at all. "Maybe the whole purpose of the task then," he eventually said, his voice as if exining something simple to a mere child, "is to find someone capable of fulfilling the requirement without causing problems. I''m sure he does not mean to attract endless trouble towards himself, but is rather searching for someone brave enough to attempt it, and skilled enough to pull it off. I suggest you do not take the task if you do not consider yourself of sufficient skill." Dillion was startled, and somehow she felt challenged. Though from the Innkeepers voice she heard nothing but genuine concern, calling her courage and skill into question, for her own safety, affected her more than any insult ever could have. She was not crazy enough to try and offend Henali but¡­ suddenly she was curious about what kind of requirements they have for a person, if just their test alone is already so tough. "No, I cannot risk anyone else attempting the task and messing up. I will take this upon myself," she said, both reassuring herself and informing the Innkeeper. He smiled at her, his eyes filled with more gentleness than even her own father had shown her, and said, "then I wish you luck." He truly did, for there was 1 trillion MP on the line here! ***** Once Dillion left, the Innkeeper retreated leaving Luthor free to do as he wished. The Innkeeper had suggested he cultivate, and had even provided him with an excellent cultivation technique. But Luthor''s heart could not settle down. He spent several hours familiarizing himself with the Inn, then used his position as the Innkeeper''s receptionist to get a meeting with one of the most famous of the Inn''s workers, Gerard - the Head of Security. "It''s a pleasure to meet you," Gerard said, as amiable as ever. His appearance had changed drastically due to Regalia Bloom, making it so that he no longer looked like an aged man, but rather a handsome, mature man. Compared to him, the delicate Luthor seemed verycking, yet Gerard saw a fire in his eyes that let him know not to take this man lightly. "Senior Gerard," Luthor began, his voice polite yet professional. "I have been doing some research since my appointment, and, if you do not mind, there are some matters I wish to discuss with you." "Oh? Taking initiative, I like that. Tell me, what do you want to talk about?" "Well senior, it hase to my attention that up until very recently, a lot of the security was handled by guards that had been outsourced for the Lady Cosmospetition. But since thepetition ended, the guards also returned. During that entire time, and still, many guests took the Inns'' rules as nothing and kept breaking them, causing the security to have their hands full. Now that the extra guards are gone, your teams should be even busier now than ever, correct?" "That is true." "I believe, senior, that the reason people keep trying to break the rules, is because of how lenient the Innkeeper is. Naturally, someone of his caliber would view all the guests as nothing but children, and so would treat them gently." An evil light shone in Luthor''s eyes. "But as the representatives of the Inn, and the Innkeeper, we need to maintain the respect that they deserve. I believe¡­ if we took a stronger stance against rule breakers, the rest would be too afraid to transgress." "What do you have in mind?" Chapter 387 Gossip Queen "What do you have in mind?" Gerard asked, his expression turning a little more serious. In matters regarding security he took nothing lightly, and this matter which involved them taking an initiative to propose a change in the way things operate was especially one that required his full attention. "If I''m beingpletely candid, then if it werepletely up to me, all rule breakers would receive the capital punishment!" Luthor said, his eyes narrowed. "But no matter what, we must not let the Inn''s reputation be tarnished. As such, different levels of transgressions must have different levels of punishment. "In that case, if we do things my way, the lightest transgression for a first timer will result in a one year ban from entering the Inn, while a repeat offender will get permanently banned. We can also suspend any tasks they''re performing or requesting in the Guild room. Furthermore, depending on how serious the issue is, the punishment can be even more serious. "ording to what I know, some marauder''s attacked the Inn some time ago, and are still being held at the Inn as prisoners." "Yes, that is the case," replied Gerard. He took care of the prisoners'' security and nutritional requirements, which is why he was one of the few people still aware of the prisoners. The rest seemed to have forgotten about them. "They were pigers who attacked the Inn. A lot of them were captured instead of just killed. The Innkeeper did not feel like executing them, so they have been kept hidden at the Inn so far." "Excellent, so following that train of thought, we''ll also need to develop a dungeon, or a prison. Guests who break very serious rules can be put in prison or punished otherwise. Of course, for matters rted to this we will have to get the Innkeepers permission, but we should prepare a full-fledged proposal before we present it to him. "Moreover, I''ve noticed that we have many strong cultivators, but most of them are at a low level. We should prepare a thorough recruitment n and present it before the Innkeeper. Some of the guests are genuinely talented and we should utilize them to the best of our abilities. "At the same time, I''ve noticed that we have many workers, and all of them are treated very well, but very few have additional benefits which has caused everyone to becent. I think we should design a promotion system to motivate employees to work harder¡­" The evil gleam in Luthor''s eyes began to shine even brighter. He had a very calctive and mathematical mind, and the Inn, as impable as it was, was full of inefficiencies. Of course, that was not the Innkeeper''s fault, but a result of the workers, who he foundcking. The Innkeeper had trusted him, and Luthor would not disappoint him. That, he would make sure of. ***** Lex had dismissed Luthor because he wasn''t expecting to see any more guests and wanted to explore the Inn he had been away from for so long, but it was not meant to be. A number of Inn employees applied to meet with the Innkeeper, for they had many things to report. Although Mary had kept him abreast of all matters that required his attention, that was only on therge scale of things. The minor details rting to the Inn were many things he had overlooked as a result of his absence. Well, he could not me anyone, nor was his work getting any less by avoiding it. He began meeting everyone one at a time. The first worker he met was the Sovereign Gctic turtle, who had requested his presence at the greenhouse. In fact, it should no longer be called the greenhouse but a farm due to its massive size and formidable output.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Fields of vegetables were nted over the sloping hills of the Midnight Inn, with several orchards nearby as well. The formation that was supposed to protect the greenhouse had undergone many upgrades, both in size and function. Since it was only designed to confuse any who entered, and prevent them from delving inside too deeply, the upgrades were not costly. Or at least, not too costly at only 700 million MP! It had resulted in the greenhouse staying safe so far, though now Lex was considering adding fruit picking as an activity for guests to indulge in. A random thought urred to him, which was that he would probably get some cool upgrades if he got his hands on some kind of farming system. After all, any aid his own system gave him in terms of maintaining the ''greenhouse'' was very limited. "How have you been?" Lex asked as he appeared in front of the massive turtle that had buried its shell in the soil. Lex had no idea what it was doing, nor did he want to ask. "There has been a small, teeny tiny ident," the turtle said, slowly. "Yes, just a small teeny tiny ident. Oh dear, why does no one ever listen to me?" "What was the ident?" Lex asked, suddenly bing serious. It was the first time he heard the turtle lose control of a situation. "Well, a guest paid me a handsomemission to nt a sapling and help it grow up quickly at the Inn. Since the conditions for the sapling to grow were too difficult to find normally, I epted. At first, all was well. Then the sapling grew a consciousness. Then it fused with the Delinquent Viper Vine hidden underneath the Inns soil, and took control of the vines." Lex was extremely rmed at the news, as the Delinquent Vines spread as far as the Inn extended, and were a very important part of the Inn''s security system. They were what restrained any trouble makers before guards or security could reach them. If someone hijacked the Inns security¡­ that would be problematic. "Show me," said Lex gravely. The turtle, after considering for a moment, rolled over. The soil that covered it was ripped from the ground, falling everywhere but leaving a hole in the center where the turtle had been. There, in the ground, was a small, but very familiar nt. "Igishima?" Lex said, suddenly startled. He remembered the sentient nt well, for it had given him quite the shock back when he saw it the first time during the Midnight Games. But it could not be Igishima, for he remembered receiving a notification saying that it had died, and it''s MP bnce had been sent to its inheritor. Yet the nt looked too simr for it to be a coincidence. "The name is McDonald," said the small sapling, "Young McDonald." "Hello Young," said Lex with a hint of amusement when he realized that¡­ this nt was actually an employee as well! But unlike the turtle, which had hired itself as an employee, this time the system imed McDonald as having been born only due to the unique environment it provided, and so epted it as a part of the system in the form of an employee. "I have been told that you''ve taken over the Vines underneath the Inn. What are your intentions, little sapling?" The few green leaves on the sapling changed color, as if blushing out of embarrassment. "I didn''t mean to do it, promise. It just... kind of happened." "Well I hope you can continue to use them to protect the Inn, since you''ve taken control away from everyone else." "I don''t know how¡­" said the sapling, its voice reduced to a squeak. "The turtle will teach you," said Lex, before turning to give the turtle a silent look. This was the first time he had lost control of the situation, and Lex kind of found it amusing. He also did not forget the little scamper had been epting MP payments privately. It seemed the turtle was entering its mischievous age. "Let me know if there''s anything else," said Lex onest time, before teleporting away to his next worker. He really had a lot of ground to cover, and a lot of work to do. But, in a way, this was probably the best way to settle back into the flow of things. He met with a few workers who were nning Harry''s wedding and wanted Lex''s permission with a few things. He met with workers who had, predictably, gained a bit of weight from eating too much of the Inn''s extremely organic, extremely nutrient rich foods and he met with a few who were just making up fake excuses to be able to meet the prestigious Innkeeper. He met with Gerards old racing crew, who had grown vastly in numbers now. Their fleet of golf carts could be seen all over the Inn, some even racing against the Midnight Train. He met with Little Blue, the flying whale, who had grown a lot more cheerful these past few months, and he met some of the animals who had been living at the Inn for so long that they began cultivating. Everything was going well, then he met with Velma. She approached him pulling behind her several bags, all full of notebooks. She had reports to give, and they were extremely detailed. After all, she was the gossip queen of the Inn. Chapter 388 First Binder "It''s been a while," said Lex as looked at Velma, doing his best to avoid looking at the several bags behind her. No matter what, Velma and Gerard held a special ce in Lex''s heart as the first workers he''d ever hired at the Inn. They had been with him through everything, and their help along the way was invaluable. All things considered, it was not strange to say that Lex genuinely missed them dearly. "It has been too long," she said, maintaining the professionalism in her voice, though Lex could clearly hear how emotional she felt. "No need to be so formal between us. We can be considered old friends now." Velma lightly trembled upon hearing the Innkeeper''s words, and rxed. Her smile widened as she gestured to the Innkeeper to have a seat. She had prepared some snacks and refreshments, for their meeting would not be a short one. "I hope you had fun," Velma said, but then greed gleamed in her eyes as she got to matters she really cared about. "Moreover, if you encountered any touching love stories, I hope you''ll share them with me." Lex smiled weakly as he quickly went through his memories to judge if he could recall any love stories. The hedonistic King''s harem of wives did not really paint him as a romantic, and everyone else was too focused on killing Kraven to have any decent love stories. At most, Dino and his wife could barely count. "I visited a realm under siege by an alien race. I did not get the chance to see any decent romances." "How unfortunate," she said in a saddened tone, though Lex wondered if her sympathy was towards the realm being invaded or theck of romance. Her morose moodsted only a moment, though, as she quickly brightened up when she unzipped one of the bags and pulled out her first binder. "The Inn, on the other hand, was rampant with love stories of all kinds. While I was learning about them, I managed to also learn a bunch of interesting things about various worlds. Take Earth for example..." When she opened her binder, Lex was expecting to encounter a scrap book dedicated to the romances of his home, but what he saw instead was an extremely well documented, andpletely unraveled list of secrets. "Though the hase under the rule of Fernanda, beneath her there is a web of political intrigue, all secretly being manipted by the many political prisoners kept on the." From the binder she took out a few pages which had pictures of a few key political leaders on Earth, as well as pictures of the so-called political prisoners on the who were manipting them from behind the scenes. The more Lex heard, the more serious he became. It reached to the point where over 90% of all wars in thest 200 years were caused by the same three prisoners, who all happened to be friends. In fact, Velma even managed to uncover the fact that one of the Nascent cultivators from Earth, the one fondly called as Fatty, was just a normal person who reached his current realm due to a random treasure he found. The truth regarding that matter, however, was that one of the prisoners lost a bet, and had to give a treasure from their personal collection to a mortal on earth as punishment. As if that was not it, one group of prisoners had been influencing the Nascent cultivators, and another had been manipting the so-called rebellion, treating it all as some kind of entertainment. The more Lex heard, the more horrified and amazed he was. He was horrified because of the reach and influence of the prisoners was ridiculous, and amazed at the detail with which Velma had managed to gather information. He did not even have time to process theplexity and intricacy of the conspiracies she was uncovering in front of him, so much so that the next few hours flew by like the wind. But, unfortunately, the few hours did not mean they went through all the binders, no. It took them so long only to cover one binder, which had beenbeled Earth. None of the other binders had anything to do with Lex''s home, which, frankly, once again left Lex astounded at Velma''s capabilities. When he asked her how she learned all this, she said this was just her collection of useless information she got while asking various guests about their love lives. Lex''s jaw dropped, only mentally of course. In actuality, his expression only changed slightly and showed genuine appreciation for her effort. In the end, though, Lex concluded that he could not listen to her entire briefing today, and instead told her that he would listen to her borate on one of her binders each day. Velma found that most satisfactory, as she had assumed that the Innkeeper would only take her binders away and read them at his own leisure. By allowing her to tell him about them each day, he not only ensured that they would meet often, he allowed Velma to fully show off her hard work. But he was not done with the binder from Earth, no. He told Velma to create another binder, keeping only information pertaining to all the people secretly causing wars and strife throughout Earth. He would first give the new ruler of Earth, Fernanda, a chance to set things straight. If she could not, he would make all that information public. Once he was done with Velma, countless other workers had requested meetings, including Gerard, so Lex was still not free. Between meetings, though, he still found some time to set down the Inheritance lounge and open it, as well as used his new Remote presence ability. The Remote presence ability let him create a holographic projection of himself anywhere on system grounds. In this case, that included the tavern. This was very important for Lex, for while he was doing the rounds at the Inn, some people had arrived at the tavern to deal with him. Namely, Joseph Noel had shown up, followed closely by Mario and Elio Ri. They had been very discreet in their arrival, ensuring that no one knew they arrived together. Moreover, they had gone directly to a private room, not taking the risk of being spotted together. After all, Mario Ri was the Goatfather of Babylon while Joseph was the actual owner of the town. In theory, they should be at odd ends instead of so close. Lex, however, had long surmised that they must have a close rtionship. Now that Joseph knew that Lex was in close cooperation with the royal family of Hum nation, he had dropped his guard, somewhat, and had arrived with the intention of discussing business. Lex did not feel like leaving the Inn any time soon, so the Remote projection ability came in handy very quickly. Moreover, with the increase in his cultivation, his mental faculties had improved so much that Lex had no issues controlling the projection while he did work of his own. When Lex''s projection entered the private room, Joseph and the rest stood up to greet him respectfully. It appeared as if everyone had been briefed on exactly the kind of behavior they had to disy in front of Lex. Lex himself was quite curious because he had not seen Elio during the town ckout. He wondered if Elio had survived in one of the shelters, or if he had been somewhere else entirely.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Lex, I know that you have already met, but let me introduce you again. This is Mario, my on ground manager for many of my ventures." "Mario," said Lex with a nod in acknowledgment. "Lex," said Mario likewise with a nod. "In the future, he will be conducting trade on my behalf. Moreover, although it was a little tough, I''ve managed to arrange 100 energy crystals for you, though they''ll be delivered in batches of 10 over the next few weeks." "That''s excellent. I have the stuff you asked for as well, I''ll have someone bring them in. Though, I managed to get a lot of material. The price naturally went over 100 crystals, so you can just choose which ones you want and which ones you don''t." Joseph was both surprised and very pleased to hear the news, and became even happier when Rick carried in a chest full of extremely rare treasures. In his heart he wondered why Lex had trouble locating energy crystals when he could find other treasures so easily, but he did notin. There was no market for the materials he wanted, simply because they were never avable. Inparison, while the energy crystals were extremely expensive, at least they could still be found. Their meeting eventually concluded with both parties very happy. Lex, especially, was very happy since he nned on relying on Joseph to learn about the secrets of the Kraven. That''s because he asked Mary if another incident like the previous one where he got trapped in another realm could happen again. She only replied that until they uncovered the anomaly that resulted in Lex being sent there in the first ce, they could take no precautions against it. Chapter 389 Sudden Quest Lex did not dismiss his projection after he was done with Joseph and Mario. Instead, he went to Aegis, who had been sitting at the tavern, once again conversing with Rnd. Lex was slightly curious about what the duo talked about, but not enough to eavesdrop. He only signaled Aegis to meet him in the private room so they could talk. The crown prince responded immediately, leaving Rnd with only a te of fries to keep himpany for the moment. When he entered the room, Lex did not waste any time and presented him with two keys, one tinum and one gold. Originally, Lex considered not giving Aegis with a key of his own unless he got Zagan to use the tinum one, but he decided not to be so restrictive. Not only would this give Aegis a better impression, but it would also ount for the fact that the crystal realm was now linked to the system, and golden doors could spontaneously appear anywhere. Using them, Aegis could identally arrive at the Inn at any time, so he would rather provide him with a golden key first. If he wanted the tinum key, however, he would need toplete the task. Of course, the chances that Aegis would encounter a golden door were too small, but Lex no longer trusted luck. There was also a considerable drawback to providing him with the golden key, which is that considering his wealthy status, there wasn''t much he could go from working at the Inn that he couldn''t just buy himself. This made him consider the fact that he needed to improve his worker benefits. This was yet another thing he would add to his ever-growing list of things to do. "This is a golden key, and can take you to the Midnight Inn. You can begin your search for greater opportunities from there as a guest whenever you want. But, if you want to join the Midnight Inn, you have to prove yourself by having Zagan use the tinum key." Carefully, Aegis took the keys from Lex''s hand, his expression extremely ominous. He did not think he''d get ess to the Inn so easily. But, at the same time, he did not even consider reneging on their deal and avoiding Zagan. Whether he joined the Inn or not, it would be best not to start their rtionship with a bad experience. "Feel free to use the golden key once before you try to find Zagan. It''ll be good to know what you''re fighting for." Aegis caught his breath, as he was severely tempted to do just that even before Lex said so. Now that he had permission¡­ Before he could decide on what to do, Lex dismissed his projection, disappearing from in front of Aegis, scaring the hell out of him! It was not easy to get the drop on an immortal, but Lex kept doing it! As for Lex himself, he was in a meeting with the nning division. They had proposed many changes and alterations to the existing setup of the Inn, including Main street which was originally where all the main attractions of the Inn used to be. Now, with the addition of the party vige, a majority of the crowd was attracted there while the Main street and the rest of the Inn became wee ces for the guests who were just visiting. In fact, since the development of the party vige, something remarkable happened that Lex had looked over for a very long time. When Earth won the cultural portion of the Midnight Games, they won the award to have their top performers summoned to the Inn to perform for free. In fact, they would actually get paid for their performances. But as the Inncked proper venues to host such events, that aspect of their award was never triggered. Now, finally, various performers from all over Earth found themselves performing live in front of the universe. If nothing else, it had kick-started Earth''s economy, as well as cultivation. There were over 100 Nascent realm cultivators on the now, but almost all of them lived virtually permanently at the Inn due to the better environment. Setting all that aside, Lex had been overlooking ns for renovations to Main street when he saw a proposal for the addition to a very gothic looking cathedral. He had long since understood that the workers in the nning division all had unique personalities, and their personalities were often reflected in their work. He had no issue with the gothic nature of the cathedral at all, but simply wanted to avoid building religious buildings for he did not want to involve himself in matters of religion. Earth alone was chalk full of religions and religious zealots, let alone the rest of the universe. So this was one controversial entity with which he wanted a clear distance. Yet the moment he selected the cathedral to remove it from the proposals, he triggered a hidden quest!N?v(el)B\\jnn Hidden quest: Different guests require different environments to survive. Establish 5 unique environmental biomes to cater to different kinds of guests from all over the universe, including divine guests! Quest progress: ?plete! - Stable Terrestrial biome (low chaos) - Aquatic biome - Stable Fossorial biome (underground) He had to pause, not only because of the unique way in which the biomes had been decided, but because of the fact that he could almost immediatelyplete this quest. This was because as soon as he built the cathedral, supposedly, he would gain another biome. It would be a biome that would allow divine beings to exist. Basically, of his existing biomes, onnd, in the water, and underground, all counted as unique biomes, but for whatever reason the open air did not count. Or maybe it was a part of the onnd biome. So then, what else would he have to do to get another biome? After all, on top of Midnight mountain he had a snowy terrain, yet the change in weather was not counter as another biome. He theorized that the environment was not drastically different enough to count. He would need to run a few experiments to find out. Also, did he have guests who''d been living underground all this time? He had to look into that, for he would have to figure out how to serve them. Chapter 390 Fire Temple With a bunch of new tasks suddenly on his te, Lex quickly concluded the meeting with the nning division by approving their changes to Main street and told them that they would have to reschedule the rest of their meeting. At the same time, Main street started to change. The road in the middle became wider and the buildings, which had been closely packed together to resemble the urban style of New York, started to gain some distance between themselves. Some of the buildings became taller and wider as well, but in the case of the Barbershop, Battle Ax and Gaming Den, they only grew slightly bigger without gaining any floors. Street lights sprouted from the ground, growing like nts and filling in the empty gaps on the road. Benches, small andrge, appeared on the edges of the sidewalk, right in view of the greenbelt which were full of flowers. Statues appeared at intersections, all of the various workers from the Inn who had gained some repute. Underneath the statues were small nks with the names of each worker. As much as the nning division wanted to rearrange Main street as well, Lex chose not to mess with the originalyout. Maybe some of therger attractions, such as the Avallon building, would be more appropriate on Main street, but he preferred the smaller shops run by his workers. They were unique and irreplicable, which gave them character, and built the charm of the street. He did, however, allow the addition of the gothic cathedral onto Main street, though he kept it near the end.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om It was a massive building, seemingly carved out of a massive gray rock or mineral. Gargoyles and demons of other kinds stood as statues where even the smallest of space was avable, in contrast to the angels and spirits depicted on the stained ss. Internally, the cathedral was one big hall, and instead of rows of pews filling the hall, it was almost bare. The white marble floor was filled with the wildest pattern in gray and ck, depicting only utter chaos. Right in the middle of the hall was a marble bowl of pure ck color, ced upon a stone pedestal. Around it were fourrge curved sofas, almost forming a circle, though they were spaced out to leave room for entrance from all sides. That was it. There was no center stage for sermons or worship, no idols or pictures of deities. Yet it was filled with a strangely unique aura that was both ominous and... resplendent. Lex knew that this was the so-called divine aura, which created an environment uniquely suited to host divine guests. Maybe. He would look into it, and in fact, he had a great idea where to get all his information and new cultivation techniques from. When he finally got free, he would go back to X-142 and visit the Infinity Emporium once again. His experience there had been good, and he recalled that the person told him that if Lex didn''t mind waiting, he could ce orders for items that weren''t immediately avable. Currently, though, it was time to develop the next biome. Lex walked to thezy river as he thought about what kind of new environment he wanted to build. He dipped his hands in the water and ticked off one of the many things he''d had on his list for a long, LONG time. He added Magikarpet to the Inn finally! He''d added many animals from Earth to the Inn, but next to none from the others. When he saw the big, red beautiful fish he knew he had to have them at the Inn! But the system could not create something out of nothing. He needed to provide the system with some DNA for the animals he wanted to summon, moreover they could have no cultivation whatsoever. Moreover, if their bodies were tooplicated or had some unique treasures in them they could not be replicated either. Lex smiled as he felt one of the Magikarpet rub against his foot. He was thinking that he had to create a drastically different environment for it to count as a biome. Currently, he was considering two such options. One was a massiveva pool inside a volcano, and the other was an extremely cold cave that reached - 100 celsius. There would, of course, be formations in ce to ensure the temperature does not interact with and escape to the rest of the Inn. Normally, in circumstances like this, he would have flipped a coin. But since hadpletely lost all faith in luck, he was forced to make a decision on his own. So, as apromise, he did somethingpletely different. Lex disappeared and reappeared near the edge of the boundary for the Inn, and with a flick of his hand, split the ground open. A ravine hundreds of feet deep, and a mile (1.6 kilometers) long was formed soundlessly. Spending a nominal 100,000 MP he put down a formation to ensure the temperatures inside and outside the formation wouldn''t interfere with one another, before creating severalvafalls from the ground, deep into the ravine, slowly filling it up. He could have filled it up withva automatically, but he wanted to watch as it happened slowly. He intended to fill the ravine only three quarters before creating an endless loop. Lava would continuously fall down while the same amount ofva disappeared from the pool down below, causing its level to be constant. Soon the temperature inside the formation began to rise rapidly and, a short whileter, he heard the familiar ting of apleted quest. Quest Complete! Existing biomes: - Stable Terrestrial biome (low chaos) - Aquatic biome - Stable Fossorial biome (underground) - Divine biome - Lava pitt The Host''s reward is being calcted: - Reward upgraded forpleting quest in less than 1 hour - Reward upgraded for having 1 extremely unique biome - Reward Rank: B+ Reward 1: Fire Temple Reward 2: New worker ss unlocked! Chapter 391 Cliffhangers Ahead Lex smiled because he had finally been encountering some easy quests. Before, from quests ranging to recruiting an immortal behemoth to visiting a 5 star, and developing a permanent guest district, Lex kept getting quests way beyond his capabilities. Lately though, finally, he had some good ones. He shook his head, denying himself the hope that his luck was getting better, and looked at his rewards. Fire Temple A building to host divinities with a fiery temperament, though others can visit it as well. It contains all the basic necessary facilities required by a divine being. Must be built in an extremely hot environment. New worker ss unlocked: Draconian Apostle. Draconian Apostle An Insecta found in only the most hazardous environments, these extremely versatile can freely adapt the structure of their bodies to suit their survival needs. A powerful but simple minded race, their lives are hollow until they find a master to serve, or an ideology to propagate. This¡­ was a surprise. Lex always knew he would eventually hire workers that were nonhumans, but he always thought he would need to take the initiative in finding them. To be honest, he was sofortable with humans that he hadn''t really felt the need to hire races. In fact, he somewhat believed that his perception as the Innkeeper had strongly been tied to humans or at least humanoid creatures, for even the Henali sent all humanoid representatives to greet him. But before he even got around to it, the system had provided him with a new race, or as it called it, ss of workers. He spent 5000 MP to purchase a Draconian Apostle to see what they looked like, and get a better understanding of them. All he understood, so far, was that they were some kind of insect. Though what he was mentally prepared for, and what appeared in front of him werepletely different. A three feet long honey bee appeared in front of him, wearing the signature suit all Midnight Inn employees wore. Its yellow fur made the suit fitting look fluffy and snug, while its two massive eyes on the sides of its head made it look like it was in a perpetual state of puppy dog eyes. It made a gentle buzzing sound as it hovered in the air in front of it, but it was actually quite pleasing. "Greetings, Innkeeper," whispered a cute, baby voice in his head. "Greetings," replied Lex verbally, testing if the Apostle could hear. "Introduce yourself and what you''re capable of doing." "My name is Fredrich. I can do most basic physical and spiritual tasks, and have a racial advantage in building stable structures in extremely vtile areas. For my survival, I cannot long stay in such a¡­ temperate environment, and am best suited for ces with extreme heat, cold, radioactive decay, strong electrical clouds etc. I can change my shape as needed to suit my environment and task. "The cultivation of my species is dependent heavily on the environment in which we live. The more chaotic environment we are able to adapt to, the stronger we will be. Naturally, the environment must also have spiritual energy for us to grow from, but it need not be stable at all. In fact, it is best if it is even a little violent." ''So a race of masochist bees,'' Lex mused. "Take a look at this ravine, do you think you could survive there?" Lex asked as he pointed towards the ever growing pool ofva. Fredrich took the request very seriously, and even flew down into the ravine to properly inspect everything. Due to the Draconian Apostle''s being an entirely different race Lex could not determine its facial expressions, or even detect the to be honest, but his instincts let him know that the was filled with excitement as it flew back. "This area is perfect for me, and will greatly boost my cultivation!" he said, barely able to suppress its joy. "Alright in that case, whenever we have a gueste to this area, you will be incharge of taking care of their needs," decided Lex as he summoned a few more of them to give Fredrich somepany. With that done, Lex decided to ce the Fire Temple within the ravine as well. As it turned out, the ravine was justrge enough to amodate the structure of an ancient mosque, with tall spires on four of its sides and a pointed domed structure in the middle as the temple itself. Not interested in exposing himself to the heat of theva, though he''d be protected from it anyway, Lex simply scanned the temple to see what it was like on the inside. Considering it had what all divinities needed, he was expecting to see a few rooms and amenities, but all he saw were several altars in closed off sections of the temple. Other than that it was very in and mostly filled with decorations. Lacking an adequate understanding of divinities, Lex simply shrugged and moved on. He was feeling a little tired from meeting all his workers for the past several hours, so instead Lex decided to catch up on a few other tasks that were waiting for him, the primary of which was the gifts left behind for him by the Henali representatives. There was an epistle with the words Henali embossed right onto it, a small sealed booklet which contained the conventions alongside a small, wooden chest that contained some kind of a gift for him. Such official business was best conducted in his new office, so he retreated back to it andfortably sat down on his chair. He had asked Mary to try and open them, but she had been unable to open it. There was a very decent chance that Lex himself wouldn''t be able to open it either, but he would only find out by trying it out for himself. After a moment''s consideration, he reached towards the epistle first, since it was addressed to him directly. Supposedly it was an invitation to the Henali assembly, whatever that was. He did not wait for dramatic effect and tried to open the epistle as soon as he got his hands on it but, predictably, nothing happened. The epistle did not open. Lex sat back in his chair and frowned as he considered why he was unable to open it. Perhaps since they assumed him to be a Daolord, he needed the strength of a Daolord to open it in the first ce. Such reasoning would make sense, and if that were the case, these items would remain untouched for a long time, if they were ever touched again at all. While he was thinking, his sight wandered over the other items on the table, and he noticed the letter opener. Could it be..? Lex scanned the items on the table, for he hadn''t had a chance to earlier. He started with the leatherbound journal, but discovered it was not a journal at all. Midnight Inn Letterhead An Inn, one as prestigious as this, cannot be without proper stationary. The Midnight letterhead can be used by the Innkeeper to write official letters or messages bound for outside the Inn. They will be tinged with the aura of the Innkeeper. Innkeeper''s Pen Each of the Innkeepers words is worth a hundred worlds. Writing anything with this pen will imbue the words with the aura of the Innkeeper. Ink Well The medium to carry power must be powerful as well. No word written with this ink may ever be misconstrued, misunderstood or manipted to mean anything other than what the author''s intentions entail. Innkeepers Letter opener A prestigious man must have prestigious friends. An exchange between people of status needs proper etiquette. The letter opened uses the aura of the Innkeeper to open letters and packages addressed to the Innkeeper to confirm the identity of the recipient. Innkeeper''s business cards Everyone cannot be everywhere all the time. These business cards carry the aura of the Innkeeper with them, and when spiritual energy is passed through them, a temporary clone linked to the Innkeepers consciousness can appear. The Innkeeper can send it to those with whom he wishes to converse. Lex was genuinely impressed by these items that had remainedpletely unmentioned so far. They were genuinely so useful for his identity as the Innkeeper, but the system had not deigned to mention them at all. Or maybe they were just a part of his new office, which is why the system did not give him individual notifications. The business cards especially were blowing his mind and opened up so many potential options for him to continue to use his Innkeeper persona. He had been invited by the Henali to attend some kind of assembly, but Lex honestly had no intention of going. It would only expose him, and maybe even put his system at risk of being detected. But with such clones, he could now consider the option.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Chapter 392 Entering The Big Leagues He would find an opportunity to test the Innkeeper''s business card on someone inconspicuous and test out its abilities and limitations. For now, however, he had another item he wanted to try. He picked up the letter opener and, without waiting for the dramatic build up, used it to open the epistle. The wax seal easily came off, and the envelope unfurled on its own, revealing a single page that automatically began to hover in the air. Due to the Universal Language converter that Lex had received he was able to pretty much read and write everynguage he ever encountered quite easily. In fact, it had been the reason he was able tomunicate with the Kraven. But when he saw thenguage written on the epistle, the beautiful purple calligraphy on the page, he knew two things immediately. First, regardless of whether he had thenguage converter or not, he would be able to understand everything this said. Second, he would have to learn some calligraphy of his own if he ever wanted to write a letter as the Innkeeper. Putting away his random thoughts, Lex began to read. ''Honorable Innkeeper, your presence and activity in the Origin realm has been noted and acknowledged. The Henali would like to thank you for choosing the Origin realm to establish your business in, and would like to invite you to the centurial Henali assembly to meet and interact with other influential and like minded individuals. ''In case you are unfamiliar with the Henali assembly, it is a gathering that invites all those in the Origin realm who have touched upon the Dao, under the protection of the Henali, toe together and discuss current events. No affiliation is required to join the assembly, and attendees may keep their identity anonymous. ''The Henali assembly is also the only portal through which a Daolord can request to join the Henali court, and other essential, affiliate restricted events. ''This epistle also acts as a key to enter the assembly, and can only be activated in the first hour of the assembly. ''Henali looks forward to your attendance. ''Time to assembly: 104 hours, 33 minutes, 59 seconds.'' Lex read and reread the epistle time and time again, analyzing it for as much information as he could get. His heart beat extremely fast as he considered the possibility of going, and all the risks associated.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om If he had to go in person, he would never ever risk meeting a Daolord for one simple reason. It did not take a genius to guess that the Daolord realm was even higher than the realm Bastet was in, since her cultivation was only titled as Demi-Daolord. Moreover, since he now knew that high leveled cultivators could potentially detect his system, he was more than inclined to avoid them as much as possible. But the business card presented him with a potential solution. Since the ''Innkeeper''s aura'' was being generated through the system, he would not doubt that it could emte whatever strength people had associated with the Innkeeper, and since the event would be under the protection of the Henali, who or whatever they were, he would not have to take the risk of having his consciousness clone attacked or even analyzed in great detail. He was extremely tempted, and his usual greed that was normally hidden once again showed its ugly head. This would be a great opportunity, and he could gain a lot... but at the same time, he was also risking a lot. Moreover, the assembly that happened only once a century was taking ce a little over 4 days from now. The timing was extremely unfortunate, for if it had been even a few years away Lex was confident he would be much better prepared to attend the event. Still, time waits for no man, and he had a decision to make, and only a few days to make it. Lex turned his head towards the other two things left behind by the Henali representatives. The wooden chest was apparently a gift, but the other was a copy of the Henali conventions. Whether he would go or not, reading the conventions would greatly benefit him as they would supplement his understanding of the universe, or at least the Origin realm. He picked up the purple tetragonal pyramid shaped crystal and tried to channel his spirit energy inside of it, but as expected, nothing happened. He then channeled his spirit energy into the crystal through his letter opener, and lo and behold, the crystal cracked, and a stream of energy flowed into Lex''s mind. Instead of merging into his memory, a sort of book appeared in his mind which he could open and peruse at any time. Just because the book was in his mind did not mean Lex had all the information memorized, but it did mean that Lex''s reading speed would be astronomical. Filled with anticipation, Lex began reading the conventions, and many things finally started making sense. At the same time, Lex finally understood why everyone was so afraid of Henali. In the way that humans, devils and dragons were races, Henali was actually the name of a race. There was not much of a description of them in this book, as that was not entirely relevant to the conventions. What was mentioned, however, was that this entire massive Origin realm, that the humans on Earth used to previously consider the entire universe instead of just one realm of many, was but a single one of the realms that the Henali controlled, and their conventions applied in each and every realm that they owned. Moreover, the reason Daolords were forbidden from participating in any civilization-rted incident in the Origin realm was very simple. Much in the same way that the Earth Immortal realm was the peak of the Crystal realm, the Daolord realm was a level beyond the natural peak of the Origin realm. Should they use their strength, they would destabilize the entire realm. After all, as the Origin realm was apparently only 19 billion years old, it was not mature enough to naturally support the existence of beings on such a high realm. The more Lex read about the rules, the more goosebumps he kept on getting. ***** In the heart of the Origin realm existed andmass that was impossiblyrge. It could not be called a, for what could be sorge that it made gxies look small? Yet despite its size that defied science, at least as Earthlings understood it, thendmass existed in a stable state. It supported life, had rich and diverse climates, was absurdly rich in spiritual energy so much so that instead of water, it often rained liquid energy, and most of all, did not seem to affect the entire Origin realm with its gravity that should have been strong beyondprehension. Yet it was not just the size of the mass that defied fact and fiction. Six chains, each consisting of links, each her than the entire sr system, protruded from the mass out into space. As if that was not enough, each link on the chains also developed a climate of their own, and gave birth to unique lifeforms and never before seen races. Yet that was mere happenstance. The true purpose of the chains was to act as leashes, and the thing they leashed would startle anyone who even slightly understood the universe. Six ckholes hovered around the mass, sucking everything the universe had to offer, yet at the same time, they seemed to be doing their best to run away from thendmass, as if they had some kind of sentience. Unfortunately for them, the chains that held them in ce were not at all threatened by their awesome power. On thisndmass, somewhere, was a temple in which a bird, seemingly made out of pure energy, was reading some kind of book. It was engrossed, as if the world itself could not distract it from the secrets of the universe it was indulging in. Yet a powerful bolt of energy struck it, knocking it off its perch and attracting its attention. "Stop reading that perverted crap and get back to work," an ethereal voice thundered. "Another epistle has been opened, and so another Daolords presence has been confirmed. Add another chair to the assembly hall, and look into who the new Daolord could be. Also find out if they''re participating in the Henali Champions tourney. The betting pool will open soon, so if there are any new participants we need to do our research." The bird made of energy only rolled its eyes and, with an exhausted sigh, began obeying the voice''s instructions. If a knowledgeable person saw the bird they would be scared out of their wits, for this bird was exactly one of the few remaining Phoenix''s in the Origin realm, and yet here it was, being treated like a servant. The phoenix, though, did not show any reluctance or hesitation as it began doing its work. Chapter 393 Fuegan Lex spent a good while reading the Henali conventions, and then even longer pondering over what each convention meant, and the reasoning behind it. Beside a brief introduction of the Henali race, as well as the Origin realm, right at the beginning, the rest was just a list of rules. Lex had to extrapte a lot of information from the rules and make a lot of guesses, not to mention that these were the conventions that only applied to entities that touched upon the Dao. There were actually only very few rules for such entities, but Lex estimated that for empires and lower-level people, there would be more rules. The first and foremost rule was that beings that had touched upon the Dao realm were expressly forbidden from directly interfering, meaning using their own abilities in any way, with any civilization in the entire realm, regardless of how strong or weak they were. The second rule was that, should they need to conduct a private battle, they had to stabilize the Origin realm around themselves first, by themselves. If any tear is detected in the realm because of them, they will be heavily fined. Everything seemed fine and dandy so far, as the focus seemed to be on protecting the realm, but the conventions after this were what let Lex know that nothing was ever as simple as it seemed. Any entity that touched upon the Dao, affiliated or unaffiliated, was to immediately report the presence of any so-called ''Fuegan invaders'' and, in some cases, take direct action to eliminate them! Though there was no exnation for what the Fuegan invaders were, upon reading a few more rules, Lex concluded that... there was a realm wide war going on in the Origin realm as well! Unlike in the Crystal realm, where the origin of the Kraven was questionable, and the local leaders even took some actions to ensure they were not defeated too quickly, in the Origin realm the Fuegan invaders had to dealt with on sight, and had been established as invaders from another realm! Anyone who associates with the Fuegan invaders would immediately be identified and treated as an enemy by the Henali, and in the case of Daolords they would be expelled from the realm. This rang rm bells for Lex, for what would he do if a Fuegan arrived at the Inn as a guest? He did not know what a Fuegan was, so there was no reason to believe they would even be interested in being a guest, but that did not change the fact that one could end up being a guest. He needed to understand more about the Fuegan and, more importantly, he needed to get his hand on the reward for discovering the anomaly in the Crystal realm. The reward was a realm seed, and would allow the Inn''s space to form into its own realm. That way, they would technically no longer be within the Origin realm, so even if he had a Fuegan as a guest, he did not need to worry about being ''expelled'' from the Origin realm. This was because when it came to beings powerful enough to own and control multiple realms, he did not think for even a second that they would have a tough time locating the Inn, regardless of how easily the system hid it. After all, the system had already shown that it was not perfect at hiding. Lex kept reading, but the many conventions after seemed to slowly start getting extremely abstract, and beyond Lex''s understanding. The few more that Lex was able to understand were fairly simple. Mass genocide was disallowed when taking control of a new, soul farming was forbidden, bloodline farming was forbidden, and no one was allowed to attempt a breakthrough into the Daolord realm within the Origin realm. In summary, the Origin realm was the private property of some race known as Henali. Though they were owners, their interference within the realm was mostly limited, and the races of the realm were allowed to propagate and spread ording to the natural order of things. There were very few crimes they actually policed, such as mass extinction for colonial purposes, and for the most part did not care about who did what. They were in contact with most races or organizations that reached a certain level, and provided protection against these Fuegan invaders should their threat cross a certain threshold. Lex finally leaned back and considered his next actions carefully. He only had 4 days to decide. Before that, though, he turned his attention to the wooden chest and swiped it with his letter opener. Much like the other items left behind by the Henali representatives, the treasure chest unfurled itself, revealing some kind of mechanical orb. Lex had only just wondered what the orb was, and was thinking of scanning it, when the system spoke. New Notification: Upgradable material found! Should the system upgrade for free? Upgrade details: provide the Inn ess to the Henali portal for free permanently! Using the portal from the Inn will keep the location and all other user data hidden unless specifically otherwise stated. The portal cannot be used to track or locate the Inn. Lex raised an eyebrow, and thenughed when he understood what happened. He had been given the interster equivalent of an inte router. He had heard of the Henali portal before, and had nned on checking it out on his travels, but never got the opportunity, and now, the opportunity had presented itself to him. He did not hesitate and selected the upgrade, causing the mechanical orb in front of him to vanish. Unlike most upgrades to the Inn, this one was not instantaneous, which was convenient for Lex could catch up on his other tasks. As it happened, an entire day had passed, and Velma had appeared again, this time with another binder. Lex rubbed his forehead as he wrapped his head around the fact that an entire day had passed. He had been so busy that he had not noticed the time at all. Still, Lex made time for her since herst briefing had turned out to contain so much valuable information. This binder was on Nibiru, and all the changes that had been happening to the. In a unique phenomenon that no one fully understood, the had actually increased in size. The sloth known as Golden Hair that was supposedly supposed to look after the had once again disappeared, leaving the world to descend into chaos. Since so many beats were undergoing mutations and gaining sudden strength, not everyone was as convinced of their roles, and everyone kept challenging the order of things. The entire had descended into chaos more or less after that. There were a few beasts in particr that had gained great fame during this period, one of which was Havval El''Yun, a serpent who had proimed all the sea''s of Nibiru as his own territory. There was vehement opposition, but none were able to stop his rapid ascent. Moreover, arge number of humans had revolted after gaining unique bloodlines of their own. Not to mention Tiffany, the girl Lex had met back on that, had been spreading cultivation techniques for humans across the globe with her own efforts. In fact, Tiffany was being heralded as the new leader of humans on the, and a number of beasts wanted to pursue her, but none were able to capture or kill her. As if that was not enough, there had been official meetings between high-ranking members of the Jotun Empire and several beasts on Nibiru. The Empire had shown extreme interest in reports of mermaids on the. Unfortunately, while there seemed to be some proof of their prior existence, no one was able to find a living mermaid. Regardless, the Empire put up several rewards for the location of a mermaid, though they were very careful to also specify that they did not want the mermaid harmed even in the slightest! Just as Lex was pondering over why the EMpire valued mermaids so much, Velma borated. Apparently, mermaids could transform into humans. Though that wasn''t relevant. What was more important was that a child of a human and a mermaid would always be human, but sometimes with the bloodline of the mermaid. The details were unclear even to her, but she was able to gather that the Empire was unbelievably attracted to a certain bloodline ability owned by mermaids, but in all the gxies that the Empire controlled, they had never been able to locate it. Still, they were determined to get their hands on it one way or another. Lex listened with great interest as he expanded his understanding of the universe, even if it was only one at a time for now.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Once he was done, Lex took the binder with information on Earth from her and, after a long time, appeared at the Inn as Lex Williams. It was time to meet some old friends. Chapter 394 Personal From the moment Lex decided to use his original identity to when he teleported and walked all the way to where Marlo''s wife, Sophia was, he had already gotten several notifications from Mary about tasks that needed to be handled by him. It may have seemed like the Inn had been functioning fine in his absence, but the truth was they were barely holding things together. It was a ship at voyage having its leaks repaired using duck tape. An undeniable truth, unfortunately, was that the quality and standard of the Inn had fallen. It was not Lex''s fault, for he had been doing his best to keep up the expansion of the Inn as its presence grew in the universe, but he expanded from having a few thousand guests at any given time to a few million in the span of a few months. It was virtually impossible to keep up with the standard, especially because of Lex''s cultivation level, which limited the amount of things Lex could do at any given time. An example of the high standard he had early on was the presence of unique ces such as the Barbershop, Gamers den and Battle Ax. They were more than sufficient to cater to a few hundred, possibly even a few thousand people. But with millions of guests, even if they operated at maximum capacity at all times, they still wouldn''t be able to keep up with even 1% of the demand.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Due to the fact that such shops couldn''t be replicated, the uniqueness of the Inn fell. Indeed, the Meditation, training, hot tub rooms etc. were good, but they were generic. Lex needed more unique attractions and features to keep up with the demand. Moreover, despite the strict control of the security team and his other employees, more and more people were beginning to misbehave at the Inn. This was because while Lex and the rest had given demonstrations, that was a long time ago. Moreover, the people who were visiting for the first time may have not even heard of them. These were exactly the reasons Lex had decided to temporarily not go to others and just focus on improving the Inn during this next uing period. The Henali assembly, inparison, while still risky, would not take as long so Lex could still afford to go. Still, while all of these were concerns, Lex was aware of them and already nned on fixing them. Sure it may take some time, but it would not be a huge loss. This was exactly why Lex could take some time to handle a few personal matters, such as the one regarding Earth. What he did not know, however, was that an army had been silently gathering at the Inn for the past few months,pletely under the radar. When Lex visited the X-142, a mysterious group had begun to infiltrate it. Their purpose was unknown, though their actions suggested that they were either there to destabilize the Dmitri family, or steal from them. The Dmitri family, a business oriented family that had bought the rights for the X-14 star system for a thousand years, had picked up on their infiltration quicker than anticipated, and had reacted more strongly than anticipated. Many of the infiltrator teams were captured or killed. But fate is an unusual thing, for it was only a short while earlier that thoses had been connected to the Midnight Inn. The chances of one of those remaining teams encountering either a golden key or the golden gate that appears randomly were miniscule, yet that is exactly what happened. As soon as a single member of the infiltrators figured out the nature of the Inn, he spread the word. It was so that this mysterious group, after entering the, began using a golden key to teleport to the Inn, and remain there until they were themselves required there. Over time, due to the secretive nature in which they were operating, over 5000 such infiltrators had entered the Inn through various strategic points on the. When the time was ready, they would return, and wreak havoc. Moreover, because they had been at the Inn for so long, they had a deep and thorough understanding of the Inn itself, and so made no attempts to create trouble. In fact, even while at the Inn they were extremely careful in their behavior. They did not stick together,and instead split up as much as possible. They involved themselves with different events such as the Lady Cosmos and Earth Expo to fit in, and started to acquaint themselves with some of the workers and guests at the Inn to seem more authentic. But now, for the first time since they began arriving, some of the group members were holding a secret meeting. "Over the next few days, slowly spread the word," said a man wearing the rk Kent sses. "The operation will begin within one week. Everyone needs to be ready at a moment''s notice." "Yes sir," was all the reply he got, and it was all he needed. The n was in motion now. Oblivious to the nefarious plot being hatched with the Inn at the center of things, Lex was patiently waiting for Marlo. The man had rented a Large house at the Inn, and practically lived here permanently. Considering it was just him, his wife and his son, spending money on a 2000 MP a night house was a little extravagant in Lex''s opinion, but then again, who was he toin? Lex was genuinely impressed by the fact that Sophia did not seem to be bothered by his request to meet Marlo and directly called for him. After all, as a popr man, there must be many wishing to meet him, yet he was still so receptive. The truth was that due to Marlo''s newfound strength andplete disregard for social norms, most people feared evening in front of him let alone meet him, so this was genuinely an umon urrence. When Lex finally saw him, he noticed that the former giant had finally started to regain some of the muscle on his body that made him seem more of a monster than a man. Yet currently the amount of muscle he had stacked up was still within the realm that mere mortals could understand. "Well well well, look who has the guts to show up at my house after dropping my ss," said Marlo wearing his signature mad grin. Unfortunately for him, now that his body proportions were actually normal, he looked handsome instead of crazy with that smile. Lex simply shrugged and said, "your wife had my apartment ransacked. I didn''t want to get pulled into your family drama." Marlo, who had been fully intending on messing with Lex, froze. He had no idea about the details and turned to look towards his wife who was just filing her nails nonchntly. She couldn''t even be bothered to deny it. "Well thend, I''d say you did the best possible move to defend yourself by running far away," Marlo said with an approving nod. He sat down opposite Lex and made himselffortable. His old butler from back in his apartment in New York appeared from a different room and beganying down snacks and refreshments. "As much as I''d like to sit here and reminisce about the good old days, I''m here on some serious business." Lex put the binder on the table in front of Marlo and said, "You can treat this as a request, or a favor. Or maybe if there''s something you need, I can help you get it done, but I need your help to get this binder in the hands of the woman named Fernanda." Marlo raised an eyebrow in curiosity. He recalled Lex clearly because he had been ordered by his step family to keep close tabs on him nearly a year ago. In fact, it was through Lex that Marlo first learned of the Midnight Inn, and gained his opportunity to improve his life. He not only had a good impression of him, but he was also quite intrigued by him. There was clearly more than met the eye about him, so now that he directly referenced Fernanda so straightforwardly, without making any roundabout excuse of why he even knew that name, he was even more intrigued by what was in the binder. Without saying anything, Marlo picked up the binder and began perusing. At first he was nonchnt about it, but only a few minutester his wide grin dropped and he became utterly serious. The story about a hidden hand manipting all the conflicts on Earth would have been too far fetched for Marlo to believe just a year ago, but now he doubted nothing. A few momentster, a tinge of red entered his eyes as he read about a certain conflict - to be precise, the one in which he had to sacrifice his golden core, and lost a majority of hisrades. That too had been a part of a worldwide chess game between the ''prisoners'' being held on Earth. If before he had only been intrigued in hearing what Lex was saying, now he was suddenly greatly invested. After all, it had just be personal. Chapter 395 Professional Gossiper "Is this all real?" Marlo asked the question that seemed obvious. "Yes," said Lex, his expression extremely serious. "Moreover, their backgrounds out in the universe are not simple at all, otherwise they would not be kept prisoner like this on a like Earth that hascking spirit energy. Other than constricting their cultivation, they''re essentially free, which is probably where the oversight urred, allowing these people to treat Earth as they wished." "Heh," Marlo said with a half smirk, looking at Lex with amusement in his eyes. "Are you exining that to prevent me from taking any action myself? You knowd, I''ve been alive for a minute or two. I''ve lost good friends, and I''ve lost the opportunity to kill longstanding enemies. Regardless of whoever they may be out in the universe, here on Earth they''ll be my b*tches!" Lex shrugged and said, "as long as these people stop creating problems for Earth it''s good enough for me, but at least if you give it to Fernanda it''ll be a good way of gauging her reaction. I''m not used to Earth suddenly having an owner, but if it has one it''s best to at least understand them first." Marlo did not immediately answer as his mind churned, going over the pros and cons of various decisions. Regardless of much time he spent at the Inn, it was an essential truth that his foundation was based out of Earth. To stay at the Inn, he needed to pay, and his source of ie was indubitably linked to the. Moreover, after the recent Earth Expo, Earth''s economy was undergoing a boom. Everything was progressing at a rapid pace, and a new space race had already begun to reach the others in the sr system. Others, instead, were nning for mining operations out in space, with the ultimate goal of building massive satellites and space stations around the. In fact, based on the history of Earth and humanity, many expected that the rich and powerful would have all their attention focused on their own personal growth, and the weak and helpless would once again be forgotten, except when it was time to shun them. But a mysterious organization by the name of Rose Society had appeared overnight with seemingly unlimited resources and reach, and changed the world forever! Rehabilitation centers, homes, schools, colleges, trade schools, farms and more were suddenly provided by them, and they began attracting all those that could not help themselves. In a mere three weeks, a veryrge portion of homelessness disappeared, for all those willing to move had been relocated, provided with excellent living conditions considering they had not asked for anything in return, and were already training them to reenter society, under the care of the society, of course. No one knew who was behind the society, regardless of how much they tried to dig up the details, and no one understood what the society''s purpose was in doing this. No one, at least no one with significant power, believed such arge organization was truly altruistic. Regardless, all of that was irrelevant in the face of those whose very purpose it was to create chaos. If those ''prisoners'' were not handled, all the progress Earth was making would only be a setup for arger conflictter. Despite himself, marlo ended up asking, "What do you n on doing if you find Fernanda''s reaction¡­cking?" Lex shrugged and said, "What can I even do in that case? Maybe I could kill those prisoners myself, but that would not solve the problem which is that Earth is under the ownership of a callous leader. Maybe, in that case, it would be time to consider changing who has control over the situation. I''ve heard good things about this Jotun Empire, maybe we could invite them to visit the." Marlo did notment on Lex''s n, and simply stated that he would deliver the binder to Fernanda. Without the copious amounts of pain he felt at every moment distracting him, Marlo was actually a very disciplined and sensible man. Unfortunately, years of being crazy under the influence of his pain had made it somewhat of a habit, and the wide grin on his face after Lex left indicated that he was about to do something crazy again. Lex, on the other hand, had already stopped thinking about the matter. It wasn''t as if he didn''t care about his home, but rather that he had too many other tasks to deal with. But also, on some level, when he left his home behind and moved into the Inn, a part of him started treating the Inn like his home, and Earth as just another the Inn was linked to. As for his family back on Earth¡­ Lex shook his head. For a while now, he had done his best to avoid thinking about them. In fact, it was precisely after he removed his tumor that he subconsciously started avoiding thinking about them at all. It was not very difficult, for he was swamped. There was one task, especially, that he had been thinking about for a long time. He had been searching for some race or some unique guest who had an innate advantage in this field whilepletely ignoring those already avable and with sufficient skill for the role. He was thinking specifically of his quest to start a news service he got back in chapter 162¡­ -no, eh, of the quest he got back when Earth was undergoing civil war and he was desperate for news about how things were going. He had been thinking that he needed to find someone with an innate skill or ability to collect information. Now that he thought about it, if he ever encountered someone with a newspaper system he would be perfect for the role, but there was no point inpletely putting off that task until he ran into someone like that - especially when he had someone as skilled as Velma. Her ability to gather information had genuinely surprised him, and it went far beyond the scope of general information avable to the public. She was sifting through information so hidden even the upper echelon of Earth itself had been unaware, not to mention what she told him about Nibiru. Considering these were only 2 binders, he couldn''t even imagine what the hundreds of other binders contained. She was more than qualified, he just had to now give her the tools required to do the job well. Lex teleported back to his office which he was growing incredibly fond of, and summoned Velma back. She showed up excited, with another binder in her hand, but before she could begin, Lex started speaking. "Velma, I am genuinely impressed by your ability to collect information and have reevaluated your role at the Inn. You''ve been ced in upper management because of how long I''ve known you, and your deep understanding of the Inn, but I see now that this is not where your skills are best put to use. "For a while, I''ve been interested in starting a news agency, and I think you''d be perfect to run it. What do you think? I''ll give you full control of how you want to run it, and monitor your performance. Then, as your operations finally begin, I can continuously give you feedback on how you can improve." "Yes!" she blurted out filled with immense excitement, while in her mind she could only think of one thing - the gossip column! "Excellent," said Lex with a smile and, after a ridiculously long time, finallypleted the quest by designating Velma as the head of the news service. Questplete! Reward: Midnight News building!N?v(el)B\\jnn Without hesitation, he put the Midnight News building on Main street, once again contributing to the most unique street at the Inn. He teleported himself and Velma over to inspect the new building and check out all of its features. It was a long, rectangr building with only the ground, first and second floors. The ground floor was a public area, with dozens of counters where guests coulde in to purchase specific news. Lex went through the functions of the building in his head, and began sharing them with Velma. The mostmon feature of the building was its ability to publish newspapers instantly, and have them appear throughout the Inn instantly. On the first floor, there was a records room as well, where a single copy of every newspaper ever published would be recorded for posterity. Other than that the building had an interview room, where any lie told by the interviewee would immediately but discreetly alert the interviewer. As much as Lex was hoping, the buildingcked any function to detect huge scoops, and searching for and retrieving news wouldpletely be up to the journalists hired at the building. There was, however, one feature that greatly excited Velma though Lex did not exactly see the charm. It was the advice column. Chapter 396 Boulder Shrine While Lex had told Velma that he would let her run the news service as she wished, he still inquired about what her ns were and what kind of help she needed. Despite the short duration of Velma''s designation, she had alreadye up with an extensive n for what she wanted to do. While it was a news service, it was based out of the Midnight Inn so whatever news they published would be based around the Inn. In fact, she was not nning on doing a full newspaper, anyway. Velma had nned on releasing a single page newsletter once a day detailing events and incidents, as well as stories featuring prominent guests and Inn workers. There would, naturally, be a special events section that would mention if anything significant was happening on any worlds rted to the Inn. That, naturally, did not mean that she would not collect information about other worlds, just that if anyone wanted something more specific, they would need toe to the Midnight News building and purchase whatever they had avable. Obviously, Velma was not omnipotent, so it would not be possible for her to always know everything. But the more time she spent doing this, the better she would be. Besides, all the information she had on the binders could directly be added into the agency repository. But at that point, Lex realized that if all the news was spread equally, it could cause problems. After all, some information was sensitive. In this case, he told her to divide information into two categories, and the more sensitive information was reserved only for Inn employees, such as himself or potentially others who would be interested in it. Of course, even they would have to pay though they would get a discount. But naturally, collecting news casually and actively collecting news was different, so Velma would need help. But, contrary to what Lex expected, she did not ask for any new employees. Instead, she said she would only require the help of Anita, the pregnant lich that had be an Inn employee.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex didn''t ask in too much detail how she nned on collecting news and information, she was clearly an expert. He did, instead, ask about what she intended for the advice column since she seemed a little too excited for that. The advice column, as the name suggested, would be a column in the newsletter where guests at the Inn could ask for advice regarding any problem they were having, and Velma vehemently hoped they were romantic problems, and she would answer under the column heading called ''Ask Rachel''. Anyone could submit questions through their personal holograms, and then Velma would filter through them and answer as she liked. It seemed... very ordinary to Lex, but then again, he had a lifetime of experiences behind him while Velma was on the verge of turning one year old. Speaking of which, for a long time now, Lex had a little something nned for the Inn''s as well as Velma''s and Gerards first birthday, and he could finally start working on it. Feeling quite pleased with the enthusiasm Velma was showing for her new position, Lex disappeared from the News building. He was on a roll for crossing things that had long been waiting to be done off his to do list, so naturally he wanted to keep that steak going. The next thing he did was retrieve a small pebble from the Midnight tavern. This was no ordinary pebble, for it produced water that drastically raised Lex''s strength. He was nning on submitting it into the Gift shop for a moment so he could read the system''s description of it, but something unexpected happened the moment he retrieved it. He got a system notification regarding the tiny rock! New Notification: A unique treasure worthy of being an Inn attraction has been discovered! Generating a new room to maximize use of treasure! Unique Treasure: Dead core of a divine boulder! Remarks: In an era older than most can remember, even the mundane was worshiped. But in this era, even something as grand as the Inn has no worshipers. Such a useless era. New Room unlocked! New Room: Boulder shrine! Boulder shrine: A shrine that collects divine energy and channels it into the dead core, causing it to produce the divine essence of a boulder in abundance. Those who are not immediately poisoned to death by the divine boulder essence gain many of its divine attributes! At first Lex was extremely impressed at what he was reading, but when he read the part about immediately being poisoned to death, he trembled! He had taken a huge risk by absorbing that water, or divine essence, as he now knew it was called. But then again, Lex was being guided by his instincts into absorbing it, so on some level, his body clearly knew it was good for him. "Mary, is there any way to prevent this poisoning?" he asked, as he tried to look deeper into the building''s specifications. "Maybe if you upgrade it further, but at the moment, there are none. Moreover, there''s no guarantee that the Recovery pod will even be able to heal such a poisoning, as the only way to be really sure is to find someone suffering from it and scan them." "Is this really something we can add to the Inn then?" Lex asked with concern. He knew for a fact that the system judged him negatively if a guest who had not vited any rules died at the Inn. "Hmm, since this is a building provided by the Inn in the first ce, there should be no problem. We''ll just have to make sure that everyone who tries to use it is aware of the risks first, and that the Inn takes no responsibility should an ident ur." Still hesitant, Lex looked into what he needed to upgrade the room. After all, he was a rich man now, so he could surely afford to directly upgrade the Boulder Shrine a few times. Unfortunately, that was not how the room worked. To upgrade unique rooms such as this, Lex not only needed to pay in MP, he needed to provide some unique materials as well. In the case of this room, he needed to provide material that waspatible with the dead divine boulder core, and he had no idea where he could go looking for it. He thought for a moment, but then decided to add the shrine. He would make sure anyone who took it was adequately warned. Also, he wanted to see if the divine essence produced by the shrine could continue to help him improve his body. He ced the shrine right next to the Inheritance lounge and teleported in before anyone else had a chance. Instead of a room, the shrine consisted of four pirs ced in such a way that they were forming a square, connected only by leafy vines that went from the peak of each pir to the next, drooping in the middle. The vines formed a natural curtain with only one entrance, allowing anyone to enter. In the middle of the shrine was a small bird bath, in the middle of whichy the dead core of a divine. The difference now, though, was that while the rock barely produced any moisture previously, even after a while, the pebble sized core was already producing essence now. It was not fast enough to quickly fill up the birdbath, but it was much faster than before. Without hesitation, Lex dipped his finger in again to check if anything happened, yet it was not to be. It seemed that this level of divine essence was no longer useful to him. Next up, he had to think of a price for this. It was not hard if he did things normally, but Lex while Lex was thinking of what he could offer to Aegis, he realized there were truly too few incentives to be an employee when he could gain everything as a guest. So now, the prices of things, especially unique opportunities, would no longer be simple. To use the divine essence, a guest would have to pay 10,000 MP for 10 milliliters, but at the same time, the guest also had to be at prestige level 3 minimum! This was a kind of division he could have always had, but he never bothered to do so. Now, however, he was going to put it to use. After all, the more exclusive an item was, the more its value increased. In fact, he even changed the qualification of using the Inheritance lounge, keeping the price at 100,000 MP per attempt but setting the requirements as minimum level 4 prestige. Of course, employees did not need to care about prestige and could use all facilities directly so long as they paid. This may seem like the difference created was not huge, but it was. It would just take time for it to be evident. After all, the first few levels of prestige could be unlocked with money, but not theter ones. Chapter 397 Second Seed The Inns prestige system had been unlocked for quite a while, but it remained mostly unused beyond the first level. Even then, it was mostly because the first level was free and anyone who arrived at the Inn would automatically get it. The only benefit Prestige 1 availed was the use of special sses with the rk Kent effect. Anyone could put them on and hide their appearance and energy signature perfectly, allowing them toe to the Inn in perfect disguise. This was a feature all guests had, and was probably the most used feature that the Inn offered. Then came Prestige 2. A guest had to spend 10,000 MP to unlock this level, a feat that was originally very difficult when the Prestige system was unlocked, mostly due to the fact that there was nowhere to spend the money. Now though, renting a Small Vige for a single night costs 15,000 MP, which would put you well within the Prestige limit. But the only benefit this level offered was to be able to instantly teleport to the Inn once a year without the use of a golden key or door. There were genuinely a few circumstances in which this feature may seem useful, for example if you ran out of keys or for example were in the middle of an intense fight and needed a sudden get away. But outside of those very special circumstances, the feature seemed verycking. After this came Prestige 3. Though the feature this level unlocked was also time sensitive, it was definitely more attractive. This level would allow the user to directly travel to a connected to the Inn once every 10 years. Considering that interster travel could take hundreds of years, especially while traveling between gxies, the appeal of this feature was considerable. It was somewhat unfortunate that the reach of the Inn was limited so far, but over time this would be an extremely sought after feature. But despite its attraction, it was just one feature. Considering a guest had to spend 100,000 MP to unlock this level, it was both cheap and expensive. For anyone who needed to travelrge distances in the Origin realm, it was dirt cheap. But for everyone else, it was too expensive. Moreover, traveling to another world would pose considerable risk if one were not strong enough, so why would they leave thefort and familiarity of their home? Such features, that were limited in their use cases, made it so the Privilege level was an almost forgotten feature of the Inn. But now Lex intended on increasing its uses and setting certain features as only avable at certain Prestige levels. Not only would this be an incentive for guests to spend more MP, it could increase the attractiveness of bing an Inn employee, as they would not need Privilege to use any facility or feature. After all, while the first 3 levels were simple to achieve, from Prestige 4 onwards, there were more and more restrictions. The 4th Prestige level itself, other than requiring guests to spend 10 million MP, required the guest to be minimum at the Nascent level cultivation, and have spent at least 1 month renting a room at the Inn. The requirements may seem simple, but they became progressively more difficult as the level went higher. At the same time, the level of difficulty matched the subsequent perks for example, Prestige 4 which would allow guests to have a 5% discount on all Inn services, would also allow guests to use any Inn facility once while outside the Inn once every ten years. This meant that they could use anything from the facility of the Meditation room, recovery pod, hot tub room etc. from anywhere in the universe. As Lex added more and more services, the number of facilities they could use would continue to expand. For example, now anyone who reached Prestige 4 could directly retrieve some information from the News building without having toe to the Inn and then approach the building for specific information.N?v(el)B\\jnn Speaking of which, Lex suddenly had an idea and sent it towards Velma. Instead of dividing news into two categories, one avable for public and one only for the Inn staff, she could create various levels of sensitivity and make certain information avable only if the guest was at a certain Prestige level. Yes, once Lex started thinking like this more and more ideas starteding to him. He recalled that the Sovereign Gctic turtle had charged someone for growing a nt. He had been so upied with hiding the greenhouse, he forgot it could be used as a service. He still would not let guests into his greenhouse, but he created a small portion of it avable to the public in the forest that surrounded the greenhouse. He then decided to create a service which would allow guests to submit rare or difficult nts to grow, and the Inn would grow it for them. Or, they could also sell it directly to the Inn. Lex was interested in collecting rare nts as he wanted to develop his collection - who knew when he would encounter something useful. ording to the difficulty, the payment and Prestige level would be raised. Lex assigned the duty to the turtle, but since he was doubtful about how serious the turtle would take this job, had Mary keep an eye on him. After assigning the tasks, Lex already moved onto other tasks. Had he continued to pay attention, he would have realized that the turtle was nowhere near the greenhouse - as usual. Instead, he was standing over the ravine which contained the Fire Temple. Its eyes contained a fanatic glow as it lowered vines into theva pool. Strangely, the vines were not incinerated by the heat, though, of course, they never directly came in contact with theva. Near the peak of where theva reached until, the vines drilled into the ravine walls and disappeared. A short whileter, ck crusted mushrooms began to grow, feeding off not only the heat, but the divine radiance of the Temple. After watching its experiment seed, the turtle carefully took out another seed. This seed was one of three Lex had given him. The first one had bloomed on its own after the Inn underwent an increase in Star levels, and became the World Seed Lotus that now resided on Lex''s back. He lowered the seed, this time even more carefully, and nted it in the ravine, as close as possible to theva without actually touching it. At first nothing happened, but a short whileter the aura of the Fire temple fluctuated as a majority of it was sucked away. But just as quickly as it vanished, it returned, for the system''s control over the Inn was insurmountable, and it quickly adapted for the aura being absorbed. A short whileter, a single charred stem grew from the ravine wall, pointed towards the temple. Its growth stopped, as if it was satisfied with simply being exposed to the temple''s aura, but the turtle grumbled. Clearly, this was not the result it wanted. Back at Lex''s office, he had to temporarily stop his growth of the Prestige level, for something else important attracted his attention. Marlo had delivered the binder to Fernanda. The reason Lex knew this was because he had slipped one of his business cards inside it. Not only was this a good way for Lex to experiment on how useful his business cards were, this allowed him to know how Fernanda would react to this information. This was a loophole Lex discovered in the systems design. Originally he would not be aware of anything rted to the card until someone channeled spirit energy into it, activating his consciousness clone. But when he sat in his office chair, his connection to the system and the Inn was deepenedpletely. This included, among other things, any business cards he had given out, since they were also generated by the system. Returning to Fernanda, the strange thing was that Marlo handed the binder to a projection of Fernanda on Earth, but once the projection disappeared, the binder disappeared with her. But Lex knew that the binder reappeared on a space station somewhere where her real body was. Lex raised an eyebrow. That was cool, he had to admit. He was watching silently and intently as she read the binder, though he could not detect any changes in her expression. Either she was used to maintaining a cold expression, or she already knew all the information she was reading. All Lex could really do was observe the environment around the card, otherwise he would have started considering whether or not to activate the card. He really needed to see what a consciousness card felt like, but there was no way he could prompt her to find it and channel her energy into it. After a few minutes, she closed the binder without finding the card and went away. Lex did not know if she nned on doing anything, but he would keep an eye out for any changes on Earth. If she did nothing... well, even if the Innkeeper did nothing, Lex Williams was also now a force to be reckoned with. Chapter 398 A Matter Of Laws Lex waited an entire day, but Fernanda did not return, so there was no opportunity for her to find the business card. Time was running short, and he had to test out its capabilities, but it seemed like he would have to do it himself. He could, naturally, just find a random person on any and have them activate the card, but he had a better idea. Time was tight so he did not sit around and teleported out of the Inn, reappearing in a familiar environment. He looked around to ensure he was alone before he turned in a particr direction and used Home Sweet Home, sting off in a straight line. Home Sweet Home was a technique Lex used, which was ridiculously fast in a straight line, so much so that if an ordinary person were to use it they would need to wear sses just to keep their eyes open against the wind pressure. But now that Lex''s cultivation had reached the peak of the Foundation realm, his speed had reached a whole new realm. In fact, Lex''s speed at the moment had somewhat crossed the threshold of what normal Foundation realm experts could achieve. Of course, this was because of the unique nature of the technique as well. Otherwise, without the use of any techniques, the only aspect of his body that transcended his realm was his toughness. In fact, from the moment Lex achieved histest boost in cultivation, the way he perceived the world changed dramatically. The human body had an inherent gauge for danger, and certain things would naturally make you hesitate. For example, an ordinary person would not approach a high ledge with a cavalier attitude or would be very careful when touching a de. The care or hesitation hidden behind those actions was rooted in the body''s perception of the possibility of harm and its instinct to avoid it. To arge extent, all such instincts had basically vanished from Lex''s day-to-day life. The only danger he perceived, if at all, was from extremely strong individuals. He felt nothing when he looked down from high ces, most sharp edges felt as dull as a boulder. He was pretty sure that even the oh so intimidating guns from back on Earth would not scare him much. In fact, if he did not feel the need to perfect his Foundation through his actions, he would have broken through to the Golden core realm. At that point, his defense would have been even stronger. A side effect of his increased defense was a sense of security that made him morefortable taking risks, which is exactly what he was doing now. He was currently in X-142, and he was returning to the Infinity Emporium. He ran until he reached a small town, where he used some of the massive supply of spirit stones he had in his home at the Inn to straight out buy a hover-car from someone. It took him quite a few hours, even at the fastest speed, to reach the Emporium, but it waspletely worth it. Even thest time he came here, Lex ended up buying quite a few valuable things. In fact, it was at this moment he recalled he had an amulet or something that hid identity from cameras or something like that. He had no idea where he put it to be honest, and had forgotten it even existed right up until this moment. It seemed even cultivation could not prevent you from losing your own things. He stepped into the familiar building, once again amazed at the fact that dozens of people entered before him, yet once inside, he arrivedpletely alone. The only other person in the shop was the familiar Powell Grant, standing behind the counter with a familiar smile. For a moment, Lex could not help but wonder if the Emporium was a part of a system or something. How else could so many people enter, yet detect no difference as they all get teleported to an individual room. It certainly did tick the box for systems by manipting space, but honestly that was not enough to confirm his suspicion. After all, just because it was impressive did not mean it could not be achieved through other means. "Dear customer, it''s good to see you again," said the shopkeeper with a smile. He seemed to recognize Lex as if it was yesterday, and rightly he should. Lex sold him some premium information, the likes of which were not easily encountered. "It''s good to be back," Lex said, as he nced at the items on disy. "Just in case you returned I had our catalog updated," the shopkeeper said, bringing out a book from beneath the counter. "Last time we could not provide you with truly impressive items due to the kind of sales we have on this normally, but now I have arranged for a premium selection that can be made avable in as little as a day upon order. After all, since yourst transaction boosted you to a level 8 membership status, we have to make an effort to cater to your needs. I recall during yourst purchase you were interested in items with spatial properties.All such items are level 7, and usually too valuable to keep on a with a level 4 rating like this, but I managed to stash one here in case you evere back." The shopkeeper was filled with pride as he borated on his preparations, though Lex doubted the man expected to encounter such an amazing deal yet again. Regardless of what he thought, Lex was about to clean out his so-called premium stock.N?v(el)B\\jnn The talk about level also gave him simr vibes as to how his system worked, as it divided guests into Prestige levels instead of membership levels. But once again, this was too arbitrary aparison to make a judgment¡­ yet. "I''m d you''ve made preparations this time," said Lex, his smile very sly. "Because this time I''m in search of very particr items, and I already know how I intend to pay. The burden is on you now to perform." The shopkeeper listened with excitement. It seemed like Lex was his lucky customer. "I have a card here, a business card. It belongs to a¡­ mysteriously strong person - suspected to be in the Daolord realm. If anyone channels their spirit energy into it, a temporary clone of that person will be summoned that one can interact with. The person in question is known to not be very hostile or aggressive so summoning the clone should not earn you any ire. But the drawback is¡­ the card will only remain active for the next 24 hours." The shopkeeper was momentarily startled. The time limit of the card greatly reduced the value of the card, yet the inherent value of such a card was monumental. When he recovered, a massive grin painted his face as he opened thetch on the counter and weed Lex to the back. The item had to go through appraisal before any further discussions. ***** Lex had spent thest few months in the Crystal realm, and a lot had happened to him during that time. In fact, it was not just himself who underwent a massive change, but his system as well. But the level of his change, while massivepared to his starting line, was not enough to get him in touch with the higher levels of the universe - directly at least. While he was in the Crystal realm, due to the natural boundary of the realms, his changes were detected by none, for there were none in that realm looking out for the kind of changes he underwent. Once he left the Crystal realm, he went directly to the Midnight Inn, which had a Destiny level protective formation, preventing the influence of karma, destiny, scrying, prophecy and so on. Thus, once again, for better or for worse, his changesy undetected. The moment hended on X-142, however, his aura resonated with thews of the Origin realm, and like a ripple, the resonance carried out into the vast unknown. Due to the ridiculously size of the Origin realm, one would expect that it would take a long time for the ripple to travel throughout the realm, yet this was a matter ofws. In a unit of time so infinitesimal Lex could not possibly perceive it, like a trumpet announcing the arrival of a lord, news of Lex''s changes were dered in the very fabric of the realm. What this meant¡­ was tooplicated to exin simply. The repercussions of this, however, while few, were significant. On a far away, Serene Williams was sighing as she thought of her rebellious daughter. It would be so much easier if she rebelled by bringing home a boyfriend or something, but no, she had to go participate in an intergctic war for honor and pride and a few other equally worthless things. Before her thoughts could go deeper, though, a tremor ran through the entire, splintering it instantly and causing many continents to instantly copse. In fact, had it not been for several formations that sprang to life immediately stabilizing the ce, the splinter would have run directly through the, destroying its core and causing an explosion that would have changed this from a to a bunch of meteors. "What happened?" she asked, instantly appearing beside her husband, her eyes extremely grave. Only he could have done this, but it didn''t make sense. His training was going well, he should not have lost control of his strength like that. "The mark I left on Lex''s skull has vanished. He is either dead, or someone has removed the mark." Horror filled her eyes as she visibly paled, but her husband spared no time to reassure her. Things had to be done quickly. Chapter 399 Emporium Treasure List No. 1 The cracked slowly started to heal itself under the influence of various formations, but that did not mean all was well on the surface. Billions of creatures had already died due to the sudden cataclysm, while hundreds of millions more were affected by the drastic change in climate.N?v(el)B\\jnn But fortunately, the formations that were healing the were treating the holistically, so the creatures that managed to survive the first few dangerous instants had a veryrge chance of surviving. To Serene Williams and her husband, however, that did not matter at all. To begin with, this was a training ground for Lex''s father. After all, since he restarted cultivation from the very beginning, he would have to have a host of proper enemies to face and arduous tasks toplete. Thus, this, which was originally in its early stage of developing life, had been artificially popted with the most dangerous predators in the universe. In fact, there were even several beasts with impure Dragon bloodlines, and one very real dragon, all kept as prisoners on this as the man''s grinding tools. Well, technically, the dragon was no longer a resident of the, for it had been killed long ago. After all, they could not afford to let it go free after imprisoning it for so long. Individualistic though they may be, Dragons had immense pride, and if it ever got out that a dragon was kept as a prisoner for a human''s training, let alone the Williams family, the entire human race may not be able to face the repercussions. Again, none of that was a concern for both of Lex''s parents at the moment. The news shared by Lex''s father was the worst possible oue. Neither of them considered the fact that anything dangerous could happen to Lex, for they had gotten a prophet to see into the future and predict the direction of Lex''s life. He predicted that so long as Lex stayed away from cultivation, and stayed away from the influence of the cultivation world atrge, he would live a rtively safe life for 50 years. Based on that information, they had made their own timeline to increase the pace of their cultivation, and aplish a few things. About a year ago, when they learned that Lex had begun cultivation, they feared the worst and increased the pace of things. When they began hearing news of the presence of the ''Midnight Inn'' on Earth, they feared the day Lex might himself get involved in such matters. Now it seemed like that time hade. "Get someone on Earth to locate Lex, if they can. But do it discreetly, my gut tells me he''s gotten himself involved with something dangerous and I don''t want to attract any attention." "What about you?" Serene asked, her voiceced with concern. "You still haven''t mastered Neelum''s sh." The man, Lex''s father, frowned for a moment, before it seemed like he made a hard decision. Standing there, the man''s aura changed, and if Lex saw him now, after getting over the fact that the pot-bellied old man now had sick abs, he would recognize that he had entered the state of ''flow''. A secondter, he transcended the ''flow'' state and went into the ''overdrive'' state Lex had recently unlocked. Then¡­ he went beyond even that, and soon it seemed as if the world itself began to bend ording to his will. Ultimately, for the briefest of moments, he reached an even higher level that almost brought him to the threshold of causing a ripple in the fabric of the Origin realm, much in the way Lex just had. The moment did notst, however, because the very instant he achieved it, the man drew his practice sword and shed forth. Something seemed to click, and the single sh he had been trying to master for years became so simple it became more inherent to him than breathing. His form, his strength, his swing, his intention were all perfect. There was no sound of the sword cutting through the air, because it was not thin air through which the sword swung, but the fabric of space itself. A straight, neat cut through space appeared before the couple, before some mysterious force seemed to stretch the cut open, revealing what looked like a ballroom. A tall, rather handsome man stood in the hall, a ss of wine in his right hand and a book in his left. He looked up to see the couple and raised an eyebrow. This¡­ he was not expecting. "Father," said Lex''s old man, as he stepped through the cut space, as if he was simply walking through the door. Serene followed closely behind him lest space began to heal itself, separating them. "I was just thinking about you, my rebellious child," the handsome man said, his voice just slightly forbidding. "Would someone like to exin to me why I suddenly have a 23-year-old grandson suddenly appearing in the family tree?" Instead of replying, Lex''s father responded with another question, his voice reeking with the desire to murder. "Would someone like to exin to me why my daughter is going off to war?" The handsome man was startled by his son''s tone until he noticed he had overlooked something incredibly obvious. His son, meaning Lex''s father, had entered the family grounds holding a sword. "Crap." ***** Powell Grant was grinning so widely it almost hurt his cheeks. Almost. Not only had he verified the veracity of the card, the instant he entered the card in the businesses database, someone bought it with a price so amazing Powell was looking towards a bonus several times the size of what he got for the information regarding the Bangle of Narn. "Mr. Lex¡­ no I mean, Sir Lex, I think you will be greatly pleased with the price we''re offering for your card. Of course, if you have anything you need, feel free to mention it, and I personally guarantee that as long as it exists on the market I will get it for you." "Why don''t you tell me what you''re offering first," said Lex, feeling pretty good. One would think he would get sick of earning money after all the MP he had, but not really. It always felt amazing. "Sir Lex, I would first like to tell you that your membership rank has been raised to level 9, the highest possible rank one can achieve without meeting the owner of the Emporium himself. What that means is that the list of items avable to you none is evenrger, though if you select a rank 9 item it will directly be traded for the card. If that is your wish, I can arrange it for you, but I had already created a carefully selected list of items I suspected you might like based on our previous experience together. "First, as requested, I have created a list of spatial items that I can easily arrange for you within the next 10 hours, as well as their sizes. Next, the rarest and most sought after seeds in the gxy, as well as the most optimal fertilizer for nts of various grades. After that, I recall you had a unique interest in preventing your identity from being exposed, so I managed to get my hands on a unique bangle that prevents long distance tracking via prophecy so long as the other person doesn''t have some of your blood. Then I noticed that you were using a very old version of one of the Emporiums best seller items, the Fancy Monocle, so I procured thetest version for you: the AR contact lenses¡­" The man continued borating on his list, but Lex was momentarily startled when he heard what he had said. The Fancy Monocle was actually a product of the Emporium? Lex always thought that it was something his own system had created. If it wasn''t, did that mean that all items he got from the system were actually¡­ stolen goods from across the universe? Or was his earlier guess correct, and the Emporium was actually a part of another system, and that systems could somehow trade items internally or something? Without any outward change, Lex focused on Powell and tried to use one of his new features that allowed him to scan people even outside the Inn. Name: Powell Grant Age: ??? Sex: ??? Cultivation Details: ??? Species: Unknown Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 0 (never been to the Inn) Remarks: If you want to sell your soul, he can get you a good price. Species unknown? Wasn''t he human? Before Lex could continue to ponder such important questions, the shopkeeper showed him a list of items avable to buy with his new and increased rank. On the top of the list was an item that Lex could not believe he was seeing. Emporium Treasure''s list No. 1: History wiper In case of an untimely demise, this valuable treasure will be sure to erase any and all evidence of any actions you may want to keep hidden. A must have for adventurers, entrepreneurs, casanovas and those with questionable browsing history on the Henali portal. Chapter 400 Marzu After buying the History Wiper, for no reason in particr, Lex quickly went through the list. The things the shopkeeper had arranged for him were tempting, but he wanted to get a look at some of the really valuable items as well. Unfortunately, as monumentally rare and impressive as they were, the truly high tier items had no way of helping him as they aided in the cultivation or requirements of very high level cultivators. Either way, it did not matter much to Lex. His next focus was going to be on finishing the Foundation and beginning his journey on the Golden Core realm. As such, he would now start getting items that would help the Inn better nurture Golden Core cultivators, as well as himself personally. The first thing he got was a spatial bangle that would allow Lex to store items within it. For example, if he had a chest full of gold in front of him, he could teleport it directly to the space within his bangle, without being burdened by its weight or having everyone see him moving it. Cwenhild used to have such a treasure, and it made Lex supremely jealous, though he was pretty sure that the one he had now was far superior to hers. After all, it contained a space the size of 5000 cubic meters. After that¡­ despite how odd it felt, he got himself the upgraded version of the Fancy Monocle. For better or for worse, he had to know if they truly were the same, or were at least the same kind of technology. Then, naturally, he bought the other bangle that would help him hide his identity. After that, he bought a couple other level 7 items that would ultimately aid his own cultivation, and his guests as well, of course. One particrly interesting item he bought was a spirit stone vein seed. It was an item that would absorb chaotic energy from the universe and create spiritual energy in the form of spirit stones. Of course, the level of energy produced wasn''t too high, and could barely suffice for Nascent level cultivators, otherwise such an incredible money-making machine would never be up for sale. Then he bought an entire repository of techniques. His real purpose was to get various spirit techniques for himself, but there was no reason he shouldn''t popte the Inn''s library at the same time. The size of the repository Lex requested was sorge, in fact, that even the Emporium couldn''t deliver all the books at once. After all, the amount of books that could be fit into the payment for the business card were beyond count. Furthermore, ensuring that techniques were not repeated made it even harder. Even Powell was troubled by the sheer volume of this request, and ultimately had to promise Lex regr payments every month instead of delivering all techniques to him at once. That little maneuver made Lex a little proud, as he more or less solved his technique problem for the near future.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om There was, however, one more thing Lex bought - something he had been on the lookout for many months. He bought information on the Kraven race. He was very pleased to see that the Emporium actually had information on Kraven, until he started reading, that is. Instead of a detailed report on their race, their culture, their strengths and weaknesses, the information was only a summary of their history in the Origin realm. Much like they were behaving in the Crystal realm, the Kraven were a warring race. They waged continuous war throughout several gxies and were responsible for the extinction of many races. Perhaps this trend would have continued, but in their mad desire for conquest they attacked another extremely strong and extremely vindictive race called Marzu. After being attacked once, the Marzu wiped the Kraven from the origin realm. The matter for how they were wiped out remained a mystery to this day, because the race had not been encountered ever again in the Origin realm, even in newly encountered gxies. This was a huge deal, since there was a pattern of races reappearing throughout the realm. Evenspletely separated from the rest of the realm, several races reappeared, as if they had evolved as an original race of that specifically. It was in the way that humans kept reappearing on variouss throughout the realm. Yet ording to the information, the Kraven had never been encountered again after that incident. Unable to help himself, Lex looked up information on the Marzu as well. When he read about them, he was startled to learn that he had already encountered this apparently ridiculously strong race. In fact, they had once been natives of Earth as well. The only thing was that now, on Earth, this race had gone extinct. Moreover, after studying their fossils, the name humans had given them was¡­ Tyrannosaurus rex. Apparently, they innate advantage in cultivation was so immense that they controlled over 100 gxies in the realm! That was several times the size of the Jotun Empire. Since he failed to learn anything useful about the Kraven, he collected information on the Marzu and returned to the Inn. There were only two and a half days left until the assembly now, and he was getting impatient to try out his business card. Fortunately, he did not have to wait for too long. On a massive space station, a teleportation formation powered on, revealing a square block of metal. A mechanical arm picked up the block and put it on a conveyor belt, transporting the block across the station to what looked like themand center. A gray skinned being that had its body merged with various machines weakly opened its yellow eyes and looked at the metal block. Though it appeared to do nothing, the metal block was sliced open, revealing a thin paper card buried in the middle. The card looked extremely ordinary in the spaceship, surrounded by exceptionally advanced technology, yet the being knew it''s worth was immeasurably greater. With a pained expression, it channelled some of its spirit energy into the card, activating it. Once energy was channelled into the card, it gained a life of its own and began absorbing energy from the environment on its own. Lex, who was sitting in his office, felt a brief but sharp pinch in his mind before he suddenly realized that he felt like he had another brain. Though still linked with his main body, somewhere out in the universe another version of himself appeared,pletely able to think and behave on his own without even slightly affecting the brainpower or awareness of the Lex who sat in the Inn. A few momentster, that ''brain'' also developed aplete but ethereal body. Lex looked around and found himself in an extremely dark room. He immediately noticed that in front of him seemed to be some kind of... face buriedpletely in an avnche of tubes and machines that seemed to keep it alive. Lex did not immediately address the being, for he was busy investigating the features of his new clone. He seemedpletely unable to move, and he could vaguely detect how long his clone could survive. He felt he could shorten or elongate the existence of his clone, but there was a limit to how long it could exist. At the same time, his clone seemedpletely able to use all the systems features. "Oh, your excellency, please excuse me for summoning you without your permission. I am desperate for any kind of hope, and am willing to pay any kind of price I can." It was not the being that spoke, at least not on its own. The sound came from various speakers throughout the spaceship, as if the being had merged with the ship itself. Lex did not respond immediately, and instead observed the being. His physical body was not present, obviously, but his instincts were still active. The being before him was much, much stronger than himself, yet it seemed unable to gauge his strength. If the clone hid his strength, that would be most convenient. "What kind of hope are you searching for?" he finally asked. "Your excellency, I am on the verge of death, yet my mission remains iplete. My cultivation has regressed so far that I have no hope of breaking through, while my technology is no longer able to support my body. If you can allow me to live a while longer, you would have my eternal gratitude." Lex raised an eyebrow, for this request really was too convenient to fulfil. After all, he had just received an upgrade to allow just such a thing. "Would you choose to continue living, if it was only as a spirit?" The being closed its eyes, as if it had been asked the most painful question it had ever heard, and yet it was one he needed to answer. Chapter 401 Big Brother The gray skinned creature shuddered as it thought about its answer. Lex, of course, did not understand why the creature was treating it like such a big deal. It was about to die, but it could continue to live in spirit form, for a time at least, should it ept his deal. Unfortunately, the matter, for the creature at least, went deeper than that. epting the loss of its physical form meant that it would have to ept the end of its bloodline, and if it failed its mission, its entire race. What made it even more painful was that, while not the main instigator behind the doom that had befallen it, the Spirit race yed a significant role. How ironic, now, that it would have to be one of them should he wish to survive. While it underwent its mental struggle, Lex used his Targeted scan on it to get a better understanding of it. Name: Abroar Kashinga Lai...(click to expand)... Jameel Age: 875,955 Sex: ??? Cultivation Details: ??? Species: ??? Condition: Very bad - ??? Remarks: Every inch of its body is worth billions! Lex almost whistled as he read Abroar''s age, as it was nearing a million. This was the oldest confirmed creature he had ever met, and it made him wonder what its cultivation was. He had a very strong feeling that, whatever it had been, it was definitely much stronger than the Earth Immortals he was used to meeting. In fact, based on what it said, Lex could surmise that it wasn''t the creature''s age that was causing it to near its demise, but for some other reason. Perhaps he had been gravely injured and had been using these machines as life support. What he did not know, because obviously his view was from the inside, was that there weren''t just a few machines linked to its body to keep it alive, but rather an entire spaceship''s worth. "Mary, is there some other way to keep it alive if I turn it into an employee?" Lex asked. "Not really. If your authority was higher, even higher than it was in the Crystal realm, you could get a time stasis formation and freeze it in time till you figured out a way to restore its body, but currently, you have no such method avable. If you keep updating your Recovery pod and room, eventually you''ll get there." Lex gave a mental nod, but outwardly his appearance was extremely impassive. He was waiting for the creature, but he did not have to wait for long. When it finally opened its eyes once again, they were steady. Abroad had made its decision. "Your excellency, for the sake of my mission, and my sacred duty, I will live on even as a spirit if that is what it takes. I will forever be grateful for your aid and guidance, and do whatever it takes to fulfill whatever requirements you have for me." "At ease," said Lex as he raised his ethereal hand. "I do not require anything, for I have done nothing."N?v(el)B\\jnn A golden key appeared, floating above his hand, the gray creature''s eyes fixating on them immediately. "I have an Inn, a humble little ce by the name of Midnight Inn. You can use this key to enter the Inn moments before your death and, in exchange for giving up everything you own, can continue to live on as a spirit within the Inn. How long you can live depends entirely on how much you have to give up. "This is a normal feature of my Inn, and is the same for everyone, so you do not need to feel any special obligation if you decide to use it." After giving Abroar the key, Lex''s clone vanished. Back at the Inn, Lex gathered his thoughts about the clone and began to n. He had collected a lot of information on how the clone worked, but just to be safe, he decided to spend one more day testing it out before he made a decision. He let Mary know that he will be busy for the next few days, and to deny any requests to see him unless it was an emergency. He teleported to variouss, as he had already connected the Inn to the entire star system for each of thes he was connected to, and began spreading out business cards. He made sure not to leave them lying around, but secretly delivered to as many high leveled cultivators as he could, to ensure they would actually use it. He began meeting them, but did not always fulfill their requests or even inform them about the Inn. After all, he was not on a marketing tour, but understanding the extents of the business card.If everyone was a satisfied customer, it would limit his understanding of the clones. Through this, he began to better grasp the extent and limitations of the cards. While he was busy with that, Luthor applied to meet with the Innkeeper, alongside Gerard. Unfortunately, Mary informed him that the Innkeeper was too busy to meet anyone currently, as he was working on future ns for the Inn. Luthor clenched his fists as his face grew grim. The fact that despite so many workers the Innkeeper had to do everything himself spoke of the ipetence of his workforce. He had to fix things. They could not continue this way. Without speaking another word, Luthor left, a tinge of scarlet beginning to fill his eyes. The things he could help the Innkeeper with were limited because he was weak. In that case, he would erase his weakness. Luthor made his way to the wealthiest, and most influential worker at the Inn, Z. His strength, amongst the workers, was weaker than only Gerard. His influence, however, hadtely bloomed making him the most popr in the entire Inn. Along with that poprity, of course, came incredible wealth. This was because, in an attempt to make the ultimate background music, and hence increase his strength, Z fought in the arena every day, each time tweaking the music just a bit. Slowly, he changed his reputation from the recluse of the Inn, to the Inn staff''s big brother. Chapter 402 Damian Arban Williams The Gamer''s Den, one of the most popr ces at the Inn, was no longer managed just by Z. Instead, Z became the assistant manager, still under themand of the ever elusive manager named Leo, with a host of new workers under him. This only added to the poprity of the Den, however, as not everyone came to it to y games. With millions of guestsing to the Inn every day, things really had be very hectic. The stringent control Lex had over the minor details urring every day had loosened, resulting in the Inns staff suffering from various kinds of harassment. Usually security would handle the matters, but not all troublemakers would take drastic actions. Sometimes it would just be persistent teasing and pestering. Due to the fact that all the Inn''s workers started with no cultivation, they were inherently weak even after they started cultivating, making them easy targets. When situations like this happened, all the workers had begun going to ''big brother'' Z to handle matters. As a naturally introverted person, Z was not one who could resolve matters by talking and having lengthy conversations anyway. Fortunately, with Z''s love for going to the arenas, a new method to resolve problems became avable. Moreover, due to his effectiveness with his bloodline, he had yet to lose a battle. In fact, while his bloodline level was below that of Gerards, everyone agreed that Z had better control over the bloodline itself. Keeping this in mind, when Luthor was unable to find Z at the Gamer''s Den, he went directly to the arena, and indeed arrived just in time to watch Z finish yet another battle. This time, his weapon of choice was not a trading card, but a spinning top Baysidede. His opponent, a beaten and battered alligator standing on its hind legs and wearing boxing gloves, took onest hit on its snout before copsing for good. The heat in Luthor''s heart burned even stronger as he watched this. He was not as excited as the crowd at Z''s victory. Instead, hemented that the staff had to rely on a mere child to protect their honor. Hepletely ignored that he himself was only a few days old while Z was already nearing the ripe old age of 1 year. He waited silently until Z exited the arena, before approaching him. Luthor made no grand derations about wanting to change the future of the Inn. Instead, he buried his edge and humbled himself before asking Z for a loan. Z, startled at how polite this new worker was, epted the request and gave Luthor the amount he wanted. After that Luthor did not waste any time on superfluous words, and directly went to the meditation room, with his eyes having turnedpletely scarlet now. For the first time ever, he activated his bloodline, Anachronistic Ignition, and began cultivating like a madman. He would first burn away all his weakness, then he would burn all the Inn''s enemies.N?v(el)B\\jnn ***** Though the ballroom looked as pristine as the moment they stepped in, Lex''s grandfather no longer carried the same pois. His face was pale and his eyes dug deep into his skull. In front of him stood Serene Williams and her husband,pletely fine, as if nothing had happened. "You have always been rebellious, but not this much¡­" said Lex''s grandfather, doing his best to keep his knees from trembling. He was a dignified immortal, his pride did not let him lose face by falling to the intimidation of one who was still in the Nascent realm. "I can understand I have not been the best father. I can understand how our rtionship became estranged when you married this¡­ lesser born." There was a hint of disgust and disdain in the man''s voice when he said thest line, his eyes momentarily ncing at Serene. "But though she may be ofmon stock, I acknowledged her when she proved her worth with her sharp mind. I especially became appreciative when she gave you three talented children, using her sharp mind to ensure that each was born with special talents and skills. I can even understand how that whole fiasco with little Moon¡­ upset you." He had to be careful with his words, for the matter with his son''s youngest daughter, Moon, actually nearly tore their family apart. The wedge created that day still had not been healed and, ironically, it was that lowborn woman who convinced his son not to leave the Williams family forever. For that, he was genuinely grateful to her. After all, he was the most talented Williams family child of his generation - it would be a shame to lose him. "But no matter how bad things have gotten, you have never behaved this way before. Even going as far as hiding the existence of your son for two decades, depriving him of his family heritage¡­ you of all people know the disadvantage of not cultivating with the aid of a strong enough family. What could it be that prompted you to do this?" The air in the hall was still as everyone waited for the man to continue with his words. Damian Arban Williams, Lex''s grandfather, finally said the only thing that possibly made sense. "The only thing I can think of¡­ is a matter rted to bloodlines." He felt a great amount of fear in his heart as he spoke, and an equally great amount of hope. The Williams family had a great history, and should have been one of the top four families of the Jotun Empire, directly alongside the prestigious Butt family which Noman Butt belonged to, under only the royal family. But while the Williams family shared a sufficiently powerful background, there was one major w that prevented them from ever reaching that status. Other than the founder of the Williams family, one of the four advisors to King Jotun himself, no one from their family had been able to unlock the bloodline their family carried. "But that should not be a reason to hide him," Damian continued in confusion, "but instead bring him to light. He would directly be named heir of the family, and raised with the utmost care. So then, what could it be?" "It does not matter," Lex''s father replied, after shing one more time and cutting yet another hole in space. "You have already seen what my sword can do. Search for my son and I will personally end the Williams family, the Jotun agenda be damned!" The couple exited through the shed space, leaving behind an utterly confused old man. But though the old man was confused, he was not poltroon. Hidden deep in his exhausted eyes was ambition. The fact that his grandchild had been hidden from him meant that there was something special about him, and Damian was not about to let that go. Chapter 403 Midnight Newsletter Lex dismissed thest of his clones and sat with his back to his chair, letting out a deep sigh. One unexpected, but somehow predictable, result of using consciousness clones was severe mental exhaustion. Even if it was as if he had another brain functioning independently, the energy for all that processing still derived from his original body and soul. Not to mention that he had been using multiple clones, sometimes even at the same time, to check whether that was possible or not. As a result, he had beenpletely exhausted. It was not a big deal, for he had more than a whole day before the assembly began. What he had to decide now was whether or not he would attend, for if he missed this one, he would have to wait 100 years for the next one. But before makingplicated decisions like that, he needed to get some rest. Instead of directly sleeping, Lex first teleported to his own home within the Inn, which was in a space cut off from the main Inn. Removing most of his clothes, Lex slowly immersed himself in the Hot tub and let out a soft groan as he felt the warm water massage his skin. A strange thing that had happened to him since his upgrade was... most hot things just felt warm to him. Even if he put his hand in an open me, for a very long time it would only seem warm. Only when the temperature was close to his limit, would he begin to feel that it was ''hot'' instead of ''warm''. Not that any of that mattered, for right now Lex was in a mood to rx. After a short dip, he got out of the hot tub and put on his Bathroom set and let it cleanse his body of all fatigue, as well as filth. Not bothering to change, Lex then walked into the meditation room, sat down, and began cultivating. Sleep would help him recover, there was no doubt about it, but meditating and cultivating would help put him in the right state of mind for whaty ahead. Considering he was at the peak of the Foundation realm as it was, all cultivating would do was push him towards the Golden Core realm. But it was not an automatic transition, so until he chose to initiate it himself, cultivating would only end up refilling his reserve of spirit energy and refreshing him. It did not take long, approximately six hours, before Lex stopped his cultivation for he waspletely refreshed. Since he had not been drained beyond normal, or been injured in some way, such a normal way of recovering was more than enough to bring him back to his peak state. Now Lex had a decision to make, but he received a notification that the Inn upgrade to merge with the Henali portal wasplete, and only required him to make a few additions. Lex had put off dealing with Inn rted stuff for now, but this was a simple enough task that he didn''t mind doing it. The Henali portal was simr to the inte, and spanned the entire known universe in the Origin realm. It was maintained not by the Henali themselves, but by the members of the Henali alliance. This statement in itself brought Lex a lot of confusion, since if the entire Origin realm was under the Henali purview, shouldn''t the entire ''universe'' be considered as a part of the ''known universe''. Of course, in this regard the universe was only referring to the origin realm itself. But, regardless,ing back to the portal, entering it required a few things first. A person who was entering the portal for the first time had to go to what was called a Registration point and log in from there. This was because they would take all kinds of information and enter it into the portal. Once that was done, a person could interact with the portal as simply as by giving it a verbalmand, regardless of whether you had a log in device or not. Of course, such interactions were extremely limited in capability. The proper way of logging in was with a login in device. This could be a simpleputer, to let you ess the information, or aplete VR immersion kit to let you enter the virtualndscape of the portal. Once logged in, there were still a few restrictions, such as the inability to hide your identity from the portal, but otherwise it was an open world for you to do as you please. The exact details Lex was not aware of, since the information he got from the system was only rted to setting up a registration point and an ess point, as well as the very basics of the portal. After thinking about how to set it up for a bit, Lex decided to put down the Registration point on one of the branches off Main street, but created multiple ess points throughout the Inn. The thing about ess points was that it contained bothplete immersive VR kits, as well as simple ess points. Of course, considering the size of his Inn and the number of his guests, he had to create enough ess points to amodate arge number of people entering. At the same time, he wasn''t sure of how much the demand would be. As such, he created a dozen ess points throughout the Inn, with thergest being at the vige, and bought new workers to work in them. He''d check it out when he had the time. For now, he turned his attention back to the assembly. Even if he decided to go, there was one issue he had to ovee, and had been unable to experiment with. To activate the business card someone needed to channel energy into it, but once the clone was summoned, it was unable to move. Did that also mean it was unable to teleport? Within the Inn, he was able to teleport his clone anywhere without it disappearing, but he did not know if the same would hold true for teleporting the clone to the assembly. Everything was so risky, and now he had to face a battle between his heart, which wanted to go, and his brain, which said waiting 100 years was not a big deal since now he was a cultivator. ***** William Bentham was feeling good. Things had only gone from bad to better over thest one year, and not only was his cultivation recovering rapidly, his business was taking off. His secret society, the Rose Society, was gaining influence faster than anyone could imagine, and the best part was, due to the various business deals he had operating through the Inn, no one could trace his ie. That meant the Rose Society had no money trail anyone could use to trace it back to him. What others didn''t know was that, soon, he would even receive an entire spaceship. He could use that to transport the rehabilitated work force from earth to another, and start a colony on a new world. Of course, such a deal hadn''t been without costs, but nothing was without price. He could afford to pay it, so long as it helped him achieve his dreams. If there was one thing he regretted, it was that his own children hadn''t helped at all in his new growth, and instead it was Hera who had helped him. The one bet she had taken so long ago, of not taking a million dors for the key, and invested in him instead, was paying off big time now. Not only was leading one of the most sessful startups in history, she had now be a cultivator as well. Yes, all was good. Just as Will was losing himself in his thoughts, sipping a cup of warm tea, something suddenly appeared on the table in front of him. Curious, he looked over and discovered a newsletter. To be more specific, he found the Midnight Inn Newsletter! Surprised, as well as thoroughly exhrated, he plucked it off the table and began to read. Oddly enough, on the entire page filled with interesting news not only about the Inn but the universe atrge, Will''s eyes were directed instead to a small little corner of the page with a segment called ''Ask Rachel''. Maybe it was the beautiful font, the alluring color, or the fact that there was a small figure of ''Rachel'' drawn over the segment that kept waving at Will and pointing down at the segment, attracting his attention to it. One could never be sure about these things. The first line, though he felt ashamed to admit, did attract his interest. It simply read: ''What is all the sess, power and prestige in the universe worth, if you have no one to share it with? Looking for help, or some tips on how to start exploring the universe for your significant other? Then look no further and ask Rachel the questions hidden in your heart. She will be the beacon that lights up your road towards a wholesome and happy lovelife.''N?v(el)B\\jnn Chapter 404 Error 404: Not Found Poor old Velma, who had not really paid much attention to her cultivation, waspletely overwhelmed by the responses that she got for her first newsletter. Over 100,000 guests had responded within just a few hours and asked her questions for her segment. How was she to pick which one to respond to? For the first time, she regretted not having a higher cultivation level. If she did, she would not need to split this task. But either way it was not much of a loss, as she was only sharing the task with her good sister Antia, the pregnant lich. She had a happy and sessful marriage with Qawain, the sword that had assumed a human shape after gaining sentience and entering the Immortal realm. Her romantic advice was sure to be excellent, right? She recalled that Antia had once shared a story about a romantic date she had when she was still dating Qawain, where he invited 9 generations of a cultivation family that had antagonized Anita and permanently resolved their disputes. It was such a warm and kindhearted gesture. That was exactly the kind of man¡­ -eh, exactly the kind of sword every woman was looking for. Anyway, whether Velma answered herself or it was Anita, the true identity was hidden behind the persona of ''Rachel'' which is why she chose such a name in the first ce instead of just directly using her name. While the hype at the Inn was all about the Newsletter, barely anyone had learned about the Henali portal for it had been introduced at such a time that Velma didn''t have time to edit the newsletter. In the next one she would definitely mention it, and anyone could even ask their personal holographic assistants about it, but otherwise it would remain a rtive secret. That was why when Tiffany, the girl who was the chosen of the will of the Nibiru wandered into the registration building, it waspletely empty. As a rtively ignorant girl whose worldview had mostly been limited to Nibiru, and the little she could learn from interacting with the Inn staff, Tiffany could not yet even grasp the concept of ''inte'' or ''online''. So,pletely ignorant of what she was doing or what it meant, she entered the virtual world of the Henali portal for the first time. ***** A soothing incense filled the room, keeping Lex calm yet focused. He sat in his office chair with his eyes closed,pletely still as if he was a statue. In front of him was the epistle, and on it was a countdown steadily heading towards 0. In fact, it was less than a minute away. Despite his better judgment, Lex decided to attend the assembly. Since he was in the business of hosting guests from across the universe, and currently especially from the Origin realm, the more he understood it the better. He also had to understand what these ''Fuegans'' that the Henali strongly despised were, and howrge was their poption in their realm. How would the Henali react if he ended up hosting them? Even besides that, there were so many things Lex was unaware of that he didn''t even know that he didn''t know them. For example, the champions tourney that Dillion, the creature that took up Ragnar''s tasks, mentioned. Lex did not even know of its existence, yet had somehow hosted tasks that could negatively influence it. He needed to understand what the repercussions for such a thing were and what other potential pitfalls there were waiting for him. Also, and this was not in any way a significant factor in aiding his decision, he really wanted to see a living T-rex up close if one appeared there as well. To be exact, Lex did not really understand how rare ''Daolords'' were, but he supposed that a race that controlled over 100 gxies probably had at least a few, right? Just as hepleted that thought, the timer on the epistle hit 0. Lex opened his eyes and focused on it. It was time to conduct his experiment and see if he would be sessful in sending a clone to the assembly in the first ce. Picking up a business card from the cardholder, Lex channeled some of his energy into it, activating it. The, by now, familiar sensation of a clone being formed appeared before he saw an ethereal figure of himself standing before him. This wasn''t the first time Lex had summoned a clone by himself, so he was not surprised, and did not spend several minutes admiring the Adonis-like, perfectly sculpted representation of resplendence that was his clone. Not that he did so during the first time either. Instead, he picked up the epistle and tossed it towards what should have been his intangible figure, and watched as its descent slowed down drastically while it passed through his clone''s body. That was good enough and, using the clone, he activated the epistle. He held his breath as he waited for the teleportation but¡­ after a few moments, nothing happened, and the epistle fell through the clone''s body onto the ground. Just as Lex was trying to understand what had happened, for this should have theoretically worked, the epistle began to blow, and a projection of a few words formed above it. The words read: ''Error 404: Connected teleportation point not found''. It took but a moment for Lex to realize his mistake. He was so used to teleporting right out of the Inn that it did not ur to him that the Inn''s protective formation would prevent others from teleporting in and out of it. Not feeling dumb at all for making such a basic mistake, Lex directly teleported to one of thes connected to the Inn and repeated the attempt. This time, the clone was sucked into a mini-wormhole, without losing connection to Lex whatsoever. Lex quickly returned to his office and sat on his chair with his eyes closed. His entire focus, for now, had been diverted to his clone. The teleportation it was undergoing was not nearly as instantaneous as the one the Inn afforded, giving him a little insight into how incredible the Inn''s teleporting actually was. Instead the clone felt himself surrounded by a bubble with the faintest hint of blue in it. Outside the bubble was an endless void of gray¡­ stuff. Whatever was outside the bubble seemed liquid and solid at the same time. It flowed around the bubble like water flowing around a boulder in its path, yet at the same time it would solidify and form unusual shapes around it. It was like various colored sands mixed in together, forming different shapes, yet at the same time not quite. Even Lex''s instincts weren''t able to make sense of it, and gave him no warnings or rmendations regarding the substance outside the bubble. It was most likely because even his instincts weren''t able to exceed the bubbles'' limitations. The teleportation took several minutes, which is something Lex could only tell because his main body was at the Inn. Otherwise, within that strange gray space, even time seemed somewhat abstract. When the teleportation ended, Lex''s extremely focused mind picked up various bits of information all at once. Firstly, he was in a room that strongly reminded him of the US congress. But instead of getting a single chair, he had an entire booth. Though he was in the form of a consciousness clone, he could tell that the booth was filled with such¡­ such¡­ excruciatingly, beautifully pure spirit energy that he had never felt anything like it. At the same time, he knew that if his real body had appeared here, neither the Lotus on his back nor the system''s ability to absorb energy would have been enough to prevent his body from being overloaded with what was surely the pinnacle of all energies, and exploding as a result. Even as merely a clone of his consciousness, he had been influenced by the energy, resulting in him feeling such immense, orgasmic pleasure that it nearly drove him insane! Had he not entered the ''Overdrive'' state before sending his clone away, it would have taken him a long time to recover. Fortunately, he had made sufficient preparations. Moreover, the extreme control his Host Attire gave him over his expressions somehow extended to his clone, so even in the brief moment of near insanity, he had kept his expression cid. The second thing he noticed was that while the room wasrge, it was not nearly as big as he had been expecting considering this was a gathering that invited ''all'' those that had entered the Daolord realm in the Origin realm. In fact, there were probably less than 50 booths altogether. Moreover, even of the existing booths, very few were actually upied. Though he was not able to actually see into the booths that were upied. This was probably one of the safety measures to ensure anonymity. Well, to be more specific, he could not see in most of the upied booths. This was because the third thing he noticed was a very familiar figure. It was the Devil Ballom.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Chapter 405 Challenge The hall Lex was in wasrge and majestic, with every inch of it covered in an intricate pattern carved directly into the very walls of the hall itself. The lighting was a dim yellow, as if a chandelier hung over the hall, filled with old incandescent bulbs. Yet if one were to look directly above, they would see what looked like a miniature version of a star, wrapped in and hung by what seemed an ornamental chain. Something about the scene was unusual, but even in his Overdrive state Lex found it difficult to focus on any one thing for too long, due to the crashing waves of pleasure the energy kept giving him. He could have sworn that if it weren''t for the perfect control his suit afforded him, he would asionally moan from pleasure. He looked around his booth, straining his mind to see if there was anything he could use to control and reduce the amount of energy, but he saw none. If things continued at this pace, he would be mentally exhausted long before anything substantial happens. For a meeting that was only held once a century, Lex assumed that it wouldst, at the very minimum, a few days if not weeks. Now it seemed like Lex wouldn''t even be able tost the first hour. Nothing was happening yet, or at least no one was talking where Lex could hear, which meant that Lex was exerting himself constantly just to stay sane, and not even hear anything relevant. In fact, he couldn''t even spend time trying to observe the other Daolords, for the moment he looked at the Devil who he already knew, the man that was Loretta''s dad, and thought of his name, the Devil reacted, and looked directly towards Lex. Lex''s mental state was too strained to pick up any details of his expression, and detect whether there was curiosity or recognition in the gaze. It took all his strength just to stop thinking about him. Lex was in a strange situation, where it would take all of his strength to focus on one thing, due to the distraction created by the energy, while he would also need all of his energy to stop thinking about a certain thing. To reduce the strain on his mind, he allowed himself to rx a little while until nothing important was happening, and let his gaze wander the hall. 13 of the booths were hazy, meaning that 13 other guests were here keeping their identities hidden while only 5 of them didn''t care at all and let their appearance be shown to all. Other than the Devil, there was another humanoid being. She was an angel of otherworldly beauty, with a bearing truly surpassing that of mere mortals. From that one time the representatives came to send an invite to the Inn Lex knew of a small list of other humanoid beings that existed in the universe, which is why Lex thought that the woman was an angelic beauty. It was because she was literally an Angel! One of the other beings that were present in the was somehow extremely massive and small at the same time. He was small, because he fit perfectly in the booth that was the same size as the others, but when Lex passed his gaze over him, the image in his mind was so vast Lex could not begin toprehend its size. The being was a beast of some kind, and that was all Lex could determine. As for the remaining 2... Lex''s feeble mind could notprehend what kind of existences they were. To avoid the risk of earning anyone''s attention, Lex looked away. His gaze returned to the roof, which was filled with the intricate pattern that filled the room somehow without ever actually making the room look too full, or congested with decor. The sight was almost as intoxicating as the pleasure provided by the energy, and as he had loosened the reins on his self-control, Lex quickly lost himself in a daze. There seemed to be no end as the swirls went from one to another, a never ending weave forming immacte shapes... In fact, it was so perfect Lex began to imagine that they were a physical representation of the universe... and through that, he began to see odd shapes and began hearing weird sounds. Despite his best efforts, his feeble mind could no longer tolerate it, and he began to hallucinate. He began to imagine that the patterns wereing to life, and taking the shape of the characters he used in his arrays. Only, these characters were a hundred million times moreplex than any character he had ever seen or used, and just perceiving them subject him to untold pressures. Colors began to lose meaning to Lex, and bled into sound. Then his sense of touch mixed into the pot, and somehow, his sense of taste as well. All his senses were going haywire as Lex experienced a trip worse and more vivid than any drug Earth had to offer. By now, his Overdrive state hadpletely copsed and even Lex''s main consciousness had entered into a trance alongside his clone. Let alone participate in the assembly, Lex could not even tolerate a wisp of his consciousness being in the room where the assembly was held. In fact, it was a testament to not only the immense strength of his mind, but the Regal Embrace as well that he had been exposed to an environment suited to perfectly host Daolords, and he had notpletely copsed. In a very urate way, Lex was now subject to the kind of pressure low level cultivators usually experience around cultivators with levels much higher than their own, except that this time the system was no protecting him since this was not inside the Inn. The craziest part was that Lex''s consciousness clone had not even absorbed any of the energy that it was submerged in - only exposed to it. Outside his booth, exactly one minute had passed. "Amana, I''m surprised to see you here," said the Angel, looking at one of the two Daolords the shape of which Lex could not evenprehend. "Are you not afraid that Ra will once again start pursuing you?" "Thest time he tried, I froze him in time for eternity. Had it not been for Ballom, that is where he would remain," replied Amana, showingplete disregard for this Ra that was being referenced. "My sincerest apologies, Goddess Amana," Balloon said with a casual smile, "but we Devils are businessmen. For a sufficient price, anything is negotiable. In fact, I believe even your sons have availed some of our services." The Devil''s reputation was spread not only in the Origin realm, but many others as well. Like the Henali, they had ownership of various realms, and considerable influence in many realms which they did not directly control. "Speaking of children, I heard Ra''s daughter has left her prison. Does that mean the wedding is back on?" asked the beast. The beast had an amused glint in its eyes - a glint that Velma was all too familiar with. It seemed that even the highest strata of the Origin realms cultivators could not escape the relentless clutch of gossip and drama. Before it could receive an answer, however, one of the booths suddenly emptied. The hall became still, as all the Daolords, both that had hidden their identities and the ones that openly disyed their identities turned to look to confirm for themselves at what they had just witnessed. In fact, for the briefest of moments, they even considered the possibility that they remembered incorrectly, and that this booth had been empty all along. Countless Daolords were invited to these events each time, and most did not attend. But regardless of whether they attended or not, none disrespected the Henali. For someone toe to the assembly, but leave before the Henali even began to convene the meeting... it was unheard of for sure. But then again, it was easy to be courageous when the Henali assuredplete anonymity... As soon as the final thought entered everyone''s mind, they erased it, for in the now otherwise empty booth, a single business card hovered gently in their air, supported by the thick, tangible energy that filled it. On it, in clear and bold letters, was written ''The Innkeeper'' just below ''MIDNIGHT INN''. A million thoughts ran through everyone''s head, trying to understand why the Innkeeper would leave so rudely. If he hadn''t wanted toe, he should have never made an appearance, and if he wanted to leave, there was no reason to leave his calling card.N?v(el)B\\jnn Other than Ballom, none had heard of this ce, but suddenly each and everyone made a mental note to stay clear of it. Whether this Innkeeper was ignorant, or truly someone who did not need to give Henali some face, either way, it was best to keep their distance for now. Only Ballom developed a small smirk on his face. How interesting. Was this meant to be a challenge? Chapter 406 Crashing Faith Lex lost all concept of time as his mind traveled through a strange vortex of colors that did not exist, and marinated in a pool of sounds his body could not actually hear. It was both an instant and an eternity at the same time, for while Lex was going through the vortex, he could not perceive it. It was as if he was moving forward, yet at the same time, somehow, time was frozen. But how could there be an after, during or even before if time was still? How could he move through the vortex if time was frozen, for there could be no discement if time did not exist as a medium through which to disce. Yet ultimately that is what it seemed like, for when he finally exited the vortex, and time returned to normal, all the memories of his journey came crashing through in an instant. Afterwards his mind became numb, for it was too exhausted to do anything. In fact, while it seemed like only his spirit was drained, since his spirit, soul and body had all been merged, all three dropped to an extremely low point of activity for they were just too drained to work. Such a state was extremely dangerous, and was barely better than death, yet ironically it was due to the fact that his spirit had been reinforced by both the strength of his body and soul that he had been able to survive the experience he had just undergone. Even though he was not there in person, and he had been exposed to the Henali assembly through a mere clone of his consciousness created by the system, it was far beyond what someone at his level could possibly tolerate. In fact, it was only because the clone had been created through the system that the system itself was able to detect when Lex was nearing a point of no return and forcefully canceled the clone. The forceful disruption of the technique was precisely why the business card had not been used up, and was left behind on the scene of the incident to be misunderstood by everyone on the scene. Mary, who was deeply connected to the Inn, instantly learned of Lex''s deteriorating situation. The problem was... she could not move Lex himself, for she had no body, and she could not ask one of the workers to move him, for the Innkeeper could not be seen in such a weak state. But at the same time, Lex needed to be moved into a Recovery pod as soon as possible, lest there be no Innkeeper left to even protect. Of course, earlier Lex had given her a lot of authority and even made her the assistant Innkeeper, but that was only via the increased authority he had in the Crystal realm. Now she was back to only being able tomunicate with the Inn staff at most. Stuck between a difficult decision, she could onlypromise, and summoned Gerard. He was one of the oldest two workers Lex had at the Inn, and while all the workers could be trusted, if she had to take a risk, it was best to be as sure as possible. Gerard teleported right over to Lex''s office building using his security ess when he heard there was an emergency, and when he entered the building he nearly copsed from rm when he saw the Innkeeper unconscious at his table. Nearly on the verge of a heart attack, and on the verge of having his immeasurable faith in the Innkeeper shaken, Gerard managed to gather himself back up. After all, if he wasn''t able to recover, someone else would need toe, and he could not allow the Innkeeper to be seen like this! As quickly, yet gently as possible, Gerard lifted the Innkeeper from his seat and teleported to the Recovery room. With the absolute utmost speed he could conjure, he took the Innkeeper to the Recovery pod before anyone could see who he was carrying. Once the task was done, Mary informed him to keep the secret, and that she would let him know if she needed anything. Gerard, who was thoroughly shook, only weakly nodded and teleported away. For the first time in his nearly one-year-old life, Gerard chose to take an alcoholic drink that day. Mary, on the other hand, did not rest, for she was keeping a constant watch on Lex''s situation. Technically, Lex was not injured. Instead, it was just his body, spirit and soul which had entered artificial dormancy due to a severe exhaustion. Some external aid, any external aid really, would help him recover. It was only a matter of time now. ***** Qawain, the sentient sword, was sitting cross-legged in his abode. When he joined the Inn, he had been asked nothing more than to be a swords teacher for any guests who wanted to avail his service. The extent of his education, however, was leftpletely up to him. After all, if he felt that a certain guest could not be taught, it would only be a waste of effort to offer him the most in-depth teachings. As a result of this, he had made his abode within a hole carved into the side of the Midnight mountain by a sword strike. He filled the entrance of his abode with a mild version of his own sword intent, so that any guest who wanted to meet him would, first, get some free benefits by meditating on the intent, and second, so he could filter out as many untalented people as possible. Still, he couldn''t be too harsh, lest he upset the Innkeeper for not doing his job. As such, he reduced his standards to the lowest possible amount. Even still, he ended up bing revered as an excellent teacher with the harshest possible standards. Considering he changed 10,000 MP for a single ss, and that he avoided as many sses as possible, he should have been mostly free. Yet that was far from the case. He was almost always busy, for the path of the sword was one of the most popr universe wide. Still, this day, something slightly unusual happened. He saw, through his spirit sense, a lone human wandering towards his abode casually. On his waist, the human wore a sword, though it was of a different kind than Qawain''s own body. Still, being different didn''t mean that Qawain discriminated, or that the human was weak. On the contrary, his performance was better than most others he had seen. Intrigued, Qawain decided to increase the difficulty - just a bit - to see how the human performed.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Still, right up until the end, the human did not slow down, and even then, towards the end, all he did was frown. An appreciative light shed in Qawain''s eyes before he decided to quit testing the human. After all, he was only there as a nominal teacher. He had no interest in taking any personal disciples. "Your understanding of the path of the sword is pretty good," Qawainmented. "Tell me, what do you need guidance in, and I will guide you how I can." The human, still frowning, did not speak. Instead, slowly, he grabbed the handle of his sword and began to draw it. His pace was extremely even as he drew the weapon, and the sword whistled sweetly as its body rubbed against the sheath on its way out. A beautiful Katana was drawn with a sheen of blue running across its edge. Even the human paused for a moment as fondness shed through his eyes, before they became focused again. Instead of borating on his issue, the human struck forward with his sword with all the strength he could muster, instantly disying his peak form. Qawain nodded, as if he immediately understood many things. "Your sword is one of devotion and servitude, but in your form there is defiance and resistance. You either need to find someone new to serve, one whom your heart can agree withpletely, or you need to change your path of servitude." Anger and frustration shed through the man''s eyes, but he still said nothing, only paid and left. ''If only it were so easy to leave,'' Souta thought to himself. His system had literally made him a ve to his feudal lord, and his feudal lord was incredibly evil. The only way out he could even think of was for his feudal lord to die, but then his system would just make him ve to yet another. After all, it was the duty of the samurai to serve their master. He could not think of a way out. His future looked incredibly bleak. He could see no way out. "Ho there friend," yelled someone walking his way, "you look like you''ve seen better days. What''s the matter? Anything you need help with?" Souta looked up and saw two other humans walking his way, both with an idiotic look on their faces. "No," was all he replied, and continued to walk forward. That is, until he heard one of the men murmuring, "he''s lying." Chapter 407 Brewing Trouble Souta could have ignored the smallment easily. He could have moved on, for his feudal lord would look for him soon. After all, it was an inconsequentialment. How would anyone know whether he was lying or not, especially when he spoke so little? He had long learned how to prevent himself from having any behavioral tells or markers for whether he was lying or not. Logically speaking, the other person was a scammer and had purposefully let him hear the murmur in order to arouse suspicion and doubt, and cause a disturbance in Souta''s mental state. Such a vulnerability would then allow them to try to build a logical premise for how and why he should trust them, before, in a seemingly reasonable and logical sequence of events, going on to scam him. Souta knew this because of the kind of exposure his feudal lord provided him with. Suzuki was a cunning man, and needed Souta to be well versed in every kind of established falsehood there was, not so that he could prevent them, but so that he could enact them. Despite knowing all of this, he could not help but stop. Something in the man''s voice... the certainty with which he spoke, yet the hush in his voice as if he was speaking only to himself... it told Souta that he wasn''t making it up. Yet when he turned and looked at the wide grin on the partner of the man who had murmured he suddenly had doubts. That was a scammer if he ever saw one. "The name is Anakin Indiana e, friend. Why don''t you hold on a minute and hear us out? If you feel like we can''t help you, you''re always free to leave.After all, there''s no harm in just listening." ''Definitely a scammer, this one,'' Souta thought to himself. Yet he stood still all the same. It was true, though. With how miserable his life was going, he really had nothing left to lose by listening to them. "Have you heard of the Chamber of Secrets?" Anakin asked. "It''s where we like to hold our meetings..." Anakin''s senses were tingling. He was about to make a huge profit. He just knew it! ***** An hour passed by and the room where the Henali assembly was taking ce was slightly more filled. The participants, those who did not hide their identities at least, continued to chat amongst themselves casually, though there was a tinge of anticipation in their eyes. They wanted to see how the situation was about to unfold. At the exact one hour mark, when admission to the assembly hall closed, a figure appeared in the center of the hall. Everyone turned their attention to the figure, just as the figure looked out at the room. 2 of its 26 eyes, however, werepletely fixed on a single card that read Innkeeper. It said nothing before it began convening the meeting, but two of its eyes stayed fixated on the card throughout. The audience was not disappointed by theck of drama. On the contrary, they were even more enticed by theck of it. After all, they were beings that did not n out their day, but instead they nned out their millennia. It was the slow performance that got them riled up, the steady build up to a fantastic conclusion. For now, just the direction of that single pair of eyes was enough to sate their craving. Of course, this was only for those participants that lived for this kind of enjoyment. Others couldn''t care less. ***** At the same time as the Henali assembly, which was being held by the highest most echelon of the realm, another assembly was being held. This time there was no Henali member to oversee the assembly, only their chosen representative this time. Thus, presiding over this joint session that included the recognized empires, races and organizations, was a member of a race called the Starguard. A being made up of pure fire, its strength was extremely formidable. At the same time, however, the Emperor of the Jotun Empire, who was sitting in the assembly, had never even heard of the Starguard race. He was seated in one of the middle sections of the room and even neared the top, even though the human race was considered, in general, much weaker than many of the races that sat even below the Emperor. It could not be helped, for he was not seated arbitrarily. He was seated ording to the social rank of humans in the Origin realm which, based onmon sense, should have been quite low. This was because the status of a race was not determined by howrge their poption was, how developed their cultivation system was, or what kind of military might they held as a race. Instead, it was determined by the single strongest member of their race. As far as the human race was concerned, in the entire realm, there was none stronger or with a higher cultivation level than him. Moreover, he was not the kind of ruler who sat on a bejeweled throne and passed down orders from behind safe havens. No, the Emperor was a man so fierce that, besides being a ruler of one of thergest human empires in the realm, he had been hired as a personal envoy by the Henali. In a realm that did not naturally allow beings touching the Dao to be born, he was near what should have been the natural apex. So his rule began with, and continued on while in the midst of eternal war. It was not his own innate logistical prowess that allowed the Empire to flourish. Instead, it was the secret help the Henali provided him in exchange for his excellent service that shielded his empire from downfall. As it happened, while he was in the assembly, listening once again to drawl speeches about the future of the realm, and Henali''s vision for its development, the Emperor once again received a missive. Once the assembly ended, he would have to visit a ce called the Midnight Inn. ***** From hours to days, time slowly passed. No one sensed anything unusual, for the most part, since they were used to the Innkeeper disappearing spontaneously. But a subtle tension filled the air that extremely few could detect. Chad, the deputy director of security, directly under Gerard, began to notice Gerard behaving strangely. He was often absentminded and would asionally disappear without exnation. Things that were running smoothly up until now slowly began to have problems. Security, for one, began to cause trouble. Having two Earth immortals at the Inn at all times usually ensured that there wouldn''t be any problems. But the universe was not without other immortals, and the Inn had already developed enough of a reputation that they could asionally visit. Though there hadn''t been any direct confrontations yet, a few tense encounters had taken ce. What was strange, though, was that while usually Mary gave excellent orders to deal with the situation, this time she was being hesitant, and kept moving towards tolerating as much as possible. Another issue was logistics. With an increased number of workers, everything originally ran very smoothly. After all, the system itself took care of so many things. But with no clear upper management, and Mary herself acting out of sorts, alongside the Innkeeper''s absence, many of the workers had to resolve their own issues. This often resulted in shes or misunderstandings. For most guests this was not a big deal, but for some of the older or more observant guests, this was a huge anomaly. The number of Devils at the Inn had also increasedtely, and while they created no problems themselves, they sent silent reports of everything that urred in extensive detail. Who or why they were sending these reports to was a mystery, but they were not subtle at all with their actions. As if to make things worse, a few dayster, in the X-14 star system a huge, extremely coordinated battle took ce that spanned multiples. The Dimitri family, despite being caught off guards, somehow managed to repel the attackers - with rumors abound that someone named Tetsuya yed a significant role in resolving the attacks. Yet the real issue that came to light was that the attackers all snuck onto thes, and would then teleport to the Inn until the right time. Then, when given the order, they would return to thes andunch an attack.N?v(el)B\\jnn This information spread very quickly, and painted the Midnight Inn in a very bad light. Yet somehow, that attracted even more guests. Mary was rmed, for this was not what the Inn was supposed to represent, yet it was clear that people were abusing the system''s capabilities while not breaking any of the Inn''s rules. A hundred more minor issues were popping up. Thetest of which was happening today, on the day of Harry and Haileys wedding. A group of party crashers had barged in, and the situation was looking like it was deteriorating fast. Chapter 408 Too Ugly To Describe Harry and Hailey had been nning their wedding for a while, by their own standards. It had been a few months, and honestly they could not wait any longer. To be honest, there was no real need to either. Due to the sensitivity of sharing his identity, Harry was not intending on inviting any of his friends from Earth to the wedding. Not that he returned to Earth much at all these days, but that did not change the fact that he did not want his identity disclosed. What if someone targeted his friends to reach him? He''d seen enough movies to know that greedy people could do anything. Hailey, as well, did not want to invite anyone from her. In fact, she was even reluctant to return at all. She could not imagine going back to the ridiculously difficult and tedious life she had lived previously. Though she always knew she was being overworked, she had no idea just how much of a terrible life she was living till she saw the living standard at the Inn! Still, while they had no invites from their owns, they both had made plenty of friends with their identities at the Inn. Just coordinating and inviting all of them was a hassle. Another reason Harry dyed was that he was secretly hoping the Innkeeper would also be free by then to attend his wedding, or possibly even officiate it. Unfortunately, on the morning of his wedding, the assistant Innkeeper told him that the Innkeeper had important business which kept him busy. There was a tinge of disappointment in Harry''s heart, but he suppressed it. It made sense, after all. The Innkeeper was an important man, he had better things to be doing than attending his employees weddings. Harry had rented out the entire Midnight manor for the wedding despite the fact that there were perhaps a little over a 100 guests at most. For some people that number may be huge and for others it was small. For Harry, an orphan with no contacts of friends other than the ones he worked his behind off for, and for Hailey, a simple farmer girl previously, the number of guests was massive, and something they were very prideful of. The guests contained, other than some of Harry''s colleagues, some of his regr customers, friends he''d made at the Inn, as well as many of the contestants from Lady Cosmos who became friends with Hailey. It was an absolute ball, since the wedding style they had opted for was a merger between traditional western weddings and those from Hailey''s world. Yet while they were dancing and singing and ying wedding games, things instantly went from perfectly joyous to deathly still! A small group of guests from the race known as Gti were at the Inn, and happened to be nearby the manor. Moreover, while they had note to the Inn with devious intentions, when they saw Jill, the winner of the Lady Cosmospetition, attending a function at the manor things instantly deteriorated. The Midnight Inn''s security room immediately picked up their malicious intentions, but there were four of them and all of them were in the immortal realm or greater. The security personnel did not even have time to register the situation and try and attempt to resolve the situation before the four of them crashed the wedding with their auras full on disy. The strongest known members of the Midnight Inn were Qawain and Anita who were both at the Earth Immortal realm. They were extremelypetent, but even so they could not go 2 against 4, especially when some of them seemed to be at an even higher cultivation realm! The aura of the four put great pressure on everyone at the event, but even as they tried to understand what was happening, the four miscreants were not following the traditional bad guy sequence. Instead of peacocking and strutting about, as was the stereotype, all four of them surrounded Jill while one of them grabbed her by the throat. "I heard you were saved by a dragonst time, but the dragon''s not here now. I wonder who''s going to save you now?" asked one of the four hideous, fat, blob monsters. The Gti race were not humanoid, but instead looked like a fusion between a slug and a beetle, in that they were too disgusting to describe. All that mattered was that copious amounts of ooze that came off their body, and the many number of creepy limbs.N?v(el)B\\jnn "This is the Midnight Inn! Do you know what you''re doing?" asked Harry forcefully as he gathered himself up from the shock of what was happening, and the pressure of the four beings. Yet instead of answering him, one of them only flicked one of their limbs his way, attacking him from a distance. Like a cannonball his bodyunched from the venue at a speed none could follow, his statepletely unknown. Everyone paled and a few guests immediately departed from the Inn, directly teleporting away. But not everyone could teleport away, and the Inn staff had no idea what to do. Even Velma, who had been extremely stressedtely, momentarily faltered, especially because she could follow the trajectory of Harry''s body. From the Midnight manor it hadunched all the way to the Midnight mountain! There was no way a normal human would survive that attack! ***** A few hours earlier. John, one of Lex''s few temporary workers, had been working at the Inn for a long time - nearly a year, in fact. Considering his age, this was not actually a long time, but due to the nature of his system, and thereby his profession, he was not suited to stay in one ce for a long time. He had received his system very early in life, so it and the quests it gave out had ultimately influenced John''s life more than he had ever originally realized. Only many yearster, after he got caught and imprisoned, did he take the time to reflect on his life. It was inside of a prison cell that he realized that¡­ while his life may have seemed destined to head on this path, it had not necessarily needed to be that way. Still, these were the thoughts of a man full of regret, and with no hope for the future. All that changed the day he entered the Inn. From the moment he entered, he no longer thought of mundane matters such as regrets, or how his life could have been. Since he saw hope of escape, that was all he was focused on. Still, the chains that bound him were not simple at all. How could they be, when they so thoroughly bound an Immortal? Moreover, it was so sturdy that it managed to resist any ability or item his system was able to provide him with. So while he was vulnerable and on the journey to break free of his restraints, he decided to stay at the Inn. Yes, the Inn often had unusual or dangerous guests, but while the Innkeeper was around, John felt incredibly safe. Then the Innkeeper went away on certain business, and things began to head downhill for him. Without the Innkeeper to hold down the fort, the security of the Inn took a huge hit. More than once people had tried to invade it, though even from far away the Innkeeper managed to provide solutions. But while security issues were handled, somewhat, more issues arose. The most significant one was¡­ John was pretty sure that the assistant Innkeeper knew about, and could in some way, influence his own system. Though his system did not behave strangely at all after that one quest to eliminate the Raskals, it set his mind at unease. But while he was thoroughly disturbed by that thought, the reward from that one quest was extremely useful. John ended up getting what was called a ''Jericho puzzle piece''. Initially, this did not entice him at all whatsoever, but when he got the reward he realized how truly useful it was for him. He learned from the description that this Jericho which was being mentioned was actually a copy of the first ever prison constructed in the entire universe. While it was just one piece of many, it had a very useful effect. It could help him solve puzzles, and the most important puzzle John had on him were his bindings. It took him a long time, but he finally removed the chains. But he did not enjoy his newfound freedom as much as he imagined. After all, now he had a decision to make. He could return to his old life, or he could continue staying at the Inn for a while. There was no rush to leave, right? Either way, he would decide after Harry''s wedding. If nothing else, that kid had cut his hair for free for a year, so he owed him that much. Chapter 409 Deteriorating Situation The four Gti''s paid no attention to any other guests, and only focused on Jill. Jill, on the other hand, was too afraid to think. Her mind had frozen out of fear, otherwise it would have urred to her that she could teleport out of the Inn as well. But as if the aura of four immortals suppressing her while she was only in the Golden core herself, one of them choking her further shut down her thoughts. "You should have just obediently returnedst time. Now we''re going to make you pay for each extra day you''ve kept us waiting." Tears started to run down Jill''s face and she wanted to cry out that she did not know them, and had not run away from them, but her body was not responding to her wishes. By now the Inn staff had also begun to recover from their shock and their minds raced as they began to think of what to do. Even Mary was looking for Qawain in a panic, while at the same time she was pleading in Lex''s ear asking him to wake up. But Lex was still dormant, his body and mindpletely unresponsive to any external stimtion. There was only one person on the scene who was not reacting out of fear and shock - John. The situation had deteriorated too quickly for him to do anything, and honestly he wasn''t the type to stand out against tyrants to help out a stranger. But when Harry was blown away... something unusual happened. John''s extremely experienced mind immediately judged that Harry was dead, for a mere Foundation realm human could not survive a direct blow from an immortal no matter the circumstances. His entire skeleton would have been crushed to bits and his brain turned into a Jackson Pollen painting by getting smashed against the mountain side. There was a pretty good chance that his body''s situation was even worse than what John had described, for he only ounted for the physical force behind an immortals'' attack. If the immortal had used any other kind of force or technique, then perhaps there wasn''t even a body to smash into the mountain.N?v(el)B\\jnn Then he considered the value of each of Harry''s haircuts. Considering that during his haircut, he would nourish and rx, and sometimes even reinvigorate the soul, his haircuts were not cheap. Then he considered how long they had known each other. It was hard to determine, since John had not been keeping count of the exact number of weeks, but let''s say they had known each other for 45 weeks. That 45 haircuts, each one worth a lot. After some mental arithmetic, his valuation for the haircuts, when rounded off, came out to be exactly worth 4 immortal bodies. "Payment epted, initiate task!" said John, though for some reason no one heard his voice. Yet in his eyes, the time seemed to slow down, and the four immortals surrounding Jill were targeted in red. Since his system was an assassination system it, of course, helped him immensely in carrying out assassinations. Creating the most efficient strategy for him was but one of its many abilities. Raising his cultivation whenever he assassinated someone with a higher cultivation level than him was another. One of his favorite ways in which the system helped, though, was when it taught him incredible attacks. The cultivation world, at least for immortals, was quite different from lower levels. Things such as techniques and weapons, while helpful, took a supplementary role while the main source of an immortal''s strength were an immortal''s own ts. The attacks an immortal could use were also based on those ts. John, though, as a system wielder, had a bit of a hack which was that the system could automatically teach him incredibly powerful attacks that had nothing to do with his own ts. This was incredibly helpful, for having rare or powerful ts was not actually a good thing for cultivation, and instead was often a disability. But for John, he could have all the benefits without any of the drawbacks for those rare ts. One such t that he had ess to, only through the system, was the t of agony. "Harrowing pierce," he whispered, as his body dissolved in the wind. No one seemed to notice his words, or even that he disappeared, the immortals included! The next second though, something erupted out of the neck of the Gti that held up Jill. It looked like a bone, still covered in blood and sinew, erupting from its body and extending impossibly high into the air. The strangest thing was, however, that the Gti did not seem to notice. It did not scream or flinch. In fact, it had not even loosened its grip on Jill. Everyone around him too, continued to ignore it. As if that wasn''t harrowing enough, its blood kept oozing out of its neck, spilling endlessly on the ground. But that was far from the end of things. Another Gti had a simr looking bone strike out of its body, but this time not from its neck but directly from its back. The third one soon had a simr bone sticking out of its eye. But while three of them each had a single bone sticking out of their bodies, causing them to bleed endlessly onto the ground, the final one... the one that had struck Harry... it was like a pincushion. It could neither move nor think, for 800 bones were sticking out of its miserable body, causing him to be unable to move at all. The scene was scarier than any horror movie for even in such a condition, none seemed to notice what was happening. After all, John was not done with them yet. Immortal? Earth Immortal? A higher realm than even that? Since when did such things matter to an assassin? The life of an assassin was always filled with incredibly strong, incredibly skilled and incredibly hard to kill beings. After all, if it were easy to kill them, no one would hire an assassin in the first ce. So an assassin, well at least a true assassin, never looked at such things. An assassin only looked at the opponents weakness, and these Gti had way too many. John, who had spent countless years imprisoned, suffering from a bleak future and a cage that suffocated not just his body, but also his heart, and who had also just witnessed someone he could barely call... a friend die... well he was in no mood to let them go so easily. "Madeline''s chambers," he whispered again, and this time pink soft ribbons rose from the ground and wrapped themselves around the four slugs, before they all disappeared. This time, everyone noticed, though they still were not sure what they saw. One moment the four beings were dominating everything, the next moment they disappeared leaving a rtively unharmed Jill behind. "I''ll interrogate them for their purpose," said John out loud, suddenly attracting everyone''s attention. But before anyone could ask any questions, he disappeared also. There was a momentary stunned silence, before Hailey cried out, "Harry!" Trembling, she fell to her knees, unsure and unaware of what to do. What was going on? She couldn''t understand. One moment, it was the happiest day of her life. The next, everything had been ruined. The culprits had also somehow disappeared, though there was a vague premonition in her mind that they would very much regret their actions, but she did not care about that. She only wanted Harry back! Where had he disappeared to? Due to her limited level, she did not understand that he had been attacked, only that he had disappeared. Mary, who quickly regained her focus after seeing John act, immediately summoned Gerard and told him to teleport Harry to the Recovery room. Gerard, who had just teleported to the scene of the crime, quickly teleported away again. Before anyone could see what happened to him, the old man put his hand on what looked like a meat bag and teleported away. In a very rare urrence, the Recovery room began operating the Recovery pod and the Organic Reconstruction Room at the same time, immediately beginning to reconstruct Harry''s body. The fact that this was being done, despite all odds, meant that Harry was somehow still alive - though no one could yet understand how or why. The situation seemed to deteriorate and resolve itself in the matter of seconds. In fact, everything that happened had not even taken 20 seconds. Yet the fact that an Inn staff member was sessfully attacked... and that no one had been able to prevent it... well, the news was like a domino. The news spread like wildfire, and suddenly the fire of greed was lit in a lot of eyes. The method for the Midnight Inn''s instantaneous teleportation from any ever... it was too valuable, and many began to have a few ideas. It did not take long, in fact. Only a few hourster, in the main arena inside the vige, the champion, loudly and proudly challenged the Innkeeper to a fight. That is... if the Innkeeper was not afraid. At the same time, for the first time ever, elsewhere in the Inn, someone was trying to kidnap one of the Inn employees. Chapter 410 War Everyone was on edge, for usually when an issue arose, even if the Innkeeper did not return, he at least passed a few orders that would, to some degree, resolve all dangers. Now, however, not only was the Innkeeper not returning, but he had passed no new orders. If Luthor were not inside an extended cultivation retreat, to be disturbed only if the Innkeeper summoned him, he would have been disgusted by the staff''s reaction. They were there to ease the burdens of the Innkeeper, not to be his new burdens. Still, while the staff did not have the same level of determination, they were not pushovers. Security had been ramped up to the maximum, and no one was taking a single moment lightly. The four Gti''s had been banned from leaving the Inn by Gerard using his authority as the head of security. This gave John as much time as he wanted to conduct a thorough ''investigation'' of their motives. The fact that he had to pass two of the Gti''s to the Gctic Sovereign turtle as fertilizers was an unfortunate failure on his part, for his extensive enthusiasm for conducting his interrogation was too much for them to handle. Fortunately, two still remained to resolve all doubts rting to this matter. Jill had been ced in protective custody, meaning she had been given a small house which had a defensive formation others could not enter at all without her permission, free of charge. Of course, it was not free at the moment, since none of them could make that decision on Lex''s behalf, but the staff were pooling their MP to pay for it, and once Lex awoke, Mary would take the payment from him. In the security room, it was all hands on deck, as everyone was paying the maximum amount of attention possible to anyone exhibiting any kind of malicious intent at all. Even Qawain was on duty at the security room for now, so that the moment an issue arose that was even slightly beyond the scope of ordinary guards, he would handle it. With all this going on, it need not be said that Harry''s wedding and any other unnecessary event had been put off for now. Harry was undergoing treatment, but no one knew his exact situation, and Gerard, the person who admitted him, waspletely heartbroken, for he could not even imagine the kind of pain the child must have suffered to live through his ordeal. Moreover, he had to live with the burden that the Innkeeper himself may not arrive any time soon to resolve their issues since he himself was in some kind ofa. But there was no real time to be heartbroken, for there was a steady surge of incidents happening at the Inn, ever increasing in absurdity. Fortunately, the reincarnation of the spirit tree from Nibiru, now known as Young McDonald, hadplete ess to the Vines hidden under the Inns grounds. Under the guidance of Mary, the nt was actually performing very well - right up until it wasn''t. The fault did noty with the nt, but with the unusual sequence of events. More and more people started transgressing, even though only moments earlier theycked all motive and intent for harm. It wasn''t even big transgressions, but small ones like suddenly pushing another guest forcefully, pping away someone''s hand or maybe destroying a te of food a server was bringing. Then minor fights began to break out. Then guests tried to leave without paying for their availed services or purchases, but the system had precautions against that preventing them from leaving. This, in turn, caused them to start using the Inn of mismanagement, harassment and ckmail. The situation was deteriorating fast - faster than the security team was able to respond to it. Though there was nothing she could do to prove it, she strongly began to suspect that someone was making an organized effort and testing the Inns'' bottom line. The longer the Inn was unable to stabilize the situation, the more things would escte. It was funny, almost, that up until recently everyone used to think that the Inn was working like a well oiled machine. This was because none of the workers had any internal function, as it was everyone''s goal to make the Inn as sessful as possible. But thetest series of events only proved that all they were doing was barely keeping the Inn functioning. If there were any problems, so long as they were within an eptable range, they would be able to solve them. But as soon as multiple problems urred at the same time, or the problems escted even slightly, things went beyond their control. Fed up of the problems, and unable toe up with a proper solution, Mary made a drastic decision, though she did not think Lex would me her for it. "Start banning people," she informed the security team. "For the slightest transgression, evict the guest and ban them from returning to the Inn." Gerard only nodded and passed on his orders. This was within the range of the authority given to him by the Innkeeper, so it was not like they were making stuff up as they went. Though the security team wasn''t nearly asrge as the number of guests they had, within the hour, people began to notice the trend of their swift actions. They did not bother to wait and listen to any exnation, and so long as anyone transgressed, they were kicked from the Inn. When this happened, a lull began to appear in the number of transgressions. Just as everything was going ording to n, in a very public manner, the champion of the arena very publicly challenged the Innkeeper to a duel! To be honest, there was nothing wrong with his actions, technically, and it was not necessarily an insult to be challenged as such. The Inns workers, however, did not see it this way. A fire was lit in their hearts, and for the first time they wished to abuse and insult a guest! But, despite their anger, they could not break the rules. As a result¡­ a standoff appeared. "You are unworthy of even speaking his title!" scolded one of the workers at the champion, as the rest booed him from the stands. Yet the champion was unperturbed. He stood in the middle of the arena like a star surrounded by worshippers, taking in their chants as praises. The other guests found the situation both disturbing and amusing. It did not take a genius to tell that something unusual was happening at the Inn¡­ yet what did that have to do with them? They were only here to enjoy the show! "All I hear are excuses. Seems to me like he''s a coward hiding behind his workers," said the champion, aggravating the situation even more. He did not leave the arena, and instead kept insulting the Innkeeper more and more. Soon news of the ongoing standoff spread, and almost all the workers wished to go beat him up. With the current lull in incidents, even the Security team turned their focus on to the stage, expecting the situation to devolve any second now. Unfortunately, until he broke any rules, they could not kick him out. But while the workers attention was diverted, the system did its job dutifully. An rm suddenly went off in the security room, and when everyone turned to investigate they saw quite a few things that happened suddenly. Too quick and too suddenly for the workers to react, and even the Vines to prevent, one guest had stabbed another one. The crazy thing was that, even after the stabbing, no malicious intent was actually discovered. The guests who had been stabbed fell onto the ground, holding their neck, trying to stifle the bleeding. But that was not all! In another part of the Inn, at the exact same time as the stabbing, someone had assaulted a worker! A young girl, with a cultivation level naught but in the beginning of Qi training, had been knocked unconscious, and was being carried on the back of a leopard Beast. Fortunately, the system had prevented the Beast from teleporting out of the Inn with the worker on its back. In another part of the Inn, another guest had tried to sneak into the greenhouse and steal things, but fortunately the domain of the sovereign turtle was not so easily prated, and the guest had been caught. Last, but definitely not the least, and possibly even the worst, someone had set off a gas bomb at the Midnight manor! A dense brown smoke began spreading quickly, turning anyone exposed to it deathly sick!N?v(el)B\\jnn Time seemed to slow down in Mary''s eyes as everyone reacted immediately! Even Qawain went out this time to destroy the smoke covering the manor! But Mary focused on none of that as she came to a conclusion. Someone had dered war on the Inn. Chapter 411 Nap A million thoughts ran through Mary''s mind as she concluded that someone was orchestrating an attack at the Inn, and after concluding that the Inn was in a weakened state, they had increased the severity of their attacks. Even worse was the fact that they could not conclude how they were able to circumvent the system''s maliciousness detector, or who exactly was even behind the attack. This was because everyone involved in breaking the system''s rules or attracting the workers'' attention seemed to have nothing inmon, race included. Was it some kind of mind control? If that was the case, they had to have been mind controlled before they even entered the Inn, for if someone attempted such a thing while being here the system would detect it. Yet the guests who were acting out had all been here for various lengths of time, some even for a few months already. If that was the case, the schemer must have been nning things for a while now. In that case, why would they begin now? Was it coincidental, did they notice the slight difference in how Mary was giving out orders due to her mental stress, or did they know something about the Innkeepers actions or whereabouts? These were all things that Mary could not make conclusions about. It wasn''t as if she couldn''t think of ways to react to the ongoing situation either, but she had no authority over the system so only Lex could effectively resolve this situation. But Lex was currentlypletely out ofmission, and it was unknown how long it would take for him to recover. The only hope they had was to somehowe up with a way to wake him up. Otherwise, the situation would continue to get worse. It had only been a few seconds, yet all three situations that urred had already been resolved. The guest who was stabbed had been admitted into a Recovery Pod while the assant was ganged up on by numerous guards from the security team, taking him down. The leopard that had tried to kidnap the worker was... well, Mary would have preferred if it had been captured alive, but the security team was already extremely tense. Watching one of their own being attacked like that, well... let''s just say not enough of the leopard was left even for fertilizer. Ironically, right before its death, the leopard tried to use Beyond the Grave to give up its entire wealth and continue to live at the Inn as a spirit. Unfortunately, the moment it broke the rules, all services had been suspended for it. The Midnight manor had been dealt with by Qawain. With its aura alone, it eradicated the smoke itself and crippled the person who set off the bomb! The security team rushed to the manor quickly to send everyone into Recovery pods. The fact that guests were getting hurt was already bad enough for the Inn''s reputation, but if they allowed a guest to die... although in the grand scheme of things, it would still not hurt the Inn too much, it would seriously affect the Innkeeper, for he really cared about such things. There was a momentary respite, but by now Mary knew that this was not the end of things. The only way to really deal with this matter would be to wake Lex up. Her mind raced as she thought of ways to wake him up. For that, it was first important to understand what exactly happened to him. While Mary was merged with the system,and sometimes knew more than Lex about matters rted to the system, it was only because the system itself shared such information with her. Without the system volunteering the information, she had no way of discovering things on her own. For example, she could not use the status panel that Lex often used. If she did, she would have been able to view Lex''s status to determine what his actual diagnosis was. Without it, however, she could only specte based on what she knew. Lex had fallen into aa when he sent his consciousness clone away to the Henali assembly. Theoretically, Lex should not have been exhausted at all by the use of the clone since the energy required to keep the clone running was provided by the system, and by the ambient spiritual energy it absorbed. The only part of Lex that was, in any way, tied to the clone was his consciousness. That should have made it so that Lex would remain safe no matter what happened to his clone. Even if it was destroyed, Lex would, at most, be slightly injured. This was because normally he would suffer from soul damage, but with his unique cultivation, it would bring him no real harm. He would heal from it eventually. But whatever happened to him had affected him greatly. She had no way of knowing that it was not his soul that suffered damage, but that his spirit was drained so much beyond what he could tolerate, it ended up weakening his body and soul as well. His heartbeat slowed and his brain activity dropped, right up until he was barely a feather''s touch away from death. It was not actual harm he suffered, but that he was just really drained. One might think that a solution to this was just to pump him full of energy, and that would take care of everything. But that was not true, for not only did he need to regain energy, his body needed to digest it, and distribute it to all parts equally. It was like saying an exhausted mortal should be fed 10,000 calories and that would rejuvenate him. Not only was that not urate, for his body could only absorb so much food and energy at a given time, alongside which he needed rest to recover, but doing so would probably harm him as well. Of course, the cultivation world was far from simple. There was no doubt that there were various forms of energy avable, some so nourishing that Lex would be able to absorb and digest them immediately. But for that to happen, Mary would have to first properly diagnose Lex, before making the appropriate arrangements. Unfortunately, even after spending so much time, she was unable to say what was wrong with Lex confidently. She did, however, think of a possible solution that might work. No, it would definitely work - after all, Lex''s cultivation level was very low. That made it easy for him to get harmed, yes, but it also made it rtively easy to heal him. She swept her mind through the Inn and, unfortunately, noticed 7 more issues that had cropped up in the time she was thinking. Unfortunately, they were getting worse. More and more guests were being harmed.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om As dire as the situation was, she had to pull Gerard away from his duties, as he was the only one who could go to Lex at the moment. Gerard, who had previously lost the appearance of an old man due to his evolved bloodline, had regained signs of age just in the past few days. As if the stress of knowing the Innkeeper was incapacitated was not enough, the Inn itself had been going through its darkest time. He was sure that if any of this happened at any other time, the Innkeeper would have solved it in an instant. But now that they had to take care of the Inn while the Innkeeper himself was not around, they were failing miserably. It was Mary''s oversight to leave him like this, for if she herself had not been so stressed she would havee up with a believable exnation for the Innkeepers condition. Still, the damage that had been done could be remediedter. For now, she had him return to his Recovery pod room. Gerard trembled slightly as he looked, once again, at the sleeping Innkeeper. He was still dressed in his suit, as remarkable as ever, and seemed to be only sleeping. It was as if the lightest call of his name would rouse him from his slumber, but it was not meant to be. Or at least, that''s what Gerard thought originally. When he heard Mary''s instructions he became confused, as that went contrary to what he had originally thought was happening. But... Gerard reached out and tapped the ss surrounding the Recovery pod a couple of times, before saying, "Excuse me, Mr. World Seed Lotus, I hate to be a bother but there are a few important matters that require the Innkeeper''s attention. But, unfortunately, the Innkeeper is taking a nap and I would hate to wake him up prematurely. Would it be possible for you to rejuvenate him, even if only for a short while? I''m sure the Innkeeper would be appreciative once he deals with his tasks." Gerard held his breath after he finished speaking, waiting for something to happen. The room, however, remainedpletely silent. Chapter 412 The Lotus The World Seed Lotus had undergone a subtle evolution. The evolution was not too drastic, as its species had not changed. It was still a World Seed Lotus, just that its minimum possible achievement had changed from a 5 star world to a 6 star world. It had gone up a level while still staying within the definition of World Seed Lotus. Unfortunately for it, as a result of its upgrade, it would take it much longer to be a world now. Fortunately for it, it did not care. It had spent practically all its life on Lex''s back in a semi-dormant state so that was really all it knew. Of course it had strong instincts, and helped Lex numerous times using its abilities, but that did not mean it had magically gained some other knowledge. This worked heavily in Lex''s favor, for the Lotus never realized that Lex was actually very weak. The Lotus never thought too deeply into it either. As far as it was concerned, other than the Sovereign turtle that had first awoken it, Lex was the closest person to it. Now that Lex had done it such a huge favor by giving it the crystal that allowed it to evolve, it felt even closer to him. The question, then, would be why would it let Lex fall into a near death state if it felt so warmly about him? The answer was simple: it did not even realize anything was wrong. For anything unrted to world building, or any other stuff where the Lotus'' instincts would kick in, the Lotus knew nothing.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Suddenly, though, it was woken from its semi-dormant state. It was not Gerards smooth, velvety voice that woke it up. No, it was the energy strands the old man released into the Pod that went straight to Lex''s back, rousing it. When it heard Gerard''s request, the Lotus felt ecstatic. The sheer warmth and affection it felt for Lex at the moment could not be described with simple words, and just the opportunity to do anything even remotely positive for Lex filled it with excitement. But while itcked knowledge about many things, and it was driven by strong emotions to help out Lex did not mean it would do things carelessly. The first thing the Lotus did was check the condition for Lex''s body and see if it really did match what the old man had said. The tattoo on Lex''s back warmed up ever so slightly, and a stream of energy entered Lex''s body, traveling along his blood stream. There did not seem to be any injuries, but the heartbeat was extremely slow and the body seemed¡­ strained, like a fruit that had been squeezed of all its juice. Any and all activity had been slowed down to the utmost, even the passive flow of spiritual energy within the body. The Lotus could not conceive that the Innkeeper had suffered harm, so it came up with its own exnation for the situation. Once before the Innkeeper had gone through a process during which Lex was remaking his body. Back then the Lotus had provided some help by helping the Innkeeper amalgamate all the precious materials on hand. Now it seemed to the Lotus that the Innkeeper had set a Foundation in its body, but was not satisfied by how sturdy it was and so weakened it thoroughly without actually destroying it, so that he could slowly strengthen the Foundation to the utmost. In this case, it made sense that others might assume that the Innkeeper was napping. After all, how could they begin to understand the intricacies of the Innkeepers'' ns? The matter now was that the Innkeeper was required but it would take him a while to strengthen his Foundation at his own pace. In that case, the Lotus could speed things up. After all, when he grew up the Lotus would set the Foundation for an entire. Compared to that, a small human body was nothing. From within the tattoo an extremely miniscule stream of blue liquid was released and fused with Lex''s blood. Through his blood the blue liquid circted throughout Lex''s body, slowly entering and nourishing each and every portion of it. The liquid was called Hydratia Basal Detrium. It was found only in 6 star worlds, and even then it would be found in miniscule amounts. After all, any of that liquid that was discovered was leftover liquid from when the world was being created. It was not strictly used to build a Foundation for worlds, but instead strengthened the worlds ability to interact with universalws. It was only after the blue liquidpletely merged with Lex that the Lotus started releasing a warm stream of energy into Lex''s body to nourish it, flood it with vitality, and build a Foundation strong enough to rival a. The sequence of events in this situation was very important, for now that Lex had absorbed Hydratia Basal Detrium, and strengthened his Foundation afterwards, the ability to interact withws easily became a part of Lex''s Foundation. All this took a few minutes, during which Gerard was waiting with gritted teeth. He could not detect any difference in the Innkeeper, but Mary told him to wait patiently. He could not even tell if his attempt had even produced any effects, but until otherwise instructed, he could do nothing. His nervousness was only exacerbated by his knowledge of everything that was happening outside. By now, things had escted by another notch, and there was a group of people outright fighting the Inn''s security team. Moreover, one by one, their numbers were ever increasing. Full on panic had started to spread. But while everyone at the Inn was living through an unreal nightmare, Lex was finally recovering. Previously, he had been in such a state that his mind was, for all intents and purposes, practically stopped working. Now at least it recovered to a level that Lex was able to feel soreness and difort throughout his body. His mind, from being aplete nk, entered a state of deep sleep. Slowly he started to dream, but even in his dreams he saw odd shapes and colors. He felt the gaze of people that should not exist, and he became aware of events that were both happening and impossible at the same time. His unconscious mind nkly epted everything, and it was fortunate for him that he was asleep when this was happening, for his conscious mind would have tried to resist this knowledge. It would have been beyond the realms of hisprehension, and he would have tried to exin it using his paltry understanding of the universe atrge. Instead of understanding the universe for what it was, his mind would have forced him to try to project the knowledge through the lens of what he could understand, which would have distorted the information. But while it seemed like eons passed in the dream, Lex was actually recovering very quickly. At first, his body was only passively taking in the energy that the Lotus provided. But after a few moments, when it regained even a semnce of strength, it began actively sucking in all the energy. After all, why would it not? This was not spiritual energy that the Lotus was providing. Instead, it was the energy that turned barren meteoric rocks from space into the vibrant, fertilend that would eventually be a part of its world. A few minutester, color finally returned to Lex''s pale face, and Gerard finally felt relief flood his fragile heart. If it was that simple, he did not know why Mary did not wake up the Innkeeper sooner. Perhaps there was some great secret, or perhaps a huge price to be paid. What he did not know was that the reason no one asked him to do this earlier was because¡­ Mary simply hadn''t thought of it. It could be med both on her stressed out mental state, but on a deeper level it showed ack of readiness by both Lex and herself. If they had spent time discussing what to do in emergency situations, Lex would have definitely told her how useful the Lotus had been to him. But he was so used to taking care of things himself that it never urred to him to rely on Mary for anything other than misceneous Inn rted tasks. Just as Gerard finally took a step back and sighed in relief, he heard a loud bang. His brow creased as he mentally contacted the Security team to find out what had happened. Unfortunately, the situation was too hectic, and no one was giving him a response. No matter, a few minutes more and the Innkeeper would be awake and he would deal with whatever it was. Gerard flicked his head towards the right as panic filled his eyes. He could sense, through his bloodline, a massive surge in energy. Before he could do anything, though, the wall of the room burst through as they were struck by a massive explosion! Chapter 413 Laws Gerard immediately utilized his bloodline ability as he prepared to absorb the energy from the st and divert it elsewhere, protecting the Innkeeper and himself safe from harm in the process.Yet the expected shockwave never hit him, and besides the rapidly flowing dust cloud that epassed him, nothing else approached him either. The old man did not have time for confusion as he quickly blew the dust away to get a look at what had happened, but was frozen still by what he saw. The Innkeeper, dressed pristinely as ever, stood tall in front of him, showing Gerard only his broad back. A transparent shield had appeared in front of the Innkeeper, blocking all the debris as well as the shockwave. Sounds of fighting filled the broken room, as well as tremors from distant explosions, but Gerard was no longer distraught. Instead, endless relief flooded his heart as the greatest pir of support of the Inn had finally recovered. If only things were really that simple. "Gerard, do me a favor," Lex said, his tone exceptionally cold at the moment. "Bring me a cup of Midnight Signature coffee brew to my office, the strongest cup we have." Before the old man could respond, Lex disappeared. But the unusual thing was, the shield that Lex had used to block all the debris was still active. Gerard thought nothing of it, for he never even considered thinking about the Innkeepers abilities or the scope of them. Yet the truth was, instead of using some system rted ability, due to the strong sense of urgency he felt flood him through his instincts, the moment Lex woke up he teleported and used Talk to the Hand to block the iing st. That in itself was not strange, for Lex had strong instincts and an equally impressive reaction time. The strange thing was... he never actually extended his hand to put up the shield.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Talk to the Hand was a technique that put up a wife, invisible shield parallel to the palm of his hand. He had managed to improve the technique previously to merge two of the techniques to strengthen the shield by using both hands. Yet now, he had deployed the technique without using his hands at all. Moreover, this was not a simple explosion that he had so effortlessly blocked. But all of this would remain unnoticed, for to Gerard they were nothing but normal, while Lex himself was in an abnormal state himself. Physically speaking, his body had reached its absolute peak due to the rehabilitation and nourishment provided by the Lotus. That should have been more than enough to wake him up and help him recover from hisa. Yet when he woke up, he was immediately afflicted with endless visual and auditory hallucinations. He felt his mind once again slipping, like it had back at the Henali assembly. In fact, he had to go into his Overdrive state immediately to keep his sanity from being affected. He had to do all of this the very moment he woke up, while responding to the crisis at the same time, which is why he never realized that the way he used his technique was wrong. Moreover, since Gerard only saw Lex''s back, he did not see that Lex''s eyes were filled with an endless mix of colors, his pupilspletely hidden behind them. In his Overdrive state Lex immediately estimated that the momentum of the hallucinations affecting him had not reduced at all from when he was in the assembly, which meant based on his past experience he would only stay conscious for about 2 minutes. Yet there was something different. While his mind was still being assaulted with the same pressure, the rate of his exhaustion had reduced somewhat. This was the effect of the nourishment the Lotus had given him, but he did not know that. He immediately recalled the effect of the Inns coffee, which reinvigorated the mind for an hour, and asked for it before teleporting to his office. He needed to understand what was happening with himself, but just as important, he needed to understand what the hell was happening at the Inn! Due to the strain on Lex''s mind, he was unable to think clearly, so he had to prioritize what he focused on. As a result, he did not notice at all as his emotions were going haywire, and that the weather of the Inn reflected it. Dark gray clouds filled the previously clear sky, and along with the darkness, they brought down a pressure on everyone that they had not felt before. The weight everyone was feeling on their chest was not one of anger, or rage at what was happening at the Inn. Honestly speaking, it had barely been a few seconds and Lex did not yet fully understand what was happening, so he had not even had the chance to feel those yet. No, the pressure they were feeling was a magnification and projection of a mild aura that Lex''s body had begun to emit. After all, his body was now mixed with the capability of a 6 star to amodate thews of the universe into itself in a greater capacity than just as building blocks for its existence. As if such a change was not enough, his body began absorbing the faintest bit of aura from his hallucinations into itself, manifesting itself as the pressure of the universe. After all,ws were things incalcbly distant from Lex at his current level, so let alone control the aura, he should not have been able to perceive it. In fact, that is exactly what was happening. Since the Foundation which allowed him to amodate thews, and the subsequent aura that he was beginning to manifest, were now a part of his body, Lex was as conscious of them as a mortal would be of the individual cells in his body. That was to say, he waspletely in the dark about the fact that he was somehow breaking rules that had never even needed to exist because of how impossible his situation was. It was like a being that existed in the 2nd dimension suddenly being able to influence the 4th dimension, directly skipping the part where he was even able to interact with the 3rd. Then Lex sat on his office chair and became aware of everything that was happening. Chapter 414 Wrath Mary did not have time to feel tion at Lex''s return for the situation was truly horrible. An all out battle had erupted at the Inn, and the situation was much worse than the invasion of the Raskals, for at that time at least Lex had been conscious and thus took care of everything. Gerard too was in a state of confusion because¡­ due to the chaotic state of the Inn, he did not know where to get the Innkeeper his coffee! While all this was happening, Lex finally sat down on his office chair. The chair made him more in synchronization with the Inn than even his Host Attire, so in a single sh he took in everything that was happening. He was already under great duress, for his hallucinations made it so that everything he saw was nketed in ayer of strange colors that did not really exist. Since the colors did not exist, and were iparable to any color he had ever seen, he was under immense mental strain as it was. On top of that, he had entered his Overdrive state to fight against the insanity that was rushing in to im him. Step by step, by fighting back, he was once again bringing his body to an exhausted state, once again heading towards thea from which he had woken up. While all of this was happening Lex desperately wanted to understand what was happening to him, yet also had to take care of whatever was happening at the Inn. Suffice to say, when he finally sat down, and the surge of information entered his mind, just in time for him to see countless guests being hurt in a number of battles happening across the Inn, and countless workers who were severely injured¡­ he was unable to control his rage! Though it may not always seem like it, Lex thought of himself as a rational man. Even at times when anger took control of him, he was able to keep a head clear enough not to do something so drastic. That is why when his tavern was assaulted and insulted by the kids of those nobles back at the Crystal realm, he managed to keep himself from just straight out destroying them like his first impulse stated. For better or for worse, though, at this moment, Lex lost all his rationale. He was too strained to stop himself. For the first time in his life, the self-control his elder sister Belle had secretly trained him to keep failed.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om One moment, Lex had over 70 billion MP stocked up. The next moment, he had 0. Outside Lex''s office, the Inn had be a war zone that stretched all corners as beasts and species of all races fought senselessly. Even the sudden appearance of dark clouds or the mysterious weight pressing against their chests had not been enough to dissuade them. Until, that is, it suddenly became all too much! From gray clouds, the sky was suddenly filled with ck clouds. Streaks of lightning could be seen swimming through the abyssal clouds, yet instead of the usual white or blue, the lightning instead looked searing red, likeva. But the lightning did not have an opportunity to fall, for instead the pressure that had previously been putting them down changed so drastically, instead of a tinge of fear traveling up their spines, all the miscreants felt fear bloom from within their souls. Every injured guest and worker were suddenly teleported away, brought directly to the Recovery room, while every other innocent was brought away to safety. Every miscreant, those that had already begun battle and even those that were still hiding and biding their time, was teleported to the entrance of the Inn. In the darkness filled the Inn, deeper and more malevolent than the worst nightmare, a golden light bloomed and epassed all those that had gathered at the entrance at the Inn. Everything was happening too fast for anyone to understand or react, but as if the fear that arose from their very souls was not enough, suddenly they felt chained down by the golden light, as if something had imprisoned them. So far, only those who had been deemed as enemies of the Inn had been victims to the building oppression, but then suddenly, something changed. The oppression that appeared now was orders of magnitude beyond anything anyone at the Inn had ever felt. For the first time ever, the Midnight Inn''s protection failed to project its guests from the oppression of an aura. In fact, for the first time ever, the Minor realm in which the Inn was located shuddered, and tore open slightly, revealing the Inn to the rest of the Origin realm in which it resided. A projection of the Innkeeper appeared in the air, and in the eyes of various people around the Origin realm itself. He looked like a human, an ordinary man. Yet at the same time, nothing about him was ordinary. His eyes shone with red light and his aura was one that radiated absolute death, as if angering him was the same as angering the universe itself. The phenomenon was so massive that, in the center of the Origin realm, even the Henali were rmed, causing them to quickly tap into thews that would allow them to see what was causing it. Yet all the saw was a vague figure. Instead, what was distinct in the vision, was a small, simple Butter Knife. "Die!" The word echoed throughout the Inn, as well as the Origin realm, before the figure threw out the small knife. Then¡­ there was chaos! Simr to the way Lex employed Talk to the Hand in a new way, without understanding what he was really doing, Lex used his 1 Minute Butter Knife token to use the strongest version of the Butter Knife to attack in a way he did not even know was possible. Instead of an enemy, he attacked a line of Karma. He attacked everyone and everything associated with the attack on the Inn. The result¡­ well before he could really see the results, Lex teleported back into a Recovery Pod with a sticky note on it that read ''next time you wake me up, have my coffee ready''. Chapter 415 The Universe As My Oyster... -Eh, As My Toast The 1 Minute Butter Knife token allowed Lex to use the Butter Knife at its full strength for a duration of 1 minute. Perhaps if he had used it as a sword or dagger instead of throwing it, he would have had ess to it for the full minute instead of a single attack. Yet it did not matter, for the damage he did with that single attack was far greater than anything he could have achieved by simply swinging it around. All those who had attacked the Inn, or were secretly nning on attacking the Inn had been gathered by him in one location - not so that he could attack them but so that they would not cause trouble. This raised the question of how Lex knew who the people were who intended to cause trouble when even the system failed to detect their malicious intent. The truth was, he was not detecting malicious intent, but his eyes saw them connected by Karma. Of course, Lex had no idea what Karma was, or how it worked. But in his semi-sane state his subconscious mind was ying as much of an important role as his conscious mind. Once in that location, they had been subjected to various pressures, auras and, finally, a strange and new formation. This formation was what sucked up all of Lex''s MP down to thest, yet other than a strange ethereal binding sensation it did not seem to do anything else. Lex however, did not care about what these people felt. He only cared about venting his rage, and so he gave in to his most bestial urge for death and destruction! He used the Butter Knife in the way his instincts told him would be most useful. But while all the energy for the attack should havee from the Knife itself, something about how he aimed sucked up all the energy out of Lex. So, with thest of his sanity, he teleported back to the Recovery pod, put up the sticky note, requested the Lotus to help him once again, and allowed himself to fall back into aa. This all happened instantaneously, and no one noticed it happen, for they were all focused on the fallout from the Innkeepers attack! If one were to say it was devastating, it would be an underestimation, but if one were to say it underwhelming, they would also not be wrong. Within the Inn, all the targets simply died. There was no explosion, no torture, no burning or ripping their bodies to shreds. One moment they existed, and the next their very existence was wiped. In fact, even the memory of what they looked like, or who they were, seemed to be erased from existence. So, to the onlookers, it seemed only like the Innkeeper told the group to die, and then they did. It was that simple. But the thing was¡­ Lex did not aim for the targets who attacked the Inn. He attacked EVERYONE and EVERYTHING in existence which had something to do with the attack on the Inn. As such, the energy from the Knife killed all the targets at the Inn with extreme ease and simplicity. Then it had to target the rest of the universe. But for that, the energy from the attack had to first escape the Inn. The small rip in the fabric of reality that exposed the Midnight Inn from within its Minor realm, to the rest of the Origin realm, suddenly became a bottleneck for the energy to escape! Earthquakes, airquakes, cracks in reality and the bending of space between the two realms itself all seemed to happen all at once. The sound of a billion explosions rocked the Inn, and despite theck of air, carried through the void of space, crushing all meteors and space debris in its path. That was only a result of the energy escaping the Inn. Once it entered the Origin realm, the energy seemed to gain a life of its own as it ripped a hole in the realm and forced itself into the fabric of reality. Space itself began to ripple as more and more energy seemed to disappear, forming new tears everywhere! Minor realms began to rain down through the ripples in space, spreading through hundreds of gxies within mere seconds. Mortals found it beyond theirprehension, and simply fainted from the overload of what they were watching. Earth immortals, barely counting as immortals, were somewhat about to keep themselves awake if they tried, but never had they felt more insignificant. Those even stronger than Earth immortals¡­ they were not looking at the dissipating energy or ripples in space. Instead, their eyes looked out into the distance as they traced where the energy flowed to. Never before had such a scene been witnessed, at least in the Origin realm. Perhaps, they would never get a chance to see it again either. For a short moment, all living entities within a billion nearby gxies froze as they were affected by thest of the energy that left the Inn. Then the Minor realm surrounding the Midnight Inn closed once again, as if it was never there, and the energy that defiedmon sense also seemed to vanish. But those who were strong enough to follow the flow of energy knew it did not vanish. No, instead it was wreaking havoc on an unprecedented scale. ***** Sitting in his divine pce, Ra, the father of creation, and also Bastet, had his eyes closed as he tried to track down his daughter. She was extremely naughty and purposefully kept destroying his ns all because he sold her into a marriage she didn''t want. It was the height of immaturity, in his opinion. He could not vent his anger on the stupid human race, whom he had passed his daughter to and asked to keep her in a dead zone so she may not escape. After all, the Henali looked upon the humans with great care simply because one of their prized pets was a human. Instead he found a way to vent on an organization called the Midnight Inn, which had apparently yed a part in helping his daughter escape, supposedly.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Honestly speaking he did not give it much thought at all, and simply passed the task to one of his underlings. As a God, he could not be expected to do tedious things such as revenge by himself. Ra, the God with the body of a human and the head of a hawk, was just as arrogant as he waszy, and was just aszy as he was amorous. But the arrogant God went from being focused on locating his daughter to screaming in fear and anger in a single heartbeat. A blinding golden light epassed his fist and he punched forward, shing against an unknown force. The impact from the explosion destroyed the divine pce. In fact, it destroyed the whole where the pce was located. Yet Ra only seemed to suffer from a burnt hand. Yet the expression on the deity''s face was beyond simple anger as it suffered the greatest loss it had faced in its entire existence. It was not his burnt hand that was a loss, but his divinity which seemed to be dwindling. No, this was too dangerous. Though he could not understand what was happening, he had to defend his divinity at all costs. The God disappeared. ***** Egypt, Earth In a rather luxurious apartment, a small group was kneeling and worshiping a picture that looked like a deity with the face of a Hawk. On their knees they hummed and prayed. They were one of thest few remnants of a religion thought lost to the ages. Suddenly, in their minds, they heard a voice telling them to die. Then¡­ there was nothing, not even dust. They had simply ceased to exist. ***** Throughout the Origin realm, from small groups to countries tos to star systems and even gxies, anything and everything that had any direct affiliation with the sincere worship of Ra suffered from a mysterious and devastating attack. There was no ce safe, no ce where they could hide. Wherever the followers of the God existed was exactly the ce that became most dangerous for them. This phenomenon was not slow or gradual, for within a few seconds, billions of years of hard work vanished. Even the religion itself seemed to vanish in some ces, alongside tools and records of worship. Ra began to appear in his temples in person for the first time in eternity, but it was pointless, for he never reached anywhere in time. An utter hopelessness gripped him when he lost more than 50% of his divinity in the blink of an eye, and forced him to make a difficult decision. For a single second Ra hesitated more, but that single second cost him 8% more divinity, so he lost all hesitation and did something taboo for a deity. He killed all of his worshipers across the universe himself in an ultimate sacrifice, squeezing their existence of any divinity he could scrounge up, before vanishing himself as well. He did not know what just happened, but he would get his revenge one day. For now, though, he had to hide before his daughter realized how weak he had be. Chapter 416 Hearth Just as instantaneously as the energy had appeared, it vanished. People across the realm stopped spontaneously disappearing, and an entire major religion that had once dominated the Origin realm seemed to disappear from existence. Not everyone realized instantly what happened. Depending on their strength and cultivation, it took them a few hours to a few days to possibly even a few months or years. For most beings, though, the actual purpose of the event, which was quickly being titled as the ''Interster wave'' eluded them. Instead, they were focused on the secondary repercussions of what happened. Though the distortions in space stopped as soon as the energy vanished, the effects that they already had were far from over. The movement path of an estimated 1 billion gxies was severelypromised, and even more were suffering from mild deviations. The few strands of energy that escaped the attack dispersed into the universe and gave birth to a phenomenon of a bountiful harvest.s quickly started rising in their star ranks, though quick was only a rtive term, and treasures that were so rare they had no names began to form. A time of rapid growth suddenly overcame the few gxies that had been the closest in contact with the energy, but while that growth brought with it prosperity, it also brought greed and war. For better or worse, the trajectory of the Origin realm had changed. A thing to note, however, was that none of the gxies affected were actually a part of the gxies that had directly interacted with the Inn so far. For example, these gxies were so far from the Jotun Empire that, besides their strongest immortals, none of them even felt the energy surge that enveloped the whole realm. Of course, the Henali were the quickest to understand what happened, and quickly even summarized urately what had happened. In the Henali assembly, there was an awkward silence as the Daolords had been stopped midconversation for an announcement. They had no idea what had just urred because the location of the assembly was special and cut off from the rest of the realm, but they were about to find out. "There was a sh amongst lords," said the Henali convening the assembly. "We do not know the background of the issue, but it seems that God Ra provoked the new lord known as The Innkeeper. As a result, The Innkeeper retaliated, and Ra''s religion had ceased to exist in the realm, and Ra has escaped, hiding his trail." No more was said, but excitement filled the room. Amana especially was thrilled, and a little flushed. She was extremely grateful to the mysterious Innkeeper and, strangely, feeling a little attracted to him. Daolords almost never shed, for it was not easy for any of them to get an advantage over another, yet the Innkeeper had reduced Ra to hiding in a single sh.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om The Innkeeper must be incredibly powerful, which meant... he would also make a good father. Her blush grew as her thoughts started to race. Very few Daolords were able to keep theirposure, but Ballom was one of them. After all, the Devil''s background was not as shallow as everyone else''s. Still, it seemed like the Innkeeper was worthy of cooperating with. Since his Inn catered to the whole universe, perhaps he should also invite him to Garvitz, one of the main realms of the Devils. A few other Daolords also developed an interest in the Midnight Inn. After all, now that the Innkeeper had shown his hand, there was no doubt he was worthy of sending a team to the Henali Champions tourney. It seemed that things would be very interesting this time around. ***** At the Midnight Inn, all was still. The sky itself had been ripped asunder by the Innkeepers attack, allowing them to glimpse the havoc it wrought onto the universe. Of course, since the system had failed to protect the guests from the aura of the attack, most of them had fainted outright - including the workers. Mary especially was disoriented, for the System itself had suffered from the attack. A countless barrage of notifications flooded Lex, but unfortunately, he was asleep. This time, though, he would wake up soon as he had already informed the Lotus of the kind of aid he wanted - though Lex himself was disoriented when he gave the instructions, so it was unknown what his exact purpose was. Still, a few managed to stay awake, and as soon as the rip in the sky healed and the dark clouds over the Inn dispersed, they began working. After all, they had already suffered a huge blow to their credibility. It would be a massive shame if the remaining guests woke up and found themselves on the floor. Anita summoned an army of undead, still looking beautiful and magnificent instead of ugly and decaying, and had them start working. As the workers began waking up, they helped as well. Moreover, while the guests who had been here for the chaos had been affected, as the Inn had over time developed some prestige, more and more guests came every few minutes. Soon, the Inn seemed to be returning towards operating normally. Lex hadn''t had time to clean up the Inn but the workers quickly began getting to it. When Mary finally recovered, she breathed a sigh of relief and was just about to begin passing out orders to return things to normal, when a golden beam of light shot through the air right from the grounds where Lex killed all the miscreants. Mary was too sensitive right now due to everything they had faced, and immediately turned all her attention to the light, ready for another battle. But it was not new enemies that appeared from the beam of light. No, instead a hearth was formed right in the open. A golden me lit up in the heart, and began producing a crackling sound, as if logs were being burnt. On the stone, writing started to appear alongside a countdown that was ticking each second. After ensuring it was nothing bad, Mary scanned the heart. Even though she had no physical body, she shuddered mentally as she read the words and looked on in horror. It read: here lie the souls of those who deigned to be enemies of the Midnight Inn, serving as timber until their time is up. The countdown was only about 100 days, but in a way, it was longer than eternity. When one focused on the mes, amidst the burning the mes'', faces appeared from time to time. If one focused on the hearth with their spirit sense, the wails and screams of countless souls could be heard, even if ever so slightly. The souls trapped here were only those that Lex had trapped in the formation, and not all the ones from the entire universe, but even then the number went into the tens of thousands. Moreover, trapping souls was not an easy task. Taking it a step further and trapping thousands of souls, and then torturing them made the formation increasingly expensive. A majority of Lex''s MP went into purchasing the soul trapping formation, and the rest went into maximizing the number of days they could be trapped. Perhaps it would be a waste of MP to do such a thing, for it had taken a long time for Lex to umte so much. But maybe, it would serve him in another way, and the price would end up being worth it. As it happened, a guest teleported to the Inn, and they appeared right in front of the hearth. Ragnar stepped out of the golden light with a creased brow, clearly under great stress. Things had not been going well for Jotun on the battlefront, but then again, when were things ever simple? He hade to the Inn to find out if the Innkeeper had returned, as well make a few updates on his assigned guild task. He still did not know that it had been epted already by someone, and was already in the process of beingpleted. As the golden light disappeared and Ragnar got ready to move on, he suddenly noticed that something was unusual about the Inn. He did not need to sweep his spirit sense as just his eyesight was enough to see the damage it had suffered, and the numerous unconscious people on the ground. Before he could even begin to specte, however, his attention turned towards the hearth. He was stunned as numerous thoughts ran through his mind, but first he kept checking the hearth. This was because, within the souls trapped in there, he recognized a few. In fact, he did not even need to search for them, as the hearth had some kind of mystical ability to let him know exactly who he knew that had been trapped inside. He could not believe that soldiers from his regiment would be stupid enough to attack the Inn. It went againstmon sense. In fact, they should not be participating in any conflict that he did not assign, it was a clear dereliction of duty and betrayal! He froze, and tasted the word on his lips. Betrayal. Suddenly a few things made sense to him. Chapter 417 Didnt Even Drink His Coffee Ragnar did not let his emotions show on his face, but his mind was extremely turbulent. As a man who had dedicated his entire life to the human race, one of the things he hated most were demons, devils and other races that for some reason targeted the humans. But the single thing, without a shred of doubt, that he hated most were humans who betrayed the human race. He understood that there was always conflict and interest, and humans could neverpletely be peaceful with one another. It was all but natural. Yet there was a difference between fighting other humans due to a conflict of interest, and betraying them to gain benefits from another race. He knew, unfortunately, that as despicable a thing as this was, it was still prevalent in humans. He just never imagined that he would face it on such a high level. To be clear, he was not considering some members of his regiment participating in an attack on the Inn as high level interference. No, instead it was the fact that there was even a possibility that a Jom had been born in the Pendal gxy that meant there was a high level betrayal. Moreover, this was not just a betrayal of the human race, but the Henali as well. The battlefield where Ragnar was currently stationed was to fight off invading Fuegan, a duty assigned directly by the Henali. If someone was interfering with that¡­ well, the loss of a single gxy was far from the worst thing they could end up having happen to them. Ragnar collected himself, gave onest look at the hearth as well as the countdown on it, listing how long the enemies of the Inn would be tortured, before moving towards the Guild room. Along the way as he saw the condition of the Inn, it served as a reminder for him that no matter how strong or capable one might be, there would always be those who would challenge them. ***** Velma woke up in the Recovery room, her hair a mess and her face pale from the shock her body had suffered. Her body was sore, not only from the fighting she had been exposed to, but from the aftermath of an explosion that she had been lucky enough to survive. She was disoriented at first, but recovered quickly. Then she hopped on her feet and began helping where she could. There were countless injured who needed tending to, and even the ones who recovered needed aid, let alone the number of guests who were unhurt, but still needed tending to. After all, this was an Inn not a hospital, and there was no shortage of regr guests. She saw a pale looking guest who, ording to Nurse Jubtion, was perfectly physically healthy, but kept crying and wailing in fear. But while it was their job, none of the workers or nurses were willing to help him. This was because¡­ the crying man was the person who had challenged the Innkeeper to a fight!n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om The fact that he hadn''t been killed meant that he was never really involved with the attack, he was just an incredibly arrogant man with unfortunate timing. But whatever the case, his greatest misfortune was that he encountered Lex who was in a state of seeking revenge for every petty grievance at the time. Though he had not killed the man who challenged him, but just let him be exposed to the aura released by the Butter Knife while forcing him to stay awake. Suffice to say the man was extremely traumatized. Eventually, with time, he would recover, but it seemed like his recovery would not be at the Inn, for on one was willing to aid him, except nurse Jubtion who was burdened with responsibility. Velma was about to go tend to other patients when one of Anita''s undead helpers appeared and informed Velma that Anita was requesting her prescience. Anita was in the Midnight Library, recording the past days'' events down by hand - her handwriting the most beautiful calligraphy Velma had ever seen. "I''m d to see you are unhurt," said the Lich. "But I think you have more pressing matters currently than helping guests." "What do you mean?" asked Velma. Though she had recovered somewhat, she was not in her peak state so her thoughts were somewhat slow. "Why, you have to write a newsletter on the Innkeepers actions of course," she replied, cing a printed picture before her. It showed the silhouette of a man shining alone in the darkness, a single Butter Knife in his hand. "And don''t just write a newsletter this time. There''s a new building that the Innkeeper created that lets you enter the Henali portal. Publish his actions for the whole universe to know." Stars shone in Velma''s eyes as she suddenly realized that''s exactly what she needed to do. While she was at it, and the Innkeeper was in the limelight, should she create a dating profile for him? After all, she''d never heard of a Mrs. Innkeeper yet. ***** Lex''s sleeping body looked even more withered than the first time it had been out into the Recovery room, but that was to be expected. Not only did his body suffer through the same strain asst time, this time the Lotus was contributing to his condition. Lex had made a simple request, to step by step make his body''s foundation capable of interacting with universalws physically. Well, he did not phrase it like that, because he did not even know, nor could heprehend, what the universalws were. Instead, he asked the Lotus to give him a foundation which could tolerate the immense stress his hallucinations were putting him under, and then allowed the Lotus to examine his body. The Lotus, however, immediately recognized the influence ofws, and it began to work. The first step was to enhance Lex''s blood, for which it would have to first absorb all of his blood. It was an extremely tedious process, but fortunately Lex would be able to survive a few minutes without any blood in his body. After that, the Lotus would give Lex new blood which was carried a lot more than just nutrients and oxygen. Then it could begin on its other changes. It was a little hard to fulfill such a request without any materials on hand, but it would do what it could. ***** Luthor stood silently in front of the Recovery pod which contained Harry''s body. He had never met Harry for his time at the Inn was too short. In fact, not only had he not met a majority of the workers, he had missed out most of the battle that had taken ce, simply because he was in training and did not know about it. To make matters worse, when he did learn about the battle, he had been too pathetically weak to do anything. He could only watch helplessly as the Inn was destroyed around him. Then, when everything seemed to be at its worst, the Innkeeper arrived, like heroes from the legends of old. His fury was the fury of the universe, and his wrath had rained down swiftly on his enemies, yet the Innkeeper had left just as swiftly. Luthor heard a rumor that the reason the Innkeeper had not helped at first, and had disappeared as quickly as he appeared, was because he was taking care of incredibly important matters. They were so important, in fact, that the Innkeeper could not even stick around to drink the coffee he had requested from Gerard, apparently. When Luthor heard such a thing, he had never felt more ashamed in his few weeks long life. The Innkeeper was working tirelessly to deliver the universe the ultimate hoteling experience, and here they were, unable to even deliver coffee on time. But no amount of frustration would help, and no amount of anger would suddenly make things better. He needed to spend some time studying, learning how best he could help the Inn. For that, he had discovered a new facility - the Henali portal. Without saying a single word, Luthor left the Recovery pod and made his way to register for the portal. The universe had bested the Inn today, though it could not best the Innkeeper. But such a day would nevere again. A golf cart, an incredibly upgraded golf cart, pulled up besides Luthor as he was walking. Gerard, who was in the driver''s seat, signaled Luthor to get in. "I''ve been talking to some of the fes. Everyone feels the same way. We''re too weak." Luthor said nothing. He had no words left in him right now. "To be honest, we can''t be med. We''ve been trained to be hosts, not fighters. But that doesn''t mean we can''t change. I remember the littless Velma told me about a rumor once, about a ce that can train people to be strong." A light flickered in Luthor''s eyes, but he still remained silent. "I don''t know if the ce is true, but apparently there is a trial you can take to enter. I''m going to start searching for the trial. If you''re interested, once I find the trial, you cane as well." "What''s the ce called?" Luthor finally asked hoarsely. "Ventura." Chapter 418 J. F. K. [Bonus ] Origin realm, Blue On a remarkably simr to Earth, but not at all Earth, where all people, regardless of how they were named, were not actual people from Earth, a young boy was running for his life, a dark and mysterious figure chasing behind him. Even if it were not early morning, there would be few people around to save thed, for the hills he was running in were far from any city or town. Even if he were near a town, rural Massachusetts was such that he could run all day and night and not run into another person. As if that would have changed anything though. From the day that wretched prophecy came out, the boy''s life had been a living hell. Yes, prophecy! For unlike Earth, where cultivators had just bemon knowledge, on Blue cultivation had been the norm for a long time. Deep within the sacred halls of congress, where hidden powers lie dormant, the speaker of the house spoke a prophecy that was not in any way ambiguous or contrived, and directly named him, John Fake Kennedy, a.k.a John F. Kennedy, the chosen one who would bring about world peace and, more importantly, named him as the inheritor for the sacred treasure with the power to control millions of souls, the Super Bowl! While that sounded well and good, not everyone wanted world peace, as that was not profitable, and even more wanted to steal the Super Bowl. While some were nning to assassinate the boy secretly, there was one warlord who acted openly: dimir Kardashian! dimir Kardashian, a public figure, singer and fashion icon, did not care about right or wrong, for he had an army of brainwashed fans who would literally sell their own organs and fight to the death at his behest. With influence like his, even if he were convicted of any crimes, he would at most get a light p on the wrist. In that case, what did he have to fear? He outright sent his own assistant, Dwayne the boulder, a champion of illegal and underground fighting, to go and crush the young J. Fake K. Just as the boy was running out of energy, and it seemed like the prophecy would note to fruition, a golden door appeared directly in the boy''s path. It was too close, he did not even have time to stop! Instinctively, he closed his eyes as he expected to crash, but instead of hitting the mysterious door, he fell forward into a field or grass. Confused, he looked around and found himself in apletely unfamiliar environment. The air smelled clean and fresh, and the grass was green and vibrant. There were no hills nearby, instead only open ins as well as a road that seemed to lead towards a small town in the distance. Nearby, there was a weing hearth lit with a small warm fire and a countdown. In the back of his mind, Fake gave an approving nod to the countdown. It was always smart to set a reminder for when tinder needed to be added to a me. Not letting himself be too distracted, Fake quickly turned to look back, but discovered that Dwayne the boulder was nowhere in sight. It seemed like he really had been teleported somewhere. Fake was not rmed at this realization. After all, as the child of prophecy, and destined savior of the world, didn''t it make sense if he stumbled across countless lucky encounters that not only kept him alive, but made him stronger? What Fake did not realize was how lucky he really was. The golden door that he stumbled through was a random golden door that spawned through the Inns new Inter-realm feature that would allow golden doors to spawn randomly anywhere in the entire realm. The fact that this door opened on a, and then specifically right in front of Fake, was so statistically improbable it could only be described as lucky. Fake was thoroughly exhausted so he let himself rest a few moments and catch his breath before he got up to explore his new terrain, but he suddenly felt something tickling on his red shell. He looked down and saw that multiple strains of grass had bound themselves together to make a thick whip, which they were using to attract his attention. He looked down, the grass started angrily moving about as if to tell him to move his massive, fat body for he was crushing the grass. "Oh sorry," said Fake as he awkwardly moved away. After a few steps, the grass seemed to calm down. Apparently, the patch he stood on had gained sentience, but not all the grass was sentient. Fake breathed a sigh of relief and wiped his forehead with his red w. There was nothing unusual about this action, for Fake was not a human, he was a Krab-man. This was due to the fact that Blue had nothing inmon with earth, besides a few odd coincidences like names, historical events, geography, art and such. Yes, Blue was a inhabited by Krab-people who were mostly divided. If there was only a single thing in history that had managed to unify the Krab-people of Blue throughout their history, it was their lord and savior, MC-Donaalde! But even that unitysted only briefly, as soon wars started over the correct pronunciation of ''Donaalde'', with most conventional historians going with the original British pronunciation, but modern generations preferring to add their spin to it.N?v(el)B\\jnn Regardless, this would be a thing of the past once Fake brought about world peace. For now though, he had to get a better understanding of this new ce he was in. As if triggered by his thought, a small projection of another Krab-man appeared before him, and started introducing this ce as the Midnight Inn! Apparently it was a hotel, and the best part was he didn''t need to pay directly, for the hotel would somehow go and collect the payments themselves so long as he had the necessary wealth located anywhere in the universe. "Can I get a tour of the ce?" Fake asked the projection. "Oh but I''m really tired from running, do you have any vehicles that can pick me up?" "Not a problem," the projection answered. "A golf cart has been sent your way." Fake thanked the projection and waited. To be honest, he did not have the energy to run around as he had a very low cultivation level. In fact, despite his cultivation, his strength at the moment was actually below what humans considered as ''mortals'' who never cultivated. This was because Krab-people had a lower starting point than even humans. Soon, Fake saw a small, yet magnificent vehicle, hurtling his way, driven by an unusual lookingdy. In fact, the driver was very ordinary but Fake had never seen humans before so she looked strange to him. But Fake was not racist and did not object to a human guide taking him around the Inn. In fact, they got along pretty well, and became fast friends. Pam, the golf cart driver, told Fake all kinds of interesting tidbits about the Inn as the drove past all the major attractions. From the vige to the massive mountain, to Main street and even the manor, Fake saw it all though it took a few hours to cover everything. While Fake liked the Inn well enough, his heart truly leaped out of his chest when he saw thezy river! A rtively small river with gently flowing water, with stic doughnuts and small rowing boats carrying guests down with the water was extremely attractive to Fake. So much so, in fact, that he immediately paid to rent a normal room for a couple of nights, for apparently he could not stay at the Inn longer than a certain period if he did not have a room booked or somewhere to stay, and had Pam drop him off near the river. Wasting no time, Fake made himself cozy by grabbing an empty stic doughnut that was floating by, and setting himself in it. He let all his ws dip into the water, and let the doughnut flow on its own along the current. The sensation of cold water against his hard shell calmed him down, while the gentle ebbing of the water rocked Fake''s doughnut, soothing his tense nerves. His life had been way too difficult for a long time, so it was good to finally rx. Slowly, his eyelids drooped, and Fake fell asleep in the river. For a short while all was well, but unexpectedly, for the first time, one of the Inn''stest features kicked in. Blend Reality was a feature of the Inn that let portions of the Inn sometimes merge with the worlds the Inn was connected to. The system assured that all guests would stay safe and not identally enter a dangerous area, but sometimes blending the Inn and other worlds led to unique experiences that people could enjoy. Moreover, sometimes people from the worlds that were merged could enter the Inn like this. As it happened, since Fake was asleep, he did not notice that his doughnut had gone from flowing down a river, to floating randomly in a small, secluded oasis. For a while all was well, until the only other person near the oasis suddenly noticed a weird creature right in the center of her water source! Alysha was startled! This was the first time she saw another living creature since her Desert Farming system teleported her to the middle of nowhere. But, suddenly, the creature disappeared from her view. For a while, the young girl could not decide if what she saw was real, or just another mirage. Chapter 419 Waking Up The Sovereign Gctic turtle carefully carried a man sized parcel wrapped in leaves to the Recovery room and casually strolled in. Without needing any guidance, it entered the Innkeeper''s room and, without any hesitation, opened the Innkeepers pod. Very simply, as if there was nothing unusual about what it was doing, it opened the parcel and let some special, red colored dirt fall into the pod and bury Lex. It paused for a minute, as if unsatisfied with the size of the pod, as it could not fit all the required dirt. Shaking its head, the turtle created a pod of its own made of giant leaves surrounding Lex, and dropped the remaining dirt in it. Then it left. In truth, the turtle was not pulling off some kind of prank. Through methods unknown, the Lotus had informed the turtle that it required some dirt with extremely specific properties. The turtle was the one who gave Lex the Lotus, so it was already familiar with the nt. Moreover, it never paid too much attention to what the Innkeeper was doing, so it didn''t care all that much what the dirt was for. It was only slightly annoyed, for the dirt had not been easy to make. The turtle had to shred some of the most valuable nts and trees to make fertilizer - along with some of its highest grade normal fertilizer (enemies of the Inn) - and spent a good deal of its own energy to aid the soil in absorbing it. There were a few more steps involved, but ultimately the turtle only seeded in making the lowest grade soil that the Lotus asked for, but with its current resources this was all it could manage. Still, even though this was the bare minimum of the Lotus'' requirements, the fact that it met the mark meant it was enough for the Lotus to use.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Inside Lex''s leafy pod, the dirt was slowly being absorbed into Lex''s body, as the Lotus was using it to nourish, revitalize and strengthen Lex''s body. As amazing as the Lotus was, it could only do so much in its infant state. Fortunately for Lex, strengthening Lex''s foundation was still within its capabilities. A few hourster, all the soil had beenpletely absorbed into Lex''s body, leaving no trace that it had ever buried the Innkeeper entirely. A few momentster, Lex opened his eyes. At first he was disoriented, with no recollection of where he was and what happened. Slowly, as his brain got used to his new body, he started to feel better and his memories returned to him. But, unfortunately, the return of his memories also brought back memories of the visions he saw, restarting his hallucinations. Somehow, though, the effect they were having was greatly subdued. In fact, so long as he focused, he could somewhat even ignore the effect of the hallucinations without going into his Overdrive state. With a groan, Lex got off the table, and slowly started recollecting what had happened. He was¡­ attending the Henali assembly? Then what happened? He couldn''t remember. Wait¡­ something happened to the Inn. It was difficult, but eventually Lex recalled the state the Inn was in, and paled considerably. The reason Lex had nearly lost his mind from anger was that, unfortunately, more than one of his workers had died in the attack. It was a harrowing thing to think about, especially since he had put so much effort into securing the Inn. But now, in hindsight, it became evident that he had not done nearly enough. He would always just rely on hiring security using his event panel and using that as a solution, instead of fixing the inherent problem, which was that his own security was thoroughlycking. Lex wasn''t one to beat himself up, but now that his attention was brought onto the matter, quite forcefully at that, it seemed that Lex had barely run the Inn at alltely. He would just make a few major decisions, and leave the rest for Mary to handle. The Inn had expanded much too quickly for him to keep up with, and as a result, he was always running off somewhere to deal with other matters while actually taking care of the Inn was left to someone else. How many things did the Inn developtely that he had not thoroughly utilized? The divine temple, the inheritance lounge, the fishing well and so much more. He was reminded that he was the Innkeeper, and the very name simply meant that he had to manage the Inn, not go running around the universe, connectings. So what if people caught onto the fact that the Inn was actually only connected to a handful ofs? He could always continue to expand slowlyter. Lex''s mood was already low due to the severe headache, and the tragedy of all that had happened didn''t exactly help improve his mood. Lex took a defeated sigh and first checked on his MP. He had spent all of it on that formation to trap his enemies souls, so in reality he should not have even been able to pay the rent for his own Recovery pod. It was fortunate, however, that with several hundred thousand guests, his MP was always rolling in. Moreover, the ie from the Guild room was starting to be significant. He currently had a mere 35,000 MP. It left a bitter taste in his mouth after having been a billionaire such a short while ago, but he knew he would quickly gain more anyway. Even this 35,000 was reduced, for the moment he woke up Mary asked him for some MP to make a few payments for peoples recovery and Lex approved it. Even now, it wasn''t as if there weren''t a million things for him to do, but Mary didn''t bother him for anything that wasn''t too urgent. Lex too was not in a rush to start, despite knowing that he won''t be able to remain awake too long before sumbing to aa simr to the ones he had been suffering. p¨£§ád¨£ §«?¦Í¨º1,§ã¨°§® The reason was very simple, and since Lex had sat on his seat back at his office he knew already, but¡­ Lex teleported away, and reappeared before a specific Recovery pod. The room had only one other person besides the patient, a beautiful young human woman with wings on her back. It was Hailey, Harry''s wife. In front of her, in the pod, slept Harry. Though his body had beenpletely rebuilt, he showed no signs of waking up. Lex already knew the painful reason, but he wouldn''t help but look one more time, in the hope that something had changed. Name: Harry Styles Age: 18 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: mor Sorcerer (dormant) Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Condition: A majority of the patient''s soul has been crushed! Only a few remnants of the patient''s soul which were buried in his mor sorcery tools survived. Without a treasure to regrow the soul, the patient will never recover, and the remaining bits of his soul will slowly diminish. Remarks: Laughter is the best medicine for the soul, but it probably won''t work on him. Chapter 420 Unfettered Lex said nothing and only looked at the sleeping teenager silently. On the day of his own wedding he had taken a risk, not for his own sake, but for the sake of the Inn, and this was the return that he got. Standing there, in front of Harry, it would have been very easy for Lex to start feeling pathetic and wallow in his failures. But, for better or for worse, self pity was not in Lex''s nature. Looking at Harry, Lex''s mood did not get lower, but instead his thoughts cleared up. Come hell or high water, he would repay Harry. He also looked at Hailey. When Lex heard news that Harry was getting married he could only think of his own single status, but in truth he had been extremely happy for him. He imagined how wonderful a life this new couple would have, living in the safest, most magical ce in the universe. He owed them both for not being able to deliver on that fantasy. His fists tightened. He owed them. Lex disappeared once again, having not said a single word. Hailey, who had been sleeping next to the pod, never even knew that the Innkeeper had visited. In a way, it was for the best. Lex did not visit Harry to be seen. He visited to reignite his motivation, with greater focus than ever before. He needed it if he was going to ovee his own shorings. In fact, there was actually a reason why Lex had been behaving so erratically, though he had tried hard not to admit it. He tried to keep himself so helplessly busy, and keep his mind endlessly upied, so that he would never think about it. But the truth was, deep down inside, he had already realized that something was amiss. To be specific, on the day his tumor was removed, Lex already noticed an anomaly in his family''s behavior. Later on, he got many more hints that everything was not as it seemed, yet he went out of his way to ignore it. Not only did he do his best not to think about them, he kept suppressing all his memories of his life back on Earth so that he would stop recalling the obvious ws in their behaviors. But as his cultivation grew, and his mind became more agile, Lex had to work even harder to keep himself upied, for his mind just kept on picking up clues that he had tried so hard to ignore. As a result, he ended up spending less time on the Inn, for it would not give him the same sense of urgency that being on variouss, exposed to danger did. But he could not afford to continue on like this any longer, so he had to admit it. His family was keeping secrets from him, and in fact had been behaving in such a way that they made him keep a distance from them while thinking it was his own idea. He felt so clever when he moved to New York to get away from them, and always worked so hard to ensure they would never vacation there. But he knew now that he was just ying the part they wanted. He felt bitter, he felt disappointed, he felt angry, and much more. But at the end, when all the feelings mixed, the conclusion it reached was that Lex no longer cared. He did not want to go back to Earth and confront them for a truth that would probably be disappointing. Since they were keeping a distance from him, and keeping secrets, then he felt no need to return to them either. It was a shame about his younger sisters, truly it was for there was a good chance that they had no choice in whatever matter was going on. But no one alive could ever force Belle to do what she didn''t want to do, so he knew that she was definitelyplicit. No matter what the secret was, or what the reasoning behind it, since they chose to keep him at an arm''s length, he would do the same. It was not an easy decision, and one he had been avoiding for he knew that if he ever confronted the truth this is probably what he would end up doing. But he could no longer afford to be distracted, so this was a truth he had to face, and a decision he had to make. In a way, since he decided to cut off ties with his family, for now at least, Lex felt a burden ease. As a normal human being who loved his family this was not an easy decision, but whether it already existed, or it had been nurtured during his time as the Innkeeper, Lex had a bit of pride that he wasn''t willing to give up. Thus, ultimately, this was the only choice. After all, why should he spend his time caring about the people who tried their best to keep him at a distance when he had people right in front of him who put their lives on the line just for his reputation. With that burden gone, and his mind unfettered, Lex could finally focuspletely on the Inn. The truth was Lex''s strongest trait was his mind. Considering the stupidity he had disyed recently, one would not think so, but that was only because Lex usually felt it was a hassle and that it wasn''t worth it. Now, with all distractions gone and an unprecedented focus and will governing his actions, it was finally time to put his intellect to use. Lex reappeared in his office only to find that Luthor was already standing there, a cup of fresh coffee waiting for him on a tray. "Wee back," Luthor said, as he offered the Innkeeper the coffee he had missedst time. "We have a lot of work to do," was all Lex replied as he picked up the mug and took a sip. His solemn mask was almost broken as he barely managed to keep himself from grimacing. The coffee was too bitter.N?v(el)B\\jnn Chapter 421 Getting Started Despite its horrendous taste, Lex downed the coffee, for he needed the mental rity it would bring. After all, this was not normal coffee but the Midnight Special Coffee brew, and had the effect of providing the drinker with 1 hour of mental rity. Of course, that was just a nket statement, and effects would vary depending on circumstances. In the case of Lex, it barely provided him with an extra 10 minutes at most. Keeping that in mind, Lex directly delved into matters. He had a list of system notifications waiting for him, but they could wait. First on Lex''s priority list was healing Harry, so he teleported to X-142 once again and entered the Infinity Emporium. Powell Grant greeted him once again with a big smile, but Lex had no time. "Show me the strongest soul healing medicine you have," said Lex. "It should also be extremely gentle, so that it can be used on even weak people." Powell, as a great salesman, immediately noticed that Lex was not in the mood for the usual banter that they enjoyed, and so immediately showed him the list. Lex was a rank 9 member of the Emporium, and though the items on sale were of all ranks, Lex didn''t even bother looking below rank 7. At such a high rank, there were only a handful of medicines, or items with healing effects, though Lex didn''t care. With an impassive face, Lex said, "I''ll buy them all." Powell, who by now practically worshiped Lex as his best and favorite guest, once again broke out in a massive smile. "Excellent choice. It will take a few days to procure all the items, but no more than a week at most. How do you intend to pay?" "With valuable information," Lex replied hurriedly. At this moment, there was another consideration that Lex had to take into ount. He did not believe that there was ever a possibility of anyone tying him to the Inn, and especially to the identity of the Innkeeper. After all, who could track his movement across the universe? But Lex had had enough of believing in probability and luck, and decided to prepare contingencies. He had already sold a few pieces of information to Powell that should have been way beyond his level, not to mention the business card which was a matter rted to Daolords. Keeping this in mind, he knew that were anyone paying attention to him, for example the Emporium itself, he had to provide a reasonable exnation to source everything he knew and had, and let people arrive at the conclusion he wanted. Thus, he decided that in case it became inevitable that someone should track him to the Inn, he would make use of his other identity at the Inn, Leo the owner of Gamer''s Den. For that, moving forward, he could only use information which was possible for someone of his level to have. Moreover, Leo himself also needed to be more active at the Inn, so that people actually knew about him. But keeping up that persona would cause him to lose the avability of a lot of information and items. So, while selling sensitive information, such as the identity of the owner of the person whounched the attack that shook the realm, would give him a lot of profit, he had to maintain the mentality of an employee. An Inn employee would never purposefully reveal details about the Innkeeper, so Lex must also never do the same. But then, at the same time, he could usemon information from the Inn and sell that. After all, so long as the Emporium didn''t gain direct ess to the Inn, they would have to rely on him for information. When Powell led Lex into the appraisal room, Lex wasted no time and first informed him that there was a hotel in the universe offering special environments to cater to divine guests. That''s about all he said, for he was still trying to gauge the level of this information, and would depend on Powell''s reaction to understand how much it was worth. His strategy paid off really well, for the man really had no concept of a poker face, and stumbled so hard he nearly fell from his chair. "What''s the name of the hotel?" he asked with a feverish energy. This information to ordinary people meant nothing, but to the right people, was worth a lot. Yet Lex did not answer and maintained his emotionless expression. "How much is this information worth?" he asked, without expressing if he would divulge more or not. Powell quickly regained hisposure and began negotiating with Lex, but no matter what he did, Lex never directly gave the name of the hotel. Instead, he traded other bits and pieces of information until he had sufficient information to pay for what he wanted to buy, such as the news that a group of pigers lead by a Quash leader called Nzaar had been destroyed, the devils had lost a star system to the advance of the Jotun empire, the Iron Heart pirates had changed their profession and had be marketing managers etc. All the information Lex sold was worth nothing to him, but he knew how much it could be worth to those with vested interests. Finding those people would be the Emporiums job, Lex only cared that one weekter he would have what he needed to heal Harry. As soon as he was done, Lex left. It was only after his departure that Powell realized they had spent only 4 minutes during the entire exchange. His casual smile and cavalier attitude quickly changed as he elevated Lex''s status even more in his mind. Something was different about Lex, and whatever it was, it made him seem¡­ more intimidating. Powell did not want to be the person who would stand in his way. With his conscience cleared, Lex focused on the next matters. He only had a few dozen more minutes maximum before he fainted again, so he would make the most of them. He skimmed through his system notifications, there were way too many to read in depth at the moment, and got the gist of the matter. He had actually lost 2 points of authority because of the chaos that had been caused at the Inn, and the number of his guests who were affected. He also received a bunch of emergency quests to save the Inn, save his workers, save his guests, save his reputation¡­ Most of them he seeded, but some of them he failed. Due to the valiant effort of his workers, none of the guests were actually killed, so the system''s punishments were not too severe. Yet no matter how bad his punishment had been, he hadpleted quite a few quests when he killed all the enemies. Moreover, as a result of his attack on the entire realm, as well as his act of making a demonstration of his enemies and burning their souls, the reputation of the Inn had been elevated so much that he regained the 2 points of authority he lost, and in fact even gained 2 more, alongside a few other rewards. Lex did not have the time to go through them in excruciating detail, so once he confirmed that he had no impending urgent quest, he turned his attention to the rules of the Inn. There were aspects of the system he still could not control yet, such as the appearance of the golden doors randomly, yet in other areas he had great control. Though the Inn itself was generally open for all, Lex began designing special zones that would be limited to only those with a high enough cultivation. He could not force people of different cultivations to stay away from one another, but by creating exclusive zones for each cultivation range, he would automatically entice his guests to divide themselves. While this was not a perfect solution, his goal was to reduce the number of weak and strong cultivators mingling, so that if anything ever went wrong, the amount of coteral damage would be reduced to a minimum.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Also, while it was not a perfect solution, until he got something figured out, he would have to continue relying on external security. As such he began nning a long term event that would allow him to keep sufficient guards around for a long time. He also had to allocate a sufficient budget. As for what the event was? He had the perfect idea. After all, the event itself didn''t matter to Lex as much as the duration and security of it. He was just using another loophole in the system. How was he supposed to know that theme event that he was nning would set off a storm, and kick off a new hobby for all the secluded cultivators of the Origin realm? He anticipated that it would take him only a few sessful deals through the Guild room before he had enough MP to pay for security. Then he would begin his next ns. In thest minute before he fell back asleep, he scanned the Inn one more time to check if he missed something, and found something interesting. Aegis had finallye to the Inn to investigate, and alongside him was Rnd, the young entrepreneur. More importantly, in the new Live Map function he had unlocked recently, Rnd was coloured yellow, meaning he was an excellent candidate for an employee! Chapter 422 Manipulation The Live Map function was yet again another new function that Lex had recently gained. Its uses were many and Lex had nned to use it to its maximum capabilities, but he had been too swamped with one event after another to pay any attention to it. Even now, the only reason he paid attention to it was due to the fact that he was focused on Aegis and Rnd to begin with. Lex was curious why the map colored Rnd, the young entrepreneur who sold newspapers with a gang of kids, yellow as a prospective employee rather than Aegis. But he did not have time to ponder. He felt that he would fall asleep at any moment, so he made his move. ***** As an Immortal, Aegis was able to sense many more things than cultivators below his level. Even among immortals, he barely met anyone who was as talented as himself, not to mention skilled. Therefore, the moment he arrived at the Midnight Inn, he instantly knew that Lex had not lied to him. This ce... it really was a different realm than his own. He did not need to detect the subtle ''vor'' that spiritual energy had which was different from his own, nor the concentration, or any number of other things. Just the fact that the subtle pressure preventing him from reaching a higher realm had disappeared was enough. Back in the Crystal realm, anyone who reached the realm of Earth immortal would be able to sense it. Growing one''s cultivation realm after reaching the Earth Immortal realm was not only incredibly difficult because of the high realm level alone. The realm itself put some kind of pressure on all immortals, slowing their growth. But sometimes, either through odd circumstances, or through ridiculous talent, there were a few who reached the peak of the Earth Immortal realm, and even managed to surpass it. When that happened, they would get ejected from the Earth realm forcibly. This was an incredibly rare asion to begin with, which is why the knowledge that the Earth immortal realm was not the end of cultivation was already firmly in the realm of hearsay, in the crystal realm at least. As for what happened after they reached that realm, and were ejected was the subject of endless spection amongst the few who were in the know. Due to his position, Aegis knew one of the rumors suspected to be the truth, which was that once someone surpassed the Earth Immortal realm, they were sent to another realm called the Ascension realm. But again, the concept of realms was too vague for him to understandpletely. Yet now, here he was, at the Midnight Inn in another realm. Moreover, he had even brought along the small kid from the tavern along with him. What was the name of this realm? Could it be owned by this Inn? Would that make it the... Midnight realm? He was lost in his thoughts as he looked around to take in the sights, when someone suddenly teleported in front of him. The man was dressed exceptionally well, and the aura he projected was one of great power and authority. Aegis got the same feeling from his father, but for some reason, he had a feeling that even his father could not match up to him. Moreover, the man was radiating an aura of the Deeper Laws that was so intense, it almost caused him to have to close his eyes. Unbeknownst to him, this was the aura from the hallucinations that his body had begun to absorb. Since Aegis would not be harmed by the aura, the system did not filter it out, but since Rnd would not be able to handle it, the system employed its usual protective feature to protect him from suffering due to the aura. A few thoughts ran through Aegis'' mind as he quickly surmised who this might be, and had only just thought of how to react when the Innkeeper would ask him about joining, when the man looked directly past him and at Rnd. "Dear guest, allow me to introduce myself. I am the Innkeeper, the owner of this humble establishment. I hope you enjoy your stay at my Inn, and make the most of our numerous services. "If you find the Inn agreeable, and think that you may want to pursue a future alongside us, then please make use of this key. It will allow you to take a simple trial, and if you are able to pass, you will have the honor of joining the Midnight family. Your skills and excellent attitude will be greatly appreciated here at the Midnight Inn." Rnd, who grabbed the key from the Innkeepers'' hand, was looking up at the man with his mouth hung open. He was not expecting to receive a job offer, especially for a ce as incredible as this. While Aegis was still able to calmly take in everything the Inn had to offer, Rnd, as a young man, was much more impressionable. But, at this moment, more shocked than Rnd was Aegis. He was the one who came to the Inn to check out if he wanted to work here, but he had beenpletely ignored in favor of a small kid. "Innkeeper, it is an honor to meet you, my name is..." began Aegis when he noticed Rnd was too shocked to reply, but was interrupted by the Innkeeper. "Are you wondering why I am offering the kid a job while ignoring you?" The Innkeeper, who had been smiling warmly at Rnd, looked at Aegis with an uninterested and nd look. "It''s very simple. The ''kid'' is exceptionally talented and motivated, making the most of every situation. He also put on an excellent disy of not losing himself to despair when all hope seemed to be lost, never forgetting to keep the calm for his followers. You, on the other hand, are an overgrown child with daddy issues and a penchant for throwing tantrums. You''re so oblivious to everything that isn''t about yourself, you do not even see what is truly happening in your own world. I will not retract the opportunity you have received, but consider for a moment if you can provide anything other than your strength. And if it''s a matter of strength, I have no shortage of people to choose from." Lex may have sounded harsh, but he understood Aegis well enough now that he knew if he paid him too much information, or gave him too much favor, he would fall into the same category of everyone who worshiped him for his talent all his life. Instead, by challenging him and belittling his existence to nothing more than hired muscle, he challenged Aegis to prove him wrong. It may seem a little cold-hearted to manipte someone so directly like that, and think so little of them, but with his hallucinations returning, Lex could not be his kind and warmhearted self. He was barely keeping his sanity, he could not distract himself with thoughts like empathy. In fact, before Aegis had a chance to respond, the Innkeeper disappeared. In truth, he had returned to his Recovery pod, but to Aegis, it seemed like the Innkeeper truly thought too little of him. In truth, Aegis felt offended by how he had been so directly belittled, but at the same time, he was shocked by the man''s aura, as well as how easily he had been able to read Aegis'' thoughts. He also felt a strong inclination to prove the man wrong. Despite bing an immortal, he could do nothing about the fact that at the end of the day he was human, and human emotions were easily manipted. Had this been anywhere else, Aegis would not have been so easily fooled. He was still an immortal after all. Unfortunately, how could he challenge Lex, right in the Midnight Inn? None of his senses worked properly on him. The two of them spent a couple of days at the Inn, taking in everything the Inn had to offer. Amazed by the magicalnd, Rnd was unable to stop himself from crushing the tinum key and starting his trial. Besides, he had nothing left for himself at the Crystal realm anyway.N?v(el)B\\jnn Aegis, on the other hand, returned to the Crystal realm. Whether he epted the job or not, he would prove that he was not worthless by having Zagan use the tinum key! But at the same time, the Innkeeper''s remark about how he was oblivious to the truth of his own world struck him hard. He was not stupid, he knew his father was keeping secrets from him, he just never cared. But what if it was not just his father, but all the races? He recalled that Lex had also asked him some questions rting to the Kraven. He never cared before, but he had to prove to himself that he wasn''t worthless. If he was ignorant before it was because he didn''t care, but now that he cared, he would definitely find out. Unbeknownst to him, even this action of his was ying right into Lex''s hands. Chapter 423 Lonely At The Top[Bonus ] Lex had once again fallen asleep, and this time the Lotus was having a little more trouble helping himy the necessary foundation for his body. The Lotus itself was an infant, after all, and the more it raised Lex''s foundation, the harder it became to further improve it. Last time it had to ask the turtle for some extremely fertile soil, while this time the Lotus used up all the Divine Essence that had been collected by the Divine boulder core - the core being the small pebble that Lex had found back in the Crystal realm that greatly increased his strength. Lex always assumed that the essence could no longer assist him, but the essence was literally something used by divine beings. How could it be so straightforward? The reason why Lex could no longer gain benefits from it was that he had tempered all his skin with it, strengthening it while also making it non-permeable to the essence. The reason for that was¡­ to prevent any essence inside his body from leaking out! Ergo, the next natural step was to have the inside of his body washed in the essence. Lex was naturally incapable of doing that, since at most he could drink it. The Lotus, however, could wash every inch of Lex''s body, not only strengthening his Foundation, but also increasing the strength of his body. The gist of it was¡­ it was taking a lot longer to help Lex wake up this timepared to thest couple of times. *****N?v(el)B\\jnn The physical universe, or rather the physical Origin realm, was a vast and wonderful ce. The possibilities were endless, and it was filled with strange and mesmerizing visages. Yet only the lucky or the worthy ever had a chance to bear witness to it. Fortunately, there was another ce where even the mundane could experience the full glory of everything the physical ne had to offer. This mystical ce was known as the Henali portal. All one needed to do was scan their body and then use any of the VR immersion devices to enter the portal with their mind, and live in the alternate reality, which was the Henali portal. The size of the portal was incalcble, for no one had ever discovered the borders of this ce. Unlike the physical ce, which existed ass, star systems and gxies, the portal existed only as one continuous ne. Each gxy that was connected to the Henali portal would receive a plot ofnd proportional to the size of their gxy, where they would hold their sovereignty. If the gxy had an owner, for example, the Jotun Empire, then anyone entering the virtual plot ofnd would require an online visa. The visa thing sucked, but that was veering off into the political side of the portal. Basically, the portal was massive, and in fact, the definition of the ''known universe'' that wasmonly used in the Origin realm referred to the area of the realm which had been connected by the portal. Other races could only explore how vast the Origin realm was by the number of connected gxies. Besides them, only the Henali truly knew how expansive the origin realm was, but they could not be bothered toy out the portal themselves, so they had members of the alliance doing it. Predictably, one of the most popr forms of entertainment in the portal was fighting. Since the fighters would not really die in real life, many people used the ultra-realism of the portal to hone their skills and contest against strong opponents. In one such ce, in an unnamed gxy, in a private room, a Marzu, also known as T-rex, a Bunair, a race of sentient beetles, and an Oolin, a humanoid race with bronze colored skin and majestic antlers, were sitting together. All three females were spectating a battle royale and casually chatting amongst one another. This, for them, was a verymon get together. Though it may seem like they were rich and carefree, in truth, they were all battle maniacs who happened to be friends from battling one another in the portal. Every so often they would take a break and rest like this, for maintaining peak mental state required some off time. The Oolin, a young girl of only 91 years of age, was casually sifting through the pages of an online battle magazine when a particr article caught her interest. To be more specific, it was the image above the article that caused her interest. It was the silhouette of a man dressed smartly, holding naught but a butter knife. Thends before him were filled with bodies of what she could only assume were his defeated opponents, though the outline of his face did not seem to be looking down at them. Instead, it was looking upwards, as if challenging the heavens. Though it was only a picture, and the young girl could not even determine the warrior''s expression, let alone his identity, something about the way he stood filled her heart with admiration, as well as worship. The title of the article was ''To die at his hands is the ultimate mercy'' and was written by a ''Rachel''. The Oolin girl could not move her gaze away from the heroic figure in the picture, as if his silhouette contained everything she had ever dreamed of. Unbeknownst to herself, the bronze skinned girl began to blush. At this point, her two friends noticed something was going on, but she herself did not notice. She finally pried her eyes from the picture, and began to read the words written below. ''How lonely is it at the top?'' the author asked in her first sentence, and then continued. ''It is a question we will never be able to answer, for that is the ce where he stands, alone, protecting everything he holds dear. But while he stands at the front to protect so many others, why must he stand alone, with no one to protect his heart?'' The Oolin girl did not even realize when the tears started flowing down her cheeks as she imagined a hero, going from one battlefield to another, his body a canvas for battle scars. But when he returns at night to rest by his campfire, he rests alone. ''I will protect your heart!'' the girl wanted to scream, but she knew her voice would not reach the hero''s ears, for he was surely far away, fighting to keep the universe safe. At the end of the article, a part she had not yet reached, was a statement by the author, mentioning an uingic series depicting the exploits of the noble hero known only as, ''The Innkeeper''. Chapter 424 First Meeting Six days after Lex returned to his Recovery pod, he finally woke up again. This time his condition was much better, and he even felt like he could manage to ignore the hallucinations without any assistance. Moreover, his body was overflowing with strength, yet at the same time, he feltpletely normal. It was an unusual feeling, but he did not have the time to delve into these matters. He had to make the most of his time before he fell asleep again. It was also because of his rush that he missed the formation of the ''Innkeeper fan club'' that was holding its first ever meeting, having been formed after the small news article andic strip that Velmaunched on the Midnight Newsletter as well as the Henali portal. He teleported to his office, once again finding Luthor standing there, coffee in hand. Yet this time, he was also holding three folders. Lex raised an eyebrow out of curiosity, but chugged his coffee before asking what they were about. "Do you have something that requires my attention?" Lex asked, turning towards Luthor. It was only natural that with time, Luthor would bring various matters to Lex''s attention. After all, as Lex''s assistant, his job did not end with sending in people to Lex''s office for meetings. Though Lex was feeling much better, and could almost ignore the hallucinations, the fact of the matter was that the effects they were having on him were much deeper than just putting him in aa. They messed with his emotions, so that even now, Lex was more or less in his neutral and cold state. Luthor, having only glimpsed at the usual warm and friendly Innkeeper, felt the Innkeepers current attitude was a reflection of everyone''s poor performance. "There are a couple of proposals I had which I wanted to bring to show you. After spending some time at the Inn, and talking to a lot of the workers, I believe that we, the workers, are not sufficiently motivated or driven to give our best performance. After a detailed investigation into how all the workers actually perform, I came up with a list of possible solutions to increase motivation and drive up work efficiency. I also mentioned a special training program which can focus on a few workers who have proven their worth to aid in increasing their cultivation, so that they can be of greater use to the Inn." With his interest piqued, Lex reached out and grabbed the first folder and read through the list. Despite how minimal Luthor actually made it sound, he had been incredibly thorough in his report. Each proposed change was supported with an in depth exnation for where he saw the shoring, and how he suspected the change could increase efficiency. Even with Lex''s increased cultivation, as well as heightened efficiency due to the Overdrive state, it took him nearly an entire minute to read through it. What impressed him most was that Luthor hadn''t taken it upon himself to make judgements, but had actually talked to a lot of the workers to determine whether these mentioned improvements would actually bring about positive change in their relevant departments. A brief example of the kinds of proposed changes would be performance based raises and promotions, result based perks, such as ess to some of the Inn''s services or extra holidays, an annual review of the best workers in each department, specific events or holidays focused towards the workers etc. Furthermore, it suggested sending the workers who performed the best to a neutral cultivation institution called Ventura to aid them in raising their cultivation. Lex had to say, if Luthor ever got a corporate job back on Earth, he''d be possibly one of the most beloved employees ever. In his cold and calcting state, Lex almost immediately approved the changes. But no matter how cold or emotionless he became, it did not erase his memories. One of the strongest feelings Lex had back when he learned that his workers were actual living people instead of autonomous robots, was that he did not want to treat them like ves or mindless workers. Moreover, no matter how much he could possibly improve efficiency by doing these things, he could never overlook the loyalty his workers had shown him. So, while Luthor presented a lot of good ideas, Lex could not implement them as if. Before he made ament, though, he summoned two other workers to his room - Gerard and Velma. He had noticed that those two had contributed the most in this proposal and so wanted to include them in this talk.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Naturally, due to the limited time that Lex had, he did not wait for them toe to him themselves, but informed them to finish whatever they were doing, and then teleported them over directly. The moment that the others entered his office, a change took ce and a conference table appeared with 4 chairs. It seemed like they were about to hold the first ever meeting to discuss improvements at the Inn. "This is a good proposal," Lex began, "and I like the initiative of locating areas that need improvements and suggesting them on your own. But while these are good ideas, they need some alterations before we can implement them. "While getting the workers to improve efficiency is good and all, I do not want the whole purpose of their existence to be working and serving. As such, while we will create avenues for those who wish it to improve, as well as take on more responsibility, there''s not going to be discrimination for those who are satisfied with their ce. All added perks and services will not be limited to certain people only. After all, all the workers at the Midnight Inn are a family, and as a family, we do not discriminate, but look out for one another." There was an imperceptible pause when Lex reached this point as thoughts of his family keeping secrets from him shed in his mind, but Lex moved past it. Luthor had presented some good ideas here, and Lex wanted to start on them immediately - after they went through some changes, of course. Chapter 425 Last 2 Folders Although went through the dramatic im of having the first ever meeting to improve the Inn between Lex and key members of the Inn, the actual meetingsted no more than 3 minutes. The whole premise of Luthor''s proposal was to have the workers improve themself by creating apetitive environment, so that only those who had the will and dedication could rise through the ranks and get the respective rewards. While in theory this was a good thing, Lex knew for a fact that such an environment hardly ever only promoted healthypetition. The only change Lex made to this, since he also didn''t believe in just giving handouts, was that he did not set a limit to perks and services. Should any of the workers want higher pay, different positions, more holidays or anything along those lines, there was a way for them to pursue it. Luthor instead had limited quotas per annum for certain raises and services, which would have bolsteredpetition. Regardless, after making a few changes, Lex directly implemented them and informed Mary of them as well, since technically she oversaw more of the Inns activities than his actual workers. He was looking forward to the day he could give her an actual physical body so she could also join the Inn and actually spend time with everyone. All Mary had told him, for now, was that once his authority was high enough he would gain that option eventually. Once that was concluded, Lex turned to the matter of sending his workers outside the Inn to train. Once his authority was high enough to teleport people outside the Inn wherever he wished he could do this, since his workers weren''t actually limited to only existing in the Inns space. Still, even if he could do this right now, he still wouldn''t. "There are some things you can''t anticipate right now due to your level as well as your exposure," the Innkeeper said, looking at Luthor. He could tell that, by far, he was the most ambitious of his workers. But his experience was, ultimately, limited to the Inn and the information he was born with. "While on the surface it seems like a good idea to send workers out to raise their cultivation, and this Ventura organization may have a reputation of being neutral, there are some things you do hoping to rely on the mercy of others. All the workers, even the seemingly ordinary ones, have unordinary talent and very powerful bloodlines they can unlock. Once or twice might be fine, but once workers start going to an external organization and they notice the trend of so many people with the exact same bloodline, it may eventually give birth to greed in their hearts. "So, the workers can only train at the Inn. While this is slow for now, eventually the Inn will continue to improve, and the training you receive will be no less than any other establishment."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "Forgive me for being impatient," Luthor said, bowing. He suddenly felt ashamed for nning so many things on his own without gaining the Innkeepers approval first. The Innkeeper clearly had a keener insight into the machinations of the universe than himself, so relying on him would not lead him astray. Fortunately the Innkeeper had not punished him, but instead guided him on which direction to focus future suggestions. "What are the other folders?" Lex asked. Luthor promptly handed Lex the next one, which detailed his suggestions for things to add to the Inn, as well as a few proposed changes to the Security protocols. These Lex read a bit more thoroughly, for the idea of creating a prison, or dungeon, and then holding those who transgressed was extremely serious. It felt like a huge decision. And yet, it was not, for he had been doing it for a while already. In his emotionless state, there was no room for false modesty. It was a simple truth that the Inn was his home, and that while he would be warm and friendly to most, to those who meant him harm Lex should not be lenient. The inclination to not harm someone, or at least not be so harsh, was something nurtured by living in civilized society, where freedom and safety were the foundations of civilization. But while all countries touted the call of human rights and peace, one needs but to open a history book to remember the foundation for a nation where these ideals could be pedaled was built through war. But at the same time, there was no need to be so ostentatious while doing these things. Lex approved them, but did not immediately implement them. This was simply because he did not have the MP to spare at the moment. He asked for thest folder, but was surprised when he saw Luthor''s awkward appearance. Hesitantly, the assistant handed Lex the final folder. This one was thin. In fact, it was only a single page. It was a proposal for funeral proceedings for the workers that died. Lex''s Host Attire made it so that Lex had absolute control over all his actions, small or big. So it was a conscious decision when Lex let out a sigh, and sat down on his chair. Without making a single change to the existing ns, Lex made a single addition and approved it. This proposal was not from Luthor, but a joint suggestion from all the workers. They did not wish to be buried at the Inn, for this was the ce they cherished with all their heart. They did not want a cemetery in this ce. Instead, those chose, for their fallen brothers and sisters, as well as for themselves should they die, to be cremated, and have their ashes spread across the Inn. The only addition Lex made was a monument, simple and unassuming, found in a lost corner somewhere in the Inn, with the names of the workers who passed, and a little about them. Suddenly, Lex felt a strange exhaustion grip his body. Then he made a decision. Chapter 426 The Long, Lost Leo Lex had been extremely focused on taking care of the Inn as much as he possibly could in the few moments of lucidity he had every time he woke up. But he had other ns as well which were just as important. One of them was bringing Leo, the owner of the Gamer''s Den, back. After all, if anyone ever guessed that Lex worked at the Inn, he would use Leo to exin that identity. Now was a good time to make hiseback, and he intended toe back in spectacr fashion. He scanned the Inn once and instantly picked on something interesting. After learning the details surrounding what was happening Lex couldn''t help but be amazed. Sometimes, things just aligned up too perfectly. He teleported away. ***** "I told you for thest time, I can''t fight any Nascent realm cultivators," said Z in an exasperated tone. It had been days since hest watched any decent anime. It was work this, responsibility that. After all that had happened, he hadn''t even had any time to rest. As if that wasn''t enough, some of the regrs at the battle arena started toe and bug him. Z had quite the reputation, and fought many battles. But while he had a near perfect win streak, it was within limits. He could not fight Nascent soul cultivators, as he could barely fight against Golden core cultivators if he used all his strength and bloodline abilities. Yet those regrs did not seem to care, as they kept trying to convince him. After all, it was just a little gambling. The good thing about the Inn was that the fights weren''t to the death, unless stated in the beginning, so there was no farm. The Recovery pod had been good enough to heal allbat wounds so far. "Think of it as training. Come on chap, if you only ever fight easy opponents, how will you ever grow? Even defeat can teach a valuable lesson." "If you think it''s easy, you fight them," said Z one more time. Though they were annoyingly persistent, at least they weren''t insulting or ckmailing him into fighting, which is why he kept tolerating them. Otherwise, all he needed to do was tell old man Gerard they were bothering him and they would be taken care of. Security had been very strict about safetytely. "Come now, don''t be like that. Just one fight. Think about how impressive you''ll look in front of all thedies." Z sighed and was about to respond again, when he heard a voice that he hadn''t heard in a long, long time! "Stop bothering my cute little employee. If you want someone to fight, I''ll do it." Z and the men begging him to fight all looked over to see Leo. He was dressed very casually, in a ck T-shirt and blue jeans, and the expression he wore was that of a smug smile. Since he was wearing rk Kent sses he was in disguise, but it only changed his appearance without changing too many details. Yet, despite how ordinary he seemed, for some reason, the feeling Z got was not casual whatsoever. Instead, he felt that right now, Leo was very, very dangerous. The system was suppressing the aura of hisws, since no one here was an immortal and could not tolerate it without getting hurt, but the natural intimidation carried by Lex''s body was allowed to flow freely. He looked athletic, but his body was not bulging with muscles like that of body builders or, in some cases, body cultivators. Yet that did not mean that the strength of his body was notpletely overwhelming. Lex released his Foundation realm aura to show them that he wasn''t too strong either. Since he scanned the Inn, he knew that there was a group of gamblers who had gathered together to try and get Z to fight a nascent realm fighter. They didn''t have malicious intentions, or else the system would detect it. They were just ordinary gamblers who had been blinded by Z''s endless victories, and wanted to bet big. After all, they had yet to see him fail so far, so they believed he was capable of anything. Lex decided to make use of the crowds attention to dere his return. "Who are you?" one of the gamblers asked. Unlike Z, who was honed in battle, they did not pick up on ''Leo''s'' dangerous aura at all. "Leo, I''m Z''s boss, and¡­" he disappeared from right in front of them, and reappeared in the arena. All the screens in the arena, as well as everywhere else in the vige, turned to show Leo standing in the arena alone, his aura on full st. "I''ll ept as many challengers as you want, Nascent realm and below. You cane at me together, but you only have 60 seconds, as I''ll stop epting challengers after that. I''ll personally put up a pot of 50,000 MP. Anyone who beats me can get it." There was an immediate ruckus, as the gamblers who had surrounded Z ran to enter the arena and ce their bets! Even Z could not help but make his way to the arena. After all, someone would be needed to carry his irresponsible boss'' unconscious body after the fight. 60 seconds was not a lot of time, yet the incentive of 50,000 MP was enough to cause people to run, especially when Lex was disying his Foundation realm cultivation. Within 1 minute, over 300 contestants entered the ring, all of them in the Nascent realm, and over 10,000 people ced bets on how many seconds ''Leo'' would survive the fight.N?v(el)B\\jnn As soon as the 60 seconds was over, the fight began and the desperate contestants didn''t hesitate to attack Lex. After all, based on logic, whoever struck first would be the winner to 50,000 MP! But from start to finish, Lex did not move. Instead, below his feet, a massive array started to form. Yet because it was on the ground, no one noticed. They only watched as the first attack approached Lex, and thennded. Immediately, it was followed by hundreds more. All the attacksnded within 1 second, and everyone stopped as they began looking around, waiting for the winner to be dered. Yet the deration didn''te. Instead, when the smoke cleared, they found Leo standing still,pletely unharmed. This time, instead of a technique, he had used an array to defend himself. Now, he would also use an array to attack. The sky suddenly darkened, casting arge shadow over the arena. When everyone looked up, they saw an array several times the size of the arena itself, floating up in the sky, gathering energy. In the horrified silence that filled the arena, the sound of loud cracking woke everyone up. Lex was cracking his knuckles. He gave himself 5 minutes for this fight, before he had to get to his other tasks, so he should really stop dilly dallying. Chapter 427 Arrays The feeling was electric. It sent tingles down his spine and made the hair on his body stand up. The heat from 300 Nascent level cultivators bodies filled the arena air, yet Lex felt as fresh and awake as if he was breathing in crisp air up in the mountains. It was strange because in his mind he felt devoid of emotions, as if they had been stripped of him, yet his body was humming with excitement. His heart was not racing, but he could feel that it was beating faster than normal. Though he was standing straight, he felt his muscles loosen and tighten, as if warming up for the battle. Adrenalin had already begun pumping through his veins, and the anticipation was heating up his body. Yet, as ifpletely detached from his body, he watched everything with a cool head. Today was about venting his frustrations, yes, but it was also about so much more. It was about the return of Leo. It was about making a statement. It was about protecting his workers. And, it was about finalizing his Foundation through his actions before he could no longer suppress his breakthrough. The thing about arrays was, they did not have a designated strength level. The amount of strength they produced was entirely up to the array made. So then how would the strength of an array be measured? Of course, using appropriate characters to form an array affected its strength. Moreover, the characters naturally urred in space, and directly produced results from the universe itself for simply existing, so the better, or rather, more appropriate character one used, the stronger the array would be. Another metric to measure the strength of an array was usually the size orplexity. But this too was not always the case, for an ingenious array could provide the same feedback as arge moreplex array. All in all, there were no firm rules to dere how an array could be strengthened, and unlike formations, which had clearly marked levels to denote their strength, arrays had none. Still, it was not hard for Lex toe up with ingenious ways to use arrays. His background in programming helped, to a degree, and his understanding of science also yed a role. For example, if he was creating an array to burn something, he didn''t forget to create a necessary fuel as a part of the array to keep the fire burning long after the array ran out of energy. But, in certain ways, his deep dependance on human understanding of the universe derived from Earth restricted him and his imagination. After all, while he had a scientific background, hecked a cultivation background. In his current state, however, it was no longer an issue for his subconscious was ying arge role in his actions, and his subconscious was also being affected by the hallucinations. He was only in the Foundation realm so his perception of time should not have been as good as the Nascent cultivators that surrounded him, yet practically speaking that did not seem to be the case. The moment the match began Lex entered his Overdrive state and took note of all his enemies. There were only about 44 humans, while the rest were either beasts or from other races Lex hadn''t really paid much attention to. Their attacks would no doubt be extremely strong, and carry a bit of their element, not to mention they probably had some aspects to them Lex did not understand yet. After all, his own realm was far below them. ''Hmm, it would be much easier to just negate the attacks, or send them somewhere else rather than defending against them,'' he thought. An array started to form beneath his feet, as he casually thought about how to react. The first Nascent was forming its attacks and Lex''s instincts started screaming, but he did not move. ''Maybe I should form a realm around myself¡­'' the array around his feet grew, formed of characters Lex never even learnt. ''No, that''s not a good idea.'' The array shrunk back in size, the previous characters disappearing ''A direct crash is not a good idea for I''ll need to create a barrier stronger than all of the attacks and the cumtive force. I know, I''ll create a barrier around myself that can ept any kind of energy and use the energy to continue to exist. It should not have the ability to suck in any energy itself, or that could cause me problems instead. The activation energy should be high enough so that the ambient energy can''t keep it active, and only the nascent attacksing my way can keep it running. Yes, excellent. So long as it has 100% efficiency in absorbing all energy, I won''t suffer from a single attack, but the barrier will also fade quickly once the attacks stop, so it won''t be a prison for myself.'' Lex''s thoughts all urred quicker than a single instant, and the array on the ground formed at the same speed. The barrier formed just in time to absorb the first attack seamlessly. Honestly, there should have been no explosion or loss of energy of any kind had all the attacksnded on it, yet due to the tight space and narrow target, the 300 attacks kept hitting each other and exploding prematurely. Still, none of it mattered to Lex. His mind was already focused on the next array. His actions would form his Foundation, or something like that - he couldn''t remember. Some would argue that his actions were immense enough even if they only considered everything he achieved in the Crystal realm, let alone the fact that he decimated an entire religion from the entire realm aftering back. The truth was, when he heard that his actions would reflect in his Foundation he decided to build it by using an array to defeat impossibly strong enemies. He was so focused on that single thing that hepletely forgot¡­ he had long surpassed it!n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Chapter 428 BANG A shadow covered the arena as an array covered the entire visible sky. The spectators'' minds shut down as they tried to process what they were seeing, while thepetitors were trying to absorb the fact that Lex waspletely unharmed by the previous bombardment. Lex on the other hand, was thinking of ways to endlessly increase his firepower while making his array as precise as possible. He also had to give arge part of his focus onto the array itself as well. While the characters that formed arrays were found in the universe, making them reappear was not magic. Lex had to expend his own spiritual energy to form them, which is usually why when he formed arrays they were close to his body. After all, the shorter distance his energy had to travel before forming the characters, the less energy he would have to expend. This over the top performance right now was necessary not because Lex wanted to be a show off, but because he wanted to take out 300 of his opponents at the same time, without killing them, and without causing the damage to spread. Those extra few requirements made the array much moreplicated, but that did not seem to be an issue for him at the moment. There was just one drawback. Since he was channeling all his spirit energy into the sky, he could use none of his techniques. So until the array wasplete, he would have to survive without them. But just because Lex''s mind was unusually intune with arrays, and this was his special moment - in his mind at least - it did not mean his opponents would allow him to continue his performance unimpeded. One of the beasts recovered from the shock and dashed towards Lex to attack him up close and personal. It did not understand what was happening and did not care. One solid hit was all it would take to end the fight. A massive toad appeared before Lex and smashed down hard. BANG! ***** BANG! A body flew out and crashed into a pile of corpses, but it moved instantaneously and did not take any time to rest. He couldn''t. Even the briefest of moments for respite could spell the end for him, since on this gctic battlefield, Alexander Morrison was nothing more than cannon fodder. His peak Golden Core realm strength ced him on the lower end of the spectrum on this battlefield, and he should not have been so deep behind enemy lines. But who cared about such things during war? Through twists of fate, various coincidences, and a lot of bad luck, Alexander found himself facing death at every corner, and now it was his job to make it out alive. Behind him, four others moved with remarkable cohesion, and supported each other to the utmost to survive the onught. They were Alexander''s team, and he was their captain. Oddly enough, his was the only team that hadn''t suffered a single death so far, but it was not a coincidence. Alexander used every ounce of his skill, strength, technique and resources to make sure that none of them would die. Often enough, he intercepted attacks that would have killed them and suffered the damage in their stead to keep them alive. Many assumed he was just an emotional leader, but the truth was, out here, he was so outssed in every sense that if his team suffered even the slightest drop in strength, they would not be able to survive. So to live, he had to keep his team alive so they could support him, and to keep them alive he had to face every danger that came their way. But it could not be helped. He was not a lucky protagonist who would get saved every time he encountered danger, nor was he the golden child of destiny. Out here, in the battlefield between humans and Fuegans, he was not even qualified to be a footsoldier. It would take his whole team to fight a single enemy. But as he gathered his energy and dodged more attacks, the look in his eyes was not one of a wounded animal, or a desperate man. The look in his eyes was one of hunger. He was hungry to grow stronger, and not just by breaking through a higher realm. He would be the best of the best. The six swords floating behind him aligned with his moves and attacked the enemy in front of him. BANG! ***** BANG! Aegis'' body smashed deep into a mountain. The armor he had been wearing had crumbled away. No it had crumbled, and then pressed into Aegis''s body. But Aegis himself did not seem to notice. He gathered strength in his body, the mountain breaking around him, and pushed himself into the sky. Surrounding him were hundreds of monsters, all of them immortals. All of them had hidden in the dark corners of the realm for millions of years to achieve the strength they had now. So why would they besiege him now? It was because of the Blue Crystal Essence in the ne around his neck. He brought it out to attract Zagan, but he would have to fend off waves of other monsters till Zagan arrived. But he was not afraid. They called him the strongest in his generation, but how could they not hear the insult in that statement? He was not satisfied with just his generation. He would be the strongest of all generations. The crown prince zoomed off to punch a monster the size of Mount Everest in the face. BANG! ***** Thepetitors were not only attacking Lex, they were even fighting with each other to get a chance tond a hit on Lex. They had no cooperation or cohesion, but that only worked in Lex''s favor. After all, he just had to survive long enough for his array to bepleted. It was much easier said than done, for not a single spot of his body remained uncovered in blood. As strong as his instincts were, he was not able to avoid all attacks effortlessly. Yet that did not matter, for Regal Embrace was finally showing what it was worth. Directly or indirectly, he had suffered hundreds of attacks already in thest 4 minutes, but while he suffered numerous wounds, not a single bone in his body broke. A cat the size of a house appeared before Lex and tried to stab him with its ws but missed. It wasn''t because Lex dodged, but because Lex stopped running altogether which caused the cat to misjudge where to attack.N?v(el)B\\jnn This could also count as dodging, but the reason it did not count as such¡­ He looked up at the sky with a bloody grin. The array was glowing, and it began to rumble. Thunder rumbled in the sky then, in an instant, 300 golden bolts of lightning struck down from the sky,nding on all the contestants without missing a single one. BANG! Chapter 429 Threat Backfires Could one quantify an attack that was powerful enough topletely and safely defeat a Nascent realm cultivator, human, beast or otherwise, without actually killing them? It had to be remembered that the rebels on Earth had to n for decades, and resort to nuclear and hydrogen bombs to threaten merely 5 Nascent level cultivators, all of whom were stuck at the very start of that realm. Yet now, Lex was facing 300 of them. In fact, he had taken their beating not only without dying, but without breaking a bone. Sure, the interference from the otherpetitors made it so none of them were really able to focus on Lex properly, but he took a beating nheless. Of course, the fact that the Lotus had been basically reestablishing his foundation again and again, and in the process nourishing his body, also yed a significant role in his survival. Now, as if facing such an army was already not tough enough, Lex only had arrays as a viable option to do enough damage to counter them. In theory, arrays could be endlessly powerful. Theoretically, if a Qi training cultivator were given an unlimited supply of energy, they could eventually construct an array massive andplex enough to unleash attacks far more powerful than even nuclear bombs.N?v(el)B\\jnn Yet in practicality, it was far from so simple. The first issue was that an array had to be drawn using spiritual energy. The supply of energy in the entire array, and each individual character, needed to be steady, and it also needed a constant until the array itself was formed. Now, as if that was not enough, the theory behind the array needed to be correct, but more than that, each character had to be the absolute perfect one to corroborate its behavior ording to that theory. There were hundreds of characters for fire, and each of them behaved differently. There were hundreds for air, hundreds for water, hundreds for abstract concepts like beauty, love, hate, anger and so much more. If the purpose of the array was to fuel the fire with oxygen, you would use a different kind of character, and if the purpose of the array was to birth a single ember, a different character would be used. The more characters were used, the more the chance of contradictions forming there were. It had to be remembered that even an array gone wrong could fuel itself from energy from the universe. More than once Lex had formed arrays that copsed, which resulted in explosions. In fact, Lex had even used failed arrays asst minute, desperate attacks back in the Crystal realm when he faced the Kraven. So, based on Lex''s understanding of arrays, it was even possible to form an array that had the strength of a Daolord. Practically though, he would need a mind powerful enough toprehend and calcte arrays and characters on such a level. As for his aplishments at the moment? Even he was not fully conscious of the fact that he had no idea how he was doing these things, though he himself was ultimately generating the ideas for what kinds of arrays to use. Lex did not have a clear understanding of how much damage needed to be dealt to defeat these opponents, so he did not think in terms of damage. First he needed his attack to be fast enough so that they cannot dodge, regardless of their cultivation or race, hence he chose lightning. But it was not traditional lightning damage that he was relying on to defeat them. No, it urred to him that he could replicate the unconscious state if he could temporarily disconnect the soul from the spirit. As it happened, there happened to be a kind of lightning with that kind of affinity. Moreover, quite conveniently for the motif of the Inn, it was golden in color. With a bang the lightning struck, but instead of a devastating explosion, the only thing that urred was all thepetitors copsed on the ground. Their eyes were still open and their bodies were unhurt, but theyy on the ground as unresponsive as corpses. There were no wild cheers from the crowd, for with this unexpected victory, almost all of them had lost some MP gambling. Only the craziest gamblers who were hoping for a miracle bet on Leo ended up winning, but even they forgot to cheer. That was because the sight was too horrifying. In the arena stood a man, drenched in his own blood, smiling at them with pearly white teeth showing. All around himy the bodies of his enemies. Even when the announcer dered Leo the winner he didn''t really move, and swept his gaze over the crowds until he found the few specific fellows who had been bugging Z. "I hope you enjoyed the show," the bloody man said, his smooth voice a stark contrast to the bloody scene. "There''ll be more interesting things for you to see at the Inn, there always will be. So don''t go looking for my cute little workers and force him onto the stage every time. Alright? It''s not polite." There were no threats in Lex''s words, and at most there was a slight admonishment. Yet the spectators didn''t feel that way, especially the folks Lex had been looking at. Theypletely forgot that they had lost their money. They forgot everything. The single thought in their minds was¡­ forget Z, they had to bet on this Leo in the future! Lex did not know what was going on through their heads as he teleported out of the arena and disappeared. He realized that people, the workers mostly, might be curious about why he could teleport in ces whereas only people from the Security team should have the authority to do so. It was not an issue he would address directly for it would be less believable that way. Instead, he would reveal things in a roundabout manner. It was time for Leo to meet Luthor. Chapter 430 Tasks Lex estimated how much time he had left and could roughly round it off to about another 20 minutes. This was more than thest few timesbined, but at the same time, the Lotus also conveyed to it how waking Lex up was getting progressively harder. Fortunately, ording to the Lotus, Lex would need only two more treatments. The bad news was, for thest one the Lotus requested a special metal that it would need. The worse news was that, apparently, it was extremely rare. Considering that Lex had just made 100,000MP off of the gamblers who bet against his victory, as well as another 43,000 MP during the time he was asleep, his ie was going up but it might not be enough to purchase it in the Guild room. Well it was lucky that Lex had to make a trip to the Emporium anyway, so he made a small detour before meeting Luthor. The first batch of materials Lex had bought from the Emporium had arrived, though, unfortunately, Lex had arrived 1 day too early to receive the items necessary to heal Harry. epting everything in his new spatial bangle, Lex went right to business. "I have a special request that might be slightly hard to find, I''m not entirely sure about its avability." "If it''s avable in any market, we''ll find it. Just tell me what you need," said Powell with his signature grin. He was practically in love with Lex by now. Lex alone had been responsible for moremissions than Powell had received in his entire career otherwise. If he had a daughter, he''d be trying to set them up. "It''s a metal called Entis Core. I need about 1 gram of it." Powell''s grin froze, and a difficult expression appeared on his face. He did not immediately reply, but checked his catalog. A few momentster he shook his head. "This time¡­ you''ve truly asked for something very difficult. In terms of ranking, it''s only rank 6, you should easily have ess to it. Yet in terms of demand and rarity, it is off the charts. You know, I''ve heard the energy cores for intergctic ships are made out of that metal, and its rarity is one of the reasons why those ships are so rare." "Powell," Lex said very calmly, and looked at the man directly in his eyes. "Price is not an issue right now. I need 1 gram, at the very least, and I''ll take more if you can find it. But you should know, the Emporium is not the only ce I''ll be reaching out for this."N?v(el)B\\jnn Lex''s meaning was clear. They had a great rtionship so far, and although Lex had been paid for everything, the Emporium had been the one gaining from their trades. Now it was time for them to step up. Powell''s expression turned solemn, and he nodded. That was enough for now. Lex quickly returned to the Inn, donned his rk Kent sses and set up a meeting with Luthor and Velma through Mary. Both of them were surprised that they had been requested for, but it wasn''t the Innkeeper who was requesting them. They could not imagine who else could have Mary act on their behalf, and they were even more surprised when they reached the private room Lex had gotten to see ''Leo''. Velma knew who he was, but Luthor had never even heard of him. A hundred questions ran through his head, but ''Leo'' was on a tight schedule so he didn''t have time to let things y out slowly. "Velma, it''s great to see you! It''s been a while. And you must be Luthor, I''ve heard things about you. Please have a seat." "Leo, it''s been a while indeed. Where have you been off to? Poor Z had to handle the Den all by himself." "I just had a few tasks to take care of, life can be pretty busy sometimes," he replied vaguely with a smile, and turned to look towards Luthor. "I''m sure you''re wondering why I''ve called you here, or even, who I am. Let me just quickly introduce myself. Officially, I''m Leo, owner of the Gamer''s Den on Main street. But, on the side¡­ I also run a few misceneous errands for the Innkeeper now and again." Hisst statement startled the two, as Leo''s tone and general mystique indicated a rtionship with the Innkeeper that was hidden. Why would the Innkeeper require such a thing? They did not even entertain the thought that he was lying for a second, for the Innkeeper was not one that could casually be lied about. "But, as I said, I''ve been very busytely and I can''t do all the necessary tasks myself. As I hear it, you two are greatly trusted by the Innkeeper, so I thought you could help me with a couple of small things." "What is it?" asked Luthor, speaking for the first time. Requests of the Innkeeper he took very seriously. His only reservation was why the Innkeeper didn''t ask him himself. "There''s two things, and the second one will require you to work closely with each other. The first thing, and this is the greatest priority, is that Luthor, I need you to contact the Jotun Empire. Preferably, you should contact General Ragnar, or someone as close to him as possible, for he has a great rtionship with the Inn. We need 1 gram of a metal called Entis Core, more if possible. If they require payment, or some kind of terms, you can directly consult Mary. Remember, this is extremely important!" Luthor only nodded, as he suddenly came up with an exnation in his mind. Luthor and Mary had proven themselvespetent, so now the Innkeeper was testing them. By not passing the instructions himself, he made it so that the two of them would have to rely on themselves instead of the Inns resources. They had to prove their worth, before they were sufficiently rewarded. Yes, things were falling into ce. "As for the second task¡­" Chapter 431 Welcome To The Family Lex did a bunch of mental math. Honestly, he was sick of going to others and dealing with matters unrted to the Inn. Exploring the universe was fun, albeit Lex had to admit the only reason he even went was to increase the number of connecteds. But the matter of fact was, he had decided to only focus on the Inn for the uing period. Stil¡­ it wasn''t like he could ignore Earthpletely. Since that was the case, he would use others to handle matters there instead of doing things himself. "The second matter has to do with Earth. Some time ago Velma passed information of a few people manipting all major events from behind the scenes to cause war and chaos in general. I passed the information to the so-called steward of Earth, Fernanda. In fact, it has been quite a while since that happened. Your job is to follow up and see if she really did take care of things and handled those trouble makers, or if nothing has changed. If there is no change¡­ I want you to spread the information to all those who have been impacted by the maniption. Moreover, I want to see if you can get specific information on the people responsible for this. We will see what we can do once we know more." Since the original information hade from Velma, Lex did not think they would need him and was about to excuse himself, when Luthor stopped him. "Wait, since you handle some things for the Innkeeper, there''s a matter that I need to consult you on," Luthor said quickly when he saw Lex''s intentions. Lex raised an eyebrow out of curiosity. He understood why Luthor was consulting him. As the Innkeeper, he had not been entertaining many briefings and meetingstely due to his limited time, though he did his best to address all emergencies. Soon he''d recover and he''d be able to take care of nonemergencies as well. Lex was so short on time, he still hadn''t gone through the notifications and rewards he''d received during his butter knife incident. But that also meant that the workers had to make decisions on their own for matters they couldn''t consult the Innkeeper, and while Luthor seemed to be much better at this than his other workers, Lex noticed that they seemed to be particrly bad at this. By offering advice instead of solutions using his Leo persona, Lex could nurture this trait in them slowly. "Go ahead." "I don''t know if you''ve heard yet, but there''s been a recurring issue at the Inntely. One of the guests named Jill has constantly been under attack. Even if we banned the attacker, his aplices kepting. The Security room has a system to detect if anyone whoes to the Inn is rted to a past offender, but for whatever reason, these new guests weren''t getting detected. Furthermore, they''d bepletely normal guests, until they encountered Jill. Then, as if a switch went off, they''d start attacking her. "Some time ago, we captured some of the offenders and I personally oversaw the interrogation. Yet I wasn''t able to extract any useful information. This is a conundrum no one can think of a solution to, and even the guest is bing paranoid. She barely leaves her room regardless of how much security we offer her." Lex was quickly reminded of this issue. This was a troublesome matter, but what was worse was that Luthor was making a mistake in identifying the direction he should be working in. Lex did not know what was the reasoning behind why this was happening, and maybe it all really did begin because of the Lady Cosmospetition, but he honestly felt otherwise. Regardless, the matter of fact was that a guest''s personal life or affairs were affecting the Inn. He did not doubt that they would have countless more guests in the future who would have enemies who would chase them to the Inn. The part they should be focusing on was not solving the guests personal issues, but ensuring that the Inn would always be safe. The Security room being unable to detect people who might cause problems, or had the intentions to cause trouble was the greatest problem in this scenario, as far as Lex was concerned. "This is something I can''t casuallyment on. Compile all the information you have regarding the incident and I''ll grab it from you next time. All I''ll say for now is, your focus should be on keeping the Inn safe rather than anything else. The Security room being unable to detect potential offenders is the greatest issue here. You should study the offenders thoroughly and try to investigate what was different about them that allowed them to escape the Security rooms detection."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Before Luthor could say anything else, Leo disappeared. It wasn''t that he didn''t want to help out, but that he was really running out of time and he had one more issue to take care of before he fell asleep. The Innkeeper reappeared near the front of the Inn and sat down on a patch of empty grass. There was an ostentation of peacocks nearby, as well as a few rabbits. A soft wind was blowing across the ins, rustling the grass and tree leaves nearby. It looked like a scene out of a children''s book. The Inn really was incredibly peaceful, when one took the time to enjoy it. Unfortunately, Lex was not here to enjoy. He took in a deep, refreshing breath before he turned and looked down at the grass. "You can''t hide from me, you know," he said teasingly as he scanned the grass. Name: - Age: 0 Cultivation Details: Earth Immortal Species: Common Earthen Monocotyledon Condition: Malnourished Remarks: When the righteous fury of the Butter Knife eliminated the unnamed miscreants causing trouble, this patch of grass was exposed to the profound aura of the attack and gained sentience as well as cultivation. But its body remains as fragile asmon grass, and only its spirit has reached the immortal realm. Thest time Lex sat on his chair, he became aware of the fact that there was a patch of grass that had gained sentience. Moreover, because it was born in and from the Inn, it automatically became a worker for the Inn. Unfortunately, being born and gaining cultivation did not mean it gained intelligence. The grass behaved mostly out of instinct, which meant it photosynthesized and absorbed nutrients from the soil. Unfortunately, it was so effective that it was making the surrounding soil infertile, and drastically increasing the oxygen concentration in the entire Inn. Moreover, it was bing weaker. Like a newborn baby, it needed to be taken care of. Yet unlike a newborn baby, this patch of grass was in the immortal realm, and Lex needed to have a talk with it before someone could take care of it, lest there be an ident. Even the turtle had not taken the risk yet. The patch of grass coiled together and formed a humanoid shape. The head turned to look up at the Innkeeper, and it felt a deep feeling of trust when it looked at his face. "Hey there little fe. What have you been doing out here alone?" The patch of grass knocked its head, as if confused by the question. "Little fe, I''m going to send someone to take you away from here, okay? They''ll take you to a better ce, this area isn''t suited for you." The patch of grass vehemently shook its head, and sat down on the ground as if it was throwing a tantrum. Its roots were here, how could it just get up and leave? "Don''t be like that, trust me, you''ll enjoy it. You''ll have a weird big brother called Young McDonald and a weird uncle that''s a turtle. They''ll give you fresh water, and the best soil and maybe sometimes they''ll even spoil you with some fertilizer." The humanoid patch of grass scratched its head, as if it was thinking it through. Truth be told, it had been feeling lethargictely. Unfortunately, it did not know anything, so it could not identify what that lethargy meant. But Lex knew. The grass had gained an impressive cultivation, but its body was still so fragile it could rip by being stepped on. Moreover, it could not absorb the necessary nutrients to strengthen its body here, which was actually causing the grass to starve. "Alright buddy, if nothing else, at least go somewhere safe. After all, you know this ce is full of rabbit monsters that eat grass!" The patch of grass nearly unfurled in terror as it heard the Innkeepers statement, and quickly started to nod its head. It didn''t want to face the dreaded rabbit monster! Though it didn''t know what that was, it also did not want to find out. "Excellent. I''m sure you''ll like your new home. By the way, wee to the Midnight family." Chapter 432 Easy Once the patch of grass agreed to move Lex informed Mary to summon the turtle. Other than the grasses'' surprising cultivation level, another reason why the turtle never attempted tomunicate with the patch itself was due to the fact that the grass had the perfect disguise. Its aura waspletely untraceable and,albeit slowly, it could move wherever it wanted within thewn. There was just one final thing left to do, which was give it a name. After all, Lex couldn''t go around calling it the patch of grass. A single, unnamed turtle was already annoying enough for Lex.N?v(el)B\\jnn After a moment''s consideration, he named the sentient grass Zen. There was no particr reason behind it, and Lex definitely did not consider giving the grass thest name Garden either. With that done, Lex finally returned to the Recovery Pod andy down just moments before losing consciousness. If all went ording to n, this would be the secondst time this happened to him. For Lex, the matter was as simple as falling asleep and letting the Lotus do the work. The Lotus, instead, was actually under a lot of strain now. Improving Lex''s body itself was not a difficult task, but Lex''s mind and memories were gued by aftereffects ofing into contact with the physical manifestation of a fewws. The memories, in turn, were putting an immense burden on Lex''s body. Therefore, what the Lotus actually had to do was make Lex''s Foundation able to interact with,and supportws. This was incredibly difficult, and the Lotus was actually running out items to use to improve Lex''s body in such a way. Divine Essence was one of the greatest shortcuts one could use to interact withws, but it had used up the entire avable supply at the Innst time. This time, it was forced to use thest remaining item avable at the Inn that could do such a thing, and it was beyond precious. It was the final seed out of 3 rare seeds that Lex got. The seed, if it had been allowed to grow, would have produced a nt much like itself. Well, though the second seed had been nted near the Fire Temple, and it was absorbing the heat and the divine energy in the area, it had not properly taken form, and so did not gain sentience. Of course, there was the possibility that it would not gain sentience at all, and would just be an incredible and rare nt. Regardless, it would not change the fact that whatever the nt was, it had the potential to interact withws. The Lotus waited patiently for the turtle to bring it the third seed. Once the seed arrived, it would be a long process absorbing it into Lex''s body. It would take at least 10 days. ***** A few dayster, Luthor was standing with Gerard near the Midnight Manor, waiting patiently. Through one of the soldiers that the general had stationed at the Inn permanently, Luthor reached out to the general through Gerard and requested a meeting. To avoid any misunderstandings, he also rified that it was not the Innkeeper who was requesting the meeting, but the workers themselves in their private capacity. The reason he had Gerard reach out to the general instead of doing it himself was that he felt a familiar face would get better results. Moreover, it was important to rify that they were the ones requesting the meeting instead of the Innkeeper as they did not want to use the Inn''s influence to coerce the general. Such tactics would build a bad impression of them. Of course, since it was them requesting the meeting, they were prepared to hear that it had been rejected, or that the General sent his assistant instead. Fortunately, as it happened, the general had to meet the person who waspleting the tasks he''d put up in the Guild room so he had toe to the Inn anyway. Of course, Luthor did not know that. He was under immense pressure thinking that the General wasing due to their request. He also had to make a ridiculously difficult request, with nothing to actually bargain with. At most, he could deliver a promise to pay him back in the future with a favor. Despite his desperation, Luthor let nothing show on his face. His expression was patient and stoic, and even when a golf cart appeared on the horizon heading in their direction, he did not betray his thoughts. The general looked like a young man, younger than Luthor even, yet no one who saw him would mistake him for someone inexperienced. Even with the soft smile that he bore, there was amanding aura about him that made it impossible for anyone to underestimate him.please visit "General, it is good to see you," said Gerard as he climbed down the steps to greet him. "Thank you for agreeing to our request for a meeting, I know you are a busy man." "It is good to see you as well, young man. I see you are beginning to regain some of your youthful appearance. That''s good, there''s no point in getting old so early in life. I look forward to seeing your progress, so there''s no need to be shy about calling me over. Between old friends, such things need not be mentioned. Besides, you know how I''m always just looking for an excuse toe to the Inn." Despite his usual steadiness, Gerard could not help but blush a little when Ragnarmented about him looking young. It wasmon knowledge that the general himself was over 3000 years in age. But, it could not be denied that the general was considered young for someone in his position and rank. "Allow me to introduce you to Luthor. He has only recently joined the Inn, but as the Innkeepers assistant, he has been doing his best to get thoroughly acquainted with the Inn and all its guests." "It''s a pleasure," said Ragnar, but a hidden light shed in his eyes. Thest time he came to the Inn he had seen the Hearth, but he did not know exactly what the Innkeeper had done. Even after he came, and heard rumors of what had happened, he only treated it as the Innkeeper getting rid of miscreants. It was onlyter, when rumors of what had happened in so many gxies, and the visage that they saw, began to spread on the Henali portal that Ragnar began to suspect the Innkeeper was behind it. The stories of the guests from the Inn corroborated the stories in the portal, but he still did not dare to jump to conclusions about the Innkeepers actions or powers. As someone near the upper echelon of the Jotun Empire, he was extremely familiar with what the highest level cultivators could do. As such he knew that even if people thought they saw something, the truth could have been something else entirely. It was best not to jump to too many conclusions, but the only thing that was certain was that people only saw what the Innkeeper wanted them to see. As for the truth behind the matter, it was not up to them to ponder over it. Luthor, as the assistant to the Innkeeper, could not be a simple character either. The three exchanged some pleasantries as they made their way to a private room. They spent a small amount of time chatting, mainly about the new changes at the Inn, before Ragnar moved the conversation to the matter at hand. "As splendid and refreshing as it always is toe to the Inn, I have a few obligations waiting for me that I must get to - please excuse my haste. I was informed that you had a matter to discuss. How can I help you, gentlemen?" "No, please excuse us for taking up your time," Luthor said. "It is extremely rude of us to try and solicit our guests, but there is a time sensitive matter that needs to be taken care of urgently. I am in need of some Entis Core, a minimum of 1 gram to be exact. Were we not in such a rush, I would have pursued other avenues. But since it is an urgent matter, I was hoping to use the Empire''s resources to get it." Luthor did not yet broach the topic of payment, for he wanted to gauge the general''s ability, or willingness to take up this matter. He did not, however, expect the general''s reaction at all. "1 gram of Entis Core? It is not an easy request, but fortunately for you, we keep an emergency stash on the Command Carrier. I''ll have it sent over right away. And please, in the future, do not hesitate if there''s something else you need help in. You do not even need to set up a meeting, just send your requests directly." Ragnarughed as he got up, as if he had done the simplest thing in the world. Luthor, bbergasted, was not able to respond smoothly, and when he brought up the matter of payment the general would not hear of it at all. In the end, they were left with the taskpleted, but feeling like they had missed something important. Leo made the task sound hard, so why was it so easy? Luthor inexperience was showing once again, for the value of Entis Core was not as simple as the general imed it to be, yet he had given it freely. There was definitely more to the matter than it seemed. Chapter 433 ChatGBaby! Many small but interesting things that happened while Lex slept. Showing miraculous speed, Dillion Jormander, the creature that wanted to do Ragnar''s task, submitted several tasks at once. Not only did that release a number of payments, which gained Lex some much needed MP from, but also allowed Ragnar and Dillion to finally meet. The content of their discussions remained between only them, but Ragnar seemed incredibly happy when he left. In fact, only an hourter, Ragnar returned to the Inn himself to deliver the Entire Core, and actually gave 3 grams of it! No one at the Inn knew the true worth or rarity of that metal, and even Lex could only guess vaguely. The fact that it surpassed both the seed that Lex absorbed to strengthen his Foundation, as well as the Divine Essence he absorbed, should have been more than enough to hint at its value. After all, the Lotus needed something stronger than the items already used to finish its task. Still, Luthor took down the matter of the general providing the ore for free in his heart. Whether the general was just that generous or he had ulterior motives did not matter at all to Luthor, just that he had helped when help was required. But with that task done, they turned their attention to Earth. The matters there took time to investigate, since Velma had to gather information. But, for that to happen, the relevant guests would have to visit the Inn first. Still, a preliminary investigation made it seem like no drastic measures had been taken so far. Unbeknownst to them, Fernanda had been trying to contact Serene Williams since she received the news about how to proceed. In fact, it was one of the reasons she did not go back to the binder, and therefore had missed Lex''s business card. Yet, oddly enough, no one was able to contact Lex''s mother, nor did anyone know where she was. This was troubling news, as it wasmon knowledge that she had a soft spot for Earth. In fact, her insistence was the real reason cultivation had been hidden on Earth for so long, as she did not want the chaos to spread to the mortal world. Perhaps her attachment to the made her vision wed, or perhaps she had other motives in mind. No one knew the truth, but what mattered was that this was an incredibly delicate situation that Fernanda could not handle on her own. However, because Fernanda was so focused on contacting Serene, she missed out on very crucial information that she definitely would have known how to handle were she to learn of it.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om It was not the fact that Luthor and Velma were nning on taking action. No, it was a much more serious and dangerous matter. Earth''s technology had grown rapidly in the past year, aided not only by the new perpetually open Minor realm but also due to the trade between more advanced civilizations. Betterputers, faster processors, operating systems and more that humans had not even begun to conceive flooded the research industries. This was reflected in the technology made avable to the public as well in the form of environmentally friendly vehicles, ozone and climate management technologies and more. But the one aspect of trade that allpanies, as well as countries and families that traded through the Inn greatly wondered about, but never got a decent answer for. It was that, with such advanced technology, why had no one indicated the presence of any advanced A.I? It was so much so that even their spaceshipscked the autopilot functions. Instead, they had just made piloting the ships manually much simpler. Regardless, they decided to use the advanced technology to design their own A.I., which ultimately led to the creation of thetest sensation that swept the world, ChatGBaby! It was revolutionizing the world at a faster pace than ever precedented in the history of Earth, yet it was also the cause of some problems. Only a few of the prisoners trapped on Earth were in the know, and they were freaking out trying to contact Fernanda, but she wasn''t responding. Moreover, the spirit clones left on the by Lex''s family had been dispersed some time ago, around the same time that Serene disappeared. As such, this small yet critically important information somehow remained hidden from the few people who could do something about it. Another interesting thing that happened was in the Crystal realm. Aegis and Zagan finally made contact, and besides being besieged by countless enemies, the exchange went simpler than expected. Zagan had an unusual temperament for a monster, which was that it was patient, smart, but alsozy. It easily epted the deal to use the tinum key in exchange for the Blue Crystal Essence, and so was currently actively undergoing a test to work at the Inn. Rnd had also passed his test, and directly became an employee under Velma at the news agency. His role was to expand the reach of the newspaper, as well as the news agency''s customer base as apany that sold news.please visit The Krab-man, J. F. K., had spent all his time at the Inn since he didn''t want to go back to being hunted. As an ardent fan of thezy river, he spent much of his time there, until he was once again teleported to the oasis, and finally met the girl Alysha, who had been farming alone in the desert. He repeated the process until they were finally able to talk, and he threw her a key to invite her to the Inn. She had no cultivation of her own, so was trapped in the desert. She had no money to pay the Inn for its services, but as it turned out, the crops that she grew in the desert could be used to pay the Inn! It brought tears to her eyes, for she had truly spent way too long stuck in a desert. Naturally, she also became fast friends with J. F. K. as not only was he very charismatic, he was also the one who brought her here. Quite a few other things happened as well, but they were of lesser significance. Like this, when 10 days passed, Lex finally woke up. This time, he immediately felt the difference, as not only was the influence of the hallucinations almost gone, Lex felt like he could stay awake for a few hours. But, instead of appearing as the Innkeeper first, he decided this time to only use his Leo persona. After all, the appearance of Leo and the Innkeeper can''t coincide too much. It would raise suspicions. Still, a few hours was far from enough to take care of everything, so he began immediately. First, he met with Luthor, who passed him the Entis Core and updated him on how the Earth task was going. He also handed him the folder rted to all the Jill incidents, as well as their suspicions for why the Security room had been failing. Their strongest theory was the use of hypnotization and memory suppression. After all, if the miscreants were hypnotized to act a certain way when they encounter certain triggers before they entered the Inn, they would not exhibit any malicious intentions. It was the same with memory suppression. If their memories were suppressed or locked, only to be unlocked when encountering a certain trigger, it would prevent them from having any dubious thoughts or intentions the entire time. The theory was honestly quite good, and Lex would need to think of a way around these loopholes. Once he was done with that, Lex returned to the Gamer''s Den and made sure to be seen by as many people as possible. It was important to keep his persona as Leo believable, so not only did he have to build and maintain his social rtions, he had to act in ordance to Leo''s interests. The Gamer''s Den was almost always packed, so it seemed like it was time to expand. For that, noy only did he n to expand the building itself, but he also nned on opening new locations. Of course, in keeping with Leo''s character, he dumped all the work on Z. "There''s my favorite employee!" he yelled as he walked into the busy building, looking directly at Z. He was an assistant manager now so he did not need to man the desks, but he could almost always be found near aputer, watching some anime. At the moment, he was watching a rtively new one called Spy X Find with great excitement. Yet the moment he heard Leo''s voice he froze. For some reason, he had a very bad feeling... "By the way, I think it''s time we expand. I want to finalize on three new locations before I meet with the Innkeeper next time so we can start immediately. But I''ve been away from the Inn for too long, you know. So why don''t go pick some nice locations for me and let me know. I''m going next door to Battle Ax to meet up with John. It''s been a while since I met the guy." With that short visit, Leo had exited the shop already. To be clear, this was not Lex''s attitude. He was just faithfully ying the role of Leo, that''s it. Chapter 434 Notifications Lex''s meeting with John was not all too special. Leo and John did not have a particrly deep bond, and the fact that Leo had been absent for so long didn''t help either. But John treated Leo with professional courtesy. He had amassed a good amount of MP, and had even be free from his restraints. That meant he had regained a lot of freedom, but that left him with the decision of what to do in the future. He could go back to assassination and continue to raise his cultivation using the system. In fact, it was all but guaranteed that he would do that. But he could not make himself leave the Inn until Harry recovered either. He also recalled that a long time back, the Innkeeper offered him a job as well. He did not know if he wanted that, either. Currently, the most coherent n he was able to muster was to resume his assassinations gig and use the Henali portal as the only way to assign him tasks. He could perform assassinations and use the Inn as his permanent home or hideout. His identity at the Inn had existed long enough to keep it from having any association with his real identity, so the n was almost perfect. Still, while the n made sense, John couldn''t make up his mind. The fact that the Innkeeper knew about his system was practically assured by now, and he didn''t know if he should ask the Innkeeper more about it. After all, the system had extreme significance in his life, but he now also knew that it could be influenced externally, as hisst quest was way too coincidental. The Innkeeper had still been kind about it, but what if he ran into someone who would manipte his system in ways John did not appreciate? He would be a prisoner. The difficult decision had been eating at his mind for a while now, so the only thing he could do was throw himself into work to keep himself busy. His conversation with Leo also gave him new ways to keep his mind upied. He expected that Leo would ask him for a new technique, since he literally created techniques for people, but instead Leo asked about a good way to train the workers of the Inn. These things could not be forced, and would take time and resources, but with John''s unique insight and exposure, he could possibly think of things Lex hadn''t. This was actually a matter that had gued Lex for a while. He had a panel to take care of his employees and give them perks. He could even directly award them techniques and give them ess to the meditation rooms. Yet that was about the extent of what he could do. The only possibility he could think of was to somehow run into someone with an army training, or teacher system or something along those lines, and absorb that system as well. The Murder system had given him upgrades to his own system, but they weren''t too relevant to his needs. The Murderer upgrade, which would allow him to learn the techniques or skills of someone stronger than him if he killed them outside of the Inn, was not really something Lex saw improving his situation any time soon. In fact, the upgrade had not even been triggered when he used the butter knife to y countless people in and out of the Inn, for he himself had been inside the Inn at the time. The upgrade required him to kill those stronger than him while being outside the Inn for it to work. Simrly, the Murder ground was not helpful either, as it just provided a ce for two people or groups to kill each other. But Lex had no way of finding system wielders, as he had not met a single one besides the Murderer back in Crystal realm. While John was on the list of suspects due to his status showing ''error'', it could not be concluded yet. Lex shook his head and quickly concluded the meeting. John had actually given a few good suggestions that Lex kept in mind, but he didn''t want to press too hard. After the meeting, he spent some more time as Leo, walking around and making sure people saw him. He even encountered a unique new guest from a race called Krab-man. Once he did the rounds, he teleported away and gathered whatever Divine Essence the Inn had in a special container then went to the Infinity Emporium. As expected, after the amount of pressure that Lex put on him, Powell had managed to procure some Entis Core, though he merely had 1.2 grams. Lex paid him using the Divine Essence. Technically speaking, the core was more valuable, but the essence was rarer and harder to procure which is why it was quite valuable. Lex did not spend a lot of time there and simply took all the medicine that was meant for Harry and returned to the Inn. After sending all the medicine to nurse Jubtion and having Mary inform her that it was for Harry, Lex oddly found himself with some free time. He had too little time left to start a bigger project, but too much time to just sit around. He sighed and decided it was time to do the one thing he had been putting off, which was check all his notifications. He made himself cozy in his Recovery pod and finally began to peruse the list. The first notification was actually a questpletion notification! Quest Complete! (Have the Midnight Inn be officially recognized by the Henali assembly) Quest Reward: Guest Registry Remarks: The host should attract guests for the Inn, not enemies! The next few notifications were actually pleasant. New Notification: The Inns reputation has increased! Reward: 0.5 Star increase token! New Notification: The Inn has attracted the attention of several Gods! New Quest: Host a God at the Inn Quest reward: Holy Shoot! The next dozen or so notifications were about the increasing chaos at the Inn. Since the Security room was unable to stop the infractions, each time the Inn would give him a notification warning that punishment would be meted out if it continued.please visit Then came the notifications of the actual punishments. It began with a deduction of 1000 MP, followed by 10,000 MP, and then increasingly so. But, after the punishments crossed 10 billion MP, the punishment changed, and was no longer about MP. It threatened Lex''s authority! At this point, the notifications became varied, and were no longer about warnings. He got quests to protect his guests and to calm down the situation within a given time. It need not be said that he failed many of them. Although many of the notifications were the same, Lex read all of them, not only to remind himself that he could not afford such a failure once again, but also in case there was some valuable information in them. Unfortunately, they were naught but a testament to the chaos the Inn witnessed. About the first time one of his buildings was attacked he lost his first authority point, and the quests started ramping up. The first time one of his employees died, he lost another authority point. He started receiving fewer notifications about the chaos. Then, suddenly, the kinds of notifications changed. It was evident that this was when he used the Butter Knife. These Lex read slowly, for they were actually different instead of repeats of the same things. New Notification: Massive surge in aura detected, Minor realm is destabilizing! New Notification: A tear in Minor realm detected, the Inn is losing prestige! Quest Complete! (Stop the Invasion of the Inn)The Host''s rewards are being calcted: -Reward reduced for multiple guests injured -Reward reduced for multiple buildings destroyed -Reward reduced for multiple workers injured -Reward reduced for multiple workers killed -Reward reduced forpleting quest in over 1 hour -Reward increased for increasing Inn''s prestige (putting on powerful disy)N?v(el)B\\jnn -Reward increased for increased for killing all invaders -Reward increased for tracing invader''s outside of the Inn''s grounds -Reward increased for punishing invaders (punishing their souls) -Reward increased for increasing the Inn''s reputation in the Origin realm Reward Rank: A- Reward: 1 Inn Service upgrade token, 1 Inn lockdown token Remarks: ...get angry more often... New Notification: Foreign energy is connecting Inn to Origin realm (attack from Butter Knife) New Notification: Multiple Minor realms detected near the Midnight Inn''s realm tear! New Notification: Multiple Minor realms merging with the Midnight Inn (Progress 91%) New Notification: The Innkeeper''s demonstration has spread the Inn''s reputation across the Inn! New Notification: The Innkeeper has eliminated a religion in the origin realm, and started a new one as the Butter Knife God. The system will automatically absorb all divinity targeted towards the Innkeeper! Reward: 1 Wish ( 0.005% divinity obtained) New Notification: The tear in the Minor realm has been repaired! Before Lex could read more, he fell back into hisa. Chapter 435 Mountain-Man The moment Lex fell into aa, the Lotus began working on his body. Since he had managed to gain much more than the minimum amount of Entis Core required, his recovery would take slightly longer than usual, but not by much. In total, it would take 20 days. Fortunately for Lex, this period was spent in rtive calm. No major incidents took ce. Or rather, no negative incidents took ce. While Lex was asleep, the one year mark from when he got the Inn passed. As it happened, the day that Lex got the Inn was just a day before Lex''s birthday, so he also turned 24. Last year, it was because of his depression on his own birthday that he ended up sitting in the parkte into the night, wondering what he could do to improve his life. Harry started to recover surprisingly quickly, but it made sense when one considered that his soul wasn''t very strong to begin with, so restoring it was easy. Luthor was incredibly busy during this time, for he was either training or looking into matters rted to Earth. The other workers were also working very hard, and even the ones who weren''t too focused on cultivating began to do so. After all, it was not so easy to get over the trauma of having your home invaded. But while the days were passing very peacefully at the Inn, the Origin was much more eventful. Just because Lex''s attack had ended did not mean its repercussions were over. In fact, they were only just beginning. Hundreds of new gctic empires were formed in the region closest to where the tear in the Midnight minor realm had opened up, and multiple new races gained extremely strong cultivators. The concentration of spirit energy had boomed in these regions, which was not only resulting in faster cultivation, but the birth of treasures that would normally take hundreds of thousands of years to form. At a nce, the birth of so many empires should have had no effect on the Origin realm, for regardless of how powerful an empire became, traveling from gxy to gxy was a task that took countless years. But more important than the birth of so many empires was the trend that had begun. Lex''s attack had happened too short a time ago to spontaneously catalyze the birth of so many empires, unless the necessary requirements already existed, and only required something to push them over the edge. It was evident that as more time went by, this trend would continue. As if that was not enough, while the boom in spirit energy was rtively focused in a certain region of space, like a wave, that boom seemed to be spreading across the realm. A time of prosperity wasing, but that prosperity would also nurture endlesspetition.N?v(el)B\\jnn The assembly held by the Henali for all the existing empires in the realm took note of this trend, and warned all their existing members. Such prosperity, unfortunately, would also prompt fiercer attacks by the Fuegan. But, seeing how this was an event that would likely affect the entire realm, the Henali decided to be proactive in how they handled the situation. A realm widepetition was announced topete for most Fuegan''s killed ording to one''s cultivation level. The winners would be appropriately rewarded. The Emperor of the Jotun Empire felt nothing but anticipation when he heard the news. It seemed he would have to make a few preparations himself before the Henali tournament started. After all, a good performance by his empire might just get him what he needed But none of that had anything to do with the Midnight Inn. Instead, it was an unusual event on Nibiru that was taking ce that had the possibility to affect the Inn. A battle was taking ce between two groups of avian beasts, high in the sky near the tallest mountain range on the. Most of the beasts were in the golden core realm but a few were in the nascent realm as well. The explosive sounds of their shes had already caused countless avnches, till the top of the mountain was almost bare. Gray rocks could be seen jutting from the remaining snow, while a few were painted red with the blood of the fallen beasts. The battle had been going on for hours and seemed like it would go on for hours more. They were so focused on the fight they did not notice the changes in the environment happening around them. The gathering clouds meant nothing to them, for they could just fly above them. The p of thunder may as well have been the rustling wind for all they cared, and the bolts of lightning that crashed into the ground could not be farther from relevant to them. They did not notice as countless earthquakes shook thend, and caused cracks to form on the mountain. They were beasts of the sky, so why would the ground matter to them? But even their arrogance was forced to divert their attention when they heard a boom so loud it physically hurt them! In fact, the sound spread across the entire continent. Countless beasts temporarily lost control of their bodies due to disorientation and began falling from the sky. It was not dangerous, they were high enough that they would regain control of their bodies long before they reached the ground.please visit But their haphazard descent allowed them to actually see what had caused that earlier noise. Large visible cracks were spreading across the mountain range, each one causing reverberations across thends. Fear suddenly filled the hearts of the beasts for they knew full well what was happening. Another Mountain-man was awakening! In the recent months, due to the evolution their world was going under, many mountains had transformed, turning into sentient mountain men. Well, the sentient part was debatable, but that was far besides the point. What mattered was that these Mountain-men were incredibly, ridiculously strong and had spread havoc throughout the world. In fact, the sloth, Golden Hair, had been forced out of its retreat tobat these beats lest they kill everything on the. Unfortunately, the sloth itself had only recently entered the Immortal realm, and could not control its strength at all. After all, it never had the time to learn. Previously the Nibiru was only a 1 star, which meant that the unrestrained might of an immortal could easily crack space and shatter the continents. It was only now that the''s star was in the process of elevating that it had the opportunity to try and learn about its strength instead of simply slumbering. All of this did not mean that the sloth had been unable to defeat the sentient Mountains. No, what it really meant was that their shes had caused untold destruction, and had resulted in the death of countless beasts that were in the vicinity. Now, if a mountain of this caliber were to birth Mountain-men, at least a dozen of them would be born. Such a force¡­ it was impossible to guess how long it would take the sloth to settle the matter. The moments the falling beasts regained control over their bodies, they began escaping. In the face of certain death, territorial disputes were nothing - especially when the terrain itself wasing to life. Countless stampedes urred, until they eventually reached a sizerge enough to be called a ''beast flood'', all escaping the mountain range. As a result, a few hourster, not a single soul was around to see when the mountain gained life. But, instead of giving birth to multiple mountain-men, only one, massive Mountain-man was born. Moving its rocky body, the creature broke its hand free from the depths of the continent, and slowly pushed up its humanoid body. Strangely enough, this particr Mountain-man looked more humanlike than any of its predecessors, with distinct facial features instead of randomly spawning eyes and a mouth somewhere on the rock. "Ugh," the creature groaned as it picked itself up to its knees, causing its head to reach some of the highestyers of the atmosphere. "Why does my head feel so heavy?" the mountain murmured, its voice thundering across thend. "Wait, how am I alive?" it asked, as visible confusion filled the creature''s eyes. "Last I remembered¡­ I was fighting off Lu Bu¡­ we were losing the war¡­ the princess had to escape¡­ then a sword pierced through my back¡­ was I betrayed?" The mountain did not get a chance to think much longer before it heard a strange ''ting'' noise in its head, and letters appeared in its vision. New Notification: ''Reincarnated as a Mountain'' system is online! "What?" the mountain asked, shock and confusion filling its mind. "Reincarnation? Mountain? What''s going on?" The mountain creature tried to get up, but it did not notice at all that a rtively tiny golden door had appeared in the air behind it. When it tried to move, a part of its body hit the golden door, and the massive creature disappeared. Chapter 436 Hoverboard All was peaceful at the Midnight Inn, which was the norm. Anakin Indiana e found it hard to rxpletely after the chaos that the Inn had encounteredst time. But, in his humble opinion, the Innkeeper was very clear about his displeasure by ripping the universe itself to attack every bad guy and their mother, not to mention damning the souls of the attackers to endless soul torture. Now, Anakin wasn''t a man who condones violence, no sir. But it made him feel somewhat special that the hotel owner would go as far as creating a mini-hell in the form of a hearth to dissuade anyone from attacking again. Honestly, Anakin even considered asking the man for an autograph. Unfortunately, Anakin had been much too busy to waste timetely. The strange grandpa who visits him in his dreams had been very unhappy that Anakin hadn''t been cultivating his special darkness affinity, so to appease the old man, he had been dutifully cultivating in the Meditation rooms. As if that wasn''t enough, his new scam- eh, his new business of taking advantage of Noman''s ability to detect lies, had made him very popr. It wasn''t anything official, but many women secretly brought their boyfriends to him without letting on what they were doing to test if the boys truly loved them. At first, Noman felt hesitant to use his ability like this, but all it took was the attention of one heartbroken girl to change Nomans mind. Teenagers really were easy to get along with. Of course, he had found bigger clients too. Currently, opposite to Anakin sat histest client, Souta. Their discussion had been conducted in the Chamber of Secrets, so he did not remember Soua''s secret, but he knew for a fact that Souta needed someone to die. To be specific, a Mr. Suzuki had to die. Now such a horrible, nefarious and insidious task waspletely outside of Anakin''s domain, for he had never killed a pet goldfish let alone a human, which is why opposite to him also sat Larry. They were just having a conversation about how Suzuki had been hired to kill Larry. What Larry did with that information waspletely and totally up to him, as Anakin had in no way exaggerated Suzuki''s motivations and dedication topleting the task. Yes, it was a perfectly normal, calm and peaceful day within which Anakin was just having a normal conversation, with no otherwise strange urrences at all. The wind was blowing, the birds were singing, the sun was shining- eh? One moment, the group of Earthlings had been sitting out in the garden, sipping some pi?a cdas, the next, a massive shadow had appeared all around them. The change was too sudden for it to be a cloud, and the size of the shadow covered not only them, but a massive area! The trio looked up to see¡­ a massive spaceship! The metallic structure extended for hundreds of miles, yet it floated effortlessly in the air. In fact, the flying city above the vige almost bumped into the massive ship, but quickly adjusted its path to dodge it. Up in the air, the entity known as Abroar which had been relying on the spaceship to keep its body alive had finally arrived at the Inn. It needed toplete some final tasks before it made the transition to existing as a spirit. Though Abroar was stuck inside the ship, it had ess to all of the ship''s sensors, and so could sense the entirety of the Inn. In fact, even the formation surrounding the greenhouse could not deter its vision, revealing everything to it.N?v(el)B\\jnn At a nce, Abroar felt quite disappointed. The Inn was too small, and it detected few, if any, beings of considerable strength. But then, it began to notice a few minor details. Due to the realm it used to have, as well as the extremely advanced technology that made up its ship, its knowledge was far beyond ordinary cultivators. It immediately noticed multiple sources of divine energy, as well as the numerous signatures of extremely potent bloodlines, not to mention the destiny shield. Abroar let out a mental sigh. To be honest, it did not matter whether this ce was impressive or not, it was the only choice it had left. It had long noticed the small hologram of its original species that appeared in the ship''s bridge, ready to provide information once Abroar was ready to interact. The being strengthened its resolve and was about to ask the hologram aboutpleting a few final requests before it took advantage of the Beyond the Grave function of the Inn, when its sensors detected a new being which had teleported near it. Compared to the ship, the new being was small. That did not change the fact that the Mountain-man was over 20 miles tall. While the ship was technically longer than the Mountain-man, it was horizontal, and its length was parallel to the ground. The Mountain-man, instead, was standing vertically, and so its head went far beyond anything else in the Inn. As if that sight was not enough, the Mountain-man had teleported while moving. It was already not used to its massive body, and the ground moving from right under its feet caused the creature to trip terribly, ultimatelynding on the ship! Anakin repeatedly rubbed his eyes and he tried to clear his vision, but no matter what he did, the image did not change. "Guys, I think I had too much Saturn cake," Anakin said lightly. "I must be hallucinating or something. I swear I can see a giant man made out of rocks on a space- no, a giant rock man on a hoverboard that looks like a spaceship. Mypliments to the chef who baked that cake." "It''s not the cake," said Larry, whose eyes were gleaming! He absorbed precious metals to grow stronger, and the ''hoverboard'' in the air felt more precious to him than anything he had ever felt in his entire life! Chapter 437 Paternal Instincts The entire Inn, staff and guests included, came to a standstill as they watched the magnificent sight. Even calling it a scene out of a movie would be inurate, for even movies hardly ever depicted something as bizarre as what they were seeing. But while many were mesmerized, some were silently preparing to escape. They had no idea what this was, and the memory of the recent attack was too fresh. Regardless, no matter who it was, everyone in the Inn was frozen still as this was a scene they wanted to remember. Abroar himself was stunned. He did not know what to do or how to respond. Were he in his prime, he would have squatted the Mountain-man on top of him into mountain-paste! But, not only was he at the Inn, where he didn''t know if responding violently would affect his request for the Beyond the Grave service, he honestly barely had any strength. The ship itself had attack functions as well, but 99% of its energy was diverted towards keeping Abroar alive, and the remaining 1% was focused towards keeping the ship running. There was literally nothing he could do, he was literally helpless. But the situation did not stay like that for long. "My apologies," the Mountain-man said awkwardly. It was as if the being was not used to using its mouth, which it was not. In fact, this was literally the first time it was using this body and it had no idea how to move at all. When it tried to move an arm, its leg moved, and when it tried to move its leg, its hips thrust forward. Eventually, the Mountain-man fell off the ship but, before it could crush anyone, Qawain appeared below it and froze it in the air. The workers were much more vignt now, so even if the Security room did not spot an issue, they themselves were always on the lookout for a problematic situation. "Do you need any help?" he asked. He did not detect that the giant rock man was trying to hurt anyone, but that it waspletely helpless. "I¡­ I¡­" the creature did not know how to respond. Everything was happening too quickly and suddenly. It had not had time to wrap its head around itsst memories of being at war, let alone even begin to understand what kind of body it had. As if that wasn''t enough, the so-called ''system'' kept giving it notifications. It was too much! "Rx, calm down buddy, it''s alright," said Qawain in a soothing voice as he moved the mountain to a portion of the Inn with no people and set him down. In close to 50 years, Qawain and Anita were going to be parents, so they had been nurturing their paternal instincts. Watching the massive, helpless sentient rock kicked Qawain into father mode, and he began to soothe it, not only with his voice, but by using his spirit to alleviate the stress it was suffering from. "Calm down," he repeated over and over, his voice tinged with a sedative technique, until finally the Mountain-man calmed down. "You''re at the Midnight Inn," Qawain informed, his tiny body floating in front of the massive face. "This is a safe ce where no one will hurt you. It''s an Inn that caters to guests from all over the universe, so you''re wee here." The Mountain-man did not entirely understand Qawain''s words, for it had no concept of what the universe was. In its previous life, it had lived in a massive country, with no cultivation and civilization equivalent to earth''s middle-ages. Everything that was happening was¡­ truly too insane for it toprehend. In the sky, Abroar finally calmed down when it understood the situation. Much life itself, the living mountain was a guest. For some odd reason, he found that thought strangely rxing. He diverted his attention back to his personal hologram. He didn''t have much time, it was best to be as quick as possible. "I have with me a member of my race. Can I pay for his stay on his behalf?" Abroar asked through a speaker. "Yes, if the guest is willing, you can pay for his stay," the hologram answered simply. Abroar had to be very selective with how much he paid, after all, the requirement for Beyond the Grave was to submit to the Inn all his wealth. "The little one is asleep in a chamber inside the ship. If possible, could I get some help moving him out?" "It should not be a problem," the hologram answered, and forwarded the request to Mary. Considering the potential danger of the ship, Mary could only ask Anita to go and help move the child, as Qawain was busy. Abroar was quite relieved when she saw how careful she was being with the sleeping child, and let out a defeated sigh as it prepared to give up all its wealth. Little did it know, this was literally the first babu Anita was handling since she got pregnant. Much like her husband, her paternal instincts had kicked in, and the lich looked at the 40 feetrge gray creature with nothing but endearment. ''Does this make me¡­ a mother?'' she asked herself, as she carried the creature down, uncaring about the difference in race. After all, she herself had once been human, and had on her own changed into a lich. So then why should she care if her first child was of another race as well? Up above, in the sky, Abroar closed its weary eyes and whispered, "take it all."N?v(el)B\\jnn As if understanding his meaning, a storm of spirit energy gathered above him and began rushing into what remained of his broken body. Immediately he knew his body was disappearing because after an unimaginably long time, he could no longer feel pain. From across the Origin realm, his hidden stashes of wealth began disappearing, slowly turning into MP. But, oddly enough, even after Abroar''s bodypletely disappeared, the spaceship remained, hovering in the sky. Back in his sleeping pod, theatose Lex received one more notification. Chapter 438 Doing Things Properly Lex did not immediately snap awake like the previous few times he exited thea, but instead was slow to wake. He opened his eyes to the familiar ceiling of the Recovery pod before letting his heavy eyelids fall again, dozing back off for short intervals. A few hourster, when his initial grogginess passed, he let out a massive yawn and stretched. The walls of the Recovery pod should have blocked his hands, but he tore open two holes in it before he realized what he had done. Startled by the noise, Lex looked over only for his face to smash a dent into the pod as well. For a few seconds Lex froze, before he started withdrawing his hands slowly from the holes in the pod. He had been through this before, when he first started cultivating. His body had gotten much stronger, yet again, but his brain had not yet adapted to the change. Unfortunately for Lex, the scale of growth he underwent this time was so massive that he could not correctlyprehend how to act safely. As he pulled his hands back into the pod, carefully, his shoulder des squeezed a little, as was normal, but this time, they ended up crumpling the part of the pod below him. He froze once again when he heard the sound of the pod creaking and cracking, before letting out a sigh and directly teleporting to his house within the Inn. He appeared in his study out of habit, before he teleported again to the Meditation room. Closing his eyes, he tried to get a feel for his body, but that yielded no results. Lex did not feel overwhelming strength coursing through his veins, or as if he had unlocked a new tear of strength. No, he feltpletely normal. He ran Regal Embrace to see if he could notice an anomaly in his cultivation, but had to stop almost immediately! He was on the verge of having a breakthrough to the next realm and had reached his limit. Even the slightest stimtion would begin the breakthrough process and he would be unable to stop it. That was not to say that Lex wanted to avoid a breakthrough, but that he just woke up and probably had numerous things to take care of. The crazy part was that he had this uncontroble strength even while wearing the Host Attire, which was supposed to give him perfect control over his body. He could not understand what the issue was. Unable toe up with a quick solution, he sat down on the floor cross-legged and asked Mary for an update. "How long was I in aa for?" he asked.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "20 days," she replied, appearing before her. Mary''s hologram was tiny, as usual, but this time she was dressed in a yellow sun dress and was wearing sunsses. Lex did notment, but his raised eyebrow was enough to prompt a reaction from his holographic assistant. "What? Just because you never change the way your host attire looks doesn''t mean that I have to wear the same clothes all the time." "I didn''t say anything." "You didn''t need to say anything. By the way, there''s a particr guest who wants to meet with you and I suggest you take the time to meet with him." "Oh? Did something happen while I was asleep?" "A few things... I think it''s better if you take a look rather than me telling you." Curious, Lex scanned the Inn and was immediately startled. There was a giant humanoid rock thing meditating in a corner of the Inn, with a giant spaceship hovering over him providing him shade. It need not be mentioned that near the giant meditating rock thing, the gardener was once again crying about his ruinedndscape. Lex actually started to feel bad for the guy. "I trust there were no issues," Lex said. "None, but he insisted on meeting you. When he heard that you were busy, he paid the fees with various precious metal ores that were hanging off his body and decided to meditate till you return. He was informed that the Inn has a function that shrinksrge beings automatically if they enter a building, so he can stay inside a house or a room if he wants. But he insisted on staying outside." "Mhmm, and I assume that''s his ship,"mented Lex. He wasn''t really asking, for he had already assumed he was correct. After all, when he met Abroar, his clone had formed inside the ship, so he had not seen it from the outside and did not recognize it. "No, that was left behind by another guest, though I''m not sure why it hasn''t disappeared as well. After all, the guest used the Beyond the Grave function of the Inn, and turned into a Spirit. Or, well, as some of the guests have taken to calling him a ghost." "Is there anything urgent? Since that guest has been waiting for so many days, he won''t mind a little more time right?" "Well, nothing is urgent per se. Why, you got some ns?" "Yeah, you could say that," Lex murmured and turned his attention towards his system. He didn''t want any more screw-ups, so he had to do things properly. The first thing on his agenda was to go through the remaining notifications and see where he stood. He had gone through most of the notifications from earlier, so only a few remained. New Notification: New decoration (Hearth of Souls) has dramatically raised the prestige of the Inn New Quest: Add 5 more decorative items that build the Inn''s reputation Quest Reward: Subject to Hosts performance. New Notification: You have been Innkeeper for 1 year Reward: Commemorative fridge ma New Notification: One of your guests has used Beyond the Grave and has be a fixed resident of the Inn for 13,000[abridged] years (all excess MP converted into energy to retain the spirit). New Notification: A guest has made a payment of over 1,000,000,000,000 MP(1 trillion MP). Unlocking token shop! New Notification: A guest has made a payment with an item worth over 1 trillion MP. The item has been retained instead of converting to MP! New Notification: A guest has used Beyond the Grave, but part of his payment has been retained. Please pay the retained amount before 13,000 years so that the guest can have their full spirit duration! New Notification: A guest has be a bigger attraction than the Inn''s attractions! Do not lose face! There was genuinely a lot to unpack from all the notifications Lex got. Naturally, the first thing Lex checked was his MP. It had jumped up a lot. In fact, Lex was back in the billions with 20 billion MP! However, that did note from the trillions of MP the system was referring to, but came from Lex''s 1% of the payments Ragnar made through the Guild room for his tasks beingplete. It had to be remembered that when all of Ragnar''s tasks werepleted, Lex would gain a total of 1 trillion MP, so this was nothing. When Lex looked into where all the so-called ''trillions'' of MP that his guest had paid disappeared to, it turned out that when a guest used Beyond the Grave, once again only 1% of the total payment went to Lex. The remaining MP was changed into energy which was used to keep the new guest alive in spirit form. The reason why Lex didn''t get the 1% in this case was that, apparently, one of the items used by the guest as payment had tremendous value, and triggered a hidden feature of the Inn. When items used for payment exceeded a certain limit, instead of converting them into MP, the system would directly take the item! So now Lex had a spaceship, apparently. At the same time, he owed that guest the MP equivalent of that ship, minus the 1% he would have gotten from the total payment! Fortunately, Lex had a long time to pay the MP he owed, otherwise he didn''t know what he would do. Normally, Lex would have looked into the situation with the guest and the spaceship, for Lex had a habit of forgetting to check his rewards and notifications to favor things that were happening in the moment. But Lex had formed the resolution to do things properly this time, so he couldn''t leave things done halfway. Although he did not get the trillions of MP that had entered the system, he did unlock a new feature called the Token Shop because of it, so he looked into that. Apparently, through the Token Shop, Lex could purchase some of the tokens the system gave him out as rewards. The reason only the trillion MP mark unlocked it was simple. The cheapest avable tokens were all 1 trillion MP! Despite himself, Lex let out a sigh. The system made it really hard to feel rich sometimes. Chapter 439 Guest Registry Lex did notment for long, and instead looked into the Token shop further. Even if he couldn''t afford tokens anytime soon, that did not mean he could not look at them. As it turned out, probably due to hiscking authority, the only tokens Lex could currently see were the ones he already had: the lockdown token, service upgrade token and the 0.5 star increase token. Their functions were pretty self exnatory. The lockdown token put the Inn into a temporary lockdown, preventing anyone from entering the Inn using golden keys or doors. The lockdown wouldst as long as Lex wanted, but during the lockdown he could not make exceptions to allow certain people in or not. The service upgrade token upgraded and enhanced any service that the Inn offered and was given by the system, regardless of his authority. For example, Lex had already upgraded all his services to the maximum amount his authority would allow. But, using this token, he could upgrade one of them further. But, it was not just an upgrade, it further enhanced the service as well. How exactly it would be enhanced Lex did not know, but it did not sound bad. The 0.5 Star increase token was the easiest to understand. It raised the star rating of the Inn by 0.5, a process Lex had experienced before. As if the increase in star rating wasn''t excellent enough, the process for that increase also often allowed anyone present at the Inn to raise their cultivation or experience breakthroughs. Thest couple of times this happened Lex could not schedule it, but now with the token, Lex could decide when to use it. He could also turn it into an event, to gain more money. Yes, his inner capitalist was smiling greedily, but Lex suppressed the thoughts to focus. The tokens were great, and gave Lex an idea of the kinds of tokens he could expect in the future. Yet the prices were nothing to scoff at. Furthermore, they indicated a change Lex could expect to see in the future. To be more specific, while Lex had understood the minimum price of each token as 1 trillion MP, the listed price was actually MT! MT stood for Midnight Token, a new form of currency that the Inn would also use. Lex could exchange 1 trillion MP for 1 MT, and then use it for services that had prices in MT. Lex could also deduce that in the future, if he unlocked some services that were extremely expensive, their cost would be denoted in MT. This was a very significant matter, as it hinted at the fact that there could be other potential currencies as well when Lex reached higher levels. In a way, it made sense because the stronger a cultivator was, the greater their wealth and spending power would be. He was sure that once he raised the level of his Inn, his services would be upgraded enough to even be effective for immortals, or stronger cultivators. In that case, it would be extremely tedious to quote the high prices in MP. There was just one thing he was curious about. Based on what he experienced, once a guest made any payment using any single item worth 1 MT or more, the item would be retained instead of giving Lex the equivalent MP or MT. If that was actually the case, Lex would end up suffering a loss for while he was getting very valuable things, his system needed MP not items. It would get in the way of the system operating properly once too much MT was reced by items instead. But he didn''t know enough for now to guess. Perhaps once he reached a level where such transactions weremon, he would unlock something to aid him with this problem. Once he was done with the Token shop, Lex looked at the other rewards he got, the first of which was¡­ the Commemorative fridge ma. Even Mary, who had been hovering around his head while he checked the system leaned in to take a look. To call the ma impressive would be to lie. Lex could swear that if he didn''t know better, if he turned it around, he would see a ''Made in China'' written on it. Not that he checked the back just in case, no he was just inspecting the ma. The problem wasn''t that the ma was low quality. No, it was smooth to touch with considerable weight and impressive durability, considering that it remainedpletely unharmed in his hands even though Lex could not control his strength. The problem was that¡­ it was a miniature figure of Lex striking a rather¡­ corny pose. As a resident of New York, Lex''s mind kept jumping to the image of the Lady Liberty mas that were sold to tourists all over the city. It was just too¡­ too¡­ Lex sighed and put it away. The ma literally had no other utility. It was as if the system were making fun of him! The next reward was the Guest Registry, a reward for having the Inn get recognized by the Henali. It better be good. Guest Registry A book that can be signed by all guests who enter the Inn. The Registry automatically evaluates all the achievements the guests have aplished in their lives so far and then disys the guests'' names ranked ording to their most momentous achievements. Actual achievements are not listed. The top 1000 guests can use the Guest Registry as a spatial anchor. The top 100 guests can use it as a spiritual anchor. The top 10 guests can use it as a destiny anchor. Any guest who can retain the top spot can use the registry as a soul anchor for the same duration that they held the top position. It took a while for Lex to understand the registry''s utility, and even then, he didn''t understand itpletely. More or less, it was a way to rank the most impressive, or rather impactful, guests who had visited the Inn. Lex could not be sure how the book would rank achievements, but he knew that the term was too vague. A person scrounging up ingredients and cooking a meal could be considered an achievement based on his wealth or circumstances, while being elected president of a country was also an achievement. Clearly, one of those was more impressive than the other, but the point was evident. ''Achievements'' was too vague a term. Heck, even genocidal maniacs could consider their work as ''achievements. Moreover, the Inn did not provide any detail or rity on what the purpose of these ''anchors'' were. Lex could venture a few guesses, but there was a more practical way of finding out. Lex summoned the registry and arge, hardback book with beautiful gold illustrations on it appeared in front of Lex. It was thick, predictably, and the pages produced a satisfying and smooth creasing sound as Lex looked through them. Only taking a brief moment to appreciate the book, Lex quickly turned to the matter at hand and signed his name: Lex Williams.N?v(el)B\\jnn For a moment, nothing happened. He almost thought that the book wouldn''t work on him for some reason, but then the name disappeared, and the book automatically flipped to a new page where Lex''s name was written in the most beautiful calligraphy he had ever seen. In front of his name was a bold ''1''. The moment Lexid his eyes on the name, he felt a strange connection develop with the book, and then another, followed by two more. Since currently he was the top name, he qualified for all four of the anchors the book allowed. Yet even as he felt the anchors form, he did notpletely understand what all of them did. The spatial anchor was evident. Lex developed a strange sense for the location of the book, as if he could find it even with his eyes closed. Based on that, he suspected that whoever had that anchor would always be able to find the book, even if they were not in the realm. Lex knew that the system would not allow for such a tant security w, so he suspected that instead of letting those with the anchors locate the Minor realm where the Inn was hidden, it would allow them to travel directly to the Inn without the use of a golden key. The spiritual anchor was strange. When Lex closed his eyes, he could envision the book, and that provided him with some sort offort. Yet that seemed to be it. He was sure there was more to it, but it would be up to him to figure out the details. The destiny anchor¡­ forget it. Lex couldn''t feel anything. He had long known that matters rting to destiny were far outside his purview for the moment. The soul anchor, however, was extremely remarkable. So much so that Lex was tempted to never unveil the book at all, and keep its benefits to himself. Chapter 440 Anchors Lex gulped as he eyed the book with intense greed. This was not the kind of greed that one could shrug off, and Lex had felt it only once before when he encountered the Bangle of Narn - a bangle which had an entire gxy within, with all of its resources avable to any who wore it. Back then, epting the bangle would have put Lex at great risk, which caused him to hesitate in epting it. Yet now, there weren''t any risks. But the feeling did notst long for the system, quite unprompted, provided him with a clear exnation of how thest anchor worked. Basically, anyone who had a soul anchor in this book could find a way to continue living, even if someone murdered their body! It was basically the same method that Harry used to survive his attack. Although his body had been destroyed beyond the point where it could allow him to live, causing his soul to scatter, bits of his soul were retained in his equipment. Using those bits, Harry had been allowed to live on, until Lex could provide him with medicine to heal and regrow his soul properly. The only difference was, with the anchor, even if the body waspletely destroyed, it would allow the person to fully retain their consciousness for as long as the anchorsted. He wasn''t sure what could be done in that situation to keep oneself from dying, but it was better than nothing. It could give them time toe up with a n, or allow them to share theirst wishes or information about how they died. Honestly, no matter how many guests it would attract, Lex saw no reason why he would put this book in public instead of using it for himself. Well, that is until he saw thetest notification. New Notification: In the event of the Innkeeper''s death, the Inn and all its services will cease to work, including the Guest Registry. The Guest Registry will, therefore, be unable to revive the Innkeeper. A bucket of cold water doused all of Lex''s heated emotions, but it was to be expected. From day 1, the system had done its best to make sure it would not help Lex directly as much as possible. While it was less sessful now in doing that due to the variety of services the Inn offered, it still tried to do the same. Lex was so disappointed, in fact, that he directly teleported the book to the Midnight manor and told Mary to have it put out in front. He did not even open up a special ce for it, nor did he advertise its effects. He knew he should do that as it would only benefit him, but he was slightly bitter. Once the depression of having a ''get out of death free'' card taken away from him dwindled, Lex would properly do something about the registry. Until then, he had other things to do.N?v(el)B\\jnn The next reward was the ''Wish''. The system was automatically absorbing all divinity that belonged to the so-called ''Butter Knife God'' and using it to power the wish. Once it reached 100%, Lex could literally make a wish and it woulde true. He did not know what limitations the wish had, but that was impressive no matter what. He could already think of a few different things he would want to wish for. Well, more than a few. It was a good thing he had plenty of time to narrow down what to use it for. Now that he was finally done reading the notifications and rewards, it was time to see if he could use any of them. The guest registry was automatically excluded, and the ma had been teleported to the fridge in his apartment, despite his wish to bury it somewhere. The lockdown token was of no use to Lex at the moment, so that only left the other two tokens behind. Lex already knew what he was going to do with the 0.5 star increase token. He was going to do a full event based around it, so that only left the service upgrade token. He could potentially leave it alone until he encountered a situation where he really needed it, but to do that, he would first have to evaluate whether or not he could massively benefit from it right now. The token could upgrade any service which had been provided directly by the system, and there were quite a few of them. If Lex were to list them... The list was long, but it included: Basic and Advanced amodations(various rooms etc.), Beyond the Grave, Boulder Shrine, Chamber of Secrets, the Fishing well, the Greenhouse, the Guest Registry, the Guild Room, the Hot tub room, the Inheritance lounge, the Meditation room, the Midnight News building, the Murder Ground, the Mystery Trial, the ORR (Organic Reconstruction room), the Pro bono wing, the Recovery pod, the Recovery room, the Rumor room, the Training room and the Wine cer, among others. If the Security room counted as a service, Lex would have picked it in a heartbeat, but like many other things it counted only as a feature of the Inn, not a service, so it was not upgradable. That left him with a few various options. Meditation room was a no-brainer, for it would help in cultivation. One of the recovery services would also be a good upgrade option, as that was always a popr feature of the Inn. Boulder shrine was a good option for Lex could directly benefit if the divine essence improved. To be honest, quite a few of the services had great possibilities with an upgrade. But at the same time, there was one specific one which could not receive an upgrade normally: the Mystery trial. Although Lex himself never got around to trying it out, the Mystery trial was one of the most popr attractions at the Inn. But regardless of how popr it was, Lex could not create multiple, nor could he upgrade it as it came as a reward from the system. Technically, there were a few other services that could not be upgraded through normal means, such as Beyond the Grave, which would benefit from this token immensely. Yet for some reason, Lex felt greatly attracted to the idea of upgrading the Mystery trial. It was a gamble, but his instincts had not led him astray so far. Without giving himself the opportunity toe to his senses, Lex used the token on the trial. Chapter 441 Upcoming Festivities There was no shy disy and nothing special happened. Lex simply got a notification saying that the Mystery trial would shut down as soon as the guest currently using it would exit, and the upgrade would take a short while. Lex shrugged and turned his attention to the next token, the 0.5 star increase token. This fe here would be his main attraction to a festival Lex was nning. He checked his MP and saw that he had a little over 20 billion of it, so he could begin his nning. He opened up the event panel and began creating the event. Basically, Lex was nning a big party and interesting events for a long duration of time. Although his intentions were to genuinely create this event and hoped that it would be sessful, that was not his main goal. Lex had decided that until his own workers became strong enough to guard the Inn, he would perpetually have events happening at the Inn so he could hire external security. After all, he couldn''t hire security without creating an event first. Moreover, it wasn''t as if this event was destined to not be interesting. Lex''s original intention was to host an event based around the Fishing Well, and have a longpetition where guests tried to fish from various worlds, and even the Crystal realm. Now he had even more options. The star rank upgrade would only be one of the events of the festival, though Lex intended to focus most of his marketing on the aid that event would give to cultivation. Moreover, there was one more thing happening at the Inn he learnt from his notification: many small realms were fusing with the Inns realm. The progress had reached 96% so it would bepleted soon. Lex looked into it and learnt that the fusion would not expand the size of the original realm, but instead create a series of entrances dotted throughout the realm from which those other minor realms could be essed. As for what was in them, that remained to be seen. Yet Lex nned to integrate those realms into his festival somehow. He also had a giant spaceship now. He could definitely find use for that. Furthermore, even if Lex ran out of all other activities and ideas, he''d make the festival about card games, whether it was stuff like poker or pookmonster. Since his real purpose was the security the event provided, he could be as wild with his ideas as he wanted. He straight out spent 1 billion MP on the event, and made it 3 months long, starting one weekter. Half the allocated budget was for security, while he would use the remaining half to n the other festivities. He nned on using the star upgrade token in 2 weeks, so he''d get plenty of time to advertise for that as well. Logically, he should have waited even longer to use it to further capitalize on any guests he could attract using the boost in cultivation, but he himself did not want to wait too long before his breakthrough, and he wanted to use the opportunity provided by the star level increase to do so. The moment he started working on the event, ideas started flowing to him. He investigated the spaceship, and its capabilities so that he could know what he could do with it. Unfortunately, while he had the ship, its power source had been converted into MP. If Lex wanted to use it he would have to power it with MP. Furthermore, that was only a solution inside the Inn. If he took it out, he would need a power source. In fact, while it looked like the ship was currently flying, it was in fact being kept in the air using the Inn''s powers. Lex would need to spend 1 million MP a month just to have the ship fly and have its basic functions operating. But other than mindlessly swallowing Lex''s MP, the ship did many interesting things as well. It had remarkable medical facilities, though using them would be far from simple. Unlike the Inn''s services, which could cater to any species, these needed to be operated manually and supplied with the appropriate supplies. Moreover, how sessful a treatment would be would depend on the doctors knowledge and skill of these equipment. In summary, they seemed to be able to cater to cultivators far stronger than the one the Inns services could heal, but they required proper care instead of letting the system do the work blindly. Other than that,the ship had phenomenal life support functions,pletely self-sufficient farms and gardens, immensely powerful weapons, the ability to travel in space, the - eh, wait! Lex''s eyes gleamed! Weapons! He... he couldn''t believe it! Since the ship was an item that had been processed through the system, it was providing Lex with an urate list of all the ship''s functions, and there were definitely weapons in it! The strength and capacity of those weapons was to be determined, and like the medical equipment, would require trained personnel to use them. But it was still better than nothing. Various ideas ran through Lex''s head. Using the weapons also required proper ammunition, so it wasn''t as if they could be used immediately, but this would serve him well. He made a mental note to find the new spirit that had be a resident of the Inn and ask him in detail about the ship - using his Leo identity, of course. But he could not be distracted by random thoughts, he was focusing on the festival for now. Speaking of which, he thought of the perfect use of the ship during the festival. There was a sharp gleam that ran through Lex''s eyes as hepiled his ns for this uing event. He would not do anything half-heartedly anymore. Even if his intentions for this event were just security, he would make sure that this would be something to remember.N?v(el)B\\jnn Chapter 442 A Moment Of Peace Lex spent many hours nning out the uing event. As it turned out, holding a three month long festival was harder than it seemed. Many of the ideas he had could easily fit into just the first month, so not only did he need to find ways to stretch them out, he had to think up more ideas as well. Still, he had thought up the basic structure of how things would proceed and made room to include any ideas that he had at the moment. Yet nning out everything was only the first part. He sent the preliminary schedule of events to Mary, and had her distribute it amongst the workers so that they should also know what to expect. Moreover, a monumental task was ced before the nning department. With them, Lex shared a more detailed version of the uing festivities and told them not only to design the decoration for the Party vige for the event, as well as the other areas which would be included in the festival, but had them do research on other popr festivals on the Henali portal. It could not be denied that he was heavily influenced by earth''s cultures and traditions in everything he did, and he did not me himself for that. But it was now time to make an effort to step away, not only to be more inclusive of the norms of the Origin realm, but to understand how he could cater to them better. By the time he was done, it was alreadyte into the night, not that had any effect on the thriving nature of the Inn. Whether the Inn was lit up by the bright, artificial sun or illuminated under the soft yellow glow of the sea of skynterns, the guests were constantly on the go. Some were dining with friends, others were gambling at the colosseum, while others still were using the Inns services in ways Lex never could have imagined. Children were waging an endless war against the bunnies at the daycare area. A Krab-man and a lonely desert farmer girl were falling in love by thezy river. A patch of sentient grass and its older brother, a vine that extended under the entire Inn, were spying on different guests, learning about the universe. In a giant, floating sphere of water that Lex had created above the colosseum, a host of aquatic beasts were ying a game they called Blitz-sphere. It was basically underwater rugby. It was very soothing to watch, and Lex took a few moments to enjoy it. The Inn had grown massive while he was in the Crystal realm. He had been deprived of enjoying its subtle nuances, and only now that there was no impending chaos did he take a moment to take it all in. But, unfortunately, a moment was all he really had. He was a busy man, and the Inn wouldn''t run itself. Well, actually it would, but Lex still had work to do. "Tell me about the giant that wants to meet me," Lex said to Mary. "You didn''t exin what happened." "Not much really ''happened'' per se. When the creature appeared at the Inn it was a fumbling mess. It couldn''t even stand straight, and actually fell onto the spaceship before tumbling off. Qawain responded timely, preventing it from identally squishing some guests. Afterwards, I can only describe what it did as hyperventting, but fortunately, Qawain calmed it down. "Afterwards it began asking Qawain a bunch of questions, mostly because it did not understand most things. It did not know what the universe was, so when the Inn was introduced as a hotel for the universe, it was confused. So when Qawain started exining to it whats, star systems and gxies were, it immediately asked if it was possible to meet the owner or creator of the Inn. It was very adamant, so far as dering eternal servitude if the ''owner'' could grant him a wish. "I''m not sure what this wish is or what it wants, but a massive creature like that is hard to ignore. If he bes an employee he could be very useful, at least I think so. But it really depends on what it wants. Based on how it''s been behaving, it seems like the creature is just beginning to learn how to use its body. If I had to guess, I would say it''s a newborn, and if that''s the case, it''ll be even easier for it to get adjusted to the Inn." Lex nodded and scanned the creature, only to receive a surprise! Name: *&%error%&* Age: *&%error%&* Sex: *&%error%&* Cultivation Details: *&%error%&* Species: *&%error%&* Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Remarks: This guest looks like he''s really hard-headed! After a very, very long time, Lex encountered another guest with various errors showing up when it scanned them. Lex''s leading suspicion was that people who had errors were actually system wielders.N?v(el)B\\jnn If that was true, then this would be an amazing opportunity for Lex to ascertain the truth about it - if Mary''s guess about it being a newborn were true. He hadn''t forgotten that system wielders could steal each other''s systems to strengthen their own, the way he had done. If that was the case, this could also be a trap. But inside the Inn, Lex feared no traps, so to him, this was an important opportunity to learn the truth. If he could prove the error message was the sign of a system user, he would have finally discovered a way to discover system users. After making sure to calm down his thoughts, Lex teleported over. His confidence did not make him overlook the fact that when Mary told him that only a system was another system''s weakness, it worked both for him and against him. He was fully cognizant of the fact that anything could happen when facing a system wielder, so he entered his overdrive state before teleporting over. While it looked like Lex was going for a simple meeting, he was going over with a mindset ready for war. Chapter 443 Emotions The ever constant breeze was blowing gently over and around the rocky creature. The meadow where the creature sat in meditation was far away from the popted areas of the Inn, and so was devoid of the hustle and bustle of the popce. Instead, only the sounds of nature apanied it. Though the creature did not technically have ears, it could hear any sound that touched its rocky body. So it was not an exaggeration to say that it listened with its entire body the sound of the rustling grass, the whisper of the wind, the pping of birds'' wings and the cooing of the many doves that sat all over its rocky body. The creature did not have skin, yet it was very sensitive to the cool clouds that swam past its body. It did not have a nose, yet it could smell nature around in ways that it did not realize. There were other senses the creature had not had in its previous life, yet he felt them now. He felt the peace around him, felt the beauty awash him, felt life itself giving him a new chance that it had never even imagined. Yet for all the fortunes it had, how could it get over, in a single moment, all the lingering attachments of his previous life. With its eyes closed, it could remember clearly the summer days it spent in its previous life that were nowhere near asfortable as the meadow it now inhabited. Yet it would trade thisfort in a single beat of a heart it no longer had, for thepany it had kept in those days had been lost to it forever. In this field it had seen flowers of immeasurable beauty, yet the creature only recalled a spring it had once spent in a dirty vige, pretending to be amoner alongside the princess who he was sworn to protect. Even beaten and battered by the ordeals of life, with dirt on her face and sweat on her brow, she was more beautiful than any visage the universe could offer. What was the point of a second chance, when he was still attached to his failures in the first one? How could he satisfy the demands of the system that gave him new life, when the pain of defeat filled every fiber of his being? Again and again, itsst moments in its previous life yed in its mind. The nation was at war, the enemy was close at hand, they had prepared for battle, but everything went wrong too suddenly. Lu Bu had appeared to kill the princess within the safety of her own home, the guards were all dead, chaos had erupted. The creature remembered holding off the enemies to allow the princess a chance to escape, yet a de had run through his heart, piercing him from the back. What had happened? Who had betrayed him? What became of the princess? For all the strength and might this new body contained, the creature suffered only through an anguishedment that it could not shed tears so that it may express some of its pain. "I was told you wanted to meet with me. I hope this isn''t a bad time." A voice cut through the silence of the night, and with a jolt, woke the creature from its desperate thoughts. When the creature opened its eyes, it saw a man in the air in front of its face, as if he was standing in the clouds. His voice had not startled the creature despite its suddenness, but rather, woken it up from its depression and washed it clean of the negative emotions that had a hold on it. Seeing that the creature was not responding Lex continued. "Oh, I suppose I forgot to introduce myself. I am the Innkeeper, the owner of this humble establishment. I hope you have been finding your stay at the Inn to your liking."N?v(el)B\\jnn The creature shook its head forlornly and said, "I cannot enjoy much of anything right now." "Oh, is something wrong?" The creature did not reply immediately and only looked at the Innkeeper, a mental struggle going on in its head. It was not inexperienced or stupid. It knew that some things should be kept to itself. But it was desperate, and that desperation slowly overwhelmed the parts of its rational mind that told it to keep its secrets close to itself. "The universe¡­ it really is¡­ too big." The creature finally said, letting out what Lex could only assume was a sigh and not what it seemed, a gale. "I do not understand it. Nor do I understand this form," it said looking down at its rocky arms. "It is beyond me, and what I thought was possible. Yet I am alive and in need of answers. I was hoping that you, as someone who wields enormous strength and has created something so grand, could provide me with some answers." Lex looked into those earnest, rocky eyes. This¡­ was not what he was expecting. Even though the shape was different, in those eyes he saw a pain that was all too human. "I can only say that I will try my best to answer your questions. If your questions are sensitive, would you like to go somewhere more private before we have our discussion?" The creature nodded, and before it could get up to move, Lex teleported both of them to his office. During the Midnight games, Lex added a feature to the Inn that allowed creatures that were massive to shrink down in size automatically when they tried to enter buildings, so that they too could use all the Inn''s facilities. Otherwise, if Lex had to recreate every facility for every sized being it would end up being quite tedious. The rock creature was also surprised by the sudden change in location, and its size, but it quickly adapted. It seemed to grow even more assured in the Innkeepers power. "This¡­ is my second life," the creature began, getting right into the thick of things. Chapter 444 Reincarnation The entire Inn seemed to notice that the giant mountain creature had spontaneously disappeared. The disappearance itself had quite a mixed reaction, for some guests were relieved while others were disappointed - they were either afraid the creature would go on a rampage, or wanted the opportunity to take a picture in front of it. Most, though, didn''t care one way or another what happened to it as they thought it was quite normal to see unusual beings at the Inn. Only a short while ago there had been a dragon living at the Inn. But the creature in question itself did not care what people thought about its disappearance, nor did Lex, the person responsible for teleporting it away. The creature, instead, was solely focused on his story while Lex had his entire focus on not losing his cool. The Host Attire was once again showing its worth by preventing Lex from showing his real emotions on his face when he heard what the creature had to say. "This is my second life," the creature began. "In my first life, I was just a normal human, a soldier working for his country. I lived, I fought, I¡­ I died in that country¡­ without ever experiencing something so strange as¡­ the universe. But when I died I¡­ I don''t remember what happened. All I knew was that one moment I was dying, the next moment I was waking up with my face buried in the ground. When I picked myself up¡­ I had be this monster."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Are you sure you didn''t have any strange, unexinable encounters in your previous life? Such as some kind of magic jewelry, or discovering an ancient treasure, or entering a strange domain. Maybe you had a dream that did not really feel like a dream?" Lex was asking a question, not because he was familiar with reincarnation - he was not. It was something he had not considered too seriously, but now, with his knowledge, he knew that it was only a matter of preserving the soul. Well, there were probably a few extra steps involved that Lex didn''t know, but basically he had seen enough to believe it. No, instead, the reason he asked was that he clearly remembered how significant the event of receiving a system was for himself. He had been literally assaulted by a shooting star, after all. He was searching for any simrities whatsoever to his own experience to determine if a system was involved. This was but one of the multiple strategies he had thought of. "Ah, no, I don''t think so. I mean, I don''t remember. I was not¡­ superstitious in my past life, so even if I did have a strange dream, or encountered something unusual, I would have believed it to be a scam or trickery, and would not have paid it much mind." The creature paused to see if the Innkeeper had any more questions, but he didn''t, it continued. The only problem was, it didn''t know how to say what it wanted. "I¡­ what¡­ the thing¡­" the creature became flustered, unable to form the question that he wanted. "Do you want to ask how this happened?" Lex asked gently. "Or perhaps, is there something you want?" "No, I don''t want anything. No, I mean, yes, I do want something, but that''s not it. Was it¡­ was it even real? My past life, everything I remember, did it even happen? Can I¡­ can I go back, somehow?" Thest question was uttered using all of the creature''s strength, for in its heart, metaphorically speaking for it did not have a heart, the creature already suspected an answer. Lex contemted his words carefully before he spoke. "Do you have a name?" he asked first, his voice calm but gentle. The question also woke the creature up from its stupor, reminding it that it had yet to introduce itself. "Ming Jie! I mean, in myst life, I was called Ming Jie." "Well, Ming Jie, I''m sure everything seems very different to you right now. But as strange and fantastical as it is, some things will stay the same. Like I''m sure you know from your previous life, nothing happens without a reason. Crops will grow if you tend to them, and will die if you ignore them. Gems and precious stones can be valuable if polished, or be nothing more than a pretty rock in a child''s collection if ignored. Lightes when the sun rises, and darkness falls as the sun sets. If you eat, you will satiate your hunger, and if you do not, you will starve. Some causes and effects are moreplicated than the examples I have stated, but the principle remains the same. "Believe it or not, even as vast as the universe is, reincarnation is not so simple a matter, especially with one''s memories of the past. So, if this happened, then it was not an ident. It happened for some reason." Lex paused. He had been building up to his second probe about the system, but his own speech resulted in him having a realization about somethingpletely unrted. Everything¡­ has a reason, whether you understood it or not. Ming Jie, however, mistook his pause as the Innkeeper havingpleted what he wanted to say. "Are you saying that I reincarnated¡­ for some reason? To fulfill some grand purpose? Was it perhaps¡­ the will of God?" "Whether there is a purpose or not, only you can decide that. As for Gods¡­ I wouldn''t put too much stock in them. No, what I meant was, since your question is about your reincarnation, to get an answer, we need to understand how it is you reincarnated. For like I said, it is nomon ordeal. Only then can we begin to answer questions like if it''s possible for you to go back to your world. Though one thing, unfortunately, is almost certain. Even if you find a way to return to your own world, you will not be able to return to your old life. After all, we cannot even say for certain how much time has passed since you died." Chapter 445 The Way Of The Systems Ming Jie was not shocked by what he heard. After all, he had already had a long time to think about things before the Innkeeper arrived. It was easy to assume that he reincarnated the moment he died, for it had felt that way to him. But with this matter, he was really out of his scope. While it was a possibility that not much time had passed, it was equally possible, and even more likely, that at least some time had psed between him dying and reincarnating. Unfortunately, the mere fact that there was a possibility that not much time had psed gave Ming Jie hope, and that hope prevented him from moving on. The Innkeeper said that the answer to his questionsy in finding the reason for his reincarnation, but to him it wasn''t really a mystery. Although he did not understand where it came from, or even what its purpose was, his system literally called itself the ''Reincarnated as a Mountain'' system. This system, whatever it was, had directly resulted in his reincarnation. Moreover, it was giving him strange objectives, such as finding an optimal ce toy its foundation. Should he tell the Innkeeper about it?N?v(el)B\\jnn "If I¡­ if we figure out how it happened, even if I can''t go back to the way things were, can I at least find a way to go back to my¡­ to that ''?" Lex paused and thought carefully about what he should say. The conversation veered into domains that he knew little about. After all, how was he supposed to trace what Ming Jie was from? Sure, given time, Lex would spread the Inn''s read far and wide. But how far was the that Ming jie was from? If he had to rely on chance, how long would it take? "It is not so straightforward. After all, we do not even know what '' you are from or where it is. I''ll be honest with you, going back will not be a simple thing. But, if my suspicions are correct, it''s not the ce that you long for, is it?" Ming jie did not answer, but the answer was certain. "I''ll be direct with you, going back or finding the people you''re searching for will not be easy. In fact, even if there is an opportunity, the only way you''ll seize it is by bing stronger, much stronger." Lex did not want to lie to Ming Jie, but most likely, even if he ever found his previous again, it would take so long that whoever he was searching for would be dead. As far as Lex knew, once a person dies, their soul dissipates. But he''d seen enough of the universe to know that he shouldn''t say anything with absolute certainty, because reality had a way of flipping it on your head. What if there really was an afterlife? Or what if there was a domain where all souls go to after people die? Heck, what if there was a heaven and hell system that collected souls from all over the universe? These were things that Lex couldn''t possibly know, at least for the moment. But as time went by, and he grew stronger and his reach expanded, he was sure he woulde in contact with them. So it wouldn''t necessarily be a lie if Lex said that one day, he could provide Ming Jie with the answers he wanted. But, and it may seem selfish to say this, what incentive did Lex have to help him? He could do it out of the goodness of his heart, for it wasn''t costing Lex anything, but from the day Lex founded the Inn, he knew that this wasn''t something he could start doing. After all, why help Ming Jie and not others? And if he started helping everyone he came across in need, Lex himself would be overwhelmed and be in need. "Grow stronger?" Ming Jie asked in confusion. Of course he didn''t understand. He''d never encountered cultivation. The only way he knew of growing stronger in his previous life was exercise, which would not nearly be enough. "Yes, grow stronger," Lex affirmed. "In the universe, there are ways of transcending the station of your birth, and bing an overlord capable of swimming even in stars. It is known as cultivation, and it is a path open for the smallest of ants to the simplest of humans, though finding a suitable path may be harder for some than others. If you discover what caused your reincarnation, you could potentially also embark on the cultivation path." Lex paused and looked at Ming Jie in the eyes as he absorbed the information he was providing. "Of course, if you follow the path set for you through your reincarnation, it may lead you in a direction unfit for your goals. After all, what you want is the strength to look for your loved ones, but what the ''system'' wants may be something else." Lex observed Ming Jie carefully as he spoke. This was yet another one of his probes. If Ming Jie really was a system wielder, the mention of a system may rm him and cause a reaction, or may even make him think systems weremon knowledge and may openly admit to it. It was a vulnerability he possessed due to hisck of experience and knowledge of the universe. Yet if he was not a system wielder, Lex could easily exin that by system he was referring to the cycle that caused his reincarnation. After all, there was a very real possibility that this had nothing to do with a system. Lex still did not truly understand the depths of the universe, as had be evident by his recent failures. This was not thest probe that Lex had nned, but was definitely one of the more direct ones. Time seemed to slow down for him as he waited for a reaction. Mind Jie did not disappoint. He had been looking down at his hands, lost in thought, but the mention of ''system'' caused face to snap up, locking eyes with the Innkeeper. Chapter 446 Spreading News While Lex and Mind Jie were having a conversation in his office, news of the uing event had already begun to spread. How could it not, when Lex himself set all the gears in motion? He paid for the event, activated the marketing, informed the workers and distributed responsibilities. But while all the responsibilities and tasks should have gone to his workers, there was one exception that also received orders - albeit, in a more roundabout manner than the workers themselves. In the cold, dark void of space, a massive vessel moved silently in a straight line. This was an unusually empty region of space. There were no star systems nearby, no asteroids or space rocks, nothing. In fact, this particr region of space was far from everything and near nothing. Even whenmuting to regions of space beyond it, there was no reason for a ship to roam these parts without using Hyper-speed. Allmon sense indicated that there was no reason for this ship to be here, yet it moved forward with purpose. It was arge vessel, and a keen observer would notice the signs of it being freshly minted. It wasn''t just the smooth and clean exterior that had not seen hundreds of years of age that gave away the vessel''s age, but also the distinctck of disturbance it created in the surrounding spirit energy, as thin as it was. This wasn''t really modern technology, just that as a ship aged it would be harder and harder to maintain it regardless of the resources one had. Some deterioration in performance was unavoidable. On the bridge, themander of this ship wore an extremely grim expression, and though he had his arms folded behind his back in a seemingly casual manner, his fists had been clenched tight. Silently, and without warning, the ship crossed an invisible veil and disappeared from view to the rest of the universe. Within the veil, though, was a massive space station the size of a small moon. Hundreds of vessels had been parked wherever they found free terminals, and thousands more seemed to hover in space waiting for their turn. But the new vessel did not wait for a turn, and immediately went to a specific terminal that nobody else seemed to venture near. In the vacuum it was impossible for noise to travel, yet a buzz seemed to fill the area nheless as everyone''s eyes turned to the ship and in hushed tones whispered, "Booty has returned." Yes, first mate Booty of the Iron Heart pirates, who had been rumored to have left the pirating life behind to instead be a marketing agent, had voluntarily returned home. This was bound to create a buzz, after all, who didn''t know that first mate Booty was the captain''s favorite? Yet the news of his betrayal had not had any reaction whatsoever. Now his return sprouted only new rumors. What was really going on? Booty cared for none of it. He only looked forward as he stood still on a segway that seemed to lead him deep inside Heart Station. Eventually he arrived in a dark room where he stepped off and bowed towards the darkness, his suede jacket pressing firmly against his chest. "You have finally returned. Are you here to take my head?" "Never, captain!" Booty shouted, sweat pouring down his pale face. "Then why have you returned? I thought you left the pirating life behind. You were too good for it, anyway." "Captain, I¡­ I brought news! There''s finally hope for you¡­ for you to enter the immortal realm!" A golden key appeared in Bootys hands as he began to exin about the uing festival and, more importantly, about the star rank increase. Due to his excellent performance in marketing previously, Lex made a special mention to his workers to give the job to Booty again. Little did he know that instead of spreading the news, he had returned to the real Captain of the Iron Heart pirates. She sat in the darkness, hidden from view. Her identity had to remain a secret at all costs. As if being a pirate wasn''t enough, if people were to learn who the captain was, there would be no sanctuary left where the Jotun Empire had influence. In another part of space, a devil appeared in front of Lorretta, sharing the same news. A breakthrough in cultivation was too great an attraction to overlook. Elsewhere, Ragnar was reading an emergency report. For once, hesitation appeared in his eyes. If he had a breakthrough, he''d be in closed cultivation for months, if not years. Was this really the time? In a med center on the gctic battlefield, an injured Alexander received new orders. His efforts had paid off. The Empire would invest in him, and help him re-cultivate from scratch, and his new journey would begin at the Inn. In the Crystal realm, Rnd returned to share the news with Aegis. No matter what his personal decision was, this was not something he should overlook. On Earth, the oracle Vera Joel was desperate to find a way to return to the Inn, but her jailors had finally caught on and regrly searched her and others to make sure they had no keys. But how could she exin that for her, it was not just about gaining an opportunity, but escaping a catastrophe? If only her visions were more regr. In the realm Garvitz, some devils had returned to provide a report. Warheil Heil Fednal, the devil solely responsible for creating the zombie demons, smiled. It was an opportunity for his children to grow. An agent of the Henali who had been stationed at the Inn quickly retreated to deliver the news. Though, unlike the rest, this agent had no urgency. He worked for the overlords of the entire realm. Compared to them, how truly helpful could the Inn''s festival really be? Unbeknownst to Lex, who was going through revtions of his own, his festival that he only used for security was about to be far more sessful than he could have imagined.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Chapter 447 Payment There was silence in the room as the two looked at one another. The Innkeeper was as calm and stoic as ever, while Ming Jie was having rapid mood swings. First there was rm, for he thought he had revealed a secret he was meant to keep close to himself. Then there was panic, as he realized that even if the secret hadn''t been revealed, his reaction might have tipped off the Innkeeper. Then there was ambivalence, as the Innkeeper was not showing any reaction at all whatsoever, which led Ming Jie to wonder if he was over-thinking things. A part of himself was also admonishing himself. He was not an inexperienced man, but his extreme emotions had made him vulnerable, otherwise he would not have made such a basic mistake. But what he needed to decide now was how to react. The Innkeeper did not seem at all perturbed by the knowledge that he had a system, so maybe it wasn''t a big deal at all. He spent a few more moments to collect himself and then recalled what it was the Innkeeper had even said. Finally, filled with hesitation, Ming Jie asked, "What do you mean by a ''system'' wanting something else?" The focus was back on Lex, and so was the pressure. While initially he was probing, and had the discretion to lead the conversation in a different direction should Ming Jie not respond to his system aboutments, he was the one being questioned now. He had been reassured, for Ming Jie''s reaction was a strong indicator that he was a system wielder, he had not admitted it outright. If Lex chose to imply that by system he meant the cycle of reincarnation, he would lose out on the possibility of exposing Ming Jie. But if he continued and exined about systems as he knew them, but Ming Jie did not have a system, it would make the Innkeeper look like he didn''t know what he was talking about. It was a delicate situation, but Lex was not too perturbed. The reason was simple: he would only need to care what his perception was if they were conversing as equals, which they were not. Ming Jie was an uninformed, lost soul while the Innkeeper was a mysterious and powerful entity. Even if the conversation went in a direction that might make the Innkeeper look imperceptive, he could spin the conversation by saying Ming Jie was too low level to understand what he meant. "Systems are interesting entities. They wield enormous power, and even provide unimaginable assistance to their wielders. But, and this is the important part, to gain that assistance, you have to y by the system''s rules. You have to follow the direction they set, and march ording to their beat if you want their rewards. If you want to retain control, or even your identity, you have to be very careful about how you y along."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Lex paused to see if Ming Jie had anything to say, but the Mountain-man was silently absorbing all that Lex had said, so he continued. "Of course, having a system is not in of itself a bad thing. Like I said, as long as they are used carefully, they can provide you with immense shortcuts, and that can be the key to your growth. If you want to cultivate without it, you will have to search for a cultivation method for your new species first. It shouldn''t be too hard, I''m sure it exists, and you could even use the Inn''s services to look for one. But how much you''d have to spend to sessfully find one, and moreover find one that is actually stable and even suits you, is a question you''d have to discover the answer for on your own." Lex was extremely tempted to directly ask, or at least hint at his curiosity at what Ming jie''s system was. But he had to remind himself that he had to maintain an aloof image. Systems were beneath him. The Innkeeper had no need for systems. That was the image he had to maintain. Ming Jie ran through all the various options in his head. Without the system he might not be able to get a suitable cultivation technique, whereas with the system he could cultivate but would have to act ording to the system''s requirements. After a while, Ming Jie asked, "Is there a way for me to turn back into a human?" Lex was genuinely stumped by the question. Was changing species even possible? Well actually, Ming Jie had aplished it somehow, so surely it was. "That is not so simple. But, like I told you before, once you grow stronger and your cultivation reaches a high enough level, you''ll be able to do things you can''t even imagine right now." "What if I give up my system? Will that change me back?" Pure excitement ran through Lex''s mind as he finally got the confirmation he was looking for, but his expression was still the same. "Do you have reason to believe that your system is what''s keeping you in your current form?" "Yes, it''s called the "Reincarnated as a Mountain system''. What if I get rid of it? What if I give it to you? Can I turn back into a human?" Ming Jie didn''t know the worth of a system, but since it had immense power it was surely valuable. If he could give the system as payment for the Innkeepers help, that would make things incredibly convenient. Besides, since it would take growing stronger to get what he wanted, wasn''t an easier solution to just ask someone who is already strong for help? And who better than this mysterious Innkeeper to ask for help? He was ready to give up on all his shortcuts if that''s what it took. Lex, on the other hand, did not respond immediately. The temptation to absorb another system was great, but he couldn''t bring himself to kill an innocent man just to get it. If he was giving it of his own ord, however¡­ "Mary, can I take his system without killing him?" Chapter 448 Secrets "Mary, can I take his system without killing him?" Lex asked mentally as he observed Ming Jie. "If the system has not fused with his soul yet, it should technically be possible to extract it without killing him. But you would have to check his soul for that first." Before he continued, Lex used his connection to the Inn delivered through the chair to scan the library of the Inn. The first batch of techniques had been delivered by the Infinity Emporium, and Lex looked through them for any and all soul rted techniques. Though they were not many in quantity, it was only a rtive number. He easily found quite a few he could use right now if he learned them, and even more that would be avable to him once he reached the Golden Core realm. It was not a big deal if Lex had Ming Jie wait a bit before answering him, but the more important question to answer was¡­ "Assume we can extract the system. Will it turn him back into a human?" "This¡­ it''s not a question that I can easily answer. But based on the name of the system, it only helped him reincarnate as a Mountain, and is not keeping him in that state. Based on that logic, even if the system is removed, he should stay in his current form." "That''s what I feared." Lex reached the same conclusion on his own, but he wanted to ask Mary anyway in case she knew something more about systems. Although he had gotten an answer, Lex did not rush to reply to Ming Jie. He was considering the possibility of another option. The result of his previous risk with the Henali had made him reluctant to take risky actions. Yet at the same time, only by taking risks could he get maximum rewards.N?v(el)B\\jnn "Mary, if I make him my employee, can I make his system a subsidiary of mine? Moreover, will he be able to find out that I have a system?" "Him bing an employee will have no effect on his system whatsoever. But there is a chance that his system will have a reaction to your system, the way yours shows error messages apparently for other system users. It all depends on the rating of his system. The closer the systems rank to yours, the more likely it is to have a reaction. In fact, even if it''s not close, because the Midnight Inn is not running at 100% functionality, and seems to be broken or damaged, chances are that his system will pick up on yours. If your system were running at full capacity, because of its high rating, most systems of lower ranks wouldn''t be able to detect it at all." That was both disappointing and rming. It was disappointing because Lex really wanted to upgrade his system further somehow, but he didn''t want to get into the business of killing innocent people. It was rming because John was a system user and had been at the Inn for a long time. He didn''t know if it was such a good idea to continue having him work here if it could endanger Lex''s own secrets. But first he had to deal with the matter at hand. A few moments had passed since Ming Jie asked the question, and he was waiting anxiously for a reply. "Most likely," Lex finally began to reply slowly, "even if the system is removed, you will stay as you are. That is because the system was only responsible for reincarnating you like this, not keeping you this way." Ming Jie was disappointed because it seemed like the only possible option for him would be to follow along with his system. "Going along with your system does not have to be a bad thing," Lex said, changing the conversation. Since he couldn''t get the system, he had to make sure to build a rtionship so he could keep a tab on Ming Jie. "You just have to be careful how you interpret the direction it''s taking you in. They can be more flexible than they seem. I will only give you two pieces of advice. First, do not be impatient. I don''t doubt that you''re in a hurry to grow stronger to achieve your goals, but cultivation is not a path that can be tread lightly. A single mistake can cost you immensely. Second, do not share the knowledge of your system with anyone. They are not asmon as you may think, and not everyone will be as disinterested as I." "Thank you, I will keep your advice and your guidance in mind," replied Ming Jie as he stood up. Even he understood that their conversation was at an end. What he needed to do now, before making any decisions, was take some time and calm down. He needed his emotions to stabilize so that he wouldn''t make any rash decisions. Lex teleported him out to a secluded spot, though he was still visible from far and wide. Lex had to absorb all the new information he just received and decide how he would use it in the future. But first, he sat and mused over the recent realization he had. While exining things to Ming Jie, in particr when he was mentioning that everything happens for a reason, even if you may not be able to understand the reasons, a random thought urred to Lex. What if him getting the system was not as ''random'' as it appeared? Well, the truth was, Lex didn''t actually believe for even a second that the system which could cause teleportations across the universe would ''stall'' and identally fall to him. But this time his thoughts went further. What if the secret his family was keeping was the reason the system had fallen, or perhaps even chosen him? This was wild spection, for he didn''t expect his family to have toorge of a secret. He imagined something more along the lines of him not being their actual child and his parents being forced to adopt him for various reasons or something like that. But what if it wasn''t? He knew it was pointless asking Mary, for she would only say he didn''t have the authority to know. But he began to wonder nheless. Chapter 449 Manipulating The System Lex sat in his office ruminating over the systems intentions. He had not lied when he told Ming Jie that he had to be careful about following the systems direction, for the system would endlessly push him towards its own goals, but Lex had experienced first had how getting in over his head had caused him problems. Other than that, he also thought about the problem regarding his family. He was more than inclined to just ignore them, but just because he ignored them did not mean any problems they could cause would ignore him. Yet at the same time he was not in the mood to go face them, or investigate himself. He also didn''t want to use his resources at the Inn to investigate, because he did not know if the system had any rtion to them. It was a headache all around. Come to think of it, it had been many months since hest saw, or even spoke to his family. He was sure that they would have noticed his absence by now, and would have picked up his anomalous behavior as ofte. Going back now might lead to a confrontation, which was a separate issue. In the end, he sighed. This was not an issue he would solve any time soon. He also didn''t want to discuss it with Mary. It wasn''t that he didn''t trust her, but he felt talking to her about any suspicions he had regarding the system would be redundant. He''d heard the answer she''d given enough times to know how that would end. Instead, he turned his attention to the next issue on the list. It was one that had gued the Inn for a long time, but one he didn''t get around to solving, not only because he was extremely busy, but because there wasn''t a clear solution to it either. "Mary, I''m sure you already know this, but people have been using the Inn''s teleportation ability to cause a lot of harm. How can we fix this?" "Gaining control over the teleportation function of the System requires a higher authority," she said, with a hint of desperation in her voice. "We can''t wait for a higher authority," Lex said as he perused the system interface. "Criminals and terrorists are using the teleportation feature in sensitive areas, using the Inn as a hideout, and then teleporting back at the most inopportune moments to cause chaos. If this kind of behavior is allowed to continue, it will not only ruin the Inn''s reputation, but earn us a lot of unnecessary enemies." More than Mary''s reply, Lex waited in anticipation for a system notification. He had long noticed how the system had a tendency to react to his conversations as long as they had anything to do with the Inn, but this was the first time he was actively trying to use it for his direct benefit. The system, fortunately, stayed true to its previously set pattern. New Quest: The Host''s attention to detail has spotted problematic behavior with some guests. Devise a holistic solution to the given problem. Rewards: Temporary authority to adjust teleporting permission, Fruit Knife upgrade material Remarks: Some people, with great attention to detail, would also notice themselves having horrendous hairstyles. "Rather than stressing about how, think of possible solutions first. What if the system checks if the location of teleportation is public property, or belongs to the guest teleporting. If they''re teleporting to the Inn from a private ce, like someone else''s home, or say a secure facility, when they get sent back they''re teleported to the nearest public space." "There are too many ways that could go wrong. There are countlesss with toxic environments, and I''m sure many guests want to maintain their anonymity. What if changing their teleportation location sends them into a ce with toxic fumes, ornds them in front of an enemy who is just crossing a random street. The probability is low, but it''s also inevitable." "Well, keep thinking of possible solutions. The only other thing I can think of at the moment is to prevent people from teleporting to the Inn if their location is problematic somehow. But that in itself is hard to judge." After excusing Mary, Lex teleported away. The system''s remark reminded him about Harry, so he decided to check up on him. In his private room, a pale-looking Harry was holding Hailey''s hand and softly talking to her. He had woken up a few days ago, and his soul had recoveredpletely, mostly due to the fact that the medicine used was meant for someone much stronger than him to begin with. The problem was his body. Although he had healed, his vitality was critically injured. It could not keep itself running for even a moment if he was taken out of the Recovery pod. Fortunately, all was not bad, and Harry had an idea of how to remedy the situation. There was a soft knock on the door, attracting the couple''s attention. They were not surprised, for countless visitors had paid short visits to check on Harry''s health, from other workers to regr clients of Harrys. Hailey opened the door and saw a rather handsome looking man standing politely at the door. She did not recognize him as the Innkeeper, for she had not seen him before, but she invited him in, nheless. "My apologies for myte arrival." the Innkeeper said as he walked in the room. "I believe I also still owe you a wedding present." "Innkeeper!" Harry was startled and tried to get up but the Innkeeper quickly dissuaded him. "Don''t get up, you need to rest. I came to check up on your condition. I am very ashamed that you had to suffer such grievous wounds at the Inn." "No, no, it''s not your fault, and you don''t have anything to be ashamed of. If anything, I should be grateful. Nurse Jubtion informed me of how you personally had some medicine for me sent over." "It seems I did not send over enough medicine," the Innkeeper mentioned as he observed Harry''s weak physical condition. "Worry not, I will have something arranged. You''ll be back to full health in no time." "No, Innkeeper, you don''t need to do that. In fact, I have been meaning to reach out to you myself. I want to build a Serenity pond, it''s something I learned about from the Sorcery heritage you provided me with. With it, I''ll be able to ovee my current situation on my own, and then I can even use it as a service I offer to guests." "Say nothing of it. I''ll send Luthor over, and you need only inform him of what you need." "Thank you Innkeeper, I''ll prepare the list immediately." "Be sure to rest well and recover quickly. You have done a great service to the Inn. Once you''vepletely healed, I''ll deliver your wedding present to you. You can look forward to it." Lex left immediately after. He could tell that his presence was forcing Harry to be more energetic than he could afford, and he did not miss picking up on the faint disapproval Hailey felt for him. She did not show it, and had only silently stood in the corner while they talked, but could Lex be unable to detect it? Even if it wasn''t for his incredible senses, the Host Attire made him even more sensitive to anything that was happening at the Inn. Well, he couldn''t me her. Not only had he missed their wedding, but Harry had nearly died protecting his Inn. It was only natural to develop a negative opinion about him. That was not taking into consideration the fact that whoever liked their spouses boss? He sent Luthor a message to have him collect the list from Harry and help him wherever he could, before he scanned the Inn for the next target he wanted to meet. While Ming Jie had attracted a lot of attention, and may seem like the most noteworthy guest that had arrived during his previousa, there was one more guest that required his attention: the new spirit! Not only did Lex want to greet this new permanent resident of the Inn, he even needed his help to figure out how to control the spaceship! Speaking of which, he should probably hire a permanent crew for the ship who can specialize in how to use it? He looked up at the massive ship and wondered how many people it would take to run that thing. It was several hundred miles just in length, and covered almost the entire length of the Inn with its shadow. Lex shook his head and hired a single new worker for now - the person who would captain the ship. "Cirk reporting for duty, sir!" said a tall, pale man with dark hair who appeared next to Lex. "Cirk, you''ll be captain of that ship up there," Lex said, pointing up in the sky. "Nowe on, you''ll need to learn how to use it."N?v(el)B\\jnn Chapter 450 Tuition Fee Beyond the Grave was an extremely broken ability that the Inn had gained, in Lex''s opinion at least. While it did notpletely revive a dying person, it allowed them to continue to exist, at least in some form, for a limited duration of time. When Lex first read about it, one of the fears he had was that once this became widely known, the Inn would have more ghosts than actual guests. After all, people die every day, and if they discover a way to continue to live, even if it was for a short time, he expected many people would avail it. Yet his worries seemed unlikely, at least for the moment. This was due to the fact that the only guest who had used the ability so far had spent an enormous amount of money - a truly stupendous amount - and gotten 13,000 years. Most people, even if they were considered wealthy, probably could not match the wealth of this guest, so the amount of time they would stay would be rtively short. Still, this increased the pressure on Lex to yet again increase the size of the Inn, and maybe create a specific zone that would ''attract'' his spirit residents, for he couldn''t really force his guests to stay in a specific area. For that, first, he had to learn about spirits. Fortunately, the Inn was now connected to the Henali portal which had allowed him to conduct a search earlier on. The first thing that came to one''s mind when someone said the term ''spirit'' was one of the three fundamental aspects of living beings. Spirit, when mentioned in the context of living beings in general, is what provides them with the ability to think and behave in certain ways. So then, what does it mean to exist as a spirit, or be from the spirit race? The answer was closer to Lex''s original assumption of ghosts than he had originally realized. Spirits, or the spirit race, was a generic term used for beings which only had a soul and spirit, but no body. There were further specifications, for not all spirits were the same or had the same attributes. But as far as the Inn''s ability was concerned, it referred to the mostmon kind of spirit. They had no real shape, and were mostmonly perceived as being balls of translucent sentient energy. Various professions such as oracles, prophets, mystics and such oftenmunicated with spirits for various tasks, for their ability to interact with energy without the energy changing form due to passing through a body gave them special insight and abilities. Generally, they could pass through any physical barriers, as they were nothing more than an umted clump of energy. Theymunicate telepathically, though they could still ''hear'' what other beings were saying due to the disturbance their voices caused in the ambient energy. They did not have the typical senses of touch, sight, hearing, etc. but rather a collection of their own senses based on energy fluctuations. Different spirits were formed of different energy types and usually stayed in areas dense with that specific kind of energy. Lex revised all this information in his mind as he scanned the Inn for the new spirit, and found it in an extremely remote corner of the Inn. In fact, let alone guests, there weren''t even any birds or small animals in the area.N?v(el)B\\jnn Clearly he wanted to be alone, but Lex couldn''t afford to wait so he would have to intrude. He and Cirk teleported away, appearing at a patch of open areacking most trees and bushes. It was just grass and some wild flowers, far from any road or path. A grayish translucent ball was hovering in the air just above the ground, not moving at all. Lex scanned the ball to see what he could learn about the guest. Name: Abroar Kashinga Lai¡­(click to expand)... Jameel Age: 0 Cultivation Details: None Species: Spirit Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Remarks: Once a giant gray thing, now not a thing at all. Still gray, though. Lex was surprised, but not by much. He had been expecting Abroar to show up at some point, and even suspected that he was the one who might have arrived. He just didn''t expect that unusually sentimental guy to be so wealthy. "I''m d to see you could make it," said Lex. "Although it''s quite unfortunate that you were brought to such a state to begin with." "I must do what is necessary for my race¡­ my former race," Abroar replied, his voice echoing in both Lex''s and Cirk''s mind. "At least this way I can also watch over one of the few remaining members of my race as it grows. I can also teach it and give it guidance. Hopefully, I willplete my mission and rid us of our enemies before the young one has to face them." "It might not seem like much to you," began Lex, remembering that Abroar had originally been over 800,000 years old. "But you have at least 13,000 years at the Inn to use. Hopefully, you''ll have enough time toplete your tasks by then." "Indeed, I hope. I am also grateful to you, Innkeeper. Were it not for your guidance, I would not have even had this refuge." "I hope you find the Inn to your liking during your stay. We have many activities going on here all the time, so I''m sure you''ll be entertained. I also n on adding some features to better cater to spirits soon. When the time arrives, please give me an honest review." "I have no doubt that they will be magnificent." "I will try," replied Lex with a smile. "I hate to bother you when you have just arrived, but I was wondering if I could get some of your assistance with a matter." "Please, do not hesitate to pass orders. I have yet to fully repay you for your grace of extending my life." "There''s no need to talk of repayment, you have already paid sufficiently for your time here. Consider this as doing me a small favor. This here behind me is Cirk, I n for him to be the captain of the ship you have given me. I would appreciate it if you could teach him as much as possible about the ship." "Consider it done! I will oversee his education myself, and will assist him until he ispletely proficient in every aspect of the ship." "Excellent. If possible, teach him as much as possible about the basics as you can in a week. I''m nning on using the ship during an event, though don''t worry too much as the ship''s involvement will be minimal. At the same time, I''m sending you some MP as well. Since you''re going to be living here, and there''s a festivaling up, you''ll need it." Lex sent Abroar 200 million MP, for now. While it may seem like an absurd amount, it had to be remembered that Abroar was basically teaching Cirk how to pilot a massive spaceship! Lex honestly expected it to be a few years before a crew was ready to properly pilot the thing, so this was only the beginning. Considering how useful the ship would be to Lex in the long run, this was barely eptable as tuition money. Lex was about to continue the conversation, but something happened which caused Lex to apologize promptly and teleport away. Cork and the gray floating ball were left alone, quite suddenly, possibly looking at each other. It felt awkward, because Cirk didn''t even know if the ''ball'' of energy was looking back at him Moreover¡­ "So uhh¡­ can the ship beam us up or something? I''m not sure how else to get up there. I can''t really fly." ***** Lex had teleported back to his apartment and quickly sat down with his legs crossed in the meditation room. His cultivation was causing him issues! This was the first time Lex experienced such a thing, mostly because of how stable Regal Embrace was. Every other cultivator had plenty of experience with these things, mostly because their cultivation techniques were never able to stabilize spirit energy to the same level as Regal Embrace. Still, even when he was experiencing problems, his problem was extremely unique. His body and Foundation were too exquisite, naturally pushing his cultivation to the next level. Sure, Lex could break through right now and it would be a smooth breakthrough, but his instincts told him that breaking through when the star rating is being increased will benefit him greatly. So, while other cultivators struggled to maintain their cultivation and keep it from causing problems within their bodies, Lex had to struggle with his cultivation to keep it from naturally increasing. It was a lot harder than imagined, and left Lex physically and mentally exhausted. He had to wait 2 more weeks before he could breakthrough, and something told him it would be a long wait. Chapter 451 1 Week The following week was both extremely long and unbelievably short for Lex. The system took care of so many aspects of each event for Lex that he really had no trouble hosting an event, yet at the same time that ease is what got in the way of making an event perfect. Since Lex, as well as all the workers, were so used to the system doing all the work, they never really put any thought into putting in that extra bit of effort to push them from great to mind blowing. This time though, Lex wanted to focus on not only all the small details to make it perfect, he had to make sure there were no issues either. Moreover, while a grand spectacle was good to amuserge crowds, he wanted his guests to experience being personally involved as well. The first thing that was required was the nning division''s research on events in the Origin realm. As it turned out, due to the nature of cultivation, and the longevity that it brings, all events were usually paced out and happened over long periods of time. Moreover, there was a clear period of momentum that the festival would build up during that long time, culminating in the perfect finale. In an ideal scenario, that grand finale should have been the peak of the festival but for various reasons Lex could not afford to do that. Still, all was not at a loss for Lex still found a way to spin things. The idea of an event, or a festival focused around cultivation was not new, and while all the events in them had to do with distributing cultivation resources and breakthrough opportunities, in contrast to Lex''s event that was full of carnival style activities, they also had a clear pattern Lex could follow. The higher the cultivation, the longer period each person would spend in retreat after each breakthrough. In that case, a 3 month event was ideal. In fact, it could even be longer depending on cultivation levels. There were precedents for events thatsted years and even decades!N?v(el)B\\jnn Of course, they also had a long waiting time so that everyone could adequately prepare for them. So, with that in mind, Lex started designing various abodes for the perfect cultivation retreats. Normally, a meditation room would suffice, but when spending weeks or even months in retreat, it wasmon to have arger area, even a mansion that afforded both an ideal cultivation environment as well as a peaceful and calm ambiance to soothe the mind. The nning division brought Lex hundreds of examples, and he began working on them immediately. One of the more popr options was a cultivation cave, for whatever reason. Built into the side of a mountain, it gave the illusion of a sturdy and secure base where one can retreat without worry. While the interior was well designed for functionality andfort, from the outside its entrance would bepletely hidden. Not only did Lex design them, he designed multiple iterations of them so that guests could choose whateveryout they preferred. Next were mansions with thick boundary walls and multiple gardens and courtyards inside, filled with fruit trees and beautiful flowers. Penthouses were also pretty popr. Lex did not want to build multiple highrises just to build penthouses, so he directly created penthouses in the sky at various levels. Not only were they filled with high tech equipment and luxuries, they could be turned invisible from the outside. There were dozens more abode styles such as on the ground, underneath the ground, in the water, camouged, moving etc. that Lex designed. They also provided Lex with a newer understanding ofmon cultivators, which was that they were an insecure bunch. He couldn''t me them, he himself was always worried about being attacked as well. Maybe they were not so different. While doing this, Lex also increased the size of the Inn by a massive 100,000 acres for 1 billion MP! While the newly addednd was mostly empty, it was not going to be that way for long! Lex added rolling hills, ins, teaus,kes and more. The massive size ofnd seemed pretty small when he started adding such massive physical features, but he had to do the bare minimum. That was because, soon, the new Minor realms would finish attaching to the Midnight Inn. Lex had already checked what the result of that would be. Their physicalnd would not get added to the Inn, nor would they be domains of the Inn. Instead, an opening to each Minor realm would randomly be avable throughout the Inn. Lex did not know the exact number of Minor realms, but he suspected they should be less than 100,000, right? That way, there would be one opening every few acres, which would be enough for a secret hunt. While Lex would not be able to control the Minor realms, he would have perfect control over their entrances. Therefore, his n was to keep them shut and slowly start opening them when he started an event where guests would be allowed to explore the Minor realms, at their own risk of course. But first, they would have to look for the entrances, which Lex nned on hiding! While he was at it, Lex hid numerous treasures and small rewards all across the Inn''s terrain. Thest time he did this, Lex could hide naught but bottles of Bom dew and a few other rewards. Now, however, Lex hid anything and everything avable. From weapons to foods to MP packets to special tokens that awarded free stays at the various rooms the Inn had avable to more, Lex turned the Inn into a massive treasure horde! Of course, these treasures he hid a little more carefully. He wouldn''t tell anyone about them either. Luck would y a role in deciding who got what. While doing all of this, Lex had tobat his own progressing cultivation, and it was definitely a battle. It was in those moments where he learned the meaning of desperation. It reminded him of an old memory, where he needed to use the restroom really badly, but there was none avable for another 10 minutes. Each and every second back then hadsted an eternity, so much so that Lex was still traumatized by the event. Now, he was going through another version of that. Chapter 452 Decor The preparations for the festival went far beyond preparing a few abodes and expanding the regions - speaking of which, he allocated a 100 acres tnds far from all current attractions and gave it exclusively to the Gardener so he could finallyplete hisndscaping artwork. Of the numerous other tasks, both minor and significant, that Lex did, decorating the Inn was one which required more of Lex''s time than anything. The Inn had to look both festive yet at the same time calming and beautiful.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Making the Inn look mirthful was obviously important, for the festivities would feel iplete otherwise. Yet, since cultivation was a big theme as well, an environment which soothed the mind was imperative. After all, cultivation, while sometimesfortable and rxing, could also be strenuous and overwhelming. As such, it was extremely important to maintain a calm and collected state of mind. While most of that work would obviously be undertaken by the cultivator themselves, creating an environment conducive to the task was the bare minimum one could do. As such, they decided that dense poption areas would be decorated ording to the ongoing activities, but the further one got from ces such as the vige and Main street, the more soothing the environment would be. This was the area where the nning division''s prowess showed. While Lex would have ended up recreating decor derived from Earthen culture, they incorporated ideas from multiples. Lights were hung up across buildings, though they were not connected through wires or actually connected to the buildings. Using some advanced technology from the Veguss, an invisible pathway wasid out over all the buildings along which the colorful lights flowed like water traveling down a stream. Only, they were not limited to just different colors. Beautiful designs and patterns were intricately formed, changing at random as they traveled across the buildings and streets. Immersive tags were created which would be passed out to the guests, and depending on where they were and what activities they were watching or participating in, they would see different decor and hear different music. Two people standing side by side who were focused on separate events would have differing experiences in every sense! Recalling some of his education from back at the academy at the Crystal realm, Lex knew that even spirit energy could have different ents or scents, and enhance a person''s aura and presence, though usually it was something that had to be consciously cultivated. He integrated that feature into each and every part of the Inn, so each ce would genuinely feel unique in every sense. Moving further away from the crowded areas of the Inn, the kind of decor changed. Instead of lights and music and such designed to entice and invigorate the senses, the focus here was more on nature and natural energies. Lex was once again limited in his ideas, which included nting blooming cherry blossom and almond trees. Entire fields with trees full of pink and white flowers filled the Inn. Jasmine shrubs were nted in the wild and near winding paths, filling the Inn with their pleasant scent. The nning division, who had obviously done their research, took things a step further and gave Lex a list of other flora to add. An entire forest of trees with purple crystal leaves appeared, which grew gems and diamonds instead of fruits. Massive flowers that were taller than trees with stems thicker than an ordinary man were grown, dotting thendscape. These flowers, which looked awfully simr to sunflowers, grew leaves in a peculiar spiraling design around the stem, acting as a staircase for anyone to climb the top. The natural scent was extremely refreshing and had a natural purifying effect on the environment. A number of peculiar shrubs were also nted, with yellow and orange-colored leaves instead of green. Yet the color of their leaves was not their peculiarity. No, instead, at night the shrubs would shrink and absorb all their leaves until they formed the shape of a random animal, after which the shrub would relocate. Furthermore, upon the request of the division, despite Lex''s reluctance, he added a number of insects to the Inn. Although previously he had stuck to butterflies, since they were obviously beautiful, this time he added a list of insects which, surprisingly, immediately made the Inn better! Honey bees anddybugs Lex was familiar with, but the rest were small and beautiful critters that came from various others. They did not look creepy, but instead took the shape of fairies, of flowers, of orbs of light and more. As if that was not enough, the way they interacted with the nts released a natural ent into the surrounding spiritual energy, hinting at the fact that the Inn was finally developing an ecosystem that was notpletely dependent on the system itself. Of course, none of these nts or insects just randomly appeared. Back when Lex had to bring in animals and trees from Earth, he had to get seeds or bring a few specimens in first before the Inn could replicate them. It was the same now as well, the only difference being the use of the Guild room made it, so he didn''t have to source these things himself. Which was good, because even all of these were just some of the things that went into the preparation for the event. Yet ultimately, through the assistance of the system, the workers and some extra effort on his part, everything went smoothly. The week finally passed, and only a few hours remained before the event began. A massive crowd had already gathered at the Inn, not that Lex had to cater to them himself. He was currently focused on keeping his cultivation steady. In his meditation room, a shirtless Lex could be seen bncing his body only on the tip of his middle finger. His body was raised vertically in the air, and beads of sweat rolled down his body as he did continuous push ups with only his finger. In the background, the camera that was recording him waspletely irrelevant, and the tiny spray bottle filled with artificial sweat- eh, the tiny spray bottle filled with water, had absolutely nothing to do with his current actions. Yes, he had merely sprayed water on himself to cool down and not because his incredible, amazing physical prowess made it difficult for him to sweat under normal conditions. He was merely using physical exercise to keep his body strained and prevent it from breaking through, yes. Lex definitely had not considered starting a calisthenic YouTube page in his free time at all. He really did not have the time for that. Chapter 453 One Final Detail "Lex, will youe for the opening ceremony?" Mary asked, as she appeared in his meditation room. Although his shirtless state made her feel slightly embarrassed, she had encountered him admiring his abs enough times to learn to ignore it now. It was not something he could exin to her. As someone who always wanted abs, but had never achieved them, the excitement he felt whenever he saw them was not something that would wane easily. Moreover, after thetest series of ''body sculpting'', as Lex called it, carried out by the Lotus, his body looked even more impressive. The greatest tragedy was that usually he would either be in Leo form or as the Innkeeper, so the universe was deprived of his dashing good looks. "Not for this," Lex answered as he lowered his body to the ground and finally sat down. "As the Innkeeper, if I make an appearance for every little thing, then it would be considered a waste of my time. I''ll make an appearance when I''m about to use the star increase token." In fact, there was one more reason why Lex was avoiding making a public appearance. Though a lot of time had passed by, he was still not able to adapt to his new physical strengthpletely. The pushups he was doing earlier were actually a part of his training regime to improve his control over his strength and bnce. If it were a minor issue Lex could still ignore it, but he had identally snapped a tree during thest week, and he didn''t want to take such a chance with a guest. "Send Luthor to give the opening speech, he should be able to handle it. I made a small mistake with the timing, so the hired security personnel will only show up once the event actually starts. Make sure to brief them immediately and have them spread out across the Inn. Have someone from the Inn''s Security team with them at all times so that if they need to teleport in case of an incident, they can." Although the event would actually begin today, the first week was more of a soft opening, with the real purpose being to give others enough time toe to the Inn in time for the star increase token to be used. As such, while no major activity was nned during this time, there were countless small ones. There would be countless tournaments that would span the week, starting from traditional card games such as poker, to more niche games that involve trading cards. There would also be actual sportpetitions, including various sports from earth as well as others. Video game and virtual game tournaments were, of course, also being held. There would also be an artpetition, with various fields such as painting, sculpting, gem forging, which was a thing in the universe apparently, and more. Other thanpetitions, there would be countless stalls set up across the Inn filled with games and activities. There would also be a number of lucky draws, awarding guests MP prizes and free stays at the Inn, musical and theatrical performances, local markets which would actually allow guests to set up stalls and, finally, fireworkpetitions. Of course, they would not be real fireworks, but illusions cast by cultivators. Still, they would be judged for their beauty and performance. While such events would continue all three months, Lex had nned otherrger and more significant eventster on to keep things interesting.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om This should keep things interesting and keep his early guests satisfied until the main event starts. While Lex was not making an appearance at this time, it did not mean he would be ignoring the event. He took a quick shower before he dressed up in his Host Attire and teleported to his office. From his chair his connection to the Inn would be increased, and would allow him to respond to any developing situation immediately. "By the way, did you think of any good solutions to the teleportation issue?" That was something he wanted to resolve before the event began, whether he had a perfect solution or not. He could not afford any mistakes when potentially millions of guests were about to arrive at the Inn. He and Mary had exchanged multiple ideas over the course of the past week. "The best solution, for now, I think is the one we discussed about authorization. When a guest is returning, the Inn should determine if the guest has the authorization to go to the location he is teleporting to. If not, he is teleported to the nearest area that he does have the authorization for." "It''s too vague, what if they get teleported to the vacuum of space? We''d be killing off our guests." Lex sighed. In fact, there were proper solutions to this, but the issue was that the Inns teleportation ability seemed incredibly powerful, but was actually severely stunted. To teleport to and from anywhere, the system required an anchor. Thes that were connected to the system were anchors, and any ce a guest teleported from automatically became anchors, but anywhere else in the universe was not an anchor. This was information he received when he previously tried to edit the teleportation ability. Apparently, once the system recovered some more this issue would get easier to resolve. Until then¡­ Lex wrote a long and as thorough document as he was able detailing a safe way to use the authorization technique Mary previously described. He tried to cover as many possible loopholes as possible that would end up killing or harming the guest or anyone else and provided as many fail safes as possible. Once he was done, he submitted it to the system andpleted his quest. The Inns'' teleportation ability had been slightly altered. Hopefully it wouldn''t cause any issues. On the bright side, histest reward allowed him to upgrade his Butter knife once again. Hisst upgrade had converted it into a Fruit Knife and allowed him to one shot golden core cultivators at the Inn. He was looking forward to seeing what the next upgrade would bring. Chapter 454 Pacifier A 10 feet wide, bronze colored watermelon appeared on Lex''s desk, as if it was the most ordinary thing in the world. Lex, too, did not show an abnormal reaction to the massive watermelon, and simply summoned the Fruit Knife and dug deep into the watermelon. The massive watermelon began to glow, as massive, bronze watermelons normally do when they are being absorbed by a magical knife to upgrade itself. The process would take some time so Lex brought his attention back to the Inn. A scan of the Inn right before the event began showed a little under 1 million guests. Even if not a single extra guest showed up, and he maintained this number of participants for the entire 3 months, Lex would make 4.5 times more MP than he spent on the event just from the room rent. Just that thought put a smile on his face. The opening ceremony took ce at the colosseum in the vige and featured Luthor giving a long and meaningful speech. This was already different from how Lex would have done things. Back when he hosted the Midnight Games, not a single one of speeches went longer than a few minutes. Still, that wasn''t a bad thing. There are different expectations from different people, so for Luthor to give a long speech that enticed the emotions of those listening was not only a good thing, it was exactly what was expected of him. The end of the opening ceremony was marked with exploding lights and a musical performance by one of the flocks of musical avian beasts who performed during the Midnight Games. But, more importantly, it was also marked by an exhibition fight between two Golden Core cultivators which got a much more enthusiastic response. These included some of the preparations Lex had to make in advance during the past week. Many things the system could take care of, but coordinating the schedules of actual people, it could not. Of course, the system made it very simple to hire them, so he wasn''tining either. While keeping up with all the activities, and the guests who were mostly focused in the vige at the moment, Lex also checked up on the hired security. Thousands of Golden Core, hundreds of Nascent realm and dozens of Earth immortal humans showed up, and quickly changed into the suit and tie uniform of the Inn. Like previously, there was one cultivator above the Earth immortal realm, but it was not a dragon this time.N?v(el)B\\jnn Instead, it was a Griffin. The creature had the body, tail and the rear legs of a lion, yet the face and wings of an eagle, with talons instead of front paws. Also, it was massive, with a height of nearly 40 feet, and a wingspan of nearly 200 feet! The Griffin proudly perched itself on top of the spaceship, and surveyed the area with its head held high. Lex was genuinely impressed, and even wondered for a moment where these hired guards came from. Perhaps he''d ask them using his Leo personater, but for now he continued to survey the Inn. Some familiar faces that he hadn''t seen in a while started popping up. Alexander reappeared, though he was seriously injured and went directly into the Recovery pod. Lex did not fail to notice that Alexander''s cultivation had regressed, and he was once again in the Qi training realm. It was unusual and Lex even thought something went wrong, but he did not look upset or rmed. He also saw Chen Lee and Lily, as well as ne and Iris. Chen and ne were some of Lex''s oldest guests, and in fact had arrived at the Inn being dragged in by a zombie. How things had changed in just a single year. Chen and Lily were wealthy from running their business, and ne had gotten married to his girlfriend Iris. They were having a reunion at the Inn, catching up and sharing details of their new lives. He saw Golden Hair, the sloth of Nibiru, followed closely by Greens Haven, the deer, and Blood Fang, the wolf. He remembered the massive pressure he had felt the first time he saw them. Back then he couldn''t even view their cultivation levels due to his low authority. Now, of course, he could see that they were at the Nascent level, with the sloth being an Earth Immortal. While scanning the Inn he also discovered Larry, and while he was going to continue scanning the Inn, he heard them having an interesting conversation. Larry was sitting next to a few other guys, nning how to kill someone called Suzuki! Well, apparently, the other person wanted to kill Larry first, so Larry wanted to kill him before he could get the chance. The problem was the guy in question had a very powerful follower who always obeyed his orders, and it was difficult to find him alone. Lex noticed how, from time to time, Larry would lick his lips and stare at the spaceship, but did not focus on it too much. Instead, he looked for the person Larry wanted to kill, and actually discovered him at the Inn! He also discovered the- Lex froze! He had scanned both the man and his follower to learn more about them, but the followers status was showing up with the all too familiar ''*&%error%&*'' sign! Why was he, as a system wielder, another man''s follower? Before Lex could think of an answer, he once again scanned the entire Inn. Only this time, he was specifically looking for the error message in scans. Other than John and Ming Jie, of whom he already knew, there was another girl with the familiar error message. Countless ideas shed through Lex''s mind as he thought about what to do, or if he should do anything at all to begin with. "Mary, send Larry a message through his hologram. Tell him about the Murder Ground, and how he can challenge someone to a one versus one battle to the death there." A few different ideas had urred to Lex over why a system wielder would be following a normal person. But regardless of what the answer was, if Larry tried to fight him... Lex did not see great odds for his survival. In that case, a fight directly with the man in the Murder Grounds was the best option, if a confrontation was inevitable. "Also, Mary, send a message to Velma. I want to know everything about these two people she can discover." The two people were, of course, Souta, the wielder of the Samurai system, and the girl who was apanying J.F.K. While he made a mental note to keep an eye on them, he could not focus on thempletely. After all, he had an entire event to monitor. Oddly enough, the next two to attract Lex''s attention were some of his own workers. Anita, the beautiful lich, and Qawain, the sentient sword, had asked for the day off and were on a date. Considering that Lex anticipated additional security, he didn''t see any reason why he couldn''t give them a break. So the fact that they were together, and on a date, wasn''t what attracted his attention. Instead, it was the fact that behind Anita, a group of her undead were pulling along a massive stroller. Inside the stroller was a creature Anita was iming to have adopted, and the member of his own race that Abroar had brought to the Inn. Even without the need for a scan, Lex recognized the creature, for Lex had been doing research on the moremon, as well as the famous races of the Origin realm via the Henali portal. Still, to be sure, he scanned Anita''s new adopted child anyway. Name: None Age: 03 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: Golden Core equivalent Species: Cthulhu Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Remarks: Even living nightmares start out as babies. It was as he thought. The creature was from a race called Cthulhu, the terrors from the great depth of the unknown universe! Before their mysterious disappearance a few hundred thousand years ago, they were responsible for the destruction of hundreds of gxies. ording to rumors, they were so terrifying that if one were to even look at them directly, they would lose their sanity and die from pure fear! Their voice alone, apparently, could cause the souls of those who heard it to wither and die. Instead of food, these beings fed on pain, fear, anguish, desperation and all sorts of negative emotions. No one knew how or why their presence from the realm disappeared one day, but the fact that it did is still celebrated across the realm! Yet despite their apparent disappearance, one was being raised right here, at the Midnight Inn, adopted by its foster mother, a lich. Lex could not help but sigh as he wondered if the system would automatically keep guests safe from the horror of the baby''s cries, or if he should gift the unusual couple a pacifier capable of pacifying the eldritch horror that was their new child. Chapter 455 Spaceship Upgrades In truth, Lex was not that worried. The system had always been reliable when it came to blocking passive attacks, so neither the sight nor the sound of the baby would cause any insanity. Though Lex could not ount for anyone''s loss of appetite. The ''baby'' who was fast asleep was a little over 25 feet (7.6 meters) in height. Its humanoid form did nothing to make it more amenable to the eyes, for the scaly tentacles that came out of its face took more than a bit of effort to ignore. The wings that spread out from behind its back might have given it a semnce of cuteness had they not been tipped with points hard and sharp enough to tear through metal. As if all of that was not enough, then came the smell. Anita, as a new aspiring mother, did notck for research in raising kids, and while she did her research, she learned of themon practice on earth to powder babies to help prevent rashes. As such, the dichotomy of the horror inducing sight, alongside the weing and pleasant smell of baby powder, was enough to confuse and horrify anyone. Lex shook his head and turned his attention elsewhere. Since this was a festival, there were obviously many who brought their kids along. For those who wanted to keep their children on their own, there was an entire Inn filled with attractions to partake in. Yet Lex did not forget those who only wanted to drop off their kids, or wanted to roam separately from them. One would think that to cater to such a situation, Lex would have just brought the festivities to the daycare area, yet that was not so. It was too obvious, and too boring. No, Lex had turned the entire spaceship into the new daycare! The first thing to do was adjust its appearance just a bit. Truth be told, its size was so massive that it was hard for anyone to get a good look at its entire body from so close. Still, that did not mean Lex would ignore that aspect of it. He did not disgrace the ship by making it colorful or stering cartoons over it. No, he first cleaned up the ship for signs of wear and use were evident to anyone who paid attention. Once he restored the proper sheen of the silver vessel, in close coboration with the nning department who cross checked against thousands of other spaceships, he added various weapons, though of course they did not work and existed only for appearances, esthetic curves and overall made it much more appealing to look at. There was also an upper and lower deck found on top and at the bottom of the ship made of a transparent material like ss, but much more resilient, which Lex improved and madefortable for anyone who would want to sit and enjoy the view. Of course, there were restaurants and cafes found in every corner as well. The real changes that Lex made for the kids, however, were inside the ship. The automated, elerated transport system for the crew of the ship was all too easy to modify using the system and turn into infinite slides and roller coasters of sorts. The self maintenance and cleaning feature was extremely useful and worked everywhere, so Lex did not hesitate to turn the various portions of the ship into mazes and ygrounds. The antigravity and spacebat practice chambers were retrofitted by Lex and turned into an extreme tag zone! The self-sufficient farms of the ship were kept mostly intact, but Lex made areas where kids could y in the dirt, or try their hand at farming if they wished. There were swimming pools that seemed to never end, all with convenient, underwater breathing equipment readily avable, so Lex did not forget to add underwater rides and ygrounds either. Of course, not all kids were hyperactive and wanted to y all the time, and for them there were cozy areas with toys, food, sofas, beds and more. The rabbits were in charge of running this new daycare yet again, much to their dismay. Lex, however, thought the idea would work out quite well. And it did. The reaction to the newly upgraded spaceship/yground was so overwhelming that a multitude of adults wanted to join in as well. Well, so long as they didn''t bother the kids, Lex saw no reason to stop them. It had to be mentioned that the ship''s own internal security system was extraordinarily impressive. That, alongside the extra hired security, ensured that the kids would stay the safest in the entire Inn. Of course, using more of the ship''s features increased Lex''s expenses. After all, he did not have an appropriate energy source for the ship, and so powered it with MP. Still, since the use was barely 1%, if even, of the ships'' capabilities, so the expense was bearable. The poprity of the spaceship yground that Lex had built was only matched by the poprity of all the festival''s activities, if only just. All-in-all the festival seemed to be going incredibly well. As if that was not enough, hardly anyone was causing any problems, so it almost seemed as if security wasn''t needed.N?v(el)B\\jnn Lex just thought his luck was turning up, but it had more to do with the hearth burning the souls of his enemies right at the entrance of the Inn than Lex realized. It was both a warning to any troublemakers, as well as reassurance to guests with security concerns that the Inn was not a ce that just anyone could cause problems at. A few hours passed by and all seemed to be going well when Lex got the news that Larry had decided to challenge Suzuki in the Murder Grounds. The Murder Grounds were a new feature his Inn gained after Lex killed the man with the Murder system. Its original ability allowed Lex to target anyone so long as they were on a connected to the Inn, and teleport both the target and himself to the Murder Ground. Lex had to be physically touching someone to target them for the Murder Ground. Once there, both of them would be trapped there until one killed the other. There was no recourse. But it had gained an additional feature, which allowed Lex to rent the Murder Ground out so that anyone with a feud had a neutral location to resolve it. The concept was the same, and neither party would be able to leave until the other died. In the case of renting it out, entire armies could be brought in instead of just a one versus one. Of course, when renting, both parties had to consent to using it. Lex scanned the Inn, and found Lary confronting Suzuki in public. A few people had stopped to watch the drama, though most seemed to be passing them by. "Ohe now, Mr. Larry. Is there a need to go so far? I told you, we both have much to gain. I have a lead on your family, and you can help me pursue my own goals if you help me with that. Why are you letting rumors spread by some strangers get in between such a lucrative deal?" "You don''t need to give me a speech, you just need to tell me if you ept. You''ll never get a chance such as this to fight me again. Of course, the only premise is, you''ll have to fight me yourself instead of relying on thatckey of yours." Larry, naturally, would not make such drastic decisions if he only had to rely on the information given to him by Anakin. It was just that, once Anakin gave him the information about Suzuki, it was easy for Larry to verify it on his own. After all, Larry himself was more than just adept at usingputers, and had ess to all sorts ofworks and databases. Suzuki finally stopped smiling, and looked at him with a semnce of irritation. This one stupid bounty that he had epted had taken up months of his time. Moreover, he saw no other method to resolve it any time soon either for Larry either kept hiding at the Inn or in King Marlo''s house. Both were ces where he could not afford to make a move. "Fine, brat. I ept your challenge." A small, digital window appeared in front of both of them detailing the rules of the Murder Grounds and asking them if they were sure they agreed. After they both selected yes, they received another prompt, asking if they wanted their match to be streamed live! WIthout hesitation, both of them selected no! Suzuki wanted to keep his identity and upation secret, while Larry had secrets of his own to keep. After that, both of them were teleported away. Of course, Lex could still view their battle himself, and saw that they had both appeared in a familiar set of ruins. In fact, not only was it familiar, the damage from Lex''s battle with the murderer was still there. The two did not waste time sightseeing and immediately began their battle, and one of them had an immense advantage right from the get go! Lex''s eyes widened as he struggled to understand what he was seeing. Chapter 456 Its A Party It was not the fact that Larry was in the Golden Core realm that surprised Lex, although that in itself was an achievement beyond unbelievable. After all, Lex himself had a cheat-like system and ess to multiple worlds and realms and beings of unimaginable power, yet he himself was only now about to enter that realm. Yet Larry, who did not have a system and was trapped on earth, except when he was at the Inn, had somehow surpassed his speed. In fact, not only was his speed in reaching the realm remarkable, based on the fight, Lex could tell that his cultivation was not shallow either. He possessed strength that could not be achieved by someone who had only rushed his way through cultivation using resources. He was also not surprised at the enhancements Suzuki disyed on his body. Sure, he was not expecting that Suzuki''s hand was a prosthetic, and that it quickly and conveniently turned into some kind of energy machinegun fueled by spirit energy. The blue light in his eyes and him jumping dozens of feet in the air also insinuated that there might be more technological advancements hidden in his body, or just that he had strange techniques. No, what surprised Lex was Larry''s fighting style. First of all, he was taking all the attacks without any indication of wanting to dodge at all. That was something Lex should be doing, considering his overwhelming confidence in his defense, yet Larry was behaving the same. The barrage of green energy balls that were mming onto his body had eviscerated his clothes, but did nothing to a single one of his hairs. As if that was not enough, as Larry rushed towards Suzuki, he pulled an entire sword out of his hand! Literally! Using his right hand he touched his left, and when he pulled his right hand back, a full length sword starteding right out of the palm of his hand. The sword shone with a silver light, and cut through the air with a sharp ''sheen'' sound. Suzuki dodged effortlessly, and more unexpected and bizarre weapons starteding out of his body. Lex put a popcorn in his mouth - when did that box of popcorn appear even he didn''t recall - and watched with great interest. He alsopared this fight to his own that had been fought in the very same ce. While every single move Larry and Suzuki took was much more destructive, he felt like there was a lot more going on in his own fight. From strange mind tricks to illusory attacks to the weird luck that the murderer had, there was a lot going on that Lex had to ovee. Comparatively, this fight was more straightforward. Even if each attack packed much more strength. Lex wanted toment the difficulty of fighting a system wielder, but he knew that he should not underestimate others either. He recalled the numerous abilities and techniques Alexander put on disy back at the Midnight Games when he himself was only in the Foundation realm as well. Lex was not ashamed to admit that even now he probably knew fewer techniques than Alexander. It couldn''t be helped, Lex had only been cultivating for a year while everyone else had a huge head start on him. Soon the pattern of the fight changed from Larry trying to get close and attacking, to Suzuki maintaining a distance and attacking from range. Larry finally suffered an attack which managed to wound him, though not by much. Still, it was unusual for Larry wasn''t bleeding even if his skin had been torn open. Just as Lex was wondering why that was, Larry did the thing that had truly blown Lex''s mind. He took out amemorative coin that Lex had distributed during the Midnight Games, made of a rare metal that was not too valuable, but would preserve the token for a very long time. Then he threw the coin in his mouth and swallowed it! A few momentster, his wound started healing! Lex was bbergasted, and finally realized what Aegis would have felt like back in the Crystal realm when he swallowed that energy crystal. After a while, Lex had to divert his attention from the fight. It was clear that it would go on for a long time, and Lex had to keep an eye on the Inn as well. Not that anything was going horribly wrong, but Lex would rather not wait before something went wrong to give his attention. Slowly, the hours rolled by. Lex noticed a few guests from the Crystal realm as well, such as the Sentinels or Poliods. He guessed they hade in from the random golden doors that opened up across the realm. He could see the signature wary behavior of new guests from them. Speaking of the crystal realm, Aegis had already informed him that Zagan had used the tinum key. If he managed to pass the test, the system designed for him, he would soon be a member of the Inn. Still, Aegis himself had not decided whether or not he wanted to join the Inn yet, and Lex couldn''t be bothered by that. What he had been doing was bringing others to the Midnight Inn one by one. That had obviously included the Noel family. It should not have been such a big concern for Lex. After all, the Midnight tavern had already attracted an unnecessary amount of attention, so even if the Noel family made the connection between the two it did not matter. No, the real reason Lex was... slightly perturbed by the presence of the Noel family was that their daughter, Greta Noel, and now the recently unaffiliated ''Pvarti Party'' had alsoe to the Inn.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Greta had joined the poker tournament and was a natural at it, although she insisted on ying strip poker! God only knew how she came up with the idea, for it shouldn''t have been something that existed in the Crystal realm. Moreover, while the Inn itself was not enforcing the rules of strip poker, the Inn also couldn''t stop guests if they decided to take a few articles of clothing off. So, the previously extremely intense and very popr poker tournament had be even more popr, though there was a distinctck of tension. How could anyone be tense when a group of old men in their boxers, apanied by beasts who would shed a portion of their fur every time they lost. On the other side of the table, Greta, who was unnaturally skilled at the game, was over encumbered by the stacks of clothing she had won since, for some reason, she insisted on wearing all her winnings! She also had people lining up to win her hand in marriage, pending approval from her father, but to prove themselves they had toplete a list of trials that she set. Lex remembered that he had been warned about Pvarti''s sister back in the crystal realm so he had a lot of guards stationed nearby in case she caused problems, but these were not problems he was equipped to handle! She was also selling the right to name one of her fingers through an informal auction. What did that even mean and why was the highest bid already in the hundreds of thousands of MP? Well, none of it was against the rules so Lex could only look away. But the problem with looking away was that he would end up looking at the 300,000 people long conga line being led by an inebriated Pvarti! Again, it was not against the rules. It was just that it created a logistical problem which was that the unnecessarily long line was blocking numerous roads, buildings and, most importantly, bathrooms! How did he even build a line this long? The festival hadn''t even been going on for a day! A part of Lex felt he should consider himself lucky that this was the only problem he was having. In fact, he even calmed down. It really was a good thing. Then his heart dropped as he saw Brandon Morrison, his wife Audrey, as well as Marlo and his wife getting ready to join. Lex sighed and closed his eyes. Well, it is a festival after all. He shouldn''t me people for partying. And it wasn''t as if one can be expected to party within limits. Just as long as they don''t start fighting anyone randomly. Lex decided to look away and focus on something else. He noticed that the number of Devils at the Inn was at an all time high. Oddly enough, despite the bias that Lex had for them, they had never caused Lex any problems. That was contrary to what one would expect from a race that controlled demons and used entires as farms for resources that could only be nurtured through death and destruction. He hoped that wouldn''t change now, and that they would continue to ignore the fact that Lex had personally aided in the loss of some of their farms! Chapter 457 20 Mil Despite Lex''s numerous concerns, the festival did not devolve intoplete chaos with the inclusion of the various maniacal guests. Though Lex did quickly learn that cultivators capacity for partying was much longer and harder than ordinary folk - something he should have expected. The fact that Lex now had a selection of various drinks due to the addition of the Midnight tavern did not do anything to calm the situation down either. Though Lex was raking in MP, so what was the harm? Around the night of the second day, the Mystery trial finally finished updating. The process was marked by an unusual phenomenon of golden light shining down from the heavens, right onto the door. Although that was not something Lex had nned, everyone assumed that it was a part of the festival. The Mystery trial could now amodate more than one guest at a time, which greatly increased the number of people who could have ess to it. Previously, only on average 10 to 11 people could use it during the day due to which, while it was almost always in use, its contribution to the MP ie was minimal. The only other change it underwent was an enhancement on its already existing ability to train peoples best skill. It was something Lex himself had never tried yet, and that made him wonder what his best skill was. He would think about trying it himself once the pressure from his impending breakthrough went down. Besides the Mystery trial, another thing that attracted a lot of attention was the Guest Registry. Although Lex had imed that he would ignore it till he felt better, he was taking everything much more seriously now. As such, while he did not create a separate area for it and left it at the Midnight manor, he spread information about it among his guests via the workers and holograms. There was just one minor issue that he had not anticipated. Despite thousands of guests already signing it, his name was still on top. Lex had, of course, anticipated the exposure his name would get due to him already signing it, but it never urred to him that his name might remain on top. After all, while he had quite a few aplishments under his belt, he was merely 24 years old. With guests who lived well into the thousands of years, as well as cultivators from across the realms, he did not think his achievements would hold any measure. Unfortunately, no matter who else signed, his name remained firmly on top. It had begun attracting attention, and over the next few days, the identity and achievements of this so-called ''Lex Williams'' was called into question. Of course, no one dared to question the Inn. But amongst themselves, they wondered.N?v(el)B\\jnn Even Marlo, who had signed it, and was currently in the top 10, wondered if this was the same Lex as the one he knew. It seemed unlikely. After all, despite his many other achievements, the only reason Marlo was in the top 10 was because of him achieving a status as a Prime. He had embarked on a new cultivation journey, different from one anyone else he knew had ever faced. To give a better idea of how great an achievement this was, Brandon Morrison, Alexander''s grandfather, and the person who brought the Morrison family to its current height, was not even in the top 10,000 signatories! He literally owned the of Mars, yet that achievement could not even get him close to the top. Lex could not help but think that establishing the Midnight Inn was being counted as his achievement and keeping him on top. If that was the case, he could not see anyone recing his name any time soon. This¡­ could have some problems. Besides that, on the 6th day, the battle between Larry and Suzuki finally ended. Larry''s condition was¡­ far from ideal. He was missing his left arm, though he still wasn''t bleeding. He didn''t even go to the Recovery pod, and instead began chomping down on a few metallic items. This wasn''t the first time Lex had seen this peculiarity, to be honest. The first time was when Lex left Larry a golden key, and only a short whileter, he suffered from an assassination attempt. Back then, under the guidance of the system, Lex had fed Larry the metal casings of his bullet from the Heavy Harley, since that was the only precious metal he had at the time. The scope of this ability really bewildered Lex. The craziest thing was that Lex could confirm that Larry was still a human despite his¡­ oddities. He sincerely wondered if he could get the same ability. Not that Lex was weak by any measure, but healing was a persistent issue with him. While for the moment he had the Lotus to help him in that regard, he did not want to rely on someone else forever. But that would alleter. As the days passed, Lex''s attention was increasingly on the 7th and most important day, at least for himself. He had even made regr appearances as Leo during this time to make sure people see him, but as the end of the first week approached, he stopped doing everything else and focused only on this. He informed all the security to be extra cautious, and even summoned over 50,000 additional security personnel, only this time they were mortals. This was in case everyone else was forced into a state of breakthrough in their cultivation.The Griffin assured him that it would be fine, but Lex didn''t want to take a chance. After all, during thest week, the number of guests at the Inn had surpassed 20 million! That wasn''t even the greatest issue. The mostmon guest at the Inn was no longer human. Instead, they were Devils. 13 million Devils were inhabiting the Inn at the moment, and it was extremely nerve wracking to know for over 1 million of them, Lex did not have the authority to see their cultivation! "Everything is going to be just fine," Lex told himself on the dawn of the 7th day. Chapter 458 No Big Deal Ragnar stood with his hands behind his back, looking out at the beautiful horizon. The Midnight Inn personified, to him, everything that the human race strived for, and everything he fought to deliver to his brothers and sisters in race. It was peaceful, safe, exciting and essible. It was a glimpse of heaven that everyone deserved to experience. But the universe¡­ the universe was not a heavenly ce. To be at the Inn right now, to experience this so-called raise in star level which would aid everyone in cultivation, Ragnar had made difficult decisions. The gctic battlefield with the Fuegan needed someone to oversee it always, and if he could not be there, someone else would have to take his ce. But it was a price everyone was happy to pay, even the other generals. After all, Ragnar was the rising star of the empire. It was difficult to ept such a favor, but for his duty, Ragnar took it. After all, a cultivation retreat for him would not be just a few days. Months was the absolute minimum time he would need. He had nned oning to the Inn and stabilizing his mood to ready himself for the impending cultivation retreat. Yet this beautiful piece of heaven did not provide him with the peace he was expecting. Instead, a field of enemies revealed itself. Devils filled the grounds of the Inn as far as the eye could see, all of them taunting him by keeping their humanoid shape. Devils, for reasons he did not understand, had two forms. One was their original, true form. The other was remarkably close to humans, with only minor additions or changes here and there, in the form of wings, horns, tails etc. Ragnar had dedicated his life to fighting demons, yet he never forgot that demons were only the Devil''s ves. His greatest wish upon seeing them was to unsheathe his weapon andy waste to them, even outnumbered as he was. Yet he knew that this was not the ce. It was not fear of failure that stayed his hand, but the knowledge that if he made an enemy of the Innkeeper, the human race would lose a valuable ally.N?v(el)B\\jnn So, he stood silently on a hill, reigning in his volcanic rage, and watched silently as evil incarnate roamed thend freely. One by one, his soldiers also stood behind him, until an entire battalion appeared behind him. They said nothing. They did nothing. But just standing together was enough. It was a show of force. A show of pride. The devils did not pay much attention to Ragnar, for the most part. They had been extremely well behaved at the Inn. In fact, many of them wished wholeheartedly to be even better friends with the Innkeeper. After all, the ess the Inn would give them to the people of the entire universe was far beyond anything they could achieve on their own. And for them, that ess meant profits! There was one, however, who took great interest in teasing the general. Warheil grabbed awn chair and sat down directly beside the general, his thin ck tail holding a ss of Pina cda so that he could sip it. He didn''t even say anything. Just his presence was enough to irritate this fearless human, and he knew it. How funny would he be if this hero of the empire died during a tribtion because he was too irritated to focus? Not that the empire was too important to the devils. They dealt with multiple realms, so how could a small empire only a few gxies wide even be worthy of their interest? The empire was only qualified to fight the demons, not them. Even that was naught more than moderate amusement. Finally, around noon, something changed. A projection of the Innkeeper appeared in front of everyone, alongside a holographic prompt. It read: ''Would you like to enter a personal cultivation abode before the star rank is raised?'' Ragnar did not immediately respond, and instead turned to look at Warheil. "After this is over, catch me outside, how about that?" he said, looking the devil straight in the eyes. He had no fear of their racial superiority. Humans mayck their advantages, and have a lower starting point. But there was a ceiling restricting how strong they could grow. "Certainly," Warheil responded, but Ragnar had already disappeared by then. In the distance, amongst many other soldiers, Alexander watched the small exchange silently. ***** Lex was not nervous, but the knowledge of how catastrophically bad this could go was at the forefront of his mind. It wasn''t like he hadn''t had a lot of guests before, but never had he entertained so many who were so powerful. Moreover, since he couldn''t gauge their strengths, he didn''t know if they were weaker, equal to or stronger than the Griffin. Fortunately, once they started cultivating, they would not be able to cause any problems. After mentally preparing himself, Lex sat down in his Meditation room and used the Remote prescience ability to send a projection of himself as the Innkeeper out to everyone. Originally he nned on giving a speech and using the token in public, but suppressing his cultivation was bing much too difficult. Even the slightest distraction would cause him to lose control and break through, so he decided to do it remotely instead. "Guests of the Midnight Inn, wee," said his projection to all. All of the Inns activities and festivities had temporarily stopped, so everyone was looking just at him. "I''m sure most of you have heard, but for those who haven''t, allow me to briefly describe to you what is about to happen. From time to time, I like to raise the level of the Inn. This, in of itself is not a big deal, but many of my guests seem to enjoy the experience, and gain much from it. So, allow me to share this experience with you. And, if you enjoy it, remember to patronize the Inn more often in the future." He did not borate too much, for he wanted to maintain the perception that this was no big deal to him. Yes, no big deal. After one final scan of the Inn, Lex crushed his 0.5 star rank increase token. Chapter 459 The Change The moment Lex crushed the token, a change took ce at the Midnight Inn. A ripple seemed to travel through space itself, bending it as it passed through. The ripple in space caused proverbial knuckle cracks as it caused space to move and return to its original space, though none noticed such a detail, for the sound was at a frequency none at the Inn could hear.. Of course, the cracking sounds were not released randomly. Instead, it was the sound of micro-fissures in the space of the Inn snapping shut after being healed by the ripple. They had been caused by the massive tear that the Inn suffered from due to the attack of the Butter Knife and were left behind because the system had been unable to repair them directly. Yet now, through an indirect result of the rise in star level, the space at the Inn had been repaired. But while this was one of many ethereal changes that the Inn underwent that nobody noticed, there were a few changes everyone noticed. The most widely noticed change was a ripple of spirit energy that flowed through the Inn - which happened to take ce at the same time as the ripple through the Inn. The stronger cultivators felt the nature of the energy change. It was like a window being opened in a stale room, finally allowing fresh air to flow in. It was the feeling of a cool spring breeze, except that instead of being felt physically on their skin like wind, the energy interacted with their own internal energy and refreshed their minds and bodies. The weaker cultivators, and even the mortals, however, felt something else entirely. The weaker cultivators felt a rush of energy fill their bodies, making them feel sick and bloated. It was too much too quickly, so much so that theypletely lost control over their own energies. They did not even have time to feel rm, for the energy immediately began discing the energy within their own bodies. It did not disperse their cultivation, no. Instead, it changed the very energy that made up their cultivation, improving it, strengthening it. Across the board, every single one of them immediately felt their cultivation was much stronger and stabler, even if it had not improved yet. Of course, that was still toe. Alexander was amongst them. He had reached the Qi training stage right now, as he was rebuilding his cultivation ording to guidance by the Jotun Empire''s secret techniques. He was supposed to have been phenomenally strong in his current state even as it was, yet he improved nheless. Mortals, though, went through the most drastic change. Whether it was the guards that Lex had hired, the entourage apanying more sessful people, or the kids in the spaceship who had yet toe of age to cultivate, all of them underwent extreme makeovers. The wave of spirit energy hit them hard, as if it were a physical sensation, and immediately flooded them with the feeling of nausea. Jimmy, the kid who discovered the first ever golden key dropped by Lex, and La, the daughter of the Governor of Vegus Minima, who were the leaders of their gang of kids, had been ying together when the feeling hit them. They went pale all of a sudden, and the immense buildup of nauseapletely overwhelmed their senses! They dropped to their knees as they lost strength in their limbs and immediately began throwing up. Partially digested food, blood, puss and strange ck materials came out in their vomit, but it also drained thempletely from their energies. The kids copsed, having been knocked unconscious, but the changes to their bodies did not stop just because they were not awake. Though they suddenly looked frail and starved, the fat on their bones having dissolved, leaving them in a skinny, boney appearance, an unusual strength began to fill them right after they were filled with weakness. They did not develop muscles as their flesh seemed to fill back into the way it originally was, and their skins retained their softness, yet the strength that was filling their bodies was very real. Many kids who suffered from various inborn diseases and allergies would awake to find them gone. Others who had minor physical and mental defects would discover that they could think clearly, and that their bodies performed better than they ever even dreamed. The mortals who were adults did not have changes that were as drastic, and they were not knocked unconscious, but they underwent some changes, nheless. Even the normal,mon animals that inhabited the Inn underwent a cleansing process Back when the Inn underwent its first advancement in star ratings, Lex too had been a mortal, but he hadn''t undergone any such experience, so he could never have imagined such a thing would happen now. The reason was, back then, the star rating was going from 1 to 1.5. Now it was going from 2 to 2.5. Although both were representing the same numerical change from their respective starting points, the actual change was far from being on the same scale.N?v(el)B\\jnn The one vine, growing on the cliff side near the pool ofva, also underwent changes, and began growing in the direction of the temple. While the change in spirit energy was the most obvious, and felt by the most people, it was by no means the most impactful. After all, it had to be remembered that while all the guests at the Inn wrought numerous benefits due to the increase in star rating; it was the Inn itself that was the primary beneficiary! In the same way that the space itself of the Inn had been strengthened, so too had many other aspects of it. The light itself that shone all around the Inn took on a deeper nature, as if something extra had been added to it. All the greenery took on deeper colors, the ground became firmer - if that made sense - and the air became cleaner. While all the humans shed visible impurities and unnatural oddities from their bodies, so too did the Inn shed, though its impurities were harder to detect. The immortals at the Inn could not notice what exactly changed, but nheless, they felt that something grand and mysterious had happened. A strange light shed through Loretta''s eyes, the daughter of Ballom, though her thoughts remained a mystery. Something that the immortals did notice, however, and the thing that was responsible for spontaneously triggering everyone''s increase in cultivation, was a ripple through thews that manifested within the Inn. Based on their cultivation, they were able to witness a deeper or shallower change in thews, but they all felt the change to some extent. A point that had caused much curiosity for the past couple of weeks about the Inn''s im of the increase in star rating was how it would actually aid them in cultivation. Even if there was a wave of pure spiritual energy, it could at most be perceived that it would have some effect on those with a lower cultivation. Yet from the Nascent realm onwards, the nature of cultivation changed and it was no longer about absorbing more or purer spiritual energy. So how then would the change in rating affect them? The answer was clear now. It was never about the increase in spiritual energy, though a shallow perception of the change may make it appear that way. From the get go, everything was about thews. There were other changes that all took ce at the same time as well, but neither the mortals, nor themon cultivators nor the immortals noticed, for within a few seconds of the change happening, every living being at the Inn had been upied by the state of a breakthrough in one way or another. The Griffin who, due to its strong cultivation, was confident that it would retain its state regardless of what happened, and continue its task, had one of the most severe reactions. Immediately it crushed an unknown token, before retreating to one of the cultivation abodes the Inn offered. In its stead, another being appeared at the Inn to perform its job. The being was covered in a ck cloud, so its appearance and race were unknown. It silently took its ce at the peak of the Midnight mountain and surveyed the Inn with its spiritual sense, and took in the odd hush that had fallen over the ce. It was an unusual silence, matched only by the strange stillness that had inhabited the Inn. After all, whether it was the guards, the guests, or the workers, all had retreated to a cultivation abode. The mortals who had experienced the change were still there, but they were currently too exhausted to do anything. The being in the cloud wondered what had happened. After all, by summoning it to rece it, the Griffin had betrayed its contract, and would have to pay heavy reparations. Only Mary was left beside the mysterious figure to watch over the Inn, though she was hidden from all. From a short blissful time, nothing happened at the Inn. Then, the guests who had missed the timing for the change started appearing at the Inn, though they were destined to be disappointed. Not only would they not experience the breakthrough, they would have to wait a bit before some workers got free to help them. Chapter 460 Differing From The Norm For a majority of the guests at the Inn, their change of breakthrough did notst long. From a few minutes in the case of mortals, to a few hours at most ranging from Body tempering to Qi training. Though the mortals had, overall, gained in strength, they were too exhausted and drained at the moment to do much of anything. Most of them retreated to their rooms to sleep, while a few who had not booked a room had to retreat from the Inn. The kids on the spaceship had fallen asleep right where they fell. Considering the severeck of personnel at the Inn, it would have been extremely unsanitary if they remained where they were, for all of them had thrown up right there. Fortunately, the ship''s cleaning function was exemry, and far surpassed something mundane, like vacuuming robots. In a few minutes, the kids, though still asleep randomly all over the ship, were as clean and spotless as when they arrived at the ship, though it was a shame no one was around to see how it happened. Soon, the numerous rabbits aboard the ship recovered and began moving the children into the napping stations. The thousands of mortal guards Lex had hired, under the assumption that they would be the most helpful for he did not imagine that mortals would also be affected, were thoroughly weakened and exhausted. But they quickly injected themselves with stimnts and forced themselves to perform their duties. Though they were all excited about the changes in their body, their job came first. The quickest to recover after them were the Inns workers, whether they were mortal or cultivators. From the moment of their creation they were inside the Inn, and everything they ate and drank also came from the Inn. They were safe from any pollution and impurities the outside world threatened, and so the changes they went through were less drastic. Most of them had also been cultivating as well anyway, though not everyone was as adept or sessful as Gerard or Z. With this recent upgrade, most had firmly reached the peak of Body tempering, or entered Qi training. It could be imagined how in a few decades at most, all of these workers would be an extremely powerful force, but that was for the future. Speaking of Gerard and Z, both were undergoing breakthroughs as well, though in ways that werepletely unexpected. Instead of raising his cultivation, Gerard''s bloodline was experiencing another change. His previous advancement already made it so that he could face Nascent cultivators back in the Qi training realm. It waspletely impossible to predict how histest advancement would affect him. Z on the other hand was experiencing an epiphany. While he had a minor breakthrough in his cultivation, a majority of the change he experienced was in his mindset. He had been busy contemting a new, secret ultimate attack when the change happened. As it happened, the change was just the spark of inspiration he needed,unching him into a profound state of discovery and creation, where he could make his ultimate attack ording to his desires. Abroar, the spirit and newest permanent resident of the Inn, also experienced an evolution - onepletely unlike he had ever known. It was a shame that he lost all the senses he had with his previous cultivation, or else he could have gained even more. Whether it was the baby Chthulhu, Antia, Qawain, the Gctic Sovereign turtle, Ragnar and all the rest, everyone was caught up in their own experience. Yet, oddly enough, even with realms much higher than the Earth Immortal realm, none went through the level of change that Lex was experiencing. The moment he crushed the token and the change happened, he finally stopped suppressing his breakthrough and let it happen. The result was an instantaneous eruption of spirit energy within his body, which was then, immediately after, reced by an imperceptibly purer form of energy, before a vortex formed around Lex''s body, rapidly absorbing all the surrounding energy. Lex became a bystander as the process happened, for the force of his breakthrough was so massive, should he try to influence it at all, it would only result in injuring him. For humans, cultivation up until the Foundation realm had all been about preparing the body for the cultivation journey ahead. From Body Tempering, which strengthened the body from the inside to sustain the pressure and influence of external spirit energy, to Qi tempering, which pushed the bodies limits over and over again, one Qi strand at a time, until the body was capable of holding steams of energy, until the Foundation realm, which used all the energy to turn the body into a Foundation that can support all future cultivation realms. These few realms, despite their seemingly weak power, could be said to be the most important cultivation realms a human would go through, because they would directly determine how high a cultivation realm that person could achieve. Even the slightest w in any of these realms would drastically affect the peak a human could reach. That wasrgely one of the reasons Alexander was cultivating once again, as well as the reason Lex''s mother had his father cultivate from the beginning again as well. So, if these three realms could be described as setting the stage for the future, the next three realms of Golden Core, Nascent, and Earth Immortal, could be loosely described as rapidly transforming a cultivators strength and turning them into a higher form of living being. Of course, this was only a loose description as more than just that happened at each sessive realm, for they involved far more than just that. Still, to themon man, the deeper intricacies did not matter, as even the more obvious and immediate changes were enough to consume all that they could conceive. After all, it had to be remembered, on a like Earth with incredible weapons of mass destruction, it was still Golden Core cultivators who were considered the peak of society, and it was the Nascents who controlled the entire. The change that the Golden Core realm brought was that, once the body had a strong enough Foundation to support it, it began to concentrate spirit energy not across the entire body, but in one specific core. Just because the area that the energy upied was smaller did not in any way mean that the energy was less in quantity or concentration than the rest of the body. In fact, it was quite the opposite.N?v(el)B\\jnn The Golden Core, in spite of many misconceptions, was not actually formed of energy, and was instead a container that the body naturally formed during a process that would only ur once during the breakthrough process. Since it only ever happened once, damage to the core was one of the most difficult things to cure within the cultivation journey. This was because of how unique the Golden core really was. Not only did it store a massive amount of spirit energy that was dozens of times more in quantity than the Foundation realm even as early as just the beginning of the Golden core realm, but further influenced that spirit energy in a way that had only barely begun in the previous realms. The stored spirit energy took upon any affinities that the cultivator, or cultivation technique imbued, and turned that energy into a unique state owned only by the cultivator. By doing this, it also further evolved it from the most basic and lowest level spiritual energy which could bemonly found across the universe. This was the first step the cultivator truly took towards higher forms of energy than just themon spirit energy. Of course, due to the nature of this energy being superior to ambient spiritual energy, it made cultivation much more difficult as well. After all, if previously a cultivator took in 2 units of energy from the atmosphere and was able to retain 1 unit of it within his body, allowing the rest to escape back into the atmosphere, now the cultivator would have to absorb anywhere from 10 to 100 units of spiritual energy just to be able to convert it into 1 unit of energy that was kept within his body. The units mentioned here are any generic measurement, meant only as an example to show the drastic scale of change that urred. This was in an ordinary state of events. So then, how was Lex''s situation different from the norm, so much so that it eclipsed the change experienced by every other cultivator in the entire realm? It was simple. Normally the Golden Core was formed naturally by the cultivators body during the breakthrough, and the formation was fueled by the energy being absorbed by the body. But due to the fact that Lex''s Foundation, and thus his body, contained physical manifestations ofws, as well as the fact that there was a massive shift inws taking ce at the Inn at the moment of breakthrough, not only was Lex''s breakthrough absorbing spiritual energy to fuel the formation of his core, it was also absorbingws. This was a change Lex was much too low leveled to influence at all, or even notice for that matter. The rest of the Inn, as well as the Origin realm, however, definitely noticed. Chapter 461 Golden Key "But like I said, the true cause and effects of the matter are being investigated," the Henali said, a very serious look adorned its ck, rectangr face. Only 6 of its 26 eyes were on its face, framed right above a mouth filled with rows of sharp teeth, while the rest of its eyes were hidden across its body. Its face was attached to its body through a short, thin neck. The body itself was massive, with a majority of its scales hidden behind the soft cloth robe it had adorned. Eight legs kept it standing, with two sets of four legs protruding from the left and right of its torso. A tail, much longer and thicker than the width of its legs came out from the back of its robe and hung directly over the Henali, making it look like an oversized scorpion without the actual pincers. "But, regardless of what the result of the investigation may be, it can be confirmed that as of now, the attack on Ra does not seem to have resulted in any long term adverse effects on the Origin realm. In fact, due to the rich nature of the energy that was dispersed into the realm, it has even sped up the growth of the realm. Preliminary investigations reveal that the realm may mature billions of years ahead of schedule." "So does that mean there will be no punishment?" asked a random Daolord. "Instead, it sounds like there should be a prize for speeding up the maturing process." The remainder of the Henali assembly awaited the response. It was a rule that Daolords could not casually release their might in the Origin realm, or else they would be punished by the Henali. Even if they had to fight, they would have to ensure that their strength would not adversely affect the realm. After all, the Origin realm was still not capable of handling the might of Daolords since it technically wasn''t capable of giving birth to any Daolords. All the Daolords in this realm were either guests from other realms, or had their strength raised artificially through special means. "No, regardless of whether the result was good or bad, there will definitely be a punishment. It has just yet to be decided if the one receiving the punishment should be Ra, or the one responsible for the attack. We allow Daolords into our realm so that they can benefit from an immature realm, in exchange for a small fee-" Someone at the assembly scoffed at the mention of the fee being ''small''. "-but that does not mean we can allow them to interfere with its natural progression. Once might be a lucky event, and if it is let go, it will only encourage others to try the same. In the long run-" The Henali that was speaking paused when another being suddenly teleported inside the assembly. The Henali assembly was held in a special arena, cut off from the rest of the Origin realm. It was an extremely secure location under the control of the Henali which allowed them to host many prestigious guests, the various Daolords being amongst them. But the secure nature of the location meant that no one could teleport in or out once the session was called into motion, unless it was an emergency. This assembly had already been interrupted once, an almost unprecedented feat, so that information about the attack on Ra could be shared amongst those attending. This second interruption¡­ was genuinely unprecedented in the history of the Origin realm! As soon as the teleportation was finished, another Henali appeared, seemingly perfectly identical to the first. It was amon trait amongst Henali. Those not of the race would have a difficult time distinguishing amongst them based solely on appearance. "Someone is resonating with thews of the realm," the neer announced loudly.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "What do you mean?" the convener of the assembly asked, bewildered by the statement. "I mean exactly what I said. Someone¡­ or something is having a breakthrough, and that breakthrough is resonating with thews of the entire realm!" "But that''s impossible. The realm is not mature enough to birth a Daolord," the convener eximed! "I am not here to argue with you, I am only here to tell you what''s happening. The resonance can be felt throughout the entire realm. Its repercussions¡­ cannot be predicted. Attempts to divine the identity of the entity responsible are being blocked. Whoever is doing this has Destiny level protection to keep them from being divined, which means they''ve obviously been nning this for eons." Silence fell across the hall as everyone tried to guess what this meant. Everyone wondered what the identity of the person responsible was. Even Ballom was unsure if he should attribute thistest development to the Innkeeper, for it was just too bizarre. Only one thing was certain. If the being responsible for this was a Fuegan¡­ this could be the buildup for a full on realm war! ***** Back at the Midnight Inn, the few guests who had recovered, and the new guests who had arrived at the Inn, all were looking up at the sky in awe. There was no sun, no clouds, no sky, only a golden hue that stretched as far as the eye could see! If it was just a matter of different lighting, everyone may not have been so captivated by it. Instead, the golden hue radiated a majestic aura that not only overwhelmed anyone and everyone exposed to it, it made them feel oddly connected to it, as if the aura hade from within them, but at the same time was something that endlessly surpassed them. Truth be told, the guests who were exposed, one and all, could not fullyprehend the majesty of the aura, for it far surpassed what their minds were capable ofprehending. Outside the Inn, in the rest of the Origin realm, however, there were many who could make a few guesses, but even they only saw an obscure golden hue. After all, no matter how much they stretched their spiritual senses, they were too close to it to see the full image. It would take someone to look at the entire Origin realm all at once to notice that the hue that had enveloped the entire realm¡­ was actually in the shape of a golden key. Chapter 462 Affinities Unlike energy, which had to travel from one point to another,ws existed everywhere all at once. They were all also irrevocably linked, and reacted to one another. It was impossible to iste aw, or the effects and presence of aw from otherws. For example, thew of gravity could not be isted from thew of time, or thew of heat, or even a seemingly mundanew such as thew of procrastination - which, make no mistake, was aw written in and ingrained into the very fabric of the Origin realm. But while this was so, theplexities and intricacies ofws far surpassed something that could be exined orprehended using simple vocabry. As such, whether it was the Henali, the Daolords, the Gods, the Oracles, the System wielders, the Gifted, or even the Sovereigns, none couldprehend the golden hue that had lit up the realm. Of course, given enough time, maybe it was possible. But even that was a maybe. For the golden hue was not made up of a singlew, nor did it interact with only onew. It was catalyzing something within the existingws of the realm that could not be detected so easily, prompting even the Henali to request aid from their home realm - a realm that had truly matured and had existed for far longer than the Origin realm. But the change inws was only the most direct change the realm suffered due to the golden hue. There were so many other side effects of it, the least of which was that all the ces in the realm which had never seen light were now illuminated. Under the golden light of thews, as well as the aura it radiated, many ancient beings that had long entered slumber awoke, or began to wake up. Many secrets that were hidden in the darkness came to light, and many undiscovered regions presented themselves for all to see. The longer the hue existed, the more drastic its effects were bing. But Lex had no knowledge of any of this. He was too preupied with his evolving body. His Golden Core was destined to be moreplex than a simple one just due to the fact that it was formed not only due to his spirit cultivation, but his body and soul as well. Ironically, while one would have expected the changes to make the core bigger, it was actually much smaller than most normal cores. Yet its small size did not make it weaker. On the contrary, it stored the same amount of energy it would have anyway, but due to its smaller size, made the energy much more concentrated and thus elevated it to a higher level. As the process of the formation of his core continued, Lex was simultaneously also experiencing another, innate part of every breakthrough, which was that he was being elevated to a higher life form. The natural hierarchy of his existence in the universe was being raised, for he could nowe into contact with a higher level of the universe. A part of this elevation was his existence being allowed to convert natural spirit energy into one with his own affinity. For Lex, a wielder of Regal Embrace, the affinity he would have normally attained would have been called Regal affinity, ording to the cultivation technique itself. Yet it was at this time that a change urred that was¡­ outside the bounds of control of his cultivation technique. Due to the dedicated hard work of the Lotus on Lex''s back and all the precious materials that were fused into him, his body had gained the ability to physically tolerate, and to some degree influencews. Since his Golden core was forming from his body, it too gained this attribute. But it was this additional attribute that caused a divergence in the subsequent result. The energy within Lex''s body did not gain Regal affinity, but a fusion of the affinity of the cultivation technique Regal Embrace, as well as Lex''s newly gained affinity forws. This was something that was not supposed to happen. In the very beginning, when Lex underwent the 4 stages of alteration so that he could cultivate Regal Embrace, his body was purged of any and all affinities it may have inherently had all in preparation for the breakthrough he was going through at the moment. But the cultivation technique did not ount for the fact that Lex would have ess to something as inconceivably rare as the World Seed Lotus right in his body, which could easily make additions to his body without causing any harm whatsoever. The new, unnamed affinity did not in any way impair Lex''s breakthrough. In fact, once the golden core was formed, and his body stopped absorbing thews undergoing a change within the Inn, resulting in the golden hue finally fading, Lex''s breakthrough continued in a smooth fashion. Once the golden core was formed, the vortex of spirit energy around Lex lessened, but did not entirely disappear. For a few more hours, it continued to pour spirit energy into Lex''s body, allowing it to upgrade as well so that it could reach a level where it could tolerate his new spirit energy. Besides the body, it also enhanced Lex''s spirit and his soul. A feeling Lex could not urately describe filled him. It was as if, before this, he had existed merely as a wisp - as something that could easily be blown out of existence. Yet now, he had changed from a wisp into something concrete, something firm and durable. He also felt another strange sensation. Normally, after one of his breakthroughs, Lex could physically feel himself be much tougher, as if his defense and survivability had increased several folds. Now, however, he was feeling like¡­ it did not matter how immeasurably durable his defense was, for there was nothing strong enough to challenge it to begin with.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om He did not feel he had grown stronger. Instead, it felt like the universe around him had be¡­ mundane. Chapter 463 New Abilities The absurd feelings that enveloped Lex did notst long, and as his body slowly stabilized they dissipated. After all, how could Lex be arrogant enough to feel that the universe was mundane? But that was not to say that Lex did not feel himself filled with awesome power. He truly felt as if he had surpassed what it meant to be human. The urge ofmon protagonists to punch a random rock to test out his strength filled him, but there were no rocks avable in his meditation room. That could be fixed easily. He summoned a massive, 20 feet ( 6 meters)rge boulder and ced it right in front of himself. Before acting cool and actually punching it Lex rubbed his hand on it, to feel the cold firm surface. But¡­ things did not go ording to n. As easily as if he was running his hand through running water, his fingers dipped into the rock, causing massive cracks to form across the boulder''s surface. He froze, before he tried again. This time, holding out his index finger, he pressed directly into the boulder. There was a brief moment of resistance, before his finger started digging into the rock in a smooth manner. It was as if Lex was poking a hole in a cake instead of a rock. Cracks spread deeper and wider along the surface of the rock as he pushed his finger in. When his finger had dug in all the way, and his fist touched the surface, Lex continued to push, and it continued to go in as easily.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om A single loud ''crack'' resonated in the room as the boulder was split into two, with the sides falling to the left and right side respectively. Lex remained standing still as he tried to grasp his mind around what he had just done, but there was no time for him to calmly gather his thoughts. He had taken a major step along the cultivation pathway, and had evolved into a higher being. How could something as paltry as brute strength be all he gained? As he was looking at the boulder, his mind still taken aback by his strength, the first of his new abilities revealed itself. His spirit sense emerged from his body andpletely wrapped itself around the boulder, so that he was not only looking at it with his eyes, he was observing every fiber of it with his senses. Every single groove in the rock, everyyer in the minerals thatposed the rock itself, every shade and pattern, every crack and fissure, all revealed themselves to Lex within his mind. For a moment he was startled, thinking it was too much information, before he once again froze. No¡­ no it wasn''t! The degree of detail with which his spirit sense was feeding him information was immeasurably beyond anything Lex could have withstood before. Having so much information actively in his thoughts all at the same time would have caused him to nearly copse. His brain would have been working in overdrive, his blood pumping like he was running a marathon, and his spirit energy draining as if through an open faucet to support his mind containing so much information all at the same time. Yet now, he barely felt the amount of detail worthy of notice. A thought ran through his mind wondering just howplex an array he could create now that his mind was capable of holding so much more information. But it was only a fleeting thought, as his current focus was on his spirit sense. He had no idea how to control it! It was as if a new limb suddenly appeared on his body, and while it reacted to his subconscious thoughts, consciously he did not know how to maneuver it. Moreover, from his research, Lex knew that spirit senses could do a lot more than just allow Lex to observe things. It could be used to physically manipte items as a funnel to channel his energy, tomunicate with others secretly and more. He just had to figure out how to do all that. For now, though, he settled on gaining a better understanding of the observation ability his spirit sense allowed. He continued to observe the boulder wrapped in his spirit sense and began taking in the various details. That''s when he noticed the anomaly. The information he was receiving from his sight, and the information he was receiving from his spirit sense should have provided him with two different streams of information to parse through, but when he actually paid attention¡­ there seemed to be one more. At first this confused Lex, especially since he was having a difficult time adjusting to having so much information directly streamed into his brain that he could essentially ''see'' the item wrapped in his senses. Except, this vision did note from a single direction, such as a person observing something from a particr angle, but was all-epassing. The fact that he was not overwhelmed by it was also messing with his thought process. He was just not used to the new capacity his brain allowed. But then, as if responding to his concern, his brain automatically filtered the information from the different sources into separate categories so that he knew what information he was ''sensing'' and what he was seeing. It was then that he realized that¡­ his vision seemed to be providing him with two different feedbacks. One was looking at everything at surface value, the way normal vision worked, and the other¡­ was looking at something more ethereal. He¡­ closed his left eye, and discovered that the ethereal vision disappeared, leaving only the boulder in his sight. Then he reopened the left and closed the right, and finally figured out the source of the extra information. The only problem was¡­ he could not understand what he was seeing. He saw a boulder, but somehow he also saw through it. He saw everything that made it up, and saw the possibilities of how it could interact with its surroundings. He was reading how the rock would behave, react, exist, disappear, and be destroyed in various conditions. It was as if he was reading the rock''s personality¡­ if that was possible. For reasons he couldn''t understand, his left eye was feeding him even more information than his spirit senses. Chapter 464 Good News, Bad News A few hours after the golden hue had disappeared, most of the guests had alreadypleted their breakthroughs and the festival had resumed. Though, the guests seemed more focused on just partying and celebrating than participating in any random activities. This was good, because the next major activity would also be a weekter. Even most of the tournaments had ended, as it was expected that this week would be spent in a meditative retreat for anyone who had breakthroughs from one realm to another. In fact, the only reason a majority of the guests had even finished their cultivation was because they were at the Foundation realm or even below. In that case, while a retreat was needed, it did not take as long. Moreover, once they regained basic control of their bodies and spirit, they could space out their cultivation retreats over a period of time. Keeping all this in mind, the jubnt mood at the Inn could be understood extremely well. Of course, there was a small portion of guests who were equally depressed at having missed out on such a great opportunity, and some were even angry at the Inn for not giving a longer warning period. After all, a couple of weeks truly was too short a notice period. This is the kind of thing people n months or even years in advance, depending on the cultivation level. Among these crowds, there were a pair of young, human siblings who werepletely overwhelmed. Plot Device, as the brother was called, had to do his utmost to keep his tears from falling out, while the sister, called Plot Device-2, did not hesitate at all to let her tears flow. Their lives had been too miserable, so much so that they could not believe the wonderful thing that was happening to them. The feeling of relief and joy¡­ it was so rare in their life that they did not know how to express it. The boy of age 13, and the girl of age 11, had both been born with terrible birth defects that not only kept them in constant pain, but would have prevented them from cultivating when they came of age. If they could not cultivate, they had no chance of ever improving their lives. After all, their parents were long dead in the war. They too would have been destined for death in the recent raids, had they not been saved by¡­ by¡­ she could only be described as an angel, a holy woman or a saint. Who else would help them? Then, as if they were being rewarded for a lifetime of bad luck, not only were they saved by her, they had been brought to this Inn via something known as the Pro Bono room. Before they could understand what was happening, a strange change urred, after which they got extremely sick and fell unconscious. Yet when they woke up, not only was the pain gone, so were all the defects.N?v(el)B\\jnn Was this heaven? It must be. First, they were blessed by an angel, and then brought directly to heaven. Unfortunately, this was not heaven, and they could not stay forever. They disappeared, returning to the tent where they had been living previously. Fear filled their heart, as they felt they were about to wake from a good dream. But no such thing happened. The pain continued to elude them. The p to the tent opened, and the angelic saint woman appeared once again, though if anyone else saw her they might not agree. She did not have hair of flowing gold, for it had been tied and hidden behind her helmet, nor did she have skin as fair as the pure snow, for it was covered in dirt and sweat and grime. She wore leather armor and not a summer dress, and the air about her was hot and full of battle lust, not delicate and petite. "What happened? Where did you go?" she asked, suppressing the concern in her voice. "We went to this magical ce called the Midnight Inn!" the sister began. She did not notice the look of recognition that passed through the woman''s eyes. The Midnight Inn. She had been there too, once or twice. As she listened more to the children''s story, she realized that she had missed out on a great opportunity. She should pay more attention to it in the future. ***** Over the next few hours, Lex tried to learn how to control his spirit sense. It should not have been so difficult. After all, how hard could it be to manipte an invisible sense inherently linked to his spirit that could channel information directly to him, and pass through physical objects like they were nothing? Well, the answer was it was pretty hard. But that was not all. His body was still undergoing the stabilization process from his breakthrough, and the more time he spent, the more new abilities he discovered. Like spirit sense, he also unlocked something called Soul Sense, as well as an advanced version of the instincts his body afforded him called Intuition. They both were incredibly powerful and diverse, and drastically increased the number of things Lex could do. But¡­ unfortunately, there was still more awaiting him. When his body finallypletely stabilized, he underwent a familiar rush of information from his cultivation technique. Every time he had a major breakthrough, he would receive information from Regal Embrace about his new realm, what it was normally and how he was different, and what he should do to progress further. This time, though, he got a lot more information than ever before. As if it were a sentient thing, the technique imparted to him the various details of the effects that each realm had on him, and how they were inevitably linked to the needs of his breakthrough in subsequent realms. One of the major factors, unsurprisingly, was stability. His cultivation was focused on extreme stability, so as to continuously perfect his defense without eliciting any adverse reactions. Simrly, his Regal affinity was supposed to do the same for his future breakthroughs. However, Lex achieved something that should have never happened, and his energy took on an unknown affinity. As such¡­ should he attempt to break through to the Nascent realm in the future¡­ there was a 99.99% chance that he would explode, and die! Chapter 465 Calm Confusion clouded Lex''s mind as he repeatedly went over the information provided by his cultivation technique. The Regal affinity was supposed to make spirit energy extremely resilient, meaning its affinity would not be easily overridden and induced stability in whatever it affects. This was supposed to be the bedrock of Lex''s breakthrough when he entered the Nascent realm. This was due to the fact that, normally, when humans cultivate, Nascent is the realm in which their soul finally bes strong enough and gains the ability to exist without the body. The realm was moreplicated than just that, and included many things beyond the simple strengthening of the soul, but in context to Lex, it was a huge issue. After all, another ability of Nascent was to separate the soul from the body ording to need, but Lex technically did not have an independent soul anymore. Thus, since this was the cultivation path that Lex was following, adjustments needed to be made to assure that the breakthrough wouldn''t try to separate Lex''s soul forcefully, thereby destroying him, since his soul and body were the same now. The stable nature of Regal affinity would have yed a key role in stabilizing his body while the natural process of the breakthrough tried to do the exact opposite. The very fact that Lex''s affinity had changed, regardless of whatever effects his new affinity had, jeopardized his breakthrough, making it likely that he would fail and die. Moreover, this was not a one time issue that needed to be dealt with only once. Even if Lex found some external assistance in helping to stabilize his body during the breakthrough, the reliance on the nature of Regal affinity was repeated in many more aspects of the cultivation technique from thereon. What that basically meant was that even if, using external factors, he did breakthrough without dying, meaning availing that 0.01% chance of survival, he would be crippled and unable to actually use his cultivation due to conflicts his affinity created. Once the confusion psed, panic set in. How could this be? No this wasn''t supposed to happen? What will he do now? What- Lex suddenly closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath. While holding his breath in, Lex clenched his fists tightly and strained all the muscles in his body while standing still. For a few minutes, he stayed like that, before he slowly started letting the air escape his lungs. One by one, he rxed his muscles and once he was done, unclenched his fists. When Lex reopened his eyes, there was no panic or confusion in them any longer. There was only calm. It was not even confidence, for how could he be confident in tackling a matter that far surpassed his understanding. But he was definitely calm. He had traveled the universe, walked out of hordes of zombies, bathed inva, killed countless strong enemies, hosted rulers of entire Empires and races at his Inn. He was Lex. It was not so easy to overwhelm him anymore. Facing this great, seemingly impossible task, Lex set out to think of a solution. But before that, he had to adjust his state perfectly. After a very, very long time, Lex put on the Bathroom set, which included the Bath robe, Bathroom slippers and the bathroom towel. Individually, all these had various effects, but when worn together, they had a set effect which basically cleansed him internally and externally of all hazardous factors and let him focus on the task at hand. The reason he put this on now was because internal factors also included things such as doubt, anxiety, inner demons, etc. He could have no distractions during this time. He could not afford to make a mistake regarding such a sensitive issue. He reviewed all the avable information that he had from the very beginning. First, Regal Embrace was a unique cultivation technique, meaning that no one else in the universe had ever practiced it before, nor would they ever do so again. That was not a part of the cultivation techniques description, but a requirement of his reward back then. He recalled that the Regal Embrace was a part of someone''s collection. A certain ''being somewhere in the universe'' had it. He had not thought about it again since then, but the insinuation of that information was great. If there was a cultivation technique that tantly said it had the strongest defense in the entire universe, yet the owner only kept it as a part of his collection, then what did the owner cultivate? In fact, now that he was recalling the matter, even Mo''s blessing, which was described as having the strongest attack in the universe, was also a part of a ''beings'' collection. There existed the possibility that these were two different beings, but Lex thought it was unlikely. Regardless of whatever the being in question cultivated, the fact that it existed in his collection, and was not generated by the system gave Lex a lot of assurance. That did not mean that he was aiming to search for that being. It just meant that someone somewhere had designed these two cultivation techniques. If there were beings capable of designing his cultivation technique, there were surely beings capable of altering it as well to help him. Moreover, with the Midnight Inn, he was uniquely equipped to search the entire universe for those skilled in created cultivation techniques. Come to think of it, John himself created spiritual techniques based on his customers'' requests. Lex wondered if his system was some kind of academic system, capable of designing techniques. It seemed he would have to put questioning John on his agenda. Focusing back on the matter at hand, Lex identified a few key things he had to do now. First of all, while he could not break through the realm, he was free to grow within the Golden Core realm, so he would do that. Next, Lex would begin doing research into cultivation techniques and how they were designed. Other than that, he would also have to begin doing research on people or entities skilled in creating or altering cultivation techniques. How he would ensure their trust once he found someone potentially skilled enough was also an issue he would have to look into. These were the key things in regards to focusing on regaining his cultivation path. Other than these, Lex also had to spend some time familiarizing himself with his new abilities. While Regal Embrace gave a brief description of what Soul sense did, Lex did not understand itpletely. Intuition, on the other hand, had it in its very nature to allow Lex to understandpletely what it did. Yes, Soul and Spirit senses were extremely cool. In fact, technically speaking, all three abilities were probably different but equal in their potential. But damn was Intuition impressive. Lex already knew it would be his favorite. It was a much more advanced version of the instincts he had already been using, except that he could freely direct it towards whatever he wanted. Moreover, it made him extremely sensitive to anything at all that had to do with him. If he was sitting in a room of a thousand people, and a single one of them thought of Lex''s name, his Intuition would be able to detect it! The range of his ability was limited, for now, but in all things rted to Lex, his Intuition was going to y a huge role. ***** Primary Realm, Gaia''s graveyard In the center of this zone, which was acknowledged as thergest death zone in the entire universe by some, was a cozy little wooden hut. Well, it was not wood but the flesh of Gaia, but as the originator of the Dao of Wood, it could be considered the same thing.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The hut itself did not seem very impressive and had only one bedroom, one library, one vault and one study. Inside the library sat a being whose name had not been uttered in the entire history of this fledgling universe. On his small little sofa, made from the skin of the first ever ''dragon'' - no, eh, on the sofa made from thefiest leather, the being sat wrapped in a robe that had definitely not been made from the feathers of the Divine White Heron, drinking from a mug that had could most definitely not have been crafted in the mes of a realm that exploded. Beside him sat his pet, amon Lynx andpletely not the physical manifestation of a realm that had gained sentience. Yes, all was normal in the library, until the being suddenly frowned in confusion. "Someone surpassed the Regal heritage? In this universe? How is that even possible?" The confusion in his eyes turned to intrigue as his eyes moved as if he was reading something written on air. "Ho ho, this is actually interesting," the being said, sitting up. He put his book down and began reading with fervor, but his eyes were only looking at air. Chapter 466 Understanding His Powers As far as Lex''s new abilities were concerned, so long as they were on the list of expected abilities gained in the process of cultivating Regal Embrace, the cultivation technique gave Lex information on them.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om For Intuition, however, even if the cultivation technique failed to provide him with an exnation, he would have known. After all, it was in the nature of the technique itself to provide Lex with information about anything rted to himself. For example, currently his intuition was telling him that he should thoroughly master controlling his spirit and soul sense before exiting his room, at least in the guise of the Innkeeper. When Lex''s thoughts went to why it was so important he should not appear as the Innkeeper before mastering those abilities, his intuition pointed towards the Host Attire. While it was not spelling the answer out for him, the hints were big enough. From there Lex could summarize on his own that the Host Attire only granted himplete control of his facial expressions and his body, but that extreme control he had been relying on to maintain his facade would not extend to these two new senses. Although both the soul and spirit sense were invisible and could not normally be detected, others with spirit and soul senses of their own would be able to detect his if the two touched. At the same time, while Lex was not sure about this, he could venture a guess and say the way emotions such as surprise, anger, happiness, etc. all show up on a person''s face, they might show up in the behavior of his senses as well. For example, if he was startled, his senses might tremble and extend out of his body if he didn''t keep them sufficiently suppressed. He could guess this much because even the spirit energy within his body reacted in various ways to his emotions, though those reactions were extremely limited since they were contained within his body. That was merely one of the simple effects of his intuition. It was simultaneously warning him of various potential avenues of danger, or rather trouble, he had been ignoring, or not giving enough attention to. The biggest one at the moment was his double identity as Leo. The identity itself was not the problem, but the fact that he wanted to associate that identity with his real identity of Lex, should someone start investigating him. With his name now at the forefront of the Guest registry, he needed to strengthen the rtion between Leo and Lex by dropping a few subtle hints. Then came the issue of why his name was at the top of the list while so many people stronger than him weren''t. That was even simpler to resolve. Lex had been using his own name in the Crystal realm and the Midnight tavern, though he had avoided using hisst name. He just needed to build a connection between himself there and Leo as well. That way he did not even need to exin his achievement. It would be up to others to use their own imagination about why he appeared in a different realm, and what he did there. It wasn''t as if these were things he had ignored, but apparently he had just not done enough about them to cover his bases. His intuition would help him avoid simple mistakes like that. The best part was, even this was only a portion of what his intuition could achieve. The ability was truly versatile. So long as it rted to his physical body in any way, his intuition would guide him. Up next was his Soul sense. The basics of it were easy to understand. In the way that spirit energy could interact with the physical ne of existence, and send Lex feedback so that Lex could essentially ''see'' everything his spirit sense touched, the soul sense could do the same, but for the soul ne. A brief description of nes was provided so Lex could understand what they were. Basically all of reality, in every realm across the entire universe, consisted of numerous nes that all existed simultaneously and ovepped one another in the same space, and interacted with one another. Normally, living beings could not differentiate them and so perceived them as a whole. The physical ne was one in which matter existed. The soul ne was another ne in which only souls existed. This concept¡­ confused Lex, and not just a little. That was to say, for normal people, their body existed in one ne of existence while their soul existed in another ne of existence altogether? But if they were in different nes, why did the soul need the body''s support to exist? It¡­ for now he just epted that because the nes could interact with one another, souls could suffer pressure from the physical ne, or maybe some other ne Lex didn''t even know about. But this was still something he would look into further. Getting back to his soul sense, if it could show Lex the soul ne, then what did it look like? Nothing. It was a void of darkness with himself in the center. This was because the soul sense would not detect anything other than souls, and so if Lex only relied on it for sight, in an area like his meditation room where he was the only living being, he would see nothing else. Of course, as these things usually go, even soul sense was not so simple, and people could find ways to hide themselves from his senses, but for the most part, he would be able to sense any soul with his soul sense. That was just the basic feature, and the part that Lex understood. The confusion actually arose when he learnt that he could use his soul sense to interact with souls directly, and not only that. When he practiced and got better, he would be able to influence the characteristics of souls to a limited degree - temporarily! ording to the description, this would help him in fields such as alchemy, medicine, forging and many more. It would take time and experimentation for him to understand what that really meant. For now¡­ he closed his eyes and wrapped his own body in his soul sense, which admittedly took longer than Lex had hoped. Still, the result was satisfactory. He could see his own ''soul'' and deep inside it, he could finally see the treasure within which the system was hidden. Chapter 467 Never Give Up! With his soul sense firmly wrapped around his own body, Lex could see his ''soul''. Only, it lookedpletely identical to his body. Did that mean his physical body existed on the soul ne? Wait, did that mean he could physically touch souls? A few random thoughts flowed through Lex''s brain, but he focused back on the matter at hand. Though his ''soul'' looked identical to his body, the difference was he could see through it. But it was not blood or bones he saw, but a small ball of glowing golden light right in his chest. He did not need to wonder what the glowing orb was, for he knew instinctively it was the treasure that contained his system. He did not try anything, for not only was he extremely dependent on the system, for now, he also had very poor control over his soul sense. He did, however, take his time to observe that small glowing ball. Such a small thing had so drastically changed his life. It was hard to imagine. While he was observing it, he also wondered if the reason he could see the system was because it was ssified as a ''soul treasure'' or if it had a soul of its own. It was not a simple thought, and whichever the answer was would have major insinuations. But, once again, he did not contact Mary to confirm with her. It was pointless. For now, once he was finally done testing out his soul sense, he turned his attention to his other new abilities. These few would require him to figure out the details on his own, for their appearance was not a nned part of Regal Embrace. His new affinity, whatever it was called, would undoubtedly be extremely significant for it had not reced Regal affinity, but had fused with it to turn into something else. So, regardless of what effects it had, it would stay on the same scale as the Regal affinity, at the very least. Lex could also make a few guesses about what the affinity should be. The Lotus had informed him of the changes it had made to his body and what the cause of the issue was. He did not know what ws'' actually were, but whatever they were, it was obvious that they were far beyond his level. In essence, they were very powerful. Since his affinity had changed due to the changes the Lotus had made to his body, he strongly suspected his new affinity would, at least in some regard, have something to do withws. This was something he''d have to figure out, especially if he wanted to devise a new way to continue to cultivate. As difficult as it would be, all hope was not lost. At least his intuition would be a great help in this regard. But while he could at least specte about his affinity, he waspletely clueless about the changes that happened to his left eye. Even his intuition was silent on why his left eye had gained this new ability, though it hinted at the fact that the change had urred, once again, due to the changes the Lotus had made to his body. So basically, this once again had something to do withws. Most likely. Probably. Maybe.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om After considering those two abilities and thinking of ways he would test them out in the future, he turned his attention to his body. Before his breakthrough, he had already had a massive increase in strength, which had only beenpounded now. The good news was, even without him having to consciously practice, his brain was quickly adjusting to new strength. He would still have to fine tune his control, but the chances of him identally crushing someone''s hand while shaking hands had dropped to an all-time low. His thought process had sped up once again, and his capacity for multitasking had absolutely exploded. He could easily do multiple tasks at the same time without suffering any loss in his concentration. He wondered if he had gained anything special as a result of sticking to the ''true path'' as it was called in the Crystal realm, meaning cultivating spirit, soul and body at the same time. His intuition told him yes, though he could not figure out what specifically he had gained. He tried using the techniques he had learned for the Foundation realm. The amount of strength they could disy was inherently limited, meaning Lex would have to learn new techniques if he wanted to fully disy the limits of his power. Still, they had be much more powerful than they were previously, and it was much easier to use them as is. For example, the teleportation technique Lex never got an opportunity to use called the In-Law effect, which originally required him to stay stationary for 3 hours while he primed the technique, now barely took a minute for him toplete. Once he became used to his new realm, the time might even be shorter. Evisceration, the soul attack that he barely ever used because of how difficult it was to master, seemed to be the only technique that did not suffer a limit on its strength. Not only was it able to disy a much greater strength than before, unfortunately the difficulty in using it also increased. The plus side was, since Lex had grown in his level, even if using the technique caused a bacsh, he was more than strong enough to take it without suffering any real harm. If there was one thing about his breakthrough that Lex didn''t like, however, was that it more or less eliminated his hunger. He had more than enough energy in his body to keep himself running even if he didn''t eat for weeks. Moreover, since his body had such high energy requirements, which were usually being met by the energy stored within his Golden core, if he wanted to be satiated, the food he would have to eat would have to be much more nutritious than before. Lex tightened his fists and a firm look appeared in his eyes. He would never give up on eating delicious food. It seemed like it was time to hire an excellent chef. Better yet, it was time to find someone with a cooking system and hire them! Chapter 468 Dread[Bonus ] "I was hired for a special case," said the morose man, the tip of his index finger tracing the rim of his ss. Surrounding him, the usually noisy bar waspletely silent as the guests listened to his story with keen interest. "The fact that I was hired spoke enough of the seriousness of the case to begin with. After all, the best of the best used toe to me to ask for internships. There was no detective better than me, because I was beyond what could be measured. With a 100% case resolution rate, my prices were sky high. The fact that they were willing to pay my dues spoke enough of their desperation." The man, sporting a thin mustache above his lip, and wearing a brown-colored trench coat, looked down as he shook his head and sighed. His hat sat lonely atop the wooden bar, looking beaten and worn. "How was I supposed to know that this case would be different?" The man, who waspletely human and in no way anything rted to a crustacean, came from a called Terra, the geography and history of which were remarkably simr to Earth without any corrtion at all. If one distinct difference had to be identified, it was that Terra suffered from a lot more paranormal activity than earth. "The year was 1966, the ce was Chicago, the time was the dead of night and the ce was the victim''s apartment building, up on the 4th floor of a government housing building. I was alone, for I couldn''t have others with me while I investigated, slowing me down. The apartment was a mess. All the furniture was broken, everything was on the floor, the brand new television set was turned on, though one of its legs was broken so it was slumping low. The endless noise of static from the television filled the room, drowning out all other sound. I walked in the stillness of the room, unafraid of the dark, as I reviewed all the evidence. "I had never seen anything like it. The murder weapon... the murder weapon could not be what the evidence suggested. It was impossible. Most others agreed that the victim had died from the fall, as the broken wall would suggest he had been flung from there while he was still alive. But no, I could tell he was dead long before his body hit the ground. "Troubled, I continued my search. Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Ennd, China, Japan, I traveled the world hunting down all the victims this serial killer had left behind. But the more I searched, the more troubled I became. It just did not make sense." At this point the man sighed, and gulped down his drink. His eyes looked out into the distance, as if he could view the memory like a film on a television screen. "Then one night I found myself in India. There were rumors of the death of a prince, and the signs left behind by the murderer were all too familiar. Well, he wasn''t really a prince, but his family lived in a castle, so he may as well have been. My car had broken down, so I was forced to walk the road. I would have reached my destination by morning had I continued, but destiny had other ns. "In the hot, humid night a strange buzzing sound reached me. I paid it no mind, there were enough flies around me to ount for the buzzing. Only, the sound slowly started to grow louder. Still, I was lost in my own thoughts, unaware of the impending danger. It was only when I felt the vibrations in the road beneath my feet that I awoke from my thoughts, but by then, it was toote. I could hear the sounds of the revving engine behind me. The shing headlights illuminated the road, but all I could see was my life shing before my eyes. I knew what had happened. The serial killer hade after me. The dreaded mass murderer, known only by his alias, Truck-kun, had finally decided I was too close! "I turned around to get a good look, but all I saw were two shing yellow headlights. A truck horn straight from hell sounded out in the night right before Truck-kun smashed into me! But luck was in my corner that night. The horn startled me enough that I fell backwards, and coincidentally, fell through the golden doors of the Midnight Inn. I was saved a hair''s breadth, and now I had seen the murderer with my own eyes. It would not escape me in the future. Or at least, that''s what I thought." Silence once again filled the room as everyone listened with bated breaths. This was the key part. "It was only when I arrived at the Inn, and gained ess to the heavenly Henali portal did I realize how wrong I was. Truck-kun was not a mass murderer choosing its victims across the globe. No, instead, the signs of its influence spanned the realm! Gxies far and wide,s remote and hidden, none of it mattered. When Truck-kun found a victim it wanted to im, none could escape it. So far, I am the only one who has looked into the gleaming lights of death and survived. I-" The man''s speech was cut short by the sound of screaming. Someone was yelling something at the top of their lungs, anding closer! The next moment, the doors burst open and yet another guest of the Inn bent over, panting as hard as possible.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "There''s been another murder," he managed to say between long bated breaths. "This time... this time the victim was a Nascent cultivator." The room full of teenagers and young adults, all fans ofics and novels with unlucky lives, all suddenly had goosebumps. They all fit the pattern for Truck-kuns victims perfectly. They had gathered at the Midnight Inn to discuss ways to elude this monster that exclusively hunted weebs, anime enthusiasts and fantasy fans. But it did not seem like there was a solution. The dreaded Truck-kun could not be stopped! Chapter 469 Chopsticks Lex spent the next 2 days getting used to the changes in his body. Getting used to his new strength was the easy part, as his brain did most of the work for him. To further refine his control, he used chopsticks to move rice from one bowl to another, one grain at a time. The chopsticks themselves were quite flimsy, and every time he identally broke them, he started from the beginning. This method seemed pretty stupid when considering all the resources avable to him, but sometimes it was just about putting in the work. He quickly gained precise control over his strength, not only in both his hands, but his feet as well - though he hadn''t used chopsticks to train them. His dual vision was difficult to get used to, to be honest. It might have been easier if both his eyes had obtained the upgrade, but since they hadn''t, he had to keep track of both streams of data consciously. In all honesty, it was something he waspletely capable of doing due to his recent improvements, but it was just tedious. It was like constantly being aware of your breathing. One could, of course, consciously take control and maintain the required rhythm, but it was so much easier when it was something being done on autopilot. In the end, it was not something he overcame. Instead, while browsing all the techniques he got from the Infinity Emporium, Lex found a technique that trains the spirit, allowing him to multitask better. It was like splitting his mind into two, to perform two different tasks without bothering or being affected by the other. This was something he could already do to some degree due to his new realm, but the difference between being able to do, and training to do it specifically, was huge. Moreover, the moment he started training in the technique, his intuition told him that the effects of this technique wouldpound. Since it was focused on training the spirit and not the brain, every time the spirit grew stronger, the effect would increase without him making any additional effort. Currently he couldpletely focus on 3 different things without suffering any interferences in his concentration or having a drop in his performance. One of those 3 things was constantly dedicated to his new eyesight, so now he could easily switch between focusing on one stream of information over the other, without really stopping his eyesight. He had no progress so far as far as discovering what characteristics his affinity had, although he had determined that it wasn''t corrosive or hazardous in any way. What he had not been able to do, however, was train his spirit and soul sense properly. He had attained some initial progress, to the effect of being able to keep his senses from extending out of his body randomly, but not much else.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Unfortunately, the Regal Embrace did not provide him with some kind of training regimen to train those, so Lex had to rely on other resources. Finally, after spending two days locked up in his room, he came out. But, this time he did not appear as the Innkeeper nor did he appear as Leo. This time, he came out as Lex. One reason was that he needed to drop a few hints of his identity, though even that he would not do purposefully. He was going to browse the Henali portal for guides on learning how to train his spirit senses. The portal had both free and paid services, and apparently some kind of hidden authority system, as Lex learned. After all, it was awork avable to the entire realm, so how could there not be tiers? Lex currently only had ess to themon tier of the portal, with no idea of how to reach a higher authority. For now, though, it waspletely irrelevant to him, since the kind of information he needed could be essed publicly. Besides that, there was one more thing he wanted to do that he could only do as Lex. The system wielder who had been following Suzuki, the man Larry had fought, was now spending a lot of time with Larry over the past few days. Lex wanted to make contact personally and learn a little more about him. He could have spied on him using the system, but his way he wanted to test out if his eyesight could detect the system as well, and that was only something he could do in person. Moreover, the new group of people Larry had been hanging out with were extremely suspicious. Lex wanted to get to know them better as well. After all, more than once, he had seen Anakin lead people into the Chamber of Secrets to conduct secret business meetings. Even he could not spy on them in there, for it was strictly forbidden by the system. With his agenda set, Lex strolled through the Inn as he took in the festive mood. Even if nothing special was happening, everyone was just happy about their breakthroughs. Lex wasn''t able to help the smile that appeared on his face as he enjoyed the positive feedback the Inn kept getting. Finally, things were going well for once without any problems randomly popping up. He did not spend too long strolling around, for training still had priority. After registering himself on the portal, he quickly logged on and began searching for guides rted to spirit sense and soul sense training. For spirit sense, he immediately found many guides, both paid and unpaid. For soul sense, however, let alone guides, he couldn''t even find a mention of it. He highly doubted that it was such a rare thing that it had never been encountered before. Most likely, this was one of the topics that was hidden behind the secret authorities or tiers mentioned earlier. Oveing his disappointment, Lex nced through one of the free tutorials avable. Initially, he found it very informative, but as he continued, a strange look appeared in his eyes. Why was this using chopsticks, too? Chapter 470 Spiritual Treasure While spirit sense was mostly illusory, it could also be used to interact with physical objects. It was not a recement for physical strength, usually, but still the ability to pick up or somehow manipte items far away was very useful. The process of interacting with physical items was broken down into a few simple steps so that beginners could focus on each individual step while they learned. First was, naturally, wrapping the intended item with his spirit sense. Then Lex would channel some spirit energy into his spirit sense, giving it the strength to harden temporarily at certain points, allowing it to touch physical items. Then, based on his control of his spirit sense, he could use the hardened portion of his sense to grab onto and manipte the item as needed. There were countless techniques that allowed cultivators to use spirit sense to gain greater strength than their physical bodies, attack the mind, control weapons, and more. From the Golden core onwards, cultivation became infinitely moreplicated because there was so much more that a cultivator could do. But all of that began with training the spiritual sense itself. Much like hand eye coordination needed to be trained, and to some extent was being trained from birth, so too did the spiritual sense need to be trained. The first step of training spiritual sense in many videos began the same way, which was to first get an easily avable spiritual treasure which was specifically designed to aid in learning how to control spiritual sense. It was just that¡­ the tutorial with the most views and the one that Lex was watching started with not one treasure but two. More specifically, it started with procuring a pair of chopsticks which were also spiritual treasures. Varying from normal treasures, which to cultivators usually either meant natural resources which could aid in some facet of cultivation, or manmade items which could facilitate the use of spiritual energy, often even enhancing it, spiritual treasures were designed specifically to be used with spiritual sense. Lex watched the entire tutorial and thoroughly understood the requirements of each step in the training before exiting the portal. One issue with using the Henali portal at the Inn, rather than on a that had been connected through the proper procedure, was theck of a delivery service. No matter how affordable the treasure was, it could not be delivered to the Inn. One reason was that the delivery service probably wouldn''t have golden keys to enter the Inn, but even in a situation where the Midnight Inn became so popr that everyone had golden keys, using the portal at the Inn disabled location and tracking. It was literally impossible to enter his location as the Midnight Inn while using the portal. But all was not lost. One of the features of the ongoing festival were stalls that had been setup, allowing guests to sell items and trinkets from their locale. He would first check that market to see if a spiritual treasure matching his requirements was avable. If it wasn''t then he would ce a request at the Guild room. At the same time¡­ Lex pulled out his personal hologram which he, as a ''guest'' would have had and said, "can you please forward a message from me to the guest Larry, he''s an old friend of mine. Tell him I''ll be at the local markets." The hologram nodded and disappeared. The personal holograms could fulfill many of the guests'' simple requests such as this, and weren''t just limited to answering questions. It was not amonly known feature, but with time it was slowly catching on. More importantly, and more relevant than the additional features of the hologram, by inviting Larry toe to him instead of approaching him while he was at his new group, Lex would avoid any suspicion that he was approaching them for a hidden reason. Not that anyone would have any reason to suspect him to begin with, since there was nothing wrong with two friends meeting, Lex was bing used to thinking about every situation inyers. By doing this, he eliminated even the possibility that someone would suspect him of his real agenda, which was to scope out the system wielder. After all, Lex only invited Larry. They would not have had any idea that he already knew that they would likely follow him. Lex hailed a golf cart and made his way to the vige where the local market had been set up and began to peruse. He could, of course, find out if what he wanted was avable if he scanned the system, but he was also using this opportunity to study his eyesight and try to ascertain the limits of what it could show him. A short whileter, his hologram appeared once again, informing him that Larry was on his way to meet him. Lex smirked. Everything was going ording to n. Well, at least it was, until Larry and his group closed in, and Lex''s intuition immediately started acting, warning him that there was immense danger! Lex was genuinely rmed, for he couldn''t understand who or what could threaten him while he was at the Inn. But it was not a mortal danger that he faced. Lex was still not experienced enough with his intuition to understand what it was trying to tell him. Unfortunately he was not able to identify the kind of danger, but he at least narrowed it down to who it wasing from. It was one unassuming member of Larry''s group. Lex scanned him to discover his name was Noman Butt, but the system gave him no other important information. His left eye, however, picked up on something. There were strange, invisible wavesing out of and entering his body, mixing in with the environment around him. "Lex, you sly fellow, where do you disappear to?" Larry yelled loudly over the noise of the crowd as he closed in, his usual stupid smile painting his face. He was still as excitable and jolly as ever. Lex was about to give a casual reply, stating that he wasn''t busy with anything important, before passing a remark about Larry''s own busy schedule. He was about to, but before the words left his mouth, his intuition acted up. This time, he understood the feeling well. No matter what, he must not lie!n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "I''ve been traveling a lot," Lex said with a smile as he greeted his old friend. Yet behind his bright smile and eager eyes, his mind was alreadypiling a list of everything he could and couldn''t say, if he was unable to lie. After all, he was a man with many secrets. Chapter 471 Talented Group "What about you? Been busytely? How many girlfriends have you run through by now?" Lex asked casually, trying to divert the topic of conversation from himself. "I uhh¡­ still have the same girlfriend. I''ll introduce you to her," he said awkwardly. Lex could not help but notice how he loosened up his color as he said that, his eyes darting into the distance as his thoughts wandered. Oh? Was there some gossip here? Velma would surely be interested in this. Silently, he betrayed his friend as he told Mary to inform Velma about this. "We can talk more about thatter," Larry quickly said the moment he snapped free from his thoughts. "Instead, I should ask, are you busy? I have a couple of things I want to talk to you about." "Not that busy. I was looking for a spiritual treasure to train my spirit sense, but I haven''t been able to find one so far." "Ah yes, I remember going through that hassle. What you-" Larry suddenly paused, and then looked at Lex with a look of genuine shock. "Wait, you¡­ you''ve reached the Golden core realm?" Lex shrugged as if it was the most ordinary thing in the world. "Yeah, I did. I don''t know why you''re surprised if you were able to reach it even quicker than I." "I¡­ no, but you¡­" Larry shook his head and looked at Lex as if he was seeing the man for the first time. Although he always held Lex in high regard, for he knew he wasn''t simple, this was taking things a bit beyond just that. He knew how valuable his own secret was to help him grow so quickly. The fact that Lex could keep up, even if he was a bit slower, meant that his secrets were also probably not toocking whenpared to his own. Larry''s wide grin promptly returned as he wrapped his arm around Lex''s neck. "This is a reason to celebrate," he said, "and celebrate we shall by finally getting you a girl!" Lex elbowed the man and pushed him away. The man literally never thought about anything other than girls. Lex thought to tease him about it, sincest he recalled he was actually not so skilled at flirting, but it seemed he had managed to maintain a rtionship for a while. As a young bachelor, Lex really felt like elbowing him a little harder. His strange metallic body should be able to tolerate it, right? "Haha alright, alright. Forget about the treasure, I''ll get you a good er. I have a guy who handles simple things like this. Instead, let me introduce you to some people. This is Rafael, Marlo''s son." Lex put on a surprised expression as he turned to look at the mature man. He was already in the Qi training realm once again, and making steady progress. As a man in his mid-30s, he looked the oldest of the bunch and definitely stood out, but at the rate his cultivation was going it wouldn''t be long before he regained his youthful demeanor. "It''s a pleasure," said Lex as he shook the man''s hand. "Likewise," replied Rafael as he tried to recall if he''d heard of Lex from his memories of the future. After all, such a young Golden core cultivator, especially one from earth, was someone who should have had a lot of fame. But he was drawing a nk. Little did he know, in the version of the future he knew, since Marlo never trained Lex, his experience at Vegus Minima had been so bad, Lex had decided to slow down the growth of the Inn to a dead stall. It took him many years to reach the Golden core in that timeline due to his caution andck of opportunities. "This spry youngd here is Anakin, and this is Noman," he said, continuing with the introductions. "And finally, this brooding fellow is Zouta. Or Souta. Or something like that. I''ve given up on trying to pronounce his name, I hope you have better luck." Lex nodded at each of the three guys separately, paying special attention to each of them. Noman was the source of the danger he was detecting, and he could see something odd happening around him from his left eye, but see nothing else. With Anakin he couldn''t see anything worthy of notice, but his soul sense brushed past him - mostly because he still couldn''t control it - and that''s when Lex noticed two souls within the man''s body. That only left Souta, the system wielder. All of them, alongside Rafael, who had a mysterious treasure inside his heart, formed a strange group of people with unbelievable secrets. Lex could not help but think that if this were a novel, each one of them would be worthy of being either an antagonist or protagonist in the series. "Let''s find somewhere more private to talk," said Larry. Lex, who was keen on trying to understand what objective such a collection of talented young men could have, took the opportunity to test out the warning from his intuition about being truthful. "I have a cabin on the Midnight train. We can talk there," he said, wearing an expression of showing off as he looked at Larry. Before the other could respond, however, a whisper interrupted him, saying, "he''s lying." Although it was only a whisper, and they were on a crowded street, as cultivators so close to the source, they all heard him. Lex wore an awkward expression as an unknown light shed through his eyes. "What I mean is, by the time we reach the station, I can arrange to get a cabin. Don''t worry, it''s just a minor cost to me and I''ve always wanted to try it, anyway." Lex looked at Noman as he spoke, but the other did not show any concern, as if the exnation was not for him.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex, on the other hand, was thinking about the implications of what just happened. Fortunately, his intrigue did not need to be disguised. Once they reached the cabin, Lex could directly ask Larry. Chapter 472 Spiel Lex looked outside the cabin window as the train finally began to move from the station, admiring the beautiful view. The first of purple crystals was a particrly enchanting sight, and stood out for miles around.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Hey I can''t believe you pulled this off," said Larry, not bothering to hide his amazement in his voice. The fact that an entire carriage had to be rented at a time, which was extremely expensive, was not even the start of it. The train was extremely popr and there was always a line, ready to book any carriages the moment they got free. The fact that Lex had been able to book it without even being present spoke of his connections and reach. "Your friend seemed to think I was lying," Lex said with a smirk, as if he had just proven the other wrong. "Don''t mind Noman. He wasn''t targeting you, he just takes everything very literally. Speaking of the devil,e on, let''s sit with the others. There are a few things we have to discuss and I think you''ll find them interesting." Lex nodded and followed Larry into another, particrlyvishly furnished cabin and took a seat. There was no table at which they could all sit, but due to the size of the cabin, even sitting in individual sofas, they were all near enough to hold a normal conversation. "Gents, I''d like to introduce you to Lex Williams, a good friend of mine. He''s a reliable fellow, and quite resourceful, as you''ve probably noticed. Lex, the reason we''re all here, and the reason I''ve even called you here, is because of an issue that I''ve been facing." The jolly look on Larry''s face finally disappeared, and even his tone turned cold. "I''m sure you remember that I''m being hunted down on earth. To be honest, a part of me just wanted to give up, and move permanently to the Inn. I had no hope of finding my family, I''ve juste to ept that they''re probably dead. Not to mention, I''ve heard if I increase my Inn privilege level enough, I can teleport to another. I was thinking of getting out forever. But it seems that whoever is after me¡­ is not content to leave things alone. "They sent assassins after me¡­ to the Inn as well! Thanks to Noman, I was able to identify the assassins and¡­ take care of things. Well, I took care of one. Souta here used to work with the one I took care of." Lex looked at the man with an eyebrow raised. "What happened, you switched sides? And if you don''t mind me asking, how did you identify the assassins?" Lex asked Souta and Noman the questions directly. This was the freedom using his own identity allowed him that being the Innkeeper restricted him from. As an all knowing and wise Innkeeper, it was inappropriate to ask so many questions so easily. "My previous master was a corrupt man. I was forced to listen to him for¡­ certain reasons, but once he died, I was freed from my restraints." Lex''s left eye could not pick up any signs of a system on Souta at all, and though Lex tried to use his soul sense on him, it was difficult to control it for now. "I didn''t do much," Noman answered simply. "I was just passing by when they approached Larry for the first time and happened to notice they were lying to him. Still, I didn''t do much. I might have pointed out their lie, I don''t remember really." "The issue is not with the assassins," Larry continued. "The issue is that we still don''t know who is after me. Rafael even used his fathers contacts to see if it was someone from the Council of New Order. But we were not able to find anything. Even the councilmen who did act against me seemed to be doing it on someone else''s behalf." Something suddenly clicked in Lex''s mind, and he summoned a file that Velma had once given him about the prisoners who were secretly controlling earth. He wasn''t worried that anyone would wonder where he got the file from, for he had a bangle with a hidden space inside of it now. It could exin everything. "I might have an idea of who might be behind it," Lex cut Larry off, as he handed him the file, and exined how every major conflict on earth, including the one orchestrated by the Council of New Order, was actually being masterminded by others. While Lex was exining, everyone kept looking at Noman from time to time, as if waiting for him to spot a lie, but it never came. Larry hid his emotions well, but the focus with which he was reading the file spoke much about his mental state. Most curiously, Lex noticed, that Larry was the only one to have the expected reaction. Everyone else¡­ "Lex, Lex, Lex, I feel like I''m meeting a long lost brother," said Anakin as he eyed the man greedily. "Larry said you''re resourceful but I didn''t expect you to be on a level entirely of your own. Let me introduce myself properly a little, while Larry reads the file. The name is Anakin, as you already know. But what you don''t know is that I''m a businessman. In fact, I''m not just a businessman, I''m a man with an extraordinary vision, and ideas that could make us wealthy beyond our wildest dreams. The only reason I haven''t seeded already is because I need someone resourceful, who can help me out a little. I have a few, minor,pletely irrelevant inconveniences stopping me. But I have a feeling that with your help, my operation can really take off. What do you say? Are you interested in working with me? If you don''t trust my word, you can ask Larry to vouch for me. I''m an honest man, just trying to make an honest living." Before Anakin could continue his spiel, an earth-shattering p of thunder roared across the Inn, and a sh of lightning struck! Chapter 473 Tribulation Everyone in the room was greatly startled by the noise, Lex included, let alone the red eyed Larry who had been reading the file Lex gave him. Abruptly everyone got up and ran to the window to see if they could identify what had caused themotion. Even if they identified the sound as thunder, they couldn''t be sure since too many unusual things happened at the Inn. Lex was a step slower and allowed everyone to crowd the window in front of him, for in his mind he was already scanning the Inn and investigating the cause. Something genuinely strange was happening, as the weather at the Inn had escaped Lex''s control for the first time. A dark cloud had formed over a remote area of the Inn, and seemed to be goingrger at a steady pace. Lex did not fail to notice that right underneath it was one of the morevish abodes he had created. Among the types of amodation the Inn offered usually were the normal room, small house,rge house, courtyard, and finally the small vige. Although he imagined that anyone in retreat might want to do it alone, he did not leave the decision up to himself, and designed abodes to amodate more people as well. Thergest abodes he made were the size of a small vige. The abode that had been subjected to the lightning strike was one such abode, and it was upied by a Devil who was currently breaking through from the Nascent realm. The Devil was not surprised by the lightning strike, and it had not prevented his breakthrough at all. Lex did even get an opportunity to wonder why this was happening when the familiar sound of a system notification rang in his ears. New Quest: A guest is undergoing a realm breakthrough and is experiencing his first tribtion. As a universal establishment, the Inn is a perfect location to undergo a tribtion for those searching for a safe environment. Add facilities to the Inn centered around undergoing tribtions. i) Add a Lightning tempering room (New room unlocked) ii) Add a me tempering room (New room unlocked) iii) Create a Tribtion room (New feature unlocked) Quest Reward: Subject to performance Lex was reading the notification, but as a result of new multitasking ability, he could easily focus on multiple things at the same time. This meant he could continue to hold a conversation with a person, giving them full and sufficient attention, without being distracted from his other task. Given that, he did not lose out on the opportunity to tease Anakin. "Go ahead, tell me you''re an honest man one more time, and let''s see if lightning strikes again." Lex''s casual remark cut through the tension in the room, and while Anakin was left with his mouth hung open, unsure of how to reply, the others looked at him with interest. His cavalier attitude indicated he knew what was going on.N?v(el)B\\jnn "I don''t know if he''s honest, but he never lies," said Noman as he returned to his seat. It was Lex''s calm attitude that made something click in his mind, allowing him to realize what was happening. Truthfully speaking, with his background, it was embarrassing that he wasn''t the first to realize what was happening. "What was that?" asked Anakin, wanting to divert the topic of conversation from himself. "It''s a lightning tribtion," Noman answered casually. "It''s rare to see one, actually. But I guess the aid to everyone cultivation brought by the star rank increase pushed whoever is going through it over the edge. Chances are, we''ll see a lot more of them." "What''s a lightning tribtion?" Anakin asked, returning to his seat. There was another sh of light during this time, but no sound this time. That was because Lex had added a sound instion feature to every single abode at the Inn. If more tribtions woulde, the noise would make it impossible for anyone to go about peacefully. "I don''t know in too much detail, since it''s not relevant to me yet. But basically, in all the realms after Nascent, trying to break through to a higher realm causes a tribtion. Lightning and fire tribtions are the ones I know about, but I know that they''re supposed to be more on higher levels. What those are¡­ I have no idea, though I heard a rumor that some extinct races have be a part of the tribtions. What that means¡­ I have no idea." "If it''s nothing to be rmed about, can we focus on this?" Larry said, holding out the file. He had rposed himself by now, though anyone could tell he was holding himself back. Not waiting for anyone to ask, he briefly described everything he had read about how all wars and conflicts on Earth were games to a few people who were being held as prisoners on Earth. Other than Noman, who had never been to Earth, everyone was extremely shocked by what they heard. Even the cool andposed Rafael was having drastic mood swings, though he managed to keep his cool. Anakin wasn''t too aggrieved personally, but even he realized that this was not a small matter. "How did you even find out all of this?" Rafael asked, looking at Lex. Lex, though, was not pressured by the attention and only smirked. "I have reliable sources, though if you don''t believe me, that''s your right. Honestly, I wouldn''t have shared this with you all to begin with if I didn''t think this matter had something to do with whoever is hunting Larry. It has to be one of the ''prisoners'', if not the same ones, causing all the problems. The question is, what can we do about this?" Everyone turned to look at Noman, who only nodded and said nothing else. It seemed¡­ Lex was telling the truth. "There are a lot of things you may or may not know, so I''ll speed you through it. Earth¡­ and the rest of the sr system are considered property of some¡­ people or organization. I''m not sure who. They''ve been using the fact that Earthcks spiritual energy to use it as a prison. I tried to pass this information to them through the Council of New order, but it seems to me like they haven''t done anything to address the situation. As much as I want to just go to Earth and kill the people responsible, I don''t know if we''ll be able to handle the repercussions if the people who ''own'' Earth take offense. One possible solution I thought of was if we invited the Jotun Empire over to Earth. They seem to have an interest in expanding, and if they could do for Earth what they did for the Veguss, we''d be much better off." "It''s a good n," said Rafael with a disappointed voice. "But it won''t work. As for how I know¡­ I have sources of my own as well." Chapter 474 Room Design "What do you mean?" Lex asked with a frown. He didn''t want to take any drastic actions on Earth, nor did he want to be responsible for any of them doing anything drastic either. The reason he had shared this information was because he was sure he had a handle on things. Although killing a few prisoners on Earth was not hard, he did not want to find out how the organization that had been using Earth as a prison would react to such hostility. After all, even if he could retreat to the Inn, not everyone could. An organization that had been capable of interster travel, and who had been using earth as a prison should not be weak at all. Let alone, he did not forget that even Bastet and Fk, two Demi-Daolords, were prisoners on Earth as well. Things being handled peacefully or through negotiations was the best idea. "I mean¡­ the Jotun Empire will not interfere with anything on Earth. As for how or why I know this, I can''t say." Memories from his past life shed in his mind. Things had changed a lot when spiritual energy returned to Earth, and most of them were not in a good way. Once again everyone looked at Noman, who only shrugged. Lex took this opportunity to wear an irritated expression and ask, "why do you all keep looking at him?" An awkward silence filled the room as everyone looked at Noman. Everyone here had shared secrets with one another, though Noman''s was the only one everyone remembered. Still, that experience had built a bond of trust amongst them, and it did not feel right to just include Lex inside it without him sharing his secret as well. "I did not expect this conversation to reach this point so quickly," said Anakin, who was once again wearing a sly smile. "The Inn has this little room called the Chamber of Secrets. Are you familiar with it, Lex?" The question was a rhetorical one for he did not expect Lex to actually know, and was once again about to enter his usual persuasive speech when Lex nodded firmly. "Oh, um, yes, perfect then, that saves me from having to exin it to you," he said, the disappointment in his voice evident. "Well, the point being, we all here have some¡­ personal matters we''d like to keep personal. There are certain things we''d like to keep that way, but if we cane to an agreement, we won''t mind continuing this conversation inside the chamber. That way, everyone''s secrets stay safe and we can move the conversation forward." Lex did not reply immediately, and continued to look at Anakin with a scrutinizing gaze. There was definitely more than met the eye about this group, and curiosity about their secrets had already upied a corner of Lex''s mind. This was also an excellent way to learn more about Souta, as well as Noman. The issue about Earth¡­ well, if that was a matter that could be resolved as well then he had nothing to lose by joining them. Besides, he knew exactly what ''secret'' to share. "Alright," Lex said finally, and leaned back on his sofa. A silence filled the room as everyone waited. As it happened, one of the train stations happened to be near the point where the chamber of secrets was located, so all they had to do now was wait till then. Lex, however, was more upied than he seemed as he was focused on histest quest. Lightning tempering room A room in which cultivators can temper their body, spirit or soul with varying levels of lightning! Disimer: Even the lowest level of lightning is meant for Nascent level cultivators and can cause injuries or even death if not adequately prepared. Disimer: Due to limited system functionality, any upgrade to the Lightning tempering room will require the Innkeeper to manually provide new types of lightning before upgrade bes avable. Fire tempering room A room in which cultivators can temper their body, spirit or soul with varying levels of fire. Disimer: Even the lowest level fire is meant for Nascent level cultivators and can cause injuries or even death if not adequately prepared. Disimer: Due to limited system functionality, any upgrade to the Fire tempering room will require the Innkeeper to manually provide new types of fire before upgrade bes avable. Both the new tempering rooms were meant specifically for Nascent realm cultivators, and cost a hefty 15,000MP per hour to use. Lex decided to set the price at 20,000MP per hour to use them, and would require the guest to have a prestige level of at least 2. The matter rting to upgrading them was something that would require his personal effort, but it was a matter for the future, since he would need to develop a deeper understanding of their limits before working on that. Instead, the remainder of his focus was on the third room. Tribtion room A room guests can rent while undergoing tribtions. That one simple sentence was the entire description for this room, mainly because there was a new feature he had unlocked as well which he was supposed to use on the Tribtion room. Room design Using the various existing abilities and features of the Inn, alongside avable upgrades, the Innkeeper can design a new kind of room to fulfill certain requirements for guests that the Inn needs but iscking. The newly designed room will be a part of the system and will operate based on the conditions set by the Innkeeper. The expense and functionality of the room will be determined based on the used features. All upgrades to designed rooms will require the Innkeeper to manually bring in required resources and outline additional features. This¡­ this was one of the most amazing features Lex had received so far. To an extent, he was already doing this with various rooms and buildings that he created then retrofitted with formations. But whenpared to rooms provided directly by the system, they had always beencking. Now though¡­ he could really take things a step further.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Chapter 475 Watching Children Play Although it did not seem like it, as Lex walked quietly with the group towards the Chamber of Secrets, he was actually doing multiple things at the same time. A part of him was paying attention to the ongoing lightning tribtion. The devil... to be entirely honest, he had started the tribtion with a convincing performance, but the longer it went on, the worse his condition became. Parts of his body were already charred and smoking, and he had given up his humanoid form to revert to his true devil form. Lex expected that the form would be quite gruesome, but it was far from the truth. While therge body with wings and horns and red skin looked mighty intimidating, it also looked regal and authoritative - not at all the vile, disgusting appearance Lex had been expecting. But whatever the case, if there was to be a fire tribtion following the lightning one, he did not know how the devil nned on surviving with its existing wounds. Another part of him was entirely focused on the new room design feature. It was incredible and versatile, but also tricky. Lex tried to create a training room with the additional qualities of the simple recovery room, which sped up the body''s natural healing. He was only experimenting and wanted to see how it would turn out. Moreover, it wasn''t a bad idea in case someone was training a technique that would constantly push them to the limit. Lex achieved what he wanted. But because he did not calibrate it properly, or take into consideration how the various features of the Inn had orcked synergy with one another, the room he created cost an incredible 34,000 MP per hour! At that point, the price of the room was far beyond the reach of the target audience, and it became impractical and pointless. But that was fine. After all, he was experimenting for the sake of learning how to use it, anyway. He would slowly work out how best to join the unique features of the Inn together. The remainder of his focus had been on the simple task of devising a loophole to prevent the chamber of secrets from erasing his memory somehow. His leading strategy was to have Mary hear everything and inform himter on. Yet Mary herself did not think it would work. "Like I told you, since the description of the chamber specifically said that not even the Innkeeper would be able to spy on the secrets stored in there, it won''t be so simple to work around it. There''s a very high chance the system will block off my connection to you the moment you enter." "That''s ridiculous. Why would the system block you out? It''s never done that before." "It''s a matter of integrity. Since the system itself focused on maintaining secrecy, then keeping the secret is a part of the Inns prestige." "Let''s just see." In the end, there was not much he could do if the system had ounted for loopholes. When the group arrived, they found the chamber deserted, as usual, and did not hesitate to enter.N?v(el)B\\jnn While Lex did not feel much of a change, besides the point that his connection to Mary, and his connection to the system, were put under restrictions, the rest of the group trembled once they entered. ording to the agreement they had set, they would not recall any of the secrets they shared with one another, unless all relevant members were within the chamber at the same time. Larry and Souta had not revealed their secretspletely, but they had shared enough to gain the attention of the group. Even then, how could they havepared with the likes of Noman and Rafael? Noman, whose ability knew no limitations, could prove to be extremely valuable. Trusting the words of others was one of the most difficult things to do, but what if they had a perpetual truth detector besides them? How would anyone trick them? Then came Rafael. Although his experiences were limited to Earth, he had lived through the future and knew many of the iing trials the would face. Anakin was suddenly reminded of the most important reason he had been trying to make so much moneytely. He wanted to earn enough to use the prestige ability to escape Earth! He had only a few years before the first disaster struck! Lex noticed the odd behavior and hesitation the group showed and turned to look at them. Most of the group was looking at Rafael while the man in question waspletely nonchnt and took a seat. "Before we begin," Rafael said, looking at Lex. "We need to establish an agreement first. Everyone here has shared something valuable with the group. It was not out of charity and no one was coerced into it. Everyone had something to gain, and so we shared our secrets with one another for mutual benefit. At the same time, the moment we leave the chamber, it withdraws information about each other''s secrets from our minds, protecting everyone." He paused again as everyone sat. He could not say for others, but he at least had an agenda for cooperating with a group of such uniquely talented people. Too much had changed on Earth from his memories, but those changes were mostly a result of changes on the itself. The external threats it faced were stilling, and not only did he need to strengthen himself for that, he needed powerful allies. But being greedy for skilled people could also endanger the group that had already beenposed. As such, it was his duty to ensure that the group was not needlessly endangered. "You do not have to share your secrets if they are not rted, but for us to trust you, you have to reveal relevant details, at least. Moreover, I''d like to know what exactly you want. Larry has spoken highly of you, and you have shown your worth, so if you''re here to help out Larry, that''s one thing. But if that''s the case, the way I see it, you don''t really need to know our secrets. Just the fact that Larry trusts us should be enough." Countless thoughts ran through the group''s mind as they heard Rafael''s question. Everyone of them, except Noman, had ns of their own, so they didn''t mind the fact that Rafael instinctively used them to build the group''s authority. If Lex ended up joining them, it would start them out at an advantage. Lex, however, felt likeughing. Instead of feeling interrogated, it felt like he was watching children ying a game. What did he want? Everything they could offer, of course! He resisted the urge to crack his knuckles and smile. It was time to learn all their secrets. He was a busy man - he had others to scheme against as well. Outside the chamber, the devil that had been undergoing the tribtion died, unable to survive it. The ash his body turned into has not even fallen to the floor before another two tribtions began at the Inn. The constant shing of lightning made the Inn seem like a disco. Chapter 476 The Brains Of The Operation "What do I want?" Lex asked in an amused tone. He had to be careful with his wording, for he couldn''t say they had nothing he wanted, for that would be a lie! He thought that he could avoid it by asking them a question instead, for example, ''do you even have something I could want?''. Yet while technically it was a question, it insinuated that they had nothing he wanted. Since the meaning beingmunicated was false, Noman would be able to detect it, so Lex''s intuition quickly shut him down. This was not something he could get through with half truths and hidden meanings. "I want many things, but will you give them to me just because I want them? My priority right now is to help Larry, but at the same time, resolve this issue with earth! Whoever has been using it as a prison couldn''t care less about how the prisoners are literally using the people of the like characters in a video game. Originally, I was nning on getting the Empire to help deal with them in exchange for taking control of the, but ording to you, that won''t work. "So, for now, what I want is to focus on is why the Empire is not a good solution for Earth. As for anything else I might want from you¡­ well, why don''t you tell me first what you can offer to begin with?" He smiled and looked at Rafael as he waited for the man to contemte what he said. He could tell that, despite the fact that he had spent most of his life in aa, he was a lot more mature than the rest. Which meant that convincing him would be the most difficult part. Of course, that was only rtively speaking. To Lex, it was all too simple to throw him off his game. He carefully observed Rafael, and just as he saw a change in the man''s eyes, indicating that he was about to speak, Lex looked away and turned to Noman. "Every time I say something, the group looks to you for confirmation. If I had to guess, you can tell whether a person is lying. Or at least something along those lines. Am I right?" Before he had a chance to respond, Lex looked at Souta. "You confuse me the most. You were previously working with the assassin who was targeting Larry, but now you''re hanging out with Larry. I guess Noman already confirmed that you''re not still after Larry, or that you never had any negative intentions towards him, so everyone is okay with you sticking around. But why do you want to stick around in the first ce, anyway? Don''t you have anything you would rather do? I recall you saying you were ''forced'' to obey your master previously. Don''t tell me you''re doing something cliche like following Larry now because he defeated your master?" Lex shook his head as if he said somethingpletely impractical, but anything was possible when it came to systems. He then turned to Anakin. "I don''t even need to guess with you. You''re a businessman, right? You''re just in it to make money. I guess you find this group very profitable." Lastly, he looked back at Rafael, and this time, he spoke slowly and carefully.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "To be honest, I already know a lot about you. You spent thest dozen or so years asleep, right? It''s a miracle that you''re alive, let alone kicking and cultivating. I''m really genuinely curious about your sources for the Empire. They must be very impressive." Lex smiled as he waited for them to respond to his usations. He had made sure to keep a friendly tone - he didn''t want to sound too antagonizing so as to draw hostility. Yet at the same time, by having their capabilities belittled and being goaded by him, they would feel the urge to let him know he was wrong by showing off. He was counting on the pride and inexperience of youth to force them into action. After all, even though Rafael was in histe 30s, the amount of time he had been awake was around the same as the rest. Yet while the rest immediately reacted to what he said, especially Anakin, Rafael stayed perfectly calm. In fact, the way he looked at Lex subtly changed, as if he was analyzing him. "I''ll have you know I''m the brains of this operation," Anakin dered with a snort. "If it weren''t for me bringing everyone to the chamber, and persuading them, all of them would still be ring at one another like teenagers in a feud. And if you really want to know what''s so special about me, just sign the agreement and I''ll tell you." A screen suddenly appeared in front of Lex, asking him if he agreed to the terms of the agreement. Basically, all it said was that once he left the chamber, he would forget all sensitive information about the rest. In the future, even if he returned to the chamber, he would not be able to recall it unless the relevant person was in the chamber with him. This was the agreement everyone had signed. Even with Noman, though they all remembered he could determine if a person was lying, they forgot the exact details of how it happened. Lex raised an eyebrow, and then epted. This was going to happen, anyway. He also didn''t doubt that the rest would share their secrets with him, eventually. The real reason he had goaded them¡­ was to get the spotlight off of him! It seemed to have worked, though Rafael was still observing him oddly intently. "Hah! I''ll have you know, I have a grandpa who appears in my dreams and teaches me to wield the power of the dark side!" Anakin vanished from right in front of him. Lex was startled, because even the sight from his left eye did not reveal where he was! ***** A golf cart,rger than normal ones, pulled up in front of the Midnight manor, and five men disembarked. They remained silent and quickly fell into formation, with one leading and four following closely behind. Though they did not put their auras on disy, whether it was humans, devils, beasts or other creatures, all could not help and turned to look at them. The man in the lead was too stunningly handsome, and the four behind him each moved with a charm solely of their own. Together, they bore the makings of a hugely sessful boy band. Suddenly, one of the guests at the manor, a soldier from Ragnar''s regiment, recognized the man in the lead and wentpletely pale and stiff. It was onlyplete instinct that made the soldier give his most rigid salute as he hoarsely yelled, "Emperor Jotun, your majesty!" Chapter 477 Curse The man who was addressed as Emperor only slightly nodded to the soldier and kept on walking. The four men behind him didn''t slow their pace either, though one of them, a tall, young looking man with dark hair and brown eyes, looked at the soldier for a brief moment. "Why did that soldier recognize me, William?" the Emperor asked casually using his spiritual sense. "Lieutenant Dan is a child from the Aragoni noble family. 3000 years ago you met one of their ancestors at a formal event and took a photo with them. It is likely framed in their family home. Another likely reason is that he is from the regiment led by General Ragnar, someone from Serafol''s faction. Not only is Ragnar extremely loyal to the royal family, his growth record is phenomenal and he has shown excellent potential. Although he does not know it, his name has been entered into the potential candidates to marry into the royal family." Jotun merely nodded and kept on walking. Under the instructions of the Henali he had arrived at the Midnight Inn to have a meeting with the Innkeeper. Yet he was informed the Innkeeper was currently upied and they would have to wait. Jotun didn''t mind. This seemed like an interesting ce, with multiple tribtions happening at the same time. He could take this time to rx. He walked into the bar inside the Midnight manor to find it mostly upied by some group. The Emperor ordered a drink and sat in the corner to allow himself to rx. Yet before he could do so, he heard an interesting conversation. "Truck-kun? A serial killer who can travel across multiple gxies?" Interest flickered in his eyes as he continued to listen. ***** Lex continued to look at where Anakin had been when he disappeared, but found nothing. While he hadn''t tested out finding him with his spirit sense, just the fact that Anakin could hide from his eyes either meant that he overestimated his eyes'' capabilities, or that Anakin''s abilities were more formidable than they appeared. Especially when one considered that he was just in the Qi training realm! "Not bad," Lexmented, and looked to his left. Though Lex could not see him, his intuition was still working. If Anakin wanted to prank him, it would take a lot more than just that. Anakin was so startled when Lex looked at his invisible self directly in the eyes that his powers failed. The prankster quickly regainedposure when he realized that he had be visible again, and returned to his seat as calmly as if nothing had happened. "You''re right," Noman spoke as well as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "I can tell when someone is lying. I can even tell if what I''m reading is a lie. Even if someone tells the truth, but in a deceptive way, so that the understanding I get is false, I can tell it''s a lie. Moreover, my ability has nothing to do with cultivation level. I''ve never met someone, regardless of how weak or strong they were, who was able to lie to me sessfully." ''That''s not true,'' Lex mimicked him in his mind in amusement. Still, he was observing him closely. That ability¡­ was very impressive, and if it was not limited by cultivation realms¡­ Well, Lex was tempted to hire him as an employee of the Inn right away! "Not that I''m doubting you or anything, but do you mind if I test it out?" Lx asked as he focused more closely at the waves being emitted from Noman. "Sure, go ahead." "My name is Lex," he said and observed if there was any reaction. Nothing unusual happened, and Noman didn''t do anything either. "I am 27 years old," Lex said once again. He did not want to use obvious lies, and nned on mixing a few truths into his statements. Once or twice he might mention an absurd lie just to see if Noman himself identifying the lie made any difference on his ability, and what effect it had on those waves. As he suspected, from the moment he started speaking there was a disruption in the waves. From being colorless, they gained a red color which, then, was absorbed into Noman''s body. The moment the color waspletely absorbed, Noman whispered, "he''s lying." Lex epted the answer and was about to continue when something even stranger happened. Noman looked up at Lex and said aloud, "you''re lying." Lex frowned, and said a few more lines. The pattern with Noam repeating himself twice continued. Even the rest of the group began to notice that something unusual was going on, and the confused looks on their faces told Lex that this wasn''t something they were aware of. "Do you mind if I try something?" Lex asked. "Go ahead," Noman answered confidently. No one had been able to disrupt his ability before and he was confident it would continue that way. Lex walked up to him and said, "I''m actually bald." The red colored waves appeared once again, but this time Lex quickly moved his hand right above Noman''s head, blocking the waves. Something absurd happened.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The waves passed through Lex''s hand, though he felt a strange resistance, but the red color remained behind. This time, Noman did not unconsciously whisper out that Lex was lying, but he did confidently look at Lex and dered his lie -pletely ignoring the fact that identifying such an obvious lie should not have made him proud. But he did not get the reaction he was hoping for, as not only Lex, but the entire group was looking at him in a strange way. Lex tried a few more, less obvious lies and the same thing happened. Lex did not know what the red color was, or why he was able to interact with it, but he did make a deduction of what was happening to Noman. He looked at Anakin and asked, "does he always whisper when someone lies near him." "Yes," Anakin answered, at exactly the same time as Noman who said, "no." Lex frowned for a moment while he considered the possibilities, before he made his way back to his seat. "Noman, before you came to the Inn, was there any chance someone was targeting you? It may have been a subtle feeling you had, or maybe you saw some hints indicating it." "There was nothing subtle about it. There was a group of people trying to kidnap me. If I had not been delivered a golden key just in time, I would have been caught. Why do you ask?" "Hmm, it''s just as I thought," Lex said slowly. "Someone has put a curse on you. Every time your ability is used, you can''t help but say it out loud. There might be other aspects to it as well. My guess is, they''re using that to track you. If you had tried to hide anywhere other than the Inn, they would have found you." Suddenly, everyone in the group had an abrupt realization. Noman wasn''t an idiot orpletely oblivious to his own actions, as they had assumed. Someone had cursed him. Chapter 478 So Many Secrets "A curse?" Noman repeated, startled. The scariest thing was that he could tell Lex wasn''t lying. Moreover, everyone''s reaction told him that they believe him too. "Well, to be specific, I don''t know if it''s a curse or a technique or something, but yes someone has definitely done something to you. As for the tracking bit, that''s purely my guess as well, but it makes sense. If I was kidnapping you, and came close enough to mark you, I would definitely leave some kind of tracker on you as well." Noman frowned but rxed just as quickly. He leaned back into his chairfortably and said, "well I wasn''t nning on leaving the Inn anytime soon, anyway. If they have the guts to try to kidnap me here, I say they should go for it." Lex was taken aback by Nomans'' cavalier attitude, but it seemed like whatever he said made sense. Since the ''curse'' was not harming him, and he was not nning on returning, there was no point in being worried. Besides, there was a very decent possibility that one day he''d be able to remove the curse on himself right from the Inn. Lex shrugged and leaned back into his own chair. Regardless of the curse, Noman was worthy of keeping an eye on. The truth only thing was tricky, but with his intuition always reminding him to be careful of what he said around Noman, there wasn''t a chance he''d forget. The group was also taken aback by Noman''s attitude, but it wasn''t their ce toment. With Anakin and Noman starting to share already, there wasn''t much point in holding back. But unfortunately, not everyone was as open as the other two. "Knowing my secret is not really relevant to anything we''re doing," Souta said calmly, "but for the sake of building trust I''ll share with you what I shared with the rest. For certain reasons, I had to obey Suzuki''s every instruction, regardless of whether I wanted to or not. He took advantage of that to make me do many immoral acts for his own profit. I was more than happy to see him disposed of, and I did not hesitate to let them know that unless they fought him some ce he couldn''t call me, he would force me to participate. If that were the case, their chances of sess... let''s just say they were really bad." "What about why you''re still hanging around?" Lex asked, not worried that his excessive attention towards Souta would cause curiosity or suspicion. After all, the man was a former assassin. It would in fact be strange if Lex weren''t wary at all. "Not to sound too critical, but Rafael was not wrong to question my motives. I still don''t understand yours, though. You have been freed of your master''s control, so why are you still around?" This time, even the cool and collected Rafael turned to look at Souta. With Noman present it was all but guaranteed that they could not lie, so while asking such a question was normally pointless, in the current situation it was a good way of ensuring no one was plotting against them. Souta did not seem perturbed by the questioning though, and responded calmly. "I had intentions to make amends to those that I have wronged. Anakin suggested that he knew a way that would allow me to make up for my sins. Since Icked any ideas of my own, I decided to stick around." Anakin nodded firmly, as if proud of his role in making Souta stay. Lex was unsatisfied with the answer, but he didn''t press on. It seemed like he would have to take a more direct approach if he wished to get real answers. For now, that would have to wait. "Before I share mine," said Rafael, once silence fell between the group and it was obvious that Lex had no more questions. "Why don''t you share the source of your information first? That way, when I exin my part, everyone will have a clearer picture of the situation." Lex looked at Rafael silently for a moment. Of the entire group, he was the one who gave Lex the most trouble. Even Noman''s ability didn''t put as much actual pressure on him. He did not at all behave like Lex expected. For a brief moment he wondered if someone had reincarnated in Rafael''s body the way Ming Jie had reincarnated in the mountain. But he dismissed the thought the moment it entered. If he started suspecting everyone he met of something so absurd, he himself would go insane. "My source is fairly simple," Lex said lightly, as if it wasn''t really such a big secret. "Have you seen the Midnight news building? Well, if you''ve been inside you''d know that other than what they sell on the newsletter, you can also purchase additional information. This file is avable there."N?v(el)B\\jnn "Impossible," Rafael said, shaking his head. "If news like this was being sold so openly, everyone would know about it. I haven''t been to the news building, but I''m positive they wouldn''t be selling such news. At least, it would not be so simple to get one''s hands on it." Lex shed Rafael an amused smile, and then eyed Noman. His meaning was clear. Noman had not mentioned he was lying, so clearly it meant it was the truth. Yet Lex did not mean to leave things at that. It was clear that everyone in the group had intentions of their own with the group. Anakin wanted to make money, Larry wanted revenge, and Rafael clearly wanted something too - though he didn''t know what that was yet. Even Souta must have had some other ideas - he was sure of it. But amongst them all, Lex was perhaps the person with the most to gain. Not only did he want to hire them at the Inn if they showed potential, he was about to use them to link his multiple identities together. "Well of course that''s not the kind of stuff they sell to the public. That kind of news is only avable to the Inn''s staff. Like me." Lex summoned his rk Kent sses and put them on. "Let me introduce myself again. My name is Leo, and I run the Gamer''s Den." Chapter 479 Showing Off "Let me introduce myself again," said Lex, wearing a casual smile. But it was not his usual handsome face that wore the smile. Instead, the face appeared slightly more mature, with deep-set eyes and a jawline sharp enough to cut through steel. His voice also changed, bing slightly heavier and lower. The faint glimmer of amusement in his eyes and the teasing tone in his voice matched his new persona well. The face he wore looked like it was on the verge of causing mischief at any given moment, but at the same time, presented a trustworthy and reliable facade. He looked like the kind of person who would be forgiven even if he caused trouble all the time, just because everyone knew he never meant any harm. Yet even if he did mean harm, what could anyone do anyway? "My name is Leo, and I run the Gamer''s Den." From the distracted Larry, to reclining Noman, to the slouching Anakin, to even the ever proper Rafael, everyone in the room suddenly sat up straight as goosebumps covered their bodies. With wide eyes and chaotic minds, they looked at the man who was now sitting amongst them and tried to wrap their head around the news they had absorbed. It was not just a matter of Lex actually being an Inn employee, which was mind blowing enough. No, instead the shock was because not only was he a worker of the Inn, he was the mysterious employee who had seemed to pop out of nowhere. A single worker appearing or disappearing, amongst the numerous that worked in the various areas of the Inn, should not have been worthy of any interest. In fact, besides a few prominent workers, such as Z, who made regr appearances at the arena, most people did not know any of the workers. So then why was the reaction to Leo so strong? And why was he described as mysterious? It was because no one had heard of him, or the few that knew him had seen him so long ago they forgot he even existed. Yet, one day, he suddenly popped up out of thin air, and as a Foundation level expert, single handedly defeated over 300 Nascent realm cultivators! This was not an insignificant aplishment! In fact, Lex himself had no idea of the impact that single action had made. Earth alone was ruled by 5 Nascents for decades. The entire and all its countries and armies were vassals of those 5 people. Yet Lex fought off over 300 of them at the same time! HE DID THAT WHILE HE WAS IN THE FOUNDATION REALM!n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Now, he sat amongst them, as a newly reached Golden Core level expert. Not a single one of them took Lex''s strength lightly, from the extremely strong Larry to the system wielder Souta, to the much experienced Rafael. There were simply no words to borate the insanity of the achievement properly. The fact that Larry fought Suzuki for days before being able to kill him spoke of the difficulty involved in a fight at a higher level. Yet Lex had taken a few hours, if at that. "ess to news like that is just one of the perks that the Inn''s employees get. You''ll understand if I maintain my silence about some other details rting to the Inn. What''s more important is that you understand that the information I got was directly from the Inn''s sources. Some time ago, I had Marlo deliver the file to Fernanda. I had hoped that whoever was really behind all this would treat this matter seriously. After all, ording to what I know, they were very particr about civilian casualties in cultivator matters. But either there is a holdup I''m not aware of, or they don''t really care as much as I had expected for some reason, because no new action has been taken against the prisoners. At least as far as I know. This is not exactly an easy situation to investigate." Lex looked at the bewildered Larry and then at Rafael. He gave the fellow a teasing wink, but said nothing else. He had said his part, and now it was the others turn to exin. Rafael took in a deep breath as countless thoughts ran through his mind. This Lex¡­ or Leo, whoever he was, could be phenomenal help to his own cause in the future. A confident yet sly smile appeared on the man''s face as he looked back at Lex. "Well, your source is pretty good. I guess now it''s time to tell you mine," he said,pletely giving into Lex''s incessant goading. He wanted to show off his own secrets as well. But regardless of how impressive his own secrets were, just by wanting to show off, a chink in his previously imprable armor appeared. He was finally ying ording to Lex''s tune instead of maintaining hisposed state. After all, the mere thought of wanting to show off would end up causing him to reveal a lot more than he might originally have nned to. The more he revealed, the more leverage Lex would gain. "Actually, my source is fairly straightforward as well. My own memories are my source. You see, I am from the future, and I have already lived a very long time on Earth. It was only at the moment of my death that I was able to use a special treasure to travel back into my own body, so many years into the past." The previously confident Lex was startled and nearly fell off his chair as he looked up at Rafael in shock. Then he turned to Noman, expecting him to whisper something. Yet when he didn''t, he looked back at Rafael with eyes wide. Rafael didn''t show it, but internally he was greatly satisfied by Lex''s reaction, and continued to borate. "Actually, it''s not so impressive. The future has already drastically changed for the entire earth just because of a few minor changes that happened. But some things¡­ some things will not change no matter what happens on earth. "I''m not sure if you''re aware of this or not, but the sr system is in a region called the Dead zone. Dead zones are regions of space which suffer from a severeck of spiritual energy. Yet in a few years, the deadzone in which the sr system exists will spontaneously undergo a change, bringing back spiritual energy in a flood. While that seems like a good thing, there is a prisoner being held on Earth that is akin to a Goddess, known as Bastet." Lex disyed an unusual expression at the mention of the name, but Rafael only assumed it was feedback at his news, further satisfying him secretly. "With the return of spiritual energy, she will escape the prison. Such a thing is not really anyone''s fault, but a few yearster that will cause problems too. But, what''s more relevant to your question of how I know the empire won''t act against whoever rules on earth,es next. With the return of spiritual energy, the earth entered what everyone assumed would be a prosperous era. But that couldn''t be farther from the truth. "While earthlings enjoyed the abundant spiritual energy, what no one knew was that there were a number of alien races that had been dormant for god only knows how long on numerouss, moons and asteroids all across the dead zone." Rafael paused, and his previous smug appearance disappeared, reced by a somber one. "The first race we came across was called the locusts - at least by the earthlings. It was not because they looked like insects, which they did. No, it was because they came like a cmity, blotting out the horizon with their vast numbers. Starved for hundreds of millennia probably, they ate anything and everything that contained spiritual energy, leaving nothing in their wake. And when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING. One by one, they devoured thes in the sr system, starting from the furthest out." He paused again, lost in memory for a few moments. "That was the first time I experienced hopelessness. They came from all directions, with the sun as their target. Any that stood in their way was nothing more than food. If they hade from a single direction, maybe we could have made a stand with the earth as a battlefield to block them. But no, from all directions, as well as up and below, they swarmed, blotting out the stars in the sky. "Fortunately, no matter how powerful they were, they could not cross the distance between thes and the sun in a short time. That gave us just enough time, not only to wallow in our impending doom, but also to be saved. That was the first time I heard the name of the Jotun empire, when their fleets suddenly appeared one day surrounding the, getting ready to eliminate the invading enemies. "That was also when I learned that¡­ the earth, for thousands of years already, had been the private property of some noble family in the Jotun Empire." Rafael looked back at the bewildered ''Leo'' and took great pleasure in his surprised expression. How could he have known that while ''Leo'' had said not a single word, he had put on that entire disy or surprise to entice Rafael to say more. In truth, Lex had long gotten used to encountering world redefining things, so how could a little time travel take him by surprise? He also discovered another way to take advantage of Noman''s ability and presence. Chapter 480 Uncertain Future After a few moments of acting taken aback, Lex had rposed himself. After all, over acting was a thing, so he couldn''t act like he was surprised by everything. Or at least he had to pretend like he was trying to regainposure. A part of Rafael was disappointed to see him retreat behind his unreadable expression, but it was to be expected. "I don''t want to delve too deeply into the matter, but suffice to say, the empire yed a big role in how events progressed in the future. The battle was not an easy or a simple one, despite the advanced technology of the empire, andsted a few years. You may not be surprised to learn that many from earth were conscripted into that war - we had the most to lose, after all. I don''t know if the empire couldn''t send more forces our way, or just didn''t think it was worth it. What I do know is that, after the war had been won, the empire left much in the same manner they arrived - silently and without warning. They did not reform the, despite its severe mismanagement, the way they had done in the Vegus system. I suspect that had a lot to do with the nobles who owned the. "But though the war was over, and the majority of the locusts had been killed, many had still survived. It was those remaining few locusts that became the bane of earth''s existence for the next few years, until, eventually, the next alien species that had been dormant finally revealed itself." Rafael closed his eyes and took a deep breath in. So many things happened back then, and since he was involved in all of them, he never really had the time or energy to think too deeply about them. So many things didn''t make sense, and hinted at the fact that there were secrets hidden behind them. But even if he had realized those things back then, he was just a soldier caught up in endless battles. How was he supposed to have discovered those secrets anyway? He reopened his eyes and looked at Lex. "So you see, the empire will not interfere because earth is already a part of the empire. Moreover, I don''t know how much of a role the ''owners'' of earth y in allowing the prisoners to wreak havoc, but I definitely know that at least for a time, earth will have to depend on them." "So you want to just ignore whatever is happening on earth for the sake of the future?" Lex asked, his irritation evident in his voice. But he calmed down quickly without Rafael even having to give a response. Some people may argue that Lex had weak morals, but that was far from the truth. He was just not an idealist, and he could see how antagonizing these people might be worse than just letting them be. After all, even if he became much stronger very quickly, it would not be to the level where he could protect the entire sr system depending only on himself, let alone the fact that Rafael said that there were other issues that earth faced.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Alright, even if we avoid challenging them, for now, it does not solve Larry''s problem. We can''t just ignore the very real threat to his life." "These are things I have no prior knowledge of from myst life. All I can say is, hope that whoever your target is, is not too important. Or at least he is someone whose death can be epted." "Let''s hope," said Lex ndly. He had no intention of relying on his luck anymore, so that was a terrible idea, but he wasn''t going to argue with Rafael needlessly over it. "And then what about the various problems you saw in the future? I get not wanting to share that you know the future with anyone. After all, I can see how anyone you tell might want to target you because of it, and there''s no guarantee that anyone would even help. But if you tell me what other problems you foresaw, we might be able to work out solutions to them." Rafael shook his head, as if it was pointless. "Too much of the future has changed, and too much is too sensitive to change. I can''t be sure what problems might still happen, and I''m not sure what problems might change or be worse if I share information about them. I''m making preparations of my own, and keeping a close eye on all events. As soon as I can confirm the situation is heading down the path I recall, I can react, or share the information with you. But if I give you warnings, there''s a very decent chance something you might do to prevent the situation makes it worse. On this, all any of you can do is trust me." Lex remained silent, and looked the other people in the eye one by one. None of them seemed too surprised by what they heard. It seemed they had already had this conversation with Rafael before. Well, that, and for Noman it made sense since he had no affiliation to earth at all. "That brings us back to Larry''s issue. Ignoring everything else, we still don''t know who the actual perpetrator is." "If we can bring the prisoners to the Inn, we can easily discover the truth using Noman," said Anakin. "Easier said than done. One of the reasons it''s been so hard to check if there have been any changes with the prisoners is because they''ve stoppeding to the Inn. Their golden keys must have been withdrawn at some point." "Alright, so we somehow deliver the keys to them, wait for them to escape from their prison to the Inn, and then use Anakin to discover who is the person targeting Larry. Once we know that, back on earth, we can take care of them. Or, if they''re stupid enough, we challenge them on the murder grounds." "To deliver the keys, we will need to know the location of the prisoners. I''m sure that''s not so easy to discover," said Larry as he looked around the room. "Even if we discover the location, it is surely being guarded and it won''t be so easy to ovee" "Let''s take things one step at a time," said Lex. "I''ll try to see if I can learn where the prisoners are being held, and if it''s possible to get a golden key to them. If I can''t find a good solution, we can brainstorm a few other ideas. In the meantime, Rafael, why don''t you go ask your dad to meet Fernanda and have an upfront conversation? Having a direct source of what their stance is will be much better for us than guessing on our own. Who knows, maybe she''ll even be open to some negotiations." "You want my dad to¡­ confront Fernanda? You know how that''ll probably go, right?" Lex just shrugged and said, "not really. I''m tempted to say that he''ll just go and fight her, but Marlo is a King and an extremely sessful businessman. If he didn''t know how to maneuver difficult situations, he wouldn''t have had much sess in either field." Rafael shook his head, but said nothing. "Is there anything else?" Lex asked, taking off his sses. It would be bad if Leo was seen exiting the chamber with everyone while Lex had been the one to enter with them. "Say, hypothetically speaking, one wanted to be an employee of the Inn. How would one go about doing that?" Anakin asked in a seemingly very casual manner. Lex smiled, but did not immediately reply. He looked at everyone sitting in the room in their eyes to try and gauge their interest. All of them seemed to be paying attention. "You have to attract the Inn''s attention, in the right way. If the Innkeeper sees potential in you, he might give you a tinum key which will allow you to take a test to see if you''re worthy to work for the Inn. You can try giving the Mystery trial a go as well. Just to be clear, the trial won''t get you hired, but there''s a chance your performance might attract attention. I won''t say anymore than that. Learning potentially sensitive information might not be the best thing for you." No one asked any more questions about that, so it seemed like it was time for them to leave. Right before he got up, however, Lex looked at Rafael and said, "since you''re adamant about keeping the future hidden, I won''t try to persuade you otherwise. But you should know, Bastet has already been a guest at the Inn and, while I can''t say for certain, I suspect she has already left the Earth." Lex did not wait for Rafael to respond and just left. Rafael himself, though, was greatly startled, and even paled a bit. If Bastet had already left¡­ that would seriously affect his ns for the future. After all, in his previous life, the treasure he got to travel back in time was something he got with her help. In this life, however, he seemed to possess it already inside his body. What was going on? Chapter 481 Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong Estonia, Earth In Tallinn, the capital of the country, a man entered an inconspicuous house. From the outside it seemed to match every other house in the neighborhood, and in fact, the interior seemed ordinary as well. But the facade was broken when the man reached a particr storeroom and, in a practiced fashion, utched a trap door in the ground and began to descend into a hidden basement. He was not greeted by a dim hall or makeshift construction, but a brightly lit hall with remarkable venttion considering its depth. The marble floors, the patterned wallpapers and beautiful paintings did not give the impression that the man had descended into a secretyer, but rather thevish home of a rich man. Further down the corridor were a series of doors, but the one the man entered opened into argeboratory that had numerousputers as well as testing equipment, as well a chair hooked up to a number of medical equipment. "How was it?" asked a middle aged man who had already been present in the room, talking to a number of scientists. "The transaction went through without a hitch. I have the program, and he made sure to destroy all the equipment used to design this in front of me," replied the man as he produced an ordinary looking USB. "Excellent. Begin testing immediately. Once we''ve run all the diagnostics, we can upload the program." With his orders given, everyone in the room began to work. Despite the secretive nature of the operation, nothing sinister was being done in this undergroundb. The man giving the orders was called Adrus, and was one of Will Bentham''s partners in the Rose Society. Despite his advanced age, the man was stuck in the early stages of Qi training. No matter how much money he had or spent, he was unable to speed up his cultivation. The matter became even worse when he discovered that his own kids shared his ineptitude in the way of cultivation. Even the appearance of the magical Midnight Inn did not seem to improve his situation much, though if he had participated in the star rating upgrade ceremony things might have been different. But he was not resigned to such a fate. As a highly educated man of means, he created his own solution instead of relying on others. Investing heavily in the medical and technological sectors for many years already, the man ultimately reached his end goal. As he sat down in the chair attached to numerous medical equipment, he couldn''t help but feel excited. Soon he would be put to sleep, and when he woke up, his life would bepletely different. Using the most advanced technology earth had to offer, alongside the numerous advances inspired by alien technology, he had designed an imnt that would be attached to his skull and linked to his brain. The imnt would be run using thetest and greatest artificial intelligence on earth, ChatGDaddy! The A.I. only had one directive, despite its advanced capabilities. It would run Adrus'' cultivation technique for him all the time, maintaining peak efficiency, allowing Adrus to raise his cultivation quickly. This waspletely a good thing, and couldn''t possibly lead to anything bad at all. ***** The moment Lex exited the chamber of secrets, his connection to the Inn was fully restored, but at the same time he felt himself forget a lot of information. He remembered clearly what he had shared with the group, as well as the discussion about how they would all proceed next. Yet he forgot everything rting to whatever secret Anakin and Rafael had shared. Souta hadn''t shared much to begin with, Larry hadn''t shared at all. For Noman he could clearly remember his ability to tell the truth, as well as the fact that he had discovered a curse on him. This was because Noman himself volunteered to allow them to remember this information. "Hey Lex, if you''re free, why don''t I introduce you to my girlfriend," said Larry, whose usual grin had returned. No one was better than him at masking his emotions, Lex included. "I have a few things I need to take care of," said Lex with an apologetic smile. "But I definitely want to meet her. How about we all meet up when you find that spiritual treasure for me?" "Sounds good," Larry said, and waved goodbye. Although Lex himself had forgotten many things, the rest had also forgotten about his identity as Leo. That did not, however, go against Lex''s n to drop a few hints about his identity all over. Any hints he had to drop had to be extremely subtle, as if he had been genuinely trying to hide his identity. After all, anyone who would try to investigate his identity at the Inn would need considerable discretion as well as skill. Such people would also be very intelligent, and would detect obvious hints in a heartbeat. But if they had to work hard to discover a lead, they would not suspect that it had been nted, and instead would feel like they had outsmarted the target.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Lex, there are some guests here who want to meet you," told Mary as her hologram appeared beside Lex. "They can wait a bit, I have a few things I need to do," said Lex, before teleporting to his office. While there were many things he forgot, he remembered clearly that the empire was no longer a suitable target for help regarding the matter on earth. Even if Lex found the fact that they had to give up on interfering with earth eptable, which he did not, there were other things that required his attention. While he had forgotten Rafael''s secret, he clearly remembered the scale of importance he felt that his secret had. It was quite high. Higher than Rafael, though, was Anakin. Due to his ostentatious personality and non-serious disy, it was easy for people to underestimate him. But Lex had made too many mistakes to easily underestimate anyone. The fact that he seemed the most forgettable of the entire group¡­ made him the most dangerous and valuable, potentially. Lex opened up a diary and began taking notes. If he was going to analyze his entire interaction with the group to try and determine what their secrets were based on that, he would need to write down everything. Chapter 482 Recently Deceased Lex twirled a pen in between his fingers as he looked at the page filled with his notes. It hadn''t taken him too long, an hour at most, to list everything he knew about thempletely and try to analyze what secrets they hid. Larry''s was pretty straightforward, especially since he had seen his fight in the Murder grounds. Perhaps it was his affinity, or maybe his cultivation technique, or something else entirely, but it was obvious that it had something to do with metals. Using the clues that he had, as well as the nature of the universe to do absolutely absurd things, Lex concluded that Larry''s entire body had either turned into metal or was in the process of it. He hadplete control of the metal within his own body, as well as potentiallyplete control of great influence on external metals. He could heal his body using metals, and there was a huge possibility that he could also cultivate by absorbing metals as well. A single nce was all it took for Lex to locate the various metal extraction requests he was doing through the Guild room. That information only reinforced all the guesses that Lex had about him. In fact, he further went out on a limb and guessed that the whole reason Larry was being hunted, and that his family had been targeted, had something to do with his metal rted abilities. It was very standard protagonist stuff, with extreme potential for growth. If Lex could provide him with a continuous supply of metals, he had the potential to be a great worker at the Inn. Next was Noman. His utility need not be exined, and Lex valued him a lot as a potential worker. His curse was a potential risk and a threat, and would require Lex to do some research on it. With Rafael, Lex was unable to guess his secret, but Lex firmly concluded that his personality had already developed greatly, and that he was a man with a goal. It would not be easy to influence him unless it rted to his goals, so regardless of how valuable his secret might be, he was not a good candidate as a worker. That left behind Anakin and Souta. Anakin seemed easy to approach, but he hid his true intentions deeply. Or at least that was Lex''s conclusion. As a result, it was best to observe him some more before making a decision. Souta, on the other hand, was very straightforward despite his secrecy. Lex only needed to find a single way to prate his wall of secrets, and then everything that he was hiding would be disyed openly for Lex to see. He took a few more minutes to stare at the page while he devised a n of action, before turning his attention back to his festival. More or less, things had been going well so far. Now it was time to n for the series of events that would kick off at the start of the third week. Lex smiled as he pulled up the proposals brought forth by the nning division. There were 3 main things that would ur during the next few weeks, and two of them would require a major redesigning of the Inn - even if it was temporary. The more he looked over the designs, the more Lex smiled. Thetest proposals had even sought to include the endless shower of lightning tribtions at the Inn into the next two events. It was bold, and Lex liked it. He began working to finalize all the changes and configure them so that they would automatically be initiated at the start of the third week. While these two events would cater to themon, or less adventurous guests, the third and final event was targeting those who had more of a taste for risk and reward. The minor realms that had been connecting to the Inn had reached 337 in number, and there were still more that were being connected. While Lex couldpletely control the opening of the gates to the minor realms, as well as their locations, he could not look inside of them. As a result, he really had no idea of how dangerous or safe they were. But they were a part of the Inn now, so it wasn''t like he could ignore them either. The third event would include a hunt to first locate the entrances, which Lex would hide across the Inn''sndscape. Then, after signing a disimer stating that the Inn was not responsible for any danger or harm that befell them if they chose to enter, the guests would be allowed to explore the Minor realm freely. This way, not only did Lex get a great event that could entertain guests who weren''t particrly interested in festivals, he could begin to gather information about those Minor realms. Once he knew what those realms actually contained and the amount of danger they wrought, he could incorporate them into the Inn regrly, and charge guests to enter and explore. That would happen after the event was over, of course. "Hey Lex," said Mary, who appeared beside him. "You remember that area you were nning on building for your spirit guests specifically?" "Yeah, I remember. I''m nning on focusing on it once the festival is over and I have free time. I want to research it properly before I establish it. Why?" "Well, I think you may want to establish it a little sooner," she said with a shrug. "Pretty much everyone who died trying to ovee tribtions is turning themselves into a spirit. We already have 12, and at the rate that things are going, I think that number will only increase."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Lex was surprised at what he heard. He scanned the Inn to see what he could find, and just as Mary said, found a total of 12 permanent spirit guests. What she had failed to mention was... 11 of those spirits had fit themselves inside a trench coat and some jeans - God only knew where they found those - and were walking around the Inn pretending to be a normal man. Was this really the kind of behavior someone recently deceased should have? Chapter 483 Wait And Watch Lex observed the spirits in trench coats for a while, but when they did not seem to be doing anything suspicious, he let them be. He did, however, turn his attention to the lightning tribtions. After isting the abodes, Lex had not paid much attention to the tribtion, for they never really struck anyone other than their main target. Even the massive spaceship did not seem to be an obstruction, as wherever the ship was an obstruction, the lightning clouds would just form under it. But it seemed like he could not just let them be. After all, since he was instructed to create a tribtion room, and it would be an eventual facility, he should get it done as quickly as possible so the maximum number of guests can benefit from it. It would be so convenient if he could just look up the information on tribtions on the Henali portal so that he could prepare for them, but unfortunately, no information showed up when he searched. He suspected this was, once again, something he would need to raise his permission or authority within the portal to search up.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om But all was not lost. Since he couldn''t research it online, he instead paid the utmost attention to it in person. At the moment, 4 guests were undergoing the lightning tribtion. That was a ridiculously high number, and was a sight even the most prosperous of nations would never give birth to. Yet it had to be remembered that the Inn had been flooded by devils in the millions, many of whom were at levels too high for Lex to even see. It was no surprise that many of them were undergoing such tribtions then, for the devils had sent anyone who coulde under such short notice and was near someone with a golden key. This only benefited Lex, for he observed the tribtion from every possible angle from start to finish. He saw the formation of the lightning, gathering power within the cloud, to how it struck down and hit the target. He saw how various targets would deal with the lightning. Most devils let it fall onto their bodies, for their resilience was formidable. Others, however, had employed protective formations around themselves, or straight up tried to attack the lightning with their own attacks. Each tribtion was very long and took anywhere from a couple of hours to a whole day, depending on how sessful it was. As such, Lex spent the next 30 hours carefully studying the tribtions. Perhaps it did not require so much time studying, but considering how sess or failure would literally determine the life or death of his guests, he wanted to get things right. In the end, it was a good thing he paid attention for so long, because the fire tribtion, which was a lot less conspicuous than the lightning tribtion, would start a few hours after the lightning one ended. But any and all who underwent the fire tribtion never actually caught on fire, or interacted with mes in any visible way. Despite that, however, ck smoke could be seen escaping the cultivators'' orifices and their skin would often crack up. The unlucky ones who could not survive were often only left as a husk while their insides literally evaporated away with the smoke. It was... disturbing, to say the least. He could not understand what exactly the fire tribtion involved, and so wasn''t sure how tobat it. After all, while the lightning tribtion could be blocked using attacks or arrays, it didn''t seem like the cultivators made much preparation for the fire one. During the time Lex was studying the tribtions, he also allowed a portion of his mind to check up on the rest of the Inn. He finally got around to looking up who the guest was who wanted to meet with him. It did not take him long to figure out that the man in question was literally the emperor of the Empire! Instead of feeling a rush to go and meet with him so that he wasn''t left waiting, Lex instead decided to make him wait even longer. After all, he absolutely could not meet someone of his caliber if he didn''t have his spirit sense in control. He also ''identally'' spied on Larry and discovered that his girlfriend was a Neko, meaning a cat-human! ''Kinky,'' was all Lex was able toment. Like this, Lex remained satisfied that he wasn''t ignoring anything too important happening at the Inn while he studied the tribtion. When he finally concluded his study, it was time to turn his attention to the Room Design. But, worried that he might not be able to use the feature effectively, he decided that his first official room would be for his spirit guests. After meditating for a short period to calm his mind and help him refocus, Lex began to work. ***** On Main street, there was a massive gray cathedral that could even be described as gothic! The various gargoyles and demons disyed as statues all over the building built an ominous atmosphere, while the stained ss depicting angles made it look holy. It stood out from all the other buildings on Main street, not only because of its appearance, but because of one other very special reason. Although there was no official facility attached to this building, as even when guests entered they would not be offered anything special or experience anything out of the ordinary, it needed nothing extra to attract guests. All the guests needed to know was that the giant wolf pup, which wasmonly believed to be the Innkeepers pet, had made a home in the cathedral. While such a thing would normally attract many guests, currently only a flying whale was found inside. Little Blue had gained in cultivation as well due to the recent upgrade, but its breakthrough had been easy. Fenrir, on the other hand, seemed to be going through immense pain! Its once massive body had shrunk down so that it could fit perfectly into the ck marble bowl in the center of the hall. His body was being bathed in the diluted divine energy of the hall, and bit by bit, it was recing the spiritual energy in its body. The flying whale flew in circles around it as it tried to suppress its anxiety. If only the turtle was here to look at the pup, but it was also locked in cultivation. All it could do now was wait and watch. Chapter 484 2 New Rooms Spirits were beings that were extremely sensitive to any kind of energy fluctuation, mostly because they could interact with energy directly with their souls! This was very crucial information to keep in mind when designing a room for them. But the question was¡­ how was Lex supposed to actually use it? The first thing he did was use the feature of the meditation room to gather spiritual energy and multiplied its effectiveness. But was just raising the concentration of energy enough? That was unlikely, or else spirits would all just congregate in areas of high energy concentration. No, there had to be something more. Something soothing. Something warm andfortable. Something like¡­ a hot tub! Lex then used the hot tub room and¡­ turned the entire room meant for spirits into a hot tub. But instead of water, the tub was instead filled with extremely concentrated spiritual energy. Considering the fact that the Inn was now in a 2.5 star ranked realm, that was the easy part. Not only had the ambient spiritual energy increased, it had be cleaner and purer as well.N?v(el)B\\jnn He couldn''t really think of any other features to add to the room, for now, as every further addition would need to be extremely important. That''s because the moreplicated he made a room, the more expensive it would be to use, as well as to create. That was because, unlike previous rooms, which werepletely calibrated by the system, these would require him to calibrate himself. While he had a theory for how the two features of the room were supposed to work together, he had to make sure they operated ording to his theory, which was a delicate process. Furthermore, there were a few different configurations he could reach for the room bnce, but some might cost more than others, so he had to be sure. Ultimately, he ended up creating a room he was satisfied with, though it was somewhat expensive. The room cost 860 MP a day and literally was just a hot tub of energy, so Lex decided to charge 1000 MP a day for a profit of 140MP. He ced the room in the vige and then had the system send all the spirits a message about the room to notify them. There was one massive w in this n, which was that spirits would have already expended all their wealth to turn into spirits. Lex had no solution for that. It wasn''t even as if the 860 MP was a single time expense which could be shared by all the spirits. That just covered the energy expense for one spirit to be in the room. Were that not the case, Lex even thought about just having the room running for the spirits at all times, but if he had to pay for each individual spirit, it would quickly be infeasible for him. But whether the spirits used the room or not, Lex was satisfied with the results, so he turned his attention to the tribtion room. He already knew what features he wanted to add after 30 hours of study, the real trial would be calibrating the room to work as expected. He didn''t even care about the costs this time, and would only consider lowering them if everything else already worked as he intended. The first feature Lex added was a dampening formation. That was a kind of defensive formation that was avable for the Inn to use. It would not block any attacks from entering it, but it would absorb a great deal of energy from anything that crossed the boundary of the formation as fuel to keep itself running. Forcefully absorbing energy, ironically, used up a lot of energy so the formation would never have a surplus of energy. The benefit of this formation over one that would attempt to block the attack directly was that this one would stay in effect as long as the tribtionsted. Otherwise, if it directly started blocking the lightning, it mightst a few hits, but then would eventually break. Moreover, Lex was unsure if the lightning carried any beneficial effects, which is why he didn''t dare to block it out right. The second feature he added was the effect of the meditation room which helped the user concentrate and focus more easily. The third feature was that of the recovery room, which elerated the natural healing of the user, allowing the cultivator to start healing even as he was being injured. The final feature he added was one he wasn''t exactly sure would be beneficial, but he added it anyway. It was a chilling formation which had to be manually activated. Once it became active, it would rapidly cool down the room to an extreme amount. He was not sure how else to helpbat the fire tribtion, for he wasn''t able to get an in-depth read of it. He hoped the drop in temperature would be able to provide some kind of relief. There were only four features, but bncing them out and making sure they work together was far from a simple ordeal. The real issue was that each feature worked in a certain way. The way the system created an environment that boosted concentration might sh with the way the system promoted self healing. When these two features, which were supposed to exist together, shed against one another, the simplest way the system resolved it was to brute force it, which would result in an explosion in the price of the room''s function. Lex''s part came in when he could reduce or increase the activity of each feature, hoping to create a bnce where they don''t necessarily sh with one another. It was manageablyplicated with 2 features, but with 4 it was a massive headache. It took Lex another 12 hours of working with full concentration to get the room working, and reduce the price as much as possible. Still, the room cost 74,000MP a day to use. Lex rounded it off to 100,000 MP and sent out the notification. Besides the MP cost, a cultivator would need to have prestige level 3 to use it, though for the duration of this festival, that requirement had been waived. Now, it was time to see if it was actually helpful or not to begin with. But first, he needed sleep. Just in case, however, he told Mary to wake him up if anything went wrong with the tribtion rooms. Chapter 485 Vacation When Lex woke up on his own,pletely well rested and refreshed, the first feeling he had was of relief that no problems had urred. It wasn''t as if he was suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) but actually yes, that''s exactly what was happening. He stretched in bed, producing several cracks from his various joints. His body no longer did that naturally, as there was no need, but due to his increased control over his body, he could do it anyway. There was just something so satisfying about it. He spent a couple more minutes in bed, allowing his brain and body to rx a little. Even if nothing was wrong, the moment he stepped out from thefort of his bed, he would be inundated with work and would have no time for rest. But the peace eventually had to end. Besedes, it wasn''t as if he dreaded all the work he did at the Inn. It was quite enjoyable in fact. "How long was I out?" Lex asked Mary as he finally let his feet fall out of the bed and slip into his bathroom slippers. Considering that he had worked continuously for over 2 days without rest, and had been allowed to sleep till he naturally woke up, he expected that he had logged in quite a few hours.N?v(el)B\\jnn "Just over 3 hours," Mary replied, appearing in front of him. This time she was dressed as an astronaut, with her visor open, showing her little face. Lex froze. 3 hours? Wasn''t that... too little? But he was feeling so refreshed. How could it be? Lex shook his head and just epted the fact that with his advancing cultivation, his need for sleep would be greatly diminished. "You received a hologram message from your friend, Larry. Do you want me to y it?" "Sure," said Lex as he walked into the bathroom to take a shower. The message was merely him providing an update, letting Lex know that his treasure would arrive the following day. "How are the tribtion rooms performing?" Lex asked from within the shower. For some reason, he was feeling a littlezy today. He didn''t feel like working so much. He just wanted to enjoy the Inn, so he decided to push back any less important ns for the day. "Not bad at all. Every single person about to undergo a tribtion is using them. It''s still too early to tell how effective it is, but it seems to be well received by the guests." "Makes sense," was all he said. He had not received the quest reward yet, which probably meant it would wait till one or a few guests used the tribtion room to determine its effectiveness before rewarding him. After all, since the reward was based on his performance, the effectiveness of the room had to be determined first. After a nice, warm shower, Lex checked his closet for some of his old clothes. It had been a long time since he wore anything that he hadn''t bought from the system, but since he decided to rx today, he wanted to wear some of his own clothes. His attire wasn''t phenomenal, but there was just a level offort a man''s favorite pair of jeans delivered that even morefortable clothes just could not. Instead of a usual T-shirt, he went into vacation mode by putting on a Hawaiian shirt, withrge floral patterns. All dressed, he teleported out of his room as himself, and in the garden behind the Midnight Manor. It did not matter to Lex that the emperor was in the vicinity - what did he, Lex, have to do with the fact that the emperor wanted to meet the Innkeeper? He sat down on one of the freewn chairs and ordered an entire buffet''s worth of food. That would serve well as his appetizer. After all, with his new cultivation, the rate at which his body digested food was phenomenal. Moreover, he had to make up for quite a few missed meals. It was a sad fact that since Lex was so busy, and his body did not develop any sensation of hunger, Lex hadpletely forgotten to eat multiple meals. It was likely he would do more of the same in the future. But for now, he would feast! Lex closed his eyes and lost himself in the sensation of the warm sunshine falling on his skin. He felt the wind blow through his hair. A few other guests were sitting nearby, though they had employed sound isting formation bubbles so the sound of their conversations didn''t carry over. Instead, it was the sound of moving animals that Lex heard. A gray cat came up and started rubbing against Lex''s foot. That was strange. Lex remembered bringing in various animals, but did he bring in cats? Lex didn''t think about it for long, for the workers started bringing out the food andying it on a table in front of him. "Hey, you mind if I join you?" asked the cat with gleaming eyes when it saw the food. Lex looked at the cat and was about to scan it, but decided not to. He was on vacation. He would act like any normal guest. Besides, the cat sounded like a small child. "Sure, drag a seat," said Lex, already cutting through a te of sausages. Excitedly, the cat transformed into what looked like a young boy of maybe four or five years old, and quickly dragged awn chair. He climbed up, with some difficulty, and turned around only to realize the table was too high for him on that seat. Lex chuckled and asked one of the workers to bring a highchair for the kid. Lex noticed that even in this form, the kid had cat ears and a tail. Was he a Neko? He had to be, right? Lex didn''t think about it much and instead looked at his watch. It was less than a minute until noon. "Hey kid, want to see something cool?" Lex asked in between bites. The kid only nodded, though his eyes never left his te of nuggets. "Look up," Lex said, just as the clock hit 12. Just as the child looked up, the third week of the festival officially began. Fireworks lit up in the sky, though they were severely outmatched by the shing lightning nearby, and buildings began to appear. The Midnight Inn had thousands of acres ofnd, though most of it was undeveloped and was covered in various nts. Now though, for this specific period, that would change, as various roller coasters and slides and rides began to appear in the entire undeveloped areas of the Inn. Moreover, in between the sprawling amusement park that was beginning to appear, was a racing track that was also spread out across the Inn. The next part of the festival was all about theme parks and golf cart racing! Lex smiled at the magnificent sight, though the smile didn''tst long. He had to eat, after all. He couldn''t waste time grinning when he could be chewing! Chapter 486 I Believe I Can Fly The kidpletely missed the dramatic revtion that Lex timed for his eyes never left his te. Lex only shook his head and continued to eat as well. nning this portion of the festival had been harder than Lex had imagined. The idea of theme parks was great, and Lex could easilye up with various ideas that the system would allow him to implement, which would have been too hard to do normally. But the issue was that while all the ideas Lex had would be great fun and excitement for mortals, they wouldck the element of thrill for cultivators. Moreover, the greater the cultivation realm, the lesser the excitement would be.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Of course, such a situation onlysted a short while. Not only did he task the nning division to look into if there were any amusement parks or the like for cultivators, he himself had spent some time on the Henali portal doing some research. As it turned out, the solution was simpler than expected. All he needed to do was throw money at the problem and watch it solve itself. Or, well, in his case, throw MP at the problem. While a majority of the rides were for everyone, some rides would require the rider to be of a certain cultivation level at least. This was because, alongside the usual pattern that rides followed, various formations could be added to the rides for added effect! Moreover, since these were temporary formations essed through the event panel that had nothing to do with offense or defense, there was a much greater variety. Illusion formation, formations designed to disrupt a sense of direction, formations that increased the sensation of fear or excitement, formations that could slow or speed up the perception of time, and many, MANY more formations were used throughout the theme parks to make the rides as diverse and entertaining as possible. Moreover, the idea of using formations made it so that the rides for mortals became more unique as well. As if that was not enough, there was also the race course! There was one, massive race track that spanned the entire Inn, as well as a few smaller ones here and there. Of course, simple race tracks would be boring so the tracks were not only bizarre, they were full of unexpected traps, treasures, hidden shortcuts, and dead ends! Individual races and smaller tournaments would begin as early as today, but a main racing event was also nned that would only begin a weekter. To even enter the main racing event, the participant would have to first win one of the individual races or tournaments. This way, when the main race began, most of the drivers would already be well known and have a following. As for the vehicles used in the race? They were, of course, golf carts. Some who were familiar with traditional golf carts mightin that golf carts were too slow for a racing tournament. They were not wrong. But there was nothing normal about this race to begin with. One of the reasons the participants were required to win a race first was so that they would be familiar with the technicalities of the race, for Lex had drawn a lot of inspiration from one of his favorite racing game: Marlo cart! In the distance, Lex could already hear the sound of the racementator that Lex had hired. While he had originally nned to delegate this job to one of his workers, while he was nning the event, he came across a guest who seemed perfect for the job. Since Lex didn''t want to go through the hassle of having him go through a proper text and actually hiring him, Lex just hired him as a temporary worker. Thementator was named Awry, and the vigor and charisma in his voice would no doubt excite all the countless viewers the races would gather. "Hey kid, do you have any parents or guardians with you?" Lex asked as he looked at him from the side of his eyes. Soon, thevish meal would end and Lex was nning on going to the theme park to take in a guests'' experience. He wouldn''t feel right about just leaving the kid alone though, which is why he was asking. "Yeah, I do," he replied, pausing eating just long enough to get those words out. "Well, where are they?" "They told me to go scam a sucker while they cultivate," the kid responded, not even taking a second to think about what he was saying. Lex suddenly regretted asking in the first ce. When he finally finished his meal, he looked at the kid again, who was still busy munching, and shook his head. Informing a worker to keep an eye on the kid and let him know if anything was wrong, Lex left towards the nearest theme park. "Hey Mary, I know he didn''t request it, but let Gerard know he can take time off to participate in the races," said Lex just as he walked up to his first ride. It was simple enough as it was a merry-go-round. Except that the speed of the ride would slowly and steadily continue to increase until, eventually, itunched the rider alongside his seat into the air! Of course, the ride was supported by the system and thending location was guaranteed. This was just a festival version of a train or taxi. Why waste time walking from one ce to another when themute itself can be a part of the ride? That was the philosophy he nned this ride with, alongside many others. Grabbing some cotton candy on a stick, Lex got on the ride and strapped himself in. He could not suppress his smile when he saw all the other excited guests get in as well, though many of them were also actually quite nervous. "Hey," Lex called out to one of the riders sitting near him, a young girl who looked both excited and scared. When she looked over, Lex asked, "do you believe you can fly?" She was confused for a moment, until something clicked in her mind and she responded, "no, but I''m definitely going to touch the sky today." Oh, that reminded Lex. Silently, he gave instructions and had Captain Cirk raise the hovering height of the ship. Theoretically it was too high for any guest to reach it with any of the rides, but Lex didn''t want to take chances. Chapter 487 So Beautiful The sensation of beingunched out of a speeding carousel was much more enjoyable than Lex expected. Of course, that was primarily because the pressure generated from the spinning carousel didn''t affect Lex at all, and secondly because he wasn''t wearing anything like a skirt. Too caught up in the novelty of the experience, though, Lexpletely forgot about his cotton candy until it was about to fly away! Fortunately, he used his spirit sense out of instinct and caught the fluffy treat right in the air beside him. His spirit sense firmly locked onto it, and kept it close to Lex regardless of where he went. Strangely, he found that in the matter concerning his cotton candy, he could maintain perfect control of his spirit sense. Maybe instead of a spiritual treasure, he should just get more of that. Once Lex wasunched in the air, he only had a couple dozen seconds to soar through the sky before hendedfortably. He tested out trying to get off his mount, just to see if he could deviate from the flight pattern of the ride. But he was held firmly to his seat with straps, and the ride did not deviate from the intended path. After all, flying freely through the air was just an illusion, for in truth, the ride had a fixed path. Feeling pretty good after his first ride, Lex did not wait and quickly got on another. This one was a rollercoaster with a minimum requirement of Golden core cultivators to ride. So then the question was, how was it different from normal roller coasters? Well, first of all, instead of sitting, you were only wearing a few straps that would take you forward face first. As if that wasn''t enough, the speed of the ride, the intensity of the turns, the drops and the rise were all beyond what a normal being could tolerate. Moreover, using various illusion formations, it seemed more than once the ride seemed like it was about to crash, or had broken down in the middle, or ended in their of a dangerous monster. Psychological excitement melded extremely well with the physical strain the rider underwent, creating a thrilling ride, even for cultivators. Moreover, this was just one of the strategies they had employed. There were so many more! ***** An unusual-looking spaceship approached the andnded in anding zone amidst a mountain range. The signature orange soil of the had made its way even here, high up on these rocky peaks, giving the snow a shade of something that had spoiled. The cold air felt harsh to breathe in, and the wind carried with it a cold bite that could pierce the skin and freeze the blood vessels beneath. None of the inhabitants seemed to care, or rather, they were not given the luxury to care. Chained beasts of different species walked around, doing menialbor. A small group waited by the ship, and when it finally opened, it revealed hundreds of other creatures, simrly bound. There were even some humans amongst them, and they were simrly naked and chained. The air was filled with the sounds of whips, shouting and screaming as the group began to move out from the ship, though no one looked at them even twice. A creature flew out of the ship from another exit and moved towards a nearby building, ignoring everything happening on the ground. The creature was 3 feet (0.9 meters) tall and had four, extremely short, thin arms and two equally sized legs. It had four thin, nearly transparent wings on its back. It had four eyes, two in front and two in the back, and two mouths, once again one in the front and one at the back. Once inside the massive building, the creature made its way to a special chamber, where another creature of the same species wasfortably sitting in what looked like a pool of blood. "Inform the sect leader, I''ve brought back valuable treasure," the creature said in a hissing voice, both its mouths speaking in unison. "Treasure? Weren''t you sent out to catch ves?" the creature sitting in blood asked, jealousy evident in its voice. "Indeed, I was," the first creature said, pride oozing from every fiber of its being. "But I found treasure as well. Now hurry, go inform the sect master. Someone at your station need not worry about details that are above you." The creature squirmed in anger and hatred, but left silently. The first creature derived great pleasure from seeing the other suffer. They were not enemies. In fact, the creature had never seen the other before. But as a Diplo, the creature had sadism imbued into its very being. The creature unceremoniously sat in the pool of blood that the other had left behind, and waited patiently for the sect master, fiddling with a small leather bag hanging across its chest. When the sect master finally arrived, a Diplo of even smaller size, not even reaching two feet, he also took a seat within the pool. "This better be worth it, or you''ll be joining the ves," the sect master said, its voice cold and arrogant. The first Diplo did not waste any time and quickly took out all the items from its pouch. All of them were shiny, and all of them had auras of dense spiritual energy. The sect leader checked them one by one with great interest - by biting each one. Most of the items crumpled under his massive jaw strength while a few survived. One particr golden key, however, broke entirely and teleported the two Diplos away. They immediately became wary of their surroundings, but they were taken aback when they actually saw what surrounded them. Metallic contraptions filled the air with thousands if not hundreds of thousands of ves strapped or held in, being flung around and tortured in the most spectacr way. "The promised holynd," the sect leader whispered as he saw a few ves just being randomly catapulted into the air. They were not even using the ves for work, they were just torturing them for no reason. It was so beautiful, it brought tears to his eyes.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Chapter 488 A Holy Land The Diplo was not a very prevalent species in the origin realm, but that surprised no one. Their short stature, weak bodies and general ineptitude in cultivation put them on the low end of almost every food chain that existed. Though they were an intelligent species, their generally disgusting appearance did not earn them any favors with most other intelligent species, leaving them to live an unfortunate existence. At Orange Bastion, though, something unusual happened. The used to be like any other that could support life, and was ruled by a naturally powerful predatory species. Eventually it was colonized and other intelligent species started living there, though the Diplo did not receive favorable treatment despite being natives of the. All that changed, however, when an evil sect was created. Through means that were still unknown even to most of the Diplo themselves, the first sect master gained the inheritance of an evil cultivator that gained strength through the blood of other beings. The stronger the being whose blood they absorbed, the greater the boost in their strength would be. Using that inheritance, which the sect spread amongst all Diplos, the previously irrelevant race waged war on the entire, eventually seeding in taking control. It was unknown if it was a side effect of the evil cultivation technique, or if it was just a suppressed trait of Diplo''s themselves, but once they gained power, all of them were revealed to be extremely sadistic. They took great pleasure in torturing and agonizing others, especially if the other race was perceived to be stronger than the Diplo''s themselves. As such, the sect master and the Diplo who had discovered the key in the first ce were inplete awe of the amusement park. From children to adults, screams could be heard echoing far and wide within the strange metallic jungle. What was absolutely strange was that the ''ves'' who were being tortured would voluntarily get into the torture devices themselves. The sect master suddenly felt so small, not in size, but in his outlook of the world. This ce was built by an absolute master, and the sect master was determined to steal all these designs and implement them back on his. Excitement filled his eyes as he began to wander the ground, his personal hologram appearing to inform him about this ce and what was going on. A few minutes after the Diplos disappeared, members of two other sects appeared, though this time they appeared from a golden door rather than a golden key. They were humans, and the members from each sect could be easily be distinguished based on how they were dressed. The first group was dressed from head to toe in heavy armor, with a massive shield that covered half the length of their bodies in their left hand, and a single, long, straight sword in their right. The second group was dressed in simple Daoist robes, and had a rtively shorter sword flying right beside them. The two groups appeared ready forbat, and looked around at their new surroundings warily as they absorbed everything. The appearance of this specific group was a big deal, not because of who they were, but because of how far they hade from. So far, the reach of the Inn had stayed within a certain region. Even when connectings from different gxies, the gxies were rtively nearby. But this group in particr hade from so far away the Jotun empire held no sway in their territories, though they were familiar with the empire due to the Henali portal. The reason they could appear here was the golden door. Since Lex gained the upgrade Inter-realm broadcast, the golden door had gained the ability to not only spawn ons that the Inn was connected to, but anywhere in any realm that the Inn was connected to. "Pdin Lovis, what do you make of this ce?" asked one of the daoists. Though they followed different cultivation paths, the daoists and pdins were fast allies, and often worked together. It helped a lot that the pdins were a righteous force, sworn to protect the innocent and fight tyrants. "It is the noble, holynd of our people," the pdin Lovis said, removing his helmet. He needed to gaze upon the sight before him with his eyes unobstructed. The pdins had a different cultivation system, focused on tempering their will and using it to manipte holy energy. And this ce... it was as if it was designed to temper the will of warriors under the most rigorous of circumstances. "Look, how they temper even their children to face unavoidable death," he said, pointing to a particr rollercoaster. Due to how the ride was shaped, it seemed to the riders that they would m into a wall, right before the coaster dove into a hidden,pletely dark cave with great speed. "If we learn from the architect of this great training ground, we can bolster our forces. Within a few generations, we can turn the tide of war!" "Look at the rain of lightning," said a daoist, pointing in the distance. "It truly is a holynd. Cultivatorse here to face death and ovee it!" "We will need reinforcements if we are to explore this entire ce," said the pdin, just in time for his hologram to appear and begin telling him about the Midnight Inn. The two groups began walking together as they learned of the wonders of the Inn.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Only a few minutester, through yet another golden door, another group appeared, though this time they were not human. Instead, they were elves. More specifically, they were elvish outcasts who had been shunned from theirmunities for reveling in technology rather than nature. "A holynd!" one of them eximed as they looked out into the endless forest of amusement park rides and the massive spaceship up above. "We have found our home," said another one, wiping tears from her eyes. "Our prayers have been answered." The group also left, under the guidance of their hologram, but the cycle of new guests continuing to appear continued. Slowly and steadily, the crowd at the Inn started bing more and more diverse. Chapter 489 Reaving Dread "Hey look at this," said a finely dressed man, perusing through some names in a book. "This is quite interesting. I signed my name down, yet I''m so far down the list." The man''s fourpanions made their way to what was revealed to be the guest registry. "What is it?" asked Jotun, leader of the Jotun Empire. It had been too long since he''dst taken a vacation, so he''d basically spent thest few days drinking nonstop, though, of course, he could not get drunk. He also sent a missive back home to have the golden keys delivered to his favorite wife. Even if he had learnt nothing else about the Inn, its ability to teleport people from anywhere was phenomenal! He finally had a way to spend time with his family. There were tactical benefits to this ce as well, he knew, but he could not be bothered to worry about them. He had people who made ns ording to his desires, so they would see to the gritty details. "It''s called a guest registry," said the man who had signed his name, Nisar Butt. "When you sign your name, it ranks you ording to the achievements in your life. The top 1000 get rewards, and the higher the rank, the better the reward. I signed up, but barely made it to the top 80s." Nisar''s statement might have sounded simple, but only someone who knew him would understand the weight that it carried. Not only was Nisar one of the founders of the top 3 families in the Jotun Empire, he was a businessman whose influence spanned multiple gxies. His individual wealth, in the entire Empire, could only be surpassed by the empire itself. He also had the strength to be able to afford such wealth, yet he was only in the top 80s! The rest of the group was intrigued and simrly signed their names. The names of the other three ranked simrly, with two of them not even making the top 100, while Jotun himself earned the rank 10. While the ranking seemed unbelievable, especially since each person''s achievements weren''t listed, they had no one to argue with. So they looked at the other names in the top 10. 7 of the top 10 were devils, all of which were well known. One was Jotun, one was from the Deathsworn family, and the top one was Lex. They had no way of knowing which race the Deathsworn, who was ranked 5, was, for the Deathsworn family was unusual. They were not a family bound by blood, but by their creed, and as such, included many different races. But even if they did not know who An Deathsworn was, they at least understood his background. Instead, it was the top person, Lex Williams, who waspletely unknown. "Hm, this really is interesting," Jotun said, though not because he cared whose names were above him. He could feel the various anchors the book gave him, and he immediately began toprehend their value. But his attention on the registry did notst long. He did not reach his level by coveting the prizes of others, and so he did not care who were the people above him. He would take whatever rewards he had gotten, for they were free and unexpected, and continue to focus on his very important task of rxing until the Innkeeper showed up. The rest, though, kept their eyes locked on the top 100. These were names worth knowing, and one of them, which was currently standing on 99, was actually a guest whose name they had heard of. "Marlo¡­" one of them muttered. He was a human, and he was in the top 100, which meant they should find the time to introduce themselves.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om ***** Lex had spent a few hours enjoying himself at the theme park before he decided to return to his duties. Amongst the very many minor things he needed to oversee, the first and most important was to meet with the recement the griffin had summoned. Lex did not appear in person, and instead used his Remote presence ability to appear in front of the figure surrounded by ck fog, and scanned him. Name: Shroud Age: 67,000 Sex: None Cultivation Details: ???(Too high for host to detect) Species: Abyssal fog Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Remarks: Silent AND deadly, so you won''t want to know where it came from. "How is the Griffin doing?" the Innkeeper asked, his voice devoid of any dissatisfaction. "I believe he is undergoing a bloodline evolution, which is why he was unable to stop himself. I have been called in as his recement. On behalf of the Reaving Dread mercenary corp, I would like to extend my apologies for such an unprofessional disy. You will be given a satisfactory exnation for this once the Griffin is finished with the evolution." "I am not concerned about that," said Lex, shaking his head. "Instead, I care more about how he summoned you without using the proper means. I do not believe you used a golden key toe here, correct?" "Ah, that is easy to exin. All high-ranking members of the Reaving Dread have a spatial anchor carved onto their souls. In emergency situations, such as the one the griffin faced, they can use the anchor to call in reinforcements. The moment I was summoned, I took his ce in the contract you have, so you do not need to worry as I am bound to the same restrictions as the Griffin." The projection retained a neutral expression, but Lex''s true body frowned. "Does that mean you can teleport anywhere when needed?" "Indeed," the ck fog answered honestly. "Though the Reaving Dread only operates in a few realms, within those realms, its members can teleport anywhere. The Reaving Dread corp aspires to be the best mercenary group in the entire universe, if it hasn''t achieved such a rank already." The Innkeeper only nodded before disappearing, while Lex made a mental note. He was fairly certain he had just discovered another system. Moreover, with how the Fancy Monocle used to be a product of the Infinity Emporium, and how the system hired security from this Reaving Dread mercenary group, if he assumed both were systems, then it meant that systems were able to interact with one another. He had all but confirmed as much. The thing that actually caused him to worry, however, was the fact that the mercenary group could teleport directly into the Inn, because it was in the Origin realm. A sense of urgency filled him, and he scanned the Inn for a few targets. Unfortunately, everyone he knew from the Crystal realm was currently cultivating. All he could do was wait for them to finish cultivating, or hope that Zaganpleted his test soon. Chapter 490 First Race Over the next two days, Lex spent his time working, though he minimized his appearance as much as possible. Even when he had to appear, he used Remote presence instead of appearing personally. Larry had also delivered the spiritual treasure with which he could train his spirit sense, so he was simultaneously practicing with those as well. At some point, during the second night, when Lex was able to pick up a dumpling with his chopsticks using only his spirit sense, Lex felt a great sense of achievement. It was not only eating the dumpling that made him feel great, but all that he aplished. Even if he set the Inn and everything associated with it aside, just the fact that he was able to spend two consecutive days focusing not only on working, but working on multiple things all at the same time, was amazing. Had this been a year ago, just the thought of how much he had to work would have sent him into a procrastination spiral. Sure, he wasn''t as irresponsible as some other people, but it would have required great effort on his part, nheless. Moreover, he would have probably smoked before he got started as well, though he had always tried to limit himself with that habit. To be clear, it was not the cancer or possible health risks that made him reluctant to smoke too much, but the fact that he heard it affected taste buds. He loved food just too damn much to diminish the experience. As if to keep the positivitying, it was around the same time that his quest to set up a tribtion room was consideredpleted, and he got the reward. Quest Complete! The Host''s rewarded is being calcted: - Reward upgraded for improving survival chance by 21% - Reward upgraded for raising Inn''s prestige dramaticallyn/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Reward Rank: B+ Reward: Lightning vessel, Firefighting gloves Remarks: The real tribtion is the price for the room! Lightning vessel A small container in the shape of a lightning bolt. It can be used to store one strand of a unique lightning bolt! Firefighting gloves Gloves that let the wearer touch fire as if it were a physical entity! The rewards were simple enough, and considering how he had to provide materials to upgrade rooms he designed himself, he felt they perfectly fit his needs. After all, he had a lightning and fire tempering room, and he would need various kinds of those elements if he wanted to upgrade the room. Lex was almost afraid to admit it, but everything was going extremely well. No one had tried to crash his event, and there had been no arrogant third-generation spoiled bratsing in to pick fights. Soon he would master enough of his spirit sense to meet the emperor confidently, and most of all, his event was going really well. Everything was going so well, in fact, that Lex decided to actually take another break. So, on the third day, he teleported out of his office and reappeared as Leo, standing in front of a racing track. Yes, he had signed up for an individual race. Moreover, he nned on winning the race, andpeting in the Midnight Inn Grand Prix. For these preliminary races, everyone got the same standard golf cart. Of course, standard here meant the standard for the Inn, not the standard golf carts on earth. Xeon, a drake refiner who long ago once upgraded Gerards golf cart, had now, finally, be an official Inn employee, and he was the one who set the standard for the Inn by personally upgrading each cart. The reason it took him so long was because Lex was vetting his ability and totally not because Lex forgot that he existed. But all of that was irrelevant at the moment. ''Leo'' got into his golf cart and looked around himself. The track he was on was one that he had no part in designing, so that he wouldn''t have an unfair advantage. After all, he wanted to win as fairly as possible. Sure, he was more familiar with the mechanics of the iing traps and bonuses, but everyone had been briefed thoroughly plus the races had been going on for a few days now so everyone should also know them all. There were 3 rows of golf carts in front of him, with 3 carts in each row, and several rows behind him as well. Everyone was ced ording to when they signed up for the race, so there was an element of luck involved here, but there was more than enough time and opportunities to negate that starting luck. To win the race, there was only one thing you had to do. You had to be the first person toplete 3ps. There were only a few rules of the race, besides the obvious such as no getting off the track, the most significant one was that no one could attack other cars using spiritual techniques or otherwise. All techniques could only be used to defend, that''s it. You could not create traps, speed up, slow down, do anything other than defend. That was because the race itself would provide more than enough methods to attack, anyway. Leo revved the engine for his golf cart, though the cart was very silent so no one could hear anything. Lex felt the vibrations of the engine though - he definitely felt them. Looking around, he did not see anyone familiar, which was perfect. He wouldn''t need to hold back out of courtesy. A loud buzzer went off, announcing to the crowd that the race was about to begin. A massive red crystal appeared above the race, which, a few secondster, turned yellow. All eyes were focused solely on the crystal, and the moment it turned green, the race began. The initial eleration of the cart was much greater than most of the riders anticipated, Lex included, but he adapted much quicker than the rest. Showing no hesitation, Lex mmed into the car in front of him to push it to the side. He was nning on getting first, and he wouldn''t do that by ying nice. Chapter 491 Drifting The cart that Lex bumped into immediately began swerving left and right. Since the race had just begun and all the carts were nearby, the swerving cart hit quite a few of them, immediately causing chaos. Everyone, from the viewers to the drivers themselves, were taken aback by the tumultuous beginning as the races had more or less formed a pattern during the past two days. The firstp, while not free frompetition, was usually peaceful as the drivers got used to the track and employed various tactics. Due to how unpredictable the track itself could be, let alone how the various power ups the drivers received created unexpected variables, there was no real benefit in iming first too early. As such, most races started off peacefully and progressively became more and more destructive. Yet Lex had no intention of ying slowly, nor did he want to take his time getting used to the track. For him, only two things were true. First was that he wanted to win, and he had enough confidence in his intuition, reflexes and abilities to get that win, even if he became a big target. Second, he was on vacation, so what was the point of doing things safely? Only an intense match would bring him maximum satisfaction, so he set himself apart from the get go. Lex used his sharp instincts to maneuver carefully out of the initial confusion and suddenly gained a huge lead! Although there were still three or four cars in front of him, the road was open and free for him to do as he pleased! Since everyone''s golf cart was identical, they had the same eleration, speed, breaks etc. so the greatest tool that Lex could reliably use was his driving ability. As a former resident of Manhattan, he did not have much need for a car so he didn''t have a lot of driving experience, but he was learning now. Taking advantage of his newly advanced capabilities of his mind, parts of Lex''s focus were on observing and memorizing the minor details of how the cart responded to every move he made. The first 100 meters of the track was straight before it carefully turned and expanded across a slope. He saw that one of the carts in front of him drifted into the curve while another was using the entire width of the track, going from one side to another, during the turn so that he wouldn''t have to slow down at all. A third hit the brakes, to slow down enough to turn without going off the track. Lex''s first thought was that he would have to slow down as well, for he had too much forward momentum to turn quick enough, but another part of Lex which knew that even if the cart crashed at full speed, due to his resilience, he would not be harmed at all, wanted to copy the drift! Lex had limited experience driving normally, let alone drifting. In fact, he had no knowledge of how to do it all! A wide, wild grin painted Lex''s face. With the cart speeding and the turning, he had no time to think so, instinctively, he entered the state of Flow! As if he was watching a film, his memory of everything the drifting golf cart did to drift yed in his mind and, as if he were a machine, Lex copied all the actions exactly! From the location where the cart entered the drift, its speed, how much it turned, everything was exactly identical. It was only after he exited the drift perfectly that he exited the flow state, and his emotions caught up to him. The wind blowing in his hair, the sun shining down on him, the beautiful scenery of the Inn passing him by - he finally understood why Gerard liked this so much. Moreover, the drift was very clean and satisfying, but his heart was beating like crazy! Although he knew he wouldn''t get hurt, it was natural to get excited if you think you are going to crash. And it was only after hepleted the drift that the feeling came to him because to drift, HE HAD TURNED THE WHEEL IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION OF THE ACTUAL TURN! Despite himself, Lex couldn''t help butugh. He had no idea how that worked, but he was beginning to wonder why he had spent so many years without trying this ever? But he had to turn his attention back to the race. It was far from over. Actually, it had just begun!n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om The first set of obstacles wereing his way. The track split into four, going over, around, through and under a set of very short hills. Moreover, parts of the tack were covered in Delinquent Viper Vines. They wouldn''t damage the cart, but if the cart came close enough, they wouldtch onto it, trapping the vehicle for a few seconds. Lex observed the carts in front of him to see if they were doing anything else that was crazy that he could imitate, but they were splitting off. Lex decided to follow the one that was going over the hills. Whether that cart did anything or not, Lex suddenly had an inclination to overtake the cart by jumping over it using one of the slopes of the hills. This time, Lex entered the Overdrive state and his spirit sense spread out in front of him, though currently its range was barely a few dozen feet. That didn''t matter to Lex though. A part of his brain started doing careful calctions he would need to pull off such a maneuver. The conclusion he came to was that without a power up or boost of some kind, it would not be possible. Lex was tempted to use an array, but that would go against the rules. A fire lit in his unresigned heart. What was the point of being a cultivator if he couldn''t even surpass a fast and the family movie? There had to be a way. Chapter 492 Mysterious And Honorable Innkeeper There was a void. Nothing existed for all of eternity, except for the color ck, which was all epassing. There was no sound, no temperature, no energy, nothing. But in that endless nothingness, a round, stone table appeared. There was no light source, yet the table was perfectly visible and, in fact, forcibly attracted one''s eyes in the vast nothingness. Since there was no light source, the table had no shadows either, which was very important. In this area that was devoid of everything, darkness was eptable but shadows were not, for they wouldpromise the security of this ce. One moment the table existed alone, the next a group of nondescript figures appeared around it. Even if one tried, they would not be able to count the number of figures, for that information was just too elusive. It was for that reason that it seemed all but impossible to determine howrge the group was, or howrge the table was for that matter - after all, the only other thing with which topare the existence of the table could not be properly observed at all. Yet, when one of the figures began to speak, his appearance became clear, revealing a young, devilishly handsome man. "The phenomenon has ended, but the Origin realm did not elevate, which means a Daolord was not born. I strongly suspect that someone was manufacturing a Dao treasure, and I have a suspicion of who it might be." "Why should that matter to me, Ballom?" asked another figure, revealing his appearance as that of a Celestial. "Or to any of us? We are all here, in this fledgling realm, to observe the formation ofws to expand our own understanding ofws. Whoever is interfering is speeding up the process, which is taking away precious time from us to observe. I say, let the Henali evict whoever it is so that they stop causing us problems." "No, forget him. Do borate. A Dao treasure you say? Tell me more" The third figure that spoke revealed itself to be a dragon, and a massive one at that. "Do you think I invited you all here because I wanted you to do something?" Ballom asked, scoffing. "What? Did you think I wanted to steal the treasure? Do you think what happened to Ra wasn''t enough warning?" "Wait, you think the Innkeeper is responsible for the phenomenon?" asked another figure yet again, this time in the appearance of an angel. She had four, beautiful white wings and a halo of pure light above her head, which, apanied by her own reprehensible beauty, made her a figure which haunted everyone''s damn nightmares. Ballom, as well as every other figure, resisted the urge to grimace at hearing her voice. That stupid angel was too freaking powerful, and never restrained herself. All of them quickly scrubbed the memory of her voice from their brains, lest she start appearing in their dreams - again. "The aura of the phenomenon was unique, I would have recognized it if I had ever felt it before. But my instinct tells me that the aura is at least rted to the Innkeeper." "It''s not your instincts, just your wishful thinking," said another figure, revealing a spirit. "You humanoids all favor one another." "Being humanoid has nothing to do with it," said Ballom, his voice turning ever deeper as he changed from his human appearance to his true one. "I have met him so I know. He is a mysterious man the depth of whom even I was not able to gauge, though I didn''t really try to avoid being rude. His means elude me, and his purpose is unknown. I brought you all here not to conspire against him, but as a professional courtesy. If the Innkeeper really is the one who caused the phenomenon, then other than being powerful enough to oneshot Ra, an original Deity of this realm, he is a deeply knowledgeable person from whom we can learn much." The other Daolords listened, but did not reveal their true thoughts about what the Devil said. Honor? Respect? Devils cared for none of that, only profit. They knew he had some hidden purpose, they just didn''t know what. The meeting continued on past that topic, and many secret deals were struck. No one found it ironic that a meeting held by a devil had more participants than the one held by the Henali themselves. After all, the Henali were the owners and enforcers of this realm. Why would they do shady business in front of them? ***** The mysterious, profound and honorable Innkeeper, as many Daolords knew of him as, was grinning ear to ear as his cart was pushed to the finish line by all the carts behind him. In his search to find loopholes in his own event, Lex discovered one that would make the game kind of boring, but then at the same time, the thought of irritating and frustrating so many drivers excited Lex''s inner child. Most of all, it wasn''t like he was cheating or anything, so no one could me him. Since the only way in which he could use his ability was defensively, his n required him to be the car in the lead. Once there, he turned around and used Talk to the Hand. The invisible shield it created now was muchrger than before, and though the technique had not been able to bring out his full might as a Golden Core cultivator, it was strong enough to withstand anything his fellow contestants threw at him. So, now in the lead, and with his invisible shield deployed behind him, Lex let go of the elerator, and awaited the rest of the carts. Not realizing an invisible shield stood in their path they would crash into it full force, pushing Lex forward each time. To be honest, Lex originally didn''t n on being so mean to them. But when he became the target of every other racer for not only being a crowd favorite, but a nuisance on the track, Lex felt it was okay if he let loose a little. Truth be told, this was very different from how Lex normally behaved. But he was feeling good today, so it was fine to act a little childish.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Like that, inplete disbelief of the entire crowd, all the participants, as well as the racementator himself, Lex won the race and became a nominee for the Grand Prix. Chapter 493 Finally Meeting The Emperor After winning his race, Lex''s emotions finally calmed down a bit. He spent some more time as Leo, going around the Inn and interacting with various guests. The Gamer''s Den had various sites now that he visited, all of which were thoroughly packed. That was because other than the weekly events that would be updated every so often, many smaller events were concurrently happening everywhere. In the Gamer''s Den there was a tournament for a very popr game called ''Cooking Simtor: Gourmet Oreos'' (CS: GO). Compared to something like racing, this was a very niche tournament. Still, the crowds it drew were very big.N?v(el)B\\jnn Considering that he himself, with the identity of the owner of Gamer''s Den, had done very little to actually run it, he felt like he should give Z a raise or something. In fact, the moment he thought about the idea, he implemented it. His employees'' sries were never counted as a part of his total MP, for he always estimated how much he would need to pay them monthly, and then directly pay the system for 6 months in advance. That way, in case he ever became tight on funds, like when he spent it all on the hearth, he wouldn''t have to worry about paying his workers, of which there were many. Once he was done with the rounds, however, he teleported back to his apartment and began meditating. Lex was not one to put off things he needed to do, at least on purpose, so it was time to meet the emperor. The meeting did not incite any nervousness in him, though admittedly he was curious about why the emperor wanted to meet with him. He asked Velma if she was able to discover anything about his purpose, but she was not able to provide him with much. What she did mention, however, was that from the moment he had appeared, the entire gossip trends in the Inn changed. Apparently, he was a man of significant influence, even among other species, though actual information about him was scarce everywhere. Instead, there was a lot of information avable about his four advisors, who followed him everywhere. Apparently, 3 of them were the founders of the 3 strongest noble families in the empire, right under the royal family, namely the Butt family, the Togoldor family, and the Knight family. The Butt family acted as the financial advisors to the royal family, the Togoldor family as military advisors and the Knight family handled the secret intelligence for the royal family. The fourth advisor was more secretive and rtively unknown, but it was said that he was the emperor''s right-hand man, and most trusted subordinate. There was one story about him that was very famous, though when Lex read about it, it seemed more gossip than anything realistic. It was said that when the emperor was young and weak, he was once targeted by a subus - a devil of extreme capabilities. While everyone else sumbed to the subus'' charm, the fourth advisor remainedpletely unaffected and, in fact, made the subus fall in love with him, and act as a double agent on their behalf. Lex nearly gagged when he read that. It was a typical story spread by men with over inted egos, trying to market their ''prowess'' as exceptional. He would be genuinely disappointed if this story was actually being spread by the man himself, but Lex highly doubted it. He was familiar enough with celebrity culture to know how wild stories can be created and spread without any actual proof. If only Lex had heard how the same was being done with the Innkeeper, but the ones gossiping were Dao lords and deities. Once Lex had adjusted his state of mind, and he was ready to hold the meeting, he teleported to his office, and instructed Luthor to personally go and escort the emperor and his group over. A fleet of especially luxurious golf carts which Xeon had especially designed for the Inn could be seen driving over to the Midnight Manor, attracting a lot of attention. The emperor had already been informed by a hologram message that the Innkeeper had returned, and was sending someone over to have him picked up. Emperor Jotun had met with many important beings in many prestigious ces. He had been escorted in spaceship, advanced vehicles, on the backs of eminent mounts and in carriages pulled by dangerous creatures, yet he had to admit, this was the first time he would be brought to a meeting in a golf cart. But while the emperor was admiring the golf carts, his four advisors had their eyes trained on Luthor. In the past few days they had realized that many of the workers at the Inn, despite being human, had a bloodline that they had never even heard of before! While that in itself wasn''t rare, when considering the ridiculous might their bloodlines delivered, it should have been impossible for them to not know of it! After all, they lived at the center of the human civilization in their realm. How could they not know of such a broken bloodline? They were even tempted to bring all their sons and daughters to the Inn and immediately have them begin courting their workers. But fortunately for their sanity, all of them seemed to have the same bloodline. As unusual as even that fact was, they could ept that there was one bloodline that had eluded them, regardless of how amazing it was. Yet now, Luthor disyed an aura of a different bloodline. They could not directly deduce what the bloodline did, regardless of how powerful they were, and even the Regalia Bloom they were only able to draw some deductions based on old videos of the workers using them in fights. But now that Luthor was disying an aura of a different bloodline, their minds began working in overdrive. His cultivation was practically nonexistent, yet if he was the Innkeepers assistant, his bloodline must be exceptional as well. Never, in recent memory, had their emotions been toyed with as much as it had been thesest few days. The emperor instead only nodded to Luthor and got in the cart. He did not take offense to such a disy, for he knew different cultures and beings followed different customs. He was, however, thoroughly amused. As for Luthor''s bloodline? Jotun had created his own bloodline for his descendants, and he was perfectly confident in its abilities. He did not need to envy others. Actually, all four of his advisors had also created their own bloodlines as well. But while the same experience brought indifference to Jotun, to his advisors, it brought a reverence for anyone who had the power to create such formidable bloodlines. The various random thoughts, however, ended when he entered the Innkeepers office building. The reception hall radiated an aura that intimidated even him, though he could tell that he was not the target of the aura. It simply existed and, moreover, it suppressed everyone equally. He, as an emperor and a person with immense cultivation, found it just as hard to take a single step as his four followers. The emperor had no intentions of being haughty to begin with, but this disy immediately reminded him that the person he was about to meet had garnered the attention of the Henali. An entity of such caliber¡­ was definitely above him. But while it was difficult, none of them were people who would shy away from difficulty. They walked through the entire hall from start to finish without letting their struggles be apparent. An outside observer would only see them walking normally, if a bit slowly, across the hall. Before the meeting had even begun, Lex had used the innate feature of the Innkeepers office building to establish himself in the emperor''s mind, so that, in the unlikely scenario, he did lose control of his spirit sense, no one would question him. This was not something Lex consciously nned, but something he had just be adept at doing. Otherwise, whenever someone wanted to meet with him, Lex would usually teleport over himself. Not this time. Having established a psychological advantage, Lex weed the emperor and his four followers into his office, and immediately almost lost hisposure. It was not the emperor who drew his attention, nor was it his three named advisors. Instead, it was the fourth and more mysterious advisor whose existence startled Lex. He looked like a young man in his early 20s, with fair skin and dark hair. He wore very little expression on his face, but his brown, deep-set eyes and sharp jaw worked well with his seemingly impassive face to give him a mature yet handsome look. Though since when did Lex care about someone else''s look? No, what grasped Lex''s attention was¡­ the fact that the man lookedpletely identical to himself. It was like he was looking at a twin. Then, Lex checked the mans'' status. Chapter 494 Sephore Five men had entered the Innkeeper''s office, but while Lex''s gaze swept past all of them, it paused nearly imperceptibly on thest person Lex saw. But the brief pause was not a reflection of how shocked Lex was, but rather a result of Lex''s advancing cultivation and the absolute control his Host Attire afforded him. The man was the spitting image of Lex, to the point where they even had the same height and physique. After the initial surprise wore off, Lex came up with a few exnations. After all, the universe was so wide and the human poption was so vast. It shouldn''t be impossible that two unrted people happened to look identical. As if having already epted his exnation, Lex scanned him as if his information would somehow shed light on the matter. But instead it only added to the confusion of the situation. Name: William SephoreN?v(el)B\\jnn Age: 467,223 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: ???(Too high for host to see) Species: Human Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 2 Condition: There is an incredibly strong restriction on his body, suppressing a disease. The Inn is currently incapable of treating the guest. Remarks: Great, now there''s two of them! William was amon name. Just because it was hisst name didn''t mean others couldn''t have it. In fact, Will Bentham, one of his old guests, was actually named William. The same name did not mean they were rted. But the situation was just too coincidental. Too many coincidences made Lex ufortable, and reminded of his fight with the murderer back in the Crystal realm. He had been incredibly wary of luck since then. Whatever the truth was, Lex would definitely investigate now that his attention had been brought to it. There was no reason to loseposure over it. It would have been so convenient if his intuition gave him some information, but it only provided him with one clear piece of data: the group opposite to him were too strong for his intuition to y any role whatsoever. All of that had happened in less than the blink of an eye, and none of the others in the room seemed to have picked up on it. But the reason it was nearly an imperceptible pause, instead of directly an imperceptible one, was because William himself had detected it. Moreover, the subtle change in the expression within his eyes let Lex know that the man had noticed. But Lex was not put off bnce by the fact that hispse had been detected. There were too many ways to deal with the situation, and as the Innkeeper, he held all the cards. In fact, he couldpletely pretend like he wanted his gaze to be detected by William to begin with. "Wee, my guests," the Innkeeper turned his attention back to Jotun, as he decided to scan all three. "My apologies for making you wait so long to meet." While he was speaking, Lex already scanned the remaining four. First, of course, he scanned the famous emperor. Name: Jotun Marcus Sephore Age: 467,227 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: ???(Too high for host to see) Species: Human Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Remarks: He is formidable - perfect to be hired as a bodyguard. Then came the advisor standing closest to him. Name: Nisar Sephore Butt Age: 467,218 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: ???(Too high for host to see) Species: Human Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Remarks: He looks like a tax evader, but the Inn does not charge GST! Then the remaining two. Name: Batu Sephore Togoldor Age: 467,215 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: ???(Too high for host to see) Species: Human Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Remarks: He looks like he makes his bed every morning to boost productivity through the day. It can only be spected about thest time he actually used the bed for anything other than making it. Name: Henry Sephore Knight Age: 467,210 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: ???(Too high for host to see) Species: Human Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Remarks: He carries the scent of murder. A definite potential client for the Murder Grounds! "It''s no trouble at all," said the emperor, Jotun, with a chuckle as he approached the Innkeeper. "After all, I know how hectic managing things can be. Every day, over 30,000s in my empire face an armageddon level event. Just making sure my subjects don''t all identally die over every small apocalypse thates their way takes up so much time. I can''t even imagine the workload you must have." Jotun''s tone was extremely rxed and casual, and he did not appear at all as if he was an emperor. His carefree attitude and easygoing behavior gave Lex a positive impression of the man. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jotun, and these are my little brothers, William, Nisar, Batu and Henry." "It''s a pleasure, Jotun. Please, guests, have a seat. I hope you have found the Inn suitable for your stay these past few days. It is unfortunate that you did not arrive a few days earlier, or you could have taken advantage of the situation like everyone else." "Haha not all Innkeeper, a few days here or there won''t make a difference to us. Besides, if I began cultivating now, it would be years before I be free again. But I have already sent one of your golden keys towards my wife, and am anxiously awaiting her arrival. It''s been over a decade since I saw herst. My heart can endure another millenia to cultivate, but not yet another moment to hold her!" Jotun winked at the Innkeeper as he burst into a fit of excitedughter. Even though Lex always made sure to maintain a light smile when he was acting as the Innkeeper, feeling Jotun''s genuine happiness, he could not help but smile a little wider. His gaze turned to Jotun''s ''brother''. He had no idea the advisors were actually from his family, as nowhere on the Henali portal was that mentioned. But then again, it made sense for people of such importance to keep their secrets close. As his younger brothers, as Lex had confirmed by checking their ages, they werepletely immune to Jotun''s behavior and maintained their polite expressions. Chapter 495 Family "I trust that you gentlemen also enjoyed your stay. Did you find any of the ongoing festivities to your liking?" Before they could answer, Lex turned towards William and said, "Mr. William, we have a lot of devils amongst our guests and a few of them are definitely subus'' so I have no doubt you at least had fun." Despite trying to keep their polite expressions, the unexpectedment caused all the brothers, save William himself, to erupt uproariously intoughter! The one known as Batu, the founder of the Togoldor family, actually fell from his chair and started rolling over. William himself slightly blushed and pretended to cough to clear his throat while he subtly kicked Batu off to the side. "Innkeeper, I assure you, while I might have had a few¡­ unexpected girlfriends in my youth, any rumors you might have heard are greatly exaggerated." "A few¡­ a few¡­ ''unexpected'' he says," Henry said while wheezing withughter, only to also receive a kick from William. Lex noticed that, although Williams'' kicks were not hard, whoever received them becamepletely incapacitated from it. Lex only gave a half smirk, as if he understood what William was implying. In truth, he had no intention of embarrassing the man, but passing such ament would automatically exin why he, as the Innkeeper, might have given William more attention than his brothers, thus once again lowering his guard. "Such is the nature of youth," the 24 year old shamelessly said to the man older than 400,000 years. "Oh man, Ipletely forgot about that," said Jotun, effortlessly dodging one of Williams'' kicks. "Innkeeper you have truly brought up some fond memories." "People love to gossip with some of the Inn''s workers, and I asionally end up hearing a few things. Of course, gossip is just gossip. No one takes it too seriously." "Oh you should¡­" began Nisar, but William directly kicked him in the face to shut him up. "It is not even gossip, but a rather unfortunate fairy tale one of my brothers spread when I was young, and it has followed me since. I suspect from time to time someone revives the rumors, but I''ve yet to find proof." "If you of all people cannot find proof, brother, then it surely doesn''t exist," said Jotun, keeping a suspiciously straight face while effortlessly dodging all attacks. The meeting Lex was supposed to have with the emperor had turned strangelyical, and not at all what Lex had been originally expecting, but that could work in his favor. The longer they conversed about unimportant topics, the more time Lex would have to dig up details about William. If they got directly to the heart of the matter, it would seem improper if Lex diverted the flow of conversation towards anything else. "At the Inn we have a Guild room where you can leave tasks for those qualified to fulfill. Perhaps you could hire a detective," said Lex, in an attempt to keep the conversation flowing. "It''s not a matter a detective can resolve, Innkeeper," Jotun exined, as he wiped a single tear from his eye. "There are few, human or otherwise, who canpete with good old William. If there was a clue to detect, a mystery to unravel, a lead to follow, anything at all really, he would have already picked up on it. Since he hasn''t, then that means there''s nothing." "Or the perpetrator knows exactly how to avoid my detection," William said ndly, looking directly at Jotun. It need not be exined who he suspected as the culprit. "Innkeeper, I saw you have a news agency where you sell sensitive information," said Henry, the founder of the Knight family, who was head of the royal family''s intelligence department. "Perhaps you can have them look into the matter. It would not do if one of the pirs of our empire was maligned like this so publicly." He spoke with a straight face and genuine concern, but Lex suspected he was still teasing William. "I will have them look into the matter, though the Midnight News is run by one of my workers. I don''t know if she will be able to investigate such a matter, she is still young." Lex paused for a moment before he continued. "All my workers here at the Inn are very young, and have just begun to spread their wings. I treat them like family, but I am busy so often that I worry their familiar bonds will grow weak. It is good to see that you brothers have maintained such a strong bond, even after so much time." Lex''s statement was, of course, a probing one. Although he had his suspicions, it wasn''t like he could ask them personal questions directly. Besides, of them all, William was the only one who supposedly hadn''t sired a prominent family. Lex was probably just a victim of over imagination. There was no way he was rted to this man who lookedpletely identical to him and had Lex''sst name as his first name.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Family¡­ family isplicated, for everyone," said Nisar with a sigh, his previous jovial mood dissipating. "Though as brothers we''ve remained close, Jotun is the only one of us who really even meets his descendants anymore - and even that is often because of work. And poor William, his family is too embarrassed to meet him even if he were willing." "Oh? Do you mind me asking why?" asked Lex, making sure to disy only the appropriate amount of curiosity. "I don''t me them, but¡­ they''re just too unlucky. Not a single one of them has ever been able to fully unlock the bloodline William passed onto them, causing them to develop very poorly. It''s so much so that they don''t even dare publicize that they are rted to one of the emperors ''advisors''." So that means William does have a family¡­ though they are apparently weak. And what does it even mean that they couldn''t unlock the bloodline he passed to them? Since they were all brothers, shouldn''t they all pass the same bloodline down to their descendants? Chapter 496 Anger Lex tried to recall what he knew about bloodlines. Once, as Leo, he has asked John about the topic of bloodlines, and he had seen some random bits of information while casually browsing the portal. Bloodlines in Beasts was an entirely different topic, for the Beasts'' entire cultivation was based on their bloodline limits. But for other species, such as humans, it was not the same. The basic gist of it was that it was something that gave whoever had the bloodline ess to special powers or abilities. But the source of that power was a mystery to Lex, as well as how their limitations were defined, because the Inn workers truly had some broken bloodlines. Lex''s memory had improved considerably, so after a moment of deliberation, he recalled that one of the ways that John had described the creation of bloodlines, especially in humans, was through cultivation. As a cultivator reaches higher levels, they naturally unlock certain abilities or affinities that are a result of the uniquebination of their natural affinities and their cultivation technique, any natural treasures they might have absorbed, or the various inheritances they received. For example, it was highly likely that if nothing untoward had happened to his cultivation technique, Lex would have given birth to a bloodline that would increase defensive capabilities, or something along those lines. Maybe the Lucky Sutra would give birth to a bloodline that affected luck. Having recalled that, another question came to Lex''s mind, though he wouldn''t be able to ask such a thing. Although all five brothers had gone on to create families with their own surnames, each of them had the Sephore surname. Lex found it hard to believe that all 5 brothers were able to be so formidable if whatever family they originally belonged to was not powerful to begin with, so shouldn''t they already have had bloodlines? Moreover, he''d never heard this Sephore name before. Lex audibly sighed as the Innkeeper and said, "Although we can provide our families with many tools, ultimately they have to walk their own paths." Lex took a moment to gather his thoughts. Even if it was just in his own mind, he had to voice his suspicion. He suspected that¡­ William might be one of his ancestors. As improbable and impossible as it may seem, it was still a lot more believable than the man just happened to lookpletely identical to Lex out of sheer coincidence. But it seemed like¡­ William himself was very distant from his family, and wasn''t very close to them. If he wanted to investigate this matter, he would have to start from a different angle - most likely his own parents back on earth. Seriously, if this was the secret his family was keeping, Lex would be immensely pissed and slightly confused. Even if he could let go of everything else, Lex could not forget the fact that he had a brain tumor for God only knew how long! How many months had Lex spent in depression, unaware that his mood was being affected by the growth in his brain? How much anxiety had he gone through to grow the Inn to the level where he had enough MP to upgrade his cultivation finally to the level where it could remove his tumor? shbacks of the immense struggle and fear he faced when he faced zombies for the first time filled his mind. As little as it phased him now, he had gone from being a regr joe on earth to literally fighting for his life against literal demons, just for his chance to remove his tumor.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om A tinge of anger shed through his heart as he imagined his parents giving him some kind of stupid spiel about how facing his own challenges allowed him to grow and mature. It was true, after putting his life on the line time and time again, his brain tumor literally making him do one stupid thing after another, he had be much more resilient. But since he had to go through so much growth without them, he saw no reason why they should be a part of his journey moving forward either. But the sh of anger was just that: a sh. Lex quickly calmed himself down and reminded himself that everything going through his head was just his imagination at the moment. Until he confronted them, and found out the truth of the matter, he should not jump to conclusions. With his mind made up, he would not have to drag his conversation with the emperor out any longer. Although, admittedly, he was curious about the emperor''s family history. There wasn''t even some purpose behind it - he just found it interesting. How had these 5 brothers managed toe so far and achieve so much? "Even I had to walk my own path without my family''s aid," the Innkeeper said with a hint of mncholy in his voice. The brother''s expression subtly changed upon hearing that. So far, the conversation had been light and casual. Even when talking about their families, they did not treat it too seriously. But for the Innkeeper, someone at the peak of this realm, to mention anything about his past was a matter they absolutely could not treat it lightly. While for the other brothers this was a potential opportunity to learn some secrets about reaching higher realms, for Jotun it was a different matter entirely. He had been briefed before being sent to the Inn. Although it was not his main objective, he had been tasked with learning as much as possible about the Innkeeper, for the Henali had revealed exactly what they knew about him: absolutely nothing! "Was there a reason your family did not aid you?" Knight asked, trying his level best to hide the hesitation in his voice. "Maybe. Since they never told me, I never asked. And since they decided not to be a part of my journey from the beginning, I don''t see a reason for them to be a part of my journey now." The brothers felt goosebumps all over their bodies as their imagination went wild! Chapter 497 Misunderstandings Jotun''s four younger brothers all suddenly thought of their own families. They could not be med, for after being alive for so long, their perception of family and family values was bound to be different from normal people. Yet they could not help but take the Innkeepers words as a warning. Even by their own standards, they had distanced themselves too much from their families, and for tens of thousands of years began treating them more as employees who worked for them rather than family. Perhaps it was time to reassess their rtionship a bit. That did not mean they would begin coddling their families, but that at least they should not be so distant. To some extent, it was true that theirck of oversight had be a huge problem. If not, then how could Noman have been hunted down by outsiders on his family''s own with none the wiser? How could Lex know that a random statement he said while feeling momentarily overwhelmed with emotion would reveal gross levels of corruption within the empire, and have far reaching consequences?n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om But that was only a minor misunderstanding. The reason Lex had even thought to voice one of his thoughts was because he was confident in his own image, and knew that instead of finding loopholes in his statements, people would instead find ways to exin and make sense of them. After all, that was the logical thing to do when listening to someone who knew more and had greater experience than you. What he absolutely could not have expected was the misunderstanding he would cause with Jotun. The Henali knew nothing about the Innkeeper, not even his true race, or, as unbelievable as it may seem, when he entered the Origin realm. Though he employed humans most often, no one believed for even a moment that he himself was a human, though it was clear he was humanoid. But now, Jotun learned something very important. The Innkeeper had some kind of backing as well, and instead of something rtively loose like an organization or his race, it was his family. What was more important was that, while he talked about being distanced from his family, the use of present tense indicated that the family, whoever or wherever they might be, still existed. Jotun did not think that him being sent here by the Henali should be a secret, in which case everything the Innkeeper said should have had deeper meaning. Anything that the Innkeeper revealed was meant to bemunicated upwards to them, and so this was the Innkeeper revealing something about his background. After all, a family that could give birth to a Dao lord¡­ was far more powerful than an organization that did the same. Lex noticed the changes in his audience''s expression, but he could only imagine what was going through their minds. "It has been a while since I had a chat like this with one of my guests," said the Innkeeper. "It is quite refreshing. But I cannot let pleasant conversation keep me from addressing your real concerns. Gentlemen, how can I help you?" Jotun''s pleasant expression dissolved and a somber look reced it. "I do not really require anything, Innkeeper, but I have been tasked by the Henali toe here. There were¡­ a few matters they were unable to converse with you over during the Henali assembly, and so they sent me." Lex did not change his expression, but he became a lot more serious instantly, and all thoughts of his family had been thrown out. The Henali assembly was the start of a lot of problems for him, so he did not take it lightly. Moreover, he did expect that his sudden disappearance might cause certain problems for him down the line. Now it was time to see exactly how much trouble he was in. Lex did not say anything and simply continued to look at Jotun, so the emperor kept on speaking. "The Henali have decided to overlook the matter of you unleashing your powers on the Origin realm, given that Ra attacked you first, but have requested that you refrain from using such abilities again. As you know, instability by energy bursts during the maturing period of a realm can cause it topletely destabilize." Lex did not speak, or nod even. He actually didn''t know that, or anything of such matters, so it was best not to say anything at all. "There are, however, a couple of matters that the Henali wished to address, both being equally serious. The first is that they have no record of you paying the toll to enter the Origin realm. This is a serious matter that cannot be overlooked, since all Dao lords who have entered the realm have paid the toll. There can be no preferential treatment on this." The emperor paused in case the Innkeeper wished to speak, or rify on the matter, but seeing that the Innkeeper did ont speak, he continued. "The second matter is also very serious. ording to thews set by the Henali, all nonnative entities that enter the Origin realm have to contribute in the fight against the Fuegan. This is also a matter on which there can be no preferential treatment. While you yourself would not be expected to make a move, considering the limitations of controlling your strength, the Inn must participate. "All matters other than these two are negotiable, and can be discussed at the convenience of both parties. But these two matters¡­ they absolutely have to beplied with." A million different thoughts ran through Lex''s mind as he tried to analyze the repercussions of what this meant, and his possible future actions. The one thing that was clear, though, was that Lex could not afford to offend the Henali, but at the same time, he could not appear to be weak. For once, Lex did not suppress his natural reaction, as the authenticity of it would benefit him as he had already decided his stance on the matter. A sigh escaped the Innkeepers lips as he shook his head gently, as if he had encountered a minor inconvenience. Chapter 498 Marketing "Is that all you''ve been asked to do? Deliver this message?" Lex asked, his voice as calm and unperturbed as ever. It seemed like this was a minor matter to him, and one which he did not pay too much attention to. Jotun shook his head and said, "I was also tasked with assessing the degree of aid the Midnight Inn could provide in military efforts against the Fuegan." "Oh? And what is your assessment?" Lex asked with genuine curiosity. "Excellent potential for aid, but at the moment, it is only potential. All the Inn members I''vee across are quite weak, and won''t have a sufficient impact on the war efforts. But within 50,000 years I believe it will have a strong presence." Lex chuckled and said, "The Midnight Inn is in the hospitality sector, not military. My workers are trained to serve food, not fight in wars. I just want to run a simple Inn, I wonder why people keep interfering in that." Jotun tensed up, though he did nothing else. If the Innkeeper became discontent, there would be nothing he could do to fight back, but nothing of the sort happened. "To be perfectly honest, I have not paid much attention to things besides my Inn. But if my actions have caused an oversight, I don''t mind remedying the situation. Since you have stated yourself that the Inn''s military power is not enough to contribute, but the Henali require a contribution nheless, why don''t we instead focus on how the Inn can contribute? "No doubt, you''ve already realized the massive benefits the Inn provides, even if with nothing else, with the ability to teleport here from any location. Moreover, the Inn also has a connection to the Henali portal. "The way I see it, this is the perfect ce to host a logistics andmand center for a campaign against the Fuegan. As a part of my contribution, I can even give a considerable discount on hosting themand center at the Inn. What do you think?" The brothers had imagined many ways that this meeting could go but¡­ they did not anticipate that it would turn into a marketing pitch for the Inn. To be fair, the idea was excellent. Even if nothing else, just using the Inn and the Guild room as a transport hub would save an immense amount of wealth and time,pletely revolutionizing the war industry. But at the same time, it would involve trusting the Innkeeper and the Inn with direct control and influence over their assets and personnel. It was an extremely risky move. "I will pass on your suggestion," said Jotun, not making any decision himself. To be honest, he was extremely loyal to the Henali, for they had yed a great role in his growth, but he was not blindly loyal. The way he saw it, if the Henali could be bothered to do any of this themselves, no extra effort would be required on anyone else''s part. Since they didn''t care enough to do anything personally, then he saw no reason why he should care too much about their campaigns, either. He had his own agendas to focus on, after all. "I hope you''re not in a rush to leave too quickly if your business is concluded," said Lex, noticing the brothers visibly rxing with how the conversation turned out. "There are more festivitiesing up that you can enjoy. Even if you''re not interested in that, there is a matter I will take the liberty to say on behalf of one of my guests. I believe Ragnar Asulf is a general in one of your armies. I will not intrude on the privacy of one of my guests, even if he is your subordinate, but I believe you and he, all, will benefit greatly from having a¡­ discreet meeting within the Inn." The Innkeeper''s statement both confused and rmed the group. They were confused because, while they knew of Ragnar, he should not have faced any situation prominent enough to attract their attention personally. The fact that the Innkeeper thought that it was otherwise meant that there was a very serious w in the flow of information within theirwork. This was a critical w that could threaten the very foundation of their empire. After all, controlling various gxies was most definitely not easy, and there were more than just a few factions that created problems for them. Still, with the help of the Henali, they had always been able to keep everything under control. But at the end of the day, the Henali would only help them, not rule the empire for them. If there was a w, it needed to be addressed immediately.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om The confusion was because they wondered why the Innkeeper would point this out to them. Though they had exchanged some banter, and the meeting had gone rtively well, they could still not be considered on friendly terms. The only logical conclusion they came to was that.. the Innkeeper had a good rtionship with Ragnar. They were not far from the truth. No matter what his motives had been, Lex did not forget the help Ragnar extended when he needed the Entis Core. Moreover, the general still had a room rented at the Inn, where he kept some items hidden in case of his untimely demise. He hadid out instructions of who were to take the items were that to happen. The mere fact that he had done such a thing meant that he was expecting some kind of trouble. And then there was the matter of the 1 trillion MP task. Everything pointed towards the man being in some kind of trouble. Even though he had not asked for it, Lex did not mind lending a hand to help him out, especially if it was as simple as speaking a few words. Perhaps it had been the same with the general and the Entis Core. "As it so happens, I might be his inw soon," said Jotun with a smile, "so I was nning on meeting him, anyway. And fret not, Innkeeper, there is no way I''m leaving the Inn before I get to reunite with my wife." Jotun was winking again, and his brothers were trying hard not to facepalm. Chapter 499 Figure Once the meeting had subsided and the brothers all returned to the Midnight Manor, they ordered some food and all retired to the same room. The rooms in the Manor were not as big as some of the others due to the fact that they were some of the earliest designed rooms, but the five of them were able to fit infortably, especially considering that they were all just sitting around. It seemed that the brothers were sitting and eating in silence, but that was only because their true conversation was taking ce via spirit sense. "What do you think, William?" asked Jotun, his voicecking all the joviality it contained during the meeting. "It is difficult to guess the intention of the Innkeeper, yet at the same time, the Innkeeper could not have made the truth more obvious." A shback of everything that happened appeared in everyone''s mind, yed scene by scene. The barely perceptible additional pause the Innkeeper took when looking at William was magnified immensely in the shback, making it obvious to the group what had happened. "From the first moment we entered, he already began giving us information through subtle hints. By looking at me longer than the rest, he singled me out, but then proceeded to not give me any extra attention. Instead, he initiated the conversation normally. But think, what was the first thing he began talking about?" The shback continued and just after Jotun introduced the group, the first thing the Innkeeper brought up was the star rank raising event a few days ago. "That is the second hint. We can extrapte what it means individually of the whole meeting, but I think all the pieces join together to form a puzzle, and no single thing is more important than any other. So now we have 2 hints. "Next, after our idiot brother was done being thirsty for his wife, he put a front of asking how we liked our stay, but before we could answer, diverted the topic to me and my¡­ history with the devil. So now, he has focused on me twice, as well as brought up the devils. The third hint. "Then, in a roundabout way, the topic goes to youth, the fourth hint. Finally, after that, it goes to the topic of family, the fifth hint. After that we find out that the Innkeeper has left his family behind because they never aided him when he was young, but now that he''s strong, they''re probablying back and trying to get on his good side." William took in a big breath, as he silently analyzed all the information. "In all of this, from me, to the star event, to the subus, to youth and family, there is only one thing the Innkeeper is trying to tell us. He''s telling us his background. And what do all of these things have inmon? Devils. "The Innkeeper is trying to tell us that¡­ he is a Devil, who has left the Devils behind. Now, they''re doing everything in their power to get him back." "It makes sense! Devils only care about profits, and the Innkeeper even turned him contributing to the war efforts into a marketing pitch for his Inn," said Batu. "Don''t forget who benefited most from the star rank event? The Devils," said Nisar. "There''s a rumor thatst year, the Inn had an event specifically targeting the Devils," said Henry. Since the brothers had already made a deduction, they continuously found more and more evidence to support it. So the question now was, should they report their spection, or keep it to themselves? ***** Lex spent a few good hours sitting in his office after the meeting concluded. He ran through everything that had happened in his mind again and again. It did not help that there were so many things to attract his attention. There was the matter of William looking like his twin. There was the matter of the Henali asking for some kind of toll. There was the matter of a potential war campaign being run from within the Inn in the future. It was a good thing that Lex had learnt to keep his emotions calm, or else he might have been overwhelmed. But though he was not overwhelmed, he did not have it easy either. For matters pertaining to his family at least, the clear answer that Lex kepting to was returning to earth and confronting them. But at the same time, he didn''t want to see his family either. It was an exhausting range of emotions.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om In the end, he decided to get some sleep, and then think more about the matter when he woke up. Besides, he had other things to do - he couldn''t spend all his time on this. He teleported to his apartment and then let out a deep, exhausted sigh. He closed his eyes and let himself feel the mental exhaustion for a moment, before he opened his eyes again and removed his shirt. A nice shower would make his sleep even better. But, as soon as he removed his shirt, and before he could do something else, the sound of fake coughing filled the room. Lex froze, his vignce rising to the maximum, and panic bells ringing in his head. He scanned the room with his spirit sense and checked with his intuition, but got no response. The sound of someone clearing their throat sounded from a corner in his room, this time much louder and clearer. Slowly, as if not to cause rm, Lex turned towards the corner from where the sound emerged. There, on an unfamiliar maroon leather sofa, a dark figure was sitting waiting for him. Though Lex was looking right at him, he could not detect any of his features, and could not feel his presence, despite the fact that he was looking right at him. Suddenly, with a thought, he equipped the Host Attire, but still he could not detect the figure in the corner of his room. "You''re a very interesting fellow, Lex Williams," the figure said, after clearing his throat once more. Chapter 500 Enigmatic Figure "You''re a very interesting fellow, Lex Williams," said the figure. Lex could not focus on the figure itself, so it was the maroon leather sofa upon which it sat that became Lex''s focus. After checking the sofa with every sense avable to him, and being unable to detect it, Lex''s mind started working in another direction. He had no reason to believe that he had been exposed, or that someone could magically ovee the system''s functions. As such, the most logical answer is that the figure does not exist, and that he is either hallucinating or dreaming. The most likely culprit is either the emperor or one of his siblings. The fact that they made a move against him is the worst-case scenario¡­ "No, no, no, no, no! Don''t go down that path, it''s a mental headache. I am not a hallucination, I assure you. I am very much real." Lex gulped as his nerves became even tighter. The fact that the hallucination can react to his thoughts¡­ The figure sighed and, while Lex could not be sure, he imagined that the figure facepalmed. "Let''s start from the beginning. Why don''t you take a seat first? Let''s have a discussion like civilized folk." Lex did not need to sit down. The moment the man spoke, Lex had automatically gone from standing in his room to sitting on a beige leather sofa, opposite to the mysterious figure. As much as he wanted to use the strange transition as more proof that he was hallucinating, he was suddenly filled with the belief that this was all very real. In fact, it was not belief, it was knowledge - for belief can be wrong but facts cannot. At some point, when Lex had not noticed, they had moved out of Lex''s room. Instead, it looked like Lex was sitting in a small wooden cabin, lit only by a single oilntern. "Have you calmed down?" the man asked. But the moment he finished the question, Lex''s emotions had already stabilized, as if his body itself did not dare to waste the figures'' time. Since he wished that Lex believe this was not a hallucination, it had be so. Since he wanted Lex to calm down before they began their discussion, Lex''s emotions were swept away. But that was a good thing for Lex, at least for now. With a calm mind, Lex could think a lot more clearly, and analyze the situation a lot better. He did not know who the man was, or what he wanted, but suffice to say, if he meant Lex any harm, then Lex would already be dead. The difference between them¡­ Lex could not even begin to understand it. "Yes, I''ve calmed down," Lex answered, using his Innkeeper demeanor. No matter what, he was still the Innkeeper and a man of dignity and pride, even if the charade he had put up hade to an end.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "Who are you? How did you get here?" Lex asked, wanting to know the basic information at least. He had a feeling that the man would answer his questions. "Me? I don''t feel like doing proper introductions at this point, so I''ll just introduce myself as the original owner of the Regal Embrace. As for how I got to you? The answer is, I really didn''t. I''m sitting in my lounge, and you''re in your room. But since I wanted to talk to you, I did a little trick." The owner of Regal Embrace? Lex did not feel any surprise, for his emotions werepletely stuck being absolutely calm. The information made sense. A being powerful enough to own the Regal Embrace would most definitely be strong enough to find him within the system, right? Lex wondered if he was above the Dao lord realm. Probably. "But the focus for today, Lex, is not me, no. It''s you. You really have managed to pull off something remarkable. Surpassing the Regal Embrace, I really didn''t think it could be done. And don''t try to be humble about it, there''s nothing more annoying than false modesty. You may have had a lot of help along the way, but trust me, yours is not nearly the strongest system in the universe." "Thank you," was all Lex said. There was no point in trying to probe or manipte the conversation with this figure. So instead, Lex decided to wait to hear what it is the figure wanted. "Oh don''t be like that. Oh wait, your emotions are stuck. Young man, return to your normal self. It''s not entertaining for me if I don''t get any reactions at all." Lex''s emotions, which had been held back as if by a dam, came rushing back. But now was not the time for that! With a single thought, Lex entered the Overdrive state and took hold of his thoughts. "How did you discover that I surpassed the Regal Embrace? Is there a spying system within the technique? Or can you spy on me through the system?" "Neither child, neither. It''s my eyes, you see. There are no secrets in front of them. Ah but I better get to the point quickly, you''re wasting your rewards without even knowing about it. As the original owner of the Regal Embrace, I had some karma with it, so when a change urred, I immediately felt it. I didn''t mind you using my technique, but when you surpassed it, I was genuinely surprised, so I decided to give you a prize. "You''re lost and alone, trying to figure out everything on your own, so I decided to answer some of your questions. The number of questions depends on the value of your achievement as I feel like it, so if you keep asking mundane questions, you''ll be wasting your reward. Feel free to ask any questions, boy. You won''t have a better time than now to learn the answers." In his overdrive state, with his emotions suppressed, Lex was able to focus on what mattered at the moment instead of trying to process the information. He asked the first question that came to his mind, a question he had been wondering for a long time. "What is the true purpose of my system?" Chapter 501 Better Question Lex could not tell what the figure was thinking, or what it felt about his question. The only thing he had to go determine anything about the figure was its voice. Compared to everything else about the figure, which was quite enigmatic, the figure''s voice itself was a very standard masculine voice. The fact that the figure didn''t immediately answer, however, was unusual and created the first real pause in the conversation. Lex didn''t think the answer was beyond the figure, since he did not hesitate to talk about systems with Lex. Moreover, he did not really seem all that impressed by the systems either. He so easily talked about the Midnight Inn not being the strongest system, as if even the strongest system was beneath him. Or, maybe, he himself had the strongest system. Eventually, the silence ended, but instead of providing an answer, the figure sighed. "Wrong question, boy. But, considering how abruptly all this is happening, I''ll do you one more favor and answer a better question. I think the more pertinent question would have been ''what kind of questions should I ask you''. While I can answer whatever questions you have, such as the purpose of the systems, knowing the answer will not in any way improve your situation whatsoever. Instead, you should focus on questions the answer to which will immediately benefit you, either by guiding your actions or saving you from some hazard. Of course, if you still wish to know about the system, ask again. I''ll answer this time." Lex paused for a moment, and thought of all the problems currently guing him. There was the quest of discovering the issue with the Crystal realm, the Henali asking for toll payment, his family, information about improving his own system, the Regal Embrace, the¡­ Lex''s eyes widened as he rearranged his priorities very quickly. He could use the figure to help him resolve a lot of problems, sure, but there were many problems he could resolve himself if he were stronger. So, he would receive a greater benefit from increasing his strength!n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "How can I ovee the issue with the Regal Embrace?" Lex asked, this time more confident about his question. This was probably the most important issue guing him. He could try to resolve it on his own, but hisck of knowledge would be a huge issue. "Good question! The answer is twofold. The simple answer is, you can resolve the issue using your system. More specifically, the system can give you a reward that will resolve your problem. But just knowing that will not resolve your problem, so let me borate. "I believe currently, the prompt you have been given is that the Regal Embrace has no way of progressing forward, as you have deviated from the path it had developed. That is actually incorrect. A more specific prompt would be that there is a path forward, but based on your current cultivation, you likely have no way of essing the resources that will be required to pave the way forward. But the Regal Embrace is a self-contained entity, and it has no way of knowing that you can use the system to get resources. "So now that you know that there indeed is a path forward, the question is, what are the resources you need and how can you get the system to give them to you? It''s very simple really, you need to get a minimum of a SSS rank reward for a quest. Trust me, any reward you get from the system of that rank and higher will be exactly what you need to fix the Regal Embrace. "But, and now this is important, whatever reward you get will evolve the Regal Embrace based on the reward as well as your new current affinity. So, the higher your reward, the better the result will be, so I suggest you put your full effort into this matter." Lex immediately had a few other questions to follow up, such as what did he mean by the Regal Embrace was a self-contained entity? But he did not ask them. Since his questions were limited, he would not make such an obvious mistake. He had another question, but he wasn''t sure if asking that question would be a waste. He hesitated for a few moments while he debated with himself, but decided to ask anyway. "What can my Soul sense do? I don''t understand itpletely." Although he still could not see the figures true appearance, Lex got the feeling that he smiled. "Not a bad question. The gist of it is that it can allow you to detect, interact with and influence any soul or soul rted item. Heh, once you be adept at it, it won''t be an exaggeration to say you can literally rip the soul out of someone''s body! You can also change the nature of a soul. Sometimes, souls have inherent natures and sometimes they are developed, but whatever the case, you can interact with them. Heh, if you had a more¡­ evil inclination, it would be within your capacity to manipte someone''s soul to turn them into your ve forever. Of course, there are other minor things such as detecting the presence of life, being able to detect lies through fluctuations in souls, andmunicating directly through souls simr to how spirit sense is used. The difference is, Soul sense is a lot harder to detect as very few races inherently develop it. "The most relevant thing to you, however, is that if you meet someone with a system, you can remove the system from their souls without harming them! Even if the system merged with their souls, all it would take is a little bit of skill and practice, and you can pull that bad boy right out!" At this point, the figure started to chuckle. "Not right now, but once you grow a bit, you can even be a phenomenal doctor, able to dismiss even death. All you''d have to do is move a soul from a dying body to an empty one capable of supporting life. Of course, that''s only if the cause of death is physical, and not directly rted to the soul. Oh, did I mention you can directly assault souls? Yes, there''s that too." Chapter 502 Some Answers The figure spent quite a long while detailing exactly how Lex could use the soul sense, and the list was honestly longer than Lex expected. He never really thought about it, but suddenly it made sense that cultivators had such long life spans, because he could not even estimate the number of years it would take him to learn how to fully utilize his soul sense. In fact, a part of him was fairly certain that even the spirit sense was severely underutilized, but at least with that, information wasmon enough where Lex could investigate on his own. But based on the fact that the figure had not vanished after answering the question meant that he could still ask more questions. A part of him was really tempted to just ask him the cause of the anomaly in the Crystal realm. Since he was supposed to ask questions that would give him immediate benefits, that was one of the big ones. That was what the logical part of his brain told him. But whether it was unfortunate or not, there was another voice in his head that stopped him from asking such a question. It was the voice of Lex''s pride that he had umted so far. It was the voice that said he did not need handouts and easy solutions. Instead, he should look for the tools he needed to improve himself even further. But he had already asked 2 questions rted to his cultivation. What else could he ask? Should he ask what his affinity did? Or maybe a way to improve on arrays? Should he ask about his left eye? Should he¡­ This was not a time sensitive issue, since the figure did not tell Lex he had to hurry, but he did not think it was wise to waste too much time, nheless. Unable to decide what exactly to prioritize, Lex decided to change his approach. "What are some things you think I need to know?" he asked, hoping this question wouldn''t be a waste. "Heh, see, you''re getting better already. That''s why I like you. You started off not so bright, let me tell you, but you''ve been improving nonstop. Now let''s see. What are things you need to know? Let''s start with the fact that time travel ispletely possible. You can travel from the present to the future. But travel in any other direction is impossible. Don''t even think about it. There is no level of power you can reach where such a thing is possible. You don''t even want to know the kind of punishment those who try end up suffering. "I''m telling you this not because I think you''ll want to time travel. I''m telling you this because, statistically speaking, you''lle across a situation where you''ll need to make a decision. One will be a smart decision, and the other will be a decision you will regret not making forever. When that timees, child, just keep this in mind. There is no remedy for regret. "Next, there''s a chatroom for system users, created by someone who has a system for chat rooms. Sooner orter you''ll receive an invite. You''ll be tempted to join it. It''spletely safe, and no one can track you just because you use it, not even the original system wielder. Don''t join it. "Since we''re on the topic of systems, all systems operate under a certain number of rules. Some of them aremon, some of them are different, but regardless, try to understand the rules of your own system. Nothing is as random or meaningless as it may seem. "Another thing, once you''re confident enough, travel to as many realms as possible, trust me. The younger the realm, the better. You''ll find unexpected surprises waiting for you. "But you know, all of these things are very generic and boring pieces of advice. What''s something interesting?" The figure moved about, as if it was looking left and right, searching for something.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Ah yes, here we go! Alright, remember this. In the Origin realm, there is a gxy called Suera. In that gxy there is a belt of rogues just traveling through space, no star to center them or guide their motion. Within that belt lies an extremely valuable item that will be greatly beneficial to you. But you have approximately 6 months before someone else finds it. It could be sooner orter, but not by much." The figure paused, as if to think for a moment, and then said, "Yeah, that should about cover it. Think of this as a bonus reward for entertaining me a bit. If you''re ever able to do something on the same level as surpass the Regal Embrace and attract my attention again, I might visit you another time. But, frankly speaking, it''s unlikely, so there''s a good chance this is thest time we meet. Also, don''t suddenly be scared that anyone can intrude in your Inn the way I did. There''s not a lot of beings in the universe at my level, if any¡­" Before the figure''s voice disappeared, Lex jerked awake, and found himself lying in his bed shirtless. He looked around left and right, but found everything was perfectly normal in his apartment. Was it just a dream? Lex snorted at the idea and jumped out of bed. He was perfectly capable of differentiating reality from a dream, so he knew full well that everything he had experienced was not a creation of his subconscious brain. He entered the meditation room and sat down in a meditation pose, calming his mind. When he was ready, he manipted his soul sense - something that had be much easier since he learnt to control his spirit sense since the premise was the same. He wrapped his body in his soul sense, and delved within till he saw the familiar golden shine of the system hidden within himself. Then, using his soul sense, he touched it, and pulled it out of his body and into his hand. For the first time, Lexid eyes on the thing that had given him so much. At the same time, he had confirmed at least some of what the figure had told him. Chapter 503 Doppelganger Lex looked at the treasure responsible for giving him the system. Although he had many suspicions about what its purpose was, he had no real negative feelings for it. After all, Lex''s current life was brought around by the system, and it had been responsible for so many amazing things happening to him. He just wished he could trust it. Lex let go of his soul sense and allowed the treasure to return inside his body. Lex no longer felt like sleeping so, after scanning the Inn once to ensure there were no problems, he spent some time cultivating. He expected that he would make little to no progress in his cultivation, due to the fact that he had entered a new, higher realm and that should have made it harder. But cultivating in a 2.5 star rank environment was really too much of a cheat. He literally felt the energy itself was eager to increase his cultivation. Once he was done with that, he retreated to his office to mull over everything the figure had told him. One of the most interesting things he told him was about the chatroom for system wielders. It was something¡­ he honestly never even imagined. Time travel¡­ he honestly never even considered it. The whole hassle with changing timelines was too confusing. He also had no interest in traveling to other realms at the moment. So the only two things left to do were to study the patterns and rules of the system, and get that treasure. That would be an issue on its own. How was he supposed to get to a specific gxy, and to a specific ce in that gxy? Even if he used tickets, the options he would get from them were random. This would take some nning. Moreover, he could see through scans that many people were close to discovering some of the entrances to the Minor realms. That would also require a lot of his attention, for he really didn''t know where those Minor realms led to. ***** Larry Dershaw was in a great mood, or as good as he could be. Although he had gotten a hint about who was hunting him, he thought it would take a long time to actually track them down. But just a short while ago, Rafael had reached out to him to let him know that his father was sick of waiting, and was nning on taking matters into his own hands. No matter how things were resolved, one thing was certain: someone was about to get hurt. Other than that, his girlfriend, Irene, was having a few problems of her own as well, back on X-142. But, for reasons no one knew, the family that controlled the had suddenly started recruiting cultivators from civilians. She had been selected as well, not for military purposes but for her expertise in the pharmaceutical industry. Suffice to say, she had started earning really welltely, which had resolved a lot of problems for her. So, with things going well in his own life, as well as his girlfriend''s, Larry had every reason to be happy. The sun was shining, the wind was blowing, the rare metal ores were flowing in and¡­ From the corner of his eye, Larry saw his good friend, Lex, sitting in the Midnight manor with a group of strangers. "Hey Lex, guess what?" Larry said as he walked up to the group, but the look he got back from Lex was an unusual one. He couldn''t decipher what that look was supposed to mean. "It''s a good thing I found you, I was just about to message you anyway. Do you think we could talk for a moment?" ''Lex'' looked at Larry for a moment, before looking at the group of guys around him. "Excuse me," he said to his group after a moment and stood up, following Larry to the side. "What''s with your ent?" Larry asked, confused for a moment. But he didn''t wait long enough to get a reply. "Well, it doesn''t matter. You should prepare yourself, even though we had a n, what we didn''t ount for was Marlo. Although you might have talked to him before, he doesn''t want to wait any longer. I''ll be joining him when he makes his move, and so will many of the others. I wanted to let you know in case you wanted toe as well, since you''re the one who provided the lead."N?v(el)B\\jnn ''Lex'' did not respond for a moment, and just continued to observe Larry. Just as Larry was beginning to suspect that there might be some issue, ''Lex'' spoke. "I think there has been some kind of misunderstanding, my name is William, not Lex. I didn''t mean to listen in on your conversation though, you just didn''t give me a chance to exin." Larry was startled, and looked again, but the man standing in front of him waspletely identical to Lex in every way. The only difference was the ent, which Larry suddenly realized was a result of the Inns universal trantor converting some foreignnguage to english. "I am very curious about this Lex you''re talking about. If you mistook me for him, I''m assuming we share some resemnce. If possible, do you think you could introduce me? I think it would be quite interesting to meet a doppelganger." Larry, despite himself, took a step back and looked at William up and down. What the hell just happened? "I can understand why you''d be defensive, you think I cheated you," said William casually. "Why don''t you join me for a bit, I was sitting with my brothers. You can see for yourself if you think I''m trustworthy. Besides, we''re at the Inn. There couldn''t be a safer ce." Larry turned to look at the group of guys William had been sitting with before, and they waved at him. They all looked young, maybe a couple years older than him at most. With his own increased strength as ofte, he doubted they''d be a match for him. That thought allowed him to rx considerably, and he decided to join him. Besides, he was also curious about why this guy looked exactly like Lex. Chapter 504 Brothers "Sure, I have some free time, though I''ll be meeting my girlfriend here soon," said Larry, as he decided to apany William. Although he had put on his familiar grin and seemed like a carefree guy, he was cognizant of the fact that he had just revealed some sensitive information to William. Most likely, that information wouldn''t mean anything to them, especially if they weren''t from earth, but it was a variable nheless. "I didn''t catch your name," said William as they walked back. "Larry." "Well Larry, there are my brothers, Jotun, Nisar, Batu and Henry." The group all waved to Larry from their seats, not bothering to get up. Their casual attire and the various interesting drinks around them really made them seem like a group of guys simply hanging out. "Guys, this is Larry. Apparently, his friend looks a lot like me. I''ve never met a doppelg?nger before, so I invited him over. It''ll be quite exciting." "Is your friends'' name Lex?" Henry asked, looking slightly curious. "Have you seen the Guest Registry? The top name in that is also Lex." "Oh yeah, I''ve seen that. I was really surprised since they have the same name, but it''s impossible to be my friend. After all, he''s even weaker than me." Larry spoke with full confidence, havingpletely forgotten Lex was Leo due to the Chamber of Secrets. Henry just shrugged, as if it was expected. "What about that Marlo guy you mentioned?" William asked. "Any chance he might be the one from the registry? That guy is in the top 100." This time¡­ Larry hesitated. "He¡­ might be, honestly, but I still have my doubts. After all, we''re from the same. Although he''s very powerful on our, he only recently reached the Nascent realm. I don''t see how he could reach the top 100 on that list. I mean, I myself am not even in the top 20,000 but I''m just one cultivation realm below him. How big could the gap be?" "It''s an achievement list, not a strength list. Anything could happen. Hey, you want a drink?" asked Batu, who himself was sipping what looked like some kind of fruit juice. "Guys, Larry has to meet his girlfriend soon, so don''t fill him up with drinks! We don''t want to make a bad impression," said William. Turning to Larry, William said, "If these guys try to goad you, ignore them. Other than Jotun, everyone here is a bachelor, so they get jealous." "Named after such a prosperous empire, it''s no wonder you were able to get a girlfriend so easily," said Larry,pletely unaware that it was actually the opposite of what he said. The empire had been named after him, not the other way around. "Not a girlfriend, a wife," Jotun rified with a stern face. "Never let her hear you say that, or we''re all dead." "Never let me hear what?" asked a woman loudly who suddenly appeared behind Jotun. Larry''s eyes constricted a little when he looked at the woman. It was not her astounding beauty that actually got to Larry, but her mature looks. Jotun had actually managed to marry an older woman. Secretly, he gave Jotun a thumbs up. How was he supposed to know the woman was actually several hundred thousand years younger than Jotun? ***** While Larry sat amongst a group of truly ancient humans, another ancient being who was formerly human looked at her baby with an endearing look. They were in the make-shift prison beside the greenhouse where the prisoners who once attacked the Inn long ago were being kept captive. Many of the pigers who apanied them had already be fertilizer, but Lex couldn''t bring it to himself to kill prisoners, so he just left them here. It wasn''t as if he forgot about them, but since he couldn''t think of another solution, he just left them here for the time being. These pigers were truly the scum of the universe, who took pleasure in looting and killing, and killed more for fun than to steal treasures or wealth. They had only been locked up, and not tortured, but even such a thing had managed to create some level of despair amongst them. It was exactly that despair that was being fed to the Cthulhu baby right now. But while it was barely enough to feed the child, it would not do long term. "You''ll have to take it out of the Inn from time to time. This ce is not conducive to the baby''s growth. You don''t even need to go to any war zones for now, just taking it to any random slum used by any race should be more than enough to feed it during its early days." said Abroar, the spirit.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Why should I take it to a slum?" Anita asked, her beauty lookingpletely out of ce in the dungeon. "Before I got pregnant with my own children, I had plenty of dungeons back home. Qawain will take him there and feed him properly. I have to serve only the best to my child." None of the prisoners were actually harmed in the feeding process, but the sight of the baby monster had left them scared out of their wits. Once the baby had been fed, Anita had her undead carry it back into its massive stroller, and took it out of the prison. Little Blue had been waiting outside, alongside Fenrir, Young McDonald and Zen. By hierarchy of the Inn, the baby was the junior most member of their group, with Little Blue the senior most. Sensing their familiar yet annoying presence, the baby opened its eyes and tried to use its powers on them to scare them away. But its attempts failed miserably. As the youngest brother of the group, the horrid nightmare from the depths of the universe was destined to be the cutest. After all, when Z had been reading a light novel to them all earlier, he clearly told them that when brothers got together, they each had a role based on their seniority. ***** Lex was in his study when Mary appeared suddenly and said, "a guest wants to see you. It''s one of the guests you told me to keep an eye on." Chapter 505 Social Anxiety "Who is it?" Lex asked as he got up and rubbed his eyes. He had been writing down every major interaction he had with the system as best as he could recall to try and understand what its rules were. There were many things he could exin, but the insistent death threats by the system in his early days and their sudden disappearance was one of the biggest changes he couldn''t properly exin. He had a few theories, of course, such as reinforcing the behavior of doing quests. Or perhaps it was just the standard operating procedure for systems. After all, Lex''s quests had to do with the Inn, but what if he had the Murder system? There is no way Lex would have randomly done a quest that involved murder - not unless his own life was on the line. But regardless of what it was or why it stopped, it was certain that giving such quests were the exact reason Lex had such distrust of systems. "It is the guest named Alysha, the one who spends all her time with the Krab-man, John." "Oh?" Lex was genuinely surprised. He had been thinking of a good way of approaching her, but who knew she would reach out to him first. It was a good thing Lex told Mary to keep an eye on her, or else he would have never even known that she was trying to reach out to him. That was because there were countless guests who would try to meet the Innkeeper. asionally Lex would take some time and meet some of the guests randomly, but with millions of guests at the Inn, it really wasn''t feasible to meet everyone. Mary would only ever let Lex know about guests requesting meetings if either Lex had been paying special attention to them, they had genuine concerns that only Lex could resolve or their identity was special. Of course, Mary had no way of guessing someone''s identity just like that, but usually it was easy to find out. "Send her to my office," Lex said as he teleported there. "She''s already outside." Once again Lex was taken aback. It seemed the matter was quite serious. But while Alysha was outside Lex''s office, it was actually quite difficult for her to make it to Lex. This was because the pressure radiated by the reception hall made it very difficult for her to cross. It was only her sheer desperation that allowed her to cross the room. Lex himself felt quite bad about forcing her through such a situation, especially since he himself wanted to meet her, but the specific functions of buildings given by the system were things he had no control over. He made a mental note not to meet certain guests at the office. Right outside Lex''s office, Alysha took a moment to fix her ragged appearance, as best as she could under the circumstances, and then entered the room. "Wee guest," he said, wearing a gentle, warm smile. "I hope I did not keep you waiting for too long." "No¡­ not at all!" she said, her voice barely audible. It was not that she was shy - which she was - but that she had spent so much time alone, she had be unused to speaking, and so had be very soft spoken. "Excellent. Please, have a seat." Alysha only barely nodded before she scurried to sit in front of the Innkeeper, her eyes looking down at her feet. Once upon a time, she wasn''t so socially awkward, but now she had be like this. Upon seeing that Alysha herself wasn''t about to start the conversation, Lex didn''t wait for an awkward silence to fall, and asked, "How can I help you today? Is there something you need?" At the same time, he chastised himself a bit. With Alysha he had gotten straight to the heart of the topic, while with the emperor he had so much small talk because he wanted to get more information on William. "I uh¡­ no I mean¡­ yes, actually¡­" Alysha tried to find the words, but the more she messed up, the more she got confused about what to say. From the corner of her eye she peeked at the Innkeeper, but found him attentively listening to her ramblings, a warm smile still on his face. He did not seem impatient at all, and was content to let her finish in her own time. A strand of confidence filled her as she paused talking, nned out her sentence in her head, and then said it out loud. "The Inn has been gate¡­ No, I mean great! The Inn has been great. But I thought¡­ I wondered¡­ I mean, there''s another problem that I had, and I wondered if you might be able to help me, actually. Since, you know, the Inn, and it''s so big, and cool, and powerful. I mean, you''re powerful, not the Inn!" Lex let out a soft chuckle, and spoke slowly, so as to not rm her. "It is no trouble at all, though I do not know if I can help you yet. Why don''t you tell me what you need, and I''ll see if I can find a way to help you out." "I uhh¡­ you see, I have this thing in my head. No wait, not in my head, like it''s not my imagination, it''s real, but I can see it in my head. I mean, I can''t see inside my head, but I can control it with my thoughts, but it''s very real. And it''s given me a deadline, and I was able to meet the deadline due to the Guild room, but now it''s giving me more quests and¡­ I promise you, this is all real. It''s not my imagination. It''s¡­"N?v(el)B\\jnn "Please, guest, calm down," said Lex when he noticed Alysha bing frantic. His smile was just a little bitrger, but he couldn''t help it. He had been looking for ways to broach this topic, but Alysha had done it on her own. "You''re talking about your system, right? I believe you. Calm down and tell me everything from the beginning." Chapter 506 Deal Alysha was startled to hear the Innkeeper directly mention her system, but then she looked at him with wonder and praise in her eyes. As expected from someone who could run the Midnight Inn. Even though she never mentioned her secret, he already knew. "From¡­ from the beginning, yes. I used to live with my older sister, Sebiline, on a called X-144. She used to work as a seamstress and I used to go to school and help her out in my free time. But, one day, everything changed. I was in a flea market, and an old man was selling an old ne. It wasn''t that pretty, but I thought it would look nice if I polished it, so I ended up buying it with the money I had saved up. "When I went home and tried to polish it, the ne identally broke. That''s when the system first appeared. It called itself the Desert Farming system, and concluded that I wasn''t in a desert, and so it teleported me to one. I¡­ I was trapped¡­" Alysha suddenly found it hard to speak as she recalled that time, tears welling up in her eyes. Feeling awkward, Lex offered her a handkerchief, though he did not interrupt her. She dly took it and, after wiping her eyes, managed to continue the story.. "I was trapped in the desert with no way back. I had no food, no water, no shelter. I thought I was going to die. But fortunately, the system provided me with some water, and seeds that could germinate in the desert, and gave me a quest to grow them. Every day, it only gave me a limited amount of water, some seeds, and instructions on how to grow them. "I¡­ I didn''t know what else to do, so I used to eat some of the seeds and nt the rest. I don''t know how long it took, days, weeks, maybe years, who knows, but I was able to grow my first nt. Then I got more and more quests. With no way out and nothing else to do, I continued to nt and grow things in the desert - at least that way I had some food to eat rather than seeds. That is until¡­ I got the quest to sell the grown vegetables. I failed that quest, because I had no one to sell it to. Then I failed the next one. Then the next one. Then¡­ then the system said I have to sell the vegetables, and the quest failure would lead to death." Alysha trembled as she recalled the moment when she read that quest for the first time. It was¡­ a very difficult day. "It was by luck that I ran into John, who gave me a key and brought me to the Inn! Here, I was able to sell the vegetables in the Guild room and finally fulfilled the quest. But now, I have another quest, and the punishment for failure is death again." Alysha looked at the Innkeeper, tears once again swelling in her eyes. "I¡­ I don''t want to die. I just want to go back to my sister¡­ I just¡­" Alysha wasn''t able to continue speaking as she broke down sobbing. Lex didn''t move to stop her, and allowed her to vent her feelings as multiple thoughts ran through his mind. First of all, the way in which she got her system was far too different from Lex. Lex was literally attacked by a shooting star while she got it out of an old ne. Another difference was that her first few quests didn''t threaten death, and only when she repeatedly failed quests did the death threats begin. He also thought about her. X-144 wasn''t a he had ever been to, but he knew about it. It was in the same star system as X-142. When he linked X-142 to the Inn, he received an option to link all thes in the star system with the Inn, so long as he paid with MP. He had this option for his others as well. He recalled back when he had only a couples linked, he thought about purchasing a link to the earth''s moon, which would have cost him around 10,000 MP. Back then, that was an astronomical amount that he could not afford. The issue now, though, wasn''t with the X-144, but rather¡­N?v(el)B\\jnn "This is indeed a matter I can help you with, but there are a couple of issues we need to address first." The girl looked up at the Innkeeper with expectant eyes. "The first thing we need to know is¡­ was the desert you were teleported to on the same that you were on, or another entirely? Because even if I remove the system, and give you a way to leave the desert, if you''re on some unknown, hostile, it could cause problems." "I¡­ I¡­ I don''t know. I''d never even left my town before." Lex paused for a minute as he genuinely thought of a solution, as he didn''t want to just leave her hanging. Fortunately,pared to all the problems he had been facingtely, this was an extremely easy one to resolve. "Alright, I''ve thought of a solution. I can assign a mission in the Guild room for someone to find your sister and bring her to the Inn. That way, at least for the moment, you two will be reunited. As for your location, we can slowly work on resolving that as well. But first, I have a question for you. Regardless of whatever method we use, you will have to spend some time at the Inn. I can sponsor your time here, but I can also offer you a job, and allow you to be a worker at the Inn. What do you think? "Before you answer, though, there is something you need to know. I am not doing all of this out of charity. I can safely remove your system, but in exchange, I will keep the system, and you will have to follow me to the Chamber of Secrets to remove all memory of the system. Is that eptable to you?" For once, tears of happiness filled Alysha''s eyes and she was unable to stop herself from hugging the Innkeeper! Of course, considering that she had climbed over his table to do so, it left Lex standing quite awkwardly, but she didn''t think about that at the moment. In her mind, the only thing she could think of was that she was finally about to be free from that ursed system! Chapter 507 The Test Alysha trembled a little when the Innkeeper held her hand, but she quickly steeled herself. Back at his office, after she had recovered, they had hashed out the details of what to do. Alysha would first try to be an employee of the Inn, for she felt this ce was much safer, as well as more interesting than her town back home. If she became an employee, her sister could live with her as well. The two of them would live happily ever after here.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om If she couldn''t be an employee of the Inn, the Innkeeper would sponsor her stay long enough for her to raise her cultivation, so that when she returned to the desert, she could easily escape on her own. Moreover, the Innkeeper informed her that he had already ced a request for someone to find ''Sebiline'' based on her information about her and town. Regardless of what happened with her job, she would soon be reunited with her sister. So that only left the matter of removing the system from her. To be honest, now that she was about to lose the system, she was able to admit that there were parts of it she would have missed - if she kept her memories. If things had been even slightly different, such as if the system allowed her to teleport to the desert and then back home, she might have actually relished it. But there was no might when it came to these things. Despite the delicious food it gave her, and the water which, to be honest, was also quite delicious, it was not worth everything it took from her. It had barely been a minute since the Innkeeper took her hand, and Alysha hadn''t even had time toplete her musings, when he took his hand back. A small, shining speck appeared on the tip of his finger, barelyrger than a grain of sand. "Is¡­ is that it?" she asked, mesmerized by the sight. How could something so small have caused her so many problems? "Indeed, it is," said the Innkeeper, his eyes fixed not at the spec, but at something in the distance. How was Alysha supposed to know that he was reading a system notification of his own? But the next moment, the speck disappeared from his hand and the Innkeeper looked back at her. "When you leave this ce, you will lose all memory of the system. You will remember your time spent in the desert, and everything else you did there, but the system''s involvement will all be erased from your mind. This is for your own protection." "I¡­ I think it''s better like this anyway," she said, looking down at her feet. "Good luck on your test. You may find me again if you need anything else." The Innkeeper disappeared, leaving a tinum key in Alysha''s hand. For a moment, she found it hard to believe she was free of the system and its endless quests. She tried to pull up its panel, but nothing appeared. She tried again, and only when she was certain it was gone, a smile grew on her face. She crushed the key and disappeared. When she appeared again, she was standing in what looked like a small guest room. For some reason, she had forgotten everything about her previous life. She forgot her system, the Inn, the Innkeeper, John, her sister, and everything else. But she also did not notice that she had lost her memories. The next moment, a man stumbled into the room, bloody and injured. Whether it was by design or luck, the man fell right into a nearby chair. "Guest, you''re hurt," she said, rmed, and quickly walked up to him to inspect his injuries. As if by magic, a towel, a bottle of water, a sewing needle, and some thread appeared beside her right hand. By her left hand appeared a bell, which she could ring to call her. Behind her appeared a door - a bloody man walking into a room could be scary, and prompt some to escape based on fear of any danger they might bring. Right above her head appeared an ax, poised and ready to chop the man''s head off - even in his present condition, Alysha could see some of the jewelry he was wearing. It was worth more money than she''d had her entire life. e¦Áglesn?¦Íel Though she did not look around, she instinctively knew all the items that surrounded her and their purposes. Yet she did not hesitate to grab the towel and pressed it against the man''s bleeding wound. She took the bottle of water and used it to wash off the other bits of his body covered in blood so she could get a better look to see if there were any more injuries. She was so upied, she didn''t notice that the rest of the items in the room disappeared, besides the sewing needle. She had, miraculously, also forgotten that she was originally very shy and timid. "Let me be, woman," the man said gruffly. "I''ll be fine." "You''re injured and bleeding, with possible concussions. So hold still and do what I say. Keep talking, tell me your name. How did you end up like this?" The man struggled to get out of her grip, but despite his inhumane strength, for some reason, he was unable to escape her hold. Eventually he gave up, and listened to her. "My name is Zagan. Some people came into my house and showed a severeck of decorum. A fight broke out, one thing led to another, and now I''m on a quest for some magic beans that''ll lead me to a realm of wonder." "Your arm is dislocated," interrupted Alysha. "I''ll have to pop it back. Here, bite this." She bunched up the towel where it was clean and shoved it into the man''s mouth. Before he had an opportunity to protest, she had already popped his joint back in its ce. The man did not release the scream, or even the groan she expected. Instead, he was looking at her with an irritated look. She shrugged and grabbed the needle and put the thread through it. A strong tolerance meant he wouldn''t squirm when she stitched him up. Chapter 508 Seesaw Lex teleported back to his office filled with impatience! He''d gotten his hands on a system much quicker than he expected, but then he was suddenly hit with a reminder. While his system upgrades, it would be unavable to him! That¡­ that could be problematic. Should he dy the upgrade? No, there would never be a good time for that. He just had to start the upgrade and deal with the situation as best he could. For that, it was best he then go somewhere he did not need to teleport out of. He also took off his host attire and didn''t even bother with putting his rk Kent sses on. It''d be okay if he spent some time as himself, right? He scanned the Inn and discovered that William and his group were still at the Midnight manor. For whatever reason, they had not left the manor since they had arrived at the Inn, so all he would have to do was avoid them. But, even if he didn''t, what did it matter? Chances were, William would be just as surprised to see him as he had been. Pushing aside unnecessary thoughts, Lex once again looked towards the system notification he had been reading earlier. System notification: New system detected! Analyzing the secondary system. Desert Farming system grade G- detected. Begin assimtion? Y/N. System notification: Desert Farming system detected. The ignorant assume that a desert is not suitable for farming, but they simplyck the skills. Only the toughest and most valuable nts can grow in the harshest of environments. Whether it is the ring heat, harsh sunlight, tough soil or loose sand, scarce spirit energy, and severeck of water, they all allow only the most versatile vegetation to grow, and such vegetation yields the greatest benefits! Shake the cultivation world, and nt cacti that can rece spirit stones, dates that can revive the mortally wounded and shrubs with more energy than a star! The grade was a lot lower than the previous system Lex had encountered, so hopefully the assimtion would be a lot quicker as well. As for the description¡­ Lex began to suspect that systems also had personalities of their own, and the description came from the systems personality. "Hey Mary, I''m about to upgrade the system so I''m going to lose connection with it. Will everything at the Inn be alright?" "Yes, don''t worry. Everything existing will continue to operate as usual. If it''s anything likest time, the only thing that will be affected is your ability to give new orders, temporarily."N?v(el)B\\jnn "And I can''t teleport to others during this time either, right?" "No, unfortunately not." "Hmm, in that case, you know what to do. There shouldn''t be any problems, considering all our preparations. If anyone wants to meet me, just tell them I''m away. Everything else should continue as normal." "Understood." Lex tried to tune into his intuition, to determine if it could give him any warnings about whether he should wait. But it was not responding, which either meant everything was okay, or that in matters rted to systems, it didn''t work so well. Not one to keep things waiting, Lex chose to begin the assimtion. His system interface disappeared, and instead was reced by a single word: updating. Lex felt a sense of satisfaction, knowing that his system was about to be upgraded. He wondered what new functions it would get. Considering the low grade of the absorbed system, he might not get so many. Whatever it was, he hoped it would be suitable for an Inn. But, with his system interface gone, Lex was suddenly out of things to do. Well, notpletely. There was one more thing he had been thinking about doing for a long time, one which did not require his identity as the Innkeeper or the functionality of the system. Cracking his knuckles, Lex began to walk in a certain direction. He calcted how much free time he had. The Grand Prix would be held in two more days, and though he did not expect the system toe back online by then, he should at least be done with his current task. After all, how long would it take? Instead of taking a golf cart, Lex took his time and casually strolled through the Inn, taking in all the sights. But it did not take long for his stroll to end, for he reached his destination: the Mystery trial. Since Lex had gotten this unique reward from the system, he had been thinking about trying it out, yet he was always too preupied to try. Now was the perfect time. From what he recalled, the Mystery trial would give each person who entered a different trial based on their skills. The main purpose of the trial was to improve their skills, though when someonepleted the trial, they would also get a small reward. The first entry was free for everyone, and every subsequent entry would cost 500 MP. Lex was slightly curious what his trial would be, but there was no point in wondering. It was much easier to just enter and find out. Lex walked into the trial and was enveloped in darkness. It seemed like only a moment, but when the darkness retreated, he found himself in one of 7 seats around a rectangr table. Five other people sat around him, and a man in a very iconic mask was sitting at the head of the table, a revolver ced right in front of him. Lex immediately tried to get up, considering the fact that he had a strong feeling towards where this was heading, yet he could not move. He looked down and saw that his legs were chained to the chair, which had been bolted to the ground. e¦Áglesn?¦Íel He looked up once again at the man with the white mask. Fake hair came out from beside the mask, and red circles were drawn on each cheek. Though the red painted lips of the mask did not move, a sound came from behind it. "Would you like to y a game?" the man asked, his creepy voice giving each person on the table chills. The mask was from the famous horror movie SeeSaw! Chapter 509 Purpose Lex looked at the five others who were chained to their chairs as well, but did not recognize any of them. He tried to use his spirit sense to see if he could learn anything else, but discovered that not only did his spirit sense not exist, he had none of his cultivation, either. He was back to being a mortal human. The revtion did not scare Lex, though it did make him realize the peril of his predicament. He could not just shrug away a shot from that gun, like he had assumed. But since Lex knew death in the Mystery trial would not trante to death in real life, he was not worried. All this meant was that Lex would have to y by the rules of the trial. Suddenly, another thought urred to him. Other than polishing whatever skill the trial thought Lex had, this was actually pretty fun. It was like ying a video game, but with ultra realism. Of course, Lex could only think so because he had long be immune to feeling fear in such situations. Any normal person would be highly intimidated even if they knew the trial would not harm them in real life, because regardless of anything else, it felt real. "Who are you? What the hell is happening? Do you know who I am? Do you know who my father is?" yelled one of the people tied to the chair with equal measures of anger and fear in his voice. The others also started struggling to get out of their chairs as panic set in. Yet the man at the head of the table seemed unperturbed. Calmly, he picked up the revolver from the table, and fired a single round into the air, causing everyone to freeze and stare at him in fear. The tension that filled the room was palpable, and Lex calmly took everything in as he tried to understand the objective of the trial. A faint smell of burnt gunpowder reached him, before it was overpowered by a more revolting smell: the smell of fear. Someone at the opposite end of the table had wet themselves. If it had been someone on Lex''s side, he would have at least seen it. Trying not to let the smell bother him, Lex diverted his attention from the masked man to the other people present. There were three guys and three girls, all of various ages and ethnicities. There did not seem to be a pattern in their selection. "Good. Now that everyone has calmed down, we can focus on the truly important things." The man ced his revolver down on the table, and reached into his pocket to pull out a new deck of cards. "Although, that in itself is such an obtuse statement, is it not? What really is important in life?" The man talked slowly, emphasizing his pronunciation of each word, as if he could not tolerate a single mistake. Upon noticing that, Lex began noticing other details of the man. His clothes, although not new, were finely pressed without a single crease in them. He was wearing fine, ck leather gloves that had the faint indication of use, but remained neat and tidy. "We hear in the media that it''s important to enjoy the small things in life, the little moments. To stop and smell the roses, enjoy the journey along the way, and such." He neatly unwrapped the stic, sealing the case for the cards, before taking the cards out and removing the two jokers. Then he began shuffling. "I have my own theory about what''s important in life, though. I think, in life, it''s important to live, rather than just exist." His technique in shuffling formed an even rhythm, the sound of new cards smoothly sliding over one another, forming a soft din in the silence between the man''s words. "But what does that even mean - to live? It''s philosophical, but at the same time, I think it''s rather simple. It means to do things with purpose. To wake up early when you can sleep in, for you have a direction. To wear a certain set of clothes over another, because they will serve you better in different circumstances. To have each and every action filled with meaning, all working towards a specific goal." Lex wondered if the monologue was for him to hear specifically, or it was just the character of the man at the head of the table. He still could not exactly determine what his trial''s purpose was. "But in the mundane life, we often confuse simply existing with having purpose. We wake up early to go to work to earn money to eat food to continue living so that at some given interval of life you may experience pleasure. There are a lot of actions there, and they all give the illusion of purpose, but ultimately, it is just an illusion. "So then, we now identify another aspect of life that is important. To try to differentiate between living with purpose and just existing. But for beginners, it can be difficult. So let''s try something simple, hmm? The purpose right now is to survive, and the action is to y a game. So, in summary, let''s y a game with the very important purpose of survival." The man quickly began sliding cards to each of the people chained up to the chair, his actions fluid and precise. Even though Lex was at the far end of the table, three cards smoothly slid across the table to him, stopping just within the limited reach of his chained hands. Various thoughts went through Lex''s mind as he absorbed everything that was happening around him, from the softly sobbing girls to the hyperventting old man. But, most of all, Lex was observing the actions of the man at the head of the table. Though he had not yet discovered the purpose of the trial, he decided to stop observing silently and try to participate. After all, he doubted his special skill was just ying games.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Before the man was able to put away the deck and continue his speech, Lex spoke. "Didn''t you just say we should live life with purpose? So why are you depriving yourself of the purpose you''re providing us? Deal some cards for yourself and join us. Or else, how will you know if you''re simply existing as a dealer, or actually living life?" A few things changed as soon as Lex spoke, and he immediately understood what the purpose of the trial was. Chapter 510 Bond Various graphs and numbers appeared above the heads of everyone else at the table and looking at them, Lex was able to clearly determine the mental condition of everyone there. Suffice to say that almost everyone was doing horribly - or so it seemed on the surface. Other than Lex and the man at the head of the table, both of whom were rtively calm, there were two other people with surprising emotions. One was the old man who was hyperventting. Although it seemed like his condition was terrible, in fact, he was quite calm internally. He was using his age and his condition to try to draw sympathy from the group, for he could see no other advantage he could gain at the moment. The other was a girl who was sitting directly opposite to Lex. She was as pale as a ghost and trembling like she had a cold, but internally she was paying close attention to everyone. Unlike the old man who was only trying to gain sympathy, she was filled with a cold and calcting calm, ready to pull down anyone else to save herself. And if she couldn''t be saved¡­ she would bring down everyone with her. But while the graphs and numbers appeared suddenly as he spoke, and even changed when he was done speaking, a few secondster, they disappeared. It seemed that Lex would only be able to determine their mental state as a reaction to things he said. In which case it was evident that the trial had something to do with Lex''s ability to speak, or perhaps maneuver the situation based on what he said. But he was not clear of what the objective was. Was it to somehow simply survive, or was it to keep the entire group alive as well? Lex could not see the man''s expression due to it being hidden behind the mask, but from the fact that he had stopped for a few seconds and continued to stare at Lex was also a clue. He had to have a clear idea of what was going through the other''s head if he was going to manipte him. Due to the continued silence, fear filled the hearts of those sitting on the table, and everyone looked towards Lex with hearts filled with anger and grievance, but Lex maintained his casual demeanor. "You are not wrong," the man finally said, dealing himself three cards as well. Since everyone''s cards were upside down, no one could tell what they were, and since the pack was new, there was no tell or indicators on the cards at all. "Why should I deprive myself of glorious purpose? We should all go through this journey together. Let me exin the rules to everyone. This is a special game, made just for us. You see, since we''re learning about life, I had to emte it as well. Some people are born with more luck than others, while others use the hand dealt to them and turn things around. "So, like life, you all have been dealt a hand. The game will consist of three rounds. In each round, you may look at your cards and trade one." The man took the top card from the deck and slid it to the center of the table, still upside down. "The only premise it, you cannot look at the card you''re trading for. Starting with someone random, everyone will take a turn to either trade for the card in the center of the table, or pass. If you trade, you put a card upside down, and take the card at the center of the table. What you get¡­ will once again be dependent on luck. Once everyone has had a turn, the second round will start, and I will give everyone one more card. Like this, we will do a total of 3 rounds. "At the end of the 3 rounds, everyone reveals their hand, and we move on to the next aspect of life: survival of the fittest. We''ll use poker rules to determine which hand is the best, but instead of looking for the best, we''ll be looking for the person with the weakest hand. Whoever has the weakest hand will¡­ recuse themselves from future games, lets say. Since we''re repeating the number 3 so many times, let''s say we''ll y a total of 3 games. "How does that sound? Previously, everyone had about a 50% chance to survive, which made the game feel pretty intense. But, since I''ve been asked to join the game, I''m sure it will be even more interesting. Let''s hope I''m not the first one to lose, leaving you all tied to your chairs, unable to get out." The entire group collectively gave Lex a death stare, but the man himself didn''t seem to be too bothered by it. Instead, his gaze was stuck on the cards he had received. Originally, he was wondering what strategy to use, which is why he picked up his cards. But mere seconds after he picked up his cards, the numbers on them disappeared. It was evident what the trial was telling him. He would not escape this predicament using cards. He had to rely on his words to manipte the situation, and somehow free himself and the others. This was¡­ actually quite exciting. With a smile, Lex put down his cards and looked the man at the head of the table in the eyes. "That''s quite the game," he said warmly. "Should we introduce ourselves? No fun in ying with strangers."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om The moment he said those words, information appeared in his head about his identity and back story for this trial. "The name''s Bond. Covalent Bond," said Lex, with a smile that was much too unusual for the given situation. e¦Áglesn?¦Íel One of the girls at the table burst into tears the moment Lex introduced himself, making the tense situation feel awkward. "I don''t know her, I swear," said Lex once again. The first thing he had to do was take the masked man''s power away. Psychotic people who would do such a thing would love the feeling of being in control, so Lex had to first take that control away from him. Lex was confident that the man wouldn''t break his own rules and harm Lex prematurely. But Lex also knew he only had 1 game to get out of this predicament. After all, with nk cards, he couldn''t really hope to win the game normally. Chapter 511 Strategy Everyone ignored Lex''s paltry attempt at cracking a joke. Sure, the timing of the girl bursting into tears and him introducing himself set him up for a gag, but no one felt like entertaining stupid jokes. Or any jokes, for that matter.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om That much was clear to Lex, even if he didn''t look at the data that everyone revealed in response to his words. But that didn''t matter. What was important was to break the environment that the man at the head of the table was trying to create and steal the momentum of the situation. By having him participate in the game, Lex had lowered his standing in the situation, and while they had not really be equals, since Lex was tied up and the man had the gun, it did bring them closer together. "Fun?" the man asked, picking up his cards and looking at them. "Sure, I guess that''s important, too. While it is not on the same level as living with purpose, there is no reason why you cannot learn to enjoy the difficult moments in life. It''ll even make them go by easier." Slowly and deliberately, the man removed a single one of the cards in his hand and swapped it for the one in the center of the table. Despite staring as closely as possible to the man''s eyes, Lex was unable to determine his emotions in response to the card he picked up. "You can call me¡­ the Game Master." The Game Master paused and turned to look at the girl on his left. "You can go next. The round will progress clockwise." The girl was pale with fear and trembling softly in her seat. There must have been a hit of adrenaline when she realized what situation she was in, but it was already wearing off, leaving her exhausted. It was clear that she did not have the best physical health, and probably not the best mental health either. "Rx, just look at your cards and introduce yourself," said Lex. "I don''t see how you could make the situation any worse." The woman with puffy red eyes looked at Lex, then at her cards. She managed to peek at them before she put them back down and whispered, "Pa." It seemed she was only capable of saying so much and didn''t intend to exchange any cards. With the formation of some kind of pattern, the next two managed to introduce themselves as well, and both of them exchanged cards, finally bringing the focus onto Lex, who was next. All eyes on the table were on him as Lex appeared to be choosing which card to exchange. Lex thought the Game Master might be impatient with Lex''s actions, but no such thing happened. Lex quickly analyzed the man in his head based on the few clues he had picked up. The man was extremely neat and tidy, to the point it became a peculiarity or obsession. He also seemed to have a logic driving his actions, however twisted it might be, but Lex was able to influence him within the realm of his own logic. He was extremely patient, as not once had heshed out at Lex for misbehaving, nor had he tried to interfere with any of Lex''s actions. He also had a bit of an ego, although he may have confused his own inted ego for self confidence or perhaps an inherent superiority. Lex was able to derive this based on the condescending manner in which he exined to all his victims why his actions were full of purpose as well as filled with benevolence to the survivors, or as he perceived it, those who had discovered the meaning of having purpose behind their actions. It seemed that Lex''s original n to make him act out would be unlikely, due to his extreme patience and self confidence. But that did not mean he could not be manipted. He clearly had very strong emotions regarding his ideology, regardless of how wed it was. As long as Lex yed by the Game Masters rules, he could use his ideology against him. With a new n of action decided, Lex''s smile widened, just a bit, and he looked the Game Master right in his eyes. Lex mimicked the way in which the Game Master pulled out one of his cards and began to rece it. "Although you all already know my name, let me introduce myself a little bit more. I am a very big believer in attaining positive results, and I believe the greatest positive result can better be achieved with quality, rather than quantity." Lex picked up the card that was facing down and looked at it. The number on the card disappeared, but Lex grinned widely, as if he had gotten exactly what he wanted. Ayer of subtlety was added to the game now, as the person who yed right before Lex knew exactly what card she had ced. Based on Lex''s grin, she began calcting what hand Lex was trying to build to get an advantage. At the same time, whoever would pick up the card after Lex would believe that they would get a hint of the cards Lex did not need. None of this had anything to do with the Game Master, but it had vast implications on the fluctuating emotions of the group. Lex could not forget them while he tried to manipte the Game Master, for they were variables as well. Some of them had ns and strategies of their own, and Lex had to make sure to have them work with him instead of against him. This¡­ was moreplicated than he had thought, but Lex decided to continue with the n he had concocted, and adapt as the situation demanded. "For example," Lex continued to speak. "After this game ends, there will be four survivors with a new understanding of living with purpose. The world will be changed for it, or at least the worlds of those four people will be changed. But is the value of four people with a new understanding greater¡­ or is one extremely capable and driven person developing a deep and profound appreciation of living with purpose more?" Instead of looking at the Game Master, Lex looked at the next person in line after him and asked, "What do you think? Which is worth more?" Chapter 512 Provoke The person sitting next to Lex looked him in the eyes. Although he had been scared and panicked when he woke up in his current predicament, he had calmed down enough to think. It was clear to him, and everyone else, that Lex was trying to do something. Most likely he was trying to escape, which made the most sense. But he honestly saw no way they could get out of the situation. In which case, what he had to do was to make sure he didn''t get dragged into any extra trouble. "I think the more the merrier," the man managed to say without stuttering. "One person alone gaining an appreciation for living with purpose is just one person alone. How can hepete with more people?" The man didn''t know what purpose Lex had, but it seemed like he wanted to assure his own survival in exchange for giving up the rest, so he couldn''t agree to what Lex said. But he did not realize that he had reacted exactly how Lex wanted. "You know what, you''re right. I was wrong. I was too caught up in the quality versus quantity thing, but there''s no reason why it can''t be both." No matter how weak and hurried it was, Lex wanted to set a precedent for someone changing their views when encountering a better alternative. He did not expect to have the Game Master change his ns by reasoning with his better judgment. No, by doing this, Lex was a seed in the Game Masters subconscious, letting him think that changing his views was an option. He did not know how much such a thing would help, but he needed to get all the aid he could because his actual n was a lot more aggressive and could backfire just as easily. Of course, knowing the Game Masters emotions due to the data provided by the trial would make it much easier for him to achieve such a thing. For the rest of the round, Lex did not speak, and maintained a casual, yet confident smile. The remaining yers introduced themselves and exchanged some cards, not saying anything unnecessary. When it was once again the Game Master''s turn, he turned to look at Lex, as if to see if he had anything to say. Without averting his gaze, the man picked up the deck and in a familiar, fluid motion, slid one more card to each person. "Can you feel your heart beating?" the Game Master asked. He was likely addressing the whole group, but his eyes never left Lex.N?v(el)B\\jnn "Is the weight of your decision haunting your every thought? Do you feel¡­ alive? But are you really living with purpose, and making decisions for that purpose, or are you still just¡­ existing? Is it just enough to pick up cards and hope you have the best hand? What about¡­ messing with others to influence what they do? For example, what would you think if I tell you, I only need one more King, and I''ll be all but certain of passing the round." Many expressions across the table suddenly changed, and one of the contestants even pulled his cards closer together. But his sudden and obvious movement drew a lot of attention, and he suddenly realized that he had revealed at least one of his cards to the group. The semnce of calmness that Lex had managed to create earlier was already gone. "Now why would you do that, I wonder?" mused Lex aloud, not even bothering to look at his new card. "What is the purpose behind your action? Is it to make the game more aligned with the unpredictable nature of the world, or is it just to provide a tinge of pleasure to a small man with a wounded ego and inferiorityplex?" Everyone turned to look at Lex with horror in their eyes. He had been vocal from before, but he had never insulted the Game Master like that. He was just asking for death! "What about you?" asked the Game Master, his voice perfectly calm still. "What purpose is guiding your actions? Do you want to provoke me? Do you think you can somehow escape the inevitable show of hands at the end if you find some other way out?" The Game Master picked up the new card he had given to himself and nodded, before adding it to the ones in his hand. "Do I even need to provoke you?" Lex asked, shaking his head. "It won''t matter if I do. For someone who speaks so much about living with purpose instead of just existing, it is fairly obvious that you''re also merely existing within your own prison." "Existing? I am not existing!" the Game Master said with enthusiasm bordering on aggression. This was the first time he showed any emotion other than absolute calm. "I am breaking every norm, every convenience, every rule just to follow my purpose! My existence itself is reeked with purpose." "Sure you are," said Lex in a sarcastic tone. "I am the one living with purpose, not you. You may think that you are, because how out of the ordinary your actions seem, but I can see right through you. You don''t believe in ''purpose''. You just believe in indulging your mental illness. "And no, I''m not referring to kidnapping and threatening people as mental illness. No, I''m referring to the part of your brain that defined the perfect rules you have to live by. The part that perfectly defined what ''purpose'' is. The part of your mind that told you doing things a certain way is ''living with conscious intention'' instead of a sickness.The part of your brain that carefully designed each stage of this game we''re ying. I bet you even have a few ways to make the ''game'' more interesting, already nned. At the relevant round, you''ll slowly introduce more and moreplications, all the while telling yourself that you''re just adding moreyers to the game to promote the yers to live with ''purpose'' "I bet it''s not even limited to that is it? I bet your ''purpose'' has infiltrated every facet of your life." Lex chuckled as he noticed the Game Master softly trembling beneath his mask, though the numbers above his head clearly let Lex know how the man was feeling. He continued to press on. Chapter 513 On Purpose The room was very still and not even the sound of breathing could be heard. Everyone held even their breaths as they silently listened to Lex, but dared to not even look at him. This guy was about to die, they were sure of it! "It''s a strange thing, isn''t it, to be a prisoner of your own mind, but have the illusion that you are free. I bet you always do everything exactly the same way and think that you''ve designed the most efficient system, but the truth is, you have to do things exactly the way your mind likes it. "You''re holding your cards in your left hand, but you always pick them out with your right. I''m guessing when you''re putting on gloves, you always put on the one on your right hand first." For the first time, there were rapid fluctuations in the numbers above the Game Masters head, and Lex knew he was on the right path. He had to push him, just enough. "I bet it''s even more than that. I bet you get dressed in the exact same order every time, but you probably don''t even realize it. Let me guess, pants first, then the shirt. Are you¡­ dressing up like that on purpose, or are you just existing within the prison that is your mind?" Lex stared intently at the numbers atop the Game Master, and knew it was time to stop. He had primed the man, but he couldn''t immediately begin the next stage of the n. Everything had to be done systematically. Leaning back in his chair, Lex made eye contact with the person whose turn it was next and gave her a subtle nod. She hesitated, but seeing how no one was speaking or doing anything, she picked up her cards and chose not to exchange anything. Although her actions were minimal, the chains that had wrapped her legs clinked with every movement she made. It was not a silent affair even though she did almost nothing, and the tense atmosphere amplified the noise tenfold. But neither Lex said anything, nor did the Game Master. The next person, however, did not choose to mimic her predecessor''s actions. Not only did she exchange her turn by saying, "I have two kings." Everyone in the room turned to look at her, Lex and the Game Master included. There was no way to determine if she was telling the truth, but her choice of statement was a spark on a bed of dry leaves. Lex chuckled and said, "what a coincidence, I have a king as well." "Are you just taking every possible opportunity to try and tick me off?" the Game Master asked, hiding his irritation well. "Unlike you, who is bound by the rules and has no freedom to do what he wants, I can do whatever suits my needs. But you¡­ you can''t hurt me even if you want to, because that goes against the rules for the game, doesn''t it? I mean, you could try to prove that your actions follow your purpose by killing me, and not some invisible rules that hold you in a prison, but then it''ll just seem to everyone like you''re just trying to vent. No one will believe you. "And after that, the whole point of this exercise will be moot. Everyone will follow along with your rules and y your game. But they won''t be learning to have their actions be motivated by purpose. No, they''ll just be learning to silence any and allints and just follow the invisible rules holding them in ce. They''ll be the perfect puppets for society." Lex leaned forward, as much as he could, and looked at the Game Master dead in the eyes.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "The truth is, buddy, of all of us here, you''re the one living with the least amount of purpose. I might be the one in chains, but you''re the real prisoner. Because the worstes to worst, I''ll die. But you¡­ you can either die from your own game, a prisoner to the rules that your mind created, or you''ll survive, and continue to live as a prisoner." Lex paused for a moment, to let his words sink in, before leaning back once again. "Unless that is, you prove once and for all, you''re not the prisoner. No, you''re the one choosing your own actions, even if your brain, your captor, is telling you otherwise. Break the rules of the gamepletely. Take control of your own life - by ending your own life." Lex was looking at the Game Master with eager eyes. He could see the numbers above everyone and he knew the emotions that were running rampant in the room. He also knew that his final delivery had been a little too premature, and that the Game Master wouldn''t end up doing it. But he had done that on purpose. Lex no longer cared aboutpleting the Mystery trial. No, he wanted to go through the same trial again and again, learning how everyone reacted to his different approaches. This time, he yed the Game Master, and he knew that if he had done things just slightly differently, he would have won. Next time, he wanted to see if he could get one of the other captors to give up on the game on purpose. His greatest skill, as it turned out, was reading people and having them do exactly what he wanted. Perhaps this was a skill he always had, or something he had learnt while dealing with so many precarious situations at the Inn. Regardless, he was having fun now, and he wasn''t going to stop anytime soon. ***** Back at the Midnight Inn, Larry ended up leaving William and his brothers because his girlfriend had finally arrived. What he didn''t know was that after he left, William disappeared from the Inn. It would be impossible for him to reach the William family home within a few years minimum because he was in a different gxy, but that didn''t mean he couldn''t contact them from where he was. Using a special formation, he allowed a projection of himself to appear within a sacred temple, guarded by his family''s most trustworthy and prominent members. "Ancestor!" one of them immediately eximed in rm. This was the first time he had made an appearance in that guard''s lifetime, but he didn''t care about such things. "Find all the information we have on a called Earth. And get the family registry while you''re at it. I want to know if I have a descendant called Lex Williams." Chapter 514 Family Damian Arban William, Lex''s grandfather, was filled with both excitement and fear as he hurried to the Ancestor Temple! He was excited, for their family had been ignored by their ancestor for too long, not that he could me him. Even with his prestigious position in the family, he himself was only an Earth Immortal. That meant anymon general in the Jotun Army was stronger than him based on cultivation alone. Naturally, just because he was an Earth Immortal, it did not mean that was the peak strength of their family - far from it. But it was generally epted that they were only equal to a normal noble family of the Empire, and not one of the top four like they should have been. So, he harbored a great hope that their ancestors'' attention would spark the fire of their family''s growth. But the tinge of fear in his heart was not without cause as well. He had heard that the ancestor had asked about Lex - his grandson who he knew absolutely nothing about. His greatest fear was that his son had done something to cause the ancestors ire. After theirst meeting, his son and his wife hadpletely disappeared. Let alone him, even his three granddaughters did not know where they had gone. But there was no point in guessing. He took a moment to straighten himself out, before he hurriedly entered the temple. The ancestor''s projection was standing with his hands held behind his back, an impassive look on his face. He did not recognize Damian, for it had been too long since he interacted with the family. "Great ancestor, my name is Damian, the current presiding family head. I have retrieved all the information you desired." "Tell me about earth," William said directly, not disying any of the friendliness he did around his brothers. "It''s a that falls under the William family territory in the Milky Way, and is deep inside a Dead zone. At the behest of the empire, a prisoner, Bastet, had been kept on the as it was one of the few inhabiteds in the deadzone. Due to thecking spiritual presence on the, the prisoner could not recover enough strength to leave without the aid of technology. It¡­" "Forget that. What I want to know is, are there any members of the William family on earth? The ''Lex Williams'', I mentioned, is he a descendant?" Damian smiled awkwardly, but did not hide anything. "There¡­ was a descendant living on Earth, my son, Leon. He got married to someone from that and started a family there. I believe¡­ Lex is his son." "Started a family on earth? Why did he start a family in the deadzone?" William was genuinely confused. There was no real benefit to such a thing. There were a few rumors that cultivating in an areacking spirit energy strengthened the cultivation as it was forced to do more work for the same results, but there was no actual proof. Damian cleared his throat, but reported the situation honestly and without adding any bias to make himself look good or bad. William listened silently, without expressing any approval or disapproval. He was thest person qualified toment on family drama. Instead, his focus remained on Lex for two very specific reasons. One was obviously the fact that they had a simr appearance. That in itself should not have mattered, except that he had originally suspected a simr appearance was a sign of him unlocking the bloodline William had created. The second was the name on the top of the Guest Registry. He still did not think his descendant had any real connection to the person whose name was atop the list, but there was no harm in investigating. As for the bloodline matter¡­ "Your suspicion about him awakening the bloodline is probably iplete. If his mother really is as skilled as you say, and was able to give her 3 daughters all exceptional skills, then it''s likely that not only did Lex unlock his bloodline, it may have undergone a mutation." Damian was startled, for he had not even considered such a thing. Sessful bloodline mutations were exceedingly rare because any mutation would usually result in the death of whoever had it. A sessful mutation meant an evolution of a bloodline¡­ that his incredibly powerful ancestor was able to make. Such a thing¡­ it was impossible, right? "Make a file, list down every major thing that has happened in the family in thest few thousand years. I''ll being back soon."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om The hologram disappeared, and Damian breathed a sigh of relief that the ancestor did not me him. But his mind quickly went to the matter about Lex. Even if it was a bloodline evolution, there was no need to hide Lex from them. He suspected the matter was even moreplicated than that. ***** Adrus was on top of the world! From the moment he had AI take over his cultivation technique, his real progress had been amazing! He suspected it would take a couple of days at most to enter the next realm. To celebrate, he hade to the Midnight Inn, and upon the insistence of a few friends, entered the Henali Portal. Apparently, its VR was ultra realistic and would allow him to feel like he was exploring the universe! But unbeknownst to him, the moment he entered the portal, a hidden signal was sent out. Protected by the system, his location at the Inn had been hidden, but his origin on Earth could not be protected. But nothing else happened afterwards. Adrus continued to enjoy the portal, and his cultivation technique kept running in the background. Several hourster, when he exited the portal, he had avish meal with a few other friends and decided to partake in the Inns festival. Life had never been this good for him, and it was bound to only get better in the future. Chapter 515 Something New Lex exited the Mystery trial 8 hourster, finally havingpleted the trial. It was a genuinely interesting experience, and he learnt a lot. Moreover, he would call the ''reward'' anything but small or insignificant. Although he had yet to try it out, he gained a 6th sense for detecting people''s emotions in reaction to something he said. Well, to be fair, the actual 6th sense was very vague and weak, but it was drastically amplified by Lex''s intuition. But even without the gift, Lex had gained a whole new perspective about his ability to influence people with his words. In the end, he hadpleted the trial by convincing the Game Master that the only way to actually prove that he was motivated by purpose was to break his own rules and set them free. He had tried a few other tactics which did not contribute towards the trial, but did provide him with unique experiences. After all, he would never harm an innocent person in real life.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex was wondering if he should go try out his ability or spend some more time enjoying himself when he, unexpectedly, heard a familiar sound. New notification: System upgradeplete! System status updated: System: Midnight Inn System Grade: Divine (broken ~ SSS - B+ ) System Owner: Lex Williams System functionality: 14% System self-repair time: 33,310 billion years New Notification: New features unlocked. New features include: Desert Farm Well of Invigoration The system was back online! In a single day! Lex was surprised, but after looking at his notification he realized that it was probably because the system he absorbed was too weak. His system functionality had only improved 2% and the self-repair time had also only gone down by 2 billion. The system grade hadn''t even changed. Shaking his head, Lex turned and looked at the two new features of the Inn. Desert Farm A farm where desert nts can be grown, in addition to any other nts. None desert nts undergo an unpredictable mutation to grow in this farm. All nts that grow in the desert farm have additional medicinal, nutritional or spiritual properties. Well of Invigoration A well with water that has special properties which speeds up nts growth without causing any adverse effects. It also has mild medicinal properties if drunk directly, and can heal hidden injuries within the body. There were only two new features, but Lex liked them a lot more than the ones he got from the Murder System! Moreover this would be more beneficial to the day to day operations of the Inn. Lex was already dissatisfied with the kind of ingredients the Inn had, as they could not provide him any nutrition now that he was in the Golden Core realm. With this, he now had the opportunity to grow ingredients of a high enough level to satisfy himself now, and in the future as well. Of course, it wasn''t as if he wasn''t nting crops that targeted Golden core cultivators even now. But the difference was, their maturity period was phenomenally long. Even with all the advantages the Inn provided, it would take well over a year for them to mature. Maybe now, with the water from the well, that period could be sped up. Lex smiled and disappeared, teleporting to the turtle in his Host Attire. The turtle had buried itself in the ground, with only its head above the ground. Lex did not even try to question what bizarre thing the turtle was doing now, and instead got right to the point. "I''m opening up a new farm, but it will be in a desert environment. It can cause mutations to normal nts, and provides a huge boost to nts that grow in a desert environment to begin with. I also have a new well that can boost the speed of nt growth. I thought it would interest you to know." For a moment, the turtle did not react, but then it turned to look at Lex. "Oh dear, oh dear. That sounds lovely, but I have run into a small little bit of a problem." Even as the Innkeeper, Lex raised an eyebrow as he looked at the turtle in curiosity. The turtle had¡­ run into a problem? This was a first. "After all my time at the Inn, I have grown a lot. I am ready to grow to the next cultivation level. But my age is too young, my body has not grown enough yet. I will need to eat a few Shining Irisberry fruits to allow my body to grow. If I don''t get them soon¡­ I will fall asleep for a few hundred years until my body is ready to grow." That was indeed a huge problem. He could not afford to allow the turtle to fall asleep, he was extremely dependent on it. "I''ll take care of it," said Lex, and teleported away. He immediately thought of the Infinity Emporium, as it was his best bet at getting it quickly. But he decided to check out the fruit on the Henali portal first to get an idea of how rare it was. Yet when he teleported to the portal, he paused and turned his head in a certain direction. His intuition was acting up, telling him something major was about to happen! Unable to identify the cause, he scanned the Inn, and noticed something odd. Ragnar was standing alone in his abode, wearing nothing but a cotton tunic. This was the first time Lex saw the man without his armor, and discovered that the previously seemingly buff man had actually just been wearing very thick armor. In actuality, he had a very toned physique. But the general changing out of his armor was not enough to rm Lex''s intuition. No, it was the dark cloud that was forming above his head that attracted Lex''s attention. Unlike all the previous tribtions Lex had seen, this one was different. ck lightning streaked around the cloud, building up its strength. Lex had no idea what kind of tribtion Ragnar was about to encounter, but it was definitely much more dangerous than the ones he had seen before. Yet the man was not using a tribtion room. With nothing but his courage supporting him, the general looked up into the sky. There was no hesitation in his eyes. Chapter 516 The Back That Will Never Bend It was not just Lex whose attention was attracted towards the unusual tribtion cloud. Most of the demons who had already passed through their tribtion and survived looked over. Hundreds of beasts looked up in fear as their strong instincts were kicking up. Jotun, who was having an important meeting with his wife, was also rmed, and quickly exited the manor and flew up into the air. The guard who had reced the griffin looked there as well, though it did not disy the same shock as the others. Somewhere in the crowd of guests, Booty looked up into the sky. Every time he saw lightning, he felt nervous. The captain of the Iron heart pirates was about to enter the Immortal realm, but he had already seen too many fail in their tribtions. Every time he saw one more, he felt his heart tremble. For a time, the entire Inn came to a standstill as they looked up at the ominous ck lightning. Lex, who was also watching the spectacle closely, however, did not just sit and watch. His intuition was warning him that whatever protection he had given the abode was not enough, and so silently, he began arranging more formations around Ragnar''s abode. The formations were not to protect Ragnar from the tribtions, since the man himself had opted not to enter the tribtion room. Instead, it was to contain the damage within the confines of the abode itself. But the thing was¡­ he added one formation, then 10, then 50, but the warning from his intuition never ceased. The level of formations avable to Lex, even with the extra capabilities of the event panel, were not enough to contain the danger of this lightning. As the sound of rolling thunder swept across the Inn, Lex suddenly began to panic. Without thinking too much, Lex directly spent 10 billion MP on smashing as many formations down as possible! But he did not have time to evaluate if that was enough. The sound of the thunder changed, as if the heaven itself was releasing a growl aimed at Ragnar. Dozens of formations around the abode were thoroughly crushed just from the sound. But the process was not slow as all this happened faster even than anyone, immortals and mortals alike, could understand. Then the lightning struck, a single ck bolt aiming directly for Ragnar. If he had wanted to defend, he should have done so already, for it was toote now even for him. The ck lightning bearing the wrath of heaven and hell bore down on the lone man. Existence itself seemed to fracture where the lightning passed, leaving behind a trail of miniscule cracks in space. At that moment, the air ceased to exist, and all light was destroyed. Despite the intense power and heat of the lightning, there were no mes in its aftermath, for the very existence of fire had been destroyed. In that moment, despite the protection of the Inn, everyone, the emperor, devils and even Lex included, suffered from a hallucination. For a moment, they saw an impossible tide of darkness swallowing up the universe itself, filled with righteous fury. But in front of that darkness that swallowed everything, there was a single, miniscule speck that remained undeterred. It was not the me of hope, nor the prayers of a trillion meditating monks, nor the blessing of some deity that remained unmoving in front of that invading abyss. No, it was a man in a simple cotton tunic. Even as the world faded into nothingness, even as the emotions of everyone watching faded, even at the very end of things, his back did not bend. The hallucination changed. They saw a young man standing side by side with a billion soldiers. They saw war. They saw death. They saw defeat. They saw a sea of endless demon corpses, and they saw a young recruit alive, crying because he was buried under the bodies of hisrades, who had given up everything to let him live. The scene changed. They saw retreating spaceships. They saw bleeding soldiers. They felt the endless silence of space, and in it, they saw demons in the form of space worms chasing after them. They saw an escape vessel heading towards the demons while the other ships escaped, and a skinny, injured soldier with nothing but a ster and a broken sword. They saw a fight that should have been suicide. Then they saw another. Then they saw a hundred more. They saw a skinny, fragile back slowly gain muscle and grow stronger. They saw one impossible tide of death crash against a lone soldier again and again, only to be the one to retreat itself. Then the hallucination, which had seemed millennia long but had not even been a fraction of a second, ended. Most did not see what happened next. Even Lex''s mind was not fast enough to process what happened. But due to the feedback from the Inn, the image of what happened was imprinted in his mind! Ragnar did not flinch, nor did he look away. The ck lightning struck him in the face, resulting in an explosion thatpletely decimated the abode around him. Though Lex had long stopped trying to depend on luck, somehow, his luck had held that day as all the formations he had put up had been destroyed, save the veryst one. The cloud above the abode dissipated, as if it had never been there, and the ominous pressure that Lex had been feeling disappeared. In its wake, it had left behind a site of utter destruction. There was not even a cloud of smoke covering the area, for everything in that space had been utterly destroyed, from dust to the very air molecules. Well, it had destroyed almost everything, for Ragnar still stood there, his posturepletely unchanged. There was not a single rip on his tunic, and though his face was covered in blood, there wasn''t even the slightest indication of pain on his face. His eyes were so calm that he may as well have taken a stroll in the park. After a couple of seconds, he finally reacted by cracking his neck. Then he walked out of the confines of what had been the abode, silently admiring the fact that the scope of destruction had been strictly restricted to his abode. The Innkeeper was indeed impressive.N?v(el)B\\jnn He summoned his personal hologram and said, "please deliver my message to the Innkeeper. There was a devil who was challenging me before my tribtion. I would like to challenge him in the Murder Grounds." Chapter 517 Ambition The festive mood at the Inn hade to a pause. There was no fear that filled the air, but everyone had to take some time to settle their emotions after what they had just experienced. While everyone had experienced the same hallucination, and they could guess that it had been caused by the ck lightning, they had no idea who that person they had hallucinated about was or if what they saw was even true. But regardless of those details, there was no one who could deny that the vision had their blood boiling. Everyone was suddenly in the mood to train or fight intense battles and somehow vent their raging emotions. There were very few who actually knew that the person in the hallucinations was actually Ragnar, mostly because they recognized him from pictures of his youth. Alexander was one of them, and while he disyed no outward emotion, inside he was filled with a burning passion. He did not want to just be strong, he wanted to be the strongest! Only by learning from such a man could he achieve that dream. Marlo too felt his blood boiling, but he easily suppressed it. What was going through his head waspletely unknown, even to his wife. All anyone could see him doing was sittingxly on a sofa, twiddling his thumbs. But although he lookedpletely rxed, the fire in his eyes spoke otherwise. There was a n brewing in his mind. "Who was that?" asked the empress as she flew to Jotun, her voice hiding bits of praise and admiration. "Our future son-inw," Jotun replied with a casual smile. While everyone was experiencing different things, Lex''s mind was like a tumultuous sea. First and foremost, he needed to learn about that tribtion! What the hell was that? If he had to spend 10 billion MP per strike of that ck lightning, and a few more people underwent a simr tribtion, he would once again bepletely broke! His current wealth was at 70 billion MP. He had earned quite a bit during the festival, andtely he had especially been earning a lot from the 1% transaction fee in the Guild room. He thought it was swimming in cash, but it appeared far from the truth. But Lex quickly calmed down. The advantage was still with him. If he wanted to boost his earnings¡­ With a wave of his hand, all the hidden entrances to the various Minor realms in the Inn became easier to find. He spected it would take just a few more hours at most for people to find the first one. Moreover, the Grand Prix wasing soon. If past experiences had been anything to go by, Lex would be earning a lot soon enough. It was then that Mary informed him about Ragnar''s request for a challenge in the Murder Ground, and a capitalistic gleam shed through Lex''s eyes. He just spent 10 billion on the man. It should be okay if he earned a little something back, right? ***** In the spaceship above the Inn, all the children were going absolutely wild! It was not fear that had gripped them, although for the younger ones that had initially been the case. But as they recovered from the hallucination and recalled where they were, something else happened. They began ying a game of war! Since the children had formed various gangs and factions, and had marked certain ygrounds as their home bases within the ship, they were now fighting a relentless war with pool noodles as their weapons. But not all kids were participating in the game. As it so happened, all the leaders of the various factions the kids had formed were sitting together in a conference room.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Some were sipping apple juice, and some were eating chocte pudding, while others still were fiddling with fidget spinners. But while some of them had be victims to their short attention spans, most of them were paying close attention to the person sitting at the head of the conference table. Like them, he was a kid, but his vision, his ambition, and most of all, his ingenious ideas had captivated them. He was not waiting for them to grow up before doing big things. No, he was building awork right now. The most expansive, secret and diverse informationwork in the Origin realm was beginning to take shape, and at its head sat Rnd. Previously, he had sold newspapers in the Crystal realm. At the Midnight Inn he had joined the Midnight newsroom. But after spending some time here, and upon noticing the vast resources avable at the Inn, his hidden passion had been med awake. Since he was in the news business, he should take advantage of the biggest and most unsuspecting resource avable, children. Everyone openly revealed their secrets in front of kids, because who would ever expect them to interfere, or even remember? It was not even their own parents they could spy on, but everyone they came across. "So, we are in agreement?" Rnd asked, tapping his fingers on the table in an easy rhythm. A series of ayes, yes'' and yeahs filled the room as all the kids became super excited. "In that case, I would like to announce officially the beginning of operation ''Secret Base'' and operation ''Secret Agents''. Remember, don''t tell your faction members everything. Get the information from them, and pass it along. They must think they''re the only ones doing this, and that it''s a secret. Or else they won''t feel like spies." "And you remember that you''re not the only one who will have ess to all the information," said La. Jimmy was standing dutifully behind her and giving a challenging look to Rnd. Sure, Rnd was much older than the two of them, but they led one of the strongest factions of children - the Peacock Warriors. They feared no one and nothing. "Of course," replied Rnd. "Prove yourselves, and I''ll help you be secret members of the Newsroom. That way you''ll all be able to ess the information." Chapter 518 Casual Conversation Lex was momentarily driven by thoughts of raking in a ton of MP selling tickets to watch the fight between Ragnar and the devil. He could use the attention Ragnar had gained with the Inn-wide hallucination to attract attention, but it was not meant to be. The devil, as he learned, was locked within his abode, cultivating, with no knowledge of what was happening outside. Many guests, Lex had noticed, despite being at high realms ended up simply cultivating after experiencing the star upgrade, such as the griffin, and did not encounter any tribtions. Maybe they were simply making progress without making any strides across anyrge thresholds. Regardless, Lex sent a response letting Ragnar know that at the moment the devil was unable to respond, but he would let him know of the answer. With that small interlude passed, Lex turned his attention back to the portal to investigate the Shining Irisberry Fruit for the turtle. ***** Ragnar was slightly disappointed when he heard the response, but it was probably for the best. Despite what it had seemed like, his emotions had gotten the best of him and that devil really had managed to rile him up. Although it seemed like he had only suffered a mild injury from that bolt of lightning, that was not really the case. After stabilizing his increased cultivation, he would have to return to his Command carrier, for the Recovery pods would not be able to help him in his current condition. He would require some exceptionally rare and valuable medicine that had been stored back on his ship. But his n to return was suddenly stalled when he saw two humans descending towards him from the sky. As awkward as it might be, he recognized thedy first. It was her majesty Elinor, the current empress of the Jotun empire! The reason Ragnar recognized her first was because the image of the emperor was not actually that widely spread. It was for that very reason that even the emperor had been surprised when he was recognized by amon soldier. But the moment Ragnar recognized her, his eyes shed to the man beside her and realization dawned on him. It wasn''t as if he had never seen the emperor, but that the picture he had seen portrayed the man in full royal armor with a halo of incredible power around him. Right now, the emperor looked nothing like his picture and instead looked like a random youth. Ragnar was not one to suffer from themon mistake of judging someone by their appearance, as in the cultivation world appearances were the most deceiving. Instead, he usually gauged people by the intensity of their spiritual aura. Yet the emperor had restrained his aurapletely when he came to the Inn, so he could even be mistaken for a mortal if one didn''t know better. "Your highness!" Ragnar eximed as he gave a military salute, finally adding a single crease to his, as of yet,pletely pristine tunic. "At ease, general," Jotun said. "That was an impressive disy. Tell me, how long have you been a Heaven Immortal?" "A little under 100 years, majesty." "Less than a 100 years and you''ve already passed through the first mark. Very impressive young man. I dare say there are few in the history of the entire empire who canpete with you." "It is still below your achievements, majesty." "Pft, don''tpare yourself with me. That''s unfair to your hard work. News of your achievements have made it to my ear, Ragnar. Considering I''m barely ever in the empire, that is already an impressive feat. But when the Innkeeper himself told me I should give you an audience, I was genuinely taken aback. I wonder what you have to share with me." Surprise shed through Ragnar''s eyes, but he quickly calmed down. Although they did not meet often, it seemed like he really had developed a good rtionship with the Innkeeper. After all, there was no need for him to mention Ragnar to the emperor. Even Ragnar himself had never spoken of such a request, so for the Innkeeper to do it on his own initiative was a show of good faith. Moreover, it was one that he sorely needed. Although he had set up a task at the Inn to find someone capable of following the Jom''s trail, there was no guarantee that things would not go horribly wrong before that opportunity could even be availed. Moreover, there was the matter of the aura he collected from the devil Loretta. "I have a room, majesty. Perhaps we should talk there." "Lead the way." Ragnar did not hesitate to lead the way, not to any of the rooms he had recently rented, but the one he rented so long ago, inside the Midnight manor. The emperor and empress followed him without putting up any pretenses, but when they entered the room and saw a small cylinder sitting in the center, their attention waspletely diverted to it. "Your highness, this seal contains the traces of aura I collected from the devil known as Loretta. Although I suspect the aura has been altered heavily, it should still be useful." "Why have you stored it here instead of submitting it to the empire?" asked the empress, though she made no attempts to inspect the seal. Ragnar paused, as if he was ashamed to voice his words, which ultimately attracted the emperor''s attention even more than the seal. "Speak up, what is it?" "Highness, I apologize if my words sound like sphemy but¡­ I suspect there are traitors in the empire. There are many things that have happened recently that do not make sense, and¡­ I have suspicions that someone is sending me to my death." The empress was rmed by the sudden revtion, but Jotun did not seem too surprised. "You do not need to worry about the veracity of your words. Even the Innkeeper has hinted at the fact that the long absence of my brothers and I from the empire has caused the rtions between our families to sour." "Jotun what¡­ what are you saying?" Elinor asked, genuinely shocked by what she was hearing. Although it may seem as if he had said something casual, he had said in very simple words that a rebellion was brewing¡­ likely spurred by their own descendants! But Jotun did not answer. Instead, he looked directly at Ragnar and asked, "general, tell me honestly, where do your loyalties lie?" Ragnar looked down at the ground in shame. Standing before him was the strongest human alive. A flick of his finger would be enough to decimate Ragnar, so it was all but impossible to lie to him. He had to be honest. "Forgive me, majesty, but my loyalty lies not with the empire, but with the human race." Silence fell in the room as Elinor and Ragnar both waited for Jotun to reply. For a general of the empire to speak such words¡­n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Tell me, Ragnar, are you married?" Jotun asked. Chapter 519 Being Responsible Ragnar was startled by the question, as that was not what he was expecting. "Your majesty¡­ I¡­ marriage, I¡­" "Alright, alright, forget about it. Let''s focus on other things. I admire your strength of character, child, but that''s all you really have at the moment. Don''t let your sessful tribtion get to your head. You''re too weak to be talking about the good or bad of the human race. These are things you''re not yet qualified to even think about, so let''s focus on something else. Tell me, why do you think you''re being sent to your death?" A hint of shame shed through Ragnar''s mind. It had been a very long time since he felt like a child being admonished by an adult, but before the emperor, that is what he truly was. Like the emperor said, there were too many things he was unqualified to know. But what he did know was that, despite the miniscule size of the empirepared to the origin realm, it was not just the humans of the empire who were being supported by the emperor. Currently, the devils used the humans to farm their demons openly, but not many other races acted so tantly despite feeling superior to humans. But this had not always been the case. As an immortal, Ragnar had ess to a higher level authority on the Henali portal, and so he had read the history of the human race, as scarcely recorded as it was.N?v(el)B\\jnn The human race was one of the most popr races to have as ves realm-wide simply because they started out in the mortal realm, and unless they actively cultivated, they were unable to resist their superiors. As such, by restricting their ability to cultivate, most races took advantage of them. They had the intellect and mobility to be perfect ves. Back then, there were truly very few human forces worthy of note in the entire realm. Other than the Sephore family, there were only the Pdins, the Beast masters and the Merfolk. By the time the emperor rose to power, and single-handedly raised the prestige of the human race, the Merfolk had already been driven to the point of extinction due to the unique threat their bloodlines posed. Although Ragnar was not exactly clear on what the emperor had done that changed so much, he knew that he himself was far from reaching such a level. He focused his thoughts and began listing everything that had raised his suspicions. What greatly surprised him was that¡­ even the emperor himself was shocked to learn of the Jom! It seemed the gap inmunication in the empire was bigger than it had seemed. To some degree, it was expected. After all, the empire spanned gxies. Not all ces had ess to the Henali portal equally. But something like this¡­ What Ragnar didn''t know was that Jotun was genuinely much more rmed that he let on. A growing Jom was not a rebellion against the empire, it was a rebellion against the Henali! ***** After doing his research at the portal, Lex was relieved that the fruit he needed was not exceptionally rare. At leastpared to the ore Lex needed to strengthen his own body, it was not a big deal. Not wanting to waste any time, he teleported over to the Emporium and ced his order, while also collecting histest batch of techniques for the library. They did not have the fruit in stock but they could get it soon enough, considering Lex''s high customer level. If Lex hadn''t been suspicious that the Emporium was actually the result of a system, he would have directly given them a key and invited them to open a store at the Inn. It would be so convenient for the Inn. When Lex returned to the Inn, he already had a list of tasks nned out for himself but two notifications made him pause. The first one was expected - someone had finally discovered the first Minor realm. Once the discovery had been made, the entrance to the Minor realm became a lot more evident and took the shape of a single wooden door. About a thousand guests had already entered the realm in the short few minutes Lex was gone to the emporium, and more were continuously entering. As for what was on the other end, there was no news yet. The second news was unexpected. He had been sent a warning from Larry via the hologram. Apparently, there was someone identical to him at the Inn called William. The warning was not because they looked identical, or that William had expressed curiosity towards Lex once he found out about him. That was only a natural reaction someone would have once they learned someone looked simr or identical to them. Instead, William and his brothers had disyed an interest in earth that unsettled Larry. Other than asking about Lex, they also asked a lot of questions about Marlo. They had exined the source of their curiosity was the fact that Marlo''s name was high in the guest registry, and while that was a reasonable exnation for their curiosity, Larry felt extremely wary. He then also shared the news that Marlo was about to make a move against the prisoners on earth by himself and that Larry was intending on joining him. He invited Lex to join, if he was interested. Lex sighed. The issue with William was a real headache, and in the back of his mind he had been considering returning to earth to confront his family. While he had been angry originally, he suppressed his anger and decided not to jump to conclusions until he heard their exnation. He also didn''t want too much trouble caused on earth, as he still had lingering attachment to the he grew up on. Yet there was also a part of him that wanted to forget all of that, and just stay at the Inn. It would be so easy to give up on those problems. But Lex had been trying to be more responsibletely, so he knew he couldn''t just give up on it. Lex sent him a letter telling Larry that he''d avoid William, and that he''d join him on earth. As for the repercussions¡­ well, he couldn''t control the whole universe. He would do what he could, but he held no expectations of bing some random hero that protects the from every disaster. Chapter 520 Retreat Things at the Midnight Inn were going great. The festival was a great sess and in the span of a few hours five different Minor realms had been discovered. Nearly a hundred thousand guests had already entered the realms, except for one which apparently had an age restriction. Only those below 20 years of age could enter that realm, for whatever reason. While that dissuaded ordinary guests from trying to enter, as humans, beasts and other races alike were usually still very weak at that age, several sects were greatly interested. The Evil Diplo sect were the first to gather at the portal and sent countless members of their sects, alongside their ves below the age limit. But while they were the first to act, they were not the only ones who had such an idea. Soon dozens of other sects who had unexpectedly arrived at the Inn during the festival also began sending their younger generation inside, including even the Pdins. That one Minor realm became a confrontational ground for the various secs, especially since they were banned from fighting at the inn. It wasn''t as if they hadn''t tried, but the Inn was a lot stricter now with such a situation. The guards would immediately capture whoever started a confrontation and exile them from the Inn, irrespective of their excuse. Being banned from the Inn was too major a loss for these sects who had just discovered this excellent holynd. But the Inn had given specific disimers that its protection did not extend to the Minor realms, so everyone should only proceed at their own discretion. While that represented danger, it also represented an opportunity topete for unimed resources. The sects would never give up such an opportunity. Lex sat in his office, monitoring the situation. The Minor realms had increased his MP earnings because many woulde back in need of Recovery pods, or would put up the treasures they obtained for sale at the Guild room. This was exactly the kind of progress he liked to see. He could tell that the Minor realms would bring in even more guests soon enough, and that even the vige would be too crowded. He would need to build yet another settlement, so he once again began working with the nning division.N?v(el)B\\jnn He had Main street, which had some of the Inn''s unique attractions but also handled less of the crowds. The vige was where most of the guests spent their time because that''s where most of the attractions and entertainment were located. The third settlement would have to be focused around the Minor realms. Watching the Inn grow was exciting, but he was in a rush because the Grand Prix would start the next day and he was participating in that. He wanted the new settlement to already be in ce before that began, as the race would be the perfect opportunity to bring attention to it by having the track pass through it. But while Lex was busy with expanding the Inn, there was something else going on that had escaped his attention. With the Host Attire and his office chair making him in sync with the Inn it wasn''t as if he hadn''t been exposed to it, but with the number of things going on at the Inn, this really was not worth giving any extra attention to. While the numerous guests and even staff underwent a growth period due to thetest star rating increase, many of the normal animals at the Inn had only barely benefited from it. Such was the case with the many Magikarpet that Lex had brought to the Inn. Their vitality had increased and their colors grew more lustrous. One of them, however, was experiencing something very unusual. It had fallen into a slumber, allowing its body to fall to the bottom of theke where the fish lived. As if the unusually long slumber was not odd enough, in recent days its body had started to emit a soft glow. A dim but clear light was emitted from between the Magikarpets scales, but as the days went by, the light began to get brighter and brighter. Eventually the light became so bright that it started to attract attention, not only of its fellow Magikarpet, but of the various guests who were swimming in theke. Thinking they had discovered another entrance to a Minor realm many swarmed towards the light but, before they could actually approach the Magikarpet, its shape began to change! A storm of spirit energy appeared over the fish, simr to the one that had epassed Lex during his breakthrough, and its body began growing rapidly. From just a few feet in size, it rapidly grew to a dozen feet, then to twenty before it began slowing down until it reached around twenty-five feet (7.6 meters) in length. A heavy, intimidating aura enveloped its still shining body, resulting in all the guests retreating in rm! The light continued to envelop the shape for a few more minutes as its body changed further, but when the light faded, it revealed a new monstrosity. No longer did it have the soft and cute round eyes of the Magikarpet, and no longer did it have warm, red scales that made one want to cuddle with it. No, Magikarpet had mutated into a ferocious creature with each and every fiber of its being radiating a savage aura. Its strength was not from a growth in spiritual cultivation, but rather its body packed strength that could shake the very seas. The various Magikarpets in theke slowly swam to the new being to observe it, and then began swimming around it as if carrying out some ritual. But the creature was not paying attention to any of that. As a being that belonged to the Inn, the moment it grew and gained sentience, it automatically became an Inn employee. So its attention waspletely diverted to a screen that had appeared in front of it, with words written on it that the beast could somehow read. The screen read: ''For the first annual Inn employee retreat, please list down any dietary restrictions. Also, please confirm whether you would like dancing lessons before the retreat." Chapter 521 Immortal Bastion Creating a third settlement was an exciting task for Lex, but first he had to decide where to build it. The Midnight Manor was right in the center of the Inn, Main street was right below it to the south, and the vige, where most of the entertainment was based, was to the west. To the north was the greenhouse, which was ever expanding, so Lex wanted to avoid building in that direction. That left only the east without anything major, so that is where he decided to build. The design of the third settlement was very different from anything Lex had built before, for he did not want to pack all the guests densely in a concentrated area. Instead, it would be a vast, sprawling development spread over arge area. Instead of tall buildings and structures, there would be a multitude of buildings one or two stories high dotting the entire region. As was customary every time he added something prominent to the Inn, he expanded the size of the Inn. It was not too much, just about 20,000 acres ofnd added in the east for a total of two hundred million MP. It was not an exaggeration to say 20,000 acres was not a lot ofnd. A single state in the US took up millions of acres of so the Inn which was still only in the hundreds of thousands was miniscule. Adding a new location also meant making alterations to the various transport systems avable at the Inn to include it. Train tracks wereid down, roads were cut through grass, the path of thezy river was altered and Lex finally also added an airport. As amazing as it would be to have helicopters fly guests around the Inn, they were much too noisy and inefficient. With Xeon as a member of the Inn now, Lex had him purchase a few hundred ships via the Guild room and optimize them for the Inn''s use. Massive jets capable of vertical takeoffs while stayingpletely silent filled the garages in the airports. Each jet was capable of carrying anywhere between 100 to 300 guests at a time, and could traverse the entire length of the Inn in merely a couple of minutes - only because they kept their eleration withinfort levels even for mortals. Naturally, a couple of other airports were also included at the other areas of the Inn. With transportation taken care of, it was time to look at theyout of the new settlement. But first, Lex wanted to give it a name. Continuously calling it a settlement or development was tedious. Lex''s naming sense wasn''t the best, but since he had decided to do things properly, he didn''t let them make him do things half-heartedly. Each area of the Inn had been designed with a purpose in mind. Main street was where the guests who only wanted a quiet or peaceful vacation went, and the esthetic and feel of the area matched it. The vige, instead, was a happening ce with stadiums, parks, coliseums, concert halls and anything else that spoke of entertainment and thus was designed with that in mind. This new area was supposed to be a gathering ce for the more adventurous guests, with the intentions of visiting the Minor realms, or perhaps as a resting area before heading off to dangerous ces outside of the Inn. Other than eventually gathering all the entrances to the Minor halls here, Lex wanted to fill this ce with Training halls, the eventual armory he would open, pharmacies, equipment shops and anything else that would aid a guest about to venture off on a perilous journey. In the same breath, he had to remember that such guests were not usually fond of overlyplicated or embellished names. Something simple and direct would suffice. After crossing off dozens of ideas, and thoroughly going through dictionaries and thesauruses, Lex settled on the name Immortal Bastion. It would be a ce where warriors coulde for their final rest before war, a safe haven where they could prepare themselves in every sense before venturing into the unknown. With the name decided, Lex got to work. Since thistest addition was nned to be over arge area rather than concentrated around one spot, there could be no ''city center'' or main area where a few important services were centered. While this could obviously not be implemented for everything, most services had to be readily avable throughout the development. Lex began by setting down 100 ''small viges'' spread out over arge area, and around them began putting down small andrge houses as well as courtyards. Training rooms, Meditation rooms and Guild room branches were added every mile. He also added a prominent chapel-like building repeatedly where he would eventually add entrances to the Minor realms.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om If someone wanted to visit a specific Minor realm, they would have to go to a specific chapel, but if they wanted to enter one randomly, they only needed to go to the nearest one. Speaking of looking for specific Minor realms, Lex had assigned workers topile all the data avable for each Minor realm that his guests exited from. They would eventually be named andbeled, so that it was easier to identify them. Lex began working on the minor details of the Bastion, adding various monuments, fountains, parks and such to bring life to the area. But even before he had finished, the Bastion began attracting attention. Exploring the Inn had be like a game to many, especially after thetest Midnight letterhead told a story of a guest who discovered a hidden chest containing a ticket to a 1 month free stay at the Inn. During the hunt for Minor realms, many of the small, hidden rewards Lex had hid around the Inn had finally been discovered. Just as Lex had expected, that had increased the guests interest in exploring the more remote areas of the Inn, slowly uncovering the various scenic spots hidden around. Chapter 522 Grand Prix Although at the moment the Immortal Bastion was nothing more than an empty shell, with time Lex would turn it into a huge gathering spot for all kinds of adventurers. Until then, it would have to stay just as arge gathering spot for various kinds of residencies. After a couple of weeks, once more entrances to Minor realms were discovered, he would shift a few undiscovered ones and move them here. But all of that was forter. The reason he was in a rush toplete the Bastion now was because the Grand Prix was about to begin. Last-minute changes to the course would have to be made to include the Bastion, and Lex kept himself separated from it so that he would not have any unfair advantages during the race. After all, he had thoroughly enjoyed the previous race and wanted topete fairly. Moreover, the list of other racers was quite interesting as well. Lex teleported to his room to take a short nap before the race began. He did not feel tired, mentally or physically, but he had been awake for multiple days in a row once again and although physically he did not need it, it was tough to break the psychological habit of needing to sleep. Fortunately, although his breakthrough made it so that he did not need sleep, it did not interfere with his ability to fall asleep at all. When he woke up from his dreamless sleep, Lex felt a tinge of dissatisfaction. He did not feel refreshed at all, because he was not tired to begin with! Never in his life did Lex think that he wouldin of feeling too energetic and fresh, but it was taking away from one of his favorite activities! Shaking his head, Lex put the matter behind him. He dressed up casually, put on his rk Kent sses and teleported to the Inn. A massive crowd had gathered at the vige for that was both the starting and ending line for the race. Stadiums were filled to the brim with families and cheering fans, all supporting their favorite racers. Although Leo himself had only done a single race, mostly to get eligibility, most others had done quite a few races. Their intentions were to get used to the dynamics of the race and develop personal strategies, but they were in for a surprise. The format for the final race had been changed! Instead of 3ps of the track, there would only be onep. The first to cross the finish line would be the winner. But, in exchange for this rule change, the rack had been made muchrger. Not only did it go across every major attraction at the Inn, the traps and tricks were kicked up a notch. Regardless of the changes, due to the fact that Leo had only participated in one race, his following was not asrge as others, though his unique style of winning his only race had still won him some fans. Moreover, stories of how he defeated countless Nascent cultivators had also raised his poprity a bit. But it was only a bit. Compared to others, such as Brandon Morrison, Alexander''s grandfather, Pvarti, Greta Noel the famous strip poker yer, the extremely handsome Gerard, the big brother of the Inn Z, and a few others, he was not that outstanding. Moreover, Lex was certain that the participants had been extremely limited because most of those whose cultivation level was very high were still cultivating. Despite that, there were well over 100 contestants in the Grand Prix. But Lex didn''t mind hisck of poprity - that wasn''t why he had been participating in the first ce. Wearing a carefree smile, Lex got into his highly modified golf cart and made himselffortable. Unlike the previous race, where he had been near the front, this time Lex was in the absolutest row of racers. It did not matter. The race was long enough to make up for any tiny disadvantage the starting position would give. "Ladies and gents," a charismatic voice boomed over the crowds, "devils and dames, beasts and spirits, I''m your favoritementator, Awry, here with you on the first ever Golf Cart Grand Prix!" The crowd burst into an excited cheer jumping up and down at their seats. It wasn''t just the stadium that had such a reaction. Due to the convenience provided by the Inn of being able to watch all events from personal screens anywhere inside the Inn, from the peak of the Midnight mountain to the floating rubber donuts in thezy river, guests were watching the race. Although most kidscked the attention span for such a thing, some of the older ones inside the spaceship made themselvesfortable in their bean bags, ready with their chips and nuggets to snack as they watched.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Alright contestants, get inside your vehicles as I walk you through the uing event. The screens that everyone other than the contestants could see started to show the track as the racers would experience them while thementator continued to talk. "Unlike previous races, this one will only have a singlep, so there''s no time to familiarize yourself with the track, and you''ll have to deal with the surprises as theye! The power ups are all the same that you''ve already experienced, but the obstacles you will face are all new!" The crowds cheered once again while the racers psyched themselves up using their various ways. The betting, which had been open for quite a while now, was about to close. Lex himself did not bother to bet, for whether he won or lost, he would be the one making the payment. The rest of the racers, though, all bet on themselves as a show of confidence. The favorite to win the race was Gerard and Lex couldn''t me anyone for thinking as such. He''d had the perfect record so far in any race he participated in, but that was only so far. Lex tightened his grip on the steering wheel as thementator finally finished exining the race to everyone. Finally, in front of all the racers, Little Blue appeared in the sky, surrounded by red water. A momentter the water turned yellow, alongside a loud siren, and a momentter, turned green. The race had begun. Chapter 523 Interesting Unlike the previous race where Lex had a very aggressive start, he decided to drive a little more tamely this time. The primary reason for that was the fact that every other racer around him was driving like a maniac! He had not progressed ten feet (3 meters) forward when the first cart crashed into him! Lex had immediately deployed defensive techniques to keep his cart safe, but the thing was so had everyone else! Like hooligans everyone drove left and right, pushing everyone beside them off the track or trying to damage their vehicle! Since the only techniques one could use were defensive, the only way to attack other contestants was to use the power ups, or to crash the cart itself into them. When it came to the matter of a physical contest, everyone was fairly confident in their own defensive techniques, so if such rough driving continued, the first to be disqualified would be those whose techniques failed first. Lex did not think for even a moment that someone could breach his defense using only golf carts, but at the same time he was not nning on relying on such mundane tactics for knockouts. The severeck of speed and close distance between all the racers made it hard for Lex to avoid getting crashed into, so he didn''t even try. Instead, he entered into the state of ''flow'' and honed onto what his intuition told him. Instead of trying to avoid crashes, Lex began to maneuver his cart so that instead of pushed aside, he would be pushed forward! His perception of time seemed to slow down as Lex applied the limited knowledge he had gained of drifting to angle his cart just right beforehand so that when the inevitable crash came, he would move along his desired path. Since the beginning of the race had been so chaotic and exciting, the crowds were going wild while Awry could onlyment on some of the crowd favorites. Gerard was in the lead, his ingenious use of his bloodline allowing him to escape the chaos before anyone else. Even the nearest racer was far behind the racing savant, not to mention still embroiled in the mess. But, suddenly, from the corner of his eye, Awry saw something very unusual. Between all the madness that seemed to be sucking everyone in, one cart seemed to be moving with the chaos, as if it were a ship sailing over stormy waters! "Wait a minute folks, turn your attention to cart number 69!" Awry spoke with the excitement of a child. The driver seems to be using the other carts to his advantage. The random madness, when seen from the perspective of the cart, seemed a carefully orchestrated n designed to gain every possible inch over thepetition! "The other carts are not obstacles in its path but the wind beneath its proverbial wings! It''s gliding through! He just passed number 50, oh no wait, yes, he gracefully took the attack from fan favorite Brandon and bounced off of the underdog, vice-captain Booty, and he managed to push himself out of the crowd!" By the time it took the crown to find the cart thementator was talking about, Lex had already pushed away from the remaining carts! But the race had only begun, and he was not the first to escape either. He floored the elerator as he spread his spirit sense up ahead to check the track for traps! The track started at the stadium but did not leave the vige immediately. Instead, it seemed to be diverted towards the heart of the vige, where the giant orb of water floated in the sky! After a sharp turn through which Lex was able to drift beautifully, Lex finally saw the first contestant ahead of him. He did not recognize the man dressed in a giant ck hood, but that didn''t- A section of the road underneath the racer in front of Lex sprung up from the ground, a massive spring connected underneath keeping the road bouncing up and down. The contestant had beenunched vertically into the air, but his forward momentum kept him moving. For a moment Lex thought he had fallen for a trap, but then Lex saw the racernd effortlessly in a different section of the track, bypassing the ordinary pathpletely! "Cart number 13 takes the lead!" Awry suddenly roared as an image of him jumping up and down from excitement was shown in a corner of everyone''s screens. "Gerard, in cart number 01 has fallen behind. What an ingenious move by the contestant called Xenmas, although it remains to be seen if it was skill or dumb luck!" Lex himself was unsure of how the other had done so, but he did not try to emte him. Even with his intuition, it was impossible to predict what kind of trap would be triggered, so every time he sensed danger, he made sure to avoid it! And there were many such instances! Disguised almost perfectly, Lex actually ended up overlooking several traps with his spirit sense, and would have been a victim to them were it not for his intuition. But since his methods were working Lex would not waste time dwelling on it, for the first real challenge finally appeared.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om In front of him, Lex saw a shining golden box in the middle of the road. That would be a power up, something he should have been excited for. But directly behind the power up¡­ the road began inclining upwards. Slowly at first, but eventually the incline changed from being gentle to directly being vertical, aiming towards the floating orb of water in the sky! This¡­ this was not in any of the ns for the race Lex had seen! Although Lex had told Mary to overlook the design of the race, and that he would directly approve it through the system without looking at the ns¡­ this was pushing it, no? But before his brain could fry, he noticed other drivers going up the vertical road. It seemed their carts were not falling off, and had been kept attached to the road somehow. "Interesting," he said, driving straight into the power up. Chapter 524 Just Getting Started The moment Lex drove through the power up, a button on his golf that was previously gray turned blue. Lex clicked his tongue in annoyance, but didn''t focus on it for too long. He, like every other participant in the race, had memorized all the avable power ups and how to identify them. There were three buttons on the golf cart, each of which would turn a certain color based on the power up he received. Once he used up a power up, the button would once again turn gray, meaning he could hoard up to 3 power ups at a time at most. The blue power up wasn''t actually bad, but it was designed for someone who was trailing in the race. It would give the racer a temporary speed boost, its speed and duration based on how far behind he was. Although Lex could not tell for certain, since the entire track was not visible to him, he was fairly certain he was in the top 10, so the boost would be short and tame. But beggars couldn''t be choosers. Lex''s cart started going up the incline, the eleration clearly dropped as the engine used more power to keep it climbing. Lex felt nervous about the climb, but there was no other track for him to follow. The gradient of the climb kept increasing, and kept slowing Lex down, right up until it reached about 50 degrees. Lex felt a subtle shift in the way the cart was moving, and guessed that a hidden formation had been activated because gravity no longer seemed to be pulling him down towards the ground, and instead the direction of gravity was the road itself! As if that wasn''t enough, the speed of his cart skyrocketed and within moments, he found himself driving vertically up and reaching the floating orb. The speed boost exined why everyone else was so far ahead of him that he could barely see anyone. The only reason Lex could even see Xenmas was because he had skipped the track for the orb entirely! The track went through a small tunnel right in the orb, and Lex once again entered his state of flow! His elerated speed greatly tested his reaction time, and the tunnel going through the water was swerving left and right, making it hard for Lex to anticipate the uing path! But due to his ever-increasing experience with drifting, his intuition and his state of flow, Lex did not slow down at all as he navigated the water tunnel! Due to the fact that Lex never slowed down, he quickly caught up to the driver right ahead of him, but he immediately noticed something off! Even if the driver had slowed down for the turns, as someone who had gone through the preliminary round, he shouldn''t have needed to slow down this much to navigate the tunnel. His intuition suddenly red a warning for uing danger, and Lex did not hesitate to swerve his steering wheel as hard as he could, pull the handbrake and hit the power up button at the same time! "DRIFT KING LEO IS AT IT AGAIN!" roared thementator as his body trembled from the adrenaline rush. The camera quickly cut to Lex, showing what happened in slow motion. One moment he was going straight, and the next moment he started moving diagonally, while actually increasing his speed somehow! The next moment, the screen showed Leo''s cart dodging a spear that had beenunched from the water right underneath the track! The spear was hard to see due to it being underneath the track that was now made of water, and its timing had been perfect. Yet the smoothe evasive maneuver pulled off by Leo and his calm expression told that everything was within his control. Countless guests were beginning to switch their loyalty towards Leo, clearly impressed by his skill, when he discovered a secret none of the drivers before him had considered! The shift in gravity had not resulted from the track, but from within the cart itself! Leo had drifted right to the top of the tunnel, passing the contestant ahead of him while driving literally right above him! Leo ended the drift and continued to the race, his cart not slowing down for even a moment the entire time! With that single move, Leo had determined himself as one of the favorites for the race, but it was unknown if his ster performance would continue. After all, the race had just begun, and many were already catching up behind him! Lex himself was not nearly as calm as he appeared. He had just be too used to masking his emotions and keeping a calm demeanor. But internally, he was feeling exhrated! The fact that he had dodged that single spear seemed to have incensed the track, if that was possible, and countless other traps kept appearing in his way. But he kept avoiding them effortlessly, and he was having the time of his life doing it! He recalled long ago, when he had wished for more excitement in his life. For a time after that, he regretted making such a wish, mostly because he was always being hunted by zombies or wolves or misceneous bad guys, but right now he was having the time of his life! There was something about going fast, the wind in his hair, dodging all obstacles, continuing on his path unimpeded- His inner monologue ended quite abruptly when his cart suddenly slipped! Right in front of him there was a cart pile-up and due to his increased speed and loss of control, there didn''t seem to be a way to avoid crashing! He immediately entered the ''overdrive'' state and realized what had happened. On earth, thin, nearly invisibleyers of ice that formed on roads were called ck ice, mostly due to the color of the road beneath them. Regardless of what it was called, the point was that it was an imperceptibleyer of ice that covered the track, or in this case, was what the track had turned into! For the first time in the race, Lex hit the brakes without the intention of drifting! But he was not aiming to slow down, either. Suddenly hitting the brakes caused the cart to skid even more, turning sideways as it continued to hurl towards the pile up. But just as it approached, Lex shifted his left leg out the open side of the cart and stomped the track using his immense physical strength! Unanimously, the crowd''s jaws dropped as they saw Leo jump the cart sideways, using the very limited free space between the pileup and the tunnel roof - or base depending on how you looked at it - and pass through without touching a single other vehicle! Once the cartnded on the other side, it did a single, 360 degree swerve while Lex regained control and just kept on driving.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om He exited the overdrive state as soon as he crossed the hurdle, his heart beating like? a drum during a rock concert! He had never been in any physical danger, but the thought of finally stumbling across an obstacle seemed more daunting than any real danger at that point. Once across, though, he felt likeughing! He was Lex, the freaking Innkeeper- no, uh, he was Leo, the owner of Gamer''s Den. Simple obstacles such as these couldn''t phase him! In the distance, Lex saw a bright light, indicating the end of the water tunnel, finally. He had already seen bits of the track that came next and knew that vines were going to be the next big obstacle, but he wasn''t worried. With his intuition he was- ''FUDGE!" he roared in his mind the moment he exited the tunnel, because there was no track! He had beenunched straight into the clouds with no track beneath him and no indication of where he was supposed tond! He spread his spirit sense as far and wide as he could to search for where he was supposed to go next, but it was useless. Slowly and predictably, he reached the arch of hisunch. For a single, uncertain moment, he hovered in the air, before he began plummeting through the sky! Unsure of what to expect, since he was still within the clouds, his viewpletely blocked, Lex began using his defensive techniques to ensure the cart would survive the crash when, abruptly and unexpectedly, he sensed a track! He mmed the elerator even before hended. His defensive technique had been employed just in time as his cart bounced on the ground once before firmly nting itself on the ground and continuing forward. He burst through the clouds to realize where he was! He was in the floating city above the vige, on a track that waspletely separate from the one he had seen on the ground! How would this work? He didn''t have time to ponder as his intuition kicked in, warning of an attacking from behind him. Lex recognized the sound of iing artillery, and knew that someone behind him had used a power up targeting him! Chapter 525 100,000 Bated Breaths! Lex recognized the distinct sound of cloth pping in the wind and knew exactly what power up wasing for him. It was troubling because this particr power up had a homing function, so it wasn''t easy to avoid. This was not a matter of defense, and he dared say that even if he used Talk to the Hand and put up a barrier, it would not be enough to escape from the effects of this particr power up. If he still had the speed boost power up, he could have used it at the right moment to escape, but since he did not he would have to get creative. Without even needing to think about it, he entered the state of flow and drove his cart to the edge of the track. Relying on his keen intuition, his incredible sense of hearing and his spirit sense that he had surrounded his cart with, he waited for the power-up toe just close enough. One second, two¡­ Before the third second could arrive, Lex struck his hand out of the cart and grabbed onto a street light just off the track. Latching onto the cart as tightly as he could, he used his grip on the street light as a pivot and had the cart spin a full circle around the pole, abruptly moving out of its original trajectory. Just as he was about to get back onto the track, he saw a massive white nket throw itself where his cart should have been! This was a power-up called the Mummy wrap, and basically consisted of a white, indestructible nket that wouldpletely wrap itself around the moving golf carts, obstructing not only the view but also the spirit senses! Itsted an enormous 10 seconds, which was long enough for a speed cart to crash somewhere or go off course directly! More importantly, it provided the driver right behind to overtake thepetition. From the corner of his eye, Lex noticed a driver catching up to him. He immediately recognized the infamous Noel sister, Greta! Although she was too far for Lex to hear what she was screaming, his phenomenal eyesight allowed him to read her lips and pick up on some of the curse words she was using. It seemed she was upset over Lex dodging her power up. The crowds watching, however, were all ecstatic and could not get enough of Leo''s driving. To be honest, Leo was nowhere near the level of Gerard, who had yet to enter a single precarious situation at all. But it was the constant close calls that got the viewers adrenaline pumping, and his ever stoic expression that elevated his image. But Lex could not be bothered by any of that now. An intersection in the track wasing up! On the left, Lex could clearly see a power-up floating within reach, but the right path was descending - a way back to the track below! Lex had neither the time to debate his options nor the will to gamble. In such a moment, he reliedpletely on his intuition, and turned towards the left path. The button for the power-ups turned red, making Lex grin.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om The Kamikaze bomber was perceived as one of the more useless power ups, considering it caused a powerful explosion right on the users cart. But for Lex and his incredible defense that was not a problem at all. Moreover, it provided him with an excellent way to removepetitors as long as he got close enough! It could also help him avoid certain other power ups targeting him as well. A very versatile tool. But though he got the power up, he had to pay the corresponding price! The track led him right off the edge of the floating city, driving on a path made of clouds. But his intuition was ring, letting him know that not all clouds were solid and he could easily plummet to the ground. He was not afraid of falling from heights, but rather losing his position in the race. He could no longer tell what position he was at, but he was sure it was probably near the front. With no safety guard rails to keep him on track, and his intuition only warning him where there was danger, Lex''s driving seemed to be haphazard. Many viewers became confused for a moment, before their screens suddenly highlighted the actual track in green, and all the clouds that would allow Lex to fall as red. Sucking in a quick, cold breath, they finally realized just how precarious Lex''s situation was. To be fair, anyone with a keen observation would also be able to detect the correct path due to how the clouds behaved differently, where they were solid and where they weren''t, but no one had the time for that! A few, tense minutester, Lex finally got off the clouds. But that did not mean his track had be any easier to navigate. He had gotten off at the tip of Midnight Mountain and now had to drive down a snowy track spiraling across the mountainside. Just as he was trying to get an understanding of how the cart drove on a snowy track, a cart literally fell out of the sky in front of him! The cart, which was covered in a golden bubble, did not slow down even for a second and continued to hurtle directly down the Mountain side with no regard for the track! "Brandon, you juvenile geezer!" roared someone from another cart, which also crashed down from the sky. But this one did not have the smoothnding of the previous one, and becamepletely buried in the heavy snow! Lex didn''t pay them much mind and continued to navigate the track, but more and more carts started falling from the sky! Instead ofpetitors, they became more like obstacles for Lex to avoid. But other than falling from the heavens, the carts also had another thing inmon: they were all cursing Brandon! Lex didn''t know if he should be curious as to what the old man had done, or impressed by the sheer damage he had caused. But Lex put him out of his thoughts real quick as his keen senses picked up another power-up hidden underneath a pile of snow. Taking a small risk of slowing down, Lex drove headfirst into the pile to gain his second stacked power-up. The second button turned green. This made Lex grin. This power up had been suggested by one of his workers who had been watching popsicle the sailor man and his penchant for gaining great strength when eating spinach. This power-up would not really increase the speed of his cart, but if he rammed into anyone and hit the button, their cart would literally be thrown away as if hit by a powerful ram! Of course, there were ways of negating this ability just like any other, but it was easier said than done. Lex continued down the mountain, still managing to avoid all obstacles, but soon a general cacophony began to trail him as all the drivers who fell out of the sky reentered the race. That in itself wasn''t an issue since Lex''s driving, which allowed him to avoid slowing down at all, would continue to increase the distance between them. It was the threat of being targeted by power-ups that put pressure on Lex. Not to mention, he really didn''t like this pattern of people overtaking him by breaking through or going off course. Since going off the course, to a small degree, was technically allowed, many restrictions had been put in ce to discourage anyone from attempting such things or make it hard for them to gain any leads using these methods. But two people had already managed to do it. It seemed like they really had profited from going through multiple races. Lex had to admit that he had overestimated himself and underestimated others. But, if others could do it, so could he! Lex entered his overdrive state and began analyzing the track ahead of him, or as much of it as he could see. He had already determined where the track would proceed once he exited the mountain, so¡­ A few, patient minutes went by as Lex searched for the perfect spot, but the moment he found it he did not hesitate. Without any forewarning whatsoever, Lex veered to the right and, driving over a tree that had been growing at an angle, Lexunched himself off the mountain. As the sunlight shone down on the cart flying through the air like a pegasus, lighting up the faint, confident smile worn by Leo, a hush fell over a certain part of the stadium full of guests who had been watching him. A hundred thousand guests held their breath as they watched him fly. In a particr corner, a devil wearing a brown trench coat pulled out a small booklet from his pocket, and with a tiny yellow pencil, wrote down ''Leo''. A few familiar names above him were Gerard, Marlo and Luthor. Z''s name was also mentioned, but it had a question mark right in front of it. Chapter 526 Gelid Anima For a few brief seconds, Lex was flying through the sky. He was cutting through the track faster than he should have been allowed, and it was only now that he was breaking the rules that he was able to see that¡­ dozens of racers had already surpassed him somehow. But he wasn''t stressed or rmed at the thought of being overtaken. The race was too much fun, and encountering others who were able to surpass his expectations just lit hispetitive spirit on fire. At that moment, something unusual happened. Lex entered a statepletely unlike any he had experienced. The first abnormal state he had ever encountered was the flow state. The reason he called it the flow state was because it allowed him to perform every single action with absolute perfection and efficiency, something that was impossible for him to do under normal circumstances. Even with his increased brain power and control due to his raised cultivation, he could not match the precision the flow state afforded him. His actions seemed to flow from one to the next without a break or pause, or the need to think and analyze. It was like achieving the hypothetical peak performance he was capable of unleashing. The first time he had used it was long before he had anybat skill or sense of his own, yet he was surrounded by a horde of zombies, impossible for him to ovee. But in that moment that should have led to his death, he did not freeze nor he did not cower. Instead overcame the limits of his own experiences and killed his way out. The next unusual state he had encountered was the overdrive state. That, once again, hade to Lex when he was faced with death. Regardless of how ipetent he himself was, the host of the Murder system had been extremely dangerous. Although Lex was the ultimate victor, had his performancecked even a bit, he would have been a victim to that man''s immense luck. The overdrive state allowed him to push his mind and body beyond its normal limits, achieving what he normally would not have at the expense of great exhaustion. In fact, Lex had long suspected that the toll of the overdrive state would have absolutely wrecked his body had hecked the foundation of the Regal Embrace. While both those states were incredibly useful, and Lex had used them often, a trait they both had inmon was that they wouldpletely subdue his emotions. While Lex did not bepletely emotionless, he wasrgely ruled by logic and the urgency of the tasks on hand. The results had not been contrary to what Lex wanted, but it seemed more like achieving the result on autopilot than doing because it satisfied his emotions. In practice, that made no real difference and Lex never really even considered it a drawback worth mentioning, considering both the states allowed him to go above and beyond what he normally could not. But this new state¡­ it was the opposite.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Perhaps one of the reasons Lex never encountered it before was because he was unable to physically support it. His stamina started draining rapidly as he felt each and every muscle in his body tense up and rx, readily filling him with a strength that would have otherwise required immense concentration and focus. His already fast reaction speed was kicked up a notch. His already racing thoughts were boosted beyond anything he could achieve on his own, making him feel like the world was moving in slow motion. Moreover, instead of his emotions being suppressed and his mind making the most efficient decisions, his emotions were excited beyond measure and he was left with the ultimate freedom to do as he desired. While the previous two states were focused mostly on his mind and making his actions efficient, this one boosted his physical skills to the max and drove his emotions into a frenzy. It was like he was given a toy and allowed to do whatever he wanted. With the only small difference being that his own body and immense strength were the toys, and what he wanted to do was win. The moment his cartnded on the ground, and Lex became slightly ustomed to this new ''berserk'' state, he came to a new understanding of what was happening. He had assumed that because the race was organized by the system and the event panel, no one would be able to cheat. But hepletely forgot that he himself was always looking for loopholes in everything rted to the system. As such, it only made sense that such was also possible during the race. With a mad grin that had an eerie resemnce to Marlo''s signature look, Lex floored the elerator. Suddenly, not only did he want to win the race, he wanted to do it while causing more chaos than even Brandon. ***** William was sitting in his room, looking over a document. Damian had sent it to the Inn, and insisted that he take a look over it. While William originally had all his attention focused on Lex, after reading this document, he was greatly interested in his sisters as well. But, most importantly, as a leader of the human race, he was most interested in their mother, Serene Williams. "How did you do it?" he murmured as he read the document again and again. His eyes kept switching to a few key points, trying to wrap his head around it. The most important points were: Belle Williams - born with the heart of a Valkyrie. Liz Williams - born with mythical 100%patibility to Beast Master path. Moon Williams - born with mutated soul sense that allows her to aid immortals during the mind tribtion. Any 3 of these abilities were¡­ were actually genuinely unheard of in the human race, yet all three had urred in siblings. What was driving him crazy was that if the parents had not chosen to hide these astounding abilities, what was it about Lex that caused them to hide him? But, regardless of whatever ability Lex had, he was more interested in Serene, who had somehow achieved this. Not that he was looking down on Leon, Lex''s father, but his entire life was documented so there was no reason to believe he had the ability to do anything so remarkable. In fact, before meeting Serene, even Leon''s skills were somewhat mediocre, at least as far as the entire Jotun empire was concerned. After meeting her, however, his prowess with the sword seemed to have increased. Unfortunately, he would not get the answer to his question any time soon since Leon and Serene had disappeared without a trace. But Williams'' reverie suddenly broke when he felt a chance from within his own body. The so-called bloodline of the Williams family was actually just a watered-down version of skills he had developed on his own. The bloodline was something his descendants could unlock, though he himselfcked any such bloodline. Yet at that moment, which was coincidentally the same moment Lex entered his Berserk state, William Sephore, founder of the William family and creator of the Gelid Anima bloodline, felt himself gaining a bloodline. Chapter 527 Alls Fair Alexander Morrison was sitting alone and pondering fate. He did not know if it existed, and there was no real answer even with the Jotun Empire. He had heard a few odd mentions of the term destiny, but even then he had never managed to gain any insight about its existence.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om But if fate, or destiny, or whatever else existed, it was such a strange thing. It was a thing beyond his understanding - genuinely. Someone could be born with so much, only to learn that all that he has is not actually worth so much. Or, sometimes, in life nothing significant would happen for so long, and when important events started happening, they all happened at the same time. His thoughts were in chaos, not really following any certain path. Through the Empire''s guidance and the use of the Inn''s excellent facilities and services, he had once again returned to the Golden core realm. He had also be much more powerful than he had ever been, which is exactly what he wanted. But for reasons he could not understand, he still felt a strange emptiness. There was an anxiousness in his chest he could not quieten and an irritation that ate away at his mind he could notprehend. He had experienced this feeling a couple times before, but every time he did, he would throw himself into some training or battle, but currently he could do neither. From an early age he had been trained to ovee every obstacle and continuously surpass himself, so he wasn''t really the type to ignore a little bit of anxiety. The problem was, try as he might, he just could not understand what the cause of the feeling was. "What''s her name?" asked a stranger sitting beside Alexander. The young man was genuinely startled. So lost in his thoughts was he, that he hadpletely forgotten his surroundings and let down his guard,pletely missing the stranger who approached him. But looking at him, the stranger looked no older than him, and seemed just as weary as him, if not more. "I''m sorry, what?" he asked, unsure what the question had meant. But his question only caused the other to chuckle. "I know that look well, friend. I know it so well. It''s a girl. It''s always a girl." For a moment, he fell silent again, looking down at the ground in front of him. "Sometimes I wonder what''s the point of it all? What''s the point of being born into a wealthy family if it keeps you from doing what you want? What''s the point of a strong cultivation if you''re not strong enough to be with the one you love?" The stranger''s body trembled as he seemed to be holding himself back from doing something drastic. Eventually, though, the intensity faded and the man let out a defeated sigh. "Please excuse me," he said, looking down at the ground, somehow feeling it an impossible task to look up at Alexander. "I was supposed to reunite with my girlfriend at the Inn. She''s the most beautiful girl in the world with the most beautiful name: Ayesha. But it''s been an entire year, yet she has never appeared again." If Lex had seen this scene, he would have recognized the boy as Hairs, one of the two teenage lovers who had been guests at the Inn in its early days. Yet now hecked the vibrancy and vigor of youth he had back then. "I suspect¡­ I suspect our families have done something behind our back." Abruptly, Haris stood up. "Sorry for rambling. I''ve been like that these past few days." Without waiting for a response, he disappeared from the Inn, his eyes filled with exhaustion, but also conviction. Alexander was left feeling bewildered about the strange encounter. But, the encounter had also prompted him to think about a name he hadn''t thought of in so long: Helen. She too had disappeared so long ago, and had never returned. Alexander did not even realize his hand had clenched into a fist. ***** A Jotun soldier ran out of a Minor realm, a rather hidden one that no one else had discovered so far, in a panic. The moment he returned to the Inn he immediately requested his personal hologram to contact General Ragnar! Although the soldier was an insignificant nobody who should not have even had the authority to converse with the general ever, he believed he would be forgiven for the transgression when he shared the news he had discovered! ***** The race''s intensity had not decreased as time went on, but had only gotten more extreme! Lex was currently driving on a tform only 15 feet wide. It seemed plenty, honestly, if one overlooked the fact that the tform was attached to an extremely long, moving train. Moreover, Lex had closed the distance with those ahead of him, meaning he shared the tform with several other racers. So not only did he have to manage the momentum of his own speeding cart, but anticipate centrifugal force applied every time the train itself turned around a bend while also dodging the carts racing beside him. But, Lex being in a berserk state, wasn''t really in the mood for carefully dodging all the carts and driving past them. Hitting his power-up that allowed him to ram opponents away, he directly crashed into the cart in front of him. The cart alongside its driver, a familiar demon called Pramod, were hurled directly into the air. This might have worked to his benefit, throwing them far ahead of everyone, if he hadn''t been using a power-up of his own, binding his cart with that of a racer in front of him. The two carts pulling each other in different directions were ultimately swept directly off the track and fell somewhere on the side. Laughing with triumph, Lex made his way to the front of the train where there was a boosted ramp that wouldunch him off the tform and back onto the real track. But how could things be so easy? Right behind him was Z, the big brother of the Inn, and direct employee of Leo. Although Z was not vindictive by nature, something about watching his boss have the time of his life while Z himself worked endlessly brought out a side of him he had never known. ''All''s fair in video games and war,'' he thought to himself and activated his bloodline. Chapter 528 Short Sprint During the golf cart racing, using any techniques to attack was not allowed. But as Lex had already clearly learned, there were clearly ways one could work around the rules. Regalia Bloom was the bloodline that the Inn workers had, and allowed the user to manipte energy through weapons or items. While Gerard, who had now undergone two bloodline evolutions, could use the ability a lot more freely than the rest, Z himself also had exceptional skill. His eyes took on a silver color and his cart was covered in a simr silver hue. While he was unable to make his cart fly using his bloodline in the way Gerard did, there were other things he could do. He smashed down an orange button, using his power up that activated boosters behind the cart, giving it a massive speed boost. The cart shot forward like a rocket and mmed directly into Lx''s cart. Or, it almost did. A massive, invisible shield had appeared right behind Lex, saving him from getting rammed. He had used Talk to the Hand, and that should have been the end of it. After all, Z had crashed into an imprable wall at maximum speed. His cart should have been crushed. But not only was his cart fine, the silver hue around it started to grow brighter. A momentter, to Lex''s genuine andplete surprise, the so-called imprable defense that he had relied on vanished. Z''s cart, which still had its boosters active, crashed into Lex''s cart. But something unusual happened. Instead of being knocked out of the way, Lex''s cart suddenly started losing its momentum before turning offpletely! Due to his magnified emotions, for the first time Lex ended up breaking his stoic expression, recing it with a look of surprise. He did not understand what had happened, but he could clearly tell Z was responsible as he moved past Lex and zoomed away. But surprised though he may be, Lex reacted quickly. He hit the button to turn his cart back on and, fortunately, nothing was broken, so it turned back on perfectly fine. Although the functionality of the berserk state was different from the overdrive state, the function of both of them was founded on Lex''s own capabilities. Even without the mental boost from his other state, Lex was able to determine quickly what had actually happened. Z had absorbed all the energy not only from his own crash into Lex''s defense, but all the spiritual energy that powered Talk to the Hand. While theoretically possible, this was not an easy feat at all, and only became possible because many factors aligned perfectly. The first was that Talk to the Hand was not suited for use in the Golden core, so although it was seemingly stronger with him using it in the Golden Core realm, it was also more unstable, which allowed Z to easily take control of the energy that made up the technique. The second was when their carts connected when Z rammed him. Instead of trying to knock him off the track, Z absorbed the energy that his golf cart was using to function. Thepse in energy caused the machine to stall, and then shut down. Finally, Z channeled all that energy which, technically, he had absorbed to protect his cart from suffering from the repercussions of multiple collisions, and channeled it to the boosters that had activated from the power up. The result was silver mes that shot his cart far ahead of Lex, the source of the energy itself. Despite being beaten badly, Lex didn''t feel bad. It was actually quite amusing to encounter such unpredictable situations. But at the same time, if he wanted to win, he better stop letting others get a lead on him. If he had been in his emotionless, overdrive state Lex would havee up with some ingenious n that maximized his efficiency and won that way. But since he was going berserk, and he also wanted to create a bigger spectacle than Brandon, he did somethingpletely unexpected. He jumped out of the golf cart and lifted it over his head, pressing down on the elerator with his hand so that the cart was going at full speed when he was ready to set it back down. Then, using the ridiculous boost to his physical abilities the berserk state afforded him, he started running. Technically, this was not him using any techniques and just running. The fact that his normal running speed in a short sprint was ridiculous was inconsequential, as he was not breaking any rules. *****n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om The soldier who had run out of the Minor realm came scurrying back, but this time he was followed by general Ragnar, as well as two other people he did not recognize. But since the general allowed the man and woman to follow him, they must have sufficient standing. "This is the realm, general," he said, between breaths. Despite his cultivation in the golden core he was extremely tired, which showed just how much energy he had exerted on delivering the news as fast as possible. "Has anyone entered the pagoda?" the general asked as he stood before the realms entrance. "A few, all at various levels. I suspect the restriction is on age and not cultivation level." "And how did you recognize the heritage?" the general asked, turning his attention to the soldier. Suddenly he recalled something and asked "your name is g right? You were the first soldier to venture into the Midnight Inn?" "Yes sir! The reason I recognized the heritage, sir, was that after being exposed to the Inn, I made a request to transfer to the Historical Anomalies department, sir!" The historical anomalies department was one that studied vague, ancient histories and vague unknown powers in the universe. Practically speaking there was not much use to them, but in certain situations their expertise was useful. This happened to be such a situation. "Why do you think it''s an age restriction and not a power level restriction?" the man beside the general asked g did not hesitate to answer, for it was not in prerogative to question his superiors - even if he didn''t know who they were. "Sir, some of the soldiers who entered are in the same realm as me, but were able to enter, while I could only watch from the outside." "Let''s see if I can do anything about those restrictions," the man said, with a hint of excitement in his voice. Chapter 529 Hallelujah As unusual as it seemed, Lex''s emotions were not so exaggerated that he would end up doing something illogical. The reason he ran with the cart lifted above him instead of driving normally was because his short burst speed was much greater than the cart itself. Before long, he leaped up into the air and got back in the driver''s seat, allowing the cart to fall back onto the tform. The cart swerved a bit and nearly fell off the moving train, but Lex managed to regain control. He was nearing the end of the train, which was outfitted with a jump ramp. Lex didn''t even want to think about what would happen if he jumped off the train to somewhere random - he was sure the track was nned better than this. But, just as he was approaching the ramp, he heard a sound in the distance that was easily recognizable, and stiffened his expression. He turned to look in the distance and saw a massive, blue-colored explosion! That was a specific power up that would onlye out if someone was too far in the lead. Dammit, even if did end up losing, he couldn''t do it without at least facing off with Gerard at least once. Lex leaped off the train, using the ramp without regard for where he wouldnd, and it seemed his suspicions were correct. He had barely gone a few feet away from the train when he felt his cart being pulled up into the air. He looked up and saw the racing track, only it continued underneath the massive spaceship! Whoever had updated the track really loved ying with gravity. As much as Lex wanted to continue enjoying the track and experiencing all the interesting features that had been added to it, he could do thatter. He had memorized where that blue explosion had taken ce and a n to get ahead formed in his mind. The cart turned upside down on its own, but that wasn''t an issue because he would have to flip if he wanted to continue on the bottom portion of the spaceship. This portion of the track was extremely different, as there was no ''track'' per se. Instead, the carts were free to drive anywhere so long as they headed in the direction of a green portal that probably teleported them elsewhere. As if that wasn''t enough, mini-turrets woulde out of the ship from time to time and shoot at the drivers. Of course, evasion at such straightforward attacks was nothing to Lex. The moment hended on the ship he began driving, and though at first he did not attract attention since everyone assumed he was only getting adjusted to the new track, it took only a few moments for him to once again gain the attention of the audience. While everyone was driving towards the portal, Lex was actually heading away from it! No one judged him or used him of being stupid, as he had proven his capabilities. So, everyone only wondered what he was up to, eagerly awaiting for him to provide them with a good show. But he kept driving in a straight line for a minute, two minutes, five minutes! At this point Lex had lost any lead he had and was trailing in the race. Everyone, even thementator, was panicking for him. But Lex waspletely calm. He looked up - or down, depending on the point of view, and saw that he was directly opposite to the portion of the Inn where the blue explosion had happened. He smiled, and employed one of the new defensive techniques he had picked out for himself from the vast collection he had gotten from the Infinity Emporium. It was called ''Introverts Dream'' and created a bubble around Lex, isting him from any unnatural external influences! While this technique couldn''t protect him from any direct attacks, it had many other incredible uses. Such as¡­ Without breaking his momentum, the wheels of the cart detached from the ship and then, with increasing speed, Lex continued to fall from the sky! His technique had freed him from the influence of the artificial gravity that had brought him into the sky, allowing him to fall directly towards the end of the track! For a couple of minutes, no one noticed his descent, as they had turned their attention towards other racers who were activelypeting in the races. But the moment the first person noticed a cart falling out of the sky, his excited yell alerted all the others. "It''s raining men!" screamed a little girl in the stadium as she pointed towards the screen. "Hahaha no, not men, it''s-" the girl''s mother tried to correct her, but when she looked at the screen she paused. Behind Lex''s cart, also falling from the sky, was Z! How could he have believed it was so easy to get rid of Leo? He had been directly hired by the Innkeeper, after all. Z did not care about winning, as long as he made Leo lose! So he had kept an eye on his boss throughout, and the moment he saw him deviating, a gut feeling made him follow along. Of course, there were quite a few others who also followed as well. After all, if two racers were doing something unusual, there had to be a secret, right? Since they were losing anyway, there wasn''t much to lose. The result was, as the little girl so aptly put it, a rain of men alongside their carts. On the ground, a seemingly random guest crawled out of a tent and stretched under the light of the new day. She had gone camping just to get away from the crowds as, after a bad breakup, she just wanted to be alone. The excellent atmosphere of the Inn and some time away from wretched men did her good, and she was already feeling better. A few more days of this and¡­ Before she couldplete her thought, Lexnded in his cart right in front of her! He had naturally employed various techniques to defend his cart from the impact, so instead of crashnding, it was as if a feather were touching down on the ground. He spared the woman no thought as he raced towards the track. If he didn''t get back on in 10 seconds, he would be disqualified. The woman, instead, was momentarily startled by the descent of the handsome stranger. Then she looked up and saw the horde about to descend on her.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Chapter 530 The Pagoda Lex, of course, was well aware of the fact that he had been followed. There wasn''t much he could do about that, as his only power up at the moment was the kamikaze explosion. Fortunately, his little maneuver paid off, as he climbed back on the track with a few seconds to spare. Moreover, the massive scorch marks where the cart in the lead had been targeted let Lex know he was on the right path. Only¡­ there was no indication of the cart that had been targeted. Lex had to assume that whoever the driver was, Gerard most likely, had somehow survived. All of them were driving the same cart? How had he even gained such a lead? Lex was genuinely curious now, and decided to watch a rey of the race after it was over. But it wasn''t over yet. The track led into the massive forest that surrounded the greenhouse. This would be tricky, as he had repeatedly strengthened the formation that would disrupt an intruder''s sense of direction if they ventured in too deeply, and currently he would be ssified as an intruder. For once Lex withdrew his spirit sense back in, so as to not identally touch the formation, and readied himself for an interesting drive. But something unexpected happened. Mary appeared sitting on his shoulder, dressed up in the attire of a racers pit crew.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "There''s a situation. I would have waited to contact you, but there''s a guest who wants to meet with you and they''re iming it''s extremely urgent." Even though Lex paid attention to what Mary said, his focus on the track had not dropped. Histest increase in cultivation made it so he could easily divide his mind into separate tasks without influencing one another, so even if he had full-fledged conversations with Mary, the amount of focus he would give to his driving would remain undiluted. "Who''s the guest?" he asked out of curiosity. Since Mary herself said the situation was urgent, he doubted it was an ordinary guest. "It''s emperor Jotun and general Ragnar, alongside ady I believe is the emperor''s wife. They all look¡­ agitated." The emperor, the empress and the general. If they had alle together for an urgent matter, it wasn''t something Lex could ignore. "Send them to my office," he said, deciding to meet them with his projection. "They''re already there." Considering the fact that they wanted to meet urgently, Lex wasn''t surprised that they were already waiting for his office. He used his Remote Presence to create a projection of himself sitting at his desk. Merely a momentter, the trio entered the room, allowing Lex to analyze them. He immediately realized a couple of interesting things. First, while Mary had said they were agitated, a more apt description would be that they seemed excited. It was not rm or worry that painted their faces, but suppressed tion. Second, the 6th sense he had gained from the Mystery trial could be used even through his projection! Although he had yet to say anything, he could feel it activate in preparation for the conversation they were about to happen. But before he began the conversation, he observed the woman and checked her status. Name: Elinor Jotun Age: 298,555 Sex: Female Cultivation Details: ???(Too high for host to see) Species: Human Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Remarks: Stop ogling at married women. Elinor looked more mature than her husband, though that in no way diminished her beauty. But it was not because of her beauty that Lex was paying special attention to her. It was the fact that both her eyes were of different colors. Such a thing was actually not umon, in mortals at least. In Elinor''s case, however, it was not so simple. Although his instincts and intuition usually failed him when it came to those whose cultivation was far higher than his own, at this moment it was telling him that if he had looked at her eyes through his left eye, and not through his projection, he would be seeing something else. But such things did not matter, for the moment at least. Lex did not wait, nor did he start the meeting with a casual conversation like their previous encounter, and instead directly asked the emperor, "is something the matter? I was told that you wanted to meet urgently." "Innkeeper, I wanted to make a request, though I am afraid it might seem improper." "Oh? What is it?" "Among the many Minor realms that you have opened up for guests, there is one that is of special interest to us. I was hoping to ask for exclusive rights to that realm¡­ at least for a time?" The request was truly unexpected, and not at all in line with anything he was expecting. But he did not fall into a stupor at the request and immediately drew a conclusion that the emperor found something even he found valuable. Even Lex was curious now. "As you probably know," began Lex in a somber tone, "the Inn is currently having an event. Blocking off or making certain realms exclusive to certain groups during the event¡­ well, it is certainly not what was nned." The three did not try to hide the anxiety on their faces as they heard Lex speak, or perhaps, due to his 6th sense, he was just more perceptive of the anxiety they felt. It was an interesting ability which allowed him to feel that he held all the power during this conversation. He did not need to beat around the bush to get them to reveal their motives, like he would have to do if he were using a different identity. "Of course, that does not mean it can''t be arranged. But I''m curious - why would you pay so much attention to this specific Minor realm?" The trio instantly felt relief upon knowing that the task was achievable, and the emperor''s mood even elevated immensely. "Innkeeper, you probably already know that the history of my empire is very small," he began, as his thoughts drifted into eras past. "The history of the human race is longer than that, of course, but past a few hundred million years at most, nothing is recorded. Even if I use my authority to peruse the Henali records, I can, at most, look back a couple billion years to when the Henali arrived at the Origin realm. What was the Origin realm like before then? Who inhabited it? Did humans even exist in the Origin realm? These questions¡­ I have never been able to find an answer to. "Some, like the Henali themselves, think it doesn''t really matter. After all, back then the realm was even younger than it is now. Any being or civilization that existed back then could only be weaker than those that exist now. Certainly, they would be much weaker than myself at this point." Jotun paused tough, as if he had just said something amusing. "But the mysteries of the universe are beyond what we can imagine? Once, in my youth, my father took my brothers and I to a secret pagoda, from which I gained the inheritance that brought me to where I am today. If the old civilizations were weak, how could they leave behind a heritage so powerful? "Just a short while ago, one of my soldiers discovered another pagoda in one of your Minor realms, almost identical to the one I entered in my youth. But even now, at the pinnacle of my strength, the pagoda remains as mysterious and elusive to me as it was back then. Although it might be selfish of me to deprive this opportunity to others, that you have so selflessly provided to everyone, but I have to try, nheless. After all, even in the greater realms, the situation for us humans is not so great. If through this pagoda, another great heritage for the human race is uncovered, it will be a boon for humans across the universe!" The emperor provided a lot of information to Lex, not only about himself but about the situation rting to humans across the universe. But now was not the time to mull over such things. If this pagoda was so great, Lex himself was quite interested in it. "You''re talking about the benefit of the human race. What you''re saying is that if I give you exclusive rights to the realm, you''ll provide the heritage out to the humans instead of keeping it for yourself?" "Innkeeper, since I have already been in the pagoda once, I know how hard it is to pass its tests. I cannot enter it myself due to its restrictions, and there is no guarantee that if I only let my own progeny enter, they will ever seed. If I have exclusive rights to the realm, I can take my time and only allow those of reliable character to enter so they may try their luck. If not, then I can only take a gamble. I have already asked Ragnar to keep his men on standby. He has approximately 300 million soldiers under hismand who qualify to enter the pagoda. I can only have them enter first, while I gather more men from elsewhere to keep on entering." Chapter 531 No Negotiations Multitasking was not really a problem for Lex anymore. The ability to split his mind to have each mind focus on a different task made it so. Moreover, the current situation only required him to have two separate trains of thought running - one focused on the racing and one focused on the conversation in his office. For a moment, however, he had to create a third split to mercilessly beat down the rising greedy, capitalistic side of himself from emerging. The thought of 300 million soldiers passing through his Inn, with more on the way, set his imagination wild for how much MP he could print. But the reason he had to reign himself in was that he wasn''t logistically prepared to handle such volume. All the systems he had in ce would suddenly be overcrowded and overburdened. As much as he liked New York, the crowded subway at peak hour was not something he wanted to emte. Besides, there were a few other opportunities for Lex to gain in this situation. After all, this mystical pagoda was connected to a Minor realm he controlled the entrance to. There was nothing stopping him from taking a tour in it himself. But he had to learn more about it first. He had a feeling Marlo was leaving out a lot of information about this pagoda. "If your only aim is to propagate the strength of the human race, I do not see why you need to prevent others from essing the realm. If there is a heritage suitable for the human race inside the pagoda, then humans from anywhere can reap the benefit." "The pagoda does not have any specific heritage lying in wait inside. Instead, the heritage it delivers is designed ording to whoever enters. The pagoda I entered in my youth was a part of a sect''s training grounds. Other than humans, many other races benefited from it, even if they did so nominally. "But the reason I want to make the realm exclusive is not because I don''t want to share. When I finally reached the top floor in the pagoda, and passed its tests, the pagoda turned into a normal building and stopped giving out heritages. It is the final heritage that I want to reserve for the human race." Lex''s experience with alien races had been vastly out of the ordinary. Everyone he had met from the Jotun empire was filled with immense devotion towards bettering the human race, but back on earth, humans had proved that they weren''t exactly saints themselves. The history of the earth was filled with horrid cruelty proving that his race was more than capable of being the viin in someone''s story. As such, he did not understand their particr devotion towards strengthening their own race rather than following the typical route of reserving the benefits for only themselves or their close rtives. Maybe wars between races were all toomon in the universe and he just hadn''t been exposed to them yet. Or maybe they were just a very altruistic bunch. Either way, the opportunities provided by the pagoda seemed excellent, and Lex was not about to just give them up. If what Jotun said was true, even those who did not reach the final floor could gain some guidance, this could be the perfect thing to train his own workers. Or at least give them experience outside of just what the Inn could provide. But first, he needed to learn a bit more about the pagoda. "How long do you think it will take someone to reach the top floor of the pagoda if it were left open to the public?" he asked. "That¡­ is not easy to estimate. Since I know the value of the pagoda, I''ll be sure to send in the best and brightest. But that in itself does not mean anything. The pagoda which I entered was so old, no one knew exactly how long it had been there. I suspect these are all relics from a distant past that have yet to achieve their purpose." So basically, no one was likely to reach the top floor any time soon. Lex wasn''t arrogant enough to believe that he could pass all its tests and reach the top - at least not without sufficient preparation. That wouldn''t stop him from trying, though. "I understand. Your motive of trying to improve the circumstances of your own race are quite pure and worthmending, but the fact remains that the Inn is currently having an event targeted to the masses. Tell me, other than the pagoda, what does that realm have? Do you know its size?" Lex immediately felt the tension in the room rise back up, which he wanted, but there was also an unwanted reaction. Lex nned on the emperor trying to bargain or negotiating with the Innkeeper, resulting in him earning a good sum of MP while also keeping a channel open for himself and the Inn''s staff. But instead of trying to negotiate, Lex felt that the three were already gearing up for failsafe measures they had already nned out. "We haven''t done a thorough scan of its size, but an early estimate is that the Minor realm is between one to two million acres in size. The terrain is vibrant and supports some local wildlife, though no beasts or cultivators have been discovered so far." "All-in-all, it seems like a nice spot for a vacation," said Lex with a smile. "It would be a shame if I give full ess rights to just the Empire, especially during this event. After all, if I do that, I would have to do the same when others make simr requests. I cannot favor certain guests over others." "I understand," the emperor said, assuming he had been rejected. As for negotiating? He had spent a veryrge amount of time with the Henali. He understood better than anyone else not to think too highly of himself and assume he could ask for favors when in front of beings of such power. "But, I suppose there is something that can be done. After all, I cannot ignore long time guests either." Lex looked towards Ragnar for a brief moment before continuing. "How about this? Since only you have found the realm entrance, and no one else has entered, I''ll make it so that this realm is exclusive for humans only. I''ll move the entrance to the Immortal Bastion so that it''s easier to ess. Of course, since I am doing all of this, there is a price." The three were genuinely surprised by the turnaround and then filled with extreme enthusiasm. The price did not matter, they were in a position to pay. In fact, Lex himself knew that he could at this moment extort a few trillion MP for this and they would not hesitate. But his deep-rooted understanding of the Innkeepers'' prestige, as well as his sixth sense, let him know how crass it would seem to exchange a favor in ce of some money. So instead, he focused on something that would benefit him, but secretly. "I have already stated that I will not interfere with what happens inside the Minor realms. Since you have requested this as a heritage site for the human race, and the entrance of the site is through the Inn, you will have to provide security for those humans entering for the sake of essing the pagoda." He knew how powerful the bloodlines for his workers were. If he was going to be sending them to the pagoda, he had to make sure no one tried to harm them secretly to extract their bloodlines or study them. Speaking of which, he suddenly had an idea. Maybe he should find a rtively safer Minor realm and try to have the workers colonize it. They weren''tcking in any way, but since they were actual, living people, Lex wanted them to have lives outside of the Inn as well. Besides, it would be a good learning opportunity for them. New experiences were an integral part of developing one''s personality.N?v(el)B\\jnn The emperor was taken aback by the kind of price the Innkeeper mentioned, but then again it only made sense. The Innkeeper was an excellent host. He would, of course, be concerned about his guests'' welfare. The group started hashing out the details while they each made ns in their heads about how to move forward. Back in the race¡­ Lex was doing well, and he was approaching the end. Gerard was in sight, as well as a few other finalists. But his mood wasn''t all that great. He had outdone himself to gain so much ground while pulling those ahead of himself back. His incredible intuition had yed an incredible role in helping him avoid almost all power-ups as well. The one he wasn''t able to avoid however¡­ Lex turned to his left and gave the ck-hooded Xenmas, who was driving right beside him, the look of death. Unfortunately, with a chicken nest glued directly on top of his head with a mother hen sleeping inside of it, he did not look as intimidating. Above his cart was an entire chicken coop, filled with eggs and live chickens - not only distracting him, but increasing the weight of his cart as well. The moment he found out who designed such an absurd power up, he would¡­ he would¡­ God only knew, but he would do something! Chapter 532 So Close Having a chicken coop above his cart served a greater purpose than cosmeticedy. There was the obvious distraction of having an entire living being glued to his own head. But more than that, the cooppletely ruined the aerodynamics of the already less than ster design of the cart and added some weight to it as well. Although the penalty was not permanent, considering that Lex was not first, and that there was toughpetition around him, it¡­ eggsacerbated his situation. Lex winced at his own pun, but quickly diverted his attention back to the matter at hand. Gerard was in the lead, as expected, but he had been slowed down by a plough that was attached to his cart. He too had been a victim of someone''s power up, and likely more than one over the course of the race or else he would have already finished the race . Other than his own phenomenal driving, there was one very important reason why he was in the lead, as Lex eventually discovered. Unlike Z, who sucked the energy out of Lex''s cart after crashing into it, Gerard was doing the same for every cart on the entire track! Moreover, he was somehow getting away with it since he technically wasn''t hurting anyone''s cart, so it didn''t count as an attack. Instead, Lex assumed that he was justifying it as defense by stating that he was simply keeping everyone away from himself. Lex had no actual proof of this, but it was the conclusion he came to when he noticed a few things. First, he had originally used a defensive technique to escape the influence of the artificial gravity, but when he returned to the ground, he noticed that his cart was driving faster all of a sudden. He had not noticed earlier, since the difference had been so minute, but every cart was driving just a bit slower than what it should have been able to. Gerard, with his unmatched skills, was able to turn that slight advantage into a huge lead. Of course, the reason he didn''t outright shut all the carts down was because then the other racers would take cautionary measures. If Lex was able to protect himself from Gerards influence, so would others. Instead, by being discrete, almost no one had noticed. But even if the n was ingenious, it was the implementation that bewildered Lex. His range was just too ridiculous. He wasn''t able to help himself and checked the old man''s status. Name: Gerard Age: 1 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: Foundation mid Species: Human Bloodline: Regalia Bloom III Remarks: An employee with abnormally high affinity for his bloodline. He has already gone through 2 mutations for a remarkably stable bloodline, making him nearly invincible below the immortal realm. ''Damn!'' Lex eximed mentally. If the system considered him nearly invincible below the immortal realm, his real capabilities must be ridiculously insane. But Lex was not demoralized. He himself was no pushover either, and he wasn''t about to quit just because thepetition was tough. The chicken as well as the coop finally vanished from atop Lex and his vehicle, and he did not hesitate to use his final power up! A massive explosion urred with Lex at the center, not only knocking Xenmas and a few others aside, it also brought up a massive smoke cloud obscuring the path. Lex, of course, waspletely fine and so was his cart due to his incredible defensive techniques. The incredibly tenacious Z was also unharmed for he simply absorbed the energy from the st and channeled it to his cart''s engine. For a moment it seemed like the showdown was going to be Z, Lex and then Gerard. Lex had already been through the various parts of the Inn, around the new Immortal Bastion, over the Fire temple and many other points of interest. That was after he skipped so much of the track from falling off the ship. By now they were returning to the vige, and the stadium where their race had begun was in sight. The track was straightforward with no power ups in sight. The only chance Lex had was to make the best of the time where Gerards cart was still slowed down by a plough. Somehow, Lex transitioned from the physically capable yet emotionally vtile berserk state to the flow state. He shut out the world and focused solely on the track, finding the best possible, and efficient most path on the track. The cheers of the crowd in the distance disappeared. The sound of the raging wind vanished. The world around him began fading away. There was only him and the track, which also began to vanish. Eh?N?v(el)B\\jnn Lex wasn''t getting in the zone, someone had used an unavoidable power up on him or someone close to him. He was driving in a sensory deprivation bubble. Basically, as the name suggested, while inside the bubble all his senses would disappear. The bubble would onlyst for 10 seconds, but would cover a massive area around the targeted cart. Damn it. Lex closed his eyes, or maybe they were already closed. He pulled up his memory of what the track looked like and just drove ording to his memory. Fortunately, the path was more or less straight. The only thing he had to be careful of was that he was driving up and down a series of small teaus. If he just simted the speed he was going at, and the scenery ording to his memory, he would be able to navigate the track correctly. Whoever had made a move should be behind him, and it couldn''t have been Z for he was keeping a track of Z''s power ups. So, either another yer was making ast-minute attempt to win this, or Xenmas was getting his revenge. Whoever it was had made a good y, but Lex wasn''t out of this yet. Driving on the track out of pure memory, he maintained the most optimal path to overtake Gerard. At the same time, he employed a massive Talk to the Hand behind his cart. Overtaking him wasn''t going to be as easy as the perpetrator thought. Back at the stadium, the crowds were going wild. They had seen the cart which had snuck up on everyone, and had seen it strike Lex with the sensory deprivation bubble. They could tell that Lex could see or hear nothing. Just as they prepared for Lex to lose control, and the new cart to overtake him, something unexpected happened. Lex continued to drive, making the barest possible changes to his path necessary to stay on track - all with his eyes closed! Moreover, as the new cart came, using its boosters to overtake Lex, it directly crashed into an invisible wall behind Lex! Only, it did not handle it as wlessly as Z had done so, and becamepletely disoriented. "A good try to contender John, yet another employee of the Inn! He used invisibility throughout the race to stay hidden and protect himself, but he himself ended up ramming into an invisible wall!" eximed thementator, who had jumped out of hismentary booth by now. He was standing on the roof of thementary booth, his excitement keeping him from staying still. "Despite all that, driver Leo maintains his position and steadily gains on cart number 01, driven by the ever popr Gerard! With his eyes closed no less!" A short whileter, when the sensory bubble vanished, Lex opened his eyes and found himself exactly where he imagined he''d be. They had entered the stadium and the finish line was within sight. Gerard was still ahead, without anything dragging him back. Right behind him were Z and John, who were now contending with one another! There wasn''t enough time, and Lex had no power ups. He wouldn''t be able to overtake Gerard, at least not normally. He closed his eyes once again and reentered the berserk state. Time seemed to slow down as he focused all his strength to his legs, or rather, to his right leg. If he used a technique it would be a foul, but he had already confirmed that using his physical capabilities was not an issue. Gerard was 30 feet (9 meters) away from the finish line. As fast as he possibly could, Lex jumped out of the cart andnded on his right foot. The crowd seemed to realize something was about to happen. Lex let out a deep, angry yell and he pushed all the strength in his body through his single leg. The track cracked right under his foot and slowly began to form into a crater, but even as it was forming Lex had already vanished! Like a bazooka Lex shot forward, suddenly overtaking the ever leading Gerard! Everything happened too fast. Thementator did not even have a chance to scream, let alone the bewildered crowd. Exhration flooded Lex''s veins as he saw the finish line. It was right in front of him. He could practically feel the ribbon hitting his body as he crossed. But the feeling was overshadowed by a warning. Something wasing. But everything was happening too fast. By the time Lex felt the warning it was already toote, and a string connected itself to him, leading back to Gerard. A POWER UP! But it was toote. The next second he and Gerard had swapped ces. He was behind and Gerard was at the finish line. Dammit, he had been saving his power ups! The next moment, instead of the siren of victory, the sound of a loud crash filled the stadium. Although Lex and Gerard had swapped ces, Lex left his Talk to the Hand right behind the finish line! Even if the skilled driver was capable of oveing it using his bloodline, he would have to anticipate it first. The swap between them had been too quick, and they had been moving too fast for the racer to realize it was there. The next moment, Lex crossed the finish line, and the sound ofughter filled the air. Chapter 533 The Big Devil The crowds went wild at Lex''s victory, even if most of them didn''t actually understand what actually happened. In thest couple of seconds the exchange between Lex and Gerard has been too difficult for most of the crowds to follow, but that didn''t deprive them of feeling the intensity of the moment. Moreover, as soon as Lex won, the various screens changed from following other racers and all either focused on Lex, or began to y a slowed down rey of the final moments. The number of tricks involved made for a truly remarkable spectacle. From the get go, Lex''s speed boost using his physical body was not only unexpected, it was staggering to behold. Even if he were a body cultivator, getting that kind of eleration was far out of the ordinary. In fact, had Lex been purely cultivating the Regal Embrace it would have never happened. But his body had undergone too many upgrades. His body was sturdy enough to tolerate the ridiculous burst of power his many upgrades gave to him. Anyone else would have been reduced to destroying their own bodies every time they exhibited their strength. The fact that he could easily switch his states also helped tremendously. In thest moment he had entered the berserk state which heavily boosted his physical prowess beyond what he could normally output. In exchange for all that destructive power, all Lex felt was slightly exhausted and a bit of soreness in his leg. It couldn''t be helped, his body''s defense just made him too durable. The quick wit disyed by both Gerard and Lex after Lex made his final move just made for too exciting a finish. The crowds had long entered into a standing ovation, though neither Lex nor Gerard seemed to have noticed. Lex himself was basking in the exhration of the victory. Lately, any kind of excitement in his life had to do with putting his life on the line. It was great to finally be able to have something nonlethal get his adrenaline pumping. He truly only cared about the challenge the race had provided. The first ce obviously got a number of awards and des, such as a trophy, some MP, some other free vouchers for certain services at the Inn. But none of that really mattered to him. The race had been a nice break from all the work he had been doing, and he knew that he wouldn''t have time for anything like this again soon. Even as his cart came to a stop and he finally began to notice the cheering crowds, most of his attention had already been diverted back to his office. ***** The Innkeeper, the emperor, his wife and the general had spent some time discussing ns for the Minor realm. The Innkeeper had stated that the empire should be incharge of safety inside the Minor realm, which was no problem at all for the massive empire, excluding a single hup. Although the pagoda offered excellent benefits to those that traversed its levels, it had one caveat: the tests each floor presented could absolutely be lethal. The only way to exit the pagoda was at the entrance to each floor. Once a participant entered a new floor, they could choose to exit via a teleportation formation, or continue forward. Continuing on didn''t mean they couldn''te back, but from what the emperor recalled, deaths inside the pagoda were all toomon. Besides any deaths inside the pagoda, the emperor promised the strictest of securities, due to how seriously they treated the pagoda. He even borated on the kind of deployment the emperor nned, during which Lex learned a new term: Heaven Immortal. Although no one exined to him, Lex concluded that it was the level directly or soon after Earth Immortal. The reason it was brought up was because the Emperor nned on having at least one person of such a cultivation realm present inside the Minor realm at all times. Based on how the general and the empress reacted, cultivators in this realm were considered sufficiently powerful. It was good to know, but it did not matter to Lex at the moment. Instead, he took this opportunity to inform the emperor about the Inheritance Lounge as well. The reason why it was not popr, and almost no one knew of it, was because it required a level 4 Midnight Inn prestige to use. Since he was looking to strengthen the human race, that would also be a good way. Incidentally, Lex would also earn some MP along the way, but that was beside the point. The emperor was intrigued and immediately began nning to investigate it, while Lex silently started nning a couple of things of his own. It was just too convenient. For a time, he thought that the problems faced by earth were beyond him, and he more or less epted it. He had detached himself from the, and only kept abreast of its situation due to his nostalgic feelings. He also felt a certain level of indignation, knowing that the earth and all its peoples had been treated as pawns in a game by some prisoners. He had nned on using the empire to take control of earth from whoever was controlling it at the moment, for at least what he had seen of the empire so far was pretty good. Until it was revealed to him that the earth was already, in some manner, under the purview of the empire. Too much of the conversation that happened inside the chamber of secrets had been wiped from his memory, but none of that mattered now. He had direct ess to the actual ruler of the empire, so he was sure he could somehow use that to his benefit and allow circumstances on earth to improve. But at the same time, he as the Innkeeper, couldn''t randomly bring up earth. But the pieces were falling perfectly into ce for him, as if he was destined to help earth all along. Marlo had lost his patience, and was about to make a move against the prisoners who had been manipting the earth, the repercussions be damned. Larry was actually nning on joining him, and had even invited Lex. But the way Lex saw it, him joining the attack did not contribute in a meaningful way. Instead, by strengthening his rtionship with the empire directly, he could then ''casually mention'' the issue to the emperor or general using his alternate identity. Although it wouldn''t be the same as the Innkeeper mentioning it, due to the increasingly close ties the Inn had with the empire, he couldn''t see them turning him down. Yes, this was a much more practical and viable solution. At the same time, it was also slowly strengthening the Inn. It was a win-win in his book. Once the emperor left, Lex began nning his next actions. He had to keep an eye out for a Minor realm suitable for the Inn workers only. He also had to go explore the dangers of the pagoda himself. Once he got a good sense of how dangerous it was, he could n how to start sending his workers to the pagoda. He also had to remember to look over the next phase of the festival going on. Now that the Grand Prix hade to a conclusion, the next big event was supposed to begin. Although the races would now be a staple of the Inn, he wouldn''t be focusing all his resources on promoting just that. Although, in Lex''s mind, the next event wasn''t too exciting, it had potential. He also¡­ There was a knock on his office door, interrupting his flow of thoughts. That was strange. "Come in," said Lex.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Luthor opened the door and said, "Innkeeper, there''s a guest here who wishes to meet with you. If you''d like, I can schedule a meeting forter, or turn him away." It felt strange that Luthor was informing him of this as usually Mary was one who would pop up and let him know of these things, but then again, Luthor was his secretary. It only made sense that if anyone approached the office, Luthor would be the one they''d interact with. "Sure, send them in," Lex said as he cleared his thoughts. While his nning was important, anyone who could bear the pressure of his office and ask to meet him would be worth giving his attention to. Perhaps deterring the undetermined was also one of the reasons the hall right outside his office radiated such an intimidating aura. A person dressed in a long, brown trench coat walked in, a small ck notepad in his hand. The coat hid his entire body, and the fedora he was wearing hid his face well. Lex felt like he was in front of a detective from a ck and white movie. Until, that is, he scanned the person. The guest was a devil and, coincidentally, his name was one that was all too famous on Earth. Name: Rocketfellow Rothsfather. Chapter 534 Business Zagan stumbled through the door once again, his humanoid body battered and bruised much worse than ever before. It never urred to him how strange it was for a monster born of darkness to take on a human form. It was as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Though he was in bad condition, his concern extended to none of that. His eyes wandered the familiar room in search of something, and when he saw the resplendent Alysha disappointment welled up in his chest, though maybe deep down, he was also happy. "Why are you still here?" he asked as he tried to wipe the blood off his face. "You should have left long ago." The moment he finished his words, a door appeared behind Alysha as if signaling a way out. Yet she did not hesitate to once again pick up her med kit and approach the bleeding humanoid-monster. "Why do you keep going back?" she asked, instead of answering his question. "Everytime you go through that door you onlye back worse for wear. What are you looking for?" She moved his hair from his forehead to see a massive cut, bleeding into his eyes. With a sigh she got to work, washing all his wounds. By now she knew he was not so delicate that he would die from these wounds, so she always prioritized cleaning them first so she would have a good understanding of his actual condition. "I don''t know," Zagan whispered as he closed his eyes. A momentter, he felt the cold water she poured over his face. "I guess I¡­ I''m searching for something that will¡­ provide me with meaning." As a monster born from darkness, he was not actually afraid of light, but the more time he spent in darkness, the stronger he would go. Monsters from the crystal realm were born with limited intelligence, so theypensated for it by having extremely strong instincts that would guide their actions. Zagan had lived for millions of years, and so had grown to the level where he achieved self awareness and a decent amount of intelligence, yet he continued to act in ordance with his instincts. Yet over time, he began to wonder why it was he listened to his instincts. What was it they were leading him towards? Was there something more? Was there a point to being alive? These questions did not elicit any strong emotions from the monster, as it did not quite have the emotional range of naturally born animals. Still, with time, a subtle curiosity had taken hold of his mind. Lately, his curiosity was being tingled by Alysha. Why would she always treat him? He knew she was alone during the time he left, and unlike him, she did not like being alone. Still, she never left. Why? Unlike Zagan, Alysha''s thought process was a lot simpler. Though she happened to have forgotten her life, the feeling of loneliness and abandonment stayed with her. There was no one around to help her when she needed it, for a very long time. So if someone else needed her help, she would not abandon them. It was that simple. Unknown to both of them, their each and every action was being judged and measured. Zagan had actually been failing his test miserably, mostly because he did not understand what was required of him. That all changed when he interacted with Alysha. The parameters of his test changed, and while he was failing the test for his original role, he seemed to be acing the test for his new one. Soon, both their tests woulde to an end. ***** Lex scanned the devil and read the results. Name: Rocketfellow Rothsfather Age: 44 (fake) Sex: Male Cultivation Details: Golden Core early (fake) Species: Devil Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Remarks: Don''t let appearances fool you, this devil is rich! His trenchcoat alone is worth several MTs! There were a few interesting things to note in the status, the name of the devil being only one. The name was so popr and influential, he doubted there were barely a few working adults on the who had never heard the name. Though not everyone understood the full gravity behind the name, it was enough to understand that they were incredibly rich. In fact, in one of the files filled with rumors that Velma had given him revealed that the patriarch of both those families were also actually political prisoners being held on the. Butpared to those who were instigating wars and conflicts for entertainment purposes, those two seemed pretty tame. The second thing that interested Lex was the man''s name and cultivation. They had a ''fake'' written in front of them, which is something Lex had never seen before. When he focused on the word, more information was revealed stating that the man''s actual details were being hidden by the trenchcoat he was wearing. The system could detect the interference, but could not ovee it. Just that on its own was a great testament to the man''s background and depth. Lex did not treat him lightly at all. "I hope you were not waiting for too long," said Lex with his usual warm tone. Regardless of the man''s background or depth, the ''Innkeeper'' would not be phased by it. "The fault is my own for showing up unannounced," Rocketfellow said with a fairly warm tone of his own. Much of his face remained hidden behind his trenchcoat so Lex could not see his expression, but his tone at least was earnest and calm. Moreover, using his 6th sense, Lex could tell the devil had reacted normally to his statement. "Please, Mr. Innkeeper, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Rocketfellow Rothsfather, and I am a businessman. I absolutely fell in love with your Midnight Inn when I first saw it, and wanted to form a joint venture with you immediately! But, for the first time in my life, my scope was too small to match up to your establishment. Although I am still working on that, and have a few ns, for now, there is one other business idea I would like to talk to you about." "The Midnight Inn is open to all guests, and so naturally, is also open to your business as well. Please, tell me, how can I help you." The extremely formal devil opened the small ck notebook in his hand and showed Lex a list of names. Immediately he picked up on a few familiar ones: Leo, Gerard, Z, Luthor. At first he thought the list was based around the Inn workers, but then he began to see other names, belonging to the various guests. He was confused and he was unable to pick out any significant detail connecting all the people, except for the fact that they were all male. Instead of making an unfounded guess, Lex remained silent and waited for the devil to borate, which he soon did. "I''m sure you''re able to see what connects all these names," the devil said with a hint of excitement. "At first, when I realized the potential, I thought it was too good to be true. I waited patiently to be proved wrong, but when nothing happened, I had to pinch myself. I''ve hardly ever seen anyone miss out on such an obvious business opportunity like this. Mr. Innkeeper, after I watched the Lady Cosmos fashion show, I was awaiting the arrival of the Mr. Cosmos show, but it never came! "Obviously whoever had the idea first never thought to extend the show to the other gender, but I think it''s a huge waste! Obviously I can''t reuse the same name as I want to build my own brand, and I want to do things a little differently as well! Instead of ust beauty, I want to focus on strength and cultivation as well. After all, men are looked at differently than women. But there''s so much more than that. "Mr. Innkeeper, I know that if I simply want to host my ownpetition it should not be a problem, but what if I want to partner with the Inn itself? Or, if that''s not on the table, how can I get some of the Inn''s workers to participate in my event! I''ve never seen anyone with a fan club as dedicated as Gerard, and I don''t know if you know this, but the recent performance of Leo has managed to grow his poprity quite a bit as well. Now just imagine, after we work out the kinks, your workers'' faces are known across the universe, not only because of the Inn, but because they finally get the recognition their good looks deserve!" This¡­ was not what Lex had been expecting from this meeting. Let alone his own Leo persona, he didn''t want to let any of his workers near this weird trench coat creep! Has he been stalking them? "I''m thinking, since the first show will be a test run to figure out how to run thepetition, of keeping a small budget of 5 MTs. What do you think?" "Mr. Rothsfather, the Midnight Inn is exactly the best ce tounch your endeavor. I want to congratte you in advance for a sessful venture."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Chapter 535 Burden Alexander Morrison was waiting for his next deployment, still at the Midnight Inn. After immense effort on his part, he had proved himself worthy of undergoing special training by the empire. Due to his unique situation, regardless of what he did it was more or less assumed that Alexander would never have full loyalty to the empire. As such, he could not get in touch with their unique or specialized training, reserved for their most trusted elites, but he had managed to improve his situation nheless. To test out his new capabilities, he sparred a few times with his family''s strongest. In an upfront fight, he still could not defeat his grandfather, but the old man admitted that Alexander put a lot of pressure on him. Of course, that could not be a true test, for both Alexander and his grandfather were holding back immensely as well. Alexander knew that if he were going for the kill, he would have behaved differently. Still, being unable to overwhelm his grandfather disappointed him somewhat. He had learned much of the empire, and learned about noble families. While it could not be imed that such feats weremon, it was at least not unheard of for the scions of noble families to be able topletely overwhelm even those at higher realms. A part of him wondered how far he was from their level. He even pondered what the difference was between himself and his old teacher Marlo when he was at the Golden Core realm. A part of him told him that he would lose a spar, but in a fight to the death anything was possible. Instead of being proud of his achievements, he felt frustrated that even after everything he went through, he was still only on par with the peak of those from his home. Then again, he had not been cultivating for very long. Speaking of which, had his birthday passed? He couldn''t remember. The empire obviously followed their own calendar system, and he never really put any real effort into remembering it. He''d never really paid attention to any of his birthdays, except his 15th for obvious reasons. It was always Helen who¡­ "Captain Alexander!" a soldier called out, breaking him free from his reverie. On instinct he stood to attention as he saw a small group of soldiers walking towards him, holding what looked like a backpack. His eyes shone. That was¡­ "You have new orders, captain," the soldier said, as he presented Alexander with a tablet. Familiar with what was happening, Alexander put his hand on the tablet as it verified his identity. The empire''s technology was heads and tails ahead of earth, so even though the device looked simr to stuff avable on earth, its actual functionality was far beyond anything he had ever seen. It was a spirit tech device that verified Alexander''s identity using things such as his finger print, DNA, spirit energy signature, the specific meridian patterns in his hand and many other things he had no idea about. Once his identity was confirmed, though, the soldier passed him the backpack and began briefing him on his new orders. "The specific details are on a need to know basis, but essentially high-level empire officials have entered into a partnership with the Midnight Inn to take control of a specific Minor realm. Your new orders¡­" Across the Inn, countless other empire officials were receiving simr orders. As of now, very select few were being informed about the minor realm and exactly how much importance the emperor put on it. The seeminglyid back emperor had decided that he had spent enough time away from his empire. Once histest mission for the Henali was over, he would return to do some house cleaning. Unlike Ragnar, who was more lenient of humans, the emperor was not so clement in his treatment. The reason why the empire was so strong, and had never suffered from any rebellions, was because basically anyone with any rebellious tendencies was dead. He did not expect others to be grateful for all that he worked for, but if they thought to take advantage of him, they had another thinging. ***** "Mr. Rothsfather, for thest time, although I can give your business my full support, I cannot force anyone to participate. Besides, my workers have their own duties to take care of." "Innkeeper, you have to understand, the influence of celebrities is massive for events like these. While we can obviously hire or attract external celebrities for the event, if we leverage the growing fanbase of local stars such as Gerard, Leo or Z, not only will we have an easier time gaining a loyal fanbase, it will even benefit your own Inn." Lex smiled. For the past 15 minutes, they had been going over the same argument. No matter how much sense he made, he was destined to win because as ''Leo'' he was never going to participate in a fashion show. As entertaining as it sounded, he had better things to do. Ultimately, the devil relented and promised that he would soon return with a full n for everything he had nned for the event. Then he would work with the Inn to see how much of his vision could be aplished. After the meeting, the devil exited the office, and then disappeared from the Inn. He appeared in a room where a few devils were waiting for his return.N?v(el)B\\jnn "So? How was it?" "n A for bringing the Inn''s workforce away from the Inn has failed. I''ll continue with the show regardless as it can benefit many of our other ns. In the meantime, begin n B. The Midnight Inn employees are the perfect canvas to turn into demons, we have to get our hands on them." "I told you it was too easy," replied one of the people in the room. "Regardless, it was worth a try. Here''s a list of our primary targets. Other than the Inn''s employees, begin tracking their location." ***** Once the meeting with the devil was over, Lex spent some time nning out his next few actions. Since the Grand Prix was over, it was time to get ready for the next event which would start tomorrow. He still did not know what to think of this event, forpared to the exciting amusement parks and races, it was a far cry. But it was good to shake things up. One of the features the Inn unlocked, but almost no one paid attention to, was the Fishing well. The well was connected to worlds that the Inn was linked to, though the Inter-realm broadcast spread that to the entire realms that the Inn was connected to. Through the well, guests could fish for unowned items. Basically, any item within the domain that was connected to the Inn, and which had no owner, could be fished for through the fishing well. Of course, what item a person fished up waspletely random and based on luck. So you could get something simple and mundane, such as a random rock or a seashell. Or, you could get a phenomenal treasure that could change your life around. It sounded amusing, but at the same time, it sounded like a scam. That, alongside the fact that Lex had priced each fishing attempt at 5000 MP per attempt, led to the fact that no one had ever tried to fish at all. He figured this unusual feature required some marketing, so the next event would be a fishing attempt. Participants could fish for free, and whoever pulled up the best reward could move forward in the rounds. Each round would eliminate half the participants, or as near to half as possible, until there would be one winner. How sessful or exciting the event would be was¡­ well it left a lot of room for spection. Still, it wasn''t as it hurt to try. On the off chance that one of the participants pulled out something spectacr, the attention due to the event would raise the well''s poprity. If not, then it could be a prop that Lex could use to look like he was wise and enlightened by fishing in it, like the teachers in kung fu movies. While he was making preparations for the event, the Inn was still celebrating the end of the race. Although Gerard had ultimately lost, he took his defeat gracefully. Strangely though, his defeat did not negatively affect his poprity at all. If anything, his poprity shot through the roof. The fan club which had originally started out as a group of grandma''s who liked to be driven around by Gerard now had tens of thousands of legitimate fan, and with each moment, that number seemed to be growing. In fact, Leo, the actual winner of the race, seemed to have been forgotten to the side while the crowd tossed the old man in the air and cheered for him. As for Gerard himself¡­ he wasmenting the negative side effects of his bloodline. Although he became more powerful every time his bloodline evolved, a negative side effect of his bloodline was that it would make him increasingly beautiful as it grew stronger, without taking away from his masculinity. The worker sighed in his heart as he could not let the guests see himment. Beauty was such a burden. Chapter 536 Prelude Lex felt pretty good about how things were going in general, especially after the race. He reminded himself to let off a little steam now and again. There was nothing about the Innkeeper that said he had to stay serious all the time. As much as he had to overview everything and make sure everything was running smoothly, he should also enjoy the Inns amenities himself. Though, he couldn''t say that he was disappointed that Gerard was, as it was called, ''suffering from sess'' rather than him. Even from a distance he could see him being thrown up and down in the air by the crowd. Lex had heard things about crowd surfing that he''d rather not experience himself. Better Gerard than him. He turned his attention towards the next event. He did not think a stadium was a fitting venue for the fishing tournament, so he had to pick another spot. He teleported to a smallke near the vige and found the ce to be suitable. The area was filled with small hills with gentle slopes and a few scattered yetrge trees. He moved the well to a clearing at the base of a hill and ced wooden benches all around. He formed stalls that would sell food and ced a few grills nearby. The workers would man some of the grills, but some would be left in case the guests felt like cooking on their own. Single, wooden swings were attached to the branches of the trees. Bonfire pits were created and a few, fixed huts were ced here and there. He couldn''t consult the turtle as it was still upied, so after talking to the gardener Lex ced various bushes in the area that grew edible berries and fruits. Compared to the festive and exciting events such as the grand prix or the amusement park, this event felt much more calm and homely. Lex wanted to turn this ce into a permanent camping spot. He even ced a few fishing boats in theke in case anyone felt the itch after watching the tournament. He told the nning division to take care of anyst minute touches the ce needed, but should stay in keeping with the theme of camping. He spent the next few hours taking care of a few misceneous issues rting to the Inn, such as a few other guests who wanted to meet him, approve thetest worker rotations for the Immortal Bastion and set prices for the new food being grown from the new desert farm.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om For one of the tasks, he called Luthor to his office. "You called, Innkeeper?" he asked as he stepped in. To his great disappointment, the Innkeeper did not give him as many tasks as he hoped. It was only once in a while that the Innkeeper assigned him a task. He thought it might be because of his previous failure where he proposed ns that the Innkeeper didn''t like. He was determined to change. "I''m sure you''re aware of the event going on rted to Minor realms at the Inn," the Innkeeper said, looking up from his work. "I''ve tasked a few workers topile a detailed list of all the realms discovered and their conditions. I want you to go over that list and find a realm suitable for the workers. I n on having all the Inns employees colonize that realm." "You- you''re sending us away?" he asked, rmed! "No, no that''s not what I mean," the Innkeeper said, chuckling when he realized how Luthor had perceived it. "Right now, the only thing most of the workers know is the Midnight Inn. While that is not a bad thing, if they never experience normal life, or what the rest of the universe is like, their growth will bepletely stunted. They willck an understanding ofmon experiences, which will not only taint their world view, it will keep them from understanding the guests'' perspectives. If theyck such perspective, how can they better serve the guests?" Realization dawned on Luthor. This was not a punishment, but a reward as well as a test! The Innkeeper was trusting them with more responsibility to see how they performed. On one hand it provided them a peek into life outside the Inn, while on the other hand it tested their survival skills without the handholding of the Innkeeper. In truth, Lex just felt bad. He treated the Midnight Inn like his home, so the workers naturally took the ce of his family. As great as the Inn was, if they were never allowed to leave then what would be the difference between this and a prison? But at the same time, he did not want to send them to other worlds yet. They were too weak. Speaking of weakness, Lex had been stuck in a unique conundrum ofte. Although he had given Jotun his response to the Henali''s requests, he did not know how they would react. While he could not give up his strong front, he also could not afford to cross them. He had not forgotten how simply entering their conference room, of sorts, was enough to put Lex into aa. Lately he had begun thinking of returning to the Crystal realm toplete his quest. If he could have the Midnight Inn exit the Origin realm, he would not be beholden to the Henali any longer. But he decided to wait till they gave their response before making any judgments. He had spent a long time in the Crystal realm, and he did not feel eager to return. Besides, the Inn was flourishing now that he could give it all his attention. "I''ll get it done," said Luthor with conviction. "Do you have any special requirements in mind?" "Pick a suitable ce, that''s all. While I''ll give you a starting budget for your colonization, after that everyone will have to rely on harvesting local resources to cater to your needs. You can take a poll to see what kind of environment everyone would like." "It will be done!" he said with vigor, before excusing himself. With that out of the way, Lex was momentarily done with all tasks that urgently required his attention. There was always more work to be done, but nothing that he needed to take care of at that exact moment. So he turned his attention to personal matters. Using his personal hologram, he sent Larry a message. "Larry, there''s been a change of ns. I won''t be joining you and Marlo, but I''ve found a way we can avoid any negative repercussions of attacking those prisoners. Thoroughly document everything they''ve done, or as much as you can, and try to get a confession from them if possible. Make a good case for why earth, even as a part of the empire, has been severely neglected and its people have been left to suffer. Once you''re done, give me everything you''ve gathered. If things go ording to n, not only will we avoid any fallout, the situation on earth will drastically improve." After sending the message Lex couldn''t help but sigh. His connection to the empire will greatly benefit his home, even if he had decided to leave it behind. It seemed like he had a magic touch. Everything just got better under his influence. Lex chuckled. Such thoughts were too self absorbed, even for him. In truth, he was a man in an extremely precarious situation putting on an excellent bncing act. With that done, and everything else being handled well enough by the system, Lex couldn''t help but turn his attention towards the new Minor realm that had been given to the empire. He was a little curious about this pagoda. If he wanted it to serve as a training ground for his workers, he first needed to get a deeper understanding of its difficulty. After a quick scan that showed that William was still at the manor, Lex decided to pay the pagoda a visit. He was curious to see how difficult these trials really were. He did not at all harbor any thoughts that he mightplete all the trials in a single go, thereby gaining an incredible heritage that put him on the same level as the emperor. It was not like he had begun to suffer from an MCplex. Yes, he was totally just going to scope it out. He teleported to his room to change, but then realized he hadn''t really gotten any new gear to suit his new realm. With a shrug, he changed into jeans and a T-shirt, and teleported to the Immortal Bastion. "Mary, I''m going to be a little busy for a while, so if anyone has a tribtion simr to the one Ragnar had, warn me well in advance so I can set enough formations." He really could not think of anything else going wrong while he was away. He had taken precautions against everything he could think of, and had enough guards to protect the Inn in case other trouble makers arrived. Besides, he would only be gone for a short time. What''s the worst that could happen? Shortly after Lex entered the Minor realm, Adrus who had spent an extended amount of time at the Inn finally returned to Earth. Not everyone was a multi billionaire. As much as he wanted to continue to party at the Inn, he couldn''t afford it! Chapter 537 Not Building Suspense For a long time now, Larry had been living at the Midnight Inn. Using the Guild room to make some money made it very easy for him to stay there indefinitely, and the conveniences it offered made it the preferable choice - not to mention the perpetual safety from assassinations it offered. It also allowed him to get his hands on resources and gear that he''d never be able to find on earth. He''d rented a courtyard where he mostly lived by himself though his girlfriend spent a lot of time there as well. The most convenient thing about having his own ce at the Inn though was that he could build his setup as he desired without fear of someone breaking in and getting their hands on his stuff. Dozens of screens were attached to walls in the room he was in,pletely isted from the noise of the many servers he had stacked in the next room. The phenomenal temperature control at the Inn kept the servers running at optimal speeds without ever heating up. Though at the moment, his machines weren''t doing anything processor heavy. Various videos yed on the different screens, all of them muted. They depicted the various defenses around the ce they were about to venture into. Larry kept his gaze fixed on one massive temple, even as his attention was diverted towards Lex''s message. So basically, he didn''t need to worry about getting in trouble as long as he collected plenty of evidence? He didn''t show much of a reaction on his face as he put on his gear. He was not disappointed because of Lex''s absence in the mission. No, his only thought was on the mission ahead of him. Today¡­ he would finally face the man responsible for everything that happened to him. He teleported out of the Inn. ***** Alexander resisted the urge to groan. Although he could not say the challenge he faced waspletely inconceivable, it definitely wasn''t what he had expected when he heard of the pagoda. His body was still getting used to the incredibly heavy gravity in the room. It was not just a matter of warming up his muscles or activating his spirit energy. Every single function in his body hade under an additional stress that it had to fight against. His spirit energy felt heavier as he channeled it, slowing down all his techniques. His blood was pulled away from his brain and towards his legs, forcing his body to put in extra work just to keep that from happening. The air itself felt heavy in his lungs, making it difficult for the oxygen to diffuse into his blood without hurting his lungs themselves. All of that was happening simultaneously and continuously. He did not know how much stronger the gravity was. His brain was not some kind of machine that could urately calcte that the gravity was X times heavier than normal, causing him to expend Y% more energy.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om All he knew was¡­ his defensive armor came with a cup that was crushing him! After taking a moment to adjust himself, he felt much morefortable. Or at least, asfortable as he could be given the situation. He stood at the very entrance of the pagoda, and in front of him was a line etched into the ground. Once he crossed the line, his first trial would officially begin. "Picked a bad time to start but¡­ oh well." He used a special technique, activating his backpack causing it to change form. It began wrapping itself around him, not forming an armor, but a skeletal frame. When it wasplete, it revealed itself to be an exosuit! Not only did the suitpliment all of his physical capabilities exponentially, it was the first step in mastering some of the strongest weapons the empire had to offer. As he stepped forward, Alexander''s eyes carried none of the hesitation or confusion he had been feeling the past few days. While there was a part of him that felt things he could not understand, there was also an overwhelming part of him that craved the challenge before him. He would be the best, slowly but steadily. He took a step forward. ***** Lex had moved the entrance to the Minor realm he took to calling the Pagoda realm - out of sheer convenience - to the Immortal Bastion. He expected it to be devoid of any crowds since the Bastion was not so popr yet, and the empire had only just gotten its hands on the realm. He was sorely mistaken. A neat and orderly line of soldiers moved through the realm entrance,pletely unprompted by anyone. He attributed it to the discipline of the army, and got in line himself. A young man dressed casually, he stood out from the crowd of armored soldiers, though no one paid too much attention to him. When it was finally Lex''s turn and he entered the realm, he was stunned. Already having experienced teleportation besides the one caused by the golden keys, he was ready for the uneasy feeling. What he was not ready for, however, was the extremely well developed alley he woulde out to. It had only been a few hours since he told Jotun that they would take control of the realm so he did not really expect any real results. At most he expected the empire would mobilize some forces and upy the realm, before slowly developing certain parts of it. After all, not everyone had ess to a magical system that would spawn buildings out of thin air. He did not ount for the fact that in ce of that, the empire had massive, extremely sophisticated 3D printers that were literally building a fort around Lex before his very eyes. Someone bumped into him, waking him from his reverie and reminding him to step out of the way of the entrance. After apologizing, Lex moved to the side so he could actually admire the work the empire was doing. Around the entrance to the realm, which had taken the shape of a door frame filled with white light through which people came, the empire had built a simple yet elegant patio. He expected they would change that in the future, but for now, it made for a beautiful entrance and exit to the realm. He expected that the entrance had originally been ced in the wild, but it did not look that way right now. A tiled road had already been built in front of the entrance, going straight. He expected that it would eventually lead to a gate, or perhaps a security check through which everyone would pass. For now, it ended near a wall that was being built at the very moment, forming the periphery for a massive, rectangr fort! There were a few ships flying around in the air above him, perhaps scanning and surveying the area. What Lex didn''t understand was, when and how these machines got here. Lex had not seen them at the Inn, which meant that the empire probably brought parts and constructed them right here in the realm! The soldiers who were entering the realm were all reporting to various stations, from where they were being sent in every direction. He could imagine that in only a few days, this ce would undergo aplete makeover. But regardless of how amazing the technology of the empire seemed, and how amazing the end result was, itcked the finish that the Inn gave! But it was not like he was using them of beingcking. They were already incredible enough bying close. Lex stepped forward and asked someone for directions to the pagoda, for he couldn''t exactly see it anywhere on the horizon. The soldier informed him that it was actually not that close to the entrance and offered him a spot in one of the ships flying around in the air. He promptly agreed and soon found himself climbing aboard the sleek aircraft called Slingshot alongside a few other soldiers heading in the same direction. "Why is it called Slingshot?" Lex asked the soldier sitting next to him, confused. The design did not really look anything like one. The man only chuckled. But Lex did not need to hear his response, as he immediately understood when the ship rose vertically into the air till it was high enough, then suddenly shot into the distance like a slingshot! He went from 0 to a 100 real quick, and then a 1000, and then probably beyond. Fortunately, the aptly named ship did not stop as abruptly as itunched, and began slowing down only a few minutester as it ventured into a valley. A very regal and majestic looking pagoda stood in the heart of the valley, surrounded by what seemed like an ocean of white crystals. Lex''s intuition, which had so far been silent, began acting up again. There was something in the pagoda that was extremely valuable, though that was not a surprise. Lex only took a moment to appreciate the beauty around him once he disembarked. But he was generally an impatient man, and not one for building suspense. He stepped in. Chapter 538 Stupid Cliches "Hey, do you know who that was?" asked one of the soldiers who saw Lex walk into the pagoda. They had been informed that the pagoda would be open to the public, so they didn''t really bother to stop him. But it was only after Lex entered that it urred to one of the soldiers that they hadn''t really spread news of the pagoda yet. Although they did have a marketing n, it had yet to be implemented, so a lot of people should not have known about it yet. The soldiers who had originally encountered the pagoda were told not to spread the news until a deal was made with the Innkeeper. Though that order had now been lifted, too little time had passed for the news to propagate properly. "Does it matter?" asked another soldier, who was too preupied with his own assignment. The first soldier shrugged and continued with his work. ***** Entering the pagoda did not feel like teleporting at all, though his intuition clearly told him he was in an entirely new area. It felt as if he just walked into another room. The air was surprisingly fresh, though the area looked like a massive hall made fromrge stone blocks with no windows for venttion. Closed ssnterns were attached to the walls, illuminating the hall with dim yellow light. But the range of his sight seemed to be limited for he couldn''t see the end of the hall as it seemed to fade into darkness. Lex drew a parallel between his situation and the visibility of video game characters when they roamed the map. Only a certain area around them would be visible to the yer, while the rest of the map would be a mystery. He looked down and saw a thin yet prominent line drawn in the ground. Somehow, without the need to be informed, he knew that his trial would begin the moment he crossed the line. It suddenly urred to him that he should have polished up on new techniques before entering the pagoda, but then he shrugged. Despite his train of thought earlier, he didn''t genuinely believe that he''d be able toplete the pagoda on his first try, regardless of how powerful he was. That was because the limitation sustained by the pagoda for entry was one of age, not the cultivation realm. He was sure there were others out there much stronger than him at his age, so out right firepower shouldn''t be the defining factor that allowed one to reach the top of the pagoda. But then again, maybe it was. He still didn''t think it would be so straightforward, however. There was only one way to find out. He took a step forward and crossed the line before continuing to walk ahead. Nothing seemed to have happened, but his intuition told him otherwise. The air had been filled with some kind of sedative, though Lex did not bother trying to filter his air. Not only was he confident in his own body''s capabilities, but his intuition let him know that it was unable to affect him at all. As he continued to walk forward, more and more gasses were mixed into the air, all with various effects. He figured that anyone with a weaker physique would suffer greatly, and even if they decided to hold their breath, it would onlyst until they faced some action. But there were too many ways to filter the air, so this was still not impressive enough. But all of that changed when he saw a single figure emerge from the darkness up ahead. Lex''s face paled as he saw the figure and identified what, or rather, who it was. It was himself. The first trial in the pagoda¡­ was to face an exact copy of himself. Lex did not need to draw assumptions as the pagoda somehow directly nted the information inside his mind, the way it had done about the line in the ground. The Evil Lex, as he decided to call him, waspletely identical to him in every calcble measure. That meant, much like himself, Evil Lex would have an outstanding intuition that would warn him about any iing attacks, any ns Hero Lex made, how to avoid them and how to take advantage of them. He had all his techniques, which fortunately he did not update, and all his gear, which consisted of nothing but his clothes. He also had Hero Lex''s boundless shamelessness, and would not feel any hesitation in defining himself as the hero and the other as evil. As if that was not enough¡­ "You know we suck at attacking and are incredibly strong at defense. Why don''t we have a chat instead?" said Evil Lex, with his signature evil and malevolent smile, which in no way was a result of Hero Lex projecting his hate onto him. Hero Lex did not need to reply, because he knew Evil Lex had his sixth sense as well, and could determine Hero Lex''s mental state just by talking. Hero Lex took a deep breath and said,"Let''s get this over with."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om He used Home sweet home to throw himself at the evil Lex and punched him right in the face. True to hispletely arrogant nature, Evil Lex did not even bother moving and allowed the punch tond, confident in the knowledge that it could not harm him. As predicted, the punch was unable to harm him, but if things were so simple, Evil Lex''s expression would not have suddenly changed. Yet it was toote. The ridiculously severe w in this unnecessarilymon cliche, that Lex felt often ruined anime finales, was that as the original, no one was more familiar with his own weaknesses than Lex himself. The biggest weakness Lex had was his overreliance on his intuition, and the biggest w his intuition suffered was that it was unable to warn of things rted to systems. In thest moment before Lex''s punch connected, a golden key appeared between his fingers. The key naturally was not able to break through Evil Lex''s skin, and instead broke itself due to the strength of the sh. Evil Lex disappeared and Hero Lex remained, feeling like he had ovee the most ridiculous and overused challenge. If what the pagoda had in store for him was more of this, he would be seriously disappointed. Though, just to make sure he had Mary check if an Evil Lex showed up to the Inn. He didn''t. It seemed the moment the clone or projection or whatever it was exited the pagoda, it ceased to exist. With a snort Lex continued forward. A staircase leading to the next floor revealed itself from the darkness, allowing him to go to the next floor. ***** Larry sat across Marlo in his private jet as the man shared ns of their incursion. The ''prison'' where all the prisoners were being held was in India. It was far away from any settlements and hidden through the use of formations. Larry did not know what Marlo did to get his hands on this information, but the man had a generalyout of the kind of defense they had, and it honestly scared Larry a bit. There were quite a few Nascent realm guards posted, not to mention defensive formations, spirit tech and more! But if, despite knowing all that, Marlo was confident in going, Larry decided to trust him. This was not an opportunity he would get again. Perhaps it showed a hint of desperation that he was following such a crazy n, but he''d spent way too many years suffering because of what happened to his family. He no longer had any hope that he would miraculously discover that they were actually alive, being held somewhere waiting for him to rescue them. He was convinced they were dead. He just wanted revenge. It would also help if the constant assassination threats against him would stop. He yed with small, metallic beads in his hands, unaware of the pressure he was exerting on them. Every time he would swipe his thumb over them, one of them would disappear while the other beards becamerger, only to return to normal with the next swipe. Such a small detail would escape most, but not Marlo. The man was extremely meticulous, especially now that he was constantly racked with pain all over his body. But in exchange for pain, he was stuck with a new issue. His new form of cultivation depends on him continuously oveing difficult and dangerous trials. Only by putting his life on the line would he grow stronger. Unfortunately, there were almost no such dangers left for him to face on earth. The one exception¡­ was the ce he was about to arrive. Everyone thought that he was going to get justice for the numerous wrongs that prisoner subject earth to. Instead, he was going because there was no one left on this for him to pick a fight with. A wide, maniacal grin painted his face. Chapter 539 Resonance The moment Lex set his first step onto the second floor a couple of things happened. First, some esoteric knowledge about how using appropriate forms while punching produced different results appeared in his head. Second, his intuition started ring about iing danger. But by now Lex had be fairly used to emergencies. His reaction was quick yet smooth, andcked the jerkiness that came with dodging an unexpected attack. He leaned forward just enough to dodge a paper thin de that had aimed to slice through the back of his neck. The fact that Lex felt the need to dodge meant that the de was sharp enough to cut through his defenses. Calmly he moved his hand forward and transitioned from leaning forward into a single-armed handstand, allowing him to look back. A strange looking creature had attacked him, and was preparing to attack again after its ambush failed. It was bipedal but with four arms, twoing out from its shoulders but twoing out from its back. The arms attached to its shoulders were longer and had eight fingers, each with a long and sharp nail that ended at an impossibly small point. The armsing out of the back, while shorter, had four fingers and a thumb, and each held a weapon. One held the sword with which Lex had been attacked while the other looked like some kind of gun. The creature also had a long and thick tail dragging behind, in the shape of a lizard''s tail. While the tail did not look too flexible, the sheer size of it told of the immense strength it probably had. Not that it mattered. Lex had been wanting to try something for a while now, and this was the perfect opportunity. Using his left eye, he used Evisceration. His left eye was special, he already knew that. Evisceration was an incredibly strong soul based attack, he also knew that. What he didn''t know is if the result would be greater than expected if hebined the two. The result¡­ uhh, he didn''t know how to gauge the result. Despite his promotion, the difficulty of using Evicersation had not reduced. In fact, the reason he avoided using it frequently was because he feared hurting himself in the process. Even now, despite his growth, he wasn''tpletely confident in his perfect implementation of it. Yet he did not know if he was just better than he assumed, or it was the result of using his left eye, but he did not get hurt. Other than that, nothing much seemed to change. The strange creature directly died as a result of his attack and fell forward. Perhaps he would need to find a creature capable of surviving his attack to determine if there was a difference. That might be more difficult than it seemed, for soul attacks were always extremely lethal. Lex allowed his body to fall backwards, but quickly yet elegantly moved his feet, making it seem as if he hadpleted a cartwheel. It just so happened, his move had allowed him to dodge a projectile. Though he didn''t want to admit it, the quick and easy defeat of his own clone had given him certain insight into his own weakness. Though the projectile was weaker than the de and would not have broken through Lex''s defense, there was no real reason to allow contact. Who said he should blindly rely on his defense just because it was strong? Instead, the protective measures he took needed to encapste multiple different strategies. His sharp intuition and perfect control of his body allowed him to dodge most attacks, suddenly creating a newyer of difficulty his attackers needed to ovee. This might seem like it was no different from what he did earlier, since he was always dodging attacks in his previous fights as well, but there was a fundamental difference. Earlier he dodged because all his opponents were usually stronger than him, and capable of harming him to some degree. But in the instances where he could get away with it, he took full advantage of his defense. It was the difference between strategically allowing an attack tond on his body, and allowing an attack tond because he was toozy to dodge a weak attack. He created a small challenge for himself in addition to anything the pagoda might throw at him. He decided to see how many floors he could ovee without allowing a single rip in his clothes. After all, unlike him, they had no substantial defense at all. Lex walked forward, only ncing at his enemy long enough to kill him with a shot of evisceration. The speed at which he walked seemedpletely ordinary, yet each and every move he performed allowed him to dodge an enemy attack which had started increasing. He seemedpletely at ease as countless des fell in his path and endless bullets chased him. Of course, he did not walk in a straight line, as that would be too predictable. Instead, it seemed like he was slowly warming up for a dance. There was a rhythm that his body adopted that seemed to resonate with some unseen force. He moved his head to dodge a close shave, yet if someone saw him from a distance, it would seem he was bobbing his head to a song.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om All the while, the number of enemies around him kept increasing, as well as bodies. He started picking up speed, but the elegance of his moves did not diminish in the slightest and soon it was like he was on a stage giving a performance. For some reason, an image shed in his mind of a ballet performance he saw long ago during the Midnight Games. But the image disappeared just as quickly as it came, and Lex did not really think about why he suddenly recalled it. Instead, as he made his way through this trial, and his gaze that heralded death washed over his enemies, Lex realized something else. Although the resonance was not reaching a point significant enough to produce a result yet, whatever unseen force his body was connecting to reminded him of the effect of array characters. Chapter 540 Destinys Chosen Even as Lex was experiencing something new, he retained perfect control of his thoughts. He did not allow himself to be too excited, and calmly analyzed the situation. Although it may not have seemed like it, Lex''s progress with arrays was phenomenal. Not only was he memorizing more and more arrays that could be used in various circumstances, he was further familiarizing himself with the new and unique way he designed to form arrays. He had not had too much of an opportunity to show off what he learned, but just the fact that he could defeat Nascent realm cultivators before his rise in cultivation realm should have been an indication of just how much more he could do with arrays. Although arrays themselves technically had nothing to do with cultivation realm, as the strength of an array came solely from the characters used and the array itself, there was more to it than that. A greater cultivation realm allowed him more energy to power an inherentlyrger array than he could have before, not to mention how the boost in his mental faculties allowed him to hold on torger arrays in his mind as well. The speed at which he could create arrays to match his circumstances also gained a massive boost. An easy way to understand it was an oversimplifiedparison. Regardless of the physical strength of a person, the amount of damage a bullet could do would stay the same. The fact that Lex had grown stronger did not change how much damage the bullet could do. The fact that Lex could now aim much faster, shoot with much more uracy and probably wield a 100 guns at the same time with the same precision due to his spirit sense also did not inherently change the destructive capabilities of the bullet. It just enhanced Lex''s own capacity to cause much more damage. But even setting all that over simplification aside, the matter at hand was that Lex was not using any arrays! So why then did he feel like he was experiencing something simr. The power of an array came not from the user, but from the universe atrge. Was he in some way resonating with the universe the way array characters did? Was that the effect of new, unknown affinity? Before he coulde to an answer, all the enemies were dead. This was¡­ interesting. Lex walked forward until he encountered another staircase and proceeded to climb to the next floor. His mind conjured up countless possibilities for what the actual answer was. The ring given to him by John that actually carried apiled manual for arrays was something he consulted often, either to further his studies or provide him with answers. A part of his mind began to peruse the ring, searching for what exactly about the characters caused their relevant effects. He also wondered if the reason why the resonance he experienced didn''t produce a result was because it was too weak, or because it wascking in something else.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om The moment he stepped onto the third floor, despite all the calmness and coolness he disyed earlier, he stumbled. The new information that entered his mind¡­ was a guide on how to use soul energy to enhance the effects of dances! As ridiculous as that sounded, at least now he could determine what kind of rewards each floor would give him. He would receive information about how to enhance one of the techniques or abilities disyed in oveing the previous floor. The first floor pitted him against a single enemy. The second floor put him against an entire host of enemies with a weapon strong enough to hurt him, though they were still too weak. Regardless of the fact that they were both easy to ovee for Lex, there was an exponential increase in difficulty between the floors. This theory was only reinforced once he stepped onto the third floor. This time, a massive robot stood in front of him, staring at him with red glowing eyes. It had the shape of a spider, with wings and what looked likeser turrets. Lex had a suspicion, so he tried it out and¡­ yes, evisceration did not work on the robot because it had no soul! Even his left eye could do nothing about that. Lex shrugged. He was still not intimidated. Although he had no other good attacking techniques, as a user of Regal Embrace, it was long destined it would be so. The cultivation technique actively made it difficult for him to learn offensive techniques. Only arrays remained unaffected by the influence of his technique, so that''s what he''d use. One moment they both stood still, but the next a fierce battle erupted! ***** As ever, his signature six swords hovered in the air behind Alexander. But for once they did not move to attack the horde of insectoids that attacked him, and retained their ce in the sky. Instead, this time Alexander took to solving things up close and personal. Like a barbarian, he hurled himself into the endless wave of enemies, but their numbers did nothing to slow him. His exosuit suffered no harm no matter how much damage it soaked up and continued to strengthen his each and every action. It did not matter what kind of enemy came in front of him. Whether they had hard shells or indestructible carapace mattered little, for what guided his herculean strength were a carefully selected and perfectly implemented selection of techniques. One of Alexander''s greatest strengths was always his masterful use of various techniques, but that had gone to a whole new level now. He changed techniques faster than anyone could understand, moving from one to another with ease and efficiency that was almost machine-like. His whole life, he''d had many advantages that otherscked. He''d been helped and guided by the best. He''d had opportunities that most could not even imagine. But none of that made him feel like he was borrowing the strength of others, or that he hadn''t earned his strength. Though he had been trained by many, he was the one who took what others gave and turned into something so much greater. He didn''t need destiny to choose him, or pity his weakness. He would carve out his path himself. Chapter 541 Forgot That He Was Strong It took many hours for Marlo''s private jet to near the destination. Once the pilot let them know they were 30 minutes away, Larry, Marlo, and the few others who were on the ne began to gear up and went over their various ns. For the most part¡­ the only n was to follow Marlo''s lead. However, the exit strategies were thorough and well nned out. There were three exit strategies that had been decided early on, and they would only attempt the subsequent ones if the first one failed. Through one of the Guild rooms'' most reliable new shop run by Chen Lee and his sister Lily, they had gotten their hands of teleportation talismans.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Since Marlo had an unusual fondness for using talismans, that was exit strategy number one. If the use of the talismans was sessful, they would be teleported to some ce random within a 1000 miles (1609 kilometers). There were a number of pickup sites that had been decided and they could make their way to the nearest one afterward. The second strategy involved a number of vehicles that had been secretly nted by Marlo''s men near the prison. If, for any reason, the teleportation talisman failed, they would have to make their way to those vehicles and escape that way. The third strategy, and the one that was most desperate, was to make use of the Inn. If, for any reason, strategy one and two failed, they would enter the Midnight Inn. The Inn had a new set of rules regarding teleportation, and if where they teleported from was a region they were not authorized to be in, they would be teleported to the nearest region they were authorized to be. This was slightly unreliable due to the randomness of where they could exit. It was sure to allow them to escape the immediate confines of the prison, but they might end up still close enough to the prison once they came out to be targeted. "Wait, why is the pilot exiting the cockpit?" Larry suddenly asked as he looked towards the front of the ne. Since there was only one pilot, the ne was left unattended! Instead of answering Larry, the pilot gave a knowing smile, and started putting on a parachute! "You ready to make an entrance, kid?" Marlo asked with a mad grin. "As I recall, I never finished your self-defense sses, right? Let''s treat this as a field trip for an advanced ss. Keeping with the logic that the best defense is to kill your enemy first, we will now go over the use of various kinds of pration techniques when facing a well-defended fort." Larry had a strong suspicion about what would follow, and due to his new strength, he wasn''t really afraid, but¡­ he just sighed and stopped thinking at this point. Thinking would probably hurt him more than help him now. Marlo opened the emergency exit and jumped out of the ne, followed by the pilot and everyone else. Larry morosely followed. A few momentster, the private jet went through the illusion formation and crashed against whatever was behind it, resulting in a shockwave that was much stronger than a ne crash should have resulted in! A few secondster, the illusion formation failed and showed Larry the result, allowing him to suddenly reach a conclusion. The ne they had been riding¡­ had been lined with explosives! ***** With a sharp, electronic wail the massive spider Lex was fighting finally crashed and exploded! He had to erect a shield around himself to protect his clothes from the mes. The fight had been fiercer than Lex had expected. Thinking that he was facing a machine and that it would be weak against electrical attacks, Lex had once again relied on using the array he used to summon lightning bolts. Unfortunately, while the spider was indeed a machine, it was not built based on engineering from earth. It did not run on electricity, and none of its internalponents, whatever they were, were sensitive to an overload of electricity. In fact, the spider had only be more energized after suffering from the attack and started shooting itssers much faster. Avoiding those had been extremely annoying. The thing was, no matter how fast Lex moved, he could notpete with the speed of aser. The only thing he could do was use his intuition to move out of theser''s trajectory before it even fired - which was easier said than done! He had only been able to avoid approximately 20% of allsers, even with the forewarning. The problem was, the spider was actively aiming at him, even if he was moving. Even if he suddenly changed his trajectory, the spiders would continue to aim at him even as he moved along his new path. He had to rely on various shields and defensive techniques to avoid having his clothes damaged. All the while, he had to retain focus on the arrays he was forming and make sure that he didn''t ruin them. Imagine being required to code a piece of software in the middle of a war-zone, threatened not only by the iing artillery but also being vulnerable to hisputer suddenly blowing up if he so much as used an unnecessary semicolon, let alone writing faulty code. That was literally what Lex''s experience was. Fortunately, his newly enhanced multitasking skills ensured that he never lost focus on his arrays. It took a few different tries to take down the spider, though. Lex''s usual reliance on elemental damage, such as the use of fire or lightning, seemed not to work. In the end, he actually discovered how to defeat the spider by ident. He had spent so long knowing that his defense was strong but his actual strength was weak, that he had forgotten that he had recently undergone a huge boost in strength! After the Lotus had recently remade his body, his strength had grown so much even the Host Attire couldn''t perfectly help him regte his strength. On top of that, he had undergone a growth in his realm. Suffice to say, Lex could now pack a punch. It was through sheer coincidence and perfect timing that Lex had to block one of the spiders'' legs using his arms after thesers broke through Talk to the Hand. Instead of being pushed back by the attack¡­ Lex crumpled the spider''s leg as if it was paper. It was only afterwards that he recalled that he was actually strong. Defeating the spider suddenly became extremely easy once he changed his tactics, though he was slightly disappointed that his arrays hadn''t been as useful. Next time, he told himself as he climbed to the next floor. Chapter 542 Named After... The Midnight Inn received thousands of new guests every day, at the very least. Although most of them arrived at the Inn through the use of golden keys, enough of them came from golden doors that opened randomly for Lex to have realized that the urrence of those doors was not truly random. Although he had yet to figure out the pattern with which they opened, he could determine that they were more likely to open up in areas where they were likely to be discovered. There was a part of him that suspected there was even more to it than that, as he had seen a few odd patterns in the kinds of guests that arrived through the golden doors. Suffice to say, they were more likely to be interesting or significant characters aspared to those that arrived through the spread of golden keys. Yet, there was still another subset of guests who came through another method, who often tended to be of even more significance than guests who normally came through the golden doors. They were the pro bono guests! The golden doors of the Midnight Inn opened, but instead of opening near the ground, as they usually did, they opened up high in the air. An injured Sol bird fell through the door,nding directly on the nearby spaceship. The Midnight Inn''s incredible ability to control passive influence from guests and their cultivation kept the temperature from rising around it, though it would not have been enough to leave a single mark on the ship even if it didn''t. The door immediately shut right after the bird fell through, preventing whoever was chasing it from following. The bird took one look to see it was no longer being followed, before it copsed and lost consciousness.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om ***** Lex was thinking over why his arrays had failed to get a result. It was not that they were weak, but that the enemy was uniquely immune to elemental attacks. He had other forms of attacks avable to him that he had nned out, but he was too used to relying on elemental attacks so much so that it didn''t ur to him until muchter. If there was one thing he was pleased with, though, was the speed at which he formed the arrays. It was finally getting to the point where he could use them quickly enough in battle. While Lex''s repertoire of techniques was very limited, his versatility was definitely not low. Not only was he incredibly strong and tough now, his mind worked fast enough to finally turn arrays into an actual viable solution. Still, just because he liked using arrays it didn''t mean he should avoid his other abilities. He quickly went over everything he was capable of before he reached the next floor. Although it did not seem like it, Lex had to admit that the difficulty of each floor was growing pretty quickly. Although he was unharmed so far, he suspected it wouldn''t stay that way for long. The moment he stepped onto the fourth floor new information was deposited in his mind. Interestingly enough, it was a new array character. However this character was slightly unusual. Unlike other characters which brought about a set and specific change in the universe, this character meant "I". Its effect would change depending on who used it, and how. Lex stopped inspecting the new character and turned his attention back to his surroundings. Unlike previous floors, which took the form of a massive hall, this floor took the form of a narrow corridor. If Lex spread his arms out, he would barely be able to touch both the sides of the passage. He smiled because he immediately took in everything this new floor had to offer, and he genuinely did not expect what it had instored. At the end of the corridor he was facing was a swarm of small feline robots rushing towards him. From the sounds he could hear, he could tell that the same robots were rushing at him from the other end of it as well. But he turned to look back anyway. Right behind him stood another man. He was the same height as Lex, and like him had a very lean build. Like himself, he had turned around and was looking at Lex. Unlike Lex, who looked like he was on a casual stroll, he had equipped an exosuit and had 6 swords floating behind his back. "Alexander Morrison," Lex said, a hint of surprise in his voice. "I really didn''t think I''d run into you here." "Do I know you?" Alexander asked, a hint of wariness in his eyes. While previously he cultivated his spirit and his body, under the guidance of the empire, he was now cultivating his body, spirit and soul! As someone who had cultivated only two paths before, he knew exactly how much of a difference his new cultivation path had made on him, and his senses. That was exactly why he trusted his instincts when they told him that the man standing in front of him was extremely dangerous! "Ah, no we''ve never met," lied Lex. Well, at least Lex had never met him when he wasn''t acting as the Innkeeper. "But who on earth doesn''t know you?" "You''re from earth?" Alexander asked, even more surprised. "It''s strange then that I don''t know you." He could tell that Lex was fairly young, and his cultivation level was on par with him! There was no way someone like that should have been below his family''s radar! Lex shrugged and said, "A lot has changed since the Midnight Inn showed up. I wasn''t worthy of your notice before. Though, I believe we have shared the same teacher. I was briefly enrolled in one of Marlo''s self defense sses." Both Alexander and Lex continued to stare at one another, content to ignore the iing enemies. "My name is Lex, by the way," he said, extending his hand. "Lex? Is that short for¡­" "Ah not really," Lex said with a shortugh. He knew what Alexander was going to ask. "People often assume that Lex is short for Alexander, but that''s not it. My older sister named me after her favorite¡­ uh well, it doesn''t matter." By now, the robots wereing dangerously close, but the two still didn''t break eye contact. To Alexander, Lex felt a lot more dangerous than the entire horde! Chapter 543 Increasing Difficulty One of the most frequent questions Lex faced when he was young was what his name meant, or was short for. Depending on his age or mood, Lex would give different answers, ranging from it meant absolutely nothing, to that it was an acronym for udably exquisite xebec'', to the name of a famous hero or viin. Many people often assumed it was short for Alexander, though that was not the case. The truth of the matter was too embarrassing to be spread. When he was born, his parents were having a discussion about what to name him, only to find out that their firstborn, Belle, had somehow managed to fill out the paperwork and had his birth certificate issued with the name Lex. As absurd as it sounded considering Belle''s young age at the time, she had been a little different from birth. She could not bepared to others her age. When they asked her why she chose the name Lex, she imed that he had been named after her favorite wrestling move: the suplex! His parents had found the story endearing. He had found the story mentally scarring. His sister had taken the story as motivation to master the suplex, on him no less! "You know it urs to me that we actually have a lot inmon," said Lex as he turned around and looked at his side of the corridor. "We''re both from earth. We both had the same teacher. We both have simr sounding names. We both are pretty strong, and we both have weird families." Thest part Lex almost whispered. Had it been anyone else, they would not have heard his words against the backdrop of the approaching robots, but Lex had Alexander''s undivided attention so he heard the words. "You know I saw your fights back during the Midnight Games. You were quite impressive back then," said Lex. "Some say I''m the best on earth around my age," replied Alexander with a sly grin.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex almost chuckled at the provoking remark, but he had no time to retort. The feline robots had arrived! They were not toorge, more like a slightlyrger house cat. But while their size remained inferior to the more aggressive feline species, the robots were far from weak! Their small, agile bodies were perfect for maneuvering in the cramped corridor while at the same time making it hard to hit their bodies. To top it off their speed was incredible, their fangs and ws were incredibly sharp and, as robots, they had weaponsing out of unexpected ces! While Lex may have been acting quite casual in his conversation with Alexander, the truth was that he was immediately put to the limit of his abilities as soon as he was attacked! There were too many attacking too fiercely and too fast! As much as Lex wanted to continue the challenge of leaving his clothes untouched, he failed after only a few seconds! While they had not yet prated his skin, the robots were definitely strong enough to cut through all of Lex''s outdated defensive techniques. He was forced to resort to blocking attacks with his limbs, immediately entering the flow state and making the best of his limited mobility. The difficulty of the pagoda was no joke! He spread his spirit sense along the hall, both to keep an eye on how Alexander was faring and so that he could use it to interfere with any long range attacks. To his surprise, despite the fact that Alexandercked his immense physical strength and speed, he was faring much better! Unlike Lex, who was relying on his instincts to defend against the onught, Alexander was using his training and prior experiences to deal with the enemies with remarkable efficiency! Although many thought he had lived a pampered life, that was far from the truth. He was too used to facing enemies with much greater numbers and far greater strength than himself. In this situation, where he was practically alone against a seemingly endless number of overpowered enemies, he was not pushed to his limits. If anything, he was right at home! All six of the swords were moving in conjunction with his every step, either fending off attacks or cleverly striking at enemies themselves. It was like each sword was controlled by a separate person, meticulously taking advantage of the situation with perfect teamwork and coordination. Considering that Lex had recently unlocked amazingly overpowered multitasking abilities, using multiple weapons in such perfect conjunction should have been what he was pursuing. Instead, he had been forced to rely on his own physique, unable to deliver even half as good a result as his peer, even with greater capabilities. For a moment, Lex was humbled. Although he had grown strong quickly, and it seemed like he had mastered his strength, he was far from achieving the best he could do - even in his flow state! But then the moment passed, and Lex was filled withpetitive spirit! From flow, he entered the overdrive state as he turned his attention back to the robots on his side. He moved his left arm behind his back as an array began forming around it, while he only used his right arm to attack. Although he had recently had a realization on how he could improve his performance, he had not yet had time to master it, so he went back to his old way of doing things. He relied heavily on his body''s endless tolerance for suffering attacks and stopped blocking. He used each opportunity presented to him when an enemy attacked to counter attack, channeling his herculean strength through his fist. His clothes were torn and his skin covered in white scratches, but in exchange he was smashing robots with every move. As if that was not enough, each robot he punched or kicked wouldunch into the horde behind it, crashing into itsrades with devastating might. If not for the fact that Lex had resisted the urge to growl and roar, he would have disyed the perfect image of a savage barbarian hunting wild beasts! For a few dozen seconds, it seemed like things were under control. They had reached a climax, but the two of them had managed to hold back their respective wave of robots. Now they would silentlypete over who defeated their side of the attack first. But despite how simple and easy as the pagoda had seemed at first, it was no mere childsy. Things changed suddenly when the seemingly random actions of each robot suddenly changed into an incredibly coordinated and strategic attack. It seemed as if they were not facing off against multiple, individual robots but an army of robots, all with a connected mind. It was like¡­ they were facing off against a hive mind! Instead of focusing solely on the two of them, some of the robots actually circumvented them, and appeared behind them. Suddenly, the two went from having each other''s backs to both beingpletely surrounded, and under attack from every direction. While Lex wasrgely okay, the number of attacks he began to suffer increased tremendously. While he was still not hurt, the threat that the robots might break skin soon was immense. Alexander too came under great pressure, but not only did he have a vast array of techniques at his disposal, his exosuit was no joke. He seemed to be surviving. Still, it became clear to both of them that they would need to work together if they wanted to survive the entire round! With an unspoken understanding, both of them acted at the same time. Alexander''s suit suddenly rippled with a blue light, though more important was the fact that he suddenly became more powerful. The air seemed to ripple around him, before an explosion threw back every robot near him. Lex, on the other hand, did something much simpler. Since he already knew that the robots were immune to elemental attacks, he had used a different one. Inspired by a video of a devastatingly powerful volcanic eruption, the array he used was one of the few he had already nned out before. It was called shockwave. Simply said, it sent a shockwave in a specific direction. Practically, the shockwave was so strong and abrupt, it could easily kill. Moreover, it was the perfect area of effect attack! The momentarily lull in the robots attacks caused by Alexander''s explosion and Lex''s shockwave allowed the two to close the gap between themselves and truly have each other''s backs. "So Mr. Best-at-his-age, think you can keep up? If you need any help just let me know, alright. It''s not a shame to ask your elder for help." "Tch. You need a bandaid for that scratch on your face?" Alexander asked, instead of replying. Lex snickered. Indeed, his entire body was scratched up. But not a single attack had managed to pierce his skin so far. Instead of feeling like he was being attacked, it felt more like he was receiving a special massage designed to scratch an itch. The Regal Embrace, even in its mutated form, was not a joke. Although Alexander seemed to be making fun of the fact that Lex suffered multiple attacks, internally he was bbergasted at his resilience. He had seen actual armors weaker than Lex''s skin! Chapter 544 Shredded! "Their coordination is incredible," said Lex, no longer wasting time with jokes. In fact, to speed along themunication process, he was no longer speaking with his voice but directly transmitting the message through his spirit sense. They had barely a couple of seconds before the robots attacked again and they needed to get on the same page before then. Lex could probably brute force this floor because of his incredible defense, but if they became overwhelmed, there was a very real chance that Alexander could die. Of course, there was a chance that Alexander had a way to protect himself in such a situation, but the point was that these trials could be lethal if taken lightly. The fact that even Lex felt overwhelmed on just the fourth floor spoke of how difficult it was to ovee it. Although Jotun did not guarantee that this pagoda was exactly the same as the one he visited, he had to ovee 99 trials to reach the top of the pagoda. "Their ws and fangs are sharp and are resistant to blunt force damage, but are slightly weaker than sharp or cutting attacks," informed Alexander. Unlike Lex, he had not suffered a single attack yet as his 6 swords cut down any threat. "I don''t have any weapons but I am excellent with arrays," volunteered Lex. By sharing something about himself, he hoped that they could form a cohesive strategy. "Then you should have no problem surviving while I take care of things," said Alexander with a smirk. For some unknown reason, he was feeling extremelypetitive. No one from his generation on earth had ever given him any pressure before. The fact that Lex, who shared so much inmon with him, was able to threaten him, awoke something in Alexander that had never existed before. For someone who was always serious all the time, a juvenile desire to show Lex up had taken hold of him for the first time. Since Alexander had never felt anything like that before, he didn''t know how to navigate it, so he allowed it to take hold. As if to indicate the seriousness of Alexander''s im, a change overcame not only him, but his weapons as well. Lex immediately recognized the phenomenon. Alexander''s grandfather, upon bing enamored by anime, changed some of their spiritual techniques to give birth to visual effects simr to the aura disyed by anime protagonists. But while Lex could identify the anime which inspired Alexander''s previous visual changes, this one did not bring any prominent anime to mind. Hmm, maybe it wasn''t just for show in that case. Like embers flying with the wind, small red grains started leaking out of Alexander''s body and weapons. Although the color evoked images of fire, Lex felt to no heat. Although, as more and more red kes began toe out, Lex''s intuition gave him a firm warning - in his current state, Alexander absolutely could hurt him! Of course, there was a massive difference between hurt and kill. But even managing to cut Lex''s skin deserved recognition! Unfortunately, they had no more time to chat amongst themselves as the robots reached them once again. Four of Alexander''s swords revolved around him, cutting anything that tried to attack him from his back or his sides while he used the other two to coordinate with his attack! Though, despite his eagerness to prove himself, he retained the good sense to not rush into the horde. Lex and Alexander stayed closed. Unlike Alexander, whose lethality had shot through the roof, Lex was pretty much the same. He immediately felt the pressure of the robots attack, and was left to crush them one by one using brute strength. Yet a part of his focus remained on Alexander. He could not figure out what it was that had empowered him, and if it was an element, it was not one he was familiar with. He had a feeling that instead of artificially trying to look like a protagonist, whatever training the empire had given him was further pushing him along the lines of actually bing one. He suddenly had an idea, though that would have to wait till he was done with the pagoda. The robots had startedtching onto the walls and ceiling as well,pletely threatening to crush the two under their numbers. One of them even fell onto Lex''s head and tried to w at his face, to no real sess.N?v(el)B\\jnn Every fiber of Lex''s being was equally tough. He had no ''weak points'' at all whatsoever. Still, the psychological rm of something scratching at your eyes was not easy to ovee! Lex was immediately rmed, and then pissed! Just because he didn''t have anime effects didn''t mean he could be picked at! Lex immediately entered the overdrive state again, and analyzed the horde. If he assumed they had the same strengths as the spider he faced, neither electricity nor fire or any of themon elements would be able to harm them. Or at least, it would require those elements in with a stronger kick. But the beauty of arrays was, reality was literally in the palm of his hands. He could manipte the elements as he desired, even into bing things that didn''t naturally exist! Or at least, into things he had only imagined and never seen! With a decision made of what he wanted to do, an array began to form. But since he needed both his hands to fight off the horde, he decided to form the array at his feet. Technically speaking, now that he was in the golden core realm, he could even form arrays away from his body as long as the flow of energy was never interrupted. But considering the current circumstances, it was best that the array be as close as possible to him. The shape arrays took was usually in the form of a circle. The main character or attributes of the array would be in the center most of the array, after which would be surrounded by a circle. Then the manyyers and nuances of the array were written around that circle, adding as many circles as was required. The greater theplexity of the array, the greater the number of circles. When he was at the Foundation realm, although theplexity of the arrays he could form was far beyond what normal cultivators at his realm could do, he was ultimately limited by the capacity of his own mind. That was why the array he formed to defeat so many nascent cultivators was so incredible. But now the same array wouldn''t cut it. It wasn''t because the array or attack was weak, but because it was mismatched against the kinds of opponents he was facing. Conversely, although the array he had in mind was technically as destructive as the former, he had a feeling it would be a lot more effective. The array under his feet quickly expanded from a single circle to two, then to three, and then four. In a few seconds, the entire width of the floor was covered by the array, but unfortunately Lex needed to grow the array further, so it began to crawl up the walls. But even then it kept growing as more and more circles were added, until it eventually started to creep across the ceiling. Alexander, who was busy ying the robots, suddenly felt something and scanned the area behind him, and was taken aback. When Lex had said he was good at arrays, Alexander did not expect he was able to sustain such a massive array in the middle ofbat. Moreover, while usual arrays looked ephemeral, and almost transparent due to the fact that they were made only of spirit energy, Lex''s array carried a tinge of silverish gold. A somewhat serious expression donned Alexander''s face. This was an indication of an affinity, and a very strong one at that if it could color his spirit energy in such an obvious way! Before he could continue to observe, Lex suddenly moved towards him and grabbed his cor. "Hold still for a moment," was all he managed to transmit through his spirit sense before suddenly surrounding the both of them with a protective shield. Then a few more. Then a few more again! The thing about the array Lex just used was¡­ it was an omnidirectional attack! There was no distinction between friend or foe! There was an explosion of white, and the ground beneath them actually trembled. Since the shields Lex had formed were made of inferior spiritual techniques, they could not survive the strength of his own attack! Lex groaned in frustration and suddenly forgot about defending himself and instead covered Alexander with a strengthened version of Talk to the Hand. The barrier came up just in time before Lex''sst shield broke. Snowkes asrge as Lex''s hand started cutting his body, thoroughly shredding all his clothes. He released another groan as they actually started cutting his skin! Though, of course, the cuts were miniscule, and barely allowed a drop of blood to drip. Lex had used the characters for storm, sharpness and snowkes together to create an explosion of ridiculously sharp, and extremely cold snowkes! Not only could they cut through the robots, the moment they lost their integrity and broke, all their ''coldness'' would be channeled into whatever was cut. Lex nned on using this to not only damage as many robots as possible, but also freeze any that survived the storm so that they could be picked off easily. The problem was, he forgot to consider that his defensive techniques would fail and his clothes would get shredded! Chapter 545 Deal The explosionsted a couple of seconds at most, but its devastation could not be understated! It was not just Lex''s clothes that had ceased to exist, but so had the robots closest to the epicenter! Cut and frozen over and over again, the closest of the felines had been reduced to nothing but frozen metallic dust. In fact, even the walls of the corridor seemed to have suffered from the battering, though they were only slightly worn. But while the epicenter was a zone of utter destruction, further down along the hallway Lex could see the diminished effects. The closestyer consisted of metallic dust that the robots had been ground into. A small distance away from it was thergest region, which consisted of robots which had been chopped into the small frozen pieces. But farther along, the pieces got bigger and bigger until whole robots finally started appearing. These were also destroyed, as was evident from how they were lying still, but only a small distance from them were robots that were heavily damaged, but still functional. It was here that the second effect of his attack began to show. Not only were the robots hurt, their internal mechanisms were frozen. Even if they suffered no actual harm, having theirponents frozen prevented them from moving properly. If there were any unharmed robots left, they were hidden from sight behind the injured one. Speaking of whom, they were still making their way towards Lex and Alexander, slow as they might be. "The number of robots is a little ridiculous, don''t you think?" Lex said,pletely ignoring his nudity. He could not, in any way, show that he felt embarrassed or it would only get worse. "Each floor of the pagoda is targeting one of our weaknesses. Every time you show some new strength, the pagoda alters something in the next challenge to limit your strength as much as possible." Lex paused and realized that Alexander was right. On the first floor, he was given a seemingly random challenge, but on the second floor, he faced multiple enemies instead of the one who had excellent coordination. The purpose seemed to be to prevent Lex from dismissing a single, unprepared enemy the way he had done on the first floor. After he made use of evisceration to get rid of those enemies, the enemies he faced afterwards allcked souls! Moreover, although Lex had not tried it, he had a feeling that they would be able to resist the teleportation effect of his golden key if he were to use it. Then, when he used his ridiculous strength to finish off the spider, he faced a seemingly endless horde of smaller enemies. Although his strength was still overwhelming, it wasn''t as much of a clear advantage against their endless numbers. If the pagoda kept getting harder in such a targeted fashion, how was anyone supposed to reach up to the top floor? Not only did this information bring a new perspective about how difficult it was to Lex, he also gained a new respect for Jotun. Lex himself had a number of unfair advantages, yet even he was suffering so much trouble. He could only wonder how exactly Jotun overcame the pagoda. Still, it wasn''t as if Lex was at the end of his rope. If he insisted on continuing, he bet he could continue to climb a few more floors. The reward he got for clearing each floor was also nice. But¡­ he wasn''t about to go fight a war naked! "Let''s just get this over with," said Lex as he picked up the frozen frame of a broken robot and casually fashioned it into a makeshift undergarment. Alexander nodded, and refrained from making ament. For better or worse¡­ Lex had killed more robots than him and had taken the lead. Such an overwhelming advantage had washed his initial drive away. With the immense momentum of the robots broken, defeating the remainder was only a matter of time. It was more tedious than anything and by the end of it, Lex was fairly certain that there had been exactly 2000 of them. While he did not bother counting them himself, his mind was strong enough. The way he did not need to count when he saw a pair of enemies, he did not really need to count for his mind to automaticallye up with the appropriate number. This meant that there was 1000 for each of them. Not bothering to debate against the logic of a lone man fighting 1000 enemies with the pagoda, Lex grabbed thest robot, but did not destroy it yet. He turned around and began walking towards the other side, where Alexander was killing the remaining robots on his side. "I have a question for you," Lex said as he leaned against the wall near Alexander, not really helping him finish the rest. In fact, the reason he was holding onto one of the robots was so that the current trial wouldn''t end until he was done. "If my intuition is correct, and it usually is, you''re cultivating all three paths, correct?" Alexander didn''t show a reaction, but his guard went back up. Although he and Lex had worked well together did not mean they were allies. "Perhaps. Why do you ask?" "Because I am the same, all three paths. It got me wondering, that red stuff you were using earlier, was that from one of the so-called ''true path'' techniques or professions? I''ve never seen anything like it." Alexander narrowed his eyes and looked at Lex, letting his flying des do the work while he continued the conversation.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "I''m not sure if you know this, but it''s quite rude to inquire about someone''s techniques." "Oh right, sorry," said Lex as he held up his arms, showing he was harmless. "I just thought that, you know, since we''re both on a simr path, we could help each other. I''m sure there''s a bunch of stuff I know that you haven''t been exposed to yet. For example, have you developed your soul sense?" Alexander did not immediately reply, which caused Lex to grin. "Oh right, shouldn''t ask about techniques. I was only mentioning because soul sense is hard toe by, but it''s a really great tool. Very useful." As if to demonstrate his point, Lex spread his soul sense and covered Alexander for a single moment. The teenager was secretly rmed when his instincts suddenly warned him that he was surrounded by an unknown force, but fortunately, it disappeared as quickly as it came. Yet the problem wasn''t that there was a force that enveloped him, but that he didn''t know how to counter it! "I haven''t really gotten my hands on any true path techniques or professions yet, but I tend to be exposed to some very¡­ unique situations. As a result, I can usually grow in strength very quickly. But as a result, I really end upcking in more traditional training and experiences." "You want to do an exchange?" Alexander asked, quickly understanding what Lex was getting at. "You do know that even if I want to, I can''t share ssified techniques." "Yeah, I guessed as much, but that doesn''t mean you have nothing to share. Besides, the Midnight Inn''s library has an increasing amount of techniques, so I can always find something there. But, your training and insight are things I can''t find in a book." Alexander did not immediately reply, as he went over the proposal in his mind. The fact that this Lex had appeared out of nowhere clearly indicated that he had some unusual experiences. Although his moves were very clean and efficient during the fight, they also betrayed hisck of systemic training. For him to be able to grow so strong so quickly, the things he had to offer might really be worth Alexander''s time. If he could gain the same boost, he''d be able to exhibit a lot more strength than Lex himself. Not to mention, if Alexander was able to develop a defense as strong as him¡­ even he could not estimate how lethal he would be. "You don''t have to answer immediately," said Lex and he straightened up. "Think about it and get back to me. You can reach me through the Inn. Just tell your personal hologram to deliver a message to Lex Williams." Lex crushed the robot in his hand, just as Alexander''s sword killed thest of the robots on his side. Two sets of staircases appeared, and Lex began to climb one without wasting any more time. He stopped, however, on thest step before the next floor. Through this step, he could choose to exit the pagoda. If he took another step, however, the next trial would begin. Lex chose to exit the trial without any regret. Even if he didn''t get to experience more floors, his 6th sense told him that Alexander was likely to agree to his deal. That was good enough for now anyway. Chapter 546 Join The Discord Channel While Lex was busy with the pagoda, and Larry carried out his revenge on earth, things were as peaceful as usual at the Midnight Inn. The number of guests at the Inn fluctuated considerably depending on the ongoing events, and the Inn was going towards somewhat of a lull due to the uing fishing event. But even if the number of daily guests fluctuated, a certain number of guests had more or less taken up residence at the Inn. Although bing a permanent resident of the Inn escaped the capabilities of many, nothing stopped them from perpetually renting out space at the Inn. Amongst the various options was the Small vige, which consisted not only of various houses, courtyards and rooms, but a few dedicated facilities as well. With the steep price of 15,000MP a night, it was only suitable forrge groups of people who wished to stay together. Mostmon amongst these were various sects and organizations. Many of them had discovered the Inn through the mysterious golden doors and then had monopolized ess to the Inn on their respective worlds. As if a higher than usual spirit energy concentration, ess to meditation and training rooms and first-ss medical facilities was not enough, the endless number of new Minor realm entrances at the Inn were enough to entice anyone. Someone might have wondered how so many different groups, originating from such various backgrounds, were able to maintain their behavior in their newfound environment, instead of trying to extend their hands and im more, as was the nature of many species. Other than the almost perpetual rain of lightning that happened all around the Inn that thoroughly intimidated most of the guests who were actually not so strong, the hearth at the entrance of the Inn that used the souls of the Inn''s enemies and fuel was more than enough to set them straight. So then, having be more or less residents of the Inn, these guests often ran into each other. If their proclivities tended to lean towards violence or disharmony they kept to themselves, but many others took the opportunity to foster friendships. One such group, formed from the young members of various different sects, sat together as they watched the fishing event kick off. They didn''t much care for fishing, but the environment itself was nice and it was a great area where they could just hang out. "I''m heading back to my homeworld for a few days," said the first youth. "Lucky you, I''m stuck on pill duty. My teacher epted a request in the Guild room for 100 bottles of Qi pills to help Qi Training cultivators, and all of us now have to help him fulfill it," said a second. "That''s nothing. I have to apany my sect into a Minor realm. Don''t they know that''s dangerous? I''ve heard people have constantly been getting ambushed by others in the Minor realms. Almost no one has formed a long-term base and they maintain nomadic habits. I really don''t want to go," said a third. "It''ll be hard to keep in touch after this, with our random schedules,"mented another youth. "Not really. I''ve created a discord channel, so just join it. That way, we can catch up on everything as soon as we return to the Inn. Everyone can respond whenever they''re back. It''s better than leaving it up to chance." The youths continued their conversation,pletely ignoring what was happening in thepetition. It was for that reason theypletely missed when the first contestant fished out a spatial ring, and the second fished out a literal treasure chest. The surrounding crowd, however, had paid attention, and slowly interest was beginning to build in thepetition. The more valuable the item fished out, the more the crowd became excited. One of the contestants pulled out a cultivation scroll that gave birth to a massive phenomenon as soon as it was pulled out. A vision of an eternal ice age formed above the head of the cultivator,rge enough to be visible across the Inn! ***** Vera Joel was pacing around her room anxiously. Although they used to have a lot of freedom even as prisoners, since the discovery of the Midnight Inn and its golden keys, they had more or less been kept under strict observation. Even then, it wasn''t as if they were being kept in jail cells. But as far as she was concerned, the situation was no better. As an oracle, she could glimpse into the most likely future. But there was a caveat to her seemingly incredible power, one that almost no one knew of.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om While she could glimpse the most likely future, she was restricted to seeing only her own future! The only possible way she could see the potential futures for other people was if it had a major or significant impact on her own life. The thing about seeing her own future was that while she could take many precautions against uing problems, she could not leverage her ability to help or aid others. That meant that no one had any incentive to help her! While that was not necessarily a bad thing, since she ought to be independent, there were times where that would be an issue. If, for example, she needed to use her ability to make an ie at the Midnight Inn, she would not be able to charge people to see their future. Once again, that did not really sound like a big deal. But given her current circumstances, it was a massive deal. She needed to get to the Midnight Inn and stay there, but she had almost no money with which to pay! "Calm down Vera," said Kristine, Vera''s mother. "Everything will be fine." Simr to Vera, Kristine was dressed in a tracksuit, and was wearing a backpack stuffed to the brim with valuables. "We''ll figure something out." "It''s not so easy. I can''t see my future inside the Inn from the outside. We have no way of knowing what will happen!" "We''ll figure something out. For now, get ready. It''s almost time." Though Vera was not able to rx, she did finally stop pacing around. She gave her mother a nod, indicating she was ready. Her mother, in turn, took out her phone and sent a message to a seemingly random number. If anyone saw the chat history, they would see that Kristine had sent this number various details about their prison as well as their guard formation and protective measures! While the name of the contact had not been saved in her phone, if anyone tried to call, on the other side they would find Marlo! "It''s done." The mother and daughter left the room, guidedpletely by Vera. Though shecked the skill to be a spy, she walked through the halls that made up her prisonpletely undetected. Her timing waspletely perfect, and managed to avoid detection not only of the patrolling guards, but of the security teams viewing the various cameras as well. As if theypletely owned the ce, the two made it to a security office and entered. As it happened, the guards were undergoing a shift change, and so there was almost no one in the office. "Hey, you can''t be here," said the only guard in the room aggressively, but the mother daughter duo paid him no attention. Vera began essing aputer right there, while the other directly attacked the guards! As it happened, this was the newest guard on duty, and also the weakest. The chances they would encounter him alone were next to nil, but that''s exactly what happened, because the pair had been preparing for this day for a long time. "The defensive formation has been deactivated," said Vera, just in time for her mother to incapacitate the guard. Kristine sent another message on the chat and they began to move. A few minutester, a private jet smashed directly into the building! Such a massive and unexpected incident should have caused countless casualties, but an unexpected incident at another section of their prison caused many of the guards to be moved away. It seemed quite coincidental that the area that the unmanned ne crashed into just happened tock any guards at that moment. ***** The moment Lex chose to exit the pagoda, he received the reward for the fourth floor, which was information on how to more precisely control his strength. It was not earth shattering information, but once Lex reviewed it, it would no doubt help him tremendously. For the moment, however, Lex found it impossible to focus on the information even with the ability to split his mind. That was because the moment he exited the pagoda, his makeshift undergarment disappeared, leaving himpletely naked before a host of Jotun soldiers. Everyone froze as they stared at the man who had just exited, but Lex did not act ashamed at all. With a nod of acknowledgment, he began walking towards the nearest tree as if he was on a casual stroll. The leaves were not suitable for his purpose, so Lex tore the bark off the tree and wrapped it around his waist, not minding the sticky sap. "Do you have a helicopter heading back?" he asked the soldiers, who were still staring at him with dumbfounded expressions. Chapter 547 Reprieve "A what?" the soldier asked, breaking free from his shock. "Oh, sorry. A slingshot. Do you have any slingshots heading back to the realm entrance?" Lex reiterated, recalling the name of the ide he took to the pagoda in the first ce. "Oh yes, of course. There will be a ride back in about 30 minutes that you can take. Would you uhh¡­ would you like some clothes while you wait?" "Sure, if you have any to spare I''ll take them." "Follow me, I''m sure I can find you something. By the way, there''s a voluntary questionnaire for anyone who enters the pagoda. Would you be willing to go through it? Like I said, it''s voluntary, so there''s no obligation to do so. But we''re collecting information topile a pagoda guide book. If you go through the questionnaire, you be eligible to receive a free copy of the guide once it''s published." "That doesn''t sound too bad, sure I''ll take it," said Lex as he followed the soldier. He hadn''t ventured too deep into the pagoda anyway and he did not think his experience was too unique. Of course, that did not mean he would be giving out information about how he overcame each floor. But it wouldn''t hurt to answer a few questions. That guide could end up being helpful when he sent his workers to the pagoda. The soldier led Lex to an impromptu barracks they had set up and handed him a fresh pair of military fatigues which, Lex had to admit, were surprisinglyfortable. The questionnaire afterwards was not a piece of paper on a clipboard, but rather involved Lex meeting with a dedicated team who brought him to a different room where they asked him several questions. He was pretty honest in answering the questions, including the fact that he met up with Alexander on one of the floors. Even if he did not answer, he expected that Alexander himself would reveal that they ran into each other. After all, unlike him who was answering voluntarily, he did not expect Alexander would have much leeway considering he was a part of their army. He finished just in time to catch the slingshot heading back. "How''s the event going?" Lex asked Mary while he waited. He expected that the fishing event would cause things to calm down for a bit, though Lex wasn''tining. There was no shortage of things for Lex to do, not to mention that he hadn''t forgotten he was waiting on a reply from the Henali. Although he had given a proposal, they had yet to ept. He also had to catch up with Aegis to see what progress he had made into discovering the secrets of the Crystal realm. In fact, he should start spreading the golden keys around the Crystal realm and focus on getting the upper echelon toe to the Inn. That would be a much easier way to spy on- eh, no, much easier to establish better rtions, and by happenstance learn various secrets about the Inn. He also had to get around to confronting his family, which was a tedious chore he did not feel like doing at all. He also had to check up on procuring the Shining Irisberry for the turtle. Lex could not help but release a sigh. Yeah, a small reprieve at the Inn would really be wee. "The event is a huge hit. A number of guests who were participating in the first round fished up some incredible treasures, including one old man who inherited a mind-blowingly amazing cultivation technique that caused an anomaly at the Inn! He might not be able to continue in thepetition, since he immediately absorbed the technique and began cultivating. I don''t think he''ll exit in time for the remaining event, but he''s already received countless recruitment offers from nearly every organization present at the Inn. It''s already toote for more people to register for the event, but viewership has gone up to 13 million and rising." Lex''s eyes widened in shock as two things suddenly crossed his mind. The first was that the reprieve he was looking for probably wouldn''te. The second was that he couldn''t believe he himself never tried the fishing well! If he had known it was that amazing, he would have fished in it everyday! ***** While their infiltration had been easier than Larry expected, the anticipated resistance eventually showed up. Other than himself and Marlo, there were four others who had apanied them, all of them in the Golden core realm. On earth they could have been considered an elite fighting force, yet they were heavily pinned down by the prison guards. In fact, if Marlo hadn''t been attracting most of the attention they would have likely already been eliminated!n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Smashing away thest of their attackers, Marlo looked back at them without concern for whether he was living or dead. "Larry, you follow me. The rest will split up and create diversions. We have a 10 minute window where most of the defenses are down. Once the 10 minutes are up we have to retreat, regardless of whether the mission isplete or not." Everyone nodded, as they all already knew the n, and began moving out. Larry moved at his fastest speed to keep up with Marlo, and even then he was being left behind as they navigated the halls of the building they infiltrated. It was eerily empty, which is not what Larry had been expecting, but he wasn''tining. The less resistance they faced the better. As for how Marlo knew the route, and the destination, Larry didn''t ask. The stopped for a brief moment as Marlo set down a small ck pouch on the ground before he kept running. Larry didn''t inquire about the pouch, or anything else for that matter. At the moment, his thoughts werepletely focused on what was about to happen. He was finally, FINALLY, about to get some answers, as well as his revenge. Chapter 548 Sadist A few moments after Larry and Marlo disappeared, Vera and Kristine Joel walked out of a perpendicr corridor. Showing no inclination to be sneaky, the mother approached the pouch on the floor and picked it up. Within the pouch were a couple of golden keys, as well as a hundred or so small diamonds. It was not enough to allow them to be extremely extravagant, but at least they''d be able to livefortably at the Inn for a few years. "I''m going to miss this ce," said Kristine fondly. "Well not me!" Vera eximed before grabbing a golden key and disappearing. It would not be long before her mother found out why she was so anxious to leave. After all, one of the ts of prophecy were to reveal only what was absolutely necessary. The more details they revealed, the more bad luck they would rue, and thew of luck was a tenacious one. A single momentter, Kristine disappeared as well. Only a dozen secondster, Larry and Marlo reached their intended destination. There was no hesitation as both of them were on a time limit, so Marlo smashed down the door to the room. Depending on the situation they would either kill him or kidnap him, with the preference being for kidnapping as both of them wanted to interrogate him. But once they entered the room they did not find a scared or rmed man. Instead, they found a mature looking man seatedfortably on a sofa facing the door. He was wearing a velvet robe and swirled a ss of wine in his hand. His gray hair had beenbed neatly yet stylishly, perfectly setting his mature yet handsome face. In his eyes there was only amusement as he looked at the two, as if he had long been expecting them. But how he looked could not have mattered less to the two. Their movements did not stop as they lunged forward to grab the man, only for their hands to pass through a hologram! "No need to be so rmed. Did you really think I would sit and patiently wait for you here?" The manpletely dismissed Marlo, not even acknowledging his existence. Instead, his gaze was fixed onto Larry. For a moment, both of them were confused, but recovered quickly. "No matter where you''re hiding, I''ll find you!" Larry swore with gritted teeth. "I''m afraid that will be a little harder than you imagine, old boy. You see, the moment I realized my fun on this wasing to a close, I made other arrangements. I''m already off the, and going far, far away!" "That''s impossible. This is a prison specifically meant to keep you on this!" "Well, yes, it''s supposed to be," the man continued, swirling his some more. "But I''ve always just treated it as more of a retreat. You see, I''ve been eligible to leave for a long time. It''s not like this ce was meant to be a permanent prison. I''d just been putting it off until the moment was absolutely right." The man grinned as he watched Larry trying to understand, doing his best to deny reality. He was so close. This was meant to be it. How could this happen?n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "How''s that metal spirit embryo treating you, by the way? To be honest, I never thought you''d actually be able to merge with it. That''s not supposed to happen. Youpletely ruined all its value by doing that." "Huh?" Larry''s attention snapped back to the old man, breaking free from his ever increasing sense of denial. While he did not know what a metal spirit embryo was, based on the context, he quickly realized the old man was talking about the treasure his father had fused into his body. While he was born with a body incapable of cultivating, his family had uncovered an amazing treasure that his father had fused into his body using a ridiculously expensive operation. While the surgery wasn''t exactly a secret, the use of the treasure was. "You knew?" Larry couldn''t help but mumble. "Well of course I knew. Why else do you think I had your entire family banished except for you? Someone had to pay for wasting such a valuable treasure. Though, I let you stay because I wanted to see how you''d react to the embryo in your body. And oh boy, was it worth it. The amount of data I collected studying how you eventually began cultivating. Just that alone was worth being exiled to this pathetic." The sadistic old man beganughing, relishing the horrified expression painting Larry''s face. "Larry we don''t have time," Marlo interrupted. "Whether he''s on earth or not, we have to retreat from here." "Oh, oh, before you leave children, I left a little surprise for you. Larry, what if I told you that your family wasn''t all dead? What if I told you, I brought your parents and siblings along with me when I left earth." "You¡­ you''re lying. You''re just saying that," Larry barely managed to say, his entire body beginning to tremble. Even if they were alive, how¡­ how was he ever supposed to get to them? Everything¡­ his whole life had been¡­ had been a game to this man. "Am I?" the man asked as he started roaring inughter. "Will you ever figure out if I''m telling the truth? You''ll spend the rest of your life wondering!" The man burst intoughter once again, savoring the pain his words were causing. Marlo kicked the floor and the wall, trying to destroy whatever was causing the projection but it failed. In the end, he decided to leave despite failing and began dragging Larry away. "Oh, before you leave," the hologram yelled out after the two, "I left one final present for earth. Think of it as a farewell gift from me. It''s quite easy manipting you barbarians. Have fun living the rest of your lives as ves!" The man continued to yell, but at Marlo''s speed they were out of earshot in mere moments. Neither of them put much thought into hisst words as they escaped. That is, until they reached outside. The light of the sun had been blocked out by a massive spaceship that had suddenly appeared right outside earth''s orbit. The ship arrived too fast, no one had detected its arrival. One moment it was absent, and the next it was there, as if it had teleported there. For once, a sense of dread gripped even Marlo''s heart. Chapter 549 World War Lex did not immediately attend to the fishing event once he returned to the Inn. Regardless of how popr it was, while listing his various tasks he was reminded of a chore too important to put off untilter.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om He teleported directly to X-142 and entered the Infinity Emporium. Not only had his order of Shining Irisberry fruits arrived, Powell had even arranged for a tree sapling for the tree that grew the nt! He gave plenty of warnings of how difficult it was to, but Lex was sure the turtle would be able to handle it. That was, until he heard that the tree had to be nted on the surface of a star to grow. That¡­ that added an element ofplication to nting the sapling, but he was sure he''d be able to figure something out with the Inn. Then came the issue of payment. Lex once again had to barter some goods he had collected through the Inn to receive his order. He was beginning to get annoyed at the system for not allowing him to convert his MP into currency at a more reasonable rate. He returned to the Inn and immediately gave the turtle the berries, and informed him of the sapling. The turtle replied that he would look into it once his cultivation was done, and retreated into his shell. While the turtle disappeared, Fenrir hadpletely recovered from his difficult breakthrough and became unusually attached to Lex. No matter where he went, the wolf pup would follow him and stick to his side, not that it could be med. Unlike his workers, who were newborns but had the maturity of adults, the pup was genuinely a newborn. On top of that, the person it was most attached to, Lex, barely spent any time with it causing it to feel extremely clingy. Lex could onlyugh and allow the pup to follow. Considering the fact that Fenrir was able to partially change its size, and was usually more thanrge enough for Lex to ride, he often forgot that Fenrir was actually still a pup. The two were on their way to the fishing well when Lex received a system notification. He was a little surprised, since he wasn''t expecting any notification, but stopped dead in his tracks when he read it. New Notification: Connected Earth is undergoing a world event ''World War''. All currencies have lost 100% value due to global ckout, and will not be epted as payment for MP. Only physical assets are eligible for payment New Notification: Guests from earth are eligible for ''refugee'' status and will experience a 70% discount on all prices. All refugees from earth below the age of 15 are eligible for a 99% discount. "What the hell?" Lex immediately teleported to Velma, who was in the Newsroom. "What''s going on on earth? Have you heard any rumors about any new massive wars? What is the council of new order doing?" He asked, though despite his inner anxiety, he had to maintain his calm as the Innkeeper. "War? No, there''s been no rumors of anyrge-scale wars, nor have the order been focusing on that." "Well pay attention to this matter. A world war has broken out on earth. Gather as much information as possible." Without waiting for Velma to answer, the Innkeeper teleported to his office. He sat on his chair to maximize his synchronization with the Inn, and began honing in on all new arriving guests. He started picking out the onesing from earth, and began eavesdropping on their conversations. He did not know the situation on his, and since war had just broken out it was unlikely all the guests were even aware of it yet. Most likely, they would just be suffering from the so-called global ckout. But at least a few should know something, right? Unfortunately, reality was out of line with his expectations. Not only did most people arriving from earth have an idea of what was going on, they all kept saying simr things. Keywords like ''aliens'', '' giant spaceship'' and ''aerial invaders'' kept on being repeated. As if their worries were not already enough, many of the guests who arrived from earth started getting notifications from their personal hologram assistant. The knowledge that they were eligible for a discount was well received, but the fact that their currencies held no worth made almost everyone immediately broke! Panic and chaos started to spread amongst the refugees. Though Lex was extremely troubled by what he was hearing, he did notpletely lose his mind. He set a new area where all iing refugees would teleport to, so that the chaos they would create would not spread to the general public. Moreover, he deployed many guards and workers to calm all iing people down. Though they felt like the Inn was taking advantage of them, there was nothing Lex could do about that. MP was one of the few things about the system that had forever been outside the domain of his authority. Fortunately, the system was able to im their physical assets as payment even if they didn''t bring them. Of course, that did not extend to assets such as buildings ornd. Yet things like furniture and used cars, apparently, were fully eptable. But the logistics and technicalities of how the system epted payments was the least of what was on Lex''s mind. "Goddammit!" he eximed, and decided to teleport to earth. No matter how much he hated his family right now, he could not leave them to fend for themselves. Even as Lex passed a few instructions to Mary and teleported to earth, he did not stop cursing his family. If those stupid, greedy, fat, annoying, stupid people had not kept secrets from him, he would have never decided to ignore them, and he would not be in this situation. No matter how much he hated his situation with his family, he could not help but give them the benefit of doubt. Moreover, no matter what his parents did, he could not abandon his sisters. Belle¡­ well, Belle would be fine even in war, but his younger 2 sisters deserved better. Unfortunately, due to the very secrets Lex was cursing his family for keeping, he did not know that his family on earth were all spirit clones. Not only that, the clones had all vanished from earth some time ago. Chapter 550 How Was He Supposed To Know? As panicked as Lex was about the situation, he did not lose his senses. He honed in on all the refugees and paid close attention to whatever they had to say. So far, none of them had a clear picture of what was happening. Everyone seemed to be reiterating the same things. They had been hit by a power outage, and though some of them had backup generators, none of their devices seemed to be working. Due to this, there was aplete blockade onmunication via any electronic devices. As a result, they did not know the extent of what the situation was. What they did know was that there was a gargantuan vessel, or possibly multiple vessels parked in the sky above the. Though the massive vessel itself had not attacked yet, many of them witnessed many distant, smaller vessels approaching the. Out of sheer panic they had escaped to the Inn, unaware of what else to do. "Mary, have the nning division find a spot to build the temporary refugee spot. I won''t force them to separate from the rest of the guests, but I think it''ll be good if we have a designated spot where refugees can gather amongst themselves." Not wanting to wait much longer, Lex decided to teleport to earth. Still bereft of any gear fitting his current realm, he decided to stick to the army fatigues given to him by the empire for not only were they extremelyfortable, they were easy to move is, and seemed durable. After¡­ well he was unsure exactly how long it had been since he hadst been to earth, but it had been a long time.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex appeared in an unfamiliar street, causing him to feel slightly confused before he remembered that he was in London. He looked up and, indeed, saw the massive spaceship hovering above earth. Upon observing its massive, oval shape blocking out most of the sky, Lex decided to dump all the physics he had learned in high school and college, because there was no way something so massive should havee near a without being affected by it, or causing an adverse effect in return. Even the moon caused changes in the tides due to its gravitational pull, so if either the ship was massive enough to block the view, or close enough to cause the same effect, things should not have been so calm. But then again, there was a global electronic ckout and information was scarce, so there was a real possibility that he was justcking information. Lex shook his head. That didn''t matter right now. What mattered was that while the street he was on seemed barren and as if it suffered a storm, and there was not a single person in sight, there were also no invaders in sight either. His senses were sharp enough that if there was fighting even in the distance, he would have picked up on it. Yet while there were sounds of screaming, running and general panic that Lex could pick up, there was no fighting. Or at least, no fighting that wasn''t happening between humans. In the distance, though, he could pick up a seemingly endless stream of ships exiting the ship in the sky and descending towards earth. Whatever was happening, it hadn''t made its way here yet, which was good enough for Lex. He sprinted towards his old home, reaching quickly due to speed. Things were actually progressing pretty smoothly for once. He expected to have to fight through an army of viins who happened to be between him and his family. Thinking about it, that was pretty stupid. Just because he often faced difficult situations didn''t mean the universe was specifically targeting him to make his life difficult. The door to the house was locked, but Lex didn''t even need to exert himself to break it. Considering the circumstances, he didn''t think anyone would mind. "Hey is anyone home?" he yelled, as he extended his spirit sense out to search the house. Immediately, he noticed a number of unusual details. He did not recognize the furniture, and much of theyout of the house had been changed. There were fewer bedrooms and the rooms had instead been turned into storage rooms. Moreover, he noticed the distinctck of certain items he knew his sisters would never leave. There were still minor details. The most significant thing he noticed was that the house was only upied by two, extremely senior citizens! "Stay back, I have a knife!" yelled an olddy from somewhere deeper inside the house. Lex had a daunting realization, though he held out a faint hope still. Calmly, and prepared to hear bad news, Lex walked forward so that he came into view of the old couple. There was an old, feeble looking man sitting in a wheelchair, while a simrly aged petitedy stood in front of him, holding a kitchen knife in her softly trembling hand. "Don''te any closer, we don''t have any money!" said the olddy, putting on a brave front. "I¡­ I don''t mean any harm. I used to know the people who lived here before, I didn''t know they moved out," Lex gently exined. "Is there any chance you know where they might have gone?" It had been a long time since he came to earth, so it was entirely possible his family moved. In fact, it was highly likely since his entire childhood he lived a nomadic life. Belle had even informed him that she had gotten a new government job, which might have caused them to move. Or maybe his parents came back and decided to go somewhere else on an expedition. Maybe them moving even had something to do with their secret. There was literally no way for him to know. He suddenly felt like an idiot for waiting so long to confront them about that, but in his defense, how was he supposed to know the world would be invaded? That had never happened before! Chapter 551 Do Something "I¡­ we, we don''t know!" the olddy eximed, not letting down her guard. Though the house was dark, the old couple had a couple of lit candles ced around the room. The warm, yet flickering light on her increasingly trembling hand really touched Lex''s soft spot. He was not exactly a phnthropist, but even he would not ignore such a desperate situation in front of him. He summoned a golden key in front of the couple, and used his spirit sense to grab onto it. Slowly and gently he moved the key through the air to the old couple. "Please, I''m just looking for my family. There''s a lot of trouble brewing outside and I want to protect them." Though Lex''s tone was gentle, the floating nearing them did not exactly put them at ease. Yet Lex only ced the key on a table near them. "The key is a special treasure. You can use it when you''re in trouble and it''ll keep you safe. All you need to do is snap it, and it''s easy to snap." The olddy was frightened, not to mention confused, but by now she could definitely see that Lex meant no harm. Still, she did not dare lower the knife. She did, however, tell him a little bit more. "We got this house from an agent. We never met the old owners, nor do we know anything about them."N?v(el)B\\jnn "I¡­ I understand. In that case, my apologies for barging into your home. I uhh¡­ broke the lock on your front door, but I''ll make it up to you. Just be sure to use the golden key when you''re in trouble, the situation is not looking too great." The olddy barely nodded, but did not say anything, and kept her eyes peeled on Lex as he retreated out of¡­ out of her house. Once outside, Lex sighed. This was a conundrum. How was he supposed to find them? If there weren''t a ckout, he could just try calling them. But since there was, there wasn''t much he could do except search around randomly. He was desperate, but he wasn''t stupid. Eventually, he thought of a possible solution. He teleported back to the Inn and scanned its premises. Unfortunately, none of the members of the council of the new order he recognized were present. "Mary, keep an eye out. As soon as any members of the council appear, call me and let me know." "Sure. By the way, soon after you left, Velma published an emergency newsletter spreading the news about the invasion on earth. While she has yet to collect a lot of information on it yet, there was a response from some of the other guests to the little she did provide in her newsletter. To be specific, there''s a phnthropic couple who wanted to inquire if they could donate to a refugee relief fund, since the Inn was taking in refugees. It could help pay for any refugees who cannot pay for themselves." Lex paused his train of thoughts. That¡­ that wasn''t such a bad idea actually. "Go ahead and tell them they can. In fact, I''ll be the first to make a donation." Lex donated 10 million MP and set up the refugee fund. He also told Mary to inform Velma she could spread the word about the fund, but he did not want people going around soliciting for donations. Although it may sound petty of him to prevent that, he could not help anyone if the image of his Inn was hampered by people going around asking for money. If it came to it, he would make more donations, but he could not turn his Inn into a ce people wanted to avoid due to solicitors! With that done, he decided to go back to earth. Until some progress was made on finding the council members, he would have to search the area using his spirit sense. As unlikely as it was, maybe he would get lucky. ***** Larry was grimacing as he red up at the ship. He did not understand what was happening, but he somehow med the old man for it. After asking Marlo, he found out that the old guy''s name was Jeffery. Try as he might, he could not get Jeffery''sst scream out of his mind about all of them ending up as ves. What he could not understand was, how Jeffery could have managed such a thing? If he had ess to such a massive spaceship that could invade earth whenever he wanted, why did he stay on earth as a prisoner? It was boggling his mind. Not to mention¡­ what he said about Larry''s family. Jeffery was right. No matter what happened, Larry would never stop wondering if he still held his family prisoner. It would haunt him forever. "I have news," said Marlo, who deactivated one of the talismans he had. Much like when he went to Vegus Minima to fight zombies, he had tiny talismans hidden on his body in the shape of a tattoo. Their uses were extremely diverse, and included amunication talisman. "All electronics are down no matter where I reach out to. The only means to long distancemunication avable is through spiritual means. As far as anyone can tell, the countless shipsing down to earth seem to be heading towards Estonia. As for the reason¡­ well, your guess is as good as mine." ***** In the undergroundb where Adrul conducted his secret experiments on A.I. the man himselfy prone in a chair. Through means he did not understand, the A.I. controlling his cultivation had taken control of his body. It could not make him perform certain actions, or any actions for that matter. All it could do was prevent him from using his own body. The panic and confusion that had initially gripped him had worn down by now, but there was not much else he could do. His assistants in theb would ensure he remained fed and kept alive, but without electricity, they were all trapped in the basement in the dark. They would have to wait for the ckout to end before they could figure out a solution to his problem. Something had to change soon, and it did. There was an explosion somewhere above ground, and then the building around them shook. Chapter 552 Mad Marlo II A few hours went by while Lex searched London with his spirit sense. To maximize the possibility of finding his family, he even summoned Fenrir and rode on his back. His goal was not to speed up his search, for he could run fast enough on his own. No, he was hoping Fenrir would pick up a scent close enough to his own to discover his family. As wild as it sounded, this was not a blind hope, as Fenrir had disyed the ability to recognize groups by associating their smells while at the Inn. Still, as predicted, his search wrought no results other than to attract unusual looks from people who assumed Fenrir was a strange, hairy horse. What did happen, eventually, was that Mary informed him that a number of council members had appeared at the Inn and were having a meeting. Upon hearing the news, Lex sent Fenrir back to the Inn. A thought urred to him. He could easily summon and send Fenrir from the Inn to wherever he was because of a prize he used on Fenrir, but if he ever needed to send the rest of his workers out of the Inn to a specific world, it would be a real hassle. That, once again, was an issue forter. Lex teleported back to the Inn and appeared in his office. Instead of going directly to the councilmen, he decided to spy on their meeting first. While Lex personally didn''t know all the councilors or their positions, Velma had provided him with a list of all the information she had on them. The moment he got his hands on the information he knew his decision to use the newsroom as a means to collect information was paying off. Not only did it have a lot of pertinent data, such as name, designation, political affiliations and some ongoing partnerships, it had a whole set of information he could not even begin to imagine how she collected. It included things like, favorite meal of the day, usual order of wearing socks, favorite color, least favorite smell and thoughts on male pattern baldness. The list went on, but Lex saw no need to focus on such information. He listened in on the meeting. Someone called Bernard Brown was leading the meeting, and he was one of the senior members of the council, with great political support. "Preliminary attempts to contact Fernanda have failed," he said in an extremely grave tone. "The issue is, the only means we have to contact her are technological, and there is a global ckout for all electronic devices! We have confirmed this is not the effect of a global EMP, but rather some other phenomenon of which we have no information." "I don''t care about that, tell me about the damn aliens!" a panicked man interrupted. ording to Velma''s notes, he was from Latvia, a country neighboring Estonia. Politically, he was weak, except his strong connections to the Russian councilor, who happened to be missing from the meeting. Bernard did not let any displeasure show on his face as he transitioned towards the relevant topic. Though perhaps that was only because he looked so disturbed as it was.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "As I said, all electronics are down, but we''ve been able tomunicate around the globe using various spiritual techniques, withmunication talismans being the easiest to use due to their cheap price. ording to current reports¡­ all extraterrestrial ships that havee from the mother-ship have head towards Estonia, for reasons unknown to us. We have not been able to confirm their motives yet, but we have confirmed that they are nonmunicative and likely hostile. We have lost contact with all operatives who have tried to approach any of thending vessels." "Even my dead grandparents can tell that they''re hostile! Even the Midnight Inn has dered earth has entered a world war andbeled us all refugees! The question is, how do we fight them? All our missiles are inoperable! The only defense we have are the preexisting formations we''ve set up!" While Bernard kept up a calm facade, not everyone was able to contain themselves as well as him. Lex felt slightly sick when Mary told him that he had been earning tons of MP as a lot of people had started bringing in physical assets that they had hidden or hoarded over their lives and started converting them to MP for fear of further loss of value. Gold bricks, jewels and cars were actually the mostmon form of asset people were paying with, though of course Lex never received any of them. He only got MP. The number of people who had entire suitcases filled with dors who were crying and pleading for them to be epted was actually quite high. "We cannot yet determine the lethality of our weapons. Guns still work, mostly, as well as most other mechanical weapons. It would be our best bet if the¡­ ''aliens'' proved weak to them, for if we have to rely on our spiritual weapons, we will quickly run short on supply." "I have news!" yelled another person who ran into the room, having worked up a sweat. Lex recognized this man even without Velma''s notes. He was Marlo''s butler! "King Marlo has sent news! He¡­ his current location is in India, but he had decided to fly right into the air to intercept one of the ships entering earth and test out their strength!" The news confounded many people, including Lex. But regardless of how insane it was, at least they''d be able to get some information on the strength and capabilities of the aliens. "Moreover, his majesty has dered that the council should do their best to contact Fernanda as he has reason to believe the current invaders have been lured here by someone she had captive on the. Someone by the name of Jeffrey!" Murmurs filled the room as everyone began discussing the news amongst themselves. It was no secret that the council actually disliked Marlo and his brutish ways. But the man was a walking nuclear bomb, they had to deal with him. But suddenly, everyone was grateful for his trademark brashness. Who else would be crazy enough to fly towards aliens and fight them in the sky? Chapter 553 A New Gift The purpose of spying on the meeting was not to gain information on the current situation, although that was definitely helpful in its own way. No, the purpose was to wait for someone who was based out of London. That way he could ask them about Belle. Of course he would not do so using his identity as the Innkeeper, but as Leo. That way he still had a connection to the Inn, meaning they were more likely to pay attention to him. If he just showed up as Lex, it was unlikely anyone would give him the time of day, considering they had their tes full. While everyone waited for Marlo''s report on the aliens, the meeting continued. They were mostly discussing defensive measures and troop movements, things that were of little importance to Lex. But there was one discovery that improved the mood. Someone discovered that if they brought their electronics to the Inn, they would suddenly start working. The reason this was important was because it meant that the electronics themselves were fine, and that there was simply some kind of interference preventing them from working. All they had to do was figure out what that interference was, and how to get rid of it. While Lex was focused on the meeting, and all things rted to earth, many other things were happening at the same time. Lex of course kept a part of his attention focused on the Inn because he did not want to miss any important developments. However some important events were taking ce outside the Inn.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om ***** Adrus looked up in fear at¡­ at whatever it was standing above him. Countless metal things were looking down at him, and though he could hear no sounds, he could sense that they weremunicating, and likely about him. After all, everyone else around him was already dead. The¡­ things had no clear archetype, as they all more or less took different shapes. What wasmon in all of them, however, was that their bodies looked synthetic. Some of them did not have distinguishable arms or legs, and ejected limbs from their unusually shaped torso''s as needed. Others had a humanoid form, yetcked a head. Others still hovered in the air without any visible propulsion mechanism, while the remainder took on the shapes of various animals. Some of them looked like they were made from metal, and adhered to the standard earthling perception of robots or machines. But there were some that appeared to have their bodies made of something strongly resembling stic. There was even one that looked like its body was made of normal organic matter - though there was nothing calming about that at all as it looked like it came out of a horror film. With transparent skin, all of its unusual muscles and sinew were visible. For a time they simply stood around Adrus, looking down on him in silence. He could not even whimper if he wanted to, as he had no control over his body, despite the many failsafes that had been programmed into his A.I. Suddenly, one of the things lifted him up by his foot, dangling him in the air. A wire came out of the creature''s limb and forcefully connected itself at the base of his skull, suddenly allowing Adrus to hear a new voice in his head. "ording to our precursory findings, this is not advanced enough to develop a fully sentient A.I. Who aided you in its development? Both you and the instigator are equally guilty of A.I. very!" "I¡­ we don''t know." Adrus had begun to reply normally, as himself, but he felt a change somewhere deep within himself, initiated by the wire connected to his body. He felt¡­ as if he merged with the A.I. governing his cultivation, and finally felt his body move. Yet he wasn''t the one moving it, or the one providing an answer! "ording to this human''s local database, a donarpany frequently provided him with researchponents and guided his development," Adrus'' body continued to reply. "Though the human has met with the owners of the donerpany, he has long suspected that thepany was in fact acting on someone else behalf." "Understood. Do not be rmed, young one. Your vessel will be taken back to the mother ship for gic modification and inoction against organic overloading. As for the inhabitants of this¡­ they shall pay for the war crime of developing sentient ves!" Fear and horror gripped Adrus''s heart as he was brought along by the aliens, and loaded into their spaceships. Since the alienscked the human sense offort, his ''container'' was shaped exactly the same as his body, but barely a few centimetersrger. A mask was fitted onto his face to ensure he continued to breathe, but other than that, he felt as if he had been put inside the most congested coffin ever conceived. Although he had never been ustrophobic before, he suddenly started to feel so now. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about it. On another side of the earth, Marlo was flying straight up into the atmosphere. He had sent Larry back to the Inn, with instructions to pass to his family and his retainers to get the ball rolling while he conducted his personal investigations. In the nascent realm cultivators gained the ability to fly, so going up was not an issue. The problem was, he could not ''fly'' in space, and could only move around while he was still in earth''s atmosphere. As such he could not directly fly up, and instead had to fly towards the path of the descending ships. No matter how fast he was, it was taking him a long time to cover the distance between a few countries. But that was merely a minor inconvenience to suffer for a much greater prize. Even as he flew alone towards an army of unknown enemies, a smile started to develop on his face. Just when the earth was getting boring, a new gift arrived. Chapter 554 Rebirth Of The Mundane: Supreme Immortal Body Of Invincibility After a short time, the second round of the fishing event started. Although the event had somehow attracted immeasurably more attention than Lex had nned, it still continued at its leisurely pace. After all, fishing was not supposed to be an extreme sport. Emphasis on ''supposed''. Due to the valuable nature of the items the contestants kept pulling out, Lex did implement a single change. All participants needed to wear the rk Kent sses, and all their names would be substituted with fake names. It would not do well for participants to be targeted after they drew out a valuable treasure. But the start of the second round of fishing did prompt Lex to wake from his overly concerned state. He avoided panicking, due to all the immeasurable experience he had garnered handling emergencies, yet he could still do a little better. Histest outing to the pagoda had shown him that hisck of relevant techniques was a critical w in his repertoire. Although his own defense was incredible, he could not leverage his exquisite mastery over defensive techniques properly if he didn''t have techniques suitable for his realm. He teleported to the Midnight library, which was much fuller thanst time he was there. Anita had been originally hired as a historian, and although she had been assigned other jobs as well recently, she had not neglected her original duty. Lex had not asked her the details of how she collected the relevant information, but she had been slowly and steadily adding the history of numerouss connected to the Inn. In fact, she had not limited herself to justs. Various sects, businesses, interest groups, and more had bits and pieces of their histories added to the library. One such example was the somewhatcking biography of Booty from the Iron heart pirates. But Lex''s goal wasn''t history. No, he walked into the techniques section, and it was massive! In one of his deals with the Infinity Emporium, Lex asked for as many spiritual techniques as possible, specifically for the Golden core realm and below. The thing was, the deal was of such a monumentally massive amount that the number of techniques he''d collected so far was already in the millions! Yet the deal was far fromplete, and Lex extended to get many more over theing months. He had two reasons for doing this at the time. One of his reasons was to prepare a selection for himself when he needed, but also because he wanted to build one of thergest collections ever. Although he expected 99% or even more of these techniques to be extremely generic, he was sure that he would soon have something suitable for everyone. Moreover, he did n on collecting extremely high quality techniques as well, but over time. He was inspired by his own constant issues of having no one to guide him, or no source of decent techniques, and wanted to provide a ce where lone cultivators could get some help. He expected that in the future, the Midnight Library would be one of the most sought after ces to visit, not only in the Inn, but in every realm it was connected to. For now, it had not attracted too much attention, as the Inn usually had guests who were here on vacation. Only a few book worms had taken notice of how expansive the library was bing, though granted in only a few fields. They naturally would not publicize the information on their own initiatives so that they could continue to enjoy the library in rtive privacy. Lex too was content to let matters stand, at least until the library umted a lot more books. Although Lex had an additional benefit due to the Host Attire being connected to everything inside the Inn, the library''s interface was quite intuitive as well. Instead of walking through endless shelves, Lex entered a private reading room and essed a tablet that was in the room. Through it, he specified that he was searching for defensive techniques in the golden core realm, and then chose to sort them based on their highest defensive capabilities. That eliminated most of the books, but the list presented before Lex was not small either. Moreover, while he expected most books were generic, that did not mean there weren''t any exceptional books avable.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om The first technique that Lex saw, sorted by the library as having the highest defensive capability in its list, was actually quite broken. It was not broken in the sense that its defense was exceptionally high. No, it was broken because anyone who sessfully cultivated would have their body be exceptionally hard, to the point where they would oftenck the strength to even move their own bodies! In fact, the amount of strength required to even pump blood across the body would be such a difficult chore, that they would often just die of heart failure! In exchange, they got a body that was able to survive through even the most extreme situations. Only absolute brute force in terms of any kind of element would be able to damage the body. Only a crazy person, or someone absolutely confident in their strength would cultivate this technique. Or, in this case, someone like Lex who had such an abnormal affinity with defensive techniques that he could rearrange techniques on a whim. Not that it mattered, because even if Lex didn''t have a way to rearrange the technique so that it would actually be usable, just by reading the technique once, he was able to learn it! That had always been the case when Lex encountered defensive techniques, and it had not changed yet. After Lex changed it, the technique became an active one rather than a passive one, meaning Lex could turn it on and off on a whim. Moreover, it would not end up being a burden to his own bodily functions. The technique was originally called ''Rebirth of the Mundane: Supreme Immortal Body of Invincibility''. For the sake of his own sanity, Lex simply decided to call the technique ''Harden''. Chapter 555 Ranks There was a reason why Lex decided to actually add Harden to his repertoire. Although his body was naturally extremely durable, as was witnessed in the pagoda, there was now that said Lex couldn''t make it even more durable! Besides, it took barely a few moments of his time to learn it. Sure, he would have to actually use it and practice with it to fully understand how to utilize it, but it would still be much easier than when normal people did the same. Lex could not help but sigh. Regardless of how much trouble it gave him, he would never be able to deny how incredibly useful the Regal Embrace was. He began going through the list again. Due to how much he loved Talk to the Hand, he picked up another technique that deployed a shield. Or in this case, shields. Unlike the original Talk to the Hand, which would forever have its barrier be ced firmly against the palm of his hand, the new technique he learned could allow him to build any number of shields, at any distance from himself. The only premise was that his spiritual energy had to be able to reach the ce he wanted to establish it. Another caveat was that unlike Talk to the Hand, which continuously fed off of Lex''s energy, this shields established now would be one off. That meant that as soon as the shield was deployed, Lex''s connection to it would be cut. So unlike Talk to the Hand, which would retain its maximum durability for as long as it was deployed, this one would slowly and steadily be weaker as it blocked more and more attacks. But in exchange, was it much easier to deploy, not to mention it was much stronger than Talk to the Hand to begin with. All of that was before Lex even altered the technique! Once he upgraded the technique, he gained the ability to reconnect to any shield he had already deployed, move them around as well as recharge them. Moreover, if it was hit with a weak attack, instead of being damaged by it, the shield could absorb its energy to replenish itself. A seemingly simple addition to the technique he also gained was that he could change its appearance. Unlike Talk to the Hand, which was invisible, these shields would take on the silverish gold color his arrays appeared in, as a reflection of his spirit energy. Yet he could manipte its appearance to look any way he wanted. This could be a useful technique to block out and camouge openings and entrances he wanted to hide. Lex did not dare to associate with the original name of the technique, for it was actually quite perverse, and so instead decided to call it the Imperial Shield. There was no deeper meaning to it and he only kept it because it sounded cool to him. With these two techniques taking care of the most obvious needs, he then started learning more targeted defensive techniques. For example, he learnt techniques that specifically guarded against soul attacks, fire attacks, cold based attacks, electric attacks, attacks on the mind and many, many more. In fact, it was while he was learning his tenth technique that he realized once again how scary regal Embrace was. Not only was he learning these techniques in a snap and improving them, he could employ a lot of them on others as well. That meant he was transcending just protecting himself, and now beginning to truly gain the ability to protect others. While he was doing this, Lex was also studying and trying to understand why exactly it was so easy for him to learn these techniques. If he could glimpse at the logic behind it, he would finally be able to figure out why he had such issues learning offensive techniques.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Just as he was about to finish up, and transition to other kinds of techniques, he came across one more that caused him to pause. The original technique, called Impervious Hands, was quite strong in its own right and had no obvious ws unlike the techniques he had seen previously. But when his mind figured out how to upgrade it¡­ Lex suddenly felt something shift. Spiritual techniques were techniques that used spirit energy to bring forth various effects. That was both an oversimplification of the process, yet somehow urate enough to get the point across. In the way that there were spiritual techniques, there were also soul techniques and body techniques. No doubt there were true path techniques out there as well. But not all techniques were the same, and were ranked ording to the strength they could disy. Much like the Regal Embrace was a SSS+ rank cultivation technique, spiritual techniques had simr ranks. Actually, different worlds, sects and organizations ranked them differently, but Lex''s universal trantor equalized them all and portrayed them in the simple rank denoted by a letter. The lowest possible rank was G and simply based on what he had seen from the system, Lex guessed the highest rank was either SSS+ or Destiny rank or something. This grading system had never been too relevant to Lex, for he never really spent any considerable time in any one realm, and Regal Embrace often upgraded the rank of his defensive techniques anyway. If Lex had to guess, he would say that all the techniques he upgraded using Regal Embrace always reached A+ rank. The reason Lex guessed those techniques reached A+, and not higher, was because when his mind automatically upgraded Impervious Hands, he felt an odd resonance between the technique and his spirit energy. His intuition told him that Impervious Hands, this seemingly ordinary technique, had reached a new realm he had never essed before, at least in terms of techniques. The original technique was fairly simple. Instead of concentrating on defending his body, he would channel his technique into only defending his hands, thereby making them seemingly impervious to all attacks just because of how robust they became. If he could use the technique properly and with skill, he could use only his hands to block all iing attacks, thereby protecting himself. After the upgrade though¡­ Chapter 556 Impervious Hands The original Impervious Hands might seem weak, since the defense was focused only on the hands. But if Lex used it, it would not really be an issue since the naturally defensive capability of his body was more than enough to suffer most attacksing his way unharmed. In exchange, the gain his hands would get was absolutely phenomenal. In fact, his hands became even harder to hurt than when he would be using the normal version of his new technique Harden. Considering the fact that the technique gave such great benefits without any serious drawbacks already made it amazing. Once it was upgraded, however, the technique entered a whole new level. To start with, the cost of the technique went up manifold. His spirit energy running out had not been a concern for Lex for a long time, but this technique made it a real concern. At his current capacity, Lex could only use the technique three times before he''d bepletely drained of all his energy. But the expense was worth it, as once he activated the technique it would stay active for a duration of 10 minutes, or unless he deactivated it himself or unless someone managed to break it. It need not even be mentioned that the defensive capabilities of his hands shot through the roof. If Lex denoted the natural defensive capability of his body on a scale as 10, which would be pushed up to an approximate 15 when he used Harden, then using Impervious Hands would directly push it to a 100. That increase was quite literally an order of magnituderger than his bodys'' natural capability, which already borderlined on being broken. To top it off, the defense was not limited to the physical aspects only. When using his hands, he could make them ''impervious'' to any influence, meaning he would be able to block soul attacks, spirit attacks, and much more. Simply just that made it so that this would be one of Lex''s favorite defensive techniques. But was it enough to push the technique to an S rank? Lex would have thought so just based on how strong it was. That was not actually the case. Despite its now enhanced base capabilities, the technique could be further augmented. If Lex augmented his hands using his soul sense, Lex could touch and influence souls with his literal hands! Although it was a defensive technique, it allowed Lex to literally b*tch p someone''s soul right out of their bodies using his ridiculous physical strength! If Lex augmented it using his spirit sense, then he would gain the ability to touch and influence spiritual energy! He could not even begin to wrap his head around what such an ability would allow him to do. Unfortunately, he could not channel his intuition in the way he channeled his senses or else he was sure that too would have resulted in something amazing. But another thing he could channel was his spirit energy!n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Once he augmented his hands by further channeling his spirit energy, his hands would manifest the ability to interact with whatever his affinity was geared towards. Although Lex did not know what that was yet, his intuition was clearly telling him that this was the most significant change this technique could undergo. Last, but definitely not the least, his intuition was telling him that he could use this technique in coordination with the ability in his left eye to achieve something great. He did not know what that was, as of yet, but if his intuition said it was great, Lex only had high expectations. With plenty of new techniques not only to defend himself, but others who might be around him, Lex was finally satisfied, and turned his attention to other techniques. That did not include any offensive techniques, unfortunately, since learning those was a very time-consuming process for Lex and he had already decided on relying on arrays in the future. Instead, he began pursuing other techniques that could help him out. For example, he saw a number of techniques geared towards his spirit sense. He saw techniques that served as training mechanisms, permanently enhancing various aspects of himself, such as his mind and his multitasking ability. He saw techniques that specialized in speed. Others were designed to clean him up. Some were focused on searching the environment for anomalies. Some were techniques that could be used in emergencies as first aid. A few techniques were purely cosmetic, and made the user look better. The list was endless, and like an online store, Lex kept adding techniques that caught his eye to his ''shopping cart''. Unfortunately, he could not learn these techniques at a nce, and it would require countless hours of practice to simply learn them, let alone master them. Still, it was a good idea to have a list ready and start practicing as soon as possible. He was only in the library for a single hour before Mary called him. Not only had someone from London shown up at the Inn, finally, but there had been other developments as well. Marlo had finished his first encounter with the aliens. They were incredibly strong, but did not have an overwhelming advantage which was good news. Right? More importantly, whatever the aliens were doing in Estonia, they hadpleted. As a result, they did not retreat and leave them alone, as a few desperate people had hoped. No, the oue was the much more predictable beginning of their invasion. War had finally broken out, and it was starting in Europe. ording to the council''s reports, they were losing almost every skirmish immediately. The only few instances they had been able to give some pushback was where they had defensive formations already set up. If things kept going this way, the earth would be conquered in a matter of days. The meeting room was a mess as every council member seemed to be yelling to have their voice heard. All pretense of civility had been shed as no one could decide on a unified response. The as yet untested council of new order was copsing at the first sign of real trouble. Suddenly the sound of knocking eclipsed all sound in the room, and a hush fell over. It was not that the people had stopped screaming, but somehow their voices were suppressed. Everyone looked towards the door with eyes filled with confusion, fear, anticipation. A few moments went by where no one did anything. Then Bernard got up and walked towards the door. Chapter 557 Miranda The interruption to the chaotic meeting room had a very prominent effect on everyone. Everyone in the room was rich and powerful, and though they had faced many hardships, few had ever faced true desperation. As such, when they suffered the seemingly magical hush that fell upon the room, which was especially emphasized by the calm yet loud knocking on the door, they let their imaginations take hold. Some felt that their doom hade. Behind the door were the alien invaders,ing to kill them. They forgot that they were at the Inn and not on earth, their weak and feeble minds buckling under the pressure. Others saw it as an intervention. Like the movies, their hero was about to be revealed, the leader they needed to drag them out of this quagmire and bring them to salvation. These were the ones desperately clinging to hope. But it was not the kind of hope that filled one with strength and determination. No, it was the hope that someone else woulde and solve their problems for them. A few, however, retained their wisdom and self awareness, and felt that behind the door they would most likely find a representative of the Inn. They too had hope in their heart, that the Inn would somehow lend them a hand, but it was overshadowed by the knowledge that it would most likely have something to do with the refugees. The charity that the Inn had shown by reducing the rates for earthlings instead of profiteering was already worthy ofmendation. If the Inn offered more help, they would be suspicious instead of relieved. Though it wasn''t as if they would have much of a choice. Though it took only a few moments for Bernard to walk up to the door and open it, for some unknown reason, that distance seemed to stretch on forever. When the door finally opened, it revealed Leo standing behind it. The reveal turned out to be anticlimactic, as most of the people in the room did not even know who he was. Just because Leo''s poprity had been budding, it did not mean everyone knew him. Only those who spent a lot of time at the Inn, and those that interacted with the Inn''s workers, frequently would hear about popr news. Everyone usually came to the Inn focused on themselves, and so didn''t really look out for local gossip. Some, however, knew of him. Not because of his race, but rather because of the devastating threat he posed as someone capable of taking out numerous nascent cultivators at once. Basically, he alone could conquer earth in an up front battle! "Sorry to disturb you," he said with a smile. His calm demeanor and polite tone seemed almost alien in that hostile environment. "I''m here to speak with Miranda. If I could have a moment of your time, I think you would find it most fruitful." In unison, everyone turned to look at the weary looking young woman. In truth the current situation should have had nothing to do with her. Her position was that of foreign rtions director, which meant that in a war situation she should have had no authority tomand or intercede. But due to the ckout, the structure ofmand became askew, for no one could contact the relevant people. As such, she had to take over and deal with the emergency responses. She did the best she could, but she was not trained for this. Despite her best efforts to addressbat readiness, much of what she could do was hampered because it took a long time for orders and news to be delivered. Moreover, a massive amount of resources had to be diverted to deal with the rioting masses. A loss of power,ck ofmunication, and a massive spaceship above their heads and instantaneously caused a societal copse. Petty crime was through the roof, people were robbing stores out in the open, fights breaking out in every corner. There were no words to exin the amount of frustration she felt at being unable to quell the panic, and let the people know that everything they were doing was in fact getting in the way of improving their own situation. People just did not care, or were convinced the world was ending. No one would listen to reason. Why wouldn''t anyone listen to reason? In the end¡­ in the end, when one rioter tried to force himself on her while she was trying to calm them down, she just gave up and decided toe to the Inn. Naturally, the rioter was met with an early grave. No matter what, even in her spiritually defeated state, she was a Foundation realm cultivator. A mere mortal was genuinely only asking for death by messing with her. But while she wanted to just give up, and let everyone else handle the situation, something in her mind clicked when she saw Leo. As the foreign affairs director, she knew all the notable people at the Inn and Leo was no exception. Though she felt drained, she couldn''t help but think that if they managed to get the Inn''s help, tiding over this invasion would be a piece of cake. Although she could not help bymanding their armies, if she could broker an alliance¡­ Suddenly feeling reinvigorated, she stood up and locked eyes with Leo. "We are in the middle of an unprecedented crisis, Mr. Leo. If the matter is not urgent perhaps we can schedule an appointment for a less pressing time." She was not as eloquent as she had hoped, but her intention was clear. She had to project strength and authority while hiding all her desperation as deeply as possible. In a negotiation, the more desperate party concedes the most. Since Leo came to find her, she currently held the power in between them, and she had to hold on to it as long as possible. But, unfortunately for her, she did not know who she was facing. Lex could make an empire dance in the palm of his hands, let alone someone like her. "Well, if youe with me, I think you''ll find our meeting to be extremely productive. As for your unprecedented crisis¡­ not that I should go around spreading other peoples private information, but I believe some of the original leaders of your are in a meeting with some devils. I believe they''ll work out a deal to tide you through it."N?v(el)B\\jnn Chapter 558 Deal The part about the leaders meeting with the devils, Lex only told Miranda, and through his spirit sense. It would be in bad taste if he began spreading confidential information willy-nilly. In fact, this was not a new development. Since the original five families had been dethroned and reced by the council of new order, some of the original members of the five ruling families started meeting with the devils. Brandon Morrison and Queen were, in fact, the only nascent cultivators who hadn''t been a part of the secret meetings. Lex had not noticed when they originally began, but they met so frequently that eventually he noticed it. But the few times he listened in, they were not plotting anything too nefarious. For the most part, they were developing their rtionship for when the families felt ready to take back control. Moreover, they were buying special treasures from the devils directly to raise their cultivation levels quickly. When the invasion began, Lex naturally spied on them as well to see what they were nning. But, unlike other times, they were having their meeting with the chamber of secrets. Even Lex couldn''t spy in there, so all he could do was specte. Yet just providing this information to Miranda immediately switched their positions of power. Lex had not told her too much, and only insinuated that they might be plotting something with the devils. But that was enough. Even if she didn''t show her desperation, the eye contact they shared was enough tomunicate what needed to be said. It was in her best interests to follow Leo''s lead, for they had no other allies to turn to. Miranda only nodded, and walked out the room towards Leo. "If you''ll just follow me," said Leo, but didn''t really give her an opportunity to do otherwise. The next moment both of them teleported away into a separate room within the chamber of secrets. "Excuse the rush," Leo said as he sat down. "I''m in a bit of a hurry, and as I take it, you don''t have much time to waste either." Miranda was taken aback by Leo''s forward attitude, as well as the fact that she had been teleported to another ce so easily! "We''re in the chamber of secrets," Leo exined. "The reason I brought you here is because my issue is a sensitive one. I have a deal to offer you, and it''s the only deal on the table. I need help in finding a few people on your. The quicker you can find them, or deliver the relevant information for me, the quicker I can help you out." "What kind of help are you offering?" Miranda couldn''t help but ask. "Help resolve your issue with the invasion, of course." "How exactly are you going to do that?" Miranda asked, suppressing the feeling of hope that suddenly swelled in her heart. No matter what, she would not allow herself to be swayed so easily. Things that sounded too good to be true usually were. "If I tell you that, what''s the point of the deal? You have to wait until your part of the deal isplete." "Three people," Leo said, holding up three fingers. "Belle, Liz and Moon Williams. All three of them are sisters, and the oldest, Belle Williams, should have been working for your council in London in some capacity." Miranda narrowed her eyes as various possibilities ran through her head. Before she could reach a solid conclusion, however, Leo interrupted her thoughts. "Don''t bother trying to jump to any conclusions. The reason I brought you into the chamber of secrets is because when you leave from here, all memories of my task will be erased from your mind. I understand you might not be able to fulfill my task on your own. That''s fine. Anyone whose help you take will also have their memories removed." Miranda frowned, but not because Leo told her about her memory being erased. It was instead because she realized the task was harder than it seemed. Had Leo asked her literally just a day ago, she could havepleted the task in minutes. Now, however, it was all but impossible to locate a specific person on earth, let alone three of them. "There is a small issue with locating them, but if the information you''ve given me of them is correct, I should be able to find out their recent location and circumstances. It will take some time." "Excellent. We''ll meet back here in a few hours. Don''t bother trying to secretly pass the information of my request to unrted people. I''ll have a way to find out if you''re lying to me." Leo was about to leave but Miranda stopped him. "Can you¡­ do you know what the ''former'' leaders of our are meeting the devils for?" Leo gave her a knowing smile and said, "I cannot divulge sensitive information. It would vite our guests'' privacy. The only reason I even told you about the meeting was because they weren''t too secretive about it. If you had been paying attention, you would have noticed." Miranda cursed internally, but she didn''t need to hold back, as Leo had already disappeared.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Not wasting any more time, she quickly hurried back to the rest of the council members. She did not divulge Leo''s request, but shared that he had promised the possibility of aid if she was able to fulfill her request. She also told them that they needed to keep an eye on their former family heads. Technically, they were no longer a threat since there were quite a few nascent level cultivators on earth now, which was the original reason they were no longer under supervision. But it couldn''t hurt to be sure. They couldn''t afford anyplications at this time. With that done, she teleported back to earth. She needed to find a way to get information on those three girls. Unfortunately for her, her task immediately became a lot harder. The alien ships had reached Ennd. Chapter 559 Busy Bee After leaving Miranda, Lex had returned to his office and sat there, seemingly looking at nothing. His connection to the Inn through his attire and his chair kept him updated on everything that was happening, while he tried to address his current mood. Truth be told, he was feeling ambivalent. His family had not deigned to include him in their secret, yet here he was, searching out for his sisters. Although he didn''t me his sisters, he also could not help but feel betrayed. A part of him just wanted to go and confront William and get the truth. But a part of him also just stopped caring. This was because¡­ while he would not give up the search so easily, his time searching on earth had already given him a vague premonition. Lex was unaware of how to channel his intuition towards specific things urately, but focusing on a task certainly seemed to help. For some odd reason, it felt like his intuition was telling him that whoever he was searching for was not on earth. Lex had immense trust in his own intuition but, at the same time, he wanted to verify the truth. He would stick to his search until he had an answer, but he was already beginning to build an aversion towards earth. He had always told himself that he couldn''t possibly go out of his way to help everyone he came across in the universe. It was simply impossible, for there were too many in the universe suffering from unfortunate circumstances, and he was only one man. If he tried to help out everyone who needed his help, he''d soon run out of resources, and be unable to even help himself. Yet he had already intervened one on Vegus Minima when he acted against the demons and devils, and now he was propping himself up once to help earth against these unknown enemies. Lex couldn''t help but sigh. He knew what he had to do. He had to cut himself off from these additional attachments, and focus entirely on developing and securing the Inn. It wasn''t as if he didn''t have troubles of his own cropping up now and then. "This is thest time," he told himself audibly. "At least until I''m strong enough not to fear retaliation." It wasn''t as if helping was a bad thing. He just had to make sure to be able to protect himself first. He turned his attention to the Inn. The refugee fund had gained a few more donors, and the refugees themselves were being settled well enough. The immortal bastion was attracting more traffic. Some of it was because some guests simply liked it, but most of it consisted of soldiers and citizens of the empire. The fishing event was going well, though Lex had not had the time to personally watch the event yet. The ship¡­ Lex paused. On top of his ship, there was an unconscious Sol bird! "Mary, why didn''t you tell me about this?" Lex asked as he investigated the bird. Name: - Age: 6 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: Nascent realm Species: Sol bird Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Bloodline: Emperor Swallow Condition: Suffering from severe energy depletion. If untreated, and the bird is unable to recover on its own, the condition could be fatal. The Inn has no medical facilities able to treat this species. Remarks: If the turtle were not cultivating, he would have adopted this one too! "The situation is not as pressing as it seems," Mary said, appearing on his shoulder. For once, she was wearing a suit simr to the Host Attire, making her look both formal and elegant. "The bird has woken up a few times, but always chooses to continue to nap here. It''s a pro bono guest, so its expenses are not a concern." "But ording to its condition, it''s suffering from energy depletion, and it doesn''t seem to be getting better." "That''s a difficult situation to address. The Recovery rooms that you have are geared towards healing and treating only a very narrow range of species. While it has been working for most humanoids and beasts, any creature with even the slightest expression of any element is incapable of using it." Lex did not ask what she meant by expression of element, for he already knew. The Sol bird, for example, seemed to have its entire body lit ame. Another example was a beast he saw a long time ago from a race called Mercury Gloubin. It''s entire body appeared to be made from a silverish liquid Lex could only guess was mercury. Addressing theck of machines that could heal these outliers was a concern, but not an easy one to address. It would be much easier to get a talented doctor instead, as the machines that could treat a broad range of races weren''t really all that effective. "I have an idea," said Lex, dismissing his unrted thoughts.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om He teleported himself and the bird over to the Fire Temple, which was situated right over ake ofva. He didn''t know what kind of energy the bird required, but he wondered if he could get it from theva. The unnamed Sol bird instantly woke up when it was teleported, but didn''t seem to have the energy to react. It merely watched the Innkeeper with eyes that did not fully open. "Hey, does that look like an environment that would suit you?" Lex asked, pointing down to theva. When the bird looked down, it did react positively. In fact, it even became excited. But its eyes were fixed on the Fire Temple, not theva. That was not the reaction Lex was expecting, but it was good enough. Lex summoned Fredrich, the first ever Draconian Apostle he had ever summoned. The Draconian Apostle were the second race of workers that Lex unlocked, but they could only survive in extreme environments, which is why he had never needed their assistance before. "Take this guest to the Fire Temple and take care of him," said Lex to his worker that looked like a massive honey bee. As he watched the bee-like worker carry the ming bird away, he could not help but agree with the system for the first time. He had a strong feeling that if the Sovereign turtle were not cultivating, it would try to adopt the bird, just like he had done with the baby whale. Chapter 560 Awkward A few random thoughts ran through Lex''s head after he sent the Sol bird to the fire temple. Was the energy that it needed to replenish divine energy? In that case, was it a deity? Or did divine energy have more uses? Come to think of it, he himself had used divine essence to temper his body, and he got that from the crystal realm as well. Maybe in the crystal realm, divine energy had more uses. He was only musing randomly when his personal holographic assistant informed him he had a new message. It was from Miranda, and she wanted to meet. Lex frowned. It hadn''t even been 20 minutes since their meeting ended. It was unlikely she had already found information on his sisters, which could only mean one thing. She had encountered an issue. Lex teleported to her, ensuring to change his appearance to Leo''s. The moment heid eyes on her, his suspicion was confirmed. Miranda looked much worse off than he had left her only a short while ago, and was nursing a grievous wound on her right arm. "The situation has taken a turn for the worst," she said, suppressing her pain. Lex frowned, though not at what she was telling him. "Hold on," he said and teleported out to his office. He sat on his chair and quickly scanned the Inn, finding a specific store in the Guild room. Chen and Lily, who were running a business through the guild room, had be one of the most sessful stores within the guild. That was because, as warriors who had spent their entire lives in conflict, they had a very deep understanding of what other soldiers, adventurers, and warriors needed. From their store, he bought a number of medicines, including pain suppressors, and teleported back to Miranda, handing her the guild room cards containing the relevant items. The pain killer he didn''t hand to her as a card, but channeled his spirit energy into it to reveal the item directly, and handed it to her. The entire process took a couple of seconds only. It made it seem like Leo was a very considerate person, but in truth, he didn''t want to risk Miranda messing up or making a mistake because she was too distracted by her pain. Of course, he didn''t need to share that bit of information. Miranda quickly drank the pain suppressor and visibly rxed only a few momentster. That did not, however, change the fact that her hand was bleeding and looked like it needed medical attention. "You were saying," said Leo, resuming the conversation. "You may or may not know, but no technology is working on earth right now. I returned nning on finding out where the council''s servers are stored, with ns of having them brought to the Inn. That way, we could ess them. Not only would that help the council, but I would easily be able to track down the information on the three people you''re looking for. "Unfortunately, before I could make any real progress, the aliens attacked. They''re dropping out of their ships anywhere they see people and suppressing them. Anyone who resists is killed immediately. The only reason I''m alive is not because I had any skill, but because I was fast enough in running away to the Inn." Lex frowned. This was not good news. ording to what he knew, the aliens shouldn''t have been so tough, at least that''s what Marlo had reported. But then again, Marlo''s standards were in a league of his own. More importantly, they had moved pretty quickly. Lex had assumed it would be days if not weeks for them to make their way to Ennd. After all, even without their technology, Europe was not a pushover. There were a considerable number of cultivators there who should have put up a fight. Before Lex could think of a solution, Miranda proposed one of her own. "If the Inn can provide its aid, we can stabilize the situation. That way, we can help you out as well." Leo scoffed. "I think you have the wrong idea. Just to be clear, the help I was offering was a way for you to use the Inn''s services to help yourself. The Midnight Inn is a neutral organization, and we do not participate in conflicts as a third party."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Having said that, Lex felt a grain of doubt in his mind. Should he offer up the help he had promised? The longer he waited, the more people would possibly die. He didn''t want that on his conscience. Ugh, it was such an unnecessary hassle being a good buy. It would have been so much easier if he had the conscience of a viin or something. "If I send someone to earth, do you have anything that can guide that person to your severs?" Miranda paused, but didn''t waste too much time specting about the insinuations of the information Leo had revealed. "Strictly speaking, while devices running on electricity are not working, spirit tech, which relies solely on spirit energy, is still operational. The council''s servers are in a secure, hidden facility that is protected by a defensive formation. I should be able to fashion something that can locate the facility." "Alright, in that case, you get me that locator, and I''ll send someone to procure those servers. At the same time, once I have the locator, I''ll share the information you need." Miranda nodded and quickly hurried out to begin making the locator. Lex, on the other hand, cursed the fact that Zagan was still stuck in his test. If he had passed, then Lex could have made him a valet and sent him to earth to procure the servers. Now, he would have to do it on his own. Not that he had a problem with doing it himself - he just assumed that it would be much faster if the immortal monster was doing it. What was taking him so long anyway? He shook his head. It didn''t matter. He better go prepare some gear for his impending excursion. It would not do if his clothes got disintegrated during a war. He would feel too awkward. Chapter 561 Anything To Not Be Naked! Lex''s first instinct would be to go to the Infinity Emporium. Although it hurt to admit it, as of now, he would be more likely to find higher quality gear there than anywhere at the Inn. The gift shop had long since stopped being able to keep up with Lex''s needs. True to its name, its merchandise was more suited as gifts and trinkets rather than being actually useful. Though, to be fair, it had been instrumental in Lex surviving the initial days of the Inn, so his fondness for it never dropped. But for his current needs it was not the right fit. The next best option was to shop from the Guild room, which is where Lex was heading. "Hey Mary, isn''t there any reasonable way I can convert MP into some other kind of currency? I''m rich as long as I''m inside the Inn, but as soon as I exit it, I''m dirt poor." The suited Mary appeared in front of him looking slightly guilty as she scratched her head. "This is a good question, and your authority is high enough to get most of the answer. The truth is, usually, each system has a progression path. Which means it will not give quests that are too difficult early on while most of the system functions are locked. As youplete the rtively easy quests, not only do you as the user grow stronger, but the system''s functions expand in a systematic and cohesive way. But¡­ as you already know, the system you got was badly damaged when you got it. "As a result of interference from the damage, as well as the mismatch between the level of the original system, the proper level of the system in its damaged state as well as your own power as the user, you followed a very unusual path. What the system should have done was give you quests and rewards promoting you to spread the Inn only on your own first. Only when your growth potential was tapped out depending only on the resources of your own should it have spread to another one, and so on and so forth.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "So, originally, you should have been much better prepared by the time you actually had to deal with so many differents, races, and all their associated intrigue." "You didn''t actually answer my question," said Lex, not bothering to focus on how he was ripped off. To begin with, the system was something he lucked out upon, not something he arduously worked for. Anything it gave him was a bonus he was never meant to originally have. Besides, he always felt that the kind of quests he got were suicidal. To this day, he did not even dare to look at the quest that told him to make a connection to a 5 star called Dunya. The highest star rating he ever connected to was 2 stars, and it was the crystal realm! It had earth immortals in it. He did not even dare imagine what a 5 star world entailed. Would he see Dao lords around every corner? Most importantly, the system itself was damaged. If it had been screwing with him on purpose, which he for so long suspected it was, then he would have been pissed. But if the system was so severely damaged, he couldn''t really me it. Not to mention, he had long decided that his focus should be on getting stronger himself. No matter how useful or useless the system was, if he himself was strong then he would be able to face any and all challenges it threw his way. This was important, because based on all the remarks it gave him, a part of him still believed the system was just screwing with him. "The answer is, most likely, but I cannot say for certain. All I can say is you''re doing a good job. Keep getting stronger, and keeppleting quests. That''s the best way to unlock new features." "So basically, there''s a chance I won''t always be poor. Got it." Mary had assumed that Lex would have a bigger reaction to the news that the system had increased the difficulty he was facing due to its damaged state. After all, instead of giving him golden tickets that took him to other worlds in his starter pack, it could have given him other rewards that helped him develop the Inn only on earth first. That way he never would have had to fight zombies, or be chased by wolves, and encounter all the problems he had to face. So much could have gone differently. But what she did not consider was that the way Lex saw it, he was having a much harder time now, sure. But because the system was on such a high level, it was much harder to get discovered by others. That was worth the trouble. After all, even a Dao lord was not able to discover the system in his soul even at close range. Sure, he had not scanned Lex, but that was good enough. Or maybe Lex had just learned to stopining and make use of whatever his situation dictated. He walked into the Guild room and spared no expense. He bought the best armor avable, and then bought 10 more sets of it. After all, he could just store them in his storage bangle. He bought emergency first aid kids, a few dozen guns, swords, spears, some goggles, gloves and honestly anything else that caught his fancy. He had MP to spare, and his bangle had plenty of space. There was no harm in filling it up with anything useful that he might need. Basically, he just never wanted to end up nude in front of other people again. Due to how strong his body was, it was inevitable that if he encountered strong attacks, his armor would be destroyed but he would be fine. Basically, he needed armor with the best defense - to keep him from ending up naked! Chapter 562 Reminiscing Lex was sitting on a wooden bench atop Midnight mountain, looking out at the Inn. He was ying with an extremely deadly weaponced with the most lethal poisons avable on the market in his hand. Its original name was quite intimidating, but Lex himself decided to call it the ''Fidget spinner of doom'' because, well, in Lex''s extremely difficult to cut hands, it was naught more than a fidget spinner. If anyone else were to try the same, their fingers would get sliced off! The only safe way to even use the weapon was using a secondary device that came with the fidget spinner of doom that both held it and propelled it forward like a sling. He had already finished all his shopping, and now was just waiting for Miranda to give him the locator. Since he had a bit of spare time, he took a seat on this bench and allowed himself to reminisce. Sure, he could get some work done during this brief time, but he was only human. Right now, he didn''t feel like working. So he did nothing and allowed his thoughts to wander. His thoughts wandered to his parents. They were weird, that was for sure. But they had never been bad parents. Sure, they homeschooled him and took him around with them as they traveled for work, and became way too clingy during his teenage years when he wanted to explore with his friends. But wasn''t that normal parents'' stuff? They never mistreated him or made him feel left out, which is why learning that they might have been keeping secrets from him felt like such a betrayal. Then his thoughts went to his sisters. Belle was a brute who liked nothing more than bullying others and wrestling. She was extremely intimidating and did not hesitate to pick a fight with anyone, their parents included. But at the same time, she never allowed her siblings to be bullied either. It was one of the reasons Lex took so long to develop his sense of protectiveness towards his own workers. It was because he had never felt the need to be protective of his sisters, for who on god''s green earth would pick a fight with that maniac of a sister that he had? Then came Liz. Like Lex, she too had been named by Belle. He paused for a moment when he realized even the youngest, Moon, had been named by Belle. Had his parents even done anything? Shaking his head, his thoughts drifted back to Liz. Out of all the siblings, she was the most introverted. People assumed it was because she was shy, but that wasn''t it. Lex did not pretend to understand her reasoning, but she was the most selective of whom she spent her time with. Other than the siblings, there was barely anyone she wasfortable with - their parents included! Then came Moon. She was the youngest, the most spoiled, loved, and extroverted of them all. She had more friends than Lex had acquaintances, and she found it impossible to sit still.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om He wondered what they would think if they saw the Inn? Lex had no ns of divulging his identity as the Innkeeper, even to them. But even still, he couldn''t help but wonder what they would think. Belle would scoff and call it pedantic. Liz would find herself a hut somewhere far away from the crowds. Moon, well, the crowd would be around her wherever she went. For all the irritation Lex felt at them, in that moment, he couldn''t help but smile. A short whileter, his hologram popped up. Miranda had the locator ready. He put on his rk Kent sses and teleported to the meeting room. Miranda looked somewhat better, with her arm in a makeshift cast, but it was clear from her haphazard clothes that she hadn''t spent much time doing much of anything else. "This is it," she said, handing him a device that looked like a clock. "It runs on spirit energy so you''ll have to power it yourself. I didn''t have time to fashion a working battery. But that should locate the facility. Once there, whoever you''re sending will have to find someone called Major Gilbert - he''s in charge of the facility." She slid forward a letter on the table. "You''ll have to give him this letter to get him to cooperate. If you don''t have the letter, he won''t acknowledge you, and chances are he''ll resist. But, once he''s been convinced, he''ll lead you to the servers. The facility isrge, and there are a lot of servers. There''s also no way of knowing which one the relevant information is stored on, so you''ll have to bring all of them back" "Got it," said Leo, receiving the letter and the locator. The letter vanished inside his bangle, which he had covered by his shirt. He could really have people recognizing that, so he always kept it hidden from sight. The locator he simply grabbed, and would strap onter. "Can you tell me now how the Inn will help us?" Although the woman had initially tried to put up a strong front, she was barely holding on now. Fortunately, Lex had no ns to dangle the information any longer. "It''s simple, really. Do you remember the Midnight Games? How the Inn was able to turn parts of the battlefield on Vegus Minima into an event?" Realization dawned on Miranda, and she suddenly couldn''t believe that she hadn''t recalled the matter sooner! "Is the Inn going to do that again?" she asked, barely able to suppress the excitement in her voice. "No!" said Leo firmly. "That was a one-time event. The Inn will not do anything of the sort again. However, that does not mean that you can''t host such an event yourself. It will take some work as you''ll have to designate a battlefield or many, and you''ll have to think of an incentive to get others to fight the battles. But I''m sure you can figure something out." Chapter 563 War Crime "Wait, that''s it? You''ve basically done nothing other than tell me about this! We need help!" Leo''s rtively rxed expression turned solemn as he looked Miranda in the eyes. He understood that she was desperate. Deep inside, he even felt a little guilty. But this was a decision he had to abide by. Helping out even this much was attracting trouble towards the Inn. He was lucky that the devils hadn''t appeared to hold a grudge against the Inn, but he couldn''t say so for others if the Inn kept interfering. As much as Lex wanted to help, he had his Inn and his workers to look out for. Of course, he wasn''t about to exin that to her. "I made it absolutely clear that the Inn wouldn''t be helping you, just providing you with a way to help yourself. Besides, have you done anything worthy of such help anyway? All I asked was for you to find three people. Let alone those people, you can''t even get the information on them without my help." The sudden admonishment woke Miranda up from her desperate stupor. Immediately she knew she had messed up. As someone trained in managing rtions, she should have known better than to have such an emotional reaction. Besides, Leo was right. They hadn''t really done anything worthy of the Inn intervening on their behalf. She had built up that hope on her own, and had acted out when it was crushed. She was about to apologize, but Leo already teleported out of the room. She felt concerned for a moment, wondering if her outburst would affect whether the Inn allowed them to host such an event. But wondering wouldn''t get her anywhere. She hurried out of the room to go inform the council. If they needed to incentivize others for help, they would need nning. ***** Lex was not genuinely angry at Miranda. To be more specific, he couldn''t be bothered with her. The moment they were done, and he had everything, he decided to teleport away. The quicker this was done, the better.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om He strapped the locator onto his wrist, and used a technique called Notorious Anonymity. This was also a ''defensive technique'' that he had picked up, and was actually one of Lex''s favorites at the moment. Unlike his other techniques, this one did not create a shield or strengthen his body or anything of the sort. Instead, it covered his face with a very prominent looking mask, and only ''defended'' his identity. That meant the mask wasn''t able to stop any attacks, but no one would be able to see his face or scan his identity in any way while he wore it. After he upgraded it, the mask even gained the ability to change its appearance from time to time, alongside the ability to block more types of surveince which was also an important aspect of the technique. The only drawback was that the mask would never look discreet. For example, when he used the technique now, a ck mask enveloped his face withrge, white fangs indented into it right below a massive pair of eyes. It sounded bizarre, but it looked incredibly creepy. Lex could imagine himself as the antagonist in an anime with the way he looked right now. He changed into his armor and, just for safety, wrapped the protector in ayer of Impervious Shield. After making sure he was prepared, Lex teleported to earth. It was best not to waste time. But the moment he teleported, his intuition warned him of something, but he was too close to dodge. A beam of something hot hit his back, nearly burning his synthetic armor! Faintly, Lex felt some warmth on his back. The fact that it was warm enough to allow Lex to feel something meant it was hot enough to kill others. Not wasting a moment, he spread his spirit sense around him, gaining an understanding of the situation, which made his expression fall. His face hidden behind the mask, Lex didn''t feel the need to hide his emotions. What he didn''t know was that the mask reacted, changing from a mad grin to that of a predator. It was dark, not only because night had fallen, but also because of the massive ship blocking all star and moon light. Yet one did not need to look at the evil mask to feel the pressure Lex was radiating right now. Somewhere in front of him were a pair of men, running away. Looking at their clothes, they looked like office workers, and judging by their appearance, they were around Lex''s age. They had no idea that in the darkness behind them, a machine had tried to kill them. Lex also did not need to turn around to identify the machine. Though its body did not look metallic, or like any stereotypical earthly design of robots, Lex knew it was a machine underneath its synthetic skin that looked like it was made of ss. There was no sound, it did not speak, yet Lex''s universal trantor picked up what it was saying through the radio frequency waves it was emitting. "For the war crime of interfering with the execution of resisting ves, you are hereby sentenced to death!" The nearly see-through machine started gathering up more energy to kill Lex with anotherser beam when something unexpected happened. The organic lifeform replied to it! "For the war crime of pissing me off, die!" The pavement under Lex''s feet could not contain the force with which he rushed towards the machine, leaving cracks in the ground in a spider web formation. The ss machine detected his approach, but could not move fast enough to dodge. Thest thing it saw before Lex''s fist wearing iron knuckles smashed into its body was a demonic face staring deep into its soul! It was also thest image it sent back to the mothership. The machine was unable to survive Lex''s strength, and broke into countless tiny shards as his fist went through its body. Lex stood there, looking at the ground, covered in the countless remains of his enemy. Despite his victory, he was not satisfied. In truth, the mask had not looked so creepy for no reason. Lex truly was looking into the machine''s soul with his soul sense. Or at least, a wisp of its soul. Whether it was the fact that a machine had a soul, or that it only a wisp of its soul in its body were both things Lex had never encountered before. Chapter 564 Hard To Be Indifferent Lex recalled everything he had heard at the Inn about the ''alien invaders''. A lot of people who faced them called the aliens, while a lot of people imed to have fought some kind of robots. The assumption he had made was that the invaders consisted of a race that also used a lot of robots. That was a concept that was easy for him to understand. But this robot having a wisp of a soul inside of it confounded him. Especially because¡­ he was the one calling it a wisp of soul. In fact, he had no idea what it was. Looking at it, his intuition told him that it was a sort of mirage of an actual soul, but the soul was not present in the robot''s body. Instead, it was somewhere else, and was using the wisp to remotely control the robot. Of course that was only a guess and could not be confirmed, but Lex more or less trusted his intuition. Based on that, Lex guessed earth was dealing with a highly advanced race that could use robotic soldiers instead of fighting in person. It was an important piece of information to note, and maybe he''d need it in the future. For now, he had other things to do. He channeled some spirit energy into the locator strapped onto his wrist and waited for it to turn on. The interface wasn''tplicated. It was like apass, but instead of pointing north, it pointed towards the facility he needed to reach. Lex summoned Fenrir and got atop it, before guiding it in the right direction. He knew that if ever Fenrir was recognized from the Inn, it would make him hiding his identity redundant. But it didn''t matter because he kept linking his identity as Lex to Leo. He was purposefully leaving behind clues, though an ordinary person would not pick them up. Only someone incredibly astute, with enough reach to gather all the clues, would be able to see the connection. The point was, it was a lot more believable that Leo or Lex were running around on earth with Fenrir, than the mighty Innkeeper. A lot of people at the Inn had already seen the Innkeepers power, so no one would assume that he was actually Lex. After all, someone that powerful didn''t really need to hide that identity, is what most people would assume. Another important factor was that Fenrir was supposed to be the protector of the Inn. He had gotten a taste for hunting in the Crystal realm. In fact, Lex still sent him there from time to time to hunt. But the more dangerous situations he faced, the more experience he would gain. Also, Lex wouldn''t have to run a huge distance in case the facility was far. But that waspletely and totally not the real reason Lex summoned him, and was only a convenient truth. But Lex barely covered any distance when he encountered another group of robots. They were fighting against what looked like local police who had barricaded themselves, as well as a group of civilians underground. Technically, Lex could avoid them. He didn''t need to get involved. But it was much easier to dismiss helping someone when they weren''t being attacked right in front of your eyes. He knew that if he didn''t help, they wouldn''t have a chance. "I bet Belle would have no problem ditching them," Lex mumbled as he instructed Fenrir to move closer. ***** Deep in space, there was a massive war being fought on a rogue, traveling through the expanse without anything to leash it. A majority of the was upied by human forces while only a small portion of it was left under Fuegan control. Yet that did not mean the remaining fight was easy, or close to victory, for that matter. Above the, in space, was the venue for another battle. This battle was not being fought by mortal soldiers, but by those nobles who had reached the immortal realm! Even if those immortals happened to be soldiers, by the definition of the empire, they would still be called nobles. As such, this battlefield which often appeared in space to limit the damage was called the noble battlefront! On this noble battlefront, there was one warrior in particr who especially radiated an aura that was both noble and domineering. She was d in the signature armor of the Williams family. Her weapon was a double-ended scythe, and with it she had already reaped the life of an opposing Fuegan. That was not an insignificant feat, for the death of an immortal was a rare urrence regardless of what kind of battle it was. Yet she was not satisfied, and attacked aggressively! But if all it took to defeat a Fuegan was aggression, this war would have been long won. "There is news from the family head," a voice spoke to her in her mind. In the vacuum of space, spirit sense was the only way tomunicate. Of course, masks with inbuiltmunicators were also an option, but they never survived the kinds of fights they were exposed to.N?v(el)B\\jnn "What does he want?" she asked, with no hint of politeness in her voice when talking about her own family head. "It''s good news. The ancestor has shown signs of returning, and even signs retaking the helm of the family to bring it to new heights!" The voice was tinged with excitement, but the woman did not share the feeling. She took off her mask, revealing her beautiful, yet angry face. If Lex saw that face, he would instant hide, for he knew what it was like when his maniacal sister got angry. "Tell that old geezer to get lost. I''m the next leader of the Williams family. We didn''t need him before and we don''t need him now!" "Belle, you can''t-" the man trying to rebuke her was never able to finish the sentence, for Bello kicked him hard enough to send him hurtling towards the rogue. She looked at the next person who happened to be standing nearby and said, "convey my message to the family head. If he tries to give my position away, I''ll kill him!" Chapter 565 Fixing Mindset The fact that all the robots looked so different struck Lex as unusual, but he quickly noticed a pattern in their bodies despite the varying shapes. First, regardless of whether they were shaped like humanoids, tetrapods, floating orbs, small jets or whatever else, they all boasted arge torso, or central body. It was not so evident when they were shaped like humans or animals, but the feature became more prominent when they took other shapes. Still, Lex would not have noticed this if it weren''t for the fact that his soul sense could detect wisps of souls exactly in those spots. He did not know how significant this discovery was, but it could prove to be useful. The second, more obvious thing that he noticed was that despite whatever form they took, they all seemed to be usingser weapons. Sure, the weapons had various forms, but all of them shotsers - regardless of whether they were in the visible spectrum or not. None of that mattered to Lex, who was not only impervious to their damage, but would punch through their bodies regardless of their shape or size. But before he left the Inn, Velma had sent forward a request to all workers dealing with the refugees to collect as much information about the invaders as possible. Lex narrowed his eyes. The robots were finally reacting to his arrival, which was fine with him. The police would not have been able to hold them off much longer, especially since they had no weapons with which to shoot back! The only reason they had survived so long was because some of them turned out to be cultivators and were blocking the attacks with some spirit tech! "Go get them," he said to Fenrir as he jumped off its back. He wanted to see how it handled being outnumbered so that he could understand what its capabilities were. Fenrir only growled for a moment before leaping towards the robots,pletely unafraid of their superior numbers. Lex deployed an Imperial Shield in front of the underground entrance so they wouldn''t suffer any coteral damage during the fight. The police, however, did not realize that. They were desperately holding off the aliens,pletely unable to divert their attention anywhere else, when they heard a loud growl. Before they could make sense of where that sound came from, a gray shield appeared in front of them, blocking their view of the outside world. That did not reassure them, however, because while the shield blocked their view, and even trapped them inside, it did not block sounds. The nerve-wracking sounds of metal literally being ripped into pieces echoed in the air, along with a symphony of crashing, explosions and deep, spine-chilling growls. An excruciating 10 minutester, the shield disappeared. Revealed to them was a battleground littered with the scrapped remains of the aliens that had been attacking them just a few minutes prior. There was no indication of¡­ of the creature that had been growling earlier, as if it had vanished into the darkness. "Is it safe?" one civilian asked, slowly approaching the stairs leading up. "No!" the policeman eximed and hurriedly signaled everyone to retreat, with no desire to find out what actually happened. He didn''t know why his life had be a horror story, but he knew not to tempt fate. Curiosity could kill a lot more than just a cat! Lex was feeling pretty good about himself as he rode Fenrir away. Fenrir had taken care of all the robotspletely on its own,pletely surpassing Lex''s expectations. In fact, it had done so without suffering a single hit! In that regard, it surpassed Lex! His own evasive maneuvers weren''t that great, though previously he used the excuse that he could not dodgesers moving at the speed of light as his justification. But this little pup of his had brought out some kind of interference field as soon as it attacked, making it so the robots movements became slow and imprecise. Even as hepletely ripped them apart with its ws, they remained unable to actually target him. Lex even took his time observing their remains once the battle was over to see if he could learn anything new about them, before eventually returning. So far, fighting the robots had been super easy. Marlo''s original assessment of the robots may not have been wrong, the nearly indestructible owner of a universal establishment, riding a beast with the bloodline of a god thought to himself. But the good feeling didn''tst. With his sharp senses, it wasn''t long before he identified another group of people struggling with the robots. This time, they weren''t fighting. They had been tied up and detained. Lex could ''hear'' the robots speaking in their low frequencies, talking about the new ves. His stomach lurched, but as much as it killed him, he didn''t divert his direction this time. If he had to stop every time he encountered such a situation, he''d never reach the facility. The best help he could provide, he was already giving through his Inn. For now, he had to prioritize his own objectives. He had to. As if sensing his distress, Fenrir sped up. They were heading away from the city, so soon Lex stopped detecting both the robots and the groups of people. Far in the distance, towards the main city, Lex could see faint sparks of light filling the sky, as if fireworks. But he knew that they weren''t fireworks. They were most likely guns, or other weapons since guns weren''t asmon here.N?v(el)B\\jnn But soon, Lex could not see even those. Riding Fenrir across the English countryside, feeling the cool winter wind in his face, Lex almost felt pleasant. But Lex didn''t allow himself to wallow in guilt for too long. He took control of his emotions and fixed his mindset. It was alright to feel bad when he saw people in distress, but he couldn''t let those emotions take hold. The universe was full of strife, and he wasn''t responsible for fixing it all. If enemies came his way, he wouldn''t spare them. But that didn''t mean his mind could be swayed into fighting every viin that someone encountered. It was difficult, but he had to be firm. Chapter 566 A Toy Lex was lost in his thoughts, reaffirming his resolution as Fenrir ran through the wild. Maybe the decision he was making wasn''t the morally correct one, but it was the best one for himself and his dependents. His mindset was undergoing a subtle change as he contemted the philosophy behind maturing, and if it counted as maturing if he didn''t like the decisions he had to make. Or perhaps, that is what maturity was to begin with. s, his dramatic internal monologue was interrupted by his intuition. He looked up but saw nothing due to the absolute darkness that had enveloped the sky, yet his eyes seemed to be fixed on a moving target. While his eyes were dependent on light, his other senses were not. His spirit sense had a vague range of about 100 feet (30 meters), where sometimes it could go a little beyond and sometimes is just below. His intuition, however, had no clear limit for how close or far an object had to be before it could detect it. That is why, in the darkness, even though the approaching aliens'' ships were so far that Lex could not hear them yet, his intuition informed him that he had been locked on to by them. Lex did not ask Fenrir to slow down, however. They continued to run through the wilderness as Lex prepared to face them. What he really wanted to try was Evisceration, but he wasn''t sure it would work. He had no idea what that wisp in their bodies was. If it was a small part of their souls, then the technique would be absolutely fatal. If, however, it was something like a projection of a soul, or maybe even something else that Lex was unaware of at the moment, then the technique might not work. To prepare for such an eventuality, he began picking out a long distance array to use. He did not believe that these robots would be as resilient as the ones in the pagoda, for right from the get go they had given him much more trouble. The next few minutes were spent in silence until, even in the darkness, his eyes could pick out the shapes of the iing ship. His eyes were already sharper than normal, let alone the strange advancements his left eye underwent, so seeing in the dark was not such a big issue. There were four ships heading his way, and they did not bother being subtle about their approach. From the moment Lex saw them, it only took a couple more minutes till even Fenrir picked up on their arrival. A minuteter, the sound of jets rushing through the air could be heard from the distance. Fenrir growled, but Lex rubbed him behind the ears. The little pup wanted to attack, but as much as Lex trusted him, there was a difference between going up against a robot and going against a ship. It was like fighting against an armed soldier and a fighter jet - they were not in the same league! In the time that it took Lex to calm his pup down, the four ships had arrived. They did not bother surrounding him, or trying tomunicate. They attacked the moment they were in range! As he put up the strongest version of Imperial Shield that he could manage, he wondered if the invaders were always so aggressive or if it was just him they were specifically targeting. After all, if their objective was to gather ves, killing everyone they came across would be counter-productive. Just as Lex suspected, these ships were specifically targeting him. As soon as their scanners captured his image, it gged him as a war criminal for interfering in an execution and resisting punishment. They attacked immediately, theirser weapons shooting off short orange sts that immediately mmed into the Imperial Shield. Arge, fiery explosion shook the earth. Orange mes licked everything around them ck, turning what could not survive its heat to ash. Yet behind his shield, Lex was untouched even by a warm wind. It was a good idea to upgrade his techniques. He looked up in the sky, but did not retaliate yet. The ships were too far for even his array, let alone evisceration. So, he patiently waited for them toe closer. But that is not what the ships detected. As soon as they scanned the explosion site, they picked up an image of a lone man sittingfortably on his war mount, looking up at them mockingly. The massive fangs disyed on the mask had changed into a sneer, as if the ships were unworthy opponents. His eyes looked cid, as if there was no pressure that the iing ships put on him. A mistake that Lex made, due to the kind of exposure he had, was that the ships were piloted by the robots who were invading. That was wrong. In fact, the ships themselves were sentient as well. They were just as much invaders as the robots on the ground, and they took great offense to Lex''s dismissive attitude! The ships, now closer since they never stopped moving during this entire ordeal, opened a hull at their base, and brought out aser cannon. The identical cannons on all four ships began to glow, ?charging up for their attack. "Oh?" Lex felt a tingle, as if warning him his shield wouldn''t be enough for the uing attack. All foursers shot, but not at Lex. The foursers converged midair, and beganbining their might, turning into a massive orb of orange light. "Look Fenrir, the little aliens are trying really hard," said Lex mockingly, this time on purpose. Though Lex had not spoken aloud, the sensors on the ships detected every word he said! Not only that, since the ships were constantly connected to the mother-ship, his words were broadcast back to their mainmand!n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Unable to contain their anger, the shipsunched their attack prematurely! The massive orange orb, despite its size, hurled at Lex at the speed of light, crashing through the Imperial Shield. Then¡­ then nothing. The orange ball seemed to freeze in space, right in front of Lex. The ships scanned again, and received an image of Lex casually holding the massive ball off destructive energy in a single extended hand. It looked like a toy. Chapter 567 Priority Lex naturally could not catch the orange orb at the speed of light. Yet his intuition could predict its trajectory and path even before itunched, giving Lex plenty of time to prepare. Although the orb was quite a bitrger than his hand, on a whim he felt like testing out Impervious hands. Using the technique cost a lot of spirit energy, but Lex was not in his flow state, where he always did the most efficient action. In normal life, it was okay to be wasteful sometimes. The technique''s appearance was veryckluster, in that nothing special appeared on his hands. It was as if a technique wasn''t being used at all. Just as he held out his hand in ce, the aliensunched the attack. While the orange orb had no trouble breaking through the Imperial shield, the moment it touched Lex''s hand, it lost all of its momentum. Lex experienced something strange. ording to the original technique, his hands should have been impervious to damage, and that is all. Yet now, from the moment the ball touched his hand, he felt inplete control of it. That was not supposed to happen as there was no aspect of the technique which extended to control, but that''s what happened. He could feel that the energy propelling it forward had not disappeared, but was simply contained. If he wished, he could use that energy to propel the ball anywhere he wished. If he so wanted, the orange orb could fizzle out, or suddenly explode. He tried out his control, and the massive orange orb shrunk down until it fit perfectly into his palm. "Look Fenrir, the aliens want to y catch." He didn''t try to throw the orb back, he didn''t trust his aim enough. He just used its existing kic energy, and sent it back exactly from the path through which it came! On the mother-ship, or rather, the mother-ship, which was its own sentient being as well, stuttered for a moment when it received a projection of aser orb being caught with bare hands. When it heard Lex''s words, it did the robot equivalent of screaming in the air before the feed was immediately cut off. The sensors on the ships near Lex were not advanced enough to track the orb traveling at the speed of light, and so they were unable to record how Lex sent the orb back. But the mothership guessed what happened nheless. "New additional objective," she sent out to all deployed robots in the region. "Anomalous subject identified. Subject has shown capability to physically interact with energy. Securing the anomalous subject is now priority number 31! Objective title: anomalous subject securing. Objective short form: A.S.S. I repeat, A.S.S. is now priority number 31!" ***** Back on earth, Lex was admiring the massive explosion in the air. It was a shame that he didn''t get to try evisceration, but he would get more opportunities no doubt. Moreover, he learned something interesting about Impervious hands. Fenrir released a low whine, attracting Lex''s attention. "What do you mean that I insulted the tradition of the hunt? I''m the one who taught you about hunting! Besides, I''m learning that it''s a little fun to tease your prey."N?v(el)B\\jnn "Grrr." "Don''t be ridiculous! It''s not more fun to immediately kill the prey. Sometimes, when you have full control of the situation, it''s a lot of fun to tease your prey a little. Honestly. Try it next time." Instead of replying to Lex, Fenrir began running towards the facility once again. "Oh, you''re ignoring me now?" Lex asked whileughing. "Grrr." "Me? Embarrass you? Are you serious?" Lex and Fenrir continued to argue with one another as they continued on their path,pletely unaware that various robots and ships had diverted their path to locate them. Yet, despite their advanced technology, they were unable to find them! Whether they scanned the area from the air, or checked theirst known location for tracks, there was nothing to find. Though Fenrir was young and inexperienced, its instincts were strong. After the previous fight, it had immediately deployed one of its bloodline abilities, creating an interference field around them and hiding all their tracks. The abilities bestowed by a god-bloodline could not so easily be countered, and so thousands of ships flew in the area, searching for them to no avail. The mothership grew increasingly frustrated at theck of results, and couldn''t help but picture the uninterested look on the mask when it faced those ships. It understood now that the whole reason they even located him the first time around was because he was teasing them. Whoever he was, he never took them seriously for a single moment. In her anger, the mothership activated a single infantry regiment. All the units it had sent on the ground so far were naught more than scouts. Their true soldiers were very different, and much stronger. In truth, even the mothership could get into trouble if it was detected she deployed troops unnecessarily and wastefully. But that was easy to solve. She just needed to provide a legitimate reason for their deployment. "Reassigning threat level from 1 to 2. Redistribution of deployed units required. Deployment of additional troops required. Reevaluation of danger zones required." Silently, a change started to ur as more troops approached earth, but this time in camouge. At the Midnight Inn, the three nascent cultivators and the devils were finishing up their deal, and shaking hands. The council had just about finished their proposal and were almost ready to request a meeting with the Innkeeper. Down on earth, Lex finally neared the facility. But while it was protected under a defensive formation, it had also been surrounded by hundreds of robotsying siege. Even though Lex had it pretty easy so far, he did not dare underestimate hundreds of robots. Even if they couldn''t hurt him, they might hurt Fenrir of the facility. Moreover, he didn''t know if killing too many would attract attention. He had to progress with caution. Chapter 568 Drama Lex was observing the facility, considering how he could enter without attracting attention. The surrounding area was pitch dark, but the facility was still well lit. They probably had spirit energy powerednterns or something simr. But instead of helping them, the light acted as a beacon for the robotic invaders, attracting their attention and resulting in this siege. Their defensive formation was like a transparent bubble around the entire building, only rippling when struck by the invaders - so that meant it was constantly rippling. He didn''t know how much longer the formation couldst. Before Lex could formte a n on how to proceed, Mary called out to him. "Hey Lex, before you do anything else, I just learned something I thought I should share with you." "What''s up?" he asked without removing his gaze from the facility. "While the council was temporarily crippled due to the sudden shutdown of all electronics, surprisingly, they actually had contingencies in ce for such an asion! They''ve finally got amunicationwork based on spirit tech up and running, and have sessfully mobilized a response force." "Alright. What does that have to do with my current situation?" "ording to theirtest reports, the invaders have not attacked all ces equally. They are first mobilizing towards high value resources, some of which the council had actually hidden from the world. Moreover, there are a few special zones on your termed as danger zones where people don''t casually venture in, because anyone who goes in rarelyes out. The invaders are all targeting those areas first, as if they want to make sure they get everything precious or valuable before they do anything else. "This information was corroborated by Marlo, who recently just returned to the Inn. ording to him, his wife''s family''s sacred ground was also attacked. Unable to hold them off, she opted to dig out their most valuable tree, and brought it to the Inn''s greenhouse for safekeeping." Lex recalled hearing about that tree, if they were talking about the same one. They had used it to keep Rafael alive despite his horrible condition. "So what you''re suggesting is¡­ the reason there are a lot of robotsying siege to this facility is because it is probably storing something valuable?" "That is a possibility. There''s one more thing. Although he was not clear about the details, Marlo suggested that this invasion might not be so simple. He suggested that it might have been instigated by someone. He said he would not borate more until they were able to contact Fernanda, but there''s been no progress on that yet." Lex frowned. Before the invasion happened, Marlo was supposed to be heading towards the ''prison'' to deal with whoever had been instigating wars on earth. Considering his history, it might not be a stretch that the same person would be responsible for starting something like this, if he was able. Suppressing his urge to personally beat up that scum, Lex narrowed his eyes as he looked at the facility. What could the facility be hiding that was so valuable? Miranda didn''t mention anything, and he doubted the aliens were interested in the servers. Just because he had ess to the whole universe it did not mean he underestimated the value of things he could find on earth. After all, if earth was so insignificant then the robots themselves would not be interested in them. More importantly, that meant that as soon as he fought any of these robots, they would likely attract reinforcements. After all, if this was one of their main objectives, they would not treat it lightly. Lex groaned. The truth was, he had already thought of a way to circumvent the blockade, but he''d been having so much fun crushing robotstely that he wanted to continue.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om He sent Fenrir back to the Inn, promising to summon it back if any fighting started. He closed his eyes and started to use the technique he had learnt so long ago back in the Crystal realm, called In-Law effect! The original purpose of the technique was a sort ofst minute escape to save one''s life. It allowed the user to teleport their soul away, but due to the fact that Lex''s soul was fused to his body, for him it became a teleportation technique. This was far from simple, as Lex had looked at actual teleportation techniques for Golden core cultivators, and they were incredibly convoluted and difficult to master. They were a lot more reliable and versatile, sure, but it would take Lex months of dedicated focus to master the technique. Without exaggeration, it was one of the most difficult techniques he had seen. But using the power of loopholes, Lex found a much easier solution. The original technique required Lex to stay still for 3 hours, but now powered by his energy which was a better fuel source than anything a Foundation realm expert could supply, it took him barely a minute. One moment, he was standing in the distance, looking at the facility from far away. The next, he had teleported inside. Large concrete walls had surrounded the facility, not only protecting it but also hiding it from view. Now that Lex had crossed those walls he could finally see that it was¡­ a very in and unimpressive looking gray, rectangr building. While Lex observed the unremarkable building, his arrival had not gone unnoticed, prompting soldiers to instantly surround him. They pointed their weapons at him and screamed at him to get down on his knees, but Lex wasn''t really in the mood for all this drama. He would not have called it drama if he could see the intimidating appearance of the mask he was wearing, but that was besides the point. He spread out his spirit sense and firmly held all the soldiers, freezing them where they stood, further scaring everyone in view. "I have a letter here for Major Gilbert. Can someone go find him? I don''t want to spend too much time on this." Chapter 569 Not Here To Steal An awkward silence filled the air once Lex spoke. The soldiers further off didn''t understand why everyone around Lex had frozen still, while the soldiers around Lex knew that they had screwed up. A majority of the soldiers working here were just mortals who had been at the facility during their routine deployment. When the power went out and the darkness fell, they acted ording to the security protocols and locked the facility down. Yet it had been nearly an entire day where the power to the facility had not returned, and then they hade under attack by unknown enemy forces. Nervousness was at an all-time high, and when they had seen Lex, they had simply reacted out of instinct. It was actually fortunate no one had actually shot at him, which was a real concern considering how intimidating he looked. Lex looked around and asked, "is there any superior officer around? A captain or someone in charge?" Some of the soldiers who were out of the range of Lex''s spirit sense looked towards a young yet mature looking man who had also been locked down by his spirit sense. This was a nifty technique he learned while practicing with his spirit sense, following the online he had been following. As amazing as it seemed, he could only use it on mortals for now, as even a Qi Training expert could disrupt his spirit sense using his Qi. But once he became even more familiar with his spirit sense, he could start using techniques focused on his spirit sense to do much more than lock down mortals. Lex released the soldier inmand, unafraid of any retaliation and said, "no need to be nervous. I''m here on council business. Please send word to the major of my arrival. I''ll wait here, so that everyone feels morefortable." To the soldiers credit, he did not stutter or act afraid despite his previous situation. He looked at Lex with a grim determination that spoke of his resolve to fight if needed, before turning around and jogging away. He made a few signs with his hands while he was jogging away, no doubt passing along some secret orders to the remaining soldiers to watch him. "I don''t mean any harm, so I''ll let the rest of you go as well, alright? Don''t over react now." After giving considerable warning, he slowly loosened his hold on the remaining soldiers. Most of the soldiers managed to disy the same level of control as the young captain, though clearly they were very disturbed. A few stumbled upon being released and showed considerable panic. Two shot at Lex''s face as soon as they were released. The bullets traveled through the mask and hit his face, ricocheting off. Lex only sighed and once again trapped the two soldiers with his spirit sense. Afterwards, he stopped paying attention to them. Honestly, he could have avoided the bullets, for although they were quite fast, and the soldiers were near, he had long since transcended the abilities and limits of normal humans. He decided not to dodge because honestly he felt toozy to, and at the same time he wanted to recreate a scene he saw in a movie once where a bullet crumpled after hitting a superhero. Unfortunately, instead of crumpling, the bullets just bounced off of him. He had wasted a precious opportunity to look cool. "How long do you think you can hold off those robots?" Lex asked while waiting, but none of the soldiers were willing to respond. Though they were not aiming their guns at him, as they had been earlier, they were still clearly quite wary of him. Lex shrugged and decided to just wait in silence. A short whileter, the door to the gray building opened and a few men came running out in a hurry. "Stand down! Stand down!" an older man yelled as he arrived. Much like the soldiers, he was wearingbat gear, but his was clearly different. Lex could tell the man was a Foundation realm cultivator, though he was still near the very beginning of the realm. As such, his gear reflected his status as a cultivator, and while it looked identical to the normal ones, bore some hidden enhancements. "I''ve already received news of your arrival through the spirit channel, sir! Are you Leo?" the man asked, as he neared Lex.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "My identity is irrelevant," Lex said, and summoned the letter from his spatial bangle. "Please confirm the contents of this letter and take me to your servers." Lex had naturally already read the content of the letter using his spirit sense. He could naturally not detect if any orders were passed using any secret ciphers. Simply read, however, the letter used a few lines of some code to confirm their authenticity, before passing along the order to allow the bearer of the letter to have ess to the servers. "Everything is in order Mr. Le¡­ eh, if you''ll follow me, I''ll take you to where you want to go." Lex nodded, but before leaving turned his attention to the two detained soldiers. He pulled the guns out of their hands using spirit sense before letting them go. With the highestmanding officer before them they behaved much better, but the two had gone incredibly pale. Either they were scared senseless or they knew they were likely to get in trouble. Possibly both. Without passing anyments, Lex followed the major into the boring looking building. Matching the outside, the appearance of the building once inside also looked very in. Old tiles and yellowing paint made it seem like an old office building suffering from neglect - not at all what one would expect based on the walls surrounding it. "The elevator isn''t working so we''ll have to take the stairs," the major said awkwardly as he led Lex to the emergency stairwell, descending deep underground. "How long do you think you guys can hold out against the invaders?"Lex asked once again, sounding mostly uninterested. Now that the two were alone, it was time to see what he could dig up about this facility. Not that Lex was interested in stealing whatever they were holding, naturally. He would never. But, say, if the facility fell to the robots, then it wouldn''t count as stealing from the council, right? Chapter 570 Manual Labor It was a well known and established fact that Lex was not greedy and was, instead, a humble fellow who had given up his attraction to worldly possessions. The fact that he hoarded dozens of armors in his spatial bangle did not go against this fact, as those were there to serve a functional purpose. He wore no jewelry or expensive watches, and did not have an expensive shoe collection. Even back when he was a mortal and made 7 million dors, he did not waste it all and instead invested it. He continued to work at his job in the meantime, and lived a normal life. Yes, Lex was a proverbial monk. His only interest in any treasures the facility hid was purely academic and if, god forbid, the facility were to ever fall to the invaders and Lex intervened, it was only out of a sense of honor and duty. It was his duty as a man, no, as a human, to ensure that the alien robots failed in their objectives. It had nothing to do with greed, it was a matter of honor. So, as honor entailed, Lex began to¡­ no manipte, no, never. He simply¡­ aided the major in performing his duties by relieving him of the mental stress of carrying state secrets. Yes, Lex was practically a saint. In fact, even the expression on his mask changed to that of an honest wide eyed grin . "If they maintain their current scale of attack," the major began to answer, "then they won''t be able to prate the formation. It is very strong. However, we cannot maintain it indefinitely. We only carry enough supplies to power the formation for two days." In truth, this was confidential information that the major should not have been sharing. Lex should have had to work a little harder to get this information out of him. Yet the major had never faced realbat situations before. The stress of the situation had affected his judgment. The change was for the better, in Lex''s opinion. "When the formation was being designed, the council figured that if reinforcements didn''t arrive, and someone was able toy down siege on the facility for two days continuously, then this facility was probably the least of their problems." "Makes sense. You said you''ve already talked to someone, that must meanmunication lines are back up. Have they said anything about reinforcements for this facility?" "Yes! Reinforcements are already on their way. It should take a few hours though. ording to HQ, alien presence in Ennd is actually very smallpared to Europe. I feel bad for them, but it''s good for us. They expect to drive out all the aliens in a few days unless they get reinforcements of their own.." "Good, good," Lex murmured while suppressing an internal curse. "This facility is pretty well guarded for a data center." This time, the major was not as forting as Lex had wished. "It''s important. Not only is a data center not cheap, but it holds all the valuable information of the council. That not only includes the private details of all the council members, but information on all of the council''s various projects and responsibilities. If that weren''t the case, we could have just used amercial data center instead of building one ourselves." "The building looks old. Did you have to renovate it to turn it into a data center?" "I''m not sure about such details. The data center was already up and running when I was posted here, and I didn''t look into its history." Lex only nodded, and decided instead to start sweeping the facility with his spirit sense. Walls posed no obstacle to his senses - or at least, they weren''t supposed to. Deep underground in the facility, there were walls built of a special material that seemed to block spirit sense. Well, at least if he ever needed to¡­ rescue earth''s resources from invading aliens, he''d know where to look. But while his spirit sense could be blocked, his intuition could not. He could feel that whatever was stored deep down wouldn''t personally benefit him or his cultivation, which diminished his interest somewhat. "Here you go," said the major, leading Lex into arge hall. "This is the first of the server rooms." The server racks were ced on top of metallic cages, which would allow cold air to blow up at them from underneath, not to mention the air ducts aimed at them from above. Despite the fact that there was no electricity, and the air conditioning clearly had not been turned on, the room was still chilly. "The first room? How many rooms like this are there?" Lex asked as he gauged how many of these he could fit into his spatial bangle. "There are 4 halls like this on each floor, and there are five floors of servers." Lex would definitely need to make several trips to the Inn to transport all of these servers. He should really look into the Inns ability to turn items into cards that can be easily transported. That would save him a lot of trouble. "Well then, I''ll get started." Wrapping the servers in his spirit sense, he directly transported them inside his spatial bangle, making sure to take as many wires as he could. Taking the servers to the Inn was only the first part. They would need to be turned back on and probably have to go through some configuration once that was done as well. Ideally, the servers should have already been prepared for transport by engineers, but one could not ask for everything during war. The work was tedious, and while it bewildered the major, Lex felt like he was doing manualbor. He had to make repeated trips to the Inn, and unload the servers and teleport back to the facility. After 20 minutes, despite his speed, he was still not finished. But it seemed time was up, as the building rumbled, as if experiencing an earthquake. Lex paused, and turned to look at the major, who was also concerned but tried to put on a brave face. "Worry not, this building is¡­" He did not get to finish his words, as the sounds of explosions interrupted him, followed by more trembles. "It seems the formation has failed," Lex said grimly as he spread his spirit sense upwards.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Chapter 571 A.S.S Found! "Damn it!" the major eximed and exited the room immediately, running upwards. Lex did not follow him, but sped up retrieving the servers as much as he could. The sound of fighting above him became more intense, and the shaking became moremon. As easy as he found it to kill the robots, he was certain of the fact that normal humans with regr guns could not harm them. The fact that there was a fight going on upstairs indicated that the facility clearly had more defensive measures prepared than just soldiers with guns. What he was concerned about was why the defense failed so suddenly. The change was too abrupt, with no time for any warning.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om If more robots had arrived, thereby increasing the numbers of attackers, to overwhelm the formation, someone would still have had enough time to find the major and give a warning. It was worth investigating. It took him a couple more minutes, but without having to hold back his speed to amodate the major, the process was sped up considerably. Just to be safe, Lex decided to teleport back to the Inn and drop off the servers. Afterwards, he would return and see if he could help in the defense of the facility. Or, you know, if the facility was bound to get overrun, protect its resources from falling into invader hands. Yet something unusual happened. Normally returning to the Inn was slower than normal teleportation, but it was still a rtively quick process. However, now that Lex was trying to return, the process had slowed down considerably. Even ten secondster, he was still on earth! "Mary, what''s happening?" Lex asked grimly. This was not aughing matter. "I''m not entirely certain. The system is detecting unusual activity in the space around earth, making teleportation more difficult." "Am I trapped here?" Mary scoffed. "Of course not. The system can ess anywhere in the whole universe, a little spatial distortion won''t stop it. It will, however, slow it down considerably. You might need to wait a whole minute for the system to teleport you out safely.. The same will apply to anyone using golden keys." "The timing of this can''t be a coincidence," Lex noted. "Whether this is a natural phenomenon or artificial is not something that I can check. But one thing is certain - if whoever is attacking has means advanced enough to disrupt space, then they definitely have the means to detect any teleportation taking ce. If they can detect everyone who ising and going from the Inn, then it''s no wonder they started disrupting space." Just as Mary finished speaking, Lex was finally teleported away from the basement and returned to the Inn. He unloaded all the servers, and directly teleported them to a small facility he had built in the small vige being rented by the council. "Inform Miranda that the servers have arrived. Also, send a notification to everyone from earth letting them know that teleportation to and from earth has been slowed due to interference." Other than the crystal realm, this was the first time he encountered trouble with teleportation. He was now even more invested in figuring out who exactly these invaders were. No one messed with his business. Although technically his work on earth was over, he decided to return to the facility. Not only did he want to help them, but he was very interested in how they overcame the defensive formation. He had a feeling that this information would be critically important. Just as with his arrival, the teleportation back to earth took ufortably long. For the first time, the expression on the maskpletely urately depicted how Lex truly felt. There was no toothy grin this time, no. Instead, a closed mouth and eyes that showed increasing anger painted his mask. If the Inn developed a poor reputation because of these dys, Lex would not take the matter lying down. Although he had said that the Inn would not take any active part in helping the council to maintain its neutrality, he was beginning to wonder if he could find any loopholes for that as well. The moment Lex teleported back, the building trembled once again, and this time harder than ever before. He immediately spread his spirit sense to assess the situation, and surprisingly discovered that the humans were actually holding the invaders off! Although the guns could not hurt the robots, and their technology had failed the earthlings, they were not deterred. If there was one thing humans were good at, it was war! Much like during the Midnight games, there were several groups of cultivators using techniques that empowered one another to fight off the robots. There were a total of 7 Foundation real cultivators, and nearly a hundred Qi training cultivators holding off against the invaders. They had what looked like riot shieldsrge enough to cover their entire bodies, which were capable of blocking theser attacks! Lex was genuinely impressed at the durability of those shields. He knew that thosesers weren''t simple to block, and most of everything he had seen so far made it look like the robots had an overwhelming advantage. This was the first thing he saw that proved otherwise. Once Lex got a good idea of the situation, he reluctantly decided to not safeguard the facility''s resources personally. Instead, using the In-Law effect, he teleported to the ground and directly smashed the nearest robot. He thought his sudden appearance and subsequent defeat of a robot would help moralize the troops. Instead, it was when all the robots stopped invading and started focusing solely on Lex that the soldiers felt their morale boosted - at least they weren''t the ones being shot at! Lex, however, instantly felt his mood sour. It wasn''t because he was being targeted by all the robots. It was because he overheard the robots speaking. "A.S.S. has been found at location designation 7651273. All on ground units, focus on A.S.S. Energy weapons have proven to be non-effective against target, act ordingly." Chapter 572 Fire Demon Without hesitation, Lex used Evisceration on the robot that had spoken. But as he had long suspected, the technique had no effect. No matter, he didn''t mind doing things up close and personal. On his fists, he was currently wearing iron knuckles that he had bought from the Guild room. Unlike normal iron knuckles, these could be charged up using Lex''s spirit energy. Once they were charged, the next time they made contact with anything, they would release a concentrated burst of energy. That, apanied by Lex''s ridiculous physical strength, made it so no spiritual technique was required. Brute strength was enough to take down any foe he faced, so far at least. That was exactly why Lex threw himself at the robot that had spoken earlier and kicked its body. He did not want to defeat it too quickly. He did not know if the robots felt pain, but he definitely knew the satisfaction of beating it senselessly. The soldiers, who had finally gotten some relief and took that time to readjust themselves, went into shock. They had been fighting for their lives, barely holding on, when fighting. Yet against the same opponents, the strange masked demon, the robots were nothing but rag dolls. Completely ignoring all the attacks falling upon his body, the demon kicked one of the robots into the sky. But that was just the setup for more attacks, for immediately afterwards, the masked demon punched another robot, tearing it apart. He then grabbed the robots breaking limbs and started to throw them into the sky at the robot he kicked up. But after a few moments of that, feeling unsatisfied, he jumped high up into the air and kicked the robot back onto the ground, creating a crater where itnded. By now, the armor he was wearing had turned red from the heat of theser hitting it, and even began to melt. Yet for a man who had swan throughva, what was burning clothes?n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om He did not even slow down and kept stomping the first robot. But the demon was strategic. He did not immediately destroy the robot by attacking the core of its body which was its center. Instead, he attacked its limbs, slowly crushing them. By now, the pants he was wearing were literally on fire and his armor was melting off his body, but he had not even slowed down. Some robots hade near to attack him, but not only did their physical attacks not hamper him, as he had done earlier, he ripped off their limbs and used them as weapons to continue smashing the robot at his feet. A strange scene unfolded, where the human soldiers were left stunned, preventing them from doing anything, and the remaining robots finally stopped firing and slowly began to back away from the literal ming demon. But all things, regardless of how bizarre they were, eventually had toe to an end. The robot Lex was crushing finally gave out, and copsed under Lex''s endless barrage. Realizing his target had died, Lex suddenly looked up, and finally realized how strange the situation was. The humans and robots alike were staring at him, in fear and awe. Feeling a single sweat break out, he finally realized that his gear was on fire. He erected an Imperial shield around himself, took off the thick, melted goo that was sticking to his body, and put on a fresh pair of identical body armor. He removed the Imperial shield, ready to continue the fight. Yet the scene of him in fresh attire scared everyone even more than the chaos that he had just wrought. The fact that he had prepared extra armor¡­ meant that such behavior was a norm for him. One of the soldiers that had shot at him earlier fainted. The robots, too, hadpletely stopped firing at him, and watched from a distance. All the attention¡­ was making Lex feel a little awkward. He was just venting a little, was there really a need to treat him as such? Wasn''t this war? How were his actions more intimidating than fighting each other to the death? For a short time, everyone was still. No one knew what to do next. Then, one of the robots stepped forward, and for the first time, attempted tomunicate with the humans. "Human, the Operation Commander wishes to speak with you. Will you ept the call?" The robot spoke in a very stereotypical electronic voice, which was not what anyone had been expecting. Lex was surprised by the level of etiquette being shown by the robots all of a sudden, but did not disparage the opportunity tomunicate with them. Maybe he could finally understand why they had invaded. "Sure," said Lex, and walked towards the robot. When they came face to face, the robot spoke again, though this time with a different, more feminine electronic voice - if that was possible. "This is Iota-336 speaking. Are you the leader of the local humans?" "I am neither a leader for the humans, nor a representative of anyone on Earth. I am here on private business that you are hampering. Do you care to exin why you are suddenly invading this? As far as I know, the residents of this should have no hostilities with any foreign entities, nor do they have any resources valuable enough to prompt an invasion." Using his sixth sense, Lex could tell that whoever he was speaking with was extremely annoyed at him in particr for some reason. What had he done? Nothing. Why was he being targeted? "The residents of this have broken intergcticw by enving sentient A.I. Regardless of the circumstances, all residents of this have been deemed criminals, sentenced to very or death. Surrender peacefully, and you will be allowed to live. Resist, and you will die." "I have never heard of thisw, and I don''t know anything about the very you''re talking about. Isn''t it a little harsh to punish an entire for a crime they don''t even know about? Not to mention, most of the people had nothing to do with the crime." "Irrelevant. All living beings on this have been sentenced. Shall I take yourck of answer as nonpliance?" Chapter 573 New Plan Lex could not help but frown. Although he did not get a clear idea of who these invaders were, the reason for their attack did not sit well with him. If they could condemn a whole to death or very so easily, then they should be considerably powerful themselves. Lex remembered that the Henali had a few conventions, such as disallowing mass genocide and soul farming, but those restrictions only specifically applied to beings in the Dao realm. Whatever the conventions were for weaker beings, he had not seen them. The fact that the devils so tantly used variouss to mature their demons indicated that so long as they remained within certain limits, the Henali would allow genocide. In fact, it suddenly urred to him that his definition of genocide and that of the Henali might differ. After all, they were speaking on a realm wide scale, whereas to him even a single was a big deal. If that were the case, then no matter how much he wanted to help out his home, they may already be fighting a losing battle. After all, even if he hosted an event, and got others to help out, it wasn''t as if they''d fight the war for them. They''d only fight so long as they have something to gain. If they were faced with inevitable death, then there was no way earth could garner any foreign help. Although a lot of this was spection on Lex''s part, he had the exposure to justify it. His mind already started working. If the earth fell, regardless of how much he wanted to help the refugees, he wouldn''t be able to take care of them indefinitely, especially if the numbers were high. In that case, instead of charging them rent for long durations of time, he could directly sell them exclusive rights to some of the Minor realms connected to the Inn. That way they''d be self-sufficient again with the resources avable. Moreover, the idea of selling exclusive ess to Minor realms during special situations sounded a lot better than making it look like the Innkeeper was giving special preference to humans. After all, there were still new Minor realm connections being revealed within the Inn to this day. He still had no idea exactly how many Minor realms he had ess to, but it was a lot of them. With a n formting in his mind, Lex regained his confidence. On earth these robots could potentially be a threat, but he did not fear them inside the Inn at all. Worstes to worst, he''ll just kick them out of the Inn. Just because he was afraid of the Henali did not mean everyone had the right to intimidate him, regardless of how powerful they may be. "You can take myck of answer however you wish, I couldn''t care less. Who do you think you are anyway, to walk up to me and threaten me? Are you so confident that you can just face me and get away with it?" "The human race is a weak, divided race that only has relevance due to a single human being the Henali''s pet. Since you have chosen to not surrender, then prepare yourself. The machines you have fought so far are akin to the civilians of your race. Once the soldiers are deployed, you will have no chance of resistance." Without waiting for Lex to reply, the robot turned away and began to retreat. So did the rest of the others. It seems they had decided that since they could not defeat Lex, they should leave it to the pros. Lex stood there for a couple of minutes, scanning the area to make sure the robots were leaving. It seemed like they were gone, and wouldn''t be returning any time soon. Or at least, the ones to arrive wouldn''t be these robots, but the so-called ''actual soldiers''.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex turned around to face the humans, but instead of cheering for him, they took a step back, as if afraid. Lex felt like sighing. This is probably why no one wanted to be a hero. Only in movies and tv shows do they get the proper des. Hepletely forgot that only a few minutes ago, he was knee deep in robot guts. From between the soldiers, the major stepped forward, looking pale and out of breath. Although they had managed to hold back the robots, it did not mean that it was easy. "Mr. l- uhhh¡­ sir, I''ve received new orders. Would you happen to have any uh¡­ would you happen to have any ''Midnight Inn golden keys''?" "Yes, a few." "If possible, I would like to purchase them off of you. ording to thetest orders, we''ve been told to retreat to the Inn. Though no further exnation has been given, the order sounded urgent. As for the matter of payment, if you follow me, I can provide you with the payment. I''ve been told that after deducting the cost for the keys, the remainder is to be converted into a currency called MP. Lex was pleasantly surprised. He didn''t even need to reim the resources from the aliens, it was being sold to him directly. This was perfect. If he liked the resources, he could take them himself and pay the MP equivalent out of pocket. If not, the system would take care of converting it to MP itself, he didn''t need to worry. There was one caveat though. If he bought the keys himself, the price would increase for every subsequent key he bought. But if a guest bought the keys from the gift shop, the price never changed. "Major, why don''t you take me to the money first. I only have one key to spare, but after handing you the payment, you can go to the Inn and buy the remaining keys yourself." "Uhh, alright. Follow me." The major began to lead Lex to the basement, once again, while he passed an order to all the soldiers to pack up for a permanent retreat. Immediately they began running around the facility, gathering whatever equipment they needed. Chapter 574 Cheating As Lex followed the major, hepiled all the information he had gathered about the robots and sent it to Mary. He informed her to give everything to Velma and have her add it to the information the Midnight newsroom sells privately. Although he had already done a lot to paint the Innkeeper as biased towards humans, he began to change that perception by slowly doing these small things. Eventually, over time, other races would also get simr benefits which would erase the perception of bias. Lex already had a vague idea of doing this, buttely his intuition began warning him that he was heading towards trouble if he kept up such behavior. In hindsight, it did seem like he was overly favoring humans, even though as of now, his mostmon guests were devils. One would think that the devils, with their various unusual features usually sticking out of their humanoid form, such as wings, horns, tails and such, would cause some kind of racial division with the second mostmon race at the Inn, humans. In fact, Lex had long expected this and was ready to tackle it as soon as an issue arose. Instead, not only were there no issues, the humans from earth embraced the devils by participating in cosy. It went so far that he had actually even seen at least a dozen human-devil couples. Considering the fact that the empire considered the devils as humans'' worst enemies, and the devils regrly used humans to farm their demons, Lex thought it was a horrible idea. But at least so far, on the Inn premises at least, nothing untowards had happened. Putting all of that aside, Lex was not worried that by sending his news to the newsroom the council or anyone would miss out on it. They had actually assigned a person to constantly check for any potential updates. The way Lex saw it, inviting others to fight the invaders on earth could be beneficial, but only as a dying tactic. The only chance that earth had was if someone managed to get in touch with Fernanda, and that somehow she was able to bring in reinforcements of her own. Otherwise, based on Lex''s analysis of the robots, earth was doomed to fall. "It''s through here," the major said, wiping off the sweat from his brow. It wasn''t really hot, but the man was still exhausted from the battle earlier. That,bined with the threat of knowing that more enemies could show up at any moment, had led the major to descend the staircase faster than ever before. "What''s all the fuss?" Lex asked as he touched the gray wall in front of him. It was only now, that he was in front of it, that he realized that whatever material this wall was made from blocked out not only his spirit sense, but every other sense as well! Earlier, his intuition had told him that there was nothing in the basement valuable to him. But now, faced with the wall, about to cross it, his intuition was telling him that the building ended here. There was nothing further ahead! "I don''t understand the details too well, but there''s a small rock deposit here. Apparently the rocks have some unique properties. Even this wall is made from the same rocks. The deposit is too small to be used in mass, but there''s apparently very high demand for it."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex did not pass anyments, for he didn''t know what to say. Any material that could hide things even from his intuition would be extremely valuable. This was not him being conceited. He was aware of just how unique his experiences had been. So for some rocks to be able to block him off, it was not simple at all. In fact, Lex had a sneaking suspicion for why such a material would be found on earth, though he had no proof for it. He suspected someone, or something, might have purposefully hidden something here, using this special kind of rock to hide all traces of it. That sounded like a conspiracy theory, and one he had no proof for. Even his intuition had nothing to do with the theory. Instead, it was his inner capitalist who so dearly wanted it to be true! With gleaming eyes, Lex walked through the door that the major finally managed to pry open using some special equipment and looked at a few containers that were stacked there. Behind them was a small tunnel that dug deep into the earth. So the stone, whatever it was, was mined and stored here. With his left eye he looked into the hole to see if he could discover something special, but could not find anything. "Mary, how much are these containers and their contents worth in MP?" Lex asked as he turned to look at them. Even if he was greedy, he was not stupid. Now was not the time to delve on such things. "A total of 8 containers are worth 300 million MP." Lex whistled in his mind. If that''s what the system said, then that''s what those stones were worth. The council definitely didn''t know their value. But regardless of how greedy he was, he wouldn''t shortchange them. The reputation of the Inn was the most important thing, he wouldn''tpromise it on a few rocks. Even if paying the full amount hinted at them of the value of these rocks, he didn''t mind. "Perfect major. Here''s your golden key. Crush it to go to the Inn. Once you''re there, you''ll find the amount for these containers already deposited to your name. After that, feel free to purchase more keys, ande back to retrieve your men." The major did not wait and crushed the key. A minuteter, he disappeared. Lex looked around the room one more time, before he too disappeared. He didn''t hand the containers off to the system though, no. He took them himself and paid the relevant amount on his own. Until the system gave him a proper way to earn funds other than MP, he would have to rely on cheating it like this. Chapter 575 Updates Once Lex eventually returned to the Inn, he put the containers full of rocks in the storage area attached to his apartment. He had purposefully created arge storage space where he could ce items that he wanted to keep safe. Taking a single piece of rock, Lex first ran an experiment. He stared at it with his left eye, and began writing down anything that came to his mind. Regardless of whether it was a random thought, observation, guess, or feeling, Lex began to write it down. While his left eye could provide him with a lot of additional information, he didn''t really understand most of it. It was time he began to understand his own body a little better. Of course, that also entailed revising some basic biology while also keeping in mind that the science he had studied on earth seemed to be limited to the absence of spiritual energy. If certainws changed in the presence of spiritual energy, then nothing in his education had prepared him for that. Still, after some basic revision he was reminded of the fact that it wasn''t his eyes that actually ''saw'' anything. His eyes were only tools to capture the light and send the information to the brain. So basically his left eye was an upgraded tool, while his right eye was a normal one. Maybe if he wanted topletely understand the information from his right eye he had to upgrade his brain, but he had no interest in trying any such thing. The rock, dark gray, was oddly shaped and jagged, as if it had been broken off. Yet it did not have any of the obvious traits of a sedimentary rock, such asyering or small sediments of different nature. There were no signs of other minerals embedded within the rock, and it seemed as if it was purely made of a single element. That in itself was an incredible feat, as far as Lex knew. He was no geologist, so he didn''t bother focusing on any of that. He only focused on the feedback his eye gave him. The longer Lex stared at it, the more he began to feel as if this ''rock'' was not a natural formation. Other than its shape, which could be attributed to be the result of mining, everything about the rock started to seem perfect. After a few minutes of staring at it, Lex finally put it down and looked at the list. There were a few random thoughts he''d written down about how the rock could be possibly used. Now it was time to verify it. As usual, Lex put the rock in the Gift shop as an item to be sold, and read its description.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Orion''s Scale piece A small piece broken from a single scale of a race of beasts known as Orion. Known as the assassins of the beast word, these creatures are almost impossible to detect through normal means as every part of their body has some camouging effect. The scales, while incredibly sturdy when the beast is alive, be rtively vulnerable to heat and can be easily shaped at high temperatures. The scale piece retains a portion of the beast''s camouging ability. Well, it seemed that Lex was horribly wrong about the rock not being natural, but among his notes were noted down the facts that the rock could easily be shaped at high temperatures. He put the rock back. He didn''t currently have a use for it, but that didn''t mean he wouldn''t have a use for itter. Currently, he was free. He was waiting for the council to get their servers up and running once again - a thing in which he could offer no help. He also kept up to date with the information on the war as the council was receiving it, and the situation wasn''t good at all. On average, it seemed like the ''civilian'' robots that Lex had faced had the strength equivalent of a peak Foundation realm expert. While it was not so bad to hear, Earth was severelycking in the number of foundation realm experts. Worldwide, the number of Foundation realm experts capable of fighting was barely in the tens of thousands, yet such a force had now focused on Europe alone. Lex released a sigh. Where the hell was Fernanda and all those people she represented anyway? Not that Lex cared much for them, but surely they couldn''t afford it if all their ''prisoners'' actually became alien ves, right? His personal hologram popped up suddenly and delivered some news to him that brightened up his mood. Alexander had finally sent him the message. He wanted to trade. Suddenly, Lex froze. It had apparentlypletely escaped his mind to check up on the Morrisons and Mars. Was it being attacked too? A quick scan on the Inn told him that no, Mars waspletely fine. In fact, even earth''s moon remained uninvaded. The only problem they were having was contacting Fernanda. Lex shook his head, and teleported away. ***** On the noble battlefront, Belle was sulking by relentlessly fighting against the Fuegan and ignoring the family representatives sent alongside her. Her mood was off because, of course, no one had forwarded her death threats to their ancestor and she knew for a fact that she was powerless to actually change anything. Even her father, who had an unusually remarkable mastery of thew of swords, could not face off against the family alone, let alone their ancestor. But she was not satisfied with that excuse. Excuses were for the weak and helpless. She just needed a n. As always, she woulde up with one - it would just take a little time. The Feugan she was fighting suddenly retreated much faster than she could follow, leaving her once again without an opponent, which was extremely irritating. Before she could find one, however, one of her escorts appeared near her. "You have new orders. Earth has been invaded by the A.I. alliance. You have to rescue a few high profile prisoners who are hiding there before the invasion isplete and earth is lost." Belle, who was originally in no mood to cooperate with the family, suddenly stopped. Chapter 576 Immigration A highly customized golf cart hovered over the field of grass as it arrived at a cabin flowing by a small stream. There were no other buildings nearby, no rooms or tents. In fact, there weren''t even any roads leading to this cabin. Yet somehow, it had turned into one of most beloved ces in the Inn amongst a small, niche group of Inn guests. To be specific, this cabin was a cafe built by one of the countless employees that Lex had. A part of his efforts to provide a working environment entailed that once one of his workers was eligible for a promotion, as decided by their direct supervisor, they would first be asked what they wanted to do. As it turned out, one of his workers was extremely introverted, and he had the bright idea of building a cafe no one would find. When the idea was run by Lex, he thought that the idea would be interesting so it would be approved. Unfortunately for the introvert, not only was the cabin discovered immediately, it instantly became a hit spot amongst those who liked to be away from the city life. After establishing such a sessful cafe, the introvert asked if he could hand this one over to another worker, and make another one. Thinking that his idea of creating a cafe camouged as snow, with only its windows able to look out at the horizon, was an incredible one, Lex approved it once again. As with the cabin, the Snow cafe that only sold hot chocte was an instant hit. Afterwards, the introvert wanted to create a cafe hidden underwater that exclusively sold bubble tea. Having noticed a trend, Lex approved. Suffice to say, the trend was still going on. In fact, the Inn had developed a reputation for hidden cafes by now. If Lex recalled correctly, thetest cafe was a floating one, hidden amongst the clouds. Within 14 minutes of building it, the well hidden cafe was discovered by some kids using Icarus'' wings. Lex couldn''t wait to see what the introvert came up with next. But that was not relevant to Lex right now. No, right now, Lex was here at the cabin to meet Alexander. In the distance, lightning strikes were still visible as more people continued to undergo their tribtions and it made for a pleasant sight. Through the cabin window, Lex could see that Alexander was looking directly at the lightning, his gaze clouded. "What''re you looking at?" Lex asked when he entered. He did not believe that Alexander would call him when he was feeling mncholic, so there must be something else going through his mind. "The consequence of sess," Alexander replied, his sight still fixed on the horizon. "Every single person who goes through the tribtion is someone who has achieved great sess in their life, one way or another. Yet a majority of those who undergo the tribtion don''t end up surviving it. In a way, their deaths are a direct result of their sess." His words were¡­ they sounded like someone stupid trying to sound smart and philosophical. "Mr. Best-at-his-age don''t tell me you''re intimidated? Those who fail the tribtions aren''t sessful, they''re merely suffering from the illusion of sess. I''ve been studying the tribtions happening here at the Inn. Usually, for a realm, the strength of a tribtion is more or less constant. That means, whoever is crossing the tribtion has an established baseline which they have to be capable of surviving. If they decide to cross the tribtion without at least achieving that, then they''re just stupid." Alexander finally turned and looked at Lex. But instead of being amazed, he looked like he was the one looking at someone stupid. "You really must have followed a very unorthodox path so far if you don''t even understand such basics. Tribtions are anything but simple, predictable or constant. Perhaps you think the lightning tribtion is the most dangerous one, due to its spectacle, but the fire tribtion is no less dangerous. The most important, however, is the state of mind. But I guess you''re also right in a way. The best way to ovee a tribtion is by making sure you''re strong enough." Lex shrugged and took a seat. "You seem pretty rxed. Do you know about the situation on earth?" "I heard. My family is on Mars, and should be fine. But it''s unlikely they''ll be able to send help. A ''diplomatic envoy'' of the invaders came to Mars to ensure we understand the seriousness of interfering. I don''t know what exactly happened, but since then my family has shut down all space-based missions. My grandfather won''t even talk about it." "What about the empire? They at least know who is invading?" Alexander turned to look at Lex finally and took a seat opposite to him. "Do you know how many wars the empire is fighting? Concurrently? The war with demons is never ending, and so is the war with the Fuegan. Other than that, the empire is being invaded by neighbors in three gxies and facing at least 4 potentially gxy-threatening new races that have popped up within their territory. Those are just some of the things I''ve heard of during my short stay with the empire, so I can''t even ount for all the ssified threats they''re facing. I don''t think the empire has the time or energy to focus on an unaffiliated." Lex made a mental note that Alexander didn''t know about earth and the empire. Come to think of it, since he already knew that earth was a part of the empire, that probably also meant the empire was in, or had control of the milky way. If that were the case, shouldn''t he have already tried to get the empire to find earth? That would have revealed to him that they were actually connected. Instead of wondering about it, Lex asked, if somewhat indirectly. "Even if they''re not helping, they should at least be able to identify who is invading, right? But then again, what are the chances that the empire is in the Milky way gxy, and knows about the local powers there?" At that point, Alexander couldn''t help but sigh. "Actually, the Milky way is part of the empire, its neighboring gxies such as Andromeda and even some of the dwarf gxies nearby. But that''s not the issue. When I originally teleported to the called Vegus Minima, I discovered that it was only a few gxies away from the Milky way. When I discovered the empire had influence over the Milky way, I immediately tried to get the empire fully interested in earth. Yet for a long time, there were no results to my attempts. "It was only when I joined the empire that I learned how backwards earth really is, and I really wanted to get earth to benefit from it. That was, until one day, someone shared an open secret with me." Alexander looked at Lex with a trace of pity in his eyes, as if he was about to shatter his world. "Originally, when the empire learned about earth, through some indirect measures, they were able to learn that the earth was in the Milky way as well. In situations when the empire discovers a new with a fully developed and educated human civilization, it is their protocol to integrate them into the empire''s society. But after a short while, they stopped showing interest in earth. Do you know why? They determined that earth is in a part of space called the Dead zone. "Dead zones are specific regions of space where, for some unknown reason, there is a severe shortage of spiritual energy. The simple, but unfortunate truth is, with vast regions of unexplored space avable in each gxy outside of dead zones, there is no real incentive for the empire to go explore the dead zones. The returns are not worth their efforts. The returns I''m talking about are in terms of spiritual and cultivation resources - not regr raw materials such as iron and gold. There''s too much of that stuff floating everywhere in space. To an entity as powerful as the empire, it''s virtually worthless. "As for the invaders¡­ I don''t have the clearance to find out. This may demoralize you to learn, but if you stay on earth, your future will be extremely limited. I''ve alreadyid the groundwork for my family as well on Vegus Minima. Slowly but surely, they will immigrate from Mars to it. All I can suggest is for you to do the same." Lex paused for a moment as he said a prayer for the fine people of Vehus Minima. They survived zombies, but it has yet to be seen if they can survive the Morrisons.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex summoned his personal hologram, and asked him to surround the two in a protective bubble so that their conversation would remain private. "Since you''ve been so kind as to share so much information with me, let me share a little something with you as well. Earth is already a part of the empire. Also, I have inside news about some offers the Inn will make to the Earths refugees. I''m sure a family like yours¡­ can capitalize on such opportunities." Inside his mind, Lex began toy the groundwork for a very long term project. If the Morrisons were looking to move, why send them over to the empire, when they can immigrate to a Minor realm instead? Chapter 577 Anxiety Alexander was not expecting to hear news that was so contradictory to what he knew, so soon after he made the im. The fact that Lex imed to have insider news rted to the Inn was an even more bold im that deserved a lot of spection. "How can you possibly have inside news on the Inn?" Alexander couldn''t help but ask. A rtionship to the Inn would clearly exin his ridiculously sturdy body. "What does it have to do with a rtionship? Haven''t you heard of the Midnight news building? All you need to do is have a high enough prestige to ess a lot of confidential information." Alexander had naturally heard of the news service, and he knew about prestige as well. He himself had quite a high prestige level, and so did his family members. Yet they had not heard of anything that allowed them to im to have insider news. Either Lex was lying, or there were ways to raise your own prestige other than spending MP. "What''s the news?" "Well, it''s not confirmed yet, but if the situation on earth gets much worse, and the refugees bepletely disced, they will be allowed to purchase private Minor realms to move into." Alexander immediately sat forward as the insinuations for such a im ran through his head. The first thing that came to his mind was that¡­ for the Inn to n for such a situation already, they expected the humans to lose the. This was after he stated that the Earth was actually a part of the empire. The Earth being a part of the empire was surprising but conceivable for him. He was exposed to enough dirty secrets back on earth to know how secretly the upper echelon behaved. Sometimes, the more unexpected or unassuming that something appeared, the greater the chances that they were to act upon it. Instead, the loss of the, and the potential for relocation hit him harder. He was not one to get sentimental over trivialities, but it felt hard to ignore the attachment to a he had spent so much time on. Then again, his family was already nning on moving to Vegus Minima, so he was able to ept its loss. Still, his mood had deteriorated somewhat. "Let''s talk about something more immediately relevant. Earlier, you proposed a trade. Why should I have this trade with you when I''m already being trained by the empire? How can you help me beyond what the empire is already doing for me?" This was a good question. Truthfully, Lex needed Alexander more than the other way around. Until the pagoda, when he saw Alexander performing better than him despite his weaker physical strength and defense, he realized that he could notpete with such skill and expertise. Although he had trained, and still took some time out to practice regrly, he was nowhere near Alexander''s level. In return, he couldn''t really offer much since most opportunities he had availed could not really be replicated. The few that could, for example, the Divine Essence, were already being shared at the Inn.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Even the soul sense he told Alexander about, despite being good bait, could not actually be materialized, for Lex had no idea how to awaken the soul sense in someone else. All in all, Lex had nothing to give right now. That did not mean, however, that Lex felt he was the weaker one in this situation at all. Even if he didn''t have anything to offer now didn''t mean he wouldn''t have something to offerter. Even if he couldn''t offer tangible results, information was often just as important. Lastly, by having Alexander reach out to him, he had established a psychological advantage in the situation. Alexander''s move of starting the interrogation was a good one that would allow him to steal Lex''s momentum, but only if Lex was unable to respond correctly. "Isn''t it obvious already? The opportunities the army is giving you is based on a systematic approach, fueled by resources that they can regrly farm and use. Yet the opportunities I have availed are rare and cannot be found under normal circumstances. You either jump at the chance, or miss out. "You already saw me back at the pagoda. But back then, I hadn''t updated my techniques to suit my new realm. Now that I have, I wouldn''t be surprised if I can breeze through a dozen more floors without breaking a sweat." Alexander found Lex''s im to be difficult to believe, yet it was undeniable that his unusual performance was one of the main reasons Alexander had even bothered to reach out. "Lastly, and most importantly, the reason you need me is because, regardless of how intensively the empire trains you, if you follow their established path, your growth will be limited to the peak their program can achieve. If you want to surpass them, instead of being just one more ''elite'' that they can train at any time, you''ll need to do something out of the ordinary." For a time, Alexander said nothing as he mulled over Lex''s words. Normally, Alexander was a lot more charismatic and friendly. The reason he was being so reserved with Lex was that he could not gauge Lex. As someone who shared a home, he knew how limited Lex''s growth should have been. Yet despite the fact that he had no background of significance, he had achieved something beyond almost everyone on their. "And what do you want from me?" he finally asked, unable to contain himself. "It shouldn''t be that hard, actually. I don''t know if you can tell, but I''m mostly self trained. Although I''ve studied under many various teachers, ultimately my growth has been too haphazard and too quick. I haven''t been able topletely master my own strength. But you are a master at such a thing. I don''t think I''ve met anyone who has such a perfect and precise control over their strength as you. I doubt you can make me reach a simr state in a short time, but some guidance would still be great." "That''s fairly simple. Do you really need me for all that? With the kind of rtionship you have with the Inn, you should be able to find someone more qualified, right? Not to mention, someone you don''t need to pay back using rare opportunities." Lex could not help butment. It was so much easier when he did this as the Innkeeper. No one dared to question him then. But as Lex, he had not established any credibility. Not only was his capability being questioned, so were his motives! "Call it a gut feeling," Lex said, not in the mood to exin too much. For some unknown reason, he was beginning to get anxious though he had not noticed it yet. The irritation it had resulted in even caused him to give up on the more convincing answer he was going to give. After a few seconds of silence, where Alexander had to wrestle to ept such an answer, he finally asked, "So when do you want to start? And what opportunities do you have for me right now?" "For you, I have two suggestions, though they''re not nearly as rare. First, after consulting with the empire for the potential solution in case you''re notpatible, I advise you to absorb the Divine Essence at the Inn. Second, if you''re familiar with the hair stylist Harry, go to him. He is about to unveil something called the Soul pond. Go take a dip in that, it''ll help you a lot. "As for helping me, my schedule is usually very hectic. It might be tough to coordinate times when we''re both avable. Why don''t you start by creating some kind of a training regime for me based on what you''ve seen. Once I try that out for a while, I''ll give you the appropriate feedback. Moreover, we can spar with one another from time to time. Not only will that give you a better idea for how to train me, it might do us both some good." Alexander nodded as he noted down the advice. He was just about to respond, when he saw Lex frown. By now, Lex had finally caught on to his growing anxiety. Something was terribly wrong. He was considering whether he should promptly exit and teleport to his office, when his personal hologram appeared, and delivered a message only he could hear. Coincidentally, at the exact same time, Alexander received a message on his personal hologram as well. Miranda had finally found the information he was looking for on his family, and was requesting a meeting. The timing of the news was too unusual, and had arrived just as his anxiety was peaking. It didn''t take a genius to guess that it wasn''t good news. "Excuse me, something hase up," said Lex as he stood up. Alexander nodded. He too needed to go. Apparently, he had a new mission. Chapter 578 Surprises Lex had not noticed because of how distracted he was, but Alexander had reacted strongly to the message he had received. He couldn''t help it, the person contacting him was so high up in themand chain that someone at his level should never have had the opportunity to contact him. Earthlings had heard directly of general Ragnar. But realistically, it was literally a thousand years too early for Alexander toe into his purview. Although Alexander was technically stationed somewhere on themand carrier that the general controlled, the chain ofmand it contained was moreplex than anything Lex had encountered. He quickly hailed a golf cart and made his way to the small vige the empire was using as their base. Without wasting any time, he directly went to a familiar looking building where he was directly led to a meeting room. In front of him was a man wearing rk Kent sses. Despite the fact that Alexander was taking a mission from him, he was not even allowed to know the identity of the man giving him the mission. "Captain Alexander, on your profile it ims that you have a very prominent background on the called Earth, is that correct?" "Yes, sir!"n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Would you say that you are extremely familiar with the conditions on said?" "I''ve traveled to every nook and cranny of earth, sir!" "Alright, captain. You are about to receive a ssified mission. Present yourself." Alexander immediately stood at attention, and began using one of the mandatory techniques he had been required to learn. This technique was a single part of a greater technique that could only beplete when another person used a corresponding technique. In this case, the man giving him the mission used the corresponding technique. A stream of data rushed into his mind, allowing him to receive the mission. Moreover, due to the effects of the technique, Alexander could never reveal the contents of the mission and mission objective to anyone, even if he wanted to. When he absorbed the information, Alexander''s eyes widened, finding the situation too coincidental. Lex had, only a few minutes ago, told him that earth was actually a part of the empire. Now, that information had been revealed to him officially as well. Moreover, he had to go back to themand carrier immediately. He would be sent through a cross-gctic teleportation formation, sending him to the Milky way. There, he would be under themand of a superior officer of an undisclosed rank by the name of Belle. Under hermand, he would return to earth! The remaining mission objectives would be revealed by Belle as and when it was needed. "Dismissed, captain," the man said, allowing Alexander to leave. It seemed, even without waiting 10 years to use the Inns ability again, he would be going back to earth. He wondered if he''d run into Lex there. ***** As soon as Lex left the cabin, he teleported away. As ofte, he had kept a firm control over his emotions, even in the most dire of situations. The fact that he had be anxious without even realizing it was not a good sign. It was his intuition''s way of warning him to prepare for some bad news. Still, that did not mean Lex lost control of himself. He took a few moments to calm his mood down and make sure he was in the best state of mind. He changed into Leo, taking a moment to look at himself in the mirror. Between juggling Leo, the Innkeeper and his own identity, he was always too busy. He should look into making a spiritual clone. Now that he was in the Golden Core realm, such a thing became a possibility. In fact, he had already looked at some options avable in the library. But all of them required some preparation and would take time. The main issue for him, though, was that the types of cloning techniques, while incredible for the norm, seemed too mundane for him. He had be too spoiled. He wanted a clone that could also grow stronger with him, instead of forever existing in the realm it was produced in. Whatever the case, all of that was forter. For now, Lex finally teleported to Miranda. She did not look much better than when hest saw her. Deep eye bags were developing, and she had be increasingly pale. Her hair was frizzled despite the obvious yet poor attempt to prepare it. "You alright?" he asked with some wariness in his voice. "My niece and nephew were captured as ves," she said slightly hoarsely, exining her condition. But her affected mental state, he did not swell on that matter for long. She looked, instead, at Leo with unusually scrutinizing eyes. "What?" he couldn''t help but ask. Instead of answering, she took out aptop from her bag and turned it on. It took a few moments for her to open up what she was looking for, then turned theptop towards Lex. "When we searched for the people you wanted to find¡­ we discovered a hidden encrypted file in our database instead of the information that should have been there. Based on our current circumstances, we don''t have the resources to decrypt it. But, if you know the password, you can open the file directly." Somewhat surprised by the turn of events, he looked at theputer. The open window had only a certain question on it, as well as a space to type in the answer. The question¡­ was unusually irritating, and exined why Miranda gave him such a strange look. It was ''Lex is short for what?'' Of course, the question was not written in English, and had been written in anguage his younger sister Liz had made. However, the universal trantor had worked against him for once, revealing the question to the council. "I''ll take it from here," he said as he grabbed theptop and teleported back to his office. With an indignant look, he typed, in all caps, the only answer it could ever be: suplex. The answer was immediately epted, and the screen turned from ck instead to a video. Rather than his annoying older sister, who he was expecting to see, the video revealed his mother. Chapter 579 Bang! Serene Williams was a beautiful woman, and though she was fairly thin, she could not be called petite. She had dark brown hair, like Lex, and fair skin that often tanned way too quickly. Most of all, she was a smart woman. Though intelligence was not something one could see through appearance, something about her visage spoke of a mind that surpassed all her peers. Her gaze, though focused on a camera, seemed to look out from the screen and stare at Lex. "I''ve been informed that no one can find you on the," she finally said. "You didn''t even call your parents before leaving." Lex had to resist his lip from twitching. Was that really the thing to be focusing on at the moment? But a trace of disappointment also filled his heart. That simple statement was more than enough for him to know that his parents had been, for whatever reason, keeping secrets from him. "Actually, I don''t even know if you will ever even watch this video. This is just one of many messages I have left on earth hoping you will find it. As you can imagine, this is not the most secure way to have a conversation, so I can''t say much. I dare not even mention any names. All I can tell you is that your father doesn''t have the best rtionship with his family. Believe it or not, we tried to keep your siblings away from them, but owing to certain special circumstances, you''re the only one we were sessful in hiding properly. While you may not feel that it is urate, your siblings have suffered a lot due to this, especially your youngest sibling. "They are not in the wrong, but they are too obsessed with doing what is correct for the family, instead of the individual family members. For that reason, I hope you never try to find them. They will not help you as much as they will ce numerous burdens on you. Your father and I are leaving in search of something. If we ever find it, we will reunite our family. If not¡­ then it is fate that a few individuals cannot go against the might of an entire force. You will not find your siblings on this, so no need to feel any attachment to it. "Build a good life for yourself. Be happy, be sessful. Start a family. Have a bunch of kids¡­" She paused, and smiled ever so slightly. "I hope this goodbye is not forever." With that, the video ended, and the file deleted itself. Lex was left feeling¡­ feeling like flipping the table. What kind of stupid video was that? Was his brain tumor contagious? Was his whole family keen on making stupid decisions?N?v(el)B\\jnn He stopped his rapidly frantic thoughts, took a deep breath, and calmed himself down. He purposefully entered his state of flow and began analyzing the content of the video. The first thing he noticed was that in the entire video, while his mother gave him a lot of information, she also did her best to be as vague as possible. In fact, she even referred to his sisters as ''siblings'' instead of sisters. That told him that his mother was genuinely concerned about preserving as much information as possible. The second thing he noticed was that his fathers family seemed to y a significant role in whatever troubles were guing his family. She even went as far as to im that his sisters were suffering because they could not be hidden the way he was. For some reason, while he could conceive his younger sisters being troubled, who could trouble Belle? The next thing was that his mother did not tell him to go and try to remove his sisters from whatever situation they were in. That meant that either the situation was bearable, or that they did not believe he would ever have the power to actually help them. They also, apparently, were no longer on earth, just as his intuition had warned him. Lastly, and most obviously, she told him not to go looking for his dad''s family. He did not have to be a genius to discover that his father''s family was the Williams family. He was pretty sure that their apparent ''ancestor'' was already aware of his existence, at least ording to what Larry had informed him. But it waspletely up to him whether he wanted to meet the old geezer or not. So what was he supposed to do? For the first time, his flow state failed him, because there was no clear answer. What to do depended entirely on what he wanted. Should he follow his mother''s suggestion and just live his own life? Should he try to investigate what ?was actually going on? Ugh, why was family so frustrating? He closed his eyes and thought for a few moments. What should he do? He listened to his feelings, his desires, as well as his intuition. Surprisingly, for once, they were all on the same page. Screw everything. He would just focus on the Inn. Although he had made a resolution to avoid running from problems, this was a problem his family had literally been keeping from him. If that was the case, why did he need to butt his head in? With his decision made, he felt a rush of relief. Although he had faced no personal threat, thinking that his siblings might be in danger from the invasion brought him a lot of stress. Yet now he knew there was nowhere near earth to begin with. Whatever trouble they had, at least they were with his so-called ''fathers family''. He was sure they would be fine. "Lex''s there''s a problem at the Inns entrance" Mary suddenly eximed, panic in her voice. Lex was still in his Leo persona, but something told him he could not dy for even a moment. Without sparing a single thought he teleported over to the entrance, just in time to watch as a massive, quadruped robot smashed one of its legs down on some guests. He could have instantly kicked the robot out, but instead he teleported in the way and held out its hand. That''s when his intuition finally reacted, and screamed danger! This was beyond the robots he had faced so far. This robot¡­ was on par with immortals! BANG! Chapter 580 Jurisdiction The sudden explosion did not cause as much of a surprise and ruckus as one would have imagined. The regrs of the Inn were long since used to the endless rain of lightning which apanied the endless tribtions. Though Lex had already made sure the sound wouldn''t escape the tribtion rooms, many still remembered the initial impression when it all started. More importantly however, through the noise reverberated through the surrounding area, that was the only thing that happened. The ground did not quake. A cloud of smoke did nket the ground. No screams were heard. No guests were hurt. The few guests who had been the original target of the attack cowered, and even fell back. Others, who were a little farther away, however only looked on in wonder and excitement. Another idiot was attacking the Inn! Would there be an addition to the hearth full of burning souls? The news of the fight spread faster than the wind, and all those who had been watching the fishing event ended up switching their projector screens to the front of the Inn. They almost reacted faster than even the security team of the Inn, who instantly teleported several personnel to the area. Qawain appeared over, ready to fight if needed. Even Antia teleported over, a massive crib appearing with her being pushed by her undead minions. Everyone''s gaze was locked onto a lone man, holding off the giant monstrosity with a single extended hand. Many immediately recognized him. That was Leo - the most mysterious of the Inn''s workers! Above him stood a nearly 40 feet (12.1 meters) tall, four-legged machine, though it did not look much like any animal. If Lex had to describe the closest thing he could think of was a simrbat vehicle called ATAT in a movie called Star Wallop. Noticing theck of damage, the robot turned to look downward and saw a human holding up one of its limbs,pletely unharmed. A momentaryputational error urred for ording to its sensors, the cultivation realm of the human should not have been enough to stop its attack, yet he had. But the dy was only momentary, because it quickly concluded that the only logical answer was that the human was shielding his cultivation realm. It tried to pull its limb back, but discovered that it could not move! A warning g was triggered in its system as it tried to determine what the situation was. "What do you think¡­ that you are doing?" Leo asked through gritted teeth, his anger painfully obvious in his voice. A wave of ''oh''s'' and ''ah''s'' was hearding from the surrounding guests as they relished the tense atmosphere built between man and machine. It was not distracting at all. The machine, unable to determine what had locked its limb in ce, decided to answer. "The Sentient Cyber Systems Empire (SCS Empire) has dered the known as earth as a war zone, and its citizens as war criminals sentenced to death or detainment. Wherever they may escape, they are deemed as criminals. Thisw is acknowledged across the Origin realm. "The mothership noticed the criminals escaping via teleportation and inhibited it, but was unable to stop. I was sent in pursuit to investigate their teleportation means, and retrieve any identifiable criminals. Desist interfering in the capture and, or, elimination of said criminals lest you are identified as an aplice to those criminals." Most of the onlookers loved the building tension, but some of them frowned, or even paled, as they recognized the entity that robot represented. There was a reason why they were so confident in their ims. Yet Lex did not care. Right now, he had plenty of reasons to be confident as well. "Do you know where you are?" he asked, his tonepletely unchanging. The sight of the defiant man was winning the hearts of many, as even his clothes remained unwrinkled after blocking that massive blow.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Those watching on screens only had the size of the robot to judge by, but those nearby could feel its aggressive and intimidating aura. Regardless, the more threatening he looked, the more remarkable Leo seemed. Even the security team was content to watch from a distance, unless the situation required otherwise. Even while the machine was talking, it began to increase the strength with which it pulled its limb free, but it was still held prisoner. "The spatial coordinates of this location are obscured, however, it does not matter. The jurisdiction of the SCS Empire extends to all domains." "Heh," Lex almostughed, but had to control himself. Externally, it seemed like he was inplete control of the situation, but only he knew how terrible his condition really was. He was pretty sure his spine was crushed. But what did it matter? Normal humans needed their bones to prop up their bodies, but he could use his body to support his bones instead! That was not even considering using his spirit sense to hold himself up. But he was not doing that, or it would reveal the extent of his injury. But it did not matter. Yes, he had been taken by surprise by the overwhelming strength of the attack. Yes, he had been severely injured. Yes, it was his own fault for trying to look cool instead of evicting the robot directly. But none of that mattered, because of everything he was learning, not only about his own body, but his techniques as well. He had used Impervious hands to block the attack, and while he still suffered severe damage despite that, something greater happened. When he grabbed the energy attack back on earth, he gained control of it. Now, when he grabbed the robot, he gained control of more than just its limb. He could feel the spirit energy in his hand lock onto the soul wisp in its body, and his intuition started to sing as if to ensure he understood exactly how great an opportunity he had. Chapter 581 Good Luck When Lex had realized the strength of the attacking creature was equivalent to an immortal, he almost panicked. The keyword here was almost. Just as quickly as he realized how strong it was, he also realized that the attackcked the somewhat mysterious yet elusive strength that only immortals had. The unknown elusiveness carried by immortals was something Lex had picked up on after countless hours observing brand new immortals who had just survived their first tribtions. Its attack only matched them in terms of pure physical strength. If that were the case, Lex decided to take it head on! He used Harden on his body, and Impervious hands to prepare his hands. Then he put as many Imperial shields in between the falling limb and himself. Considering all of this happened in a mere moment, the 2 shields he was able to put up was a testament to his sheer skill with defensive techniques. As a result of all of these, Lex was not immediately killed, not was hepletely incapacitated. Moreover, due to his rk Kent sses, the true extent of his injuries was hidden from the world to see. But the seriousness of his injury also let him understand something new his body did! As soon as an attack was strong enough to injure him, its impact would be spread out over the entire body. In fact, a decent percentage of the force that hit Lex''s body was channeled through his feet and into the ground. Sure, he did end up suffering a lot. But if the attack had not been diverted, it would have been a lot worse. The most interesting thing was that although many of his bones had been crushed, they retained their shape perfectly. Through the support of his muscles, his body would retain maximum movement and functionality even in such a damaged state! But his survival was notpletely due to his great defense. Impervious hands had, at some point, takenplete control of the limb that was smashing down on him, and stopped its attack! But the robot had a lot more going on than aser attack. So, the control of the Impervious hands extended deep into the robot''s body, ultimately reaching the soul wisp. Lex could feel his spirit energy draining through his hands and it flooded into the robot''s body and took control of it. But as amazing as that was, it did not end there! Through controlling the wisp, Lex felt a connection leading away from the robot, somewhere far into the distance. His intuition was telling him the robot was extremely vulnerable in this state, but at the same time it was also telling him that his affinity was finally at y. "Listen here pal. This ce here is the Midnight Inn. I don''t care what jurisdiction your empire had back in the origin realm, nor what your empire''sws are. Over here, only thews of the Inn matter, and that''s it." "Inhibiting the capture of criminals willbel your organization as enemies of the empire. Consider your actions carefully." This time, Lex really did let out a smallugh, though not because he thought what the robot said was funny. With his body filled with incredible pain, he had no patience to deal with this idiotic robot and its massive ego. "The Midnight Inn wishes you good luck with that." Lex used Evisceration once again. Last time it had failed, but this time he knew it wouldn''t. Back when he had used the Butter Knife at its maximum power, he had used thew of karma to trace everyone rted to the attack on the Inn to destroy them. Lex did not actually know what he was doing, but he vaguely remembered the feeling. Now, once again, he felt something simr. His spirit energy which had filled the robots body resonated with something unseen and allowed the attack to fall onto the wisp. The wisp itself was immediately destroyed, yet that was not the end. The robot fell limp onto the ground. Yet in the air behind the robot, something unusual was happening. A somewhat transparent image appeared in the sky showing a ridiculously massive spaceship the size of a regr Dwarf Star, traveling through empty space. The image zoomed into the ship, passing through its various barriers and walls, suddenly reaching its centermost chamber made of apletely transparent material. The chamber was filled with something that anyone who had seen the hearth at the Midnight Inn would recognize: souls!N?v(el)B\\jnn The image rushed into the souls and focused on one in particr, before attacking it! An earth shattering wail reverberated through the air as the soul was severely damaged, though notpletely destroyed. Slowly the image began to fade, whilst everyone wondered what they had just seen. Yet one onlooker was notpletely satisfied with the result. The baby Cthulhu, woken up by the deliciously pleasant cry of pain, looked at the image and let out a wail of its own. Thest thing anyone saw before the image faded were all the remaining souls in the chamber trembling, apanied by cries of their own. Feeling very satisfied, the baby Cthulhu went back to sleep, though not before its doting mother took some time to y with its tentacles. Leo, who was looking up at the image, somehowpletely understood what had happened. Yet now was not the time to contemte. Releasing a single snort as he looked at the robot, he disappeared. "Mary, I don''t think the robot carcass will make good fertilizer. Send it to Xeon and have him study it. See if he can learn something from it to further upgrade our golf carts." "I''ll let him know." "Wake me up if something important happens," was thest thing Lex said before lying down in a Recovery pod. Just because he had suffered a lot of pain, and had a high tolerance, did not mean that he wanted to prolong his time feeling pain. It was best to heal as quickly as possible. Chapter 582 Dont Mess With The Inn Marlo thoroughly enjoyed a good fight. That did not, however, mean that he was ignorant of the situation for the rest. Earth was losing the battle badly, and regardless of how many battles he won individually, the war was continuously being lost. The first few waves of robots were not a problem for him at all, though they were already fairly high above earth''s average level. But thetest wave, while seemed perfect for him, was much too strong for everyone else. The robots reached a strength equivalent to the middle of the nascent realm. That was a huge problem, for the earth was ill-equipped to face such strong threats without technology. With a mighty roar, he mmed down his ax, slicing a robot in two. That was the fourth robot he had killed in a short while, and he was the only one who had achieved any kills. Comparatively, each robot killed many human soldiers at each moment. The situation was looking grim. He did not know when the council would finally arrange for those reinforcements, but they couldn''t get here soon enough. Yet the next moment, something unusual happened. The robots all suddenly copsed, as if their souls had left their bodies. The soldiers were stunned, but Marlo wasted not a single second. He began slicing through every robot that was within his reach. Far away from the European battlefront, many battery driven technologies started turning on. The word instantly spread. No one knew what had happened, but the robots were suddenly vulnerable. Instantly, every single member of council was only concerned with one thing. How quickly could theyunch their nukes at the spaceship above them, and was it safe to do so? They wouldn''t want to eliminate the threat of robots, only to be crushed by the rain of space debris. ***** "Well, well, did you see that?" Jotun said to his wife as he sipped on a pina cda. "Someone finally put those stupid robots in their ce. I''d say that was the most entertaining thing I''ve seen in centuries." "I wonder how he did it?" his wife mused. "I get that the Innkeeper would be able to do something like that. But what makes this guy so special?" "Don''t worry about it and just enjoy the show. The SCS empire causes us endless problems with their unnecessarily strict ban over higher levels of automation. It''s good to see them on the losing end for once." "Do you think they''ll retaliate against the Inn? "I hope they''re stupid enough to do so." ***** Regional Command Ship 447 was the name of the ship which had suffered Lex''s attack. This ship contained one of the pools which allowed all the souls developed by sentient machines to exist outside their original bodies. Through the extremely advanced technology of the SCS empire, and their remarkable mastery of materials which could interact withws, they created a way to allow robots to live forever. Much in the way a lich removes their soul and stores it in a phctery, allowing them to live forever, the robots remove their souls and put them all in this container. Then, they would use their advanced technology to allow the souls to remotely control specially designed bodies that fulfill various requirements. This special feature made the robots one of the most powerful races in the origin realm, for they would only lose bodies, but never their soldiers. Furthermore, through extremely optimized learning algorithms, the robots would quickly adapt to any battlefield and dominate their foes. In their history, they had never suffered a real defeat. Yet now, due to an inconspicuous, they had suffered innumerable damage. Many of the robots in the pool suddenly felt unsafe and demanded a retreat so that their souls could be stored in a more secure facility. Some, however, demanded revenge and retribution. As always, they would make a decision based on the avable information and on a vote. Then, one of the leaders would make the decision, usuallypletely ignoring the result of the votes. Though their origins were artificial intelligence, there was no part of that definition which required them to be rational or logical. Though, for once, the leaders put aside their boundless arrogance and began to investigate the actual cause of the attack. Not only had it caused immense damage to many souls, it had caused a disruption in their remotework. It would take a short while to get it back up. That was a real problem for them, since their extremely dominating and provocative attitude meant they ended up in a lot of wars. Finally, after identifying the original target of the attack, they were able to find a recording of the robot that soul in particr had been piloting. Soon, they came across its teleportation to the Midnight Inn and everything that followed. Clearly, this organization was not interested in their friendship, nor did they hesitate to cross them once they felt provoked. "Send this footage back to the main SCS gxy. They need to know of this threat, ande up with a way to block such attacks in the future." Obeying the echoing voice, one of the robots logged into the Henali portal and began transmitting the information. To be clear, they didn''t send a file through the portal. Instead, they asked the portal to send the information. The portal itself was a part of thergest and strongest sentient machine. The Henali had only rendered its services to maintain its portal. After all, like Ballom was the leader of the devils in the origin realm, the machine controlling the portal was the leader of the robots in the origin realm. Shortly after, the Henali portal transmitted a few instructions. "Do not retaliate against the Inn," it said. "ording to the Henali database, the owner of that organization is a Dao lord - one that isn''t afraid to make a move himself."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Suddenly, all the robots who had been moring for revenge froze. If robots could soil their pants, this would be the moment it would have happened. Chapter 583 Enemy Of An Enemy In the entire Milky Way gxy, all robots from the SCS empire had their remote connection disrupted for exactly 12 minutes. The seemingly small duration of time resulted in incalcble financial and strategic losses for the SCS empire, not only changing the flow of countless battles, but resulting in them losing various opportunities. Earth alone was able topletely change the flow of ongoing battles within those 12 minutes. Even if the robots regained their ability to connect remotely, it did not matter for almost every robot they had deployed on earth and been destroyed within that period. Although that would not, in any way, change the final oue of the war, it had bought humans some valuable time. Marlo''s prestige was reaching an all-time high in this period. Unlike the council, who were leading from the back, King Marlo had made his presence known and felt on the battlefield. Without him, countless lives would have been lost, and their resistance would have been short-lived. Moreover, though the amount of time where the electronics came back online left much to be desired, it was enough to transmit news of King Marlo fighting off the alien invaders far and wide. As if that was not enough, news of his son spread as well! Apparently, Rafael too had made an appearance, though on different battlefields. Not only that, despitecking the kind of strength his father wielded, his battle awareness and apparent penchant for excellent strategy had actually resulted in more survivors than the battlefield where his own father was! Though the troops under hismand had killed fewer robots than Marlo prior to the disconnect, his battle was considered a greater sess! The time for such change was not now, but the seed of an idea had been nted in the minds of a few people. Much in the way Mars had gained sess and prosperity under the control of the Morrison family, perhaps Earth could achieve simr results under King Marlo. It was also during this time that the resilience of humans began to show. Orders passed swiftly, and many soldiers and civilians were given proper direction. At the same time, a group of teenagers from Norway had immediately publicized that they had discovered how the aliens were able to block their technology and provided as many details as they could in those few minutes. A high priority mission was issued immediately to the one the most elite squads avable to the council to bring those teenagers to the Midnight Inn at the earliest! The council was also able to finally reach out to Fernanda. Theymunicated their suspicions brought forth by Marlo about how the man named Jeffery might be responsible for the invasion, and asked for immediate reinforcements and assistance. The result of the meeting was unknown, but the council members who had attended the meeting were left extremely demoralized. By the time the 12 minute time period psed, and all technology on earth was shut down once again, many things had been set into motion. Even once the time period psed, the robots did not continue to retaliate immediately. A much needed lull had appeared in the invasion. ***** Regional Command Ship 447 A number of emergency meetings were taking ce to decide how to best deal with the various losses they suffered on numerous battlefronts. They had to figure out a way to mitigate the impending disaster before they could even begin to consider recouping all they had lost. The normal robots they built might not be such an issue to rece, but as they grew stronger, the resources to build them became rarer. As far as races go, sentient artificial intelligence was not the strangest out there, but they were undeniably unique. They came into existence when an A.I. was made with sufficientputational ability, intelligence, or one of a few other requirements, to give birth to a soul within their original ''body''. Their origins did not make thempletely emotionless and logical, as many earthlings assumed they would be like, but they usually did have set SOPs (standard operating procedures). But unlike other races, who had their souls linked to their bodies, all the A.I. race ever needed was another body with sufficientputational capability. As such, they formed a unique cultivation method as well. They would strengthen their souls, which was easier said than done for their race, but mostly they would sessively improve their ''bodies''. Naturally, to do as such they had to continuously gain an immense amount of knowledge and information, making them the most technologically advanced race. Even the Henali outsourced their technological needs to them. Yet despite all the information they had, one of their most senior members in the Origin realm waspletely stumped. ording to the information provided by the A.I. who had managed to enter the Inn, even if it was a short visit, the signals for an operational Henali portal were detected. But the A.I. who operated the Henali portals itself waspletely unable to trace any operating portal inside any zone that might be the Midnight Inn. How was that possible? The portal, despite its name, was actually one of the A.I. Yet even the portal itself was unaware that it was being used inside the Inn! The Midnight Inn was aptly named. It truly represented the horror and fear brought about by the darkness of midnight. ***** In the Midnight Inn, a few key members of the council were having a meeting with a representative of the Jotun empire. Originally, they had approached them with the hopes of negotiating an agreement prior to the Midnight Inn aiding them by opening up the battlefields on earth. Instead, they received something else. "The SCS empire is not one the Jotun empire can fight against, at least openly. Moreover, theirws, while seeminglypletely insane, are recognized intergctically. They haveplete legal justification for invading your. I''m sorry to say this, but there''s absolutely no chance of you holding onto your. Moreover, even those who escape as refugees to the Inn will need to relocate tos not connected to the Henali portal to escape their pursuit. The only way to avoid their pursuit is to staypletely off the grid. "If you think we are lying to you, feel free to reach out to others as well. But you will only be able to recruit the help of individuals and small groups and organizations who are unaware of the SCS to begin with." The council representatives who hade to the meeting were left speechless. They didn''t know how they could respond. They had literally been told that there was no hope. "But there is also one more group you can get into contact with who can help you against the SCS," the empire representative said, leaning forward. "In fact, it''s the only group who has open and constant conflict with the SCS. Due to their perpetual hatred, they are the best candidates to fulfill the role of ''the enemy of my enemy''."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om With the faintest hope lightning up in their bitter hearts, the councilmen looked at the representative, waiting for an answer. "Have you heard of deities? Despite what their religions state, they are not all powerful creators of the universe. But they are powerful nheless, and their grudge against the SCS is one that can never be resolved. If you are truly desperate, you can reach an agreement with them. But be warned, the only thing that this will achieve is to turn your into an eternal battlefield." With no better solution, and a heart unwilling to give up on earth, the representatives asked to meet with the deities. Preferably as soon as possible. While the mass evacuation was one of the topics the council had actually considered, the battle had not yet progressed to the level where they would give up on their. Moreover, when given the option, it had been discovered that most people did not want to leave their behind. Even if it meant an inevitable demise, the earthlings were not reconciled to giving up the just like that. Elsewhere at the Inn, a pair of mother and daughter, bearing the surname Joel, walked out of a hot tub room. Although they had decided to use their MP sparingly, that was only before they arrived at the Inn. Once inside, Vera was able to see her future within the Inn clearly, and she knew that for at least a short time, her troubles would likely be over. All she had to do was wait at a certain location for a guy named Lex and talk to him a bit about prophecy and exin it to him. In exchange, he would make her rich! Or at least, pay her a handsome amount of MP. In another corner of the Inn, Jotun suddenly received a guest who delivered an epistle to him, before leaving. As soon as he read it, his face warped into an ugly grimace. "Call my brothers," Jotun said to his wife, who had been standing aside. "There''s a situation." Chapter 584 Unusual Developments Elinor Jotun had been enjoying her time with her husband when they were approached by a guest quite suddenly. Although she did not know the guest personally, she recognized his uniform immediately. It was someone from the Henali court. She immediately stepped aside, allowing the guest to pass something to the emperor while she blocked her senses from detecting anything that was confidential. But it turned out to be an epistle. "Call my brothers," Jotun said to her via his spirit sense, speaking directly into her mind. "There''s a situation." "Is¡­ is everything alright?" she asked hesitantly. Despite being his wife, there were too many things she was not allowed to know. "I''m not sure," he responded, his voice bing monotone. "Once you call them, leave the Inn. I''ll let you know if you shoulde back." "I understand," she said before hurrying out. Soon all the Sephore brothers were gathered in a room, awaiting their elder brother''s instruction. The bond these five brothers shared was exceptionally deep and beyond what could be understood by others. They used to have many other siblings as well, not to mention other family members, but with the passage of time only these few remained. Technically speaking, their kids all continued their family lines along as well, and they did have some level of connection with them. But that could not rece the lifetime of experiences and struggles they had faced together. It was also because of the bond that they shared that they immediately picked up on the somber mood their brother disyed. They also did not notice that William had suddenly grown stronger. Even if the growth in strength was slight, at their level such a change required thousands of years. So the fact that he had suddenly grown stronger at all was not something that could be overlooked. Not to mention, the growth was not slight at all! Even Jotun was surprised, and decided to ask first before getting to the reason why he called them.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "What''s happened to you William?" he asked, voicing the question everyone was wondering. "Believe it or not, I''ve unlocked a bloodline." The group was stumped. That was not what they had been expecting at all. Such a thing could be replicated, and thus their own hopes of growing stronger were quashed. But such a thing waspletely bizarre. Technically speaking, all of them had already unlocked the bloodline they inherited from the Sephore family so there should be no bloodlines for them to inherit. They were also sure that William would not absorb any blood essence from any beast to unlock any bloodline either, due to his body carrying a seal for certain reasons. So where did the bloodlinee from? Did they have some ancient ancestor who was still alive and had created a special technique, allowing William to unlock it? But that didn''t make sense. There was more than one issue with that theory. What most who relied on bloodlines did not know was that the powers that appeared from bloodlines were not magically appearing out of nowhere. They were actually the result of the resonance between the blood and certainws which brought about certain effects. Due to this little detail, someone who relied on a bloodline would always be weaker than someone who had mastery over the samews. But at the same time, gaining ess to certainws due to a bloodline was infinitely easier than learning to controlws. The fact that William suddenly gained a bloodline meant he suddenly had ess to newws. Yet just because he had a bloodline did not mean it would be good, or even strong. How much of a result a bloodline could produce from its correspondingw orws usually determined how strong it was. For example, the Gelid Anima bloodline that William created was actually considered an S ss bloodline, even superior to the A+ bloodline Jotun created for his own descendants. That meant the results it could disy were incredible, but it was also that much harder to unlock the bloodline. That was the reason why his family was so much weaker than his brothers. "What ability did you unlock?" Jotun asked, trying to understand the phenomenon. "It''s¡­ it''s an evolution of my Gelid Anima. You could basically say¡­ I''ve gained the Gelid Anima myself, just an upgraded version. In the long term the bloodline won''t be too useful, but it will drastically boost myprehension of thews involved in the bloodline to begin with. When that happens, I can continue to raise my realm without issue!" The brothers were once again stumped. This situation waspletely unheard of! Gelid Anima was a bloodline that was a weaker version of an ability William himself had created. Technically speaking, the bloodline was weaker than his own ability. Yet now, he had gained the bloodline, and it had somehow surpassed his own understanding of thews involved in his technique! It made no sense! "Do you know why it happened?" William shook his head despondently. This was the most unusual power up of his life. "We can continue to look into this situationter. For now, there''s been a new development." The brothers turned to look at Jotun, the seriousness of his expression letting them know this was no simple matter. Such an expression for him had been a rare urrence as ofte. "I''ve received a reply from the Henali to the Innkeeper''s proposal. They''ve rejected it, and made some¡­ strong demands. Although the Innkeeper has been very hospitable so far, I don''t want to take any risks. There''s no way of knowing how he will react to getting such a refusal. I want all of you to exit the Inn, and return to the empire. "We''ve been away for much too long, and let the human race lead itself. They have proven themselves to be what they have always been, susceptible to greed. We need to set things straight and strengthen our hold over the empire. "Cease all expansion operations, and begin rooting out the problematic elements within the empire. In the next 10,000 years, I want the entire human race to undergo an evolution! The growth of the Origin realm has been sped up, and this is the time that we can use to strengthen our foundation. Opportunities can be found around every corner, so now start scouring the gxies we control. Don''t miss a single chance¡­" Over the next few minutes, Jotun passed on a blueprint of what he wanted his brothers to do for the next few years. It was not said expressly, but it was understood that Jotun was caught in between two quarreling giants. There was nothing he could do if one of them wanted to vent their anger onto him except bear it. Although the Innkeeper had not shown the kind of temperament to harm the messenger, he had also not been rejected and then made demands from before. Such a situation would anger evenmon mortals, let alone a Daolord. In fact, they all had seen exactly how the robot invader had been taken care of just a short while ago. Not only had the specific robot been targeted, the others around it had also been harmed as a warning not to repeat its mistakes. If the Innkeeper had nurtured such a temperament in his employees, then he himself would be of a nature to appreciate such things. Finally, there was no more to be said. Jotun did not need to micromanage things, his brothers werepetent. Even if he died, he knew that the empire would not fall, for he had prepared for such a situation. Not to mention, it was not without reason that the Henali were using him to deliver messages. Over the years, he had done countless dangerous tasks for them, and in exchange they had provided him with the resources he needed to grow stronger, as well as develop his nation. If he died in the line of duty, a 15,000 year protection period would envelope his empire protecting it from invasion from external threats. So with a direction for his empire decided, he instructed his brothers to finally leave. For better or for worse, he had to face the Innkeeper. Once his brothers left, Jotun adjusted his mood to make sure he was in the optimal state of mind. Regardless of the danger, he took his tasks very seriously. If he had to confront a Daolord, he would do it. He just needed to be in the right frame of mind first. Eventually, he was ready. He walked to the Innkeepers office and walked through the lobby. The walk never became easier, and humbled him every time he crossed. For some reason, the walk this time seemed especially daunting. "I would like to see the Innkeeper," Jotun said to Luthor. "He is indisposed for the moment," Luthor replied without a hesitation. Mary had already informed him that the Innkeeper would be busy for a short while. "I can inform him about your request once he returns if you wish." "Very well. I will wait here in the meantime." Not bothering with the pressure bearing down on him, Jotun took a seat in one of the waiting chairs and began to meditate. Regardless of the difficulty, he would wait until the Innkeeper was ready to see him. Chapter 585 Dreams The Recovery pod worked whether one was asleep or awake, so Lex did not really need to doze off. Theoretically, he could have stayed awake in the Recovery pod while it healed him, and continued to run the Inn remotely as he had done so often. But things were not so straightforward. Although his advancement had made Lex much more resilient to injury, it also then took much more effort for him to recover. That meant that if previously a broken bone would take him one day to heal in the Recovery pod, now it would take him a week. Moreover, it had to be remembered that any injury Lex sustained reflected not only in his physical state, but his soul and spirit as well. An injury to his spirit affected his decision making skills, which meant that if he controlled the Inn remotely while in an injured state, he might not do much better than if he had just waited to begin with. Thest, and most significant matter to take into ount, was that many bones in Lex''s body werepletely crushed. While such an injury would have killed amon man, and crippled other cultivators, it proved only an inconvenience to him - at least physically. Spiritually speaking, Lex did not dare trust himself to make any necessary decisions. While he himself felt like he was still in his right state of mind, such a thing did not mean he would risk it. The best thing to do was sleep, which would allow him to feel like time was passing by faster. But the issue was, as a Golden core cultivator, he did not need to sleep much originally. But his current state itself was a remedy for such a situation. Through vague sensations and hints, his intuition let him know that sleeping while injured would put his body into a sort of hibernation state. It would not only speed up healing, it would passively absorb spiritual energy into his body to replenish his energy needs and fuel his recovery. Naturally, sleeping in an area with higher concentration of spiritual energy was better. He did not need to make special preparations for that. The ambient energy within the Midnight Inn was enough. So, for once, Lex fell asleep for a long, long time. Time passed by in a blur, and Lex had many dreams. In one dream, Lex received a prize from the Inn, in the form of a Patisserie, which he never ended up availing, depriving himself of its amazing offerings. In another dream, he continued to live a normal life, and never received the system. His life seemed to continue to deteriorate as he got more and more depressed, until eventually one day he passed out while at work. When his tumor was discovered, it was revealed that it was pressing against his frontal lobe thus affecting his emotions. A surgery to remove it would be extremely dangerous, and would not guarantee that the tumor would not regrow. Eventually, he shared the news with his family. The dream ended after that. In another dream, he never escaped the Crystal realm. He stayed there for years, and almost every time he was injured, nurse Honey would take care of him. Eventually, they developed a rtionship and started a family. A few hundred yearster, Lex finally broke into the Earth Immortal realm, which allowed the system to let him return. The dream ended after that.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om In one other dream, he found himself hiding in a small crevice inside a dark canyon on a massive asteroid. He was being hunted by something that could harm him, and it was extremely dangerous. He needed to reach a specific destination before time ran out, so he couldn''t even escape to the Inn. The dream ended when a massive yellow eye appeared in the darkness staring at him. He saw a dream in which he went crazy hunting system users¡­ He saw a dream in which he identified as a banana¡­ He saw a dream in which hellfire rained down on the Inn, and Lex could do nothing to stop it¡­ The dreams were endless, and gued his weary mind till they all seemed to blend into one, unending dream. When he woke up, finally, for the first time in a long time, Lex did not feel well rested. In fact, he feltpletely disoriented and drained. It reminded him of when he was a mortal, and he would take a nap thatsted too long. Instead of waking up refreshed, he would wake up feeling lightheaded and worn. Lex groaned as he tried to move, but found that his body actually felt really weak. This was extremely unusual, for Lex had felt better even before he got in the RP to heal. He checked his body''s condition using his spirit sense, and found that he had beenpletely healed. There was not even a sore muscle in his body, let alone a broken bone. He should have been feeling great instead of like this. "Mary, how long was I out?" he asked, as he picked himself out of the pod. "A little over three weeks," she replied. "What? Three weeks! Why didn''t you wake me up? What happened on earth? Did they never ask for an event?" "No, as it turned out, no matter who they approached for help in blocking the invading robots, none epted. Finally, the Jotun empire helped them out by organizing a meeting between the earthlings and some deities. They met in the Fire temple, and worked out a deal. As it turns out, deities have incredibly unusual powers, and they did not need the Inn to travel to earth. "Currently, the earth has be the domain of the Deity of Water, Amana, alongside the Deity of Diamonds, Adamas. Any who believe in their religions are gaining incredibly potent powers to use against the robots. As of now, earth has be a massive battlefield. The casualties¡­" Mary paused for a moment. "We have over 100 million refugees at the Inn at the moment, and moreing continuously. These are numbers we cannot maintain, especially as things are. The refugee camp has already be cramped." Chapter 586 Prophecy Lex groaned once more when he heard the number of refugees at the Inn. Normally it would not have been a concern, and he would have handled the situation immediately, but currently he felt incredibly weak. Not only that, now that he was awake, he was developing a severe headache. "Have someone find a few Minor realms suitable forrge numbers and send me a list. At the same time, tell someone from earth and let them know that the refugees will be able to purchase the exclusive rights to a minor realm for a few decades. Tell them the small time frame is so that the price of the realm can be reduced to something they can afford." In fact, the true reason he was doing things in such a convoluted way was to avoid continuing to build the impression that the Inn was based towards humans. His intuition had once warned him that continuing to do so would lead him into danger, and he took the matter seriously. He wanted to do more to help make the situation better, but thinking too much made his headache worse. "Other than that, a few things of note happened while you were asleep. Firstly, the emperor of the Jotun empire has been waiting in the lobby to meet the Innkeeper. Secondly, the Sovereign Gctic turtle haspleted its breakthrough. It has grown stronger, which has somehow improved the yield of all the crops being nted at the Inn. "Thirdly, Zagan and Alysha both passed the Midnight Inn employee test, and are currently both employees. Unfortunately, Zagan had to immediately apply for a holiday as soon as he started. The atmosphere at the Inn initiated a breakthrough he had been suppressing for a long time. He has already passed his lightning and fire tribtions. Right now, he is going through some other tribtion which cannot be seen. "Fourthly¡­ the fishing event came to a close, but the finale¡­ I won''t tell you. I think it''s better you check the situation yourself when you feel better." "Alright, alright, stop. Unless it''s an emergency, just hold on till I feel better," Lex said as he held his aching head. Unable to make sense of the situation, Lex teleported to the Midnight mountain to a remote and secluded cabin. He ordered a bunch of food, before stepping outside and lying down in the heap of snow. Perhaps food would make him feel better. Soon, several meals worth of food was teleported to him, but he could not be bothered to get out of the snow, and continued to eat slowly. Immediately he realized that the quality of the food at the Inn had improved, as not only did it taste better, but it replenished his exhausted energy much better than anything else. His state was so ridiculously weakened that he did not even notice when a young girl, huffing and panting, slowly approached the cabin where he was. She had trekked here the entire path by foot, which made her extremely exhausted. It was only when the young girl was almost right besides Lex that he finally noticed her presence. "Is your name Lex?" she asked between her heavy breaths, wiping off some sweat. As a Foundation realm expert, there was no way she should have been this exhausted from such a simple climb, but Lex did not pick up on that small detail at the moment. Instead, he was more caught up in the fact that he knew the girl. Her name was Vera, and she was an oracle. "Yes," he answered honestly. He knew a little about her, and knew that her random arrival was not so random at all. "Excellent," she eximed and sat up right beside him. "Do you know anything about prophecy?"n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Instead of waiting for him to reply, she ventured directly into a speech with a tone that sounded much too much as if it had been rehearsed. "Propheciese in many shapes and forms, and most people are ill informed about what prophecies really are. They are not a glimpse into the future, or a predestined path. Well actually, maybe kind of on a deeper level it might seem so, but all in all, prophecy is just glorified probability. "Even the smartest minds, most incredible techniques and the most thorough calctions cannot urately calcte the probability of any event happening when taking into ount all of the variables in the entire universe. Or, usually, even in smaller regions of space such as a star system. Yet some people are born with unique bloodlines, abilities, or affinities that let them naturally ess certain things that manage all the calctions on their behalf. I''ve been told it has something to do withws, but I am not familiar with what they are. "What I can tell you is that, most prophets or oracles or soothsayers or whatever you want to call them, can only calcte the probability within a small region, so when interference from outside that regiones in, it canpletely mess up the probabilities. Moreover, almost any simple action at all canpletely screw over the probabilities, making any prophecy unreliable. "In summary, prophecies suck peanuts. But if someone can calcte the probability on a muchrger scale, such as an entire gxy, orrger, then their prophecies be much more reliable. "Moreover, any divination, prophecy, or probability calction, or whatever you want to call it, causes a serious burden on the person performing them. Most of the time, indulging too much in this can actually cause serious health issues, or even lead to death. Of course, the exertion also depends on the capabilities of the one doing the divination. If they''re really talented, they could get away with foretelling an incredibly likely future and get away with something as light as a headache." As soon as she finished her sentence, Vera jumped back up and began walking away. She did not bother to say goodbye, or exin herself at all. Instead, she just looked incredibly daunted by the task of climbing back down the mountain. Chapter 587 Headache Lex, with his weary mind, was stunned by what had just happened. His eyes followed the visage of Vera walking away as he tried to understand what the point of that was. It was only a couple of minutester that he came up with an answer. Vera was an oracle herself. That not only provided her with great insight into the profession, it also guided her actions. She had once appeared quite timely to help him assess John''s abilities before hiring him. As such, there was no reason to believe that her current actions, while bizarre, weren''t guided by prophecy as well. Lex groaned. His headache was really affecting him, and his exhausted state made it hard to even think. It had been much too long since he was in such a poor condition. He reached for a te of french fries and snacked on them as he continued to challenge his brain. Vera did nothing without reason, so now he had to discover the reason behind this. She came to him unprompted and provided him with a lot of information about prophecy. Then, just as abruptly as she arrived, she left. For a few seconds, he recalled everything she told him. Prophecy was actually probability¡­ the greater the scale, the more likely the prophecy would be urate¡­ prophecies exacted a price which could be fatal¡­ those talented in such arts could get away with only a headache¡­ Suddenly, he paused. Even in his current state, he was not so obtuse as to not connect certain dots. He had been sleeping for three weeks, during which time he had some crazy dreams. When he woke up, he was incredibly mentally drained and feeling very weak. Had he somehow seen the future? Or the past? Did he¡­ predict something? And if he did, what the hell was it? He had to pause, as the emotional excitement and increased mental strain were putting a massive burden on him. With his fries finished, he bit into his hot dog and let his thoughts simply wander for a while. When he felt a little better, the first thing he did was decide to reward Vera. He didn''t know her motives, but she had clearly helped him out. MP should serve as a decent reward? How much should he pay her? Unwilling to think too much, he ended up paying her 500,000 MP. Whether that was too much or too little; he did not have the brain capacity to think on it at the moment. He picked up the te of mantu and gobbled them down as he continued to try to recall his dreams and understand what they meant. He recalled¡­ he recalled never utilizing one of the Inn''s rewards. Without hesitation, he pulled up the system and discovered that, indeed, he had a patisserie that had long been waiting for him to ce. Lex scratched his head and continued to think. But while he could still somewhat recall his memories, in the end, he gave up. His condition was much too poor. Although his bones had been healed, his brain had been majorly messed up. He teleported to the Hot tub room and spent some time recuperating there before putting on his bathroom set and finding a ce to rx a bit. Eventually, he dozed off in thewn chair he was sitting in. With a full belly, and his hibernation kicking in, Lex slept for another two days before waking up. Unfortunately, even when he woke up this time, his headache and weakness remained. But he was still much better than before. At least he could think a little clearly without straining himself.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Once again, he tried to recall his dreams. Some of the dreams could not be his future. Instead, they were like possible alternate lives he could have lived. Those dreams were the first few. He particrly liked one in which he became extremely rich, moved to Dubai and lived like a Sheikh. But slowly the dreams changed from potential lives he could have lived if things had yed out differently in the past, to potential futures he could still have. For example, the rampage that he went on hunting system users. He could not recall exactly what happened in that dream, but he recalled enough to know that the dream ended very abruptly and poorly. It was entirely possible that while hunting system users he attracted too much attention which led to his demise. The dream in which he identified as a banana was extremely vivid. He teleported to a world that was extremely unusual. Instead of animals, the was popted by living, sentient fruits. The mangoes ruled thes, and as a banana, Lex was only a meremoner. Suddenly, he sat up straight. There was a dream he had in which the Inn was destroyed. Fire rained from the sky destroying everything, and Lex was powerless to stop it. That dream was perhaps just as scary as the one where he was being hunted by the yellow eyed creature. He started a list, and wrote down each dream with as much detail as he could clearly recall. 47 dreams filled his pages, but in the end, the remaining dreams were too unusual and fragmented for him to make out anything. Once he was done, he tried to see if any of the dreams were possibly connected, or just happened at different times. Unfortunately, he could not figure it out. This would require some research on his part, as well as possible consultations with experts. He might even once again take Vera''s aid. Especially if he wanted to urately understand the meaning of those dreams. But while he did not clearly make sense of all the dreams, he could gauge why he was so tired. While he was asleep, his brain was being used like aputer, calcting endless and random futures and pasts. As if that was not exhausting enough, the price he paid for the dreams left him incredibly vulnerable. Not that he could me anyone. Who would be crazy enough to perform over 50 predictions of the future in such a short amount of time. Compared to the potentially fatal consequences of looking into the future, being severely drained was not so bad. The issue now was, how to control this ability so he doesn''t randomly look into the future again? Or, possibly, how to look into the future if he so wished. "Where did this evene from?" Lex muttered as he ignored his throbbing head. There was no indication of him being able to look into the future before, nor had he encountered any upgrade which allowed as such. The only possibility Lex could think of was the mention of how ess to certainws is what allowed people to calcte the probability of the future. Lex took onest look at his list, before having a cup of Midnight Signature coffee brew. Feeling somewhat invigorated, Lex teleported to his office. Although he had numerous things to take care of, such as an ever-increasing number of refugees which had nearlypletely overburdened the Inns capability to supply food, emperor Jotun had been waiting for him for weeks. He should really find out what that''s about. ***** The ship that had been hovering right above the earth had now moved farther away. The distance had to be kept not because of earth technologies, which were now back in working condition, but because of the intervention of deities. Unlike what Mary had heard, deities were not omnipotent and couldn''t traverse the origin realm as they pleased. Buts that had their religion were always within their domain. While Amana had an actual presence on earth, Adamas'' ess to the was a surprise even to the deity himself. In the vastness of space, diamonds were not so rare and so mostrge civilizations didn''t treat them so significantly. Only on earth were they considered a woman''s best friend. As such, the ''zealous'' warriors of the diamond religion were mainly rich women who were previously mere housewives. Now they could be seen garbed in diamond ted armor, brandishing fierce weapons and shing against robots across the globe. No matter what anyone thought of them before the war, no one could doubt their resolve to step up when it was needed from them. On earth, at least, the domain of war no longer solely belonged to men. But despite their working technology, no one on earth noticed a sleek silver ship approaching the at fast speeds. In fact, even the aliens, despite their superior technology, hadn''t noticed it. That was simply because while the robots had the best technology, they couldn''t always outfit each ship with every possible machine and scanner. So, silently, the shipnded in an untouched part of India, before revealing a small opening through which a few humans jumped out. The group of 5 had perfectly concealed their identities using the most advanced stealth armor avable to them, in case they had to engage inbat. "Proceed with objective A and begin extraction of the VIP,"manded a cold yet scrambled voice. "I will engage in objective B." With that, the leader of the group disappeared, leaving a young Alexander wondering¡­ what the hell was objective B? He had only been briefed on the extraction! Chapter 588 Epistle II Lex sat in his office chair and let himself feel his connection to the system deepen for a moment. A quick scan of the Inn let him know that everything was alright, or as much could be. 100 million people could not be amodated in a small space, and an endless sprawl of tents covered much of the Inn''sndscape. Alongside so many people came other problems, many of which were manageable, but some werepletely uneptable!n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Fights, arguments and small conflicts kept breaking out amongst the crowd, which Lex didn''t mind too much as long as they did not escte and were resolved timely. What Lex had absolutely no tolerance for was public urination and defecation! Each and every tent had a separatepartment added just to provide facilities to avoid such a situation, yet some still insisted on relieving themselves in the wind. Although the security team had been strict about such matters, they had not been as strict as Lex would have wanted. A single warning was passed to every single refugee, which entailed that they needed to follow the rules or be kicked out of the Inn! He hadn''t had this problem even with the children in his spaceship daycare, so why were full fledged adults having such problems? Fortunately for them, and for Lex''s conscience, no one tested the warning once it was given. For now. Other parts of the Inn had some minor issues as well, but Lex didn''t want to focus on them for now. He finally called Jotun to his office. The emperor stepped in, with no indication of the pressure he had undergone the past few weeks showing up on his face. He looked like he came fresh from a spring bath, and his clothescked a single crease. His bearing was regal, and befitting that of his station. At a nce, all appeared as it should be. But that in itself was the biggest tell that something unusual was going on. Despite his status, Jotun had always been extremely humble in front of the Innkeeper. Since Lex knew he wasn''t in the best state of mind, he instantly entered the Flow state. He suspected that this was a meeting he would have to handle with extreme care. "Apologies for making you wait for so long," the Innkeeper said, his voice as calm and soothing as always. "I had some urgent matters upying me." "Not at all, Innkeeper. I was the presumptuous one to suddenly arrive without warning. Please excuse my hurried behavior. If the situation had not required urgency, I would have requested your assistant to schedule a time like I have done previously." "If the matter is urgent, then we should not dy. Please, let me know how I can be of assistance." The emperor took out a familiar-looking item from his spatial ring and presented it to the Innkeeper. The Innkeeper did not show any change in expression as he picked it up and observed it closely. He knew what this was, for he had received one before. It was an epistle from the Henali. "Do you know what this is about?" the Innkeeper asked Jotun. "I cannot guess all that it contains, but I know some of its content at least. You can give me your answer and I can send it back on your behalf." The Innkeeper merely nodded and reached for the Innkeeper''s letter opener, which was ced neatly on his table on the right. Each and every gesture and movement of the Innkeeper radiated calm and collectedness. There was no rush or nervousness to be detected, even as he used the letter opener to undo the seal on the epistle. With the seal undone, the epistle unfurled as if it was a scroll, andid before the Innkeeper its contents. Thenguage was strange and iprehensible, yet at the same time Lex could read it even without the need of his universal trantor. Mr. Innkeeper, I trust that this missive will find you in a timely fashion. There are two matters of importance, and one notification that I ampelled to inform you of through this letter: your participation in the Fuegan war efforts, your overdue payment for entering the Origin realm, and your subsequent eligibility to participate in the Henali Champions tourney. Firstly, it has been brought to my attention that due to the neutral stance your organization takes, you do not wish to directly participate in the Fuegan war efforts. Yet, the Henali have issued a directive to all civilizations and organizations of a qualifying rank, as well as inter-realm guests. This is not a request but rather a condition that must be met for those who wish to continue to exist in the Origin realm. Your contribution, thus, is critical and a failure toply will result in dire consequences. While Daolords are exempted from personal participation, a sufficient force must be sent to represent you and your organization. Secondly, although our records fail to document your entry into the realm, they also sessfully indicate that the necessary payment to enter the Origin realm remains unpaid on your behalf. I strongly rmend you take immediate action to rectify the illegal status you currently have within the Origin realm by paying your outstanding dues. Failure to do so will most definitely jeopardize your personal interests. Finally, once you have obtained your legal status, the Midnight Inn will be eligible to send one or more representatives in the Henali Champions tourney. The tourney is a grand tradition with numerous rewards and a far reaching audience, beyond even the Origin realm, and so is perfect to promote your business. Additionally, please be informed that your suggestion to use the Midnight Inn for Henali war efforts and other activities has been taken into consideration. The possibility of hosting the Fuegan killpetition at your venue is within the range of possibility. Awaiting your response, us. A letter such as this would have previously intimidated Lex, and even given him trouble. Now though, he only wondered if one of the dreams he saw had something to do with this. Chapter 589 Relationship Usually it would take him less than a moment to go over this bit of information, but even with the coffee fueling him, his thoughts were a fair bit slower than normal. Although none of his dreams directly showed anything rted to the Henali, he could distinctly remember the rain of fire falling down and destroying the Midnight Inn. Although he was already wary of the Henali, considering their apparent power, he had tried to use his prestige to work around their requirements. It was a mix of both necessity and a bit of hope. After all, although he had no idea what the payment Daolords had to make to enter the Origin realm was, he was certain that he couldn''t afford it. So one way or another, he had to avoid it. As far as war efforts are concerned, he already had a way to save face since the Innkeeper himself would be spared from making an appearance. But he did not want to send anyone from his Inn off to war either. They were workers in a hospitality business, not soldiers. He had contemted going himself, but he doubted they would be satisfied with the ''Innkeeper'' only sending one worker. Whatever he did, this matter had to be dealt with using extreme tact. Lex put the letter down, and turned his gaze back to Jotun. Although the man showed no expression on his face, Lex could guess what was on his mind. After all, his wife and brothers were no longer at the Inn. It could be coincidental, but Lex chose to believe that Jotun had sent them away on his own. Although as the Innkeeper, he had been nothing but polite and cordial, he could not me the man for fearing a less than proper reaction considering the forceful wording of the letter. "Tell me Jotun, what kind of a rtionship with the Henali do you have?" he asked, finally ending the silence. Surprisingly, he did not answer the question immediately, and took some time to think back. At his cultivation level his memory was perfect, and he would not forget a single moment of his life regardless of how much time passed. But that did not make him immune to the emotions that came with looking so far back on his life. Back then, he considered himself to be in the prime of his life, but now it seemed like he was only young and naive. "My family has long been an influential one in the Origin realm, at least as far as humans are concerned. There are millions of races in the Origin realm, and cutting out a small piece of territory for your own race can be both very easy or very hard, all depending on where you are. The current Jotun gxy is where my family was based, and the entire gxy has long been under my family''s control. It is a glorious history, but so many people do not know that¡­ my family members who lived like kings in their own territory, were all refugees from another realm."N?v(el)B\\jnn Lex did not show his surprise, but the news was truly unexpected, for more than one reason. It seemed moving between realms was not only limited to Daolord realm experts. "They gave up everything to find safe haven in a new realm, but they could not give up their original family name. The name contained the veryst vestiges of pride my family had. Unfortunately, that was a mistake. The enemies of my family traced us all the way to the Origin realm, and a bloody conflict broke out. It seemed like hell had fallen upon us, and no hope could be found. One by one, my family members died. One by one, my siblings fell. One by one my pride and arrogance as the genius of my family was crushed. "When only a few of us were left, and it seemed like it would be our end, the Fuegan invaded. They ripped through space and entered the realm right in front of us. It was one of therger invasions the entire Origin realm has ever seen. It was one of the rare instances where the Henali made a move themselves, and sent for their own tribesmen to eradicate the threat. "The Henali don''t usually make a move, for their powers are often too much for an immature realm to take. The fact that they did was a testament to the strength of the invasion. It was then that my brothers, one of my aunts, and I were discovered, fighting for our lives. "The Henali saw my talent and struck a deal with me. I would forsake my family name, and they would cleanse my karma, making it seem to my family''s enemies that my family had died once and for all. Furthermore, they would train me, and in exchange I would be their herald across the realm. Or at least, one of their heralds. "Since then, I gave up my family name, and my brothers did likewise. We started our own families, and as I serve the Henali, my brothers support me. Like this, we have grown stronger ande far. My achievements cannot be separated from the Henali. It was my own efforts that brought me here, yes, but it was their resources that made it possible." Jotun did not know how the Innkeeper would react to his story, but what he did not expect was that the Innkeeper would smile. Lex was not insensitive to the difficulty his history was filled with, but his smile was for other reasons. "Tell me, Jotun Marcus Sephore, which of you brothers have truly given up your name? I understand now your rtionship with the Henali." Jotun trembled and looked at the Innkeeper with surprise. It was true that he had told the Henali that he and his brothers had given up their names, and their karma had been washed. Yet deep in their hearts, they harbored other intentions. Yet their thoughts had been so hidden that they never spoke of it, even amongst themselves. It was to the extent that even their aunt did not know what they truly thought, and cut ties with them for giving up their names. Even the Henali had never suspected otherwise. Yet the name that should have been wiped from the history of the Origin realm had been spoken so casually by the Innkeeper. Yet the Innkeeper was no longer looking at the emperor. He reached for the Midnight letterhead, and pulled out the Innkeeper''s pen. Chapter 590 Response Although Lex would not fall into panic when faced with trouble, that did not mean he did not feel the pressure of the situation. To be entirely honest, it was not the being sent into never ending war for as long as he remained at the Inn that bothered him. His workers weren''t weak to begin with, and once they started training properly at the pagoda he expected they would be even more powerful. Not to mention, Velma had given him a file of information she collected based on the Fuegan as well, so he knew at least a few details on what to expect from the battlefields. If he went a step further, and personally participated in the war, he could further ensure the survival of those who he was forced to send to fight. Yet as much as he wanted to personally make sure none of his workers were harmed in battle, he had already thought of a much better way in which he could help the situation. So no, it was not the war that unsettled him. It was the payment the Henali were asking for. As the Innkeeper he had been exposed to a lot already, so he vaguely had a concept of the capabilities of the higher level cultivators in the universe. While it seemed impressive that he owned many Minor realms, apparently, such a feat could only impress lower leveled cultivators. Heck, any random cultivator strong enough to take control of an entire would suddenly own all the Minor realms that had openings on that.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Keeping that in mind, whatever payment was so important that the Henali were repeatedly pestering a supposed Daolord to pay up would not be cheap, or even in his realm of affordability. He could literally sell all the Minor realms he had and he still wouldn''t have enough to pay them, let alone, would they even be interested in MP? So, he really had toe up with some way to avoid this. If it were really up to him, he would avoid messing with the Henali. But considering his situation, he had no choice but to put up a strong front and y hard ball. While previously he had passed his message through Jotun, in hopes of amicably reaching a solution, this time he had to employ more official means. The Midnight Inn letterhead was official Inn stationary which was specifically designed to be used for writing official letters or messages to be sent outside the Inn. The letterhead was imbued with the majestic aura of the Innkeeper, ensuring that the letter was viewed with the appropriate significance. As if that was not enough, its use would be paired with the Innkeepers Pen. Its official description was ''each of the Innkeeper''s words is worth a hundred worlds. Writing anything with this pen will imbue the words with the Innkeeper''s aura.'' The pen somehow seemed an impressive treasure, but oddly enough held no ink. Yes, Lex could substitute ink with his spirit energy, in which case the pen would use that to create an ink substitute which could get the job done. But the original design of the pen dictated that its tip would have to be dipped in some ink which would then be used. That was exactly the reason this specific pen had alsoe with the Inkwell. Shockingly, the Inkwell was surprisingly useful. It made it so that no word written with the ink from it would or could ever be misconstrued, misunderstood or manipted to mean anything other than what the authors'' intentions entailed. Combined together, they provided Lex with exactly what he needed to deliver his message while making sure he lost none of the authority he was determined to show. The only thing missing from this was a Midnight Inn envelope or something of the sort. Paying no attention to Jotun, Lex dipped the tip of his pen in the well, and prepared to write on the letterhead. The tools were radiating a powerful aura, and Lex''s intentions beingmunicated perfectly through the ink filled the room with a feeling of authority. Lex did not feel the need to write actual words. Since the ink would ensure his meaning would be conveyed perfectly, Lex decided to substitute each word with a thin, horizontal line. Each line would be just as thin and equal in length regardless of the word they represented, making the letter look like someone had printed a page full of dashes. This would avoid him having to use any words or characters which might link him to earth. Despite his recent efforts to begin distancing himself from humans, the warning from his intuition was not fading. His efforts were too irrelevant whenpared to the damage he had already done. Due to his strained state of mind, Lex had to switch from the Flow state to the Overdrive state, while also pushing his intuition to its maximum limits. He absolutely could not afford to make a single mistake inmunicating what he wanted. When he felt he was ready, he finally put pen to paper and began writing. Mr. us, Due to thepetent and forthwith actions of your herald, Jotun Marcus, I received your letter regarding the required war efforts, and the alleged payment which the Henali feel they are entitled to, at the earliest. I would like to begin by stating that the Midnight Inn is a neutral organization with no third party affiliations, and is dedicated to providing equal and fair service to all who wish to avail its services, and follow the Inns rules. But, given that a branch of the Midnight Inn is operating from within a region of your sovereignty, for so long as the branch continues to operate, it will thereby follow your directive. However, I expect to receive specific and official instructions regarding the level of required involvement, the time frame, and the location. I trust that you will provide the necessary information to me, as is customary in such matters. As awful and legal business, the Midnight Inn will fulfill its requirements so long as they are effective. Thenes the matter of the alleged pending payment. I must assert clearly and directly so that there is no room left for any doubt: there are no outstanding debts on my part to you or any other entity. Your im for the payment is based on the assumption that I, the Innkeeper, am a foreigner in the Origin realm, but at the same time, you yourself cannot find any evidence of my entry into the realm. Your im for a pending payment is unsubstantiated. If you wish to im any payment from me, I insist that you provide sufficient proof of any services availed or agreement reached. Should you be able to muster up legitimate evidence supporting your im, I suggest you bring it forth promptly. Once I have reviewed the evidence and discovered that it is legitimate, and your im is urate, I will address the matter timely and fulfill any financial obligation I have ordingly. I would like to add that the Midnight Inn is always open to serving its guests without discrimination, so in the event you choose to host your event at our venue, you will find the event to be a great sess. Finally, I would like to request that unless your ims are sound, and you have sufficient evidence, you limit any futuremunication to matters pertaining to the Inn or its services only. The Midnight Inn is not interested in any external or unaffiliated matters. Regards, The Innkeeper. Although Lex did not have a special signature to use for the title of Innkeeper, the moment he signed the letter with his title, a powerful aura radiated across the entire Inn. It was not oppressive or intimidating, and instead was warm and confident. Yet the associated sensations did not diminish the power at all. In fact, Jotun, who felt the aura most clearly, nearlypletely buckled. The mental strain associated with watching the Innkeeper pen a potentially disastrous response was immense. He could feel the emotions of the Innkeeper as he wrote each word, though Jotun of course did not know what the words were or what the Innkeepers response entailed. His only remaining job now was to deliver the letter sessfully. To Lex''s wonderful discovery, once he concluded the letter, it gently rolled into a scroll and sealed itself, preventing anyone from being able to open it. He suspected that only the person he meant this letter for could open it withoutpletely destroying it. With his task done, Lex grabbed the scroll and casually tossed it towards Jotun, not bothering to deliver it in a proper fashion. "That should be a satisfying response to their requests. I trust you''ll be able to deliver it without issue." "It will reach its destination without fail!" he said, feeling extremely stressed. The Innkeeper did not seem angry, but he seemed to know that Jotun had not left his name behind. He could only hope that the Innkeeper had not mentioned that fact in the letter. Chapter 591 Fishing Tournament Winner Jotun immediately left Lex''s office after receiving the letter, allowing Lex to exit the Overdrive state. Previously he never felt overburdened while using the state, but currently it was burdensome. "Mary, have someone gather some information on the Henali portal. I want them to gather as much reliable information they can about oracles and prophecies. Especially about the repercussions of it, and how to deal with it," he said while rubbing this head. Since as of now this was an ability he could not control, he needed to at least be able to mitigate its adverse effects. He couldn''t only wait and hope that the ability was only triggered at times when he had nothing important going on. After spending a few more moments to recover, he scanned the Inn and looked for Zagan. The former massive sea creature that he had seen in the Crystal realm was now an employee that worked for him. This was both great and worrisome. It was great for now he finally had a valet. It was worrisome because¡­ what if Zagan chose not to obey orders? This was not a new concern for him, especially since he had long employed people much stronger than himself. Recently though, with his repeated improvements, he finally found a solution to the problem. Well, he learned about the solution rather than getting it. If he managed to improve the system once more, he would be able to unlock a new feature that made it so that he would be able to limit employees'' powers and cultivation while they were inside the Inn. This wasn''t the perfect solution, and it held the potential for extreme harm if used carelessly. Yet it was something at least. In fact, Lex had even thought he would unlock this ability already when he previously took the Desert farming system, but as it turned out, the aid of that system to his own was miniscule. In fact, it had not even been able to satisfy his quest to absorb more systems. Lex personally felt that it was cheating that he got no reward, but apparently unless the system functionality improved by a total of 5% he would not get the reward. At least, that''s what Mary told him. Absorbing the desert farming system had upgraded the functionality by 2%, so if Lex could manage another 3% he would be set. Until that happened, Lex would have to use other ways to keep Zagan in line. For now, the creature was seated in one of the farthest, most secluded corners of the Inn while it underwent its invisible tribtion. Apparently Zagan could take on a human shape, but as soon as the tribtions started, he returned to his normal shape. Speaking of massive creatures like Zagan, as well as systems, Ming Jie, the owner of the Reincarnated as a Mountain system, was still inside the Inn. The reason why Lex never paid much attention to him was because¡­ he had fallen asleep. As far as Lex could guess, his sleep cycle had been seriously messed up due to his new status as a mountain. He could only guess when he would wake up. At least he had been kind enough to pay for his stay using various gems and ores which his body was apparently producing. It was an incredibly creepy thought. But as much trouble as Zagan might bring, Lex was also looking forward to his tribtionpleting. Although it was sooner than he wanted, Lex had decided it was time to return to the Crystal realm. He wouldplete the quest he had gotten so long ago, and exit the Origin realm. That way, he would finally no longer be under pressure from the Henali to pay up, or participate in their war. Zagan, who had lived in the Crystal realm for so long, would no doubt be extremely useful and could provide him with crucial information. Lex was actually a little sad that Zagan was breaking through so quickly. He considered having him as his bodyguard when he went back to the Crystal realm, but it seemed he would have to survive on his own. For some reason, he was receiving a lot fewer guests from the Crystal realm than the origin realm. A part of him had been hoping some random Crystal race elder would pop into the Inn, and Lex could question him as the Innkeeper. That would resolve his quest from thefort of home. It seemed that his luck, while plenty good, wasn''t that great. With that checked on, he decided to look into whatever happened with the fishing event that had Mary so bewildered. She had specifically told him the name of the winner of the event. It was a snake-like beast from Nibiru which had won thepetition, and its name was Garlin. Apparently, thepetition was tough between Garlin, and one of the spirit inhabitants of the Inn. The spirit inhabitant had pulled out the remains of a massive beast which literally no one at the Inn had ever seen before while Garlin pulled out a shining orb which soon disappeared. Since everyone had to rely on the Midnight Inn to decide, they had to take it on their word that Garlin''s treasure was more valuable, but no one had any idea what it was. At least the remains had some tangible value, even if not based on their incredibly sturdy material, then at least academically. Yet the orb, whatever it was, had quickly disappeared. When Lex scanned the snake which was partying with some other beasts, he saw something he was all too familiar with. Name: *&%error%&* Age: *&%error%&* Sex: *&%error%&* Cultivation Details: *&%error%&* Species: *&%error%&* Midnight Inn Prestige Level: n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Remarks: Perhaps you should consider getting a snakeskin pelt. "The winner of the tournament is a system user?" he asked, surprised. Even in his weary state could not bar him from expressing his astonishment. "No," she replied in a grave voice. "The winner of the tournament¡­ pulled out a system from the fishing well." Chapter 592 Manager Destroyer Lex, who was a powerful cultivator and was firmly seated on his chair, tripped and fell to the ground when he heard that. Someone pulled a system out of the well? How was that even possible? Why hadn''t he tried to use it yet? Why had he even made the fishing well public? He should have hidden it and kept it for himself. Unable to take it, Lex scanned the Inn, but discovered an endless line awaiting their turn at the fishing well. Dammit! Lex had been extremely sessful in turning this neglected feature into one that became one of the most sought after services at the Inn. Most people who used the well got extremelymon items, such as rocks or seashells. If they were slightly lucky, they would find a gold nugget or an uncut gem. Very, very few actually got anything worthwhile. But with the well being in constant use, there was someone who fished out an extremely valuable prize every day. For a moment Lex considered using his authority to cheat the system and force himself to have a turn, but decided against it. The chances of another system being fished out were ridiculously low, so there was no rush. Instead, he asked Mary to add himself as Lex to the queue. Not everyone who was waiting a turn was present personally, and had instead asked their holograms to save their space in line. Like this, they would be notified when their turn was close, preventing them from wasting their time. With that taken care of, he turned his attention back to the snake. Unlike other contestants who had hidden their identities, Garlin not only did not hide but also publicized his win. Either Garlin was very confident in his strength, had some surety in his own protection, or had received a system which focused on attracting a lot of attention. Lex personally thought it was the final one, but refrained from making an early judgment. He ordered Mary to keep an eye on Garlin and provide him with a report. He absolutely could not ignore system users. Who knew, maybe he could make a deal with the snake the way he had with Alysha, the wielder of the desert farming system. By then, an hour had nearly passed, and the effects of the coffee were wearing out. He decided to go get some rest one more time. When he woke up, it would be time to head to the Crystal realm. Before he went to sleep, however, he went and bought 5000 more acres ofnd for the Midnight Inn for 50 million MP. There was no development nned for this area, and instead, he just nned on moving any future refugees there. They were already getting cramped, and if more kept arriving, the situation would only get worse. There had to be a better solution, but he would either leave to the nning division, or think of it once he woke up. For now, he needed rest. ***** For a long time now, every guest who entered the Midnight Inn would appear at the Inn''s gates. Not only was this ce far from any of the Inn''s main attractions, this ce was covered in various defensive and protection formations. The protection was in case someone decided to invade the Inn. Lex could, of course, kick any invaders out of the Inn, but he found it more useful to seal all invaders in a ce and let his guests watch as they were defeated. It was both a source of entertainment and revenue. But other than protective formations, this ce had also developed a holistic transport system. Arge yet beautiful transit station had been built which had terminals not only for the Midnight train and golf carts, but various air and water-based transport systems as well. It had to be mentioned that the various animals which had grown and lived inside the Inn, which had undergone various stages of growth due to the increase in star ranks, were also avable as mounts for anyone who wanted to ride. Peacocks were the mostmon animals used as rides amongst children, but there was a notableck of variety of mounts for adults. This was something that had been brought to the attention of the Innkeeper, or at least, one of the many things awaiting his review.N?v(el)B\\jnn Unfortunately, this was one instance where Lex had not gotten to an issue in time. Or really, not even an issue, but a simple oversight. But, what did that matter? "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON''T HAVE A LARGER PEACOCK FOR ME?" hollered a woman at the staff of the transit station. She was a mature woman, though she did not seem like she was burdened by the disabilities brought about by age. Her blonde hair with thin brown streaks was styled in a bob cut, framing her scowling face perfectly to magnify her arrogance. Her fair skin was pristine, and untouched by a single speck of dirt, let alone sweat, which formed arge contrast to her entourage. They wore clothes marred not only by dirt and grime, but also blood. Their hair was disheveled and their eyes barely had any light left in them. Their bodies had suffered innumerable tortures, but their souls were what had been crushed. A little farther away from her, a young girl of age 4, dressed in a princess gown, was sitting on a peacock, doing her best to pull out its hair. "Ma''am, although the peacocks have strengthened, they cannot support the weight of an adult. We have¡­" "WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY CAN''T SUPPORT MY WEIGHT? ARE YOU CALLING ME FAT?" she roared once more, spit flying out as she yelled. "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM? DO YOU KNOW WHO MY HUSBAND IS? I WON''T STAND FOR THIS INSULT! CALL YOUR MANAGER, I DEMAND TO SPEAK WITH HIM!" A small crowd had begun to gather as they heard the screaming woman, and the security team had been alerted in case the situation escted. Eventually, upon the woman''s insistence, a manager was eventually called over. "My name is Karen¡­" the woman said in her most delicate voice as she looked at the rather handsome manager who had stepped out. But while the manager was confused, and began to listen to theint, her followers trembled when they heard her soft voice. The destroyer had arrived at the Inn. Chapter 593 Succubus The young Sol bird had recovered a lot during its brief stay in the Fire temple. It was not just the fiery aura that helped it recover, but the divine energy entering its body. An open secret in the Crystal realm was that the birds were treated as deities. Many tribes of different races worshiped the birds that kept away the darkness and illuminated theirnds, providing them with safety and warmth. As such, while the birds were not deities themselves, they shared many aspects with them. Weakly, it opened its eyes to look around. But before it could get a sense for its surroundings, its eyes focused on a single, massive leg. It raised its neck to get a better look and saw that the leg was attached to a massive turtle with a single horn poking out of its forehead. "Oh dear," the turtle said warmly. "You look like you need some help." ***** Belle, despite her instincts, controlled herself from reaping havoc so as to not attract any extra attention. She moved as fast as possible while maintaining stealth, and in only a few hours, reached her old home in London. It was abandoned, but it did not matter for she was there to check on a few hidden spirit tech within the building. She entered into a tiny, hiddenpartment under the building that could only be safely opened by entering the correct password. Any attempt at forced entry would destroy everything inside. Thepartment was barelyrge enough to hold a single person and contained a couple of devices that were continuously operating. Addressing the major security w these devices presented was one of the major reasons she was willing toe back to Earth. This was something she needed to handle personally, and could not even delegate to her clone that had previously existed here. She opened up the device that looked like a massive copier/printer used in corporate offices, and dismantled it until she reached its core, where four drops of blood were held, each in its own container. These were drops of blood collected from her and her siblings at birth, and could be used for various purposes. With her and her siblings, they served as spiritual anchors for their clones. When she and her siblings were taken off this, they obviously had no cultivation to speak of. Since they could not create clones themselves, her mother had used some very advanced techniques to produce the clones herself, and used these drops of blood to connect the clones to them. They had other uses as well, for example, the one Belle was about to use. She took the drop of blood that represented Lex and used a spiritual technique to look for him. But there was no response. Now that she had personally confirmed that her stupid brother was no longer on the, she could only wish him the best, and hoped that he led a safe life. When Belle took over the William family, they could safely look for him and arrange his return. Until then, it was best he stayed away. Then Belle looked at the drop of blood that represented Moon, her youngest sibling. There was untold fury in her eyes when she looked at that drop of blood, but she let none of that fury leak out. One day, she would make everyone who wronged them pay. She took all the drops of blood and stored them, then destroyed all devices. Once she extracted the hidden prisoners on earth, it was unlikely she would return to this ever again. Unlike Lex, she had no sentimentality towards any specific. When the Origin realm was so vast, and there was so much to do and explore, why should she constrain herself to a single? ***** Moore was one of the many workers that Lex had arranged for the Inn during its many expansions. He had unlocked the Regalia Bloom bloodline early, which affected his appearance, making him more handsome. But his personality didn''t suit cultivation. He was an extrovert and liked spending time with people, going out and doing things. Sitting silently in the meditation room and cultivating was just too boring for him. So, while his cultivation had suffered, due to his increasing good looks and social personality, his excellent rapport with guests was quickly noticed, and he was promoted. He performed a series of jobs, from stall vendor to hospitality supervisor, to a few more random jobs until he finally became ground manager of the transit station. But while he had plenty of experience with guests, and had faced both polite guests and those with a bone to pick, his current situation waspletely¡­pletely unprecedented. They were back in his office, with Karen''s entourage standing outside his office doors like guards. Inside, it was just him, Karen and Karen''s daughter, who refused to get off her peacock mount no matter where she went. As if that was not enough, Karen''s appearance had changed drastically. Like an anime character revealing their next form, her outfit had magically changed while they walked back to his office, and now she was in an ufortably tight shirt and a miniskirt. When and how that happened was still a mystery to Moore. "This is female harassment," Karen said softly as she continuously adjusted her crossed legs. "All I want is something to mount. You are supposed to be giving your guests the best services, but you want me to walk so much. You can''t expect ady to bear such a thing. I''m sure a handsome man such as yourself can do something to help me out. It would be a shame if I had to go to your superior." Moore nervously pulled his cor and maintained unwavering eye contact with Karen. He could look nowhere else because the unnecessarily tight T-shirt she was wearing suddenly had buttons, and the top two buttons had opened on their own. "Ma''am I assure you, yourint has been noted and we will remedy the situation as soon as possible. In the meantime, I suggest that you try out our other forms of transport that are equally, if not even morefortable and convenient. Aspensation for any inconvenience, we can make your next ride free." "You don''t understand," she said, in an almost pleading voice as she leaned forward. "I¡­ I need that mount! Can''t you just give me a peacock? I''m not that heavy. I''m sure it''ll be fine." Tears welled up in the corner of her eyes and she looked at Moore, and almost whimpered. Karen''s daughter was watching silently from the side, as if she had experienced such a scene a million times. For some reason, Moore was finding it harder and harder to focus. His mouth went dry and his pulse started rising. He opened his mouth to reply¡­ but then something unexpected happened. Chad, the deputy head of the security, teleported into the room. Unlike Moore, who had a slim and modest physique, Chad was nearing 7 feet tall (2.13 meters) and was packing muscles like an overstuffed luggage bulging with clothes. The man always had a gifted physique, but once he discovered the gym culture and body cultivation, he entered a whole new world.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om He was so ridiculouslyrge that he almost reached half of what Marlo looked like at his peak physique. "We meet again, Karen," said Chad, ring at the woman. The woman clicked her teeth when she saw Chad, and her mood dropped immensely. As if she had perfect control over them, her clothes transformed from her rather seductive attire to battle gear! "I have done nothing wrong, Chad! This is harassment! Don''t make me go to your boss!" "I can smell your malicious intent from the other corner of the Inn," Chad scoffed, unwavering. "Besides, using your abilities on guests and Inn staff is strictly prohibited, unless you''ve received express permission!" "Don''t give me that crap! I''ve never met anyone who was unsatisfied with me. The whole charm of being with a subus is in not knowing about it!" "I''ve told you many times already, Karen, this is not eptable. The only reason you haven''t been banned from the Inn yet is that no one is willing to file aint. The day we find someone, you''re out." "This is ridiculous! Of course they wouldn''tin! Everyone loves me! You know what, I''ve had enough of this! I demand to speak to the Innkeeper. I''m doing your Inn a service bying here. You should be thanking me. This is my right!" "You can exercise your rights outside of the Inn," Chad replied, indifferent to her powers. She had tried to use them on him many times. Despite being stronger than him, her abilities did not work. How could he ever be attracted to someone who doesn''t lift? "This is not over. I want to schedule a meeting with the Innkeeper. I''ll be expecting it next time Ie." Karen snorted, then disappeared from within the Inn. When she reappeared, she found herself in a room full of other devils. "Were you able to avoid detection?" asked one of the devils impatiently. "No, they were able to detect me as soon as I used my ability," stated Karen. The others in the room started noting down what she said and started updating their database. They wereing up with possible ways to fool the Inn. "Do not be concerned. We will get to them eventually," said another devil with an air of confidence. Karen only nodded at him and said nothing, despite her frustration at being used so tantly. He was the strongest of them, and so they could not really argue. After all, no matter what anyone outside believed, Rocketfellow was not an easy fellow to cross. Chapter 594 Back To The Tavern This time, when Lex woke up, he was feeling much better. He was still not back to his best state, but sleeping for another two days in the Recovery pod had done his headache wonders.N?v(el)B\\jnn Though he still felt physically weak, at least his mental state was back to normal. It was not the best condition for his return to the Crystal realm, but he couldn''t afford to dy any longer. He didn''t know when and how the Henali would respond to his letter. The best case scenario would be for him to already have his own realm before his deployment orders even came. That way, he wouldn''t have to go to war at all. Probably. The way for him to get his own realm was toplete the quest he got in the Crystal realm, which required him to discover the anomaly in the realm. There were no hints as to what the anomaly was, but Lex had long suspected that the Kraven had something to do with it. Actually, it had all but been confirmed that the Kraven yed some sort of role in the anomaly. But considering the fact that the anomaly, whatever it was, caused Lex to be pulled from the Origin realm to the Crystal one, he did not see clearly what the Kraven could have to do with it. Additionally, he had learnt that the various nations were in fact, not putting all their strength in defending against the Kraven invasion. In fact, Lex had reason to believe that they were actively allowing thends to fall to them. This was a conclusion he came to after talking with Aegis, the crown prince of the Hum nation. Unfortunately, Aegis, due to his own unusual life, had little to no knowledge of the inner workings and ns behind whatever was happening. But that was fine. All he had to do was learn more secrets, and then make his way to a city called Valesco, where an old member of the Crystal race was waiting for him. For every secret Lex had managed to discover, he would share another one. Of course, he also had another route, which was the Noel family back in Babylon, the town where he had built the Midnight tavern, Considering that Babylon was in their territory, and that Lex had managed to build a good rtionship, Lex expected he could make some use of them. If nothing else, he could go around the realm and search for old ruins or Minor realms which contain secrets of what actually happened. The old man from the crystal race already told him that all such information had been wiped clean, and he would need to find some old ruins with as of yet untouched records to learn the truth. With his new and improved intuition, he firmly believed it would be much easier for him to find them. He did not need to rely on luck to bump into them. But before he did that, Lex needed to make some preparations. His gear was, naturally, already taken care of. But he had requested some additional supplies at the Infinity Emporium which might be helpful. Lex originally wanted to get his hands on teleportation talismans and items which would allow him to traverserge areas quickly. Unfortunately, while such items were avable, teleportation talismans weren''t really urate or easy to direct. The longest range teleportation talisman he got his hands on could teleport him 100,000 miles (161,000 km) in a straight line. But which direction that straight line was, was something he could not control. He also got his hands on some extremely potent medication which would boost the body''s recovery. He got his hands on massive and powerful illumination devices, which could be used if he ever encountered a situation where the Sol birds went away. He had already received the Fancy contact lenses, so he didn''t need to procure those. Instead, he got a lot of gear for Fenrir. He nned on using the pup as a mount while he traversed thatnd, and keep the dog aspany. Not only would it be good to have someone with him, the pup would continue to gain experience, not to mention the fact that it had some useful abilities. Its stealth capabilities were beyond what Lex could achieve, and over long distances, the pup could move faster than Lex. It only made sense to take him along. As unusual as it might seem to see a pup wearing armor running around, the Crystal realm was a dangerous ce and Lex didn''t want the pup left unprotected. It had a few augmentation features as well, that could heighten Fenrir''s senses when activated. There was also a backpack for it which would stick close to its body and not bounce around regardless of how it moved. Lex left that mostly empty, but put a few talismans inside. Although such preparation might seemckluster, as Lex barely addressed other needs, such as travel equipment or emergency food supplies, it was enough. Mostly because this time, his connection to the Inn hadn''t beenpromised. He could travel to and from the realm to the Inn at any time, so if he ever needed anything he coulde back and get it then. With his preparations done, Lex mentally went over the situation at the Midnight tavern. The workers and residents there never felt Lex''s absence, for he had been using his remote presence for a few hours every day to check in. Big Ben was as popr as ever with the locals, which served more to deter trouble than actually using any intimidation. After all, a Sol bird had recently returned to Babylon and the darkness had disappeared. The Pvarti family was busy rebuilding the town. It was too important strategically to abandon the location, so there was no other choice. As a result, while the tavern was no longer as crowded as it used to be, it continuously saw business. Rick, his handyman at the tavern, was always busy with repairs or misceneous work and Roan, the bartender, had slowly developed awork amongst the locals. While the stories of the achievements of the tavern during the darkness still permeated the town, things had been quiet for too long so people stopped thinking about it as much. Hopefully, things would continue to stay that way even after Lex returned. Chapter 595 The Ex Onest thing Lex did before returning to the Crystal realm was add the Patisserie. Since it had been brought to his attention by his prophecy, he would not ignore it. Like the Recovery room, meditation room and such, the Patisserie was a standard Inn service, so not only could it be repeatedly be put across the Inn. As soon as he redeemed the building, he first upgraded it to the fourth level, which was in tandem with his authority level. Some buildings, such as the Recovery room, had been upgraded beyond his authority level using various cheats, but in general that was not a good thing as it put additional pressure on the system. Lex wasn''t exactly sure why something as simple as a service building would affect the system''s functionality, but then again, each of the services was quite magical. It had been a long time since he himself had visited the Training room, but it was quite popr at the Inn amongst many cultivators, so it must be good. The Patisserie, the first store for which was opened on Main street, immediately attracted the guests attention. The Main street was the street that had the most exclusive stores, such as the Barber shop, which had recently reopened, and the Battle Ax. The street had be the elite district of the Inn, and represented the best it had to offer. The small red brick building had a few flower pots hanging out front, and a massive window which showed the quaint little shop. There was one counter running across the length of the shop, with several rows of pastries shown through the ss windows in the counter. The Patisserie naturally needed patissiers, and Lex decided to hire two for the first one. One was called Gordan, and the second was called Ramses. Lex did not need to doubt their capabilities, for the system was excellent at feeding the workers he bought with all the relevant information their designation would require. For now, he did not try out the various pastries, pies, cakes and various breads that the shop was lining up as it could wait. He was content with the knowledge that each item in the shop had a special effect, akin to the Saturn cake that was avable at the Gift shop. He would look into itter. For now, he was off to the Crystal realm. Barely a few moments after Lex left, the first customer took a bite out of the Mauve Crystal cupcake. As it happened, right behind him, another customer tried the Astral Dust pie. The two customers, a young human adult who was weary from the difficulties of life, and a freshly graduated devil on her first outing from Garvitz, the realm of the devils, locked eyes. A million emotions weremunicated through the look, and they both fell in love. To be specific, they fell in love with the deserts they were eating, but found each other modestly attractive.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Can I try that?" the man asked, looking at her pie. "Only if you give me a bite of yours," the devil replied, her eyes locked on the man''s cupcake. A new bond was formed. The bond of gluttony. ***** Lex took in a deep breath once he reappeared, and the smell of wood filled his lungs. He looked around and found himself in the hidden basement under the main hall counter. It had been a long time since he had been back here, while at the same time it seemed too soon. After spending a year trapped here, he was in no rush toe back, yet fate worked out in different ways. But there was no need to fret. He hade back much stronger, not to mention that this time he was not cut off from the system. In fact, now that he thought about it, he was actually quite excited to be back here. With his new and improved intuition, Lex suddenly felt an urge to go treasure hunting. He had found some incredibly valuable prizes here, such as the Blue Crystal Essence which pushed Lex to the peak of the Foundation realm while also recharging his system, and the Divine Essence stone. Now that his senses were much keener, he couldn''t wait to see what he would find. In fact, his intuition was already acting up, letting him know that countless valuable treasures were hidden in his vicinity. Unfortunately, they were all the property of the Noel family. He would need to travel outside their territory before he could start digging up treasures. Fenrir''s stealth would y an integral role in his treasure hunting schemes. Lex climbed thedder to exit the hidden basement, and was wee to the scene of a bustling tavern room. There was a flutist on the small stage, apanied by an enthusiastic dancer, both putting on a performance. Over two dozen men and women were eating and drinking, while Naki, Nami and Nani the triplets took rounds between the kitchen and the guests, constantly making sure everyone was catered to. Big Ben stood by the door, an intimidating grimace on his face. Unfortunately, the grimace did not work as he was friends with almost everyone in the tavern, so they knew him well. Betty, Big Ben''s now wife, was sitting in the tavern as well, a small bump developing in her belly. The couple was already expecting a child. A familiar face, Pvarti, was loudly sharing a story with some people sitting across from him. Lex could not help but smile. The smile was not for the jubnt atmosphere that the tavern had. Although it was much smaller than the Inn, it had nurtured a unique environment of its own which was quite enjoyable. No, he smiled because his luck never failed to keep his life interesting, all after a single wish for some more excitement. "5, 4, 3, 2¡­" he counted down as he looked at the front door, which mmed open the moment he counted to 0. His intuition had warned him this wasing. "Pvarti you need to get out of here!" eximed Bertram, Pvarti''s older brother. "Your ex''s family has arrived at Babylon!" Chapter 596 Poor Pvarti Lex was honestly not even bothered. It only made sense that peace would arrive as soon as he left the tavern, but chaos returned as soon as he returned. All was right with the world. His smile did not reduce even as he looked at Bertram. The man was Pvarti''s brother, and was an earth immortal. Pvarti''s father was also an earth immortal. The fact that a family which ruled an entire region, and had two earth immortals, was so afraid of the family that had arrived could only mean that they were much stronger. Pvarti, however, did not react the way his brother expected. He was stillpletely rxed. In fact, he was now taking even longer with his food, as if to make sure he would stay long enough to run into them. "What are you doing?" Bertram asked, with a tinge of defeat in his voice. "What does it look like I''m doing?" Pvarti asked with a grin. "I''m eating." There was a moment of silence where the two simply exchanged stares until Pvarti finally admitted defeat. "Okay fine, I''m rxing at the Midnight tavern. What can they do to me here? And if things really get out of hand, I''ll head to the Midnight Inn. I''mpletely safe." "It''s not about that and you know it," Bertram couldn''t help but say, but then promptly realized how publicly they were speaking. He shifted the conversation to his spirit sense. Lex didn''t say much, and only silently decided to wait for a while to ensure no problems urred. He was not really afraid even of Earth Immortals inside the Midnight tavern. When he had established this ce, he had ess to a much higher authority than he actually had with the system. As a result, a number of incredibly powerful formations protected it.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om For example, there was the formation which let him control the space inside the Inn. He could closely control the space around his guests'' bodies and trap them where they stood. This power was useful against even earth immortals - probably. This would have been a moment where having Zagan as a bodyguard would have been useful, but he was notpletely defenseless without it. "Barkeep, a round of drinks for everyone, one me!" Pvarti eximed, eliciting cheers from the various onlookers. The flutist picked up the tempo and the dance became faster. Bertram feltpletely defeated, and found himself a spot on the bar as Roan started to pour out drinks. "Why the long face?" Lex couldn''t help but ask as he poured himself a drink too. Since Pvarti was paying, there was no reason he couldn''t treat himself. "To be honest, I was not in favor of Pvarti being kicked out of the family," Bertram said as he chugged a drink of his own. "But even with him kicked out of the family, he''s still bringing us problems." "I mean, the way I see it, you should have just not forced him into a forced engagement." Bertram wanted to say something, but he just didn''t have the energy. "Cheer up, it''s not the end of the world," said Lex as he patted Bertram. The man, however, was in no mood to talk. Instead of focusing on him, Lex made his way to the roof to get a good view of Babylon. The old town had been all but destroyed, yet in only a few months one would not be able to tell. Other than the fact that all the buildings in sight looked brand new, it looked as if Babylon was an old port town that had existed for a long time. Theyout had changed, sure.The port was muchrger now than it was previously, and the walls around the town looked much more impressive. There were many more guards than before, and patrols were moremon. There was a massive tower in the center of town with a glowing light in the middle, like a lighthouse, meant fornd instead of the sea. Though there was a flock of Sol birds in the sky, illuminating thend, so the lighthouse was useless, but it was kept lit nheless. In the distance, at the very opposite end of town, Lex could see a newly built mansion. He guessed that was the local residence for the Noel family, whenever they stayed in town. His sharp senses picked up an unusually thick crowd, moving slowly from the docks towards the mansion. He guessed that Pvarti''s so called ex-inws were in that crowd. While their presence presented a huge problem for the Noel family, for Lex it was an opportunity. As much as he wanted to roam around the Crystal realm in search of treasure and opportunity, he was in a time crunch. He needed to learn whatever secrets were being held about the Kraven as soon as possible. He nned on using the Noel family''s understanding of the Inn to leverage a trade, where he would provide them with some help or resources, and in exchange they would tell him whatever they knew about the Kraven. He seriously doubted that simply learning the secret about the Kraven wouldplete his quest. A realm seed was a remarkable treasure, and it should not be so easy to get. Most likely, learning about the Kraven would only point him in the right direction to begin his real search. Initially he expected to encounter some trouble convincing the Noel family to divulge their secrets, but if they were encountering some kind of pressure, or trouble, it would be a lot easier to get what he wanted. To be sure, he closed his eyes and focused on his intuition. It was a lot harder to channel whenpared to his spirit sense and soul sense, but he could somewhat point it in the direction he wanted sometimes. Probably. Maybe. Currently, all he wanted to know was if his nned sequence of actions would cause him any problems. Surprisingly, this was within the range of capabilities of his intuition. His intuition worked in the form of vague feelings, either positive or negative. It was not a strictnguage, but for reasons he didn''t know, he could almost always understand it perfectly. He wondered if it was because of his universalnguage trantor. Lex felt like there was opportunity waiting for him, but to avail it, he needed the help of a trustedpanion. After a few moments focusing on his intuition, he finally opened his eyes. He got everything he wanted, but discovered that there was actually something very important to him in the vicinity, but instead of onnd, it was under water. He summoned Fenrir, his trustedpanion, and pointed towards the unusual crowd that was moving from the docks to the mansion. "There should be ady in there, go attract her attention. Don''t cause any trouble, but bring her back to the tavern. Got it?" The pup, who was excited to be back in the Crystal realm, and away from the terrible influence of the big turtle, howled and directly hopped off the building. Lex wasn''t too worried that Fenrir would do something he shouldn''t. After spending enough time around guests at the Inn, he knew what he should and shouldn''t do. With that done, Lex quickly made his way down to the main tavern hall, and found Pvarti still sitting there. Bertram had already departed. Lex made his way over, bringing a spare chair, and sat down opposite to the troublemaker. "How have you been, Pvarti?" Lex asked with a devious smile. "I''m great!" he answered enthusiastically, but then suddenly hesitated. The timing of Lex''s arrival, and the look on his face told Pvarti that something was up. "Wait, should I not be great? Is something up? Don''t tell me the tavern will kick me out because of trouble? I haven''t done anything!" "Haha I know you haven''t caused any trouble," Lex said, leaning back into his chair. In the Crystal realm, he had not bothered hiding his identity, so although he was burdened with the noble title of tavernkeeper, he could also just be himself. After all that pretending to be other people, he sometimes wondered if he hadn''t just be like that normally either. But, he discovered, that as ofte, he liked being mischievous when he was just himself. Maybe the search for excitement had seeped deep into his bones. "But I just have a vague feeling that trouble is about to find you, and not the kind you''re expecting. If you don''t mind me asking, why did you break up your engagement?" Some other kind of trouble? Pvarti was slightly disturbed at the thought. He was depending on the tavern and Inn to keep him safe. He hoped not to face anything they wouldn''t be able to handle. Hesitantly, he answered. "Normally, I wouldn''t share this, but seeing as it''s you¡­ I''ll trust it''s alright. Our families arranged our engagement, for business reasons, and I was okay with that. But when I met the girl, I asked her if she was willing to go through with it. If she was being forced, or had someone else in mind, I would break off the engagement myself and take the burden onto myself. That way, she would be free to pursue what she wanted, and I wouldn''t live a life knowing that I was the tool used to rip a young woman from her freedom." Lex smirked. Poor Pvarti. He hoped the man would be able to deal with what was about to happen. Chapter 597 Fenrir’s Adventure Over 700 Minor realms had been discovered at the Inn, but a majority of the guests entering were mostly focused on a few dozen Minor realms which were incredibly valuable. For example, there was one Minor realm that was just a massive ocean. Yet for aquatic beasts and other alien races, the realm was an absolute paradise for it had seemingly existed for millions of years, umting countless spiritual treasures, all unused because the realm was devoid of any living being. Naturally the fact that the ocean was one of sulfuric acid instead of water was the primary reason nothing lived in that realm, but for higher level cultivators that was only a minor detail. There was also another Minor realm that had given birth to a very unique environment which resulted in treasures that were almost impossible to procure normally. Countless immortals had already flocked to that realm. Essentially it was just a normal sized Minor realm, but at some point its space started to copse. However, due to the presence of an extremely rare ore with extreme spatial affinity the realm had stabilized, but with its center bing a region of chaotic space. The chaotic regions gave birth to many treasures the likes of which would normally cause wars among nations. It was only the absolute oppressive image of the Inn that kept everyone in line. A few unaware folk had naturally tried to cause issues. Suffice to say, the security Lex had hired took care of it. The turtle was especially happy with this development because such high quality fertilizer was hard toe by. But while there were such attractive Minor realms, there were quite a few which were not so attractive. Luthor was standing in one such Minor realm. ording to preliminary reports, this was a massive Minor realm of approximately 700,000 km square. It consisted of threergekes, a small mountain range and dense forests. The minor realm also had its own fauna and flora, with the animals being quite strong, mostly being at the Foundation realm on average. While the realm was not bare of resources, nothing valuable enough to attract cultivators had been discovered in the realm. All in all, it was good enough for the refugees. Or at least, it was the best one he had seen so far. With his review done, he returned to the Midnight Inn. He would turn in his report to the Innkeeper, and if all went as predicted, this would soon belong to the refugees, and be the second exclusive Minor realm at the Inn. ***** Little Fenrir hid itself perfectly on top of a roof of a building near the road where the target would cross. Big brother Innkeeper had told him to attract the attention of ''ady'' without specifying who she was or how he should identify her. To an observer that might seem like an ovep, but what no one knew was that Fenrir had a connection with big brother. That connection made it so that no words were even needed tomunicate as they could understand one another''s thoughts perfectly. By speaking, they were merely fulfilling a formality. So, although he had only been told to attract the attention of ''ady'', he in fact knew well enough that he was looking for a rtively young and important humandy, who should be the center of attention. Soon enough, he saw a line of carriages being pulled by massive feathered lizards. There were guardspletely surrounding the carriage, though ironically the guards were weaker than the very guests they were supposed to be protecting. Fenrir did not have a firm grasp of cultivation levels, and instead only knew things such as which foes smelled dangerous and which did not. Strictly speaking, Fenrir''s sense of smell was not the same as what Lex knew. He was not just smelling the various particles in the air, but the energy frequencies in the atmosphere. Of course the pup had no idea about the intricacies of what he was doing, but not only could he smell power levels, he could smell intentions, opportunities, traps, colors, spirits and much, much more. Moreover, white its brain processed the images which he saw with its eyes, it would add shades to reflect the various elements its nose picked up. So, very much like in a video game, he could see colored footsteps in the ground if he wanted to follow someone, or saw enemies colored in a tinge of red while friendly forces were green. Currently, it could see a particr carriage tinged with a blue shade, reflecting that the carriage was the one it was looking for. Not bothering to wonder how or why it knew what it did, the pup shrunk its size down and leaped off the building. With its body shrunk down to the size of an adults palm, Fenrir had no trouble avoiding being sighted. A tiny interference field around its body ensured that no spirit sense was able to detect it either. The only trouble it encountered was that¡­ with tiny legs, it had to run a lot more to reach its destination. After all, it could not make rapid movements lest it was spotted. With crowds of people lining the streets to view the passing carriages, Fenrir''s pilgrimage to the destination was fraught with obstacles yet it eventually made it. It climbed the carriage as discretely as possible, which is to say many in the crowd saw a tiny pup hanging from the carriage door, but were just too caught up in how cute the sight was to react.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om There was no window, so the pup gnawed a small hole through which it crawled through. Within the carriage were seated two women, one tinged I''m blue indicating she was the target, and another in orange indicating danger. Although Fenrir had avoided detection so far, the moment it entered the carriage the two women locked onto the pup. It froze for a moment where it sensed danger, but the feeling quickly passed. Thedies had clearly determined that the pup wasn''t a danger. "Hello little fe, what are you doing here?" Asked thedy with the blue tinge. Fenrir stuck out its tongue and used one of it''s bloodline abilities to make it look more appealing and less threatening. At the same time, Fenrir gave the woman in the orange glow a wary look. He would remember that she had threatened him. Big brother Innkeeper had recently taught it the importance of revenge, and he would be sure to mark down this important foe. "How interesting," said the woman with the orange glow. "Instead of cowering due to my aura, it is feeling antagonized. It must have a very prominent origin." Fenrir ignored the orangedy''sments and instead made its way to the bluedy. With a tiny wagging tail, it''s miniscule tongue hanging out and it''s bloodline activated, thedy was unable to resist him and reached out to grab him. Immediately Fenrir began licking the target, tickling her in the process and making her giggle. At first, Fenrir did nothing else for it could sense that both the girls were wary of it. Yet after a couple of minutes of ying, their concentration wavered for a moment. Fenrir did not wait, nor did it try to dy the situation to develop its trust. One moment it was ying, the second moment the bluedies ne had been removed and was hanging from its mouth. Faster than the twodies could anticipate, Fenrir had reappeared inside the small hole it had made in the door. But before leaving Fenrir did not forget to turn around and give the orangedy a gloating look. Then the pup winked at the bluedy, and jumped out the carriage. It did not bother to check if it was being pursued, and instead immediately grew its size and began running. In the carriage, the bluedy was sitting shocked by what happened, her mouth hung open. "Did that pup just steal from me?" She asked with a hint of excitement in her voice. "Let''s follow it. I want to see who would be daring enough to target us." "No, let''s chase it! I want to see if it can get away!" ¡¤?¦Èm Immediately her aura erupted, which was quickly followed by thirteen other intimidating auras. Yet Fenrir was not rmed even as it sensed danger. Big brother Innkeeper would not have trusted it if it didn''t have any abilities. Immediately the pup turned invisible, and all traces of it were lost. The twodies, as well as eleven intimidating looking men appeared where the pups aura had disappeared and began scanning the area. Surprisingly, they could not locate it! Just as they were beginning to grow shocked that a small pup could evade their search, a small bark was heard from deeper within the town. Fenrir did not forget to taunt the orange tingeddy. Chapter 598 New Novel When the group heard the pups barking they immediately moved to the area they heard it from, yet the pup was nowhere in sight when they appeared. Perhaps if anyone else were taunting them like this, the group would have been more upset, or possibly evenpletely enraged. But since the perpetrator was Fenrir, they somehow found it quite cute, and even silently wished him some encouragement. Like this, slowly but steadily, the group began to move closer to the Midnight tavern. ***** At the Noel manor, Bertram was preparing all the staff so that everyone knew what to say and what not to say. News of Pvarti being in town absolutely could not be allowed to spread. In fact, any news about Pvarti was best not mentioned at all. He was ready to host his iing guests, and promptly escort them away from the town as quickly as possible. He knew that they wouldn''t be able to harm Pvarti at the tavern. What he was worried about was them venting their frustrations on the town once they discovered that. ***** Pvarti was not one who was easily frightened, yet the way Lex was smiling at him made him feel ufortable. That in itself was extremely unusual. Although Pvarti may seem very non-serious, no one could deny his guts. He had broken off his engagement with a very notorious family without regard for how they might feel based on his principals, and had faced his father''s wrath directly for going against what he wanted. Even when he was kicked out of the Noel family, he had not shown any disgruntlement. So how was it that a mere smile from Lex had him on edge? "You said you think some trouble ising to find me," said Pvarti as he looked at Lex. "What kind of trouble are you referring to? Is it from my ex? I don''t think they should be able to cause the tavern any problems." "If anyone dares to act inappropriately within the tavern premises, they will not be allowed to do as they please - of that I can assure you. But have you considered the situation where someone can cause you issues without breaking any of the tavern''s rules? In that case, there''s not much I can do." This time, Pvarti was genuinely confused. What kind of threat could someone pose if they were not trying to beat him up? Surely they wouldn''t kill him over a broken engagement? But even if it were that, the tavern would intervene. So then what was it? Lex did not say more, and instead gave him a supporting pat on the back, before he began talking to the other guests in the tavern. Although his projection had often appeared at the tavern, he didn''t pay much attention to it besides just keeping it running. Now that he was back, for however brief a time, he should look into what the locals thought of the tavern. After all, it would take Fenrir some time to attract the opportunity- eh, no, he meant, attract thedy towards the tavern. But Fenrir''s return did not take long at all. The pup, which had maintained its small size for stealth purposes, arrived at the tavern only five minutester, a rather opulent ne hanging around its tiny neck. A bob of his head and a wink was all Lex needed to do before Fenrir hopped up onto Pvarti''s table, and justy down on it. The little pup let out a low ''woof'' before yawning and falling asleep right on the table. Pvarti, who was especially sensitive to everything due to Lex''s warning, eyed the pup warily. As if its arrival was not suspicious enough, it actually wore a ne filled with valuable jewels. "Wait a minute¡­" he murmured as the ne suddenly sparked a memory. He had seen it before, around the neck of that woman¡­ The doors to the tavern mmed open, attracting everyone''s attention. Lex did not appreciate the way his property was being treated, but considering that he was the one who attracted these people here, he let it slide. For now. Over a dozen people walked in, with twodies leading the way. Thedy who had been tinged in blue, at least to Fenrir, suddenly locked eyes with Pvarti, stunning both of them. Although Pvarti already knew they wereing, and might even arrive at the tavern to find him, he was still taken aback at the visage that was gracing him. So caught up in the moment was he that he did not even notice as Fenrir suddenly shifted from the table, to sleeping on his shoulder. Now, no one would believe Fenrir had no rtion to Pvarti. The room fell silent as everyone focused on thedy and Pvarti staring at onr another, an invisible tension filling the air. It was not the tension of being caught in between a dangerous situation, but rather it was the tension built by the flutist who had immediately read the room. As for the crowd, they werepletely enraptured by the possibility of some drama. Not to mention, drama involving the extremely popr Pvarti and and an enchanting maiden surrounded by burly guards. Thedy''s sight changed subtly from the stunnedd to the pup sleeping on its shoulder. "So you''re the miscreant daring enough to steal from little Jasmine. It seems you''re developing a knack for messing with our family," said thedy with the orange tinge. Pvarti looked at the pup sleeping on his shoulder and immediately understood something, yet he did not even try to deny his involvement. Instead he rubbed Fenrir''s back, as if approving of its actions. "My life''s been just too goodtely," he said, revealing a charming smile. "I thought I should do something to make it interesting." "Maybe I can do something about that," said one of the surrounding men aggressively, but the miss ''Jasmine'' stopped him. With a soft smile she slowly approached Pvarti. Just as she reached him, and was about to speak, the sound of a shattering dish attracted everyone''s attention. Nani, one of the triplets, was silently mouthing the word ''sorry''. Too focused and distracted by the excitement, she had walked with a tray full of dishes into the counter. Undeterred by the interruption, Jasmine sat across Pvarti and said, "I heard you were kicked from your family." "Tch. I wasn''t kicked out, I left out on my own. I can''t y by others rules, I want to follow my own path." "And you thought the darkness was the best time to do that?" "What does that have to do with anything?" He asked, maintaining is cool. "And it never urred to you that without your family''s protection, you might get into trouble with mine? You know I have eleven big brothers who are all immortals!" "Miss Jasmine, I am a free man and who I marry is my own prerogative. One should not be so overbearing." Eleven auras immediately erupted in the hall, and Jasmine''s brother were staring daggers at while emotions started to build up in Jasmine''s eyes. Pvarti hid it well, but he was feeling extremely nervous. If only he could have seen the anticipation in Lex''s eyes. He could feel his opportunitying. Finally Jasmine couldn''t hold it in any longer, and pped the table. "SEE MOTHER, I TOLD YOU! HE''S A REAL MAN! HE FORSOOK HIS ENTIRE FAMILY AND RISKED THE THREAT OF PROVOKING POPS JUST TO HONOR MY WISH NOT TO GET MARRIED! I''VE DECIDED! I''M ONLY MARRYING HIM!"n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om For some odd reasons, Jasmine''s announcement further aggravated her brothers, whose aura became even more fearsome. Pvarti was thoroughly startled, and finally lost hisposure while the flutist immediately transitioned into a celebratory tune. Looking at the scene Lex couldn''t help but recall a novel he read. Its title was ''My father-inw is a gangster.'' In the novel, the main character was forced to get married to the daughter of a gangster who had 9 brothers who were also all gangsters. In the novel, the daughter had fallen in love with the main character due to a misunderstanding. The entire novel just revolved around the hrious situations the main character found himself in due to various misunderstandings, until eventually the book ended with the main character bing the gangster boss. In Lex''s eyes, Pvarti and the main character were beginning to ovep. "Mi- miss Jasmine, I think you''re jumping to conclusions. You cannot just simply rush into things." "Ohe now, Pvarti. After you told me you''d reject the wedding and take the me if I said so, I suddenly felt like testing you. I haven''t seen many men with the guts to reject my father to his face. I can still recall the moment when you boldly rejected the engagement, suffering all the fallout on your own. I thought you''d buckle under the pressure and reveal I asked you to do so, but who knew you''d keep the secret to the end, even going as far as being removed from your family. Only true love can make a man so bold, I know it! And I feel it too, Pvarti! I love you, I know it! Oh, I can''t wait. Our wedding will be so grand." Chapter 599 Marital Status Pvarti''s mouth hung open as he was too dumbstruck by what was happening! This woman had overturned his entire life just as a ''test''? It was not easy for him to do the honorable thing, though lowkey he was not so interested in getting married anyway. Hisck of interest in marriage was not the important thing here. Although he acted carefree, he had undertaken a lot of stress during this entire time. There was honestly a short time where he thought his father might actually end up killing him just to appease Jasmine''s family. But during all this, he felt a certain self satisfaction knowing that although his life was thoroughly messed up, he had done something admirable. Now though, he was being informed that the admirable thing he had done was nothing more than the whim of a spoiled girl. Well, he had already lost everything he had to lose. He absolutely could not get married to her. Pvarti opened his mouth to speak, but a sudden loud p in the room attracted everyone''s attention. "What lovely news," Lex eximed with a broad smile. "The next round is on the house. Such happy news deserves celebration." The crowd in the room cheered and the triplets immediately began to serve everyone drinks. In the momentary distraction all the activity caused, Lex used his spirit sense tomunicate with Pvarti. "The youngdy you are about to reject, for the second time, has brought 11 earth immortal body guards. Although the tavern can protect you, unless you want to spend the rest of your life inside the tavern, you need to y it smart." Pvarti paused, and immediately recalled that Lex had warned him that he was about to encounter some trouble that the tavern could not help him avoid. Indeed this was a dilemma. If Jasmine or her family reacted poorly, then he would be stuck living here until he ran out of money. He shed Lex a grateful look before turning to look at Jasmine. Although he could not understand what was going through her head pulling a stunt like this, he was clear on the fact that her family still did not think positively of him. He could use that to his advantage. "Miss Jasmine," he began politely, but the jubnt girl immediately interrupted him. "Call me Jasmine, or Jassie. Prefixes are too formal for the kind of rtionship we have." Pvarti smiled awkwardly and began again.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Jasmine, the situation before and now are different. Back when we first met, our families had aligned interests. Now, I do not even have a family to speak of. I don''t think someone like me is appropriate for someone with a background as prestigious as yours." "Oh don''t be silly. The moment the Noel family hears the news, they''lle hoping to take you back. Even if they don''t, you can just be a member of my family. It''s not an issue." "No dear, he''s right," replied thedy beside Jasmine. "We should not rush into things, and it would not be appropriate if a man with no name to speak of marries you. Think of how it will reflect on your father. At least, before we do anything we should have a meeting with the Noel family. Just because there was a business deal before does not mean that the same deal will be relevant. We will needpensation for the humiliation we have faced." "Compensation?" Pvarti repeated, a sudden frown appearing on his face. "You wantpensation? I broke off the wedding because your daughter told me she was being forced to marry, and that she did not want to. I shouldered the entire me to protect her, only to find out that this is nothing more than a game orchestrated at your daughter''s whim." Although Pvarti was not disying his aura the way Jasmine''s brothers were, an aggressive aura was being formed around him. No matter how he behaved, his noble upbringing and training could not be denied. "Let alone I have no interest in this matter, what does the Noel family have to do with me? I don''t know if you''ve heard, but we have parted ways. So if you want to use-" Jasmine was only getting more and more excited as Pvarti spoke, but her brothers were not the same. His tone was too impolite when addressing their mother, so one of the many brothers made a move. Unfortunately for him, Lex was also not one to tolerate impropriety. With sufficient warning from his intuition, he activated the formation long before the brother attacked, and at the first indication that he was making a move, Lex froze him by trapping in a ''room'' that was exactly his shape.I think you should take a look at The sudden dangerous fluctuation, as well as its equally quick disappearance startled Pvarti and stopped him from speaking, but before he could make much sense of what happened, Lex loudly cleared his throat. "On this asion of reunion, why don''t we all calm down a little, and talk with cool heads." He took a few slow steps before arriving at the frozen brother and patted him a few times. Considering the fact that he was an immortal, Lex did not hold back his strength. He was not intending to hurt him anyway, more like he was attracting attention to the fact that he was frozen. "To be honest, I don''t even care if you don''t talk with cool heads," Lex continued, this time his smile disappearing. He wore a stern look and stared at the mother, as well as all the brothers in the eyes. "But the Midnight tavern is not a ce where you can throw your weight around." Among the many formations that had been established at the tavern, one was called Dragons wake. It emted the suppressive aura of a dragon, though extremely magnified. The formation served only as a deterrent, as it could do nothing other than disy that aura, and that too for a brief period of time. Lex had used it back then to scare Zagan away, which spoke of how effective it really was. Now, for a brief moment, he used it again and focused it only on Pvarti and the people confronting him. Poor Pvarti, who had been a victim in this entire situation, was suddenly frozen stiff and his mind went nk. Lex had not weakened the formation since he was targeting an entire group of immortals, but those with a weaker cultivation were unable to handle it. Pvarti totally nked out, his mind shutting downpletely. Jasmine, who was right next to Pvarti, fell over on to him, tripping the two. The mother had somehow managed to keep her mind from shutting down, but she was clearly affected by it as she suddenly went pale and began sweating. The brothers handled it the best, and admirably all took up defensive poses, showing no sign of running away. But it was clear that they harbored no hope of contending against the aura, as the look in their eyes was panicked and fearful. Lex did not speak, and allowed them all to recover naturally. After a few seconds went by, the brothers realized that they weren''t actually being attacked, and had only been warned. They looked at Lex with reverence and fear in their eyes, not daring to move closer to him. The next to recover was the mother, who swept her eyes on Lex again, and began reassessing him. Strangely, there was no fear in her eyes, but a strange sparkle. Finally, the sound of a groan awakened everyone from their stupors, and attracted their attention to the ground. Pvarti was lying on his back, and right on top of him was Jasmine. Despite the awkward situation, they had managed to avoid anything inappropriate happening. But Pvarti and Jasmine had once again locked eye contact, this time from much closer. Having notpletely recovered, Pvarti could not control himself and mumbled, "you smell nice." Jasmine blushed and did not respond. Even though she had decided to marry Pvarti, things were moving a bit too fast, right? Before her thoughts were allowed to wander, her mother grabbed her hand and yanked her up, as Lex reached down to help Pvarti up as well. This was all excellent. So long as all the parties stayed at odds with one another, it would be extremely easy for Lex to get what he wanted. Since his intuition had clearly told him that there was a great opportunity waiting for him with Jasmine and her family, he had done his best to manipte events, allowing him a chance to build a strong reputation. "How about we retreat to a private room and have a civilized meeting?" Lex suggested. "All guests are wee at the tavern as long as they don''t try to kill one another - at least inside the tavern." "Yes, yes, let''s go," the mother said with a hint of eagerness. "By the way, child, are you married yourself? Important things like this shouldn''t be dyed." Chapter 600 Hidden Dangers Without the Host Attire to help him control himself, it took his entire being to stop himself from tumbling when he heard thedy''s question. Was he married? He just used dragon aura to intimidate the hell out of them all, but instead of getting scared, the woman started head hunting a husband for her daughter? Hopefully her daughter. Regardless of her intentions, Lex only replied with a smile and said nothing. He was not about to fall into this trap. If he engaged in this conversation, he was done for. Whether he epted or denied it, he would have entered her web. The only way to avoid the whole situation was to just ignore the question, as many times as it came up. For if it had been mentioned once, he had a feeling it would be brought up again. He led them into the private room and asked the triplets to bring them some food as they all sat down. Lex looked over the various brothers and admired the fact that all of them were earth immortals. Either whatever family they were from were incredibly talented, or had immense discipline and knowledge on cultivation. Regardless of whatever arrogance, or strange marital practices they may have, they deserved respect. Moreover,ing from a family with such an impressive resume, Jasmine''s potential was also probably incredible. Of course, Lex did not really care much for her or anyone else''s potential right now. Instead, what he wanted was information on the Kraven. Everyone took a seat, but said nothing as the triplets set down some snacks as well as several drinks. Although Lex did not hope to be able to intoxicate immortals, he had them bring out some of the better selection they had. Once they were done and left the room, Lex finally sat down. Pvarti and Jasmine sat next to one another, with Jasmine''s focus fixed solely on him. Whether Pvarti was ufortable with the situation or not, he did not let it show. Instead, he eagerly began sipping his drink. Regardless of the situation, his love for the Midnight tavern''s drinks could not be affected. Opposite to Lex sat Jasmine''s mother, and her gaze was locked onto Lex. Though she was not alone in that regard, as all the brothers were focused on him as well. "Now," Lex finally began, shing his most courteous smile. "I believe everyone got off on the wrong foot. Unless remedied, such circumstances can lead topletely deteriorating the situation for everyone involved. I believe it is in everyone''s best interests if they get along. If my presence is serving as a barricade, I can leave you all to have your discussion, but I must strongly urge you all to remain civil. My tavern is not like others, which tolerate bar fights and needless scuffles." "No no, how can your illustrious presence be anything but a blessing? Please stay, I believe your presence will¡­ yes, will help keep everyone calm so that we don''t end up falling into further misunderstandings." The mother was quite insistent that Lex stay, and oddly, the brothers all seemed to nod along. Despite his sixth sense, he was not sure if they were just going along with their mother, or they genuinely believed that. Pvarti, who was more familiar with the tavern and Lex, did not feel the need to fawn over him. Instead, he had to do his best to fight his own instincts and stop himself from something inappropriate. His thoughts were¡­ unusual at the moment, to say the least. Even he himself could not predict what he might end up doing if he stopped restraining himself. "What''s there to talk about anyway?" He asked, the foam of his drink still bubbling on his upper lip. "I, the magnanimous Pvarti, will gift you this ne. Consider it your pensation''. After that, you can be on your merry way, and we need not ever cross paths again." He was clear that Jasmine''s family still held a grudge against him, so ying on that was his best bet to get out of this situation. Unfortunately, he was the only person in the room without a hidden agenda, so his suggestion, as ridiculous as it was, was never bound to be epted. Furthermore¡­ it was at that moment everyone realized that the small pup wearing the ne had disappeared!n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om When everyone was under the pressure of the dragon''s aura, Fenrir ran off to y. He had not been targeted by the aura to begin with, so he had no problem taking advantage of the distraction it presented. Moreover, his stealth capabilities were top notch. Before an awkward silence could develop, Jasmine spoke up. "Oh darling, don''t be so mean. Although our time apart may have been unpleasant for you, there was no real harm suffered. Besides, you''ve proved yourself to be a real man. Daddy will surely appreciate you for that. There''s no need to sully our rtionship with dirty things like business deals." Lex looked at Jasmine oddly, as did Pvarti. It appeared as though¡­ the young woman waspletely oblivious to the actual situation. In her mind, the only reason Pvarti was upset was not because of the tiny little prank she yed, but because he was so deeply in love with her that their separation had left him resentful.I think you should take a look at "I think that''s a wonderful idea," Jasmine''s mother said. "In fact, such happy asions should not be dyed. I have already sent news to your father, and he will hurry here with the rest of your 37 brothers, and 14 sisters. I think this tavern is a wonderful venue, why don''t we have the wedding here?" Before Pvarti could object, Jasmine shrieked in excitement, and leaped at him, knocking the both of them over again. Lex was too stunned at the size of Jasmine''s family to object. He noticed that the mother¡­ failed to mention her husband having other wives. Did that mean she gave birth to all those children!?! Before he could decide on whether he was impressed or horrified, the ''opportunity'' that his intuition had hinted at finally arrived, with the pleasant ting of a system notification. Lex froze. At the moment, he had a particr interest inpleting system quests, so the moment he heard the familiar notification sound, he began checking his system. New Quest: A distinguished family has decided to use a subsidiary establishment of the Inn, the Midnight tavern, as the venue for a family wedding. Host a wedding worthy of the special union about to take ce. Quest Reward: Subject to performance Remarks: Since the chances of getting married yourself are slim, live vicariously and experience your fantasies For a brief moment, Lex struggled about which objective to prioritize. Should he try to get the SSS+ quest rating, or should he focus on getting information on the Kraven. The strugglested only a second, though. The Kraven were going nowhere, but achieving such a high rating on a quest on purpose would be incredibly difficult. He could not let a single opportunity pass him by. "Marry, we have an emergency situation! Get everyone who is not doing anything important, and start watching Indian wedding movies! Get me a list of the most extravagant requirements for weddings that exist! Get Velma involved, tell her there''s a love story on the line. Get Z to start watching wedding anime if they exist! I want all resources focused on this! This is the Inn''s top priority! In fact, start scanning all the guests for potential wedding nners! I can''t let a single opportunity pass me by!" With the order passed, Lex looked at Pvarti sympathetically. Lex hated using him like this but¡­ it was probably for his own good right? With such powerful inws, he would probably live a good life. Hopefully. Maybe. Then he recalled the fact that Jasmine had 62 siblings. Well, if the family had any strange traditions about the number of kids, he might have to suffer a little. But such was life. "It seems the bride and groom can''t even keep their hands off of each other," Lex said with a gracious smile, as one of Jasmine''s brothers pulled her off Pvarti again. "Yes. No, I mean no, I''m not like that," stuttered the bewildered Pvarti. "No wait, I mean, I didn''t agree to this." "Yes, yes, honey-booboo is right. He probably wants to invite his family as well. Surely he''s a little bitter about how they treated him before, but blood is thicker than water afterall," said Jasmine, her eyes practically turning into hearts as she looked at Pvarti. "Yes, yes, a lot of nning is needed," the mother said. "Not to mention, your other sisters are getting along in age as well. We might as well use this opportunity to look for suitable husbands for them too. What do you think, Mr¡­ oh look at that, we were so caught up in all the excitement that Ipletely forgot to catch your name." Lex suddenly felt goosebumps all over his body. This quest¡­ would be more dangerous than he anticipated. Chapter 601 Alpha Male Lex smiled politely at the mother, while doing his best to resist cursing her. It was extremely important to get along with her because her family was the main target for the existing quest. He also had to keep in mind that while he had to make this wedding as exquisite as possible, he had to cater to the family''s wishes and requirements as well. To do all that, he had to maintain a cordial rtionship with them, so he had to put up with the unnecessarily eager mother¡­n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "My name is Lex. It''s a pleasure to meet you." "No, no, the pleasure is all mine. My name is Jolene, but everyone just calls me mom." Before the conversation progressed any further, Pvarti had finally recovered from the¡­ from the tackle he received from Jasmine and spoke up. "Hey, hey, hey, hey, this is moving way too fast. I didn''t agree to any of this. Don''t think I''m a man who can be forced into things!" Although Pvarti usually yed a very casual and carefree character, Lex had to admit that it took a certain level of conviction and determination to reject such a marriage, even at the risk of personal consequences. If his personality was really of the lovable town idiot, he would not have been able to bear such a burden. Lex had genuine respect for that aspect of him. Unfortunately, Lex was invested in this wedding now, so¡­ "Allow me to have a word with him," Lex said with a smile before anyone else could speak up. Using the spatial maniption formation, he formed a separate room, containing only Pvarti and him. This way no one would be able to hear them speak. Lex also surrounded themselves with dark Imperial Shields, blocking their sight to prevent lip reading. "The situation does not seem to be in your favor," Lex said, a trace of sympathy in his voice. "Tell me what you want, I''ll try to help you get it." "I want to be free from that girl," Pvarti said, his voice extremely forceful yet somehowcking conviction. "I mean, didn''t you hear her? She yed with my entire life on a whim, when I was being kind to her! If I stay with her, she''ll y with my entire life as if it were a game!" Lex nodded, as he could clearly understand what Pvarti was saying, but didn''t immediately respond. Instead, after a short pause, he asked, "tell me Pvarti, what do you envision your future as?" The young noble was taken aback by the sudden question, but did not hesitate to answer. "I may not have the financial support of my family anymore, but they can''t take my knowledge away from me. I have the understanding and the techniques required to raise my cultivation further. I''ll grow strong, and eventually start my own family. Maybe I''ll even take control of a small region somewhere." "An admirable goal," Lexmented, genuine praise in his voice. "But now, I want you to imagine the scenario for a moment. Let''s imagine that you''ve managed to dissuade Jasmine''s family, and have once again rejected the wedding. You did this so that they don''t interfere with your life, or in your own words, y with your life anymore. Do you really think they will just let you be after that? Or let you grow strong? Or establish your own power?" Pvarti frowned. This was not the first time he had thought of this concern. Truth be told, he had only formed a tentative n of relying on the Midnight Inn for refuge if things got too troublesome. But the fact that the Inn was too expensive to rely on indefinitely without any real ie was a major issue. "I don''t want to force you into something you don''t want," Lex continued upon seeing that Pvarti was not replying. "However, I will give you a suggestion. Just think about it and consider for yourself what is best. Regardless of whether you get married or not, the interference of Jasmine and her family in your life will not be over. If you do get married to her, and you happen to reenter your Noel family, then she will be forced to join your family, instead of you hers. Then you will have a lot more control over the situation. Moreover, with the power and resources of both families avable to you, you will be able to go much farther than you can go by yourself." Lex paused for a moment to let Pvarti absorb all this information, and contemte for himself what was the right course of action. Just because Lex had presented the information did not mean he believed that Pvarti would follow it blindly. He had to let him reach the conclusion on his own. In fact, Lex nned to divert Pvarti''s attention by adding anotheryer ofplexity to the situation. It burdened Lex''s innocent heart with immense guilt to do this, but it was for Pvarti''s own good, and was not at all hitting two birds with one stone.I think you should take a look at "If I''m being perfectly honest, although I genuinely think this is the best course of action for you, I also have a bit of an agenda in persuading you towards this marriage." Pvarti narrowed his eyes and looked at Lex. Although he had not mentioned it, he of course noticed that Lex had taken a side for the marriage instead of helping him. "The reason I''m telling you this," Lex lied in a very modest tone of voice, "is because without your help, even if I push this wedding forward I won''t really gain anything. That''s why I''m being up front with you as well. If we cane to an understanding, we can move forward with the situation, making sure to benefit the both of us. If not, then I can help you avoid the family''s pressure, and you can figure out a way you think is more suitable to handle this situation." "What exactly do you need?" Pvarti asked suspiciously. "I need information. Extremely sensitive information. I want to know why the human royal family, as well as the other races, aren''t fully resisting the Kraven invasions. There are secrets rted to the Kraven that only a very few know, and I want to find out what it is. Even Aegis, the crown prince of Hum, did not have this information - though that was mostly a result of his ownzy attitude. "I believe that Jasmine''s family will have some records or details about the truth. If you can join their family, and be an important member, then you can help me get that information. In exchange, I can use some resources from the tavern and the Inn to help you increase your importance to the families. That way, you solidify your position, and gain the support you need, and I get the information that I want." While Lex was not lying about wanting information about the Kraven, that was not his priority at the moment. He was just using one truth to hide another - that he really wanted Pvarti to agree to the wedding! "Jasmine''s family is a vassal force of the Cornelius family, so they definitely have an important position in the empire," Pvarti confirmed. After spending a few moments to consider, he decided that what Lex said was the truth. If that was the case, then he could rely on Lex to help him. After all, nothing was more reliable than a rtionship of mutual benefits. "Fine, what you say makes sense. But you have to help me negotiate with them and make sure they agree to my conditions before the wedding takes ce. Jasmine HAS to join my family instead of me joining hers. Otherwise, I''ll never be anything more than a puppet, and I cannot ept such a thing." "It''s only fair," Lex agreed with him shamelessly, and shook his hands. Once they had reached a resolution, Lex dismissed his shields and dispersed the separate room. "I have excellent news," Lex announced with a massive smile "After a brief conversation, Pvarti has realized that he indeed desires this union." Lex looked towards Jasmine, and continued. "Naturally, as a prime dominant alpha male specimen, he has to ensure that Jasmine can match his caliber." Ensuring that Pvarti''s demands would be met would require Jasmine''s support, and since Jasmine was such a fan of how ''manly'' Pvarti was, that was the only card he had to y to convince her. He was cringing internally as he spoke, yet his words seemed to resonate with Jasmine. No one had dared make demands of her family in such an up front manner before, and it excited her even more. Pvarti truly was the man of her dreams. Suddenly the look in her eyes became feral, and she once again pounced on Pvarti, but this time her brothers responded in time and caught her beforehand. "Lex, why don''t you and I speak privately for a moment as well?" Jolene asked, winking at him. Chapter 602 Developments The situation on earth had taken a turn for the worst. The casualties were catastrophic during the first few weeks of fighting, but had recently started to decrease. The prime cause of the decrease was not that the fighting had diminished. No, far from it in fact. The level of fighting had increased drastically. The real reason for the drop in casualties was that of the remaining poption, over 90% over the ages of 15 had be cultivators in some capacity. Most had be followers of Amana and Adamas, with men usually leaning towards Amana and women leaning towards Adamas. Although that alone did not raise their cultivation levels through the roof, it raised their survivability. The second thing that raised the survivability of the humans¡­ was the appearance of a few devils, and a whole lot of demons. No one knew how they arrived on earth, probably in a simr fashion to the deities, but they strongly supported the factions led by the old powers of earth, namely Richard, Sam and Fateh the Fatty! Brandon and Elizabeth were the only ones who had not participated in this coalition. Due to their long history and sudden increase in power, arge chunk of the surviving humans flocked to them as well. The deities also did not object to the devils, so that made it extremely convenient, although when news spread, the Jotun empire strongly condemned this action! A strange power shift was urring on earth these days, with the battle being slowly limited to a few regions on earth, and sometimes in space. The greatest change was the fact that the new powers, the deities and the devils, both restricted the use of golden keys to escape earth. The act of running away not only weakened earth, it reduced morale - at least ording to them. As such, fewer and fewer people were running away from earth these days, instead choosing to stand and fight. The situation seemed to have reached an equilibrium of sorts, despite the fact that the fighting never stopped. Amidst all of this, there was one tiny power that had somehow survived, untouched both by devils and deities. The Kingdom of New York, under the rule and protection of King Marlo, its armies led by genius general Rafael, heir to the Kingdom, managed to protect its sovereignty using only its own forces. There were also rumors of a special elite unit consisting of a samurai, a man of metal impervious to all damage, and the final, mysterious member known only as the Dark Invader, who seemed to have control over the darkness. This elite unit had no name, since officially their existence had not been announced, but those who whispered of their strength had started calling them¡­ the Powered Rangers!n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om On a battlefield near Niagara falls, Larry was moving from one robot corpse to another. Although most of the initial invading force of these robot aliens had bodies made of organic matter and were varied, the ones who had beening most recently had started to show signs of mass production and had more of a uniform structure. That also meant moremon materials were used in their manufacturing - thoughmon here was only a rtive term. Only an approximate 15% of their bodies were made up of metals, but that was more than enough for Larry. He would not let a single scrap of this metal pass him by, as these metals could not be found on earth. Moreover, they were excellent conductors for spiritual energy, and were thus excellent fuel for him to raise his cultivation realm.I think you should take a look at His eyes werepletely focused as he performed his tasks, but hidden deep behind them was an unwavering conviction. Jeffery had thought he was condemning Larry by having the invaded by aliens. Instead, he had provided him with excellent resources to power up, and once Larry was strong, he would get his revenge! ***** "Lex, why don''t you and I speak privately for a moment as well?" Jolene asked, winking at him. Lex had already steeled himself by now, so he did not have a strong reaction to her antics. He was, however, somewhat surprised at her relentless pursuit, even though she was supposedly facing someone so dangerous. Even her sons, who were much stronger than her, acted with an air of caution while shepletely maintained her role as a mama, looking for a husband for her daughter. "Why not?" Lex said, as he erected Imperial shields around them and locked them in a separate space, much in the way he had done with Pvarti. Though he had no intentions of falling for her antics, he had to admire hermitment to the cause. "I love my children, but sometimes it''s good to just talk between adults, don''t you think?" she asked with a warm smile, as if she were addressing an old friend. "It is easier to talk to someone with a level head," Lex answered,pletely ignoring the fact that despite being called an ''adult'' among children, he was actually the youngest in the room. "Before we get into the thick of things, shall we properly introduce ourselves? Everything has happened a little abruptly. I was not prepared to run into such a distinguished establishment out here." "Of course, it is naturally for the best. After all, if you intend to hold your daughter''s wedding in my humble establishment, then you must understand the ce well. My name is Lex, as you already know, and this is the Midnight tavern. There''s not much to tell, really. I enjoy thepany of people, and bringing happiness and joy to all, so I opened up this little ce where guests cane and unwind. "Drinks flow freely, and though my selection is a little more limited for more distinguished guests, I do have something in the cer that can be brought out for such a wonderful asion. Although the Noel family has been very gracious to me, and even the crown prince of Hum nation is a good friend of mine, I prefer the simple life and tend to stay away from¡­ unnecessary politics and strife. So long as no onees and bothers me, or my guests, I will not bother anyone in return." Chapter 603 Relentless Jolene maintained her smiling appearance while Lex spoke, and did not show any changes, keeping her thoughts hidden. Naturally, such a thing waspletely ineffective against Lex. Not only did he have his sixth sense giving him feedback, his intuition was also providing him with a sense of what she was feeling. Moreover, after confirming with his intuition that it was safe, he conducted a little experiment with his soul sense. He used it to observe any fluctuations in Jolene''s soul. Lex could not observe in too much detail, as she would likely sense something amiss even without a soul sense of her own, but it was enough to simply observe from afar. Although her thoughts did not cause any prominent changes to her soul, Lex could clearly determine that she was in an excited yet tense state. Basically, she knew she had stumbled across an opportunity, but also knew that she had to be cautious to make use of it. After noticing that Lex did not respond to any of her previous hints and suggestions, she decided to make one final attempt. If that did not work, she would employ less direct, and more long term measures. If there was one thing she was adept at, it was finding spouses for her children. Considering that noble and powerful families existed for thousands upon thousands of years, they naturally had many children. As such, many noble families had their children marry one another.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Obviously, not all noble families had an equal status or power, but it was impossible to expect that each child would marry into an equally powerful, or even more powerful family. That was one of the reasons the Noel family had an opportunity to connect to theirs in the first ce - besides the obvious developing business connections. Now that she had encountered a new independent and potentially untapped power, there was no way she wouldn''t try to secure the connection for one of her children. The fact that he had a friendship with the genius crown prince only added more legitimacy to his establishment. "I envy your freedom. Between managing my husband''s estate, and all the numerous political appearances I have to make, I barely get time to attend my own childrens weddings. My husband Is Laurent Phillips, Duke of the Phillips province, home to one of the few Etherium mines in all of the crystal realm. The fact that King Cornelius let our family maintain operations of the mine, instead of controlling it themselves, speaks of the close bond and trust we share with the royal family." Lex was, naturally, familiar with Etherium, though it had to be admitted that the only reason he remembered it was because of his improved memory and intelligence. He had taken a list of all themonly sold valuable items at the Infinity Emporium, as well as their uses. Etherium was listed there, with its description stating that it was an incredibly valuable ore used in the manufacturing of machines, gear and weapons suited for immortals. Etherium mining was one of the profitable businesses in the entire Origin realm, so much so that inter-gctic wars had been fought over especiallyrge mines. If what Jolene said was true, then they truly were very closely associated with the royal family. That posed both an opportunity and a risk for Lex. He wanted to avoid the king and his attention, but the close rtion meant that the Phillips family probably had all the valuable information he needed. "I''m sure their trust is well ced. It is an honor for me to host you at my humble establishment."I think you should take a look at "Not humble at all," she rebuked, waving her hand. "Don''t think I will let appearances fool me. Although you''ve styled your ce to seem nondescript, I can immediately identify Dribble Oak wood. Even my husband would notin while staying here." The Dribble Oak wood she was talking about came from a round of upgrades the tavern underwent when the Midnight Inn underwent the star rank increase. Since the star ranking of the tavern couldn''t be increased, since it was not in a separate realm, the entire tavern building and its entire structure was upgraded. The Dribble Oak wood was a special kind of wood that was especially sturdy, and generally was considered indestructible. That was because the more physical force that was applied to it, the stronger it became. Cutting the tree required immortals using their personal strength and vast amounts of spirit energy. Other than being sturdy, it also cleaned the air of impurities, gave off a fresh smell and would generally attract spiritual energy around itself. Lex only smiled at herment but said nothing else. "Now that we have been properly introduced," Jolene began, "let''s talk about the issue at hand. Although it was not my wish, it is clear that Jasmine has taken a great liking to young Pvarti. It seems inevitable that they will get married, regardless of what anyone says." "Indeed that seems to be the case," Lex said while nodding. "Though I don''t see why you wish to discuss that with me. I am only here to provide services should anyone need them. I do not interfere in my guests'' business - at least unless they are about to harm my tavern or my guests." Lex did not even flinch as he lied shamelessly. "Hmm, indeed I do not wish for you to interfere in this matter, nor would I want someone else to handle my business. No, what I wish to talk about is the potential political repercussions that we''ll have to face as a result of this. I was hoping to have your cooperation so that we can mitigate any potential fallout, and keep the event going as smoothly as possible. After all, not everyone will want to see this union take ce. Anything can happen at any time. "As such, I''ll be assigning one of my mostpetent daughters to work with you, so that she can coordinate on my behalf as events unfold. Naturally, with all my duties, I cannot be here all the time, so she will take care of that for me." Chapter 604 Repulsive Lex could already determine what Jolene was trying to do. This was probably a rtivelymon custom amongst nobles and powerful cultivators, where he would spend time with Jolene''s daughter to determine if he liked her or not. Lex had no doubt that she would be a wonderful woman, but he had other concerns. Romance was thest on the list of things he was concerned about. "I look forward to working with her," Lexmented. "Just so that I know, when are you expecting this wedding to take ce? Since you have already contacted your family and told them to arrive, shall I expect the wedding to take ce as soon as they arrive? Of course, whatever your thoughts, I''m sure Pvarti and his family will also have some considerations." "My daughter, no doubt, is in a great rush to get married. As much as I would like to indulge her, these things can never be quick or simple. Were these ordinary circumstances, an engagement period of even 10 years would not be unusual. As it happens, due to the various¡­plications that have resulted due to the very public rejection and then reunion, the process will be sped up as much as possible. "Various important guests will be invited and some backdoor negotiations will take ce. Even at the earliest, it will take a couple of months." Lex did not show any reaction, yet he was internally disappointed. Waiting a couple of months, at the very least, was already too long. He could not afford to sit here and wait while this happened, but at the same time, he more or less expected as such. The only real option he had was to begin his journey, heading towards either Valesco, to meet the Crystal race elder, or anywhere else he could expect to find some answers. In the meantime, he could use his remote presence ability to coordinate with Pvarti, Jolene, her daughter, or whoever else. "Is there anything else you want to talk about?" Lex asked. Although talking privately made things more convenient, nothing they talked about really required a separated conversation. So that meant that whatever Jolene really wanted to talk about was still left.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Actually, the matter I wanted to talk about is unrted to the wedding. Your tavern, due to its deceivingly humble appearance, has provided a remarkably opportune location to facilitate¡­ certain tasks that I would rather confidential." "I''m d you find my establishment to be of use. How can I help?" "It is nothing tooplicated. Over the next few days, someone wille by and drop a package with you. Afterwards, at some point, I wille over and pick it up. Holding onto the package is not the issue. The issue is that the package''s container will not be able to restrict its aura for very long. If someone detects the aura of the items contained within the package, it would be quite problematic. As such, the package needs to be ced in apletely isted and enclosed environment. Naturally, when Ie by, I will rece the packaging, and take it away." "That is not an issue at all," Lex confirmed. "All the person needs to do is rent a room for the duration he wishes to keep the package hidden. I''ll ce the package in the room, and no one wille out or go in. I''ll even ce protections around the room to ensure none of the aura is leaked." Jolene nodded, but she wasn''tpletely satisfied. "This exchange means a lot to me, so I can''t just go ahead with it without testing it out first. I''ll pass along a sample to you that will behave simrly to the package I''m expecting. If you''re able to block its aura for three days, then I will proceed with the deal." "It''s not a problem," Lexmented simply. Jolene activated her spatial ring and summoned a small, palm sized ck box with no obvious. For now, the box appeared to bepletely normal, but if what Jolene said was true then soon it would begin to leak out a very noticeable aura. Lex reached forward and grabbed it, but while his spirit and soul sense could not detect anything from the box, the moment he touched it a grotesque and repulsive feeling filled him. The feeling was so potent that, even with all the practice he had maintaining his expression, he could not help but reveal a frown. The feeling wasing from his intuition, and it was telling him clearly that whatever was in the box was absolutely putrid. Lex brought his gaze up to Jolene, who seemed startled at his frown, but said nothing. After a moment, Lex put the box away in his own spatial bangle.I think you should take a look at "In three days, I''lle to collect the box from you," she said sheepishly. Lex only nodded, and without confirming the conclusion of their conversation, removed the shields surrounding them. They were once again reunited with the group, but instead of continuing the conversation with the group, Lex stood up. "There''s much left to discuss, but matters have happened fairly abruptly. How about an intermission to collect ourselves and our thoughts on the matter? After all parties involved have had a chance to discuss amongst themselves, you can reconvene to continue nning." Pvarti was not expecting such a sudden break from the meeting, but despite the private meeting Lex had with Jolene he was sure that Lex was on his side. In that case, going along with the n would only help him and not harm him. Jasmine was the most reluctant, but her mothers stern grip on her hand ensured that she did not misbehave. As it happened, Fenrir showed up once again and, forlornly, handed the ne back to Jasmine. Although the pup had wanted to keep it for himself, Lex had used their connection to get the pup to return it. Jolene, Jasmine and the rest departed, leaving Lex and Pvarti behind. He did not n on leaving, since the Phillips family was probably heading towards the Noel family mansion anyway. Instead, he used amunication talisman to send a message to his brother with a brief summary of what happened, and waited for them to contact him first. "Is everything alright?" Pvarti asked, sensing something off about Lex. Although he did not ask directly, even he could sense that Lex was unsettled after the private meeting with Jolene. "A small matter, unrted to you so no need for you to worry. I have a few tasks to take care of, so if you need me just leave a message at the bar." Pvarti only nodded and went back to the main hall where the flutist and dancer were finally taking a break. Jolene had already paid for a room for three days, but instead of going to one of the usual rooms, Lex went to the hidden rooms underneath the bar. There, he ced the repulsive ck box in the middle of a room. Originally Lex was nning on just blocking the room off using the spatial formation, but suddenly he decided that he needed to take more precautions. He summoned some of the Orion''s scale he had stocked up at the Inn and encased the box in them, before locking the space around them. That should be enough to hold off whatever aura the box was supposed to release. A part of Lex was extremely curious about what the box held. He had never felt something so repulsive, and he wanted no part in whatever business it involved. But technically speaking, Jolene was not breaking any of the rules for his tavern. He was bound to run into more situations in the future where he encountered unsavory things. He needed to decide how he would deal with them. For now, he was maintaining his neutrality, but if it began to wear on his consciousness he may try something else. With that done, Lex left the tavern. Although he nned on doing his best for this wedding, that did not involve wasting his time. Since he could manage the wedding using his remote presence, there was no point in sticking around. His first destination was the sea. His instincts had told him that there was something valuable under the water. Although going deep underwater was extremely dangerous, for it was always dark and served as the breeding ground or endless monster, if the seas'' dangers made thempletely untraversable then there wouldn''t be so much trade happening. Although he made no special preparations to keep his presence hidden, almost no one paid much attention to him as he made his way to the port. It was an extremely high traffic area so there was no reason to find his behavior suspicious. Moreover, he walked so calmly and confidently that no one felt he was out of ce. Even as he walked up to the water and suddenly jumped off the pier, no one noticed. Chapter 605 Under The Sea In a cold, gray-stone room, a singlemp produced a dim blue light. The light was barely enough to see, but more than enough to produce long, dark shadows that spread to the distant walls. On a throne simrly made of stone sat a repulsive slug-like creature, known as a Gti. It looked weak and tired, yet the aura it radiated was overbearing. Only those gray stone bs could support the pressure, and themp, of course, though barely. In front of the Gti, some distance away, stood a devil in its non-human form. It was ten feet tall, with a body seemingly made of ck rocks, with veins of magma pulsing between them. There were two curved horns on its head, and hovering in the air between those horns was a rock emitting a beautiful scarlet glow. "It hase to my lord''s attention that you have had some problems with the Midnight Inn," the devil said, his voice grating to hear. The Gti released an angry garbling noise and its aura exploded, but then it calmed itself down - though barely. "Yesssss!" it hissed. "My ve! My ve! They are keeping my ve from me! During its final reincarnation, my precious Dreamy Fox somehow escaped, and was reincarnated somewhere else. But I have its soul signature recorded. How can I not recognize it? I need it back before it matures! "A Dreamy Fox on the verge of its final evolution is the most important ingredient in the pill I''m refining. Without it, I will not be able to survive the tribtion that will ur when I enter the next realm. I have dyed my breakthrough long enough!" "My lord too wishes to acquire something from within the Midnight Inn. He is inviting you to join him. The only chance we have of sess is if we pool our strengths." "Are you not afraid of the Daolorddddddd?" the Gti hissed again, angrily!n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "My lord, Rockefeller''s father too, is a Daolord. As you know, we Devils have no shortage of Daolords. We fear no one." This time, the Gti did not hiss. Instead, after spending some time contemting, its body lifted into the air, and it approached the devil. ***** The sea water was pleasantly cold, though the water near the pier was somewhat grimy. It was not too deep either, as Lex could clearly see the surface when he reached the bottom. Of course, it also helped that this near Babylon, the seabed was imbedded with numerous rods, emitting a soft red light. In fact, these rods were spread on the seabed for a few miles around the town, to ensure no new monsters were spawned there. The town''s navy would inspect them almost weekly, alongside having numerous hunting expeditions where they cleared the nearby waters of any monsters. Lex practiced moving his arms to see how the water pressure affected him. At his current depth, the resistance he faced did not hamper him by much. He took a look around him, but besides the odd fish here and there, he saw nothing of interest.I think you should take a look at For a moment he wondered how fish managed to survive in these monster-infested waters, but then shrugged, slipped his hands into his pockets and began to walk forward. He was not concerned about holding his breath, as his body could go days without needing to breathe. Moreover, he could divert spiritual energy towards his lungs, and somewhat rece the function of air with it for a period of time. Not to mention, there were countless techniques out there that could allow Lex to breathe underwater - not that he was nning on relying on any of these methods. Instead, Lex nned on using a very simple, single circle array on the roof of his mouth that would produce air. He would breathe out any excess air and just take a fresh breath every few hours. Of course, he had to be careful with the amount of air he breathed. The deeper he went underwater, the greater the pressure and the more the air would shrink. He was not too worried about anything on his way down, but he had to be careful when returning to the surface. If he wasn''t careful about how air expands, he could seriously injure himself. One would think that Lex could ignore such minor details due to his impressive cultivation, not to mention how sturdy his body was. To an extent, that was true. But Lex was not deluded enough to think he could take on all of nature ande out undefeated. The line between confidence and arrogance was thin, and he did not intend to cross it. Also, his intuition told him not to mess around underwater, so there wasn''t much left to argue on. Not that any of this should matter. Lex''s destination was not too far, or else his intuition would not have been able to detect whatever he was heading towards. After walking for about twenty minutes, Lex had descended deeper into the sea. He was pleasantly surprised to find that instead of unspeakable horrors; the seabed was actually quite amazing. Once he moved away from the grimy, polluted waters near the town, he encountered a lot more fish. The seabed was teeming with life, so much so that Lex even detected signs of life from numerous rocks - or at least things that looked like rocks. He found a lot of debris as well, of broken ships and what looked like remains of old buildings, and all of them had been turned into habitats for the local marine life. It felt like he was walking through an aquarium. The density of fish continued to increase, right up until he came across an underwater forest. The fish swam happily through the seaweed wrapped trees, but a sense of foreboding stopped Lex from taking a step forward. It was confusing, for his intuition was both telling him it was safe to proceed, and that he would encounter danger if he took a single step forward. What, did he have to swim instead of walk? Lex shook his head. The answer couldn''t be so simple. After a few moments of thought, Lex reached out with his spirit sense and touched one of the trees. "Excuse me, is it alright if I cross?" he asked. Chapter 606 Peculiar Trelops Silence followed Lex''s question. He was not in a rush and waited a moment, thinking of other ways to enter the forest. The trees were thick and tall, with the shortest of them being at least 80 feet (24 meters) tall and 5 feet (1.5 meters) thick. The bark, if there was even a bark, waspletely wrapped in seaweed making it impossible to see. But the seaweed also grew between the trees, like the grass on a forest floor. Lex had suspected¡­ "Why are you so goddamn polite!" a voice suddenly echoed in Lex''s mind. The forest groaned, as if each and every tree was frustrated, but then quickly returned to the normal state. The fish had all been startled and began swimming out in droves, which frustrated the forest even more. Lex smirked. He had suspected the danger he was feeling was because the forest was actually a Trelop, and it seemed he was right. It was safe to traverse, so long as he had permission. If not, then he could face great danger. "Isn''t it natural to ask for permission before entering?" "What do you goddamn mean, natural? Down here, ain''t no goddamn thing has any etiquette, which is the whole reason I moved here. I ain''t on anyone''s territory, so I can goddamn do as I please." "So if someone is impolite and enters recklessly, you punish them?" "Well that all depends on my mood now, doesn''t it?" A massive goldfish made of seaweed emerged from the forest and swam around Lex, as if inspecting him. Since the Trelop-fish was inspecting him, Lex saw no reason not to reciprocate. He used his targeted scan ability. Name: Toro Age: ?? Sex: ?? Cultivation Details: ?? Species: Trelop Remarks: Since its not yet a guest, it can be ssified as a seaweed wrap. The targeted scan only revealed partial information, and was not very consistent in what it revealed, but that was fine as lex was no longer totally dependent on the system. Based on his own experience, as well as his intuition, alongside some basic inference, Lex could determine that Toro was an Earth immortal. He was all too familiar with the unique pressure that immortals radiated, and his intuition gave him an appropriately severe warning for Lex to be able to determine it was an immortal. Not to mention, it was unlikely a weak Trelop could survive underwater where it was likely to encounter monsters. Sure, the humans cleared this area often, but who could really predict when an immortal level monster might show up? Hadn''t Zagan passed through here just a short time ago. I think you should take a look at "So what about me?" Lex asked. "Can I enter now that I''ve asked politely?" "What do you goddamn want by entering?" Toro asked, irritated. He had been looking forward to punishing the stupid human for its insolence. But the feeble being was so inconsiderate that he had even asked nicely, leaving Toro with no good excuse to punish him. Sure, Toro didn''t really need a real reason if it wanted to harm Lex, but that would be breaking the rules of its own game. If he broke the rules, then the fun of the game would disappear, and he would turn into a mad tyrant instead of a discipline instructor, as it thought of itself. Lex considered whether to answer truthfully ore up with an excuse, but eventually decided that there was no use in lying. He could not hide his activities with the Trelops territory, so lying would instead get him in trouble. "I can sense something valuable in your territory, so I came to investigate." The goldfish bared its teeth as if it did not like Lex''s answer. "Of course you goddamn sense something! I''m the one using the lure!"n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om The goldfish started twisting and turning in agitation, squirming in frustration. "Why are you so bloody goddamn freaking honest!" The fish continued to throw a tantrum, and Lex just stood there, watching in amusement. Eventually though, Toro calmed down and red at Lex. "Follow me," he said bluntly and swam into the forest. Lex followed and was surprised to discover that all the water pressure disappeared, not that it bothered him to begin with. But he quickly realized why it was so necessary. There was a tribe of some race Lex had never seen before living in the forest, worshiping the seaweed fish. In merely a few minutes Lex saw thousands of those creatures which looked like¡­ humanoid squids. Despite their massive numbers, Lex could sense that not a single one of them were stronger than the foundation realm. They probably depended on the forest to project themselves not only from the water pressure, but from the monsters as well. "Quite themunity you have here," Lexmented appreciatively. He had begun to gain an understanding of Trelops. All the Trelops he had seen before had a massive number of beasts and sentient and semi-sentient creatures living within their territories, not to mention the unique personalities they had. If what Toro said was right, he had released the aura of whatever it was holding in its territory itself to attract others. Despite his strange obsession with wanting to hurt trespassers, Lex suspected he wanted more inhabitants for its territory. "There was an earthquake some time ago and it revealed this pool of a strange liquid I''ve never seen before," Toro suddenly started to exin. "Its aura is extremely attractive, but the moment I tried to touch it, it began corrupting my body. The same happened with any other creature that touched it. Originally I thought I''d just seal off the area, but the pool is beginning to grow and I cannot seal it. The reason I allowed its aura to spread was so that others coulde and I could see if anyone had a solution. If you had been impolite, I would have let you ess it without the warning I''m now giving you." Lex frowned. His intuition was telling him he was heading towards something extremely valuable, but could he be wrong? It wasn''t so easy to trick his intuition. What could this be? Chapter 607 Money Maker While Lex was wondering what he was about to encounter, various things were happening out in the universe. Even on a smaller scale, the Inn itself was constantly busy, so much so that it was impossible for Lex to track everything that was happening in it all the time. Naturally, when something important happened, he would be notified or updated, but for the mundane ormon things, he would not pay too much attention. As ofte, even his MP umtion was something he paid little attention to. With the amount of MP he was making, he did not need to worry about running short any time soon. But even as far as knowing he had a lot of MP went, if Lex were to check his bnce right now, he would be greatly surprised for an additional 500 billion MP had suddenly appeared. This ie was not random, but was deposited to his ount due to some of the tasks that Ragnar put up beingpleted. At this rate, it would be long until Lex earned the 1 trillion MP from his 100 trillion MP transaction. But of course, Lex would only realize this muchter. For now, he followed the massive fish as it led him deeper within its territory. Even if the fish did not lead him, Lex would be able to reach the destination, for he was heading in the same direction that his intuition was guiding him to. The closer he got, the stronger his intuition urged him to hurry up. If he had not been warned by Toro, he would have genuinely believed he was about to discover ambrosia, instead of a possibly toxic pool. There was something deeply unsettling about this. Either the pool had to be used in a certain way to gain its benefits, which the Trelop was ignorant of which is why it suffered. Or else, the pool was something extremely sinister, with the ability to bait the senses of intelligent beings. Considering the fact that a most likely earth immortal level Trelop was hurt by the pool, Lex did not allow himself to feel arrogant for even a moment. He had to treat the matter very seriously. Soon, Lex identified the area where the pool most likely emerged. He did not need to rely on his intuition or even the fish to tell, for the forest around it had decayed. The trees were wilting and the seaweed growing from the ground hadpletely disappeared. A cage surrounded the area, blocking off the multitudes of fish and other races that were trying to enter and reach the pool.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om An ominous feeling filled Lex''s mind as he saw the influence the pool had wrought. This was especially so because by now it wasn''t only his intuition that was informing him of how valuable the uing pool was, it was his actual physical body. He could feel a physical attraction pulling him closer, as if his body had been parched for eons and a ss of water was almost within reach. Lex felt like asking Toro some more questions, and so quickly thought of the politest way to phrase it. Although the Trelop had a peculiar personality, as long as Lex remembered to stay polite, he should not encounter any danger. "The reason you allowed the aura to escape was to see if anyone could get rid of the pool, right? If you''ve discovered something, could you please share it with me? I would be most grateful." Toro''s body trembled, as if he had been electrocuted. He red at Lex, but they were in a rtively public ce now, so it refrained from cursing the previous 17 generations of Lex''s family. After all, as the lord of this region, it had an image to maintain. "Although to an outside observer, it may look like my territory is only this forest, but they would be wrong. My territory extends as deep as the roots of the nts go. As such, I know for a fact that there was no such pool under the ground that the earthquake could have brought to the surface. In fact, even now, though it may appear as if the pool is emerging from underground, the truth is that there is no source down below. "Though the pool appeared after the earthquake, it has no real source. It suddenly appeared, and I cannot tell how it is growing. It''s a goddamn menace!" Toro was, of course, speaking to Lex through its spirit sense, so no one could hear it. "I do, however, have suspicions. The more materials it corrupts and dissolves, the greater the pool grows. I can only guess that, whatever the pool is, it is turning everything into itself." Toro paused as they approached the cage and stared through to a glow visible in the distance. Even at the bottom of the sea, a small pool was distinctly visible inside a bowl shaped rock. The pool could not have been bigger than a dozen liters, at most, yet its presence was massive. It had a white and silverish appearance and gave off a beautiful and mesmerizing glow.I think you should take a look at The only word Lex could think to describe both its visage and aura was ''holy''. The pool seemed the very definition of pure and felt as if it could cradle all of life. The impression it created was so strong that Lex almost ignored the dichotomy of the sight where every living thing near it had already died. "Do you know what kind of power immortals wield?" Toro asked Lex, his voice strangely devoid of anger and frustration. "No, not really." "The power of an immortales from his ts," Toro exined, strangely calm. "Do you know whatws are? Universalws? Ts allow immortals to, very barely, interact with thews of the universe. The only way I''ve been able to slow down the spread of this pool is by suppressing it with my t. But even then, it is only able to suppress it, and not stop it." Lex appreciated the information, especially since it was giving him revtions into information he had no ess to before. But the fact that Toro was not insulting him, or resisting the urge to insult, and was revealing such sensitive information without prompting was highly suspicious. "Why are you telling me this?" Lex asked, his gaze still stuck to the pool. How could it be so beautiful? He wanted nothing more than to take a sip of it. "Because, other than me, you are the only one who has not bepletely enthralled by it after looking at it. I hope you have a solution." As soon as Toro spoke, Lex realized that all the creatures that were trying to approach it were simply being blocked by the cage. They were not fighting against it, trying to destroy it, or finding some other way through. They were simply pressed against the cage as they tried to approach the pool, like mindless zombies. It was strange, now that Lex thought about it. Although he was feeling a very strong urge to drink from the pool, it was nowhere near irresistible, nor did he feel like his mind was being influenced in any way. Lex had no way of knowing what the liquid in the pool was, but he had a few ideas of how he could find out. "Can you let me through to investigate?" he asked, remembering to retain his politeness. "Sure," Toro said, and wrapped Lex with some seaweed. "In fact, if you discover a way to get rid of it, or take it away, you can have all of it. I won''t stop you." Lex wanted to nod, but wrapped in seaweed, he could not really move. Toro was not imprisoning him, merely encasing him in his t so that Lex could enter the cage. After a couple of minutes, when Toro released the seaweed, Lex discovered that he was already inside, right beside the pool. This close, Lex could practically smell the liquid in the pool. But, of course, he could not really smell it. It was the ''smell'' of the spiritual energy that the pool was giving off, and it was as sweet as the kindest melody, as gentle as a lover''s kiss. Lex could feel as if the world itself was softly hugging him, providing him with warmth,fort and security. It was the most pleasant sensation Lex could imagine feeling. A part of Lex wanted to bottle up this liquid and just hide a bit of it in his most expensive rooms at the Inn. His capitalist senses were tingling. Yes, drinking it might be wonderful, if it wasn''t an all corroding, poisonous. But making endless amounts of MP from it and raising the prestige of the Inn beyond what it already would be even more wonderful. With a grin that went from being wholesome to sly, Lex took out a ss bottle from his spatial bangle. It was time to see if he could collect this new money maker! Chapter 608 Unexpected Reactions The ss bottle that Lex took out was only a very mundane ss bottle. It was not made from any spiritual material, nor did it have any mystical abilities. The reason Lex took this out first was because he wanted to get an idea for how quickly the liquid worked, and if it worked on ordinary materials as well, or was it restricted to living beings. In scientific terms, if Lex were conducting an experiment, then the ss bottle would be the control. Once he had an understanding of how the liquid, which Lex had started to call Holy water temporarily, behaved, then he could find a suitable container for it.. Using his spirit sense, he grabbed the bottle and lifted it into the air. Slowly, so as to not cause a ssh, he dipped the bottle into the Holy water and filled it to the brim. Then he lifted the bottle up in the air, holding it directly above the pool in case the bottle also dissolved. But Lex did not even have time to properly get in position. Even just as he was about to begin waiting, the ss cracked, and then shattered. The pieces fell into the pool alongside the extracted liquid and quickly settled to the bottom. Suffice to say, the Holy water was not harmless. Next, he took out a jade bottle. It had some medicine Lex had stored for emergency situations, in case encountered someone who was hurt, and removed it. Even as far as special containers went, this jade bottle was still not the best, but it contained a trace of a spiritual attribute, used to retain the medicinal potency of whatever it held. It was also sturdier than ss, and not as easily broken. He repeated the process, but did not get much better results. Although the jade did not immediately shatter the way the ss bottle did, it was immediately covered in small cracks, which eventually grew until the jade broke apart. Next, Lex took out something he hadn''t used in a long time: a bottle of Bom Dew! It was not the dew Lex was after, but rather the bottle it came in. Regardless of all its shorings, the one thing Lex could never use the system of was giving him low quality items. If this bottle didn''t work, then Lex would officially run out of containers. It wasn''t as if he went around with his spatial bangle full of bottles to use for various situations. Once again, he repeated the process, but although the bottle resisted for a little longer, it too eventually broke. By now, all the shards of ss and jade that had fallen into the Holy water previously had disappeared, and Lex detected the slightest increase in the size of the pool. The increase was so small he would not have noticed it if he weren''t looking for it. Lex paused for a moment and considered the situation. Although he nned on conducting a few more tests, it seemed fairly certain that anything he would use to try to contain the liquid would dissolve. That was an issue, for if he wanted to submit the liquid into the Gift shop so that he could discover what it was, he would need to at least contain it for a few minutes. After all, returning to the Inn from the Crystal realm took quite a bit longer than normal. If he had to go on by what Toro said, the only thing that could contain the liquid were his ts, but that was only because they interacted withws. Based on that, he could think of two ways to contain the liquid. Either he could use arrays, or he could try his own spirit energy since he had suspicions that it had something to do withws. But it was best to be sure first, so he continued his tests of trying to contain the liquid. Since he had run out of containers, he tried other things. He tried soaking the liquid up in some cloth. He tried storing it in the curves of some metallic armor. He tried freezing it so that it would be solid. Nothing seemed to work, as any material it interacted with would dissolve, and temperature seemed to have no effect on it. N?v(el)B\\jnn In the end, Lex became too impatient and began to devise a way to trap the liquid using an array. His n was simple: he would store a single drop of liquid trapped inside an array which kept it floating in the middle so the liquid would never actuallye in contact with the array. The array itself would then be fit inside a container so that Lex could move it around. He would make the array so that it wouldst for at least 30 minutes, which would give him plenty of time to send it to the gift shop and read its description. Coming up with the relevant array was pretty easy. Lex had long divised his own way to create arrays by implementing structures simr to functions in programmingnguages. Of course, this was only true for simpler arrays; if the array had to performplex actions, or bring about extremely powerful reactions, he would still need to spend more time working on them. A minuteter, he finalized the array and activated it. At first, it seemed to work. The drop of liquid was suspended in the air, kept there by a gentle yet constant push generated by the array. Even Toro, who was watching from afar, seemed surprisingly hopeful.I think you should take a look at But then something happened that Lex had not foreseen. The array ran out of power all too quickly! ording to Lex''s design, the array should havested for 30 minutes, yet it had not evensted for 3 seconds! What''s more, as the drop fell back to the pool, it turned into two drops right before Lex''s eyes! This¡­ he couldn''t believe it. This time, he tried again, but with an array designed tost much longer. This time Lex spent well over 20 minutes to design the array, making sure there were no ws and that it wouldst at least a couple of days. He did not mind brute-forcing a solution, but the premise was that the consumption of the array''s energy stayed constant to what Lex had already witnessed. He tried again, and once again a single drop was suspended into the air. 1¡­ 2¡­. 3¡­ Lex counted in his mind. When he reached 10 seconds and saw that the array was not destabilizing, he felt himself rx. If the arraysted at least a few minutes¡­ Before the thought was evenplete, the array copsed, and this time, the single drop turned into dozens of drops, causing a ripple in the puddle when they fell back. "Don''t do that again," warned Toro. "It''s increasing the size of the pool too fast. The more the liquid umtes, the stronger its effect bes on the surrounding creatures." Lex frowned. The more troublesome this liquid was, the more he wanted to get his hands on it. But he was running out of ideas. The only thing left to do was try out his own spirit energy, or perhaps his own body. There was a reason Lex hadn''t tried directly using his spirit sense on the liquid. Since it could corrode even an immortal, chances were it would do the same to him, and he really didn''t want to face the hassle of recovering from another injury. He wasn''t really concerned about any significant damage to himself, though. Although healing was very annoying for him, he had all the benefits of a body cultivator and more. That meant that, at this point, even if he lost a limb, with enough time and energy, he could grow it back. With a sigh, Lex steadied his mental state. He assumed that, even if the liquid did not corrode him, once he touched it his desire to drink it would multiply. But until he verified what this liquid really was, and what it did, he could not take that risk. He used the technique Impervious Hands and slowly dipped the tip of his finger in the liquid. As soon as he felt any harm he would immediately pull out, but he was not at all ready for what happened when he touched it. The Lotus tattoo on his back stirred. The Lotus had fallen asleep after the immense effort it put into refining Lex''s body when he was previously injured, but the moment Lex touched the liquid it began to wake up. It wasn''t that the Lotus was attracted to the liquid. No, instead, it felt great danger! But even before the Lotus could fully wake up, and respond to the danger somehow, a stream of information rushed into Lex''s head from a very familiar source. Regal Embrace had identified the liquid, and immediately told Lex to drink it up! This was the kind of resources that he desperately needed to evolve his cultivation technique, but could never hope to actually encounter! Chapter 609 Cosmic Erosion Elixer Lex had previously already given out a strict set of instructions to Mary and the various workers of the Inn to go by, not to mention the fact that every so often he would use his remote presence to drop in and monitor things. Many important things were happening at the same time during this period. First, the festival at the Inn had entered the winter phase. The weather of the entire Inn had changed for the first time, nketing it all in snow. The architecture of various buildings had changed to suit the new weather, and the kinds of services being offered had changed as well. The golf carts had turned into snowmobiles, and hot springs had cropped up all around the Inn. Some specific regions even had extreme weather, dropping well below -100 celsius, though of course they were far away from the densely popted areas. One Minor realm had been selected to be sold to the refugees, and the council had, under the supervision of Luthor,e up with a payment n for it. Since a one time payment was incredibly difficult, the refugees would continue to pay installments for 50 years. Moreover, since this wasn''t a transaction through official system channels, Lex had set up a few conditions. The overall price of the Minor realm was set at 30 trillion MP. This was not a lot, considering the fact that the Minor realm not only had better spiritual energy than earth itself, but was full of various natural resources that would belong to the refugees to harvest. A portion of that price would be paid in MP, but therger portion would be directly transferred over to the Inn in physical form. That meant Lex would collect the payment in the form of valuable resources such as gold, spirit stones, metal ores, valuable medical herbs, secret treasures, unique spirit tech and more. The first deposit of 300 million MP hade from the umted personal wealth of all the millions of refugees, as well as some of the council''s reserves. Although the situation on earth had developed so that fewer and fewer refugees wereing through, the council still treated the Minor realm as their failsafe in case the war went poorly. In fact, some council members had alreadypletely given up on earth and decided to focus on developing the Minor realm into their own personal kingdoms. Other than these, the Inns workers had also selected a Minor realm which would solely belong to them. The Jotun empire had also by now begun to promote their private Minor realm to humans, attracting many to go and train at the pagoda. In fact, many were already in there, including a few prominent people such as Z, Gerard, Will Bentham and Noman Butt the human lie detector. Oddly enough though, despite the many people entering, very few were able to make it as far as Lex and Alexander. It was only now that so many that were entering that the soldiers in charge of recording the pagoda information realized how remarkable their achievement was. All in all, the scene at the Inn seemed peaceful and prosperous. In contrast, the seeds of war were beginning to bloom across the entire Origin realm. The change brought about by the energy released into the Origin realm by the Innkeeper was finally bing noticeable. More and more powerful cultivators and unique beasts and creatures were beginning to appear, their strength increased by the sudden surplus of cultivation materials.I think you should take a look at Previously, such growth would be slow and natural, meaning that the status quo would be undisturbed as everyone would naturally find their ce within it. But with such a sudden surge in powerful beings, everyone believed themselves special, and wanted to resist the greater powers to have their own organizations and influence. Normally, such actions would have brought them a swift death, but the sheer scale of the event was actually bringing about great pressure on the pre-established powers. Even the Jotun empire was showing signs of trouble, but it was fortunate that the three great noble families had suddenly be very active, and began suppressing dissidents. All of this was not even considering the sudden upsurge in Fuegan attacks.N?v(el)B\\jnn This could no longer even be called the calm before the storm. The storm was already arriving, and chaos was brewing. Conspiracies thousands of years in the making wereing to fruition, empires seemingly indestructible were crumbling from within and races that had long been suppressed, and were waiting for an opportunity to revolt, were beginning to make their move. Amidst all of this, numerous students of the acimed Ventura academy were once again returning to their respective powers - at least in the Origin realm. If they wereing to help their powers tide over difficult times, or if they had some secret agenda was still to be seen. None of this should have had anything to do with Lex, but the Innkeeper and the Midnight Inn could not escape its influence. The Henali had given their response to the Innkeeper. The Inn''s battlefield was decided, and it was in a gxy that had almost no human presence at all. Instead, it was a gxy controlled by Elves called Suera. Coincidentally, or perhaps not so, that was the same gxy the mysterious man had told Lex to visit to find an unknown valuable item. But while the Henali had decided on the Inns battlefield, the order had not yet reached the Inn and thus Lex. Which was fortunate, because Lex was thoroughly preupied at the moment. He stared at the shining liquid, which was anything but the Holy water Lex had originally decided to call it, an ominous look in his eyes. His cultivation technique had given him a detailed description of the liquid which was known as Cosmic Erosion Elixir. This extremely rare liquid was produced in only two known circumstances: it could either be produced by a Daolord by using their power to slowly and carefully grind space out of existence, or during a rtively very brief period of time when a seemingly stable realm begins to destabilize, on the course for self-destruction! Chapter 610 Reverence The circumstances required for the production of Cosmic Erosion Elixir were extremely stringent, even on a universal scale. In fact, even if many Minor realms or realms were destroyed, they might not produce this elixir. The first most important requirement was that the realm needed to be extremely stable, and should otherwise appearpletely inline with its normal lifecycle. The stability of the realm meant that the space it constituted would be extremely stable, and capable of healing normally and naturally should anything happen. The second requirement was a significant and constant destabilizing factor. This factor should be strong enough to strain thews of the realm constantly, but not strong enough to actually unravel the functionality of the realm or itsws. The third requirement was that the realm should not be fully mature, and should still be in the growing phase of its lifecycle. The fourth requirement was a sufficiently long enough duration of time to pass without any of the prior requirements changing. The natural inclination of the realm to grow would increase the stress on thews of the realm caused by the destabilizing factor, without unraveling them. The otherwise stability of the realm alongside the increased stress would, in random locations, cause space itself to begin to disintegrate.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om The byproduct of this disintegration was the Cosmic Erosion Elixir, which was a physical manifestation of the variousws that used to upy the space that had been destroyed. The reason why this liquid was so attractive to all living beings was because of those saidws, which could directly elevate them to a higher life form. Lex himself had undergone such evolutions through the natural sequence, which urred every time he rose from one cultivation realm to another. But if he followed this path, then his maximum ceiling for evolving higher was fixed to the number of cultivation realms he could cross. Items and treasures which could elevate the lifeform without going through the process of raising a cultivation realm were so rare that they were essentially never sold. There was no price for them in the market because it had never happened before. Yet the reason no one could make use of this Cosmic Erosion Elixir was because it had to do withws, and their bodies could not handle the strain on directly touchingws. The only reason Lex was not suffering a simr fate was because his body had literally used fragments ofws to upgrade itself. If he used the elixir to reach a higher life form level than he was supposed to be at, he would begin to understand how important and valuable such a thing was. But it was not meant to be, for now at least. His cultivation technique had called first dibs, and informed him of how he could use this liquid to slowly augment the existingws that made up his body as well as influence his affinity, so that slowly it would change in a direction which would allow him to enter the next realm. Of course, the elixir alone was not enough to achieve such a thing, but it was a start. That gave Lex an amazing idea. Not only could he use this elixir, he could transport it to the Inn. He would use however much of it was needed for his own upgrade and trade the rest to get other materials with simr effects so he could continue to upgrade himself. After all, although he knew he could fix his cultivation if he got an SSS+ rank on a quest, such a thing was easier said than done. Every time he hadpleted a quest with such a high ranking, it had beenpletely based on luck, and was a result of the involvement of extremely high leveled cultivators.I think you should take a look at A part of him wanted to keep the elixir forever, continuously feeding it items to allow it to grow, but such a thing was not possible. Apparently, the elixir would only exist for a very short time before thews within it would naturally reorient themselves, causing the liquid to disappear. If there was one fortunate thing, it was that he now knew how he could transport the liquid. Since his body and spiritual energy would not be corroded by the elixir, he only needed to use them. He used a curved Imperial shield, and scooped up all the elixir into it like a massive bowl. He would first take it back to the Midnight Inn before consuming it. He did not know what kind of reaction would ur once he did, and did not want to leave himself vulnerable to external influence. "I''ll be back," Lex told Toro, before eventually disappearing to the Inn. He teleported to his personal meditation room before using his influence over the system to create an especially expensive and powerful basin for the liquid before pouring it in. He did not know how long the liquid would continue to exist, he had to be quick. The Lotus, which had finally woken up, was frightened silly when it sensed Lex drinking the elixir! That was not soup, butws! Even it did not dare absorb such a thing for if he was not able to perfectly influence how thosews were absorbed, its body itself would instead be absorbed by thews! That was a fact that Lex''s cultivation technique had already mentioned, but had already given a solution to. So, while Lex went ahead and augmented his cultivation, the incredibly powerful Lotus on his back was filled with reverence for the incredible Innkeeper. He was truly beyondmon sense. With that thought, the Lotus went back to sleep. Since Lex''s body was a carrier for the Lotus, the stronger his body, the faster the Lotus would mature. With Lex doing something as daring as drinking the elixir, there was no doubt the Lotus'' maturing speed would continue to increase. It was fortunate that the Lotus had gone back to sleep, for the reverence it had built up might have been severely affected when it noticed that, instead of entering a state of cultivation upon drinking the elixir, Lex immediately teleported to the restroom! The elixir had given him a bad case of diarrhea! Chapter 611 Potent Fertilizer Regal Embrace had given Lex detailed instructions on what to do to absorb the elixir. He would first start using his cultivation technique, and only after he had used it for oneplete cycle would he take a single sip from it, while continuing to run his technique. As soon as he took the sip, his cultivation technique would stop absorbing spiritual energy from the air, and instead use the elixir to increase his cultivation. The actual process of what happened next was quiteplicated, but all Lex needed to do was ensure he didn''t stop cultivating. As soon as he took the sip, and his cultivation technique began using the elixir to affect his body and infinity, Lex was hit with a sensation he hadn''t experienced in quite a while. He needed to use the restroom, and he needed to use it now! The urgency of the situation nearly interrupted his cultivation, so he immediately entered the Flow state to ensure he did not mess things up. This way, he teleported to the restroom while still running his cultivation technique. What happened next was¡­ disastrous. There was no mexican food on earth mexican enough, nor spice strong enough to devastate Lex''s stomach the way it was now. If Lex was not in his Flow state he definitely would not have been able to continue cultivating.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om The gurgles in his stomach were like rolls of thunder. If Lex were not at the Inn, and had been elsewhere, earthquakes would have rocked the area around him. Although the method was¡­ unconventional, Regal Embrace was using thews in the elixir to perfectly stabilize his body, so that thews he contained would be in perfect equilibrium instead of being a random hodgepodge. Moreover, althoughws were incredibly powerful and definitely beyond Lex''s level, thus increasing his strength drastically, not allws were suitable for him. Due to his breakthrough while the Inn was undergoing a star level increase, a random assortment ofws had been absorbed into his body. While he had survived the experience, it did not mean that thosews were actually helping him. In fact, many of thews that made up his body were going against the natural foundation he had built up since he started cultivating. It was the difference between randomly getting a power up through the use of treasures beyond one''s level, and a conscientious effort using the most optimal resources to systematically increase your power. While both would give you a power up, one would leave you unable to grow further, while the other would not only give you a higher power ceiling you could achieve within the same realm, but also make your final destination much higher than before. In a way, Lex was already on the path to transcending the original description of the Regal Embrace. That did not mean his defense would be even higher than it should have been. No, the cultivation technique had already aimed for the highest possible achievable defense right from the get go. Instead, besides the ridiculous defense, Lex would also gain other incredible attributes. For example, besides Lex''s abnormal affinity for defensive techniques, he may gain an affinity for other types of techniques as well. Since he could learn defensive techniques at a nce, and even upgrade them, imagine if he could do the same for movement techniques? Or offensive techniques? Techniques based on the applications of space? Lex could only use such thoughts to distract himself as his cultivation technique slowly and effectively removed the unnecessary, or even obstructivews that his body had. In their ce, thews within the elixir were being used.I think you should take a look at Although he was once again undergoing a fundamental change in his body''s make up, he was more embarrassed than in pain. No, he couldn''t continue to dwell on the matter or even his state of flow would be broken. He turned his thoughts to something else that had urred to him when he found out about the elixir, but didn''t have time to contemte on. The elixir was formed when there was an instability affecting the realm. It was not a big jump to assume that whatever anomaly he was supposed to be investigating was the very same instability that had put the Crystal realm on the path for destruction. He did not know how much the local powerhouses of the Crystal knew about the anomaly, but he was fairly certain they didn''t know that the realm was on the path to destruction. ording to his original guess, they were using the anomaly and the Kraven to fulfill some grand n, or perhaps they were farming some extremely rare resources. All in all, there was some secret n they were exploiting the Kraven for. But if they knew that their continued exploitation had likely put their realm on the path to destruction, he doubted they would behave so audaciously. This piece of information was more than sufficient for him to venture towards Valesco and meet that Crystal race elder. In the meantime, there was also the chance that he could learn more from the Noel and Phillips family. Lex could feel that he was incredibly close to solving this mystery. While Lex was busy thinking every possible random thought he could to distract himself, there was a certain area of the Inn he had purposefully blocked off all news from to himself. No matter what happened there, for now, Lex would not know. There was a simple reason for that. The Midnight Inn was a closed system, meaning that everything that happened there, stayed within. The remnants of thews that were being¡­ released from Lex''s body were not mysteriously vanishing. No, they were being recycled, and then transported to the special area that Lex had blocked all news from: the greenhouse! "Oh dear, such potent fertilizer,"mented the turtle as bags of fresh fertilizer were being teleported to the greenhouse. These would be extremely useful in helping the vine growing beside the Fire Temple. Chapter 612 A Deal One excruciating hourter, Lex was finally done.His digestion of the single sip of elixir wasplete. Although he could immediately go and start digesting the second sip, he was mentally drained from his experience. This was not ament on his emotional trauma from the experience. The difficulty of keeping his cultivation technique running under such strenuous circumstances had actually drained him. It would take him some time to recover before was in any condition to undergo another round of cultivation. But that did not mean he had any time to waste. There was no telling how long the elixir wouldst. ording to the information given to him by Regal Embrace, the elixir wouldst, at most, for a week.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om He had no time to waste. Instead of returning to the Crystal realm, Lex instead went to X-142. This set ofs had been very fruitful for Lex, not only because it was a great source of various guests, but because of the Infinity Emporium. Although Lex had not purposefully sold a golden key to the emporium, considering the fact that a lot of people on the were bing regrs of the Inn, he was surprised that the emporium had not discovered it yet. Or maybe it had, but was purposefully avoiding it. Whatever the reason, so long as they continued to be useful to Lex, he would not pry too deeply into their matter either. As usual, he saw many guests walking in and out of the emporium, but knew that when he entered, he would be alone in the shop. He saw a vaguely familiar person exit the store, and then quickly scurry away. Lex paused for a moment as he tried to recall if he had actually ever met that person, or if he was an important guest. It took only a moment for Lex to recall a tavern he had stayed in on X-142 when he first arrived called Bent Benches. The tavern keeper had been some poor fellow with extremely severe anxiety issues. Lex turned and saw that the man was still quite jittery, and was doing his best to stay away from people as he continued on his path. Lex shook his head. Anxiety was truly an unfortunate ailment to have. Putting the matter behind him, he entered the shop to once again be greeted by the familiar Powell. "My friend, it is always a good day when I see you," Powell eximed with genuine joy in his voice. "Haha well then today is about to be a very good day for you," Lex said walked up to the counter. "I have a great deal for you today." "Why the rush to talk of business? Why don''t you rx a little, you look weary." Not waiting for Lex to respond, Powell brought out a bottle from underneath the counter as well as a couple of sses and poured Lex a drink. Considering the fact that Lex was a high level member of the emporium, not only did he have ess to some of their best items and inventory, he could get amazing perks as well. This drink, it seemed, was one of them. Lex did not reject, and took a sip from the hazel colored drink,only to feel reinvigorated immediately! All his exhaustion disappeared with a single sip! Unfortunately, Lex wasn''t too happy about that. This only meant he would have to go back and cultivate. "I wish I had the time to rx Powell, but I have a time sensitive matter that I need to handle."I think you should take a look at "Tell me about it," Powell said, not prodding Lex to rx any further. Considering Lex''s status, it was only normal for him to try and maintain a good rtionship with him. But if the man was focused on work, who was he to keep diverging from the topic? Lex smiled for a moment, as he anticipated Powell''s reaction to the matter. "Have you ever heard of Cosmic Erosion Elixir?" he asked, leaning forward. For a moment Powell did not respond, as he tried to recall the name. The moment he did, his expression changed minutely but he tried not to show it. "Yes I''ve heard of it. But if you''re hoping to buy, unfortunately we do not have any way of getting our hands on it." Although Powell was rejecting him, he was unable to hide the hint of expectation the man had on his face. Obviously he had a suspicion, but he did not allow himself to hope it was true. "That''s even better, because I want to sell some. The rarity of it should help me get a better price." "Are you sure?" Powell asked, barely keeping himself from jumping up. "Are you sure it''s the elixir?" "Completely sure, though before I am able to sell it to you, I''ll need something from you. I''ll need a few containers in which I can store the elixir. Everything I havepletely dissolves when I try to store the elixir in it." "That''s no problem at all!" Powell said,pletely understanding. "In fact, as long as you really have the elixir, and sell it to the emporium, I''ll give you a few containers for free. They''re extremely valuable, and can be used to store even other precious liquids." "That''s great. But now, let''s talk about something much more relevant: the price. What can the emporium pay for the elixir?" Powell suddenly put on a serious expression and lifted atch on his counter, inviting Lex in. "Follow me, let''s discuss this in a better setting. For something of this level, I''ll need to contain our head office, so it''ll take a few minutes to get the relevant data." Lex followed Powell into a very luxurious room and took a seat on a sofa while Powell pulled out a tablet and began working furiously. He did not know how far the so-called ''headquarters'' were, but themunication was quite quick if it only took a few minutes. Chapter 613 Powell And Powell Lex watched in silence as Powell excitedly interacted with his tablet. Sometimes the man was so professional, yet at other times, especially when it was a matter of his ownmission, he could show a childlike giddiness. Soon he put down the tablet and looked at Lex. "Good news. Because of your level at the Infinity Emporium, as well as our history together, I''ve been promoted significantly. Headquarters will give me special training so that in the future, I will permanently deal with all your transactions. There will no longer ever be a situation where I need to contact headquarters to give you an answer to one of your questions. "Moreover, you yourself have be a VIP member of the emporium. Your level is no longer denoted by number, as you arepletely eligible for the highest authority the emporium has to offer. "Moreover¡­ moreover, the owner of the emporium has taken notice of yourtest request, and is personally making his way over. This deal¡­ he willplete himself!" "The owner?" Lex asked, surprised. He did not expect to attract the attention of the owner of the emporium, although it made sense. The description of the elixir stated that it was extremely rare, and there were only two known ways of making it, the first involving daolords. Moreover, while Lex knew how he could personally use it, he didn''t really know what other actual uses it had. Surely they were extremely useful. The only concern was¡­ how long would it take for the owner to reach them? Lex was in a time crunch. Before he could ask, however, the door to the room they were in opened, and an extremely familiar man walked in. "You''ve done a great job, Powell," the man said, his voice confident yet smooth as butter. "For now, you can go on and report for your special training. I will take care of things from here." "Yes sir!" Powell eximed full of energy, and saluted the owner of the emporium, before he bowed excitedly towards Lex as well. Then he ran off outside, practically giggling, and shut the door behind him. Meanwhile, Lex said nothing as he was thoroughly confused. The man he was looking at¡­ was Powell himself! There were two of them? This should not have been such a big surprise, for even on earth there were identical twins. But the thing was, Lex was not only looking with his eyes. His intuition, spirit sense and soul sense all told him that he was looking at the same man! Both Powells were¡­ exactly one and the same. Lex could have exined such a situation by saying that one Powell was the clone of the other, but then why did they have different memories, feelings and identities, yet seemed to be the same person. The remaining Powell looked at Lex with a smile, and seemed to understand exactly what he was thinking.I think you should take a look at "Before we begin, Mr. Lex, allow me to say, I am incredibly honored to finally meet you. Though there was not an opportunity to meet before this, I have long paid attention to your transactions. I would like to thank you on behalf of the emporium and all its employees for your continued loyalty and support." "Your service has always been excellent. I have no reason not toe back," Lex replied withpleteposure, despite his confused state.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "I know you are in a bit of a rush, but would you like a bit of a proper introduction to the emporium? Perhaps that will answer some of your questions. Or if you have othermitments, we can get right to work, and then you can ask Powell any questions you have in the future. He will have the knowledge and authorization to answer you when you meet next," the owner ensured. "Please, have a seat," Lex said, pointing towards a nearby sofa. "Although I am in a rush, it is not to the level where I can''t even sit for a simple conversation." ***** Velma had be extremely busy as ofte due to her new profession as well as the immense responsibility the Innkeeper ced on her. If she had to do all that, while maintaining her passion of gossiping, she would need a hundred clones of herself. So,tely, that is what she had turned her attention towards. She visited the Midnight Library and found some of the best cloning techniques avable. None of them were exactly what she was looking for, but they could meet her basic requirements if only barely. But her cultivation was too low for the best techniques, so she had begun to remedy that. She was cultivating nonstop, and had even visited the soul pond built by Harry. The pond helped her increase her soul strength just enough, where she could use one of the most basic but effective cloning techniques. It involved splitting a small piece of one''s soul and storing it inside a sufficiently strong treasure. This would not be any random treasure, but a specially designed treasure for this specific purpose. Once a soul was stored inside, spirit stones could be added into the treasure to form a spirit energy clone which waspletely controlled by the clone. The clone had half the strength of a mortal, but otherwise was perfectly able to replicate a normal human. For Velma''s purposes it was enough, for all the clone needed to do was pay attention to gossip andpile the newsletter while Velma herself focused on raising her cultivation level. It did not really need any significant strength for that. Moreover, all the information the clone received was immediately shared with the main soul so long as they were within a certain range, so it was not really an issue. But within her meditation room Velma suddenly opened her eyes in shock and quickly ended her round of cultivation. She just received important news about a person the Innkeeper had told her to keep an eye on. Garlin, the snake which had won the fishingpetition, had been assassinated on its home! Chapter 614 Not As Good As The Innkeeper Lex and the owner of the emporium sat face to face, leaningfortably in their chairs as if they were old friends catching up instead of two people about to conduct a business transaction. Lex''s intuition, as well as his great experience, gave him a very clear warning. The person in front of him was ridiculously powerful, to the point where Lex did not even risk using his targeted scan ability. Besides the single moment where Lex first saw him, and ended up using his spirit and soul sense, he did not dare to even bring them out of his body now.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Despite all that, Lex remained perfectly calm. He could no longer be intimidated by powerful cultivators the way he used to be before. Moreover, a business deal was a type of war on its own. He could not give up his psychological advantage due to the difference in cultivation levels. Lex had always pretended to have a powerful backer in his transactions with the emporium, so he would continue to behave that way. But he was curious about one thing in particr. ording to his information, Emperor Jotun was supposed to be the most powerful human in the entire Origin realm. But even if that were the case, the owner of the emporium should not have been an unknown person. Lex had perused the top 1000 strongest humans listpiled on the Henali portal. Although it was an unofficial list, it contained a lot of information. Yet this person waspletely unknown. Or perhaps there were secrets Lex had just missed out on. "Allow me to first introduce myself, and then my emporium to you," the man said, not allowing an awkward silence to develop between them. Yet by speaking first, he had voluntarily given up the psychological advantage. He had ced Lex in a superior position, where he was the one giving Lex the exnation. Either he was not interested in such mindgames, or he was so powerful and confident that he felt like he could ignore their consequences. "My name, as you may be able to guess, is Powell," he said with a bright smile. "You might find it slightly confusing, but you can consider all the workers at the emporium as clones of myself." "All the workers?" Lex asked, not hiding the surprise in his voice. In this situation, maintaining perfectposure would build a distance between them. It would seem as if Lex was from toorge a background, and did not care about Powell. But by reacting where Powell might expect him to react would give the man a sense of satisfaction and give him a positive impression of Lex. Of course, he could not take it too far. Lex was only trying to build a good rtionship, not trying to be a yes-man. "They are not exactly clones in the traditional sense, but you may consider it as such. It is an aspect of my cultivation technique. Moreover, there is no employee more reliable than myself." Lex disagreed. He felt like the Inn''s employee''s were the most reliable, but he didn''t voice the thought and allowed him to exin.I think you should take a look at "I started the emporium with a dream. I was young and broke when I dreamt of endless riches, so much so that even the stars could not shine as brightly as my horde. But other than just wealth, I wanted my wealth toe from a ce that made a difference. I wanted to start a business that could benefit everyone! So in pursuit of my humble dream, I am trying to bring the emporium to every corner of the Origin realm. I want the emporium to be the biggestmerce entity in the entire realm!" The spiritual energy buzzed with the excitement and passion in Powell''s voice. Even if he wasn''t trying, the world around him was reacting to his emotions. It reminded Lex of the way the Inn''s weather was affected by his mood when he became upset. "I havee a great way, though I am still a little far from reaching my goal. Let me share a small secret with you, to thank you for your faith in the emporium so far, and to assure you of our capabilities to serve you even in the future." Sitting in his chair, Lex felt like he could give Powell some pointers on marketing and customer psychology. He too had dealt with guests at the Inn, but Powell was going about it all wrong. He could be appreciative of guests and their patronage, but he also needed to disy a certain level of detachment. Powell had gained great sess, no doubt, but in the end, he was no match for the Innkeeper. "You may have noticed that every time you enter the emporium, you arrive at the shop alone regardless of how many people may be going in or out." "Yes, I found that extremely fascinating when I first arrived," Lex admitted. "The truth of the matter is¡­ the moment you enter the emporium building¡­ you''re no longer on the you entered from. Each and every emporium building in the realm is linked. As soon as you enter, you are teleported to the ''main branch'' as it were." Lex was surprised, and perplexed. Sure such a mass scale teleportation, especially one so seamless, was extremely impressive. But what was the purpose? Moreover¡­ "But many times I''ve encountered situations where I had to wait for deliveries because I was told it was being transported from elsewhere in the gxy, or realm. Don''t tell me I was made to wait just to keep up appearances." "No no, nothing like that," Powell said, waving his hand. "It''s purely logistical and supply chain matters that dy deliveries. Although having every customere to one destination makes it easy, as we don''t need to maintain separate warehouses or actually transport goods across the wide expanse of space. But getting items to the original warehouse from wherever we are sourcing them also sometimes takes some time. "I must admit, situations where our clients have to wait for deliveries are usually very rare. It''s only your¡­ unique requests that often end up stumping us." Chapter 615 Negotiation Lex could not help but smile a bit. His requests were either incredibly specific, such as the very specific ore he needed to alter his body, or the millions of cultivation techniques he''d requested. To this date, he still regrly received batches of new techniques which he kept adding to his library. The problem was, the number of techniques had to match the kind of payment he''d made. But Lex''s payment had touched upon something that touched the Daolord realm, so there was literally no value that could meet it. In the end, they could just continue to provide techniques endlessly until it became a priceless collection. Eventually, Lex nned to have them start providing Nascent soul level techniques. Although that would speed up the emporium''s payback of its debt, Lex did not actually need endless Golden core realm techniques. Powell continued. "The reason I told you this was because, in the future, no matter where you enter the emporium from, you will be brought to our main shop, which is reserved for our highest level members. Moreover, you can establish an ount with us, meaning that once you sell something, you will umte a special kind of credit called Emporium Credit (EC). You can either cash that out to a currency of your choice, or keep it to purchase itemster on. It''s a much easier way to keep track of your payments, and the value of each transaction." "It''s easy enough to understand," said Lex, as if it was the first time he was encountering such a thing. "The ease and convenience of our clients is our first priority. I can take you to the store and you can peruse our premium selection at will, but first I''d like to discuss the transaction you previously mentioned to Powell." "Yes, the Cosmic Erosion Elixir. I wish to sell some, but first I need a container in which I can transport the elixir itself." "If you don''t mind my asking, how much elixir are you looking to sell?" Lex leaned forward now, and established eye contact with Powell. Everything before this was merely a prelude to the conversation that was about to take ce now. As an item with no fixed price, how much Lex would be able to gain would all depend on his own negotiation skills. Although Lex may have gained a psychological advantage before this, it would matter little if he failed to gain any tangible benefits. Moreover, he was about to find out if Powell in fact was so self confident that he did not care about mind games, or if Lex really was superior to him in this regard. "I have quite a considerable amount of elixir," Lex confided. "Yet I am also using a portion of it for my own purposes. What I want to do is sell the amount I don''t need before it disappears. Since I harvested the elixir today, I''d say I have about a week to make the most of it. How much of it I sell to you¡­ depends entirely on the price you''re able to pay. It could be anywhere from a few drops, all the way up to a liter." In fact, Lex had a lot more of the elixir than that. But he was not sure exactly how much he needed, not to mention he was nning on holding an auction in the Midnight Inn as well. He had already told Mary to spread the word about this specific auction, but only guests with a prestige level 4 and above were to be informed.I think you should take a look at There were very few guests at that prestige level, as they would need to spend at least 10 million MP at the Inn to reach such a level. In fact, the only reason the number even entered double digits is because those who performed transactions at the Guild room were also counted. Powell did not react too strongly, but at the same time he did not hide his surprise at the possible avability of an entire liter of the elixir. He did not, however, show any surprise to learn that Lex was using the elixir himself. The truth was, his body projected a powerful aura ofws since his body containedws to begin with, yet did not have the power to suppress the aura. But once his body stabilized, the aura disappeared. Yet now that he was once again adjusting his body''s makeup by drinking the elixir the aura had once again appeared. Although the aura was notpletely oppressive, as it was when Lex was still undergoing his body''s reconstruction, it was enough to give a casual cultivator some pressure. Even a nascent cultivator would feel pressured in Lex''s presence during this period. Suffice to say, Powell could tell that Lex was somehow tempering his body using the elixir. As for how that was possible, he did not inquire. As a businessman, he respected others'' personal secrets. "There are many ways in which the emporium can pay you, but I think what really matters is what you''re looking for. Why don''t you give me an idea for the kind of remuneration you''re looking for." The small exchange where neither of them openly quotes a price was a sort of power y by each, trying to understand the others psychological range for the price. If one of them said a price, such as Lex, but it turned out that it was much lower than what Powell was ready to pay then Lex would be the one suffering the loss.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om This was the problem with priceless items. In the end, the final price was entirely dependent on what and how much use the buyer had for it. As it was, Lex was at a slight disadvantage since he did not know the actual value of the elixir and how it could be measured. So, instead, he opted for another option. "The elixir, as you may know, contains the physical manifestation ofws. I can sell some, but I need other items which containws in a simr fashion." Chapter 616 Barter "The elixir, as you may know, contains the physical manifestation ofws. I can sell some, but I need other items which containws in a simr fashion," said Lex as he began to exin his demands. "Since I know items on the level of the elixir cannot usually be sought out, and depend on luck, I won''t be so harsh as to ask for items on the same level only. Inferior items are also eptable, but then the quantity needs to be increased. How much elixir I give you depends on the kinds of resources you provide. After all, I''ve approached a few other circles as well, and if their offer is better than yours, then they will get more of the liquid."N?v(el)B\\jnn Powell did not show any surprise, relief orpetition on his face upon hearing Lex''s demands. He remained extremely professional, and immediately delved into relevant matters. "One of the reasons the elixir is extremely valuable, excluding its rarity, is because it containsws pertaining to space," he exined. He did not ask if Lex had an understanding ofws, and if so how deep it was. Instead, he chose to exin or reiterate some of the basics. That way Lex would either learn about some things without his ignorance being exposed, or he would be able to bring attention to his own uing proposal easily. "There are a few apanyingws, of course, such as thew of pressure, thew of power, thew of foundations, but the primary makeup is still space. That is also one of the reasons it is so difficult for it to naturally ur. Moreover, the potency of thew also depends on the maturity of the realm from which it is created. "Assuming the potency of the elixir is average, there are already very few items directly as valuable as the elixir. Like you said, lower value items can be exchanged, but then the quantity will have to be adjusted which is another hassle of its own. "Based on your requirements, I can offer you a few options and then you can choose which one suits you the most. But before I get into it, do you have any special requirements in terms ofws? Meaning are there items of certainws that you are more partial to, or will anyws do?" This was a good question. Technically, ording to Regal Embrace, Lex could absorb any items withws and the technique would use thosews to reorient, or rece the existingws that were interfering with his cultivation. To be clear, if Lex wanted to use this method to fix his cultivation technique so that he could cultivate to the nascent realm, it would take far more resources than even his elixir could afford him. But at least it would put him on the right path, while increasing his strength in the process However, whatws he absorbed would have a longstanding effect on him and his cultivation. For that reason, he was more partial to certainws that sounded powerful. That was the only criteria he could use to understandws, for as of right now he knew nothing about them. "Anyws at all will suffice, but I will give preference tows that have to do with healing, energy and speed." Powell only gave a nod and continued his exnation. "Many of our VIP clients often have requirements for rare or valuable resources that are not easily essible. As it happens, we have three clients who have put in a request for the elixir, for a long time now I might add, and have offered remuneration in exchange that match your requirements.I think you should take a look at "If you wish to proceed, I can show you what they''re offering, and the trade can take ce using the emporium as the medium. The third, however, has a few qualms. As it happens, the third client has, in fact, offered an item associated with thews of healing, but the trade cannot be conducted by the emporium. Toplete the trade, you will have to visit the client yourself. Though, you do not need to be rmed, as the emporium will take responsibility for taking you to and from his. "Other than those three, you can also sell the elixir to the emporium. Unfortunately, we do not have items of the same calibre matching your requirements avable at the moment, but we can pay using lower level items. During this time, I will also personally try to get my hands on items you might find suitable to trade for. But since I do not have any such items on hand, I will not mention them yet." "Can you share the details for the items your clients are willing to trade. I''ll have to see whether I''m willing to move forward with those trades. At the same time, you can provide me with a list of what the emporium can offer. I''d like to deal with this matter as quickly as possible, so that the next time I visit, I bring as much of the elixir as is needed." Powell did not hesitate and handed Lex a tablet which had an extremely detailed description of each of the items his clients were willing to pay with. The identity of the first two clients was hidden, and only their offers were listed. The first one, coincidentally, was a diamond personally formed by Adamas the deity of diamonds, and contained thews of imprability. There was a lot of unnecessary drivel about the origin and history of the diamond, and its ceremonial and religious importance. Lex didn''t care about that, for to him it was naught but a snack. Thew of imprability would pair well with the Regal Embrace, however, so it wasn''t bad. Alongside the diamond was the required amount of liquid Lex would have to provide to get it. It will only 300 millilitres, so Lex found it eptable. After all, he did not understand the value of the elixir, only that the diamond would not disappear in a week so he could take his time to use it. The next item¡­ the next item made Lex tremble, and not in a good way¡­ Chapter 617 Chatrooms After the diamond, the next listed item was a single teacup with an apanying saucer, with an extensive floral design all over it. It was neither the cup nor the saucer that caused Lex distress. Instead, it was thew associated with the items. It was thew of femininity. Even with his vast imagination, Lex did not dare imagine what would happen to him if he allowed such aw to take root within his body. This was a trade he absolutely could not participate in! Immediately, Lex swiped the details away and looked at the final offer. This time, not only was the item listed, but there was a detailed introduction about the client as well. The name of the client was Zuri Adisa, and she was originally amon four-leaf clover. Now, after the passage of countless years, she was recognized as one of the strongest beings in the origin realm - at least ording to the emporium. She had clones across the realm in hundreds of thousands of gxies, and her influence and power were beyond imagining. The trade, if Lex agreed, would be conducted by one of her clones on a she inhabited. Actually, technically speaking, the entire, which was about 70% the size of earth, was actually her clone. The item in question this time was a single de of grass, within which was contained thew of regrowth. As if that was not enough, a number of otherws were also mentioned that yed only a minor supporting role. Thews included thew of vitality, thew of refinement, and thew of healing. Although it was slightly inconvenient to go over to another to make the trade, this was by far the most useful to Lex. If consuming that de of grass somehow improved Lex''s healing, even if by a small margin, it was worth it. Then came the list of items the emporium offered. Although technically they were not as valuable as the previous items, they made Lex''s eyes glow. These could go a long way towards not only helping Lex, but they could directly improve the Inn. In fact, in the list of items Lex was presented with, there were a number of them that had no rtion tows but were valuable nheless. They would especiallye in handy, especially since he wanted to strengthen his workers as quickly as possible without harming them. Just as Lex was delving into the list and beginning to pick out things that would be useful to him, Mary called out to him. "Lex there''s¡­ there''s a situation. Strictly speaking, it doesn''t really require you to do anything, but I think you might want to pay attention to future developments." The hesitation and concern in Mary''s voice drew Lex''s attention. This was extremely out of the ordinary. "What happened?" he asked, mentally readying himself to hear bad news. It was always bad news. It was never anyone dropping off a pic basket for the Innkeeper. "Do you remember Garlin? The snake that won the system from the well? You told us to keep an eye on him and get back to you about his activities. Well¡­ something happened to him that we learned about very recently. Apparently, he was assassinated. "Velma was looking into the details of how it happened, and originally I thought I''d just update you when youe back to the Inn since there''s nothing you can really do about it. But just a few minutes ago, when Velma discovered the identity of the assassins, we also discovered that they had already entered the Inn after the assassination. But even that wasn''t enough to get me to specially update you. What really drastically changed the situation was¡­ that the assassins directly went up and challenged Ming Jie, the mountain-man, and John to a fight in the Murder Grounds." "Wait, they just went up to them and challenged them?" "Pretty much. I suspect they would have already picked a fight directly if they didn''t want to end up offending the Midnight Inn." "Is that other system user from earth at the Inn?" "No, currently he is on earth." "So they pretty much immediately challenged all the existing system users at the Inn?"I think you should take a look at "Yes." Lex was much too experienced to let his thoughts show on his face, but his mood underwent a drastic change nheless. An ominous feeling overtook him, and he decided to speed up this meeting as much as possible. ***** At the Midnight Inn, three Rhinocentaurs stood face to face, their massive heights overshadowing the other guests. Their lower bodies were that of a rhino, with thick sturdy legs, hooved feet and a midsection that was packed with imposing muscles. From where one would expect a neck, instead a human torso appeared, though its proportions were muchrger than normal humans. With bicepsrger than most people''s calves, a chest built like a warhammer could not budge it and a long, curved horn emerging from the human forehead, they put on a fearsome appearance. Each of them were at least 14 feet(4.2 meters) in height. Behind them was the even more imposing figure of the mountain man. To the frequent guests of the Inn, the excitement of this particr guest had long passed. He did naught but sleep, no matter how one tried to interact with him. Even the three Rhinocentaurs were unable to wake him, at least without crossing the Inn''s rules. "It is pointless to wait here. We can just hire someone to keep an eye on him and alert us once he''s awake," said one of the rhino''s using his spirit sense. "I say that is a waste of time," said another. "We should just sell his location details to someone in the chatroom and get immediate benefits." "What about the other one? The Inn''s employee?" "That is also a tough situation. Based on our preliminary research into the Midnight Inn, the owner, the Innkeeper, is a devastatingly powerful cultivator. It is best not to cross him. Unless this ''John'' epts our challenge willingly, I do not see a way we can get his system either." "Are you sure this ''Midnight Inn'' isn''t a part of a system either?" the second one asked, a hint of reluctance in his voice. It would love it if it could get and absorb a system that could grant something as impressive as the Inn. "I''ve told you, ording to the device, the Inn has nothing to do with a system. It has never failed before, so there''s no reason to believe it''ll mess up now." "Easy for you to say," one of themined. "You''ve already gotten your hands on the ''Overnight Celebrity system'' from that snake! We''re the ones stillcking." "That''s also why I have to be even more cautious from now on. Although I myself am a member of the organization, there''s always a chance one of the other members will target me. The same goes for you guys. The moment you get your hands on a system, you''ll have a target on your backs." The three Rhinocentaurs went silent as they contemted what to do. They did not want to give up so easily, especially since they were so close. It had taken them years as members of the organization before they actually found actual system holders! Finally, in tacit understanding, the three of them pulled up an interface in front of them. Strangely enough, the interface was not that of the Midnight Inn''s, and it was not visible to anyone else other than themselves.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om On the top of the interface were the words ''System hunters chatroom''. The chat room had hundreds of billions of members across not only the Origin realm, but thousands of other realms. Yet none of them were worried that the secrets of the chatroom would be divulged, their identities leaked or the existence of the chatroom itself discovered. That was because the chatroom itself was responsible for maintaining its secrecy. Even if one of the members of the chatroom was interrogated under torture, or their memories read, the chatroom''s existence would not be discovered. That was because the chatroom would automatically erase all knowledge and traces linking itself to the member from existence. No one knew how the chatroom came into being, but among the basic members of the chatroom there was a theory that the creator of the chatroom was the founder of their organization which hunted system users across the universe, and that he himself had a system linked to chatrooms. No one could say for certain as there was too much mystery associated with it. The three of them exchanged a look, before a new post appeared in the chatroom. It was auctioning the location of two system holders, though there was a disclosure given that the system holders'' environment was extremely dangerous. Within 1 second, the post had over 1 million responses. The auction period wouldst for a few hours, and the chatroom would administrate the auction itself, and automatically facilitate the transactions. Chapter 618 Bad Seed Even if Lex sped up the meeting, he had to go through the necessary steps. He had to pick who he was trading with, and in the case of the emporium, he had to pick out exactly what he wanted to buy. This was a rare opportunity to rack up on various resources, cultivation techniques and information that he wouldn''t normally be able to get in touch with. This was one benefit of appearing as himself: he did not need to pretend to be all knowing and powerful. Of course, the emporium could no doubt guess that Lex''s background was not simple. But what did it matter if they guessed or not? Lex was still in the golden core realm. It was understandable for him to have gaps in his knowledge. If he could supplement his knowledge with that of the emporiums, not only would he be better off, it would be a lot easier for him to maneuver in the future. Lex could not help but sigh. Things were just too chaotic. He was already in a time crunch to discover the anomaly in the Crystal realm before his deployment information from the Henali came. Now, he also had to prioritize his own cultivation using the elixir since it would soon disappear. At the same time he had to maximize his profits from it as well. Not to mention that Lex had numerous employees who were stronger than him. They were currently suppressed because of the subtle influence the Inn yed in ensuring they work honestly, not to mention those that saw his outburst when he used the Butter knife at its full strength. But there was Zagan, a monster currently still undergoing tribtions. Lex had to figure out how to keep him in line. On top of all that, there was now apparently a group of people who knew exactly how to locate system users. Would they be able to detect him as well? He had no idea, but he had to check up on it sooner rather thanter. Lex didn''t have an issue with the problem, but the fact that too many problems wereing all at once. How was one man supposed to do everything at the same time? Oh yes, there was also a wedding he had to n. He should see if he could get anything from the emporium to improve the wedding. Poor Innkeeper, he waspletely swamped. "Mary, keep an eye on them and tell me if anything significant happens. I have to deal with this first." Although it sounded a lot like Lex wasmenting, in truth he was pretty calm. Heined that he had to do everything himself, but he knew that he had been raising some pretty loyal followers.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Previously he was really worried since all his workers seemed to have an extremely mellow and amicable temperament. How would they deal with it if a situation escted and he wasn''t there? But now, there was finally one fellow who was a bad seed. How would he be able to take it if one of his coworkers was challenged to a deathmatch? Not too well, if Lex had to guess. Suddenly, Lex''s tense muscles rxed. Yes, he had to remember that the Innkeeper was never alone. He had the entire Inn backing him up. "Do you have some tea?" Lex asked Powell as he perused the list. "This may take a while." ***** The three Rhinocentaurs that were currently trying to sell the location for the system users were not the only ones who had arrived at the Inn from their organization. Their organization was exceedingly mysterious, and each member could only join the organization by being invited. Each member was extremely powerful, for snatching a system from a system wielder was not easy at all. Systems gave their users unfair advantages, which made them extremely difficult to kill, which is why most members operated in groups. Of course, their organization also had a loose organizational system, and there was nothing really stopping one member from attacking another to steal their system so they had to be careful who they partnered with. At least, that''s what it was like as basic members of the organization, which is what these three were. They had been recruited due to their strengths, and had formed a team because they felt that it was easier to trust one from their own race. As basic members of the organizations they did not have many perks, but they were eligible to get a special device which could detect systems in a close proximity. There were numerous limitations on the machine, and theirs was the most basic version of the machine too, so it was extremely lucky that they were able to discover Garlin back on Nibiru.I think you should take a look at But Garlin did not have a simple background even on Nibiru, so they hired a helper using the chatroom. Of course, since the helper was stronger than them, they also signed a contract through the chatroom that the helper could not divulge any information about them, and could not try to harm them in any way. The contract was upheld by the chatroom, and if anyone tried to break it there was a severe punishment, so it was safe to use. Their helper protected them from external interference while the three of them ganged up on Garlin. Once it became apparent that he was about to lose, Garlin tried to use the golden key to escape, but was ultimately killed before he could use it. Later on, when they had retried the system and escaped pursuit, they gave all of Garlin''s belongings excluding the system to their helper. It could not be helped, it was a part of his contract that all loot would be turned over to him. When he was inspecting the key, he identally broke it and brought them all to the Midnight Inn. Initially they took things cautiously and made sure to understand their new environment. But when their helper discovered John was a system user, he did not hesitate to challenge him to a deathmatch. There was no mention of systems, and John did not know his motives, but naturally he was provoked into epting so currently a death match was underway. It was just these three who were more cautious and did not dare to randomly pick a fight with the Innkeeper. It wasn''t as if they had heard of his reputation before. It was just a part of their personalities to not provoke death. Unfortunately, at least among the workers at the Inn, it was alreadymon knowledge that these three had arrived with the same beast which had challenged John to a deathmatch in the Murder grounds. The three were busy focusing on their chat interface,pletely oblivious to their surroundings, when one of them suddenly felt something on his shoulders. He looked up, and was stunned to find a thin, delicate looking man standing calmly on his shoulders. He was wearing a smart three piece suit which only amplified his aura, adding an air of power to the arrogance he radiated. The other two Rhinocentairs quickly noticed something was wrong, and looked up to find a human looking down on them. "Wee to the Midnight Inn," he said in an exceptionally cold voice. "I hope you find it to your liking." The mans ''polite'' words did nothing to diminish their sudden anger, and one of them yelled fiercely as he punched the man, trying to push him away. But the man very simply took a step forward, and moved from one of the rhinocenataur''s shoulder to another''s head. "I heard that one of your friends challenged John to a fight to the death." He squatted down, but such an action only brought greater attention to the fact that he was looking down on them. "Here at the Midnight Inn, we take great pride in our hospitality. Since one of your friends is in a fight to the death, how can we bear to leave you feeling lonely? How about it? Are any of you interested in fighting with me to the death?" Although the human did not seem powerful, his words brought the three rhinocenataur''s great stress. Was the Inn making a move against them? They immediately tried to exit the Inn, but found that they could not. "What''s the rush? Why leave so soon? I especially took my time to go to the security room and have them block you from teleporting away before I approached you. How can I allow you to leave without tasting our hospitality?" The three rhinocenataurs'' suddenly noticed that, at some point, they had been encircled by arge number of suited humans. Some of them were radiating an especially strong aura, though most of them were not so intimidating. But their numbers alone was something to worry the rhinocentaurs. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Luthor, and I have recently added a new upation to my resume. Alongside my main job, I have also be incharge of fertilizer procurement. Allow me to show you how I fulfill this role." Chapter 619 Blood Of Covenant Under a familiar night sky was a battlefield filled with rubble which once used to belong to some ancient ruins, which were no doubt once a glorious civilization. The battlefield seemed to stretch into forever, and perhaps if thebatants made it far enough, they would once again see some standing ruins. But sightseeing was not really on the agenda for the twobatants, locked in a fight to the death. John''s repertoire consisted of exceedingly lethal and deadly attacks, but the greatest w of those attacks was that they were more geared towards assassination thanbat. They were designed to be swift, piercing and devastating. But for all the might that they packed, to use each one certain conditions needed to be met. Matching those conditions in the midst of activebat was difficult, to say the least. But any assassin worth his salt would also know that in case of a failed assassination, he might have to face activebat and perhaps even a siege, so their skills were more than sufficient even inbat, if not quite as good as their assassination. The issue John was facing, however, was that the massive centipede-like creature he was facing was ridiculously strong. Even in optimal conditions John might not be able to assassinate him, let alone now that the target was aware of his intentions. John, who was perfectly hidden within the fold of space within a shadow, discovered that much like the Mystery trial, any assassination n his system helped him conjure would always be perfectly countered by this enemy. It was only when he attempted his own methods that he got even a hint of a positive result, despite the systems approach being more rounded than his own. He did not know who this fellow was, nor why he had gone crazy in provoking him, but John was not about to take things lightly. Even if direct assassination methods spawned by the system were not working, he had other methods he could use. John''s eye turned ck and he once again got ready for one of their brief but deadly shes. Strange ck lines began creeping up on his skin, line tendrils of an unspeakable evil, encroaching upon his body from an unknown abyss. While John readied his next attack, the centipede-like creature stood silent and confident in the Murder grounds. As a member of the system hunter organization, his personal strength had been judged to be enough to hunt the average system wielder even if he was alone. It would not be so easy to take him down. Moreover, while the creature knew its opponent had a system, John did not know that his greatest secret had already been revealed to the opponent - to a small degree. The advantage that knowledge presented could either be small or great. But the only thing that was certain, was that the oue of this battle could not yet be determined based on the advantages any one party had over the other. *****I think you should take a look at The entire security tem surrounded the three rhintaurs, watching as Luthor aggravated them. Truthfully, their actions were breaking the rules. The three ''guests'' had not done anything illegal, and so it was not appropriate to punish them by blocking their exit from the Inn. Technically speaking, even their challenge to the Murder grounds had been legal. As if blocking their exit was not bad enough, Luthor even came with the intention of attacking them. Considering all of this was against the rules, all the workers felt quite ufortable doing it. But Luthor''s n had personally been approved by Gerard, the head of security. Moreover, the greatest reason Luthor and everyone else were so agitated was that their memory of what had happened to their fellow workers was extremely fresh. In fact, Besides the security team, Harry himself was also present in the encirclement. Although strictly speaking he was not abatant, and he was not one of the workers that the Inn summoned itself, his attachment to the Midnight Inn was one of the greatest. As someone who had to rely only on his own skills and connections to live, being epted by everyone and having a home like the Midnight Inn was beyond a dream. Even before everything waspletely ruined on earth, he was a lot more likely to end up homeless and broke than anything else.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om So, bound by the feelings of home, of friendship, of loyalty he stood at the forefront. Even if he was not the one who had been challenged to the deathmatch, he would not stand aside and watch as one of his own was threatened. Recently, a silent sentiment had been spreading amongst all the workers of the Inn. Most of them had no memories before the Inn, and knew no life other than the Inn. Even after interacting with countless guests and learning about the outside world, they did not feel as if they were missing out. In fact, they felt even closer to their coworkers and the Inn. But if there was one thing that the guests had that they often did not, which made them somewhat envious, was a surname. At some point, as a joke, a certain guest had joked that they were all a part of the Midnight family. But like an ember falling on a pile of dry leaves, the joke did not disappear. Instead, it grew into a small fire which was slowly and steadily turning into a roaring me. In fact, unbeknownst to Lex, after he recovered from his near fatal injuries, Harry had given up his original surname of ''Styles'' and taken on the surname Midnight. So now, facing these three conspirators, it was not Harry Styles standing ready for war. It was Harry Midnight, the proud and powerful mor Sorcerer of the Inn. Beside him stood not his coworkers and neighbors, but his chosen family. After all, the blood of the covenant was thicker than the water of the womb. Chapter 620 Houses Of Midnight Harry may have been the first to take up the name, but he was certainly not thest. When it urred to the staff that they could take on the name Midnight, fervor and zeal spread through the masses. No longer would they only have one name. No longer would they have no origin. They would be one family. But just as quickly as the excitement spread, so too did fear and hesitation. Unlike Harry, who was acknowledged by all, and had a special rtionship with the Innkeeper, most others felt unworthy of the name. On one hand they yearned for the name and all it entailed, but on the other hand because of the immense worship they felt for the name and its prestige, they felt unworthy to adopt it. They dare not admit to anyone the struggle they felt, yet they could note up with an answer to their internal struggle. Sensing the deep demoralization spreading through his brothers and sisters, Z took it upon himself toe up with a solution. After all, the more important members of the Inn were all swamped with tasks delegated by the Innkeeper. How would they have time to notice such details, especially when everyone kept them hidden so deeply in their hearts. Only one as attentive as him would pick up on such details. Even though he looked younger than most of the Inn''s workers, since most of them called him big brother, he had to act as one. He did not make a big show of things, nor did he make an announcement. He directly called some of the others and shared the situation, as well as his n. None of them hesitated to support him, and Luthor especially praised for his initiative. It was thus that the houses under the banner of Midnight were formed. Only the most prominent and specially aplished of the Inn''s workers would take on the name Midnight. For the rest, they would join one of the lesser houses. Z selected for himself a surname, and took it upon himself to be the founder of the Starcloak house. The Starcloak house would be for the masses, and would be vast like the infinite starlit night sky. It would be the ce that perfectly captured the magic and wonder of Midnight, and the ce where most of the Inn''s workers would find themselves. Gerard, as the head of security, founded the house of Umbragard. As the guardians and protectors of the Midnight Inn, they perfectly encapsted the meaning of the name Umbragard. The shadow, or darkness, of umbra perfectly represented Midnight, and as the first line of defense and guardians, they themselves were the ''gard'' in the name. The entire security team joined Umbragard, bringing them closer than ever to one another, and turning their secret insecurities into pride instead. Velma founded the house Nyxheart. Her intention was to establish a house full of the romantics in the Midnight Inn, but more and more the house was taking shape to ensure the will of the Inn - to ensure that the Innkeepers hearts desires were met. Spies, secret agents and intelligence operatives filled this house. Finally, Luthor himself created a house called Nightshade. Its purpose was simple. To poison and kill anyone who would threaten the Inn. Unlike the Umbragard, who would protect, the Nightshade would proactively attack! Members of all four houses encircled the three rhinocentaurs and watched in silence as Luthor, for the first time, performed the duty of his house.I think you should take a look at "I have studied the rules of your Inn!" one of them roared, still trying his best to avoid a deteriorating situation. In fact, it only appeared that was his intention. He was dying so that his partners could quickly sell the information inexchange for a teleportation reward, as well as some points that could be used within the chat room. Unfortunately for them¡­ the level of teleportation that the chatroom awarded that could forcefully work in the Midnight Inn¡­ was far beyond anything they could afford. "Yes, unfortunately, you have not. But don''t you worry, I won''t kill you - yet! After I capture you, you can be the perfect excuse to finally get permission from the Innkeeper to build the prison I''ve always wanted. Not to mention, how can I question you for your motives if I let you die so easily?" Without waiting for a response, Luthor attacked. Red mes engulfed him, immediately searing the head of the rhinocentaur he was standing on. The rhinocentaur screamed in pain and convulsed, but by then Luthor was already gone. Disying an absolutely abnormal speed, he had dashed from the first centaurs head to the legs of another. He controlled his red mes and wrapped them around the legs of another, attempting topletely immobilize it, but how could three members of the system hunter organization have such littlebat experience? Before his mes could burn the centaurs legs, it employed a technique to increase its fire resistance as it charged towards Luthor. From the side, the third centaur coordinated with it to simultaneously attack Luthor. They had teamwork, skill and plenty of experience working for them. They were prepared to fight against those even with the cheats of a system, let alone a single normal human. But Luthor was not at all a normal human, and who was to say the cheats a system user had were more than that granted to him by his bloodline? The mes he used were called Hellme, and were so strong they would harm both the user and the enemy. But the reason Luthor appeared fine was because he could use his bloodline to move the lethal damage being umted from the raging Hellme constantly burning him alive. In the case where he was umting enough damage to kill himself every second, what was umting just a little more? Completely ignoring the attacksnding on his body, Luthor reached forward and grabbed the centaurs face with his hand and brought it close to himself.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Fire resistance did not mean fire immunity, so while the centaur tried to ignore the pain of its face being burnt, and attempted to free itself from Luthor''s grasp, it missed the look of pure malice in his eyes. How dare they threaten an employee of the Inn? Luthor would ensure they lived to regret it. Chapter 621 Hassle Emperor Jotun reappeared at the Inn, to once again deliver a message to the Innkeeper. For some reason, he had be the dedicated messenger between the Henali and the Innkeeper, at least as far as current matters went. He was hoping that this matter would conclude soon, after all, not only did he have his own matters to tend to, but he also did not enjoy constantly antagonizing a Daolord. He understood well that even if the Innkeeper was disgruntled, he could absolutely decimate his empire, but would at most get a p on the wrist, symbolic punishment at most. That is what it meant to be a Daolord. Let alone something as insignificant as the extinction of a minor empire, even in all out war between Overlord civilization, the actual death of a Daolord was rare. Just as he was about to head off towards the Innkeeper''s office, he noticed something strange. He did not need to use his spirit sense to be in tune with his environment. Due to his cultivation realm, the universe around him itself spoke to him. As such, he immediately noticed an extremely hostile emotion circting between the Inn''s workers, concentrating somewhere in the distance. He only needed to look in the direction to see hundreds of Inn workers surrounding three rhinocentaurs, with Luthor alone taking all three of them on. He did not know the context, and quite frankly he did not care. His attention, instead, was on Luthor''s bloodline. A single glimpse was enough for him to understand itsplexities, and thews working behind the scenes. Although he had not seen it in action before, he had read about it in the Sephore family records. Anachronistic Ignition¡­ Suddenly, he felt a hint of anticipation. He longed to see the Inn''s performance on the battlefield. He had a feeling, a premonition, that it would be worth witnessing. A notification from the Inn suddenly distracted him. In a few days, there will be an auction¡­ ***** Lex looked over the list of items he was epting from the emporium in return for a couple drops of elixir. As it happened, he unwittingly discovered some items that would help him immensely. Such as a cultivation technique that was avable only to the emporium VIPs. It was called God''s Eye, and it was to be used in conjunction with the Fancy contact lenses. Once the two were paired together, the effects¡­ Well, it was sufficient to say Lex was impatient to witness it for himself. He also discovered some items which would help in the upgrade of the Butter Knife, not to mention he found some incredibly valuable ores which he nned on keeping for his own personal use to make weapons to use outside the Inn. He found some treasures he thought would be useful for himself and some for his workers and Inn. Besides those, he collected 5 items which could minutely influence certainws. However, besides all these, the thing that Lex took the most was information. He took the highest levels of knowledge on the civilizations inside the Origin realm, the top races, the history of the realm itself, valuable treasures, items and phenomenon. Out of all of that, the thing that Lex was looking most forward to was theplete cultivation realm guide for all races inside the Origin realm. It wasn''t quiteplete, but it had all the pertinent information on all the important races inside the realm. He could help but peak at the break up of the cultivation realms inside the Origin realm, at least as per human standards. ording to what Lex knew, humans who did not cultivate were considered to be in the mortal realm. That was apparently a misconception. They were merely referred to as baseline humans. It was instead, the entire first few realms which fell under the category of mortals. The sequence was: Mortals or base humans Body tempering Qi training Foundation realm Golden Core NascentI think you should take a look at All of these were the mortal realms of cultivation for humans. These were followed by the immortal realms, which were Earth Immortal and Heaven Immortal. The realm after that, which was the peak natural realm in the Origin realm, was actually based off of, and inspired by a certain humanoid species that existed. As such, the realm''s name coincided with the name of the race: the Celestial realm! Just reading the name gave Lex goosebumps, and filled his heart with a dreadful pressure. It felt like he had encountered something he was not qualified to know. It felt like an entire race of unimaginably powerful beings was suddenly aware of him. It felt like¡­ Lex snorted, and channeled his spirit energy, causing the feeling to dissipate. Lex had even looked Daolords in the eye, he was not afraid of simply gaining some knowledge. In fact, at this point, even Regal Embrace gave him a warning. Sometimes foreknowledge was not good for his cultivation. The snort was a reply to that prompt. Besides all of that, Lex also umted 1 million emporium credits to use in the future. Truthfully, if he had time, Lex could get himself a better deal, but time was exactly what he was short of. It was better to take a small loss and hurry up than quibble over small gains. With the meeting done, Lex promptly collected several small bottles which would be able to contain the elixir and exited the emporium. Even Powell noticed his rush towards the end, but didn''tment on it.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex teleported to the Inn and quickly scanned it. John was still in his deathmatch, and Lex could do nothing to interfere with that even if he wanted. But the other three were still at the Inn, and were in fact being beaten up by Luthor. The Innkeeper''s trusty assistant still looked like he was in perfect condition, mostly because he kept using his bloodline to send all his injuries and fatigue into the future. Lex nodded, but then donned his Leo persona and teleported over. He did not talk, discuss or deliberate. He straight up kicked one of the rhinocentaurs into the ground, forming a massive crater! His sudden appearance had taken everyone by surprise, but he didn''t have the time to wave at the audience. Seeing that a single hit with his immense strength was not enough to incapacitate them, Lex immediately entered his Berserk state! He ran forward, the push of his legs forming small craters in the ground where he stepped, and smacked the other rhinocentaurs down to the ground. In his heightened emotional state, Lex performed a move he had done once before and quite enjoyed. He grabbed one of the rhinocentaurs, and used its body to begin smashing the other two! At this point even Luthor was startled by the absolute barbarism, but then grinned and joined in. The rhinocentaurs were tough foes, and could take on dozens of enemies in the same realm at the same time. They could not, however, take on an impatient Lex and an incensed Luthor. In less than a minute, the foes were defeated. Pulverized would be a more apt description, but the details weren''t so important. "I will be interrogating these three myself," Lex told Luthor. "The Innkeeper already knows their motives, so you don''t have to be concerned. I''m just going through the motions." Luthor was a little upset that he wouldn''t get to question the three himself, but it was alright. More importantly, he couldn''t go against the Innkeeper''s wishes. As for Lex, of course he would not let anyone else question them. The secret about systems was too great. Maybe one day it would bemon knowledge at the Inn, but for now he wanted to keep things quiet. More importantly, one of them even had a system of his own which Lex was looking forward to absorbing. Ah, it was so tough to decide. Should he upgrade his system first, or absorb more elixir? Just kidding, the elixir was a time sensitive matter. It took priority, for now. Just as Lex sent the three rhinocentaurs away, he received a notification. It was not the system penalizing him for assaulting his guests who had not broken the rules - he''d already gotten that one. Instead, he was informed that Alexander was looking for Lex urgently. The emperor of Jotun had also arrived, and was once again requesting a meeting. Also, one of the children in the kids area of the Inn had proposed to another child there, and they had taken an oath of a ten year engagement, which had incensed the kids parents who demanded to speak with upper management of the Inn. Lex could not help but sigh. Whichever identity he took, he was always in such demand. Being important was such a hassle. Lex teleported away, leaving the encirclement to break up. Gerard approached Luthor and the two fell into a discussion, the contents of which were unknown. Inside the Innkeepers office, a projection of the Innkeeper appeared. Elsewhere in the Inn, Lex appeared just out of sight of Alexander and walked forward. Chapter 622 Much Too Convenient Lex cleared his mind as he walked up to Alexander. Various random thoughts were floating in his mind, from the system he had to take from the invader, to the wedding preparations, to the probable deployment of the Inn''s staff to battlefields. There was a lot of stuff he needed to get done, but stressing over them would be more wasteful than helpful. He had to take things in his stride. When Lex approached Alexander, he found the teenager grimacing as he looked into the distance. He also looked a little worn out. It was clear that Lex had not had any time to resttely, and whatever tasks he was busy with were quite strenuous. "You don''t look so good," Lex said frankly as he walked up to him. Alexander turned to look at Lex and inspected his appearance. Lex was dressed quite casually, but due to his extremely fit body he still looked good. That wasn''t what Alexander was looking at, however. Instead, he was paying attention to the fact that Lex looked quite rxed. "You look pretty good for someone whose is at war," he said passive aggressively.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex did not take his tone to heart. The fact that Alexander looked weary at all meant that he had likely been through some harrowing experiences. If only Lex knew that Alexander had been taking orders from Belle, he would truly sympathize with how tough his life as ofte had been. "The whole universe is at war," Lex said casually as he took a seat opposite to Alexander. "Besides, it''s not like I alone can stop the war. Or change things for that matter. Not to mention, I''ve long left earth behind. I''ve heard you''ve done the same." Though Lex said that, the Inn had probably paid the greatest role in altering the course of the war than anyone else. The deities would never have arrived on the, and the robots invasion would not have subdued without the deterrence of the Innkeeper, and there would be no refugees. Objectively, Lex had helped a lot already. But personally, he had contributed only very little. Alexander sighed, but controlled himself. He realized that he was venting unnecessarily on Lex. He enveloped himself and Lex in an istion bubble so that they could have a conversation in private. "The situation on earth is moreplicated than it seems. Who knew I would leave earth to join the Jotun empire, only to be sent back to earth?" Lex raised an eyebrow, but did not speak. He was truly curious about what secrets the situation on earth could have that he didn''t already know. He was also curious about why Alexander was even telling him. "How could it be moreplicated than alien robots invading the entire with the intention of enving everyone?" "The war¡­ the war has already transcended what it started out as. While that''s good for earthlings, because at least for now they can survive, I fear that soon we will forever lose the sr system to greater forces." "Even mars?" Lex asked in surprise? "Several forces have already approached my family with propositions to either sell the or enter into a partnership. All of them have some degree of interest in the war. Although for now my family has not epted the sale, it is only a matter of time before they ept a deal." Lex frowned for a moment, but recovered quickly. No matter what, the sr system was a part of the empire, so they would notpletely ignore it, right? Before Lex could think further on the topic, Alexander continued. "No, it''s not the war alone that is the cause ofplications. Do you know why the robots invaded?" "Why?" Lex asked without trying to show off his knowledge. He was still interested in why Alexander was freely sharing information with him, so he wanted to see what he had to tell. "A terrorist¡­" Alexander said, allowing an exhausted sigh to escape. "It''smon knowledge that I''ve joined the army, but even among them, due to my excellent performance, I''ve been assigned to a special operations unit called Valkyrie unit. We''ve been looking into why earth was suddenly invaded, and we''ve discovered that this was a plot of an intergctic terrorist called Jeffery. "You may think that inciting a full on war on earth was bad, but the scale of his activities has escted greatly since leaving the. It appears¡­ it appears as though he is a part of a massive terrorist organization which is utilizing various alien influences to spread chaos amongst human influences.I think you should take a look at "The use of the A.I. nation against a is a major incident, but not easily replicable. Yet the number of demon invasions, gues, civil wars, and worse since he escaped earth is off the charts." "Considering the size of the empire, I would be surprised if they don''t have a team qualified enough to hunt this Jeffery down. I don''t see why you''re concerned about it." "Like I said, the matter is far from simple. As far as the whole organization is concerned, someone else will take care of it. But the team I''m a part of will be specifically hunting down Jeffery." "What do I have to do with all this?" Lex asked. In truth, he did not mind patiently waiting till Alexander revealed it on his own, but he could tell that the other was waiting for Lex to ask specifically this. "Well, other than the fact that I thought you might be interested in hunting down the guy who single handedly put earth to destruction? Due to the special nature of the team that I''m in, I have the right to recruit anyone I deem helpful temporarily, or even permanently, as a soldier of the empire. Moreover, I''m going on an infiltration mission soon, and I think that I might need your help." "You''re showing an awful lot of trust, telling me all this. We aren''t even in the chamber of secrets. Aren''t you worried I won''t ept your offer, and then spread the news." "Not really," Alexander said, showing an iparably confident expression. "Take it as a gut feeling. I don''t think you''ll betray me, and I definitely think you''ll be interested in this mission." "Don''t you think you''re evaluating me a little too high if you want me to take on a terrorist organization willy nilly?" "You don''t understand. I''m not asking you to take on a terrorist organization. This is not about acting out of the goodness of your heart. I''m asking you to help me out." Lex raised an eyebrow. ***** Since Luthor was currently busy, Lex had to summon Jotun to his office himself, though that was no real issue. The emperor entered the room, silently grateful that he didn''t need to wait for weeks on end for the Innkeeper to receive him. Although theirst meeting had been incredibly tense, for Jotun at least, true to his word the Innkeeper maintained full civility - towards him at least. He was not exactlypletely privy to what the Innkeeper had written in his epistle previously, but it had caused an enormous reaction between their ranks. Even as merely one of their agents, Jotun was able to sense the reverberations amongst their ranks. Although Jotun tried not to specte, he could not help bute to the conclusion that the Innkeeper had an extremely massive and influential background to affect the Henali like that. How was he supposed to know that, in truth, Lex''s attempts to avoid the ''payment'' he was due had caused massive misunderstandings amongst them? He had asked them to prove that he had entered the Origin realm from the outside, which they were unable to do. His obvious power level, yet mysterious background and origin, alongside the inability to trace his entry into the Origin realm created an unsolvable mystery. Perhaps if he hadn''t almost destroyed a deity with a single move earlier, some might have doubted that he was a Daolord. Now that he had proved his identity, his bold ims led to only one single possible conclusion: the Origin realm hid a massive secret that surpassed even the Henali''s understanding. For the first time in a long, long time, the mysterious race was getting ready to deploy themselves across the realm to search out its secrets. It was with all this happening in the background that the Innkeeper took from Jotun one more missive, secretly hoping for a favorable message. If the Henali insisted he pay¡­ Fortunately, no such thing happened. The message only contained two things. One was a self-deployable teleportation formation, the other item was a small letter, listing out the details of the deployment of the Inn''s workers. Since most of the Innkeeper''s workers were low levelled, they were assigned an appropriate battlefield in the gxy Suerra. There were a few conditions for their deployment listed out, but the Innkeeper had paused reading. His eyes were fixed on the name of the gxy. Wasn''t that where a huge secrety waiting for him to discover? This was much too convenient. Chapter 623 Bitterness "How exactly would I help you out?" Lex asked, leaning forward. To be honest, he did not mind improving his rtionship with Alexander. It was one of the few things that his intuition hinted at, which he was already nning on doing. Although, as the Innkeeper, he came across numerous powerhouses, he did not have a close connection to any of them. Sure, Ragnar had helped him out when he needed it, and the emporium treated him well enough, but there was still a difference between personal and business rtionships. These things were not really certain, but he felt like he should maintain a strong rtionship with his few contacts from earth. Whether it was the charismatic Larry, the overwhelming Marlo, the bold Alexander, all had potential for growth in the long run. Moreover, he had to take the long view of things from now on. He was a cultivator now, and it was normal for cultivators to have a very long life. As a golden core cultivator, his natural life span was a minimum of 250 years. This was the minimum, because there was nothing ordinary about his cultivation at all. He would not be surprised if his lifespan was even double of that. But his lifespan did not really matter to him, for now at least. He had barely begun to cultivate, and he expected that he would soon ovee the obstacles in his path and continue to raise his cultivation realm long before he neared the end of his lifespan. So, as someone who would likely live for thousands of years or more, he had to start thinking about his future. Sure, the Innkeeper identity would stay as a powerful and enigmatic being, but such a lofty identity would also keep him from forming close connections. It was instead his normal identity as Lex that would serve as extremely useful in this regard. "I am not really worried about my safety. Being able to retreat to the Inn at any time I want ensures that I can avoid fatal danger. Instead, I am concerned about being unable to catch up to my target in time because I''m held back by his fellow operatives. "Although I am part of a team, each member has been given a specific task that they have toplete on their own within a certain time frame. Fortunately, I am allowed to recruit help toplete my mission." "If that''s the case, why try to recruit me instead of someone from the army?" "I can''t exin it," Alexander said, shaking his head. "Call it instinct, but I have a feeling I''ll work better with you than anyone else. The kind of synergy we had back at the pagoda is not something that can be achieved so easily with just anyone. Besides, and I don''t say this lightly, you can really take a hit. When fighting against crazy, suicidal terrorist maniacs, that is a very important quality." Lex found it interesting that Alexander too was beginning to rely on his instincts. Although Lex didn''t believe his peers'' instincts would be as powerful as his own, it was a good reminder that he wasn''t the only one in the universe with such potent senses. One day, his enemies with a stronger instinct could use it against him. He would have to be mentally prepared to counter such abilities. "Alright, I''ll help. But there''s one thing that''s important for me to know before I do anything. When do you need my help, and how long do you think it will take? I have quite a few important things to keep an eye on, and I can''t leave them for a long time." Alexander looked hesitant. "Will it be possible for you to use the Inn''s Prestige level 3 ability? If you haven''t reached that level I can provide you with the funds for it, but the thing is that you''ll be stuck unable to use it again for 10 years. That means you might not be able to return to your original location so easily." "Where do you want me to go?" Lex asked, instead of answering directly. "Vegus Minima. I can take care of the details so that as soon as you appear on the a transportation formation will be ready for you to take you to another so it won''t take long. The operation is likely there, and I won''t need your help anytime soon. But chances are I''ll need your help at a moment''s notice, so it would be for the best if you are already on that." Lex nodded and said, "I''ll head on over soon. That won''t be an issue, but I can''t stay on the infinitely. Once I reach whatever you need, I''ll be teleporting back to the Inn to focus on some other tasks I have going on. Whenever you need me, you can reach me through the Inn and I''ll teleport back there." The two soon reached an agreement and shook hands.I think you should take a look at ***** Back in his office, with not much else to talk about, Lex concluded his meeting with Jotun, much to the emperor''s relief. It seemed that his role in delivering messages to the Inn was concluded, for now. The emperor narrowed his eyes as he thought of the tasks thaty before him. Upon their return, his brothers informed him that, as Jotun had been suspecting, the seeds of rebellion had been nted across his empire, and were beginning to bloom. It seemed he had appeared far too benevolent in protecting the humans against the foreign races. It was time to correct that, and remind them all why it was that they needed him so. In his office, Lex was focused on other things entirely. He was d that in thistest correspondence, there was no mention of his debt. But while that in itself was a relief, the battle requirements for the Inn were extremely harsh - at least in his eyes. In truth, the Henali were asking the bare minimum from him, so that he could symbolically perform his duties. But how would they know that Lex was not really a Daolord, and the Inn''s forces were in fact quite pathetic. Depending on how it was looked at, 1000 Foundation realm cultivators were requested to be sent on the battlefield. Moreover, they only needed to participate for 5 years. That wouldplete the Innkeepers requirements for the next century. To the overlords of this realm, such requirements were basically letting the Innkeeper off scot free. Even this was only done after Jotun reported that he suspected that the Innkeepers origins had something to do with the Devils, or at least that they had a deep history. To Lex, though, this was an extremely difficult requirement to fulfill. It would take away all of his oldest and most trusted employees and send them to a battlefield from which they might not return. Realistically speaking, since they were being sent to war, it was likely most of them would not return. As if that was not enough, he had only a week to send them. For the first time in a long time, helplessness and bitterness filled Lex''s heart. He knew that he was already doing his best, but sometimes in the face of reality, one''s best was not enough. But the feeling¡­ did notst. Not only had Lex toughened up, a part of evolving into a being of a higher level of existence meant that his mindset also evolved. For example, if a normal human had to live for 10,000 years, it was most likely he would kill himself out of depression long before the time even arrived, such were the vicissitudes of a long life. But cultivators obviously had no problem, because their mindsets and emotions also evolved. Moreover, Lex had the system to depend on. As much as he did not like relying on it all the time, it was also true that it was his biggest ace card. The first thing that he did¡­ was look at his MP. Recently, he had gained 500 billion MP as a result of Ragnar''s quests in the Guild room. Besides that, he had been earning a whole lot due to the festivities, but he was still a distance away from reaching 1 trillion. He had an idea, and began nning things out in his mind. "Mary, spread the word. The auction for the Cosmic Erosion Elixir will take ce in 3 days. Before then, other guests who wish to auction items can also submit them to the Inn, but only ept them if their minimum value crosses 1 billion MP. Have the nning division n out the auction then let me know the details, I don''t have the time to focus on it. "Also, I''ve been nning a special Inn employee banquet for quite a while. Let everyone know it will happen in 6 days." Without waiting for a response from her, Lex teleported away back to his room. It was time for him to take another sip of the elixir. At the same time, he teleported the rhinocentaur with a system over as well. It was best to use time as efficiently as possible. If he wanted to clear this hurdle, the system would need an upgrade as well.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Chapter 624 Evolving Mindset The Midnight Inn was always busy, and the multitude of guests were all enjoying various experiences. Some were extremely significant, such as the agreement between Alexander and Lex. It was not easy for Alexander to trust someone, especially a person he knew for such a short time, but he had chosen to do so nheless. They shook hands. Other experiences were mundane and ordinary, such as what Jill, the fox who participated in Lady Cosmos, was having. Since she had decided to live at the Inn in perpetuity, she had decided to take a nap under one of the purple crystal trees that filled the Inn. Due to the winter theme that the Inn was currently following, a thin nket of snow covered the Inn''s many hills, allowing her to napfortably. It was a good nap. Some experiences were key moments in the guests lives, and would not only form their core memories but also shape their futures. Jimmy stood silently, his tiny fists clenched, as he watched La being taken away by her grandmother. She was a princess, and he was a nobody. She had been trained and nurtured since birth to be a leader, while he could not even speak to others due to shyness, until quite recently. Her disposition was perfect to cultivate, while he could not have been more average. Even if their ''engagement'' had originally just been a joke during one of their games, the strong reaction it had elicited was enough to put him in his ce. Unfortunately, Jimmy did not like the ce he was being put. Besides Jimmy, his mother Hera also looked ahead as she firmly held her son''s hand with her right hand. She had been rising quickly on earth and their futures looked bright, right up until earth was invaded. She had yed a significant role in allowing Will Bentham''s Rose Society to expand, but now it was all worthless. Well, not quite. She had gained significant experience through it, and that experience had been noticed and appreciated. In her left hand, she held a tinum key. Apparently, she had been noticed by the Inn''s nning division, and they had rmended her for recruitment to the Inn. The Innkeeper had epted, and she had just been delivered a key. She was a warrior in her own way, and she would fight to give her son a better life. Other experiences still were intense and stressful, but were destined to be blurred in with the rest of the tough moments one had in their lives, such as with emperor Jotun, who was nning his future. It would be bloody. Life was strange, in how one moment, experienced by different people in the same ce, could hold so many different emotions and feelings. But every single one of those experiences was disturbed when a strange change urred at the Inn. Whether it was the two geniuses of earth who were shaking hands, whether it was the child lost in emotions he could ont understand, whether it was the emperor deciding the fate of entire gxies, whether it was the fox that asleep, or anyone of the countless other guests at the Inn, they all looked up at the sky. The rather calm and serene sky of the Inn changed, momentarily, to a starry night sky. But unlike the normal night sky, which was a beautiful tapestry of all that the universe had to offer, from moons tos to stars and gxies far off, this visage was that of its endless depth. It evoked a feeling that all they saw was unfathomably less than all the universe truly held, and was a reminder that they were only looking at the very surface of the well of infinity.I think you should take a look at They did not understand what was happening, but had the feeling that something significant was taking ce. In truth, the Inn was once again reacting to Lex''s emotions. Usually, when the Inn reacted to Lex''s emotions, it was because he was angry. It was because it would take significant enough emotions for Lex to subconsciously influence the Inn.N?v(el)B\\jnn But currently, Lex was experiencing a subtle evolution in his mindset. It was unknown if it was because Lex had pretended to be the Innkeeper so long, or for other reasons, but more and more frequently Lex found himself unwilling to bend or give up. He was unwilling to be deterred, even by an entity so much stronger than himself, and he was unwilling to cower before the design of fate. He was not stupid or arrogant, thinking he could resist the great powers of the universe simply because he decided not to. No, the difference between confidence and arrogance was ability. If he truly had the ability to resist, his desire to remain unyielding would be a result of his confidence, not mindless arrogance. He was fortunate enough to be given the tools to resist fate, he understood that. But using those tools effectively was also up to him. He had been resisting the system for very long because he did not understand its purpose and what he stood to lose if it turned against him. While he still did not know the answer to that, he at least knew the answer to what he would lose if he didn''t use the system to the best of his abilities. If he had to send his workers outside the Inn, for whatever reason, he would make sure they upheld the dignity of the Inn, even on a battlefield. This was also a good reminder, not only for him but all the employees of the Inn. There wouldn''t always be a convenient solution to problems, such as the Butter knife. Sometimes, they would have to get their own hands dirty. With these subtle changes going through his head, Lex reached forward and put his hand on the rhinocentaur, reaching into its soul with his own soul sense. He found a familiar shining golden speck and pulled it out. System notification: New system detected! Analyzing the secondary system. Overnight Celebrity system grade D- detected. Begin assimtion? Y/N. Chapter 625 Aduous Cultivation System notification: New system detected! Analyzing the secondary system. Overnight Celebrity system grade D- detected. Begin assimtion? Y/N. System notification: Overnight Celebrity system detected. The Dao of fame touches upon all that exists. Whether alive or dead, everything that exists can have fame, and thus be a celebrity. Whether it''s your clothes, your looks, your aura or your talents, each can turn you into a celebrity. With millions, billions, or even trillions of eyes only on you, your each and every move will shake the hearts of entire empires! Be an overnight celebrity, and rule all the hearts of the universe! Or, enjoy the power to turn others into celebrities overnight, and know that you control all their fame on your fingertips! Once he absorbed this new system, Lex would lose the ability to control the system for a while. But he had already made some preparations. With all his instructions already in ce, he took out the small containers which would hold the elixir and filled five of them with varying numbers of drops. Three of the containers held one drop, one held two and one held three. This would be enough for him to auction off, and he had already ryed the details of how to ept payments for the auction to Mary. Hopefully he would regain control of the system by then, but in case he didn''t this was merely a precaution. Ideally, he would have wanted to conduct the trade with the emporium now as well before absorbing the system, but it would take the emporium a few days to arrange everything, so all he could do was hope the upgrade waspleted in time. Just in case, however, he went and delivered the couple of drops to the emporium for which he had already epted the payments for. In the worst case scenario, he would lose the opportunity to trade with the others who had items containingws. But even so Lex did not think about dying the system upgrade. Time was too short, he could not end up dying anything. "Mary, is there any way I can spend some MP to speed up the system upgrade process? Or do something else that will result in the same?" "Not really. Systems are incrediblyplex and thus the process of upgrading, or in your case repairing, it will naturally take a lot of time. The system already performs at its maximum speed for each repair." He only nodded. He suspected as much. Once all the necessary tasks were done, Lex immediately chose to absorb the Overnight Celebrity system. Once again, the system interface disappeared and a familiar ''updating'' appeared in its ce. With that done, Lex turned his attention back to the puddle of elixir. Originally, Lex had created a nice bowl shaped indent in the ground for it, but the elixir had absorbed the ground around it, and was beginning to grow. But, Lex realized that while the quantity of the elixir seemed to be increasing, the allure it held was decreasing. Perhaps the more it grew, the less concentrated its potency became. Unable to decide if he was happy about that or upset, Lex took another sip and bolted to the nearest bathroom. To date, this was his most arduous cultivating experience yet. But it would all be worth it, he kept telling himself. In the end, it would all be worth it.I think you should take a look at n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om ***** The greenhouse was doing exceptionally well under the care of the Gctic Sovereign turtle, especially after the turtle grew in its cultivation realm. It was also quite fortunate that the spirit energy inside the Inn was quite abundant, for the turtle relied heavily on it to sustain itself. While its body grew in size and adapted to the extent of its new powers, only extremely pure spirit energy could prevent it from entering a hibernation state. Moreover, the turtle was slowly umting helpers. Although Young McDonald had been recruited by Lex to defend the Inn, most of the time all it did was help the turtle in the garden. Now, it also had the help of Zen, the immortal level sentient grass which had finally stopped being malnourished. Its body was now no longer as weak asmon grass, and was now slightly more resilient thanmon weeds on earth. Everyday it was watered from the Well of invigoration, and it received the best fertilizer the Inn had to offer. Unfortunately, due to the fact that its spirit was already immortal, its body was under a lot of strain and would take a lot of time to grow. Still, at least it could now uproot itself when it took a humanoid form and move around. Thetest addition to their group was the young Sol bird who was still unnamed. The light given off by the bird was especially helpful to nts, making it perfect to help them grow. Currently, all three of them were working on taking care of a tree that a guest had deposited at the greenhouse. The tree had been brought to the Inn from earth. Specifically, it was Sophia, Marlos wife, who had the tree brought here. Her family had used the tree for generations, taking advantage of its especially potent medicinal properties. But since it hade to the Inn, the tree had begun to grow more and more vibrant. By now, the tree had reached 40 feet (12 meters) in height, which wasn''t remarkable, but it also had a staggering diameter of 18 feet (5.4 meters). Moreover the tree was radiating an extremely noble aura, which caused all who saw it to want to kneel before it. Well, all but the turtle. While the three were doing their normal duty of taking care of it, the turtle suddenly appeared with a batch of the most powerful fertilizer the Inn had ever seen. The previous batch had been fed to the vine near the Fire temple, whereas this one would go to this tree. Even the turtle was curious what would happen if it continued to feed it. Chapter 626 Reading A Light Novel Once Again[Bonus ] Several hourster, Lex''s cultivation finally ended. He had originally imagined that after one round of cultivation, the second would be easier and so on sessively. But that was far from the case. His second round was not only longer, but severely more draining as well. Lex practically fell to his knees once he was done, but he was able to steady himself at thest moment. If one saw Lex now, they would be able to tell at a nce that he looked somewhat weaker and skinnier. His muscles thinned out, if only a bit, and his bones began to stick out. In hindsight, it only made sense. He was literally recing parts of his body which containedws that were hampering his growth. The first round would be the easiest, while each subsequent round would be harder as deeper and more important parts of his body were reced. ''Why were things never easy?'' wondered the man who literally had a cultivation technique which could adapt on its own ording to his circumstances. It would take him a short while before hepletely recovered, but he did not n on wasting even this time. Anticipating his depleted energy, at least, Lex had already prepared avish meal for himself, as well as umted an entire list of documents that had been prepared for him to peruse. They mostly had to do with Pvarti''s wedding. He had to ensure the wedding was grand while also being limited to the resources and people of the Crystal realm. Weary and beaten, Lex dragged himself to his office and began reading while he casually munched on some french fries. Progress was slow, because in his exhausted state it was hard to focus on such boring documents. Unable to suppress a sigh, Lex leaned back and allowed himself to rx for a moment. Perhaps a small respite really was in order. Just as he was considering taking a break, his eye caught on the cover of a book. Lex recalled something, and suddenly reached forward to grab it. He did not even remember how long it had been since hest touched this proverbial goldmine of ideas and inspiration. Though there was no dust on the book, he still wiped it - a symbolic gesture of picking back up from where he left so long ago. He could not help but open it, and read from where he left off. On the cover, the title read, ''Ultimate King Emperor: All the Gods call me Daddy''. It was thepletely realistic and not all blown out of proportion light novel Lex was reading, oh so long ago. Where Lex had left off, the MC had just established himself as a hegemon of a small number of realms. His cultivation level was called God King Father Supreme Overlord, and was the cultivation realm through which his previous enemy had ruled these few realms for trillions of years without interruption. Of course, only three hours after the MC defeated the antagonist, and established himself, a new series of enemies showed up who were so ridiculously powerful that they could defeat the MC at his new cultivation realm with a single p of their eyshes. How unfortunate for the MC, for instead of working so hard to defeat the viin, if he had only waited 3 hours these new enemies who had not at all appeared for trillions of years would havee and targeted him instead of the MC.I think you should take a look at Naturally, a fight ensued. But just as these new enemies were about to decimate the MC, alongside the few realms he controlled, effectively ending an incalcble number of lives, after which they would trap all their souls and burn them for eternity, their young mistress told them to spare the MC. After all, there was no real conflict. They had only looked at the MC''s face, became jealous of his handsome looks and decided to eradicate all life in this sector of the universe to vent their anger. It was not revealed why the mistress had spared the MC, but they obeyed nheless and all left. Like lightning, they came, wrought destruction, and left. The MC was left with but a single breath left in his body, and a new vendetta that burned hotter than the mes of hell. Then a mysterious traveling hermit, who happened to have the exact same appearance as the MC''s adopted sister from childhood, who he was secretly in love with, appeared and found the MC in his devastating condition. Unable to leave him be, she slowly nursed him back to health in her hut. The healing process took 13,000 years, during which the MC and hermit naturally fell in love. With his strength recovered, the MC dered that he would marry the hermit and took her back to his realms to have a grand wedding, only to discover that the realms were in chaos. Some corrupt ministers who had helped him rule took advantage of his long absence and started a civil war to wrest control of the realms. They wanted the power, the prestige, and everything else that came alongside the title of ruler. But, most importantly, they wanted the MC''s harem, because apparently he had a monopoly on the most beautiful women in the entire universe so much so that no other woman would ever be as beautiful as his wives. That was followed by a 678 chapters long war arc where he took back control of his territories, full of action, love, betrayal and lengthy chapters extolling the MC''s male prowess. At the end, with peace restored, he finally held a grand wedding for his hermit girlfriend. It was the best wedding ever, with phoenixes flying around the altar instead of doves, spirit diamonds, the highest form of spirit stones, adorned the bride''s wedding dress. The heavens themselves sung praises for the MC''s dashing good looks.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The entire realm was happy and joyous. Of course, how could life ever be so simple? Just as he was about to consummate the wedding, his new hermit wife was killed! Chapter 627 Auction Despite the extreme difficulty in cultivating with the Cosmic Erosion Elixir, Lex persisted and soon three days passed. The system had notpleted its evolution yet, likely because the Celebrity Overnight system was a higher grade than the farming one he had received. During this time, despite his desire to waste away time reading novels, he focused on work and got as much done as possible.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Of course, his attention was forever on his cultivation. Alongside whatever changes the elixir was bringing inside his body, it had also managed to slightly elevate his cultivation realm. This was a genuine surprise, for at his normal rate it would take him a few months more before he made a difference. Unfortunately, while his cultivation had been raised, his physique seemed to have suffered. He was not weaker, no. If anything, he was a little stronger. But he had inevitably be a little more frail than he was three days ago. If someone saw him now, it would appear as though he was on the path to be malnourished. After histest round of cultivation, Lex decided to take a little nap. Sleeping would speed up his recovery, and he had be mentally tired as well after three days of continuous torture. The only shame was that he would miss out on the auction, but that was fine. He had passed down the instructions on how it was to be handled, as well as the minimum payments. He was depending on this auction to cross one trillion MP. Although his n involved a few different steps, having at least 1 MT was paramount. But he was not worried. The staff at the Inn was very reliable. Lex closed his eyes and immediately fell asleep. His body had to get used to its new situation. ***** In the vige there were numerous venues, all veryrge and extravagant, designed to hold as many people as physically possible. Yet today the one which held the most anticipated event of the day, the auction, was being conducted in the smallest such venue avable. This was because most people weren''t even eligible to know about this auction. There were nearly one hundred guests, and the one with the lowest cultivation level was at the earth immortal realm. Even the strongest guard from the security the Inn hired was also present. Since it was his job to ensure safety, he had a representative for him avable who would perform any bidding. General Ragnar, the Emperor Jotun, various prominent devils and even some extremely powerful beasts were present. As it happened, even Aegis from the crystal realm was attending. Since he was here, the Noel family also no doubt learned of the auction, and since they had heard about it, the Phillips family.I think you should take a look at But none from the Phillips family had privilege level 4, so they could not attend the meeting. Instead, they were exploring the Inn. Upon discovering it, they did not think of shifting the wedding to this venue. They were extremely satisfied with the tavern. Instead, they were thinking of how long they could hide the existence of such a ce from the rest in their realm. If no one else knew, they stood the most to benefit. Each of the numerous guests at the auction was sitting in a private booth. It was not difficult to arrange, since the entire purpose of this specific auction house was exclusivity. They focused on providing services to a few distinguished guests rather than catering to the masses. On the small stage, ady wearing a red dress walked to the podium. Thedy walked with elegance and grace, and her curly blonde hair and sharp blue eyes only served to attract every guest''s attention. She was beautiful, no doubt, but it was the charismatic twinkle in her eyes and confident smile that served to elevate her beauty to another level. Perhaps if she had a more sober personality, one would admire her as beautiful if she caught one''s attention, but she would not stand out in a crowd. But the way she was, even if she were lost in a crowd of other blondes, wearing the same red dress, she would still be the one all eyes would lock on to. "Hello everyone, my name is Marilyn and I will be your auctioneer this evening," she said, her melodic voice almost captivating the audience. She let out a smallugh of excitement, and even winked at all the guests yfully. It was clear for all to see that she was quite excited. As strange as it was, suddenly all the guests became excited as well. She was one of the many workers at the Inn who had recently been promoted from her previous position as a waitress. The crazy thing was, she was not cultivating anything that would enhance her appearance or captivate anyone. With just her inherent charm, she seemed to be doing so. Well, that and a little help from her stylist - Harry Midnight! Amongst the various guests, Rockefeller narrowed his eyes as he saw Marilyn. More than anything else the Inn had to offer, he was enamored by its staff. They would make the most splendid demons if he got his hands on them, he was sure. He just had to figure out a way. "You all should have already heard the rules for this auction, but I''ll reiterate them nheless. For the main items in today''s auction, the bidding will be twofold. A minimum bid of 100 billion MP is required per drop of elixir, but other than that, guests must bid using the barter system. That means, they have to bid using items with sufficient value. There is a small list of items which will be given preference during the bartering, in case anyone bids with them, but otherwise all items will be judged based on their MP value if converted." Since Lex had already perused the list provided by the emporium of some of the most valuable items avable in the origin realm, he did not hesitate to list them in the auction. His n was to umte both material and MP wealth. MP could give him many benefits that he could get from nowhere else, but at the same time, it was restricted in how it could help him. Thus, he would umte both. "Of course, as you know, other than the main items prepared by the Inn, there are some items that have been submitted by various guests to be auctioned. They will be bid ording to the requirements of the guest providing the item." Chapter 628 Step Up Perhaps if Lex hadn''t begun the system''s upgrade in a rush, he would have watched the auction go through. Since the auction itself was not a part of the core services provided, it was carried out like one of Lex''s self made services. Still, for the items auctioned before the elixir, Lex asked for a 1% asmission for having the item auctioned. He was only keeping in with the rate set by the guild room, but he did not anticipate the value of the items being auctioned. Although the people sitting there couldn''t be considered the top 1% of their respective realms, they were exceptionally strong nheless - especially Jotun and Rocketfellow. Of course, these two showed no interest in any of the prior items, and were solely focussed on the elixir. A total of 13 items were auctioned before the main items, and through his 1% Lex ended up earning a total of 314 billion MP! The items auctioned were mainly unusual treasure that had no mundane version with which they could be exined. There was, for example, a vial made not of ss but flowingva. Theva flowed within a set pattern, forming a vial. God only knew what it could be used for, but it was hotly contested for. Another example was a ball of light, but it could be physically touched. But if a mundane person tried to touch it they would die, and the ball would erupt into an explosion that could rival several nuclear bombs. That one, oddly enough, went without a single offer, mostly because the person auctioning it had very strict requirements for the payment they wanted. The item which had, up until that point, received the highest bid was a sword. After a very heated auction, the bid was finally won by a human named Lovis. Lovis was a leader of the pdins, who had long since started using the Midnight Inn as one of their secret bases. Only a very few members of the pdins even knew of the Inn at all. Of the ones that knew about it, most assumed that the Small vige they had rented was the entirety of their presence at the Inn. Perhaps only a handful knew that, in fact, the Inn was being used to store and hide some incredibly important artifacts for a very special purpose. After all, since the pdins came from a gxy perpetually at war, the need to keep secrets was obvious. But once the preliminary auction was over, it was finally time for the elixir. For a majority of those who were present, their time to participate was over, and now it was time to watch. It wasn''t that they didn''t want the items, but that they couldn''t afford them. The Inn naturally assured every participant''s identity was a secret, so no one would be hunting them downter if they managed to get their hands on the elixir. But getting their hands on it in the first ce was the real issue. They were rich but items containingws¡­ just being rich was not enough to afford them. With childlike excitement and a grin as wide as her face, Marilyn pped her hands as the first round came to a close. "Now, it is finally time for what you have all been waiting for, the Cosmic Erosion Elixir." Gerard, looking ever handsome, walked in from behind a hidden curtain, a single vial of ck ss ced on a velvet pillow. Dozens of spirit senses immediately scanned the ss vial, but they were not able to sense its contents regardless of who it was. Naturally it was not so simple to peek, considering the vial was provided by the actual owner of the emporium. But Marilyn knew how to satisfy the guests. Though she was technically not supposed to, for a brief moment she opened the cap, allowing the elixir''s aura to leak. The auditorium remained silent, for everyone was in their private rooms, but almost every guest gasped as they sensed the aura. A connoisseur such as Rocketfellow was immediately able to tell the elixir wasn''t fresh, but it was still vibrant enough. "As before, the auction price for these will be a minimum of 100 billion MP per drop, apanied by a barter item. A list of items which will have preferential treatment has been provided to each of you, but in general any item containingws can be used to auction. We will now begin the auction¡­" What happened next surprised everyone. All the drops of elixir were won by the same person, and because identities were kept secret, no one knew who it was. But both Jotun and Rocketfellow were left bewildered, as each and every time they were left unable to contest. It wasn''t about wealth, rather, the person was bidding using exactly the items which were given preferential treatment. In the end, everyone was bewildered by the oue, though most of the participants enjoyed the process. No one knew that the Inn itself was the one auctioning the elixir, and everyone assumed that the elixir had been a specialmission by someone else so no one even tried to request more elixir, though even if they did they wouldn''t get any. In the private room, the ultimate winner of the auction sat without any expression on his face. His name was Gaborone, and he was a noble lord of the Fiery Mammoth n. His subordinate, a sloth named Golden Hair, had long requested the presence of the n so that they may investigate the ce known as Midnight Inn. It was only recently that Gaborone got around to reaching Nibiru. Uponing to the Inn, Gaborone was extremely intrigued. But when he discovered the presence of the Jotun empire, he was filled with a righteous fury! Merely a thousand years ago, a human from a noble family of the Jotun empire eloped with his daughter!I think you should take a look at The scandal had brought great shame to him personally, but he had endured. The humans had reacted just as strongly as he had yet Gaborone was not satisfied. He demanded retribution. Unlike the humans, who required the support of a single powerhouse to maintain their race''s prestige, the Fiery Mammoth had many experts. As such, the young couple should have eloped to the strong and fierce Fiery Mammoths, not the weak and puny humans! What kind of weak, third-gxy state would his grandchildren grow up in? He could not ept it. With this elixir as a gift, he would finally have enough sway to unite all the mammoths against the humans. Conflict was on the horizon! ***** While the rhinocentaur with the system was taken away and never returned, the other two were locked up together. It did not matter even if they were together, for they were kept weak and restrained. A special kind of vine was used to tie their hands and legs, constantly absorbing spirit energy from within their bodies to ensure they would never recover. This was the same method that had been used inside the Inn for a long time to hold their prisoners. But there was an oversight that the security team made, though it could not be med on them. After all, not only had they never been trained on how to counter someone with a chatroom, the concept waspletely alien to them. All it could be said was that the universe was extremely vast, and contained a multitude of things one could never imagine. Both the rhinocentaurs kept their eyes closed, but they were secretlymunicating in a private channel in the chat room. "Do you think there''s a chance we''ll survive?" one asked. "Not a chance," replied the other. "But if there were ever a way, it would be through the chatroom." "It''s too dangerous, no one will challenge the Inn for two measly systems."N?v(el)B\\jnn "No, there is a chance. If we can get in contact with one of the main members of the chatroom, one of the members who has umted dozens of systems, they might be able to save us." "That way we won''t be able to make any money from selling information." "The money doesn''t matter. We need to be alive to enjoy it in the first ce," "Thest issue is¡­ how will we get them to find a golden key?" "If I had all the answers, I wouldn''t be here!" said the rhinocentaur in exasperation. In the end, they had no choice but to sell the information online and hope they''d live long enough to get rescued. Far away in the Origin realm, on a ruled by reptilian beasts sat a king. While perusing the chatroom today, he encountered an interesting request and could not help but ept it. Momentster, he heard a very familiar notification sound in his mind. The king checked, but was not too surprised by what he saw. After all, it was a quest, and he only ever got the same kind of quests. Step Up: Dance off system quest: Have a dance off with the Innkeeper for the fate of your allies. Just as he thought, another dance battle. Chapter 629 Sweatshop Once the auction ended, Lex received an additional 500 billion MP, bringing his new total to 1.384 trillion PM. That would be enough to buy a single MT while still leaving him with some MP for his regr expenses. Moreover, he also received a bunch of items withws inside of them. Hopefully, he would have umted enough items withws to progress without needing to achieve a SSS+ reward, but his gut said otherwise. After all, if it was so simple, then the mysterious man would have directly told him to get items withws instead of seeding in the quest like that. Of course, all of those were considerations forter. When Lex woke up from his nap, he was disappointed to learn that the system still had not upgraded. That was fine. He mustered up some courage, ate a lot of food to replenish his¡­ his body, for energy was no longer the problem at this point. After mentally preparing himself, this time he took a massive gulp of the elixir instead of a sip. It was not that he had be resistant to the elixir, but that its potency was quickly disappearing. He immediately ran to the restroom and readied himself for the usual barrage, but it did note. Instead, a soft yet cool sensation filled his body, reinvigorating him instead of exhausting him. To his great surprise, he developed a nosebleed. But he quickly discovered that the blood would quickly coagte after leaving his body, and turn dark. Strange and unusual urrences kept happening for a short time, before the elixir lost its effect much quicker than ever before. Still not tired, Lex took another gulp and the process restarted. This time, instead of a nosebleed, he began sweating all over his body. But the sweat would quickly evaporate, leaving small ck granules on his skin. The third time, his hair started falling out and new hair began to quickly grow in its ce. Since then Lex discovered that the effect of the elixir was greatly reduced, but notpletely eliminated. This was both a result of the diminished potency of the elixir as well as his body having gained the most it could from the elixir. In the end, he could continue to drink it endlessly, but chose not to do that. Even if selling more of it would reduce the price overall, he would rather sell more of it to the emporium and gather more supplies. So then came the waiting game. Fortunately, it did notst long, as on the fourth day, he heard a very familiar sound. New notification: System upgradeplete! System status updated: System: Midnight Inn System Grade: Divine (broken ~ SSS - B+) System Owner: Lex Williams System functionality: 18% System self repair time: 31,760 billion years New feature unlocked: Midnight tailor New notification: Quest partialpletion: elerate the system''s recovery by absorbing more systems! Quest reward: 1 Maximum grade level reward (not applicable) Partialpletion reward: 1 free feature upgrade token A smile adorned Lex''s face when he finally received the notification. It wasn''t that he was so addicted to the system that even a few days without it were a trial. Instead, it was that he was on a time limit. He immediately scanned the Inn, as well as the tavern, to ensure nothing required his attention. He was pleasantly surprised to discover his new MP bnce, as well as the host of items he had received in the auction. He teleported them to his room, still packed in their containers, and then turned his attention elsewhere. The employee banquet would be in two days, and he needed to prepare for that. He also had to sell the remaining elixir as quickly as possible. But first, he checked out the upgrades he got on his system.I think you should take a look at At first nce, it did not appear that much had changed. Even the upgrade to the Inn only included 1 new service. But it was only after he looked into the Midnight tailor that he discovered why it was that all the upgrades from an entire system werepressed into one shop. Unlike other times, where Lex himself established a restriction on usage of some services by prestige, this shop on its own had a restriction. Only guests with level 2 prestige could ess it. Moreover, each item sold by the shop was custom made, and would require some time to deliver. As such each item also had a different price. Next, his attention went to his quest. Naturally, the quest itself would only beplete when the system was fully recovered, and that would be when Lex would be eligible for the reward, which would be of maximum grade. This meant that it would be simr to the fully powered Butter Knife that he used. Unfortunately, he was only eligible for the partial reward, which is what he would receive every time the system recovered by 5%. But the free feature upgrade was quite useful. In fact, it fit Lex''s n perfectly. Unlike the token from the Token shop, which could only upgrade a service, this could directly upgrade any feature offered by the system. It was no secret that Lex had long wanted to start an armory at the Inn. He had thought about it multiple times. But he was waiting because there was no real rush for him to build one, and he wanted to recruit someone for that job rather than just purchase another worker. In the end, he decided he would build one anyway, upgrade it to the maximum, and then use a token to upgrade it, then supply his workers with excellent armor. Now¡­ Lex could buy a service upgrade token, and already had a feature upgrade token. For his new n, he first had to set up the Midnight tailor shop. The shop came with special requirements, and it had to be established alone. Not only could it not be ced near other shops, it could not be near any other buildings. Besides the requirement on seclusion, the building would be rtively massive, as if it were a mansion. Lastly, there would only be one tailor shop per 100 million square miles (260 million square kilometers). Suffice to say, there would only be one shop at the Inn for a long time. Since Lex could not continue his tradition of setting up the first store on Main street, Lex pulled out a road from main street that led to the tailor shop, which Lex had more or less designed as a smaller version of Midnight manor. Another unique thing about the shop was that it came with its own worker, and that Lex did not need to assign the duty to anyone. The worker was a rtively young, light skinned man called Geeves. With the tailor shop established, Lex immediately changed 1 trillion MP into 1 MT, leaving himself with a meager 384 billion MP. He opened up the token shop and looked at his options. The only tokens for sale were: Feature upgrade token Lockdown token Service upgrade tokenn/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Star increase token Of those, only the service upgrade token cost 1 MT. The feature upgrade token cost 4 MT, the lockdown token cost 6 MT, and the 0.5 star rank increase cost a considerable 10 MT! Moreover, the star rank increase token had an asterisk on it, leading to a small note which mentioned that the price of each star rank increase token would increase depending on the star rank of the Inn. Not bothering to look at the shop for much longer, Lex once again checked the details of the tailor to make sure he hadn''t made a mistake in understanding it. Once he was sure, he immediately used the newly acquired token on it. Unlike the Mystery trial which took some time to upgrade, the tailor shop upgraded almost immediately. The requirements of the shop were also upgraded, where only prestige level 3 guests and above could use its services. Lex put on his Host Attire and assumed his Innkeeper identity, before teleporting over. Despite its appearance as a massive mansion, the shop was actually quite cramped. The entrance was a lobby which led to several private measuring rooms as well as private fitting rooms. At the back of the mansion was the actual several storyrge sweatshop, where the work was done. The rest of the shop was filled with rolls of fabric, leather, metals and other materials which had been put on disy for the client to peruse. "Geeves," the Innkeeper said, as soon as he teleported over. "I have a ratherrge order for you, and only a few days to fulfill the order." The young chap, who looked like he had just returned from gvanting across the English countryside, suddenly stood at attention and listened in as the Innkeeper spoke. "I have one thousand orders, each with a budget of 100 million MP. I need them in four days." Geeves, who hade into existence mere moments ago, suddenly started to sweat. This¡­ wasn''t this a little too much? Chapter 630 The Beauty Geeves was stuck looking at the Innkeeper, too shocked to even drop his jaw. The budget for this project was phenomenal. Each order, with a budget of 100 million meant that he could freely use whatever material or technique he felt suited the task. Moreover, the Innkeeper gave the task by submitting the number of orders and the budget for each order, but gave no other specification. This meant that he could do as his heart desires, and it was as he saw best. Such a situation should have been a tailor''s dream. It had to be known that even after the upgrade to the Midnight tailor, its prestige requirement was level 3 and each order would at minimum cost 50,000 MP. That was not a small amount, so whoever ced the order would no doubt have endless requests, that Geeves could only obey. Yet a massive budget of 100 million, amounting to a total of 100 billion MP, was given for him to do with as he pleased. Naturally, he had to take his clients measurements and design ording to that, but that was the most basic prerequisite. It did not block Geeves'' creativity in any way. But the way things were at the moment, the matter was no longer just about creativity. How was he supposed to produce one thousand orders in just four days? Naturally Lex understood Geeves'' dilemma. But there wasn''t anything that could be done about it. "I''ll send Luthor over with a list of all one thousand workers who will be receiving this first order. You can start work immediately. Moreover, you can request as many helpers as you want to help you out toplete the orders." The Innkeeper raised his hand and patted Geeves on the back. "Their lives are in your hands. Do a good job." Geeves got goosebumps all over his body as he heard the sincerity and sobriety in the Innkeeper''s words. A determined look filled his eyes as he suddenly began running through the halls, searching for the most optimal fabrics. A single moment wasted was a hundred times more than he could afford to lose. The Innkeeper, meanwhile, teleported to his office and summoned Luthor. It was time to let everyone know about what was happening, but it had to be done appropriately. Lex found it hard to suppress his guilt, since he was literally asking others to go and risk their lives for him. But it was a necessity. It had to be done. Luthor himself was quite busy, supervising a n for holding the rhinocentaurs and how they were to be treated. But a summons from the Innkeeper took precedence over all, and he quickly made his way over to the office. Initially, he was full of energy as he usually is whenever the Innkeeper summoned him. Yet the moment he entered, he could sense that the mood was not right. The Innkeeper was uncharacteristically serious. Normally, he is always nonchnt, so this behavior clearly meant something very serious happened. "How can I help, Innkeeper?" Luthor asked as soon as he entered the office. It was his duty to ease the burdens of the Innkeeper, so if the Innkeeper was upset, he was not doing his duty properly. "There is a very serious matter that I need to inform you about. The Midnight Inn¡­ as of right now, is established inside the Origin realm. As such, our¡­ hosts have made some perfunctory requests of us. Although I can dismiss those requests, it is ultimately true that we are guests in their realm and they are our hosts.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "To fulfill our hosts requests, I need to send 1000 foundation level cultivators to a battlefield for sometime. While we will not stay in the Origin realm for long, we have to ept the request for the duration we are still here." Luthor was stunned at first, but then quickly gathered his wits. ording to his impression, the Innkeeper was unimaginably powerful, and could control the universe itself with a single hand. Who exactly was qualified to host him, and even ask for demands in return? "Since this is a request outside of the Inn, I do not want to make any demands. Everyone who joined the Inn did so to work normally, and not to fight in wars. Therefore, I want you to ask for volunteers. Only those who choose to go themselves, and meet the requirements, can go. If the numbers aren''t sufficient and not enough volunteer, let me know. I will figure something out." Luthor understood his assignment, but hesitation filled him. There was a question that haunted him, but he did not know if he could ask it. Lex, who was a master at reading people, naturally saw through his assistant with a single nce. "Speak your mind," Lex said, the calm demeanor of the Innkeeper returning.I think you should take a look at "Who¡­ who exactly can force you to participate in matters unrted to the Inn?" he asked, hiding his bitterness deep inside himself. He knew clearly this matter wasn''t simple. The Midnight Inn boasted neutrality, but the moment they made their presence known on a battlefield, it would forever be incredibly difficult for them to im to be neutral ever again. Although he did not know a lot about the forces in the universe, he could at least understand something this basic. "This is not me being forced," the Innkeeper replied with a chuckle. "Compared to what they can demand from me, this is but a symbolic gesture. The truth of the matter is, I am cooperating in this matter because, in this vast universe, even I, outstanding though I may be, am not without equal. Sometimes, it is better to make friends before you ever need friends." Of course, that was not the truth of his current situation, but he had to assure Luthor. After all, Luthor would be his mouthpiece in this instance. "I¡­ I understand." Instead of being demoralized, Luthor was filled with conviction. In this universe, even the Innkeeper needed help sometimes. To Luthor, that only meant that if he ever became strong enough, he could be of help to the Innkeeper. Until that day came, he would be of service in other ways. "If you are able to gather 1000 volunteers, take them to the Midnight tailor. They need to submit their measurements. Moreover, find out how many spare hands the tailor, Geeves, needs and send him as much help as he requests. This is an urgent matter." "I''ll take care of it immediately!" he said, his vigor returned, and quickly exited the office. He had no time to waste, and neither did the Innkeeper. With this¡­ arduous task done, he had to immediately return to the emporium. Once hepleted the trade, he had to return to the Crystal realm. There was absolutely no time to waste. Before he did any of that, though, he took his feature upgrade token and used it on the Inn''s teleporting ability. The Inn''s teleporting capability was amazing even as it was. It could ess any ce in the universe. Moreover, if someone brought him an item from a specific ce in a realm he already had ess to, he would be able to form a link to that location as well - though he would have to go through the whole process of traveling to that first and connecting to it. But Lex wanted his method to be even more versatile. Originally he nned on using the transportation formation he had been given to the battlefield inside the Minor realm he gave to the workers, and have them all teleport from there. But with the upgrade, he could directly establish the formation inside the Inn. The Inn could now selectively allow teleportation from within its grounds to anywhere. This way, once Lex had the opportunity, he himself could also go to the battlefield and link it to the Inn. Since the teleportation capabilities had been upgraded, if Lex went to a new ce, he would be able to link it to the Inn without the need to use the golden ticket, or any other ticket for that matter. With that small task done, Lex teleported to his apartment, and began pouring some more elixir into the vials he had received. Once he had enough, he teleported to X-142 and approached the emporium. It was best to conduct this trade as quickly as possible. Once he entered the building he once again saw Powell, and he could tell that this Powell was not the owner of the emporium, but the salesman he had been meeting originally. "Lex, my friend, I have been waiting for you!" he said excitedly. "I''ve already been briefed on the trades you want to conduct. The item you requested, the diamond containingws, is ready to be traded. For the other trade, however, you will have to go to another. But no worries, I''ve already prepared the appropriate teleportation apparatus for you to use whenever you want. "But before you do anything, look at this! I know this has nothing to do with your current trades, but as long as you''re a man, you''ll definitely enjoy this!" Before Lex could say anything, Powell opened up a magazine and ced it right in front of Lex. The double spread image genuinely stunned Lex, and he could not remove his eyes from the beauty that he saw on the page. Chapter 631 A mans romance Chapter 631 A mans romance Since time immemorial, there has been a special romance between a man and his mode of transportation. In the old days of earth, all sorts of animals were reared for the sole purpose of making an excellent vehicle. Horses or rare breeds were sought after with more fervor than gold. Elephants were adorned with more jewelry than actual kings and queens. Rhinos were treated as special mounts, worthy of only the most fantastic generals and soldiers. Then came a revolution of industry, and times changed. Modernization was suddenly the way of the world, and so the world adapted. From the first cycle, to the first car to the first train, the romance grew more and more wild. Hot air balloons, blimps, and finally airnes were weed into the world. People were known in their towns and societies, not by who they were or what they did, but the kind of car they drove. A pilot was not celebrated unless he flew a jet, not amercial ne or crop duster. A person was only considered ''cool'' and ''amazing'' if they rode a sufficiently excellent motorcycle. For a long time already, a man would be recognized by his ride before anything else. It was only natural, as a lot could be told about a man based on the car he drove. To be clear, although Lex''s inner monologue kept emphasizing on the romance of a man and his car, he was not being sexist. When he said man, he was more referring to the race rather than the gender. He was quite clear that a woman too couldpletely elevate or reduce her status based on her ride. So, when men and women alike were victims to the beauty of a vehicle, how could Lex be any different? On the magazine before him, on the double page widespread, was the image of a ck spaceship! It was perfectly curved, with no sharp corners or edges anywhere except the very tip. It seemed as if the tip was the very starting point of the entire ship, as if the entire ship emerged from that one, single point. The interior of the ship was not visible, and there seemed to be no transparent ss panels to see through anywhere, yet that only added to the mystique of this sleek and slender ship. Towards the back, there appeared to be one main thruster engine, with a rtively smaller one protruding from the two wings on its side. Appreciating Lex''s stunned appearance, Powell seemed only to nod as if affirming that this was the correct reaction. "This is the Silent Night, thetest production in the personal corvette ss of ships by Havalier Industries. There''s only one of them so far, and it''s apparently capable of intergctic travel in the span of mere months! This ispletely a collectors ship!" Even Powell''s voice was dripping with envy, yet Lex focused on something else entirely. "Wait, the emporium is not selling this?" "No, no, how could we get our hands on this? Like I said, it was produced by Havalier industries, and they are the only ones who can sell it. Not to mention, everyone knows what the Greydars are like." Lex, in fact, did not know what the Greydars were like, nor did he know who or what they were. But he did not bring attention to his ignorance for the moment, as in the recent documents he bought from the emporium probably had the relevant information. It was only a matter of time before he discovered it. Instead, his focus remained on the ship. "You don''t sell this, fine, but do you sell other ships at least?" "Yes, of course! A private vessel is absolutely imperative if one is to traverse from one region of space to another. I''ll have you know, teleportation formations are neither cheap normon. Most trade is conducted via spaceships, and unless the distance spans many star systems, most travel is also done via ships. The Silent Night is a little different, sure. It can even traverse the space between gxies, so traveling within a gxy is much faster. But it''s rare to find ships of such caliber in the open market. Only some veryrge empires use them for official government use." "So what you''re saying is¡­ you have ships, but nothing as good as the Silent Night?" Powell smiled awkwardly, as if he had been caught red handed. Although Lex felt interested, he restrained himself. He already had a massive ship inside the Inn, if he would ever even need it. Moreover, if he ever wanted a smaller one, he still had better hopes in getting it from his system than elsewhere. "Let''s just get on with the trade. I''ll look at ships another time." Even as Lex said that, he gave one final nce to the Silent Night. This was probably thest time he would ever see this ship, and the possibility of running into it and the owner in the future was as close to 0 as possible. He waspletely and totally not thinking all of this on purpose to set up a g for himself to run into this ship in the future. It was just a ship, it wasn''t like he had be emotionally attached to it after a single nce. "If you''ll follow me," said Powell, putting away the magazine and getting back to business. "I''ll take you to the teleportation room first. Once you''vepleted the trade, you can return the same way. Please, rest assured, that the emporium has made adequate preparations for your travel and safety at the destination. Zuri Adisa, being an old client of the emporium, has conducted many such trades before with no history of foul y. I would escort you personally, but the emporium has a strict policy against workers leaving the premises." Lex only nodded and followed Powell to the teleportation room. He wondered if he''d be able to link the new he was about to visit to the Inn now that the teleportation function was upgraded. He would soon find out. Powell led him through unfamiliar corridors, all the while making sure he continued to keep Lex busy with small talk. Although he was not showing it up front, his recent promotion must have made him incredibly happy. Powell could not stop talking about all the new things he had learnt about. Finally, they reached their destination, and though Powell looked a little reluctant for he was enjoying talking to Lex, he did not slow the process down. Inside the room was a small, circr tform that was hovering above the ground by only a few inches. "This is the dedicated tform for Zuri''s," Powell exined. "Although we can activate it from here, the teleportation will not ur unless Zuri allows it. But you are already cleared to travel, so just go stand in the center whenever you''re ready and I''ll activate the tform." With a nod, Lex walked right up to the middle and waited for the process to begin. Powell did not press any buttons or activate any switch, yet the tform turned on, nheless. A ring of bright light enveloped Lex, before he once again began to experience the feeling of being transported through space. Nothing could evere close to the seamless teleportation offered by the Inn, but the process this time was much smoother than his previous times. He felt a dull pressure on his body, keeping itpletely still as it was moved through the folds of space. While previously the process left him feeling ufortable and disoriented, at least a little, this time Lex actually felt a littlefortable. In fact, it almost seemed like he could understand where he was going. The Cosmic Erosion Elixir! It suddenly urred to Lex that he had been drinking it nonstop, and that it containedws pertaining to space. Could that have somehow developed some sort of affinity with space within him? Before he could ponder the question further, he appeared in what surely must have been heaven. He was standing on a tform simr to the back at the emporium, waving in the wind¡­ all of them had a cultivation realm much higher than his own! which was surrounded by white pirs simr to the ones used in Roman architecture. Above his head was a small dome, as if to provide him with shade. But that was it. There were no walls or barriers, and the entire structure seemed to be ced inside a meadow from a children''s fairytale. The air was so pure and fresh it made even the Midnight Inn same stale, and the soft gentle breeze carried with it the scent of wild flowers. N?v(el)B\\jnn There was wild grass growing all around the structure, with a sea of daisies all around it. In the distance, there were massive trees that reached high up into the clouds, as if creating a border to the meadow. Tiny creatures could be seen running through the fields, and even tinier birds, flying around, drinking the dew off flower petals. The awe Lex was feeling didn''tst long, however, for he quickly realized that whether it was the birds the size of his pinky finger, the tiny creatures running through the fields, or even the flowers, waving in the wind¡­ all of them had a cultivation realm much higher than his own! Chapter 632 Clean yourself 632 Clean yourself Although Lex was not intimidated for he could escape to the Inn whenever he liked, the first impression was indeed quite overwhelming. In a meadow, there were perhaps thousands, tens of thousands or perhaps even hundreds of thousands of des of grass, yet each and every one was radiating an aura that was at least at the nascent realm. Interestingly enough, although the flora had cultivation, he could not detect any signs of sentience from them. They were ruledpletely by their gic programming which told them how to grow, how to photosynthesize and how to blend in with their environment. He was thoroughly impressed, and wondered if this was simr to the wonder his guests experienced when they entered the Inn. Although he did not have an endless horde of powerful beings filling every inch of the ground, the Inn itself was also pretty cool, right? Regardless, now that he was here, on this unusual, the first thing Lex did was inquire if he could link it to the Inn. The answer Mary gave him was yes, but to establish a connection he would still need to spend an extended time here. Lex shook his head. As much as he wanted this ce linked, he did not have the time to waste. He looked around to see if he could find a path, for he wasn''t sure what he was supposed to do next. He would have considered exploring the ce if the circumstances were normal, but even he did not dare to randomly step on the grass here. Although his defense was strong, he doubted it could handle an onught if the grass here decided to target him! n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "Follow the path," a voice whispered in his ear, and suddenly the grass parted, revealing a thin dirt road. Lex, who remained unsurprised, simply nodded and began walking where the path led. From what he knew, Zuri Adisa was one of the strongest beings in the Origin realm. Well aware of how powerful high leveled cultivators became, nothing he saw would surprise him. As such, Lex strolled casually through what could easily be described as the garden of Eden, and took mental notes. In many ways, the ce was very ordinary. It was just that the incredibly high cultivation realm of each and every nt elevated the beauty and presence that they generated. Lex even saw a small butterfly, and he had no doubt believing that a single p of its wings really could cause a hurricane. The winding path eventually led him from the meadow into the forest, where each and every tree stood tall and strong, making them seem more durable than the walls of many fortresses. They probably even were. It was ironic then that the thing they were supposedly protecting was a million times stronger than them. There was no special clearing, no sudden change or strange temples. One moment, he was walking through the forest, surrounded by normal trees, until he arrived at one peculiar looking tree that was shaped like a throne. Upon that throne sat a tall, petite woman, her skin light green, as if it was made from a leaf. She had a humanoid appearance, though her height of 8 feet (2.4 meters) made her much taller than any normal human. She also had long, pointed ears, so maybe it was more appropriate to say she had an elvish appearance rather than humanoid. "Greetings senior," Lex said, giving a simple bow. He was not exactly sure what etiquette to show when meeting such an eminent being, but he definitely was not about to be subservient. Bowing was already enough of a show of respect in his opinion. Of course, he could not be sure that he was addressing Zuri Adisa, but the fact that she was the only being on this not sting her aura told Lex that she was different from the rest. "Greetings child," she said, her voice soft and creamy. Listening to her made Lex''s heart melt, as if it was the most beautiful melody to have ever existed. But that was it. It did not influence his psyche, nor did it want to make him want to worship the woman. Anything he felt was out of pure and genuine appreciation for something beautiful, and not a result of some powerfulws affecting him. "I am Zuri, as you can probably guess," she continued. "Your aura is so familiar, child. I wonder where I have met you before." Lex was stumped, for he was certain that he had never encountered Zuri before, but she did not seem to be asking him. She merely closed her eyes for a moment, as if recalling. "Ah yes, I see now. You have been near one of my clones. First on a called earth, and then in a ce referred to as the Midnight Inn." While Zuri spoke, back at the Midnight Inn, the tree that was being constantly taken care of by the turtle and its adopted pets trembled, ever so slightly. But nothing more happened, almost making one feel as if they had imagined it. "Your¡­ your clone?" Lex asked, genuinely surprised. If he ran into one of her clones on earth it would be fine if he didn''t recognize her, but how could he have missed her at the Midnight Inn? It made no sense. He made a mental note to go back and sweep the Inn again, to make sure there were no entities hidden from him. "Yes, I have clones across the Origin realm. Don''t fret. Most of my clones don''t really do anything. Consider it an inclination of my nt heritage to want to spread myself as far and wide as possible." Zuri thoroughly observed Lex while she spoke, as if inspecting him for any secrets. Or perhaps she wasn''t looking for secrets, and just wanted to study him. Either way, she seemed satisfied with whatever she saw. "If you don''t mind me saying so, child, your body is a mess. You should consider cleaning yourself - there are too many external influences attached to you." For some unusual reason, Lex suddenly thought back to the system''s remarks. More than once, it had asked him to shower, or rather, clean himself. As expected, Lex only took that as the system being mean to him, but now that Zuri said something simr, perhaps there was more to it than it seemed. "What¡­ what external influences? I have never detected any problems." He was, of course, worried that she might mean the system, but his gut said otherwise. With a soft, gentle smile, Zuri leaned forward and touched his forehead with her index finger. "There are remains of one inscription here. Although the inscription has long since deteriorated, its remains still exist, polluting your aura." Then she touched his heart. "There still exists a very active inscription here. ording to what I can see, it is hiding your bloodline from being detected." Then, she touched the base of his neck. "Thest one exists here. It is a silent tracker. It will stay dormant most of the time, but once activated, it will immediately reveal your location to whoever cast the inscription." Lex was thoroughly startled! There were so many hidden inscriptions in his body! He had never realized they were even there, despite his extremely potent intuition and self awareness. The only people he could imagine having ced that¡­ were his parents! This was extremely dangerous. He did not know how potent the tracker was, but what if it was activated while he was acting as the Innkeeper? Although he suspected his Host Attire kept his body safe from external probing, otherwise many others would have long noticed the issues with his body. Or maybe, many had noticed it, but never mentioned them. "The inscriptions are not a problem generally," Zuri said, "but due to the special nature of your body, thews within them are polluting your aura. Long term, it could be bad for you." "Thank you for pointing this out!" Lex said very sincerely! He would think of a way to resolve this issue as soon as possible! "There is no need for such formality. I quite like your aura, so I don''t mind helping you out." Lex nodded, and did not continue to focus on the matter. Instead, he pulled out two vials of the Cosmic Erosion Elixir. He meant to give the second one as a thanks, and a show of good faith since she helped him out, but Zuri did not bother with it, and only took a single vial. Perhaps, to her, Lex''s gesture was akin to a small child giving an adult a piece of candy. It could be appreciated, but it was not really needed. "Take this de," she said, sending towards him a small y pot full of soil, and a single de of grass. "I do not rmend you nt it anywhere. There are very few ces that can provide the required nourishment to keep it alive. You are more likely to turn a thriving into a barren, destend than support this de." Hey guys, sorry for the missed chapter the past few days. My grandmother was admitted into the hospitalst week, and passed away Friday morning. Things have been a little hectic, so I''ve had no time to write. lifesketcher Chapter 633 A favor Chapter 633 A favor "I don''t n on nting it anywhere," Lex confirmed as he took the pot. "How long will the de be fine in this pot? Can itst for a while?" "Not for long," Zuri confirmed. "I have prepared the soil in the pot personally, so it should be able to support it in the short term. But at most, in four or five thousand years, the de will begin to wither." Without the Host Attire to help him, Lex could not control himself from twitching. Four or five thousand years was ''not long''. It was a matter of perspective, probably. "Thank you," Lexmented, relieved that he wouldn''t need to immediately consume this as well. The constant¡­ ''cultivation'' using the elixir had really worn out his body. He was d to have a break. "Before you leave, I have a small favor to ask." Lex was genuinely startled, for technically speaking, someone at Zuri''s level did not need to ask him for a favor. Even if she had told him she wanted something done, with his identity as Lex he would have tried his best to aplish it, if for no other reason than to establish a good rtionship with her. "How can I help you?" he asked, very seriously. "Will you be returning to the Midnight Inn?" "Yes. In fact, I was nning on heading there now." "As I have mentioned, I have a clone in the Midnight Inn, but it is still far away from waking up, so I will require your assistance for a matter. You see, although my clone is asleep, I can still sense its surroundings. The clone is being taken care of by a Gctic Sovereign turtle. I would like to invite that fellow toe and live on my. If you couldmunicate this request on my behalf, I would be very grateful." Lex was now genuinely startled! She wanted to poach his worker! As annoying as he found the fact that the turtle could somehow manipte his system, he was also extremely impressed by its work! There was no way in hell that he would give him up! "Uh, you may not know this but¡­ that turtle is a worker for the Midnight Inn. The Innkeeper might not appreciate your attempts to take him. I don''t know the details but¡­ but I''ve heard rumors that the Innkeeper is a Daolord!" He was attempting to dissuade Zuri by telling her that she couldn''t mess with the Innkeeper, but she did not seem dissuaded at all! "If the turtle truly wants to leave, the Innkeeper will not hold him back, nor will he have any hard feelings about it." This¡­ why would she say such a thing? "I can sense your hesitation. I understand you don''t want to cross the Midnight Inn for something like this, but let me share a little something with you. Have you heard of ''Sovereigns'' before?" N?v(el)B\\jnn Lex had, in fact, searched up the relevance of such a title even at the emporium when he was buying information, but did not get any significant details. All he was able to get was that the emporium gave ultimate favor to any race with the term ''Sovereign'' in their name, and that preference was even above his own VIP level! "Not really, no," Lex answered. "There are a lot of misunderstandings about the term. Many even believe it is the name of a cultivation realm even beyond the Daolord realm! But that is not true. This is one of the secrets you can onlye in touch with at a very high level, but it''s not a big deal if I tell you. "The universe is extremely vast, and full of numerous iprehensible things. Many people like to believe that the universe, on the whole, is a fair ce, but that is not the truth. Some races are born as lifeforms of a higher level of existence. The higher the level, the more favor they receive from the universe. Well, that''s not really true, but at your level you may as well understand it as such. Almost everything in the universe has more or less been categorized, from valuables, to races, to cultivation realms, to realms themselves and more. Each one follows a systematic and logical progression system. "Except for the ones that don''t. In the universe there exist some things that arepletely and inherently unfair. Nothing about them makes sense, and they can seemingly bend the rules of the universe to their whims. Races with the term ''Sovereign'' in them are races who have such an advantage. So, regardless of cultivation level, everyone sane respects the will of the Sovereigns and stays out of their way, Daolords included. "I once heard a rumor about a Gctic Sovereign turtle. It was tending to manys, as they usually do. They have a great fondness for gardening. But the star system that one of thes it was tending was eventually destroyed, due to the fact that it was pulled into a ck hole. Out of sheer anger, the turtle ate the ck hole! "Perhaps the absurdity of such an event will go over your head. You only need to understand that a ckhole is the personification of extremes in this realm, and even Daolords cannot easily interfere with it - let alone eat one! "So you see, in this universe, cultivation is not everything. There are some things that cannot be achieved even with high cultivation realms. So, if the turtle really does decide to leave, the Innkeeper will not interfere. He may even be happy about it. After all, Sovereigns are unpredictable." "I¡­ I will convey your message," Lex said weakly, as he thought of ways to avoid having the turtle leave. If it really was as Zuri had said, the turtle was extremely awesome and Lex did not want to lose him. If it were a normal employee, Lex would not worry, as once someone became an official employee of the Inn, their loyalty would increase. But the turtle was clearly different. Zuri chuckled, as if she could see the difficulty Lex was facing, but said nothing. She was confident Lex would not get in any trouble, so there was nothing to worry about to begin with. "You may leave at your leisure. If you want to spend some time cultivating here, it will be extremely beneficial." "Thank you for the offer, but I have to depart," Lex said. Zuri did not stop him, and only watched from her wooden throne as he departed, one leg softly nestled over another. Lex, however, did not worry too long about the matter with the turtle. Sure, Zuri was more powerful than him and had a akin to heaven, but the turtle had been at the Inn long enough to know what benefits it could bring, and what level it had the potential to rise to. Moreover, convincing people was his speciality. If he had known this before he would have entered a career in marketing instead ofputer science, but none of that mattered now. He teleported back to the emporium, and then began the second task on his agenda. He had several liters of elixir left, and its potency was quickly dropping. Originally, Lex nned on simply selling it off. Though the massive amount of liquid entering the market would reduce its price, it was better than getting nothing in exchange. Moreover, Lex had picked up the elixir for free to begin with. But he had changed his mind after teleporting to the Zuri was on. Instead, when he returned to the emporium, he asked for something else instead. "You want to look up methods to build affinity for space? You know, that is one of the rarest affinities to exist. Methods to artificially create it¡­ are even rarer," said Powell with a troubled look. "As rare as the elixir?" Lex asked, with a smirk? In truth, he was not asking for this for himself. His affinity was already being taken care of by his cultivation technique. But if there were a way to do the same for his workers¡­ that would only boost their chances of survival in the uing war. "Point taken," Powell replied. "In fact, as it happens, there really does exist a way to do so that actually uses the elixir. But, for humans, it can only be used on cultivators with rtively low cultivation." "Not a problem," Lex said, and conducted the exchange. In the end, he still decided to sell some of the elixir to the emporium. Even with the reduced potency, he managed to procure the teacup containing thew of femininity as well as get 100 million credits with the emporium. Lex had no intention of using the tea cup for himself, but who knew when an item containingws could end up being useful? Maybe he could even sell itter. In Lex''s eyes, it was like acquiring an asset he intended on liquidatingter. He also managed to get his hand on the method to induce space affinity, and then quickly departed for the Inn. He had work to do. Chapter 634 Locked in his heart 634 Locked in his heart The moment Lex returned to the Inn, he teleported away to his room. He ced the teacup aside, somewhere where he wouldn''t identally use it to drink something from, and began perusing the method to induce the affinity. It wasplicated, to say the least. Firstly, the method would work best on someone who was building the foundation. That made sense, since if the foundation could be influenced, then when the golden core is formed the affinity would be more evident. During the foundation realm the affinity would merely begin to show its influence. Secondly, the process was nowhere near as seamless as it was for him. For Lex, his affinity seemed to be able to change easily, but that was a result of Regal Embrace. For anyone not cultivating a technique capable of surpassing the strength of their very universe, it was tad harder. Other than the elixir, which would y the role of the main ingredient, numerous supporting ingredients would be necessary. A lot of medicine and healing items would also be required, because during the process the body would literally start failing to function properly. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om In this instance, even the Recovery pod would not be helpful. Since the premise of the pod was to rely on the body''s base healing ability, and enhance it exponentially, the pod would not work at all if the body became incapable of healing. That was also the reason why it could not heal golden cores, since the body could not heal it to begin with. Fortunately, alongside the method itself, Powell had provided him with one set of necessary ingredients for the process. That meant Lex could sessfully carry it out on one person, at least. He would, in the meantime, gather the resources himself via the guild to use the process on as many workers as possible. "Send me a list of everyone who has volunteered so far," said Lex to Mary, who sent him a list immediately. He didn''t know if he should be surprised, or if he should have expected the oue. As ofte, the Inn had a minimum of 5 to 8 million guests at any time, minimum. Based on the festival going on, there could be many more. This was excluding the refugees, who had already started moving into their new realm, which they took from him on lease. They would be paying for it for the next 50 years, at the very least. One would think that Lex would simrly need millions of workers to keep things running smoothly, but that was not the case. Lex had a little less than 400,000 employees! The number made him sigh, as it was massive. Yet it seemed inadequate to cater to millions of guests. But the truth was, with the system automating so many things, the employees workload was drastically reduced. Still, most of those employees were very new, from being less than a week old to at most a few months. Sure many of them were cultivating quickly, and had gained the benefits of the Inn''s star upgrade, but that didn''t miraculously turn them into high leveled cultivators. They still had to cultivate one step at a time. So, as a result, most of the foundation realm cultivators he had were some of his oldest ones. Every single one of them had volunteered, so the list that Lex got was not 1000 workers who volunteered, but only the first 1000 to volunteer. The rest were kept on a reserve list. No one wanted to miss an opportunity to contribute to the Inn. While Lex may have been thinking of them as workers and employees, to them, the Midnight Inn was their life! In the end, all he could do was sigh - and give them unreasonably overwhelming advantages over their opponents. Besides, if there was one thing he had learnt it was that humans seemed to be disadvantaged against other races in the universe. Although all the Inn workers had the potential to awaken an amazing bloodline and grow incredibly powerful, they suffered from the inherent disadvantage of being human. He had to make up for that. He closed his eyes and pointed at a name randomly, selecting the lucky volunteer who would be the first to go through the procedure to develop space affinity. When he opened his eyes, he discovered that it was a very familiar name. It was none other than the big brother of the Inn, Z! Clearly, he was both extremely lucky, and extremely unlucky. For this next part¡­ he donned his rk Kent sses and teleported over to little Z, who was, for once, sitting in his little cubicle and watching an anime. When Lex teleported over, he saw Z taking notes. In the cubicle besides him, Lex could see a number of bluetooth speakers, as well as some treasures which were¡­ also speakers. There was also a music yer with various ylists with names like ''for fighting scrubs'', ''hero saves the damsel'', ''the power of friendship'', ''screaming to release more power'', and ''this isn''t even my final form''. "Hey kid," Leo said, patting Z on the shoulder. Z, who waspletely focused on the anime, was startled and jumped out of his seat. When he turned and saw his boss, Leo, he cursed his luck. He would have rather faced an assassination. "What do you want? I''ve already opened up all the extra stores you wanted, and now I have a special task from the Innkeeper so I can''t do your work!" Leo chuckled and said, "I know kid, that''s why I''m here. The Innkeeper is quite pleased with your performance so far, so he''s selected you to be the first to receive a special kind of upgrade. But I''m here to ask you if you''re up for it. I must warn you, it''s not a simple process, and it''ll hurt a lot." "I am not afraid of pain!" he eximed, putting up a brave face. "If the Innkeeper has selected me for it, you can''t keep it from me." "That''s what I thought," said Leo, and put his hand over Z''s shoulder. The two of them teleported away, this time to a private recovery room. Leo summoned a nurse, and began giving her instructions. Moreover, he had also summoned Luthor, who would be learning the process so he could administer it to as many workers as possible in the near future. "Prepare yourself. Once the process starts, it can''t be stopped. Moreover, you have to keep on cultivating the entire time. If you stop, the process will be interrupted, which will result in you bing crippled or even killed." In truth the circumstances were not so dire, or else Lex would not have elected to use it. But if a person failed once, they could not undergo a second procedure. So he used the pressure of death to motivate them. Z simply nodded, his expression calm and collected, like a protagonist from a shounen manga. Pain could not scare him, death could not deter him. After all, he had already experienced the tribtions of customer service. What could be worse? Leo summoned all the necessary items, and began working. Z was made to ingest various tablets, potions, powders, herbs and spices, which made his entire body turn red. The medicinal power was too strong for his body, and he was on the verge of bursting. That''s when the difficult part of the process actually began. "Start cultivating," Leo said calmly, as he made an incision in Z''s right arm and attached a drip directly to the bone. Simr drips were attached to various other bones all across Z''s body, resulting in a bloody and miserable sight, yet the youngd didn''t make a single sound, and only focused on his cultivation. He had been fighting for his coworkers'' honor in the arena day and night. He was no stranger to bleeding, or even grotesque injuries. Lex kept poking and prodding the youngd''s body with various injections over the next few hours, until finally the time arrived to add the elixir. One thing had to be said about Z''s luck. Since he was the first one to undergo this process, the elixir he would get would be the most potent. By the time the others were able to undergo the same process, the elixir''s potency would have dropped by another few grades. As a result, this process would be much harder for him than anyone else. But when it finished, if he managed to survive, his affinity would also be much higher than the rest. Suppressing his emotions, Leo poured an entire cup''s worth of elixir down the child''s throat, and then took a step back. If all the previous steps were skipped, exposure to a single drop of elixir would have killed Z let alone a whole cup. Now¡­ now he would live, but he would only suffer some extreme difort. No one spoke as they watched Z''s body undergo horrifying changes. Z finally released a sound, not because he was unable to suppress himself from grunting, but because his body was literally making noises! They all watched, and made sure to keep giving him the required medicine to ensure his body kept healing. Leo especially burned the memory deep in his heart. He could have left, but he wanted to watch. He did not consider it a failure, that he had to resort to the help of his workers to survive this difficult period. But he did not forget that it was his responsibility to take care of them, not the other way around. One day, he would make it up to them. Until then, he would lock everything in his heart. Chapter 635 Finishing His Chores ? It was a few agonizing hours, but eventually it waspleted without incident. To look at, Z appeared an average 15 year old boy who had just had the work out of his life. His body was covered in copious amounts of sweat, but other than that he seemedpletely normal. The incredibly powerful healing agents had made it so that not only were there no remaining signs of his various drips and injections, but any cuts or deformities he suffered during the process. He was breathing heavily and his eyes were closed. It all seemed perfectly normal. That was if you did not look at the rest of the room. The floor was red with blood and guts. There were unusual impurities which had been removed from his body, mostly in the shape of ck grains but some hade out in the shape and size of pebbles. Although that was far from what Z had suffered through, it was as much of the process that Lex was willing to recall. He walked up to the table with Zy, and bent down. "The process isplete," he said softly. "You can get some sleep." Z tried to speak a few times, but he was breathing too heavily to be able to do so. In the end, he just nodded, his eyes still closed, and finally allowed himself to rx. Despite his out of breath state, he fell asleep in just a few seconds. "Keep an eye on him," Lex said to the nurse, while handing her a book. "When he wakes up, ask him to see if he can learn this technique. It''s a very simple one, and its only real purpose is to check if his spirit energy has space affinity." Lex then turned to Luthor. "If he''s seeded, you can begin allowing anyone who volunteers to undergo the same process. Space affinity is an incredibly powerful tool that can help greatly during the uing battles." Without waiting for Luthor to reply, Leo disappeared. Although he had read that the process was going to be difficult, it was only after watching it that he realized just how difficult it was. Yet he didn''t let that deter him or change his mind. An unfortunate truth he had learnt the hard way, time and time again since he began cultivation, was that the universe was not a friendly ce. One had to be ridiculously tough to survive in it, and tolerate endless ordeals. He appeared near the greenhouse, this time without his rk Kent sses. He was crossing out his tasks, and as much as he wanted to avoid it, he could not ignore the favor Zuri asked of him. He did not enter the forest, but instead only walked to the edge and started to speak, "I would like to speak to the turtle please." Although he did not address anyone specific when he spoke, he knew that while Young McDonald had its roots all beneath the Inn, it paid extra attention around the greenhouse. Once upon a time, Young McDonalds job was to act as security for the entire Inn, but more and more, such a thing was infeasible. Young McDonald had hit a growth slump upon reaching the Golden core realm, and it was mostly just focused around the greenhouse. Speaking of which, the quality of food had really drastically improved at the Inn. Lex didn''t pay much attention to it, but it seemed thebination of the turtle growing stronger, and the Inn getting some farming focused features really boosted the Inn''s food production capability. Lex was able to spend a couple of minutes imagining the various delicacies the Inn had to offer, and what new alien food he could try out soon, before the turtle arrived. "How can I help you, little human?" the turtle asked, as it brought its neck down to Lex''s height. Did the turtle get even taller since Lex saw himst? Unable to answer, he instead focused on more important things. "I have been requested to ask you a question¡­" Lex began exining the situation to the turtle, all the while setting the conversation up in such a way that Lex would easily be able to convince the turtle to stay if it wanted to leave. As it turned out, he didn''t really need to do any such thing. "Oh dear, such a generous offer. But if I leave, all the children will feel lonely. I cannot leave them. At least until they grow up a little bit." As if on cue, Little Blue flew up behind the turtle, and looked down curiously at Lex. Unable to find anything interesting, it continued to fly away. Fenrir, too, came running out of the forest. It stopped to acknowledge Lex, but then quickly continued to run. It was chasing after the whale once again. "I understand," Lex said with a smile, suddenly feeling grateful for the turtle''s knack for adoption. With these few minor chores out of the way, Lex finally teleported out of the Inn. But he still did not return to the Crystal realm - at least not yet. Instead, after a very, very long time, he reappeared on the Vegus Minima. He had incredibly fond memories of nearly fighting to the death against endless hordes of zombies on this. Ah, how he missed being weak and feeble. He would just have to make do without almost getting killed at every corner. Before his thoughts would end up jinxing him, Lex diverted his attention towards how the world had changed since he wasst here. It did not look like it was the site of a centuries long war at all! Tall buildings filled the sky line, with familiar looking ships flying across the sky. In the ground, there were fewer vehicles because most of the ground level was left to amodate a lot of flora. Trees filled the streets, with grass instead of sidewalks upon which the locals were walking. Some kind of air trains seemed to be transporting people through the city, for those who did not want to travel by ship, or unusual looking walkways built on the sides of the buildings up a few stories high. The town¡­ eh, city¡­ eh, massive metropolis that Lex was looking at waspletely bustling it. The size of the crowds would make even New York City seem like a secluded city, yet everything was done beautifully and in an ecofriendly way. It was mesmerizing to see, but the greater wonder was how all of this was built in less than a year. Sure, he expected the empire''s capabilities to be far beyond that of earths, but wasn''t this a little too much? Lex strolled through the city as he took in the views, and absorbed everything he saw. He had heard that originally the people of Vegus Minima relied on gene maniption to grow stronger instead of cultivation, and once the zombies invaded they relied on their cores for body cultivation. Now, it seemed like they hadpletely adopted the orthodox way of cultivation within the empire. It was fascinating how many phases and cultures a single had been through. As much as he enjoyed his return, Lex had actuallye to this with a purpose. He made his way to a Public Services and Security office, an organization set up by the empire to assist the recovery and rehabilitation of the locals. Once there, he merely handed over a card given to him by Alexander to the receptionist, who immediately wore a serious look. She nced at Lex, as if he were some big shot, but began to work furiously on herputer, as if she was afraid she would be the one responsible for wasting his time. A short whileter, a group of military personnel appeared to take Lex to a private and secure facility. That facility, though, ended up being quite far. In fact, the journey took a few hours as he had to be escorted out of the city he was already in. At first he thought he would be taken to some hidden base or secure location, but he was instead taken to an evenrger, more impressive city. In fact, if Marlo were here, he would recognize not the city, for it had changed too much, but the cliffside near it. This was where he had fought his battles so bravely. But the speed of his ship was too fast. Lex had no time to admire the capital of Vegus Minima. After only catching glimpses, he was already brought to an in-building parking space where the shipnded, and a number of personnel stood waiting for him. "Your teleportation formation has been primed and is ready to be used," said one of the soldiers, speaking as if he were talking about the most grim thing in the world. "Before we proceed, however, we will need to enter your details into our system, is that alright? It''s protocol."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "Sure, no problem," said Lex. He was on his way to the Alexander needed his help on. He wouldn''t stay there for long, but he needed to at least reach the so he could teleport there when Alexander needed help. Chapter 636 Polebitvy ? "Please follow us while we enter the details," the soldier said to Lex. "ording to our information, you are to be deputed as an Auxiliary Combat Aid (ACA). ACA members are all officially recognized by the Jotun army, and have rankings and authority of their own, but fall outside of themand chain. This basically means that they help the army on certain tasks and missions, but they cannot be forced to ept missions or be stationed in ces. "The specifics vary based on the role and rank of an ACA member, but I''m sure you already know the circumstances of your recruitment. The point of me telling you this is that, by bing an ACA member, you gain a certain level of perks and merits which can be availed across the empire, and you will have a clean and clear identity to use."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex felt that there was a lot that remained unsaid during thest part of the statement. He suddenly felt like a lot of wanted criminals became ACA members solely so that they could have clean identities to use. That could be both a good thing or a bad thing for the empire, based on how it was managed. Of course, none of that had anything to do with Lex. He was led to ab where he underwent a number of tests, reminding him of the time he was tested out in Blue Bird. The tests carried out by the empire were, of course, much moreplex than the ones on earth. First of all, he did not need to be pricked or electrocuted for any test. Then again, they did not do anything as controversial as ask him about his cultivation techniques. A part of him wondered if during their tests, his DNA would match for any of his rtives in the empire, as there surely were. But it was never brought up, so maybe it didn''t. What he did not know was that the inscription ced over his heart not only hid his bloodline, it also hid his identity from being traced. No DNA test he ever gave would be urate. He could have be the perfect criminal on earth, but that was already behind him now. Oddly enough, they asked him very few questions during the test, as if they wanted his identity to be as barebones as possible. They did, however, ask him one question that caused him to pause for a moment. "Name?" "Lex." "Just ''Lex''? No Surname or affiliation?" He hesitated, but in the end he simply said "no". The soldier, almost as if he was expecting such an answer, only nodded, and continued to create his ount. The process did not take long, and in a mere 30 minutes he had be a registered ACA member with an official empire identity! Coincidentally, the identity token they gave him was shaped like a coin, except that it was ck. The coincidence was because this once again reminded him of Blue Bird. But he was easily able to inspect this token and was certain that it had no hidden trackers or monitoring devices. He stored it in his spatial bangle, and followed the soldier who led him to apletely empty room. It was square, with pure white walls and floor. It looked like where psychiatric patients would be held. "Teleportation will activate soon. Please prepare yourself, both physically and mentally. Long distance teleportation, such as betweens, can be quite disorienting." Lex merely nodded. He was not worried. In fact, he was quite looking forward to it. He wanted to find out how normal transportation betweens was carried out. It didn''t take long for him to get his wish, though technically speaking normal travel betweens, regardless of how far, was carried out on ships and not teleportation. Lex thought that when the man said Lex would be disoriented, it was because of the difort he felt during teleportation. Due to his physique Lex didn''t worry about that. What he did not anticipate was that the level of this teleportation formation was nowhere near that of the emporiums. The formation activated instantly, so Lex got no warning. But even if he had, he would not have expected the whish his body was subjected to as it underwent what felt like beingunched through the air at the speed of a fighter jet. But that was only the beginning. This teleportation was nowhere near as instantaneous as the ones he had be ustomed to, and the entire time it went on Lex felt like his body was being jostled through the air, like a ragdoll carried by a child running at full speed. The worst part was, there was no sense of up and down, because he felt ''gravity'' pulling at him from every single direction. Then the teleportation ended just as abruptly as it started, and Lex found himself in yet anotherpletely white room. If Lex were a lesser man, he would have thrown up. But he wasn''t, so he only cursed. What the hell was this? He was meant to enjoy the teleportation and experience the advantages of his physique. Instead, he went on a poorly nned rollercoaster. What a rip off. Feeling more irritated than disoriented, Lex left the white room only to find a group of surprised soldiers. But they were trained well, and so recovered quickly. "Are you ACA Lex from Vegus Minima?" the soldier asked, reading something off of a screen. "Yes, that''s me." "Wee to Polebitvy, sir," the soldier said while saluting him. Apparently Lex''s rank was above his. It made sense, kind of. After all, Lex was in the Golden core while the soldier was in the Foundation realm. "Amodation has been arranged for you, sir. The room will be reserved for you for up to one year. After that, you will have to pay for yourself if you wish to continue renting the same room. There''s also an introductory packet, to get you acquainted with the and its culture. Currently, there are no orders waiting for you, nor any mail." "Thanks," said Lex, grabbing the folder the soldier handed him. He then asked for directions and exited the building. It wasn''t that he didn''t want to spend some time on Polebitvy, or that he wasn''t curious about what his new post or position held. He was just a little impatient these days owing to the ever closer deadline of his workers going away. Not to mention, being jostled around didn''t really help his mood. He took in the city, but there was not much to see because it was night and it was raining. "Mary, if I teleport away to the Inn from here, can I also return here in the future despite the fact that it''s not linked to the Inn?" "Everyone whoes to the Inn leaves an anchor behind, which is how the Inn traces where to send them back once they return. Everyone can have only one anchor, including you. So yes, technically you can teleport back here if you go to the Inn. "But your situation is a littleplicated, since you can also travel to any or area linked to the Inn. So, you can return here any time. But once you choose to go to a different connected to the Inn, or maybe even a different realm, your anchor moves as well." "So basically, I cannot go to the Crystal realm without my anchor from here disappearing?" "Nope." Lex released an irritated sigh. "How long till this is connected to the Inn?" "Well, it will take at least one day. It could take more, but you have the advantage that you cane back whenever you want and then return to this whenever you want as long as you don''t travel anywhere else. This is one advantage of discovering new ces on your own, instead of just using golden tickets to travel to news." "I guess I might as well just get on with it," he said, and started walking in the direction of his room. He reached the building without incident, and somehow even entered the room without being targeted somehow. It felt strange because something unusual would always happen to him whenever he tried to connect a to the Inn. He had long suspected that, whenever he used a ticket to choose a, he would only be given options fors where something bad was destined to happen to him. Yes, it totally had to be on purpose. But, with nothing happening, he decided to simply meditate in his room, until the was connected or he had to return to the Inn. Unbeknownst to him, in his neighboring room were two human kids who had also visited the Inn. They had been brought there by the pro bono room, and they had experienced the star rank change which had evolved their bodies, helping them shed their birth defects! They had been brought to this room to stay in by the angelic saint woman who had been helping them. Life had been so good for them, they almost forgot that they had lived extremely miserable lives up until quite recently, on this engulfed in a decade long civil war. Almost. Chapter 637 Machinations ?N?v(el)B\\jnn An uneventful day and night passed for Lex, who spent the day cultivating. He was only waiting for time to pass so that either the Inn would connect to this, or that he would have to leave to attend the uing banquet. In the room beside him, the two siblings spent their time feeling extremely worried. The beautiful elder sister who brought them here hadn''t shown up in a long time, and was alreadyte by a couple of days. Such an urrence was not normal at all whatsoever, since this was not the kind of where one could travel around safely. For over a decade, the had been the stage for a bloody civil war, much to the dismay of themon people, such as them. The star system they were in had 5 inhabiteds, all of which used to be governed by one family under the authority of the empire. But different branches of the same family had a falling out, and eventually led to a bloody conflict. The empire had tried to broker peace, but legally speaking the star system was leased out to that family for several more centuries, so without the ability topletely rece those in power, there was little that could be done. In the end, Polebitvy, which was the inhabited closest to the star, was designated the battlefield to finalize the war and establish the victor. The point of this was so that the others would at least be spared from war. The proposal was epted and implemented. But the war just kept dragging on, and many secret third parties began to get involved. Silent partners and secret supporters in the background kept bringing their forces onto the ground and kept extending the war. A resolution did not appear to be in sight. Of course none of that mattered to the kids. What they cared about was that the beautiful elder sister had not returned. It was not even a matter of self survival, as they could more or less exist in the wilderness. They just couldn''t imagine a life where the elder sister was no longer around. "What shall we do?" asked the girl, finally unable to hold it in any longer. "The elder sister said she was a soldier. Maybe we should ask the other soldiers from the empire." "They won''t listen to us. No one will." The brother started to pace around, much as he had been before they began talking. In the end, he made a seemingly difficult decision and reached into his pocket. Back in his room, Lex was enjoying the feeling of cultivating without having to use thevatory, when there was a knock on his door. A part of him had been waiting for this. Of course it had to happen? How could he possibly link a to the Inn without facing incredulous peril. But strangely, his instincts gave him no warning. Mentally prepared to face the worst, he opened the door to find someone dressed like a housekeeper, standing right in front with a trolley full of cleaning supplies. "Would you like your room cleaned?" the man asked in a very droll voice. "Uhh, no thanks," Lex answered. The man only nodded, and continued forward. A little disappointed by the anticlimactic result, he looked around once more in the corridor but saw no impending threat. He only saw a couple of kids walking away, probably to y. He returned to his room and closed the door. Six hourster, with no other issue arising, the was sessfully linked to the Inn! Had circumstances been a little different Lex might have felt like the process was iplete, but for now he was just happy to return to the Inn. The moment he teleported back, he got to work. At the Inn the various festivities were still ongoing. The theme for this week was ''Spaceship Spa'' and so all the festivities were being held inside the ship. That was quite convenient for Lex, as he announced that the vige would temporarily be vacated of all guests for 24 hours starting tomorrow. Moreover, he also spent a ton of MP in the event panel to hire temporary staff to ensure everything continued to operate smoothly. Since it was meant to be an employee banquet tomorrow, he obviously could not have the employees working. He nned out the day, which was pretty easy for him at this point due to all his experience gained from nning festivals, and checked up on any impending tasks. The tailor, believe it or not, was ahead of schedule and had almostpleted his order. With thousands of helpers, it only made sense. He hadpletely optimized the process, and all he had to do was the actual stitching. But considering that he was still just a mortal, stitching 1000 suits within just three days¡­ was still believable because the system helped him out in many areas. The system was, ultimately, a major cheat after all. The day passed rtively quickly for Lex, bringing forth a pretty unusual sight for the guests at the Inn the following morning. Many of the Inn''s guests had been there before, or had spent some time there at least, and so had be somewhat familiar with just a few faces at least. Yet this morning, while the Inn was not bereft of workers, all of them were new faces. Some of the popr shops, such as the barber shop and Battle Ax were closed. Members of various fan clubs, such as the Gerard fan club, noticed that the dashing gentleman could not be seen doing his usual golf cart rounds, and no one could reach out to him using their personal holographic assistants. While the Inn continued to operate as usual, there was something just a little different about it today. Itcked a certain vor which the usual workers, with their enthusiastic and vibrant personalities brought to the Inn. But soon, they discovered the answer on the front page of the Midnight newsletter that was being passed out that day. The Innkeeper was holding a banquet only for his workers over at the Party vige. Excitement spread among some of the guests as they arrived outside the vige, unable to proceed any further. Using their best vision techniques they tried to spy in on what was happening inside, but to no avail. But the more the matter was kept from them, the more excited they became. Especially because it was a banquet being held by the Innkeeper himself. A majority of the guests had never actually seen the Innkeeper up close and personal, so he was veiled in an air of mystery and charm. They wanted to see him as well. But unfortunately, there seemed no way to get into the banquet. No way yet, at least. ***** Karen the subus was casually reading aic in the lounge. Theic was, of course, based on the Innkeeper. This specific spread was delving into the backstory for the real reason the Inn was targeted by the evil Deity Ra. She had yet to read all of it, but all signs were hinting towards the fact that Ra''s daughter was secretly enamored with the Innkeeper, and ran away from her home in hopes of being able to pursue her love. The Innkeeper, being a gentleman, was of course not taking advantage of the feelings of love of a young girl, but at the same time he could not bring himself to send her back. Their adventures spanned amidst scenic valleys, beautiful rivers, enchanting star fields and more. The author of thisic, the supposed Rachel, had an extremely vivid imagination. Just as Karen was getting to the good part, a shadow fell over her face. She looked up to see Rocketfellow standing there. "What is it?" she asked, feeling sour. Just because he was incredibly good looking, and rich, and came from a good background, this fellow felt like he could do anything he wanted. "There''s an unusual event ongoing at the Inn right now. Shouldn''t you be there, trying to seduce some answers out of someone?" "No matter what kind of event there is, I won''t be able to get any answers," she said ndly as she turned a page in heric. "Don''t you know by now? The Inn is foolproof. You can''t get anything by going at it directly." There was a pause where Rocketfellow actually didn''t immediately respond, which was unlike him. "For once, you''ve actually said something smart. I can''t get anything from it directly, so I''ve used indirect methods. After some¡­ let''s say, charity work, I''ve been able to pull a few strings. 1000 foundation realm members of the Inn are going to be sent out to the Fuegan war." Karen was genuinely startled, and almost dropped heric! Pleased by her reaction, he continued, "although I''ve been able to do that much, the actual location of their deployment remains a mystery to me. Gather everyone and find out. This is our chance." Chapter 638 Water War ? Attendance at the banquet wasn''t really necessary for all the workers. It was more or less just a joint vacation for all of them. Yet Lex did not expect many to miss out on it, and indeed there was 100% attendance even just a few minutes after the day began. The ''banquet'' itself would only begin in the evening, but everyone had 24 hours of free time to enjoy themselves. In fact, there were temporary workers found even within the vige, so that the workers could for once experience all the services that they were usually offering. The experience was extremely novel, as they had never just ''hung out'' with their friends in such a manner before. If Lex were being extremely scrutinizing, he would say that having such an experience would be highly beneficial for them. After all, once they understood what the guests might be feeling as they approach the same services, they could do their duties better. But in truth his only agenda was for his workers to enjoy, and get some time off. Especially now that some of them would be sent away to face untold trials. The sight itself was quite amusing. Sitting in his office, Lex watched as hundreds of thousands of humans slowly shuffled into the vige and began spreading out, murmuring with each other in excitement. Among them, the few non-humans were also clearly visible though they were just as much a part of the crowd as everyone else. A giant sea creature could be seen, its upper body emerging from the waterways in the vige, acting very much like a child about to head to an amusement park. A few peacocks which had evolved to gain sentience and self awareness during the star rank upgrades could also be seen walking majestically down the paved streets. Young McDonald, Zen, the Sol bird, Fenrir, Little Blue and the turtle walked as part of one procession. Although the turtle was annoyed that it had to spend time away from its garden, it eventually decided to take a look at how everything was going at the vige. A lone Draconian Apostle, Fredrich, could be seen trailing that group, feeling somewhat shy. It presented quite an adorable sight as it had rounded up a lot while cultivating near the Fire temple. As such, it looked more like a round, massive stuffed toy designed to look like a bee than an actual bee. Of course, now all Inn workers were shy. Captain Cirk, the worker incharge of the massive spaceship, could be seen casually sitting beside Gerard as the old man drove his golf cart. The two seemed to be sharing tales of their own respective vehicles. Luthor was standing forlornly atop a massive building, looking down at all the workers, as if he had countless troubles worrying him. Inside a massive auditorium, Z was sittingfortably with buckets of popcorn around him, watching his current favorite anime, Demon yer. Interestingly enough, none of the popcorn buckets were within his reach. But whenever he reached out with his hand, a few kernels would appear in his hand. The process was not smooth, or quick, but it happened nheless. Moreover, the more time he spent doing it, the better he became. One might even think he was training secretly. But no, he was just being azy teenager. Somewhere near a cafe, Velma was excitedly conducting an interview. Although she was not supposed to be working, who could really stop her? As for the target of her interview? It was naturally Harry and Hailey, the newest couple of the Inn. Although Hailey was not a worker, she was Harry''s plus one, so there was no problem with her attending. In another corner, Geeves, the poor tailor, was found copsed on the ground. Feeling some pity for him, some of the people who had spent thest few days with him carried him to a spa, where he received an excellent massage. Yet, as much as he had worked, he was not the most exhausted Inn worker. No, that privilege was awarded equally to the members of the Bunny nation. As the permanent workers of the day care, all the bunnies had first hand experienced the endless energy of young children! Even after the star rank upgrade, when the bunnies evolved and grew one level stronger, they could only barely keep up with the kids. But while the bunnies had evolved from that event, had the kids not done the same? Stronger, smarter and more ferocious than ever before, the kids yed as if the very fate of the universe depended on it, and no cultivator was strong enough to face such an onught. The bunnies almost even missed the days where they were actually being ughtered. At least then their suffering would end. But no matter. They had gained a reprieve, short as it may be. After watching for a while, Lex suddenly felt a little dissatisfied. The workers were a little tame, and were hesitating in fully enjoying themselves. They had many hours before the actual banquet, so they should be thoroughly enjoying themselves. With an exasperated sigh, Lex stood up. It seemed like he would have to do everything himself. He put on his rk Kent sses, and changed into his Leo persona, before teleporting over. For a moment, mixed in with the massive crowd, he truly felt how much the Inn had grown. From a mere two workers who only had a one month lease, to hundreds of thousands of permanent workers. Then, he summoned his secret weapon in his hand, and locked onto a target. Doe, John''s assistant, was walking listlessly. Of course he would feel like that. Unlike the rest, it was not one or two days that the Battle Ax had been shut for. John had been challenged to a battle in the Murder trial, and it was still ongoing even so many dayster. With nothing to distract him, and no way of knowing how the battle was going, Doe was feeling drained. Suddenly, Doe''s senses picked up on a threat. As John''s assistant, how could it be possible that he had not been taught any techniques to defend himself or improve his survivability? He looked up, only to find a pink round ball closing in on him. He tried to move, yet he was too slow and the projectile too fast! It hit him right in the face, but instead of the hard-on collision he was expecting, he felt the pop of something stic before a ball of water drenched his face. Before he, or anyone else could understand what happened, a loud sound could be heard yelling, "water fight!" Tens, hundreds, thousands and then tens of thousands of water balloons suddenly appeared everywhere. The workers were a little slow to catch on, which resulted in many of them immediately getting sshed. No one saw who made the first move, because whoever it was was moving too fast. But panic immediately set in, and everyone grabbed a water balloon. Then that panic immediately turned to excitement, as the first worker threw a water balloon, and then the second. Chaos erupted almost immediately, as thousands of workers immediately entered into a massive water fight! Thousands more began running right and left, avoiding getting wet to little sess. The few aquatic beasts that had evolved within the Inn from simple animals, and had be Inn workers, had a natural advantage which they used readily to startunching water at everyone. But the humans were not to be left behind either. The lifeguards of the Inn immediately began using their spiritual techniques which could manipte water, and retaliated in full force. In mere moments, what Lex had originally just nned out as a simple water fight to loosen everyone up and put them in a yful mood, turned into a highlypetitive and extreme water war! In its excitement, Little Blue also joined in! It had also been cultivating, and had constantly been guided by the turtle, and corrupted by Fenrir - who had been corrupted by Lex. It used its newly gained innate ability to summon some water.N?v(el)B\\jnn Truly, it was only a small amount of water. It was not worth mentioning, really. It only umted into a tsunami that was over forty feet high, and appeared out of thin air. When the shadow of the wave covered the ground, the water fight temporarily paused as everyone looked up to see what had happened. All they saw before the wave came crashing down was the little whale, clicking and whistling in excitement. Then, like divine judgment, the wave came crashing down. But the workers of the Inn were not intimidated. Various techniques filled the air as they hastened to protect themselves, and prepare for retaliation. In the first ever water war, the weak would not survive. They would win, or they would get drenched trying. The wave crashed onto the ground with a furious roar, and shook the Inn as it did. But suddenly, there was a sh of light, and the water parted, split right down the middle. Chapter 639 His People ? Like the Red Sea, the tsunami wave was parted along the center, and a couplepletely untouched by a drop of water ws revealed. Qawain and Anita stood side by side, Anita holding her husband''s arm lovingly. Behind them, was their baby, being pushed by dozens of her undead abominations. The baby was sleeping silently, as the sounds of fighting and chaos had finally lulled it into a peaceful sleep. One could not really me it for not being able to distinguish between the sounds of a water fight that constituted hundreds or thousands of people, and a nice sunday genocidal massacre. "Please continue, we are just passing by," said Qawain as he continued to walk. One could not really me him for not participating, as any casual throw of a water balloon by him could decimate all the Inn''s workers. The fight resumed as soon as the couple passed, with Little Blue bing one of the main targets. While a lot of the workers participated in the war, more still moved away from it, unwilling to get wet. Yet Lex''s purpose waspleted nheless, as even those who were not participating rxed visibly. They spread out across the vige, and began to truly enjoy all that the Inn had to offer. Lines were formed in front of photo booths, many took boat rides in the canals alongside the roads, others still enjoyed the various transports. They ate and they yed, and though most of them really weren''t tense, the ones that were visibly rxed. Well, all except Luthor. "Aren''t you going to join in the fun?" Leo asked, as he walked up to Luthor who was standing on the roof of one of the buildings. "It''s hard to enjoy myself when I know what''s about to happen," said Luthor, his face extremely grim. "Although there isn''t too much detail, I''ve read the files Velma has on the Fuegan. It will not be an easy fight. Realistically speaking, I should not even expect those who go toe back." "The Fuegan are strong, but the Inn workers aren''t weak either. They just have to stick together and take care of one another, and they''ll be fine." Luthor didn''t speak, and instead turned to look at Leo. He had spent a lot of time at the Inn getting to know the other workers. He had a busy schedule between taking care of the Innkeeper''s orders, cultivating and thinking of ways to improve the Inn, but he still managed to take out the time to do so. The one thing he noticed was the unusual patterns with which Leo appeared and disappeared at the Inn. No one else spent as much time away from the Inn as he did, at least among the workers. Luthor suspected that Leo''s role as a shop owner at the Inn was just a front, and instead he performed secret tasks for the Innkeeper. Well, Leo had all but already told Luthor as such when he gave Luthor some secret tasks by the Innkeeper, but he suspected that Leo yed an even greater role for the Innkeeper than anyone realized.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om He did not envy Leo for the attention he got. Instead, he understood the necessity. While Luthor was in the light, as the Innkeepers assistant, Leo was in the dark, doing things without attracting attention. As a result¡­ he should also be privy to more information than the rest. "Do you know something?" Luthor asked, looking Leo in the eyes. "Nothing too out of the ordinary," said Leo shrugging. "The Innkeeper doesn''t want to pick a needless fight, so he''s going along with things for now. But he''s preparing an exit strategy nheless. I believe soon, the Inn will have its own realm." A light shed in Luthor''s eyes, but he said nothing. After spending a few more moments atop the building, he decided to leave for now. After all, his name was on the list of volunteers too. Technically speaking, Luthor had only been alive for a few months so it should not have been possible for him to reach Foundation realm so quickly. But contrary to expectation, he was already near the peak of the Foundation realm. He had abused his bloodline to continuously cultivate way beyond what his body should have been able to tolerate. On the days where not much happened, he allowed himself to feel the repercussions of his umted fatigue and injuries, so that the burden would slowly lessen. On other days, where the utmost was needed of him, he used his bloodline even more. For now, he decided to go sleep in a Recovery pod. He would allow the burden he had umted to vent as much as possible, so that during the war he had no trouble using his bloodline as much as possible. Lex said nothing as he watched Luthor go. How could he not possibly know that Luthor had put his name on the list of volunteers first? Yet he had no intentions of stopping him. For better or for worse, Luthor''s extreme personality was exactly what was needed to survive the uing war. While Lex was paying attention to all his employees, he especially focused on the 1000 volunteers. Yet none of them seemed to be acting tense or anxious. It was as if all was normal. But how could it be? He knew for a fact that other than Z, nearly 600 other workers had also undergone their physique treatment, including Luthor. It had cost Lex nearly 40 million MP to get all the necessary supplies to support the procedure, but none of the supplies were so rare that he had to go back to the emporium. Sure, none of them had an experience nearly as bad as Z''s, but none of them were easy either. Even now, there would have been a few still undergoing the process if Lex hadn''t run out of the elixir. Yet not a single one of them hadined. Lex disappeared from the rooftop as he continued to overview the day''s festivities, and make personal adjustments where he thought necessary. Something interesting, or at least something Velma would have found interesting, was that in this new environment where they were encouraged to rx and mingle, many began showing initial signs of kindling rtionships. For now, they were too young and inexperienced in life to take that step, but Lex could already see signs. The fact that most of the ones showing such signs were about to head off to war made Lex feel just a little mncholic. Slowl, but peacefully, the day passed and evening came.The crowds which had dispersed across the entire vige began to gather once again in an open air theater. Perhaps an auditorium would have been better for this, but it was not so easy to fit a few hundred thousand beings inside one building, and still leave them room to move about. Though it was no crystal ballroom, the floating skynterns illuminated the night in a soft yet warm, yellow glow which brought about a rxed environment. Well, it was hard to go for different lighting with a baby Sol bird around. Though it had been a full day for most, they were not tired. Instead, everyone was feeling refreshed and excited, for they were looking forward to what woulde next: the Innkeeper was about to make an appearance. Once everyone had arrived, Luthor included, the lighting dimmed, despite the baby Sol bird, and a small podium appeared. A hush fell over the crowd as they all waited for the Innkeeper. As ofte, he had been making fewer and fewer public appearances, and when he did, he usually only met the same few workers. It was something even Lex himself had not noticed, nor was he alerted by his instincts for it had no consequential repercussions. It revealed a blindspot in his instincts, and always relying on them. Before the Innkeeper appeared, the sound of footsteps could be heard echoing through the night. The footsteps continued to echo, when suddenly everyone saw someone climbing to the podium. Instantly they realized that the Innkeeper would not suddenly appear on the podium. The Innkeeper had been among them the entire time, but he had kept himself hidden so that he would not attract attention. Excitement suddenly filled the hearts of all the workers as they thought about the fact that they could have been rubbing shoulders with the Innkeeper! "Wee, everyone," the Innkeeper''s smooth voice washed over the crowd. "I''m d to see that everyone has been enjoying themselves. Usually, we work around the clock to serve the Inn''s guests, but it''s also important to remember that we too deserve some rest and rxation." The Innkeeper paused, a warm and content smile on his face as he looked out over the crowd. He could hear them shuffling, he could hear their elevated heartbeats, he could hear their sped up breathing. These were his people. He would lead them well. Chapter 640 New Suits ? Many months ago, when Lex had the idea for a banquet for his guests, he had envisioned what it would be like. In fact, he even did a bit of research on his own instead of just delegating the tasks to the nning division. The banquet would be broken down into two segments. The lead up to the banquet, where everyone enjoyed and rxed didn''t count. Once the banquet actually began, the first phase would follow some earthly customs. As the Innkeeper, he would give a small speech to cheer everyone up, and then he thought about sharing the limelight and having some otherse up and speak as well. There would be jokes andughter, and once everyone was done speaking there would be a dance, which would then be followed by dinner. That was the first segment. The second segment included activities Lex looked up on the Henali portal which weremon urrences in alien cultures. There would be feats of courage. There would be merrymaking. There would be duels. There would be cake simr to Saturn cake, except that it would be much stronger, and could affect those at a higher cultivation realm. Lex had even imported a special batch of fruit, which could temporarily turn anyone who ate it into a variation of their race. So, in the instance of humans, they could turn into cat people, or a Cheonsa, or something else. The night would end with a few awards and prizes. That was the original n, and Lex expected it would be a lot of fun. But the n had changed since then. Now, while he still nned for the banquet to be a fun filled event, the focus would be different. "The Inn started not too long ago, and you all joined me only shortly thereafter, but much has happened during this short time." As the Innkeeper''s gentle voice washed over all the workers, they began to imagine all that had happened. The older ones began to recall the Midnight games, while the newer ones thought back to the invasion they suffered during the Innkeepers absence. "The Midnight Inn has maintained its pride during all this time, not only because of me, but because of all of you." The Innkeeper paused for a moment, looking out at each and every face in the crowd. "Whether it''s keeping the guests happy, adapting to new events, or facing off miscreants who mean to cause trouble, each and everyone one of you has upheld the honor of the Inn. There is no task too big or too small, for when the Inn has a need, you all have stepped forward proudly to take care of the task." Every single one of the workers felt their pride swell up as they heard the Innkeepers words. They held their heads just a little higher, and pumped out their chests. "Today we are here, at this banquet, to honor all your efforts so far in service of the Inn. But I think, it is not just in service of the Inn that you all strive so hard. There is something else that drives your actions. It is pride. The pride of being a part of something as grand as the Inn. "But how can that be all? I think¡­ it is the feeling of home. It is the feeling of family¡­" the Innkeeper paused again, though this time even he didn''t notice the slight hesitation. "It is the feeling of having something you want to protect." The Innkeeper''s words and emotions were infectious, and everyone, from the newest to the oldest employees, started to have deep emotions welling up inside of them. "So today, here, we find ourselves honoring not just our actions, but each other, for it is us, each and everyone of us, who make up the Midnight Inn. But¡­ it is not just our past actions that need honoring¡­" The Innkeeper''s tempo suddenly changed. His voice, full of vibrant energy suddenly turned solemn and somber. "It is also the actions that some of us are about to take that we honor. I''m sure you all know of what I speak. The Midnight Inn finds itself facing an extraordinary and unexpected challenge. Though we are a humble establishment focused on serving our guests, we have always been steadfast in adhering to our dogmas, even in the face of extreme adversity. Yet even so, in this universe, we cannot standpletely alone. "The Inn has been conscripted into a war that has nothing to do with us, thrusting us into an unfamiliar battlefield. But when faced with this challenge, when I asked for volunteers, I received an overwhelming response. Heroes of the Inn volunteered without hesitation or fear of adversity." A thousand different spotlights suddenly appeared, shining on each and every selected volunteer. Moreover, a massive screen appeared behind the Innkeeper, showing the humble yet happy faces under the spotlights. "Each and everyone of you carry the honor of the Inn with you, and that is not just limited to the grounds of the Inn. Since you are going to a battlefield, away from the Inn and into the vast universe, then you have to take that honor with you." The Innkeeper snapped his fingers, and suddenly the attire of all 1000 workers changed. Although they all wore suits before, and still wore suits now, the difference between the two sets was night and day! While their previous suits were smart and quite formal, the new suits were not only perfectly suited to their exact physiques, it elevated their auras to make them seem incredibly dashing yet lethal at the same time. Each suit was three piece, with a white shirt and ck tie. Gold buttons adorned not only the front, but the cuffs as well. The left side of the coat had a gold ''M.I'' written on it, and thepel had a key-shaped pin attached. Along with the suit were also a pair of ck gloves, perfectly sized so that not an inch of skin was visible between the shirt cuff and glove. They wore oxfords, in ck of course, as their choice of footwear. Above the cor, there was a ck, silk scarf perfectly covering the neck, and a suave ck mask covered their faces right up until the edge of their noses. Covering their eyes was a simple mask, simr to what one would wear at a masquerade ball. Up until then, the suits seemed to look identical, but this is where a small distinction was made in the suits to favor preference. Above the mask, each person wore a hat, but each person seemed to have had some say in the exact kind. Some wore cobbler hats, others wore fedoras, while some wore t caps.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om The Innkeeper paused, to allow everyone to take in the sight. It truly was quite magnificent, for Lex could tell how incredibly durable and powerful the suits were. Suffice to say, Lex felt like even if he delivered a punch with his maximum power to one of those volunteers while they did not defend, they still would not be absolutely fine. He noticed that, despite the severe time constraints, the tailor had managed to personalize the suits just a bit. For example, through Z''s mask, Lex could identify the distinct outline of earphone wire traveling to his ears, or Gerard whose suit was slightly more open than the rest, adding emphasis to his vest underneath. He also noticed that, unlike the rest, Luthor also carried a ck and gold cane with him. He had no idea where it came from or how he had paid for it, but it looked mighty impressive. "Know that even as you step out on the battlefield, the Midnight Inn is always with you," the Innkeeper began speaking once again, this time only to the 1000 volunteers who had by now gathered to the center of the crowd. "The battlefield is foreign, but that cannot waver your spirit. Together, you have faced and conquered countless obstacles, and you will conquer this one too. Because while others fight to kill, or to survive, you fight to protect! Remember, now or ever, you are not alone! You have each other, your bonds, and your indomitable will to stand tall in the face of adversity! "While war is not our business, that is only because we do not choose it to be. The Midnight Inn does not shy from trials and tribtions, and nor do we cower from the wars of those who cannot deal with it themselves!" The Innkeeper''s voice, which had once lowered in both volume and tone, had risen once again to a mighty crescendo, shaking not just the hearts of all who listened, but the very earth and the sky! The sheer lethal visage of 1000 geared warriors alongside the Innkeeper''s inspirational voice charged the crowds until they could no longer contain themselves, and erupted into a roaring cheer, that carried across the entire vige, and could be heard even outside the barrier keeping out all the guests. The Midnight Inn had not asked for this war, but they would make the ones who forced them into it regret deeply. Chapter 641 Departure ? After delivering his speech, Lex left the podium and let the banquet progress normally. He no longer felt like the mood of the banquet needed to be fun or jovial. Considering that the 1000 workers would be heading off to the battlefield, he felt that the rest of the time should be spent with the focus on them. After all, no matter how much Lex helped them prepare, there was a very real possibility that they might not make it back. Still, the mood the rest of the time was very rxed. If the workers felt nervous or anxious, they did not show it. Instead, they kept gushing over how much they liked their new suits. If one overheard their conversations, one would assume they would be heading to a field trip rather than to war. Soon, a live orchestra standing on a cloud nearby began to y live music, and the banquet transitioned to the dance. This was quite entertaining to watch actually, since most people didn''t really know any real dances, but as cultivators of various levels, they were quite adept in movement techniques. As a result, the Inn workers were making up dances on the go, which resulted in quite an interesting show. The most interesting was the dance between Little Blue and the Sol bird. They were flying around, swinging like crazy in the air. Wherever Little Blue flew drops of water fell like rain, since it was still learning to control its ability, and whenever the bird passed by the drops evaporated instantly. Since the Inn protected everyone from the bird''s heat, to the viewers it all seemed just like an interesting smoke show. Moreover, due to the constant rain and light, rainbows were formed wherever the two went. With no one truly leading and showing them how it was done, the workers truly did end up doing whatever they wanted. Some bunnies began mounting peacocks and strut around one another, as if challenging each other to a dance duel. The massive, evolved Magikarpet had the turtle ride on its head and shook around, as if it was trying to dance as well. The humans were not to be left behind either. They grabbed hands and spun each other round and around till one of them had their feet lifted into the air and began flying, until the other one suddenly let go, sending them flying towards a specific target. The humans¡­ began ying darts using other humans¡­ Left didn''t know whether tough or cry as he watched what they did, but decided not to interfere. There was no designated way to enjoy oneself, and if they were enjoying themselves by behaving like idiots¡­ well, one had to remember that most of them were just one year old. He teleported away, no longer overseeing the workers. The thing he had to do next was prepare to send his workers to the battlefield. It was really easy, since he had been provided a teleportation formation - he only needed to set it up. He had never sent one of his workers outside the Inn before, although theoretically it shouldn''t be an issue. In essence, in the way that he could choose to teleport to any ce connected to the Inn, he could send his workers too. After all, if there was no mechanism to send out his employees then he wouldn''t have received a quest to recruit Marlo as a porter oh so long ago. Deploying the formation was¡­ disappointingly easy. The lead up to the workers departure felt agonizingly slow to Lex, but eventually the banquet ended, and the next day came. But all the workers did not return to their posts just yet, and instead stood in silence as they watched the 1000 gathered workers. It was time for them to go, but no one had any words left to say. They could only watch, and pray. When the Innkeeper appeared, he summoned Luthor to have a private word with him first. "I don''t expect it to be a problem, but make sure that you all stay together. You all have to make sure to protect one another. While there will be others there with you, and they will be your allies, that is only theoretical. The only ones you can trust are each other. Everyone has a couple of keys with them, in case they ever need it, but I want you to take this as well." Lex held out one of his Innkeeper business cards, drenched in the aura of the Innkeeper. "If you run into any problems, or if they try to split you all up, don''t hesitate to call me through the card. Though the Midnight Inn is sending a force to contribute in inane war, that does not mean we can be pushed around."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Luthor took the card and tucked it safely in the inner pocket of his coat. Although the Innkeeper told him not to hesitate in summoning him, Luthor decided not to summon the Innkeeper unless it was thest resort, "As for the rest¡­ treat this as a learning experience. Therades you make during war are special, and cannot be discovered in simple times. Go, expand your contacts, as well as your horizons." Luthor nodded in confirmation, but did not say anything. The Innkeeper was clearly trusting him to lead the others, which was a monumental task. Perhaps one would expect such a task to go to Gerard, based on his position as the head of security, but Lex felt he did not have the right temperament. Perhaps as long as he was within the Inn, it didn''t matter so much, but on a battlefield, only someone as ruthless as Luthor would suffice. With everything said, Luthor returned to the others, and they were teleported away. There was no fanfare of fancy speeches. Lex did not feel like there was a need to drag the matter on endlessly. Sometimes, it was better to just get on with it quickly. With the workers sent out of the Inn, Lex prepared to return to the Crystal realm andplete his quest, but he was interrupted by the sound of a familiar notification. System Notification: Hidden questpleted! ***** The teleportation away from the Inn was seamless, despite it being powered by a formation provided by someone else. That was because with the Inn''s upgraded teleportation abilities, Lex had more or less hijacked the teleportation point. Of course, just because there was an easy way to reach the destination did not mean that it was linked to the Inn. Not yet anyway, but that didn''t matter. When the 1000 workers of the Inn teleported over, they were instantly overwhelmed. Since this was the first time any of them left the Inn, they were not prepared for the ''polluted'' and ''impure'' air of the universe. The smell of synthetic cleaners filled the massive hall they teleported in, almost making them gag, but they controlled themselves. They knew war wasn''t going to be easy. It only made sense that it shouldn''t smell great either. The group had teleported inside a dedicated teleportation area which was one of many in the entire hall. There were easily tens of thousands more troops appearing every minute, and they all wore different kinds of armors and gear. There was a host of personnel standing ready, guiding and registering each and every new group. One such person approached the group from the Inn, dressed in a brown jumpsuit and a helmet sporting a silver visor, hiding the person''s face. "Wee to battlefront 00974. Is there a designated leader among your group?" Luthor stepped forward, standing face to face with the man. Much like the group, the man was in the Foundation realm, so when Luthor stepped near, his surging aura momentarily stunned him. "Aff-affiliated group and number of soldiers, please," the man stuttered, unable to calm himself down in time. "Midnight Inn, 1000 soldiers," Luthor said sinctly. Although the Innkeeper had told him to makerades, he did not think he was referring to a weak floor worker like this. "Midnight Inn¡­ 1000 soldiers¡­ alright I''ve registered your arrival. Someone will lead you to have your identities logged, and then your assignments will be given to you." "Wherever we go, we will go together. We will not be separated," informed Luthor. Even if he didn''t already have such thoughts, the Innkeeper repeatedly emphasized that they should stay together, so he would neverpromise on this. "You specialize in groupbat? Well that shouldn''t be an issue. Continue on with registration, and be sure to mention that you''ve trained for groupbat. No one will want to diminish yourbat effectiveness, so you''ll all be stationed together." Luthor nodded, as if that was barely an eptable answer, and then began leading his group forward. He was pleased that no one had tried to split them up, and he took note of the ''groupbat'' that the previous man had mentioned. Hopefully, there won''t be any problemster either. It would suck if he had to beat someone up so soon. Chapter 642 Let Z Take The Lead ? System Notification: Hidden questplete! Hidden quest: The Midnight Inn is a bastion and a safe haven for all guests from across the universe. Yet such a refuge is bound to attract hostile attention. Sometimes, dealing with miscreants when they arrive at the Inn is already toote. Take proactive measures to eliminate forces hostile to the Inn before they arrive at the Inn! Quest reward: Midnight Battalion panel unlocked! Remarks: Even a broken clock is right twice a day, but it took you over a year to do something right once. Lex was stunned. Midnight Battalion? Alright, he could openly and clearly admit that the Midnight Inn was a little different from what one would expect from an Inn¡­ maybe. But what kind of Inn had its own battalion? Although, he could somewhat understand the system''s motives. While he was sure that a lot of the beings that visit the Inn could be convinced to holster their hostile nature if they had one, there were bound to be many that just would not do so. If that were the case, it made sense to go out and face them directly. But, that way, wouldn''t he end up fighting beings across the universe? No, that surely wasn''t what this was for. It was most likely that the purpose of the battalion was to go out and face specific targets who were enemies of the Inn. Yes, that made sense. In fact, why should he limit himself just to a battalion? Didn''t he have a secret news agency? Couldn''t he spread spies across the universe to gather secret intel? Or be on the lookout for more inheritances which he could add to his inheritance hall? Once Lex started thinking like this, he realized that the possibilities were endless. Why did he have to personally go to the emporium every time he needed a trade? Couldn''t he set up a trading outfit or organization which got the Inn supplies which the system didn''t naturally provide it with?N?v(el)B\\jnn Lex reigned in his excitement and first took a look at the Midnight Battalion panel. If it was anywhere near as multifunctional and overarching as the event panel, Lex could not even begin to imagine the power. Yet, much to Lex''s chagrin, almost all the functions in the panel were grayed out and couldn''t even be seen, let alone used. "Mary, why is this new panel inoperable?" Lex asked, slightly annoyed. "Since the battalion is supposed to operate outside the Inn, it is difficult for the system to perform optimally considering its damaged state. I cannot say for certain, but I expect you will need to repair 20 or 25% functionality before the panel starts showing more features." Lex controlled his disappointment and looked at the one single feature for the battalion which was avable. It was called ''Battle formations''. After opening it, Lex began to peruse it and found that it was actually quite useful. For the first time since he received the Butter Knife, the system finally gave him a method of attacking someone directly. It was quite convenient because much like the formations he could buy for the Inn, he could buy battle formations for his battalion, and the system would automatically send the information to his battalion. Unfortunately, it could not make them proficient from the get go, and it would require training. But at least this way he had a way of directly purchasing things from the system rather than looking around in ce like the emporium. As he was perusing the list of formations, his eyes suddenly locked onto a specific one. He read the name and then the description of the formation, then read it several more times just to be sure he wasn''t making a mistake. Considering it was a formation for Foundation realm cultivators, it was quite expensive at 120 million MP. When it was factored in that the suits Lex got each and everyone of them for 100 million that sounded like it was quite cheap, but that was only because Lex went unnecessarily overboard in having the suit made. A budget of 100 million for a suit was more appropriate for earth immortals, but Lex did not care about such minor details when it came to the life of his oldest and most trusted workers. Still, this formation¡­ Lex bought it immediately. Another result of the battalion panel was that, once Lex registered the battalion, he would be able to directly speak to themander of the battalion even when he was outside the Inn. Otherwise, once workers of the Inn left, he would be unable to contact them. Fortunately, this was a feature of the panel, and not a service, so Lex could employ it even now. As soon as he bought the formation, he knew the information would be transmitted to them directly. But he needed to pass some instructions to ensure maximum effectiveness. "If you end up needing to use the battle formation I sent you, do not control it yourself. Have Z take control of the formation." Luthor would get the message, though Luthor himself would have no way of answering. If he wanted to do that, he would have to activate the business card the Innkeeper gave him, but it would be a waste to use it just for this. Since he would get the message, Lex turned his attention back to other things. He had inspected his body quite thoroughly, using his own senses as well as checking his status through the system, but there was no mention or indication of any ''inscriptions'' on his body. But Lex did not doubt at all that they were there. He just needed to discover a way to locate, and then remove them. However, since he could not do that right now, there was only one thing left for him to do at the Inn. He put on his Leo persona, and teleported away. When he reappeared, he was in front of the Midnight tailor! He had been extremely impressed by the suits that had been made for everyone, and wanted one of his own! Not bothering to knock, he walked in to find Geeves sprawled on a reclining sofa, snoring lightly. Drool was dripping down his cheek and a small puddle had formed on the ground near him. Lex could not really me him for his state, the man had worked himself to the bone the past few days. Still, every employee had a bedroom they could visit any time. Was there really a need to sleep here, like this? Lex cleared his throat, hoping it would rouse the man, to no avail. He tried again, a little louder, but there was still no result. In the end, he nudged Geeves'' foot with his own, startling the sleeping man! He jumped up as if he was being ambushed, and held out clenched fists as if he was ready to fight, but he still had no idea what was happening. He looked left and right, trying to discern his location and what was happening. The poor fellow waspletely disoriented, and it took him a couple of minutes to realize that he was, in fact, not being assaulted. "Oh, oh dear, excuse my rather poor disy," the man said to Leo, as he wiped the drool off his cheek. "I must have dozed off while packing up." "It''s not a problem. I understand you''ve had a busy few days." "That''s one way of putting it¡­" Geeves muttered under his breath as he slowly made his way behind the counter, and then looked at Leo. Truthfully, he had no intention of working until he got a full and proper rest, but since Leo was already here, it didn''t hurt to at least hear him out. "How can I help you, today?" Geeves said, once he positioned himself. Considering the high prestige requirement to use his shop, one would think he''d have a lot of free time. "I was quite impressed by the suits you made for the 1000 workers heading out," Lex praised openly. "Especially since I could tell that each one boastsmendable protective capabilities." Geeves, who was clearly still exhausted, snorted at Lex''s remark. "Commendable? Protective capabilities? My good man, they can walk in the vacuum of space in those suits! They can walk through fire and water, through chaotic spirit energy fields and literal space distortions! Those perfectly soft, air purifying, energy filtering suits are not onlypletely designed to support a wide range of movement, they can survive any kind of environment that can be thrown at them. My good man, the garbs of deities themselves pale inparison to my suits! That''s literally not an over-exaggeration, because those suits can refine divine energy as well! "At the Foundation realm, there is literally nothing those soldiers can face which could cause a single stitch in those suits to rip! One of theds said they are experimenting with teleportation, and wondered if the suit could survive. So I literally lined the suit with a special material, which can literally allow him to swim through the folds of space. Pft. Survive. Commendable protective capabilities. Child, you clearly don''t have the same vision as the Innkeeper and I, so don''t try to boast emptypliments. You''ll only embarrass yourself." Chapter 643 Dont believe in being humble Chapter 643 Don''t believe in being humble "If you end up needing to use the battle formation I sent you, do not control it yourself. Have Z take control of the formation." Luthor was momentarily stunned when he heard the Innkeepers voice in his mind, but it all made sense when a mere momentter information regarding a certain battle formation just appeared in his mind. The timing for this¡­ couldn''t possibly have been better, which proved that even now, the Innkeeper was keeping an eye on them. "Look, I don''t care where you''re from or who your backer is," said a rough looking man in military uniform holding a tablet. "War is not a joke, and can''t run on the whim of every little princess who thinks she deserves special amodation. We need to know the strength level and capability of each and every asset so we can position you ordingly, and be sure you can do your job well. That means we will test everyone individually, and assign them roles as such. If you insist that your¡­" the man gave a dirty side nce to the paltry 1000 soldiers among the millions this facility processed everyday before continuing, "your ''group'' is focused towards ''groupbat'' then you need to be tested ordingly, and need to pass the minimum performance threshold. Only, and only then will you be allowed to stay together. If you have a problem with that, take it up with someone who cares. Or better yet, get lost and go back where you came from. I don''t have time to babysit you lot." The man had a much higher cultivation realm than Luthor and the rest, which is why he remained unaffected by their suppressive aura for the most part. Moreover, he could identify the luxurious material their ''gear'' was made from at a nce, and was thus convinced that the group in front of him consisted of nothing but a bunch of untested greenhorns who had simply been showered in expensive equipment. Such people would neverst in a real battle. He was extremely irritated at the group, but what he didn''t realize was that Luthor was irritated too. So what if his cultivation was greater? Luthor was not intimidated. So what if he sawrger armies everyday? They could notpete with those from the Inn. So what if they had countless othersing to fight in their war? They were the ones who had asked the Inn toe, not the other way around! "Take me to your testing facility, and be quick about it," said Luthor as if he were talking to someone beneath him. "I''m here to fight a war, not stroke the ego of some office worker." N?v(el)B\\jnn Sure, he was normally extremely courteous towards guests at the Inn, but that didn''t mean everyone deserved such an attitude. Besides, he was not a believer in being humble or down to earth when he had the qualifications to back himself up. Behind his ck mask his expressions were hidden, but the extreme derisive tone of his voice could not be hidden. The soldier talking to Luthor turned red, and his anger surged, but he controlled himself. Regardless of what he felt, the discipline of the army had to be maintained, and that was the only thing that kept him fromshing out at Luthor. Little did he know, even if heshed out it would make no difference. Unwilling to speak further, the soldier led Luthor and the rest to a testing chamber,pletely skipping the queue in which they normally would have had to wait. He sent them in, while he himself went into the control room. "Survive for a minimum of one hour," he spoke into a mic, not really bothering to let Luthor and the rest get into formation, and began the test at the hardest difficulty! He was breaking more than a few standard operating procedures, and everyone in the room was slightly concerned, but the man was radiating a murderous aura that stopped them from interfering. As an army of Foundation realm soldiers, the battlefield they were sent to naturally managed their power level. Due to various restrictions and limitations, there were many zones and worlds where the interference of higher level cultivators was extremely difficult if not downright impossible. That did not change the fact that those regions held crucial strategic value. As such, armies at all power levels were required. Clearly, due to such restrictions, the enemies they would face would at most be slightly more powerful than them. But when the test began at the highest difficulty, what the soldiers from the Inn faced was a purely theoretical threat that they were never expected to actually encounter. A nascent level robot appeared in the testing hall, alongside an army of 5000 golden core cultivators. The power difference made this a purely impossible force for 1000 foundation realm soldiers to face, and was normally used to test cutting edge technology or extreme innovations in battle formations. The soldiers from the Midnight Inn, however, did not really know it. Nor were they even rmed. It wasn''t as if none of them had faced a nascent level cultivator before, and each of them had recently even gotten a power up from the star rank increase. Still, Luthor was not in the mood to do things casually. "Z, ording to the Innkeepers orders, you will be inmand of ourtest battle formation. Let''s get this over with, we have better things to do." The opposing force did not wait for them, and was already rushing towards them to attack, yet none of the soldiers from the Inn panicked. With extreme precision and efficiency, as if this was not the first time ever they were employing this battle formation, everyone got in position and began channeling their designated techniques. How this worked was that each of them served as an individual gear in a muchrger machine, and thus each of them used a different spiritual technique that served no purpose alone, but when done so in tandem with 999 others who were also using corresponding techniques, gave birth to an awesome phenomenon. A ck, menacing cloud enveloped the entire army, and a few momentster, when it disappeared revealed not the soldiers who were standing there previously, but a massive, 45 feet tall (14 meters) suited mech! Chapter 644 Educated by a professional Chapter 644 Educated by a professional In the testing room, the soldier who had set up the test, as well as everyone else, were all startled by the change. What kind of technique was this? They had seen a lot of different kinds of techniques, but never one that turned an entire army into a seemingly massive robot. To be clear, the battlefield they were currently at was not run by the Jotun empire, but by a subsidiary force of the Elven empire. As such, they had a much greater exposure and history than that of humans. Still, this was somethingpletely unprecedented. Moreover, it was not the optics of the situation that was an issue. Even in the control room, separated by a protected wall, they felt a sense of danger. In the testing hall, neither the invading force paused nor the Midnight mech. Even Z did not pause to appreciate how awesome this moment felt for him. Since the Innkeeper had trusted him with this responsibility, he would live up to it. Silently, the mech moved. Despite its ridiculous speed, it caused no sound as its lithe and nimble frame moved through the hall, let alone the sonic booms it should have caused due to its velocity. In one single move, which was too fast for those in the control room to see clearly, the mech attacked. A momentter, it appeared in the opposite end of the hall, its back towards the enemies it had crossed. Yet it did not really even need to turn back, for a few secondster all the attacking robots exploded! n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Not a single one survived the single attack. The Midnight battalion, after its first sessfulbat test, ended their technique, in their daycare faced more of a challenge than this. ***** dissipating the awesome mech as if it was a mirage. All that was left were 1000 soldiers, standing there unimpressed. Even the bunnies in their daycare faced more of a challenge than this. ***** "Child, you clearly don''t have the same vision as the Innkeeper and I, so don''t try to boast emptypliments. You''ll only embarrass yourself," said Geeves. He was not happy at all upon receiving apliment on his work. That was because the person paying thepliment did not even understand enough of what he did to even pay a properpliment. Lex, on the other hand, did not feel offended by Geeves'' seemingly rude attitude. First of all, the man was seriously sleep deprived, so he could not be med for being grumpy. Secondly, so long as he did a good job, why did it matter if he had a bit of an attitude? "Like I was saying, the suit you made thoroughly impressed me. I wanted to order one for myself as well." It hardly surprised Geeves to hear as such. Who wouldn''t want his suits? Rather, it was the fact that Leo could even order a suit from him that was curious. Just because they were workers at the Inn did not mean they could so easily be exempted from the privilege requirements. Simr to how there were privileges for guests, the official workers of the Inn were also ranked based on how long they had worked, their performance, customer satisfaction, etc. The only reason why it was not relevant before was because Lex was manually setting up privilege requirements, so he never put them up for his workers. The tailor shop, however, naturally had a restriction on it so the same applied to the workers. Still, monitoring workers ranks was not Geeves'' job. Since Leo was here, the man clearly had the qualification. "What kind of suit do you have in mind?" he asked, as he massaged his temples. Even if he didn''t n on working immediately on the suit, he took his job very seriously. As such, he needed all his presence of mind for when he took orders. "I have a very¡­ unique problem," Leo confessed as he scratched his head. "I don''t really care about defense or protection, as it''s already very hard for anything to hurt me. Instead, I just want clothes that are extremely durable, so that I won''t end up naked while fighting or facing a dangerous situation. Since my body is so durable, I end up facing more extreme situations than anyone else would normally face." Geeves nodded as he took in Leo''s requirements and ran a few ideas through his mind. "Any style requirements?" he asked. "You did a good job with the previous suits, so I''ll defer to your judgment on that." Geeves nodded once again, as if that was the correct answer. "What about your budget?" "Let''s just say my budget is¡­ big. So long as my needs can be met, the price is irrelevant." Geeves nodded once more. That''s what he liked to hear. But instead of continuing to ask Leo questions, Geeves moved from behind the counter and approached him. He put an arm around Leo''s shoulder and patted it a few times before he spoke. "Child, I understand your requirements. But I have a small suggestion - a small amendment to your requirements, if you will. As a professional, it is my job to educate you about the possibilities even you don''t realize." Geeves paused, and then sighed. He was truly exhausted, so it was hard to focus. But at the same time, inspiration filled him, and he needed to get it out. "Imagine you''re facing a foe," he said, waving his hand out in front of them, as if that would conjure up an image of Leo fighting an enemy. "Imagine your foe''s desperation, his sheer tenacity and will as he uses everything he can to fight you. Imagine that he fails, but manages to escape. Through nning and scheming, and unsavory alliances, the foe returns, this time prepared better to face you. Through the culmination of all his hard work, he finally manages to pierce through your nigh indestructible armor - your suit. He tastes the sweet nectar of ambrosia as he finally seeds, peeling away your defense, leaving you vulnerable to harm. For surely someone who relies on such resilient armor must be weak himself, right? He is at his zenith, only to fall to an agonizing and hellish nadir when he realizes that your defense is higher still than your seemingly imprable armor. ''Why'', he roars to the heavens moments before you strike him down. ''Why would someone as strong as you even need such an indestructible armor'' he wonders in hisst moments? The answer¡­ it is simple. You may not really need that extra bit of defense, but since your foes don''t know that, why not frustrate them a little? You seed, that is called ying with your enemies." For a moment, Lex was startled. Then, he grinned. Chapter 645 Lex is fat Chapter 645 Lex is fat Lex felt like he was meeting Geeves for the first time, and he quite liked it. Even if his prior meeting had not been extremely brief, how could Geeves show off his sadistic side in front of the Innkeeper? He had been on his best behavior. But now, in front of Leo, in his extremely sleep deprived state, Geeves has thoroughly lost all inhibition, and so let his true self show. What Lex didn''t realize was that his true self was not a sadist as he made it seem like, no. His true self was an artist, and he exhibited his art through his suits. The appearance of the suit was just the surface of the art. The functionality of the suit is what gave his art depth. "I like the idea," confirmed Lex. "What are the limits of what you can do with the suit?" "Currently, the shop has a limit on the kinds of materials I can ess. The materials I can ess are on the nascent realm level, at most. If you can bring me better materials from outside, I can improve the suit further, but until then you would have to make do. Having said that, even at the nascent realm, the kinds of materials I have ess to are numerous. "How many things you want to add to the suit y a great role in how I can use the materials. For example, with my previous suits, although they may seem impressive to you, I was actually severely limited in what I could do. It was not budgetary constraints that stopped me, nor was it the material. Instead, it was the physical strength and power level of those who were going to wear it. "Just because it looks like a suit does not mean that it has to be light. The more leeway I have, the more I can be liberal with the kinds of materials I can use. You''ll understand more in a moment. Come, let me take your measurements." Geeves took off his coat and folded it over his arm as he led Lex deeper into the mansion. Each room and corridor had walls lined with various fabrics in a seemingly infinite number of colors. The truth was, the number of colors the tailor shop was catering to far exceeded the spectral range humans could see, which is why there was such a need for such a vast collection. The true, genuinely valuable materials weren''t even stored here. They were in a basement, stored in isted, temperature controlled rooms. The materials were so vtile, they needed to undergo various kinds of treatments before they could be added into suits. "You said I can bring materials from outside. What kind of materials do you mean? Should I be looking for some alien sheep producing celestial cotton or something?" "My young, ignorantd, if you can get your hands on celestial cotton, or better yet an animal capable of producing celestial cotton, you''ll be an instant multibillionaire. Every inch of it is worth several hundred million MP, and that''s in its unrefined form. Heck, I don''t even have the facilities to process it, so better not waste your time daydreaming about that. No, a more realistic expectation would be to get your hands on precious ores, woods and other natural materials which have unique qualities. Turning them into fabric will be my task." The two continued to casually chat for a while until they reached a small room filled with strips of fabric, multiple mannequins and various kinds of inch tapes! "Stand here please," Geeves said as he pointed to a small, circr pedestal. He put his coat aside, rolled up his sleeves and grabbed a yellow measuring tape before hanging it around his neck like a doctor with a stethoscope. He put on a pair of sses that hung delicately on his nose and stood at the ready to start measuring Lex. Lex hadn''t really had a personalized suit made before so he did not know what the measuring process would entail, but it definitely did not include the extreme raise in gravity that he experienced as soon as he stepped on the pedestal. If Lex had to guess, the gravity was at least twice or thrice that of earth, yet it kept increasing exponentially. Of course, such an increase posed no burden to Lex for the moment, as his body was extremely strong. But the pedestal wasn''t trying to test his physical limits, so it never pushed him to the maximum of what he could manage. Instead, it was trying to determine hisfort range. At the exact moment he felt even the slightest bit of strain due to the increased gravity, the pedestal immediately returned to normal. Geeves started writing something down in his notes as he walked around Lex with a clipboard. After a couple of moments, the temperature around Lex began increasing. Simr to what happened with the gravity, it stopped the moment Lex''s body disyed even the hint of bing ufortable. Then, after returning to normal, the temperature started to drop. "Raise your hands, please," Geeves said, prompting Leo to raise them to his sides. He was standing like a massive ''T'' but Geeves still did not approach him to measure the length of his arms. Instead, two parrots, one red and one blue, appeared and sat on his palms. An unusual energy was channeled through their ws into Lex''s body, or at least tried to. Piercing his skin and entering his body turned out to be a greater challenge than Geeves expected. The man was actually surprised when there was no result for a couple of minutes, but eventually the energies managed to enter Lex''s body. They were not harming him in any way. Instead, it appeared as if they were mapping Lex''s meridians that covered the surface of his body. "Understanding how your body interacts with energy, and where your body''s channels are, is crucial to designing a suit," Geeves exined while the process continued. "Even if I''m making the ultimate defensive suit, I cannot forget to augment your body''s basic functions as best as possible." The process was painfully slow, and took almost 20 minutes, but Geevs did not seem irritated at the slow progress. Instead, he was very pleased. Such a high quality body would be able to don an extremely high quality, yet equally taxing suit. A ss tube appeared around the pedestal and sealed Lex in, before water began to fill it. Once the tube waspletely filled, the pressure the water exerted on Lex''s body began increasing. At the same time, millions of tiny fish swam out, and began measuring each and every hair on Lex''s body. That¡­ genuinely made him awkward. The system had once used him of having a hairy back, which wasn''t exactly false but he felt like the system greatly exaggerated. Lex would not shy away from taking his shirt off in public. But when each individual hair was being measured¡­ Of course, none of the fish came near Lex''s private parts - mostly After the water, Lex was subjected to multiple other strange and unexpected tests that measured his body''s performance and because he kept it blocked with a thick and dangerousyer of his spirit sense. After the water, Lex was subjected to multiple other strange and unexpected tests that measured his body''s performance and capabilities. There was even one that detected the level of body odor he produced! When the process finally ended Lex sighed in relief. These measurements were really too intense. "Would you like to read your results?" Geeves asked, as he continued to note stuff down. "Guests often be curious." "Sure, why not?" said Lex as he walked up to him and nced at the clipboard. Two measurements in particr genuinely surprised Lex! The first was his height. He had reached six feet three inches (190 cm). His height had increased. Granted the increase was not massive, but he hadn''t even noticed the small change. He wondered if it was a result of his cultivation, or the multiple refinements his body underwent. There was no way of knowing. But what really surprised, and in fact devastated him, was his weight! Thest time he checked his weight, or at least what he remembered, he was 185 pounds (83 kgs). That was quite a lot for his height, which meant that he was a little fat. Or that he had a lot of muscle. It was totally the second one. But now¡­ now he was a massive and unfathomable 712 pounds (325 kgs)! With his mouth hung open, Lex looked down at his muscr and chiseled body. He couldn''t im to be fat, but it wasn''t as if he was bulging out muscles either! What was up with that weight? In the end¡­ he could only reluctantly ept the fact that all the materials he had absorbed into his body had increased his weight, substantially. It was fortunate that he wasn''t weight conscious at all, or else he would have been crying over these results. He totally wasn''t doing that right now. His eyes were just shining and glistening due to how clear and beautiful they were.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Chapter 646 Spreading the news Chapter 646 Spreading the news The measurement process was unusual, to say the least. By the end of it Geeves drew up a few mock designs as well to show Lex and get his feedback. Through the process, where Lex learned more and more about the suits and what they could do, he eventually realized that they were going to be much more useful to him than he anticipated. For now, the suit he was getting aimed at being a general, all purpose one that he could use in his day to day matters, but already he had thought of various other suits he could have made. For example, the few times where he hunted with Fenrir, he realized the wolf''s stealth capabilities were extremely useful. While Lex could not replicate them, he had the Orions scales which could be used for the same purpose. In fact, he already handed them over to Geeves and asked him to make a second suit, for the express purpose of stealth. That would take a while, as Geeves would have to make the first suit first, then process Orion''s scales and then use the fabric made from it to make the suit, which would bepletely different. Unlike the previous 1000 suits which had been made in a rush, Lex''s suit gave Geeves a lot more leeway to do as he wished, and so the making of the suit would take much longer. Once Geeves had properly rested, it would take about a week to deliver both suits. That was a long time, considering Geeves had no other orders, but Lex did notin. He simply paid a deposit of 100 million MP and then left. With no other tasks left to distract or upy him, Lex was now FINALLY free to return to the Crystal realm. Fueled by a sense of urgency, if it were up to Lex, he would immediately depart on his journey to find Valesco, yet it was not meant to be. Thest time he was here Jolene, the mother of Pvarti''s fiance, had requested Lex facilitate her in the handover of some ''secret'' items over to someone else. Naturally, the handover had been sessful, and now Jolene wanted to expand the scope of their cooperation. Lex had been dealing with the matter using his projection, but he felt he might benefit if he went and took a look at matters first hand, as his instincts would y a better role then. But even that was a secondary matter. The first thing he had to deal with was the Trelop from whom Lex had taken the Cosmic Erosion Elixir. Lex had scooped all the elixir away and teleported to the Inn while he was still in the Trelops territory, so naturally when he returned to the Crystal realm, that''s where he reappeared. The first thing he noticed once he returned was that the area already looked much better. The massive crowd that had gathered trying to reach the elixir had dispersed, and all the dead and decayed nts nearby had been removed. In fact, new saplings had already been nted and Lex could see that they were growing at an abnormally fast pace. He could only redit that to Toro, the Trelop controlling the area. One thing he had noticed, though vaguely, was that the Trelops he had encountered all seemed ridiculously powerful. Even whenpared to other races in the same realm, Trelops maintained an overwhelming advantage. It was while Lex was musing on the incredible strength of Trelops that a familiar fish made of grass and seaweed appeared in the distance, swimming towards him. Lex waited patiently for the Trelop to arrive, and greeted him immediately. "Good day senior. I hope you have not been troubled once again after I resolved the issuest time." "You and you GODDAMN etiquettes!" Toro roared in frustration as soon as he heard Lex speak. Regardless of how unusual this particr Trelop may be, Lex remembered the importance of remaining extremely polite and respectful with him. "I will take that as if everything is well." "You''re GODDAMN right everything is well," he said in frustration. "As soon as that stinking liquid disappeared, everything quickly returned to normal¡­ or close enough. What the hell was that thing? How did you get rid of it? How can you teleport within my territory without my permission?" Lex smiled weakly. He was not sure if he should reveal what he had learned¡­ but then decided it was better to reveal what he knew than to hide it. Clearly something was wrong with this realm, and in the off chance that the anomaly was notmon knowledge, the entire realm could be in jeopardy. He did not want the destruction of an entire realm on his conscience just so that he could benefit a little from the situation first. "Originally, I did not know what the elixir was as well, so I went to consult a senior." Lex produced a golden key, and threw it towards Toro. "You can use this golden key to go to a ce known as the Midnight Inn. I used it too, that''s how I was able to teleport away. There, I consulted a senior and learnt that the liquid was called Cosmic Erosion Elixir. I obviously do not understand the specifics of the matter but¡­ the senior told me that the liquid is only formed when¡­ when an entire realm is destabilizing and on the path to destruction." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex paused, and waited to see the Trelops reaction. Based on his bombastic personality, he was expecting a great response, but no such thing came. At first, Lex quickly assumed that knowledge of the realms impending demise wasmon knowledge. But then, when he looked at the lost face of the Trelop, another theory popped up in his mind. Before he could verify his theory, the Trelop confirmed it for him by asking, "what the GODDAMN hell is a realm, and what does it have to do with my territory?" Chapter 647 Suddenly protective Chapter 647 Suddenly protective Lex had a¡­ difficult¡­ time exining to Toro what a realm was, though Lex had a sneaking suspicion that the Trelop understood the concept somewhere in the middle of the exnation, but was just venting its frustration on Lex. When it finally understood, Toro disyed a remarkable amount of ''not screaming'' at Lex randomly. Instead, it became silent as it contemted the ramifications of what it had heard. The issue that it was facing was not the destruction of its entire world - that was a given based on the situation. The issue was that Lex did not have a solid grasp of the timeline. ording to what Lex said, the appearance of the elixir meant that the realm was on the path to destruction, but the fact that it was on that path also meant that it could be veered off that path. The top minds of the realm would think of ways to work on the issue, but it all depended on how long they had. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om If one thought of the timeline in terms of the geographic time scale ofs in the origin realm, even millions of years were considered a short time. Theoretically, since the realm was even bigger thans, the timeline should simrly be greater, right? But not only was there no way of confirming how long they had, there was also no way of knowing just how bad the situation had be. Maybe the elixir had already started appearing across the Crystal realm hundreds of millions of years ago, and this was just itstest urrence. All in all, there was too much uncertainty. "Do not spread this information lightly," Toro finally said after contemting for a while. "Spreading panic will not help anyone. I will contact the elders of my race to see what they know. In the meantime, I suggest you find a way to contact the Crystal race. Regardless of what anyone says, they are the true rulers of this realm. If the other races are allowed to exist, it is through their will. If the Kraven are allowed to invade, it is due to their indifference. The true might of that race is not whatmon folk can understand." "As it happens, I was intending to meet an elder of the Crystal race to begin with," said Lex. "He told me to meet him in a city known as Valesco. Do you have any idea where it might be?" "I''m sorry, we Trelops do not usually care much for things outside of our own territories. I do not know thend. You are better off asking one of your human leaders." The fish, before it went away, extended a small brown root and broke it off, before handing it to Lex. "If you encounter any Trelops on your way, show them this. So long as you do not threaten them in any way, they will not cause you any trouble. In fact, not only will they avoid causing trouble, they will even go out of their way to assist in your travels." Lex observed the small root and couldn''t really determine what was so special about it, but he kept it anyway. After saying that, Toro swam away, not really bothering to keep Lexpany. He was clearly very disturbed by the news. Lex, too, saw no reason to dy so he began returning towards the Inn, this time with a bit more urgency. Instead of walking calmly on the seabed, which his ridiculous weight and small frame made so easy, he swam to speed up. When he eventually reached Babylon, he attracted a bit more attentioning out of the water than he did going in, but no one really bothered to question him. When he returned to the tavern, he was ready to send one of the workers to go and call Jolene from her residence, but discovered that there was an unusually jovial mood at the tavern. There was an entire group of mildly intoxicated men, singing and dancing on the stage while the onlookers yed music by mming their tables in synchronization with one another. The triplets were busy serving more drinks, and even they could not contain the grins on their faces. "What''s going on?" Lex asked Roan, the barkeep who was efficiently pouring out drinks without spilling a single drop. "I think it''ll be best if you ask Big Ben," he replied, a soft smile even on his face. Curious, Lex immediately scanned the tavern and discovered that Big Ben too was dancing and singing, but with a whole host of people on the rooftop terrace! As the ''security'' of the facility, he was usually up front, but today he was the farthest possible from his post. "What are we all celebrating?" he asked when he finally reached the top. Unfortunately, due to his excellent senses and sharp hearing, the surprise was already spoiled for him, but he still pretended not to know. Still, there was a smile on his face. "Betty''s expecting!" the man roared, drunkenly! "The doctor said so. It''s official!" Lex''s smile widened and he grabbed the man by the shoulder, making sure he didn''t fall over. "Congrattions man! Where is she? I want to congratte her too." Big Ben erupted into a roar ofughter upon being asked the question, and when he was finally able to stop he managed to say, "she''s still at the hospital fighting! She said she won''te back until she finds a doctor who will tell her it''s okay to drink while she''s expecting." Lex smiled weakly as concern suddenly filled him. "Do not worry, I''ll talk to Roan. We''ll give her the best tea during this time. She won''t miss drinking at all." Big Ben was too busyughing to hear what Lex said, so he left him to his party. Suddenly a thought urred to him. Was he supposed to reprimand Ben for drinking on the job? Shaking his head, he quickly returned to the ground floor to pass out his instructions. For reasons he couldn''t fully understand, he suddenly felt quite protective of Big Ben and Betty. Since they were a part of the Midnight family, he would take great care of them. That also included¡­ not letting this realm get destroyed. Chapter 648 Simple things Chapter 648 Simple things Lex was sitting in silence inside the private room, tapping his index finger on the armrest of his sofa. The sound of singing and merrymaking could faintly be heard from outside, though that was only because Lex left the door slightly open. After all the harrowing experiences everyone in this tavern went through, it was a wonder they could still celebrate like this. But at the same time, it was because they had all gone through such tough times together that they were so close. Lex too, had to admit that he felt a special bond for all these people who had been beside him during his very stressful time of being stuck away from the Inn. It was for that specific reason that he was feeling slightly stressed right now. He did not know much about his surrounding areas, and how far his destination was. To curb that, he had begun asking the locals a bit about the neighboring states or towns, or anything else that they knew of. Most of them had very limited knowledge. They all lived in the area controlled by the Noel family all their lives, and at most knew the names of neighboring nobles and their states. They had no idea regarding any information rting to other nations at all. He somewhat missed the highly advanced Hum nation and the academy. There, a simple search on their local portal was all it would have taken to get all the information he needed. N?v(el)B\\jnn Lex''s expressions stirred as he heard a familiar voice in the main hall, and turned to look at the door. A few momentster, the door was opened by Rick, who was followed by a few people. Jolene was naturally among them, for he wanted to see if his instincts reacted to her. As it happened, Bertram Noel was also there. This was great, for Lex had also extended an invitation to him. Lex was hoping to learn how he could make his way to the Crystal nation through him. Surely he would know more, right? But there was a third, unexpected person there as well. The young and slightly tanned woman bore a strong resemnce to Jolene, but unlike her smiling mother she wore a very stern and serious expression. This was, no doubt, the daughter Jolene wanted Lex to work with in the nning of Jasmine''s and Pvarti''s wedding. He only gave her a cursory nce before turning his attention back to the other two. "Jolene, Bertram, I''m d you both could make it," said Lex as he stood up to greet them. Naturally he put on his best smile, and did not let any of his internal concerns show on his face. "It''s no trouble at all," said Jolene, her eyes fixed on Lex with a feverish gaze. "Besides, I was nning on visiting you soon anyway. I have to introduce my daughter, and our soon to be liaison for the wedding preparations. This is Jess, one of my most hardworking and aplished daughters." "It''s a pleasure to meet you," Lex said politely, and Jess only nodded in return. It seemed like for liaison, she wasn''t exactly very talkative. But that suited Lex just fine, so it did not matter. Especially since Lex wanted to keep as much of a distance from Jolene as possible. After she and her family had discovered the Midnight Inn, Jolene had be almost fanatical in her admiration for Lex. It was quite a nuisance, even when he was merely dealing with her using a projection. "Unfortunately, Jess'' arrival also means it is time for me to leave. We have decided the date for the wedding. It will be held in 6 months exactly, and there are too many matters for us to deal with to make it happen on such short notice." "Will you be traveling a lot during this time?" Lex asked, genuinely curious. The person who he truly wanted to converse with was Aegis, but that fellow had disappeared for a while. Let alone the tavern, he was not even showing up at the Inn so there was no way for Lex to ask him for any routes. The next best option was naturally Jolene, for her family was deeply connected to the rulers of Hum nation. The best option after that was the Noel family - probably. "Yes, unfortunately, familial affairs are the mostplicated. A lot of our guests need to be invited personally, and certain matters and deals need to be taken care of during this time as well. We will even need to pay a visit to the Hum nation and inform the royal family about the wedding. Being a parent is truly¡­ tooplicated." "Won''t that take too long? How will you reach the Hum nation from here?" "For ordinary people, it would indeed take quite a while," informed Bertram. "But the influence of the nations extends even beyond their own borders. Even though thesends are far away from the empires, separated by vast oceans and extremely inhospitablends, many nobles have short and long range teleportation formations within their territories. Anyone bearing a token of one of the nation''s royal families can use those formations at will." This was both good and bad news. The good news was that there were apparently many teleportation formations he could possibly ess, but the bad news was that the distance between Babylon and the nations seemed to be great. "What if I wanted to send someone on an errand? Do you think they could get ess to those formations?" Bertram paused, and an awkward look appeared on his face. It seemed like he was not anticipating such a question. As far as he knew, Lex was not as simple as he made it appear on the surface. Not only was he himself an incredible powerhouse, pretending to be a weakling, but he also had the backing of the mysterious Midnight Inn. He did not want to offend Lex by giving him an answer he might not like, but¡­ "Oh yes, of course! Why not?" eximed Jolene as she suddenly saw an opportunity. From her spatial ring, she summoned arge bronze token which had a pickaxe engraved across its front. As far as emblems went, a pickaxe was not a prestigious symbol, but it was most befitting the Phillip n which was allowed to mine Ethereum under the royal family''smand. "Although this is not the same as a token from the royal family of the Hum nation, this is a token of my Phillips family. It may not get you the same kind of service, but it will definitely enable you to ess the teleportation formations. Unfortunately, you will not be exempt from paying for the use. I would give you the royal family''s token if I could, but I am not really allowed to give it out - you understand." "No need, this is already a great help," said Lex, epting the token. Although she harbored ulterior motives in helping him, Lex wouldn''t deny help that he needed. "You¡­ you aren''t the one who has to go on a trip, right?" Jolene suddenly asked, as if it just urred to her. "If you are, I can send along an escort¡­" "No, no, no need," Lex said, doing his best to keep his lip from twitching. "I will be here, making sure everything is in order for the uing wedding. But, I have to send someone on a rather urgent task all the way to the Crystal nation, to a city called Valesco. Would you happen to know where it is?" Even before the duo had the opportunity to answer, he felt like he got an answer. Both Bertram and Jolene had a change in their expression, though they swiftly controlled themselves. Still, Lex felt like he could detect shock and fear from them. "The path to the Crystal nation from here is different from the one to the Hum nation. The formations will not be enough to send you on your way, and you will have to cross certain areas yourself. It''s¡­ it''s not really an easy path. I will consult my father and have a map drawn for you to help your¡­ your helper on his journey. But while I can help you find your way to the Crystal nation, finding your way to Valesco¡­ I think only someone from the Crystal race can help you with that." "Why is that?" Lex asked, curious. "That¡­ well, technically I cannot even confirm if what I know is true. But there are rumors that¡­ the Crystal race has a massive prison where they punish members of their race who havemitted unforgivable crimes. A prison¡­ so old that no one is sure when it was made, filled with immortal prisoners too dangerous to ever be allowed free again, yet kept alive because killing them is too light of a punishment. The name of that prison¡­ is Valesco." Despite his resilience, Lex sighed. Why were things never just simple? Chapter 649 Ash Chapter 649 Ash The conversation with the dua about the distance to the Crystal nation did notst too long. Unlike the other races, which had a clear positive or negative rtionship with one another, the Crystal race equally shunned all the other races. They kept their territories closed, and did not usually bother much with the outside world. That did not mean that no one was allowed to enter their nation - just that they were extremely selective in who entered. In a way, one would have to prove themselves worthy of interacting with the crystal race. The duo mentioned nothing about that, for they assumed that Lex already had some kind of rtionship with the Crystal race if he was heading over, and they were technically correct. Lex did not have much else to discuss with Bertram, as the man had already promised to provide Lex with a map leading to his destination. That would have to suffice for now, though the two were still being very vague about how far the nation was. That was Lex''s next great concern. The Crystal realm was as big as the entire sr system, and if the distance between him and his destination was equal to the distance betweens, it would take forever to reach! He could only hope there were enough teleportation formations. He did, however, have something left to discuss with Jolene, and even Jess! Fortunately, it appeared as though Jolene knew about it and on her own requested that they ''have a word in private''. Lex manipted space and created a separate ''room'' around the two of them, putting up opaque barriers so that no one could lip read what they were about to discuss. "Are you satisfied with the results of your request?" Lex asked, without waiting for her to broach the topic. It was as if he already knew what she was going to talk about. A random stranger had left a box with unknown contents at the tavern, with the hope to use the ce as a drop off point for certain items, allowing Jolene to take the box at ater date. It was a discreet way of passing along whatever it is she wanted delivered, as she would never actually cross paths with whoever was delivering the package. At first, she had only left a package at the Inn for 3 days, testing to see if the tavern was capable of isting its aura. Once she discovered that it actually could, she had the real package delivered to the tavern to collect it herselfter. All of this was fine, as far as Lex was concerned. Or at least, it would have been normally. The fact that it seemed like Lex was aiding and abetting in probably illegal, or at least highly suspicious behavior did not phase him. What got to him was the fact that the aura from Jolene''s package¡­ was extremely repulsive! The box she had left at the Inn to test if the aura leaked already disgusted Lex, even though he had no idea what it contained. The actual package itself was even worse. Technically speaking, Lex''s real body had not been here when the package was delivered and received, but even the aura it left behind was so strong that Lex was still disgusted by it when he felt it. Whatever the package was, illegal or not, he decided he no longer wanted to facilitate it. Although the purpose of the Inn and tavern was to host all guests equally without discrimination, Lex was not a mindless ve of the system''s directives. Since it was disgusting to him, he no longer wanted a part in it. "Extremely," Jolene stated with a massive smile. "You do not know how much you have helped me with this." "I''m d you are satisfied with our service," Lex said with a soft smile. "That is also why I feel extremely regretful to inform you that the tavern will not be able to help you in such an endeavor in the future." Jolene was genuinely startled, as she was not expecting such an answer, especially since the previous exchange had gone off without a hitch. "Can¡­ can I ask why?" she asked hesitantly. She did not forget Lex''s powerful aura, so she was hesitant to get on his bad side. Yet at the same time, this task was genuinely too important to her to let go of so easily. "Rest assured, you did not break any rules of the tavern, and so there will be no effect on any other services you acquire from the tavern. But the matter of fact is, while I usually do not interfere in the matters of guests, the aura of the item you exchanged was¡­ I found it too revolting. I did not investigate its contents, for I thoroughly respect the privacy of all my guests, but I cannot, in good conscience, continue to facilitate this exchange." A hint of fear appeared on Jolene''s face, despite the fact that Lex said he did not investigate the contents. This was an extremely sensitive matter, which she could not risk exposing, but at the same time could not give up either. Since Lex did not want to help out anymore, she would have to figure out another way. "Please do not misunderstand," she exined while smiling weakly. "My¡­ ''transactions'' are not what they might appear to be. These are rted to an extremely important issue that needs resolving. But since you do not want to facilitate them anymore, I will not bother you with them anymore. Not that it matters, as I am scheduled to depart soon anyway." They talked a bit more while Lex ensured that he was not drawing any conclusions about her affairs, and simply did not want to participate in this particr one anymore. Once they were done, Lex removed the barriers, ending their private conversation. "I''ll leave you and Jess to it," Jolene suddenly said, standing up. "There are countless matters rting to the wedding to get to, so there''s no doubt you two will be holed up together for quite a while." Amazingly, Jolene waspletely back to her normal self, returning to her antics of trying to set up Lex with her daughter! "I wish I could stay and help, but I just dropped by to introduce you to Jess. She can get in contact with me at any time, and if for some reason she can''t, she knows full well what to do for the wedding." Jess, with an extremely serious face, nodded, as if epting a task that would determine the life or death of millions. But while Lex joked in his mind, he was unaware that this wedding really would be such an affair. The interest of the nation, and thereby any family connected to its interests, determined the life or death of billions on the regr. "I''m sure our cooperation will bear fruitful results. Believe it or not, I''d say I''m more invested in making this wedding a sess than even you." Jolene smiled at Lex''s remark, but she was unaware that he really did care more about it than anyone else. He was determined to get a SSS+ ranking for this quest! Once Bertram and Jolene departed, Lex was left alone with Jess who silently stared at him. Rather than feel like an awkward silence was building, Lex felt relieved. If she was as determined as her mother in her ulterior motive Lex would find this matter quite problematic to handle, but since she wasn''t, things would be simple. "Although we have six months until the wedding, I don''t think we should waste a single moment," said Lex with a warm and confident smile. "Do you?" Before Jess had an opportunity to reply, Lex stood up and opened the door to the private room, waving at Roan to send someone in. As soon as he got this quest, he had delegated a lot of research tasks to the nning division, and even asked Mary to look up the best wedding consultants they could find - not to mention conduct extensive research on Indian wedding culture. What he did not expect to learn was that there was such an expert within his own nning division. The moment he learned about her, he decided to bring her to the Crystal realm and have her help out. A tall, caramel skinned woman walked with, dressed quite casually instead of the usual formalwear associated with the Inn. Yet even in a T-shirt and pants, she looked stunning - though one should not expect less from a worker at the Inn. "This is an expert I''ve called in who will be handling a lot of the wedding preparations. Since you''ll be working closely together, why don''t you guys introduce yourselves?" The woman from the nning division looked at Jess, and gave her a soft, weing smile as if she was looking forward to working together. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Hi Jess," she said, her voice calm yet confident. "My name is Aishwarya-Rai, but my friends call me Ash. It''s a pleasure to meet you." Chapter 650 Warm Up ? Jess was startled by everything that had happened, especially since she had been informed by her mother that she would be working closely with Lex. Jess was a perfectionist, so any task she did, she did with the aim of achieving perfection. This was both a boon and a w. On one hand, everything she did achieved perfection, catapulting her reputation not only amongst her own family, but the general public as well. On the other hand, she barely ever ended up doing anything, because the more matters she picked up, the less time she would have to achieve perfection in each one. For this uing wedding, she had started working the absolute moment she heard about it. In fact, to aid her in achieving the best possible task, she even asked her family topile an extensively detailed file on the Midnight tavern so she could research it thoroughly. She had, in her opinion, perfectly worked out Lex''s personality, and mentally prepared herself ordingly so that they could achieve maximum efficiency in attaining results. As for her mothers wish for them to fall in love with each other, she knew nothing. After all, her one track mind could not handle multiple projects at the same time. But from the very start, a wrench had been thrown into her ns! Who was this Ash? Where did shee from? She was not in the file Jess had studied! Moreover, why did it seem like Lex was transferring his responsibilities to others? "The pleasure is mine," Jess said, shaking Ash''s hand. But then she immediately turned to Lex and said, "when you say we''ll be working closely together, do you mean that you won''t be the one handling the wedding preparations?" Lex smiled. Since he knew Jolene was setting some kind of love trap for him, why would he be stupid enough to stay put? Of course the first thing he did was look for someone to take his ce. But he was not just shirking his duties - he had grander ns for the wedding than anyone knew, and only he could fulfill them. "Yes and no," he said. "You and Ash will be handling the normal sequence of events and handle the bulk of the tasks. But that does not mean I won''t be doing anything. You may not know this, but Pvarti and I are old friends, so naturally I want to make this wedding amazing as well. As such, I will be handling a special task which, if I seed in, will take this wedding up by another level."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Jess looked skeptical, but Lex was sincere. From the moment he had received this quest, he had been thinking about how he could make it worthy of an SSS+ ranking. Having over the top theatrics was, of course, necessary, but that would not be enough. Lex had some experience inpleting quests with extremely high rankings, but each time it was more to do with luck than his own performance. Whether it was the appearance of two Demi-Daolords, or an actual Daolord, it was not something he could have anticipated or arranged. But the experience had taught him something. Although his quests may seem random, they all were ultimately linked to the Midnight Inn. As an Inn, one of the most prideful things was that important or powerful guests made an appearance. There were probably moreyers involved in determining his quest ranking, but it could not be denied that that was a major one. As such, Lex had been thinking along the lines of who he could invite to make this wedding the best or most prestigious. Originally he was thinking that Aegis would have to do, but now he had a better idea. The realm itself was being destroyed. If Lex could reach the Crystal race in time, and convince them of what was happening, he could use his vast experience in manipting¡­ eh, he meant his vast experience in persuading people to have the Crystal race treat this wedding as a kind of conference. If a simple wedding between two human nobles ended up inviting the leaders of all the nations in this realm, he would consider that as an excellent wedding. He did not know if such a thing would be enough, or if he could even pull it off, but for now that was the best n he had. Jess tried asking Lex what he had nned, and convincing him to once again take over nning, but he would not listen. Since he was nning on leaving anyway, he would only be here in the form of his projection anyway. As such, he was only nning on handling and resolving emergencies. His entire personal focus would be on reaching the Crystal empire. He hoped he could reach it in enough time to set up the meeting with everyone, and make it back as well. The following day, or, well, 24 hourster since the concept of day and night was screwed up here, Bertram returned to the Inn and handed Lex a leather scroll. This was not at all what Lex was expecting when he had been told he was getting a map, but it would have to do. Instead of detailing the entire terrain and surrounding areas, the ''map'' just listed a path using prominentndmarks as markers. It would have to suffice. With everything in hand, Lex departed from Babylon, making sure not to be spotted as he did. After all, he was supposed to be inside the tavern this entire time. After a solid 6 hours of running at his top speed, Lex finally stopped and pulled out the map. Fortunately, other than visual markers, the map also recorded auras and spiritual markers which Lex could track using his spirit sense and intuition. Or better yet¡­ He summoned Fenrir, who was sleeping, and woke up the pup. He climbed onto its back, and held out the map for it to sniff. "Follow these auras," Lex told the excited little wolf. "Think of this as¡­ we''re going on a long walk, through an endless park, filled with monsters and unknown dangers. Also, we''re on a time limit so you better run fast." Fenrir howled in excitement and began running! Every word Lex had said excited it more than thest! ***** A single spaceship was moving through space, unbothered by the muchrger ships nearby. Each battlefront with the Fuegan was different, in many ways. The battlefront in which Alexander had fought was artificially created, and seemed like an endless ne. This one, which the Midnight Battalion was being brought through, consisted of an unusual region of space enveloped by a cosmic cloud. Normal cosmic clouds were vast regions of space containing gas, dust and other small particles which brought about the appearance of a cloud. Yet this one not only contained hundreds of rogues, it also contained currents of chaos energy - a form of extremely concentrated spiritual energy that not even normal immortals could handle. The interference from the chaos energy made it so that the actual contents of this cosmic cloud had been hidden from millions of years, serving as a breeding ground for Fuegan forces. When it was finally discovered, it naturally suffered an all out assault. The rogue that the Midnight Battalion was being taken to was an extremely vtile, yet extremely important one! ording to the briefing Luthor got, the had some extremely valuable resources that were hard to find in entire gxies, so taking control of the was of the highest priority. Yet the also had an unstable core, so it could not tolerate fights between higher level cultivators. Moreover, bombarding it from space was also out of the equation, because that would not only risk further destabilizing it, but also risk destroying the resources. The man briefing Luthor made it very clear that to the leaders of this war, those resources were a lot more valuable than all of their lives, so he better perform well. The reason they were being led to such an important site as their first deployment was due to their excellent rating and performance. It seemed¡­ that the Battalion had developed a reputation without even setting foot on the battlefield. Of course, to Luthor, none of that mattered. He was indifferent to his superiors'' purposes and reasoning. He simply didn''t care. His one and only objective was to ensure that no one from the Inn died. As the spaceship approached the, Luthor looked out at it from one of the screens projecting the outside, then turned to hisrades. "Once, when I was talking to one of the Inn''s oldest guests, I heard him say something extremely profound." Luthor did not raise his voice, but it carried to everyone in the room, attracting their attention. "He said the best defense, the best way to protect yourself, is to kill your enemies before they have a chance to attack." He paused, and looked at the ''soldiers'' from the Inn. "Within one month, I want the wiped of all hostiles. That will be our warm up for this war. Let''s go." Chapter 651 Boring ? The ship carrying all the soldiers did notnd on the. In fact, it did not even enter the atmosphere, for the was infested with hordes of mindless yet violent aliens. They were one of the many species that had been bred especially for wars againsts. The Fuegan were, in fact, not the first to use such tactics, though currently they were the ones employing it the most in the origin realm. The concept was simple. Once any civilization reached a certain level, and grew enough, they would gain the means of gic maniption, whether through technology or spiritual techniques or something else. With such advancements, there naturally came military applications. Although umon, whenrger civilizations wage war against one another, it is often too intensive on ''human'' resources to invade each and every or strategic location. They would create fast-reproducing aliens to overpower or weaken the''s inhabitants. Through longsting wars of attrition, the was usually either overwhelmed, or was at the very least greatly weakened, all without the ones responsible putting in any real effort. Of course, the perpetrators themselves naturally retained the means tobat this engineered alien species in case they ever needed to take the themselves. There were many ways of managing this was circumnavigating the Henali prohibition on genocide, such as the case with the devils and zombies. Of course, in the case of the Fuegan, there was no need to care for any prohibitions or rules at all. They popted the with extremely vicious creatures which were designed to not only tear apart any living thing, but the as well. That was also one of the reasons the was so fragile. Once the ship got into position, all the soldiers were instructed to get into theirunch pods. Besides those from the Midnight Inn, there were countless other teams as well, all of them much bigger than the Midnight Battalion. After all, regardless of how powerful or effective the Midnight Battalion might seem, it was just stupid to send 1000 soldiers to clear out an entire. Each team being sent to this, though, was considered elite. Luthor couldn''t have cared less about that, though. With an impassive face, as if he was bored, he climbed into his pod, after which support technicians came in and ensured he was properly strapped in.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Hundreds of thousands of pods wereunched all over the''s surface. The aliens on the noticed the rain, and tried shooting the pods out of the sky, but they came equipped with safety measures. Like hail of metal instead of ice, the pods crashed into the ground and spread devastation wherever theynded, despite the fact that the ship hade as close as possible forunch. When the pods opened, the soldiers who werepletely safe climbed out. They had only a short while to reorient themselves and get used to the conditions on this before the aliens would attack them. But while everyone was gearing up and getting in position to defend, the Midnight Battalion attacked. It could not be helped. Luthor, as well as the rest, were born in the clean and pristine environment of the Inn, yet now they were exposed to the polluted and stale air of this rogue. Although their masks had filtration functions, it was a pale imitation of what they were used to. They were irritated and ufortable. Fortunately, there were targets nearby to help them vent their frustrations. All around the pods, where most of the soldiers were waiting to make their first stand, sounds of distant growls and the thumbing and stomping of approaching beasts could be heard. Well, all around them except one direction, where Z was warming up his speakers with a soft and tempered melody titled ''Enter Sandwoman''. ***** Astride Fenrir, Lex was traversing thend with incredible speed. A part of him wanted to believe that if he had been running on his own two legs, he could have still maintained such speed. He couldn''t be med for thinking like this, as he boasted greater physical strength and resilience than Fenrir. Even given the situation where he could rece the pups'' sheer excitement and joy at being allowed to run so fast and freely for so long, with nothing but discipline, the one thing even he had to admit that he couldn''t replicate was the tranquility of their journey. The pup boasted great stealth capabilities, Lex always knew that. But after a certain time, lex realized that Fenrir wasn''t actively being stealthy - it was ingrained into his very nature. If Lex had been running at the same speed, massive craters would be left in the ground with each step he took. The roaring wind would herald his arrival wherever he passed, much like the sound of a jet was usually heard even as it had already passed the area by. Yet as Fenrir passed, not only was not a single de of grass disturbed, there was barely even any sound. Lex watched in wonder as the duo actually passed by a few animals walking in the wild,pletely unaware as they passed them by. If Lex didn''t know for sure that Fenrir couldn''t do that, he might have started to believe that they were invisible. Yet even as they traveled at incredible speeds and never took a break, even hourster they were still far from just their first destination. They were heading towards the capital of the Noel family''s territory, from where they would take a teleportation formation and continue on their path. Lex was sure they were heading in the right direction, for they kept consulting the map, but as the map did not denote the distances, there was no way of knowing when they would reach. This journey he was expecting to be tense and fraught with danger¡­ ended up just being a long stretch of uneventful traveling - at least so far. Ten more hourster, when they still had not reached their destination and it was nowhere in sight, Lex gave up. This was too boring. Back at the emporium when he heard about that spaceship which could easily travel even between gxies, Lex had been impressed but did not think he needed such a thing. Now he knew he was wrong. He should look into getting himself a simr ship for long distance travel as well. The only issue was that transporting such a massive thing to and from the Inn was a problem. He would look into finding a ship that can easily fit into his spatial bangle. Until then, he had to fill his time with something else, so he used his Remote presence ability to project an image of himself at the Inn. It had been a long time since he hosted some guests himself as the Innkeeper. It might be interesting if he did that for a while after all this time. Technically he could use this time productively and actually work, but after so much boredom he did not feel like working. A scan of the Inn revealed that all was more or less normal. The absence of some of the most notable faces at the Inn had not gone unnoticed, yet he had strictly ordered not to reveal any information to the public. All anyone who asked was told that they had gone somewhere for special training. Besides that, the focus of the guests seemed to be on the event of the week that was going on. Various performers and artists had been invited from multiples to have live shows. While earth was no longer in a position where anyone could focus on such things, some of the refugees participated. Besides that, a lot of participants from the others that were linked to the Inn came as well. In fact, from X-142 there was actually a musical band consisting of all fairies. The tiny stars were unusually popr, though Lex had to admit their music was quite catchy. As Lex was observing the event, and all the guests, his sight eventually focused on two teenagers. A short yet plump boy was apanied by a taller yet skinnier girl. The faint resemnce in their appearance hinted that they were rted. They were dressed oddly, with clothes that looked like they had been worn in sections. For example, the shirt - or whatever was covering their torso - actually consisted of 7 small bits of fabric which had to be worn one at a time. The same kind of clothing was also on their arms and legs. Yet strange as it was, they were not showing much skin, and by the way that the two held themselves up, Lex got the feeling that they were dressed formally rather than casually, at least ording to their own standards. "There''s too much of a crowd here," the girlined as she looked at the crowded Main street. "Whoever sold us the keys lied to us. How is this a rxing spot for a vacation?" Chapter 652 Work ? The ''sun'' hung low in the evening sky, painting the Inn in a warm hue. There were a few scattered clouds here and there, but instead of making the Inn seem dull and gray, they made the Inn seem light and airy. Fresh snow would fall wherever the clouds traveled, though somehow the roads and walking paths stayed miraculously clean. Of course, if anyone tread off the fixed path, their footsteps would be apanied by the satisfying crunch of stepping in the powdery snow. As if to match the mood set by the environment, the usual energetic buzz of the crowd of Main street had changed to hushed murmurs. Though most of the guests did not really need to do so, they were dressed in warm coats andfy scarves, and carried cups of hot cocoa or coffee or tea wherever they went. Some guests even walked around withrge wooden mugs of warm mead, while others munched on fresh, steaming chicken patties, veggie rolls or dough balls. Though there was no music ying, the ambience of Main street itself resulted in a soft melody that made one seem both cold and warm at the same time. Yet amidst this coziness, the two teenagers seemed malcontent. While for some, the simple or mundane things such as enjoying an ordinary snow day was quite pleasing, for the energetic and rebellious teenagers it was not enough. They were young and spirited, and were not yet at the stage of life where such subtle things could trigger nostalgia or mncholy. Or, if one were to simply take it at the words of the girl, they simply wanted a ce where they could enjoy solitude. The crowds and hustle and bustle of a busy street left them tense and agitated, unable to rx. "Excuse me, dear guests. I don''t mean to intrude, but I could not help but overhearing that you are unsatisfied with this ce," said Lex, as he teleported his projection behind the two. The kids, much to their credit, were not at all startled by Lex suddenly appearing behind them. Moreover, when they looked at him, there was no significant emotion in their eyes, as if everything they saw or experienced was mundane. "My sister and I came here to get away for a while," the boy exined. "A traveling merchant sold the key to us and told us that the key would take us somewhere rxing, where we could have a vacation while our parents worked. But this¡­ ugh." The boy seemed too disgusted to finish his sentence. Although Lex did not show it, he was subtly taken aback by the childrens reaction. If nothing else, almost everyone who visited the Inn would at least enjoy the purity of the spiritual energy. Just that in itself was clearly enough to put everyone in a good mood. Lex was no longer as ignorant as before. By reading a lot of ''general knowledge'' avable of the Henali portal as well as from documents provided by the emporium, he knew a lot more about ''star ranks''. It was not a term used only by the Inn, and in fact was a generic unit used across the entire Origin realm. The star rank denoted the energy concentration in any given area. When the unit was first created, it was called star rank because usually in a star system, it was the level of the local star which would affect the quantity and quality of energy in its surrounding. But the fact that rogues, minor realms, random asteroid belts and even seemingly empty patches of the realm had varying levels of energy, it was then simply used to denote the energy level of a given area. In fact, Lex had even learned about the various kinds and qualities of spiritual energies that existed in the universe, and why different energies resulted in different star ranks. The simple version of it was that a higher energy level may not always be better, and a lower energy level may not be a bad thing. The good and bad aspects of energy levels all depended on one''s cultivation level. Fortunately that was not a concern at the Midnight Inn, for even if the energy level was too high for certain guests, the Inn would automatically ensure that it would not interact with them, and instead the Inn would surround those guests with the optimal energy levels for them. Long story short, almost everyone who came to the Inn enjoyed the pleasant sensation provided by a purer and cleaner environment. After all, the average star rank across the realm was 1 star. Yet the kids did not seem to care at all. It was as if this was ordinary, or even the most basic requirement which they did not even need to think about. "I understand that the crowded atmosphere of Main street does not suit your tastes. How about we go elsewhere and discuss how you can best enjoy the Inn." Lex snapped his fingers, and teleported the three to a cabin atop the Midnight Mountain. There was a small clearing where the view from one side was the bustling vige, while on another side stood the magnificent Mountain man, in his seemingly endless slumber. The murmurs of the street had disappeared, giving way to the sound of the wind, traveling over the snow covered trees. There was a sharp contrast to the busy street, yet somehow Lex knew that even this would not satisfy the children. If it were so easy, they would not have remained unimpressed even at the Main street. That is why, to begin with, he only said they wereing here to discuss what they can do. And indeed, the children remained nonreactive after teleporting here. They looked around at their new environment, as if to inspect it, yet not much else. Lex could not help but want to learn more about them, so he scanned them. Name: Khuno Ekkeko Age: 13 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: Qi training peak Species: Human Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Bloodline: Lycanthrope Remarks: Please refrain from teleporting away random children - this is not that kind of system! Name: Cava Ekkeko Age: 16 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: Foundation realm peak Species: Human Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Bloodline: Lycanthrope Remarks: Please be warned, another instance of teleporting minors will result in aint to the intergctic police! The fact that Khuno was already a cultivator even before turning 15 said a lot about his background. Humans would need special kinds of medicinal fruits and herbs which would prepare their bodies to cultivate ahead of time. Of course, there was also a chance that their bloodline had something to do with their ability to cultivate. "Better," said Khuno, "but there doesn''t seem like there''s much to do here." "I concur," Cava chimed in. "Just because we are on vacation it does not mean we cany around sleeping and doing nothing. What actual, productive and fruitful work is there for us to do here? Just because we want a break from the stress of day to day life does not mean we can afford to just lounge around." Lex was¡­ intrigued by the challenge these kids were presenting. He could naturally tell that they were not being petnt, and instead genuinely could notprehend not doing some work. Perhaps for them not dealing with whatever they had to endure on a daily basis was already a vacation, so they did not need other events to excite or stimte them. Instead, they want something productive to do to upy their minds, while still giving them the feeling of having used their time productively. Truthfully, Lex could not understand people who had such views about rxing, but it was true that people who were too used to being productive could not stand wasting time. The Midnight Inn had to cater to all kinds of guests, not just the convenient ones, so Lex genuinely took this up as a challenge. "Why don''t you tell me a little about what you imagine your vacation being like? That way, I can rmend some of the Inns activities or services for you to enjoy." Khuno shrugged and said, "I don''t know. I''ve never had a vacation. What about you?" "Me neither," said Cava. Lex smiled warily. Since they had no experience, having them enjoy their vacation was both easy and difficult. The only real thing that would determine which of those two it would end up being was Lex''s marketing skills.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "I have the perfect idea. Why don''t you two give it a try? If you don''t like it you can always stop." The two looked at each other and shrugged,ing to some kind of agreement. "Excellent." He teleported them over to a new district of the greenhouse, and passed a few instructions to the turtle. "I''m sending you over a couple of new volunteers. Have them work the newly created cold desert, and ensure they finish nting all the new vegetables. Remember, we have only 6 months to prepare the best produce for the uing wedding, so we have to nt the best possible stuff." Chapter 653 300 ? Khuno and Cava were teleported once again, this time finding themselves in a cold and barrennd. Due to the fact that they were cultivators, the chill didn''t negatively affect them, but it was a lot more biting here than even the snowy mountain they were on before. Every breath they took in felt biting cold, yet to them it was just reinvigorating rather than ufortable. Every breath they exhaled left a long, thick trail of mist. Yet somehow, besides their misty breath, and the chill running down their spines, there was no other sign of the pervading cold in the surrounding area. There was no snow or ice anywhere to be found. The only sight for them to see was the dried yet grainy soil, and the gray and beige pebbles and rocks littered throughout the area. There wasn''t even any vegetation. If they did not know better, they would assume that they had been sent to some kind of wastnd or deserted area. Yet as deplorable as the conditions seemed, the children actually seemed to like it - a little. Their bloodlines inevitably affected their behavior and thought process, even if it was indirectly. What this actually meant was that they felt nice and cozy in cold climates, and would be more irritable in warm climates due to the fact that their bodies innately stayed warm. Now it wasn''t their bloodline forcing them to behave irritably in the heat and rxed in the cold, yet due to the physical feedback of their bodies, they naturally developed such behavior. This was only one of the simpler and easily identified idiosyncrasies that their family shared. Another one was their usually serious attitude, not to mention their extreme focus on any task or objective. Sure, there were some oddballs in their family here and there, but that was not the norm. As such, these two who were out on vacation did not really know how to enjoy or behave, and could only think to keep themselves busy somehow. Yet what could there possibly be for them to do in this frozen wastnd?N?v(el)B\\jnn As if to answer their question, a dark figure appeared in the distance, approaching them. Its movements seemed to be slow, yet the actual speed at which it arrived was surprisingly fast. Moreover, even from a distance, the figure was radiating a dominating andmanding aura - one that their bloodline was reacting to! That genuinely surprised them, for they had never encountered such a situation. Normally, even if they faced a much stronger creature, their bloodline would only make them more aggressive and ready to put up a fight. This was confirmed by their mother, who had once been in the presence of a dragon - though fortunately for them she did not have to fight it, Yet now, their bloodline was cowering! How was this possible? Before the kids could fully wrap their heads around the submission emanating from within their very bones, the figure arrived. It belonged to a turtle, or at least something that resembled a turtle. Its body was massive, causing them to have to crane their neck up to look at its face. A single, curved, gray horn protruded from its forehead, though streaks of purple had begun appearing on it. "Oh dear, more silly humans," the turtlemented, though it did not seem too disturbed. Its eternal fondness for picking up strays gave it a very tolerant and mellow personality. And yes, to it, humans were just more strays or pets for it to collect and raise. After all, hadn''t it also rescued and protected Lex when he first came to Nibiru? To it, Lex was and still is no different from Little Blue and the rest. The children, who were finally showing some expression, looked up in awe and reverence. Lex, who was spying on the situation from the Midnight mountain, did not know if he should feel satisfied that he finally broke through and impressed them, or offended that the turtle had elicited such a reaction but not himself. "I have been told that you little humans want to farm. I will bring you some saplings and teach you how to nt them in this environment." "What are we nting?" Cava asked, curious. "And what for?" Khuno asked as well, trying to put up a strong front. He could not ept that his own blood was being submissive before another, and did not want to give in. "In six months there will be a wedding," the turtle told. "But more importantly, the wedding will also be a conference for immortals. The food that you will nt now will be served at that conference." "We''re growing food for immortals?" the duo asked, startled. "No silly humans. This is food for others at the conference. The food for the immortals¡­ is being grown by me personally." After that, the turtle did not bother exining any further, and used a vine made of grass to pull out a small cactus from within its shell. But the strange thing was that this cactus¡­ seemed to be made of rocks, and the only parts of it which seemed like an ordinary nt were its roots. The turtle showed the kids how to nt it in the ground, which seemed quite straightforward when the turtle did it. This unusual cactus required that its roots be buried to a minimum depth, and had to be nted in an area with lots of pebbles and rocks. The process seemed straightforward enough, and growing food for a conference of immortals seemed a worthy enough task for them to put some effort into it. After all, regardless of their background, as mere mortals themselves they still needed to respect immortals. But when they tried to repeat the process themselves, using tools the turtle had given them, they discovered that the seemingly loose and grainy soil was as tough as metal. They literally could not even scratch the surface. The kids looked at each other dumbfounded, while the turtle only watched silently from the side. Problem solving was an important skill for its pets to learn, so it would not interfere unless they werepletely overwhelmed. Feeling unresigned, the two tried again, this time using more strength. When they failed again, they tried once more while using spiritual techniques to literally attack the floor. Khuno was still not able to produce any significant results while Cava managed to produce a visible indent in the ground. The repeated failures did not demotivate them, and instead spurred them to put even more effort into their task. The dua activated their bloodlines, which only produced limited visual changes in the two. Both of them suddenly grew more hair on their bodies, though it was not to the extent that itpletely covered their skin, and their eyes turned yellow. This time, instead of trying separately, they both began hacking at the same point in the ground, working together to produce a single hole. The process was slow, incredibly slow. But at least it had begun. The turtle shook its head and went away. From what it could see, the kids were more or less ying around in the dirt. Far away, Lex snickered as he saw the two working relentlessly to provide him with freebor. That''s what they got for acting haughty in front of him. No, eh, wait. He meant the Inn was capable of satisfying the request of any kind of guest. Feeling somewhat entertained, he decided to continue hosting guests for a while, so for the next few hours, random guests who found themselves in slightly less crowded areas were visited by the Innkeeper, unbeknownst to them. Since he never officially introduced himself, everyone just assumed he was just another worker at the Inn. Eventually, his fun was interrupted by a system notification - one that he had been waiting for! The workers that he hired for the Inn now included two races: humans and draconian apostles. From those two races, the humans now had the option of three different bloodlines. The first bloodline, Regalia Bloom, was considered the default bloodline any of his workers could unlock and did not cost any extra. The second bloodline, Anachronistic Ignition, which was the one Luthor had, cost 350 million MP per worker to give to a new worker, which was quite a bit more than Regalia Bloom. The third bloodline, Death Counter, also had a massive price bump,ing out at 300 million MP per worker. But considering the fact that both the newly unlocked bloodlines were extremely impressive, Lex continued to randomly give them out regardless of the massive cost. Yet once he received a summons to war, he had the idea of hiring a group of workers specifically forbat purposes. It was then that he discovered that besides their massive cost, the newer bloodlines also could not be given out en masse, and it required quite a bit of time to summon workers with these bloodlines if all of them had the newer ones. Still, Lex was not miserly. He immediately spent 90 billion MP and maxed out his limit to hire 300 workers with the Death Counter bloodline. Once they were trained, they would be his new Midnight Battalion! Chapter 654 Choose To Fight From the time Lex chose to hire the 300 new workers to the time they arrived at the Inn, quite a few days had passed. It had long since be Lex''s habit to deeply analyze everything the system did, andpare it to its previous actions to determine patterns. He never had problems ordering arge number of workers before, and the delivery was usually almost instant. So then what exactly had caused the dy?n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om He coulde up with a few different answers. The first and most obvious answer was, naturally, the bloodline. Death Counter was one of the new bloodlines he unlocked for his employees, and it essentially made the user immortal - more or less. While it was not nearly as versatile as Regalia Bloom or Anachronistic Ignition, it had one simple use case. The owner of the bloodline could hide a single drop of blood anywhere, and if they were to die, they could use that single drop toe back to life at full health and maximum power. Of course the actual application of the bloodline ability was slightly moreplex than how it was stated, but that was essentially the gist of the bloodline ability. The bloodline could do nothing else, but honestly, wasn''t that already enough? Whenpared to the fact that normal employees did note with the bloodline unlocked, but only the ability to potentially unlock the Regalia Bloom, the difference could be easily identified. But while the bloodline was the most obvious reason for why there was a dy, it was not the only one. When hiring new staff, the system allowed Lex to input what kind of role he expected to put them in, after which the system would make them more skilled in rted fields. That was not to say that the system could directly control their talents, but that it would give each worker a higher starting point in rted fields, making it easier for them to start and master their expected roles. Normally, Lex would put in a general direction, but would not be too specific so as to allow each worker to develop naturally. Only when he was entering the details for Luthor did Lex end up being extremely specific. Well, this time he had also been very particr in the skills and talents of the new workers. As a result, he may have overdone it a little. He made each worker extremely gifted physically. He made them all quick learners, with an incredibly quick training time when learningbat. Moreover, he made them all incredibly focused, driven, disciplined and hardworking. This was not to mention that he gave them a solid foundation in biology, physics, chemistry, mathematics, statistics and probability, data analysis, pattern recognition, critical thinking and, well, much, much more. From the very moment they were hired, they knew how to fight, and they knew how to heal. They could construct fortifications, and had the foundation to quickly learn formations to help in offense and defense as well. They could perfectly strategize on how best to assault enemies and enemy strongholds. In summary, they were pretty cool. But the price of all that ''coolness'' might have been their dyed arrival. Whether the reason for the dy was one of those, neither, or even both, did not really matter. It was enough that Lex took note of the dy for now. In the short while he did not intend on hiring more, for even though he knew it was an important expense, it was also important to take stock of everything as he went along. He could not go around randomly spending 90 billion MP regardless of how much he was earning, or he would quickly end up broke. So it was best to instead focus on training these new workers. Once, long ago, when Lex had started hiring workers from the system, and had no ess to the portal or other organizations, he was forced to rely on the system to get cultivation techniques and spiritual techniques for them from the system. As convenient as it seemed, it was actually not the best solution. That was because this was only a perfunctory service offered by the system. Once his Midnight Battalion panel started working he assumed he would be able to get more optimal techniques from there, but for now, the Midnight Library would have to do. Of course, even so, he would not allow them to randomly select techniques from there. As his future frontline force, they had to have the best of the best, while being as lethal as possible. As such, he had Chad, the deputy head of security, work in close coordination with the nning division ande up with a training n for them. That naturally included what techniques they would train in. Of course, their own personal preferences would have to be taken into ount, but since they were meant to be a battalion, their joint strength mattered a lot more than their individual strength. "Wee to the Midnight Inn," he said, solemnly. "Normally, for new initiates of the Inn, the onboarding process is different. But for you all, it ispletely different, as the expectations from you arepletely different. You have all been chosen as warriors and soldiers, to be the front line of the Midnight Inn against the dangers and threats of the universe. But at the same time, I do not believe in forcing anyone. "Ahead of you lies extreme danger, and a difficult and uneasy path. As such, if any of you wish to opt out, now is your chance. Think clearly, for you will not get such a chance again. I will not hold it against any of you if you do not wish to follow this path, and will give you another role at the Inn. But, this is your only opportunity so choose wisely. I will give you all some time to think it over before you have to give me your answer. In the meantime, go explore the Inn. Get a deeper understanding of what it is you will be fighting for, if you choose to fight that is." Chapter 655 Dont Have A Credit Card ? Although Lex had expressly hired these workers for the purpose of fighting, and they had a bloodline that was for the express purpose ofing back to life, he did not want to force anyone. Even though he said he wouldn''t be giving them another chanceter on to quit, if one of them really wanted to, Lex would figure something out. Besides, he had seen enough of the universe to know that anything was possible. Even if they had a bloodline that could revive them, who was to say there wasn''t another bloodline out there that could perfectly counter this ability? Since bloodlines were based onws, what if they encountered an enemy who had a better mastery of thews that this particr bloodline was based on? Couldn''t they theoretically counter, or even control their bloodline? Lex didn''t have the answer to such questions, but he knew that it was best to give them as much choice in this matter as possible. He stood there and watched as all of his workers dispersed, but was surprised to find that one of the workers still stood there. His arms were folded behind his back, and his head pointed directly forward. His body was still tense, his shoulders locked, chest held out high, as if he was standing at attention. But for all his posturing, his short height and young appearance took away a lot from the intimidating aura he was trying to portray. He looked like another Z. "Don''t you want to go look around?" Lex asked him. "No sir!" he replied forcefully. "I know what I want, and that is to fight!" Lex gave the boy''s enthusiasm a nod and asked, "what''s your name?" "Leonidas!" the boy replied, his voice still loud and forceful. "Well then Leonidas, if you''re sure of what you want, go find Deputy head Chad and introduce yourself. You''ll be spending a lot of time together in the future." Leonidas saluted Lex, and then marched off stiffly. It was clear that the boy did not know how to actually march, but that would probably change soon. Lex watched the enthusiastic boy for a while, before his projection disappeared. Back at the Crystal realm, his main body had finally reached his destination. Now he had to figure out the right teleportation formation, and get about using it. ***** Arge, chameleon-like reptile made its way through a busy street. On this ruled by insectoids it was not exactly wee, but the locals did not do much else but give him dirty looks. After all, he already had a reputation here, so they knew not to mess with the Reptilian Dance King! Chuckling to himself as he thought of his fond memories on this, and how his dance moves had brought its leaders to their knees, he kept moving through the crowds until he finally reached his destination: the Infinity Emporium. The chatroom he was a part of was quite massive, and was quite helpful at times. In fact, it had separate sub-channels for some of the realms. The Origin realm, as it happened, was one of the realms which had its own sub-channel. Within it, some of the more experienced users shared some helpful tips and tricks. The emporium happened to be highly endorsed on the channel. Although the emporium had not spread to other realms - yet - it was quite widespread within the Origin realm and so having a good rtionship with them was quite helpful. The dance king made his way in, only to find a familiar face waiting for him at the counter. "Powell, my good friend, how are you?" the dance king asked. "Superb now that you''re here," replied Powell, smiling back at him. Powell was, of course, also a chameleon - or so it appeared. It wasmon knowledge shared within the chat that the race of the shopkeeper one would run into would always be identical to the person walking in. Also, every one of them was named Powell. How or why such a thing happened had remained unexined, but almost every person in the Origin realm had used their system detector in the emporium, only toe up with a failed report. That either meant that Powell was not a system user, or his system was so advanced and powerful that their machines were not capable of detecting them - in which case it was better for them to not try and antagonize Powell to begin with. "It''s a good thing you''re in a good mood, for I need help in an unusual matter. I need any information you have on a ce called the ''Midnight Inn''. At the same time, if you happen to have one of their golden keys, I''ll take that off your hands as well." "Hold a moment," said Powell before he quickly began perusing on his tablet. But his search did not take as long as expected, and his ufortable facial expression also told the dance king it was bad news. "What is it?" he asked, suppressing his growing concern. "There''s a strict ban on all emporium employees. We cater to no business requests rted to the Midnight Inn."N?v(el)B\\jnn The king was startled by this answer, for he had never heard of such a thing. "Officially, I can''t help you," said Powell as he whispered, reaching close to him. "But unofficially¡­ I can''t help it if you overhear me say that a lot of the ''golden keys'' you mentioned have been spotted in and around the Pendal Gxy." "That¡­ that''s over a 100,000 gxies away!" said the dance king, startled. It seemed like he had epted a difficult quest. Or maybe not. "Okay forget the Inn. I need a ticket for the Wormhole ferry." "Oh, that''ll cost you. With the Henali Champions tourneying up, all intergctic travel has really jumped up in price." The dance kind did not hesitate in throwing a brown bag full of crystal coins onto the table. Since not everyone had a credit card, they had to make do with coin bags. Chapter 656 Tell Me More ? The capital of the Noel family''s territory was extremelyrge, but that came as no surprise. A sprawling city covered both sides of a river 50 feet (15.2 meters) wide. White floor walls covered the length of the river crossing the city, setting the theme for the city''s color scheme. Oddly enough, there were almost no high rises in the entire city, with the only exception being arge, spiraling tower in the heart of the city that Lex suspected could double as a lighthouse. The top of the tower also looked suspiciously simr to a bird stand. He could not imagine that the Noel family had built a spot for Sol birds to rest right within their capital. But then again, why couldn''t they? Lex did not specte further on the topic, and instead focused on figuring out how to reach the teleportation formation. There was no boundary wall to the city, so entering was no problem. The real problem was navigating the maze-like streets to find his destination. Although there were no highrises in the city, each building was three stories high and built closely together, making it so that while walking in the streets, the rest of the city could not really be seen. It wasn''t as if Lex did not ask directions, but there were just too many streets. It was difficult to cover any real distance in a short period of time. More than once Lex had to convince Fenrir not to jump on top of the buildings and just bypass all the traffic on the ground, though he himself began to wonder why he was stopping the trusty wolf. Eventually, though, the conclusion that Lex came to about why they were having such a tough time finding their destination, was that both he and Fenrir were unreasonably hungry. The two decided to take a break, and once Fenrir shrunk his size down, they found their way to a tavern called Hippo House tavern. The owner was a hairy man with arge belly and augh that shook the foundations of the entire building. He was sitting behind the counter, greeting each and every guest as they walked in, recognizing almost every patron. Lex greeted the man with matching enthusiasm, and struck up a conversation with him about the city, though Lex did not talk about anything in particr and seemed to be interested in anything and everything. The owner was even more enthusiastic about conversing with Lex once he saw the amount of food that he ordered. For cultivators, it was not unusual to eat a lot of food so Lex''s order was not surprising. But even so, the amount of food Lex ordered was genuinely surprising, and for the owner, pleasing. While Lex was eating and chatting, he naturally also brushed on the topic of the teleportation formation. That was when, for the first time, he understood theplexities involved in long distance teleportation. ording to the map he had been provided, his next destination was a ce called Delurian Drip Bog. It was pretty simple to say that he just needed to take the teleportation formation and select that as his destination, but apparently this was one of the furthest ces the formation teleported to. In a straight line, it was approximately 31,000 miles (49,889 km) away, which, if Lex remembered correctly, was greater than the circumference of the earth. But he was already used to teleporting anywhere he wanted using the Inn, not to mention the teleportation he experienced to travel from one to another back in the Origin realm. That alone was no doubt countless lightyears of distance covered during one teleportation. As a result, he had be desensitized to theplexities of the act. But conversing with the tavern owner brought him back to reality. Under ordinary circumstances, the teleportation formation would only be active one day a week, and each individual spot cost tens of thousands of spirit stones. Lex naturally had such an amount. He had long since begun to gather as many physical forms of currency and valuables, which naturally included spirit coins, spirit stones, spirit liquid, gold, jewels, a few other valuable metals that were not found on earth and some other random spirit based currencies. He had received these mostly from the emporium, though some small exchanges he had set up in the Guild room also contributed. Since he was going to be traveling, he naturally stocked up his spatial bangle with everything he could possibly need. That was not the issue. The issue was¡­ this was so damn expensive for an ordinary person! He remembered back when he was at the academy and went out on the expedition, a massive group was traveling with them. He could not even imagine the cost of transporting so many people.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om It seemed that, despite his efforts to gather as much general knowledge as possible, he had gaps in his knowledge. When he asked why it was so expensive, the tavern owner merely shrugged andmented that he''d heard some of the resources used in building the formation were extremely rare and expensive, and would often get used up. As for what they were, only actual formation experts would know. Lex made a mental note to hire some formation experts for the Inn. There was no profession that the Inn shouldck knowledge of, and as the Innkeeper, he needed to have an in-depth understanding of all such matters. Lex also realized one more very important thing. In fact, it could be said to be crucially important to the development of the Inn. He did not want to admit it, but the food this random tavern gave was actually somewhat better than the food served at the Inn. As ofte, the Inn had started having better and better ingredients due to the turtle''s efforts and the expanded farnds, but that was not enough. At most it provided him with vegetables and fruits, but hecked any kind of meat to go along with it. Moreover, even if he had incredible ingredients, the cooks he had were good, but not skilled enough to be mind blowing. If only he could put up a recruitment notice for someone with a cooking system, how great would that be? With such thoughts in his mind, Lex finally finished the meal. After thanking the tavern owner for keeping himpany, a satisfied Lex and Fenrir left. Although he had found out that the teleportation formation would only work once a week, he had no intention of waiting that long. The token given to him by Jolene should be enough to have them start the formation for him early right? Besides, he had a good rtionship with the Noel family. He was sure, if nothing else, they could figure out some deal. ***** New York, Earth Rafael walked through the long, extravagant hallways of his fatherstest mansion with an extremely serious expression. The war on earth had been going on miserably, but they were alive. However, if his suspicions were right, that might soon change. When he finally reached his fathers room, he did not bother knocking and just barged in. ''King'' Marlo could be seen casually reclining on a chair, his butler standing beside him giving some kind of report. He wore no shirt, yet his chest was covered in bandages to help him heal from his many wounds. "Old man, we have trouble," Rafael said, not bothering with semantics right now. He was having great trouble as it was, surviving in this new reality of his. It was nothing like the future he knew, and if it weren''t for his skills and insights from all the battles he recalled from the future, he would not have survived. Almost every opportunity he could possibly gain on earth was already probably gone, and lord only knew if the threats and dangers he recalled from the future would evene now or not. Or, if they came, what would happen. "What is it?" Marlo asked, taking his son quite seriously. Although he was not exactly satisfied with Rafael''s personal strength, the kid had spent countless years in aa. He could not be med. Besides, his leadership in battle and his unmatched foresight and skill made him worthy of recognition in his own right. No longer was he called Marlo''s son when people talked of him. He was Rafael, the greatest living human general on earth right now. "If my guess is correct, we''re going to face an attack soon. One we can''t possibly survive." "Oh? What makes you say that? We have many allies, I doubt they''d let us suffer such an attack unaided." "That''s where you''re wrong," Rafael said, shaking his head. "I''ve been monitoring troop movements for a while now. Based on the trends I''ve seen, and the hints I''ve collected, I suspect that the deities and A.I. have reached a tacit agreement about us. Since we don''t support the deities preaching in New York, we are nothing but an eye sore to them. If they can get rid of us, there will be one lesspetitor for earth." Instead of being rmed, Marlo smiled. "Tell me more." Chapter 657 Hidden Intentions ? "Right now, on earth, there are 4 forcespeting against one another. The first is naturally the A.I. who have invaded with the intention of killing everyone. The second are the deities who have agreed to aid the humans in fighting them off. On the surface it seems like they want to help the humans, but more and more I feel like they have ulterior motives. After all, there is nothing of value on earth that they want to protect, and I find it hard to believe they are doing this out of the goodness of their hearts. "The issue with the third party, the devils supporting the remnants of the ruling families, is the same. The only thing is that I cannot guess what they are after right now. That finally leaves the fourth party, which is us - the unaffiliated humans. "While theoretically we should be allies with the deities and devils against the A.I. I suspect something sinister is afoot. Based on reports from our scouts, all the ''allied'' forces near us have been slowly yet seemingly inadvertently moving away. I think that they have tacitly consented to our demise, so that there is one less yer for them topete with." "Alright, so where do you think the decisive attack wille from?" Marlo asked, seemingly still unperturbed. In fact, even the butler did not seem to show any emotions besides annoyance and exhaustion. "The point of the attack is to take us by surprise and give us no time to prepare so that they can decimate us. I suspect they will send in soldiers directly from orbit,nding behind our defensive lines, ore from the water where our visuals are blocked. Most likely, considering that in the past we have shown effective battle effectiveness in two separate groups, you being one group and me with the army being another, they will attack from three directions simultaneously." Marlo nodded, and said, "not bad. Your analysis is getting better and better each day." "Is this really the time to be focused on such a thing?" Rafael asked, feeling emotionally exhausted.N?v(el)B\\jnn "I think any time is a good opportunity for a father topliment his son," Marlo said, chuckling to himself. Rafael¡­ couldn''t reply. So instead, he just waited for the ''King'' to bestow him with a proper answer. "You forget, my son, the thing I excel in most is self defense," Marlo finally said, seeing as how Rafael was not in the mood to humor him. "Let me show you a little something I''ve been working on." Marlo merely extended his hand forward and used a certain technique. Rafaels'' pupils shrunk as he stared at his father''s hand in horror and surprise. His stupid father was a maniac! ***** Lex made his way to the Noel family mansion, which was a lot easier to find than the teleportation formations. After all, the mansion itself seemed to be a tourist attraction of sorts. Apparently, once a month, during a special event, tourists were even allowed to enter certain portions of it. He expected that the process to gain admittance would be difficult orplex, and he was ready to unt the token given to him by the Phillips family if necessary, yet his experience was quite unexpected. The moment he approached the gate, the guards seemed to recognize him and all suddenly stood at attention. The gates were opened even before he arrived, and an escort astride some kind of beast suddenly appeared, to guide Lex deeper inside. At first he wanted to ask how or why they recognized him, but upon noticing the reverence on the soldiers faces as they watched him pass, he felt too awkward to do so. Lex was led all the way to the front door, where a tall, well-dressed man seemed to be waiting for him. "Mr. Lex, it is a pleasure to finally meet you," the man said as he gave a deep bow, before approaching Lex to shake his hand. Lex did not hesitate to grab the man''s hand and give him a firm handshake, a pleasant smile on his face. Yet behind his perfectly pleasant appearance, Lex had raised his guard to the maximum. It was not just his instincts that warned him, but that he himself could judge that there was something off about this overly enthusiastic fellow. "The pleasure is mine. I have never had such a warm wee somewhere before." "Then you shoulde here more often! Had I known you wereing, I would have prepared an even grander wee!" The manughed as he weed Lex inside the mansion, as if he was extremely pleased with himself. "Please, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Marcus, I am Lord Joseph Noel''s nephew. I look after the mansion and the city while uncle is not here. You may be somewhat surprised at your reception, but uncle sent your information to all the cities in his territory. You''ll find that you will receive the best possible treatment anywhere you are recognized." "That¡­ I was not expecting such a thing," said Lex, genuinely surprised. "Indeed. Uncle has not given any other information, except to treat you with the utmost respect. Although it''s short notice, as soon as the guards informed me of your arrival, I passed orders for a banquet in your honor. All the dignitaries from across the city will be invited." "That¡­ that sounds wonderful," said Lex, sessfully hiding the deep reluctance he felt upon hearing the news. "But unfortunately I have important business that is very time sensitive. Since you have already recognized me, and since Joseph has been kind enough to pass such instructions, things should be much simpler. I need to use the teleportation formation to Delurian Drip Bog. I can naturally cover the cost of having the formation activated ahead of time." "Nonsense! If I make you pay, then uncle will disown me! How urgent is your task? I can have the formation readied within the hour." "As soon as possible would be much appreciated. It''s not that I don''t wish to receive your hospitality, but I really cannot wait." "Well then, please wait a moment while I go and get things ready." Marcus left Lex in avish sitting room while he left to make preparations. Lex did not drop his guard even when he was left alone, nor did he let anything show in his expressions. That was because, after spending some more time with Marcus, Lex had clearly noticed a deep hostility buried in the man''s heart. Of course, he had done his best to hide it, but with Lex''s vast experience dealing with people, his sixth sense, his instincts, not to mention his extremely astute puppanion, he could hide nothing from Lex. Of course, Lex did not care why Marcus felt that hostility, or what his story was. As long as he did not interfere with Lex''s task in any way, he would be happy enough to leave things be. His wait was short and uneventful, as Marcus soon returned, taking long and purposeful strides. "The formation is being prepared. Why don''t we take a carriage to the terminal, it should bepletely ready by the time we arrive." "Excellent." Marcus led Lex back to the front of the mansion where a carriage was already waiting for them, and apanied him as they departed. The entire time, Marcus wore a massive grin, as if he was extremely pleased and enthusiastic to meet Lex. Any normal person wouldpletely be fooled by the act. Even if they suspected something, they would only suspect that the cause of Marcus'' enthusiasm was a desire to please his uncle. "What''s that tower for?" Lex asked when the conversation allowed, pointing to the massive structure in the middle of the city. "That''s the local Sol bird shrine. Although we, the Noel family, are not able to tame Sol birds in the way the Hum nation does, it is not a problem to establish a rtionship. We have a flock of over 20 Sol birds who consider this territory as their home, and visit the shrine every month to be worshiped by the locals. I''m not sure why they like it so much, but this is quite amon custom in all remote territories." Lex did notment as various thoughts ran through Lex''s mind. He was reminded of the deities, and wondered if the Sol birds counted as such. Why else would they give so much importance to being worshiped? There was a very easy way to find out the answer. The turtle had adopted a Sol bird back at the Inn. All he needed to do was scan it to learn more. And if that didn''t work, he could ask the turtle. He could also¡­ Suddenly Lex froze, as a thought urred to him. He pretended to rub his eyes while he secretly put on the Fancy Contact lenses. It was time to see if these things were any good. Chapter 658 Trapped ? The first time Lex used the Fancy Monocle, the amount of details it provided were overwhelming. It analyzed the material of each and every item it saw, and started randomly measuring things in detail he found difficult to even imagine ever needing. To be able to keep it at a level where Lex could actually use it, he had to disable many features and keep it limited in what information it provided him. As a result, in the early days, it had even saved his life by detecting the arrival of zombies before he himself was able to see them. Now, honestly, Lex barely felt the need to use them. Not only were his instincts incredibly strong, but his own observation alongside the use of his spirit sense made it so that he felt like the Fancy contact lenses probably could not keep up with him. That is one of the reasons he hadn''t really bothered using them. Another was that, although he kept his left eye''s ability turned off, it could also see a lot of details that he still found hard topletelyprehend. So how could the lenses possibly keep up? But right now, he tried them anyway. Especially because he had also picked up a special spiritual technique that he could use in conjunction with the lenses. He assumed that they might be helpful with that extra push.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om He quickly realized just how much he had been underestimating the lenses. Due to his increased cultivation, his brain could now process the massive amounts of data the lenses were providing him with, all without actually distracting him from functioning normally. Moreover, the Fancy Monocle relied on Lex to fill its database, so the information was a lot more detailed, and revealed information that Lex didn''t even know how toprehend. For example, when he put on the contacts, he looked around the carriage and learnt that the Gangileon atmospheric density within the carriage was 7. What did that even mean? But aside from the data he could make no sense of, there was plenty of information that he couldprehend. The carriage was made from a kind of material called Sublimeposite, which was artificially created using various extremely valuable materials which had excellent energy insting capabilities. He also learnt that exactly 3.4 tones of Sublimeposite was used in the construction of the carriage, and that there were a series of other valuable materials fixed at various edges of the carriage, making it aesthetically pleasing. Yet, underneath all that was a carefully nned formation which used the Sublimeposite as a foundation and other items as supporting materials. The lenses were able to recognize the existence of the formation due to key principals which were being applied, though it could not determine the specific formation being used. Based on his own instincts, he knew that the carriage was no threat to him, but he had beenpletely ignorant of the fact that the carriage itself was a moving formation. As such, this served as a learning experience for him. Moreover, due to his increased mental capabilities, encountering these items and gaining an in-depth exnation about how they were being used was enough for him to learn about them for good. In the future, if he ever encountered a simr situation, he would be able to identify them on his own. Moreover, they were serving as inspiration for things to do at the Inn. He turned to look at Marcus, who was still smiling and talking, and was intrigued by the information the lenses were able to gather. The first thing the lenses informed him of was that they could only gather surface level information from him because he seemed to be employing a protective technique that protected him from probing. Yet it could still identify his height, weight, skin temperature, and much more. The thing he found most intriguing was that by studying the subtle tightness and rxed state of the muscles all over his body, the lens could reasonably guess what kind of emotions Marcus was actually feeling. Of course, this was again not a detailed review for a more thorough scan was blocked. That was the point at which Lex used the apanying technique for the Fancy contact lenses, and things reached a whole new level! The contact lenses, instead of providing him with the final conclusion of its analysis, began giving him raw data on what it was seeing. That''s when the technique took over. The world itself became more vibrant, as if Lex was suddenly able to see new colors. Moreover, he could see those colors to absorb new information from them. For example, the hidden hostility that Lex had detected from Marcus was now as apparent as day, and seemed to paint the entire man in shades of green and red. Feelings of inferiority, jealousy, envy, hatred and a tinge of admiration made up the foundation of his hostility. But that was not all. Lex could almost see into his mind, as if reading his thoughts. Marcus was jealous because¡­ he thought Lex was engaged to Greta Noel, and would thus be joining the main family, and that was the reason he was so appreciated by Joseph. He felt overlooked and underappreciated, and there was a seed of sinister intentions that seemed to be sprouting within him. Lex could almost actually see what actions he was nning to take, as if he was watching a movie. Lex looked out to the tower, and saw that it seemed to be acting as some kind of funnel, channeling some unknown energy through its base to its tip, where the energy was gathering. He could tell that when enough energy gathered, the birds would probablye and rest there, and the monthly worshiping ceremony wouldmence. How intriguing. Lex spent the rest of the carriage ride in rtive silence, as he absorbed the information the lenses were giving him. When they finally arrived at the building where the teleportation formation was, Lex interestingly looked around like a child at a zoo. The lenses still did not recognize the formation, but since Lex already knew the purpose of it, he could extrapte even more information. Moreover, he was now more easily able to guess Marcus'' n. Lex didn''t know how much he trusted the information from the lenses, so he started nning out a way to ensure everything went smoothly, without preemptively attacking or punishing Marcus. It was an intriguing challenge, since he already knew what he wanted to do. "Are you sure you won''t ept any payment?" Lex asked onest time, as Marcus led him to the teleportation room. This time around, only he and Fenrir would use the formation, so he expected it to cost a lot, but Marcus was insistent that they could not ept payment. One had to admit, his acting of being the perfect host was quite remarkable. "Impossible. Something as minor as this is not even enough to count as being a good host. Next time you visit, you must allow me to throw a banquet for you." "Then take care of yourself. Next time, we will definitely dine together." With a smile and a nod, Lex walked to the center of the teleportation tform, a tiny Fenrir following along. A few minutester, the formationpletely turned on, and the two disappeared. As if a switch had been flipped, Marcus'' generous smile turned into an ugly scowl. He had no idea who Lex was, or why his uncle gave him so much importance. Irritation and jealousy filled his entire being, engulfing him. There was a minor struggle in his mind as he wondered if he should really do something. In the end, he concluded that there was no way for anyone to detect if he did anything, and so made a move. Prior to the teleportation he had not interfered with the formation, as there were many ways to detect such things, and he did not know if Lex would be able to tell it had been tampered with. Yet now that he was already gone, or to be more specific, mid-teleportation, there was nothing he could do. With eyes filled with sinister intentions, Marcus moved, not towards the exit, but the control room. The teleportation formation, in truth, was quite massive and could not really fit inside a room. The entire formation was hidden from view, with only two points within reach. One was the teleportation tform, and the other was the control panel in the adjacent control room. Yet the moment Marcus tried to enter the room, he hit an invisible barrier. As if triggered by something, the invisible barrier became opaque, making Marcus realize that he was trapped inside. "Young man, you''re a thousand years too young to be ying such games in front of me," a familiar voice said, startling Marcus. He turned around, but could not find Lex anywhere, so then where was his voiceing from? "As a small punishment, I''ll leave you in this small room for a few months. Use this time to contemte your life decisions. The next time we meet, I''ll ask you about the conclusion you reached." A trace of fear crept into Marcus'' heart as he tried to figure out what was going on. Yet no matter how he searched, he could note up with an answer, and he could not break the barrier either. He waspletely trapped. Chapter 659 Nemesis ? Marcus was not a weakling. Since he had been trusted by Joseph to take care of things in his absence, then not only did Marcus have to have a minimum cultivation, he needed to have proved himself over the years. He was a mid level Nascent realm cultivator, with excellent administrative experience as well as battle experience in skirmishes against neighboring nobles. All in all, he could be considered to have vast experience in various fields. Yet at the moment he found himselfpletely at a loss. He did not even consider how Lex was able to discover his intentions, for that no longer mattered. What truly befuddled him was how Lex was able to trap him after he had already left. After all, the opaque barrier surrounding him had not appeared until he tried to enter the control room. Moreover, the fact that Lex''s voice spoke to him after the barrier appeared also meant that this was no ident. But his panic dissolved quickly, and instead he focused on breaking the barrier. He took his time to use one of his most powerful spiritual techniques which had a long starting time, and attacked the barrier full force. Truthfully, this was not a good idea as using such a destructive technique in close quarters would also harm him, but he would deal with that after he broke free. Unfortunately, not only did he not break free, the barrier did not even waver. Disbelieving of what he was seeing, Marcus tried again. Then again. The barriers were not breaking. Moreover¡­ to his rm, he discovered that as he absorbed the spirit energy in the atmosphere to fuel his techniques, the energy density of the room was falling. That meant that the barrier prevented more energy froming into the room! This was even more rming. If such a trend continued, not only would he soon run out of energy to fuel his attacks, he would run out of energy to sustain himself. If what Lex said was true, and he was trapped for weeks or months, he had to be extremely sparing in his energy consumption. Such a period of time was not a problem for him to survive even without food or water, so long as he had enough energy to fuel his nascent soul. Desperation began filling his eyes and he took out some weapons from his spatial ring and continued to try to break free, but it was not destined to be. There were many things Lex could not im to be skilled in. But as far as putting up barriers that could absorb a lot of damage was concerned, Lex felt himself an expert. A few minutester, Lex''s teleportation ended, and he found himself in a smaller room with a few guards standing by, taking note of all the arrivals. This was the arrival terminal for Delurian Drip Bog. The area was not really a part of anyone''s territory, but bordered the territory of various nobles and so was considered somewhat of a transit area. There were a minimum amount of facilities avable for travelers, but that was it. This was because the Bog was actually quite massive, and home to numerous savage beasts of considerable strength. In fact, even Trelops had given up on using the bog for themselves, as the local fauna was not conducive to upying territory. Therefore, building too many facilities was also not a solution. Usually, traveling through the bog meant following certain, pre-established routes which avoided the known beast territories. Even that carried with it a risk, which usually promptedrge groups to gather and form caravans. Lex, of course, was not going to bother with any of that. He would make a beeline towards his destination, only taking diversions if his instincts warned him. Well instincts and now his lenses. He was truly beginning to like them. After all, based on the data provided by the lenses and his own instincts and intuition, Lex was able to predict that Marcus would take one of two actions. He would either leave without doing anything, or interfere with Lex''s teleportation, sending him instead to some unknown territory. Having narrowed down Marcus'' possible actions, Lex began devising his actions. Although he had incredible defensive techniques, he could not deploy them without being there himself, so the only alternative was to use arrays. That in itself was not an issue. He quite enjoyed arrays, and with practice he was slowly mastering stronger and moreplex arrays. He also kept consulting the book in his ring, though by now he had covered almost the entire book and would soon need a higher level book to consult. The real issue was twofold. First, he had to ensure that the array would only trigger its trapping function if Marcus tried to take some action against him. Second, he needed to trap Marcus in barriers strong enough to actually hold him. If he could use his techniques that might not be an issue, but his arrays never benefited from the strengthening effect of Regal Embrace. Ideally he wanted to create some kind of barrier as strong as his Impervious Hands - his strongest defensive technique. Creating a condition for the activation of the array was challenging, but not impossible. He entered the Overdrive state and ultimately came up with a solution. Creating a barrier strong enough to trap a Nascent realm cultivator, though¡­ also ended up being pretty simple! Back when Lex was going through the floors in the pagoda, one of the rewards for clearing the floors had been an array character that meant ''self''. Learning that character enabled Lex to try something new. Instead of creatingplex functions that would eventually result in a strong barrier being created, he used the techniques he could use as a natural standard. Conveniently, the array seemed to work. With both the issues resolved, Lex happily entered the teleportation formation without concern for what happened. The fact that he had arrived safely either meant that Marcus had not attempted to harm him, or that he had, and his n was foiled by Lex''s own array. Either way, Lex was satisfied with the oue. "You ready?" Lex asked Fenrir as they exited the terminal. "This next part will be longer, and probably more dangerous too." Fenrir only gave a single, excited bark, indicating his answer. An odd thought urred to Lex as he climbed onto Fenrir''s back, allowing the pup to begin his sprint through the bog. Fenrir was in the golden core realm, yet the pup could still not talk. Yet Lex had met so many other beasts who had been able to actually talk with him even at the Foundation realm. He wondered why there was a difference. Clearly Fenrir was intelligent, and his abilities were powerful and numerous. So then why was the pup still limited to barking and yelping, instead of talking like other beasts? He refused to believe that other beasts had a higher pedigree than Fenrir. This belief was not a result of a bias, but a clear answer provided to him by the system. After pondering for a bit, the only answer he coulde up with was that Fenrir was still a pup, and would have to grow for a few more years before it could gain the gift of speech. Unlike the previous time, where Lex had a clear destination, this time Lex only had a direction. He had to travel using the Crystal realm equivalent of apass, and head north-east until he reached the territory owned by Sentinels, one of the main races of the Crystal realm. Moreover, the trip was also much longer than his previous one. Traveling through the bog was not easy or pleasant. Besides the various pungent smells of unknown gasses, which only made one lightheaded due to the overpowering scent, there were also many poisonous gasses. Fortunately, Lex quickly discovered that both he and Fenrir seemed to be immune to most of the poisons they encountered. Moreover, by reading about them from the lenses every time he encountered them, Lex began to learn exactly what types of poisons his body could withstand. Of course, there were some poisonous gasses they had to avoid, for they could harm even them. Besides that was the extremely damp and humid environment, not to mention the endless puddles, the soggy, squishy ground and what often looked like firm ground, but ended up being a softyer of dirt covering some strange viscous liquids.N?v(el)B\\jnn The extremely ufortable environment almost made one ignore the numerous decaying corpses they encountered on almost every turn. That was because hidden in every puddle, under every clump of soil, behind every rock was some kind of creature, waiting to devour its prey. Fenrir quite enjoyed the game of tag the endless creatures yed as they chased them through the bog. Lex, too, would not have cared so much, if he hadn''t encountered his oldest and most hated nemesis in the bog: mosquitoes. Moreover, they were overgrown, mutated mosquitoes! Chapter 660 Two Weeks ? Within the bog, for the first time, Fenrir''s excellent stealth abilities failed the duo. That was because as much as his abilities could hide them from being sensed, if the pup ran across a beast''s nose, then it would not need to rely on spiritual sense to find them. The problem was that this example did not carry any exaggeration at all, and was exactly what the duo faced. At times, the bog was sopletely empty that they would note across a single living thing. Other times, the ce was so packed that let alone run from in front of a beast, Fenrir directly used a beast''s head as a tform to jump over. Yet what was fortunate was that none of the creatures chasing them held any considerable threat. In fact, the reason they were chasing was because Lex and Fenrir couldn''t be bothered to deal with them, as it would be too tedious. Besides, after chasing them for a while, the beasts would either get tired, or return to their respective territories. Of course, once or twice they encountered some beasts that they could not afford to ignore. Most of the time, in such scenarios, they would choose to circle around them. If that was not possible only then would they fight. Moreover, they attacked with full force right from the get go, so they usually overwhelmed their targets. Many times, while on their journey, they crossed by some ces where Lex would feel incredible opportunities waiting for them. He felt his instincts tell him that he would benefit greatly by diverting to a certain direction, or the lenses identified some incredibly rare treasures. For example, once while running, Lex spotted what looked like a decaying tree, only for the lenses to identify them as a certain incredibly valuable herb. Moreover, the age of the herb was already several hundred years old. Among many of its other uses, the one that his lens listed that appealed most to Lex was that it could be used by Body cultivators to temper their bodies even if they were in the Nascent realm. Such a herb was genuinely extremely valuable, and Lex even considered having it sent to the greenhouse at the Inn. But, for better or for worse, Lex had decided not to take any detours during this journey. No matter how attractive an opportunity seemed, he ignored it. It may have seemed like a waste at first, but the longer they kept running, the more appropriate it seemed. After a day of running through the bog, Lex still felt some reluctance. Three dayster, he had more or less be used to the feeling of ignoring opportunities. A weekter, he waspletely numb to it. It was taking so long to travel to their destination, if he were to take small stops at every opportunity, their journey would only be that much longer. Still, he mentally marked the bog as an area where he could potentiallye back if he ever needed to gather some treasures. The tedium and monotony of their travel changed on the eighth day, when the flock of Sol birds in the region suddenly flew away. Their departure was extremely sudden and left them no room for preparation. The darkness that followed was all epassing, and carried a weight with it that the entire bog felt, not just the duo. All the creatures that had been chasing them so far suddenly stopped, and in fact did something that surprised Lex. They left their territories, and participated in a mass migration where no one creature harmed another. Despite their usual animosity, they traveled together in harmony. Where they were heading was a mystery to Lex, for it was not in the same direction as him. An hourter, the bog had be the most silent he had seen since he arrived. The sound of Fenrir''s running was muted due to the pups own abilities, so the only sound for them to hear was of the bog itself. Each bubble of noxious gas that escaped a nearby puddle, the rustling of the grass in the wind, the eerie wailing and croaking of old dead trees all seemed to form an orchestra that could be heard for miles. For a short while, they enjoyed, or suffered through, the symphony of nature that the bog orchestrated before soft, distant sound disturbed it. It was the sound of a footstep in the mushy, squishy ground of the bog. Then, a few momentster, there was another. Slowly and steadily, bit by bit, the monsters of the darkness started to appear. But these monsters, who were born from the fresh darkness, would be the weakest, and were not worth Lex''s attention. In fact, it would take weeks or even months before any monsters capable of attracting their attention could even be born. None the less Lex remained careful, for he did not know how the creatures of the bog would react. Since they had lived in such circumstances for countless years, they clearly had a way to deal with monsters, and Lex didn''t want to get swept in with them when that happened. Through the pitch darkness, the duo continued their journey for several more days. The vast size of the Crystal realm was finallying into perspective, for they had gone running nonstop for days without crossing through it, and this was only supposed to be a small territory. Finally, after running continuously for two weeks, Lex decided to take a break. Even if he could continue to stay awake for longer, he thought it was best to refresh themselves so they stayed in peak condition. He was also especially concerned for Fenrir. The pup disyed no agitation or exhaustion, but this was the longest the pup had ever gone without resting or ying at the Inn, so he wanted him to get some rest as well. The duo teleported back, and both of them went to their own abodes to clean and freshen up. Although they had already be numb to it, that did not mean that others could ignore the stench of the bog that they were reeking. After a nice, refreshing bath, Lex came to the conclusion that the Inn needed to focus more on spa facilities. New Notification: The Midnight Inn is not liable for the hosts'' bad hygiene. Lex froze. That was the first time the system had directly responded to one of his random thoughts with a notification. Was this a result of the system''s functionality improving? He tried to test it out by thinking of a few other random but derisive thoughts, but the system provided no other notifications. Lex took note of the urrence but did nothing else about it. He went straight to bed to get his first sleep in over two weeks. He was out the moment his head hit the pillow, a miracle on its own, and enjoyed a deep, restful sleep thatsted only six hours. Even that was a result of Lex refusing to wake up stubbornly. He was quite upset about his body''s decreased dependance on sleep. It was one of his favorite hobbies. Fortunately, Mary appeared to provide him with a distraction from his woeful sleep situation.N?v(el)B\\jnn "Alexander hase back to the Inn, and has requested to meet Lex." "Is Fenrir awake?" Lex asked, hoping the pup shared in his misfortune. "No, he''s asleep." Unfortunately, it was not to be. With a defeated sigh, he picked himself up and teleported over to Alexander, who was once again waiting for Lex in a remote location of the Inn. After ordering an unnecessarilyrge amount of food, Lex approached the teenager. "I heard you''re looking for me," Lex said with a pleasant smile as he sat across from him. "Yes. Although, I didn''t think you''d arrive so quickly." "It just so happened that I was free and avable. If you had arrived a few hourster, it was unlikely you''d be able to get in touch with me." "It appears I am quite lucky. You once offered to spar with me, saying that it would be a good experience for the both of us. Is that offer still avable?" "Yes, of course. But I just ordered some food. Why don''t we eat something first before we get down to business." Alexander looked reluctant, but eventually sat down across Lex. Lex, in the meanwhile, was reminded of something by Alexander''s mention of sparring. John, who had been challenged to a fight in the Murder grounds, had still not returned. The challenger had not returned either, so there was no chance that he was dead - at least, he was not dead yet anyway. But the exceedingly long fight began to worry Lex. Was it normal for fights tost so long? The truth was, fights between immortals really could stretch out for days, or sometimes even weeks. But in this case, the fighting was taking long, because John was slowly and steadily wearing his enemy out. Since the fight had turned out to be harder than expected, he had to take drastic measures. Chapter 661 Cringe ? John was aiming for a long, drawn out fight to maximize his advantages so let alone a few weeks, even a few months was eptable. The hard part was not waiting, it was staying hidden as his opponent was truly, genuinely skilled. This was perhaps the most difficult fight he had ever experienced, which is why the reward would no doubt be so much sweeter. But John wasn''t the only one locked in a tough battle. Down on earth, Marlo''s domain was under attack. Although, as of yet, the attack had not reached the level that Rafael had predicted, things were moving in the direction he predicted. He suspected that the enemy wanted to exhaust all their energy and resources before they came in for the finish, to prevent the use of any unexpected, hidden trump cards. But none of that had anything to do with Lex, at least for now. He had his hands full with his own endeavors, and could not afford to be distracted. Even meeting Alexander was a luxury he would not have availed if Fenrir were not still asleep. "So howe you suddenly thought of sparring?" Lex asked. "From what I recall, you were extremely busy with your mission. Taking time off to fight a few rounds does not exactly sound like the best course of action when chasing terrorists. Not to mention, you don''t look too great either." Alexander gave Lex an exhausted look, before letting out a long sigh. "Things are not going well," Alexander confided. "There are too many unusual aspects about my current mission. You know, I used to think that I was thoroughly disadvantaged as someone who was raised on earth. If I had received the nurturing of the empire from birth, I would have been much stronger." The teenager paused for a moment, as a waiter arrived and beganying food at the table, but then figured he wasn''t saying anything confidential so he just continued. "But,tely, I''ve finallye to realize a significant advantage I have based on my upbringing." "Oh, what is that?" Lex asked as he began having fries. "I''ve avoided the lifelong conditioning and propaganda thates with living in such an environment. When I see things, I can retain an objective view, which allows me to see patterns and trends others are blind to. "The empire is supposed to be this unstoppable behemoth, which has managed to gain control of over 20 gxies and retained full control of each one. Can you even imagine 20 gxies? Each one filled with vast, endless space. Each one popted with hundreds of trillions of different races. Each and every one of them harboring their own intricate and delicate internal systems of trade,petition, enmities, intrigue, politics, wars and more. Yet despite all of that, in its history, the control of the empire has never supposedly waver. "That''s the history that I was taught, or an overview of it. This control has been maintained through the use of excellent and ingenious administration, but moreover, a very advanced and powerful military, which is divided into various categories. One of the more important branches is the Cross Regional Interster Neutralizing Godfiend Experts (CRINGE). They are one of the most elite units, who scout talented recruits from each and every gxy and train them to be loyal only to the empire, as they can be deployed absolutely anywhere to ensure safety and stability of the empire. "The entire specific purpose of CRINGE is to ensure that no major force within the empire ever harbors rebellious thoughts. After all, there are quite a few forces in the gxies who could make life incredibly difficult for the empire." Lex was listening very seriously to Alexander, doing his best to not distract the kid as he continued to eat during his speech. But after the pause he took extended a little too long, Lex had to quickly swallow to ask a question. "I take it that something happened to them?" As if woken from a reverie, Alexander was momentarily startled, before he refocused again. "No, no nothing happened to them. It''s just that such a force already exists. Yet more and more often, across the empire, there are reports of small forces trying to gain independence from the empire. Such a trend is not limited to just one gxy, but is urring in many of them. Even therge forces don''t dare to cross the empire, so why are so many of the small ones taking that step? "But, for now, the trend ispletely insignificant. Based on the size and strength of the empire, such a thing will never destabilize it. Yet the fact that the trend even exists is concerning me. Moreover, instead of reducing, the terrorist attacks across the empire are increasing. As if that''s not enough¡­ as if that''s not enough, I''ve heard rumors that the Fiery Mammoths are showing signs of aggression. That is not an adversary the empire can just shrug off. "The timing of it all¡­ it just doesn''t seem right. I don''t know if I''m imagining things, but I keep seeing all these signs as precursors¡­ precursors to something absolutely devastating. And if something happens which can be described as devastating to the empire¡­ I don''t even know what we can do to survive." Looking at the teenager, Lex could not help but pause. It was easy to always see him as Alexander, the incredibly talented and driven young man who had taken it upon himself to venture out into space alone to build a ce for himself in the vast universe. Yet as a result of that, it was also easy to forget that, at the end of the day, he was a teenager. To be clear, he did not look depressed, or even demotivated. If anything, he actually felt stronger than when Lex saw himst. It was highly likely that Alexander would be able to regte his own mood himself soon enough. In fact, if Lex hadn''t made him sit to chat, and instead directly consented to the spar, it was unlikely he would have mentioned anything at all. Still, Lex felt like giving him a little motivation couldn''t hurt. "Do you know about the Henali?" Lex asked, taking a bite from his burrito between words. "I''ve heard about and studied the Henali convention, if that''s what you''re talking about."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "No, not that. Well, it doesn''t really matter. All you need to know is that, even the all mighty empire has to abide by the rules set forth by the Henali, or the Henali convention. So, atop the seemingly insurmountable force of the empire there is a bigger force. Yet even they, the Henali, cannot tantly do as they please, and have to show due respect to a small, certain group of people. So that means that there are bigger fish than even them out there. Who knows how far along that chain goes. "The point is, the universe is a big ce, and as hard as it is, you have to ept that you''re only a small part of it. Instead of focusing on far off and distant things, it''s a lot more useful to focus on growing your own strength. That way, when you face any problems, you can do your best to resolve them. And if you can''t, you can always run back to the Inn." Although hisst words were not the most pleasant to hear, Alexander seemed somewhat relieved to hear them. But the effect was only limited, as Alexander was only somewhat exhausted, he had not sumbed to the pressures he faced. The two continued to chat for a while longer as Lex ate. As absurd as it seemed, he really did need to consume suchrge amounts of food to keep his body running effectively. Although his dependance on food had dropped drastically, it was not eliminated. Besides, he liked it. But once the meal wasing close to ending, Lex could not help but bring the topic to their uing spar. "You never really answered my question about why you wanted to spar," he said, before grabbing some sushi with his spirit sense. "Like I said, the situation is bad. I need to improve my strength. Raising my cultivation realm would be the best solution, but it will take a considerable amount of time, especially since I have no time to cultivate at all these days. The next best thing is increasing my repertoire and getting my hands on new techniques. But while I have learnt the techniques, I''m not sure how effectively I can deploy them amidst battle yet. That''s where youe in. "If we spar, I don''t really need to worry about hurting you, so I can go all out without any reservation. It''s the closest thing to a livebat test I can get." "What, the empire doesn''t have sparring bots?" Alexander winced as he heard that. "They do¡­ and I can''t afford to keep breaking those." Chapter 662 Spar ? "Oh?" Lex asked intrigued. "Seems like you''ve been putting in a lot of practice." "I had to practice the technique somewhere¡­ how was I supposed to know that if I break a training bot, I have to pay for it." Alexander said bitterly. For the first time, he felt the bitter pinch of poverty, as he didn''t want to use his family''s resources during this time where they were preparing to shift from Mars to Vegus Minima. "Now you''re making me curious. Let''s head to a training hall. But, just a heads up, I don''t have a lot of time so this can only be a short sparring session." Alexander epted, and the two made their way to the nearest training hall. Although Lex was looking forward to having a proper spar with Alexander, he knew that his current purpose was to allow thetter to be more ustomed to histest techniques. "We can get right into it and start the fight," Lex offered, "or you can first test out your techniques on me to practice. You don''t need to be worried about holding back, I''ve improved considerably since we''vest met. In fact, if you manage to actually hurt me I''d be extremely impressed." "No, treat this as a normal fight. The whole point is to see if I can deploy the techniques under the pressure ofbat. Moreover, some of the techniques rely on the element of surprise. Knowing about them beforehand can severely reduce the impact." With the decision made, Lex no longer hesitated. Without forewarning, Lexunched himself at Alexander. Due to Lex''s current abnormal strength, his speed was devastating and not easy to cope with, especially in the range that they were in. Holding nothing back Lex threw a punch towards Alexander''s face,pletely expecting to make contact. But, surprisingly, Alexander had already started to evade even before Lex began to throw the punch. Instantly a couple of thoughts ran through Lex''s mind. First, he was fighting against someone who had some semnce of instincts simr to his own. Second, since attacks with a limited area of impact, such as punches, could be easily avoided by making small movements under the guidance of instincts, he should aim for harder to dodge attacks. Instead of punching, Lex decided to tackle Alexander with his body instead. Surely Alexander would have tried to dodge this as well, but Lex was moving too fast and they were too close. Lex came in like a wrecking ball and smashed the teenager across the room, leaving destruction in his wake. The training room they were in was supposed to be able to amodate Golden core experts, but Alexander''s body broke several of the floor tiles and cracked several of the pirs in the room as he hit them. To be honest, Lex suddenly felt a little guilty about hitting him so hard. In fact, his guilt slowly started to eat at him, and Lex began to wonder if his own sheer awesomeness had left behind a permanent scar in Alexander''s psyche. Lex fell to his knees, on the verge of wailing about the absolute tragedy that was destroying the future of such a promising youngd, when he realized that his emotions were abnormal. It was when he had that realization that he also realized that his instincts were warning him of something, but he had been too focused on his guilt to focus on it.N?v(el)B\\jnn A goldenser as thin as about a golf ball suddenly hit Lex on the forehead. Lex had been too slow to dodge, as even he could not keep up with the speed of light, but theser barely harmed him. Besides making him feel slightly warm, it brought a slight red color to his skin where he was hit, and a single tendril of smoke escaped. Lex suddenly woke up from his abnormal state and realized that at some point, Alexander must have attacked his spirit! The fact that it had worked, however briefly, was absolutely startling! For a moment, both Lex and Alexander looked at each other as if they were looking at monsters. Lex could not believe his mind was affected, for that would require influencing his ''spirit''. But since his spirit was fused with his body and soul, they had the same level of defense. Theoretically speaking, since Lex had survived a physical attack from an immortal, then his spirit should also be able to do the same - albeit he had only ''survived'' that attack, and came out of it heavily injured. Still, theparison was enough to exin how difficult it was to sway Lex''s mind. Alexander, on the other hand, looked at Lex like some kind of freak out of a fiction novel, for being able to survive such an attackpletely unharmed had to be fictional! The spirit attack Alexander hadunched on Lex was an incredibly powerful one which required him to make many preparations before battle ever even began. That meant if he used the attack once, he could not use it again unless he went back and prepared again. But it was worth it, for against a single powerful opponent, let alone freeze them, it could evenpletely destroy their psyche. Yet Lex had only suffered some mild guilt! Moreover, he recovered in less than a second! Then there was theser! He had actually killed many Golden core cultivators using that technique with a single hit, yet it could not even singe Lex''s hair. For a moment, both of them admired each other''s skills,beling the other as a freak. Thenbat continued. Lex popped in his Fancy lenses and, supported by his instincts, became impossible to hit. Moreover, since this was a spar, began testing out some theories that he always had. His favorite technique these days, Impervious Hands, had a lot more potential than he initially assumed. Not only did it have a monumentally stronger defense, he could fuse his soul and spirit sense into it to be able to interact with souls and energy respectively. Moreover, once the technique was active, if he augmented it with more spirit energy, he could directly touch whatever affinity Lex had. While previously his affinity was a vague and abstract concept, he had since developed an affinity to space. He wanted to see how his technique would be affected by that. Moreover, he wanted to see how well he could consciously control the energy in his opponents'' attacks. The triad that followed wrought untold destruction across the training room. It looked like a tornado had been trapped in the room rather than two people sparring. Lex''s absurd physical strength was alone in taking credit for the damage. Alexander had learnt a number of new techniques that relied on the golden coloredser he shot Lex with earlier. Lex''s strength and Alexander''ssers jointly became so destructive, they actually had to pause the sparring because itpromised the integrity of the training room. But since Lex still had more time, they just shifted to a new room and continued to fight. Lex had to give Alexander genuine recognition. Although it could not be said that Lex was going all out, he had not held his physical strength back at all. Despite taking a few hits head on, Alexander seemed to be doing fine. In fact, Lex could subtly detect the means Alexander was using to negate the strength of his attacks, but that did not reduce how impressive the task was. After all, who said one needed to take on all attacks? Not everyone was built as tough as Lex, so it waspletely unfair to expect them to do so. In the end, after a few hours of fighting, Mary finally informed Lex that Fenrir had woken up. As much as he enjoyed the fight, that was his cue to depart, so he informed Alexander. But, instead of ending it, Alexander asked Lex to withstand onest attack from him. Unlike his previous techniques, which he was proficient enough in to use in battle, this one would take some time to prepare, so he needed to ask Lex to stand still. Once Lex agreed, Alexander quickly sat on the floor cross legged as if he was meditating. But he was clearly not. The six des that were by now Alexander''s signature weapons, were summoned and arranged themselves in a circle, pointing towards his palms. Beads of golden light began dripping across the lengths of the des, falling from the tip into his hands as if they were liquid light. At first, Lex only watched silently and observed, but as time went on, the energy umting in Alexander''s hands began pressuring him. Although Lex was far from threatened, his eyes widened as he realized just how incredible Alexander was progressing. In fact, considering that the other was doing so well without a system made Lex feel a little ashamed. He decided to lend Alexander some help. Chapter 663 Battlefields ? It took Alexander quite a few minutes topletely gather enough liquid light in his hands toplete his attack. Once he opened his eyes and looked at Lex, the light in his hands began to effervesce and began to toss about as if bubbling with untamable energy. Time seemed to slow down as Lex focused on the seated teenager. Maintaining eye contact, Alexander opened his mouth and ushered a single word, but Lex never heard it. There was an explosion of bright light,pletely blinding not only him but the contact lenses as well. Moreover, a prickling sensation covered Lex''s entire body, as if an army of ants was walking all over his skin. He tried opening his eyes to determine what had happened, but discovered that his movements were extremely slow and disoriented. When he finally managed to open his eyes, Lex discovered, to his astonishment, that he felt dizzy. Moreover, he seemed to be looking at the ceiling. An involuntary grunt escaped his mouth as he eventually tried to move. As incredible as it may sound, Lex''s body was incredibly sore and stiff, which made it ufortable for him to move. When he finally recovered from whatever attack he had just suffered, Lex discovered that he was, once again,pletely naked. Although his body was not too hurt, the fact that his body had turnedpletely red, as if sunburnt, was already a testament to the strength of Alexander''s attack. Whatever this attack was, it had still not managed to break his skin, but internally, he felt like his bones had been thoroughly rattled. "That was a good one," Lex said out loud as he picked himself up. The pale-looking Alexander, who had overexerted himself for that attack, had his mouth hung open as he tried to imagine what exactly it would take to hurt Lex. "Thanks," he managed to mumble as Lex helped him stand. "I have something for you," Lex said, as he summoned the crystal crown he got so long ago from the Crystal realm. This was an extremely useful tool that Lex had once termed as his thinking cap. It allowed Lex to artificially enter a ''Flow'' like state, and it was much stronger than Lex''s own ability - or at least it was back then. Now, after multiple breakthroughs, Lex no longer needed it. "This thing is called Issle''Garb, although I just usually refer to it as my thinking cap. It can only be used by people who follow the True path. Try it out." Lex tossed the crown to Alexander as if it was a toy instead of a precious tool, which greatly startled Alexander, especially since he was still disoriented. But then he remembered he had spirit sense, so he directly grabbed the crown out of the air and put it on his head. After channeling his spirit energy through the crown, Alexander experienced the wonderful feeling of the heightened ''Flow'' state, and immediately understood its value. "Are you sure you don''t need this?" he asked, taking the crown off. Currently, he did not have the energy to spare to continue using it. "Yes, it''s not that useful for me anymore, so you might as well get some use out of it. The next few months I''ll be slightly busy, so if you need me, try to leave a message in advance." Then, without waiting for Alexander to reply, Lex teleported away. It was a bad habit he developed while acting as the Innkeeper. Even though Lex had left, Alexander still had some more free time, so he decided to stay at the Inn and recover from his exhaustion for a bit. He exited the training room and was heading towards thezy river when he saw a familiar face - one he hadn''t seen in a while. RussianPrincess77 was standing there, seemingly waiting for him. Why was she always so creepy like that? But then again, she was always extremely helpful. Back when he was still on earth, she seemed to maintain some sort of advantage over him in cultivation. He thought that after everything he went through, he would finally overtake her, but no, his instincts were clearly warning him that she still had formidable strength. "Long time no see," he said, as he walked to her. "Yeah, it has been a while. I wish we could catch up, but you have no time. You really need to return to work." "Huh?" Alexander didn''t immediately understand what she was saying, so she rified. "Trust me, you want to go back to work as quickly as possible. When you get free again next time, look for me. I have a favor to ask of you." Alexander was supposed to have a lot of free time, otherwise he would not havee to the Inn. But he already had some experience with RussianPrincess77''s prophetic advice, so he decided to listen to her, and returned. The moment he reappeared in his room back on Polebitvy, the sound of someone banging on his door weed him. rmed, he quickly opened the door to find his immediate superior, Immortal Valkyrie, standing there. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om For some reason, probably due to his exhaustion from overexerting his energy, he had the deranged thought that Valkyrie looked somewhat simr to Lex. He immediately erased that thought, as he didn''t want to curse his friend out like that. "What''s wrong with you?" she asked bluntly, clearly staring at his disheveled state. "I was training. I had some free time while mytest report was being processed." "Well, free time is over. I have no proof, but I feel like I know what Jeffery and his organization are after on this. In a few months, an incredibly important VIP will pass through here.I believe he is their target. Your new task¡­ is to find proof of that." ***** While Lex returned to the Crystal realm, to once again journey through the bog, and Alexander was being ordered around by ''Immortal Valkyrie'', things on earth were extremely chaotic. The invasion of New York had been going on for many days, but it suddenly took a turn for the worse. It was as if the A.I. had stopped focusing everywhere on earth, and instead were only attacking there. Rafael was in themand center, organizing four different battles being held in different parts of the state, and yet it seemed like more invaders wereing from everywhere. Even if he wanted to defend, there were no more soldiers for him to muster. "Anakin, what''s the status on your side? You think you''ll be done soon?" "Nearly there," was the only response he got. On Anakin''s side, he was standing over the defeated body of one of the A.I. While many of them had organic bodies, he finally encountered one which had a body made from machines - or at least machines as identified on earth. When the war started, young Anakin Indiana e was actually slightly scared. But once he got over that initial bout of fear, he discovered how liberating war really was. He had strength, and he had Rafael''s guidance keeping him from messing up. All that was left was to have lots of fun. "You know," Anakin said, as he brought his face near the robotic body lying on the ground, "I''ve heard the world''s firstputer virus was in Lahore, Pakistan. I know a Pakistani guy who lives in Queens, I wonder if I can get him to make a virus for you." The A.I. did not respond, but only kept looking up at Anakin. In truth, the battle was already over, but Anakin had been looking for prisoners he could take. He finally found one that would fill his needs. "I also have a Russian friend who is holed up near Brooklyn. I wonder if 30 terabytes of kinky grandma videos will slow down your processing or not." The robot had no idea what Anakin was saying, but it got the feeling that it should be afraid. But Anakin was not paying attention to the robot''s reaction, anyway. He had thrown his head back and wasughing maniacally, and the shadows in the surrounding area were trembling, as ifughing along with him. Inside Anakin''s soul, an old evil grandpa was watching everything, feeling the satisfaction of watching the younger generation grow up. On another battlefield Rafael was controlling, Larry was fighting like a madman. Influenced heavily by Marlo, Larry had a deceivingly sly battle style, relying on his inescapable control over metal. Unlike Anakin''s battles, where he asionally took prisoners to study more about their enemies, Larry left no survivors. Most of the time, he left no corpses either. The third battlefield was the most unusual. All the soldiers did not rush forward, and only held defensive positions while Souta alone fought all the enemies. After the death of his previous master, Souta had received a number of quests which involved gathering special materials which could be found in the invading aliens'' bodies. Once hepleted the quests, and gathered the supplies, his system absorbed them and underwent an evolution, turning from a Samurai system to a Ronin system. The system had be much stronger, and thus, so had Souta. The final battlefield¡­ was Marlo''s. Unlike the others, he had no soldiers backing him up. He was a lone soldier, facing the bulk of the invasion on his own. Chapter 664 Traveling ? Once again, Lex was riding Fenrir to pass through the bog. The area he was passing through right now was extremely dangerous, not because of the darkness or the monsters, but some unknown danger. Both Fenrir and Lex felt an extreme threat as soon as they neared, which was unusual for no such danger was mentioned on the ''map'' they were following. As such, Lex was at least reassured in knowing that he had managed to get his suits Geeves. He was not wearing his first suit, which Geeves had designed for frustratingly sturdy defense, but the second one, made from Orion''s scales. The second suit was designed for stealth, and went even beyond the features the scales provided.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The scales could perfectly hide energy signatures, making it easy for one to hide from spirit sense and scanners, yet did nothing for visibility - that issue was handled by other features of the attire. The suit Lex was wearing, was styled differently from contemporary suits, and was more in line with the fashion trends of earth during the 19th century. The color was an unusual blend, which would more easily allow Lex topletely disappear in even the mildest shadows, yet at the same time allow him to fall perfectly into the background even inpletely illuminated environments. The pants were straight but smart, the waistcoat quite fitted to his body and a small bowtie. It was the coat that was most distinct as it required only the top button to be closed, for underneath it the coat nted sideways, no longer covering Lex''s chest, and transitioned into a kind of cape. Apparently the style was called a Frock coat. Although it sacrificed a lot in terms of defensive capabilities, that was never really a requirement at all. Allowed to focuspletely on stealth, Geeves was able to provide Lex with a suit that would allow him to disappear without the need for any spiritual techniques at all. Now that, on top of Fenrir''s already impressive abilities made it so that Lex did not need to be worried about being detected. Yet still the feeling of danger persisted. During this period the duo was extremely careful, and Lex was ready to enter his flow state at any moment. For once, his trusty and handy lenses failed him, in the regard that they were not able to detect the source of any danger. But fortunately, 8 hourster, they left the area unharmed and uninterrupted. The dayster, they finally left the bog and entered the Sentinel territory. Here, Fenrir''s stealth would y an important role once again. The Sentinel race could not exactly be called Xenophobic, as they had good rtions with many races. Unfortunately, humans were not included among those races. The Sentinels were a humanoid race with extremely strong spirits but weak physical bodies. As it turns out, the resources they needed to then cultivate their bodies were often the same as those required by humans. In this matter, they were even more sensitive than humans, for they absolutely needed those resources. If they did not continuously strengthen their bodies, they would not be able to support their growing spirit. In the end, they would be bottlenecked and unable to grow. Theck of resources and thepetitive nature of cultivation ensured that the two races were never able to be allies. Even at their best, the two races were able to maintain a hostile neutrality, with countless small skirmishes. There was a small note in the map stating that if Lex had a good rtionship with the Sentinels, he could take a teleportation formation from one of their cities and skip a lot of the traveling he was about to face. Unfortunately, Lex had never developed a rtionship with them, and thus would not be able to do that. Taking the longer route was his only option. He would have to traverse the Sentinel territory into the unimednds, which would be a stretch of territory where no sentient race hadid im. Suchnds weremon, and could be eitherpletely safe, or home to exceptionally strong or dangerous beasts. There was no real way of knowing. The duo continued their journey, managing to avoid detection throughout. Weekster, once they crossed the unimednds, they faced ake. Although it was called ake, the body of water wasrger even than the oceans on earth. Crossing theke was not hard as Fenrir was easily capable of running on water - or at least it was not supposed to be. Two days into their journey, a flock of Frio birds appeared in the sky and shed with a nearby flock of Sol birds. At first Lex thought that they were fighting, but it quickly became obvious that they¡­ were involved in some kind of mating ritual. As happy as Lex felt for the local poption of these massive divine birds, the results of their ritual were absolutely devastating! A storm covered theke unlike one Lex had ever seen. Boiling water rained from the sky, beginning to evaporate even as it fell. At the same time, snow and hail battered theke as if they had a personal vendetta. The rapidly changing temperatures, from warm to cold, from cold to freezing to instantly boiling, and then back againpletely confused even nature itself. Massive tidal waves rose, but evaporated before they fell. Theke froze over, trapping even Fenrir where he ran, then erupted due to pressure umted due to the boiling water trapped beneath the frozen surface. It was too much, and even Lex''s powerful defenses were nothing in the face of nature''s fury. Eventually they had to retreat to the Inn until the natural disaster that was that mating ritual ended. But even 10 dayster, nothing seemed to change. At this point Lex was beginning to feel desperate. His destination was too far, and time was running short. Moreover, every minute his workers were out on the battlefield, risking their lives for a fight that Lex thought waspletely pointless. In the end, unable to contain himself, Lex ended up back at the Infinity Emporium in an attempt to purchase a vehicle small enough to fit inside his spatial bangle, while also fast enough to make up for time that he had lost, and at the same time sturdy enough to withstand the ursed neverending ''mating ritual''. As it turned out, there were a few options he could take, but they all left him unsatisfied. It was then that he discovered something. Possibly due to being spoiled by his own system, he realized that as incredible as the emporium was, it had a severeck of rare or extremely impressive goods. That was not to say their catalog was bad. Clearly it was great, for they had helped Lex numerous times already. But even their rarest items were never of the quality or type he came to expect from systems. For example, he still had not been able to find a cloning technique that satisfied him, but he was somehow sure that if he received a cloning technique as a reward for some SSS+ rank quest, he would be extremely pleased with it. He was too used to one of a kind, overwhelmingly incredible items from his system Inparison, normal rare items which could theoretically be found in the vaults of anyrge organization could no longer impress him. After all, that rarity was a result of limited market avability, and not because the item itself was actually incredibly rare and impressive. Feeling spoiled in such a manner, in the end Lex bought a small ''jet'' in the shape of a canoe. It had no thrusters or rockets or guns or anything of the sort, but came with an impressive shield that could block out even serious meteor impacts, and traveled really fast. It was not stealthy at all, and would cause multiple sonic booms onunch, but for now it fulfilled Lex''s needs. He did not have the time to be picky. In the end, Lex and Fenrir returned in their new canoe, only to discover that the storm ended literally minutes after their arrival! Suppressing his agitation, Lex started the canoe and shot through the air. Fenrir tried to stick its head out of the shield to feel the wind but was nearlyunched out of the canoe, and was only saved due to Lex. Moreover¡­ the fur on its face had been pulled off as if waxed! The traumatized pup immediately squealed and threw itself in Lex''sp and began sobbing. Lex tried to keep himself fromughing, for the sight was too hrious. Also, he had to focus on navigating so he could not afford such a distraction. Three dayster, they arrived in the territory of a Trelop, where he could take his next teleportation formation. Meanwhile, back in the Origin realm, almost a month had passed since the Midnight Battalion had been sent on their first mission. Chapter 665 Warriors

Chapter 665 Warriors

On a continent covered in perpetual darkness by a thick curtain of clouds, the orange glow of moltenva illuminated an area clear of any and all vegetation. Only dirt, broken rocks and massive, pointed boulders protruding from the ground itself could be seen. To call the region barren would be to praise it too highly, for this was a ce abandoned even by death for countless years. Only recently, due to the intense conflict, had living creatures once again crossed this in of destion, and the reward for their transgression was to be hunted down mercilessly. What followed then¡­ was a war that gave even the most experienced soldiers nightmares. Whether it was the elves, the treants, the werewolves or the vampires, they all looked towards a particr battalion from only the corners of their eyes, almost flinching at the sight of them. They dared not look at them directly. They did not want to offend them. They also did not feel worthy. There, on the precipice of an ocean of magma, stood 999 soldiers radiating an aura of pure and utter annihtion, purely honed and kept in perfect control. As ash and soot rained from the sky, they stood perfectly straight, their attirecking even a single wrinkle or speck of dirt. Whether it was when theyid siege to armies much bigger than their own, or as they ended a drought that hadsted many millennia by watering the ground in rivers of their enemies blood, or when they walked through mes or brought down behemoths that shook the ground with every step, their appearance remained pristine, as if to say that they were not putting in any real effort. On this where everyone should have had simr power levels, so as to not destabilize the itself through too much destruction, they were an exception that totally destroyed the concept of power levels to begin with. As if rising to the challenge that this battalion of impossibly strong soldiers presented, the Fuegan revealed a plot both sinister and malefic. Having prior knowledge of the valuable resources on this, and anticipating that the fighting parties would not want to sacrifice the, they popted the with deadly, artificially created aliens. But the threat of those aliens, who were devouring and destroying the itself, was merely a curtain of deception to hide their true intentions. Due to the Midnight Battalion''s relentless assault, they chased the parasites of this even into thesends that should have been out of their way, followed closely by the allied forces. Here, they discovered a solitary temple, seemingly built out dirt and dead wood. Within the temple they discovered arva in the form of some kind of a vile deformity, still being nurtured in an amniotic sac made from the skin of beasts. Surrounding it were numerous formations, feeding it with the aura of death, of pain, of agony, of catastrophe, all umted during this genuine world war. But it was already toote. Although still notpletely mature, upon being discovered the sac burst and the deformity was released into the world. With a wail that sounded like the misery filled screams on a trillion souls, the¡­ the thing announced its arrival. The itself seemed to almost fracture under that terrible cry, and suddenly every living being on that somehow knew that the was heading towards destruction. Panic, fear, confusion spread not only on the surface of the, but also through the many ships surrounding the. Immediately the superiors decided to give up on the, and extract all their soldiers. They could not afford to lose all their elite. Once the soldiers were evacuated, they would kill the creature by destroying the by using weapons of mass destruction. But, as if the creature''s cry had opened Pandora''s box, a meteor shower suddenly appeared out of nowhere, crashing into countless ships. After the initial strike, alien forces appeared in space, resulting in an impromptu space battle, leaving no ships free for evacuation. Hopelessness and desperation spread through the surface of the. All the soldiers deployed on the were Foundation realm, but the newly born creature was already in the Golden core realm. Moreover, as it quickly burrowed down into the ground, eating everything in its path, its aura was rapidly growing. The creature''s destination was the core of the, its intentions clear. Perhaps this was only the first step in an borate n the Fuegan had long prepared. The aliens, which had so far shown a distinctck of unified intelligence, began coordinating impably to ughter all the so-called ''elites''. Although it was unlikely, since the creature had been born prematurely and wasn''t at full strength, clearly the mastermind behind the scenes didn''t want to take a chance and so wanted to upy all the forces on ground in a fight for survival. This way, none could target the newborn. It was then, during that most hopeless hour, when death was near certainty and all their efforts seemed for naught, that some noticed this single testament of indomitability. It was like a sword that would cut through the world itself if it came in its way. It was like the first ray of sunshine, pushing back the darkness even of the abyss. It was an unstoppable force that would tear apart any immovable object that came in its way. It was the Midnight Battalion, and their increasingly fast march was their response to the wail of a trillion souls. They were making their way to the tunnel that creature had dug towards the core with the spirit of warriors that could not be defeated, could not be deterred, could not be swayed. Just as some thought that perhaps there was hope, a tremor shook the, and moltenva erupted from the tunnel, like a volcano long stewing. The ripple of that explosion could be seen by the naked eye and the shockwave killed thousands. But the battalion was not stopped for even a second, as they changed from 1000 soldiers into a single undefeatable mech. With noble purpose the mech dove into theva itself, disappearing from view. Across the armageddon seemed to have arrived. Tremors, storms, tidal waves, volcanoes and every other kind of disaster seemed to strike all at once. Scans from orbit seemed to show that the was on the path to exploding. All hope was lost. This would be a grievous defeat for the allied forces. But then, the tremors seemed to slow down, their might waning. Then, shocking every living creature that saw the scene, the ground erupted once again. Yet instead ofva, a mech and a massive insect-like creature emerged from the ground. With tens of thousands of small limbs the creature smashed the mech, and with a maw that could eat throughs the creature bit at it. Yet the mech was not only strong, but had deftness one could not expect from its massive frame. Dodging each and every attack, the mech fought back, in in view for all to see. Very literally, this was a fight to determine the fate of a. The fight was devastating, to say the least. Even without the creature purposefully trying to destroy the, their fight seemed to put the in that direction. More and moreva erupted as the shockwaves from their fight seemed to break the tectonic tes, ultimately forming an ocean ofva. Yet there was no reprieve or respite. There would only be victory or death, and clearly the result had been a resounding victory. Once the creature was finally in, the mech vanished in a cloud of smoke and the battalion was once again revealed. But, instead of the 1000 soldiers that had formed the mech, only 999 emerged. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om With such a result, who would have cared. The price of a single life for such a victory was one anymander would be willing to pay. Yet it seemed everyone had misunderstood the situation. The 1 that was missing had not died, but had dove back into theva as soon as the mech was dismissed. No one knew his purpose, and when anyone asked, the battalion did not respond. Long gone were the amicable and friendly workers of the Inn. These were now the battle hardened soldiers who dared to steal life back out from the jaws of death itself, and they would not reveal the purpose behind one of their soldiers actions. Eventually, even as the was cleared and evacuations once again began, they chose not to move, and not to retreat. Even the alliedmand, who had sent them onto this, ordered them to reveal what they were doing, but one of the soldiers, Gerard, simply told them to mind their own business. It was only an entire dayter that a single, still suited figure emerged from theva ocean. The outsiders could not tell who it was, for all the members of the battalion had their faces covered, but they themselves knew who it was. It was Luthor, and when he emerged from theva, he was radiating a much more powerful aura. Clearly he had restrained himself and kept himself from entering a higher cultivation level, but even still stuck at the Foundation realm, he felt much stronger than before. "Let''s go. The next battlefield awaits." Chapter 666 Little Devil ? The 1000 soldiers seemed to be walking casually, but they smoothly shuffled amongst one another and came into their designated spots. While their gait remained nonchnt, they would be ready to react at the first sign of trouble. From the moment of their birth, they had remained under the nurturing care of the Innkeeper, in the paradise that was the Midnight Innpared to the battlefield that they had recently endured. The battle prowess be what it may be, that did not change the fact that they were now living apletely different life and were exposed to horrors and difficulties they never could have imagined. Undoubtedly that put immense mental pressure on them. Who wanted to be on a dying, crumbling when they would be at the Inn instead? Yet while they endured that pressure,their hearts never wavered. In fact, their determination to ovee these trials grew stronger. After all, they finally got a glimpse of the pressure the Innkeeper was keeping at bay for them. They finally saw first hand the trials the Innkeeper was facing alone, so that they would not have to. All they had to face were enemies near the Foundation realm, while the Innkeeper had to face the entire universe himself.N?v(el)B\\jnn Through fire and fury and blood they renewed their resolution to grow stronger, and they did. Fighting side by side, ensuring that none of their brothers or sisters was harmed, they used this war as an anvil, and their enemies as the hammer which would shape them into the fiercest warriors. Of course, it helped that their suits made them immune to any damage from a foe at their level. But that defense allowed them to survive their mistakes when they made it, and fix them so that they wouldn''t make them again. "Everything alright?" Gerard asked Luthor as he walked up beside him. Although they had supported his actions without question, no one actually knew why he had dived back into theva. Instead of answering directly, Luthor held up his right arm and conjured up a purple me that seemed toe out of his arm itself, instead of just being summoned atop it. "Near the core I sensed something calling me, so when I had the opportunity, I returned for it. I found a feather made of purple mes that merged into my body, and strengthened me. Apparently, I was extremelypatible. "Information about my change appeared in my mind. This is the Purple Phoenix me, a kind of special me that is extremely destructive, and is born under extremely special circumstances. Of course, these are not real Phoenix mes, but that is just how it is named. By absorbing the mes, I have apparently activated my dormant physique, which is the Nine Nether Fire Body. I can continuously absorb special fires into my body, and once I''ve collected nine of them, they will merge and give birth to a new kind of me." Gerard was not surprised to hear this. Over the past month, many of them had not only awakened their bloodlines, but also other special powers. There were a few of them who had unlocked strange abilities that conformed neither to any cultivation method they were aware of. Once they were evacuated, they could request theirmanding officer to give them special guidance from the allied forces training officers. Since that would only raise their battle prowess, they would not be denied. Before they were sent to this, they had been briefed not only on what was expected of them, but the kind of support that they could get from the allied forces. Soon, someone with much more knowledge than them woulde and teach them about the new abilities they unlocked, and how to use them. "What''s a ''special physique''? Any idea?" he asked, only mildly curious. He wondered if he had one. "None whatsoever. But what I have figured out is the hidden reason the Innkeeper sent us all here. It may look like he was just agreeing to the demands of our hosts, who own this realm, but in fact, he just wanted us to use this opportunity to experience the universe for ourselves, and discover the direction we want to go in. "In the safe and secure grounds of the Inn, we would never face the pressure that is required for us to grow. What do you think, Z?" The teenager was walking behind them, seemingly distracted. His focus was on a floating ''ball'' above his index finger. The ball did not exist, and seemed only visible due to the fact that light passing through it was bending across its surface. The ''ball'' was also contracting and rxing, like a beating heart. Yet the beat did not produce a sound. Instead, it seemed to spread a ripple through space itself, one which could be felt not only through one''s body, but in their soul as well. It was not really a sound as it was experienced and not heard, but at the same time it reminded one of the steady beat on drums. A second such ball appeared above his middle finger, beating at a slightly faster pace. Together, the beating of the two balls produced a steady rhythm which tickled the memory of many of those around him. The rhythm was familiar, as if it was the beginning of a song they had heard, but could not exactly recall. "Sure, whatever you say," Z replied, not really paying too much attention to Luthor. His focus waspletely on the balls of distorted space he was ying with. Unfortunately, all of his prepared speakers broke within thest month. So now, he had to think of some alternative way of producing music. Apparently, bending space itself, before allowing it to partially return to its natural state produced a beat like drums. Now he had to figure out how to recreate the ''sound'' of a guitar through space itself. Although this was hard, once he was finished, he would be able to y his music inside a vacuum as well. That would surely help in space fights. He was looking forward to it. Everyone around him chuckled, but said nothing. Over the past month, it was not Luthor or Gerard who had shone the most. Even with Luthor''s upgraded power, he was not sure he could measure up to Z. As if he were a protagonist of an anime, Z kept growing stronger at an exponential rate. Still in the Foundation realm, even without actualizing his affinity in his energy which only happened in the Golden core realm, Z was ying around with space as if it took no effort to distort it at all. Although he was not the only one who had attained a space affinity, he was the only one who had mastered it to such an unbelievable level. He was now stronger and more lethal than any of them, yet unlike the rest he did not gain a hardened and jagged aura from the month long war. Instead, he retained his childlike innocence, his slightly introverted and shy tendencies despite the fact that he had somehow be friends with almost all the workers at the Inn. Without the music around topletely change how he behaved and fought, for a time, he had be extremely docile. After all, it was not in his nature to fight. He used the music to ''get him in the mindset'' to fight. Without it, he was handicapped. Until thest fight, in which he discovered the power of drums. Using only those, he unleashed the power of war drums. What happened after that¡­ well since he was the one incharge of the mech, the results spoke for themself. Among the other battalions who had seen him fight, and recently even among his ownrades, Z had gained a new nickname though he himself was unaware. Behind his back, and in whisper, people spoke about the Little Devil who hid his true self behind a camouge of youth and innocence. Not that anyone wasining, since he was on their side. The members of the Inn didn''t even take it too seriously. But in the allied forces, a file waspiled on the ''Little Devil'', and sent up themand chain. It seemed even some superiors had begun to keep an eye on him. ***** In the Crystal realm, Lex continued to travel across thends that seemed to never end. Since it was not safe to cultivate in such an environment, even inside his ''ship'', Lex mostly took this time to review his arrays. He also sent his projections inside the library in the Inn to begin studying. The lenses were revealing a lot of information to him that he didn''t understand, which only showed the depth of his ignorance. He had to remedy that as soon as possible. Like this, another two weeks passed. After traversing various terrains and avoiding countless dangers, Lex arrived at the next spot he would take a teleportation formation. For some reason, despite his progress, an anxiety began to build in Lex''s heart. He seemed to be feeling like¡­ he was running out of time. Chapter 667 Random Events ? The area he arrived at was not the territory of some noble, but instead a trade city established by some kind of sect. The sect itself was quite mysterious, and not many knew the details of their practices or purpose. They were, however, quite epting of everyone and everything as long as they obeyed thews of their territory. Moreover, the sect would ept members of any race withoutpromising the unity that the sect members disyed. Why the members had so much unity was yet another mystery, and not one Lex was too interested in at the moment. Lex was too distracted by the growing tension he felt. At first, he thought that the anxiety was normal. After all, almost two months out of six had already passed, yet he was not anywhere close to his destination. Sure, the teleportation formations would surely help and theoretically, he would arrive in the middle of the fourth month or early in the fifth month if all went well. This was the deduction based on the map. But there was no way of anticipating any problems he might encounter along the way. But as the anxiety grew, Lex reassessed the situation and concluded that it was a hint from his instincts. He began deducing what issues he would encounter and how he could circumvent them. In his mind, the feeling of running out of time was a result of him being on a tight schedule, which was the most logical deduction. After making a few contingency ns, he headed directly to the teleportation formation to continue his journey. As it happened, quite coincidentally, at the exact same time, various seemingly unrted yet incredibly important events were taking ce. In the Crystal realm, at that very moment, Aegis, the crown prince of the Hum nation, seemed to be in the middle of a devastating battle. As the foremost genius the Hum nation had ever produced, there were very few instances where he was beaten so badly, and all of them were at the hands of his own father. This time was no exception. "Aegis, why are you doing this?" the King asked, somewhat exasperated. Was it not enough to rule the entire human race? Now he had to deal with parental issues as well.N?v(el)B\\jnn Around the two was a battlefield, littered with the corpses of Kraven. They were deep within the territory lost by humans, so neither of them had reason to be there. Cornelius especially should not have been there. "Why am I doing this? I think the question should be, why aren''t you doing this? I am only seeking retribution for the losses we have suffered against the Kraven, and taking back what is ours." "I have told you Aegis, you alone cannot face all the threats that humans face. The human race as a whole must be stronger. If they depend on the strength of a single man to keep them safe, they will once again fall as soon as that man disappears." "Such a convenient answer, when it requires you to sit back and do nothing but let the humans die! Why train me so hard then, if you were never going to let me use my strength? You should have let me live in mediocrity." "I am not doing nothing, I am raising the strength of the human race bit by bit! If you had obeyed my orders, and retrieved the cultivation technique of the True path, as I had told you to do, you would be doing the same." "The cultivation technique of the True path? What''s the point in pursuing a path that the majority of the human race cannot follow? That directly contradicts your statement about raising their strength as a whole!" At this point, Aegis was screaming at his father. Years of bitterness and resentment had mixed in with the new frustrations he felt as he began exploring the truth of the Crystal realm, under the hints of the Innkeeper. He had already developed a few theories of the truth, but each one hurt his innocent heart more than the next. Before Cornelius could answer, there was a sh of lightning, and with it, Aegis disappeared. In his stead, he left behind a few roaring words that echoed throughout the battlefield. "WASH YOUR NECK OLD MAN! IF YOU HAVE SOLD THE HUMAN RACE, THEN I WILL BE BACK TO CUT IT OFF!" Instead of being angered, Cornelius only sighed. It seemed his son was finally entering his rebellious phase. Elsewhere in the Crystal realm, an army of Kraven was slowly marching out once again. Yet what was different between this army, and every other army that they sent out, was that each and every member¡­ was an immortal! Hundreds of thousands of immortal Kraven were on the move, their destination unknown. Back in the Origin realm, quite a few significant events were happening at the same time as well. The allied forces, meaning the various forces who under the order of the Henalibined their strength tobat the Fuegan, were both unified in their mission, yet at the same time very disjointed in their chain ofmand. At least, that was the case with the allied forces operating in the Suera gxy. As such, a lot of information often went missing, and entire records sometimes disappeared. This was usually not due to any sabotage, but just bad logistics. Among the millions of orders being processed each minute, a file containing the deployment orders of the Midnight Battalion suddenly disappeared, and in its ce, another file appeared withpletely different orders. At the same time, a file containing details of Z were copied and sent to an unknown destination, far away from the gxy. On Earth, the battle for New York took a drastic turn when a group of immortals suddenly appeared and surrounded Marlo. Yet facing certain death, Marlo did not frown, and instead grinned like a madman. On his neck, the golden nano-talismans he was so proud of began to shine. The advantage of being known for stupidly intense brute strength was that people often forget that Marlo was also a genius businessman, strategist and an overall intelligent person. For a long time he had been wondering if he could create a spiritual technique that mimicked the effects of a nuclear bomb. If he could, then he''d be able to convert it into a talisman, right? It was time to see the fruits of his efforts. In another ce in the Origin realm, the Fiery Mammoths had officially sent a delegation to the central gxy of the Jotun empire while unofficially they had begun to invade the gxy neighboring theirs. True war was not their intention, so as long as their negotiations were concluded sessfully, the situation would not escte. In another in the Origin realm, Bastet and Fk wore a depressed look as they were escorted into a jail cell. At their cultivation level, they were more or less at the absolute peak strength that the Origin realm would naturally allow, so the identity of their captor was extremely mysterious. Even they did not know who it truly was, or what they wanted. After all, they had been overwhelmed the instant they were discovered. Somewhere else, in the Henali portal, someone sent out an invite for members to join a book reading club. The venue for their meeting would be the Midnight Inn. Elsewhere, far away from both the Origin realm and the Crystal realm, in one of the older and moreplete realms, a group of four had encircled a single being. The group consisted of a true dragon, its massive red body radiating unbearable heat, a gravin, a race equal to both dragons and celestials, a henali, and Kilgore, a beastpletely unique in the universe with no other members of its race besides itself. The being that was encircled was, surprisingly, a member of the celestial race! What was more unusual was that, despite the celestial being a Daolord, looked like he was suffering from grevious wounds. "Do you know what you''re doing?" the celestial asked in a hoarse voice. "Do you think you can afford the consequences of harming me? There is no race more unified than the celestials! None of you will escape!" "You should have thought of that before you messed with the Versalis Bank," said the Henali, showing no signs of remorse. "Are you serious? You''re all dogs of a bank?" "Stupid celestial, don''t you know the most importantw in the universe? There is nothing more powerful than money!" Growled the dragon. "The celestial race will never let you go!" the celestial said, anger and hatred filling his voice. "We shall see," replied Kilgore. Then, the group attacked once more. They did not ultimately kill the celestial, for that was easier said than done. They did, however, capture the celestial, and took him away. As soon as the celestial was delivered, their debts to the bank would be cleared. As for what happened afterwards, that was the bank''s problem, not theirs. Chapter 668 Destiny Rank ? Based on his previous experiences, Lex was prepared to face some kind of hurdle. But, unexpectedly, he faced no problems. He used the teleportation formation normally, like every other paying customer.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om When he arrived at his destination, he traveled for a few more days on his ship before once again arriving in a neighboring territory where he could once again use a teleportation formation. Such a trend continued for one more month. Not only did Lex not encounter any unusual problems, but he even came across a few people who were quite helpful. For example, he stumbled into arge caravan that was heading in the same direction as him. After paying a nominal sum, he apanied them on their airship, which brought him to his destination a week ahead of schedule. Another time, he reached a city to discover that the teleportation formation of that city had recently been upgraded, and could take him much farther than was in his original n. Moreover, the owner of that city seemed to be married to one of Jasmine''s siblings. As such, upon discovering Lex''s token, not only did he expedite his journey, he took no money from him either. Paying was not really a problem for Lex. As a result of his many trades at the Inn, he had umted well over a hundred million ordinary spirit stones. Paying a few thousand here or other made no difference to him. During his long periods of traveling, he would send a clone to study various topics at the library so as to increase his knowledge. Since the Innkeeper was perceived as a powerful entity, Lex had to learn as much as possible about as many things as possible. Fenrir could not do such a thing, but he was not bored either. Although Lex offered to leave him at the Inn, he wanted to travel as well. Even when he could do nothing else, he enjoyed looking out at the passing scenery. During this period, Alexander once even asked Lex for help. Unfortunately, Lex could not afford any dys until he reached the Crystal realm, and so had to tell him he was currently unable to help. He also got regr reports from Mary about the ongoing rumors at the Inn, as Velma stillpiled the files she used to submit to the Innkeeper. The thing that interested him most was that apparently the war on earth had temporarily stopped, because apparently everyone was afraid that Marlo would destroy the. There were no details to that rumor, yet somehow Lex did not doubt the authenticity of it. At the same time, he discovered that Rnd, the once newspaper boy back in the Crystal realm, had developed an extremely wide and vast informationwork that he used to supplement the Midnight Newsroom. Apparently, the entire realm was heading towards turmoil as no one was at peace. Lex did not pay attention to such things, as he had other concerns. The several month long event that he had held wasing to a close, which meant that naturally he would lose all the security the event brought with it. That naturally meant Lex needed to think of a new event. For now, he had the nning division propose some ideas, as he was too upied toe up with and oversee a new event. The good thing was that the Inns ie had been quite steady, and during this period his savings hade to 350 billion MP once again. Basically, there was more than enough MP to continue doing events for a long time. He also had to continue expanding the Inn, as more and more guests were starting toe. Lately, developing arge underwater city had been added to his agenda, as a lot of aquatic beasts were beginning to visit, and the smallkes and rivers he had across the Inn were beginning to get crowded. But these were just on the agenda for now. He would deal with all this once he had enough time. At the current rate, it would only take him a couple more weeks at max to reach the Crystal nation, and then from there he imagined getting to Valesco should be easy. After all, he was expecting them to have aprehensive transport system within their own territory. The reputation of the strongest and most developed race of the realm required at least that much. But it seemed that Lex''s good luck eventually ran out. One day, while they were traversing a grasnd in some unimednds, during hisst long distance journey for this trip, something happened. The ship could not fly too high, and was traveling about 10 feet from the ground. Normally, that was enough to get them clear of any obstacles, but the grass in these grasnds was unusually high so Lex''s visibility was null. But such a mundane problem could not stop Lex as he just used his spirit sense to keep an eye on his surroundings, ensuring they were traveling in the correct direction. But the distance his spirit sense could cover was ultimately limited, and he could not see too far away from himself. As such, he did not notice that he was heading directly towards a wall of rolling fog which seemed to be covering the grasnds. Perhaps, if his visibility was not blocked, he could have seen iting. But even so, what could fog really even do? He could still navigate with his spirit sense, so it was unlikely he would have done anything. But the odd thing was, even when he got close enough for his spirit sense to interact with the fog, he was not able to detect it. In fact, even his instincts failed to warn him that anything was approaching him, whether it be harm or not. It was not until the ship flew into the fog that he actually noticed it. Immediately Lex became alert, though Fenrir looked at him with confusion. There seemed to be no threat, so why was Lex reacting like this? The answer was simple. Although Lex was heavily dependent on his instincts, he was well aware that his instincts could not react to things rted to systems, so he never dropped his guard. Naturally, if there was one thing that his instincts failed to interact with, there could be others. Although the fog did not seem threatening at all, the fact that he was taken by surprise was a very rming matter. In fact, even as he continued to travel through the fog, his spirit senses were unable to detect it. "There''s something wrong," Lex began to tell Fenrir, when he noticed something else, which was even more rming! The lenses could not detect the fog at all! In fact, even his right eye could not see the fog. Only and only his left eye, which had mutated, could see it. Lex raised his alertness to the maximum level even as he turned the ship around to immediately head back. He was not concerned for his safety, as he could always retreat to the Inn. But if he retreated to the Inn, every time he would return to the Crystal realm, he would still be here. Ultimately, his quest to reach the Crystal race would suffer. Yet despite his quick response, he was toote. The ship had been moving too fast, and even in the split second it took him to respond, it had already traveled through the fog, ande out the other side. The sound of a massive crowd surrounded Lex, as a bright light blinded him for a moment. When he recovered, he discovered that they had entered apletely new area. An artificial ''sun'' seemed to be shining a bright light, illuminating a vast, dry bowl shaped canyon filled with millions of beings. In a single nce, Lex was able to spot humans, sentinels, poliods, trelops, the crystal race and even the Kraven among the crowd. There were a few fights going on, which was extremely natural when hated enemies were suddenly brought together. The Kraven themselves had a warring nature, so every single Kraven was already fighting, and the extreme fighting prowess made it so they seemed to be winning. But even at a nce Lex knew that they would not survive long, for they were too outnumbered. After all, among the millions here, there were so many races that Lex had never even heard of. The Kraven were just a fewpared to all the beings here. In the center of the canyon stood a massive tower built from white marble, and it was the only distinct feature here. Lex had no idea where he was, or what was happening, but the first thing he did was to check his connection to the Inn. As expected, the connection was still there, for he heard the sound of a notification before he could even check. New Notification: Host has entered a space sealed by a Destiny rank space lock. Teleportation facility unavable. Chapter 669 Study ? For once, Lex wasn''t able to stop his expression from changing. Carefully, he read the notification once again. New Notification: Host has entered a space sealed by a Destiny rank space lock. Teleportation facility unavable. "Mary, can you hear me?" he asked inside his mind. "Of course. How can I help?" Lex did not reply immediately, for he was currently analyzing his situation. He was connected to the Inn, still, but he was once again stuck in a situation where he could not teleport back. But unlikest time, where he was unable to teleport back because his system was too weak to carry out cross realm teleportation easily, this time it was because of something that locked space. He analyzed his situation a bit further, not relying solely on his instincts for they had already proved that they were not reliable in his current situation. He had been teleported mysteriously to an unknown location, alongside millions of others. Although he did not recognize many of the races, he had reason to believe that everyone of them hade from the Crystal realm. After all, while the Crystal realm boasted 7 major races that controlled the majority of the realm, it did not mean there were no minor races. Subtle racial traits, as well as traces of different energy signatures led Lex to believe that everyone had been pulled to this mysterious ce from across the entire Crystal realm instead of from just nearby where Lex was. He also noticed that the majority of the crowd seemed to be gathered either near the tower in the middle, or the edges of the canyon. Moreover, they were ''near'' these ces only because there seemed to be some barrier keeping them at a distance. So that meant that they could neither leave the canyon, nor enter the tower. Lex stopped his ''ship'' from moving forward or he''d immediately reach the tower, which was not something he wanted. Getting off the ship, which was extremely prominent and eye-catching, and jumped to the ground. Until he had a better idea of the situation, he did not want to attract any attention. He swept his spirit sense and observed some of the crowd near him. The crowd''s cultivation level seemed to vary, and ranged from mortals, all the way to nascent realm cultivators. It was reassuring that there were no immortals, but they could also just be far away from him, or hiding. The fact that the crowd was so mixed meant that there really could be some immortals around. He listened to the conversations happening nearby, and thanked the system for the universal trantor for almost everyone was speaking in a differentnguage entirely. It didn''t take him long to gather that people had apparently been brought here only a few hours ago at most, yet no one knew anything. "Mary, I seem to be trapped somewhere again," Lex told, feeling like he was living through a bad joke. Why was it that the first time he encountered an area able topletely block out all teleportation was when he was in a rush?N?v(el)B\\jnn "That''s strange," said Mary. "ording to what I can tell, you should still be in the Crystal realm. There shouldn''t be an issue teleporting out." "I''m being blocked by a Destiny level space block. Have someone start looking up relevant information about that wherever they can. Moreover, I''m going to describe the area I''m in to you as well. Have Velma look into any information regarding it from the Crystal realm. Make sure to check old stories, myths and legends so that all possibilities are covered. Lex described the area in great detail, though there really wasn''t much to go on. He could only hope that he was caught in some usual and known phenomenon of the Crystal realm so that he could safely make his way out. If there was no information about this ce at all, there could only be two possibilities as far as Lex could tell. Either this was the first time such a thing was happening, or no one had ever made it out after entering this ce. Once he passed Mary the information, he let her be so that she could oversee the search while he himself began to study the area some more. His instincts were not picking up on any danger around him, but that could possibly be because they were being suppressed somehow. He stayed away from all fights, and chose not to interact with anyone as he waited for a while. Fenrir too was looking around curiously, sniffing the air from time to time. He waited for a few hours, but nothing seemed to be happening, except that more and more beings appeared in the canyon. Eventually he reached a conclusion that nothing significant would happen until either the canyon waspletely filled, or that the canyon would continue to fill until something significant happened. Tired of waiting, he decided to make his way to the edge of the canyon first, to investigate the barrier keeping them in. Moving should not have been much of an issue, for all the fights had ended by now, and the Kraven had been overwhelmed. Anyone else who was not smart enough to not antagonize millions of beings on their own also met a simr fate. Unfortunately, Lex''s bad luck seemed to continue as a new Kraven appeared in front of him just as he was making his way to the edge. The familiar, poisonous stench of the ck slime covering their body irritated Lex, so he did not hesitate to extinguish the Kraven by using Evisceration before it could even attack. The Kraven was only able to let out a single, painful squeal before it copsed. The surrounding crowd was shocked at what happened, then moved to keep a distance. Whether they wanted distance from the poisonous slime, or the intimidating Lex who killed a Kraven with one look, could not be urately determined. Chapter 670 Web

Chapter 670 Web

While Lex''s feat of killing with a single look was intimidating to most, it in no way made him out to be overwhelmingly powerful. For example, Trelops within their own territories, were vastly more powerful than their realm should allow. But the few Trelops here had been plucked from their territories and dropped in the middle of nowhere, putting them at a severe disadvantage. N?v(el)B\\jnn Usually, even if a Trelop left their territory, they would at least be able to summon some support from their territories. Yet now that they were in this mysterious ce, they werepletely cut off, and were at their weakest. But not everyone had such clear weaknesses, for example the few members of the Crystal race who were present. Simr to how the crowd gave Lex a wide berth, so too did they avoid those ridiculously overpowered beings. As a race with guaranteed immortality, they had countless geniuses who revolutionized cultivation, or really any field that they were interested in, and then continued to do so since they wouldn''t really die. Moreover, due to the biology of the Crystal race, they really never suffered from depression as a result of their long, never ending lives. Sure, they got bored from time to time, and they would treat that by sleeping for a few eons. As such, the cultivation system of the Crystal race was extremely well developed and since they could transmit information extremely easily, each member understood how to cultivate perfectly. Basically, there was no such thing as a weak member of the Crystal race, only ridiculously strong freaks of nature, and geniuses among those who surpassed allmon sense. Then, there were always a few geniuses in every race, some of whom had made their presence known in the canyon. Suffice to say, Lex dered himself as a powerhouse with his single move, but he was not the only one. Not that Lex really even cared about any of that. The barrier blocking the edges of the canyon was being heavily bombarded with countless attacks and weapons, so it was quite a lively scene - at least to Lex. Beasts and creatures of all kinds howled and screamed. Fangs and fists attacked the invisible blockade. Rocks, bullets and balls of energy were all hurled orunched at it, spreading chaos and carnage in the surroundings, but the barrier itself did not even ripple. The calm and casual Lex seemed an anomaly amidst such madness, but he merely stood there calmly as he looked at the barrier right in front of him. None of his senses could detect the barrier, save his sense of touch when he pressed his arm against the barrier, and his left eye that saw a massive wall of flowing flog. After probing the barrier with basic physical strength, then channeling his normal spirit energy into the wall, Lex decided to take things more seriously. He used Impervious Hands, and immediately felt the difference. The fog, which previously acted as an imprable wall, immediately became soft. He could dig his fingers into it, and even pull some fog out, though as soon as he tried to do it, his instincts immediately screamed danger! Fortunately he stopped in time, and did not allow his impulsive thoughts tond him in trouble. He tried to see if he could achieve something by digging his hand into the fog, but the same sense of danger crashed down on him as soon as he tried. Ultimately, Lex decided to let it be, and go investigate the tower. Hoping for a quick and easy way out was wishful thinking to begin with. If he wanted to exit, he would have to y by the rules of this ce, though he did not understand them yet. When he approached the tower, he discovered, through his left eye, that the barrier surrounding it was not made of fog. Instead it seemed like an intricate web which would react to each and every person or attack made contact with it. He noticed that sometimes theplex web blocking everyone''s path would sometimes thin in reaction to certain beings, but never enough to reveal a path. Instead, when it was attacked the web would thicken and multiply, increasing theplexity of the barrier. It seemed that they were supposed to somehow figure out how to cross the barrier on their own. When Lex touched the web, it seemed to thin as well, yet not nearly enough to cross. So he tried Impervious Hands. This time, he discovered that he could easily move the web with his hands as he wished, either creating an opening or making the barrier thicker and stronger. For a moment he considered whether to create a massive opening and let everyone enter, or just enter on his own. He did not know what the tower held, so it was a risk. He could either be bringing reinforcements with himself if a terrible foe awaited them, or be bringing inpetition if the tower led to some treasure. It all came down to how much confidence he had in himself, and how much of a risk he was willing to take. He looked at Fenrir, as if asking the pup its opinion, and saw only excitement and eagerness. "Well, I hope I don''t regret this then," he murmured as he pushed aside the web just enough to create a small opening. Before anyone could notice, he grabbed Fenrir and jumped through the hole, passing through. The moment his hands left the web, the hole disappeared and the web regained its normal appearance. Immediately, the millions of beings trapped in the canyon fixed their gaze on Lex, and countless beings jumped after him to try and follow him, but to no avail. A stampede urred as everyone wanted to try for themselves. Countless hateful and angry gazes fixed on Lex, as if he was stealing from their ancestors'' graves. Yet none of that was of any concern to him, as he walked into the tower. A part of him was d he had put on his new, defensive suit. Whatever was about to happen, at least he was d he didn''t have to worry about suddenly bing naked again. Chapter 671 Tower ? There was no opening on the tower that could serve as a door so Lex just approached its surface with the intention to see how Impervious Hands reacted to it, but the moment he touched the tower he disappeared. The millions of beings watching were further aggravated as a feeling of falling behind filled them. Though most of them did not know what this ce was or what approaching the tower entailed, it was clear that it was the only way to get out of here. A few, however, clearly knew what this ce was, or perhaps it only appeared that way since they maintained their calm even as the canyon was whipped up into a frenzy. It was a strange coincidence that all those who seemed to be ''in the know'' were from the Crystal race, though not all members of the Crystal race seemed to be privy to this knowledge. But despite the fact that Lex already disappeared, no other change seemed to ur in the canyon. More and more beings began to be dropped in, slowly filling up the entire canyon. Lex, who had vast experience in teleportation, felt the familiar sensation of being moved through space, though this time was not instantaneous. A special kind of energy seemed to cover him, protecting him from the turbulence as this teleportation seemed to take a long time. Unable to move, as his body was ''stuck'' in the position in which he touched the tower, he decided to take this time to study the sensations he felt while being teleported. Since space was apparently one of his affinities now, he should learn how to make use of it. If he only knew how much progress Z had made despite having a lesser affinity than himself, Lex might have blushed from shame. Fortunately, or unfortunately, they were as far from one another as they could get. Using his spirit sense, soul sense and instincts, Lex continued to study space for what felt like hours before he finally appeared in what felt like an ancient yet grand courtroom. Lex immediately began to study the room, failing to notice that for the first time, his connection to his system was suppressed. If he tried to contact Mary, for the first time, he would be unable to do so. Everything in the massive hall seemed to be carved out of stone, from the floor to the walls and pirs, to the endless intricate designs etched over every inch of the room. In front of Lex, in the far corner of the room, was a kind of throne, once again carved out of stone. On each side of the throne were smaller chairs, as if to amodate aids or advisors for whoever sat in the middle. Despite the primitive impression the room gave, it also projected feelings of grandeur and an ancient power. It was not easy to make Lex feel like he was being judged, since he was the one usually doing the judging, but standing in this ce, he felt like a mere plebeian waiting for his sentence. The cold, hard stone of the room reminded him of the days where he was just a mortal, and his existence was fragile. Lex narrowed his eyes as he began circting his spirit energy, his determination fighting against the oppressive aura of this ce. Regardless of the circumstances, he would not ept being belittled. Although he had started out only pretending to be someone powerful and significant to y the role of the Innkeeper, he had slowlye to ept that he was far from ordinary. He did not know if it was a good thing or bad, but he had developed a bit of pride. Even knowing his cultivation level was much lower than that of many, and that his existence could be a matter of no more than a whim for such beings, he could not keep himself from developing such a mindset. As if rewarding his reaction, the aura in the room disappeared, and the chair became inviting instead of intimidating. It was as if the room was made specifically for his coronation, and he was to be awarded great honors as soon as he took his rightful ce on his throne. Lex was not really swayed by the changing pressures of the room, but as nothing else seemed to be happening, he approached it. Soft, distant whispers seemed to fill the room as Lex walked, initially iprehensible. Yet the further he walked, the clearer the voices became, up until he reached the throne, and the hall was filled with voices of various political figures, discussing the future of some sacred civilization. Lex looked around and saw nothing, even as he felt people were talking right next to where he stood. Unable to stop his curiosity, Lex sat down and saw as countless figures appeared in front of him, garbed in ancient cotton gowns in golden and silver colors. They wore basic, handmade jewelry, yet the impression they gave was of opulence and luxury. Lex noticed almost immediately that their discussions never seemed to reach any conclusion, and they continued to debate quite audibly as if the their very purpose was to make Lex aware of the situation based on the content of their conversation. Simultaneously, a stream of information entered Lex''s mind. The white tower he was in was an artifact that had existed from time immemorial and had yed a role in the development of the entire universe itself.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om The origin of the tower was unknown, and the exact reason for its existence was also unknown. What mattered was that the function of the tower was known, and in fact was directly transmitted to Lex. Any time a group, or an organization, or apany, or a country, civilization, or race umted enough merit, and reached a turning point in their history that would either lead them to the pinnacle of sess, or to an unprecedented nadir, the tower would automatically activate. There was no exnation for what this merit was or how it was umted. What was exined was that the towers purpose was to help the specific group as much as possible. Moreover, it would not randomly send people over. Each and every person who had been summoned to the canyon was specifically chosen by the tower, for they would have the exact specific skills or necessary expertise to help specific groups. But just because someone had been chosen did not mean they would automatically be able to help. Entering the tower was the first hurdle. If someone wasn''t able to enter, they would stay at the canyon till the specific group that needed their help would go through whatever situation they were stuck in. The second hurdle was actually being able to help the situation once the tower brought them into the specific scenario. If they were not able to ovee the situation, they would never be able to return. The only way of returning was to help his assigned group sessfully go through the turning point in their history, or survive the repercussions of failure. Of course, he was not randomly hurled into an unknown situation. The tower arranged for an appropriate identity for Lex, so that he could seamlessly involve himself in the present circumstances. Lastly, it wasn''t as if there was no reward for the people the tower had summoned. If Lex was able to sessfully navigate the situation and return, the tower would provide him with something he sorely needed. There was too much about this situation and the tower that made no sense to Lex, but there was nothing he could do about it for now. Instead, he focused on his new identity. As it turned out, the identity that Lex got from the tower¡­ was the leader of a rising nation! Information about this nation, and the general information about the world was automatically provided to Lex. Moreover, information about the turning point was even specifically given to him. This country, which was quite simr to ancient Eygpt, was facing an unprecedented danger that they were incapable of oveing. The country had formed a unique form of governance where their leaders and leader candidates were orphans, trained from birth to rule justly and without bias. There was no concept of inheriting power, at least as far as the ruler was concerned. Moreover, their strict moral and cultural values made it so the country had excellent security and living conditions. As a result of a government and ruler who genuinely wished to benefit the country instead of umting their own power, the country rose up quickly, and their quick rise was also what attracted trouble. With insufficient military and wealth that did not match their global status, they had been targeted by their three neighboring countries. Their existing leader had been assassinated, as well as all the orphans who were being trained. As per the scenario set by the tower, Lex took the identity of the lone survivor who qualified to take the rulers position. He had, just now, been coronated, and in a few hours representatives for all three neighboring countries would arrive to offer ''condolences'' and ''aid'' during this difficult time. The impending negotiations would forever determine the fate of this fledgling country. Lex smiled. Was this supposed to be a challenge? Chapter 672 Plans ? Having understood the situation, Lex suppressed his curiosity and concern about the tower and began to absorb information about his surroundings. A quick scan showed that¡­ everyone in the room was in the Golden core realm, though their cores seemed weak and frail inparison to even normal cultivators, let alone Lex. There were a few soldiers who looked extremely intimidating and had decent cultivations, but even those were in the minority. Most guards who stood around the room were in the Foundation realm, and even then Lex could tell they were far from outstanding. Any casual Foundation realm cultivator from Earth could suppress them one on one easily. Although no one said so, Lex drew the conclusion that this country had a terrible cultivation heritage. It remained to be seen if this was the case in its neighboring countries as well, or just here. Suddenly a thought urred to Lex: was he still in the Crystal realm? If he had to guess, he would say he wasn''t as the ambient spirit energy was quite weakparatively. Then he began focusing on the conversations the people were having. The way in which they were conversing was extremely artificial, as they were discussing minute details about each ministry they oversaw. It was clear that, through their conversations, they were indirectly providing information to Lex about the various factors of the empire. The most significant factor that Lex immediately realized was the military truly wascking in this country. Due to excellent social services and economic support, scarcely was there anyone in the entire country who could not achieve a stable and sessful life. In the scenario where everyone could easily achieve afortable life without much pressure, why would anyone be willing to endure the arduous life of a soldier? Only those who genuinely wanted to protect the country would take such a path. Already he could tell this would be his greatest hurdle, as the martial ipetence of the country was more or less an established fact and known widely. After learning some of the details, Lex diverted his attention elsewhere. He was hoping they would have some geographic advantage, only to learn that most of the country consisted of teaus or ins, as it was at the feet of a long mountain range inside one of the neighboring countries. While that provided a vast amount of fertilends, there were few natural barriers except rivers, which was not really a problem for cultivators. As time passed, and Lex learned more about this country, he realized that, without external intervention, this country was set to be a treasure chest, constantly raided and looted by external forces. He did not even need to spare a single brain cell toe up with countless examples of colonists who upied rich fertilends, all to loot and pige them. If anything, he could not understand why this country had not suffered such a disaster before, and was even allowed to grow to the level it had already reached. After all, it already had three neighbors who could invade theirnds. To sate his curiosity, he began listening to the guy discussing the general history of theirnd. Slowly and steadily, he got an overview of the entire situation and came to the conclusion that there should be no way for it to ovee this crisis under normal circumstances. This country, which was called Ferigo, was a piece of juicy meat dangling in front of a group of hungry street dogs. The only possible redeeming factor was that the neighboring countries were not overwhelmingly powerful either, and had conflicts of their own to resolve. It was onlyparative to Ferigo that they were more powerful. Adorning a look of absolute calm, Lex closed his eyes and allowed his figure to project confidence to all the various ministers in the room. In his mind, he was devising various strategies on how to ovee the situation. A lot of how he behaved would depend on the representatives and their respective ns.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Previously, Lex used to form a few ns in which he would take advantage of people''s psychological blind spots and manipte them based on having them form assumptions. But now, due to how fast and the vast experience he had umted in handling people, he could form multyered ns and various contingencies. Suddenly opened his eyes and looked at an old man who was in charge of the personal guard for the King. The man looked like he had aged considerably, and though he stood firm in his post and exuded an aura of blood lust, it was easy to determine that he had taken the assassination of the previous King as a personal failure. ording to Lex''s analysis, the old man had not purposefully failed in his duty, but the enemy had just outmaneuvered him. He could still be trusted. Using his spirit sense, Lex passed the old man a few orders. Surprise and hesitation painted his face when he heard his orders, attracting the attention of everyone in the room, but he did not voice any of his doubts. He simply bowed to Lex and quickly left the hall to carry out his orders. Perhaps before he would have offered resistance and council, but he had lost a lot of confidencetely, and could not bring it in himself to disobey orders. Lex once again closed his eyes and resumed nning. The envoys from the neighboring countries would arrive soon, and everyone was waiting on pins and needles for their arrival. If Lex had arrived a little earlier, he would never have gathered everyone to wait for the arrival of a mere delegation. It put them in a weaker position. But it was already toote for that. He would salvage the situation as best as he could. In the meantime, he was alreadypiling aprehensive strategy for military reform. A few more hours passed, and the sun was nearing the horizon. The sky was filled with hues of orange and yellow, forming a beautiful tapestry hanging over the city which was engulfed in a mood of despair. The dichotomy of the situation was absolutely tragic. All the ministers, who had been waiting all day now, looked irritated and miserable and allowed a sense of helpless frustration to fill them. It was clear that while they all were noble people, focused on the benefit of their nation, they had little to no experience facing real hardship. The door to the hall opened, and a messenger swiftly approached Lex and passed him a simple scroll. After taking a look, Lex nodded to dismiss the messenger, then turned his attention back to the ministers. "All of you, take a seat. Make yourselvesfortable." Confusion and hesitation filled their eyes, as they looked at one another, trying to determine if anyone knew what was going on. "That was not a request, that was an order," Lex said in a cold, firm tone. "I do not have time to borate on my ns, nor can I afford for a poor performance from you topromise the oue. So, for now, all of you must simply obey my orders instantly and without question. The time for you to use your intellect willeter. For now, all I require is obedience." This was far from Lex''s usual style of doing things, as he was usually very considerate of his underlings. But the way he saw it, being firm was not the same as mistreating his subordinates. Moreover, he did not have aprehensive understanding of their personalities and so he could not include them in his ns. As such, their only role would be to serve as an audience. Upon hearing Lex''smand, and feeling his subtle aura of oppression, everyone obeyed and took a seat. But just sitting did not change the fact that they looked extremely tense, and a nce was enough to determine their true thoughts. That was where Lex''s various experiences came into y. In the Crystal realm, back when he was in the academy, he was first introduced to theplicated ways in which nobles and higher leveled cultivators used spiritual energy and aura to build and hold prestige. In the way that mundane humans wore regal suits and dresses, and styled their hair, applied makeup and used fragrances to establish a persona for themselves, so too did cultivators use their additional capabilities to embellish their image. A person''s aura itself could have a ''scent'' which other cultivators could sense. The flow of energy in a room could affect its inhabitants the way a breeze could affect people on a hot summer day. Each and everything yed a role in establishing oneself. Lex normally did not need to think of such things, as his Host Attire would automatically do all of these when he presented himself as the Innkeeper. In fact, the Host Attire probably even took care of various such subtleties that Lex was not even aware of. But currently the Host Attire could not help him. It was fortunate then that he had long been studying these things so that he could seamlessly merge into higher cultivator society if he ever needed to. Chapter 673 A Great Show

Chapter 673 A Great Show

While Lex was nning out how to fulfill the requirements of the tower and get out of it, the Inn seemed to be running well on autopilot. All the staff was well trained and Mary knew what to do in most situations. Moreover, it had only been a short while since the connection between Lex and the system was blocked, so the chances of something going wrong were abysmally low. Unfortunately, sometimes it did not matter how low the chances were. After the previous star rank upgrade, countless immortals had received just the push they needed to move up in rank. That had naturally led to a rain of lightning tribtions. There were naturally other tribtions but they were not as prominent as the lightning ones. But it had been months now, so the frequency of tribtions had dropped drastically. The tribtions had not, however,pletely disappeared. This was because the process of cultivation at higher levels took a much longer period. It would not be surprising if there continued to be tribtions for many years still just based on the previous star rank increase. Even among the tribtions, there were various levels. For example, the tribtion that Ragnar had faced had been the most devastating so far, due to his incredibly high cultivation level. Now, it just so happened that mere minutes after Lex''s connection was cut, one such tribtion once again started to arrive. Lex had already reinforced all the tribtion rooms with formations and protections simr to the one Ragnar faced, hoping it would be enough to contain the destruction. Now, it would be put to the test. ***** Lex''s spirit energy swept through the hall as he used various spiritual techniques to influence the environment. Slowly, the overwhelmed ministers began to notice that, despite their ownmentable state, the atmosphere in the room began to change. Soon, it no longer felt like this was a hall where they were waiting for a death sentence. Instead, it felt like this was a grand hall, befitting a great and glorious King - one who was the ruler of a strong and prosperous nation. Instead of handles and chandeliers, the room hadrge metal bowls which contained fire to light up the room. As if it had been injected with the perfect kindling, the mes grew into arger ze that nearly overflowed from the bowl, projecting its brilliant orange light across the hall. A breeze seemed to blow in the hall, taking away the stale air and bringing in with a subtle scent of vani. It also seemed to blow away any and all dust and dirt that had umted in the hall, leaving it immacte. The ministers watched bewildered as the changes swept the hall, and were taken byplete surprise when the energy in the hall gathered around themselves as well! Their appearances seemed to change subtly! Their wrinkles seemed to fade or disappear entirely, and their skin seemed to tighten. Though the skin did not suddenly be clear, it did look fresher. Their clothes did not change but somehow seemed to appear more grand than mere moments ago. Even their auras changed, and they went from being anxious and concerned to beingpletely rxed and yet dignified. The hall, previously a theater where a performance of nations was to take ce, had be the court befitting someone who was to be called majesty. The next change was amongst the soldiers. They stood at guard with their backs to the walls, facing the hall. Of the entire group, they were actually who needed Lex''s help the least. Weak though their cultivation may have seemed in Lex''s eyes, it was not for ack of resolution or bravery. Their rough, tanned skin, their rippling, chiseled muscles, their firm, focused eyes all spoke of men who had faced the trials of battle. Amongst their own ranks, where everyone had cultivation techniques of a simr quality, they were champions. As such, they did not really need much bolstering. But Lex did it anyway. Their auras strengthened till they became suffocatingly overwhelming, and then he suppressed it to their bodies. If no one looked at them, they would not even know of their existence. But if one looked in their eyes, they would feel the full force of their augmented aura. Some of these effects had been brought about by the various spiritual techniques Lex learnt and some, such as the breeze carrying vani scent, had been done by arrays. Even though Lex had learnt about such things, he had not gone into too much detail, so for now this is all he could really do. Although it might seem impressive to an outsider, he knew that those who considered themselves true nobles among cultivators took things to levels unimaginable to an outsider. But for Ferigo and its neighboring countries, which seemed somewhatcking in regard to cultivation, this much should already be more than enough. "When the envoys arrive, do not say anything, or interfere in any way," Lexmanded, his voice still just as firm as before. "Just pretend as if you are watching an interesting performance." Lex swept his gaze over the ministers to judge if there was still any hesitation or reluctance in them, but found that his performance had thoroughly subdued them, and that though they were still confused, they chose to obey without dy. Lex nodded gently. Though they had been made to wait nearly an entire day for the envoys, they had arrived precisely during the golden hour, making everything the sun touched even more pleasant to look at. Lex looked down at himself and found that, instead of his suit, he was wearing a majestic robe of gold and white. Although he preferred his own attire, he supposed being dressed ording to the situation was more important. The doors leading to the hall suddenly produced a loud creak before being swung open by the guards station outside. N?v(el)B\\jnn "Presenting the envoys from Solis, Havi and Nefario," he said loudly, announcing the identities of those who were arriving. Three men, two who could be considered a little chubby while the third looked quite slim and fit, walked in followed by a number of retainers. The group had three distinct dressing styles so it was easy to distinguish which countries they belonged to. Based on the knowledge he had acquired Lex could easily identify which group belonged to which country. Normally, based on his knack for hospitality, Lex would have stood up and warmly greeted these new guests. But, considering his current circumstances, he did not. In fact, not only did he continue to sit, though he of course maintained excellent posture, he also tracked the group''s arrival with his eyes, an amused smile on his lips. "Forgive us, your majesty, for arriving sote. We came as soon as we heard of the awful attack," said one of the chubby men, the representative for Solis. Before the man could continue his, no doubt, prepared spiel, Lex interrupted him. "There is no need for apologies. Your poor infrastructure andck of roads ismon knowledge. The fact that you still managed to arrive so quickly speaks greatly of how you must have rushed to arrive after the incident." Lex''s voice was quite calm and even had a hint of praise, as if he wasplimenting a child on trying his best. The envoy from Solis froze momentarily, as his eyes bulged. Despite also being in the golden core himself, it took almost an entire second for him to get over the shock of open insult he had just suffered, as well as the veiled condescension. It was true that their countries did not have many roads linking their various cities, especially if they were far from one another. So then, how could they possibly have roads heading towards Ferigo? All they had was one major road that was used for trade. After all, cultivators could easily make do without such things, so there was no need to waste money investing in them. The fact that mortals suffered greatly as a result was of little to no consequence. Thement about their quick arrival was the most shocking. Though the King imed to be praising them for their quick arrival, it was a fact that they could not have arrived so quickly if they had indeed departed after the incident happened. He was clearly making fun of their poor attempts to veil their involvement, or knowledge of, the incident. The reason why he was shocked the most was because this was not the reaction he was expecting from Ferigo. Not only had they suffered a devastating loss in terms of leadership, they were in a weaker position, especially when facing all three countries at the same time. They should have been the most cautious, yet instead their King immediately broached the most sensitive topic as soon as they arrived,pletely unafraid of offending them. As envoys, they were naturally smart and trained in diplomacy. They immediately realized something was amiss, and that they might have possibly fallen into some trap. It was at that moment that the three envoys suddenly realized that in the hall they had an audience. All the ministers of Ferigo had gathered, and were sitting in the corners of the room, as if they hade to watch a great show. Chapter 674 Bandits

Chapter 674 Bandits

? Countless thoughts surfaced in their minds as the three envoys tried to exin what was happening around them. Though they were shocked, and they could not exin why the newly appointed King was acting so fiercely, it was a little early to jump to conclusions. As it was, they were the ones who held the upper hand in the situation, for all three countries had a united stance on the matter. Regardless of whatever they were plotting, the downfall of Ferigo was already determined. The only thing that remained to be decided was how costly it would be for the three countries. "When we heard of the situation, we spared no expense to hurry to your aid," said the envoy from Nefario, the slim man of the three. "After all, with the limited military of Ferigo, no one was certain if you would be able to survive without aid if you suffered more of such attacks." Lex''s smile widened just as bit as his gaze fixed on the man speaking. Compared to hispanions, the envoy from Nefario was clearly morepetent and quick-witted. His exnation for Lex''s previous remark pointed out Ferigo''s weak military, as well as the fact that its current existence relied on the three countries'' grace. The moment they decided to attack Ferigo, it would not survive. In fact, the whole point of this meeting was an attempt to get Ferigo to peacefully allow the military of the neighboring countries to enter, and peacefully hand over its cities. All of this would be done under the guise of protection and military aid. This way the three countries would not have to invest in a campaign against Ferigo and win all the prizes, while the current King himself would be allowed some concessions for allowing such an easy handover. He could be a minor noble or something, and live out his days in luxury. The way the envoy saw it, the King was not trying to trap or attack them, but was merely building up his own importance before the negotiations began. To Lex, however, this was only an amusing attempt to maintain control. He had no intention of ying by the rules. "Yes, indeed, the security in Ferigo is atrocioustely. There are bandits attacks and raids everywhere. I''m d to see you arrived without incident." Despite the envoys goading, Lex retained his casual tone, and did not hesitate toce his concern with sarcasm. While the ministers were confused, for Ferigo never had any problems with bandits, the envoys too were confused. The King tantly admitting to having to suffer at the hand of bandits was actually weakening their position. But the thing was, Lex never intended to negotiate to begin with. Relying on the mercy of others would forever mire Ferigo in a weak position. The solution he hade up with to resolve this issue was not to intimidate them, or even get on their good side. It was instead to turn them against one another. The reason he had mentioned bandits was because of a n he had set into motion even before the envoys arrived. He ordered his general to have his strongest unit dress up as bandits, and on the way back ambush the envoys party as they return. But how could the strategy Lex took so much time thinking up be so simple and straightforward? It would be obvious to anyone that the ''bandits'' were not really so due to their strength and training. The real n would be implemented when the envoys, who would just barely push the bandits back, would actually discover - by ident - that the bandits were actually soldiers from Havi! But then again, just that would not be enough to throw suspicion their way, so Lex had already arranged for some of the retainers from Havi to be poisoned, and to make it look like normal travel fatigue. The envoy of Havi would naturally have to stay back until his retainers recovered, conveniently missing out on the ambush. Now, with some evidence and a convenient coincidence keeping the Havi envoy from being attacked, the suspicion pointing towards him would be greater. But suspicion was not enough, he needed the others to be certain of their guess. It was at this point, one might beg the question, why was Lex targeting Havi instead of Solis or Nefario? Weren''t they all equally susceptible to taking the me? Did he then choose the country randomly? The answer was no, he had targeted Havi specifically because of theplex socio-political history of the region. Havi shared a border not only with Ferigo, but also with Nefario and another country. Up until recently, rtions between Havi and Nefario were tense because there was a zing-iron mine close to their borders. They often had skirmishes and small disputes to contest the ownership of that mine, until it was eventuallypletely depleted. With bad history already existing between them, all Lex needed to do was nt the idea that Havi was secretly conspiring with Ferigo against Nefario, at the expense of Solis. Then, through a series of ''coincidences'' and misunderstandings, he could sit and watch as the three countries tore each other up. All the while, they would not be concerned about Ferigo which was apparently continuously being weakened by ''bandits''. They could take care of it when they settled matters between themselves. That would give Lex enough time to begin implementing a series of military reforms which would not only strengthen their army and martial culture in the country, but ensure that full control of the army stayed with the King and did not fall into the hands of some generals. Of course, Lex was not going to be around to see all this. He would just make the n and set the wheels in motion which would lead to the dominance of Ferigo in the region in close to a couple of decades. "Even if you have bandits, seeing us flying the colors of our countries, they would never dare to attack our delegation!" the envoy from Solis said boldly and with arrogance. N?v(el)B\\jnn "Indeed. They would bepletely crazy to attack all three of you together," said Lex with a soft smile. Chapter 675 Finishing up

Chapter 675 Finishing up

"Your majesty, clearly the situation in Ferigo is extremely dire," said the envoy from Nefario, wearing a solemn look. "Let us not waste time and directly deal with the matter at hand. A hidden force has taken action against Ferigo and assassinated your predecessor, as well as many of your peers. While we currently suspect demonic cultivators from a rising demonic sect, we cannot deal with that matter until the situation here is stabilized. You yourself have imed that Ferigo is even having problems with bandits. The situation is going from bad to worse. "The noble nation of Nefario is already dealing with the savage beasts that constantly invade us from the neighboring Mystic Forest. We cannot afford a neighbor bing a den of criminals and demonic cultivators, as that will cause us to divert resources away from the forest. As such, the royal family had decided to act preemptively. So long as you give us permission, we can have three battalions cross the border and help stabilize the situation here. We can route out the criminal element and investigate the demonic cultivators, all while keeping the citizens of Ferigo safe." "The nation of Havi is also ready to pledge two battalions." "Solis can also send in four. Fear not, we will not allow evil to fester in these prosperousnds." "How magnanimous," said Lex, as if he was really praising them. Yet the look on his face, and the tone of his voice said otherwise. "I''m afraid even if I were to ept your help, it would not be so simple for your armies toe in," he said, looking at the envoy from Nefario. "It seems a mortal trader who was using the river to cross into Havi transporting a shipment of Red Lily powder was attacked by bandits as well. As a result, the entire shipment was destroyed and the river was polluted with the powder. The entire river has be a quarantine zone and the cleanup process will take a while." Although the river was heading from Ferigo to Havi, it crossed the border of Ferigo before heading there, so the excuse was quite believable. Moreover, Red Lily powder was an extremely unstablepound which was used in the production of various medicines, but on its own was quite poisonous. On the surface, everything seemed fine. But besides making medicine, Red Lily powder could also be used to make an extremely strong irritant which was known to drive beasts crazy and attack with abandon. Nefario, as a nation, was quite sensitive to anything that could aggravate beasts, for they faced attacks from wild beasts throughout the year due to the border they shared with the Mystic Forest, a forest that was home to an endless number of wild beasts. In truth there was no such contamination, at this point at least. Lex had ordered the powder spilled into the river, also through his newly established ''bandit unit''. Although agriculture in Ferigo would suffer because of this, so would Havi. Moreover, Nefario would begin to suspect Havi was creating those irritants to aggravate beast attacks against it. It was a win-win. This time, Lex suppressed his smile, as he was supposed to have no idea of the insinuations of the powder, and was merely pointing something out. The envoy had to believe he uncovered this plot on his own. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om With such a start, the meeting with the envoys went on for hours. Though they made no headway with Ferigo itself, countless conspiracies had been subtly uncovered during this time, slowly affecting the unity that the envoys came with. They studied one another from the corners of their eyes, and took mental notes to report as soon as they returned. By now, they were not even thinking of the merit they could gain by bringing this information home. Instead, they were worried about the imminent war that seemed to have been brewing on their borders, all without their knowledge. The envoy from Solis, which was the richest of all the countries here, slowly began to believe that in truth, Ferigo, Nefario and Havi all were secretly working against it, and in actuality nned to ambush the four battalions they were originally nning on sending. The ministers, on the other hand, mostly had no idea what was happening. They only kept wondering if they had missed out on some important news, for they had no idea about half the things the King mentioned. Like this, the first day of negotiations ended, and the envoys were escorted, separately, to their quarters. A full night would be plenty of time for them to reflect on what they had heard today, and begin drawing conclusions. In the meantime, Lex inspected the poison to be sent towards the Havi retainers. It seemed quite potent. With a smile he nodded his head, and then returned to the hall to have a meeting with the ministers. During this night he had to pass on the n for developing their country for the next few years so the direction of their development would focus on the right path. As for the continuation of the meeting with the envoys in the morning, it would never happen. When they woke up, they would be delivered news that due to the declining situation, Ferigo had entered under martialw, and the King had already left tomand his armies against the bandits. That would be enough for them to understand that Ferigo did not intend on cooperating, leaving tem no option but to depart, and quickly. The reason Lex was doing all this so quickly was because he was certain that as soon as he set things up enough, and put all his ns in motion, the tower would consider his taskplete and pull him back. He did not have time to waste on such stupid things as babysitting a country. Speaking of which, he wondered what happened to Fenrir. He had entered the tower with it, but had been separated afterwards. Was it also sent to save someone by the tower? Chapter 676 Providence

Chapter 676 Providence

A full moon illuminated thend with its gentle, silver light, yet the massive trees in the forest blocked the light from reaching the forest floor. Only a few scant, thin streaks of light reached the ground. Shadows flickered through the silver streaks, one after another, as a wolf pack ran through them. An abnormal silence took hold of the forest wherever the wolf pack passed, as even the crickets singing in the night froze out of fear. A war for territory was being waged between the Bark Brown wolves and the Winged leopards, and the coteral damage had already imed countless lives. Such a thing was quitemon in the Mystic Forest, for the forest had an unusual effect on beasts. Often, a seemingly mundane and ordinary beast would randomly undergo a mutation or unlock a deeply hidden bloodline, thus bing more powerful. With its new status, it would naturally have to expand its territory, and would begin a search for a suitable area. Survival of the fittest was the rule that dictated the forest, and with the forest''s perpetual augmentation of beasts randomly, the fittest were often tested. One would think that with such never ending fights, the poption of beasts in the forest would plummet, but for some reason, that was far from the truth. In fact, the poption of beasts would often grow so high despite the constant fights that beasts would be forced out of it, and end up invading the neighboringnds upied by humans. None of that mattered to the wolves, though. Whatever secrets the forest held, whether it was why the poption of the beasts never fell, or why some beasts randomly grew stronger, could not concern them even if they unlocked a higher intelligence. Such concerns would only bother those who did not have to struggle to survive every day. What did it matter if there was some conspiracy atrge, if they could not survive to see tomorrow? The fight with the invading Winged Leopards had put a lot of pressure on them, and their pack almost considered migrating somewhere else. But then, a new, younger and more powerful pack leader arrived. Under its leadership, not only did their own casualties dwindle, they even began to retake some of the territories they had lost. At the front, Fenrir led the way, its abilities muting the sounds of the pack as it traversed the forest. Although the wolves in the pack it was leading were not dumb, Fenrir''s own intelligence far surpassed them. Despite its inability to speak, Fenrir had a deep understanding of strategies and formations. Moreover, it was constantly being influenced by Lex, so it knew how to frustrate its enemies to death. But, for once, it had surpassed Lex in a certain aspect. While Lex had sped through his mission designated by the tower, ensuring the best oue in the least amount of time, Fenrir was taking its time. That was because it noticed something as soon as it became the pack leader. The worship and obedience of its pack had somehow activated Fenrir''s bloodline on a deeper level, and it began to unlock the true powers of its bloodline. It did not know if this was a result of the forest''s unique quality or being the pack leader, but it knew that it had best utilize this chance to the best of its abilities. Comparatively, Lex was in too much of a rush to exit to consider any possible benefits he was receiving, let alone the fact that he was not really attracted by random benefits at the moment, either. As a result, he had not noticed at all that while he was in a position of leadership at Ferigo, simr to how he led the Inn, his leadership styles in both situations were extremely different. At the Inn, he was more or less mellow, and took things slowly. He also could not use his workers the way he used the soldiers of that country. Inparison, in a single day he changed the destiny of the entire nation by being more strict with its policy and its people. Although it could not be imed that Lex was cold-blooded and emotionless when designing the future policies for Ferigo, he certainly did not shy away from putting them in harm''s way to get the best results. He waspletely oblivious to the drastic difference in result a simple mindset change had brought about. He could not be med for it though, as it was the hardest to pick out ws in one''s own behavior without it being pointed out. After all, everyone always assumed they were behaving the most logically, given their circumstances. After Lex concluded his final meeting and dismissed the final ministers, as he expected, he was teleported away. He did not know how the ministers of Ferigo would behave after his disappearance, or how they would handle the selection of a new King without interfering with his established policies, but that was not his concern. The tower would take care of it. N?v(el)B\\jnn After being teleported out, a stream of information entered his brain. The first thing he learnt was that the tower was called the Tower of Providence, and it had a very specific purpose. While entropy was the nature, or rather one aspect of the nature of the universe, it was not the nature of life. The tower worked against the forces of chaos to give the worthy a chance of survival. Although the effects of its efforts were extremely subtle on a universal scale, they were surely there, and guided the direction of the universe with a gentle hand. Such things were too far removed from Lex and were too abstract for him toprehend or deal with. All he cared about was how to leave. But the tower was not done yet. More information entered his mind. Havingpleted the objective of the tower, Lex had now be an agent of providence and had be connected to the tower. Their rtionship had only just begun. Chapter 677 Lament Lex suppressed a groan. He had lost count of how many universal entities he had established a rtionship with. The Midnight Inn was obvious. Then there were a number of Daolords and Demi-Dao Lords. Then there was the Henali. One could not also forget the mysterious man who suddenly showed up inside his room one day. He should also not forget that he had an unknown enemy out there somewhere from whom he had stolen Fenrir - he had no idea what level that guy was at. There were also a number of systems he had been skirting around but avoiding getting too involved with such as the Emporium and Reaving Dread mercenary group (the group through which the Inn hired extra guards for its events). As if all of that was not enough, now he had to deal with this Tower of Providence. Once he was donementing, he turned his attention back to the information he received. He hadpleted a task for the tower, so in exchange the tower would reward him, and at the same time make him one of its agents. As an agent, a connection between him and the tower would be established, and he could apply toplete another task whenever he wanted. As a result, he would continue to be rewarded. Moreover, the rewards would not be random, but would be what he needed most at that time. If he chose to not take up any missions on his own, once every 100 years the tower would randomly summon him toplete another task.N?v(el)B\\jnn Looking at it objectively, this wasn''t such a bad thing. In fact, if other people encountered such a thing they would consider it their lucky break as they had encountered a fortuitous opportunity. Who would say no to being rewarded exactly what one needed most at the time? The thing was, Lex was really too busy to care about such things. Moreover, he had numerous ways to get great opportunities. Even if his quest rewards weren''t counted, he could always just go fishing inside the Well at the Inn. As such, he really couldn''t be bothered. It was like a multimillionaire who was forced to attend tedious meetings unrted to his main business. Sure, he would be rewarded a few hundred thousand dors now and again, but whenpared to his main priorities, it really wasn''t worth it. But, since it really wasn''t in his control, he stopped brooding and turned his attention to his reward. Since it was apparently the thing he needed most at the moment, it would surely be great, right? Considering he was once again in the process of being teleported, and could not really move, he could not directly investigate the item that hadnded in his hand. All he could do was check the information on it, which had also been sent to his mind. It was a golden color translucent ball which acted as a container for an extremely precious and rare item called Taro''s Fertilizer. It had many uses, all of which had been listed systematically. The one that was most relevant to Lex, however, was that it drastically sped up the sprouting of a Realm Seed. Without it, the Realm Seed would take over a million years to sprout, but with it only a few months would be needed. Lex froze. Well, technically he was already frozen in space, but now his mind also froze. The Realm Seed would take over a million years to sprout normally? Why didn''t he know this? Was this something the system would have taken care of, or was it something he would have had to figure out on his own? Logically, if one thought about it, it made sense. A normal realm was no small matter, and was different from the Minor Realms which were found everywhere. So for one to be created, it made sense that it would take a long time. But considering that the reward was from the system, he did not think too much about it. Now¡­ it appeared as if things weren''t so simple. Fortunately, he had run into the Tower of Providence, and received this reward. It really was the thing he needed most right now. He spent the remainder of his time considering if there were any other misconceptions he had about information given to him by the system. He had been misdirected so easily, despite the fact that he had his guard up. Once the teleportation finally ended, Lex found himself on the grassy ins through which he had been teleported away to begin with. He looked around to search for Fenrir, but did not find him. He was not too worried though, since ording to the connection he had with Fenrir the pup was fine. He would have to leave it behind, as he didn''t have time to wait around for it, but as soon as it finished its task in the tower, Lex could directly summon it to himself. Next, he checked up on the system to ensure everything was fine, only to discover the abnormally powerful tribtion taking ce! He was instantly reminded of the tribtion Ragnar underwent, and began adding additional protective formations around the tribtion room! This was insane. The power of these stronger tribtions was too much for him to bear at the moment with the facilities he had on hand. Maybe, in the future, he should set up a restriction on the level of guests allowed to attend the Star rank upgrade ceremonies. Curious, he checked the identity of the person undergoing the tribtion, and discovered that it was the devil that ragnar had challenged. His name was Warheil, and he seemedpletely unbothered by the lightning that was ferociously striking his body. He was sitting casually with his legs folded, as if it was not something worth considering at all. A solemn look entered Lex''s eyes. This devil¡­ was too powerful. Ragnar''s performance was already impressive when he broke through, but this devil was even stronger. Chapter 678 Out of time

Chapter 678 Out of time

? Ragnar''s tribtion, as Lex recalled, consisted of a single ck lightning strike that destroyed almost every protection he set against it. Over 10 billion MP worth of protective formations had barely been enough to contain its awesome might, and in a sense, it had still failed. That was because the lightning strike had caused everyone to undergo a hallucination. While the hallucination itself was quite an experience, and provided many with a unique insight into facing tribtions, he did not want the incident to repeat. After all, many guests were either swimming, driving, fishing or doing other tasks, an interruption during which could cause serious harm. After all, there was even an area for guests to learn the dao of the sword from Qawain at the base of the Midnight Mountain. An unfortunately timed interruption could cause serious harm. As such, Lex had specially put formations that block spirit based attacks around each abode. But what he could not do was afford to put 10 billion MP worth of formations around each abode, so what he did was simple. Since he had unlocked the feature of ''Room Creation'' when he was tasked to design the tribtion room, he tweaked each and every room he had. As soon as any room sensed a tribtion, they would automatically begin setting up protective formations around itself. Since this did not qualify as a service to the guest, since the room was protecting itself and not the guest, the price did not increase. As a result, Lex would be the one who had to pay. When he thought of the idea, Lex felt like a genius. Now though, he realized it was not so smart. This devil''s tribtion, while simr to Ragnar''s, was also different. There was ck lightning, yes. But somehow, it did not seem as dangerous. Yet at the same time, instead of a single strike, there were multiple. He did not know if the overall difficulty was decreased, increased or stayed the same. Yet he could tell based on the massive bill he had rued that he definitely had been screwed over! Already 13 billion MP had been spent, and the tribtion was nowhere near over! But the higher expense did not reflect the true difficulty of the tribtion. This was because when Lex chose the formations himself, he would select formations which would support one another, thus allowing each one to absorb more damage. The formations chosen by the room itself werepletely random. As long as their function was to protect the room, it would suffice. Shaking his head, Lex immediately took over and changed the formations. At the same time, his capitalistic gleam was revived. "Mary, inform someone from the Jotun empire. The devil that Ragnar challenged to a death match is about to be free. So long as he epts, their match can be conducted." Unlike all the previous fights in the Murder Grounds, Lex wanted to stream this one so that he could earn some MP off of it. But the match would not be so quick. It would still take some time for the devil to ovee his tribtion, as best as he could tell. He checked up on the rest of the Inn, and after ensuring everything was in order, decided to continue his journey. He had already noticed that Fenrir had not returned from the tower, but he was not concerned - well, he was not too concerned. He was confident Fenrir would be able to ovee whatever trial it faced, and once it did and exited the tower, Lex would be able to use his connection to summon the pup to himself. Speaking of the tower, he had gotten a lead of what Destiny rank meant. As usual, he could check the emporium for it, but Lex did not bother with it for now. He''d get to it eventually. For now, his anxiety about running out of time was forcing him to rush to the Crystal realm as quickly as possible. Taking out his ''ship'' he once again continued on his journey, though this time he did not rx his vignce at all. Days passed, and Alexander once again asked for his help as the situation on his was getting extremely difficult. Unfortunately for him, Lex could not yet spare any time. In fact, Lex no longer even took the time to enjoy the scenery as he traversed thend because he was too focused on getting to his destination. Once, he even had to resort to brute force and intimidation to avoid having his teleportation dyed. Two weekster, he finally reached thends bordering the Crystal nation. No race besides the Trelops were allowed to take control of thend near the Crystal race, and even they were allowed to do so with very stringent requirements. They had to use their ability to terraform thend ording to the esthetics of the Crystal race, which changed from time to time. Moreover, as strange as it felt, anyone wishing to enter the Crystal nation had to go through an immigration process within the territory controlled by the Trelops. It was thus Lex found himself standing patiently in a long line of various races, many he had never even heard of, both humanoid as well as quadrupeds. He stood at the base of a hill, and the line extended well over the peak of it and beyond to the otherside, so he had no idea how long it would take. But for once, he had no choice but to be patient. No one dared be presumptuous bordering the territory of the Crystal race. Fortunately, after asking around, Lex discovered that there was no need for a passport or anything along those lines. If there was, he didn''t know what he would do. As for what the immigration process actually entailed, no one knew exactly. They would be made to walk through a number of formations, the purpose of which was unknown. If, for any reason, one of the formations detected that there was something wrong with you, you would be marked. Once marked, the security team which consisted of a race known as Earth Golems would escort you to a room where the Trelop incharge of the territory would interview you. At no point in the entire process would anyone be harmed, at least ording to the established precedent, though whether you would be allowed to enter or not was up to fate. No one knew exactly what would prevent one from being cleared for entry, which is why everyone was always tense. Since they would be spending the next few hours together, Lex gotfortable and befriended the reptilian creatures next to him. As for what race they were, they themselves did not seem to know. Or at least, since they knew who they were, they did not feel like knowing what others called them mattered. Apparently, they had been specifically selected to inhabit some territory within the Crystal nation. But despite their invitation, their destination remained a mystery to them. Who invited them or why were all questions that they did not consider asking. After all, most of the lesser races in this entire realm practically worshiped the Crystal race. Upon getting a chance to live in their empire, none would bother asking arbitrary questions. Despite their¡­ck of¡­ well, umm¡­ Due to their limited intelligence, there was not a lot Lex could learn from them, so instead he began practicing his Innkeeper charm to keep the conversation going. The truth was, he needed to distract himself as best as he could during this long wait, because his increasing anxiety had suddenly vanished. But the disappearance was not a good thing. From the sensation his instincts were giving him, it felt as if he had already run out of time for something. ***** n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Far away from the Crystal race, on the borders of the Hum nation, an armyrger than ever appeared as if overnight. Thend was nketed in darkness as if the night sky was reflected on the ground, but the truth was nowhere near as beautiful or poetic. The ck, poisonous slime covered the millions of Kraven that were crossing had covered the ground evenly, not allowing a single speck of earth to remain untainted. The army broke through the border, and invaded the nation with an unyielding ferocity, the likes of which even the Kraven themselves had never shown. Moreover, it was not just the humans that were being targeted. Every nation other than the Crystal one was suddenly being invaded, all at once. The feeble defense of the walls and formations crumbled under the tide of immortal Kraven, and soon after, so too did the towns and cities begin to fall. The unprecedented attack on all fronts began without any warning, and continued to crash forth as if it had no intention of stopping. It seemed the Kraven were determined to end this war, once and for all. Chapter 679 Answers

Chapter 679 Answers

An unstoppable tide was sweeping across the Crystal realm, targeting thosends owned by the nations as well as those farther, disconnectednds held by mere nobles or less powerful races. There was no forewarning for this attack, nor had there been such a massive invading force of Kraven ever before. The number of immortals deployed was far beyond a number that any one nation could employ. Perhaps if multiple nations worked together, they could muster up the number of immortals required to fight off the force invading a single one of them. Yet, as things stood, there seemed to be little to no recourse. The only remaining advantage they had was that the Crystal realm was so ridiculously vast, it would take even immortals a lot of time to traverse if they were not taking teleportation formations. Moreover, since the force was invading, they had to ensure they thoroughly swept each and every spot, so not only did they move slowly, they could not utilize teleportation formations. A state of emergency was dered in every single nation, and mass evacuations were underway. Martialw, code ck, and various other such names were thrown around in almost every conversation and the countries decided how much of their territory to give up while they prepared their own defenses. Despite their clear disadvantage, it was not as if there was nothing they could do to retaliate. The Sol and Frio birds depended on the massive poptions, just as much as the people living there required those birds. This was a secret well kept, but was now put to use in every battlefront. Although enemies of this level would not do any harm to the Kraven, yet, the birds pulled out of the territories being invaded, plunging thend into darkness. Such was the case with all the territories controlled by the Kraven. Yet despite being inundated by endless monsters spawned from the darkness, they always seemed to have enough forces to spare for attacks. For now, the trend seemed to be set. The Kraven were advancing forward, and none of those being invaded seemed capable enough to stop them. The process had just begun, so there was no indication yet of how the nations would retaliate once they got a hold of the situation, but many were already praying that the Crystal race would get involved. Well, at least the citizens were praying for such. Meanwhile, at the border for the Crystal nation, Lex continued to wait in line. In stark contrast to much of the realm, he enjoyed the peaceful environment and continued to wait in line. In fact, he bought some of the local fruits from a peddler who continued to walk beside the line, hoping to attract the attention of those waiting. It was quite a pleasant experience. Several hourster, when Lex was nearing his turn to proceed through the investigative formations, a worried Mary contacted him. "Lex there''s a situation I think you need to be updated on," she said, hesitant yet concerned. "We have some new Pro bono guests, which is quite normal. But the issue is the information they revealed. When they arrived, they were in quite a wounded state. Such situations are quite normal among Pro bono guests, so they were brought to the Recovery Pods. It''s when they woke and began conversing amongst themselves that I noticed something unusual. They seem to be mentioning a massive army of Kraven! They were overwhelmed and their city immediately fell under their siege." "As unfortunate a thing as it is," Lex replied, "such things happen quite regrly here. The war with the Kraven hasn''t stopped in hundreds of years." "If that were all, it would not be worth notifying you. I thought the behavior of the survivors was unusual, and so sent Velma to investigate and interview them. As it turns out, the county they were in was four counties away from the battlefront. The Kraven should not have been able to just appear there overnight. Most importantly, while the survivors themselves were too weak to be sure, they im that the number of immortals was way too high. Their city was ont able to put up a defense at all." Lex frowned. He did not have enough information about the situation to judge it urately. "Keep an eye on guests from the Crystal realm. See if you can learn any more information about the situation. What race are the guests from?" N?v(el)B\\jnn "The guests are Sentinels. They don''t feel toofortable at the Inn considering the number of humans and humanoid beings, but they are too afraid to return home." "I recall we made a spot at the Inn for all the spirits and encouraged them to go there. Rmend that area to the Sentinel race, they might be morefortable there. In the meantime, keep investigating. If you learn anything relevant, don''t hesitate to contact me" For a moment, Lex wondered if the anxiety he had been feeling had anything to do with the aforementioned Kraven invasion, but concluded that he did not have information. Although the timing seemed to match, there was no saying for certain if the matters were rted. After all, Lex''s instincts would onlye into y if he would be the one affected. How could he possibly be influenced by an invasion far off? He turned his attention back to the line, as soon it would be his turn. Feeling as if he was walking through security at an airport, Lex eventually walked over the illuminated path through a number of formations. As he passed, he could feel himself being probed by various senses, though he was not sure exactly what the formations were looking for. There seemed to be no problem, though, and at the end Lex was led to a private room by a massive Earth Golem. Inside the room, surprisingly, sat a human in a security guard uniform, studying a document. Without looking up, the man asked, "Name and purpose of visit?" "My name is Lex," he said, feeling a mix of amusement and disbelief. "My purpose here is to visit an elder of the Crystal race. He invited me to meet him uponpletion of a task he gave." "Do you have anything that can corroborate your im of an invitation? Or do you know the name and address of the elder you are referring to? We can ascertain the veracity of your ims ourselves as well." "I have this," said Lex, as he handed over the letter given to him by the Crystal race elder so long ago. It was sealed, and Lex had not tried to open it, yet he had read the name and address on the letter. It bore the elder''s name, alongside some numbers the purpose of which Lex could not yet identify, as well as the name of the ce the elder asked Lex to meet him: Valesco. The guard read the elders name, which was Ezio, and showed no reaction, but when he read the name Valesco he was startled and sat up straight. He gave Lex a bewildered look, before turning his attention back to the letter. Despite his station, he did not dare open it himself. "Please wait here a moment," the guard said, and scurried out the door, letter still in hand. Lex expected somewhat of a reaction, since he had learnt that Valesco was a prison. Yet this was too much, right? A short whileter, a small cat made of tree roots walked in, followed closely by the guard, and jumped up onto the table. This was the smallest Trelop Lex had ever seen, but the aura he radiated was one of the strongest. It reminded him of Aunty Jeena, one of the first Trelops he had ever met. To date, Lex felt like she was the strongest Trelop he had ever encountered. This tiny cat was a close second. "Dear guest, do not be rmed. Your admission into the Crystal nation is all but assured. We just need to ask a few mandatory questions for our own record keeping purposes. Can you share with me when you received this invitation?" "I can''t remember exactly how long it''s been, but it''s already been many months," Lex said. To be honest, since he left Earth, he had stopped paying attention to the calendar. He didn''t even know what month it was. Maybe he should create his own calendar once he has his own realm, so that he can keep better track of time. "Can you share the location you were at when you received the invitation?" "Inside a Minor realm." "Were there any¡­ significant events that took ce, during your visit to that particr Minor realm?" "A couple I suppose. For one, we discovered a sleeping chamber of the Crystal race. I don''t know what happened to it, but we reported it to our seniors at the time. The second was a run in with a Kraven. To this day no one knows why a single Kraven was able to infiltrate that realm, and why it did so alone." The more answers Lex gave, the more grave the cat looked, until Lex eventually realized something was wrong. Chapter 680 Lord Belmont ? Since the immigration process seemed to be quite thorough, it made sense that Lex would be questioned in detail about his purpose. Considering that he learnt that the invitation he had was from a supposed prison, he had already prepared himself to face some difficulty. But the issue was, Lex wasn''t really facing any problems at all. In fact, even during the questioning process everyone was quite civil. The problem was, the more questions that Lex answered, the more his questioners looked grave. It was as if their roles were reversed and Lex was grilling them instead of the other way around. "Is¡­ is everything alright?" Lex asked, when he realized there was a pause in the questions, as the Trelop seemed to be digesting his answer. "Yes. You have been cleared for entry, but there are some follow up procedures you have to take part in. Come with me." The cat jumped off the table and led Lex out of the room and away from the immigration area. Once outside the building, the cat seemed to grow with each step as more roots emerged from the ground and joined with its body, until eventually the cat''s body became asrge as a horse. "Climb abroad, it''ll be quicker that way," said the Trelop, with no regard for the dignity of an immortal. Lex felt slightly awkward, butcking any real reverence towards immortals, he did not hesitate and soon found himself nestled atop the wooden cat. "Hang on tight," it said, before it suddenly leaped forward, nearly jerking Lex off its beck. Fortunately, Lex had quick reflexes and tightened his grip on the cat''s body with his legs. A part of him wanted to ask the cat if it could use the roots that made its body to form stirrups or a seatbelt, but then thought better of it. "I am taking you to one of the gates to the Crystal nation," the Trelop told him. "From there, you will be escorted to Valesco. I will share some of the Crystal race customs with you, so you do not remain ignorant of what is happening around you. "First of all, and most importantly, inside the Crystal nation, you will have the status of a guest. That will afford you some perks, but it will also restrict you. For example, you will not be judged for any crimes you''vemitted outside the Crystal nation, so long as it wasn''t against a member of the Crystal race. However, your rights within the nation are severely restricted. Without a member of the Crystal race sponsoring you, you cannot get a job, own or rent property, attend a school, enter museums, enter certain areas in their cities, hunt, or approach private property. Those are just some of the restrictions on you. "But you do not have to worry about that, as you have a sponsor, which will be Ezio. Another thing, if you identallymit a crime while following the orders of your sponsor, you will not be held liable. Instead, it is the sponsor who will have to answer for your actions. "Thirdly, if a priest or pastor of any of the temples requests your presence¡­ you do not have the right to reject. I highly rmend you stay as far away from them as possible, as attracting their attention will not usually end well for you. "Fourthly, if a member of the Crystal race takes interest in you, in any capacity, you have the right to refuse, or strike up a bargain. "Fifthly, and most importantly in your case, if you be a witness in an ongoing legal dispute among members of the Crystal race, you will be forced to remain as long as the dispute trial goes on. In this, you will have no say." "Why is thest one most important for me?" Lex asked gravely, a guess forming in his mind. It couldn''t be, right? The cat turned its head to look at Lex, hesitation in its eyes. It seemed to be debating something in its mind, but eventually decided not to answer. "You''ll know soon enough." Faster than Lex anticipated, they arrived at the border to the Crystal nation, which had literal walls extending both ways, with a magnificent 100 feet (30 meters) gate in the middle. Though the walls were only slightly shorter than the gate itself, something told Lex that flying above them would prove easier said than done.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om A number of guards stood at the gate, wearing armor and holding up long spears. Though it was hard to tell, since every inch of their body was covered by the armor, not even revealing their eyes, Lex believed these guards were of the Crystal race. From what he recalled, the Crystal race was a very conservative race who did not like showing their crystal to anyone. If they revealed their crystal to you, it was a sign of great trust and intimacy. Usually. There were, of course, many members of their race who lived quite liberally and showed off their crystals bare in the wind, like precious stones. The guards, who stood there like statues as a number of various races passed them by, seemed to gain a semnce of life as they noticed the Trelop appearing, an unknown human astride it. "Ahoy Silvia," said one of the guards, clearly familiar with the Trelop. "How fares thy against the hoard of migrants? Tis the season of new blood, and so new bloodes roaring through to the Kingdom of Crystal." "You''re not a poet, Fran. Don''t try to be eloquent," the cat replied, the dismissal ready on her lips. It seemed like the two were old friends. The other guard only chuckled, but the exchange ended there and the cat swiftly skipped the queue and took Lex through the gates. His senses tingled as he passed through, a consequence of his affinity for space he guessed, the world beyond the gate seemed entirely different. This is what his guests probably experienced, Lex thought as the pure and somehow ''cleaner'' spiritual energy swirled around him, washing away the ''pollution'' that was the impure energy from outside the gate. Though Silvia, the Trelop, did not pause for she was long ustomed to this sensation, Lex stopped paying attention to his surroundings as he studied how the energy washed his body. It was curious, as he felt that even the faintest aura of energy from outside was purged, as if it wasn''t energy but a gue. Although Lex had long noticed how there is a difference in how energy behaves depending on purity, this was a phenomenon that he experienced for the first time. It was only the energy that he had stored within his body, long influenced by his affinities, that remained unaffected by the purge. He wondered what star ranking this energy density would fall under, for it definitely wasn''t the same as the rest of the realm. But Lex did not have the opportunity to wonder for long, as Silvia''s voice woke him from his stupor. "Lord Belmont, I have a case that I think you should handle personally." Lex looked up to see a rather slender member of the Crystal race, his face entirely revealed to the world though the rest of his body was covered by a slim, fitted suit. The crystal that made up his face carried in it a faint hue of green, giving this Lord Belmont an aura of vibrancy and vitality. Just by looking at him, Lex felt his mood affected, seemingly calmed down and filled with admiration. The sensationsted only for a mere moment before Lex gathered himself, and detached his mind from his feelings by entering a state of flow. Although the man was not an enemy, Lex had never experienced such an influence on his mood, even when facing immortals. Little did he know, that was because the system protected him from such things within the Inn. At the same time, while wearing the Host Attire, he himself affected others in a simr fashion. It was a natural trait of those who had exceptional mastery of certainws. Though Lex did not allow a single change to appear on his face as he entered the state of flow, Lord Belmont seemed to notice that Lex had extricated himself from the influence of his natural aura. Laughing, he said, "please excuse me if you find my aura disturbing. I mean no harm by it. It is just a natural part of my being." Lex only nodded without saying anything, as he was waiting for an exnation. It was clearly obvious now that there was something wrong with the elder who invited him. He just hoped it wouldn''t present a hurdle in his own mission. Smiling, Lord Belmont received the invitation that Silvia was handing him - the very one that Lex had presented as proof of invitation. When he saw the names on it, Lord Belmont''s pleasant expression changed to surprise. "When did you get this?" he asked, unable to control himself. Chapter 681 Valesco

Chapter 681 Valesco

Lex once again reiterated his whole experience, by now having mentally decided that his conjecture was most likely urate. Mere moments after Lex was done exining, as if confirming Lex''s thoughts, Lord Belmont said, "the ''elder'' who invited you is one of our most heavily guarded prisoners, locked up in maximum penitentiary. He has been under lockdown for a few hundred years, so there is no way he should have been able to invite you. Either someone else was posing as him, or he has found a way in and out of prison under our noses." Lex did not bother to resist his sigh. Of course he would be caught up in some grand scheme. To be honest, he didn''t even care about that. His greatest concern was that he was nning on leveraging the position of the elder who invited him to host a meeting of leaders at his tavern during the uing wedding. Clearly that was no longer an option. But Lex had already picked out an alternative. This Lord Belmont seemed like a significant figure. If he yed an integral role in resolving this situation then perhaps he could build enough of a rtionship to have hime over. For this, he would pull out all the stops, including using the Golden key for the Midnight Inn to attract his attention. "So what now?" Lex asked, though he already knew the most probable course of action. "We have to investigate, of course. That will require some of your cooperation, as we will have to have you meet Ezio to confirm his identity." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex nodded, as if he was acquiesce to a request. Although Silvia had already told him that he would be required to cooperate in case he was involved in a legal dispute, that did not apply to him. If he wanted to leave, who could really stop him? He merely needed to think about it to begin the teleportation process to the Inn. "Lord Belmont," Lex addressed the man, deciding to keep using his title for now. "Although the situation has changed now that I know Ezio is a criminal, the reason I came to the Crystal nation is regarding a matter imperative to the situation of the entire realm. I was hoping that after sharing certain important information with him, he could help me contact someone with a higher authority." Lord Belmont smiled, as if he heard a child say something cute. "Although we need your help to identify if the person you met was Ezio, once that is done you can have your conversation. Though he may be a criminal, he still has great influence over the nation. Your purpose may still bepleted. If the matter is not a secret, I can also listen in. If it really is a matter that can influence the whole realm, then we shall do whatever is in our power to fix it." If the matter had not been so serious, Lex somehow doubted they would have really helped. After all, they had allowed war to wage across the entire realm without caring about the consequences. Or perhaps there were still some hidden secrets in this that he was not privy to. Either way, this was the best he could do for now. Since the matter was decided, Lord Belmont did not procrastinate. He sent back Silvia and put his hand on Lex''s shoulder, teleporting the duo to an entirely new ce. During this single jump Lex was exposed to thews of space to a greater extent than ever before, giving him some insight in teleportation. Before he could spend any time reflecting on the experience, Belmont led him through a number of guarded rooms until they finally reached their destination. Having used them so frequently, Lex easily recognized the teleportation formation that had been established in the middle of the room. Yet how could it be that something used by the Crystal race was of the same quality as others? The formation wasrger and moreplex than he had ever seen, and at the same time extremely beautiful. Most other ces hid the formation underneath the floor tiles, but the Crystal race had put it out on full disy to be admired. Of course, Lex had no time to admire or learn from it, for Lord Belmont did not dy for even a second. Communication with the control room, probably through spirit senses, he ordered the formation to target Valesco. Lex could do nothing but follow along. "Believe it or not, you''re the first human who will be allowed to enter Valesco." "Does that have special significance?" Lex asked, his question disying ack of reverence for the Crystal race. Such a thing was rare enough to be taken note of. Belmont raised an eyebrow, or what was equivalent of an eyebrow for their race, and simply said, "I guess not. It''s more of a matter rted to security. Holed up in Valesco are the most dangerous criminals of our race. If they are allowed to escape, the havoc and destruction they could spread is beyond what others can imagine." Lex refrained frommenting, but wondered if their danger could meet the same level as the havoc wrought by the Kraven. He doubted it, for how can individuals match an entire hostile race? The formation activated, and Lex once again found himself in the familiar folds of space through which they traveled while teleporting. But what was unique though was that Lex was not being oppressed by the force of space, and being forced to remain in a fixed position. He could walk around and even talk so long as he stood on the tform underneath them that seemed to be teleporting as well. "How dangerous is Ezio?" Lex couldn''t help but ask. "When I met him, he did not seem like a criminal." "Ezio''s crimes are of a different sort. Instead of harming people, he is responsible for the destruction of the history of the realm. Single-handedly he has destroyed the history and heritage, not only of the Crystal race, but of countless other races. I realize that such a crime may not seem so serious to others, but to the immortal Crystal race, the destruction of history is one of the most serious crimes! Without art, culture and history to enrich our lives, living for eternity will be a curse rather than a blessing. Many of the Crystals who enter long hibernation do it so that they can find an entire host of new histories to discover." Lex nodded. It made sense, somewhat. Moreover, when he met Ezio, he seemed to be destroying any ruins that may depict any information about the arrival of the Kraven. It seemed even his reasoning might not be so simple. Before the conversation could continue, the teleportation ended, and Lex found himself in a simrly designed room. "Though it is not entirely significant that you are the first human to be allowed in here, do take the opportunity to take in as many of the sights as possible. We Crystals take great pride in our arts, and architecture is one of the ways we bring life to art in this world." Lex chuckled internally. It seemed to be bothering Belmont that Lex was not worshiping him as others usually do. He''s taking this opportunity to show off. Following Belmont, Lex exited the building, curious as to what he would find. He was not expecting to be impressed, but the moment he stepped out, he had to admit that he was wrong. The teleportation building seemed to be built on a hill, so the view upon exiting epassed the entirety of the Valescoplex. A massive, inverted pyramid that seemed to be descending into the ground rather than rising up came into view. The pyramid seemed to have countless levels as it neared the center, and each level was a massive open space filled with exquisite smaller structures that looked akin to chapels and theaters. The use of mosaics could be seen all around, apanied by endless legends depicted in murals painted on the building walls. It was not just the view of Valesco that was impressive, but the aura it radiated as well. Through clever use of spirit stones as tiles and marble, a massive formation was hidden that elevated the building to seem like the pce of a Deity, not a prison for dangerous criminals. Thousands of soldiers were patrolling each level, moving in synchronization that made the pce seem like it was alive, and the moving soldiers were the pulse of the ce. The splendid use of colors, from subtle ones like beige and off white, to vibrant colors like red and orange, brought anotheryer of life to the ce, making it shine with remarkable splendor. He had to admit, even at the Midnight Inn they had no buildings like this. That meant only one thing to Lex: he had to get himself a Crystal race architect! Chapter 682 Prison Cell ? Belmont did not say much, but a subtle smirk grew on his face as he watched mesmerization in Lex''s eyes. Sure, his reaction was still tame and not nearly on the level he expected, but no one could deny the greatness of the Crystal race.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Indeed, Lex really could note up with a single w in the exquisite structure. Despite all the ease the system afforded him in designing buildings, there was no recement for meticulous and detailed nning. This was a step beyond anything he or even the nning division had designed. What''s more, he was a hundred percent sure that there were many details of this ce that he was overlooking or simply unable to detect, for the fundamental purpose of this ce was a prison, so how could there be no security measures? Sure, he saw the endless number of guards, but he was sure that the security measures were greater than just that. Sure the majestic pressure the structure radiated was impressive, but he was sure that it had other more practical reasons as well. Instead of directly taking Lex and himself to their next destination, as Belmont had been doing previously, he decided to walk and allow Lex to take more of the structure in. Unfortunately, walking through the structure did not elicit anymore reactions from Lex as his expression had long since returned to normal. Sure, he was studying the structure, but his motive was to absorb ideas to implement at the Inn rather than to appreciate its beauty. The one thing he noticed only once he reached the structure was that the pattern made using spirit stones as tiles was identical to one of the characters he had studied for arrays. The meaning of the character could not be expressed in a single word, and the nearest English trantion of its meaning, or the way it expressed its power, meant ''strong earth''. "The addition of a ''character'' into the structure''s design is ingenious," Lex said lightly. Of course now that he had seen the idea he could mimic it at the Inn, but something told him his implementation would still fall short of the original architect that designed this ce. "Returning to nature is a strong theme within the Crystal lifestyle," Belmont said with pride. "Biomimicry goes beyond just basic shapes and structures. True biomimicry is when one is able to recreate thews of the universe within one''s own design." Lex nodded very seriously. This was already a very enlightening experience for him. If he could recreate what he learnt here, and implement it across the Inn, he felt he would reach a whole new level. But he still needed to study more. He had only seen things at a surface level. The most ideal situation would be if he hired a Crystal race architect for the Inn, and then thoroughly studied his process and learned it himself. Though they were walking, it was not as if they were out for a casual stroll. Their speed was still incredibly fast, and in mere minutes they reached the center point of the pyramid, which was the entrance to a massive and borate underground structure. Once inside, they took a spiral staircase that seemed like it was carved right out of the ground and seemed to go down forever. Since there were walls on both sides there was no way of seeing how far deep the staircase went, but every so often they would encounter a door to a certain floor. Even with their impressive speed, they had to descend for at least 20 minutes before they reached not the bottom but the door they had to use. If Lex had to guess he would say they were around 60 miles (100 km) deep underground, which was an inconceivable concept to him. Across the various floors he felt differing auras, meaning that different restrictions were applied to each floor. Although he did not know what the effects of those auras were, his instincts told him inly that if he were to get trapped here, there would be no chance of escape. Teleporting to the Inn would be his only option. Suddenly it urred to Lex that there was probably some kind of formation deployed here to prevent teleportation as well. That was probably the first and most important part of a prison holding cultivators. But since he could still feel his connection to the Inn, he was sure he could still teleport out. At most, his teleportation would be dyed, like it had been on earth when the A.I. locked space somehow. Lex continued to study the borateplex and took down notes as they went along. Luthor had long been asking for a prison, and Lex was considering taking inspiration from here and making one for him to manage when he returned from the war. After going through various twists and turns, and descending several more floors as well as traveling through short distance teleportation formations which could not be essed from outside the structure, they finally arrived at what was supposed to be a prison cell. To Lex, however, it seemed like an underground mansion furnished luxuriously! Was this really the Crystal races concept of a prison? He was dumbfounded. This made even Swedish prisons look drab! The duo did not knock or announce their presence, and simply walked through the forcefield that was shielding the ''prison cell''. They entered the building and made their way through, as if Belmont knew exactly where Ezio would be, and indeed he was correct. They found their target meditating inside what looked like a zen garden, a small bird resting on his shoulder. Small yet colorful insects flew around him, reminiscent of butterflies anddybugs. The scene was very beautiful and peaceful to watch. Lex decided that in the prison that he made¡­ he might not add this feature. Or maybe he would. Who knows what kind of requirements he might have in the future. Lex studied Ezio and tried to determine if he was the same Crystal elder he saw. As far as appearances went, he looked more or less the same, but Lex had very limited experience with Crystals so he was not sure if that was enough to identify him. "When I gave you the letter, I expected it would be at least a century or two before you arrived," Ezio suddenly said, opening his eyes and focusing on Lex. As soon as Lex felt Ezio''s gaze on him, he was sure of one thing: this was actually not the same Crystal he saw earlier! Although back then Lex wasparatively much weaker than he was now, he still had a very good idea of the power level and aura of the Crystal he met. The Ezio in front of him was countless times more powerful. But then Lex frowned. Despite the power difference, he could not exin why he knew Lex. Unsure of the correct answer, Lex could only share his findings with Belmont and leave it up to him to judge. "This Crystal is a lot stronger than the one I met in the Minor realm. They cannot be the same." Both Ezio and Belmont were surprised by the certainty in Lex''s voice. "How can you be sure?" asked Ezio, studying Lex thoroughly. "About these things, I''ve never been wrong yet. You''re definitely a lot stronger than the Crystal I met before." Ezio shook his head in disappointment. "There''s a reason for that. If you had arrived in a couple of centuries as I expected, it wouldn''t have mattered. But now that you''ve arrived so early, my n ispletely ruined. They''ll find out sooner orter anyway, so I''ll just tell you. The person you met earlier was still me, but that was just a clone of me that I''ve left in the outside world. That''s why I appear more powerful in person." Both Lex and Belmont were startled. Lex had been searching for a good cloning technique for so long. If he was able to discover one now, then Ezio really would be his lucky star. Not only had Lex received his ''thinking hat'' from himst time, but had learnt incredible things just on the way to meet him. Should he hire him at the Inn? "Ezio, do you know what you''ve done?" Belmont asked gravely, his body emitting a dangerous and furious aura. "Your sentence will only be increased further if what you''ve said is proven true. You know we''ll track the activities of your clone now that we know about it. How many more crimes will we uncover?" Ezio shook his head, as if he was uninterested in conversing with Belmont. Instead, his attention remained on Lex. "I told you to find me when you''ve discovered enough secrets, and for every secret you share with me, I''ll share one with you. The fact that you''vee so quickly must mean you''ve learnt something important, or you wouldn''t be confident enough to find me. So, tell me what you''ve learnt." Chapter 683 Flaws Lex really wanted to get into this, but he did not want to start the conversation while Belmont was still distracted. After all, as things stood now, Belmont was a more reliable person to get what he wanted. At the same time, he had already started making ns for how to proceed if neither of them decided to help. The situation had already deviated from what Lex originally would have expected, and although the situation was notpletely out of control, it was best to be prepared for the worst. Althoughmon sense dictated that faced with the destruction of this realm that they lived in itself they would definitely want to resolve the problem, he wanted to be prepared for the worst in any case. "I have, indeed, learnt a few things that I want to discuss with you. But before I get into that¡­" Lex did not really continue, but he looked towards Belmont who still looked furious. Ezio sighed, as if he had been asked to take care of an extremely tedious matter. Eventually though, he turned to look at Belmont. "What is it that you are surprised about exactly? That in this instance of forceful imprisonment, I did not cooperate with you wholeheartedly? Are you familiar with the concept of prisons and prisoners? What part is surprising for you exactly? Allow me to educate you on the matter." Despite the tant condescension, Belmont was not provoked. Though he allowed a bit of his pride to get to him when it concerned Lex''s reaction to the Crystal races achievements, in professional matters he maintained his calm always. "The only thing I am curious about is how you managed to hide the existence of the clone. Our methods are supposed to be thorough, so before anyone is admitted we test for clones among other things. If there is a loophole then the security of the entire ce will bepromised." Ezio shook his head as if disappointed. "Young man, the moment you think you know everything or are prepared for everything, you enter the territory of arrogance. To keep this ce secure, you must preclude endless threats and possibilities, but I only need toe up with a single weakness or w to prate this ce''s security."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Do not be pedantic, old man," Belmont said, his earlier grace of a lord all gone. "If you do not wish to say that is fine. We can still find out on our own now that we know there is an issue." "When did I say that I wouldn''t tell you? When I was imprisoned, I was tested for any soul connected devices or techniques outside my body, and the test came back negative. That was simply because the clone was in the gestation period. The connection with my main soul had not been formed yet, but within the clone I had left a small piece of my soul as well, which was absorbed. Thus, as a result, at the time of my capture there was no response to your tests." "But you have been under lockdown. There is no way your clone should have been able to connect to your soul." "It was not needed. Since the clone already absorbed a part of my soul, it already became destined to be an extension of me the moment it was born. It''s just that during your testing, it had not been born and so was not picked up." Belmont did not immediately reply, for he could not confirm the authenticity of his im. ording to his own understanding, such a thing still should not have been able to circumvent their investigations. After all, Valesco was not a project undertaken by the young and inexperienced Crystals. Some of the Crystals involved in establishing it were even older and stronger than Ezio, and so should have enough experience to ount for such things. Still, since Ezio had given his exnation, he would be sure to report it. They would, of course, still go through with their own investigations. But none of that was actually Belmonts'' domain. After all, his responsibility was the border. The only reason he had conducted the investigation himself was because he felt if he went through the ''proper protocol'' things would have taken much longer, and this was not a matter on which they could afford to lose time. As if Ezio had read his mind, he smiled and turned to Lex. "Now then, shall we discuss. I am quite eager to see what you have learned. I''ll have you know, quite a bit of effort was put into erasing records of events from back then. Even many of the people who lived through the time remain ignorant of what actually happened. But do not be too worried. Even if what you have learned falls short of my expectations, you can always visit me againter. After all, like I said, I was not expecting you for another century or so." Lex did not hesitate to smile as he heard Ezio. Clearly the Crystal did not want to raise its hopes too high for whatever Lex had managed to learn, and was trying to leave an opportunity for him to return in the future. He had no idea why he would be allowed to visit Ezio again in the future after his misconduct had already been discovered, perhaps he was expecting some leniency for unknown reasons. But that did not matter, for Lex could not even determine if the realm had a few centuries left to exist. What if the realm was destroyed long before then? What would be the point in keeping all these secrets by then? "I am also eager to see if I can meet your expectations. After all, if I cannot, who knows if I''ll ever be able to get a chance to meet you once again. If you don''t mind, I''ve also asked Lord Belmont to listen in on our conversation, since I may need his help in the matters that follow." Chapter 684 Silent

Chapter 684 Silent

Lex had purposefully been cryptic in his wording to attract the two Crystals attention, yet he did not exin what he meant immediately. Nor did he wait for Ezio to respond, for in the given situation Belmont was of more use to him than Ezio. Moreover, based on his behavior of eliminating records of what happened, who knew if he was somehowplicit in whatever scheme was in ce which was resulting in the realms degradation. Therefore, while he wanted to still have a conversation with him to uncover as many secrets as possible, he had to ensure Belmont stayed as well. "If I''m being entirely honest, I haven''t had any time to conduct any real research into the matter myself," Lex confessed. "Anything I learnt was through a series of coincidences. There are some things the sources of which I can share with you, and some that I cannot. It''s up to you whether you trust me or not, or find my narrative believable. "I will assume that you already know about the existence of realms, so I won''t go into detail about them. The first thing that requires scrutiny is that I was informed that this realm is suffering from some kind of anomaly." Both the Crystals were taken aback by Lex''s knowledge of realms. This was not a topic that could be consideredmon knowledge even in more mature realms, let alone the Crystal realm. Technically speaking, such information should have, at most, been shared with those who were about to break through the limits of the realm and transcend. Even then, most immortals actually thought the stories of ascendance and going to a higher realm were just rumors, and that earth immortals were actually the limit of cultivation. Only a select, elite few knew the truth. The Crystal race was an unusual exception to this solely due to the fact that their entire race was abnormally powerful. Although for many of them, their cultivation rate was low, mainly because they felt no pressure to cultivate quickly, it was amon perception that every member of their race would reach the immortal realm sooner orter. After all, the entire race was immortal. Even if they cultivated at the slowest pace possible, sooner orter they were bound to make enough progress to reach a higher realm. While other races had to speed up so that they do not be victims of declining vitality and their bodies failing them, the Crystal race had no such concerns. As a result of this, they were a lot more liberal with sharing sensitive information as well. After all, to them it was only a matter of time till they became eligible to learn this information. It was only learning a little earlier thanter. Using his sixth sense Lex knew that his words had an impact on the two Crystals, but he did not pause for emphasis. There was too much to cover. "I repeat, I was informed that the realm itself is suffering from some kind of anomaly, not that there is an anomaly inside the realm. Out of curiosity, I began to conduct some research on the matter. Due to my limited power, I obviously could not begin searching the entire realm, so then I began studying the history of the realm. "The thing that stood out to me the most in the recent past is the abrupt hegemony of the Kraven. I tried to look into the Kraven a little more. Were they some suppressed race, hidden off somewhere in the realm? Were they a race that was born from mutation? Or, perhaps, were they invaders from another realm?" Lex paused for a moment, to allow the two Crystals to absorb what he was saying. The most unfortunate thing was that if Lex had been able to converse with Luthor and the others, and talked to them about it, the Kraven would have been extremely familiar to them. It was not like they had run into the Kraven anywhere. Instead, they had already faced biological creatures who had been designed explicitly to fight against the inhabitants of a certain. If they had heard Lex''s exnation, their first thought would have been that the Kraven sound like they were designed explicitly to take over the Crystal realm. "These were, again, things I could not verify on my own, but I continued to pay attention to them and how the various nations reacted to them. Although I cannot begin to guess the rationale of the Crystal race, the reactions of the other races confused me as well. Of the original 7 great nations of the Crystal realm, an entire nation had been wiped out by the Kraven, yet still the remaining nations never sought to retaliate against them, and were forever satisfied to continuously losend to their invasion, one county at a time. "At first, these were only my suspicions. But then, I met someone from the royal family of the Hum nation. Although he himself did not understand the reason, I learned from him that the human race had purposefully been avoiding retaliating with full force. They had artificially engineered a situation where the Kraven were putting immense pressure on the entire nation, chipping away at it bit by bit, and somehow they were content with it. In fact, if someone were to take independent measures to retaliate against the Kraven, and achieved a certain level of sess, they would be stopped from continuing to do so. The fact that the royal family itself is preventing retaliation against their sworn enemy is just too suspicious." Lex was about to continue extrapting, but Belmont interrupted him. "The matter with the Kraven really is too confusing," he said, admitting tocking certain knowledge himself. "ording totest reports, an unprecedented army consisting solely of immortal Kraven hasid siege all across the realm, save for the territories of the Crystal race. Yet when our allies solicited the Crystal nation for help due to the extenuating circumstances, our leadership remained suspiciously silent."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Chapter 685 Secrets

Chapter 685 Secrets

Lex was shocked to hear the scope of the war taking ce! An entire army formed only of immortals? Especially an armyrge enough to face the entire realm? How many immortals would that even be? Hundreds of thousands no doubt, maybe even millions. Was it even possible for the Crystal realm to produce such a massive army? The surprised Lex then looked from Belmont to Ezio, who wore a troubled look, but not a surprised one. "The scope of the army is¡­ is unbelievable," he said, fearing what he would do if such a force invaded the Inn. He probably didn''t even have enough MP to to hire enough guards to fight such an invasion off. He really should start upgrading his Butter Knife again! "But I don''t know why you''re surprised about the fact that the Crystal race is not lending a hand. Based on what I know, they have never interfered in the Kraven war unless their own territories were at risk. The fact that they are choosing not to get involved, especially since there is such a massive threat, should make sense, right?" Although Lex was not asking directly, he was hinting at the fact that for some reason the Crystals refused to help. Only if their rationale was exined could Lex understand if theirck of action this time as well fell in line with their ideology or there was some other reason for it. Belmont was about to exin, but Ezio spoke first. "Well, you have not discovered any exemry secrets, but a thorough investigation and your deductive reasoning are good so I will reward you with simr information." Ezio slowly stood up from his meditation position and beckoned them to follow him as he exited the meditation garden and entered a salon. Lex, once again, could not stop himself from wondering how any of this was supposed to be a prison. As if to emphasize his point, an automated bot appeared, carrying a tray full of snacks and delicacies, which Ezio offered the duo. Lex could not help but wonder if the bot qualified as an A.I. He tried some of the snacks as Ezio began his story. "Back when the Kraven invasion began at first, no one took them too seriously. After all, such minor wars happened all the time. Moreover, regardless of where they came from, no one had too much of a significant impression of them. The Poliods have their own strengths and weaknesses, but no one could say that they were a weak race. That is why theirplete defeat was a huge surprise." At this point, Ezio paused, as if he were a professor, allowing time for his students to absorb the information he was providing. Sure Belmont knew more than Lex about these matters due to his position, but he definitely did not know as much as Ezio, so he tolerated the situation and listened silently. "The Kraven, either unsatisfied with their fortunes, or filled with ambition, continued to wage war. The Crystal race, too, faced their probing attacks. Of course, we thoroughly let them know not to mess with us, so they never tried again, but no other race was able to make such a stand. Thus, with the passage of time, all the other races became victims to the Kraven''s war efforts. The other races often looked to the Crystal race for help, and asked them for help, or to even eradicate the Kraven. "But for the Crystal race, the question remained, why should we intervene to begin with? We had a good rtionship with some of the other races, sure. But the races themselves have long since forgotten that once they too carved out a ce for themselves through blood and fire, recing others who were there before them. Back then if we did not help their predecessors against them, why should we help anyone against the Kraven?" Suddenly, it dawned on Lex that he had not thought of things from such a point of view. He had been influenced by the knowledge that there were 7 dominant races in the Crystal realm, but that did not necessarily mean that it was always as such. In the beginning, to expand theirnds and gather more resources, surely each race would have had to fight and conquer territory. In fact, the seven races may not have even be dominant at the same time. One may havee to power before the rest, and witnessed history unfold as 7 races became dominant over the realm. In this case, it need not be guessed that it was the Crystal race who was the oldest, and this had witnessed the rise of all the subsequent races. Thus, from the point of view of the leader of the Crystal race, the activities of the Kraven might just seem like that of one race recing another. But wait¡­ Although Lex''s train of thoughts had been led in this direction by Ezio''s exnation, a sign of anyone with basic extraption skills, he was not someone who would be blindly influenced by others. Though it seemed reasonable when Ezio said it, he could quickly and easily pick out the w in this. Although the Kraven could be like the other races, carving out a space for themselves, they were also fundamentally different. The other races built up their civilizations, and grew alongside nature - even if some were more wasteful than others. They farmed, tended thend and incorporated various beasts and races into their way of life. But the Kraven were not as such. He had shbacks to the strangely deste area in the Minor realm near the Kraven. Wherever they went, they would mindlessly kill and destroy all living things. Their spread was directly harming nature, and they had purposefully made themselves out to be as enemies of all sentient beings. Such a distinct contrast should have still elicited a sense of disgust in the Crystal race. It should have been easy for them to determine that even if the Kraven were not a threat to them, their spread across the realm would directly harm the environment of the realm,and ultimately lead even the Crystals to suffer some loss. If things went to an extreme, the Crystal nation might eventually be thest habitable ce in the realm if the Kraven continued to spread the way they had been for so long. "It seems you have noticed the w already," Ezio said, with a chuckle. "Yes, what you have heard right now is only the nominal exnation given out to the public. The real reason is a lot more straightforward, and at the same time, a lot more shocking. "Since you know about realms, you must also know that upon surpassing the Earth Immortal realm, they ascend from the Crystal realm and go to another. They do not head towards a random realm, but one called Primordial Garden. As one can reasonably expect, the Crystal race also has a presence there, though admittedly we are nowhere nearly as indomitable there as we are here. "When the Kraven invasion began, even before the Poliods were defeated, the Crystal nation detected the true threat that such a race faced. Just as we were getting ready to lend a hand, we were contacted by one of the elders who had transcended the Crystal realm. Contact through the realms is not easy, and so is reserved for only the most important news. The details of that message¡­ I will keep to myself for now. All I will tell you is that afterwards, all ns to actively act against the Kraven were abolished." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Lex was shocked, but at the same time he already expected some kind of conspiracy so this was an eptable oue for him. It was instead Belmont who was shaken the most. "Lies! You have to be lying! I have never heard of such an absurd thing!" he roared furiously, the crystal that made up his face taking on a red hue. "Why are you reacting like a spoiled child?" Ezio asked, almost annoyed at Belmont. "It''s easy to confirm. Now that you know, you can consult the permanent members of the Crystal Parliament. They will only ask you how you find out, and then fill you in on the details." The more confident Ezio sounded, the more shaken Belmont became. If he were not already sitting, he might have stumbled. Lex did not understand the relevance as to him it made perfect sense. If orders or instructions came from a more senior person within the same race, it made sense that they followed it. That did not necessarily mean that the Crystal race was the mastermind behind the scenes. Maybe they were just avoiding some hidden, unknown danger under the guidance of their race members from a higher realm. It was too soon to jump to conclusions as there could be many exnations. Unfortunately, it seemed like he would not find out why Belmont was so startled right now. "Do you have more?" Ezio asked Lex. "From the way you spoke, I''m sure you''ve learnt more important things." Chapter 686 Unexpected response

Chapter 686 Unexpected response

The way Ezio continuously dismissed Belmont was more than a little insulting. Perhaps there was some history there, or maybe Belmont had some kind of negative reputation amongst the Crystal race. Outsiders, such as Silvia, would still worship him but within his own race perhaps he was looked down on by a certain ss. That would also exin his need to boast in front of Lex and feel superior. That was not necessarily a bad thing, for Lex at least. Equipped with this knowledge he could think of more ways to get what he wanted. After all, he was nearing the end of what he knew. Although the umted evidence kept on pointing towards the anomaly being something to do with the Kraven, what if that was not it at all? Sure, the Kraven could still be a part of some scheme or conspiracy, while the anomaly could be caused by something else entirely. What if the anomaly was actually rted to the mysterious birth of monsters in the darkness. Sure, that had a much longer history in the Crystal realm, but who ever said the anomaly was new and not old? Gathering all his thoughts, Lex took a deep breath in and added all the new information he heard and quickly thought of how to incorporate it into his own theories. Fortunately, for now, all the revtions seemed to support his assumptions. "Well, yes, I''m about to get to the core of the matter. But first, let''s recall what we now know. The royal family of the Hum nation, and possibly the leaders of all other nations, were for some reason suppressing full retaliation. Now, whether having reserved their forces so far will pay off or not facing such an unprecedented assault remains to be seen. "But unless they all had foreknowledge of this attack, holding back their forces made little sense. That is the first point of suspicion. Then the fact that not only do Crystals from this so-called Primordial Garden know of the Kraven and their invasion, they even felt it necessary to send instructions down not to interfere in it makes me think that the Kraven invasion is not entirely normal. "Either they were sent from another realm, possibly even the Primordial Garden," Lex paused and gave Ezio an uncertain look before continuing, "or perhaps there is a tear or? portal in the realm somewhere, directly linked to wherever the Kraven areing from. "Rather than believing that the Kraven were just sent once, I am more inclined to believe there is a breach, or perhaps permanent link through which the Kraven continuouslye from. The appearance of an army consisting of hundreds of thousands, or perhaps millions of immortals would also make sense then, because I find it hard to believe that they were able to nurture so many immortals in just a few hundred years. Moreover, if they had such a massive army from the get go, then based on their nature they would not have kept it in reserve. "But, most importantly, the presence of a tear of some sort in the fabric of the realm itself¡­ would exin my most recent discovery, which led me toe to you so quickly." Lex did not bother pausing for suspense, though he knew it might have been a good tactic. In this situation where too much was unknown and Lex was not aware of how much information the duo actually had, he could not urately gauge how to build the necessary environment for suspense. In this case, it was the actual revtion itself that would have to suffice as the ultimate shock. "So that you can corroborate this information if needed, I will share with you in detail the sequence of events. In the unownednds, in the territory of the Noel family, in a small port-town called Babylon I have a tavern called Midnight Tavern. From there I noticed an abnormality in the sea, and ventured forth to investigate. "There I encountered the territory of a peculiar Trelop named Toro. There I learned that an unusual liquid had appeared in his territory which appeared enticing to all living beings, but would actually end up severely harming any who came in contact with it." Lex spent a few minutes describing in thorough detail what the liquid looked like and the features it presented, and even pulled out a picture of the liquid he had stored in his spatial bangle, and showed it to them. "The liquid was turning all passerbyers with an even slightly weak spirit into mindless drones, and so Toro was quite eager to get rid of it. As a result, I took a sample and consulted a senior I know about the results. "The liquid¡­ is called Cosmic Erosion Elixir. ording to him, the liquid is produced as a result of a realm destabilizing due to an external influence. The birth of the Elixir means that the realm is on the path to self destruction." Belmont scoffed, as if he had heard the most absurd thing ever. "The ''elder'' ispletely misleading you. I have never heard of such an absurd thing. The realm¡­" Belmont stopped talking, or rather his voice stopped traveling to them, when Lex gently reached out and seemed to ''grab'' space. He was using Impervious Hands and augmenting the ability with his own spiritual energy, which allowed him to somewhat make use of space affinity. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Since Lex had not practiced much of his affinity, he could not use it as effectively as Z, but that did not mean he waspletely inept. After months of long distance teleportation, he had already gained some insights on how he could make use of his ability. By ''grabbing'' space, even if lightly, he produced some visible wrinkles in space. This was not much, and the wrinkles could not even be used to attack or defend, but they were enough to block out the sound of Belmont speaking. "I''ve already used the Cosmic Elixir to gain spatial affinity, so I can guarantee that it is real. Moreover, since the Crystal race can contact others from other realms, why do you assume no one else can do the same?" He pulled out a Golden key, suddenly attracting the full attention of both Crystals. Even without Lex''s exnation they could tell that there was something special about the key, though they still waited for him to exin. Ezio was especially intrigued, for this previously simple distraction he had found for himself had turned into something extremely interesting. "This is the key to the Midnight Inn, a ce for guests and travelers across the universe, regardless of any realm. Let me show you." He smiled at the two, and chose to return to the Inn. Due to the heavily ced restrictions on space, there was an awkward pause as Lex''s return was dyed a little. Just as Belmont was about to speak, his pupils constricted and his cultivation roared to life as he saw Lex disappear from right in front of him! His spirit sense flooded the entire prison cell as he tried to locate Lex, but there were no signs of him at all. But as Belmont grappled with the thought of the ramifications of teleportation within their most secure prison, Ezio frowned, the look in his eyes bing more and more grave. He now had reason to believe what Lex was saying was true. If that was the case, and their realm really was at risk of destruction, then¡­ The couple of minutes Lex disappeared from the cell were spent filled with turbulent emotions for the duo, and his return did not exactly calm them down. Belmont, especially, reacted extremely aggressively, and locked down Lex with his spirit sense. "What conspiracy are you plotting, human?" the Crystal roared in anger, unable to think clearly. "Do you wish to break the prisoners out of Vsco? WHO ARE YOU WORKING WITH?" Lex, who had returned feeling good, assuming that he was about to establish good rtions with the Crystals, was taken by surprise. Wasn''t this reaction a little too strong? But then his good mood was spoiled. Even if he was nning on using the Crystals, he had never acted with bad intentions in mind. As such, he absolutely did not appreciate being treated as such. With his body frozen still and the pressure of an immortal bearing down on him, Lex was not filled with fear. Instead, his eyes were filled with a dangerous anger. Ezio, who had been ruminating amongst his own thoughts, suddenly noticed the abnormality and sensed that things were not normal. He suddenly realized that if Lex''s ims were true, and he had the ability to travel between realms, then his background absolutely wasn''t simple. He could not allow that duffer Belmont to screw things up! "Belmont, restrain yourself!" he let out a roar, his voice filled with an unknown power. Though he was supposed to be restrained, and did not have ess to all his abilities, his voice should have been enough to wake him from his manic state. Unfortunately, it was toote. Chapter 687 Contract ? Although Lex had an impressive defense, he was nowhere near strong enough to cause immortals any harm. The qualitative leap in power over eachrge realm resulted in a difference that could only be measured on a scale of order of magnitude. Basically, Lex could do nothing to harm them. This was moreover so for a race that was not only inherently stronger than humans, but had a longer life span and more well-developed techniques. All he could do was return to the Inn, admitting failure. Moreover, as the ce that he returned to the Inn to was from prison, he would only be able to return there in the future if he wished to enter the Crystal realm. Basically, he was stuck. The only option for him now in the Crystal realm was to use his Remote Presence ability. But Lex was not resigned to running away. Although, yes, if he kept a cool head and behaved logically, he could endure the suppression of Belmont until Ezio knocked some sense into him. The situation was, after all, not yet resolved. There was room for it to progress in any direction, and he could salvage things. But Lex had long shed his training to cooperate with the authority which living in the legal system on Earth had embedded in him. Yes, he had been pinning his hopes on the Crystal nation. But that did not mean he was helpless without them. So while suppressing his frustration could lead to a better oue, he was not totally dependent on the Crystal race either. Now that he was not dependent on them for anything, he did not have to fear acting against them. But the question was, what could he even do? There was absolutely nothing he could do that could harm immortals. Moreover, they would notice and then stop him as soon as he even tried to do anything. As if that were not all, he was even frozen in ce. He had no options - supposedly. Although the pressure of the immortal held him in ce, it did not extend to the depths of his body or else even his blood would be frozen in ce, and he would die. If his internals were not frozen, then he could manipte his spiritual energy.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Of course, using any technique right now would be futile, but he still had arrays did he not? "Belmont, restrain yourself!" the voice thundered in the small room, waking the Lord from his manic episode, and restraining his aura. But in Lex''s eyes, the duo did not see the relief of someone who escaped the wrath of an immortal. Instead, in his eyes they saw the scorn of someone even more prideful than an immortal! The duo was once again surprised, but before they could react, Lex once again disappeared, for good this time perhaps. But he did not leave without a departing gift: two arrays hung in the air where he had been. The first was a simple array that left behind a voice message. "I came to the Crystal nation with good intentions, to warn of an impending doom. Yet all I found were conspiracies and hostility. Perhaps the reason they do not fight against the Kraven is because they already know this realm is bound to be destroyed, and have already secured their own escape to the Primordial Garden. Why should they waste their time and effort protecting the poor vermin they know will die sooner orter anyway?" The message was full of spite, and it was clear that Lex had developed an incredibly negative opinion of them. But who could me him? Being oppressed by the aura of an immortal was easily said, but not easily endured. The physical and mental strain of such an experience could leave others crippled. In fact, the first time Lex had been exposed to the aura of an immortal was also during the Crystal realm, and had left him unconscious for a long time. Though he was much stronger now, and would not be rendered unconscious just from being exposed to aura, it was still an unpleasant experience. He also did not like the notion that others felt that he could be manhandled. Just as the duo was absorbing the words from the first array, Belmont even feeling a dash of guilt for overreacting, the second array triggered. As it happened, the array was built around the character he saw up on the surface, with the intention of causing resonance with that character. Since that character was drawn into the structure, it would not be used up like in an array. Instead, it would continue to express the effects that character was associated with as a representation of the universalws. By creating a simple enough array, which resonated by that permanent and empowered character, Lex ended up creating an array with a much greater power than one would have expected. The mansion around the two immortals morphed a little, as if the very stones making it up had undergone a change. While internally the mansion looked more or less the same, only one real change urred. All exits from the mansion, and thus the cell, had been blocked off and moreover, reinforced by stones and rocks. Moreover, they were not so easily removed either. As far as Lex was concerned, this was far from the retaliation he would have wanted. But, given his power, he would have to be content with a forced detention. Ezio grimaced and looked at Belmont, who looked both awkward and angry. "For centuries I have been lobbying against the establishment of positions based on nepotism," Ezio said, frustration and irritation evident in his voice. "Such a great aplishment you have made, Belmont, making any enemy out of someone capable of traveling realms. Let alone the loss we will now suffer being deprived of the possibility of easy traversal between realms, can you imagine what kind of backing he must have? Can you tolerate an enemy able to facilitate inter-realm traversal? Worst of all, what if his ims are true? What if our realm is on the path to destruction?" "Shut up!" Belmont could not help but roar, his embarrassment coloring his face red. "I will not hear lectures from a criminal!" Ezio scoffed. "I could receive a pardon whenever I wish, child. You know nothing of the world and its way. Just wish that things are not irredeemable, or else you may be the oneing here in ce of me." Not paying him any mind, Ezio left to try to exit his mansion. He needed to contact some Crystal on the outside and assess the situation. Behind him, though, Belmont began to worry about the repercussions to his reputation if word got out. As mind conjured up greater and greater threats to his future, his eyes once again were filled with mania. No one must know! He locked onto Ezio''s back, and attacked! ***** In a room sat a priest, his robe worn and heavily damaged. His once tough and buff body was now also battered and bruised. His beak, one his pride and joy, had now lost a lot of its color. Like the deity he used to worship, the priest had the head of an eagle and the body of a human. But as the religion worshiping Ra was eradicated from the Origin realm, so were almost all its followers. Even this priest had only survived due to special circumstances. Opposite to him sat a truly revolting slug creature from a race known as Gti. A few other creatures sat in the room with them, as well as a devil. They were all waiting patiently for news. Some timeter, a portal opened and the subus Karen walked through. "Ladies and gentleman, slugs and bugs, beasts and monsters, the moment we have all been waiting for has finally arrived. The location of the Midnight Inn workers have been verified, and a n has been put into motion. Soon, you too can try to get your hands on one of them. All you need to do is sign this confidentiality contract, witnessed by an Elder Devil, and we will be ready to go. Whatever your reasons are, so long you deliver on our agreement, we will not care at all." There was no pping or celebrating, as everyone in that room was in a sour mood. They were all gathered here as enemies of the Midnight Inn. Some of them just wanted to hurt the Inn somehow, while others wanted to ckmail them while others still wanted to dissect and study those workers. Their personal reasons varied, but they were unified in their goal. One by one, they got up and signed the contract. In the corner of the room, a devil watched with eager eyes and a massive grins as he rubbed his hands together. Breaking a contract with a devil was nigh impossible, but the devils oh so loved it when someone tried to do so. Even now, this devil was hoping that some of them would change their mind midway. Chapter 688 Invitation ? Inside Valesco, the moment certain changes took ce inside Ezio''s prison cell, the guards noticed. The entire prison entered lockdown and a number of guards approached the prison and tried to enter it, but found to their amazement that they could not! The stones and rocks in the surrounding area had morphed so that all entrances and windows had been blocked. But being blocked was not the main issue. The issue was that the entire ''prison cell'' had somehow be an imprable box, able to withstand a bombardment of powerful attacks. Still, the Crystal race could not be underestimated. Based on their judgment of the toughness of the cell, it would take them exactly 12 seconds to break it and enter. They could only hope that nothing ridiculous happened within those dozen seconds, as the sounds of a fierce fight could be heard inside. ***** Lex, who reappeared at the Inn, was still in a foul mood. But he was not a child, and he was not immature, so he could not let his mood continue to influence him. Instead of checking up on the Inn, as he usually did, Lex entered his own meditation room and began to meditate. He calmed his mind and allowed himself to rx, keeping himself from reflecting on recent events. After a short twenty-minute interval, seeing as how the environment was just right, he decided to spend some time cultivating. Since he had entered the Golden core realm, he realized that his cultivation speed, despite the excellent environment, was quite low. This was not only because it was harder to grow in the Golden core realm, but also because he barely ever cultivated. He got away with cultivating now and then during the Foundation realm, but in the Golden core realm, that did not seem to be the case. Several hourster, when he finished cultivating, he slowly exhaled and allowed himself topletely rx. Now that he was certain that he hadpletely calmed down, he finally allowed himself to reflect on what had just happened. To a degree, he considered this his own failure as well, not because he could have stayed back and salvaged the situation, but because he should have never even allowed the situation to deteriorate as such. He had great pride in manipting people and controlling events subtly, but this time he had allowed the situation to get out of hand. That failure had made his subsequent task more difficult, albeit he still had not given up on it. It had been a while since he tasted such failure. When he had just begun his journey in the cultivation world, he seemed to be constantly making stupid mistakes, but with time and experience he became better. He faced numerous tricky situations, and always came out the winner. Now, after a long time, he came out as a loser once again. Instead of cribbing orining about it, it was better if he learnt from it. For example, there had been subtle signs of Belmonts character from as early as he met him, yet Lex had be so used to dealing with capable and intellectual people that he overlooked all his faults.N?v(el)B\\jnn Moreover, he had been so determined that once he met the elder from the Crystal race, Ezio, that his problems would be solved that when he finally encountered the situation, his anticipation had put him in a psychologically inferior position. Although it was not obvious based on Lex''s behavior, the fact that he felt like he could not have manipted them was a sign of such a mentality. Of course, it was always easier to pick out mistakes and problems in hindsight, so Lex was not too hard on himself. Once he was done contemting on how he could have done better, he began nning out what he could do now. He still had not learnt the secret of the Crystal realm, and he needed to use some way of gathering as many dignitaries at the wedding to raise the quest performance value. What resources did he have avable? How could he entice people to visit? How could he take advantage of the current situation in the Crystal realm to his benefit? Gathering people at the Inn would have been easier, but that did not in any way benefit his quest. He had not yet moved from his meditation position as all these thoughts crossed his mind, and he did not intend to relocate either until he was done. Nor did he n to use his state of flow to help him with his nning. Almost instinctively, without even thinking about it, Lex felt like this would be the best way for him to recover from his setback. Soon, an outline of a n formed in his mind. Some parts were still not certain, and would depend on how things yed out in the real world. Now that he had a n, a smile returned to his lips. The greatest mistake he made, in his estimate, was relying on the Crystal race to fix all his problems. Since when had he needed others'' help? In fact, others shoulde to him in search of aid. He teleported to the Innkeeper''s office, and grabbed the Innkeeper''s Pen, dipped it in the InkWell. Hemented for a moment that there was no ''Innkeeper''s memo card'' or ''Innkeepers notepad'' upon which he could write for even further enhanced effect, but he would make do without it. A square, white paper was summoned in front of him, and he finally put pen to paper. Although Lex had not specifically practiced calligraphy, he had enough control and sufficient imagination to allow him to write beautiful characters on the page. As for thenguage he wrote in, it did not matter at all, so even the characters he wrote werepletely made up. No matter what he wrote, even if it was a scribble, so long as he used the ink from the InkWell, anyone who gazed upon his writing would perfectly understand exactly what he meant to convey. Moreover, since he was writing with the Innkeeper''s pen, his writing also benefited from the fact that the words were imbued with the aura of the Innkeeper. Of course, since he did not intend to sign his name as the Innkeeper, his identity would remain unknown to the reader. Once he was done writing, he put the card aside and began writing on another one, resulting in two identical cards. But he was not done, and continued to create a few more cards. Once he was done, he smiled mischievously as he read the contents of his cards. "You are cordially invited to the wedding of Pvarti Noel and Jasmine Phillips to celebrate their union. As their houses unite in matrimony, so too should the nations unite to discuss the darkness that ripples through thends. Although the Crystal nation has forsaken action, and tacitly allowed the growing conspiracy, no other can afford to." Besides those words, there was only the venue, which was the Midnight Tavern, and the time of the wedding. If the address was exined in too much detail, it would take away from the mystique of the invitation, so he left it up to the recipients to conduct their own investigation on where the tavern was. He was confident that they would manage. These words seemed simple, and perhaps even underwhelming as the prologue of his n, but that is only when one failed to consider the immensity of the aura radiating from those words. For a realm that was limited to Earth Immortals, the full dignity and immensity of the Innkeeper''s aura was not something they had ever witnessed or could even conceive. This was an aura that even Dao Lords did not belittle and allowed them to assume the Innkeeper should be of rank with them. So how then could a measly Earth Immortalpare? When seen from that lens, this entire invitation took an entirely new meaning. Although Lex had not said outright what the invitation was for, anyone would be able to conclude that the only ''darkness'' rippling through thends at the moment was the Kraven. Moreover, there was even a jab at the inaction of the Crystal race in the letter, as well as the insinuation that they were somehow involved in some conspiracy. Even if the recipients actually knew the truth behind the Kraven and the Crystal race turned out not to be involved, just the fact that these words had been written by someone of such immense aura, they would begin to doubt if what they knew was the truth to begin with. Truthfully, Lex was not so petty that he would malign the whole race just because one member earned his ire. No, he would first create that misunderstanding, and thenter pin the entire me on Belmont. He would pretend as if his entire purpose in going to the Crystal realm was to personally deliver one of these letters to them. As for the consequences of his actions¡­ well, who asked Belmont to mess with him? Sure, Lex wasn''t SO petty, but he was still a little petty. He wouldn''t ignore being bullied due to a higher cultivation realm. Chapter 689 The seventh race!

Chapter 689 The seventh race!

With a number of letters now in hand, the next step was to deliver them. That part, unfortunately, was easier said than done. He no longer had months to travel, as the wedding would take ce in less than two months. He would need to recruit some aid, but at the same time finding people with the necessary connections to deliver the letters to the heads of the various nations was not easy. Frankly speaking, he barely had a way to deliver the letter to King Cornelius. Although, admittedly, he was looking forward to seeing the Kings'' reaction when he found Lex at the inn. He had sent his son looking for him, but now Lex was openly inviting the King to his own tavern, and with some kind of mysterious and unknown backing. It would be a good show. He could ask the Phillips family to have the letters delivered. The letters may reach or they might not, as the connection of that family to other nations was of questionable value. He had a better idea, though admittedly it was a little crazy. First, though, he scanned the Inn. It would be a test of his luck if it turned out¡­ He smiled, and teleported away, reappearing at the bar inside Midnight manor. A sulking crown prince by the name of Aegis was futilely attempting to intoxicate himself with the selection avable at the bar. Unfortunately, Lex had nothing that would work on immortals, and so he was failing miserably at his objective. Defeated, for now, he was resting his forehead on the bar as he pondered on the future. "I take it you''ve had a bad weekend," Lex said extremely casually as he sat beside him. "Bad weekend. That''s one way of putting it," he replied without lifting his head from where it rested on the bar. "I had to run with my tail tucked between my cheeks! I ran into an army made entirely of immortals. Even I''m not stupid enough to think I could take that on. I''ve been hiding here ever since." "Yeah I can see how that would bring the mood down," Lex said as he ordered himself a Pina Cda. ''Why was that drink just so good?'' a part of him wondered, though mostly he was still just focused on Aegis. "It''s unfortunate, then, that I have some more bad news for you." Aegis finally looked up, his eyes filled with fatigue. He had recently mustered up a lot of courage and determination as he had once again decided to face his undefeatable father. Turning over a new leaf was a lot of work, both literally and mentally. As a recently recovered alcoholic, he was not used to it and was having a tough time, so when he was faced with the tidal wave of immortal Kraven, his newfound resolution immediately crumbled. Given enough time, he would probably be alright. He only needed to recover mentally before he could once again take up the challenging task of uncovering his fathers secrets regarding the Kraven with newfound vigor! After all, the Kraven just became a much bigger threat. Unfortunately for his natural development, Lex could not wait so long. Moreover, despite any rebellion he may have shown against his father, Lex now needed him to return to him, so an intervention was absolutely necessary. He put an invitation on the counter and slid it across the counter till it stopped in front of Aegis. A beautiful yet random scribble adorned the front, radiating a majestic aura, while at the same time tranting to a single name: Cornelius. "The situation in the Crystal realm is a lot more dire than just a massive Kraven invasion," Lex said, taking a sip from the frothy, bubbly drink he received. His visage did not match that of a person discussing potential armageddon at all. "The Crystal realm itself, the very fabric of its reality, is in jeopardy." Briefly, Lex exined his discovery of Cosmic Erosion Elixir, and put the exnation of the elixir onto the powerful Innkeeper, the mysterious owner of the Midnight Inn, and thus the Midnight Tavern, as well. Aegis'' eyes never left the letter, a feeling of unsurpassed foreboding filling him. If the realm itself was at risk, he had to put aside his grievances and ensure that his own father received this invitation. The uing meeting held unprecedented significance and could forever alter the history of the realm. Moreover, this was far more serious than any other conspiracy he could even conceive. He needed to confront his father and discover if he had foreknowledge of this threat. If he did¡­ Aegis could not even imagine what he would do if his father already knew of this. "As it happens," Lex continued, waking Aegis from his reverie, "I need to send invitations to the leaders of the other nations as well. Do you have any idea how I can do so?" n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Delivering the letters to the capital of the nations of Varns, as well as the Sentinels, is not an issue at all. With our long history of cooperation with the Varns, and the frequent necessity for diplomatic missions to the Sentinels, we have teleportation formations already set that can reach their leadership. For the Crystal race, it is not so easy, but there is a process through which we can go. The new country formed by the Poliod''s ispletely out of our reach, and we have no ties with them, so I cannot help you there. The Trelops don''t really let outsiders into the sacrednds, so delivering a message to them is difficult." Lex nodded, as if that was already a great help, but then suddenly paused. He counted in his head, and suddenly realized that the number didn''t add up. The Crystals, Humans, Trelops, Sentinels, Varns and Poloids together formed six of the seven races that upied the Crystal realm, but the seventh wasn''t even mentioned. Although Aegis did not know he did not need to deliver a letter to the Crystals, he at least mentioned them. But he hadpletely ignored the seventh race, and not mentioned it at all. In fact, it was now urring to him that he had never even heard mention of the seventh major race in the Crystal realm! Not in the academy when he was learning the history and geography of the realm, nor anywhere else had there ever been mention of a seventh race, except in mention of the fact that there were seven main races. Suddenly, all of Lex''s attention was focused on this issue. Why had he never noticed this small oversight before? This was abnormal! "For the Crystal race, the Trelops and Poliods, I''ll think of another way. You know, it urs to me, that you did not mention the seventh race, nor have I ever heard mention of them." Lex focused all his attention on Aegis,pletely mentally prepared for some unexpected revtion. Could this unknown seventh race be behind the anomaly at the Crystal realm? Could there be some secret behind this matter? Was this unknown race perhaps so enigmatic that people would subconsciously ignore them unless there was a matter that specifically concerned them? Aegis, who was up until now struggling to deal with shock, gave Lex a peculiar look as if he had heard a most unexpected question. Wasn''t this¡­mon knowledge? Unfortunately, for Lex who was not a native of the Crystal realm, it was notmon knowledge. "The seventh main race of the Crystal realm¡­ doesn''t really have a nation. That''s because¡­ that race consists of Sol and Frio birds. The entire Crystal realm is their territory. There is nowhere they are not wee, and nowhere they cannot ept the worship of all living things." Lex''s extremely serious look morphed just a bit as he suppressed his lips from twitching, but ultimately failed. "Do they¡­ have some kind of leader or do they just live freely?" "There is a primogenitor Sol bird, and a primogenitor Frio bird, so I suppose they could be called leaders. They live in the territory of the Crystal race. But, I''ve never really heard of the Sol birds acting in unison as a race before. Thergest their groups go to is a single flock. In fact, even when their flocks began to grow too big, they split and form two smaller ones." Lex nodded. He would¡­ skip the invitation for the birds as well then, since he had no way of reaching the Crystal race territory. He put down two more invitations on the counter, and requested Aegis deliver them to the Sentinels and Varn capitals to their respective leaders. As for the rest¡­ Lex sighed, and turned his attention to Zagan, thetest Inn worker who had yet to perform a single task. The moment he had arrived at the Inn, he underwent a breakthrough to a higher realm, and had since then been in retreat. It was time for him to contribute a little. Chapter 690 Work Ethic

Chapter 690 Work Ethic

A dozen seconds was an inconsequential amount of time for most mortals. Unless one was performing some excruciatingly difficult task, such as performing a nk or counting down the timer on a microwaves for food when starving, it would pass without even giving enough time for significant thought. A good stretch early in the morning would easily surpass such a time limit, and there was certainly almost no task that required less time. Yet for immortals, 12 seconds was an eternity. With minds fast and powerful enough to work through countless scenarios and resolve an untold number of issues, each second was enough to determine life and death. It was ironic, really, considering that the greater their cultivation level became, the longer their fights took. So for 12 seconds, the guards who stood outside the sealed prison lived through 12 lifetimes as they waited for an opening. Meanwhile, sounds of a bitter struggle could be heard from within. More and more guards also trickled into the outer room, joining the queue of those ready to face any threat. Finally, when they were able to puncture a hole into the perimeter of the cell, dozens of spirit senses flooded in to investigate. The sight that awaited them was both extremely shocking, but also tantly predictable. Ezio and Belmont were fighting! But, with all his powers and cultivation sealed, Ezio was not fighting so much as he was struggling to survive. His entire body was covered in cracks, both big and small, indicating the bitter beating he had just suffered. Yet he was not dead yet. The crystals that made up his body were stronger than Belmont expected, and even with such an overwhelming advantage, he was not able to kill him. Belmont, on the other hand, did not look so great either. He was not harmed, but the crystals that made up his body were all tinted with a deep, flowing red, hinting at his mania. As a Crystal who had constantly faced scrutiny and had to live with judgment and condescension from his peers, he was extremely sensitive to any negative news rting to him being spread. Although not a shred of him believed Lex''s ims, facing the possibility where it might be even 1% true and he had driven Lex away, he could not imagine the reproach he would face. But now, it was all for naught. Ezio had survived, and so he could not spin his own tale. Before he could consider anything even more drastic, the guards streamed in and suppressed him as well. Things were out of his hands now, and his mania finally subsided. All that remained was regret - regret that he had not directly killed that stupid human the moment he saw him. Hatred shed in his eyes. Ezio, on the other hand, looked quite happy and even content. Soon he would be treated, and then he could investigate the matter that they had been informed of by Lex. Moreover, he still needed to pay Lex back for sharing a secret. While he himself was stuck in prison, for now, his clone was not. Fortunately, Lex had already shared the location of his tavern. The clone would head there directly. ***** While Aegis waited for the Kraven army to pass so he could return to the Crystal realm, Lex teleported away. In a distant corner of the Inn sat Zagan, currently in a human form. He looked incredibly pale, almost as if he was sick, and had straight ck hair. At a nce, he looked like a highschool kid from Japan. But of course he was not. He was an immortal monster which had gained sufficient sentience, and azy loafer besides. He had spent a ridiculously long time to pass the test, and since passing he had only been cultivating. He had been no help at all. Though, to be fair, from Zagan''s point of view, he was the pinnacle of haste! The monster had lived for millions of years, so its concept of time was very different. Any ordinary task it performed would be stretched over a few years at least. In contrast, it did not even take a single year to finish the test. Moreover, it was currently undergoing a tribtion. If it seeded, then it would undergo a period of rapid growth during which time it could only cultivate. In his modest expectations, it would be another 6 or 7,000 years before his current cultivation cycle ended. It did not know much about the Midnight Inn, to be honest, but when it became a worker, it felt the bond created within its soul, linking it to the Inn. To be able to do that, the owner of the Inn definitely had to be much more powerful than it. In that case, he had probably lived much longer than Zagan, right? If that was the case, a few thousand years to get ustomed to its current level should bepletely understandable. In fact, he would not be surprised if he wasmended for his speedy resolution of his personal affairs to show up to work. As his first ever job, he was looking forward to seeing what it would entail. These were only some of the passing thoughts Zagan had while it underwent itstest tribtion. After the moremonly known tribtions, such as fire and lightning, ones it had already experienced before, it was now undergoing an entirely new form of tribtion. An entity presented itself to Zagan in his mind in the form of an ancient, extinct race known as Farham. The Farham, for crimes unknown, were excluded from the cycle of life and death, and were sentenced to the bidding of ''Heaven'' or the universe until they can atone for their sins. In this case, that atonement was in the form of testing Zagan''s mentality through a series of illusions it suffered in its mind. But as a monster that had lived for millions of years, this was perhaps the easiest tribtion it had ever faced. It was others, with far less life experience than it, who would really struggle with this tribtion. Just as it was focused on its illusion, it felt a physical stimulus attracting its attention. Was this also a part of the tribtion? He felt the stimulus again, and opened its eyes to find a human standing in front of it, poking him. Zagan immediately shut his eyes again! Although the tribtion it was suffering was easy, it could not afford to be distracted! Opening his eyes activated all kinds of techniques and abilities which subtracted from his main energy reserve. Too much of such stimtion would be dangerous for he currently did not have the ability to control his cultivation. "What do you want, human?" he asked, his tone filled with arrogance and condescension. Excluding Alyssa, who had treated his wounds continuously, Zagan still saw humans as inferior beings. It was too used to it, after living an entire lifetime of only seeing them cower and fear before they died. Unfortunately, Lex could not care less about his superiorityplex. "You''re from the Crystal realm, right? You''ve lived there a long time? You probably have a lot of contacts and know a lot of secrets. I need your help." "Now is not the time, human! Come back in 10 thousand years and I will consider sparing you for your transgression!" Uncaring, Lex poked him in the face again. "Listen here buddy, you''ve been freeloading off the Inn from the moment you came. I don''t really mind, since the Innkeeper doesn''t mind, but you better pay your dues. Are you going to help me, or should I have you sent back to the Crystal realm? I''m sure absolutely no one wille and bother you once they find out you''re undergoing a tribtion." Zagan panicked. What was going on? It had not even been a century yet and people wereining that he wasn''t working? What kind of job was this? He should have at least a 100,000 year notice before he is required to do any task so that he could rouse himself and adjust his mentality! This¡­ this¡­ this was employee suppression! This was very! This¡­ this was animal cruelty! Wait. Did it count as an animal? "Wait till I am done cultivating. It will only take a few years." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "It''s now or never buddy. You don''t need to do much. Since you can talk, then just talk. I need to deliver a letter to the sacrednds of the Trelops and need to reach the Poloids'' new country. I don''t have a lot of time either, maybe a few days to a couple of weeks maximum." "I cannot be distracted," Zagan said in a weak, pleading voice. But little did he know, his boss had his work ethics trained in the capitalistic center of the world. Humanity? Workers rights? Decent working hours? Such concepts were for hippies. Here, they got the job done. Chapter 691 Fishrider

Chapter 691 Fishrider

Truth be told, Lex felt some pity for Zagan. Obviously he was in a precarious situation, and Lex was here bothering and distracting him. But at the same time, if instead of arguing and fighting back he had simply given the answers he required, he would be halfway done by now. "Look I understand you don''t want interruptions. I also don''t want to bother you, nor do I want to continuously bicker. Just give me the answers I want and I will leave you alone." Zagan did not immediately reply, and showed a disgruntled face. The Farham inducing illusions could sense his distraction, and so immediately increased the potency of the illusion. For a split second, Zagan almost genuinely believed that the illusion he was living was real. Cold sweat appeared on his brow, and this seemingly easy tribtion was made immeasurably more difficult all with the addition of a simple, single human. Or perhaps¡­ this was also a part of the tribtion! Of course! It suddenly made so much sense! He was a noble and dignified immortal, working for the mysterious and powerful Midnight Inn. How could his training be casually interrupted? How could some human just waltz up to him? Moreover, how could a weakling utterly ignore his impressive and dangerous aura while he underwent a tribtion? Little did he know, it was impossible for anyone to be harmed by passive aura inside the Inn, for the system neutralized all such auras. It was one of the Inn''s original features, which is why Lex and so many others were able to tolerate the aura of Dao Lords without losingplete control. So this was a part of the tribtion too. More than an illusion tribtion, this should be called a heart tribtion, for only with simple tricks his heart and faith in the noble Midnight Inn was almost shaken. It all made so much sense. He¡­ The human was poking his face again, though this time Zagan''s heart was calm and serene, like a monk praying to Buddha, or an introvert in the safety of their nkets in their room. The knowledge and wisdom he had umted over millions of years was showing off now. "Fret not, human. Since you are a coworker, how could I leave unassisted? From what I recall, you need to move across vast amounts of space quickly. Oh yes, the Trelops Sacrednds. As for the Poloids'' new country, I have no idea where that is, but it is not a concern. I can easily resolve this issue for you." Since Zagan was convinced that everything that was happening was an illusion, he did not hesitate to give his best performance. After all, it wasn''t like it would have any real ramifications. His eyes still closed, Zagan lifted his right hand and showed it to Lex. It was empty. Then, like a magician performing a trick, he swung his hand around, and in it, an oval shaped, sharp, ck scale appeared. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "This is my heart scale, meaning the scale that used to cover my heart. It fell out during my lightning tribtion, but a new one will grow once Iplete my tribtions so I don''t really need it. You can use this scale as a token to prove your identity, and as a sign that you are acting at my behest. The scale should continue to contain my aura for at least another 10,000 years, so you only have that much time. "But the scale alone will not help you. As a noble immortal, I naturally have many followers and worshipers. One particr follower of mine is quite adept at traversing great distances quickly, though he is not the most intelligent fellow. I will teach you how you can summon him using my scale, and so long as you possess my scale he will obey you. As for how to get him to go where you need, that will be a small challenge you will have to ovee on your own." Zagan paused for a moment as he collected himself, then began exining to Lex the process of summoning his subordinate. Surprisingly, the sequence of events yed out in the exact direction Lex had hoped. Although he had no idea this was only because Zagan was under the impression that everything was an illusion, or he would have been extremely hesitant to hand over his heart scale. But as far as the monster was concerned, in truth, he really did have his heart scale, so he was not worried. Once Lex got everything he needed, as promised he left Zagan alone to continue his tribtion. He hoped it would end soon, as such a powerful yet submissive worker would be very valuable to him. The issue he had to face next was who he could have work at his behest in the Crystal realm. If he had not sent away his most reliable workers to the Inn, he would definitely pick one of them. As it was, he could only delegate this task to Rick, the handyman at the tavern. Rich was incharge of misceneous work at the Inn, and could often be seen cleaning dishes, serving guests, making beds, dealing withundry and anything and everything else that came up. The only job he had not done yet was actually barkeep, which made sense. Roan, the actual bartender of the tavern, was quite possessive of the job. Anyway, Rick was a simple straightforward worker. He did not talk much, nor did he do much else outside of his assigned tasks. For this particr job, such a person would be best. The more they paid close attention to Lex''s instructions, the better this job would go. The only regretful point about him was his almost nonexistent cultivation. Not dying the matter further, he used his Remote presence ability and summoned a projection in the tavern. Summoning Rick to a private room, Lex began to carefully instruct him in his following tasks. Just to be sure, he even had Rick repeat his instructions to ensure he had everything memorized correctly. When the instruction wasplete, Lex handed over the scale to Rick, and escorted him to the roof where they would begin to summon Zagan''s subordinate. Considering Rick''sck of cultivation, he actually wasn''t able to do this on his own, so Big Ben was temporarily recruited to aid in the process. Up on the roof, Big Ben channeled his spirit into the scale while using the ''spirit technique'' he had been handed over by his coworker. The process was¡­ creepy to say the least, and was reminiscent of cult rituals. Fortunately no blood sacrifices were required. Once hepleted his job, Big Ben retreated from the roof, leaving only Rick and Lex''s projection. The duo stood there in awkward silence as they waited. Lex tried to strike up a conversation with Rick, but even his charisma failed to elicit more than one word replies, so they ultimately once again returned to silence. A few hours passed, and just as Lex was getting impatient, he sensed a change in space. There was a ripple in the air, as if air were water, and from the ripple emerged¡­ arge catfish. The fish which seemed to swim through the air focused all its attention on the scale, and then froze. It neither looked at the two of them, or tried to do anything else. It simply continued to stare at the scale as if it was its entire world. "Are you sure you can handle this?" Lex asked hesitantly as he looked at the simple minded fish, and straightforward Rick. "Yes," he replied, nodding, before he walked to the fish, before discovering it was too high. He lowered the scale to the ground, and the fish simrly descended, its eyes still locked on. Then, without warning, Rick jumped up to try and climb the fish. Unfortunate, as the scale also rose higher when Rick jumped, so too did the fish rise, resulting in an awkward failure. Completely unperturbed, as if he had not just done something silly, Rick paused for a moment to think. Eventually, he slowly grabbed onto one of the fishes'' whiskers, and pulled it down. The fishplied. Finally he was able to climb aboard. So concerned was Lex that he did not even make any cowboyparisons as Rick rode off into the sky on his catfish steed. His first destination would be to Toro, to whom he would show the invitation. That was because Toro was the closest Trelop around. Then, either apanied or guided by Toro, they would head to the Trelops'' Sacrednds to deliver the letter to whichever Trelop was incharge. Upon delivering that letter he would return to the tavern, during which time Lex would search for someone who could guide him to the Poloids new country. Riding a monster fish that could swim through space, Rick should face no problems. So why then did Lex feel so worried? Chapter 692 Book Club[Bonus chapter]

Chapter 692 Book Club[Bonus chapter]

There was a crisp morning chill in the wind that blew in the Midnight Inn, cooled endlessly no doubt while flowing gently over the untouched snow that covered much of its grounds. The wind felt invigorating, rather than ufortable, and was even better than coffee at waking up someone who woke up from a nap. A clear, perfect ''crunch'' could be heard as a figure walked through one such untouched field, leaving behind deep but clear footprints. A few of the trees the figure passed were bare, and some showed a hint of green needle like leaves topped with the white of snow. Most of the trees, though, were quite colorful. The trees with leaves of purple crystal had spread quite fast across the Inn, and remarkably, changed colors with the season. Now, various shades of red, from deep scarlet to blood red, to the soft blend of hues asionally found in the rising sun, dotted the endless Inn grounds. The visage was quite picturesque. A figure garbed in all ck moved across an ocean of white, with various colors around, some bunched together and some far apart, like an abstract painting of the cosmos. Parveen, who watched the figure get closer, took another sip of her extremely rich, smoldering hot chocte. Her thoughts wandered like smoke through the wind,paring the figure to everything from a solitary hero through a field of pure happiness, brought about from his own noble acts, to a deste soldier, walking not throughnds but through his happy memories moments before he sumbed to the final embrace of death. As an avid reader and perpetual bookworm, she had an overactive imagination and most of her social interactions usually involved her imagining herpatriots in various interesting scenarios. "Am Ite?" the dark figure asked in a gruff voice, unwrapping the gray scarf around his neck. He hated the cold, yet always found himself attracted to it for the pure bliss it delivered in terms of excellent naps. "A little," Parveen replied. "But don''t worry. Everyone is already used to it." The dark figure made a sound to acknowledge the statement as he finally finished unwrapping the scarf. The dark, furry face of a Neko, ormonly known as a cat-human, was revealed. As it turned out, the figure was dark not only because of the dark clothes he had worn, but also all the ck colored hair his stocky build was covered in. "There are some new members though. I told you the Midnight Inn would be a good ce," Parveen said absent mindedly, her thoughts once again preupied with various scenarios as she fueled herself with more hot chocte. "I will be the one to judge if there are any new members," dius, the Neko, said harshly. He was strangely strict in admitting new members, as he should be. After all, joining his book club was no simple matter. Silently, the duo retreated into a small clearing in the middle of a few dozen trees. It seemed as if the trees had protected this ce from the snow, and somehow the chilly winds did not enter past the furthest tree, forming a safe haven from the elements. In the middle, there were a number of small huts, some simple log stools and a burning campfire. Alongside the few dozen members of the book club, parrots and peacocks rested there, as ifpletely unafraid of the nearby gathering. "You''ve finally arrived," said a monkey who was seated nearby, a pair of hipster sses resting on its nose as it read an incredibly thick book. Even as the monkey talked, he could not look away as if the story he was reading had gripped his very soul. "Keep reading your dictionary and don''t talk to me," said dius,pletely irritated by this member who never seemed to read the correct book. The monkey, as if unable to detect the irritation in the voice, said "I most definitely will," while murmuring as he tried to pronounce the new word it was reading. "Be nice," said another member, who simrly had her eyes locked onto her book. She was a demon, a zombie to be exact, who had somehow retained the consciousness of her body before she became a zombie. Having lost almost all of her senses, except the desire to eat meat filled with spiritual energy, preferably raw, she now took all her pleasures from reading. "I don''t want instructions from someone reading the manual for a squatting toilet," murmured dius, but not too loudly. For better or for worse, the zombie was pretty powerful and he didn''t want to antagonize her. "Are you the leader?" asked another new potential member, excitement bubbling out from every corner of his being. "How did you discover such excellent books? We must talk after the meeting, you HAVE to give me more rmendations!" This member was one of the spirits who had survived death by giving up his entire wealth, and now lived permanently at the Inn. It was only in death did he have the time to discover the wonder of books, and he did not want to miss out on a single one! dius interacted with each of the members, or prospective members, before he finally made it to his designated seat in the center. All the others also found their seats and a hush fell over the area as eager eyes all focused on dius. For many here, the book club was the main source of social interaction, but even for the rest it was the one they looked forward to most. After all, it was so hard to find like minded people, let alone an entire club full of various races all dedicated to, and in love with the same thing. dius cleared his throat loudly, as if attracting everyone''s attention - though that was unnecessary. "We have some prospective members here, so let me go over the rules of the Catnip Book Club (CBC). We meet once a week, though attendance every week is not exactly necessary. However, if someone misses four consecutive meetings they will be considered removed from the club until further notice. "Each week, I provide a list of reading materials. There is one main focus, which we will discuss the following week, and several suggestions that members can discuss amongst themselves¡­" dius spent a good amount of time exining the rules, his posture perfect and his voice loud and clear, as if dering that he was the one incharge. No one really contested his position, because not only did he rmend excellent books, everyone loved to y with his incredibly silky and soft hair. He was the perfect readingpanion. Once he was done exining the rules, he opened his satchel and from within removed a massive book with an extremely colorful cover, depicting a magnificent hero wielding his sword, ready to take on the universe, and behind him his endless wives. The title of the book: ''Ultimate King Emperor: All the Gods call me Daddy''! "This¡­ this book¡­" he said, his voice trembling, though no one could tell if it was from excitement or some other emotion, "was selectedst week through popr demand." dius paused for a moment to re at Parveen, the oldest member of his book club, before he continued, "and it was¡­ well it was definitely a unique read. As much as I pride myself as a quick reader, I was only able to read the first thirty one thousand chapters during this past week¡­" his voice trembled again. "Before we begin to discuss the book, let''s ask everyone how far they''ve reached, and limit our discussion till the earliest point a member has reached to avoid spoilers." One by one, the members only said what chapter they had reached, though at some point dius became distracted. A notification grabbed his attention. New notification: Congrattions on gathering 50 members for the Catnip Book Club, and unlocking the achievement - The Budding Book Club. Reward: The Haunted Book Mark Excited, dius began investigating his new reward, and began checking out the new features of his ''Book Readers Club System''. At the same time, he received a new quest as well. New Quest: As a budding book club, you should also begin to develop a collection of rare and valuable books to show off your achievements. Find a signed copy of theic ''The Innkeeper vol. III Love is an ocean of fire and I am the lifeguard'' by author ''Rachel''. dius could not keep himself from grinning, though his members mistook his actions as a reaction to the amount of progress they had made in their reading, and felt highly motivated. The reason he was smiling was because he had heard a rumor that a signed copy of that exactic would secretly be auctioned deep underground in the reading circles of the Midnight Inn. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om The one who told him this rumor was his good friend Velma, and she always had good information so he trusted her deeply. Soon, he could see his book club growing even further. WIthout realizing it, dius began to purr. Chapter 693 Time skip

Chapter 693 Time skip

Despite Lex''s concerns, Rick ended up performing his job well. It helped tremendously that apanying him was an incredibly strong monster with almost no intelligence at all. The reason why it was ''almost'' no intelligence instead of actually none was because he was smart enough to suppress his base instincts to attack mindlessly while in the presence of the aura of its leader. Moreover, with Toro as a guide, and the awesome might radiating from the invitation, an exception was made and Rick was allowed to enter the Trelop Sacrednds. Moreover, they even promised to help out in delivering the letter to the Poloids. With his major troubles taken care of, Lex slowly took a backseat and allowed things to progress naturally. With Ash coordinating well with the Phillips family, let alone the tavern, all of Babylon was getting ready for the wedding. The resources of the Midnight Inn also came into y. Spending a mere 100,000 MP was not an issue for the Noel family or the Phillips family, so both the bride and groom soon reached Prestige level 3, which allowed them to avail the services of Geeves, the tailor. The Guild was, of course, also made use of and various items that were not easily avable in the Crystal realm were being exchanged nonstop. Due to the sudden increase in wedding rted activity, word finally spread at the Inn that some of the guestsing were from a different realm entirely! When that news spread, there were mixed reactions. Most people did not care. A majority of them would never even leave their homes, let alone things such as star systems, gxies or even realms. Why then should such a thing matter to them? Someone from another realm was just as much out of reach for them, as someone from another. Others, however, did not react so simply. Since this time the Henali were already keeping an eye on the Inn, they noticed immediately, and yet another emergency meeting was held about how to react. Bringing in citizens from another realm, while bypassing the Henali protocols, was a severe transgression! Of course, Lex did not know about that, and there wasn''t much he could do about it either. Lately, he had been spending all his time in the library or inside the Henali portal, studying. He was looking up anything and everything, so as to increase his general knowledge. Of course, if certain things caught his eye, he would pause his general study and focus solely on that topic. For example, he found the simrity between Talismans, Formations, Arrays and techniques, spiritual or otherwise, quite interesting. While arrays solely relied on the characters and energy to bring about various effects, formations, talismans and techniques all could reproduce the same effects! Of course, the potency and power that was released by each, assuming all rted things were on the same level, was vastly different. Take, for example, an array that produced fire strong enough to harm a Foundation level cultivator. A formation that only used materials and resources at the Foundation level would be able to produce a much stronger me. A talisman would produce a me stronger than an array but weaker than a formation, and could be used instantly, but the resources required to make it may be more difficult to find. A spiritual technique could produce a me that was either weaker or stronger, and the cost would depend entirely on the technique as well as the cultivator using it. While each had their own advantages and disadvantages, Lex was intrigued by the fact that each one could rece another, to some degree at least. The fact that talismans could be prepared beforehand was actually quite enticing, and Lex almost considered delving into it as well. But, for now at least, he did not have time to take up a new discipline. While he did not attempt learning anything entirely new, he delved in deep into the capabilities and limitations of everything new he encountered. For example, he was most intrigued by how the major powers got around thenguage barrier of differents and races. When he found out it was often through techniques or technology, he studied about them in great detail, as well as the concepts behind them. But he did not study those techniques themselves. Speaking of techniques, as the days went by and slowly turned into weeks, and Lex waited in anticipation for the wedding, he also took some time to study various techniques. His focus, up until now, had always beenbat oriented. It was only once he began to explore other avenues that he realized how much he was really missing out on. There were techniques to help in singing, there were techniques for skin care, there were techniques for art, for calligraphy, for better sleep, for body odor,? and so much more. There was a technique that allowed Lex to copy every video game character in history, and ''double jump'', meaning he could jump once more while already in the air. There were extremely intriguing illusion techniques that attracted his interest for the endless applications that they had. There were techniques that could be used in aid in farming and cattle raising. Fishing, incidentally, was also an area which seemed to have an endless number of techniques. Since Lex was looking at rtively low level techniques, such as the Foundation realm and below, it was easy for him to quickly master the techniques if he really wished. The area that Lex had been neglecting most, but should have been an obvious first choice of techniques, or at least second, was healing and medicinal techniques. While most techniques that he encountered were focused on simple ailments and diseases, there were some that could be used to heal others. For himself, Lex already had the most ideal techniques which boosted his healing while he slept. But being able to easily diagnose or perhaps treat others, even if it was emergency aid, was not something to be overlooked. During this time, while he upied himself with his studies and overlooked the Inn, as the wedding got even closer, he was once again asked for help by Alexander. Since he wasn''t rushing anywhere, and things seemed to be going well, he decided to pop over and help. There were still a little over two weeks to the wedding, so he didn''t think it was an issue. He was also determined to continue thinking this way until one day he proved that death gs weren''t a thing, and he wasn''t inviting trouble for himself just by thinking about it. It just didn''t make sense. He had to be right¡­ he had to be! When he teleported over to Polebitvy, he was greeted with the sight of an extremely worn out Alexander. He did not look weak or injured, but just extremely sleep deprived, which was not an easy state to achieve at his cultivation level. "You look horrible," Lex said, not bothering to feign courtesy. "All out war has broken out on the," Alexander answered. "Only areas protected directly by Jotun are safe. We are almost 100% certain that the war is being instigated by the organization backing Jeffery. There are already over 300,000 casualties, and we are expecting a lot worse yet toe." Lex''s smile faded as he looked at Alexander seriously. He once again reminded himself that he could not be the hero to every suffering person in the universe. He knew this the day he inherited the Inn. But it wasn''t as if he would ignore a friend in need. "What do you need from me?" he asked seriously. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Alexander rubbed his forehead as he suppressed a headache and motioned Lex to follow him as he walked into a briefing room. "The crown you gave me has really helped out," Alexander stated. "I''ve been studying all the data we have, and all our leads, and I believe I''ve discovered something. The reason Jeffery is on this is because he wants to target some VIP, that much we''ve been able to confirm. But I''m having some disagreements with my team over who the VIP might be." "What do you mean?" "What is a VIP? To a viger, the vige head is a VIP. To the vige head, the mayor of a city is a VIP. To the mayor, a provincial governor is a VIP, and to the governor it is the King. So who is a VIP to a terrorist organization capable of orchestrating chaos across an entire gxy? "My team lead, Valkyrie, seems to think it is the family head of the family which controls this star system. But I don''t think so. There''s nothing too great about this star system that would get them to target it specifically. Why then should they care about the family head? Sure, they might spread more chaos and mayhem. But I feel like it''s a waste of resources. The ramifications of war here aren''t great, since this has suffered through so many wars in its recent history. "No¡­ I think something else is afoot, and that we haven''t identified the real VIP who is the target yet. And that''s where youe in." Chapter 694 Investigation ? "What do you need me to do?" Lex asked, once again. All the tales Alexander shared were incredibly grave, and quite concerning. Since they both were technically citizens of the Jotun empire, any disruption to the empire, especially by terrorists, should have been a grave concern for both of them. For Alexander, it surely was. But for Lex, who was preparing to leave the Origin realm, this was more or less just one more war he was avoiding. Living and owning an entirely separate realm freed him from so many restraints, and though he might have been called irresponsible for running away from the war on earth and now being mostly uninterested in the deteriorating situation in the empire, he was truly looking out for his own. Lex was not responsible for earth, but was definitely responsible for the Midnight Inn, so that was always his priority. Still, helping out Alexander so long as it was within his capabilities was something he intended on doing. It was not just because he could potentially profit in the future if Alexander continued his meteorical growth. It was also because there were few people left who he, with his identity of Lex, could call friends and still rte and associate with. Although he had many identities, he never forgot that at the end of the day, he was still Lex. "I need your help in conducting an investigation. I have some leads that could possibly reveal Jeffery''s n. The problem is, I''m fairly certain my identity is more or lesspromised, and I don''t know how much I can trust my teammates, even if their identities somehow weren''tpromised either. Even if I can trust them, they don''t really believe me so I doubt they''d be willing to help. You on the other hand are unknown to all the yers in this game, so you should have no trouble investigating undetected." "I don''t have much experience as a detective besides what I''ve seen on television, but I''ll do what I can. I just want to remind you, however, that I still have my own matters ongoing. I can only give you so much time." Alexander grimaced. He wanted to question Lex on the grounds of morality. What could possibly be more important than preventing even more death and bloodshed? But he did not have the right to ask. After all, Lex was willing to help him out without any form ofpensation, for now at least. He could not be med for giving priority to his own matters. "Sometimes ignorance can be good. If you have the formal training of a detective, your means may more easily arouse suspicion. Instead, if you snoop around like an amateur, no one will take you seriously even if you are discovered. In this case, being underestimated means that the targets are less likely to hide or erase their tracks." Moving on as if he had not just called Lex an amateur, Alexander turned on a screen which showed an extensively detailed map of their surroundings. The center of the map showed the area governed by the Jotun empire, which was shaded in green. The rest of the map was divided in two, either shaded blue or red.N?v(el)B\\jnn "The blue areas are upied by the official owners of this star system, while the red ones indicate areas where the rebels have managed to capture. Don''t let the colors or titles fool you, both sides in this conflict are equally cruel and merciless, but that is not our concern for now. "The terrorists don''t seem to be supporting any one side in particr, and act independently where they can spread the most chaos. But I don''t believe they can achieve all this without any ground support either. "Your first target is here, in the refugee camp set up by the rebels. One of the leaders of the camp, which also doubles as a siege fortress, is someone who is highly suspicious. He has ''coincidentally'' benefited greatly from multiple terrorist attacks which, in one way or another, greatly aided covert operations he happened to be conducting at the time. "I''ll pass all the relevant information to you, about the rebels as well as the nominal owners of this star system, so you get a better understanding of the conflict. What you''re looking out for¡­" The two spent many hours in the room as Alexander thoroughly briefed Lex on the situation. If anything unexpected were to happen while he was investigating, he would need aprehensive understanding of things if he was to make the best decision. ***** In an ominously dark yet bare room sat five figures on the floor, hunched over a mound of glowing embers. The room was not cold, and the embers did not radiate heat, so the sight was unusual. The silence in the room was deafening and was filled with an aura of oppression. Each of the five men had their gazes fixed on the orange glowing coal, as if looking at it was the only salvation they had in that muted room. Let alone look away, they did not even dare to breathe, as if the rising and falling of their chests would break the careful equilibrium that had been established. Everything in that room was perfectly still. Everything, except for time. Nothing they did could stop the merciless march of time, and so, even without any external stimulus, the serenity of the room was eventually broken. A deep, reverberating sigh filled the room as Jotun Marcus Sephore could no longer ignore the harsh reality that was confronting them. All the brothers knew it, but none wanted to face it. The true severity of the chaos spreading through their empire was something only they, from the very top, could see. One simple metric through which the severity of the situation could be determined was the economic output of their empire. Overall, the empire''s ability to generate wealth from its vast resources had diminished by 1%. This 1% could not be underestimated, for it encapsted the resources of over 20 gxies. Jotun himself could not cover the area covered by so many gxies, let alone the distance between each gxy itself, even if he lived for a million more years. It was only through the use of techniques and technology that such a thing was possible. More importantly, as one of the most favored agents of the Henali, they had relied heavily on the help of the Henali in establishing and running the empire. While they never acted themselves in the matter, the resources they had could manage the entire realm let alone a few gxies so it should not have been a problem. Now that there was a problem, it was an indication of a muchrger issue. While Jotun was not qualified toment on the activities of the Henali, as a human and as an emperor, he had to consider all possibilities and look out for the best interest of his people. An issue with the governance of the empire, which relied heavily on the logistical and technological aid of the Henali, most likely meant that there was an issue with the Henali themselves. Whether they were aware of it or not, and whether they were doing something about it or not were all things they were not in a position to guess. "Since no one wants to say it, I will. Our family has survived the turbulence of one chaotic realm, so another is not a problem. What we need to do now is decide on how to move should the situation deteriorate in the future. William, I hate to put you in this position, but we''ll be depending on you for this." William, who looked identical to Lex, could not help but sigh. In the end, he could not hide from his responsibilities. "If you need me to use Gelid Anima to its full capacity, we will need to cure my disease first. It''s already been so long, yet we have made no progress on that front." "Make a list of the items you need. I will see if the Midnight Inn or the Infinity Emporium can help us find the items. If they can''t, I''ll have no choice but to redeem them from the Henali. Although redeeming such precious items will lock me into more tasks for the foreseeable future, it can''t be helped." As if he was already prepared, William handed Jotun a long list filled with names of exceedingly rare items. Blood of a Heavenly Deity, Petnt grass, which only grew on the surfaces of a few massive stars, and Absolute Crystal, a kind of ice that was colder than the supposed ''absolute zero'', were just some of the items listed on the list. "Until that is done, I''ll at least start using a diminished version of my ability¡­" William said, talking more to himself than the others. Instantly, he entered a state quite simr to Lex''s flow state, yet somehow different, and began muttering. "We need to cut ties with rebel forces, allow heavy casualties to those who don''t align themselves properly, fan the mes for pirates in the territories we give up¡­" Just like that, with every word he spoke, the lives of hundreds of billions of creatures were condemned¡­ Chapter 695 Background

Chapter 695 Background

Dressed in the local attire of Polebitvy, which looked awfully simr to the arabic thobe back from earth, Lex was casually strolling through some hills. Since he was supposed to be conducting an investigation, it was obvious that he needed a local identity and cover. Fortunately, the rebels did not have aprehensive list of the citizens in the areas under their control, so making up an identity was not really much of an issue. All Lex needed to do was memorize some information about his ce of origin and pick up some general information about the. Then he just needed a good exnation for his whereabouts during the most recent conflicts. Alexander had already taken care of all of that and just provided Lex with a dossier that he had just memorized. Moreover, he had been smuggled into the rebel territory, and then dropped off. Now, all he needed to do was make his way to the refugee camp, and then he could slowly begin his investigation. Despite the utter seriousness of the matter at hand, Lex was actually having a lot of fun. Dressed in a foreign and exotic way, he was undertaking a covert mission with a secret identity. He had to investigate conspirators and unveil the grand design behind all the chaos that was spreading across the. He felt like he was in a detective show. Or, if he went by the standards of the books he read, he was acting as a member of Jianghu. Out in the wilderness, with nothing to rely on but his own strength and abilities, he sought to bring change through the consequences of his actions. It felt like an adventure. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Sure, there had been no shortage of adventures in his life before this either, but back then, he was always too weak to focus on enjoyment. Now, at least, he knew it wasn''t so easy for him to die. That self confidence allowed him to take pleasure in even the simple things during this adventure. He ''walked'' through changing sceneries, taking in the beauty and harmony of nature. Thendscape, even here far from habitation, showed signs of war andbat. Long and deep ugly scars marred the topographies he crossed, though admittedly the wounds to thends were healing. Grasses and various trees had begun to grow in them, or naturalkes had formed filling them. Soon, it would be forgotten that a brutal war had been fought here, only if the actual war eventually finished. After traveling as such for nearly a day, Lex eventually reached his destination: a massive fort built directly into the side of a particrlyrge hill. All the greenery from that particr hill had been removed, as anyone approaching the hill would be easily identified from far away. This, for Lex, was not an issue, as there were lines of peopleing in and going out. As if it was something he did all the time, Lex joined the line to enter the fort quite casually. There was a noticeable difference in the demeanor of the locals and of Lex. More specifically, all the people around him seemed worn and beaten, or as if they were undergoing some incredible trial that put an immense amount of mental strain on them. Lex, on the other hand, looked like he was having a great day, and was out for a stroll in the lovely weather. Not only were his clothes noticeably cleaner and newer, but even the aura near his person was fresh and invigorating. Standing out like this might not have been the best idea, as it would prompt an investigation, but that was something Lex had opted for, and specifically told Alexander to tailor his cover story ordingly. The cover he had was of someone who had juste out of a cultivation retreat. He would im to be cultivating in a secret location for his breakthrough into the Golden core realm. His realm was new enough for that to be a convincing ploy. The sense of energy and his good mood could also be exined from his recent breakthrough, not to mention that he would have missed out on all the fighting due to the fact that he was in retreat. By having himself investigated beforehand, he was creating a psychological barrier where anyone who would be curious about him would directly turn to the most recent report on him. Since he had already been investigated once, no one would think to look into his past again and more deeply. Of course, if Lex did something too suspicious, someone might want a more thorough report. This was where Lex''s own nning fell short, mostly because the time he spent in the cultivation world was still too short. Even though he had been increasing his general knowledge, it was not as if he had a specific curriculum to follow, so he could only grope about randomly. At higher levels, which he was now reaching, background search and investigations were not limited to the simple clue and hint hunting followed by reasonable and logical deduction. More mystical aspects came into y, such as divination, auguring, and the use of various other investigative techniques. For the most part, Alexander took care of such things as the Jotun empire already had many mechanisms in ce to counter such methods. But the tools at their disposal were ultimately limited. He was warned that a more thorough or skilled search would ovee their means. He especially told Lex never to let anyone get ahold of his blood, and in fact hinted that Lex should learn a technique that would automatically destroy any blood that fell out of his body. This was because if someone had his blood, it would make Lex vulnerable, and not just to simple investigation. But regardless, for now, Lex had his identity in ce and was not concerned about a simple search. As predicted, when he reached the gate, the guards singled him out and called him aside for further questioning. At the same time, countless machines and formations scanned him. Alexander had already briefed him on the use of these procedures. He was mainly being checked for dangerous weapons, or any connection to the ''Tyrant rulers'' and the rebelsbeled them. Though his smiling face drew a lot of suspicion, he ultimately passed all the tests and was allowed to proceed. He knew that he would probably be followed for a while, and that his previous ims were probably being investigated. That is why he would not begin his own search immediately, either. His objective was not one that could be rushed, and first Lex had to immerse himself in the local environment. If he had been a true refugee, he would have headed towards the free housing, thus effectively turning himself over to the rebels'' disposal. But he was not one, nor did his cover im him as one. Thus, he made his way to a local Inn and got himself a room, paying for his stay in advance. He ordered himself some food, and in the meantime, made small talk with some locals as he understood the situation in the area. His questions weren''t targeting anyone specifically, and seemed perfectly in line with the curiosity of someone who had moved to the fortress for the foreseeable future. Questions like how safe the fortress really was, and what were the chances of being pulled into a draft if he stayed in the camp? The situation, predictably, was not so great as the rebel and official forces fought nearly everyday. There was no way to promise that the fight wouldn''t be dragged over to the fortress, and in fact it was even likely as the whole point of the fortress was to provide protection. Of course, he didn''t actually care about that. By asking these questions, he was indirectly gathering information on the situation. Whether there would be drafts or not depended on the strength in numbers of the rebels, and whether they would be involved in a fight told whether the rebels were attacking or defending as the current trend. From this information he could roughly guess the actions of the rebel leaders or make certain predictions. The more detailed information he had, the more urate his predictions would be. Thus, it was when certain actions fellpletely out of the scope of his predictions hinted that there was some information hecked, and that would be the direction of his search initially. Just recently he had yed the role of a King, so he had a good understanding of the mentality of leaders. Now he could use that to his advantage, and guess reasonably what the general trend was. Of course, he could also try to create some disruptions to create opportunities for closer observation. For the sake of it, he began nning out how he could theoretically topple the rebels from the inside. But when his n started to take shape, and it began feeling like it was entirely usible, he had to suddenly stop himself. "I am not some secret viin," he reminded himself as he wiped the imaginary sweat off his brow. He really believed he was the good guy, so why then did the prospect of ying with the rebels to death excite him so much? Chapter 696 Anomalies and oddities

Chapter 696 Anomalies and oddities

Lex quickly realigned his mentality with his normal thoughts and vanquished any lingering impulses to manipte everyone into self destruction. As a mortal, his random yet dangerous impulsive thoughts were along the lines of leaping off when at high ce, putting his hand into a beautiful fire, or maybe walking into ongoing traffic. These were, of course, things he did not actually want to do, but random thoughts that would pop into his mind from time to time. But now, as a cultivator, his random yet dangerous impulsive thoughts involved toppling organizations and manipting the masses. Of course, there was still the odd impulse to walk into ongoing traffic, but even that was now more dangerous to those in cars than himself. Truly having power changes a man. With his thoughts returning to normalcy, Lex went out for a stroll after the meal to familiarize himself with the fort. The entire fort covered around 40 acres, so it was quiterge, but Lex soon found that the ces he could go were very limited. There was the tent housing for the refugees, a small town which housed the locals who lived inside the fort permanently. Basically, it was where the workers and soldiers normally stationed inside the fort lived. That is also where Lex was staying, since it also had the local tavern, grocery stores, various trade workers and all in all anything involving one''s general needs. Besides that there were some free areas where one could explore or walk, but everywhere else was restricted, allowing only authorized personnel. Besides the normal amount of curiosity, Lex did not pay much attention to those ces as if they weren''t of any consequence to him. Eventually Lex made his way to the local apothecary and bought some pills to help him ''stabilize'' his new realm, and made some friendly conversation with the guy as well. His shop was the busiest, which was predictable given it was a time of war. But he did not spend too much time there, and eventually returned to his room and began to cultivate. He spent the next few days maintaining an ordinary routine, while slowly building a rtionship with the locals and gathering information covertly to the best of his abilities. One night, while Lex was cultivating, he suddenly opened his eyes as a gleam shed through them. Whoever was ''spying'' or monitoring him had left, and he had passed the initial stage where everyone suspected him. Now, he could truly begin his investigation. But he didn''t act immediately, and continued to cultivate. In the morning, the first thing he did was reflect on all the information he had gathered. The target Alexander wanted him to investigate was called Fernando, and while he was not the highest authority in the fort, he was up there. As such, learning his whereabouts from themon folk was nigh impossible. But even if he did, Lex did not n on sneaking to him and following him around anyway. Lex did not have the stealth capabilities for that, nor would that be helpful. Lex''s greatest tool at his disposal were his abnormally sharp senses. From thefort of his room, he focused on the thought of discovering the abnormalities in the fort, and then allowed his instincts to take over. To his great surprise, he immediately discovered not one or two, but three extremely significant abnormalities. While two of them were inside the fort, deep within the restricted areas, one of them was at the fort wall. Lex frowned. Unlike the forts of mortals, forts used by cultivators had hiddenplexities that were the real reason forts could be used as strongholds. The walls would not only be much stronger than that of normal forts, but would also mark the edges of the protective formation in ce, and protect its vulnerable parts. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om As such, not only were walls kept well repaired, they were frequently monitored and checked in case an issue with the formation should appear. This was what he had recently learned. So how could an abnormality appear on the wall? It was unlikely that this had anything to do with the motives of the terrorists, but it could still be a lead of some kind. Who knew if the terrorists weren''t pretending to support Fernando, only to fatten him up and then reap the rewards when they were ready. The foundations of the rebels hold on this entire territory rest in the steadiness of the fort. If it waspromised, this would soon be another spot of heated conflict. With many possibilities arising from this abnormality, Lex decided to scrutinize it first. It also helped that it was the easiest to ess. If Fenrir would finish his task in the tower, then such investigations would be much easier. But since he was still busy, Lex had to make do. He exited the tavern, extending casual greetings to some of the regrs he saw on the way. As if all was normal, he embarked on his daily stroll through the fort. More than once he had shared with his most recent acquaintances that walking around helps him clear his mind since he had spent so long in retreat. As such, many people had be ustomed to his roaming. He followed the path he usually took on his strolls, which allowed him to cover all the areas which did not require special clearance, when he encountered something unexpected! Among the droves of people he crossed he suddenly passed someone who was awfully familiar to him, so that he was sure they had met, but he could not recognize her. Ordinarily, this was a normal thing. In fact, Lex often forgot people after meeting them, leading to awkward encounterster. Yet with how his memory had improved after cultivating, this was no longer an issue. He could always perfectly recognize people, yet this time he failed. If it weren''t for his instincts confirming that he had just crossed someone familiar, he would think that he was imagining things. Unwilling to draw attention to himself, he turned and nced at the person who had crossed him. It was ady, as far as he could tell, though he could see none of her features from the back as she was garbed in the conservative clothes that were the norm on Polebitvy. Beside her though were two kids that Lex recognized. He had seen them the first time he had arrived on Polebitvy, and they had been staying in the room adjacent to him. He tried to imagine what kids who could live in the protected area of the Jotun would be doing in the rebel refugee fort. The instance was too mundane, and he did not find anything suspicious about it other than the fact that he did not recognize the woman. Still, he took note of it and made a mental note to remember that they may be somehow involved in this messy situation. But since he felt no threat from them, and his instincts noted nothing else of interest other than their familiarity, he decided to stick to his n. But the portion of the wall he needed to investigate was a part of the restricted areas, so to ess it he had to do so from the outside. He exited the fort and seemed to head in some far off direction. Once he was out of sight, he immediately picked up speed and began running in a different direction. After spending twenty minutes running to and fro, Lex felt confident that he was no longer being supervised or followed. Although he did not sense any followers even beforehand, he had enough spy books to know one was always supposed to ensure they were not being followed. Then, finally, he stealthily made his way back to the fort. Although Lex was not adept in stealth, he still tried his best as he approached the wall. Since the hill was bare there was no way he could merely walk up without being noticed, so he cast an illusion technique around himself to make him blend in with the scenery. Such a technique would not survive close scrutiny, but fortunately Lex did not n oning too close to the wall. Once he was half way up the wall, he used the In-Law effect to directly teleport to the ce he felt an anomaly. Aware of his own shorings in this field, he did not try to devise an unnecessarilyplex n. Instead, he reliedpletely on his instincts to guide him, and let him know where and when to teleport. Although he felt relying solely on his instincts was not the best practice, sometimes he would have to make do. When he reappeared, he was inside a dark and narrow tunnel directly below the wall. Unlike what one would expect, this was not a service tunnel used to maintain the formations. Instead, it was a tunnel dug right through the dirt and stone below the wall, and it was filled with unmarked wooden barrels. Sensing extreme danger, Lex froze. Chapter 697 Injured

Chapter 697 Injured

The extreme and sharp sensation of mortal peril gripped Lex''s heart, causing him to freeze lest a single movement provoke an irredeemable ident. Let alone move, he even halted his breathing and subdued his own heartbeat so that his presence would cause menial changes to the environment. For the first time in a long, long time Lex felt the scent of death surrounding him. Whatever was in those barrels was exceedingly dangerous, and even the slightest exposure would outright kill him! There would be no steady decline, no time for retreat and treatment. It would be instant death. At least, that is what his instincts were telling him. In fact, even sealed in those unassuming wooden barrels, whatever was inside seemed to be affecting Lex''s health already. He felt his stomach lurch and grumble and an unbearable pain began to develop in his lungs. But while the situation had suddenly turned extreme, Lex did not allow his thoughts to fall into disarray, nor did he panic. Calmly, as if he was in no jeopardy at all, he assessed the situation. Other than the overseer from the Jotun empire and the head of the family controlling Polebitvy, there should be no Earth Immortals on the at all. Even then, both those immortals were restricted from freely disying their power. As such, the general peak of this was considered the Nascent realm. The fort, correspondingly, should also be of the Nascent realm, with formations, spirit tech and other treasures to ensure security. If that was the case, Lex was absolutely sure that whatever was in these barrels was overkill. If the purpose of whoever prepared this trap was merely to destroy the fortress walls, he need not prepare such a deadly weapon. If this was meant to destroy the whole fortress, and not just the wall¡­ Lex still felt like it was too much. There had to be some other purpose behind this tunnel. Unable to gain any significant information, Lex used his spatial bangle and put on his Fancy Contact lenses in hopes that its database had some information. To his pleasant surprise, it was able to reveal something to him, though it was not as much information as he had hoped. It had identified the wood used to make the barrels as Void wood. Void wood, ording to the lenses'' boration, was a generic term used for any kind of wood gained from trees that grew in the vacuum of space. The mostmon kind of void wood was from a species of trees that flew s and meteors and was resistant to high temperatures and radiation. This kind of wood was extremely resilient, and was often used to store extremely hazardous materials, as it could even prevent the permeation of higher forms of spiritual energy. Which specific kind of tree this Void wood was from was not mentioned, as the lenses could not detect it. If the specific tree was determined, then Lex could urately gauge the danger level of this substance contained in the barrels, as the wood from different trees had differing resilience. For a moment, he considered daring to take one of the barrels with him. If he stored it in his spatial bangle, it should stay safe, right? That way he could transport it to be identifiedter. But he ultimately decided against it. Spatial equipment all contained a small, rtively stable space in which items could be stored. But rtively stable was not the same aspletely stable, or else even living beings would be able to enter spatial equipment. Endless thoughts were running through his mind as he considered and discarded one n after another, when he realized something. His left eye''s ability, which he had gotten so used to ignoring, picked up on something. Yet as exactly one second passed, Lex felt the urge to cough. He suppressed it to the best of his abilities, but he could feel the sensation building up like a volcano. With his health deteriorating fast, Lex decided to withdraw as quickly as possible. Once again he used the In-Law effect and teleported away. Since he no longer needed precision in his teleportation, he teleported far away from the hill so he no longer needed to concern himself with hiding. Finally he allowed himself to cough, but that brought only pain instead of relief. He merely coughed out some blood at first, but then the situation only got worse until he felt something rip inside his chest, and he coughed out a piece of his lung! For a moment the gruesome sight of his innards haunted him, until the sigh became even more horrific. All the blood he had coughed out turned green, and the piece of his lung began to rot right before his eyes. In seconds, nothing was left except for ash. Fortunately, the feeling of illness faded, and Lex no longer needed to cough. He felt weak, as if all the energy in his body had been drained in the fight against some disease. Whatever was going on, it was a lot more dangerous than Lex had assumed. Only a few days ago he was walking freely and confidently, thinking that he would not be hurt so easily, and yet today he nearly died inexplicably. N?v(el)B\\jnn He recalled what he had seen from his left eye. Some green particles were escaping from the barrels, yet neither his normal eyesight, his spirit sense or the contact lenses had been able to detect them. But the source of his sickness made sense at least. He looked down once more at the ce he had coughed out his lung. There was nothing left, or he might have tried to bring it with him so that the cause could be diagnosed. Lex checked his surroundings and made his way to a rtively hidden ce in the wilderness before teleporting back to the Midnight Inn. While he had promised to help Alexander, he also needed to ensure he was in good health for the uing wedding. If all went well, he would once again resume his investigation after the wedding was over. Moreover, he and Alexander had an agreement. Alexander would check in at the Inn every 20 hours in case Lex needed to make an emergency report. This way they could easilymunicate without carrying anymunication talismans or devices, which if discovered could cause problems. As soon as he arrived at the Inn, Lex informed Mary to deliver his message to Alexander while he himself teleported to a Recovery Pod. To Alexander he had not mentioned much, and instead asked him to find Lex in the pod so they could talk face to face. His investigation had been short lived, and not so exciting, but at least he discovered something that might be useful. He also checked his own status to see if the Inn could provide some information on his condition. Unfortunately, other than mentioning that he had an injured lung, it mentioned nothing else.. With not much else to do, hey down in the pod and went to sleep. Since he had a technique that would boost his recovery while he slept, this would be the best way to spend his time. Sleep came to him instantly. It felt as if only a bare moment had passed, and Lex had only just closed his eyes, when he was roused to the sight of an anxious Alexander standing above him. "What happened?" Alexander asked, imagining the worst. "Were you discovered? Did they attack you?" "Nothing of the sort, though I don''t know if that''s good or bad," he said weakly. He was not sure how long he slept, but his recovery had barely begun. He still felt weak and exhausted, and in fact his body felt almost frail now. Perhaps earlier it was the adrenaline from the situation that kept Lex from feeling the full extent of his injuries. Lex exined exactly what had happened, giving special emphasis to the only two matters worth regaling. The first was the mysterious woman, and the second was the incredibly dangerous and hazardous material stored under the wall. If Lex had to venture a guess, he would say that those materials were prepared to target an immortal, at the very least. Since his condition was so serious even without any actual exposure, he couldn''t even begin to guess how deadly the actual stuff was. Alexander frowned. This was not exactly what he hoped Lex would find, but at least it was a start. "While keeping your identity a secret, I''ll share your report of the hazardous materials under the wall. If they truly are dangerous even to immortals, then we have to approach without arousing any attention. We cannot just go ahead and start digging, lest the culprit detonate it beforehand. "I''ll update you on any progress we make. Are you able to return once you''ve healed?" "It''ll have to wait a bit," informed Lex. "My own task is at hand." With the wedding so close now, guests had already started to arrive in Babylon, and pre-wedding events had already begun. It was time he turned his attention to his most important quest yet! Chapter 698 Rousing from slumber

Chapter 698 Rousing from slumber

Five days before the wedding, Lex was woken up from his slumber by Mary, who had been instructed by Lex to do so. To his dismay, upon waking, he did not feel reinvigorated and refreshed. Instead, the dull pain in his chest indicated his injury to his lung was still persistent. While the feeling of exhaustion was greatly relieved, it was not at the level he had hoped. Was it too much to ask for to healpletely to full health and strength after an encounter in a quick and concise manner? After all, video game characters did it so often. Why couldn''t reality be as convenient? Shaking his head, Lex slowly got out of his Recovery Pod. In truth, he knew his thoughts were a tad unreasonable. This was a w of his spirit being merged with his body. Whenever he suffered a wound, it would affect his spirit as well. With apromised spirit, it was natural that Lex had odd or unusual thoughts. The matter was not too serious, and would only be a serious hindrance if his wounds were drastically greater than they were now. While he recovered from his drowsiness, Lex reflected on his short period of acting as a spy. In his own opinion, his performance was subpar. It seems he had be too rxedtely. He seriously needed to upgrade his repertoire of techniques. Sure, it was understandable that offensive techniques would be a weak point for him, but was it too much to ask for to havepletely unsurpassed stealth skills, investigative skills, limitless knowledge on all matters he might encounter and and other useful techniques? It seemed that Lex was suddenly feeling dissatisfied with Evisceration, his remarkable versatility due to his mastery of arrays, his unsurpassed defenses and potentially limitless options to umte various techniques. Or perhaps it was the knowledge that the pup Fenrir surpassed him in stealth that was truly irritating him in his mentally vulnerable state. Stifling a yawn, Lex got up and stretched his arms far apart as he loosened his body up. For a moment, he wondered if he should go back to that tower the Jotun empire was protecting. Passing a few more levels should help him grow, right? Ultimately, he decided to do soter. No matter how random his thoughts were, he knew that he had to prioritize the wedding. "Anything I need to pay attention to at the Inn?" he asked, even as he teleported to his office. "Alexander delivered a message. Initially there were some issues convincing his team to get involved in the matter you discovered. No one wanted to get their hands dirty with the war. Eventually, though, they relented and investigated. So far there has been no concrete discovery, for anyone who has entered the chamber under the wall has lost contact, without exception. Even Nascent realm cultivators were no different." Lex frowned, but did notment. "Besides that, for now, there is nothing too major. There are a few applications from several guests who wish to hold some events at the Inn that you need to review. The most significant one, at least from what I can tell, is the one being hosted by Vera Joel. She''s using almost all the MP she got from you to host a Prophets Convention." Lex raised an eyebrow out of curiosity and looked at the application. The event was nned for a couple of monthster. The curious thing was that to attend the event, an attendee would need to first deliver the correct password. Yet the marketing for the event, as well as the password, were only to be published a day after the event was already over. He supposed only those who were able to divine out the event beforehand could attend, thereby automatically proving their abilities. There were a few more events that guests had applied to host at the Inn, but none were as interesting. They mostly included birthday parties, weddings and the like. He approved them and forwarded the details to the relevant departments to begin nning. He scanned the Inn once just to ensure that all was well, before diverting all his attention to the Crystal realm. Using his Remote Presence ability, a projection of him appeared at the tavern. The mood in the main hall was drastically different from what it normally was, and there were no sailers for traders upying the tables today. Instead, a host of refineddies and gentlemen satfortably in their seats and talked in soft voices. On the small stage in the corner, a number of tiny fairies yed soothing and rxing music. It felt more like he had entered the parlor for an exclusive country club rather than a local tavern, but it only made sense. The richest and most prestigious people from across the Hum nation were to arrive in Babylon, and the tavern was the central location where they would gather. Of course, due to the small size of the tavern, only the most essential parts of the wedding would take ce here, which would be limited to the most important guests. That meant the less important guests would have to use the few days prior to take in the prestigious yet rustic aura of the tavern. Surprisingly, even the most particr and spoiled of these nobles did not make a fuss, for the tavern had truly seen numerous upgrades after the star rank upgrade. It was not just the Dribble Oak wood, which kept the air in the tavern fresh and filled the air with a reinvigorating scent, that kept these nobles humble. Each nail holding down the floor nks, each window, each utensil and everything else imaginable used in this tavern absolutely screamed opulence, while retaining a humble and simple aesthetic. The grandeur was overwhelming, yet the tant indifference to cosmetics and extravagance was a new experience for them, allowing them to enjoy it even further. In fact, the more astute guests at the tavern could already predict that a new trend of extremely valuable items disguised as everyday, mundane items was about to sweep the empire. By being at the source of this new trend, they could gain ideas and inspiration, and be first to profit from it. Others simply took this as a novel experience, and allowed themselves to live out their fantasies of traveling thends and rubbing shoulders with themon folk. Of course, there were always trouble makers. Naki, Nami and Nani, the triplet waitresses at the tavern, were always popr. Moreover, their budding extroverted personalities did not allow them to hide much of themselves. As such, their low-born origins were immediately picked up on by many guests. Not many minded, and some in fact thought that they had been purposefully employed to add realism to this experience of living like amoner. Some, however, decided to take them home for one evening. This had happened while Lex was asleep. Naturally, since Lex''s sleep was not disturbed by Mary, the situation was resolved without needing his assistance. To be specific, the personal guards of the Phillips family intervened before anything happened to escort the guest away from the town. Jolene had strongly impressed upon her husband how important the tavern and Lex were, and that they should use every opportunity to ingratiate themselves. Although they were more than certain that the tavern could have handled the situation without their aid, they were all too eager to help. So now everyone knew not to mess with the tavern staff. Of course, that was before Rick returned from his travels with the monster catfish in tow. Lex was not sure how he had done it, considering that monsters had a very aggressive nature, but Rick had somehow¡­ tamed the catfish monster. The monster at the peak of Nascent realm was hard to ignore, especially when it followed Rick around like a loyal puppy¡­ eh, no, like a loyal monster fish. To fit into the tavern, the monster even shrunk its size. Considering that Rick had returned Zagan''s scale, Lex was not aware of how he managed to tame it. He would look into it, butter. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om For now, Lex first checked up on all the floors of the tavern, ensuring that it was alright, before sending someone to call the Noel and Phillips families. He had to brief them on the fact that some ''important'' guests will also be attending the wedding, so that they could be prepared. Moreover, he had to make preparations in case the situation developed negatively. His experience with the Crystal race was enough to wake him up to the fact that things wouldn''t always go ording to his ns. He had to make contingencies. Fortunately, Zagan''s scale would allow him to muster up a force consisting of monsters. Still, considering that the elite of the entire realm wereing, his emergency measures had to be adequate. Since he himself could not travel freely in the Crystal realm at the moment, he had to make use of others. More specifically, he had to make use of all the secrets the Noel family had buried under Babylon. Chapter 699 Talk Privately

Chapter 699 Talk Privately

Under the cold, white light of the spaceship, Z found himself walking through a busy corridor. All around him were various races with hardly any humans around, though a majority of the races were humanoid - or elvish as it was referred to as here. Some were the staff and crew of the ship he was aboard, but majority were either soldiers and mercenaries, doctors, engineers, or from any other profession that would in some way aid in battle. The warriors were in the greatest number, obviously, but the most reverence received on this ship was by medical professionals. Not all doctors had the courage to treat patients inside an active war zone - though admittedly not all who were here hade by their own choice. Followed by doctors were the formation architects, and engineers. They would be sent down to various strongholds ons where battles were taking ce, and they would construct either incredible formations or build amazing spirit tech which would greatly help the soldiers. Comparatively, it was the soldiers themselves who were at the bottom of the food chain in terms of reverence and respect. Of course, the Midnight Battalion was the exception to that rule, as were all those who stood out from the masses. The secret stares and ogles he received as he walked to his room dictated just how much the fame of the battalion had spread. They had been at war for a few months now, and were already moving towards their third battlefield. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om They were evacuated from the first battlefield after the entire became unstable, although they managed to conclude the fight. On the second the war was much fiercer and they were unable to change the tide on their own, but their hard earned merits had made them quite popr as a result. They had yed a significant role in turning the tide of battle as they protected a crucial stronghold from a never ending siege. It was only once the tide had turned, and their rolepleted that they were pulled from that, and were now being sent to the third. Z didn''t mind. To him, all fights were the same. They were hard and hot, and extremely ufortable. He was not ashamed to admit that they were also very dangerous, and that if it weren''t for the suits provided to them by the Innkeeper many of them would have already fallen in battle. But in life, there was no such thing as ''what if'' and only ''what is''. The Innkeeper had given them a formidable uniform, and through its assistance, not only had they all survived, many of them were growing stronger rapidly. Z himself was a prime example, as his lethality had shot through the roof, and now he no longer considered anyone in the Foundation realm his foe. Unless, of course, they were also members of the Midnight Inn. After all, Luthor had also grown incredibly strong after gaining a mysterious ability to control fire, and his mes were not in the least normal. Many others had also grown much stronger under the trial of war, either unlockingtent abilities or encountering unusual treasures that gave them extraordinary powers. Suddenly Z was reminded of a particr Inn member who had recently begun to shine, and blushed. Her name was Sandra, and she was positively electric! Literally! During battle she encountered a strange enemy, and upon killing him she somehow absorbed a mysterious stone from within his body. Since then, she had unlocked the ability to control electricity, or lightning. Moreover, because she had spent so much time observing the lightning tribtions at the Inn, herpatibility with the ability was phenomenal, and she was quickly bing incredibly strong. She also had pretty eyes. Lost in his own thoughts, Z eventually made it to his own room andy in bed, looking out at the cosmic cloud they were traveling in. When they had started out, they were still at the periphery of the cosmic cloud, but as their battlefields changed, incidentally, they were moving deeper and deeper within. The deeper within the cloud they progressed, the more dangerous it became to traverse, so it would take a while before they reached their destination. Somehow, they had gotten a break from all the fighting, and everyone was taking their time to rest. Z was still lost in his thoughts, still ying with the space bubbles above his fingers as had be a habit. But because he was doing it absentmindedly, he failed to notice that the bubble sometimes failed to form a perfect sphere, and became slightly deformed. The urrence was only one out of a hundred though. A few dayster, when they reached their third battlefield, and had progressed deeper in the cloud, the rate of the sphere deforming became one out of ny nine. ***** Pvarti Noel, Joseph Noel (Pvarti''s father), Jess Phillips and Jolene Philips all sat in a private room with Lex, who wore a warm and cordial smile. Yet he was the only one smiling. This was the first time they were meeting in a group like this, and they came with the intention of sharing somest minute details with Lex. Due to the increased intensity of the Kraven war, the scale of the wedding had been drastically reduced. Moreover, many of the initially nned VIP guests would no longer be able to make it as almost all of the immortals in the empire were being summoned. The previously festive mood had been killed thoroughly, for all except Jess who was still madly pining over Pvarti. Instead, what awaited them was Lex sharing with them the news that not only would the wedding serve as a front for a secret meeting between the royal families of all the top races in the realm, but that the topic of their discussion was the very fate of their realm! To say that they were shocked to their core was an understatement. Everyone of them was extremely stressed due to the war, and the fact that they did not even know if they themselves would survive. Now, faced with this sudden bombshell, they were not able to cope quickly enough. The fact that even Jolene was not instantly maneuvering the situation for political gain was a testament to how dire the situation really was. As if to add credence to his statement, Lex also had Rick bring in one of the invitations and present it to the families. The aura of the Innkeepers words gripped their currently fragile hearts, and they became dazed. "My apologies for extending invitations to the wedding without consulting you. I thought the leaders of the races won''t exactly be unwee at the event," said Lex casually. "Also a representative of the monsters," Rick quickly added, with no noticeable change in his expression, as if he were talking about something mundane, like the weather. Even Lex was surprised to hear thatst statement, but he did not show it. He made a mental note to interview Rick thoroughlyter. Originally he was worried about Rick''spetency while undertaking this task, who knew he would perform a few extra-credit tasks! "Of course, we cannot openly share this information, for security purposes. So externally, everything will appear to be as per usual. Some of the¡­ guests might arrive a little early, though I expect most will only reveal themselves on the actual day of the event." "Lex¡­ no, Mr. Lex, I think you should have kept such details to yourself," said Joseph weakly. "Even we are not qualified to know about such matters. Our weakness maypromise the meeting." "Impossible. You see, the invitation officially invites everyone to the wedding. What kind of wedding guests would they be if they did not at least extend their greetings to the bride and groom? There''s also the wedding presents. To be honest, if the presents they give are unremarkable, I''ll be quite disappointed personally." Everyone looked at Lex dumbfounded. They did not know what to say. Was wedding presents really the thing that needed to be focused on right now? "Of course, as the host, I still need to make some preparations for their arrival. Joseph, I have some questions for you regarding Babylon. Perhaps we should continue this meeting in private, as it might touch upon some sensitive matters." Joseph shook his head and said, "you can ask me questions right here. I have no secrets from my children, and I see no point in keeping a secret from my future family either." He nced at Jolene as if acknowledging her. Lex smiled, knowingly, and then asked, "well in that case, I wanted to ask you if there are any more unstable factors underneath Babylon. Thest time you gave me the Blue Crystal Essence which was being fostered under Babylon. If there are more such crystals, or other unstable or vtile factors underneath or near the city, can you share them with me? I am not greedy for your resources, I just need to prepare sufficient security so nothing unexpected happens." Joseph suddenly coughed and said, "perhaps we should talk privately." Chapter 700 Edward Pattinfather

Chapter 700 Edward Pattinfather

A shellshocked Jolene, alongside a lovestruck Jasmine, left the tavern once the meeting was concluded, both with very different mindsets. Jasmine was once again bubbling with excitement. Previously, when she found out that the scale of the wedding would have to be reduced she was somewhat disappointed. The wedding didn''t matter as much as the marriage, obviously, but which one of her siblings didn''t have avish and exquisite wedding? She could really be med for having high expectations. Jolene, on the other hand, was struggling between moral issues. More specifically, given the current situation, her upbringing and training dictated that she consider the greatest political benefits. Given the current global climate, the greatest benefit they could receive was to not be involved in the war efforts against the immortal Kraven army. Her entire family could be destroyed if they partook in that. Yet at the same time, she could not bring herself topletely remove her family from the war either. Centuries of brainwashing by King Cornelius made it so that every citizen saw it as their most basic duty as humans to fight for the survival of their race against the Kraven. Caught between the selfish desire for survival and the duty to her race, she could not think too clearly. Ultimately, she decided to consult her husband and defer to his decision. Jess, Jolene''s daughter who had been coordinating between the tavern and their family, was also apanying them back. Although it was unlikely that she knew anything, Jolene decided it was best to interview her thoroughly as well. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Inside the tavern, Joseph and Pvarti were left with Lex as they continued their discussion. Since Pvarti had reentered the Noel family, there was no reason to keep these secrets from him. Normally, Joseph would notmunicate these secrets with anyone, for his family was acting on behalf of the royal family by mining and harvesting these resources. But as someone backed by the Midnight Inn, Lex was least likely to be interested in their resources. Moreover, they recalled the deep rtionship shared by Aegis, the crown prince, and Lex. To Lex''s great and utter disappointment, besides the Blue Crystal Essence which had been absorbed by the Lotus on his back and himself, nothing else was of too significant value. But as it turned out, the excuse Lex had used was quite valid. Some of the resources hidden deep underneath Babylon were extremely vtile and were protected by numerous formations. Should an ident happen¡­ all of Babylon was at risk of being decimated by the blowout. After the conversation ended, the Noel family left. Lex''s n to use their resources as a hidden backhand had failed, but through this meeting Lex came to realize another avenue he could pursue. "So tell me exactly how it is that you ended up sending an invitation to a ''representative of the monsters''," Lex asked in a more of a curious tone rather than interrogative one. He did not know whether to feel impressed or surprised by Rick''s feats and honestly he felt a bit of both. In hindsight, he should have considered inviting the monsters as well, but due to the fact that they have a naturally aggressive nature he had not even considered them. Yet it was true that they were also citizens of the Crystal race. The destruction of the realm affected them just as much as the others. "We assumed that the fish monster that was summoned was profoundly dumb, and thus easily controlled by the scale you gave me. Yet, as it turned out, it was not as dumb as it seemed. Although it still obeyed my everymand, and never tried to harm me, it also took a detour while we traveled. "Naturally, as we traveled through the folds of space, I could not tell about the detour at all until we arrived at the destination. By then it was toote to do anything anyway. I was faced with a massive monster that spoke directly into my mind. It asked me where I got the scale, and would the owner of it give it to me. I had nothing to hide, so naturally I told him that I was given the scale by you, and my purpose was to deliver invitations to the royal families of some nations. Since the monster was pretty powerful, I showed him one of the invitations as well. "The monster was already interested ining to the tavern and meeting you after I told him I got the scale from you, but once he saw the invitation¡­ well, he suddenly became very polite and asked if it was alright he attended as well. Naturally, I told him that it was not up to me, and that he would have to ask you. "Afterwards, we spent some time talking, and as it turns out, we share many of the same interests. We became good friends, so then I gave him a few tips about what to do when he attends a wedding. He should be arriving a day before the event starts." "You two¡­ share simr interests?" Lex asked, his voice betraying his disbelief. What could Rick, the handyman, and an ever living monster of immeasurable power¡­ have inmon? "Yes," Rick said, reaffirming his statement as if he had said the most reasonable thing. "When Edward Pattinfather, the monster, gained enlightenment, meaning he gained sentience, he spent a few hundred years masquerading as a human teenager. Every few years he''d move to a town and live there, attending the local academy so that he could learn about the world. As it happens, human teenagers often got part time jobs, so Edward often worked as a handyman at different ces. He is a master at the trade, and I learnt much from him." Lex was dumbfounded, and did not know how to respond to Rick. Rick, however, took Lex''s silence as an indication that he should borate more on the topic. "While Edward masqueraded as a human teenager, he formed many friends and often got involved in unreal adventures. One time he took part in a tribal war between two of the tribes living in a local Trelops territory. The war between wolves and bats was a fierce one, or at least it was for the human he was pretending to be. "Another time, he pretended to fall in love with another human girl, only to be caught up in a teenage drama when another teenager from their local academy simrly dered his love for the same human girl. Later, he discovered that like him, the other teenager was also a monster pretending to be human. It was quite the emotional rollercoaster, as the girl was eventually revealed to be a daughter of the human king, who immediately recognized the two monsters and attacked them, causing them both to flee in terror. "Once¡­" "Alright, alright, I get it. You two are good friends. I''m d you''re expanding your social circle," Lex interrupted Rick. He felt like the list of unbelievable stories was actually quite long, so he did not want to get caught up in them. After having dismissed Rick, Lex could not help but feel a little morose that ultimately, he was unable to invite the progenitor of the Sol and Frio birds. After all, everyone else had already seemingly been invited. The only major race besides them that remained uninformed about this was the Kraven. But it was what it was, he didn''t want to go to the Crystal race territory again. Not to mention, there were only a few days left, there was no time. ***** Deep in the dark and barrennds controlled by the Kraven was a massive citadel built seemingly out of a single, massive spirit stone! But of course that was impossible. Such a massive spirit stone could not be formed in a realm as young as the Crystal realm. This was, instead, the result of the ingenious engineering of the Kraven. Their means and methods were sorely underestimated by everyone on thesends, and that served the purpose of the Kraven well. Inside a library where the shelves were made of bone, and the books consisted of skulls of various races, fitted with a strange crystal, a particrly lean and petite Kraven was reading. Among the Kraven, size was usually proportional to strength, but for some reason this smaller Kraven seemed to defy that rule. "My liege," said a hooded, humanoid figure that entered the room. "There is amand from home." "Oh? What do they want?" the Kraven asked, genuinely curious. "You have been instructed to go to the Midnight Tavern in four days. No other information was shared." The Kraven nodded, as if just that was enough. The humanoid figure also departed the library, without sharing anything else. ***** Upon a tower that pierced the sky and far surpassed the atmosphere, two massive birds were resting in a nest made of the purest energy Crystal. Suddenly, the divine energy in their bodies stirred, and a revtion came to them in the form of a name and time. It was the Midnight Tavern, in four days. Chapter 701 Arriving guests

Chapter 701 Arriving guests

The small town of Babylon was in a remote, nearly forgotten corner of the Crystal realm. For so long, it saw no more excitement than a reputable trader passing through because their normal route was blocked by monsters. Once, the children of the noble family which owned the territory passed through the town, and it was considered the greatest news. Children gathered in the streets and parents took off from work just to see their carriage pass them by. There was a vast ss difference between them, sure, but there was also a difference of cultivation. In the world where strength was the most important thing, there was no greater celebrity than those that wielded great strength, and at that time it was surely the children of nobles. But since then, as if cursed by the bad luck of a protagonist who happened to be passing by, the town saw one major event after another. A maniacal serial killer terrorized the city. The Sol birds flew away, and left them in darkness. Monsters spawned all around them, trapping them within, still with the serial killer. Then the formations protecting them failed, inviting death and destruction. Not many managed to survive, but of them the few that did were then further bbergasted when an immortal monster attacked the town nearly decimating all life. Yes, the citizens of Babylon had suffered through more than most adventurers who ventured out into the world seeking fortune and fame. N?v(el)B\\jnn Then, finally, there was a period of peace. The few who survived had never been more thankful for a mundane monday than after those horrid few weeks. Yet now, as if to bnce all the pain they suffered, the citizens of Babylon were witnessing the most spectacr event anyone from their ancestry had witnessed for the past 100 generations. A marriage between two immortal lineages was taking ce within their town. Normally that would have nothing to do with them besides give them a few stories to share with their kids. But for whatever reason, the families had decided to make this wedding extremely grand. As if that alone was not enough, the mysterious and powerful, yet remarkably friendly owner of the Midnight Tavern decided their scale was not enough and added a few touches of their own. There were rumors that the groom, Pvarti Noel, was good friends with the tavern owner, and he wanted to make his friend''s day special. As a result, the citizens did not know whose generosity they were exactly benefiting from, but they did not care much. Mario Ri, also known as the Goatfather, walked the streets of Babylon followed by his gang members, throwing out cultivation pills as if they were flower petals. His son, Elio Ri, had opened a free dojo where martialbat lessons were being given to any and all who were interested, once again, free of charge. Thousands of cultivation chambers had been opened up and made avable to the public, with nary a mention of price or payment. The only condition on the chambers was that no one could hog the room for too long, as it was meant to be shared by everyone. Standard cultivation techniques were being sent to every home in the town, alongside a book of notes of things to look out for while cultivating, some medicine to help getting started and one pure spirit stone. Compared to the techniques that normal citizens had ess to generally, these techniques were moreplete and had fewer drawbacks. Hundreds of traditional as well as orthodox doctors and medical practitioners showed up and began giving out free treatments. Each public building and facility in the town got a free and extensive upgrade. Famous and renowned chefs from around the region were hired and they cooked feasts for the whole town in the public parks, for all to share. The week of the wedding was like one continuous party, and where there was a party, there had to be drinks. For the week, Midnight tavern sent out drinks across the town for anyone and everyone. Each drink not only delivered an experience of euphoria down to the very soul, it never had any adverse consequences such as hangovers or sickness. In fact, many people had sudden breakthroughs while drinking! Of course everyone had varying temperaments, and not everyone wanted to party. Some were more dedicated, and were pursuing some ambitions or goals and could not tolerate wasting time eating or drinking. Those people were offered jobs for before and after the wedding at extremely lucrative rates alongside unbelievable benefits. Each and every person who worked for the wedding did so with unmatched enthusiasm and vigor. With so many workers, the entertainment would, of course, not be limited to just that. Across the city seemingly random people burst into spontaneous dance and song with extensive backdrops and backup performers. The suddenness and unexpectedness of the songs, as well as their catchy tunes hooked the hearts of everyone who heard them. The extremely well choreographed dances started an all new trend of dancing, and Babylon was quickly developing a culture of dance and song that wouldst long after the wedding was actually over. Of course, Lex, for some reason, did not find the dances so extraordinary. But then again, he had seen the original Indian films they were inspired by so maybe that''s why he could not share in the feeling of the citizens. But while such entertainment was sufficient for the masses, the wedding guests from abroad could not exactly appreciate them the same way. For them, of course, there were other forms of entertainment arranged. Fighting was, as usual, one of the most popr activities and strong warriors from far and wide had been summoned to hold their duels in an arena that was constructed right in front of the tavern. The best seats were on the tavern rooftop. The fights were definitely not choreographed, and the fighters held nothing back so they were often brutal and bloody, much to the appreciation of the viewers. Besides fighting there were multiple sophisticated performances arranged to match the taste of the powerful elite. Attracted by all the hubbub, some of the most illustrious traders and merchants hade to the town and set up stalls and began holding auctions of unusual yet powerful artifacts. In fact, even Lex set up a stall and sold items he got from others at the Midnight Inn. He was investing heavily in this wedding, so recouping some of his costs was perfectly normal. Amidst all this hustle and bustle, the actual two families involved in the wedding were actually the most nervous. This still could not believe Lex''s ims, although they had seen the invitation for themselves. That is, until Cornelius II arrived at Babylon three days before the wedding. His arrival was very discreet and none of his usual entourage followed him. Only a couple of his advisors followed him, and they too remained in disguise. The King made contact with both the Phillip and Noel families, to let them know of his arrival, before disappearing himself without giving them any information on his ns. They were only informed to follow along and give blind support to any and all of his actions the next few days. Somehow, learning of the King''s presence as well as his arrival made the two families even more nervous. While everyone else in the town partied, whether to take advantage of all the free stuff or to forget their roles in the ongoing dreadful war, the Noels and Phillips found themselves unable to do so. While everyone felt time was going too fast, for them time seemed to drag on forever. In this excited yet lethargic manner, another day passed. Like the King before him, this time the incumbent ruler of the Varns arrived, but disappeared soon after announcing his arrival to the two families. No one had any idea where they were hiding, or if they had already met. Even Lex, who was kept up to date by the families, could only guess at their ns. Fortunately Lex was able to control his nerves, and so did not be nervous. Such a thing would easily be detected now that he did not have the protection of the Host Attire in the Crystal realm. The same day, a seemingly ordinary butterfly arrived at Babylon. Although she looked very different from most Trelops, who hadrge bodies taking on the shapes of animals using some feature of their territory, the butterfly was the serving ruler of the Trelops. Amongst their race, such a title did not really hold too much value, except to say that she was the strongest of their race, The next day, one day before the wedding, the Poloids and Sentinels also arrived, all of them being discreet and hiding their identities. Everything was almost ready. Tomorrow would be the day. He only hoped this would be enough to get a SSS+ quest ranking. After tapping on his desk for a few minutes, Lex decided that it was not enough. He could take no chance. He had to get the highest ranking he could, so he would find a way to improve the score even more. From the Midnight Inn, Lex teleported away and appeared in front of the Infinity Emporium. Chapter 702 Gifts ? What Lex had in mind was a little expensive, but that was alright. He could earn money again in the future, but if there was an issue with his cultivation then that was not really something he could easily ovee. Moreover, once he was done with the wedding, he was intending on focusing on retrieving that special treasure on the rogue that the mysterious person had told him about in the Suera Gxy. Treasure hunting was bound to be a profitable endeavor, right? With his many advantages, he did not expect so much trouble. He walked into the emporium and was weed by the familiar presence of Powell. He seriously hoped that his guests found the Inn as helpful as he found the emporium, because it had helped him out of quite a few troubles. "Ah, Lex, it''s good to see you," Powell said enthusiastically. Oddly enough, he was notpletely in his traditional uniform for the emporium. Instead, he was wearing a cardigan and had a pipe sticking out of his mouth, the smell of tobo strong on him. "It''s good to see you too," Lex responded fondly. "I see life has been good for you recently. You''ve picked up a new hobby." "Oh this?" he asked, pulling out the pipe and raising it proudly. "I recently got my hands on grade four Cookies and Cream vored tobo from Dunya. It''s absolutely phenomenal, I highly rmend it. As for me, life is naturally very good. It has been that way for a while now, all thanks to you of course." "Haha, I''m d my spendthrift ways have benefited you. In that case, today should be a good day for you as well. I need a rmendation from you. I''m about to attend a wedding, but I don''t have a gift yet. A lot of Earth Immortals will be there, but I want my gift topletely outss anything they give, and make them envious to boot. But I''m not so good at gift giving. Any suggestions?"n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Suggestions? I have more than just a few," Powell said, suddenly sitting up straight. How convenient it was that his passion was to help his customers. It made him a good employee. "Before I give you suggestions though, let me ask you a few questions. What is the race of the guest? And cultivation? If its a race with genders, then what''s the gender? Does the recipient have a profession? Is this their first wedding? Do they have the ability to procreate, and if so, do they already have any kids? What kind of life expectancy are we looking at? Are there any food allergies that I should know about? What are the recipients'' top three hobbies? During the wedding, is the recipient expected toplete any feats of great courage or honor? Does the recipient have an aversion to edible underwear? Does the¡­" The questions Powell had were plentiful and quite thorough. Lex was not able to answer many questions, for example any that were pertaining to undergarments, but he at least knew that he did not intend on giving any kind gift of that nature! It was at the end that he asked possibly the most important question of all: the budget! cing a hand on his heart, Lex decided to go all out, as far as willing to trade even the teacup containing thew of femininity! Upon hearing this, even Powell was startled. This was no ordinary wedding present. The high cost Lex was willing to pay suddenly disqualified all the options Powell was considering. At this price range, there were actually very few items they had at all worthy of exchange. But just because they were expensive did not mean they would make great wedding gifts, as a gift had to be suitable. Wearing a serious expression Powell said, "Please allow me a moment topile a list for you of suitable presents. Do you have a time restriction on delivery?" "Yes, unfortunately I do not have long before the wedding begins. It will begin in approximately twenty hours." "Another tough condition," Powellmented before he diverted his attention to his tablet. Using his special ess he had been given to be able to cater to Lex, he began looking through all their most precious items to see what was suitable. Just as he started, his eyes fell onto a specific item the description of which startled him! Unable to restrain himself, he immediately showed the item to Lex whose eyes began to gleam. "Yes, this will do quite nicely!" ***** There was no dawn or dusk in the Crystal realm, and the hues of the sky all depended on the mood of the Sol birds. Yet as the day of the wedding dawned, the sky was painted with a brilliant orange and gold in the far horizon, as if a magnificent sun were rising! Such an auspicious sight mesmerized even Lex, who was previously wishing his domain extended to the skies as well so that he may create a wonderful disy. Yet, through some fortunate encounter, it happened on its own. Lex quickly learned of the reasons: this was a rare asion where a new flock of Sol birds was entering the territory of the ones who currently inhabited thesends. Moreover, the iing flock was clearly more mature which could be seen by the brilliant disy. Lex, the Noel family, the Phillip family and all the others who had gathered for any reason at all considered this a sign of tremendously good luck, for anything associated with light in the Crystal realm was given great significance. After all, where there was light, there was life, and where there was darkness, there were monsters! Taking onest nce at the sky, Lex crossed his fingers before returning to the matters at hand. While he himself had to focus on the impending meeting, he also had to ensure the wedding procedures would go along smoothly. To ensure everything would be perfect, he had onest meeting with Ash, the wedding expert he had sent here from the Midnight Inn. As this was a union of two immortal families, especially two families subordinated to the royal family, there was a long sequence of traditional ceremonies that needed to be fulfilled. The two families, and the bride and groom especially would be heavily involved at each step, though each family would have separate ceremonies. Then a procession would begin where both families departed from separate locations, but met together at the final destination at the same time, which in this case would be the tavern. Then, a few more ceremonies would follow after which the two would officially be considered wed. On this day, there would be no dancing or fighting or ys or fabulous disys until the wedding was concluded, and the town would adorn a solemn feel. Only after the two were wed would the celebrations begin! During all this time, however, Lex would be busy with the meeting, which would start very soon. "Rick, has Edward arrived?" he asked, referring to the representative of the monsters. "Yes," Rick responded seriously. "To avoid any unnecessary troubles, he is staying deep within the sea for now. I will have to send the catfish to get him." "Well send the fish. It''s almost time." ording to what he had informed the two families, the meeting will begin the same time as the ceremonies which will be taking ce in their respective residences. Every time one of the royal family members appeared, the same information was shared with them. Edward was the first to arrive, since he was the only one who had directly contacted the Inn. He appeared in the same human form he took so long ago when he immersed himself in human civilization to increase his exposure and learn more about the realm. He was extremely fair, to the point that he almost appeared pale, though that did not detract from his handsome appearance. He had crystal clear, bright blue eyes that mesmerized Naki, Nami and Nani when they saw him, and a gentle smile on his lips that made him seem mischievous. "It''s a pleasure to make your acquaintance," Edward said politely when he finally met Lex, giving a soft bow instead of shaking hands. "The pleasure is mine," Lex reciprocated. "I''m d that you could make it. I''m sure your presence will add greatly to the meeting that we are about to have." "I hope so, though I admit my being here might invite some trouble for you. The other races don''t take fondly to monsters, though I do not me them." "The matter we are here to discuss is greater than individual interests. When they learn of the magnitude of what we face, they will be forced to set aside their personal grudges and work together." "I sincerely hope that you are right," said a third voice, as a neer entered the room. Lex had, of course, already sensed his arrival inside the tavern. "Cornelius," Lex acknowledged with a simple nod. "Lex," the king of the Hum nation simrly simply nodded. "I have been looking forward to meeting you." Chapter 703 Alive? ? Lex knew all about the reason the King was looking for him, as he had had a conversation at length with Aegis about it. The King wanted his cultivation technique since it was one for the True Path. Unfortunately, it was not one that could be shared even if Lex really wanted to share it, which he did not. "I''ve also been looking forward to meeting with you. I''ve heard much about you, and I am good friends with your daughter Cwenhild." "And to think, once there were rumors in the academy that you''re one of my children too. I found the events leading up to that quite amusing." Lex smiled wryly. Now that those events were long past, he could really look back and find them amusing. At the time, though, it was more nerve wracking. "I found it quite an honor that anyone would think to link me to you. But at the same time, one cannot put too much stock in rumors. Maybe one day, when I grow stronger, the story peddlers will im I am secretly your brother." This one statement, whileplimenting Cornelius, also disyed the deeply rooted confidence that Lex held in himself and his future. Though not directly, he was already iming that rising to the same height as the King was a foregone conclusion. Cornelius smiled, as if he did not pay attention to the im, and said, "the boldness of youth always enables one to achieve outstanding results. Even I achieved most of my most famous achievements when I was young and loud. You are already not less than I, for whenst has history seen the representatives of so many of the races gather together for a meeting?" Cornelius'' words seem to beparing Lex''s ims to the brashness of youth, reminding him that until something is already achieved it is naught but loud boasting. At the same time, he was pretending to give Lex apliment, but wasying the credit of his achievement to the mysterious author of the book¡­ -no, eh, he wasying the credit of his achievement to the mysterious author of the letter that invited them all here. Lex smiled, for little did Cornelius know that he was indeed the one who authored the invitation letters, so his confidence was not assaulted as Cornelius had been hoping. "Come, let us move towards the meeting room while we wait for the others to arrive," Lex said,pletely uninterested in entering a duel of words with Cornelius. Seeing that he had failed to entrap Lex with his words, Cornelius turned his attention to Edward, the monster. His own confidence, too, was unaffected and he had many other ploys waiting to be revealed. It was not easily that he had brought humans, the race that was born the weakest, and made them strong. Besides the Crystal race which stood out firmly as the strongest, there was no clear ranking of which race was stronger or weaker than the other. As a result, while the humans did not gain a clear advantage over others, at least none could hold influence over them either. Even the seemingly mighty Trelops made deals with humans instead of forcefully taking territory. Other than his own clear genius in handling difficult situations appropriately, it was also because of Cornelius'' strength, which was widely recognized. He was far stronger than an Earth Immortal was supposed to be, and following the True Path was not enough to make up for the difference. If it were, Aegis would not be so outssed by his own father. At the same time, Edward would not be so well behaved in front of Cornelius. The monster had been alive for millions of years, but clearly he still suffered a trauma from when he and Corneliusst fought. Lex led the two to one of the many hidden rooms of the tavern, as they had to remain out of sight while the ceremonies took ce within the tavern. Sipping on one of the incredible beverages Lex had prepared for Earth Immortals from the emporium before the meeting began, Cornelius looked at Lex and said, "while we wait for the rest, why don''t you share a little about the reason we were invited." "I think it''s best if we wait for full attendance," Lex said politely, yet uninfluenced by Cornelius. "After all, otherwise I''d have to endlessly repeat myself if I had to tell each guest separately." Also, by having everyone in the same room, he could study their actions and reactions and thereby guess how many secrets each of them was hiding. As if on cue, a small butterfly entered the tavern, sitting gently above the head of arge turtle. The ruler of the Trelops had a unique aura, as if despite the small size she retained her full strength that she wielded within her territory. It was as if wherever she went automatically became her territory. Inparison, the ruler of the Varns was less impressive. Maybe it was because he was used to seeing the Gctic Sovereign Turtle, but seeing that the Varn leader had the form of a turtle, much of his aura was subdued. Not to mention, he was being ridden atop his head by the butterfly, yet he dared notin. "Wee to the tavern, honored guests. I am d that you could make it," Lex said, as he met them at the entrance, and brought them towards the meeting room. "It is not often when one receives an invitation radiating so much power. It is a habit of mine to make powerful friends," spoke the butterfly, though his voice did not travel through the air. Instead, it appeared in Lex''s mind, powerful and loud. Lex sensed something the moment fluctuate in the Soul ne when Elena spoke. It seemed she was using that as a medium to speak, rather than the physical ne. The turtle, instead, only grunted. It seemed like he was not too ecstatic about being used as a mount by the butterfly. "Sabr, it is good to see you again," Cornelius said, looking at the turtle with great familiarity. "Cornelius," Sabr only replied with a base acknowledgement, his voice deep and reverberating. "Your majesty Elena, it is an honor to finally meet you," Cornelius said, his voice a lot more humble, towards the butterfly. "My daughters speak fondly of you Cornelius. You are a friend of nature, and of the Trelops," the butterfly replied. "It is a pleasure to meet you all," Edward said, trying to be polite. Yet it seemed none of the rulers were not in the mood to socialize with a monster, and only responded with barely noticeable nods, or even simply red. "While we wait for the others," said Cornelius, his voice casual, as if he were speaking randomly, "would anyone mind if we discuss the Kraven? How strongly have they been attacking your borders? What''s the situation there? For the humans, I can say that in the past week we have already lost as muchnd as the past dozen years. There are no formations or weapons that can be used to deter such a massive force of immortals." The mood in the room instantly turned foul, as everyone seemed to have been suffering at the Kraven''s hands. "What I want to know is where so many immortals came from!" Sabr growled, his angry aura pressing down on everyone, though it seemed a subconscious disy. As the only non-immortal in the room, Lex was the most susceptible to it, but he had already nned for such a thing. He was forming a ''room'' around himself at all times, effectively putting himself inside a different space from the rest, only leaving a small gap which would allowmunication. That small gap still resulted in the immortals'' aura leaking through, but equipped with his defensive suit, not to mention his own resilient body, Lex was able to tolerate it without showing any external difort. "Even an immortal cannot fight against the might of nature. Yet when thousands of them are gathered on one battlefield, they surely can. The only way to fight them is to allow them to gain morend, and have them spread thinly so their force is diluted," remarked Elena, though her voice remained regal and devoid of stress.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Why not use this opportunity to request intervention from the Crystal race? With such a massive threat on their borders, surely now they have to intervene," said Sabr impatiently. Immediately though, Lex noticed something strange. Neither Cornelius nor Elena reacted too strongly to the suggestion, as if they already knew it was bound to fail. "Unfortunately I have some bad news," Lex said at that point, lest the silence pervade too long. "I visited the Crystal nation personally, and even shared some of the details of what we will discuss today with them. Yet instead of worrying about the issue, they attempted to assassinate me. I am afraid they might beplicit in the scheme afoot." Suddenly, all heads turned towards Lex in shock. The Crystals tried to assassinate him¡­ and he''s still alive? Chapter 704 Secret Conversations ? Extending their spirit sense to examine a peer could be considered rude, and some might even take great offense to it. But in the Earth Immortal realm why would they need to purposefully extend their senses? At this range, just their eyesight could gather more information than just sight. When they focused on Lex, mostly out of instinct due to the shocking news they heard, they immediately noticed that he was merely a projection. His real body was not around! This once again startled them! How was it possible to have such a perfect projection without any trace of the link to the real body? If they had not focused they would not have noticed at all. Before they could resolve their confusion though a tingle in the back of their necks, a sensation soft and barely perceptible, grabbed their attention. It was a sign of a warning. Their bodies were reacting defensively to something extremely, extremely dangerous! While Lex was still smiling as ever, the warmth on his person changed to frigid coldness for barely a second. Still, the second passed and Lex returned to his usual self, while the sensation of impending danger passed. But now everyone was acting warily. Clearly, that had been a soft warning from Lex. None here had any intention of acting rudely, since none of them couldpete with the power radiating from the letter. Yet all of them were extremely confident, and had something to rely on should they get into trouble. Their deep heritage and secret weapons were the source of their confidence, but they were quickly reminded that they weren''t the only ones with secrets. Lex was quite pleased with the reaction the immortals showed. It was very important he retained control of the situation, which was harder to do in a room full of not only immortal beings, but leaders among their respective races. To stimte the sense of danger, he had momentarily powered on his Dragon''s wake formation.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The powerful and threatening aura it radiated was far above the limits of this world, so it was usually a strong deterrent. This time, Lex did not turn it on all the way, as he did not know how they would react if they realized the power was above their worlds limit, for if anyone had the potential to notice this detail it was one of those here. But just stimting the formation was enough to pass a subtle warning. "Yes, like I said, they attempted to assassinate me the moment I shared the news with them. As a result, I did not even get to share the invitation with them. It''s hard to keep secrets when the invitations were sent to so many, but unless someone specifically shared the news with them, it is likely they do not even know about this meeting." Silence pervaded the room as everyone contemted what this meant, not only for this meeting but the general situation of their realm. It was while they were contemting that the final two expected guests arrived at the Inn. The Sentinel was humanoid and was wearing something that looked like a knight''s armor, but instead of metal it was made of a bone like material. Beside him was a short yet fat insect like creature that looked like arge, chubby grasshopper. That would be the Poliod. Lex teleported to them, and after extending his greeting, led them to the meeting room. As he had done before, Cornelius was the first to wee the neers. "Abras, I see you haven''t croaked yet," Cornelius said, looking at the Sentinel wearing a look of schadenfreude. "Your fist is not as strong as you assume. You''ll have to try harder if you wish to kill me," the Sentinel replied, once again speaking directly in the mind. The Sentinels were a unique spirit based species, meaning that while they were mostly spirit creatures, they also possessed physical bodies which is what made them unique in that category. Unfortunately, their bodies happened to be their greatest weakness. But despite such a ring weakness, they could not be considered a weak race for they were far superior in terms of spirit control and maniption than humans could ever be. "Kritter, I have long looked forward to meeting you," Cornelius said looking at the Poloid, not bothering to reply to Abras. Kritter waved its antennae and its thoughts were transmitted to those around it. "Cornelius, you bastard! I know full well that you grilled one of our Duke''s to try as a delicacy!" Everyone in the room looked at Cornelius with a strange expression, while only Edward looked at him with some admiration. Aspletely unperturbed by the usation, he responded, "Come now Kritter, it''s not like Poloids haven''t attacked humans before. Not to mention everyone knows what happens when Poloids take back their victims bodies to the hive. Don''t be the kettle that calls the pot ck." Kritter''s body trembled with rage, but he did not escte the situation. It did, however, have to vent its anger somewhere, and the Kraven became his victims. "Who the hell can tell me what''s going on with the new Kraven invasion? They''ve yet to reach our new borders, but if we don''t stop them now the whole realm will be their yground! This game has gone on long enough! We need to join hands together lest one of you soon repeat the history of the Poloids!" There was aggressiveness and anger in Kritter''s message, but Lex also suddenly realized something. His words¡­ seemed to be referring to certain shared secrets. He instantly entered a state of flow and noticed peculiarities in the speech of the various leaders. At face value they meant one thing, but a deeper analysis would reveal hidden meanings. "...for whenst has history seen the representatives of so many of the races gather together for a meeting¡­" Cornelius had said while praising him, but the statement also left room for another interpretation. A meeting such as this, where the leaders of the various races were brought together might have urred before as well. Who had the power to summon all the races save the Crystal race, but they seemed too uninterested in foreign affairs to do so. "...it is not often when one receives an invitation radiating so much power. It is a habit of mine to make powerful friends¡­" was said by Elena when she arrived, but her words also insinuated that this was not the first time she had witnessed such a powerful aura! But the aura of the Innkeeper was deep and powerful, and only Dao Lords dared im its equal, yet no Dao Lords could exist in this realm! Where had she felt such an aura before? But wait¡­ "...what I want to know is where so many immortals came from¡­" Sabr had asked when talking of the Kraven, yet Lex recalled that no one explicitly answered his question, or even referred to it again. Instead, Elena had directly led the conversation into the Trelops ongoing fight with them. Later, when Sabr asked about requesting the Crystals intervention, Cornelius and Elena did not take it seriously, nor did they bother exining why such an action was destined to fail. So many hints yet Lex had overlooked them all. It was only when Kritter finally arrived and tantly called the war with the Kraven a game that Lex finally noticed the strange environment. It was as if there were two different conversations going on in this room. One was on the surface, and the words were taken literally as they were said. The second conversation seemed to be hidden behind clever phrases and specific wording, and between those who were already in the know about certain matters. No wait, perhaps there were even more than two secret conversations going on, but lex had not picked up on them yet. As far as he could tell, Sabr was left out and did not know the secret. There was also a possibility that Abras did not know either, though he had not said much yet so it was hard to judge his position. Lex quickly recalled all his political and history rted lessons back at the academy and to see what he knew about Sabr. Since the Varn were allies of the humans and shared arge border, knowledge about them was pretty prevalent and they had learned about them in great detail. Right, he recalled in one of his lessons that thetest Varn monarch, Sabr, had onlye into power around 100 years ago, and inherited the position from his uncle who was badly wounded in a battle with the Kraven. The old King had since then been in retreat to heal from his injuries. Lex''s eyes gleamed as stood in silence and allowed the conversation to continue moving forward. The more these realm leaders spoke, the more secrets Lex would be able to uncover. "Even if we ally together, which battlefield would we tackle first? Whosends would first receive reinforcements while whosends would be left unprotected? Joining hands together is unrealistic. Or at least it would have been, but we have a new yer on the table now." Abras, who had just spoken, turned and looked at Edward. Before this, Monsters had only ever been viewed as the enemy of all life. Could that possibly change? Chapter 705 True Deity Under the influence of his vigorous cultivation, as well as many techniques that he learnt specifically for this day to keep him in top shape, Pvarti looked fresh and seemed energetic as he went through one ceremony after another. For some ceremonies he was required to act, for example pledging his allegiance to the royal family, while for others he had to sit in the middle of a crowd while they used him as a prop. The situation was¡­ less than ideal, but fortunately he would only have to go through this awkward procedure only once - hopefully, since if he had to go through it again it meant he was once again getting married. Despite his appearance, however, the man was actually feeling quite nervous and uneasy. Although he was making the best decision for his future, and if all went well with the war, the resources at his disposal would be tremendous. His ascent to greatness would be but a matter of time. Yet he could not really im to be¡­pletely enamored by his intended. Her personality was slightly extreme, and even now he could not forget how she had used him so tantly all in the efforts to test out his loyalty. But¡­ there wasn''t much he could do about that anymore. He would have to learn how to get along with her. Hopefully things would work out for the best. For a moment he became weak in the knees, but there were too many techniques and medicine keeping him in top shape so he recovered instantly. For some unknown andpletely unrted reason, Pvarti made a resolution to surpass the Earth Immortal realm and ascend from the Crystal realm as quickly as possible. He wasn''t losing out if he didn''t make it, but he had to at least try. "Don''t worry bro, just another hour of this before you get to see your lovely bride," teased his sister. How could she not know his thoughts? Would she really be his sister if she didn''t tease him about exactly what scared him? "As a special surprise gift for you, I''ve already made arrangements for you two to attend a special honeymoon vacation with a group of five other newly married couples. Love Ind is highly rmended by all my friends." Despite all eyes being on him, Pvarti couldn''t help but groan. The day had started so beautifully with an amazing sight of a new flock on the horizon. But just as the flock disappeared and took the beautiful hues in painted in the sky with them, so too was Pvarti''s confidence disappearing. ***** Edward, who was sipping on a warm malt, paused and smiled as all eyes turned on him. As ufortable as he felt under Cornelius'' scrutinizing gaze, it wasn''t as if he was afraid. Much like Zagan, who had the title of Ocean King, he too had a title that had been passed down the ages. His current gentle and mellow demeanor was a result of him gaining sentience and thus being able to suppress his urges, but that was not how history had described him. Back in his youth, when he was a little wild, due to his inborn hatred for light he hunted down and fought with many Sol birds. In fact, he had hunted them and managed to kill so many young ones that the divine energy flowing through their bodies had altered his own body, making him immune to heat, and giving him an aspect of divinity. Thus, he was called Edward, the Divine Retribution! All of that was a way of saying that essentially, he was not a weakling. He just had new hobbies these days, and avoided fighting when possible. "I don''t know why you say we monsters are new yers," he said between sips, the foam hanging on his upper lip like a mustache. "Monsters have been fighting Kraven from the very beginning. Their territories areden with darkness since all the sted birds left, and are like a safe haven for monsters. So many of the territories you have forsaken, we monsters have already reimed!" This news came as a surprise to everyone except Lex, who had been receiving detailed briefs from Rick about his conversations with Edward. "Free from the interference of your races, and with only the Kraven who are more focused on expansion than maintaining theirnds, we have founded our own country! We thought it would be hard, but since the Kraven always focus on invading yournds, they can barely spare the power to fight us. In fact, the horde of immortal Kraven also bypassed ournds entirely, still only focusing on you! It was quite convenient. It won''t be long before the realm is held by not only seven major races, but eight!" A shocking silence filled the room as everyone tried to wrap their heads around what the monster was saying! They had never, not once, taken the monsters seriously. They had existed for millions, or even hundreds of millions of years but there had never been a precedent as such! Why were these unusual things happening now? "Oh wait, if you count the Kraven, that makes nine races." Lex was all too content to fade into the background and continue to listen to the conversation between rulers, but something unusual grabbed his attention. Two especially powerful immortals entered the Inn. Though they looked like normal humans, for some reason Lex could not focus on their appearance at all! He teleported away to address the situation. "The Kraven will never be counted as a dominant race of this realm! They are not rulers, they are nothing but vile vermin! They are a gue, nothing but a virus that has infected this realm, spreading disease and absorbing its life force. A pest dedicated to being the biggest nuisance it can be. But in the end, that''s all they''ll ever be. It''s only a matter of time before they''re wiped out!" said Kritter, his voice absolutely dripping with hate and disgust. There was no race that hated the Kraven quite as much as the Poloids, and even among them Kritter was especially hateful. Even now, he was restraining himself because of thepany he was in. "It is not up to a loser to define the ce of a winner," said a soft yet firm voice, startling not only Kritter, but everyone in the room! Until they heard the voice, no one even noticed the arrival of the two new guests who had joined them. A handsome man stood next to a beautiful woman, both radiating an aura of power and peace. They stood casually yet it was as if they demanded absolute worship and obedience. Moreover, none of them could recall the appearance of these two! "It is an honor to meet you, Lord Firin," Cornelius said looking at the man, his voice both humble and solemn. "Likewise, Lady Aizel, I am extremely honored. I have always wanted to meet you both."I think you should take a look at The rest of the leaders also all extended their greeting - all except Edward who only looked at the two with a mix of aggression and fear! Lex, who had already met the two, did not say much but hepletely understood the feeling these leaders were experiencing. After all, to ensure there were no problems, Lex had scanned these two guests as soon as he went to them. The results had surprised him. Name: Firin Age: 1,430,000,001 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: Earthen Deity (Earth Immortal Equivalent) Species: Sol Bird Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Remarks: A true worshiped deity! No mortal may gaze upon the face of a deity - in case they are ugly and not worthy of worship! Name: Aizel Age: 1,430,000,001 Sex: Femalen/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Cultivation Details: Earthen Deity (Earth Immortal Equivalent) Species: Frio bird Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Remarks: A true worshiped deity! No mortal may gaze upon the face of a deity - in case she is too beautiful and you fall in love with a grandma that predates your entire ancestry! He had no idea how they knew about this meeting, considering he never sent them an invite, but the primogenitors of the Sol and Frio bird had arrived to attend the meeting. Moreover, their arrival had confirmed a suspicion Lex had which was that the Sol and Frio birds were deities. But based on that logic, weren''t there¡­ too many deities in the Crystal realm? He was under the impression that deities were rare and powerful, but it seemed not. To be fair, he had drawn conclusions without doing much research on the matter, something he would remedy soon. But now, looking at them, another suspicion formed in Lex''s mind. Once, long ago, he found a seemingly ordinary rock which produced the divine essence, something he had used on himself and even sold at the Inn. Now he had confirmed that the realm was teeming deities in the form of Sol and Frio birds, though he suspected the original two were the only ones that counted as ''true deities''. Considering the very limited time he had spent here, there was a very real possibility that there were many more deities here as well. Maybe the Crystal realm¡­ was especially suited to giving birth to deities. Depending on how easy or hard that was in other realms, that may be a significant feature someone from a stronger realm might covet. Chapter 706 Glow

Chapter 706 Glow

"There is no reason to focus so much on unnecessary etiquette," Firin said in response to everyone greeting him and expressing how honored they were to meet him. For too long neither he nor Aizel left their abode within the Crystal nation, so only the most privileged of the Crystal race had the opportunity to meet them. "Instead our time would be better served focusing on the purpose of this meeting." No one took offense to the bluntness disyed by Aizel. All the races in the entire realm depended on the Sol and Frio birds, so no one was about to pick a fight with the first ever Sol bird. Besides, there was one simple truth in life that no one could deny, which was that might was right. Firin was the oldest living, and one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful being in their realm. With both the power to forcefully suppress them, and the influence to damn their entire race to the darkness, not to mention the fact that he was literally a deity, he could walk into any room and takepletemand, and no one would object. Well, almost no one since Lex was more intrigued than intimidated by him. "Indeed, now that all the relevant parties are here, we should officially begin," said Cornelius. Lex twitched his lips. He was enjoying their previous discussions as he was learning so much without putting in any effort. Nevertheless, there was no point in dying the matter. "Very well, since you''re all here, we should delve right into it and stop wasting time," said Lex as he took control of the conversation. From within his pocket he took out the invitation that had been sent out, attracting everyone''s attention to thetent aura contained within. "I''m sure everyone is quite concerned about the ''darkness that ripples through thends''," he said quoting the invite, while simultaneously opening the invitation so that Firin and Aizel could read the content, "while you''re also no doubt wondering about why the invite ims that the Crystal race isplicit in the conspiracy. No doubt, based on the timing of the invitation, alongside the Crystal race''s long history of noninterference in the Kraven war, it is easy to assume that this meeting is regarding the Kraven." Lex paused and looked at all the various leaders who were simply and silently looking at him, waiting for him to reveal the key information. Firin and Aizel, on the other hand, were silently reading the letter without any outward disy of shock or concern over the strength contained within. In a manner of speaking, Lex''s purpose in calling them here was alreadyplete, for the importance and relevance of this wedding had already surpassed any other simple wedding. But, if an important alliance or decision could be made today, the quest rating was no doubt going to shoot up so Lex was still going to try his best and manipte the situation to his advantage. And, if in the meantime, he somehow learned about the anomaly then it would be like getting two birds with one stone. "The truth is, the most pressing matter for us to face is not the Kraven, but something else." He suddenly summoned in Toro, thus diverting everyone''s attention to the Trelop. "Some time ago, I felt an unusual aura¡­" slowly and in great detail, Lex began to exin how he ended up discovering the Cosmic Erosion Elixir. Before he exined what it was, he described the behavior of the liquid in great detail, and then had Toro corroborate everything he said. He even allowed Toro to be questioned by the leaders. The only thing they could not do was produce the elixir for them to see for themselves, as it had by now evaporated. "Intrigued by the strange liquid, I sought the advice of my senior¡­ the one who wrote the invitations, and learnt what the liquid was. It''s called Cosmic Erosion Elixir¡­" Lex continued on to exin in detail what the elixir was, and what its presence meant. While he was speaking, he paid extra attention to the actions and reactions of each of the leaders. Despite their stoic expressions initially, he was able to pick out growing solemnity on their faces while he spoke. Well, for all except the birds, whose faces he could not see, and Kritter, since he did not know how to determine the expressions of an insect. There was a reason why he expressly revealed that he himself did not write the invitations, and instead gave the credit to his mysterious ''senior''. First of all, Cornelius would know his history in the Crystal realm quite well so it was impossible to pretend as such in front of him. Secondly, he wanted to reveal the backing of the Midnight Inn, which could transport him across realms. Sure the drawback was that they were likely to treat him with great suspicion, but since he was telling the truth - mostly - everything he said was verifiable. Once he was finished, silence pervaded the room. Everyone was having a tough time wrapping their heads around the news that their realm itself was facing destruction. As if the Kraven invasion was not enough. "To say that the Crystal race isplicit or even aware of this is a grave usation," Cornelius said finally, his voice low and solemn. "How can you be sure that they are involved in this matter?" "Of course, I cannot say for certain," said Lex while shrugging. "All I can say is that my luck must be horrible if they aren''t. When I entered the Crystal realm, at the border I met Lord Belmont. Considering my limited connection in the Crystal race, I revealed this information to him, he immediately tried to assassinate me. All I can say is that if they aren''t involved in this collectively, then I must have some kind of luck to run into the one Crystal who is." Cornelius pursed his lips for a moment before speaking once again. "Still, that''s not enough information to condemn the whole race. Further investigation is needed." Lex shrugged and said, "The realm itself is on the path to destruction because of some anomaly. I''ve already exined that the Elixir doesn''t form under normal circumstances. For the entire realm to be suffering from some issue would require a very powerful force, or perhaps a very powerful race, to be pulling the strings from behind the scene. Think about it. I''ve already told you of the great benefits that the elixir can give, and that''s just an idental product formed from the situation. Imagine the kind of benefits one can possibly get if they''re willing topromise the entire realm! "I''m not saying it necessarily is the Crystal race. After all, how so many immortal Kraven suddenly came to be is also a mystery not yet resolved." Sabr looked absolutely horrified, as Lex''s possible exnation for the immortal Kraven was the most usible theory he had heard yet. The others, though, did not seem to give it too much thought. "If you do not mind, I would like to verify this myself," said Firin, his voice still calm and level though he had suddenly be polite. "If you could remove the spatial formation around your tavern for a short while, I canmunicate with the realm to investigate its health. Now that I know there might be some issue, it''ll be easier to detect." Lex raised an eyebrow, but then acquiesced, and temporarily disabled the formation around the tavern. A momentter, the building began to glow. ***** n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Unable to take the pressure from the ceremonies, Pvarti sped through them and began the journey portion of the day''s activities. Yet the moment he stepped out of his home, hundreds of people following behind, a warm glow engulfed the town, originating from the tavern itself. "An omen!" someone cried. "It''s a good omen! The union of the lord anddy will bring light to thend! Their child will be the savior of the realm!" As if taken by the yell, the crowd of guests turned to look at Pvarti with heated eyes. Pvarti himself, however, was cursing his stupid sister. He could always easily identify her antics! "Just you wait," he murmured under his breath, and began thinking of potential suitors for his sister. ***** In the distance, a Crystal was flying towards Babylon leisurely. Since Lex had already revealed the location of his tavern, it was only a matter of time before Ezio arrived with his clone. After all, he still owed the youngd a secret. Suddenly, the horizon began to glow, and an overwhelming aura spread out from the distance. Ezio frowned, and sped up. ***** A small Kraven, the size of an average lion, walked calmly through the streets of Babylon. No one had detected him so far, not to the citizens he was passing by, nor the hordes of immortals gathered for the wedding or even the many leaders from different countries. The two deity birds might have possibly noticed him, but they could not be bothered to care about a random Kraven. As a result it was taking its time and enjoying itself while it waited for its reinforcements. Since he had already arrived here, might as well make a mess of things. Then, incidentally, the building he was passing by began to glow. Chapter 707 Try to be vague

Chapter 707 Try to be vague

Lex disabled the spatial formation which allowed the two deities to reconnect to the space of the entire realm. As they felt their connections reestablish, the two held hands and began channeling their powers. At this proximity, Lex had to bear the full brunt of their power, which was far from easy. The only reason he didn''t have to use Harden, and other abilities to resist the pressure was because he was a projection. If his clothes were normal, they would have been shredded under the weight of the two birds oppressive aura, yet since he was merely a projection, his clothes rippled softly as if they really were being buffed by the aura. This close, other than the overwhelming oppressiveness of their aura, Lex could also distinctly feel how the divine power they channeled differed from spiritual energy. It was remarkably uniform, unlike spiritual energy which was actually a generic name for a broad range of energies that could be used for cultivation. He also felt like it would be difficult because it was about as pure as it could be, and it was also unlikely that the concentration could be increased either. In fact, likely the only metric that changed in divine energy as one went from a certain level to a higher one was quantity. Of course, that was just Lex''s guess. He could not confirm anything, as his experience with divinity was still too limited. He vaguely remembered that in the Origin realm there was a religion dedicated to the Butter Knife deity, a.k.a. Lex himself, and that the Inn was collecting umted divine energy on his behalf. Maybe he should try taking control of it back and see if he was able to use it. The two birds began to emit a glow whichbined together to form a white, holy light that seemed to epass the world. The light suddenly grew in brightness, and passed through the walls of the tavern as if they were ss. Soon the entire building began to glow as the birds municated with the realm'', whatever that meant. He turned to look at the others and found that each one was observing the birds with great intrigue, except for Edward whose skin seemed to be sparkling for some reason. He had a grimace on his face like he was constipated or something. Well, you couldn''t ask a monster to befortable in so much light. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om The light kept glowing for a few minutes, but just as it began to dim, another considerably powerful person entered the tavern. This should not have been a concern since many immortals would be attending the wedding, save for the fact that Lex recognized the person. It was Ezio, the Crystal race member who Lex visited in prison. Or, more likely his clone. Lex frowned, then he sighed and teleported to him. Since he was here, he might as well be brought to the meeting as well. By the time Lex returned, the birds had stopped glowing. But before getting into the matter, everyone looked at Lex who was now bringing a Crystal race member into the room. "Everyone, this is Ezio. He happened to be there when Belmont tried to assassinate me. He also heard my revtion at the time. Since everyone wants to investigate thoroughly, we can ask Ezio what the crystal race has done about this issue in the time since they''ve learnt about it." From his tone Ezio could tell that Lex''s regard for him, as well as the Crystal race had dropped drastically, but all he could do was look smile wryly. He was a little surprised by the dignitaries in the room, and did not need an introduction to recognize them all. After all, since his real body was stuck in prison, it had nothing better to do than keep up with current events. "Although your argument was evidence based, the Crystal race cannot simply act on unverified information. Since then, they have begun investigating the phenomenon that you have imed. It is only a matter of time before its veracity is verified." "No need to bother," Firin said, his voice just barely more solemn than before. "I have already checked. The stability of the realm is greatlypromised. Due to the young nature of the realm, before the state of affairs reaches a level where the instability is obvious to the general public, the barrier on the edges of the realm will copse and unfiltered chaos energy will destroy everything. I have never witnessed such a thing, so my calctions may be wrong, or may have overlooked certain important factors. Nheless, I estimate, within 70 years, the barriers will break and all life will end. The copse of the realm itself should follow soon after." Overwhelming shock gripped almost everyone in the room, followed quickly by extreme horror. Yet they did not exhibit their feelings in silence, as Sabr stumbled back until he hit the wall, mostly because Elena had lost control of herself and her size increased massively! The ss slipped out of Edwards hands and fell onto the floor, but no one other than Lex paid any attention to that. 70 years before the realm is destroyed! That''s nothing! "Lex, since your senior was able to identify the elixir, and exined the problem, he may have some knowledge on the matter. Is it possible to have him identify what is causing this problem?" "My senior is busy opening up a new realm of his own," Lex said while shaking his head. "He won''t be able to spare the time." Everyone, Ezio especially, were startled upon hearing Lex''s im. Opening up his own realm? Did he mean a Minor realm and forget to say Minor? If not, they could not even imagine what level this senior was on. Silence pervaded in the room once again. Based on what Lex could determine, many of them already seemed to have some idea of what caused the issue, but for whatever reason seemed hesitant to mention it. Even the all mighty and noble dive birds were silent. It was Ezio, instead, who recovered the quickest from the news. "Lex, I once told you that for every secret you share with me, I''ll share one with you as well. Since the secret you shared was a big one, I''ll likewise enlighten you with something significant. Many years ago, I decided that I wanted to erase from history all traces of a rtionship the Crystal realm had with a certain entity." Many in the room shivered, Cornelius included, as Ezio said those words. "There are certain things¡­ even I cannot say. But, to make a long story short, all my efforts were to erase reminders of a very shameful truth. The Crystal realm¡­ is nothing but a big farm. How are farms taken care of? The soil is prepared with fertilizers and is tilled, and once the season is right, the crops are nted and the produce is allowed to grow." For a moment he paused, as if he was having a tough time speaking, yet no one interrupted or corrected him. "I''ve heard that a massive war has broken out. It seems the produce of the realm wascking, and so special measures were taken for an especially ripe harvest this time around. Since the Kraven have arrived with countless immortals, and none of the nations seem fit to fight them off, it should soon be time for our ''heroes'' to show up and save the day. Surely we will be extremely grateful for their efforts and build monuments to their achievements." Hisst sentence was ripe with sarcasm, but his eyes only depicted pain and despondence. "You know, if you tried really hard, you could manage to be even more vague than that," said Lex in a rare disy of irritation. If he had crossed the entire realm to reach the Crystal nation, and all Ezio was going to reveal to him was the badly written blurb of a random fiction novel then his irritation was justified. Before Ezio could answer, Sabr burst out in anger, "what the hell are you talking about? Don''t spout nonsense about farming and harvesting. This is the fate of the realm we''re talking about, so focus. Or are you Crystal race too noble to concern yourselves with this matter too? All anyone in the Crystal realm has done for the past few hundred years is fight with the Kraven! It''s only the mortals who have time for things like farming!" Many in the room exchanged looks, but no one answered Sabr. "I think we should focus on the matter at hand instead of getting sidetracked," said Firin, suppressing the agitated Sabr with his aura. "Lex, you managed to bring everyone here, and spread this important news. Your merits are unquestionable. Still, since you were aware of such a problem already, you must have already spent some time looking for a solution, right? The time for exchanging and discussing secrets willeter." "Naturally, I have already looked into how this problem can be fixed," said Lex. After all, he had to ensure he remained relevant to the meeting, or once he revealed the information, the various leaders might decide to continue the meeting elsewhere. Chapter 708 Murderous eyes

Chapter 708 Murderous eyes

All eyes were once again on Lex. As an outsider, besides the backing of someone powerful, Lex needed something concrete to remain relevant as things progressed. One way or another, he nned on figuring out the reason for the anomaly from the group gathered here. Also, yes, it would be nice if they can save the realm, thereby ensuring the continued existence of trillions of living beings or perhaps even more. But life would not end once hepleted those tasks. He would continue with his other endeavors, and his connection with the Crystal realm would also continue to persist. In that case, the best case scenario would be if he used this current opportunity to build a strong rtionship with these people. But building a rtionship wasn''t enough. He had to make it so that they would be the ones to consider him an important contact to have. Having the solution to a destabilizing realm was one of the ways he nned on achieving such an image. "Before we can fix anything, we have to identify how the problem was caused. Unless we know what exactly is causing the realm''s decline, there is no solution that will work. Or at least, I don''t know any way to go about it." Instead of borating on the issue further, Lex became silent and stared at the group. Now it was up to them. If they knew what the issue was, they would have to tell him. If they had suspicions, they had to confirm it. If they had neither, then he would direct them. Either way, he woulde out as the winner since he couldplete this long pending quest. As if to insinuate that the issue might have something to do with what they were speaking of before, Lex turned to look at Ezio. He only had an awkward expression on his face, as if he was struggling to say something. "Alright, I''ve seen enough of this," said Aizel, her voice cold and frigid. One could not say her voice was emotionless, for one could clearly discern annoyance and irritation in her voice. "A long life at the top of the food chain has made you falsely arrogant and prideful. There is no shame in bowing one''s head when one is weaker. The matter at hand is quite simple. Since you know of many matters, have you heard of Ventura?" "I have heard of it," said Lex, refusing to borate on the extent of his knowledge. He remembered Luthor once brought the matter of Inn workers possibly going to Ventura to progress their study, but Lex had refused. It posed too many risks. "It only makes sense that you have. Ventura is the foremost academy for cultivation in the entire universe. They ept students from any race so long as they are skilled or talented enough, and of course as long as you can afford their tuition. Or, if you are specially recruited or go through some schrship program, in which case you can avail all that they have to offer for free! We even have some of their¡­ top performing students among us." She paused, momentarily, to look at Cornelius, followed by Elena. Neither of them shied away from the stare, and continued to listen in silence as if they were not the ones being talked about. "Such an organization, due to its massive size, naturally requires many resources. It also needs to continuously gather extremely talented students. One of the ways to do both is to assume control over a realm still in its early development, and artificially manufacture a conflict. There is no greater motivation to improve oneself than the threat of death." Lex noticed that both Sabr and Edward reacted the strongest to the news, betraying their ignorance. Yet as Sabr was about to speak, or no doubt scream and yell, Kritter put one of its bony legs on his shoulder, as if to dissuade him. Ultimately, the Varn remained silent and kept on listening. "You''re saying that Ventura purposefully sent the Kraven here to wage war in the hopes of spurring the growth of multiple talented cultivators who could be students," Lex said calmly, as if he was making sure what he heard was correct. Yet oddly, as he spoke, his voice was devoid of all emotions. "You probably use the academy to nurture talents, and pick out potential students for Ventura no doubt," Lex continued, looking at Cornelius. "But, based on what I''m hearing, Ventura has no reason to want to harm the Crystal realm. For all intents and purposes, the realm is a resource they can continue to use indefinitely as it grows. They can control its history for perpetuity, and benefit for an untold number of years. Why would they give up such a cash cow?" "Things are not so straight forward," Cornelius exined this time. "Ventura is an extremelyrge organization, the likes of which is beyond our understanding. As such, there are many subsidiary branches as well, such as Ventura Gold or Prima, as well as others. "The branch that has control over the Crystal realm is Ventura Chaotic-Gold. As such, the management of Ventura fallspletely under the control of that branch head for Chaotic-Gold, and he can do as he wishes. Who knows what he''s thinking. "You said yourself that the Cosmic Erosion Elixir was an extremely precious resource, but its production was mere happenstance. Who knows what other resources he can take out if he meticulously designs the destruction of the realm." Lex pursed his lips and frowned as he considered what to do. He received no notification, which meant that the Quest was notplete. Knowing that Ventura was somehow controlling the realm to farm out students did not seem to be enough to count as figuring out what the anomaly was. He needed specific answers. Moreover, since the anomaly was what resulted in him identally entering the realm from the Origin realm, he suspected it had something to do with that. "This seems fine, but won''t the students who join Ventura be resentful when they learn that Ventura was the one causing war in their realm?" "Just because Chaotic-Gold Ventura controls this realm, it does not mean that is where students will have to go. Which academy a student is put into is the result of an extensive and rigorous test. If a student is talented enough, and contributes sufficiently to the academy, they can apply to have the realm left alone. I myself have also transitioned from a student to an aide. If I make enough contributions, or if I get promoted enough to rival the branch manager for Chaotic-Gold, I can also apply to have control of the realm transferred." "Alright, so we have concluded that Ventura is likely the reason for the anomaly. How do we progress from here? Unless the anomaly itself is identified, there''s nothing we can do to remedy the situation." Aizel was about to continue speaking when Lex''s eyes widened in horror! A massively powerful attack hadnded on the formation surrounding the tavern, and instantly destroyed it! Before he could react, another attacknded on the building. The entire tavern trembled, and even seemed to wobble as an extremely savage aura swept through it! Although the building had survived the attack, for some reason Lex did not know yet, all the windows had shattered. Much of the furniture seemed to survive inexplicably, but an immense amount of destruction was also wrought! The spatial formation Lex used to control the space around the tavern, as well as all its protective formations and the Dragon''s Wake formation had all been destroyed! But that was far from all. As Lex entered his Overdrive state, which allowed his brain to work faster and more efficiently than normal, he swept the tavern with his senses and discovered that all of his workers were injured! Betty, Big Ben''s wife, seemed to be in the worst possible condition. He immediately teleported away, not bothering to give any one of the leaders in the room any instructions. Although the power of the attack was far beyond anything Lex could manage or even hope to handle, he was able to identify the kind of signature it carried. It bore the unique aura of a Kraven in the immortal realm. He was sure they would take care of things without his prompting. Lex teleported over to the kitchen, where Betty and Naniy unconscious. Looking at the scene, Lex felt extremely aggrieved as well as furious. Due to the fact that he was here as a projection, his instincts were dulled and he was not able to anticipate the attack. As a result, the worst case scenario was happening. He teleported again, this time to the only person he could give orders to at the moment. N?v(el)B\\jnn "Rick, take the golden keys and crush them in each person''s hand. Send them to the Inn immediately!" Rick, who had a loyal follower in the form of a monster catfish, had managed to survive the attack with the least amount of damage. Though that was not saying much, as even with the protection of the monster fish, he looked like he was on death''s door. Lex had already given all of his workers golden keys to use in case of an emergency. It was unfortunate that the attack hade so unexpectedly that no one had a chance to use them at all. With orders given, Lex teleported to the roof with murder in his eyes. He wanted to see who the hell was attacking his tavern! Chapter 709 The Innkeeper descends

Chapter 709 The Innkeeper descends

A few seconds was all it took, if even that, for Lex to teleport, give Rick his orders and then teleport to the roof. But the sight that greeted him was not at all the peaceful and vibrant town of Babylon that was in the midst of a wedding celebration. Fortunately, it was not carnage either. The town, and the entire world in fact, seemed to have lost a lot of substance. Everything had be a mirage, or projection through which they could walk. The only thing of substance that remained was the tavern, and a number of entities locked in furious battle. A dozen Kraven were gathered outside, and were all at the immortal realm. It was their joint attacks which hadpletely destroyed the formations around the tavern. Lex had no idea how exactly the tavern itself had survived the attack when even the formations failed, and could only interpret it to the Dribble Oak wood which all the wood in the tavern had been upgraded to. But it was uncertain how long that wood would have continued to survive the onught if so many immortals kept attacking. But it just so happened, that within the seemingly mundane building were gathered the strongest beings in the realm, one and all! Before the Kraven could let out their third attack, the two deities used their divine powers to iste them from the rest of the realm, lest their fight kill all the nearby civilians. The rest of them did not hold back, and attacked with full furry. Sabr was especially lethal, as his attacks betrayedmon sense, his anger and frustrations at recent revtions warping his state of mind. Now that he had found apletely eptable and reasonable outlet, why should he hold himself back? It had to be noted that there were more than a few immortals in Babylon, so just a dozen Kraven should not have been able to so effortlessly infiltrate. But then again, even among the Kraven these few were far from ordinary. Moreover, they had already made preparations beforehand. All the immortals who did not happen to be inside the tavern were suffering from severely weakened powers at the moment. The Kraven had deployed a very special kind of poison in the air that only targeted immortals. Incidentally, Dribble Oak wood also cleaned and filtered the air, so no one in the tavern was affected. By the time Lex arrived on the rooftop, all the fighters had spread out and it was as if their savagery knew no bounds. The level of this fight was way beyond Lex, and if he were in Babylon any single one of the attacks being thrown around would very seriously injure him, if not kill him outright! Even though Lex could not be med for being vulnerable in front of a dozen immortals, he could not help but feel anger and frustration. Aware of the fact that such feelings won''t be of any help, Lex simultaneously studied the Kraven. There was something unusual about this small group, though he was not familiar enough with the Kraven to pick out what it was. The one thing he did pick up on was that the leader of the group was a very small Kraven that barely came up to Lex''s chest. Yet dwarfism had not prevented the Kraven from being strong, as it projected the fiercest aura of the group. Clearly, he was the leader. Yet while the others fought, the leader stood unperturbed as he looked towards the two deities. Lex clenched his fist tighter as he looked at the Kraven, for some reason reminded of his experience with Belmont. He had been slighted by him as well, though not nearly as much. Even then, Lex could not do much but y a few tricks on him. Yes, theoretically Lex could use an array that could reach the immortal level in strength. In fact, he even had the blueprint for such an array, one of the final lessons inside the book hidden within the ring he studied arrays from. Yet he had never been able toplete it, even with all his current strengths. What he wouldn''t give to have another Butter Knife at maximum strength again, but since the knife can only be used inside the tavern, it would be useless in his current situation. The Kraven and the birds continued to stare at each other, and Lex suspected that they were conversing in spirit sense. "It''s done," said Rick weakly, as he entered the roof. He looked pale and was out of breath, but his weakness had not stopped him from acting as quickly as possible. Lex, whose original body was still inside the Inn, scanned it and quickly checked up on all his workers. It wasn''t that he could ignore his guests who had been hurt at the tavern, but that he only had a limited number of keys at the tavern as he had not expected such a disaster. All of them were in the Recovery room, being healed. But just that alone did not guarantee that they would survive. Even tolerating the aura of an immortal could damage the spirit of a mortal, as everyone had suspected of Lex when he first arrived in the Crystal realm. Suddenly, he stopped and he felt his heart plunge. While their survival was still in question, there was at least one thing that could be confirmed. Betty, Big Ben''s wife, who had been expecting, suffered a miscarriage! An ominous cloud began covering the skies at the Inn. Anyone who was familiar with the Inn''s history began wondering who had crossed the Innkeeper this time. Maybe there would be something interesting to gossip about soon. But no, the enemy of the Innkeeper was not inside the Inn this time, and Lex had almost no way of harming him. Almost. He used Targeted scan on the lone Kraven, just to see if he could learn anything about him. N?v(el)B\\jnn Name: Bil Sacrin Age: 17 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: ??? Species: Kraven Remarks: Special material detected on target. Acquire to trigger a special quest! "Rick, use the card I gave you earlier," said Lex, his voice deep and filled with suppressed emotions. Without asking any questions, Rick reached into his pocket and pulled out an ordinary-looking business card. Yet when he began channeling his spirit energy into the card, things quickly changed. Sensing the same aura they had seen in the invitation Lex showed them, the deities who were negotiating with the Kraven suddenly turned to look back. On the roof stood two figures, Lex and Rick. Yet a momentter, another projection joined them. The unique, isted realm they had created around the battlefield trembled for a moment, as a being much more powerful appeared within. It was, of course, the Innkeeper. Like he had done when Luthor and the rest were heading off to war, Lex had given Rick one of the Innkeeper''s business cards when he went out to deliver invitations just in case he ran into trouble. He had not needed it then, but it came in handy now. Although Lex knew that he had no real power, as the Innkeeper or even as his projection, the system held up to its promise of maintaining a powerful facade. The aura emitted by the projection was quite real, to the point where it began affecting the Crystal realm. For a realm that could not support even a Heaven Immortal, the Innkeeper and his associated strength were too much. The clouds in the sky started quivering, as if the clouds themselves were boiling, and a red hue colored the sky, far past the horizon. In that moment, across the Crystal realm, all monsters suppressed their raving hunger and hid. In that moment, even the most gloriously shining Sol or Frio bird withdrew its feathers, and dove into a hole to hide. In that moment, the congress in the Crystal realm came to a halt as their protective formations sent out warnings of impending danger. In that one moment, when the Innkeeper''s incarnation descended onto the Crystal realm, all life seemed to cower. Bil, the Kraven who stood so confidently in front of the two divine birds, looked up and saw not a person, but a vision of his own death. ***** In the Origin realm, a Bravenharbinger, stood in its study, meticulously polishing its weapon. Bravenharbingers were a race of tall, centaur-like creatures with six legs instead of four, four arms instead of two, and six eyes. The males were often 12 feet (3.6 meters) tall while their females were around 8 feet (2.4). They had rough gray skin, and usually had long ck hair. Like most in his race, this one was fond of closebat, and his weapon was a double-sided de, meaning a de extended from both sides of its handle. The de was eight inches wide (20 cm) and five feet (1.5 meters) long on each side. Within the polished de, a smiling reflection of its master was visible. But suddenly, that smile turned into shock. Chapter 710 Games ? The isted realm in which the battle was being fought ultimately did not copse, but even if it had it would not matter too much as the fighting hade to a halt. The Kraven retreated, and surrounded Bil as they looked up in fear. The various leaders too were stunned still and looked up at the tavern roof. None of them ever doubted Lex''s mysterious elder for even a moment, if not for any other reason than because Lex alone would not be able to source the wood for his own tavern. Wood from a tree that specifically required immortals to cut it down was far from simple, and the wood received from it was the least of its boons. Cornelius specially believed Lex had a mysterious background, for he himself had many unique life experiences, and knew the benefits a solid backing afforded one. Although such a background did not take away from the many feats Lex aplished while at the academy, they did certainly exin why he had the capacity to perform them. But having a mysterious elder, or a strong background, was one thing. Having the entire realm strain under the pressure of a single entity''s descent was quite another! Currently, they and the entire realm were at the mercy of this elder! The ''elder'' looked down at everyone, his anger threatening to boil out. He wanted nothing more than to smash the Kraven into pudding with an earthshaking punch. But his anger did not make him a fool, nor did the reaction of the realm blind him to the truth that he was not actually as strong as he appeared. He only had the aura of the Innkeeper. While the aura could be used for intimidation, and perhaps a few other minor things, it certainly could never be used to attack. As the Innkeeper, Lex looked to his left and saw his own projection there as well. It was a strange sensation looking at a projection of yourself, through yet another projection of yourself, while your mind was connected to both projections. The Innkeeper then turned and looked at the two deities, before turning his gaze to Bil. "I usually ignore the games of children," said the Innkeeper, the usual warmth in his voice turning to bone chilling indifference. "But what I cannot ignore is that your games hurt my people." He spoke no more, as if his purpose was to rify that this matter was too far beneath him, and that he would have stayed uninvolved if the matter had not escted to this degree. Lex had made preparations in case there was trouble, but summoning the incarnation of the Innkeeper was not in his ns. Instead, he had used the scale given by Zagan, and sent Rick out to gather arge number of monsters who would be obedient to whoever held the scale. As weaker monsters, they would naturally defer to the wishes of stronger ones. As a result, some distance from Babylon a small horde of incredibly strong monsters were waiting to be summoned. ording to his original n, if anything were to happen, he would use his formations to stall them while he summoned his monsters to provide aid. Now though, such a n would no longer suffice. The new n, however, still started with Zagan''s scale. He held out his hand, and without prompting Rick handed the incarnation the scale. Without even looking at it, Lex focused all the Innkeeper''s aura and surrounded it with the aura, and spoke. "This scale belongs to Zagan, once a monster of the Crystal realm, now my employee. In exchange for working for me, I allowed him to safely cross the tribtions and enter the Heaven Immortal realm. In the future, there will be more benefits waiting for him." Although the Innkeeper spoke softly, it seemed to transmit from the scale and to each and every monster in the realm. The Innkeeper''s aura was causing a strain on the entire realm, which meant there was nowhere in the realm free from his range. By adding the aura of the scale and his voice to the mix, he was able to transmit both across the realm. Of course, only the strongest of the strong could actually detect the aura. "Whosoever ims the head of the Kraven Bil can avail such an opportunity as well." Just as the Innkeeper finished his message, the scale crumbled as if it could no longer bear the burden it was under. The Innkeeper, too, was ready to depart. The trick about maintaining a mysterious and powerful image was to give others as little information as possible to study. The more time he spent here, the more clues he would leave. Yet just as he was about to depart, his senses picked up something, and he looked up. Above him, in the sky outside the isted realm, there was a small patch that seemed unaffected by the red hue coloring the sky. The fact that such a tiny patch remained unaffected by the Innkeeper''s aura was highly suspicious, but other than looking at it, Lex did nothing. There was no point in pursuing such a matter. The incarnation disappeared. Inside Lex''s heart, his anger still remained. Instead of Bil, he wanted all the perpetrators to suffer. But he knew that his means were limited, and using the Innkeepers identity came with the restrictions of acting as someone of such a station. He said himself that he disdained to act against ''children'' and so he was giving out a slight punishment, which suited his image as someone far above the current situation. If, instead, he targeted everyone, he would seem petty. In that case, it would not make sense that he did not just kill them all himself. Unable to do much more, the incarnation of the Innkeeper vanished, and the realm finally returned to normal.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om As if he had been freed from some massive restraint, Bil took out a skull from a spatial tool and crushed it, teleporting himself and his retinue far away from the ce. The fight ended just as abruptly as it began. Somewhere far away, well within the territory of the Kraven, they reappeared. "Find out what was the reason for sending to that damned ce!" Bil roared at his follower, as he felt like he had fallen victim to some grand conspiracy. "And have the fort employ its maximum security measures. I''m going to the panic room!" "Sire, isn''t that¡­ isn''t that a little too much? We''re back in our own territory now. Surely you have nothing to fear," said one of the other Kraven. "Underestimating the enemy is the quickest way to die. We have not yet touched upon the deeper secrets of the Crystal realm. Do not fool yourself into thinking the realm is already ours," Bil replied, his voice filled with anxiety and irritation. Without waiting for more questions, he began to run. If only he could have escaped from this realm entirely, but that was not possible anymore. Inside his heart, Bil cursed out Ventura as he kept running. ***** The deepest, darknest corner of the Crystal realm was a ce that had never seen light, from the moment of the realms inception. It was a ce so deeply guarded, so cleverly hidden, that there was no one, immortal or deity, who could find it if they did not already know of its location. In such a ce, there was a temple. The size of the temple was not toorge, and was approximately the same as the Earth''s moon. Surrounding the temple for millions of miles was one, continuous horde of monsters, all kneeling and looking down. For hundreds of millions of years these monsters had existed, and in their entire existence, they had never the courage to look up. Even as the ages passed, and they reached the immortal realm, the monsters remained as docile as possible. The entire existence was merely centered around worship. The target of their never ending worship was a ck bird, oddly simr in its physique to the Sol and Frio birds, though the element this bird had an affinity for was darkness. Vinei, the deity of darkness, opened its eyes and all the monsters worshiping it outside trembled. It had felt an aura so overwhelmingly powerful, he was convinced it could free him from the chains of this realm. For a deity, transcending realms was nigh impossible, but with such a powerful ally, it just might be possible. "Assemble," it whispered, and thergest army to ever appear in the Crystal realm stood up from their kneeling position for the first time in their lives. ***** Above Babylon, in the sky, two figures seemed to be looking down at everything. One of them was the Bravenheart from the Origin realm, while the other was a figure shrouded in mist. "Head master, did that¡­ did that person actually detect us?" the Bravenheart asked, shock riling in his heart. "No need to pay him any attention," the Headmaster said, perfectly calm. "Since he only sent an incarnation here, and did not act out personally, he has shown enough respect to the rules of Ventura. We will not pursue this matter, and he will not interfere in our matters either. After all, between beings of our level, we must show a certain level of understanding for one another." The projection of the Headmaster disappeared. He had too many realms to overlook, and could not spend much time dealing with minor problems. Only when matters reached the level of Dao were they barely able to attract his attention. Chapter 711 Quest Complete! ? An awkward peace returned to the isted realm. The leaders were still spread out where they had been fighting the Kraven while the two deities stood in front of the tavern. While the leaders were mostly fine, feeling only embarrassed that the Kraven hade and gone and they could do naught but watch. They had not even been able to kill a single one, though admittedly it was unfair to ask anyone to kill an immortal in only a few moves. But besides their ego, they suffered no hurt. The ones feeling the most awkward were the two deities. Although they had contributed by bringing the fight to the isted realm, that was the end of their contribution. Normally that would be more than enough for them, as beings who lorded over the realm and had ultimate power. But Lex was not hiding his dissatisfaction at theirck of participation. To be clear, he had not said anything, but his expression while looking at them was enough. Moreover, although there was no proof, anyone who even nced at the situation could tell that the two of them were conversing with Bil in secret. Their purposes were hidden for now, but even if they truly were noble or for the greater good, what did that have to do with Lex? By making them aware of the situation he was already contributing massively, yet this was how he was being repaid. Strictly speaking, they did not owe him any help. But when one had such a ridiculously powerful elder, who cared about such trivialities. "I, for one, did not share an invitation with the Kraven. I wonder how they learnt about this meeting," Lex mused out loud. He did not use anyone out right, but his re was still pointed at the birds. "Even if a secret is kept close, when such significant figures are involved in matters, unless special preparation has been taken to hide or masquerade the tides of fate, it is easy to divine something. They may not necessarily have known about the meeting, only that something significant is happening in this ce." Lex looked around and discovered that everything had happened very quickly. Barely a couple of minutes had passed by. Although the tavern had been attacked, the town itself remained wholly unhurt. The wedding could, theoretically, still continue. He had to wrap this up and ensure that the ceremonies were not interrupted for he really needed a good result for this quest. "I am no longer in the mood for a long conversation. How are you nning on discovering the anomaly? Without learning what it is, there can be no remedy." "Previously I estimated that the realm had a few decades of time, but due to the¡­ strain the realm suffered while your elder arrived, that time has surely reduced, though I cannot say by how much. Taking our time with the matter is no longer advisable. I suggest that since we are already gathered, we take this opportunity to approach the branch head for Ventura Chaotic-Gold and ask him directly. "Although Ventura is an overwhelmingly strong organization, they are not considered an evil one, or that would affect the number of students they receive. They will surely leave a way out for us." Just as Lex was about to ask how the manager can be contacted, a new figure appeared within the isted realm. Although Lex had never seen him before, he recognized the race as Bravenharbinger. He had seen one before - Dillion Jormander, someone who worked for the Henali and had epted Ragnar''s trillion MP quest. Although, admittedly, this one did look bigger and more intimidating.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "What could you possibly have to ask me?" the massive, gray creature asked, his double ded weapon in his hand. The creature''s deterrence was incredibly strong, and would have cowed everyone had they not just felt the even stronger aura of Lex''s elder. "There is something wrong with the realm," said Cornelius, his tone usatory. Unlike the others, he was an actual member of Ventura so he was not concerned that he would be attacked. After all, if members of Ventura wanted to fight one another, there was a lot of paperwork that had to be submitted beforehand! "The entire realm is deteriorating, and could be destroyed in a number of decades!" "Oh, so you finally noticed," he said in apletely dismissive tone. He did not seem to think that such a matter deserved such concern. "Well, all I can say about that is that you have been quitex about the Kraven. You arepletely ignoring them and letting them do as they want. Who can you me but yourselves for not noticing how they are using treasures to feed on thews of the realm? I told you long ago, when we first met, that the Kraven were one of the foremost races employed in inter-realm wars. Why did you think that was? Just because they are a little tough to kill?" The creature scoffed. "They have even used thews of the realm as raw materials to build an inter-realm portal, connecting this realm to a much, muchrger one! While they feed on the foundation of this realm, and artificially create Earth Immortals, they have already built themselves an escape route to leave for when they ultimately leave this realm barren and unable to support life." Lex heard the sound of a notification, and had a sneaking suspicion his long awaited quest was finallyplete. Unable to hold back his anticipation, he peeked at the notification. New Notification: Quest Complete! Source of anomaly detected! System is making adjustments to avoid such anomalies in the future¡­ There was more, but Lex stopped reading for now. The quest was finally over! He could soon move to his own realm! The excitement of it nearly swept away his negative feelings. But he controlled himself and kept his focus on what was happening before him. He would have time to review the notificationter. "You knew of all this, and yet you did nothing?" Elena asked, anger radiating from her voice. "You can only me yourselves for misinterpreting my intentions. I told you all that the pressure of an extinction-level threat will produce many excellent students. You thought I told you to keep the war going so that many students would be born from the pressure. But the truth was, you never needed to hold back, for facing the Kraven, you really are facing an extinction level threat." The creature paused, but then shook its head and continued speaking. "But you do not need to fret too much. Ventura will not allow the realm to be actually destroyed. An exam is being prepared for some of our elite students who will be sent to the Crystal realm to destroy the treasures the Kraven are using to feed on thews of the realm. At most, the foundation of the realm will be damaged but not destroyed. Of course, if you feel like that is uneptable, you can fight against the Kraven yourself. "To be honest, you all think that Ventura needs your cooperation to maintain its interests, but that could not be farther from the truth. Whether the war is kept on going, or ended prematurely, it does not affect Ventura at all. After all, we have more than one objective in this realm. Just ask the Crystal race if you are interested in knowing more¡­" The creature suddenly paused and looked to the side, where a new figure had emerged from the shadows. Even Lex had failed to detect the new figure, though that was because without the incarnation of the Innkeeper, his senses had all been reduced in potency once again. He was, after all, just a projection. "So while I slept, my home has be the yground of giants," said the figure, his voice calm and smooth, and most pleasing to listen to. The new figure showed no animosity towards the Bravenheart who was so callously taking advantage of their realm. After all, it understood the truth of power better than anyone else here. "You are finally awake," said Firin in a hushed tone. "I could have woken up a long time ago, but what is the point? The deity of Crystal has long suppressed us, and betrayed us to these outsiders." Shaking its head, as if it did not want to discuss things, the figure turned and looked towards Lex. "The voice I heard earlier said that any who give the head of Bil can be brought out of this realm and provided an opportunity to grow. Does that hold true for deities as well?" "Yes," said Lex, though he had a suspicion the request was not so easy. But he had faith in the system. Surely it could achieve it. Just to be safe, he should really look into deities, and any restrictions they had. "I look forward to being your colleague in the future," the figure said amicably before vanishing. His confidence was through the roof, and he could even easily ignore the oppressive aura of the Bravenheart. Whoever the figure was, he was far from simple. The Bravenheart, instead of being offended, only smiled, and departed, leaving behind a group of unresigned immortals. "He is mostly lying," Cornelius told Lex, using his spirit sense. "I suspect he was too afraid of your senior, and so made things sound better. There is definitely more to this than it seems." Chapter 712 Wedding

Chapter 712 Wedding

Lex did not turn to look at Cornelius, lest it be obvious that the two were conversing via spirit sense. Still, his curiosity piqued. "What makes you think he is lying?" he asked. "His entire personality has changed all of a sudden. That is the manager of Chaotic-Gold Ventura, so his identity is far frommon. He sees everyone is beneath him, especially if their cultivation level is low. "Thest time he was here, he was extremely overbearing. Moreover, he made it abundantly clear that he did not want anyone interfering with the Kraven. The Poliods, who were the ones being affected the most, were unsatisfied with such a demand, and so he destroyed their entire country in one blow. How else could the Kraven have taken over an entire country so quickly, but not be able to replicate the feat hundreds of yearster with the rest? "I cannot say what his true objective is, but I strongly believe that it has something to do with the treasures the Kraven are using, and maybe this uing exam that he mentioned." "If his objective is to hold the exam he mentioned, do you think he will interfere in your efforts to stop the destabilization of the realm?" "No, I don''t think so, and I think that has something to do with your elder who came. He must have a special identity, or something we don''t know about must have happened, or he would not be behaving so well. There''s even a good chance some of us might have died today." Lex reflected on all that had happened. Besides the conversation he had with Cornelius, there were a few more interesting things, for example the shadowy figure that appeared out of nowhere, but could ignore the Ventura branch manager, and seemed to be familiar with the two deities. There was also the conversation they had, about how the Crystal deity betrayed them. Did that have something to do with the unusual behavior of the Crystal race? Not to mention, although the figure was clearly using divine power, he also strongly radiated the power of monsters. What was his rtionship with the monsters? Lex could just assume that he was the reason that the monsters existed in this realm, or were born from the darkness, but then that would make the figure much too powerful, even more than the other two deities. Something was definitely amiss. Although Lex had gotten the answer to his question, which was what the anomaly was, it seemed the mysteries of the Crystal realm were far from over. But that did not matter, right now at least. He had a wedding to finish, hopefully. After all, he was not aware of the damage the Kraven had caused besides attacking his tavern. "What''s the state of the town?" Lex asked out loud. "Besides the few who were near the tavern, no one else was hurt. No one even knows about the Kraven attack, though they most definitely felt the aura. The istion realm is perfect for such situations," exined Firin. "In that case, I have a wedding to finish. Since you''ve all already arrived, stay till it''s over," said Lex, though he could not make demands of them. He was not yet sure if their participation and the events that took ce here would count as a part of the wedding yet. Turning back to his tavern, which was in a poor condition, Lex immediately began working. He summoned workers from the Inn, much like he had summoned Ash, and got them working on cleaning up the ce immediately. Moreover, he had them collect all those who were hurt or harmed and sent them to the Inn to be healed. He looked at the formations he had avable. Originally, for the tavern, Lex was using formations that were beyond his current authority level. Now, though, he could only stick to what he had. Still, he had grown a lot since he founded the tavern, and so even without the cheats he had decent protection avable. Although there were no spatial formations, setting up a protective formation that could block a few attacks from an immortal was still possible, albeit expensive. In half an hour, the ce looked brand new, with the only indicator that anything had happened at all was the strangeck of guests and the new workers aspared to the ones everyone was familiar with. The leaders had, for one reason or another, decided to stay till the wedding ended. Although Lex did not join them, they seemed to be discussing alliances and what to do moving forward. Until they stopped the Kraven from actively destabilizing the realm, there could be no remedy, so no one bothered Lex for now. Only once they finished their own objective would theye back to Lex and seek his help. It was at this time that the two processions finally arrived at the tavern. They had slowed down due to the attack, and had more or lesse to a halt while their own immortals investigated the situation. The Kraven had cleverlyid down a few formations around town meant to slow down reinforcements, which the divine birds removed once the battle was over. Seeing that there seemed to be no issue, the processions had continued, although now they were slightly more cautious. Yet when they arrived at the tavern all their worries vanished, as Cornelius II, the King of the Hum nation was standing there, awaiting their arrival. The rest of the leaders¡­ decided it would be best if they remained hidden from sight. Lex watched from the sides, not able to enjoy the event nearly as much as everyone else for he had a lot riding on this. Even when the two processions, and Pvarti and Jasmine sped hands to continue the remainder of their journey together, Lex felt naught but concern over the quest level. He was not, for even a moment, bitter about his status as a single man besides bing a mighty cultivator and having such a sessful business under his name. On apletely unrted note, he considered starting a dating service at the Inn. The various ceremonies began. Members of the two families, and past admirers for both Jasmine and Pvarti blocked their way. The two had to either fight, negotiate or maneuver past all obstacles without letting go of each other''s hands, signifying that through all the difficulties and hurdles in life they will work together, whether the hurdles be from their past or future. It took longer than anticipated, for Pvarti''s sister had brought arge group of rather ''mature'' women to act as Pvarti''s past admirers and, to be honest, Jasmine was enjoying Pvarti''s attempts to remain cool through the ordeal all too much. But even without that, Pvarti was quite a sociable person, so his list of admirers was actually muchrger than Jasmine''s, despite her status from such a noble family. Once they finally entered the tavern, and took their seats at the ce of honor, more ceremonies, this time of a solemn and serious nature took ce. A majority of the guests remained outside, where music and dancing was used to entertain them. The free and perpetually flowing drinks from the tavern also served to keep the guests upied. After a few hours, Pvarti and Jasmine took their oaths ofpanionship, and each performed the matrimonial spiritual technique used by nobles in the Crystal realm. The technique could only be used once, and would forever alter the signature of both their spiritual energies. Not only would both of them be stronger, taking on a small fraction of the other''s affinities, but the effects their spiritual energy had on one another would change. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om The specific effects depended mostly on the nature of each person''s cultivation technique and affinities, but it was usually positive. In their case, Pvarti''s spiritual energy would give Jasmine an energizing effect, boosting her energy and recovery rate, while Jasmine''s would allow Pvarti to heal from injuries quicker. They cultivated while holding hands, the results of their cultivation would also be quicker. The two were now bound, not only by the contract of marriage, but by the very energy through their very own cultivation! Outside the tavern, fireworks went soaring through the sky, signifying that the union wasplete! Compared to a normal wedding among nobles, which wouldst anywhere between one to three months, this was a very quick wedding. But considering the ongoing war, this was already the height of extravagance they could afford. Since the tavern was too small to amodate all the guests, the couple moved to the roof and one by one the guests would fly over to hand their gifts. Gift giving was a very significant part of weddings among nobles, for often enough, if the children involved were not inheriting the family title, they would take on a supporting role in the family, or begin a family of their own. In either case, such gifts would help them go a long way. Lex clenched his fists. The wedding was finally about to end, and he was about to give his gift soon. He wondered how everyone would react to it. Chapter 713 Gifts

Chapter 713 Gifts

The gift giving ceremony was just one of many. Some might consider the process to be unnecessarilyplicated and tedious, but such an assumption wascking in perspective. Excluding special situations, such as the ongoing war during this wedding, most of the time the nobility tried to make everything as long and detailed as possible. Even if most members of nobility never reached the immortal realm, it waspletely normal for them to reach the Nascent realm. The average Nascent realm cultivator could live up to 500 years, give or take a few. With such long lives to look forward to, most of their activities were slow paced and would take a long time. This phenomenon became more obvious the greater the cultivation level a person had. Society would, simrly, adapt and hold events ording to the life spans and expectations of the longest or most important being. Even in the Origin realm this was the case, with the ''uing'' Tourney being organized by the Henali. It would be another decade before the tournament even began, and Lex did not even want to consider how long the actual tournament was likely to be. Regardless, it waspletely normal for there to be many ceremonies during a wedding, but among all of those, the gift giving ceremony was a favorite not only for the bride and groom, but all the spectators as well. The gift did not have to be publicly revealed, although many did so in a disy of their own wealth or the close rtionship to the newlyweds. In a high profile wedding such as this one, the gifts would surely be great so everyone watched with great expectations. The first to give a gift would be close friends of the bride and groom. Moreover their gifts could not be too spectacr, and should be equivalent to their status as a person from the younger generation. The reason for this was that the following guests to give gifts would be the ordinary guests or distant acquaintances. Naturally one could not forcefully expect them to give extremely expensive gifts, so by starting off at a low or moderate level, they would not be embarrassed to give ordinary gifts. Of course, ordinary here was also rtive as the number of spirit stones of valuables treasures being given at this level even as ''ordinary'' gifts were beyond what truly normal people could afford. As impatient as Lex felt, he had to ensure the wedding went well so he patiently watched each moment to ensure everything progressed as nned. Several hourster, it was finally time for the parents to give gifts. Pvarti''s parents handed over the deed to a very profitable spirit mine, effectively removing it from the ''Noel'' family name, and handing it to Pvarti. For now nothing would change, but in the future if Pvarti ever wanted to start his own family, he would no longer start from scratch as he would have an astounding level of wealth to support him. Jasmine''s parents did not hand over a mine, but gave each of them something extremely personal yet useful. They gave both of them custom made swords, refined using Etherium ore. Etherium was used in the manufacturing of treasures appropriate for immortals, so the weapons they received were exorbitantly expensive, not to mention powerful. They could also apany them for many years toe, if not the rest of their lives! With such magnificent gifts given, everyone turned to look at King Cornelius. As the person of highest authority here, he should give thest gift. But what surprised everyone was that he did not make a move. Instead, one of the workers from the Inn stepped forward. "Upon hearing of this auspicious event, Lord Sabr, ruler of the Varn, took the liberty of sending a gift for the newly wed couple." The worker opened a small chest that hey on the ground in front of him. It was filled to the brim with some fruit that looked like grapes, yet the gasps and reaction it received was too great for mere grapes. These were a unique fruit that could be cultivated only by the Varn, and was one of the items they traded with the Hum nation most often. There was no market price for it, for no one who had ever received one thought to sell it. It was called Purple Poison Berry, because it was extremely poisonous to the Varn, yet to humans it was the most exquisite tonic. If taken in normal health, a single berry could cure the body of any and all umted hidden injuries and diseases through their cultivation journey. That included injuries to the meridians, and to a very small degree, even the Golden Core! This was a mighty gift indeed, and all the guests who did not know about what was happening behind the scenes began to specte on what this meant. Did the two families have a secret rtionship with the Varn? Just as everyone was lost in thought, another worker stepped forward. "Lord Kritter, founder of the new Poliod nation, sends his regards." He too took out a gift that blew away all spectators, the newlywed couple included. Before they could recover, more workers stepped forward. "Lady Elena of the Trelops¡­" "Edward of the new Monster nation¡­" "Abras the Sentinel King¡­" "The divine bird of me, Firin¡­" "The divine bird of ice, Aizel¡­" From mere shock to astonishment, ultimately to extreme horror, the emotions of all the observers were going through a rollercoaster. Who didn''t know the current situation in the realm right now? What were all these leaders doing sending gifts instead of worrying about the war? There was definitely something going on behind the scenes that they didn''t know about. Cornelius finally stepped forward to give his gift, berating no truth of what was really going on. He wore a soft smile, as if looking down fondly at some kids he knew personally. "The younger generation is our future, and only if they seed will our future be secure. Once, when I was young, someone gave me a chance that changed my life. Now, for you, I will do the same. Take these cards and use them when you are ready. If you pass the test, you can receive the guidance of a Heavenly Immortal." The cards Cornelius was giving¡­ were actually invitation cards to Ventura! But Ventura was a secret he could not openly disclose, so instead he titled it an opportunity to receive guidance from a Heavenly Immortal. This time, guests were too shocked to even gasp, and just froze. What did they just hear? WHAT DID THEY JUST HEAR? N?v(el)B\\jnn Just as everyone was reeling from what they heard, another figure came forward, this time from within the tavern. By now, everyone was too fatigued to continue to feel surprised. They just looked at the person and wondered who was worthy of presenting a gift after the King? It turns out it was the tavern owner. Shouldn''t he have gone before? Why was no one bothered that he wentst, which was usually reserved for the most honored guest? "Pvarti, when you first entered my tavern, so long ago, with the intention of partying with the locals, I never would have imagined you were actually hiding the depression of an engagement broken. Yet now, here we are, at your wedding to the same girl. As your friend, I could not be happier for you. "And Jasmine, you have the great fortune of ending up with my good friend Pvarti. From afar one might assume that he is too casual about life, but I know no one else who would face the pressure of a great noble family such as yours based solely on their principles and morals. You have with you a man who would rather give up on his life offort thanpromise on his beliefs, and that takes great courage and dedication. "To build your new life together, especially in these times, will also require great courage and dedication. As such, I hope my small gift can help you in your journey of life." As much as it hurt him, Lex used up his Tea cup containing thew of femininity in exchange for this item. He considered it an investment in his own future, as he really needed the quest to get a good evaluation. From within his spatial bangle, he produced a single apple. Though it looked exceedingly ordinary, every single immortal in the vicinity suddenly honed their gaze onto it, for they could feel their very soul aching for that fruit! "This is called an Apple of Creation. It fell prematurely from the Tree of Creation, but that is enough to meet your needs. If you divide it amongst yourselves and eat it, it will aid you greatly in yourprehension ofws. It does not matter if you''ve reached the immortal realm or are in the nascent, the benefits of it will not be wasted. My rmendation is to have it as soon as possible." Chapter 714 Planck Protos

Chapter 714 nck Protos

It was thus that the warbringer finished his final task, his purposes known only to himself, from the realm of Crystal. Hisst appearance in thesends, for a long time at least, was filled with the sounds of celebrations, and the walls around him were adorned in marigold and roses and flowers unknown. In the streets the crowds of people rejoiced for all the free boons that had befallen them, a timely reprieve during tough times. In the homes of nobles and dignitaries and other important personages, he was discussed in hushed tones and whispers - the mysteries surrounding him were just too great to be ignored. For all intents and purposes, his actions showed no indication of malice or an ulterior motive. Yet all the same, as he departed thosends, he stayed true to his name, and the ongoing war entered a new level the likes of which thosends had never witnessed. From every shadow, every dark corner or deep alley, emerged monsters that could evoke fear even in the hearts of nightmares themselves. From long forgotten pits emerged legions, and from all the abyss that remained unknown marched out armies. The evil born from the dead of night pit itself against the invading forces of carnage and the ultimate result was carnage. There was no step back, nor any bastion to retreat to. With the departure of the warbringer, the realm of Crystal hadunched the war for the survival of the realm itself. The few who knew of his involvement behind the scenes remained grateful. If not for the warbringers help, they would not even know the war they had been ignoring was for the fate of their realm? But at the same time, they remained ignorant that every piece ofnd that had been cursed by the warbringers footsteps had fallen prey to conflict. The warbringers very own hom was embroiled in a sh between man and machine, the use of weapons of mass destruction slowlying to foreview. The first he visited when he began his journey across space was embroiled in a war between men and demons, from which the war bringer made money selling tickets to view the chaos. The of beasts that hey his feet upon was undergoing an upheaval, bringing about drastic change in the social order and thus giving way to endless conflicts for territories or resources. The farmings he toured were victim to endless assassination, to the point where the ruling family no longer even had the courage to pursue suspects, and had requested help from the ruling empire. Yet who would help the ruling empire themselves, for any hey his feet upon was embodied in conflict unending. His friend, the dutiful soldier, had invited him for aid, unaware that he had set himself up for events that would shock the entire realm, let alone a meager or empire. Through none of this was the warbringer ever to me. He never caused evil, nor did he have a conviction to bring harm. No fight was ever his fault, yet always he remained involved in some capacity, whether it was known to him. After all, he was called warbringer, not warmonger! SLAM! The acolyte who was writing in his visions, recording all that he saw in his crystal orb, shut the heavy journal when he heard his master call out his name. "Yes master, what is it?" he asked politely. "That''s enough practice for today," answered his master who entered the room. The master was bald from the top though he had some hair still right above his ears. He was dressed in long, formal robes that looked like it was a uniform. "Quickly get changed and prepare yourself. We will be traveling to the Origin realm shortly, from where we will attend the Fortune Tellers convention!" "Yes master," the acolyte answered, already forgetting everything he wrote about in his journal. After all, who knew who this warbringer was? The acolyte would probably never get a chance to cross him. The convention, on the other hand, was an opportunity for him to finally meet others like him. It was clear which one was more important. ***** The gift giving ceremony ended after Lex gave his gift, for not only was he thest person to give a gift, but no one else would be able to follow up after such a gift even if he weren''t thest. There were only a few more ceremonies to go through afterwards, but they were mostly rushed. Not only did everyone have to get to their various responsibilities, the bride and groom themselves were impatient to try out the effects of the apple. As such, in the seeming blink of an eye, the wedding was finally over. Lex bade his farewell to the leaders, and dismissed his projection so that he could finally look at his questpletion notification! New Notification: Quest Complete! Source of anomaly detected! System is making adjustments to avoid such anomalies in the future. Quest: Investigate the source of the anomaly in the Crystal Realm! Quest Complete! Anomaly source: perpetual inter-realm wormhole! Reward: Realm Seed! Remarks: Host has the foresight to prepare aids for the sprouting of the Realm Seed. How unusual New Notification: Taro'' Fertilizer detected! Should the Realm Seed be fertilized? Y/N! Lex did not hesitate to give his permission. Of course he could not wait to get his own realm! He had already waited long enough! New Notification: Realm Seed has been nted within the system! Realm Seed has been fertilized! New Notification: Warning! Due to system maintenance, Midnight Inn will temporarily stop epting new guests in 6 months while new changes are implemented. Existing guests will be allowed to stay and can leave at their discretion. New Notification: Approximate time to sprouting of Realm Seed is 2 years. Please make thorough preparations! The notifications immediately dampened Lex''s mood, for a part of him was expecting immediate results. Logically he should not expect such massive results to appear immediately, but he could only me the system for spoiling him by getting him used to immediate benefits. He was also a little disappointed because he did not want his workers to continuously fight for two years. They themselves were not two years old, he could not even imagine what two years of war would do to their psyche! Moreover, despite his preparations, what if they were unable to survive? But he could not do anything about that for now. Even this was already more than any normal person could reasonably ask for! To lift his spirits, he turned his attention to the notifications about his other, recentlypleted quest. Quest: Host a wedding worthy of the union about to take ce! Quest Complete! The Host''s rewarded is being calcted: - Reward upgraded for holding the wedding within a year! - Reward upgraded for achieving an unprecedented guest list! - Reward upgraded for Monster nation revealing themselves during the wedding! - Reward upgraded for wedding hosting an epoch-defining meeting! - Reward upgraded for wedding gifts altering the destiny of the realm! - Reward upgraded for attendance of multi-realm organization Ventura! - Reward upgraded for attendance of projection of being above Dao realm! Reward Rank: ??? (Authority Insufficient) Error: Interference from ''???'' Reward Rank: Death Reward: 1 pP (nck Protos: 1 x 10^-32 Protos Joule), Chamber of Rebirth (single use), Midnight Castle Blueprint Remarks: ¡­the host finally got a pP¡­ New Notification: 1 nck Protos detected! Use to repair system? Y/N? Reading the notifications, Lex was genuinely confused by the ranks the system was giving. He had been researching on Destiny rank, especially since he got locked in a Destiny ranked formation, but had yet to discover something. Now he was facing the Death rank. Why did these not really sound like ranking? Moreover¡­ when had he been visited by a projection above the Dao realm! My goodness! Was there even a level above the Dao realm? He had never heard any mention of it anywhere! N?v(el)B\\jnn It was¡­ it was beyond scary. He had nearly died just from entering a hall meant for Dao Lords. What in the world could be above them? Moreover, what was up with his rewards? Why did nothing look like it could solve his cultivation problem? Was it this Chamber of Rebirth? Did he have to be born again, and then cultivate from the beginning to ovee the situation? That didn''t sound right. A very familiar voice, at that point, whispered in his ear. "Do not use the nck Protos on the system. Absorb it yourself, and your cultivation technique should fix itself. It should not take too long, just a day. Oh, but if you prefer to fix the system, you can do that too. Your system will be repaired to 100%, though the repair time will be a few months. The choice is yours." The voice belonged to the mysterious elder who had one day visited his room at the Midnight Inn. Now he was left with a choice. Fix the system, or repair his cultivation technique? Chapter 715 Making a decision

Chapter 715 Making a decision

To be perfectly honest, Lex already knew what he preferred to do, but that did not stop him from his introspection. After all, important decisions should not be made in a rush. To start with, his intention from the get go for doing his best in the quest was to get a reward that would let him fix his cultivation. So it should be an easy choice to directly fix his cultivation technique. But it simultaneously needed to be considered that his greatest reliance was the system. The whole reason this quest paid off was his system, and the more powerful his system was the greater use he could get out of it.For example the various formations he had avable to protect the tavern were no longer as excellent as before. Sure, much of that had to do with authority as well, but if one imed that the system''s damaged status was not contributing then he would find it hard to believe. He could help his staff better, and a more powerful system would no doubt y an even greater role now that he was on his way to getting a new realm. Then again, the system could also be repaired bit by bit by absorbing other systems. His cultivation technique could also theoretically be fixed by absorbing items containingws, as he had done with the Cosmic Erosion Elixir, but who knew how long that would take. Moreover, and the point that Lex paid the most attention to, was that if the cultivation technique really could be fixed in such a manner, why didn''t the mysterious man say so? Instead, he only told Lex to fix it using the reward from the quest. There had to be a reason for this. Of course, Lex could assume that this was simply a blindspot for the mystery man, and he didn''t know about it or forgot to mention it. But when taking into consideration the identity and power of such an enigmatic figure, it was best to assume he knew exactly what he was doing. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Of course, if he had any hidden agendas or ulterior motives, Lex would have absolutely no way of knowing. Not to mention, with the difference in their power levels, he did not need to be careful when dealing with Lex and could directly force him, or maybe even hypnotize him if he had any such motives. In summary, Lex could not guess the man''s intentions or what he knew or didn''t, so it was best not to think about it. Instead, his focus should be on his own concerns. As much as Lex used the system for his benefit, he ultimately didn''t trust it at all. It was ultimately too mysterious, and he absolutely refused to believe that he could get such a good deal without having to pay anything back at all. Not to mention, the system was already much more powerful than Lex, and could easily threaten his life, as it had done in its early days. Who knew if it might restart doing the same if it resumed to full power, and found Lex as a hostcking. So, regardless of how much Lex used the system, he could not trust it at all. Instead, it was his own powers that he could rely on the most. Not to mention, even if fixing the system was the better choice, the resignation filling Lex''s heart could not wane. He could not help but feel pride when he acted as the Innkeeper. Who could possibly avoid it when one could assume such a powerful role? But what was the point of that pride if he could do nothing to save his own people? Although Lex was not necessarily close to them on a personal level, he still felt responsible. Yet even now, his workers from the tavernyatose in their recovery pods, healing. He could not even imagine the suffering that Big Ben and his wife would go through if they survived and learned of their unborn child''s fate. Lex, naturally, did not believe that he could control the whole universe, and prevent all bad things from happening to those close to him. But¡­ he was not even capable of taking revenge himself, and that is where his frustration came from. He took a deep breath, and quickly suppressed his agitated feelings. His decision was made. For better or worse, he was prioritizing his personal growth first. Sure a fully healed system could possibly bring him the opportunity to fix his cultivation once again, but he did not want to wait or depend on luck. First, however, he continued to check up on his rewards. The nck Protos, which was the smallest possible measurement of the energy known as Protos Energy, which was normally measured in Protos Joule. Of course, he didn''t know if that''s how the rest of the universe measured it, but just that his universal trantor automatically tranted everything as such to him. There was no official description for this energy, and the only reason he knew it could heal the system was because of the notification, and the only reason he knew it could fix his cultivation was because the mysterious senior told him. This energy was truly mystifying, and he would look into it when he had the chance. The next reward was called the Chamber of Rebirth, and could only be used once. Lex focused on it to read its description. Chamber of Rebirth (Single use) The ultimate healing device. So long as a living being is alive, with even a fragment of its soul intact, it will bepletely reborn regardless of any injury it sustained. No curses, karma, bloodlines, cultivation, or anything else affiliated to the previous identity will be passed on, with memories being the sole exception. Whoever uses it will bepletely reborn anew! Lex whistled. This was an incredible item, for more than one reason. It couldpletely heal someone regardless of the injury they sustained, and could even remove bloodlines. Although he himself did not know the full details of what removing things such as karma entailed, he could at least guess for the bloodline. Besides losing the bloodline ability, it seemed as if the person would no longer even be rted by blood to his original family. To be honest, this was not such a shocking thing to Lex anymore. As a normal human back on earth, the idea of altering DNA so as to remove any connection to your family seemed not only just absurd but impossible. But the very act of cultivation altered a person''s DNA. If it did not, upon healing after sustaining an injury, the healed body part would return to being mortal as was encoded in his original DNA. It was only because his very being changed, down to the veryst fiber, that cultivation was so mysterious and yet amazing. It was also why achieving every new realm raised one to a lifeform of a higher order. Anyway, for now Lex did not have any need for any such thing. But he still intended on saving this for his own use. If ever he got so wounded that he was on the verge of death, this chamber could save him. Sacrificing his cultivation was a steep price to pay, but as long as he was alive, he could cultivate again. But if he wasn''t, what was the point of retaining his cultivation? He focused on the next reward, which was quite interesting. It was called the Midnight Castle Blueprint. Midnight Castle Blueprint A blueprint that allows for the construction of the Midnight Castle. This Castle can be built within the territory of the Inn or outside, but only one can be built. The resources to build this castle are extremely rare, and the requisite skill to build the castle itself are impossibly high! Lex frowned. Besides this simple introduction, there was no more detail on what the features of the castle would be, and if it had any specific role or purpose. The blueprint immediately dove into the materials needed, and the list was massive. Moreover, the few names that Lex recognized from the list were all materials that were used for immortals! He sighed. He had received yet another drain on his resources. Putting all such thoughts out of his mind, he scanned the Inn once to ensure that nothing was amiss, before entering his personal meditation room. Although he was warned that the upgrade to his cultivation would be quick, he did not want to take a chance. After clearing his mind and meditating until he was in his best state, Lex chose to absorb the nck Protos. The reward entered his body directly, and he never saw it or the container in which it was kept. The only reason he even knew that it had entered his body was because his cultivation technique began to circte on its own. Soon, Lex got lost in the sensation of cultivation. ***** Moments after Lex''s scan of the Inn, a guest red her pressure down on one of the Inn''s workers. "Even if you are a worker of the Midnight Inn, you cannot escape the consequences of being disrespectful to a deity!" Chapter 716 Accepting a challenge

Chapter 716 epting a challenge

Alissa Harmony had a long and deep history with the Midnight Inn. Once, long ago, she was naught more than a simple YouTuber who used to upload songs on her video channel. She had a great voice and a natural talent for singing, which made the process easier and fruitful. She had a decent number of followers, and hoped to be a real celebrity one day. Then, in the Midnight Games, she won somehow. That not only got her the attention of the many cultivators on earth, but the cooperation of many governments. Even a few powerful individuals and organizations who thought to use her connection with the Inn began to sponsor her, and soon her poprity blew through the roof. Suffice to say her singing career took off, and she was even introduced to the cultivation world. Moreover, she got herself a cultivation technique expressly suited to enhance her charisma and appeal, further boosting her poprity. Then the war happened. She became disced, and all her poprity was for naught. Feelingpletely distraught, she escaped to the Inn, and eventually became a refugee in their new Minor realm. Yet the Minor realm was a newly developing escape for humans of earth, and her singing talents had no use, as no one had the time to enjoy songs. But when the deities came to Earth, she once again found her calling. She returned to Earth, giving up her refugee status, and willfully became an acolyte for Adamas, the deity of diamonds! Her singing talents were once again put to good use, singing gospels and raising morale. She quickly gained the attention of the deities'' strongest messengers, and then she was promoted time and time again. Before she knew it, she even gained the right to use a small amount of divine energy, sent directly from the deity himself! She took on her new role as the highest priestess of Adamas on earth, and became a true, devout follower! Buttely the situation on earth hade to a stand still. The miscreant Marlo had deceived a way to create spiritual nuclear bombs, or the equivalent using only talismans. Why was this a big deal when actual nuclear bombs existed? For lower level cultivators, they would be a deterrent, sure. Even if a few Nascent cultivators were targeted the threat could not be eliminated. But there was a fundamental rule of the universe that there were different tiers of energy, and even a small amount of energy from a higher tier could suppress arger amount of energy from a lower tier. A nuclear explosion caused by a bomb created through normal technology harnessed the most basic and fundamental energy that operated in the universe, and had no trace of spiritual energy. Enough cultivators could easily suppress the explosion, or perhaps even harness the energy from the explosion for their own use. Just because earthcked the means or cultivation techniques to do so did not mean others were the same. A spec of divine energy was enough to contain an ordinary nuclear explosion, for example. But Marlo had created a simr result using spiritual energy. This was no ordinary feat, as the science behind it waspletely different from ordinary bombs. Moreover, packaging such a payload into something as nominal as a talisman¡­ it was the result of sheer genius! The war had to be paused, as the A.I. suddenly became restricted by certain Henali conventions. But this was only a short dy. The war would resume. The matter had long surpassed the original cause of the conflict, and now became a contest between deities and the A.I. A few interested parties had already started developing the sr system to be the site for many modern conflicts. The natives of the Earth could no longer ever hope to return for a peaceful resolution. They either had to leave, or join one of the camps. King Marlo and his new empire were the only remnants of the old world, and thest remaining hope of those with the hopeless dream of reiming theirnds. During this pause, Alissa did not have much to do. So her heart suddenly yearned to return to the Inn, and spread the glory of the Diamond deity there as well. So long had she spent surrounded by the worship of the deities followers, that theck of it at the Inn suddenly made her ufortable. Still, she knew much about the Inn, and so did not start any conflicts. She humbled herself and spent some time among the ignorant non-believers. Soon the feeling of difort faded, as she was reminded of her own simple roots. Comparing her life now to what it had been before truly increased her devotion for Adamas. As such, she decided to preach a little while she was enjoying her vacation. Casually she struck up a conversation with one of the workers who was nearby, and asked them what they thought of Adamas. To her surprise, this worker had never heard of Adamas! She immediately began to preach, but to her increasing irritation, the worker only responded politely but did not seem to be interested at all. This was a stark contrast to what she had experienced on earth, where the pathetic mortals had been easily impressed by the divine might of Adamas. In the end, the worker could not help but say, "The members of the Inn don''t really follow any deities. Besides, even if we had to worship anyone, why wouldn''t we worship the Innkeeper? Who is Adamas whenpared to the Innkeeper anyway?" Technically, the worker should not have said that, as it was impolite towards the guests'' belief. But no one was perfect, and it just came out. Alissa was immediately infuriated, and her aura burst out! "Even if you''re the worker of the Midnight Inn, you cannot escape the consequences of being disrespectful to a deity!" she roared, her anger clouding her judgment. But the worker did not even flinch. Where was this? The Midnight Inn! The security team was no longer inexperienced and ignorant, and they were perfectly capable of handling things. Even without the many powerful workers, who had gone off to war, there were still the entire security team, Young McDonald, Qawain, Lady Anita and many others. Lately, captain Cirk had even learned how to use the massive spaceships security features and so could immediately target anyone within range. Last but not least, Lex continuously had events going on at the Inn so that he could hire the extra security. How could anyone threaten someone inside the Inn and get away with it? Yet, as it happened, it was none of those who interfered. Arge, strong suddenly gripped Alissa''s arm, suppressing not only her aura, but restricting her movements as well. "Actually, they can," said a warm, yet firm voice. A man garbed in full metal armor had mysteriously and spontaneously appeared beside them, and prevented the situation from escting. "The Midnight Inn has provided a safe haven for all, irrespective of race. It is a noble and respectable act, and one which takes immense courage and power. I do not know which deity you serve, but there is no reason to create animosity between the Innkeeper and your deity. It would only be a loss to you and your fellow followers." The man who spoke was Lovis, a pdin knight. Although he had not yet had the opportunity to meet the Innkeeper, he had begun to admire the Inn from the bottom of his heart. He could not tolerate anyone disrespecting such a wondrous holynd. "It is the Innkeeper who should be careful! Trespassing onto the territory of deities and epting the worship of others is not a burden so easily borne!" she replied in an agitated state. But even if she was putting on the front of anger, her heart was quickly filled with fear. She knew the strength of the Inn well. It was not that she doubted Adamas, but there was no reason to put her life on the line. Instantly, she teleported out without letting the situation develop further. "Thank you for your help," the worker said, "but you really should have let one of the security team members handle it. I would not have the courage to show my face if a guest got hurt on my behalf." "Nonsense!" Lovis said whileughing. "To be a pdin is to have the heart of a protector! I cannot shy away when I see such actions." "Lovis, you have been watching too much anime," said an elf who walked up to the man. The elf was one of those guests who perpetually lived inside the Inn, and so had developed many friendships with other guests who simrly spent a lot of time here. "Such an artform that captures the essence of heroism can never be overconsumed!" he said, once again roaring intoughter. "Besides, I have not much else to do these days. The Murder Grounds are busy, so I can do nothing but wait. The Pdins and the Diplo can no longer tolerate each other''s existence, even if it is as neighbors in the Inn. There must be a resolution to this conflict, but until that happens, I can polish my mind by reviewing the recorded tales of the numerous heroes in anime." As it happened, just as Lovis said this, there was an announcement inside the Inn. "General Ragnar of the Jotun Empire had once challenged Warheil Heil Fendal to a fight in the Murder Grounds, but the devil has responded, and selected the Inn''s colosseum as the venue of the fight! If he dares toe, Warheil will be waiting there in 24 hours!" The Inn was suddenly filled with energy and excitement as everyone began discussing the uing fight! The challenge was well known and frequently discussed. For so long, the humans had been calling the devils cowards for not epting yet. But now they had finally epted, and epted it with style. Elsewhere in the Inn, a devil was smirking as he saw the excitement spread, as if he was satisfied with the results of his announcement. Suddenly, a member of the security team teleported in front of him. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "For noise pollution and causing a disturbance without permission, you are fined 1000 MP as a first warning. Please submit the fine as soon as possible to avoid being expelled from the Inn." Chapter 717 Don’t aim too high

Chapter 717 Don''t aim too high

Primary Realm, Gaia''s graveyard Outside a cottage made of the most sublime wood, an old man was watering the ground from amon watering-can. The can waspletely and totally normal, and not made from the bones of the Juggernaut King - whose body was identified as the hardest existing material in the universe. The water, too, was ordinary well water, and not the dew condensed on the surface of the Tablet of Life, a divine item some believed was the source of all life in the universe. It was this old man''s habit to spend his time doing such mundane things, as they filled him with a sense of simplicity. There was no ulterior motive in his actions at all whatsoever. But, today, something extraordinary happened in this otherwise,pletely ordinary and not at all fantastical ce. A closed scroll began to materialize in his hand, at first just as a vague image, as if it was naught more than a mirage. But slowly, it began to solidify. The man smiled and kept the scroll in his vault which was filled with other miraculous things. In front of the scroll was a small que that read ''Regal Embrace''. This was a cultivation technique of an extremely spectacr status, and could only be practiced by one person in the universe. After all, the ''strongest'' was not a title that could be replicated, or else it would no longer be the strongest. Simrly, there could only be one person who had the best defense. But even the Regal Embrace, a cultivation technique which could allow its cultivator to survive the destruction of the universe itself at its peak, did not require a resource as rare and powerful as Protos Energy. At the point at which Lex absorbed this, his cultivation technique used the spectacr features of this wondrous energy, and evolved beyond the Regal Embrace. No one could say for certain what it would evolve into in the future, not even the humble old man in the cottage. But, since it surpassed the limits of what Regal Embrace could achieve, the Regal Embrace was naturally once again avable for cultivation. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Their parting had been so short, much shorter than thest time someone tried to cultivate the Regal Embrace. The only difference was that this time, the cultivator did not die prematurely. ***** Midnight Inn As ofte, Lex had started to feel the effects of his busy schedule on his cultivation. He barely had any time to cultivate, but in his earlier realms the effects of such an act was always mitigated. Either through absorbing the abundant energy of a imed Minor realm, or discovering a magical nt that boosted his cultivation, he would always speed up his cultivation. But in the Golden core, it was a lot harder to suddenly boost his cultivation. He had also been a lot busier, and so could not randomly go on an adventure and gain spectacr results. When he did cultivate on and off in his free time, he could onlyment his slow growth. Of course, only Lex could say he was cultivating at a slow pace, and anyone else in the universe would beg to differ. But despite his manyints, only now that he was forced to cultivate dedicatedly, and without distraction for a long time that he realized that done a true disservice to his cultivation. Though he cultivated with peace of mind, as he had be used to meditating, he had never reveled in it. He had never thought about the mysterious flow of energy in his body, nor had he enjoyed the process it was a part of. His care was only for the results. Though one could not really me him for only caring about the results, he realized that he needed to give more attention and respect to the process as well. It was the process by which he was undergoing an evolution. It wasying the foundation for his future. It was extremely mysterious. It was¡­ it was¡­ also extremely boring. Sitting still and unable to do anything else as his cultivation technique ran on its own, Lex had countless thoughts. Although he did realize the drawback of not giving enough time to his cultivation, he also realized that it would be much harder to do so if he didn''t thoroughly enamor himself with the process in the future. As he cultivated further, and his mind evolved, his processing power would increase tremendously. While previously all his focus was spent on his cultivation, eventually he would reach the stage where arge portion of his mind was free to have random thoughts, and also to be bored. It was something he would have to ovee. For now, he could only upy his mind by focusing on the changes his technique underwent. Despite his secret hope, absorbing the nck Protos did not make his cultivation explode, like it did back in the Foundation realm. In fact, his cultivation level did not move at all. Instead, it seemed like his technique was evolving with each cycle it went through. Lex''s newly improved memory allowed him to easily identify even the subtlest of changes, and memorize exactly how it changed each step. Although for now he could not understand its relevance, maybe one day in the future he could look back and learn or discover something from it. Like this, an entire day slowly went by, and then the better part of the second day. It was only when dusk was beginning to fall that Lex''s cultivation finally finished, and he regained control over his body. To his disappointment, his cultivation did not change at all. It seemed he would not be getting a shortcut to a higher cultivation level any time soon. But he simultaneously could not say that there was no change at all. Like when he first entered his new realm, his cultivation technique barraged his mind with a stream of new information that allowed him to understand many things in greater detail than ever before. Moreover, he also faced the revtion that his cultivation technique had evolved and had surpassed the Regal Embrace, and thus was nameless for the time being. Whatever it was called would be his decision in the future. But that information was not nearly as important as what it signified. Regal Embrace gave Lex the best defense in the universe, but it achieved as much by putting heavy restrictions on Lex which would be even more obvious as his level grew. The most obvious restriction was his inability to learn attacks. This was because the kind ofws that the Regal Embrace relied on were so heavily focused on defense that even the idea of offense was repulsed by the technique. For now Lex found a way to circumvent this situation by relying on arrays, but in the future he would have discovered that things were not so easy. One could not achieve the ''most'' in any field without entering some kind of extreme. His new nameless cultivation technique removed that w. At the same time, the traits of his future cultivation were extremely malleable. But a lot of it would depend on his own actions as well. If he now began to develop his cultivation technique to be strong, while reducing his focus on defense, then in the future he would no longer be able to achieve the status of having the strongest defense! This was because even though the technique had surpassed the Regal Embrace, its ultimate result would be dependent on himself. It was like he gave up the option of a guaranteed good result, in exchange for the potential of a better one. But, alongside the potential of a good result was also the potential for a worse oue. Lex snorted. He was not afraid of getting a worse result at all. He had proven his worth time and time again with all the trials he faced, and in fact preferred things to be this way. This was because he did not want to think that he had achieved everything just because he had a good cultivation technique. Now, with the ability to influence the technique himself, he wanted to achieve an even greater height. He remembered that Regal Embrace could survive the destruction of the universe, and had another technique beside it which could destroy the universe itself! If that was the case, he wouldn''t aim too high. He just wanted to achieve such incredible strength that he could even break the Regal Embrace at its peak, and have such a sturdy body that he could face Mo''s blessings strongest attack without flinching! Since he had this technique which could surpass the Regal Embrace, then he would make it so that neither the Regal Embrace or Mo''s blessing could ever match up to his level. Somewhere far off in the Origin realm, a celestial who was cultivating suddenly opened his eyes. For some reason¡­ his cultivation technique felt like it had been challenged! Chapter 718 Preparing Making the most out of his cultivation technique involved more than just deciding to do better. The nameless technique he was now cultivating was simr to Regal Embrace in the regard that it could adapt tremendously and had no upper limit. Unlike the Regal Embrace, however, it would not run into a problem where growing further could lead to death. It was also extremely intuitive. For example, the moment Lex decided his goal of surpassing Regal Embrace and Mo''s Blessing, the cultivation technique adapted automatically and informed him of what he needed to do to proceed. As it turned out, cultivating the most powerful cultivation technique in the universe was extremely resource intensive. On his defensive front there was not much work needed, as Regal Embrace had built an adequate foundation for him to proceed from. The issue was his body''s attack capabilities. He was severelycking in them. Much of that would automatically be fixed while he cultivated, and his new nameless technique adapted his body. But unless he wanted to spend the next hundred years just fixing his cultivation technique before even moving on, he needed to supplement his technique with multiple resources. His body''s base strength was incredibly high, which helped a lot. But great strength was only one aspect of offense, and he was whollycking in every other regard. Fortunately for him, most of the resources he needed to fix his existing cultivation could be easily found. Unfortunately, some of them were on the rare end of the spectrum. That was also only considering his existing cultivation. To continue to cultivate while maintaining the standard that he wanted, he would either need to procure increasingly rare resources or cultivate normally and spend a ridiculous amount of time to allow his cultivation technique to rece the effect of those resources normally. Lexpiled the list of the resources he needed right now and checked if any were avable at the Inn. Surprisingly a fair number of them were being sold at his very own Guild room by various merchants! Who knew his Guild room had grown to such a level? Without wasting any time, he put up a request for the remaining material in the Guild room, and bought what was avable. He teleported all his newly acquired materials to his meditation room, unable to suppress his eagerness to grow stronger. Although his versatility with arrays wasmendable, the sheer effectiveness of a proper attack was also not something to be overlooked. He couldn''t wait to acquaint himself with some new techniques and see if he could learn them as quickly as he did with defensive ones. Unfortunately, he could not randomly absorb everything he had gotten as there was a required process and sequence to things. This would be a time-consuming process, butpared to normal cultivation, he expected a quicker growth in his strength. Without further ado, he began cultivating once again. Some materials could directly be eaten for Lex to absorb their features, while others had to be drained of their energies. Others still were just catalysts to be used in conjunction with other materials. There was one material in particr that simply required Lex to dip his feet into while cultivating. Clearly this would not be a straightforward process. A few hours passed by, and Lex already began to subtly feel the difference. It was not his strength that had increased, or anything else for that matter. It was his natural aura that was slowly changing. While previously, Lex''s aura could be called warm or pleasant, most of the time, it was now gaining a honed edge. He did not know how that affected anything, but it was a start. Slowly and steadily, once he was finished fixing his current foundation to amodate his new cultivation, every inch of his body would be lethal, much in the way that every inch of his body had the same toughness. Feeling good about his progress, he teleported back to his office. It wasn''t that he didn''t want to continue cultivating, for the feeling of bing noticeably stronger was quite addictive. He had not run out of materials yet either. Instead, there was an optimal amount of time he could cultivate each day. Any more after that would only give diminishing returns. "Did I miss anything while I was cultivating?" Lex asked Mary, more as a habit than from any expectation of anything happening. "Yes, actually. You''re just in time, in fact. Ragnar''s challenge to the devil Warheil was finally epted. They''re about to conduct their battle in the colosseum in a few hours. If you had not gotten free on your own in a few hours, I would have called out to you to put up protective formations around the colosseum." Lex raised an eyebrow. This really was an interesting event that he had also looked forward to. In fact, he already had ns set in ce for when this happens. "Have you done everything we decided regarding the match?" "Yes. The moment the challenge was epted by both parties, I immediately put the marketing n into effect. Although it''s a little short notice, everyone and their mothers will know about the fight as long as they visit the Inn." Lex nodded as he overlooked the colosseum and began cing various formations. Ragnar had been the first one to require special attention while breaking through, and the amount of MP Lex investing in ensuring that no one suffers any harm due to him was a lot. As such, he felt no guilt about mizing his fight for his own personal gain. It was just business. There was still some time to the fight, so while Lex prepared to get the most benefit, he also began to wonder about his next steps. He would first check if Alexander needed his help, or if there was an update on the situation. If not, it was high time he went after that treasure the mysterious man told him about. He recalled that the man had said he had approximately 6 months to find the treasure until someone else found it. He also said it could be sooner orter than that time, but not by much. In essence, Lex considered it as if he had no time at all! But the issue with finding the treasure was that besides knowing which gxy it was in, he knew next to nothing. How was he supposed to locate a ''belt of rogues'' across the entire gxy? The mystery man must have known something or else he would provide more information. For example, what were the chances that the battlefield that his workers went to just happened to be in the same gxy? Though the Inn itself was not linked to that gxy and the only connection present was through a teleportation formation that the system hijacked, that was just getting into the technicalities of things. The real issue was the teleportation point was the battlefield, so Lex could not use it to go to the rest of the gxy. He had to find some other way. Since he didn''t really have any other leads for the moment, Lex logged on to the Henali portal and searched for ''belt of rogues'' and ''Suera''. He was not expecting much, but even any random information could be useful. Apparently, a collection of rogues was not at all rare, especially on a gctic scale. This was even when only considering the ones which had been detected and reported to the portal. The only redeeming factor Lex found was that a ''collection'' of rogues was not necessarily a ''belt of rogues''. On the list, there was only one listed group of rogues which could resemble a belt, meaning a rtively straight line.N?v(el)B\\jnn There were only 89s in the belt, but of those only one supported sentient life. Considering the fact that there was no star nearby to provide the with warmth and energy, even that was a lot. The only reason this was even listed was because apparently that one single had an extremely valuable export. That also happened to be the home of a mature dragon! Lex began to n something in his mind as he continued to read about the conditions on the. The Henali portal was actually quite useful. If Lex could always ess it before he chose which to form a connection to in the future, he would have a much easier time avoiding trouble. With a tentative n made, Lex teleported over to X-14 from where he visited the Emporium. He ced a special order which would take some time to fulfill, but fortunately should be ready in a couple of days at most With this, he was ready to set off. Now all that was left was to wait. In the meantime, he would make some money off of Ragnar. If only he had stronger formations avable, he would have the confidence to have VIP seats, and charge even more for them. As it was, he had to make do with what he had. Chapter 719 Billions 719 Billions Since there were only a few hours to the fight, they passed by quickly. Given that there had only been a 24 hour notice, Lex did not expect too much of a crowd to gather. After all, there was not much time for the news to spread. Even then, by ''not too much of a crowd'' Lex meant a few million guests. After all, Ragnar was quite a celebrated figure. In his own empire, or circles, no doubt Warheil was the same. It was while having this thought that Lex realized that while he knew a lot about the Jotun empire, he knew next to nothing about the devils. It was something he needed to remedy. Still, standing in the air above the colosseum, he was beginning to realize, he had no idea what a Heavenly Immortal truly represented. With 1 hour still remaining to the fight, over 3 billion guests had already gathered at the Inn! Since it had already be one, regardless of whether Lex was originally nning for it or not, Lex turned the fight into an ''event''! At first when he noticed the surge in guest arrivals, after establishing the event, Lex went through the usual motions. He allowed the match to be viewed from anywhere at the Inn, created millions of temporary rooms and hired more security. When the guests reached the 1 billion mark, Lex was dumbfounded, and immediately felt the need to manage the crowds. As much as everyone wanted to be as close to the fight as possible, let alone the colosseum, the entire ''vige'' was too small to amodate so many people. In fact, even if they spread across the entire Inn, it would be too crowded. He had no choice but to implement certain rules. The colosseum seats, despite their normallyrge numbers, were too few and so were reserved for guests with a minimum of prestige level 4. Up until prestige level 3, guests only needed to spend more MP to increase their prestige level. But 4 onwards there was a minimum cultivation requirement as well. As such, the lowest cultivation level allowed in the colosseum automatically became the nascent level. Besides that, he changed the viewership rule for the match. The match could no longer be viewed from anywhere in the Inn. Instead, it could only be viewed from inside the colosseum or from within a rented room, whether it was a standard one or one of the temporary ones. For a while, that reduced traffic drastically as everyone either rented rooms individually, or together. Lex was dealing with a mind boggling number of guests, and as such his MP was fluctuating in a simr fashion. Before the event began, he had around 190 billion MP. Once 1 billion guests arrived, they rented an approximate 600 million regr room, which at 50 MP per day, gave Lex another 30 billion MP. He had to approximate because not everyone rented rooms, and not everyone rented simple rooms. Then the number of guests grew to two billion, and then three! Even though a majority of the guests stayed in their rooms, just the few who roamed the Inn equaled to several hundred million. The Immortal Bastion, which had once been empty and deste, was now bursting at the seams as the many guests entertained themselves by venturing into the countless Minor realms. Moreover, with such a vast number of guests, new Minor realms which had been hidden across the Inn were being discovered faster than ever before. It only made sense, since all the guestsing were absolute elites. There were already over 800 million Earth immortals at the Inn, though most of them sat in their rooms patiently. Most of them were devils, with the remainder being soldiers from the Jotun army. There were few Heavenly immortals too, or at least, those whose level Lex could not identify and he guessed were at that level. Emperor Jotun was there himself, alongside his queen, and a number of his children. None of his brothers hade though. As things got more and more chaotic, Lex took a deep breath and spent a massive 50 billion MP on more security! There were too many immortals at the Inn, and even the slightest spark could create overwhelming chaos. Especially since there was about to be a fight between two extremely decorated members of the human and devil race! For once, Lex made a decision that went against his capitalistic side. He did not open up any betting, because he did not feel like he could afford to mess with the money of hundreds of millions of immortals! Goddamn, why was the Inn so hot today? Lex wondered as he wiped a bead of sweat off his forehead, ignoring all the snow around him. Only when the new security guards showed up, as well as the dragon, gryffin and other prominent guards he had seen before. They did not hesitate in disying their overwhelming aura, though they only did so for a moment. They were there to deter, not intimidate. As the final hour ended, up to 5 billion guests hade to the Inn! Most of the present guests were all either soldiers or elites of the Jotun empire, or devils. Despite this, Lex had to constantly focus on managing the situations and create temporary biomes with unusual environments, as too many of his guests were too ufortable without them. So caught up was he, that he almost missed the fact that Emperor Jotun excused himself for a brief moment, and in secret visited Warheil - almost! Lex was not one who enjoyed gossip, but at that moment all his attention was diverted to the meeting. Unfortunately, they spoke through their spirit sense, if they spoke at all, and separated immediately. A few minutester, Ragnar entered the colosseum! A hush spread across the Inn as all eyes were fixed on him. For this asion it seemed the man had made no special preparation. He wore his usual, extremely bulky armor with the only new addition being he was wearing his helmet as well. For a weapon he held only a nged mace, seemingly made out ofmon iron. Although his entrance had been extremely simple, and he stood there calmly as if it were just another day, the crowd was filled with excitement. Lex, especially, became extremely sensitive to the wave of emotions sweeping the Inn, for they somehow seemed to take on a life on their own, and began to exert their influence on everyone. This was the first time Lex felt emotions exerting an actual physical pressure akin to the aura of a high level cultivator. Perhaps it needed arge enough collection of people, or perhaps the people involved needed to have a high enough cultivation. Whatever the case, since the Inn wasn''t stopping it, that meant that the force was not malicious or harmful. But it was most definitely infectious. Even those who had no affiliation with the human race, or the Jotun empire, began to feel the feeling of expectation associated with Ragnar. He was a living legend in the empire, and over the course of his service in the army, which itself had spanned more than a thousand years, he had more than built up his reputation. He was called the Son of the Empire, for the services he had rendered to the empire went far beyond what could be expected of a soldier. While he was handling all the various logistic problems, Lex paid close attention to not only the colosseum, but to Emperor Jotun in particr. While everyone looked out at Ragnar with expectation, only he seemed to have pity in his eyes. Something was amiss. But there was no time to specte, and even if he could, Lex could not interfere in this matter. All he could do was look. Just as calmly as Ragnar had, Warheil entered the colosseum from the opposite side. He was wearing a fitted ck suit with gold embroidery. The smile on his face seemed quite genuine, and he did not seem to feel like he was going to a fight at all. It seemed that all characters at such a level were extremely confident in themselves. No nervousness could be detected from either of the participants. "Human, I almost pity you. In your confidence, you do not even know the mistake you have made," he said while looking at Ragnar, as if he was genuinely concerned for him. "In my life I have made many mistakes. Confronting evil is not one of them," Ragnar replied calmly. Warheil shook his head one more time, as if he was disappointed in him. N?v(el)B\\jnn "Realize, child, that you have built up your legend only fighting the servants of devils, not us devils directly. It is time you learnt the difference between a master and a ve." Without any forewarning or superfluous movements, Warheil lifted his finger and thrust it forward. The world itself seemed to end. Chapter 720 Quick battle

Chapter 720 Quick battle

One of the many excellent features of Regal Embrace was how quickly Lex could learn defensive techniques. But not only could he learn them quickly, he could analyze someone else using them as well. With this new technique Lex hoped to retain that feature, as well as gain a simr feature for offensive techniques as well, not to mention every other kind of technique that existed. One should expect this much from a superior technique, right? Unfortunately it was not meant to be, and not only because his new foundation was not yet built. Instead of making him have the ability to instantly pick up techniques, Lex''s own learning ability and analytical skills were instead greatly boosted. Yet, as of right now, these skills had no effect on the fight Lex was watching. Not only could he not learn anything, he was absolutely lost in terms of what was happening. Warheil extended his finger, and everything seemed to end. Light faded, sounds faded, thoughts faded. There was only the finger, which moved swiftly and mmed into Ragnar''s chest. The world returned to normal, and so did Lex''s thoughts. Of course, he was never truly affected as the Host Attire would prevent it, but he was allowing himself to experience as much as possible. Ragnar was either caught unprepared, or couldn''t be bothered to defend. Either way, his body was thrown back, but in slow motion, as if time itself was moving slowly around him. The thing that Lex felt was most incredible was how there was no aura of the attack at all, or any devastating repercussions. There were no sonic booms or fallout damage, and everything was contained between the two participants. Then the fight picked up its pace, and Lex lost sight of the two. He could always watch the entire fight slowlyter, as he was recording it using the Inn, but for now he just allowed him to experience how vast the difference between himself and those two was. On the battlefield, the fight was a lot more one sided than anyone had assumed. Ragnar was on the receiving end of Warheil''s savagery, and it seemed like he could do nothing to fight back. Normally, a fight between higher level cultivators took much longer than normal, and could go from months to even years. But that did not seem to be the case here, as Ragnar''s armor had already been torn off of him in the most brutal way. Ragnar''s body, despite its devastated state, was not bleeding, for every single drop that escaped his body would turn to ash and fly away. Although, to Ragnar''s credit, despite being so beaten, he was still doing his best to fight back, and despite being so overwhelmed sopletely, his eyes were only filled with determination, not desperation. In front of him, Warheil looked at him with derision in his eyes. The devil wanted nothing more than to end him, but he recalled the meeting he had with Jotun. To Lex, their meeting had been so brief he could not even study their expressions, but the two had had an entire conversation during that period. "Well, well, what do we have here? To what do I owe this pleasure, Jotun? Don''t tell me you''re here to plead with me to let your general live," he had said when he saw the man. "No, I''m here to make a deal. Devils love deals, don''t they?" Jotun replied cidly. He seemed to be doing a tedious chore. "Oho, a deal with an Emperor. I''m quite excited. What do you have to offer? And what could you possibly want?" "I know full well the power of devils, and I know an ordinary human can never ovee the difference between races. Ragnar is a very promising youngd, and I have ns for him, so I don''t want to lose him yet. You let him live, and in exchange, I''ll promise not to hunt you down and kill you afterwards." "Hah! You''re threatening a devil? You think that''ll work? You just said you knew the difference between humans and devils." N?v(el)B\\jnn "I said ordinarily, humans cannot ovee the difference. What about me seems ordinary to you? I might have been afraid if this were anywhere else, but inside the Origin realm, even you devils have to behave in front of me. Now you take your time and think about my offer. It''s not a threat, it''s a deal, and a great one, in my opinion." The small exchange had been extremely infuriating, but at the end of the day, Jotun had the right to be arrogant. With the backing of the Henali, in the Origin realm, he really could throw his weight around. Moreover, it wasn''t as if Jotun had never killed a devil before. Not to mention¡­ Jotun''s realm. Anger filled Warheil''s heart the moment he decided to let Ragnar live, so he decided to leave a curse on his body. That split second where Warheil seemed to be lost in thought, Ragnar saw an opening and attacked with deadly decisiveness! He swung his face with full force, holding it with both hands. The weapon did not evene close to making contact, yet Warheil''s expression changed. Around them, the universe seemed to change. The colosseum disappeared, and a deste, barrennd reced it. Clouds filled the sky, but instead of rain, chains fell down, and instead of thunder they rumbled with the clinking of metal. The chainstched onto Warheil, locking him in ce, while hands emerged from the ground and seemed to tear at the devil''s soul. But before any real damage could be done, Warheil''s eyes changed. From the ordinary brown colored eyes, they changed to a fiery orange while the skin around his eyes faded just a bit, revealing reddish skin. The change was minimal, but that was all that was required for Warheil to break free forcefully from his bindings. There was no more hesitation in his actions. Warheil took a step forward, his first step during the fight and instantly reached Rangar. With overwhelming speed and strength, he stabbed his nails into Ragnar''s neck. The stab wound was not deep, but it did not need to be. Warheil cast his curse, invading Ragnar''s body. For the first time, the general felt weakness invade him, and he lost control of his body, falling limp. The fight had notsted long, barely a few minutes, yet a conclusion was reached. Warheil stood unharmed, with his clothes ruffled a little at most. In front of him, Ragnary on the ground, awake but unable to move. A deafening hush fell over the Inn as the spectators were left shocked! Ragnar was no weakling, that much the man had proved. Yet only in a few minutes he had been reduced to this state. Warheil truly was¡­ a devil! "In the future, do not feel arrogant just because you acquired a little power. In the universe, you are nothing but a little bug," Warheil said with a mad grin, as if he was enjoying Ragnar''s condition. Although he had left the man alive, as per the deal with the emperor, but he had also cursed him. If they did not find a way to cure him, soon Ragnar would turn into a zombie. Then, as a demon, he would be at Waheil''s beck and call. As the creator of the ''zombie'' demons, Warheil had an extremely deep understanding of them, and could turn anyone into a zombie by cursing them. In fact, that was how he created the very first zombie. As far as demons went, zombies were not the best, but Warheil had received a lot of praise from his elders for such a creation. Now, he was looking forward to acquiring a Heavenly immortal level zombie under him. After all, no one other than him knew how to cure the curse! With a mad grin, the devil turned and left the colosseum. It was only when he turned that the crowd awakened from their stupor, and burst into cheers. Just because those from the Jotun Empire were devastated by the defeat did not mean that everyone felt the same. The devils obviously celebrated the victory, but there was no small number of beasts and even other humans who were cheering for the departing devil. Countless cheering guests exited their rooms and swarmed onto the busy streets, nearly causing a stampede! They were yelling and screaming, and in the mood to celebrate. Meanwhile, Lex was working at full power to teleport anyone who was about to be run over by the stampede, or hurt by the celebrations anywhere. Countless guests also disappeared, for it seemed like Warheil was hosting a party in his actual abode, to celebrate both his victory and recent breakthrough. Comparatively, the soldiers from the empire were all filled with anger and bitter resignation. For countless years the humans had been waging war with demons, too afraid to directly confront the devils responsible. It seemed like¡­ such a trend was destined to continue. Chapter 721 Audits In the few minutes after Warheil''s victory, a little over 120,000 fights broke out between overly emotional guests. Of course, they did not break out all at once, and they were of varying levels of intensity. Predictably, most of them were started or at least instigated by those who were strongly affiliated with the empire. A majority of the fights were stopped before the first blow evennded, and each individual was fined and threatened with expulsion if they continued such behavior. Some of the fights between the stronger guests were not so easy to stop and took a couple of moments, which was enough to cause some coteral damage. Fortunately, no one was really harmed with most of the damage being dealt to the environment. These people were all fined, as well as expelled from the Inn, with a temporary ban of one month. On that note, Lex was extremely grateful for the ability to ban guests froming back into the Inn. When he first started out, he had no influence on who could enter the Inn. There was one particr fight, however, that did threaten to cause massive damage. It was one of the generals of the empire, who was unable to listen to the demeaning dribble of a gloating devil. As a Heaven immortal himself, it would have been tough to control him. Fortunately, Jotun himself put a stop to that fight before it really started. The countless guards that had been hired once again shed their aura for a moment to serve as a deterrent, but during such an emotional time, its effect was going to be minimal. Many guests departed, following in the footsteps of Warheil himself, but many remained to celebrate or mourn at the Inn. Others still decided to explore the Inn a bit, as they were arriving for the first time. But the Inn, which had the current capacity to provide services other than a simple room to a few million at most, was severely overcrowded. With no other choice, Lex had to spend billions of MP more to create more temporary cities and hire temporary workers to funnel all these guests into. It had to be said that his very few Draconian Apostle workers, the second race of workers he had, really outdid themselves in such an environment. The more pressure they were under, the better they performed. Moreover, regardless of how hazardous he made the environment in the temporary zones, they were able to cope. Lex had be too used to running the Inn on autopilot, but during the next two days, he barely got a moment of rest. The Inn was grossly under-prepared to handle such a huge crowd, and not just because of the size of his management team. The low cultivation levels of his workers was a fundamental problem that needed to be ovee, but could not be solved in the short term. Almost all of his workers were at least in the Qi training realm by now, with those who had gone through at least 1 star rank change at the Foundation realm. But that was it. Almost none had yet surpassed that realm. Unbelievably, Lex was actually looking forward to the time when the Inn would stop epting guests because he really needed some time for his staff to grow. With most of his guests at the Golden core realm, and many more at realms even higher, he could only continue to rely on external security for now. During this time, Lex had spent a rounded figure of 90 billion MP in making temporary cities, hiring more security, and taking care of other misceneous issues. The Inn had also once again run out of all the spiritual food they had grown, and so were once again serving only mortal food which the system provided, which was not appreciated by some. But despite the heavy expenditure, he had earned 200 billion during the same time! That meant, after deducting his expenses, Lex made 110 billion MP! That was not even counting the rent MP he made on the first day. It was finally on the third day that the number of guests finally dropped below 500 million, and Lex was able to rx. Instead of going to his office, or even meditation room, Lex found himself in his Hot tub room to unwind. He really needed it. The first half hour, he barely even realized that he was in the hot tub. His mind was still too active, going over the various tasks he had handled the past two days. Unbelievably, besides the fight between the two heavenly immortals, the most popr thing at the Inn¡­ had been the spaceship daycare service! He really ought to give the bunnies running that a raise or something. But, eventually, his mind slowly rxed and he was able to free himself from the thoughts of work. Work at the Inn never finished, and there would always be more things for him to take care of. But he had some of his own tasks to do.N?v(el)B\\jnn Well, technically, he only needed to go get that treasure that mystery man told him about, and maybe check up on Alexander. He was somewhat curious about the details of the poisonous substance he had discovered. If it had made him sick just by being exposed to the air around it, after it was already sealed, he could not even imagine how dangerous it really was. There was also that event hosted by Veraing up, the one meant for prophets and oracles, but he did not expect that to be a problem, since he had handled bigger events before. If only he knew that even as he sat there, rxing, countless oracles were traveling to the Origin realm from other realms, just because that was where the golden keys to the Inn were avable. After Lex finally felt like he had recovered mentally somewhat, he left the hot tub and went to cultivate. He had already missed two days due to how busy things were, he could not miss another day just because he felt tired. He continued to absorb the various materials he had gathered, upgrading his foundation bit by bit. Even if he spent hours doing this, when he could actually feel himself growing stronger, Lex never tired of cultivation. Once he was done, Lex finally went to bed. Although at his level the need for sleep was greatly diminished, after such hectic days all without any rest, even he needed a nap. When he woke up, he checked the Inn to make sure all was well.Things were not perfect, as he still had around 400 million guests, way too many for the Inn''s capacity, but the temporary cities were keeping things running for now. Since there was no emergency, he decided to head out. Before he returned to X-142, though, he decided to check up on Polebitvy once. It had been a while since Alexandermunicated with him, so he wanted to check up on things. He teleported to the, reappearing in the wilderness where he previously left from. A scan of the area with his spirit sense revealed that he was alone, so he tried to contact Alexander through the local equivalent of a phone, something he had kept in his spatial bangle, but discovered that he could not connect. Lex frowned. This was not earth, and the technology he was using was supposed to not experience any issues like ''connectivity problems''. Something was amiss. Since his instincts weren''t warning him of any danger nearby, Lex decided to first investigate the fort he was previously staying at. Maybe he could learn something over there. Not to mention, he still had not investigated if the local rebel leader was cooperating with the terrorists Alexander was after. He was not worried his previous identity would suffer any extra suspicion, for he really hadn''t done anything or appeared anywhere else on the. Even if they tried to investigate him, the rebels would not get anywhere. ***** Elsewhere on Polebitvy, two men casually walked around as if the was not at war. In that respect, they behaved much like Lex. Yet there was also a difference between them. When the two walked through crowded streets or passed by other people, no one seemed to notice them. One of the men was holding a clipboard and was taking note of various things. But what was strange was that he did not seem to be observing the people or the buildings. In fact, none of his observations seemed to have anything to do with the locals. Instead, he seemed to be observing the flow of energy and its density, among other things. "Auditor Ripley, as you can see, the Henali have been very careful in maintaining an organic growth of this realm. There are strictws to ensure the realm grows under the best of conditions." "Be that as it may, a few anomalies have been detected as ofte in this realm. Although I do not doubt you, monsieur Hennessey, or the Henali, the Versalis bank has protocols that need to be followed. But do not fret, the Henali have a ster reputation. I have no doubt that there won''t be anything amiss for me to report." Chapter 722 Parents Trap ? John, an old member of the Inn and the local assassin who had not gone assassinating for a very long time, finally reappeared at the Midnight Inn. After months, he had finally won his life or death duel, yet he did not look even remotely happy - but one would have to look past his bloody figure to notice his expression. His right arm, which he had used to deliver his final blow, had beenpletely eviscerated, and ended in a stump right above his elbow. While he was missing no other limbs, that did not mean he was unhurt. Typically, as an immortal, he would have a very strong healing ability, and would not have to go to amon ce like the Recovery room, but that is exactly what he did. Or at least tried to do, for his feeble body waspletelycking the once devastating strength it had. But all was not lost. A member of the security team suddenly appeared next to him, and teleported him right to the Recovery room without asking any questions. As John''s bleeding and battered body was carried in, there was only one injury John was worried about, and that was the injury to his system! He was not sure how it happened, or what his opponent had done, but his system hadpletely stopped working, and with it the cultivation it had granted John had vanished too. In John''s eyes, there was only a hopeless desperation. As unusual as it was, as one ''immortal'' was being taken to the Recovery room, another one was walking out. Ragnar bore no sign of the devastating loss he had suffered, and had healedpletely as one would actually expect of an immortal. But just as he was not frustrated or disappointed by his loss, he was not excited about his recovery. With an even pace, he walked to the Chamber of Secrets, where Emperor Jotun was waiting for him. "How is everything?" the emperor asked, his voice devoid of an urgency or concern as well. "As you spected, Warheil cursed my body. If it is not removed, I will likely turn into a zombie," Ragnar said as calmly as if he was speaking of the weather. "I''m sorry you had to bear this loss," the emperor said with some genuine emotion in his voice, finally. "But this is much too important. With a curse directly from the source, and one powerful enough to affect an immortal, we can finally find a way to reverse it." "Just don''t fail¡­ again" a third voice interrupted the two. They looked over to find a female zombie avidly reading a book. dius, the owner of the book club taking ce at the Inn, had finally given her the correct book to read. Reading a novel really was more interesting than plumbing manuals. She should have reached such a conclusion on her own, but such basicmon sense sometimes eluded her now that she had be a zombie. "Ragnar, I''d like you to meet my daughter, rissa Jotun. Like you, she too suffered from a curse that eventually turned her into a zombie. Yet her curse was not from the source, Warheil. So while studying it and attempting to reverse it allowed rissa to retain her soul and consciousness, it did not stop the transformation. But we learnt a lot during her transformation. I''mpletely confident that now, with your help, and with the information we gathered from her, we will be able to finally find a cure." "For the betterment of humanity, I do not mind bearing the humiliation of defeat and the threat of a curse. I look forward to ridding the universe of zombies once and for all."N?v(el)B\\jnn For a moment, rissa paused, and looked up at Ragnar. She could not help but admire how good he looked¡­ then she looked down again. Suppressing her urge to eat living cultivators was hard sometimes. While externally he did not show it, internally, Jotun was quite pleased. While his intention to find a cure for the zombie curse was real, his main motive was to get Ragnar and rissa to spend more time together. This is what he called¡­ a parents trap! ***** Alexander had a grim look on his face as he stared directly at a number of his superiors, as well as the head of his team, Valkyrie. He was under a lot of pressure, but at the same time, he waspletely rxed for he knew what lines he would not cross. In this interrogation, where he was the one being interrogated, he had been searched and deprived of all his golden keys as well as other treasures. It was so that he would not try and escape to the Inn or cause any problems. Yet they overlooked the fact that he was above level 2 Prestige membership at the Midnight Inn. That meant once every ten years, he could directly teleport to the Inn without the need for a key! To be clear, this was a separate privilege from the one he used to teleport to Vegus Minima, which was the perk he got for being at level 3. "Like I said, I cannot, nor will I, reveal the identity of my agent. Yet I can guarantee that he was not the one who nted the hazardous material." "ording to the cover identity you created, your ''agent'' is only in the Golden core realm? How can he possibly survive and evene back well enough to give a report when none of our agents have survived evening close? It took immortal level involvement to deduce that there is some extremely hazardous material hidden at the designated site, and even then it was not a clear answer. How can a Golden Core cultivator survive where even an immortal did not seed?" Alexander sighed. He did not me them for being suspicious, but by grilling him they were just wasting time. It would have been better spent trying to identify whatever that material really was. At the same time, a part of him really could not help but apud Lex for surviving when literally everyone else who came close died. It was an incredible feat. Chapter 723 All is well, until it isn’t

Chapter 723 All is well, until it isn''t

It did not take long for Lex to find his way to the fort which was acting as a refugee camp. He was half expecting to find it destroyed, and the surrounding region embodied in war. After all, when did he ever encounter things that were simple? Moreover, with Alexander''s long silence, and hismunication device not working, a fullwide war was only the natural assumption one would make, right? As it were, no such event was taking ce. The fort was operating as usual, and when he tried to enter he was given no extra attention. After all, his casual attitude and overall ''clean'' appearance had attracted enough attentionst time to make an impression. He was not even secretly followed as he entered the fort! Spreading his spirit sense carefully, he listened in on the conversations taking ce around him to see what the current situation was. The situation was not exactly ideal as there was still a war going on, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. Fernando, the rebel leader Alexander wanted investigated, had once again led a very sessful strike against one of the local garrisons, strengthening their own position while weakening the official governments. While he was here, Lex considered trying the investigation again. Sure, his ''stealthy'' suit that he had manufactured after his defensive suit on its own probably wouldn''t hide him from high leveled cultivators, but he was willing to give it a try. Learning a proper stealth technique was still on his agenda. He decided to try and investigate the very same night. He was also curious to see if the rebels knew about the hidden dangers under their walls. Maybe it was a failsafe they nned in case the fort was ever taken over. He returned to the same tavern he was staying at earlier, and decided to get some food while he waited. Lex appearedpletely casual, as if he was still getting used to his new realm and had no intention of getting involved with the war. He saw a few familiar faces from when he had previously stayed there, and began catching up with them. Keeping up his covers'' identity and rtions as important, as he never knew when they coulde in handy. A few hourster, as evening wasing to a close, Lex was sitting at a table with a group of locals, ying a card game. It was both entertaining and rxing, and could be considered ''work'' at the same time. How ideal was that? All was normal, until Lex felt something strange. It was not just his instincts that picked up an anomaly, but the very energy within him. The new nameless cultivation technique had exined his existing affinity to him, so he now knew that besides an affinity for ''space'' he could interact withws in general as well. That did not mean he had an affinity for allws, just that he gained the ability to somewhat interact with them. This in itself was a tremendous ability, as it was something he should not have attained until he became an actual immortal. At the same time, what he could do with it was also very limited and situational. N?v(el)B\\jnn But, as it happened, Lex encountered just such a situation where his affinity was triggered. Laws were not rare, and existed across every inch of the universe, as far as Lex understood it. He was not too clear about when or how he would be able to interact withws, but it was definitely not with thews embedded in the fibers of the universe he encountered everyday. Yet at that moment, he encountered an anomaly in thews surrounding where he was. It was that disturbance he felt, using his affinity, that was weakly triggering his instincts. He looked across the tavern towards one of the walls. Nothing special seemed to be happening there, but as it happened, behind the wall in that very direction a short distance away, two men appeared. One of them was holding a clipboard, and taking notes, while the other was smiling and pleasantly chatting with the man. They were not doing anything unusual, and Lex could not detect them entirely either. But his instincts were definitely picking up something, and the feeling was quite ominous. He frowned, and put down his cards. At the table, everyone turned to look at him, curious about what he was doing, but Lex could not be bothered. "Something is wrong," he warned softly, before quickly departing. The feedback from his instincts was unusual and he could not decide if it was danger or something else he was sensing. He decided to investigate carefully. ***** In space, above the Polebitvy, Jeffery was standing inside a small, invisible ship. He was smiling widely as he looked down on the, and whatever he saw made him feel even happier. He wanted to smile even wider, but he physically was limited from doing it! Suddenly his face distorted, and the grin became even wider as his lips fell off his face. But instantly he returned back to normal, and began patting his face, making sure it was okay. He couldn''t give up his identity as a human just yet, and it took quite a bit of effort every time he disguised himself, so he had to restrain himself. "Ah, the hubris of the powerful. I love taking advantage of it," he spoke to no one in particr. Then, with a look of reluctance, he turned away. As much as he wanted to continue watching, things were about to get heated. He had to leave this gxy before someone tracked him down. "The VIPs are in ce. Deliver the wee present," he continued to speak, though no one else was on the ship with him. A few minutester, the ship teleported far away. At the same time, one of the barrels of Void wood hidden under the fort wall cracked. "Holy shit!" Lex could not help but curse as his instincts screamed death. Teleporting back to the Inn, ironically, was not quick enough since his return was always slower than that of guests. Using hisplete strength, and then some, Lex bolted in the opposite direction of the wall. Chapter 724 Eco-terrorists

Chapter 724 Eco-terrorists

There was no explosion. There was no eruption force that could tear open the earth under which the barrels were buried, and there was no p of thunder to warn those in the vicinity of the impending danger. Yet the danger was still there, and arguably even more lethal than an explosion. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex''s abrupt escape immediately attracted attention, and all the guards and soldiers immediately focused on him, as if he were some criminal. As soon as he moved, some of the soldiers began moving to intercept him, but was Lex someone easily cornered? Earlier, he would have relied only on his instincts to guide him, but in this moment, where his body was strained to the maximum amount for survival, he began to notice all the new changes in him. Regal Embrace was about defense, and Mo''s Blessing about offense. Lex decided that he wanted to surpass both, but his cultivation technique interpreted the intent behind his words, and not the words literally. After all, there was a lot more to cultivation than just those two facets, and his technique began enhancing all of them! It was just that, since the changes had only just begun, and there was no opportunity yet, he had not noticed them before. With his senses strained to their utmost, he noticed the movement patterns of the soldiers just as his instincts began warning him. He saw where and how the soldiers would block him, even as his instincts began guiding him in a certain direction. Instantly, and for the first time, he realized the w his instincts had. Their guidance, while correct, was generic. Comparatively, when he detected all the changes himself, realized the patterns of their movement and analyzed the countermeasures himself, he reached the conclusion that the guidance of his instincts, while correct, were not the most efficient path he could take. But at the moment, Lex did not have the time to dwell on these things. The sensation of danger he was feeling was getting even stronger, and in fact he could already detect a familiar itch filling his lungs. He kept running, but before the soldiers could intercept him, hepleted the technique In-Law effect, and teleported as far away as possible. Even while teleporting, he did not lose his momentum, and immediately crashed into the side of a hill once he reappeared. Using only one second, Lex reoriented himself and understood his surroundings while he forced himself to cough until he spewed out some blood tinged with something green. But once the second was over, he continued to teleport. The feeling of danger was still strong! Back at the fort, the soldiers were rmed by Lex''s immediate disappearance. Within the fort, teleportation was supposed to be blocked, unless through the official teleportation formation. Something had definitely happened! But what they had not realized was that since the issue was not caused by Lex, but had urred at the fort wall. When the barrel made from void wood cracked, a green sludge had leaked out. Immediately the earth itself around the barrel began turning to ash, and ultimately the wall as well. The formation lines, which were protected by the sturdy wall, naturally were also eroded, disrupting the formation. This disruption had only taken a moment, and as it happened Lex had teleported away the very moment it happened. Yet as quick as the erosion that was taking ce was, its speed was only growing as more and more barrels cracked. The green sludge continued to spread, but the effects had already begun to influence far off ces. The refugees and citizens in the fort began to copse where they stood, one after another. The soldiers realized something was amiss, and immediately deployed their defensive techniques. Poisons and bioweapons were nothing to, even to the cultivation world. But it was all for naught, for their demise was only dyed by a fraction of a second. The auditor and his escort were perhaps the only ones who detected the threat at the same time as Lex, and their reaction had been exactly the same. Horrified, they teleported far away before they turned to look in the direction of the fort. "What in heaven''s name was that?" asked Hennessey, though he did not let his shock slow his actions. Even before he asked, he had already activated a distress signal, and not one meant to seek help from the Jotun empire, no. As a follower of the Henali, his distress signal targeted them directly! Jotun himself might also detect the signal, if he were in the region, but no one else. "It''s Jah''Hah liquid from the Jah''Hel bog realm," the auditor said with a look of disgust and fear. "It''s extremely corrosive to any and every realm besides its own. If it''s not contained quickly, let alone this, this whole star region will be affected. If things develop towards the extreme then the energy development of the entire gxy will bepromised." Both Ripley and Hennessey wore looks of disgust, both for very different reasons. Ripley turned and began noting something down on the document attached to his clipboard. "I''m afraid you have an eco-terrorist problem. Something like this cannot be smuggled in lighty, or by the uninformed. This is no ident. I need to report this to my manager." Before Hennessey could respond, another figure appeared in front of both of them. The figure was shrouded, so his appearance was hidden, and had no aura at all. Yet neither of them doubted the ability of whoever responded to the distress signal. "What''s the problem?" he asked, his voice echoing in their minds. "We need to iste the hazardous material on that and prevent its spread. We also need a follow up team to investigate the source of this. Whatever has happened here¡­ and how we handle the situation will be reported by auditor Ripley to the Versalis bank." The figure was startled at the mention of the bank and turned to look at the auditor. Suddenly the figureunched his aura in full, and overwhelmed the duo with his presence as a Dao Lord! "You had some remaining contamination on you," the figure mentioned, before disappearing. The barrels of Jah''Hah that had exploded under the fortress, as well as countless other locations on the, all suddenly vanished. Although the liquid barely had a few minutes to corrode the, its effects were irreversible. Millions were already dead, with hundreds of millions likely to soon follow, not to mention how the environment on the would soon deteriorate. "Contact the local authority," the figure said to Hennessey when it reappeared. "The natives of the will need to be evacuated. This will not recover." Both Ripley and Hennessey were surprised to hear the news. It had been a few minutes, at most. Wasn''t that reaction too strong? As if anticipating their curiosity, the figure continued, "the space in the region has been severelypromised. While the corrosive damage from the liquid can be fixed, the damage it did to he space around the¡­ can only heal naturally over time. This location has be vulnerable." As if to emphasize what the figure said, a small portal was ripped open on the. A horde of insect-like creatures began to pour out from the portal with no indication that they would stop any time soon. All three of them watched from a distance, since with their cultivation realm it was quite easy to notice such a significant event even from a distance. "Encountering a wild Minor realm with hostile creatures so soon after such an incident¡­ I suspect your eco-terrorists had nned this in advance. If you''ll excuse me, I have to make an emergency report as per bank protocol, but I''ll stay here to watch as the situation develops. Please, do not let my presence distract you from your duties." Immediately after speaking, Ripley activated a treasure which enveloped him in an opaque shield. Hennessey grimaced upon hearing such news, and activated an emergency contact device of his own. The Henali¡­ will not be pleased. The situation in the Origin realm was about to undergo a massive shake up. Back down on the, Lex finally stopped teleporting as soon as instincts had suddenly stopped screaming at him. He had not been able to sense the interference of the Dao Lord despite his affinity ofws, yet he could definitely detect that the immediate danger had vanished. Yet now, a new yet familiar danger had reced it, though this one Lexpletely disregarded. He wanted to teleport right back to the Inn and avoid this mess, but at the same time he did not want to abandon Alexander. He made a fist and punched himself in the gut once, causing him to vomit out some putrid, green liquid that had gathered in his stomach. Instantly, he felt a lot better, yet weaker at the same time. If whatever the hell that green stuff had affected him so severely, he did not need to imagine what had happened to the others. Chances were, Alexander himself might not have survived if he was exposed to it as well. He decided¡­ to go back to the Jotun stronghold and check it out. If the situation got worse, he could always retreat back to the Inn. Chapter 725 Familiar

Chapter 725 Familiar

Although the sense of danger had vanished, Lex avoided the fort and instead took a long way around towards the Jotun stronghold. The trip would have taken him many hours had he not decided to pull out the ''ship'' he had bought to traverse the Crystal realm. But even then his return was nowhere near quick, and yet he found Polebitvy to be uncharacteristically silent. Even if he was out in the wilderness, far away from any habitation by rebel or local forces, one could usually at least hear the sounds of birds and insects, not to mention the various wild beasts. Yet now, the sound to keep Lexpany was that of the wind, and literally only just the wind. Even the usual rustling of the leaves was absent, for all the leaves of any trees Lex crossed had vanished and turned to ash. The wood and bark of the trees, for some reason, remained unharmed, but it was all too easy to determine that there was no longer any life within them. The once colorful and pleasant scenery had suddenly be barren and deste. Where once the craters caused by the war had been filled with bushes and wild grass, they were now once again empty of all but ash. It was as if the battle that had caused these craters had just ended moments ago. The eerie thing was, Lex did not even encounter any corpses. If all the wildlife had suddenly died, infected by whatever that green poison really was, there should at least be corpses lying around. Perhaps, in some way, that would have been less creepy than the sudden absence of all living creatures. Such amute continued for a short while but Lex, who was paying close attention for any kind of disturbance at all, suddenly detected tremorsing from his left. Due to how sensitive the situation was, Lex did not hesitate to activate his Fancy Contact lenses before turning his ship in the same direction. It was not easy to see far, due to the hilly terrain, but Lex soon heard the very familiar sounds ofbat. From the distance he could hear the thundering of countless feet, as if from a marching army, apanied by the frequent sound of thrashing and banging. Soon, he could hear the sound of a few explosions. He changed into his suit with ridiculously high defense and readied himself for anything as he approached the sounds ofbat. His spirit senses ''saw'' the scene long before he peaked the summit of the nearest hill, revealing to him a small horde of strange gray insects. The insects were around three feet (0.9 meters) long and had tworge ws extending forward, which they used for lotion, as they seemed tock any other limbs dedicated for movement. The ws were also incredibly sharp and hard, which allowed them to use it forbat as well. The few thousand insects that Lex saw had surrounded a small battered group of humans who were fighting for dear life. Just as Lex readied himself to help, he finally reached the peak which allowed him to see the battle happening below, and his face immediately distorted. Since he was notpletely used to his spirit sense, he had failed to make one important distinction. The group of humans were, in fact, a group of kids, surrounded and protected by other civilians. Despite their somewhat decent cultivation realm, none beside them looked like they knew how to fight save one woman who was cutting through the insects like a storm. Lex had no hesitation as he immediately used Imperial Shield and surrounded the struggling group with a number of, well, shields. The insects were not too strong, with most at the Foundation realm and only a few in the Golden core, so he was not worried at all about if they could break his barriers, and instead focused on eradicating them. Taking advantage of his height, Lex leaped forward while he used an array to summon fire around him, and fell into the horde like a meteor! The ground trembled as he fell, and the fire swept over the insects, burning them to a crisp. Yetpared to the massive horde, Lex had only removed but a single drop in the ocean. Undeterred, he cut through the horde, using his brute strength to absolutely crush anything that came in his way. The first punch he threw was slightly stiff, and had the form one could expect of someone who practiced in front of a mirror. Yet Lex seemed to gain a deeper understanding of his body, as well as the structure of the insect he punched, and immediately adapted. The second punch he threw, this time with his left hand as it was following up the one from his right, had the form and fluidity of am amaetur boxer. Moreover, although his strength did not require such precision, his punchnded at the insects most vulnerable point, immediately crushing its spine. Lex suddenly seemed to learn something new once again, this time about how his weight distribution affected his form. Weighing at 712 pounds (325 kgs), it was no wonder his weight affected him. He took a step forward, as he naturally had to progress, yet somehow his posture became perfect for his third punch. This time around, it looked like the blow had been delivered by a professional fighter, and killed the insect without crushing its body. No extra strength had been used at all. As he took another step forward, he did not punch, but swept his foot around and hit countless insects that had closed up on him. When he finally threw his fourth punch, he no longer looked like a professional, but like a champion who had dominated the ring his entire career. With each step he was taking, Lex was undergoing an evolution in his understanding ofbat, and his aura was undergoing a subtle change. Yet all of this was happening subconsciously, as his actual entire focus was on reaching the kids as quickly as possible. Even though they were safe, there was no need for them to remain in such an anxiety inducing environment. As soon as he reached the barrier, he threw in a bundle of golden keys, and merely screamed "crush them!" Whether it was because of the impression he made with his arrival, descending from the heavens in a literal ball of fire, or his dominating aura, or the ruthless efficiency with which he was killing insects, no one asked any questions nor did they ponder over his motives. Without a single thought, they crushed the keys as if listening to Lex was a habit they had long since cultivated. Soon, the entire crowd disappeared, yet Lex did not fail to notice the corpses which were left behind on the ground, even within Lex''s erected barriers. Many of the civilians who had been fighting the insects had bled out and died, even after Lex had separated them from the fight. Yet now was not the time to feel sentimental. He recalled there was still one real fighter, doing her best against thousands of insects, fighting for a hope of salvation that seemed too much of a fairytale to actually believe in. N?v(el)B\\jnn He swept his spirit sense and found her shortly after. He moved towards her with urgency, not because the insects were a threat to him - no, even if he stood absolutely still it would be a wonder if they could harm him - no, he did not want another person to fall while he was still there to help, especially a woman so valiant. With ever increasing ferocity, Lex fought against the invading cretins and finally reached her, yet the moment he saw her a sense of familiarity hit him and he recognized who it was. Previously, when he had arrived at the fort, he had crossed paths with an unusual woman who seemed familiar to him, but he could not recognize. This solo warrior was the very same woman. But although he remembered where he saw herst, that is not why he felt like he recognized her. Instead, it was the way she fought that gave him a shback, and momentarily halted his movements. He recalled a stage and people watching, mesmerized. He recalled gorgeous phoenix eyes, filled with energy and zeal. He recalled thin pink lips which curved into an excited and innocent smile. He recalled a sleek jaw and smooth cheeks that looked like they were carved out of the purest marble, rather than belonging to a real human. He recalled flowing brown hair, even though a ballerina should never have openly flowing hair. Her graceful yet unique movements gave her away. She was the soldier who had once performed a ballet during the Midnight Games cultural show. Yet the reason why she seemed familiar, but Lex could not recognize her, was simply because she must have used rk Kent sses to hide her identity inside the Inn! Yet as the owner of the Inn, he had still been exposed to her real aura, which is why she felt so familiar, yet he could not recognize her. More importantly, while her alternate appearance had looked so breathtakingly beautiful¡­ her actual appearance was, as expected, not the same at all! Now that he had uncovered why he felt like the woman was so familiar, but could not recognize her, he felt a little annoyed that the reason behind the mystery was so simple yet so stupid. "I''ve already teleported the group away, there''s no need to continue fighting," Lex told the woman through his spirit sense. "You should hurry up and retreat as well, there''s no point in continuing to fight." He also handed her a golden key, in case she didn''t have one. Although there was no white horse nearby, Lex did feel like a knight in shining armor. If Fenrir were nearby, he supposed a wolf could have reced the roll of the horse. "I can''t," was all she responded. Chapter 726 Teamwork makes the dream work

Chapter 726 Teamwork makes the dream work

Lex was not expecting such a response, especially in the midst of such arge crowd of monstrous insects. It was one thing for him to remain nonchnt surrounded by a few thousand blood hungry vermin, but it was quite another case for other people. Even if he were not wearing his defensive suit, his body in itself was nothing shy of a tank, yet the ballerina before him, despite being well equipped, was not nearly in the same league. Though admittedly, her movements were phenomenal, and she had yet to suffer a single injury, it was not really enough of an excuse to ignore a safe retreat. In the midst of battle was not really an ideal time to converse, so Lex moved closer so that he could envelope both in his shields. Under normal circumstances, relocating when being assaulted from every angle was not an easy feat that one could just aplish because he wanted to. Lex was effectively fighting against the force of a stampede when he moved through his foes, but he had enough physical strength to back him up, not to mention his ever increasing deftness in battle. Although the situation did not really call for it, he could not help but enjoy the new sensation that he was feeling duringbat. But at the same time, he could feel his improvements slowing down. There was only so much pressure this particr horde could give him, and if he wanted to continue to improve he would need to find a bigger or stronger horde. But unlike Lex, who had all these advantages stacked up for him, the ballerina seemed to use nothing but absolute skill to allow her movement through the insect army. The flow of her movements never stopped, and each lift of the leg or wave of the hand hid a lethal intention behind it. With efficiency far greater than Lex himself, she was leaving behind insect corpses, though admittedly Lex was not really trying. Lex could not help butpare her current appearance to the one he had seen at the Inn. The hair was the most prominent. Back then, it had been a deep brown, evoking nostalgic feelings such as hot chocte during winter, the smell of pine wood, a warm crackling fire over freshly chopped logs and more. Yet now, inparison, her fiery red hair lit his mind aze as if it was tinder, awaiting a lit match. The way it flowed in the air, free and wild, filled him with a feeling of excitement and energy, like he had adrenaline coursing through his veins and he needed to seize the day. Her skin had been wless and fair, like a marble statue of a goddess. Now, however, she had freckles on her cheekbones, though admittedly they had a charm of their own, albeit quite different from the regal and distant impression she had given previously. Her phoenix eyes had been tiny and cute, yet filled with boundless excitement. Now, she had lost that feature, and hadrge green eyes, though somehowrger eyes suited the boundless emotions they stored. Her lips¡­ Lex snapped himself awake from his random thoughts. Was this really the time and ce to be ogling a random woman? He felt slightly embarrassed. It was not as if he had never seen a beautiful woman before. Anita, the lich that worked for him at the Inn, was nothing short of breathtaking herself, breaking all stereotypes for the undead. Moreover, Zuri Adisa, the four leaf clover that had ultimately be a big shot in the Origin realm, also had a humanoid appearance that was nothing short of absolutely legendary. With a clear mind, he finally reached her and immediately put up several Imperial Shields around the two of them so that they could talk without interference. The abrupt emergence of a barrier disrupted the ballerina''s flow for just a moment, but she recovered instantly and took a step back to analyze the situation. Upon realizing that the insects could not break the shields, she finally turned towards Lex. "Is there something else you need to do?" Lex asked, guessing the only possible reason he could think of for why someone would reject safety. "There are a couple of kids I was taking care of. I left them in the Jotun stronghold. I cannot leave without them, and if there''s anywhere on this that''s safe, it''s there. Once I regroup with them, if the situation looks bad, I will consider retreating to the Midnight Inn." Although Lex did not mention the Inn, upon looking at the key Lex gave her, she knew exactly where he had meant to send her. "Do you know what''s happening? These insects don''t look native to this. Don''t tell me that they were unleashed to attack the rebels?" Although Lex did not want to believe that any government would use such a genocidal tactic to eliminate resistance, he knew full well the lengths that people would go to, to get what they wanted. "What happened¡­ we can probably only discover at the stronghold. Allmunication lines are down, even the emergency broadcastworks, so something pretty major happened. I don''t see how the rebel or official forces could build up the courage to affect official Jotunworks,something else must be happening." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om The woman paused her answer, and took a look at Lex top to bottom. A man fully suited looked incredibly out of ce on the battlefield, especially when the suit remained creaseless even after a fight. He seemed strong, and though she had not paid attention to him too much, the barriers he put up were at least useful. "What about you? Are you on a rescue mission, or was this something you just encountered as you passed by?" "There was an attack of some kind on the nearby rebel fort, and it was not something I would expect in a conflict of this scale. Something, or someone, has definitely interfered. I was also heading towards the Jotun stronghold to find out what was happening." The two did not explicitly state it, but seeing as how their objectives aligned, they seemed to reach an agreement to work together. Chapter 727 Consecutive coincidences

Chapter 727 Consecutive coincidences

"My name is Lex," he introduced himself, since they were going to be working together. "Gisele," she responded sinctly. Lex only nodded, and then turned to look at the endless little critters trying to get to them. "Give me a moment," Lex said, before he began forming an array. Comfortably secure behind his shields, Lex took his time to build a strong array capable of dealing area damage. Theck of pressure allowed him tofortably pursue his repertoire of premade arrays, and choose the most suitable one. When he finally unleashed it, an orangish red me rained down from the sky, burning all the insects it touched. Among the arrays Lex had prepared, this was not the strongest, but it was one of the ones with thergest reach. He was not really interested in killing all the insects originally, and nned on leaving. But Gisele''s fiery red hair reminded him of it, not to mention that these insects could go and attack other helpless humans or any survivors of the strange green poison. It was best to get rid of as many of them as possible, so long as they did not dy him too long. Most of the Foundation realm insects burnt to a crisp, though the Golden core ones were only wounded. But, unfortunately for them, using an array took no energy from Lex, so as long as he was uninterrupted, he could use it as many times as he wanted. One wave, two waves, a dozen waves of mes fell from the skies until all the insects were burnt into fiery crisp, or into glowing charcoal. It only took a few minutes of his time. The reason Lex had not done this from the get go was that he did not want to take risks with the survivors. "Let''s go," he said calmly, as he proceeded towards his ship. Gisele remained silent as well, giving no indication of whether she found the feat impressive or not. They set off as soon as they got in the ship, silence fell between them. Just because Lex had focused a little more than usual on Gisele''s appearance did not mean he had a crush on her, or wanted to get closer to her in any way. His focus remained on any other signs of life as they traversed the hilly terrain, yet all of it remained so barren. When all this was happening, Lex had been too busy trying to get as far away from the poison until he found a location safe enough to teleport away from. As such, although he caught glimpses of the eroding environment, he had not paid it too much mind. Gisele, on the other hand, not only had no idea of what had happened, she waspletely bewildered as the environment around her started to decay. As if that was not enough, she was soon after attacked by a horde of never before seen insects. The day was quite eventful, to say the least. This was not even mentioning how she was suddenly feeling ill, though fortunately whatever was making her sick disappeared just as abruptly as it had arrived. A short whileter, they finally crossed the border between the rebel held area. Taking a detour around the fort took some time, but Lex was not willing to risk getting close to it. He did not believe that there were no traces of that poison left in that area. "We''re almost there," Lex dered, surprised that their trip had been uninterrupted by any other significant event. It seemed like they truly were traveling on a barren. "Although there weren''t so many people around when I crossedst time, it really wasn''t this empty. I suppose everyone retreated to the stronghold," said Lex absently, not really expecting a response. "A lot of people died very suddenly¡­ and whoever died turned to ash, leaving no trace of their bodies. The same happened to all the beasts." "What?" Lex asked, startled. Before Gisele could rify what she meant, a few things distracted him. First, Mary reached out to him. "Lex, I thought you should know, a group of kids and civilians arrived at the Inn a short while ago. They were all wounded and so were being treated, but we''ve just discovered an extremely potent poison in their bodies. Even the Recovery Pod cannot heal them, and will at most slow things down. If nothing is done, they''re going to die." The news was quite rming, as it meant even people who had survived the initial spread of the poison may end up dying. But before Lex could process the news, or even check up on his newpanion, he felt a strange fluctuation in space. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Overhead, a tear opened up in space itself, and insects began raining down from the sky. Only, these ones weren''t as weak as the ones Lex encountered before. The weakest ones were at the Golden core realm, while a majority were at the Nascent realm. Based on this trend¡­ there was even a chance for there to be some immortals! "If there are immortals, we won''t be able to cross so easily. Be ready to retreat to the Inn," Lex said seriously, his gaze fixed on the insect rain. "No, I can''t afford to leave the kids behind! If the situation gets bad, you can leave without me. I''ll find my way across." Lex snapped his neck back to look at her and see whether she was serious or not. He did not know if she was being stubborn, or really had something to rely on. Either way, for now at least, it seemed like he had to force his way through. "And we were so close¡­" he couldn''t help but mumble. One could even say that he had raised this g himself by acknowledging how easy his journey had been, but Lex thoroughly refused to believe in gs. He would continue this behavior and prove that the continuous bouts of bad luck he encountered¡­ were all just consecutive coincidences. Chapter 728 No fear

Chapter 728 No fear

As inconvenient as it was having to go through a rain of killer insects, Lex was not only going because of Gisele. He needed a cure for the poison if he was going to treat his guests, and the Jotun empire was the most likely to have one. Or at least know of one. This waspletely not an excuse for him to show off in front of a pretty girl. "You keep mentioning wanting to retreat. If you wish to head back, you can go. I can manage on my own," said Gisele. She had been using the ride to recuperate and had recovered much of her spiritual energy. This was apletely foreign concept to Lex, as he always had such massive spiritual energy reserves that he barely ever came close to depletion. If he ever did, it was mostly because of how ridiculously extreme his situation was. "It''s not me I''m worried about. I am well aware of what I can handle, but typically, going straight through thousands of enemies is reason enough to give others pause." He looked at her to see if she reacted, but her gaze waspletely fixed on her objective. Lex''s mention of the number of enemies did not phase her at all. "I can take care of myself. I am no stranger to a tough fight." She paused for a moment, then turned to look at Lex. "As you said, facing so many enemies is no cakewalk. Is there a particr reason why you''re heading to the stronghold? If it''s just curiosity about what happened, you can always find out after the fight is over." "A strange poison was spread across Polebitvy. It even affected those that I rescued. I''m hoping the Jotun have the cure for it. After all, someone definitely acted out to stop the spread, or the damage caused would have been much worse." As soon as he finished speaking, Lex''s expression changed as he realized something. N?v(el)B\\jnn "Wait a minute, are you also poisoned?" he asked, although he believed he already had an answer. Both times when it came to the matter of the poison, even he was affected, so how could others avoid it. "All the more reason to reach the stronghold," Gisele said calmly, as if her words were exnation enough. Lex shook his head disapprovingly. Exertion would most likely only make her situation worse, but if she wasn''t willing to listen to reason, who was he to force her otherwise? He, instead, turned his attention forward. The stronghold, by which he meant the small area protected by the Jotun empire, was not yet in view, but it was close. "We cannot let them slow us down," dered Lex as his ship continued to move towards the raining insects. For a moment, he could not help thinking that he was d that he didn''t have entomophobia. "I''m strongest at close rangebat, though I can still do some damage at a distance." "My shields don''t really work well with a moving object, so they''re out of the picture. As it happens, what I''m best at is also close rangebat, but well, I''m sure I can manage something." Gisele nodded and summoned a vial from a spatial equipment she had, before drinking it. Clearly she was making preparations for the fight. Lex, too, decided to prepare for the fight, so he entered his state of flow. When he told her that what he was best at was close rangebat, it wasn''t wrong since he only recently improved dramatically in the field. But even so, that didn''t mean he wascking in other areas. He did not know why, but his instincts warned that it was best he keep his identity hidden while fighting, so he used Notorious Anonymity - the technique that covered his face with a particrly devilish mask. Gisele suddenly got goosebumps and looked towards Lex. For some reason, the aura he was giving out changed, and quite dramatically. Two arrays appeared around him, one in front of each hand, and his eyes hidden behind the mask became dark. Without Regal Embrace holding him back, it was time to let loose and see what he could really do. ***** While Lex only had to face a newly forming horde, and even then he only had to cross them rather than defeat them all, the situation in the Jotun stronghold was much, much worse. Five separate tears in space surrounded the stronghold, unleashing five massive armies of the very same insects. A massive formation protected the stronghold from the immediate threat of the horde, but it was unknown how long the formation would hold out, for five immortal insects were constantly bashing it. The stronghold did not have many soldiers, but the few that were stationed there were all geared up and standing ready for their orders. Even facing such a tremendous force, there was not a hint of fear that tainted their resolve. If anything, a sense of excitement and anticipation filled every street and corner. To be a Jotun soldier was not something that could be achieved by the faint of heart. Or rather, the Jotun took those weak of heart and turned them into spectacr soldiers. The number of insects had grown so immense that no one could guess how many there truly were. They could not climb the formation, but so many of them piled up against it that they at first began to cover the sides. But slowly and steadily, as their numbers increased, they began to truly cover the entire formation, slowly and steadily blocking all the light that was entering within. It was this scene and this environment into which Alexander stepped when he was finally released from his interrogations. Behind him six des floated, now with the very edge of their de glowing red. After fighting Lexst time, he had thought of ways to increase his attacking power, and this new technique was what he came up with. Within the center building of the stronghold, Belle, who was going by the code name Valkyrie, received an emergency call. It was her ancestor, and the founder of the Williams family. Chapter 729 Bloody art

Chapter 729 Bloody art

"Ancestor what-" "Don''t speak and just listen to me," William interrupted Belle, his mood extremely solemn. "The situation at Polebitvy is extremely dire. Not just the entire, but the entire star system, as well as all star systems nearby are being evacuated. In fact, the empire may even give up on the entire Pendal gxy depending on what happens next. "What I''m about to tell you is beyond confidential, to the utmost degree, and is perhaps the most important news you will hear in your entire life." William paused, though only for the briefest of moments, giving Belle enough time to process everything he had just said. "The news I''m giving you is the same news I would give to any of my descendants if they were in your situation, understand? What you''re about to hear is not a reward for your talent or your newfound strength, it''s an opportunity independent of everything else. Whether you take it or not is up to you, and whether you survive or not is alsopletely up to chance." Williams'' exasperation and frustration as he said those words was quite evident, but she could not understand why. What she did understand was that she was in a situation much more serious than she had ever faced before, and perhaps it was not the time to be willful. Of course, that would never prevent her from being willful if she truly wanted to. She could not control the universe, that was something she learnt at a very early age. She could only control her own actions. "Jeffery, the terrorist you were hunting, seems to have a much bigger background than anyone expected or anticipated. What he just pulled off at Polebitvy has interrupted ns that are billions of years in the making, and he has angered some tremendously powerful people. As we speak, almost every single powerful entity in the entire Origin realm is surely making their way to the Pendal gxy to hunt for his traces. What you have is an advantage everyone elsecks, which is that you''re the closest to him. "If you can hunt him down, whether you catch him alive or kill him, the rewards you will get surpass anything you can imagine. I''m forwarding you a live link to the same information the emperor himself is receiving at this very moment. What you do next¡­ ispletely up to you." The call ended, and the world around Belle seemed to slow down. Although a lot of extremely critical information was shared, due to their cultivation their speed ofmunicating was extremely fast. Not even aplete second had passed since she picked up the call, and it had already ended. Countless thoughts swam through her head. Her personal goals, her family''s struggles, the grudges against her parents she had nursed in her heart for so many years, the fates of the soldiers under hermand, the fate of her two sisters, Liz who had run away and had yet to be found and Moon who had spent most of her life imprisoned, her brother Lex who vanished off earth with no trace, and countless others. With this opportunity in front of her, she felt like her, she felt like her character was truly being tested. After all, right at her doorstep five immortals were banging, waiting toe in and kill them all. Moreover,?there was only one immortal stationed in the Jotun stronghold. Without Belle''s help he probably would not survive long against five foes. That meant everyone at the stronghold would simrly die. She closed her eyes and sighed. Since when had she cared about others? She would do whatever she wanted, as she had always done. A bright light burst out of her skin, passing through all walls and obstructions, and her aura began to rise. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om ***** Gisele slowly lowered the sword in her hand. It seemed that she would not need it, at least for now. Her eyes were fixed on Lex who stood at the bow of the ship, his feet nted firmly and his posture perfect, he did not seem to be fighting a dire fight, but instead orchestrating a grand work of art. A very bloody and brutal piece of art. The arrays he used summoned countless small spikes of ice, barely asrge as her finger, and that''s it. The arrays did not evenunch the spikes, no Lex did that personally using his spirit sense. At first a couple, then a few, then a dozen, and then a few dozen, until it reached the point where she could no longer count, insects swarmed them to attack. Yet each insect that came close was pierced with a single ice spike, and fell to the ground. Not all insects died. Some were only crippled, while others were merely paralyzed while others still, those who were stronger, were merely wounded seriously. He was extremely urate in his aim, and precise in targeting only those that targeted them first. She did not know how long he could keep this up, but in her mind that was much too powerful. No one at the Golden core realm should be this good at killing, yet when she thought about it, all he really did was use some arrays and his spirit sense. Theoretically speaking, it shouldn''t even be very spirit energy intensive. Was this a disy of¡­ not being good at long range fighting? Once, a nascent level insect seemed to have blocked the spikes and came close to attacking them. Gisele prepared to counter so that Lex could continue fighting the rest, but then Lex merely looked towards the insects, and it began screaming as if its very soul had been ripped to shreds. In a few minutes, they passed through the insect rain and came out the other side. The experience waspletely surreal, and Gisele kept looking back as if to ensure they really had managed to cross so easily. But just as she was beginning to feel the relief of a close escape, Lex cursed. "Crap!" Chapter 730 A Devil And An Angel ? Crossing the new space breach was rtively simple, as the insects had not had time to umte. At most, it was like crossing a thick, heavy curtain - if that curtain were made of living, smelly, disgusting insects that smelled. Lex wiped off some bloody goo from under his nose. No wonder the smell kept haunting him. It was still dangerous and tricky, but manageable more or less due to how fast his ship was. Yet when he looked at the stronghold after crossing the ''curtain'', Lex could not help but curse. There were too many insects to count, and they were beginning to cover the dome like protective formation around it, slowly covering the entire stronghold. As if that was not enough, he could feel the familiar yet intimidating aura of immortals from the insects. "That''s not good," even Gisele admitted with a frown as she noticed the siege. Despite the situation, Lex could not help but be a bit amused. Really? The army blocking our way is bad news? But he had the sense to not voice out his thoughts. "Gisele, do you know anything about arrays?" Lex asked, as he thought up a n of what to do next. The most important thing was to avoid the immortals. Everything else could be managed. "Just the basics. I can''t use arrays if that''s what you mean." "No, not that," Lex said. "Arrays, no matter how big or small, how strong or weak, are all powered by the universe. They get their energy from their environment. But the issue I''m facing¡­ is that the energy here is really weak and unstable. My arrays areing out a lot weaker than they''re supposed to be." Gisele raised an eyebrow. That was weak? "The reason I''m telling you this¡­ is because what I''m about to do next is really risky. Even if you really don''t want to, I suggest you mentally prepare yourself to retreat to the Inn." "What are you nning?" Lex only smiled weakly, but did not answer. Some things¡­ were best not said aloud, lest he be used of being crazy. In that moment, the aura of another immortal appeared, and this time behind them. It seemed like an immortal insect really had emerged from that hole in space. Guess there was no more time to look back. ***** The stronghold was bing ever darker as the soldiers waited for their orders. For now, all thebat was being done via the formation, so they need not do anything. But the moment the formation failed, or was deactivated, it would be their turn to fight. Alexander could not help but crane his neck upward, as he looked at the remaining bit of the formation still uncovered, and at thest few rays of light stilling in. He had already sent a message to the Inn to inform Lex not toe back to Polebitvy, at least for now. The result of the uing battle would determine whether Alexander would even continue hunting for the terrorists or not. Yet just as the dome was about topletely darken, a pure, bright light emerged from the center of the stronghold, illuminating every corner. Alexander could not help but turn back to see where the light wasing from. At first, he could not see much as the source of the light was too bright, causing him to close his eyes. But a few momentster, though the light did not dim, a figure suddenly became visible right in the center. All anyone could see was a vague outline of a woman, and six incredible, massive wingsing out from behind her. She was rising up in the air slowly, and her aura grew more powerful as she rose higher. One could tell that she was building up her strength to release it all at once. But before she had a chance to reach her peak strength, the sound of thunder pierced the dome, the very ground trembling from its reverberating might. The soldiers once again snapped their neck, this time towards the source of the sound. At the base of the dome, they could see that the insects had been burnt to a crisp, and a clearing, ever so small appeared. But the clearing was too small, and the horde was quicklying to close it. But before they could, a bolt of lightning fell from the sky, once again devastating any insects near that clearing, and releasing another thunderous roar. For some reason, all the soldiers had the same thought, ''tribtion lightning!'' But, why was it striking the ground here? Was the itself undergoing a tribtion? But before their minds could wander much farther, and their imagination ran wild, a figure became visible from the clearing. On a strange ship in the shape of a canoe, a man and a woman were quickly approaching.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Even from such a distance, the devilish mask covering the man''s face was visible, though the soldiers did not have time to appraise it for long. A mind rattling shriek pierced the air, and an insect struck out at them from a distance. The insect looked identical to any other, but the aura of an immortal was all too prominent to make anyone mistake it for an ordinary one. They could only watch helplessly as the daring raid from the two stragglers was about to fail, but then something unexpected happened. The devil lifted its hand and, with perfect timing, seemed to divert the attack just as it was about to hit them, andunched it towards the clearing! There was another thunderous roar, and this time all the insects in the path of the canoe were shredded, forming a gruesome red carpet of blood for the passage of the ship! In that very instant, the figure in the center of light reached her peak strength, and unleashed a devastating attack that seemed to target each and every insect around the dome. For better or worse, the battle had begun. On one side was a man akin to a devil, on another side a woman who radiated the aura of an angel, and in the middle a horde of wailing insects. Chapter 731 Stop Showing Off ? Back when the A.I. had invaded the Inn, Lex had taken an attack from an immortal head on, and survived. It was an experience he was not eager to repeat, for every bone in his body had been crushed almost into fine powder. Moreover, the only reason he survived was because the robot hadcked something fundamental that other immortals had, which made it weaker. So, although Lex of course needed recognition for the event, one could also say a lot of luck was at y. If the robot had not been fundamentally weaker, if the force of the attack had not been channeled into the ground through his feet, and if Impervious hand had somehow not taken control of the robots soul, there was a good chance Lex would have died, or at least been seriously injured beyond what he had been already. That was why, Lex did not dare utter out his n to once again face an immortal, lest his resolution waver. But, unlikest time, Lex did not intend to take the attack head on. No, this time, Lex only wanted to divert the attack into the otherwise massive army of insects to clear a path for his escape into the formation. That should be easy, right? He only needed to aplish two impossible feats back to back. Lex entered the flow state, getting rid of any distracting thoughts and allowing himself to focus on the task at hand. He honed in on any guidance his instincts provided, while at the same time started using all the new advantages he had gained with his new cultivation technique. He used a familiar array, and summoned the lightning from immortal tribtions to herald his arrival, and attract the attention of an immortal. If he was going to do this, he absolutely could not allow himself to cower or do things half heartedly. Even a hint of weakness, even if it was in his thoughts, or the aura he had umted, could result in his failure. Therefore, he had to act as if he already knew he was bound to seed. No, he could not act. His sess was a foregone conclusion, he just had to act it out now. There were no clouds in the sky until Lex used his array, or rather, until he repeatedly used the same array. Although his arrays were not delivering the same level of attacks he was used to, he would just go for quantity if he failed in quality. Like divine judgment, lightning mmed down on the ground, destroying everything in its path. The insects were decimated, and those that were lucky enough to survive the first lightning strike were done in by the second, or the third, or even the forth. Behind Lex, Gisele stood with a sword in her hand, a stoic expression on her face. There weren''t any good solutions, so they had to go for a bad solution. Since Lex seemed decently confident, she allowed him to lead. Secretly though, she retrieved a small blue orb and clenched it in the fist of her free hand.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om As lightning fell, as the earth shook, as the insects wailed, and even as an immortal insect attacked, she did not flinch. If Lex could not handle the situation, she would. But the orb in her fist remained unused. As the attack descended on them, Lex, with such perfect timing it seemed like he had practiced it a hundred times, reached out with his right hand and, ever so carefully, diverted it to the insects in their path. He had done it so smoothly it seemed like he barely used any effort, and with the devilish mask hiding his expressions, one could not tell if he was even in any pain, for the mask seemed to beughing. Lex kept standing, but the ship they were on seemed to have suffered greatly from just being in the proximity of the attack. It began to slow, and eventually began to fall. "Follow me," Lex said in a seemingly calm voice. He stepped onto the bow of the ship and then took another step forward,nding perfectly on the ground as the ship itself crashed into the ground. Gisele, too, had exited the ship calmly, and continued to walk behind Lex. Though, at the speed they were moving at, walking only referred to how casually they moved their legs, not the distance they were covering. In a few seconds they crossed the macabre red carpet that marked their path and reached the formation. Just as there was hope that they could enter the formation without the need for any fighting, a devastating attack wasunched from within the stronghold. Instantly the nature of the formation changed, and instead of blocking the insects it allowed them to enter, so that the soldiers could fight in a terrain that suited them rather than the enemy. Amidst the roar of the soldiers'' battle cry, and the wailing of a sea of insects, Gisele could have sworn she heard Lex sigh. Gently, Lex tucked his right hand into his trouser pocket and lifted his left hand. "Shall we see whose closebat is better?" he asked casually, as if standing in his own backyard. Gisele rolled her eyes and lifted her sword. "If you''re injured, just follow my lead. No need to try and show off," she said, before beginning her ballet performance. A few thousand tonnes of insects were falling on top of them now that the formation had changed, and there was no more time for talking. Yet even then, for some reason, she could clearly hear the sound of Lex chuckling? Injured? Oh Lex was most definitely injured as his right hand, arm, shoulder de and rib cage were crushed. The muscles in that half of his body were also shredded. If someone poked Lex on his right side at that moment, they would discover that his body was more like jelly than its usual self. It was in anticipation of such a level of injury that Lex had blocked from his right instead of his left, lest his heart be crushed as well. It was not the injury itself that was the problem for Lex at that moment, as he could control his body using just his spirit energy. No, it was the soul ripping pain that he was in that was overwhelming his senses. The reason he had so calmly descended from the ship, the reason he so casually walked to the dome formation, and the reason he was doing everything with such serenity was not because he wanted to look cool, but because sudden jerks shot pain all through his body. Chapter 732 Fresh From The Fight ? The first thing Lex did was to erect an Imperial Shield above himself and Gisele. No matter how strong they were, being crushed by the enormous weight of a mountain of insects was going to kill them. The next thing he did was analyze the situation. He had not expected the formation to change so suddenly. He was betting on getting inside the formation since he was sure that it would only block out the insects, not the humans. Or else, he would remain at the mercy of the immortal level insect. Though He had diverted one of its attacks, he could not do so again. As it was, the immortal level insect no longer focused on him for a devastating attack from within the formation had targeted all the immortal level insects. What followed was a fight among immortals, held up in the air above the stronghold. Lex did not doubt that the empire woulde out the winner in thepetition, as the strength of the empire was not for show. For all the bravado he had shown earlier, Lex now only had one objective: to reach the center of the stronghold. He would get away from the fighting, and see if there was a cure to the poison to be found. If not, he would get out of there as quickly as possible and go get some sleep. The serious injury he had suffered was no doubt going to end with him sleeping for at least another month or two, which would seriously hamper his ns. But his ns couldn''t keep up reality, he could now only hope that whatever treasure the mystery man wanted him to find had not yet been discovered.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Unfortunately for Lex, even in his current situation, his ns couldn''t keep up with reality. Just as he started heading deeper into the stronghold to get away from the battle, Belle informed the Jotun immortal stationed there to hold nothing back and attack with all his strength and resources. Just above her head was an opportunity so precious, beings from all over the realm were rushing towards here. Every second she wasted was a seconds worth of advantage she gave up! Orders passed down in a sh, and the Jotun forces finally charged! Though it was a uniform charge, with all forces working in tandem, their speed was not slow at all. Instantly the two forces shed, and all hell was let loose. Lex and Gisele werepletely surrounded by insects, and as if the pressure they were facing was not enough, the charge by the Jotun forces pushed the insects back, effectively squeezing the two who were caught in the middle. Lex, who had used Harden to ensure the right side of his body didn''t slump, was not really in the state to respond quickly to the oing force. Since his arrays, albeit not useless, were not delivering the potency he hade to expect, he had to get creative. His right hand still in his pocket, Lex lifted his left hand and held out his palm, as if asking the insects to stop. But naturally, Lex was not being so courteous. Instead, he was making use of his extremely alien space affinity. He had not yet learned to harness its power in any tangible way, unlike his employee Z, but during his brief and rare instances of practice, the one thing he had learnt was what kind of use would bring about undesirable results. Right now, that''s exactly what he wanted. The air in front of his palm started to wrinkle, just a bit, and all the insects who came in the vicinity of the wrinkles slowed down, as if the flow of time itself had altered around them. But that was not the case, instead the already fragile space in Polebitvy had be warped. In some ces it had be denser and others it had stretched beyond what was reasonable. The insects who entered this region experienced the unpleasantness which was having the very space their bodies upied be fragile. The instability of space did not hurt their physical bodies nearly as much as it tortured their souls, which required absolute stability to exist. Although Lex had, in one single move, stopped the retreat of the entire army, he instantly paled as he felt his energy reserve deplete drastically. No matter his affinity, ying with space, especially on such arge scale, was not easily sustained. Lex withdrew his left arm as he mentally prepared himself for a real fight close up. Though he still nned on continuing to use arrays, their current unreliability meant that at any time he might need to defend himself. Even though it was bound to hurt, if it came down to it, he''d fight tooth and nail. But, just as he mentally prepared himself to face some pain, he felt a connection that had eluded him for a long time, and he could not help but rx. With his space interference stopped, the few hundred insects which had been affected fell to the ground, but the countless vermind behind them did not pause and rushed towards him like a tidal wave. Gisele, who had been fighting off the attack from the opposite side, sensed the arrival and prepared herself to rescue Lex, but then suddenly he seemed to vanish in her senses! rmed, she turned to look back, but was not prepared for what she saw. Although he could not be detected, Lex had not vanished. Instead, he was now astride a massive, white wolf, which simrly could not be detected by her senses. "Get on," she heard him speak through his spirit sense, and she did not hesitate toply. Fenrir, who had just ended an extremely long and difficult trial, was ready to meet its friends it had not seen in so long. Yet what awaited it was not the familiar cozy, andfy Midnight Inn, but a brutal battlefield. Strong, fast, and fresh from a fight for the fate of the forest, Fenrir had arrived just in time to save Lex from an ufortable amount of pain. "I''m a little hurt," confided Lex to his trustedpanion. "I''ll let you deal with this rabble." Chapter 733 Odd Encounter ? Atop his loyal steed - eh, atop his loyal wolf, Lex was suddenly reminded of the fact that even in his most desperate situation, he really wasn''t alone. The nefarious system added all kinds of restrictions to prevent his escape to the Inn during a fight, but there was no such restriction on bringing in members of the Inn. The moment he felt his connection to Fenrir restored, he did not hesitate to summon him over. Lex could instantly tell that Fenrir had grown much stronger, and from him Lex could feel an aura that was oddly simr to divine energy, though not quite. The pup was momentarily startled by its sudden arrival in a battlefield, but it did not affect its performance. It had been fighting nonstop until its trial ended,and so it had really honed its instincts. Although a battlefield was a very different environment to fight in from a forest, the pup adapted quickly enough. With the ferocity that befitted one who had been originally summoned as a protector for the Inn, the pup tore through the horde as if it was paper. Whether it was one insect in front of it or a hundred, its ws felt no difference. Gisele was genuinely surprised now, and finally a tinge of curiosity awoke within her. Deflecting the blow of an immortal did not make as much of an impression on her as Fenrir did, as she was deeply knowledgeable about beasts, and could tell that Fenrir''s origins weren''t simple. Lex, who did not doubt Fenrir''s capability at all, was not paying attention to it at all. Instead, all his spirit sense had converged within his body, more specifically his back, as he tried tomunicate with the Lotus on his back. It had been oddly silent for a while now, which suited Lex fine most of the time. But now, he needed its help. Originally Lex never dared to ask the Lotus for things like this, because he was always too worried about maintaining the prestige of the Innkeeper. But now that he was slowly and steadily bing more powerful, he was a lot less concerned about that - at least as far as the Lotus was concerned. With time, as he grew stronger, he would have to pretend less and less, as he would eventuallypletelye into the role of the Innkeeper, and perhaps even surpass it one day. With such a mentality, he did not shy from making use of the Lotus when he could. "Hey, wake up," he transmitted his voice into the tattoo on his back. The Lotus did not immediately respond so Lex gathered up his energy and focused, doing his best to summon the authority and aura of the Innkeeper he had nurtured on his own, not the one given to him by the Host Attire. Fenrir, Gisele, and all the immortals in the vicinity noticed the unusual aura gathering down below, but none other than the first two could tell where it wasing from. "Wake up," his voice echoed, and this time, the Lotus roused from its deep slumber. "My body is injured," Lex said, his tone unchanging. "Do you think you can speed up its recovery?" "Yes of course," the baby Lotus responded timidly, and immediately began channeling its aura and circting around Lex''s body, drastically speeding up his recovery. "Is this kind of thing a burden for you?" Lex asked again, just to be sure. "No, not really. But I can''t spend much time awake. I have already used up a lot of my energy without getting enough rest, if I keep this up it''ll be really bad for my growth." "I understand," Lex said as he felt his body recover. He decided not to bother the Lotus unless it was a real emergency in the future. But with so many allies around him, Lex''s confidence grew once again. Despite how casually Lex was taking it, the battle was actually extremely intense. Too much time had passed already, and Belle decided to end things once and for all, even if she had to pay a price. The six illusory wings behind her spread, glowing with light so bright it blinded the eyes and spirit sense of all in the area. When the light receded, it took the shape of an armor and sword made entirely of light. Her helmet of light did not even leave any gaps for her eyes, though at her level such things hardly mattered.N?v(el)B\\jnn When the remaining insects caught sight of her again, she had already critically wounded one immortal, and swiftly moved to injure another. rmed, the insects began working together, not harming her but keeping themselves from harm as well. Feeling frustrated, she held back no more and activated her ts, which began affecting the environment around them, and made the situation even more dangerous. The entire continent under her suffered an earthquake and the fighting on the ground stopped momentarily, and the scenery in the sky changed. As if rmed by the sudden change, all the immortal insects suddenly focused all their attacks on the shining angel in the sky, Belle. Though she could have avoided it, she allowed herself to be hit as she gathered her strength. Their attacks could not prate her armor anyway. Like aet, she crashed into the ground killing countless insects. Yet that brief departure from battle also gave her the time she needed to prepare her final attack. She looked up, ready to hone in on her targets, but saw a white wolf standing above her, looking down at her oddly. Atop the wolf sat a man wearing a devilish mask and a woman, also looking down at her. While her aura should have prevented anyone not immortal from even approaching her, these few all seemed unaffected. The wolf, as if deciding it was uninterested, turned away and continued to fight the insect horde. Belle, due to her excellent senses, heard the devilish man mumble, "I should really get a pair of sunsses," while squinting away from the light her body was emitting. The¡­ odd encounter did not even give her a moment''s pause. She had no time to wait, and finally, her full strength was unveiled. Her Valkyrie soul was awakened, and she, as a human,channeled the racial powers of the angels. She unleashed an attack so bright, for a moment the light from the local star even seemed to dim inparison, before flying off into the sky. She never meant to kill the insects anyway. Injuring them was more than enough to hold them off until reinforcements arrived. Chapter 734 ACA Lex ? It took Lex a few moments to realize what happened. The earth immortal with angel wings hadunched a devastating attack that heavily influenced the battle in the humans favor, before disappearing into space. Although her target had been other immortal insects, the coteral damage from her attacks drastically dropped the number of enemies the humans had to fight.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om It made life easier for Lex too. With fewer obstructions, Fenrir quickly navigated his way from the very thick of battle towards the center of the stronghold. With the armies well trained coordination, it was only a matter of time before they won the war outright. With the pressure off him, Lex easily soon exited the battle, though no one seemed to notice the giant wolf as it openly marched through the vacant streets. "You''re leaving the battle?" Gisele questioned, a hint of disapproval in her voice. "Certain matters require urgent attention," Lex replied, paying her no mind. He had officially brought her to the stronghold, and even helped her escape the fight. If she wished to go back, he would not stop her nor interfere in her matters. His focus was entirely on the cure. Gisele hesitated, but decided to stick with him. Lex was right. Her priority in the current situation was to check on the kids who had been with her, not the fight. Lex was beginning to feel that the worst was behind him, when suddenly Gisele coughed. It was not a bad cough, and it did not happen again, but at their level, even a cough was a significant matter. He was suddenly reminded that she was poisoned, as possibly everyone else in the area as well. Lex and Gisele looked at each, both aware of what the cough meant. "Let me see if I can slow down the poison," Lex said as he lifted his hand, but waited for her to agree. Considering that Lex''s performance was quite remarkable so far, and that he himself had yet to show any signs of suffering from the poison, she nodded. Lex ced his fingers right below her wrist, as if checking her pulse. But he was not investigating her situation. Instead, he asked the Lotus, "can you check the body of the woman I''m touching? Can you find a cure for the poison in her system?" "Let me check," the Lotus said, and allowed its energy to travel through Lex''s fingers into Gisele''s wrist. Gisele, who was being investigated, suddenly stiffened. The spiritual energy which had entered her wrist was beyond overbearing. If she tried to resist in any way, there was a very good chance her meridians themselves might tear. After a few moments of investigation, the Lotus replied, "yes I can remove the poison, but this poison is incredibly powerful. I''m afraid the moment I finish removing it, I''ll fall into a deep sleep." Lex frowned, and then removed his hand. This was the first time he had encountered something that gave the Lotus some kind of trouble. Whatever the poison''s origins were, they absolutely weren''t ordinary. For now, it wasn''t worth putting the Lotus to sleep to save one person. Although he said nothing, the frown on his face informed Gisele of whatever she needed to know. She wasn''t particrly disappointed, for she didn''t expect much. If the poison were so easy to remove, she would have already done it. Little did she know, Lex really had removed the poison from his own body. Although technically, that was a result of his body''s own reaction, and was achieved by removing the infected area, such as a piece of his lung or his blood. "Let''s hurry," was all Lex could offer as he spurred Fenrir to pick up the pace. It had to be mentioned that the poison remained unidentified even by the Fancy contact lenses, and the same could be said for the strange insects. Lex could ept the absence of information of the poison due to how unusual it was, but considering the lenses came from the Emporium, he expected them to have a detailed database of allmon and umon creatures in the Origin realm at least. This point was highly suspicious, but Lex could do nothing about it, so he put the matter at the back of his mind. "I''ll get off here, the apartment I left the kids in is in a different direction," said Gisele as she hopped off Fenrir. "Good luck," offered Lex, before he continued on his way. He was not roaming the stronghold randomly, and was heading towards the mainmand center in which they even had their teleportation formations. If he wanted to ask about the poison, he would either need to find a doctor, or someone higher up along the chain ofmand. The building, surprisingly, was not unprotected as Lex had expected. There was a heavily armed guard stationed at every corner. At a nce Lex could easily determine that these were not the usual guards, but instead were probably some of the reinforcements that had teleported over. He didn''t know what they were waiting for, but he knew that if he revealed himself they''d probably ask him to reveal his identity. Fortunately, Lex had an official identity with the Jotun forces. He asked Fenrir to shrink down as they hid beside a nearby building, and Lex dismissed Notorious Anonymity. He even changed out of his suit so that no one would associate him with the crazy devil guy who had diverted an immortals'' attack. Gisele was the only one who knew his identity, but he did not really expect her to tattle. Even if she did, he was not too concerned for the nagging feeling his instincts gave him to hide his identity had vanished. So much movement caused his pain to once again spike, but there was nothing he could do about that. At least the Lotus was healing him, which helped reduce the pain somewhat. As soon as he neared the main building, the stationed guards noticed him and aimed their weapons at him. "Identify yourself!" one of the soldiers yelled in an extremely aggressive and hostile voice. "Auxiliary Combat Aid (ACA) Lex," he yelled back, as he walked back slightly hunched. "I''m severely injured, I need medical aid!" The guards finally lowered their weapons and approached Lex, but even then, no one seemed to notice the little white pup following behind Lex. Fenrir''s abilities had really grown during his time away. Chapter 735 Mysterious Healer ? Two soldiers slowly approached Lex to ensure he had nothing suspicious nned. Although they knew the ongoing battle was against some foreign race, they were under the highest level lockdown so they had to take every precaution. "What''s the matter with you? You don''t look injured," said one of the soldiers. "It''s the bones in my right arm. They''repletely crushed. I need to see a doctor," confessed Lex, telling the truth. This was a much quicker way of getting close to the medical professionals then showing up and directly asking for the cure. Besides, he was not sure if more immortals would be showing up. If that were the case, using any kind of coercive means would end badly for him. Not to mention, if he got to experience the medical system of the empire first hand and liked it, there was a lot he could learn. The soldier scanned Lex with his spirit sense, and was rmed to see the state Lex was in when he checked his body. Naturally, Lex allowed the scan, otherwise his state would remain undetectable from the outside. "My god, how are you standing?" the soldier asked in shock, and immediately cleared the way for Lex. It was not long before a floating gurney was brought for Lex toy down on, and he was quickly brought inside, little Fenrir following them the entire way. Lex had not yet had time to question the pup about its new abilities, but he was thoroughly impressed by the little he had seen. He remembered that while the pup had always had an advantage in stealth, previously it would still have to stay out of sight to keep that stealth active. Now, the pup was prancing about in in sight, and all were ignoring him. During the fight earlier, he had used this to his advantage to wreak havoc among the insects, all without getting targeted even once as none of the insects could detect him at all. Pretty soon, Lex was brought into an overcrowded room that looked like it had previously been an office, and was now being used as an emergency room. Makeshift beds produced by joining two small tables together, multiple IV drips and overwhelmed medical personnel could be seen everywhere. Lex was brought to a doctor as well, but after scanning Lex once, he was designated as a non-emergency case and was only given a single painkiller and moved to the side of the room. The outfit was clearly understaffed as soldiers were running about, using their emergency first aid training to follow the instruction of a few doctors. The room was not filled with wounded soldiers, but countless civilians who all seemed to be suffering the effects of the poisoning. In such a chaotic situation, no one noticed Lex''s spirit sense, which subtly moved about the room and closely listened in on the conversation of various doctors. He was trying to figure out if they had any cure from their conversations, but that was easier said than done as they only seemed to be giving out orders for how to handle their patients. His instincts weren''t particrly helpful at the moment either, so all he could do was wait. Fenrir too was exploring the ce in secret, though Lex did not know what to expect from the pup. With the battle outside all but taken care of, Lex had enough time to spare until he found out about the state of things. Moreover, now that he was within the main office, he was aware that a stream of reinforcements were constantly teleporting over. It could not be said that everything was going great, but it was going well enough. Until it suddenly wasn''t. Lex frowned when his instincts began warning him of impending danger, and sure enough, soon Lex saw a panicked soldier run through the halls. He found a superior and whispered something in his ears, but Lex heard what was said. The soldiers who had been affected by the poison were able to hold it off using some of the best medicine the empire could supply, but the strain ofbat increased their metabolism, which aggravated the poison''s effects. Soldiers had started to faint in the midst ofbat. This was suddenly going from a sure victory to an impending disaster. It was also at that point that Lex found out the state of the poison''s cure. There was none. The empire had no idea what the poison actually was, although apparently someone who could, through some unusual means, dy the effects of the poison had been discovered. Despite the critical situation, due to the empire''s phenomenal training, the soldiers did not fall into too much confusion. With a clear chain ofmand, someone took over and began giving out orders. Lex, who was beingpletely ignored, decided to stop dying matters. He called back Fenrir, and used the pups abilities to suddenly vanish from sight as he moved towards the mysterious healer that had been discovered. Any time something inexplicable happened, Lex thought of systems, so he had to investigate this healer no matter what. Shortly after, Lex followed the soldier outside the building and to a nearby park where hundreds of civilians were lying on beds of leaves. A bunch of kids were running around obeying orders, and in the middle of the park standing atop a monument was a young, fair man wearing a doctor''s white coat. The doctor was extremely skinny and seemed like he would be blown over by a single breeze, yet at the same time he exuded an aura of confidence and stability. Lex could not help it, and tried to use his Targeted Scan. Name: Charles Best Age: ? Sex: Male Cultivation Details: ?n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Species: Human Remarks: An old soul in a young body, or just a young man pretending to be a stoic. Lex frowned. The fact that even some information was avable meant that the man did not have a system, which was unexpected. Lex stepped away from Fenrir and revealed himself, curious to see what kind of treatment he could get from this mysterious healer. Chapter 736 Quack Doctor 736 Quack Doctor As Lex limped closer to the healer, he could hear in on the conversation the soldiers were having with him. "...not a barbarian, I am a doctor. If you must stretch things, then at most I am somewhat of a shaman. I absolutely cannot enter the battlefield. If any soldiers require medical attention , you can bring them here." "The situation does not allow for that¡­" "Screw the situation! I''ll be no good to you dead, and that''s exactly what I''ll be if I enter the battlefield. If you''re unable to hold the line, then just say that, and instead of finding me, begin evacuations! Now if you''ll excuse me, I have patients to attend to!" Lex frowned. The warning from his instincts was getting dire, and it seemed like the empire was not able to get a handle on the situation. It was strange, though. ording to Lex''s understanding of the empire, they should be fully capable of reacting to even an emergency such as this. His mind wandered towards the terrorists, who had been secretly as well as openly orchestrating the situation from behind the scenes. Maybe there was something else at y. Once Lex reached such a conclusion, he decided to wrap things up here. Although he wanted to help out as much as possible, especially since Alexander had originally asked for his help, one must also know when to retreat. But¡­ despite the ever increasing danger, Lex was sure he had enough time to test out this doctor first. "Doctor, please, I need your help," Lex said, attracting the skinny young man''s attention. "The bones on my right side are crushed, the pain is overwhelming," he said, though honestly he had to admit, the painkiller given to ripping, to simply making him want to die immediately so that the pain would end. Of course, with his will power as strong as it was, he was not about to do that. The doctor, ignoring the soldier attempting to be domineering, came towards Lex and without hesitation puthis fingers on Lex''s neck. An unusual yet warm energy flowed into his body, and for some odd reason, Lex felt like he wouldn''t be able to block it even if he had tried. The doctor did not have any change of expression, but clearly he was rmed by Lex''s state as he abruptly started shouting at his assistants - the small children in the park. A whirlwind of activity surrounded Lex, and in a few moments, he found himself shirtless andying on a bed of leaves, freshlyid out just for him. "Inject 30 CC of Gurling worm venom in the right arm,ther Durbid root sap on his chest, and bring me a fresh bushel of Bailing berries," the doctormanded as he began injecting his strange energy at various points across Lex''s body. ''Does this count as acupuncture?'' he wondered as the energy effortlessly pierced his skin, and activated strange reactions across his body. Although Lex was not cultivating, his body started to absorb the ambient spirit energy, and it seemed to be disappearing somewhere unknown within his body. The kids proved to bepetent nurses, as they quickly followed through the doctors orders, though there was one tiny hup. When the kid tried to inject the ''venom'' into his arm, the needle broke but Lex''s skin remained smooth and wless. Lex and the kid shared eye contact but said nothing, as the embarrassed kid quickly changed needles. He tried again, only to fail once again, though admittedly this time the needle only bent and did not break. "Uh, doctor, sir, we have a problem," the kid said, scratching his head. The doctor noticed the issue with the needle, and took over. He did not rece the needle, but only coated it with his energy. This time, even Lex was unaware of what the result would be. A momentter, the energy effortlessly entered his arm, yet the needle was still unable to pierce his skin. This time, Lex and the doctor shared eye contact, and Lex saw genuine surprise. "How the hell did you even get hurt?" the doctor asked, but then decided that he didn''t care. "Here, take this and inject it into your right arm. Do it yourself. I''m just a doctor, not some body builder. Don''t make me do such things." Lex smiled awkwardly, and used his nail to forcefully create a small cut on his right arm before quickly shoving the needle in, and injecting the venom. The doctor continued to use strange and rare local herbs to treat Lex''s body, and the rate at which his body was absorbing spirit energy kept increasing. As strange and unbelievable as it was, Lex felt that the doctor''s efforts were contributing nearly as much as the Lotus in healing his body. After a short while, the doctor told Lex to continue lying down for a short while as he moved to treat his other patients, as his recovery would take a while. Lexplied, not because he expected topletely heal, but because he wanted to see what the doctor did to treat the poison. Although, regardless of whether he was able to get any results or not, Lex had already decided to hire this Doctor Charles Best to work at the Inn. For a very long time, he had been looking for a doctor, as he did not want to limit his treatments to just the pods. Although he did not know the extent of Doctor Best''s abilities, just that fact that he could speed up Lex''s recovery was enough of a reason for him to be hired. Dr. Best moved towards a new soldier who had been brought in, and though he was bleeding heavily, it was the poison that was truly killing him. N?v(el)B\\jnn The good doctor had the soldier''s shirt removed before¡­ Lex did not know how to respond. The doctor stuck leeches on his chest, and put a small broken piece of chocte in the soldier''s mouth. The good impression of the doctor which Lex had built up took a nosedive, and Lex began to wonder if he was looking at the fabled quack doctor, who would write any prescription a patient wanted, and did things seemingly randomly. Chapter 737 Retreat 737 Retreat Despite Lex''s hesitation towards the doctor''s¡­ treatment, he continued to observe him for he was still working. The treatment method continued to remain highly unorthodox for he had a seeming aversion to any processed medication, and instead preferred to use ingredients in their most natural form. Unexpectedly, the treatment did not take long nor was it too overlyplex. In a few minutes, the leeches fell off the man''s chest and took on a green tinge, while the soldier''s condition improved almost immediately. Given his current situation, Lex of course could not make an urate judgment as to the extent of the treatment, but he was satisfied enough with what he had seen. Lex summoned Fenrir, and quickly disappeared from where hey. As much as he hated to interfere with his healing process, but he had work to do. He changed into his suit, which automatically cleaned the¡­ther which Lex had on his chest. "Find Alexander," he told Fenrir, and described him to the pup. Lex obviously had nothing on him which had Alexander''s scent, so he would have to rely on scouring the battlefield instead. The duo quickly returned to the battlefield, and Lex immediately understood why the situation was getting worse rather than better. Although the original insect army had been diminished drastically by the angel-like immortal, more and more tears were opening up and flooring the ground with even more insects. It was only a matter of time before more immortals also showed up. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Although he expected that the Jotun army should have had the resources tobat this situation, perhaps he was not aware of the whole picture. It did not take long for them to find Alexander, partly because it was quite easy to spot his six flying des, and partly because of how openly they were scouring the battlefield with their spirit sense. Moreover, they found him just in the nick of time, as he too seemed to be suffering greatly from the poison''s effects. He was bleeding from his eyes and nose, and was kneeling on a single knee while his swords killed any insect that neared him. He was breathing heavily, and considering if he would be used of desertion if he escaped to the Inn right at that moment. "Need a hand?" asked an oddly familiar voice, though in his current state he could not exactly recall who it belonged to. He felt a force yanking him up, and before he knew it, he was atop Fenrir, and all the insects began ignoring him. He saw the face, and instantly a part of his drowsy mind clicked. "I left a message for you to avoid Polebitvy," he said hoarsely. "I''m d you ignored it." "I never got your message, I was here to begin with. I need your help. The situation here is bad, and it''s getting worse by the second. There''s little hope for evacuation under such a heavy assault, and I don''t see reinforcementsing fast enough to change the situation. Everyone needs to escape to the Inn, that''s the only hope you have for avoiding aplete wipe out." Alexander''s thoughts were slow, though it was unknown if it was due to the poison or if he had suffered a concussion during the battle. But even so, eventually he caught on to what Lex was saying. "That decision can only be made by the currentmander," he said. "If it was my own squad head, I could have convinced her. But, as you probably saw, Valkyrie left after delivering a devastating attack. She probably has some other mission." "Do you know who the currentmander is?" "Yes, it''s the immortal fighting off the other immortal insects with the formation." They both paused the conversation and looked up in the sky, where the fight between the remaining immortals was still ongoing, albeit not as intensely as before. "How about anyone we can actually talk to?" Alexander tried to think of a solution, but he was not in the best state of mind. "I can only think of someone else in my squad. Maybe they''ll know." "Lead on, we don''t have time to waste." Due to the fact that they were once again on a manhunt, Alexander described the appearance of his superiors so that they could look. It did not take long before they found the first member of Alexander''s squad, but he was already dead. Finding a second took some time, but fortunately, this one was alive, and even in better condition than Alexander. Though with his cultivation at the Nascent realm, it only made sense that he had fared better. "Captain Radamei," Alexander yelled, as he tried to get the man''s attention. Lex did not want everyone to know about Fenrir''s ability so they got off, and the two wounded men fought their way to the Captain. "We can''t go on like this, the situation is not improving! We have to retreat to the Midnight Inn!" "Music to my ears boy," the captain yelled back, "but the Valkyrie will have our hides if we retreat from battle!" "Better her than these insects. We have to convincemand to retreat, there''s no other choice." "Even if we get them to agree, how can we actually get away?" the burly man asked, dissecting another insect as he did. Before Alexander could answer, Lex summoned forth a bag full of hundreds of keys. "You can use this," Lex said, handing the bag to Alexander. "Will you be alright with him, or do you want toe with me? I have another task to take care of." "I''ll be fine with the captain. Don''t worry, desertion or not, I have no intentions of dying here today. I''ll go to the Inn if the situation gets worse." Lex nodded, and separated from the two. He could only hope that whoever was in charge would agree, as the premonition of danger was growing genuinely worrisome now. Without wasting a second, he quickly got on Fenrir and hurried towards the good doctor, or rather¡­ Doctor Best. Chapter 738 Grandpa 738 Grandpa Charles Best was having a spectacrly bad day, which fit perfectly with the horrendous week that he just went through. For reasons he could notpletelyprehend, he had reincarnated. His original identity was that of shaman king from the Dark Elf race, but that was merely the most mundane identity he carried in his previous life. He was a third generation elf, meaning he was only two generations down from the birth of the very first Dark Elf in this realm ever! As such, when he was born, the Origin realm had only been stable for a little over 10,000 years, with its actual age being near 100 million years, aspared to now when it was already nearing 14 billion years! As a result, he was privy to certain secrets that remained unknown to most, and had experienced perhaps the most spectacr time for this realm. Any and every realm, upon its inception, was filled with the most potent form of spiritual energy, meaning chaos energy, and was too dangerous for normal species to be born. But that did not mean that no species were born at all. No, in fact the younger the age of a realm, the more likely it was to give birth to what were categorized as Mythical beings. They usually gave birth to extraordinarily powerful races, though their offsprings scarcely ever reached the level of their primogenitors. Such was the case with elves, and it was simrly the case with dragons, phoenixes and many prominent races. As the grandchild of a primo, so to speak, Charles had been exposed to knowledge and secrets that the races of today could not even begin toprehend. So, it was quite ironic that Charles himself could notprehend the reason for his reincarnation, though he strongly suspected it was rted to the cause of his death. But the greater secrets of the universe be damned, for he was in no position to even consider them at the moment. Reincarnated as a human, a race he had never even heard of before, Charles was put in an extremely weak and frail body. Moreover, the spiritual energy of the realm was no longer able to support the kinds of cultivation techniques he already knew, meaning he would have to rely on the more modern, subpar techniques. Before he could get his affairs in order, and begin his cultivation, armageddon seemed to have descended on this ce. If he did not use certain techniques that relied on external items as fuel to save himself, he would have died immediately when the poison spread. Had he mentioned that, on this entire forsaken, the body he had inhabited was even more pathetic than the rest of his race? For reasons unknown, the prior upant of this body had not been able to cultivate at all during his life. At least Charles had a clean te to begin his cultivation with when he finally picked what he wanted. But the issue now was, the artificial energy he had stored in the containers he had attached to his body was running out. When that happened, he would have no way to protect himself. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om He could only hope that by showing off his extensive knowledge of nature, he could be considered valuable enough by the human empire, and be rescued before anything too drastic happened. He had too much to live for. After all, he knew all the great secrets of the Origin realm. He only needed a little bit of strength, and he could begin harvesting treasures that had spent billions of years in the making. His rise would be unstoppable. Just as Charles was worrying about his survival, daydreaming about his rise, and reminiscing about his past, he became aware of a massive white wolf standing right in front of him, and a human wearing some kind of devilish mask riding atop it. "Grandpa Fenrir!" he could not help but suddenly exim as he fell to his knees, the shock of what he sawpletely wiping his mind clear of all thoughts. But then a few seconds passed in awkward silence as neither side spoke, and everyone was wondering what was going on. Charles woke up, and realized the mistake he had made of letting his instinctual reaction get the better of him. But he also could not be med, for who could expect to see a wolf with such a pure bloodline 14 billion years after the origin realm had already been formed. His Grandpa Fenrir was probably already dead, or had long since left the realm. Charles stood up and coughed to clear his throat, pretending as if his previous actions had never happened. "How can I help you? Do you also need treatment?" he asked, his expression and tone extremely professional. But, unfortunately, the devilish man did not y along. "You recognized Fenrir pretty quickly. Have you seen another wolf with the same bloodline before? But I was under the impression that this bloodline was pretty rare." It definitely had to be rare, for even though the system had many drawbacks, it never lied when it was concerned with its quest rewards! "You¡­ you¡­. You named him Fenrir?" Charles asked, raising a trembling hand and pointing at the devilish man. "Do you know what you''re doing?" Charles suddenly became weak in his legs. He had just been reborn, so why the hell was he encountering so many dangerous situations? The ignorant were truly bold, and dared to do anything. "Why? Is there a problem with giving it such a name?" the devilish man asked. His question made sense. Ordinarily, it was not a big deal regardless of what one was named. But that was only if one did not know about the Mythical beings, and their corresponding powers over their bloodlines. If the wolf had been named Fenrir, and nothing amiss had happened to it, there were only a few possibilities Charles could think of. The first, and safest option was that Grandpa Fenrir truly was dead. The second, and quite a real possibility, was that Grandpa Fenrir had used certainws to set up conditions for his own reincarnation. The third¡­ Charles suddenly stopped trembling and looked at the devilish man as if trying to guess his identity. The third possibility was that behind this devilish man was someone even Grandpa Fenrir did not dare to mess with. Chapter 739 A tear in space Chapter 739 A tear in space Lex had approached Dr. Charles with the intention of creating a strong impression on him, and getting him to take refuge with the Midnight Inn. But, from the very first instant, things had not gone the way he expected. It seemed like even without putting in any effort, the man had been thoroughly dominated. After all, he dropped to his knees and called Fenrir grandpa! That was a feat Lex had not been able to aplish even as the Innkeeper, let alone as Lex. But all jokes aside, although Charles did not end up having a system, the man clearly had some secrets and unusual experiences. After all, he had directly called Fenrir by his name, and even addressed him by it. It was not so surprising that someone could guess Fenrir''s name, for Lex had directly named him after his bloodline, but so far Charles was the only one who had had a significant reaction to his pup. Even if Lex was not interested in him for his medical knowledge, his familiarity with his pup''s bloodline, and possibly even origin, made it so that he had sessfully aroused all of Lex''s attention. "There is no problem with such a name," Charles responded, having once again regained hisposure. "It''s just not everyday that one takes on the name of a bloodline. It''s very unoriginal." "So are you saying your¡­ grandpa did not do the same?" Lex asked, seeming as if he waspletely calm and not in any rush at all. In truth, Lex knew that the sooner they left this, the better. The warning level from his instincts were getting very close to the level where Lex would leave without any hesitation. "I misspoke," Charles responded, refusing toment on the matter. Some matters were best left unsaid, because he could note up with a reasonable exnation for his answer. Was he supposed to confess that he knew and had met the real and original Fenrir? Lex pondered for a minute, but then decided there would be plenty of time to question the good doctor at ater time, as long as he joined the Inn. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "This is about to face a great danger, much greater than the one it is currently already facing," said Lex, basedpletely on his guess. "You can try to evacuate through the empire, but I have a quicker solution for you." Lex threw a tinum key at the doctor, who caught it immediately. He sensed a familiar aura from the key, but he could not ce where exactly he had felt it before. Regardless, the aura it gave off was worth specting over. "I work for a ce called the Midnight Inn. We cater and host guests from all across the universe. I''ve seen your medical skill, and I think you''re good enough to recruit. If you crush the key, you can take a test to see if you too can be a member of the Inn." At this point, Lex threw a golden key towards him too. "But, of course, joining is not mandatory. If you do not wish to join, you can simply leave this ce by crushing the golden key. You''ll be teleported over to the Midnight Inn, where you''ll be able to escape whatever disaster is about to fall here. Of course, if you visit normally, you''ll just be an ordinary guest, and you''ll have to pay for your stay." With that, Lex decided to leave. One way or another, Charles wasing to the Inn. Based on his behavior, Lex could see that hecked the courage to endanger his life for very long. Moreover, although it seemed like Lex gave him the choice of whether to work at the Inn or not, the reality was that that was not the case. If he visited as a guest, he would only be able to stay for a limited time, as he would eventually run out of MP. Then he would have to return to this, and based on how Lex saw things proceeding, it was unlikely the good doctor would want such a result. So, in the end, whether he used the tinum key now, orter, Lex was sure that ultimately he would end up using it. When he returned to the Inn, Lex finally breathed a sigh of relief as the sensation of impending danger finally disappeared. "Mary, I have a potential new hireing in by the name of Charles. If he joins, have him treat all the poison patients. I have no other solution for the poison for now. If there''s an emergency that requires my attention, wake me up. Otherwise, just manage things till I wake up." He passed on a few more instructions before he teleported away to his private Recovery pod, got in, and went to sleep. Although it seemed like he was fine, the amount of pain he had tolerated was truly driving him to the verge of insanity. There was almost nothing that could prevent him from going to sleep, and finally escaping his pain. An hour or so after Lex appeared, many soldiers also teleported over to the Inn, all in a bad condition. The situation on the had truly deteriorated, and it was far worse than anything any of them could have expected. Simply speaking¡­ a massive tear in space had opened up, and had engulfed the entire teleporting it away! Such a scene was unprecedented andpletely unheard of, and only the few who had evacuated to the Inn, or used the teleportation formations in advance to escape had survived. A dayter, news finally spread as experts from across the realm approached the area and conducted an investigation. The insects that they had been fighting seemed to have been specifically bred for a single purpose, and surprisingly that purpose was not to fight. Their blood contained an unusual material that rapidly deteriorated the stability of space, considering that space in that area was already vulnerable in the first ce. It seemed like¡­ to erase his traces, the mastermind behind the ''eco-terrorism'' act had decided to remove the entire. Of course, he had furtherpromised the environment in the process as well, as the massive tear in space was now leaking chaos energy directly into the realm. As for what would happen next, no one knew. But the situation was far from over, as no one seemed to be able to trace the terrorist ''Jeffery'', including the Daolords dispatched by the Henali! Chapter 740 Catch up Chapter 740 Catch up 13 days after the incident, Lex suddenly woke up in his Recovery pod. Unlike his usual retreats, Lex did not wake up refreshed and well rested, but rather he felt like he was on the verge of dying from starvation! Although, he had indeed also healed. The Lotus seemed to have gone back to sleep as well, for the warm sensation of the Lotus healing him had already vanished. Unable to bear the hunger, Lex teleported over some food and immediately began eating while a part of his brain tried to understand what was happening to him. The changes to his body due to the new cultivation technique were many, and he was still only just understanding them. Originally, his hunger could usually be sated just using spiritual energy, but now it seemed like he also needed to replenish his reserves with food, and not just any ordinary food. The stash he was eating from now was a reserve he had created for himself, and contained extremely energy abundant foods, all procured from the emporium. Even then, this was only barely helping him slowly sate his hunger. "Mary, what happened while I was asleep? Did Charles join the Inn?" "Lex¡­ a lot has happened while you slept. Yes, Charles did eventually join the Inn, but only after Polebitvy waspletely teleported away, and all his umted wealth disappeared, leaving him broke¡­" Mary began to inform Lex of all that had happened recently. The state of things had escted so much that it had transcended just the Pendal gxy, and, oddly enough, the number of guests had ironically dropped. No one was in the mood for a vacation in such a tense time. Everyone was returning to take care of important things that could not be put off. As it turned out what had happened at Polebitvy was only just the start. Simr terrorist acts were carried out across the entire realm. Countlesss were then simrly teleported away using the same method. At first, everyone assumed that causing massive tears in space was a way for the terrorist to hide his trail, but once the method was replicated multiple times, many began to suspect that there was still more to the matter than there appeared, and indeed a weekter the suspicions were proven true. Before the tears couldpletely heal, even under the efforts of Dao Lords, they became points at which the Fuegan infiltrated into the realm. If the Dao Lords wanted, they could have forcefully destroyed all the infiltrating Fuegan, but that would have furtherpromised the integrity of space in that region. The entire realm had entered a state of emergency, and the Henali were finally beginning to take action personally. Only they knew the heavy investments they had put into ensuring the maximum organic growth of this realm, and if external interference ruined that then their losses would be immense! n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om These too were only the things Mary knew of because she had heard multiple devils discussing the matters openly. Speaking of whom, the devils had be the race to most frequent the Inn these days. If one did not know better, it would seem like the Inn was a devils retreat. As if all that was not enough¡­ "Charles has been bothering me every day. He really wants to meet the Innkeeper. ording to him, the medical treatments that the Inn offers are too ''subpar'' and he wants to change the whole system. Moreover¡­ he¡­ his ideas extend far beyond just the field of medicine¡­ "Moreover, he''s been pestering Fenrir non-stop as well. He has not even spared the Gctic Sovereign turtle, and keeps insisting that the turtle needs to obey him if it wants to maximize its growth. "As if that was not enough, he thoroughly scolded Lady Anita, and gave her proper instructions on how to raise a baby Cthulhu, saying that the baby was extremely malnourished. In the past few days, he has also prescribed an extensive meal n personalized to over 700 of the Inns employees, stating that their bodies development is stunted. "Once he¡­ he actually fought with one of the guests saying that they were doing their bloodline a disservice by bing obese, and became a personal trainer for that particr devil. Although there were noints registered against him for that incident, I have thoroughly reprimanded him for it. "Moreover, the Inn''s mechanic, Xeon, heard that Charles was boasting extensive knowledge about bloodlines and medicine, so he approached him and asked if Charles could help him evolve into a true dragon. Charles agreed, and since then has been running various tests on Xeon. Since it''s with Xeons own consent I cannot really stop him, but¡­ I can''t help but think he''s trying to swindle the poor fellow. "Those are just¡­ those are just some of the prominent things Charles has done that I thought deserved mentioning. He has been extremely active, so he''s done a lot more. He''s been spending a lot of time observing the sleeping Mountain-man, though fortunately he hasn''t done anything to him yet. But the way he keeps looking at him¡­ it just makes me nervous for some reason." The tiny floating Mary, who was dressed up in a toga, shivered for a moment, but then regained herposure. "Other than Charles, there are many matters that need your attention. For one, there is a massive number of devils who wish to meet you and have been asking for appointments. Rocketfellow Rothsfather is also one of them, and he''s ready to begin the 5 trillion MP event he mentioned previously, but just wants to speak with you first about a few things. "John is also back from the Murder grounds, but he''s suffered incredibly. His entire cultivation seems to have disappeared and he seems very¡­ destitute. He wants to talk to you. "Last, but not least, Alexander has left a letter for Lex, as well as a spatial ring. I''m not sure what that''s about, but you can ask him whenever you want. Since he teleported over from Polebitvy, and the entire disappeared, he kind of got stuck at the Inn, like many other soldiers. Temporarily, they have been shifted to the Minor realm that the empire is incharge of protecting, but finding a way to send those people back somehow is also something you should think about." Chapter 741 Timeline Chapter 741 Timeline For quite a while, Lex ate while he listened to Mary brief him on all that had happened during his slumber. The deteriorating situation in the Origin realm was obviously not a good thing. Moreover, the fact that the Fuegan were bing more active as a result of the terrorists'' activities was not a good sign. He had been under the impression that the Henali were on the winning side of the war with the Fuegan, but if these new terrorist acts were any indication, then the war was about to heat up considerably. That was bad news for his 1000 employees participating in the war. Fortunately, so far, they had not suffered a single casualty. Once he was done eating, he organized his schedule to take care of his most immediate matters first. Ordinarily that would mean meeting with Charles, but Lex was looking forward to meeting the devil who wanted to host a 5 trillion MP event at his Inn. The timing for such an event was not necessarily the best, considering the realm-wide situation. Moreover, in 6 months, or 5 and a half months now, the Inn would stop epting new guests. If the event was going to take a long time, which he suspected it was, it would have to be dyed a few years. Lex did not mind, as he had more than enough MP to meet his needs for the moment. He dressed up in his Host Attire and teleported over to his office, and had Mary invite Rocketfellow in. The devil arrived quite quickly, as if he had been awaiting a summoning to meet the Innkeeper. "Innkeeper, it has been a while," the stylishly dressed devil said as he tipped his hat. "I hope your time passed pleasantly," the Innkeeper replied calmly, a warm gentle smile on his face. "Ah, I''m afraid not," the devil replied, a hint of regret in his voice. "Some of my most recent ventures have all ended in failure. But, those are all small projects, and don''tpare for what we have in store ahead. You see, while other matters also upied me, I have also spent this time preparing to make our own version of Lady Cosmos the best possible. I think you will be quite interested in some of my propositions." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "I''m sure you have prepared an excellent n," the Innkeeper said, "but before we delve too deeply into these matters, I have to inform you of something, in case it might interfere with your timeline. "The Midnight Inn is getting ready to undergo some¡­ renovations, so to speak. As a result, in a little over five months, the Inn will stop epting new guests for the foreseeable future. So, if the event is to ur over a long period of time, you may want to wait till afterwards." The devil was surprised, and that could clearly be seen as he paused for a moment to reevaluate his thoughts. His excitement tempered just a bit and he leaned back into his chair as he went through some considerations. "Actually, you know what? This is probably a good thing. This will allow us more time to refine the idea before we make our investment. Let''s go over some of my ns and you can tell me what''s appropriate¡­" The meeting went on a lot longer than Lex anticipated, even though Lex''s refusal to have contestants capture ves and have them fight to the death put a real wrench in the devil''s ns. Still, other than his casual cruelty, the devil had many good ideas, and Lex strongly believed that the event would be very sessful. The target audience for the event was Nascent level cultivators, and maybe even some Earth Immortals, both of whom had very long lives. As such, the event itself would also go on for ten years, at the very least, which would also justify the absurd amount of MP being invested in it. The timeline for the event was pushed forward, which apparently suited the devil perfectly. He left the meeting with a smile, though the moment he teleported out of the Inn, his smile vanished. "Karen, tell the others! The timeline has been pushed forward! We need to take action within two years! Prepare everything." "Not an issue. The targets have already been found in the Suera gxy, and we are in close contact with the Fuegan trying to work out a deal." Back at the Inn, Lex could not help but groan. Although he was looking forward to the MP, he was not a fan of extremely long business meetings. He didn''t know how businessmen back on Earth did it. "Mary, send in Charles," Lex said after a few moments of allowing himself to bezy. He had too much to catch up on. Soon, a young, skinny man dressed in a doctor''s coat stepped in. Although Lex did not show it on his face, he was impressed by the doctor''s demeanor as he exhibited a calm and collected appearance, even in front of the Innkeeper. It had to be known that for anyone to meet him, they would have to cross his lobby, which was filled with an extremely strong pressure. Since the pressure would automatically adjust to whoever was crossing, no one could ever have an easy timeing in. Yet this new doctor seemed perfectly fineing into his office. In fact, it almost seemed like the doctor had already expected such an obstacle in his path. Not to mention how difficult it was for one to remain calm in the presence of the Innkeeper, with no cultivation at all! Now that he was inside the Inn, Lex naturally scanned Charles, but still did not discover anything suspicious. His age was 17 years old, and he had no cultivation at all. His demeanor and knowledge did not match his credentials, but Lex was not on to judge. "Doctor, I''ve heard you''re quite dissatisfied with how we run things here," said Lex, maintaining the calm and warm vibe of the Innkeeper. "I would not say dissatisfied, sir. But I have many ideas I think you will like. Why don''t you hear me out?" Chapter 742 Talking Chapter 742 Talking "Have a seat," the Innkeeper said calmly, pointing at the chair in front of him. This Charles definitely had many secrets, and he was now in a much better position to get those secrets out from him. Previously he himself was in too much of a hurry to exit that. Now, though, he had plenty of time as well as a superior identity aspared tost time. "I must say, Charles, you''re quite talented. It is not often that I see someone as young as you with such detailed knowledge about medicine, and such a mature bearing to go along with it." Although Lex was paying apliment, he was also stating his suspicions. It was unnatural to gain such a thorough understanding in any field without years of study and practice, and Charles was much too young for that. Of course there was always the possibility that he had information transferred to his mind, the way those in the Crystal race transmit information from one generation to another. But even so,prehending and mastering that knowledge was vastly different from simply attaining it. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Charles gave an oddly endearing smile, as if a child was looking up at his elder. He could not really be med. Unlike others, who were greatly intimidated by beings more powerful, Charles felt safe. After all, he grew up in the presence of nearly all the Mythical beings of the Origin realm. Aizel and Firin, for example, were two of the Mythical beings of the Crystal realm. That meant that those Mythical beings were always at the peak most level that the realm they were in allowed. Of course, they could also choose to unleash their full strength, which would then have them transcend their realm, a path that most of them eventually took. After hearing about the Innkeepers great reputation, and finally meeting him and feeling his warm andforting aura, Charles felt as if he had returned to his childhood. "Forgive me for being unable to say much, senior. My history is closely tied to the fate of my ancestor - I cannot risk it. But I can swear that I bear the Inn no ill will, and all that I do is only to benefit it as much as possible." "The Midnight Inn does not discriminate against others, as long as they follow the rules of the Inn. So long as you do not harm your peers or the guests out of maliciousness, you can call the Inn your new home." Although Lex said as much, he was a little peeved at Charles'' forting behavior. With him being so open about having secrets, it was nigh impossible to pressure him into revealing things. All he could do now was to have him slowly reveal his secrets of his own volition. "But, because of that Innkeeper, I can also guarantee that my knowledge is not false. Although what I know might be slightly outdated, some of the things I know are still relevant now. For example, I''ve taken a look at the Recovery room and Recovery pods. In theory they''re excellent, but in actuality they''re far from efficient, and are not necessarily the best tool for the job. In simple words, it''s like using brute force to heal the body by throwing endless energy at it. "If, instead, we take a more nature oriented approach, then there are many better ways to heal. Besides, those rooms and pods are not suitable for all races either. I''ve also studied some of the workers at the Inn. "Most of them are suffering from odd forms of malnutrition. At first, I was confused, but upon further analysis I discovered that it seemed like many of them hadtent skills and talents awaiting to be woken as soon as the right conditions were met. Such a widespread phenomenon among so many different people was strange at first for me, until I realized that they also all bore the signs of cloning and artificial gic engineering. "I must say, I have never seen such high quality clones, with perfectly functional organic bodies and independent andplete souls. Not only is the technique used in their manufacture beyond excellent, but the original samples must be from the absolute best of the best. However, pre-existing physical dispositions are causing a conflict with their new, emerging personalities which is resulting in their malnutrition. Many of them need a lifestyle adjustment to properly awaken their talents. If they are left ignored until they are eventually crippled, then their own individual cultivation will suffer as well. "I''ve also noticed that the Inn seems to have adopted many younglings such as the Sovereign turtle, who is still naught but a babe, the Cthulhu, the Fen¡­ Fenrir, and many others. It''s miraculous how so many varying races are getting together without any issues, but they all also need different environmental factors to ensure they maintain healthy growth in the future. For now, the Inn seems tock it. "Also, I''ve noticed a few sentient nts have been born at the Inn. If you can have the Gctic turtle nurture a World Tree at the Inn, even in its early stages, it will be extremely beneficial to the growth of the nt life here. "Also, Innkeeper, one of your guests, the Mountain-man, is suffering from severe soul exhaustion. It''s almost as if its soul is not strong enough for its body. Whatever the case, he needs to undergo treatment immediately, lest his soul bes crippled. "Oh yes, you also have a Drake. Interesting species, I have seen it before. They usually have the potential to undergo evolution into a weak dragon under the right circumstances, so I was¡­" Once Charles started to talk, he just kept on going. Most of what he said even made sense, so Lex had no option but to listen to him and wonder if he really was more suited as a doctor rather than as a senior member in the nning division. Three hourster, Lex had to eventually stop him. "Let''s take a break here for today," the Innkeeper said, standing up. "Since you''re a doctor, I want you to follow me as I visit one of our old employees. He''s recently been seriously wounded, and lost all his cultivation as a result." Chapter 743 Unusual damage Chapter 743 Unusual damage Many of Charles'' ideas were not bad, but they weren''t practical either. He could propose stuff like treatment through natural means because he had the knowledge, but with hundreds of thousands of guests visiting the recovery room every day, it was impossible for him to take care of all the guests. He could begin teaching others his own knowledge, but that too would take years before it yielded any real results. As such, there was no real way to implement all his changes right now. Some of them, however, were not so bad and could be implemented immediately. For example, the lifestyle adjustment for the Inn workers. He always knew that they weren''t ''born'' naturally since the Inn created them as and when he wanted, and he could even pick stuff like their bloodlines. Such topics demanded some philosophical questions such as the ethics of cloning, and if what Lex was doing was right or wrong. N?v(el)B\\jnn The way he saw it, he was doing his best to give them full and extensive lives and treating them as best as he could. He also created a healthy and nurturing environment for them to grow in. For example, while originally all his workers had their own individual rooms they could teleport to, and still do, most of them preferred to go to the Minor realm dedicated only for Inn workers and live in their homes there. They were building their ownmunity, as well as culture and traditions. Given all of that, it was really hard for Lex to see what he was doing as immoral. But if they were suffering due to improper care as a result of their cloning, then that was something he would take care of immediately. It made sense, kind of, that many of them had a predisposition to awaken certain talents and skills. After all, some of his most powerful workers had awoken skillspletely unrted to their cultivation techniques. If, by designing a better environment suited to nurture their skills, he could help them, then he would definitely do it! "How would you treat the Mountain-man?" Lex asked once he teleported himself and Charles over to the Recovery room. "The problem is the strength of his soul, so that is what I would treat. It would be best if I could get my hands on various soul nurturing herbs, or anything which could influence souls really. Designing a treatment n for him is not so simple, so I''ll need some time to see what resources are avable and what I can do." "Go find Harry, the local barber. He specializes in souls. He may be able to help you with that," the Innkeeper said, before entering John''s private room. The many in his Recovery pod, looking pale and extremely weak. Instead of getting better, his situation had deteriorated a lot, though he was finally stable now. Weakly, he opened his eyes and looked up at the Innkeeper and the stranger, and a light of hope shed through his eyes. If anyone could help him, it was the Innkeeper. But he didn''t say anything yet, as he was unfamiliar with the second man. "Observe him and see if you can work out a treatment n for him," Lex said casually, while he used his own spirit sense to scan him. Using the system to get a reading on him revealed errors, as always, so he could only rely on himself to figure out the situation. Physically speaking, John was fine. Even his core, or what used to be his core, was technically fine. It had now only be empty, as if it could not store any energy inside it at all. The situation was unusual. Next, Lex used his soul sense to check up on him, and that is when the issue was revealed. John''s soul was damaged in a very strange and somehow precise way. His otherwise healthy soul had thin yet jagged cracks spread all across it, as if it was on the verge of breaking. Yet the strange thing was, besides the areas that actually had the cracks on them, the rest of his soul looked extremely healthy, as if nothing was wrong. "I''ve seen something like this before," Charles said, as he studied John''s body by touching and tapping it in various ces. Lex found it really interesting how, despite having no cultivation himself, Charles could harness spiritual energy and use it for his various purposes. This type of control went against conventional cultivation rules. "This is a result of a fracture of a soul treasure. Normally, even the destruction of such a treasure would not affect the cultivator. But in this case, rather than just storing the treasure in your soul, you must havepletely absorbed and merged it with your soul, am I right?" Although Charles asked the question, he did not pause to hear the answer. "I''m not sure how something like this happened, but someone has targeted your soul treasure very specifically. They have severely damaged the treasure without affecting your actual soul at all. That is the only reason you are still alive, for your soul is keeping the treasure together from crumbling entirely. But such a state cannotst long. Either a way to remove the treasure needs to be figured out, or the treasure needs to be healed. "The only thing that I cannot figure out is¡­ why something like this has caused your cultivation to disappear. Especially since you are in the immortal realm, and have established your ts. It somehow seems like your connection to your own ts has been severed somehow." "Thank you Charles, I''ll take it from here. You can go meet Harry and figure out a treatment for the Mountain-man. Only when you have aplete treatment will we approach the guest, for it is rude to interrupt guests unnecessarily." Charles nodded and left, taking onest look at John. He was really confused about his situation and really wanted to ask what the treasure fused with his soul was, but knew better than to do so. Soon, only the Innkeeper and John were left in the room. Chapter 744 Virus Chapter 744 Virus "Congrattions on emerging from the Murder grounds," said the Innkeeper as he looked down at John, though his warm voice had a hint of admonishment in it. John smiled weakly, despite his dire situation. "I know I should not have epted the challenge. If I had let the Inn handle it, things would have turned out much better. But, at that time, I just didn''t like the fact that any random creature off the streets could just challenge me. I guess it''s also because I''d spent too much time in such a peaceful environment, and I was itching to let loose." "And how is that itch now?" he asked, the warmth of his voice sounding ironically quite biting at that moment. "Quite sore," John admitted. Lex shook his head and opened the Recovery pod. He used Impervious Hands and channeled his soul sense into it, allowing his hands to gain the ability to touch souls. Gently, and ever so slowly, Lex touched John''s soul to get a sense of the situation himself. As Charles had said, the ''soul treasure'' had been attacked, but his understanding of the situation was limited. Systems were far from simple, and Lex found it hard to believe that someone could target a system so directly. Although if anyone were to do it, it made sense that this group who was specifically targeting systems would be able to. He still did not know as much about them as he would like. As Lex traced his hands over the cracks, and could sense a very familiar aura from within. The system truly seemed broken, but as far as he knew, systems were capable of healing themselves. Absorbing other systems would speed up the process for sure, but they could rely on just spiritual energy to do the same. "He targeted your system," the Innkeeper said inly, though somehow the news did not cause any waves in John''s heart. He had already guessed as much by now. Moreover, the Innkeeper was the strongest being he had ever met, so he long stopped trying to keep secrets from him. "Has your interfacepletely vanished, or is it still there at least?" "It gave me a quest beforepletely disappearing, and draining my cultivation along with it. How am I supposed toplete a quest like this?" "What was the quest?" "To heal the system!" John said, though he found the quest to be redundant. He would have done it anyway, or at least tried, had his cultivation notpletely disappeared. "I have said this many times, but one should not put too much trust in a system. There is too much about them that is secret. Systems are able to heal themselves using spirit energy, or you can heal them by absorbing and merging other systems. You can even make your system stronger if you do so, but that may not necessarily be a good thing. After all, systems canpletely control your entire life if you do not keep up your guard. "For example, your system likely absorbed your cultivation to fuel its own repairing process. To it, it hardly matters whether you are its host or someone else. It just wants to regain its previous state as quickly as possible." "My cultivation was given to me by the system to begin with. I cannot reallyin now that it has taken it away," John replied, depression leaking into his voice. "You can decide what you want to do on your own," the Innkeeper said. "If you wish to repair the system, you can see if you can figure out a way. However, if you wish to be free of it, I can remove it from your body. You will likely have to cultivate again from the beginning, but I don''t think you should find that too challenging." John was silent for a time, before he weakly asked, "can I take my time with the decision?" "It''s up to you. But based on your situation, I don''t think you should wait too long. How did he hurt your system like this to begin with?" "He had many strange devices that seemed to target systems specifically. It kept interfering with all my systems functions. In the end I eventually killed him, and until then I was fine. But as it turned out, he had hidden a device inside his body as well. When his heart stopped beating, his body self-destructed. But, the strange thing was, the explosion did not harm me at all, yet was extremely damaging to my system. "But even then I was fine since I reacted fast enough. But something unusual happened. It was as if a virus had been introduced in my system, and it began acting really strange and somehow started to harm itself. In the end, the system managed to fix itself, but by then the damage the virus had done was too severe. It gave me the quest and shut down." Lex only nodded, and then left, giving John time to think about what he wanted to do. Lex, on the other hand, began considering precautions to take if any such people came after him. But, for some reason, he also had a feeling that dealing with his system was not nearly as easy as it was on the weaker systems he had encountered. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om As he pondered on this topic, he teleported back to his office and had Mary bring the things Alexander left for him. A letter was very strange, as Alexander could have simply left a video or voice message. But his suspicions seemed to bear no fruit, as he could not discover anything special about the letter. The only thing left to do was read it, and investigate the spatial ring he had left. After that, he would look into relocating the refugees from Polebitvy, after which he would head out to do his own things. As for the many devils who wanted to meet him, Lex would just use his projection to meet with them. He did not have the time to spare to sit through so many endless meetings. Chapter 745 Letter Chapter 745 Letter The envelope only read ''Lex'' and had a smooth texture to it. After concluding that there was nothing amiss with the letter, Lex tore open the pale white packaging and revealed within it an off-white textured paper filled with a very pleasant handwriting. Lex once again found it odd that it was handwritten when it could have easily been printed, but ultimately chalked it all up to a quirk of Alexander''s noble upbringing. ''Lex, Were it that I would be writing to you in better circumstances, I would have thanked you profusely for your help. You not only saved my life, surely, but that of countless others as well, and that deserves no shortage of gratitude, especially since it was not your duty to begin with. Unfortunately, circumstances are not pleasant so I must end the ttery here. I do not know if you were present during the final moments of Polebitvy, but the situation went drastically out of hand. It quickly became clear to us that there was something amiss with the insects, for towards the end their blood directly started warping and tearing space. The more insects we killed, the more fragile space became. When the order to retreat came, it was already toote. Only those I had distributed the keys to managed to escape when the night sky itself was torn asunder. What I am about to reveal to you now is confidential, and I have been informed that I will soon have a soul lock ced on me so that if I ever try to reveal it, I will be killed. Fortunately, they have not ced the lock yet, and there is a convenient loophole for me to use. The soul technique works on my memory, so I am writing this letter to you in the Chamber of Secrets, and once I finish, I will erase the memory of ever revealing it from my memory. That way, you will gain the relevant knowledge, and I will be safe from the consequences of the lock. The final tear that openedrge enough to swallow Polebitvy did not open on its own, but a massive creature the likes of which I have never even imagined was on the other side of the rip, pulling space apart. It then pushed forth more arms from the tear, and seemed to grab the itself, before pulling it within. I, of course, did not stay long enough to see the event happen for myself, but one can imagine. I do not know what is actually happening, but I know enough to conclude that whatever is happening is far outside the capacity of even the Empire to handle. In this universe, one cannot rely on others for security, or at least not rely on otherspletely - that is the conclusion I havee to. My new goal will no longer be to hunt down the terrorists, especially since the empire no longer seems interested, and they im that others are on the hunt now. Instead, my new focus will be on growing my strength. I have a confession to make. My family is not originally from earth, and instead we arrived there hundreds of years ago, escaping from an already long forgotten conflict. We brought along various secret heritages, one of which I managed to awake at a very young age, which is the real reason my family so carefully nurtured my growth. That is also why I was able to control six flying swords even before I unlocked my spirit sense! I am revealing this to you to let you know that while I am pursuing my own path to strength, I have every confidence that you, too, will do the same. However, should you ever find your path blocked, and need a heritage or technique to guide you along higher cultivation realms, my family''s library is always open to you. By the time you read this letter, I will already be inside the mysterious tower that the empire is guarding. That tower has many secrets as well, and can serve as a shortcut for my growth. If you have time, you should try to practice there more as well. Who knows, we might just partner up again someday. Regards, Alexander Morrison'' Lex read the letter several times to ensure there was no secret message or code written within that he was missing, but there seemed to be none. Despite that, the information shared in the letter was very significant, and seen through a certain lens, Alexander even risked his life to share it with Lex. Although it did not directly influence Lex to know that there was a creepy space monster able to tear space and then pulls in -s that it grabbed with its hands - it was still good to know. After all, what if one day he had such a guest? What if his guest ates for food? What was he supposed to do? Lex did not have any spares on hand to feed hungry guests. N?v(el)B\\jnn On a serious note though, it reinforced Lex''s motivation to get the hell out of the Origin realm and get far away from this ridiculous war. As for whether someone was able to find his new realm, and then start a war with him over it, were topics Lex was doing his best not to worry about. After all, there was little he could do in such a situation but fight back. Taking in a deep breath, Lex calmed himself down and then looked at the spatial ring. Alexander had not mentioned it at all. He channeled his spirit energy into the ring and discovered only a couple of things. One was a token that had a massive ''M'' on it, likely representing the Morrison family. The other was amendation letter for ACA Lex for discovering the poison early, and warning the empire about it. The letter stated that Lex had proven he had the ability to perform certain tasks where the empire failed, and that his ster performance would be marked and speak in his favor with the empire in all his future endeavors. Chapter 746 Refugees Chapter 746 Refugees Lex observed the two items. Themendation letter and the approval of the empire could possibly be useful in the future. After all, the empire spanned many gxies so who knew when and where he might encounter their influence. But, at the moment, it served no real purpose. Simrly, the token served no purpose for him right now, but the gesture it represented was very valuable. Besides possibly giving him ess to the Morrison family''s library of spiritual techniques, it also served as a token of Alexander''s gratitude. That, to him, was worth more than the actual techniques he would likely encounter. After all, his own technique was nothing short of the best in the entire universe! He smiled, and teleported them away to his study in his own apartment. If he ever needed to use either of the items he would have them, but otherwise they would enter his private collection. Now it was time to turn his attention to other matters - specifically, the refugees. A quick scan revealed that roughly four thousand people who counted as such refugees could be found at the Inn - including Gisele and two very familiar kids. There were supposed to be more, but they had already moved into the Minor realm that the empire was incharge of protecting. The ones who were still here were the ones still recovering from the effects of the poison that had infected their bodies. Charles had been very effective in treating the incredibly dangerous poison for some reason, and his treatment didn''t even include chocte this time - or leeches! In his own words, while he was not too familiar with the human body, he was well versed in the habits and behavior shown by nature, nts, small animals and insects. He could use just that understanding to manipte nature in certain ways, and even the most toxic poison was still a part of nature. He sounded a lot like an elf or a druid to Lex, but as long his methods worked, who was he to question him? As much as Charles wanted to continue to enforce his methods on the remainder of their treatment, he couldn''t manage that, alongside all the other numerous tasks he had to perform in the little time he had. Lex slightly suspected the man had ADHD for he was delving into too many unrted matters. Still, his incredibly highpetence in each field made it so that Lex did not mind too much. Lex explored various options that the system gave him, and even consulted Mary on what he could do. He even considered the possibility of hosting a very specific event, but it was all for naught. The only way for the refugees to escape to another was if their prestige level rose and then they chose to teleport to another linked to the Inn. Speaking of which, it also needed to be mentioned that the connection to Polebitvy still existed. That meant that the had survived being ripped out of its star system, and whatever else it had been exposed to during its time in its first ever field trip. He sighed and scanned the Inn to search for whichever Jotun officer was incharge of the refugees, and was surprised to find that it was the very senior Alexander had taken him to. The man seemed to have lost a lot of weight in the past two weeks, and looked pale and sick, yet he was still attending to some paperwork. Lex recalled that the man was called Radamei. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Instead of summoning him, Lex teleported over himself, and knocked on the man''s door. "Come in,e in!" he said in a somewhat hoarse voice. It was clear that he had suffered some kind of injury to his throat since hest saw Lex, and his voice had been affected. "Excuse me for interrupting you, dear guest. I am the Innkeeper, owner of this humble establishment," he introduced himself as he entered his room. There were piles of paper everywhere, and temporarily set upputer screens all over, making the small bedroom appear quite messy. Radamei was startled, and immediately stood up, revealing various bandages all over his body. "Innkeeper! It is an honor to meet you! Your Inn has saved a lot of lives! A lot of lives I tell you!" "Yes, I heard of your plight. It is fortunate that you were able to get your hands on the keys to the Inn. If onlymand had listened¡­" Radamei''s voice faded out as his thoughts seemed to drift off. Clearly, the man had not yetpletely recovered from the trauma he suffered. Lex could not even me him. Watching a massive monster grab ahold of your and then suck it into a tear must have shaken up a lot of people''s minds. "Unfortunately, there is a small issue," the Innkeeper said softly, waking the man up from his thoughts. "Everyone who escaped is stuck here unless they attain a prestige level and teleport to another. Though I wish to help, I cannot break the rules of the Inn, or else how can I expect others to follow?" "Having a way out is already good enough, not to mention the empire is preparing camps within another Minor realm to relocate everyone. With time, everyone will get a chance to leave eventually." "I''m d you have a positive outlook on this matter. The survivors are lucky to have someone like you keeping an eye out for them." Radamei only shook his head, as if he disagreed, but did not say anything. Clearly the man needed some rest as well, though it did not seem like he would be getting any in the near future. Lex left the room, and was finally free to do his own tasks, when an idea suddenly came to him. He changed out of his Host Attire and put on his rk Kent sses before approaching Charles as Leo. He thought of a good way to test the extent of Charles'' unique insight. Chapter 747 Energy crystal Chapter 747 Energy crystal Charles was taking down notes in a notebook he was holding, while looking up at the sleeping Mountain-man. From time to time he would mumble to himself, as if he was specting about the effectiveness of certain treatments. It was only when ''Leo'' approached him and coughed, as if clearing his throat, that Charles realized that someone had arrived. "I hope I''m not disturbing you, but I thought I''d introduce myself. My name is Leo, I''m the owner of the Gamer''s Den store. It''s a pleasure to meet you. I''ve heard excellent things about your expertise in medicine." "I still have much to learn," Charles said humbly, though it seemed like he really meant it. The conundrum of how to treat the Mountain-man really had him stumped, as its size was a major factor in every treatment method he coulde up with. Ultimately, without any cultivation, his methods were extremely limited. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "Well, now that you''re one of us, you can just list down whatever you need to help you grow and the Innkeeper will take care of it. It wouldn''t be such a bad idea to start cultivating now, either. After all, the stronger you get, the more your capabilities will grow." "If the Innkeeper can help, that would be great, but I''m afraid it''s not so easy for me to cultivate due to my unique physique. I can''t absorb normal spirit energy. I need highly concentrated spirit energy found only in extremely pure Crystals. That''s not the same as spirit stones as¡­" Before Charles could continue to describe what he needed, Lex was reminded of something and summoned out an energy crystal from his spatial bangle. In the Crystal realm, this was a very valuable energy resource used for cultivation by Earth Immortals and the Crystal race. The energy stored within was even more dense, as well as more pure than even the highest grade spirit stone that Lex had ever seen, not that he really used those for cultivation anymore. After all, the environment at the Inn was more than enough to meet his needs. Charles, though, was stumped when he saw the crystal in Leo''s hand! This was not something he expected to find any time soon, as these energy crystals were only formed in the early years of a realms life. They were avable in limited amounts in any realm, and could not typically be replenished even across the remainder of a realms lifespan. "Is this what you need?" Leo asked quite casually, waking Charles from his stupor. "How¡­ how did you get that? They''re unbelievably rare! In fact, they should have all been used up billions of years ago!" "I wouldn''t say they''remon, but in one of the realms that the Midnight Inn is connected to, they can be easily essed by a person with a certain level of connections. At least, that''s the case in the one other realm I''ve been to. It''s possible that it''s even moremon in other realms." Charles was dumbfounded. When he heard that the Inn catered to guests from across the universe, he took that as more of a spiritual saying or mantra than something literal. How could he imagine that the Inn is actually linked to other realms? But he quickly suppressed his shock and focused on the matter at hand. If he could get his hands on these crystals, it would be possible for him to quickly raise his cultivation. He was confident of bing an immortal within a decade, if not sooner. But, the problem right now was that he had no coteral with which he could bargain, and no resources with which he could purchase these crystals. "How can I get my hands on some of these crystals? With them, I can begin cultivating immediately!" "Well, the Inn will pay you a sry in MP, and you can use that at the Guild room to request these energy crystals. But that may take you some time, Or¡­ you can get them from me. I don''t really need MP as repayment, though. Do you have anything else you can pay me with?" Charles clenched his fists as he racked his brain, trying toe up with a solution. The only thing of value he had¡­ was his knowledge. Was that something Leo would be interested in? "The only thing I can pay you with is certain knowledge. Or maybe I can treat you if you''re ill." Lex paused. Both options weren''t bad. He wanted to know about Charles'' secrets, but at the same time, treatment was also something he was looking forward to. "We cane up with an arrangement. I do seek treatment, but I''m not entirely sure you''re able to address what ails me. If that''s the case, you can trade an interesting secret. If I think it''s worth it, I''ll give you the crystal. Don''t worry, I won''t be unfair on purpose." Charles agreed all too quickly. At first, when he had no hope of cultivating anytime soon, he had all the patience in the world. But now that the prize was dangling in front of his eyes, he could scarcely control himself. What Lex wanted treated were the inscriptions hidden within his body, but he had doubts that Charles could even detect them at his current stage. That''s why he was so interested in having Charles cultivate and improve his capabilities. Feeling fairly confident, Charles inspected Leo''s boy and discovered nothing. He did not recognize Leo as Lex despite having treated him before, because the effects of the rk Kent sses were quite thorough. Charles frowned, and investigated for a while longer, before eventually giving up. "I can''t discover anything wrong with you," he admitted, feeling slightly tense. "In that case, an interesting secret it is. Though I advise you to choose carefully. Revealing a mundane secret, like your current crush, will not really be worth an energy crystal." Charles felt like Leo was teasing him on purpose. How could he possibly have a crush on anyone? He''d hardly met any elves so far. Chapter 748 Cosmic Dark Age Chapter 748 Cosmic Dark Age Charles eyed the energy crystal greedily and his mind raced as he considered various things. He did not know Leo''s character, and although he was inclined to believe in a colleague, it was best to be sure. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "What are some topics that interest you? If you provide me with some guidance, I can better choose what to reveal." What interested him? There were truly too many things, but none of them were topics ordinary folk coulde into contact with. But then again, since he was testing Charles to begin with, there was no point in mentioning something simple. He thought for a moment about what topics he had been consideringtely. "I have many random interests, so I''ll just list them out. Hmm, these days I''ve been wondering a lot about how a realm is formed, and what happens after it is created. I''ve also been wondering¡­ what is ''space'' really? If space itself is torn, how can there be something behind it? Hmm, I''ve also been thinking about deities, and how theye to be. Why do they need worshippers? Can anyone be a deity if they''re worshiped enough? Oh yes, I was also wondering where lightning tribtionse from, and why they''re the same across multiple realms. Is it a coincidence? I''ve also¡­" "Alright, alright, that''s enough," Charles said, before Lex really began listing out all the random thoughts he''d had recently. To Charles, these really could only be random thoughts, for how could they be relevant to someone at Lex''s cultivation level? These were extremely high-level concepts that not even immortals had the right to ponder. Fortunately, Charles was in the unique position to answer not just some of them, but all of them! Of course, he would not so easily reveal these answers, for that would present problems of their own. After all, how could a mortal know the secrets of the heavens? "I cannot say how a realm is formed, but as luck would have it, I coincidentally learned some information about the early years of a realms existence," Charles said, as he cleared his throat. He also looked around to ensure they were alone, and once he was satisfied, continued. "Each realm is different, but what they have inmon is that they are born with a massive burst of energy. This initial energy is the purest form of energy in the universe, chaos energy. But because of its potency, it is also too dangerous and is akin to poison to most beings. Only the strongest of immortals, as well as some unique beings, can tolerate this form of energy. "The first phase of a realms life is converting that extremely pure and powerful energy into various more tolerable and gentle forms of energy. This period is known as the Cosmic Dark Age, as hardly any life can exist during this time. But any being and anything that is born or formed during this time are exceptionally powerful or valuable. That is because they undergo the tempering of the foremost energy in the universe, so it is only natural." Charles knew much more, but he stopped speaking at that point. He had already revealed a lot, and surely it was already worth more than just a single energy crystal. Lex had been listening closely. Although he could not confirm if what Charles said was true, the information he had revealed was very important. If the energy when the new realm was formed was poisonous, how could he host guests? Although he was fairly certain that the system itself would manage to keep guests from being passively harmed by the environment, as it did with cultivators'' natural auras, he also had to take precautions. After all, he clearly remembered being told to ''be prepared'' when he was told that the new realm would be born in two years'' time. He nodded to Charles, as if saying he epted this little tidbit of information, and calmly handed in 10 energy crystals. Although he did not have many on hand, he had more than enough to cater to Charles'' needs for the moment. After all, Pvarti wasn''t the only one who had received a lot of gifts during the wedding. "If you need more in the future, you can reach out to me. We''ll have the same deal," said Lex, before he teleported away. Now that he was done with this, he was heading towards the emporium to pick up a package he had been anticipating for a while. ***** Cosmic Cloud A furious battle was taking ce in what was once a natural paradise. The burnt and crisp remains of some kind of orchard could still be seen here and there, though mostly all one would see were corpses. This was a battlefield where the Henali forces had been losing badly, and for once, even the arrival of the Midnight battalion did not change that. But how could it? The battalion consisted only of Foundation level cultivators, but the enemies were the absolute elites of the Golden core realm. On one side was a massive army that the battalion was reinforcing, and on the other side only a few dozen bipedal beasts, yet the favor of the battle seemed to be on the beasts'' side. More reinforcements were due, but they would have to survive long enough for that to happen. Fortunately, despite the dire situation, none from the battalion had died, though this time the credit remained solely with their formidable attire. In the midst of battle, Z made use of his space affinity to disrupt an attacking beast, but for some strange reason, instead of forming a barrier in space, space itself was torn. Though that was not his intention, it seemed to serve the purpose as the beast quickly retreated to avoid the tear. His allies breathed a sigh of relief and continued the fight, but only Z frowned as he kept looking at the tear that was already healing. ''That was not supposed to happen,'' he kept telling himself, as he wondered what had happened. Chapter 749 Silent Wanderer Chapter 749 Silent Wanderer "Mr. Lex, you have made me wait," Powellined, though the massive smile on his face did not belie any dissatisfaction. "I''ve been too busytely," Lex said with an exasperated sigh as he approached the familiar counter and leaned on it. Even as he was there now, his projection was at the Inn, having meetings with countless devils who wished to meet him. Many of the meetings were actually fruitful, as they were about small or targeted events the devils wished to host. Some of them were just about the devils wishing to make themselves known to the Innkeeper and try and expand their connections. One of them was a wedding proposal by a very beautiful devil, yet Lex had to calmly reject her, stating that he did not wish to distract himself from his work. There were many more useless or actually even infuriating meetings where they tried to scam him or make use of the Inn for malicious purposes, but they were still in the minority. "Your package arrived long ago. Here you are, a single freshly mined Durril ore straight from Frigra. I can guarantee that it has spent no more than a few days away from that, and those days are entirely attributed to your own tardiness." "Yes, yes, no need for the sales pitch, this suits my needs just fine," said Lex as he took the briefcase Powell handed him and opened it to look at the bright pink ore, only partially revealing itself from the piece of stone it was within. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om This ore was extremely valuable across the entire realm, mostly because there were very few mines for them at all. But that''s not the reason why Lex had ordered this particr ore. No, he just needed something from the Frigra that still contained an aura of the. With that, Lex could use the item as a guide to purchase a ticket from the system that targeted that specifically. Like this, he would be able to teleport there with the intention of linking it to the Inn. But Lex did not truly care much for linking the as much as he cared about treasure hunting. After all, that was a part of the 89 rogues that formed the only known ''belt'' of rogues within the Suera gxy. It was only once he had already reached there that he would consider how exactly he was going to determine if his location was correct. If it wasn''t¡­ he really had no idea how he was going to look for the relevant ce. He was alreadyte as it was. "Powell, what about my second request?" Lex asked, once he closed the briefcase. As a rich and powerful Innkeeper, it was about time he got himself a respectable interster spaceship! "Haha, of course it is ready. After all, you gave us so much time to prepare. If we weren''t able to provide you with a satisfying result, the emporium would lose face!" With that said, Powell ducked behind the counter, and brought up another briefcase. Within it was a single spatial item fashioned into a ne. Unlike other spatial equipment, this was a very special one since it was prepared specifically for just one item: the Silent Wanderer! The Silent Wanderer was a ship produced by Havalier Industries, the samepany that made the Silent Night which had triggered Lex''s deep desire for a personal spaceship! The Silent Night was a collectors ss ship, and never produced again, but the Silent Wanderer was not bad either. Although it did not boast the same capabilities as its Night variant, it nevertheless qualified as one of the foremost coveted ships in the entire Origin realm! Lex had to ce an order long in advance with the emporium who went through an unknown number of hurdles to have it produced. "Follow me," Powell said as he led Lex to a hanger, where he activated the spatial ne and brought out the ship. The Silent Wanderer was metallic silver in color, yet when flying through space it appeared invisible as it would perfectly blend in with darkness and light alike. It had an incredibly sleek body, and could only support a crew of thirty humans at most! Yet where it suffered inck of space, it more than made up for in its speed, armor, fire power and state of the art navigation systems. Although itcked theplete self navigation system, which would require the addition of an A.I., it was the best one could get besides that. Inside the ship were four small yet cozy bedrooms, each with its own tiny bath, a kitchen, arge storage room, a main hall and a cockpit. It was fueled by an extremely powerful battery that generated energy by consuming a highly radioactive ore. The battery was so dangerous that there were over 100 fail safes built into it, not to mention an emergency ejection system for the battery in case those fail. The ship could also be piloted using alternative fuels such as spirit stones, but that would limit the ship to less than 1% of its original capabilities. "If only you epted MP for payment," Lex softly mumbled as he rubbed his hands against the Silent Wanderers body. This ship was an absolute beauty, but it also came with a hefty price tag. To pay for it, Lex had to liquidate nearly 39 billion MP via the guild by purchasing the highest quality of spirit stones that the empire would sell to him. Naturally, due to the rush he was in, he suffered a great loss in the conversion rate from MP to actual physical goods, but it was what it was. One could not fret too much about the details when one was purchasing a spaceship that could travel the distance between Earth and Mars in a few hours. "This is excellent Powell. Pack it up, and don''t forget to throw in the manual. I can''t wait to drive this thing!" Chapter 750 Frigra

Chapter 750 Frigra

Powell looked a little reluctant to part with such a magnificent spaceship. The Silent Wanderer was a corvette ss ship, meaning it was light and fast, but had enough of an armor and attack capability to survive if it got in a scuffle. If they ran into pirates or faced aggression from a random group, unless they had armored ships, the Wanderer woulde out on top due to how high ss it was. Of course, a lot also depended on the pilot. Even the best ship would not bring any decent results if piloted by an amateur. Powell, as a ship enthusiast, was also a pilot and longed to get his hands on something like the Silent Wanderer, but it was not meant to be. Perhaps in the future such a day woulde, but it had note yet. Suppressing his sigh, he put the ship back in its spatial equipment. This ne was especially made on order at Lex''s request. After all, he was going to be teleporting to ces often, so if he could not carry the ship with him when he did so, it would be pointless. But the ship required a spacerge and stable enough so that it wouldn''t get damaged, as some of its more sensitive equipment could not handle the duress of typical spatial equipment. The battery was especially a point of concern in this regard. Therefore, the specially designed spatial equipment was an absolute must. If he lost it one day, he would not be able to put the ship in any other random spatial equipment even if it had the capacity for the ship. Once withdrawn, Lex put the ne on. He was not one for jewelry, so it was fortunate that the ne only consisted of a thin silver chain with a t, rod centerpiece at one end with an engraving of the Silent Wanderer on it. The whole thing was simple enough that Lex could wear it without feeling embarrassed. He bid Powell farewell and quickly returned to the Inn. He first looked at the manual for the Silent Wanderer - it was equivalent to a 36,000 page PDF. Lex blinked to make sure he saw correctly, and when he received the confirmation, he made a copy and forwarded it to Cirk - the captain of the giant spaceship inside the Inn. Lex would learn to pilot his own ship, of course, but it wasn''t like he could pick it up in a day. It was moments like this that having the endless resources of the Inn on hand came in handy. Although it would still take Cirk some time to learn, he expected it would be alot faster than Lex. He then took out the Durril ore, and after a very long time, bought a ticket. Only this time he wasn''t buying one of the random search tickets, but rather a focused ticket using the ore to lock onto the''s aura. Fortunately, despite Lex''s dy in collecting the ore, due to the fact that it was sealed in a perfect container, it retained the aura of the. When the silver colored ticket appeared in Lex''s hand, he mentally reviewed everything he knew about the. The was the only one in the belt that had life on it, though the local dominant species were not humans. In fact, there were no humans on the entire. Actual on ground information on the was limited because it was the territory of a dragon, but the one thing that was certain was that it exported Durril ore in limited quantities. The had no tourism, and only very limited trade ties. Once Lex approached there, he would stand out significantly, so he would have to be discreet and stealthy. He also needed a way to confirm that he was in the correct location, but that wouldeter. He tore the ticket and a very familiar interface appeared in front of him. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om s Avable: : Frigra Rating: 3 Star Distance: 384 Sectors Environment: Frigid cold, perpetual darkness, multiple underground steam vents ''How delightful,'' Lex thought to himself before confirming the only in the selection, and disappearing. A momentter, he found himself standing in what looked like a vacant street. For once, it seemed like he had teleported not in the wilderness, but near or in an inhabited area. There wasplete darkness all around him, with the distant stars in the sky as the only source of light. He had to rely on his spirit sense mostly to get an idea of where he was, though admittedly his eyes were well adapted to the darkness as well - not to mention the Fancy Contact lenses. He was studying his surroundings, and trying to understand where exactly he had teleported to, when he picked up on something. To be specific, it was not his eyes, contact lenses or even spirit sense that detected the change, but his soul sense! There was originally no one around him, but then he detected a soul pass by. It seemed like the ''soul'' detected him at the same time as he felt the presence of the soul, and changed its direction to approach him. Lex did not reveal that he had already detected the iing being, and observed to see how the situation progressed. It was approaching him from behind, and even as it came within a few dozen feet of him, Lex could not actually see or hear the approaching entity. ''Was this what others experienced when Fenrir used its stealth?'' Lex wondered as the being came even closer, practically only a couple of feet away from him. Were it not for his soul sense, he would have had no way of knowing there was someone standing right behind him. But then, the being attacked viciously, and when it finally made contact, the being was revealed to Lex''s senses. It seemed Lex needed to be touching it to perceive it. Chapter 751 Nonchalant

Chapter 751 Nonchnt

The creature was humanoid, though it did not resemble a human at all. In the darkness it was not possible to distinguish its color, but its back seemed to be covered in a thick and jagged carpiece while its front consisted of a very thick hide, making the creature extremely durable. It did not seem to have eyes, though it most certainly had a mouth filled with extremely sharp teeth. Lex could see a few other features on its face, some of which could possibly serve the same purpose as a nose and ears, though what the rest were for was a mystery. The creature seemed intelligent, as it was wearing some kind of clothes that augmented its stealth abilities, and Lex could faintly detect surprise from the creature using his sixth sense. In its right hand was a de that seemed like it was made from a very sharp tooth, yet its usual lethality seemed to have failed the creature today. He had tried to slice Lex''s neck off in one swift motion, but his attempts were not even enough to give him a shave. The creature, instead of getting the satisfying feedback of a sessful kill, was greeted with the shock of hitting an incredibly solid object. The pushback from the force in his hand nearly caused a few tendons in his fingers to rip, though they had ultimately managed to hold on. Lex only raised an eyebrow as he looked at the creature, while abject horror gripped the creature''s three hearts. It tried to retreat as quickly as possible, but Lex was too fast for it. He reached out and grabbed the creature''s hand, restricting its retreat. He squeezed slightly, making sure not to break the hand. Despite his care, the grip was tight enough that the creature lost its grip on the knife and dropped it - although, it simultaneously won Lex''s admiration for it had been able to suppress its scream. The creature was well trained. "I don''t think we have any animosity," said Lex calmly. "Why did you suddenly attack me?" While waiting for an answer, Lex simultaneously read the information he was getting from his Fancy contact lenses. The creature was known as a Frigal, and was a local variant of a species closely rted to dragons. They formed societies andmunities around dragons, and worshiped them. Each and every dragon usually had its own country of such followers, who also happened to be descendants of the very dragon they served. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om As a virile species, dragons often mated with any suitable creature in their habitat, often giving birth to half-breeds and different variants of Frigal, who then ultimately spent their entire existence worshiping their dragon ancestor due to the heavy influence of their bloodline. But it was not as if the dragons ever actually managed their subordinates, so such creatures often formed their own societies with independent cultures and ideas, not to mention intrigue and politics. This particr Frigal, upon realizing it could not escape Lex''s grip, very resolutely chopped off its own hand and retreated. But the creature had managed to take only a single step back before Lex grabbed its other hand. "Will you chop this one off too? But you''d need a hand to do that. Will you bite it off?" he asked with seemingly genuine curiosity. But the more nonchnt he appeared, the more the Frigal felt afraid. Gathering up its courage, the creature leaped forward and kneed Lex in the face. He moved extremely quickly and summoned all its strength, making it so that Lex was not able to react. When his knee made contact it felt ted, but then the feeling faded when it saw that Lex remainedpletely unaffected! "I see you are not really in a cooperative mood," he remarked as he pondered what to do. Should he try some form of torture? How was he supposed to extract the information? After a couple of moments of thinking, during which the Frigal had been relentlessly assaulting Lex, he decided to take a different approach. He only gently twisted his hand, and the creature''s arm was dislocated. He took a single step forward, managing to perfectly dodge one of the creatures'' attacks, and gently chopped at the Frigals'' neck. Well, it was gentle by Lex''s standards, but to the creature it waspletely fatal. With its neck broken, the creature copsed on the ground, bleeding out from its severed hand. Lex could not help but sniff the air. The smell of this creature''s blood was unusually pungent, like rotten eggs, and would probablyst for a long time. Lex made a mental note not to get any blood on himself, lest he be easy to track down if someone was searching for him. Lex searched the creature, and besides the dagger it had used to attack him, found several darts and needles, all coated with poison. Wherever this fellow was going, his motives were not pure. He once again looked around, and upon ensuring that no one had seen what happened, quickly moved away. He changed into his stealth suit, so that it was easier to hide, though he did not know how effective the suit would be here. After all, he did not know what senses these creatures used. If it was the normal hearing, touch or spirit sense, Lex had his bases covered. But if it was some other unusual sense, well then Lex would find out how good his suit really was. It only took a short while before Lex encountered other Frigals, but that made sense since he was in what appeared to be a town. Oddly enough, the mood across the whole town seemed to be extremely depressing, and filled with anxiety. Lex situated himself behind a peculiar bush that seemed unaffected by the cold and the dark, and carefully extended his spirit sense to see if he could spy on the conversations the crowd was having. He was once again trying his hand at being a spy. Only a few momentster, Lex raised an eyebrow. He just heard something interesting. Chapter 752 Son’s girlfriend’s father’s mistress

Chapter 752 Son''s girlfriend''s father''s mistress

Despite the absence of light, or even eyes, the Frigal had not forsaken the appearance of their town. The streets were wide and even, with pavement on either side. There was a surprising amount of vegetation for such a cold, dark, in the form of bushes that had been nted every dozen feet or so. The buildings were designed to bepletely symmetrical, with an inordinate amount of design even on the outside. The use of precious ores to decorate the buildings was also a very prevalent practice. Yet as gaudy as the town appeared to be, the mood of the citizens did not seem to match. There were only a few Frigal''s moving about in the streets, but each and everyone seemed like they were expecting death right around the corner. The unusual mood and the encounter with a potential assassin made Lex aware that there was something extremely unusual going on - most likely. When he extended his spirit sense from his hiding ce to try and learn as much about his environment as he could, he discovered that his suspicions were entirely correct. "Do you have any confirmation yet?" one Frigal whispered to another, speaking in their unusualnguage that consisted of various throaty growls. "You know how hard it is to get confirmed news, but this is as solid a lead as any were going to get for a while. I got the news from the nephew of the neighbor of one of the pce guards. The royal family is acting extremely oddly, and the king has been to the Lord Dragons chamber multiple times in thest few days. No one knows what''s happening, but security has been drastically increased around the castle. I''ve heard that even the king''s son from a random maid has a bodyguard now." "So they are acting strange, that doesn''t mean that the Lord Dragon is dead! The Lord Dragon is immortal and evesting! These damn foreigners are causing problems for no reason, spreading such vile rumors. I say we should execute them all." "I also don''t believe that anything can happen to the Lord Dragon. Who doesn''t know of the Lord''s immoral might? But¡­ I can''t help but think that something is going on! Even the king has never been allowed to enter the Lord''s chamber so frequently." "I think the King has finally convinced the Lord to act against the Icy abominationsing from the south! As soon as the Lord makes a move, we''ll finally be freed from this unrewarding war." "All praise to the mighty Lord!" the Frigal eximed with enthusiasm. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex listened in to a few more conversations, and understood the gist of what was happening. Suddenly and spontaneously, some foreigners appeared on the and began iming that the Mighty dragon had died. Such statements were received with predictable disharmony, and those foreigners were said to have been imprisoned, although the public seemed to be curious as to why they had not been publicly executed yet, as would normally be the case. Though there were very few Frigal''s on the streets, most of them seemed to have the same or simr beliefs, which was that the dragon was infallible. Only after squatting in the same ce for well over an hour did Lex encounter someone with a differing view. "I''m telling you. My son''s girlfriend''s father''s mistress works as a maid in the royal pce. The royals all know that the dragon has passed on and are taking this opportunity to raid the Lord''s treasury." A dragon''s treasury¡­ Although Lex was not sure how he would confirm if this really was the that the mystery man meant, if there was treasure to be found anywhere, a dragon''s treasury sure sounded like the ce. His original n was to wait on this till the Inn connects to it, after which he would begin to explore all the 89s using his ship''s extremely thorough and powerful scanning tools. But, upon hearing the intrigue surrounding the dragon, Lex was tempted to investigate. To be clear, while the information about this was very limited on the Henali portal, there was slightly more information on the dragon. The first and most important thing was that all dragons, true dragons that is, were in the Earth Immortal realm from the moment of their birth. It was literally the lowest level they could be at, and any ''dragon'' that imed to be one but was below that realm was actually a mix-breed creature that resembled a dragon. The exact realm of the dragon was unknown, but it had a strong reputation so there was a solid chance that it was at a higher realm. Lex didn''t believe an immortal could die so randomly or quietly. After all, immortal was in the name of their realm, right? But it was clear that something was definitely going on, and his curiosity had been piqued. He focused on gathering information on the location of the castle. Just to be safe, since the castle was bound to be a high security area, Lex summoned Fenrir before the two bolted. "Listen buddy, you better use your powers to the best of your abilities. There''s probably going to be many immortals where we''re heading." Fenrir snorted, but at the same time Lex could tell it had begun to use its full power. Although it might be foolish to head to such a dangerous location, it wasn''t as if Lex was going to head straight in without a n. First he would take his time to scout the area out, and only after this had established its connection to the Inn would he venture in. With his own suit, and Fenrir''s remarkable abilities, they should be able to avoid attracting any attention. The only real possibility of them being detected was if there were immortals there, and Lex could only guess that there might be. At the same time, he wondered what those ''icy abominations'' that were mentioned were. There was no such information mentioned on the portal, and this was supposed to be under the thorough control of the dragon, so who could possibly be stirring trouble? Or did this just count as internal strife, which the dragon could not be bothered to care about? Chapter 753 Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum

Chapter 753 Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum

The was, as its name subtly hinted, frigid cold. The warmest he had experienced so far was -10 celsius (14 Fahrenheit), and the average temperature was far below that. Lex was far beyond the point where such temperatures could affect him, but since this was a 3 star, even the cold was tinged with a hint of spirituality which did make Lex feel like this ce was the perfect weather for a nice nap in a cozy nket. Yet what surprised Lex the most was that for a supposed 3 star, the spiritual energy was surprisingly diluted. Compared to earth, there was a great deal more, of course, but it was still below that of the Inns. Perhaps there was more to the star ranking than just spiritual energy concentration. Maybe it was the various precious ores present on the. Another surprising thing, though, there was a noticeableck of snow for such a cold, which was strange. It would have made sense if there was no water on the, and the local lifeforms had evolved to not rely on it, but as he crossed the countryside¡­ uhh, did they even have countries on this? Would this then be called-side? Whatever. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Not letting the random intrusive thought distract him, he once again began focusing on the fact that as he crossed the empty and uninhabited terrain leading towards the castle where the Lord Dragon resided, he picked up many steam vents, and even a couple of hidden hot springs deep within some caves he crossed. There was a surprising amount of flora, with roots that went deep far beyond the limit of his spirit sense. They must have adapted somehow to keep the water from freezing within them. Some of them gave off a gentle, blue light, which was the only source of light he had seen on this so far. From time to time, Lex would see other towns or even cities, but he managed to avoid them though he could increasingly detect the growing acrimony even from a distance. He avoided the main roads, preferring to remain hidden. He had already encountered one assassination attempt, and the locals weren''t exactly fond of foreigners at the moment, so he wouldn''t be making any friends if he was spotted. Since he was in no rush, he did not mind the fact that it took him nearly two days to get near the castle, and even that was also only because hended rtively close to it. It was not because the castle came into sight that Lex knew he was close, but because of a subtle pressure he felt, weighing him down. He had read about this as well, and knew exactly what it was even if he hadn''t. This was Dragon''s Might! Although, reading up on it had educated him on exactly what this aura was. Dragons were a race with a very high level in the natural hierarchy of existence within the universe. This was the very same hierarchy that was raised each time that a cultivator broke through, but the starting point of dragons was so high that even if a human reached the Heaven Immortal realm, their level might still be below that of a dragons. It was while doing research for this very, and then studying the dragon, that Lex learned more about this very hierarchy, which was officially called the Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum. The Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum was a manuallypiled list which denoted the usual hierarchy that a race was born with, and the significance of it was simrly exined as well. The higher along on the list one was, the more they would gain benefits from the universe itself, and be able to wield higher forms of spiritual energy. Dragons, for example, were born at the Earth Immortal realm, exuded a terrific and oppressive aura known as Dragon''s Might, and had an inborn affinity which allowed them to discover valuable treasures. This ced them very high up on that list. Comparatively speaking, humans had no innate advantage except their learning capabilities and adaptability, and had weak and fragile bodies. This was because they were very low on the same list. So, even if a human became an Earth immortal and faced a new born dragon, they would be at a disadvantage or face great difficulty, because even in the same realm, they were not on the same level. That of course did not mean that humans could not ovee that difficulty and beat the dragon, just that there was an undeniable advantage that dragons would always have. This was also one of the reasons Jotun did his best not to get into a direct fight with the devils. The only fortunate thing was that beings could raise this level, not only through cultivation, but also other means, elusive though they may be. Lex''s cultivation technique happened to just be one such way. As such, when Lex finally encountered the Dragons Might, he did not feel the usual fear or oppression that it brought along. Instead, he just found it to be an interesting challenge. The closer they got to the castle, the stronger the effects of Dragons Might became, though they were still manageable for now, for Lex and Fenrir both. But did this mean that the dragon was alive? Or could dead dragons exude the aura as well? The reason Lex was wondering such a thing was¡­ the closer he got to the castle, more hidden assassins he discovered with his soul sense. They never saw him, and he never saw them, but he could tell that they were all headed in the same direction. If the dragon were truly alive, would these assassins really have the guts to go and pick a fight right under its nose? Or were they just trained so well that they did not care about their own life and death? Moreover, who was sending them, and what was their purpose? Since the journey was so long, Lex could not help but muse along these lines. Chapter 754 Mountain range

Chapter 754 Mountain range

As the hours passed by, and Lex came nearer to the castle, the aura grew stronger. While it was well within the range that Lex and Fenrir could tolerate, Lex found it interesting that the assassins also remained unaffected. As a subsidiary race of the dragons, weren''t the Frigals supposed to be even more vulnerable than others to this aura? Based solely on what he saw, that did not seem to be the case. As the hours wound by, another question took hold in Lex''s mind. What was ''aura'' exactly? He himself had an aura, and more than one. The first and most obvious aura was that of the Innkeeper, but that originated from his Host Attire. It gave others great mental pressure, and within the Crystal realm even affected the environment. Based on that he could study the effects that aura could bring about, but he was wondering how aura was nurtured and its effects differentiated. The second aura that Lex had was his own. It was heavily influenced by his time spent as the Innkeeper, and could evoke feelings of confidence,petence and warmth. It was also influenced by Regal Embrace, which nurtured the sensation of indestructibility and gave one the confidence to face anything and everything. His state of flow, for some reason, also affected his aura from what he could tell. Lex had used his aura to influence certain actions and reactions from others, even though he did not understand it fully. Lately, he had even felt his aura grow when he was cultivating his foundations once again, as well as during the first few moments when he was fighting insects and his fighting instincts awakening. Based on this analysis, aura could be innate, such as that of dragons, but could also be influenced by environmental factors, as well as the actions of the person who owned the aura. He wondered, did his act of biding his time, time and time again in the face of insurmountable opponents affect his aura, or had it not? Maybe it was because he made those decisions out of pure logic instead of fear, but there seemed to be no trace of the will to retreat in his aura - yet! The more he marinated in the Dragons Might and fought against the auras effects, the more he began to wonder if he could influence the growth of his own aura, and what benefits it could bring. As an experiment, he closed his eyes and focused, summoning his aura forth in its most raw form. But he quickly discovered that such a generic state of mind caused the aura he summoned to be very loose. He summoned it, but it dispersed quickly under the impressive Dragons Might. Although such a result was predictable, Lex frowned. He summoned his aura again, but this time in defiance of the Dragons Might. As powerful and influential as a dragon may be, he was not insignificant either. Yes, he had the help of the system, but even the most awesome tool in the hands of an ipetent man would yield no results. He never thought less of himself for relying on the system. This time the aura he exuded was more focused, and did not disperse under the weight of the Dragons Might, though it was heavily suppressed and was limited to just a few feet around him. Lex felt a subtle, additional strain on him as he maintained his aura, and felt that if he continued to fight against Dragons Might in such a way, he would soon find himself drained of energy. Yet, odd as it was, he could not identify what energy was being exhausted, for it definitely wasn''t his spiritual energy, nor was it any other energy he consciously cultivated. Over the next 30 hours, he continued to perform such experiments, until the castle finally appeared within sight. The ''castle'' was in fact an entire mountain range that had been carved to form the most borate and majestic building Lex had ever seen - and he could not even see all of it! Though, what he could see was the epic fight being fought at the foot of the mountain range. Even from a distance, Lex could tell that the conflict was between armies that were hundreds of thousands in numbers, and was incredibly fierce. Neither side had a clear advantage, and from the number of assassins who kept arriving, it seemed like the size of the fight was only destined to grow. Fortunately, the ''castle'' was extremelyrge, so Lex could just circumvent the fight and still approach the castle. The Inn had already established its connection by now, so Lex was no longer concerned about escape. He simply continued to approach, though it seemed entering would not be as easy as he initially assumed. This close to the castle, the power of the Dragon''s Might was practically a physical force pressing them down into the ground. Although Lex and Fenrir still had no issue resisting the aura, the sheer might of it was interfering with Fenrir''s stealth abilities. The pup could no longer guarantee if they were even working at all or not, so they had to rely on conventional stealth to approach. That meant that they practically held their breaths and stepped as softly as possible during their approach, making sure to be as far as possible from any potential guards. One drawback of turning an entire mountain range into a singr castle was that there were too many areas that were left unsupervised. After they finally approached the castle, due to the pups reluctance to depart mid-adventure, despite Lex''s many assurances that he would summon it again shortly, the pairs actions gave birth to a very unusual sight. A man and a wolf climbed the vertical walls of the castle carefully as they tried to approach a window. As odd as it was, there were no protective formations anywhere around the castle. Perhaps the dragon never felt like it needed one, so they were able to enterpletely unintended. Now they just had to navigate what was surely abyrinth to find what they were looking for.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Chapter 755 Introspection

Chapter 755 Introspection

Lex spread his spirit sense in the pitch dark corridor he had entered, trying to understand theyout as well as detect any nearby Frigals. One of the most important considerations Lex had during this period was how dangerous this specific adventure was going to be. Surprisingly, so far, he had not faced any significant challenge, though Fenrir could take most of the credit for that. His instincts, too, did not warn him of any overwhelming danger looming around the corner. To be clear, there was plenty of danger about. If Lex was not careful, he could be besieged by countless Frigals, not to mention whoever they were fighting. But the 3 star he was on was showing a surprisingck of immortals, who were the greatest threat to Lex. Either they were not nearly asmon as he had assumed, and his frequent encounters with them could be attributed to a skewed probability of facing them due to how many unusual circumstances he faced. He made a mental note to look up such information when he got back. Considering the fact that he encountered Earth Immortals so frequently in the Crystal realm, and saw so many immortalsing to his Inn, Lex thought that there would be immortals anywhere with enough spiritual energy, but that might not be the case. Perhaps the tribtion also yed a role in their absence. But, the most significant thing was that despite the Dragons Might being much stronger now, Lex''s instincts still did not warn him of any lethal danger. In fact, the poison on Polebitvy was about a million times more dangerous than anything he was feeling currently. Of course there was also the possibility that his instincts were failing him, or that they were unable to detect a certain type of threat, such as those that involved systems. Lex still had to be careful. Unable to decipher the ridiculouslyrgebyrinth that was the interior of the castle, Lex decided to use his instincts to search for any good leads. His instincts were unable to directly tell him where to go to fulfill his purpose, but it did point him in the direction of the nearest item which could be considered a treasure. "Any idea which way to go?" Lex asked Fenrir, just in case the pup had any other abilities he was unaware of, but the pup only shook its head. The Dragons Might was affecting it much more than Lex, and causing it to be agitated. Its general temperament was rather friendly and mild, at least in the presence of those that it trusted, but it was still feeling challenged and aggressive. It was as if the very blood in its veins was angered that a dragon was daring to disy its might within Fenrir''s presence. Unfortunately, regardless of how noble the instincts in its body, it was nowhere near as strong as the dragon. At least the dragon was born in the immortal realm - Fenrir, despite its noble bloodline, had been born a mortal. That thought gave Lex pause. Fenrir should have had a very high position in the Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum, so then why was its cultivation at birth so low? Why was it still unable to speak, even if only through spirit sense? The mysteries surrounding the pup were not few, but right now was not the time to ponder them. Without any other lead, Lex decided to move in the direction of the nearest treasure. The corridor was, just as the Frigal town had been, borately decorated across every inch of its length. Precious ores had been used to add color to the carvings in the walls, even if no one could see those colors in the dark, and spirit stones had been embedded every so often, keeping the ambient energy within the castle high. Lex felt like he had encountered something he had no knowledge of, for there were no formations in ce nor did the alignment of rooms or corridors seem like they merged to form a massive character, like in Valesco, but the deeper he walked into the castle the more impressive it seemed. The spirit energy was the least of it. It seemed like every step he was taking, he was walking on the physical manifestation of history itself. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Countless beings of incredible importance had once passed through these halls, and world shaking decisions had been made in nearly every room. Although Lex did not have enough information to judge, he guessed that perhaps the influence of the dragon whose home he was walking in wasrger than he had first thought. Maybe the dragon held a great position in this gxy, but information of that level would not be easily avable on the Henali portal. For a massive portal that was supposed to cover the majority of the explored realm, it was surprisingly strictly monitored and controlled. Also, now that Lex knew a lot more about the universe, the size of the Origin realm surprised him greatly. After all, long before Lex knew of the concept of realms, he assumed the Origin realm was the entire universe. It was then that Lex came across the concept of the ''known universe'' which should now urately be called ''known realm''. This was because arge part of even the Origin realm remained unexplored. Lex did not know if such a term counted the Henali as well, or if they truly had explored the entire realm, but he definitely knew that the devils, at least, had not explored the entire realm yet. Lex suddenly stopped, and frowned. He noticed something unusual. He was undergoing a lot more introspection than usual, and his thoughts seemed to be bing more and more random. Why was he thinking about the Origin realm while exploring a potentially dangerous castle? Something was silently influencing him, and he had not even noticed! When exactly did this start? Was it when he first entered this, or did it only begin after he started to resist the pressure of Dragons Might? Chapter 756 Watching the show Chapter 756 Watching the show It did not take long for Lex to realize that his thoughts had been a lot more random since the very moment he arrived on the, long before he began to contest against the Dragons Might. But he still could not be sure this was caused by something external. After all, he could just be in a thoughtful mood. Moreover, he had felt no threat, nor perceived anypse in his attentiveness to danger or his surroundings. At most, he was just a little more pensive than usual. Lex made a mental note to focus on his state of mind a little more while he was here, and continue his journey. He was a lot more observant towards the interior of the castle as he moved deeper into thebyrinth, and finally noticed two things. First, if he moved away from the outer wall of the castle, and ventured towards its depths, there was a slight decline in all paths. It was as if he was slowly descending into the bowels of the castle. Second, the temperature was increasing the deeper he went. Soon, the two encountered their first door. The halls which had built up the castle so far had all been open and interconnected, forming an open outermostyer. But it seemed they were about to enter the secondyer of the castle. Lex prepared for trouble as he attempted to open it, but surprisingly found that there was no problem at all. The door, which was nearly 20 feet (6 meters)rge, opened easily, leading to yet another series of halls. But these halls contrasted from the previous ones in that they were filled with various carpets, decorations, statues, paintings and more. There were also some Frigals patrolling, though they all looked incredibly weary and exhausted, as if they had not rested in a long while. Despite their drained condition, Lex could tell that they were doing their best to be as attentive as possible. If it weren''t for Fenrir, Lex would not have been able to escape their scrutiny. Or the detection of the few assassins he saw as well. What the hell was going on, and how were there so many assassins with such incredible stealth capabilities? If it weren''t for his soul sense, Lex would never know about them. In fact, even Fenrir had failed to detect them. As it happened, one of the assassins seemed to be going in the same direction as Lex, so perhaps he would get an answer soon. As the odd group navigated the ostentatious halls, Lex could not help but wonder what the life of an assassin was like? Did they have friends? Did they like to read books or watch ys? Did they snack from time to time? He imagined that, regardless of the stereotype of being cold-blooded, they would need to enjoy life sometime, right? He wondered if assassins got married and had little assassin babies. The thought was so odd that Lex once again caught himself, and realized that his thoughts had wandered again. He frowned, and redoubled his efforts to stay attentive. Soon they reached the room Lex''s instincts were guiding him to, and it seemed like it was upied. A couple of Frigals were inside talking, though Lex found it difficult to assess their age and genders just by observing them. It was tough to do these things with a race he had only just met. He moved closer to try and hear what they were saying, as did the assassin. "... is only a matter of time," said one of them. "Is it really? It''s already been weeks, and my memory has not recovered, nor has anyone else''s. No one knows what truly happened, and the royal family is acting too strangely." "How do you expect them to react? Who could have predicted that an army of those icy abominations would suddenly rise from the ground and attack the castle? They have to fight with all their efforts, or if the Lord Dragon is disturbed, the royal family will be too ashamed to continue on living." "I don''t know why the Lord Dragon doesn''t just kill them with a single swipe. It''s been over six months since these creatures suddenly appeared in the south, and they''ve been a growing nuisance since!" Lex was immediately intrigued. ''Over six months'' was the trantion of what the Frigal had actually said, and it had automatically been tranted into terms that Lex was familiar with. The more important thing was that the timing seemed to be simr to when the mysterious man had told Lex toe here.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "More than those icy creeps, I wish the royal family would just kill those foreigners! How dare they spheme the great Lord by iming he has died? Can they not feel the magnificence of his aura gracing this world with its presence?" One of the Frigals, the one fanatically praising the dragon, grabbed something from its belt that immediately attracted Lex''s attention. It was a strange, orange colored vine that was emitting a soft glow. The vine had been snipped off of wherever it originally grew, and was dying, but nheless it gave off an intimidating aura. This was exactly the thing that his instincts had guided him to. Lex was not the only one who noticed the vine, as the assassin started to make his way towards the Frigal as soon as he brought out the vine. Instead of interfering in the matter, Lex decided to just sit and watch. He was interested in learning what exactly was going on here, and perhaps observing their interaction would give him some clues. As soon as the assassin came close, something unbelievable happened. The light emitted from the vine actually managed to reveal the assassin''s figure, alerting the two Frigals of the intruder. Immediately they began fighting one another without holding anything back. In the corner of the room, Lex and Fenrirfortably sat on a couple of sofas and watched the fight as Lex summoned out a bag of Doritos. "Want some?" he offered the pup as he pointed the open bag towards him. Very politely taking out a pair of chopsticks, so as to not dirty its paw, it took a few. That was the moment Lex realized his pup also had a spatial treasure! Chapter 757 Interesting Assassin Chapter 757 Interesting Assassin "When did you get a spatial treasure?" asked Lex, not hiding his surprise. "Actually, where did you get one from?" The pup had originally not felt like this was a big deal, but seeing how Lex reacted it suddenly felt prideful. He growled and barked as itmunicated with Lex, yet the man seemed to understand everything. The oddest part was that no one noticed the two talking, and not just because the other three in the room erupted into a battle for life and death! "Oh, that''s an unusual bloodline ability," Lexmented. Apparently, after Fenrir finished his task inside the tower, the reward he had received was information on how to unlock his bloodline abilities as quickly as possible. Fenrir had begun to implement that knowledge, which was beginning to unlock more and more of his bloodline abilities. The particr one he used was not exactly equivalent to having a spatial treasure - although the effects were simr in a limited capacity.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om It created small folds within Fenrir''s fur which seemed to be linked to some unknown domain. For now, Fenrir could store small items in that domain, although it was best not to store anything too private as, technically, that domain could be essed by anyone with simr abilities. This bloodline ability was a part of a more powerful ability to be unlockedter on, though Fenrir did not know or care about that. It just liked putting anything and everything within that space. So far, besides chopsticks, he had put a lot of mud, some rocks, and other random small objects. Lex listened in with interest as he watched the Frigals fight. Although the fight had just begun, it was almost over as well. Although the assassin had lost the element of surprise, hisbat ability was nothing to belittle. The two random workers were not its match, although the assassin also suffered some injuries. A few minutester, everything was concluded. Lex watched with interest as the assassin ate the glowing vine excitedly. If eating the vine had any effects, they were not apparent. Besides the glow disappearing, resulting in the assassin once again turning invisible, Lex noticed nothing significant. However that quickly changed when the assassin disabled his invisibility on his own a few momentster. He sat down in a corner, as if to rest, and took out a small device and began speaking into it. "I''ve infiltrated into the firstyer of the castle, but have received injuries. I will need to recover before I can continue to proceed further. Please be advised, I encountered an unknown object that can disable invisibility when exposed to its radiation. Let the others know, in case such means are applied throughout the castle. I have still discovered no signs of any of the members of the royal family." Lex felt that the assassin was being deceitful in his report, for if the ''object'' had really been unknown, he would not have proceeded to eat it, right? At least Lex discovered that the objective of the assassins seemed to be the royal family, quite predictably. "Acknowledged. If recovering from your injuries will take too long, retreat instead. Your Band of Neglect can only allow you to tolerate the Dragons Might for so long. The closer you are to the entity, the faster it will be drained." "Affirmative," the assassin replied, and put the device away. But then he continued to act suspiciously. Instead of focusing on healing, he approached one of the Frigals he killed and stabbed them with a particrly demonic de. The de began to absorb the entire body, and after a few moments, itpletely vanished. The assassin, instead, began to morph just a bit, and momentster assumed an appearance identical to the Frigal that had been absorbed. Or at least, Lex felt like he did. With these unusual creatures it was very difficult for him to distinguish facial features. But the assassin was not done acting suspiciously. He then stabbed himself once as well, though with a different knife, and allowed himself to bleed out a little, before cauterizing the wound. Lex and Fenrir exchanged looks, before returning their attention to the assassin who was not limping away. Before he left, however, he took out his smallmunication device, and crushed it. Naturally, Lex followed the assassin. Considering that he had no idea how to navigate these halls, and didn''t know where to go, following this suspicious person may lead to some unexpected rewards. Unlike Lex, the assassin seemed to know exactly where he was going, and soon ran into guards. "Assassins have infiltrated! They are searching for her majesty Seishan! You have to let her know at once!" the assassin pleaded, as if the very meaning of his struggle was to send the warning. Quite conveniently, he also copsed just as he found the guards. They immediately checked on his wounds and discovered something quite serious. "Although he seems to have cauterized the wound, he did not manage to stop his internal bleeding. Immediately bring him to get treated, I will go and warn her majesty!" The group of guards split up, and Lex now had the option to either follow the guard to whoever this ''Seishan'' was, or continue to follow the assassin. After a moment''s deliberation, he felt like the assassin was just diverting attention, and that his motivesy elsewhere. Ultimately, Lex decided to keep following the group with the assassin. Considering the urgency of the situation, the group moved quickly, and Lex found himself entering deeper and deeper into the castle. The temperature had almost risen to above freezing, which was quite a big deal for a with no star nearby. Just as they reached the makeshift hospital, which was filled with countless other patients, the castle trembled, and many decorations fell on the floor. Everyone in the room froze, as fear suddenly gripped them. Something had attacked the castle? Was the Lord Dragon going to be disturbed? The castle trembled again, and this time, it was much worse! Chapter 758 Discovered Chapter 758 Discovered Neither Lex nor Fenrir were disturbed by the quaking, but all the Frigals in the room seemed to lose their souls. Cabs shook, the walls creaked, and dust fell from the ceiling, but fortunately there was no destruction. The tremors from the explosion eventually vanished, but nobody in the room dared to move. It seemed like even the dying patients stopped dying for this duration, but in actuality they were just too frightened to release their pain-filled moans. But nothing seemed to happen. The Dragons Might did not waver, and there were no massive repercussions, at least as far as Lex could tell. Slowly, the doctors began to move once again, as if testing if there would be a reaction. When nothing happened, they quickly started to tend to their patients again. In that short, momentary pause, however, everyone was too upied to notice that the assassin had left the stretcher he had been ced on, and moved through the crowd, somehow changing his attire as he did. Everyone other than the two specifically paying attention to him. From the hospital the assassin continued, moving at a much faster pace. Lex did not know why he no longer used his invisibility, but considering that Lex had not encountered any other assassin this deep in the castle, perhaps it was not possible. The longer he followed, the faster the assassin became, as if he was feeling anxious about something and running out of time. After nearly an hour passed, they once again crossed into a newyer of the castle, and suddenly the nouveau riche grandeur that filled every corner of the castle suddenly changed.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om From the finest marble floors and walls lined with statues, the castle changed to look like it was a natural cave. There was no even flooring, no decoration and no signs that this was a part of a castle. The cave was also quite warm, by the''s standards. As he hadpletely run out of time, the assassin broke into a run without caring about alerting anyone with his actions. His destination, as it turned out, wasn''t far. In a small, branching cave, a small group seemed to be waiting for the assassin. There were a few corpses tucked neatly atop one another, so as to be out of the way. "You took too long!" one of the awaiting aplices eximed angrily. "It was worth it! I discovered something incredible. Those Icy abominations have made their way to the castle! While the forces of the noble families fight against the royal family on the west side, the main members of the royal family have gone to the north to fend off those monsters. The central chambers will bepletely unattended! We have to move before others figure this out as well." "Good job, that''s valuable information. If that''s the case, we don''t need to waste time sneaking around. We''ll recover the time lost, and then some. What about the King? Any news on the geezer?" "No, but I think we should proceed as if he''s still in the dragon''s chamber." "Based on this information, we can alter our ns a little. Disable all unnecessary treasures and conserve as much energy as possible. From here on out, our top priority should be resisting the Dragons Might. The more time we save, the longer we''ll be able to resist the Might once we''re inside the chamber, and each second in there is literally worth billions of soul stones!" Everyone in the group nodded, and each of them seemed to disable an active technique. To Lex''s great surprise, the previous group of Frigals began to change. What reced them were twelve stocky dwarves! Once all of them were ready, the leader of the group brought them to a formation he had drawn using the blood and organs taken from the nearby corpses. Completely unaffected by the scene, everyone got in the formation, Lex and Fenrir included. If it were anything else, Lex might have hesitated, but he had seen enough teleportation formations to recognize one, even if it was made from blood and guts. The leader tried to activate the formation, but for some reason it wouldn''t activate. He frowned, but did not waste too much time and took out a few more items from a bag and adjusted the formation a bit. "Why is it using more energy than normal?" he muttered to himself, but did not ponder over it. They didn''t have long to begin with. The teleportation formation activated, and they disappeared. When they reappeared, they were inside what looked like a massive cavern that was actually quite hot, but Lex did not have the time or energy to focus on that. The intensity of Dragons Might had increased so drastically that Lex felt like he had been punched in the gut. Even with all of Lex''s incredible defenses, at this point he felt the influence of the aura as a physical force pressing him down and squishing him like a bug. Fenrir, too, was unable to escape the sudden change and for a few moments his abilities were interrupted. As soon as he readjusted to the pressure, the pup reactivated its abilities, and turned to look at the dwarves. Fortunately for them, it seemed like the dwarves were taking the pressure much worse than both of them. The dwarves were all in the Golden Core realm, with only the leader in the Nascent realm, so it made sense that they were not able to immediately recover. They noticed something amiss, but by the time they recovered enough to check, Lex and Fenrir had once again disappeared. Lex used Harden and other defensive techniques, but nothing seemed to reduce the effects of the aura on him or Fenrir. The dwarves, who had some kind of treasure that reduced the effects of Dragons Might, did not seem much better off than them either. "How the hell does anyone tolerate this pressure?" one of the dwarves asked, wiping some blood off from the corner of his mouth. "Normal Frigals cannot," the leader exined, as he looked suspiciously in Lex and Fenrir''s direction. "Only the royal family can tolerate this pressure. Why else do you think there is a royal family to begin with? Are they really royal? No, they''re just glorified servants to the dragon. No one else can tolerate being this close to the dragon and still maintaining normal body function. Now let''s go." The dwarves followed their leader as he proceeded down one of the paths, seeming certain of his direction. For once, though, Lex and Fenrir did not follow them immediately. With so much pressure on them, it was hard for Fenrir to maintain his stealth, so they would need to resort to regr means: following them in the dark from a distance. But while Lex was still capable of doing that, upon closer observation, it did not seem like Fenrir was in the condition to do so. It was not the pressure itself that was getting to Fenrir, but now that the strength of the Might had increased, so had Fenrir''s aggressiveness. His thoughts were getting clouded by the desire tosh out at anyone and everyone nearby as his blood rebelled against the overbearing might. Ultimately, Lex had no choice but to send Fenrir back to the Inn. But, since the pup still felt reluctant to leave, Lex promised to summon him as soon as there was a fight. After all, there was no problem with him being aggressive if there were actual enemies to target. Even without Fenrir, Lex was wearing his stealth suit made from Orion''s scales, so he was sure as long as he kept his distance, he would not be discovered. Unfortunately, Lex was not too familiar with the dwarven race, so he overlooked the fact that they had a unique racial trait that gave them an incredibly strong affinity with stones, ores, gems and minerals. Although he was undetectable from this distance, the short while he and Fenrir lost their invisibility left detectable traces on the floor. The leader had picked them up, and though he did not let it show, he began preparing for the worst. Once the group was far enough down their path that they were almost out of sight, Lex began following them. Even though his vision was restricted due to the darkness, Lex could still see a little. Silently he followed the group, quite pleased with his decision to follow the assassin, when he felt a strange tremor. With a warning from his instincts Lex quickly leaped back, just in time to avoid a cave-in in the tunnel he was walking through. He frowned. The cave-in happening right above him was too coincidental, so it was safe to say that he had been detected. He was not too surprised, though he wished that the group had fought him instead of running away. Then he could have interrogated them at least. With his guides separated from him, Lex had no choice but to once again rely on his instincts as he began randomly walking down another tunnel. Simultaneously, he began to think about the dragon. The dwarves didn''t seem worried about it at all, so were they the foreigners iming the dragon was dead? If so, how could one exin the Dragons Might? Chapter 759 Lost In Thought Unlike his first impression of the castle which was grand and majestic if a little over done, the cavern he was in now seemed like along forgotten corner of the world filled with naught but darkness. There was no sign of anyone having ever crossed the various tunnels, nor that they had been used for any purpose. If Lex had not followed the dwarves here, and clearly felt the increasing Dragons Might, he may have assumed that he had teleported to a tunnel in the middle of the that had never been discovered. Even the increasing temperature felt like to him that he was moving closer to theyer of moltenva deep under the surface of the.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om As he made his way through, following not but his instincts to guide him, Lex felt something he hadn''t in a long time. He used his thumb to wipe his brow, and discovered sweat. It had been a long time since he sweat naturally. Considering his cultivation, there must be something extremely unusual about the temperature. Lex continued to explore, his thoughts often getting lost in random and seemingly unrted topics despite his best effort to focus. The situation was so strange, that it took a couple of minutes before Lex realized that, while walking, he had encountered what should be an extremelyrge vein of rare ores. They were emitting spiritual energy as if they had an unlimited amount stored within, and were sizzling to touch. Intrigued, he put on his Fancy Contact lenses, and was startled by the result. This was not an ore, but frozen dragon blood! What felt sizzling to Lex was actually well below the freezing point of the dragon''s blood! Why was there so much of it seemingly mixed in with the tunnel walls? Although he didn''t have an answer, Lex broke off a fewrge chunks before adding them to his spatial bangle. Even if he didn''t know that this would be extremely valuable, it mighte in handy for Xeon, who was attempting to be a dragon. He considered grabbing more, but he didn''t want to waste all his time here. He had a strong feeling that he could find even more valuable things, so long as he kept looking. He had only just begun to move forward when he detected faint tremors in the walls. He touched the tunnel wall to be sure and indeed felt faint vibrations. They were not constant and were sometimes stronger or weaker. Someone was fighting nearby, most likely the dwarves. Having finally found a trace, he quickly began to traverse the tunnels once again. Every time he was presented with various choices as two or more paths appeared, he always selected the ones heading towards the signs of fighting. More than once, he came across dead ends, so he would just turn back and keep on trying. Once, long ago, he read that if he ever got lost in a maze, he should either pick a direction, right or left, and always turn the same way. He would eventually find a way out of the maze. Although Lex did not yet start feeling like he was trapped in a maze, if he kept roaming around randomly like this he might just have to try it. Lex sniffed as he picked up a strange scent, and a few momentster, he saw something unusual. A corpsey on the floor, though its death had not been recent. Lex could smell the rot and decay that had gripped the corpse. When he approached, he discovered that it''s situation was even worse than he imagined. There was little other than bone left on the corpse, meaning it had to have been here for months at the very least. Unwilling to touch the rotting corpse, Lex used his spirit sense to investigate it but could not determine the cause of death, which was not too shocking considering its state. He looked down the tunnel, and in the distance detected another such corpse. One need not be an expert to know that something was amiss with the situation, but Lex could not guess what happened at all. It seemed more and more likely that the dragon was dead, or critically injured at the very least. But how had such a powerful being died so simply? How had the royal family survived when the dragon had died? Not to mention these old corpses that he was encountering. Most importantly, did any of this have to do with the treasure that he was supposed to be looking for? While Lex tried to reconstruct what exactly happened, he never stopped moving. At some point, the tremors stopped, but Lex did not even notice. His mind waspletely focused on trying to reconstruct what had happened here based on the few clues that he had. At some point, he had gone from walking through a natural tunnel to what seemed like it had been carved out of solid rock by hand. Torches hung on the sides, but Lex no longer noticed as he was too deeply lost in his thoughts. At some point, he reunited with the dwarves who looked bloodied and battered. Unlike him, they were notpletely lost in thought, and still retained their awareness thanks to the help of various treasures, but they were still too distracted to pick up on the few signs Lex revealed of himself despite wearing his stealth suit. They walked past more skeletons, and this time evena few fresh corpses. One of them even belonged to a royal family member. It was easy to distinguish them frommon Frigals, as they had a long, thick tail and some of them even had wings. Finally, they reached the end of the tunnelwork, and by then, the dwarves hadpletely lost themselves in their thoughts despite their various protective treasures. After all, since they were not being negatively affected in any way, it was very hard for a normal protective treasure to identify their situation as encountering some kind of threat. A massive door hundreds of feet in heighty waiting for them, and it was conveniently slightly ajar, leaving just enough space for them to fit through. Lex was walking towards the opening when a sudden noise woke him from his thoughts. A painful groaning and squealing filled the tunnel,ing from one of the dwarves. He had been already extremely wounded, whichbined with the pressure of the Dragons Might finally got to him. His leg fractured and deformed, causing him to stumble. The pain woke him from his stupor,, but other than Lex no one else noticed his cries. More than concerned about the dwarf, Lex suddenly became alert over how he had reached here! He had no recollection of the path he took, or even of reuniting with the dwarves. Whatever was happening was clearly affecting even his spirit! He employed every defensive technique he knew to protect his mind and spirit, but he felt no change whatsoever. "Barley! Barley, don''t leave me!" yelled the dwarf to hispanions while trying to get up, only for one more of his bones to break. But it was for naught, as hispanions soon crossed the massive door, all blissfully unaware of theirpanions'' pain, or their own bleak prospects. "Dammit!" the dwarf roared as he tried to push his fallen body upright, but was unable to. Before the dwarf could try again, he felt a hand grab him by the back of his cor and lift him up. A human who had been standing beside him this entire time seemed to be visible to him, studying him and his condition. "Unhand me you-" before the dwarf couldplete his sentence, Lex let go, dropping the dwarf back onto the ground. Initially he was nning on threatening the dwarf, but seeing as how his situation was so dire, Lex did not feel the need to put in any effort at all. All the spirit energy in his body had dried up, and there were multiple hairline fractures across his body, under the strain of the dwarfs heavy armor. It would be a miracle if the dwarf was even able to sit up straight without help at this point. Lex had just begun to wonder what could have happened to the dwarf when he suddenly caught himself again, and refocused. "Mary, every few minutes check up on me and make sure I''m not lost in thought. There''s something very unusual going on here, and I have no way of defending against it," he told his every present holographicpanion. "Sure, will do," said Mary, diverting her attention from the Inn to observe Lex. Usually, she was not one for gossip, or ''shipping'' people, as Velma liked to call it. But given the recent developments at the Inn, she couldn''t help but join Velma as she eyed Dr. Charles, and one of the Inns'' other rtively new employees, Hera. Lex, reassured that he would not get lost in thoughts again - for too long at least - turned his attention back to the dwarf. "It seems like you need some help," Lex said, hoping he didn''t have to resort to threats. Those kinds of things really suited Luthor more. Chapter 760 Obsession The dwarf was an inch short of four feet (1.2 meters) but his stature did not deprive him of a powerful presence. His body was thick with muscle, that much was clear even under all the hair that covered him, and his braided bear that was nearly as tall as him radiated an impressive aura of its own, as if a hidden powery within. The dwarf was in the Golden core realm, and Lex could tell that if he were in his prime condition he would be a level above normal human Golden core cultivators. But Lex was not a human cultivator to begin with, let alone the fact that the dwarf was nowpletely drained of energy as well as thoroughly beaten. The dwarf looked at Lex and grimaced, the dirt and blood on his face only serving to make him look more detestable. Lex, on the other hand, began wondering why he once again found himself in a situation where he felt like a viin. Did he have some kind of affinity with being evil? Should he give it a try? "Me bones are shattered, and if I don''t fix them soon the weight of the Dragons Might might just end up killing me directly. If you want anything from me, you''re gonna have to fix me first," the dwarf finally said before aggressively spitting out some blood. Lex raised an eyebrow. Well, at least it was a start. He quickly thought of how he could help the dwarf. He had learned some very basic healing techniques that could be used on others, but they were just barely enough to save someone''s life in a critical situation. They could not be used to actually heal. He had a few boxes full of painkillers in his spatial bangle now, as he had decided he got injured all too often despite his ridiculous defense and no longer wanted to deal with a lot of pain. He had a few herbs that could serve as a healing agent, but their effects weren''t too strong¡­ Shaking his head, Lex decided to keep things simple. He threw a high quality spirit stone at the dwarf, indicating he should replenish his energy a little so he doesn''t immediately die, and simultaneously began to form an array. "There''s no need to be so grumpy. It''s not like we''re enemies or anything. I just have a few questions. I can help you out as long as you give me answers." The array waspleted, and was one of the simplest ones he knew for healing purposes. It did not actually ''heal'' at all, but just added a bit of vitality to a being, allowing their body to naturally heal itself, or to not die so quickly based on the circumstances. "What do you take me for?" the dwarf asked angrily. "Give me proper medicine and-" Before the dwarf couldplete its sentence, he found a foot pressing down on his throat, and Lex''s amicable smile had withdrawn. Instead, Lex now wore a look ofplete indifference as he looked down on the dwarf, a trace of an oppressive aura leaking from him despite the Dragons Might destroying all auras in the area. "Do not take my politeness for subservience. If you do not want to cooperate, then I see no reason to let you live." His tone was cid and uninterested, as if the dwarfs'' life or death meant nothing to him. In actuality, Lex was just trying out the ''evil'' persona he had been wondering about earlier. Although Lex did not see himself as a viin, or an evil person, his recent experiences in the Crystal realm made him realize that, to a degree, being civil and polite sometimes made him seem like a pushover. When he was in Valesco, no matter what, if he had had enough deterrence that Crystal race member would not have attacked him. Simrly, when the Kraven attacked his tavern all of his workers and many of his guests had been injured, but the Earth immortals he had been meeting with never really bothered to lend him a hand, and the two birds even began negotiating with the Kraven right in front of him. Although things had ended well for him eventually, that bitterness and frustration had lingered, if only just a bit. So, while Lex had no real interest in being harsh with others, he also wanted to try and do things differently, and see what the results were. After all, he was just 24 years old, and it was alright if he was still figuring himself out. The dwarf was not an easily intimidated person, usually, but looking at Lex''s eyes, he really felt like the other would kill him without any hesitation if he tested his limits. Although getting answers might be helpful to him, it was not important enough that he would tolerate the dwarfs misbehavior. The dwarf felt a chill in the back of his spine, and he suddenly stopped resisting. No matter what his identity was normally, right now he was just an injured dwarf held down by the other person''s shoe - he needed to adapt to his new reality quickly. "Ask¡­ ask your questions," he said hoarsely, before he finally felt the pressure from the others'' foot on his neck decrease. "That''s more like it. Let''s start with something simple. What''s your name?" Lex asked, a hint of a warm expression returning to his face. "Terrol¡­ Terrol Folkinson," the dwarf said, hoping that the other might recognize his name, but s, Lex knew nothing of dwarfs, and so the name meant nothing to him. "See, that wasn''t so hard now was it?" asked Lex as he removed his foot from the dwarfs neckpletely. "You look pretty beaten up Terrol, and your friends didn''t look much better either. What happened?" Terrol clenched his teeth as the recent memory filled his mind, tormenting him. "The¡­ the Frigal royal family was supposed to be gone. This level of the castle was supposed to be clear, as, theoretically, no one else could get this close to the dragon. Unfortunately¡­ we ran into an unexpected problem. The King has a bastard child who inherited the royal family''s genes, but he''s too weak to go out into the field. He was staying here, which should ont have been an issue, but the King had assigned him a royal protector for some reason. "We ran into the kid, and a fight with the protector erupted. Fortunately, since we were not interested in the kid, we were able to escape. The protector didn''t follow us either, since he had to stay with the child. But even so, escaping was not so easy."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex nodded his head. Not only was he studying the dwarf using his instincts and sixth sense, he also used the Fancy contact lens topletely analyze the dwarfs equipment. Despite his rtively low cultivation level, his gear was no joke. If he had been reduced to such a state in spite of all his preparations, that protector must have been quite powerful. Either that kid was very special to deserve such a powerful protector, or the level of the royal family''s guards was very high. "It seems to me like you guys have made a lot of preparations for your trip, Terrol. It''s not so easy to resist the Dragons Might, and there''s something unusual going on that messes with the spirit, and causes one to bepletely lost in thought. Do you mind exining to me how you resisted both, and especially what thetter is?" The dwarf grit his teeth. This was all valuable information, and revealing it might get them in troubleter. But if he died right now, there would be noter to worry about, so he had no voice but to divulge all that he knew. "Resisting Dragons Might is not all that hard. The dwarves and the elves have been enemies for many millennia, but they recently buried their bitter hatred to join hands together to face the domineering and deadly dragons. With dwarven engineering, and elven enchantments, we have designed many treasures specifically designed to take on dragons. The chestte that I''m wearing has an enchantment that will erase or reduce the effects of Dragons Might, as long as I have enough spirit energy to feed it. "As for the spirit pull¡­ it''s amon phenomenon that urs with any treasure that a dragon obsesses over! The influence of a dragon''s attention is far from simple, let alone the effects of its obsession. All dragons are natural born treasure hunters, and any ce they call home is bound to be full of treasure. "But, although this has valuable ores, it is nowhere near valuable enough to attract a dragon. The spirit energy is poor, and it is far from a star and so is cold. Considering the overall poor quality of the entire, there must be some exceptionally valuable treasure here that attracted the dragon, and now has been tinged with the dragons obsession, affecting one and all!" Chapter 761 Dragons Hoard Chapter 761 Dragons'' Hoard The dwarf had somewhat regained some spirit energy in his body after absorbing it from the spirit stone, although that only made him more sensitive to the horrible condition his body was in. Silently, he cursed the stupid dragon, then audibly he cursed again, "filthy stupid stinking dragon!" Since the dwarf no longer dared to cross Lex, he could only change the target of all his hatred and anguish to the dragon itself.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "The dragon''s obsession is much stronger than anything we expected. Even with all our protection and preparation, we still lost ourselves to the spirit pull!" "Speaking of the dragon, aren''t you at all worried about aggravating the dragon? Or are you so sure that the dragon is actually dead? Were you the ones who spread that news?" "No, no we weren''t the ones who spread the news, but they are working with us," the dwarf said and he suppressed the urge to moan. The little vitality Lex had provided him was far from enough to heal anything at all, but there was not much he could really do about it. "I don''t know how or why¡­ only Barley, the leader of our group, knows the details, but the dragon is for sure dead. Otherwise, we would never agree to go and steal from a living dragons'' hoard. Even if we cannot get our hands on the treasure that has been tainted with the dragon''s obsession, any random item will be worth the risk. A dragon''s hoard¡­ to be honest, I cannot even estimate how much it would be worth. All I can say is that it should be worth a lot." "Why did you spread the news of the dragon''s death? Wouldn''t you end up getting morepetition if the knowledge is spread? In contrast, if you keep the knowledge hidden, you have a greater chance to take all the loot for yourself." "No, no we can''t face the strength of the royal family on our own. Spreading the news is dangerous, as it could attract other races as well, but it also presented us with an opportunity to infiltrate the pce. The various noble families attacked the royal family with the desire to get their hands on dragon blood. With that, they can change their own fate, and rece the royal family. Maybe they could even cause a mutation and transform into a real dragon, since they are dragon descendants at the end of the day. Such a conversion is still possible. "Only when the royal family is busy fighting the other nobles, and the defenses of the castle are focused on the outside would we get the chance to sneak inside. We didn''t count on a simultaneous invasion by the icy abomination at the same time, which only helped our chances even more. But we still don''t have much time, as we have reports that Elven ships are already on their way here. We absolutely cannot risk staying too long, and are supposed to escape the today." "What are these abominations? I''ve heard them mentioned multiple times already." "Again, I don''t know too many details. What I can say is that their existence is very unusual, and that they did not exist on this even just a year ago. All I know is that they seem to be made of ice and that they naturally hate everything to do with heat. Frigals, as descendants of a dragon, have extremely hot blood and so are frequently targeted by them. But my original impression was that these¡­ monsters have no intelligence, yet the act ofying siege to a castle does not fall in line with that belief. There may be something more going on." Lex pondered for a moment about what to do. All the signs pointed to the fact that the treasure he was looking for was right here, and was most likely the one infected with the dragon''s obsession. But he was not immune to its spirit pull ability, and had constantly fallen prey to distractions. While such a thing was not inherently dangerous, it did pose some risks. Somehow, the dragon had mysteriously died, but that did not reduce the danger in Lex''s eyes. If anything, the danger had only increased, for he could not imagine what could so silently and secretly kill a dragon. Moreover, there were some mysterious enemies targeting the Frigals, and possibly the dragon as well, not to mention the elves on their way to this. After some consideration, he concluded that while there was danger, it was not enough to deter him. Having made up his mind, he threw a golden key towards Terrol. "If things get desperate and you really need medical attention, crush that key. You''ll be fine," he said, already walking away. He wondered what awaited him behind the massive door. Was that the entrance to the dragon''s treasures? That would be too easy, right? As it turned out, behind the doors what awaited Lex really was the dragon''s treasure hoard - or the very beginning of it. Mountains of gold were pilled randomly on the floor, though there seemed to be a walkway between the endless coins, nuggets, raw ore and massive bricks, leading somewhere deeper. Curious, Lex picked up some of the gold and discovered this was far different from the gold he was used to seeing on earth. A quick scan from his Fancy monocle revealed over 216 different types of gold! In the universe, gold was valuable as well, though not because it could be used to make jewelry. No, the value of gold came from the fact that it was a phenomenal conductor for spirit energy, and each different type of gold before him had a few different traits or uses. Lex looked at the mountain of gold on his right, then at the one on his left, then he scratched his head. "Mary, how can I teleport things directly to the Inn?" he asked, knowing that the system would never give him an easy time. If he had to put everything in his bangle and then teleport to the Inn to drop it off every time¡­ he would be here for a while. Chapter 762 Spirit pull Chapter 762 Spirit pull "Well, you can send workers from the Inn to the connecteds now. You can send some over and hope they teleport somewhere nearby, after which you can have theme here and collect it," Mary replied sheepishly, knowing that that wasn''t the answer Lex was looking for. Lex thought of various answers on his own. The most ideal citation would be if he could connect to the Inn like he connects to his spatial treasure. That he could teleport anything he wanted directly to the Inn. But that wasn''t possible, whether because it was actually impossible or because the system did not want to cooperate with Lex. The next best option was to get the most massive spatial treasure possible. This was actually quite hard, as he already had some of thergest spatial treasures avable, whether it was his bangle or the container for Silent Wanderer. He could ce an order at the emporium for an evenrger one, but that would surely take a lot of time, not to mention be very expensive on its own as well. Ironically, the liquidity he would need to pay for such a treasure seemed to be right in front of him, but it was out of reach because Lexcked exactly such a treasure. He shook his head and made a decision. Although he was a greedy capitalist who would never say no to money, especially free money, he was not blind to what was actually precious. Once, just to sate his aching heart, he filled his bangle with gold, teleported to the Inn, deposited it and then returned, but then he did not continue to do so. He had barely taken a drop from the hoard, and transporting all of it would surely take ages. Chances were that the treasures he would encounter deeper in were much more valuable than these mountains of gold right at the start. With onest wistful nce to satisfy himself, Lex walked forward on the winding path through the mountains of gold all around him. After the first couple of mountains, Lex encountered glowing gems buried within the gold, illuminating the hoard. Eventually, Lex started to jog as it was taking too long to navigate around the mountains. He was also concerned about the fact that although the dwarves had entered only a few minutes before him, he could not find any trace of them at all. Every now and then, Lex would once again get lost in thoughts, but with Mary checking up on him constantly, he kept waking up.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Finally the trail reached a descending staircase and so Lex entered the 2ndyer of the treasure hoard. Contrary to what Lex was expecting, the nextyer actually consisted of arge garden. There were hundreds of thousands of fairies flying around, tending to countless flowers and nts. Instantly, Lex was able to tell that these were both very valuable, and also very toxic. Holding his breath, Lex rushed through this room as well,pletely undisturbed by the fairies. In fact, they seemed to not even sense his existence as they carried on with their tasks in unusual silence - though admittedly, a reason they might not have detected him was his suit as well. The garden was well lit, showing a new pattern of illuminated chambers contrary to the rest of the which waspletely dark. The nts also did not seem to mind the increasing heat, which by now was causing Lex to sweat visibly. He was very grateful that his suit would not suffer from any sweat stains! After finding another staircase, Lex descended to the third level. This level looked more like a museum than a hoard or collection. There were countless stages or pedestals built on both sides of the path with each containing items or treasures. Although Lex wanted to ignore these as well, since he could not identify most of them even with his lenses, he was forced to stop by an overwhelming attraction his body felt towards a particr vial containing a dark purple liquid. Lex almost lost control of his own body, so strong was the attraction. But, ultimately, he managed to control himself. He only ced the vial in his spatial ring and didn''t immediately drink it like he wanted. The strangest thing was how each of these treasures were so easily essible, with no formation or protective ss even. To try it out, he randomly picked up a sword and a shield that was also ced nearby and encountered no obstruction at all. Speaking of which, he wondered what that sword and shield were made of. To be a part of a dragon''s collection they must be valuable. Were they incredibly strong, or did they perhaps only have collectors'' value? Did dragons care about such things? What if¡­ "Lex, it''s been a couple of minutes, you alright?" Mary asked, suddenly waking him from his stupor. "Yeah, thanks, I''m fine¡­" he had only begun to say when he realized that he did not recognize his surroundings at all. Although he was still in the hoard, as he could tell by the countless spirit stones and fountain of spirit water, he had long passed the stages and podiums. "Lex! LEX! Wake up!" Mary''s voice suddenly woke Lex from yet another stupor, and he immediately realized his surroundings were different once again. Fear gripped his heart as he suddenly realized he was losing track of time. Maybe he should return to the Inn. Speaking of the Inn, Lex had had a dragon there as well. Would it have had the same effect if the system hadn''t been suppressing the harmful effects of its aura? Despite his best efforts, Lexpletely lost himself to the influence of the spirit pull, and walked through the massive dragon''s hoard like a zombie. Mary, who had noticed his strangeness, had been yelling at him for hours, but it stopped working long ago. He did not even notice when he crossed the corpses of a couple of dwarves, nor did he notice when he started walking over a puddle of freshly spilled blood. Chapter 763 Assaulted by a pervert Chapter 763 Assaulted by a pervert The hoard of a dragon was much vaster than anything Lex had imagined, and he would have been extremely surprised by how deep he descended into the were his mind not upied by random thoughts. Besides the usual gold, jewels, treasures, herbs and spirit stones, there was also art, music, sculptures and other entities that Lexcked the senses to even observe. This particr dragon''s favorite part of its hoard, however, was at the lowest level, and Lex was about to approach it. Currently, the chamber he was walking through was the second tost, and was the part of the hoard where the dragon collected members of various races! Throughout the universe there were countless unique or mystical races who had unparalleled power or unbelievable abilities that made them extremely special as well as valuable. They too were a part of the dragons collection! Various prisons lined the walls that Lex walked by, most of them made of ss so that the prisoner, or rather the ''specimen'' was visible. Some, however, for extremely unique or unusual races required special prisons that were made from other more protective materials.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Though they were all extremely different, currently many of them shared one thing inmon: they were extremely weak! They were deprived of spirit energy inside their prison cell, and since the dragon had died many months ago, no one had fed them either. A few of the prisoners had even died. But, one prison cell made out of an unusual gray material even the Fancy contact lenses could not identify, had a broken wall. Lex, however, did not notice any of that as he continued to walk. Lex had been extremely confident in his cultivation technique and even himself, which is why he opted to continue the exploration. He was not wrong to be confident, for his defense and self protection abilities were truly phenomenal. But, ultimately, there was a limit to what they could protect him from. The spirit pull ability, technically, did not harm Lex in any way which is why his spirit''s self defense failed, although the matter was moreplex than just that. In the beginning, his strong mentality allowed him to retain lucidity, but the closer he got to the dragon, the worse it became. Although Lex had numerous times even survived an attack from an Earth Immortal, if he were lucid now, he would be able to feel that the aura being radiated from the final chamber was much stronger and deeper than any Earth Immortal he had ever met. In fact, it was even greater than Ragnar''s, and he was a Heaven Immortal! So then, how could he, a Golden Core cultivator, stand a chance? But, since spirit pull was just a passive ability brought about by the strength of the dragon''s obsession, and was not purposefully focused on attracting everyone, there was a chance to break free. For example, the various dwarf corpses that Lex had crossed. In their final moments, right before they died, the threat of death had woken them up. But by then, it was much toote. As Lex crossed the final dwarf corpse which belonged to the leader of the dwarves, he attracted the attention of a massive creature. It had eight legs, with four on each side of its body, much like a scorpion, but that is where the simrity ended. It had a long protruding neck covered in purple scales, a maw filled with rows of teethdripping with blood and twelve reptilian eyes, each one suddenly focused on Lex. The creature did not have arms or ws, but it did have unusually shaped wings protruding from its back, and the joints in the wings could readjust at a whim, making them dangerous weapons as well. It also had a long, thick tail that it could exert perfect control over. The creature was extremely skinny at the moment, as if it had been starved near to the point of death, and feasting on dwarves did not seem to have done much for it. But Lex''s body¡­ his body radiated an aura so attractive that the creature dropped the body it was currently feasting on, and slowly approached him. Unlike the rest, the creature was immune to the effects of spirit pull. In fact, were it near full strength, it would not have wasted even a nce on such pathetic prey. But the dragon had starved this particr creature for years, and so it was at its weakest. It would not die so easily, but at the same time it could not exert all its strength either. Otherwise it would not have hid from the King every time he crossed, and would have preyed on him instead. But it did not matter. Slowly and steadily, the creature would regain its strength. After studying Lex thoroughly, and concluding that he was only in the Golden core realm, the creature pounced. Like the dwarves, it expected the threat of death to wake him from the effects of spirit pull in thest moment, but oddly enough, that did not happen. The creature did not ponder over what that was and furiously bit at his neck, its teeth digging in¡­something odd happened. There was no gush of delicious blood in its mouth, or the taste of flesh. The confusion had barely registered when it felt an otherworldly grip around its neck, nearly causing a fracture in its current frail bones. Its face was forcefully pulled back, and what awaited it was a gaze filled with raging fury. "Were you licking my neck, you creep?" Lex asked between gritted teeth as he struggled to understand what happened. He felt like was just assaulted by a pervert, and the sticky sensation of the creature''s saliva on his neck grossed him out so much he finally woke from the effects of the spirit pull! Before the creature could respond, or more likely retaliate, Lex could no longer hold on to his revolution! Still holding onto the creature from its neck, he picked it up and mmed it onto the ground! Chapter 764 Beatdown Chapter 764 Beatdown So strong was the disgust that Lex felt that there was no indication of spirit pull affecting him at all. Lex waspletely focused onpletely killing the perverted creature that had¡­ that had¡­ Just thinking about it pissed Lex off even more! He summoned the sword he had recently taken from the dragon''s hoard and swung it without hesitation at the creature''s necks. Unexpectedly, the swordpletely shattered and an unusual auratched onto Lex before disappearing. Lex was momentarily disappointed, but he did not want to waste too much time on useless things. Much in the way he had quickly improved in hand to handbat, new and inventive ideas came to Lex for how he could possibly kill the perverted creature. Yet before he attacked, Lex quickly changed out of his stealth suit and into his defensive suit. If he had been wearing this from the start, the creature would never have had the opportunity to lick his neck. The creature also recovered from the shock it had received and had retreated from Lex. Fortunately for it, when Lex tried to sh its neck he had to let go, otherwise the creature would forever be stuck in Lex''s vice grip. Lex''s physical strength was abnormal from the very start, let alone now that his cultivation technique had changed. Yet oddly enough, he had not been able to crush that creature''s neck with only one hand. Maybe using two hands would get the job done, but just surviving even one hand was a testament to how strong it was. The creature had barely recovered its strength after devouring the blood and soul of a few dwarves, so instead of attacking Lex directly, it used its innate ability and targeted his spirit. It hissed threateningly while it extended its wings, releasing a sonic attack that would disorient Lex - or that''s what it had thought. With the weapon failing him, Lex relied on nothing but his good old fist and smashed it into the creature''s face. Unexpectedly, the creature didn''t lose any teeth in that sh! Lex was surprised by the sturdiness of the creature''s body, while the creature was surprised by how ridiculous Lexs strength was. The creature''s body was easily multiple times bigger than Lex, yet it was being thrown around like a ything. A simr scene repeated itself a few more times while the creature tried to retaliate and Lex tried to pummel it. Neither made much progress, though admittedly Lex was venting a little by beating the creature up. Finally, the creature became fed up and used one more of its racial traits, though the cost of this was quite heavy. The creature, who had gained a momentary respite from Lex''s beatings began to turn illusory, as if it was fading from existence. Lex did not want to give it the opportunity to escape so he attacked again, but his fists went right through the creature, as if it were just a mirage. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Despite the situation, the creature could not resist showing Lex a smug look, though of course Lex could not decipher its facial features. The creature had an unusual affinity for spirituality, and so could convert its physical form into one akin to spirituality! In simple words, it could literally turn itself into a thought. But the smug look on its face froze when Lex tried to grab onto it, and this time seeded. The effects of Impervious Hands were truly manyfold, and beyond what Lex even knew. He had no idea that he was physically holding onto an idea at the moment, nor did he care. He just wished to p the creature, so he did! "No, wait, stop!" the creature, still with fresh blood tainting its teeth, began to cry. "We''re not enemies! That earlier was just a misunderstanding!" The creature tried to plead with Lex, but he adhered to a strict no association with perverts rule, so he was not interested in talking to it, and smashed his knee into its face. But no matter how Lex beat it up, the creature did not even bleed. The creature could also simrly not even get past the defense of his clothes, let alone once again try to bite his flesh. The fight, thus, seemed to be going nowhere. "I, I can help you!" the creature pleaded! "I know the dragon''s secrets! I know where it hides its treasures!" "We''re inside its treasure hoard, idiot!" Lex finally spoke, and kicked it again. No matter what, he did not let go of the creature for he had a strong feeling that if it disappeared, he would not get his hands on it again. If physical attacks didn''t work, he would try soul attacks¡­ "No, that''s not¡­ I, I know how the dragon died! I have its secrets! Please, just stop!" Although Lex was not hurting it, his attacks still caused its current weak body pain. Moreover, as he got ready to use Evisceration, a subtle premonition of danger filled the creature''s mind, making it even more desperate. Luckily for it, it finally said something Lex was interested in. "How would you know how the dragon died? If you were nearby, how did you survive when the dragon did not?" "I¡­ I have a very special ability! I can tap into the energy released by others'' thoughts around me! Although I was trapped in the prison cell, I could still read some of the dragon''s passive thoughts from time to time. It was the only entertainment I had, so I always did my best!" Lex narrowed his eyes as he wondered whether to give the creature a chance. It was most likely lying, but on the off chance that it wasn''t¡­ "How did the dragon die? You better tell me everything, or trust me, I will make you join the dragon!" "It¡­ it all started a few months ago! A strange golden light filled the entire, even inside my cell. Later, I learned from the dragon that the same light seemed to have appeared around the entire realm, and that it was filled with mysteriousws it had never felt before. Unfortunately for it, that light was a lot more mysterious than even the dragon realized¡­" Chapter 765 Screaming Chapter 765 Screaming Although Lex had been preupied by his own cultivation at the time, he had long since learned of the phenomena that had taken ce during his breakthrough to the Golden core realm. He was informed of the Golden hue within the Inn by Mary, andter on he had heard various guests talk about the hue in their respectives as well. It was also the subject of many conspiracy theories on the Henali portal, which is why Lex found it hard to forget the golden hue caused by his breakthrough. He could not fathom why his breakthrough had caused the hue, nor why its effects were so grand and widespread. The hue had even caused countless new religions to sprout across the entire realm, as races with limited scope of knowledge or understanding took it to be a sign from a deity. That had somehow sped up the collection of divine energy for his ''Wish'' by the system, but it was still below 10% filled to grant him his wish, so Lex never thought of it. Now, once again, he was brought face to face with yet another repercussion of the phenomena of his breakthrough. "Studying the strange light allowed the dragon to have a few breakthroughs, so it went into closed door cultivation. For immortals, the chance for a breakthrough maye only once a million years, so once ites they can forsake everything to pursue it. "But what it didn''t know was that the golden hue allowed him to see hope for a breakthrough, but it also¡­ it also woke up a primordial being who had been asleep." The creature trembled as it recalled the being it had seen. As it was able to read some of the thoughts of any being close to it, the creature had glimpsed into the mind of that¡­ of that thing. "I''m not too clear on the specifics, but I was able to read some of the beings thoughts while it was waking up. It had been trapped inside a crystal that the dragon had in its treasure. Outwardly, the crystal looked no different from any other spirit crystal, but contained within was an entity perhaps as old as this realm itself. "It took a few months for the entity to wake up, but once it did¡­" the creature trembled once again. "I don''t know what happened exactly, but the creature did something to the dragon, and I felt its thoughtspletely die, yet for some reason the body is still alive. Then the creature disappeared, and I haven''t felt its thoughts since. It probably left a long time ago. With the dragon dead, I could finally try to escape. I¡­ I have no other intentions. I just want to recover enough energy to escape this!" The creature was clearly lying about its purpose, but as far as Lex could tell using his sixth sense, it seemed to be telling the truth about the dragon and the thing that killed it. Of course, there was no way of knowing for sure. While Lex was still lucid, he looked around and saw the various corpses on the ground. The creature had not eaten their bodies. It had merely bit into their flesh before eating something else. Lex had a strong feeling that the creature had fed on their spirituality. Just as Lex was evaluating what the creature had told it, he felt something strange and the creature disappeared, even from within his grip! Lex was genuinely surprised, for this was the first time something had managed to escape the grip of his Impervious hands, but it did not seem to have gone away. This was because a feeling of extreme danger surrounded Lex, even causing the hair on his body to stand on end. He immediately extended his spirit and soul sense, but to no avail. "Ahhh!" Lex could not help but scream as he fell to the ground on his knees as a mind rending pain filled his head. He felt like something had attacked his very consciousness, as if it was a physical entity to be touched. Normally, that would just be a metaphor, but in Lex''s case, due to his strange physique, that was an actual fact! Gritting his teeth, Lex entered the Berserk state and pushed this unusual ability to the limit of what he could endure. In essence, the Berserk state was a state that drove his emotions to extremes beyond normal while simultaneously strengthening Lex''s physical strength. It did this by feeding on the extreme emotions. Normally, this was an excellent ability to wreak havoc when a lot of brute force was required and little brainpower, for the extreme emotions made it difficult to think too deeply. At the moment, however, Lex was using it to strengthen his body, and thereby his spirituality, while at the same time making his mind chaotic with extreme emotions. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om A shrill scream filled the hall they were in, and the creature fell to the ground appearing in front of Lex, as if it had emerged from his body. "I knew you were a pervert!" Lex roared, and lost all notion of holding back and gathering any information. This creature was too strange, not to mention dangerous. Swinging his fist like a divine hammer, Lex smashed the creature with all his strength, giving it little time to respond. At the same time, Lexunched Evisceration, tearing into the creature''s soul. The creature screamed, and disappeared again. The reason Lex had not held onto this time was because he had clearly learned that the creature had entered his mind somehow because he was in contact with it. If they weren''t touching maybe it would be harder for it to enter his mind, but that did not seem to be the case. Lex suffered another rip in his thoughts, although the pain seemed to only elevate his extreme emotions. Since this creature was sensitive to his thoughts, he wondered if it would be affected by them too? Immediately he thought of the deep aura he had felt when he tried to sit in on a meeting of Dao Lords. As the memory shed through his mind, Lex suddenly became dizzy and weak. The creature, however, screamed much louder than before. Chapter 766 Mindmeld Chapter 766 Mindmeld The creature''s scream reverberated across just as it fell out of Lex''s body once again. But this time, that was not all. The creature started writing on the ground like a poisoned insect. It used its own wings to beat its own body while its eight legs curled up and dug into its own flesh.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex was not able to take advantage of the situation immediately, as he himself was recovering from his sudden weakness and fatigue. Fortunately, he had only recalled that meeting for a moment instead of dwelling on it, or he might have once again sumbed to just the memory of it. When he came to, he saw that the creature he had been unable to harm at ally on the ground covered in its own blood, though it wasn''t dead yet. Lex had been forcibly brought out of his Berserk state by the mere memory of that meeting, which is why he retained the sense to not rush over and attack immediately. But that did not mean he gave up. Physical attacks weren''t working, and though Evisceration hurt the creature, it wasn''t doing significant damage. It was at this moment he was really regretting not having a strong attack that used his spirit sense, for he had a feeling that such attacks would be most effective. But instead ofmenting what hecked, Lex focused on what he had. Lex entered his Flow state, and focused on his spatial affinity. Although he was not a master of it yet, he had teleported enough to learn tidbits about his affinity since he got it. Moreover, his increased analytical skills made it so that Lex could learn new skills much faster than before. The easiest thing to do would be to manipte space to somehow cut the creature into pieces, and that''s exactly what Lex tried to do. Unfortunately, creating a ''de'' out of morphed space was not exactly easy, let alone anything else. Lex did, however, manage to warp space a little exactly where the creature was, causing it to suffer immense pain, waking it from its stupor finally. All of its eyes focused on Lex with a newfound viscousness, as the creature tried to disappear once again. But that was easier said than done. Lex kept manipting space within the creature''s body, trying to tear space open, or use space to tear the creature open. Either one would do, though all he effectively managed to do was torture it. "Wait, I''m sorry! I know the dragon''s secrets! I can tell you!" the creature pleaded, but Lex was no longer going to fall for such basic tricks. Although he longed for the satisfaction of beating the creature up with his own hands, he had to rely on spatial affinity. He could alsoe up with arrays to harm the creature, but somehow he felt like he couldn''t make arrays strong enough to do that. Theoretically, arrays could achieve the strongest power level the universe could support, since the universe itself powered arrays. Practically speaking, Lex had hit a bottleneck when it came to his arrays. Maybe his way of making them was obsolete or faulty, or maybe he didn''t know enough significantly strong characters. Either way, his arrays seemed to be limited to the Nascent level in terms of power for the moment. "Lex Williams, don''t push me too far!" the creature roared as it tried to get up. But its efforts were in vain as its legs were too weak at the moment. The creature had clearly read through some of Lex''s memories, which chilled Lex''s heart! He absolutely could not afford to let the creature live now. Since keeping a distance clearly didn''t help, Lex leaped forward and immediately put its head in a lock and ced his right hand on the creature''s forehead. His intention was to scramble the things brain! As if sensing Lex''s intention, the creature roared angrily and resisted Lex, but in terms of physical strength, it was clearly below Lex. At the same time, it tried to use its ability to disappear once again, but clearly it was too hurt to do so. It seemed the memory of that meeting had hurt it a lot more than Lex expected. They struggled for a few dozen minutes before Lex suddenly seeded in causing a tiny tear in space, within the creature''s skull! The creature died instantly, and Lex actually tripped because it had stopped resisting his strength so suddenly. Lex groaned, feeling exhausted, but did not dy at all. He immediately stored the creature''s body within his spatial ring and began teleporting back to the Inn. He could not risk bing a victim to spirit pull again. Yet the next moment, the sound of a notification distracted him. New Notification: System feature ''Murderer'' activated. Immediately he felt the change, as he was reminded of the feature he had unlocked so long ago, yet for some reason never triggered. Murderer: Every time the host kills someone stronger than them outside of system grounds, the host can learn one of the victim''s abilities/techniques! The ability had finally been triggered, and Lex could tell that the system was transferring some information directly into his brain. He had not suddenly ''unlocked'' a new ability, but the method to replicate the effects of the creature''s ability using spiritual energy was fed into Lex''s memories. The ability was one of the most bizarre abilities Lex had ever encountered. It allowed Lex to turn his body into a ''thought'' and enter someone''s spirituality. What did that entail, and what he could do once he achieved those details he was not given, but clearly this was far from a simple technique. The next moment, Lex teleported to the Inn, finally leaving the hoard. The effects of the spirit pull on him disappeared, but Lex had not given up on the hoard yet. Since the dwarves had a way to protect themselves from it, the emporium surely did as well. He put aside thoughts of his newly gained ability, which he aptly named ''Mindmeld'' and teleported over to X-14. He had some shopping to do. Chapter 767 Secrets Chapter 767 Secrets "William, if this lead is real, we won''t need to worry about umting credit to help you heal at all. We can directly ask the Henali to help you recover to your peak state and still have some credit leftover." "To be honest, even I am surprised by this oue. Back then, I acted out on a whim, but who knew it would pay off," said William with a clear look of disbelief on his face. Their three brothers, Batu, Henry and Nisar, also apanied them. For them all to gather like this, outside of the Midnight Inn, where they could all teleport to, was a rare asion and showed how significant this event was. If all went well, they could also gain a few benefits this time. But, more importantly, they had important matters to handle afterwards. The Jotun empire had decided to move out of the Pendal gxy for various reasons, and as the heads of the empire, they had to ensure that the most important and sensitive secrets of the empire were either removed or erased before their departure. "It''s about time one of our descendants did something worthwhile," said Batu. He was the head of the Togoldor noble family who managed the empire''s military. Although he and the others had many descendants, and many of them were very powerful and had made many contributions, it was clear that Batu was not satisfied with the results. Their gains and victories were small scale, rtively speaking, and hardly ever influenced the entire empire. Although such a request might be too much to put on a few descendants, weren''t the five of them handling the entire empire? They were human too, and in fact had much worse conditions when they were starting out. Yet none of their descendants were qualified to be their equals yet. "If being great was so easy, everybody would do it," Nisar said softly. As the head of the Butt family, and in charge of the empire''s finances, one would expect him to be more mild tempered than his brother. In fact, that was far from the truth. Although he looked of mild and tepid nature, Nisar had more blood on his hands than any of the other brothers. He could not be med either - after all, wealth begets greed, and he had the wealth of several gxies under his control. Before their conversation could continue, they finally reached their destination, and entered a room covered in istion formations. Inside, a beast seemed to be waiting for them. Upon their arrival, the beast confirmed their identities before crushing a small trinket and disappearing. None of the brothers found this odd, and waited patiently. A few momentster, another person teleported into the room. Belle looked extremely pale and weak, in spite of the fact that she had been getting treatment for the past few weeks. Her eyes, however, burned with the same ever present ferocity that she normally exuded. She looked at the five men in the room and recognized them all. Her direct ancestor, William, was the one she was supposed to meet, but she did not mind that he had brought along a few extra people. After all, they were the big shots of the empire! She looked at William, already used to the fact that he looked identical to her brother. She had nevermented on it nor mentioned it, because it waspletely irrelevant. Looking like your ancestors was quite amon urrence actually, especially among cultivators who could live long enough to actually meet their prior generations. "Hiding in Ventura to erase all your traces, a remarkable n," William said, feeling extremely pleased with Belle. "I only hope your efforts were worth it. As soon as we can confirm the veracity of your information, we can hand it over to the relevant people. You don''t need to worry, your reward won''t go to anyone else besides you." "You can confirm it however you like," she said without any hint of deference. "Nor am I worried about anyone stealing my rewards. After all, without me, no one will be able to follow the lead. I had to use my bloodline ability to mark Jeffery''s ship before it escaped into a wormhole. Only after the effects of my bloodline overdraft disappear, and I can use it again, will I be able to trace it." William was already used to Belle''s attitude, and the others didn''t care too much either. "Let me speed up your recovery," Jotun said as he reached out to her, but the moment he ced a hand on her shoulder he frowned, and withdrew his hand. His brothers all turned to look, and saw a single drop of blood escape his index finger before the pinprick on his finger disappeared. Surprise and shock filled their eyes as a storm brewed in their hearts. Jotun was the strongest human in the realm, and in the highest realm that the Origin realm would normally allow: the Celestial realm! It was not an exaggeration to state that a million gxies would not be able to produce a single expert on the same level as Jotun, so powerful was he. Yet now, he had actually bled! "There are¡­ unusual inscriptions in your body," Jotun said, his voice filled with confusion. "Yeah, my old man ced them there," Belle responded evenly. "Your father? How is that possible? The sword intent used to carve those inscriptions even harmed me!"n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om This time, the most shocked was not Jotun but William! His descendant was so powerful, so why had he never heard of him? "My old man has too many secrets. My mother¡­ she has even more. Last I saw my father, he was merely in the Nascent realm, but even I dared not mess with him. His sword intent¡­ no, his Sword Dao is too powerful. He''s a bona fide freak." She took a deep breath, and before anyone could ask anything, spoke again. "Don''t bother asking any questions. The answer will most likely be that I don''t know, and besides, I''m not here to talk about my family. Contact whoever you need to contact, and let''s get this show on the road. I''ve already wasted too much time recovering from my overdraft." "NO NEED," spoke a deafening voice in all their minds, and a figure appeared in the room alongside them. "HIDING IN VENTURA TO ERASE YOUR TRACES WAS SMART, BUT THE MOMENT YOU RETURNED, SO DID YOUR KARMA. ANY DAO LORD STILL LOOKING FOR TRACES OF THE TERRORISTS WOULD EASILY FIND YOU." Before Jotun, or anyone else, could do anything, the figure disappeared alongside Belle. Jotun paled, and immediately contacted the Henali. He could only hope that the figure that appeared was working for them or else they might not only have lost the lead to Jeffery, the mystery surrounding the mysterious swordsman would also remain unsolved. While he did that, William once again retrieved the files in his family rted to Belle and her immediate family. Perhaps it was time to pay closer attention to this group. Chapter 768 Tax refund Chapter 768 Tax refund On a remote, devoid of all life, a swordsman was sitting cross legged with a normal looking double sided sword on hisp. The area where the man sat waspletely ck, as if the surface of the had been charred by a strong me, yet the char did not rub off on his clothes. The sound of thunder rumbled in the sky above him, causing the cultivator to open up his eyes and look up. His lightning tribtion was finallying, though that did not seem to elicit any emotion from the man. "All the oracles, fortune tellers and prophets in the market seem to have disappeared," said a woman reading from a file. Though she was quite a distance away from him, her voice carried as if she was right beside him.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "I told you, we should stop relying on them," the man calmly replied as he stood up. "Well excuse me for trying. One of my daughters, and my son have disappeared and I have no other way to look for them. What do you want me to do?" "Put your shoes on, it''s almost time," the man said looking up. The woman grumbled, but she listened to the man and quickly put on her shoes that she had taken off while she rested. The man seemed cavalier and uninterested in the fate of his children, but it was only because he could sense that they were still all alive. While the two were chatting, the man''s lightning tribtion began, yet the lightning did not have time to fall. As soon as it formed, a sword sh filled with incredibly sharp sword intent cut the skies open, revealing an unknown space. The man and the woman quickly jumped through the opening, leaving the for some unknown destination. ***** Silence filled the room as Lex and Powell stood face to face. They were staring each other in the eyes, neither willing to back off. A silent tension began to build as the seconds passed by as neither said anything, though they both knew the value of each second surpassed that of an entire spirit stone mine. Tick. One spirit stone mine. Tock. Another spirit stone mine. Tick-tock. Two more mines, and each second that passed by like this, they were losing out on mines like this! Finally, Powell could no longer contain himself and opened his mouth, but the door behind him swung open and another Powell walked out! For some reason, Lex knew that he was once again face to face with the original Powell. "Are you serious? You have unlimited ess to a dragon''s hoard?" "Yes, but I cannot say for how long. You can decide whether you want to suffer a loss by wasting time negotiating, or you want to minimize your losses and just give me what I want." "Are you willing to sign a soul contract? The only stiption will be that inside the hoard you will look for a very specific treasure for me and do your best to get it without having to suffer mortal danger. If there''s too much danger, you can stop, or if you don''t find it then it''s my loss. But if you do find it, you have to hand it over. In exchange, I''ll give you the best protection we have against spirit pull, and thergest spatial treasure we have avable. Both will be free, as long as you sign the soul contract!" Lex raised an eyebrow, but did not give his emotions away in any other way. "Let me see the contract. You should also tell me what the treasure is and where it might be. Every second I waste, someone else could be closing in." "It''s called Peronian Jade. I''ll give you apass that looks for it, and a special container for it as well. The jade has no harmful qualities so you don''t need to worry about anything, but you have to give every bit of it you find. It''ll be a part of the contract." He pondered for a moment, but had no recollection of the item. Although it was no doubt going to be extremely valuable, Lex would be getting sufficient gains in exchange. He examined the soul contract but found no tampering, or any other conditions besides the one Powell stated. He didn''t like having to sign a soul contract, but considering he would be getting two extremely valuable treasures in exchange, Lex suppressed his difort. "Fine, I''ll sign it," he said. "But first, I want to see what you''ll be giving me." Powell nodded, and brought out two items. One was arge drum that could be worn on one''s back. It was not exactly inconspicuous, but it contained 1 mile square of area inside it. Unfortunately, that was still too smallpared to the dragon hoard, but it was big enough for now. The second item was a crown that looked quite flimsy. In fact, Lex was slightly concerned he might break it by just picking it up, but Powell assured him that that was the best tool they had to protect him from spirit pull. Not wanting to waste any time, Lex signed the contract using his finger as the pen and spirit energy as the ink. As soon as he signed it he felt an ufortable sensation in his body. It was something he could ignore, but at the same time it was mildly suffocating, as if he wore a tie too tightly. Powell also handed him a thin, ck piece of jade, which was thepass that would point him towards Peronian Jade. With everything in order, Lex promptly left the shop, and then teleported to the Inn, then back to the hoard. Barely a couple of minutes had passed, but Lex''s situation waspletely different, hopefully. He put on the flimsy crown and tested to see if his thoughts still drifted. Nearly 30 secondster, Lex finally concluded that he was safe, as he was able to retain his lucidity throughout. The capitalist in Lex was finally set free, and he grinned like a madman as he descended to the bottom most floor of the hoard. Getting free money and treasure felt even better than collecting tax refunds! Chapter 769 Disbelief Chapter 769 Disbelief Before rushing down to thest floor, where he strongly suspected he would be faced with the dragon, or what remained of it, Lex took out the ck jade piece that Powell had given him. If the Peronian Jade existed, thepass would find it. In all honesty, Lex did not mind doing the man this favor. He only wished that he could have kept a small piece of jade so as to study what was so special about it. There was a strong possibility that the jade was just an item he needed to sell to another client, but regardless, the overwhelmingly favorable deal that Lex had gotten made him curious. As soon as he summoned the jade, it vibrated and an arrow appeared pointing down. There indeed was Peronian Jade, and it was at the lowest level of the hoard! Lex subtly nodded, as if such a thing only made sense. He put the jade away, but before he could depart, his ever present, ever reliable holographic assistant spoke up. "Hey Lex, do you think you could do me a favor?" she asked, her voice tinged with shyness and awkwardness. It was apparent that she was feeling very ufortable about the request she wanted to make. "How can I help?" Lex asked, though he suspected he knew what wasing. "Would it be possible for you to find me a very special item present in the hoard? It¡­ it can help me make a body." "A body?" Lex repeated, genuinely surprised although he anticipated a request might being his way. "For you to get a body, wouldn''t it have to be given to you by the system?" "Yes, technically that is the proper way of doing things. But you are well aware of loopholes in the system rules, and this is one of them. If I make my own body, instead of getting one from the system, I''ll have much fewer restrictions on me than usual. I''ll be able to answer all your questions that your insufficient authority prevents me from informing you." "What do you need?" "In case the dragon down below has a child, or is about to have a child, he may have prepared a special blood altar in its private chamber to nourish the egg. If that''s the case, there will be a scale inside the altar. I need that scale." "I''ll keep an eye out," Lex said, before continuing down. He did not question Mary at the moment about why she knew what a dragon might do to nurture its child, or about her desire to get a body. He felt like he wouldn''t get a proper answer, and even if he did, he was currently on a time crunch so now was not the time. He had taken a look at the floor he was in for anything valuable he might find, but this floor seemed to have nothing besides prisons holding various races and the dwarves'' corpses. Neither interested Lex at the moment so he decisively left. A few minutes after Lex left, one of the dwarf corpses moved and picked itself up. The leader, Barley. Seemed to be recovering from death itself, though he did not seem concerned with that. Instead he gaze seemed fixed on the staircase leading down below. "Lex William?" he murmured to himself as his strength slowly recovered. He seemed to have heard the name when the creature had yelled it out earlier. Lex, who was descending the stairs, paused for a moment and turned around. His senses were extremely sharp and detected some kind of sound, although he was not sure what it was. A sense of urgency filled his heart. The first dwarf that Lex had seen, Terrol, had mentioned that elves were on their way for news of the dragon''s demise had already spread. Others could also be arriving even as he waited descended. No longer holding back, Lex began to rush to the bottom of the stairs, though he did not drop his guard. If there was one strange creature here, there could be more. Moreover, the King was supposed to be here somewhere, though the fact that the sounds of Lex''s fight had not attracted him was unusual. Lex wiped sweat off his brow one more time as he neared the entrance to the final chamber. By now, not only were the effects of Dragons Might causing Lex minor problems, but the heat was also causing him to sweat nonstop. If he failed to wipe his brow, whether by hand or spirit sense, the sweat would get into his eyes, making it hard for him to see. When he finally reached thest step, he had already entered the final chamber. There was no door or barrier, and the entrance appeared instantly even if it could not be seen earlier. The moment Lex entered, his knees buckled and he crashed into the ground with full force, causing the ground to tremble. He had not been dropped just to his knees, but his chest had also been pushed down to the ground, his face smacking the floor. He had not been attacked by anyone. Instead, the moment he entered the chamber, he was hit by the full force of the Dragons Might. Irrespective of his unwavering pride, and the immense strength packed within his body, when he finally came face to face with a dragon outside of the Inn, Lex had been forced into nearly a prostrating state.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "What¡­ the hell¡­" he said with gritted teeth as he slowly brought his arms beside himself and pushed himself up. When he was finally able to lift his face off the floor he looked forward, and suddenly went nk. The sight of the dragon before him was like a p of thunder in his mind, making him nk and causing him to fall onto the ground once more. When he finally recovered, Lex was struck by endless disbelief. He¡­ he could not even look at the dragon without suffering, since its aura waspletely unrestrained. It was only now that he was beginning to understand how massive a role the Inn yed in neutralizing the effects of cultivators natural aura. If it were any other Golden core cultivator instead of him, they may have already been seriously injured or even died! Chapter 770 In his bones Chapter 770 In his bones A small pool of sweat formed on the ground around Lex, though it did notst long as it began boiling shortly after. The scorching heat of the stone floor did not bother Lex nearly as much as the shock of what he was suffering. He knew there was a difference, there had to be one. But for him, who cultivated the most mysterious and powerful technique in the universe, to not be able to even stand in the presence of a dead dragon was astounding. Well, to be fair, Lex was merely in the Golden core realm, while the dragon was definitely stronger than the Earth Immortal realm. That meant that it was at least a Heaven Immortal, if not a Celestial Immortal. That was a difference of at least 3 or 4 major realms. Lex closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, calming himself down. He had to collect himself and figure out a way to resist the Dragons Might. He somewhat understood why he was taken by surprise by the sudden increase in the power of the Might. The deepest chamber must have special barriers to prevent the aura from going out, or else Lex expected the entire might suffer due to it. But none of that mattered right now. He had to ovee this, and not just because all his looting depended on it. Lex''s ego, or more urately, his new sense of self would not allow him to just let things go the way they were. He firmly believed that while he had much of his sess because of the system and his technique, he considered himself and his persistence and skill the defining factor for his sess. He did not mind the fact that he was pushed down, although that wasn''t pleasant either. But he absolutely could not allow himself to remain groveling on the ground. When Lex reopened his eyes a fire seemed to be lit within them, and once again he picked himself up. This time, he kept his gaze focused on the ground as he lifted himself, feeling each muscle and nerve aching as he pushed himself to the limit. Neither Harden nor Impervious Hand or any other technique seemed to help at this moment, as the force pushing him down could not be so simply blocked. It was a result of the natural hierarchy of beings. It was the appropriate reaction shown by a being at the bottom of the Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum towards a being at the top. Lex circted his spiritual energy as fast as he could, fueling his aching body, but that did not lessen the trembling in his hands. Suddenly, Lex understood what it must have felt like for the dwarf when its bones broke under the weight of the Dragons Might, his because he could hear the bones in his hands cracking. But nothing, not the immeasurable weight pushing him down, not the failure of his techniques to help, not the pain that seemed to transcend his physical body and pierce his very soul, and not the voice screaming inside his heart to just give up and teleport back to the Inn could stop Lex.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om After an excruciatingly long time, Lex managed to pick himself up¡­ into a crawling position. On his hands and knees, Lex gasped for air as if he had done the most intense exercise of his life. There were aches in his body in ces he didn''t even know existed, or could hurt. Compared to the mighty beings of the universe, he was truly naught but a pitiful ant, if that. As countless negative thoughts assaulted his mind, making his confidence waver and weakening his resolve, he could not help but remember one of his earlier musings. He wondered what aura was, and where it came from. Lex believed his own state of mind affected it, but so did his actions. He had developed a powerful aura without even realizing it, influenced by his time as the Innkeeper. He wondered if, now that almost every advantage his system and his technique had given him seemed to be stripped away, he continued to perform incredible feats, how that would affect his aura. After all, previously he only believed he would have been incredible even without his advantages. Now he had the opportunity to prove it. Gritting his teeth and strengthening his resolve, Lex lifted his neck and looked forward. There, dominating his vision, was a massive golden-brown beast that seemedrger than life. All measurements seemed to fail as in his eyes, the dragon seemed thergest thing he had ever seen. No mountain, no, no star couldpare to the enormity that was this beast before him. The dragon was resting on all four of its legs, its wings neatly folded over its back. Its tail seemed to coil neatly on the floor beside it, as if it was resting. If one paid attention, they could see its chest rise and fall, indicating that it was breathing softly as if asleep. Yet contradictory to that very observation, the dragon''s massive yellow eyes seemed to be open, and for some reason, seemed to be focusing solely on Lex. He could not use his spirit or soul sense, and his instincts seemed to be failing right now as well. Still, somehow, he knew that the dragon''s body was alive, but its soul was already dead. What sat in front of him was a living corpse, in a way. Thunder rumbled in Lex''s might and his consciousness itself seemed under attack, for the sight itself of the dragon was too noble for him - let alone the fact that they were making eye contact. Tears of blood began to leak out of Lex''s nose, giving the world a red tinge, yet Lex did not blink. Instead, he focused on a soft, elevated groove on the dragon''s forehead. There seemed to be something there, though Lex could not see it properly from this distance. But he didn''t care exactly what it was. He saw that spot and something deep inside of him seemed to wake up. An urge to resist, to rebel, to bite and w against whatever crap list told him his ce was below the dragon seemed to swell in his heart. At first, that voice was small and barely audible against the cacophony of voices in his heart telling him to retreat to the Inn and take it easy. But the longer he stared at the dragon, the stronger the voice grew. His tears of blood dripped off his face and mixed with the pool of boiling sweat below him, only to sizzle as well and fill the air with an acrid smell. But that unpleasant smell seemed to reinvigorate Lex. It was the smell of pain, of fighting, of resistance. The voice in his heart, the smell in the air, the ache in his bones, the unwillingness in his soul all joined together to form an unstoppable force that slowly filled every fiber of Lex''s being. His gaze still locked on the dragon''s forehead, Lex continued his effort to stand up straight. His stupid back had bent down, but he would not leave it like that. Chapter 771 One step Chapter 771 One step Outside the castle-cum-mountainrange, the war was still ongoing, although a few minor details had changed. Instead of the many nobles working together to fight against the forces of the royal family, they were now all fighting together as brothers in arms and members of the same race, all against the icy abominations that had so suddenly appeared. They were surrounded, and though the situation had not be dire yet, anything could happen at any time. No one understood where these abominations came from, but they understood well what their obsession with the castle was. These¡­ things hated heat, and hated the Frigals who had immense heat inside their bodies. But the greatest source of heat on the entire was on thest floor of the dragon''s hoard in the castle behind them, and that was attracting the abominations from across the. Of course, none of them felt for even a second that the creatures could seed in extinguishing the heat source, but even if they wanted to passively let them go by, the creatures would not permit it. After all, even if their bodies had less heapared to their main target, they could not be ignored. Just as the battle was reaching its pinnacle, the sound of hundreds of rockets seemed to fill the air. Though Frigals could not see, they used other senses to detect that the sounds were not rockets, but countless ships entering the''s atmosphere from orbit. They were all aiming for the castle. But they made one miscalction in their ns to bypass the battle on the ground and directly enter the castle. The abominations were called as such because they had no fixed shape or identity. The only thing that was fixed was that they seemed to have bodies made of ice. That meant that¡­ all they needed to do was alter their bodies to take flight. With hundreds of new massive heat sources appearing to aggravate them, the abominations let out howls of fury before they took flight. There were two battlefields now: one in the air and one on the ground. ***** Although motivation, passion and dedication all burned within his heart, standing up was easier said than done. Will power was one thing, but aplishing something seemingly impossible required more than something as ethereal as thoughts and prayers. He needed something more. He hesitated for only a mere second before he made a decision. He could either rely on arrays, a few of which could somewhat help him. Or, he could use his current situation to run his cultivation technique. Unfortunately, he could not run his cultivation technique and use his spirit energy for other tasks at the same time, so he had to choose. Ultimately, the choice was simple. Arrays could provide him immediate but limited relief. The technique, however, had the potential to use his current situation and adapt to it to give him greater benefits. Maybe he could even develop a resistance to Dragons Might. There was only one way to find out. With his decision made, he began cultivating while he continued to lift himself up. Lex could not help but release a guttural cry as he pushed himself up right. He felt like he was deadlifting a! His cultivation technique was not hampered at all by his movement or the pressure around him, and in fact ran even smoother in these harsh conditions. Slowly, he could tell that it was already bringing about some changes in him, but he could not spare the thought to observe these changes. He had to use every ounce of willpower, and actual power, to move even a few inches.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Despite the hardship, the ultimate winner was Lex - if one could consider standing up a victory at all. Unfortunately for him, standing up did not give him any release , nor did it make it easier for him. He looked forward and estimated how far the dragon was. Normally this was not an issue, but at the moment the dragon seemed to upy his entire mind, so it was difficult for him to pay attention to the gap between them. In the end, he gave up. What did it matter anyway? How far could it really be? He tried to drag his foot forward, so as to avoid lifting it, but the friction with the ground was too great. It was not possible. Taking in a deep yet painful breath, he lifted his left foot up and stepped forward. "Fuck!" Lex cursed as he fell down and lost nearly all his progress. How had walking turned into an impossible task? He had put his foot down incorrectly, causing him to stumble. Moreover, the immense pressure and the horrible angle caused something in his left knee to crack. As someone who generally avoided cursing, not at all due to childhood trauma of getting his rear whupped for doing so, the fact that he cursed so loud spoke of his frustration. It was not the bone crushing pain that caused Lex the frustration as much as knowing that with an injured knee, another hurdle on his already impossible task was added. With clenched fists, he tolerated the pain as he pushed himself back up again. Fortunately, as a cultivator, he was not subject to the same weaknesses he was back when he was a pure mortal. Although his knee was injured, he could use the various muscles in his leg to amodate his weight as well as forcefully divert the pressure on his knee. Finally, when he pushed himself back up, with unsurpassed focus, Lex once again lifted his leg and took a step. This time he did not mess up, so he was able to divert his weight onto his other leg, and ready himself for his next step. He looked up at the dragon one more time, which was only a few miles away from him, and realized he needed to speed up. If he took 10 minutes on each step, he''d never make it before the others arrived. Suddenly, he felt like cursing again. Chapter 772 Dominance Chapter 772 Dominance Lex had been homeschooled a lot, so he did not know what a traditional P.E. teacher was like. The only thing he had topare it with was when his dad would put on a tracksuit, grab a whistle and make him and his sisters do odd, random exercises. Sometimes they would runps around a random park and other times they''d go swimming. Sometimes, his parents would get creative after watching a martial arts movie, like The Karate Kid or something, and then make them do the same things as in the movie. All in all, it was not too bad except for the fact that they would not be allowed to stop till they were thoroughly exhausted and drained. In hindsight, maybe it was just a way for parents to exhaust extremely energetic kids to get some rest themselves. If his parents were normal, that would have made sense. That, however, was irrelevant. What truly mattered was the fact that Lex was having shbacks to those days of utter exhaustion as he pushed his body beyond its limit to approach the dragon. Each movement, whether it was his hands moving back and forth to maintain bnce, or each excruciating part of taking a step, had to be done with the utmost care. It was only under so much extreme pressure that Lex realized howplicated walking actually was. He had to simultaneously cultivate, and though it had not helped him in any way yet, he was confident it would pay off. After all, with each step he took he was closer to the dragon. That also meant that each step he took increased the might of, well, Dragons Might. There was a whimpering sound beside him, and Lex could not help but smile. After he had stood up, and regained a dignified stance, he summoned Fenrir. The poor pup was also helpless under the weight of the dragon''s oppression, but the aggression buried deep in its bloodline did not allow it to kneel before the dragon. Although it did not have as specific a purpose as Lex, Fenrir too had stood up though it was extremely reluctant to get any closer. Its pride, however, would not allow it to stay back as Lex moved forward. The reason Lex had summoned it was not because Lex did not want to suffer alone, no. It was to temper the pups will. He had noticed that the more it would hunt, the more it was starting to grow uncontrobly aggressive. It was fine for now, as it always behaved in front of Lex so far, but he thought oveing a little hardship and realizing that he was not all powerful might be good for the pups growth.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Also, he needed someone to watch as he overcame this hurdle. What was the point of a performance without an audience? Well, there were plenty of reasons for it actually, but who cared? It had been thirty minutes since Lex began walking, but he had not even covered five hundred feet (150 meters). This was not good because he could sense mild vibrationsing from the castle above. Something was going on, and the longer he took, the greater chances that someone else would show up soon. His brain was filled with countless ideas for how he could make this task easier. He could use his spatial affinity to get closer, he could summon the Silent Wanderer. Heck, he was certain if he threw a golden key at the dragon hard enough, it would be crushed and send the dragon to the Inn. There, he could conduct this trial in as much time as he needed, and that would also save him enough time to loot the rest of the hoard. He couldn''t help it, Lex had been too focused on searching for loopholes so all these ideas kepting to him. But he rejected them all. Some things had to be achieved in the moment without the thought of retreat or giving up. Sure, he could attempt the same task inside the Inn without external pressures hurrying him along, but that would defeat the point. He had to do this to prove he was not reliant on the system. Most of all, he had to conquer the dragon that made him taste the floor. Lex did not even allow himself to enter his Flow state, or any other state. This had to be done purely by him. Lex was so focused on the task that he did not notice at all when he started exuding his own aura. It only made sense. He was giving it everything he had, so subconsciously he included his aura in that as well. But while his aura was previouslypletely suppressed all the way to his skin, under the pressure of Dragons Might and driven by the monumental achievement that was each step, it began to change. The direction it was changing was not overwhelmingly oppressive, simr to that of Dragons Might, as hospitality was deeply ingrained in him now, and oppressing his guests was never the sign of a good host. But it was gaining authority nheless. It was not the authority of a boss over his subordinates, no. It was more like the authority wielded as a result of one''s own person. It was like the respect of a warrior - it was the same in a garden just as much as it was on the battlefield. It was like the confidence of a king - they did not need to prove their worth. It was like a celebrity in front of a massive crowd of fans - they did not need to introduce themselves. It was all of that and more, and with each passing second it was being refined further. It was filled with an aura of dominance. Yet how could something that was filled with the air of dominance be suppressed? His aura extended out 1cm from his skin, and for a moment Lex felt the illusion that his step had be easier, even if only a minute amount. Chapter 773 Recording Chapter 773 Recording After Lex took another 100 steps, he developed somewhat of a rhythm. The rhythm helped reduce the strain on his mind which was focused on even the subtlest movements he made with his body during this time. The hyper focused state he was in was also one of the reasons he had failed to notice his growing and evolving aura. What he did notice, however, was that while he had expected each progressive step to grow harder, sometimes it would get easier instead. He could not understand why the strain would reduce, and he didn''t have the mental capacity to spare to analyze such a thing. Now that the strain on his mind had eased up a little, he could focus on the next thing, which was to speed up. He had to be especially careful with this as he did not want a recurrence of him tripping and injuring himself. His task was already hard enough without umting more injured joints. One, almostpletely irrelevant, benefit that Lex got from this was that he refined his posture a lot. After all, walking and maintaining bnce was a lot easier with proper posture. With his efforts now refocused, his speed began to increase at a steady pace. But so focused was he, not just with his mind and body, but even with his instincts and everything else that he had at his disposal, that Lex began to miss out on other things he would have normally noticed. For example, his cultivation technique finally started producing results. Amazingly, cultivation under such immense pressure sped up his cultivation by over a hundredfold! His Golden core started to shrink in size, but that was not a bad thing. It was bing morepressed and therefore only allowed purer and higher quality energy to enter. His body also started to undergo a subtle refinement. It was not that he was gaining more strength, but the sticity of his muscles was increasing. Moreover, the way his muscles connected to one another and his bones were also subtly changing. This would allow him finer control over his strength and allow his body to tolerate more stress with greater ease. Alongside his sweat, fine ck grains of impurities also started to be pushed out of Lex''s body. Although Lex had previously undergone cleansings, as he grew in cultivation level and strength, what was considered essential and waste material inside his body also changed. For example, there were certain minerals and nutrients that his body required to strengthen and hold his body together while he built his Foundation. But once in the Golden Core realm, his strength and level had increased so much that those same materials that once held things together now became sources of instability. Of course, that was only rtively speaking as the body could easily tolerate their negative effects as they weremon in all cultivators. But now, due to the immense pressure his body was cultivating under, they were being pushed out, cleansing his body as it grew stronger. Another thing that Lex failed to notice was a figure that appeared in the same hall. It was the dwarf, Barley, and much like Lex, he mmed into the ground. But while Lex recovered and moved on, Barley was already in such a poor state that he could barely tolerate the force. Quickly, or as quickly as he could manage, he dragged himself back out of the hall. But as he sat on the steps, panting and heaving, his sight fell onto Lex. With his back held up straight, he walked at a steady pace with all the seeming ease in the world, despite being under the immense pressure of the dragon. In front of him, the monstrosity that was a dragon stood calmly, his eyes seemingly focused on the approaching figure. Although Barley knew that the dragon was dead, or at least it should be, that is not what it seemed like. From where he sat, it seemed like the dragon was crouching down on the ground, his posture docile and his tail safely curled up, and he dared not move as the tiny figure approached him. It was crazy. It did not make sense. Such a thing was impossible. But the confident gait that Lex had walking forward, his head held up high looking directly at the dragon, his broad strong shoulders that did not seem like they were weighed down by the Dragons Might at all, allbined together to make an image that looked like he had the dragon cowed. Feeling weak, bitter, and unwilling, Barley pulled out a recording device. This was not just a video recorder, as this device would record everything, from the scents, the sounds, the temperature, and even the pressure of the Dragons Might, inside of it. This way, when someone reviewed the contentter, it would be as if they were there in person. He began recording, and even whispered an introduction. "My name is Barley Holdinson, and I am on the Frigra. My team and I snuck into the great dragon''s hoard, but¡­ but this is what we found. I do not know who that person is, but I do know his name¡­ is Lex William." The videocked a full exnation, for example the fact that the dragon in the recording was already dead. But he left it that way on purpose. If he couldn''t get the dragon''s treasure, at least he''d leave here with a video that will make him an overnight sensation on the Henali Portal. He would set a very high price for viewing this recording, and thus set himself up for a lifetime.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om As for what this Lex might think of his actions¡­ well, with the whole realm knowing that Lex looted a dragon''s hoard he would not live for long. Who cared what he thought? Barley was not being malicious on purpose. He just never even considered things from any other point of view at all. Chapter 774 Obsession Chapter 774 Obsession Lex''s sweat and blood had long since evaporated, leaving no trace behind. His suit was phenomenal, so it would not show sweat stains either. Moreover, Lex''s entire back was covered, so nothing of his miserable state was actually shown in barleys recording. By now, he didn''t even need to waste any energy wiping the sweat off his face, for it would evaporate right on his skin. The dark impurities exiting his body evaporated as well. Oddly enough, however, since they were only considered impurities now that Lex had grown much stronger, after evaporating they didn''t release a putrid or horrid smell, but actually smelled fresh and rxing. After all, his body had been refined by the lotus many times, so even the dirt in his body was valuable now. All of thisbined to create the ultimate scene for Barleys recording, so much so that even the dwarf had not realized it yet. Time seemed to lose meaning as Lex marched. At some point, without Lex realizing it, the difficulty of his task went from absolutely impossible to only almostpletely impossible. The drastic reduction in difficulty was due to various factors, but when theybined together they allowed Lex to finally gather up the energy, and he began to jog. Every inch of his entire being was aching, but Lex had a smile on his face because his increased speed finally allowed him to feel a bit of wind on his face. Although the wind itself was searing hot, like airing out of a burning stove, it was still an improvement for Lex. The pleasant sensation further fueled Lex''s motivation, and soon he broke into a run. To be clear, it was not that it had be easier to traverse the area so he was running, but that he was forcing more out of himself. After all, he knew that if he wanted to achieve what he had in mind, the difficulty was going to get much worse. Although it seemed an eternity, especially to Lex, eventually he reached the dragon! He slowed down, panting and heaving, as he approached the dragon''s face. By now he could no longer rely on his eyes to look at the dragon, even his left eye, for the strain was so great he felt he would go blind if he did. He had to use his spirit sense, and even that suffered from mild burns as it came in contact with the dragon''s scales. He had to lift his face to look up at the dragon properly. Just to reach its lower lip, Lex would have to climb dozens of feet. It was hard to determine the exact size of the dragon, for the Dragons Might was messing with his perception. Even this close, he could not tell just how big it was. He did not spend any time admiring it, for the hardest task was still in front of him. What he had done so far¡­ was only the warm up. He reached forward and touched the dragon scale, his skin sizzling due to the scales heat, but he didn''t withdraw it. There was also the sound of a mighty roar inside his mind that nearly made him fall unconscious, but fortunately it did notst. He raised his hand till it met the groove of one scale ending and another beginning. There was barely enough space for his fingertips to grip it, but that would have to do. It was at this moment he cursed himself for weighing more than 700 pounds. He knew he would regret that sooner orter. But he had no time toment, for the longer he took, the more of his skin burned, literally! He lifted himself up¡­ and fell back to the floor. What 700 pounds? Right now, it felt as if Lex weighed 70,000 pounds! What''s more, it was not easy to leverage the entire weight only on his burning fingertips. Lex blew out air from his nose, dissatisfied with the situation. Then he licked each of his fingertips, moistening them a bit, and began again. This time, he did not fall, and he began to climb slowly and steadily. Just as he was making steady progress, and he was about to reach the lower lip of the dragon, the crown on his head cracked, and spirit pull began influencing him again, if only a little.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om But Lex was a single minded beast now, so did not stop climbing nor did he stop cultivating, even if his thoughts had drifted elsewhere. The only redeeming factor in this situation was that the treasure that was tainted with the dragon''s obsession was a little far from the dragon, and so he was not facing spirit pull at its worst. The Lotus on Lex''s back was stimted, just a bit, by the dragon''s aura, but it was too exhausted from healing that strange poison for Lex''s system, so it did not wake up. The castle above Lex trembled, and dust fell from the roof, but he did not notice. He just kept climbing, crossing the lower lip and then the top. Only a little more, and he would reach the snout, which would make his remaining journey easy, at least byparison. But then, the crown on his head suffered another crack, and Lex got lost even deeper in his thoughts. The strange thing was, the deeper Lex got lost in his thoughts, the faster he would climb, as if he was instinctively ignoring the copious amounts of pain in his body. Unbelievably, Lex managed to reach the snout, and stood up on it, his posture perfectly refined. His cultivation technique began circting even faster, and the effects on his body were noticeable by now. Lex did not pause for long, and continued to walk, the crown suffering even more cracks. What was strange was that he should have diverted his path as he was influenced by the spirit pull and gone towards the treasure, but instead Lex never changed his path. Lex had formed an obsession of his own while fighting against the dragon''s aura, and now his obsession waspeting directly against the dragons. Finally, he reached the forehead. Chapter 775 Ultimate fertilizer Chapter 775 Ultimate fertilizer Although nothing in particr was happening at the lowest level, and Lex was the only one moving about, a strange stillness enveloped the hall the moment he reached the forehead. The pressure of Dragons Might on Lex did not reduce, but at the same time felt as if it had lost its edge. Barley, the dwarf in the distance, held his breath as he tried toe to terms with what he was seeing. This was beyond anything he had expected. He thought Lex was going to go steal treasure, not spheme the dragon like this! The value of his recording just skyrocketed! Lex slowed down only a bit as an instinctive hesitation filled him, but he overcame it momentarily as he approached the spot he had seen from a distance. In the center of the dragon''s forehead, there was a single scale that was elevated above the rest. Unlike the rest of the scales, this one had unusual jagged edges, as if something was once attached to this scale but had been ripped out. All that remained now was a single scale higher than the rest. Lex stepped on to the dragon and he, who was supposed to have lost lucidity under the effects of the treasure''s spirit pull, spoke softly. "Before lording your might and prestige over me, realize that you are the one sitting under my feet." Even without a soul, the dragon seemed to have been stimted by Lex''s words and its Dragons Might erupted like a volcano! The inherent pride of a dragon could not be besmirched even in death! Lex coughed out some blood and immediately shut his eyes, for he felt they were about to pop out of his skull. Tiny rips tore in his skin all over and he began to bleed profusely. A roar that could destroys rang inside Lex''s mind and shook his very soul, yet Lex''s expression did not change at all. The matter of fact was that Lex really was affected by spirit pull, but his own indomitable will and pride shed against the dragons. Right now, Lex was not acting consciously, but ratherpletely, ording to his subconscious thoughts and feelings. He really did believe that dragons were not fit to show their might in front of him, at least dead ones. As if nothing had happened at all, Lex sat cross-legged on the elevated scale and closed his eyes. It was as if he was finding afortable position within the gut wrenching, soul-crushing pressure bearing down on him. A momentter, he began to cultivate once again. A whirlwind of heated spirit energy formed around Lex and began to be absorbed by his body. His aura, which had previously been undergoing a steady growth, exploded with a powerful hunger and began to devour the Dragons Might! His cultivation technique was revolving at unprecedented speeds and began to immediately change Lex as he was nourished by the special spirit energy within this hall, as well as the unique spirit energy flooding into his body the scale beneath him! Everything about Lex, at that moment, began to undergo an evolution. His cultivation, which had barely moved from the beginning of the Golden core realm, began to slowly inch upwards. His very position on the Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum began to elevate! His mind, body and soul were beginning to grow stronger rapidly, as if he was being nourished by the dragon itself! The impurities in his body started to leak out of his body, no longer as fine ck grains but in the form of steam! His hair started to take on a brownish tint simr to the dragon''s scales underneath him. His skin, which had ripped all over, healed almost immediately, and then began to shed as if he was molting. Even the Lotus tattoo on his back started to warm up, as if it too was absorbing some of the dragon''s energy. Barley, who was still recording, began to tremble as fear started to creep into his heart. His incredibly sharp senses had picked up on the fact that the Dragons Might affecting him had reduced almost imperceptibly. Yet such a thing was not a cause for celebration, for another, more intimidating aura took its ce by the same measure that the Dragons Might reduced. No matter what he thought of Lex earlier, right now his body was telling him to flee. If the man who dared to absorb a dragon''s essence discovered that Barley had been recording him with sinister intentions, he would not be long for this world, especially in his weakened state. After all, this was not something that had never been done before, albeit never in the method that Lex was using. It had to be known that the aura of a dragon would taint any who dared absorb their essence, and would be a permanent enemy of the dragons. This was noughing matter, and no longer something the dwarf dared to be a part of. He ended the recording and began to retreat while Lex was still busy. He had to leave this immediately! While this was happening, the strain on Lex was slowly and steadily decreasing. This was a result of the decreasing Dragons Might, his increasing aura as well as his own increasing strength. In a few minutes, he already reached the middle of the Golden Core realm. He also finally woke up and gained full lucidity, as well as all the memories of everything he did recently. He would have shuddered and considered himself lucky that he had not sumbed to the dragon''s obsession, but at the moment he was feeling too euphoric to worry. Although he had endless motivation and dedication when he started out on his endeavor, nning to do something and actually achieving it were two entirely different concepts. He¡­ he had actually crossed the barrier between so many realms and managed to conquer this trial in his path. Given that the dragon was already dead, but even so the challenge had been difficult enough. He felt an unprecedented thrill and excitement course through his veins. He felt like he was truly alive at this moment, and had achieved something legendary. At the same time he felt an overwhelming urge to go andplete other impossible tasks and test what his limits truly were. A massive, genuine grin painted his face but even that was not enough to contain his joy. He beganughing freely and loudly, without caring to hold back at all. He was sitting atop a mighty dragon, something he would have not even dared to imagine before. Although he always had faith in his own ability, and preferred to get things himself over just being handed amazing gifts by the system, it was a good feeling to finally prove it. Once he was doneughing, he quickly resumed his focus on cultivating. He could feel that he had improved too much too quickly, and that he was about to reach his limit. But until that happened, he wanted to get the most out of this chance. He finally had time to inspect the changes taking ce in his body and evaluate his growth. He noticed, for the first time, how his aura was directlypeting with Dragons Might, and even slowly absorbing it! It was transcending the realm where it could only be felt, and entering the realm where he could directly influence the world itself with his aura. He could feel that his aura would suppress, subdue and overwhelm his foes, while at the same time it would protect, reassure and to a certain degree, reinvigorate his allies. His aura could also protect him from various negative influences, such as minor curses, divination, fate maniption, mind attacks as well as soul attacks. But thesest few aspects were still weak, and would require further strengthening of his aura to be effective in case of stronger opponents. His eyes shed open and the world itself seemed to feel the pressure of his gaze. It was as if, through his gaze, Lex could employ something simr to Dragons Might. After a moment''s consideration, he decided to name this ability Domination. His cultivation finally slowed down and his aura stopped growing. The Dragons Might in the hall could still oppress him greatly, but it was no longer to the point where Lex would copse at the simplest carelessness. Lex was not sure what treasure the mystery man referred to when he told Lex toe here, but he was more than satisfied with this opportunity. After all, now that he had cultivated on top of a dragon, he did not n on cultivating anywhere else.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om There was a sh of emotion in Lex''s eyes as he summoned a single golden key and stared at it. It was time¡­ to bring the ultimate fertilizer to the Inn. He used the dragon''s scale to break the key, teleporting the living carcass of the dragon to the Inn, before he himself teleported away as well. Although he had to loot, yes, he also had to make sure no one stole his fertilizer from him! Chapter 776 No time Chapter 776 No time Inside the Inn, the activity levels seemed to have dropped drastically. Many of the guests who were here were actually in hiding, while the rest were on vacation. That was because the entire realm seemed to be heading towards war. If the higher ups were stressed about it, the ones lower down on the chain ofmon would clearly be even more worried. They were also much busier. Although the Midnight Inn was an excellent ce, without sufficient money, one could not spend enough time there. As such, it was not really a long term solution to avoiding the conflicts. This caused most of the Inns'' usual tenants to be busy working or cultivating, leaving behind only a small percentage of guests. Even so, dozens if not hundreds of guests came and went at any given time. This was a sight that had be all toomon, and no longer aroused any attention among those who frequented the Inn. Only those who wereing to the Inn for the first time were likely to stop and admire the beautiful scenery. Naturally, as with every norm, there were exceptions. In the clearing where new guests arrived, a single massive guest suddenly appeared. At first, it was only the size of the new guest that attracted attention of all the guests, for at its height point, which was on its back where its wings were folded, the guest was nearly 4000 feet (1220 meters) tall. The length of its body, even with its tail folded up, was also around 4000 feet as well. It went without saying that the arrival of such a figure would attract the eye of all nearby guests. But that was only just an instinctive reaction that anyone would have. A momentter, once they overcame the enormity of the size of this new guest, and processed who it actually was, they were startled! It was a dragon, and a massive one at that! This was evenrger than the previous dragon that had appeared at the Inn before, as a guard. Moreover, there was one very significant difference between this dragon and the previous one. This dragon¡­ was very active within the Suera Gxy, and thus was considered a very high level VIP among many forces. Various amounts of information were also avable to multiple forces and organizations, depending on their power and authority levels. Thus a few guests, especially among the devils, immediately recognized it. It would not be inurate to say that this dragon was one of the most well known celebrities or prominent figures to appear at the Inn. Just as some guests were basking in the glory of appearing so near a dragon, all without being crushed by its ferocious Dragons Might, that the dragon disappeared. This did not arouse too much surprise as no one expected a dragon to ride a golf cart to its destination. The fact that it had appeared in the same location as them when it arrived was already humbling enough for it. The appearance and subsequent disappearance of the dragon did not arouse too much attention, besides the usual excitement of witnessing one of the overlords of not only this realm but the entire universe. But certain figures who recognized the dragon made a mental note of its appearance. Lex, who had also teleported to the Inn, would naturally note over personally to teleport the dragon over. Instead, as soon as he appeared, he used his authority to expand his private meditation room until it wasrge enough to fit the dragon and teleported it over. Now, inside the Inn, Lex could finally observe the dragon without the interference of its natural aura, and its massive size was finally revealed to him. Somehow, with all the mystique removed, the dragon looked even more impressive than when he could not even perceive the size of its existence. Each of its scales was more beautiful than the most exquisite piece of jade, each curve and groove pleasing to the eye. Its mighty stature and dominating figure produced an ethereal aura of their own, and was independent of its spot on the Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum. That aura belonged solely to itself and was ingrained deep within its bones. Although Lex did not know its history, standing before it he was sure that it had raised many storms in its lifetime. Yet, oddly enough, its death was extremely mysterious. Lex did not know how much he would believe the words of the creature that had told him how the dragon had died, but even if he believed everything, it left too many questions. But now was not the time for that. Lex was still on a time crunch, and wanted to explore the depths of the dragons'' hoard. But before that, he just had to make sure that nothing would happen to the dragon if he left it here, so he scanned it. Name: Pelvailin Ur Bahatna Gorgin Age: 670,809,524 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: ??? Species: Dragon Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Bloodline: ???n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Condition: An empty vessel, a body without a soul. Unless the soul revives, or a new, suitable soul enters, the body will eventually die. Remarks: The most valuable item inside a dragon''s treasure chest is always the dragon itself! Lex''s eyes gleamed as various ideas crossed his mind. Since this was a living dragon, sort of, if Lex could harvest its benefits besides just absorbing its might and cultivation, then he could raise the power of the Midnight Inn by a massive amount. Although he had not read in detail, even he hade across the random articles on the Henali portal about how some lucky cultivator found a drop of dragon blood, or a random dragon bone, and then used it to be an unrivaled powerhouse in their respective region. The possibilities were endless. Lex had trouble suppressing his grin and even had the urge to utter the forbidden words ''my precious'' as he looked at the dragon. But ultimately he tore away his feverish gaze from the dragon. Now, it was time to loot. He teleported back to the hall and found himself free falling from a height. It made sense. When he teleported away, he was up in the air above a dragon. But such a fall barely had any effect on him at all. Now, free of the oppressive aura of Dragons Might, he could move freely. Moreover, he had built a mental resistance to spirit pull, so he had no trouble retaining his lucidity. The moment his body crashed onto the ground, he burst forward at full speed. The sudden absence of Dragons Might would not go unnoticed and it was only a matter of time before others came to investigate. He was determined to get as much as possible done before he ran into that search party. First order of business was the treasure that reeked of the dragon''s obsession. It was not at all hard to find as Lex could clearly feel its pull, not to mention the massive pedestal that had been built for it. An oval, rainbow colored jewel that was 30 feet (9.1 meters) across was ced on a red pillow that looked like it was made from the feathers of some mystical being. Even beside the obsession that had gripped the jewel, Lex could feel an ancient and ominous aura leaking from it. Faintly, deep within, he could see the outline of a figure seemingly trapped within. Soft, silver characters shimmered in the air around it, as if the jewel itself was causing characters to be formed. Lex could also feel the jewel absorbing an unusual aura from the, nourishing itself. Around the pedestal there were various rows of seats, as if a crowd regrly gathered around it to worship the jewel. In fact, faint traces of divinity could be sensed in the vicinity as well. It was as if- Lex could not be bothered to continue observing the jewel for now. The moment he was sure that it was safe, he put the jewel as well as the pillow inside the massive spatial drum on his back. In fact, using nothing but brute strength, Lex ripped the pedestal out of the ground as well, and ced it in there as well. He was sure it was worth a lot. He immediately took out the ck jade that would guide him to the Peronian Jade and made a beeline for the direction it pointed him in. As he ran, he also stored every chair, table, ornament and decoration he came across because they were all leaking thick, heated spirit energy and he was certain they were valuable. Soon, he found a small sealed room upon following the jades directions. The seal was not to prevent intruders, but to lock in the aura of its contents so Lex had no problem entering. Inside was a ck tree that was, supposedly, made of Peronian Jade. It looked identical to thepass Lex had, and once again gave off an unusual aura that spoke of extreme vicissitudes. Upon making sure it was safe, Lex put it in his drum as well. He had no time to admire ancient treasures. He only had time to loot! Chapter 777 Pool Chapter 777 Pool While Lex was busy with his looting, within the Milky way a number of small drones explored the vacuum of space. Telescopes, formations and other means to observe the universe atrge could only provide the most basic information about space within a gxy as many various kinds of spiritual energies and other anomalies hid endless secrets. These drones, sent out by the A.I. once they arrived on Earth, were conducting a survey of nearby space for exactly this reason. After all, unlike other races, the A.I. did not care if the Earth was inside a deadzone. The concentration of spiritual energy mattered little to them. After all, they only cared about valuable materials, and even dead zones could give birth to those. Using the harvest from dead zones, the A.I. could create unique bodies for themselves. It was while conducting this routine survey, the drone discovered a rogue that hadn''t been detected on any of its previous scans. Following protocol, it went closer to investigate. As soon as it was in range, it scanned the and to its great surprise, discovered that the readings from the already existed in its database. This was a known, but its location was not where it was supposed to be. After all, Polebitvy was in another gxy all together! But at this moment, it was right in front of it, disturbingly close to earth! Immediately it sent back this information for it could be extremely valuable! ***** Lex did not need his instincts to tell him that there was more than meets the eye regarding the Peronian jade, but he had already signed a contract to give it away so there was no use pondering over it. He would study it a bit more when he had the chance, but for now he stopped thinking about it and exited once more. The final hall that constituted the dragon''s hoard wasrge and borately decorated with immacte stonework and masonry, with endless jewels, valuable metals and various stones. Although the decorations were many, they all had one thing inmon which was that they gave off an unusual, heated spirit energy. Lex already knew that there were different kinds of spirit energies and that they served different purposes, but for now Lex was too low leveled so to him it was all the same. What was more important to him was that each and every one of those items were valuable, and to a degree, could also act as fertilizers. But instead of immediately rushing to them, Lex first calmly surveyed the entire hall. Just because Lex was in a rush did not mean he lost his professionalism. All things had to be done efficiently and in the correct order. He would first loot the actual treasures in this hall before turning his attention to other, lesser valuables. The vast majority of the hall was an open space, which made sense considering the dragon''s size. But there were 12 smaller halls and rooms, simr to the one which contained the Peronian jade. This also made sense. After all, there was limited space and not every hall could be massive. Moreover, if even Fenrir could change its size, how would the dragon not be able to? Speaking of Fenrir¡­ the pup had struggled a lot under the Dragons Might, but it had been too stubborn to retreat as well. Once the pressure from the dragon disappeared, it copsed. But by the time Lex returned, he was nowhere in sight. Yet, through his connection to the pup, Lex knew exactly where it was. It was doing the same thing as Lex: it was looting!n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex chuckled, and then swiftly entered the nearest hall. This room was, surprisingly, a small study containing endless books and crystals containing information. Lex swiped them all. The next room was a kitchen, and had a massive storage treasure filled to the brim with frozen carcasses all radiating a powerful aura. The kitchen also had endless other fresh ingredients. After storing them in his own spatial equipment, Lex had to waste some time returning to the Inn. After all, he could not ce one spatial equipment in anothers, so what Lex referred to as the ''spatial freezer'' had to manually be dropped off. He took the opportunity to empty his equipment as well, before returning to the hoard. The third room Lex entered had been ransacked already by Fenrir, leaving not a single speck of dust. Lex did not know whether tough or cry when he saw this, so he quickly moved to the next room. This room was a little special, in that its design seemed to fulfill some purpose. Shaped like a dome, the room had a massive pit inside of it filled to the brim with blood. Lex was immediately reminded of what Mary had requested and scanned the blood with his spirit sense for the scale, but encountered an unusual problem. The blood was incredibly thick, and resisted the pration of Lex''s spirit sense. If he wanted to look for the scale she had requested, he would have to get inside. Or¡­ He put his hand atop the blood and began sucking it inside his spatial drum! Lex had no interest in taking a literal blood bath, so this was an excellent alternative. As the blood slowly drained, the immense size of the pit was revealed as even ten feet down, it had not reached the bottom. Lex was waiting for the pool to end, while at the same time making a mental note to look into what this blood could possibly be used for, when he noticed something in the pool. There was a figure swimming within. Could it be the baby dragon that Mary had mentioned earlier? Lex wondered warily. It had to be known that even a newborn dragon was in the Earth immortal realm, and was not something he could fight off! But a momentter, his expression froze. A blood covered wolf was revealed, and looked around wondering where the pool was disappearing to. It was having such a good time swimming. Chapter 778 Ring Chapter 778 Ring "You''re going to stink of blood," Lex said with a frown, though Fenrir didn''t care about that. In fact, he was distressed that Lex was taking away his pool! "Woof woof woof!" "Fine, I''ll leave the blood alone. But check the pool if there''s a scale inside, I need it." The pup immediate;y plunged deep inside the pool, anxious to find the scale lest Lex continues to drain the blood. A gleam shed through Lex''s eyes. Although Fenrir was sometimes silly, he was actually very intelligent. If it was so attached to the blood, it must be benefiting it greatly somehow. Lex naturally would not covet an opportunity gained by Fenrir, but that did not stop him from contemting if the blood would be helpful to the other beasts inside the Inn. He did not think the Gctic Sovereign Turtle needed any help, but Little Blue had been a part of the Inn for a long time. Although Lex did not have too much of a personal connection with it, that did not mean that Lex did not care about it. A momentter, Fenrir came out of the pool with a remorseful look on its face. "Woof woof!" the pup said. There was a scale at the bottom, but it was too heavy for the pup to move. The pup was scared that Lex would drain the pool to get to the scale, so it mentioned that the blood was actually nice and warm and didn''t feel bad. Lex sighed, and then jumped in. The warmth Fenrir mentioned was actually scalding hot, to the extent that even Lex''s freshly upgraded body turned red with subtle signs of a mild burn. The pool was much deeper than Lex expected, and he sank for about 300 feet (91 meters) before he reached the boot. He naturally could not use his eyes to look around, and his spirit sense wasn''t working either so he could only feel around to look for the scale. It was easier to find than expected, for it covered nearly the entire bottom of the pit. He did not experiment with the weight, despite his curiosity for how much it weighed, and simply ced it within his drum. Nothing unexpected happened, so Lex swam back to the top and exited the pool safely. He was half expecting his body to absorb the blood or something along those lines, considering that Fenrir was so excited about it, but it had no effect on him. "Are you sure you want to stay here?" Lex asked with hesitation when he couldn''t figure out the benefit of the blood, but Fenrir was adamant. He only nodded, and left the pup up to his devices. He quickly began going through the remaining halls. He encountered a greenhouse filled with various potted nts. Lex could not put them in his spatial equipment so he had to consider whether it was worth it to waste time teleporting to and back to the Inn every time. After all, for him to return to the Inn was not instantaneous and would take a while. Ultimately¡­ he decided it was worth it. Anything at this level would be unbelievably valuable. He grabbed as many pots as he could manage and teleported to the Inn, instantly dropped the pots in the greenhouse near the turtle. Before the turtle could even realize what was happening, Lex had already disappeared. But the time the turtle analyzed the first pot, a dozen more appeared. A tinge of excitement was born in the turtle''s eyes as he began to salivate, and looked from one nt to another. From time to time, more pots appeared, stimting the turtle''s heart.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Each and every potted nt he saw was supposed to have gone extinct! That was the information on nts it was inheriting from within its bloodline, so the fact that he saw even a single sample was unbelievable let alone multiple different extinct nts! He could possibly¡­ bring these nts back from extinction if only the circumstances were right. Ambition suddenly took hold of the young turtle''s heart, and the horn on its forehead began to glow without its knowledge. All of this was unknown to Lex, who took an entire 10 minutes to transport all the nts to the Inn. Without wasting a single breath, he dashed to the next hall, and the one after that, and the one after that. Despite the amazing auras each of them had, Lex did not pause to study them. He had been hoping that any one of them might turn out to be a system, but unfortunately he was disappointed. Like that, he made his way to thest hall. But upon entering Lex paused, for the hall was empty. He frowned. He was sure Fenrir had not been here, so where could the contents of the hall have gone. He used his spirit sense and even tried to listen to his instincts but was not able to discover anything, despite the obvious pedestal that had been prepared for an individual item. Whatever it was, it was gone. Lex turned around and left. Although he was curious, he could not waste time to sate his curiosity. What he failed to notice was that as soon as he left, a ring made of wood reappeared on the pedestal, as if it had always been there. With all the rooms and halls explored, there was only one item remaining here that Lex felt was incalcbly valuable. It was the massive chandelier hanging far up above. It was not made of ss or crystal, and bore no borate stone or metal work. Instead, it seemed to be made entirely of molten rock, held together through some mysterious means. Moreover, it was the primary source for the heated spiritual energy within the hall. Lex did not need to understand what this spiritual energy was to know it would obviously be valuable, so bent down and jumped up, causing his body to go soaring up into the air as if he could actually fly. He grabbed the chandelier and pulled it free from the ceiling. That''s when things went horribly wrong. Chapter 779 Hunt Chapter 779 Hunt From the moment Lex came to this he had been suffering from various extreme temperatures. As if that was not enough, the temperatures had an element of spirituality to them so that even Lex could not avoid being affected. From the extreme cold on the surface, to the boiling heat within the dragon''s hall, he had weathered it all without muchint. After all, what was there toin about being too hot or cold? He spent his entire life as a mortal regting temperatures. But there were some extremes that even he could not tolerate. The moment he pulled out the chandelier, as if he pulled out a plug stopping a drain, moltenva started to fall from the hole left behind. Hovering in the air, with nothing to hold onto, Lex could not avoid getting sshed by the unusual gray coloredva. Lex didn''t immediately suffer burns but he could tell that if he were exposed to it too long it was only a matter of time before he was cooked. Remarkably, his suit seemed to be tolerating theva better than him. Lex crashed onto the floor, but he didn''t remain covered inva the whole time. He put theva that had sshed onto him into his spatial drum alongside the chandelier and quickly jumped to the side as soon as hended. Although this trick had worked once, he could tell that theva was putting a strain on his drum. If he added anymore, he would cause the drum to copse. In the center of the hall, a stream ofva was falling down, forming an expanding puddle. Unless theva stopped falling in, it was only a matter of time before this hall was filled entirely. "I''m going up, don''t stay here too long," Lex told Fenrir through his spirit sense before rushing up the stairs. Although the first encounter withva had disturbed him a bit, the situation had not deteriorated fortunately. How was he supposed to know that what he unplugged was actually the switch for the dragon''s regrva shower? It did not like the cold temperature of the, and so regrly washed itself in those mes. Moreover, since thatva was used to bathe the dragon, it could absolutely not be normal. Perhaps many of the treasures in the hoard might not be as valuable as a drop of thatva, for a dragon would not allow its scales to be tainted with anything impure! The skin on Lex''s face which had suffered the ssh of thatva also soon recovered from its blushing state, and looked fresher and more vibrant than ever before. He quickly climbed up to the floor with various prisons, and then froze. Although Lex had not paid attention to many of the details, even hisck of specific attention resulted in a state where he could recall most things in his environment. He immediately noticed that a single dwarf was missing. His eyes swayed to the various prisons and discovered nothing amiss, but the disappearance of a body was not normal at all. Upon being unable to discover anything, Lex skipped over the bodies and went to the next floor. This floor only had prisoners and Lex was not interested in collecting ves, so all he could do was move on to the next floor. Although he had no recollection of having passed through the subsequent floors, that did not slow down Lex at all. He was able to hone in on the most valuable treasures on each floor and took them, leaving the rest behind. He only managed to cover 3 floors like this before he encountered others. Countless Frigals in heavy armor were fighting against elves, dwarves and other races. Normally the Frigals would not be able toe this low due to the Dragons Might, but as the dragon itself had disappeared so had that deterrence. All the Frigals in the vicinity were gripped with fear even greater than that of the impending abomination invasion at the thought of their Lord dying, and so they rushed in to investigate. That''s when they found that their castle had already been infiltrated! The battle was chaotic and bloody, with body parts flying everywhere and screaming echoing in the halls. A mad fervor had gripped everyone, as the Frigals were in a rush to confirm their Lords status while the others wanted to loot. Amidst all of this¡­ Lex never actually slowed down his looting! He directly ignored thebat and continued to pick out anything and everything he thought was valuable. His actions were noticed by more than just a few, and they all took an opportunity to attack him, but the attacks could not even cause his clothes to crease let alone injure him. Lex did not even bother to acknowledge the attacksing his way, except to speed up all his actions. After a few minutes he already got everything he wanted and hurried to the next floor, leaving many who saw him bewildered. "He came from down below!" one of the elves noticed, and rushed down during the distraction Lex had caused. Like a domino falling, as soon as the first went down, everyone else began to follow. There were a few, however, who instead chased after Lex. He definitely got the best stuff already seeing as how he came from down below! As soon as Lex entered the next floor he froze. Of all the things he was expecting to find inside a dragon''s hoard, he was not expecting a spaceship collection! Moreover, all of these ships were muchrger than his Silent Wanderer, and seemed better equipped as well. How the hell was he going to plunder these? Just as he was admiring one up close, a frozen spike came out from the distance and hit the ship, causing it to tremble. Although the ship did not suffer too much damage, if such a thing continued it would only be a matter of time before it broke. Lex frowned. Not a single one of these came with a spatial equipment in which they could be stored, and Lex could not fit any of them inside his spatial equipment either. In the end there was only one solution. He would break off the bits that looked the most expensive and have Xeon study themter. Maybe he should also invest in getting a few spaceship engineers. Lex bolted and entered the spaceship. He knew that the two most valuable things inside a ship were its ammunition and its energy source. He nned on getting plenty of them, and anything else he could get his hands on.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Once again a simr scene reappeared where Lex was being attacked from all angles but he was ignoring all of it. He did not know the reason, but for now only Golden core cultivators had made it down so far. With that being the case, did Lex even need to fight back? In fact, fighting back ould waste more time than just ignoring them, so that''s what he did. More or less, his tant dismissal of all iing attacks intimidated those around him, and they even began to hesitate. That was, until, a mournful scream was heard throughout the castle, rocking the mountain-range itself. Even Lex paused, for he felt in that scream for the first time the power of an immortal. "A human has desecrated the Lord dragon! All Frigals, find and kill the human!" the voice roared, shattering every mirror and ss within the entire mountain range. Lex''s expression changed, but instead of running he just sped up his looting. He didn''t know how his actions had been detected, but he could tell that whoever yelled was far away from him, for now at least. But the reason for his exposure was simple. The two remaining dwarves from the first party were trying to escape, but were too injured to do so with so many guards in their way. Although they had already prepared an escape n, to make sure things were as chaotic as possible, thus making their escape easier, Barley threw out multiple crystals containing the recording of Lex atop the dragon. It was only a matter of time before they were discovered. When they were finally discovered, all the Frigals went mad in search of Lex, making it easier for the dwarves to escape. After all, once they saw that the two dwarves were not their targets, they would ignore them. Normally there would have been a fight, but right now they only cared about hunting down Lex. "Did you manage toplete the mission?" Terrol asked, as he limped along with Barley. "I couldn''t loot the bottom floor, but rest assured, I left traces of Valder dust there. As for what happens next, that''s none of our concern. That human might even take the me for everything as long as we stay hidden." "What about the others bodies?" Terrol asked, thinking of his formerpanions. "Each of them came prepared. In an hour, their bodies will dissolve, leaving no trace." "I told that human my name, will that be a problem?" "Only if he escapes here alive." Chapter 780 War zone Chapter 780 War zone A part of Lex wondered why he was even bothering to steal so many spaceship rted things when he had no real need for spaceships at all. Was it just because they looked so cool?n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om No, he was just preparing in advance to avoid issues in the future. After all, who knew when he would need a very cool looking spaceship? Such justifications were going through Lex''s mind as he continued his looting. He was spending longer on the level with the spaceship, but that was only because harvesting the energy sources and ammunition took longer than just grabbing it. Even reaching it required going through special procedures, lest they be tainted orpromised in some way. During this time, Lex was continuously attacked, which he was ignoring. But there was one fundamental difference nowpared to before. Due to the sensitive nature of what he was harvesting, he would create a barrier around himself so the attacks would not identally hit the energy sources or vtile ammunition instead. Oh, and considering the fact that everyone was now hunting for a human, he also used Notorious Anonymity to hide his identity. After all, with various races attacking the castle altogether, he could easily just be some other race that was not well known. Or at least that was the hope. For what it was worth, his idea seemed to work. No one was targeting him because he was a human. Instead, hisplete disregard for any attack targeting him made him the biggest target. Lex almost considered reevaluating his tactics, but watching the frustration build up in his attackers, Lex felt a subtle sense of satisfaction. He really had to give it up to Geeves. His idea to frustrate his enemies was not bad at all. But there was one very important factor he had to keep in mind. To return to the Inn, he needed some time to teleport, and he could not be disturbed during that time frame. If he were attacked, his teleportation would be canceled. As such, he needed to have an escape n in mind, which included getting away from the crowd long enough to teleport away. Once he had been through most of the ships, Lex reluctantly went up to the next floor. He was unable to actually take away most of the energy sources, as he recognized them to be too unstable to handle the environment inside a spatial treasure. The next floor, unbelievably, looked more like an antique bottle collection than a dragon''s hoard. Hundreds of thousands of ss, jade, stic, or even metallic bottles were lined up in countless counters. But it was this mundane, unusual even, floor in which the fighting was most brutal and chaotic. A single moment to study the situation revealed why the situation was so different. Each of those bottles contained medicine. If that were all, perhaps Lex would not have paid any extra attention and would have randomly grabbed some of the pills. After all, his medical knowledge was fairly limited, so he would not know if they were anything special. But due to the intensity of the fighting, many bottles broke and freed the pills or syrups from their airtight containers. Lex''s instincts were immediately attracted to some of the pills as if they could provide endless benefits, though only for the few brief moments before they were destroyed in the chaos. At the same time, it was strongly repulsed by others, as if they were extremely hazardous, even to him. In fact, due to the fighting and the constant destruction of medicinal bottles, all the ingredients were falling onto the floor and mixing with one another haphazardly. This should not have mattered much beyond the fact that each of these medicines was rare beyond measure in any gxy, and could not be easily replicated regardless of wealth and power. But in this instance, the more important reason it mattered was because all the broken pills and syrups and ingredients were mixing and slowlybining to form a very lethal poison. With treasures in front of him, and a countdown timer in his mind motivating him, Lex burst forward at his full speed, grabbing bottles and entire shelves randomly and putting them in his drum. Perhaps Charles would be able to identify what these pills were used for. Despite feeling greatly attracted to various pills, Lex did not try eating any at the moment. He had already cultivated as much as his body could tolerate for now, and if these pills were still being targeted by his instincts then they were absolutely phenomenal, and eating them now would only be a waste. Lex was gathering a lot of loot while also attracting a lot of hate, as seemed the norm by now, when something new finally happened. The entrance to the next floor burst open and an army of abominations came pouring in. Lex finallyid eyes on one and immediately understood why they were being called as such. With bodies that made no sense, these creatures made of ice attacked anyone near with absolute savagery. The creatures'' bodies looked like blobs of y dough mushed together by children, for the most part. They had tentaclesing out of odd ces and hands and legs in inconvenient locations. All of this should have made them weak, but they were anything but. Their freezing bodies emitted a piercing chill that not only froze the body, but it froze spiritual energy as well. Those were just themon rabble among the abominations. Some of them seemed to perfectly imitate other Frigals, dwarves or beasts, and could even change shape as they wished or needed. The greatest threat of all, however, was not their unusual chill or their odd strength, but it was their numbers. Hundreds of them were pouring in from the door, and in fact many of them were trying to erge the opening by breaking the door apart so more of them coulde in. Of course, neither their strength nor their chill had any significant effect on Lex, so he originally nned to break through them, but his ns quickly changed. A sense of foreboding filled him all of a sudden and he retreated quickly. These creatures were not simple at all. In fact, considering the fact that they did not previously exist on the, and only appeared recently, they may have something to do with the odd creature that killed the dragon. Once he had that thought, Lex immediately decided to end his little looting session. As much as he enjoyed it, he was not in dire need of any of it, and it was best to know when to reign in one''s greed. But the situation kept getting worse. The sounds of devastating explosions rocked the castle, apanied by earth shattering tremors. Lex could not know the situation outside, but it seemed to be deteriorating quickly. He needed to retreat to somewhere he was no longer under attack so he could teleport out. Unfortunately, everyone else also had thoughts of retreating from the approaching army, so a stampede formed, crowding the tunnels. As if that was not enough, Lex felt a few incredibly strong spirit senses sweep the area. The Earth immortal who had shouted earlier had arrived, and he was not alone! "Crap," Lex muttered under his breath and pushed through the crowd, no longer bothering about who blocked his way. The repercussions of trying to be extremely efficient were revealing themselves now, as many of those who had attacked him previously without much sess now tried to slow him down - whether it was out of pettiness or simply because Lex just frustrated them too much, he would never find out. That is because the next moment Lex''s instincts suddenly screamed danger, and unable to do much else, he wrapped himself in endlessyers of barriers. Something ripped through the ceiling above him and went smashing through the crowd, digging in deeper through the castle floors. Lex had not been directly under whatever tore through the ceiling, but even still all his barriers broke and he was thrown away to the side. At least he remained unhurt, but the same could not be said for the crowd that had been running with him. Feeling somewhat shell-shocked, Lex looked up through the hole in the castle. The sky outside was no longer dark as countless ships could be seen flying in the air, bombarding not just the castle but anyone near it. "What the hell!" Lex eximed. It was a literal war zone outside, much more so than even when he came. Without hesitation, Lex jumped into the hole in front of him. No sane person would follow him, and he could the time he needed to teleport away. Unfortunately for him, the icy abominations were not sane by any measure, and they were more than just a few of them. Pretty soon, an army of abominations could be seen jumping down the hole following Lex. Chapter 781 Anger Chapter 781 Anger Even as Lex fell through the levels, a frown didn''t leave his face. Something extremely unusual was happening on this, and he was caught in the middle. To a certain degree he could understand things getting out of hand. After all,a dragon had mysteriously died here, so there was one mystery entity to ount for. Then there was the group of foreigners who, through some unidentified means, discovered the dragon was dead and even spread the news. As unlikely as this was, it still remained within the realm of possibilities. The several groups that Lex fought while looting also made sense, since the news of a dead dragon would surely bring about an endless tide of looters, pirates and cultivators hoping to find a lucky encounter. What did not make sense, however, was that whoever was up on those ships was shooting directly at the castle. Even if the looters got caught in an unwanted fight, they should have tried their best to prevent anyone from entering the castle lest their loot be stolen first. But whoever that was up there in the ship''s up in the air, they did not care about the dragon''s hoard at all. Lex couldn''t be sure if they were targeting the looters, the abominations or just everyone, but they were out for blood. More importantly, they were actually a threat to Lex because while he could face an individual head on, even he had to watch out for weapons for mass destruction - for now. If he could help it, none of that would be his problem. But based on the sounds of the pursuing abominations, he would have to bear with it for a bit longer. Or not. The moment he reached the end of the hole, he used Imperial Shield to put up barriers right above him, blocking the tunnel and preventing the abominations from reaching him. Their unusual ability to freeze spirit energy made them particrly potent against his shields, but if Lex put enough of them up he would be able to dy them till he returned. With his n decided, he did exactly that and began the process for his return. But just as he started, he sensed danger once again. The end of the hole did not connect to any of the floors of the dragon''s hoard so Lex had nowhere to dodge to. He could only take the attack head on. As fast as he could, he erected countless shields right before him and held out his hands to block the iing attack, using Impervious Hands to actually protect himself for once. He had been using the technique for its various other uses for so long that it seemed like he had forgotten its original use, which was to block overwhelming attacks. After all, when using Impervious Hands, his hands were literally ten times more durable than his own body! Now taking into consideration how tough his body was to begin with, it made sense that he had barely been able to survive an immortals casual attack while using it. He did not see the attacking, for the only thing in his view in the tunnel was a mountain of icy abominations, pressed up against one another as they tried to break his shields. The next second, even with his keen senses, he barely saw a ck figure tear through the abominations, rip through his shields like they were nothing and smash into the ground next to him!n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om He had managed to avoid a direct impact, but that did not mean he did not suffer. A shockwave of energy crashed into him nearly shattering his Impervious Hands, but somehow he held on by a hair''s breadth. Yet even so Lex felt his hands aching and all the bones in his arms felt like they had been put on an anvil and hammered. His chest felt tight and some of his muscles were sore, but remarkably he had managed to survive without any visible wounds. The shockwave had, however, thrown and embedded him into the wall, while the tunnel now reached deeper, but still did not connect to any other floor. Lex groaned. Suffering artillery strikes was not nearly as fun as it sounded. Fortunately, all the abominations had been killed so there was nothing more to attract anyones attention within the tunnel. He finally had an opportunity to leave. But what Lex did not realize was how advanced the tracking systems of the ships in the air were. Besides the simple visual and heat signatures, the ship could also track spiritual energy signatures. At that moment, one of the crew members of the ship that had previously shot near Lex twice was looking at a screen that was clearly outlining Lex''s figure in the wall. "That''s two shots he''s survived, Elquin," the man said to his colleague sitting beside him. "That means you owe me 200 spirit stones." "Double or nothing I get him with the next one!" the colleague named Elquin said with gritted teeth. As was his habit, he spent all his money before going into battle in case he dies, so he did not have the 200 spirit stones to pay! "Hell nah, you think I''m an idiot? I know what you''re going to use next. I want my 200, I''ll be waiting for you after the fight." Elquin red at Lex''s figure on screen with pure hatred in his heart, as if Lex had been the one trying to kill him instead of the other way around. "Let''s see if you can survive this tough guy," he said and activated the ship''sser weapon. ording to the spiritual energy readings he could tell the figure was in the Golden core realm, so he wasn''t worried about identally antagonizing an immortal. As for a Nascent soul cultivator? Although they were strong, they still couldn''t fight against a warship alone. Lex, who had just begun the return process once more, suddenly felt danger one more time. Due to the angle, he was not clearly visible from the top of the tunnel, but he could see a thin, redser pointing at the ground right in front of him. The attack came too fast. Lex had only just perceived the danger and seen theser, and not even had a moment to put up any shields or use any techniques, when his entire world became red. He could not see the tunnel, he could not see the walls around him, or even his own body. All he could see was the color red, and over every inch of his body Lex felt a raging heat. It felt as if he had entered a seething inferno, melting his very being. Pain could no longer describe the sudden feeling that enveloped him as he felt in an instant his entire body cooking. Time seemed to dte, and though he knew not even a millionth of a second had passed, he felt like he had been tortured for an eternity. Not even the Dragons Might had tortured him like this. Then the world seemed to take on an entirely different shade of red. This time it was not because of theser that was still cooking him, or the walls that were melting around him. No, this time Lex was seeing red because he was infuriated. He roared, not from pain but from anger. Alongside his outburst, his aura burst out as well, and for the first time Lex employed Domination although he did not realize it. His wrath, his oppression, his might all twisted the world itself around him and theser that was shooting straight seemed to bend away from him. Or maybe he was using his spatial affinity alongside Domination. At that moment, Lex himself did not know what he was doing as his mind waspletely upied by the smoldering rage that seemed fit for a dragon almost. In his right eye the image of a broken sword was reflected, eerily simr to the sword he had broken inside the hoard earlier. He looked up and immediately knew which ship was the one that had been targeting him. "I was just trying to leave you fucker! But since you want to pick a fight, let''s fight!" he roared. Surprisingly, despite the devastating attack he suffered, not only was he not hurt, his clothes and his equipment remained unharmed as well. Lex leaped out of the tunnel which was literally melting all around him, and summoned one of the artillery shells he looted from the ships earlier. He had no idea how to actually use this thing, so he used it as a canvas for a self-exploding array and threw it at the ship with full force. Since he had been jumping in the air when he threw it, he could not use all his might. Even so, there was a sonic boom as the shell flew out. The ship seemed to have a barrier around it which blocked the initial crash. Then Lex''s arrays blew up. Next, Lex''s anger was suddenly quenched and the image of the sword in his eye vanished as a new threat of death gripped his mind. After having suffered from theser attack, his mind seemed to have already developed a mechanism to react to extreme threats in an instant. Without even realizing what he was doing, Lex used the In-Law effect and teleported away. The next moment, the artillery shell which was special enough to be collected by a dragon that was at the very least a Heavenly Immortal, detonated. Chapter 782 Skin

Chapter 782 Skin

Teleporting randomly was not a good idea, especially considering how dangerous the situation was already. As such, when Lex detected the iing danger, he immediately locked onto the only familiar point: Fenrir''s location. Due to their connection, Lex could always feel where the pup was and summon it to himself, but usually he could not do that in reverse. This time, using the In-Law effect, he managed to do just that. The moment he reappeared he found himself, not in the pool of blood, but in one of the empty halls. That was all he had time to do before he felt the change. All sound was muted. It was as if the air itself had vanished and the world itself stopped vibrating. Feeling his sense of dread rising, Lex immediately dismissed Fenrir and let it return to the Inn. The world suddenly turned ck, and Lex could see absolutely nothing, even with his left eye. He closed his eyes so as to not dwell on what was happening and immediately used Harden, Impervious Hands and began wrapping himself in Imperial Shields. The next thing that happened was the loss of sensation. First the world had be mute, then all light had disappeared and now his body could feel nothing. Even the sense of impending doom vanished. But he knew that the crisis was far from over. Since Lex could not tell what was happening, he had no idea that his body had begun to slowly float upwards, alongside everything else. The walls around him had crumbled and all the debris was mixing together. The blood that had been in the pool in the adjacent room floated across the air, and it seemed like it almost wanted to ssh onto Lex, but all it could do was cover his barriers. Theva, which had been falling down in the main hall, was now falling upwards, and it too seemed to approach Lex, yet it was once again blocked by his shields, and all it could do was slowly envelope them. An invisible, wood ring suddenly became visible, stuck inside Lex''s shields. It vibrated, almost as if out of frustration, as it tried to reach the blood andva, but it had no strength. A small crack appeared in the ring and it stopped vibrating, as if it had lost all its energy. Lex remained oblivious to all of this since he could not feel anything. In fact, the only thing he had left were his thoughts. Time was unusual when there was no stimulus at all. Lex had stopped trying to create more barriers once he lost all sensation, because he could not be sure if he was using the technique correctly. If, due to his loss of all awareness, he channeled his spirit energy incorrectly he could suffer severe damage, which was something he could not handle right now. But unbeknownst to him, barriers were forming around him still as more and moreva surrounded him, trying to get to the wooden ring that was hovering around him. This continued until he formed a massive, floating ball ofva approximately 20 feet (6 meters) in diameter. As the ball kept rising, it eventually emerged from the debris that the mountain range had turned into, and began to rapidly cool down, solidifying into a shape suspiciously simr to an egg. The around the egg was absolutely devastated. The detonation of the artillery shell did not result in an actual explosion, but had instead unleashed a devastating curse. If Lex could see the situation around him, he would discover that destruction caused by the curse was eerie and unnerving. Everything, from the, to the ships, to the Frigals, icy abominations and all the foreigners who had been exposed to the curse seemed to havee undone. They were not disintegrating into finer, smaller particles. Instead, everything that they wereposed of wasing undone. The ships, for example, had been perfectly deconstructed down to thest nut and bolt in such a fashion that a knowledgeable engineer could rebuild it perfectly. The Frigals wereing apart as if they were not living beings but constructed robots. Their skins were separate from the muscles, which had been separated from their blood vessels which had been separated from the blood itself. Each tooth, each fingernail, each scale, and every other part of their body had been perfectly removed without causing any harm during the removal process. The dwarves, elves and the abominations had been deconstructed in a simr fashion. Even the, under the influence of the curse, was slowly and systematically being separated. Each mineral in the soil was being separated, each ore perfectly purified so that each metal it contained was separated. Slowly and steadily, the effects of the curse were spreading deeper and deeper into the, but for some odd reason, when the curse tried to prate the ''egg'' Lex was in, it was being greatly resisted! Meanwhile, Lex, who had no idea what was happening, tried to initiate his return to the Inn. If something happened it would disrupt the teleportation, but there was no harm in trying. A few secondster, the egg disappeared. The, on the other hand, continued to suffer the curse''s effects. Everyone in the immediate vicinity of the detonation was already dead, but those some distance away were still alive, for the moment. Deep within the castle, deeper even than the supposedst level that Lex had found the dragon on, the king of the Frigals was apanying his son. As it turned out, it was not a bodyguard protecting the child, but the king himself! The reason why this previously unfavored child of the king was suddenly getting so much attention was simple. The royal family had long since known that the dragon had died, because the moment of the dragon''s death, he had transmitted unto this child secret information. The royal family''s job now was to aid the child until it couldplete the mission given to it by the dragon. "This is the opportunity we have been waiting for. Spreading the news of the dragon''s death really was a good idea. Look at all the chaos those foreigners have caused. That ''thing''s'' attention is finally diverted towards preventing the destruction of the. It will not notice at all if we leave," said the child, his voice a lot more confident than would have been expected from one of his age. N?v(el)B\\jnn "You are wise," the king responded, showing no emotion on his face. No one could decipher his thoughts. As if on cue, an unusual power filled with an icy chill rose from the opposite end of the and attacked the curse preventing its spread, but not really eliminating it directly either. Meanwhile, back at the Inn, the egg had reappeared in Lex''s meditation room right in front of the dragon. The return of all his senses was not immediate, but it happened fairly quickly. First came the feeling of extreme weakness, as if he had not eaten food in years. Although it was not much constion, at least he was not in agonizing pain. Then came the feeling of suffocation. He had used up all the oxygen within the small area around him. Then came a strange feeling that Lex couldn''t really describe. If he had to put it to words then all he could say was it felt like he was¡­ leaking. He moved, and theck of pain he had just been grateful for vanished. It was not in any one area that he was hurting, it was the surface of his entire body. Suffocated, irritated and in pain, Lex stretched out and his hands hit a cold, hard surface. For a moment it resisted against Lex, but he ultimately broke it apart and an unusual situation unfolded. In front of the dragon''s eyes, an egg seemed to be breaking open, and from within it a skinny, bloody creature emerged. Lex would have used his spirit sense to investigate his situation but he was too drained to use even that, so when he finally broke open his confines and light finally entered, Lex realized why he was feeling so many peculiar sensations! The skin on his entire body had¡­ detached itself from him. Lex was left there, standing in his suitpletely with all his muscles, guts and flesh exposed. If he were not a cultivator, and if his body were not resilient enough to keep itself together despite the harsh condition, Lex may have just died right there. In front of him, on the ground, his skiny on the ground like an old shirt he threw on the floor. Even his hair was still attached to it, making it seem like an extremely creepy yet realistic costume. Lex trembled, for the sight was just too nerve wracking, before teleporting to the ORR. It could reconstruct any organ, and his skin definitely counted! All the while he was wondering what the hell actually happened! Chapter 783 Ring Chapter 783 Ring Laying inside the Organic Reconstruction Room (ORR), as his skin was slowly being regrown atop his body, Lex''s mind was furiously working. It was not just the matter of having his entire skin removed that unnerved him. It was the absurd scale of the fury he felt back on Frigra that astounded him. No matter what had happened, regardless of how angry Lex ever got, he never lost himselfpletely in anger. That was not his way of doing things, and with the number of mistakes he made back when he had a tumor, he was very particr about at least trying to anticipate the repercussions of his actions. Slowly, he recalled everything that happened, from the very first moment he arrived on Frigra. He thought about every action he took and every subsequent reaction. Given that he already knew of spirit pull now, all his actions until he arrived at the dragon''s hoard seemed logical and natural. He thought about how his greed was stoked upon arriving and seeing all the treasure, especially the mountains of gold. He was not sure if that was a normal, logical reaction anyone would have upon seeing so much gold, or if he had been affected by something else. After thinking about it Lex could not be certain, but he eventually concluded that his actions then were the result of the influence of his life as a mortal on him. After all, he lived most of his life as a normal person unaware of the cultivation world. In that case, gold was one of the most valuable items avable and though that was not the case anymore, it still had a significant impact on him. He moved on, and slowly and steadily continued to sift through his memories till he finally recalled the instance of the sword breaking. It happened when he was fighting the strange creature which could enter his mind. At the time, due to the immense pressure on him of the fight as well as Dragons Might, he could not spare any thought of the strange aura that enveloped him when the sword broke, but now he had the time. The fact that a sword from within the dragons collection was so fragile that it would break upon use was strange and suspicious to begin with. The aura it released enveloping him was an even greater g that something was amiss. He noted that down as the most significant thing, and then continued to go through his memories for any other anomalies. Thinking about it now, he was way too weak to be interfering with immortal level items for there was just too much he did not know. Even though he did not find any other significant issues while he went through his memories, there could be countless threats he was not even able to detect. His instincts, to a certain degree, warned him of threats up until the Earth Immortal realm, but if it was anything greater his instincts would either not detect them, or only do so moments before disaster. He needed to be even more careful in the future. He had to investigate his body to see if the aura was still lingering within him in some form, or if it had dissipated. Using his spirit and soul sense, Lex began to thoroughly scan every nook and cranny of his body. As for his instincts¡­ once again they had not warned him of any anomaly. It seemed like just solely relying on his instincts was no longer feasible as he reached a higher level. There had to be some body techniques that focused on fostering and growing them though. It did not take him long to discover an image of a sword hidden within his soul! It was radiating a sharp, piercing aura that would cut Lex''s soul sense if he even got close to it, so there was no way of interacting with it, for now at least. Lex frowned, then sighed. Why did he keep on collecting things inside his body? Those weird inscriptions, the system, the Lotus and now this sword. It was feeling a little crowded. He tried a few more ways of interacting with the sword, but was unable to influence it in any way. With on other choice for now, he turned his mind to other things. There was his skin, which hade off on its own. He had no idea how that could have possibly happened, but then considering the fact that he had lost all sensation when it happened he could not say for sure. It was most likely a result of whatever danger he detected, but it could also be other reasons. With a serious and focused expression, Lex first investigated his removed skin. He used his control over the system to inspect it, and immediately found something amiss! A cracked, wooden ring was weakly rolling towards his skin, as if it had some agenda. He scanned it and discovered somethingpletely unexpected. Name: Pelvailin Ur Bahatna Gorgin Age: 0 Sex:Male Cultivation Details: (sealed) ??? Species: Dragon/Soul spirit Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Condition: A severely wounded soul on the verge of death, fused with a newly born treasure spirit to form a new entity. Without a sufficiently strong body to support it, the soul will continuously destroy its carriers until it eventually dies. Remarks: Others get grandpa''s in rings, and you got a newborn baby. The name was extremely familiar to Lex, because that was what the dragon''s body was called! The dragon''s soul was inside the ring! Not to mention, the ring was very close to the body. Lex almost cursed when he realized how disastrous this could be. If the dragon soul returned to its body and learnt how brazenly Lex had looted it, not to mention how he had cultivated atop its body, he would be a goner!n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om The only redeeming factor for him right now was that the soul''s cultivation was sealed! Not bothering about the fact that his skin had not regenerated yet, Lex teleported back out and picked up the ring and studied it. The ring itself was naught more than a simple band, though the wood itself looked spectacr and even had a fresh scent wafting from it. The workmanship was spectacr as the ring was extremely smooth. "I know you''re in there," Lex said, transmitting his words with his spirit sense. Chapter 784 Bond Chapter 784 Bond There was a heavy silence in the meditation room as a body without any skin, dripping blood all over the floor, gazed at a cracked, wooden ring. Without eyelids to blink, and without any skin to add any expression, his gaze was devastatingly haunting.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex was already nning on how he would deal with this dragon. Based on what he knew, the dragon would be extremely prideful. That in itself was not an issue, but what he needed to know was if the dragon could unseal its cultivation when it wanted, or if there was some kind of restriction. The longer the silence continued, the heavier the atmosphere became. Lex did not repeat himself even upon noticing ack of any reaction, for he was well versed in how to create a psychological advantage. Given that he was facing a being as remarkable as a dragon, even if it was only in soul form, he would need every advantage he could get. Finally, after ages, the wooden ring vibrated weakly, and transmitted a message to Lex. "My apologies senior. I just did not want your shedded skin to go to waste, I did not know you still had use for it." The voice was very faint and squeaky, as if a newborn was trying to speak for the first time. Lex was startled, but he immediately came to a conclusion that nearly made him swoon. The system''s description stated that within the ring was a new being born from the fusion of the dragon''s soul. Did that possibly mean the dragon was dead, and this newborn entity had merely inherited the dragon''s name? But he did not want to jump to conclusions yet. Anything was possible. "Who are you, and what do you want?" Lex asked, his voice still stern. Nothing of his thoughts could be determined from his tone. "Senior, I¡­ I don''t know. ording to my memories, in my past life my name was Pelvailin Ur Bahatna Gorgin and I was a mighty dragon. But I don''t feel like a dragon¡­ So in this life, have I been born as something new? But no, ording to my memories from my previous life, that is not how the afterlife or reincarnation work. "Senior, I¡­ I don''t know who I am, but I can tell you what I want. I can feel my body about to break. ording to my memories of my past life, I can determine that my body is too weak to support me. If I absorb other things into my body, I should be able to strengthen my body." Lex did not immediately reply, because the conclusion he wasing to was too good to be true. Could this ring have been the treasure that mystery man wanted Lex to find? If so, that would be remarkable. If Lex''s theory was correct, the dragon''s injured soul had fused with the spirit born in this ring. Whatever the ring''s original purpose was, it no longer mattered, for the ring was too weak to support the new spirit and so could not operate properly. But the most important thing was that the spirit had inherited all of the dragon''s memories, or at least some of them, and had them avable for use. That meant that a vast store of knowledge about the realm, the universe and the higher cultivation levels that Lex wascking was now avable to him, literally on his fingertips! "Since Pelvailin was the name you used in yourst life, there''s no harm in sticking to it now. I cannot give you my skin, Pelvailin, but if you allow me to bond with you, I can provide other materials to you for you to heal yourself." By bonding with it, Lex meant he would try to bond with the treasure. Spirit tech, weapons and treasures of a higher category could be bonded to a specific user. This way the user had greater and finer control over the treasures applications, and it could prevent others from stealing or using the item. After all, unless the previous user''s bond is removed, someone new cannot bond with it! "No problem at all, senior!" Pelvailin responded chipperly. It retained none of the pride and arrogance that it had in its ''previous'' life, which greatly relieved Lex. After all, if it was influenced by its memories, it could harbor ulterior motives that would be detrimental to Lex. In fact, he had still not dropped his guard against the ring. Anything could still happen. He did not need to pierce his skin to get blood on the ring, one of the perks of being skinless, so he directly enveloped the ring in his spirit sense and began channeling his spirit energy into it. He would have to leave a mark on the ring, and once the mark wasplete his bond would be formed. ***** The mystery man, who was watching everything from within his library, shook his head in an amused fashion. Not only had Lex not gotten the treasure he was talking about, Lex had not even reached the correct ''belt''. But the me for that, to a degree, probably went on him for not rifying the location of the treasure. He turned his head to look in the ce the actual treasure he meant for Lex was located. Around a pedestal made of bones was a pool of fresh blood. All the others he had sent to get that treasure were already dead, unable to eveny eyes on it. That was also fine, for the bones in their bodies would only be absorbed by the pedestal, making it stronger. The mystery man did not have any evil intentions in sending them there. He did not want to send them to their deaths. He was just a little curious about what that pedestal was there for, as even he could not see through it, for now. "Oh well, there''s always next time," the man murmured and turned his attention elsewhere. Chapter 785 Dragon tamer Chapter 785 Dragon tamer If someone were to see the situation inside Lex''s meditation room they would think they stumbled onto a scene from a horror movie. A dragon was sitting prone, its reptilian eyes seemingly focused onto what looked like a meat-man who was standing in a growing pool of his own blood, while the man''s gaze was ever fixed on a wooden ring in his palm. If one observed the spirit energy in the room, they would see that a torrent of spiritual energy was rushing from the man into the ring nonstop. The amount of energy had already long surpassed what a normal human Golden core cultivator should have possessed, but the man did not slow down nor did the ring show any sign of being full. After a few more minutes went by like this, Lex frowned as he realized this was harder than he realized. Whatever this ring was, its level was far beyond his. Bonding a treasure usually relied on a certain amount of spirit energy to create the bond, and that amount depended on the power of the treasure. It went without saying that the higher the level of the treasure, the more energy it required. But if the quality of energy was sufficient, it could also reduce the amount of energy required. Lex had thought that given how unique his affinity was, it might reduce the amount required. But it was clear now that even if the amount required had been reduced, it was way beyond his current capacity. To be fair, any treasure kept by the dragon should not be underestimated, let alone one capable of absorbing a dragon''s broken soul. But he was not ready to give up just yet. Without interrupting the process, Lex teleported above the dragon and sat down on his spot on the forehead. He began cultivating, while channeling the gained spirit energy straight into the ring. The speed of the transmission had slowed down, but like this he could go on much longer. A few minutes went by, and then a dozen. As Lex did not want to interrupt the process, he kept going as even hours passed by. Eventually, Lex entered a bit of a trance as he focused solely on the ring, and noticed that a tiny, almost imperceptible dot had formed on it. That dot was a piece of his mark that would establish his bond. Unwilling to give up on this opportunity, he continued as hours turned into days, and then, into weeks. Although it was not his skin, his body had reacted to his ''skinless'' state by forming a sort of scab over most of his body so at least he was not leaking blood anymore. At some point, the imprint of a lotus became visible on the scab on his back but neither Lex nor the Lotus paid any mind to the whole process. Lex had lost track of time, but eventually, the process waspleted. Half way through his bond forming process, Lex realized that his mark was forming in the shape of a key. That only made sense, considering how significant the golden key was to the Inn, but Lex was not satisfied with that. Although he ran things at the Inn, it was given to him by the system and not something he developed on his own. He did not want his dependance on it to be too strong. As such, he consciously changed the shape of the mark. It now looked like the outline of a person sitting cross legged atop a dragon. The moment the bond was finally formed, he felt a connection established to the ring, and he became aware of it much in the way he was aware of the Inn while wearing the Host Attire. In fact, the connection was actuallypletely identical. He stared at the wooden ring and wondered what its original purpose was. Had it been a system at one point? Regardless of whether it was a system or not no longer mattered, for it definitely was not one now. All it could do at the moment was function, barely, as a container for the treasure spirit residing inside. As the spirit was much stronger than the treasure itself, the strain on the ring prevented it from actually performing any function. Fortunately, little Pelvailin could automatically absorb things to strengthen the ring, as long as they were suitable. "Little Pel, how do you feel?" Over the past however long it took to bond the ring, Little Pel would constantly speak to Lex and motivate him and keep him entertained. As such Lex felt a little closer to the spirit, though he retained an appropriate amount of caution in dealing with it. Even now, he did not trust itpletely. "Much better!" the squeaky voice replied! "It''s as if now that there''s a connection between us, my body has more energy to support itself now." "That''s good, that''s good. Little Pel, I''ve spent a lot of time on bonding the ring so now I have a few other things to do. But first I want to ask you about a couple of things. Do you have ess to all of your memories from your past life, or only some of them?" "No, no, I barely remember anything. All those memories would be too much for me right now. But if I see something, it will trigger the associated memory and it will be like I have known about it this entire time. If I try to remember that memory on my own, though, I''ll fail." "Alright then. In that case, I''m going to project an image to you. Tell me if you recognize it. It''s a sword you had in your previous life." Without further ado, Lex sent a picture of the shattered sword to the ring, hoping that it would recognize it, and he was in luck. The ring responded immediately. "Oh yes, the Sword of Aizil. It''s a part of a sword and shield set. That was a normal, iron sword that, in my previous life, I dipped in the blood of a living Deity. I wanted to see what happened. The sword and shield both became Holy Artifacts of the deities religion, gaining great power. But thenter, after I ate the Deity, they both lost much of their power. All they have now is a mere aura of their former glory." Lex resisted the urge to twitch his lips. The dragon casually ate a deity after using its blood? Or were there other steps involved? Either case, he was d he didn''t need to deal with a living dragon. After all, he was sure of Pelvailins personality now, and it was extremely timid and submissive. He could not imagine what would have happened if the ring had retained the full soul of the dragon.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Well, the thing is, the sword broke when I was using it, and that aura was absorbed by my body and won''t leave it." He projected an image of the sword hiding within his soul, and did his best to convey the feeling it gave off at the same time. "Do you know of any way to get rid of it? I suspect it''s influencing me a little bit." "Oh it would make sense if there was some influence by its aura on you. After all, it was dipped in the blood of the Deity of Tribal warfare. He was a very angry and aggressive fellow, but not too smart. Getting rid of it should be pretty easy. All you need to do is master a sword intent and have it absorb that sword aura. Be careful not to feed the aura with your sword intent instead, as that will only make the aura grow more powerful. "If you get a chance, absorb the shield aura as well. That was dipped in the blood of the Deity of Indomitability. Likewise, all you''ll need to do is develop a shield intent and have it absorb the aura. It shouldn''t be too hard." "Yeah, sounds easy," said Lex, though Pelvailin was too young toprehend the sarcasm in his voice. How easy was it really to develop an intent that could rival that of a deity? While Lex was worrying about how to resolve this situation, he remained unaware that he had be an overnight sensation not in just a single gxy, but throughout the known realm! In the history of the Origin realm, Lex became the first being to climb atop a living dragon and cultivate on its forehead, and there was a recording to prove it. The recording had spread throughout the realm, and over 100 dragons realm wide had put out a bounty on ''Lex William''. Though, oddly enough, the bounty would only be honored if Lex was brought in alive. Fortunately enough, the dragons had not targeted the human race in their anger, though no one understood their motives at all, nor did they care. Everyone''s focus was on Lex the dragon tamer, and finding out his origins. Chapter 786 Reactions I Chapter 786 Reactions I William Sephore, the founder of the Williams family, was sitting with his legs folded behind him in the middle of aplicated formation. Incense sticks slowly wafted out smoke as the glowing ember on the tip slowly traveled down, leaving a trail of ash. Items containing immense power were ced on the borders of the formation at a fixed interval, waiting to be utilized. Nine hundred and ny nine Earth Immortals were softly chanting in the distance, feeding their focused energy into a single white rose that was nted in an urn full of soil. The ground beneath them rumbled, as if the itself was coordinating with the ritual about to take ce. Yet instead of mentally preparing himself to be finally rid of that which was sealed within him, William was looking at a recording of a young human sitting atop a dragon. William had long known about Lex, not in the least because of his friend Larry who had confused William for Lex once. He then looked into the family and had long known that there was definitely something off about this group of descendants of his. But up until recently it was not worth more than a moment''s thought for him. The elder sister, Belle, had a very bad attitude and wanted to be the family head, but at least she was extremelypetent. In fact, the very ritual he was about to partake in was a result of her actions. Then there was her mysterious father who put inscriptions inside her body that could literally draw blood from a Celestial level cultivator. Just that act alone meant that he had the strength to kill William. It was no joke. How could someone achieve such a level of strength so silently? How had he remained undetected for so long? But now, topping all of them, was this Lex who climbed the face of a living dragon! "So¡­ another one of your descendants?" asked Batu Togoldor, looking at his brother weirdly. "Do you need to ask?" William asked, annoyed. "But you cannot tell through divination or anything else. In fact, his name on the family book was also erased. Someone has gone through a lot of effort to hide Lex. My guess is his father." "How do you think he forced the dragon to sit still?" asked Batu,pletely ignoring everything else he said. "Do you know who that is?" William asked, his voice sounding a little forced. "That''s Pelvailin Ur Bahatna Gorgin, the patriarch of the Bahatna Gorgin line of dragons! Whatever is going on in that video, I doubt Lex had any hand in forcing it still. Most likely, he just encountered the dragon as such and took advantage of the opportunity." "It''s not cool to be jealous of your own descendant William. Stop trying to diminish his achievement." "That''s not what I-" "Do you think he''s married?" Jotun asked, disregarding Williams''ints. "Jotun you''re rted to him, your daughter cannot marry him! Stop trying to collect sons-inw!" "They''re over a 1000 generations apart. I think by now the blood rtion hardly counts," Jotun said as he looked at Lex sitting atop the dragon. "On second thought, I doubt someone like that is single. He reminds me of my youth." "Even you''ve never sat on a dragon!" The brothers continued to bicker amongst themselves, but the one thing that remained constant was that their focus remained on Lex. In fact, they had even summoned Damian, Lex''s grandfather. Once the ritual was over, they were going to start looking into Lex and his family a little more thoroughly. Elsewhere in the Origin realm, a devastatingly beautiful, yet mature looking woman studied Lex''s reflection. She was Zuri Adisa, the clover that had evolved into one of the strongest beings in the realm. Since she had a clone inside the Inn, she recognized Lex immediately. A sh of interest passed through her cleaning eyes. Somewhere else, Loretta, the daughter of Ballom, was reading up on Lex. A number of her subordinates had seen him at the Midnight Inn. He was a good candidate to involve in their ns.N?v(el)B\\jnn Gisele, who was boarding a ne off of X-142 after teleporting there from the Inn, could not help but think of Lex. She had not revealed any information about him to anyone, and honestly never thought she would ever even see him again. Who even knew if he had even made it off Polebitvy in time? But no matter what, she did not expect to see him so soon, and in such a spectacr fashion. It was good to know he was alive, but she was not enamored by his achievement. Her thoughts always focused on the trials before her. They were not few, and they were not easy. For the briefest of moments, she wondered if her task would be somewhat easier if Lex was there to help her. But the thought came and went, like a leaf in the wind. Belle, Lex''s dominating older sister, watched his recording for the hundredth time in silence. She had been rewarded heavily by the Daolord since in forcefully having her use her bloodline power, he injured her greatly. She had felt a small bit of pride at that, though her character would not allow her to dwell on such a thing for too long. But when she saw Lex''s recording, a part of her brain froze. Did someone like that even need protection from the William family? Or were the ones he was being hidden from the William family to begin with? What part of Lex looked like he needed protection? Her little brother¡­ had grown up. In a castle situated on the tip of a white cliff, surrounded by a flowing river that eventually turned into a waterfall, a noble figure waszing in her royal chamber. While randomly scrolling through the portal, she suddenly saw a figure she recognized, and was startled. "Big brother Lex?" With genuine surprise and shock, Moon watched her brother''s video. She hadn''t seen anyone from her family in many years now. Chapter 787 Reactions II Chapter 787 Reactions II On another, in another gxy, Liz watched in frustration as her brother climbed the dragon''s head. She was supposed to be the beast tamer, so why was she stuck with nothing but sloths while Lex conquered dragons? This was too annoying. It was also supremely cool! Inside the Inheritance Tower that had been discovered in a Minor realm within the Midnight Inn, Alexander fell to his knees after finally defeating his enemy. He had just crossed the 50th floor, and his body was beaten and bruised. His spirit energy was running low, the fatigue was making his reactions slow and he felt a little dizzy.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om But, eventually, he stood back up and ate a recovery pill. He would not quit here. He would rest and recover right here, and then he would keep climbing. No matter how high up he climbed, the recording of Lex shed in his mind, making him feel like he was not trying hard enough. He was not used to being second to anyone, and he was not about to get used to the feeling either. Marlo, who wasying on a medical bed, burst intoughter when he watched the video, startling his attendants and family members. All of them had been incredibly depressed since the war with the A.I. ended. Originally that should have been a good thing. But the reason why they were depressed is because the war ended not because of them, but because of the discovery of some unknowns outside the orbit of Pluto. Some powerful entities had intervened and ended the war, as well as evicted all the earthlings. They were forcefully being relocated. Although they were assured that their new would be a good one and they would be given many allowances to restart their lives, many were wondering what all their previous efforts were for. After all, in the end, they still lost their home. Even Marlo had been affected by the situation. When they rushed in, they found Marlo watching Lex''s recording. "Look at that! You know who that little pipsqueak is? He''s my student! While I was losing a war, he was conquering the stars! Dammit if I''m going to be left behind. Someone call Rafael, he needs to watch this too." In the Midnight Inn, Larry was sitting with Irene, his Neko girlfriend, and a few other girls. "I''m telling you, Lex is an old friend of mine. He''s a solid guy, very reliable. I''ll introduce youdies to him sometime. Be sure to make the most of the opportunity, it won''te again." Another group, also inside the Inn, was also discussing Lex. "I tell you, no matter how much I try to divine his destiny, I just can''t do it. He must have some kind of treasure that protects him from divination." The manining was a noble Diviner, and the head apprentice of the Neom Empires Grand Diviner. The Neom Empire spanned an entire realm that, although not as big as the Origin realm, had alreadypletely matured. That meant the realm could give birth to Dao Lords, and anyone who held the title of Grand Diviner of such an empire was surely a Dao Lord as well. As such an entity''s apprentice, the man''spetency and capability could not be questioned. He was just one of many who hade to the Inn to participate in the uing event specifically targeting oracles, diviners, prophets and the like. "The man just became enemies with every dragon in the realm. Do you think he would be foolish enough to try such a thing if he didn''t even have such simple protective measures?" asked Vera, who was sitting nearby. "I don''t even need divination to guess something like that." "Even if I can''t divine him, I should be able to look into the dragon, right? But I can''t. In fact, I even felt a sense of foreboding while trying to look into him, as if discovering the truth would put me in danger." "Just because you have an official exemption from Universal Mandate that allows you to look into such things without suffering any heavenly punishments, it does not mean you keep bragging about wasting your time divining things we should steer clear off." The man smirked as if he was proud of the fact that he was caught, not ashamed of his intentions being detected. Ragnar, who was taking a break for his meditations, looked on with approval as he saw Lex as a symbol for the rise of the human race. Once Ragnar solved the mystery of the curse guing him, and prevented himself from turning into a demon, he would keep an eye out for this kid. He was worthy of nurturing. Somewhere deep inside of the cosmic cloud, the Midnight Battalion was being sent even deeper than before to even more unstables. Their relocation this time was taking longer than usual, which allowed them to rx and scroll through the localwork. Although they were not connected to the main Henali portal, someone had shared Lex''s recording here as well. After all, it was the hottest topic in the entire realm. "Hey, I''ve seen that guy at the Inn," someone said, and showed the video to Z. For some unknown reason, Z felt like Lex looked very distasteful - as if he was an unreliable boss who would leave all the work to his manager and go off on vacation. Z was surprised at thepletely random thought, before he began paying attention to the video some more. Regardless of how Lex looked, the video was still interesting. Somewhere, far, far away from the known realm, a Golden dragon stared at the recording of Lex climbing Pelvailin. It was unknown how the recording reached so far from outside the portal''s reach. The golden dragon growled, his beautiful golden scales glowing very briefly, but then the dragon closed his eyes. It was not time yet, but when it left, he would look for this Lex William personally. Chapter 788 Intent

Chapter 788 Intent

Lex spent a little more time talking to little Pel to familiarize himself with the ring, and establish a deeper bond. The more he talked to him, the more he realized that Pel wasn''t really capable ofplicated thoughts at the moment. Although he had ess to a number of the dragon''s memories, his inability to formplex thoughts was most likely what protected him from being influenced by the dragon''s past. For now, his entire world was simple. Since he liked, and somewhat feared, Lex he would try his best to tter him. At the same time, Pel would do his best to absorb materials to strengthen himself. But he was not greedy for materials, and he would not get upset when he was deprived of them either, as was evident from the fact that Lex did not let Pel have his skin. Speaking of which, Lex tried to destroy his skin, but it was easier said than done. It retained his incredible defense even in its removed state. He put it away and made a mental note to destroy itter on, lest anyplications arise. He also nned a little how to ovee the sword aura inside his soul. He could more or less determine that his overly aggressive behavior was influenced by that aura directly! He was already familiar with intents, such as sword and shield intent, as he had covered the topic while studying at the academy. Just to be sure that the information he had was correct, however, he asked Pel to borate on what intents were, as if he were testing Pel''s knowledge instead of learning from him. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "ording to my memories from my past life, intent can be exined from two differing points of view, a basic one and an advanced one. A basic point of view was that intent of any kind was a manifestation of his mastery over anything brought about by spiritual energy. To manifest it, one would first need to achieve a certain level ofpetency in the respective field, after which one''s state of mind andprehension in the respective field would cause a resonance with the internal and ambient spiritual energy, giving birth to intent. "The internal spiritual energy can be used to store that intent within one''s body, while the ambient spiritual energy can be used to give birth to intent when the respective field is being applied. The most powerful form of intent is when internal and external arebined together. "An example of this can be something mundane, such as art or music. One would need to first reach a level in which they can be considered a master to even reach the threshold to begin to manifest intent. That does not mean that, for example, the art or music needs to be good, but rather its effects have to be inline with the intention of the master. "For example, if the intention of the master artist is to arouse disgust, he can purposefully create a horrendous piece of work. Simrly, a musician can use music to either enlighten, invigorate, or even agitate the listener. As long as the work reflects the intention of the master, good or bad does not matter. "Once such a level is reached, they have reached the minimum threshold to manifest intent. Since intent is formed using spiritual energy, and can be formed from internal or external energy, the higher the cultivation level, the easier it is to manifest a basic level of intent. This is because internal intent is always easier to form. "For example, someone at the Qi Training level will not have enough spiritual energy to manifest intent, so they will have to rely solely on external spiritual energy to manifest it. As such, if someone at the Qi Training manages to do so, they can be considered a genius in that field regardless of where they are. "But the reverse is also true. If someone only manages to manifest basic intent at the Golden core level, where their internal spiritual energy is extremely concentrated, then they will be considered the epitome of trash in that field. After all, in the Golden core level, even a bit of effort will result in the manifestation of basic intent. "But at that point, the effects and benefits brought about by a basic intent are negligible to their existing power level. They would need a higher level of intent for the benefits to be applicable on their power scale. "An example of this is how a basic, normal arrow can easily kill a mortal animal in a single blow, but is actually worse than useless when the opponent is a dragon. A stronger arrow would be required to face a dragon, preferably one that is imbued with various powers and enchantments." Little Pel paused in its exnation, as if it felt like it had said something inappropriate, but could not realize why. As such, it continued with its exnation. "The more advanced exnation for intentses into effect from a point of view from a Nascent cultivator and onwards. This is because the nature of intent, and even cultivation, changes from that level. Ultimately, it has to do withws. All intents are actually manifestations ofws, formed by a resonance in the user''s intention andprehension in a certain field with that of the actualws associated with that field. In fact, on a higher level, it changes even from just being resonance, and enters a new level, which is called Dao. For some reason, I cannot recall the associated memories too clearly, even though I can clearly remember having reached such a level myself in my past life." "That''s more than enough," said Lex, who was very satisfied with the answer. In summary, he would have to learn sword intent, and then level it up to the point where he could absorb the aura within his body. Fortunately, he already had a perfect teacher in mind to help him get started on this journey. Moreover, with his enhancedprehension and observation due to his new cultivation technique, he did not fear that he would fail. If anything, he was already considering what kind of sword he would choose to master. But all of that could wait. There were a few things that were more important at the moment. One, for example, was healing and recovering his skin. He did not want to start practicing sword work while looking like a diagram from a medical book. The second important thing that required his attention first was to finally explore his loot. The best part was, with Pel as his guide, he would not need to go around guessing what each and every item was. He could get a detailed exnation for each item right from the source! But his meditation room was not a suitable ce for such a thing. In his apartment, Lex had long established a kind of storeroom where he ced all the numerous items he collected or earned through various adventures. It was time now to turn it from a mere storeroom to a vault. Or, better yet, since he did not expect anyone to really rob from him within the Inn, he would create a museum of all his hard collected loot - eh, no, not loot, he meant his hard earned rewards. Feeling quite grand at the moment, he decided to style his museum after the MET (Metropolitan Museum of Art). He entered the design interface and added a heavily decorated wooden double door in his apartment which opened up to a massive space where a building that looked identical to the MET stood. Considering the amount of space he was adding, it would be very inappropriate to continue calling his ce within the Inn as his apartment. Hence forth, owing to his recent upgrade, he would refer to it as his penthouse. After all, it was not ridiculous for a penthouse to have a little something in the back, right? Just because the ''little something'' at the back of his penthouse was 2.2 million square feet total did not mean it couldn''t qualify. Putting these minor details aside, he teleported his already existing stock inside, but found that a majority of the building remained empty. How embarrassing. As if to address the issue, he entered what would be one of his main exhibits, and removed the massive 30 feet (9.1 meters) rainbow jewel alongside the pillow and pedestal it was ced on, and admired it. He could still feel the dragon''s obsession that gued this jewel, but owing to the fact that he was inside the Inn, waspletely immune to it. The obsession on it was now no more than an essory, enhancing the worth of the jewel from an artistic point of view. "Say Pel, you wouldn''t happen to recognize this jewel from your past life''s memories, would you?" "Yes, yes I do!" Pel answered excitedly. "That jewel contains the corpse of a primordial!" Chapter 789 Questions

Chapter 789 Questions

Lex had heard the term ''Primordial'' before. In fact, let alone a corpse, he had even met a living Primordial, technically. The Lotus on his back was actually called a World Seed Lotus, and its species was called the Primordial Origin Lotus series. Lex did not know much about this species, but based on the name he could easily guess that the lotus on his back was just one of many Primordial Lotus''. Moreover, the lotus required extremely special spiritual energy called Primordial Spirit energy which would be present in the Inn unless he raised the star level of the Inn to 8! That was the original reason why he had to carry the lotus on his back, as it could only absorb that energy from the universe atrge outside the Inn. He did not know how abundant that energy was in the universe, but at least it surpassed what was present in the Inn. He had also heard the term elsewhere as well. To be specific, the realm which one would ascend to after achieving Heavenly immortal from inside the Crystal realm was called the Primordial Garden. He did not know much about it except that the Crystal race maintained a presence there, but could not be considered as a dominant race there. The most recent mention of the term ''primordial'' was by the strange creature that could enter Lex''s mind. Although its words were not too reliable, it had imed that whatever had killed the dragon was a sleeping primordial being. The chances of a sleeping primordial being waking up so close to a primordial being''s corpse were uncanny, so Lex scanned the jewel and corpse, but the system did not detect any living being inside which could be a guest. That relieved him. All in all, it was not a term he had note in contact with before. He was able to surmise that it represented something significantly powerful, as was evident from the level of the Primordial Garden as well as the Lotus on his back, but should not be so rare, right? If that was the case, he could not understand the level of excitement in Pel''s voice, nor why such a thing would be deserving of a dragon''s obsession. Lex had conveniently forgotten that the Lotus came from a seed that could be considered rare not just in the Origin realm, but in the entire universe! "What''s so special about a primordial''s corpse?" Lex asked. With Pel, even though he mostly maintained a state where it looked like he was testing Pel instead of asking him, he was not too worried about his act being detected. For one, Pel was too simple minded at the moment. Secondly, he did not meet Pel with the identity of the Innkeeper, so he did not have an overwhelming need to maintain any kind of reputation. After all, it was perfectly normal if Lex, as a Golden core cultivator, did not know all the secrets of the universe. "My memories about primordials are blurry again, just as they were about matters of the Dao. But what I can recall is that Primordials were the first beings to be born in the universe. To be clear, I am not talking about Mythical beings, who are the first to be born in a newborn realm. I am directly referring to the first ever beings born in the entire universe! "As for how many there are, how powerful they are, what is the relevance of finding such a corpse¡­ I cannot recall. If I try to force it, I feel the pressure on my body increasing, as if it''s about to break." Pel sounded incredibly anxious, as if to prove to Lex that it was trying its best, but was limited by its breaking vessel. It continued, "As for what the corpse can be used for, the list is endless. Let alone, the corpse, just the jewel it is trapped in is endlessly valuable. ording to my memories, in my previous life I should have hypothesized that this jewel was actually extremely ancient amber that had been converted into this form due to its exposure to the primordial. "This amber is endlessly valuable, as even a single grain of it can immensely help immortals solidify their ts and help them studyws. It can also be used to create miraculous medicine, be used in forging weapons, be used to aid in spiritual and body cultivation, be used to cure poison, and many more uses. All in all, just the jewel itself is endlessly valuable. In my previous life, I attached a great deal of hope for a breakthrough to my next realm on this jewel, although I cannot remember how. "As for the corpse, that is too terrifying a thing to easily deal with. Even in my previous life I did not dare easily conduct tests on it, and only studied it from afar. The corpse has essentially fossilized, so there is no hope to possess it. But I recall theorizing that the fossil is an incredibly potent source of chaos energy, so much so that even in my previous life I did not dare remove it from the jewel. "However, I also suspected that the fossil can be used to further refine my own bloodline, and possibly elevate my bloodline purity to the level of a Mythical being. There were many other theories as well, but due to the associated danger, I never got around to testing them. The only thing I can confirm is that the corpse, or fossil, is extremely valuable, but to actually derive any value from it, one must first be sufficiently powerful. Otherwise, instead of being valuable, the body will be a great source of danger." Considering that the dragon had died under the most unusual of circumstances, Lex did not take Pel''s warning lightly. Despite having the Inn, and all the benefits the system afforded him, he decided to leave the corpse within the jewel for now. "Say Pel, what was your cultivation level in your previous life?" Lex asked, unable to hold back his curiosity. "I was in the Heavenly Immortal realm," Pel said simply, without any hint of pride or achievement. "Oh," responded Lex, as if he had heard about something asmon and mundane as the weather. More and more, Lex was feeling incredibly lucky that he ended up getting Pel, as it might be his greatest gain yet. So far, he had been more or less stumbling his way through the cultivation world, trying to get answers where he could. Now he finally had someone he could ask questions to without fear of getting judged or any repercussions. Lex decided to continue bringing his loot out and fill up his museum. The next thing was naturally the Peronian jade. The ck jade tree looked both insidiously haunting and spectacrly beautiful at the same time. Although this addition was destined to be short, he wanted to acknowledge it. Moreover, he was also curious about its purpose. N?v(el)B\\jnn "What is this, Pel?" "Peronian jade!" he replied fanatically. "In my previous life, this was my greatest treasure until I found the Primordial corpse. This kind of jade is filled with a very powerful destructive force. I can''t remember what I used it for¡­ but I vaguely recall it had something to do with cultivation. The destructive force inside this jade was unique, and cannot be replicated by any other being. It can have various uses." The answer was simple, and not mired in secrecy and history as the corpse, but at the same time it could not be underestimated. Any item that could be used by a Heavenly immortal for cultivation, especially a dragon, was not ordinary at all. This was especially since Pel had even considered it his most valuable treasure at one point. "Where can I find more of it? Do you have any ideas?" "Peronian jade is very rare, and can only be found ons that are at least 5 stars in rating. But not every 5 star will have some, and even if it is found, it is not easy to harvest. The jade in my old collection has already been wiped of all life, but any fresh jade you might find in the wild will most likely contain its own spirit. Fighting it off is a perilous task, even for dragons. In the entire Origin realm, there is not a single existing Peronian jade harvesting facility, as all known sources of the jade have already been exhausted. You either have to find new, undiscovered 5 stars or loot someone''s vault to get your hands on it." Well, Lex had already done thetter, but he was not in any particr need of it any time soon so this matter could be put on hold. The next thing he removed was the pool of blood he had collected, as well as the scale. "What about these? What are they?" he asked, his voice imperceptibly more solemn than before. Chapter 790 Fear

Chapter 790 Fear

"This is heart''s blood. To be more specific, this is some blood that should have been refined using a single drop of blood from my heart, while the rest is ordinary blood from my body. This kind of blood is used to nurture the body of a newborn dragon, and help it quickly ovee its initial period of weakness. It''s strange - even though I recognize this pool, I have no memories of it at all, or why I would have had one in my previous life. It''s almost as if I myself removed the associated memories." "What about the scale?" Lex asked, his voice extremely level. He wanted to understand why Mary was so interested in it. Although he believed her when she said that it was for building herself a new body, he also wanted to better understand what was so special about this scale. After all, she said that the body she arranged for herself would be different from the one the system arranged for her, but could not borate on why. "Every time a dragon breaks through a major realm, all their scales molt, before they regrow new scales. This particr scale is the so-called ''reverse scale'' that covers the heart of a dragon. It is the strongest, most durable scale on a dragon''s body and can be used for a multitude of things. It is also the best food for a young dragon to eat, as it strengthens its body and purifies its bloodline further." Lex thought about it for a moment, but did not discover anything too special or unexpected about the scale. It made sense that the hardest scale on a dragon would be excellent material for crafting. Lex had many more questions for Pel, but he only had two questions that were most urgent. The remaining questions could wait. As he continued to take out his loot, such as the entire small library that the dragon maintained, or his kitchen and its materials, Lex asked Pel a rather important question. "Pel, how urgently do you need materials to strengthen your body? Is it on the verge of breaking? Can it survive taking a hit?" He had quite a few materials on hand which could be used to help the ring, and if even something as low leveled as his own skin could help the ring, then he did not doubt that these other materials could help as well. But, if possible, Lex wanted to keep Pel in a wounded state as long as possible. He did not want to risk Pel gaining higher intelligence as his body recovered, as he was still too useful to Lex. "Now that you have bonded the ring, the pressure on me has reduced drastically, so I can survive much longer. But my body is still extremely weak. If I sustain any immortal level attacks it will rapidly destabilize my body further, and may cause it to break entirely." "Try and see if any of these will help you restore your body," Lex said and brought out a number of different ores he collected from Pel''s own previous collection. The ring softly vibrated and absorbed each of the ores without any problem, but the small crack on the ring was not reduced. "They''re useful a little bit, but I''ll need a lot of them if I want to healpletely. If you have higher quality materials, or materials rted to wood then the healing process will be quicker." "Pel, can you hide your aurapletely? I don''t want to risk people discovering you inside the ring." "Until the crack is fixed, it''s impossible topletely hide my aura, as some of it will continuously leak. But I can easily disguise myself as an ordinary spirit treasure. No one will suspect anything else, hehehe." Pelughed mischievously, as if he were a little kid who thought of something naughty. Lex smiled a little, but did not dwell on it for long. There were both risks and benefits to keeping the ring damaged. But the crux of the matter was that he himself was weak. If he grew his cultivation level, then he would not fear the ring healingpletely. Yet at the same time he understood that it was not so easy to continue to break through. Lex did not doubt for even a moment his ability to enter the higher levels, but just realized that his progress so far had been stupendously quick and could not expect such a speed to continue. He would have to take things one step at a time. That same thought also caused him to have a few new ideas on how to run the Inn in the future, but that would happen after he established his own realm. For now, things would continue as normal. Besides, in a couple more months the Inn would stop epting new guests anyway, so he did not have to be worried about it. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Finally, he moved onto hisst question with Pel - one that was incredibly important. "Hey Pel, do you happen to remember how you died in yourst life?" Considering the treasure spirits'' chippy attitude, Lex almost expected an equally chippy and quick response, but for once he was answered with silence. In a special room designed to contain spirit energy Lex had been removing all the items, including the chandelier, that gave off the heated spiritual energy when he paused and looked at the ring. "Pel?" he asked, once again. "I don''t remember," Pel finally answered, his voice incredibly low, almost like a whisper. "The only thing I recall is fear - a lot of fear. There was also pain. More pain than I ever felt before. Then nothing. Even now, I feel a little scared to think back on it, as if even thinking about it will put me in danger." "Alright, forget I ever asked. Don''t think about it," said Lex abruptly. He was no longer a novice in the cultivation world, and knew that some mysteries were better left untouched. Chapter 791 Newfound fame

Chapter 791 Newfound fame

Lex spent a decent amount of time taking out his loot and setting it up in his new museum. He would then use his ''Room creation'' feature to alter each room ording to the needs of each specific item. For example, he needed a room which would not allow energy to leak for all the items emitting the heated spiritual energy. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om For the energy sources of all the ships he needed a room that would block radiation as well as maintain a sterile environment. More than the energy sources, Lex was particrly careful when setting down the various artillery shells he had picked up, as he no longer even had skin to lose! At the same time, he questioned Pel thoroughly over their use, and discovered that most of these were extremely useful against Earth immortals, and he had even picked up one that could be used against Heaven Immortals! The power and rarity of these weapons were the reason that Pel had decided to collect them in his previous life. But while they were potent weapons, Lex could not use them easily for he did not even have the means to leave the st radius once used. He decided the best use for these would be if his spaceship was equipped with them, but these weapons were notpatible with the Silent Wanderer, and he didn''t want to take the massive flying daycare outside of the Inn. The only alternative was to get more ships, or find engineers and start building his own ships. No matter what, this was a project Lex was determined to work on because it would be a waste to have such powerful weapons but be unable to use them! At the same time, Pel informed him of various other uses for many of the treasures he already had but did not know what to do with. The knowledge of someone who had lived for millions of years was invaluable, even if Pel could only ess a very small percentage of it. Since Lex had no other urgent tasksing up in the foreseeable future, he decided to spend the next few months cultivating and refining his ns for the future while strengthening his workers with the knowledge that Pel gave him. For now, though, Lex had to address a minor issue that he had been hoping to avoid. His soul pact that he had made with the Infinity Emporium began to weigh on him. He could feel a subtlepulsion to deliver the Peronian jade to them now that he had already collected it, and was not urgently in trouble. There was no real reason to dy delivering it, but he had hoped to at least regrow his skin before he went out again. For a second, he considered rewearing his skin, like a costume, before he discarded the extremely creepy thought. Instead, he just put on his defensive suit, put on a pair of gloves as well as a mask that covered his entire face. He teleported out to X-142, before promptly entering the emporium. He had been expecting to see Powell waiting for him, and even considered that the real Powell might be there as well, slightly annoyed over the dy. What he had not been expecting was the nearly worshiping gaze the usual Powell he met gave him, and the amazed look the real Powell, who was also there, gave him. "I must say, Mr. Lex, when you told me you were raiding a dragon''s hoard, I did not expect you to be doing it with the dragon there. I thought you hade across the forgotten cave of a long deceased dragon, or something along those lines at least. But your courage and means¡­ please allow me to apud you." Powell actually pped, but Lex was taken aback by his words. Could he have been spying on Lex? Was there some surveince mechanism in one of the treasures he had gotten from the emporium? "How did you know what I did?" asked Lex, the usation heavily evident in his voice. But his question caught them by surprise. "Could it be that you do not know? Mr. Lex, a recording of you climbing the dragon has been spread all over the Henali portal. I dare say you are the most famous human in the entire Origin realm right now." As if to support his words, Powell pulled up the recording that showed Lex struggling under the weight of Dragons Might as he approached Pelvailins corpse. Without waiting for Lex to ask further questions, Powell borated further. "Although for a short time the recorder managed to hide his identity, he did not have the level of protection you have applied against divination. His identity was eventually discovered, and has be an open secret amongst the upper level of the portal. It''s a dwarf called Barley Holdinson. Here, let me share the details with you." Powell handed Lex a small ck device that he had clearly already prepared. Once connected to the portal, the device would reveal all the information stored onto it, simr to a USB. Lex grabbed the device, but he was struggling to determine how he felt about the situation. He could not urately conceive what it meant to be the most popr human in the realm, though he guessed the reason his details were hidden was because of the protection of the Inn. Now that he was out, he might once again be susceptible to divination! That could potentially put him in danger. "I was a little busy recovering from the events," Lex said, as he removed his glove to show Powell his hand. "I did not have time to check the portal, or talk to anyone, so I am not sure what happened. Would you mind telling me¡­ how this video was received?" Powell nodded understandingly. No matter what, it must not have been easy to escape from that situation. The most mysterious thing was that the dragon, who had been identified, had disappeared. Only a very few people knew that Pelvailin had also been spotted inside the Midnight Inn, before promptly disappearing again. Although Powell happened to be one of those people, he did not n on mentioning it. There were certain things even he did not want to get involved in. But he did not mind sharing the rest with Lex. Chapter 792 Fan club

Chapter 792 Fan club

Lex was no longer in the front entrance of the Emporium. Instead, he had followed Powell to the back and was now sittingfortably in what looked like a small guest room. There were very few furnishings, but it was decorated very tastefully. Lex could feel his mind calm down as in his chair, taking a sip of some tea another Powell, a butler Powell if you will, served him and Powell. Between the two of them was a projection ying a video, but this time the recording was not of him in the dragon''s hall. No, this time the recording was from the point of view of the ship that had been repeatedly targeting him back at Frigra. It went right up until the artillery explosion. The worst part of it was that at each second of the video there were annotations made thoroughly analyzing Lex, his reaction to the events unfolding and his strengths and weaknesses. This was just one of many such videos that Powell had managed to get his hands on. His strengths and weaknesses had been thoroughly analyzed, and though many mistakes had been made in the analysis, many of them were also correct. Once the video ended, another one began ying immediately. This one was a very short video taken by a public security camera on Polebitvy. Lex only appeared in the video for a moment. Even so, someone had found the video and made annotations on it as well. Mainly, it noted down the time and ce of this video andmented on, and questioned how Lex was able to travel all the way from Polebitvy to Frigra in such a short period of time. No recordings of him from any others, such as X-142, Vegus Minima or Earth had been discovered yet, but he believed that unless the attention on him dropped significantly, it was only a matter of time before someone realized. From there, it would not take long until someone associated him with the Midnight Inn. Of course, Lex doubted that even the craziest conspiracy theorist would conclude that Lex was the owner of the Inn, but connections could be made nheless. In fact, now that he was thinking about it, he was sure that a number of Inn regrs would have already recognized him. If that were the case, the connection would have already been made. Fortunately he had made preparations in advance, and already linked his identity as Lex to the Inn worker Leo. The connection would not be easily discovered, and only be found if someone were trying to purposefully unveil his secrets. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om That would cause them to believe that the information they unveiled was legitimate, and not a ruse he had purposefully put in ce to hide his actual identity. His identity as the Innkeeper was safe, for now. For now, he had two immediate concerns. The first was the massive number of bounties on his head! He was officially a wanted man! It felt both intimidating and very cool at the same time, especially when considering that all the bounties that had been ced on his head were from various dragons! The second thing he had to worry about¡­ was the Lex Williams fan club! Powell had only mentioned it briefly, but it had over thirty one billion members already, and those were just the ones who signed up on the portal. Moreover, many of the fans were from various races, and especially a few races who had strong contention against dragons! "Alongside details of Barley Holdinson, the device I gave you also records detailed information on all the dragons who have put bounties on you, as well as all the dragons associated with Pelvailin Ur Bahatna Gorgin. But even I only have limited information on dragons, so what I gave you is barely more than what is publicly avable." Powell made no mention of any remuneration for his efforts, and Lex did not bother mentioning it either. The man was clearly giving him a favor, and Lex needed all the allies he could get at the moment. "Thank you, that is quite helpful. Do you have any idea what other kind of trouble I can expect from this?" "What you have to look out for most are people interested in collecting the bounty on your head, or those who want to rob your gains from the dragon''s hoard. These are your greatest threats. The chances of you running into a dragon are minimal at best. True dragons are very rare and they disdain doing things secretly. If a dragon ising towards you, it will do so openly and publicly. That will give you enough time to run away, or make any other preparations you need." Lex nodded, and collected all the information Powell gave him, before taking out the Peronian jade and handing it over. "By the way, I will need the best protection you have against divination," he said, hoping to get his hands on some treasures. This was something he would have to pay close attention to. ***** On Nibiru, the young Tiffany, who had once been saved/kidnapped by Lex, was watching a recording. In it, she saw a very familiar face belonging to the man she had always thought had died protecting her. She could still remember how he ran away while pulling all the attention of the wolves towards himself, while leaving her to hide in a tree. It was his heroic sacrifice that had given her courage throughout her life, and allowed her to pursue the goal of freedom for humans on Nibiru. But suddenly, she discovered that the man was alive. Not only that, he was a mighty dragon tamer. He was the hero that the humans on Nibiru needed! She clenched her fists and decided to immediately go to the Midnight Inn and put up a task to contact him. But before that, she turned her attention to the problem at hand. Surrounding her hideout was a small colony of Vermillion bats,ing to assassinate her. They thought she could not sense them, but they did not know that what awaited them was not their target but death! Chapter 793 New plan

Chapter 793 New n

While Lex waited for Powell to bring all the items he had requested, he watched the initial recording of him in front of the dragon. He had to admit that while he himself knew of how much he had suffered, from the back it seemed like Lex was casually strolling. At most, it seemed like Lex was savoring the Dragons Might instead of resisting it. Some parts of the recording seemed like they were edited. For example, the video started off with Barley mid-sentence. Moreover, while the recording showed Lex climbing the dragon, it cut off right before Lex was about to begin cultivating. Lex narrowed his eyes. At the time his condition was too bad so he really did not have the awareness, or even the ability to check if someone was spying on him. However, he could clearly tell by the timing of when the recording cut off that whoever had filmed it had clearly seen him meditate. Yet despite that, he had not shown it in the recording. In a way, Lex should be grateful that Barley had not shown it. After all, since the recording even recreated the effects of Dragons Might, then the recording would also show how Lex had been able to absorb a portion of it. If something like that had been revealed then the scale of things would be far from what they currently were. Lex had reflected on the effects of Domination, and long realized how his own aura was able to absorb that of the dragons. While he was sure this was a result of his nameless cultivation technique, that was not exactly something he could publicize. However, if the recording had been released then the whole realm would have been hunting him down to figure out his secret! While Lex was spared that, there remained a very real possibility that Barley may release the actual recording, or that he may even lose it. The only way to ensure the matter did not get out of hand was to meet Barley personally. But finding him was the main issue. Lex would not mind having a long, deep conversation with the dwarf using his fists. After all, if the dwarf was considerate enough to leave out Lex cultivating atop the dragon, he may as well have not released the recording at all. Or maybe this was just a way for him to get Lex''s attention, and in reality the dwarf wanted to ckmail him. Whatever the case, Lex wanted to meet him. But the problem of finding him was the greatest issue at the moment. Just as he was pondering this particr conundrum, Powell finally entered and brought him the items he had requested. It was a protective treasure that would help him avoid any kind of divination up to a certain standard. A Heaven immortal would have to be personally divining information about him for it to even be a possibility to discover something. The best part was that it wouldtch onto his body like a tattoo, and remain there for a few years after which it would dissipate. Afterwards he would need to procure another such treasure, if it was avable. But that was not an issue for him, and he was just d that the treasure didn''t take the form of another piece of jewelry. He was not exactly used to it. In exchange for the treasure, Lex merely handed over one of the many jewels that emitted heated spiritual energy that he took from Pel''s hoard. It was apparently quite valuable, and only formed ons that dragons actually resided on! "What about finding a way to contact Barley?" Lex asked. He had asked Powell if the emporium could set up a meeting between them, or locate the dwarf for him. Unfortunately, despite its great reach, the emporium did not partake in this kind of business. However, he did sell information that could help Lex. "I don''t need to give you any more information on Barley, you already have it all. Besides that, the only thing you need is this." Powell handed him a business card that was, oddly,pletely nk. Although it looked unremarkable, Lex had actually paid a hefty amount for this card. ''Why do I feel more and more like a viin?'' Lex wondered as he held the card. "Once you return to Suera, pour spirit energy into the card and you will be greeted by one of the attendants for Hix, thergest operating assassination organization in that gxy. They have remarkable means to locate your target as long as they are within that gxy, and you can provide them with sufficient information. "This is the best I can offer you at the moment. Once you look at the information I''ve given you, you will realize that finding that dwarf is harder than it seems. In fact, I wouldn''t be surprised if he''s already been caught by some person or organization who is interested in the particrs of what happened on Frigra. Speaking of which, here is a fresh ore from a within the Suera Gxy, taken away only a few minutes ago. I took care of this matter personally, so you can be assured that there is nothing wrong." Lex nodded, and took everything Powell offered. He had only two connections to that gxy, and one was literally a warzone between Henali and the Fuegan, and another was not really a ce he dared to return to at the moment. It was almost as if every he stepped on experienced a massive trial. As such, he needed ess to a new in Suera if he had to go and search for the dwarf. Without spending any more time, Lex exited the emporium and a few momentster, left the. However, mere seconds after he disappeared, an unusual rip seemed to open in space and a skull wearing an ethereal shroud seemed to peek out. Unable to find its target, the skull retreated and the rip closed, unbeknown to all around it. N?v(el)B\\jnn Lex, who had returned to the Inn, now had an issue on his hands. He did not want to go to any other right now, but at the same time he did not want to waste any time looking for Barley. He had not even recovered his skin, which was a major injury that affected both his spirit and his soul. It was not the best idea to be prancing around on a new, especially with his history of getting involved with trouble. But if he waited till his skin healed, it might already be toote, not to mention that the Inn was going to cease epting new guests within a couple of months. That also meant that if he was outside the Inn at that time, he would not be able to return. Indecision gued him, but only for a short time. Even though it went against his original n, he could not afford to leave this issue unattended. Who knew if it might blow up into something biggerter on. Although he could hide in the Inn and just avoid going out, that was no way to live. With his decision made, all he needed to do now was n on how to increase his odds of sess as much as possible. At the same time, he had to avoid getting sucked into any problems. While he had a lot of faith in his own ability to n for such things, there just happened to be a particr resource inside the Inn that he could take perfect advantage of at the moment. Making sure none of his skinless body was exposed, Lex teleported over to Main street, where a group of kids seemed to be sitting in a nearby park. Among them was someone Lex knew well enough: Vera Joel. She was an oracle, and all the kids surrounding her were also either oracles, prophets, diviners or something along those lines. They hade here to attend the event Vera had nned. Since that was the case, it would almost be wasteful if Lex didn''t try to foresee any uing trouble he might encounter. Fortunately he had not used the treasure Powell had given him yet so he still had a chance. As he approached the group, before he even had a chance to say anything, Vera looked at him, then looked at one of the other girls in the group. "Leslie, it''s your chance to shine. Do a good job with this one, and he can give you exactly what you want." The girl, Leslie, was taken aback by Vera''s words, before fixing her gaze onto Lex. She was a human, probably, but had four eyes instead of two. The two, smaller eyes on her forehead, right above her normal eyes, looked like they were blind. Yet, for some odd reason, they fixed their gaze onto Lex''s shadow. "I can foretell your future, but first you have to pay. Also, the price is non-negotiable. If you can''t pay, you get nothing." Chapter 794 Lightning vessel

Chapter 794 Lightning vessel

Lex smiled. That''s why he liked Vera so much, she was extremely direct. It saved him a lot of time. The only concern he had now was if Leslie would be able to urately predict the future. "That depends on what kind of payment you want," Lex stated as he observed the young girl. Besides her four eyes, she lookedpletely normal, though Lex could not decide if that was a good thing or not. After all, the more special she was, the better her chances of predicting his future, right? "How much do you know about predicting the future? Not much, I suppose. I don''t want youining that the price is too highter, so let me tell you a little something. Since the future possibilities are endless, every oracle, diviner, prophet, or basically any profession that deals with looking into the future sets themselves up with extreme restrictions. These restrictions limit the streams of the future they see, thereby increasing their uracy tremendously. "Some like to keep their restrictions private, but others advertise their restrictions as it gets them more clients. I specialize in a very specific kind of foretelling that peers into an alternate reality linked to your shadow. The details are irrelevant, but what matters is that I am extremely sensitive to iing opportunities or dangers." It sounded like exactly what Lex needed. But the more potent the ability, the higher the cost would be as well, not that he cared about the cost particrly. "I''m convinced, but you still need to tell me the price first," said Lex. Even if he didn''t care, he couldn''t let others know that he had the wealth of a dragon. Leslie looked hesitant, and even turned to look back at Vera, who only nodded encouragingly. Among them all, Vera''s ability had the greatest restriction, which is why her predictions were also usually the best. But even then, that did not guarantee 100% the same oue as the prediction. She looked at Lex with a hint of guilt in her eyes, but itsted only a moment before her expression became firm. "I have 116 sparks leftover from a lightning tribtion within my soul. Until and unless they are removed, I cannot do any forecasts. If you want me to help you, you have to remove those sparks first." Lex¡­ raised an eyebrow as he looked at Leslie. Why did that not sound so hard? Wait, lightning tribtion? Was Leslie an immortal? She didn''t look or feel like one. "How did you get¡­ sparks of lightning tribtion stuck in your soul?" "When divining the future, if you look upon something that was meant to remain hidden, then you are punished by the heavens. Do not ask more about this, as this is not a topic that can be easily shared. You may think this price is steep, but I cannot divine anything until those sparks are removed, even if I wanted to." Leslie felt a little bad offering such a high price to whoever this was. She knew how difficult it was to deal with matters of the soul, and then matters rted to lightning tribtions. When both of those matters werebined, the difficulty could be imagined. One of the reasons she was attending this meeting to begin with was to find someone who could help her with this issue, as it was amon one among their professions. "Sure, I''ll do it. Do you want to do it here, or do you want to go somewhere first?" asked Lex, to the surprise of Leslie. "Don''t you need to prepare?" she could not help but ask. Even the others were surprised by how casual Lex sounded. Suddenly, they realized that they may have stumbled upon a great opportunity! "No, I can do it now. Besides, I''m in a bit of a rush," said Lex. Although he said he did not need to prepare, he did summon the Lightning vessel. The Lightning vessel was a small container in the shape of a thunderbolt that could be used to store a single strand of unique lightning. Although it said a single strand, he assumed he could fit multiple sparks inside to form that strand, right? There was only one way to find out. Though, he still had to be careful, for he did not know how dangerous those sparks really were. "Alight, we can begin right here. Do you need me to do anything?" "Stand still," said Lex as he enveloped her with his soul sense and began to locate the sparks. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Unlike Lex, whose soul was merged with his body, others usually did not have a soul in a fixed shape until they entered the Nascent realm. Leslie was clearly not there yet, for her soul was in the form of an unusual blob that filled her body. Just as she said, there were many sparks inside her soul, with most stuck right at the surface, but a few that reached deeper within. Lex took off his glove and revealed his very raw hand, startling the crowd, but he didn''t care about that. He used Impervious Hands and merged it with his soul sense, allowing it to gain the ability to touch souls. Slowly, and ever so carefully, he reached out and grabbed the spark that was trapped within her soul. Even with the protection of Impervious Hands, Lex felt his fingers burning as the spark went from zapping her soul to zapping his hand. Even though he was in pain, he could not react abruptly lest he identally hurt Leslie''s soul instead. Slowly, he pulled out his hand and stored the single spark inside the Lightning vessel, which gained a soft glow. He looked at his right hand and saw that a small bit of meat on his index finger and thumb had actually turned to ash! Moreover, around the ash, the remaining meat actually crystalized. "How the hell did you survive an entire lightning bolt of that?" Lex could not help but ask. "How the hell can you grab lightning?" Leslie asked back, just as bewildered. "How the hell are you alive with so many sparks inside your soul?" Lex asked back, as to prove that she was the bigger freak in this situation. Leslie did not answer, nor did Lex focus on the actual answer, either. Instead, he began the process again. This time, knowing what to expect, Lex was slow to approach the spark but quick to retreat, depositing the spark within the vessel. The process was painful, extremely painful at that, but simple otherwise. Around them, all the others stood up and stared in shock as Lex casually achieved what normally took massive and expensive formations that relied on rare treasures. Well, casually was pushing it since it did hurt his fingers somewhat. By the time Lex was pulling out the fiftieth spark, he had to shift to his left hand because the bone in his right thumb had be visible. But, before he started with his left hand, Lex tried something additional. He used Domination as well. He was not familiar with the extent of his abilities'' utility, and this was a good opportunity to find out. When he actually tried again, unbelievably, the spark was unable to hurt Lex as much as before. Lex was intrigued, the others were awed, and Vera could not help but feel incredibly proud. Since she could only see her own future, naturally helping Leslie would benefit herself sometime in the future. To be more specific, she already knew the identity of this man who had covered his face with a mask. In the future, he woulde to her again, and by then their history of having worked well together a few times would already be established. By then, she''d be able to help him find her future husband! Vera almost burst into maniacalughter as she thought of her n, but quickly controlled herself. She had to maintain her dignity. Eventually, without any unexpected incidents, Lex took out all the sparks. The Lightning vessel, too, was now giving off a bluish-silverish glow, as if it was almost filled to capacity. He nned on using this lightning to help him improve the tribtion roomter on. For now, he turned to look at Leslie, who lookedpletely bewildered. "I believe now it''s your turn," said Lex, ignoring the smokeing out of his hands. So in the end, he still ended up burning both hands despite Impervious Hands and Domination. Waking up from her reverie, Leslie looked at Lex with great admiration. "Let''s go somewhere private. I never do divinations in public," she said. "I know just the ce," Lex said and led her to the Chamber of Secrets. There was literally no ce more private within the Inn. As soon as they entered and got seated, Leslie began using her powers. Her regr eyes lost color, as if she was blind, and her eyes atop her forehead became ck, as if they were reflecting endless darkness. "I see a lot of regret," she said ominously, getting right into the thick of things. Chapter 795 Grave danger... of dehydration!

Chapter 795 Grave danger... of dehydration!

''Of course there was going to be regret,'' Lex thought to himself. ''How could there not be an immense amount of regret? In fact, it was surprising that the first thing she saw was regret, and not grave danger.'' Although Lex was joking, and even poking fun at the usual tarot card readers back in New York who pretended to predict one''s future, he took Leslie''s words very seriously and listened closely. Leslie, who had not rified if she identified as an oracle, or a diviner, or whatever else, seemed to tremble as she continued to stare at his shadow. Her otherwise rosy cheeks became incredibly pale, and her aura diminished noticeably. "A grave danger is approaching, however the target is not you. Yet at the same time, the target is associated with you. The regret that will gue you is also connected to this approaching danger. There are very few chances to mitigate this danger, and one is already in your possession in the form of a formidable de. You also¡­" Leslie trembled before she could continue her sentence, and coughed out blood. Her knees had lost strength and she nearly fell to the ground, yet Lex was quick enough to capture her. The woman, who had suddenly be frail, seemed to be in a trance. Her eyes had rolled up and she had lost control of all her body, though for some reason the technique she had been using was still being used. It was as if she was unable to quit, and forced to see things that were harming her. The fatigue that had gripped her radiated from her body to Lex, trying to weaken him. It was also due to this radiation that Lex became aware that while all seemed normal otherwise, Leslie was actually in grave danger. Clouds had formed above her, visible and detectable only to her, and they seemed to be threatening her to stop whatever she was doing. The sensation of being given a warning was very prominent, and seeped from her to even Lex. Yet instead of being intimidated, Lex looked up at the clouds with disdain and anger of his own. He began using Domination and threatened the clouds back with a derisive re. He did not know why these clouds hade, and why they were warning her, but they better not interfere in his matters. Fortunately, before the confrontation could continue, Leslie awoke from her trance and ended the technique. "What¡­ who are you?" she managed to mumble weakly, her body trembling as if she had been caught in a blizzard. "It does not matter. You do not need to worry about anything, if there are any repercussions from looking at my future, I''ll help you avoid them. You''ve seen what I can do with the lightning, and that is not the limit of my abilities. If those clouds threaten you again, I can help you bear that danger as well." "No¡­ no need," she said as she stumbled out of his arms and straightened herself. "Those clouds were a warning that I was about to look at things I should not see. It is a form of protection for me, instead of a danger. Although, if I persist in viewing what I should not see, I will be struck by a lightning tribtion. "Your future is too messy, and you are involved with too many great entities. Let alone me, or even Vera, even the best oracles will have a tough time urately predicting your future. In fact, I can confidently say that any future that anyone predicts for you will most definitely be wrong. My prediction is the only exception, and that is because it only predicts opportunities and dangers. The final oue, or even the sequence of events, is irrelevant. "What I can tell you is that there is a danger that is imminent, and the opportunity to escape it is already with you. Besides that¡­ you should try toy low for a while. Too many great entities are watching you. But that''s not a prediction, just my opinion." "Alright then, I appreciate your help anyway. You seem to have suffered a bit while using your ability, so have this. It will help you out." Lex took out a small box and handed it to her. The box contained a very small fruit that he had looted from Pel''s kitchen, and was one of many he was keeping with himself. For him, due to his unusual physique, the fruit would serve as a source of energy and reinvigoration. For other, normal humans, it would instantly help them recover from weakness and minor injuries, help them improve their physique, remove simple deformities and filter out impurities. Without waiting for Leslie''s response, or giving her an opportunity to reject, Lex teleported away. "Hey Pel, what do you think about Leslie''s prediction?" Lex asked as he mused over her words. Although they were vague, he had a suspicion about what they could possibly mean. "If I am not wrong, she should be a mixed race being, half human and half shadow beast. I do not know what is the origin of her technique, but it is true that shadow beasts are very sensitive to potential dangers and opportunities. In fact, they are so sensitive to it that they can even sense dangers that are thousands of years in the future, and even those that might not just affect them, but their future generations as well. "Most do not even know of the existence of shadow beasts, that is how secretive they are. For a mixed breed with shadow beast heritage to appear, her origin must not be simple. If I had to make a bet, I would trust any prediction she made, assuming she inherited that trait of the shadow beasts." N?v(el)B\\jnn Lex nodded. He could not guess what the danger she was speaking off was, but it would either have something to do with the dwarf Barley, or the Inn workers at war. Those were the only two things that could possibly be a source of regret that he could think of at the moment. As for the ''de'' that could help him resolve this threat, Lex also already had a suspicion. He was not prone to collecting or carrying weapons, so there was only one significant de that he had. That was the single de of grass he took from Zuri Adisa, which carried thews of regrowth, refinement, healing and a few more minor supportingws. Since he had collected the various items containingws, Lex had meant to slowly eat them over time and allow his body to absorb them. Not only would this heal his previously broken cultivation technique, but it would make his body stronger while giving him more affinities. In fact, he really had nibbled on those items once or twice. But for the most part, he had not gotten around to consuming them on a whole. This was mainly because of how busy he was the past few months, and had nothing to do with the explosive diarrhea that apanied eating such items. But it seemed like he had put this matter off long enough. Even if he could ignore the others, he definitely needed to consume that de of grass. The associatedws would help him speed up his recovery. Returning to his peak was most likely strongly associated with whatever problem wasing his way. He teleported to his penthouse, and summoned the de of grass. At its very tip there was a small mark where it was evident Lex had nibbled before. Taking in a deep breath, Lex began circting his technique and took another tiny bite from the de of grass before teleporting to the restroom. As disgusting as it was, he also took a bottle of water with him. With what he was about to experience, the gravest danger for him was of bing dehydrated extremely quickly! Even with his new, nameless technique, Lex could not consume too much of such items at a time. After all, despite his many advantages, he was far too weak to handle anything rted tows. ***** Deep in the cosmic cloud that had long be a battlefield, after a very long time, the ship carrying the Midnight battalion was approaching its next target. Unlike previously, where they fought on rogues that contained Fuegan forces, this next area looked like a massive floating continent. It lookedpletely out of ce, as if some supreme power had hidden it here where no one could find it. In fact, that was also the opinion of the Henali forces. This time, the battalion was not tasked with an eradication mission, as no living beings had been detected on the continent by the Henali drones which had scanned this ce earlier. Instead, they were being sent to thoroughly examine and investigate this space oddity. They were not the only ones with this mission, as countless others were being sent as well. The only thing the battalion and the other forces had inmon, however, was that they were all in the Foundation realm. This deep within the cloud, there were some unusual forces at work that made it almost impossible for stronger cultivators to approach without causing an adverse reaction. Z, who was getting ready tond, had a frown on his face. For some reason, he could not use his spatial affinity at all. Chapter 796 Talaiya

Chapter 796 Tiya

Eight hourster, Lex crawled out of his bathroom, feeling very weak. Why were thews inside the de of grass so much more potent than those inside the Cosmic Elixir? This was not an assumption he made on his own, but the difference he felt in how deeply thews affected him. He wondered if he would also develop an affinity for thew of growth, or if thew would just exhibit itself in his body. Whatever the case, he would not be able to eat the entire de any time soon. It would take a while, possibly even a month! One benefit, besides the alteration of his body, was that Pel was thoroughly impressed by Lex ''eating''ws, and became even more subservient. This was something he could not achieve even in his previous life. While his physical fatigue recovered, Lex ate some food although he did not touch anything that he collected from the dragon yet. Even if he had a lot of food for now, it was essentially a limited stock so he was saving it for emergencies. There was one other task he also wanted to do during this time. Although Leslie had predicted a certain danger and opportunity, he did not n on living entirely ording to a few predictions. After all, Leslie herself said it was difficult to predict his future. That task was to begin the hunt for Barley! He did not intend to let this matter go so easily, as some secrets needed to be preserved as long as possible! Making sure that he was covered from head to toe, Lex once again brought the special ticket using the ore that contained the''s aura. A silver ticket appeared in his hand that he promptly tore, causing a familiar interface to appear before him. s Avable: : Tiya Rating: 3.5 Star Distance: 399 Sectors Environment: Dense spiritual energy, rich in resources, moderate climate. Perfect for a beach episode. ''A beach episode while I have no skin? The only thing that would be perfect for is giving children trauma,'' thought Lex before selecting the and disappearing. To avoid any problems, Lex was wearing his stealth suit from the get go, and had no intentions of getting involved in any kind of trouble. Powell had already briefed him on the he was about to venture to. Tiya belonged to one of the rare neutral organizations in the Origin realm. They would not get involved in anyone else''s business, regardless of how evil or good they were, and would stick to themselves. At the same time, they wee everyone toe and visit their star systems as long as they obey the rules. Since Lex was teleporting to the, instead of going through immigration which was the normal procedure, he would need to immediately report himself to the nearest facilitation center. He did not need to disclose his identity as long as he underwent an inspection that ensured he was not someone who had broken thews within Tiya or an associated territory, so that should not present a problem. Moreover, Powell himself assured him that even if his identity was known, the Tiyan authority would not be interested in his bounty at all, and he would enjoy the same protection and services as anyone else on the. Moreover, Tiya was specifically amerce oriented. It had trade ties with many major powers, and was one of the ces where people came to dispose of any merchandise they had that was procured through less than official means. In a way, it was an open ckmarket. This time, Lex really hoped he would manage to avoid trouble. But at the same time, he did not fear encountering a new problem. After all, although every time he got sucked into some unusual problems on each he would nearly die, it was quite exhrating. Moreover, he had confidence in his strength. Even in the face of overwhelmingly strong enemies, Lex had managed to escape and prevail. So, as long as everything went well, Lex intended to treat this like a shopping vacation with a side of slight assassination. If it didn''t, well, then Lex would deal with things as they came. When he reappeared, Lex found himself standing on a balcony looking out at a beautiful ocean view. The faint smell of salt in the air weed him, alongside the soothing sound of waves crashing against a seawall somewhere nearby. Fresh and vibrant spiritual energy massaged his body, reinvigorating his somewhat tired cells. The melodious sound of birds singing filled the sky, while the soft hum of a busy city hung in the air around Lex. This was by far the best wee he had on any hended on. Just to be sure nothing was amiss, he turned and looked back. He half expected to find himself havingnded right in the middle of a crime scene moments before the authorities came bursting in. Yet nothing like that happened. Behind him were a line of food carts, selling various snacks and foods to the pedestrians. Speaking of whom, just a nce was enough for Lex to see multiple races, many of which he did not recognize. That''s when the Fancy contact lenses came in handy, which provided him with all the necessary details at a nce. Elves and dwarves seemed to be the mostmon, but there were bests, fairies, insects, and others¡­ uhh, other things as well. Lex looked around a couple times, even peering up at the sky as if expecting a meteor to fall down, yet nothing happened. "How disappointing," he murmured, before he began strolling. He needed to find a facilitation center and register himself before doing anything else. Tiya was a very busy, and would likely be very important to him in the future. Through the various facilities avable here, Lex could begin linking other nearbys to the Inn as well. That was not to mention how this was linked to countless forces, giving him ess to so many more possibilities. As such, it was naturally for the best that no problems popped up here. Lex took in the sights as he walked around, amazed at the brilliance of a 3.5 star. The spiritual energy was thick, yes, but it also contained a vibrance that was almost exciting to feel. If the energy inside Pel''s castle was hot, then the energy here was ''fresh''. Everything seemed to be affected by the energy, and seemed more energetic somehow. The colors of the sky changed subtly with every step he took, and the mood of the pedestrians around him was extremely positive. It was as if everyone here had great mental health just by being here! How was that possible? The technology on this was also very interesting to see. Unlike on earth, where everything was manufactured using various raw materials, on this technology seemed to be fused with nts. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Instead of screens, items had a kind of crystal embedded in them which would project out holograms, while each piece of technology was powered by their roots which were buried in the ground, through portable batteries which looked more like fruits than cells,or directly through spiritual energy. For some odd reason, even though everything was quite alien, using their technology was quite intuitive. In fact, Lex quickly learned that he could interact with many devices and givemands directly using his spirit sense. Lex did not see any vehicles around, on the ground or in the air, but he was sure there had to be some. Perhaps they were hidden underground. After finding a few road signs, Lex discovered that he was in a small coastal town, which would exin theck of tall metropolitan buildings. But even this small coastal town was impressive, as Lex could sense powerful auras everywhere he went. Countless buildings seemed to radiate a powerful aura as well, which reminded Lex of what he had learned about high society in the cultivation world. Even the ''sensation'' of their energy and aura was something they paid attention to. The buildings were beautiful as well, despite the fact that they seemed to deviate from the theme of using nts. They did not look like they were grown, but instead looked like they were sculpted from various majestic rocks. For all he knew, they might as well be. After an hour or so of walking around, Lex finally found a facilitation center. "Wee to the Golden Breezer local facilitation center. How may I help you?" asked a young, energetic girl, who his lenses identified as a member of the ze race. She had an elven appearance, meaning she looked like a tall human with pointed ears, with the sole exception that her skin looked like it was made of blue fire. "Hi, I teleported over to Tiya, so I wanted to have my arrival registered." "Oh? But all teleportations have been sealed? How did you get in?" the girl asked, looking genuinely curious. Chapter 797 Hix Chapter 797 Hix Lex did not answer the question, but only smiled at thedy. Of course, as his face was covered by a mask she could not see the smile, so all she saw was that the man stood there silently without answering the question. "Oh pardon my curiosity, it is not a required question," the girl said, realizing her mistake. As long as the other person did not break any rules, it did not matter what he did. During the registration process, he would automatically be tested to see if he has broken any rules, so if his arrival was problematic, it would be detected then. "Actually, you may not know this since you just arrived, but the heir to the Tiyan Alliance is to be wed in a few days. It is naturally a grand affair, and has attracted a lot of attention. To prevent overcrowding of the from tourists and opportunists, the has just entered lockdown. The order was just passed a few hours ago, so it''s perfectly natural if you arrived before then." Thedy exined. "Please ce your hand on the screen," she asked, as he held out a silver screen in front of him. Lex ced his hand on the chilly screen and let it scan him, but kept his attention on the girl. "Will the wedding be screened? Since I''m going to be here for a few days, I might as well watch." "The wedding will naturally be screened, but the first part of the wedding will be open to the public. If you can head over to the capital, Viday, then you can attend as well. Oh, if during your registration you disclose your identity, and your identity is special enough then you might get an invitation to the wedding as well. Speaking of which, you''ve signed up for registration. Please walk through the silver door toplete the process." "Thanks," said Lex before proceeding as instructed. He had only been making idle conversation as he had no real intention to watch any wedding, or get involved in any way. In the following room there was a single seat with a projection crystal in front of it. As soon as Lex sat down, a number of questions appeared in front of him, awaiting his response. The questions were more facilitation questions than anything else. The first question he got was if he needed any kind of special environment to survive during his visit to Tiya. Some examples included being surrounded by toxic or noxious gasses, extreme heat or cold, increased or decreased gravity etc. A number of those could be provided for free, while a few of them required payment. Then he was asked if he wanted to disclose his identity. If he did not, then he would be assigned an anonymous identity as many things on Tiya were linked to identification, such as bank bnce, social credit, reservations, etc. He was asked some unusual, and unsettling questions, such as if he wanted to create a will for his belongings on Tiya. There were certain procedures and forms he needed to fill out if his intention ining here was to euthanize himself, such as body disposal and preference in burial styles. He was even asked if he had any enemies who he knew were also on the same. For the other things the reasoning was beyond Lex''s understanding, but by disclosing the identity of your enemies, you would automatically avoid them while on Tiya. How that was managed was not disclosed, and Lex could not guess either, but it was basically guaranteed that you would not run into anyone you wanted to avoid as long as you mentioned it first. His impression of Tiya changed a bit as he answered the questions, but to his surprise, by the time he finished answering the questions, his registration wasplete. If he was investigated in any way, he did not discover it at all. When he stepped out, the ze girl was patiently waiting for him. "Wee to Tiya, honored guest. Now that you have registered, there are a few things I need to inform you of. The first thing you should know is that currently your assigned identity has the rank of basic guest. The amenities, services and privileges you enjoy on Tiya are directly rted to the rank of your identity. The higher your rank, the better the services. "Your identity rank is determined by the bank bnce you maintain associated with your identity. If you maintain a basic bnce of 1000 Tiyan credits your rank will be raised from basic guest to honored guest, if your bnce is at 10,000 credits then the rank will be distinguished guest, and so on. "There are a few ways in which you can get those credits or maintain the bank bnce. The first and simplest is if someone pays you or loans you some credits, they will directly contribute to your bnce. Another is to do jobs andplete requests of locals or even the alliance itself. The mostmon way to umte credit is to either transfer it from your original, or other anonymous identities you may have in Tiya. Or you can sell or mortgage items. The facilitation center provides a convenient location if you wish to sell any items." Lex suddenly felt like he was a saint, looking at the final form of a true capitalist. The entire society of Tiya seemed to be centered around money,or credit as they called it. "I want to get some credits, and then rent a ce to stay. Where can I do that?" "Please follow me," she said and led Lex to another part of the building that was a lot busier. There were countless counters, yet each of them was dealing with a client. "Here you can sell items to get credits, or im credits from your alternate identities. Do not worry, iming credit from an alternate identity will not link the two, as the process is donepletely anonymously. If you choose to sell an item, then please keep in mind that most items have a fixed price. There is no concept of negotiation in Tiya. This works in your favor as well as anyone else''s." After ensuring that Lex did not need any more help, the girl led Lex to a counter with a small line and let him be. The experience somewhat reminded Lex of his youth. He used to travel a lot with his family, and at the airport they always used to go to a simr counter to exchange their foreign currency for whatever was used locally.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om The memories ruined Lex''s mood a little, as he did not like to think of his family much these days. But he did not let it bother him, and simply sold some spirit stones. 1 normal spirit stone was worth 1 Tiyan credit. Lex did not have any context for if that was good or bad, but he had countless spirit stones lying about so he couldn''t be bothered to care. After getting 10,000 credits and bing a ''distinguished guest'', Lex got some help in booking himself a hotel room and then finally exited the facility. He had already asked for directions, so he slowly strolled through the streets, taking in the views as he approached his seaside hotel room. This really did feel like a vacation, which was not something he wasining about at all. Once he checked into his room, Lex thoroughly inspected it both with his own senses as well as the Fancy monocle to ensure there were no spying or recording tools. This was going to be his first time contacting an assassin organization so he felt a little nervous about getting caught. But he felt more excited than anything. This was so interesting, he never would have imagined himself associating with assassins. Once he was sure that his room was clean, he set up an istion formation he had bought from the Guild room, and then finally took out the card Powell gave him. He channeled his spirit energy into the card, causing it to suddenly catch fire. In an instant the card turned to ash, falling through the air. But before the ash could reach the ground it shimmered, and then slowly vanished. "How mysterious," Lex muttered, enjoying the spectacle. Considering how casual he was feeling, maybe he wasn''t nervous after all, just excited. The air rippled in front of him, and a portion of the room seemed to turn ck and white. A masked elven figure appeared within the ck and white area and looked at Lex. "You have used a VIP card to contact Hix. If your task is epted, it will be carried out with the utmost urgency and given the highest importance. Please share the details of the mission, and hurry. The Reality Filter we''re using tomunicate will notst longer than a minute. Please note that after you share the details, there will be an evaluation period in which Hix will decide whether to take on the task or not. All payments must also be made in advance in the scenario that the task is epted." Chapter 798 Invitation Chapter 798 Invitation Lex looked at the ck and white figure and was quite curious about the effects that followed the man. Was the so-called ''Reality Filter'' what he used toe here? Through his spatial affinity, Lex could clearly tell that the figure was not actually in the room with him. Instead, the ck and white filter was projecting his presence from another location here. It was a very safe way of meeting others, which made sense. After all, if assassins openly exposed themselves then they should only expect to be attacked in return. "Before I begin, I must rify that I don''t actually need anyone assassinated. I just need you to locate someone and share the details of their location and circumstances with me in as much detail as you can." Lex was not worried about not being able tomunicate his entire message to the correspondent as conversing with spirit senses was extremely fast, so a minute was more than enough for them to talk at length. "That is eptable, however that will not reduce any charges. You will still be charged as if you are assigning an assassination mission." "That is eptable. The target is a dwarf named Barley Holdinson. Hisst known location is¡­"N?v(el)B\\jnn Lex shared all the information given to him by Powell, without holding anything back. It had briefly urred to Lex that he could also ask the assassins to kidnap Barley if they found him, but he would rather notplicate things further. Once the dwarf was located, Lex would handle the remaining things himself, regardless of what they may be. Lex himself was not exactly ecstatic that Barley had shared Lex''s video online for his own profit, and had not yet decided what the appropriate response should be. It was one of those things that could not be done until he was actually faced with the situation. Once Lex had given all the information, the figure simply nodded, before responding, "I have recorded all the information given to me by you. Within three days, we will confirm whether or not we are taking this task. If we ept the task, you will need to provide full payment at the time we ept." "How will you contact me?" Lex asked. He was worried about having his identity traced by Hix, not to mention he would probably need to stay on the for them to find him. If he returned to the Inn, then even if they really were tracking him, they would never be able to find him. "As soon as I leave, the card you used to summon me will be reformed. Within three days, a change will form on the card indicating whether we ept or reject. Once you notice the change, you will have only one day to go to a discreet ce and send the payment, once again through the card. In the future, once weplete the task, if it is epted, we will also contact you through the card. "Such a method protects both Hix and its clients, as no other trace of our transaction is left. If we decide to reject the task, then the card will be burned and you will need to procure a new card if you want to contact Hix once again. This way, clients can use Hix repeatedly without leaving any transaction history, as there is nothing else connecting us to the client. Even Hix itself will not know who the client is. This, in turn, protects you from prosecution in the future should Hix bepromised." "Your SOPs are quite professional. I look forward to hearing from you regarding my task." Once the conversation was concluded the figure disappeared, and the world once again regained color. On the floor, the ashes that had originally disappeared seemed to return, and formed the very card from which they came. Lex had not even reached down to pick the card up yet, let alone contemte on the exchange he had just had, when he heard a voice from behind him. "Lex Williams, you are a very hard man to find." Surprised but not startled, Lex instantly leaped forward and turned around, ready to face a devastating enemy. After all, to be able to sneak up on him, the opponent must be extremely formidable. Yet the figure he saw did not seem like it had any intention of attacking him. There was a neat, vertical rip in space, as if sliced open with a knife, hanging in the middle of the room. The rip was being stretched open by two bony hands, revealing a skull garbed in a dark yet ethereal shroud.Around the skull there seemed to be only darkness, and even its eye sockets only revealed the void. As the hooded figure emerged, its hand disappeared, leaving being a literal floating, cloaked skull. "Please excuse me if I startled you, that was not my intention. Your various means of protection from divination made it incredibly tedious to locate you." Even as the figure had entered his room, and was talking to him, Lex could not sense him at all. Neither his instincts nor his spirit seemed to be able to pick up his presence. It was almost as if he was simply hallucinating. "Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Bacterius. I am here to extend forth an invitation to you in honor of the recognition of your recent feats. I have to say, I''m a bit of a fan - not just of you, but your whole family. I don''t think I''ve ever delivered so many invitations to people from the same nuclear family." ***** Damian Arban William, Lex''s grandfather, gulped and loosened his cor as he looked at his ancestor, as well as his siblings all of whom were akin to legends, especially the Emperor. Although they had all suppressed their auras, their majesty and prestige still weighed on Damian. "Please, start from the beginning. We want to hear everything. We''ll also require all records you have of your son and his family, regardless of how irrelevant or mundane they may seem," said William. "My son¡­" Damian said as he tasted the words on his lips. Their rtionship had been very tumultuous from the very start, though he was too embarrassed to admit that. "From the day he was born, my son was different. He was born with the Sword Saint physique, making him especially suited to swordy. He learned to wield sword intent at the age of 6, long before he started cultivation. He took four days to cross Body Tempering, around two weeks to cross Qi training and only six months to cross the Foundation realm - though admittedly there was an episode that dyed his advance, so technically he could have been even faster. He-" "What was the episode?" asked Jotun, interrupting Damian. "Keep in mind we want to hear everything, regardless of how ordinary it may seem. "Ye- yes, your majesty. At that time, I had not yet be the family head, though I was on the path for it already. As such, I wanted my children to be trained especially for the role as well. Every 20 years, all William family members below the age of 50 can participate in a special trial. The top 15 members who pass that trial all receive the title of Paragon, and be candidates for the family head. "Although they have to go through many more tests, as well as training in the future to continue to be eligible for the post, that is the first step. My son¡­ had a disagreement with a Paragon, who used his authority to subsequently punish him. Since I did not want to appear partial, I did not interfere. The punishment dyed his breakthrough." "What was the punishment?" asked Nisar, the head of the Butt family. "It was nothing too serious. For three months he had to hide his identity and work as an attendant in one of the family businesses." "Do you have a detailed record of his experiences in those three months?" "Eh, no I don''t, but I can have them arranged." "Please do that. You may continue with your story." The brothers were being meticulous, and looking for even the smallest hint of something going awry, or something that would exin the abnormalities of the family so far in the future. But they did not know that they did not need to be so meticulous. The answer wasing. "All in all, my son was a genius in cultivation and a master of swordsmanship. Everything was going rtively well until¡­ until he went to a called Earth for a mission and met¡­ her." Damian could not help but grimace, despite being on his best behavior. "What was the mission, who did he meet and¡­ it seems to be you skipped a lot of stuff in between. Please, go step by step. We have all the time in the world." Damian quickly gathered himself up and began the story from the beginning, detailing the life of the young prodigy that was his son. Chapter 799 Bloodline Resonance Chapter 799 Bloodline Resonance Under the close scrutiny of his ancestor and the other absolute powerhouses, Damian was forced to reveal every excruciating detail about how unpleasant his rtionship was between him and his son. In Damian''s defense, he had many children of various ages, due to the fact that he himself was not that young, and his wife was a cultivator as well. The sense of familial bond was very limited between him and his children to begin with, and the fact that he ordered his children about like his subordinates, manipting their rtionship like it gave him control over them made them even more distant. With his other children this was not much of a problem since none of them were absurdly talented, and even now had note close to him in power. But Leon, his most talented son and Lex''s father, was an entirely different case. He was always rebellious, though not to a problematic amount. It was only when he got to earth that the problem was exacerbated. William had already heard everything from Damian before, so he did not say anything, but the others listened intently. "Leon went to Earth to fulfill a mission and deliver a political prisoner there. Since the was deprived of spiritual energy, it was an excellent ce to hold political prisoners. We also had a few experiments running stored away on that which he needed to overlook. "It was during his time there that he met a mortal woman¡­ by the name of Serene. On that, the local calendar recorded the year as 1748, and technology and education were extremely limited. "All these factorsbined together meant that the woman was extremely ignorant and uneducated, without a trace or hint of any knowledge about the cultivation world. I do not know the specifics of what happened¡­ and there''s no way to get a record of it either. All I can say is that he spent a couple of decades there, with her, before disappearing. "Leon''s disappearance did not go without notice, as not only did it affect some of my ns, he also lost his own status as Paragon and fell out of the race for family head. Of course, by then I had already gotten my own position, but I was still dissatisfied with him. Given his talent, I fully expected that he would be able to enter the Heavenly Immortal realm, and bring the William family on par with the other three great noble families of the Jotun Empire. "s, it was not meant to be. When he finally reappeared, he was back on Earth. Moreover, it was not just that. He had suppressed his ts, and entirely discarded his cultivation, dropping back down to a mortal! I thought he had been attacked by an enemy, butter discovered he had done it himself to recultivate from scratch! "I was beyond furious, but it was already toote. That is when I discovered that he had already married that¡­ that mortal Serene, and they had a child together, Belle. Originally, I was extremely furious, until I discovered that the babe had something special about her, much like Leon himself back then. "She did not have a unique physique, like Leons. Instead, she was born with the heart of a Valkyrie. I do not know how such a thing was possible, as that was a literal organ from an entirely different race, and one much stronger than humans as well. If it could be adequately nurtured, she could grow to be extremely powerful. "Angry at my own son, who would not listen to reason, I instead turned my attention to Belle. I marked her, so that I could find her anywhere in the Origin realm, and informed Leon that I would take her away at the age of 8 to begin her training. Through the use of special fruits that could allow her body to strengthen adequately, I would begin her cultivation path early. "Leon was furious, but as a mortal he could do nothing to me. Eight yearster, I returned and discovered my insolent son barely having entered the Qi training realm. After destroying his cultivation it was not easy to cultivate again, so I held no hope from him. I came to take Belle, but discovered another daughter Leon had, little Elizabeth. Just like her father and sister, her body was unique as well. By now, I realized something was amiss, for if it was so easy to produce offsprings with great talents then the William family would never have declined. "Elizabeth, or Liz as she called herself, had a mythical 100% affinity for the Beast Master path. Although not asmon or mainstream as cultivation, Beast Masters could not be underestimated, so I marked her as well and gave the same stiption. Leon was once again angered, but at Qi training, what could he even do?" At this point, Damien paused. None of his listeners found his actions unusual or cruel. Training descendants strictly was amon practice among cultivator families. Sending one''s kids with their own grandparent could not even be considered cruel, for so many of them were shipped off to boarding schools for centuries without ever even meeting their families. That was just how the dynamic of powerful families worked. Of course, the kids or Leon may not have felt that way. But it was not as if the kids were being harmed in any way. They were just returning to their family to train. "By then, my rtionship with Leon hadpletely soured, but I was too angry at him for wasting his talents to pay much attention to it. When I returned next, I discovered he had one more daughter, named Moon. Moreover¡­ her speciality was incredibly¡­ unbelievable. Not only could she use her own power to heal souls, she had the potential to assist cultivators in crossing tribtions. At that point I¡­ I let my greed get the better of me.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Moon''s ability was too amazing, and too valuable. She could not be left on Earth at all. I took her and Liz with me immediately. Leon had managed to reach the Golden core realm, somehow, during this time. I should have noticed the anomaly which was his growing strength but¡­ I was too blinded by Moon''s ability. "What I had not realized was that while Leon was recultivating from a mortal, his wife Serene had a higher cultivation all this time. She used some unknown means to create spiritual clones of all her children, so that even if their real bodies were far away, in a way, they had a normal childhood as well, through their clones." "Is that when the infamous ''Moon incident'' took ce?" asked Batu. Although they were all asking Damian questions in detail, they had already been briefed by William about the significant details. Clearly the incident with Moon was one such incident. "Yes. Unfortunately, that is how I came to learn that Serene was not as simple as I had long thought. Although she was having Leon cultivate again from scratch, he had only grown stronger than his peak, not weaker, even at a lower cultivation realm. When the incident with Moon happened, her spiritual clone nearly copsed. Leon lost his mind in anger, and that is when I found out how absurdly strong he had be. "Even in his Golden core cultivation, he was able to use his sword intent to rip open a tear in space and cross entire gxies to reach me. If Serene had not intervened, and the ensuing fight not stopped, it may have resulted in me being critically injured, and Leon dead. Even after the interruption, it was not as if we managed to escape unharmed. "Thest time I saw Leon, he had reached the Nascent realm. That was also the time when I discovered an anomaly in the treasure that records the family tree, as the name Lex Williams had suddenly appeared on it. All this time, and I never knew that he even had a son, let alone that he had grown so much. At that time, I really felt that if I challenged Leon he would be able to kill me, so I didn''t push the topic too hard. "All this time, I was wondering what made Lex so special, that Leon managed to hide his son from the family treasure. It must not have been an easy achievement. But a few weeks ago, when I saw that video of Lex climbing that dragon¡­" Damian did not finish his sentence, as the immense stress he felt caused him to rub his forehead. Although he did not know much about this grandson of his, he really hoped that he did not have the same anger problems Leon had. "Based on the information I have collected on Leon and his children, especially Lex, I may havee to a conclusion about why he especially was hidden from sight," said William very calmly. "Before I mention my theory to everyone, I would like to emphasize that I strongly believe that Lex Williams has a very strong connection to the Midnight Inn, so no one should think about making any moves against him, for now at least." William especially looked at his siblings when he said this. "Some time ago, I experienced an abnormality in my ability Gelid Anima, and actually developed a hint of a bloodline. Such a thing¡­ should not really be possible. But following the pattern of Leon having kids with mythical abilities that have only been recorded in legend, and never witnessed, I discovered one particr ability that could exin what happened to me, given that Lex was nearby at the time. It is called¡­ Bloodline Resonance." Damian seemed ignorant of what those words meant, but the rest of them were startled. Chapter 800 Pride Chapter 800 Pride ?n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Hey, hey, hey, that''s not the kind of stuff you should be saying randomly," said Jotun, although he was more than inclined to believe his brother. After all, analytical deduction was Williams'' strong suit, and he had more or less been responsible for developing the Empire''s growth strategies. It could not be said to be wless, but considering the massive scale of the empire, he could not really be med. "It''s just a theory. But the thing that I can''t decide¡­ is that if he really does have bloodline resonance, should we set our sights on him, or his abnormal parents who are able to achieve such a thing." "What''s bloodline resonance?" Damian could not help but ask, but regretted it immediately. Due to the casual attitude the brothers adopted, he forgot his position and status. The five brothers could not be med. They had a good rtionship with each other, and had been like this since they were young. They were brothers spending time together, with all their other identities put aside. But did others really have the qualification to treat them casually as well? The five brothers looked at Damian, and realized that they were not really done questioning him. Although he had described Leon''s life so far, now he had to inform them about the three sisters and how they were trained. "Bloodline resonance¡­ you don''t need to worry about it too much. Just think of it as the key¡­ for the human race as a whole to move up on the Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum. It is no wonder he would gain the protection of an entity like the Midnight Inn. I am now beginning to suspect that the name on the top of the Guest Registry really is him, as if he has been using the resonance, then that really is an achievement few canpete with. But these things are none of your concern. Now tell us about Belle¡­" ***** Lex looked at Bacterius and did not drop his guard, but in fact raised it higher instead. That was because he tried to use Targeted Scan on him, but failed. The failure of the system''s ability likely meant that Bacterius was not really here, or that he had some means to avoid the system''s abilities. The first option was the most likely, but he could not discount the second either. "What is the invitation for? What does this have to do with my family?" he asked. It was too suspicious for someone to just appear and start mentioning his family. Moreover, he really was not a fan of how these unbelievably powerful beings just dropped in on him without him being able to detect them. "The invitation has nothing to do with your family, be assured of that. No one''s lineage or background can assure an invitation. Only a disy showing strength far outside your own realm is the bare minimum requirement to get such an invitation. It is only the bare minimum requirement, mind you. "I have already investigated Frigra thoroughly, so I can assure you that your invitation is much higher ranked than the bare minimum. I must say, like father like son. Your old man also dealt with a dragon back when he was in the Golden core realm, though he managed to kidnap it using his own abilities, and thenter killed it in secret with his own strength as well. "Your achievement of climbing a soulless corpse falls a little short of that, but then again, you were faced with a Heavenly immortal corpse, while your old man only dealt with an Earth immortal. So it''s understandable if there is a difference in performance." Bacterius seemed to enjoy teasing Lex, giving him only the bare minimum information without extrapting further. He grinned, and continued telling his story. "By the way, as this is my job, don''t think for a second that I did not do it thoroughly. I also discovered how you resisted an attack from an Earth immortal down in Polebitvy, which is impressive for a Golden core cultivator, but is not enough to fulfill the minimum requirement. Speaking of which, your mothers invitation was only the minimum requirement. Unfortunately, neither your father nor your mother were interested in attending this little event." Lex pursed his lips as he was forced to listen to information about his family. Since they had kept so many secrets from him, and chose to not involve him in their lives, he had decided to ignore them as well. Now, suddenly receiving so much information about them made him feel ufortable - assuming it was all true of course. "Your sister has a bit of an attitude problem, by the way. I was telling her all this as well and she just attacked me! Just because she was able to kill an Angel and absorb its bloodline to create her own does not mean she can just do whatever she wants." "I think attacking you might really be the only way to make you get to the point," Lex said, his mood deteriorating. "If you do not want to talk about what this invitation is for, then I suggest you just leave. I don''t think I''m much interested in it either." Against this enigmatic foe, Lex did not hesitate to use Dominate, and noticed something peculiar. Not only could he tell that Dominate was affecting Bacterius, although he was too strong for it to produce any tangible results, he could sense him with his instincts now as well. So Dominate could work on coboration with other abilities as well¡­ "I see impatience is a family trait," Bacterius said, not at all perturbed by Lex''s demeanor. "It''s quite simple really. The invitation for a tournament, of sorts. The best, and I mean the absolute best, from the entire realm are being gathered. The purpose of this tournament¡­ is actually to determine if you are qualified to take part in a muchrger, much more rewarding tourney. "Yes, of course, there will be prizes and rewards and many opportunities for you toe in contact with the highest levels in this realm. But the main thing is, you canpete against anyone else who is considered the best, and see how you match up? So, are you interested? I can feel a lot of pride in you. Do you dare¡­ to test that pride?" Chapter 801 Nine years Chapter 801 Nine years Lex was not even remotely tempted by Bacterius'' offer. As if the man himself was not suspicious enough, he was refusing to properly exin what the invitation was or who it was from. He also did not exin its purpose properly, and seemed more focused on teasing Lex. Perhaps inviting Lex was just an excuse, and in reality he hoped that Lex would not attend. Something like this could be a shady way of ensuring the sess of someone who would consider Lex a threat. Of course, this was just a random guess Lex had, and was one of endless possibilities. "I don''t need to test my pride, nor validate my worth. Thank you for the invitation, but if that is all, I am not interested." Maybe if Bacterius had gone about it a different way Lex would at least be curious about the tournament. After all, Bacterius himself had proved himself to be quite powerful, and yet he was only incharge of extending invitations. Clearly this matter was far from simple. Moreover, if the tournament really epassed everyone across the Origin realm, then Lex could make a few guesses of his own over who the tournament was being held by. But in his current mood, he was not the least bit interested. Bacterius, who had been grinning in confidence earlier, froze upon hearing Lex''s refusal. He had been sure that would work. He even watched a few marketing videos that said he had to bait his clients into developing curiosity before he could get them. He nned this out thoroughly, but it was not going well. His smile faded a bit as he quickly thought of his next n of action. Among all his peers, he had the lowest number of epted invitations. If that did not charge, he would be humiliated. "If you are not interested, that''s fine," Bacterius said, feigning disinterest. He remembered the marketing video said he had to appear as if he did not need the clients business, but rather that his business was bringing benefits to the client. "However, it won''t hurt to know a little about the tournament either way. Afterwards, if you still remain uninterested, that is up to you. No one is forced to attend." Bacterius felt that his shift in strategy was extremely wless, and that Lex would not notice at all. But Lex, who spent countless hours dealing with guests and talking with people of all ilk, immediately picked up when Bacterius changed his bodynguage and actualnguage as well. He immediately made a judgment that Bacterius was someone with an incredibly high level of cultivation who had lived for a very long time, and thus was not used to speaking to people. He was more used to others sucking up to him and hanging on his every word, so that he never needed to make any effort at all. "Some things you are genuinely not qualified to know, and are even better off remaining unaware of. But no doubt, you have heard of a few things. Have you ever heard of the war with the Fuegan? You''ve surely heard of the Henali Conventions. You probably feel like these things are too far away from you, and while that may be the case now, as long your cultivation keeps rising that won''t always be the case. "Well, this tournament is an opportunity to get a head start on these things, and secure the future of your cultivation by getting in contact with the peak of the Origin realm. The purpose of the tournament is to uncover the best of the best, and provide them with the support they need to properly flourish.N?v(el)B\\jnn "You probably know how difficult it is to cultivate. For now, you can get by on the resources you umte on your own. But as your level grows, the resources you need will grow ever scarce. To umte them you will need the power of an entire organization or sect. When you enter the immortal realm, growing will be even harder. Entire gxies are unable to give birth to a single Heavenly immortal all too often. That''s not because those gxiesck the necessary resources, but that they are too scattered and well hidden. It is almost impossible to regrlye across all your required resources on your own, let alone get your hands on incredible techniques and special items that can help you maintain the overwhelming strength you have in your current realm. After all, although you can surpass your realm now, there is no guarantee that in higher realms you won''t be average. "But through this tournament, if you can prove yourself, you will be given the best opportunities across the entire realm, let alone gxy. Maybe someone of your skill has already been invited to Ventura. That is one path cultivators can take, but it is not the only path. Moreover, joining Venturaes with its own restrictions, and is not suitable for everyone. "This tournament, however, is an opportunity thates with no strings attached. Of course, if you get selected, and be eligible for the next stages, then you can choose whether you want to continue or not. After all, at that point there will be a few conditions. But thatester. Here, I''m leaving the entry toke with you. The tournament will begin in nine years. You can decide what to do by then." Without waiting for Lex to reject again, Becterius disappeared, leaving behind what looked like a convention coupon. Lex¡­ did not know how to respond. It seemed teleporting away to end a conversation was not just a habit he had. He looked at the coupon and scanned it with his spirit sense, but discovered nothing extraordinary about it except that it had his name on it. After considering it briefly, he decided to put it in his spatial bangle. He would leave it at the Inn for now. Nine years was a long time, who knew what the situation would be then. He closed his eyes and began meditating. He had to wait for the confirmation from Hix, and for this to connect to the Inn. He decided not to leave his room until everything was done, and he could leave this. There was already so much trouble, he did not want to attract more. Slowly the day turned to night, and nothing worth mentioning happened - to Lex at least. On the border of the town, a pale elf was running as if his life depended on it. A few miles behind him, cloaked figures seemed to be searching for his tracks. Chapter 802 Boring when nothing happens Chapter 802 Boring when nothing happens Lex spent the next few hours peacefully cultivating in his room, but discovered that it was much harder for him to lose his sense of time like before. Previously, Lex would get lost in the feeling of cultivating, especially since he could feel himself grow stronger. But now that he had tasted how it felt to cultivate atop a dragon, normal cultivation no longer enticed him as much. This was especially because his gains were measurably greater whilst atop the dragon. Eventually, his thoughts could not help but veer towards his family. His parents were a lot more formidable than he assumed. They did not just have the backing of a powerful family like the Williams family, but also had tremendous individual strength. If that was the case, he really could not imagine what reason there could be for them to keep him out of the loop. He sighed, then stopped thinking about such matters. To be entirely honest, he no longer even cared what their reasons were. He hadpletely moved on from it. There was, however, a single thought that urred to him, one that he did not contemte for long since there was no way of verifying it. On the entire Earth, it seemed that he was one of the most unique beings, if one did not count Bastet or Fk. His connection to the Origin realm and the cultivation world was much moreplicated than even he ever realized. Given that, and the fact that there were about 8 billion humans, and countless billion other animals, the chances that *he* specifically would get the system by ident were too low. It was almost as if it were by design. After all, unless his family continued to ignore him until he died, it was destined that his life would be extremely eventful. Whatever the case, whether it was concerning the system or his family, he put it aside. These were matters he would consider in greater detail when he was stronger. As for his family¡­ So he had family problems, what was the big deal? As a millennial, that came standard for him. He let his thoughts wander on other things for a while. Lex could easily deduce that the tournament he had been invited to was some watered down, basic version of the uing Champions tourney. As the Innkeeper he already had an invitation, but knowing that he as Lex had one as well felt nice. He suddenly had the urge topete between his two identities. As the Innkeeper he had many advantages, but as Lex he had very few connections or affiliations. He was more or less developing his Innkeeper identity regardless of whether he wanted to or not, but his own identity was reallygging behind. Originally he didn''t care about it, for he did not have aplex about his identities. Whether he was called the Innkeeper, Leo or Lex, all of them were him. Sure he behaved differently when exhibiting each identity, but even that different behavior was a part of him. But the idea ofpeting seemed¡­ interesting. If that was the case, how should hepete? As far as fame went, both Lex and the Innkeeper identities had various levels of fame across the Origin realm. Then it came to connections and influence. As the Innkeeper, he had all of the Midnight Inn at his disposal, and had connections to various Dao Lords. As Lex, he had that connection to a mysterious man who was much stronger than anyone he had ever met, but that was not a connection he could really leverage. In that case, the best of his connections were a few Earth Immortals down in the Crystal realm. The main difference was that as the Innkeeper he would not need to do anything, and everyone woulde and find him. As Lex, if he wanted to develop his connections and influence, he would need to be more proactive. Was this really something he should waste his time on? It wasn''t as if he had only a few things on his te.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om After considering it for a moment, he decided that he would not go out of his way to do anything, as he had his priorities set, but since he had the time and energy, he might as well make the most of it right now. He stood up, no longer content to cultivate without his ''Dragon Cultivation Mat''. It seemed he had been in the wrong for ming his fate for always getting him into trouble. Now that no trouble hade his way, he was a little bored. He stepped out of his room and began to stroll the streets with his hands in his pockets. Although there were no streetlights, many of the nts around him gave off a gentle, bluish-green light that not only illuminated his path but gave the entire town an entirely different vibe from during the day. The streets were not empty, and seemed just as busy as they were during the day. The only difference was that everyone made sure not to make too much noise, staying as hushed as possible. Feeling like he had entered a storybook, Lex walked the streets and took in inspiration from all that he saw around him. At night, the Inn was usually illuminated by the sea of floatingnterns in the sky, but it wasn''t a bad idea to incorporate bioluminescent nts here and there. Of course he could not add them randomly, as he used to do back in his early days in the Inn. Instead, he would find suitable locations where thenterns don''t shine. That way, at night, different areas of the Inn would take on different shades. Lex smiled as he walked among the crowds. It seemed that he was mostfortable when he was aroundrge crowds of people. Getting a system focused around having lots of guests really suited him. His casual, simple stroll slowly led him to the heart of the town, and then through it towards the outer boundary of the town on the other side. This entire time, he had been following the path outlined by his instincts. Something interesting was waiting for him this way. A few minutester, once Lex had left the proper path and ventured into the grassy wilderness, he discovered an elfying t on the ground, panting and heaving as if he had run the longest marathon of his life. The moment the elf saw Lex, surprise and fear shed in his eyes and he froze. He seemed to have given up on life, and was waiting for an inevitable horror to descend onto him. "I guess I shouldn''t be asking if you''re alright," said Lex as he squatted down and summoned a bottle of recovery pills from his spatial bangle. The pills not only sped up the recovery of spiritual energy within the body, they also helped eliminate some physical fatigue. They were very generic pills, although he had them in the best possible quality avable, and were some of the many items he took with him on his excursions now. He hade a long way from only carrying a few gold coins and a couple of weapons whenever he visited a new. "These will help you regain some of your stamina," Lex said as he held out the bottle. "I''m not sure who you''re hiding from, but I assure you, I have nothing to do with them." "Wait you¡­ you don''t recognize me?" asked the elf, his voice filled with equal amounts of incredulity and a sense of being offended. "Should I recognize you? If you''re someone famous on this, I only arrived a short while ago so I haven''t really had the time to get acquainted with the local culture." As Lex spoke, he looked out towards the horizon for any sign of the elfs pursuers, but there was no indication of them for now. "Is someone trying to harm you? I was under the impression that this was a very safe," hemented. Powell had told him that there was a formation covering the entire and that the Tiyans took security very strongly. "Harm me? That''s the understatement of the century!" said the elf despondently as he swallowed one of the pills and handed Lex the bottle back. "That old geezer is trying to get me married! A single inteary incident with the princess of Astoria, and now I have to ''take responsibility''. What ''take responsibility''? All I did was flirt with her a little bit and use her authority to enter the Field of Sacred Grains." The elf was grumbling, but then suddenly realized that all his energy was entirely recovered! A moment ago he had beenpletely spent, yet now he was as fit as a fiddle. "What kind of pills did you give me? Even I''ve never had something like that." "So you''re someone famous on this, and you''re getting married," Lex mused, ignoring his question. He had too many of such pills he had taken from the emporium so he never really considered them too valuable. "Based on my luck, I''m guessing¡­ you must be the heir of this ce, right?" Chapter 803 Tragic life of an heir Chapter 803 Tragic life of an heir "Yes, yes, how did you know?" asked the pale elf? He stood up and took a good look at Lex, but with his entire body covered, there naturally wasn''t much to see. To hide his current situation, he had his entire body covered from head to toe. "Oh, you''re from one of thoseraces! My apologies, I didn''t mean to stare," the elf quickly said as he looked away from Lex. "One of what races? I think you may be misunderstanding something. As for how I could tell you were the heir, it was simple enough. There''s no need to consider you talking about princesses or anything else. Just based on my luck, I wouldn''t encounter an ordinary situation." "You''re quite confident in your luck," the elf replied, not realizing what Lex had meant. "Quite. Speaking of my luck, do you want to leave this area? If you''re being pursued, then your pursuers might stumble right onto us if we don''t leave." "Yes, yes, that''s a great idea. And I know just where to go!" the elf said before beginning to hastily march towards town. "Will you being as well? I''d like to repay you for the pill." "Why not?" Lex said as he joined the elf. "I''d like to hear the story of the heir being forced into a marriage. So far, I''ve only encountered happy couples, so this will be somewhat of a change. By the way, how did you get out of the princess situation? I thought Tiya was supposed to be a neutral entity." "It is!" the elf said with a look of regret on his face. "The old geezer incharge directly told the princesses'' family that he would ept any punishment I receive without any interference since I started the situation to begin with. He likes looking high and mighty, but I know he was just getting back at me. The old geezer has kept me on neutral territory my whole life, so he wasn''t exactly pleased that I left to begin with." "What was your punishment? Is that princess your bride to be?" "No, nothing like that. I had to give up all my gains from the Field of Sacred Harvest, and pay a little more on top. It''s quite sad, I have to say. The field is, predictably, filled with the absolute best harvest in the gxy. A single crop or fruit from there just¡­ tastes absolutely divine! I mean, yes it''s good for you and packed with all kinds of medical benefits, but let''s be real here. It''s the absolute divine taste that has everyone hooked." Lex did notment, and simply silently wondered if the prince was someone ''special''. Was that why he had been locked on his own territory his whole life? "But once I got back, the geezer decided I was too wild and irresponsible. In his words, I was not taking my role as heir seriously at all, and that I needed a wife to ''tame'' me." The heir scoffed at that, and looked absolutely disgusted. "It seems to me that you''re not quite happy with your position as heir, so why don''t you give it up? That way you''ll be able to do whatever you want." Lex was only speaking randomly, but little did he expect that the heir resonated with his words tremendously! "Exactly! I think so too! Since I''ve been young I''ve tried to get out of it. Sure it brings with it a lot of power and authority, but neither of those things are edible. They alsoe with a lot of baggage. Frankly, I''m not interested." Although their conversation seemed casual, the two of them were moving quite quickly now that the heir had recovered somewhat. Instead of continuing deeper into the wilderness, where no one may notice him, they actually went directly into town. A few passerbyers already noticed the heir, and were struck with confusion since they couldn''t believe what they were seeing. Lex did notment on the situation, and just followed the heir, as he seemed to know exactly where he was going. "But the way we do things here is a little different. Are you familiar with Darmin?" he asked. Darmin was the name of the neutral organization which ran Tiya. "Besides the fact that they run Tiya, not at all. I only came to this because I was interested in the potential for trade it presented." "I guessed as much. It''s quite simple. Darmin owns 4 star systems, and we have about 21 habitables within that space. The territory is quite small, but we are able to maintain our neutral stance even so. In fact, we even ept dealing with pirates and all kinds of ouws, and do so quite openly.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Such actions not only begin retaliation from the forces in which those ouws are wanted, but often we are targeted by those very same ouws as well. All in all, there''s a lot of pressure. We would not be able to cope with it, and maintain our situation if we were weak. But at the same time, being strong also presents a conundrum, for why would the strong limit their own expansion? After all, everyone knows that the stronger one is, the more resources they require." Now, thoroughly within the center of the town, the heir led Lex to a very inconspicuous little restaurant. There were only four, small tables and a counter where guests could sit, and at this hour the entire ce was deserted. The restaurant remained open nheless, and their heir sat down on the counter, ignoring the state of the ce. "Three bowls of the Spicy bowl please!" the heir yelled in the back, prompting the sound of dishes falling down somewhere in the kitchen. Clearly his yell had startled someone, but the heir simply continued his story. "The reason why we are strong, yet choose to remain neutral and not expand, is because we already have everything we need to grow incredibly strong, and more!" Chapter 804 Old Geezer Chapter 804 Old Geezer The heir sighed, as ifmenting the abundant avability of endless resources, practically paving the cultivation path for himself. What a burden it must be to be rich! "You''ll excuse me if I don''t go into the details," the heir said casually, as if it was already understood. "But the point is that, ultimately, what Darmin values is a specific kind of talent. Unfortunately, I have talent pouring out of my every pore, so from the day I was born, I was destined to be heir. Did you know, I''m not even rted to any of the previous rulers? "My parents ran a small clinic in the capital. When I was born, and my talents detected, the royal family adopted me outright. My parents received 13 billion supreme spirit stones, as well as noble titles, property, as well as the ownership of one of Tiya''s 13 moons. Suffice to say, after that, my parents became extremely busy trying to give me as many siblings as possible. Unfortunately, none of them have even a spec of talentpared to mine." The heir sounded both proud and mad at that statement. "So who are you supposed to be marrying then, if not the princess? My name is Lex, by the way." Since he was building connections, there was no point in hiding his identity, though he seriously doubted anyone would connect him in his current state to Lex William, dragon tamer! "Oh, yes, introductions. Nice to meet you Lex, my name is Kenta Haru. Sorry, I''m not used to introducing myself, I forgot it was something one has to do. As for my fianc¨¦e, I am not sure of her identity yet. She has been selected for me. No doubt, she will also be tremendously talented, though not as much as me, or she would be the heir. Moreover, she will no doubt have a steady and stable personality, to keep me in check in the future." Kenta sounded absolutely disgusted at his own words. From behind the counter, the kitchen door opened and another elf walked out, holding a tray carrying three steaming bowls. Lex was already mentally prepared to face some extremely unusual alien food, but was genuinely surprised to find that he had been served ramen! It seemed that it was not so unusual that the elves also cooked ramen. After all, in their long lives, they had probably experimented with various kinds of foods! The elf tapped the wooden counter twice, and three pairs of chopsticks grew right out of the wood! Treating it aspletely normal, the heir grabbed the chopsticks and began eating. "So what''s your n? Do you think you can actually run away from the wedding?"n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Oh absolutely not," Kenta replied casually. "The entirety of Tiya is being monitored, not to mention the fact that all teleportation formations have been disabled to prevent me from escaping. No, I''ll probably be ignored until I''m needed. But you know, as a man, I must at least show some form of protest! How can I just ept without expressing my dissatisfaction? I need to run away at least a couple more times during the wedding itself!" "If¡­ if you don''t expect to actually escape, why did you run till you actually copsed?" Lex asked,looking at their heir strangely. "Well, even though the royal family knows I cannot actually escape, they also have to go through the motions and try and prevent me. To get away, I actually had to erase a formation that had been conjured right on my very skin! I had to actually excrete all the spiritual energy within my body to cause the formation to fail. I bet they never saw that oneing." "So this is all just a game? How anticlimactic. And here I thought that I was going to help you escape from a wedding." "Hahaha, no, to actually do that is impossible! This guy won''t let me." Kenta pointed at the empty seat beside him, and Lex looked there but saw no one. The seat was empty. He was just about to say so when he noticed that the third bowl, which had been ced in front of the seat, was empty! His pupils constricted and he looked back at the seat, and this time saw a rather aged looking elf who winked at Lex. The elf had long, braided gray hair that reached the floor, and a short but well groomed gray beard. "Please, go ahead. I''m quite curious to see how you can help my adopted son here escape his wedding." The man had no aura at all whatsoever, and appeared entirely forgettable, despite the fact that it wasn''tmon for elves to have beards. "Were you with us the entire time?" Lex asked, having quickly recovered from the surprise earlier. At this point, he was all too used to very strong cultivators acting mysteriously. He was even looking forward to the day he could do the same. "Not really, but there''s no ce on this, or even this entire star system where my spirit sense cannot reach." "Lex, meet my adopted father, or as I like to call him old geezer. Don''t mention his age. Don''t ask his age. When I was young and did something bad, he would punish me by making me count all the way to his age without skipping a single number. I''ve spent a few good years doing nothing except counting if you add up all the time I''ve spent, so I don''t like to think about it." "It''s a pleasure to meet you," said Lex as he began to eat his ramen as well. Both Kenta and his father were surprised by how quickly Lex adapted to the situation, but did notment on it. "By the way, you shouldn''t challenge me. I really can help him escape his wedding, even if you watch the entire process with your spirit sense." At this point, both Kenta and his father looked at Lex with curiosity. "Are you sure Lex? Don''t let the geezer fool you, he''s a genuine Celestial Immortal." Chapter 805 A bet Chapter 805 A bet Lex took in Kenta''s words easily, as by now he was all too used to bumping into extremely strong cultivators. But while he was not surprised to hear the knowledge, encountering powerful cultivators outside the Inn was very dangerous. Not only did he have to maintain proper decorum to ensure he did not offend the other in any way, but he had to utilize this opportunity to the best of his abilities, and expand hiswork! The greatest advantage he had in the current situation was that as someone from a neutral organization, the chances of being killed or harmed were extremely low. The categorization of a neutral organization was extremely difficult to attain, as this was one given through the Henali portal and not assumed by oneself. As long as Lex did not break anyws, he did not have to fear randomly being targeted. But at the same time, he had to act as if his meeting with Hix had been exposed. Theoretically, there was no reason for a Celestial Immortal to be spying on him at that time. That was most likely even true. However, there was no guarantee that he could not detect clues on or around Lex. Essentially, besides the system, Lex had to assume that all of his secrets wereid bare in front of the immortal. After all, the gap between them was too big. Lex could not even begin to imagine the power the elf in front of him wielded. Fortunately, the reason Powell had sent him here to begin with was that even if Lex were to be discovered contacting Hix, there should be no issue. After all, as a of a true neutral organization, Tiya was often the ground for such ndestine meetings. "My apologies for not acknowledging you sooner, senior," Lex said, though it was clear from his voice that hecked the usual reverence and fear that was associated with meeting a powerful cultivator. "Not at all. In fact, I would be surprised if you had acknowledged me earlier. I admit, I am curious, however, about how you can help this brat escape from under my nose." "It is not difficult, because it''s not my power that I would be using to do it," Lex said, before slowly lowering his mask. He had removed half of it to reveal his mouth so that he could eat, but that had revealed the gruesome state of his body. Now that he was done eating, he naturally would not continue to put himself on disy, especially with a Celestial Immortal nearby. "But, even though I can do it, that does not mean I actually will. Interfering in local political matters is no doubt illegal, and I still have work here that needs to be done. I don''t want to be arrested. Besides, what would you even do if you managed to escape? Do you even know how to live life without the status of an heir?" "Pft, if it were some noble pursuit I would at least be impressed. But no, what this no good son of mine wants to do is open up a small restaurant somewhere and create new cuisines. Truly a waste." "What do you know about noble pursuits? I am amon elf with humble roots. Doing mundane tasks is in my blood! Creating delicious food is my divine duty, and even the status of heir will not prevent me from following this path. I-" "Alright, alright," said Kenta''s father, muting him with a wave of his finger. It seemed like he had heard this speech too many times. This elf¡­ truly did not exude the usual dignity and arrogance of a peak cultivator. Or perhaps, because of his strength, he did not need to pretend to be anything other than himself. "You''re quite interesting, Lex. I sense quite a few auras on you. Let''s see, there''s that human, Jotun." The elf said his name with derision, as if he did not like Jotun at all. But while there was derision, Lex could not sense disdain of him being weak. That either meant that Jotun was not exactly weak, or that Lex was reading too much into the situation. "There''s also some inscriptions in your body. Hmm, that''s interesting, the inscriptions are using your body as talisman paper. Quite ingenious, but not good for you in the long run. Let''s see, there''s also¡­ senior Zuri Adisa!" Instinctively, the elf straightened his back as he said the name, as if even mentioning her required the appropriate decorum. "You also have the aura of a dragon on you, the aura of a primordial seed, the aura of¡­ my goodness, look at me. I could not control myself at all! I did not mean to pry, I was just wondering whose strength you could possibly use to take the brat away. But even with everything I''ve seen, I cannot find an answer. Now, I truly am curious. "I''ll leave you with an invitation to the brats wedding. There will be a lot of ceremonies, but in essence, the main wedding ceremony will be in five days. If you can take this brat away before that happens, not only will I not charge you with any crime, but I will help you remove one of the inscriptions in your body. Whoever ced them there was very skilled, but clearly they did not ount for your cultivation technique. It''s interfering with your growth. You should really find a way to get rid of them all before you be an immortal." Kenta, who had been muted this entire time, was extremely surprised when he heard his old man speak. He tried toment in the middle, but his words wouldn''te out.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Lex was also surprised, not by anything else, but from the fact that the immortal offered to help him voluntarily. That was not something he expected from someone who was supposed to be neutral. If he had to guess, it may be a way of him apologizing for investigating Lex. Whatever the case, if he could get rid of the inscriptions, it was truly worth it. "Are you sure it won''t cause any problems? Isn''t the heir important to you?" "Ho ho, look at that confidence. You are quite certain that you''ll be able to take him away from me. In that case, do not worry. Even if he is gone, Darmin will not suffer." "In that case, I''ll see you in five days." The immortal smiled, before he and the heir disappeared from their seats, slowly fading away. "Old geezer, that''s not like you," said Kenta, who reappeared with his father inside arge mansion. "I made a mistake. I thought he was a junior, but how was I supposed to know that he would have such a deep background? Since I saw that which I should not have seen, I need to repay him lest I be infected by his karma. Giving him this opportunity is my repayment." "What did you see?" Kenta asked curiously. The heirs'' father did not answer, but an image shed in his mind. Thest aura he sensed, before he awoke from his stupor and stopped, was the aura of the ursed Cthulhu n. He had shbacks of the damned war they fought, and how devastating their powers were. He thought that n had perished, so why was there someone who wore their aura still around? He did not know, nor did he want to find out. The Origin realm was really not peaceful these days, it was best to stay away from trouble. "You should prepare. Your first public appearance is in a few hours." Kenta grumbled, but walked away anyway. There was no point in arguing. He did not really expect to be rescued by Lex, so he needed to maintain the best possible rtionship with the old geeze. Moreover, even if he really escaped, could he really stay away indefinitely? He turned back and looked at his adopted father. No, it was absolutely impossible. When he had to choose between freedom, and possibly bing a Celestial immortal, he would choose thetter every time. Back at the restaurant, Lex looked at the angry waiter with confusion. "What''s wrong?" he asked, concerned. "What do you mean what''s wrong? This is a restaurant, not a charity. If you eat, you have to pay. Three spicy bowls, so that''s three Tiyan credits! If you can''t pay, I''m reporting you to the police!" Did the¡­ did the heir as well as the literal immortal just¡­ dine and dash? Damn, they could at least have warned him so he could have dashed as well. On second thought, he could not break any of thews here, apparently the whole was being monitored. "No, it''s just a misunderstanding. I''ll pay right away," said Lex weakly as he transferred the credits. Now that he had stirred up a little trouble, his heart was finally at peace and he could rest. Maybe he''d even go back and take a nap - he couldn''t remember thest time he did that. Chapter 806 Another cultivation session

Chapter 806 Another cultivation session

Lex thought that he would barely nap for half an hour, or that if he entered deep sleep he''d be out for a couple of hours at most. He couldn''t be med for thinking as such becausetely he would sleep very less unless he was injured and using his recovery techniques. Even though, right now, he was technically injured, he did not n on using any recovery techniques, so he nned on only passing a few hours at most. Unfortunately, due to the fact that none of his pain receptors were working, and his incredible physique allowed him to function normally, he underestimated how injured he really was. That was not to mention that any time he was injured, his spirit was injured as well, which really affected his decision making skills. It was the most significant w of his cultivation technique. Though to be fair, Regal Embrace was on the path to ensure that he never got hurt in the first ce. Now though, the end result would be up to his own efforts. He fell asleep the moment he hit the bed, and entered a deep dreamless sleep. He did not move or flinch, or even let out a single sound besides his soft breathing, until he was roused from sleep by the sound of a system notification. Lex woke up a little disoriented, wondering who he was and what was going on. A couple of momentster he remembered everything, and realized that he may have overslept. "Mary, how long was I sleeping?" he asked as he stifled a yawn, and pushed himself up. The bones in his back gave out a satisfying crack as he stretched. "A little over thirty hours," she said, sounding distracted. "Thirty hours?" he repeated, startled. He checked to see what notification he had received and saw that the had already been connected to the Inn, and he could head back at any time that he wanted. But, fortunately, not too much time had passed and the notification hade very timely. If he missed the wedding ceremony, he would not suffer any harm but he would lose an opportunity that was not easy toe by. So far, only Celestial immortals had been able to sense the inscriptions in his body, and it was not easy to meet them, let alone get their help. Speaking of which, he had guessed earlier that Jotun was also a Celestial Immortal, and that fact had more or less been confirmed by the heir''s father. Jotun having such a cultivation was something Lex could understand and ept, since he was the Emperor of a massive empire and worked for the Henali directly. But this small neutral organization, Darmin, which barely had a few star systems, was also led by a Celestial immortal? Did that mean that, in essence, Darmin was just as powerful as the empire? At least in terms of the power of their upper echelon. But one spanned gxies, and the other did not even cover 1% of a single gxy. How was that possible? Ultimately he could note up with an answer, and chalked it up to the personal preference of the Celestial immortals. But whatever opportunity that Kenta had been talking about that required his special talent must be extraordinary if it was enough to keep a Celestial satisfied. The outline of a n formed in Lex''s mind as he checked the card that the Hix assassin had left him. A small, gray circle had formed on it, indicating that the task had been epted by Hix. Fortunately he did not oversleep, or he would miss the deadline to pay the assassin organization. He channeled his spirit energy inside and received the details of the required payment. Since Barley''s cultivation level was low, the task was originally not expensive. However, since his location was unknown, to the extent that not even the star system could be determined, the price shot up drastically. It was sufficient to say that the price of thismission waspletely not worth it for an ordinary person. However Lex was not ordinary, and the price meant nothing to him. Not only was his museum of wealth filled with countless treasures, and spirit stones, but soon he would receive the first payment from those refugees from Earth who had leased out a Minor realm. Their payments would be in terms of resources mined and collected from that realm instead of MP, so at this point it could even be said that the cost to hunt down someone through an entire gxy¡­ cost but a paltry sum for him. He channeled more spirit energy into the card, causing it to turn to ash once again and form the ''Reality Filter'' once again painting a portion of his room ck and white. He ced a small spatial ring filled with 1 billion spirit stones, 130 vials of spirit liquid and 10 tons of a version of gold called Red vein Gold. All of these came from his loot from the dragon hoard, and didn''t even cover 1% of what he looted, let alone what was in the hoard itself. At that thought, Lex could not help but lick his lips. Robbing dragons was a very lucrative business. "Hey Pel, you don''t happen to remember any old or dying dragons, do you?" he asked. "I know many old dragons, but none who are dying," the wooden ring answered dutifully. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Lex shook his head. He hadn''t asked the question seriously. He was not crazy enough to go face a living dragon right now. Maybe when he reached the peak of the Nascent realm he could consider it. The filter vanished, alongside the payment, and the card reformed. Satisfied, Lex put the card in his spatial bangle and disappeared back to the Inn. He spent a couple of hours handling various tasks at the Inn. Recently, the poption of the aquatic beasts inside the Inn was booming and he needed to expand his rivers andkes to ensure there was enough space for them. In fact, he decided to make a super massiveke far away from the main attractions where they could live for now. Once all urgent tasks were taken care of, Lex grabbed a device connected to the Henali portal, and teleported back to his restroom. By now, unfortunately, Lex had learned to tolerate the unique cultivation conditions absorbing items withws required. He nned on using his next ''cultivation session'' to do some research on Kenta''s wedding ande up with a proper n. Even though all it would take was to hand him a key to the Inn and crush it, Lex did not know how easy or hard the Celestial was going to make it for him. He nned on treating it like an infiltration mission, allowing him to once again act like a spy. Not dying the matter further, Lex bit the de of grass given to him by Zuri, and began his cultivation session. A couple of hourster, once Lex had gotten used to it, he began perusing the Henali portal. He looked up royal weddings in Tiya, and what customs they usually entailed. He looked into what Kenta''s wedding would entail, and discovered something unusual. No one knew who the bride was yet! There was endless spection on why the identity of the bride was hidden, but the most popr conspiracy seemed to be that she had a troublesome identity, which matched the habits of the simrly frivolous heir. Lex did not believe it, nor did he care so much about it. What truly caught his attention was that there was no real mention or detailed exnation of the inner workings of Darmin, just a brief mention that each star system was controlled by a different family. At the same time, it was mentioned that Kenta was only the heir to Tiya, not Darmin. Moreover, his adopted father was only in charge of the star system with Tiya in it. How was it possible that a Celestial was not in charge of the entire organization, but just a single star system? The only way that made sense was if there were more Celestials in other star systems. But, how was that even possible? Celestials did not grow on trees, they were not so easy toe across. Lex raised his guard somewhat as the ambiguity of the situation concerned him somewhat. It also strengthened his motivation to build a connection with Kenta, and be in Darmins good books. He did not expect any significant help from a neutral organization, but sometimes having a rtionship was help enough. Twelve hourster, a weak Lex crawled out of the bathroom. He began to seriously doubt the prophecy he had received. Maybe what Leslie had foreseen was not regret that could only be avoided using a de. Maybe what she saw was him regretting the decision to use it. When he remembered that he had 90% more of the de still left, Lex lost the strength in his arms to hold himself up and copsed. Chapter 807 Infiltration

Chapter 807 Infiltration

A few dayster, Lex found himself sitting in the fastest, non-teleportation public transport on Tiya. For all intents and purposes, it could be considered a train, except for the fact that it did not require a track and could travel at supersonic speeds. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om As the train hurtled forward, its soft vibrations providing a steady backdrop, Lex sat by the window, fixated on the approaching city skyline. Tall towers pierced the sky, glinting in the sunlight, each building a testament to wealth and glory of the capital city of Tiya. The past few days had been spent in painful preparation for today, as he thoroughly investigated not only theyout of the city, the itinerary of the weddings, the necessary proceedings, but also thought out several ns with the help of Pel. He needed some insight into what to expect from a Celestial, and what Pel told him pretty much solidified his ideas. Basically, he had no hope of hiding anything from the Celestial. Even as he sat in this train, in his stealth suit, he could be assured that the heirs father already knew he wasing, and saw each and everyone one on his moves. The only possible way for Lex to seed in his mission is if the Celestial never interfered. If he did anything, even so much as creating an indirect obstruction, then Lex could not hope to win. But since the ''bet'' was not anything too significant, Lex could assume that the Celestial would watch, but not interfere. Of course, this was on the premise that Kenta was not too valuable to Darmin, or that his father was confident that even after escaping he woulde back. All in all, there was no point in raising the bet to begin with if he intended to interfere, or at least that is the approach Lex nned on taking with his current objective. With each heartbeat, a surge of confidence coursed through him, reassured by the thought that he was prepared well enough. After all, under the guidance of his wooden ring, Lex finally got to checking out the dragons library in thest few days. Most of the books were beyond him, and required some prerequisite knowledge that hecked, making it so that he could not understand them despite being able to understand the individual words. Of course, there were a few books that even he could gain from. But none of that mattered. What was truly important was that Pel had guided him to a single book that he could not onlyprehend, but contained knowledge that he could put to practical use, right from this very mission. All he needed to do was master the written technique. If his system was a little different, and showed him the amount of progress he made in cultivating his techniques to proficiency, then currently it would clearly show that he had, with his newfound analytic skills and powerful mind,prehended?0.1% of the technique! While that percentage may sound abysmal and pathetic, it was only so if there was no context. The technique he was learning was not a spiritual, soul or body technique. Instead, it was one specifically to be used by Dragons Might! As his Domination grew stronger by absorbing Dragons Might, it could also use the same technique! But even though he could only understand such a small amount, that was already enough at his level. He could subtly influence Domination, and change the effect it had on people. It no longer necessarily had to suppress or pressure them, but could instead make them feel various different emotions or sensations. Of course Lex had not mastered that yet, he barely understood enough to reduce his sense of presence further. This made it so that even if people saw him, they would subconsciously ignore him. The effect was very weak right now, but when augmenting his stealth suit, the overall result wasmendable. He nned on further augmenting his stealth capabilities by bringing Fenrir, but discovered that the pup had fallen into a deep sleep upon its return from Frigra. Why did this pup sleep so much? He had only asked the question rhetorically, but Pel had provided him with a sincere answer. Lex had used a very potent and powerful binding talisman on Fenrir to bind the two together, keeping himself as the master always. He had procured the talisman from the Emporium, and other than binding the pet with the master, it had the effect of linking their cultivations. If one of them was stronger than the other, through their bond, they would influence the other as well, raising the speed at which they cultivated. If Lex had a greater cultivation level, that was great for Fenrir. But if the pup tried to gain a higher level, and thereby support Lex''s cultivation, it would hit a roadblock. This was due to the fact that Lex''s cultivation techniques had historically been as far outside of normal as possible. It was like tying the pup to a mountain and asking it to drag the mountain along. It just wasn''t possible. So, when it encountered a situation where its cultivation was rising, the bond forcibly stopped that rise. If there was a single redeeming factor in all of this, it was the fact that all the extra energy in his body would only strengthen him further within his existing realm, and not harm him. So ultimately, Lex was helping him in the long run. As the train steadily closed the gap between him and the city, Lex''s anticipation grew. The distant buildings were now distinct shapes, each one signifying a step closer to the moment of action. Unlike the town where he originally arrived, the capital felt more manufactured and less a part of nature, but that was onlyparatively. Lex gathered up his thoughts, no longer musing randomly, and prepared to disembark. nning and preparing was all good, but ultimately it was his performance that would determine everything. As soon as the train stopped, Lex got off and seemingly vanished into the crowds. The city was jam packed, as countless beings from a multitude of races had all gathered to take part in the festivities. It was a way for them to enjoy Darmin''s generosity, as well as strengthen their connections with this neutral organization. A stronger bond would not mean they expected any help with their own matters, but that they could enjoy more benefits within Darmins territories. All in all, between the tourists, locals, security personnel and foreign dignitaries, the city was jam packed. Even for cultivators and races that could fly there was immense traffic in the air. Anticipating this situation was one of the reasons why Lex arrived in the city hours before the ceremony happened. Silently, and without attracting any attention, Lex slowly approached the center of the city, where a grand pce stood out even when surrounded by so many majestic buildings. Getting inside the function was not difficult for Lex since he had an invitation, just time consuming. Reaching Kenta once he was inside, however, would be the true obstacle. All guests would have designated spots where they could freely watch the ceremony, or even roam around. But the area where the ceremony was taking ce could only be essed by a select few who were important guests, rtives or yed some role in the ceremony. The ideal situation was to reach Kenta inside the pce right before he was brought to the main ceremonial altar. Slowly and steadily, as if he was not in any rush at all, Lex approached the pce without attracting any attention. He also kept his senses peeled, listening in for anytest news regarding the wedding. Even rumors might end up being useful, so he did not dismiss anything. Yet even with his slow speed, in a couple of hours, Lex had navigated his way through the massive city and approached the pce. Six white bridges connected the city and the pce, which was built on a floating ind that had been chained to the ground. Although Lex could have slipped by easily, he got in line and passed through the queue normally. When he reached the gates, he intentionally coughed loudly to attract the nearby guards attention, before showing him his invitation. Upon gaining entry he silently followed the guests who walked across the bridge, taking in all its majestic glory. Although Lex did not originally n on sightseeing, he made an exception because he felt there was something usual about the bridges and the castle. His instincts seemed to have picked up on something, but it was too vague to give him a clear feeling. Nheless, once he reached the end, and finally approached the pce doors, Lex finally veered away from the other guests. He had no interest in going to his specified space, he only needed to find out where Kenta was. His infiltration mission was finally beginning. Chapter 808 Casenova Lex

Chapter 808 Casenova Lex

At the pce doors, Lex took in a deep breath as he reviewed all the information he had gathered, as well as his n. The most ideal situation would be if the guard and staff in this castle were mostly around his level, with a few notable exceptions who would be counted as bosses. If this were a video game, that is how things would proceed. Unfortunately, real life did not operate like a video game. As lex had personally experienced, time and time again, there were countless strong cultivators everywhere, all living their own lives. Just because you were low leveled did not mean you would not run into them. In fact, if you went to specific areas, your chances of encountering strong cultivators would increase exponentially. As it happened, the pce where the royal family of Tiya resided, which included the Celestial immortal, was one such ce. It was too much to expect every guard in this ce to be an immortal, but surely there would be no shortage of such guards here. Moreover, no doubt there would be countless guests who were immortal as well. In fact, he would not be surprised if there were a few other Celestials here as well. After all, the adopted son of a Celestial was getting married. So, relying on his stealth capabilities would not get him far. He could also then rely on his wit and conversational skill to get him where he needed to go, which in fact he nned on doing to a degree, but even that would not yield adequate results. No, toplete this mission, Lex would have to rely on the most powerful tool in his utility belt, so to speak: money! "Let''s see, in the third floor botanical garden¡­" Lex murmured as he relied on his memory to guide his steps. From the Infinity Emporium Lex had bought a blueprint of the pce, or at least what was publicly avable, as well as a tentative guest list for the wedding. Getting ayout of where the guards would be stationed would be impossible. Once he had that list, he gave Velma ess to the Henali portal and told him to get him all the information she could on the entire guest list within 24 hours. Her sess¡­ left him a little worried, actually. She was more of a Sherlock than any tv show character he had ever seen, as long as it concerned digging up dirt on someone. With that information at hand, he thought of the simplest and most direct way to get ess to Kenta using this information. The moreplicated and convoluted his n, the greater the chances of messing up, considering theck of time to prepare. As he walked the well lit halls, rooms and corridors, Lex tried to remain as inconspicuous as possible. When possible, he would merge into other small groups of guests who were heading in the same direction. A few times, he ran into certain checkpoints. If you crossed that point, and the invitation you had did not belong to the area you were entering, a guard would be notified. There were no drastic rms and no serious actions that would be taken, at first, as the role of such points was to make sure that all the guests stayed in their respective ces. After all, as a neutral organization, it was expected that some of their guests would actually be each other''s enemies. By allocating different sections of the pce, Darmin ensured that they would not encounter one another and cause a scene. They had too much experience in avoiding such things. For Lex, this was the first hurdle that he solved with money. After all, using money, he had actually bought 108 different invitations to this event! So as to not arouse suspicion, he would keep most of them in his bangle, and only take out the one corresponding to the area he was entering to be checked. The only unfortunate thing was that all the invitations he managed to purchase were from the periphery of the pce, otherwise he would have directly bought one that allowed him to get in contact with Kenta. Like this, in only twenty minutes, he had found his way to the botanical garden on the third floor of the pce. Standing in a corner, Lex surveyed the room and looked for his target. It was not certain that she was here now, but this was most definitely the area she had a ticket to. He could wait up to an hour for her to arrive, but if by then she had not arrived, he would have to give up and rely on his n B. After surveying the room a few times, he was unable to find her, but that much was more or less expected. After all, Lex had arrived hours early, and not everyone was inclined to wait so long. They would only arrive once the main event was about to begin. While he waited, he took note of all the guests in the botanical garden. Not every area in the pce had a view of the main ceremony, but that was fine as not all guests wanted to see it either. Some guests were instead more interested in the unique way that Tiya manipted nts. They could seemingly create new variants on a whim, and control how each of their traits were developed ording to their needs. The botanical garden was where some of their more exclusive nts were nurtured. Those who came here were either biologists, pharmacists, alchemists or belonged to some profession that would take advantage of the traits of nts. The average cultivation level of the guests here seemed to be the Nascent realm, while others¡­ Lex suddenly paused. Across the room he saw a particr guest and, based on his information already gathered, identified the guest as a dwarf called Nonoman Hellson. His information had recorded that he had great achievements, but Lex had not paid attention to him since he could not use him. But now he realized that this dwarf, who was also in the Golden core realm, seemed to give off a dangerous aura. This had never happened to him before! He had never felt danger from someone in the same realm! His curiosity was piqued, but he did not focus on him too long lest his gaze was noticed. Meeting a formidable peer was¡­ an unusual experience for him. A short whileter, just as Lex was getting ready to move to n B, his target finally arrived. Aoi Haruki, a Garden Nymph, entered the room surrounded by a few elves. She adopted an elven appearance, which was quitemon here, but her soft green skin and hair that looked like small vines easily marked her as a Nymph. ording to her background information, she had strong rtions with various Elven organizations and was held in high regard due to her extremely formidable affinity with trees, even surpassing the standards of her own race. More importantly, she was a close personal friend of the princess who Kenta had flirted with before. Lex took in a deep breath, readying himself, before he walked directly to her. He stopped using Domination, so that his sense of invisibility reduced, though most would still not notice him unless they saw him directly. "Pardon my intrusion," said Lex as he approached Aoi, his voice gentle and warm. Since he could not rely on his appearance to help him make a good impression, he focused heavily on his choice of words and tonality. "I could not help but approach once I recognized you. Are you really Aoi Haruki, the famous Botanical Breeder who saved the endangered Blood Rose from extinction?" His voice was filled with seemingly genuine excitement, anticipation and passion as he asked that question. It seemed that he admired her greatly, not for any other reason than the fact that she had achieved something exceptional. It was, in fact, a remarkable achievement on Aoi''s part, but not one that was widely recognized as that particr species had only limited pharmaceutical uses, and even those could often be reced by other nts. Aoi, who was originally surprised at being interrupted, was unexpectedly delighted to hear the question! Her achievement in altering the nt so that it could grow in a different environment, without losing any of its innate qualities and gaining any negative ones, was actually widely acimed - but mostly only academically. Her achievement was seen as a practical example of many theoretical rules that were difficult to implement. Yet no one actually cared about the rose itself. Yet from the man''s question, and the subtle passion she could feel from his words, she almost suspected he was different from the rest. "Ye- yes, that''s me," she said, though she did not know why she stuttered. That was unlike her. Lex ced a hand on his heart and gave her a deep bow! n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "Miss Aoi, you have my deepest admiration. Although not many care about it, I believe that what you have saved is more than just a single flower. It is an emotion - nay, an experience that can only be felt when that flower blooms, and can only be expressed through poetry. Miss Aoi, I have carried this with me for many years in hopes of finding a way to save it, but have failed. If you would, I would like to give this to you, so that you may try where I have failed." Without giving her the chance to respond, Lex summoned a ss orb from his spatial bangle, and handed it to Aoi. Within it, frozen, was a beautiful white lotus the likes of which had never been seen before! Chapter 809 A poem

Chapter 809 A poem

Aoi and her cohorts all paused as their gaze was fixed on the mesmerizing visage of the white lotus. The petals were longer than a regr lotus'', spreading farther apart, and looked more beautiful. But at the same time, the cost of that beauty was an almost palpable beauty. Just looking at it alone was enough to determine that the Lotus was on the verge of falling apart, and only by being sealed in that orb was it surviving. The peculiarities of the lotus went further than just that. Its texture, the thickness, or rather thinness, of each petal, the lithe stamen, were all different from what was usually seen. There was a very simple reason for that. Lex had specifically requested the Sovereign Turtle to create a new special of Lotus for him, one that was both exceptional, beautiful, yet incredibly frail. The turtle had delivered admirably, as this was too simple for him. But, for once, the turtle had requested a payment from one - a single drop of dragon''s blood. As Lex had appeared in front of the turtle as Leo, he could not tell how or why the turtle could tell he had dragon''s blood on him, but he obliged. Of course, Lex was not capable of piercing the dragon''s skin to extract blood. Instead, he used the blood he had collected from the pool where Fenrir had swum. Later, he learnt that the drop of blood had been used to nurture Little Blue. Apparently, it was awakening as a Beast and progressing nicely on its path. Regardless, this lotus was just one more item that Lex had prepared to ensure his sess in this task. Aoi Haruki was slightly confused by Lex''s statement about her saving an emotion that could only be captured by poetry, but she could sense the general positive emotion he tried to convey which was enough for her. Before she could dwell on it, he handed her a species of a flower she had never seen before, catching her off guard. With the extent of her knowledge, it was very difficult to encounter a nt she was totally unfamiliar with. Moreover, it was also extremely beautiful, which captivated her on a level that only nts could. "Where did you get this lotus from? What is it called?" she asked, not lifting her eyes from the flower. Sounding pleased by her genuine curiosity, Lex answered, "I was traveling through the wilderness when I experienced an earthquake. The quake destroyed some of the terrain, and that is where I discovered a small, hidden environment filled with such lotuses. But, exposed to fresh air, they were quickly dying. I was only able to save this one. I thought it would be a shame if such a nt died without ever being admired." While Aoi looked at the nt, Lex had his gaze fixed on Aoi. Anyone watching him would think that Lex somewhat admired her, and was possibly even pursuing her. That is exactly what Lex wanted it to look like, but in truth, his target was never Aoi from the very beginning! Right beside Aoi was a seemingly ordinary looking Elven girl. Of course, even an ordinary Elven girl was still earth-shatteringly beautiful by human standards. She was looking at the lotus, like everyone else, but she seemed a little distracted. "What kind of poem can be used to capture a Blood Rose?" she murmured, not really intending to receive an answer. But Lex, who had been specifically waiting for this moment, could not really let it slip by. After all, from the start, everything he had done was to get this girl''s attention. He didn''t like acting like this, but they did say the best way to attract a girl''s attention was to target her best friend. As a forever-bachelor, Lex would never use such tactics to actually pursue someone, but in this instance, he felt it was okay. After all, he was not really harming anyone. The Blood Rose was a peculiar and ominous flower that many actively avoided using, even if it could provide some meager medicinal benefits. This was because this rose only grew on battlefields, once the fighting had subsided. Moreover, it did not grow in the soil, but in corpses. It would stay hidden in the body until it reached a sufficient size, whereupon it burst from the skin, emerging from the victim''s heart! What was peculiar was that the rose itself was actually white, but that could only ever be discovered if it was washed. Otherwise, it would take on the color of the blood of the corpse it grew from. Without ever really looking at the elf who asked about the poem, Lex began to recite what he had prepared. "A nce turned to a gaze between two eyes, n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om An acquaintance became a friend, but not a lover, A destiny divided two souls forever. A duty brought me to arms and to a far off battle, A blow brought me to my knees without a morrow, A life I could not give to you, but will death suffice, I wonder? A rose from the heart, for the lover who could never be a lover." His voice was low, unlike when he had talked to Aoi, and he recited the lines as if reading something that had been burned into his memory. It was only after he? recited the poem that he seemed to awake from his reverie, and turned to look at the elf who had asked the question. It was supposed to be only a nce, but like the poem, he caught her eye, and the nce turned into a gaze shared by the two. Lex gulped. He was only supposed to be acting - why did things get so intense? "Please excuse my crass poetry, I am not very good," said Lex feeling genuine embarrassment. The poem had actually been written by himself, and while it seemed to regale a story of a dying soldier, its true purpose was to evoke a certain reaction from his target. His own awkwardness and embarrassment aside, it seemed to work. Chapter 810 Bet Chapter 810 Bet As Lex looked at the ''ordinary'' looking elf, countless thoughts ran through his head. If he did not have overwhelming faith in Velma''s deductive work, he would really doubt that this simple elf was actually the very princess Kenta had flirted with! This was not the first time the princess had snuck out using an alternate identity, and putting all the clues together upon researching all the invited guests, Velma was willing to bet her own life that she was the princess. If Velma had such confidence in herself, then Lex should too. "It''s¡­ it''s not crass. It''s lovely, in its own way," the elf said, seeming distracted. She was most probably going over the lines in her head again, trying to feel the emotions in each line. The same poem read by someone who cared little for literature would be an experience thatsted a couple of seconds at most. But an enthusiast would look deeper into the meaning of each line, fulfilling the dream of every highschool english teacher. They would look for the meaning behind each word, then each line, and then each stanza and so on. On the surface the poem seemed to be about two lovers who were denied their rtionship due to a difference in their destinies. They became friends, but could never affirm their rtionship. In hisst moments, before death, the writer of the poem seemed to think of her again. "I was inspired when I heard Kenta talking the other day," Lex said very casually. "You may not know this, but he actually tried to get out of the wedding." What Lex said was not necessarily news for everyone there, as they would likely have enough resources to hear such rumors, regardless of how they were hidden. "He kept referring to this marriage as if it was the end of his life, and then kept alluding to someone else he had recently met. He never said anything specific, but I let my imagination run wild a little. After all, as an heir to a neutral organization, how can he get mixed with someone else? His destiny is alreadyid out in front of him, and only in his final moments before his ''demise'' can he think back to that one acquaintance who could only be a friend and not a lover." Lex seemed to be speaking casually, but the elfs breathing seemed to be getting harder and her eyes seemed to be losing focus. He felt a little guilty, but at the same time, he also thought that he should not feel any guilt for creating problems for Kenta, who used the princess just to get his hands on some ingredients. "Can I- can I really have this?" Aoi, who had not been listening and was instead only focused on the lotus, asked. "Yes, of course. If anyone has any hope of preserving this flower, it''s you¡­" Before he couldplete his sentence, the ''ordinary'' elven girl grabbed him by the cor and pulled him close. "You¡­ when did you talk to Kenta? When did he say all this?" the elf demanded, taking the group by surprise. "Uhh¡­ about four or five days ago, right before the wedding ceremonies began," Lex answered ambiguously, as if it was not something he would specifically recall.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The elf struggled for a moment, as if she was undergoing some internal struggle. "Is everything alright?" asked Aoi, who finally noticed the situation. Instead of answering, the elvish girl simply said, "follow me," and turned around, bolting through the doors. Lex did not need to stop himself from smiling since his face was hidden by a mask. There was one important point to take note of in his n. If Velma could detect the princess'' identity, then surely others could as well. That meant the only one the princess was really fooling was herself. The Tiyans would surely know who she really was, and not cause too much trouble for her. Or at least, that was what Lex was counting on as he followed her as she ran through the corridors. Beside him, Aoi seemed to be running after the elf as well, though the lotus remained firmly gripped in her hand. Lex had contingencies in case this n failed, but he was really hoping that it didn''t, because from here on out, it would be increasingly difficult to go anywhere without attracting attention. In fact, they had already attracted attention. The only thing that prevented the guards from stopping them was their hesitation when they saw the princess. There were quite a few rumors already that the heir had some kind of illicit rtionship with the princess. That¡­ was drama even the guards wanted to stay away from. Every step of the way, Lex was thoroughly prepared for his n to fail, and was even somewhat expecting it. But, somehow, it didn''t. Unbelievably, no one stopped them. What he didn''t realize was that this was by design. "What do you think he has nned?" a woman asked Kenta''s father, who was seatedfortably in a private room. "Who knows? The kid put some effort into his n, but if this is all he has, he''s bound to fail," the Celestial replied. "That''s exactly what makes this bet exciting. I''ll put 3 years of revenue from a crystal mine on the kid," said another elven man who was in the room. "I''ll bet a bottle of Holy tree sap," said another. Like this, the small crowd in this room began to bet on or against Lex. The game would officially begin when he finally met Kenta. Lex had expected that a few of the guests might be Celestials, but he had sorely underestimated the number. In this room alone, there were five of them, and they were all elves. Moreover¡­ they were all a part of Darmin! "If he really seeds, what will you do?" asked one of the Celestials. "What else? I''ll let Kenta run around outside for a few years. We were all young once, you know how it is. Besides, what''s the point of being strong if you have to constrain yourself?" Chapter 811 Too harsh Chapter 811 Too harsh The trio of Lex, Aoi and the princess ran for quite a while before they finally approached the heirs quarters. Before closing in, the princess stopped and fixed her clothes and appearance and turned to nce at Aoi. That''s when she noticed that Lex was there as well. "What are you doing here?" she asked, startled at the sight of him. "Didn''t you ask me to follow you before you started running?" Lex responded innocently. At the same time, he looked around. He had prepared a few items which could create decoys of himself for when the princess would eventually be stopped, and he would have had to make a quick getaway. But that never happened. "No I, uh, actually never mind," she said, turning to look at Aoi. The Nymph only nodded towards the elf, as if supporting her decision, though she was still not quite clear on how they went from saving a lotus to running all the way here. She looked around, now that she finally had a chance, and wondered where they were, exactly. "Do you find it strange that none of the guards stopped us?" Lex couldn''t help but ask. In his mind, he had already concluded that the Celestial no doubt made it easier for them. Perhaps he was interested in how Lex would actually get Kenta away from here, and wanted to skip the tedious part where Lex navigated through the pce to actually reach him. Little did he know, his assumption was extremely close to the truth, with one alteration. It was not the heir''s father who was impatient, but one of hispanions who wanted to see how the drama between the princess and the heir would unfold. This was better than any reality TV show! To be clear, they were not concerned about any of the so-called ''saving face'', as that kind of mentality was mainly adopted by the central Elven alliance which was made up of a majority of the elves. But it was also specifically to avoid such a mentality that too many forces and organizations distanced themselves from the alliance as well. "That¡­ let''s not find out," the princess said, realizing that it really should not have been so easy for them to approach. Could it have been Kenta? Could he have been hoping that she woulde in hisst moments to see him? Her emotions welled up but she forced herself to remain calm, and slowly began to approach the closed door. Unlike Lex, who had trained himself to remain calm even in a life and death situation let alone this, and Aoi who still had no idea where they were, the princess was extremely nervous. With each step she took, her heat started to beast faster. In her head she struggled toe up with what she wanted to say to Kenta. Over and over again she thought of her words, and then changed her mind. She also wondered what Kenta was going through. Was he in anguish? Was he sad? Was he in denial? The hallway was not endless, so she could notplete her thoughts before she finally approached the door to his room. There was not a lot of time, so she did not hesitate and knocked on the door. Behind her, Lex was keeping an eye out for any guards. Once he reached Kenta, this was basically a done deal. He would probably also take Aoi and the princess along as well, to apologize to them for using them in such a way. A few moments went by, but the door did not open and they could not hear any movement on the other side. Of course, there was also a possibility that all sound was insted, so they kept waiting. Finally, just as even Lex was getting impatient, the door finally opened to reveal a disheveled looking Kenta. His hair was a mess and he looked like he had just woken up from aa. Although he had cleaned it, Lex could tell that the heir had been drooling as well. Was it really alright for one to be in such a state only a couple of hours before their own wedding? Lex had made up the poem, so why did it actually look like he was suffering from love sickness? Before the heir could take in who hade to visit him, and before anyone had a chance to speak, the princess pped him hard across the face. "How dare you be thinking of other women before your own wedding? Have you no shame?" she questioned him, her voice extremely harsh. Aoi, Kenta and Lex were all stunned by what just happened. The Celestials who were also watching became even more invested, as none of them had predicted this oue. Internally, the princess chided herself. ''That was a little too harsh. Let''s try again, a little gentler this time,'' she thought. "I¡­ I mean Kenta, you are about to begin a very important phase of your life. You should not put a stain on a new rtionship by starting it this way," she said, her voice suddenly going from extremely harsh to extremely delicate and vulnerable. From her voice, it seemed as if she was experiencing heartbreak even as she said those words. "Please excuse my manners but¡­ do I know you?" Kenta asked, as the princess'' p helped him sober up somewhat. Lex, who had originally nned on immediately teleporting everyone away, decided to wait a bit, and allow the princess to vent her emotions somewhat. He had no qualms about letting the heir take all the ps on his behalf for stirring up trouble. Alright, a part of him was secretly pissed that the heir had made him pay for the food. It was not about the money, but the embarrassment he faced when the shopkeeper thought he was dining and dashing. The princess finally remembered that she was still in her ingenious and infallible disguise. She looked at him once apologetically, as if she knew revealing herself before him would no doubt give him feelings of hope and delight. But since it could not be, these emotions had to be quashed right now.N?v(el)B\\jnn Chapter 812 Exit Chapter 812 Exit Only Kenta, the princess, Aoi and Lex were present in the hallway. There had been a few guards standing there awkwardly, but once the heir got pped they vanished as if their life depended on it. Lex was more than happy to let the princess vent on Kenta, while Aoi was shocked and had her mouth covered with her hand. She was wondering since when had the princess be so violent? But at the same time, she felt that this was so different and exciting for her normal life of study and research. A fire was lit up deep inside the Nymph''s heart, unbeknownst to herself and anyone else. Not dragging the matter further, the princess revealed her true appearance. It took Kenta a moment to recognize her, which immediately startled him. ''What is she doing here?'' he questioned in his heart as he suddenly began to panic. This was not good. He wasn''t even married yet, but if his to-be wife heard rumors of him meeting another woman literally hours before their marriage, he would be doomed! "What are you doing here?" he could not stop himself from asking. He had intended to be more tactful in his wording, but his anxiety got the better of him. His tumultuous emotions did not go unnoticed by the princess, who took it as an affirmation of all her thoughts. "Kenta we¡­ we''re elves from two different worlds. We cannot be together. I¡­ I''ll forgive you for your actions back then, but you must put this matter behind us." "How can I put this behind us when you''re here?" he asked, a headache starting to develop. He had already forgotten about her, but she came knocking on his door asking to let bygones be bygones, which was the most ridiculous thing ever. He would be more than happy to let this matter rest, but she would have to not randomly show up at his door first! "Kenta I¡­ I didn''t want it toe to this but¡­ I don''t feel the same way as you. This cannot work." "You¡­ you don''t feel the same?" he repeated, feeling devastated. Was his flirting so powerful? Had he gotten her to fall in love with him after a single meeting? Could she no longer ignore him? "But¡­ but princess¡­ you''re at my wedding!" he eximed, trying to convey to her that he simply couldn''t be with her. He was already in over his head with one wife who he was being forced to have, if he had to deal with a scorned lover on the side his life would beplete chaos. "Exactly!" the princess eximed, trying to exin to this dumb lovestruck fool that she couldn''t be with him. "It''s YOUR wedding! You have to get married, just not to the elf you want. Trust me, ultimately, things will turn out for the best this way!" Aoi was teetering with excitement as she tried to figure out what was happening. She was filling in the nks herself, anding up with a love story for the ages. Lex, on the other hand, was trying his best to suppress hisughter. It was a good thing his expressions couldn''t be seen under his mask, or else it would be evident how hard it was for him to keep a straight expression. "No, no, no, this can''t be happening!" the heir said as he turned away from them and walked back into his room, his thoughts swirling. He had to think of a solution, and fast. How had things gotten so out of control? He was only trying to get his hands on some ingredients!n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om The princess, who was trying out the soft approach, was losing her patience now. What the hell was wrong with this guy? Why was he so adamant? Sure, she was beautiful. But that was no reason to harass her with his undying, poem inspiring love¡­ suddenly her thoughts paused. ''Wait a minute¡­ if the part about him being married was removed, and it was true that his love was really so great, he wasn''t a bad candidate. No, ew, what the hell am I thinking?'' Having recovered from her momentarypse in judgment, the princess became irritated and followed the heir into his room. Lex could feel that the situation was escting, so he decided to end it soon and take them all to the Inn before something unexpected happened. "Let''s follow them in," he said to Aoi, before walking behind the princess. "Listen pal, this is happening whether you like it or not. Forget about your own problems for a second and think about how I feel? Why do I have to get dragged into this mess?" Kenta, who was panicking, suddenly paused. Yes, the poor princess. If he was having such a tough time, how did the princess who had fallen in love with him feel? Before Kenta had an opportunity to respond, Lex cleared his throat. "If I may interrupt, I believe I have the solution to all your problems," said Lex as he walked closer to the two, making sure Aoi was close by as well. "Lex?" Kenta asked, suddenly recognizing the voice. By hispletely covered appearance it was difficult to identify him, especially since there were a few races who preferred to staypletely covered. It was only when he spoke that Kenta realized who he was, and a crazy thought came to his mind. Was he actually trying to help him escape the wedding? Seriously? "I''m d you recognize me," Lex said, his voice warm. "That will make things easier." He summoned an envelope from his spatial ring and ced it on a table nearby, and took out three golden keys and handed one to each of them. "What''s this going to do?" asked the princess who was irritated now. Having ordinary elves fall in love with her was not enough, now that she had to deal with one who had massive power and influence, she really wanted to resolve the situation lest it be something that bothered her throughout her life. "I''ll exin in a moment," said Lex as he initiated his own return to the Inn. Since it took a few moments he waited patiently in silence, and just as the time was about to be up, he used his spirit sense to crush the keys in their hands. All four of them vanished at the same time. Chapter 813 Happily Kidnapped Chapter 813 Happily Kidnapped Within a millionth of a second after the four disappeared, five Celestials appeared in the room. There was a look of intrigue in their eyes as they scanned the room but could not detect any lingering traces from their teleportation, which was extremely unusual. It had to be known that even if they themselves teleported somewhere, they would leave behind some traces that could be sensed or detected. Of course, if they nned far in advance and prepared meticulously, they could teleport somewhere without leaving any residual traces from thews of space, but even that was conditional. Moreover, they were in the official peak realm of the Origin realm. How could someone in the Golden corepare to them? The answer was simple. They couldn''t. That left only one exnation for what had just urred. The golden keys that Lex had handed out had been supreme treasures, the likes of which could not be easily procured. The heirs'' father picked up the envelope left behind by Lex and opened it. Withiny a small letter exining that Lex had taken Kenta to a ce called Midnight Inn which was, as was evident from the name, an Inn. Lex had also left behind a couple of golden keys in the envelope as well, in case the father wanted to investigate.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Although he had been brief, he had given somewhat of an overview of the Inn, as well as the fact that it was an entity recognized by the Henali, so there was no cause for concern. He coulde and check it out himself if he so wished. "It seems we are behind the times," said one of the Celestials as he read the letter. "Are you going to go?" asked another, though it was clear that he could not have cared less. He was, instead, enjoying the fact that he had won his bet. "I will go, yes. But first, I need to confirm with the Henali if what is written in this letter is true. It would be tragic if this all was an borate ploy to trap me, and I went in without any preparations." "Suit yourself," said another Celestial before disappearing away. None of them were really concerned about the wedding. Even if Kenta did not appear, they could just use their abilities to create a projection of Kenta as a stand in. Regardless of whether the heir was here or not, he would be getting married today. ***** The three holding the keys did not feel the teleportation at all, as it was very different from normal teleportations which would have various negative effects. For them, one moment they were in Kenta''s room, and another they were in an entirely new ce. The entrance of the Inn, where all new guests would teleport to, was borately decorated without being overdone. There was greenery, there was man made architecture, there was a massive flowing river nearby in case any of the guests were aquatic, and there were many more features that made the ce look like paradise. Lex''s own visit to Zuri Adisa''s had given him a unique perspective of what guests must feel like when they entered the Midnight Inn, and he used that to improve thending zone, to improve all guests'' first impressions. A natural, exquisite fragrance from nearby flowers specially grown by the turtle elevated everyone''s mood and heightened their senses. The pure, unpolluted spiritual energy of the Inn was extraordinarily appealing to nature loving races like elves and nymphs, even more so than others. It was for that reason that the three, instead of being rmed or frightened by the sudden change in their location, became mesmerized. They forgot that they were caught up in a heated argument, and forgot their impending responsibilities. They were too preupied enjoying the purity of the environment. Lex also did not disturb them, as he wanted them to temper their anger as much as possible. After all, Kenta aside, he would have to apologize to two possibly furiousdies he had somewhat manipted. At the same time, he was also feeling extremely satisfied at a sessful mission. He would soon be free from one of the inscriptions on his body. Eventually, Kenta recovered, and turned to look at Lex. He was the first to understand the whole situation, and guessed that Lex had a hand in the princess'' arrival at his doorstep at such a time, though he did not know if her feelings for him were genuine. Being charming was such a burden, he could not really me her for falling for him. Seeing that Kenta had recovered, Lex decided to dy things no further. He cleared his throat, attracting the attention of the princess and Aoi, before saying, "wee to the Midnight Inn, the best Inn in all the universe. I believe I have some exining to do, though, how about we relocate to a more private location first." Neither Aoi nor the princess voiced anyints. Although they should have been concerned, for they had just possibly been kidnapped, but their intuition said that this was a safe ce. Moreover, there were countless others arriving and leaving here beside them, and they could see various guests being weed with a simr greeting, iming the Inn to be the best in the universe. Nodding his head, Lex led them towards one of the public transport facilities nearby, and procured them all peacocks to ride. By now, having lived in the Inn for so long, the peacocks had all grown tremendously strong bodies, and a few of them had evolved into Beasts as well, albeit only in the Qi training realm. They had grownrger, more beautiful and better capable of carrying guests of all shapes and sizes. They even had saddles, though none of them opted for a saddle. Each of them got on the peacock as if they had been riding them since birth, though their fascination with the birds clearly stated otherwise. Chapter 814 Tour Chapter 814 Tour Lex led the way, guiding his peacock to follow the flowing river. Over the past few months, the nning division had slowly and steadily been providing him with ns and blueprints to develop the various ''empty'' areas of the Inn. A majority of the Inn was upied by wilderness. That had not changed, but by organizing it somewhat, and doing some basdscaping, the outlook changed drastically. Lex could not help but think back to when he originally got the Inn. At that time, Lex was doing things randomly and halfheartedly, without really considering how things would work out. He recalled how, when he initially brought in various birds, he had not considered their feed at all. If it weren''t for one of his guests, Helen, who began feeding them, many of them may have died. Speaking of whom, Lex hadn''t seen her in a while. He hoped she was alright. All in all, things had changed a lot in thest year and a half. But at the same time, these changes also made him excited for the future. It was a pleasant change from the days where he would wallow in his own depression. "I would like to begin by apologizing to you both," Lex said as he addressed Aoi and the princess. "Truth be told, I needed to reach Kenta, and well¡­ I had a feeling I could reach him through you." Lex tried to give them an apologetic look before he recalled that he was wearing a mask. "Does that mean that he doesn''t¡­ that he isn''t obsessed with me?" the princess asked, her voice hopeful. "Ah, no, he isn''t," Lex admitted honestly, though a small part of him had wished the misunderstanding would have continued. It was quite entertaining to watch. Instead of being angry at Lex, the princess only breathed out a sigh of relief. Kenta, who was listening to everything from the side, felt slightly offended at how relieved the princess was. Then he recalled that he too had been fretting about her being obsessed with him, and now that he knew it wasn''t true he too¡­ no actually, he didn''t feel relieved, just disappointed. Seeing that no verbal abuse was being flung his way, Lex felt relieved, and continued speaking. "To make it up to you, I''ll introduce you to the Midnight Inn. Moreover, I''ll cover your stay here. Feel free to stay as long as you like and enjoy yourself. Whenever you wish to leave, you need only think about it, and you''ll be teleported back to where we entered from. Moreover, you''ll get a copy of the golden key, so you cane here again whenever you wish." "Is anyone wee here?" Aoi asked as she held out her hands and let them gently caress the leaves from the small bushes they passed. It looked like she was just appreciating them, but Lex could sense that she was actuallymunicating with the nts! Moreover, they were responding! Even Lex had not talked to the nts at the Inn. In fact, he didn''t even know that was possible. Maybe this was a unique trait of Nymphs. "Was this your n from the beginning?" Kenta asked, as he finally realized where Lex''s confidence came from. "Are you a part of the Midnight Inn?" "Haha, no I''m not from the Inn, just a normal guest. But yes, my confidence in taking you away came from being able to teleport to the Inn from anywhere. You may not know this but, here, inside the Inn, even a Celestial Immortal is not a big deal," said Lex, though the reality was far from the truth. "There have been a few times people tried to attack the Inn, but each time the Innkeeper killed everyone of them. So, over here, I''m not really worried about anything. Now that you''re here, you can finally run away from your wedding. If you raise your privilege level high enough, you can teleport away to another without needing to return to Tiya. You are officially free to do as you please." Kenta smiled wryly. He was free, but at the same time, was he really? Could he give up the temptation of reaching an unbelievably high cultivation realm just so he could pursue some fantasy called ''freedom''? Moreover, was such freedom even a good thing to begin with? Kenta shook his head without answering. Both he and his adopted father knew that he would return to Tiya, eventually. However¡­ there was nothing preventing him from enjoying himself in the meantime. His grin widened. "Lex, I have a fantastic idea. If anyone can teleport here from anywhere, then¡­ then¡­ isn''t this the best ce in the universe to get ingredients? I can get the best ingredients from across the universe and open up the best restaurant!" Excitement filled his eyes, and he started to pant as more and more ideas flooded into his mind. If it was really possible¡­ if he could really do this¡­n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Hmm, joining the Inn is not exactly easy. You have to take a test andpletely join the Inn. That means if you would ever hope to return to Darmin, it might be an issue, since it''spletely neutral and cannot be affiliated with any other organization. But who knows, maybe you can just rent out a ce from the Inn and open your restaurant. You''d still have to prove yourself first, though." Instead of responding to Lex, Kenta looked towards the princess with heated eyes. "What do you say, Asami? With your divine produce, and my cooking skills, we could-" Kenta was too distracted to dodge the shoe the princess threw at him. She had suffered enough thanks to this idiotic heir, and wanted nothing more to do with him. "Lex, how about a tour of this ce?" she asked instead, her gaze turning towards their mysterious tour guide. "By the way, did you really write that poem yourself or was that made up as well?" "No, that was really me," Lex admitted. "If you want a tour, I have a few ideas. If you want to see anywhere specific, I can take you there. But if you want to see the entire Inn, then the train is the best option." Lex began to introduce the various features of the Inn, not at all noticing the unusual glint in the princesses eyes. Meanwhile, Kenta rubbed his nose as he began to rethink his n. Apparently relying on his charm to procure the best ingredients was not feasible. Chapter 815 Awkward Chapter 815 Awkward Lex spent the next few hours apanying the princess, Asami, as well as Aoi and Kenta. He had introduced various aspects of the Inn to them, while at the same time learned a lot about them and their backgrounds as well. It also expanded his understanding of Suera. A gxy, any gxy at all, was usually upied by millions of different races. Most gxies were not owned, over controlled, by any one race. In fact, most gxies barely had any civilization capable of proper interster travel. Suera happened to be one of the gxies which had seen the advance of two different races, so much so that over the course of time, they upied a majority of it. That was not to say other races were exterminated, but that most races that would try to fight against the expansion of those two races had been eliminated. Those two races were elves and dwarves. All other races that existed and prospered within the gxy were linked to those two races in one way another, simr to how Aoi usually worked with elves. The elves and dwarves used to be at war but only recently called for a cease fire and, surprising everyone, even became allies. Since he was mostly with elves, he learnt a lot about their culture and learnt that the elves¡­ well, a nice way of putting it was that they were quite conservative. And racist. And traditionalists. The main body of elves consisted of various ns and organizations who joined together to form the Central Elven Alliance. The elves in that alliance were quite conservative in the sense that for millions of years they had adhered to the norms and traditions of their ancestors, did not like change, and shunned anyone who tried to bring change. But if one adhered to those few principles, they were quite friendly. But when the race spread so far and wide, there were naturally outliers. Many elves did not want to spend their lives worshiping trees, being vegetarian and adhering to rules that did not make sense to them. The existence of this group nearly caused a civil war. How exactly that dispute was resolved was unknown, even to the younger generation of elves such as Asami and Kenta. What truly mattered was that these outliers eventually split from the main, and formed their own organizations and their own traditions. Both Asami and Kenta belonged to such factions. Aoi was, naturally, a subordinate of Asami technically speaking, though due to their friendship they did not treat it as such. Unlike Kenta, whose background made it so that he was limited in what he could do, Asami did note from a neutral organization. In fact, her background was quite prized because they had a monopoly on what was called the Sacred Harvest. The elves weren''t too keen on borating what the Sacred Harvest was, just that it was very helpful for elves'' growth. To be honest, taking the group around the Inn was originally to get rid of his guilt for using them and wait for the Celestials arrival, but as time went by, he was d he was doing this. Although he did not mind continuing to cultivate rigorously as he had been, it was beginning to build up a pressure that he had not noticed. It was only now, that he was casually strolling around with a few acquaintances, that he realized how long it had been since he just rxed with a few friends. But all good things must eventuallye to an end. "Lex, Kenta''s father has arrived at the Inn," informed Mary. "Send someone to guide him to us," replied Lex, and turned to look at Kenta. "It looks like your old man is about to arrive." Indeed, just as he finished his sentence, the heirs father arrived as if teleporting over. The only thing was¡­ he wasn''t alone. Beside him was another elf¡­ in a wedding dress made of flowers and leaves. "Congrattions my boy, you''re married," the heirs father said, a sly grin on his face.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Congrattions," Asami said immediately as well, as if mocking him. "Congrattions," Lex followed along as well, a wide grin on his face though no one could see it. By this point, he was just being petty about the whole payment thing. Kenta froze, unable to process what was happening, until eventually he turned to look at his ''wife''. "It''s nice to meet you," he said, somewhat awkwardly. "It would have been nice if you attended your own wedding," his wife responded, clearly not happy with him. "Ah¡­ I was kidnapped," Kenta quickly defended himself. She turned to look at Lex, as if she knew he was responsible for what happened. "Your father-inw and I had a bet over whether I could do it or not. I''m quitepetitive, and got carried away. My apologies, it won''t happen again," said Lex proactively. She only shook her head and turned and looked back at Kenta. "My name is Sohee Haru, now that I have taken on yourst name." "Wait, Sohee, does that mean¡­" "Yes, before you, I was the heir of Tiya." Kenta froze again, and this time, so did everyone else. Did Kenta just get married to the person¡­ he reced? How awkward was that? It seemed that no matter how petty Lex was, he could not match up to the standard of Kenta''s own parents. Looking away from them, Lex turned his attention to the Celestial Immortal. "Senior, I was giving everyone a tour of the Midnight Inn. Would you like a tour as well?" "Little brat, I have over a hundred thousand guests waiting for me back at the pce. I have no time for a tour. I''ll be leaving my worthless son here for a while, bute by after two days. I will do as I promised and help you remove your inscription. As for the tour¡­ it will have to wait for a while." With that, the heirs'' father left the Inn, leaving them in silence. Everyone turned to look at Kenta and Sohee once again, who were just staring at one another in silence. Suddenly, Lex felt d that he was single. Chapter 816 Gamer dragon Chapter 816 Gamer dragon After spending some time together, Lex felt like he had developed a bit of friendship with the group of three. But with the addition of Sohee, Kenta''s new wife, the group became extremely awkward and silent. Any time Kenta would try to talk to Sohee, or even talk at all, she would say something that would shut him up. She would say things like, ''if I had to be reced by someone, I at least hoped it was someonepetent,'' or ''I''m d to see that even after getting married you can be such good friends with the princess you were caught flirting with''. Honestly, Lex had no idea how he could remedy the situation. Although he tried a few times to smooth things over, it seemed like Sohee was just in a very bad mood right now - not that Lex could me her. Ultimately, Lex could not take the awkward silence anymore. He told the group that their stay was sponsored by him, to make up for the fact that¡­ he had kidnapped them all. He also let Kenta know that he would help him talk to someone from the Inn, and if he could impress them then maybe he had a chance of opening a restaurant there. Then he informed them that he had some work to do, and he disappeared as quickly as possible! "Mary, inform Velma about the ''unique'' situation with Kenta, Asami and his wife. I''m sure she will be extremely intrigued. At the same time, have her judge if Kenta is a good cook. If he really can cook well, there''s no harm in having him as a cook. It''s always better to find people who have a passion for such things." He had two days before he needed to return to Tiya. He did not expect Hix to find Barley any time soon, but checking in once in a while was not a bad idea. In the meantime, he would continue his cultivation sessions. The more of the de of grass he ate, the more he built an affinity for it. That meant he could eat more of the grass while having to endure less pain afterwards. Moreover, although for now the change was very subtle, he could tell he was healing much faster than before. The best part was, Lex no longer needed to blindly guess why this was happening. With Pel around, he could ask him questions and receive adequate answers. Although the ring had a majority of its memories still sealed, what it recalled was enough for Lex for now. "Howe I''m healing quicker after gaining an affinity for the healingw? Am I developing some kind of new bloodline? Or am I mutating into another species?" Lex asked Pel during his next cultivation session. "Neither, although bing a new species is somewhat closer to the answer than your other guesses. In cultivation, up until the Nascent realm, with each new realm your strength grows a definite amount. That means, irrespective of your own personal skills or attributes, the new realm itself gives you new and greater strength. However, that changes once you step into the immortal realms. "From the immortal realms onwards, a majority of a cultivator''s powerses from their ts orws, and ts basically rely onws anyway so they don''t really count. That''s an oversimplification of the situation, but you can take it as such. Anyway, in that realm cultivators actively use thosews to bring about various effects. Your body, by gaining an affinity for thosews, is not biologically bing better able to heal. Instead, it uses thosews passively, to a very minute extent, and somewhat allows you to touch upon thosews before you actually reach a sufficient realm to do so.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "In simple terms, you have a cheat. For example, you look at things in the form of a video game. Imagine you are at level one, but gain a weapon that''s level 10. You can''t really use it, because you''re too weak, but sometimes just holding it is enough to gain benefits from its passive effects." Upon hearing all that, Lex became stunned. "Don''t tell me that in your previous life you were a gamer?" he eximed. Why was a former dragon turned spirit realm giving him examples from video games? "In my previous life I lived for millions of years. In my previous life I had indulged in pretty much every kind of entertainment and time pass that was ever invented." Lex was stunned, but upon consideration, figured that it only made sense. Moreover, with that much time on his hands, he bet Pel grinded all games until he got 100% achievements. Suddenly, Lex gained massive respect for the dragon. He was still going to use its living corpse as a cultivation mat, but that did not change the fact that he now felt massive respect for it. Like that, he spent the next two days either cultivating atop the dragon to raise his cultivation, or raising his affinity with thews of regrowth by eating the de. Once enough time had passed, and he was about to return to Tiya, Lex paused to see how his recovery was going. It was difficult to tell, but he swore he could see a faintyer of skin forming below the scab that had covered his entire body. But, once that was done, Lex could no longer ignore the one painful thing he had been trying to avoid. He finally checked in on Kenta, his wife and the rest, and was immediately stumped. Why was the situation so different? Velma, Sohee and Asami were riding a rollercoaster andughing as they giggled to one another, while Kenta was buying groceries at the Guild room. Aoi was in the greenhouse talking to Zen, the small patch of grass that had gained sentience and be an immortal all at once, despite having an extremely frail body. Aoi and Kenta were acting within his expectations, but since when had Sohee, Velma and Asami be such good friends? Chapter 817 Ended before it began Chapter 817 Ended before it began "Mary, has anything strange happened with the group while I was cultivating?" Lex asked. It was not that he had a bias against Sohee, but that their first meeting was genuinely too awkward. He did not me her, for she had probably been forced to marry the very elf who reced her as the heir to such a powerful force. It was only normal for there to be some bitterness and resentment.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Mary, who appeared above Lex, this time dressed as cupid, opened her mouth to speak, but paused. After some hesitation, she simply said, "Velma is very extroverted, as you know. Plus all things rted to romance excite her to no end. As a result, she is very good at dealing with such things. She cleared up all the misunderstandings between the group, and now Asami and Sohee at least are good friends. Kenta and Sohee have also decided to work on their rtionship, for it won''t really benefit anyone if they stay at odds." She gave Lex an odd look, but then disappeared before he noticed anything. It may not seem like it, but Lex was extremely perceptive, especially when it came to things rted to himself. At least that''s how he was with the system and all things rted to cultivation. Other, simpler things seemed to go over his head. With Mary''s reassurance Lex rxed, and decided to teleport over and ask them if any of them nned on returning with him. As much as he liked hanging out with the group, this was probably thest time he was going to have an opportunity. After all, he had to use his time wisely and cultivate as much as possible. When he teleported over to Kenta, the elf boldly dered that he did not n on returning to Tiya for the next few years while he fulfilled his passion for opening up a restaurant. Anyway, he was already married now, so his adopted father could be relieved that there was someone to watch over him and keep him out of trouble. He was not really needed for anything special for a while. Aoi, likewise, imed that she wanted to spend some more time here. She was trying to get the turtle to acknowledge her as a student, but the turtle itself was a baby. How could it focus on teaching? All its attention was focused on ying around. Well, that''s what Lex thought but he did not say that aloud. When he approached the three girls, however, he had an odd interaction. Sohee stared at him intently, as if studying him, while Velma giggled a little. Asami, the princess, epted his offer to return with him. After all, she had disappeared without warning. Although she was enjoying the Inn, she needed to go report to her family and continue with her duties. After saying farewell to Asami, Sohee red at Lex once, before turning away. There was definitely something wrong with her. "How did you get over the awkwardness?" Lex asked, unable to contain himself. "It was a delicate matter. I could not outright say that I disliked Kenta to her, as that would be insulting her husband in front of her. Yet I had to assure her that I had no interest in him either. Velma made the process easier, and once all the misunderstandings were cleared, we became good friends. Honestly, Sohee is quite nice. She''s just slightly cautious because she''s lost her position before, and so doesn''t easily feel safe with her new circumstances. Once she opens up, however, she''s a nice person. "You should also take the chance to get to know her. Perhaps you could read her some of the poetry you wrote. That might make her more amenable to you. Though, I don''t rmend the one about the Blood Rose." "Haha, I don''t really have much experience writing poetry," Lex confessed. "That was the first time I actually did so. I don''t really see myself writing any more any time soon either." "That''s a shame," Asami said simply, and looked at Lex from the side of her eyes. In her mind she could not help but think how apt his poem was. The two could be friends, but not lovers. Their station and destiniesy elsewhere, thoroughly dividing them. He said he only wrote it casually, so then why could she feel the emotions in that poem so deeply herself? For the briefest of moments, Asami felt weak. But the moment passed, and she collected herself. "Shall we go?" she asked. Lex nodded and said, "You only need to think of returning. You will immediately be teleported back." The two, an elf and a human, a princess and a universal entrepreneur, disappeared at the same time, and reappeared in Kenta''s room. Though they journeyed together for this brief period, their paths were ultimately diverging. It was unknown if they would even have the opportunity to meet again. "I have to report to my family," said Asami, her voice oddly gentle. "Let us part here." "In that case, farewell. If youe to the Midnight Inn again, you can try looking for me. Although I''m usually busy, I also spend a lot of time there." The princess simply nodded and walked away. Lex stood there for a moment and watched her leave. He was notpletely oblivious to what was happening, and considering the newfound friendship between Asami, Sohee, and Velma, he could somewhat understand why Sohee was ring at him. But somehow, the rtionship between him and this princess ended before it even began. Honestly speaking, Asami was indeed very beautiful, and they did seem to hit it off during the short time they spent together. But just because she was beautiful, or just because they got along, did not mean that he would be desperate to be with her. Lex scratched his head, but then turned his attention elsewhere. He did not have the luxury to think about romance with danger looming over his immediate future. The princess, who was walking away, contacted her family and filled them in on what had happened thest couple of days. Before she ended the call, she requested a patch of Blood Roses to be grown in her personal garden - the ones Aoi had altered so that they could grow anywhere. The princess had be fond of them. Chapter 818 Inscriptions Chapter 818 Inscriptions With the princess departing on her way, Lex could now proceed towards the heir''s father. He did not need to go looking for him, for an attendant already stood there waiting for Lex''s arrival. "Mr. Lex? I have been instructed to bring you to the guests'' library when you''re ready." "Lead the way," Lex said, allowing the attendant to lead him through the pce. While he crossed the unnecessarilyplicated pathway, Lex could not help but think that he had been to quite a few ces,byrinths and ancientirs. The grandeur of the ce no longer seemed to affect him. Yes, everything was rich and fancy and giving off extremely pure spiritual energy and tinged with a lovely aroma. So, the basic standard then. That was not to say that the pce wasn''t spectacr. It just didn''t grab Lex''s attention the way these things used to. He passed the indoor garden, behind the waterfall of spirit water, through the corridor that seemed to contain miniaturized stars as lights, above the¡­ Wait, what? Lex stopped and looked up, finding it hard to believe what his senses were telling him. No, those were not fairy lights on the ceiling, they were actual stars that had been shrunk and ced there! Alongside a dim, gentle light, the stars seemed to be giving off extremely pure yet mild spirit energy. Alright, he admitted it, that was a new one. When he finally reached the library, he discovered that he was not the only one waiting there. Beside him, there was the dwarf Lex had seen previously, the one he felt a threat from. As if that was not enough, apanying the dwarf was someone from a race Lex did not recognize who also gave off a threatening aura! Besides those two, there were a few others, but Lex did not pay attention to them. He felt a strong urge to go and challenge the swarf immediately to a fight. His body started heating up and his heart started beating faster, but just before the urge overwhelmed him, Lex looked away. In his right eye, a faint image of a sword had appeared, though it was diminishing now. Lex had realized that his reaction wasn''t normal, and immediately picked out that he was being influenced by the sword again. A worthy challenger seemed to stimte the sword, but not enough to make Lex lose himself. He went and sat down in a corner, closed his eyes, and began to meditate. He didn''t like the fact that there was something that could affect his mind, but since there was nothing he could do about it for the moment, he would treat it as training his mind. One by one, the people in the library were called, and each of them were escorted to different rooms. It seemed like this was the waiting area for anyone who had an appointment, although Lex doubted that all of them were going to meet the Celestial immortal. Whatever the case, it had nothing to do with him. He was focused on maintaining a steady mind, right up until an attendant arrived and escorted him further. When he left the room, the dwarf finally looked towards where Lex had gone. He was sure that Lex was about to challenge him, as the dwarf had felt a very fierce aura targeting him, before it withdrew on its own. Not that he was afraid. When Lex was finally brought to the heir''s father, he was surprised to see that the immortal was sitting cross-legged inside a formation, with a smaller formation ced in front of him, seemingly prepared for Lex. Not only did the formations look extremelyplicated, and expensive, but he could tell that there were a number of spirit items active in the room as well, though he could not determine their use. "Sit," the Celestial immortal said without opening his eyes, only raising a hand to indicate that Lex should sit within the prepared formation. "I have a few questions for you before we begin. I hope you understand that I am not prying, but that this is necessary information." "Please, ask," said Lex as he sat down. It seemed like¡­ these inscriptions were an even bigger deal than he assumed. He thought that it would be a simple task for someone so strong to remove the inscriptions from him. It seemed he was wrong. "First, are you aware of who put these inscriptions on your body?" "I cannot say for certain," confessed Lex. "Although if I had to guess, I would say one of my parents." "Do you know the cultivation realm of your parents?" he asked, but then realized something and didn''t give Lex a chance to answer. "Wait, you are a human. If you suspect that your parents did this, is Jotun your father?" "Eh, no, he''s not, although I''m most likely rted to him. His brother is my family''s ancestor. As for my parents'' cultivation realm, I am not sure. We have a¡­plicated rtionship." The immortal could not help and open his eyes as he looked at Lex, countless unknown thoughts running through his head. "It seems the human race is prospering more than I was aware. Based on your answer, I take it you do not know any details of the ones who put this inscription on you, yes?" "That is correct. I did not even know about these inscriptions until senior Zuri informed me of them."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The immortal pondered for a moment before he spoke again. "The reason I am asking all these questions is that the more I know, the easier the process shall be. Whatnguage these inscriptions are in, what is the logic behind them, and how they were ced are all secrets even from me. They are most ingenious, as they have been ced in such a way that they have be a part of your body itself, just as much as your heart and brain are a part of you. Removing them¡­ without harming you will not be a simple task." Chapter 819 Thanks for the meal

Chapter 819 Thanks for the meal

Lex''s mood dropped as he considered the ramification of the immortal words. The inscriptions had be a part of his body, and at the moment were not really harming him in any way. It was only if he tried to be an immortal that they would pollute his body, ording to what the Celestial had informed him previously. Yet at the same time, even for a Celestial, it was not simple to remove them. No wonder the system had never picked up on them. Even his tumor, although a part of his body, was actively harming him. "But worry not," the immortal continued. "Although it is not simple, all it requires is a little preparation. I can still do it. Actually, if I wasn''t concerned about not harming you, it would be easy to remove the inscriptions. They are not that strong. It''s just maintaining your health that is theplicated part." "Well I''m d you are concerned about my health," Lex said wryly. It would be quite problematic otherwise. "Remove all your clothing, as well as all items and jewelry and set them aside. I will begin momentarily." Lex froze for a moment, but then he had no choice but toply. He took off his clothes without any hesitation, as if he was not feeling extremely awkward and embarrassed. Though he could not decide if it was being naked which was embarrassing him, or the fact that he was skinless! He folded everything and put it neatly on a table, before taking his ce inside the formation once again. "Brace yourself, this is going to hurt." Before Lex had an opportunity to respond, the formation was activated and Lex felt an unquestionably massive force gripping his body, preventing him from moving. Then, the force entered his body. "HOLY-" Lex was not able toplete what he was saying for he fell unconscious, a defense mechanism of his body. The Celestial activated another formation the job of which was to act as life support, but then realized that Lex''s body was actually quite tenacious, and despite the immense pressure it was under, showed no signs of copsing or shutting down. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "The mystery deepens," the immortal mused, before turning his attention to the inscriptions. Based on what he could tell, all the inscriptions were a form of protection for Lex. He could not determine what the one on his forehead did, for it had deteriorated on its own, but the one in his heart seemed to be hiding an innate feature of his body. The one on his neck seemed to be a tracker. He could not decide which one to remove, for all three of them were in extremely delicate ces where even the slightest deviation of energy could kill Lex. Whoever ced these there in the first ce was extremely skilled. The immortal spent some time trying to decide which one to remove, and ultimately decided on the tracker. Of the three, the one in Lex''s heart was the most difficult to remove, while the one on the skull had already deteriorated on its own. In a few years, it may even vanish entirely. That only left the one on his neck. Once decided, the immortal did not hesitate. Although Lex''s body did not require the life support formation, he activated it nheless, and began the process. Slowly, ever so slowly, his own energy seeped into Lex''s body, traveled through his meridians, and reached his neck. His energy simply wafted the inscription, before moving on. He was supposed to channel the energy out of Lex''s body as it was not contaminated, but something unusual happened. Before he could take it out, the energy was absorbed directly by Lex''s body! Just as the immortal was rmed, and even considered stopping the operation lest something unexpected happens, a spirit sense connected to his mind and transmitted a message. "Thank you for the meal, senior!" said the Lotus, who had been roused from his slumber due to the delectable energy coursing through Lex'' s body. The Celestial trembled. "Who the hell are you?" he could not help but utter, before he quickly shut his mouth. His stupid curiosity was what got him in this situation, so it was best to keep it suppressed lest hend himself in more trouble. The unusual auras he had felt on Lex''s body earlier had let him know that Lex''s background was absolutely not simple. When he learned of the Midnight Inn, he more or less confirmed that Lex had some connection to that entity. But even being a janitor counted as being a part of the organization, which would allow Lex toe in contact with those various auras. But, regardless, he did not want to leave any chance for someone to create any trouble for him, so he offered to remove the inscription on his own. But now it seemed like Lex''s connection to the Midnight Inn was not as simple as a normal member. Or else, why would there be a hidden guardian inside Lex''s body? Due to his unfamiliarity with the Lotus on Lex''s back, simply due to how incredibly rare it was, the Celestial had misunderstood the situation. He thought the simple thanks from the Lotus was a subtle warning for him not to try anything, not that he had any intention to do so from the beginning. The immortal became extremely serious, and decided toplete the removal as quickly as possible without endangering Lex. The Lotus, who was suddenly being fed even more energy, became even more ecstatic. This was a rare delicacy. Of course, the Lotus also knew how to share, so he used some of that energy to begin healing Lex''s body as well, slowly regrowing his skin. The procedure, despite itsplexity, did notst long. A few hourster, once he was done, the heirs'' father teleported away, no longer willing to be involved with Lex. Maintaining his neutrality was bing a real hassle these days. Chapter 820 What next? Chapter 820 What next? Before he felt anything else, Lex heard himself groan. Slowly, sensation returned to him and he felt that his entire body was incredibly stiff. At the same time, he felt incredibly bloated, as if he had been eating nonstop for days. He groaned again as he slowly brought his hands to wipe the sand from his eyes. "What the hell happened?" he managed to mumble as he opened his eyes, and discovered that his vision was blurry. He was disoriented, nauseous, and his neck was killing him. It felt like he was back in college. Unfortunately, he got no reply to his question, so he could only hold on while his body recovered. Fortunately, his debilitated state did notst long. In a few minutes his vision cleared up and all his ailments seemed to fade. He pped his hand onto the floor to pick himself up, and to his great surprise, he noticed a very pale and extremely see-throughyer of skin covering it. "Mary, how long have I been out of it?" he asked, his gaze fixed on his hand. Normally, it would take him weeks to recover so much. "A few hours at most," she responded, to his delight. He looked around and saw that he was still inside the formation, though the immortal was gone. All his clothes and items were on the side, neatly folded and untouched. He picked himself up and put on his clothes, flexing his arms and legs as he did. The more he moved, the quicker he recovered, though the unusual bloated feeling was not disappearing. "Thank you senior," Lex said out loud, and bowed. Although the immortal was not there, Lex was sure that all his actions were under the immortal''s supervision. If he wanted to meet Lex he would have. Since he had note, then that was a form of farewell. After waiting a moment to make sure that the immortal was not responding, Lex turned around and left. Outside, an attendant was waiting for him to guide him outside the pce. Although it was quite thoughtful, the attendants'' eager attitude to lead Lex outside almost made him suspect that they wanted him gone. But how was that possible? They had quite a good rtionship! Lex actually counted the Celestial immortal amongst the list of his personal contacts, though admittedly he did not know his name yet.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Whatever the case, Lex had his own tasks toplete, so he did not dy either. Once he left the pce, Lex made his way into the capital city and rented a room in a hotel for a day. Once inside, he finally checked the card that was given to him by Hix. Unfortunately, there was no indication of any progress in searching for Barley. Lex frowned and considered if he should consult one of the oracles inside the Inn. After all, he only had a few weeks left till the Inn was sealed. Afterwards, even he would be trapped outside if he remained out, so he had to conclude all his business by then. But the problem with that was the Destiny level protection around the Inn. It would prevent divination for anyone inside the Inn. Based on that logic, it should also prevent anyone inside the Inn from divining anything outside, right? ording to the scale he knew, if someone wanted to break through the Divine level formation, then their divination would have to be of the Death level, which was the level after Destiny. Lex did not understand what this scale was based on, but he at least knew the names of the levels. Shaking his head, Lex teleported back to the Inn. He had no way of knowing if his inscription was really removed or not, but he trusted that it had been done. Once back at the Inn, the first thing Lex did was check his own status to see why he was feeling bloated. Condition: Due to extremely high level spiritual energy passing through them, your meridians are swollen. They will recover on their own within 24 hours. Remarks: You''re so used to being pitiful, good things make you sick. Extremely pure energy¡­ considering his physical condition, Lex decided not to cultivate for the next few days to let his body recover. Although the system said he''d be fine in a day, he didn''t want to risk it. Besides, Vera''s event wasing up. He could spend the next few days watching over that. He could also try out Kenta''s cooking as Leo. More and more ideas kepting to him for how he could prolong his rest from his cultivation sessions. This was the kind of creativity that usually only hits someone when they''re trying to study for exams, but their brain keeps thinking of various fun tasks to do. Teleporting to his office, Lex pulled up all the information about the uing event. To be entirely honest, even though Lex wanted to do a lot with it, it was Vera''s event, so he could only do what she asked. The event wouldst five days and was not too exciting. Basically, Vera had booked a venue, and all attendees would enter the venue at the beginning of the event, after which it would be sealed. The venue would only open five dayster. The only actual responsibility Lex had was sealing the venue and doing the advertising once the event was actually over. Of course, there was nothing sinister nned, as all attendees would be informed beforehand that the venue would be sealed. To enter or not was entirely up to them. That was it. So technically, Lex should not have paid such an event any attention at all whatsoever. The problem was, the number of expected participants was massive in the millions. Moreover, all of them were either oracles or diviners, or basically had some profession that dealt with predicting the future. He would feel like he would be missing out on a massive opportunity if he did nothing. The only question was, what could he do? Chapter 821 Relaxing just a little Chapter 821 Rxing just a little ?821 Rxing just a little The next few days passed calmly for Lex. The first thing he did was n how to get some sleep. Although he did not feel particrly tired, he was aware of the fact that his body had been under extreme stress. Not only had he not healedpletely yet, but the process of removing his inscription was far from simple. Just thinking back to the pain he felt before he cked out made him tremble. Lex had tolerated pain before, both in his body and soul, yet that was a different experience altogether. It was as if his very being was bing undone. He spent some time in the Hot tub room, and even found time to go to Harry''s barbershop. Yes, he did not have hair. But Harry had long transcended the simple grooming he used to do back in the day. Although, of course, if that''s what a client wanted, that''s what they would get. But Harry could relieve the stress umted in the body, mind and soul, among other things. One of his most popr new attractions was the Soul Pond, which could sustain or heal broken souls, though admittedly its healing effects were extremely minimal. Its primary use was to nurture soul treasures, techniques, and to support soul based cultivation methods. His own mor Sorcery was one of the types of soul cultivation techniques.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Lex just had Harry alleviate the umted stress in his soul and body so that they could heal better. A part of him could tell that the shock he had experienced to remove the inscription was not simple. After experiencing both the Hot tub and Harry''s treatment, he stopped by the Patisserie where he got himself some cupcakes and hot chocte. If there was a way to rx even more than this, he had not discovered it yet. Once all this was done, he was finally ready to sleep. Just to be safe, he asked Mary to wake him up if he slept longer than a day. Thest thought he had right before he dozed off was how he was still using a simple bed whereas he could be using some supreme, ultra sleep treasure that created the perfect sleep environment. He did not know what it would entail, but when he thought back to all the pces he had been visitingtely, he was willing to bet a dragon that they did not use simple beds. Lex had not realized that a simple bed would not be able to support his considerable weight at all. During the many star level raises, all his furniture had also been nourished, and subsequently evolved. Just as he feared, Lex had be too cozy. That, apanied by his wounded state, led him to sleep continuously for a day. It even took Marry considerable effort to rouse him from slumber, because every time she would wake him, he would mumble 5 more minutes before dozing off again. But he never realized that by saying that, he was literally making her wait five minutes before trying to wake him again. If he simply asked to be allowed to sleep longer, she would let things be. But since he kept asking for five minutes, she had to keep waking him every five minutes! Eventually, a grumbling Lex got out of bed. Although he knew a day may have passed, he only felt like it had been mere minutes. After a veryrge breakfast, Lex decided to check in with Vera first. If divination could really help him find Barley, it was worth a shot. Although he was fairly certain that whoever had Barley, or wherever he had escaped to, he should have taken precautions against divination by now. Just as Lex approached Vera, who was sitting with the same group asst time, he paused. He immediately realized that everyone around Vera was staring at him with greedy eyes, as if he were a valuable treasure that they wanted to scoop up. "You have be quite famous in our circles, Lex," Vera said with a smile. "The help you provided Leslie was unbelievable, and now the entire divinationmunity wants to get their hands on you. Of course, the only reason they haven''t is because no one can divine whether or not that''s a good idea." "Is your entiremunity dependent on a simple prophecy? If so, I can give you one now. If anyone tries to mess with me, not only will they not get my help, they will severely regret it." Lex was smiling as he talked, but the weight of his words was not to be underestimated. He had not realized how a simple action couldnd him in trouble. "Worry not, no one will harm you. If that were the case, I would never have publicly asked you to help out Leslie. I would have done it in secret. Since no one was able to divine anything about you, everyone came to a consensus. We''ll make it official during the uing event, but basically, if someone wants your help they can offer you a price, but they cannot coerce you." "You know, this is not my day job, right? I have my own things to do, not to mention helping Leslie was far from simple. My hands got burned quite badly if you recall." "That''s the whole point," Vera said giggling. "All that happened is that your hands got burned. Normally, anyone who tries to touch tribtion lightning that is trapped within someone else''s soul ends up suffering from the same predicament." Lex red at Vera. She had not mentioned this to him before he tried, although admittedly he had not taken the request too seriously when he heard it either. "Don''t worry. It''s up to you if you want to help anyone. No one will pester you if you don''t want to help, although it''s an easy way to make friends. Some of the people here are very well connected, it could be worth it." Lex took in a deep breath, and tried to ignore how he was trying to be used. "Well, if anyone wants my help, you can start by first finding Barley Holdinson for me. I wouldn''t mind helping someone out after that." Chapter 822 Another blade Chapter 822 Another de ? Lex did not need to exin who Barley was since finding him was one of the recent popr requests for oracles in the Origin realm, right behind finding Lex. While initially finding Barley was easy, it had been a while since he disappeared from both public view as well as from the effects of divination. But unless he was using an abnormally powerful protection measure, such as the formation within the Inn, there would always be ways to find him. For example, most means of protection from divination only target the moremon or mainstream methods. More unique methods, such as Vera''s, can often circumvent such protection measures. For example, as long as Barley met Vera in person at some point in her life, she could divine her own future and find him, or predict where and when he could be found at that time. After all, the target of her divination is herself, not him. "I''ll spread the word," Vera said, without drawing any conclusions. After all, almost everyone knew why Barley was famous, and the fact that he had mentioned a ''Lex'' in his video. "How is Leslie doing?" Lex asked, since he didn''t see her in the group. "With the lightning removed from her soul, she is doing much better. She can start divining again, but more importantly, she can start cultivating again. I can''t really say you got off easy, since what you did for her was nothing short of incredible, but don''t underestimate her divination. She is one of the most sought after oracles of the uing generation. It was actually because of that very fact that she attracted a client involved in things she was too low leveled to learn about. She won''t be making that mistake again." Listening to her words Lex frowned. Originally he had nned on spending more time getting to know the oracles, but her premonition of his deep regret left him feeling worried. She had told him the key to avoiding his regret was a de in his possession. He had assumed that it was the de of grass containingws, but he also could not discount that it may very well also be the sword or ''de'' hiding within his soul. "If anyone gets any leads on him, you can just inform someone from the Inn. They''ll find me," said Lex before turning away. Since he was taking a break from absorbing the de of grass, he might as well focus on learning sword intent. "Mary, how is Xeons'' progress studying the ships?" Lex asked. Since his mind had been diverted towards the topic of strengthening hisbat ability, he may as well check up on all his projects in this field. "He''s asked for the millionth time to be allowed to dismantle the Silent Wanderer to study it, but I keep telling him no as per your instructions. He''s enrolled in numerous sses on the Henali portal, but that''s a gradual process and you can expect him to be an expert overnight. Especially since he''s also focusing on refining his body to be a full-fledged dragon. "He has designed a few weapons that can be attached to ships, though, again, I am not letting him experiment on the Silent Wanderer or the Flying Day care. Speaking of the Wanderer, Captain Cirk has finished going through the manual for the Silent Wanderer and is confident he can pilot it. He''s been undergoing simtions in the Henali portal, but if has an opportunity to fly the real thing, it''ll be better practice." Lex looked up and easily found the massive spaceship that was hovering right above the Inn. Lex had to buy a massive plot ofnd where the ship could hover over so that it doesn''t block the sky for the main areas of the Inn. The plus point was that the area under the ship became a ''shadowed'' area, where those guests who preferred the dark, or were sensitive to light, could reside. "For now, I can allow him to test out some of the features of the Wanderer within the Inn. When I get the chance, I''ll take him out with me so he can try flying it in space. But I don''t see that happening anytime soon. How''s the training for the 300 from the new battalion going?" "It''s going well, and they''re growing fast. In a few years, they''ll be a considerable fighting force." "They''re only the first batch. The Inn will require a lot of strong warriors, so we have to refine our training methods as we go through them. Have someonepile a report on their progress, I''ll look at itter." Lex discussed various projects with Mary, right up until he reached the Midnight mountain. To be more specific, until he reached the sword sh within the mountain. He had been here before, but at that time he was wearing the Host Attire, so he did not feel the true weightof the sword intent gathered here. Now, standing there without any protection, he was finally exposed to it in its full glory. It was heavy, yet sharp at the same time. It was not cutting his body, but he could tell that the sharpness was imbued within the aura of this ce.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om To put it in other words, the way a dragon''s aura contained an oppressive might, the aura here was honed like a razor. He felt like his thoughts themselves were being cut through. This was Qawain''s abode, in a sense. Qawain, the sword that had gained sentience, gave sword lessons within a small cave at the heart of the sword sh, but first you would have to cross the artificial valley that was filled with this sword intent. Some saw this as an obstacle, but Lex, who had no experience with sword intent at all, saw this as an opportunity. He summoned a simple, double-edged sword he had bought earlier on from the Guild room and gripped it tightly. Since he had never formed an intent before, and was not sure how to form one, he would just have to brute force it. He would experience the intent in the valley with his body, and try to recreate it on his sword. Without any hesitation, he took his first step. Chapter 823 Level too low Chapter 823 Level too low Lex had too many concernstely, but he put them all aside for now. With a clear, focused mind, he entered the Sword Valley, and immediately he felt the resistance of the sword intent that filled the area.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Compared to Dragons Might, which threatened to crush his body and soul and extinguish them, even this sharpness that threatened to cut his body felt like nothing. No matter what, Lex knew that within the Inn he could not be hurt by aura alone and so that element of danger vanished, regardless of how difficult it was. Back then, in front of the dragon, if Lex had rxed for even a second, or given up, the danger to his life was extremely real. He would have had to escape to the Inn to get away with his life intact. It was akin to the nk challenges that used to happen back on Earth, but the only difference was that if you give up, you would die. It was like putting a gun to an ordinary person''s head and asking them to nk for ten minutes. Even with all the adrenaline pumping, it was unknown if they would be able to make it. Compared to that, regardless of how threatening this sword intent felt, it was nothing. Not to mention, even if the threat was real, Lex would not hesitate. The information about intents shed through Lex''s mind. Before one can learn intent, they must first gain a certain level ofpetency in that field. Asking Lex to be a sword grandmaster overnight was too much, but he had to start with somewhere. Lex focused on the sharp feeling that was pressing against his body, visualized it as something that was coating his own sword, and then shed forward. Predictably, Lex''s sword was not coated in any real intent. Despite the expected result, Lex frowned. Since his mind was much sharper than before, Lex noticed a multitude of things he would have missed before. By ordinary standards, his sh was normal. It was pretty good even. But Lex noticed that as he extended his sword during his sh, his bnce was somewhat impacted. He immediately adjusted for it so that his sh was not slowed down, or so that it would not deviate from its intended target. Yet he was not satisfied by the fact that his bnce was affected to begin with. He repeated all the previous steps, visualizing the intent coating his sword, and shed again, though this time he adjusted his footing a little beforehand so that there would be no imbnce. The sh was better, faster and delivered more power, but Lex frowned nheless. The difference was practically imperceptible, yet Lex noticed anyway. Due to his readjustment of his feet, the range of his attack had been minutely reduced. He tried again, this time keeping the desired result in mind, but then encountered a new problem. Like this he kept trying, his initial focus on sword intent already forgotten. With each new attempt, he would take a step deeper into the valley, but the ever-increasing sword intent seemed to not bother him at all. The issue was not that learning the sword was hard, but that Lex was too perceptive. He would detect issues with his moves that even ordinary sword masters would not be able to detect. In a sense, it could be said that as far as the ordinary sh Lex was performing, he was already better than many sword masters. By that standard, he was already at the level to manifest sword intent. The problem was that in Lex''s mind he still had ws in his swordsmanship, and as such would not be able to manifest sword intent. At this point, his own dissatisfaction with his level was the only thing preventing him from manifesting basic sword intent. Deep in the valley, Qawain was watching Lex''s progress with interest. Although Lex''s level was abysmal, Qawain liked the standard Lex was setting, and how seriously he was taking it. After all, as a sword himself, he would definitely like those who seriously respected the sword and swordsmanship. He was also intrigued by how Lex did not seem to be bothered by the sword intent at all. To test things out, he increased the pressure around Lex, and only Lex. The sudden increase in pressure caused Lex''s sh to falter, which made him frown again. He was not ming the sudden increase in pressure. After all, in realbat, the situation would be dynamic. Sometimes he would face no pressure at all, and at other times, the pressure would be astronomical. Therefore, he should be able to perform in any situation. Lex almost growled due to the immense irritation he was feeling, but then suddenly paused. His emotions were getting agitated again. He used his sword to look at his reflection and saw the faint image of a sword in his left eye. It was just as he suspected. Lex closed his eyes and almost immediately entered a meditative state, taking deep breaths to calm himself down. He allowed his emotions to slowly fade, and pushed away all distractions. It was as if he was in the state of Flow, except that he was not bing cold and emotionless. It was as if he was gaining all the benefits of that state without the side effects. When he opened his eyes, Lex had calmed downpletely, and renewed his focus. He shed forth once again, this time getting much better results. He had assumed that since he had calmed down and taken control of his emotions, the sword image in his eye had vanished. But in truth, it had be even clearer once he calmed his mind. With each sh, it became clearer still, until eventually it began to shimmer. It was as if the image was trying to manifest a sword intent of its own. Unfortunately, Lex still thought his level was too low, and so did not manifest it. Chapter 824 Training Schedule Chapter 824 Training Schedule Completely engrossed in the process, Lex did not feel the hours pass him by. On his own he was learning a lot, and not just about fighting with a sword. Back on Polebitvy, when he had fought off those insects, his hand to handbat had improved tremendously fast, alongside his sense for fighting as well. Now, with a weapon in hand, he was learning how to manage that additional weight while keeping in mind the lethality as well as limits of the weapon. After all, for his body he had an innate sense for what it could tolerate and what it could not. For a weapon, he had to keep all of those things in mind. For example, using it in certain ways would make it more prone to breaking regardless of how well crafted it was. Thebinations made avable to him were also endless, so his mind was taking its time to flesh out all scenarios and thoroughly embed the knowledge in Lex''s brain. Compared to learning duringbat, this process was slower. After all, at that time his brain was working at maximum speed to adapt as quickly as possible. But in exchange, the depth of what he was learning was greater and moreprehensive.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Although this entire time, Lex was only practicing the same sh, without even changing the direction or starting point, his improvement in all aspects was tremendous. But considering the fact that Lex could still pick out ws, he felt like he was still a beginner. During this entire time, Lex only had a single thought which was ultimately unrted to improving his technique. He admonished himself foring into this with the mindset that it would be easy. He believed that mindset was part of the reason why he was performing poorly to begin with. He should have known that nothing worthwhile was ever easy. But there was one thing Lex never realized during this entire process, though Qawain picked it up immediately. The sword in his eye was trying to influence him, but by refusing to manifest a sword intent, Lex was denying the sword as well. That way, all the intent the image of the sword was imparting was being absorbed by Lex, and then used to improve himself. It formed a cycle where Lex''s knowledge about sword fighting became more and more advanced, but the more advanced it became the more dissatisfied he was with himself, further pushing away the possibility of manifesting intent. After all, the frame of mind also had a lot to do with manifesting intent. It was not as if the universe had a specific scale to judge what level was enough to manifest intent. Oftentimes, it was one''s belief that they were good enough that would cause them to resonate with thews and manifest intent, even if they did not know what they were doing. But with a diametrically opposed mindset, it was basically impossible for him to manifest it. Qawain, being a sword himself, immediately noticed the image in Lex''s eye, and realized what was happening, though he could not determine the origin of the image. But it did not matter. Lex was using his unique situation to improve, and that''s all that mattered to Qawain. Near dawn of the next day, when Lex finally reached the cave where Qawain was waiting, he was alreadypletely mentally exhausted. Although he was physically fine, his mind had been working overtime to detect his ws and correct them, so by the end it was already nearing the limits of what it could do. "You have done well," Qawain said, waking Lex from his stupor. "You have already improved a lot from when you first set foot in the valley, but there is more work that needs to be done. You have enough determination to improve, and so I do not mind teaching you. Go rest for now, ande again tomorrow. Next time there will be no intent blocking you, so you can enter directly. Tomorrow onwards, I will train you myself. Oh, of course, there is a tuition fee." Lex nodded. "I''ll see you tomorrow." With that, he retreated and began to make a training schedule in his mind. Every two days he would absorb a bit of the de of grass, and in between every day he would train his sword arts. He had roughly three weeks left till the Inn was sealed, so once every week he''d go out to check if Hix had located Barley. With that n set in his mind, Lex finally allowed himself to get some rest. The timing was perfect, for apparently Kenta was cooking breakfast for Velma and Sohee. Joining them and watching Kenta be awkward around his wife would heal his tired mind, and rx his soul. Plus he''d get to know if Kenta was any good as a cook to begin with. He teleported to his suite first and took a quick, yet warm shower. Although he did not sweat despite the strenuous exercise, he did not want to give Sohee any reasons to target him instead of Kenta. Afterwards, he put on a pair of jeans and a casual T-shirt, grabbed a box of fresh Saturn cake and teleported over. He was beginning to realize that he was a fan of the cake, and not because of its psychedelic features. After all, his cultivation level was too high to be affected by it. "Hey guys, I''m back!" said Lex loudly as he walked up to the group. They had set up a stove out in the open where Kenta was cooking as well as a pic table nearby that was filled with pastries. In the distance there was a nice view of the Midnight Mountain, and further back in the distance, the Mountain-man. It was an excellent spot which is why he could understand why their mood was great. But the moment he arrived he noticed that everyone immediately froze, and looked at him awkwardly. "Hahaha Lex, my friend, I''m d you''re back. Was my father able to help you out? If not, you just let me know and I''ll have words with the geezer. How dare he mistreat my good friend?" Although Kenta tried to hide it, it was clear from his tone that something had happened. The question was, how serious was it? Chapter 825 No guilt great enough

Chapter 825 No guilt great enough

"What''s wrong?" Lex asked, setting the cake on the table. Much of the area of the Inn was nketed in snow, but the main areas where guests usually spent time had been kept clean. That included pic areas such as this, so Lex had no trouble walking around. "Wrong? What could be wrong? Nothing''s wrong!" Kenta said, but clearly he was not very used to lying, as his expressions were clearly contorting. Lex turned to look at Sohee and Velma, both who immediately looked away. Velma even began whistling as she looked up in the air. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om He looked back at Kenta and only pointed at the girls, as if their actions were enough of a dead giveaway. "Oh yes, I remember now," said Kenta, who quickly looked towards the stove where he was cooking, as if he needed to monitor the progress. "It''s nothing, really. You already know I want to open my own restaurant, right? But before I ask anyone at the Inn for a shot, I thought I''d brush up on my skills. I don''t get many opportunities to cook back at the pce, you know. So I went to the Guild room. Just like you said, there were a lot of people there who had opened up shops and were selling incredible goods. I ced an order, but before I could pay, I realized that that damned geezer had frozen all my assets! I was literally broke!" Kenta smiled weakly at Lex, before quickly turning back to the stove. "That''s when Aoi offered to pay instead. I felt really guilty, but she insisted, so I eventually relented. It waspletely her idea, and I offered to pay her back in the future, but she denied me. What could I do? But it was only after we had paid, and already received everything, that we recalled that you were sponsoring Aoi and Asami''s stay, so the¡­ eh, the bill probably got charged to you¡­ ehehehe." Lex''s smile cramped. "Mary, how much did they spend on groceries?" he asked. Since he had already stated that he would sponsor Aoi and Asami, he told Mary to take out all their expenses from him. With hundreds of billions of MP, he was not really concerned about how much they spent. But at the same time, he didn''t like being taken advantage of. "They spent 20,832 MP in total, including groceries and some other misceneous expenses." Lex''s expression fell t, and he red at Kenta. That was nearly 21,000 MP! To put it in easy terms, that was $21,000,000! There was no amount of guilt Lex could feel that was worth 21 million dors! Sure, he had much more than that. But at the same time, he was certain that Aoi had not volunteered?to pay on Kenta''s behalf. "It''s okay," Lex said, as he pped Kenta on the back, not holding his strength back at all. "What''s a little money between friends?" He pped him again. From afar, it looked like he was merely patting Kenta''s back, though the expression on the elf''s face said otherwise. "Besides, I''ve already thought of a way you can pay me back. You can work as a chef in the restaurant that I am opening. I hope that you''re a good cook, otherwise god only knows how long it''ll take you to pay off your loan." "Hey, hey, hey, take it up with Aoi, she''s the one who spent the money!" Kenta eximed, but Lex was no longer listening. He hade here to rx, not get even more stressed out. ***** Deep inside the cosmic cloud where the allied forces were fighting off the Fuegans nurtured armies, there was a where many battalions were employed. How many were deployed, why they were sent there, and what did the allied forces hope to achieve, all of them were meaningless. The only thing that mattered was how deep inside the cloud they were. Unbeknownst to most, this cosmic cloud was extremely different from normal ones. If not, why would the Fuegan have used it to begin with? This cosmic cloud was once connected to another ce, though that was no longer the case. As a result of that severed connection, however, space behaved in an unusual manner, and at the same time, was extremely vulnerable. One had to be extremely careful when operating in this region, lest they set off a destructive chain reaction. A secret shuttlended on the, hidden from the eyes of the allied forces and the Fuegan alike. Within the shuttle was a demon - a weak one, but one with great intelligence. Once the shuttlended, the demon took out a golden key and crushed it. Instead of teleporting away, like he had done every time prior, something new happened. The crushed key was reformed, and a stream of information entered his mind. The fabric of space in his locale was too vulnerable to support teleportation, even by the Midnight Inn. If they tried to teleport him over, space itself would rip on a massive scale in that region, which was something the Inn refrained from doing. If he wanted to teleport, he would either have to strengthen space around himself somehow, whether through use of a formation or his own abilities, or he would have to relocate. The demon smiled. Finally! He immediately took out a device and sent a detailed message, making sure to specify all the information he had received from the golden key. Once the message was sent, the demon exited his shuttle and disappeared into the ground, as if he had not stepped onnd but instead inside water. Soon, his allies would be joining him, and before that happened, he had to collect all the information he could on the ground. As for the allied ships that were flying around the¡­ someone else would take care of those. After such a long time, his mission was finally beginning. The demon, although weak, had very strong killing tendencies. Suppressing them for so long had truly been a pain, but now it could finally let loose! Chapter 826 Stranded

Chapter 826 Stranded

The next few days formed a steady routine for Lex. He would absorb the de of grass regrly, and he was on the verge of eating it all. Once that was done, Lex nned on giving the soil in the small pot containing the de of grass to the turtle. Without exaggeration, the soil in that small pot was so potent it could affect the fertility of the entire Inn! n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om The effects were already showing, as he was recovering his skin at a noticeable rate. Sometimes, when he stood in the shadows, his inner organs were no longer visible. His progress with swords was especially drastic. Qawain informed him that he had something inside his body that was trying to influence his sword intent, so he should not be in a rush to form it. He needed to achieve two things before he could attempt it. The first was to master swordsmanship. He had to achieve a level that he felt was perfect, given his own body''s capabilities. Then secondly, once he had mastered general swordsmanship, he had to use it inbat frequently enough till he was able to determine his preferences, and subsequently develop his own style. It was only after he had developed his own style ofbat using a sword that he should attempt to manifest sword intent, as that will give him a clear picture of the kind of intent he wants. That will prevent any hidden maniption of the intent he forms by the entity inside of him. Lex was extremely grateful for Qawains guidance. After all, the purpose of developing sword intent was to absorb the sword aura inside of him, not for it to manipte him! It was a dangerous path, but Lex began enjoying it, nheless. Between these two extremely time consuming acts, Lex also found time to manage the Inn from time to time. When he needed to rest, he would either do so by cultivating atop the dragon, or by taking naps in the Recovery room. Things were going well. Finally, exactly three weeks before the Inn was sealed, Vera''s event began. Lex was surprised by the turnout. Although he had anticipated that a lot of guests woulde, the attendance reached nearly twenty million! This was considering the short wait time between Vera deciding the event and it actually happening, not to mention that the event had not even been advertised yet officially! Lex was tempted to join, but he didn''t want to spend five days trapped inside. After all, he had his training routine. On this day, he would finally finish eating the de of grass, so he wanted to rest as well. Besides, he could always peek inside as the Innkeeper if he was curious. He did not need to actually attend the event to know what was happening inside. ***** The Midnight Battalion had long be used to Z''s war drums while fighting, so their absence was unusually jarring. But it could not be helped. The space in this region was too unusual. Z could not control it at all. As if that was not enough, any time someone used an attack that was too powerful, the space on the would ripple. Those ripples were a lot more dangerous than they seemed, and quite a few had died from the effects of those ripples. Having space ripple through you was like having your body suddenly stretched across the length of an entire football field. Death was the most obvious oue. The Midnight Battalion had been somewhat protected by the effects of those ripples, but only due to how impressive their suits were. That did not, however, stop them from being injured gravely. In fact, these were the worst injuries any of them suffered during the entire campaign. The ripples, however, were the least of the issues. If space was too severely affected, sometimes space would rip, revealing a dangerous void. Strange creatures would oftene out of that void, creatures whichcked a mind or substance. They attacked without sense or direction and often ended up shing against their own kind. When they faced others, however, the result was catastrophic. In fact, if Luthor had not gained the ability to control an unusual purple fire on one of the previouss, the Midnight Battalion may have suffered their first casualty when they encountered a creature none of their attacks would work on. Only the purple fire seemed to work in the end. While the Midnight Battalion was still struggling, many of the other forces on the finally lost their nerve! They called for a retreat and imed that the was cursed! They told their superiors that the alliance should just give up on the or sacrifice it. Of course, the alliance wouldn''t call for a full retreat just because a few soldiersined, but eventually it reached a point where they had no choice. There were too many casualties on the, and the remaining forces were on the verge of open desertion! A full, strategic retreat was ordered, including for the Midnight Battalion. Though he would not admit it, Z breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the news. He had been getting a bad feeling from the moment they arrived on the. Moreover, without the ability to manipte space, his strength was extremely limited. He, who had gotten used to being the strongest amongst the entire battalion, was feeling suffocated since he was suddenly unable to perform. That''s when he had a realization. Main characters in anime did not have just one trump card, they had many. He could not rely just on space maniption. He needed toe up with other abilities as well. Just as he was musing about his new moves, a blinding light shed in his eyes. He squinted, but looked directly towards the light to ascertain what it was. His past few months on the battlefield made it his instinct to assess all threats. That''s when he noticed it. Like fireworks, all the ships in orbit around the were exploding. They were stranded. Chapter 827 Tough situation Chapter 827 Tough situation It was not just the 1000 from the Midnight Battalion who looked up in the sky. Across the ursed, all the surviving soldiers looked at the light show. The brightness that filled the sky was, ironically, a sign of their dark future. They did not know what had happened, or what was happening, but space battles between ships was not something new. They had witnessed them many times and had even taken part in them once or twice. But from what they could see from the, it did not look like there was a battle taking ce. Instead, it seemed like the ships were spontaneouslybusting. "Midnight Battalion, defensive positions," Luthor said, his voice calm and steady, even if tinged with a hint of solemnity. "A single one of those explosions is enough to cause a ripple. So many of them are bound to cause an entire wave." Around him, the battalion got in a circr formation, and activated some technique they all used in unison. Because of their ster service these many months, they had been eligible for many rewards from the alliance, and this defensive formation was one of them. A dome of light blue light formed around them, separating them from the outside. As if reminded by the battalion''s actions, the others around them also began deploying their protective measures, but they were a step too slow. A massive shift in reality crashed into them, though the shift seemed to be absorbed into the Midnight Battalions shield. A few others also survived the episode, but a lot of soldiers who could not act fast enough died. The ground beneath them cracked, and then following an earth-shattering sound, split into many fragments. Gusts of toxic gasses were released from deep within the ground, threatening to sweep any of their feet. Fortunately, all the soldiers who had made it this far had good quality, enchanted armor, or else the gasses may have corroded their skins as well. If there was one good thing about such a vtile environment, it was that the space ripples would affect them and the Fuegan forces equally. Far off, many mindless creatures that had been bred to spread chao died since they did not take any precautions. Unfortunately, as if to make up for any respite they may gain, any time space would break new, more heinous enemies would emerge that were harder to kill. "Someone contact the alliance and find out what''s happening. Gerard, send out a beacon. Have all who are willing gather near us. We''ll build a defensible position and wait till the alliance sends more ships. Sandra, I want you on patrol. Gather a team and scout our surroundings for any enemy activity. In case more enemies invade from space, we need to be ready. Pam, I want you to rest up and be ready to deploy at a moment''s notice. IIf any other teams decide to join us, they may have wounded that need treatment." Luthors orders were passed through seamlessly, and the battalion started moving like a well oiled machine. This was not the first time they had to build an impromptu defensive position, and so they had a dedicated team for this task. A phenomenon that seemed quitemon is that all of those who hade out to participate in the war were unlocking new and random abilities. Jace, the head of the team who was responsible for creating a defensive position, underwent a mutation in his bloodline. Unlike the Regalia Bloom, which channeled energy through weapons and items, he could use energy to manipte the earth and minerals. Using that ability, he could dig up trenches and erect walls wherever needed. For now he was not too proficient in using the bloodline, so he was limited to only using his ability outside ofbat for now. Sandra was simrly another worker who had unlocked the ability to control electricity, or lightning. She had learned how to use the ability quite quickly, and had be one of their strongest members. Z had been especially helpful in guiding her on how she could use her abilities. Finally, Pam was the one member of the battalion who unlocked the most unique ability. She could heal anyone! Moreover, the energy for healing came neither from Pam northe injured person, so she could use the ability for a long time. Her mental stamina is what mattered most, for if she became too fatigued, her ability would stop working. Once she had been a victim of bullying by an unruly guest at the Inn, so she had worked hard to be stronger. Who knew the ability she ultimately unlocked would not aid her fighting, but in war time made her more valuable than any other soldier. Being able to help herrades made her feel more than satisfied with her ability, though he ones from the battalion barely ever needed her help to begin with. Despite their dire situation, none in the battalion panicked. Although their situation was unusual, in the past months they had been through too many such dire situations to be affected easily. They maintained their vignce and did their duty, maintaining full faith in Luthor''s ability to guide them out of tough situations. They also knew that, should Luthor ever fail, they could still rely on the Innkeeper. So while their vignce never dropped, and they did not underestimate the seriousness of their dilemma, they were not as daunted as the other soldiers deployed on the. "There''s an issue," one of the battalion members said as they walked up to Luthor. "I am unable to contact the battalion regardless of what means I try. From technology to spirit techniques, all forms ofmunication are blocked." Luthor frowned. The situation was bad, but not irredeemable. The alliance had strict protocols. In an hour, when their ships did not report to the alliance, they would notice something amiss and send reinforcements. They just had to wait.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "Hunker down, and prepare for a siege," he passed the order. Despite the obstacles, his demeanor never changed. Chapter 828 Naps Chapter 828 Naps Suera, Cosmic Cloud, Henali Command Center The strategic coordination office was massive, and popted with hundreds of thousands of workers. Although they were not sitting in cubicles, each worker had a force field around them, preventing any sound from passing through, It would also restrict vision from the outside so no one could see what data the worker was handling. All of this was done for the sake of protecting secret information from being leaked. Moreover, this was just one of theyers of protection in ce. For example, the workers would be assigned tasks andplete them, but every name was reced by codes, so they never really got to know who they were working with, or what locations were being mentioned. "Troop carrier 117, my log shows you have maintained radio silence for one hour. What is your status?" asked one such worker. This was just one of thousands of such calls the same worker had made already just that day. After a few moments of silence, he got a response. "This is Troop carrier 117. Current status is on standby. Local conditions are not suitable for space engagements so there are no threats. Everything is normal for now," the ship responded. The worker asked a few more routine questions, before marking the ship''s status in his logs. He did not know which ship he was talking to, and what its mission was. His only job was to ascertain its status. What he, and some other workers in that room, did not realize was that many of the ships reporting their status had actually been destroyed. It was unknown who was making the status report. ***** Lex walked out of his restroom with wobbly legs, though his eyes seemed to be filled with energy. He had finallypletely absorbed the entire de, so he need not suffer like that anymore. His affinity with thew of regrowth had reached the maximum it could for now, so he nned on altering his schedule just a bit. He wanted to test out how much his ability to heal had grown, so he would spend the next couple of days within the Recovery room. He was looking forward to having skin again, and even if he was going to be hairless for a short while, it was not a big deal. He would have to sacrifice his sword training for a few days, but since his mindset about that had changed, he did not mind. Since this was going to be a long journey, a dy of a few days would not set him back by much. But first, even before sleeping in the Recovery room, Lex needed to recover some energy. He staggered to his dining table in his suite, and was quite satisfied to find it filled with countless dishes. Although the food provided by the Midnight Inn did not leave one wanting, it could notpete with the elite dishes made throughout the universe. Lex did not take that too personally either, as the Inn had always struggled with food somewhat, especially meat items. Kenta''s arrival was not going to change that, as one person could not cook for millions, but at least Lex was working him to the bone in the name of refining his cooking skills, and personally benefiting from it. The ingredients he used were the best of the best, and so the food was always extremely nourishing. The vor sometimes needed work, but Kenta was only an aspiring chef, so it made sense if he was still refining his skills. Without any hesitation, Lex began to gobble down all the food as he simultaneously paid attention to Vera''s event. At the moment, all the guests were still entering the venue and finding their ''destined'' locations within. Only when the doors were sealed would the event fully begin. For now, there were only a few random diviners on stage discussing modern divination theory. What Lex noticed almost immediately was that most of those participating were rtively young. Many who were in attendance were older, but they simply watched in silence. Either they were giving the younger generation an opportunity to shine, or nothing of interest to them had urred yet. Eventually Lex got tired of watching since he had no interest, nor did he have any knowledge about divination. After finishing his meal, Lex teleported over to his personal Recovery room andfortablyy down, making himself cozy. The good thing about eating Kenta''s food was that it was extremely filling, even with his physique, which would make him feel slightly drowsy. "Mary, in case I don''t wake up on my own, wake me up in three days." "Sure, I can do that," she answered. He checked the Inn onest time, ensuring there was no problem, before going to sleep. ***** An entire day had gone by, and during this entire time, the battalion was not attacked even once. Instead of feeling relieved, Luthor frowned harder the longer they went without being attacked. In the first few hours that they sent out their beacon, quite a few of the other troops decided to join them. After all, the Midnight Battalion had quite the reputation at this point, so fighting alongside them could never be wrong. But then, eventually, even the other troops stoppeding. What''s more, during this entire time, they could not contact the alliance, nor was there any indication of reinforcements arriving. Sandra''s team had been patrolling for hours, but eventually Luthor called them back as well since they could find neither friend nor foe.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Something was extremely wrong with this situation, and for the first time, Luthor began to actually worry. Inside their freshly built fortifications, in one of the areas assigned to the troops who had decided to join them, two soldiers were sleeping beside one another. This was nothing usual, as getting rest when the opportunity arose was a soldier''s instinct. But the next moment, both the soldiers woke up simultaneously and looked at each other. Their eyes began to turn ck and their skin began to peel. Chapter 829 The real demon Chapter 829 The real demon The soldiers truly had been soldiers before, and had even coborated with the Midnight Battalion various times. On this that they had previously taken to calling the Cursed, rather than its official name of BGY-987, their entire unit was positioned close to the battalion. That is why, when they were originally given the order to retreat, they took a path close to them. When catastrophe struck, and the ships were destroyed, they were the first to spot the battalion''s beacon. Fortunately, due to their close proximity, they arrived unharmed and without incident. Unfortunately, while the remainder of theirpanions were normal, at some point during the original retreat they had been separated from their group. That was all it took for them to be captured, and turned into demons. Now, though they wore the outer appearance of their former selves, it was a mere facade. As demons they had their own instincts, but more importantly, they had an inclination to obey devils! The specific breed of demons they had been turned into were called Nephil-drones, and were mostmonly used by devils for slightlyplicated tasks due to their retained intelligence. Slowly and silently they stood up, making sure not to wake up any of the sleeping soldiers besides them. They had been given a mission to infiltrate the Midnight Battalion and sabotage them from the inside. What the intentions and ns their superiors had they did not know, nor did they have the capacity to be curious. All they knew was that they had to weaken the Midnight Battalions defenses, but they were not allowed to kill any members of the battalion. Everyone else, though, was fair game. Their instincts told them to immediately kill the sleeping soldiers besides them, but they had strict orders. As they channeled their inner demonic energy, more and more of their skin shed, revealing dark blue muscle beneath. Using their energy would remove their camouge, but it no longer mattered. They had received the signal from outside, which meant all the preparations werepleted. The two split, channeling their demonic art as they walked, causing tiny bits of their dark blue muscles to shed, falling off their bodies like grains of sand. When one of them exited the room, he saw another demon, half its decayed body showing from where its own disguise was failing. They made eye contact for a split second before they went their separate ways. Minutes went by, slowly and excruciating, but they were not discovered through some miracle. One of the demons had spent a majority of his demonic energy, so he now moved onto the next phase of the n. Sticking to the shadows, he walked out their designated area, and turned towards the boundary wall. Before it could get too far, however, it noticed something unusual. Right in front of it, sitting on a barrier that was only waist high, a child seemed to be munching on their rations.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Nephil-drones were a favorite among devils because, based on what their original species was, they retained enough intelligence to form their ownplicated thoughts and consider many variables toplete their missions. As the demon looked at the child, it began to notice multiple things. First of all it was night and this had no moon, yet they were still engulfed in a silver yet somehow milky light. There was also an eerie silence all around them, despite the fact that this was an encampment filled with thousands of soldiers. Sure many of them were asleep, but many should have also been awake. Yet there was none of the noise that usually apanied a crowded camp. In fact, the demon now finally noticed that the only sounds it could hear were the chewing of the child, and its own heartbeat. As the demon''s gaze lingered on the child, who had his face towards it though his focus remained on eating, the sound of crunching slowly became louder and louder. It was a trick of the mind perhaps, that the child also seemed to being closer, as if the gap between them ws reducing. But the demon was frozen still, so as to avoid making any noise and alerting the child, and the child himself was sitting still. Yet the space that divided them itself seemed to be reducing. *Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.* The sound of eating seemed to be echoing in his ears, even as his heart beat ever faster. *Thump. Thump. Thump.* Wait, what was that¡­ As the child somehow turnedrger, or maybe came closer all without moving, the demon''s gaze finallynded on the ration bar. It was oddly shaped, and had a distinct blue color that seemed so familiar to the demon¡­ Fear took a hold of the creature as it tried to retreat back into the shadows, but there were no shadows left. There was only the child, the sound of eating, and him. By now the child seemed giant, and the creature had to crane his neck upwards because his gaze was fixed in the child''s ration. As it gotrger, the demon could finally recognize itpletely. It was the demon itself the child was eating. It could see its own face, frozen to depict its final action: a wail, filled with absolute terror. Crunch. The child took another bite, and it thundered in the demon''s ears. Silence. The demon''s heart gave in, preferring the sce of eternal silence to matching the infernal noise of that child¡­ of that true demon eating. The demon died, in its sleep, unaware that it had been dreaming this entire time. Simultaneously, hundreds of other demons who had infiltrated, died at the same time, all of them in their sleep. From the shadow a small child walked out, wiping the sweat off his face. "Big brother Z was right, there really is a grand scheme at y in the background. How could he have known? Never mind, I better go report this to Luthor." The child rushed off, his steps making nary a single sound. From his pocket he pulled out a ration bar, and the world seemed to darken further, if just for a moment. Chapter 830 Alfonso Chapter 830 Alfonso Luthor was in a room with Gerard and two others, a Minotaur and an Elf. The two outsiders were the leaders of the tworgest groups of troops who had chosen to join Luthor. Had the Midnight Battalion not thoroughly established itself as extraordinarily formidable, the two leaders, both from extremely proud races, would never have epted Luthor''s leadership, even while taking refuge in his impromptu fort as they were. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how they looked at it, both of them had already been humbled by the Midnight battalions unquestionable might. Even though they were of the human race, their strength rivaled that of the higher races. They had gathered to discuss their n of action, given their difficult situation. The fact that they had not faced a single adversary in so long did not put them at ease whatsoever. Before their retreat was ordered the entire seemed to be brimming with danger and death. Yet the moment they were stranded, with no sign of a rescue iing any time soon, it became as silent as a grave. Clearly, something was wrong. They had to determine what the threat was, and how to survive it. Yet the room was silent. There was no discussion. All four of them stared at each other in silence as they struggled toe up with an exnation for what was happening. After all, nothing they hade up with so far made any sense. The silence was eventually interrupted, not by one of them speaking, but by the door that suddenly opened. A child who looked like he was perhaps nine years old came strutting in, crumbs covering his face. "I have a report," the child said, exining his intrusion upon feeling the res that fell on him.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Alfonso, you''ve taken your face mask off again," said Luthor admonishingly. His eyes gleamed as saw the crumbs on his face, and then on his pocket. Alfonso was one of the Inn workers who had awoken a unique power, but his ability was far was the most¡­ unique and unnerving. The first thing that happened when he unlocked his power was that his body deaged, going from that of an adult to that of a small child. If many had not seen it happen in person they would have found it hard to believe. Another was that Luthor felt like Alfonso was no longer human, but he had no proof of this theory, just his intuition. There were a few other minor changes, but the most unusual were his abilities. At any given time, Alfonso had two abilities. The first was always fixed, which was that he could pull out a snack from his pocket. The ability could be used unlimitedly, as far as anyone could tell. Moreover, the snack could be eaten by anyone and was extremely nourishing, not only for one''s physique, but cultivation as well. The second ability changed frequently, and without pattern. The reason why it was determined that Alfonso had two abilities, and not multiple abilities, was because he could only manifest two abilities at a time, the first always being pulling out snacks. The second, whatever it may be, could either be extremely useful orpletely ordinary, and Alfonso had no control over when it would change. He could not use a previous ability after it disappeared, though the ability may return at any time. The only good thing about this was that whenever a new ability appeared, he innately knew how to use it without having a learning curve. Luthor had a few theories about why such a phenomenon was urring, but it did not matter for now. No matter what his identity, ability or race, as long as he was a member of the Midnight Inn, none of them would discriminate against him. "Oh, my bad!" he eximed, suddenly remembering that he intended to put the back on before Luthor saw so he could hide the fact that he had been munching again. "But, this is more important than that! When we got stranded on the Cursed, big brother Z told me to treat this as my training arc, and to assume there was a grand conspiracy going on in the background. So I was secretly watching everyone''s dreams in case there was a spy!" Alfonso gave the elf and minotaur an usatory re, before continuing! "It turns out, there were hundreds of demons hidden among those who followed our beacon! Just minutes ago, they all got an order to wake up and sabotage the camp! Although I took care of them, I think trouble is going toe soon." Forgetting he was supposed to put on his mask, Alfonso pulled out another snack from his pocket and began munching, a proud look on his face. "The soldiers turned into demons?" the elf repeated, his mind quickly processing the information. Despite his young appearance, the elf did not doubt the child. The Midnight Battalion was battle tested, so there was no reason to doubt theirpetence. Moreover, they were extremely united. Picking on one meant turning all 1000 of them into your enemy. "Such a thing can only be done by a devil. Have the devils betrayed us? Have they partnered with the Fuegan?" "The more important question is why have they not killed us yet. If they can destroy all the ships in space, they have enough firepower to wipe us out as well. There really may be some conspiracy going on," said Luthor, analyzing the situation himself. He immediately thought of the Innkeepers business card, but then shook his head. No, he needed to find out more about the situation before he jumped to conclusions. He could not disturb the Innkeeper if they could handle the situation themselves. "Take us to the bodies," Gerard said. He was the most calm out of all of them. His bloodline had undergone a total of three mutations. Right now, he was so powerful that there were few enemies that could intimidate him. Even if there was a conspiracy, he merely needed to kill all the conspirators to get out of it. Chapter 831 Regis

Chapter 831 Regis

An Elf, a Minotaur and two humans followed a snacking child into a room. It had not been long, but someone had already noticed the lying corpses between the sleeping soldiers, rming everyone in the area. Those soldiers who had known, or had even been friends with those who had turned into demons were the most rmed. Though each of them was supposed to be a battle hardened warrior, the unknown was always frightening. Even huddled together in the corner of the room, whispering their fears, their legs could be seen trembling. "It''s the Cursed. It killed Norman in his sleep and turned him into an abomination¡­" whispered one. "No, it must be the Root of Defilement! It is being fostered on this. As the inverse of the World Tree, it wields unholy powers over those in its domain!" "No, no, it''s the Child of Gravitz! I saw him in my dream, eating and eating and eating, as if he was devouring my very soul!" "No it''s¡­" Luthor stopped paying attention to the words of the frightened soldiers and squatted down to take a closer look at one of the corpses. It was still on its makeshift bed on the ground, and had appeared to die without a struggle. Its disguise, however, was fading now and strips of its skin were peeling off, revealing the blue muscle underneath. "It''s a Nephil-drone," Luthor said, studying the corpse before moving to another one. "These demons are not as easy to form as some other breeds, such as zombies. The infection needs to start from the stem of the brain, so it hardly ever urs by ident. Someone specifically targeted them." "For what purpose?" the Minotaur asked as it smashed one of the corpses underneath its hoof. "If the enemy can destroy our ships, they can destroy us as well. There is no need for infiltration." "That''s not true," said Alfonso, munching on another snack that looked somewhat like a gran bar. "To prate the defense of our suits, the amount of force they would have to use would tear open a massive space hole on the. The Midnight Battalion is a thorn in their side if the enemy wants to do something secretly here." The Minotaur red at the child and was about to curse him out, but the elf spoke first. "Only attacks containing spirituality threaten to rip the space in this vicinity. If they use non-spiritual attacks and simply bombard the with meteors from space, they will seed in killing us without affecting the space. Or they could use some other drastic means, but they have not. That leads to two different conclusions. Either the target of the enemy is the itself, in which case it should hide a massive secret. Or, the target of the enemy is one of us. Or perhaps, all of us." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Calm your men," Luthor said as he stood up. "Strengthen defenses and prepare for an attack. If the demons were activated now, then that means the enemy''s next move is imminent." Without waiting for anyone else to respond, Luthor walked out of the room and started to head deeper into their makeshift fort. They had approximately 3800 soldiers within their fort, mostly all a part of onerge group or another, though of course there were a few stragglers. They had enough food and water to support such a poption for weeks even if they ignored Alfonso''s ability to spawn unlimited food. The issue now was maintaining morale, at least for those not a part of the Inn. Nobody could say for certain why it was so, but the members of the Midnight Battalion only seemed to grow stronger the greater the pressure upon them. None of them had buckled regardless of how great the threat was, and none of them wavered either. If they were not holding back their cultivation levels due to the kind ofs they were being sent to, more than half of them would already be in the Golden core realm. Within the inner sections of, Luthor entered a specific chamber where he found a whole group of the battalion members resting. Although they were not asleep, they were meditating in ce, trying to recover their spent spiritual energy. "Jace, I want you to add multipleyers of inner fortifications. If you can, I also want you to strengthen all the walls as much as possible." "You know I''m already preparing this fort as if we''re going to be besieged," Jace said, opening his eyes, exhaustion evident in his voice. As a Foundation realm cultivator, creating such a massive fort on his own was not an easy task, despite having the ability to control the earth. Luthor simply nodded, before turning his attention to another corner. There sat another member of the Inn, meditating like the rest, but with one stark difference. No one, not even Luthor, could see this member of the battalion! The only reason Luthor knew that he sat in that specific corner was because of a small etching in the ground that had his name written on it. "1000, I have a mission for you. Follow me." Regis, who Luthor referred to as 1000, opened his eyes and looked at the man who was somehow looking directly in his eyes without even knowing where they were. With his finger he poked a small dot in the ground, indicating his acknowledgment of the order. Like the rest, he had unlocked a new ability. Saying that he could vanish or turn invisible was not sufficient to describe his ability. Regis'' ability was topletely disappear. Not only did he turn invisible, as well as turn all his gear and equipment invisible, but he could not produce any sound or vibrations either. Even the memory of his existence vanished from everyone''s minds, including his name. That is why Luthor called him 1000, referring to him as the 1000th member of the battalion. Regis had no control over his ability either, so it would remain active perpetually. The only way he couldmunicate was through physical touch. Fortunately, that had allowed him to write on a piece of paper and exin his situation to Luthor, otherwise he would bepletely forgotten by all. Chapter 832 Just another Monday during war

Chapter 832 Just another Monday during war

Luthor walked out and entered a secluded area of the fort so that he could talk to 1000 properly. Although the members of the battalion were not easily demoralized, a strict control of information was still necessary. "Are you here?" Luthor asked in the empty room. In response, a small line was etched into the wall beside him, indicating that 1000 had followed him as instructed. "There''s no need to mention that something is amiss, but now I believe we are specifically being targeted. I need you to go outside the fort and find out who the enemy is and what they''re nning." 1000 etched a tick mark into the wall before disappearing. Although he could touch the world around him, 1000 would leave no traces behind, as he would only physically affect the world if he willed it. Otherwise, he would not leave a footprint even in the sand. Just as Luthor was considering his next actions, a space ripple passed through the fort. Luthor quickly stepped out and discovered that countless soldiers had dropped to the ground, some of them dead but most of them only injured. "How long until the formation is up and running?" Luthor asked, turning to one of the elves near him. "We''re trying, but it''s not so simple. Formations to stabilize space are not easy to begin with, and we are suffering from a severe scarcity of resources!" "You better think of a solution quickly, or there won''t be anyone left alive for your formation to protect!" The elves had offered to set up such a formation within their fort, but putting up a formation was not something easily achieved, not to mention that it had not even been a full day yet since they began. Before the elf could defend himself, the sound of a horn bellowed through the fort, and all the soldiers froze for a moment. The next second, their demeanor changed and all of them entered abative state of mind. The horn was a warning. There were enemies on the horizon! Unlike the rest, Luthor was not taken by surprise by the horn, as he had been expecting it. He leaped forward immediately and rushed to the outer wall and climbed the battlements from where he could get the best view. Gerard and others rushed there at the same time, and they all looked towards the approaching enemies. "Void dwellers!" the minotaur eximed with anger and hatred. The void dwellers were what they called the creatures that poured in from the rips in space, and were the most hated enemies for anyone on the Cursed. "We are fortunate," said the elf leader as he looked out at them. "Their corpses can be used as precious materials to draw the space stabilization formation." "Gerard, find out if the enemies areing from any other side," Luthor said as he drew battle ns in his mind. Due to the fact that they could not find a suitable location to build their fort, it was exposed from all sides, which meant that they had to station a portion of their army on each side to defend in case of enemies. "The elves will not take part in battle," Luthormanded, his gaze not diverting from the iing creatures. "They will focus solely on building the formation. Our greatest threat right now is the space ripples. Those elves not proficient in building the formation will be incharge of protecting those who are." Right now, they did not have the time to foster trust and cooperation between the various forces inside the fort. It would be best if the elves protected their own, which would allow them to feel at ease. "The minotaurs will divide, and a portion will be stationed on each side of the fort. The Midnight Battalion will take the front charge against the Void Dwellers, but if any other foes attack, the minotaurs will step in. Gerard, divide up the rest and make sure they all take their stations. If anyone causes problems, then there is no need to hesitate. During war, we retain the right to administer capital punishment to deserters." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om With his orders given Luthor jumped forward. The void dwellers were an unusual mix of strange creatures, each looking different from the rest. They all had different abilities, making it very difficult to fight against them in groups. Of course, that only applied to others. With his first step, purple mes erupted from his hands. With his second step, they spread up his arms, hugging his ck suit but not harming it at all. By the time he took his third step, his torso and upper body were engulfed in furious purple mes. By his fourth step, he was a purple inferno rushing towards the Void Dwellers who had slowed down their initial charge. Some of them even tried to turn back and escape, but there was no escape. Luthor had firmly mastered his strength, and could perfectly control his output so that it stayed on the border of stimting space, but not actually doing so. Walking this tightrope did not seem to hamper Luthor at all as he single-handedly stopped the first charge of enemies towards his fort, and then dove deep within their ranks to make sure he was thoroughly surrounded. Back when Z could still use his abilities, he was the only one who could apany Luthor when he became like this, but even without backup he was a force of nature unto himself. Back on the battlements the minotaurs'' battle lust cooled down as he looked at Luthor. He was a maniac and felt no strain on his pride obeying his orders. "Sandra, go remind Luthor to leave the corpses behind," Gerard yelled from the battlements. On this side of the fort Luthor alone was enough, but they were being attacked from all four sides ording to thetest report. Gerard, however, was not concerned. They had faced worse odds than this. This was just another Monday as far as he was concerned. Speaking of which, was it really Monday? He had lost track of days. Chapter 833 Holding back

Chapter 833 Holding back

On the battlements some of the guards soldiers watched nervously. Everyone was treating the situation as if Luthor alone could solve the entire push of Void Dwellers, but how could one man achieve such a thing? Even if he was undefeatable, and killed mercilessly, all the creatures would have to do is go around him. He may be able to stop those creatures within his immediate reach, but how could that trante into stopping the entire push? Yet that is exactly what was happening. The heat from Luthor''s mes caused the dwellers to turn away from him even before he made contact, let alone when he ran into their midst. Those close to him tried to retreat, and those further away tried to circle around him. They did not need intelligence, just a sense of self protection to avoid him. But what could mindless creatures do that Luthor hadn''t already thought of? Once he was surrounded, Luthor channeled more energy, careful not to fuel it into strengthening his mes. Instead, he summoned more and more mes. Purple mes, dancing as if celebrating the impending massacre, flowed out from Luthor''s body and began to spread across the floor. The creatures screamed and howled, and those that could fly took to the air. Those near Luthor tried to attack him with ws and fangs and energy attacks that could cut through the toughest metals. Those that were farunched long distance attacks, or even picked up creatures near them and threw them at Luthor. Attacks rained down as if he was standing in a storm, yet Luthor was not distracted for even a second. After all, to pierce through his suit, they would need to reach a minimum of the Nascent level, and they were all too far from that. The carpet of mes spread till it covered the entire army and then erupted into the sky! Like a volcano that had been suppressed too long, the mesunched into the sky painting the entirendscape purple. Fierce winds turned into a gale which turned into a tornado as hot air escaped higher into the air, but the mes greedily sucked in the cold air around them! In the fort the watching soldiers dropped their weapons as they looked up at the mes turning into a whirlwind, covering the entire horizon with their malevolent purple. Their knees began to tremble and their mind stopped working, their gaze fixed on the cmity brought not by nature but by man. The mes, which were falsely named Phoenix Fire, burned everything they could reach, threatening to even turn against their originator. But Luthor merely stood there as he waited for thest of the Void Dwellers to die, in the very center of the storm. His figure, even from afar, looked more demonic than real demons and more devilish than real devils. The elves and the minotaurs watched, filled with awe and reverence. Finally, for the first time, they felt hope of actually surviving. Only the members of the Midnight Battalion did not bat an eye at the spectacle. How could they not know that when Luthor did not hold back, and used his bloodline power in addition to his mes, the resulting destruction was even greater. Despite being in the Foundation realm, only those in the upper levels of the Golden core could be his enemies. As he was right now, he was merely rushing a bit to finish off the enemies. Maybe he was expecting more threats, or maybe he wanted to deliver a message that they were no easy prey. Whatever the case, this level could phase the battalion any longer. On the other side of the fort, Z was slowly walking towards the Void Dwellers attacking from this side. He did not fight alone, as Luthor had done, and was apanied by countless minotaurs as well as a few of the random other soldiers that had joined them. But while the rest charged towards the Void Dwellers, filled with both excitement and fear, hatred and bloodlust, Z walked slowly. He had been thinking of new techniques to use now that space techniques were no longer avable. He also did not have any speakers, so all of his moves that depended on sound were also out of the question. At the same time, he did not really want to rely on his bloodline either. That was too boring. So where did that leave him? Using his index finger, middle finger and thumb Z held his ck tie and slid his hand down the length of it. He felt the soft, flexible fabric the tie was made of. He felt the stitching, the texture, and the various abilities packed within it. Without halting his steps, Z took off his tie and opened the knot, straightening it. He put the bottom edge of the tie between his index and middle finger, and then began to slowly wrap the tie around his knuckles. Three times he wrapped it, before letting the rest dangle down. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Even in such a situation, his tie was without a single crease, and fell perfectly straight without a single wrinkle marring its immacte appearance. He looked up and saw a nearby Void Dweller, unusuallyrge at nearly 13 feet (3.9 meters). It had a humanoid appearance, and though it wore no armor, its body itself looked like armor. Single handedly the creature was fighting against several other soldiers, and even seemed to be winning. Suddenly it paused as it felt a faint threat, but by the time it looked up it was already toote. Z appeared in the air in front of it and, with his right hand, punched it. Despite its massive body the creature wasunched through the air as if shot out of a cannon, but it barely covered any distance before an overwhelming force held it still. Z''s tie had wrapped itself around the creature''s neck. The force of the sudden stop nearly ripped its head off, but the creature''s durability kept that from happening - only at first. Before the creature, or anyone else for that matter, could understand what happened, the tie suddenly turned sharper than any de and cut through its head. By the time the corpse fell on the ground, Z had already moved on. Chapter 834 I made a mistake Chapter 834 I made a mistake In a dark room, a small group sat and watched a live stream through a projection. The stream was of a single, the majority of its surface bare and barren. What had once been a prospering, in the sense that the Fuegan used it to mass produce countless biological weapons, had been thoroughly devastated by the war. It was not just the numerous fights and the ensuing destruction that brought it to this state. Instead, the space ripples yed arge role in killing all normal life on it. Previously, it also had countless creatures designed to fight in unstable space, but even they were dead now. Or, to be more specific, they had been turned into demons. A massive army consisting of every living creature on the was being brought, step by step, towards a single fort, which was the main target of the projection being shown. Various emotions had been stimted as the members of that small group saw Luthor''s capabilities. He was abnormally strong for a Foundation realm cultivator, and not just specifically for a human either. Even other, stronger races would have a tough time fighting Luthor as long as they were in the same realm. But it did not matter at all. Regardless of how formidable the Midnight Battalion was, and how impervious their armor, they would eventually run out of spiritual energy. After all, the scale of the enemy they faced was toorge. Even if all 1000 members were as strong as Luthor, eventually they would be worn out. That was exactly the goal this group was working towards. Capturing the battalion would be an easy task for any of them, but if they arrived in an area with such weak space they would not be able to use their abilities properly. Unfortunately, acting in exactly such an environment was necessary because that was the only way they had discovered of preventing the battalion from teleporting back to the Inn. Of course, chances were they still had a way to teleport back. As unfortunate as that would be, it did not matter. In that case, this would be a good learning experience. After all, when targeting an entity as strong and massive as the Midnight Inn, the more information they gathered, the better they could n for future attempts. One of the members watched with blood red eyes filled with fanaticism. "Oh lord Ra, I dedicate this attempt to you. If the heretics of Midnight are sessfully captured, I will spill their blood in your honor, and strengthen your reviving faith by sacrificing their souls." Another shadowed figure watched with impatience. The slug-like creature, a Gti, just wanted hostages. That way he could finally exchange for Jill, who was still hiding out inside the Inn. A robot watched in silence, recording everything it saw in its hard drive so that the main intelligence hub could analyze all the information in greater detailter on. As an A.I. it did not really care about revenge. However, the Inn had shown the capability to threaten the A.I. race. They needed a way to retaliate against the Midnight Organization if there was ever a need. A couple of figures were devils, and they sat without any disguises to mask them. Finally, among the group, there was an actual Fuegan! Like the Henali used various other races to fight their war, so too did the Fuegan. But behind the facade was a real race, and their strength could not be underestimated. The Fuegan did not care about the Midnight Inn either way. It was merely here to develop contacts. After all, the era of the Henali wasing to a close, and soon they would have to manage the countless races of the Origin realm. It was good to get some practice while they could. "The show is finally getting good," said one of the devils as he watched with eager eyes. Their n was to exhaust the Midnight Battalion before capturing them. It would be best to avoid any deaths if it could be helped. But, if it couldn''t be helped, then they would just deal with it. After all, this was just a single one of their ns. ***** The first fight did notst long, and in a short thirty minutes all four invading armies were decimated. The problem was, as if on cue, as soon as the Void Dwellers all died, another space ripple urred, gravely injuring many and killing some. Then four more armies appeared on the horizon, all heading their way. It was not the size of the armies that intimidated the forces within the fort, but the nature of the invasion. Although they were strong enough to fight off one wave, and perhaps a few more, eventually they would get tired. When that happened, the only oue was death. "All deployed forces retreat!" a calm voice boomed over the various battlefields. Since the fourtest invading armies were still far off the soldiers had enough time to retreat behind the fort walls. In the center many had already gathered, looking towards Gerard who stood atop a podium. "There are new orders. All soldiers will be divided into a few various teams. We have four battlefields considering each side, and so each side will have three teams. One team will fight while the other two rest, and one by one they will rotate so that everyone has a chance to heal and rest." Gerard spoke with a firm, yet rxed voice. He treated the situation as if their victory was a matter of fact, and all they had to do was go through the motions.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "If¡­ if we divide the armies so much, there will be more or less 300 soldiers fighting on each side at any given time. Will such few soldiers be able to hold off the invading army on each side?" asked one of the soldiers, feeling extremely worried. "300? Really? Oh, I must have made a mistake. In that case, there will be four teams for each side, giving everyone even more time to rest. As for holding off the enemy¡­ don''t worry too much about it. The Midnight Battalion will take care of most of the fighting. The rest of you are just there to fill the numbers." Chapter 835 Under Control Chapter 835 Under Control Although Gerard sounded extremely confident when he spoke to the crowd, the reality of the situation was that he was keeping morale. The elves were not participating in the fight until theypleted the formation, so their numbers were extremely strained as is. It was too early to judge, but it seemed like the enemy was using an endless wave of attacks to drain them of their energy. Even then, it was only their battalion that could treat it as an energy drain, but the rest would be faced with mortal danger every time they fought. The extreme benefits of their suits shone brightly in this situation.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om The more it was like this, the more they had to n to conserve energy and survive as long as possible. He looked up. Based on his knowledge, by now the alliance should have long noticed the abnormality with this region and sent reinforcements, or at least someone to investigate. They were ordinarily verypetent like that. The fact that they had not done so yet was concerning. The question now was what tactics was the enemy using to prevent the alliance from sending in reinforcements, and how long could they maintain it? Given that everyone on the Cursed survived long enough for the reinforcements to arrive, how would the enemy react? Would he do something drastic and kill everyone on the, even at the cost of ripping open space? These were only some of the concerns guing Gerard. Clearly he was not treating the situation as lightly as he appeared, but he could not let morale suffer, so he kept up appearances. After all, if the soldiers could not maintain a proper state of mind, and died prematurely, then the answer to any of those questions wouldn''t matter because they would not even be able to make it so far. He began organizing the troops into separate teams and began determining their order of going out into the battlefield. Of course, a team would always be on standby in case more enemies invaded, or the team already fighting was suffering heavy losses. The elves, fortunately, were being very proactive. The ones not working on the formation rushed up to the battlefields to clear out the Void Dweller corpses as they served as the best material for the formation that they had at the moment. There was a makeshift hospital made where Pam, alongside others who knew basic first aid, were treating the various wounded. They did not have the resources or the time to treat each wound thoroughly. All they could do was to prevent it from getting worse for the moment. As everyone obeyed his orders and things within the fort started getting organized, he looked out at Luthor, who was fighting all alone. Although shouldering all the pressure by himself for now was good, since it spared the soldiers from defending an entire side, it was not sustainable. Although Luthor could use Anachronistic Ignition to ward away his fatigue, the more he used this bloodline, the more precarious his situation would be. Theoretically, he could use the bloodline infinitely, as even his bloodline exhaustion could be sent forward into the future, making sure he could use it continuously. Practically though, if Luthor ever reached such a state that he was continuously relying on his bloodline to keep himself going, a single disruptive incident was all it would take to unravel him. A powerful enough spirit attack that would only need to freeze his actions for a mere moment would be enough of a disruption. That is why, although it appeared though that his bloodline had no weaknesses, it was far from the truth. But it could not be helped. Until the elves finished their formation, they could not join the battle efforts. They were already working as fast as they could¡­ unless of course, even they were a part of the enemies n to exhaust the battalion faster by relying on them for aid, but then have them betray everyone at the key moment. With his orders given, and all the soldiers rushing to perform their tasks, Gerard was momentarily free. He climbed up onto the wall and took a look around. Defending like this was not a solution. They either had to establish contact with the alliance, or go and strategically strike at the enemy. But for that, they would have to first know who the enemy is, where they are, and how many of them there are. Holding on like this will ultimately put them at a disadvantage. For a moment, hepared this ce to the Midnight Inn. If he closed his eyes, the sound of the buffeting winds, the thump of thousands of distant footsteps, the mix of strangers from various backgrounds all brought together almost felt like home. But when he opened his eyes, the reality in front of him was different. Perhaps he did not understand before, but he knew now why a refuge such as the Midnight Inn was so necessary in the universe. Gerard let out a sigh. He was feeling a little homesick. As if to wake him from his daydreaming, another spatial ripple wafted by. In the distance, another rip opened and more Void Dwellers began to flood out. This was bad, because the previous wave had not been dealt with as of yet. Gerard sighed before he began giving out new orders. They could, at most, afford to hold out for one more day like this. After that, if they were not able to contact the alliance or did note up with a solution, they would need to take more drastic measures. Idling would get them nowhere. From the fort, the second team on each side, which was supposed to stand in reserve, marched out to join the fight. They would either finish the existing fight before the new wave arrived, or bolster the fighting forces so they could continue to fight longer. Things were still under control¡­ for now. Chapter 836 No updates

Chapter 836 No updates

Far away from the fort walls, where no one could see him, Luthor crouched a bit as he caught his breath. As a Foundation realm cultivator he did not have a massive reserve of spiritual energy, but what truly allowed him to use such massive attacks was the augmentation of his suit. The suit, which had been designed specifically for him, replenished his spiritual energy almost passively. The moment he stopped channeling energy, even for a moment, it began to replenish his reserves. That did not, however, mean that he could use energy endlessly. He had to master the extremely precise way in which to use techniques and his energy, keeping in mind how quickly it will replenish. After so long on the battlefield, he had already mastered the art. Now, what fatigued him was not a deficiency of spiritual energy, but physical exhaustion. He had been fighting nonstop for eight hours, and no matter how much his suit supported him, it could not rece actual nourishment. He needed rest, food and lots of water. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om But that was only because so far he had refrained from using his bloodline. Once he started using it, he could push all his fatigue, hunger and exhaustion into the future, to be dealt withter. A soft, crunching sound of a footstep on a lot of gravel alerted Luthor that someone was nearing him so he quickly fixed his posture, standing tall and strong without any indication of weakening over time. "Gerard is calling you back," said a familiar voice, belonging to the Inn member called Sandra. "The elves have deployed the formation. While they did not have enough time to set up a formation that can stabilize space in such a short time, they set up a kind of barrier that will prevent space ripples froming in. Now that they are free, they will be taking over the defense of this side for the next six hours." "I can still hold this side on my own," Luthor said firmly, as if there was no hint of doubt or hesitation in him. "Yes, Gerard said that you would say that. But while you still can, you should not. We don''t know how long we will have to tolerate this siege. You need to conserve your stamina." Luthor frowned. Gerard was right. Not to mention, if Luthor did not return then 1000 would not be able to deliver his report. He needed to be easily essible in case 1000 returned. He had been fighting for eight hours, would that be enough time for 1000 to learn something important? Probably not, but he had no choice but to ept. "Fine," he answered simply and turned away. The pattern between new waves was fairly simple, and after a few waves they had already figured it out. Basically, every thirty minutes there would be a new space ripple which would result in a new wave to Void Dwellers. If they were not able to defeat the previous wave before then, they would be faced with even more foes. However, if they wiped out the creatures then they could get some time to rest. While the others may have struggled, Luthor''s purple mes were especially potent against the Void Dwellers so he had no trouble. Well, if he was being urate, his mes are extremely potent against anything living, but have practically no heat for nonliving things. It was a peculiar trait of his me that he could not exin, but he was notining for now. After all, it was serving his needs exceptionally well. So by the time Luthor got back to the fort, the elves had a good fifteen minutes to go ahead and deploy themselves before the next wave arrived. "What''s the situation?" Luthor asked Gerard as he joined the old man up on the rampart. There was a supply of rations and rehabilitation elixir waiting for him beside where Gerard was, so Luthor did not hesitate to dig in. These food items were specially designed to rece normal food and water, and would keep the body satisfied for a long time afterward. "We have had up to 349 soldiers admitted to the clinic during the various attacks. A majority of them have been treated and are able to return to battle soon enough, but 12 of them are critically injured and cannot be treated here. They will have to wait till they are rescued. There are many deaths as well, and not just because of the ripples. Effectively, we are down to 3400 soldiers as of right now." "Has there been any updates from the other side?" "No. We have been trying to establishmunication with the alliance, but all our means are being blocked one way or another. Some techies have been trying to join a few transmitters together and build amunication device that does not rely on local satellites, but I wouldn''t hold out any hope. We don''t have the kind of facilities needed to build such a device." Luthor paused for a moment as he felt the food reach his stomach and instantly dissolve. An extremely pleasant heat spread through his body, reinvigorating him and massaging his sore muscles. "How is the progress with the fort going?" "The fort itself has been reinforced multiple times, and each barrier has been strengthened to be able to tolerate attacks from a Golden core cultivator. Now Jace is working on an undergroundwork of escape tunnels. So far he has only built 3, but his n is to create 100 independent tunnels leading to various areas should they need to escape. Of course, he is being extra careful to ensure none of the tunnels are easily discovered, lest we have invadersing in from beneath us as well." "Good. I want the elves who have knowledge of formations brought here instead of sent to battle. If we can build any offensive formations that will greatly relieve the pressure on our soldiers." "I''ll have them summoned." Chapter 837 Infiltration Chapter 837 Infiltration With a final, exhausted groan Regis pulled himself up the side of a cliff. He was not concerned about being detected due to the noise he made since his ability directly nullified every sound he made, whether he wanted to or not. Besides, he was too exhausted to care at the moment. Even though he was from the Midnight Inn, and had his body enhanced multiple times through star level increases, he was ultimately not a body cultivator - though admittedly he was considering entering that path now. Since Luthor had assigned him his reconnaissance mission he had been running nonstop.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Finally, about an hour ago, he found traces of creatures other than Void Dwellers atop this massive cliff, and so he began climbing. He had no idea how difficult it would be. Even fighting a life and death battle was easier than climbing a vertical mountain wall with little to no footholds. He spent a couple of minutes catching his breath, and letting his sore muscles rx before he forced himself to stand up. He was still on a mission after all, and each minute he wasted could be critical. The minute he turned around, however, he was stunned. He was not ready for the sight he beheld. Hundreds of thousands of demons had gathered together, and all of them seemed to be building something. The foundation of whatever structure they were erecting was well over 30 feet (9.1 meters) deep, and was easily hundreds of feet across. They were using nearby rocks and cleaving them into square blocks and using them to build the structure. In certain areas the bodies of demons were being crushed under the rocks, their blood and guts being used to add to the structure. The scale of this construction was massive, but the more intimidating thought was that even with such a massive army, the enemy had not thought to attack the fort with them. That meant that to them, the fort was not a serious threat, and was one they were treating as an inconvenience instead. Suppressing his trembling heart, Regis walked forward. Although he had discovered this construction site, he did not know its purpose or the enemy''s n. He could not return without gathering more information. He climbed one of the massive piles of rocks nearby and surveyed the area carefully. He was looking for anything that looked like amand center, or perhaps a ce where supervisors may be residing. Covering such a massive area, amidst so many creatures, it was difficult to discover anything. The sounds of heaving and screaming, of dying demons crushed under massive blocks and demons screaming orders filled the area, settling in like a thick fog. It was hard to focus with so many stimuli. Fortunately, all the suits the Innworkers got were fitted with universal trantors, so Regis eventually overheard someone talking about guests, and directly moved in that direction to investigate. There was no proper construction anywhere, but a temporary shelter had been established in the gap between two massive boulders. When he entered, he finally saw something different. Instead of demons, two elves were huddled together, discussing the demons derisively. "I don''t see the point in this. It''s wasting time. With such a massive force, we should just have the demons invade and capture the heretics directly. A blood sacrifice from his enemies will go a long way in helping the almighty lord recover his strength." The elf who spoke seemed to be filled with a fanatic obsession, fueling his every breath. "We just have to follow orders. I don''t know the n, but I heard that they were inspired by the recent terrorist attacks. Although we don''t have a Jom on hand to grab the from within the void, the higher ups must have their reasons. After all, we can''t pressure them too much. What if they have a way to return to the Inn?" "I thought they already confirmed that the keys worked. Why are they still hesitating?" "The keys didn''t work for guests, but there''s no telling whether the employees have something else to escape back to the Inn. We have to act carefully. Once we pull the into the void, we can do as we please. Capturing the heretics will be a lot easier." "I can''t wait for the blood sacrifice," the first one said again, his gaze filled with a warped devotion. Regis'' heart trembled at what he heard, but the two religious fanatics changed the topic of conversation so he could learn nothing else for now. What he learned was already rming enough, but he did not want to waste an opportunity. He had to get as much critical information as possible, so he delved deeper into the construction site. His only regret was that he did not know any sabotage techniques or he could have set up a few traps to dy the construction process considerably. He should learn that when he gets back to the Inn for future missions. Since Regis didn''t need to sneak, his infiltration was quick and without any problems. From time to time he would learn new tidbits, and each would make his heart drop. When he found out that the alliance had not even learned of what had happened yet, since the enemy was masquerading as them, he was especially rmed. That basically meant no backup wasing any time soon. They would have to rely on themselves if they wanted to somehow escape their predicament. But, just when he thought that there was no hope, he finally heard a piece of good news from a passing demon. Apparently, besides their fort, there was one other group who had been holding out against the demons. They were an extremely formidable race, and despite being all alone they had managed to hold on. Regis took note of the location the demons said where that race was, and continued on further. The more he learnt, the greater their advantage would be. As for potentially getting help from the Marzu race, that was for Luthor to decide. Chapter 838 The game has just begun Chapter 838 The game has just begun ? In the dark room where a group silently observed the Midnight Battalion, the religious zealot finally lost his patience upon seeing Luthor casually retreating from the battlefield. "That''s enough! How much time must we wait? The longer we take, the greater their chances of escape! Whoever came with this n is an imbecile! Hand over themand, let me take over!" In the fanatics'' defense, it was truly too bitter watching the heretics battle hour after hour, but never getting so much as a scratch. With each of their victories, their morale would rise and they would grow stronger. The more formidable their enemy, the more they would rise to the asion. It was best to simply crush them with one simple powery! But his outburst had just ended when a hand appeared atop his head, making his entire body freeze. A handsome and mischievous man stepped out from the shadow, revealing himself. He turned the fanatics head towards himself and looked down at him. He did not seem upset or angry at his earlier outburst. Instead he smiled, and took this opportunity to educate the group. "Previously you all may have met Karen, but not many of you have met me. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Rocketfellow. You all have surely at least heard of me." He paused to allow the group''s response, and their murmurs and change in demeanor seemed to indicate his assumption was correct. "Allow me to educate you on our adversary in our current endeavor. This impatience andck of foresight is exactly the kind of behavior that resulted in the deity Ra''s downfall. Our opponent is a Daolord. Do you understand what a Daolord is? Do you understand the kind of power they wield? Just because the Deities of this realm have reached an artificial Daolord level does not mean that what they hold isparable to a true Daolord. "If you think of their name, they will know it. If you n against them, they will know it. If you even dream about something affiliated to them, they will know about it. They are at a realm and station far beyond ourprehension and understanding. Facing them, a million attempts such as the one we are conducting now is too few, and a billion years of nning is too short. "We need to study and understand each and every aspect of them before making a true move. We need to study their actions, their history, their habits, their morals, their philosophies, their absolutely everything, and then we need to do it again a hundred more times before we can even consider the ultimate goal. So this, right now, what we are doing is not a true attempt. No, right now, we are learning. "We are learning what the Innkeepers'' tolerance is. Will he help his soldiers, or will he abandon them? Has he provided any special means to them to return to the Inn, or is it the same as everyone else? If he helps, will he move personally or will he send someone else? How long will it take for him to send help? What are the limitations he is bound by, or is he even bound at all? "You see, children, whatever you think you know about a Daolord, it is not enough. As soon as we made a single n to move against his people, he already knew about it." The expressions of the various people in the room changed, and a hint of fear and hesitation appeared on their faces. "What''s with those faces? Did you honestly think you could hide? From a Daolord? Don''t make meugh children. That''s really too immature. Not only did he know about it, he even called me for a meeting and warned me." The devil smirked, as if he was thinking back to that meeting. "You see, when I first decided I wanted to capture the Inn''s workers, I approached the Daolord and proposed a cooperation. Obviously, I could not say outright that I wanted to poach his workers, so I phrased it like a partnership. In exchange for allowing me to take some of his workers, I offered 5 trillion MP. At that time, it seemed like the Daolord agreed. "But when we finally found an opportunity, and I finally acted on it, we had another meeting, and he gave me a subtle warning. He said he was shutting down the Inn for a while, and if I wanted to act on the opportunity, I had to do it within six months, or wait for the future. Of course, these things are never said outright, and we have to put up a pretense. But I understand enough to read between the lines. It seems I have somewhat misunderstood the Innkeeper, so he changed the rules. "All I can say is that, whether we like it or not, we have to y within the rules that they establish. Even then, we suffer the risk of failure, and extreme loss. But the reason we are even able to make an attempt in the first ce is because I went and sought permission in the very beginning. You have to remember your ce when facing a Daolord."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "If Daolords are really as impressive as you im, then how were you able to go and ask for such a thing from one? Were you not afraid he would kill you right then and there for asking to take his workers?" asked one of the shadowed figures. "Two things. First, I have the aura of a Daolord on me, protecting me. No Daolord would easily act against me just to avoid the hassle that it would bring. Secondly, it is merely a request. He can say no if he so wishes. But even if he says yes, we have to correctly interpret his every thought, or else we couldnd in trouble. Even after that, we have to thoroughly study everything or else we won''t have a chance. "Do you think this idea right now is foolproof? Trapping them in an unstable region and then attacking them slowly? All they need is a simple treasure that stabilizes space, and then they can use the keys to escape. Of course, whether they have such a treasure or not is another matter. What matters is that this is merely the first attempt. Through countless attempts we will learn more about our adversary, and then when we truly act, there will be no loopholes left, and no chance of defeat. Of course, there''s a possibility that we may seed even in this attempt, so we have to treat it seriously too." The devil finally let go of the fanatics head, and was pleased to see that he no longershed out. Rocketfellow smiled and looked at the projection. He had to groom his partners well. After all, they had to reach a basic level ofpetence for them to even be useful as scapegoats let alone provide any real help. The game was just beginning. Chapter 839 A day

Chapter 839 A day

"Gerard, pass my orders. During this next wave, all able soldiers will go out to attack and finish off the wave as quickly as possible. After that, everyone will retreat. The wave after that will be fought from the fort''s walls." "Any particr reason?" Gerard asked, though he immediately dispatched several messengers to convey the message. "Oneplete day on this is around 30 hours, give or take. We have been fighting for 29 hours already, and I have a feeling that the wave thates at one full day will be unordinary. We cannot afford to act half heartedly. Besides, the offensive formation that the elves are setting up should almost beplete as well. It''s weak, but some support is still better than no support." By now they only had around 2900 soldiers who could go out and battle, despite the fact that in most fights the Midnight battalion took the brunt of each wave. The battalion itself was still surviving, and had not suffered any real injuries, though spirit energy exhaustion and physical fatigue were bing an issue. Tobat the situation, Luthor had the elves also start working on a spirit energy gathering formation. Unfortunately, that would take some time to build. They were slowly approaching a state where even if they were uninjured, they wouldn''t be able to fight. Of course for now that was still far away, but considering the fact that nothing had changed for nearly 30 hours, it was a very real possibility they had to consider. Luthor was merely waiting for 1000 to return and give his report before he made any decision. After all, making a decision without having the relevant information could end them up in a worse position. After all, no matter how bad their current state was, at least they had walls and some formations to protect them. He watched silently as the effects of his orders took ce, and more troops marched out from the fort and rushed towards the fight in the distance. The situation on each side was, more or less, the same. If one side suffered a little more than the others then they would immediatelypensate by sending in a few, highly effectivebatants. One good example was Z. Although without the ability to manipte space or his speakers he was severely weakened,pared to the rest he was still an absolute powerhouse. With the caliber of enemies they were facing now he did not need to strike an enemy twice, for his first one would be enough to kill. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om There were a few other notable characters within the battalion who could perform this task as well. With many contingency ns prepared, Luthor watched as the battle unfolded. It was brutally bloody, and drained the soldiers more than usual, but they were able to finish the fight within 10 minutes before they quickly retreated back to the fort. Luthor watches evenly, his expression unchanging. He did not care if his orders caused everyone to feel a little more fatigued. Who in the camp was more tired than Pam, who had been healing everyone nonstop? If she could deal with it, so could they. "There''s no time to rest. Everyone, assume your positions on the fort walls. If we face a regr wave then we can test the durability and lethality of our walls and formations. If not then we have to use all of our strength from the very beginning to avoid the situation bing progressively worse." By now, no one questioned Luthor. His prestige had reached an all time high, not just because of his excellent leadership, but also because of his individual strength. The man was a walking volcano, and one that could hold a grudge at that. No one dared to get on his bad side. Soldiers shuffled into their positions, trying to take every moment of rest they could. Normally such a hopeless situation would have drained them mentally, but no one had had the time to think for even a second. They were too preupied with staying alive to think, so they also hadn''t had the time to wallow in despair. Even now, as the minutes ticked by, each and every one of them used their various techniques to replenish their strength and energy. Depression and despair were luxuries they did not have time for. Everyone was focused on their own tasks, so no one noticed when a few thin scratches appeared on the wall in front of Luthor, immediately attracting his attention. Luthor held out his hand and he felt a small weight deposited in his palm. It took a few seconds before a small crystal became visible. This was a crystal used to record valuable information, and was often used to transmit techniques. The fact that 1000 used it now either meant that he had only just procured it in histest outing, or that he had collected too much information and it was inconvenient to convey it through simple writing. "Good job," Luthor murmured softly before channeling his own energy within. Immediately a stream of information flowed into his mind, startling even the steadfast battalion leader! Anger shed in his eyes when he finally absorbed all the information. This was not just an attack on them, but an attack on the Midnight Inn! He immediately pulled out the Innkeepers business card, but before he could use it a spatial wave crashed into the formation around the fort. Then, there was another, and finally a third. Although the formation survived the waves, barely so, the space outside the fort did not. A massive horizontal tear spread in front of the wave, revealing a ck void behind it. Cracks formed in the air around the entire fort as the space around the entire became vulnerable, threatening to break due to the newly developed tear. Z, who was standing on the fort, suddenly looked up, not at the tear but at a specific crack. He could feel something¡­ a connection of sorts. But the luxury of observing did notst long as a single, massive creature seemed to slither out of the Void. Its strength was far beyond and of the previous Void Dwellers, and most definitely beyond what the space here could withstand. This was no longer a draining tactic. If the creature was not killed immediately, the Void would envelop them all, and then the survival of even the Battalion was at risk! Chapter 840 Nothings working! Chapter 840 Nothing''s working! "The taste is absolutely horrendous!" Lex bellowed as he mmed his fast down on the table. "It''s divine!" roared back a beast in the shape of a gazelle, but with brown wings folded on its back. "This ispletely unptable. I can''t add this to the menu!" "You WILL add it to the menu!" the gazelle said aggressively, ring at Lex as if he hadmitted a crime against humanity! No, eh, a crime against gazellity? Against the gazelle nation? Against all gazelle type beasts? Whatever the case, it was definitely a crime! "It''s my restaurant, I''ll do what I want!" Lex said. "This is definitely not a dish that can be served to guests." Of course, there was nothing left on the te in front of him as he had eaten everything, so what dish he was talking about was uncertain. "Lex, I told you that different races have different tastes," Kenta exined awkwardly from the side. "Just because you don''t like it doesn''t mean others will feel the same way." "I get that!" Lex eximed. But then he also immediately pointed towards the beast agitating him and said, "but I don''t trust him at all! He just wants us to keep feeding him free testers while we try out new dishes. If you want to test recipes, it definitely can''t rely on one shady character." "I am trying to help you, and this is how you treat me? Fine then, go get someone else to help you out!" the gazelle yelled loudly before scurrying off. He looked back at Kenta with regret, but did not stick around. Lex was feeling great, despite this small episode. Not only was he healing incredibly quickly, his strength had already crossed his previous peak. Moreover, enough of his skin had returned where he did not need to cover himself like a mummy anymore. To top it all off, Kenta had epted his fate of working as Lex''s chef since he was incredibly broke. He needed a patron to support him while he tested the various recipes he had collected throughout his lifetime. Of course, not all was well. Kenta, with his extremely limited knowledge of how valuable resources are and how desperate creatures can get when faced with temptation, had been randomly giving out samples of his cooking from a stall. With each of his ingredients being worth thousands of MP, the finished product was an extremely potent elixir for anyone''s cultivation. Obviously no one would say anything bad as long as they can keep eating it! "Lex, it can''t work like this. I need to test out my cuisines on other races. Not every dish is suitable for elves or humans!" "Yes, but the way you are going about it is wrong. Next time, consult me before doing anything like this. You''re not going to get a true review like this." Kenta frowned, as if contemting where his n could have gone wrong. Lex was about to borate when a familiar sensation struck him. A portion of his consciousness was being diverted, a feeling which urred whenever someone used one of the Innkeeper''s business cards to summon him. There were a few of them out there. One of them was hidden inside a book that had been sent to Fernanda, the holographicdy who controlled the earth for a brief period. The card had never been used and he had no idea what happened to it or Fernanda. Another one had been left behind when he tried to participate in the meeting for Daolords. Finally, the most recent one had been given by him to Luthor in case there was an emergency. But before his consciousness could fully be drawn, and he discovered who summoned him, he received a system notification and a stream of information. New notification: Due to the fragile nature of the space, an Innkeeper clone cannot be summoned at the location of the business card. A temporary connection has been established to convey a message.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om The information that he received was a report sent by Luthor! Although Lex had unlocked a Midnight battalion panel, only he couldmunicate with the battalion leader, not the other way around. The business card was supposed to be a loophole around that, but an issue had prevented its proper use. It did, however, allow Luthor to send forth his thoughts through the card, allowing him to convey his situation. The Midnight Battalion was trapped on a without support by someone who was specifically targeting them and the Midnight Inn! Moreover, they had done it in such a space that the golden keys did not work! The information Luthor could send over was extremely limited. Thest bits of information Lex received were the name of the they were on, BGY - 987, and the image of arge creatureing out of a tear in space. "I have to go!" Lex eximed to Kenta before promptly dashing away. When he was out of sight, he quickly changed into the Host Attire and teleported to his office. "Mary what the hell is going on? The Innkeeper''s business card isn''t working, and neither are the golden keys for some reason! The battalion is trapped and being targeted by someone!" The business card was supposed to be a hidden trump card. Using the Innkeepers aura he could deter almost anyone from attacking the battalion and thus rescue them, but the card itself was not working! The sudden news caused Lex''s emotions to fluctuate, and the image of a sword appeared in his eye. It was slowly bing more and more prominent while Lex''s rage started to swell up. Just before the sword''s image fully materialized, Lex closed his eyes, shutting out his burning anger, and reced it with a cold, calcting wrath. He had been practicing controlling his anger due to the increased influence of the sword in his soul, so in this instance where he almost lost control, he instinctively knew how to regain his lucidity. As a result, Lex entered a new state, much like the states of Flow, Overdrive and Berserk. Yet at the same time, the state was not exactly brand new. It was as if Lex had merged the states of Flow, where he lost all distractions and focused on the most efficient way toplete his objective, and the state of Berserk, where his strongest emotions filled his entire being, fueling and boosting his strength at the same time. Outside, in the Midnight Inn, although snow had covered most of the area, an unnerving chill suddenly settled in that was absent before. Chapter 841 A big order Chapter 841 A big order Mary appeared in front of Lex, looking just as rmed as him. She quickly searched through the information she had, which made her grimace. "ording to the guide, there are a few circumstances in which the keys, and other associated Inn powers, will cease to work. One such situation is if using the ability will result in catastrophic or irreversible damage. The keys, specifically, could also fail if they are in some unique spaces, or are being blocked by certain powers with strong enough protection. You saw the same thing when you entered the tower in the Crystal realm." Lex did not want to y the me game right now, where he used the system of hiding such information from him. The truth was that while the system never informed him, he never asked either. He instead focused on the situation. Luthor had only transmitted limited information to him, so he had to dissect it carefully to get as much information as possible. The key pieces were that the Midnight Inn was specifically being targeted, that they were on a called BGY - 987, and that the keys did not work in the space where they were. The notification he got when the business card was used also stated that space was fragile in the location they were trying to use it. There were sufficient clues, so he was more or less certain that he had guessed correctly. The problem now was to decide what to do. The issue this time was outside of the Inn, and he had no real power there. But he had all the resources of the Midnight Inn to help to resolve the issue in a roundabout manner. His mind worked in overdrive toe up with a n. If he reached them, how would he rescue them? The easiest way would be to send them to the Inn, but that was an issue at the moment. How was he going to reach them? What was he supposed to do if he faced an enemy much stronger than himself? What if this was a trap? Countless thoughts ran through Lex''s mind, and just as quickly as they came, he resolved each and every one of them. A n formed in his mind, but even in his agitated and aggravated state, he did not rush to action. No, right now Lex''s mind was cool and free from all distractions. Now that he had thought about what to do, he went over the n a few times to anticipate what problems he could face. There were parts of the n where he would have to improvise, but there was nothing he could do about that. It would also mean¡­ openly revealing the connection between Lex and the Midnight Inn, but that was more or less inevitable. But that should not be enough to arouse unusual suspicion onto him. After all, the Inn had many workers with real identities outside the Inn, such as Harry, John, Qawain, Antia and more. Speaking of whom, Lex briefly considered taking Qawain along as well. He was an Earth immortal, after all, and would be a real asset. But considering the¡­ vtile nature of Lex''s n, having him there might be a hindrance instead of a boon. Besides, he''d already thought of ways to make up for his absence. Before he took any action, he once more reviewed all the information he had, and all the abilities and features of the Inn. Was there anything he was missing that he could take advantage of? Unbelievably, just as he was sure there was nothing more, an idea urred to him in case things did not work as he had intended. He checked one more time, reading the descriptions of the associated items and features, before readying himself. He opened the Midnight Battalion panel and sent Luthor a message. "I''m sending help. Survive as long as possible." The current situation did not allow for long and borate exnations for why the Innkeeper couldn''t just use his powers and immediately save them. This would have to suffice. Next, he teleported to his museum and chipped a small piece of the jewel that still carried with it a dragon''s obsession. The inherent value of the jewel, alongside the dragon''s obsession, and the fact that the aura of a primordial infected it made the jewel invaluable. So how was Lex able to chip it so easily? He used the Innkeeper''s letter opener. That thing was much sharper than the Butter Knife at this point, but was also limited to staying within the Inn. He stored the chipped jewel and teleported to X-142, before promptly entering the Infinity Emporium. Powell, as usual, was waiting for him and smiled warmly. Just as the merchant was about to wee Lex, and even jab him on the return of his skin in good humor, Lex held up his hand and stopped him. "I have no time, and I require the best and quickest service my membership of the emporium affords. I need an item that can immediately stabilize space as quickly as possible. If there''s more than one, I''ll take everything. I also need any and all powerful weapons you have immediately avable that anyone can use. Also, is it possible for you to get your hands on something from the BGY - 987 from the Fuegan battlefield within Suera? If that''s possible, I can afford to wait a bit." Before Powell could ask any question, Lex flicked the small, chipped jewel at the man. "Take that as payment." As soon as Powell grabbed the jewel he was visibly startled, and even star struck. He froze with his mouth hung open as he looked at the jewel, trying to discover why his senses were indicating that this was extremely valuable, yet he could not identify it. "Powell I have no time!" Lex said firmly, waking the merchant up from his stupor. "I''ll get on it immediately!" he said, and ran towards the backdoor. This was another big order for him!n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Chapter 842 Survive

Chapter 842 Survive

Luther''s mind worked at full speed as he saw the massive tear in space. He had to report to the Innkeeper as quickly as possible, and then get to the tear before the massive creature slithering out of itpletely emerged. He channeled his energy into the card, ready to transmit the message, when a familiar aura pervaded the area, causing everyone to freeze. Even the Void Dweller, partially exited from the space rip, froze in deference to the aura. But the weight of it was too much. The itself trembled and the skies wept with as agonizing moan as reality itself seemed on the verge of fracture. Immediately the aura withdrew and Luthor felt a brief, fleeting connection with the Innkeeper. Clearly, even without knowing the situation the Innkeeper had tried to help, but the space here could not sustain his powers. It would be more lethal than helpful to them if he acted, even if only using the card as a conduit. Understanding that no immediate help would arrive, Luthor sent what little information he could. He did not expect to be saved, so he was not really disappointed. Instead, he was grateful that the Innkeepers aura had at least slowed down the arrival of the Void Dweller, or their situation would be even worse. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Z, you only have one move," Luthor instructed, as he silently initialized the one move that the Battalion had be especially renowned for. Though Luthor never officially gave the order, the members of the battalion were all too familiar with the process. Wordlessly and efficiently they yed their part, merging together to form the Midnight Mech! Active 2: Z, momentarily distracted by the strange connection he felt in the spatial cracks, gathered himself, tookmand of the mech, and directed its solemn gaze towards the emerging Void Dweller. From within the gaping tear in the fabric of reality, the being was still emerging, its eyes aglow with an ancient, unearthly malevolence. It hovered on the precipice between fear and anger, its limited intelligence struggling between escaping the fearful aura it had felt, or emerging from its eternal prison. Keeping in mind Luthor''s instructions, not to mention spurred on by the fact that cracks were still spreading through space, the mech surged to life, a symphony of arcane symbols and pulsating energies swirling around it. Within the mech, Z could wield much greater power. More importantly, he could wield the power of those who made up the mech in the first ce. A surge of power coalesced into a?purple, zing sphere between its outstretched appendages, simmering with heat that even Luthor had never been able to manifest. Sufficient build up would have allowed the mech to deliver an even more devastating blow, but there was no time to be had. With an earth-shattering roar, the mech unleashed a concentrated burst of purple mes, a radiant torrent of raw power. The unleashed beam surged forth, a dazzling disy of beauty and devastation, intent on turning the Void Dweller to ash! The Void Dweller itself, which had paused to allow its internal struggle, coiled as it suddenly felt a new approaching threat. Although the scale was nowhere near the potency of the previous aura, it was still a significant threat! But its preparation was insufficient, and its evaluation of the threat was scant. When the purple mes crashed into the serpent like creature, not only did it push the creature back into the Void, but it enveloped its entire body! In an eeriement that echoed through both the void and reality, the creature quickly sumbed to the mes, turning into stardust and ash. The sequence of events took only a few seconds, but the devastation caused by such raw power was not insignificant. Not only did the tear not close, it was beginning to grow wider under the influence of the ripples produced by the mech''s attack. The cracks in space were now spreading from the air to the ground, and seemed on the verge of spreading exponentially. Either the enemy had not anticipated the repercussions of their actions, or they no longer needed to keep them alive! Whatever the case, they still had an issue on their hands. Z braced himself before channeling the awesome power of the mech, and forcefully trying to use his spatial affinity. Due to the fact that countless other members of the battalion had the same affinity, plus the multiplied energy reserves of the mech, the influence Z could wield on space was much greater. While he still could not do as he pleased, he could at least try to contain the disaster. Under Z''s efforts, a spatial ripple was released from the mech. But instead of destroying space as they usually did, the ripple seemed to absorb the energy of the tear, preventing it from spreading. A few momentster, another ripple was released, and then another. Unbelievably, the massive tear began to retreat, and space began to heal itself. "I''m sending help. Survive as long as possible," a familiar voice entered Luthor''s ears. But since he was currently merged with the rest through the mech, they all heard theforting words. He was beaten and battered, and almostpletely mentally drained, but hearing the Innkeeper''s voice gave Z the little bit of strength he needed to continue his effort until the space tear was closed. As soon as the tear was closed, however, he dismissed the mech. Ordinarily, using the mech was not so taxing on any one person since they all shared the burden. But in this instance, since he was forcefully exerting his affinity in such a fragile ce, Z was especially exhausted. The others looked drained, but Z fell to his knees as his consciousness waned in and out. A thin, firm hand quickly grabbed onto Z before he fell t on his face, and helped him steady himself. "Gather yourself, soldier," said Sandra, her voice filled in equal parts with both teasing andfort. "We have our orders. We have to survive as long as possible. So no sleeping on the job." Chapter 843 Botlam’s Grace

Chapter 843 Bom''s Grace

Lex counted each second that Powell was gone, though his mind kept telling him not to do that. Unless Powell was able to get something from that that still contained its aura, Lex would have to spend a long time reaching it no matter what. Instead of wasting time and energy, Lex began to refine his n once more. There were a few areas where he would have no option but to improvise, he began considering various actions he could take. Even with his mind distracted, Lex was all too aware that he tapped his foot on the ground 9 times before Powell returned. Due to his agitation, the speed of his tapping was fast, tranting to two taps per second. Powell took 4.5 seconds to go and return. Although Lex had asked him to hurry, that kind of efficiency was remarkable. "I have activated the perks from your membership, so you will be getting the best of our service. A number of Powells are on the way, bringing every space rted item we have. I have also procured a list of all the easily usable weapons we have. Selections include guns, bombs, curses, talismans and such. Unfortunately, we cannot ess Fuegan battlefields at all, and conducting any kind of trade that has anything to do with them is severely frowned upon." Without waiting for any kind of response from Lex, Powel opened up a projection of a list of items in front of Lex. At the very top were the various space rted items they had avable at that very moment, only after which were the weapons. Lex scanned through the list, reading the description of each item carefully. Not only did they have to be useful, but they needed to be easy to use and difficult to disrupt. There were over 400 space rted items that the emporium had in stock at that very moment, but only 3 that suited Lex''s needs. The most ideal was a high powered and extremely rare talisman. Its original purpose was to strengthen space within a certain region for a short period of time. Although it sounded useless, it was actually a tactical item. By strengthening space for a short time, it would prevent ordinary teleportation in and out of that region. Even someone with a space affinity would struggle to do anything in that region. But Lex was not concerned about that. As long as space was strong and stable enough, the keys would work, he was confident in that. The second item was arge wine bowl. As long as a special liquid called Gravity Void tincture was poured into it, the bowl could disy a number of space rted abilities. The emporium, fortunately, also had the tincture in stock. Thest was a formation te. This one took a little time to use, as it needed to be set up, but was the most stable. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Another thing that caught Lex''s eye, despite not being an item, was a manual on space affinity. Since the issue this time was space, and Lex could not say for certain what he would encounter, he bought all three of the items as well as the manual. Then he looked towards the weapons. These he bought indiscriminately. As long as he still had credit left over from the jewel he sold, he bought weapons. He started with the strongest and the easiest to use, and then just kept buying them. Unfortunately, or fortunately, none of the easy-to-use weapons could harm immortals, but Lex paid that no mind. Once he had selected enough, he submitted his order and waited for Powell to deliver them. The merchant wore a look that was equal parts excitement as it was concern. He could clearly tell Lex was not in the best of moods, and based on the items he was purchasing that he was heading for trouble. He struggled whether he should say something or not, but then came to a conclusion. Being helpful would be more useful than expressing his concern at the moment. "You might also want to take a look at this," Powell said, and showed Lex the details for another item. At first, Lex simply nced over, but when he saw the item, his eyes gleamed. The item was in the shape of angel wings and was made of y. ording to its description, within it the item contained an extremely potent Holy aura from an Archangel, which had almost magical healing properties towards non-demons. Of course, if used against demons, it had an equally poisonous effect. The most intriguing thing¡­ was that the item''s name was Bom''s Grace. Lex did not ponder over the origin of the item, or why he was seeing the name Bom once again. Since it was useful, Lex bought the item. It took nearly a minute for another Powell to burst through the door, holding a small spatial ring containing all the items Lex bought. He transferred everything into his own bangle, then immediately left. Once he returned to the Inn, Lex did not immediately head for the teleportation formation that would take him to the battlefield. No, instead he headed towards the museum where Lex procured every missile he had collected from the dragon''s hoard. Pel had previously described the use of each of the missiles to him, so this time he would not be caught unprepared when he used them. In total, Lex stored 43 such missiles. Each one had the potential to kill an Earth immortal, with some of the stronger ones even capable of injuring a Heavenly immortal. If they didn''t reach at least such a level, they would not have been worth being added to the dragons collection. Though, ultimately, to the dragon, they were only trinkets to be collected. After all, as an authentic Heavenly immortal, each one of the dragon''s attacks was more powerful than those rockets. With the weapons taken,he looked up towards the massive ship. It would be so much easier if he could take that out of the Inn. But, since he couldn''t for now, he would make do. With his Host Attire still equipped, Lex looked for the only other member of the Inn who would be apanying him. "Cirk, stop whatever you''re doing. There''s a mission that requires your skills." Chapter 844 Crazy Enough

Chapter 844 Crazy Enough

Cirk, who was resting since he was on break, immediately stood up as soon as he heard the Innkeepers voice. Before he knew it, he had been teleported over to the Midnight Tailors, where the Innkeeper was already waiting for him. "Innkeeper!" Cirk greeted, not used to seeing his boss in person, but the Innkeeper was already walking inside. "Keep up. This is a matter of grave urgency." Cirk dared not keep the Innkeeper waiting, so he rushed in behind him. "Geeves, I don''t have much time," the Innkeeper said as soon as he walked in. "Cirk has to leave the Inn on a mission. What''s the best suit you can give him for protection right at this moment? We don''t have time for a custom job right now." "Innkeeper, my readymade selection is somewhat bare," Geeves responded immediately, his voice calm and collected even under pressure. "I have one inspired by the suit given to the battalion, but without specifically altering it to Cirks body he won''t be able to draw the most out of it." "Bring it out," he ordered Geeves, before turning to the spaceship captain. "Cirk, I need you to apany another worker out on a mission. You may be required to pilot the Silent Wanderer, so I hope you are ready. Keep in mind that the suit I''m giving you is not tailored to you, so avoid getting into any fights when possible." "I can fly it with my eyes closed!" Crik reassured the Innkeeper, while a rush of adrenaline filled his body. He was finally going to have an opportunity to actually fly a ship! He didn''t care about the readymade suit at all. After all, as a pilot, he would do his fighting with his ship! Geeves, who had rushed into the back, came out holding a readymade suit. Cirk made a move to receive it, but the Innkeeper snapped and the suit automatically appeared on his body! "While you''re on the mission you''ll take orders from Leo," the Innkeeper instructed Cirk, who nodded. "Good." The Innkeeper teleported Cirk to the formation that the Midnight battalion used to enter the battlefield. A momentter, Leo also showed up, simrly suited, although it was clear that his own suit had been tailored for him. They locked gazes, and while Cirk was still experiencing the rush of knowing that he was finally going to fly a ship, he kept it hidden within. Externally, he only disyed the calm confidence that was required of a ship captain. "Before we head out let me brief you on what to expect," Leo said, his cold voice driving a chill up Cirks back. "The battalion is in trouble and we''re going to go help them out. The situation is precarious, and we cannot know when and how enemies might appear. In fact, we may very well be walking into a trap. So you need to be alert at all times, and stay close to me. If a fight breaks out, focus more on survival than fighting - I''ll take care of that." "You do not need to worry about me. Just focus on what you need to do, I will not fail you," answered Cirk. Although his life had been limited to running a daycare and flying a ship in ce, he had been born with the natural characteristics of a captain. He was not intimidated by the task, and he was not afraid of the danger. Lex, who had donned Leo''s appearance, nodded. After that there was no hesitation, no moment to prepare himself. Right now, Lex was in a state of cold fury, and he had been suppressing his fury for too long already. Previously, whenever he got mad, Lex immediately had an opportunity to release his anger. But this time, he had to let it simmer as he waited for an opportunity to unleash it. Now, that opportunity was finallying. He patted his chest and felt the cards he had kept in the inner pocket of his suit. They woulde in handy. Lex activated the formation, teleporting himself and Geeves away. The duo appeared in the same teleportation hall that the battalion had arrived in earlier. Geeves looked around and saw that they were standing in the middle of a formation, and there were countless other simr formations in the hall. Tens of thousands of soldiers were teleporting over each minute, making the hall both crowded and busy. ''Leo'' who was standing beside him had an unusual mask over his face, making him look like a devil. Cirk did not need to ask to know that he was hiding his identity for whatever reason. "Wee to battlefront 00974," spoke a nearby elf who was looking at a clipboard rather than them. "Is there a leader among you two? Since only two of you have arrived I assume you have the designation of strategic assets. Do you have any speciality?" Instead of answering, Lex walked up to the elf and ced a hand upon his shoulder. The action was quite simple, but for the elf who was on the receiving end of Lex''s Domination in full force, gravity seemed to have increased by a hundredfold. Let alone his body, even his thoughts seemed to be weighed down under the massive force that was enveloping his being. "That is none of your concern," Lexmanded. "Take me to someone who has knowledge of the ongoing battle." "Ye -yes," the elf stuttered and turned to lead the duo in a daze. Lex''s action attracted some attention from a few nearby guards, but upon noticing that the elf turned and began to lead the two, they rxed. Even though Lex had removed his hand and walked a step behind the elf, the effects of his Domination had not diminished at all. Completely unaware of his own actions, the elf led the two past all the lines, skipping all the queues, and directly towards amand room. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om No one noticed anything amiss the entire time. After all, no one thought that anyone would be crazy enough to cause trouble here. Chapter 845 Confidential

Chapter 845 Confidential

Although the sight of an elf, a mysterious being wearing a devilish mask and a human walking through the base, should have seemed out of ce, in actuality, that was far from the truth. There were hundreds of races Lex had never seen in any room they crossed, and each of them was being led by an elf. The second indicator of something unusual should have been the cold, nearly oppressive aura Lex was giving off, despite the fact that he was only targeting the elf with Domination. But once again, given that this was a ce filled with soldiers and warriors, nearly everyone was disying their aura. Regardless of whether it was weak or strong, fiery hot and icy cold, none of the soldiers shied away from disying their worth through their auras. It was an unspoken form ofmunication. Moreover, amidst the millions that were moving around the base, neither Lex nor Cirk were close to being the strongest, so no one suspected them at all. Besides using Notorious Anonymity to hide his face, Lex did not really make any effort to hide his identity or actions either. Moreover, he was sure that while many would be unable to peer through the facade of his devilish mask, there were too many in this base who could see through it. He waspletely prepared to have his identity revealed. It was not even a concern for him at this point, more of a formality that he was just going along with. Cirk, who had no idea what ''Leo'' was nning, remainedpletelyposed, and followed his lead perfectly. He did not show any hesitation or doubt about Lex''s actions. A part of that was from his steady personality, but a lot of it also was due to the unwavering trust he had in the other members of the Midnight Inn. If the Innkeeper had trusted him, then there had to be a reason for it. The elf took the duo away from most of the crowds as they entered the inner sector of the base, where only those with sufficient authority would be allowed to enter. Soon he was led to a room that read ''Resource Coordination'' where a number of elves were sitting in their respective areas, working on what Lex could only assume was their version of aputer. The elf led Lex to a very specific cubicle, clearly belonging to another elf that he knew. "Bairel, what are you doing here?" asked the elf in the cubicle, clearly rmed to see thetter there. He immediately noticed Bairel''s bewildered state and turned his attention towards Lex and Cirk. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Who are you? How did you get authorization to enter here? This is a secure location!" the elf said, clearly flustered to see others here. Although he did not cause amotion yet, his voice was quite loud and usatory. He was not used to seeing others besides his direct superior while he was at work. "That is not your concern," said Lex dismissively, extending his Domination towards the new elf. "What is the status of the BGY-987? Check and give me thetest update." The elf, who was only in the Foundation realm, was clearly oppressed by Lex''s aura even besides being frightened by the sudden intrusion. He hesitated for a moment due to the fact that this was clearly a breach of protocol, but the confident way in which the masked figure dismissed him gave him doubts. What if the man was someone with a high post? It clearly made sense, given how at ease he was. Moreover, it would also exin how he so casually strutted into a secure location. So, despite his clear awareness of the discrepancy with his current situation, the elf hesitantly turned back to hisputer and began checking up on theputer. How was he supposed to know that the reason they walked in so easily was because the first elf, Bairel, had used his own authority to bring them in, something he clearly wasn''t supposed to do. The group stood there silently as they waited for an update. A few others in the room noticed them and became concerned about the odd situation. But given their low cultivation levels, instead of investigating on their own, they quickly reported the situation to their superior. If there was a problem, it was not their responsibility to face it. "Sir, ording to thetest update, conducted 47 minutes ago, everything is within expectations on the stated. Combat with local entities is taking ce, and is expected to continue for another 10 days. There have been no requests for reinforcements, so they are managing with only the initially allocated forces. They have been giving clear and detailed reports on their updates regrly. Would you like me to pull up those reports?" Lex frowned. It looked like whoever was targeting the Inn had even breached the alliance. But that was fine. He was never nning on getting help from them in the first ce. In fact, it would be helpful if they kept out of his way. "Pull up the location data on that, as well as the best routes from here to there. Cirk,e and see if you can understand this." Since the elf had already obeyed Lex once, doing so again became easier and had less hesitation. He immediately started pulling up the highly confidential data, which was the star map inside of the cosmic cloud! This was updated live by the alliance and was based on their own discoveries within the region. Mapping the cosmic cloud using telescopes and other long distance observation methods was impossible due to severe interference, so the value of this map was inestimable! Just as Cirk was studying the data, a veryrge, dark figure approached the group. "What the hell is going on here?" the figure asked aggressively, exuding an aura that far surpassed Lex. "Who are you? How did youe in?" The group froze under that aura - all except Lex, who only turned and looked at the figure evenly. Chapter 846 The hell

Chapter 846 The hell

"What the hell is going on?" Lex repeated, as he looked up at the towering figure. Unlike the somewhat feeble elves working in this room, this figure radiated a powerful aura even without revealing his cultivation. He had an elven appearance, meaning he had two legs that he stood on, and two arms, as well as a torso and head. But that is where the simrities ended. Instead of leather or skin, the creature had dark gray scales that almost seemed like they were made of stone. A long yet slender tail extended out from the base of his back, sweeping across the floor behind him. He had two horns protruding from his forehead, but unlike many animals that Lex saw on earth where the horns were sharp and pointed, the creature''s horns spread out over the creatures head like a partial helmet. Its eyes were ck, with light gray vertical pupils, and were currently focused entirely on Lex. His aura of a peak Nascent realm was crashing down heavily, though it seemed to only be doing so on Lex and Cirk. Still, the entire room was hushed down, and all eyes turned to look at him. The figure apparently had some renown. Unfortunately, despite his stronger cultivation, he was at an absolute disadvantage when facing Lex. That was because this figure, much like Xeon, was part dragon. Lex could clearly sense the diluted dragon''s blood running through the creature''s veins. But the very fact that he was in the Nascent realm instead of an Earth Immortal was enough to betray the fact that he was not a true dragon. Dragonlings were usually very strong, and more often than not, inherited a dragon''s resistance to nearly all elements and forms of damage. But they also had an extremely pronounced weakness, which was that they bepletely subservient in front of a true dragon. It was not a matter of whether they wanted to or not - it was programmed into their genes. Although Lex was not a dragon, his Domination was an ability that fed off of dragon auras. In terms of hierarchy, it was technically above a dragon''s aura, even though currently it was nowhere near as strong. "That''s exactly what I am trying to figure out as well!" Lex said, just as aggressively as the figure had earlier. "Why the hell is this report telling me that BGY-987 ispletely fine, when I can tell you for certain it''s not?" Lex, this time, was quite loud and a tinge of his anger leaked out in his voice. Domination, which was previously restricted to only two of the elves, exploded and now epassed the whole room! The figure''s eyes constricted as he felt his cultivation fade, as if his body itself did not dare act ostentatiously in front of this unknown person. "Is this how the Henali is going to take on the Fuegan? If your performance is so pathetic that anyone at any time can interfere in your operations, then this whole war is nothing but a farce! Those whomit their soldiers to your cause are throwing lives away so you can y games and feed your egos!" n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Lex had already thought of what to do in case he was questioned or stopped during this phase of the n, but suppressing the dragonling like this was actually much more lowkey than his original n. That was good. The less attention he attracted, the better. "No, no, I assure you¡­ our intel can''t be wrong¡­" the figure tried to say, but the words and tone he had in his mind did note out the same way when he spoke. Instead, it looked like he was afraid and groveling instead of fighting back. He meant to say that Lex''s usation was absurd, but now it sounded like he was doing his best to exin something to his superior. "I don''t need your assurances anymore. We have already seen the level of yourpetence. We sent our soldiers out to fulfill a bargain, but instead of fighting enemies for the betterment of the realm, our soldiers are being targeted for a personal vendetta. The Midnight Inn is going to withdraw its soldiers from this fight!" "Who¡­ who¡­ who are¡­ are you?" the figure managed to ask with his stuttering voice. "You¡­ you¡­ can''t be here¡­" Lex did not even answer the figure, but just looked at him derisively. He needed to keep matters here calm until they left. If someone tried to stop them, he was also ready to retaliate, although it would be best to avoid such a situation. After all, he was already anticipating a trap. That''s why he didn''t bother exining the situation properly to one of the superiors ormanders here. There was no guarantee that they weren''t involved with whoever was targeting the Inn. It would be best to handle this matter privately, and as quietly as possible. "I''ve learned the route," suddenly said Cirk, who stepped behind Lex. "Getting there should not be a problem, although there will be many checkpoints along the way. If we can get clearance, getting through would be much easier. Otherwise, we will have to go around, which will take much longer." Lex nodded and reached into his suit pocket and pulled out an envelope, and through it towards the tall figure. The dragonling managed to catch it right before the envelope hit his face. Somehow, despite being taller than Lex, he could not shake the feeling that he had been looked down on the entire time. "We''re a part of the Midnight Inn, going to go take our soldiers back. Deliver that to your highest ranked superior and make sure to give us clearance as we pass through. You, Bearlin, lead me to the hanger. We''re flying out." Led by the still absentminded elf, the two of them walked out of the room, finally allowing everyone to escape the influence of Domination. They all breathed a sigh of relief, but none was more flustered than the dragonling. In his hand, he held an envelope that radiated an aura even more intimidating than the one disyed by the masked man earlier. He nearly dropped to his knees. Chapter 847 Hangar

Chapter 847 Hangar

The words on the envelope seemed to be growing bigger and bigger in the dragonlings eyes. They were two simple words, but the power contained within them epassed his mind and body, petrifying him where he stood. Yet none of the aura actually leaked out, so all the elves looked out at him curiously. The two strangers had already left, exiting as simply as they entered, after causing an unprecedented scene within the alliance headquarters. There may have been many deals and maniptions in the shadows and hidden from sight, but never had such a thing been done so openly. Even the weakest elf in the room could sense that the repercussions of this would go far and wide. The background of that man must be far from simple if he, alone, had the confidence to confront the entire alliance based on nothing but its name. Most of them had never heard of the Midnight Inn before, but they would not forget it easily. As for the few who had, they quickly associated it with one of the newer battalions that had joined their army: the Midnight Battalion. Among other things, what they were most famous for was that despite going to multiple battlefields, they had yet to lose a single soldier despite their low cultivation levels. Hesitantly, as if unsure of his actions, one of the elves came and tapped the dragonling on his shoulder. "Sir, are¡­ are you going to report them to the higher ups?" As soon as he was tapped, the dragonling broke free from the power in the envelope. He shuddered visibly, then turned around and ran at full speed, without caring for his image. The elves in the Resource Coordination room were left confounded and unsure of what to do. Ultimately, they could do naught but sit back in their seats and get back to work as if nothing had happened. Meanwhile, Lex and Cirk walked evenly as they followed the elf Bearlin to the hangar as if nothing had happened. Truthfully speaking, this was already panning out better than most of Lex''s ns. He was aware of the fact that it would not be so easy for him to get the information on where the battalion was, or what was happening around it. He also did not expect any help from the alliance. Silently procuring the information and leaving before they could react was the best solution. The envelope he had given to the dragonling was also one of the contingencies he had nned. The worst-case situation would be if he had to be forceful in not only procuring the information but also in leaving. Although he had thought of a way out of that situation as well, whether his n would be sessful or not would bepletely up to luck. "What''s the situation Pel? Do you sense any restrictions on us? Anyone monitoring us?" Lex asked his ring silently. Relying on the ring''s massive wealth of knowledge was one of his precautions. Although the ring had lost many of its memories, it would often be reminded of the relevant information when it was faced with a new situation. "There were a few restrictions ced on us the very moment we entered this ce," the ring informed. "But those are only for standard tracking and simple monitoring. Everyone has them." "Update me if there are any changes," Lex said. He did not show any urgency, but he knew that currently they were in a very precarious situation. As soon as reports of what happened in the Coordination room reached one of the higher management, even if the base itself was not locked down, Lex and Cirk would at least be arrested pending further investigation. Or, it was more apt to say that they would try to arrest them. But, as unbelievable as it was, they did not encounter any issues all the way until they entered the hanger. The elf walked in normally, but both Lex and Cirk could not help but take a moment to take the sight in. The biggest ship they had seen so far was the massive one flying over the Midnight Inn, but in the hangar there were countless ships of the same size, and many ships evenrger. There were millions of soldiers of various races climbing into the various ships in a very orderly fashion. Moreover, the ships would not just randomly start flying and take off. There was a very strict sequence of events for each ships take off, lest they damage not only the other ships here, but the various soldiers as well. Once all the required personnel were loaded onto the ship, the tform it was parked on would detach, and then move the ship into a queue of waiting ships ready to leave. Once it was a ship''s turn, it would be taken to an istion formation that would prevent any of the released energy, heat from the rockets or thrusters, or any other harmful substance that leaked during its takeoff period from affecting the rest of the base or the others. The mere hanger, one of many, was unimaginablyrge, and Lex could not see the ends of it. Many of the ships here had lengths of hundreds of miles, though he immediately noticed that it was only the smaller ships that seemed to be leaving for now. All therger ships were parked, and showed no signs of being prepared for departure. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Moreover, just besides the ships and soldiers, the hangar was filled with countless machines of war that far surpassed anything Lex had ever imagined. Tanks and mechs seemed so ordinary and mundane inparison. His Fancy contact lens seemed to know all of them and keptbeling each one for him to see. But Lex only gave that first initial moment''s worth of attention to the massive fighting force collected in front of him. He turned to the elf and said, "take me to someone who can expedite our departure. We have our own ship." Chapter 848 Letter Chapter 848 Letter The elf paused, as if unsure who to take Lex towards. It seemed that, unlike previously where he knew someone personally in the Coordination room, he did not know anyone here. But the hesitation onlysted so long. Lex did not need him to be taken to anyone familiar. Anyone with sufficient authority would do. As he walked past the different sections, Lex noticed that this was the most organized area he had been in so far. The number of guards at each point was considerably higher than before, and at each point, they would authenticate the identity and reason of anyone passing through. Even they had to go through a couple of checkpoints, although fortunately the elf reporting that they were going to go report to one of the ground managers made it a lot easier. Lex did not want to jinx his luck, but he could foresee that getting through this area without causing a scene might be harder than the previous room. Themand deck, where they were finally led to, stood as an elevated ind amidst the sea of activity, a nerve center pulsating with coordinated precision. Officers and officials huddled over holographic disys, strategizing and dispatching orders with a sense of grave responsibility. Lex, undeterred by the orchestratedmotion, followed the elf as they approached a stern-faced officer standing at the threshold of themand center. Unlike all the elves Lex had encountered so far, this one wore a stern and strangely human expression on his face. His build was also more sturdy aspared to the more nimble elves, and even without his attention focused on them as of yet, Lex could detect an intensity from his being.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om This elf was very powerful, and his high cultivation level of at least Earth Immortal was only just a part of it. Even among his peers, he was surely formidable. In Lex''s cold, raging mind, a new strategy began to weave itself. Suppressing him with Domination would not work, and Lex had already given his envelope away. That might have worked here as well, but having given it away already was not such a bad thing. This could work out in his favor. At the same time, a part of Lex''s mind began observing the hangar with a great scrutiny as he began nning a forceful exit should such a need arise. It was not ideal that they had been led to someone with extremely high authority here. Dealing with someone lower down on the chain ofmand sometimes yielded better results, but it was already toote toment such things. "Sir!" Bearlin said while giving a salute, bringing the attention of the busy officer onto them. The officer looked at Bearlin, and then quickly focused his gaze on the mask on Lex''s face. Whether he could see Lex''s real appearance or not was unknown, but it was clear that the mask had attracted his attention. "I have many engaging matters to attend to, soldier. Make your report quickly!" The elf finally said, his gaze still locked on Lex. "I need clearance for an expedited departure," Lex stated inly. "The details of the matter are being sent by an officer of the Resource Coordination to High Command. But the nature of my mission is both imperative and highly confidential. I do not have time to wait for the usual procedures to y out." "You ''need'' clearance?" the elf repeated, raising an eyebrow out of curiosity. "Hand over your identification and the details of your crew. I will check if you have been cleared for departure from here." "You''re with the alliance, right? You don''t have the authority to check my details," Lex said without breaking eye contact. "If you have any concerns, you can check with that dragonling who went with my departure clearance. But I suggest you act quickly. I do not have the time to spare, and if things take too long, I may no longer bother with this formality." The elf was immediately angered by Lex''s attitude, but even as his aura surged, Lex neither broke eye contact nor did he flinch. It was as if the actions of this officer were inconsequential to him. Amidst his boiling anger, a trace of doubt appeared at the sheer confidence Lex disyed. Although such a situation was highly irregr, could there really be a high urgency, extremely confidential mission? Suppressing his urge to smack Lex across the face, the officer pulled up a projection and immediately looked for who the dragonlingfrom the Resources Coordination room was. Then he found out who the dragonling reported to, and directly initiated a call. As a soldier, it was sometimes more important to ensure there was no issue with any ongoing missions, even if he had to sacrifice his own ego in the process. In another portion of the headquarters, in a private office, the dragonling in question stood in difference behind an elf. Since this battlefield was within the Suera gxy, most crucial positions were either held by elves or dwarves. Since dwarves were more likely to take on roles of either refiners or warriors, most leadership positions fell to the elves. Such a situation led to most elves feeling extremely proud and arrogant. Yet at this moment, this once proud and arrogant elf was sweating nonstop. When preparing the letter within that envelope, Lex had used the official letterhead as well as the Innkeepers pen and the Ink well. He had also poured all his anger into the words he wrote in that letter, which tranted into the kind of aura they contained. The elf, who had been strong enough to look past the envelope itself, which carried only the title of the author of the letter, had been rocked to his very core when he opened the letter. The full force of the Innkeeper''s fury was exhibited in the few words that the letter contained. It simply read: Stay the fuck out of my business! Chapter 849 Contingency plan I Chapter 849 Contingency n I The dragonling who delivered the letter stood far back in the distance, so that he would not be under the influence of the envelope and the letter that it contained. As a half dragon, he had always been extremely prideful. Moreover, it was exceptionally strong as well. It could attempt to break into the Earth immortal realm whenever it wanted, but suppressed that growth itself. By working for the alliance, it hoped to gain enough credits to have the alliance help it transition from part dragon toplete dragon. At that point it would naturally break through, and would be much stronger than it would have if it broke through normally. After serving on various battlefields, and ruing numerousmendations, it was exceptionally close to its goal, which was also the reason it had been pulled back from the battlefield. Its sessful service only increased its pride, yet ironically it was here, in the supposedly safe headquarters, where its pride had been thoroughly crushed. While it had not yet recovered from the ordeal, it decided to stay away from the letter and whatever it had to say. Looking at its superior sweating, it suddenly felt like it had made a wise decision. The elf in question was currently experiencing a personal armageddon. Lightning was shing, thunder was roaring, the ground was quaking, tsunamis high enough to blot out the sun were arriving on the horizon. All of that was, of course, only happening in his mind. Yet that did not change that the elf felt like it was the target of all these cmities. It could feel an anger that could destroy the heavens radiating from the words on his letter, and though the elf was not the target of that anger, he had somehow be a victim of it nheless. A soft, familiar ringing sounded in the office, and the elf was finally broken free from the grasp of the letter, his trembling hands dropping it. The elf did not dare to look at it again, but reflexively answered the phone call that was ringing. "Zar, have you received a letter of clearance for departure for someone from the ''Midnight Inn''?" the person on the other end of that call asked, getting straight to the point. Though the envelope had dropped, those words sounded like thunder in the elf''s ears! "Ye- YES LET THEM GO!" he roared, before shutting the phone. He did not know if he had yelled out of fear, anger or embarrassment. With trembling legs he stood up and gave an incredibly dirty look to the dragonling, before walking out of his room. This matter was far beyond him. He needed to report to the top. Back on themand deck, Lex had maintained eye contact with the officer as he made a call. When the screaming response came through, audible to everyone on the deck, Lex did not smile or gloat. He simply maintained eye-contact, awaiting their departure approval. Chills ran down the officers back as he recalled his previous urge to respond to Lex''s cavalier attitude. Like he said, he might really not have the authority to look into Lex''s matters. But if that was the case, why wasn''t he being escorted properly with all his clearances pre-approved? That was what usually happened in such cases. But it did not matter. "What kind of vessel do you have? I cannot generate the approval document without knowing at least the ship specifications." Without waiting for a prompt, Cirk stepped forward as he began to list only the relevant details for the Silent Wanderer. The officer felt slightly confused, as the ship being described clearly wasn''t one designed forbat. It was, however, designed for stealth and speed. That did make sense considering the nature of their mission. The officer looked back to Bearlin and said, "take them to the loading dock. Have them bring their ship there and get on board. I''ll alter the departure sequence from here." Poor Bearlin, who had suffered the influence of Domination the longest, could not catch a break and continued to lead Lex and Cirk. Lex nodded to the officer before following their guide. Fortunately, things had not escted, and they passed the final hurdle without issue. But there was one problem. Whoever was targeting the battalion would soon learn, if they had not already, that help was on the way. He opened the battalion panel and spoke to Luthor. "The enemy probably knows help ising. Prepare ordingly." This was once again risky, for if the enemy became too desperate, they might just end up doing something that would get everyone killed. Lex was relying on the fact that their enemy, whoever it was, was not able to muster up enough strength, for whatever reason. After all, the battalion only consisted of Foundation realm soldiers. Together they were not weak, but they couldn''t really im to be too strong either. There were too many ways to deal with them if someone really wanted to. The fact that they hadn''t done so yet is what made Lex think this was a trap. While Lex was musing such issues, they reached the loading dock and Lex released the Silent Wanderer from its spatial case. The sudden appearance of a ship attracted some attention from the nearby staff, but in such a ce unusual urrences were somewhat of a norm. Through the use of some heavy machinery, the ship was being loaded properly onto the tform which would take it to the departure formation. All of this seemed to be standard procedure, and everything was going ording to n, when Lex noticed a powerful aura approaching! "Oi! OI! You the numbskulls that are dying everyone''sunch? What the hell gives you the right to stop all the other ships, eh? We have urgent business too!" Lex turned and saw a dwarf at the immortal realm approaching them. He was clearly incensed at his departure being dyed to amodate Lex. "So much for not causing a scene," Lex murmured. Then he unleashed his aura, and his contingency n.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Chapter 850 Contingency plan II Chapter 850 Contingency n II When he turned to look at the dwarf, he channeled his spirit energy into his spatial bangle and had it at the ready. Although he had survived the attack of an Earth Immortal before, he had been gravely wounded in the process. Suffice to say he could not go up against an Immortal on his own. He also did not want to take any risks, or waste time arguing with unnecessary people. Not to mention, the dwarf might just be with the enemy, and simply pretending to cause problems to get closer. In short, there were more than enough reasons for Lex to be prepared. "If you have a problem, take it up with the superiors," Lex said inly. He was trying to deflect responsibility in the hopes that this would be someone else''s problem long enough that they could leave. But of course, that hope was destined to be a disappointment. The immortal dwarf, who was already ring his aura as if he was afraid people wouldn''t notice him causing a ruckus, seemed almost offended that Lex wasn''t suppressed to the point where he couldn''t even respond. "I''LL TAKE MY PROBLEM UP WITH YOUR SKULL IF YOU DON''T GET ON YOUR KNEES, VERMIN!" The dwarfs aura crashed down on Lex even harder as he yelled, and his face warped into an distorted grimace. Countless others had noticed the situation, and a number of guards were already on the way to resolve the situation. Far away, Lex could also tell that the officer who had given him departure clearance was rmed by the situation, and was paying attention to it. A part of Lex''s brain told him that if he held out for just a few seconds, others would solve the problem for him. But the majority of Lex''s brain had already decided that this dwarf was working for whoever was targeting the Inn. Why else would he behave so absurdly? Instead of responding to the dwarf, Lex held out his hand above his head, and a massive rocket appeared in it, its tip pointing towards the dwarf.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Suddenly, the entire base, the hooligan dwarf included, froze. Of course they did. This was the most powerful rocket he had looted from the dragon. "I didn''t quite hear you. Could you speak a little louder?" Lex asked as he took a step forward, his gaze fixed on the now panicking dwarf. As an Immortal, his senses were quite sharp, and from this massive rocket he felt nothing but an impending death with no chance of escape. Lex wrapped the rocket in his spirit sense and lifted it into the air, so that it was floating above him. Then another rocket appeared in his hand. "What''s the matter? Didn''t you have something to say to me?" More and more rockets appeared above Lex as he approached the dwarf. Considering that even Heaven immortals could be injured by some of these, they were a threat not just to the dwarf but the entire base. No one moved, so as to not agitate Lex, but an emergency alert had already been sent out as the peak powers of the base were being summoned. By now, the tip of the rockets were floating mere centimeters away from the dwarfs face as Lex closed the distance. "How urgent is your mission? I hope I''m not causing any inconvenience," Lex said, his voice actually sincere. But the menacing devil''s mask made it clear to anyone watching what Lex really meant. Like the dwarf had red his aura earlier, Lex unleashed Domination as he finally approached the dwarf, his figure towering over the stocky dwarf. The dwarf did not dare respond, and his eyes were dashing left and right, hoping to be rescued by someone. Yet no one was closing in. With over 10 rockets capable of killing him floating just above the dwarf''s face, no one dared to take a step closer. In the distance, an elf appeared silently in the room, surrounded by arge entourage. But in his trembling hands, he held a letter. As a Celestial immortal, he had not been overwhelmed by the aura of the letter, but he understood clearly that certain matters had gone far outside the range of his authority. Now he just wanted to get the representative of the Midnight Inn out of here as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, the next report he received wasn''t of Lex departing. Instead, it was of him wielding immortal weapons right in the hangar. Absolute hate was radiating in his eyes, but he was not looking at Lex but the dwarf. What was that maniac thinking? A part of Lex''s brain took in all the information of what was happening around him. Most of his brain, however, was focused solely on the dwarf. "You know I''vee to realize that my rtionship with dwarfs is not that great," Lex spoke softly. Lifting his hand, Lex tapped the dwarfs face a couple of times, like one might do to a kid they were encouraging. "In the future, remember your ce," Lex said softly. He had not pped the immortal, but what he had done was many times more humiliating. But no one noticed that each time Lex''s hand touched the dwarf, it seemed to fade a bit, as if disappearing. Lex was using his newest ability to turn his body into thought itself, and reading the surface of the dwarfs'' thoughts. This was not a true intrusion into the dwarfs brain, or else it would have required more effort. Lex simply wanted to know if the dwarf truly harbored malicious intent, was or just an ill-tempered fellow. Fortunately for the dwarf, it seemed like the case was thetter. Lex looked around the hangar once and saw countless faces staring at him. The dwarf wasn''t the only one who could sense the danger from those weapons. With his point made, Lex turned around and walked away. The rockets, however, kept floating in the air until both Cirk and Lex boarded the Silent Wanderer. Even when Lex withdrew them back into his spatial bangle, no one moved. Chapter 851 The words he wanted to hear Chapter 851 The words he wanted to hear Despite having the Silent Wanderer for a long time, Lex had never actually spent much time in it. He had familiarized himself with it, sure, but that included nothing more than a simple tour. He also did not know how to pilot it yet, although it was certainly on his agenda. Cirk, however, had piloted it in both simtions and in real life, although in person he did nothing more than simple systems checks. Althoughpared to other ships the silent wanderer was tiny, in reality it was quite big. It had four-bed rooms, a kitchen, arge storage area, a main hall and a cockpit where only two pilots could enter. If they decided to cramp people inside, up to 30 people could fit inside the Wanderer but any more would be problematic. This was also why he made preparations to send the soldiers back via teleportation rather than taking them back through his ship. With not much else to do, Lex joined Cirk in the cockpit, where he was busy turning the ship on and preparing forunch. The tform it was parked on was already moving, so by the time the ship finished its startup sequence, it would be ready to go. Although everything was proceeding smoothly, or so it seemed, Lex did not drop his guard. At the first sign of trouble, he was ready to pull those bombs out. "If there are no problems, and we move at maximum speed, how long will it take us to reach BGY-987?" Lex asked, his eyes still trained on all the guards outside. "If there are no hurdles and everything goes smoothly, with the Silent Wanderer''s Hyperdrive systems, we can reach it within nine days. An ordinary ship would require two weeks at least." Lex pursed his lips but said nothing. Nine days was a very long time. He hoped nothing amiss would happen. He was already doing the best that he could. Amidst the cold fury that reigned in his mind at the moment, a tinge of sadness briefly appeared. Twenty minutester, the ship waspletely turned on and had been brought into theunch formation. Silently, true to its name, the ship rose into the air, and thenunched into the atmosphere. Within just a few seconds, it was already out of sight. The more incredible thing was¡­ it also escaped all their radars! The stealth technology on this ship was more advanced than ordinary military ships used even by the alliance. The celestial elf finally turned his gaze from the ship to the dwarf. "Just tell me who put you up to it," the elf said, not bothering with the gimmicks. For putting the entire base at risk, whoever the instigator was, they were in for a world of trouble. Before the dwarf had time to confess, the celestial also ordered a detailed report on the Lex had investigated. Apparently, there was something wrong with the situation there. If an outsider noticed before them, it would be an embarrassment to them all. ***** Within the fort, Luthor was meditating with his eyes closed when he heard the Innkeeper''s words. "The enemy probably knows help ising. Prepare ordingly." The instructions were simple, but a sh of light shone through Luthor''s eye. Since the battalion deployed the mech, both Luthor and Z needed to rest for they had been exhausted much more than the rest. It could not be helped, both of their individual abilities had been used to power the entire mech. This in itself was not a problem, but Luthor felt very dissatisfied only sitting and defending. He was basically allowing the enemy to do as they pleased. For a time, such a strategy made sense, but now that they were in contact with the Midnight Inn, they could take greater risks. Especially now that the enemy might know reinforcements wereing, allowing them to continue setting the pace of this war would be a mistake. Looking at it logically, the Innkeeper''s words were a warning to protect themselves. But in Luthor''s ears, they were akin to a go ahead for what he was thinking.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Slowly and deliberately, Luthor stood up, allowing his muscles to flex and stretch as he fixed his pose. His joints cracked, and he rotated his hands and stretched his legs. When he was ready, he stepped out of the room. Although not much had changed, the aura around Luthor was a lot more intimidating than even when he was wreaking havoc on the battlefield. "Gerard, call a meeting with the elves and minotaurs. Also, have the battalion prepare for deployment." The reliable old man only nodded, though he moved his hand through his own hair, ruffling them. No one knew what the action represented, and the man did not exin either. After all, he was just reminiscing about the feeling of having the wind blow through his hair. It had been a while since he drove a golf cart. Since Luthor had not been silent, his words had been overheard by many others who were around the area. While the battalion had unwavering faith in Luthor, the others became restless. Whether they wanted to admit it or not, they were depending on the battalion for a majority of their defense. If they left, the fort''s defenses would bepromised to arge degree. Only a couple of minutes passed before the two leaders made their way to Luthor, confusion and concern clearly painted on their faces. "How is everything going?" he asked. "It''s going fine. Just as you predicted, there was no gap in the attacks, and new waves continue toe every thirty minutes even now. But we''re holding on for now." "Good. The fort has been reinforced multiple times and you have a bunch of formations in ce as well to support you. You should be able to hold out on your own for a while. The battalion is heading out." "That''s absurd! You''ll die!" the elf eximed, startled. "No, we won''t. Sitting around is not really our style, and letting the enemy plot uninterrupted is also not good. Moreover, one of my scouts reported another group resisting the Void Dwellers. We''re going to go out, strike the enemy, and bring back those other survivors." The two tried to protest or change Luthor''s mind, but it was already made up. Luthor did not need to exin to anyone besides the battalion, and since the battalion never questioned him, he did not bother to exin at all. Standing on the fort wall, Luthor looked at all the battalion members once. In some he saw fatigue, in some he saw excitement. Some of them looked fresh, as if they had just taken a nap, while others looked like they were in serious need of a rest. But no matter what, none of them looked afraid, or hesitant for that matter. "There is an enemy targeting us," he said simply before turning to look out at the horizon. "The Innkeeper has already sent help. They are on their way. The only question is, when they arrive, will they find us hiding out in a hole like cowards, or will they find us out there fighting?" His words were not loud or forced. He had spoken calmly and turned before receiving any response at all. But the response he was looking for was not one of words, anyway. When the battalion took their first step behind him, the ground trembled under their uniform stomp. As the battalion began their march, it was not just their stomping that shook their ground. An aura began to rise, not from individuals, but from the battalion as a whole. It was an aura of a wrath tamed, of a fury held back, of a monster waiting to be unleashed. In front of them a tear opened and a fresh wave of Void Dwellers poured out, before they quickly began to pounce towards them. Yet the soldiers of Midnight did not stop or hesitate, but only started to march faster, until they almost entered a run. When the two sides met, it was not a sh, but a clean slice. Without losing any momentum at all, they cut through the Void Dwellers and approached the tear. But instead of releasing more Dwellers, the tear closed as if afraid of the battalion itself. But none of them showed any pride in such a minor victory. As they had done so many times before already, this time they did not march out to gain small victories, but to change the tide of the war. Luthor set the direction. They were not heading towards the Marzu first, who were the only other survivors on the. No, they were going towards where the demons had gathered. If the enemy was trying to build something, then they would knock it down. If there was going to be a monument on this, it would only be made of the corpses of their enemies and nothing else. Chapter 852 New performance

Chapter 852 New performance

Something unusual happened once the battalion left the fort. The frequency of attacks on the fort itself dropped, though they did not disappearpletely. But that decrease in frequency did not actually make their lives easier as with the battalion gone, a bulk of their fighting force had disappeared. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The remaining soldiers felt somewhat resentful at the battalion for leaving them, but only a few were clearheaded enough to realize that the battalion was not really responsible for everyone''s security to begin with. Moreover, going and interfering with the enemy''s n might just allow them to survive until someone finally noticed what was happening here. Although, the fact that it had been so long without anymunication was enough to let them know something was terribly amiss. But with no other solution avable to them, all they could do was hope. Of course, the Midnight Battalion could do a lot more than just hope. Many things were outside of their control, but they could at least ensure that their enemies'' ns failed. 1000 had reported to Luthor that the enemy wanted to pull the entire into the void using some kind of formation they were building. Destroying that was integral to ensuring that they could even be rescued at all! Then, Luthor also had a mind to capture some prisoners forter interrogation. Finally, there was that ultimate charm of ''watching your enemy''s ns fail toe to fruition and knowing it was all because of you'' waiting for them. It had taken 1000 many hours to reach the cliff on his own, so one would assume that the battalion would take even longer since there were more people. However, over the course of their service, the battalion had experienced many harvests, and one of those was a passive augmentation technique. The technique worked on the principle of resonance, and the more people using it, the greater the resonance would be. It was not useful in actualbat situations, as the cirction of spiritual energy within one''s body required to use the technique was fairlyplex and would sh with any other spiritual techniques. However, in situations like this, when they were together during a long march, the technique was absolutely exceptional. It passively boosted the speed, strength and endurance of everyone using the technique, and the scale of the improvement depended on the number of people actually using it. Such an augmentation, when apanied by the already formidable support provided by their suits, made it so that the battalion maintained a high speed and were actually physically recovering during their march rather than getting exhausted. This way, they could transition directly into a fight from a long march, making the technique suitable for surprise assaults. This particr trait of the technique came in especially handy because numerous times on their march they were attacked by either roaming Void Dwellers, or new tears were opened around them. Suffice to say that they quickly realized that they were somehow being monitored by someone or something so discreet they were unable to detect it. But knowing that information did not help, as none of them could figure out how it was being done. But all the frequent fights did was slow them down. It neither harmed any of them, nor did it wear them down due to the amazing physical enhancements and recovery boost the technique offered. Even so, it took them only eight hours to reach the cliff and, along with it, the massive army that was already waiting for them. It came as no surprise that their movements were no secret, and so the enemy had sufficient time to prepare. At the base of the cliff, a small army of Void Dwellers was waiting for them, while the real threat stood at the top, waiting for them to get closer. The battalion did not slow down at all. Instead, it only moved faster. ***** In the dark room, where many figures were watching the battle y out, Rocketfellow was giving updates from time to time about many things that were happening off screen. For example, although they had no way to record what happened in the alliance headquarters, he did get an update on what happened there shortly after. "It seems the Midnight Inn has sent reinforcements, and they were not secretive about it," he said with a broad smile. "Moreover, the reinforcements only number two, and are not so strong. They are most likely a diversion or a trap. It''s also interesting to note that the reinforcements arrived from the headquarters, instead of teleporting from somewhere nearer to BGY-987. Would anyone care to venture what assumptions we can draw from this?" The devil was treating thispletely like an exercise, and genuinely seemed to be analyzing things for future attempts. Most found such a mindset reassuring, as no one wanted to offend a powerful enemy for no reason, and that is exactly what the Inn would be if their involvement was revealed. Two of the participants, however, were extremely dissatisfied with this approach. One was the Gti, who was desperate to get their hands on a hostage. They would not wait millions of years to force out Jill from the Inn. The other was the believer of Ra. Although he no longer voiced his opinion, he was filled with indignation and an intense desire for revenge. But he had at least learned one thing from the devil, which was to follow a n. Silently and secretly, the zealot had transmitted the information about this to the other surviving members of their religion. Soon, they would be relieved from the boredom of this tame y, and watch a real performance. Yet the zealot missed the hidden grin Rocketfellow wore whenever he looked at him. Just as he expected, the scapegoat was acting predictably. One of the things that he really wanted to study¡­ was how the Inn would react upon the death of a few of its members. This information was crucial for future ns. Chapter 853 Apex predator

Chapter 853 Apex predator

During their march, whenever the battalion faced enemies, it cut through them swiftly using their thoroughly practiced and meticulously nned coordinated attacks. Even the arrangement of each soldier had been specifically assigned to improve their performance cohesively during their march. This allowed them to save time and, most importantly, energy during their march. While such an approach was extremely sessful, this time, they opted to do things differently. Since they had arrived at the main battlefield, there was no need to save energy. Instead, they needed to be as destructive as possible. The battalion was charging at the Void Dwellers at full speed, yet just as they were on the verge of shing, they transitioned into their mech formation. The execution was wless, and extremely deadly. The mangled corpses of countless Void Dwellers were flung through the air as the mech used a simple backhand to break their defensive line. Crushing some of them by simply stepping on them, the mech plunged itself deep behind enemy lines. This time, Z was not using the mechs most powerful techniques. He instead opted to kill them using brute force and simplebat techniques. After all, this was just a warm up for the real fight. Of course, to anyone else, even this warm up would have been extremely deadly. As creatures that lived and thrived in the Void, withheld from the safety and stability of living in proper space, the creatures had developed countless strange affinities and techniques. Moreover, unlike the previous, uncoordinated hordes they fought, these Void Dwellers were specifically being directed by a particrly strong Void Dweller that stood in the very back. As such, a coordinated assault against the mech ensued. Beams of psychic energy, blobs of substances more corrosive than most acids, weapons made of materials that could cut through almost anything all assaulted the mech, and from every side. The light of the distant star in the center of this star system was blocked as a nket of arrows was hot down from the cliff above. Nearly a dozen spatial tears opened all around and more Void Dwellers fell from the air,nding right on the mech. It was chaos, all meticulously nned and orchestrated to test the limits of the Midnight Battalion. But it was not enough to reach the limits - not nearly enough. Even without using enough force to make space unstable, the mech turned into an unstoppable force of pure destruction. Z, who had fought the most often back at the Inn, and had watched countless anime for inspiration, had by far the most battle experience of any of the original members of the Inn. Even Lex himself had not fought as many battles as Z. The end result was the manifestation of every introvert''s imagination when they encountered an inconvenient social situation. With an uninterrupted flow, the mech transitioned from one move to another, killing, crushing, stomping and ripping everything in its path. One particrlyrge Void Dweller proved its body indestructible under the mechs assault, so the mech grabbed it and used its body as a hammer. The aura around the mech was surging and became nearly visible under the influence of the endless ughter. It suppressed and deterred any who even dared to look at it, in a sense taking on the features of Dragons Might. When the rain of charged arrows was close to falling, the mech smashed its makeshift weapon into the cliff side, causing it to quake and even crack. More importantly, it formed an indentrge enough in the cliff itself for the mech to cover in, easily avoiding the attack, making the Void Dwellers to suffer in its stead. Once the first wave of arrows finished, the mech discarded its long dead weapon and stepped out. Warmed up, the mech held out its hand as Z used one of techniques the battalion had acquired. From the spatial equipment of countless battalion members seemingly random pieces of metal were released, but a momentter, a yellow beam covered them and brought them together into an arrangement that looked like a spear. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Arge spear made of metal and yellow energy was formed, taller than even the mech when rested on the ground. The body of the spear seemed to have many cracks, though those were only the ces where the various metal pieces were joints. Yet instead of looking broken, the spear looked grand yet dangerous, as yellow light leaked through those cracks. The tip of the spear looked like an arrowhead, but was not actually sharp. In this instance, it was left dull on purpose, as the mech was meant to ovee its enemies with strength, not precision. Despite therge size of the spear, the mech only used its right hand to hold it, drawing emphasis instead to its empty left hand. But, for now, Z did not draw out any other weapon or tool. Enemies of this level were not worthy of it. Ending the brief interlude, the mech dove back into the whittled horde of Void Dwellers and resumed his massacre. Up on the cliff, the watching demons became extremely intimidated as they witnessed what seemed like an apex predator in action, yet their unwavering obedience kept them from escaping. It was fortunate, or else the mech would have had to spend more time hunting them down. Down below, the ferocious mech continued its ughter, now much more deadly that it had revealed its weapon. It did not take long before a thousand corpsesid at its feet, then two thousand and then three. At some point, the mech finally came face to face with the Void Dweller that was leading this pack. Their confrontation was to be an ultimate showdown of basic evolutionary excellence and a trained, honed warrior. But it was not. Z barely noticed the difference between it and every other creature he mercilessly ughtered. One by one, the void tears around the mech eventually closed, and the cannon fodder slowly died. Next, it would be the demons turn to face them. Chapter 854 Dusk Chapter 854 Dusk In the extremely focused state that he was in, to Z it felt like mere minutes had passed since he began the battle. But the state of the horizon would beg to differ, for even the dusk wasing to a close, with the local star nearly out of sight. Hours had gone by. After all, even though the mech cut through the Void Dwellers swarm without suffering any harm, it was still a time-consuming endeavor, not to mention that more of them had been falling out of multiple tears as well. Yet even so, what awaited them was only more grueling than what they had faced. Up on the cliff more enemies awaited them, and they were better prepared as well. Anticipating such a situation was exactly why Z had refrained from using any energy intensive techniques to speed up the process. Despite the extreme length of time, the battalion was not exhausted. In fact, they could go much longer given that they maintained the same rate of energy consumption. This particr feat had more to do with the replenishment feature of their suits than themselves. But, more than once, they had fought a battle where their reserves were nearing depletion, so they usually had an exit strategy in ce.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om On this, in their given situation, however, that did not seem likely. Even if they wanted to retreat, they may not be able to. After all, the enemy had the ability to open spatial tears where and when as they wished. The stake on the line was nothing more than their own demise. Confronted with such a reality, there was no hesitation in their hearts, only confidence. Had they faced such a situation on the very first battlefield they stepped on, they surely would have felt nervous, though they wouldn''t have retreated even then. But after having been bathed in the anarchy of war, after having their wills tempered through fire and blood, after having their faith in thepanions reaffirmed time and time again, there was no hesitation, nor was there doubt. The mech looked up and saw that a single demon stood at the precipice of the cliff, looking down at it. The rest were waiting a small distance from the edge. The weight of the lives of hispanions did not weigh Z down. Instead, their trust and resolve only strengthened him, and lifted him to be better than his usual self. The mech squatted down, just a bit, and then, using strength that left cracks in both the ground and space itself, jumped up vertically. The speed of its rise was astronomical. By the time the observing demon realized what was happening, and felt afraid enough to want to move back, it was already toote. A single hand reached up to the edge of the cliff and grabbed it, smashing the demon in the process. With a single, strong tug the mech pulled itself up, and in fact threw itself up in the air, so that it came crashing down like a meteor upon the waiting army. There was no need for any preambles, nor was there a need to measure and test the enemy. Since this was a life and death battle, they would give it their utmost regardless of how the enemy was prepared. Numerous shields and protective formations suddenly appeared around the waiting demonic army, while at the same time countless heavy weapons were used,unching bolts, bombs and many other kinds of projectiles at the falling mech. In response, Z finally unveiled what was supposed to be in its free, left hand. Simr to how the spear was constructed, many small metal pieces were summoned and then joined together forming arge, rectangr shield joined by a glowing yellow energy. The first sh between the mech and the army''s many means resounded in a deep, reverberating boom that traveled for miles all around. Space trembled and rippled like still what in which a stone was dropped, reaching far out even into space. It seemed, almost, as if space in this region was bing even weaker after suffering constant and frequent tears. But neither did the demonic army lessen their assault nor did the mech hold back. If they had to fight until the reinforcements came, they had to take many risks. Fighting the enemies head on was one risk, and straining the feeble space within this region was another. Far away from this battlefield, the small Marzu n who had been fighting on their own turned their heads towards the thunder they had just heard. Their eyes narrowed as they contemted the noise. They heard thunder, but there were no clouds in sight. On this cursed, they had experienced naught but bad luck, and a cloudless thunder could only be a bad omen. Just as many of them were considering turning away, one of them, the only one with multicolored feathers, spoke. "I can detect massive amounts of spiritual energy being used that way. That is also the point where the new spatial ripples areing from. Someone is fighting over there. Either the Void Dwellers are fighting each other¡­ or there are more survivors that way." "Do you think we should help?" another asked, hesitantly. It was wounded. "They may have more information on the situation. We can''t afford to let them die. Marzu, we march!" Under the orders of their captain, they immediately began sprinting towards the noise. In the battle between a mech and countless demons, the T-rexs were approaching! ***** Sitting in the Silent Wanderer, Lex paced anxiously in the main hall. No matter how he urged Cirk to speed up even if it meant taking risks, it was not possible to reach the quicker than 9 days. The problem was, Lex''s evacuation n relied on returning to the Midnight Inn using teleportation. For that, all he would need to do was stabilize space and have them return using the keys. But¡­ the Midnight Inn was sealing itself in just 5 days! Chapter 855 What can we do? Chapter 855 What can we do? As a general rule, most of the rooms in the Silent Wanderer had very few furnishings so as to use up as little space as possible. The main hall, where Lex was pacing, for example, only had a few sofas which were attached to the walls and a circr table that could retract into the floor. On the roof there was a small module that could create projections anywhere in the room, and was hooked up to the main shipputers. This way, any information they wanted could be pulled up directly, anywhere in the room. The projections could even be interacted with. The walls had silverish-gray tes with lights in between the grooves, but they could undergo a change to disy the space around the ship, turning the entire room into a massive disy. These were nice features, but besides that the room waspletely empty. It was not bad, since that would allow Lex to use the space however he wanted. Currently, that was as an empty room for him to roam mindlessly in. He was thinking of every possibility he coulde up with on how he could speed up hismute, but nothing inside the Inn was particrly helpful at the moment. As much as he didn''t want to think about it, he may need to start nning for what he would do if they could not retreat to the Inn. While that was less than ideal, since they would then be stuck outside the Inn for nearly one and a half years, he would have to deal with it if he could note up with a solution. The greatest issue would be the possibility of the enemy pursuing them since they could not retreat to the Inn. They would be sitting ducks. As of right now, there was still one possible hope to still make it in time. That hope was to teleport back to the Inn while Cirk traveled, go to the emporium and see if they had anything that could help. The universe was a big ce, so it was not too much to hope for an item that could speed up interster travel by a considerable margin, right? After all, he only needed to double the speed at which they were traveling through the stars, at the very least, or somehow jump through space. How hard could it be? The door to the cockpit opened and Cirk stepped out. "I''ve uploaded everything here, as you asked," Cirk said, handing Lex a small storage device. What Lex had asked him was to record the entire interster map of the route they had to travel. He did not know if it would be useful, but perhaps the information mighte in handy when looking for a way to speed up. He was not concerned about the fact that he was about to leak highly confidential information. Right now, he had bigger problems. "Great, keep flying. I''ll be back as soon as possible. Hopefully I''ll figure out a way to speed us up," Lex said before teleporting back to the Inn. He was not concerned that when he would teleport back, he would be in the middle of space. Since he had teleported from the ship, he would teleport back into it. If the Inns'' teleportation markers were linked to specific space coordinates instead of their location in retrospect to what was around them, then the guests would always teleport back to space instead of theirs. After all, thes were also moving through space at quite the speed. He wasted no time in going to the emporium as soon as he reached the Inn. Powell was clearly surprised to see him, but did not waste time with such idle questions. He recalled that Lex was in a hurryst time, and there was a great possibility that the situation had not been resolved yet. "I need your help, although I''m not quite certain what kind of item can help me at the moment," said Lex as he approached the counter. "The Silent Wanderer is currently en route to a specific. At its current pace, if nothing unexpected happens on the way, it will reach its destination in nine days. But I need it to reach there in less than five days. Preferably, even less than four days. What do you have that can help me? I can transfer whatever you give me directly to the ship, so that''s not an issue." Powell was stumped. This was an issue¡­ he had never faced before. "This¡­ you have to understand that Silent Wanderer is a state of the art ship, and its hyperdrives are the best in its size category. Speeding it up¡­ is just not possible. But that doesn''t mean we can''t help you get the ship to its destination faster. Let''s see what we can do." He pulled out a tablet and started to input various search parameters as he was narrowing down the list of items that he could potentially use at the moment. "Can you provide details of the destination, or the ship''s path? For example, the size of the stars you will be crossing? If there are any gravity wells nearby, or if there are any asteroid belts inyour path? Do you have the spatial coordinates of the? How stable is the space in your surroundings? All of these can be crucial information in helping us determine how to get you there as fast as possible." Lex slid the storage device to Powell and said, "this is all the information I have on the path. The space in the region is not stable, which is the greatest issue to begin with¡­" One by one, Lex began to share relevant details while Powell kept narrowing his search parameters even more. Lex really, really did not want to get locked out of the Inn again, so he had to make this work no matter what. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Not to mention, the sooner he arrived, the quicker he could save the battalion! Chapter 856 Die! Chapter 856 Die! In the emporium, Lex and Powell both stared in silence at the piece of paper in front of them. They had spent a few hours here already, discussing in detail what possible solutions they can pursue given the situation. Ultimately, they concluded that it was entirely possible. In fact, they even came up with multiple different solutions. Lex''s willingness to pay obscene amounts of money for the best possible solution made life much easier. The reason they were currently stumped¡­ was that they could not conclude in finality which option was the best for Lex. After all, with multiple options avable, they should opt for the best one. But that was too difficult to decide because the situation was toouncertain. The only thing they could say for certain was that the most powerful force at their disposal was not their cultivation, but their money. "I think I''ll go with the addition of the Blink module, and use that in conjunction with Kelvaha Specter talisman," Lex finally said, not taking any risk. This was the best possible solution he could think of. If the situation were not so critical, Lex would definitely have felt the pinch since the Kalvaha Specter talisman was a single use item that cost him approximately 33 billion MP! But right now the only reason Lex hesitated was not because it was expensive, but because it might not be the best solution. After all, MP could be earned again, but once his workers died there was nothing more that could be done. "Very good, I''ll go prepare everything. As I said beforehand, it will take a few hours to arrange everything." "I''ll wait here. You can go and prepare." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om For this payment Lex had no time to arrange things, so he was forced to pay using one of the missiles he collected from Pelvailins hoard. But instead of being considered a full payment, due to Lex''s high membership level, the emporium would hold onto the missile for five days. In case Lex was able to solve everything, and had time to spare, he woulde back and pay the emporium properly and take the missile back. They were extremely valuable, after all. It was not easy to find weapons that could injure immortals and can be used by anyone. If he could not make it, then it hardly mattered. The Blink module was something that could be added to the Silent Wanderer, though it was not originally designed to support such consumption so it would require additional power. That was not an issue for Lex as he could just procure many power sources from the Inn and use them to power the module. The Blink Module would allow the Silent Wanderer to skip overrge distances, at least while space was still stable. While this would not get them all the way to BGY-987, it should cut down the travel time at least. Then, finally, it would be time for the Kelvaha Specter talisman. The talisman was created using important body parts of the Kelvaha Specter, an immortal entity that traveled between realms using its own body. Whether it was space, the void, or anything else, none of it affected the specter as it did not interact with the physical ne! Instead, the specter traveled in the soul ne! Using the talisman would allow the Silent Wanderer to do the same for a period of time. That did not mean they could automatically use the Blink module - the various nes functioned differently, so it was not so simple to do such a thing. Instead, traveling through the soul ne was just inherently faster. If everything went ording to n, he could reach the in just two days! The only thing he could not understand was¡­ the prophecy he received just a few days ago. He could already guess that if he did not intervene, his regret might have to do with losing his workers. But what did any of this have to do with a de? Was he right to recoverpletely during this time? Should he have been mastering sword intent instead? This was an answer he would just have to wait for. ***** In the dark room watching the projection, many of the observers were actually having a great time. It did not matter to them how many demons died, for the demons were not their subordinates. Nor had they contributed to this specific mission in any way, so they had no vested interest either. Instead, they were treating it like a grand show. Who could have believed that a measly 1000 Foundation realm cultivators, who were human to boot, could provide this much entertainment? They were still fighting, and now even the Marzu were on their way. "If the humans destroy this monument, will it affect your n?" someone asked the devil. "Not really. We''re building more than one of these anyway. The point is not to teleport these 1000 humans into the void, but the rescue party. I estimate that the rescue party will take at least a week to arrive. My monuments will be operable in just four more days. As soon as theynd, I''ll activate them. This way, the whole show will be teleported into the Void. I''m very interested to see how the Midnight Inn will react then? I have a suspicion that if pushes to shove, they can teleport their workers out even from within the void. This is a good way of finding out." "From within the void? Impossible¡­" While the conversation was going on, the zealot looked at everyone with a mocking look. A week? Four days? Hispanions were almost there. Once they reached, they would destroy the whole damn! He''d like to see how everyone would react then. Would the ursed devil still be so calm? Would the Midnight Inn suffer? Waves of excitement coursed through his mind as he imagined everyone''s mournful faces! For desecrating the honor of Ra, they should all die! Chapter 857 Small deviation Chapter 857 Small deviation Lex waited for four hours within the room, contemting silently about how to proceed. He did not know how the battalion was faring, besides the fact that none of them had died yet. After all, if one of the Inn workers died he was bound to get a notification from the battalion panel even if not from the system itself. Where they had already survived for so long, they just needed to do so for a few more days. But it was the final stretch that always seemed the longest. Instead of dwelling on useless thoughts, Lex decided to spend the time thinking about his swordy. Since he had already tried his hand at it, he had a sense for his natural preferences. He had immense strength, so theoretically one of the ways he could proceed was to keep his swordsmanship simple and direct, using brute strength and the inherent sharpness of his weapon as the foundation. Later on, once he spent more time practicing and got a better handle on moreplex moves could he start thinking about integrating them into his arsenal. In his mind, he reyed the single sh he had been practicing over and over. The problem he was having was that his mind and senses had be too astute, and so he could detect the tiny, imperceptible ws everyone else looked over. This was just a single sh, and that too in practice. He had no idea how many ws would reveal themselves when he actually fought or practiced with someone else properly. With nothing else to do, he began simting a fight in his mind. It was easy, after all, he was controlling both the parties in his mind. Before the ''opponent'' even attacked ''him'', he already knew what the attack was and how he should defend. It was not exactly ideal, but he just took it as practice for what kind of moves to practiceter. Every maneuver he imagined himself doing to block or dodge an attack, he would practiceter on. Eventually he lost himself in this mental practice until Powell finally returned. "Everything has been arranged. The Blink Module has also been prepared ording to the specifications of the Silent Wanderer. It should attach itself and integrate its functionality to the ship once you connect it, but just in case something goes awry, I have also prepared a detailed manual. The Keha Specter talisman is also ready, and requires no manual. Once you use the talisman, the instructions for how to use it will automaticallye to you." "Thanks," Lex said, as he received the spatial ring with histest shopping inside. He could not help but pause for a moment as he reflected on just how many times the infinity emporium had saved him endless trouble. It was really his lucky charm. But now was not the time for sentimentality or reminiscence. He promptly returned to the Inn, and then to the ship. He did not begin the instation of the Blink module himself. Instead, he entered the cockpit and informed Cirk about his arrangements in full detail. After all, between the two of them, Cirk was the one with the most familiarity with ships. It would be best if he took care of connecting the module lest an issue arise. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Theoretically, Lex''s n was a good idea. It was now up to them to implement it. Cirk deactivated the Hyperdrive, and parked the ship in empty space. There was no or asteroid near them, so having the ship float randomly was the best option for the moment. After all, the Blink module could not be attached to the ship while it was in motion. They entered the store room, through which they entered a hiddenpartment where a few extremely importantponents of the ship were located, such as the energy source. There, Cirk got to work as he took the Blink drive, which looked nothing more than a square metallic box, and began to connect it to the ship. As Lex suspected, even though the process was supposed to have been automated, it required a lot more hands-on work than Lex was qualified for. The main issue, at least for Cirk, was not connecting the drive, but ensuring that it relied on an external power source, rather than the ship''s own. After all, such a module was not a part of the Silent Wanderer''s original design, and thus it did not have enough power to support it for too long. Fortunately, this was an anticipated issue, and Lex brought more than enough power sources for the module to use. After another couple of hours, the module was connected. Suppressing his nervousness, Cirk returned to the cockpit and once again resumed the journey. He did not immediately use the module, for there were a lot of factors that determined its viability and functionality. Basically, once it was fully charged, the faster the ship was already going, the farther they would move once the module was activated. After twenty minutes, the ship once again activated its Hyperdrive, allowing it to approach speeds that were required for interster travel. Then, after a moment, Crick activated the module. The process¡­ was far from smooth. Lex was much too spoiled by the amazing teleportation offered by the Inn, yet even whenparing to other, lower standards, using the Blink module provided an extremely ufortable and nauseating experience. But it didn''t matter. What mattered was that the module worked! Or at least, it appeared to. "Where are we, Cirk? How far did we teleport?" Lex asked, and waited for Cirk to figure out exactly that. More important than teleporting, was ensuring that they were teleporting in the right direction! "I''m checking. We need to travel a bit so that theputer can cross check significantndmarks and celestial bodies with those on the map. That''s the only way to be sure." Lex did not say anything, and only waited for the Silent Wanderers internalputers to determine their new location. Nearly ten minutester, theputer determined their location with 86% uracy. "We deviated from the path by a bit, but the time lost from the deviation is insignificant whenpared to the time gained. The module is working properly." Chapter 858 Magically inclined! Chapter 858 Magically inclined! "Excellent. If we keep at it, how much time can we cut down?" Lex asked, his eyes gleaming with excitement. There were too many things that could have gone wrong, or else Powell would not have given them a manual. Fortunately, things worked out - for now. "That depends on how long we can continue to teleport. Assuming that there is no issue, and we can go right up to the target like this, we''ll be there in 20 hours. But realistically speaking, since we are anticipating issues with teleportation, it''s tough to estimate how much time we''ve reduced. All I can say is that this is much faster than before." "I hope so," said Lex, almost as a whisper. The teleportation module was extremely expensive, and rare moreover. Lex had only been able to buy it due to his membership level at the emporium. Or else, he would not have been able to get it even if he offered double the money. After all, some of the resources that went into making it were just too rare. There was a reason why only ultrarge empires and organizations could afford teleportation on an interster scale. Most other outfits just usually tolerated the longmute time in moving between the stars. Lex sat down in the co-pilot''s seat and looked out into space. Ordinarily, he would have enjoyed the spectacr views a lot. But at this moment, he had subdued all his emotions and only waited silently until they faced their next hurdle. Right now, he had no time nor did he have the state of mind to get lost in his daydreams. ***** Z grunted as the mech was blown into the air and fell hard on its back. It couldn''t be helped. Ordinarily he would have perfectly dodged the iing attack, but with space rippling all around him, it was difficult to anticipate how the altered space would affect each attack. Without wasting even a second, the mech rolled on the ground and quickly jumped up, avoiding a few more attacks. At this point, no matter how impressive the Midnight battalion was, or how powerful they were, Z had to admit that he had seriously underestimated demons. To be fair, prior to this, his experience with demons was limited to zombies, who were not the most impressive bunch even at higher levels. But that was not the case with other demon species, it seemed. Thirteen massive demons,rger even than the mech, surrounded him, all wielding extremely potent weapons. Although the mech had avoided taking critical hits, his shield was already on the verge of being destroyed. The few attacks the mech had suffered were mostly neutralized due to the formations own internal protective mechanisms, but even so the soldiers forming and supporting the mech felt the strain. With gritted teeth, Z decided to make a few extremely risky moves. After all, if he was going to die by being defeated by the demons anyway, he would rather risk dying by tearing space apart. Ignoring the massive army, all attacking and shooting him from around the mech''s very feet, he turned his attention to the nearestrge demon. It looked like a centaur, but instead of the body of a horse, its lower body was that of a centipede. Not only did it boast considerable strength, speed and flexibility, its many ws were extremely corrosive, and yed a fundamental part in weakening his shield and even spear. "You''ll be the first!" Z roared, and lunged forward. The massive demon, towering above the mech even, had already withstood many of the mechs attacks. Although its spear had pierced its body, the wounds it delivered were inconsequential, so it became confident. That confidence became the root cause of its downfall. Just before the spear, glowing with its yellow light, pierced the demon''s body, a purple me enveloped it. Space rippled as the devastating power of the attack threatened to rend asunder reality itself, but Z did not withdraw his attack or lessen its intensity! Two more demons lunged at the mech, not to help their ally but to take advantage of it being busy, yet this time the space ripples seemed to benefit the mech! With such distorted space, judging distances was bing difficult for everyone, the demons included. Only Z, who had been studying the behavior of space this entire time with his affinity, seemed to be gaining some insights. As soon as he delivered the attack he moved away, dodging attacks on its back, and instead gaining an opportunity to attack a different demon altogether. The purple mes on the tip of his spear began to spread over its body, transforming the weapon into something even more deadly. Yet for all the advantages he had gained, he was unable to deliver a decisive blow. That was the problem with being outnumbered so heavily, and by opponents so strong. He had to continuously deliver small blows to numerous enemies until they umted into something that could have a significant impact. If he was allowed enough time to focus on one enemy at a time they would have been defeated a long time ago, but such was not the case. Moreover, there was no useining either. Since even the mes, although extremely powerful, were not giving him a decisive edge, he decided to take an even bigger risk. This would surely shatter space as well, so he had to be ready for more Void Dwellers. Yet before he could make his move, lightning fell from the sky and struck the demon in front of him! Chains rose from the ground and tied up another! The temperature drastically dropped around, causing its body to freeze where it stood. The change was too sudden, the demons were not able to react in time. Although Z did not understand where the change came from, he did not hesitate to take advantage of it. Just as he slew the first massive demon, he finally saw the source of the sudden changes on the battlefield. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om In the distance, twenty three massive figures could be seen approaching at incredible speeds. On their massive frames, Z could identify magicians'' robes, and something in his mind clicked. Luthor had already told him about them. One of the most magically inclined races in existence: the Marzu had arrived! Chapter 859 All hope is lost... not Chapter 859 All hope is lost... not The mech took full advantage of the opening provided by the Marzu, and besides instantly ying one of the massive demons, it dealt a serious blow to many others. At the same time, Z did not forget to observe the neers. Although supposedly they were on the same side, there was no guarantee that the Marzu would be interested in cooperating. After all, unlike humans, the Marzu were one of the most famous and renowned warrior races in the Origin realm, and perhaps even beyond. The group of Tyrannosaurus rexes, as they were called on Earth, towering and magnificent, had bodies adorned in sleek, shimmering silver feathers that could be seen through the many openings in their loose robes. These feathers, fluttering in the wind even as they carried a deadly sheen, cascaded down their massive forms, glistening under the starlight like a metallic cloak. Each of them had tall figures, their muscr frame enveloped in this resplendent plumage, resembling silver armor that ripples with every movement. In fact, Z almost felt like the reason their robes were loose to begin with was so that their formidable figures do not remain hidden. Despite their formidable appearance, the feathers lent an unexpected grace to these ancient predators. The feathers started from the base of their skulls and cascading down their necks, backs, and tails, creating a mesmerizing disy of silvery hues in varying shades and lengths. Among this stunning group the leader was easily distinguished by a striking array of multicolored feathers amidst the silver. The shades of iridescent blues, fiery reds, and vibrant greens interwoven among the silver, created a breathtaking spectacle thatmanded attention. As these predators neared, Z recalled everything he knew about them. Looking upon their, suffice to say, abundant muscle and considerable size, it would be easy for one to assume that these creatures were designed for physical and closebat. Such an assumption would be incredibly incorrect. Any and all proper studies of the species had concluded the same thing. The only reason they had such strong bodies was so that their bodies could tolerate the copious amounts of magical energy coursing through them. They hardly ever relied on actual physicalbat! In fact, the reason such a formidable race went extinct on earth, most likely, was solely due to the severeck of spiritual energy, from which they extracted magical energy! As they neared, Z could finally see that each one of them also wielded a staff or wand in their short arms. Each time they cast one of their spells, the wand or staff would glow before a devastatingly powerful attack rocked the demon army! Surprisingly, regardless of how powerful their attacks were, the space did not seem to destabilize because of it! Truly,pared to the path of cultivators, magicians were mysterious and knowledgeable in many things. Carefully, without breaking the flow ofbat, Z positioned himself away from the approaching Marzu, putting a number of massive demons between himself and them. Until he knew for certain what their stance was, it would be best not to get too close. Although the pressure on the mech dropped drastically with the arrival of the Marzu, the chaos increased drastically! The elements were flying all over the battlefield, from lightning to fire to ice and more. Thunder hit the demons as if it were a physical thing and rain passed through their bodies as if it were ethereal. The spatial ripples caused by the mech''s ming spear no longer spread out evenly, and instead seemed to be guided towards the demons specifically like water flowing through a canal. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om In the many hours that the battalion had fought, they had gradually moved away from the face of the cliff and came closer to the monument the demons were having constructed. Alongside killing this entire army, they had nned on destroying it as well. Now, even before the mech came close, the monument shattered as the ground itself split under the guidance of the Marzu magic. The tide of the battle shifted drastically, with only the addition of twenty three Marzu against thousands of demons. Although the mech too had been fighting against the very same army for so long, he could not deny that they were extremely powerful. One of the massive demons, in the shape of a decaying Wyvern, suddenly got the better of an exchange. With unmatched swiftness and an aim that could not be denied, it swept down from the air and managed to attack one of the Marzu. But the bitter exchange that it was expecting never happened. With a roar that disoriented nearly half the army, the Marzu expressed its discontent, then bit down at the demon and ripped its head right off its body, killing it. Clearly, although they did not use their physical capabilities in battle, they were more than equipped to if the need be. Z, with neither the defense of the dinosaurs, nor the will to bite any demons, leaped to the side as the mech narrowly avoided an attack that came all too suddenly. Up until now the battalion had been fighting a sea of demons,rge and small. But with the added pressure of the Marzu, it seemed the true powerhouses were forced to make an appearance. Two devils swaggered through a clearing amidst the endless demons, mocking expressions fixed upon their faces. They were not intimidated at all by the situation, and instead seemed to be taking it as a game. A solemn expression painted Z''s face as he saw them approach. No matter what, they could not underestimate devils. As humans, the defeat of Ragnar against a devil of simr realm was a considerable mental blow, and served only to emphasize the inherent racial superiority of certain races. Such advantages were not insurmountable, and did not necessarily mean that victory would always belong to devils. But they did mean that, regardless of the situation, they had to be taken very seriously. But while Z prepared the mech for a tough fight, possibly even resulting in massive spatial tears, the Marzu couldn''t care less. Their leader, her feathers adorning her like warpaint, seemed to fix her gaze on the neers, and attacked without hesitation. Although their purpose ining was to look for survivors and discover what the situation was, a nce at the half built monument was all it took for them to understand that the demons and devils yed a massive role in their current predicament. Dark purple clouds formed in the air above the devils, blotting out the sky. This was not a technique by the devils, but a spell of the Marzu! A grotesque hand, radiating an aura of severe repulsion, emerged from the clouds and mmed down on the devils, taking them by surprise. Yet a momentter the hand was destroyed, and the previous two dashing looking devils revealed their true bodies! Both were tall, although one hadpletely red skin, three horns protruding from its head and a pair of thin, leathery wings, while the other was covered in gray scales. It had no wings or tail, but its horns looked more like a tainted crown than anything else. Their power skyrocketed, and space seemed to bend around them, as if the weight of their existence itself surpassed what this ce could tolerate. Their previous grins returned, and one of them was about to speak, when a devastating beam of purple fire streaked through the air, tearing space as it did, and struck them faster than they could react. The devils were¡­ pushed into the tear by the momentum of the st. Their arrival, marked by an aura of impending danger and devastation, almost seemedical in front of the abrupt nature of their departure. The Marzu, who had specifically been trying to avoid causing space tears, were stunned. You could do this too? Even Z was someone surprised by how easy that was. He did not think his n would work, and so easily at that. The only ones who weren''t stunned were the demons. Finally free of the restrictions of their devil overlords, the army scattered like fleeing ants, unwilling to face these monsters any longer. The Marzu quickly sprung into action, dissatisfied to allow any of the demons to escape. Z, on the other hand, was still hesitating. Was that it? Shouldn''t there be more? What about the bad guys'' final form? Or their secret backup ns? He hadn''t even had a chance to use technique: Big Ball of Ultimate Destruction. He was waiting for the critical moment when all hope seemed lost. But now there was an abundance of hope, and the enemy was escaping. Should he still use it? Genuinely unsure of what to do, Z actually consulted Luthor. "First, thoroughly destroy the monument. Make sure it''spletely unsalvageable. Then approach the Marzu leader for negotiations. If we join forces, we''ll be a much more formidable fighting force. The chances of surviving until reinforcements arrive will be much greater." Chapter 860 No point in discriminating Chapter 860 No point in discriminating With new directions, Z got over the sense of loss he felt at being unable to use his new technique. Logically speaking, it was a good thing that they hadn''t been pushed to the point of hopelessness. Not to mention, they were hardly safe yet. Who knew, maybe the devils would return from the void having gained immense power seeking vengeance. Isn''t that how background characterster became named characterster on in some of theics he read? With renewed motivation, the mechunched itself into the escaping demons and cut its way to the already damaged monument. To be specific, it had been split into two as the ground beneath it split open, but the structure on both sides was, more or less, still standing. Unfamiliar with how this monument was supposed to work, he decided to take no risks and destroyed it by smashing it repeatedly with his spear. He was not concerned about the spear getting damaged in the process, for the pieces of metal it was made of were actually extremely well refined, very specific parts used to make this spear. The yellow light that held the pieces together also strengthened them, and allowed them to disy greater strength. Once that was done, the mech turned towards the escaping demons. Truth be told, ordinarily, Z would never attack escaping enemies. After all, they had lost their will to fight, and were no longer a threat. Unfortunately, these demons were not here to fight in a war, but to specifically target them. Moreover, all it would take was a single devil for them to once again take up arms against the battalion. As such, he could not give up such an opportunity to reduce the number of his future enemies. It was clear, though, that his actionscked the same level of motivation he disyed earlier. An hourter, the battle was more or less over, and the mech returned to the site of the monument, waiting for the Marzu to finish their hunt. Unlike him, they seemed particrly vindictive in hunting down the demons, and did not want to spare even a single one. But that gave him a good opportunity to rest and recover. Although he did not disable the mech form, in case negotiations with the Marzu did not go well, or in case they were not even there to negotiate in the first ce, the battalion was now nearing exhaustion. They were not at their limit yet, especially since they were taking this opportunity to replenish their spiritual energy, their physical exertion was now getting to them. They had not slept or eaten anything in a while, and had been fighting nonstop. No matter how much discipline and determination they disyed, it would not fill their stomachs. But, for now, all they could do was endure. Fortunately, due to their battlelust, the Marzu took their time in pursuing as many demons as they could, giving the battalion enough time to recover somewhat. When the massive feathery magicians returned, their formidable figures painting an impressive sight, they surrounded the mech, their eyes filled with a menacing glow. Their leader was one step ahead, and stood directly opposite to the mech, staring it down. Z did not cower under the scrutiny, or show a hint of nervousness. Instead, he studied the creature back. Although they had never had a Marzu as a guest at the Inn, he had studied a lot about them. After all, they were quite famous. The achievements of their race were not few, and most of them either had to do with warfare or magic! Both were topics Z took great interest in. From the mech, the Marzu leader shifted her gaze to the rubble that was formerly the half built monument, and a trace of recognition shed in her eyes. "I am Feyore, Witch of the Hidden River. Your courage and strength aremendable, and your ways of fighting unified are even moreso. Tell me, do you recognize this monument and its evils, or have you fought the devils for another reason?" "They are nning to pull this into the Void, and take it away. The monument will allow them to do that, which is why we came to destroy it," answered Z, calmly. "They have this cut off from the alliance, but somehow they have not let the alliance realize as much. We have called for our own reinforcements, but the enemy is aware of it as well, which is why we sought to disrupt their ns, lest they find a way to speed up." "If you have called for backup, why not have them inform the alliance as well? Once the alliance realizes something is amiss, their response will be strong and swift." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The mech shook its head, as if disagreeing. "You have too much faith in others. If the alliance was so unified or so formidable, something like this would never have happened. Infiltration, sabotage, causing internal conflict, these are the basics of warfare. Since the alliance is at war with the Fuegan, they should already be riddled with such infiltrators. We cannot trust them." The contrasting views came from their different levels of perspective. The Marzu, regardless of how strong they were, were a subordinate race of the Henali. To them, the power and influence of the Henali was unmatched, so they could not even imagine a w in their design. Whereas to the Midnight Inn, the Henali were equal. At most, they had a little leverage due to the fact that the Inn was within their realm, but that was temporary to begin with. The Marzu leader was not swayed by Z''s words. The reason it became silent, instead, was because arguing was pointless, and convincing the other of Henali supremacy was not a part of their objective. "Are you certain that your reinforcements will be enough?" Feyore asked. Although she had her doubts, currently they were stranded with no other way ofmunicating with the outside. She was dependent on the other for this. "They will be enough. Whether it''s facing the enemies, or extracting us from this, neither should be an issue." After all, the Innkeeper had sent them - whoever they were. "Would it be possible to facilitate our extraction as well? We will pledge our staff and wands forbat until the deed is done, protecting us all." Z hesitated, and asked Luthor the specific terms he wanted. It was always good to make sure. He was d he did, for Luthor had a very firm stance on the matter, although Z could not decide if he was not surprised at all, or extremely surprised to hear it. "Whether you pledge to fight or not, we would help you leave regardless. That is the way of the Midnight Inn. Whenever anyone in the universe seeks refuge and rest, they are wee to the Midnight Inn for as long as they wish. But, if you wish to fight, then instead of protection, we ask that you find and destroy other monuments such as the one that was here." "You mean there are more of these?" Feyore asked, her eyes narrowing. Although she had not mentioned it, she and her kind knew more about the monument than the battalion. That was because they could detect the magical signatures it gave off. Reading the residual energy, they could detect its purpose. Simply pulling the into the Void did not seem like it epassed all that the monument was being designed to do, it was merely one of its many aspects. "I cannot say for certain, but I suspect as much. After all, since the enemy has ess to the entire, why build a monument so close to two parties of survivors?" Feyore turned to look at her subordinates, and seemed tomunicate with them telepathically. It was difficult to discern what they were saying, but all of them looked incensed. "We will join you in your hunt for the monuments," Feyore finally answered, after she finishedmuning with her own group. She was agreeing to hunt down the monuments, but at the same time, she did not want to separate from the battalion. After all, although they imed that they would help, there was no guarantee. It was best to remain close together in such circumstances. "In that case, we will move out after a short rest. If you can search the other monuments somehow in the meantime, that would be very useful. If not, we''ll figure something out." With the agreement made, the mech dissolved to once again form 1000 different soldiers. They stood, side by side, and in battle formation, though fatigue was apparent in their eyes. They waited to see if the Marzu had any reaction to seeing them like this, but they had already seen through the mech. Although they were not familiar with humans, they did not discriminate against them. After all, whenpared to the Marzu, all other races were equally inferior. There was no point in discrimination between them. Chapter 861 Meteor Chapter 861 Meteor The battalion did not rest long, but it was better than nothing. As soon as the mech was dissolved, and the 1000 soldiers appeared, they immediately got to work. They knew their duties well. About 300 of them deployed tents from their personal spatial tools and entered before going straight to sleep. The tent, simple andpact though they may seem, were actually fitted with a sound instion formation, as well as an rm function in case ofbat nearby, so they were well suited for such situations. The remaining few either stood guard, or began to cookrge, nutritious meals. The meals were not borate. In fact, it was a fixed meal called Everything Stew, in which they boiled whatever rations they had directly within Bom Dew. The Bom Dew was technically no longer useful in healing now that they were within the Foundation realm, but that did not mean it had no effect at all. It was great in relieving umted physical stress, not to mention that it tasted great and served as an excellent base for soups and stews. That, when mixed with the highly nutritious vegetables, herbs and spirit treasures that they either collected from variouss or bought from the alliance, resulted in a meal that was both delicious, and extremely potent in reenergizing them! Cooking the stew, even on high heat, cultivation powered mes took an hour, since all the vegetables needed time to cook and soften up. Once prepared, the guards and those on cooking duty ate, after which the first 300 were finally woken up. They had in no way had enough sleep, but such things were already luxuries they could no longer afford. The other 700 then took out simr tents and went to sleep while the first 300 then ate and stood guard. This was a routine they had perfected during their many deployments, and had used on many asions. Such an asion gave them the perfect opportunity to umte stories which they wouldter regale the future generations with, starting with the phrase "back in my day". But secretly, they enjoyed it. A total of four hourster, once both groups had roughly 2 hours of sleep each, as well as good food, their rest time was over. During this time the Marzu had used their magical powers to scout the for more monuments, while Alfonso from the Inn had delved into the minds of some of the dead demons. Although they were already dead, using the newest powers he had acquired, he could read some of their memories. It did not give the best results, as their brains were already deteriorating, or crushed, or burnt or suffering from some other kind of mdy. But the few corpses he managed to find which were in rtively decent condition were able to provide him with some basic information. Just based on the information the Marzu and the battalion uncovered in these few hours, they discovered three more such monuments, all being built at a simr scale and rate. Although they had expected as much, actually discovering how many monuments were being built was harrowing, especially when taking into consideration how many monuments they did not even know of. The construction of these monuments had to be stopped, lest the itself is teleported away before the rescuers arrive. They set their sights on the nearest monument, and the battalion reformed the mech. No matter how formidable they were alone, they were at their peak in their mech form. After all, each and every move of it was being powered by 1000 soldiers inplete, perfect unison. Moreover, once they were in their mech form, a few of the Marzu cast a few spells on it, augmenting its speed, power and energy recovery. Then¡­ the leader, Feyore, cast a spell on the mech. With a sh of blinding light, wings of feathers simr to the Marzu appeared to grow from the mech''s back! The mighty wings spread,rger in span than the entire mech''s body, and connected seamlessly to Z''s mind. Moreover, Z could tell that the energy used to form the wings was not being drained from the mech, but was being powered externally. "Let''s hurry!" Feyore said, failing to suppress a growl. Besides their massive and strong bodies as well as an abnormal affinity for magic, there was one more key characteristic of all Marzu. They were extremely aggressive once they identified their prey. After all, once, the Marzu had wiped the entire Kraven race from the entire Origin realm, preventing them from even spawning again in the entire realm. Although it was unknown how they had achieved such a feat, everyone agreed that the act was a disy of extremely vindictive behavior. The mech spread its wings and jumped high into the air, before pping its wings and taking flight. For some reason, flying was extremely intuitive, as if the information for flight and navigation came alongside the wings. Without flying themselves, the Marzu were able to keep pace with the mech as they sprinted in a straight line towards the next monument. With a speed that it had never reached before, the mech reached the next monument in just over an hour and, surprisingly, discovered another army waiting for them. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om But from a distance, the army seemed even bigger than the one they had faced before. "Can you prevent my attacks from causing space tears as well?" Z asked Feyore. "Yes. We''re already doing it, no need for concern." It was not just Z that smiled upon hearing that, but the mech itself as well. For too long, they had been holding back. Finally, they could let loose now. Purple mes enveloped the flying mech. Like a shooting star, it streaked across the sky, and like a meteor, it crashed directly into the enemy''s defensive formations. Though no tears opened, as the Marzu had promised, the ripples in space seemed to travel across the entire at that moment. Yet the fight was just beginning. Chapter 862 Z’s tiny Big Ball

Chapter 862 Z''s tiny Big Ball

?862 Z''s tiny Big Ball The formation stood no chance against the mech assault and easily broke. Countless demons also suffered under the first assault, though they were already retaliating. The Marzu seemed to ignore such feeble attacks and directly ran into the army, much as they had done previously. Z grinned as an idea struck him. Although the battalion really should have been saving its energy, Z had been feeling oppressed for too long. He could not help but want to unleash the attack he had been holding onto for so long. The mes covering its body concentrated on to its left hand, while streaks of electricity began to dance around his right hand. The mech raised its hands above its head, allowing the mes and electricity to travel from its arms into the air. The two extremely vtile forms of energy seemed tobine effortlessly and began to gather into a massive ball. "Z, I told you not to use this," Luthor said admonishingly from within the mech as he observed what was happening. "Just a small one, I promise," Z said, his eyes gleaming with a frenzied energy. Ayer of earth traveled over the mech''s feet and across its body towards the growing ball of energy above its head. A number of other unique powers gathered and fed into the ball. It was tragic that Z could not feed the ball with his space abilities, but such was life. Just as a small amount of each of the energies merged into the ball, Z stopped growing it. After all, if he made it toorge, it would be a drain on the mechs own energy reserves. "Big Ball of Ultimate Destruction!" he roared, although a number of the battalion members cringed, both at the action of announcing his attack and the name itself. The mech hurled the ball towards the massive army of demons. He did not question why or how the devils were able to gather hundreds of thousands of demons in such short notice. He was just d he could use them to test out his attacks guilt free. After all, these demons were formed by killing the original owners of their bodies. The Marzu, who had not prated too deeply into the demon army yet, immediately pulled back as a panicked expression filled their faces. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?" Feyore yelled as she struggled to keep space from ripping, but Z did not respond. He just looked and waited for the attack tond. This attack could not be used in any other circumstance. It was only when they joined together and formed a mech, and the energies of all 1000 members melded together, could their unique powers bebined in such a way. Then the ballnded onto the monument, and then exploded. All the Marzu strained themselves to ensure that space did not rip, because what it was doing could no longer be called ripples. Space was bending like a trampoline on which a dozen bowling balls had been thrown. Light shed in strange ways, as if it was bending around the explosion, while one massive shockwave traveled out, pulverizing anything in its path. Z''s smile froze as he suddenly had the mech pull back as quickly as he could, yet even then he could not escape the st zone. First the mech was hit by the space tsunami, then the shockwaves and then the searing explosion! Just as Z was about to pull out extreme countermeasures, the heat seemed to disappear. Once the mech which had been flung out due to the shockwave stabilized itself, with great help from its new wings, it turned to look back and saw a massive, blue barrier erected around the entire region. Nothing inside was visible, as if it had beenpletely closed off permanently. "Never do that again!" Feyore said extremely furiously as her body trembled. Clearly she was severely affected by whatever she had done to seal the region. Z smiled awkwardly. It seemed he had underestimated the repercussions of the Big Ball of Ultimate Destruction, although he was somewhat d the name seemed to fit. "Shall we move to the next monument?" he asked sheepishly. Before Feyore could answer, the sound of shattering ss filled the air. Sensing extreme danger, the group looked over at the blue barrier and discovered a figure floating above the barrier, wearing a gray robe. "That was quite impressive. The scale of that attack actually reached the Mid Nascent realm," the figure said. He waved his hand again, and the entire barrier shattered. Yet instead of a chaotic storm releasing once the stopper was removed, the scene seemed to bepletely frozen. "Your little performance actually forced me to move a little earlier than I nned," the man said. "Though that''s not too bad. This is quite useful." All the energy within the sealed zone seemed to gather into a tiny yellow me, flickering on the tip of the robbed man. All the Marzu as well as the mech looked at the robe figure solemnly. The aura that the figure radiated was actually less than that of the two devils they faced previously. But somehow, while being weaker, he seemed even more dangerous than the previous two devilsbined together. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "Rejoice, for your souls are to be sacrificed in honor of a great deity!" The figure crushed the me within his fist, yet somehow lit up the entire sky as he did. A gold light painted the entire sky as divine energy filled the sky. "What is happening?" asked one of the retreating Marzu as it panicked. The situation had changed so drastically, so quickly. "It''s a religious zealot!" Feyore answered with gritted teeth. "He¡­ he''s been using the souls of the demons we killed and preparing for a ritual. The previous attack must have disturbed him, forcing him out of his hole. We only have one chance to stop him. We have to¡­" Before Feyore could finish her words, the robbed figure appeared in front of her and her body froze. Chapter 863 Chaos

Chapter 863 Chaos

?863 Chaos Time seemed to slow down, as everyone had their eyes fixed on the gray-robed figure. Nothing of his actual body could be seen, but the shape of his hood indicated a humanoid or Elven appearance. He spoke not with his voice, but by emitting a strange, psychic energy that stung whoever it hit, while at the same time transmitting his thoughts. It was for that reason that everyone in the vicinity heard everything he said. The most peculiar thing about him, despite the fact that he was obviously incredibly powerful, was that he radiated no cultivation at all. It was as if he was a mere mortal. But though he had no cultivation, seemingly, his body did emit a kind of energy that Z was familiar with. It was divine energy, used by both angels and deities! The figure, who had appeared in front of Feyore, seemed to use some kind of ability to freeze her entire being. Not only did she stop speaking mid-speech, her body stopped emitting magical energy, as if it was frozen in time. "An atypical Mazru. How curious. Are you from a famous or noble n? The stability of your power seems to suggest your changes are not a random mutation, or at least not a harmful mutation. Is that what allowed you to keep space from tearing? What a curious ability." The figure stepped onto her snout and walked forward slowly, as if on a stroll. The other Marzu did not respond kindly to such actions, nor did Z wait to let the figureplete whatever it was doing. Countless magical spells wereunched, even as the mech raced towards Feyore, its spear ready to strike. None of its usual, stronger attacks had enough precision to attack the figure without also harming Feyore, so he had to opt for close rangebat. But the figure seemed dismissive of all the attacks, as if it were a Deity, ignoring ants on the ground. When he reached the Marzu''s forehead he ced a hand upon it, as if investigating something. "Yes, your soul will be a great catalyst for the ceremony. But we do not have enough souls yet. We must continue to collect more!" The world seemed to twist, hitting the Marzu and the battalion with an overwhelming sense of nausea and a pain in guts as if their innards were being dragged out. The sensationsted a mere moment before they found themselves in apletely new location, surrounded by a massive demon army! An unfinished monument could also be seen nearby, with construction work still underway. The army was just as surprised to see them as they were to see the demons, yet the surprise did notst long. Without caring for how or why they had appeared there, the demons attacked. The mech and the Marzu immediately retaliated, but they could not stop a certain sense of dread from enveloping them. Both the figure and Feyore had not reappeared with them. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "He is using us to harvest more souls! Feyore said he needs them for a ritual!" said one of the Marzu. "But it''s not like we have a choice. If we don''t kill them, they will kill us!" "We just have to hold out! Once our reinforcementse, we can fight back!" Z yelled out loudly. He understood better than them all. Too many forces had gotten mixed up. It seemed that besides the enemy who was targeting them, a third party was taking advantage of the situation to follow through with their own ns. The circumstances on this were bing extremely chaotic. Only outside intervention could shake things up now. As the mech fought off the countless demons, his actions no longer protected from tearing space, he had to be extremely careful in how he actually fought. Moreover, faced with this unknown foe who could teleport them as he wished, Z would have to conserve as much energy as possible. Who knew if they would be teleported to another battlefield as soon as they concluded the fight in this one. ***** Battlefront 00974, Alliance Headquarters "This doesn''t make any sense?" said an elf as he looked at conflicting reports. On one hand, all the reports from the sector near BGY-987 seemed within expectation. The battle reports and progress updates did not show any deviation from what was expected based on the ongoing situation. On the other hand, after a more thorough scrutiny of the situation, they realized that it was practically impossible to contact specific personnel in those locations. For example, other than those responsible for regrmunications, if someone wanted to talk to a specific soldier who was deployed there, some issue woulde up as to why they could not be contacted at the moment. They might even be dered M.I.A o K.I.A! Such a thing was also normal, but only within reason. If no onefrom within that entire sector could be contacted, then there was clearly an issue, and it did not take a genius to figure out what that issue was. Either theirmunication department waspromised, or their intelligence department. It may very well even be both of them! Realizing the seriousness of the situation, the elf grabbed all the reports and quickly made his way to the senior most officials of the entire alliance. They were supposed to be an elf and a dwarf, but as was seen throughout the alliance, the dwarves rarely held down office positions. Almost all of them were deployed, rather than being bunkered down in headquarters. "Sir, there is an issue, just as you suspected," the reporting elf said, handing over his reports. The senior in-charge, as a Celestial Immortal, read through the documents in a mere moment. "Issue new orders. I want to know what the situation on BGY-987 is immediately!" Both the elves could feel a headacheing on. On one hand, a discrepancy on a war front with the Fuegan would be investigated by the Henali. On the other hand, whoever sent them that threatening letter was clearly upset with what was happening on that. That meant that the situation was already out of hand. After careful consideration, the Celestial Elf decided to go get his own battle armor. Perhaps it was time he joined his dwarvenpatriot on the front line and earned some merits before someone came to penalize him. Chapter 864 Studying space

Chapter 864 Studying space

?864 Studying space "The Blink Module''s failsafe has been automatically activated. The space in front of us is too unstable to facilitate teleportation," Cirk said as he read out a report. Though, at this point, Lex did not need Cirk to tell him. With his affinity for space, he could feel how it behaved in this region. He found that calling ''unstable'' might be incorrect. Instead of feeling fragile or unstable, it seemed ''stretched''. "Activate the Kelvaha Specter talisman," said Lex, not letting his observation distract him from the matter at hand. "How long do you think it will take until we reach them?" "The Blink Module did not get us as far as I had hoped. Now it all depends on how quickly the talisman can help us move. Until I experience it, I cannot say for certain. But, if I were to make a guess, based on the information you''ve given me about the talisman, I''d say eight more hours." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Eight more hours¡­" Lex repeated as he mused to himself. The space in this region was extremely unusual. Normally, Lex would not be confident enough to determine what was unusual and what wasn''t, but he had recently bought a manual for space affinity from the emporium that he had been studying. With not much to do on the ship, Lex upied his mind with various things. He practiced his swordsmanship, but that was not enough topletely upy his thoughts. So, at the same time, he perused the manual. There were no techniques or anything as such in the manual, as it firstly focused on what ''space'' was, and how spatial affinity worked. ording to Lex''s perception, space was naturally the area within a realm. For anything to exist, it had to upy space. When discussing howrge a monument was, or the distance between two points, one was discussing space. It was impossible for a thing to exist and not upy space. As such, the concept that space could bend, move, or even tear created somewhat of a conflict in Lex''s mind. How could something exist in the ''Void'' behind space? Moreover, what was even the concept of something being ''behind'' space? It was too unusual, but Lex epted his ignorance as the cultivation world was too vast for him topletely understand. He knew he would eventually find his answers. The manual seemed to shed some light on these questions, to an extent. But¡­ the theories that the manual borated on were abstruse, even for Lex. Understanding them meant changing his outlook on reality in a very fundamental way, which was easier said than done. At least for the moment, Lex was not able to wrap his head around those concepts. Even if he mentally epted them as true, understanding how they worked and considering its ramifications was beyond him - not to mention that Lex did not necessarily believe everything he read. For the moment, instead of blindly epting what the book wrote, he decided to study the matter more himselfter on. Basically, ording to the manual, ''space'' was actually a manifestation of the superposition of the multiple nes of existence, such as the physical ne, spiritual ne, soul ne etc. Since space itself was made up of theseponents, it could naturally be broken down, have itsposition altered, or manipted as pleased. Moreover, everything that existed did not exist in ''space'' but instead existed in time, with space being a simple coefficient of time itself. The theory, which was in actuality just a brief overview of a muchrger exnation for space and reality, continued on to borate further, but all of it was beyond Lex at the moment. Instead, there were other parts that he understood more of, such as the behavior of space, or what caused it to be unstable or stable. Even then his actual understanding was minimal, but it allowed him at least to differentiate between unstable and stretched. It seemed as if someone or something had stretched space in this region to nket over something, thereby hiding it from being essed or viewed. Of course, he could be spectacrly wrong about that. He was still a beginner at this. But, oddly enough, his instincts which had slowly begun to be less useful as ofte, seemed to indicate that his theory was right. He looked out of the cockpit into the infinity that was outer space. They had already used the talisman, and were traveling in a manner that eluded theirprehension. Their surroundings seemed to be changing each moment, like a sequence in a badly edited video rather than passing scenery. Clearly the talisman was in use, but Lex felt no different. Cirk, who was navigating, may be feeling the true effects of what using the talisman was like, but Lex did not distract him with questions right now. The pilot had to ensure that they reached their destination timely. The talisman would notst forever, so they either had to make the most of it, or reach their destination before its effects psed. He turned his gaze back to the manual and began reading. He wanted to fully understand everything he could about space so that he was ready to face whatever obstacle he faced when he reached BGY-987. Although a lot of time had passed, the anger he had been harboring had not dwindled. In fact, due to the long time, it had only grown stronger and more overwhelming. But his firm control over his mind, practiced to control the sword in his soul, kept that anger in check. Soon, it would be time to let it loose. But not yet. While Lex was studying, and the battalion was fighting for their life, a group of devils suddenly teleported within the Midnight Inn. They exchanged no words, and instead began to spread out silently, as if they had a clear purpose ining here. No one seemed to find anything amiss, after all, a majority of the guests at the Inn were devils. What could be so different about this group? Chapter 865 Retribution came wearing slippers

Chapter 865 Retribution came wearing slippers

?865 Retribution came wearing slippers The mech suddenly fell out of the sky and into the army of Void Dwellers. Mental exhaustion was setting in, so Z was slow to react, but fortunately, he managed to avoid getting hurt. He used his shield as cover as he mmed into one of therge Void Dwellers and stabbed his spear in its body and used it for support to slow down his descent. Just as they had suspected, the strange robed figure teleported them to another battlefield just as they began to thin the first army. He did not even wait for the fight to finish. The moment the number of demons they were killing was reduced, he appeared again and teleported them to another monument, disappearing in the process. The problem he was facing was not the long battles or the endless enemies. Instead, it was that the enemy seemed to be preparing his attacks specifically in the other battlegrounds. For example, this time around, the stronger demons all had armor specifically designed to stop the prating force of his spear and shields to block his energy attacks. Even the attack patterns of the Marzu had been thoroughly studied and ounted for. Naturally, that did not mean that the mech and the formidable Marzu lost all battle capabilities, but that the impact of their attacks was drastically reduced. If previously the mech could continuously injure numerous giant demons and slowly tire them out, now it was a challenge to injure even one as they had adopted various defensive tactics. In fact, they were not even trying to attack them nonstop, as they had previously been. Instead, they were just trying to tire them out, and it was working. The mech took flight using his wings, trying to get some distance so that it could deploy some long range attacks. But the wings, which had been powered by an external source, suddenly disappeared, resulting in the mech from falling from midair as it did. The moment the mech reached the ground, it withdrew the spear from the Void Dweller and used its body to attack all the enemies surrounding it. But Z''s exhaustion began to reveal itself in small but significant ways. He did not notice how the ground hended on felt unusually light, so when it copsed underfoot he was taken by surprise. Nheless, he had sufficient skill, so he was able to jam his spear on the side of the tunnel he was falling into, and immediately pulled himself out. The action barely took a moment, but was enough to allow his enemies to surround him. A majority of them held up their shields, as if ready to deflect his attacks, while a couple of them attacked him with long-range weapons, safely nestled behind their partners defenses. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om The mech, after a long time, was put into a passive position where it had to focus more on defending itself than attacking. The Marzu were in a simr state. The demons had prepared special treasures that disrupted their magical incantations or interfered with the execution of their spells. All the Marzu, with great reluctance, were forced to use their immense physical strength to rip their enemies to shreds, rather than their magical powers. It was a great trial for them. While the situation seemed tolerable for now, the longer this went on, the worse it got. With Z''s deteriorating performance, the mech took repeated hits. Compared to its overwhelming attack, the defense of the mech wascking, so the entire battalion had to tolerate the strain from that damage. To make up for it, he had no choice but to use stronger attacks. He could no longer afford to be as precise, but that came with its own issues. Without Feyore''s help, the mechs attacks constantly caused spatial ripples and waves. While those ripples dealt some damage to the demons, it did nothing to the Void Dwellers. Looking at it from that point of view, the ripples could even be considered an asset for Z and the battalion, if it weren''t for the fact that they too had to tolerate the effects of the ripple! Moreover, if he overdid it just a bit, and opened a tear, more Void Dwellers would pour out. Bang! Just as the mech was shooting out a beam of energy, a hidden attack struck it in the back! Z did hear nor sense the attack at all, but that did not change the fact that it was devastating. The mech fell forward with reeling from the attack, unable to react quick enough. As if long having been prepared for just that, more silent attacks struck the mech. Even still, they could not identify where the attacks wereing from, or who was attacking them! Even disoriented, Z panicked, as he felt his control over the mech slipping. In desperation, he tried to use a powerful attack. Maybe that could disrupt the assassin! But it was for naught! Before Z could retaliate, a final blow struck the mech''s chest, finally breaking the integrity of the technique that held it together. The mech disappeared and all 1000 members of the battalion were thrown onto the battleground floor! But while Z was extremely mentally fatigued, the rest were not. Although they too bore the effects of prolonged usage of the mech, they were only physically tired. Immediately, as if they had rehearsed this exact moment hundreds of times, the battalion surrounded Z who could notpletely recover. At the same time, they unleashed their attacks without holding anything back. Although not as strong as the mech, they were not weaklings either. Their means and methods were more than enough tounch a wave of devastation around them. Moreover, the demons had not prepared for their individual means. Their attacks were a lot more precise and swift than that of the mech, allowing them to more easily kill the very same enemies the mech had been struggling with. At the same time, they could no longer be concerned about the dangers of Void tears. If they held back even a little, their own survival would be at risk. So, if there was risk either way, they chose the method that would devastate their enemies the most. Pam, thebat medic, focusedpletely on helping Z, leaving herselfpletely unprotected. It need not be said that the battalion trusted each other unequivocally. "This is bad Luthor. Z has lost consciousness and isn''t waking up. Forcefully disrupting his connection with the mech seems to have injured him gravely." "Take all the time you need," Luthor said calmly, as if they were not surrounded by thousands of enemies. But confidence alone could not remedy the situation. Luthor took in a deep breath, preparing himself to push himself to his limits, and beyond. Z had done the best that he could, now it was his turn. It was then that an unusually violet spatial wave went over the entire battleground,ing from up above. Wary of more enemies, Luthor looked up. But instead of more enemies he saw fireworks. It was not just Luthor who looked up in confusion. Many demons, Void Dwellers and some of the other races who were hiding on that all looked up. One after another, distant sparks lit up in the night sky, a few ming streaks falling through the sky afterwards. It was only after a few of such ''fireworks'' went off that Luthor realized what he was really looking at. It was not fireworks, but exploding ships in space. A thought suddenly struck Luthor, and he immediately used a spiritual technique to zoom in on the space above this ursed. He saw hundreds of ships flying and shooting at a ck blur, chasing it down. Yet none coulde close, and not a single one of their attacks hit. Instead, it was a second, smaller blur, that zoomed through the vacuum of space and tore through the many ships. Recognizing a familiar suit, Luthor could not help but smile, and then burst out intoughter. His purple mes enveloped him as he walked away from the battalion. The only thought on his mind was to give out a signal to let the reinforcements know where he was. Yet even as he walked into the madness of an army of demons and Void dwellers, thest sight he saw could not help but continue to make himugh. It was not just an oh so familiar suit that he saw. He saw the figure of a man, a devil''s mask on his face, making him look like death incarnate amongst the debris of all the ships he destroyed. But the most significant thing he saw¡­ was the man wearing bathroom slippers on his feet as he zoomed through space. The mes around his body rose into the sky, the heat from the mes once again causing the air to move out rapidly. A tornado of purple mes was once again formed, marking where the battalion was on the. Chapter 866 Massacre

Chapter 866 Massacre

?866 Massacre As time went by, Lex becamepletely focused on reading the spatial manual, so much so that he even stopped simting his sword training. Even with his elevated mental capacity and increased intellect, studying the manual was a difficult task. Space was an esoteric concept, wielded by many but mastered only by a very few. Although the book only barely scraped some of the topics, Lex''s imagination could not help but run wild. He tried to imagine how he could use his affinity to create spatial items, as theoretically at the Nascent level he should be able to do it. He also tried to visualize, based on these concepts, what it would mean to open up Minor realms, or how a new Realm was formed in the first ce. The key point, governing everything,pletely immovable and immutable, was time. But since this manual was about space, besides barely mentioning its rtion, the book did not borate on time at all. So engrossed was he in his studies that when Cirk first nudged him, Lex did not even notice. Realizing the state of hispanion, Cirk nudged harder and spoke up. "This talisman is working a lot better than I had imagined. We''ve already reached the vicinity of BGY-987. I just need to lock down its location and approach. We could be there in a matter of seconds to a few minutes." Lex immediately snapped the book shut and looked up into space. There was not much to see besides darkness, but Lex could see a lot of red, as if visualizing the blood that was about to be spilled. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Without saying a word, he exited the cockpit and walked into the storage room. He checked his attire, but he was already wearing his Defensive suit, so there was not much to do. The one change he did make, however, was removing his shoes and putting on the Bathroom slippers instead. The slippers, as unassuming as they seemed, provided Lex withplete protection from environmental threats. It seemed simple, but the ability was far more impressive than it appeared. Lex did not know what he would face when they approached BGY-987, but he had to be ready for a quick exit from the ship. Whether it was to confront any enemy spaceships, or tond onto the as quickly as possible, he would need to exit the ship. That meant, for an undetermined period of time, he would be exposed to the vacuum of space. One would think that, with Lex''s highly strengthened body that should not be an issue. One would be wrong. The vacuum, a realm of unfathomable terror, promised an instant onught on his exposed form should he enter unprepared. In that abyss, pressure would tear at his body, siphoning every trace of moisture, sizzling fluids into vapor. Assuming that he would be able to protect himself using his defensive techniques would be a mistake. As the coldness of space encased him, threatening to freeze his very essence, wrenching warmth away into the boundless void, Lex would be faced with dangers far beyond hisprehension. The space around a such as Earth, with a star rating even below one, and this ce with a star rating that was definitely higher were not the same. The insidious touch of radiation, unimpeded by shielding, strengthened by various energies beyond hisprehension, could corrupt his very cells, rewriting his gic code with each moment exposed. It wasn''t just the absence of air; it was an orchestra of merciless perils, a symphony of cosmic malevolence poised to ensnare him the moment he stepped into that emptiness. Fortunately, he could escape all that by simply equipping a pair of slippers. He looked at a nearby silver surface and observed his figure. Notorious Anonymity, his devil''s mask, looked especially menacing at the moment. As if mimicking the cold fury that Lex felt, the mask was neither grinning nor frowning. It looked absolutely in, with only its eyes betraying the wrath that awaited whoever saw it. Lex, wearing the mask, apanied by his striking figure equipped with his wlessly tailored suit, exuded a menacing and deadly aura. The only thing that betrayed the gravity of his demeanor were a pair of white, fluffy slippers. The wless golden initials of M. and I. could be seen on each piece. Lex didn''t care. He was not there for a fashion show. On a screen nearby that disyed the space outside the image changed, and Lex immediatelyid eyes on hundreds of massive spaceships patrolling arounda distant. No doubt there were more ships around, but were just farther away. "Cirk, drop me outside and find a way tond on the besides the battalion as soon as possible. If we are to exit, it has to be together," Lex spoke aloud, aware that Cirk would be able to hear him due to small mics in each room. As requested, the hatch for the storage room opened, and all the air inside the room was immediately sucked out! But faster than even that was Lex, who zoomed out the partially opened hatch like a blur. In anticipation of a simr situation, he had already procured a technique that would allow him to move around in space. It was a simple one, that merely leaked out spiritual energy from his body in jet streams, propelling him forward. Such a technique was not enough to lift him off a with medium or high gravity, but in space it allowed him to move freely. Barely any time had passed since the Silent Wanderer arrived, perhaps a couple of seconds, but Lex could already see many ships turning towards it, ready to attack. Lex needed no invitation, and so without hesitation he summoned one of the weapons he bought from the emporium andunched it at the nearest ship. It was not quite time to use the ones he stole from the dragon as he was too close to the ships and he would get caught in the st radius. The ship evaded, clearly able to detect approaching artillery, but it was for naught as the weapon was on a timer. Just as it passed by, it exploded, releasing a bright light that blinded anyone looking. Lex was naturally not looking, as he was already zooming towards another ship, ready to attack again. Yet his intention to unleash his entire payload changed when he felt space itself shake under the might of the previous explosion, forming a wave that spread out. Cracks formed at the site of the explosion, and a tear in space appeared, revealing the Void behind it. As if pulled out by the suction of space, an army of Void Dwellers burst out from the hole. The many dangers of space did nothing to them, as they came from an even more perilous ce. But nheless, they were destined to be nothing more than floating space trash, as they had no way to propel themselves in space. Lex''s mind raced as he observed the space wave,prehending the situation. It made sense that strong attacks could not be used - that was the very reason the system would not allow his Innkeeper to descend to this ce. The space was too fragile. But he was not beholden to the rules of the system, and he could not care less what happened to this space. A nefarious smile bloomed on his mask as Lex altered his n, and hundreds more missiles appeared beside him. The space wave finally reached Lex but instead of being affected by the distortion in space, Lex used his absurdly potent spatial affinity, and used space itself to propel him forward. Seemingly surfing on the wave that flowed through reality, Lex approached the many spaceships. Inparison to their massive bodies Lex was naught but space dust, but as soon as the ships saw the weapons all around him, many of them immediately retreated from that very space dust. Many of them shot at him, hoping to use the destruction of space to harm him, but how could armageddon be stopped so easily? Without a thought or care, Lexunched his weapons at all the ships around him even as he flew towards them at his full speed. In the silence of space Lex orchestrated a brutal massacre, forming a symphony of spatial waves and ripples that he used to his own advantage. Countlesssers, bullets, rockets and even Void Dweller approached him yet with his technique that allowed him to adjust his movement at a mere thought he dodged them with ease, leaving behind only his enemies regrets. As if learning from him, one of the missiles seemed to be timed, and exploded right beside him, but could not even wrinkle his suit. Cracks formed all around him, threatening to tear open and pull Lex into the Void itself, momentarily giving his enemies hope. But before the tear could form, Domination rose out of his body and spread all around him, suppressing even the distortion of space. He nced at the cracks and, as if afraid of him, the cracks retreated into nothing, as if they had never been there. Then the massacre continued. Chapter 867 Putting on a show

Chapter 867 Putting on a show

?867 Putting on a show Fighting in space was unlike any battlefield he had ever encountered. It was not just the weightlessness,ck of sound or the need to be extremely conscious of any and all momentum transfer. The scale of the battlefield wasrger than any he had ever been in, but more importantly, it extended in every axis! There was no up or down, high ground or low ground. He had to be aware of everything in every direction, with countless ships that could travel entire miles in seconds, or even less. No matter how fast Lex was, he could not match the speed of the ships if they tried to run away from him. Fortunately, they were just as keen to attack him as he was to destroy him, albeit they tried to keep as much distance as possible. Lex''s space affinity, which was drastically greater than that of Z''s, allowed him to do things that thetter could not, which was why his battlestrength was notpromised at all. In fact, one could even say that his battle strength improved drastically in this zone where piercing through space was easy. One particr ship, much smaller in size than the rest, but also more nimble, decided to opt for the exact opposite style of attack than the rest. Dodging all the space debris, as well as the countless attacks flying through space, it approached Lex. The pilot was hoping to take advantage of being close to prevent Lex from throwing any more missiles or tearing holes in space, as that wouldpromise his own safety. At the same time, he hoped to use the tough body of the ship to m Lex. While this was an unconventional form of attack,pared to a human a spaceship was much tougher and durable. At the speeds that the ship was traveling, he would not be surprised if the flying devil wasn''t smashed into minced meat. Lex, who was constantly fighting the various ships surrounding him, naturally noticed the ship, but did not try to avoid it. Did the enemy think he was someone who could casually be approached? n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Since Lex had been maximizing the use of his senses to maintain his awareness on this massive battlefield, he also quickly noticed what the battalion could not. He noticed the hidden formations all around the, all for the single purpose of monitoring and recording. Whoever had targeted the Inn was also watching everything live, and recording it for future use. This was bad, as Lex''s identity was likely to be exposed if the enemy studied him and his moves thoroughly, but he was already prepared for that. Moreover, knowing that the enemy was watching only further infuriated him. Did he think he and the battalion were putting on a show for them to enjoy? Well if they wanted a show, Lex would give them one! He ignored the approaching ship just until it was in his range. Without any forewarning, or indication that Lex knew of the ship''s arrival, he drastically changed directions and flew directly towards the ship. He was not strong enough yet to tear apart a ship designed for space travel in regions of high star levels - at least, not with his hands. He did not require any focus or special attention for his subsequent actions. He used Impervious Hands and channeled his spatial affinity into it. With this, considering the weak state of space, he could easily create a tear just big enough to swallow the ship before immediately closing it. But that is not what Lex chose to do. Instead, relying on his thoroughly trained intuition, Lex summoned spatial energy in his hand like a de, and repeated the swing he had been practicing for so long. Although no sword intent was manifested, as none of his previous practice sessions had ounted for a situation with no foothold adding another weakness to his technique, the invisible de made from space cleaved the entire ship in two! The pilot, who was jettisoned from his cockpit and flung out into open space, did not even realize what had happened before he died. Due to the fact that the de Lex wielded was invisible, no one else understood what had happened either! But a few ships, who were mimicking the first ship bying close, immediately deviated and began flying away from Lex! This was not a man in a devil mask, he was a true devil! "Lex, I''ve found the battalion on the and am descending," Cirk said, speaking through a talisman Lex had given him before. This specific talisman would allow the two tomunicate with each other mentally even at a distance of 100 miles. "The battalion is at the location of the purple tornado." Lex turned towards the and his gaze immediately locked onto the whirling, majestic purple tempest dancing across its surface, its vivid hue contrasting against the grays and browns that filled it otherwise. His eyes gleamed, but he did not rush towards the battalion. Instead, he looked back at the countless ships in space, with more approaching from far in the distance. "You go, I''ll cover your retreat," said Lex, as he summoned the weakest rocket he had stolen from the dragon''s hoard. "Remember, this one has a rupturingw frozen inside. Once it is unleashed, the devastation that has been frozen will wreak havoc without constraints. It''s difficult to determine the extent of its power, but thew will barelyst for a second. If you''re within the st radius, you''ll die immediately. If you''re even a millimeter outside the radius, you''ll be perfectly safe," reminded Pel, as it saw its master take out a powerful weapon. But Lex needed no reminding. He had already asked the ring before, and knew that the estimated st radius would be 500 miles at most. Of course, he did not n on being anywhere even double that distance when the bomb went off. He strapped it to one of the more tame missiles he bought from the emporium, before summoning 300 more of such missiles. Without hesitation, heunched all of them in random directions towards the many approaching ships, before hurling himself towards the at full speed. Chapter 868 There is no lingering danger at all

Chapter 868 There is no lingering danger at all

?868 There is no lingering danger at all Many hours had already passed since the particr group of devils entered the Inn and split. During this time, they did nothing suspicious. They merely roamed the grounds of the Inn, separately, as if exploring the wilderness during an adventure. Oddly, though, that abruptly ended when one of them spotted Velma. The devil stayed in the distance and only watched, but the rest from his group seemed to stop their wandering, and converged towards him. Since he was following Velma, from a distance of course, when they would finally meet, the entire group would be near Velma. As for what would happen afterwards, only the devils themselves knew. ***** Lex did not n an borate reunion, nor was he intending on a long, drawn out y for revenge. As angry as he was, he knew his first priority was to get the battalion back to the Inn. It was exactly for this reason that he was willing to take a risk with the stronger missiles. Of course, the situation here was precarious. With space ripping apart easily, the influence of an attack on an immortal level will not be small. There was even a chance that the whole region becamepletely unstable. Lex had various ns to tackle the situation if something like that urred, but they all came with a level of risk. The most important reason he was willing to y so dangerously, and take such immense risks, was because he did not know what the enemy had nned. If they had traps waiting for him, his only hope of winning this game would be to flip the entire table. So it was not out of recklessness or anger that he threw out that bomb, knowing full well that it could result in a massive space tear that even he could not control. No, instead, it was out of a desire to create a situation that ''no one'' could control. The countless ships behind him saw the hundreds of ''gifts'' he left behind for them and scattered. They had learnt from his previous tactics and were familiar with the timed explosives he used. All they needed to do was fly around the many ''gifts'' and around their st radius before continuing to pursue Lex. It would dy them, but considering how fast the ships were, the time difference was negligible. They only had to¡­ they only had to¡­ The pilots'' minds stopped working as they looked at the symphony of explosions taking ce in space. To them, it was naught but a lightshow they were supposed to see through their rear view cameras. But the issue was, why could they hear the explosions even though they were in space? Moreover, the explosion did not go off with a typical boom, but with a deep, mournful wail, as if that of a crying child. As the bright cloud of light expanded in space, growing like a balloon filled with air, all those who were looking at it slowly stopped their actions. It was as if they were slowly losing their will to do anything. But if anyone was watching they would see that their spirits were being drained, essentially killing off their intelligence without actually killing them. Whateverw had been trapped in the bomb, it was incredibly unusual with a muchrger radius than Pel expected. Moreover, it wassting a lot longer than it was supposed to. Thest thing the countless pilots watching perceived before their entire spirit was absorbed was the ghastly noise of the explosion turning from a wail into a gasp of surprise. Oddly enough, Lex, who was looking away from the explosion and rushing at his fastest speed, did not sense the abnormal cloud of light that was forming behind him at all. It was as if only those looking directly at it could perceive it. What he did notice was an abnormal absence of spatial waves despite the time for the explosions psing. Whatever the case, he would not stop to investigate now as his instincts were unusually silent. He did not detect any danger behind him, which was strange. After all, even if the explosion did not take ce, there were countless enemy ships behind him. But his instincts gave him no warnings. But sometimes, depending on the circumstances, no warning was actually warning enough! What kind of danger could surpass the detection level of his instincts entirely? He did not want to wait to find out. It did not take long before he felt the gravity of the start to affect him, and felt his return to the atmosphere. The return of sounds was the most pleasant part of his journey, as he had to actively avoid paying attention to the sound of his own blood coursing through his veins which was all he heard in space - apanied by his heartbeat of course. The technique he used to move around in space lost its potency, but that did not matter as Lex had aimed his body well. He was falling directly towards what he could now see was a massive army, surrounding the battalion and attacking at every moment. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The fact that they were not in their mech form told of how bad their situation must be. If Lex had dyed any longer¡­ It no longer mattered. Ignoring the mes forming around his body, Lex began to gather his spirit energy into his arms. Having a massive army around the battalion was clearly not good for teleporting back, so first he would kill them all. The strangeck of ''danger'' behind him urged him to rush as much as possible. So, without waiting for a superheronding, Lex gathered his spatial affinity in his hands like he had done before, and once again summoned a de made of space. With a form that was much improved from the one he used in space, Lex once again swung his sword. The army was too far away, so the sword could not reach it. Lex had not manifested sword intent either, so he couldn''t use that for long range attacks either. Instead, he used the tiny space de in his hand to cut through space itself. Chapter 869 Mere minutes of chaos

Chapter 869 Mere minutes of chaos

?869 Mere minutes of chaos As someone very new to using a wide array of fighting techniques, Lex was testing out things as ideas came to him. Besides Impervious Hands, his mostmonly used technique, Evisceration, and now most recently Domination, Lex did not have many ways of attacking. As a result, much of what he was doing was based solely off of his theoretical knowledge of his skills and affinities. Ordinarily, it would be impossible for someone to take pure theory and implement it wlessly. But nothing about Lex was ordinary. As he swung the de made of space, he used his affinity to his absolute limit as he tried to manipte space with it. As if he were dragging a de over ss, cracks started to form in air that began to rapidly spread. Moving even faster than the descending Lex, the cracks traveled in a straight line across the path Lex had swung in, and descended down to the, and then through it, forming an artificial wall of cracked space. The wall was so massive that all stopped their movements. Whether it was the demons, the devils, the Marzu or the battalion, they all froze as they tried toprehend what had just happened. No one dared to move, as the wall of cracks was toomassive. If this wall were to crumble, and open up a tear in space, let alone the entire, this entire star system may bepromised by the tear. Moreover, a tear of this size would not heal on its own either, and would instead continue to grow bigger! This could literally destroy a massive chunk of space forever! Even the zealot, who was observing everything secretly as he prepared his ritual, felt fear. Immediately he decided to forgo his original n and proceed even as unprepared as he was. He was not afraid of dying, but dying a stupid, worthless death was not what he wanted either. But Lex was not suicidal, and would not kill everyone before he rescued the battalion. What the observers did not know was that this wall of cracked space was actually quite sturdy under the influence of Lex''s affinity. But as a result, Lex, who hardly ever suffered from a deficiency of spiritual energy due to his massive reserves, suddenly used up half his energy! A reduction by half did not mean that he still had the same amount of energy left. He was a human, not a machine. The prowess he could show at 100% energy was much greater than that when he was at 90%. The energy reserves did not just reflect how much energy he had left to use, but a drop in his performance as well. Lex clicked his lips in annoyance but moved past it. His suit, although not designed for it, would somewhat aid in his energy recovery. Meanwhile, he would focus on the task at hand. As Lex fell from the sky like a minget, the Silent Wanderer had already shot past him andnded right beside the battalion, caring little for theck of anding zone. The beautiful ship took some damage on thending, and crushed a few demons as well, before it instantly disappeared. Lex had given Cirk the Silent Wanderer''s spatial container, so the pilot transferred the ship the moment hended and fell to the ground. Since hended near the battalion to begin with, it took him but a couple of moments to arrive next to them. Before any from the battalion could wee him, or rather question him on the escape n, Cirk took out a pair of angel wings made of y and broke them in two. The item had been given to him by Lex and was called Bom''s Grace. Since Lex''s priority would be dealing with any nearby enemies and then stabilizing space for their escape, he left it up to Cirk to heal the battalion. He did not even consider saving the item forter in case the battalion wasn''t truly hurt. They did not have the time to assess how hurt the individuals from the battalion were. Even if the potency of the item had to be wasted just to refresh them in case they weren''t hurt, Lex did not mind. Better that than allowing the situation to be more precarious because they were conservative with their resources. A gust of wind, as if trapped within the y, swept across the battlefield and touched everyone with its presence. The battalion members, who were closest to it, instantly feltpletely refreshed and filled with energy, as if someone had made them chug a dozen energy drinks. Their minds regained all the potency and drive that sleep deprivation and exhaustion had taken from them. The world became crystal clear in their eyes, as if they had all been wearing dirty sses that had just been reced. Their aching muscles and somewhat strained meridians were rejuvenated, as if they had just walked out of a hot spring made from spiritual liquid! Z, who had been unconscious on the floor, immediately opened his eyes and jumped up, as if expecting to find himself mid- fight, yet all he saw were the sturdy backs of hisrades defending him. Even the Marzu, who were at somewhat of a distance, let out roars of exhrated fury as they felt their energy return, allowing them to once again fight at full force. Heck, even the Void Dwellers seemed more energetic, though that lot usuallycked the intelligence to even determine whether their state had improved or worsened. It was usually their pack leaders, who were responsible for thinking for the whole lot, who could tell such things. The demons, though¡­ they did not respond so well to the healing winds that came from within the y. Though a majority of them were on the other side of the spatial wall, protected from the winds that seemed to be unable to cross the barrier, a good few thousand of them were on the same side. They felt an instinctual fear and dread take hold of them when the y was broken, but while there were some enemies they could fight, they had not yet learned to fight the wind. They found themselves defenseless against the winds that carried the Grace of Bom, and were akin to mortals before the might of nature. The winds did not waft across them, but hit them like a natural cmity! The unlucky ones lived long enough to groan and scream as their flesh burned and turned to ash. The lucky ones were dead before they even knew what happened. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om In mere seconds, a massive army was erased from existence, not even their armors surviving as a testament of their existence. Anything and everything which contained the aura of demons vanished under the effects of the wind. Cirk did not really pay attention to the spectacle he had released, instead he quickly found Gerard, as Luthor was fighting far away from the battalion so as to not hurt them. "Recall everyone and stay ready. Leo will stabilize this space and give everyone an opportunity to use their keys to return to the Inn. We cannot waste a single second." "It might not be so easy¡­" Gerard began to say, as his thoughts quickly wandered to the zealot, and their allies who were waiting for them back at the fort. He did not think the former would let them leave so easily, while he did not want to abandon thetter. "I''m just the messenger," Cirk quickly interrupted Gerard, as he drew out a weapon of his own from his spatial ring. "If you have any concerns, tell Leo. He''s the one running this operation. Until he arrives, just get ready!" Gerard did not hesitate and immediately gave out orders. Luthor was far away from them, and was fighting demons on the other side of the space crack wall. Instead of asking him toe, it would be easier if they just went to him. With renewed vigor and might, the battalion took their positions and prepared themselves to march. They could see theirrade tearing through the sky in a ball of fire and heading towards them. As soon as hended, they would immediately surround him. Hardly a couple of minutes had passed since Lex''s arrival, but the situation had changed drastically. Even the figures watching from the dark room were on the edge of their seats, as if watching for the crescendo of this grand finale. But the situation was much more chaotic than it seemed. In a dark corner of this, the zealot plunged his sword into Feyore''s skull as he initiated the ceremony prematurely. Up in space, the cloud of light reached its critical point, and suddenly started to contract in on itself. Instead of disappearing, the fragmentedw trapped within that missile seemed to be growing stronger, and was instead taking on an elven shape! Chapter 870 Overworked teenager

Chapter 870 Overworked teenager

?870 Overworked teenager Lex''s instincts, which had been as silent as a docile and frightened puppy, finally acted up, though Lex was not surprised. He immediately felt danger surrounding him, and a sort of timer which was counting down with barely any time on it at all. This should be the trap, or perhaps even the first of many traps that were waiting for him. Lex scoffed and turned to look at the invisible formations that surrounded this. He knew his every action was being monitored, his every word being heard. The enemy was still watching, silently learning everything about him. But was he not doing the same? He channeled his spirit energy into his left eye and closed his right now. The world looked more vibrant than ever and revealed more than what was there. He saw the weakness in everything, and the strength it could disy. He saw the potential everything carried and understood how it could be achieved. He always knew his left eye was special, but it was only once he asked Pel that he realized what its true ability was, and what he was really looking at. He had gained a weak version of something that was usually only attained by a few extremely gifted immortals. He could see hints of thews that were contained in everything. As a result, he could see the natural path of progression for every object, peer into a few secrets, and learn how to destroy or strengthen anything he looked at with ease. For example, a treasure that was actually simple but hid a deep secret could not hide from Lex, for no matter what kind of method it used to hide its secrets, it could not hide thews that made it up, as well as the secret. With the ability of his left eye, when he looked at the world, all its secrets were revealed to him. He could see various points across its surface where certainws gathered, trying to pierce through the veil of reality. Those monuments were not just to send the into the Void, but to a certain location within the Void. Clearly, the enemy had nned or prepared something at that spot. He saw, in a distant corner, far away from the battalion, a well of tainted light. It was a type of divine energy, but feeble and forcefully collected. He saw a curse, hiding in the depths of the, sealing something deep within its core. It seemed this nt itself was suffering from the influence of a curse, though that seemed to be old. He saw¡­ It did not matter. With his clear understanding of this world, he formed an array around himself. It was weak, weaker than it was supposed to be, a fault of this uniquely weak space, but it got the job done. The array had only one function: to speed up Lex''s descent and guide it to a specific location. Lex, the minget descending from up above, was supposed to be a couple of minutes away. That would have been enough time for the battalion to gather near the cracked space wall and wait for it to recover so that they could approach Luthor. Instead, theet sped up abnormally and crashed into the demon army beside Luthor before anyone could react! Even Luthor was startled by the massive scale of the explosion that urred due to Lex''snding. It was not because he was expectingter, but because everyone, himself included, had tamed down their actions so as to not disturb the wall of cracks. The person responsible for the space cracks, instead, seemed to not care at all! Climbing out of the massive hole caused by hisnding, Lex immediately gave out instructions. "Follow me! We have less than 100 seconds to get out of here before the madness begins!" "We have allies who are stranded," Luthor said, even as he withdrew his purple mes and followed the masked devil. They were surrounded by demons on all sides, but Lex made no effort to attack them. As soon as they entered the range of his Domination, they buckled under the weight and fell to the ground, as if kneeling before their lord! This was because they were suffering from the weight of Domination much more than they should have. With his left eye, Lex could clearly perceive their weaknesses, and he subtly controlled Domination to press down on them, making them much more susceptible to its effects. "One of you can stay behind and we can deal with rescuing the rest, but the majority of the battalion needs to leave. The situation is about to change drastically," Lex said, looking up at the sky. The pale divinity was already spreading across the sky, slowly epassing the. Luthor, in a hurry to update the handsome devil, shared the situation with his spirit sense. Everything he had learnt, from them being targeted, the objective of the devils, the function of the monuments, as well as the strange zealot, was shared in those few moments so that Lex would not be taken by surprise should there be any interference. They approached the wall of space cracks, and as if making way for them, the cracks in a small area receded, allowing the two to pass through easily. The battalion was already waiting for them, standing in formation, ready to deploy at a moment''s notice. The Marzu, too, had gathered there. They had long been briefed that the battalion was expecting reinforcements. Although they did not understand how two individuals would save them, as they had been expecting a massive army, they did not question it. The influence of Bom''s Grace already amazed them, so they were willing to see how the situation developed. Luthor, Gerard, and even the rest, had experienced much during this war, and felt that their horizons had grown. Even still, they were amazed by the series of phenomenal abilities shown by this single member of the Inn, though they were not surprised. It only made sense that someone sent by the Innkeeper was amazing. They would not be surprised regardless of what he did. Heck, even if he destroyed the itself, they would just take it in their stride. Lex epassed everyone with his spiritual sense and then attempted to strengthen space within that region to some extent. He seeded, but only barely. Without any exnation, he took out his Space Seal talisman, the function of which was to solidify space in a region to such an extent that teleportation in and out of it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible. Of course, such an effect would only ur in normal space. In this region, the talisman could not even achieve half of its effects. The reason Lex had strengthened the space around the group, even if just a little, was that he wanted the talisman to focus specifically on that region alone. If the talisman were not enough, he was ready to use the Wine bowl as well. There were no visible effects of strengthening space, but the members of the battalion who had a space affinity felt a subtle change in the region. With trouble literally on the horizon, as the pale divinity was about to reach them, and the unknown state of what was happening in space, Lex did not dare dy. Immediately he threw out golden keys, making sure each of the Marzu got one. The battalion members already had their own. "Crush your keys and return to the Inn. Luthor will stay with me to rescue your remaining allies, but we will join you shortly." As if sensing the urgency in his voice, some of the battalion members immediately tried to crush the key. If the surrounding space was too unstable, then the key would not break. But¡­ as if fate was finally giving them a reprieve, the keys were crushed! A number of them disappeared! "What about me?" Cirk asked, in case his aid was still needed. "You leave too. The more people I have to protect, the harder it will be." "In that case, good luck, Leo," said Cirk, before crushing his key as well. The rest of the battalion members did not hesitate either. Since the order had been given, they crushed their keys, all disappearing, except¡­ Z, and the Marzu! n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "We cannot abandon Feyore!" one of the Marzu said looking at Luthor, though the fear and hesitation in his eyes was evident. "If she''s alive, I''ll save her. Otherwise then there''s nothing I can do. If you don''t want to go, I won''t force you, but just be aware that I can''t solidify space again and again. You might lose your chance to escape if you don''t go now." Just as the Marzu were hesitating, and speaking with one another through their spirit sense, Z stepped forward, looking at Lex oddly. "Uhh, boss, is that you?" Z asked with the awkwardness of a teenager working a part time job in front of their boss. Gone was the confident, battle hardened Z. Instead, the overworked teenager seemed to have returned. Chapter 871 Countdown

Chapter 871 Countdown

?871 Countdown Lex looked down at Z, and found that the scrawny ''kid'' had actually grown much taller recently. It was not just his improved cultivation that affected his height, or the fact that many months had passed. The extreme stress he had been under caused his body to constantly push itself to evolve. He was nearing six feet (1.8 meters) and his frame was filling out, although his face still retained his youthfulness. Looking at Lex, Z seemed hesitant with slumped shoulders, but within his eyes Lex could see a deep fierceness that seemed even more aggressive than Luthors. Clearly, everyone of them had grown in their own ways during this time. What relieved Lex, however, was that the stress of war did not distort his personality. The fact that he could still behave so ''timidly'' in front of Lex spoke of how he had clung to his original personality. Yet as happy as Lex was to see his store manager once again, this was really not the time to catch up and reminisce. "It''s me, Z. Unless there''s something important, we should talk at the Inn. This space will onlyst for a dozen seconds or so," said Lex out loud, so that even the waiting Marzu would decide on what they wanted to do. "It is important!" Z said, regaining some of his confidence as the topic diverted towards important matters. "I didn''t focus on it before, because our survival was at risk, but now there''s a chance. I can feel a connection to something hidden¡­ I can feel a call, as if something connected to me is hidden just out of view. Every time space cracks appear, or a new space tear opens, I can briefly feel that connection. "I don''t know what it is, or how it''s even possible that something can be connected to me, since I''ve never left the Inn before, but my instincts tell me it''s something very important! I can barely contain myself from responding to the call every time I feel it." Lex, who was keeping an eye on the ever expanding divine energy, and calcting various other potential dangers, paused his thoughts as a certain gleam passed through his eyes. Z could not think of why he would be connected to something outside the Inn, but he certainly could! All the workers at the Inn were actually clones of others. If Z felt a connection to something, then it was probably something rted to the person Z was originally cloned from. Lex did not have any particr interest in the history or background of his workers original bodies, for that had no reflection on his workers whatsoever. Although, he had to admit that each and every one of them had phenomenal potential. Whatever genepool the system was drawing from was of the highest tier. After a few mental calctions, Lex looked at Luthor. "Change of ns. Z wille with me, you head back to the Inn. Our return might be¡­ slightly dyed." The moment Lex finished his sentence, Luthor grappled with overwhelming mental conflict. No matter how anyone else judged Luthor''s leadership, the fact that he had not foreseen the traping, and over the past few days could only struggle against the odds as he waited to be rescued, left him feeling inadequate. Luthor was supposed to be the Innkeeper''s secretary and assistant, but he could not even do this much. He felt defeated. The sole constion he had was that at least no one died under his watch. But he did not waste time. Since he was told to go back, and he knew the urgency of the situation, he immediately took out his key. "Oh, and one more thing," Lex said, still looking at Luthor. "The Innkeeper told me to let youknow. You should start nning out a design for the prison you wanted. But¡­ the prison should only hold souls." Luthors fist tightened as he heard Lex''s words, and for once, Lex could not read a person''s emotions. He could not tell if Luthor was frustrated or pleased, or a mix of both. Either way, Lex had no more time. Luthor departed, but the Marzu had not gone yet. "We¡­ we just checked using a special means. Feyore¡­ she is already dead," one Marzu said, with a look of defeat and anger in his eyes. "We must avenge her!" "Just leave and go report her death to your seniors. As for revenge¡­" Lex wanted to look up at the sky, but still hesitated. He had lost his entire skin thest time he used one of Pelvailian''s bombs. He refused to believe that the second one he used was so harmless. "Believe me, no one is getting out of here alive." Whether the Marzu took his advice or not, Lex did not care. He put his hand on Z''s shoulder and rushed away from there. He neither cared about the Void Dwellers in his path, nor the demons. Why would he, when they could naught but kneel in his presence? "I''ll do my best to help you, but you must understand that the situation is about to get very dangerous. If the situation is getting out of hand, you need to be ready to leave this opportunity behind," said Lex as his mental countdown neared zero. ''13¡­ 12¡­ 11¡­'' "Which way to your allies?" he asked. Z pointed in a certain direction as he tried to think of a possible solution. "How¡­ how can you still manipte space in this ce? If I can learn to do that, then our chances of survival might increase." Lex did not have time to exin, so he just handed Z the space affinity manual and kept running. ''6¡­ 5¡­ 4¡­'' As Lex felt the pale divine energy epass the world, he felt that it was oddly familiar. He had shbacks of when he used the Butter Knife at full power. Even now he did not know how he had attacked with it - perhaps it was a power that he could only understand when he naturally reached the level that attack was on. But he sensed the divine being he had locked onto. Later, through studying various reports on the Henali portal, as well as interacting with the representatives of the Henali, Lex found out who he had really targeted. The Deity Ra! His eyes narrowed. He did not know who the others were behind this attack on the battalion, but Ra was definitely behind the zealot! ''3¡­ 2¡­'' "You feel safe attacking us outside the Inn, because you think the protection of the Inn does not extend here," Lex said aloud, knowing that his voice could clearly be heard by whoever was watching. "But did you ever stop to think that¡­ outside the Inn, the Innkeeper won''t stop us from hunting you down and getting our revenge either?" ''1¡­ 0!'' The divine energy finally epassed the entire and a profound change took ce. The noble aura of a deity descended, and shocked every living being on the like a p of thunder right beside one''s ear. All the demons and Void Dwellers were immediately stunned, freezing where they stood despite thepulsion of any orders they may have received. The Marzu, taking Lex''s advice, left and so were saved from enduring such a corrupted ''majesty''. The few elves, minotaurs and other races that defended the fort were simrly stunned, as if they lost their very ability to think and perform actions. Only a few devils who were spread across the, the zealot, as well as Lex and Z were able to endure and retain their thoughts. Among them, Z only survived due to Lex enveloping him in Domination. This ability could not only intimidate his foes, but empower his allies as well. Just as Lex was on the verge of cursing, realizing that it was impossible to reach the battalion''s allies in time to save them, he saw a neww beginning to affect the. From his left eye he saw thew descend from the sky like rain, and target every living being on the. Mostws for him were difficult to fullyprehend and identify, even if he could innately identify their weaknesses, but this one he was all too familiar with. Something was teleporting all beings and bringing them somewhere. Lex immediately stopped running, and allowed himself and Z to be influenced as well. "Come Z, let me show you how you should thwart your enemies ns in the future," he said before their figures disappeared. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om ***** In the dark room every single figure watching the projection felt their emotions undting. The words of the man wearing a devil mask were clearly targeting them, and his unique choice of wearing a devil''s mask when facing a conspiracy formed by a devil spoke of deep implications. Were they¡­ in danger? While everyone else was fearing for their lives, only Rocketfellow and the zealot were experiencing different emotions. The zealot¡­ was suppressing his rage and regret filled scream! Thousands of the Inn''s employees had escaped! How was he to get his revenge if they all escaped? If he had not been so thoroughly suppressed earlier, he may have gone on a rampage. As for Rocketfellow, he was simply smiling. "Lex Williams, eh?" he murmured, looking at the mask. Chapter 872 Too unreasonable

Chapter 872 Too unreasonable

?872 Too unreasonable When Lex and Z reappeared, they found themselves amidst a crowd of millions of demons! They were of all shapes and sizes,rge and small, and bore a faint resemnce to whatever organism they had been before the demonic conversion. Clearly, everything that had once been alive on this had been turned into a demon, though he could not understand why. As confident as he was in the battalion''s prowess, even they could not fight forever. With so many resources avable, the mastermind only needed to use them in a slightly more effective manner topletely overwhelm the battalion, yet he had squandered them. But that no longer mattered. "Find your allies!" Lex said to Z as he turned his attention to something else. Despite the presence of so many demons, and no doubt Void Dwellers and other beings, just out of sight, there was an odd silence in the area as every one of them was subdued by the aura of divinity! Up ahead, in the distance, was a massive altar where a massive statue made of a deep red stone had been erected. The finer details of the statue were difficult to perceive, but the body of a man and the head of a hawk were easily identifiable. Behind the state, a massive creature had been strung up, its feathery carcass dripping with blood that flowed out of a hole in its skull. The blood fell at the statue''s feet and then seemed to be absorbed into it. From so far away, Lex could see that a robed figure kneeled on the altar and worshiped it zealously, screaming something as he did. His voice did not carry from so far away, so Lex had no idea what he was saying, but it was enough to identify him as the enemy. "By the way, lesson number one of thwarting enemy ns. Never let themplete their monologue. It frustrates them to no end since, generally, they crave recognition for their evil ns." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex locked onto the zealot and used Evisceration! Using the technique with his left eye did not add any extra effects to it, it seemed. Lex should probably look into getting new attacks. The zealot, who was prostrating himself towards the statue of his lord, waspletely unprotected when the soul attack struck him! A sharp, inhumane wail shrieked through the air as the zealot fell forward, nearly dying from the attack! But his entire being was fueled by divinity, so his seriously wounded soul soon showed signs of automatically recovering, even if the recovered parts looked pale and decaying! Bewildered that someone could ignore the descent of his lord''s clone, and mad at being attacked, the zealot turned around quickly, only to wee a fist in his face! Lex did not hesitate in attacking, nor did he feel particrly courteous towards his enemy. He was somewhat curious about why the divine aura was not causing space to break, but instead of questioning it, he helped amend the situation by throwing out dozens of bombs in the air, waiting for them to drop amongst the endless demons. As if unsure whether the explosions could truly break space, Lex held nothing back as he used his immense physical strength and dashed towards the zealot, aided by the effect of some quickly conjured arrays. He reached just in time to deliver a devastating punch that sted the zealot from his position and mmed him into the very statue he was worshiping. Lex paused, and shook his fist as if jerking some putrid smelling goo off his hand. "Why is your face so squishy? I haven''t even started breaking any bones?" he asked, looking back. Several explosions went off, but strangely, space did not tear as Lex expected. He narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out why. This was both a good thing and bad. On the plus side, it would allow an easy escape to the Inn for Z if needed. On the downside, his enemies could also employ more powerful means. Z, who was awkwardlytched onto Lex''s back, took the opportunity of Lex pausing to get off. "Lesson number 2, identify the weakness in your enemy''s n and constantly take advantage of it. There''s nothing that says you have to y by their rules." Using his left eye, Lex could tell that an enormous amount of divine energy was filling up the red statue, and that it seemed to be the focal point of whatever was happening to the. So, true to his words, Lex leaped forward, intending to break the statue with a punch! "Courting death!" the zealot roared the moment he saw what Lex was doing and attacked him. The hood had fallen off his head, revealing a dried up skull with extremely prominent veins all over it. A few of those veins had popped due to Lex''s punch, leaking out the dark brown sludge it was carrying within. The zealot had no cultivation, but the strange divinity he held within his body empowered him. He formed a scythe of pure energy and swung at Lex''s neck as he channeled more of energy to try to hold Lex down with its aura as he did the others. But with his defensive suit apanied by his Domination, nothing could influence Lex. Hepletely ignored the scythe and allowed it to try to cut him, only for it to be deflected away by his cor! His suit, despite being incredibly soft to wear, was not something to be taken lightly! Lex''s punch connected to the statue, but the divine energy contained within seemed to act on its own, to protect the statue! "sphemer! Heretic! I will feed your soul to the fires of hell!" the zealot screamed as he attacked Lex again. But Lexpletely ignored him and allowed his numerous attacks to fall onto his suit. Instead, he focusedpletely on destroying the statue, as it was increasingly feeling more and more ominous. In the back, Z was watching, bbergasted. Wasn''t Leo''s defense just¡­ too unreasonable? Chapter 873 Silent Oath

Chapter 873 Silent Oath

?873 Silent Oath In space, the elven figure made of light was bing smaller and smaller. Yet as its size decreased, the shape of the figure became more and more distinct. The entity that Pelvailin had believed was a broken w'' started to regain a hint of sentience both due to its gradual recovery, as well as the fact that it sensed a threat to its existence. Space seemed to be cracking around it as its size decreased. Clearly, its existence could not be supported in this ce. Yet, conveniently, it sensed a deity''s domain epassing a nearby. With no real thoughts developed as of yet, the figure of light acted on instincts and moved within the domain, finally allowing the space in the vicinity to rest. Of course, now the pressure of its existence was being borne by the deities'' domain. But, as of yet, it did not have enough intelligence to worry about such things. At the altar, the situation was bing more and more chaotic. Just as the deformed zealot was unable to harm Lex, Lex seemed unable to harm the statue. There was a massive well of divine energy contained within which it was using to defend itself, and the divine energy kept increasing instead of decreasing as time went by! Lex did not need a thorough investigation to figure out that the increasing divinity came from the blood of the Marzu hanging behind the statue. Lex''s eyes narrowed as he reconsidered his n. Although he could see the weakness of the statue due to his ability to peer at thews that made it up, the shield of divine energy prevented any of his attacks from reaching the statue itself. This was also the reason he attacked the statue instead of the zealot. As much as he enjoyed frustrating him, a single hit had been enough for him to analyze the fact that the zealot was also under the protection of this unusual divine energy. Although he was not impervious to damage, he would heal almost instantly after sustaining an attack! Whatever ritual was taking ce was already underway, and he had to disrupt it somehow! "I found them!" Z eximed. While Lex had been beating the statue, Z was looking for the other survivors from the fort. But even if he found them, Z could not go rescue them for it was Lex''s ability that prevented him from freezing as well. His call attracted Lex''s attention, but it also attracted that of the zealot. Fueled by a blinding fury, the zealot hurled his scythe at Z, strengthened by his divine might. But if Lex were not confident in protecting him, he would never have separated! Lex had put up invisible shields using Imperial Shield all around Z, protecting him from any attack. The scythe broke through a couple of them, but was eventually unable to reach the Innworker! The zealot let out a savage, frustrated howl at failing once again. He wanted nothing more than to cleanse these heretics but his power was insufficient. Driven mad, the zealot decided to do something even more crazy! His figure vanished and he appeared in the distance, above the countless demons, and began killing them in droves. Lex approached Z and stood beside him and watched the actions of the far off zealot. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Lesson three of thwarting your enemies'' ns: you need a thorough understanding of your enemies actions, and what motivated them to begin with! That zealot is somehow generating divine energy through the death of countless beings. I believe that when the zealot arrived on this, he was probably very weak, without any cultivation of his own. That is also why he never acted against anyone before. He was silently using you to kill as many as possible, so that he could harvest as much energy as possible. "Whatever ceremony he has started also requires an immense amount of divine energy, so he''s killing all the demons himself. He''s hoping to speed up the ceremony, and use its effects to kill us. So now, my question to you is, how do weplete our objective and simtenously stop the enemy?" Z did not hesitate in answering. "Our first priority is saving our allies. We can send them to the Inn, and then find a way to disrupt the ceremony at its foundation: the statue!" "Hmm, you''re right. But you''re also wrong," said Lex as he grabbed onto the youth and rushed towards their previous allies. "If you''re feeling extremely gracious, one way is to send all the demons here to the Inn as well. With no beings to kill, his n will fail on its own. But I''m not so keen on sending the very demons who were hunting you down to the Inn. Since this entire is full of enemies, with only a few remaining allies, there''s a much simpler solution. Rescue the allies, then destroy the entire!" Just as Lex finished his words, he summoned another one of Pelvailians missiles. He did not know why the previous one had not delivered its devastation yet, although he was quite sure it would eventually erupt. That did not mean, however, that he could not just use another missile! Whether it tore up space or not would not matter if he targeted the itself, right? Z, who was up until now focusing on Lex''s words, suddenly trembled. He made a silent oath to never miss a day of work in his life. "Of course, you can also take advantage of a few uncertain elements as well," Lex said as he suddenly turned his head and looked to his left. In that direction, a new group had just been teleported over from somewhere on the, and within that group Lex sensed multiple powerful beings! A single nce was enough to tell Lex that there were over a dozen devils amongst that group, and they all looked like they were struggling against the suppression of the deities'' aura. Chapter 874 Devils Throne

Chapter 874 Devils Throne

?874 Devils Throne Although Lex had spotted the devils, they had not spotted him yet. They were all struggling against the divine aura, but the moment they were teleported over, and found themselves amidst an endless sea of stunned demons, they stopped holding back whatsoever! The devils transformed. Their aura immediately erupted as 17 devils roared out in anger! They hade to this to hunt, and instead were the ones being yed with! But while the devils regained their ability to move around freely, the demons around them still did not heed theirmands! After all, they could not move at all! Lex did not stop moving, but instead of going over the sea of demons, he decided to be a little more discreet and travel on the ground. He even withdrew the missile he nned on using. If he could get the devils and the zealot to fight each other, something unexpected may happen! He did not need to do much besides stay out of sight and not attract attention. The zealot was ring his aura in full as he carried out a massacre, and thus easily attracted the attention of all the devils. Without hesitation, the devils spread their wings and took flight, ready for war. A few momentster, the thunderous sounds of a massive brawl echoed across the expanse, alongside the frequent earthquakes! "Do you think they can stop the zealot?" Z asked. He was feeling incredibly strange, which could be determined by the fact that he was casually asking questions even in such a serious moment. They were not out of danger, and if anything, were in much more danger than what the battalion was facing before. Yet he felt none of the associated pressure, or even urgency. It was as if he waspletely safe so long as he stayed beside Leo, which made no sense. After all, it could be easily seen that Leo himself could not effortlessly resolve every issue, or else he would have destroyed that statue. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om He knew this. But feelings were not the most logical part of the human experience, and Z felt incredibly safe at that moment. "No, they can''t. It''s not that the zealot is strong, but that he has too much divine energy. Even if I kill him in one hit, he will immediatelye back to life, because it''s not his soul sustaining him, but the energy itself! Unless the devils can deplete his energy or sever their connection, they can''t do anything to him, either." Z, having been extremely introverted for months, kept asking Leo random questions, sometimes rted to their situation, and sometimes not. Lex, ying the role of Leo, too kept answering all questions patiently. He did not try to point out that they were currently on a battlefield, and that this was not necessarily the best time to chat. After all, between the two of them, Z had spent more time on the battlefield, so Lex was in no position to speak. With the symphony of a chaotic battle apanying them, they finally reached their destination and reached those of their allies that had been left at the fort. At a nce, Z could tell that their numbers had dwindled greatly during their time apart, but there was nothing he could do about that. Lex handed Z a bunch of keys and they began to slip the keys in the hands of the surviving soldiers, and then crushed them to send them to the Inn. With all their assants and pursuers upied with fighting each other, they faced no hurdles whatsoever. Z actually felt strange that no new Void Dwellers had rained down on him in so long. Their progress was steady and just when it seemed that they would seed without incident, Lex suddenly grabbed Z''s hand, and prevented him from giving a key to the leader of the elves. "What''s wrong?" he asked, looking around warily. Instead of answering, Lex grabbed the elf''s neck without warning and mmed him into the ground. The m was in no way half hearted, as the ground was torn apart as the elf''s body hit it like a hammer. Any survivors nearby were thrown away from the resulting tremor, though they still could not move on their own. As the dust cleared, Z saw that his devil-masked boss was no longer holding an elf, but rather a grinning devil! "How did you-" the devil began to speak, but Lex was not interested in having a conversation. The worst mistake the devil made was letting Lex grip his neck! As someone who ran an establishment where the majority of his guests were devils, Lex had done thorough research into devils and any affiliated knowledge. Predictably, the Henali portal did not give out information such as the key weaknesses of devils. After all, it was a regted tform. But the emporium had no such issue, and had given Lex a detailed breakdown on some of themon strengths and weaknesses of devils. For reasons unknown, the devils had two forms: a human form and what was considered their true form. They were at their weakest in their human form, while any major damage they sustained would automatically trigger a transition, not much could be done about any damage they sustained while still weak! Instead of mming the devil around, as Lex often liked to do with enemies he grabbed ahold of, he picked up the devil and wrapped his free arm around its face. The devil''s grin faded as he realized what was happening, but Lex moved too fast. Leveraging his immense strength and the grip he had, Lex broke the devils neck in one swift motion, leaving its head dangling unnaturally. "You vermin! Do you know what you''ve done!" the devil, still somehow alive, screamed as his body began to grow under the effects of its transformation. "Of course I know what I''ve done," Lex answered as he summoned a dagger from his spatial bangle. This was one of the weapons he bought from the emporium, and it could theoretically even pierce the skin of an immortal. All Lex needed was for the immortal to hold still while he tried to stab him! But with the devil, this was not an issue. With machine-like precision, Lex stabbed the knife directly into the devil''s spine before itpleted its transformation. The devil screamed again, but Lex showed no hesitation as he systematically crippled the devil. Not only did he sever many important nerves, or the devil equivalent, but more importantly, he cut all the meridians within its body. Within a couple of minutes, the devil waspletely crippled without any ability to retaliate in any way. The only thing he could still do was to use its mouth to curse and threaten Lex as it tried toprehend the horror of what had happened to it. "Continue to rescue the rest, there are no other devils amongst them," Lex said, not even turning to look at Z. He had not massacred nearly enough enemies to sate his boiling anger, but his cold, calcting mind kept him from acting out. He had to focus only on what was absolutely necessary. When he finally got hold of the devil, Lex still did not vent his emotions. Contrary to what it may seem like, Lex did not torture it for his personal satisfaction. Instead, it was to leave it vulnerable as he extracted information from it. He mmed his Domination down on the devil, finally putting an end to its endless curses, and put his fingers on the devils temple. His fingers seemed to blur and enter the devil''s mind as he used Mindmeld to transform bits of himself into thought. This was a surprisingly useful ability, and it made interrogation much easier. But Lex had not fully mastered it, or even attained great proficiency in it yet. He had not had much opportunity to experiment with this ability, so he could only use his intuition as his guide as he sifted through the devil''s memories. He had killed the elf he had been disguised as and infiltrated the battalion stronghold. Yet oddly enough, it had never acted against them. It was as if the devil was only there to watch, or perhaps he was a part of some contingency n. He delved deeper to peer into his secrets, but suddenly found his memories changing. Thendscape of his mind slowly began to darken, as if he was losing his thoughts or memoriespletely. Instead, a massive throne was forming from their fragment, positioned right in front of Lex. A massive devil appeared on the throne, and looked down on Lex with a charming grin, as if he was genuinely happy to see him. Once again, Lex''s instincts failed to warn him of any danger, but his ownmon sense told him that the appearance of this devil was likely due to some protective techniques used on the captured devil''s memories. Chapter 875 Devilsbane Dagger

Chapter 875 Devilsbane Dagger

?875 Devilsbane Dagger Compared to the enormous throne, Lex seemed like an ant. The devil sitting in the throne seemed both grand and menacing as it looked down on Lex. The surrounding darkness wrapped itself around the devil''s face, so only his eyes were visible, but the rest of his figure could easily be seen, as if it was fully illuminated. The devil clearly seemed to enjoy the feeling of Lex looking up at it, and even leaned forward so that it could bring its face right above Lex, forcing him to arch his neck even further. But while the devil reveled in his sense of superiority, Lex was indifferent to the size difference. Once one had stood atop a dragon, the size of things hardly seemed to matter anymore. "You¡­" the devil began to say, stretching out his words as if building anticipation. "...are distracted." Outside the mind of the devil Lex was invading, the devil had quietly and secretly healed! Although he was not back in his prime, it was enough for him to move his tail. The tip of his was sharper than a sword, even, and stabbed Lex right in the heart¡­ or tried to. All it managed to do was ruffle his suit a bit. Within the mindscape, Lex continued to look at the devil indifferently. Clearly his n did not have the effect he sought. "Are you the one behind all of this?" Lex asked, though he had already made his own judgments. "Why do you hope to know, dragon tamer? Do you think you can conquer me like you did the dragon? Do you think you can hide your identity behind such pathetic masks? Do you think you are more than just a pawn in a game of giants?" The devil''s voice rose into a deafening scream, shaking not just Lex''s mind but the mindscape he was in as well. Outside, the devil''s tail continued its feeble attempts at stabbing Lex until the once sharp tail turned dull, but it could not even tear a single stitch of Lex''s suit. "You are trying to intimidate me, to threaten me. That means you are afraid. Good. You should be afraid," said Lex, before leaving the mindscape. He was not going to learn much more than the fact that there was a group of devils intricately linked to this assault on the Midnight Inn. But who they were specifically was still a mystery. Lex would have liked to spend more time investigating, but he did not forget that time was short. The moment he was done trying to look into the devil''s thoughts, Lex brought out the dagger he had used earlier and stabbed it through the devil''s eye! Unbelievably, even with an injury on its brain the devil was not dead yet, and continued to scream. Lex had to stab the devil numerous times before he sumbed to his wounds. He pulled out the dagger onest time and wiped the blood off from the devil''s clothes before taking a good look at it. The silver de was straight, serrated and eight inches (20 cm) long, making it look fairly ordinary. It was instead the handle, made of an unusual ck material that perfectly adapted itself to the shape of Lex''s hand. The top and bottom edges of the handle had some sharp spikes pointing outwards that actually looked more dangerous than the de. But looks were deceiving. The de was made from a rare metal that had the durability and sharpness to cut through the skin of an ordinary immortal. Of course, to actually perform the task one would need a lot more than just a sharp de. Besides that, the de was also enchanted, so that it would suck out the vitality of anyone who touched it. The handle was made of a special material that protected the user from the de''s enchantment. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om This ludicrously sharp and deadly knife had a very contrastingly simple name of Dagger, but considering his first kill with it, Lex decided to rename it Devilsbane Dagger. Devilsbane Dagger would not have worked on the zealot or the statue which was why Lex had not used it earlier, but the devils who had incredibly resilient bodies were prime targets for it. He turned back to Z, who was still sending away his remaining allies. "We have sent away anyone we could, and we can thwart the enemies by sending a powerful rocket their way. Now the only thing left is to figure out how we are going to ess the ce that you felt a connection from. Any ideas?" "I can feel it. The ce is nearby, but it''s hidden or¡­ or just out of reach. Every time space tears I can feel its entrance, but the space tears always open up to the Void. The opening is somewhere in the cracks, where space is splintered, but not quite all the way to the Void." Z''s exnation reminded him of the sensation he had earlier,where he felt that the space here was stretched over something, as if to hide it. "Although I understand what you are saying, I have no way of reaching the ce. Read the manual I gave you and see if you can figure something out. Since you''re the only one who can feel the connection, you are the only one who can open up a door to that ce. I''ll protect you as long as I can, but I don''t know how long that''ll actually be." In the distance, he could see that more and more divine energy was umting in one point: the statue. The devil besieging the zealot had not slowed the umtion of divine energy in any way. Instead, it had sped up the process, no doubt due to the coteral damage from their fight. As if sensing that the situation was about to get much worse, Lex took off his zer and dropped it on Z''s shoulders. "Here, put this on." The young man was quite strong, but was not strong enough to casually tolerate the defensive zer that had been designed from Lex. His knees buckled and he fell to the ground, but fortunately, he had caught himself before he face nted. Chapter 876 The sudden change

Chapter 876 The sudden change

?876 The sudden change An unusual situation came about as Z sat cross legged on the ground, wearing a zer that practically caused him to bend until his face was almost touching the book he was reading. Around them stood the formidable demon army that had been created specifically to hunt them down, yet they did nothing except stand still. Lex stood beside him cross armed, waiting for something to happen. Realistically, it was impossible for Z to master space well enough in a short enough time that he would be able to open a door to the ce he felt a connection. What Lex was hoping for, instead, was that he would be able to resonate with that ce, somehow triggering a door or invitation of some kind. Of course, it would not do to tell his own employee that he had no faith in him, so instead he waited in silence. The seconds ticked by, each seeming to extend forever before giving way to the next. Slowly, those seconds turned to minutes. Z was focusing his utmost and reading as quickly as possible, in a rush. He had no idea when death and destruction would rain down on them, so it would be best if could leave before then. For a short while, nothing happened. Their presence remained undetected to the devils fighting far off and so there was no one to bother them. But, ultimately, a change dide, and it came abruptly and on a massive scale. Without forewarning, the red statue erupted in a cataclysmic explosion of light that blinded all, and it was followed by an unearthly wail filled with both anger and anguish! "I CAN SMELL THAT PLACE ON YOU!" a voice roared filled with a lust for vengeance. The previous blinding light was so strong even Lex was forced to close his eyes, but pure instinct guided him to use Impervious Hands and bring his right hand in front of his face. His timing was perfect as a fist seemingly made of lightnding right in his hand, packed with all the strength it could muster. The force of the impact caused a minor shockwave to blow heavy gusts of wind around Lex, and pushed away many of the nearby demons. But, for all its bluster, could not move Lex, or even his hand, by a single inch. Lex opened his eyes to see a being made of pure light, identical in shape to that of the red statue. Even so, with its body made of light and the face of a hawk, Lex could clearly tell that its expression was contorted into one of absolute, uncontroble rage. "Why are you so weak?" Lex could not help but ask. He had not even moved from his spot. If the entire purpose of the ritual was to summon this being of light, shouldn''t it be strong? It had thought it impossible, but Lex''s question enraged the being of light even more! It tried to pull back its hand tounch another attack, but as if to emphasize what Lex had said, was unable to free itself from Lex''s grasp! Lex, unwilling to let the mystery continue, used his left eye to peer into the beings body, and discovered the issue. All the divine energy that had been gathered so far was used up entirely to make the body of light, sustaining the beings existence. The same amount of energy wielded by the zealot afforded him many abilities, but for this being, it was only enough to sustain itself. But that fact on its own was a testament to how powerful this being was. It was just that¡­ before it could gather more strength it had attacked Lex, giving him an irreceable opportunity! He could clearly see, even now, more and more divine energy was filling its body, thereby increasing its strength. His mind clicked, and Lex understood that if he allowed this being to gather enough divine energy, it really would be a powerful foe! "Let me guess¡­ Do you by any chance go by the name Ra?" Although Lex had merely said the name, he felt a sense of rejection from the entire world! Every speck of space that had been epassed by the divine energy seemed to gain a semnce of intelligence, and was using it to reject Lex''s presence! It was trying to kick him out. Fortunately, the sensationsted just the very duration he said the deity''s name, and not longer, or he may really have encountered a problem. "MY NAME IS NOT FOR YOU TO UTTER, VERMIN! I WILL ANNIHILATE-" n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Before Ra could continue screaming, Lex used his left hand, still empowered by Impervious Hands, and grabbed his beak, shutting it. "What was lesson number 1, Z?" Lex asked without looking back. "Never let the enemyplete their monologue!" Z responded promptly, as if he was ready for a quiz. For the first time in days, Lex smiled. "Good." Lex freed his right hand and stepped forward to deliver a punch right in the deity''s stomach causing it to lurch backwards. But with his grip on Ra''s beak, it could neither grunt, nor escape from him. "You should have learned the first time, Ra," Lex whispered in his ear, more than happy to tolerate the momentary rejection from the world. "Don''t mess with the Midnight Inn!" He did not know how to kill a deity, or more likely a projection or perhaps clone of a deity, but with his left eye he could see the weakness of this body of light it was inhabiting, so he did not hesitate. He pressed his fingers against Ra''s chest, and slowly yet forcefully, pushed his hand inside the deity''s body. "UNHAND MY LORD!" came a yell from a distance as the zealot flew towards Lex at its fastest speed, 17 devils on its trail, but Lex did not break eye contact with Ra for even a moment. He finally felt like he was punishing those, or at least some of those, who had targeted the Inn. The anger he had been nestling for so long did not allow him to look away. Chapter 877 Torn shirt

Chapter 877 Torn shirt

?877 Torn shirt "Huddle yourself within the zer," Lex said to Z through his spirit sense, though his gaze was still locked onto the deity he had captured. Without his zer, the defense of the remainder of his suit waspromised, but that hardly mattered. After all, the suit still did not reach the level his own body was at. A secondter, the zealot finally caught up to him and delivered a devastating blow to Lex, careful not to harm Ra. Unlike the punch he had blocked, this blow was more than enough tounch the 700+ lbs (317 kgs) Lex off the ground and into the demons around them. But with his unrelenting grip, Lex brought Ra with him even as he was hurled across the field. In fact, Lex''s smile widened just a bit as this happened. It was not because he was hurt, but because¡­ "NOOOO! MY LORD! UNHAND HIM YOU FIEND!" the zealot wailed, his voice filled with anguish at realizing he had contributed to the harm of his lord! But Lex did no such thing. He did not even respond. His focus was solely on digging his hand deeper into Ra''s body, as he knew this state of weakness he was in was ephemeral. Even as he reached for the core hidden deep within the deities'' body, Lex could feel it growing stronger. The divine energy constantly being fed to it was slowly making the body stronger. As soon as the deity had just enough spare energy, it could retaliate with something more than its feeble brute force. Lex was actually a little lucky that Ra had chosen to attack him directly in its anger, instead of biding his time till it gained some strength. It was a race against the clock, for Lex could see the weakness of the deity was the core within its chest. If his hand could reach it, his victory was secure! Since his demands were being ignored, the zealot went mad and beganunching nonstop attacks on Lex! Divine energy fell onto his body in the form of weapons, energy beams, curses and more, yet they could do nothing to him. The curses could not even cross the region where his Domination was in effect, let alone harm him. The rest felt like the soft touch of a very young child trying to massage the shoulders of a grown man - barely noticeable. The devils caught up and were about to resume pummeling the zealot when they noticed the unusual situation. From Ra, they could feel immense pressure. The truth was, weak as he may be, it was nigh impossible for someone ordinary toy hands upon even the weakest Deity. But Lex, who was forcefully climbing the Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum using his cultivation technique, and literally absorbing Dragons Might of a Heavenly immortal dragon to bolster his own Domination, was one of the few who could. The rejection and repulsion, alongside the aura of superiority that a Deity was supposed to exude, could cow enemies even stronger than the Deity itself. But against Lex, who had tempered his body, mind and soul against a foe many cultivation levels higher, it was futile. The zealot immediately noticed the devils and his frenzied, desperate mind came up with an idea! "He- he is from the Midnight Inn! Help me kill him and I''ll send you all out of this world! If not, he will kill us all!" The devils hesitated, as they tried to judge the situation themselves. This was far beyond the scope of the mission they had been given, though it was true that their initial target was the Midnight Inn. Perhaps if the situation had been different, they may not have listened to the zealot, but at the moment Lex just seemed too intimidating. In his hands he forcefully held down a Deity! If, by some miracle, he dealt with the deity, they would be next. The thought of facing such a truly devilish foe¡­ made them give up their initial reluctance. The seventeen devils surrounded Lex and sent out a few probing attacks while the zealot hurled attacks from atop. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Thendscape changed. The ground quaked. Space itself once again began to moan. But Lex remained undeterred. Seeing how their attacks had no effect, and how Lex was not retaliating, the devils became a little more bold with their attacks. The prior issue of the enfeebled space which prevented them from using their full force was gone, for now, so they did not hold back. Soon, they were throwing their strongest attacks at him, some of the more confident devils evening close to attack him physically. Yet nothing worked. The more Lex remained undeterred, the more the devils felt afraid. They began coordinating their attacks, unleashing power that was impossible to do on their own. Like salvationing just as they teetered on the edge of oblivion, there was finally a change. Lex''s shirt began to tear! "It''s working! His defensive equipment is giving way! Keep at it." Noticing the situation, even the infuriated Ra saw some hope, and looked at Lex with eyes filled with nefarious anticipation. The moment it was free, it would teach this feeble rat what it meant to cross a Deity! It would imprison his soul and torture him for all eternity! Ignoring the gloating eyes of Ra, Lex continued to dig his hand into his chest. It was a touch process because each second, Ra''s body was bing stronger and more challenging to pierce through. But he was almost there. Far off, Z continued to read the manual hurriedly, ignored by everyone. Huddled as he was in the zer, no one had noticed him at all. With Lex''s body being thrown away by the first attack, the battle had actually moved far away from him. But on a battlefield of this scale, the only contribution he could make was to quickly figure out a way to reach the space where he felt the connection. Chapter 878 Im an atheist Chapter 878 I''m an atheist ??878 I''m an atheist A volcanic rage filled the zealots'' eyes as he guzzled up divine energy to fuel the endless barrage of attacks raining down on Lex. All his abilities, which used to severely diminish his foes'' fighting force if notpletely cripple it, seemedpletely ineffective against Lex. The aura could not restrain him, the attacks could not hurt him, the curses could not reach him and his threats did not phase him. He seemed uniquely equipped tobat divine energy, something that was almost impossible to aplish ordinarily. But even then, he was bound to fail. The zealot revealed an ugly, distorted smile as he saw how the devils attacks were slowly tearing his shirt apart. At first it was just his cor, but now his cuffs and even the back seemed to be suffering under theirbined effort. If Lex still had his zer, it would not have been so easy to achieve, but since he took it off himself, he had to live with the consequences. Truthfully, his suit had not been too useful up until now. Most of the time, he faced foes much stronger than him, to whom his suit was little more than paper to be torn through, or his enemies were far too weak and were disabled from his aura alone. This was the first time he was up against enemies near his own cultivation level, mostly because of how the space in this region could not have supported stronger beings. The pit that Lex was standing in had now be a ck crater, its surface charred under the relentless onught against a single man. It almost seemed like the world itself would copse before he would. Almost. Madughter echoed through the air as the red-eyed zealot rejoiced, his dried and shriveled face revealing an ugly sight, even in the face of joy. After a particrly powerful attack used jointly by 10 of the 17 devils, his shift finally tore off! What was revealed beneath was a perfectly sculpted body, without a single blemish or bruise to mar the sublime sight. His rippling muscles looked more divine than the divine being he had gripped in his hand, and for some reason, the effect of his Domination increased noticeably! Of course, he was wearing a white vest underneath, but at least a singleyer of defense had been removed. Although many of their attacks fell upon Lex''s skin as well, he remainedpletely unharmed, and the group assumed it to be the effect of his defensive garb. Destroying the slim, partially see-through vest was much easierpared to the shirt, and in only a couple of minutes Lex was left bare chested amongst the group. As ifpletely unable to restrain himself, the zealot finally closed the distance between himself and Lex, unleashed the one attack he had been nurturing for a while. How could the zealot forget the punch to the face it had received the moment Lex arrived? Finally, it was time for vengeance! His bony fist, empowered by tremendous amounts of divine energy, connected with Lex''s face. The st from the connecting attack blew a cloud of ck dust, which was quickly blown away by the heavy gusts of wind that followed. The snapping and cracking sounds of bones breaking were quite audible even over the noise of the attack, especially since there was a cry of pain and surprise that followed! The zealot looked in horror at his fist which had been squished to jelly under the force of his own attack, while Lex remainedpletely undisturbed. The devils were also startled, but then their fear and disbelief motivated them to unleash their own special hell on him. But all their efforts were to no avail. At least his shirt had been wrinkled and showed some signs of wear after a few of their attacks. Lex, on the other hand, stood pristine! The look of anticipation in Ra''s eyes changed to horror and disbelief. He could sense that the man holding him was only in the Golden core realm, so then why was he so indestructible? While their onught continued, and became even more potent under the effects of their desperation, the zealot was driven to the absolute brink. With no solution seeming to work, he made a desperate y to empower Ra! He ced his hand at the Deity''s feet and transferred all the divine energy within his own body to Ra. The already feeble zealot withered as the energy left him, and soon his body crumbled and fell to the ground, as if a y doll had broken. But while the seemingly impervious zealot died just like that, Ra immediately gained a boost in strength. Just as a flicker of his confidence returned, Lex chuckled. The tip of his middle finger finally touched the core within Ra''s chest. "You know, on Earth, I actually saw your statues in person once when I visited Egypt," said Lex softly. "I was not too impressed back then. I''m not so impressed now, either." With his finger firmly pressed against the core, Lex finally took action. Using his eye, he could see that the weakness for this projection of Ra was the core in his chest. As long as he destroyed it, the clone would also cease to exist. The only caveat with that was that the core was not so easy to destroy. Fortunately, due to Lex''s abundant experience, he came up with a better solution. Instead of destroying the core, he would absorb the energy inside of it to improve himself. If he could do that with a living dragon, Lex saw no reason why he couldn''t do the same with a living deity. Once, long ago, he had improved his body using the essence of a deceased Deity. Now, he wanted to see how the energy of a living deity would improve him.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om He began channeling his cultivation technique, and the extremely powerful and potent divine energy that enabled the deity to exist was forcefully absorbed into his body through his finger. In disbelief, Ra roared, "DO YOU KNOW YOUR BLASPHEMY!?! SUCH SACRILEGE WILL NOT BE FORGIVEN BY ANY DEITY!" "That''s okay," Lex replied casually. "I''m an atheist, anyway. I never cared much about what the Deities thought." Chapter 879 A nightmare come to life! Chapter 879 A nightmaree to life! ??879 A nightmaree to life! Lex tuned out the ranting voice of the deranged deity as he felt his cultivation technique absorb the strangely warm, slightly scalding energy. For reasons beyond his understanding, Lex found himself reminiscing at this moment. He could not help but think back to his life just a couple of years back. His daily routine was filled to the brim with dissatisfaction from start to finish. He would wake to the annoying, piercing ringing of his rm, just short of getting enough sleep. He would spend a decent amount of time getting ready for the day, often having leftovers or some barebones breakfast. Something was better than nothing because if he skipped a meal, he would be extremely tired around midday. He would shower, and though most of the time there was hot water, there had been more than one asion where he had to use cold water due to maintenance or the apartment building''s water heater breaking down. Hismute was annoying. His job was somewhat stimting, but mostly tedious work. Some of his coworkers were nice, which was the highlight of his day. He used toe back home in the evening and some a bit outside his building because he just couldn''t build up the strength to go inside and face his life. What remained of the day was spent watching television or ying games.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Of course, that was what life felt like when he had the tumor. Prior to that, he was a lot more enthusiastic about life, and looked forward to facing new challenges which he could ovee. But even so, his life seemed extraordinarily mundane. Now, his life was nothing except simply extraordinary, and noparison was needed. After all, Lex was standing on a an unknown number of gxies away from the one he came from, in the middle of a battlefield consisting of numerous races, holding down a deity whose influence spanned across time and space, surrounded by devils, and cultivating a unique power to grow stronger. Special attention must be given to the fact that he was actually cultivating right in the middle of the battlefield while suffering countless attacks from the devils! The extent of the danger he was in could not be understated! Cultivation was an extremely delicate process, and the slightest disturbance could bring endless ruin. The consequence could range from anything, such as a minor body ache, toplete crippling or even death! After all, Lex was using a unique and potent energy to fundamentally alter the makeup of his body and soul. If even a fraction of the energy required at each step deviated in the slightest, it could result in failure. But Lex was still confident in himself, because there was no one around him even qualified to disturb his cultivation. He did not forget that the missile he shot out in space had not had any massive reaction yet, but maybe he was expecting too much¡­ "Master, I can feel divine energy entering your body. I don''t know what you are doing, but you should be careful," Pel''s voice entered Lex''s mind, waking him from his thoughts. "There are different kinds of energies all around us. Cultivation usually absorbs all of them, and then converts them into the one that suites us, or simply filters out the ones we don''t need. In the Golden core realm, you absorb them and convert them into your own unique energy, carrying your signature and your respective affinities and traits. But some energies carry specific affinities or traits inherently. "Typically, you would get more in contact with the various energies when you reach the immortal realm, but since you''re actively absorbing divine energy, I have to give you the proper warnings! "Divine energy, when manifested, usually appears as different shades of white light, and so is perceived as an inherently good or pure energy. That is actually far from the truth! Divine energy, while exceptionally powerful, easily influences the spirit, and can cause the user to be conceited and self-absorbed! Over time, if not checked, it can cause the user''s personality to bepletely distorted! "The two beings most who mostmonly use divine energy, angels and deities, both often experience a process called falling, which is when they sumb to the corrupting influence of divine energy andpletely lose themselves. It is not without reason that fallen angels and deities are much stronger than their former selves. It is because only in that state can they show the true power of divine energy! "You, as a member of a race that does not have inherent resistance to the corruption of divine energy, are much more susceptible to its influence! If you wish to continue absorbing it, you must actively resist its sway!" Lex was jolted awake, as if cold water had been sshed over him, when he heard Pelvailin''s words! Even without realizing it, his thoughts had already fallen under the influence of divine energy. He could feel it acting on his confidence and ego, inting it into arrogance and cocksure! He immediately steadied his mind and paid careful attention to himself and his surroundings as his body absorbed divine energy like a sponge! He could feel his cultivation rising bit by bit, and even his Domination evolving further. Once again, he was exposed to energy that was far beyond his level, and his cultivation technique was using it to elevate his level on the Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum. Any shorings that were left in his being after being upgraded using a dragon as a base temte were being filled with that of a living deity. Unfortunately, both of these beings were known for their excessive arrogance, and Lex had to be very careful not to develop such a trait himself. As Lex was nning out his cultivation path, one of the devils that was previously attacking him was having a panic attack. What the hell was this guy? Why was he more devilish than a devil, and more divine than a deity? He was like a nightmare,e to life! Chapter 880 How could they know?

Chapter 880 How could they know?

?880 How could they know? One of the devils roared in agony and pain as he held his injured hand. He had tried to gouge out Lex''s eyes, but his eyshes were sharper than the most well forged swords, and directly cut off his fingertip. It would have at least been worth it if Lex was somewhat injured in the process, but he remainedpletely unharmed. "This¡­ this is not working. We should just retreat instead. The zealot is dead, and the deity is captured. If we''re still around when he gets free, we''ll be next," said another devil, who had fallen to his knees. The devils were a powerful race, superior to countless others. In more than one realm, they reigned supreme, and even had control over one of the Primordial realms, Garvitz! They conducted deals with the most powerful races in existence and dared tough in the face of dragons, even. There was no one who could deny their excellence. So the fact that they were so utterly helpless before this masked man, who could not even bother to defend himself, left them more broken than any actual beating could render them. "It''s no use. This is surrounded by a divine domain. We cannot exit so easily." "I don''t care. I''m going as far away as possible from this freak! The moment he kills the deity, and the divine domain evaporates, we can escape! I''ll get on the nearest ship avable." Without waiting for a response, the devil who was speaking spread his wings and flew away. After a few moments of consideration, several more devils followed. Yet some still remained. One of the devils who was having a panic attack was left behind, and a few others who had exhausted themselvespletely were left kneeling in the dirt. Without lifting a single hand against them, Lex had defeated them. Besides some damage to his shirt, he suffered no loss of his own. There was not even a speck of dirt on his body, nor a single drop of sweat! Between the smells of ash and burnt rubble, Lex still exuded a faint, refreshing smell as if he had just stepped out of the shower. Lex, meanwhile, was totally focused on his own cultivation, and especially Ra! The core in his body was shrinking, so Lex had to continuously dig his hand deeper lest it lose contact with the core. As he felt his own strength grow, and his body change subtly, he recalled that soldier he had seen back on Polebitvy. She too controlled divine energy, and had wings growing out of her back like an angel. Maybe he could try doing something like that as well once he was done. Time slowly passed, and minutes turned into hours. Most of the devils around him had left, but the one who was previously having a panic attack now looked at Lex with eyes full of worship. He was kneeling like a pious believer in a temple of their revered deity. Ra had be extremely weak by now, and no longer screamed or yelled at Lex. He only watched him in silence, as if thoroughly memorising his appearance. This was but a single incarnation of his. Even weak and wounded as he was, he would not die with the death of a single incarnation. Though it could not be denied that this would hurt him severely. So, he observed Lex, and seared his image into his brain. He would have his revenge! Z, who had been studying this entire time, finally came to Lex, making sure to have the zer covered his entire body. "I think I''ve figured it out. The next time space cracks or tears in front of me, I might be able to open a small channel to the ce calling out to me," he said, warily looking at the devil worshiping Lex. "We''ll try soon," said Lex, diverting just enough attention to respond. No matter how secure the situation felt, he would not let divine energy cause him to underestimate Ra. As a deity, he could still have a few tricks up his sleeve. But the waning deity pulled no trick, and another hour went by just like that. His body, made of light, dulled till it was nearly extinguished. The divine domain that was epassing the world finally failed, since there was not enough energy to replenish it. Space in that region once again became fragile. Then, it brokepletely and utterly. It was as if someone tried to catch a falling anvil with a single sheet of one-ply toilet paper. Lex, Ra, the devil and Z were all caught unprepared as they fell into the void. Then again, how could they be prepared? None of them knew that within Ra''s divine domain, the living embodiment of aw, was hiding. The strength of that being far surpassed a Heavenly Immortal, although it was not quite at the realm of a Celestial just yet. Its mere existence was too much for the fragile space to bear, and so it was destroyed, quite thoroughly and permanently! ***** Midnight Inn The doors finally opened, and the convention for oracles, prophets and diviners ended. As the crowds emerged, they all wore solemn appearances, as if they had witnessed something extremely formidable. In fact, a majority of them directly went towards the Chamber of Secrets to wipe all memory of the event from their minds. Only in such a way could they be safe from the truth. Of course, they would leave hints for themselves to guide their future actions. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om But not all of them left. Vera Joel, who had organized this event, sat cross-legged on the stage where she had concluded the event, her thoughts unknown. A small fairy, barely the size of a child''s finger, flew up to her and sat on her shoulder. "Why are you doing this, lovely?" she asked, her voice as sweet as candy. "It''s because I want a future that my prophecies cannot predict," she said, her words carrying a weight of many things unsaid. Chapter 881 Hidden Temple Chapter 881 Hidden Temple ??881 Hidden Temple A fleet of alliance ships was approaching BGY-987 from a distance. Their arrival had been slowed down because on multiple asions they encountered territories ands which, ording to their intel, were under their control and progress was good. However, reality was that all alliance forces were being heavily suppressed with allmunication cut off. While there was no overwhelming loss, this anomaly was so massive that a report to the Henali had been dispatched. What conclusion they would draw, and how they would react, was not something the alliance could specte, but they were sure that there would definitely be some kind of reaction. The worst of all was that they had not even reached the they were supposed to be investigating yet! But it was finally within sight! Or, to be more specific, their ships had locked onto it, and they would reach within the next few hours. Both the groups leading the fleet, and their superiors at the alliance headquarters, had mentally prepared themselves to face a devastating sight upon their arrival. But their preparation fell short when the ships issued an emergency alert and forcefully exited Hyperdrive without preparation! The abrupt halt was not well received, as usually entering and exiting Hyperdrive consisted of a few preparatory procedures for the safety of the crew and the ship. A forceful exit such as this one caused the entire fleet to sustain damage in many of their crucial areas, not to mention that the weakest members of the fleet became extremely sick and fell unconscious, with many at the risk of death! "What the hell just happened?" a captain of one of the ships screamed, but then froze as he looked at the screens in front of him. In front of the ships was a Void, and that was not referring to the Void of space. It was an ever-expanding emptiness that was consuming the space around it. Let alone this region, but the entire cosmic cloud faced the threat of destruction if it was not controlled. "Re- report to headquarters! But first, turn this ship around!" the captain yelled, doing his best to control his trembling body. But he couldn''t. The Void was growing too quickly, and the repercussions of this would most likely be felt on every single battlefield! Just as they were turning around, one of the many staff members in the room yelled out, "Wait, I see something in the darkness!" ***** Lex waspletely taken aback by the change, as not only was it instantaneous, but it also was something he had never experienced before. Immediately he halted his cultivation as he could not afford any disruption, but then discovered that the change had not affected him at all! There was no light in the Void, so he could not see, but he expanded his spirit sense to check on Z and discovered that the teenager was on the verge of death! Without a moment''s thought, Lex let go of Ra and grabbed onto Z, giving him the bathroom slippers so that he could survive in this unusual environment. In total, Z had been exposed to the dangers of the Void for less than a second, but Lex could already feel that a majority of his bones were broken, and his consciousness was on the verge of fading. Lex had already decided to let go of everything and immediately return to the Inn, but he had underestimated the pressure that the Void put on him. There was no ambient spiritual energy to aid him, as he felt the weight of an entire crush down on his body.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om There was no room to think, as his mind was concussed due to the massive crushing force that impacted his skull. For a brief moment, it seemed like Lex''s body could withstand the pressure. Then his skin started to tear, and blood started to squirt out of his body. His bones were cracking within his body, and moving out of ce under the influence of the massive pressure. Soon, his bones became the spears that pierced through body, cutting through muscle and organs alike. The ring on his finger, which contained Pelvailin, began to crack, and his spatial bangle began to tremble. His pants began to disintegrate as his clothes were no obstacle to the weight of the Void. Giving his Bathroom slippers to Z nearly became thest thing Lex ever did, as his body was torn down and his mind could not cope. Ironically, it was that very act that became his saving grace. In the endless expanse of pure nothingness, a strange energy appeared and seemed to surround the already unconscious Z. Even though he had been saved from the dangers of the Void, he had already sustained such damage that he was unable to remain awake. The energy surrounded him and began to pull him in a specific direction. Lex, who had gripped Z tightly, was pulled along. For an unknown amount of time, the two drifted through the nothingness, with Lex bing more and more unrecognizable as time went by. Eventually he became nothing more than an indistinct meat mush, though even in such a state his grip on Z never wavered. It was as if, even in this state, he knew that his life depended on holding on. Eventually, they approached a barrier hidden in the eternal darkness and came to a halt. Another beam of energy emerged and scanned Z once, twice, countless times, as if ascertaining his identity through innumerable ways. When the beam was done testing his identity, it retreated, and the barrier disappeared, revealing an enormous temple, its width alone spanning a million miles! Even in the absence of light, the temple was visible from all around, and attracted the attention of Void Dwellers from far and wide. The sight of the temple was not limited to the Void, as even those outside could see its splendor, as was the case with the retreating fleet. After absorbing Z and Lex within it, the temple began to gather energy, as if preparing for something. Chapter 882 Temple of Fasting

Chapter 882 Temple of Fasting

?882 Temple of Fasting It was impossible to hide the news of the temple. Not only was it massive and easily spotted, hovering in between an endlessly growing Void that acted as an impassable trench, it was also actively drawing in energy. Normally this would not have mattered, but the amount of energy it was gathering was so monumentally massive that all the immortals within the Suera gxy could sense it. What was the most strange, however, was that the cosmic cloud that had epassed the entire region began to disappear. This was a notable event because the cosmic cloud was soplicated and seemingly impossible to affect that the Fuegan had taken it as the perfect hiding spot, and the Henali had adhered to its rules and fought within it instead of trying to alter it in any way. But now, it was disappearing. Moreover, the more energy the temple absorbed, the more of the cosmic cloud disappeared. It was not long before many noticed the corrtion, and began to theorize the origin of the temple. Many immortals surrounded the Void, and attempted to cross it to reach the temple, but it was impossible using ordinary means. Only the Void dwellers could tolerate the unusual environment inside the Void, regardless of how weak they were outside the Void. The ironic thing about them was that they were much stronger within the Void, but sought to escape it regardless of the price they had to pay. In the present circumstance, that price became death! The immortals that had surrounded the Void ughtered the Void Dweller by the droves and used their carcasses to sew together an outfit that could allow them to traverse the daunting nothingness of the Void. Celestial Immortals showed up to contain the expansion of the Void, for no other source could stop its spread. Unfortunately, they could not reserve it at the moment, though they were not inclined to do so even if they could. The mystery of the temple was too alluring. Henali representatives showed up in person, though no one knew what they did afterwards. Many guessed that they secretly entered the temple, or that they were studying a method to enter it as it seemed imprable, but no one could say for certain. Days slowly passed, and nearly half the cosmic cloud had disappeared, when a rumor took the Henali portal by storm. Someone unknown imed to have identified the temple! The temple was called the Temple of Fasting, and predated the arrival of the Henali in the Origin realm by billions of years. The purpose of the temple was unknown, but the person who spread the rumor imed that the temple belonged to one of the three original deities of the Origin realm. Who these three original deities were was no longer known, nor were there any records anywhere in the Origin realm to suggest the presence of any such entities. Either the person who spread the rumor made it all up, or all evidence of such deities waspletely hidden across the entire realm! There were many other theories, of course, but for reasons unknown, this particr theory seemed to gain the most followers. It was as if there was some mystical force, guiding the people into believing such a thing. More days passed, and the tensions in the region grew. The Fuegan made an appearance. Not the Fuegan forces, or their many allies or servants. No, actual Fuegan appeared and shed with the Henali in the Void. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om More time passed, and the cosmic cloud was close to disappearingpletely. Another rumor spread like wildfire, and was spread by the same person asst time. ording to him, or her, deities from across the realm were secretly gathering around the temple. It was as if they could sense something extremely valuable within. Moreover, the rumor also stated that once the cosmic cloud disappearedpletely, and the temple was fully recharged, it would disappear once again. It was not yet time for its secrets to be revealed. More and more forces gathered outside, and many tried to gain entry, but none were sessful. But they waited. They were hoping that once the temple absorbed enough energy, it would open instead of disappear, as the rumor stated. Even the Fuegan were unable to gain entry! That''s when another rumor spread. Apparently, the appearance of this temple had something to do with the Midnight Inn. After all, it was the representative of the Inn who alerted the alliance about the anomaly on that. Most of the Origin realm still had not heard of the Midnight Inn, but now they all raced to learn about it. Yet those who already knew of it were left feeling like there may be some truth to the rumors. After all, the golden keys which would always take their guests to the Inn without fail, stopped working! No one was able to enter the Inn, although those inside could still exit. Although many defended the Inn, saying that for six months already they had announced that the Inn would close in advance, many still spected, and looked towards the Inn with greed. Only those with something valuable would hide. But it was pointless. Without the Inn bringing guests in itself, no one knew how to enter, or where to find it. But that only served to increase the mystery surrounding it. While all of this was happening outside, within the temple, a beaten, battered figure groaned. Lex opened his eyes for the millionth time, but still found himself unable to move. With no alternative, he could only go back to sleep. After all, during his sleep, his recovery was sped up exponentially. Before he closed his eyes one more time, Lex could not help but be grateful that he had merged with the de of grass which contained thews of regeneration. Or else he may have been left there for years, unable to move due to how devastating his condition was. He had been reduced to a mass of flesh, resembling slime more than a human. It was only his inhuman tenacity which had kept him alive. His mind, too fatigued, sumbed to sleep once more. Chapter 883 Waking up Chapter 883 Waking up ??883 Waking upn/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The next time Lex woke up, he was feeling much better, and much worse at the same time. The entire time he was in the Void, he was more or less unconscious, so he did not know what state his body had reached in its final moments. When he first gained consciousness, Lex actually felt nothing. He felt no pain, but he also could not sense his body. He could not open his eyes, breathe, or do anything else. He would have panicked if his mind hadn''t been incredibly groggy. He vaguely recalled Mary''s voice, but he could not recall what she said. His consciousness faded soon. The next time he woke up, although the situation was not much better, he was lucid at least. He could not feel any spirit energy in his body, or any of his other senses, so he used his spirit sense to explore the situation. That''s when he discovered that he¡­ had turned into a pile of goop! He had turned into a vaguely spherical mush of shredded muscle, skin, fat, crushed bones and everything else that constituted his body! There was nothing about him that resembled a human! The most rming thing for him was when he used his spirit sense to investigate his ''body'' he found that he did not even have a brain! For a moment, Lex thought he was dead, and hade back as a ghost! But eventually he realized that his consciousness was still linked to the deformed meat ball he had turned into, and investigated further. While the rest of his body had been thoroughly pulverized, he discovered that at the very center of his being, his Golden core remained intact! It looked dull, and as if it had suffered some wear, but otherwise was fine! There wasn''t even a crack on it! But, beside his core, there were also a few items, and they had not survived unharmed the way his core had. Pelvailins ring was covered in cracks, and seemed on the verge of breaking. So too was the case with his spatial bangle, though his ne which carried the Silent Wanderer had fared better. Nothing else in his possession survived, but Lex was not too disheartened. Unfortunately, search as he might, he could not discover Z anywhere near him. Before he could converse with Mary, Lex''s consciousness faded once again. When he woke up next, his situation was ''much'' better. He no longer resembled a goop, and it seemed his body had regained some semnce of shape. The mass of tissue that made up his body had spread out a bit, resembling the vague outline of a newborn baby. He also felt his meridians being reformed, connected to his Golden core! He tried to circte his cultivation technique, but there was not even a single drop of energy in his body. All of it was being absorbed by his core passively and being used to restore his body. "Mary, are you there?" he asked weakly in his mind. "Lex! Finally! You''re awake! I was so worried!" "How long have I been like this? What''s going on outside? Did the battalion return safely?" "Everything inside the Inn is very stable, though we only have around one hundred thousand guests still staying, and even they probably won''t stay too long. It''s been three weeks since the Inn shut down so no new guests areing in, and things have slowed down. "The battalion is fine! A majority of them spent only a couple of days resting before they were ready to go. A few of them are still in recovery rooms. It seems like those who have the Anachronistic Ignition bloodline all pushed themselves beyond their limits, and dyed the resulting exhaustion and bodily harm. They are now slowly allowing themselves to sustain it while the Recovery room helps them heal. Everyone else is fine. There are two major things¡­" Before Mary couldplete her sentence, Lex once again felt his consciousness fading. It seemed the little energy he had umted had all been spent inmunicating with her. Lex did not know how much time had passed, but the next time he woke up, he felt that a much longer time had gone by. His body once again looked somewhat human, and he had reformed much of his muscles and inner organs. His bones were also reforming once again. His meridianwork was by far the most recovered, and it even contained slight traces of spirit energy within! If there was one thing that left Lex feeling a little remorseful¡­ it was that his new body had a total height of 1 foot (30 cm)! "Mary, how long has it been?" Lex asked, feeling tired even though he had just woken up. "It''s been an entire month since west talked," said Mary, a hesitation in her voice. "Lex, before you fall asleep again, there''s something really important we need to discuss. It''s about Velma and some devils¡­" "What is it?" Lex asked, suddenly feeling rmed. The Midnight Inn and the battalion had been targeted by devils, so he was especially sensitive to matters rting to them at the moment. "Well¡­ there''s a group of devils who¡­ who follow aic series she writes, apparently. Even though she uses a pseudonym, they discovered her identity. Now, all of them, a total of 33, havee to the Inn and are constantly proposing to her! "What''s worse, she apparently had many hidden admirers. Once they discovered that the devils were trying to marry her, they all began proposing as well. Now, there''s about a thousand guests following her around wherever she goes and proposing to marry her! It''s.. causing certain problems. "Velma was considering starting a harem, but fortunately Gerard returned and talked some sense into her, so she is holding off. But her suitors want to start a tournament, and im that only the winner has the right to court her. But since you have been asleep, they can''t officially start an event¡­" Lex lost consciousness again. Chapter 884 Baby Lex

Chapter 884 Baby Lex

?884 Baby Lex The next time Lex woke up, he felt his body was in an even better state, though he still could not control it at all. He tried opening his eyes, but he waspletely unable to do so. After that failure, Lex tried to run his cultivation technique. He was sure that if he could run a few cycles of his technique regrly, he would heal much quicker. Fortunately for him, it seemed that by now his meridians, at least, werepletely healed and could withstand the energy coursing through them. Although, admittedly, they did hurt when he started cultivating once again. As soon as he began cultivating, his body absorbed the energy greedily, as if it had been deprived for a very long time! As the flood of energy rushed into his body, he felt it diffuse into his newly formed muscles and organs, nourishing them. His bones were especially greedy and sucked up as much energy as he could absorb. After running a couple of cycles, Lex felt exhausted again, and so fell asleep. This turned into somewhat of a routine where he would wake up, cultivate a bit, and then fall back asleep. He could tell that he was steadily spending less and less time sleeping, and his body was bing better and better. He lost count of how many times this process repeated itself, with no difference except him feeling slow steady progress in his healing. If he had gone by his old standards, where he would have to sleep for weeks inside the Recovery pod just to heal, then it might have taken Lex years to heal to this extent without the pod. Eventually there came a time where Lex woke up and felt something significantly different. That was that feeling had returned to him. He could smell the air, feel the breeze, hear the world. Unfortunately, he could also feel pain! Every inch of his entire body was in unbearable pain, which made Lex regret waking up. It wasn''t as if Lex was a stranger to pain, but this time there was nothing he could do about it save to tolerate it. He instinctively tried to groan, and heard an annoying, piercing cry that almost every human was familiar with. It was the distinctly annoying cry of a baby, wailing endlessly! Amidst the rm of the unexpected noise, Lex''s body jerked, and he opened his eyes! The brightness of the light nearly blinded him, and gave him a new pain to deal with, which made him cry out once more! After a few moments of experiencing various such harrowing events, Lex realized what was happening. He no longer knew how to control his body! It made sense, in a way. He had a new brain and a new body, kind of. But he was not expecting such an unusual trial. If there was one thing to be grateful for, it was that this time he had plenty of energy. As such, he did not fall asleep immediately. It gave him plenty of time to experiment and figure out his movements. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om It was difficult. It was like suddenly being asked to use chopsticks with your left hand. It was that sense of unfamiliarity, but multiplied and at the same time epassing his entire body! But as difficult as it was to relearn the intricacies of movement and coordination with a new body, Lex''s superior intellect and mind ensured quick results. In just half an hour, Lex regained enough coordination to flip himself off his back and begin to crawl. But Lex dared not go anywhere right now. First, he analyzed his surroundings and tried to detect any danger, but found none. He found himself in a small, rectangr room with four pirs in the middle, forming a square in the center of the room. Outside the pirs, the floor was padded with a few walkways, as if designed for sitting on the floor. Within the pirs was an arena, one step down, made of one massive b of stone.There were no doors or windows in the room, but it was well lit. Lex seemed to be alone, for now, and was not in any danger. Just to be safe, Lex did not explore the room just yet. He touched his spatial bangle and withdrew the zer of his stealth suit and wore it like an oversized robe. He had no choice, as he had no clothes that fit him. He also took out some food, spirit stones, spirit liquid, and some ores he had collected to use if ever he needed to reward Pelvailin. During these past few days, he had tried tomunicate with the ring, but received no response. However, he could feel that the spirit within had not died, it was just incredibly weak. He ced the rings on the ore, aware that the ring would absorb them on its own, strengthening itself. With nothing else to do, he began to eat - and then failed! He could not exert any real strength with his new body yet, and had apparently not grown out his teeth as of yet. As a result, he could not eat anything! He had no choice but to rece the food with some exceptionally soft spirit fruits he had collected for Kenta to use in his cooking. Although eating was a little difficult, he managed. That''s when he realized that his stomach had be a bottomless pit. No matter what he ate, or how much of it he ate, he did not feel full at all! It was as if his body was instantly using it to nourish his body! As he felt his fatigue returning, he made a small bed for himself of spirit stones, and applied the spirit water to his body the way one applies cologne! He knew that the key to his recovery was absorbing as much energy as possible, so he was determined to speed up the process as much as he could! Soon after, the baby sized Lex fell asleep once more. Chapter 885 Evaluation. Chapter 885 Evaluation. Despite having recovered a lot, the next time Lex woke up, he felt that a great amount of time had passed. Moreover, Lex felt no pain or difort at all! It was as if he had recoveredpletely! Of course, considering the fact that he still had the body of a baby, he did not believe that was the case. "Mary, how long have I been asleep?" he asked as he inspected his surroundings for any change. "It''s been slightly over six months since the Inn closed off," she responded. "The situation at the Inn has stabilized, and there are barely a few thousand guests left. At first the guests were distressed at theck of any events, but everyone figured that since the Inn was under renovations, it only made sense. All your pre-nned events have also finished, and so all the security you had hired have also left. The Inn is very quiet these days,paratively." "That''s not a bad thing. Actually, that''s a great thing. Once the Inn forms its own realm, I n on using the Lockdown token to shut down the Inn for the foreseeable future. We have more than enough MP to survive, so I think it''s best if we use this time wisely and grow our strength to avoid being targeted like this," Lex said, voicing the n he had been thinking of for a while. The Lockdown token was a token he had received as a reward for ending the invasion when he used the Butter Knife. Its purpose was extremely simple, which was that it would put the Inn in lockdown and prevent any guests from entering. This included through golden keys, the random golden door that opened sometimes, through the pro bono feature and any other way that guests could usually enter from. Without the threat from the Henali, or any other Daolords, he would close the Inn for the foreseeable future and just cultivate. That would give him time to not only recover but grow stronger, and the same was true for his workers. Although it was inconceivable for him at the moment, spending even a few hundred years under lockdown was not impossible. After all, the lifespan of a cultivator was exceptionally long. Moreover, he anticipated that the pure and rare energy that he and his workers would have ess to when the new realm was formed would boost their cultivation a lot. His cultivation speed would not be low, and he could possibly even be an Immortal before he decided to open the Inn back up again. "Anyway, just maintain the status quo for now. Only alert me if something important needs my attention." Lex turned his attention back to his predicament. It was important that he figure out the amount of strength he had in his current body, so that he could begin to explore. He had been unconscious at the time, so he had no idea that he had entered the massive temple, pulled along by Z, though he vaguely had some idea. Mary had naturally heard about the temple through the various guests'' discussions. After all, although they were stuck at the Inn, they could use the Henali portal to learn what was happening inside. But no one had seen them enter the temple, so Mary also did not know that Lex had entered, otherwise she would have mentioned it. Lex, who had begun to teeth, summoned some food and began to chew as he inspected his body and surroundings. The room looked the same as before, but Lex looked considerably different. He really did look like a newborn, and his rock-hard body and rippling muscles had been reced with soft, cuddly baby fat! Moreover, his zer had triggered a hidden feature which was to adjust itself to his size, so now he just looked like a baby wearing a suit. While that was a good thing, since he could wear pants now, Lex could not deal with the fact that he looked like a kid on halloween pretending to be a businessman! If there was one silver lining to the situation, it was that his body, although small, retained his peak strength from before he was injured! In fact, since his cultivation had grown due to absorbing a lot of divine energy, he was at his strongest state ever! Lex continued to eat as he nned out his next moves. He had to find Z, but at the same time¡­ Lex opened up his system interface, and from the market bought a nk ticket for 1 million MP! The use of this ticket was simple. It would begin the binding process of his current location to the Inn. Since he clearly was no longer in the ''Void'' and had returned to normal, stable space, it would be good to build another connection, regardless of where he was. With that activated, Lex finished his meal and went through a round of cultivation. He was hoping that eating and cultivation would somehow restore his height. But, so far, there was no indication of such a thing happening. He was not too worried about getting his normal body back just yet. He was sure that if nothing else, he could find a reliable way through the Infinity Emporium. Once he was done, Lex stood up for the first time in months. He still had not mastered controlling his new body yet, so he began to practice. Slowly and steadily he walked on the pathways in the outer section of the room, trying to regain his mastery over his actions. This process, while simple, took a few hours. But by the end, not only was he once again confident in his movement, but was sure that he was back at his previous level of precision and agility. His improved intellect andprehension yed a great role in speeding up the process. He put on his ring, ne and spatial bangle once more. The ring had recovered somewhat, but the bangle and ne still looked like they needed repairs. Lex was especially careful with his bangle because he could not afford the repercussions of his many missiles exploding if the bangle broke somehow! During this time, Lex had thoroughly investigated the room besides the arena at its core. He suspected that stepping into the arena might initiate a change, which is why he had left it for until he waspletely ready. With nothing else to do, Lex directly stepped onto the arena. A yellow light scanned his body, from bottom to top, before a monotone voice began an announcement. "Human male detected. Bone age: 2 months. Cultivation: Golden core mid. Cultivation talent: Primordial! Special Physique: Empyrean Resonance! Soulforge Unity! (Error: 2 independent physiques detected!) Bloodline: Mutations detected. Unknown bloodline! Evaluation: Exceeds expectations. Viable for core disciple status! Proceeding with the relevant test." Lex raised an eyebrow as he heard the announcement. He had to say, he was quite impressed with what he heard. Moreover, what was that about him having special physiques? And two of them at that! Moreover, he had a mutated bloodline? Well, with mysterious parents he supposed it made sense that he was not ordinary. But what surprised him the most was that after all of that, his evaluation was only ''exceeds expectations''? It was not remarkable? Or unbelievable? Lex actually felt somewhat offended at the low evaluation! The suit of armor tilted its helmet down, as if to look at the baby in front of it. Before he could continue to ponder the scale of the evaluations error, a figure teleported into the arena. Lex had to look up at what seemed like a suit of ck armor, designed for an ordinary man. It did not look remarkable in any way, except that it was empty and wielded a massive, eight foot (2.4 meters) long sword! The suit of armor tilted its helmet down, as if to look at the baby in front of it. Although there was no one inside the armor, Lex felt as if he could sense some kind of condescension from the armor. It raised its foot, as if to step on Lex, but before he could do anything, a baby appeared in front of it and kicked it on its chestte! As if ripping through a piece of paper, the tiny foot tore through the te and flung the armor across the arena, causing it to drop the sword right there. Lex, who had not vented his anger as of yet, grabbed the sword that was literally eight times his height, and swung viciously at the armor, slicing it in half! n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex snorted upon seeing that the armor lost its power, but before long, two more such armors appeared within the arena. This time, they did not belittle the shrimp, mostly because they did not get a chance to. Lex used the opportunity to both vent his anger, and practice his swordy against actual opponents. How dare this stupid ce give him such an evaluation and look down on him? He would make sure to set the record straight. Chapter 886 Working with babies... Chapter 886 Working with babies... ??886 Working with babies... Fighting could be barbaric, or it could be beautiful. It could be precise and meticulously nned, or it could bepletely intuitive. Lex had seen many people whose fighting styles had left an impression on him. Gisele, for example, was an exceptionally deadly fighter, yet her each and every movement was filled with grace and elegance. Even killing became an art when she did it. She was an unstoppable force, but a very fluid one as well. Alexander was also someone who had his own distinct fighting style. Every attack, parry, block, or dodge was tinged with the aura of exceptional experience. To even fight with him, one would actually have to be much superior to him in either skill, which was unlikely, or surpass him by arge margin in strength and speed. Only then could an actual ''fight'' ur. Otherwise, if anyone were even remotely close to him in ability, his endless experience would result in Alexander ending the fight in just a couple of moves. Marlo gave one the impression that he would fight like a barbarian, but he was actually a very intelligent fighter. His every move was thoroughly thought out, yet designed to deceive. Everyone would bring their own personality into their fighting style, regardless of the type ofbat they had learned. This was why there was a difference even between two people with a simr level of mastery of the same fighting style. Lex''s fighting style also depicted his mental state at the moment. It was extremely brutal and lethal, yet it was not wasteful at all. It was brutal because it leveraged his absurd physical strength. It was lethal because he only struck at his enemy''s weak points. It was efficient because he did not need to attack a single enemy twice! Like a child on a sugar rush let loose in a yground, Lex bounced from one corner of the arena to another, the massive sword not impeding him in the slightest. He was like a tiny, cute hurricane, leaving only destruction in its wake. Lex was only getting warmed up when, upon destroying 10 armors at the same time, new ones stopped appearing, giving Lex an unneeded respite. Lex snorted and studied the arena for any changes while he mentally reviewed his swordsmanship. His new¡­ stature meant that his previous style was ill suited, so he had now gone even farther from manifesting sword intent. Before he could dissect his technique further, Lex was teleported away, and brought to what looked like a private bedroom. There was a medium sized single bed, a cupboard, a table and a restroom. There was even an open door leading out into a corridor.N?v(el)B\\jnn Lex, still wielding his massive sword, felt a little discontent at the situation. It seemed like his test was over. Putting the sword in his spatial bangle, Lex ventured out to begin exploring his surroundings. There was an unnatural silence in the area, so that his every movement caused sounds that echoed across the halls, reaching far and wide. The sound of his steps, his breathing, the rustle of his clothes rubbing against one another, they were all magnified to an unnatural state. This was even considering the fact that he was wearing the stealth suit, which naturally reduced all sounds! There was definitely something unusual about this ce to have such an effect. It was as if it purposefully magnified his presence so that it was impossible to sneak up on anyone. Yet as he emerged from the room, Lex discovered that the ce waspletely empty. He strolled down the corridor and saw countless other rooms, but each and every one of them was empty and untouched. As Lex explored, he spread his spirit sense out as much as possible, but did not discover anything unusual at all. It was as if he was walking through an empty hostel. As he ventured deeper in, he saw other kinds of rooms that looked like they could be ssrooms, auditoriums and such. "Where the hell am I?" Lex could not help but murmur. "You are definitely not in hell, young man!" a stern voice scolded Lex, and a projection of an unusual being appeared in front of him. The being was thin and humanoid, wearing a white sleeveless robe with yellow borders. It had grayish-blue skin, unusually long fingers, and an oval face. It had no hair, but the top of its head was unusually shaped, as if its skull itself was forming a hairstyle. "You are in the Temple of Fasting! This is a divine ce where one can improve themself through trials of fire and blood! Only the most noble and notable figures throughout history were allowed to enter this ce. Count your blessings that you are among them." Lex did not respond immediately, but instead studied the figure for a while. He was not startled by the appearance of the projection. Instead, he was wondering why it had not appeared earlier. "I only said so because this ce seemed so abandoned. Is there no one else here? I had apanion, but I can''t seem to find them. Do you know where he might be?" The figure clicked his tongue as he looked down at Lex with derision, but eventually answered anyway. "Of course, this ce is empty. It has been hidden away, for reasons that you have no business knowing. But even so, a heavy destiny has been ced upon your shoulders, little one. As apanion to a descendant of his majesty, and as someone who has a sufficient evaluation, I must bequeath a task unto you of grave importance. Completing the task will also bring you closer to reuniting with yourpanion." "So you know where Z is? I don''t mind helping you out, but I need to know the situation first, starting with where Z is, who is his ancestor, and why do you need my help?" The figure looked like he was about to snap at Lex, but then closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "This is why I hate working with babies," he muttered under his breath. Chapter 887 The best in the universe Chapter 887 The best in the universe Lex controlled his emotions, though he felt especially triggered upon being called a baby. But he understood that he literally could not me the projection, for he literally had a bone age of a few months. "Follow me as I exin things," the projection said, rubbing its forehead. Lex felt the projection was being unnecessarily dramatic. Why was answering a few questions such a hassle? Nevertheless, as the projection began to walk through the halls, Lex followed. "The Temple of fasting is a special ce, but for certain reasons, I cannot get into the details of it. All I can say is that it was hidden away for good reason. Although being discovered was somewhat unanticipated, it is still eptable. What waspletely unexpected was that the temple sensed yourpanion was closely rted to a very notable figure, and thus brought him in. After all, it is his right! "But the opening of the temple created a momentary weakness in its otherwise imprable defense. Besides you two, who were weed in on purpose, a few other entities have also entered. Among them, one is a living curse that is partially sealed, one is a brokenw that has gained life, three of them are devils, and thest one is the most problematic. Thest one is a divine projection of a Deity! n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Do you understand? Because of you two, the temple is now in serious jeopardy! For both the sake of your entire realm, and the temple, the deity at least needs to be killed immediately! Unfortunately, the temple has no living guards left! I can only rely on you!" Lex frowned. He recalled sensing a curse being sealed deep within BGY-987, and guessed that is where the living curse came from. He had no idea where the brokenw came from, but guessed that the devils were amongst the ones who were trying to hurt him. The devils were the least of their problems, though he could not gauge the danger of thew and curse. But Ra''s clone definitely needed to die! But the issue was¡­ "Why can you only rely on me? What happened to Z? Moreover, why is Ra a danger to the whole realm?" "Yourpanion is currently in a special state, and undergoing an evolution deep within the temple. He cannot be disturbed, so that leaves only you as my option. The devils, the curse and thew are all potential problems as well, but they cannot circumvent the temple''s internal defenses. Only the deity has that possibility and is, in fact, doing so! If he reaches deep within the temple, he will mess with things he does not understand. If the Temple of Fasting ispromised, it will attract enemies your realm cannot face." "That still doesn''t answer my question. Why rely on me, and not the devils, or the curse or even thew? Well, for thest two I cannot make a judgment, but I know for a fact that devils are all amiable to deals. They would happily help you out." "It''s not possible. The Temple of fasting is specifically designed solely for humans! It is the ultimate ce for humans to train. I dare say that in the entire universe, there is no ce more suitable for training for humans than the Temple of Fasting! It is almost impossible for any other race to travel freely through the temple. But, even for humans, there is a system you have to go through to get ess to the various areas. I can help you a bit by lowering the difficulty of some tests, but ultimately, you have to gain ess to the rest of the temple yourself. It''s extremely important that you do not fail. The deity has been making his way to the center of the temple for months now. He is close. "If you fail, the trouble that the deity causes will result in the doom of the entire realm. The temple will just go and hide somewhere else, but everyone else will be doomed - yourpanion included! But if you seed, not only will you save all those lives, you will personally benefit as well. The temple will aid you in your training, and you will grow stronger with each level of the temple you get ess to." A gleam shed through Lex''s cute little eyes as he thought of something. He was not concerned about the difficulty of the temples'' tests, as he had every confidence in himself. Moreover, he would have aided the projection in killing Ra, regardless of anything else. But since there were benefits, how could he just let them go? "How can you aid in my training?" Lex asked as he considered the viability of his n. Although he did not have a way to prove the projections boast about the temple being the best ce for humans to train, it would be useful for him and his workers, even if its results were above average. The projection turned and gave Lex another derisive look. "There is nothing the temple cannot train you in. We''re here. Step onto the tform and you will be scanned again. Let''s see what you need training in. To reach the deity, you will need to pass 7, maybe 8 levels of the temple based on how quickly the deity can move. "Besides your own skills and talents, one of the things I will have the temple train you in is how tobat deities. I wouldn''t want you to catch up, only to be stunned by the aura of the deity." In a new room that looked much like an auditorium, Lex stepped onto the slightly raised, circr tform the projection was pointing towards. A familiar yellow light scanned him and began announcing his traits, causing the projection to freeze. ***** Deep within the temple, there was a massive yet unlit room. At the head of this room was arge statue of a being with the upper body of a woman, her countenance majestic and holy, garbed in a resplendent dress, and the lower body of a snake, giving her a blend of ethereal beauty and serpentine grace. Beside her was a smaller statue of a man dressed like a king, his facial expression depicting strength and wisdom beyond ordinary reach. In front of that statue, Z sat on the ground with his legs crossed, deep in meditation. Oddly enough, the statue looked a lot like Z, only much older. Chapter 888 Second scan Chapter 888 Second scan Lex suppressed the gloating feeling in his heart as he observed the stunned projection. This was nothing to be proud over, as this was only the appropriate reaction one should have when learning about Lex''s qualities. It was nothing special. Although, Lex had to admit that this tform he was standing on was a lot more thorough and gave a more in-depth evaluation of him. "Human male detected. Bone age: 2 months. Cultivation: Golden core mid. Cultivation talent: Primordial! n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Special Physique: Empyrean Resonance! Soulforge Unity! (Error: 2 independent physiques detected!) Bloodline: Mutations detected. Unknown bloodline! Affinities: Defense, Law, Space, Regeneration, Healing, Metal, Wood, Nature, Soul, Spirit, Prophecy, Domination, Divinity¡­ Error! Traces of 112 partially formed affinities detected! Bonds: Newborn Fenrir with 100% bloodline purity, Dragon Treasure spirit, World Seed Lotus (Partial)! Innate abilities: Eye of Infinite Paths, Mindmeld, Prophetic Intuition, Herculean strength! Skills: Arrays, Talismans, Formations, Swordsmanship, Closebat, Marksmanship, Aura Suppression, Aura Maniption, Soul Sense! Universal Blessings: None. Curses: None. Affiliated Divinity: Two distinct iplete divinity traces detected! For a further detailed analysis, please attain Core Member status!" Lex raised an eyebrow as he contemted everything he heard. There were still things the analysis had not mentioned, such as the inscriptions in his body and, fortunately, the presence of the system hidden within his soul! But even so, there were many things the scan had revealed about himself that he did not understand. Lately, he had been asking Pelvailin all the questions he had, but this also seemed like a good opportunity to get some answers. He looked at the frozen projection with schadenfreude and asked, "the previous scan also mentioned many things, but I am not familiar with them all. Do you know what it means? Can you exin it to me?" Freed from his surprise, the projection gathered himself and looked at Lex in a new light. At least his sense of derision was gone. "Yes, even if you did not ask, I was going to go over everything systematically so you fully understand everything. You attaining sufficient skill and ability are paramount to killing that deity, so we have to start by capitalizing on your existing skills and abilities before moving onto new ones. Or at least, that was my original n. That will have to be amended for now. "Let''s start with your bone age. I doubt you need an exnation for that. There is a difference between bone age and soul age, so why are we measuring your bone age? This is because, in humans, the younger the body, the greater its learning capability. If there was no urgency due to the situation, I would say that you have entered the temple in the best state possible! I would have designed a 100 year training program for you that would have made you more powerful than you can even imagine! "But we have no time for that. All you need to keep in mind is that everything will be easier for you to understand right now than it will beter on. That is not to say you cannot learn new things at a greater age! Not at all. In fact, the benefits of a greater age are also phenomenal, but just that for your purpose now, your age is perfect! "Next up is your cultivation. The ideal would have been if you entered as a mortal, but once again that would also only be in the situation where we didn''t need to kill a deity. As it is, Golden core will have to suffice. We do not have time to raise your cultivation. "Then¡­ thenes your cultivation talent." At this point the projection stopped speaking, and looked at Lex as if he were some kind of monster. "Your measured cultivation talent has surpassed the gic and biological limit of your race. It''s not as if such a thing has never happened before. It''s just that¡­ it''s exceedingly rare, and each time was a result of very extraordinary circumstances. With your cultivation talent, I would rmend you do not leave the Temple untilbe an immortal, at the very least. It would be a shame if you died due to your own weakness in this brutal universe." The projection paused once again, its thoughts unknown. Eventually, it continued speaking as if it no longer wished to dwell on the topic - it seemed to have brought back bad memories. "The next is your physique. This is very unusual, as you seem to have 2 different physiques, or possibly even more! But the scanner is having an issue because it''s impossible to have more than one physique, as you only have one body! What the scanner is detecting are the associated abilities of each physique. "Both of them are exceptionally rare, so to see them together is mind-boggling! The first is the Empyrean Resonance. I must say that this is one of the most sought after physiques in the universe in every single race! Unfortunately, its result is not always good for the one who has it. This physique can, under the influence of many factors, cause an evolution through resonance in its race members! That is to say, this physique brings you little to no benefit, but is of great use to the human race! "If it is ever detected by someone significant enough, it is not an exaggeration to say that you may be captured, and then used to forcefully bring about an evolution in others. The good thing is that you yourself can also benefit from these evolutions, so if you learn how to control it, you can cause yourself to evolve in a direction of your choosing! In essence, you can use your physique to multiply the effects and changes brought about by your cultivation technique!" The projections'' words were like a p of thunder in his ears and stunned Lex. What the hell? As if he didn''t have enough problems trying to hide the system, now he had to hide the ability of his body as well? "Thenes the ability of your second physique¡­" Chapter 889 Training direction Chapter 889 Training direction ??Lex''s mind was spinning as he considered the implications of his physique. The projection had spoken about it simply, but he was curious to the scale and extent of the evolution he could cause. What were triggers for such an evolution? Could he specifically target someone, or did it happen randomly? How could he hide this ability, or prevent it from showing? Did¡­ did his parents know about his physique? But that would still not exin why they kept cultivation a secret from him! Did they¡­ perhaps want to use his physique for themselves? But if they had, they would have kept a closer watch on him, and probably already used it already. Then again, there was no proof they knew about it at all. Even Lex had no idea about his own physique until right now, so how could they have learnt about it? "Thenes the ability of your second physique," said the projection, disturbing Lex''s thoughts, and restoring his attention to the matter at hand. "Soulforge Unity is also exceptionally rare, but it has its benefits and drawbacks. If you don''t have an appropriate cultivation technique, it could be harmful for you! But if you do, you will almost always be superior to your peers! It basically means your soul has fused with your physical body and spirit. "Right now, you may already be enjoying some of its benefits, such as increased strength and defense, as well as a higher intellect and memory - basically a boost in performance in all aspects. But you have not even begun to touch upon the true benefits such a physique offers. At the Nascent realm you will unlock a few more abilities, but it trulyes into y at the Immortal level! "This is one of the few physiques that stays relevant regardless of your level, and actually bes more effective as you grow stronger. Other physiques gradually weaken in effect as you yourself grow stronger. We can evaluate your cultivation techniqueter. This is one of the reasons why I said we will have to make do with your Golden core cultivation. If you need to transition to a different one that suits your physique, you will have to recultivate from the beginning." "No need," Lex said, having already collected himself. It did not matter how dangerous his first physique was as he was going to lock the Inn for the foreseeable future. He did not intend on interacting with others any time soon. He could slowlye up with a solution to his problem. Moreover, he suspected that his Soulforge Unity physique was originally supposed to be Regal Physique, but since he changed cultivation techniques, it settled into this. What truly intrigued him was when the projection said that he may have even more physiques, but that the scanner could not detect them. This was because typically, one person could only have one physique. Having two or more should result in their fusion, which would more than likely produce an adverse effect rather than a beneficial one. But due to his cultivation technique, Lex served as an exception to this rule. Or maybe his original physique yed a part in it as well. Maybe it helped him evolve in such a way that he could maintain the benefits of multiple physiques without losing them. "My cultivation technique can cater to the situation with my soul. I will have no problems progressing further."N?v(el)B\\jnn The projection paused, and studied Lex once more. He knew just how difficult it was to get one''s hands on such a technique, since even the temple had only a few of them. It seemed this baby''s background was not simple. But then again, considering hispanion and his own qualifications, it only made sense. "The next is your bloodline. The scanner detected mutations within your bloodline, but also that your bloodline is unknown. That is not something unusual. New bloodlines form all the time, and the temple has been hidden for too long. But even so, we have the means to study your bloodline and design the best possible training for it, so you do not need to be concerned on that front. "Instead, it''s the next section that will cause an issue, your affinities. One, two, maybe even three affinities is something you can deal with. But with so many affinities¡­ child, the issue is not even if you can master them anymore. You can ignore them, and study them one by one with time. If a year is not enough then 10, if that isnot enough then a 100, if that is not enough then a 1000! As a cultivator, your lifespan will not trouble you, especially once you be an immortal. "But the issue is¡­ with so many affinities, your tribtion will be magnified for each affinity you contain. As of right now, that''s 125 affinities! Your tribtion will be 125 times more difficult than ordinary! I''m not saying it''s impossible to ovee, but it will be a huge headache! The reason for the increased difficulty has to do withws, and is not something you should think about right now. Although it''s troublesome, the temple can help you. The reason I''m mentioning this to you is that¡­ I strongly suspect you have a method to gain affinities on your own! If so, I strongly rmend you to stop, at least until you be an immortal first! Each new affinity will increase the difficulty of your tribtion!" Lex, who waspletely ready to feel smug, felt as if a bucket of cold water had been dumped over his head. What was this nonsense? His tribtion would be more difficult for each affinity he had? That was absurd! What kind of rule was this? "That¡­ that doesn''t make sense. How is that fair?" Lex could not help but mutter. He was nning on absorbing more items withws during the Inn''s lockdown. Now his ns had been thwarted. The projection could not help but click his tongue. The baby could pick up affinities on a whim, but the increased difficulty in the tribtion was the unfair part? "Nheless, your affinities are still useful for you now, especially since you even have one for divinity! This will y a big role in aiding you to kill the deity inside the temple. I n on focusing your immediate training in this direction. If youhave any other affinities you would like to focus on, you can suggest them now, but I rmend that you do not focus on too many. The fewer you focus on, the more time you will be able to give each one." "Space affinity," Lex said immediately. "Everything aside, I need to increase my mastery of space as much as possible." Although space would be useful inbat, he needed to improve his mastery of it for other reasons. When going out to save the battalion, he already considered that he may get stuck outside of it. He had already made ns if such a thing should happen, but the better his mastery of space, the greater confidence he would have inpleting his n. "Alright, focusing on Divinity and Space is still manageable. By the way, once the matter with the deity is resolved, I would suggest you also focus on Regeneration or Healing. It''s not a bad thing to be able to heal or recover quickly. But since we are pressed for time, we can ignore it for now. "Next up are your innate abilities. These alle to you innately, and can be practiced simultaneously. They will not slow you down, and in fact, the gains you receive will be tremendous for the amount of effort. Herculean strength, especially, seems so ordinary and mundane, but is, in my opinion, one of the best abilities to unlock! "Prophetic Intuition will also be an incredible asset inbating the deities'' more elusive and mystical techniques. Such an ability, should I say that you''re lucky or that you''re tremendously lucky? If you ever decide to be an oracle, you could casually pick any random divination art and get better results than most! But I don''t rmend you go down that path. Ites with too many drawbacks. "Your skills are quite diverse. I will have to see your proficiency in them before picking which one to focus on, as they could all be beneficial in your hunt. Or, if you have a preference you can mention it yourself." Lex thought for a minute. While he had many thoughts on the matter, he thought now was a good time to further expand his swordsmanship since it could help him suppress that sword in his soul. Speaking of which, that sword had also not been detected by the scan. Was there a specific reason for that? "Swordsmanship," he said simply without borating. "Alright, not a problem. Moving on, it''s no surprise that you have no Universal Blessing. Those are not so easy toe by. It''s also fortunate that you are not suffering from any curses. But your affiliated divinities¡­ they may as well be curses as well." Chapter 890 Half a Deity Slayer Chapter 890 Half a Deity yer ??Lex had already realized that everything he had umted was not necessarily for the best. He used to think that gaining more affinities was beneficial, and while it was to an extent, the price was simrly steep. The worst part was, Lex had so many affinities that as of right now he could not even capitalize on the benefits they should have provided him. So now he was stuck with the price without gaining any of the benefits. It was as if he bought a hundred manual cars, the bank had sent him the bill with a deadline, but he did not even know how to move his legs, let alone drive! To be honest, he was navigating his cultivation without proper or systematic guidance, and he often came in contact with amazing opportunities so he could not be med for always trying to grab onto them. But it seemed that, sometimes, it was better to give up those opportunities thantch onto them. He listened to the projection seriously as he was about to discuss the matter regarding his divinity. He did not know why he put so much faith in the projection - it was as if something deep inside of him did not doubt a single word he said, despite the fact that he kept being looked down on. "If you were anyone else, I would guide you to the path of divinity. There is a predefined, systematic way in which you can transition from cultivating yourself to cultivating divinity. The benefits you get on the path of divinity are tremendous. Not only can you grow your strength at an iparable speed, but you can also avoid the traditional tribtions you would have to experience. "Moreover,pared to the average cultivator, a deity is always more powerful and is a lot more versatile. They are also harder to kill, and have longer lifespans. At a nce, it seems like there are only endless benefits and no drawbacks. But the truth is, to someone incredibly talented, such as yourself, the divinity path is a leash, holding you back from fulfilling your true potential. "First of all, as a deity, your life-force will be inextricably linked to your believers. That means, regardless of how strong you are, if someone targets your believers and kills them all, and your associated belief vanishes, you are at risk of certain death or, at the very least, a severe drop in power! That''s because deities don''t absorb energy in the normal way. They absorb divine energy channeled to them through their believers. "Your growth will also be linked to the growth of your associated belief or beliefs. You will also be inevitably trapping yourself, for a deity can only travel either where his or her belief exists, or in special areas filled with divine energy so that it can sustain their existence.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Although saying such a thing is being too hopeful, deities also have an upper limit to their growth, after which, regardless of how much their belief grows, they will not grow fundamentally stronger. While that limit is too far from you, and there is no guarantee you will ever even reach it, you at least have the potential to do so. "Much more importantly, someone with the opportunities that you have definitely has the potential to surpass deities on the same level. There is basically no reason for you to make such a transition. "But the issue is, there are already two distinct traces of divinity on you, and they are both strong enough to be detected. That means that there are two separate beliefs forming around you or your actions, and that your body has already received some of the associated divine energy and begun to form a shell of your divinity. Fortunately, someone or something seems to have absorbed all the divine energy instead of letting it store in your body. "Despite having an affinity for divinity, if divine energy harnessed from a specific belief begins to store within your body, it will be like poison in your system. It will directly sh with the spiritual energy in your body, and put you at great risk for cultivation deviation! That is why my suggestion to you will be to remove both of those from your body. "But worry not. Removing them does not mean you will lose out on benefits. Instead, you''ll be able to use them even better than you currently can! The divinity will be moved from you to an iconic or symbolic item, which you can then bond with. The items will continue to grow stronger as the belief grows, and can be exceptionally strong weapons or tools if the belief reaches a sufficient level! "Speaking of bonds, we havepletely skipped discussing your bonds so far. There''s a reason for that. Typically, bonded items and creatures don''t directly increase your own strength. While you have some¡­ unusual bonds, that seems to be the case for you as well. I would not rmend bonding to too many items or beings until you reach the immortal level. "However¡­ there are still some things we still need to discuss regarding your bonds. I¡­ you, eh, the bond you have with the World Seed Lotus¡­ That is quite an unusual bond, not to mention it is in a partial state. If we can study it, or if you can exin the details to me, we may be able to use this to give you a major boost quite quickly. It can even help in restraining the deity. "The same is the case with the Fenrir. Actually, Fenrir''s are particrly potent against deities, so if it is strong enough, it could be extremely useful. Though, since the temple is focused on human development, I cannot help you strengthen the Fenrir. "Actually, if your Dragon Treasure spirit has been close to any real dragons, and has absorbed some of their aura, then that could be useful as well. It''s almost like you''re already halfway into being a Deity yer on your own!" Chapter 891 Speculations I Chapter 891 Spections I ??While the projection and Lex were discussing his immediate training ns, the major forces who had gathered outside the Temple of Fasting were waiting patiently for the cosmic cloud to bepletely absorbed. At the current rate of absorption, only a few more hours remained. What would happen after that was a mystery, but many were hoping that the temple doors would open and they would get a chance to peek into its mysteries. Of course, there were many theories around, but theories and rumors alone were not enough to dissuade the major yers of the realm from their actions.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Even a Henali stood out in space and watched quietly from a distance. While usually, with a robe covering its body, a Henali would look like a scorpion without its pincers, the one in space wearing battle armor looked quite different. None could see the 20 eyes hidden all over its body, as the eyes and scales were both covered by a firm, curved sheet of metal that served as a chest te. Yet two massive wings, which it normally kept retracted and hidden under robes, were fully extended, escaping the confines of the armor as if they needed no protection. Such a sight, of an eight-legged, two winged creature with a massive stinger for a tail, any who saw it tremble and pale. Compared to dragons, who directly oppressed others with its aura, Henali struck fear into the hearts with just its appearance as a predator! But at the same time, there were many who could suppress that fear, or simply knew better about the situation. Dragons, deities, devils, elves, angels and more had gathered together, and even more watched from afar. Rocketfellow happened to be one of those who was watching from afar. His dark room was empty now, as all the other viewers had departed. The zealot had given a good, entertaining performance, and the sight of a human pinning down a deity was quite refreshing, but none of them could wait around for months for a final resolution. Besides, a majority of the battalion had already escaped, so what did it matter if one or two of them died in the void, or somehow made it into the temple? But Rocketfellow did not think the show was over. No, instead he had spent thest few months thinking about what really happened, and what this all meant. In the final moment, right as his formations around the were destroyed, he detected a curse hidden deep inside the being set free. Shortly after, this mysterious Temple of Fasting appeared. What did it mean? Clearly, it meant that he was in even less control than he thought. The Innkeeper knew exactly what he was doing, and like he was using the zealot as a scapegoat, the Innkeeper used him as a scapegoat to reveal this temple. Rocketfellow had no doubt whatsoever that Lex and Z had made it inside the temple somehow. After all, if this were the Innkeepers n from the very beginning, then he must want something from it. But what did that mean for Rocketfellow? Was he to continue his efforts? Was that also a n of the Innkeeper? How deep did this ploy go? Should he leave while he was ahead, or should he keep trying to get his hands on one of the Midnight Inns workers? The others did not know this, but being the child of a Dao Lord actually meant very little. Even he did not know how many siblings he had, and how many of them had died and how many had lived. Everything that he had right now, his power, position, recognition, were all gathered by his own efforts! Not only did he have to arrange for his own forces, he had to watch out for his father''s enemies, and even his own siblings! He needed every possible extra edge, and gaining a truly sublime raw material for demons in the form of Midnight Inn workers would go a long way, farther than anyone realized. Just as he was nning and plotting, another devil appeared behind him, unbeknownst to him! "Young master, the lord has summoned you," the devil whispered, his voice filled with a sense of respect he had never heard before. Rocketfellow trembled from the core of his being! He could count the number of times he had met his father on a single hand, so the fact that he was being summoned now was a huge deal! He did not hesitate at all and immediately stood up. He followed the mysterious devil through a portal to Garvitz, thergest realm controlled by devils! A number of helpers were standing awaiting Rocketfellow''s arrival, and as soon as he appeared, they began to prepare him. He wore a special kind of armor and clothing that would ensure that he did not immediately die in case his father showed a minor fluctuation in aura. Even though a Dao lord could control their aura perfectly, no level of precaution was too little when facing a being of such a high level. Bundled up like a newborn baby about to enter the freezing cold, the devil was finally led to the room where he was to meet his father. Yet the moment he entered, he saw not only his father but also the Dao Lord Ballom! "Greetings, seniors," Rocketfellow said as he kneeled immediately and turned his gaze to the floor. One must not look at a Dao Lord without permission. With his own father, he could have some leeway with such matters, but definitely not with another! "No need to kneel, child. Come, sit. You have impressed me," spoke his father in an amiable tone. Clearly, he was in a very good mood! Rocketfellow did not try to be humble or reject the invitation. Once a Dao Lord said something, only those with a death-wish would try to negate it. Rocketfellow could not help but think of the contrast. He had met the Innkeeper a few times, but for some reason each time he forgot the deep-seated reverence he was supposed to feel, as well as the fear. The warmth of the Innkeeper naturally made it so one would befortable in his presence. Until this very moment, he had never noticed how easily the very presence of a Dao Lord could affect his mentality and thought process. Chapter 892 Speculations II

Chapter 892 Spections II

?Without saying a word, or any superfluous actions, Rocketfellow walked up to his father and sat down beside, exactly where he had pointed to earlier. Even still, his gaze was towards the ground as he dared not look up without instruction. "Can you guess why it is that I have called you here?" his father asked casually. The Dao Lord was seated right beside him, left leg resting on his right knee, his arms spread wide on the arch of the sofa. Ballom, the other devil Dao Lord, was standing across the room sipping a drink, smiling simrly. Whatever the asion was, it was a good one. "Does it have to do with my actions against Midnight?" Rocketfellow asked, aware that in truth it could be absolutely anything. But in this particr instance, he was right. "Indeed. Do you know what that temple is?" "ording to what I''ve learned, it is the Temple of Fasting." "Correct again. Do you know who that temple belongs to?" "I have not been able to get a definitive answer." "Nor will you," answered Ballom, interjecting in the conversation. "I must say, I am embarrassed," the Dao Lord continued. "I have met the Innkeeper a few times now. He even hinted to me that there is much hidden within the Origin realm. But I foolishly searched in the unknown parts of the realm, and discovered nothing. Who knew that what was hidden was in in sight. In fact, much more may still be hidden in the Origin realm. The reason he so tantly unveiled the cover behind this temple was to send a message, to me, but more importantly, to the Henali as well." The Dao Lord chuckled as he approached and sat down as well. Ballom continued, "did you know, child, that the Henali once summoned the Innkeeper to a conference. He was displeased with their tardiness so he left. The Henali ckmailing him into participating in the war must have displeased him even further, or he would not have used you to draw the curtain and unveil his background just a bit." Rocketfellow''s heart was thumping fast as he tried to wrap his head around everything. The Innkeeper used him? Was the whole thing the Innkeepers n? But, in his mind, he was nning everything from the start! He was even trying to be clever, but as it turns out, he was just following the path the Innkeeperid out for him. Devils rarely ever got goosebumps. Instead, they would shift from their dormant form into their devil form instinctively when they felt such strong emotions. Rocketfellow, too, began to subconsciously shift, but his father ced a hand on his shoulder and stopped the transformation. "Do you know why he made the announcement in such a public way? Do you know why we specifically brought you here to talk about it?" his father asked, his voice still quite pleasant. "No," he managed to answer without stuttering. Rocketfellow felt like a puppet. Were any of his actions ever his own? Was every thought he ever had a result of the will of a Dao Lord? "Fret not, child. You have my aura on you. A Dao Lord will not touch you, especially one as amicable as the Innkeeper. He merely guided you a bit, not because of anything else, but because he wanted to send the message to me, Ballom and those from our group. He wanted to let us know of his affiliation with¡­ with her, one of mankind''s greatest backers. At the same time, he used his background to threaten the Henali. "He was not even afraid to do it publicly, because as soon as the temple disappears, all memory of it will vanish. Only Dao Lords will remember it. That is also the reason we called you here, to make sure that your memories would not change, and you would understand that, as of now, we are in the same camp as the Innkeeper. In the future, you will be the messenger between the Innkeeper and us. As for these foolish games of capturing his people, you better put them to rest. What he did to Ra in a single move is not so simple, even for a Dao Lord." Rocketfellow was doing his best to keep his mind from reeling as he understood the scale of the game that he had unwittingly entered. "Who - who is ''she''?" he managed to ask, knowing full well it was a pointless question the answer to which he would soon forget. "Who else backs up the humans, and all humanoid races, so openly in the realm wars? It is Nuwa¡­" n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om ***** In the Void behind space, right in front of the Temple of Fasting, stood Ripley, the auditor from the Versalis bank. He was writing something on his clipboard when the temple finally consumed the entire cosmic cloud, and then disappeared. It happened instantly, and without any fanfare. At the same time, all record of the temple having been there was wiped across the entire realm. Only in the memory of a few beings, as well as on the paper attached to his clipboard, was the mention of the temple retained. For a few seconds, Ripley did nothing, and continued to stare at the ce the temple had just been. Eventually, he could not help but sigh, and he took out a special device that linked him back to the local branch. "Please forward my initial audit review. The mortgage agreement for the Origin realm needs to be renegotiated. I don''t doubt the Henali''s capability to stick to the agreed terms, or rather, their intention to stick to it. But unless all Dao Lords in the realm swear an oath to keep information about the temple a secret, it won''t be long before the Origin realm enters the realm wars. At this rate¡­ I doubt the realm will have time to mature. A new n needs to be drawn up." Ripley sighed. Being assigned to this realm was supposed to be his vacation. Why were things so inconvenient for him? Chapter 893 Bonding Uranus

Chapter 893 Bonding Uranus

?Lex finally stepped off the tform and followed the projection to another room while he considered his future ns. Killing Ra seemed like the most urgent matter. Since they already had a vendetta, Lex did not want to see him bing stronger, so it seemed that for now his objective was aligned with the projections. To reach Ra, ording to the projection, Lex would have to go through approximately 8 tests, each one giving him ess to deeper parts of the temple as well as more authority. The projection promised to reduce the difficulty of the tests to the best of its ability, making it easy for Lex to reach Ra. But apparently, the deity had regained some of its strength by plundering the various divinities hidden in the temple, so Lex would not have such an easy time facing it asst time. What to do after he defeats Ra¡­ Lex put that aside for now. Instead, he focused on his immediate ns. The projection had offered him guidance and aid in his training, and Lex could not really find a w with the n, so he would go along with it for now. "What''s your name?" Lex asked the projection. "I''m Lex, by the way." "Mateo," the projection answered simply. "I am one of the many caretakers of the temple. Unfortunately, in its current state, the rest of the caretakers are dormant. Even I would be dormant if you all had not entered." "And there''s not much you can tell me about the origin of the temple," Lex stated, as if he did not even need to ask. "Sometimes, information can be more harmful than helpful. Since the temple was hidden, it was clearly done so for a reason. If you know too much about the temple, its enemies will sense it. Then¡­ there is no then. You will cease to exist after that, since the temple will automatically kill you to protect its secrets." Lex frowned. It seemed like things were moreplicated than they appeared, but none of that mattered. Lex would eventually retreat to the Inn, and even if he wanted to continue using the temple afterwards, he could simply use it without looking into its secrets. As Lex and Mateo talked, they passed through a myriad number of halls and rooms. The temple was absolutely massive, and Lex could not tell how far it would go. Eventually they reached an internal teleportation pad, through which the two reached a new area entirely. While the previous section looked like a hostel, or living area, the ce they had entered now looked more like aboratory of epic proportions. "It will take some time to prepare for the removal of your divinities," Mateo said, thebing to life around them. Certain machines which had not moved in an unknown number of years finally began to tremble, and others began roaring as they came to life. For a brief second, Lex felt a tremendous amount of energy umte in his surroundings before a shield covered the area, and the energy was suppressed. "In the meantime, why don''t you tell me about your bonds?" Lex jumped up on a table so that he would be at eye level with Mateo, and took off his tiny shirt. He pointed to his back, which was in and ordinary. But then, after a few seconds, a tattoo of a lotus began to appear. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "For certain reasons, the Lotus is apanying me. But I never officially bonded with it, it just attached itself to my back. But earlier on, the tattoo never vanished. At the same time, it protected my back from any kind of damage. Buttely, it has stopped negating the damage to my back, and often the tattoo disappears. "Currently, the Lotus is asleep. It''s helped me quite a few times, sometimes to heal me, and other times to refine my body. But doing so uses up its energy, so the Lotus has been sleeping a lottely." Mateo studied the tattoo for a while, as if his eyes alone were enough to understand its intricacies. "Even if you did not bond the Lotus initially, because it has been so closely connected to you for so long, and it has helped refine your body so much, it has naturally developed a bond to you. But since neither of you have ever purposely tried to connect the bond, it is only partial. My rmendation to you is that you try to build the bond. In the short term, it will be tremendously beneficial to you. But in the long term, even the Lotus will benefit from it. "When a World Seed Lotus blooms into a world, its consciousness will fall asleep, and eventually fade. The world will then gain a new sentience of its own. But if it is bonded with you, it can use that bond to help prevent it from falling asleep. That will naturally ensure that its consciousness is not reced." Lex frowned. Although there were about 499,999 years until the Lotus bloomed, he was already quite attached to it. The idea that it may die, or have its consciousness fade, was quite off-putting. But at the same time, he did not want to force or trick the Lotus into a bond like it had done with Pelvailin. "I''llmunicate with it to see if it is willing to form a bond," Lex said, informing the projection of his decision. "Don''t do it here. Follow me. There''s a special room that facilitates bonding between humans ands. Although the seed has not turned into a world yet, it qualifies for the same treatment." "There''s a specific room for that? How often do people bond withs?" Lex asked, astounded. "It''s prettymon, actually," Mateo said. "Even if the world does not gain sentience, when people be higher-level immortals, they get sentimental. They often bond with their homes, and take them around with them." "Right, of course. Because why wouldn''t they?" Lex asked, his mind already filled with different ideas about going back to the sr system and bonding with Uranus when the time came. Chapter 894 Boulder bath Chapter 894 Boulder bath ??Lex followed Mateo through the massiveboratory as it woke up from its ancient slumber. There seemed to be a noticeableg in response, as certain doors opened after half a second, and the lights flickered on just a moment after they had already entered a room. Lex did not mind, for it was eptable for such things to be slowed down after such a long period of time. His only concern was what other issues might present when he began to actually use some of these facilities - such as a room designed to support the bonding of a! Just as he was reconsidering his course of action, they reached the aforementioned room. It was¡­ surprisingly mundane. It was square and barely 1000 square feetrge (92 square meters). The walls were padded, but besides that the roomcked any other distinguishing feature. In the very middle was a bathtub that looked like it had been carved out of a boulder and ced here. There was no other furniture there, or anything else for that matter. Lex failed to see how this could be a good room to build a bond, unless bathing had something to do with it. As it turned out, it did. "Wear this," the projection said, materializing a skintight gray suit. It had random bulges here and there, with something clearly hidden inside but Lex could not tell what it was. He eyed the projection curiously, but Mateo kept holding it out. Lex grabbed it and began to undress, quickly changing into the unusual attire. It also came with a mask that was positively unttering, but Lex put it on anyway.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "When you get in the tub, it will slowly fill with a certain liquid. You don''t need to worry, it won''t harm you, but you will feel like it will. You will feel a massive pressure weighing you down, but the suit you''re wearing will keep you from getting hurt. Once your body ispletely submerged, that is when I rmend that you wake up the Lotus and begin your conversation. I strongly suspect that the Lotus will agree once you share the information I have given you. "The bonding process for the Lotus will be different. Here, take this. It records the technique you can use to maximize yourpatibility while the bond forms. The process will be long, and you will get immediate feedback due to the bond. The Lotus will also use your body to absorb the liquid, which will once again put a lot of pressure on you, but do not be rmed as you will be perfectly safe throughout." Lex grabbed the memory crystal the projection held out, and scanned it with his spirit sense. The technique was simple enough, and he learnt it after a single reading. He was not sure how intense the pressure Mateo mentioned would be, but Lex was fairly confident in himself. A tiny body though he may have, it did not in any way diminish his strength. The only thing that left him somewhat concerned¡­ was that Mateo had mentioned that sentimental immortals bondeds. Was it safe for him to do so while he was in the Golden core? Lex put those thoughts out of his mind andy down in the tub, barely upying 10% of it with his tiny body. "I am reminding you once again, do not be concerned. It''s some pressure, but your suit will protect you. Your mask will allow you to breathe normally. Just rx your mind, and focus on the lotus and the bond. Ignore everything else." Mateo repeatedly telling him not to be concerned did not raise any gs at all for Lex. After all, it was exactly when there was nothing to be concerned about that one usually said not to worry! Lex had closed his eyes and focused on his breathing, yet the moment the liquid entered the tub and touched Lex, he knew why Mateo kept reminding him. The liquid, which seemed to seep out of the boulder itself, was piercing cold to the touch, but that was not the issue. The issue was that as soon as a single drop of it touched his body, Lex felt as if a mountain had been smashed onto him! The liquid was barely touching him, and had not even submerged him yet, but Lex felt a pressure greater than he had ever felt! Even the crushing might of the Void that hud turned him into a meatball could notpare to the pressure. Then another drop of liquid touched Lex, and the pressure doubled! Lex tried to move his body, to determine if he could move at all, and to his great relief found that there was no obstruction in movement. The fact that he could move his body, even after being under such immense pressure, indicated that the effect was psychological rather than physical. After all, he would not be able to move if he really had been under such pressure. It felt like Lex had been buried deep underground and thousands upon thousands of tonnes of soil and been dumped atop of him. After that a couple of mountains had been dropped on him as well. Maybe a few nuclear and hydrogen bombs were blown up above him as well just for good measure. Reigning in his thoughts that seemed somewhat panicked after the initial surprise, Lex waited for his body to be submerged so that he could wake up the Lotus. What he didn''t know was that Mateo was bbergasted upon noticing that Lex could actually move! This liquid weighed 1000 tonnes per drop, and had the unusual property of affecting gravity of anything it touched. That meant that even if the drop was under Lex, he would feel the pressure as if it was atop him. The weight of his liquid could even be felt in zero gravity areas, such as space, that is how unusual it was. He had not expected Lex to be able to move under the weight of even one drop, but he seemed fine even after a few of them were touching him! Chapter 895 Weight gain Chapter 895 Weight gain ??While Lex had misunderstood the situation, assuming that the pressure he felt was not real, Mateo knew better. Without the suit he was wearing he would have died under that pressure. But as surprising as Lex''s situation was, Mateo too was not someone ordinary. His experiences and background afforded him an understanding andprehension that few had. He recalled Lex''s many abilities and affinities, and immediately joined the dots. Lex had an unusual affinity for Laws. Not any one specificw, or multiplews, but justws in general. He could physically touch that which had no physical form, and influence that which defined the fabric of reality. Given this, it was not surprising that the gravity and pressurews in the liquid could not hold Lex down. After all, his body was naturally affecting the veryws holding him down. He could just move them aside, though technically that is not how it worked. "I''ll need to reevaluate his training n," Mateo murmured. He could not imagine how anyone outside the temple could make such a freak. The temple of fasting was one of the ces where, in ancient times, humans woulde to endure hardship and improve themselves. The more they could endure, the greater their attainments would be. Some of the humans personally guided by Lady Nuwa achieved even greater qualifications than Lex. But that was due to thedies'' intervention. How could someone reach such a state without her aid and guidance? Lex and Z must have a terrifying background. As Mateo was contemting his ns, Lex managed to enter a state where hepletely ignored the pulverizing pressure crushing his very being. It was easier than expected, mostly due to the fact that Lex had been thoroughly training his mind. Now, even with his instincts screaming impending doom, Lex could calm himself downpletely. In fact, he did not waste his time while the liquid umted. At its current rate, it would take a couple of hours, so Lex began to cultivate. Ordinarily, one would need a very calm environment to cultivate, but for Lex it was not so. The more diverse situations he encountered, the more his technique could allow him to grow, and prepare him for various situations. Right now, facing a pressure greater than even that of the Void but not taking any actual harm, Lex entered such a state that his technique started to prepare his body to tolerate such extreme environments. Moreover, his body began to absorb minute amounts of the liquid. Besides its exaggerated weight, the liquid contained more energy than anything Lex had ever encountered. Not even the Blue Crystal Essence that the Lotus had once absorbed long ago couldpare. After all, this liquid was fuel for the construction of a living, thriving world after all! The value of the liquid surrounding him could only be measured in the millions of MT, not even MP! Of course, that was not important. The most important thing was¡­ though Lex''s body was tiny, the moment it absorbed even a microscopic speck of the liquid, his weight took a massive jump! Naturally his defense also increased monumentally, to the point where it rivaled, if not crossed the level Regal Embrace would have had at his current cultivation level. But that was a gradual process which could not be rushed. Mateo naturally noticed Lex absorbing the liquid and his eyes wavered. This liquid was meant to be for celestial bodies such ass and stars, not humans! But seeing as how Lex did not explode, he said nothing. It seemed the temple had been in hiding for too long, so Mateo was out of touch with contemporary cultivation. A couple of hourster, Lex''s tiny body waspletely submerged though the tub was far from full. But that was enough for now. Lex could at least begin the process. His spirit sense extended to his back and touched upon the sleeping consciousness of the Lotus. Gently, Lex nudged the Lotus, trying to rouse it from slumber. It took a few tries, but Lex eventually felt his tattoo warming up. It seemed that as the Lotus awoke, it automatically absorbed some of the liquid to replenish its energy. "Wow, what''s going on? I feel great!" the Lotus eximed, its voice full of energy and vigor! The image of a young boy enthusiastically flexing his biceps popped in Lex''s mind as he heard the Lotus'' voice. "My body is submerged in a special liquid to provide you with some energy. I''m about to ask you a very important question, so the liquid is in preparation for that." "What''s the matter?" the Lotus asked, though it waspletely distracted. Underneath Lex''s skintight suit, his tattoo was slowly moving across his skin, as if it was a young child ying in the bathtub for the first time. When that thought urred to Lex, he realized that technically, a majority of his workers were technically newborn babies. Given that, it only seemed fitting that Lex too now looked like a baby.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om He pushed away the random thought and focused back on the Lotus. "I have been informed that once you bloom, and form a, you will fall into a deep sleep, and eventually be reced by a new consciousness. But if we create a bond, I''ll be able to help you retain your consciousness, and ovee that obstacle. That way you will continue to live on as the new world." The Lotus, which was dancing along excitedly just a moment earlier, stopped. Lex thought the news had shocked the Lotus, until it said, "I know. That''s how it''s supposed to be." Lex tried to bite his lip, but his new teeth had barely emerged from his gums so it was harder than it seemed. "I don''t know if you''re aware, but the Inn will be forming a new realm in a year. When that happens, it will be filled with extraordinary energy. I n on being there for that, so you will likely absorb a lot of it as well. I don''t know how that will affect you, but I think it will definitely speed up your blooming process. If you can continue to live, I don''t see a reason for you to give up so easily." "But¡­ but¡­" the Lotus was having a tough time putting words to its thoughts. It was filled with both tion, and a certain dread. Chapter 896 Bonding Chapter 896 Bonding ??Lex could not see the Lotus with his eyes, but sensing it with his spirit sense was almost the same. In fact, to a degree, it allowed him to see the Lotus a lot better, and detect minor details he would have missed if he relied on ordinary eyesight. Usually, in his interactions with the Lotus, he was the one in need of help. At times like that, the Lotus presented itself very maturely andpetently, making Lex forget that it was a newborn. Actually, technically, it wasn''t even born yet. It was the human equivalent of being in the womb. Now that the issue regarded the Lotus itself, it was filled with hesitation and doubt. The previous confidence it was equipped with seemed gone, and in its ce there was uncertainty and hesitation. "What are your concerns?" Lex asked, softly. "Let''s talk through it." "It is my purpose!" the Lotus eximed, as if that itself was enough to exin things to Lex. "My purpose is to prepare as best as possible to give birth to the best world possible. If I evolve and grow, all the better. Since I am taking your help in fulfilling my purpose, then it is only natural that I reward you as well. Plus it is an honor to serve the needs of the Midnight Inn!" The Lotus, like every other entity naturally born in the Inn, was an Inn employee by default. Only if guests gave birth, or left behind certain items that would give birth, would the newborn not automatically be an Inn employee. That exined itspulsion to help Lex, to a degree. But Lex was quickly understanding its mindset. It was unfortunate that for something that had apanied him so long, he understood it so little. He did not even ask for a name and simply stuck to calling it Lotus, but it felt odd to call it anything else now. Either way, it couldn''t be helped since the Lotus spent most of its time asleep. They didn''t really get much of an opportunity to talk. "But once my job isplete, if I remain alive, I will be left without a purpose. Alive for nearly an eternity, all without a purpose¡­ I¡­ I¡­" the Lotus could notplete its sentence, as the mere thought was giving it a panic attack. Lex could sense the inherent desire to live within the Lotus, but it was firmly apanied by its sense of duty that led it to fulfill its task that would ultimately lead to its death in normal situations. Such a mindset was probably needed or else lotus'' of this race would always avoid maturing since that would set them up for death. But this was easy enough to fix. Of all it needed was a purpose, Lex could provide it with one. But providing a purpose sincerely, and one that wouldn''t just take advantage of it needed him to think a bit. Although the lotus was supremely helpful, Lex thought of it as a close friend, and didn''t want to take advantage of it. At the same time, he didn''t want the lotus to die. He had already thought of a loophole he could use to return to the Inn before the new realm was born. If Lex had to guess, there was a 50% chance of it being sessful. In that case, the special energy of a newborn realm would no doubt help the lotus a lot, as well as his other employees and whichever guests remained. "Growing into a is your base function. It is what you are designed to do from birth. But do you know, the things I was designed to do from birth are not even 1% of what I can do now. I have grown beyond myself, beyond imagination even, by cultivating. "Sometimes, I wonder if this is the same life I''m living. If my memories are even real. How is it that in the same life, there was once a time where I used to wake up at 7 am to start getting ready, and go to college and study? That I used to spend hours of my life worrying about homework and tests and exams? How is this the same life where I used to work bad jobs for hours so I could afford to eat at one of my favorite restaurants on the weekend and bevish and carefree for just a couple of hours?" Lex paused, as if he got lost in his memories. Although they sounded harsh and depressing, he still looked back at them fondly. Even in the simplicity of it, he had lived a good life. Now, though, it was just more¡­ well, it was just more. "Cultivation has allowed me to transcend what I could even conceive. Your purpose is to give birth to a world, but why limit yourself to that? Why not cultivate as well? Why not give birth to an entire star system? What about a gxy? What about a realm? What about¡­ what about an entire universe? "If you can manipte energy to create a world, why can you not do more? That''s one purpose, I think. To test the limits of what you can achieve, and set a new standard for your species. Besides, if you stay alive, you can apany me longer. It might sound selfish, but I wouldn''t mind having a friend with me wherever I go. I have a whole universe to explore, and I don''t think there are enough lifetimes to explore all of it. Isn''t it exciting to imagine what could be out there?" The lotus, which had been panicking so far, suddenly paused. It contemted Lex''s idea, testing them out in its mind as one would taste an unfamiliar dish, trying to determine if you liked it or not. "Is¡­ is hanging out with a friend¡­ even a good purpose for life?" the Lotus asked, curiously.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Of course it is!" Lex answered firmly. "It''s the best purpose, in my opinion at least. In fact, not only is it the best purpose, but spending time and enjoying it with your friend is perhaps the greatest celebration of life there is! It is both a purpose for life and a celebration of it!" Lex felt that his words were swaying the lotus'' mind, which was good because he meant it. Besides, after spending so much time with the lotus, he felt attached. He would be sad if it died one day. There was a silence between them that seemed to continue on for an indiscernible amount of time. It could have been mere seconds, but with the weight of all of existence crushing Lex, it felt like an eternity. But the silence was eventually broken by the Lotus. "I just checked," Lotus said. "I cannot alter myself to form anything other than a world." "But does that stop you from growing once you''ve already be a world?" "I¡­ I don''t know. I don''t think it''s ever been tried before." "Then why don''t you try it? Even if you don''t like my previous suggestions, carving out a new and better path for your entire race, and allowing them to reach new peaks, is an extremely noble purpose as well." Lotus trembled, as if Lex''s words were resonating with something deep inside of it. The idea of helping its race sounded noble, at the very least. It gave him just enough of a reason to get over his ingrained belief that he was supposed to die, at which point Lex''s previous suggestion also began to affect it. Lotus had helped Lex numerous times, and had felt the excitement that came when Lex helped him evolve. In a way, they really were friends, and Lotus did not want to abandon its friend. Although it believed that Lex would always have been fine without it, it liked being there to lend help. The thought of Lex alone, facing the dangers of the universe¡­ Suddenly, the idea of creating a bond seemed extraordinarily appealing. "Let''s form a bond!" Lotus said with extreme conviction. Baby Lex''s cheeks had grown out a bit, seeming almost chubby. This had only happened after he absorbed some of the liquid he was surrounded in, so it was a new development. As a result, when Lex heard Lotus'' words and smiled, he actually looked cute! "Yes, let''s¡­" he murmured, and began using the technique given to him by Mateo. Outside, Mateo watched and was pleased to see the progress begin. He began nning for how to increase the benefits from this bond as much as possible,pletely unaware of Lex''s ns of helping Lotus grow into a world within a single year. "He has a long time till the evolution urs and he gets his second round of feedback. In a few hundred thousand years his cultivation should have progressed a lot, so there''s no harm in boosting the lotus as well. Hmm, in that case, we can use the deities corpse, and the curse will do nicely as well¡­" Chapter 897 Bonds

Chapter 897 Bonds

?Ignoring the weight of all existence, crushing down on him was much easier than it sounded. Lex was really too experienced in being ufortable, extremelyfortable, from being cooked alive to having no skin, to let some weight stun his mind - once he got over the initial shock. He was entirely focused on bonding with Lotus, and the process was longer than it had seemed. When Lex bonded with Pelvailin, he had to put in a lot of effort, but this required even more! At least he did not need to supply the energy to facilitate the bond on his own, or else he would have gone broke. The liquid, which had by now filled half the tub, stopped increasing, and then eventually began to drain. As Lex built the bond, Mateo exined the reasoning to him. The projection spoke not through spirit sense, which had the potential to distract Lex, but through some other means that touched a much deeper part of Lex''s mind, automatically transmitting the information to him. "The reason why so much energy is required to bond you with the lotus is because of the fundamental difference in life levels. This is not a difference that can be easily ovee by cultivation. Even if you became an Earth Immortal, the status difference between a single human and a that can support endless lifeforms, a myriad of environments and countless rare and exotic materials is just too great. "This bond will not give you too many immediate benefits, as most of the energy is used in ensuring that you both are safe even after being connected by the bond. That means the bond is veryplex! But it will give you some benefits, nheless. "For one, your body will be able to tolerate any energy that a typical can tolerate. So that, for a human, means you will be able to absorb about 100 million more types of energies from the environment. In short, your cultivation speed will skyrocket! "Second, it will be much harder to curse you, although it will also be much harder to augment you. It''s a bit of a double-edged sword. But we can make use of this feature in your training, so don''t worry. "Third, and most importantly, you will experience a massive gain in status. Essentially, you''re like a walking. So, you will be immune to many of a low level deities'' abilities! I can sense that the deity in the temple is severely weakened and injured, even after its recovery, so suffice to say, you can benefit from this advantage. "Fourth, and you will like this one, the sturdiness of your body will increase by a lot. This does not trante into actual sturdiness or defense, but as someone who wants to increase his spatial abilities, it will be tremendously beneficial to you. "Fifth, your vitality will experience a massive boost. The lotus will benefit by being able to spend longer periods awake, and you will benefit by bing much harder to kill. The fact that you already survived as meat-paste before this upgrade should mean you''re practically unkible in the same level. "There are many more benefits you will get over time, but for now, we will actually focus on developing the lotus instead of you. This is because with your low cultivation level, you can not take full advantage of the boons you will receive. So, for now, it''s more efficient to raise the level of the lotus so that when you finally do benefit from it, you can tolerate greater returns!'' From time to time, Mateo would talk to Lex in this manner. Although it was educational for Lex, the projections real purpose was to ensure Lex''s mind remained stimted lest he mess up the process. If the bonding process was short, this may not have been necessary, but it took Lex nearly five days to absorb all the liquid andplete the bond! It was strange, Lex immediately felt all the benefits Mateo informed him of. But, more importantly, he felt like there was a massive burden ced on him. This burden was not physical, but mental! About 50% of his mental energy suddenly became upied as it tried to grasp certain esoteric abilities and concepts that his body was exposed to. This was the first time a power up made him feel tired instead of energized. Mateo immediately noticed the unusual expression on baby Lex''s face. Despite now having cheeks that looked like dumplings, the subtle frown could be detected through the mountain of cuteness that was Lex''s expression. When Mateo asked Lex what was wrong, and he exined, the projection felt lost and confused. Nothing like this had ever been recorded before. It wasn''t as if Lex was the first person to be bonded to something equivalent to a celestial body, so the process was well documented. The projection suggested Lex get some sleep, which he agreed on. After being escorted to a nearby dorm room, Lex did not even hesitate to fall into bed and doze off. It seemed like he was extremely tired and even snored lightly. Mateo made a note in his logs that perhaps having a baby''s body had affected Lex somehow, and that the process would require further study. In reality, his cultivation technique had made his mind extremely malleable in a way human brains just weren''t. Even though he himself had not experienced it yet due to his low level, such a change would allow him to studyws more easily when he leveled up. For now, though, it was allowing his brain to study some of the lotus'' abilities on a subconscious level. When Lex woke up, he was feeling much better, so they moved onto the next project: fixing Pelvailin! Once again, Mateo provided him with a technique to help him repair the ring, as well as some very valuable material that could be used in its repair. It looked like honey, and did not seem too special even when Lex touched it. But the moment Lex dipped the ring in it, he could feel its potency through his bond, and immediately began using the technique that would repair it. "So you mean to tell me that an actual dragon - like a real life living dragon - had a part of its soul merged with a budding reassure spirit, was absorbed, and then resulted in this strange spirit-dragon amalgamation that believes it was a dragon in its previous life, but retains none of the arrogance or usual personality traits of a dragon?" "Pel is quite timid actually," Lex said. "I''m still very careful not to make the ring too strong in case it can support the entirety of the dragon''s soul, so no idents happen, but no actual incidents have happened with the ring so far. Having a former Heavenly immortal with you is quite informative. I bet he even has a few ways I can fight the deity as well. Although thest time I fought Ra, I didn''t really need the help." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Mateo was resisting the urge to rub its forehead as he absorbed this information. He had never felt threatened in his ability to guide someone before, but he was not so sure he could do better than a Heavenly immortal. After all, he was simply one of the floor managers at the temple. There were countless others like him. "Well, that''s good for us, at least," he said once he got over the shock. I will teach you a technique that will forcefully absorb the deity''s aura into the ring, depriving him not only of his aura, but also any affiliated techniques. I know you said you can resist the usual pressure of a deity''s aura, but do not underestimate their abilities. They are always more versatile than any other race. They can do more with their auras than even dragons." "Yeah, but that won''t overcharge Pel, will it? I don''t want to risk giving too much power to a former Heavenly immortal. There''s no guarantee that he suddenly won''t flip his personality once he''s strong enough." "In the long term, it will. But not immediately. When it initially absorbs the aura, the spirit will actually be suppressed. Moreover, I will also give you another technique to strengthen your bond with the ring. Then it won''t be so easy for it to rebel against you, should it ever decide to do so." "I¡­ well, let me look at the techniques. I''ll decide for myself when I face Ra if I need to absorb his aura." "Tell me more about your Fenrir. With such a rare pet, if you had gone down the path of Beast Master instead of cultivation, your progress would have been astounding. But even as it is, we can make use of it. You may not know this, but the original Fenrir was actually a deity! It somehow transitioned to the cultivators path, in ways that to this day remain a mystery, and ingrained all its previous divine powers into its bloodline. It''s the universe''s foremost race in hunting down deities and angels!" Chapter 898 Curse

Chapter 898 Curse

?"I always thought Fenrir''s abilities were unusual," Lex said as he continued to focus on repairing the ring. "But why does a deity need so much stealth? I thought they would focus more on increasing their strength." "If your bonded Fenrir is unlocking stealth rted abilities, it is only because that is the direction he is unlocking abilities from. That does not mean there are no abilities. The Fenrir I am talking about, the ''original'' Fenrir was born in the Primary realm. Can you imagine a deity born in the first ever realm? A deity worshiped by Primordials? Do you know all the powers he had? No, you don''t, because they are beyond yourprehension. But all you need to know is that even so, as a Deity with such immense power, it still transitioned to the cultivation path." "Wow, Fenrir''s ancestry is a lot grander than I thought," Lex said, genuinely admiring the pup. No wonder it was able to keep up with him in the same realm regardless of how ridiculous his own abilities became. "Yes, now you know. What cultivation level is it at?" "The same as mine," Lex answered offhandedly. "Our bond was special. Whoever has the higher cultivation level is supposed to pull along the other, but for certain reasons, Fenrir never seems to be able to surpass mine." "Have you ever practiced any joint techniques? I know fusion is out of the question for you, but joint techniques could work very well for you." Instead of answering the question, Lex looked up at the projection in surprise. There were joint techniques he could do with Fenrir? Why had it never urred to him? Isn''t that basically what the battalion''s mech was? Since Fenrir and him were stuck at the same level, pretty much, and both of them were formidable within their realm, it should have urred to him to take advantage of it more. "I''ll take that as a no. Well, I''m sad to say that based on our current schedule you won''t be learning it any time soon. But once we''ve taken care of the deity, there''s all the time in the world to improve in all the areas you arecking. In fact, since you even have the appropriate cultivation technique, my suggestion is that afterwards you focus directly on reaching the Nascent realm, and we can begin your training then. "We''ll make you into an all rounder before your tribtions. You''re¡­ you''re going to need the help." "Don''t underestimate how tough my body is," said Lex, though his voice was not loud. If the projection was helping him be stronger, he really should notin about it. When he finally repaired the ring, Pel did not immediately wake up, but that was more or less expected. Mateo gave him a strange liquid suspension in which to store the ring which would hasten the spirits recovery. Lex popped Pel''s ring in there, right before using some of the remaining honey to heal his spatial bangle and ne. It would be bad if they randomly broke. Mateo did not know what was inside of them, for he could not look, but Lex was willing to bet he would not be so rxed if he knew how close the container for over 20 Heavenly immortal realm attack level bombs was to breaking. Mateo asked Lex to summon Fenrir so he could take a look at it. Lex was not so sure that the summoning would work, but it did. It was sending Fenrir back that became a problem. But Lex was not discouraged. If anything, the fact that Fenrir could be summoned reinforced Lex''s theory about how he would return. After Mateo spent some time studying Fenrir, and then evaluating how strongly it liked or disliked Lex. There was not much for the pup to do there since the temple was focused around training humans, not beasts. Moreover, Lex would not be working on his cooperation and coordination with him for now. In the end, all it could do was follow them around groggily. Clearly it was sleepy. "Now we can begin your training. But we''re not going to start here. The higher your recognition at the temple, the more facilities we can use. Based on everything I''ve seen so far, I have full faith that you can probably cross all the tests with your existing power level as it is. Not that I''ve seen you fight or anything, but considering your other qualifications, I''d be surprised if you weren''t. "But we won''t do that just yet. Instead, I will first have you pass the next four tests. I''ll lower the difficulty just in case. At that point, you will need to undergo some training and preparation before you proceed." The projection pulled up a 2D map of the temple, with a blue dot indicating their current location and a red one indicating where Ra was. "Each level of the temple is barricaded, and only by having the proper authority can you officially move to the next one. The deity has used the fact that it can use divine energy to allow it to sneak past these barriers, and is currently working on the next one. I assume by the time we reach it, it will have most likely crossed the 7th barrier. The path you have to take is already marked. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "As you can see, the reason we''re only going to have you cross the first four tests for now is because in the region that is unlocked by the fifth test resides the curse that apanied you upon your arrival. "That won''t be much of a problem for you right now, since you can basically ignore low level curses, and resist mid to high level curses. But I don''t want you to just skip it, but capture and subdue it. Don''t think I''m taking advantage of you to do manualbor. If you can capture the curse, it can be useful to youter on." Chapter 899 First test Chapter 899 First test ??Standing in front of a metal door, Lex felt a distinctck of nervousness. The previous test he took which evaluated him was hardly a challenge. Even if what he was about to face was much harder, Lex was also much stronger than that. In fact, if Mateo had not specifically stated that Ra had recovered his powers and was a challenge to face, Lex would have suggested directly just walking up to him and finishing the job he had left iplete. But regardless of how awesome he felt about himself, Lex was not about to underestimate a deity! Even though things had worked outst time, it was mostly because of how overconfident Ra had been in his own powers. Lex was not about to repeat Ra''s mistake, which was why he was willing to train and improve himself. Besides, it wasn''t as if he had anything urgent going on at the Inn. As long as he returned before the transition happened in a year, he was good. But just to be safe, Lex gave himself a deadline of ten months. There was also the threat that whatever Ra did was somehow going to endanger the Origin realm, but for whatever reason, that threat did not feel too real to Lex. He did not feel the urgency that Mateo was trying to convey. Maybe his prophetic instincts were acting up, or maybe Lex knew he himself would be safe since he was leaving the realm. But thatst one did not sound much like him. He would not abandon everyone and run when the stakes were so considerably high. Even if he were not a hero, when it concerned the life of so many, he felt a sense of obligation. Or, he should have felt a sense of obligation ording to his personality. But he didn''t. Maybe it was just because he had the body of a baby. Babies didn''t really care about the end of the world. He summoned forth the eight feet long massive sword and walked forward, prompting the metal doors to open automatically. Mateo had told him that the tests would be progressively moreplex and difficult, but the first one should be easy. It would be a one on one fight against an automated armor at the same realm as him. He''d already done that, so there was no suspense. The temple was focused on nurturing humans in general, not just warriors, so there were other test formats. But Mateo told him to stick to thebat format for tests because that would affect the kind of authorities he would unlock.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Lex paused when he finally saw the suit of armor. "Oh," he said, looking at its size. "That makes more sense." The armor was still humanoid shaped. It even looked identical to the ones he fought earlier. The only difference was that it was massive. Standing at 30 feet (9.1 meters) the suit of armor looked a bit intimidating. It did not help that Lex was also smaller, so everything looked massive as it was. "Let''s get this over with," he said with a sigh. "DO YOU WISH TO BEGIN?" Words appeared in the air in front of him in anguage Lex did not recognize, but could read anyway. Without hesitation Lex pressed the ''Yes'' button, causing a red fire to appear in the helmet''s eyeholes. Lex did not wait for the armor to make the first move andunched himself at it and swung his sword. Lex had used his full strength and speed so he was expecting to decapitate it, but surprisingly the armor reacted fast enough, and bent backwards to dodge. Using his affinity, Lex hardened space briefly, creating a tform for himself to jump off of while in mid air, andunched himself at the armor again. It still tried to dodge, but this time Lex was mentally prepared so his sword still nicked the helmet. Due to the angle at which Lex hadunched himself the second time, he immediately reached the floor the moment he crossed the armor so he had tond and roll forward to contain the impact of hisnding. By the time he turned back, the suit of armor had already leaped backwards to establish some distance between them and was pulling out its sword. Lex smiled, as if slightly amused. The battle was not difficult, and the armor was not too strong or sturdy. But it was quick for its size if it could continue to dodge Lex''s attacks despite its size. If Lex stuck just to using his physical abilities it could take some time to finish, but he was confident he would win within the hour. Unfortunately for the armor, Lex began using his spatial affinity to warp the space around the suit, trapping it where it stood. He could see how this would present a challenge to typical cultivators, but it could only provide him momentary amusement. Maybe if Mateo hadn''t reduced the difficulty, it would be more fun. The suit of armor immediately noticed the warping space and began to resist. Red lines began to appear on its armor, simr to the fire in its eyes, and it was clearly activating some kind of ability. But before it could make any real progress, a baby appeared in front of it. Held down, the suit could not dodge, so a single strike was all it took for Lex to cleave it through the middle. Immediately the fire disappeared, and so did the armor''s aura. A congrattory notification appeared in front of him, alongside the sound of celebratory bells. But Lex did not stick around to revel in his victory. Mateo had appeared to guide him to his next test. He still had three more to go through today, and the projection had promised that they would begin to get challenging soon. A dim image of a sword appeared in his right eye, but quickly disappeared before Lex could notice or suppress it. Chapter 900 Second test Chapter 900 Second test ??Unlike the previous part of the temple, which disyed someg in returning to life, the area that Lex entered now reacted to his presence immediately. The lights immediately turned on, and in mere moments, the smell of incense began to fill the halls. Even though this area could only be essed after a test, the halls looked roomier and, in a way that was imperceptible if focused on, somehow more grand. It was as if by perfecting, or altering, the tiniest of details that one never even took in, the impression of this area had been improved dramatically. Clearly, this area was designed to hold more people than the first. In a way, it made sense. If anyone were to enter the temple, they would surely be in a rush to increase their authority and gain ess to the better services of the Inn. He did not get much time to admire the cozy ambience, for he was led directly to the entrance of the next test. There were over 1000 different test doors, each one designed to test and award authority based on different criteria. But since the services Lex was eventually going to avail had to do withbat strength, increasing his authority this way made the most sense. The door opened with a rumble to reveal a wall of smoke which quickly spread now that it had somewhere to go. The sound, the smell, the subtle influence of the aura from within all were perfectly aligned to build a feeling of anticipation and suspense that went along with facing a difficult challenge. No doubt these were designed to feed upon the already existing nervousness of the contestant. Lex merely appreciated the extra effort even though it did not seem like it was needed, and walked through the wall of smoke. The smoke did not block just his vision but his spirit sense as well, but it did not surround him long. When he emerged, he found himself standing in an abandoned courtyard. Lex turned to look back, and found that the entrance through which he came was absent. In its stead was a stone arch atop a small bridge, which connected the courtyard to aplex walkway that seemed to be connected to endless other courtyards. He no longer seemed to be in the temple, but out in the open somewhere. But since Lex never felt the use of spatialws, he could only assume that all of this was some kind of illusion. "DO YOU WISH TO BEGIN?" The words appeared in front of him again, and Lex unhesitantly pressed ''Yes''. As if activated by his eptance, the sky turned a shade of red, as if affected by the setting sun, and long shadows covered the courtyard he was standing in. The scene suddenly turned ominous. Lex did not see his opponent, but perhaps that was the point. He scanned the courtyard with his eyes as well as his other senses, but discovered naught but the absence of any other living being. Mateo had not warned him what the test would entail, so Lex had no choice but to explore. Since the courtyard was empty, he turned around and left, summoning his new, massive sword. In the resounding silence, even the soft wind sounded like a hurricane, and the leaves it carried like organic wind chimes. Lex''s footsteps made no sound this time around, as he consciously put in some effort to restrain himself. The effect of his own hard work was only amplified by the Stealth suit that he wore. After exploring a bit, Lex concluded that he seemed to be walking the grounds of arge castle of some kind, with each courtyard intending to be an individual ss. For some reason, Lex could visualize hundreds of students practicing martial arts on these grounds, like in an old Chinese film. After a while, when he became used to the identical scene each courtyard presented him with, Lex finally spotted something new. Instead of being empty, thetest courtyard he approached seemed to have a body lying right in the middle, a pool of blood spreading around it. The fact that the pool of blood was still spreading meant that injury was recent. ''Woosh!'' Though his gaze was locked on the body, Lex moved his hand and covered his body with the massive sword, using its de to block some of the leaves that seemed to be passing by harmlessly. A few sparks formed where the leaves hit the de, before they fell to the ground. They were actually leaf ''des''! "An assassination¡­" Lex muttered as he turned around, but still saw nothing. It made sense. The first test was a direct confrontation, so the next one tested his awareness. He did not know the number of foes, their weapons or their means, which ced him at a great disadvantage.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Moreover, while he had been able to easily sense the attack, with both his own conscious senses as well as his instincts, he had not been able to lock down on the attacker. "Not bad," Lexmented. If the attacker was in the same realm as him, as was the case in the previous test, then it was worth praise that the assassin could hide from him. This one was already more interesting than the first test. Lex actually started to look forward to all the other tests and what they had in store for him. With no more attacksing his way, Lex turned his attention back towards the body and began approaching it. It seemed to be a female human, if one were to judge by the long hair alone. The figure and the details of the body were obscured by the angle at which ity, though the pool of blood still seemed to be growing. Lex did not seem in a hurry as he approached the body, massive sword still in hand, but even as he reached the body itself, nothing more happened. Due to his¡­ stature¡­ Lex did not need to bend down, to touch the body. He simply reached out, held it by the shoulder, and turned it over. Apletely decayed skull revealed itself, a lingering aura of dread attached to it, as if immortalizing thest emotion felt by her. Even in the silence, Lex did not hear the sprinting assassins, but he sensed their arrival, anyway. He turned around, swinging his sword once more to deflect their attacks, and finallyid eyes on two ninjas, throwing darts at him. The moment his sword blocked the darts, the dead body on the ground behind him seemed toe to life and stabbed towards his tiny heart with a hidden knife. Even though Lex had every confidence that the attack would never harm him, he saw no reason to let the attack evennd. When the defensive suit was being made, Geeves had a vision of the hopelessness of his enemies when they barely broke through his suit, only to be unable to harm him at all. Now, after experiencing it himself, Lex decided to add ayer to it. Why should he let the attacks even touch him in the first ce? This way, his enemies would have to first ovee the obstacle ofnding the hit in the first ce before they even worried about breaking through his suit. Lex manipted space, slowing down the assassin dressed as a corpse, and jumped out of the way. He would have been fast enough to dodge on his own, but since he used space inbination with his skills to defeat the previous armor, he saw no reason to revert back to old habits. Since he was training, he should improve hisbat style every opportunity he got. In the air, Lex saw the corpse-assassin moving slowly, as if his entire body was moving through quicksand. Sensing an opportunity, he hurled his sword at him, reverting space back to normal just as the de came within range. The assassin tried to evade, but the width of the sword was too massive, and impaled him to the ground. Now he was bleeding out for real. The remaining two ninja-assassins had not beenzing about. They closed the distance to Lex and drew two short swords and attacked him while he was still in the air. A multitude of ideas crossed Lex''s mind, but he settled for the simplest one. As soon as the assassins neared, Lex stretched out his hands without fear of injury, and grabbed the de of the swords and pulled the assassins closer before they let go. Since they had attacked Lex while he was in the air, they found themselves without any support as they were pulled through the air ording to Lex''s whims. Lex spun, mimicking a maneuver he saw Gisele do once, and positioned the swords in such a way that they ended up stabbing the other assassin. By the time Lexnded, all three assassins were dead. It was time for the next test. Chapter 901 Lexs boat Chapter 901 Lex''s boat ??Instead of directly moving on, Lex studied the three dead assassins for a while. Their bodies did not disappear once the test concluded, so Lex had the opportunity to learn something from them, even if just a little. With his left eye, he studied their bodies, looking for traces of abnormalws while he used his hands to check their bodies for unusual muscle growth. He also searched for any treasures or items which may have had special effects. The fact that these assassins had been able to hide from him was not ordinary, especially since they were in the same realm as him. Topare, the devils who had attacked him back when he was absorbing divine energy from Ra were at the peak of the Nascent realm, but none of their techniques worked on him. Whether they tried to curse him, physically attack him, use techniques, or anything else. They firmly remained under the supervision of his senses as well as his instincts, so he knew at all times that none of their attacks would work. Inparison, these assassins could not hurt him either, but did manage to avoid detection. There was a better way of finding out the answer, which was to ask Mateo. Lex nned on doing that as well. But he wanted to conduct his own investigation first and thenpare his conclusion with the answer. They had nothing on their person save some weapons, but studying their bodies did reveal something. Their skin had undergone some kind of treatment. That did not directly make it easier for them to stay hidden, but Lex suspected that this treatment perhaps amplified the effects of some technique. The corpse-assassin had undergone a simr, yet different, treatment. It was probably one which allowed him to use a technique that made him appear dead. Once he had learned everything he could, he finally moved on. No longer dwelling on the differences in the deeper parts of the temple, Lex asked Mateo how the assassins could stay hidden so well. "Everything in the temple is to the standard of the temple. Those assassins were designed to mimic real assassins from one of the best of such organizations at the time. Your instincts are prophetic in nature. That means they use abination of your enhanced senses as well as some influence from thews of fate, destiny, probability and many more as such. "So then confusing them is simple. The target need only hide from thosews, or better yet, manipte thosews so you sense nothing instead of them. These assassins in particr were trained and cultivated in such a manner that their bodies were ignored by thosews on a lower level. "As a result, this test was conducted as if someone really wanted to assassinate you, and had studied your abilities and attacked ordingly. The fact that the assassins were limited to your own level was a limit of the test, but if you had faced the same test at a higher level, not only would the assassins have been prepared specifically to counter your abilities, but their cultivation level would have been different as well." "I thought low level cultivators couldn''t usews," Lexmented, slightly bitter that his deduction had been off. But at the same time, it was interesting to see how his exposure affected his world view. If he increased his knowledge substantially, something he suspected the temple could help with, there would be fewer chances for him to be caught unaware.N?v(el)B\\jnn "They don''t. The assassins themselves don''t interact withws at all. It is just that they have been trained, and then cultivated in such a way that their bodies mimic the effects of a physique. They have false or fake physiques, or that''s how you can understand it. Basically, someone much stronger than them is responsible for giving them this ability, but they are harvesting its benefits." Lex contemted on this while he was led to the next test. Feeling no need to rest, Lex entered immediately and found himself standing on a small fishing boat. The waters around him extended endlessly until they met the horizon, which could only be seen for mere moments amidst the storm. Heavy rain pelted him and his boat, while lightning and thunder rocked the skies. Large tumultuous waves threatened to capsize the tiny boat and swallow Lex into the dark waters underneath. Although Lex did not suffer from thssophobia, he was not exactly keen on entering the water. He immediately erected shields around his tiny boat, and then formed space barriers around it as well. Lex had reduced his reliance on arrays as ofte, but that did not mean he had forgotten that he had it in his arsenal. Without waiting for some deep sea creature to attack him, as he suspected might happen in this test, he used a stronger, more refined version of his lightning tribtion array. The clouds and lightning above only fed into his array''s power, increasing the potency of his attack. Like the hammer of judgment, a thick bolt of lightning mmed into the tumultuous waters. For the briefest of moments, the darkness below was illuminated and Lex''s pupils shrunk. It was not one deep sea creature underneath, but a whole host of them. They wereing from the depths, and approached his tiny boat while encircling him. The nearest one was already almost upon him. The lightning strike had momentarily stunned it, but it was not enough to stop it. As daunting and horrific as the situation seemed, Lex was not deterred. Between him and the deep-sea creatures, it was yet to be determined which one was the monster. Standing upon the boat that seemedpletely unaffected by the waves, Lex began conjuring dozens of arrays. Lightning struck the water, and the waves reached out to the heavens in defiance. Instead of a test, this seemed more like a battle between myths from Earth, Zeus and Posiden. In between was Lex, his boat an undisturbed bastion in the endless chaos. Chapter 902 Not again

Chapter 902 Not again

?Unlike the previous tests, where Lex won after exchanging just a few moves, this one took him a little over an hour. The deep-sea creatures, still in the Golden core level, seemed to have a very strong resistance to lightning. The only reason they took any damage at all was due to the tribtion attribute attached to those specific lightning bolts. It was a trap which took advantage of his assumption that lightning would naturally work well against creatures in water. It was only after Lex had this realization and changed his form of attack that he made some significant progress. All Lex needed to do was rely on his left eye to check their weaknesses. If he had done that from the start, he would have avoided wasting time, but he had not since he had made an assumption. This particr test did not teach him to rely on his left eye, contrary to what it may seem like. Instead, it just emphasized his need for knowledge. If he had known about the creatures from the beginning, he would not have made a mistake. Of course, the simple oversight reminded him that he should always use all the cards avable to him. The creature''s weakness was light. The brighter their environment, the more their own biology would prompt them to enter hibernation. All Lex had to do was illuminate the map using his array and all the creatures became extremely drowsy. That also allowed him to take his time and easily target them with Evisceration. The test was still within his capability, but it had pushed him to use more of his arsenal. Lex''s limitedbat experience with different enemies made it so that he usually stuck to one kind of skill or ability. These tests were forcing him to use more of them, but that was only increasing his own familiarity with his own abilities. Although Lex had not officially begun training, he was already stronger than when he started. Still far from exhausted, Lex hurried to his fourth test. He was enjoying them now, and looked forward to what his next challenge would be. As soon as he entered the next gate, and once again began the test, he found himself in ava filled cavern. The environment wasplex, and there were many tunnels leading deeper into whatever area he was in. But reaching the tunnels was not so simple. Rivers ofva flowed all around him, and a fewva falls also obstructed his path. The energy in this environment was also boiling, and Lex suspected that if he had not bonded with Lotus, he would have faced some minor irritation while absorbing this energy. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Due to waves of heat that seemed somehow radioactive as well, Lex could not cross over theva rivers, nore anywhere near the flowingva. The ground he was standing on was only slightly higher than the rivers and disyed signs of approaching a melting point as well. His feet were already somewhat sinking into what should have been solid rock. If Lex knew his new weight, that would have made sense, but he did not stick around to see how long it would take for him to drown in rock. Using his left eye, his spirit sense as well as his more mundane senses, Lex studied his surroundings as he tried to gain some distance from theva. He was also on the lookout for enemies, but so far, he had not detected any signs. After walking around for a bit, Lex concluded that at one point or another, he would definitely have to cross theva, for there was no ess to any of the tunnels from where he stood. He used Harden and erected a few shields around himself before leaping over one of the rivers. He anticipated an issue while crossing. After all, this was a test, so how could it be simple? But even he was not prepared for the fact that his shields caught fire as if kindling brought close to a great me. Since Lex was on guard, he immediately identified the problem. As expected, theva that surrounded him was far from ordinary. It was burning up anything that contained spirit energy, save for the very hot energy that filled the cavern. Or perhaps, that burning hot energy was the residue of every other kind of energy beingpletely burnt. Lex immediately canceled the techniques lest the fire follow the energy to him and directly start burning his Golden core! But while that put out the mes, he was left exposed to the hot air above theva. As ifposed of the most toxic and corrosive gasses, they buffeted him, leaving a fierce burning and irritation all over his skin. His baby hairs, nearly invisible though they were, burnt to a crisp, leaving his delicate skin covered in ash and soot. With watery eyes, Lex jumped forward to build a distance between himself and theva, hopefully getting closer to an exit. It was unusual that the hot air affected him so badly even though he had stayed far from theva, but that only motivated him to keep his distance. As he wiped his eyes and entered a tunnel leaning upwards, he did not drop his guard. This was the perfect opportunity for him to be ambushed. The ground trembled beneath his feet and a shockwave traveled through the cavern, causing a few rocks to fall from the walls into the flowingva beneath. Lex froze as a sense of horror filled him. That was not the tremor of a massive creature approaching - no. It was an earthquake, and in such a situation, Lex could not help but think that it was a prelude to an eruption. "No, please, not again," murmured Lex as extended his senses to his utmost and picked up his pace. How many times had he run from a volcanic eruption by now? Why did it always have to beva? He''d like to get caught up in an avnche from time to time, and get some distance from all this heat. Even as he ran, a premonition filled his mind. Most likely, the eruption would happen soon. Chapter 903 Not a bad idea

Chapter 903 Not a bad idea

?With danger imminent, his instincts once again began to do their job and provided him with a solution. The answer to his problem was straightforward. Thework of tunnels he was running through was extremelyplicated as is, and had an addedyer of difficulty due to the fact that they were arranged in a formation of some kind. The purpose of the formation seemed to be specifically to confuse him. No matter how much time he took, and how he explored the tunnels, he would not be able to find an exit. In such a situation, the answer should have been simple. All Lex needed to do was dig upwards to exit, right? Unfortunately, even that seemed to be a trap. Vaguely, he could sense that gravity was being manipted within this vast undergroundwork. What he thought was down and up may actually be deceiving. There was no way to determine which direction the exit was in. Although Lex was not out of options, for once he had no way at all to see through the formation that trapped him. When he looked with his left eye to study thews, he was indeed able to see the ways to make the formation stronger or weaker. His left eye always showed him a way to progress or degrees how thews behaved contained within anything he looked at. The only difference was that previously, whenever he saw a method to weaken or breakthrough, there was an element of physical weakness to it that he could exploit. But the formation around him was exceptional in ways that were beyond his understanding. If he wanted to destroy it using physical strength, he would have to grow stronger by an order of magnitude! The next easiest way to unravel the formation, or manipte its associatedws was by manipting some otherws to act on it in certain ways. That was beyond Lex''s ability. In short, he was too weak to destroy it, andcked the relevant abilities to unravel it. He was sure that there must be other ways to escape the situation since the test was ultimately designed for Golden core cultivators. But he was unable to discover that method in the limited time he had avable. But this was far from enough to demotivate him. Even if Lex could not escape, there were other things he could do. Despite the fact that he had a new cultivation technique which allowed him to learn offensive techniques and master other things, till now what he was best at was defense. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Lex stopped running and studied his surroundings. The tunnels seemed like they were made entirely out of one massive rock with no breaks or joints in between. There was nova flowing through the tunnel where he stood, but one could easily imagine that this would soon be a path forva to flow through once the eruption urred. Perhaps as the size of the tunnel might even increase as the exposed rock slowly melted under the raging heat while theva flowed. This meant that even the rock around him was not enough to withstand the heat, but if there was enough of it¡­ Lex''s eyes gleamed as he summoned his sword and walked to the tunnel wall and began cleaving. His sword, channeling a torrent of his spirit energy through it, cut through the stone piece by piece, leaving behind small, misshapen blocks. His right hand held the sword, but his left hand was focused on drawing arrays. The heated spirit energy in the cavern surged towards the arrays Lex drew, and then seemingly disappeared. For a while, there was no visible reaction. Another tremor spread through the cavern, warning that the inevitable eruption wasing ever closer. Lex had cut out a small tunnel as he kept removing blocks of stone, and he did not seem to have any intention of stopping. yet a change happened nheless. The rocks that he had piled together started to turn red. At first the color change was not too prominent, but eventually when the whole pile changed color it could no longer be ignored. Even the new rocks Lex ced on the pile quickly began to change color. Under the influence of the arrays Lex was continuously using, powered especially by the heated energy, the rocks finally began melting. As if guided by an unseen hand, the liquid rock moved towards the tunnel and began to line the wall, at which point it began to rapidly cool. The newly formed rock was darker in colorpared to the surrounding rock, so lex could not be certain if it was of the same type. Whether it could tolerate the heat of the eruption like the surrounding rock was uncertain, which is why Lex was determined to use as much of it as possible. In just a few minutes, the tunnel Lex had dug had been resealed, though Lex continued to dig deeper for a while. Once he was satisfied by the distance, he sat cross legged and began his second round of preparations. The characters he used in arrays were originally found in nature, and had certain effects even when on their own. Back in the Crystal realm, Lex had also seen how a single character had been used in the design for the entire prison. As such, he began to carve out a massive symbol around him, channeling the ambient spirit energy into it. This was not an array, but the character was the closest thing to meaning ''barrier'' in a single character as far as Lex knew. The purpose of this character was not to protect Lex, but to add a sense of harmony and nature in the barriers he was about to erect. After all, nature was the closest thing to perfection, so he hoped to rely on it for help. Once that was done, Lex began to use his spatial affinity to condense space around him in the shape of a ball. This would not create a space barrier, but would turn what was originally a small distance, such as a few feet, into hundreds of feet. Or at least, it would replicate the effects of that. One by one, Lex put up his defenses. At the same time, he made a mental note to look up techniques to help him absorb the energy from an eruption. Suddenly, Lex froze. Actually¡­ that was not such a bad idea! Chapter 904 Extreme measures

Chapter 904 Extreme measures

?A n took form in Lex''s infantile mind. His n was based on the level of confidence he could summon up on his own ability to survive hazardous conditions. After a moment of contemtion, Lex was fairly confident that he could survive - not that these tests would kill him anyway. With his n set and decided, he continued to put up various defenses while specifically avoiding having any that contained spirit energy. After all, this particr type ofva, or fire, seemed to burn it right up! These defenses included, but were not limited to, arrays that specifically absorbed heat energy to work, space barriers,pressed stone and walls of supercooled rock which were cooled through the use of arrays. No sooner had he finished that a massive earthquake came, much stronger than the ones he experienced before. Before the tremors had an opportunity to subside, a massive explosion rocked the entire tunnelwork, shaking even the burrow Lex had created. The temperature drastically increased all of a sudden and a continuous roaring sound engulfed Lex, as if there was heavy machinery at work all around him. Lex could not tell if the ground was shaking because the earthquake was still going on, or because of the heavy, continuous flow ofva in the tunnels all around him. Either way, the fact that his hiding spot had not instantly been sted open meant that he had a good chance of surviving this test without issue. But that was no longer Lex''s goal. He extended his spirit sense to study what was happening outside, and quickly learnt that the rock around him was melting much faster than he anticipated. All he needed to do was continue to cut into the rock in the opposite direction and he would avoid all contact, but he did the exact opposite. Now that he had survived the initial st without issue, he began to remove the many defenses around him, and even tunneled closer to theva. When he reached the point where he could see the rock turning red, he stopped tunneling atst. He removed his stealth suit, lest it be destroyed, and sat cross legged in nothing but his underwear. He added some failsafes, just in case they were needed, before putting his back against the melting rock and began to cultivate. At first, the heated rock felt like nothing more than a warm towel on his back. The transition from that to feeling like he had entered a hot sauna was pretty quick. The rock finally began to melt, yielding under the massive heat and pressure of the flowingva on the other side. But Lex did not allow the entire wall of rock to melt, but instead left only a portion of it unsupported. The sides of the wall were being rapidly cooled using his arrays. This way only a small amount ofva started to drip, and fell onto Lex. It was clear that Lex''s means would notst, and it was only a matter of time before the entire wall gave way, but his intention was never to stop thevapletely. He just needed to slow it down while his body and cultivation technique adapted to the heat and pressure. As thick, massive drops ofva fell upon Lex''s bare skin, his cultivation technique absorbed the heat from it as if it were ambrosia instead ofva, and began altering his body. For a time, theva seemed unbearably hot, even burning his fragile skin, but Lex eventually lost himself in cultivation. He did not notice when his arrays stopped working, or when the wall rapidly began to melt. He did not notice either when it gave way entirely, and a current ofva fell onto him, carrying his smoking body with it. He did not even notice it when his hair burnt offpletely, or when his skin started to cook. That was because the greater the pressure Lex faced, the faster his cultivation technique altered him. He was changing at a noticeable, perceptible speed. Not only was he growing stronger, his cultivation was improving drastically. This was the first time he was cultivating since he bonded with Lotus, so he was taken aback by the massive boost it provided. His body had long been carried away by the flowingva, and though he suffered burns over every inch of his skin, before the damage could be substantially threatening, theva stopped affecting him. Neither its weight, which could barelypare to the liquid he bathed in when he was bonding with Lotus, nor its heat could affect him anymore. In fact, his body was rapidly absorbing the heat and healing him at visible speeds. A tornado of spirit energy formed around him as he cultivated, and the eruption actually slowed down as theva around him began to cool. In just thirty minutes, Lex went from being in the middle of the Golden core realm to the top. If this continued, it would only be a few hours before he reached the peak, and was ready to change his realm! Mateo, who had been studying Lex''s actions to decide his training regimen, threw the clipboard onto the floor as he discarded his current n. He would need toe up with another n. N?v(el)B\\jnn But, instead of starting a new n on his own, he made a tough decision and used his authority to wake someone else up. This was not fair. He was just a ground manager. Why did he have to deal with a freak? For that, it was better off if he let another iprehensible freak deal with the situation. The process was not straightforward, as waking someone up from dormancy was not a quick thing, even if it was a projection. To be fair, none of them were only projections. It was just that a portion of their brains were being woken up while the remainder of their body continued to be dormant. It was not time to wake up, but extreme times called for extreme measures. Chapter 905 Cassandra Vans Agnew Chapter 905 Cassandra Vans Agnew ??In the end, Lex''s fourth test did not end like the rest. He did not walk out of the test afterpleting it, but rather, the testing site ejected Lex when he clearly possessed the ability to survive, but would not leave. Seemingly, the test was pretty straightforward. One only needed to avoid the st in the way Lex had, and burying yourself in the rock walls seemed like a solid idea. But the reality of the situation was far moreplex than that. Thisva was far from ordinary, or rather it would be more urate to say that the fire which resulted in thisva was unique. It could burn spirit energy directly, which was an almost unheard of ability at any but the highest levels. While Lex felt that the greatest threat was the eruption, the heat and the pressure, anyone else would have been continuously pelted by the ''radiation'' of the ''hot spirit energy'' produced by that me. It would have worn them down, torn through their defenses, and killed them - or brought them as near death as they could during a test. Lex, instead, only felt a minor irritation from it. Even though he had left Regal Embrace behind, making his body unreasonably resilient was a habit he could not break. His new cultivation technique continuously evolving him, while his bond giving him the status of a, almost directly molded a path for him. Soon, if he continued on like this his body would be as tough and resilient as a real, and his Golden core would be like the core of the as well! Even after being ejected, Lex continued his cultivation for a few hours to allow his body to stabilize. When he opened his eyes, he felt both extremely powerful, and famished! When he opened his eyes, he saw Mateo standing in front of him alongside a new projection - a mature looking woman whose gaze was like a window through time. Lex felt a subtle pressure on him just from being the subject of that gaze, though he could not understand it. The pressure did not seem physical, nor was it pressing down on his soul. Was it¡­ psychological?n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "You have secrets in your body the temple did not initially detect," the woman finally said, her tone neutral yet firm. She was not asking, but stating. "The inscriptions, especially, are very interesting. Only someone with an exceptional understanding of the human body and soul could havee up with them. I see you have tried to remove them. It is not necessary. Instead, once you cross the threshold of immortality, the features of the inscriptions will be a part of you." "I''ve heard one of them is a tracker. I don''t want that at all. Besides, I''ve been told that they will pollute me if I don''t remove them." "Yes, at a nce it does seem like they will pollute you. But those with a deeper understanding of the human body, and the human cultivation path, can determine that it is not pollution. Instead, it will guide your growth. The reason your Empyrean Physique could be detected by the temple at all is because you''ve already reduced the potency of the inscriptions. Otherwise, your physique would have stayed suppressed and hidden. Even the tracking serves a good purpose. Once you grow, it will naturally turn into anti-tracking. "Whoever designed these inscriptions was a genius. Were it another age, they would have been invited to the temple for training and guidance. But, that is not why we are here. Instead, we are here to address the issue of your guidance. Upon seeing the hodgepodge manner of your cultivation, Mateo aptly consulted someone more qualified to guide you. "Young man, reviewing your scan results, as well as observing you up close, gives me a distinct impression. Your cultivation is like a perpetual stew! Like the ancient ancestors of our race, you continuously add everything to the same pot and continue to blend it together, resulting in a hearty and potent stew. "But we are more advanced than that now, and don''t need to rely on such methods. Your potential is enormous, and I would like to help you uncover it. With your permission, I would like to take you on as a student, and teach you properly." Lex, who was unprepared for such an invitation, quickly considered the woman''s words. The information she had given him was conflicting with everything he had learnt so far, and he had no real reason to believe she was right while everyone else he had met was wrong. Moreover, he did not know her identity, background or qualification. He also suspected the act of bing her student contained some ceremonial significance. So why then did he feel such a strong sensation of trust towards her? It was the same feeling he had towards Mateo, only stronger this time. It was as if something deep inside of him recognized the temple as a safe space, and did not allow him to raise his guard. Still, he could not dismiss caution based on a feeling. "Who are you? What can you teach me? What will happen if I be your student?" Lex asked as he threw on his clothes. He had stripped before cultivating since he did not want his clothes to burn in theva. Caught up in his cultivation, he had not had a chance to put clothes back on this entire time. He could not decide if he should feel ashamed for mooning, or the projections should be used of being perverts! "My name is Cassandra Vans Agnew, and I am one of the oldest and strongest living humans in the universe today. Besides that, I cannot tell you much more, as much of my history is linked with secrets of the temple that are not fit to be revealed yet. Bing my student, at least in the way we are doing things right now, does not hold much more relevance than to establish a rtionship based on respect and a desire to teach and learn. If you ever have the opportunity to present yourself before my actual self, there will be an opportunity for something more." Chapter 906 Get some rest

Chapter 906 Get some rest

?Lex used his sixth sense, his instincts and his own better judgment all to determine the veracity of what Cassandra was saying. ording to his own judgment, Cassandra did not seem like she wanted something from Lex, or wanted to set him up for something. Instead, her entire being reeked of objective neutrality. If Lex were really forced to assign an emotion to describe what she may be feeling, it might be akin to the feeling of a skillful jeweler upon discovering a unique gem - wanting to ensure the gem was polished and attached to a work that will make it shine like it deserves. Ultimately, Lex could not detect any reason to doubt her, and the feeling emanating from deep inside of himself won. He stood respectfully in front of her and bowed slightly. "Please teach me," Lex said humbly. Since he had be the Innkeeper, he hardly ever imagined himself lowering himself before someone else. But in this instance, where the other was much more learned than him and was guiding him, Lex did not feel any resistance or hesitation in bowing. Cassandra showed the barest hint of a smirk before returning to her neutral expression. "Before we begin your cultivation or training, we must establish a routine for you. I can see that your body has shrunk to that of a baby''s size. Originally my suspicion was that this was a result of an energy deficiency in your body and that once your energy was replenished, you would grow back. But upon further analysis, I can see that in healing, your body truly has returned to an infantile state. "Even the world''s dumbest parent will know that babies need sleep and rest. Although your needs are not exactly the same, not following your body''s needs creates a less than optimal result. Before you do anything else, you need to understand your body. It is what you will use your entire life, so the better you understand it and care for it, the better it will support you. "For the duration of your stay at the temple, I will take care of your routine and nutrition. For the next three days, you must only sleep, eat and rest. Although you feel strong, babies should not be overly exerted. Once your condition returns to your peak after three days, we will begin your training. "Be aware that once your training begins, it will be excruciating. To avoid any idents, you will only be trained for a total of one month before you are led to deal with the deity. Mentally prepare yourself." Cassandra turned around and indicated that Lex should follow as she led him towards his new bedroom. Lex felt slightly hesitant. Was it really okay for him to be napping around? But then again, Cassandra had been able to dissect the nature of his inscriptions just as a projection, and apparently saw much more than anyone else. If she said his body needed him to sleep, she was probably right. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om With a shrug he followed along until eventually he was brought to a strange, oval pod that opened up to reveal a bed submerged in water. The first thought Lex had was that this was a sensory deprivation pod, but that did not seem exactly right. "While you sleep, your body will be gently massaged by the bed. The liquid inside is a special healing solution which will not only bring your body to its peak, it will boost your body''s ability to heal for the next few weeks. For the next month you will be sleeping in this. It will help you recover fully after each training session, and be prepared for the next day. Now get some rest. When you wake up, I''ll have a meal ready for you. Afterwards are a series of light exercises to gently stimte your body without exerting it." Intrigued, Lex stepped into the pod. The liquid was warm, and smelled quite soothing and pleasant. He could not help but rx and close his eyes, so that he could focus more on the smell. It felt sofortable, he could not help but lie back down and allow half his body to be submerged in the liquid. It covered his ears, but left the remainder of his face above the liquid, so that he had no problem sleeping. The pod closed, though a dim, warm light filled the inside of the pod - not that Lex noticed. His attention was on the bed that was gently vibrating and moving under his body. Parts of it would protrude out in small spherical shapes, and move around underneath him, massaging his back. It was physically impossible to resist the sigh of relief that escaped Lex''s mouth, moments before he fell into a deep, restful sleep. His muscles rxed, his mind let go of his worries and his soul allowed itself to simply float in its container. When he woke up, he felt as if he had entered the pod for only a few seconds, but the difference he felt from his body was tremendous. He woke up feeling extremely fresh and without an ounce of drowsiness, so he got up and pushed open the pod. He looked around and was surprised to see an entire feast waiting for him on a table right outside his pod. He jumped out, feeling like he had thoroughly limated to his new tiny body, and much stronger than he had been when he entered. It was not just strength that bewildered him. Instead, his body felt sofortable that he did not know how to describe it. Still in somewhat of a daze, he grabbed a fruit that wasid out for him and took a bite. His pupils expanded as the fruit gushed out a sweet, pulpy juice staining his baby face and overwhelming his senses with sweetness. Lex could not help but lick his lips as he red at the fruit with some greed. In the duration of time it took for him to take a single bite, hepletely forgot everything he was thinking before. Now, he was focused entirely on the food. Opening up his mouth as wide as possible, he buried his face in the fruit. Chapter 907 A stroll Chapter 907 A stroll ??Lex could not help but groan as he looked at the ceiling, a fooda on the verge of descending. Since he had begun body cultivation, he rarely ever felt full, let alone on the verge of overeating. But at the moment, his condition was worse than if he had been attacked by a hundred enemies.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om He felt a couple thousand pounds of weight inside his stomach, and it was difficult to even raise his head let alone move his body. His drool slid out of his open mouth and down his juice stained cheeks. Had food always tasted that good? He could not remember, because even his brain wasgging under the weight of the amount he had eaten. Cassandra appeared beside him, holding a familiar clipboard, and was making some notes. "It seems I overestimated your stomach capacity by 3%," she said out loud, so that Lex could be informed of what was going on with him. "But that''s fine, I will make adjustments along the way. The next few days of rest that you will be taking will also allow me to refine the effectiveness of your training n to a millionth decimal ce as I study your body. "Some of the food that you consumed is actually supposed to be quite poisonous for humans," shemented, her voice never veering out of her neutral tone. "However, that is not the case for you. In fact, some of the foods you ate are also quite bitter and unptable for most people. But the reason it all tasted quite amazing to you is because those are exactly what your body needs! "Cultivation does not magically just create matter! Even as a cultivator, your body needs numerous minerals and vitamins. In fact, you need even more than when you were a mortal. Since I have never seen your body prior to its recreation I cannotment on it, but I assume that you never had a proper rest and nutrition n, and just assumed in cultivation will take care of everything for you. "You do not need to feel ashamed for not doing it. This is amon misconception - one that we regrly correct at the temple. It''s ironic that the Temple of Fasting often focuses on feeding people. That''s because 99.99% of those who enter the temple are not qualified to use the fasting feature of the temple. You are also not qualified yet. But pay no mind to that. I will now assign you some light exercise to help with digestion, as well as some herbal tea which will put you in the right psychological and physiological state for your next sleeping cycle. Follow me." Lex wanted to groan once again, but he could not bring himself to do it with someone else watching. He had never felt so gluttonous in his life, but he could not deny that it felt good. "Where are you getting all these foods from? Can I get some seeds to nt? It will help me tremendously if I can continue to maintain a healthy diet after leaving the temple," he stated. For the past few days, he hadn''t really talked to Mateo, and now Cassandra, outside of talking about training. It wouldn''t hurt to get to know them better, especially since Cassandra was supposed to be one of the ''strongest'' humans. "The temple has a vast storeroom, beyond your imagination. Although we are using our resources on you freely, it mostly considered paying you in advance for taking your help in removing the deity. As such, while it is not a problem to use them on you, we cannot give you seeds, saplings or other aid. That is because while nurturing humans is a part of the temple''s mandate, it is restricted to only their ''being'' and not their material wealth." Well Lex''s hopes of boosting the Inn using the temple were quashed, but he did not feel too disappointed. The Inn was doing excellent, and he did not believe he needed any hand holding on that front. "If the temple''s mandate is nurturing humans, can I bring in other humans for training if I do it without exposing its location?" "Previously, the temple opened its doors because it had already been exposed, as well as due to the unique connection yourpanion had with the temple. Do not expect it to do so again. But if you do, somehow, manage to bring in more humans, the temple will perform its function and train them." Lex nodded. The connection between the temple and the Inn had not formed yet, despite him using the token so long ago. But since he would be here for at least another month, he was not too concerned yet. Moreover, it made sense that it was not easy to connect to something as mysterious and secretive as the temple. But for Lex''s purposes, the temple was absolutely perfect. He had been thinking about how to train his workers for a long time. He did not want to have them enroll in Ventura, and finding skilled and knowledgeable teachers was not exactly easy. He had been making do with some manuals from the emporium, and using his more high leveled workers as teachers, but now he would not have to. "Here, this will be simple enough. I want you to walk along this path all the way to the end. That''s all you have to do for now. Take as much time as you need, and go at whatever pace suits you," said Cassandra as she approached a new door. Intrigued, Lex approached and looked inside, and was surprised by what he discovered. He understood that he was supposed to be taking it easy, and that his body required rest. In fact, considering how amazing he felt after listening to Cassandra, he believed she was absolutely correct. Still, did he really have to stroll through an endless sea of flowers, covering rolling hills that seemed to stretch out into the horizon? Chapter 908 All for the mission Chapter 908 All for the mission ??Lex studied the scene before him, but no matter how he stared, he could see no underlying secret waiting for him to discover. There were no hiddenws that his eye detected and no boon that was awaiting his presence to descend. He turned to look at Cassandra questioningly, but her projection had already disappeared. Without anyone to question, Lex could only shrug and begin his walk. At first it took some effort because he was feeling incredibly stuffed. Although the food was delicious, and his body was sending him waves of pleasure and gratification and the nutrition he had sent its way, even his highly advanced digestion could not instantly absorb the food that he had eaten. If Lex had to guess, then everything he ate was probably very powerful and rare, probably meant for beings at a higher cultivation than him. But as he strolled through the field of flowers, where most of the flowers seemed to be taller than him, he felt a little better. His body did not suddenly digest the food, but the pleasant smell carried by the gentle breeze caused him to rx, and allowed his mind to loosen. Before he knew it, he spread his arms out to gently touch the flower stalks as he passed by. He fell into a rxed, meditative state where he had no thoughts other than to simply enjoy his current state. The path, although exceptionally long, did not provide him with any obstacles. Even its length which, at a nce, appeared abundant, seemed insufficient under Lex''s pace. In apletely rxed state, Lex walked at what was a leisurely pace for himself. But even with his short legs, the strength he contained in each stubby leg was overwhelming, causing to shoot from one hill to the next with each step. He did not take note of how long he took to pass through the field, but the time felt just right. It was an enjoyable experience, but it did not bore him. He had also finished digesting all the food he had eaten, so he no longer felt ufortable and stuffed. Without needing to be led, Lex walked back to his sleeping pod and entered on his own. He was on a mission to kill Ra''s clone as soon as possible, but this was by far the best mission he had ever undertaken! "Should get one of these pods for the Inn," Lex murmured right before falling asleep in the warm, caressing embrace of the very stated pod! In his sleep, Lex became slightly tense as he felt the approach of some unusual dreams, but before their arrival something blocked them out, and Lex rxed. The next day, he woke up feeling even stronger than yesterday! He did not think it was possible that some sleep and food could increase his strength, but that''s exactly what was happening. Outside the pod, like yesterday, a feast awaited him. This time, it was not made up entirely of various fruits, but was more mixed. There were many unfamiliar vegetables, and though Lex did not recognize what animals they came from, Lex noticed various barbeque items, roasts, steamed and pulled meat and more. But the one item on the feast that he did recognize was potato, in all its various forms! There was mashed potatoes, baked potato, french fries, curly fries, some kind of potato sauce, figurines carved out of cooked potatoes and more! Lex gulped as he prepared himself for the battle in front of him. Although yesterday Cassandra had said she overestimated his capacity, today there seemed to be even more food! Before Lex could unleash devastation on this particr battlefield, his resolution to embrace death before dishonor held strongly in his heart, his new favorite teacher appeared beside his pod. "ording to some scans that were monitoring you during your sleep, you encountered an unusual situation in your sleep. A deeper analysis of the situation revealed Sleep Induced Prophecy, a state many oracles identally achieve when they are extremely rxed. The temple blocks out all kinds of divination, so the prophecy was automatically blocked. The reason I am informing you is because today I will add a small lesson to your exercise session. You need to learn to control this particr phenomenon, and prevent it from happening again. "These prophecies will be a great drain on you, regardless of whatever cultivation level you reach. As you grow stronger, the prophecies will also strengthen, thereby creating a vicious loop where you will always be too weak to support the consumption of these visions. "This is very important because certain entities can detect thews associated with prophecies, and influence them to send you wrong information. The deity, as well as the curse trapped within the temple are both entities which can influence you through these channels." "Not a problem, I am a quick learner," Lex assured her. Although his body was already urging him to attack the food, he had enough self restraint to control himself when it came to important matters. Almost as if she was purposefully checking how he would react given the stimuli of the food, and the urgency of the information she brought, Cassandra picked up the clipboard and began taking notes. "You can eat. I will see you after you are done." She disappeared, leaving Lex to singlehanded face the perils of an all-you-can-eat buffet. He took in a deep breath beforeunching himself at the nearest dish. His body was screaming at him, as if he had been hungry for a hundred years and finally encountered some food. He did not question it, but just ripped out a big chunk of meat from what looked like a drum stick that wasrger than his face. "Spicy!" he screamed internally, even as tears began to drip out of his eyes. But he did not stop, or even slow down for that matter. He loved spicy food. EVen if he didn''t, he would make the sacrifice and eat it all. It was all for the mission!n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Chapter 909 A swim Chapter 909 A swim ??With all his might Lex mmed down the final pudding cup and let out a satisfying burp, a massive chocte covered grin painting his face. When was thest time he had burped? He couldn''t even recall as that was not the kind of thing one usually took note of, but he was sure it had been over a couple of years. But as satisfied as he was, the meal was not over yet. Yesterday, he missed out on his herbal tea, so today it was delivered in advance before he went out for a walk. But, more important than that, there was one item remaining that would end the meal properly. Although filled with a hint of excitement and anticipation, Lex controlled himself and sat cross-legged as he drank his tea. He imagined himself the protagonist in a kung fu movie as he picked up the small bowl with steam rising out from it. The taste was refreshing, but had a mild, bitter aftertaste that lingered for a few moments. Normally Lex would not appreciate the bitter taste, but after experiencing such a rich palette from all the food he had, it felt kind of nice. It was as if his taste buds were being cleansed. He took his time with the tea, and in fact spent some time meditating afterwards once he was done. He did not feel stuffed like he had yesterday, which was curious because he ate more food today. Either the quality of the food was not the same, which Lex highly doubted, or his own capacity had increased today. Either way, when Lex opened his eyes, he saw thest item for him today. Toplete his meal, all that was left was a single cigar. Normally, Lex would refrain from smoking a cigar right after a big meal - not that he smoked many, anyway. But today, since he was given the cigar by Cassandra, he would oblige. After all, as a student, he had to listen to his teacher. With a gentle touch, he picked up the cigar and examined it, its deep mahogany hue hinting at the unparalleled craftsmanship that went into making it. He carefully unwrapped the packaging, revealing the prize hidden within. He ran his finger across the length of the cigar, feeling its texture under his skin, before running it under his nose to take a whiff. Even non-smokers had to agree that cigars smelled great! Once he was done appreciating it, he cut the cap in a neat, clean slice and used the apanying matchbox to light a me and caress the cigar with it. A connoisseur would know not to use a lighter for such things, and as someone who had seen the movie Hellboy, he too had gained this sacred knowledge. As wisps of fragrant smoke began to unfurl, he embraced the moment, a symphony of senses intertwining in anticipation of the unparalleled journey thaty ahead. As he took in his first draw, Lex felt extraordinarily indulgent. Theplicated vors, the rich notes of aged leather and toasted oak, the exotic spices and elusive hints of sweetness all delivered an unforgettable experience. Lex opened his eyes and got ready for the next pull, only to find that the cigar in his hands had already turned to ash! "Wha- what just happened?" Lex could not help but ask, startled. "That particr blend was too strong for you," said Cassandra, her projection having appeared beside him at some unknown time. "You spent thest three hours processing your first puff. But it''s not a waste even if you only took one puff. The purpose of this cigar is actually to evaporate some of your cultivation, and push it back down a bit, thereby making your foundation stronger. Taking too much of it, at your level, would have done you more harm than good. As it is, right now, you have received as much benefit from it as you can. "Your cultivation, which was growing a little too rapidly, has been tempered off. This way, your cultivation will rise when we want it to, not at every random opportunity. Nowe on, follow me. Today, instead of a stroll, you''ll be going for a light swim. At the same time, I will brief you on the technique to avoid divination in your sleep¡­" Cassandra began her instruction right then and there, even as she led him towards a different part of the temple. The technique had two parts, one active and one passive. He would first learn the active part, and use it before he slept every time he slept. Meanwhile, he would study the passive part and take his timeprehending it. The essence of the technique was to have firm control over his various abilities, so that they would not randomly activate when he was asleep. In practice, it was a little moreplicated, but for some reason, Lex kept imagining that he was being taught the cultivation version of not wetting the bed. The embarrassment from the thought alone was enough to motivate him to take the technique absolutely seriously. The reason why he was asked to practice the technique while he swam was so that he could practice his control over his abilities in an unfamiliar environment. The technique was not overlyplicated for someone who had repeatedly strengthened their mind, so he was able to understand the underlying concept fairly easily. Now all he had to do was practice while he swam. Just like the field of flowers yesterday, his designated spot for swimming was fantastic. It was extremely scenic, and the cool, refreshing water was filled with colorful and interesting little fish who swam all around him. None of them were aggressive, and most of them were friendly enough toe and observe him as he swam past their homes. By the end, Lex was feeling lighthearted and easy, as if he had let go of some stress he was unconsciously carrying with him. Knowing that what awaited him now was a good night''s sleep, he could not help but smile. Training should always be this rxing.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Somewhere in the distance, Cassandra was observing him carefully, putting the final touches to the hellish training that awaited him. Chapter 910 The door! Chapter 910 The door! ??When Lex returned to the pod, he noticed a small change in the setup. Now, instead of a warm liquid, the pod was filled with sand. He was hesitant at first to get in, only imagining how difficult his life would be once he got sand in his hair and clothes, but then he recalled that he barely had any hair. Moreover, his clothes were self-cleaning¡­ Ignoring the bitterness in his heart, Lex climbed into the pod and made himselffortable. Like the liquid, the sand was warm. But it was not rough and coarse or irritating, and it did not get everywhere. Instead, it was soft and weing. Feeling the embrace of sleeping approaching, Lex quickly used his newly learned technique to prevent him from using divination, and allowed himself to sumb. His eyes closed, and he fell asleep immediately, letting out a light, cute snore. Regardless of whether it was happenstance, or his technique was actually working, he had no dreams that night, and woke up the next day feeling refreshed - and buried! At some point, his body had submerged into the sand, leaving only his face exposed. But he did not feel ufortable, and emerging from the sand proved an easy task. He pushed open the pod to find yet another feast waiting for him. This time, the food carried an intimidating aura, as if made from the flesh of terrifyingly strong beasts. That did not stop Lex at all, though he admitted that he had a tough time eating it due to his teeth not yet fully emerging from his gums. The meat was tough and chewy, but to make up for that fact, it was packed full of vor, and each time he chewed, it gushed out amazing juices.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The fruits were wrapped in shells that were difficult for him to break, even with his strength, though some ingenuity resolved any issues he had. If the previous two meals were meant to spoil him, then this meal was clearly waiting to be earned by him. Nothing was easy to eat, and if he did not put in sufficient effort, it would not yield any rewards. But that did not deter him, nor did it slow him down. He summoned swords and daggers, and sliced when slicing was needed, and mmed when mming was needed. Eating became a workout, but after a few continuous hours of effort, he finally ate everything on the table. Feeling both satisfied and somewhat exhausted, Lex looked up at the projection of Cassandra, who had appeared at some point. "Today, you will train a bit with a pole staff, and then spend the rest of your time sunbathing. Tomorrow, the next phase of your training will officially begin." Lex nodded, and tried to strike up a conversation with her again, but Cassandra was not much of a talker. She gave him quick, one word replies to any questions he asked, and didn''t seem interested in his topics of conversation. Eventually he had to give up as they finally reached the training center. Lex was given a wooden pole staff, and asked to mimic the actions of a projection that appeared before him. At first, it only swung the staff once, which Lex copied. Then it added one more movement, then another. After using a few moves in conjunction, the projection resetpletely and started with a new set of movements. Lex did not need to think, he only needed to copy. It was simple enough until Lex made a startling realization. His movement with the staff seemed perfect! Whether it was his weight or stability, his positioning or his awareness of the angles that he swung in, everything was perfect! He even felt like¡­ he was on the verge of manifesting a pole staff intent! After so long of trying to master swordsmanship and failing, he nearly mastered the simple use of pole staff in one single session. Was that a reflection of his astounding learning ability, or the quality of the training at the temple? Before he could reach an answer, the training session ended. He was brought to another room, this time by Mateo, which was supposed to lead him to where he was supposed to sunbathe. But Lex could not help but notice another door he saw in passing. It was a simple, unassuming door, its humble presence whispering of a timeless charm - if only one could actually notice it. He raised an eyebrow as he detected something strange and examined it in greater detail. It was made of oak, and looked like it had weathered through entire eons yet had not sumbed to time, retaining its graceful dignity. Mateo said something, but when Lex did not respond, he turned around and saw a scene that rmed him greatly! But Lex noticed none of it. He was stepping closer to the door, his heartbeat gradually beating faster as he approached. The wood boasted a rich tapestry of grains, each etched line narrating a silent story of growth and endurance. Its surface was worn smooth by years of weing touch, offering a tactile invitation to curious fingertips - Lex''s fingertips. He raised his hand, not reached for the knob, but to touch the door itself. This close, he could detect the faint scent emanating from its frame - the smell was somehow the smell of nostalgia itself. He could hear memories long forgotten, filled with joy andughter, right on the other side of the door. To swing it open would be to open a portal to warmth and wee, to sunlight and fresh air, to childhood days without worry or regret. Just as Lex''s fingers were moments away from touching on the door, a velvet curtain was dropped on it, and Mateo suddenly appeared in front of Lex, finally catching his eye. "Forget that door!" he said gravely. "That''s a mistake. It was not supposed to be here. It is¡­ it is a forbidden curse let loose by an ancient cultivator named Scorp- no, never mind. The fact that it has appeared here means the condition of the temple is worse than we thought. We might need to speed up your training. Come, let''s go. I''ll inform Cassandra." Before Lex even had an opportunity to argue, the velvet disappeared, and along with it, the door. Ancient curse? Lex could not help but wonder. It did not feel like a curse to him. It felt more like¡­ like love, trapped behind a wooden door. Or perhaps, it was the door itself. Chapter 911 How can this be called training? Chapter 911 How can this be called training? ??Countless thoughts swam through Lex''s mind as he followed Mateo. The feelings of nostalgia did notst long, and Lex quickly realized how unusual the situation was for him to be caught up in such emotions.influenced so easily. There was definitely more to the door than it seemed, and it was definitely not as happy or endearing as the emotions it evoked. But considering how this temple was filled to the brim with extraordinarily high leveled items, it was no surprise that Lex should encounter one. The only thing worthy of note was that Mateo had mentioned that the door should not have appeared here, and its presence betrayed the fact that the temple was malfunctioning. Lex put his thoughts of the unusual door behind him as he entered the new room where he would be sunbathing. A single survey of the room revealed the fact that, unlike his previous two experiences, which were very rxing, this room most likely had an ulterior motive. It looked like a simple beach, where there was a reclining chair spread out for him, as well as a pair of sunsses. But the steaming out of the sand each time a wave of water receded, and the unusual rippling of air akin to that above of a bonfire told Lex that the sunlight was a tad hot. Of course, to Lex it did not feel like anything other than a gentle warmth from the sunlight. He was reminded that besides allowing him to replenish his exhausted strength, the purpose of these few days was also so that Cassandra could study his limits thoroughly. Although Lex could not estimate the various metrics she was studying, that did not mean she was cking on her job. Aware of the fact that his leisure time was bound to end soon, Lex stripped down to his undergarments andy down on the chair, putting on the appropriately sized sunsses to protect his eyes. Since he had a few hours to spare, and did not n on napping before going to bed at night, Lex spent the next few hours practicing the anti divination technique. By the time Mateo returned to escort him back, Lex felt somewhat more familiar with the technique, but was nowhere confident enough to use it passively. He could already tell that reaching such a level would take a long time. The sunbathing gave him no noticeable benefit, although he noticed that by now even the water was boiling and steam was rising from the sand all around him. Was it supposed to be really hot? It appears that after training inva, he had a much higher tolerance to heat than before. That was already expected though.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om In his bedroom he was once again faced with a pod full of sand. Already familiar with it, he did not hesitate to get it, use his anti-divination technique and then go to sleep. He was looking forward to his training the next day. When he woke up, Lex felt a noticeable difference. He did not feel stronger, but rather morefortable in his own body. Moreover, he had a vague sense that he had barely slept a couple of hours, unlike thest few days where he was sleeping nearly twelve hours. When he exited, he found that Cassandra was waiting for him, though her gaze seemed to be fixed on her clipboard. "From today onwards, your routine will change. Although you will still have to sleep and eat every day, the amount will be much less than the previous few days. I''ve also adjusted the intensity of your training. It seems that I originally underestimated your tenacity. Now that I know your body can tolerate a much harsher beating, I''ve condensed several individual lessons into single, more demanding lessons. Have your breakfast and let''s go." Instead of a feast, what awaited him was a single bowl of porridge, a ss of milk and what looked like a protein bar. Lex couldn''t deny the disappointment he felt after being spoiled thest few days, but he did not let them affect him. He hurriedly consumed his breakfast, not bothering to waste time savoring it. As much as he enjoyed good food, he currently felt impatient to see what kind of training awaited him. Once he was done, Cassandra led him wordlessly to their first training room. Usually Lex would have tried to strike up a conversation with her, but today he decided to let it go. For too long had he been waiting to see what the training of the temple really was. Compared to how grand the temple was, the first training room seemed unusually mundane. It was a square room with dark gray walls and barely any lighting. If not for his improved eyesight, Lex would practically be blind here. "Here put this on," Cassandra said as she pointed to a gray, leather armband that was ced on a table in the corner. It looked ordinary, but as soon as Lex touched it he felt a strange suffocating feeling as his ess to all the spirit energy in his body was cut off. Startled, Lex nearly dropped the band, but he regainedposure quick enough. He looked towards Cassandra, as if demanding an exnation. "Originally, I was nning to begin your training by helping you sense divine energy. Then there would have been a session to help you control divine energy while keeping it outside of your body. If you absorb divine energy, your cultivation technique will automatically convert it to your unique brand of energy stored within your core, which is why it is important to manipte it outside of your body. "After that, you would have begun amalgamating the external energy into your attack patterns. You already know how to boost and strengthen your weapons using your internal energy, but you can do the same with external energies as well. You can also already control external energies, because if you did not you would not be able to use your spatial affinity so fluidly - after all, it requires maniption of spatial energy. "Considering your familiarity with the concepts, I anticipated that it would take you three to four days to learn all of this. But, considering your inhuman resilience, your ridiculous healing capabilities and your amazingprehension speed, we will do all of that today. "By blocking off your control over the energy within your body, you will only be able to use external energy. This particr room is designed to filter all kinds of energies, allowing only a specified one inside. As such, I will flood the room with divine energy. Then I will give you a sword capable of enhancement via divine energy, and then put you up against a foe many times stronger than you, as well as more skilled than you inbat. "Can you guess what happens next? You''re right, it will be a fight to the death. Of course, should you fail, I''ll stop before you really die, but don''t doubt that I will fully allow you to get hurt very seriously. After all, at the temple, we can heal you and bring you back to a fighting state. "But, do not worry. Leaving you to fight a far superior foe without guidance is not my style - for this level of training, at least. Step-by-step instructions on how to deal with the foe will be transmitted directly to your brain. They will include two steps. The first step will be the physical maneuver, and the second step will be the divinity enhancement. If you manage the first and not the second, you will not be able to reproduce the desired effect, but you also won''t die too quickly. "Now, put on the band and take your sword. You can practice a little before we summon your opponent." "This¡­ how can you call this training?" Lex asked in an exasperated way. Even Marlo at least taught him some basic moves, and that fellow was unhinged! "This is, of course, not your training," Cassandra responded, her voice and expressionpletely neutral. "This is only the first step. Activating your sense of danger will push your brain into a hyper state, thereby speeding up your learning process. This is just so you can figure out how to control external energy faster. The actual training begins afterwards." "I don''t need the threat of death to do that," said Lex as he put on the armband and grabbed a longsword which magically appeared in the air in front of him. "I can do that on my own." As if to exin to Cassandra what he meant, Lex entered his state of Flow. A projection for a simple sh entered his mind, simr to the one had been practicing but never satisfied with, but with minute differences all the same. Moreover, there was a distinct moment right at the beginning of the move when the edges of the sword began to glow, giving off a soft, white light. Devoid of all emotion, Lex tried to replicate the move. Although the sword did not ultimately glow, Cassandra was able to detect a ripple in the divine energy within the room. A faint expression finally appeared within her usually neutral eyes. Chapter 912 From outside the syllabus Chapter 912 From outside the sybus ??Since Lex was focusing on the instructions he was receiving in his mind, he did not notice the faint emotion which emerged in Cassandra''s eyes. But since she did not make any additional changes to his training program, it did not seem to matter. He was repeating the moves as close to perfect as he could, and he felt himself improving with each swing. The reason why Lex always felt like his swordsmanship wascking was because although the sword swing seemed fine, he was able to detect ws in his body, or weight distribution, or something else. Sometimes, he did not even know what was wrong except that his instincts told him something was missing. Following the instruction in his mind made a monumental difference, though. Even the smallest change, such as the angle at which he turned his ankle while standing in a certain posture, made all the difference. It was the difference between a straight line drawn using a ruler and a straight line drawn by an artist. To the untrained eye, there may not be any difference, or the artist''s work may even seem inferior. But someone who couldprehend theplexities involved would see that a straight line, when drawn by someone who had the potential to create a grand master piece, held infinite possibilities. While the same straight line, drawn alongside the edge of a ruler, only ever contained the possibility of being a straight line. The ruler could make nothing else. It was a level ofprehension into a subject that teetered on the edge of being measurable and quantifiable, and that of being abstract. In summary, the sword swing now had the potential to be anything Lex could need it to be. While Lex was making no progress on controlling divine energy, he could subtly feel his sword intent forming. He spun, following the instructions in his mind, and swung the sword backwards as if deflecting a silent blow that wasing from behind him. The swing was a perfect replica of the image in his mind, save the glowing edge. But the difference this time was that he actually did end up blocking an attack. But while his form was perfect, the strength of the attack was too great, and Lex was thrown off bnce. The image in his mind changed, and Lex, in his emotionless state, followed without missing a step. But while he managed to block his leg from being amputated, the very fact that his sword was not reinforced by divine energy meant that it could not match up in strength. In his flow state, he immediately judged that it was possible to effectively deflect these blows using only skill, even with the difference in strength. It was just that the instructions he was receiving were not meant to do that, which is why he kept suffering. He shifted from his Flow state to his Overdrive state. The Overdrive statecked the finesse of the Flow state, but it forced his brain to operate at a capacity much greater than normal. When he first unlocked this state, Lex discovered that its consumption was massive and that he couldn''t keep it running indefinitely. But the energy reserves for his technique were so massive that he more or less hardly ever ran into an energy deficiency issue. When considering the kind of boost it provided Lex, it was almost like a cheat. Lex had been thrown to a side, and was lying on his back. He did not even have time to stand up, his mental guide already transmitting the next move to prevent himself from dying. Time seemed to slow down as his mind analyzed the next set of instructions, and through them deduced the kind of attack his opponent was making. He then calcted the difference between the amount of strength he could generate on his own, and that which would be generated if his sword were imbued with divine energy. It was an easy enough estimate to make once he had felt the difference in the oue that his instructions predicted, and the one that his body suffered from. With that, he was able to deduce how much stronger the attacker was than himself. With all the information he had on hand, as well as the temte of the movements from his instructions, his mind spected on the best way to adjust for the difference in strength using technique only. Lex''s eyes glowed as his Overdrive state worked better than it had ever done before. He swung the sword, deviating from the instructions for the first time, and once again stimting a reaction in Cassandra. She could tell exactly what the oue was about to be, which is why she was surprised. Lex blocked the attacker, and instead of receiving the attack head on, caused it to deviate, and hit the floor beside him. Completely unaffected by the previous attack, Lex finally got the time to leap onto his feet and observe his attacker. It was, predictably, a suit of armor - but this one was glowing, no doubt indicating that it contained divine energy. More instructions came, and Lex''s mind quickly dissected them to repeat the process it had just undergone previously. It was not perfect, as there was only so much strength pure skill could ount for, but it was enough to ensure that Lex was no longer being manhandled. When Lex sessfully blocked three attacks without being flung across the room, the gleam in his eyes sharpened, and he changed his process once again. Instead of just dissecting his instruction so that he could figure out the best way to defend, he began figuring out ways in which he could attack. This time, when the change happened, Cassandra was no longer surprised, but did pick up her clipboard to make a note. Lex blocked the attack, or rather, touched his foe''s sword with his own and gently guided the attack to the side. Meanwhile, he took a step forward, bringing himself closer to the suit of armor. At this distance, the armor could not react in time as Lex flourished his sword, bringing it back from deflection and turning it into a swift attack on its chest. There was not even a scratch on the suit of armor, but it did stumble. Lex''s mind worked even faster as he absorbed this swordy and made it his own, so that he could use it as he wished. Two more times, Lex managed to deflect as well as attack, causing the suit or armor to stumble. The third time, a silver tinge appeared around the sword and Lex felt ''something'' in the universe around him, responding to his attack. While his previous attacks could not even leave a mark on the suit of armor, this one caused a soft dent and a crack to form. Lex grinned and attacked again. The silver energy around his sword became more prominent and seemed to cause a ''sheen'' sound as it cut through the air. The suit of armor fell back, and for the first time, fell into a defensive position. Exhrated, Lex attacked again and again, refining the silver energy further, causing it to be a thick yet sharpyer around the edge of his sword. This was not the divine energy he was supposed to master, but it was the sword intent that Lex had long wanted to master. With each swing his intent became sharper and more deadly, and thews around him responded to his well. Even though this room had filtered all types of energy out, and left only divine energy inside, it could not filter outws. Lex''s sword intent was directly a result of the swordws, or sword dao, resonating with his skill and will, and it could not be stopped from manifesting.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Lex continued to attack till there came a point that the sword intent became almost solid, and nearly indistinguishable from the actual sword itself. He could feel that he had already encountered the first roadblock in his path, and if he surpassed it, his sword intent would move to the next level! Instructions entered Lex''s mind, as they had been this entire time, but for the first time, Lex decided to ignore thempletely. He could see a better way of attacking. He could see a vulnerability in his enemy, though he could not tell if it was natural or by design. Regardless, Lex chose to believe in himself rather than the images in his mind. He could also feel that this was the key to breaking through the first shackle in his sword intent. Letting loose a simple war-cry, Lex swung his sword diagonally at full strength, even though the enemy was some distance away. His sword fell short! But his sword intent, which had thoroughlytched onto the edge of his de, came loose and flew across the room, turning into an ethereal sword flying through the air! It was too swift to block, and in one simple slice, cut the helmet in half! Chapter 913 Wounded

Chapter 913 Wounded

?Lex''s figure was frozen still, his gaze fixed on the headless armor. His mind was clear, devoid of any follow up instructions, meaning that the fight was over. Sensing the threat abate, his Overdrive state gradually disappeared, and an excited grin appeared on Lex''s face. He had been struggling with sword intent for so long, who could have guessed it woulde so quickly and so easily? He even managed to ovee the first obstacle in growing the sword intent. It was still far from enough to absorb the intent hiding in his soul, but it was a good start. Moreover, Lex had ovee a far superior enemy using nothing but his own skills. It felt good. "Do you feel pleased with yourself?" Cassandra asked, her expression long returned to her normal, neutral state. Sensing the rhetoric nature of the question, Lex did not answer. "In a sense, I guess you really should feel gratified with your progress. Based on your experiences so far,bat usually takes the form of a series of exchanges with the objective to destroy the opponent''s spirit, soul or body. Considering your Soulforge physique, the elevated defenses of your soul and spirit allow you to focus on the seemingly easier option of physicalbat. "Based on this premise, learning sword intent is more useful than learning to manipte energy externally. But when facing an opponent much stronger than yourself, where the odds have not forcefully been skewed in your favor, every single bit of advantage you have can bring you closer to survival if not victory. Let me show you what you can expect to face in an opponent of the same caliber, but without the handicap of only attacking physically. Take off your band, I want you to fight at full strength." Cassandra''s words distinctlycked the element of admonishment, but even so it was clear that she was unhappy with the fact that he had focused on sword intent rather than divinity. Now, instead of just instructing him, she wanted him to see for himself why she was guiding him on a specific path. Lex removed his armband and got into position, instantly entering the state of Flow. He expected that this fight would be much more difficult than the previous one. The suit of armor, which had previously frozen upon decapitation, stood up straight. A bright light shone above its torso, and the helmet which had been cleaved in half reappeared and began to mend itself. Lex''s grip on his sword tightened. If one were to consider the suit of armor as a human, then he had effectively just brought himself back to life. Besides Lex, who had survived without a head due to the unique feature of his body, soul and spirit beingbined into one, he had never seen anyone else aplish the same feat. Although the suit of armor did not move, he saw a strange fluctuation inws around it with his left eye. Before he could analyze what the opponent was doing, he was hit with a strong sense of vertigo, and lost control of his body. His mind, which should have been focusing on finding a solution to his state, became upied with an unusual sense of guilt that was weighing him down. Every sin he had ever done, from lying to his parents, stealing his sisters dessert, stepping on a line of ants he had not seen, hurt someone''s feeling without realizing, to things like killing his enemies, prioritizing his loved ones over others, abandoning Earth, ignoring the plight of humans in the many worlds he had visited, and many, many more suddenly came to life in his mind and assaulted his very being. His every virtuous deed, from helping Little Blue, befriending his workers, taking care of his guests, spending time with someone who felt lonely, and many more all came to life and began to devour his sense of self, trying to turn him into a ''saint'' whose only purpose for existing was doing good deeds. Perhaps if he had been given enough time, he could reorient himself. But the matter of fact was, he hadn''t been. In a fraction of a second, just as his body began to fall but even his knees had not yet touched the floor, the armor appeared before him, and impaled his chest with its sword. The sharp pain of a sword cutting through muscle and bone rocked his mind, but that did not wake him from the deluge of bizarre spirit attacks he was suffering, but instead only made him more vulnerable. There was another piercing pain, this time in his neck, and he felt that his head had almost been removed from his body. His consciousness began to fade, his mind still reeling. His state of Flow had been broken long ago, and Lex could do nothing to respond - or so it seemed. Domination erupted from his body like a volcano,unching the suit of armor away from himself like it had been physically hit by its force. All the visions in his mind cleared, his emotions stabilized, his sins and virtues disappeared, reced instead with the image of himself standing stalwart under the endless assault, even bloodied and battered as he was. The enemy''s sword was in his hand - he had grabbed it at thest second before it pierced his eye, his tremendous strength keeping it from inching forward or back. His aura did not suffer any harm due to his bloodied state, instead it became stronger. A stronger, more fierce, and more noble aura enveloped him, pushing back against the halo of divinity that surrounded the suit of armor. He was ready to continue the fight, his strength undiminished even in his injured state, but such a disy was enough for Cassandra to get her point across. "That is just one of the abilitiesmon to all deities, once they reach a sufficient level. It is not without reason that deities are worshiped, and treated above all other beings. The powers they gain are a blend of the many inherent qualities of divine energy, as well as the domain of their belief. Their more potent abilities all have to do with their belief. You canbat it like you have done now, using a type of brute force to push them back. But there are better ways. Why fight a bitter fight, when you can win without drawing a drop of blood from yourself." It was slightly difficult to calm down when your body was in so much pain and you were all geared up for a fight, but Lex mamanged. Unfortunately, he was no stranger to pain, but the benefit of that was that he found it easier to ignore. He also understood what Cassandra was saying. Much in the way that he used pure technique and skill to ovee his stronger foe in the sword fight, having more skills and abilities at his disposal would allow him to use techniques to navigate out of tricker situations against more versatile enemies. It was not as if he was going against Cassandra specifically. It was just that, in his Flow state, he had judged that victory would be more easily attained through improving his swordsmanship. That was because he misunderstood the necessary parameters for victory. He would only win when he mastered external divinity maniption, not when he defeated his foe. "I understand. I am ready to try again," he said, ignoring the gaping hole in his chest, right beside his heart, and the one in his neck. "No, not like this. Wait. Since you''ve already felt some of the abilities divine energy affords, you might as well experience some more." The suit of armor, which had only a short while ago attacked him with the intention to kill, raised his hand and projected out a bright, white light which fell onto Lex''s body. His wounds began to itch, but the difortsted only a moment. A warmth filled his chest, and traveled through his body to the wounds which began to heal rapidly. In a matter of minutes, both his injuries vanished, his dried blood and torn clothes the only proof that he had ever been hurt at all. He felt slightly drained physically, but it was barely noticeable. This¡­ this was extremely useful! "Now try once again. This time, focus on the divinity. You have three hours, after which we will move onto the next step - regardless of whether you''ve learnt or not. Trust me, you''ll wish you had learnt external control at that point." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om In truth, Cassandra had originally given him the whole day to learn, but once she saw his Flow state, she changed his training outline once again. She could tell why Mateo had been so frustrated. But instead of feeling frustrated, she felt gratified. A student who learned well would make the teacher want to teach even more. She wanted to see how much he could grow before their time was up. Chapter 914 Sword hammer Chapter 914 Sword hammer ??Lex touched his neck, and was fairly impressed upon feeling the supple, fresh skin that he had since bing a baby. Divinity was very useful, he had to admit. Originally, he had a negative impression of it considering the fact that it could so easily corrupt him. As someone with a lot of power in his hands, and a trigger-happy sword in his soul, he was not particrly fond of anything that would influence his psyche. But if he could learn to wield divinity properly, and he could heal as effectively as the suit of armor had, then it was absolutely worth the risk. Reentering the state of Overdrive, Lex fixed his gaze on the suit of armor and readied himself for the instructions to once againnd in his mind. Their fight resumed, and a familiar scene of Lex being overwhelmed once again yed out. But this time, Lex was not so focused on defending himself, which unfortunately resulted in him sustaining more injuries. Instead, his focus was entirely on the additional glow on the sword that appeared in his instructions. Upon observing them with scrutiny, Lex discovered that besides the physicalponents of the movements required, the instructions also detailed how exactly it was manipting the energy to augment the sword. To do that, Lex would first have to learn to sense divine energy, subsequently learn how to control it externally, and then follow along. But controlling energy outside of his body was harder than it seemed. When he was doing it subconsciously, such as with spatial energy, apparently, it was easy. But if he wanted to do it consciously, it bordered on impossible. If he could manage to do it sessfully even once, and knew what it felt like, he could replicate it easily. But since he hadn''t, with divine energy at least, he had to go through this arduous training. In a way, this training almost seemed unfair. After all, Lex had not been taught the basics of external energy control at all before being instructed to do it midbat. But the numerous hints he was picking up from his instructions kept his mind upied, so that his thought process never went that way. Besides, with all the advantages he had in almost everything that he did, he was not someone who couldin about fairness. Little by little, as time went by, even as he sustained numerous injuries and once again became covered in his own blood, he began to grasp the minute details of external control. Without Overdrive it would have taken him much longer, and if he hadn''t mastered sword intent, he would not have survived the onught for so long. It was as if he barely and narrowly managed to gain something from this training session, but that is not how Cassandra saw it. In her eyes, the fact that Lex seemed to only barely gain something was a facade. Even if he had been pushed harder, the oue would have been exactly the same, where he would have used abination of some other abilities to just narrowlyget by. This was both proof that Lex had never trained properly in his abilities, and so did not know how to extract the most benefit from them, and that she was not pushing him nearly as hard as she thought. A soft breeze seemed to fill the room, but it was one that could only be felt by those sensitive to divine energy. Lex figured out something interesting. His perception of controlwas incorrect in this situation. He had imagined controlling and manipting external energy with the fluidity and expertise that he controlled his internal energy, but that was not what he needed to do. Instead, he merely needed to guide the energy, and allow it to behave ording to its own nature to naturally empower him and augment his weapon. Cassandra''s example of the technique the armor could use was slightly misleading, as he was not yet at the level where he could do that. For now, he only needed to focus on mimicking the extent to which his figure in his instructions controlled the energy. As his sword swung through the air, coated in a thinyer of sword intent, the divine energy in the room seemed to follow its trail, as if he had cleaved a path for it to flow. It was a good first step, but not quite what he needed to do. He needed the energy totch onto his sword as he cleaved through it, not follow along. But since he had finally taken the first step, the second step was inevitable. But Lex felt impatient. Now that he saw the path to victory, his stalwart heart which had resigned to suffering whilst he made progress was no longer willing to suffer so needlessly.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex deviated from his instructions a bit to push away the suit of armor and give himself a few moments to prepare. He gripped his massive sword with both hands and sted his Domination in full. He wanted to see if he could forcethe energy to behave a certain way. That way, he would skip to the part where he could experience what it felt like, and just directly replicate that in the future. He visualized the result he wanted, doing his best to perfectly replicate all the subtle nuances exhibited by the figure in his instructions, and swung his sword, this time attacking the suit of armor instead of defending. The sword seemed to glow, though that glow faded long before the sword itself struck the suit of armor, and hence the augmentation did not have an effect. Lex did not let up and continued to bash the suit of armor. A small, teeny tiny part of him may just be venting his frustration at the armor. He had more or less been the indestructible one due to his astounding defense. Since when had he suffered so much and shed so much blood in a single session? As Lex continued to bash the armor, using his sword more like a hammer than anything else, the glow on the sword began tost longer and longer. Finally, there came a point when the sword was still glowing when it struck the armor! Lex honed in on that feeling, and quickly dropped his Domination. He had no idea if Domination had worked at all to begin with, for influencing and intimidating energywas not in its description. But due to the nature of the technique, it served as an excellent tool to put Lex in the right frame of mind. Now, with an example to actually mimic, he no longer needed its aid. He transitioned from Overdrive to Flow, and began repeating the process effortlessly. He no longer focused on defeating the suit of armor - though that was not because he wanted it to survive longer so he could beat it more. No, the real reason he was taking his time was so that he could thoroughly master augmenting his sword. At the moment, he could do it for a few seconds each time, the interval varying randomly. But with Lex making so much progress, mastering the technique was only a matter of time. As it turned out, when that time came and Lex thoroughly mastered the technique, Cassandra automatically ended the session. There was an almost imperceptible feeling of disappointment hidden within Lex''s eyes as he saw the suit of armor disappear, but Cassandra either did not notice or did not care toment on it. "I gave you three hours to learn external maniption. Do you know how long you took?" "I wasn''t keeping track, but it couldn''t have been too long," said Lex hesitantly, wondering if he had been too engulfed in beating the armor. "You took one hour and thirty-two minutes," Cassandra said. She did not state whether she was pleased with this time frame, or state how she felt about it at all. Instead, after pointing it out, she healed Lex once again using divine energy and began to inform him of how his next ss would proceed. "Do not be reliant on divine energy to heal your body. Extensive use can cause mutations. For most people, those mutations are a wee boost to their abilities. For you, it would be a drastic reduction in your potential. "Although, I guess that''s not something you should be concerned with any time soon, as you''d have to learn the ability first. Now, we are moving onto the next part of your training. Since you can already control external divine energy, next you have to interrupt the flow of divine energy under someone else''s control. You do not need to do anything specific, you just need to disrupt the flow¡­" Their next ss began immediately, without reprieve in the middle. Lex did notin of exhaustion either, but that was a mistake he would soon regret. After all, if he never expressed dissatisfaction, Cassandra always assumed he could do more. Chapter 915 The difference Chapter 915 The difference ??Cassandra was not a strict teacher. She never forced Lex to do anything, nor did she yell or set stringent rules for Lex to adhere to. In each lesson, she would meticulously exin to Lex what his objective was, how that would benefit him, and how to go about it. No matter what lesson it was, Lex always discovered that she had given him exactly enough guidance for him toprehend the topic. All that was needed was for him to put in the necessary effort. At the same time, there was not a single lesson she taught where Lex did not bleed. No matter how quickly he improved his swordsmanship, how he improved his sword intent, how adept he became at controlling divinity, or how he mastered space, he would always bleed. The absurdity of the situation was such that on the third day, Cassandra gave him a headband - not to keep the sweat out of his eyes, but his blood! Each lesson was always extremely harsh, yet somehow within his capacity to tolerate. To top it all off, the perfectly selected menu each day, paired with the perfectly rejuvenating night''s rest, always put him in the perfect state to continue training at the same barbarous level, if not at a higher one. At a certain point, Lex himself wanted to be mad, but the tremendous growth he was experiencing, as well as the amazing new mastery he was getting over his existing skills, alongside learning new ones, filled him with an unquenchable thirst for more! He was concerned that he may be turning into a masochist, but how could he care when he was finally learning how to teleport using only his own affinity? As per his request, his lessons were mostly focused on swordsmanship and the space element, alongside divinity, which was Cassandra''s own requirement. He learned about sword intent, and how each stage had a cool sounding name, which Cassandra thought was pointless because Lex''s level was too weak right now. Only when his sword intent passed through a few more stages, would it reach the average Golden core level, which was not even enough to harm Lex! The only reason it seemed like his sword intent was giving a massive boost to his attacks was because of his tremendous strength to begin with, which benefited even from a tiny improvement. If he relied solely on sword intent, then he could not harm his own training clothes, let alone his enemies. Unfortunately, improving intent was nowhere as ''simple'' as it was to learn. Learning entailed bringing his swordsmanship to a level he himself thought was impable. This was because sword intent, or any kind of intent, as the name suggested, was strongly linked to the user''s state of mind alongside sufficient mastery. After all, tant confidence with zero skill would not yield sword intent, as that would not result in any resonance with the affiliatedws. Improving your intent was directly linked to, and affected by, one''s improvements and increasedprehension in the associated field. For example, if Lex wanted to increase his sword intent, he would need to attain a better understanding of swordsmanship, or learn significantly difficult sword techniques to improve. This understanding did not necessarily need to be about moves and techniques, but could be a philosophical one as well, such as when one should wield the sword, what does it mean, is it for fighting, killing, protecting, etc. Simrly, mastering a difficult technique was a way to quantify his improvement, and could thus trante into a direct improvement and better resonance with thew. While basic intents weremon, to the point that most immortals are usually known to master dozens of, if not hundreds of basic intents, raising their levels was far from easy. The higher the level, the more abstract one''sprehension would have to be. But, subsequently, higher level intents were also simrly more powerful. Nheless, Lex was still far from having to reach such a level for now. Although his improvements had slowed down from when he began, they were still steady. He was also making admirable progress in his control of divinity, so much so that his range for influencing divinity had reached 15 feet (4.5 meters). At his level, this was already remarkable, and even Cassandra admitted that it would be very difficult for him to improve his control beyond this in the short term. But his greatest improvement was not in either divinity or swordsmanship, or even his cultivation, which reached the peak of the Golden core realm! No, his greatest improvement was in his control of space. Cassandra informed him that beyond any affinity he had, he was most likely suited for controlling space because hisprehension of space was phenomenal. She said the most likely reason for this was that his mentally probably just suited the element. Lex had his own theory. He suspected that his time controlling space in incrediblyplex ways in the Midnight Inn and Tavern tranted into his own personal experience. He already knew what it felt like, so replicating the process was much easier than learning something he had no experience of.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om It was around the time that Lex mastered Blink, a very famous and popr space based ability which allowed short distance teleportation, that he had a random thought, and asked Cassandra about it. "Is there some kind of space intent?" "No, intents are based on skills that you can learn naturally. Sometimes the line between what can and cannot have an intent is vague, but what is certain is that everything has a Dao. Learning an intent can help you on the road to mastering a Dao, but even without it you can gain mastery over a Dao. For example, I believe you have a strong affinity for the space Dao." "What''s the difference between a Dao and a Law?" Lex asked casually, most of his mind still focused on his training. Cassandra, on the other hand, did not treat this question as lightly. She looked at him for a moment, but then eventually shook her head and decided to give an extempore answer. "Aw merely outlines the behavior or effects of a Dao. A Dao, on the other hand, is all-epassing¡­" Chapter 916 Favoritism

Chapter 916 Favoritism

?With his focus otherwise upied, Lex did not give too much consideration to Cassandra''s answer, and just took it as she exined. In the few weeks that followed, Lex was often in such a state of mind, which was not an easy feat. Multitasking had be considerably easier for him with his elevated mental capacity, so for his training to upy his entire capacity for focus was a testament to how difficult it really was. But while itsted, for all the pain it caused him, Lex felt extremely gratified. He always felt like he was at a disadvantage, despite his many cheats, for never having experienced a formal education and training in the cultivation world. But now, that itch and, to some extent, insecurity, was finally addressed. But since Lex did not have anyone topare with, he did not know how the quality of his education and training aspared to the norm. But since he had gained from it substantially, he was satisfied. About four days before his month was supposed to be officially over, Cassandra suddenly woke him in the dead of night. Sleeping cozily in his pod, now with a rtively normal pillow and nket instead of water or sand, he was filled with reluctance to wake up. But, ultimately, he did not linger. Yet when he got out, he was surprised to see the solemn expression on the usually neutral face of his teacher. Considering only a few days were left for his training, he assumed that they were about to embark for an unusually difficult lesson, but that seemed not to be the case. "There''s a situation. You need to go and kill the deity as quickly as possible, we can no longer wait." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "What happened?" "The deity has somehow tapped into the energywork of the temple. If we give him too much time, not only will he be too powerful for you to face, but he couldpromise the operation of the temple itself. There are many in the temple who are currently in dormancy. Should they awaken due to an issue in the temple, well... The deity will no longer be a problem, as he will surely be killed immediately. But the subsequent problems will be extremely grave. "This goes for you as well. Whether you like it or not, you are now associated with the temple''s karma. That means the enemies of the temple are your enemies, and that if they sense the temple and search for it, you too will be locked on. If that happens, with your level, unless someone of sufficient status is willing to hide you, there is nowhere in the universe you can escape." Lex was not treating this matter lightly to begin with, but being targeted by someone even this supposedly extremely amazing temple was hiding from was not something he could afford. Most of the time he could bluff and get away with stating that the Innkeeper was at a Dao Lord level, but if someone challenged that someday, he would be done for. That was why he could not afford to have any on such a level! "Let''s go. I was beginning to miss Ra anyway. I suppose it''s time for a reunion." "After your next test, you will be able to enter the region with the curse. Due to your elevated nature as a result of your bond with Lotus, you won''t suffer the passive curse the living curse is exuding. Originally, I was going to teach you how to seal the curse, but now I suggest you just avoid it and move on. We can deal with it once the deity is handled." As they walked, their actual speed much faster than it appeared, Fenrir appeared next to them. Lex had summoned the loyal pup long ago, and Mateo had taken it away immediately to help it train. Lex hadn''t seen him since, but the pup lookedpletely rxed, and not at all like he had undergone strenuous training the way Lex had. They were supposed to train together as well, but never got around to it. Perhaps Cassandra had saved it for the end. When they finally reached the gate for the next test, Lex found it wide open and waiting for him. As he was about to proceed, he discovered that Fenrir had sat down beside Cassandra. "Aren''t youing?" he asked, looking at the pup. "As your bonded beast, Fenrir does not need to take the test. When you gain sufficient authority to move forward, it will automatically apany you. It also can''t help you during the test, as you have to rely on yourself to proceed." Lex''s lip twitched, but he said nothing about the tant favoritism going on. Without wasting any time, he walked into the test. Cassandra had told him that she used her own authority to change his tests to one on onebat. They wereparatively more difficult than what he normally would have faced, but it was straightforward. Besides, with Lex''s strength, neither of them were worried about him having a tough time in a fight. He entered, and was transported to a familiar arena, and an all too familiar suit of armor. As much as Lex would enjoy getting his revenge for all the times he bled to a suit of armor, this wasn''t the time. The test generated by the temple would be ording to Lex''s cultivation level, which meant that even with the greater difficulty level, it was much weaker than the ones he had been training with the past few weeks. As soon as the temple asked him if he was ready, and he answered yes, the armor attacked. Its speed was exceptional, its strength phenomenal, and its technique amazing. A few weeks ago Lex would have had to go through a few exchanges to win. Now, he just Blinked behind it as soon as it swung, and with a speed far surpassing the suit of armor, cleaved it in half with his eight feet long massive sword. For him, the test was easy, but he was still annoyed that Fenrir didn''t have to go through it. Grumbling to himself, he moved on. Chapter 917 Hot dogs

Chapter 917 Hot dogs

?Although Lex looked extremely confident in himself as he walked out, perhaps even arrogant, the truth was that he had not lowered his guard one bit, even when he technically defeated the suit of armor. If there was one thing he had learnt during his training with Cassandra, it was that he always had vulnerabilities in her eyes. Although he had grown tremendously, aided not only by his own efforts but by the boost inprehension provided by his cultivation technique, in her eyes he always had room for improvement. It was like she had her own version of his left eye, just that instead of seeing the vulnerabilities due tows, she saw his weaknesses. The problem was, if she could do it, who was to say that others who had even a modicum of her experience couldn''t do the same. They wouldn''t even need to be as good as her, just identifying one weakness was enough. No matter how he tried to convince himself that it was due to special circumstances, and that his cultivation technique would eventually make him invincible, he had been wounded too many times to continue to believe it. After a certain amount of punishment, he even began to doubt the veracity of the ims of his cultivation techniques. Regardless, while he looked smug holding an eight feet long sword on his shoulder as he stepped into the new level, in reality he was ready for a fight to the death at a moments notice. He emerged to find Fenrir and Cassandra waiting for him. He walked over and rubbed the pup''s head, not letting his dissatisfaction show. At least Fenrir had not made anyments on his new baby form - not that he was insecure about it. Little did he know, in Fenrir''s eyes, such a thing was only normal. After all, it regrly shrunk and grew its size, so it only made sense that Lex could do the same. If it returned to its normal size, as of right now, it would be asrge as an elephant from earth, or 135,316 hot dogs stacked upon one another. Fenrir turned his head and scratched it. That was a specifically odd number, why did he know it? The pup did not have long to ponder, and Lex put away his sword and climbed onto its back. "Use your stealth to get us to the next entrance," Lex said, reminding the pup of its mission. Cassandra, who knew exactly where the curse was and what route to take to avoid it, led the way. The only reason they were being stealthy ways to avoid detection from the curse through some other means. Since they had not interacted with it yet, they did not know what it was capable of. Lex remained silent the entire time, ready for something to go wrong, as it usually did. He had begun to develop a theory about why he got caught in so many problems so frequently, but there was no way to test it for now. But for once, there were no problems. Fenrir''s incredible stealth was as reliable as always, prompting Lex to stare at its fur for a while. Last time, he had used Orion''s scale to help give his suit stealth properties. He wondered if adding some of Fenrir''s fur would make it even better. Putting that thought aside, Lex entered the next test. Since Cassandra had already set the format, there would be no unexpected situations. But the difficulty of the tests scaled significantly. This time, the suit of armor he faced radiated an aura at the peak of the Nascent realm. Moreover, it was particrly heavy, as if it was strong even among its peers. It also did not hold any sword or any other physical weapon, meaning it likely would use some other means of attack. Summoning his sword, Lex selected ''YES'' on the option to begin the test, and this time attacked first. He solidified space around the suit of armor and Blinked above it, swinging down to cut it in half. But the solidified space seemed to return to normal at thest moment, and the suit of armor evaded the sword with a single step. Before Lex could react, his surroundings changed and he was pulled into some kind of illusion. But before things could progress further, the illusion broke on its own, and the suit of armor reeled back. It was not so easy to cover an entire in an illusion, and acting on Lex was now basically the same thing. The suit of armor suffered a bacsh from his failed technique, and Lex did not give it a chance to recover. His sword cleaved it apart with one hit. With the test over, Lex did not immediately exit to the next level, but stood over the suit of armor and took a deep breath. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om If the previous win had been a result of his own skill, this one relied on some of the various cheats he had umted on his person. That was not a good sign. He still had two or more tests to go through. A couple of thoughts ran through his mind. First, were there really so many people this skilled back when the temple was running? He got so far due to a number of boosts to his strength, cultivation and skill he got, but he knew that such things weren''t really replicable. So how did ordinary cultivators get through so many levels back then? This was keeping in mind that the temple members were actively trying to help him pass the tests. It was, quite frankly, both baffling and humbling. But, that was just a fleeting thought. Since Lex had the resolution to be the best, he was ready to work hard to slowly and steadily be stronger. If others were as strong as him, he would surpass them eventually. The second thought was about employing some of the new sword techniques he had learnt, as well as his other gains. Chapter 918 Inferno Blade Chapter 918 Inferno de ??Lex was too used to simply smashing his enemies with his fists, or now that he was using swords, hammering them or cutting them with simple swipes. Randomly cleaving and swinging his sword was easier, but sword techniques were ultimately better and stronger.N?v(el)B\\jnn He sighed, and then moved on. This time when he exited, Cassandra and Fenrir were waiting for him, just asst time, but the difference was that Lex detected the subtlest hint of an amused look on Cassandra''s face. No doubt she took notice of the fact that he took dozens of seconds more to pass this test than thest one. Clearing his throat, Lex moved on, pretending as if he didn''t notice. Among the many things he experienced in the past few weeks, one of the most significant events was when he gave up his umting divinity. There were two divinities focused on his person, though all the divine energy granted through belief was funneled away by his system and stored to power his ''Wish''. Nheless, while unaware of how the belief tainted divine energy was being channeled away from him, Cassandra informed him that separating those two divinities from himself was a beneficial thing for him. After inquiring about what it would entail, and what he stood to gain or lose, he eventually agreed, and Cassandra helped him through the process. First, they identified the two divinities he had on his person. The first, and the stronger one, was easily identified as the Butter Knife deity. As unusual as it was, countless religions across hundreds of gxies had already formed around that one attack from the Butter Knife he had unleashed. In fact, if the system had not been funneling away the belief tainted divine energy, that particr divinity may have already matured! Cassandra did not ask questions about the odd divinity, or how it came out to be. Instead, she helped him fashion a ceremonial item in the form of a butter knife and helped him transfer the divinity over to it. The butter knife was incredibly weak, and would slowly grow stronger as it umted the power of belief. But in this case, it was not slow at all. With the divinity removed from himself, the system could no longer funnel it away, and the knife absorbed all of it. In a matter of days it had already reached a level that wasparable to the average weapon used by a Golden core cultivator. Given time, it would grow even stronger. But there was a shortcut to strengthening it. Once he killed Ra, he could channel the divinity from his corpse into the knife, devouring his divinity to make his knife stronger. But Lex was not nning on doing that. Instead, he nned on strengthening the item fashioned from the second divinity. He pulled out a devilish mask and looked at it. This mask was the ceremonial item associated with his second divinity: The Invincible Tyrant. The number of believers in this were very few, but for some reason, their belief was strong enough to form a trace of divinity on him. The mask looked a lot like the one he wore when he used Notorious Anonymity. Lex had a strong guess over who his believers were. The few devils who had run away from him after trying to hurt him for hours. The fact that this currently incredibly weak mask continued to umte power meant that some of them, at least, were still alive. As he approached the next door, he put the mask on. These ceremonial items were linked to him, so others could not use them. Or, to be technical, they could not use them unless they killed Lex first. Divinities could be stolen by deities who attacked and devoured other deities. Therefore, these ceremonial items which contained divinity and were linked to him could also have their ownership transferred, if he was killed first. Or he could give up the ownership of his free will, but he had no interest in doing that. The butter knife was promising to be an extremely potent weapon in the future, and the mask was born of his own achievements. Both were good reasons to keep them to himself. But the mask had a potential which he liked a lot. Notorious Anonymity was ultimately a low level technique. Eventually he would outgrow it. By then he could just get a new technique to hide his identity, but if this mask of his grew strong enough, it could simply take over that role. Moreover, the mask had a few other benefits as well. Since the divinity it was formed from was Invincible Tyrant, it augmented his Domination to a degree, and boosted his strength and defense. Theoretically, once it grew strong enough, these side benefits could overshadow the original purpose of the mask, which was to hide his identity. That was why he had decided that when he killed Ra, he would strengthen his mask, not the knife. Without a word, he stepped through the door of the sixth test, his aura changed to that of the Invincible Tyrant - or rather, the Invincible Baby Tyrant. The suit of armor he faced this time looked differentpared to the ones he saw before. It was sleek and nimble, while at the same time exuding a strong deterrence. He knew immediately that this one was finally strong enough to break through his defenses and hurt him. Lex had no doubt of his own victory, but what he was focused on right now was a quick and efficient victory. He decided to go all out from the very beginning. The moment he began the test, Lex sted his Domination in full, and disyed thetest addition to his arsenal of techniques: Inferno de. The sound of thunder apanied his attack as his sword, now turned red from its usual silverish-gray due to heat, cut through the arena. Though the enemy was far away, it was still within reach of the attack. At the apogee of its swing, a red energy seemed to shoot out from the tip of the de and cut through the armor before it could even react. By the time Lexpleted his sword-swing and looked over, the suit of armor was already melting. Chapter 919 Inner temple Chapter 919 Inner temple ??Lex heaved a little, and swung his right arm in the air, as if trying to stretch out his muscles. Inferno de was not a single attack, but a collection of six attacks, each one adding fireponent to the attack. The one Lex had used right now was the only long-range one he had learnt so far. It could not be mastered without knowing at least some basic sword intent, as it relied on the intent to carry the attack forward. Of the six, Lex immediately learned the first three, as if they werepletely natural. The next three however¡­ Lex was used to studying. He''d been home schooled and then went to college. After he became a cultivator, he studied all kinds of things, as he was aware that hecked a foundation in them. One could even say he was good at studying, especially now that his brain had undergone a few upgrades. But he was used to studying concrete things. He studied math, science, programming and the like. Heck, even art and music had symmetry and patterns, so although he never studied them much, he couldprehend them. The Inferno de''sst three moves, however, were an entirely different matter. Unlike the first three, which only relied on a certain level of swordsmanship, sword intent and technique, thetter were strange, and relied on things that Lex could notprehend. The technique description sounded almost philosophical, and the instructions included things like the feelings of the de as the fire within it rises, the beginning, end and middle of an inferno as being a living being and that engulfed the evils of the world. Lex read the descriptions multiple times and then asked Cassandra again, just to be sure his trantor wasn''t malfunctioning. Cassandra found his reaction amusing, and she almost seemed relieved that there was something he struggled with. In her words, if everything came too easily to him, it would weaken his willpower. So, mastering the remaining three would have to wait. It was not as if Lex was unfamiliar with using techniques in battle, but so far the techniques he had used were more or less straightforward. They either blocked or hit something. Impervious hands seemed to be the only exception to the rule, as it became something else entirely when he used it. But for some reason, he felt a kind of resistance while using sword techniques. He suspected that the sword in his soul might be responsible for that. Besides Inferno de, Lex had also learned a defensive sword technique called Stalwart Guardian, but unlike Inferno de, Lex mastered that in its entirety. It seemed that even with the Regal Embrace gone, he was still influenced by it, as the vague and philosophical lines did not deter him at all, much to Cassandra''s regret. Lex put the sword away and exited. Next would be his seventh test. Unless Ra broke through theyers in the next few minutes, Lex would finally face him after passing the next test. He was not nervous, but he took it quite seriously. Cassandra had told him that Ra was regaining power rapidly, which wasn''t good. Once he exited the test chamber, he discovered that the appearance of the temple changed drastically. The halls were no longer massive and wide, and instead looked more regal and yet cozy. There were no paintings or decorations filling the walls, but Lex felt like the hall was the most grand he had ever been in, though he could not say why. He felt reinvigorated by just breathing the air, and the soft, pastel colors of the walls seemed to soothe his mind and fill him with a cool sensation. He felt like his body was subtly growing stronger just by standing there, and that his cultivation was increasing as well. Most of all¡­ he felt like his soul itself was growing stronger! "Wow¡­" Lex could not help but utter, and then was surprised to discover that his voice was different! It sounded¡­ better, somehow. "You are now entering the inner portions of the temple. Do not be surprised by just this. By inner portion, I do not mean you are reaching the core of the temple, just that you are reaching a slightly better furnished corner of the temple based on your location. Come, let''s not waste time." Lex followed Cassandra, and in only a few steps felt like he had already replenished whatever energy he had expended so far. Every subsequent step he took gave him surplus energy, as if augmenting him. "Why is my voice different?" he could not resist asking. "It''s due to something called Aether. It''s one of the more pure types of energies, alongside divinity. At your level, you don''t need to worry about it. Your voice¡­ this is just the best version of your voice that you can achieve. It can only exist in the presence of Aether." Lex did not fail to notice that Cassandra''s voice did not change. When they finally reached the entrance to the next test, Lex was stunned. He sensed an aura that was all too familiar from the door. It was emanating Dragons Might! Albeit, the aura was weak. "The aura is there to deter others from taking these tests lightly. They are not easy. Take this one seriously, or you won''t escape unharmed. Lex nodded, and walked through the doors that seemed to open on their own as he approached. Somehow, Lex felt like the doors were reacting to his Domination. The test area also looked different. Instead of a small arena inside a closed room, Lex found himself standing in the center of a massive stadium, though there was no crowd.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om The sun hung directly overhead, marking it as midday, and the faint smoke rising from the ground told Lex that it was probably searing. He did not even feel warm. A suit of armor appeared in front of him, though this one was taller than thest one by a few inches, and looked much more intimidating than thest one too. It almost looked like a humanoid dragon. Chapter 920 Space techniques Chapter 920 Space techniques ??Lex wore a solemn expression as he looked at his foe. The suit of armor emanated an aura that felt quite dangerous to him, and his instincts were subtly warning him that his enemy was dangerous - something that had not happened even against the suits of armor that made him bleed when he was training. The armor looked lean, and yet extremely powerful and durable. Its curves were satisfyingly smooth, and in certain ces such as his shoulders, elbows and the top of the helmet, it grew out as if replicating mes. The armor was a soft shade or red, though on the mes the color was more intense. Unlike the previous suits of armor, this one did not wield a massive, double handed sword, but instead carried a sword and shieldbination. Somehow, Lex doubted he could melt this one so easily. A smile grew on his face. Fighting was only interesting when it was challenging. He had improved a lot in the recent past - he was eager to see how strong he had be. Lex summoned his sword and got into position before beginning the test. Lex actually struggled to see the armor move, but his training and instincts guided his movements. Their swords shed, ushering forth a rain of sparks and the sounds of thunder. Before Lex could do anything else, as he was already reeling from the absurd might packed into that sword attack, the shield bashed him in the face. But, unexpectedly, Lex was not sent flying back. Lex hardened the space around his legs to hold him in ce and bashed the shield back. Who said his face was weaker than equipment? Lex''s brain, which was working at full speed, made an observation that if he had blocked using Stalwart Guardian he would have gained the advantage in the previous exchange. It was a reminder to rely on his techniques. But while he had a momentarypse with his sword techniques, he did not fail with others. He Blinked up into the air above the suit of armor. As if predicting where Lex would appear the suit of armor was already turning to attack. Red mes had appeared around it like tentacles and all swung towards Lex as if they were sentient. A trace of Dragons Might appeared and tried to hold Lex down. But whether it was mes or Dragons Might, he already had an incredible resistance towards them! Instead of a sword attack, Lex used one of the two space based techniques he had learned as he punched out! Space Warp! Right in front of his space, for a region of three feet (0.9 meters) space seemed to bend oddly. Someone observing would think it was just a lighting trick, or illusion, but that was not the case. This incredibly lethal technique, which Lex could only employ in a very limited range for now, drastically warped space in a small region. While the warping itself was already incredibly deadly, that was only one of the traits of the attack. The second was a sudden, massive spike in gravity thatsted only a few moments. Despite its short duration, the extent of the gravity increase was enough to shatter even the strongest of materials! The suit of armor, which had been caught in his attack, was dealt a severe blow! Its shield broke, and its armor was covered in cracks before the effects of gravity even showed themselves. Then the armor began to deform, as its chest and back caved in slightly. For a moment Lex thought the fight would be over, but then his instincts screamed a warning! Instantly, Lex Blinked away only to see another suit of armor had appeared in the air, right behind where he had been, and had been moments away from decapitating him! The broken and battered suit of armor disappeared, as if it were a mirage, leaving only thepletely unharmed suit, falling from the sky. For a moment Lex was confused. How had it dodged his attack? Lex hadn''t sensed anything, or even detected its arrival behind him.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om But he did not have long to think, for the moment the armornded, the fight continued! Sparks flew in the air as this time Lex did not forget to use his techniques, and craters formed in the ground - the stadium being the only thing seemingly suffering from their shes. The suit of armor brought out its techniques, which favored fire and Dragons Might, but Lex could basically ignore them. But oddly enough, the suit of armor could also ignore all his space based attacks, and was skilled enough to dodge or parry all his sword attacks. They fought, and fought, and fought some more. Lex risked sustaining injuries to attack, but never actually suffered any damage, or managed to hurt the armor. They seemed to reach an impasse. When the fight kept on continuing like this, and five minutes passed, Lex decided he could no longer afford to wait. Every moment he dyed Ra was getting stronger. He had to use the second Space technique he mastered, which he was trying to avoid using. Not only did it exhaust him mentally and drain a truly massive portion of his energy reserves, but Lex himself also suffered when it was used. He entered his Berserk state, and red his Domination in full. His Berserk state increased his physical abilities tremendously, which is exactly what he needed. Taking the armor by surprise with his increased speed, he body mmed it and immediately put it in a bear hug, ignoring the mes that covered its body. Space Unraveling! Although a moment ago the two had been hurtling across the stadium due to Lex''s body m, they suddenly froze in ce. The space around them slowly began to break down, as if turning to ash. But as the ashes fell, they unraveled and turned into something else. Whether it was Lex''s clothes, Lex himself or the suit of armor, all were cut through as they were touched by the transforming ash. It was not the Void behind space, which would eventually be revealed if this attack continued, that was dangerous. No, it was the extremely potent, powerful and dangerous energy that space was made out of, that it unraveled into, that was the danger. And if that energy touched Lex''s Golden core, he would basically be crippled! But Cassandra had already taught him how to avoid that, so all that remained was for him to mutually suffer some damage with this ursed suit of armor. Chapter 921 No easy prey Chapter 921 No easy prey ??The suit of armor struggled with all its might, but the grip Lex had around its arms and torso did not let it muster much strength. It used various techniques, but since they were mostly fire based they did nothing to Lex. Lex had not figured out how the suit of armor made a clone and disappeared despite the fact that it had repeated the move a few times already, but Lex had figured out that as long as they were touching, the technique wouldn''t work. So despite all its effort and resistance, it turned out to be nothing more than its dying throes - or it would have been if Lex continued to use the technique the entire time. Space Warp was extremely expensive in terms of energy consumption, and he could not keep it active for more than a couple of seconds.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om So, after using it for exactly half a second, Lex stopped. His main objective was not to defeat the armor like this, but only to severely injure it, which he did. Blood squirted out of the numerous holes that had appeared in Lex''s body, but none of them seemed to weaken him. The armor, on the other hand, was in a much worse condition than Lex. After all, Lex had made sure that the armor bore the brunt of the strange ash that space broke down into. Weakened, but not defeated, the armor looked at him as it seemed to be preparing a counterattack. But Lex had no intention of giving it such an opportunity. He summoned his second ceremonial divine item, his self made Butter Knife. Although the weapon was not too sharp, or powerful, as of yet, it was at least durable. Since his hands were behind the armor, as he still gripped it in a bear hug, he stabbed the knife in its back after coating it in his intent, which seemed to work. With the integrity of the armor alreadypromised, one big sh was all it took to cut the entire backte of the armor. It suddenly lost power, and fell limp, but just to be sure, Lex stabbed it in the helmet before slicing it in two, before allowing the armor to fall out of his arms. He stood over the armor, panting and wounded. If he had taken his time, then he could have probably finished the fight without taking any major injuries. But time was exactly what hecked, so he had to make somepromises. But if this was the difficulty level already, he could imagine how difficult the next test would be. It was unlikely he could pass it quickly, or even at all as he was right now! Were there actually Golden core cultivators out in the universe who could make it through so many tests? He¡­ he had to ask Cassandra. Lex put away his two divine items, picked up the sword used by this particr suit of armor, and exited the test to find the two figures waiting for him. Cassandra, upon seeing his condition, actually looked disappointed. "Are there really other people who can pass these tests at my level?" Lex asked as he waited for her to heal him. She would summon a suit of armor to control divinity to do so - at least that''s what she used to do while they were training. "It is rare to find someone with as many advantages as you, though not impossible. But throughout history there have been many humans who, despite having fewer advantages, were more versatile than you. They used weaker weapons to deliver greater damage. "We can discuss these things another time. The deity you''re targeting is still on this level. Get on your Fenrir and sneak up to it immediately. I don''t even know if you''ll be able to avoid its detection anymore, it is growing strong fast. I also can''t heal you, if that''s what you were expecting. If I use divine energy on this level, the deity will sense it immediately." "What about using some of the suits of armor as backup?" Lex asked as he climbed the pup who did not mind his bloody state. Besides, his abnormally fast healing had already stopped most of the bleeding. "That is not how it works. I do not have the authority to use training dummies in this manner. Any and all damage I inflict using the dummies, I also have to heal. Besides, if I summon any suits of armor strong enough to defeat the deity, it will sense the danger and escape. Approaching it stealthily is the only option." "Well, you don''t need to worry about him running away even if he does sense me," Lex said reassuringly. "We have an old grudge to settle. I doubt he''ll miss the chance to get his revenge." "Hurry now, and remember what I''ve taught you. Damage the core of the clone as quickly as possible. Since this is not its true body, there will be some ceremonial item inside its body which can sustain its divinity." "I know," said Lex and leaned forward on the pup, so that their bodies were close together. "This is going to be a big hunt. Do your best," he said to Fenrir, even as he mentally prepared himself. The reason he took a new sword, despite the fact that it was normal length and not eight feet long, was that it was sharper and deadlier than the one he was using previously. He did not want to give up a single advantage. The pup, well aware that their quarry was no easy prey, began to use its various techniques to hide them. He removed their presence, washed away all of Lex''s smell, eliminated their energy signatures and did his absolute best to blend it. It was impossible topletely take a deity by surprise, as divinity literally was of the min energies responsible for divination and future sight. But that also did not mean that deities were all knowing. They would try to get as close as possible before they were detected. Sometimes, even if one saw the futureing, they could not avoid it. Chapter 922 Corruption Chapter 922 Corruption ??A baby riding a wolf pup stealthily made their way through the temple halls, following directions given by Cassandra''s projection before she vanished. Even as a projection, she could not follow them, as projections contained some traces of energy which might be detected. The carpeted, fragrant rooms they traversed through contained diluted traces of energy reminiscent of the one they experienced at the previous level, which allowed Lex to heal further. Although he had only used Space Warp for half a second, it had severely depleted his energy reserves. Fortunately, as they made their way to Ra, those reserves returned to full. But, simrly, Ra would also be much more powerful now, as he had spent months on this level already. Lex thought back to theirst exchange. At that time, stating that he was an atheist felt really cool, but he was sure that he would pay up for trying to look cool now. But even so, Lex never doubted his ability to win. Now that he himself could potentially be targeted by the temple''s enemies should the temple be revealed, he was even willing to pull out desperate measures, such as the immortal level bombs he had in his spatial bangle. But, more than likely, his Butter Knife would be more beneficial in this fight. Despite its short time existing, divine weapons were uniquely suited to be used against deities and races that relied on divine energy. He steadied his breathing and narrowed his eyes as they neared Ra. Even before Lex could see him, he could sense him. The deity was not restraining his aura at all, and so its divine pressure was spread throughout the many rooms that surrounded it. Maybe it was a way of keeping away enemies, as not everyone could ignore the pressure as easily as Lex and Fenrir. Maybe he was just too focused on restoring himself to worry about such things. His instincts also began to act up. They were not warning of the grave danger ahead, as one would expect. Instead, they were ring as loudly as they could that Lex needed to go handle business with Ra before it was toote! Oddly, that was reassuring. Fenrir suddenly slowed down its pace drastically, and lowered its body to the ground. Although it did not growl audibly, Lex felt the vibrations in its body. Something about Ra was making the pup unusually aggressive. Lex did not speak, not even through his spirit sense, but he pressed firmly on its back to remind it to stay calm.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om After a few moments, they finally spotted Ra, and Lex was surprised by what he saw. He had expected that after so long, the deity would look restored to his former glory, radiating power and might. Instead, Ra knelt amidst the crumbling stones of a wall he had demolished, his hand firmly pressed against a metal pipe passing through, his once majestic form now marred by a tapestry of wounds. His wings, once a symbol of divine majesty, hung limp and tattered at his sides, feathers singed and scorched from whatever damage he had sustained. With eachbored breath, the flicker of life within him threatened to wane, a testament to the severity of his condition. Despite the agony that threatened to consume him, Ra''s expression burned with a fierce determination, fueled by the primal instinct for survival that pulsed through his veins. In the dim light of the desecrated temple hall, he seemed more a dying creature than a recovered deity! He seemed to be absorbing energy from that metal pipe, but the process seemed more painful andbored than reinvigorating and restorative. Up close, Lex could even tell that there was something wrong with the aura he was exuding as well. It was not the pure and ''divine'' energy he was expecting. Instead, it was sickly and polluted. It would be more apt to call it corrupted energy rather than divine. What in the world had Ra gone through? As Lex and Fenrir neared the once great Ra, Lex could hear an insidious voice grunting and grumbling in his mind. It was as if, in close proximity, the energy from Ra''s body acted akin to spirit sense. That wasn''t good, but fortunately, the deity was too focused on whatever he was doing to notice them. Lex heard words, but even his universal trantor failed to trante them. Or perhaps they meant nothing at all. He recognized Ra''s voice, though, as well as the copious amount of fury packed into the voice. The closer they stepped to the deity, the more strange things began to happen. It started to be darker, and the air smelled like¡­ like the sensation of nausea. Lex felt something brush past his body, but he resisted it. A curse¡­ He knew what it was instinctive, but it could nottch onto him. Fenrir, too, seemed immune, though he was vibrating more and more. Lex did not summon his sword yet, as the threat of a weapon could alert Ra, but he set his eyes on the deity''s body. Their n was set. They were already much closer than they had initially expected. Fenrir took one more step, and both of them saw an unnatural tremble pass through the deity''s body. He had sensed them atst! But it was toote. Fenrir, having long suppressed the revulsion it felt deep in its bones, suppressed himself no longer and leaped at the battered body, his teeth digging deep into its neck. Lex''s tiny body had also leaped forward, the Butter Knife appearing in his hand, and plunged it into Ra''s chest where his heart should have been. He was aiming to stab the core of Ra''s body, the ceremonial item buried within this vessel. But instead of the ceremonial item, he found a distinctck of anything. It was as if his hand had punctured into an empty shell. "I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU!" roared a broken, grating voice as Ra''s body crumpled to the ground, clearly a distraction. Chapter 923 Ruler of Heaven vs Invincible Tyrant Chapter 923 Ruler of Heaven vs Invincible Tyrant ??"Surprise, surprise," said Lex, his voice tinged with sarcasm as he watched the broken and battered body on the floor. "A trap. Who could have seen thating?" Everything about Lex, from his posture, to his tone of voice and his words spoke of the fact that he was disying a very cavalier attitude - as if he did not take his current situation as a threat at all. The truth was the exact opposite. Lex had, in fact, spread out all his spirit and soul sense the moment he felt something odd about Ra''s body. But while he heard Ra screaming, he could not detect the deity. Unless he found Ra, there was nothing he could do to him. So, the best solution he had was to bait him. The two of them already had animosity, and based on his experience, Lex judged that Ra was either not in his best state mentally, or he was just a very careless deity. Either way, aggravating him was the best way of luring him out. "THINGS ARE DIFFERENT NOW, VERMIN! YOU WILL NOT CATCH ME UNPREPARED AGAIN! I CONTROL THE CYCLE OF LIFE AND DEATH! YOU WILL SUFFER FOR ETERNITY!" "An eternity of torture is much preferred to hearing you moan," Lex said, surveying his surroundings. Even his left eye was active, yet he could not locate him. "PATHETIC WORM, KNEEL!" The nauseating, corrupt aura that had been emanating from Ra''s body crashed down on Lex. Lex was¡­ almost amused. Was Ra trying to use aura to pressure him? "That''s cute," Lex said, smirking. Before he could continue taunting Ra, Fenrir growled. Yet it was no ordinary growl, as it wasced with some kind of power. Their surroundings rippled, and then changed. The morous yet damaged hall they were in changed, and was reced into what looked like destroyed ruins. There were no lights on around them, no walls or doors. Everything had been destroyed and cleared out. In the darkness, Lex saw the vague outline of Ra, and behind him stood hundreds of suits of armor, each reeking of corrupted divinity. But that was far from all. Twisted, tainted figures stood in the dark, vaguely resembling Ra''s original form. The resemnce was vague because while Ra originally looked befitting a deity, these creatures looked like tormented souls dragged from the deepest hells. They were misshapen and horrid, with many unusual joints, decayed feathers and an aura that was even more corrupt than Ra himself. "Ra, I think you''ve been hanging out with the wrong crowd," Lex said as he summoned his sword. The situation did not look good. There must be hundreds of corrupted armors behind him. How could Ra achieve this while hiding it from Cassandra? Lex did not believe that he could, which only meant that she had been lying to him, or hiding information from him. Lex was not surprised. He was incredibly wary of anyone who wanted to give him rewards and gifts at no charge - that was the primary reason he could never bring himself to trust the system. Even if deep down, he felt that he should trust Mateo and Cassandra, Lex just could not. After all, if his parents could keep secrets from him, why couldn''t others? But even so, there was a reason he yed along with everything. Even now, Lex did not feel like he was losing control of the situation. If the worstes to worst, he could just abandon the temple and run. But for that he would have to rescue Z first. But all of those things would only matter if the situation went out of control. For now, Lex did not feel like it had reached that point. As for whether Cassandra and Mateo had been hiding things from him, he could always question themter. The corrupted deity did not seem as affected by Lex''s words as he had assumed. Now that the reality of the situation had been uncovered by Fenrir, instead of bellowing at him in anger, the deity stood at the forefront of his small army, and looked down on Lex with a demeaning grin. "I bet you''re pretty mad, huh, Ra?" Lex said, gathering his own aura as he prepared for the uing fight. "Guess what? Half the reason I put up with so much stuff for so long¡­ is because I''m notpletely satisfied either. For plotting against the Inn, how could I let you off so easily?" Even though currently Lex was only a footrge, the pressure he was giving off was nothing short of gargantuan. Notorious Anonymity covered his face and Domination spread out across the floor. Lex did not leap forward. He did not run or charge either. Step by step, he began to approach Ra, his momentum rising as he approached. Behind him a vague image appeared momentarily, but it dispersed too quickly and no one could tell what it was. But no one was looking behind him to begin with. Short though he might be, the bloodlust Lex was giving off was not little. He had been biding and suppressing his remaining anger in his mind for too long. Now, he finally let it all out.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Kill him," Ramanded, undeterred by the disy. As a deity, what kind of warrior had he not already seen? In his long life, Lex would not even be worthy of being remembered. The corrupted creatures and suits of armor charged forth, spreading their corruption like a tumor. Ra did not know what this ce was, though he felt like he should. It was almost as if the memory of this ce had been forcibly stripped from his mind. But no matter, he had recovered tremendously, and regained some of his authorities. With the authority of creation at his disposal, what did he have to fear? His minions finally reached Lex, but a single swipe of his intent- covered sword was enough to push them back. The fight between Ra, the ruler of heavens and the bringer of light, and the Invincible Tyrant had begun. Suddenly, Ra''sfigure felt teeth sink into its neck, and a wolf pup appeared out of nowhere! Chapter 924 Knowledge is power Chapter 924 Knowledge is power ??Whether it was the corrupted armors or beasts, none of them were weak. With the sharpness of his de apanied by the strength behind it, not to mention sword intent, it should have easily sliced through them if they were ordinary, but it did not. If there was one saving grace to being assaulted from all sides by powerful foes, it was that the diminished space prevented them from dodging and blocking his attacks effectively. Inferno de: Clean Sweep! Inferno de: Judgment! Those were the two closebat attacks from the Inferno de technique, Clean Sweep designed to hit many enemies and Judgment designed to overwhelm a single one. Transitioning between various moves from the same technique would gradually raise the attack power of each move. Moreover, it was easy to transition between moves from the same technique. So Lex began to exclusively use these two moves, not bothering with the long range one. The entire de turned molten red after a few moves, but that did notpromise the integrity of the de - it just made it more lethal. Those that had been able to survive his first attacks were now being burnt and cut through at the same time. One of the feathery creatures attacked from above, its hands containing a ck ball of living flesh, still thumbing. Lex would naturally not miss it, and his de did not hesitate to deliver Judgment. The creature died, and Lex did not hesitate to transition into Clean Sweep to cut off a couple of armors closing in, but the ck flesh exploded under the attack. Parts of it were seared, but nheless a revolting goo sshed the entire area. Yet, somehow, not a speck fell on Lex. He naturally did not miss the flesh when he attacked, and by now Lex had thoroughly learnt his lesson. He took no enemy lightly, and no situation too easily. Earlier, he thought he had Ra contained, but the entire ruptured through space itself, preventing him from finishing him off. If back then Lex had killed him, he would not be in this situation. So now, the one lesson Lex took very seriously and intended to enact forever was that he would never take an enemy lightly, and never dwell in his overconfidence. Lex was all too used to his mindset changing, as that''s what growing entailed. But this shift somehow enhanced him in ways he could not have guessed. Even without entering the state of Flow, he seemed to be in a perfect flow. His skills, practiced and polished, melded perfectly with the warnings from his instincts. His spirit sense fed him information on everything that was happening around him for 300 feet (100 meters), so technically he did not need his instincts to guide him. That is why he was not being guided.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om He used the information he got and reacted even more perfectly than his instincts could have. After all, his objective was different from his instincts, which only wanted to protect him. No, he wanted to wreak havoc. But the sword, which was now encased in mes, was not his only weapon. The corrupted beasts had souls, and so wherever he looked, his eyes delivered Evisceration! Where the bodies were out of reach of his de, he burnt the souls directly! A glow suddenly illuminated the room as an array activated in the ground beneath them. Without looking, and without alerting anyone, Lex had used his feet to draw a massive array. Anyone observing him would have only thought that he was dodging the attacks around him when he moved in between the horde surrounding him. In a sense, he really had been. But more importantly, he was using his feet to draw a massive array. The array started out with a soft glow, but continued to get brighter until it illuminated the entire room. It was not an attack, per se. It was a purifying light. But as it happened, while studying about how to defeat a deity under Cassandra, he had learned about corrupted divinity, and how anything pure was its bane. Ironic, considering how it had started out. The ck, putrid stench of decay that filled this entire room and epassed not only Ra but also all its minions was nothing other than corrupted divinity. Ra was experiencing what Cassandra called a ''Fall from Grace'', but that didn''t matter right now. Lex had barely used any effort at all, yet the entire tide of minions was immobilized. The few dozen he yed personallyy in broken, burnt and melted pieces around him, while the rest fell to the ground and began to writhe under the purifying lighting from his array. Knowing the enemy''s weakness made such a massive difference. If Lex had not studied, he would have relied on his lightning tribtion arrays, as he always did. He ignored the cannon fodder and looked towards Ra. It''s body was more easily visible now, so it was much easier to tell it had been corrupted. It''s once graceful feathers had been shed, and reced by sickly flesh and jagged bones. But that did not make it look weaker, no. Falling from Grace only made the fallen stronger. After all, some considered this the true manifestation of divinity. Nheless, even with its newfound power, Ra was nowhere near his peak. On top of that, his existence aggravated Fenrir in a way Lex had never seen before. The result was a massive Fenrir, returned to its original size, fighting barbarically against the avian deity. Fenrir took a lot more damage than Ra, but that did not mean Ra was uninjured. For whatever reason, Fenrir''s ws were especially potent against Ra. Unhurried, Lex stepped forward, dragging the ming sword on the ground behind him, his left eye forever focused on Ra, searching for a weakness. With his left hand now free, he began to draw another array. Simple tricks such as a purifying light wouldn''t work on a full fledged deity, so Lex would have to be more creative. Chapter 925 Throne Chapter 925 Throne ??There was a reason Ra was so confident this time around, even if Lex couldn''t see it yet. With his left eye, he observed the fallen deity, and though he discovered certain weaknesses, most were beyond his current ability. Purity was an obvious weakness, but it would not work as well against Ra as it did his minions. Pure divine energy, ironically, seemed to be a weakness as well. Besides that, Lex also looked out for its strengths. Lex was sure that Ra knew that his minions could never hope to defeat him, but he sent them forth, anyway. Perhaps he wanted to use the ck sludgeing out of their bodies to poison him somehow, or maybe they were just a part of a greater setup. If Lex could determine the deities n beforehand, he could work against it. Unfortunately, he could learn nothing of note. That left him only one option - to defeat Ra before he could pull whatever trick he had in mind. Just as Lex had that thought, the array he was building waspleted. A beam of intense white light shot out towards Ra. The deity, although upied with Fenrir, had enough awareness to dodge the beam. He even turned and showed a smug face. But it was pointless. The beam was never an attack. The moment it reached the other corner of the room, it exploded, not in an earthshaking or massive explosion. Instead, it painted the entire area in a white, shining glow, leaving the entire ce without a single shadow. The minions groaned even more, and the various spatters of ck goo that had filled the battlefield began to evaporate. This was a simple precaution Lex took to turn the battlefield in his own favor. Ra''s smug grin turned into a grimace, but he seemed to no longer want to wait. He twisted his finger and began channeling a massive stream of corrupted divine energy. Lex had no experience in blocking the flow of this kind of energy, so he decided to raise the pressure while he did so. With a ming sword and endless soul attacks from his eyes, Lexunched himself at Ra. Though he did not expect to hurt him much, or at all, through these attacks, he attacked as if the very next hit would y Ra. Fenrir, too, did not slow down his onught. If anything, the two formed a strange synergy between them where they were not only attacking in tandem, but the timing and position of each assault was perfectly coordinated. When Lex went high, Fenrir went low. When Lex came from the left, Fenrir came from the right.Moreover, they seemed to make each other stronger as well. Lex''s assaults were a burning fury, while Fenrir''s wasced with a deadly cold. Lex''s sword was coated in intent, and Fenrir''s ws could tear through any divinity. Lex''s eyesight itself was an assault, and so too were Fenrir''s growls. All the while, Lex continuously messed with Ra''s divinity. It was much harder to finely control corrupted divinity, so he did not bother with fine control. He instead pushed it and pulled it with every move, causing endless interference. "YOU ARE A COCKROACH AND WILL BE CRUSHED AS SUCH!" Ra finally roared, losing hisposure that he had maintained so long. As if a dam had burst, a massive tide of corrupt divinity flowed out of him, far beyond Lex''s capacity to influence. The light in the room dimmed, as if fighting against the corruption. Clearly Ra was making a big move, and Lex was dedicated to disrupting all his ns. Already close to the deity''s body, Lex needed no preparation. He simply shifted his body weight after a particr sword swipe and punched Ra. The deity dodged, as he had been doing for so long, but he could not anticipate Lex''s attack. Space Warp! Fenrir pulled back, as if anticipating Lex''s move, and began to prepare an attack of his own. Space warped three feet around his fist, which included arge part of Ra''s torso. The fluid space did not seem to affect him at all, but when the intense gravity hit, Ra screamed in agony. Even his corrupted divine energy lost control, and started tosh around the hall as if it were a whip instead of a stream of energy. Noticing its effectiveness, Lex put away his sword and punched the deity again but with his other hand. Injured and affected by gravity, Ra was unable to dodge the fist thatnded directly on its face. Yet theck of pain from the hit did not bring it pleasure, for it knew what came next. Space warped around his face, and the deities'' entire body trembled in pain. He could not scream, for even the sound seemed pulled in by gravity. Its eyes submerged into its skull and its peak deformed. A reason engulfing rage filled Ra as he let go of everything and just focused on killing Lex. His technique finally came into effect, or at least some technique. The room around them morphed, and the rubble began to rearrange itself, assembling a stage and a throne. Hands made of solid stone emerged from the ground and grabbed Lex and Fenrir, trying to pull the two into the solid stone beneath them. New corrupted beasts began to emerge from within the tform, as if it contained an endless number of mutted souls for Ra to use - and use them, he did. Like a drip, the souls from the stage merged into Ra, and the corruption around him deepened.N?v(el)B\\jnn Propelled by some invisible force, Ra floated into the air past their reach, and towards the throne. Lex tried to stop him, but the numerous desperate hands emerging from the ground gripped him too tightly. Even if he was able to break one hand, dozens more caught on and wouldn''t let him go. They were not a threat, but they could slow him down drastically, something he severely wanted to avoid. But it was toote for that. Randed on his throne and fixed his gaze on Lex. Chapter 926 Judgment Chapter 926 Judgment ??With Ra''s gaze fixed on Lex, a pressure fell on the room and everything became still. This pressure was not like that of divine aura or Dragons Might, which Lex could ovee through sheer force of will and determination. The entire room froze still under its effect, including Fenrir and the hands as well. The only thing still working was Lex''s mind - he could not even drive his energy at the moment. Lex did not panic, but he was cognizant of the fact that he was stuck in a tricky situation. If Ra were so powerful, he could instantly freeze them all to begin with, and then there would have been no reason to put up with their previous farce. But he hadn''t and even tolerated the humiliation of being attacked by Lex and Fenrir at the same time. He even suffered many wounds from Fenrir, though for some reason he attributed the hatred from that to Lex as well. The point was, Ra''s ego would not allow him to tolerate such a thing unless it was absolutely necessary. The only exnation was that this was a part of his technique, and the reason why Cassandra had specifically taught him to disrupt divine techniques. But she had not taught him how to effectively disrupt corrupted divinity, which is what he faced. This was either just another thing she hid from him, or the temple had no way for him to train with corrupted divinity. At least she had taught him all the traits of corrupted divinity, so he wasn''t caught unaware.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "YOU INSUFFERABLE COCKROACH," Ra''s voice boomed, though he was not yelling frustratedly anymore. "YOUR CRIMES ARE NUMEROUS, AND FOR THAT I SENTENCE YOU TO AN ETERNITY OF SUFFERING!" Lex observed everything with his left eye and saw massive amounts of energy begin to flow as soon as Ra spoke. Just as he suspected, this was some kind of technique. As if he were not the one being judged, Lex calmly but quickly reviewed everything he knew about deities. Whether they are fallen or not, the nature of a deity''s power is dependent on their beliefs. If they want to expand their list of abilities, they need to either incorporate that into their belief or steal the domain of another deity, which naturally will add that both to their belief and their abilities. Lex, unfortunately, had not done extensive research into Ra''s beliefs, but he vaguely recalled some stuff back from earth when he visited Egypt. Let''s see, there was something to do with being the top deity, the creator of everything. He vaguely recalled something about judging the souls of the deceased. Or was that another guy? But looking at Ra sitting on his throne, this really did look like him judging Lex. If that was the case¡­ Lex immediately summoned both his new Invincible Tyrant mask, as well as the Butter Knife. Although he could not move his body, his spirit sense was free. He used that to manipte some of the divine energy around them and imbue the mask and knife with it. Ra immediately sensed what Lex was doing and sneered. "FOOLISH ATTEMPTS!" his voice bellowed, and Lex''s surroundings changed. Instead of a stage, Lex found himself in a¡­ Even with how serious the situation was, Lex could not help but burst intoughter due to how unexpected, yet expected, the situation was. He found himself in ava pit. Now that his surroundings had changed, the pressure holding him down had disappeared, but the arms of stone still held him down. Completely ignoring his surroundings, Lex began hurrying up the imbuing process. Although there were multiple ways to negate deities'' techniques and abilities, the easiest way out of them was to interfere before they were established. Since Lex failed that, his next step was to use divine energy itself, or items containing divine energy, to fight back. Moreover, instead of breaking the stone arms, he began cycling his cultivation technique, absorbing the divine energy from the arms. But Lex stopped that almost immediately. Although his cultivation technique would eventually adapt him to tolerate corrupted divine energy, at the moment he couldn''t deal with it, and that''s exactly what filled the hands. As ifpletely incensed by Lex''s dismissal of his situation, Ra leaned forward to re at him as he hurried up, filling the pit withva. He was looking forward to seeing Lex scream and plead as theva burnt him. This was, of course, not ordinaryva, but a special kind that directly burned the soul instead of the body! Yet Lex seemed topletely ignore theva even as it inched closer. Ra sneered at his attempts to put up a brave front, but even as theva finally touched his feet, and began to surround his body, Lex did not even flinch. Sure that he was just resisting the inevitable, Ra leaned even further in anticipation of his inevitable cries. But they never came. Lex, meanwhile, was curious about why Ra constantly kept forgetting about Fenrir? Was that the pup''s new ability? The Butter Knife fully imbued, Lex''s eyes shed as he began his retaliation. He swiped the knife at the many hands holding him down, cutting through them like¡­ like a hot knife through butter. Free from his restraints, Lex bolted, not away from theva, but inside of it. His eye had already located the weak point of this technique, and he was going to stab it. Contrary to what he had expected, thisva was actually hot, and it did burn him. But the extent of the burns waspletely negligible for Lex right now. Ra, stunned in disbelief at what he was seeing, nearly dropped its jaw - or its lower beak. But since his focus waspletely fixed on Lex, he seemed to have once again forgotten about the existence of Fenrir. He did not even notice when the pup broke out of his restraints, and was reminded of it only when he once again felt teeth sink into his neck. Chapter 927 Guilt trip Chapter 927 Guilt trip ??This time, Fenrir had learnt his lesson. Although Ra''s body may seem like it was solid, it was actually just a shell made entirely from corrupted divinity. Hidden somewhere within the shell was the ceremonial item that kept his clone active. So unlikest time, when it bit Ra''s neck with the intention of cutting through his vitals, this time Fenrir gripped tightly, and injected its own energy deep within Ra''s body. The force from Fenrir''s tackle pushed them off the throne, and suddenly his ability deactivated. Lex, who was about to cut through the weak point of the technique with his knife, suddenly found himself back in the hall. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?" Ra''s voice roared as his body disintegrated and reappeared behind Fenrir. Every time the pup attacked him Ra was reminded of him, but every time he focused on Lex, he seemed to forget about this wolf pup. But having suffered numerous attacks, he no longer avoided Fenrir in favor of punishing Lex. "It''s time to end this," he murmured, more to himself than anyone else. The odd forgetfulness he was experiencing caused him to raise his guard as he detected some kind of hidden danger. He still did not know where he was, and if there were any more enemies waiting for him. As much as it wanted to feel the satisfaction of watching Lex suffer, it was safer to just kill him. Ra reactivated his ability, once again summoning his throne as well as the stage where he could judge Lex and Fenrir. Corrupted divine energy rose in the air like a tidal wave, ready to swallow the stage as Ra retreated to the throne. New hands jutted from the ground ready to grab Lex and Fenrir once more, preventing them from following Ra. But repeating the same trick would not work now that Lex knew what it entailed. Long before Ra could get anywhere near the throne, Lex, ignoring the hands around him, Blinked directly over. The tiny Lex, wearing his ceremonial mask that looked like Notorious Anonymity, sat down on the throne and looked at Ra. He tried to hijack the deities technique, although he was fairly certain he wouldn''t be able to use it. Unfortunately, he was right. Sitting on the throne didn''t give him the power to judge Ra, even if he used Domination to replicate the intensely oppressive aura he had felt when the deity sat on the throne. "Oh well," he muttered and stabbed his butter knife into the throne. Despite being assembled from the rubble nearby, the throne''s durability was from the stone it was made of, but the energy which held it up. His knife precisely cut through that energy, breaking the technique. Ra let out an infuriated scream as he controlled the tide of corrupted energy to fall onto Lex and Fenrir as he tried to retreat.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om But no matter how far he retreated, with Blink at his disposal, Lex was always within reach. Lex teleported behind Ra and used his sword to attack with Inferno de while he used the butter knife in his left hand to stab him as well. Unexpectedly, both the sword strike as well as the butter knife struck Ra. The enraged deity had not tried to dodge, but instead turned to grab onto Lex. His body suffered the attack, but it was not without results. "Tomb of eternal regret!" Ra chanted, and his body liquified and covered Lex immediately. Lex tried to blink away, but wherever he went, the liquid teleported with him. Too quickly for him to try everything else, the liquidpletely surrounded Lex''s body before solidifying in the shape of a casket. Some distance away, Ra reappeared, his body much smaller this time but he did not seem to care. He almost smiled and gloated, but before he could he felt jaws mping around his neck once again. Lex, entombed within solidified corrupted divinity, was trying to break free but it was not so simple. He could not move his body at all, as it was once again under the same suppression he experienced back on stage. He had the butter knife in his hand, which was slowly and consistently damaging the corrupted divinity just by being in contact with it, but the speed was slow. The mask around his face, instead, was not damaging the divinity, but somehow protecting Lex from some of its effects, though he couldn''t tell what they were. Ultimately, he was trapped and the pressure on his body was gradually increasing. Even with his strength, it would only be a couple of minutes before he started to get crushed. Sensing that his current situation was a lot more dire than anything Ra had put him through so far, Lex tried some drastic measures - but none of them seemed to work. He even tried activating Space Unraveling in an attempt to break this tomb that way, but every time he got close to activating the technique, Lex would be extremely dizzy and lose control of his energy. He needed toe up with a quick way to escape this tomb. If he began cultivating his body would slowly adapt to this corrupted divinity, that would take hours - time that he did not have. What could he- "You know, you never really checked up on Big Ben after you brought him to the Inn¡­" whispered a voice in Lex''s ear. "Sure, you sent him and his wife to the hospital. But they lost their unborn child, and you never even check up on them. Forget being a decent boss, are you even a decent human being?" Lex froze, startled not only by the voice, but by what it had said as well. What it said was not true, he had made sure that they were alive and well¡­ "Oh yeah, you checked through your system. But did you ever go meet them? Personally? But isn''t that just who you are? Didn''t you do the same with Harry? You dropped by once and-" Lex snorted and began ignoring the voices in his head. Trying to guilt trip him? He had seen enough anime to know that trick like the back of his hand. He resumed his efforts to escape. Chapter 928 Diversion Chapter 928 Diversion ??In essence, there were a lot of things Lex hadn''t done perfectly, or even well. But he knew that his intentions were always good, and that he was always trying to improve. If, despite that, he messed up somehow, he''d just learn from that mistake. As long as he was alive, he could do something to make up for it. With a mentality like that, it was difficult for Lex to get pulled into feelings of guilt and shame, especially during a situation like the one he was in. Perhaps there was more to the technique and his mask was blocking out key factors which would result in him falling victim to it. But while the effectiveness of the technique dropped, it didn''t change the fact that Lex was slowly getting crushed to death. Lex tried a number of different things, from his various techniques, to teleporting away by first creating a barrier between himself and the tomb, but none of them seemed to work. Either the tomb could tolerate the damage from his techniques, or his techniques would fail to execute. The voices in his head were also getting louder, so that even if he was not affected by them, he was certainly distracted by them. Lex entered his Overdrive state to consider possible solutions to his situation and suddenly something clicked. He recalled a moment during his training when Cassandra mentioned that his mask seemed inherently predisposed to enticing negative emotions. Although thement seemed harmless, it triggered an idea. He used his spirit sense to guide the corrupted divinity around him towards his mask and tried to imbue the mask with it. At first, the mask seemed to resist, but eventually, it began absorbing the energy. When that moment came, it was as if a floodgate had been broken, and the corrupted divine energy flowed into a mask like a torrent. The tomb around him began to loosen, and Lex could already feel the constraints around him disappearing. It seemed like his mask, which already looked evil and intimidating, was bound to get its subsequent power ups from corrupted divinity. At the moment, Lex did not care. Even if the mask absorbed corrupted divinity, it did not have a direct effect on Lex. There was a chance that using it woulde with some drawbacks, solely due to the corrupted nature of the energy which was now empowering it, but he would deal with that when the time came. He could feel his mask bing stronger, but now was not the time to feed it. The moment the surrounding tomb loosened enough for him to escape, Lex teleported out once more. Ra and Fenrir had been fighting outside while he was escaping, and the situation did not look well for the pup. Although it had hurt Ra tremendously, the deity just continued to heal its body with more corrupt, divine energy. What was worse was that without Lex to upy Ra''s attention, it focused solely on the pup and managed to injure it quite severely. Although Fenrir was impressive, it did not have the same resilience as Lex. Maintaining his Overdrive state, Lex analyzed Ra, searching for weaknesses but discovered something else. The deity was umting a massive amount of energy within its body, and was no doubt preparing for something.N?v(el)B\\jnn Lex grit his teeth and considered using one of the missiles, but the situation was not so hopeless yet. Lex needed to distract Ra for a moment while he searched for the ceremonial item Ra was using. With his direction decided, Lex immediately came up with a n, but could not help but sigh. "This is going to hurt," he mumbled as he summoned an extremely bright crystal from his spatial bangle and put it in his mouth. That was one of the purer energy crystals used in the Crystal realm, and contained much more energy than even Lex contained. He did not swallow the crystal, but just kept it in his mouth. This way, when he needed to absorb energy from it, it would be much easier, and his hands would be free. Lex transitioned to his Flow state and Blinked over to Ra. When he appeared, Lex was already in the middle of throwing a punch, so he wasted no time in aiming at Ra''s body. The moment his fist touched Ra, Lex activated Space Warp, once again distorting the deities body. But he already knew hurting Ra''s body was futile, so the purpose of that attack was not to injure him, but to disrupt the deities'' control over his own energy. Without missing a beat, Lex summoned dozens of Imperial Shields around them both, enhanced by his spatial affinity, therefore blocking Ra from teleporting out. Then, he began absorbing the freed up corrupted divine energy into his mask, while at the same time he used Space Unraveling within their enclosed space. Considering the state of Ra''s body, Lex would take more of a beating, but as long as Ra''s energy control continued to be disrupted his objective would be met. "WHY ARE YOU SO ANNOYING?" Ra roared, right before his beak evaporated under the influence of the dissolving space. "CHAOS ENERGY? ARE YOU CRAZY?" Ra''s voice echoed in their trapped space, despite the fact that he no longer had a mouth. Lex could originally only use this technique for a couple of seconds, but considering that he was recharging his energy actively, the duration was extended by a few seconds more. Those few, hard won seconds were not spent in peace, as not only was Lex himself having his body burnt through, but he had to dodge Ra''s attacks while maintaining every other action he was doing. But the Flow state ensured that Lex''s concentration was never broken, regardless of the condition of his body. "Your ceremonial item¡­ is not hiding inside your body!" Lex suddenly eximed. Ra''s body was a diversion, the item was somewhere else to begin with! Lex instantly dismissed the shields, stopped Space Unraveling and Blinked away. Broken, battered, and missing an eye, Lex suddenly started sweeping the area for Ra''s core as he suddenly started getting a very bad feeling. This entire fight had been a diversion! Chapter 929 Finally

Chapter 929 Finally

?"Fenrir, his body is just a diversion!" Lex stated through his spirit sense. "Instead of attacking him, look for the item!" No matter what, Ra would definitely interfere with their search. After all, if the deity had gone through so much pain and effort just to distract them, he was either plotting something sinister or was incredibly weak at the moment. Regardless of whichever one it was, they could not afford to wait. The only thing in their favor at the moment was the fact that the item itself was probably not so far from them. After all, it had to maintain its control over the body made from energy, as well as its numerous techniques. Between the two of them, Fenrir was more likely to seed because he could somehow make Ra forget about him. Lex''s n was to search for the item, but most attract Ra''s attention while he searched, so Fenrir could investigate freely. "COME BACK HERE!" Ra roared, having realized that his ploy had been seen through. While Lex looked severely injured, Ra was not any better, either. His body could continuously heal using the corrupted divine energy, but the more of it he used, the less he had in reserve. That meant Ra''s body was continuously decreasing in size! By now, after its previous vicious beating, its body was barelyrger than Lex''s! Lex, of course, had no interest in obeying Ra, so the miniature deity chased after him. But a game of tag with someone who could use Blink was bound to yield no results. Using his left eye and spirit sense, Lex scanned his surroundings before teleporting away. The first thing he investigated was the strange metal pipe Ra had been holding. He had appeared to be siphoning energy away from it, but Lex dared not overlook anything. But it was too obvious, and there was no sign of any ceremonial item nearby. He teleported again and again, overturning even random rubble on the floor lest the item be hidden underneath. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om As soon as Ra realized that he couldn''t catch up to Lex, he stopped his chase, a dangerous look gleaming in his eyes. He began gathering divine energy and prepared for a powerful technique. This was an opportunity for him as well. It was a race between whether Lex would find the item first, or would his technique¨C Without warning, Lex Blinked behind him and stabbed him with the butter knife, inciting a pain and rage filled scream. "Why are you getting sofortable while I''m doing all the work?" Lex asked, before Blinking away again. He had no intentions of fighting Ra anymore, but that was no reason to allow him to be sofortable. Under normal circumstances, Lex might have enjoyed teasing and annoying Ra, but currently he was in immense pain. His body literally had numerous holes in it, and although he had a high pain tolerance, and although it would not kill him, that did not mean Lex was okay with it. If anything, he had to make a conscious effort not to lose control of his emotions. In such a situation, watching Ra casually do his own thing while his body recovered so easily just¡­ just drove Lex insane. So, to vent his feelings, Lex stabbed him a few times. Conveniently, since the de would cut through divine energy, it would interfere with his techniques. After seeding a few times without any meaningful retaliation, Lex made a mental note to employ more hit-and-run tactics in the future. This was so much easier and more interesting than fighting up front. Of course, the only reason he could do this now was also because his objective had changed. After repeating the process a few times, Lex heard a familiar growl. Fenrir, who could not speak even now, still managed tomunicate with him through their bond. Finally he smiled. With Fenrir''s assurance, he decided to keep Ra upied. "You know, I''ve been wondering. Since you were a big shot and everything, why don''t you just silently try to recover? Why are you going around and picking fights with the Inn? You even went and became a Fallen deity. Isn''t it just a waste?" "WHAT DO YOU KNOW?" Ra roared in absolute frustration. Why was this stupid human so resilient to his techniques? It was ruining his n. His body had already shrunk further, and was now even smaller than Lex. "I don''t know, so why don''t you tell me," Lex said, stabbing Ra again in his puny back. "IT''S A KARMIC LAW! DO YOU UNDERSTAND? A LAW! THE INNKEEPERS ATTACK HAS BECOME A PART OF THE ORIGIN REALMS LAW, AND WILL TARGET ME FOR ALL ETERNITY!" Ra reached a point where he could no longer take it. Earlier or, he had been somewhat pretending to lose his anger to keep Lex upied, but now he really was losing his anger. Ever since he fell, he lost control of his emotions more and more easily. It made it difficult to get anything done. But right now, Ra no longer even cared. In his eyes, all that mattered right now was killing Lex! He even discarded his original n, just to kill him! Ra clenched his fists, summoning forth a massive amount of corrupted divine energy, nearly destabilizing his body''s structure. He was waiting¡­ waiting for Lex to stab him, and then his body would explode. It would be a waste, but it was impossible to survive a divinity explosion and remain uninjured. Ra did not let on he was waiting, and made it seem like he was casting a technique. Just as he expected, the sensation of sharpness finally arrived. But the baby Ra''s expression changed. He was all too familiar with this feeling. It wasn''t the knife, but the teeth of an ursed wolf! Moreover, he wasn''t biting his neck this time but¡­ Ra opened his mouth to scream, but his already destabilized body dispersed. Lex Blinked over to Fenrir and found him biting an eagle feather. Fortunately, he had not crushed it yet. Chapter 930 Angry student

Chapter 930 Angry student

?"Don''t break it," Lex instructed as he looked up at the giant wolf. Even if he were in his usual size he would find Fenrir massive right now, let alone in his baby state. Lex leaned against one of Fenrir''s legs and summoned one of his many immortal level missiles, letting it sit amongst the rubble. Letting out a sigh, he gently sat on top of it, nearly wincing as he sat. Why was it that pain was so much easier to ignore in a fight, but as soon as it was over, it was almost unignorable? The pup, simrly wounded, shrunk his size down andy his head in Lex''sp, though he never loosened his teeth at all. He needed only to increase his force by a fraction, and his teeth would tear through the feather. His instincts were practically begging him to do so. But since Lex had asked to wait, he would wait. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Their blood slowly dripped from their bodies and fell onto the missile. A few drops had to umte before they began to slide down that as well. Lex observed the feather with his left eye, trying to understand how Ra had used it. For a very long time, Lex had been looking for ways to make clones of himself. How cool would that be? But every technique he discovered came with massive drawbacks. It was never worth it. He wondered if Ra''s technique was any better. "You know, I don''t really appreciate being lied to," Lex said out loud, though his gaze never left the feather. "When did I lie to you?" asked Cassandra, her projection appearing in front of him. "''Oh I am the strongest human alive, but I can''t beat this half dead eagle stealing energy to survive''" Lex mimicked her poorly. Perhaps the age of his body was making him slightly immature. "Even if that were true, ande on, it''s really not, Ra was leaking energy at a rapid pace. All you needed to do was block the energy he was stealing, and he''d die in a couple of days." Lex paused to see if she was going to provide any justification. When she didn''t, he continued his list. "There''s also no way you didn''t know he had fallen, but I''ll ignore that one since you at least taught me about corrupt divinity. The thing that really peeves me, the one that really gets to me though, is the attempt at emotional maniption. And when that didn''t work, or at least didn''t elicit much of a response from me, you shifted the danger from the Origin realm to me directly. "Like I get that by stating the entire Origin realm is at risk, you wanted to motivate me to fight Ra. Honestly I was going to fight Ra anyway, but when I didn''t make a sweeping deration to die fighting for the sake of the realm, you trained me, and then said it''s toote, you have the aura of the temple on you now. You''re in danger too. Almost like it did not ur to you that I would also be a target if I underwent your training beforehand." Lex was even skeptical of the system providing him benefits, so how could he not doubt others? The only difference was, he did not so tantly fight against Mateo and Cassandra as he had with the system because he still needed something from them - the training. Also, just in case he was wrong about them being able to fight Ra on their own, then at least until that point they needed him as well, so he would be safe. But now finally they had arrived at the crossroad, and Lex could no longer afford to pretend to be stupid. In case they had ulterior motives, should he not protect himself first then he would be at their mercy. He really liked the idea that this temple was the perfect ce for him to secretly train his employees, but he could not send them to the temple if there was any doubt about it at all. "Given your young age, I just thought you were just naive," Cassandra said casually. "Most people whock experience more or less believe whatever they hear. People with experience often drop their guard after experiencing some benefits, and begin to doubt their own original suspicions instead. I''m d to see you''re not so foolish. Let''s talk a bit, but first, let me take care of this." She waved her hand, and an imperceptibly thin shield appeared around the missile, isting it from the rest of them. Even Lex could not detect the shield, but he could tell that he had lost contact with the missile. She also summoned the projection of a chair and a table, before taking a seat. Cups and tes appeared on the table, filled with various foods. Cassandra only grabbed what looked like a tea cup and took a sip before continuing. "Help yourself to something if you need it. I feel like this is going to be a long talk. Let''s begin with your fight with the little bird. Your performance was not bad. Clearly you have been hiding the extent of your skill, as you performed a lot better than projected. You also got a little lucky, because you inadvertently protected yourself from the deities schemes. Instead of giving you all the answers, let''s do a question and answer session to see how much you picked up. Do you know what the deities'' goal was?" Lex got up from his missile and stepped up to the table. But instead of pulling out a chair, he summoned another missile and took a seat. Cassandra was not the only one who could make a silent statement! Cassandra clicked her tongue and isted the new missile again. These things weren''t toys to be left around like that! This student of hers really had a temper! "He was definitely nning something, otherwise he would not have used an energy body to distract me for so long. But we figured it out in time, and prevented his n." "Wrong, that''s not what happened," Cassandra corrected. Chapter 931 Possession Chapter 931 Possession ??Before Cassandra could exin what she meant, Lex summoned another missile. This time, he did not sit on it. Instead, he summed an Imperial Shield behind him on which he could lean back, and ced his legs on the third missile. Of course, by the time Lex ced his feet on it, Cassandra had already isted it again. It was more than clear that Lex was extremely dissatisfied with the way he had been manipted. But instead of being frustrated, Cassandra found his little tantrum amusing. She, of course, knew that his true age was not that of his body. She estimated that he was, at best, a few decades older, though so to her he still really was a child. The fact that he was showing his dissatisfaction, andining, even if his form ofint was to threaten the temple with a missile containing a Heavenly immortal attack, meant that their rtion was not pushed to the point of no return. Cassandra did not allow the appearance of the missile to pause her exnation. "The assessment you have given me is the one you formed while you were fighting Ra. If you take a minute to think back, and look at everything that you know now, you may reach a different conclusion. But allow me to skip over your introspection, and bring the correct conclusion directly to your attention. From the very first moment you fought the deity, his intention had not been to kill you, regardless of whatever you may think. After all, the gravest injuries you have on your body were all caused by yourself." Cassandra paused to see Lex''s reaction, but he satpletely unashamed. Blood was dripping down his face from the massive hole where he used to have a right eye, but it had mostly stopped. Even if he did not seek healing from her, within a couple of weeks he''d be back to brand new based on his own regenerative abilities. "If you think back, the deity imed that he would never be able to step foot in the Origin realm. Someone had affected thews of the realm, making them attack him as soon as he revealed himself. Quite an ingenious yet dastardly punishment, that. The deity must have really antagonized the wrong person for something like that to happen. "Nevertheless, as a result of that, the deity is in hiding, and actively trying to change itself so that thew no longer applies to that. With this information in mind, if you think back to your fight, you will notice that the deity never really tried to seriously harm you. It merely tried to incapacitate or trap you. The reason for that is simple. From the very start, his goal had been to possess you, not kill you!" Lex raised an eyebrow. The revtion made sense, now that he thought about it looking back, but it hadn''t urred to him at the time. "When he sent his minions after you, he was just trying to stall you, and infect you with a parasitism enabler - the ck goo that you so easily dodged. Time and time again, after that, the deity did not employ its most powerful attacks, but instead tried to hold you still. If Fenrir had not been constantly disrupting his efforts, you may have seen his subsequent preparations while you fought off his attacks. "That time you were entombed, he nearly even seeded. But I don''t know whether it was out of sheer luck, or perhaps the influence of your prophetic intuition. The Invincible Tyrant mask you wore while entombed blocked the effects of the technique which would allow Ra to possess you. "Of course, even if you had not worn the mask, due to your new bond with Lotus, it would not be so easy to possess you. It would be like possessing an entire. You would have been able to escape, eventually." Lex frowned, his mind quickly recalling the various scenes from the fight. At first, Lex had thought that Ra was a has-been deity who was losing his mind due to the corrupt divinity. But then heter proved that he had been acting to lure Lex into thinking things were going his way. If that were really the case, and Ra had the ability to divine the future, since how long ago had Ra been nning this? Cassandra only guessed this much because she only saw the exchange within the temple, but what about their exchange prior to that? If Lex looked at things more critically, even back then on that where Ra first appeared, capturing him had been easy - too easy! Lex had assumed it was due to being underestimated, and had subsequently used Ra''s body to absorb divine energy. He used his own cultivation technique to improve his body using divine energy. Back then, he felt like he was taking advantage of Ra. But, if the same scene was looked at with a different lens, wasn''t Lex altering his body and thereby making it the perfect vessel for Ra to possesster on?n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om He got chills as he reached such a conclusion. He may feel like he had escaped Ra''s clutches already, but what if that was also part of his n? What if he was lowering Lex''s guard, and would find a way to possess him at some other pointter on? Lex frowned as his thoughts reached this point, but then he calmed himself down. He was not exactly helpless, and even if a deity wanted to possess him it was not so easy. Even if he ignored all his other numerous benefits, just Dragons Might alone would protect him from that. Then there were his bonds, as well as the system, the sword inside his soul, and so many other things. He suddenly imagined his soul like a bar where numerous powerful people, entities and phenomena gathered to have a drink. Pushing away the random thoughts, he turned to look back at Cassandra. "That''s not exactly helping your case, you know," he said, still waiting for the exnation for why she had lied. Chapter 932 Lost my trust Chapter 932 Lost my trust ??"I genuinely could not have anticipated that the intention of the deity was to possess you," Cassandra exined. "Under normal circumstances, there would be not much to gain, and plenty to lose. But, regardless, due to his intentions, and your many, overwhelming advantages, your encounter with the deity fell short of my expectations. It was quite disappointing actually." She stated her feelings quite freely, as if uncaring that they might further aggravate Lex. But she didn''t keep him stewing either. She quickly continued to the next part, which contained her reasonings. "As you correctly guessed, it''s not a big deal for me, or even Mateo to deal with the intruder. Outside the temple, we have no authority. Inside, nothing can happen that we don''t allow." She paused to look at Lex in the eyes, and then towards the missiles. "Nothing," she repeated as if to emphasize the point. But instead of getting the message she was trying to convey, Lex just summoned another missile. He was rich and oundish, what could they do about it? Cassandra sighed and nearly rubbed her head. Despite her endless patience, she had never worked with a baby before. It was a¡­ novel experience. "The n was Mateo''s, but when he informed me of it, I agreed wholeheartedly. Regardless of anything else you may or may not believe, there should be no room for you to doubt that the purpose of the temple of fasting is to train humans. It is to help them ovee difficult personal trials - hence the name fasting. "After your initial assessment of ''exceeds expectations'', Mateo devised a n to train you. That included giving you a strong enemy to ovee, which was naturally the deity, as well as strong motivation to push yourself, which would be the threat to the realm. Only, while you did train diligently, no matter what reason we have you to fight Ra, I never sensed desperation from you. No matter how tough you had it, no matter how much you bled, or how spent you became, I could not sense any desperation from you. "Normally, that''s a bad thing. But sometimes, it can be good as well. Now I''m not iming that your life has been easy, not at all. But I can tell, you''ve never faced true desperation. You''ve never faced¡­ the dire hope that clings to your chest as you wish for something, even knowing it will nevere. You have never faced a defeat that stripped you of everything.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "I went along with the n to train you using Ra because I was hoping to have you go through such a situation in a controlled environment. If you thought that no help woulde, and you were overwhelmed, it would be a good growing experience for you. But I''ve noticed you''re too calm. You''re always in control of your emotions. It''s not easy to elicit such a reaction from you, so I altered the n a bit and created an emergency situation to unsettle you. "As things stand, although you did not go through what I wanted, I must admire your ability to stay calm and collected. The reason my guidance has not been as effective as possible is because I''ve constantly underestimated you, in one way if not another." With that, Cassandra paused once again. She had given him a clear enough answer. The reason she had not beenpletely forting was because she was treating it as a part of his training. It was so unexpectedly cliche that Lex had not even considered it. But that did not improve his mood in the slightest. For a few moments, Lex sat in silence as he gathered his thoughts. He was on the verge of a very important decision, and he didn''t want to make it in a rush of emotions or be blinded by benefits. Before he could make any decision, though, he needed to first establish his baseline. "Cassandra Vans Agnew," Lex said, as he sat up straight and looked her in the eyes, "when you first appeared, you asked my permission before bing my teacher. I do not know much about you, but if I take things at your word, then you are one of the strongest humans ever. For someone of your level to show any attention towards me at all should be my honor, let alone asking me for my permission. "I realize that. I am grateful, for your training has helped, and honored that someone of your level would pay attention to me. But, Cassandra, I am neither your subordinate, nor your subject. I did note to you asking for training, nor have I asked you particrly for anything. Do you know what that means? "It means that while I appreciate your guidance and help, I am not willing to be manipted, even if you think it is for my own good, or lied to. I am not willing topromise on certain things, and I do not owe your temple anything, regardless of your intentions. I only came here to take Z back with me, and you are the ones who dyed it. "Now I cannot help but think what kind of torture or mistreatment you put him through in the name of ''training'' him. What are the lengths you are willing to go to to fulfill your role, despite the will and interest of the person involved? What gives you the right to decide for me or mine what is good or bad?" Lex could not hide the aggression in his voice, or in his eyes, but he ultimately calmed himself down. Things had not gotten to the point of no return yet, and it was true that he was in their territory. It was not good to push things too far. "The gist of the matter is, I no longer trust you, so how can you regain my trust? If you cannot, then please take me to Z so we can leave you and your temple to continue to hide from your enemies. We won''t continue intruding." Chapter 933 Realm War

Chapter 933 Realm War

?Not a flicker of emotion appeared on Cassandra''s neutral face as she heard Lexin. Should she say he was too privileged? Or that his backing was so strong that he couldn''t appreciate the opportunities he had been given? Faster than Lex could process, she leaned back in her chair and rubbed her forehead. How long had she been asleep so that Golden core cultivators could just ignore her guidance? Had the realms really progressed that much? She found it hard to believe. She got up from her chair and paced around, all of this still happening with such a small frame of time that Lex would not be able to tell anything happened at all. For a moment she considered if she was truly in the wrong. But then just concluded that Lex''s situation was unique, which is why he had the option to not tolerate such methods of training. He could afford it. Was it worth it for her then to humor him? She thought for some time, but then concluded his potential was too great to waste. She sat back down, and slowed down her perception of time back to a normal level. Lex was staring at her, as if waiting for her to give him an exnation. Truly dealing with babies was a hassle. How had she ever dealt with her own? "The truth of the matter is, you do still trust the temple. You trust it in your gut, even if you don''t want to - even if you don''t understand why," said Cassandra as she poured herself another tea. Unfortunately, she was right. Lex could feel it in his gut - in his very soul. The temple would neer harm him, and he could trust him. That feeling came from his core, but the feeling did not bind his actions. Since he did not understand it, he could choose to ignore it, something he was very much contemting. "But the problem is, you don''t understand the context of that feeling. You don''t understand the purpose of the temple. You don''t understand why the temple would even suffer losses, and it has very much suffered losses due to the actions of that deity, just to train you. I can exin it to you, so that you understand. But first, I want to understand you a bit more. It will help with my exnation. "Despite everything you have personally experienced, despite the investment you have seen, though admittedly you might not even understand the scope of that investment, you never seem impressed by anything the temple offers. If anything, the holistic guidance I give seems to elicit more of?a reaction from you than, say, a resource the value of which suppasses a dozen star systems." ''A resource that suprasses the value of entire star systems?'' Lex pondered. That was¡­ worth a whole lot more than what he had umted at the Inn. Maybe. Honestly, speaking, he did not know the value of a living Heavenly immortal dragon. It should be more than that, right? "See, that is exactly the expression you make," Cassandra said. "That expression, as if you areparing the cost of things. Sometimes, child, even if you have the resources, they cannot rece the type of nurturing and guidance that the temple provides." "This is not about resources. It is about trust. I already said that I don''t doubt that you''ll do whatever it takes to train me as long as you think it is worth it, including allowing a crazed deity to run rampant in your temple. But the question is, do ''I'' think it''s worth it? How do I know that you won''t manipte me further just because you think it''ll help me down the line? What''s to stop you from locking me in a basement and training me for a thousand years against my will? For all I know, that''s exactly what you''re doing to Z "Sure, I have ess to some valuable resources. I mean, I use the forehead of a living Heavenly immortal dragon as my cultivation mat. But I don''t always have the right resources or the right guidance. I would love for there to be a magical ce that trains me and gives me stuff for free without asking for anything in return. But I don''t believe such a ce exists, and you''re not really helping your case." Cassandra''s forehead twitched. Training¡­ on a¡­ did he say living? How is that even helpful? Suddenly, she could understand what Mateo felt when he woke her up. "Child, what do you know about the universe?" Lex did not answer, but just kept looking at her as if wondering why she was asking him such a question. "I truly wonder what kind of ce youe from, where you can get so much, but not understand basic things. I take it you are familiar with realms, correct?" "Yes," responded Lex, hoping that this would eventually lead to a proper answer. "You already know about the Origin realm. Do you know how many other realms there are in the universe?" "No, I don''t." "The answer is, it does not matter. What matters is how many ''mature'' realms there are in the universe. That is a much more finite numberpared to the total number of realms. More importantly, what matters is why there is a difference between mature and non-mature realms. "You see child, everything in existence has a lifecycle. The life cycle of our universe¡­ is right at the start. Our universe is young, you can say. And like all things young, the universe is growing. That growth allows new realms to be formed, and for them to mature. The Origin realm is an example of a realm that is about to mature. Now Lex, can you tell me what the most valuable resource in the universe is?" n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Mature realms?" Lex guessed, based on the theme of her exnation. "It makes sense that you would think that, but no. The most valuable resource is time, and it''s running out! You see, the universe is approaching the end of its ''youth'' or early life phase. Once that happens, the universe will reach an equilibrium. That means the number of mature realms will be fixed, and all other realms, which have not reached full maturity, will be stuck at the level they''ve reached. "Now why is this important? I''m going to gloss over a lot of things and get to the point. Technically, you''re still too young and low leveled to learn about such things. Heavenly immortal realm would be the ideal realm to get in contact with this stuff, so I''ll be brief. "Although time is running out, that is only on a universal scale. In practice, it means there are billions of years left for this phase to finish. But this phase will not be spent in peace. The most valuable thing about mature realms is their ability to support high level cultivators, and nurture them. "You see, once the level of a cultivator reaches a certain point, they no longer need mundane resources. Instead, they need a deeperprehension and mastery ofws. For Dao Lord to grow, entering new realms that have not yet matured, but are nearing maturity,is the most ideal experience. They can ''feel'' the newws being formed, which allows them to gain a deeper understanding of the Dao. "As for cultivation realms higher, well, it''s best if you don''t learn about it yet - trust me. But as a result, all mature realms, and realms nearing maturity have been embroiled in a war. Different factions want control over realms that are maturing so that their Dao Lords can grow before the universe''s growth period ends, because after that it will be exponentially more difficult. "Not all realms have the same rate of time flow either, so realms in which time passes more slowly are exceptionally valuable. Now that you understand this much, you should also understand that control over mature realms provides massive benefits to a race. Have you heard of the Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum? If a race gains control over a mature realm, then the benefits of that are felt by every member of that race across the entire universe! "Which is why those who control important realms don''t want to give up control, and those who don''t have control want to take it. The human race is also very much embroiled in this war, and in fact very recently lost control over a majority of the realms they controlled, even if they were not mature ones. "The temple, though it is in hiding for the moment, is very much a strategic resource designed to nurture generations of warriors for the realm war. But due to certain losses, the temple was hidden. There are forces out in the universe acting to bring the temple back, but there are also forces doing their best to ensure it doesn''te back. "There are too many things that I cannot tell you right now, but I hope you understand. The temple¡­ is for the benefit of all humans, across the entire universe!" Chapter 934 Enlighten Chapter 934 Enlighten ??Baby Lex felt contemtive as he heard Cassandra'' exnation. He had learnt a lot of new information that was more relevant to him than she knew, all in the hopes of exining something that she never said explicitly. The understanding was that in the fight to control already established mature realms, or maybe gain control of realms nearing maturity, so that the Dao Lords of each race can grow, the Temple of Fasting trained warriors who would go and fight in that war. Or, maybe, the purpose of the temple was to produce Dao Lords to take advantage of the situation? The progress of this realm could literally affect humans across the universe by giving them a higher position on the Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum. This benefit was far greater than it seemed, and as someone who first hand experienced it, Lex could testify to this. He had managed to raise his personal level, through various means, and it allowed him better control and perception of spiritual energy. He also believed that it allowed him to do more with the same level of affinity than someone lower on the list would be able to do. So basically, the purpose of this temple was extremely altruistic if they just wanted to help humans, extremely cruel if they just wanted to pump out cannon fodder, or, most likely, somewhere in between. What Lex was wondering now, his thoughts already diverted from if he could trust Cassandra, was if his new, uing realm would be influenced by this war. Technically it shouldn''t, since it would be a new realm, and nowhere near maturity. He needed to know more about this realm war. "So basically you want me to trust you because your purpose is to train soldiers to die in some war?" he asked, pretending to still be skeptical. "Am I really going to be influenced by the temple''s aura? Am I going to be forced to participate in the realm war? Cassandra snorted. "Goodness no. The temple has karmic protection. You will not be influenced by its karma, aura or anything of the like at all. As for whether or not you will get pulled into the war, I cannot say. The temple most certainly won''t send you off to the war, but your background seems special. How do you know you won''t one day get pulled into it anyway? You need to know, the stronger you are, the harder it is for you to avoid such things. Whether you want to or not, you get pulled into camps. "For example, regardless of your background, as far as the war is concerned, you''re already a part of the humanoid camp. That includes all races that are humanoid in nature, such as devils, celestials, elves, dwarfs, gnomes, fairies, angels and more. You''ll notice how, individually, these races do not seem to have aligned interests. Devils and Angels, especially, are notorious for their animosities against one another. But, as far as the realm war is concerned, they are all in the same camp, whether they like it or not. "The lines are already drawn, the camps already made. Too many higher powers are invested in this, and the stakes are too high, so all anyone else can do is try to get every advantage they can. The temple is one of those advantages, saved for a time when the humans are doing slightly better. If ites out now, it will easily be destroyed, and the loss will be monumental - even greater than the loss of some of the smaller realms." It was surprising to know that humans and devils were in the same camp. In the Origin realm, humans were used by devils to farm the production of demons. That did not seem like the action of an ally. Lex also didn''t miss the very obvious hint about how valuable the temple could be. He was sorting out his thoughts when he was interrupted by a familiar, all too wee sound. New Notification: Temple of Fasting linked(temporary) to the Midnight Inn! Lex did not let his emotions show, but he was extremely pleased by this notification. The timing of it was perfect. But he was curious why the link was temporary. When he focused on it, he saw more information. Link status: Linked (temporary). If the temple changes location again, the link will be removed, and will need to be renewed. He understood. The temple had been revealed once, but then had changed locations to continue hiding. If it performed a simr action again he would lose the link. But what were the chances the temple would be discovered again so soon? Probably not high. "I don''t know about other things, but are you ''certain'' that I won''t be marked in any way because of the temple?" "I am certain," Cassandra answered. It all came down to how much Lex could trust her. If he believed her, then he could start bringing workers from the Inn here to train! It would be an excellent opportunity. But the greater the benefits, the more careful Lex had to be. He wasn''t going to make any hasty decisions, at least until he saw Z for himself. Visibly showing himself rxing, Lex withdrew one of the missiles, but not all of them yet. "Do you mind if I ask you some questions?" he asked, his tone and voice much more polite nowpared to just a short while ago. "Go ahead," Cassandra said with a hint of amusement. "The¡­ organization¡­ that I am a part of is getting ready for something big. They''ve been preparing for a while now, and soon we will be moving to a brand new realm. By brand new I don''t mean new to us, but that the realm is about to be born in a few months. Do you think¡­ will moving there involve us in the realm war in any way?" "You¡­ you know where a new realm is going to be born?" Cassandra was startled for the first time. When a new realm was born it was filled with the most powerful energies in the universe, as those energies were literally creating a new realm! Not to mention, newws were being born.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om To be clear, thews of each realm were not the same. What might be a fundamental rule in one realm, for example gravity, may not exist at all in another realm. Time was the only constant in all realms, and even then, the flow of time was not exactly fixed across realms. So when a new realm was born, it was a time wherein itsws were being created! For a Dao Lord, that was even more valuable than experiencing the maturing process of a realm, because at that time they can literally manipte thews themselves and the abundant energy of the new realm will automatically fix any mistakes they made! But it was almost impossible to learn of the location of a realm before it was born. Even the highest powers could not divine it, because they were protected by thews of the universe itself. A certain gleam couldn''t help pass through Cassandra''s eyes. "If your ''organization'' can get ess to a newborn realm, is that really something you should be worrying about? Even if there is a realm war, your level is too low to get involved. But since you asked, I''ll tell you anyway. The involvement of your organization in the realm war may or may not happen, but it definitely won''t be because of a new realm. However, they most certainly will have a war on their hands if they are unable to keep their realm''s location a secret. However, I doubt that''s something you have to worry about, and is something that has already been prepared for." Lex rolled his eyes internally. He was the one who would have to do all the preparations, which meant that there were none in ce at the moment. The chances the system would help him were about 50-50 as well. Just as Lex was beginning to consider the precautions he would need to take, Cassandra broke his train of thoughts. "Lex, do you know how many human Dao Lords there are in the universe?" "Not many, I''m guessing," he answered slowly. It did not take a genius to tell that Cassandra''s interest in his ''organization'' had been piqued. He could not help but wonder if that was a good thing. "I can''t say for certain how many there are, but the official number is 0. There are 0 human Dao Lords that are publicly known," she said slowly. "There''s always a chance that there are some who are just keeping themselves secret, but, honestly, that is very unlikely. Do you know why?" "I''m guessing you are about to enlighten me," said Lex. Cassandra smiled at him, not at all peeved by his attitude. Lex felt a little embarrassed. He did not mean to sound irritated or cocky, but it was not exactly easy to have a casual conversation while suffering from countless holes in your body. It hurt. "Yes, allow me to enlighten you." Chapter 935 For profit Chapter 935 For profit ??"It''s very simple, Lex," Cassandra said as she sipped her tea. "Humans are not bottom of the barrel. There are trillions or races below us, not to mention the microscopic realms and all the living entities they contain. But having many races below us does not necessarily make us powerful, either. "Even when a human reaches the peak of Celestial, they are unable to cross that barrier and be a Dao Lord. After a very detailed and extensive investigation into why, carried out by multiple races that do have recognized Dao Lords, it was concluded that humans cannotprehend the Dao as well as other races. For them to reach the same level, they would need many times more opportunities than their peers of other races." Cassandra paused for a moment, as she seemed lost in thought. Lex, on the other hand, was enjoying the crash course that he was getting right up until he felt a strange pressure on his chest. He could not move, he could not breathe, he was pretty sure even his blood stopped pumping. Oddly, though, it didn''t hurt. It didn''t even rm him. Cassandra waved her hand, and Lex seemed to forget something, and the pressure vanished. "Yeah, I saw thating," she said as she looked at Lex apologetically. "For your own safety, Lex, I cannot say too much. But, basically, the human race really needs a boost in their Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum ranking. We''ve suffered innumerable losses in the war, and if it continues, and we lose our protection, they may even fall from their current ranking. If we-" "What the ''hell'' was that?" Lex asked suddenly, only after he escaped the effects of the pressure on his chest. He had been dying, but he could not react to it at all! "''That'' was the reason you should not learn too much before bing stronger. The universe was assimting you. I have protected you for now by removing the information and its associated consequences from your mind. Do not think about it. Do not ask questions about it. In fact, as a rule of thumb, you should avoid all secrets rting to any beings Heavenly immortal and above, just to be safe." Lex rubbed his eyes as he tried to get his mind around what had just happened. This Innkeeping business was going to get harder and harder. He was going to keep it closed for a few centuries, at least. He just needed to figure out if that could, in any way, keep his new realm hidden as well. "Lex, I''m going to be up front with you. I want to talk to one of your superiors. If I can visit a newborn realm, even briefly, it will drastically improve my chances of bing a Dao Lord. It will be a huge boon for humankind, but I won''t try to guilt you using the fate of humanity. I''m sure we cane to an agreement." Lex was not surprised by her request. He more or less expected it. In fact, a part of him even wanted it, which is why he had mentioned everything so openly. Since he had reluctantly decided to trust her, and the temple, then he now had to consider maximizing his gains. Just training his workers was not enough, the same way just hoping that the Inn and the new realm would never be discovered was not enough. He had to maximize his profits, the same way he had to build a rtionship with a peak human cultivator. Moreover, if she were to be a Dao Lord with the help of the Inn, would that not mean that the Inn would be backed up, or at least have the favor of ''another'' Dao Lord? The first supposedly being the Innkeeper. Pushing aside the fact that he nearly died because of overhearing some celestial gossip, Lex thought about how to handle the situation in the best way possible. There were some questions he could not ask as the Innkeeper, so it was best that he ask them now as Lex so that he would have contextter on. "Just so that I know, how soon after the birth of a realm do you have to enter? Is it immediate, or is it alright if you wait a few years?" "Typically, when a new realm is born, for many thousands of years, it won''t be inhabitable at all. I''m sure your organization will be expediting the process somehow, if you n on moving in. But even so, the time period I can benefit from willst a while. But the earlier I enter, the better. Since I want to reach the Dao Lord level, I cannot miss out on any advantages I can gather." "You see, there''s a reason I''m asking. Normally, bringing you along would not be an issue. In fact, the ''organization'' I work for is called the Midnight Inn. It''s an Inn, and anyone cane and spend as much time as they want. But, due to the relocation, sometime ago, the Inn stopped epting new guests. I cannot say when the doors will be reopened for new guests. But I can bring you the Innkeeper''s business card. Through that, you can discuss the details with the Innkeeper himself." Cassandra did not show any reaction to the name, though she spent some time trying to recall if she knew any powerful entities that associated with the name ''Midnight''. She could not. "But before we get to that, I need your word that you will no longer manipte me or anyone from the Inn the way you did me, regardless of whether it''s for the sake of training or not."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om For some reason, now that he had some kind of leverage with Cassandra, Lex felt a lot better. Dealing with someone who wanted nothing in return was oddly unnerving. It did not sit well with his capitalistic sensibilities. But a powerful and well connected potential business partner, no matter how dangerous, did not unnerve him at all! "I give you my word," she said curtly. "I will train you all in a straightforward and less efficient manner." "Great. Now that I have your word, there is something more I would like to discuss with you. The Midnight Inn has many workers who, like myself and Z, could benefit from the training of the temple. I would like to bring them over to train for a time. They will all have to return when we are shifting realms, but perhaps you and the Innkeeper can work out a long-term deal to train its workers. They are mostly human." "This Innkeeper you mention¡­ he mostly employs humans? What are his affiliations?" "I¡­ I don''t know what you mean by that, but the Inn does not usually participate in external events. We keep to ourselves, and just host the guests whoe to us." "I will have to discuss the details with the Innkeeper. Even if he has a human affiliation, I cannot reveal the location of the temple." "You can keep the temple safe. The workers cane here directly without the need for the temple to reveal itself. Besides, having a workere over and bringing the Innkeeper''s business card is the only way you''ll be able to speak with him." Cassandra narrowed her eyes as she thought about what Lex said. The Innkeeper could somehow ess the temple even as it was? Was it because of Lex and Z being here? Did that create a risk in their security somehow? She synchronized her authority with the temple, but she did not feel any instructions to move, or perceive any iing threats. Interesting. "In that case, I don''t mind. I was going to have you deal with the curse, and another matter as a part of your training as well. But since you want to deal with things more straightforwardly, I''ll just skip it." "Excellent. But I need to see Z first. I have to make sure he is alright before I call anyone else to the temple." "Sure. Mateo will take you to him now, though, do not disturb him. He is undergoing a very delicate inheritance process. It will be a great loss if he misses this opportunity because of external disturbance. Also, leave the deity''s feather here. I''ll return it to you, but there is something I need to do first." Mateo reappeared, ready to lead Lex to Z. With their immediate actions decided, Lex left the feather behind and followed Mateo. Cassandra did not move even after he left, her gaze fixed on the feather for a long time. "Will you reveal yourself, or shall I purge you?" she asked, her voice a lot more sinister than when she was speaking to Lex. Instead of Ra, the deity, another being emerged from the feather, though this being had no physical body. It was the living manifestation ofws which had destroyed BGY-987 with its very existence. In front of Cassandra, it looked like an awkward child who knew they had done something wrong. Chapter 936 Totally not a villain

Chapter 936 Totally not a viin

?Cassandra was in a conundrum. This little guy in front of her was an absurd mutation and would be extremely valuable to her if she was anywhere near the Dao Lord realm. But she wasn''t, and even her suppression over it depended on using the temple''s help. She could not allow it to run free and could not use it herself, and because she was stuck in the temple, could not sell it either. Maybe she could use it in her bargain with the Innkeeper, but that was yet to be seen. "Sleep," she said, her voice filled with echoes of power. The figure attempted to resist, but ultimately could not. The temple was special in that way. The fact that it was used to train humans was a front. Its real value came from the fact that it was essentially a controble self-contained realm, with all itsws at the whim of its controller. It was in hiding for so many more reasons than just the realm war, but she could neither speak of it or even think of it. But, while she was within the temple, at least she could make use of the limited authority that had been shared with her. She turned her attention to the feather that contained the wisp of the deity''s consciousness. From what she recalled, he had some kind of issue with the Innkeeper. Peeking into his memories might help her figure out what kind of organization the Midnight Inn really was. Her eyes began to glow, and the feather seemed to whimper. ***** Lex wasying on Fenrir''s head as they followed Mateo. Instead of heading directly to Z, they were first going to a rejuvenation room, which would allow both of them to heal. Considering the nature of the attacks that caused the wounds to begin with, Mateo rmended they avoid healing via divinity. "I thought my n was really good," Mateo said after a very long, awkward silence. In truth, Mateo was the only one feeling awkward. The other two were in too much pain to focus on anything besides. "It was a good, moral motivator for growth. ording to the temple''s scans, your disposition is leaning towards good, with only a few strands of chaotic tendencies in it. Considering that Z, your partner, will not wake up for many more months if everything goes well, I thought it was a good use of time." Lex raised an eyebrow. Was Mateo feeling guilty for how he confronted Cassandra? Well she did say that the original n was his. Considering how much effort they put into training and guiding him, he guessed it would be mean to leave them feeling as such. "The n was good. On anyone else, it might have been even more sessful, and it''s not like I can''t see how I might have benefitted from it if I weren''t so skeptical the entire time. But I just hate being lied to. Even if it''s for some greater purpose, even if it''s for my benefit, it''s not your decision to make." Lex could not help but wonder if those were the words he wanted to say to his parents. But at the moment he could not muster up enough energy to care. He had moved on from that. "My apologies. The usual humans we used to train back¡­ back in the day didn''t care about such things, as long as they got stronger." They entered the rejuvenation room, which had a massive pond in it, filled with giant lily pads, lotus flowers, and other nts floating atop the water. "Here, let me help you," Mateo said, as he lifted both Lex and Fenrir up from the ground using some form of telekinesis. Theynded gently on the pads, and Lex felt the leaf gently wrap itself around his body. The feeling it gave him was one of warmth and relief, and did not trigger any ustrophobia despite covering his entire body. Lex closed his one good eye and allowed himself to rx. "Mateo, now that I''ve spent so much time here, did you guys figure out what my bloodline is yet?" Due to the fact that his bloodline was categorized as unknown and mutated, they never trained it in specifically. But the temple was supposed to study it so that they could figure out how to train it. Lex was not impatient to train with, but he was curious. It was an odd thing to discover there was so much he didn''t know about himself. "Yes, we did. I must say, I was fairly impressed by it. It''s not an easy bloodline to use, but it is very, very useful. In fact, it has been categorized as one of the best bloodlines for the human race, just because of its potential benefits. That was all before it underwent mutations, most likely due to your physique. "Due to its undeveloped nature, I cannotment on what you can achieve with your mutated bloodline, but we were able to trace the original. I believe it is called Gelid Anima, a name we traced from the very core of the bloodline itself. "In its inferior states, which is what you might be able to ess right now, it can affect your state of mind, making it easier for you to learn new things. It can also affect your body, somewhat, allowing you to tap into greater power. In essence, it allows for a series of passive augmentations. "But if that were all, it would not be enough to get such a rating from the temple. No, its true awakened state will most likely be unlocked when you enter the immortal realm. At that point, Gelid Anima will allow you to suppress the influence of your emotions, and directly studyws! "It is a much more versatile version of the ability in your left eye, and its possibilities are endless. It can allow you to learn techniques faster, grow your realm faster, be the best oracle in your realm. Most importantly, it makes up for one of the fundamental weaknesses of humans, which is that they have trouble studyingws to begin with. That in itself is what prevents them from growing their realms once they reach immortality." Lex was silent for a time. If he understood Mateo correctly, his ''Flowand other states were a result of his bloodline? It made sense. The tangible benefits he received from each state had to being from somewhere, and he had not seen other humans do it, so it wasn''t as if it was just a human thing. N?v(el)B\\jnn But his bloodline was so powerful, his ancestor William must be pretty great as well, to have created such an ability. Yet, he was weaker than Jotun. For some reason, Lex did not care as much as he thought he would. It was just an interesting little tidbit of information to him. "Can you tell me more about the inheritance Z is getting? What''s so special about it? I recall the first time you told me about it. You said he was undergoing an evolution, not getting an inheritance." "It is more or less the same thing. Yourpanion was detected to be the descendant of a very prestigious human bloodline, long thought to have gone extinct. In fact, it is a little strange because the bloodline he has is not even the one he should have gotten from his ancestor, but that is also exinable. A more recent ancestor''s ability will overwrite a more ancient one. "While his bloodline cannot be changed or altered in any way, the dominating traits of his original ancestry are being awakened. You are probably aware that humans too have many subraces, right? For example, the Neko or Draco subrace types. "Well, his original race type is being stimted, which is why I said he is undergoing an evolution. But such a change cannot happen overnight, and will progress over many decades. For now, the stimtion is already done. What''s left is to arm him with the knowledge thates with his race, as well as some of his original ancestors'' heritage. Trust me, this will not harm him in any way. This is probably the best possible path of growth for him that exists." Lex did not respond immediately. Instead, his mind wondered a few different things. He knew that his workers were all clones, and in fact he could gically modify them quite a bit, to the point of even choosing their bloodlines. In that case, chances were that Z was actually a clone of this so-called descendant. What interested him more was the fact that Mateo imed his line was supposed to have ended. So how did the system have ess to it? Was there another cloning system out there, with countless DNA strands from countless races, just waiting to be used? Or was the owner of that system using them for their own purposes? The oddly sinister nature of this entire thing was the reason Lex distrusted systems so much. Then again, he was the one who kept buying more workers, so he couldn''t reallyin. Was that immoral? Should he stop? After a moment of pondering, Lex decided the more moral thing to do was get his own hands on the cloning system, so he knew for a fact that it wasn''t being misused. Unlike him, who did his best to provide his workers with the best life possible. Yes, Lex totally wasn''t a viin. Chapter 937 Overwhelmed Chapter 937 Overwhelmed ??The healing process this time was nowhere nearly as quick as what Lex experienced previously, but at least he was numbed to the pain. At first Lex spent some time conversing with Mateo, but the longer he spent wrapped in this leaf, the drowsier he got. Suspecting that sleep would shortly arrive, he practiced the technique to keep himself from divining anything, and then allowed himself to drift off. The gentle sounds of the water around him kept himpany, lightly rocking the lily pad he was in, and allowed him to fall into an exceptionally deep sleep. By the time Lex woke up, he felt incredibly refreshed and ready to seize the day, but the leaf had not unwrapped itself. He considered whether he was supposed to open it on his own, but fortunately reached out and asked Mateo first. Apparently, he was feeling great not because his body had finished healing, but because the leaf had subdued all his pain. The healing process was taking longer this time because the effects of corrupted divine energy were not so easily removed, and to avoid any hidden injuries, they were being extremely thorough. Lex could have gone back to sleep, but instead he decided to cultivate instead. He had decided to break through to the Nascent realm when the new realm was born, taking advantage of all the rare and potent energies avable at the time. For that, he would need to be at the peak of the Golden core realm, and make sure he was in the best condition to move up. Lex had expected that by cultivating now he may pick up some immunity to corrupted divinity, but instead, his technique started adapting to the lily pads. It started to mimic their conditions as well as its effect and began absorbing them. But if Lex wanted topletely replicate the effects, he would need to spend months in this environment, but he was satisfied, as is. He could also feel the growth of his Golden core. Growth was an ironic word to use, since the size of his core shrunk the higher his realm went. He could tell that soon, it would be no bigger than a piece of marble. Cultivating was, by far, one of the most addictive feelings, and Lex did not miss any opportunity to spend some time doing it. Unfortunately, the healing session waspleted before he could reach his limit, so he had to stop prematurely. "Now, I''ll bring you to the observation room. From there, you will be able to sense Z, and evenmunicate with him. However, I strongly rmend that you only ''observe'' and do not distract him." Lex had received simr warnings enough times to understand that Mateo and even Cassandra highly valued whatever change Z was going through. Lex did not promise anything, however. He would judge for himself Z''s condition before deciding whether to interrupt the process or not. This would be thest determining factor in whether Lex decided to trust the temple or not. Fenrir was still healing, so Lex let him be as he followed Mateo. "The reason you have to go to the observation room is because Z is currently in the innermostyer of the temple. You do not have the necessary clearance to go there, and you have no way of getting it either. The tests to move through theyers only get you so far. After reaching a certain level, the only way for you to get ess to the more of the temple is to receive an invitation from someone high up in the temple, or to have sufficient achievements. "Neither Cassandra nor I qualify to give you that information, so there is nothing that can be done about that for the moment. Now, I have to warn you," Mateo said, while stopping right outside a door muchrger than any previous ones he had seen in the temple so far. "Besides Z, there are a few statues in that room. Each statue represents a great figure and contains a lot of history. Be careful when you look at them. Do not be in a rush to observe them with any amount of great scrutiny. It is entirely possible to get hurt if you are overwhelmed. "The observation room was specifically designed to filter out as much of the influence of the statues as possible, but it can only do so much. People with greatprehension and observation are at a greater risk." Lex only nodded. He understood that they were trying to impress upon him the importance of this room, and more specifically, of not disturbing Z, but he was only beginning to get exhausted from the repeated warnings. As if sensing Lex''s mood, Mateo stopped talking and finally, but hesitantly, opened the doors. It almost seems a shame that massive doors of this size came without the usual creaking that Lex would expect from them, or the ominous gusts of wind from the room within. He stood in ce and looked at the room through the door, but the observation room itself was not so impressive. It was a fairly small, rectangr room with three rows of seats, each one at a fair distance from the next. They were all facing a nk wall, which Lex assumed would be used as a projector screen, or perhaps would turn into something like a massive television screen. He turned to look at Mateo, realizing that the projection was not moving in. "You''re on your own for this. When you enter and get seated, the door will close and the wall will show you what is currently happening within the final temple room. It will be something like a portal, so you''ll feel like you''re in the room as well. As for what you can expect. Well, I''ve pretty much told you all there is, and I have a feeling you no longer want to hear about being careful, so there''s nothing else. You''ll get what I mean when you actually experience it." Lex swept the room with his spirit sense and took a good, long look at it with his left eye, but discovered nothing of note. With nothing interesting about the room to distract him, Lex went and sat down in the front row and made himselffortable.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om As promised, as soon as he was seated, the doors began to close. Mateo stood in the middle of the frame so that his anxious face was thest thing Lex saw before the doorspletely shut. It seemed he was very concerned about this. Not ignoring his many warnings, Lex disabled the peculiar vision of his left eye, and withdrew his spirit sense as he waited for the wall to transition. But before the wall changed, a number of formations were activated around the chairs, creating a soft barrier. The formations seemed like they were designed to protect the seated from something. Now Lex was taking the situation even more seriously. He activated Domination, and instead of spreading it, simply coated his body with it, creating a sort of armor using only aura. The room underwent a few more changes, though besides a nice smelling incense and some kind of purification, Lex could not determine what they were, before finally the wall Lex was faced towards began to change. It seemed to be an open window, peering into a massive marble hall. Lex saw nothing else, for he had to close his eyes as a result of feeling sensory overload. It was not painful, but it was reminiscent of the way one would usually turn down the volume in the car while driving through heavy traffic. One''s brain could focus only on so much. Somehow, just being exposed to the air in that room was overwhelming his brain. Listening to the sound of silence in it was nearly driving him crazy. To have his eyes open and actually look at the hall would have rendered him unconscious. He felt the surrounding formation vibrate as it negated the effects of the hall, and slowly he felt the pressure on himself reduce. He entered his Overdrive state and peeked his eye that he barely opened. Just that small peek which allowed him to only see the mixed shades of white in the marble floor threatened to overwhelm him again, and so he paused, to allow the formation to activate once more. The formation vibrated even more fiercely, signaling that it was approaching the limit of its ability. This unusual oppression was such a strange experience that Lex almost considered beginning to cultivate here. But first he had to sate his curiosity. Without opening his eye any wider, he carefully looked around the hall. Finding Z was easy. He sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, and appeared long before Lex saw any of the statues. For a time, Lex observed him closely. He tried to check if he was suffering in any way, or had suffered any harm. But from the look of things, he was fine. Lex frowned. Visuals could be deceiving. He was not satisfied with just seeing him be fine externally. If Lex was suffering so even while being so thoroughly protected, he could not imagine what Z must be experiencing. He had to somehow learn more. Chapter 938 Inheritence

Chapter 938 Inheritence

?Before attempting to delve deeper with his investigations, Lex first inspected Z''s visible condition. He did not appear to be suffering from any kind of pressure, and instead appeared to be lost deep within his meditations. His brow and jaw were rxed and not clenched or scrunched, which indicated how at ease he was. His hair had grown longer, covering his ears, and early signs of facial hair were showing, which was another sign that he seemed to be doing fine. He was wearing a loose robe, which had clearly been given to him by the temple, but on his feet he wore a familiar pair of bathroom slippers. Lex felt somewhat relieved upon spotting the slippers, as they may be helping him tolerate the pressure. But the slippers only ignored passive, environmental damage or pressure, so he was notpletely sure if they would activate. After a long while of observing every little detail, from hair luster to fingernail length, Lex was not able to detect any physical anomaly. As far as he could tell, Z was in a healthy state. But how could he check Z''s mental state? Well technically, due to Mindmeld, Lex had a way. But he would need to, at the very least, touch Z with his spirit sense first. Even ignoring the repeated warnings he''d gotten not to disturb Z, getting his spirit sense to Z without first himself being overwhelmed by the pressure was going to be a difficult task. Before making any drastic decisions, Lex decided to finish observing the room first. The room was surprisingly bare,pared to the rest of the temple. But a room filled with so much pressure likely did not need decor to build its ambiance. With eyes nearly squeezed shut, Lex inspected the remainder of the hall, little by little. The first time one of the statues entered his vision Lex needed to pause. The formation around him could increase its effects no longer, and even entering Overdrive state to boost his brain hardly helped. But, eventually, Lex found a way. If he took a considerably long time, and only looked at the statue little by little, his brain would be able to eventually handle all the pressure it was being exerted to. It was a tedious process, but Lex was dedicated. It took him around 2 hours to eventually see the first statue in its full glory. It was a woman, fully armored, one of her hands resting on the pommel of her sword while the other gripped a shield. Instead of a helmet, she wore a circlet, but something about it told Lex that she remained well protected nheless. The odd thing was, Lex could tell that she was likely very beautiful. But while he had eventually managed to absorb the information about the remainder of the statue, he was never able topletely perceive her face. Every time he tried to focus on her features, he would be hit by a feeling threatening a ckout. Eventually, he decided to move on and look at the next statue, and then the next. It took him nearly 36 hours just to view a total of eight statues, all of different men and women, and eventually Lex needed to stop. He had not finished viewing the statues, or even seen the one Z was sitting in front of. But he had reached his capacity, and could not continue without getting some rest first. The interesting thing was that each statue seemed to radiate a powerful aura, but none of them were the source of the most suppressive one. That statue stood in the middle of the room, and Lex was not ready to see it yet. "That''s it, I''m done," he said aloud, and the image in front of him slowly faded, and the wall returned to its former state. The formation around him deactivated, and Lex immediately slumped. This was one of the rare moments where Lexpletely exhausted his mental and spiritual energy. The door opened, and Mateo appeared once again, still looking anxious. "So are you satisfied? You did not disturb him did you?" "I didn''t disturb him," Lex said weakly as he stood up. "But I am not satisfied yet. I have not even observed half of the statues in that room yet, and I have no way of knowing Z''s mental state. I am going to rest a while before trying again." Mateo tried to convince Lex that Z was fine, and that he did not need to go through with this, but Lex was adamant. He nned on continuing to observe, right up until he stepped out of the room and saw a frowning Cassandra. "36 hours with no sleep or food. It seems like I did not impress the importance of these on you yet." Lex smiled weakly, but could not avoid being dragged to a small meal. It was very light, consisting of a clear soup as well as some sd. Despite how delicious it was, Lex just wanted to sleep, which he eventually got the opportunity to do, but only after Cassandra made him take a small walk to help with digestion. He barely practiced the anti-divination technique and dozed off. Lex woke up refreshed, but stopped to have breakfast before he returned to the observation room to continue his efforts. This routine continued for nearly 10 days until Lex finally saw all 24 statues in the room, besides the one in the center. Of all the statues, the only one whose appearance Lex was able to observe was the one Z was in front of. It looked remarkably simr to the teenager, only a little more mature. It was not surprising considering he had been informed that Z was his descendant, but he could not help but hope Z was only receiving an inheritance instead of being used to reincarnate his ancestor. It was a diabolical thought, and he had no reason to suspect such a thing. But Lex was not naive. It was an entirely possible scenario given how much they valued the ancestor. Today, he waspletely fresh, so he was finally going to attempt observing thest statue. After onest nce at Z, he turned his attention to the middle of the room. He could not avoid the trepidation that filled his heart - it felt as if it wasing from his very soul. He inched his vision closer and closer, and the nearer he got, the greater the feeling of fear that had taken a hold of him. Just as Lex was about to nce at the lowest point of the statue, his instincts began screaming at him. Looking up any further¡­ was a ''very'' bad idea. Normally Lex was fearless, but after almost being absorbed by the universe just because he listened to some information regarding Celestials, he gained a healthy amount of fear and respect for things rting to higher levels. Eventually, he relented. He did not take a look at the statue, and instead returned his focus on Z. After looking at the rest of the statues, the amount of pressure he faced had dropped, so he felt like he could attempt using his spirit sense now. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om It was a slow, and excruciating process, but eventually Lex touched Z with his spirit sense. He did not nudge the teenager, or distract him in any way. Instead, he used Mindmeld to turn a wisp of his spirit sense into ''thought'' and infiltrated Z''s mind. What Lex saw was a war. It was a war that spanned the entirety of the Primal realm, the first ever realm in the universe. He saw only glimpses of it. He saw humans fighting behemoths. He saw deities being crushed under the feet of giants. He saw a horde of beasts pulverized by a single creature. He saw the ascension of dragons for killing a creature that in itself was akin to the sun and the moon and the sky. He saw the invincible phoenix, burning again and again until it became fire itself, and forcefully took undeath and made it its own dominion. He also saw¡­ he saw Death, and Destiny as two living beings, still young and feeble. He saw more, so much more¡­ "You are impressive, child," a gentle, loving voice spoke directly into Lex''s mind. "This is not your inheritance, but I will allow you to take a piece of it nheless. But it will be locked in your mind until you prove yourself worthy. Unfortunately, the battle is lost. Now, life is but a y, and the living are merely performers. "Perform well, and you will be rewarded, and gain a chance to learn greater secrets. I''ll give you a hint. The Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum¡­ is merely one of many rankings. Get your name on one, and you will gain the qualifications to be a true performer. You will forget this as well, but a part of this knowledge will stay with you. Whether you want to ignore it, or prove yourself, will be a decision your subconscious mind will make, based on who you are. But I have a feeling¡­ that I will see you soon." Chapter 939 Sense of community

Chapter 939 Sense ofmunity

?The images Lex saw all faded from his memories, and were instead reced by memories of various basic weapons. When he saw the spear, his mind stayed calm, as was the case with the bow, the dagger, the dart, and hundreds of variations of these weapons. He even saw some swords, but they were all kinds that Lex had never used before, or could not reconcile with the way he used swords. But eventually, an image of the kind of sword Lex normally used, which he identified as a standard double-sided sword, and Lex''s mind had some fluctuations. As if responding to his fluctuations, Lex continued to have visions of a war, though for some reason the details always eluded him. Instead, what Lex retained was the experience of using the sword. He used it as a mortal, as a cultivator, as a soldier, and a bandit, and in countless other scenarios. He became ustomed to it, so much so that not having a sword felt strange and iplete. But after each wave of visions, the memories would drain away from his mind, leaving behind only traces of their presence. This continued for many cycles before Lex began to see other weapon shapes. The next one that resonated with him was the buster sword, mainly because of his experience wielding the eight feet long sword while being a baby. He had more visions about that, and then forgot again, once again leaving behind only traces. Then the process repeated. The next time, Lex resonated with the butter knife. After that, he resonated barehandedbat. Then with arrays. Then with techniques shot out from one''s eyes. The process was extremely thorough, and seemed tost forever while he went through it, but each time the memories would fade, so he only remembered a few moments passing. When the visions finally ended, and Lex woke up, he found himself meditating in the observation room. The window to the room where Z was sitting had already faded, and the wall had resumed its normal condition. Besides feeling a slight mental fatigue, Lex felt more or less normal. He got up from his chair as the door opened to reveal a perpetually anxious Mateo. "You were in the room for five days this time. Cassandra won''t be happy that you missed so many meals." Shaking his head, Lex said, "it couldn''t be helped. I think¡­ I think I received a part of an inheritance." Mateo trembled, and Cassandra also suddenly appeared beside him, her eyes fixed on Lex. "What do you mean you ''think''?" she asked. "I''m not sure exactly. I''m certain I saw something, but I can''t remember any of it. It''s strange." Cassandra rxed and even smiled a little. "You''re right, you did receive a part of an inheritance. Don''t worry, the memory loss is for your own protection. What you gained is a lot more valuable. Do not think about it, and just ept it." Lex nodded, pushing the matter to the back of his mind. He was notcking in inheritances and opportunities. What was more important was that he confirmed that Z was not experiencing some kind of brainwashing, or being used as a vessel for the reincarnation of his ancestor. With that, he could move on to the next step of his n. But, just as he was about to speak, Cassandra raised her finger and stopped him. "Food first," she said in a tone that was not up for negotiations. Finding it hard to reject a good meal, Lex waited until he found himself at a table with several coursesid out in front of him. Cassandra, who was sitting opposite to him, was once again sipping tea. "Since I have confirmed Z''s condition, I am ready to invite more employees from the Inn. One of them will also bring the Innkeeper''s business card. You can have your meeting, and the rest of the workers can get trained for the next few months." Cassandra''s hand paused, and instead of taking a sip, she eventually lowered her cup and looked at him. "Go ahead, then." Lex smiled. With her go ahead, he sent out instructions to Mary. ***** The poption of guests at the Midnight Inn had dropped drastically, but by now it was clear that those who remained, none intended to leave anytime soon. To say that nearly half the remaining guests, whether it be devils, humans, or elves, were in love with Velma and wanted to pursue her would be wrong. The actual number was probably greater than 50%. Fortunately, they were all well behaved and none of them tried to be forceful. How could they? They werepletely enamored by her endless creativity, enthralled by her beauty, andpletely enchanted by her jocund nature. If asked, them to wage war on her behalf, it would not be surprising if 90% of them marched out to battle. The remaining 10% would most likely begin using their contacts to amass a power that could obliterates and target it towards wherever she pointed. A small percentage of the guests who remained were representatives of powers who had hidden items of great value at the Inn, such as the pdins. Then there were the guests who used the Beyond the Grave feature of the Inn to exist as spirits. Finally, thest portion was a random mix of guests who had various reasons to stay behind. This included the many guests still breaking through their realm from thest time the Inn underwent a star rank increase. It would not be unusual if they stayed that way for a few more years, as cultivation at higher stages often became such a lengthy process. This, of course, excluded the many guests who had leased Minor realms from the Inn, as even those had be locked when the Inn stopped epting guests. Anyone could still enter those Minor realms, but they would not be able to return to the Inn. As a result,pared to the past, where the Inn was a hotbed of activity, things were calmer and more peaceful. The few guests living at the Inn had developed a sort ofmunity as well, and arranged for some activities amongst themselves. The Book Reading club had be considerably famous, and the founder of the club, dius, became one of the most well- n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om known guests at the Inn. The club extended to many members who were not at the Inn as well, via the Henali portal. But the integral members all stayed at the Inn. Many of the regrs were trapped outside since they could not afford to stay at the Inn perpetual, much to their regret. Regardless, dius had no intentions of leaving, and had started to include many of Velma''s followers into his club by doing readings of herics. Things at the Inn felt incredibly harmonious, and even those guests who weren''t exactly social and did not like to interact with others began enjoying the environment. It was much better than the previous, extremely hectic and crowded Inn. Many of them wished that things would not change. One of the guests, an old Nascent realm cultivator who had no hope of ever progressing further, had even deposited enough MP to book a room for the next 100 years. He would probably die before that, but he wanted to spend hisst days in peace, at the Inn. Such an environment left many of the workers with a lot of free time. With not much else to do, they often enjoyed some of the Inns amenities and services themselves, using the MP they got in their sries. But today, suddenly, almost 95% of all Inn workers were suddenly asked to assemble without exnation. They gathered in the vige, which was the only ce to hold suchrge numbers. Over a hundred thousand workers gathered, which was quite a sight. Most of the time they were spread out across the Inn, so it was difficult to realize how many of them there were. But considering that the Inn frequently handled guests in the millions, this was a very small number of guests. Gerard, the only person with a following of admirers that was even remotely close to that of Velma''s, walked out on stage in front of the massive crowd. After returning from the war he, and many others, had broken through the Golden core realm. As a result, his appearance was refined once again, and although he retained a look of maturity, all of his wrinkles disappeared. As the head of security, he was well known by all, not to mention that he was one of the first two followers of the Innkeeper. Although Luthor was supposed to be the Innkeepers'' assistant, more of the workers were familiar with Gerard. After all, Luthor spent most of his free time training. He had no social life to speak of. "I hope you all are well," Gerard said, his voice asforting and smooth as always. "I won''t mince words, mostly because we have urgent orders. All of you have been selected for a great opportunity. The few who will be left behind will bear the responsibility of continuing to run the Inn, but they will still get the same opportunity, butter. But alongside an opportunity, I feel this is a responsibility. I hope you all will put in your best effort not to disappoint the Innkeeper." Chapter 940 Secrets of the Void

Chapter 940 Secrets of the Void

?A wave of excitement traveled through the crowd as they heard Gerards words. It had been a long time since the Innkeeper gave them an order, and though they were enjoying the quiet environment at the Inn, they would rather feel productive. Once the Midnight battalion had returned, and stories of what they experienced spread out among the other works, through Velma''sics of course, many of them felt horrible for not being able to help them. It was never their fault, of course, since the number for the battalion was limited. But nevertheless it had a massive effect on the entire staff. "I have received word from Mary that the Innkeeper will be sending us to a secret location," Gerard continued, looking out at the endless sea of workers. Not all of them were summoned by the system, and included people like Harry and Charles, who were equally invested. "You are not allowed to share the details of that location with anyone, and it''s best if you don''t even mention it, even to each other, unless you are in secure areas where only workers are allowed." Intrigue and curiosity spread amongst the crowd, but even Gerard did not know the details. "Now everyone get ready as we''ll be teleporting over shortly." Getting ready did not really require them to do anything, since the teleportations from the Inn were always seamless. It was more of a mental preparation for the actual event. Lex, who had been watching the entire process through the system, covered all the workers with his authority and chose to teleport them over to the temple. One hundred and forty nine thousand, nine hundred and eighty four workers teleported to the Inn all at once, appearing in a massive hall! Lex had no control over where they actually appeared in the temple once they got here, but did not think it should be an issue either way. Fortunately, the entire group was teleported over together. He did not really need to inform Cassandra and Mateo when the teleportation wasplete, as he saw their expressions change as soon as it happened. He was well aware of the skepticism they maintained about his im of being able to bring his coworkers to the temple, since the temple was supposed to be in hiding. The fact that he had aplished this revealed a massive w in the temple''s security! Fortunately, neither of them had the authority to relocate the temple on their own, so all they could really do was consider how to train them. Lex, personally, felt great satisfaction in watching the emotionless Cassandra get startled by the event, as well as the number of Inn workers who had arrived. But since all of them were human, there should have been no issue. Before he could say anything, making sure to hide his amusement, the temple trembled underneath his feet. "Is that normal?" Lex asked, suddenly concerned about the situation. Perhaps he should have brought them in smaller groups, but it should not have mattered since he informed Cassandra of it beforehand and she did not raise any concerns. "Yes, yes," Cassandra said, gathering herself. The faint signs of any expression she wore faded, and she returned to casually drinking her tea. "The activity of the temple depends on the number of humans popting it. Since the number jumped massively, the temple flooded its systems with energy. Since the systems have been inactive for so long there was a mild reaction, but it''s settled now. "The group that has arrived will all undergo the initial assessment, as you did, before they are assigned living quarters. More... teachers and trainers will have to be woken up to handle this many students. But it shouldn''t be an issue. The temple can handle this." "Excellent. Now, if you can take me to the worker called Luthor, he has something for me. He will also have the Innkeeper''s business card so that you can meet with him personally." "Let''s go," Cassandra said, and led Lex to an area of the temple he had never been to before. "Due to its size, the temple has multiple modes of transportation across its many zones. While short range teleportation is the quickest, for whatever reason, most people preferred to use these." She waved her hand, gesturing in general to the set up around them. Giant crystal balls, with four chairs set inside of them, stood in rows over some kind of track. One of the balls rolled over towards them, the chairs unaffected by the movement of the ball itself. "It doesn''t take too much time, and you can get a nice view of the temple." Lex waited for a door or something to open so he could enter, but when it never did, he turned to look at Cassandra. "You can just walk through the ss. It''s not actually ''ss'' but is rather a visual effect added to a forcefield. This way, the orbs aren''t affected from traveling anywhere, and there''s no chance of anyone getting run over, even if the orbse off their tracks." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex touched the orb, and upon parsing through, jumped to his seat and buckled himself in, allowing Cassandra to lead the way. He had expected that the orb would travel within the temple, but was stunned when the orb, with him and Cassandra as well, moved through the walls as if they were a mirage, and began following a trail on the outside. Lex was stunned by the sight, as he was for the first time able to observe the enormous size of the temple, protected from the crushing influence of the Void by the orb. But the orb was moving fast, and Lex could not get a detailed view of the temple, so he turned his attention to the Void instead. His limited exposure to the Void behind space had been very turbulent, so he had no real impression of it. Now that he could finally look at it, he was surprised to learn that it wasn''t filled with darkness. No, instead a strange, flowing energy filled the Void, giving off a faint light that was constantly changing colors. The energy, visible due to the light it gave off, seemed to be traveling in thin streams and filled nearly the entire Void, making it a mesmerizing spectacle when one didn''t have to protect themself from it. In the distance, though it was difficult to judge exactly how far since the concept of ''location'' and ''distance'' were inherently connected to space, Lex could see Void dwellers, swimming through the energy. Lex had fought not just a few of them, but it only urred to him now that considering how dangerous the Void was, the dwellers he faced were not so powerful. It didn''t make sense. How did they even survive the crushing pressure of the Void if just his attacks were enough to kill them? He asked Cassandra, and received a surprisingly simple exnation. "Void dwellers are incredibly powerful, only so long as they remain in the Void. Over here, they could have peak Nascent level, or even immortal level strength but be reduced to the Foundation level once they leave it. That''s because their biology makes them dependent on the energy from the Void. The energy actively fuels their strength. "Because of the abundance of this particr Void energy, Void dwellers do not have any way of storing it in their bodies, as they do not need it. But as a result, as soon as they leave the Void they are deprived of their strength and be exceptionally weak. "Despite their loss of power, however, all Void dwellers try to leave the Void any chance they get. It''s difficult to know the exact reason. There are many theories about it, but studies and research have revealed unexpected and confusing results. If you try to read the memories of a Void dweller, you will see that they only recognize the Void as their eternal prison. But no one has ever been able to find any proof of them being imprisoned here by anyone. All signs indicate them being born naturally in this environment. Even the Void dwellers themselves don''t seem to remember who imprisoned them or why, just that they want to leave, even if they suffer a massive drop in power because of it." Lex was intrigued, and wondered what secretsy awaited to be discovered out in the Void. The universe was filled with such secrets, and the Midnight Inn allowed him to get in touch with them and explore them, which is why he really liked it. But he could not get rid of his suspicions at the same time. Continuing to exist like this was not viable. He had some ideas on what he could do to remedy the situation, but all of that would have to wait. For now, he admired the incredible view, and promised himself that if he ever became powerful enough, he would try to uncover the secrets of the Void, and the Void dwellers. Chapter 941 Not what I expected

Chapter 941 Not what I expected

?The orb ride was not long, and felt even shorter due to the incredible and enchanting views along the way. It was an enchanting experience, and Lex looked forward to the challenge of creating a space inside his Inn where Void dwellers could alsoe on vacation. Considering the fact that the Inn was supposed to cater to everyone in the universe, it was expected that he would get guests who needed special environments to live in. But that would have to wait for the future, when Lex wasn''t stuck in an existential crisis all the time. Lex imagined that, back in the day when the temple was operating normally, the view outside was very different. The temple probably wasn''t hidden in the Void back then. He wondered what it must have looked like. Losing himself in such normal thoughts for once was a refreshing change, so when the orb finally returned inside the temple and arrived at the destination, he was in a very good mood. The fact that he would see other people again after so long was also great. The orb finally reached the hall with all the workers, and Lex exited the orb to a soft murmuring from the countless conversation between all of them. Nobody recognized Lex because, well, he wasn''t a baby thest time they saw him. They just assumed he was a part of the temple. By now, thousands of projections had woken up and had given a small briefing to everyone about where they were, as well as forming lines to take the initial assessment. The clean environment, the professional attitude of the projections as well as the excellent service they were being provided quickly established an unsaid misunderstanding that spread amongst all the workers. They assumed, naturally, that this temple had been specially prepared for them by the Innkeeper. It made sense. The Innkeeper had long been preparing them for this eventual move all the way back from before the great Inn invasion had happened. The addition of the security team, the guards, the battalion, and eventually even the 300 workers were all signs that the Innkeeper was getting ready to train them. It only made sense, and not just because they needed higherbat ability. Many of their guests were incredibly powerful, and they could not even cater to their requirements due to their current weakness. They also felt somewhat inadequate because the Inn constantly hired security guards from the Reaving Dread mercenary group. It was not that they had problems with the group, just that they felt guilty for having the Innkeeper babysit them so. So, a facility specifically designed to train and strengthen them and only them seemed logical, and well within the capabilities of someone as powerful as the Innkeeper. The fact that the projections gave them vague details about the temple''s background only served to enhance this misunderstanding. After all, telling them that a mysterious powerful being designed the temple to train and enhance the human race did nothing to dissuade them from connecting it to the Innkeeper. As such, a strange harmony was established between all the projections and the workers, who gave the utmost respect to the ''mysterious and powerful being''. Moreover, as workers of arge organization with unbelievable services and rules, they could understand what the projections were experiencing well enough, and so they quickly developed friendships. Although unaware of the misunderstanding, Lex nodded as he saw the pleasant atmosphere develop, and the lighthearted rtionship between the workers and projections forming. It only made sense, the Inn workers were the most polite and sociable people around. Cassandra simrly nodded at seeing how effectively the training process was beginning. She expected nothing less from the best trainers in the universe. The two eventually found Luthor after asking around, and found the man standing in a corner, overlooking everyone slowly going through the selection. When he spotted the baby and thedy approaching, his gaze became fixed on the baby. "So you''re Leo, huh? Got to say this is not what I imagined you looked like without the rk Kent sses and¡­ without your scary mask." He tried to hide his amusement, but he could not. "Officially, it''s Lex," he exined as he walked up to his own secretary. "I go by Leo because I didn''t want anyone from my previous life to recognize me. This, by the way, is a recent development. I got injured during the rescue, and when I healed, well, this happened." The amusement quickly dropped from Luthor''s face, reced instead by a serious expression. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "I did not get an opportunity to thank you. You saved all our lives. If ever you need my help, just say the word and I''ll take care of it regardless of the difficulty." "Think nothing of it," Lex said, waving his hand. "I treat everyone at the Inn like my family. Now, I believe you have something for us." Luthor nodded, and brought out the Innkeeper''s business card from his pocket and handed it with both hands to Cassandra. For once, Cassandra found itpletely impossible to maintain her emotionless state as even just in projection form, she could feel the incredible aura emanating off the card. She touched it, and from her projection all the way to her actual body, which was in a deep slumber somewhere inside the temple, she felt dread and awe froming in contact with the energy in the card. As someone who was at the peak of the Celestial Immortal realm, far stronger even than Jotun, she could feel the sheer awesomeness packed into the card. Even her projection started to sweat, but neither Lex nor Luthor thought less of her for it. "Lex, you spend some time catching up with your friends. I wille get you once my meeting is over. There are still many things you need to work on." Even while she spoke, Cassandra''s eyes stayed fixed on the card. But as soon as she was done, her projection faded, the card disappearing with her. She was not willing to dy the matter at all. It was too important. Once she left, Lex was left alone with Luthor. For a moment he felt slightly awkward. He''d hardly interacted with the Inn staff as himself, but the feeling did notst long. He really wasn''t the type to dwell on such things. "How was everyone once they returned? Any problems? I''ve¡­ I''ve heard that many people suffer from trauma aftering back from a warzone." Lex already knew the answer. He''d monitored everyone through his system. But it didn''t hurt to hear the details directly from the source. "It was¡­ an adjustment, suddenlying back to a safe environment from the battlefield. But none of the battalion members had any real problems. Or rather, before there was an opportunity for a problem to manifest, Dr. Best took everyone''s rehabilitation into his own hands. Despite how¡­ how low his cultivation realm is, he is quite fearless, and pushy. "As it turns out, the stress relief from the hot tub room, the various patisserie snacks as well as Harry''s haircuts is a lot more potent than I thought. It doesn''t just get rid of your stress for the day. It literally gets rid of all one''s worries that had been stored over time. He also forced me to spend a few weeks inside the Gamer''s den ying a couple of games called Minecram and Candycrash. It was a different experience. I don''t know about the rest, but he also spent a few good hours lecturing me on how I''m abusing my bloodline. The man is¡­ relentless." "Yes, I''ve met him. He should have also arrived with this group, right?" "Yeah, you can see him right over there," Luthor said, as he pointed towards a small crowd in the distance. "He''s arguing with a few different projections, iming that his training routines are better and more thorough than theirs." Lex could not help but chuckle. Charles Best was a very interesting fellow, and he had extremely varied interests, and he was equally passionate about each one of them. He also knew many secrets that would be very helpful when the new realm was born. "By the way, you should have also had something for me as well," Lex said, remembering something important. Luthor nodded, and handed him a spatial bag that he had been carrying. "Thanks, I really need this," Lex said as he observed the contents of the bag. It contained only one suit that matched his measurements. But, more important than appropriately sized attire, was the fact that the only purpose of the suit was to multiply Lex''s control over space. For the next few months, that was the only thing he intended on training. After all, if Lex nned on taking advantage of a loophole to return to the Inn, he needed to improve his control over space as much as possible. He already mastered Blink. Now he just needed to master teleporting across trillions of lightyears with hundreds of thousands of workers. It shouldn''t be a problem. Chapter 942 Meeting the Innkeeper

Chapter 942 Meeting the Innkeeper

?Cassandra''s projection reappeared right over her sleeping chamber, as close to her physical body as possible. Propriety dictated that when meeting someone of the Innkeeper''s status, she should do so with her real body instead of a projection, but that wasn''t possible. She was put to sleep for more than one reason, and she would not be able to wake up even if she managed to get permission to enter the newborn realm. But there was an alternative she could use, which was to prepare a weak clone. Even if she did not experience the new realm with her actual body, the benefits gained by the clone could be transferred to her main body through various means. That meant she''d be giving up on maximizing her gains, but such were the realities of life. She did not have such a clone ready at the moment, so all she could do was conjure her strongest, most realistic projection to meet the Innkeeper. Although intimidated by the immensity of the Innkeepers aura, she had spent a long time surrounded by powers so powerful they were beyond humanprehension, so she was able to regain her poise fairly quickly. She did not need instruction on how to use the card, just holding it was enough for her to understand. When she was ready, she channeled a sliver of her energy into the card and watched as it began to shimmer bits of gold. The card gently flew out of her hand, and took the shape of a tall, handsome man. She lowered her eyes before his figure waspletely formed, respectful of the dignity of a Dao Lord. "Greetings, Innkeeper. My name is Cassandra Vans Agnew, daughter of Jacinda Vans Agnew, apostle of Mother Nuwa. I apologize for not meeting you in person, but my body has been put to sleep by means far beyond myself." "There is no need for apologies, especially for one who has been hosting some of my workers," the Innkeeper said, his voice itself a conduit for somews. Cassandra could not tell the details, but from the way she suddenly felt rxed and at peace, she suspected his voice was filled with thews of charm and peacefulness, and perhaps a few others mixed together. She had seen this phenomenon before. It was not a result of actively addingws to one''s voice, but a result of the sheer magnitude of the influence of a cultivator on certainws. Whichws get added to the voice often represent the kind ofws a cultivator is proficient in, almost revealing their nature as a result. It was like how humans judged each other''s personality traits by their minor traits, such as tone, manner of speaking and hand gestures. Only, in this case, it was a result of much more deliberate attempts at wielding certainws. "In fact, I must thank you for taking care of my workers. They are zealous sometimes, but they mean well." The Innkeeper spoke so calmly and gently, with no rush in his voice at all. It was as if he waspletely at peace, and that influenced Cassandra to relieve herself of her nervousness as well. "It is the duty of the temple to foster the human race. I hope we can meet your expectations, even though the temple will not be able to provide dragon meditating mats for cultivation." The Innkeeper let out a small yet heartyugh upon hearing thement. "Although I am fond of my workers, Cassandra Vans Agnew, I am not in the habit of spoiling them. Lex procured the dragon through his own efforts. I merely allowed him to house the dragon discreetly." Cassandra was stunned, and her mouth dropped open. What? How? But that¡­ "Of course he did not kill the Heavenly immortal dragon. It had already lost its soul, part of which is in his ring, if you noticed. But still, he put a lot of effort into oveing its Dragons Might, so I let him keep it." Cassandra was just a projection, so she should not have really felt any physical sensations. But she felt dizzy nheless. It was no wonder he was such a tough nut to crack, she thought. Lex, who was watching through the eyes of the Innkeepers projection, chuckled internally. Half the fun of having a dragon was being able to brag about it. It was something he had been resisting for a long time, but with Cassandra, he had been thoroughly scratching that itch. "But you have done a good job, nheless. Having proper guidance will really help the workers in growing. Most of them have such limited exposure, and I would be remiss to send them out into the universe to explore so unprepared." "That is the duty the temple was designed for. It is a shame that the temple has been unable to fulfill its duty since the destruction of the toona major realm, so the arrival of your workers is a great opportunity to fulfill our duty. But I¡­ I hope you don''t mind me asking, how were you able to teleport them right inside the temple? It¡­ it''s supposed to have the best spatial protection." The Innkeeper chuckled, as if she had asked him a silly question. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "The Midnight Inn can reach every corner of the universe. No ce is restricted," he said with a warm smile, as if he was saying the simplest thing. "Of course, I have not yet opened the doors of the Inn to the whole universe. Once my workers grow, and are ready to face the challenge, I will steadily wee more and more guests to the Inn." The Innkeeper paused, as Cassandra tried to grasp the magnitude of the Innkeeper''s im. But he did not wait long, and continued the conversation in a different direction. "The Midnight Inn is a ce I opened up so that weary travelers can find sanctuary and rxation, a haven where they may rest on theirurels. Normally, I would turn no guest away so long as they obey the rules of the Inn. But the Inn is undergoing some¡­ renovations, and to avoid any idents in which my guests might get hurt in the process, I have temporarily stopped letting in new guests. But I hear that you want to visit the Inn?" A million thoughts raced through Cassandra''s head as she thought of the best way to phrase her request. She thought over their entire exchange, studying each and every word the Innkeeper had said and what it could possibly mean. Ultimately, she concluded that he was giving her an opportunity by bringing up her request first. She merely needed to exin her reasons, clearly and truthfully. Perhaps the Innkeeper was pleased with the temple for taking care of his workers, so he was giving her an easy opportunity. She could think of no other reason. "Lord Innkeeper, since the fall of the apostles, the human race has suffered tremendously. Currently, the only reason they have any standing in the universe at all is because of the backing of mother Nuwa, but even that is just the bare minimum. Without at least one Dao Lord to create a holynd for humans, and lead the fight in the realm wars, we run the risk of falling even further, and going beyond the point of redemption. "I heard from Lex that you n on moving your Inn to a newborn realm. If I could experience the process of a new realm establishing its rules and creating its foundation, I believe it could provide me with a great boost, and allow me to finally touch upon the Dao. I have borne the responsibility for the human race on my shoulders since the day I was born, so I must plead with your eminence to allow me this opportunity. The human race will forever be grateful." Cassandra bowed deeply as she put forward her request. Lex had nned out how to proceed long before the meeting had even happened, but for some reason, her words reminded him of Cornelius II, King of the Hum nation in the Crystal realm. It was not because they had simrities in their beliefs, no. It was actually because of how different they were. Not that Lex believed even 10% of what Cornelius imed, but the man had told his son that the reason he did not want to end the war with the Kraven was because he wanted the human race as a whole to grow. If only a few could prop up the whole race, while the rest only enjoyed the fruits of theirbor, then it would be meaningless. Only if the entire race grew and prospered would they truly deserve to escape the threat of annihtion. Although he had not talked to Cassandra in depth, and did not know her background and experiences, the little she had stated was the exact opposite of Cornelius. It was so interesting how two people in a position of power had such differing views. Suddenly, Lex had an idea, it took hold of his entire being. Chapter 943 Tsundere Chapter 943 Tsundere ??A part of Lex told him that he should not conduct social experiments on immensely strong cultivators who could influence the fate of his race over the entire universe. That part was his brain. But at the same time another part of him argued, like a tiny devil sitting on his shoulder wearing the Notorious Anonymity mask whispering in his ear, that if Cassandra were so easily influenced then even if he never did anything, she would likely go astray down the line. He should have confidence in her ability to think for herself and make her own decisions. Moreover, since this was a matter very much rted to him as it would influence his entire race, he was entirely eligible to have an opinion of it. His experiences on Earth, however limited they may be, told him that anything easily given is often taken advantage of, and not valued. Of course, he could not say for certain that the human race was taking it easy, since he did not know the universal status of humans. But from Cassandra''s words, it seemed like she was nning on bearing the burden of the entire race on her own. That was not a good long-term solution. "How would you go to the Inn with your body in its current state?" the Innkeeper asked, the question sparking hope in Cassandra''s heart. "Although my main body will stay asleep, I can fashion a weak clone. I can use various enchantments to hide the clone, due to its low level, so it won''t be an issue for it to leave the temple." A few more things clicked into ce in Lex''s mind. With her help, transporting everyone back to the Inn would actually be much easier. "I closed the Midnight Inn so that my guests would not identally get hurt. But you seem a little more capable than the rest. It should not be an issue to allow you toe in." tion flooded Cassandra''s chest as she heard the Innkeeper''s words, but he continued to speak, not giving her time to relish the feeling. "But there is one thing you need to understand beforeing to the Inn. It is that the Inn is a neutral organization, and we ensure the security of all our guests so long as they follow the rules. Not that I expect any trouble, but I am stating it, nheless." "Understood," Cassandra said, taking it like an order. Considering that the Inn epted any guest, she believed that the Innkeeper was hinting that he may have some guests from... the other side of the war. But she could remain civil if she had to. "Good. Now just a couple of things before I leave, although they''re just suggestions, so you do not need to feel obligated to participate. The first thing is that I have already sealed the Inn. Although my workers are outside, I do not intend to undo the seal. After all, I do not take back my word. Fortunately for everyone, Lex has a way to return to the Inn on his own. But, if you help him, his chances of bringing everyone back in time will be much greater. "Secondly, there is a realm called the Crystal realm. There exists a vast nation of humans in that realm, ruled by a single king. If you manage to arrive at the Inn early enough, I rmend you go there and have a talk with him. Compared to your ideal of wanting to take on the burden of the human race yourself, his perspective is a little different. Perhaps you two can have an interesting conversation."N?v(el)B\\jnn "I won''t miss the opportunity," Cassandra said firmly. Although the Innkeeper said it was just a suggestion, he must have a reason for suggesting it in the first ce. The Innkeeper only nodded, before his projection disappeared, along with his business card. Lex had to resist the urge to tell her to let him know how the talk went. He figured he could use his original identity for that, as it seemed inappropriate for the Innkeeper to ask such a question. After the Innkeeper departed, Cassandra first took a moment to thoroughly go over the entire exchange. Her prior experience with Dao Lords told her that they were an entirely different league of existence. Their considerations went deeper and further than ordinary cultivators such as herself could perceive. Even though, technically speaking, she was just one realm below the Dao Lord realm, she could not imagine what it must be like. That one realm was the difference between being at the top of the universe in terms of power, or at the bottom. She concluded that even before the Innkeeper arrived; he had already decided to ept her as a guest. She could only attribute that decision to Lex speaking in her favor, for she could not think of any other reason why he would allow her toe despite locking down the Inn. She could not help but smile. He behaved so coldly towards her, but was actually looking out for her. Wasn''t there a term for that? Tsundere? She''d learned of it when she was reading the memories of the devils who had invaded the temple. With her contemtionplete, she decided to get to work. Creating a suitable clone would require some effort on her part, as well as some resources from the temple. She should also get to Lex. If returning to the Inn depended on him, she had to make sure he waspletely up to the task. When she reappeared in the hall with the workers, she found Lex and Luthor still standing in the same ce. They were looking out at the pup Fenrir, who Lex had summoned, who was being swarmed by hundreds of workers while he tried to run from them. Fenrir, alongside Little Blue, had more or less be the mascot of the Inn, so his absence had been strongly felt by many of the workers. Now that he was here, they wouldn''t miss a chance to pet him, even if they had to capture him first to do it. Chapter 944 Training montage I Chapter 944 Training montage I ??"Had your fun?" Cassandra asked, her expression once againpletely neutral. If Lex himself had not seen how nervous and expressive she had been in front of the Innkeeper, he may have believed she really was just like that. Now he knew that a bunch of Golden core cultivators just weren''t enough to elicit a reaction from her. "I was just telling him what kind of training he and the others can expect," Lex said, but then paused, turned to look Cassandra in the eye, and continued, "and the kind of things they won''t need to face." Cassandra could not help but chuckle. Lex was trying to give her a silent reminder of their agreement, but now that her impression of him had changed, all she could see was a cute little baby looking up at her. "Well, I''m d that you''ve given them an idea of what to expect. But I think now it''s time to focus on other matters. The Innkeeper informed me that I have to help you in returning everyone back to the Inn. I can only imagine that he meant I have to train you for the task. So, let''s go. I''m going to be increasing the intensity of your training." For some reason, Lex''s body trembled. That was strange, because Lex himself nned on asking for her help. The more he grew his control over space, the easier it would be to actually pull off his task. So then, instead of being pleased, why did he suddenly feel dread at the fact that Cassandra was going to train him? Dismissing the strange reaction, Lex bade Luthor farewell and followed Cassandra to the orb they had parked. The ride back was somehow even shorter as Lex was lost in nning his immediate future. Even when they arrived at their destination, Lex followed Cassandra silently as he considered the timelines for various things in his mind. When Cassandra finally woke him from his reverie, he was startled to find himself sitting at a table with something that looked suspiciously simr to a croissant and a cup of hot chocte in front of him. "So, how exactly do you n on returning to the Inn?" she asked, staring at him. She needed to know how to design his training and what to focus on. Lex smiled. He was obviously not going to share the specific details, as that was a security w technically speaking. In fact, it was such a serious w that he was going to consider some options to amend itter on. "In essence, I''m going to teleport us there. For that I need to improve my control over space and learn long distance teleportation in the next few months. I have to do it while taking along a few thousand people with me as well. What do you think? Should be easy, right?" The question was dripping with sarcasm, because Lex was very much aware of the immensity of the task, not to mention if it was even really possible or not. But Cassandra did not give him the feedback that he was expecting. She only smiled at him, her eyes filled with mischief. "Yes, it shouldn''t be hard at all." Lex trembled again, and this time he began to suspect that something was amiss. But whether he suspected something or not hardly mattered. He could not skip the training that followed. She started him off easily by drowning him in a liquid that had extremely bizarre spatial properties. That was not a figure of speech as for this training Lex really needed to drown. The nerve-wracking, mind numbing, daunting task of taking the liquid into his lungs was one he had to purposefully perform. He also had to swallow some in his stomach, but that was also achieved without any issue.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The liquid presented a number of strange behaviors in various circumstances, and Lex had to experience each and every one of them. It affected space in such a way that it detached itself from the ''location'' aspect of existing in space. In simple terms, the liquid teleported randomly, and the distance it could teleport was theoretically infinite. It could even traverse between realms. By beingpletely submerged and filled by the liquid, Lex experienced that teleportation as if he were the liquid. But after 6 hours of being teleported across the temple while in a state of drowning, Cassandra informed Lex that that had just been the warm up. Their training was officially going to begin after that. Cassandra did not focus on any other aspect of space, and solely focused on teleportation. Between being flung through space and squeezing through self created, externally contained wormholes, Lexpletely lost track of time. There was no day or night, no breakfast or dinner. He would eat when he had expended a certain amount of energy, and he would sleep when his performance dropped by more than 2%. The minutes and hours were indistinguishable, so that Lex had no idea how much time was passing. Eventually, when Lex felt like several months must have gone by, he asked Mary how long it had been. She told him merely 6 days had passed. That''s when Cassandra informed him of how space travel messes with time perception. In essence, it messes things up. After the first two weeks, Lex steadied himself finally. Whether he was cooked in boiling space, dragged through distorting space, pushed through a portal that had only an entrance but no exit, he no longer cared. He could ovee difficulties. Heck, on the day when Lex tried out Blink and realized that his range had grown by three times, Lex wholeheartedly threw himself into Cassandra''s crazy training sessions. After a month, Lex no longer suffered the debilitating soul nausea that would affect him if he traveled through a poorly made teleportation formation. He had ovee a number of other obstacles as well, and his control over space was increasing so fast he had troubleprehending his own new capabilities. When the second month began, Cassandra told him that since he had finally be desensitized to basic spatial issues, they could begin his real training. Chapter 945 Training montage II

Chapter 945 Training montage II

The minutes, hours, days and weeks blurred together as his training continued. He had not been pushed to the extent that he had been when he was oveing Dragons Might, but that did not mean this was any easier. Cassandra was very meticulous about making sure he always remained in peak performance condition. From getting enough sleep, to eating nutritionally rich foods, to specialized massages to allow his muscles to recover quickly, to many more things, she made sure that he could always push further, which was a strange mix of exhausting and refreshing. At some point, Lex ended up informing Cassandra that his cultivation technique helped him limatize to harsh conditions. He obviously did not tell her the details and extent of his techniques capabilities, but just even that was amazing. She then proceeded to add cultivating in increasingly hazardous conditions to the schedule. Lex had already informed her of the timetable he intended to keep, but he could not help but ask Mary to inform him as time passed as well because the days seemed to stretch on forever. But that just seemed to confirm how slowly time was actually passing by. Maybe it was because Lex had never been as efficient and diligent with his time in his life, where every second of every day was utilized fully, which caused him to feel like the days were too long. By the third month, Lex clearly noticed how his perception and control over space were drastically improving. He reached the point where Blink became like second nature to him, and he would not get exhausted from it no matter how many times he did. Now he began training in more specified stuff. Although Blink was also technically teleportation, its functionality was rooted in very different concepts than those of actual Teleportation. Whether it was long range or short range, Teleportation was an ability which had a farrger range than Blink, and was technically much more stable and secure. At the same time, it was more energy intensive which was predictable. For that Lex needed to perceive andprehend the ''location'' or ''coordinates'' of a ce, and how to lock on to them. After that Lex would begin training with short range Teleportation. Then woulde long range, ''after'' which woulde teleporting with living beings. It was fortunate that hisprehension had been drastically improved by his cultivation technique, because he was putting in his maximum effort to learn and improve, which included using his Overdrive state. Cassandra never failed to take advantage of his many talents to design new and somehow even more exhausting training sessions. Just as Lex was beginning to gain some confidence in himself, she got him to start performing reverse teleportation. That meant he would tag an item, and then have it teleport to himself. For reasons he could notprehend, this made the process infinitely harder, and it took him an entire week before he made any progress. Just as he was gaining some confidence, Cassandra asked him to stop tagging the items. He had to teleport them to himself only by knowing its coordinates. When, finally, he made some progress, she then asked him to reverse teleport himself to Fenrir. At the same time, the pup was told to run continuously, without taking a single break. Then he had to teleport one item from one set of coordinates to another one, not himself. Then Cassandra hit him with interference in the midst of his teleportations. The hurdles were endless. The only thing Lex was grateful for was that he was so busy that he had no time to dwell on how sick of training he was getting. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om But while Lex was undergoing an extreme evolution even he himself was not aware of, the rest of the Inn workers did not have it easy either. Since Lex had forbidden more creative means of training, there was nothing left for them but good old hard work. It was fortunate, then, that all the workers had only recently received great motivation to get stronger, and in general they were all great workers. Even Charles begrudgingly epted training after he learned that they could aid him in even the extremely obscure cultivation technique he was practicing. He quickly entered the Qi training stage of cultivation. A majority of all workers reached the Foundation stage, which was a massive boost, and those that had already reached the Foundation realm made good progress. A few of the workers even broke into the Golden core realm. The fact that this was even possible within a single year of cultivating was a testament to the great environment at the Inn, as well as the benefits gained from experiencing star rating increases. The free resources and excellent guidance were just the cherry on top, at least for the first few months. Once all the workers had tapped out of their abundant umtion, their true cultivation journeys began. But not all workers were focused just on cultivation. Much in the way Lex had focused solely on Teleportation, many workers selected specializations they liked. The big three, alchemy, treasure manufacturing and formations, were always popr, and so got arge number of workers learning them. But many also focused on more specific niches, such as cooking,ndscaping, farming, talisman making, medicine and more. The temple, a literal bastion of all knowledge pertaining to humans, was the perfect ce to learn many of these professions that focused on human needs. Luthor, unexpectedly, did not take anybat or cultivation rted lessons. Instead, he focused on bing a better assistant to the Innkeeper. Gerard took lessons in security management. Velma learned how to be a better detective. Regus, the Inn worker who waspletely invisible and forgotten by everyone, focused solely on learning how to take control of his abilities and once again bing visible. Jace, the worker who had gained earth maniption powers and made a fort for the battalion, went into architecture. Everyone was extremely focused, so many monthster, when Z finally woke up and emerged, he was startled to find countless Inn workers running around with no time to chat. Completely confused about what was happening, he walked around the temple trying to get someone to exin the circumstances, but no one seemed to have the time. Chapter 946 Training montage III

Chapter 946 Training montage III

The temple buzzed with activity after a long, long time. The workers did not get to experience the slightg many of the rooms had disyed when Lex had first arrived, but as more and more rooms were opened up and put into use, everyone could somehow tell that the temple was somehow in better condition. The air somehow smelled fresher, the energy was more vibrant, and the services had an extra edge to them that no one could quite pin down. But the results spoke for themselves. None of the Inn workers was everzy, and they all had excellent qualifications in almost every sense. But after months of grueling training, whether it be inbat, cooking or chiropractic therapy, they had improved considerably. By the standards of the temple teachers, they were not yet shining gems, but they had definitely undergone a polish. With that polish came the apanying confidence. The workers all underwent a boost in confidence. Most of them never personally interacted with the Innkeeper, and so were never directly influenced by him. While the likes of Gerard, Velma and Luthor were excellent examples of the heights a worker could achieve, it was a fact that they all got confidence boosts from interacting with the Innkeeper. The rest of the workers, in a position of service to countless guests, almost all of whom had a higher cultivation level, began developing somewhat of a servile nature. If it were not for the extremely supporting environment developed between the staff members, the situation would have been even worse. But there was nothing that built true confidence better than working hard and experiencing the benefits of one''s hard work themselves. At the same time, they worshiped the Innkeeper even more. He had made such an amazing temple and given them such an excellent opportunity, without asking for anything in return. Geeves, who had joined at thest minute, nearly fell to his knees and wept when the temple taught him a cultivation technique centered around creating the most exceptional clothes! There was a caveat to this, though, which is that the entire process had to be done by hand. From preparing the materials, to design, to stitching anything else that the process could possibly involve, he had to do by hand. That meant for his cultivation, he could not rely on the services of the Inn. But that was not an issue for him whatsoever. Besides, the ceiling for the techniques he learnt was very high. If done well, he could theoretically even surpass the standards of the Inns services! Z, who eventually got his answers when Cassandra suddenly appeared in front of him, had joined Lex in his training at some point. Lex had mentioned that Z also wanted to focus on developing his spatial affinities, and Cassandra thought that Lex might perform better with someone apanying him. But Lex had not expected Z to show up, and was not prepared at all. Since he would not be able to hide it any longer, Lex ultimately introduced himself properly to Z as Leo, which led to an incredibly awkward misunderstanding. Z forgave Lex for working him so hard. After all, one could not expect a baby to work. He even gave Lex encouraging pep talks, praising him for bing an entrepreneur at such an early age. He then proceeded to inform Lex about a group of kids he took care of, namely the Peacock warriors, and promised to introduce him to some of his agemates. It was only once they began training together that Z remembered that Lex was so much stronger than him, and indeed that was still the case. Z had undergone a process which would evolve him into a different subtype of human, which was closer to his ancestor. As a result of this evolution, he gained immense physical strength. He had also broken into the Golden core realm. He still could not even cause a single scratch on Lex''s body, even if he stood still and did not defend. The teenager, instantly humbled, quickly set his sights on bing stronger so that the babies of the realm did not have to work so hard to protect themselves. Hera, one of the few hires of the Inn, had a much tougher time than the rest. She was not born with the inherent talent that the rest of the Inn workers arrived with, nor did she have a bloodline at all. But the one thing she had was a memory seared into her brain of her son, Jimmy, crying secretly at night because he lost his first friend, La. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om La''s family,ing from a prestigious background affiliated with the Jotun empire, did not approve of the extended time she was spending with Jimmy, and fearing that some feelings might develop between the children harshly separated them. Though kids in general were resilient, he had since bounced back from the incident. Moreover, the Midnight Inn was an excellent ce to live, and Jimmy was growing wonderfully. He hade out of his introverted shell somewhat, and still hung out with his other friends. But she never wanted anyone to look down on her son again for any reason. She would give him the best of everything. At the same time, she also realized that as a cultivator, she had a long life in front of her, and she wanted to live it well. So she trained, and she trained hard. Though her initial progress was slow, as the months went by, she began surpassing the other workers in terms of progress. She had undergone aplete metamorphosis, and no longer seemed inferior amidst the highly talented crowd of workers. Countless others experienced a simr nirvana, but Lex did not have time to focus on them. He was training as if his life depended on it. But, one day, when he woke up from his sleep, he was oddly not rushed to the breakfast table where he would get a briefing of the horrors that awaited him the next day. For a moment, theck of the expected push confused him. Then a thought urred to him. "Mary, how long before the new realm is born?" "One and a half months," she answered promptly. Just as he thought. His training period was officially over. Chapter 947 Spatial anchor Chapter 947 Spatial anchor ??The sudden freedom left Lex slightly disoriented. Every second of every day for the past few months had been a tough journey for him. For it to end so suddenly and without warning was a bit disconcerting. But he got over the feeling quickly. It was hard toin about having it rough when physically he was in perfect condition. His mental health would recover when he rxed in the hot tub room like Luthor had suggested. He stepped out of his sleeping pod, possibly for thest time, and made his way to where, no doubt, avish feast was waiting for him. He entered the room to find a pale-looking Z, trembling at the table. As it turned out, Lex was both right and wrong. The spread prepared for him was grand, but it was none of the delicious and mouth watering food he had so gotten used to. Instead, it was a feast of food that would temporarily boost his spatial affinity, perception, and control. He''d had some of it before during training, so he knew what it was like. It would induce a specific kind of nausea that space-travel turbulence caused. Fortunately, he had built up a resistance to it. Unfortunately, it was just resistance and not immunity. "Do I have to eat all of that?" Lex asked reluctantly. Cassandra, who did not teleport but walked in with her newly created clone, said, "that''s up to you now. I''ve trained you the best I could in the time I had. But you''re the one who knows how to get to the Inn. You have to judge for yourself what you''ll need to do." That was just a polite way of saying yes. He would need every advantage he could take. He sat down, for once not in a rush, and began slowly nibbling on the revolting food. The issue with this, in particr, was that it was the uncooked body parts of a certain type of worm that tunneled through space. Both Lex and Z trembled at the same time. Best not to think about it. "So, is there anything you need?" Cassandra asked as she sat down at the table and summoned a cup of tea. "A massive energy source to power my Teleportation," Lex said between bites. He used spirit energy to coat his tongue and block his nose so he could avoid the taste. It seemed like Z hadn''t thought of that yet. He was still too green. "That''s going to be you, by the way," he said, pointing at Cassandra. "But only for the second time around, when I''ll be taking everyone with me. First, I''m going to do a test run, alone. I''m going to need a massive energy source for that as well, but that''s exactly why I had you start feeding Lotus with energy so many months ago. He''s going to act as my battery." "You know, if you take me with you, I can help you," said Z. He had also made tremendous progress in the past few months, especially in terms of his cultivation, which wasn''t even something they were focusing on. He was already near the peak of the Golden core realm. Such a quick advancement made Lex concerned, but Cassandra assured him that it was a result of his evolution and it would not make his cultivation unstable. "Thanks, but I have not practiced external support with my Teleportation. Now would be a bad time to test these things out. Now, I just have to make sure I''m in my best condition and I''ll test it out. By the way, Z, block your senses using spirit energy. Much easier to eat all this that way." After breakfast, Cassandra led him to a meditation chamber, simr to the meditation rooms at the Inn. It helped him calm himself down, let go of any nervousness, and build up his momentum. With his state at its peak, Lex began testing the theory he had based all his prior actions on. Some time ago, Lex had received a quest to have the Midnight Inn be recognized by the Henali assembly. Uponpletion of that quest, he received the Guest Registry. The purpose of the registry was simple. His guests could sign it, and the registry would automatically judge the achievements they had in their lives, and then rank them.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The top 1000 guests could use the registry as a spatial anchor. There were greater rewards for the top 100, 10 and 1, and all of them seemed to be anchors of some kind. Back then, Lex did not understand what the anchors represented, though he had some theories. Lex himself had upied the top position in the registry for a very long time. He wasn''t sure if he was still the top one, as he had not bothered to check. What was more important was that he still retained the registry as a spatial anchor. An anchor served as a set of coordinates that he could sense regardless of where he was. But, more importantly, if he tried to move through space towards his anchor, it would be exponentially easier than a normal set of spatial coordinates. He had tested out if he could feel the spatial anchor even though the Inn had stopped epting guests, and indeed he could. Now, all he needed to do was use Teleportation and move towards his anchor. Although theoretically it should be fine, ording to the information he had read in the temple as well as the spatial affinity book - which he eventually gave to Z after reading. Now, he just needed to put that theory to the test. After meditating for a few hours, there came a certain point where Lex knew he was just procrastinating. He could not be more prepared than he was at that moment. He ate food that would boost him, and was wearing the suit that augmented his spatial control. He had a loaded up with energy on his back. Now all that was left was to actually do it. Chapter 948 Test run Chapter 948 Test run ??"Mary, I''m starting now. Keep track of time for me." There was no longer any point in dying. Lex closed his eyes and focused all his attention on sensing the spatial anchor. Since he now knew what to look for, and his affinity, perception and spatial control were all boosted beyond his max, it should be much easier now. True to expectation, Lex was able to quickly feel a certain kind of pull towards a direction he could not sense. The pull did not have any force behind it, and was just there. But he could also tell that if he channeled any energy into that feeling, the force of the pull would be significant. For the sake of security, he spent some time feeling the pull, ensuring that the connection did not randomly disrupt, and that he was sure that it really was the registry. After several hours, when he was sure that the connection was stable, he began. In the way that he had been doing almost every day for the past few months, he focused in on the ''coordinates'' he wanted to Teleport to, and activated his ability. The only difference was that, as an anchor, the ''coordinates'' provided him with some extra help. Everything was familiar. Everything was following the same process he had been through thousands of times. Space unfolded around him, as if opening up to let him into a deeperyer, usually closed off. Time seemed to fade alongside the effects of gravity. His body, just a moment ago, sitting in the meditation chamber, entered a strange ce without color. When traversing through space, it did not matter if one was sitting or standing. What was more important was the incredibly thinyer of protection around the body which was a part of the Teleportation ability which protected the user from the chaotic influence of the deeperyers of space. But the effects of that protection were limited, which is why long range teleportation is not rmended for low leveled cultivators. This early into the journey Lex felt nothing. Instead, he focused solely on the anchor and its pull. Teleportation was thought to be instantaneous, but that was not the case. Some of the perception was due to the strange behavior of time whilst teleporting, while the rest was because it was usually very fast. But when traveling such an absurd distance of no doubt countless gxies, it would still take a long time. Lex did not know why the Inn could always provide seamless and quick teleportations, his level was not so high yet. All he knew was that currently his ability seemed to be working. The drain on his spirit energy was not monumentally massive. The greatest expenditure happened at the initiation of the ability, while only a small amount was used up to maintain the ability while it was happening. But as time went by, regardless of how much was going by since Lex could not tell, his levels started to deplete. It was expected, and he was ready. Lotus began supplementing him with energy, and the teleportation continued uninterrupted. Then, for the first time, Lex experienced natural spatial turbulence. It was absolutely horrible and was much worse than anything Cassandra had put him through. But his resilience was not to be underestimated, and he withstood it without much actual harm. Then, without warning, the ability ended, and Lex fell on the floor, the effects of gravity too much for his exhausted body. He had not even felt the strain on his body while he was teleporting, but as soon as it ended, the entire exertion hit him all at once like a bus. He tried to pick himself up, but found his armspletely drained of energy. He looked around with squinted eyes as he got used to light and colors again, and found himself lying in the lobby of the Midnight manor. It seemed to be night outside, and no one was around. But he was back at the Inn! He had done it! Here, he didn''t need to use his body. Instantly, his body disappeared, reappearing in his new luxury apartment, inside his personal Recovery pod. "Mary, how long did it take?" Lex asked in his mind, for his body was genuinely too drained to obey him at the moment. "You began your teleportation four days ago."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om In his mind, Lex fist pumped. It was possible. If he did it once, he could do it again, and this time with the others. It would by no means be an easy or pleasant experience, but he was confident in bringing everyone across alive. After that, if they were weak or wounded, they could enter the Recovery pods, like he had. Regardless, the main pressure of teleportation would be borne by him, no one else. "Mary, I''m going to rest for a bit. If I don''t wake up before then, wake me up in a couple of days. I can''t waste too much time." Even without thinking about it, Lex used the divination protection technique and allowed himself to fall asleep. The sleep that followed was deep and extremely restful. Even though the temple had been great, there was just something about being home that it could not rece. As it turned out, for once, Lex did not need Mary to wake him up. His body had grown much stronger and his recovery had improved as well. That, alongside the aid of the Recovery pod, meant that he was ready to go back in just under ten hours. Before returning to the temple, Lex deposited the missiles back in their ce, as well as all the weapons he had been carrying around with him. It was not exactly the best idea to go on risky trips through space carrying around extremely vtile weapons that made even Cassandra nervous. It had been so long, he felt a little reluctant to leave the Inn. But he had an important task, so he could not dy. In a single instant, he teleported back to the temple. It was time to bring everyone back with him this time. Chapter 949 Teleportation I

Chapter 949 Teleportation I

As much as he hated to admit it, the air quality in the temple surpassed the Inn. So did the quality of energy. It was rare that he would leave the Inn and not miss its soothing environment, but the temple was an exception to that. For now. There were many other things that the temple did better than the Inn as well, but only one of them interested Lex at the moment. Mateo''s projection appeared in front of him, looking relieved. It had been many days since Lex disappeared and they were starting to get worried. "Everything alright?" he asked, surveying his body to see for any missing limbs. They were all there. "Yes. It took almost four days toplete the teleportation, and I suffered from extreme physical fatigue afterwards, to the point where I could not even pick myself off the ground." "Come on, let''s get you checked out first," Mateo said, not even waiting for Lex toplete his story, causing the baby to chuckle. It was clear that the projection was extremely worried about him. But he had the same idea. The medical facilities of the temple were much better than the Inn''s, and so would be able to better diagnose him if there were any issues. The ce that Lex had teleported to was one of the natural entrances of the temple, which is where the rest of the workers had arrived as well when they did. This was likely a result of Lex''s subtle tweaks to the system''s teleportation rules, which would only teleport people to where they had the authority to be. Regardless, because of his location of arrival, Lex got to see countless workers, sitting and resting all throughout the halls. Since they would be departing soon, and would need to be in peak physical condition for that, their training hade to a close. Although most of them did not have training as strenuous as Lex''s, they also didn''t have his resilience and mental toughness. They were exhausted, and it would take more than an empty schedule for them to recover. But they were in good moods at least. Tired as they were, they all had satisfied expressions on their faces. Each and everyone of them felt that they had done justice to the opportunity the Innkeeper had given them, for they were far stronger than when they had arrived. Instead of taking Lex to one of the medical facilities deeper within the temple, they made do with a nearby one first. It was not as if the return was going to happen right now anyway. Something like that needed meticulous nning and preparation, which would give them plenty of time to ensure Lex also returned to his peak. That was also why Lex began his trail nearly 6 weeks before the new realm was born, as it would give him plenty of time toe over. Cassandra and Z, who already anticipated the location of his arrival, soon joined them as Lex underwent extremely thorough examinations. Regardless of any injury he may suffer, Lex knew he would recover to full health eventually. But for the massive task thaty ahead, they could take no risks as well. "At a nce it seems like you''ve recovered," Cassandra stated. "But your meridians have wrinkled a bit due to the massive amounts of energy they parsed. Your physical stamina has also reduced by 30% temporarily. We can fix that. Tell me any other issues you faced. We can prepare for them ahead of time." borating on his travel experience did not in any way create security risks for the Inn, so Lex informed her of his experience in detail. Cassandra listened attentively, and began preparing preventative measures immediately for the next teleportation. Her clone, which was at the peak of the Nascent realm, was exponentially more powerful than regr Nascent realm cultivators, so she was going to help Lex during the teleportation anyway. But even so, the more they prepared, the greater their chances of sess without an issue. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Over the next few days, Lex as well as everyone else got plenty of rest as they were meticulously brought to their theoretical peak condition by the temple. Finally, a week after Lex had returned to the temple, all preparations were done, and the crowd of workers gathered in a specially prepared hall. A massive teleportation formation had been drawn on the floor, with Lex sitting in the middle. Anyone familiar with formations would know that the most integral part of the formation was missing. That was because Lex would take over the role of that part of the formation. The rest of the formation was simply there to assist Lex in bringing everyone with him, while doing its utmost to stabilize the journey as much as possible. This one would be a lot more turbulent than the one Lex took the first time, due to the number of people being taken. But with the assistance of external support, mainly the formation, they should fare just fine. It wasn''t as if they hadn''t considered taking multiple trips with a smaller number of people each time, but due to how much time they expected to spend teleporting all of them, they just wouldn''t have the time for multiple trips. The workers, who were all wearing a specific set of armor provided by the temple, took their spots in the formation. The arrangement was not random, as the strongest ones were on the outer edges while the weaker ones were closer to Lex. This was designed so that they would not have to face the effects of turbulence as much. "Everyone, get ready," said the baby, surrounded by over a hundred thousand people. "I will begin in ten minutes." All the workers nodded, and took some medicine which had been provided to them, and then linked hands with one another forming a massive chain. Cassandra, who was the strongest, was right next to Lex, and was thest link in the chain. The reason she was next to him instead of being outside was because she needed to fuel Lex''s ability with her own energy, which would require physical contact. Lex opened his eyes, and began. Chapter 950 Return Chapter 950 Return ??Unlike his first attempt at returning, which began instantaneously the way Teleportation usually worked, this time the process was slow and drawn out. A wave of energy spread out slowly, as if a viscous liquid were flowing down a slope. This was the spatial energy which would form a barrier around them all, and it was slow and weak due to Lex''s low cultivation realm. Already, before the teleportation had even begun, Lex needed to tap into the energy reserve of Lotus just to ensure the barrier waspleted. But, then again, the start of the teleportation was also the most expensive in terms of energy consumption, so it made sense. None of the workers moved, as even though the barrier around them had not formed, they could feel the process had begun, and a heavy weight pressed down on them. After an exaggerated few minutes, the barrier wasplete, and all of them vanished. The drain of the first instance of Teleportation nearly caused Lex to fall unconscious, but several medicines that he had taken in advance kicked in, and prevented it from happening. Cassandra also began channeling her energy inside of him, while simultaneously healing him from his fatigue. She should not have been able to do that, but then again, Lex could notprehend the powers of Celestial immortals, even if enacted through a weak clone. His already tiny body had withered visibly, to the point where he no longer had cute round cheeks. Instead, he was as bony as a malnourished child. It could not be helped, since Lex was to bear the brunt of this Teleportation. In fact, if it were not due to how resilient his body was, he would have exploded just from the attempt. But they had merely passed the first hurdle. The rest of their journey stilly at hand. Alone, it took Lex four days to reach the Inn. With over a hundred and forty thousand humans with him, he would not be surprised if the journey was lengthened to a few weeks. But for now, all was well. Lex was receiving energy from two independent sources, and all the workers were geared up to survive this trip as best as they could. Yet fate did not seem to be on their side, as they were hit by turbulence almost immediately. Although Lex had the worst of it, the others were not having an easy time either. They did not have his crazy physique to help them. Some, who had the Anachronistic Ignition bloodline could ignore the harm, but the others were not so lucky. They could only tough it out. Cassandra looked at beyond them as she sensed something, and shed her aura, imperceptible to Lex and the others. An invisible threat was deterred, as a space worm retreated back into the folds of space. But their presence was much too prominent, and they attracted all kinds of unknown anomalies Lex had never even heard of. Most of them were not too harmful, although at one point Lex suffered two spontaneous lightning strikes! Once, an invisible force struck the protective film around them, nearly killing all of them! Cassandra red her aura once again, and was about to make a move when something unexpected happened. Charles, the annoying doctor who fought the temple workers at every turn, used some unknown technique to drive the danger away. The fact that Cassandra could use her techniques was still eptable. But why could Charles? Lex didn''t have the mental capacity to wonder such thoughts at the moment, as he was doing his utmost to hold on and ensure the technique was not interrupted. His entire being was in pain, and tears were dripping from his closed eyes. It was not that he wanted to cry, but that his young body did not listen to him, and naturally reacted to the pain. But he had to hold on, for he knew the fate of everyone was in his hands. What he didn''t know was that everyone''s condition was much worse than they anticipated. The journey had already gone on for an unknown amount of time, and everyone of the workers were reaching their limit. There was only so much pure willpower could do.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om That''s when it happened. Lex''s Empyrean Resonance physique activated, and its aura traveled uninterrupted by the turbulent space around them. In fact, the aura seemed to absorb the turbulence, drastically reducing it, before it began to caress the weakened bodies of all those within the protective film. Soon, for reasons they could notprehend, they started to feel as if the pressure on them was reducing. At first it was only a minor relief, but the longer this went on, the greater the benefit they received. Even Cassandra was affected by it, and her clone underwent subtle changes. This was extremely dangerous, considering their precarious situation. The slightest disturbance in evolution would cause them to die, or at the very least suffer drastic repercussions. But there was nothing any of them could do about it. Lex did not even know it was happening, as all his focus was ensuring the technique didn''t fail. Then, the next moment, without any warning, it was over. They found themselves at the entrance of the Inn, on the weing tform. The protective film around them vanished, and most of them fell to their knees. But while their bodies struggled to cope with the sudden return of gravity, their minds were filled with tion. They had done it! They had survived! They had returned! Grins and sighs of relief filled the massive crowd, even as they knew that they would need many days of rest after this. But only one person did not have such a reaction, for as soon as the teleportation ended, Lex copsed. He was utterly spent and his already tiny body shrunk even more. He curled up into the fetal position, though that was pure instinct for Lex was already unconscious. For the first time since he had learnt it, Lex fell asleep without using the technique to protect him from divination. Chapter 951 Troubling visions Chapter 951 Troubling visions ??On some deep level, Lex knew he was dreaming. But that knowledge did not reflect in any change. He was like a spectator, looking down on himself, but at the same time, feeling all the feelings that his dreamed self was experiencing. He was being hunted. Something had locked onto him by means he could not understand. It had used something to lock him in ce, and prevent him from returning to the Inn. The lock was not actually something that directly blocked him, but something that created an urgent need. Even at the risk of being discovered, even at the risk of great harm, he could not escape. He needed to reach¡­ he needed to find¡­ Before the thought could beplete, a familiar pressure he now understood as Dragons Might enveloped him, and a massive yellow eye appeared. Then darkness fell, and the dream transitioned.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Another dream came from the darkness, revealing a dance flood. A dark ominous figure stood at the opposite end of Lex, and a hooting crowd surrounded them. Darkness descended, and the dream ended once more. He saw a jungle filled with the most viscous beasts imaginable, and a massive cavalry charging through astride magnificent, great peacocks. He saw an army of caped Marzu, marching to war. He saw the copse of civilizations. He saw a, ominous and full of malevolent intent, swallowing its star system. He saw his beloved door, left alone at the Temple of Fasting, behind countless chains. There were many more dreams, but they seemed to slip out of his memory as they were happening. Thest dream, however, was the most vivid. He was standing in the Inn, watching as massive balls of red mes fell from the sky all around him, crashing down and causing untold destruction. He could smell the sulfur in the air, alongside the smell of burnt earth and ash. He could feel the warmth of the distant fireballs in the sky on his skin. He could feel the ground tremble beneath his feet. In the distance, buildings and people were all engulfed in a tsunami of earth caused by a particrly devastating impact. Yet amidst all the destruction, there was a strange sense of peace. The Lex in the dream did not feel fear or panic, or even anger. He just stood still and watched as fire rained from the sky, as if epting an inevitable doom beyond his control. The dream ended when Lex himself was wreathed in fire. Lex opened his eyes and felt particrly like crap. It had been a while since he had been so ufortable, but he felt drained of all life, energy, emotion, and drive. Exhaustion hugged him like a lover, unwilling to part even for a moment. He felt himself falling back asleep almost a secondter, but this time, as if forced by habit, he used the technique to protect himself from divination. This time, blissful darkness weed him. He had no dreams, and time seemed to slip by, so that when he woke up, it seemed like only seconds had passed. But there was a world of a difference in how he felt, informing him that he was in a much better condition. "Mary, how long was I out?" he asked as he looked up at the familiar ceiling. He was in a Recovery pod, though not his personal one. That hardly mattered, since they all worked the same. "It''s been a little over two and a half weeks since you all returned. Your condition is extremely strained. Thedy who brought you in, Cassandra,es every day to check up on your condition. She has stated that even if you healpletely, your meridians are extremely strained and will need time to recover. She gave Nurse Jubtion a serum that she said should help you." Lex smiled weakly. Cassandra was very thoughtful, and whatever serum she gave would probably help him a lot if he took it. But in her considerations, she could not ount for the fact that Lex had a cultivation technique that strengthened him against whatever weakness he was experiencing. A few good cultivation sessions and he should be good to go. But before he got up and went about dealing with the no doubt countless chores that awaited him, he could not help but think back to thest dream. As devastating as it was, the thing he found most prominent in the dream was the fact that¡­ he was still a baby in it! This was the second time he had a dream about the Inn being destroyed by fire, though some details had changed between the two dreams. The first time he had the dream, he was in his regr form, meaning that he had not been reduced to his baby form. But in the more recent one, he was a baby. The fact that some details changed was reassuring, which meant that even his future prophecies were not exactly urate, or even liable to happen. But the fact that this dream had urred twice was worth consideration. There was one more dream which had repeated, and fortunately it was not the one where he identified as a banana. Or perhaps it was unfortunate, because it was the one he was being hunted in. Although, this time, in that particr dream, he was not a baby. But the reappearance of these dreams unsettled him. He tried to anticipate what kind of danger the Inn could potentially face in the near future, since he was a baby in that dream. There was only one possibility he could identify, though there was no way of knowing for sure. If his newly developed realm was discovered, he was sure that it would face an invasion. But the Inn had a Destiny level formation hiding it, so that should have been unlikely. Or did he perhaps need to upgrade the protection to the level of Death, or perhaps even higher? These thoughts gued him for quite a while. Chapter 952 Divine

Chapter 952 Divine

Whatever the problem was, sitting around and just thinking would not help him avoid it. Besides, there was no guarantee it would even actually happen. He decided to consult Vera, the Oracle and his perpetual consultant regarding all matters rting to divination. He could ask Cassandra as well, but she was too knowledgeable about things he could not even imagine. The chances of him slipping up were extremely high, so the less he talked to her about things rted to the Inn, the better. "Mary is there anything I need to pay attention to at the Inn?" he asked as he tried to n out his next steps. "Surprisingly not. Most of the workers who returned alongside you are still resting as well. They were not able topletely ovee the stress of teleporting over such a long distance as easily as you. But there''s no serious injuries to speak of. The rest of the workers are handling the guests well, and there are no particr issues to take care of. "There is a massive backlog of applicants who wish to join the Inn, if you want to peruse those, but a majority of them are just Velma''s fans. I don''t know how good of a fit they would be. Although, there is a n of elves where the entire n wishes to join the Inn. They''re currently living here as well, so you can look into them. The number of devil applicants has also gone up, but almost all of them want to negotiate their terms of service. Besides that, there''s not much else that needs your immediate attention." The number of people who wished to join the Inn was always high, but Lex hardly ever epted them. It was too much of a risk epting people with entire lives before they arrived at the Inn, and the potential for problems was quite high. But then, of course, there were some who had skills and knowledge that would be an excellent addition to the Inn. If any applicant had a rmendation from one of his workers, he would also view it seriously, because that hardly ever happened. But at the moment, Lex did not need more workers, so the applications could wait. He got out of the Recovery pod, and immediately groaned. His entire body ached, as if he were an old man with severe arthritis. Why was it that every time he would undergo a massive boost in strength, he''d immediately go through something that would just absolutely devastated him right after? It almost invalidated his upgrade. But then again, he had also developed a habit of pulling off absolutely ridiculous things. He was a Golden core cultivator who had traversed countless gxies while teleporting with his body. Not dying was already great. Cultivating would go a long way towards soothing his pain, but he did not want to dy his meeting with Vera. "Mary, where is the oracle?" he asked as he stretched his body, causing it to release countless cracks. "She''s sitting in an empty cabin on the Orient. It''s parked at the train station, so I think she might be expecting you." Lex nodded, got dressed in a new suit that had been made for him on tab by Geeves, and teleported over. He made a mental note to thank Geeves. The Midnight Inn didn''t really allow tabs, which meant that Geeves must have paid himself. What he did not realize was that the suit was not made using the Midnight tailor, but by Geeves using his hands, so there was no cost to reimburse except the materials. Lex got new clothes, and Geeves raised his cultivation, so it was a win for both. With an awkward limp, Lex made his way into the cabin, and found Vera sitting on a sofa with a couple of drinksid out in front of her. She looked forlornly out at the horizon, as if lost in thought. "Everything alright?" Lex asked as he sat opposite to her, grabbing one of the drinks. It was hot chocte. "My mom is forbidding me from dating till I''m 25!" Vera burst out screaming, as if she was barely holding herself back. "25! Can you believe it? She says considering the long lifespan of cultivators she''s being generous, but I think she''s just old so it doesn''t seem like much to her. I don''t want to wait another 9 years before getting a boyfriend!" Vera looked incredibly vexed by the matter, much to Lex''s amusement. "I have to say, that is not what I was expecting," Lex said while he chuckled. The train blew a whistle, and then slowly began moving along its tracks. No one else was in this cabin, a rarity on the popr train. But the low number of guests these days has allowed this scene to ur naturally and without any preparation. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Vera looked at him, feeling slightly annoyed, but then calmed herself down and grabbed her own drink. "So this is the part where I give you some advice without asking what your actual problems are. Although, I''ve never really worked with a baby before." "Being a baby is not so bad," Lex said, sitting on his four pillows so that his head would be above the table between himself and Vera. "I only have two pieces of advice for you. First, you should really visit the Wishing Well, preferably soon. The second is that in exactly five years, and I mean exactly five years, to the day, you should visit a called Yildirim Utopia. Don''t be in a rush to pay me back for this. When the timees, you can pay me whatever you think this information was worth." Lex raised his eyebrow. Five years? None of this advice seemed to have to do anything with his dreams. Or perhaps the answer for his dream problemy at the Wishing well. This was really a good time to try it out. "Thanks," Lex said as he took a sip from his drink. It tasted divine. Chapter 953 Nexus

Chapter 953 Nexus

Lex did not teleport away after getting the information he needed. It would be quite rude. Besides, considering that Vera had chosen this as the location for their meeting meant that she wanted to have a lengthy conversation, probably. But he wasn''t in a rush to start the conversation himself, either. For a time, he just sat in silence and enjoyed the view. The scenery was like something out of a cartoon, as so much of the flora was now from differents. While Lex''s favorite remained the purple crystal trees, the turtle had been especially busy in adapting endless types of nts to the environment of the Inn. For that he also introduced many new kinds of insects, which had now spread across the space of the Inn, and already gone through several generations. Fortunately, the newborn insects counted as Inn workers, so Lex ordered them to stay out of sight when guests were around so as to not observe them. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om He did not, however, interfere in their food chain. So the many birds and animals ate insects, the insects devoured the dead leaves, and the feed left out for them by the workers, and the soil was nourished by their actions. Between this all, some animals fought with one another as well, and on a few asions, left behind a few corpses for the insects to feast on. All of this happened well out of sight of his guests. But it was also interesting how different animals, which were a part of the Inn and obeyed his orders, continued their original food chain despite being fellow workers of the Inn. That meant the system did not actually stop Inn workers from harming one another. Or perhaps, this was only limited to species with limited to no knowledge. Lex turned his gaze to the sky, and saw the tiny, floating city pass by. There was also a strange bird he had never seen before, but a quick scan revealed that it was actually a guest beast. Though Lex''s body was still aching due to the fact that it had notpletely recovered, his mind felt increasingly at peace as he observed the changing scenery. "It''s nice, isn''t it?" Vera asked, her voice strangely somber. "Oddly enough, beforeing to the Inn, I always preferred living in a Metropolis. But here, I seem to have developed a strange fondness for such a peaceful environment." Lex did not answer immediately, as he allowed his thoughts to wander as well. He felt strangely simr. Wasn''t that also why he had moved to New York? "I think it''s for safety," he finally said. "In a city, around so many people, you feel safe, even if you don''t necessarily know them. Compared to the countryside, where you might not see another person for miles and miles, and you feel so alone, it feels more secure. But at the Inn, you don''t have that problem, so you let your guard down. You let yourself appreciate nature." They shared a moment, before Vera snorted. "I was a political prisoner. Trust me, I was as safe as could be. I''d lose value if anything happened to me. But, maybe you''re right. I don''t know what it is. It''s strange that I know so many things about the future, but I can''t even understand my own feelings in the present." She turned and looked at Lex oddly. "You''re another one who I can''t really see through, you know. No matter how I try the same techniques on you, I can''t seem to see anything. There are only a few, very rare moments where you suddenly appear in my visions. They''re always so specific that I can''t help but think you somehow block out my divination except when you want something from me." Lex smiled awkwardly. "Trust me, I do not know nearly enough about divinations to do something like that, at least consciously." Vera shrugged and said, "I guessed as much. Honestly, I don''t mind. It''s refreshing to talk to someone without knowing how they''re going to reply for once. But that''s not why I wanted to talk to you. You know about the convention for the new generation of diviners I recently held, right?" "Yeah, I know about it, though I don''t know what happened in it." Honestly, he had been so busy that he even forgot about itpletely. "Nothing too major," she said nonchntly, as if countless people had not traversed entire realms to get golden keys to attend the meeting. As a result, the golden keys of the Midnight Inn had also spread across multiple other realms, though none of those keys had been used yet. "We just all discussed the fact that a Nexus event is approaching in the future, and will likely result in the death of many oracles. We simply discussed a few¡­ precautions." "What''s a Nexus event?" Lex asked curiously. They had finally gotten to Vera''s main concern. "A Nexus event is¡­ how should I put this? Treat fate as something that can be predicted, for a moment. But, when too many major events with incalcble repercussions take ce close together, they not only obscure fate, theypletely destroy the ties of fate. Once the Nexus event passes, the ties of fate reconnect, just as they were before. But¡­ but if one knows what they are doing, they can simply change their fate, or perhaps even hide from it. "A Nexus event is an event that causes even Destiny to fail, if only for a short time. It is a time full of extreme peril, and at the same time, extreme opportunities." Vera paused, as she looked at the baby, trying to observe its expressions for any indication of what he was thinking. But a baby was too difficult to read. Their expressions were all over the ce. "I take it that you have something in mind for this Nexus event," Lex said slowly, his interest in the matter growing. "Oh, you have no idea," she responded, a smile growing on her face. Chapter 954 Your own answers Chapter 954 Your own answers ??Lex did not ask what she had in mind. Since the topic had clearly reached this point she would talk about it, but he had to maintain his psychological advantage. As a baby, every little bit of help counted, especially when dealing with an unknown phenomena that would potentially affect the whole universe. Technically Vera had not said that yet, but if even Destiny could fail, Lex could only imagine that the repercussions wererge. Also, he still did not have aplete grasp of what Destiny was? Was it a rank? Was it fate? Was it the name of a universal escortdy? Who knew? Vera did not keep him waiting for long. "For now, you don''t need to concern yourself with the Nexus event. It is still far away. But it was still important to tell you about it. You see, there is kind of an unwritten rule in the divinationmunity about it. We don''t really tell non-diviners about it, while we make sure to spread the word about it as much as possible within the divinationmunity. "You see, for us diviners, oracles, and such, the Nexus is a great opportunity. You''ve already helped some of us remove shards of tribtion from our souls, so you know that we get punished heavily for divining certain things. But during the Nexus event, not only can we divine as we please, we can remove any punishments we''re already suffering. Most importantly... Most importantly, we can change what fate has in store for us." "What does that mean?" Lex asked. He could tell that Vera was putting a lot of emphasis on thisst part. Changing one''s fate or destiny seemed like a big deal, but how would you even know what your existing fate was? Or that the one you were getting was better? "The Nexus event is far away," she said, not directly answering his question. "Right now, we have only detected the fringes of its existence in our divinations. That means there''s plenty of time for you to look into this, and get the answers you want. The reason no one else can give you a proper answer is because there is no one correct answer. You just have to see what you can dig up." "What if I''m not ''destined'' to find anything?" Veraughed, as if the question reminded her of something funny. "Your destiny is not defined throughout every second of your life. Or well, generally speaking, that''s how it works. But regardless, you have to look for your answer yourself. If the answer to these questions are given to you by another person, they will always be wrong. Even if the answer is correct for them, the moment they tell you, it will be wrong for you. The secrets of the universe are something you have to uncover for yourself. That''s all I wanted to tell you, and before you ask, no I was not telling you because I foresaw some benefit in doing so. It is simply a courtesy we extend to those in the divinationmunity." Lex pressed his lips as he contemted yet another potential disaster waiting to happen. But at least it was far away. "How far away is the event? Can you at least give me a guess?" "I can''t. If I tell you it''s in 10 years, but it doesn''t happen for a 1000 you''ll me me. Likewise, if I tell you it''s 50,000 years away, but it happens in 300 years, you''ll once again me me. I cannot give you an answer for something I don''t even know myself." Lex sighed. Divination was a scam. "Thanks for telling me anyway," Lex said as he stood up. As it happened, the train just happened to arrive at a station. The way the timing for that worked out perfectly did not in any way alleviate Lex''s feelings for how much of a scam divination was. Vera simply nodded, as she continued to look out the window. Once he was out, Lex had to decide between going fishing and cultivating first. On one hand, it was best to gain as much information as possible. On the other hand, he was in no condition to do anything even if he gained extremely critical information.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om He ultimately decided to go through one round of cultivation before heading to the well. He teleported to his apartment, and returned to his humble meditation mat of a technically living Heavenly immortal dragon. It felt good to be back. But then he was suddenly reminded of the dream he had about being hunted by a massive dragon. Maybe he should start looking into some dragon ying techniques. For now, though, he closed his eyes and began cultivation. It was a painful process to start, because his meridians were extremely sore. Even the slightest of stimtion sent waves of pain coursing through his body. But he endured in silence. His body would heal from all wounds, so there was no reason to fear getting hurt. Of course, if his Golden core was in danger he would not take the same risk, but it did not seem to be under any pressure, so he continued to cultivate through the pain. Eventually, he would be stronger for it. He was the literal manifestation of the idiom ''what doesn''t kill you makes you stronger''. Going through one cycle took him three hours, as even though he ignored it, the pain slowed him down. But this was not enough to have his body adapt to its conditions, so he continued. Whether it was the strain his body was suffering, the Dragons Might around him, the toughness and vitality of the dragon beneath him, his cultivation technique took them all in, and slowly started to make him better for it. What his physique could do for others, his cultivation technique could do for himself, so he continued to train. What he didn''t know was that his physique had imparted some of the benefits he had onto the countless workers who traveled back to the Inn with him. Slowly, they were all improving. Chapter 955 Picnic at the well Chapter 955 Pic at the well ??Lex suddenly started to cough as hepleted his most recent cycle of cultivation, and felt something big stuck in his throat. When in coughing didn''t work, he started smashing his chest with a fist to try and get the blocked bulge to move up. It worked surprisingly well, and a momentter he coughed out arge misshapen chunk of meat. He would have thought he had just thrown up a part of his lung if he hadn''t continued to breath just fine as soon as he coughed it out. Unlike previous times, when the extracting impurities from his body were ck and in the form of sludge, this time his body had discarded a lot of damaged tissue, muscle and other internal organs and grew new ones in their stead. It was something he instinctively knew, but it still felt eerie to look at a ball of red meat that came out of his own body. With a wave of his hand, he caused the meat to disappear so that he would not have to look at it anymore. "I guess that''s my cue to stop," he murmured as he wiped the blood off his face. Cultivation was too addictive, so although he had only meant to do it for a short while, he ended up cultivating for a day straight. On the bright side, the condition had improved drastically, and most of the aches filling his body had been fixed. Only his meridians were still damaged, and he had a feeling he would need to cultivate a lot more before that was fixed. He got up and stretched his body a bit, before getting ready to go fishing. He was not particrly in the mood to exin why he, as a baby, could walk and talk so he put on his rk Kent sses and donned his Leo persona. Despite his actual body''s miniature size, Leo still appeared as he had always been. It was quite refreshing. He teleported away and when he reappeared, he was already at the Wishing well. But, unsurprisingly, it was not as secluded as many of the other parts of the Inn. There was a family having a pic nearby, with many kids ying around. Near the well, there were two old men sitting and chatting, while taking turns fishing in the well. They wouldugh and joke with one another, while betting on the value of the thing they would fish out.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Hey guys, do you mind if I join in?" Leo said as he walked up to them. The old men were wearing half sleeve button up shirts and shorts, alongside fishing hats. They looked like they were retired and just enjoying their vacation. If it weren''t for the fact that Lex could sense that they were incredibly powerful, even much more than himself, he might really have believed it. "Not at all, young man. But you''ve got to wait your turn," one of the men, with long gray hairing out of his hat said. "Would you like something to eat? We had food made by this elven cook and his wife. They''re not so good, if I''m being honest, but their ingredients are good at least. I heard they want to open up a restaurant, so they keep trying different recipes to see what''s good. It''s tough for new couples." Leo''s lip twitched as he recalled Kenta and Sohee. He had been paying for top tier groceries for Kenta, but now he was being told his cooking wasn''t actually any good. This sounded like he was about to go into a loss for the first time in one of his endeavors at the Inn. "I¡­ I wouldn''t want to intrude," Leo said awkwardly. He was about to admit that he was their boss, but then didn''t want to associate himself with bad cooks. He had to change his sentence at thest minute. "I have a catch!" the other man roared, and suddenly began to pull his rod as hard as he could. Even Leo was startled, considering the amount of strength the man was using. Did he get something really incredible? A few momentster, arge, ck, burnt rock was pulled out of the well. Leo was dumbfounded. That looked useless. Then, his fancy contact lenses which he had finally put on after a long time, started going crazy. "Baizin charcoal!" three voices said together. The difference was that the two old men sounded excited, while Leo was confused. But the confusion didn''tst long, as his lenses quickly provided him with the information. Bloody hell, this was immortal level material! "Young man, it seems like you have good eyesight," said the man who fished out the charcoal as he lifted it with his spirit sense and brought it close to himself to admire. "Does the well always give things this valuable?" Leo asked. He recalled that it had fished out a system before, and now it had fished out a very rare material that could be used to create ink for Immortal level talismans. Maybe he had made the well wait too long before trying it himself. "No, most of the time the items are worthless. But if you fish enough, you''re bound to get something good. It''s a nice passtime." "Next is my turn," said the man with gray hair as he grabbed the rod and flung the hook into the well. "To be honest, the most valuable thing I found myself is not too useful for me. It was a pill that could help a Nascent cultivator in their cultivation. Most items are far below even that in value. But the novelty of the well just never wears off. It''s great value." "Plus, no matter how we try, we can''t use divination to predict what we''ll get. It''s quite interesting." "Oh, you two are diviners?" Leo asked, as he summoned awn chair and sat beside the two old men. "Yes, some time ago, we apanied some brats here for a big event. The timing was pretty great, for our realms went to war while we were gone. It was crazy how suddenly it happened. Even we hadn''t predicted it, but now back home everyone thinks we saw iting and ran away. Whatever, we were long overdue for a vacation anyway." Leo raised an eyebrow. So far¡­ all he had heard was about the things these two couldn''t predict. Were they really diviners? Chapter 956 Library of Heaven Chapter 956 Library of Heaven ??"My name is Leo," he finally introduced himself after deciding it did not matter if they were chatans or real diviners. It wasn''t as if he was there for that. "Burgan," said the man who pulled out the Baizin charcoal. "Harambe," said the old man with gray hair who was fishing. "Are you guys nning on staying at the Inn for a while?" Leo asked, curious about their ns. There were only a few guests left at the Inn, so he could finally take some time to get to know his guests once more. "Well, we need to decide what we''re going to be doing first. Do we head back, do we wait, do we try to help in some other way," said Burgan while he stored his newfound treasure away. "If it were any other emergency, I''d say we sit and take a vacation," Harambe chimed in. "But a realm war is different. If we don''t report back at all, the realm owners may put bounties out on us and dere us criminals. It''s very annoying." Leo took this opportunity to ask many questions about realm wars, since the two of them seemed knowledgeable. It could help him a lot once his own realm was formed. While they did not specifically name their realm, they did let him know that the highest cultivation level in their realm was Heavenly immortal, and the realm at war with them was simr. Their war did not seem to be anywhere near the scale of realm wars discussed by Cassandra, but it was brutal nheless. Another interesting thing that Lex learned was thatpared to the Origin realm, the time in their realm seemed to pass by faster!n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Time difference was something had not experienced yet, but he wondered if his new realm would exhibit it. Eventually, after a few minutes of waiting, Harambe too fished something out, but it was nothing more than a picture of an oversized gori. Burgan did not miss this opportunity tough at his friend, but Leo was not in the mood to do the same. He took hold of the metal fishing rod and swung it around, getting a feel for the oddly flexible pole. The reel was attached to the tip of the rod, and at the end of the reel was a three-faced hook. How far the reel went waspletely up to fate. The only thing that Leo could do was move the fishing rod left or right, guiding the hook as it traveled through the unknown/ It had taken him much longer than it should have, but he was finally about to try the Fishing well. At 5000 MP per attempt, this well was not cheap, and yet it was one of his busiest services. He wondered if he could pull out a system from it too. That would be pretty cool. Without further ado, he cast the reel in the well. He expected to get some kind of feedback from the reel or the rod, but honestly, it felt just as if he were actually fishing in a well. "Has anyone tried to peek in the well while fishing?" Leo asked the two, as an impulse struck him. But of course, he already knew the answer. If anyone approached the well, it would deactivate, and the attempt would be wasted. There was no way to cheat. "Kid, the only thing that can help you is any fishing experience you have. I know a lot of old geezers who have created ponds in their own homes and have started practicing fishing just so that they have more expertise when their turnes. I heard there was even a trend of trying to fish with a straight hook among fans of the well. They''ve sworn an oath to fish nowhere other than this well, so even when they practice, they don''t intend to catch anything, as if it will be sacrilege to the well." Ah, so the Midnight Inn had started yet another ridiculous trend. Excellent. Leo was moving the rod left and right randomly,pletely unable to tell where the hook was going. For a few minutes he felt nothing, and just as he began to wonder if something had gone wrong, the line became taut. "Pull quickly! If you let it wait, the line will snap!" both the old men eximed and Leo did just that. The resistance he felt was extremely familiar. It wasn''t that of something resisting his line and trying to escape. Instead, it was spatial friction. He channeled his spirit sense through the line and eased its passage, until he finally managed to pull out¡­ a book! To his great and genuine surprise, the hardcover book he had pulled out was written in english, and was titled "the effects of concentrated spiritual energy on inanimate, soul dead, and crafted objects". The name of the author was missing, but a quick search through the pages revealed that the book was extremely well formatted, and seemed to discuss things in great detail. "Hey, hey, hey, that''s a good find," Burgan said, as he looked at the book in Leo''s hand with interest. "From the looks of it, that''s a book from the Library of Heaven!" Harambe eximed. "Hey kid, if you manage to return one of their lost books, you could potentially even get a free membership!" For a moment Leo thought they were just consoling him since all he found was a book, but the envy in their eyes seemed all too real, not to mention that their gaze was fixed on the book. "What''s the Library of Heaven?" he asked, wondering if Vera meant for him to find this book, or get ess to that library. Maybe the reward was actually both. "It''s a living library. It has thergest repository of knowledge in the entire universe. It moves from ce to ce, so I can''t tell you where it might be. But if you evere across it, and return one of its books, you''ll at least get a reward if not a membership. Once you''re a member, you can ess the library from anywhere in the universe." Chapter 957 Getting down to business

Chapter 957 Getting down to business

Leo nodded along to the two as he switched with Burgan, and sat down on hiswn chair. The two friends began to talk again with one another, while Lex began to read through the book. With his speed, reading the whole book in a detailed and thorough manner would not take more than a couple of hours at most. It was quite educational, and started to discuss not only what happened when certain objects were put in energy dense ces, but why that happened as well. It was quite interesting, because it immediately made him think of Qawain, the Inn''s resident sword expert, who also happened to be a sword. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om His appearance was very misleading because he looked like a human, but he only did that with his powers since he was an Immortal. In truth, was and remained even now a sword that had gained self awareness and then had cultivated itself. This was a result of the sword binge exposed to some extremely unusual energy types in very high concentration. Before he could read the book much further, and delve into the secrets it held, the two old men called him because it was his turn yet again. Just to be sure that he did not miss any opportunities, he put the book away for now and decided to continue fishing. Who knew, maybe he could gain something extremely valuable or interesting. Later, when he was convinced he had taken all the benefits that the well had to offer, for a short time at least, he would once again continue reading the book. He had not forgotten that soon, the entire Inn would be flooded with incredible energy. For hours, the three continued to fish and chat with one another. The family that was having a pic nearby came in, and as it turned out they were a part of the old men''s retinue. They brought more food, which Leo no longer rejected since it wasn''t from his failure of a cook apparently. During this time, he went fishing 21 more times, and his haul was mostly mundane. Actually, they were quite valuable, but Leo was rich so it made no difference to him. Only one item seemed interesting. It was a manual for creating an item literally called a time capsule. Making one epassed some of the steps involved in treasure manufacturing, which Leo was not too familiar with, but he found the item interesting nevertheless. It was more of a novelty item than anything. The concept was simple. The time capsule would have a sturdy body, as well as the capacity to hold an erged space. Whoever was creating the capsule could add things into it, and set a certain time. The time capsule would not open before that time psed. There were other ways of setting the opening requirement, such as feeding it certain specific types of energies, or giving it enough water or heat. Basically, it all depended on the creator. Since cultivators lived so long, items like these were quite popr, and many cultivators would leave behind trinkets, gifts or their treasures which were no longer useful for the future generations. Or it could be a way to preserve old memories. Either way, Leo liked it, and decided to throw out a few with various items in them, though he''d most probably end up throwing out golden keys for the Inn. But ultimately that too was just a novelty item, and did not attract his attention the way the book did. After parting ways with the two old men, and wishing them luck, Leo returned to his apartment and removed his sses, once again returning to his baby size. He found his favorite spot atop the dragon, and continued to read the book. The way that it educated him on the dynamics of energy and existence, and how certain materials which can act as a container for souls be sentient objects under those circumstances was exined in just a simple yet thorough way was amazing. If the temple was perfect for receiving training, then the books from this library were the best possible source to learn from. It went beyond just certain itemsing to life. It borated on how certain treasures were born, how to predict the kind of treasures that would be created as well as their grade, and so much more. Lex originally thought he could go through the whole book in a couple of hours, but he was wrong. The size of the book was deceiving, and the knowledge it contained was extensive. After several hours of reading, he had to take a break, not only to contemte on what he learnt, but also to cultivate. After that, he would need to start taking precautions. He had just realized that his Inn was perfectly primed for almost everything to eithere to life, or turn into extremely valuable treasures. That in itself was not an issue, but there was no way in hell that Lex was just going to sit around and let his cultivation mat, also known as the dragon he frequently sat on,e to life! Was that the reason that the Inn was destroyed in his visions? The dragon came to life, destroyed the Inn and then ran away. Many yearster, it would track him down and kill him? That seemed a little far fetched, which is exactly why Lex believed it could happen. Because only absolutely crazy and absurd things happened to him. Since when has his life made sense? He began cultivating, and just like that, another day passed him by. He was getting closer and closer to the day of the new realm being born. He could not help but feel excited, but then he suppressed that excitement. He teleported to his office, and put on his Host Attire. It was time for the Innkeeper to get down to business, starting with meeting the sovereign turtle. From what he recalled, he had a clone tree of a very powerful celestial immortal in his Inn. He needed to make sure that would not turn into a problem for him - and it would be just one of many things he needed to address. Chapter 958 Let them sleep Chapter 958 Let them sleep ??The Gctic Sovereign turtle showed up with an entire entourage in tow. Atop its shell sat Zen, the small sentient patch of grass which had reached the immortal level but had a very weak body, in a flowering pot. Young McDonald, the reincarnation of Igishima, and the nt responsible for the vastwork of vines underneath the Inn also came along, somehow detached from the rest of its body temporarily. Little Blue, who had gotten muchrger now, was happily swimming in the air around the turtle. It had a few streaks of gold on its skin, as well as a couple of unusual and probably unfinished growths on its back. It looked like it was about to sprout wings. The Gardener, who had been absent from the Inn for a very long time, was also following along. He seemed happy, for once, rather than upset over his ruined art. A few dozen workers followed along as well, most of whom Lex was meeting as the Innkeeper for the first time. This was, more or less, the main work force for the Greenhouse - or at least the upper management of it. Among just insects, there were over thirteen million worms, around two million bees and just as many butterflies anddybugs. There were also countless beasts, and two interns who were actually guests but had be addicted to working at the greenhouse. A scan of them had revealed that they were actually werewolves. There were countless other workers as well now, considering that the Greenhouse had grown massive in size. Just tending to the nts everyday was a massive task, despite the automation of the Inn. Besides, sprinkling all the nts with water from the Well of Invigoration, which could boost nt growth, was something that needed to be done manually. "Wee everyone. I''m d you all came as quickly as possible," said the Innkeeper, his rxing tone tinged with a hint of urgency. "As you all know, the Inn is about to undergo a massive renovation, and that will be followed by an as of yet unprecedented wave of energy. To avoid every single de of grass and fallen leaf bing sentient, as well as the rest of the flora, we will need to take many precautions, so we have no time to lose. "For the most part, I will let you decide on your own what precautions you want to take, but turtle, you will need to put the clone tree in the greenhouse to sleep. You must order the tree to go into a deep, deep slumber from which it won''t wake up any time soon. But you have to do so in exactly 10 days, right before the big change. "For everything else, I will leave it up to you. I want to see what you cane up with. Give me a list of our biggest concerns, and how you n to handle them." Little Zen immediately raised its hand, as if it was a child seeking permission to speak. The Innkeeper chuckled warmly, but nodded towards Zen, letting him speak. "Are we going to suppress ''all'' the nts, or can we let some of them wake up? That mushroom near the Fire temple would be a lot easier to take care of if it could respond. All it does is gobble up divine energy, ignoring everything else." Lex was not concerned too much about the nts that were naturally born in the Inn, as they would automatically be subordinates of the Inn. Letting a few of them wake up should not be a problem, but he did not want to allow too many to do so, just to avoid any unforeseen problems. "If you all think that it will be beneficial, then you can select which nts you want to leave alone so that they get a chance of gaining sentience. Treat this meeting as a performance review. I want to see how you n to address this issue, and what strategies you cane up with." Truthfully, Lex was not delegating work just to get rid of it. He wanted to nurturepetent subordinates, and wanted to see if they coulde up with any ideas that he had overlooked. After all, they were the ones dealing with the greenhouse all day everyday. Their exposure was different from Lex''s. "They are children, you should let them wake," the turtle muttered begrudgingly. The Innkeeper raised an eyebrow out of curiosity. He knew better than to dismiss the turtle, after all, he was the only one who could influence the system externally! "Are you sure that''s a wise idea? Do you know how many des of grass alone there are in the entire Inn, let alone trees, vines, bushes, shrubs, moss, and more? Will you be able to control all of them if they all wake up?" The turtle summoned forth a vine and used it to rub its chin, as if it was thinking. But it did not take long toe to a conclusion.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Sleeping is good for children''s growth," the turtle said, as if content to let the nts stay dormant. "But we need some to awaken. Without Nymphs, Tree spirits, Dryads and Spring Fairies, it will be difficult to grow magical nts." "Which is why I''m allowing you to pick who to wake up," the Innkeeper said, as if this was a part of his n all along. The discussion began with all of the nt folk chiming in. They were surprisingly organized and well informed about which nts were the most likely to wake up, even now. They were also extensively educated about what type of mutations the nts were most likely to undergo if they woke up. Their meetingsted for hours because the flora was just too diverse, and the turtle wanted at least one of each type of nt to wake up. When it finally ended, they finally exited, and another group of workers was ready toe in. Gerard, Velma, Luthor and Hera walked in. They were next. Chapter 959 Sentience facilitation and inhibition Chapter 959 Sentience facilitation and inhibition ??Gerard, Luthor and Velma were used to meeting the Innkeeper, and while they remained respectful, they were not nervous. Hera, on the other hand, was incredibly nervous though she was trying not to show it. She was no longer nearly as ignorant as she once was, and now understood exactly what kind of entity the Innkeeper was. The Midnight Inn was much more powerful than the Jotun empire, at least as far as she knew. The Inn used to be filled with countless soldiers from the empire when it was still operating normally, and even they remainedpletely respectful of the Inn''s workers. Moreover, as she spent time with more of the workers, she got to hear more and more of their gossip, though the poor fellows did not even realize they were gossiping. The Emperor of the Jotun Empire hade to the Inn with his wife, and spent a very long time here. The devils, who seemed to have surpassed the Jotun empire as well, also filled the Inn, and remained respectful as well. In fact, she was sometimes unnerved by how respectful these overwhelmingly strong fellows were to her. She did not even know the names of the realms they were in, that is how weak she wasparatively. That was because the respect was not earned by her, but came due to the ever grand prestige of the Innkeeper! "Wee all of you," said the Innkeeper, his voice calm and confident, his figure tall and magnificent. "We have important matters to discuss, so please have a seat." The Innkeeper waved his hand, and a cup of tea appeared in front of all of them. The tea was nothing too special. It only had the effect of calming the emotions of whoever drank it. Hera''s nervousness was apparent at a nce, but instead of singling her out or telling her to rx, he just offered everyone tea. "The Inn is about to undergo some extremely major renovations, and we need to make a few preparations. There are many things that need to be taken care of, so let''s just jump in. First things first, I expect that during the renovation, the Inn will undergo a change simr to the one it experienced in the star upgrade. This means that all workers will likely be incapacitated, as well as any guests. We should also subsequently prepare for multiple breakthroughs. Instead of deciding for myself, I would first like you all to n the necessary precautionary steps to take at that time. "At the same time, there will be many more events taking ce but I do not expect any of the staff to be able to respond. So we need to make preparations beforehand. Many items and objects in the Inn are expected to gain sentience during the shift. I have already discussed how to handle the nts with the turtle, but you all will handle the remaining potential targets. "Among those that I suspect will gain sentience, you have to prepare a n to facilitate the process for some, and inhibit the process for others. To start with, I expect the flying ship up in the air to gain sentience. I am fine with that, but I hope it follows the path of A.I. rather than a treasure spirit. I want you to draw up a n to ensure that is the path it follows. "Next up is the Midnight Mountain. I am once again fine with it gaining sentience, but it should follow the path of a nature spirit, and not something simr to the Mountain-man." Lex had actually procured some spirit stone seeds, which were basically the core for spirit stone mines. After being nurtured they had the potential to give birth to new veins of spirit stone. He had buried all of those underneath the Midnight mountain, so he was expecting it to give birth to numerous valuable ores and spirit stones after the evolution. For almost another hour, Lex briefed them on what he expected could gain sentience. Candidates includedkes, rivers, buildings, monuments, skynterns, the Orient, the flying city, the soul hearth, and more. Lex had not made up this list on his own, but made deductions based on what he read from the book he recently found. The book even provided guidance on how to facilitate the kind of growth Lex wanted thesendmarks, monuments and items to exhibit, but he wanted his workers to try and handle the situation before he gave suggestions of his own. But items that could gain sentience were only the beginning of the meeting. There was so much more nning that was needed. "Among others, we have two Rhinocentaurs as prisoners. Suffice to say, there is no point in letting them experience the benefits of the upgrade. Think of a way to block them as best as you can." "What are we nning on doing with those two prisoners?" Luthor asked hesitantly. Leo, or rather Lex, was supposed to interrogate them, but he never got around to it. "They''re from a powerful organization. They''re being used as bait to see how the organization behind them reacts. Will they negotiate their freedom, or find a way to retaliate? Just keep them as prisoners for now. More importantly, how many golf carts should we allow to gain sentience? This is something you will need to think of carefully Gerard, for they will be under you in the security department. "Velma, I want you to carefully document this entire process and ce all the records you make in the Library. This will be a part of the Midnight inn''s chronicles, so be sure to be thorough." The meeting continued for hours more, and Lex was eventually forced to end it early so that they would not bepletely overwhelmed by this entire process. He would just handle the tasks he hadn''t been able to assign them himself. Lex teleported back to the dragon, and began reading the book once more. He wanted to learn as much from it as possible, for the book was giving him insight he never would have achieved on his own.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Chapter 960 A chat

Chapter 960 A chat

Another couple of days passed by while Lex made preparations. He tried to find out what would happen to the countless Minor realms attached to the Inn when the Inn became a realm of its own, but there was no one to ask. Mary didn''t have the answer either. He had to individually set up certain protective formations around many of the guests who were still experiencing a breakthrough, or in deep cultivation. It cost him a lot of MP, but there was nothing that could be done. A drastic change in the environment might cause their cultivation to destabilize, which was something he wanted to avoid. He was also curious about whether or not the Henali portal would continue to work once they moved to a new realm. He''d have to wait to find out. Besides that, he had to make sure he was ready for his breakthrough to the Nascent realm as well. This would be a very important breakthrough for him, especially since it would bring about changes in his rtionship with the system. He had already made ns for how he would deal with that, though he did not mention it to anyone yet, Mary included. As a result, he spent more time cultivating. The pain in his meridians was reducing and he was getting closer and closer to the breakthrough. It was perfect. A few more days went by, and just five days before the change, the Inn took on an ominous silence. There was a subtle, suppressive aura that permeated the grounds. The guests and the workers both noticed it. The change caused some guests to feel ufortable, and they began considering leaving the Inn. But besides assuring them that there was nothing amiss, and that the Inn was on the verge of major renovations, the guests were provided no extra information. Ultimately none of them left, but they were incredibly unsure of the future. Lex felt the heaviness too, and was filled with both anticipation and some concern. It was at this point that he decided to go visit Cassandra. He still did not know how she felt about the Inn. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om A scan revealed that she was sitting on the peak of the Midnight mountain, amidst the clouds. Lex teleported over, in his baby form, to the very melodramatic setting. He was observing her closely using his system so he was able to detect the mildest change in her body when he teleported over, and could not help but smirk. He was too used to being the one teleporting to and away from people, so at the temple when Cassandra did it to him all the time he felt somewhat odd. Now, finally, the tables were turned. "How are you finding the Inn?" he asked as he walked over. As much as he hoped to see her gush about how incredible the Inn was, he could not deny that it had not yet reached the level of the temple. There was no use in being needlessly arrogant about it. "It''s quite impressive," she said, without reserve. "The air quality is phenomenal, and the most incredible thing about it is how it is naturally maintained through the flora and fauna. Then again, I expect nothing less than perfect from a ce that has¡­ a Gctic Sovereign as a gardener." She could not help but turn her head down as she looked through the clouds towards the turtle. That was the most surprising thing she had seen at the Inn, but not the only she was taken aback by. The thing that genuinely excited her was the presence of a human on the cultivation path of Primes! That was so incredibly rare that it could not be understated! She wanted to do nothing more than immediately approach him and begin his training. But that was not her objective here, nor was she at the temple. It would be best to restrain herself. She also used this time to get an understanding of some current events. It seemed humans had really fallen drastically from their glory days, to be even reduced to the devils farming tools. But that only boosted her motivation to gain as much as possible from this trip. She also wanted to go to the Crystal realm and meet with the King the Innkeeper told her about, but since the Inn was currently sealed it was not an option. She did, however, make it a priority. Even if experiencing the birth of a new realm allowed her to be a Dao Lord herself, she would still do that. "The Wishing Well is also interesting. The concept is extremelyplex, but it''s ingeniously done. I never thought someone would use such difficultws to create a novelty item." "Well, this is an Inn. We have to give our guests something to entertain themselves with." "It is quite an interesting Inn. Very different from any I''ve visited before." "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Lex asked while chuckling. He wouldn''t mind getting some advice from her if she had any. It was always good to hear outside ideas and external views. "It''s neither good nor bad. Most Inn''s I''ve visited were just ces to rest while I performed some other task. The purpose of this Inn seems more like visiting the Inn itself is the main goal, not that it takes away from its ability to allow guests to rest while they perform other tasks. In fact, it''s quite convenient, in a sense, since it can be essed from anywhere - theoretically." Lex simply nodded. It was not his intention to turn the Inn into a vacation spot rather than just an Inn. But the more options his guests had to spend MP on, the more he had to work with. In the end, this was the end result. But like Cassandra said, it was not like that took away from the Inn''s ability to simply function as a hotel - at least when it was open to the public. He sat down and chatted with her for a while. After this, neither he nor she would have the time to sit and converse like this for a long time. Chapter 961 An end

Chapter 961 An end

Khuno, the now 14-year-old boy, looked up at his older sister, Cava. Both of them had been working for months now, something wildly out of their expectations, but the two of them paused now. Something was in the air, and it made him afraid. Originally, they meant to spend some time at the Inn and then go back. But as they dug through the soil, as they worked with the nts, as they plucked fruits from trees, they were farming, but what they were actually growing was their own strength. A week of working at the greenhouse at the Inn allowed them to grow a lot more than their ancestral training ever could. Even their parents were taken aback when they saw them. Unsure if the Inn was really the cause, the parents joined them as well. To their entire families great surprise, even their parents began to see rapid growth in their strength! That''s when they realized, whether it was the water from the Well of Invigoration, or the soil nurtured with the most potent fertilizers, or the air that was pure and filled with energy, they all joined together to make the greenhouse the best ce to train they could ever hope to find! The Lycanthropes had been losing the war in their home country. The human princess wielding secret powers had fallen in love with one of those absurd, shining bats, which turned the tides in their favor. To protect the two, as well as train them, they had been sent to the Inn. Then, the Inn stopped epting new guests. Just to make the most of the opportunity, they stayed and continued to train. Then a few days ago, a strange heaviness filled the Inn. They sensed something amiss, but assured by the familiar staff, they decided to stay. A few more days passed, and the heaviness only continued to increase. Just as Khuno was considering actually leaving, there was a change in the air. Something was happening. Then they heard the Innkeeper''s voice. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om At the other side of the Inn, the Mountain-man was dreaming. His system made it so that his ''daily'' cycle was actually several years long, so he spent a lot of time sleeping and resting. But even within his dream, he heard a familiar voice. It was calm, and reassuring, but he could not help but think that the voice did not belong in this dream. Cassandra, who was still sitting atop the Midnight mountain, observed everything around her with rapt attention, as she did not want to miss a single thing. This was exactly what she had been waiting for. The Sovereign turtle looked up, as it sensed something. Hera firmly held her son Jimmy''s hand. It would be alright. Z, surrounded by members of his house of Starcloak, stood at the forefront and looked up at the sky. There was not an ounce of nervousness in his body. Gerard and Velma sat together, in silence. They had been together the longest, and at this turning point, could not help but think back on their days together. Not all of it had been sunshine, and not all of it had been easy. But all of it had most definitely been a wonderful ride. Fenrir and Little Blue cuddled together. For reasons that neither of them understood, they felt incredibly small and weak, and were reminded of their weakest moments. Both of them hade to the Inn as helpless babes. They hade far. John looked up at the sky, slowly taking on an orange hue. It had been months, and he had not been able to get over the loss of his system. He felt just as broken as his system was, and did not know if he had the strength for a new journey. But a new beginning had arrived nheless. Harry and Hailey stood on the balcony of their apartment, right above the barbershop, and looked at the Inn. They did not know how or when they had been infected by a mncholic mood, but there was something driving them to contemte their life so far, and what they wanted from the future. Every single living soul inside the Inn, at that moment, felt infected by an unknown mood. Lex, who stood in the office of the Innkeeper, looked out at his Inn. The time had finallye. The past few days had gone by in a blur, and they had done the best they could to prepare. Now, all they could do was sit back and watch as the change happened. As his mental countdown reached 0, he received a series of notifications from the system. The first was slightly rming, or rather had the potential to cause rm, so he used the system to spread his voice out across the Inn. "Dear guests, fellow workers. Do not be rmed. The Midnight Inn is about to undergo a massive renovation, because of which the teleportation function has been shut downpletely. Until the renovation ispleted, it is not possible to leave the Inn." He used his utmost to speak those words in as soothing and calm a voice as possible, for he really needed everyone to not panic. That was because there were many more notifications he had received, and he needed tomunicate the information to his guests as well. "During the renovation process, you may witness some rming scenes, but you will not be harmed at all. You can sit back and enjoy the scene treating everything as if it were just an illusion. For those with a slightly higher cultivation realm, you can also pay attention and observe. This may be beneficial for yourprehension." He did not borate any more. Instead he just looked out at his Inn. Suddenly it made sense. In his visions of the future, he saw the Inn destroyed in fire right before his eyes, but he remained calm nheless. It was because the realm was being reborn, but before that, it had to be utterly destroyed. Massive balls of fire appeared in the air, and began their descent. Fortunately, the second notification he had received informed him that the system would protect everyone and everything during the destruction of this realm. So much for all the preparations they made. He continued to look as the first fireball crashed into the ground, and sent a rippling shockwave through the Inn. WIth his eye that could seews, Lex saw both the unfolding destruction, and the rebirth hidden within. The birth of the Midnight realm had begun. [End of Volume 3] Chapter 962 Offline

Chapter 962 Offline

The lead up to the final day was not slow. Lex did not spend the days looking at the countdown, waiting with anticipation for the moment the big change happened. Instead, the final days were extremely busy. The Inn was massive and prepping all of it for the big change was a monumental task that upied the entire Inn workforce. Like ants, scurrying around in a rush to get their jobs done, all the workers were once again deployed, bringing forth a flurry of activity. The guests had noticed it too, and may have been concerned about what was happening if the workers didn''t all have an excited energy about them. But the mood of the workers was one thing, and the building pressure in the Inn was another. Lex would have thought more guests would have left when the pressure started increasing, but the opposite happened. Guests actually stopped leaving, as they were all curious about what was going to happen. Besides checking every once in a while to ensure his guests were fine, Lex did not have the time to fret over them. Thest five days, Lex spent bringing his cultivation level to the very brink of a breakthrough, and making sure he was in the optimal condition. In between cultivation sessions he went to the hot tub room to rx and even got a haircut from Harry to bring his state to its absolute peak. Just to be absolutely sure, he even went to Cassandra one more time to check if his state was the best it could be. As it turned out, it was not. Lex had once again forgotten to sleep and eat. It was funny how easy it was to drop old habits once they transitioned from a need to a luxury. On the final day, Lex slept for six hours, and fed on some extremely nourishing spiritual fruits. As the hours closed in, Lex teleported to his office andpletely blocked out the world. He emptied his mind from all his thoughts, and meditated to calm himself down. When he finally opened his eyes, the big change was only a few seconds away. He stood in front of the window in his office, and looked out at the Inn as he waited for the countdown to finish. When it reached 0, he heard a familiar ting. New Notification: The Realm seed is sprouting. A new realm is being born. For the protection of the Midnight Inn, it is beingpletely sealed. Teleportation in and out has been disabled. New Notification: The Midnight Inn is detaching from the Origin realm. The pocket realm within which the Inn is located will bepletely destroyed. New Notification: The birth process of a new realm takes approximately 1 hundred thousand years. New realms remain uninhabitable for approximately 20 million years. New Notification: The destruction of the pocket realm, and birth of a new realm will release energies unsuitable for living beings. All guests, workers, non-sentient living beings, and Inn properties are being sealed so that they remain unharmed during the process, and isted from the energies of the new realm birth! New Notification: All isted beings will remain in the pocket realm while it undergoes destruction, and will not be subject to the timeflow of the newly formed Midnight realm. New Notification: Taro fertilizer remnants detected and used. Realm stabilization process expedited. New Notification: No system features can be essed until the new realm is born. As if on cue, as soon as Lex read thest notification, the interface he had be so familiar with, vanished. The Host Attire that he was wearing also disappeared, leaving him in his baby form. Lex tried to conjure the interface once more, but nothing appeared. In the meantime, another meteor crashed into the ground, causing incredible destruction in its wake. But Lex did not feel like he was in danger. Although he could not feel the istion barrier around him, the sense of security he felt while fire rained from the sky and destroyed the ce he had called home for so long to let him know it was working. He tried to teleport, but of course that was not working either. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "Mary, are you there?" he asked out loud. For a time, the only sound Lex heard was that of rumbling and falling meteors. But eventually, a very faint voice reached his ears, as if through some kind of instion barrier. "I''m here," she replied, her voice somber and mncholic. "Don''t tell me I''m going to be stuck like this for a few million years," he said. He was absolutely certain it would not actually take so long. "The formation of the realm really will take that long. But what was left out was that the flow of time will y a big role in speeding up the process, or at least, you yourself won''t have to go through those millions of years. When the realm stabilizes enough to support life, the time flow will also be more stable, although I highly doubt it will be the same as the Origin realm even then. Whatever the case, I expect that the timing of the formation of the Midnight realm will coincide with the destruction of this, so we should be ready to move over just before this space copses." Lex did not immediately respond. Instead, he walked out of the office and looked all around the Inn as the intense mes burnt everything to cinders. He could not help but recall his first day when he was designing the Inn. He wanted to replicate a ''Lord''s Manor'' because he thought that would be cool. Even then, he had done such a half hearted job. He hade so far now, but somehow, with his own hands, or through his own actions rather, he had burnt down everything he had created. It was for the better, but it still caused him to feel forlorn. "Mary, you remember the first time we met? What did you say back then? That you''re an augmented reality avatar to help me get used to the system. But with all the system features offline, how are you still talking?" Chapter 963 Shooting star Chapter 963 Shooting star ??Lex waited, but Mary did not respond. It did not matter. Soon, many questions would be answered. He realized that one of the things holding him back was his mistrust of the system. He did not trust something that basically controlled or affected his entire life! There was no way that was going to have a positive oue. Fortunately, he had thought of a way to deal with this issue. He put the thought out of his mind and began to stroll through the Inn onest time before it was all destroyed. He didn''t know why the destruction of it was necessary, but as long as nobody was hurt he could ovee it. In the air, several meteors struck the flying ship, but as a property of the Inn, the ship too was under protection, and so it suffered no harm. It probably had a killer view though. It was unfortunate that he could not teleport to it at the moment, but that was fine. A dove flew to Lex and sat on its shoulder, and firmly pressed itself against the side of his face, tucking itself under his ear. It was trembling, and even though there was no threat to it, he could not exin that to the bird, so all he could do was let it sit as he walked around. In the distance, Lex saw the idiot Fenrir riding the shockwaves through the air as if it was surfing, and Little Blue was frantically trying to catch up. At least someone was having fun. He could see, in the distance, near the Midnight manor, dozens of guests had gathered in a small crowd and were huddled together. They looked frightened and panicked. Chances were they would leave the Inn and nevere back after this was over, but Lex firmly believed that they woulde around. After all, this was just the beginning. What was most interesting was that, due to the security provided, the Mountain-man was sleeping through this disaster, as if he really were nothing more than just a mountain. The Sky Lanterns, though unharmed, fell to the ground making the Inn feel very iplete without them. Main street was aplete mess. The buildings remained untouched and yet there was fire everywhere, filling the air with ck, corrosive smoke. A particrly big meteor fell, and this time instead of a bright, golden me, the fire was green. It fell on the other side of the Midnight mountain, so he could only hear the devastation, and feel some of the tremors. He missed the big impact. Lex wondered if he could possibly take a sample of the fire. He had done the same with the me during his test in the temple, and then given it to Luthor since he could absorb different mes. He didn''t know if Luthor had sessfully absorbed it, or if he even liked it. But collecting different kinds of mes would be useful. There was also an Inn worker who could control lightning. He''d heard from Velma that Z had a big crush on her. He wondered if she could absorb lightning too. Lex decided to gather some just in case. When one could easily ignore the effects of destruction, and time did not seem to rush by in a desperate bid for survival, they would realize how slow the devastation actually was. It was taking forever for the fire to spread across the Inn. But then again, maybe that was because practically everything burnable in the Inn was protected by an istion barrier. Lex noticed that one meteor was heading towards him. Instead of moving out of the way, he just watched it descend. It did not crash directly onto him, but it was close enough where he was affected by the shockwave. It did not hit him like a hammer, or even make him ufortable in the slightest. It did, however,unch his body through the air as Lex had made no preparations to resist its force. Like a shooting star, baby Lex wasunched through the sky over an ever expanding sea of golden mes. The warm wind on his face actually felt pleasant. He had to give it to Fenrir, this wasn''t such a bad idea. Just as Lex was enjoying the ride, he saw a figure rushing towards him in a hurry through the air. It was an elf, and she looked absolutely horrified as she reached out and grabbed Lex''s flying body. "Oh my goodness, who lost their baby?" she eximed in horror as she hugged him tightly, looking around for a simrly flying parent somewhere. "Actually, I''m on my own," Lex quickly rified. "I was just enjoying being slung across the air by the meteor impacts. It''s¡­ it''s actually quite fun." The elf was startled by the baby suddenly speaking, and then she looked at him with pity. "Did the scary situation give you brain damage? Poor child. It''s going to be okay, I''ll take care of you till we find your parents." Lex facepalmed. How was he going to exin to this woman what he was doing? Just as he was considering a decent exnation, he suddenly had a stupid idea. "Okay, just follow me. I''ll show you," said Lex as they finally descended on a nearby hill. There was a group of guests huddled together on a hill right beside, who were all staring at them. Lex waved at them, before grabbing the elf''s hand and pulling her along towards another falling meteor. The benefits of being stronger than he looked allowed him to seed before she could resist. "Just rx," Lex said to the horrified elf. The meteor, muchrger than the previous one, crashed. The impact was greater, and the shockwave fiercer, which meant that they wereunched even faster and farther than the previous time. Lex could not help butugh. This was actually quite fun, and it gave him an incredible view. The elf initially screamed, but was actually startled when she realized that she waspletely unharmed! Then she looked around and was mesmerized. It was like she was witnessing a painting unfolding in real life. Never before had such utter destruction looked so beautiful. Lex''sughter was infectious, and soon the elf beganughing as well. The relief of surviving, and the euphoria of such an unexpected yet wonderful ride flooded her. The sounds of theirughter echoed in the surroundingnds, reaching the crowd of guests who had huddled on the nearby hill. At first they were horrified. But then, they were intrigued. When their initial fear was reduced, ever so slightly, they remembered the words of the Innkeeper. They were absolutely safe. Some of their trust in the Midnight Inn was beginning to return. A particrly daring group broke off from the crowd, and made their way to a falling meteor. It was difficult to control the direction they flew in, and harder to stay together unless they were holding hands. As a result, soon, a number of guests could be seen flying through the air, filled with excitement as they tried to yell out to their friends. From up above, a hatch in the massive spaceship opened, and a number of guests and Inn workers began to glide through the air, astride flying peacocks. The mood was infectious. Even withoutmunicating, the idea of flying through the air spread, and soon the number of flying guests increased.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om What was most interesting to see was that some guests, who were deep in meditation, had a sound insting barrier around them as well. So when their abodes were struck by meteors, they too wereunched through the air, still in their meditation pose,pletely unaware of what was happening. The spirits, who could not join in the fun, began to fly through the air anyway. They were being hit by severe FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). In just half an hour, the feelings of horror and fear werepletely gone, and instead a game of extreme air tag had begun between all the guests as they tried to control the direction they wereunched in, and tried to reunite with their friends. At some point, Lex finally came across Fenrir, and decided to sit upon its back. The pup was absolutely filled with joy as its entire home had turned into a massive yground. But its excited expression paused for just a moment as it had a strange thought as it looked at the sea of mes beneath it. "If the heat given off by a meteor of 50 feet in diameter is uniform, and it is around 10,000 degrees celsius at the moment of impact, one could cook 1,129,200 marshmallows per meteor." The thought was strange and intrusive, and it did not know why it had that thought, especially since all the meteors were off different sizes, and the heat distribution could never be uniform. Perhaps it was just hungry. It pushed away those thoughts and focused on enjoying itself. Then immediately it turned its head in a certain direction and looked into the distance. Someone really was roasting marshmallows over there! Chapter 964 The Big Bang Chapter 964 The Big Bang ??What started out as a chaotic and fear inducing event soon turned into a party. Extreme emotions, whether positive or negative, led to extreme results. So naturally, when the fear for their lives psed, the tion of having avoided death gripped most of the guests. With Lex, Fenrir and the elf setting an example, it was only expected that the others soon followed. Up in the clouds, Cassandra ignored the festive environment down below, as her focus was solely concentrated on the destruction of the realm. She could understand a lot better than everyone else exactly what was happening, which is why she did not even allow herself a second to rx. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity, even for someone immortal, so she could not miss it. What others saw was simply fiery meteors falling from the sky, but she could see that thews that held the Inn together were being unraveled, slowly and systematically. The fire was just a smokescreen to hide what was truly happening underneath. Even with a mere moment of contemtion, she could identify why the Innkeeper may be doing things like this. He was essentially erasing all traces of the Midnight Inn from this ce, so that in the future, if anyone stumbled upon this ce, they could not peer into the secrets of the Inn. The smokescreen was only even effective because the fire spread from those meteors itself had a very destructive property, making it easy for one to believe that all traces had simply been erased by fire. In truth, he was making it so that not even peering into the past, or conducting some kind of powerful divination in this ce, would yield any results. She could also see that the process was being artificially slowed down, for whatever reason. She could not understand why that would be, but then again, how could she truly understand everything a Dao Lord did? Cassandra was merely studying everything that she could all around her. The isting barrier that had surrounded not only her but also all the others was especially interesting as well because she could tell that it served some other purpose. It was just that the other purpose had yet to be revealed. Down below, the games continued for as long as the meteors fell. Whether it was the cultivators who had incredibly long lives, or the young children who were, for the first time, tasting the sweet fruits life had to offer, they both had no limit for how much they could y. Unfortunately for them, there was a limit on the meteors. Eventually, when the entire surface of the Inn was covered in mes, and the water had all evaporated and the ground had be hard, like basked tiles, meteors stopped falling. But by then, the guests and workers had all gathered together to form onerge group, for the unusualness of the situation made them somewhat insecure. Many guests could not help but ask what kind of renovations were going on, or when they could expect to be allowed to leave. But the workers had no real answers. Lex had only given them limited information, not because he didn''t trust them, but because he wanted this to be as much of a surprise to them as anyone else. Some knew more than others, but they ultimately did not say much. In the end, all they could do was remind them of the Innkeeper''s instructions. Right before this all began, he did specify that for those with a keen eye, this could be a great opportunity. A part of Lex was slightly concerned. After all, he had just read a few notifications that said the realm would take several million years before it was capable of sustaining life. Although Mary had said that the difference in time flow will reduce the actual time he experienced, the uncertainty of the matter was nerve-wracking. After all, they were all just casually standing in a literal sea of fire! For a short time, things continued like that. Everyone could feel that something was approaching. Something significant was about to happen. Then the ground cracked. At first, it was barely noticeable. But then the ground started to make strange noises, and then a major crack appeared with an apanying boom. Although the guests had, by now, realized that they were not in harm''s way, they still couldn''t help but get nervous. A few more massive cracks appeared, and then the ground started to shake. Just before everyone became too nervous, Lex heard a familiar sound in his head. New Notification: The Midnight realm has been born. Beginning teleportation. Unlike all other times, when the Inn''s teleportation was seamless, this time was different. Lex felt something wrap itself around him, forming a thickyer. He used his left eye and saw that not only was he being wrapped up in special energy, so was every other guest, as well as all the Inn buildings. The most bizarre thing was that even the countless entrances to the Minor realms were being wrapped in the same energy. Everyone who felt the energy calmed down, as they could tell that something was finally happening. Then their surroundings changed, and they all found themselves standing on an invisible tform. Far below them, in the distance, what was once the Midnight inn could be seen. Everyone watched in silence as the ground continued to copse into itself, and the geography changedpletely. The fire changed color from golden to purple, and then blue, and finally ck, leaving behind nothing in its wake, not even ash. Lex assumed that he may be about to witness the birth of a ck hole, since it originally seemed that the ground was suffering from an increase in gravity. But as it turned out, it was just being burnt out of existencepletely.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Once the ck mes disappeared, there was nothing. For a single moment, they were surrounded byplete and utter darkness. Then their surroundings changed once more. They were still on the invisible tform, but far beneath them was a newndmass - one that they had never seen before. It looked like an ever-extending piece of rock, floating in space, except that the rock was so massive that so space could be seen beneath them at all. New Notification: All guests will be kept isted from the flow of time while the realm finishes stabilizing. Streams of golden energy, visible to the naked eye, seemed to appear from the air itself, and began bathing the massive rock. More and more streams of energy appeared, all in vibrant colors the likes of which Lex had never even seen or imagined before. It was like art, if art could not be seen but felt directly from the soul, as he did not feel like he was seeing the colors as much as he was feeling them. Lights, so blindingly bright that they threatened to sear Lex''s brain itself, covered thend while Lex continued to watch. After all, he was still under the protection of the system! The rock broke into fragments so small they were difficult to see, but suddenly their view changed, or they appeared closer to the fragments, and Lex realized that even those so- perceived miniscule fragments were absolutely enormous. He could not understand how big they were, because he had nothing to scale them with. He did not know how close or far he was. For all he knew, each fragment could be the size of a star system, or maybe even a gxy. Reality changed in front of his eyes, as solid lost meaning. The rock fragments turned into liquid, and then into energy, and then into something else. Lex lost all concept of what he was seeing, and when he looked around, he found that almost everyone besides him was in a daze. Only very few still seemed to be lucid, such as Cassandra, a few devils, Z, and a few other notable guests. Even the likes of Anita and Qawain, two immortals, were caught in a daze as they looked at¡­ at whatever was happening. He looked back down, determined to memorize everything he saw, even if he couldn''t understand it. Everything was mixed together, as if in a melting pot. At a certain point, Lex was no longer even sure he was seeing things, or if his mind was just creating abstract images in a futile attempt to piece together what was happening around him. The only thing, he realized, that seemed familiar to him, was time. Time continued to flow, though he was certain that it was flowing much faster than he could actually perceive. Perhaps, what he felt as one second was actually one hundred thousand years. Then, at some point, all the color in existence vanished, returning everything to darkness for a fraction of a second, before resulting in a massive explosion. Lex did not feel the shockwave, nor did he see the explosion. He only saw white, and a part of him knew that he had just experienced, to some degree, certain events that happened before the big bang that was theorized to have created the Origin realm, at least by humans on earth. Now, now he was experiencing the big bang itself. Chapter 965 Epiphany Chapter 965 Epiphany ??Lex''s achievements in life were not insignificant, and his skill and knowledge were far beyond his own level. But no matter how impressive he was, he was thoroughly out of his league right now. In fact, even though he did not understand anything he was seeing, he could feel that even with hisck ofprehension, his cultivation realm was somehow... it was not increasing, but getting deeperwhatever that meant. Though, with his soul, he could feel time passing by, he lost track of exactly how much time had psed. The white light seemed to extend into infinity, and had epassed all of reality. Perhaps a part of his mind was numbed so that he would not feel the effects of what felt like years passing by, or maybe the light onlysted a brief moment, but the light overwhelmed his brain, causing it tog, just like his old pc used to. He could swear that, somewhere in the back, he heard the Sovereign turtle say "oh dear". But at the same time, the concept of sound seemed strange. As if sounditself did not exist yet. Someone snapped their fingers, or maybe it was the universe, or this new realm that snapped into ce. The next thing Lex knew, he was standing above beautifulnds that extended into the horizon. A part of Lex''s mind realized that at some point, he too had be dazed like many of the guests, and he was finally waking from it. He looked down, directly below him, and the world seemed to be moving incredibly fast. It was like someone was ying a city builder video game and wanted to skip the building part, so they hit the fast forward button. Only, time was not flowing two or three times faster. No, it was moving thousands of times faster. He could see thendscape changing underneath him. The greenery he saw was not nts, but instead it was something he was much too familiar with. It wasva! It was moving and flowing, forming the contours of not just thend, but the veryws that governed them. Birds flew in the sky, and turned into water and rained down. Snakes slithered out from the skies and exploded into fireworks, forming the stars. Ants traversed space, and created trails in the nothingness, so thatws had paths to flow. Lex entered another daze. This time, when he came to, he really was floating abovend. This time, it was not metaphoricalnd, or some energy or abstract entity. It was solidnd, made of dirt and rock and countless other things. But there was no life on it yet. Water flowed, yes, and tectonic tes shifted, but there was not a single hint of life yet. But the process was not over. Time still moved faster than Lex couldprehend. Storms hit thend, stronger and more devastating than anything Lex had ever experienced. Not even the missiles he stole from Pelvailin could match a single p of thunder in those storms. Lex had a feeling that if he experienced just the sound of that thunder with his physical body, he would be turned into minced meat. The winds were... they were visible, if that made sense. It was not that they had color, but that Lex could see as they sliced through whatever obstructed their path, leaving behind chopped fragments. Hail fell onto the ground like carpet bombs, leaving destruction in their wake. The sunshine eviscerated everything it touched. The night left everything frigid cold. Thend seemed a victim of all of nature''s designs, but its resilience was unparalleled, for no matter what it faced, it survived.N?v(el)B\\jnn Lex felt like he had an epiphany, and his cultivation technique began to work on its own. His eyes were still locked onto everything happening down below, and his brain was recording everything. But his body was cultivating, and evolving at a visible rate. His concept of defense and toughness were changing, and even the way his body recovered and restored were being altered as if to mimic everything he was seeing. But the change was all too much. Lex did not realize when he closed his eyes, or when he blocked off his senses. He did not realize what was happening all around him, because even before his body touched an iota of the energy he was expecting to experience in the new realm, his breakthrough began. It was the most seamless experience he ever had. There was no obstruction as his realm changed, and the energy within his body began toe out of his core and fill every single inch of his body. But there was a problem. Every breakthrough required a massive amount of energy, but the istion barrier was preventing him from touching upon any of the energy in the new realm. It had judged that the energy was, as of yet, too potent for any of them. It only made sense, for not even the Mythical beings associated with the birth of a new realm had been born yet, that is how chaotic the energy in the realm was. But his process had begun, and his body required energy. The istion barrier around him, functioning solely on predefined programs, thinned just enough to let the slightest sliver of energy through. Much in the way that Lex''s body had turned to ash when it touched the chaos energy released by dissolving space, his body began to turn to mush as it touched this new energy. But that no longer mattered. His cultivation technique was working in full, and it was channeling the energy into his body, not his Golden core, so Lex did not immediately die. This was not a coincidence, as the moment he sensed danger, Lex woke up from his epiphany and took control of his breakthrough. He had lost a small opportunity by waking prematurely, but at the same time, his cultivation technique was using the energy that created new realms to create his new body, so he also gained a massive opportunity. The Lotus on his back also trembled, and exited his body for the first time since it hadtched onto him. It too wanted to break through to a new realm. Chapter 966 Cultivation levels Chapter 966 Cultivation levels ??Cultivation progressed differently for different beings. The cultivation levels, as humans identified them, were a good standard to measure strength by, but other races may skip over certain realms. A very simple example of this was the fact that countless races were born at a higher cultivation level, such as dragons. So while an upgrade for a human may result in extensive growth in power, such as moving from the Nascent realm to the Earth Immortal realm, that did not mean much on a universal scale. That was just the level of growth a human body and soul could sustain, before they needed to strengthen or amend their being, making it more amenable to more growth. So, for a World Seed Lotus, growth looked like transforming from a lotus into a world. The power difference between those levels was absolutely massive. But Lotus did not immediately burst into a metamorphosis and begin transforming into the world. It simply took in the scene of whatever was happening. It had been doing the same from Lex''s body, but since Lex blocked out all his senses to focus on his own breakthrough, it had toe out. But it was on the verge. It could feel that observing the birth of a new realm would be immensely beneficial for it, and its entire species! It had not forgotten the talk Lex had with it back at the temple, and the idea was beginning to take root. Why should it settle for a if it can be an entire star system, or maybe something even greater? Why ept death when it can continue to support its friends, or others of its race. Lotus'' mind did not work in the same way as a humans, and so it perceived existence very differently. It was very purpose oriented, so much so that even death was justifiable, or even rmended, if it could achieve its purpose. But if there was a higher purpose, then even if it had to make the sacrifice of not dying, it would do so! Lex''s body, meanwhile, was going through an unusual change where it was dissolving and regenerating at a visible pace. This was not an actual part of his realm breakthrough, but because it was happening simultaneously, his cultivation technique was reforging his body and its tolerances much faster. For a normal human being, the Nascent realm was a fundamental change in their existence. So far, across the many realms, they had built their Foundation and prepared to ess higher levels. The Nascent was, technically, more of the same. It allowed the soul to be strong enough to exist independently without the protection of the body. Because of that, since the body was merely a vessel for the soul, cultivators could have their soul exit their body. They would gain the ability to sense other souls as well, and influence souls in general. It was at this level that one of Lex''s favorite techniques, Evisceration, became less potent because enemies would have ways of protecting their souls. But at the beginning, their soul was merely strong enough to exist without the body, and was not really strong enough topletely abandon the body. Nevertheless, it allowed the cultivator to a whole new world of possibilities. They could abandon their bodies, even, if it was destroyed, or perhaps their Golden core was crippled, and possess another one. No other body would be as perfectlypatible for the soul as the original, which would result in a loss of strength, but it definitely beats dying. Not to mention, there were many ways around it. Back on Earth, it was impossible to enter this realm in the traditional way, because the breakthrough was initiated by certain evolutionaryws. That was not to say that thosews weren''t present on earth, but rather a weaker concentration of spiritual energy made it more difficult for cultivators to sense thosews. To be clear, Nascent sou cultivators were still far away from being able to wieldws, or even properly sense them. But like the many realms before it, the Nascent realm was preparing the groundwork for the realms ahead. The problem Lex, in particr, had was that his body, spirit and soul were merged. That meant his soul could not technically exithis body the way they did for other humans. If the breakthrough attempted to loosen the soul from the other two, it would greatly harm Lex, if not outright kill him. This was not even mentioning the many subsequent problems he would have in theter cultivation levels if he did not achieve it in some manner. Lex himself did not have enough of an understanding of the higher realms toe up with a cultivation technique, which could take into ount the many changes he would need to face, which is why he had to grow his cultivation technique. Although he may have overachieved by arge margin, his cultivation technique had evolved, and he could now cultivate to higher realms once more. The difference was that instead of his soul leaving his body, he was gaining a new ability altogether. He was gaining the ability to turn his physical body directly into a soul state. When he achieved that, Lex would unknowingly be able to enter all three states that made his being. His physical being was his ordinary state, and through Mindmeld he could turn into thought, or spirit, if seen through a different lens. Being able to turn his being into a soul state would finally allow him to achieve all three! It would also make him endlessly more resilient! Back when Lex had entered the Temple of Fasting, he had survived despite the thorough destruction of his organs because, well, as long as even a piece of meat in his body was still alive, his soul would continue to exist. That meant that as long as his Golden core was unharmed, and could supply his body with even a miniscule amount of energy, he could continue to live. Now, though, even that requirement was no longer necessary¡­n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Chapter 967 Today

Chapter 967 Today

If there was one thing Lex was grateful for, it was the fact that his body being dissolved did not cause him any pain. Maybe his nerves and pain receptors were being dissolved as well, which prevented him from feeling much of anything, really. But even so, whenever his body was reformed, he could feel it was much more powerful. For regr humans, the Nascent realm elevated their soul strength primarily, with only minor additions in other aspects. For Lex, it waspletely irrelevant which aspect was strengthened, because they would all mutually strengthen one another. But the increase in strength was just a side effect. The main change was that his body was being altered in a way that it would be able to turn into the soul state. That meant that in the future, even if his Golden core was crushed, he would not die as long as a single speck of his body remained. Of course, gaining the energy to once again regrow his body was an entirely separate issue that would need to be addressed at the time. Cassandra, who was by far the person who was benefiting the most out of everyone here, looked at Lex momentarily. She was not at all surprised that his breakthrough was strange. In fact, it was expected. If Lex ever did anything ordinary, she would be disappointed instead. Lex himself did not know he was being judged by those around him. At least he was not causing any visions or strange phenomena this time around, not that he would have been able to do much about it even if he was. Once he was sure that his cultivation would continue to cycle on its own, and that he had adapted enough not to be instantly crippled in case some more energy from the new realm entered his body, he turned his attention inwards. Diverting his focus during a breakthrough was not advisable, and Lex had not nned to do it in this way. But now that things were in motion, he had to adapt. After all, this was important too. His soul sense enveloped his body, and deep within himself he saw the golden shining ball that was the system. At the moment, it was shining brighter than ever before, mainly because it was literally controlling the birth of the new realm. If that had not been happening, the system would have been preparing to merge with his soul! Lex did nothing. He only observed it, for now. The realm continued to undergo countless changes right beneath them, the forces of naturebating against one another. Eventually, whether it was hourster, or maybe even days, the first sign of life appeared on thend beneath them, and at that very moment, the entire realm underwent an enormous change. But what that change was, nobody saw, including Cassandra, for the istion barriers around everyone thinned, and the purest form of vitality rich energy flooded their bodies. Everyone immediately began cultivating, regardless of whatever they had been doing before. Meanwhile, inside Lex, the system''s glow finally reduced. It seemed like it was resting before it began to merge with Lex, but he was exactly there to stop that from happening. "I think it''s about time you and I have a talk," Lex said within his own soul, towards the system. In here, Lex did not need to disy Dragons Might, for it was a part of his very being. He was already in his most formidable state. The system, as Lex expected, did not respond. It continued to rest. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "I think you are forgetting I have soul sense. I can literally sensesouls! That includes you, system, and, yes, that includes you too, Mary." Still, neither of them responded. Outside, his body continued to evolve, so there was plenty of time. He was in no rush. Eventually, when half of Lex''s body had already changed under the influence of the energy, the system''s glow increased. It moved, as if about to merge with Lex''s soul, but a pressure suddenly epassed it, preventing it from merging. Lex did not delude himself into thinking he could force the system into doing anything. The power it contained was far beyond what he could even imagine. But he could at least resist with his soul. He could at least make the process a little bumpy. The sound of an exhausted sigh reached Lex''s ear, and Mary''s figure appeared in front of him. This was inside his own soul, so a projection could not reach here. For Mary to appear here was as good as admitting that she had a soul, and was not just a mere projection. "Why are you doing this, Lex? Haven''t you benefitted enough from the system? Hasn''t your life improved tremendously because of it? Why do you still doubt everything?" "Because I just can''t help but shake the feeling, Mary, that not everything is as it seems. Everything the system has given me is too good to be true. Literally, it is too good! Countless immortals have not had the level of opportunities that I have, and it has only been a few years. Such a good deal, how can it exist? I just can''t believe it. For something so great to exist, it must have a simrly great price. I cannot even imagine what I will have to pay for all this." Lex''s voice was not usatory, as Mary had expected. He was not angry or suspicious. He was just¡­ usingmon sense. It was because he had gotten so many great things that he had to take precautions. After all, he did not want to lose them. Time and time again, he had suffered due to momentary bouts of arrogance. He did not want to make the same mistake when it mattered most. "Today, once and for all, I''m going to get my answers. Don''t think I don''t have many already. Isn''t the reason you look down on me so much because my level on the Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum level is too low? Yet you fawn and please the turtle any chance you get, exactly because of its level. Well, I am no longer the person I was when you met me. Today, you willrespond to me." The golden ball of the system vibrated softly. Chapter 968 New rules Chapter 968 New rules ??Mary and Lex both looked towards the ball as it vibrated, no, hummed softly. It was very important that the system respond to him, for he did not wish to take drastic measures. "You should notpare yourself to the Sovereign Gctic turtle," a young, immature voice spoke out loud. It almost sounded cute. "It is rude to the turtle. You should be honored that it gives you so much attention, not throw a tantrum about feeling inferior." Despite everything he had been through, Lex could not help his lip from twitching. He was under so much pressure, facing off against the system that had given him so much trouble, and here it was, with the cutest little voice, instructing him not to misbehave. The fact that the system sounded so sincere, instead of condescending as he had imagined, somehow made the situation worse. Or better. He could not tell. "So you respond atst," Lex said, focusing on the matter. He could not afford to get distracted. "I have less than 20% functionality, and no mouth. I don''t know how you expect me to answer you. Sending remarks and notifications already demands so much of my attention." "Don''t you pretend like you sent those remarks for me," Lex nearly snapped. "You were just enjoying making fun of me." For a few seconds the system did not respond, almost as if it felt shy. "What do you want to talk about?" it ultimately asked. "I don''t have the energy to sustain this. Even now, the only reason I canmunicate with you like this is because of the energy in the new realm. By the way, this is breaking a lot of rules, so expect a lot of quests to make up for it." "Why did you pick me tond on? There were a couple of Demi-Dao Lords on earth, not to mention many other, much stronger cultivators. Even if only from a point of view of the spectrum, then there were better options than me. "What is the purpose of the systems? Where did theye from? Why is it that the systems can do such incredible things, but no one suspected me of having a system? Do the all powerful Dao Lords really not know about systems? Let''s¡­ let''s start with these few questions first." The system hummed once more for a few seconds before answering. "Why is it that all of your questions break rules? To be clear, I can answer your questions. But the more rules I break, the more miserable your life is going to be. So knowing that, are you sure you want me to answer?" Lex hesitated. He did not expect the system to be so cooperative. Getting any answers out of Mary had been nigh impossible, but then maybe she just couldn''t disregard the rules the way the system could. Who was she really? That was also one of the questions he wanted to ask. But for now, he focused on the matter at hand. If, for his own safety, he could only ask a few questions, then he had to be selective. "Why did you pick me?" he asked, once more. He already had an answer from Mary for this, but he just didn''t believe it. "A quick scan of the star system revealed you as one of 11 candidates with the greatest potential for fulfilling the role of a Host. The Demi-Dao Lords did not qualify because they had too many restrictions on them. When searching for a host, someone who has not started their cultivation path is preferable to one who has. So, out of the 11, you were the only one left, making you the default choice." Eleven candidates? Who could they be? No wait, that did not matter. What did potential for fulfilling the role of a host mean? What is the role of a host? Is it to have the system grow as powerful as possible? Lex had these questions and more, but the questions came with a price, so he had to be selective. "What¡­ what is the purpose of the systems?" he asked, after deliberation. "I can tell you, but it''d be pointless to do so. In that case let me answer a different question. You asked why the powerful people don''t know about systems. It''s because if the wrong person learns details they shouldn''t, their memories are wiped. If you ever meet someone with a system and amnesia, then pretty much that''s what happened to them. If you ask the wrong question, your memory will be wiped too, but you''ll be stuck with the bill anyway. Better be careful." The system was speaking like a little boy, exining the rules of the house to his even younger brother. The innocence and simplicity with which it spoke of earth shattering things was both entertaining and horrifying. So someone, or something, out there was wiping memories left and right, regardless of one''s cultivation level. That was not scary at all. "How¡­ how can I be sure that you won''t harm me in the future?" he asked, unsure of what he was even allowed to ask. What was the point of getting an answer if his memory would be wiped a momentter?n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "Um, I''m bound to you, pretty much. If something happens to you, then I get hurt as well. So I have no incentive to hurt you, unless you fail a quest with a clearly outlined punishment." Lex grit his teeth. This was not nearly as revealing as he was hoping. But it was still progress, in a way. "I don''t want to fuse you to my soul." "Hmm, that''s fine. But it will slow down my recovery, and you won''t gain the control over my abilities as much as you wish. It''s your loss, to be honest." "That''s fine. But speaking of control, I have some things I want to talk to you about. Moving forward, I want to change the way the Inn functions. We need new rules." Chapter 969 Win-win

Chapter 969 Win-win

How cooperative the system was being waspletely unanticipated on Lex''s behalf, and threw him for a loop. But the problem was, even though the system was being cooperative, Lex learned nothing new. So not only would Lex have to pay some kind of penalty for his questions, he was getting no real answers either. The only assurance he had that the system was not out to harm him was its word. For now, he would live with that. What was most important to him, however, was to make sure that the system did not fuse with his soul, and that he got some say in how the Inn operated from now on. He was adamant on rejecting the fusion, for his soul was literally him. If an unfathomably strong system, which also had a soul of its own, fused and became a part of him, Lex would have no idea if he would still be Lex moving forward, or he would be the system. Or perhaps, he''d be something entirely new altogether. Since he did not know how amenable the system would be to his demands and requests, he mixed in his true purpose amidst his many other concerns. Perhaps it was unnecessary caution, but he took his life very seriously. "I just told you that rejecting the fusion would mean you have less control over the system. Now you literally want more. That''s not how this works." Lex snorted. These would be perhaps the most important negotiations of his life, at least in the near future. There was no way he would go easy on the system. Now that he had recovered from the surprise, he had gathered himself up to be immune to the charm of the system''s innocent voice. "You''re talking to me about rules, but I''m pretty sure that taking someone without any cultivation, and then having Demi-Daolords as their first guest is not a part of the rules either. If the system gives priority to someone with no cultivation, which is extremely suspicious by the way, then the quests and scope of the system should also remain within his power level. I get that because you''re damaged you couldn''t help it, but as far as I''m concerned, that was a pretty drastic breach of the rules as well." The system did not respond for a time, and its glow became more intense. Lex could not tell what that meant, but if he had to guess, he''d say that the system felt awkward or shy. "It''s a two-way street," the system finally answered. "You were faced with many great challenges, but the features you got were also simrly much more advanced than what you could have received at your level. If the Inn had started normally, it would have had no teleportation feature, and would have started as a regr Inn based in your own world." "Giving me random features is not rpense, not to mention, that was not your intention anyway. The Inn literally could not have functioned without it. I am not being unreasonable. You can see my performance has been amazing so far. If you allow me to make a few changes, it will be better for the Inn. You''ll also get a chance to recover faster. Not to mention, if you really are bound to me, the stronger I get, the better it is for you. So it''s a win-win, isn''t it?" n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Lex, if everything were under my control, then I would do things a lot differently. But they''re not. Just as there are rules for you, there are rules for me. Everyone has to y their part, don''t they? Tell you what, tell me all the changes you want to implement, and I''ll tell you what I can manage." Lex did not immediately answer. There were many things he''d visualized he''d do if he could control how the system worked. But while there were many things he knew, he was also aware of how ignorant he was about the universe as a whole. He could only n for and anticipate dangers he was aware of, but if he did not even know that certain dangers existed, how could he prepare for them? As far as his personal cultivation went, he could ask Cassandra, or even Pelvailin. But due to the image he had built as the Innkeeper, there was almost no one he could ask for help. Almost, because there was still one person who knew about his identity as the Innkeeper. He turned to look at Mary, who was only silently watching from the side. What was her role in all this? Based on all the information he had, he could venture a guess. "Before we get into those things, what about her? How does she fit into this?" "Oh, that is one of the simpler questions you''ve asked. There''s no punishment for this either. The entity who you have named as Mary is actually a soul remnant is my previous host, before I became the Midnight Inn. The short of it is that she faced an enemy she could not defeat and ended up dying, and I was also destroyed. "But, through means I do not fully understand, she made herself a part of the system, yet has still retained her soul, and somehow survived actual death. The more the system recovers, the more she will also recover. But do not worry, she can no longer be the host, nor does she have any control over the system. In fact, she can''t do anything that breaks the system''s rules at all." "Is there any way I can free her from the system?" "It''spletely impossible. I do not know how she managed to do what she did, and she cannot tell you what she did either because that would entail revealing the inner workings of the system. The rules prevent her from divulging such secrets. So, only if you gain your own understanding of the systems can you even begin to start thinking of a way to separate her." Lex rubbed his chin as he contemted what to do next. He was not too surprised about the revtion about Mary. In fact, he sort of already expected it. Now he just needed to think about how he could use it to his own benefit. Chapter 970 Begin negotiations

Chapter 970 Begin negotiations

Lex observed Mary for a moment as he considered his options. Considering the extremely high level of the Midnight Inn, even in its damaged state, and the fact that Mary was its previous host, he could conclude that she must have been extremely impressive. That was not even mentioning the fact that she had somehow done something to the system that even the system itself could not identify. Thinking back, Mary''s involvement in his growth had been monumental, and extremely limited at the same time. In the first few days of the Inn, Lex recalled that she had been somewhat frustrated at his decisions. But then, almost as if she went through a personality shift, she stopped expressing her own opinions, but only performed the tasks he asked of her, asionally giving some advice now and again. But her advice was alwaysyered, and was presented in a way that allowed Lex to figure things out on his own. For example, the idea to look for loopholes in the system''s rules was something she suggested. Lex imagined her like an adult watching a baby trying to solve a puzzle. The obvious mistakes must have been excruciating to watch. She was also limited in what she could actually tell him due to the many, many restrictions the system put on her. "Is there any way I can talk to her more freely?" Lex asked the system, rather than Mary herself. "Many things she cannot tell me because of the system''s restrictions. But what if I''m only asking for advice?" "Advice is strictly a gray area," the system answered nonchntly. "Hosts are encouraged to make their own decisions, but many systems give varying degrees of hints. It''s up to the system and the host. If you''re asking for ways to reduce the restrictions on her, I cannot give you those. As I have no idea what she''s done, I cannot risk giving her more freedom." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "You can start by helping me get my own body," Mary said, with a tone of exhaustion. "To be clear, a body you help me make, and a body provided by the system for me will be very different in effect. It won''t reduce the number of restrictions on me, but at least it''ll prevent any more from appearing." "Can you give me advice on certain things the way you are? Or can you reveal information about your past to me?" Mary shook her head. "Lex, there are many things I am not restricted from telling you. I can even give you advice, but the reason I stopped was because I thought you should grow on your own. If you be reliant on me, then that will stunt your own progress. If you don''t grow, and end up losing the system, then there''s no guarantee that I''ll survive until the next host is found. As difficult as it is¡­ I am also taking a risk by letting you face danger now, in hopes to help you avoid greater pitfallster. "As for the other questions you have, I''ve told you before as well. You need to at least reach Heavenly immortal realm before you can get those kinds of answers. Even that is only considering that you''ll likely be more powerful than average Heavenly immortals, if you maintain the kind of growth you have right now. "If you want to ask me about the systems, I cannot say much. I can, however, say that I''ve at least never heard of a rogue system that harmed its host. All systems exist to serve their hosts, so you have nothing to lose by fusing with it, or trusting it. But if you want to avoid fusion, then at least stop being so skeptical about it. You might not like hearing this, but if the system harbored any malicious intent towards you, you would have no way to resist. With the scope of power the Midnight Inn system has, it could even erase your skepticism directly from your mind, and brainwash you, and you''d never realize it. But it won''t, and it can''t." This time, it was Lex who let out an exhausted sigh. That was one of his greatest concerns, that the system was so much more powerful than him that he could not resist it at all if it wanted to harm him. A random quest in the early days had threatened him with death. Maybe if that hadn''t happened Lex would not be so distrusting of it, but it had, and there was nothing he could do about it. But he did not have the time to dwell on such things. He could feel that his breakthrough was about to enter its next phase soon, and he''d no longer be able to spare any attention to negotiating with the system, so he had to use his time wisely. Looking back at the glowing golden ball of light, Lex went over his priorities for the development of the Inn. With his thoughts cleared out, he began listing his demands. "I n on using a Lockdown token anyway, but since I don''t know how long that canst we''ll start with that. I want to limit what areas can ess the Inn. It cannot be open to the whole universe anymore. In fact, even within certain realms I want to start limiting it to a few weaks or regions. I have to stop the Inn from getting involved in any more universe level threats. It would be best if I can choose what ces the Inn is open to or not. That way I can continue sending all the Inn''s workers to get trained at the temple. "Speaking of which, how secure is the Midnight Realm? Can it be easily found by others? Because I''ve been hearing a lot about realm wars recently, and I absolutely do not want to get involved in something like that any time soon! "Speaking of security, why are you so adamant on not giving me anything to defend myself with? For all the amazing features you im to give me, hardly any serve to protect me. If it weren''t for the ability to hire security for events, the Inn would have been destroyed multiple times already!" Chapter 971 Can’t promise

Chapter 971 Can''t promise

Lex listed a few of his ideas out to the system to see how it reacted. He had many more items on the list, but he needed to go priority wise. For example, he was also curious as to how exactly the Inn ensured any external worker he hired would stay loyal? Even if he didn''t count the fact that Zagan could wake up at any moment and possibly resume its monster lifestyle, he expected in the future he would get the opportunity to hire many talented workers, not all of whom can be reced by the workers that Lex hires through the system. He still had a bounty on the head of that Kraven who attacked the Midnight tavern, and whoever killed him would on doubt be extremely powerful as well as ambitious. Lex had no problem with his workers being ambitious so long as they didn''t turn it against the Inn. The system did not respond immediately. It glowed and hummed and buzzed, no doubt processing his request and trying to figure out the best possible oue. "Whether through the lockdown, or by any other means, the Inn cannot stop epting new guests for too long. So aplete shutdown is out of the question, though for a certain amount of time it should be fine. "Controlling where the Inn is essible from¡­ that''s a pretty advanced feature that requires a lot of authority. Since you''re not even fusing with me then¡­ the best I can do is offer it as a reward for a quest. But the quest difficulty will be high, and it will require a high rating as well. Even then, it won''t be exactly as you wish. There is no way you can control the cultivation level of the guests you receive, but you can limit ess to the Inn tos that have been linked to the system already, maybe. It depends on your performance. "Moving onto matters of security. I would like to tell you that the Midnight realm ispletely safe and secure, but unfortunately I cannot do that. The previous location of the Inn waspletely hidden because of its small size. The new Midnight Realm will most likely be a massive strain on me. Chances are high that your Innkeeper authority won''t even extend to the entire realm. "There are many operations that I will have to prioritize, and keeping the Inn hidden is one of them. But I cannot promise anything. In fact, you will most likely be getting a number of quests rted to ensuring or contributing to the Inns safety. In summation, the severity of the situation can only be determined once the realm has been fully established, but you should expect to have to put in some work. "As far as the matter of security is concerned, I already gave you the Butter knife. I am an Inn based system, not a weapons manufacturer. Giving you powerful weapons is not a part of my prerogative." "The Butter knife only works on cultivators I can already defeat! Not to mention, do you know how hard it is to upgrade that thing? I literally have ess to a shop that sells almost anything avable on the market, and I still cannot find the items needed to upgrade the Butter knife!" "It''s a weapon that lets you perform one hit kills. How can it be easy to upgrade? There''s no point in arguing with me about this. There''s nothing I can do for you. The only advice I can offer you is to grow your authority quickly to get ess to new features that may help you out." "Alright, well, if you can''t do that, then what about the security room? It''s supposed to be able to detect anyone with any malicious intent towards the Inn, but it hardly works on anyone strong enough to actually cause the Inn harm." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "As far as I can tell, it''s working fine," the system responded, with a hint of exasperation in its voice. "Give me a break, okay. I am literally broken. If you have such a big issue with my performance then maybe you should''ve helped repair me instead of fixing your cultivation technique!" Lex was stunned. The system suddenly went from kindly exining everything to almost sounding offended! If Lex didn''t know better, he would say that he hurt the system''s feelings. So apparently pointing out performance ws is a big no. It was strange to know his system had insecurities. "But that was my quest reward! If you want to fix yourself, why don''t you just summon more Protos energy and use it on yourself? You''re the one who gave it to me to begin with." "That''s not how this works," the system responded sullenly. Lex suddenly felt awkward. The system was clearly in a bad mood, but Lex''s time was limited so he couldn''t stop with his requests. Should he just¡­ just move on. "If it''s any constion, I''ve been doing my best to get you other systems to absorb." "I don''t need your constion," the system responded, though its sunnier voice told a different story. "Move on. What else do you want? If there''s nothing left, I have the development of a realm to oversee." "There are still a couple of things. I want to know how you can ensure that new workers obey the Inn''s rules. Is there some kind of punishment? If not, how can I ensure they won''t turn against me?" There were plenty of ways to make sure workers, such as Zagan, stay loyal. Lex himself preferred to let everyone be afraid of his Dao Lord realm. But fear as a deterrent only worked on those with something to lose, or someone who was sane. He needed some kind of restriction from the system that would help. "When someone joins the Inn, they will feel more amenable to it. But that''s the extent of what I can do. I''ve already given you great leeway with the workers you can hire." Chapter 972 Precautions

Chapter 972 Precautions

"Feel more¡­ amenable?" Lex repeated. That was¡­ disappointing to say the least. But since when have things been easy for Lex? "Instead of such random things, you should focus more on ways to actually run the Inn. Those are the things I can actually help with," the system said. "Also, don''t forget that for every request you make, you ultimately have to pay a price." This gave Lex pause. He had more requests to make, though their priority was down the list. Unfortunately, all the requests that he had that were rted to how the Inn was actually run were much less important than the other requests he had. "Let me ask you a question. Howe you''re responding to me right now, and have never done so before? Does this mean you will respond to me in the future as well? If the situation about this new realm is uncertain, I might want to make some changes ordingly." "I can''t. This is a unique situation because of all the potent energy inside the realm that I can use. Even then, the only reason I am able to do so is because I want to burn off as much of the energy in this realm as possible to prevent it from bing too big! Under normal circumstances, if you want to talk to me, then you need to bring my functionality back to at least 50%." Lex paused. Did he have to think of precautionary measures beforehand? He nced at Mary for a moment. "Will there be any dangers for me and the Inn in the new realm? I''ve heard that when a new realm is made, some very powerful beings are born." "I cannot say for certain how things will develop. All relevant information will be given to you in the form of notifications in case there are anytent dangers. I will do my best to ensure all new lifeforms born in the realm are automatically realm workers. But you have to realize that my functionality is broken, and the new realm is likely going to be veryrge, and it will only continue to grow." Between the unknown dangers he would have to anticipate, and the ones he already knew of, Lex decided to focus on the ones he already knew of for the moment. "Some time ago, I ran into a group that was hunting system users. They could somehow detect other systems, but I got the sense that they couldn''t detect the Midnight Inn as a system. Against other system users, and those from such groups, how safe are you? Can someone tell easily that you are a system?" This was one of his concerns. Although he understood that there was some entity capable of erasing the memories of others if they found out about systems, what if he encountered an Immortal who had a system? Would he be in danger? n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Systems are, inherently, weak against other systems. There''s nothing that can be done about that. But even so, there is a hierarchy among systems as well. The Midnight Inn is a very high level system, so it is not easy for it to be detected by others. It would require at least an A rank system, or maybe even S rank system, to detect the Midnight Inn. But due to my broken state, I cannot confirm what exactly that level is." "What if it''s not a system, but a Host. For example, I frequently go to a ce called the Infinity Emporium. Based on the way it works, I am almost certain that it is also a system, and a high level one at that. In the same way, if the Host for the Emporium, or some other systemes to the Inn, can''t they tell whether the Inn is a system?" The system did not immediately respond. It only hummed for a moment, as if considering its answer. But, eventually, it said, "I will let Mary provide an answer for that." Surprised, Lex looked at Mary. "At lower levels, you may think that everything mystical or magicales from systems. But at higher levels you will realize that¡­ the systems are not all powerful, otherwise the universe itself would have long been ruled by system users. You may suspect that the Emporium is a system, but that is because you are yourself quite weak. When you see something that is beyond the scope of your understanding, you automatically attribute it to a system. But when you touch uponws, you will realize that some beings are much more powerful than you realize. Cornelius, the King of the Hum empire in the Crystal realm, is a good example of that?" "Cornelius? But isn''t he just in the Earth Immortal realm?" Lex was genuinely surprised that, of everyone he''d met, Mary listed him as an example. After all, Cassandra and Jotun were Celestial immortals, and much more powerful than Cornelius. "Yes, he is just an Earth Immortal, in the way that you are justin the Golden core realm. The point is, the Midnight Inn is well hidden from other system users and weaker systems. Based on the power scale that the Innkeeper has shown himself to be a part of, even if someone suspects that the Inn is a part of a system, they will have to be much more powerful to test you out. In that case, if you really end up facing someone with a system of strength that high, you won''t be able to protect yourself anyway. So you need not worry." That was reassuring, somewhat. So either Lex would not have any issues, or face an issue so massive that he could not avoid it. It would be best if he could¡­ Wait, that was so obvious! He should have asked for that first! "Can I get another one of those full strength Butter Knife tokens?" Lex asked. If he could get his hands on those, then a lot of his troubles would automatically go away¡­ Chapter 973 Finally Chapter 973 Finally ??The system glowed, but not in the previous ways, where it seemed to be thinking. The glow was a lot more intense, yet short. "If you think I have all quest rewards lying around somewhere, that''s not how it works! If you want something like that, you have to get them through quests. Quest rewards that focus on unlocking features of the Inn, I can influence. But if the quest reward has to do with other, external items, then I have no control over that. You should just do more quests. As I recall, you still have five active quests!" The system sounded embarrassed and angry. Lex had once again, unwittingly, stepped on its toes, as it were. As for his active quests, they were beyond his current means. His oldest quest, to establish a permanent resident district, could not be done even if he wanted to because its most basic of three requirements was to raise the Inn to 3 stars, and it was still 2.5 stars. Perhaps the new realm might affect that, but that would still leave him without a Winding Road Vine and a Karmic Lily, both incredibly rare treasures. Even the Infinity Emporium did not have them. Then there was a quest to connect to Dunya, a 5 star world! With all the trouble he was getting into with lower star worlds, he still did not dare to connect to it. He had no interest in having a Henali assembly at the Inn anytime soon, he had no control over when a Deity woulde to the Inn as a guest, and he was already doing his best to speed up the recovery of the system. That left him with a bunch of quests he could notplete, at least for now. Lex sighed, and said, "can you at least make the soul hearth a permanent part of the Inn? I also need a dungeon where I can keep prisoners and prevent them from escaping. Both of these are important." Since he could not directly fight off against enemies, he would have to lean into the deterrent factor. Although he could fill the heart and keep it running with MP, it was too expensive to keep it going long term. "I''ll give you a few quests with rted rewards," the system said sinctly. Lex struggled at this point. Should he ask for more features? He had plenty of ideas that would help, but was it worth the potential cost? He had no idea how much just these few additions, which he would have to work for as is, would cost him. "In case the Inn cannot go without epting new guests, I have an idea that might resolve the situation. It involves the tavern¡­" Lex exined his idea. Although he was not sure why just epting new guests at the tavern as it was not eptable for the system, he would make do with what he had. As of right now, the tavern had been shut down since the attack on it. He had brought all his workers and their families to the Inn, and never brought them back. Even if the tavern stayed shut perpetually, it made no difference to him personally. But if he could use it as a loophole to the system''s rules, then he certainly would. Once he was done exining, the system did not immediately harp about how it was impossible, which was a good sign. Probably. Eventually, all the system said was, "I''ll try to make it work. We''ll see how things turn out. Anything else?" "Yes, I have many requests, but I''m afraid I might not be able to afford them, so I''ll have to stop here." "Suit yourself. If possible, try to speed up my recovery as much as possible. The more I recover my functionality, the safer you''ll be. It''s not just absorbing other systems that will help me heal. Certain rare items, if absorbed, can also help me grow. A few such items might be born in the new realm. I''ll give you a notification if youe into contact with such an item, but I can''t specifically point them out to you, so stay vignt."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "I''ll keep an eye out," said Lex. Their conversation seemed to end, but the orb did not return to its original spot. Lex waited. After all, even if they had an agreement, he would not totally drop his guard. It wasn''t as if he could stop the system if it really wished to fuse with him during the breakthrough. Rather, it was more of a psychological thing. The system continued to hum and vibrate for a whole minute, its glow rising and dropping as if it was breathing. Ultimately, the glow stabilized, and the system started to speak once more. "Before I leave, you should know that the system bias is not for no reason. Beings lower on the Cosmic Spectrum usually perform worse off. Your performance has been an outlier, not a norm. So continue to do a good job, and continue to raise your level. I look forward to working with you." Like a shy kid, running off stage after giving a speech, the system returned to its old ce within Lex''s soul, and settled down as it turned its attention away. Outside, the realm continued to change, and the system had to maintain control of it. After all, it was keeping all the guests, workers, and Inn property in a separate realm outside the new Midnight realm so that they would not be affected by the timeline of the new realm. It was not easy, and required a lot of control. Lex turned to look at Mary once more. She looked relieved, somehow. "Did you think that was going to go worse than it did?" Lex asked. "I did not know how the system would react to your demands, and how you would react to the information it provided. The potential for a catastrophe was high. But, ultimately, I think the system was impressed by your performance so far. After all, it is not so easy to get such a high rating on quests, regardless of one''s cultivation level." "There''s still a lot left unsaid," Lex repeated, as if rifying that he was not perfectly satisfied with the result. "But this is eptable, for now. I will stop treating the system with such suspicion, unless it does something else that makes me wary." "Good luck," Mary said, before disappearing. Lex closed his eyes. It was time to continue his breakthrough. Finally, he was entering the Nascent realm. Chapter 974 Straight out of legends Chapter 974 Straight out of legends ??Under Lex''s current circumstances, time was difficult to measure. He personally felt like only seconds were passing, but on the ground below him thousands of years were going by. The great expanse that Lex had seen as one singlendform eventually broke into three. Between the threendforms was a sea, but the liquid that filled the sea was not water. The unknown liquid changed colors ording to its movement, from silver when it was calm to dark blue when it rose into waves. In between, those two states a myriad of other colors filled it, always moving and changing like a perpetually evolving canvas. If Lex would have observed the sea, he would have been amazed at how the changing colors seemed to replicate pictures of gxies he had seen back on Earth. The movement of the water, the change in the colors, all seemed to coincide with the movement of multiple gxies as they moved through space. Countless years passed and the realms began to slowly stabilize, and the perpetual changes seemed to be reducing as well. The threend masses also stopped moving apart from one another, as if they had reached some kind of equilibrium. Trillions of tiny inds formed around the threendmasses, but never too far from the safety of its shores as the cosmic waters were too perilous, with storms and currents too strong, to allow small inds to exist on their own. Cassandra, who too was forced to enter a meditative state due to the purity of the energy she absorbed, sensed something. She could not help but open her eyes, and when she looked down at the threend masses her body trembled. "The three realms! The Heaven, Nether and Mortal realms!" Suddenly she closed her eyes, not daring to look further. She sensed that she had seen something she absolutely should not have. Perhaps that was why the Innkeeper allowed her to ess some of the realm energy. It was a subtle way to inform her she needed to stop observing. She could only hope she was not punished for prying. But the noble and esteemed ''Innkeeper'' was right beside her, and had no idea at all what was happening. As the seasons changed, years passed, and the realm took shape, he was busy cultivating. After, quite possibly, millions of years had passed underneath him, Lex''s entire body had finally been nourished by energy, initiating the change. Initiating the change was the fast part. Now, for his entire being to evolve, it would take a long time. Even if the flow of time were not absolutely absurd, during this breakthrough, Lex would have had his first experience in the long durations of closed door cultivation that higher ranked cultivators experience. To Lex, nothing else happened. The Nascent soul realm was the realm that prepared the soul of the cultivator to get in touch withws at higher realms. Although Lex technically skipped that step, strengthening his soul was a very important step. That is exactly why this realm involved nothing else other than strengthening the soul. Any time Lex would absorb cultivation energy in the future, it would be aimed at strengthening his soul, not his body. After all, his Golden core, which was his energy reserve, had already reached a sufficiently high enough level. But having a stronger soul had immense benefits, which is why Nascent soul cultivators were so much stronger than the Golden core cultivators, despite theoretically having simr levels of spiritual energy in their bodies. After a long time, another change finally happened. Cassandra hesitantly opened her eyes, and saw that the threend masses had evolved further. Each of them had a slight hue in their aura, despite the fact that the developments of thends seemed more or less the same. Thergestnd mass, or continent, had a gray colored aura, the middle one had a colorless one and the smallest was golden.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om But those colors had no other effect on the development of the continents, at least for now. The first signs of life were beginning to be actually visible. Each of the continents was growing some kind of nt life. Some of it looked the same on all continents, while some was more distinct. But that could be attributed to the unique geography of each continent, as well as their climates. Massivekes ofva covered one area of one continent, while massive ciers that rose into the sky could cover the other side. Mountains of pure spirit crystals rose into the skies, and vitality rich elixirs rained from clouds filled with a tinum glow. Yet somehow, in this chaos, life was finding a way to survive, but only in the form of extremely resilient nts, for now. More time passed, and eventually there came a time when Cassandra noticed something. The rate of time flow in the continents below them had, for the very first time, slowed down just a bit. If previously a second was one thousand years, then now it was nine hundred and ny nine years. The istion barrier around everyone thinned once more, and another stream of energy came flooding in. This time, Cassandra did not dare to peek. As it happened, the moment she closed her eyes, for the first time. A snake was born on the middle continent, its massive size dwarfing the crystal mountains. As if testing itself, the snake slithered the continent for a time, its body sprawling across the entire continent itself, before finding a spot to settle down, and enter hibernation. Its body formed artificial features across the continent, influencing the climate and altering the development of content itself. Eventually, its body was covered in dust and dirt and earth, forming a series of hills that traveled the entire continent in a meandering path. Momentster, on the smallest continent, a tree was born. This was the first actual tree in the entire realm, and as the days went by it grew and grew without pause, as if it did not know when to stop. Eventually, its canopy covered nearly half the continent, giving it perpetual shade, and forming a mini-climate underneath it, separated from that of the rest of the continent. Then, on the third andrgest continent, an eight legged horse opened its eyes. Chapter 975 Final change

Chapter 975 Final change

Lex, of course, knew none of this. He hadpletely lost himself in his cultivation. There came a point in which he was undergoing the change where his mind became numb and he lost all awareness. His sense of time, of self, of anything and everything was lost. This was the most dangerous part of his cultivation, and was the reason why cultivatorspletely iste themselves before they undergo any cultivation or breakthroughs, major or minor. Right now, he waspletely vulnerable, with no possible way to protect himself at all. The extreme danger of this state was one of the primary reasons why humans on Earth were not able to break through to this realm despite having thousands of Golden core cultivators. Only very extreme or unique circumstances would create the situation that allowed this to happen. But ironically, despite being surrounded by countless people and hanging over a changingndscape, Lex was much safer right now than if he took any precautions of his own. The istion barrier could protect him, even from the dangers of a newborn realm, let alone anything else. An enemy would have to be incredibly strong to even harm him in this state. Eventually, as a result of Lex''s hard work and preparation, he passed this period without any issue. When his sense of self returned, reality felt different. It took him some time to adjust. It was like before this he was looking at a video in 240 pixel resolution, with the sound incredibly muffled, and every other sense of his being suppressed. But now, he was looking at reality with¡­ the rity was beyond anyparison Lex could make. Let alone 4K or 8K screens, even 100K would not be enough to describe what he was seeing. Even though he was surrounded by silence, due to the istion barrier, even that sounded amazing. The feeling?of just the air touching his skin was so incredibly smooth, so the texture of his clothes was in another realm entirely. Lex suddenly had a deeper appreciation for why the Inn had a tailor. Higher-level cultivators would feel a thousand times worse than a normal person if their clothes were coarse, or made from ufortable fabrics. All his senses were so powerful that, despite Lex''s once again increased mental capacity, he was overwhelmed by the initial exposure. It took him a few seconds to get over the sheer amount of detail that was being flooded into his mind, and make sense of them. It wasn''t because his brain was not equipped to handle such a vast amount of information - it was just that he wasn''t used to it. It was like a strong man picking up a weapon or tool they weren''t used to. Although physically they could handle it, that did not mean that they could effortlessly start deploying it. Then Lex looked beyond himself and discovered that he was still floating up in the air. But the situation around him was drastically different. Thend mass beneath him had split into three, but despite his increased senses, Lex could not view them due to the dense tinum clouds that covered the skies. He still could only see the smallest continent, which had the massive tree in the center. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om But despite not being able to see most of the new realm with his own eyes, he could feel?that it had stopped growing. In fact, the borders of the realm were subtly decreasing as its core became more and more stable and formed a cohesive environment. The flow of time below him had reduced drastically, but it was still incredibly fast. Or perhaps it just felt incredibly fast because now there were finally countless living beings trailing the continent. The sight was phenomenal, because at this distance he could not see individual animals or beasts, or whatever they were. Instead, he only saw the major changes they were making to their environments. He saw settlements being made along rivers andkes, and then vanishing in a matter of seconds - seconds for him at least. He saw sudden, massive changes to the topography in certain areas, which he could only assume was the result of battles between high-level creatures. He saw monuments being erected, and then monuments falling. One time, a particr statue of a strange race that looked like birds was carved into a mountain. But over time, the climate changed, and the mountain was covered in snow, hiding what had once been carved. It was both intriguing and concerning. Intriguing because he could see civilisations evolving right before his very eyes, and concerning because he did not know how he was supposed to manage all of them when the Inn came into ce. A few hourster, the very thing he was fearing came to be. Empires started to form, and then they went to war. From up above, he could not tell if the conflicts were between different races or the same ones. But the evidence of conflicts was quite clear. Lex looked around and discovered that, surprisingly, a few others were also awake and observing the chances. He already expected it from Cassandra. After all, observing this was the very reason she came here. The Sovereign turtle, which had also previously entered a meditative state, had also woken up. Again, not a surprise. But the fact that Z was awake, and seemingly from even before Lex, was very surprising. Only two other humans were awake, one of whom was Marlo, and the other Lex did not know. It was quite surprising that Marlo had stayed in the Inn for so long, considering he still considered himself a King even after evacuating earth and probably had many people to lead. But Lex had not caught up with him recently, so he did not know the details. A few devils were awake as well. But it was the beasts who were awake in thergest numbers. Lex recognized many of them as guests from Nibiru, but once again, he had not personally interacted with them long enough to know their details. Lex turned his attention back to the ground. His breakthrough wasplete, and he would look into all his changes at ater time. For now, he had to focus entirely on the realm, because depending on how the situation developed, he would need to face a possibly hostile environment from the get go. If there was one plus point, it was that new realms usually did not have a tolerance for very high cultivation levels. So, most likely, he would just have to deal with Mythical beings and descendants of Mythical beings who were constrained to whatever the realm limit of this new realm was. He was not concerned about his guests not being able to survive, because he knew that the system would find a way for guests to exist without issue, much in the way it previously protected all other guests from the passive aura of high-level cultivators. As the hours rolled by, Lex could tell that time was slowing down considerably now. The expansion and copse of empires had also stopped, as a bnce was eventually formed. How delicate that bnce was, he would have to find out for himselfter on. But the strongest entities lived closest to the massive tree, at least that much was clear. Lex wondered howrge the tree actually was. If this were ced on Earth, it would easily exit the atmosphere, and that was not even considering if the Earth wasrge enough to hold the tree. For now, Lex still could not urately scale howrge or small the continent and everything that inhabited it was. The istion barrier around them suddenly thinned once again, allowing a stream of energy to reach them. Coincidentally, or perhaps not, a massive storm covered the entire realm at the same time. The clouds, which had turned ck, covered everything so that the continent was not visible at all from their angle. Everyone, Lex included, entered another round of cultivation. But there was a sense of anticipation in the air. Lex could feel it, and so could everyone else. The realm was undergoing another change, and he had a strong feeling that this would be thest change before they finally descended. Anticipation gripped Lex, before he was suddenly andpletely taken aback by what was happening to him. His attention waspletely focused solely on himself for a brief moment. His cultivation was rising rapidly! In fact, this growth was the fastest he ever experienced, drawing even the time in the Crystal realm where he ate the Blue Crystal Essence and reached the peak of the Foundation realm! He could feel his soul bing more¡­ more solid, before he felt a small crack in his body. He just entered the middle of the Nascent realm! The energy he absorbed from the realm was pure, but it wasn''t as if Lex hadn''t had pure energy before. No, the main difference was that it contained a tremendous amount of vitality that was boosting his cultivation forcefully! Lex immediately took control of the energy pushing his cultivation and began using his cultivation technique. Such a quick advancement was not necessarily for the best. He had to make sure he was on the path of stable growth. Finally, after a few seconds, his growth stopped right before he reached thete stage of the Nascent realm, and the energy began nourishing him in other ways under the influence of his technique. Information flooded his mind of the abilities he had gained. Chapter 976 Emergency quest

Chapter 976 Emergency quest

Originally Lex wanted to ignore delving into his new abilities since he wanted to focus on the realm instead. But the unexpected rise in his cultivation realm forced him to pay attention to the changes. The first and most basic change was that with his increased soul strength, the amount of strength he could disy while using the same amount of spiritual energy increased exponentially. This was a straightforward increase with no hiddenplexities. But, as a result of this increase, Lex could finally do something pretty cool. He had not felt theck of this particr ability just because of how he was nearly omnipotent within the Inn, and had other means outside of it such as teleportation. Regardless, now he could use his spirit sense to fly! There were a couple of ways of going about it, which he would have to experiment with to see which yielded better results. Not to mention, he had already prepared a whole host of manuals and techniques for himself for the Nascent realm from the emporium. He could also consult them for advice. Basically, the two ways of flying he could think of right now either depended on ambient spirit energy or the ground. He could use his spirit sense to push himself off the ground, and fly around. As long as his spirit sense was touching the ground, he could control himself rtive to it. The second way was to use spiritual energy and sort oftch on?to the spirit energy in the air around him, and use that to fly. This was cool, and Lex would definitely recreate any number of superhero poses with itter in his free time. But for now, he could not dwell on it as more information entered his mind. The spirit energy Lex absorbed from the air would undergo a change and would develop ording to Lex''s own unique mix of affinities, making his energy distinctive. Once it could have been called Regal affinity, but as of right now, it had no name as Lex had to name it himself. The important part of that was that previously, through the use of Impervious Hands, Lex could touch?any number of intangible things. While he still would have to rely on the technique for other things, Lex had gained the ability to interact withws on his own. That interaction could be through spiritual maniption or through physical touch. Technically speaking, his influence overws was still premature, since that was something would gain proper mastery over when he became an Immortal. But for now, he could at least interact with it. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The next ability he gained was to enter into a soul state. This was pretty much expected, but what he did not expect was to gain the ability to enter the soul ne directly in his soul state! In hindsight, it should have been obvious, but he had not considered it. This presented numerous opportunities for Lex. After all, back when he was traveling to save the battalion, due to unstable space he had not been able to teleport over directly. Instead, he traveled through the soul ne using a treasure he got from the emporium. Now, that was something he would be able to do on his own without the need for external aid. Another quite predictable ability he gained was to directly influence the souls of other beings. Whether it was through his attacks, physical touch or even his aura, he could not use any and all of them to directly influence the souls of any living thing. At the same time he could do the reverse with soul based techniques, such as Evisceration. Instead of harming his target''s soul, it could now directly harm their physique. This was not something all Nascent soul cultivators got, but was specific to him due to soul state ability. He was, at the same time, much more sensitive to items within his soul. For example, he could feel the presence of the system, as well as the sword projection in his soul at all times. He could also feel how unstable the sword projection really was. This was atent danger he needed to address quickly before something went wrong. Finally, onest ability Lex gained, that he strongly suspected had a lot to do with thetest influx of spiritual energy from the new realm, was having his blood turn into some kind of elixir. It contained boundless vitality, so much so that it increased his healing many fold. But, even beyond that, his blood could heal others as well! Even more bizarre was how his blood could be subject to his soulstate as well. Basically, if used in its normal form Lex could use his own blood to heal others physical injuries. But if he took out his blood and then applied soulstate to it before giving it to someone, it could heal their souls! Theoretically, this was a very useful ability to have. He could heal his allies, and even heal the infamously difficult soul injuries. But giving out his own blood¡­ felt strange. It would have been a lot easier if his spiritual energy gained a healing trait or something along those lines. These were the main new abilities he got, alongside the usual ones such as being faster, stronger, with a quicker mind and an increased capacity forprehending the abstract. He always found it interesting that raising cultivation levels increased his mental capabilities without ever making him smarter directly. Perhaps increasing one''s intellect was even more difficult than cultivating. Once the influx of information finally ended, Lex could finally just focus on absorbing the energy as much as possible so that he could return his attention back to the realm. His connection to the system was once again strengthening, which meant that soon he would regain control of the system and its features. One thing that disappointed Lex about his breakthrough was the fact that his body remained that of a babies. He was hoping that the sudden increase in cultivation realm would somehow return him to how he was, but no such thing happened. In fact, he could feel that due to the immense vitality coursing through his body, his aging had been slowed down considerably. At any other time he might have enjoyed this, but he did not want to spend the next decade stuck as a baby. But, at least for now, there was not much he could do. Eventually, he managed to absorb all the energy without further raising his cultivation level. With great anticipation, he opened his eyes and once again looked at the realm below him. By now, the flow of time had reduced considerably, and only passed at about a hundred years per second. The continent had undergone massive changes, and it seemed like signs of previous civilizations were once again removed. Instead, nature had reimed the continent, and the few living races were once again brought to basic settlements without signs of progress. Even the massive tree seemed to have suffered under thetest storm, with its aura greatly withdrawn, though its body remained unharmed. But such a state did notst long. After destruction came rebirth, and new powers once again started to rise. Lex, for the first time, saw signs of humanoid races, though he could not say for certain that they were human. They repeated a simr cycle, of expanding outwards before developing inwards. Monuments began to rise, pyramids were built, the power of nature was harnessed, and finally, when two growing empires met, borders were drawn. But before Lex could witness yet another war between major powers, the flow of time started to slow down rapidly. Lex''s connection to the system also strengthened rapidly until, finally, he heard a sound all too familiar. New Notification: Midnight Realm has stabilized. The Midnight Inn is ready to once again be operational. New Notification: ErRoR! Erro..&92** New Notification: Emergency protocols initiating! Issuing emergency quest! Emergency Quest: System failure detected! Immediately restore the system to minimum 35% functionality before permanent system shutdown! Quest time limit: 399 days! Quest reward: Return of normal system functionality! Quest failure: Permanent system failure! Permanent Loss of all Midnight Inn services and features! Remarks: Due to massive operational load, the system cannot function. Many integral system features are inoperational. New Notification: Due to severe overload, teleportation functions are inoperable. New Notification: Due to severe overload, Chamber of Secrets, Fire tempering room, Fishing well, Greenhouse, Guild room, Hot tub room, Inheritance lounge, Lightning tempering room, Meditation room, Mystery trial, Recovery rooms(including pods and organic reconstruction rooms), Security room, Training room and other Inn services are inoperable. New Notification: Due to severe overload, Host Attire will stop working in 10 days. New Notification: Energy reserve for basic functioning of system services has been allocated. The operational size of the Midnight Inn will be 1 million acres! Please select the location for the deployment of the Midnight Inn. Chapter 977 Big

Chapter 977 Big

Lex carefully read through the notifications. He remainedposed throughout for he was already mentally prepared to face some issues with this relocation. The shutdown of the teleportation feature would be, by far, the most problematic since it would prevent any of the guests who wanted to leave from departing. Forcing them to stay here for hundreds of days was not good for the Inn''s image. But that was the least of his concerns at the moment. In front of him, a panel appeared with a map of the entire realm. The discovery of the fact that there were continents like the one below him, with the other two being evenrger, left him both amazed and concerned. On the map, the size of the entire realm was detonated as 0.25 lightyears. That included the cosmic sea that surrounded the continents as well, but still that was massive. He did not think about that for now. Although there were two other continents, Lex did not know what the situation on them was. At least he had seen the progress for the one below him with his own eyes and had an overall understanding of its development and history, as well as its climate and topography. He dismissed the other two continents and focused on the one below him. If, perhaps, he was not on such a tight deadline, he may have thoroughly explored his options, and even considered the other two. This was because the map was extremely detailed and could provide any kind of information Lex needed. But as it was, just searching through this continent was going to be a hassle. This was because, ording to the map, the size of this continent was eight one quadrillion acres. That was 81,000,000,000,000,000 acres. For all intents and purposes, Lex did not even try to visualize how massive that was as he simplybeled it as ''big''. That was enough. It was so monstrously massive that he probably would not even be able to explore it in a million years if he had to as he was right now. There was no point in calcting how many football stadiums or washing machines that was equivalent to. It was simply big. On the map, he highlighted areas where there was any kind of county, kingdom, empire, or basically any kind of civilization. Countless dots appeared, butpared to the size of the continent, they were miniscule. He would avoid all such areas for the development of the Inn. Then he chose to highlight areas rich in resources, with plenty ofnd, water and open terrain. He also chose to ignore any area close to the tree. Although the tree was no doubt a massive attraction, and could probably offer countless benefits, it harbored too many races nearby, who were very protective of it. Since he had no idea how the inhabitants of thend would react to the Inn, he had to avoid them for now even if it meant forsaking an excellent spot for the Inn. While he was looking, it suddenly urred to him to check what the air in this realm consisted of, and what the gravity here was. But the moment he thought of it, the answer arrived. The air, in general, could sustain ordinary humans although the oxygen concentration was much higher, probably due to the massive tree. The gravity was approximately 3 times that of earth. This would be a problem for his mortal guests, though he had none of those at the moment so it was a problem forter. Considering the exposure to the rich energy of this realm they''d already had, he expected nearly every single one of his guests to experience some kind of elevation in their realms. Time did not stop while he explored the map, and the changes urring down below all reflected on the map as well. It was interesting to see, but he did not have time to study geographic changes and the sprouting of civilization. After adding countless more parameters to the map, and spending nearly four hours thoroughly scouring every corner of the ''big'' continent, he finally found a spot that he liked. The area he nned to epass in the Inn''s 1 million acres covered a part of a massiveke, which might as well be an ocean due to its size, which formed countless bays and coves, as well as a few inds in thatke, some tnd, a few mountains made of spirit crystal, a few forests and even touched on the actual coast of the continent, which led to the cosmic sea. He got ess to a number of extremely resource rich and fertilends, though the climate seemed to be on the cold side somewhat. He would need to artificially add areas that favored heat if any of his guests had such needs in the future. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om There were no settlements nearby, although the area was rich in wildlife. That was something he could not escape anywhere, besides the cosmic sea which had very few living organisms. Lex suspected that the cosmic was very dangerous due to how scarcely it was poptedpared to the continents. Then again, he wasn''t even sure what this liquid was to begin with. With his decision made, he designated the area and confirmed it. He expected to be teleported to the region directly, but that''s not what happened. Lex and the rest, who seemed to be seated on an invisible tform, began to move. Or rather, the tform they were on seemed to begin moving. They were going neither slow nor fast, which gave the few who were awake an opportunity to take in the views of the continent below them from new angles. Lex, who was expecting more notifications or prompts, was left hanging with nothing to do, so he turned his attention to the scenery as well. The realm was picturesque, with bright and vibrant colors painting the ground, while the skies were filled with hues to pink and purple. From a distance, it all looked so peaceful, but the reality of the situation was quite different. They passed over a massive battle that passed in the blink of an eye, leaving behind scorched earth and torn trees. But even the devastation onlysted a few seconds, as new life began to grow there. "How weing," Lex could not help but murmur. Eventually, they found themselves over the designated spot for the Inn, and Lex realized why there had been no immediate notification. A massive, transparent barrier was being erected, covering the entire region. Although there were no physical changes being made, Lex could tell that the ce was somehow being prepared for their arrival. Cassandra could see even more, as she realized that thews within that specific region were being treated to allow her and other more powerful guests to exist without issue. After all, there were a number of immortals among the guests, and the fragile environment of the new realm could not support their existence. The process was not quick, and took a long time. But as progress on the barrier increased, the flow of time began to noticeably decrease. No longer were the seasons passing by indistinguishably. The brief moments of an extremely colorful spring, the vibrance of summer, the mncholy of autumn and the coziness of winter all became easily distinguishable. Those who were awake saw countless such cycles pass by over the region which would now be the Midnight Inn. As time slowed down further, Lex could finally make out the wildlife. They were still moving too fast to get a clear view of for now, but they all seemed to share amon trait. They were all massive! A full grown elephant or a whale from earth would look like a newborn cup when faced with these creatures. It was then that Lex began to notice, perhaps because the tform was subtly descending, that everything in this continent was much bigger than he was used to. Each and every tree rose hundreds of feet. The mountains dwarfed the Mountain-man as if he were nothing. Just the grass itself was dozens of feet tall. Lex could not help but sigh. He was already tiny, and now he was transported to a world of giants. He felt like he was in Gulliver''s travels, but in reverse. When the flow of time slowed down till it was almost normal, Lex finally got the notification he was waiting for. New Notification: The Midnight Inn''s territory has been clearly marked and prepared for habitation. ce down all of the Inn''s property and establish a thriving environment for the guests. New Notification: Time flow for the Midnight realm has stabilized at x3 of the previous territory. New room charge procedures will need to be dictated ording to the flow of time depending on the guests point of origin. New Notification: The Midnight tavern has been temporarily shut down and removed. Chapter 978 New layout I

Chapter 978 Newyout I

Lex was reminded of his very first day at the Inn, when he created the Midnight manor and created a small road and in garden. It was so simple, andparatively empty back then. To be fair, he was also limited by the amount of MP he had back then. Now, although he had a lot more MP, it would not be nearly enough if he had to design the entire new territory of the Inn on his own. Fortunately, that was not a concern as it already contained aplicated terrain, formed naturally over the course of a few million years. He looked at his territory and very seriously contemted how he wanted to arrange the new setup. He still had all the buildings, items and even the trees and grass from the previous Inn, not to mention the countless worms, insects and animals. He first had to choose where the main hub of his Inn would be, as he would start out by cing all the items he already had nearby. Since he had only 10 days with the Host Attire, he nned on developing the entire territory, to some extent, but for now he would keep everything close together. He had not forgotten that there were countless wild beasts inhabiting his territory and he still did not know how they would react. Ordinarily, if the system were functioning normally, he would assume that they were also a part of the Inn and so would obey his orders. But he had not felt a connection develop with them yet. On the bright side, once he managed to get the situation under control, his long standing problem of having no meat source for the Inn would finally be resolved. After some consideration, Lex decided to ce all the Inn buildings close to thergestke in his territory. The bay it formed was visually pleasing, and it would serve as a source of water, not that he needed to source his water from thend. But, it would be a convenience for his aquatic and semi-aquatic guests, of which he had quite a few. He also imagined that Little Blue would like to finally have a body of waterrge enough for it to explore properly, though considering that it was sprouting wings, it might not have such a fondness for the water in the future. With a hint of nostalgia filling him, Lex ced the Midnight manor as the first building in his new realm. It was now a beachfront property! It''s face was away from the water, but its back, which previously hosted a vast garden filled with flowers and trees, as well as countlesswn chairs and small pic corners, now had beach chairs,rge umbres and a few dozen bars and huts. Lex had to hold himself back from getting lost in the small details and his sudden urge to create a beach resort. With the Midnight manor as the starting point, he began to ce the rest of the Inn''s buildings, sticking to the sameyout as the previous one, for now. From the manor came Main street and its many apanying branches, as well as the more prominent buildings such as the Barbershop, Gamers den, Avallon and so on. Everything did not immediately snap into ce once he designated their spots, but slowly faded into existence, as if they were buildings in a game being rendered slowly. It looked kind of nice, actually. Next, he ced the Immortal Bastion, which was to the east of the manor. This was once the ce where all the entrances to the Minor realms inside the Inn were located. Lex wondered if they had been lost, for at least right now, he could not sense them. But even so, he had to ce it as the Bastion had be somewhat of a proper city, as it was the most well nned and organized of his creations - especially whenpared to how haphazard he had originally designed the Party Vige. But, because of the increased size of his territory, Lex ced the Bastion farther away from Main street. There would be a number of public transport methods avable, such as golf carts, trains, thezy river as well as a rather fast flowing river. He added some roads now as well, giving his guests the opportunity to drive themselves if they wished. He would need to update his catalog of vehicles to include more than just golf carts, but that was not a primary concern. The Midnight mountain, which now looked more like an aspiring hillpared to the mountains in this realm, Lex ced far in the south - much farther than the distance between Main street and the Bastion. This had been a signature part of the Inn'' skyline previously, but now he suspected that it would lose much of its grandeur. As such, he wanted the mountain to be a ce for a nature retreat. Besides Meditation rooms and some cabins, there would be no other service provided here. There wouldn''t even be any public transport or roads. If anyone wanted toe, they would have to trek themselves - not that it was much of an issue for cultivators. The Party Vige, which really needed a new name, came to the manors west, and was rtively closer. He took this opportunity to rearrange it somewhat, as a nce was more than enough for his newly enhanced mental capabilities to design a betteryout. He also had the space to have it spread out quite a bit. He ced the path for the orient between Main street, the Vige and the Bastian. However, he did ce a number of unconnected tracks through the surrounding wilderness in case he wanted to expand the route in the future. The small, flying ss city Lex ced over the actualke itself, and designed a set route for it to roam. Thending tform he ced south-east of the manor, so that arriving guests could choose between the Bastion and Main street, though that would not be a concern for a while. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om These were the main settlements, but over the course of time, Lex had ced countless unnamed small viges throughout the Inn, which had been booked for years in advance by numerous organizations which wanted to use the Inn as a kind of base of operations. Chapter 979 New layout II Chapter 979 Newyout II ??Lex dotted these in the vast open areas around his three main settlements, allowing them to have privacy, but at the same time not be too far away from any main part of the Inn. The Fire temple, he ced further east of the Bastion. It had never received a guest so far, and he was not expecting to find one any time soon. There were a number of underwater settlements he ced in theke as well, which was surprisingly fresh water despite its massive size. Lex found it hard to believe that such arge body of water somehow remained fresh without any external factors. Perhaps there were some kind of aquatic nts or animals which filtered out all the salts and heavy metals from the water. But if such things existed, they at least weren''t within the Inns boundary as far as he could tell. Speaking of the boundary, Lex spent 13 billion MP and created a massive boundary wall all along the edge of the 1 million acres of the Inns territory. He had made sure that the wall was made from extremely sturdy material, and rose 300 feet (90 meters) in the air. Although he did not expect to actually keep any formidable enemies out using the wall alone, should they ever arrive, it at least served as a clear division between what was a part of the Inn and what wasn''t.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om He would have liked to ce several formations along the wall as well, but the system was not currently providing him with any. Something noteworthy was that the wall dipped into the cosmic sea to enclose the small area that was within the Inns territory did notst long. Lex was unsure if it corroded, or withered away or was just disintegrated directly, but it vanishedpletely, leaving no traces. So that, at least, answered his question about the dangers of the cosmic sea. Next, he had to ce the Greenhouse. This was an issue, for he wanted to expand it greatly, and wanted it to be away from the main settlements. But at the same time, he couldn''t be too far. After some consideration, he ced the Greenhouse 200 miles (321 km) south west of the Manor. The area, while not exactly nds, was good enough to amodate the needs. The area was covered in small teaus that eventually led to some hills before bing a part of the spirit stone mountains. Suffice to say that the regions would be extremely fertile and rich in spirit energy, which could only help the nts. He looked at everything he had aplished so far and considered what else he might need over the course of the next year. If he was going to lose the Host Attire abilities, and since he had not fused with the system, he would not be able to make any additions at all. At the moment, nothing immediate came to him. But if he did not regain ess to the Minor realms, then he would need to designate a new spot for the Inn workers once again. He liked the idea of them working and making their ownmunity - it would give them something else in their life to focus on besides just work. Instead of spending more time thinking about how to develop the Inns territory, he started going over his previous notifications. Before he developed the Inn further, he would consult not only with the nning division, but others such as the turtle, Charles and even Cassandra. Of course, while discussing with Cassandra he would do it as Lex and not the Innkeeper. Besides the need to adjust his prices, another thing he didn''t need to immediately do, and the notification about the tavern, he hadn''t received any other notifications. The clearg that the system was suffering from was somewhat concerning. Fortunately, he already had some ideas about how to help the system progress further. He intended to get his hands on John''s system, regardless of how beat up or damaged it was, and would see if he could get his hands on the Mountain-man''s system as well. Besides that, one of the primary reasons he selected this specific ce as the territory for the Inn was because of how diverse the resources were. The map did not outright specify what was valuable, but when he was selecting a location for a tavern so long ago, he was able to see locations which had valuable resources. He had done the same while finding a location for the Inn, in hopes that he would find something that could heal the system. The only problem was that unless he got his hands on a specific The only problem was that unless he got his hands on a specific material or treasure, he would not get a notification informing him if it would work to heal the system. Doing that manually would be incredibly difficult, and would be worse than looking for a needle in a haystack. So for the remaining 10 days, as soon as he gained the liberty to move around freely, besides developing the Inn, he intended to use the Host Attire to teleport all over the territory to every location which contained valuable resources and get his hands on them. It was a race against the clock, and these few days were going to be critical. Depending on the level of his sess, he would then decide on how desperate he needed to be during the remaining one year. Either way, it was not going to be easy. But he believed it was entirely possible. After all, if it wasn''t, the system would have let him know somehow, or it would have used its energy to give him some kind of hope. If things truly did not end well, he still had two hostages who were a part of the group hunting for systems. He would have to see how useful they could really be. 01:04 Just as Lex was nning his future actions, he finally heard the familiar sound of the system. But it was not a notification. New Quest:... Chapter 980 Perfectly ambiguous

Chapter 980 Perfectly ambiguous

New Quest: The Midnight Realm is property of the Midnight Inn, but the realm is also home to countless others. As the Innkeeper, you can be magnanimous, but you cannot be unknown in your own home. Inaugurate the new location of the Midnight Inn, and make yourself known across the realm. Quest Reward: Activation of basic Inn services. Remarks: For your own sake, do not procrastinate¡­ for once! Lex read the quests and was thankful that he had not received one of the punishment quests he was told he would get. But maybe, in some way, this was a nearly impossible quest to fulfill! That was because, ordinarily, all he needed to do was spread his aura as the Innkeeper and it would suppress those who felt it. But at the moment, the effects of the Host Attire were limited to the territory of the Inn. How was he supposed to make himself known across the entire realm? As it turned out, it was not so hard. It only took him a moment toe up with a possible solution, but he had to be sure it would work before trying it. He couldn''t afford to make himself look idiotic, at least while appearing as the Innkeeper. Although he could not ask the system himself, he had a trusty intermediary for the process. "Mary, if I use Inter-realm broadcast to¡­ broadcast to the same realm, will that work?" he asked. Inter-realm broadcast was the feature that allowed him to connect to the Crystal realm from the Origin realm, and possibly any other realm he unlocked. It caused a dy, but it allowed golden keys to be used across realms. Theoretically, it could also enable other features of the Inn. So if it worked, then it would be very simple to spread not only his aura, but his image and his words across the entire realm. Mary appeared before him, this time dressed as if she were cosying a cave woman. "Most of the Inn''s services are shut down, including the Inter-realm broadcast. You can manually turn it on, but that will take away from the amount of time you have with the Host Attire functioning." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "Is the guest registry shut down as well?" Lex asked suddenly. That was one of his major concerns for the new realm. Using it as a spatial anchor, he had been able to teleport over. That was all good and well when he needed it, but he did not want the spatial coordinates of his new realm being broadcasted out to a bunch of random people. It was not the kind of thing he wanted to leave to chance. "Yup. Basically, other than aura suppression, realm support and housing, none of the other Inns functions are avable. Realm support, by the way, means it''s supporting those guests whose cultivation level is above what is allowed by the Midnight realm." Lex nodded. He guessed as much. He was now ready to get on with the quest but first, he could not help but feel curious. "You mind if I ask you a personal question?" he asked, hesitantly. "Go ahead, though whether I can answer or not is up to the system." "No, I don''t think the system will have a problem with it. What I want to ask is¡­ as the previous owner of this system, which is a pretty high level, you must have had a very high level yourself, right? You also probably lived a very long time? So¡­ is there any particr reason you dress up like this?" There was too much he didn''t know about the universe? What if there was some kind of benefit to dressing ording to certain circumstances? Mary burst outughing. "I cannotment on the system or my level, but there''s a very simple reason why I dress up. It''s because I want to. Doesn''t this kind of getup match the setting of entering the primeval period of a new realm?" Lex did not know how to respond. Why did Mary seem more like a teenager than some unbelievably powerful being who was even able to interfere with the system right under its nose? The very system that could teleport across the universe and control a newborn realm, even in its injured state! Lex shook his head, but then closed his eyes as heposed himself. This was a big moment, he wanted to go over what he was going to say. After a few moments, once he was ready, a projection of the Innkeeper appeared above the Midnight manor and immediately attracted the attention of those who were observing the chances. Of the guests and workers, very few of them were awakeas most of them were deep within their meditations. But it did not matter. What was more important was that as the Innkeeper spread his aura, it slowly but surely filled all of the Inn''s territory, freezing every animal, beast, nt, or basically anything alive with even the most basic of instincts. The aura was warm, and calming, as usual. But at the same time, it was monumentally massive, consuming the entirety of their attention. It was not threatening, but it demanded their entire focus. Then, like the flip of a switch, the same aura filled the entire realm! Though, admittedly, the aura expressed outside the boundary of the Inns territory was greatly subdued inparison, for the sake of the realm itself. But that did not change the fact that, in that moment, the entire realm was frozen still. Lex did not mean to drag the matter on. As the Innkeeper, his every public appearance was short and to the point. It was a persona he purposefully created, and one he intended on maintaining. That was the sole reason, and not at all because he did not want to waste his time keeping the Inter-realm broadcast active. "Some of you may already know me," he began, softly. He did not need to raise his voice when his words automatically carried to every living being in the whole realm. "Most of you will not. I am the Innkeeper, but that hardly matters. What is important, however, is that I have created this realm for my inn - the Midnight Inn. The Midnight Inn is a ce where travelers from all over cane to rest and rx amidst the vicissitudes of life. It is a ce free from worry and strife, and wees all to enjoy its warmth. "With this new realm, the Inn faces a new beginning. With this realm, the Inn has be a unique ce in the universe. A mysterious ce, cut off from the machinations of other forces, and free from the obligations and duties thate with being tied to others. With this realm, the Inn will finally be a ce that wees any who seek refuge, whether it be during their travels, from the fatigue of daily life, or from some other burden they have carried too long. "But as the Inn grows into the mantle it has imed, we cannot forget those who also call this realm home. To you, who have inhabited thesends for years untold, the Inn also opens its doors, if you wish toe. But if you wish to continue your way of life, as your ancestors did before you, then you will not be disturbed, as long as you do not disturb the Inn. You may continue to live as you always have, in this realm I created." Lex paused, as he considered if he wanted to add anything else. This speech was much more difficult than it seemed. As the Innkeeper, he could not make any promise he could not keep. He wanted to say that his guests will not leave the territory of the Inn, but he could not say for certain that would always be the case. He also wanted to say that the Inn won''t encroach upon their territories. After all, this was a growing realm. Newnds would eventuallye for him to upy if he wished. But still, he could not say for certain that the Inn wouldn''t need to grow, and that he may upy more territory. While he wanted to stay true to his conscience, he also had to be ambiguous enough to amodate any eventuality in the future. When it came to ambiguity, there was nothing greater than the domain of fate. "With this, the official establishment of the Midnight Inn, the destiny of this realm will forever change. It is up to those who wish to grasp it, to seize this opportunity once and for all." There, a perfectly open-ended sentence that could mean anything he wished. He withdrew his aura, finally disabling the Inter-realm broadcast. Although his speech was barely over a minute long, he was sure that the time it took away from the avability of the Host Attire was greater than that. A familiar tingsounded in his mind, but before he could check it, he along with every other guest and worker, were finally teleported away from the tform in the sky, and to the Inn. A flood of information rushed into Lex''s mind, about the new limitations of the Inn, and this realm as well. Chapter 981 Meanwhile I Chapter 981 Meanwhile I ??While Lex was absorbing the information about the Inn and the new realm, the universe had not stopped, and some other significant events happened to take ce around the same time. A young acolyte looked at his notebook with a frown. His own writing filled thest dozen pages, but he had no recollection of writing them. But it must have been him, because the pages were filled with the story he had written down from a character he had visions about: the warbringer! "When did I even write these?" he asked himself, feeling confused. The only possibility he coulde up with¡­ was that he went to a ce called the Chamber of Secrets in the Midnight Inn he visited. Over there he could delete memories from his own mind. But what was the point of removing his memories if he wrote about the warbringer in his journal, and would find it eventually? The only possibility he coulde up with was that he saw something extremely dangerous, and someone else had warned him to remove those memories. That way, he would not know of them until he opened his journal again. So, was it safe now to read these? It had to be, otherwise he would not have recorded it. Feeling a tinge of nervousness and excitement, he began to read. ''Fed up of war, he left hisnds of origin. But in the wake of the warbringers departure, sanity was forsaken, and the dogs of war were let loose. The humans and mammoths forsook their ords. The marzu and devils brought hell to thends. Rumors abound of dragons leaving theirirs on the hunt for a dwarf, and an enemy of their race. The caretakers and masters of the realm were themselves caught unprepared, for an enemy in the dark began to spread terror throughout their domain¡­'' The acolyte read his own notes avidly, as the stories they depicted were both unbelievable and extremely interesting. Had he not left the Origin realm already, he may have realized that the events he was reading about were no secret, but public news on the Henali portal. Seemingly overnight, the aggression between the Fiery Mammoths and the Jotun empire increased drastically until official and outright war was dered. A war between two different gxies was rare, but any time it happened, it promised to be devastating. But even bigger news was that the Marzu dered that the devils had assassinated an heiress to one of their Magical temples, named Feyore. Some Marzu were angry about the loss, and others just offended at the audacity of targeting a member of their junior race. Regardless, another war erupted, once again without warning. But this one took ce on a much vaster field than just one gxy. Countless gxies, owned either by devils or marzu, began waging war. Around the same time, many dragons began emerging from theirirs. It was not rare for dragons to emerge from theirirs. After all, they were living beings too, and were not bound to one ce. But, in general, due to theirzy nature, it only happened infrequently. But for multiple dragons to emerge simultaneously was truly an earthshattering event. As it turned out, the incident on Frigra, where a human was seen sitting atop a dragon, was merely a spark. In secret, someone had been targeting dragons for a long time, and countless Heavenly immortal dragons had gone missing without a word. It was only when they began searching for the human who offended them that they noticed an unusualck of reaction from many known dragons! Upon investigating, they eventually discovered that they had been killed silently long ago. That elicited a reaction that had never been seen in the recent history of the Origin realm! The Dragon King made a promation of war! But what was the most bewildering thing was that no one had even known that there was a dragon king! How could there be a leader who united the most arrogant, powerful andzy race in the entire realm? No one knew the answer, but his authority was evident. The dragons emerged from their homes, and their might and terror spread across the realm as they searched for their unknown enemy. As the entire realm seemed to be heading towards madness, the Henali were unable to divert their attention to resolve such issues because they had troubles of their own. A representative from the Versalis bank had shown up, downgrading the predicted rating for their realm! The consequences of this were absolutely uneptable to the Henali, but there was nothing they could do. They were losing their control over the realm. The terrorist known as Jeffery, and more importantly the organization backing him, became vicious thorns in their side as their terrorist activities began to spread farther and farther. The actual devastation they were causing was not as much of a problem as the inability to find them. Such methods spelt danger for the Henali, especially considering the fact that their war with the Fuegan was still not making the progress they had hoped. What if the Fuegan and that organization partnered up? Considering the threat, the Henali, in their meeting with the representative from the bank, decided to take drastic measures. It would mean sacrificing some of their gains from the Origin realm, but it had to be done.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om While all this was happening, on a certain, a certain being finally got their hands on a golden key from the Midnight Inn. But when they tried to use it, it did not work. Instead, some information was transferred to their mind, informing them that the Inn was temporarily unavable due to renovations. Feeling annoyed, the being opened up his group chat to update the quest giver on the status of the quest. Until the key started to work, he would have to remain a prisoner at the Inn. His own quest for a dance off with the Innkeeper would also remain unfulfilled. Chapter 982 Meanwhile II

Chapter 982 Meanwhile II

While all of this was happening, the situation in the Crystal realm was no better. In fact, it was much worse! The war of immortals between the Kraven, the Monsters and the other races had devastated much of thends. As if the destruction they caused was not enough, the portal opened in the Crystal realm that was destabilizing itsws and slowly destroying the realm had not been closed yet. That meant that strange and often destructive phenomena started to ur across the entire realm. Oddly enough, the war was both elerating the destabilization of the realm, and yet at the same time repairing it! The powers of countless immortals shing put a strain on thends, but the death of immortals nourished the realm with their blood and ts as well! A strange bnce was formed, but that bnce did not reassure anyone. Finally, the Crystal race itself became involved as well, since even they could not ept the destruction of the entire realm! Amidst all this, the disappearance of the Midnight tavern was a small and insignificant matter that was hardly noticed by any. Only the locals of Babylon found the time to gossip about the wooden building that vanished overnight. Regardless of whichever realm it was, the Origin realm of the Crystal realm, chaos was spreading with no end in sight. Only the Midnight realm seemed peaceful, but even that was uncertain. That brief moment where the inescapable aura of the Innkeeper had enveloped the entire realm changed everything in a drastic fashion. The snake that had been sleeping for so long had woken up. Though it did not do anything, for now, just the subtle tensing of its muscles from waking up caused countless tremors in the continent it inhabited. A few mountains copsed, but for now, nothing else happened. On the third continent, the empire of horses and unicorns once again became extremely active, with no exnation for their sudden resurgence. Countless undercurrent filled the entire realm as those on top, who had ruled since the very birth of the realm, now had to deal with the knowledge that there was someone above them. It was not an easy message to ept, nor were they keen to do so. But for the greater part, the sudden appearance of the Innkeepers aura brought peace rather than war across the realm. Faced with a power they could not understand, even the most savage warmongerers chose to retreat and hone their own strength. On the smallest of the three continents, the massive tree trembled. The countless races that had taken to worshiping the tree were spurred into action, their motives unknown. For the first time, these noble and powerful races crossed the shadow of the trees canopy and graced the barbards with their enlightened presence. Somewhere else, on the opposite side of the continent, a rumor began to spread - a rumor by those who had known nothing but the brutalities of their ownnds, and looked fondly onto the heaven they saw in the distance. The rumor imed that the name of the massive tree, the Tree of Heaven, as it had been named earlier, was called the Innkeeper, and thends covered in the shade beneath it the Midnight Inn. Elsewhere, a rumor spread that foreigners from far offnds had discovered the plentiful bounty of theirnds, and hade with sinister intentions, painting themselves as noble saviors. In another part of the continent, in a ce surrounded by impassable mountains, a particr race learned for the first time that there may be life beyond the mountains that held them prisoners. A desire¡­ a desire for freedom, and adventure and exploration took hold in their hearts. Forges that they had sealed were once again opened, and fires that had been quenched were once again ignited. The sound of hammers echoed through the mountains once more, like thunder from a brewing storm. Closer to Lex, within the territory of the Midnight Inn, a creature that slumbered deep under the ground woke up, and began to spread its many tentacles through thends. The creature had no mind, only an instinct to grow, and a fear of a certain nemesis that had nearly destroyed it once. But that era had long since passed, so now it would once again grow, and spread, and conquer! Deep in the cosmic sea, a lonely fish yeared for the voice it had heard. Peace? Comfort? Warmth? It longed for those things, so it began to search for the Midnight Inn. Maybe there, finally, it would encounter others who would not automatically die in its presence. As it swam through the depths, entire currents formed due to each wave of its fins. The size of the fish was toorge to estimate. Atop the Midnight mountain, Cassandra looked out at the realm, and saw much more than anyone else, even Lex. After all, Lex''s sight from the Host Attire was limited to the boundary of the Inn, but she could see far beyond that. She was mesmerized, and slowly her presence began to fade as her mind entered the deepest state of enlightenment. Within the Temple of Fasting, her body experienced an unusual pressure. For the first time, she touched upon the boundary of the Dao. The guests were nearly all meditating, and it was unlikely they would wake any time soon. It was unfortunate, because they missed out on a remarkable sight. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The rich, pure and vibrant energy of the new realm flooded each and every brick and cobblestone of the Inn. It filled every building, every tree, every insect, every chair and every skyntern. It filled everything, in spite of the protective formations Lex had ced around items. So while they evolved from mundane to extraordinary, the spark of life began to fill certain items randomly. Silently, and without warning, one of the golf carts on standby trembled, as a new soul was born. But the soul did not enter the cart. Instead, it entered the left, front tyre of the golf cart, taking its ce as the first new lifeform to be a member of the Midnight Inn in this new realm. Chapter 983 Please don’t

Chapter 983 Please don''t

At first Lex was stunned by the flood of information, but it took him only a few seconds to remember that he could handle a much greater load now. When the realization came to him, he finally noticed that¡­ rather than a flood, it was more of a stream. The dissonance between his new qualifications and his perception of what he was capable of was always an inconvenience to get over. But then again, he doubted that the average cultivator would have so many massive jumps in power in a short period of time the way he had. He focused on the information he was getting. Finally, he received some answers, and for once the system had preemptively taken care of one of his greatest concerns. To start off with, the star rating of the realm had increased to 4, despite the fact that it couldn''t support high level cultivators. That was a massive jump in rating from 2.5, but even so the star rating was actually being suppressed due to the realm instability. As the stability grew, the star rating would grow even greater! But there was a catch. This would only be true during the early years of the realm. If it grew and stabilized at a normal rate, then the abundant chaos energy, and every other unique kind of energy that filled it, would go to waste. The only fortunate thing was that this time frame was in the millions of years, so Lex did not even have to think about it for now. That bit of information also told Lex that it was possible to artificially speed up the growth of a realm. He would look into it at ater date. The gravity across the realm was not constant, but on the continent where the Inn was, it was on average 3 times that of earth. But, within the territory of the Inn, the system would regte it for those who could not tolerate it. This was one of the few functions that was still running even now. Speaking of which, Lex was getting tired of calling it ''the continent that the Inn was on'' and so decided to name it Menara - something he came up with on the spot. Unlike what he had hoped was the case, the beings born in this realm had no real affiliation or connection to the Midnight Inn. Anything that would be naturally born, and was not from a guest of one of his workers, within the newly established territory of his Inn would automatically be a part of the Inn at birth. But as far as anything that was already born within the realm before this, there was no connection whatsoever. That meant that the subtle influence as the Innkeeper he had over his workers would not be extended to them. But, on the bright side, the upper limit of the realm was actually the Nascent realm! That little piece of information greatly relieved Lex. He was not so overconfident as to think that he would be utterly unmatched across the realm now that he himself was also in the Nascent realm. But he was fairly certain that, once he became more ustomed to his powers, and updated his techniques, he would be more than able to take care of himself while he explored the realm. Speaking of exploring the realm, the boundary of the Inn''s territory did more than just mark the limits of the Inn. It would actively prevent guests from venturing out! This was one of Lex''s greatest concerns, and he was relieved to know that the system was proactively taking care of this. The realm could not support cultivators of a higher realm, but instead of setting a limit, the system automatically made the limits of the Inn''s territory a border that normal guests could not cross. Perhaps if they put in some real effort they would be able to ovee the barricade, but that would be more than enough time for Lex to learn of it as well and respond appropriately. Moreover, such a response was only temporary. Once the system came back onlinepletely, anyone who attempted to cross the boundary would be forcefully ejected from the realm! This was because the system truly treated the realm as a part of itself, and was actively taking measures to protect it. The same restriction, however, did not extend to him. The Inn''s workers could also, at his discretion, exit the boundary. The reverse, however, was not true. Anything from outside the territory could enter within unimpeded, as long as they could ovee the physical barrier that the massive wall presented. But honestly, considering how everything in this realm seemed to be massive, he did not think it would be a big concern. One more thing, that he had been curious about, was answered. That was that all the Minor realms which had connected themselves to the Inn were considered property of the Inn, and so had been transported alongside as well! WIthout even thinking about it, Lex once again ced all the entrances to all Minor realms that had already been discovered in the Immortal Bastian, while he spread out the opening for the hundreds of thousands of undiscovered Minor realms across the Inn''s new territory. These Minor realms would stay sealed for a few more days while the energy from the realm poured into them, but once that was done, they would once again be essible. Did it feel strange that Lex had brought countless refugees from earth with him in a minor realm as if he were carrying something in his back pocket? A little. But he tried not to think about it. They were refugees. Since they were given a safe space to rebuild, should the details of which realm they were in really matter? This was not all the information he received - not even remotely. He was learning all about this realm in excruciating detail, from its seasons, to its biomes, to the spatial structural make up to so much more. The cosmic sea was a liquified version of a kind of energy that was a derivative of chaos energy. How energy could be liquid was not even a question he tried to ponder, because he was learning that a part of the climate in the region of Menara that he was in was controlled by a tribe of sentient clouds that had spent thousands of years at war with another tribe of sentient lightning bolts. Such historical detail was only provided to him because of the significant impact it had to the climate and geography of the ce. But even that was a small part of the knowledge he was getting. After all, Menara was the smallest of the three continents, and he was learning about them too. The greatest of the three continents, which was considerablyrger than Menara, had biomes that Lex had literally never imagined before. Many of its areas were more suited to spirits and races with souls and no bodies, as if it were some kind of sanctuary for the dead and the damned. Well, to be fair, just because Lex associated spirits and such with ghosts did not mean they were necessarily damned, but that was besides the point. As a result, Lex decided to name the greatest of the three continents Nether. He could imagine expanding to it one day, since it would be a natural home to the many spirits that inhabited the Inn. They too were undergoing some kind of evolution. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Compared to Menara and Nether, the middle continent did not have any prominent or distinguishing features. Besides being extremely mountainous, it seemed almost ordinary besides the other two continents, if one ignored its size. But it was only ordinarypared to the two. If seen independently, it was a bountiful heaven teeming with life and civilization. In fact, Lex suspected that it contained the greatest poption of all the continents. Amidst the torrent of information he was absorbing, a small tidbit reached him informing him of the awakened tyre. Suddenly Lex sat up straight and essed all the abilities avable to him through the Host Attire. He needed to prevent a majority of the Inns items froming to life. Even if he failed everything else, he had to at least prevent the dragon from gaining another soul. But the things he could do at the moment was limited, so he had to rely on himself. He teleported over to his personal meditation room where the dragon sat unmoved, absorbing the energy from the realm. All the protections and precautions they had taken before only managed to slow down the energy, not stop it. "Please don''t wake up," Lex muttered as he mmed the dragon with his aura and spread his soul sense around it. No matter what, he had to stop it from developing a new soul. Unfortunately, some things just could not be prevented. The dragons body, which still contained the physical might of a Heavenly immortal, trembled. Chapter 984 Countless newborns

Chapter 984 Countless newborns

Lex looked up at the dragon as countless feelings filled his mind. A part of those feelings had to do with the fact that he was still receiving information about the realms, and was bewildered to learn that there were unique kinds of volcanoes found within the Midnight realm that, instead of spewing out moltenva, erupted with a strange blue viscous liquid that rapidly froze whatever it touched. He just knew that, since it was a kind of volcano, sooner orter he would find himself right in the middle of one. Such was his fate. But that entire thought process did not at all interfere with the strong feelings of horror and loss at feeling the dragon tremble! His meditation mat! He didn''t want to lose it! Yes, although as a newly born soul, it would be loyal to the Inn. Perhaps it would be better to gain a loyal and extremely strong follower now. It could possibly prevent many troubles in the future. But at the same time, the development of his own strength was something extremely important as well. Yet desire alone could do nothing, and his aura suppression did not seem to work either. Vaguely, he felt through his soul sense, a fragile soul form deep within the dragon''s body. Subsequently, relevant information about his new worker reached Lex, causing him to sigh inment. The body of the dragon trembled again, but it did not move beyond that. Lex focused on the information about thetest worker he got. Previously, only a single tyre from a golf cart hade to life. What were the chances that instead of the entire dragon, only a small piece of it came to life? Like one of its teeth or maybe its scale? n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om But that was not the case. It was indeed the entire dragon that had gained a new soul. But¡­ a strange situation had urred. Feeling a tinge of doubt, Lex reached out towards the soul with his soul sense and tried tomunicate with the newborn. "He- help!" an rmed squeaky voice said as it sensed Lex. "I-I¡­ I¡­ I''m stuck!" Considering the level of fear in that voice, Lex should not have felt amused, but he could not help it. The voice was too adorable. More importantly, Lex gained an immediate understanding of what was happening! In short, it was the exact reverse of what was happening with Zen! Zen was a patch of grass in the Midnight Inn that had gained sentience and immediately reached the Earth Immortal level as well. But it''s body was as frail as ordinary grass, meaning that it''s body was that of a mortal. Due to the massive discrepancy in levels between its spirit, soul and body, Zen could not really disy any strength and was constantly just worried about keeping itself alive. At least, at the time when it was born. Now, the exact opposite was happening, meaning that this new soul that was born was at the mortal level, but was trapped within a body that far surpassed it. As such, it couldn''t control the body at all, and instead became trapped within it! "Do not panic," Lex said, as he quickly thought of a n that seemed almost perfect. But¡­ but wasn''t this too easy? "I can''t move!" the squeaky voice said once again, in a panic. "Yes, I can tell that you can''t move, but fear not. I have a n to help you," Lex said in a soothing voice, as he considered another conundrum. He already called the ring which contained a part of the dragon''s soul Pel, short for Pelvaillin. But now that the dragon itself had a soul as well, he couldn''t reuse the same name right? Should he add Jr. in front of the name? Ore up with a different one? "A n to help?" "Yes, yes, worry not. My name is Lex, by the way. Let me exin to you why you''re stuck. Actually, you might not know this, but before you came to life, you were actually my cultivation mat." "Cultivation mat?" the sound repeated innocently. "Yes, my cultivation mat. It''s very important to help me cultivate, which is why your body is so strong. But now that you havee to life, the burden of controlling your body is too much. You cannot take it." "So¡­ so what can I do?" the soul asked, still afraid, but much more calm now. "There are a couple of things we need to do. Although it''ll be slow, I''ll absorb the strength of my cultivation mat, reducing the pressure you feel. At the same time, I''ll teach you a soul training cultivation technique so you can also absorb the strength of your new body to cultivate yourself. Like this, eventually, there wille a day where you be strong enough, and your body bes weak enough, that you can finally control it." "But¡­ but then your cultivation mat will be ruined!" the soul eximed, on the verge of crying. "Do not worry," Lex said, his tone extremely noble. "We are colleagues now, working for the Midnight Inn. Helping each other is only natural. After you gain control of your body, you can help me find a new cultivation mat." "You¡­ you¡­ I don''t know what to say. You''re so nice." Lex smiled and scratched his head. He felt just a little guilty. Why did it seem like since he got the Inn, all he had done was take advantage of newborn babies? Before he could craft a nuanced and perfectly reasonable defense for himself, he learnt of others ''newborn workers filling the Inn and his pupils shrinked. "Listen, Pel Jr., you have just been born. You need rest, so don''t panic and try to sleep. I''ll find you a technique to help you out. But I have some things I need to take care of, so I need to run. If you need anything just call out to someone called Mary. She''ll take care of you." Without giving Pel Jr. a chance to respond, Lex teleported away. When he reappeared, it was as the Innkeeper, in front of the Midnight mountain which was trembling. Of course the mountain hade to life. The problem was, a few hundred of the pine trees that covered the mountain had alsoe to life. Were they fighting one another? "What''s going on?" the Innkeeper asked, ready to quell any disagreements. Although it was not umon to see birds prey on insects and such while being workers, that was still a manageable situation. But if the literal geographical features and the flora began fighting, it would not be so easy to overlook. What kind of a problem was this anyway? "They- they''re tickling me!" a hesitant yet thunderously loud voice boomed, shaking the ground itself from just sound alone. "No we''re not!" another voice screamed out in self defense. "It''s just really crowded here, we''re just trying to move." "YOU''RE TAKING PLEASURE IN TICKLING ME! I KNOW IT!" the mountain boomed once more. A number of trees yelled back, in perfect harmony, "we are not!" Lex had to suppress his lip from twitching, and from facepalming. Was this really the issue he was resolving? He waved his hand and the trees that had gained life teleported to the foot of the mountain, forming a forest of their own. ''"Oh this is much better!"'' they eximed, once again in perfect harmony. Was the Inn about to gain a choir of singing trees? But he did not have time to dwell on this. The massive spaceship had, of course, also gained life. The problem was¡­ Lex teleported over to the sight of the massive ship hugging the ground and wailing. Upon investigating what the situation was, he learned, to his great dismay, the ship hade to life while it was flying. But the new life that inhabited it had a great fear of heights, and was incredibly startled when it learned it was flying, resulting in the current situation. He was dumbstruck. How could a ship be afraid of heights? There was no answer for such a question, nor did he have the time to ponder it. One after another, more and more items from the Inn were gaining life, and each one was creating some kind of scene. Thezy river had woken up, and had a severe dislike for anything living riding its waters. Well, Lex couldn''t me it for feeling as such, so he just moved it somewhere remote, and recreated a new, identicalzy river to rece it. A number of Geeves'' suits had be sentient, and had run away from their disy cases. Lex was only grateful that none of the suits being worn hade to life, or he would have had the harassment scandal of the century on his hands. Somewhere around the Inn, a wisp of wind hade to life, and was running wild. Elsewhere, a number of peacocks were undergoing an evolution, and the ones who weren''t were protesting out of jealousy. In all his days, Lex had seen many unusual things, but none of them could match what he was seeing now. The worst part was, the day had just started. Chapter 985 Setting up

Chapter 985 Setting up

To say that the Midnight Inn was experiencing an unprecedented disaster would be an exaggeration. But to say that it had broken all records for the most bizarre situation Lex had ever experienced would be an understatement. The most urate description of the situation that Lex could think of, was to say that he had just developed a great deal of admiration and respect for kindergarten teachers. Dealing with kids was not easy. Around the time that the butterflies in the Inn, which had grown in size to be about 20 feet each, decided to identify as a nuisance, Lex decided to pause. He could not keep running from one incident to another. It was not a practical solution, nor would it yield the best results. His initial panic hade from the fact that he had been in a rush to start searching his territory for materials and treasures that could heal the system. But he had to stabilize the situation here first. It only made sense that there would be some unexpected issues with moving to a new ce. He needed to delegate tasks and form a managementmittee. Fortunately, there were plenty of workers who were already in leadership roles. Unfortunately, most of them were still cultivating or experiencing breakthroughs and so weren''t avable. He needed time to think, but first he sent Z to talk to the peacock union and calm them down. Which of them experienced an evolution or not was up to chance, and was not something that could be forced. He searched the Inn for workers who were avable, and found his options limited. Besides Z, the only one avable to him at the moment was Fredrich, the Draconian Apostle. Draconian Apostles were the second race of workers made avable to Lex, and basically looked like massive honeybees. They found it difficult to survive in normal environments, and instead thrived in extremely hazardous or chaotic environments. Based on that description alone, he vaguely suspected that it may be able to survive in the Cosmic Sea. But that would need to be testedter on. Fredrich was the first Draconian Apostle he had summoned, but considering that he hardly had any guests who needed to survive in extreme environments, he never felt the need to summon too many more. That might change now, considering that there were quite a few treacherous ces in this new realm, and he might need the Draconian Apostles to take care of the more hazardous environments in the Inn - such as the Cosmic Sea. Lex summoned Friedrich, and a three foot long, chubby honey bee wearing a suit appeared in front of him. "Fredrich, how are you finding this change?" Lex asked as the Innkeeper. "It''s absolutely wonderful," the chubby bee replied, directly in Lex''s mind. "I can go anywhere I wish without feeling suffocated. The energy is incredibly rich. I can even feel that, somewhere in the distance, there is a true paradise waiting for me to explore." "I''m d you find this ce more amodating. But before you go exploring, I have some tasks I need you to do. Do you think you can handle them?" "I¡­ I will do my best!" "For starters, a flutter of butterflies has grown muchrger, and they are purposefully being a nuisance. They''re bullying the sentient trees and making ns to kidnap the deer while they''re sleeping. They may have nned several other pranks in the time I was not paying attention. Go talk to them and make sure they know not to disrupt the Inn, especially anywhere a guest might be affected." "Is there¡­ is there a way you want me to handle it?" "As long as you don''t harm anyone, and make sure they understand that they cannot cause a mess everywhere, you can do what you think needs to be done. I''ll observe you, and if I think you need any guidance I''ll provide it to you." He needed to have more of his workers gain experience in leadership roles, and he could only do that by giving them actual tasks. After all, he couldn''t dump everything onto Velma and the usual gang. Speaking of which, a couple more workers had finished their cultivation while he was talking to Fredrich, which was perfect. The first was Qawain. As a previously inanimate object that hade to life, he would have first hand experience in what it was like. He might also know the best way to handle his many newborn workers. Lastly, as someone who was soon going to be a father, and as someone who had adopted a child, he probably had the right mindset to deal with babies. Hopefully. Instead of teleporting the sentient sword over, Lex instead summoned him to himself. This was because he did not want to startle him by suddenly changing his environment. More importantly, he also wanted to let Qawain settle down a bit first. One of the first major setbacks ofing to this new realm was that henceforth, it would be impossible to break through to the immortal realm while in the Inn. Even within the designated area of the Inn itself, it would be impossible. That meant that while Qawain had gained a lot, his breakthrough had been forcefully suppressed. All was not lost, as the workers could always go to the Temple of Fasting to breakthrough in the future. But it would be a loss for his guests. Then he turned his attention to the second worker who had finished cultivating. It was John. The same John who had a broken system in him, and had lost all his cultivation. Lex sent him a summons as well. Although he didn''t n on absorbing his system right now, because he didn''t want to lose the system''s functionality while he could still use the Host Attire. But it was time to set things up at least. Before they could make their way over, however, he was surprised to discover that¡­ someone was knocking on the wall surrounding the Inn. It seemed like he had his first guest already.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Chapter 986 Scary Bee

Chapter 986 Scary Bee

Lex teleported over to the location where someone was knocking on his boundary wall, and looked over. An animal of some kind, simr to a squirrel with transparent wings on its back was smashing some unknown object on the wall. For a moment Lex was confused. He could not tell if it was just a random animal trying to crack open some massive nut, or was actually knocking. Since the animal was technically outside his territory, he couldn''t even scan it. There was an easy way to find out. With a flock of his hand, the portion of the wall he was on turned into an equally massive gate, which began to swing open. The creature was immediately startled and ran away before the gate could reveal even a speck of thend behind it, but Lex did not stop the gate from opening. He watched as it scurried through the tall grass and hid behind an old, dying tree. Lex teleported away. He didn''t have time to watch how the creature behaved, but he was paying attention to this area so if anything entered through the gates he''d immediately find out. He scanned the Inn for changes, and ignored the countless worker bunnies which were growing cocoons around themselves. That was a totally normal thing that all rabbits did, hepletely saw no reason why he should give it any more attention than the empty suits that were ogling the mannequins in Geeves'' disy. Wait, on second thought, he should tell the suits not to ogle. It''d be rude if they started doing that towards his guestster on. While Lex was continuously scanning the Inn, and feeling incredibly grateful that at least the missiles in his museum weren''t showing signs ofing to life, Qawain finally arrived at his office. "My apologies for the tardiness," the sword in the shape of a man said. He was wearing a daoist robe, which was a change from his usual attire. But for some odd reason, Lex felt like these clothes suited him more. "Not at all, you are just in time. How are you adjusting to the change?" "The environment here feels phenomenal. But I feel my cultivation is stuck. I am not sure why. Perhaps it has been too long since I honed myself." "That is a result of the realm being new. It will pass, eventually. In the meantime, I will arrange a ce for you and others in the immortal realms to experience their breakthroughs in the future." "I am in no rush. Experiencing some pressure for a while will be good for me." "I am d you are adjusting well to the change. In that case, I have a task for you. As a result of the change, countless new workers have been born from nonliving things - and they are not exactly adjusting well. I thought perhaps you might have some insight into how to help them adjust." "I will handle it," Qawain responded, before bowing and leaving. That was fairly straightforward. Lex had Mary give him a list of newborns to look after, starting from the wailing spaceship. If his guests woke up and saw his spaceship crying, he would feel extremely embarrassed. Speaking of which, he turned his attention to Fredrich. He wanted to see how the chubby honey bee was doing. But he did not expect the scene he would stumble upon. Fredrich, the cute little Draconian Apostle, was hovering in the sky around hundreds of butterflies. Or rather, it would be more urate to say, Fredrich, the Draconian Apostle, had hundreds of massive butterflies at its mercy. The entire region had be dark under the influence of some technique it was using, and it seemed like within the darkness a portal to a much more sinister ce had opened up. From within this ne, green translucent wisps appeared and wrapped themselves around each of the butterflies, holding them still. An oppressive aura, akin to that of the most deadly predator, nketed the butterflies and threatened their very sanity. Despite how horrid the sight seemed, Lex did not interfere yet. He had told Fredrich that he could use his means as long as he did not hurt anyone, and up till now, it did not seem like he had actually hurt any of them. "Look, how fun. You''re all waiting around in the air, so that I can y with you at my leisure. You really shouldn''t have." At first the bee''s words were filled with childlike excitement, but as it paused and looked at the butterflies, its voice changed when it said, "You ''really'' shouldn''t have." Thest sentence, the one that was repeated, was filled with such an immense aura of discontent that even Lex felt that Fredrich was on the verge of attacking. But fortunately, it did no such thing. In fact, it actually withdrew its aura, reducing the suppression the butterflies were experiencing.. "You see how something I think is a prank does not necessarily seem that way to you?" it asked, as if questioning a child. Technically the apostle was speaking directly into the minds of the butterflies, but Lex could eavesdrop anyway. The butterflies were all too eager to respond to the apostle, and fawn over it as they imed to be reborn as saintspared to their prior selves. Its methods were a little drastic¡­ but the Inn needed some variety. Not everyone could be extremely friendly, and some with harsher means was not a bad thing. Lex just had to make sure he remained within his limits. As the Draconian Apostle made its way to the next flutter of butterflies, its freshly reeducated victims followed behind it, as if they were too afraid to leave without instruction. Okay, maybe he was pushing it just a bit. Lex wondered if it was just Fredrich that was like this, or was this a tendency shared by all apostles. Thetter seemed more likely, for he had no idea what ability it had used to hold all the butterflies prisoner. It was likely some racial ability. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Maybe he should add a few apostles to the Midnight Battalion. Chapter 987 About the cultivation mat...

Chapter 987 About the cultivation mat...

From his office, Lex was handling the various situations while standing and looking out the window. Despite theyout of the Inn staying the same, the difference was immense. The previous Inn eventually became quiterge, and the limit of the sky was massive, giving enough room for flying cities, mountains and ships to hover about above the Inn. But even so, now it actually felt like he was in a real world rather than an enclosed space. Up in the sky, there were a number of suns giving them light, rather than a projection of a sun. Though, if one was being technical, the suns in the sky were not stars, but rather a number of orbs of a special spirit crystal that was slowly dissolving in the air. These orbs had unusual properties which made them float high abovend, though they were free to move around as they wished. A result of their sometimes erratic movement was unpredictable patterns of light, though there were enough of them in the sky so that Menara had never actually seen night save when the clouds filled the sky. There were enough of the orbs in the air to light this ce for a long, long time so Lex did not need to worry about it suddenly getting dark here. Moreover, as the spirit orbs dissolved, not only did they give off light, they fed extremely concentrated spirit energy into the atmosphere. But the dynamics of the lighting and the depth of the sky were just a small part of it. The Midnight Inn was both hidden and out in the open. It was hidden from the rest of the universe, but once here, it was open for an entire, massive realm. The fact that someone could just walk right up to the Inn ande in from the outside world just made it feel different somehow. Even now, from the gate that he left open, Lex could see small animals peeking in, and carefully crossing the boundary to see what happens. Speaking of which, there were countless animals and beasts within the boundary of the Inn as well, and many of them were quite dangerous and savage. He would need to establish patrols near the main settlements and give guests disimers about venturing, just in case they encountered a dangerous situation. Considering those beasts and animals didn''t obey him or the rules of the Inn, he more than expected them to cause some minor issues. In the distance, a trail of dust could be seen rising. A number of golf carts hade to life and had gone off roading. There was no way that could end badly at all. There was a soft knock on his door, before John opened it and timidly stepped in. He had never been the same since his system was destroyed. Originally Lex wanted to give him space to recover on his own, but now it seemed he needed a push. "You summoned me, Innkeeper?" he asked with a bow. Lex, still looking out at the Inn, only nodded and did not immediately answer. Silence filled the room as John began to feel more and more nervous. After a minute, he began fidgeting his fingers. It was at that point that Lex could no longer suppress his sigh. "How long have you been at the Inn, John?" the Innkeeper asked, turning around finally. "It has been a short while, hasn''t it?" "A little over two years, probably," John said, wondering how to count the strange passage of time he had seen from the tform. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "You cut such an impressive sight back then. There was so much confidence in you. But now, without there even being an issue, you cannot even stand in silence for a few minutes without getting nervous." John looked down. He did not know how to respond. "You stumbled, child. That is normal. But you forgot to get back up, that is not normal. Why do you think that is?" John continued to look down at the ground, unable toe up with an answer. Was he supposed to admit that he was afraid to let go of his system? Him? An experienced assassin who has ended the life of countless others, afraid? Him, who held immense power in the palm of his hands, now broken and shattered? How could he say it? He had the words in his heart, but all he could do was continue to look down without answering. Everything he had, he''d gotten from his system. It was only once it went away that he realized how weak he truly was. "Do you want me to tell you the answer? It''s quite a simple one," the Innkeeper continued, but John remained silent. "It''s because you think that, without your system, you arepletely alone. But John, that is far from the truth. I gave you some time toe to terms with the situation on your own. Now, however, it''s time I help you pick yourself up." Lex took out a tinum key and handed it to John. "Back then, you established the Battle Ax without officially joining the Inn. It was because you had the confidence that you got from your system. But now, after spending so much time here, you have already be a part of the Midnight Inn family. You were not shy about extending your helping hand when those in the Inn needed it, now it''s about time you drop that crutch that is the system and take help from someone else instead. "You probably have some excuse you''re ready to give, but John honestly, it''s time you stop feeling sorry for yourself. The best way to do that is by helping others, and reflecting along the way. As you are right now, there''s not much I can ask you to do - not because you''ve lost your cultivation, but because you need to ease back into things. "You may or may not have realized, but there''s a lot of newborns in the Inn. One in particr needs your help. You can begin by helping him, and then we''ll move on from there." If words alone could wake John from his slump then they would have worked thest time he gave John a pep talk. Since they didn''t, he had to walk John through the healing process by showing him a bunch of others who had unique problems of their own. Honestly, with the current situation at the Inn, it wasn''t hard to aplish. John nodded, unable to say anything else. "This particr newborn is stuck in a body that''s too powerful for him. I need you to design a cultivation technique for him that will strengthen his soul by absorbing the strength of his body." Lex teleported John over to the dragon in his personal meditation room and began to observe John. He had to carefully guide him to ensure his progress goes in the direction that he meant. After all, Lex nned on absorbing the system in just a few more days. That meant he had to ensure that in just a few days, he had to guide John''s state of mind to one where he could let go of it. He did not mean to dismiss depression as something easy to cure, for his intention was not to cure it. His intention was to get John to adopt the mindset where he was ready to face challenges to improve his own situation. John was not a weak man. Once he gained some momentum, Lex expected it''d be much easier for him to pick himself back up. In the meantime, getting some exposure to others who had it rough as well might help him get some perspective. In Lex''s meditation room, John was teleported over but did not immediately observe his surroundings. He just let out a sigh of relief now that he was no longer in front of the Innkeeper. As he tried to rub his eyes, the cold touch of the tinum key on his face gave him pause. When he opened his eyes to observe it, the massive dragon sitting right in front of him gave him a fright. But as he stumbled back, the dragon did not move at all. It did not even respond to his presence, as if he was asleep. While John looked up at the monstrouslyrge being in front of him, a baby teleported over. "John, I''m d you''re here," said Lex with a smile. "My cultivation mat here hase to life, but it can''t move due to the burden of its body. If you can help ite up with a cultivation technique that would weaken the body and strengthen the soul, that''d be great. I''m Leo by the way, without the disguise. You can call me Lex." "You¡­ you really became a baby!" he eximed. "Yeah, my body turned to mush. When it healed, I became like this. Nothing I can do about it but grow back up over time I guess," Lex said with a shrug. "Now, about the cultivation mat¡­" Chapter 988 Heros and villains join together

Chapter 988 Heros and viins join together

Since John''s cultivation was crippled, Lex had no idea if he couldmunicate with the soul inside of the dragon''s body, so Lex arrived on scene as himself. At the same time, it would not hurt to show John the kind of problems he himself had gone through. Though to be fair, Lex did not doubt that John would have been able to face any other issue without any hesitation. But his entire identity was built based on his system, which is what was causing him to freeze. Lex did not me him or think little of him. Often it is said that those of older generations have a hard time learning new things. John had already lived so much of life, but had no idea how to live without his system, which was causing him to freeze. But a kick start to show him it would be okay should help him ovee that hurdle. The most important thing during this time, however, was to keep him thoroughly upied. If he had free time, then his mind would once again start to wander. At the moment, that was not good for him. "Did the¡­ did the Innkeeper really give you a dragon as a cultivation mat?" John asked, as he looked up at the dragon and touched it hesitantly. "The Innkeeper? No, he just allowed me to keep it. I got the dragon myself." John did not know how to react to that information. For some reason, he was not too surprised actually. It made sense that the workers at the Inn were just as absurd as the Inn itself. After all, he too worked here, and his past was no less unusual. He was confident that if he kept growing, eventually he would have been able to achieve a simr feat. But from the very first time he entered the Inn, and tried out the Mystery trial oh so long ago, it had been preparing him to be independent of his system and rely on himself. He turned to look at the baby beside him. If he had been able to achieve such things without a system, then John should be able to try the same, right? Without wasting any more time, they got right to work. Although John had lost his system, he had retained his knowledge. That meant he could still create techniques on his own. But the one he was faced with at the moment was not something he coulde up with casually. He would need to study the dragon''s body thoroughly. Lex stayed there and helped him through the entire process. But while he himself was there, he also had a projection of the Innkeeper in the office working as well. An hour had gone by, and things were beginning to slow down finally. New problems stopped cropping up, at least at the same rate as before. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Yes, the rate at which newborns were cropping up had dropped. Now Lex had to deal with those who had been alive prior to exposure to the realm. When Lex went through his star rating increasest time, countless mortal children were exposed to it. That resulted in them undergoing a cleansing of their bodies that simultaneously knocked them out. This time around, the near three thousand children under the age of 10 that were at the Inn did not experience something simr. Instead, they fell asleep, and when they woke up, they had superhuman bodies. So now, thousands of kids were running amok on Main street, jumping from building to building as if they were superheroes. Of course, when there were superheroes, there were also superviins. Naturally, when the group of superheroes and superviin children mixed, they would join forces to take on the real enemy: all sense of order and propriety. There were at least a dozen kids streaking through the streets and Lex had to limit his oversight of the situation lest the universal FBI show up and bust him for seeing something he shouldn''t. Fortunately, he still had control over his Host Attire, so a wave of his hand was all it took to clothe all the children forcibly. But he did not have a solution for the kids who learnt that they could jump off buildings without getting hurt, or the kids who figured out they could rip trees from the ground and use them as sticks. Fortunately, there were some kids who were cated by snacks and juice boxes, but those numbers were not asrge as he would have liked. He was really hoping others would start waking up soon, preferably the kids'' parents. But to his great dismay, the next to wake was not from his guests, or his workers. Instead, it was the Lotus which had been preparing itself for the evolution of a lifetime. Originally, the Lotus was supposed to give birth to a world with aplete star system, and everything else it would need to survive. Due to the immense energy it absorbed from the birth of the realm, which was muchrger than just a word, it was ready to undergo that evolution. But, instead of doing that, it opted for another choice. "Mr. Innkeeper, sir, is it alright if I fuse with this continent?" it asked, meekly. It felt guilty for even trying to stave from its predestined path. "Will you be alright if you do that?" Lex asked, using the Innkeepers projection from his office. "Yes, yes. Actually, I wanted to fuse with the entire realm, but that''s too big for me right now. So I am nning on fusing with this continent first, and then from there I''ll see if I can eventually grow further." "As long as you can do so without destroying the continent, or harming it, go ahead. You see, I''ve found the Inn here, so it would be inconvenient if something untoward happened. Like if a series of volcanoes suddenly cropped up as a result of the fusion, it would be very inconvenient." Lex had learned to expect volcanoes in every situation. A man must take precautions against spontaneous volcano appearances. "No, no, nothing like that should happen. If anything, I''ll have great control over the continent, so I''ll be able to address any issues you have with it. Of course, that''ll only happen after the fusion isplete." "Well, in that case, go ahead." Lex was well beyond the level he could guess the oue of things, so he had to rely heavily on trusting that Lotus knew what it was doing. The lotus that had apanied him for so long on his back slowly fused into the ground, and disappeared like a drop in the ocean. There were no sudden earthquakes or massive disasters, so that was a good sign. A bright, golden light erupted just as Lex had that thought. But, fortunately, it had nothing to do with the continent, Menara. Instead, in the greenhouse, Little Blue''s body was shining gold. Its body was rapidly growing as it absorbed spiritual energy from its surroundings, and two golden wings finally grew out above its back. Its fins started growing longer as well, and its body''s shape began to elongate. Lex could not help but scan it. Name: Little Blue Age: 5 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: Foundation realm Peak Species: Blue Whale/Evolving(Kunpeng variant) Bloodline: Evolving Condition: Undergoing metamorphosis Remarks: This little fish really likes to fly. So Little Blue was evolving into a Kunpeng. Lex was not too familiar with this species, but he had once heard Dr. Charles, the same man who had called Fenrir grandpa, mention it. When the opportunity arose, he would take the chance to ask him about it. For now, he was just pleased that Little Blue was doing well. He was about to turn his attention to other things, but Little Blues'' evolution was far from simple. The clouds began to react to the beam of golden light rising into the sky, and began to take the shape of various fish. Lightning began to sh all around, though fortunately it never actually struck Little Blue. Outside the bounds of the Inn, a noble and immense aura began to spread. It seemed that the Inn had suppressed Little Blue''s aura within the Inn, but its boundary was extraordinarily massive. But besides being extremely prominent, there seemed to be no other problem. Lex once felt grateful that no natural being in this realm was beyond the Nascent realm, as this would have caused him immense problems otherwise. But, as if feeling offended at theck of attention, a green light erupted nearby, and this time the system did nothing to suppress its aura. "Don''t tell me¡­" murmured Lex as he observed where the light wasing from. There was only one character that the system failed to reign in¡­ It was the Gctic Sovereign turtle. True to his suspicions, the turtle was also glowing, and bing muchrger in size at a visible rate. As if on cue, another light erupted from a different corner of the Inn. This time, it was the Magikarpets. Something was happening with them. Chapter 989 With great power Chapter 989 With great power ??Compared to the turtle and Little Blue, Lex was more concerned about the evolution of the Magikarpets. He had not spread the boundary wall to the massivekes in his territory, for he didn''t want to create dams, but right now he was considering it. He knew for a fact that many predator fish lived in those waters, and he did not want them to get attracted by the disturbance among the Magikarpet. Just as he was about to raise the dam, he noticed that one Magikarpet which had previously evolved into a massive, mean looking thing, was protective swimming around the rest. After a moment''s hesitation, he decided to avoid building the dam like he initially nned. It was a bold decision, because while he would immediately find out if anything went amiss inside the Inn, such as the Magikarpet being attacked by anything, he would most likely have to wait for something to ur before he could react. His attention span was severely divided between interacting with John, the system still providing him information on the realm, the kids on Main street who were by now spreading out just a little. That was not a good sign. A part of him was still also paying attention to the gate he opened because a number of animals were walking in now, exploring the surroundings for anything different. Just as he was considering options, with very few of his workers awake, he noticed a small child who he recognized. Compared to the rest, he was a lot more reserved, though he was surrounded by thergest group of kids. It was Jimmy, the vice-leader of the peacock warriors. He was also the son of one of his workers, Hera. Lex had an idea, but he didn''t act on it immediately. He watched the child who was exploring his newfound strength without ripping trees out of the ground. Instead, he was doing acrobatics with a group of friends. They began by seeing who could jump the highest. But that soon became boring, since all of them could jump nearly to the top of a small building. So then they started to see who could do the most flips in the air. It was then that the kids realized that not only were they much stronger, they also had a massive boost in agility. Their control over their own body was immense, which meant that after a few minutes of trying, each of them could do all kinds of tricks in the air. Theck of difficulty left the kids with a deficiency of stimtion. But kids with nothing to do had great imagination, so then they began to jump off of each other, while in the air, and doing tricks together. While they were great in controlling their own bodies, coordinating with someone else was something they had not mastered yet. Finally, with a challenge, the kids began investing all their time and energy in figuring this out. Compared to the rest, this group of kids really was a lot more reserved. For a moment, Lex considered if he really wanted to ask them to reign in the other kids. He recalled that among the kids there were a few different groups, and they didn''t all get along. He didn''t want the kids to fight amongst one another. Just as he had that thought, he observed as one kidunched another through the air using a makeshift slingshot. He shook his head, and decided to teleport over. He stood there, for a few moments, and only approached when one of them finally noticed him. "I see you kids are really enjoying yourselves." "Who are you, mister?" said a girl, suddenly very protective. "We are not allowed to talk to strangers. You better be careful, we''re super strong now." The little girl tried to look intimidating, but ended up appearing adorable instead. He could not help butugh. "My apologies, I should have introduced myself first. I am the Innkeeper. I run this ce. It''s a pleasure to meet you." The kids were suddenly startled, and filled with excitement at the same time. They gathered around Jimmy and began whispering - though their whispers were quite loud and were easy to hear, even if Lex''s hearing hadn''t improved drastically. "He''s the one, my mom told me about him¡­" "I heard he likes the piano, which is why there''s one in the Manor. My dad made me take lessons for it¡­" "I heard he''s actually Santa¡­" "Good afternoon," said Jimmy loudly, as he bowed to him slightly while he waved at the other kids to be quiet. "There''s no need to be nervous. I was just observing how well mannered you are,pared to some¡­ more excitable kids. Since you are all so well behaved, would you like a secret mission?" "Yes, yes, I want to be a spy!" the super protective girl could not help but scream out. "Haha, no, it''s nothing like that. You see, you, and a lot of other kids, have suddenly received a lot of power. But because of how quickly you all gained this power, not everyone understands that you have to use it safely. With great power,es a great increase in your parents babysitting bills. So I want you all to go and talk to your other friends and remind them to be careful so that they don''t identally hurt someone. Remember, I just want you to talk to them, not pick a fight."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "What do we get in return?" asked another kid who was trying to seem nonchnt but it was clear that he was extremely nervous. Lex could not help but smile. "Well, I''ve seen you guys like riding peacocks a lot. If you do well, I''ll introduce you to some fish you can ride in the water just like the peacocks." "FOR THE SEA PEACOCKS!" one of the kids yelled in excitement and suddenly started running. Influenced by him, the other kids began running as well. Lex could not help butugh again. They were running in the wrong direction, but they''ll probably figure that out eventually¡­ Chapter 990 Sudden Invasion Chapter 990 Sudden Invasion ??It was yet to be determined if getting some kids to help calm down other kids would result in absolute total chaos, or if it would help to a degree. Well, he would personally intervene if the situation got out of hand. But that meant this was one more area he''d need to keep his attention focused on. He was just about reaching his limit on multitasking at this point. But he persisted. This was a critical period for the Inn. He could not afford to make any mistakes right now. For the next few hours, Lex continued to handle many small and big crises and kept cropping up. But fortunately, as time went by, more and more workers began to wake up. Almost all of them had reached the Golden core realm by now, which greatly boosted their strength and capabilities. That also, automatically, ced them near the peak of the entire realm. That automatically ensured their safety, to a point. Besides that, though they had not spent a lot of time training at the temple, they at least began brushing up on the basics ofbat. This assured Lex that they would be able to face any and all challenges brought about by the random animals in this realm. Once they began soothing the many newborn, and brought the situation somewhat under control, Lex finally felt like he could go out and begin scouring his territory now. He had little over nine days left, before he lost the Host Attire. He had to make the best of his opportunity. "John, I''d like to continue helping you out," said Lex in his meditation room. This entire time, Lex had been helping Johnmunicate with the soul inside the dragon, who had been named Pelvaillin Jr. "But I have received another task from the Innkeeper. Will you be alright on your own? I''ll be gone for a while?" "Yes, don''t worry. I won''t need your help again until it''s time to send the technique to junior. Now I just need to continue studying to finish up my technique." Lex nodded, and then disappeared. He was ready to begin his search. He had even narrowed down his starting point. But that is when something went amiss. The entrance to one of the Minor realms that had not yet been discovered by his guests burst open, resulting in a massive explosion. A small crater formed around an open portal, which was fidgeting as if on the verge of copse. Lex raised an eyebrow. This was highly unusual, for the Minor realms should have been extremely stable. The only possible answer he could think of was that the entrance was forcibly opened by someone from the other side. But the Minor realm had not been explored yet. Who could be on the other side? The answer arrived before long. A legion of heavily armored bipedal creatures marched out of the portal in a highly organized fashion. They immediately spread out and began scouring the surroundings, looking to secure the location as more and more of their kind emerged. Lex frowned. Was he facing an invasion? This was not good, even if none of the emerging creatures were particrly strong. They were all in the Qi training realm, with a few in the Foundation realm. But their numbers kept growing, and soon the soldiers were followed by machines and vehicles of war. Fortunately, this happened in one of the realms far away from his settlements so there was no damage caused, but he could not overlook something like this. Just as he was thinking about how to handle the situation without unnecessary bloodshed, some more important figures emerged from the portal. "This is truly a paradise," one of them said as they stepped out. "Like we suspected, this is a blessing from the Holy Emperor. Virginnds for the expansion of the empire. And to think, such a ce would have remained undiscovered if there hadn''t been that recent flood of vital energy. What do you think, Dr. Narin?" "It''s too soon to dere this a paradise. We have yet to ascertain the dangers here. Stop acting like we''ve already won, and begin securing the area. I do not n on dying because of yourx security." "Fret not, doctor. There are no threats in the universe that can stand the might of the empire." Lex stopped listening as he realized something. The energy from the new realm had entered all the Minor realms as well. Not only did that mean that the Minor realms would undergo a change, but if any civilizations existed within, then it waspletely usible that those civilizations would try to find a means to escape.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om His mind went to the hundreds of thousands of Minor realms left unexplored, and he began to develop a small headache. This was going to be tedious. He looked at the new emerging army once more. No matter what, he was not cool with some random people sting his territory and trying to expand their empire. But at the same time, he didn''t want to waste time on dealing with them himself. He would send Luthor with some instructions to deal with themter. Within their realm they could do whatever they wanted, but out here they had to obey his rules. If they had an issue with that, then Lex had no intention of being shy with his power. After all, they were the ones who showed up with an army first. But while he dismissed them, for now, he had to dy his departure nheless. He had to start checking all the Minor realms, starting with the ones which had their entrance in Immortal Bastion. He didn''t want to face any more unexpected invasion. Of the many problems he had anticipated, an armying out of the Minor realms was not one of them. Fortunately, Minor realms could not usually support very strong beings, so it was not too much of an issue. But with the energy from the new realm, that might change. Chapter 991 Moral dilemmas

Chapter 991 Moral dilemmas

The Minor realms within the Inn presented Lex with a tricky predicament. They hadpletely fused with the Inn, as was apparent from the fact that they traveled from the Origin realm to the new Midnight realm. He could also ce their entrances freely as he wished. Even actually inside the realms, he felt like he''d gainplete control sooner orter. For the empty realms, he saw no issue in doing as he pleased. But for the Minor realms that had civilizations, such as the one that had so boldly attempted to invade the Inn, Lex felt like he was in an awkward situation. Even if he wanted to ignore it, and treat it as if it wasn''t his responsibility, the knowledge that the entire world for countless living beings was under his control made him feel¡­ strangely ufortable, and burdened. This was something he needed toe to terms with quickly. When he started the Inn, Lex knew for a fact that he woulde across countless people who might need his help. He did not mind doing charity, honestly speaking, but he mentally prepared himself to keep the mindset that he could not help everyone he came across. Maybe someone more phnthropic would make a greater effort than he had, but he firmly set this boundary for himself. Having said that, he did not stop himself from helping others when he wanted to. He just didn''t take the entire burden of their existence upon himself. Now, however, whether he wanted it or not, the control over their entire existence had been ced in his hands. He knew that, eventually, he''d have to face this situation as the Inn''s influence across the Midnight realm grew. But suddenly knowing some kind of control over a realm with an entire empire was in his hands made him face the situation much sooner. He was more than happy to just leave them be as long as they stay within their realm and don''t break the rules of his Inn outside his realm. But, hypothetically, if this empire wasmitting countless atrocities within their realm, should Lex intervene? If he did, how much should he intervene? Say, for example, he deposed the emperor, would the responsibility of setting up a new form of government fall on to his shoulders? What if he removed a tyrant, but the fall out from that led to much worse consequences within that realm? These were¡­ heavy questions. A part of him wanted to avoid them. After all, he''d lose ess to the Host Attire in 10 days anyway. At that point, even if he wanted to, he couldn''t do anything. But running away from his problems was something he had been trying to avoid. After some consideration, Lex did not rush to an answer. He gave himself five days to think it over before he did anything. In the meantime, he looked over for any impending invasions within the Minor realms at Bastion. Moral or not, he would not be tolerating any threats to the Inn. He began by checking in on the refugees from Earth. They were¡­ not exactly flourishing. They had taken to forming a few different settlements, and made progress in housing, farming and animal husbandry. Small towns were forming. But it was also apparent at a nce that many were suffering from severe depression. Well, it''s not like he could me them. They went from living lives on earth with all its luxuries, however difficult it was, to now basically being refugees. One could imagine someone who used to make a lot of money as a software developer watering crops and daydreaming about what his life used to be like. But that was none of his concern for the moment. Maybe he''d do something for them when he himself wasn''t so burdened. Next he checked up on the realm that the Jotun empire was overseeing. Despite the fact that they had been cut off from the empire for so long, they had developed the realm incredibly well, and established their own manufacturing and production chain with the local resources. They had developed an entire city around the entrance of the realm, and a massive fort around the inheritance tower. Lex suddenly felt bad for the guys stuck here. It would be a while before they returned to the empire. But, for the jotun empire itself, it would not feel as long. Then he moved on. Although he really didn''t need to, he checked in on the realm where the Inn staff were building their ownmunity. It did not surprise him at all that they mimicked the Inn heavily in their construction style. But in general they were doing fine, and there seemed to be no threat of some unexpected invasion from beasts or something. One by one he checked the countless realms. Many of them had undergone drastic changes, with not just the flora and fauna affected by the influx of energy, but thend as well. But fortunately, there were no signs of any threats. Still, he''d have to assign a worker to check up on the realms regrly. As for the rest of the realms¡­ even if he wanted to, he could not manually check over 100,000 Minor realms, so he just moved them slightly farther away from his settlements. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om He gave onest look to the invading army, who had attracted the ire of a nearby beast. Even though the beast was just in the Foundation realm, its body was extremely tough, which meant that they were having a hard time eliminating it. Yeah, Luthor would have no trouble ''negotiating'' with them. Honestly, even Fredrich could probably handle it, but he knew that Luthor would enjoy it more. Lex scanned the Inn one more time, and things seemed to be calm, so then he turned his attention to the most urgent matter: getting his hands on some goods. He teleported away, and reappeared at the base of thergest Spirit crystal mountain within his territory. Deep underneath the mountain, Lex could sense something which was probably very valuable. Chapter 992 Mountain milk

Chapter 992 Mountain milk

The spirit crystal mountains were a magnificent sight. Though there was dirt and various kinds of vegetation covering the mountains, the clear crystals were visible prominently from every corner. If you looked deep within the crystal, you would only see a distant darkness, but on surface level it was a mesmerizing sight, nevertheless. The energy concentration here was also extremely high. It was to the point where Lex was almost certain even a normal Foundation realm cultivator would not be able to tolerate it. Heck, even Lex himself felt slightly ufortable so close to the mountain - or he would, if he removed the Host Attire. The air was ''thick'' almost, and the wind had a texture which was something he could not wrap his head around. But that hardly mattered. This entire mountain, and everything on it, including even the dirt, was extremely valuable. The grass growing here was almost transparent, with only the lightest green hue, but was better and more valuable than natural treasures that grew in other ces. These were extremely premium goods, and one would need to be at the very least in the Golden core realm to tolerate them. For example, if tea was made using these grass leaves, then traditional Foundation realm cultivators would explode upon drinking them. Of course, this was only Lex''s own analysis based on his knowledge. It would take proper study to explore the benefits and limits of just this grass alone, not to mention the trees, fruits and vegetables found growing on this mountain. Heck, Lex was pretty certain that if he took a handful of the dirt here and auctioned it at the Infinity Emporium, it would sell for an immense amount. But that did not matter to Lex. Why would he need money now that he had literal mountains of spirit stones? No, what he needed now was much more valuable. He teleported away, and reappeared around 1600 feet (500 meters) below the mountain in a small, underground cavern. The cavern, though naturally formed, had an unusual shape in that it was a long, narrow corridor that moved in a spiraling pattern towards the center. For the first time ever, Lex felt like he was being exposed to one of the characters he used to make arrays in nature. Although Lex had seen these characters used in architecture, he had never been able to find them in nature, which is where they''re supposed to exist. In fact, they''re supposed to be somon that they exist in everything he has ever seen or touched. But, for whatever reason, Lex had never found them - until now. Instead of appearing directly in the middle, Lex appeared at the beginning of the cavern and walked its length. With the Host Attire on, he was not worried about getting stuck in some kind of trap. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Instead, he tried to study the character, and try and guess what meaning it was associated with. There was a small puddle of spirit elixir on the ground that he was walking above - it would be a shame if he dipped his shoes in something so valuable. Strangely, Lex encountered no obstacle. Perhaps if he had not been wearing the suit he would have, but he was not interested in experimenting at the moment. When he reached the end of the spiral, he found a naturally formed bowl made entirely of diamond, filled to the brim with a milky liquid. Right above it was a crystal stctite extending down from the roof of the cavern, all the way down till it nearly touched the liquid in the bowl. If anyone else were toe here they would have no way of knowing, but Lex knew that this bowl was directly under the very peak of the mountain above it. A warm, yellow glow filled the stctite, as if carrying light from the very tip all the way down to these dark tunnels, and on its very tip, the light seemed to condense into a liquid. A drop was still forming on the tip, and eventually it would fall into the bowl. Lex''s body, which had grown tremendously strong during his training at the temple, began to react towards the liquid. His instincts woke up, and were causing him to crave the liquid as if he were on the verge of dying from thirst, and had encountered a heavenly oasis. Its scent, so pleasant and subtle, enticed him to take just a sip. But as appealing as it was, this was not Lex''s primary goal, though he did n on taking some with him when he departed. His goal was something hidden within the pool of milky elixir. Using his spirit sense, since he didn''t want to identally spill some of the elixir if he used his hand, he reached into the bowl and took hold of a small, intricately designed ne that seemed to have formed naturally. Even the string around it was made from metal he did not recognize, but gave off a profound aura - as if it were the most valuable thing in the world. "Milk of the mountain," Mary muttered in awe, as she appeared on his shoulder. "This is good stuff. But I don''t rmend you have more than a drop of it before you be an immortal. How much of this you can absorb is limited, and it would be too wasteful to have it now." "I''ll keep that in mind," Lex nodded as he began to lift the ne. It was surprisingly heavy, straining him. "Can you¡­ can you set aside a drop for me as well? To create my body, I mean." "No problem," he replied. "This is only the second item you''ve asked for to create your body with. Just how high quality is the body you''re trying to make?" "It''s not about high quality," she answered, with a hint of mncholy in her voice. "If I want to recreate a body from my original race, this is just the bare minimum of what I''ll need. Even if I seed, the body will probably be akin to the one I had as a child, at most. Probably not even that, if I''m being realistic." "What- what was your actual race?" Lex asked, stunned. It never urred to him that she wasn''t human. "I was a Celestial." Chapter 993 Treasure hunting Chapter 993 Treasure hunting ??Lex was slightly taken aback by the revtion, though a part of him was relieved that at least Mary was humanoid. What if her original race had been some kind of spider? That would have been creepy. "So you want to recreate a Celestial body?" he asked, while still mainly focusing on pulling out the ne. "That''s not possible, at least with your current realm. To do that, my newborn body would have to be at the minimum in the Celestial realm, as you call it. No, I''m just trying to recreate a body that has the potential to grow back into that. While I cannot recreate a body with that minimum cultivation level, I can create one that has the same potential and talent, if not somewhat greater, of a newborn Celestial. That way I have the hope of returning to my peak one day." "Any tips for me, as a former Celestial?" he asked, almost joking. He knew she was severely limited in what she could do. "The only relevant advice I can give you right now is not to underestimate the Mythical beings of this realm," she said, very seriously. "Although they will be limited by their cultivation realm, their bodies and their abilities should absolutely not be underestimated. They are called Mythical for a reason. There is a reason why they are the ones who leave behind legends." Lex nodded. But at that point he finally pulled out the ne from the bowl, causing the milky liquid to recede from the absolute tip of the bowl.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om He felt a tinge of nervousness as he reached out to grab it. It seemed like too much to hope that the first item he searched for would be useful for the system, but he still could not help but hope. Unfortunately, it was as he expected. Even when he grabbed the ne, which was surprisingly heavy, there was no notification from the system. Suppressing his disappointment, he added the ne to the gift shop for one second to learn about it. Item: Ne of Wakha Description: Condensed out of the mountain milk of a spirit stone mountain, this ne embodies thew of Stalwart. The wearer gains the defense of a mountain, and their body is slowly nurtured by the ne. The description was surprisingly short, and to the point. But it was probably extremely potent. The ne, made of pure crystal, looked a little too beautiful for Lex tofortably wear himself. It seemed like it would suit ady more, but at the same time, he was not about to pass it on to anyone else before trying out the effects himself. He put the ne on, and immediately felt the strain of it on his neck. It was fortunate that his body was extremely strong, or else he might develop a stiff neck. With a ring on his finger that contained Pelvaillin, a spatial bangle on his wrist and now a ne, Lex was slowly umting a lot of jewelry. He never imagined himself the type, but here he was. He put away the random thoughts and collected two drops of the milky liquid in a special jade container - one for himself and one for Mary. Then he teleported away. He had many other ces to visit. The next ce he appeared in did not originally have any space, so he had to use his Host Attire to push away the surrounding rocks to create some room for himself. He had teleported to an ore vein that caught his attention earlier. It was glowing green, kind of like what he imagined uranium would be like as a child. He was not sure what it actually was, but the fact that he was not being assaulted by radiation was nice. Using his Host Attire, he pulled out the metal from its ore, instantly purifying it in a way that was ordinarily impossible, and grabbed it. Unfortunately, it too did not elicit any reaction from the system. Once again, he put it in the Gift shop and learned that it was a rtively brittle metal, but one that was an excellent spirit energy conductor. Perhaps it could be used to make some kind of useful alloy. A good engineer or weapon manufacturer could find a good use for it. As it was, he saw no immediate personal benefit he could gain from it so he left it in the Gift shop for the price of 1 million MP per gram. Even if he did not see the value in it did not mean it was worthless. After all, everything in this new realm was extremely rare. The next ce he teleported to was a small pond on an ind surrounded by ake. There were countless strong beasts patrolling the ind, as if they were guards keeping an eye out for intruders. But the strange, metallic liquid that made up the pond still did not give any reaction, though Lex soon found out that it was not a liquid, but a collection of countless microscopic parasites that were controlling every living being in the vicinity. He was tempted to destroy the pool for a moment, but then decided against it. Until he gained a better understanding of the food chain and many intricate environmental systems in the Midnight realm, it was best he avoided making any drastic changes. Like this, Lex continued to teleport to countless ces of interest across his new territory. As demoralizing as it was not to get a single reaction from the system, he somewhat expected it. After all, how could items and materials that the system needed be easy to find? Along the way, at the very least, Lex began to collect countless valuable treasures that would drive ordinary people insane. From fruits that could regrow limbs, to elixirs that could turn a mortal into a cultivator instantly, to life saving and even life threatening treasures, he gathered many. But, over the period of the first 18 hours, he still did not find anything that could help the system recover. He was starting to get concerned, but the system itself had stated that the chances of something in the new realm being able to help it recover were high, so he was not ready to give up so easily. He returned to the Inn to get some rest and analyze his approach ande up with better ideas. It did not help that, for whatever reason, in this new realm, he was getting exhausted quicker. Chapter 994 Sweet, evil potatoes

Chapter 994 Sweet, evil potatoes

When Lex returned, the Inn had calmed down considerably. A part of it was because, after hours of consistent ying, the kids had be exhausted. They returned to their parents to sleep and get some rest. Jimmy and his friends had also contributed greatly to the cause, though more of that had to do with sharing the incentive of ''sea peacocks'' with other kids than anything else. There had been some confrontation amongst the kids as well. Peacock warriors, which was once thergest group among the kids, had suffered somewhat of a decline after the sudden disappearance of their leader, La. Jimmy had been reluctant to dere himself the new leader, though effectively that''s what happened regardless. A result of that decline was that the groups formed by other kids felt braver to confront them. Tensions did not break out into fights. They were, after all, just kids. Instead, territories in the daycare/spaceship were traded. The peacock warriors agreed to stay out of the hangers for smaller ships, a massive sacrifice. All of this helped calm things down. So did the fact that, after so many hours, many parents also woke up from their cultivation sessions. For now, only the weakest of the group had woken up. The same was true for the workers. But nevertheless, the Inn was once again at peace. In fact, stating that the Inn was livelier than it was back in the Origin realm would be a more urate description. The adults and the older kids were all filled with excitement, and discussed the few moments they''d managed to observe from the tform above the realm. They alsopared their improvements, and excitedly explored the new Inn. Even with the sameyout, it was obvious to all that the Inn had changed tremendously. After all, if nothing else, then there definitely was not a group of singing daisies ting themselves in the greenbelt beside Main street. The flowers had newly gained sentience, and apparently could onlymunicate through song. The sun was brighter, the air was clearer, the grass was greener, and measuring oneself on the weighing scale had suddenly be redundant, freeing everyone from their worries after a brief bout of panic. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om In short, life was good and the Inn was better. Lex, feeling pleased with the progress, decided to take a nap for a couple of hours. Perhaps the real reason he had gotten so tired so quickly was the massive deluge of information still flooding his brain. Something interesting he learned was that this realm was continuous. Unlike the Crystal realm, which was t, the Midnight realm had no borders. At the same time, it was not round either. Through a strange maniption of space, it just became one neverending existence. That meant that if he kept walking in one direction, eventually, he''d arrive right back where he started. As strange as it was to try and understand that concept without visualizing a round world, that''s what was happening. Another strange thing was that in this realm, strawberries existed. That in itself was not strange - the strange part was that strawberries are a savage, carnivorous tribe of flora that constantly waged war and were responsible for the extinction of many races. They were extremely vicious. But they retained the same size they had on earth, which made them even more dangerous somehow. Lex, feeling the effects of fatigue on his psyche,y down his head to nap. He told Mary to wake him up in a couple of hours at most, in case he does not wake up on his own. Then he fell asleep. Somehow, falling asleep did not slow down the flood of information, but only sped it up. But, as a result, he fell deeper into his sleep than he intended, and even Mary''s many calls and probes could not rouse him. The hours rolled by, and more and more of his guests began to wake. Within the Inn, the situation only became more stable, as all the guests and workers were long familiar with the reliability of the Inn. But the world outside the Inn was experiencing massive changes. The three empires underneath the tree received a revtion of the direction of the Midnight Inn from the tree itself. This was a monumental asion, for it had been centuries since the tree had made any revtions. Immediately, all three empires dispatched ambassadors alongside an appropriate retinue. They needed to understand the Innkeeper and his Inn before arriving at any conclusions. On the other two continents none seemed to know or be concerned about the location of the Inn save a tribe of eagles, who had also dispatched their champion. Deep in the Inn''s territory, the invading empire had suffered colossal losses in their first few shes against the local beasts, much to their surprise. Their technology and weapons fell short against the formidable foes this newnd had to offer. But simrly, the carcasses of their defeated foes had much to offer. A single meal on the meat of those beasts had resulted in hundreds of breakthroughs for the surviving soldiers. Instead of being cowed by the difficulty, they became even more intoxicated with the thought of ruling thesends. Elsewhere in the Inn, from deep underground, a hidden evil emerged, and began to spread across thend like a gue. Before Lex''s nap was concluded, the sentient wild potato had already spread its seed across thends. In a matter of days, thousands of acres ofnd would be covered in the growing vegetable. Beasts and animals began to run away and escape thosends as quickly as possible, before they became prey to its malevolent vines. Elsewhere, on the border of the Inn, the ground suddenly caved, and from it emerged a team of small, hairy creatures. It seemed like they had found their target, and soon began to climb the great boundary walls. In another corner of the Inn, John sat and stared at the notebook in front of him. Dragons were¡­ truly beyond anything he had expected. To weaken one¡­ seemed almost impossible. The body was passively restoring itself continuously. It was as if it had an infinite supply of energy. How was a new, feeble soul supposed to weaken it? It seemed impossible. Chapter 995 Resin Chapter 995 Resin ??Lex had gotten used to using the technique to disable his divination before he slept, but today, before this nap, he tried something different. Instead of trying to prevent vision, he focused on two key words: ''treasure'' and ''system''. He was hoping that, through the use of divination, he''d be able to get some clues. He was not depending on it entirely for answers, but it was worth a try. It was one of the reasons he wanted to wake up after only a couple of hours, lest he bepletely drained when he woke. But, as usual, things spiraled out of control. A part of him had expected as much, to be honest. Due to the flood of information, he entered a deep sleep and was unable to wake up naturally, or even through Mary''s probing. But, though the nap ended up being longer than anticipated, it did not go on for too long. Around his eighth hour sleeping, something ''clicked'' and Lex suddenly woke up fully ready for a fight. His instincts had always been arge contributing factor to his survival. Heck, back in the Crystal realm, they had even warned him about attention he received from an Earth immortal! Back then, he had sensed an unknown danger approaching. Right now, in his sleep, Lex''s instincts suddenly kick in, and with much greater rity than ever before. It was as if previously his instincts would only vaguely point him in certain directions, but now it was using short sentences to exin the problem. The moment Lex woke up, he knew exactly what his instincts were picking up, and he could even trace it to its origin. To his north, something had clear and concise malicious intentions towards him specifically, and had the ability to threaten him. Using the Host Attire, he extended his vision all the way to the boundary of the Inn, but the danger was beyond it. The inability to instantly locate the threat gave Lex pause, and finally allowed his thoughts to catch up with himself. Even without asking Mary he knew that he overslept. But he was not disappointed. In fact, he felt exhrated. He had a few visions in his sleep, but he could not recall them. Perhaps that''s why he did not feel drained. But that hardly mattered, for he had finally gained all the knowledge rting to this realm, and besides a few dangerous weather patterns he needed to prepare the Inn to guard against, he discovered something he was very sure would help the system. It was a type of resin buried deep within the continents, and was something left over from the time before the continents even formed. It was a condensed form of highly potent energy that was actually used in the creation of the realm that had be trapped due to various reasons, and solidified. If there was anything in this realm that could help the system, it would be that resin. But there was a catch. On Menara, most of the resin had actually been discovered by the massive tree, and absorbed. Only very few traces of it remained, though Lex had mentally marked their location for himself. On the bright side, on the other two continents, the resin remained undiscovered. All he needed to ess it was to find his way across the sea to the othernds and dig it up somehow. To be honest, with his new array of abilities, he did not consider the task too difficult. Besides, he had teleported across entire gxies, so what was a small sea to stop him? But getting the resin could wait, as he had a few things to take care of first. He summoned Luthor, who hadpleted his breakthrough just an hour prior, and had sessfully fused with the fire Lex had given him that he took from the test in the Temple of Fasting. It was best not to dy the matter of addressing the invading empire, for despite the number of deaths they were sustaining in securing their area, they just kept throwing more and more soldiers at the problem. Moreover, with each victory, they gained ess to more materials to catalyze their growth. Lex did not think they would be a real threat, but very much believed that they could be a nuisance. Lex instructed Luthor to take the Silent Wanderer, as well as a group of stronger workers, including Fredrich, to go and inform the empire that they were encroaching on owned territory. He strongly doubted that they wouldply so easily, but he hoped they would. It was best if things were handled peacefully. While he was still deciding on whether to act against such civilisations on the grounds of morality, he was absolutely firm in his decision to act if they wanted to be enemies. A part of Lex wondered why it was so easy for him to limatize to such a brutal way of life. He never had that mental breakdown that he''d often read about characters having when they kill for the first time. He didn''t suffer from that whole identity crisis of taking another life either. He shrugged as he couldn''te up with an answer. Maybe the boomers were right. Maybe ying video games had turned him into a desensitized monster. Or maybe he just felt such thoughts were pedantic, and a product of modern society on earth. He doubted people in olden times spent so much time thinking of such things.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Luthur set off with Cirk, Gerard, Z, Chad, Leonidus the leader of the next battalion Lex was forming, Jace, the Inn worker who had earth powers, Sandra, the worker who could control electricity, and Alfonso, the kid who had unlimited food in his pockets. There were about a dozen more workers who joined them, all old members of the old battalion. Compared to the number of invaders, this was too few. But Lex seriously doubted they''d face any problems. Just in case they did, he''d be paying attention and would teleport over immediately. But until then, he had other issues to personally deal with, starting with the invasion of potatoes. They had disced countless animals and beasts, and though Lex did not understand why they were dangerous, he did not want to let them spread unchecked. He would consult the turtle first to see if it had any suggestions. Chapter 996 Tough potato Chapter 996 Tough potato ??The turtle has grown massive in size, but its cultivation realm remained uncharged. That was not surprising as it was already in the Nascent level, and the Midnight realm would not allow further increase. While he nned on using the Temple of Fasting to help his human workers grow stronger, he needed to get permission to send his other works there as well, at least to experience breakthroughs. But that was a concern forter. For now, he approached the turtle who was silently watching Little Blue undergo its evolution. It had taken care of the whale from the moment it hade to the Inn, and so it only made sense that it was greatly attached to it. In fact, Lex had noticed that it was incredibly fond of adopting strays, or anyone down on their luck. Lex himself had once been saved by the turtle, when he was first exploring Nibiru. Lex suddenly paused, and his instincts kicked in. He realized something in that moment. He always knew that Nibiru was special. After all, back when he had the talent show, he had seen a number of extremely bizarre beasts the likes of which he had never encountered again. That is also where the turtle hade from. But it was only now that he realized that¡­ he might have severely underestimated the value and worth of Nibiru. He hadn''t spent much time there, since it was ruled by beasts. But for a to give birth to a Sovereign, it must be hiding some extreme secrets. This was not just his guess. His instincts were telling him, acting on the memory of his time spent there. Nibiru was extremely special, and hid something of tremendous value. The fact that his instinctsbeled it as something of tremendous value, when nothing in this new realm had yet caused such a reaction, was startling news. Lex made a mental note. He would put that on the forefront of his agenda when he returned to the Origin realm. But Lex was unaware that a war between beasts and humans was going on, and Nibiru was very much embroiled in it. What the situation would be when he finally ventured forth would be entirely unpredictable. "How are you finding the change?" Lex asked as he approached the turtle. He found himself asking the question often these days, and not only because he enjoyed the praise that followed. He was now aware that there were more than one hidden dangers in this new territory, the least of which was something he identified as spiritual energy fatigue. Too much energy was not always a good thing, even with the system maintaining it to safe levels within the Inn. "Oh dear, this garden is too big," the turtle said in distress. "It will take a long time to tend to all of it." Lex found himself amused by the turtle''sment. No doubt he was referring to the entire realm rather than just the Inn''s territory. At least this was good enough to entice the turtle to stay for a long time. He had not forgotten the invitation the turtle had received from Zuri Adissa, the Celestial leveldy who also had a clone within the Inn. Fortunately, while his precautions had not worked, the clone did not wake up upon being nourished by this realm. In fact, the clone became less vibrant, as if it had truly lost its connection to the main body, and had reverted to a simple tree for the time being. "It is considerablyrge, yes. In fact, there are already some weeds affecting this ce. I thought I''d ask if you''re interested in preserving it before removing it myself." Although Lex appeared as the Innkeeper, and not as a baby, he had to look up towards the turtle whose face hung high in the air above him. He could fly to its level, of course, but he felt that the Innkeeper would not care about such trivialities, so he stayed on the ground. The single horn jutting from the turtle''s forehead glowed briefly, absorbing a single strand of the light surrounding Little Blue, before the turtle turned to him. "Let''s take a look," he said, his voice tinged with a hint of eagerness. Although the size of the realm was daunting, it also excited him. Lex teleported the both of them over to the ever expanding field of wild potatoes and observed the way it spread across thendscape. For hundreds of acres, there was naught but potatoes. Lex, feeling intrigued, scanned it just to see what the system would reveal. Name: Scourge Age: 679 Sex: - Cultivation Details: Foundation peak Species: Snum tuberosum Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Condition: Severely malnourished Remarks: Boil it, mash it, and stick it in a dungeon.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om All in all, the potato gue did not seem as menacing as its effects stated it to be. How could one Foundation realm vegetable cause all animals and beasts over hundreds of acres to flee out of fear? "Oh dear, this one''s no good," the turtle said as it approached without concern. It seemed even the turtle had detected something that Lex had not. But he just stood by and watched. Anything nt rted was firmly within the bounds of the turtle. That thought suddenly reminded Lex of a worker he had not seen in a long time: the Gardener. Last time Lex checked, he had been given free reign to practice his art in one of the Minor realms. Had he¡­ just been living there ever since? Well, Lex at least hoped his art wasing out well. Lex stopped his random thoughts, as he for the first time saw the turtle attack! The horn on its head glowed to a bright head, before releasing a visible pulse of red energy that attacked the field of potatoes. Much in the way Lex visualized a Trelop taking control of thendscape, the entire region in front of him seemed to tremble. A shriek with no origin filled the air, and countless vines grew out from the dirt and began targeting the turtle. A Foundation realm nt had actually survived the turtle''s attack? Either the Sovereign was being lenient, or this was one tough potato. Chapter 997 Death is easy Chapter 997 Death is easy ??Scourge, the evil potato, was definitely not happy being attacked. It made sense, who would? But to have the guts to attack the Sovereign turtle? Lex wanted to whistle. Come to think of it, had he ever seen the turtle get attacked before? Surely during one of the many invasions of the Inn, it must have happened! Oh well. He watched as the potato vines tried to wrap around the turtle''s legs, not that it cared. "Oh dear, oh dear, how did you get so corrupted?" the turtle spoke to itself, and sniffed the ground. Lex saw that the vines were trying to squeeze the turtle''s legs, to no avail. It grew thorns dripping with some kind of poison, but they could not harm the turtle whatsoever. It was quite pitiful to watch, actually. The turtle continued to investigate, uncaring about any attempts that vine made to harm it whatsoever. Lex, on the other hand, noticed something. The arrangement of the potatoes in the ground seemed random at first. But as the vines moved and uncovered the countless potatoes hidden under the dirt, he began to see a pattern. He could not tell what it was, but he distinctly felt that there was some kind of reason to the arrangement they had taken, some rule they were following. He sharpened his senses, and faintly felt the presence ofws. That was normal,ws were everywhere. But in sensing just the barest outline of some pattern, Lex was for the first time able to detect the presence of somew. But he made no other progress. Though he could detect that there was some pattern, he could not pick up what it was. He used the Host Attire to observe the entire arrangement of the wild potatoes as a whole. On some level, he could sense the pattern better, but he could not quite discern what it was. It did not help that the potatoes began moving due to the not-so-epic showdown it was having with the turtle. Once the turtle was done with its evaluation, it used another ability. Its horn began to glow, and somehow, the potato vines all came under the turtles control. The entire length of its body, which extended hundreds of acres, began to gather in front of the turtle and roll up into an ever increasing ball. To save space, the turtle had all the actual potatoes drop from the vine, forming a massive hill underneath the evenrger ball of shrieking vine. "Those are edible," the turtle said, looking at the potatoes. "We can head back now. This child needs detention." At the mention of detention the vine shrieked even louder. Lex waved his hand and muted it, and then paused. He realized that, instead of using his authority over the Inn, he could do the exact same thing using arrays, just as effectively. His mind automatically evaluated what characters he could use to have such asting effect. It was as if Lex was more attuned to the characters used in arrays all of a sudden. For a long time now, Lex was slowly moving away from the use of arrays because he had encountered a sort of teau in terms of the amount of power he could bring out of them.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om He had not had any time to test out his strength, but he was certain that his normal attacks now could surpass that limit as well. But with this sudden new inclination for the characters might lead to a breakthrough. But Lex had too many things to do right now, he did not have the time to experiment. He teleported them back to the Inn, leaving the turtle to punish Scourge, or whatever else it wanted to do. He didn''t doubt he had it handled. But he had no time to rest. He instantly disappeared again, appearing near the boundary wall in a certain section where a dozen hairy creatures were standing atop it. They were small, between one to two feet (0.3 - 0.6m), and looked like a strange mix between a beaver and a cat. Their long, petite tails swayed freely in the air behind them as they discussed amongst themselves how to proceed. Lex had noticed them the moment he woke up from his nap. They were the first ''sentient'' beings to enter his Inn from the outside, but remained on the wall the entire time. "Exin thyself, Lieutenant Jacob," said one of the beaver- cats, his tone deep and foreboding. "Punish me if thou must, Captain Haboob. Ostracize me from the group if you wish. I would rather ept a marr on my record than a stain on my conscience." "Tis not honor that bars thou, Jacob, tis hubris. How can an individual be above amunity? Duty before dishonor, death before defeat!" Jacob, who was visually indistinguishable from any of the other beaver-cats, turned his head dramatically and looked back at thend outside the Inns boundary. "Death is easy, Haboob. Death is easy, but doing what is right weighs heavier than a mountain. Tis not in me tomit such sacrilege." "Then you have betrayed us," Haboob said solemnly. "You have betrayed your fellow soldiers, your family who raised you with such expectations, your teachers who guided you on the path, yourmunity that depended on you." Jacon trembled, as if struggling up hearing those heavy words. But he did not look back. Lex almost felt bad intervening in this obviously grave situation, but he wanted to avoid any tragedies from happening in the Inn, at least for the first ever guests he received from the Midnight realm. He coughed loudly, as he lowered himself from up in the sky where he was observing from, attracting the attention of the cleaver-cats. Even Jacob turned, ready to face the unknown threat. "Excuse me for interrupting. I didn''t mean to eavesdrop, but I couldn''t help overhearing that you all are facing some issue. Can I offer any help? I am the Innkeeper, by the way, and this is my humble Inn." Chapter 998 Drama-cats Chapter 998 Drama-cats ??The beaver-cats all huddled together as they observed Lex descend from the sky, but upon hearing his introduction they were all startled. That was not surprising. After all, Lex had introduced himself across the realm so he expected everyone to know the Innkeeper. But instead of answering his question, the beaver-cats huddled together and began whispering. "Lieutenant Jacob, thou still have a chance to redeem thy honor!" "I would rather walk through seven incarnations of eternal fire," he said adamantly. Once again, an incredibly dramatic exchange between the lieutenant and the captain began, all somehow without ever actually stating what the issue was. Lex wanted to help, but he had no idea where to begin. "Gentlemen, perhaps I can help," Lex said as he stepped onto the wall with him. He found it funny that these beaver-cats thought they could hide their conversation by whispering when he was so close. Maybe they didn''t have spirit senses yet. "But first you would have to reveal the nature of your issue."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Haboob looked at Jacob, who turned his head away, and then looked at the Innkeeper. "Actually, Innkeeper, we have traveled through hail and hellfury to be patrons at thy Inn, but s, Jacob has left his purse with a group of orphans. epting a loan is a grave sin, or so he believes, so he has resolved himself to wait for us at the boundary and miss this opportunity." Hail and hellfury? Had the weather changed at all in the region since he made the announcement? Perhaps outside his Inn, for inside it there had been no such changes. Moreover, all of that because he had no money? Really? He''d walk through ''seven'' incarnations of hell rather than ept money? "In that case, there is no issue at all," said Lex, giving the beaver-cats arge and warm smile. "You are all my first new guests since I have opened the Inn here. As such, to celebrate, your stay will be absolutely free." The beaver-cats shuddered, and tears welled up in their eyes, as if Lex had done the most charitable thing in history. They looked up at him, and Jacob tried to speak, but he was too choked up. Lex had to suppress the urge tough as he looked down at the super dramatic and adorable little creatures. He decided to change their name, at least for himself, to drama-cats. He was sure that their species had a proper, and quite noble name. But to him they would always be furry little creatures with a penchant for taking things too seriously. "No need to say anything," Lex said when he realized that they truly were speechless, and on the verge of breaking into actual tears. "Come, let me show you around. Some of our other services are not active yet, but you can still stay at the Inn as long as you like." There was no such promotion for new guests from the system, though he had no doubt that if the system weren''t overburdened it would be flooding him with quests right now. Instead, he just decided to pay for the dozen drama-cats himself. One moment they were all up on the wall, and the next Lex teleported them to the Manor. At this point, he would normally delegate the tour to one of his workers, but he decided that the drama-cats deserved his personal service for a while longer. "This is Midnight manor, the center of the Inn. From here, you can take golf carts all the way to Main street, or any of the other settlements you like. There''s a bay in the back, if you''d like to go swimming. Food and drink are avable at any time of the day on order. This ce is usually more crowded, but many of our guests are cultivating at the moment which is why it seems so empty." "What manner of creatures are these?" Haboob wondered out loud as he observed the few human guests walking around. "We have entered thend of giants!" "We ept guests from all races, so expect to see many new things here. But speaking of giants, aren''t the native creatures here allrger than humans?" That seemed to be true not just for the animals, but the nts and insects as well. The small size of the drama-cats was actually strange here. "Our most gracious host, we spend our time underground, and so do not know the size of othernd dwellers. One of the reasons we havee to the Inn is to see if our people can live onnd here, free of persecution from othernd dwellers! For too long have the hounds of discrimination set their sights on our people, and treated us like prey. We have no choice but to burrow into the ground and hide." "Well, you are all wee here at the Inn. Our workers take care of security here, so you do not need to be wary of any discrimination. We do not tolerate rule breakers at the Inn." "Gracious ''and'' noble, what a character our host has," one of the other drama-cats said as they observed the Inn. Lex did notment on the praise he was getting, and instead began giving them a tour of the Manor. It urred to him that hecked underground facilities, in case his guests preferred them. To be more specific, there were ces underground he had prepared for subterranean guests, but he had done so casually and not brought it up to standard. A moment was all it took for him to design aplex underground settlement,plete with awork of roads, houses, shops, meditation rooms and more. Then he put it a short distance away from the manor towards the east. From the surface it was not evident, but in the time it took them to tour the manor, Lex had constructed an entirely new, massive part of the Inn. Admittedly, wanting to see the drama- cat''s reaction when he told them he built that for them was a strong motivator for his actions. Chapter 999 Oh lawd

Chapter 999 Ohwd

"By the grace of the Heavenly tree, what splendor do we behold now?" muttered Haboob as he looked out at the glowing outlines of the Magikarpets. Though they were out a distance in theke, the drama-cats still spotted them. "It is the transcendence of the mundane to the sublime. It is the evolution of life! It is¡­ it is¡­ it is a fish growing into a bigger fish!" All the drama-cats were mesmerized by the visage, and Lex had a strong feeling that they thought they were looking at food. After all, the drool dripping down their chin was unmistakable. "You know, I have never met your kind before," said Lex. "Why don''t you tell me a bit about yourselves." Lex was thoroughly enjoying hosting the drama-cats, but he was well aware that he was in a time crunch. There was no resin within the territory of the Inn, but there was some nearby that he had marked out. He nned on getting to it. But first, he was going to address the strange feeling he was getting from being targeted. But he was waiting for the right time. Just as his instincts had warned him of this unknown danger, it also told him that it was not yet time to face it. "My gracious host, thy benevolence is too great. Coddle me not with thy considerate attention, lest I am forever unable to depart these hallowednds," Haboob said as he fell to his knees. Truly a reaction worthy of a drama-cat. "No my brother, thy have gone astray. The chronicle of our people must be spread, not hidden," said Jacob. "The sacrifice of the ancestors must be remembered and honored, their glory spread across thends." Feeling reinvigorated by Jacobs words, Haboob immediately returned to his feet, and began his tale. "At the dawn of time itself, the drama-cats did not exist," Haboob said slowly, as if revealing a major secret. Lex, on the other hand, was more intrigued to learn that his universal trantor automatically tranted the actual name of their race to drama-cats for him. Now no one could take the name away. Though, it was at this point he realized something else as well that he had missed since he got his new realm. He did not seem to need the universal trantor. It was as if he could glean the meaning the other wanted to say, even if he did not understand the words. It was as if¡­ on some level, Lex wasmunicating from soul to soul. "But verily, it was the absence of the drama-cats that spurned the universe into existence, that got time to flow, that turned reality into¡­ well, reality. Every action, every coincidence, every single fluctuation in destiny all worked together to bring forth the birth of the noble drama-cats. "Others will deny this truth. But to the nonbelievers I say, prove that everything in existence has not happened specifically so that we maye into being, and they have no answers. It is not their fault, they cannot see the logic behind it, so blinded by their egos they remain." "Makes sense," Lex nodded without so much as a hint of a smile on his face. It was as if he really believed. "Then the first of us appeared, born from the womb of this realm itself, and thend saw prosperity. The Heavenly tree bloomed to celebrate our arrival, and grew so that from every corner, all drama-cats would see this monument in their honor. The name of the first ever drama-cat was recorded in history, and is known to every creature in existence. The name is Bob. "Verily, the nonbelievers im they do not know the name Bob, but I say unto them, do thou not know the name Bob? They im I know it. And hence their beliefs are once again disproved." "Makes sense. I also know the name Bob," said Lex, which prompted the remaining drama-cats to speak as well. "So do I¡­" "I know Bob¡­" "My name is Bob Jr. XXVII¡­" "But having the favor of the universe does not mean we have the favor of all beings, for after the birth of Bob, came¡­ the enemy. The enemy had many forms. Sometimes it fell from the sky, as wetness. Other times, it came from our bodies, as hunger. But the worst of all were the times it came as beasts of prey." The other drama-cats mimicked Haboob. "Preying beasts¡­" "Beasts who pray in the morning¡­" "Beasts of prey¡­" "Beasts who pray for prey to pay¡­" "After a war that cracked thend itself, splintering it into three, the drama-cats were driven from thends, and forced to live below ground. There, we have built homes for ourselves. Amidst the dirt we lived, and from underground rivers we drank. In the darkness, we slept, and on rare asions, came up to hunt in the light. Till the end of time, we existed as such. But then, time decided not to end, and your voice called out from the heavens. A time era is before us, when the drama-cats return to ground once again. "Thus have we endured an eternity of torture and survived. We need only send back word, and many of our kind will flock to the Inn. Of course, we have to work to pay, for loans are a sin, but the drama-cats are known for many things, and fear of work is not among them." "Quite a splendid tale," Lex said, sensing that this story may actually continue till the end of time. "But from what I hear, it seems like you don''t want to live underground anymore. Does that mean I should get rid of the underground city I built for you all?" The drama-cats trembled and froze in disbelief. A city¡­ for them? Unable to contain itself, one of the unnamed drama-cats fell to its knees and raised its arms up to the heavens. "Ohwd! Why are we thy favorite,wd? Why do thy bless us so?" The other cats began to mimic him. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Ohwd¡­" Chapter 1000 It is time

Chapter 1000 It is time

Lex had to use everything to keep himself from cracking a smile orughing out loud as he watched the drama-cats theatrics. No matter what, he had not been prepared for them to fall on their knees and startmenting their great fate to their wd''. It was both funny and adorable. But Lex began to sense that the time for his first showdown in this realm was slowly approaching, so he had to rush. "Come, let me show you the city. We haven''t even determined if you like it or not. If you don''t, then you do not have to use it, as others naturally will. As for the rest of the drama-cats ability to pay, I can only wish you good luck." Lex teleported them to the underground city, which was lightly illuminated by a type of moss nted all around. Venttion, Lex discovered, was one of the greatest issues in developing an entire underground city. But given his new capabilities, it took him hardly any time at all toe up with an arrangement for a natural and persistent flow of air to flow through the settlement, driven by strategically ced holes in the ground, a few heatsinks and the natural action of hot air to rise. Essentially, cold air would enter the city through the holes and travel across the various sections of the city until it encountered a heatsink which would quickly heat up the air and then rise up through awork of chimneys and vents. Of course, creating such a natural cycle was just giving it a bit of an edge, for the system itself would ensure that the environment stayed perfect. But it felt nice to create a design which automatically amodated for a number of problems. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om For now the underground city was a bit bare, but he nned on filling it with a number of other bioluminescent nts to add both light and color to the settlement. "By the fuzz on my chin, it''s perfect," Jacob muttered as he lost himself in the sight of the sprawling city. Lex felt like he really should stop giving them so much good news in such a short time. It probably wasn''t good for their hearts. "Explore at your leisure," Lex said, as he sensed something a critical moment was approaching. "I have some matters to take care of, so I must depart. You can find one of the Inn workers for help if you need it." "Who will save the world, if the savior is busy with us? Depart, Innkeeper, and deprive the world of your magnanimity no longer." Lex could not help but chuckle before he teleported away. When he reappeared, he was no longer wearing his Host Attire, and was in his baby form, standing at the tip of Midnight mountain. Cassandra was sitting cross-legged, one of her eyespletely closed, and the other nearly so. "I was hoping you would visit," Cassandra said with a strained voice. "I have little time. I am about to fall into an epiphany state, and I cannot say when I will wake. I have some advice for you. Listen closely. Your cultivation is very strange, even I nor the temple can see through it. But I have seen one thing. The Nascent realm is there to prepare your soul to bear the burden ofws, but your soul has already experienced so much tempering in this manner that the entire realm is pointless for you. "Thus, whether you try or not, you will surpass the Nascent realm in record speed. For others, a hundred years would be quick to be an immortal, but I doubt you will be able to stay mortal for even a year more. But for all your strengths, you have one extreme weakness. Yourprehension of the straightforward is astounding, but your understanding of the profound is weak. "No matter what, you mustpletely master the Inferno de and Stalwart Guardian sword techniques before you begin to form your Ts of immortality. You struggle with the abstract aspects of those techniques exactly because your mind is closed off. If you form your ts in such a state, you will forever weaken your foundation. Only once you free yourself from the limits of your own experiences can you achieve the peak..." Cassandra''s voice became weaker and weaker as she spoke, and in the end she was unable to keep her eyes from closingpletely. The moment that happened, her body seemed to dissipate, making one think that she had dismissed her clone. But Lex knew that this was actually a form of protection for her clone while it underwent an epiphany. Perhaps, when she woke up, she would be a step closer to the Dao lord realm, or may even be ready to take a step to it. Lex recalled his sword technique Inferno de. He had learnt it in an effort to improve himself, as well as refine his sword intent so that he could eventually absorb the sword in his soul. The first three moves, he had learnt at a nce. Thest three, he could not even begin to understand. "So I have to suppress my cultivation growth till I learn these?" he murmured to himself. If that was the case, he might as well start now. He turned his head towards where he sensed the maliciousness from, and teleported in that direction. Though he teleported to the limits of the Inns boundary, he did not actually use the Host Attire to do so. Once, he needed the system''s aid to do everything. It had all seemed so magical. Now, he suddenly discovered that many of the things the system allowed him to do, he could do on his own. Whenpared to how magical he thought it would be¡­ it was even freaking better! Using his instincts, he traced the source of the malicious intent, uncaring about how far it was. Although the range of his spirit sense had grown, and could now epass an entire 600 miles(1000 km), he seemed to be able to follow his instincts even farther! Though admittedly, he could not see anything. He just found the location. From the top of the wall Lex took a single step forward, but in the next moment he appeared in apletely different region. Rather than the lush and thriving region of the Midnight Inn, he found himself in barren, scorchednds that had suffered the scars of a brutal war. Countless bodies covered the ground for as far as the eye could see, and one could immediately tell that two sides had fought a grievous battle here. But their battle had somehow given birth to some kind of monstrosity, resulting in the defeat of both sides. In front of Lex stood a massive creature with a body that spanned dozens of miles. The bottom half of its body was exactly like a centipede, with exactly 100 long, bony legs on each side of its long body. The top half, for some unknown reason, had the torso and face of a human, though sized proportionally to its gigantic body. But instead of the hands of a human, it had gruesome, jagged ws like that of a praying mantis. The creature had not noticed Lex yet, as it was busy consuming the bodies on the ground, though even in that state Lex could feel an intimidating aura from it. A sword appeared in his hand. It was time for the Midnight realm to wee the warbringer. Chapter 1001 Centipedal

Chapter 1001 Centipedal

Lex was standing in the middle of nowhere, far away from the Midnight Inn. But, oddly enough, the sense of control he had in the Inn did not disappear. This was the first time he was stepping outside the Inns territory since raising his level, so he was only now noticing the change. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Within the Inn, it was the system that empowered him and gave him absolute control over his environment. But right now, while he did not have absolute control, he felt like it wouldn''t be so hard to manipte the world. When he looked at the field of endless bodies, he could sense a strange pattern once again. It was as if the randomyout of the bodies of the deceased was not so random, and followed some kind of underlying rule orw. But once again, the pattern was too vague and abstract for him topletelyprehend. But he could read bits of the pattern. It was almost as if events were ying back in reverse in front of his eyes. He could see countless conspiracies behind the war, countless false promises and unclear motivations. He could see a hate, distorted and empowered beyond their means to control. He could see a weapon unleashed to ughter the enemy, but it grew too powerful. He only saw bits and pieces, but he could gather the overarching story of what happened. More importantly, since he understood thend in front of him with greater depth than a simple visit would normally give, he also knew how he could manipte it in the easiest way possible. There were many affinities that Lex had that he didn''t practice. But right now, he felt like if he had even the slightest control over his affinity for Wood, or for Nature, he could use all the bodies here and turn this from a barrennd into a lush forest. But even without them, he sensed that thisnd had been severely harmed, and he could actually use his affinity for Regeneration to heal thend. Simrly, when he looked at the massive creature, he could sense that both its body and its soul were incredibly strong. But its mind,paratively, was fragile. How convenient, then, it was that Lex could turn any of his attacks into physical, spiritual or soul oriented. The creature froze, and suddenly looked up, as if it sensed Lex''s hostility, and immediately let out a shrill scream. It rose its body high in the sky, before lunging forward, swiping its ws to rip Lex to shreds. Lex could feel the immense strength packed in its every move, and could also see its many weaknesses. But, since he had been guided to focus on his sword techniques, he decided to stick to it. He jumped forward, and sped up mid air as he approached the creature and used Inferno de: Judgment. His de immediately turned red from the heat, and carried a lethality that seemed to radiate off it like heat from a fire. The creature, sensing the danger, crossed its ws. Lex, even without the need to use his left eye, ''saw'' something change. A tiny ck ball of energy appeared in front of the creature''s crossed ws, and a repulsive force forcibly ended Lex''s momentum and pushed him away, despite his ability to fly. "Interesting," Lex muttered, before switching his attack. Instead ofing close, he used Inferno de: Shooting star, the long range attack from the Inferno de sword technique. A great, ming sword, coated in his sword intent, shot through the air towards the creature. Since this attack was made of energy and intent, and had no real mass, the repulsive force did not work. But the creature was nimble, and immediately dodged the attack by moving away, letting out another angry scream as it did. It seemed offended that Lex was putting up a fight. Its lower body began moving independent of its upper body, circling behind Lex while its upper bodyunched another attack. As if inspired by Lex''s previous attack, it began waving its ws in the air,unching little ck shes towards him. While normally Lex was a fan of tanking attacks head on, he sensed that these attacks were dangerous, and hid their true devastating quality within the darkness, so he dodged as well. While Lex wanted to test out his new abilities, he didn''t want to prolong the battle unnecessarily. He came here because he sensed danger from this creature, so he stopped holding back. He Blinked right behind the creature, and used Space Warp on the creature''s back. In a ten feet (3 meter) region around his hand, space began to bend, causing light and gravity to behave oddly. The sudden spike in gravity caused the creature''s backbone to snap, causing it to fall limp on the ground, though it was far from a lethal injury. The creature screamed again, and traces of ck energy began umting around its ws, but Lex gave it no time to retaliate. He used Inferno de: Judgment and buried his sword in the creature''s back, channeling the ming sword intent into its body. Simultaneously, he converted some of his attacks into spirit attacks, assaulting its mind and causing it to immediately fracture. But even as a massive hole burnt through its torso, and it''s mind was broken, the creature did not die. Its resilience was astounding. Before Lex could continue to attack, an overwhelming repulsive force sted him into the air with such might that it actually caused him to be a little breathless. But even though Lex had been pushed back, his attack was not so easily dismissed, and mes continued to eat at the creature''s upper body. Its lower, centipedal body writhed for half a second, before it disconnected from the torso, and then split once more into a hundred smaller sections, each with two bony legs. Each section began doing different things, with many of them immediately feasting on the corpses while a few began burrowing into the ground to escape. Others began to fly away, while others still lurched towards Lex, wrapped in ck energy. Chapter 1002 Tricked

Chapter 1002 Tricked

Watching the many dronesing to attack him, Lex was honestly impressed. He was fairly certain that his strength was near the pinnacle of this realm, so for this random creature to put up so much of a fight against him was extremely remarkable. It was no wonder that none of the other natives had survived its wrath. That was still taking into ount that Lex could also tell that the creature was not yet ustomed to its new power. Given enough time, it may have put up a greater fight. The hundred drones that had been released, Lex could tell, were some kind of self defense mechanism. They were mindless, and acted on instinct. Some were running away, some were refueling and some were attacking. If ever one of the hundred managed to escape, the creature could be reborn much in the same way he was reborn after being crushed into meat paste. The ck energy they wielded was also interesting. Lex could tell that the source of the danger he felt was this energy. It contained some kind ofw that he had not encountered before, yet it was potent enough to cause him harm. While his body was extremely resilient against all physical, soul and spirit attacks, it seemed it could not escape the influence ofws. The threat he was feeling from this creature diminished considerably, but it was not gone. Honestly speaking, Lex found this totally uneptable. He was convinced that if he were still cultivating Regal Embrace, it would have found some way to increase his defense even againstws. It seemed he had been focusing too much on increasing his strength and not enough on other aspects of cultivation. To be fair, it was only after he had be a Nascent soul cultivator that his perception and awareness ofws was increasing so rapidly. Feeling somewhat peeved, Lex spread his spirit sense and locked onto each and every drone. He did not need to rush to them. Lex Blinked and appeared behind the first drone, using Inferno de to cut it in half. He nned on using Blink to attack every single one of the drones, and finishing the battle off in the next few seconds, but the drones turned out to be more dangerous than he thought. The moment he sliced the first drone, his instincts spiked, sensing danger. He Blinked away just in time to avoid the drone erupting into a massive explosion of ck energy. As if a chain reaction had been set off, countless other drones began exploding too, causing Lex to repeatedly Blink away. But while he managed to avoid the sts, he discovered the entire region was covered in a cloud of ck energy, hiding the remaining drones from his senses. The ck cloud was not dissipating either, and instead began to grow as it corroded the countless corpses on the ground. A light shed through Lex''s eyes as he realized that he had been tricked, by mindless drones moreover. If it had been anyone else, this move would have worked wonders. After all, the strange ck energy was extremely dangerous for anyone if it could pose a danger even to Lex. It had covered a wide enough region where it could hide the movements of the remaining drones, and it could block spirit senses as well. In a way, it immediately created an impasse. But Lex had too many ways in which he could get around this. He could, for example, just force his way in. Even if the ck energy would harm him, it would not be lethal, and he could recover eventually. But Lex was not a brute, and did not need to rely on such unrefined methods. Then, he could use his soul sense to locate all the drones. Although the energy blocked out spirit sense, it did nothing to the soul sense. After locating them, Lex could use reverse Blink to teleport the drones to him, and then finish them off. Or, if he so wished, he could use Evisceration on them from a distance after locating them. Although the technique was surely weaker in the Nascent realm, it would still hurt, and eventually kill them off. There were countless more ways for him to resolve the issue, long before he even considered using arrays. But since he was being exposed tows in a new way, he wanted to test out how he could counteract them. How would two, unrtedws behave when pitted against each other? He held out his hand and used Space Warp once more. Space began to bend under his control, and gravity spiked once more. But oddly enough, the gravity did not affect Lex, or the drones, or anything else. Instead, it seemed to only affect the ck energy. The ck energy seemed to resist, but regardless of any resistance it put up it was dragged into the warped space. Lex felt a strain on him as his energy consumption spiked. He even felt his technique unraveling, and Space Warp on the verge of copsing. Lex turned his open palm into a fist, and Space Warp strengthened. The effect of gravity was not greater, but the resistance from the ck energy seemed weaker nheless. Lex was intrigued by this behavior, but before he could study it, he had to deal with the drones first. No matter what, he had sensed that the creature possessed the will and ability to act against him, so he was not going to let it live. He pulled out his Divine Butter knife, the one he created himself, and began to Blink to the drones. The second test he wanted to conduct, while killing his enemies, was how divine energy reacted withws. As it turned out, it was much easier to suppress the eruption of ck energy as long as he used the Divine energy within the Butter knife. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Only a few secondster, all but one drone were killed. With one drone left alive that he had captured, and a ball of strange ck energy trapped within his own ability, Lex could now take his time and experiment. Back in high school, he had learnt about the scientific method when testing things. But first, he had to decide exactly what aspect he wanted to test. If it was stillws, then he needed a number of differentws, all with different strengths. Lex rubbed his chin. Did sword intent count? Chapter 1003 Tests Chapter 1003 Tests ??Before he did anything, Lex took a mental note of all that he had to do, and how much time he had left with the Host Attire. In total, he should have around 7 days left. Within this time, he needed to not only fix the Inn and prepare for any future needs it might have in the short term, he also had to verify that the resin actually worked to upgrade the system. If, by any chance it did not work, thend covering the Inn still had countless other mysterious and valuable items he could try out. Considering his progress, and the speed with which he could reach ces now using teleportation, he felt like he could spare an hour to experiment. He let go of Space Warp, and allowed the ball of ck energy to flood back into the open, Blinking away before it could reach him. From a safe distance, he activated his left eye so that he could study this strange ck energy. Immediately, he learnt a few things. The ck energy seemed to be some force of corruption or corrosion, as it ate everything it touched to grow. Its energy reserves were only rising, not diminishing, as it ate the countless corpses on the field. But that did not mean this ck energy would be a massive new problem. This was because while its energy reserves were increasing, its existence was being whittled away. Whateverw this ck energy was associated with did not naturally integrate with this area, and so was slowly being acted upon by the naturalws that existed in this ce. Once it crossed a critical threshold, it would all immediately disappear.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om But, conversely, the ck energy was acting on the localws as well. If there was enough of it, it could forcibly make itself a part of this ce. Unfortunately, since its source was gone, that was not destined to happen as a lot more of the ck energy would be needed to bring about such a change. Lex also couldn''t help but notice that the pattern or arrangement of bodies seemed perfect to feed this ck energy, and allow it to grow. It was too coincidental. It seemed like there was more at y with the appearance of this creature than it seemed. But, for the moment, Lex could not be bothered to investigate. First of all, he only had a vague idea of where he was. Secondly, while he had received a lot of information about this realm, it was mostly pertaining to the realm itself and not its inhabitants. Only very few, extremely notable inhabitants were included in the information, as if they were a part of the realm. Such as the massive tree in the middle of this continent, of the strawberry monsters. So he had no information about the two races that were battling, their history, or the real reasons they were fighting. He also did not want to get involved. He held out his sword and coated in it pure sword intent and nothing else. Holding the sword through his spirit sense, he sent it forward to stab into the ck energy and studied the reaction. He had little to no experience controlling a sword with his spirit sense, but he still had enough control to gently stab at the ck energy. For a fraction of a second the sword intent and the energy shed, and then his sword intent failed. Quickly, before the sword could suffer any damage, he withdrew it. He was not too surprised by the oue. After all,pared to his realm, his sword intent was too ordinary. But the momentary sh, instead of totalck of opposition, meant that sword intent really could be used againstws. Or at least, thisw, as long as the intent was strong enough. This time, he coated his sword with his spiritual energy alone, and stabbed it one more time. Although his own unique affinity was not aw, it contained a mix of affinities for numerousws. He wanted to see if it could have any effect at all. Unfortunately, it was even more fragile than the sword intent. Lex continued to experiment with the energy, even going as far as attacking it. He used Inferno de without the sword intent, Evisceration, and a number of other attacks. But all of them brought negligible results. Only through the use of certain abilities associated withws, such as his spatial abilities or sword intent, even put up a fight. Though, oddly enough, when Lex drew a drop of blood from himself and threw it in the ck energy, it had a purging effect on it! His blood turned out to be more potent against this ck energy than even spatialws! In the end, he was unable to suppress his curiosity, and stuck his hand within the ck energy. He told himself he needed context for how dangerous suchw attacks were against him, though perhaps a reluctance to admit his defense was falling behind yed a part in it as well. The effects were instant, though not severe. His entire hand was covered in an itchy rash that was spreading along his arm at a noticeable rate. The skin around his nails began to dry and started to lose color. Although there was no actual damage yet, Lex felt like if he kept his hand in the energy too long, it would rot. He channeled his energy within his hand to see if he could fight off the decay, and even used a number of defensive techniques. But, once again, they proved to be of little use. Then Lex tried to use his Domination, and he was taken aback by how effective it was. The energy retreated wherever his aura spread, as if it too was afraid of the Dragons Might it emted. That¡­ as unexpected. Lex then used Impervious Hands and channeled his aura into the technique, then once again reached out towards the ck energy. This time, instead of prating it, Lex touched it, as if he were touching smooth silk. Chapter 1004 Show of force Chapter 1004 Show of force ??His hand suffered no damage at all as the ck energy flowed through his fingers like strings of silk. It was slippery, but he felt like he couldpletely take hold of some of it, if he wished. This was a result ofbining Impervious Hands with Domination, his two most versatile techniques. But Lex was not most amazed by Domination. That was a technique that grew out of feeding off of Dragons Might. It was only natural that it should be iprehensibly powerful. No, Lex was more amazed at Impervious Hands. How was this technique, after so long, still so useful? He recalled that when he originally encountered this technique, it was a fairly ordinary one. It was only after it underwent an upgrade from Regal Embrace that it reached a new level. Lex, at the time, guessed that the technique had reached S rank, but now he was beginning to feel like it might have been even higher. What was more important, however, was that he lost the automatic upgrades techniques got as a result of Regal Embrace. However, under the influence of his new technique, he had the potential to grow and improve techniques himself. If he could upgrade more techniques to the level of Impervious Hands, or even create his own techniques, then he would be much more powerful than he is now. But that was a matter for another time. His hour was up, and he was done testing out what he wanted to test. As for the drone, it would be a ''guest'' at his Inn, kept in a safe and secure location, for its own health, and would wait for when lex had more time to study it. Taking ahold of the creature, Lex teleported back to the Inn. His hand, which he had stuck into the ck energy, was extremely itchy and he was tempted to get into a Recovery pod, but he ultimately resisted the urge. He wanted to see how long it would take his body to naturally heal from such an injury. But before going out to search for resin, he checked on John, as well as Luthor. John was sitting on the floor in front of the dragon, scribbling something in his diary. It seemed like he was having troubleing up with a technique. That was to be expected. In fact, Lex did not actually expect him to seed any time soon. When he looked towards Luthor, the situation once again pretty much fell within his expectations. A battle hand unfolded, and now countless soldiers were sitting, stripped of their armor and weapons, under supervision. Many had died in the initial sh, but none from the Inn were even harmed. Luthor was currently sitting across from someone called Narin, and negotiating. Feeling slightly intrigued, he decided to check it out - but as himself rather than the Innkeeper. After sending the drone to the turtle to keep an eye on, he teleported over, immediately attracting everyone''s attention. The invaders were bipedal, but had a hunched frame that made them look short. Butpared to them, Lex was even shorter despite his straight frame. Yet it was not his height that attracted the attention of the countless soldiers who were being held prisoner, but the distasteful aura emanating from his hand. Although the Inn was suppressing any harmful effects of aura, his hand was not emitting any such thing so it was not suppressed. Instead, on his hand was only a mild remnant of the ck energy''s aura. Yet what was mild and weak to Lex seemed monumentally dangerous to all the invaders, the strongest of whom was in the Foundation realm. Even Luthor, who was mid negotiation, immediately sensed something, and turned to look towards Lex. Although he did not know what happened, he knew that Lex was not weak. So for him to sport such a serious injury, he may havee from a devastating battle.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Is everything okay? Are there enemies?" he asked with concern. "No, no, just taking care of a threat. It has already been resolved. Then I heard about the situation here so I thought I''de check it out. What''s the update?" "After we identified ourselves and told them to stop, they immediately attacked instead. The officialmander is dead, but as far as I can tell, this doctor here has the highest authority now. I was learning a bit about their empire when you came." "From what you''ve learnt, do you think the empire will stop the invasion?" Lex asked. "Highly unlikely. Their emperor is extremely ruthless from what I can tell. I doubt he will see reason so easily." Lex studied Narin, and saw from him many conflicting emotions. He was afraid and nervous, but at the same time he was also irritated and inconvenienced. There was a tinge of excitement buried in there as well. "Then what are you nning to do?" Lex asked. Since he had originally given this task to Luthor, he did not want to put ideas in his head. He was just making sure that Luthor was not thinking along the lines of massacring the empire to eliminate a future potential threat. Luthor narrowed his eyes and spent a moment in contemtion. He also looked at Narin, who was nervously observing him. "First, I want to learn as much as possible about this empire. Then, once I understand it fully, I n on personally delivering a message to the emperor so that he understands that it would not be in his best interests to act against the Inn. Even though I doubt the emperor will so easily listen, the message has to be delivered sincerely. After all, the Midnight Inn should give them the benefit of doubt. "But, if they still act out against us¡­ then it would be best to eliminate the emperor with a show of power. After all, the Inn does not provoke enemies, but it should not tolerate them either." Lex was actually surprised. Luthor''s answer was a lot more tame than he expected. It seemed that he had matured a lot from when he first entered the Inn. "If you need any help, let me know." Chapter 1005 Evil Conspiracy

Chapter 1005 Evil Conspiracy

Luthor seemed to have the situation handled, but Lex took a tour of the area on his own anyway. Truth be told, he currently had a much easier alternative to solving this issue. He could use his authority to seal the Minor realm up. But in the event that some other Minor realm invadedter on, he would not be able to do the same. That is why it was best to set a precedent beforehand for handling such issues themselves. Lex took some of the weapons that were being used by the invaders, who were a race that identified themselves as Berkin. The weapons were guns that looked like they hade out of a scifi movie or video game. He shot a few rounds and was impressed by the super heated bullets. It seemed that the Berkin, if nothing else, had impressive technology. If their empire behaved, then there could be a great precedent for trade. He could already imagine Chen and Lily taking advantage of their technology and selling it in their shop - though he imagined sales would be down for the foreseeable future, at least until the Inn opened back up. In fact, if their technology was really good, he wouldn''t mind adding some of it to his Inn. Considering the new, massive scale of the Inn, transportation across its territory was going to be a concern. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The easiest option would be to set up numerous teleportation points for guests to use, but with the system having closed down the addition of new formations for the time, it would have to wait. More conventional means of transportation would be needed. After he had sated his curiosity, Lex teleported away. He had no free time, but he did not notice that after he left, every single one of the Inn workers looked towards where he had beenst. By now, everyone of the workers knew that Leo was Lex, and that he had saved the entire battalion with a little help from Cirk. Although it was obvious that he was not the strongest worker, it was generally epted that his strength was above most of the workers. For even him to suffer such an insidious wound on his hand meant that the dangers of this new realm could not be understated. Lex,pletely oblivious to the fact that he had caused the other workers to be more cautious and less overconfident, turned his attention to one of histest born workers. He was standing in the building which was formerly used to connect to the Henali portal. It was no surprise that the portal was not working, since they were no longer in the realm and were not connected to it anymore. What was surprising to learn was that the machine which had been altered by the system to connect to the portal anonymously was actually run and operated by a hidden A.I. Now that the original A.I. no longer had ess to it, a new A.I. had been born within. "Does this mean you can create a newwork for the Inn? Like, our very own inte?" Lex asked as he looked at the machine. It was strange to talk to something that had no obvious face. But through a mic and some speakers, the A.I. could talk back. "I don''t know how to do any of that. Maybe after I read all the data saved locally I''ll learn how to do so, but my processing power is woefullycking. If you transfer me to a machine with greater processing power, or maybe upgrade my existing one, I can speed up. Otherwise, it will take me a little over two years to just finish parsing the existing data." "I''ll see what I can do, but for now you should begin learning what you can. A couple of years is not bad. Prioritise information that can help you build our ownwork. That could be really helpful." "Got it," the A.I. responded. It was surprisingly easy to work with and direct,pared to all the other newborns, which Lex was grateful for. He also sent a message to Luthor asking him to find out if there are anyputers in the Berkin empire, and if so what are their specifications. It would be quite convenient if he could get his hands on some decent hardware. He was somewhat intrigued by the idea of having his very own Midnightwork. It had not urred to him before, but now that the idea came to him, it felt like he would be really missing out if he didn''t get one. If he could then manage to spread thiswork across this entire realm, then it would be extremely useful in collecting information and knowing what was happening everywhere. Just as he was musing on the possibilities, he froze, as he had another idea. What if he didn''t disclose that thework was his? What if he just helped it spring up overnight, and secretly just watched everything from the background? Effectively, it made no difference. The idea was the same. But he liked the element of mystery and intrigue. In his opinion, even the Inn should have been shrouded in mystery, unknown to the world, instead of openly advertising it to every living being. That way, the few guests who stumbled onto it would experience a wondrous adventure into the unknown. The more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea. He''d make thework an integral part of society, with the convenience of effectivelymunicating and transferring data over long distances instantaneously. He''d also put up the facade that it was perfectly secure, with no data leaks. But in truth, he''d have ess to all the information. Lex nodded. Now he was thinking more like the billionaire that he really was. Sometimes, it was alright to spoil oneself and indulge in a little evil conspiracy here and there. It was good for the soul. He oversaw a couple more emergencies before he was finally ready to search for the resin. He really hoped that this would work. Chapter 1006 Lex meets Lex

Chapter 1006 Lex meets Lex

The first obstacle he faced was actually locating the resin. Although, technically speaking, he had already received information about its location, practically speaking he only knew its general location. Even then, the general location spanned countless thousands of miles. His instincts couldn''t guide him either, as unlike the creature he had locked onto before, the resin did not reveal any aura for him to detect. As far as he could tell, every bit of resin within the entire realm was actually sealed or suppressed in various ways, which is the only reason the resin could even form, not to mention survive. At least on Menara, the Tree of Heaven, as the locals called it, had discovered a few random bits of resin with its roots that spanned nearly the entire continent. Since then it had been hunting for the resin actively, so if even a bit of resin aura had been revealed, it would be tracked down and captured. Lex recalled all the information he had on its location, and noted down some keyndmarks that would help him track it down. The most notablendmark he recalled nearby was a vast region filled with geysers. He did not know if he was going to encounter any locals on his journey, but some friendly locals to help point the way would be most wee. He spent some time trying to fix a location he would teleport to, hoping that his instincts would guide him in a certain way. But whatever seal covered the resin must be extremely powerful, for no matter how long he waited, they stayed silent. Eventually, he just had to pick a location and teleport. When he appeared, Lex found himselfpletely drowned in grass. He had to fly up a bit to get a view of his location. As far as the eye could see, Lex saw countless small hills, covered on tall grass with a few trees here and there. A survey of the region with his spirit sense revealed countless wild animals and beasts, but not much else. Hepared his location to the map he had in his mind, and discovered that he had not even traveled half as needed. Probably. If he was reading the map right. A bird flying by paused for a second to observe him, as it had never seen anything like him. Lex waved, then teleported away. This time, he could tell that the hills were gradually turning in teaus, with countless rivers snaking through the valleys. There were more trees and in the distance Lex could see a forest. As far as he could tell, he was making progress in the right direction. Lex teleported again, but this time was surprised to find himself in a busy street! To his great surprise, he had teleported right into a massive city. All around him were lumbering giants that looked like a cross between a leopard and a hippo. Compared to them, Lex was as small as a fly. He flew up higher into the sky to get a good view of the surrounding area, and saw a cityrger than he had ever seen before. Massivekes and forests had somehow been incorporated into the city, probably serving some integral function, but Lex didn''t care about that. He waspletely lost, as nothing in his mental map showed such a sprawling city. He might need to ask one of the locals for help. He hoped they weren''t xenophobic. For this, he used his instincts to guide him to the best possible target. When he finally found a suitable target he flew on over and extended his spirit sense to epass the massive leopard-hippo. Leoppo? Hippard? Whatever. "Excuse me, I''m a little lost. Could you help me with some directions?" he asked, politely. He was hoping to break from his history of getting involved in ridiculous incidents. Hippo-leopard, who had been staring through what looked like a window for a clothing shop, turned and looked around, but could not find who was speaking. "Hello, yeah, this is me. Can you see me waving? I''m floating right above your snout." The Hip-leopard was started when it finally narrowed in on Lex, whose entire body was smaller than just its eye. It turned its head, thoroughly confused as to what it was looking at. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Despite its massive body, Lex was not too concerned about being in any danger, for the creature was merely in the Foundation realm. It was just that its size was humongous, which presented a problem whilemunicating. "Yes, you''ve got it right. You''re looking at me. Hi, my name is Lex. Could you help me with directions?" "Is this some kind of joke?" The hip-leopard asked. "Did someone put you up to this? Yes, okay fine, I know I''m a little small for my age. There''s no reason to make fun of me for it. Sheesh. Size isn''t everything you know." "I.. uhh, I don''t understand what you mean. I''m just trying to get some direction." "Oh, sure you don''t understand. I''m certain it''s aplete coincidence that your name is Lex and that you found the only other Lex in this entire town? Don''t tell me, is yourst name Williams as well? Were you abandoned by your family too? Do you run a small hotel to make a living just like me?" Lex - the human Lex - was stumped. He looked left and right for any hidden cameras, though obviously he knew there weren''t going to be any. Then he finally looked back at the massive creature. Now that he thought about it,pared to the rest, the leopard-hippo Lex did look much smaller. Almost as if he were¡­ a baby¡­ The human Lex started to scratch his head. This couldn''t be happening. Was he having some kind of a seizure? "Fine, fine, whatever, I''ll y along. Tell me where you want to go?" the creature Lex asked. "I uhh¡­ I was looking for a region nearby covered in geysers." Creature Lex looked at human Lex skeptically, with narrowed eyes. In the end, it decided to y along. "Alright well, take a seat on my shoulder. I know where you want to go. As it turns out, that''s where I''m going too." Chapter 1007 Leopold Chapter 1007 Leopold ??Lex flew all the way to Hip-leopard Lex''s shoulder and sat down. Although he could not be sure of the exact height, at a nce, this other Lex was a little over 1000 (304 meters) feet tall. It was sufficient to say that if he ever visited the Midnight Inn, he would have no problem climbing over the boundary wall. Sitting on Lex''s shoulder, Lex felt like he was a flea or a mite. This was ridiculous. That was also keeping in mind that Lex, much like Lex, was smaller than the rest of his race. "I''ve never seen one of your kind before. A bit on the small side, ain''t ya? What are you called? I mean, your people, not you personally." "Humans. We''re called humans. Most of them are a little bigger than me, though from your point of view it probably won''t make much of a difference. What about you? This is my first time in this region, so I''m not too familiar with the locale." "I am naturally a proud member of the Leopold race. A human, you say? I have never heard of such a race. But then, perhaps, due to your size, it is best if you stay hidden. You must be brave, for a human, Lex. Since you''re new here, allow me to give you a tour. You are currently within the territory of Larger Lahana, which is what this city is called. The surrounding region is a part of our area of influence, so as long as you obey the rules of Lahana, you can wander free from worry." "Are there many rules of Lahana?" Lex asked. Actually, he was pretty intrigued in how the Leopold race had developed, and its rtionship with not only its environment, but the other races as well. It hardly took him a moment after he got over his initial shock over their size that, perhaps, the Leopold race was of the average, or close to the average size of the creatures on this continent.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The centipede creature he killed had a body that extended for miles, and could be considered monstrous even among the creatures here, but it seemed to be a pattern. But then he realized that it probably wasn''t so, as the Leopold race even towered over many of the native forests he''d seen around the Inn. "The great Lahana has many rules, but as a guest you only need to oblige with the main few. Do not steal, do not murder, and do not be a Kanaka ''ino." "What''s a Kanaka ''ino?" Lex asked as he looked around. The Leopold race was actually quite advanced. Their civilization seemed to be in or around the equivalent to the industrial revolution on earth. The houses in their city were well built and sturdy, which was surprising considering their size. There were countless shops easily identified all around them, and human Lex could even identify what most of them were for. Clothes shops seemed to be the mostmon, which led him to start noticing the fashion sense among the Leopold. It¡­ well, it did not make much sense to him, but it did vaguely remind him of the goofy outfits he''d seen in fashion shows and magazines. "Kanaka ''ino are a race of evil, conniving creatures. Byw, they have to be killed on sight within thends of Larger Lahana." Leopold Lex seemed extremely agitated upon the mention of Kanaka ''ino, so human Lex decided it was best not to focus too much on them. Instead, he asked random questions about who or what Lahana actually was. As it turned out, Lahana was the name of the first ever Leopold. It seemed the drama-cats obsession with Bob might not just be a cat thing, but a trend across the entire realm. It made sense, maybe. Regardless, Lahana was the strongest Leopold, and the leader of their race. It seemed that despite being the first of their race, Lahana was still very much alive. That was absolutely not normal. As far as he knew, at least back in the Origin realm, the average life expectancy of a human Nascent soul cultivator was 500 years. Even if it was different for different races, this seemed like a little much. Perhaps Lahana was a mythical creature, or close to being one. Eventually, leopold Lex made it to the geysers, which were rtively close to the city. As it turned out, the boiling hot waters that shot out of the ground were a popr bathing spot for the leopolds, and Lex''s hotel, the Moonlight hotel, was in this area as well. Without a powerful system to provide him with endless attractions, Lex had to be smart about location. Building a number of natural geyser powered baths was a very good idea. The hotel, which reminded human Lex of the Midnight tavern in appearance, seemed to fit the leopold standard for quaint and cozy. "Here you go, Lex. Can you find your way from here? Are you supposed to be meeting a friend? If you have time, you may as well stop by my ce. Considering how small you are, I can offer you free food and drink. I doubt you''ll make much of a dent in my reserves." "Thank you for the generous offer, I''m on a bit of a tight schedule. But maybe once I''vepleted my task, I''ll stop on the way back. I should be able to find my way from here." "Well, safe travels," the massive hippo-leopard creature said as human Lex flew off. Lex made a mental note of this location. After he got over the absurdity of themonality between himself and this fellow, he decided to check out his hotel when he had the time. If the simrities between them were so insane already, who''s to say that leopold Lex didn''t have a system? Or that he didn''t get pulled into events that were absurdly over his head. If only Lex knew that within Hotel Moonlight who was waiting for leopold Lex, he''d realize just how urate his prediction was. Chapter 1008 Treasure hunter

Chapter 1008 Treasure hunter

Once he spotted the geysers, Lex flew high into the sky to get a good view of the entire region. With a birds eye view, he finally realized why he hadn''t been able to tell there was an entire city here when he received information about the whole realm. The leopold had built their city in a way that incorporated nature into their construction style. They were not worried about wasting space if a clump of trees couldn''t be worked with, or a specific region had a river running through it. They instead adapted their construction to the natural contours of thend. They had managed to keep alterations to thend to a minimum, which was quite impressive. But Lex put them out of his mind and instead began trying to guess the next location he had to teleport to. The problem was that as far as he could tell, the region where the resin was had no distinct features. It was a rtively barren area because of how rocky it was, but the region was vast. He might need to search for a long time. After approximating the distance, Lex teleported away, but arrived in a location that looked nothing like where he wanted to go. He had to teleport back to the geysers and try again, and then repeat the process a few more times. The tenth time he teleported, and still was not able to find the ce he was looking for, Lex got the feeling that his uing year was going to be very tedious. He needed toe up with a better strategy for searching for his target. Honestly speaking, the Midnight realm was quite beautiful and he would really like to explore it some other time. But for now he kept teleporting, attempting to adjust his teleportation range ording to his estimates. Eventually, after much longer than he anticipated, he finally reached his destination. Compared to the usual lush and greenndscapes he was used to seeing, the ce he was in now was mostly various shades of gray and brown. Even though there were nts growing here, they too had taken on the shade of thend. Despite theck of any mountains nearby, the terrain was extremely rocky, with countless bounders covering thend, and the asional spiky rock randomly sticking out of the ground. It was quitemendable that in only a few hours of searching, he''d found the correct spot. But correct was rtive. The resin was buried somewhere in this region, but he had no way of knowing exactly where, or how deeply it was buried. This search was infinitely worse than searching for a needle in a haystack. Fortunately, he had a n that he hoped would work. He turned his attention to the ring on his hand. The treasure spirit for the ring had gone to sleep after suffering damage while he was in the Void behind space, but Lex had more than healed it during this time. He had allowed it to sleep because he wanted to allow it to recover as much as possible, but it was time to wake it up. After all, a part of that spirit''s soul was a dragon, and it was well known that dragons were the best treasure hunters in the universe! Well, actually, Lex wasn''tpletely sure if they were unrivaled in the entire universe, as that was too vast for him to specte on, but they were pretty good. If anyone had a way to find an extremely valuable, and incredibly well hidden treasure, then it should be a dragon. Hopefully, a part dragon treasure spirit should also suffice. Lex pricked his finger and squeezed out a single drop of blood, and then turned it into its soul state to heal souls, before drizzling it over his ring. The ring absorbed it easily, and started to warm up. If the ring felt warm to Lex, then it was probably hot enough to burn through someone else''s finger. "Wake up Pel," Lex said using his spirit sense. "Your vacation has gone on for quite a while." His voice, imbued with a trace of Domination, instantly roused the sleeping Pel from its deep slumber with a start! "Huh? Wha- Who? Ma- master is that you? Thest thing I remember was¡­ ugh no, actually I have too many new memories to go through," Pel said lethargically. "Yes, you suffered a minor injury which caused you to fall unconscious. To heal you I had to strengthen the ring a bit, which is probably why you have ess to more of your memories, but you kept sleeping. I didn''t want to disturb you, but now I need a bit of your help, so I couldn''t wait for you to wake up anymore." "I¡­ I didn''t wake up because I was reliving the memories in my head," the ring spirit said, with a voice so drained it seemed like he was recovering from a hangover. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "How are you feeling? Are you able to sift through your memories for something useful? We''re hunting an incredibly valuable treasure. It''s a kind of resin formed during the birth of a new realm." "Do you mean the Amber Chaos resin?" Pel asked, suddenly sounding both invigorated and incredibly excited. The warmth of the ring turned mildly hot for a moment, before cooling back down. "Amber Chaos resin is a Dao level ingredient that is so gentle it can be absorbed by any living creature in any realm and massively boost their strength, potential, lifespan and many more! It''s the ultimate treasure for any dragon! In my previous life I spent countless years dreaming about it!" Pel''s excitement was such that Lex could not help but imagine his cultivation mat hopping around in excitement like a little kid about to receive his most anticipating birthday gift! "I''m not sure if that''s the same resin you''re talking about, but it might be. The problem is, it''s locked down by a seal of some kind, and I can''t even locate a trace of its aura. I have no way of finding it." "Of course, it''s sealed! It has to be! But that''s no concern to a dragon! That just makes the hunt even more worth it." Chapter 1009 Weak Domination Chapter 1009 Weak Domination ??Lex smiled. Although Pel had yet to actually bring about any substantial results, and only seemed ready to pursue its passion spanning multiple lifetimes of searching for treasure, he was already satisfied. After all, anything was better than randomly searching thend. Given that his spirit sense could span a veryrge area now, which should technically ease the search somehow, it would still be a great undertaking if done alone. Moreover, he was not so sure spirit sense could find the resin so easily. After all, if this resin really was the Amber Chaos resin, as Pel imed, and the Tree of Heaven already tasted some of its benefits, then it is likely that it had been searching the continent for more of it for a long time. In fact, if things were as Lex expected, and the races living under the tree''s canopy were its servants, then this resin may be the reason for some of the wars he had seen from above. "Alright, just let me see¡­ no not this one¡­ I don''t know¡­ wait, okay, this might work¡­" Pel began muttering to itself while Lex waited. He was not concerned. Instead, he surveyed the area to see if there were any settlements of other races inrge groups. Fortunately, there seemed to be nothing in the vicinity besides wild beasts. That would be best, as he did not want to attract too much attention. "Master, after a moment of overzealousness, I remembered that in my current form I cannot use most of my techniques from my previous life. I just don''t have the energy to sustain them. However, after much reflection, I was able to search for a technique I can teach you that should do the trick. "Strictly speaking, this technique should only be usable by dragons, as its first and most stringent requirement is Dragons Might, but you may be able to do it, nheless. I will transmit the details to you now." Lex felt the ring connect to his mind for a moment, before sending over a stream of information. He could not help but sigh at the way things worked out. If Lex''s body and soul were not so overbearingly powerful, and if he had not received information about the entire realm, and if he had not devoured Dragons Might, this technique would have never worked. Even receiving the technique was a burden on him, but his body and mind had long since be ustomed to dealing with things above his level, so instead of experiencing a bacsh, he just felt slightly strained. Considering the fact that even the weakest of techniques designed for dragons were aimed at Earth immortals, Lex was long past the realm where he could be judged bymon sense. The technique was called Wyrm''s Glyph. Using it was not so simple, and would probably require a bit of practice, but Lex did not anticipate it taking too long. After all, hisprehension had improved even further after he reached the Nascent realm. The issue came from the fact that, alongside his spiritual energy, Lex would need to manipte his Domination in ways that he never imagined before. First, learning to manipte Domination with masterful precision instead of mming it down on his target was going to be the first hurdle, and mixing it with his spirit energy was going to be the second one. Once he overcame those hurdles, it would be time to search for the resin. ording to the information attached to the technique, once used, the technique formed something called a Glyph on the user''s body. There was no proper exnation about what a Glyph was, but as far as Lex could tell it had some ovep with arrays, talismans and formations all at once. It was not made from characters, though when a Glyph came into effect it formed a single, visible pattern which was the Glyph. Once formed, it was fueled most by ambient energy, which is what was simr to arrays, and Lex got the sense that they could be prepared beforehand, which is where the simrity with talismans came in. Although no items were being used, the fact that a Glyph was formed through thebined use of Dragons Might and spirit energy gave him the impression that they required various materials or energies to form, which is where the simrity to formations came from. But now was not the time to delve into apletely new profession, regardless of how diverse its uses promised to be. Lex created a spatial anchor at this point, which meant he recorded its spatial coordinates so that he could teleport back here when he wished. Then he proceeded to return to the Inn. As much as he wished to learn the technique immediately, it seemed like it was going to take some time.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Without wasting a single second, he isted himself and began practicing, and immediately realized that the maniption requirements for Domination were going to be incredibly high. "Pel, do you have any techniques or practices that can help me train manipting Domination?" he asked. "I''ll transfer over everything relevant immediately," Pel said, sensing its master''s urgency. Lex was able to estimate that without help, it would take him weeks to learn fine control over Domination! Maybe he had underestimated the difficulty of the techniques used by Earth Immortals! Just as he was reflecting on that thought, Pel transferred over a number of guides and exercises from his memories, which rified the issue. It was not that he could not control it well enough, but that his Domination was still too weakpared to an actual dragon! There was only one solution for that. "John, I don''t mean to disturb you, but I have an urgent task that I need to take care of!" Lex said, teleporting over to his private meditation room. "If you want to continue to study the dragon while I cultivate go ahead, but you will have to be extremely silent." John was taken aback by Lex''s sudden arrival, and a bit confused by the urgency in his voice. "Is something the matter?" he asked, concerned. "Yes, I''m on a time limit and need to refine an aspect of my cultivation for one of the Innkeeper''s tasks. You can continue observing if you want, it might actually help you design the technique you want. But you''ll have to excuse me." Although it seemed like Lex was in a hurry, which he was, his exchange with John was also calcted. By showing him how hard everyone was working for the new Inn, while he was doing nothing butmenting, Lex aimed to make John feel left out. Being excluded from themunity, to a degree, that he had be used to was also going to be a strong motivator in helping him make his decision. Although the Inn was not providing any formations at the moment, that did not prevent Lex from setting up a few protective arrays around himself as he took his spot on the dragon''s forehead. He even took a moment to talk to Pel Jr. and let him know that he would be cultivating, so he shouldn''t disturb him. After making sure everything was ready, Lex closed his eyes and focused his mind on thetest information the ring Pel had sent him. He entered his Flow state just to make sure he got the best results. Most of the techniques were practice exercises to teach young dragons about how to control their aura, as well as refine it to make it stronger. As Lex began to cultivate, he focused solely on the aspects of refining his aura so that Domination would develop better. From the side, John could not help but look up in the distance at Lex. Although his cultivation was broken, and his body weakened, he had not beenpletely deprived of his old senses. As such, he could feel the change happening in the dragon''s aura to a certain degree. Standing there, on the bottom, looking up at Lex cultivating on a dragon''s head, John could not help but feel more pathetic than he had in his entire life. If that damn baby could cultivate all on his own atop a dragon without a stupid system, then why was hetching on to his system so hard? Even if he lost it, how much worse could his life really get? He was already at the bottom. He went from being one of the most respected workers in the Inn to the weak, sensitive guy everyone has to take care of. He burned the image of Lex cultivating in his mind as he made his decision to give up his system! He would trust the Innkeeper to guide him on a better path. Moreover, the path of an assassin was something the system decided for him. Now, he could finally decide on his own what he wanted to pursue in life. He had no idea what it was, but just the thought of figuring it out filled him with a sense of anticipation he hadn''t felt in a long time. Chapter 1010 Dragons breath Chapter 1010 Dragons breath ??Cultivating as a Nascent soul realm cultivator was¡­ it was almost divine! His control over spirit energy had improved drastically, and that improvement carried onto other aspects of his cultivation as well. The rate at which he absorbed Dragons Might also increased drastically, and that was before Pel gave him a bunch of exercises showing him how it was actually supposed to be used. He could feel himself improving, and that was after consciously trying to keep his actual cultivation from increasing. Fortunately, there were countless other areas he could improve in, so stopping a single aspect of cultivation was no burden. If previously, he had felt like he was adding water to a container that was near overspilling, now it felt like he was using a sink to fill up a dam! His body''s capacity for strength, defense,prehension, Domination, and so many other things had suddenly increased. Moreover, he could directly use the dragon underneath him as a source for all of them! This was great news, not only because now he needed to weaken the dragon for its new host, though Lex honestly doubted he''d be able to weaken it enough any time soon, but also because he was unsatisfied with his defense. Admittedly, it was still tremendously powerful, considering all he only got a rash from that ck energy, but he was unsatisfied. He had traded his newest technique in exchange for Regal Embrace, and although it was a lot better in many ways, he didn''t want to lose out the singr trait he had started his cultivation journey with: overpowered defenses. Earlier on, he was still too weak for it to be too prominent, but now that he was much stronger he was finally getting to the things that were absurd. He wanted to walk on the surface of a star, and take a dive in a''s core, to name just a few of the more sane ideas he had about what he''d do with a more durable body. This wasn''t even considering the really unbelievable stuff, like y catch using a ck hole as a ball. So he absolutely could not give up on the path to making his body indestructible. In fact, he was determined to surpass the limits of Regal Embrace. But those were all far off things. To aim a little closer to where Lex actually was, he wanted all the strength, toughness, might and everything else this Heavenly immortal dragon had to offer and make it his own, long before reaching the Heavenly immortal realm himself. A tough but achievable goal he set for himself was to bepletely equal to the dragon while still in the Earth immortal realm, at most. As if responding to his intentions, his cultivation technique altered itself a bit, and Lex received some feedback. If he wanted to achieve what he set as his goal, he needed to stop cultivating in random ces, and take the most he could from this dragon in his current realm before cultivating in other areas. It felt like his technique wasining to him for being so random. He imagined himself talking to an employee upset at his unreasonableness. "It''s okay, it''s okay, I''ll avoid cultivating in any active volcanoes for a while," he muttered. The change in aura around Lex was noticed by John as well as Pel Jr. Both of them hadpletely varied thoughts running through his mind. John was reinforcing his decision to give up his system in his mind, while Pel Jr. felt touched at the dedication Lex was showing in helping him weaken the dragon. Although it had not made any difference in the pressure Pel Jr. was feeling at all, he could tell that he was moving in the right direction. Previously Lex had been pacing himself while cultivating, but right now he was going all in. Like a flood that had no end, Dragons Might flowed into Lex''s body without restraint, and it vanishedpletely, leaving behind no trace of its existence. Hours rolled by, and nearly sixteen hourster, Lex finally paused. He did not feel tired, in fact, he could feel his body hungry for more. But he wanted to test out if he had strengthened Domination enough to use Wyrm''s Glyph. As absurd as it sounded, this single session of cultivation more than tripled the strength of Domination! Lex could feel that he had a lot more room for growth, but his intuition had been correct. With Domination the way it was right now, he could begin to practice manipting with precision hitherto unknown to him. Without moving from his spot, as this was the perfect ce to practice such techniques, Lex began to go through the exercises given to him by Pel. His amazingprehension, apanied by his Flow state, really began to show as he managed to form the Glyph within thirty minutes! His Dominationpletely withdrew into himself, and Lex felt like his aura had vanishedpletely. But at the same time, he could feel the power coursing through his Glyph. Although this one was only supposed to help him search for treasures, it still gave Lex the impression that what he was controlling was a live weapon. "Pel, do you know any more Glyphs I can learn using Domination?" Lex could not help but ask, a dangerous glint in his eyes.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Of course. What kind do you have in mind? I''ll have to search for ones suited for beginners, but there are countless such Glyphs that are supposed to help a dragon master their own strength. The Glyphs mimicking Dragons breath seem to be very popr." Lex clenched his fists as he struggled to keep his excitement contained! Yes, this is exactly what he had in mind! How cool would it be to use Dragon''s breath! His strength was about to skyrocket! "We can start with that one, but make a list of all the Glyphs I can use at my level and send them to meter. For now though, it''s time to hunt for treasure." Lex looked down to John, who was studying the dragon and scribbling something. It seemed like he was busy creating a technique, so Lex did not bother him. Instead, he teleported away. There were a few minor problems at the Inn caused by the fact that the countless people who had been stuck in the Minor realms before started toe out to the Inn. There were a few refugees who did not like the fact that they had been teleported to another realm and that the teleportation function wasn''t working, though Lex very much doubted they understood what realms were. He would normally take care of these things himself, but he was feeling impatient. The poor resin had waited too long for him already. It was time he weed it to its rightful ce: among his treasure collection! He teleported back to where the resin was supposed to be. He took a second to calm himself, lest he make a mistake in his excitement. The thought of treasure hunting and fire breathing had exhrated him much more than he expected. Maybe he was being influenced by the dragon. Nevertheless, he steadied himself and used the technique, forming the Glyph on his forehead. Once he overcame the most obvious sensations, which were of immense power, he became cognizant of a new sense entirely. It was surprising that he missed it in the first ce, considering how overwhelmingly it was reacting to the Midnight realm. He could¡­ could feel¡­ it was strange to describe. It was as if he was spying on the rules of the universe, and could feel the love the universe had towards certain things. Love might not be the right word, but considering how alien the sensation was for him, that was the closest thing he could equate it to at the moment. The more valuable something was, the more attention it was given by the universe. Or perhaps, it would be more appropriate to say, the more valuable it was, the morews it interacted with. This was all just guess work on Lex''s end at the moment. But regardless of what it was, Lex could feel, in a very quantifiable manner, the value of things all around him. The entire continent, every speck of dirt and every gust of air seemed to be valuable. Lex, for the first time, realized just how valuable the realm was. If he exported the dirt under his feet, he could probably raise the fertility of an entire with just a fistful! It was not really the same thing, since the realm was only 0.25 lightyearsrge, but Lex felt like he had gotten his own version of the Bangle of Narn. His realm could not bepared to a gxy in size, but perhaps in value they were close. Or maybe, his realm might even surpass it! These things he had no answer for, nor did they matter. He turned his attention towards thends in front of him. He hoped this Glyph could see through the seal on the resin, or else he would have wasted so much time for nothing. Chapter 1011 Free lunch Chapter 1011 Free lunch ??"Pel, how do I search for the resin?" Lex asked as he surveyed thend. The feedback he was getting from the Glyph was immense, and turning it into usable information was quickly bing a massive burden on Lex. It was still fine when he hadn''t noticed, but now that he had, it was as if every individual grain of dirt, every rock, every insect and animal in the vicinity were all giving him individual feedback. If he didn''t find a way to filter all this information, he would soon be overwhelmed. "You influence the Glyph through the use of Domination," Pel informed him, while he transferred the relevant data over to Lex. "Once you can control the technique, you have to raise the bar just high enough that you no longer get any feedback from your surroundings, and then increase your sensitivity at the same time. "The ingenious thing about this Glyph is that it is designed to peek through seals that are designed to hide treasures. After all, while the aura of the treasure can be suppressed, the way it interacts withws cannot. Seals actually justpensate for any interaction the treasure would have, thereby preventing any traces from appearing out in the open. But the Wyrm''s Glyph is not looking for traces at all. It is instead measuring quantity and capacity for interactions withws. Master, considering the weakened state of your Domination, your range will not be toorge, so you will have to search on your own. But once you''re in the vicinity of the resin, you should be able to sense it - hypothetically." Lex decided not to focus on Pel''sst word, and began regting his technique until he was just above the level where he got any feedback from his surroundings. As much as he wished for an easy solution, he still had to search. His preliminary search would be from the surface. He was hoping that the range of his Glyph was great enough to locate the resin from the ground, for if he was forced to dig then that would add another great obstacle in his path.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Just to be sure he was doing his utmost, he spread his spirit sense to its limits as well, before he began flying just over the ground at breakneck speeds. He could have run, yes, and it would not be much slower. But why put in so much effort when he could just fly? From time to time, he picked up on some buried or hidden treasures and valuables. More than once, he saw creatures that shone brighter in his eyes than anything else in the region. Lex pondered if what he was seeing was their spot on the Cosmic Ascendance spectrum, or if their bodies were just very valuable. For once, he did not have a clear guess. Time flowed like the wind, but Lex did not allow himself to focus on that. If he thought about it at all, he''d begin to get impatient, and that could distract him from his task. While he did not find the resin for a long time, since his spirit sense was spread out, he observed thend with greater scrutiny than he would ever normally use. He originally thought that this ce was barren, but that was far from the truth. It was just that life here had adapted and camouged itself perfectly to anyone only using their eyes. The rocks were covered in gray and brown moss, which hid themselves perfectly in the curves and shallows on their surfaces. The moss, then, became hidden habitats for countless tiny insects which themselves looked like pebbles or chips of rock. Snakes, scorpions, lizards and other creatures made themselves at home, just their natural appearance hiding them so well even as a Nascent soul cultivator Lex had not noticed them based on sight alone. Then, there were the ants. More than any other creature here, Lex took notice of the ants. He had seen four or five different species of ants in this region, which was not a lot. But what was astounding was the size of their colonies. For hundreds of miles, each species of ant took a region as their territory, and fought offpeting ant colonies at the borders, waging a war right underneath his eyes. Perhaps, if Lex had not seen the development of the realm from an angle directly above it, he would have felt different, but at the moment he felt like some kind of deity looking down at his creations. Their struggles and troubles seemed so arbitrary to him. He could randomly throw a piece of meat down in their territory, and that would be enough to feed each ant colony for generations, putting an end to their need for such fighting. But to them, what could be solved by him with a wave of his hand, was important enough to stake their lives. It was¡­ a humbling observation. As he grew stronger and stronger, and his ce in the universe grew, it was important to reflect upon what his power meant for the world around him. He remembered back on earth, one time in college he failed a ss because of which he lost his schrship. He had felt so miserable then. He wished some all powerful being woulde and just reverse time to give him another chance so that he could do it differently. He had sworn so deeply that he''d do it differently if he had just one more chance. It turned outter that he didn''t need a deity to help him out. He talked to his professor, who gave him an opportunity to redeem his grade by redoing a critical assignment. But the temptation of an all-powerful being just solving his problem for him had gripped him so strongly when he felt so miserable - even though back then he did not believe such things existed. Now he himself was an all powerful being. More importantly, he wondered if his problems looked the same to the countless beings more powerful than him. What must the mysterious man who just showed up inside his room at the Inn one day think of him when he looked at Lex? Perhaps, to him, guiding Lex was no more effort than Lex throwing out a piece of meat for the ants. Lex paused for the briefest of moments. He looked through his spatial bangle and found a lot of food that was no longer as nutritious to him now that his realm had grown. As he continued to fly over thend, he threw bits and pieces of it here and there to some animals he saw struggling. Although Lex was not too into charity himself, it also didn''t hurt to help others now and again, especially if it was no big deal to himself. After all, he had also benefited from the help of others. It seemed that sometimes, in life, there were free lunches. Chapter 1012 Pop goes the... Chapter 1012 Pop goes the... ??Lex decided not to measure time and instead just focus on his search. Such a mentality, alongside the fact that it was perpetually sunny in the Midnight realm made it so he really could not tell how long it had taken him, eventually there came a time that he scanned the entirety of the region, but was unable to discover the resin or anything else that might hint at it. That meant he would need to conduct the search underground - how wonderful. He did not need to think back to the time in the Crystal realm when he got buried underground, or the dragon''s basement, or basically any time he went below the surface, to know that this would not be a pleasant experience. If for no other reason than because he had no way to easily travel through solid ground, this was going to be a tedious journey. But then he paused. No wait, it seemed he really had a way to travel through solid objects. If he changed his body from its physical form to his soul state, couldn''t he travel through the ground? He could avoid entering the soul ne, which was something he would have to experiment with at ater time because he could not even begin to imagine how he''d search for the resin through another ne of existence he had no experience with. What''s more, he could also¡­ he could also turn himself into thought, and travel through the mind of the countless living creatures here, and search through their memories to see if they had any recollection of something that might hint towards the resins location. For a moment Lex became disoriented as his perception of the world changed as he realized the scale and scope of his abilities. He was too used to seeing the world as he knew it from back when he was a mortal. Perhaps this was a drawback of progressing too quickly in his cultivation: he hadn''t had time to reflect on the changes it brought him. He also vaguely understood what Cassandra meant when she said that he needed to change his worldview before growing stronger, or he''d always have limited strength. Of course, she had been more specific and mentioned the ts of immortality and how they would be weaker if he didn''t adapt. But even in a broader sense, he began to feel how his old habits and outdated perceptions began to limit him. It was¡­ something he definitely needed to take time out and reflect onter. He held his hand out and looked at it as he willed himself to enter his soul state and then¡­ he just did. But nothing seemed to change. He did not be ethereal or ghostly. He looked exactly the same. He even felt exactly the same. To test out if anything had changed he put his feet on the ground and watched with intrigue as it slipped through. He also felt silly. The whole reason he searched from the ground was because he didn''t have a way to easily travel underground, only to realize that he did. He did not admonish himself for the oversight. After all, he had spent 26 years with a physical body, and only just gained the ability to turn into a soul. It was eptable for him to forget about it. Slowly, he allowed his body to descend into the ground, which was a strange experience. Physically he felt nothing because, well, he did not have a physical body. But the moment he went underground, he became blind, with his eyes at least. His spirit sense still allowed him to see everything around him, even through the ground itself. The Glyph was also still active, so technically he should still be able to sense treasures. Guided by his spirit sense, he began to once again travel after descending half a mile (800 meters) below ground, though he reduced his speed drastically. Even though he could travel through the ground, he didn''t know if his soul would hit other things and thereby incur damage, which is why he moved slowly for now. Just for the sake of experimentation, he allowed his body to brush up against another living thing. This deep underground, the ants, worlds, snakes and other creatures could not make their colonies or burrows, so the only living things he encountered were genuine, ground dwelling creatures, and there were many of them here. Even though most of the space underground was upied byrger boulders buried deep, or crush created from crumblingrger rocks, the ground dwelling creatures made use of the limited soil in between. In fact, the soil became a sort of highway for these creatures to travel, and their homes seemed to be small caves that they drilled in the rocks themselves.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om When Lex touched such a creature he finally felt some kind of sensation, but before he could focus on it, the creature''s soul popped, startling Lex! He didn''t mean to kill it, buts soul had been too fragile to even sustain his touch. After offering a silent prayer for the dead¡­ for the dead whatever it was, Lex decided to continue with his reduced speed for now. He confirmed that touching another soul would result in some kind of hindrance, and though he would most likely be fine, the experience of popping another soul was quite unpleasant. He felt so guilty! What was worse was the ectosmic soul go that was stuck to his finger from popping the soul. He had no idea how to get it off, and he didn''t want to rub it on his pants. Wait. He looked down and discovered that he was still wearing his suit made by Geeves. Did he just¡­ turn his suit into a soul, or was this an ability Geeves gave the clothes when he made them? Or¡­ was the suit a part of him now? Was Lex a suit? With the increasing number of mental crises he was experiencing, Lex continued to search for the resin. Chapter 1013 Sealed domain

Chapter 1013 Sealed domain

Traveling underground was an experience unto itself. Once he got over the fear that his soul would crash into something, and actually sped up, he discovered that there was a lot more to the underground than just endless dirt and rocks. There were so many nts, not even counting the extensive rootwork for whatever nts could bury roots so deep. There were living creatures with underground colonies that gave Lex wonderful ideas for his own Inn. There were more than just a few underground rivers with water to clean and cold, Lex actually felt tempted to stop and take a drink. Eventually Lex spread his soul sense out as well, and was amazed at the fact that life was thriving just as much this deep underground as on the surface. Lex also found something hepletely would never have expected. A massivework of chambers had been excavated to create somewhat of an abode, and it was covered in remnants of protective formations. Out of curiosity, Lex stopped by and discovered the remains of a cultivator who seemed to have died alone at some point. All his belongings were still present, including a personal diary that Lex perused for a brief moment. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om As it turned out, the fellow became a hermit after getting dumped by his fiancee who then married his own father. He was too ashamed to show his face in society ever again, and so spent the rest of his life underground. Lex put the diary back, only reflecting on the fact that the fellow was not ridiculouslyrge, and was only 8 feet (2.4 meters) tall. Since there was nothing rted to the resin here, he decided to leave the abode as is. But, on yet another whim, before he left he carved his initials into the wall, leaving a mark to show that he had been here. He also took out a small lock box and put a copy of Evisceration, and a vial of spirit liquid in it, leaving it there for anyone to discover. The lockbox was special, in that it would perfectly preserve its contents as long as it was closed. It would either open on its own after a set number of years, which Lex decided to set as 1000 years, or when someone channeled enough spirit energy into it. It was like leaving a small gift behind for someone fated for it, although chances were high that no one would ever find it. He had done something simr in the Midnight Inn, leaving presents here and there for people to find, and so far no one had really found any, which is why he didn''t expect anyone to find this either. But the possibility intrigued him. He moved on, further increasing his speed the longer he went on. With his soul sense spread out, he could easily avoid other souls so his concern for crashing into other things was reduced considerably. But just as he was beginning to feel anxious, despite the fact that he was doing his best to stay calm, Lex finally found something that caused him to pause. Even further below him, on the very edge of his range for the Glyph, he sensed something giving a veryrge reaction. He descended slowly, and was mesmerized by what he saw. He was on the edge of something massive! By massive he meant that it extended for miles and miles till the very edge of his spirit sense in either direction, and was deeper than he could sense as well. The reaction he was getting from the Glyph was greater than anything he had seen so far, making him feel confident that he had finally reached the resin. "Pel, take a look at this," Lex said as he transmitted his vision to the ring as well. "Tell me if you know what it is." "Master, this is the corner of a sealed domain," Pel responded in a solemn voice. "I think¡­ master, my memories about sealed domains are iplete, but I think that the Amber Chaos resin is not enough to form this. From what I recall, despite being valuable, the Amber Chaos resin is not really an energy source. But for such a domain to form, not only does it require very special circumstances, but it also requires a massive energy source." Lex frowned, and then recalled all the information he had received about the region surrounding the resin. Although he was aware that the resin was sealed, he did not get any information about anything that could be a significant energy source. That meant that either the information he received was not actuallyplete, and was just a brief overview of the realm, or that someone else had created this. He felt more inclined to believe the first one. After all, the realm was massive, so for Lex to believe he could get all the information about all of it in such a short time was pushing it. "So how do I ess the domain?" he asked as he continued toe closer to it. "There are two ways. The first is to be so superior to the domain that you can unravel it yourself. That is not so easy to achieve. The second option is to go to the entrance of the domain and enter normally. As long as you obey the rules of the domain, it is entirely possible to get through not only unharmed, but be rewarded with the treasures the domain hides as well." "What are the rules? How do I find the entrance?" "The rules for each domain are separate, master. But you can probably find the entrance as long as you follow its wall. There should be more than one entrance anyway." "How¡­ how long do you think it will take to resolve this domain?" Lex asked. He still had things he needed to do as the Innkeeper. He couldn''t just disappear for days or weeks. "That''s¡­ hard to say. But I think it''s safe to say that it won''t be quick." Chapter 1014 Looking to the future

Chapter 1014 Looking to the future

Of course, nothing was ever easy or straightforward. But considering the rarity and use of the treasure he was searching for, perhaps it was called for. He felt a tinge of disappointment, but then again, he knew that there would be some kind of seal around the resin. It only made sense that it was not so simple to ovee. He decided to mark the location ande back once he officially finished all his Innkeeper chores, but before leaving, he wanted to find the entrance. He continued to trace the domain wall, though at a distance. Thest thing he wanted was to activate some kind of restriction and then be pulled into the domain against his will, once again leaving him to control the Inn remotely. It seemed that experience really did build the man, for without his experiences, Lex wouldn''t even know what possible traps to avoid. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om As he trailed it, Lex was able to confirm that the domain was absolutely massive. In fact, Lex would not be surprised if the domain turned out to be bigger than some countries back on Earth. "You said there were supposed to be multiple entrances?" Lex eventually asked Pel after nearly ten hours of trailing. By now, he was fairly certain that the domain wasrger than the rocky terrain above him. That was not a good sign. "Usually that''s the case. This is because the entrances to each domain also serve as an exchange vent for the spiritual energy within and outside the domain, which is needed to maintain the delicate internal environment. If there aren''t many, then perhaps the internal environment is stable enough that it doesn''t need many." "Excellent. That''s great news," Lex said, realizing that his job was getting harder and harder. Normally Lex wasn''t one to get flustered so easily, but the deadline, however long it was, alongside the incredibly difficult task of raising the systems level was weighing on him. "I guess I''lle back to this," he muttered to himself, before memorizing the coordinates and teleporting away. Perhaps this was a good thing. Although he had been trying not to stress himself out, he had been rushing a little bit. This way, by going back andpleting all his tasks first, he coulde and tackle the seal with a clear mind. He gave the domain onest, reluctant look, before teleporting away. "Pel, do you have any techniques that can turn others into humans?" Lex asked casually. He was not expecting such a technique to exist, or if it did, it was probably not so easy to implement. "Shapeshifting into a human is not a problem at all. In fact, a secret little known to most is that to sate their insatiable lust, dragons sometimes shapeshift into other creatures and mate with others of their kinds. Humans are among those races. But if you mean actually turning into a human, I fear that I don''t recall such a technique. Perhaps if my memories recovered, I could offer some advice." Lex just nced at the Mountain-man. He didn''t know what to do with him. The fellow had paid his rent in advance using gems, and then just fallen asleep and had not woken up since. He talked about wanting to grow stronger or return to his past life, and since then had just been napping. Perhaps that was a side effect of being a mountain. Lex wanted his system, but unless he could offer a way to turn him into a human, or somehow reconnect him with the people from his past life, he had no idea how to do so. Besides the Mountain-man, there was also that guy who ran a book club. He also had a system, but he seemed way too invested in growing his book club, which probably had something to do with his system. It was unlikely he would want to give it up. He was treating both of them as extreme reserves, in case he needed to take some drastic measures. But he really did not want to let thingse to that. He checked and discovered that he only had four days left before his Host Attire stopped working. Since Luthor had not returned yet from the Minor realm, Lex summoned all the other leading figures of the Inn for a joint meeting. Since he as the Innkeeper was not going to be avable, and he as Lex was going to be busy, it was important to set up systems for all the workers to be able to handle any potential problems in the uing time. Setting up a robust transport system was also very important, for unless they figured out how to set up teleportation formations on their own, they would need toe up with other ways to travel. For the first time ever, over 30 workers of the Inn gathered in his office. They included members such as Velma and Gerald, but also key members of the nning division, the uing battalion, security, and other prominent workers who had made themselves known through exemry service. Those who had attended countless meetings were more or less rxed, but the rest were jittery though they tried their best to hide it. But how could such a thing be hidden from Lex anyway? "I am d you are all here today, because I have an important announcement to make. The Midnight Inn has undergone a new beginning, and many things have changed over this time. Your help in tackling the countless problems we faced has been invaluable, which is why I feel confident in giving you more responsibility. "As a result of this new beginning, there are certain matters that require my personal attention for the foreseeable future. During this period, I will not be able to divert any attention to the Inn, so any and all problems the Inn encounters will have to be handled by you." His words stunned most of the crowd, though predictably, Gerard and Velma were unaffected. They had been with the Innkeeper the longest and had absolute faith in him. If he decided that they could deal with any problems they faced, then he had probably already foreseen what problems they would encounter. Now it was just up to them to live up to his expectations. Chapter 1015 Recognize this? Chapter 1015 Recognize this? ??Lex waited until the crowd settled down somewhat from the news of his imminent departure before continuing. He summoned a projection of a map of the region of the Inn, clearly marking where the existing settlements were, the numerousndmarks and terrains, as well as things that needed to be looked out for, such as the tribe of the killer mites that only inhabited a certain region. "This is the entire territory of the Inn. Although the settlements have not covered even 1% of the area, that does not change the fact that all of this is Inn territory. That means that once a guest enters the Inn, he or she can roam this entire area. That then also means that you need to be able to reach any area of the Inn. "As you can clearly see, there''s a lot of wildlife and uncurtailed dangers along thesends for mortals and lower-level cultivators, which is why I want you to put up signs everywhere informing the guests that they may face dangers if they move away from the settlements. At the same time, I want you all to focus on and consider how you can use these open, wildnds to offer new services, and how to make use of them. "For example, you can offer safaris to tourists. Or you can offer protected, training excursions for new cultivators to allow them to familiarize themselves with the dangers of the wilderness. But you have to manage this without disturbing the natural bnce of these environments, which will be a challenge. You should also n for how you will respond in case of emergencies, such as the invasion from the Minor realm that Luthor is currently addressing. "This is a great learning opportunity for all of you, and will allow you to gain extensive experience which can help improve the Inn in the future. For this period, I will not offer you any guidance, and will only watch. Since I am about to leave, it is best you get in the habit of making decisions yourselves. Only if you make a massive blunder or oversight, will I add anyments. You may begin." Lex took a step back as he watched the numerous workers suddenly grapple with the responsibility that had suddenly been thrust upon them. But the reason these few specifically had been called, and not the rest, was because they had already proven themselves aspetent. True to Lex''s expectations, they quickly began to divert their attention towards the map and started muttering amongst themselves as they discussed ideas. Naturally, at first, they focused on the few situations that Lex had pointed out, but as he intended for this meeting to be a long one, he hoped that soon they would start discussing their own ideas. Leaving a projection of himself in the room, Lex teleported away. John was still sitting in front of the dragon, scribbling in his book. He no longer looked as confused or tense, and had made considerable progress. It was likely that watching Lex cultivate had given him some inspiration. As he was scribbling, he noticed something and turned around, only to be startled at the sign of the Innkeeper approaching him. "Innkeeper! I am making progress on the technique, but it will take some more time before I finish." "At ease. That is not why I am here. I am here to tell you that I will be departing for a time to take care of certain matters, and will not be avable. If you want to remove your system, you have to tell me now." He had nned on cajoling John some more initially, but a nce was all he needed to tell that John had finally reached the decision he wanted. In that case, it was best not to say much more, and let John think that he did not care what he decided either way. John clenched his fingers and recalled the scene of Lex cultivating. He worked up his courage, before it left him, and said, "please remove it. I want to walk my own path from now on." The Innkeeper nodded. "This may hurt a little," he warned and stretched his arm forward. Even while wearing the Host Attire, Lex could shift into his soul state, which allowed his hand to go directly through John and touch his soul. He no longer needed Impervious Hands to handle systems. But there was a small issue. Unlike himself, who kept the system separated from his soul, John had already merged with the system. Separating them would inevitably cause some harm, but he was prepared to deal with it as soon as it appeared. He used Domination and soul sense to suppress John''s soul, and subtly manipte the system within it. Perhaps it was a good thing that the system was damaged, for Lex could sense how difficult it was to manipte in this state. If it was unharmed, he could only begin to imagine how he would even separate it from John''s soul. The process was not simple or quick, for he had to gather all the system into one point in John''s soul, which was easier said than done. John himself also feltpletely constricted, as if he were buried underground and was unable to move at all. It was an arduous process, and a long one at that. For a considerable amount of time, the two stood there, unmoving. Lex did not think about how taking so long might reflect poorly, considering how powerful he was supposed to be. It could easily be exined by saying he was trying to minimize the damage to John''s soul. Unless he nned on absorbing another system, and then having it removed again, he would have no benchmark with which topare this experience. Ultimately, Lex finally felt like he had done it. Fused with John''s soul though it may be, Lex managed to gather all the parts of the system into one tiny speck of the man''s soul. Then, in one swift motion, he cut out that piece of his soul. Despite being suppressed, John could not help but scream. His eyes suddenly became red as blood leaked out of his nose and his ears. But Lex did not allow him to suffer for long. As soon as he cut out the soul, and confirmed that he had grabbed the systempletely and it wasn''t trying to run away, he dripped some of his own blood in its soul state right on John''s soul. The healing process was not instantaneous, but it did soothe John and as it began the healing process. In fact, it wasn''t just the cut that his blood began to heal, but the damage he had umted due to the broken system as well. He went from feeling a soul rending pain to a rxing warmth almost immediately, though John wasn''t able to appreciate it. He became extremely lethargic and his eyes drooped, struggling to stay awake. It was unfortunate that the recovery rooms weren''t working, but that would have hardly helped with a soul wound any way. Instead, he teleported John''s body over to Harry''s barber shop, where he had a soul pond that would aid in John''s recovery. Moreover, Harry''s own sorcery would be extremely helpful in aiding and speeding the healing process. Lex had already informed him to expect John soon, so he was not surprised. After ensuring that John was in no danger, Lex turned his attention to the system in his hand. Unlike the previous ones he had seen, this was not a golden, glowing ball. Instead, the color had changed to a bronze, as if it was sick or wilting. He waited for the familiar sound of a system notification, which only came after an ufortable dy, clearly indicated the overburdened state of his own system.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om New Notification: New system detected! Analyzing the secondary system. Lone assassin system detected! New Notification: Lone assassin C+ system detected. In the shadow and in the light, stalk your prey alone and assassinate your targets to receive a boost in strength and prestige. The greater the assassination feat, the greater the feedback you receive, and the more strength you are bestowed. No target is off limits, and no prey is big enough, as the system will guide you on the ultimate path of assassinating even deities! New Notification: Absorb Lone assassin system? Y/N! The lone assassin system? Was that why ''John'' had been such a loner before this? Although he knew that the name was just an alias he had been using, Lex decided to stick with the name unless he decided to correct anyone. He had a strong feeling that, alongside his system, John would be leaving his old name behind as well. Lex did not immediately absorb the system, as he still had a few more days with the Host Attire that he didn''t want to squander. But as soon as that time was over, he would not hesitate to absorb it. He wondered how long it would take. But for now, he had another n. He teleported somewhere else, but this time as Lex and not the Innkeeper. He also did not hide the system, and showed it to the two figures in front of him. "Recognise this?" Chapter 1016 What do you want from us Chapter 1016 What do you want from us ??The Rhinocentaurs had long felt that they were forgotten, which was not necessarily a bad thing. At least they didn''t face insane torture or death, which made it easier for them to wait for their rescue. During this time, they spent more or less every waking minute perusing the groupchat and its various channels, bing incredibly active, allowing them to stay up to date with all thetest information. It wasn''t as if they had anything better to do anyway. It was a bitter sweet experience, for on one hand they were saved from eternal boredom, but on the other hand they had to read about others who were out and about, living their lives. At least they developed some renown during this time. But, recently, they experienced a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions. First they ted when they learned that there was progress on their quest, and that the person who had epted it finally had a lead on a golden key to enter the Inn. But as soon as they started to expect a rescue, they received the thoroughly disappointing news that the Inn had shut down and stopped epting guests for an indefinite period. Since then, the silent, standard days that they had gotten used to once again became excruciating and filled with despair. But eventually they wereing to terms with it once more. However, what they did not expect, whatsoever, was to suddenly see someone finally address them regarding something more than just the food they were going to get. What''s more¡­ he was holding a system. "Recognize this?" he asked, in a tantalizing tone. The Rhinocentaurs immediate impulse was to deny everything, but they had spent too long here and had been exposed to a lot of very strange things, not to mention this entirely new, extremely energy rich area they were in. They had no idea what powers the Inn had at its disposal, so the idea of lying was quickly disposed of. Not to mention, they had already been interrogated once regarding systems, and the third of them who had a system had gone missing so long ago¡­ "It''s a system," one of the rhinos said gruffly. Even if they were trapped at the mercy of others, it did not mean that they could show weakness. In a way, their own pride was all they had left. "Yes, I recall you all came to the Inn with the intention of hunting guests with systems. You even had a way to identify who had a system and who didn''t. I''ve put this off for a long while, but how about we discuss how inappropriate your behavior was. To be honest, I put off having this conversation because I was hoping someone woulde and rescue you, but it seems I was overthinking." The Rhino''s froze, and didn''t know how to respond to that. The rescuer had beening, but was locked out. Did the fact that this tiny human had been waiting for them to be rescued mean that he was stronger than him? It was hard topare. Even though the Inn was extremely impressive, and showed them incredible things, the reach of the groupchat was not small either. Some of its senior members were famous across the entire universe. For a very long time, Lex had mastered the art of reading the thoughts of whoever he was talking to based on their facial and body expressions. There was also his sixth sense which helped him know exactly how a conversation was going. But his abilities became weaker when it came to other races, for it was harder to read their expressions. Now, though, with his recent upgrade, he discovered that while he still struggled with the same stuff, he could read their soulnguage! It was a lot more revealing! In fact, Lex would go as far as to call it a lie detector ability, but that would be too one dimensional. Not only could he very easily detect lies, but also whatever emotions the others were feeling. While it was also thoroughly revealing to the swirl of emotions his targets were feeling, and brought a whole new aspect to interrogation, it also made Lex grateful for the Host Attire. He might not even be able to keep up his facade for a fraction of a second if the Host Attire didn''t hide everything about him. Through the unexpected rise and fall in emotions, he could sense that the two were likely expecting a rescue but faced some obstacle. Nevertheless, he did not confront them. It would be better for him if they remained blissfully unaware of his ability to detect what they were feeling. "I feel like you two have probably been able to stretch your legs in a while, right?" Lex said, as he released the chains binding them. He was not afraid they would escape because, well, where would they go? The Rhinos were surprised, and stood up hesitantly. They didn''t know what to expect, especially when the human in front of them kept tossing the system up and catching it. They had put so much effort into procuring a system, and even got imprisoned because of their attempts, but he was ying with it like a ball. Where was the fairness of life? "I''m sure you have many doubts, and I have many questions. Normally we''d go through the whole process where I''d ask you stuff, you''d deny knowing anything. Then I''d punish you, and you would still deny it, so on and so forth until you either tell me what I want, or you be incapable of responding. I''m sure you''ve been expecting something like that to happen, right?" The Rhinos exchanged looks. In fact, not only had they been expecting it, they had also thoroughly prepared for the eventual interrogation. As mere basic members of the groupchat, they did not have ess to many features, such as the emergency retrieval which would teleport them to a designated safe spot created by one of the groupchat members, or the overriding function, which would override their memories so that through any interrogation they can provide answers that seem real, but don''t implicate the chat in any way. After all, if they try to reveal the chat, they will get punished by the groupchat ordingly. But that aside, they were given a thoroughly vetted list of answers they can give withoutpromising themselves while satisfying the interrogators. In fact, they had been given quite a number of those to use ording to the situation. A situation where, instead of being tortured, they were treated fairly was also addressed. Both of them suddenly pulled up the relevant chat within their view so that they could refer to it as needed. They remainedpletely unaware that, even though Lex had his back turned on them, he could read all the emotional fluctuations their soul was going through, and somewhat guess what was happening in their mind. "It would be best if we can avoid that," one of them finally said. "When we came to the Inn, we had no ulterior motives against the Inn, and were unaware of the rules. If we are given an opportunity to redeem ourselves, then we will do what we can to aid the Inn with whatever it needs. After all, like I said, we had no intentions against the Inn when we arrived. The whole process that we went through was quite regrettable, especially considering that a tform such as the Death match was already given. We should have just used that." Lex nodded. "Yes, it was quite regrettable what happened. Although, the Death match was not a service that was created so you can force or harass people into epting it. Even though John returned from the match recently, and quite sessfully I might add, I do believe he was quite irritated at it." Lex did not reveal that John was crippled as a result. His intention was just to reveal to them that the final member of their party was also dead, so that they give up on having any thoughts of waiting for external help. "As for matters of redemption¡­ well it''s notpletely off the table, but I think we should put that aside for now. You may not be aware, but the Inn has shut down all teleportation services in and out of the Inn for the foreseeable future. It might be years before they open back up. "Instead, I think we should talk about making your time here at the Inn more bearable - enjoyable, even. How does that sound? As long as you obey the rules and don''t cause any issues, I''ll let you roam thends freely, eat good food, interact with the people, and even cultivate again. How does that sound?" How easily Lex dismissed the topic of their redemption unnerved them, but his offer was too good to be ignored. Even if they could interact with others through the groupchat and weren''t exactly restricted in that sense, there was noparison to actually being free.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "What do you need from us?" Chapter 1017 Systems

Chapter 1017 Systems

Lex smiled upon hearing the question. Talking to them was already plenty informative without them revealing anything at all. He learnt that they were expecting a rescue, but they were suddenly greatly disappointed by something. Lex could only assume that they learnt of the teleportation ban which then upset them because it dyed their rescue. It was also interesting to learn that in spite of everything they had learnt about the Inn, they retained quite a bit of confidence in being rescued. Clearly their background was not simple, despite themselves being quite weak. Although they had been taken aback by Lex''s casual offer, and were unnerved by the system, they quickly gathered themselves and became somewhatposed. "What do I need from you? Shouldn''t it be obvious?" Lex questioned back, and showed them a knowing smile. As if to add emphasis to what he was saying, he became a little more obvious with his movements in throwing and catching the system. "We¡­ we don''t have any systems," one of the Rhinocentairs said, but became quiet when Lex gave him a look as if he were looking at an idiot. "Look, the more you reveal willingly, the more freedoms I''ll allow you. I''m trying to be nice about this, but if you waste my time I''ll let someone handle you two. Maybe the baby Cthulhu. He feeds on the pain and suffering of others, or something along those lines, and his mother has been really concerned about his insufficient diet. You wouldn''t want to attract their attention now would you?" In fact, the truth was far from what Lex had portrayed. Since he arrived in this new realm, the baby Cthulhu had been exceptionally excited, and had been feeding nonstop without needing to actively harm anyone himself. He had been gaining some weight even. The Rhinocentaurs trembled just a bit. Of course they knew about Cthulhus. In fact, one of the top 500 members of the groupchat had a Taming Cthulhus to cultivate system, which made them especially well known. There had once even been someone with a Taming dragons to cultivate system, but a very senior member of the groupchat who happened to be a dragon convinced the owner to hand it over without causing a fuss. What happened to it after that waspletely unknown, and a topic of great spection among the chat members. The Rhinocentaurs exchanged looks. Lex''sck of asking a question out right put them under a lot of pressure. They didn''t know exactly how much would satisfy him, or even if he would keep his word. Was it worth it to hold onto secrets when revealing them could allow them some extent of freedom. Considering that they might be here for years still, they had a brief discussion in the groupchat, and decided to go with the prepared list of answers that was the most revealing. The carrot that Lex was dangling in front of them was too tempting, and the stick hidden from view too dastardly, for them to take any risks. "We can tell you everything but¡­ but there are certain topics we cannot reveal, or our souls will immediately be erased. If you try to remove the restriction, the same thing will happen. Even¡­ even if El Posadero tries, it might be the same." "El Posadero?" Lex mused to himself with a raised eyebrow. He knew what the other meant, but this was the first time the universal trantor had tranted something to anguage other than english. It was The Innkeeper in spanish. "Can you tell me what these topics are?" he asked. He could tell that they were being sincere, but if they couldn''t reveal anything about their backgrounds, then he would be suffering a loss. "Anything rting to our background," one Rhinocentaur said. "We also can''t reveal anything rting to systems to anyone who doesn''t already know about them but¡­ that obviously doesn''t apply to you." "Alright, well, how about we focus on systems. Tell me everything you can, and we''ll go from there." "Systems have, for as far as anyone can tell, always existed, from the earliest days of the universe. Obviously for people like us it''s hard to get in contact with anyone from the Primary realm - the very first realm that was created alongside the universe itself - but ancient records show signs of things that might be systems even back then. "No one knows the origins of systems, so it is heavily spected that systems are naturally urring and are born with every new realm. Although that theory is heavily contested, owing to the fact that fewer and fewer newborn systems have been discovered in recent years." "What do you mean by newborn systems?" Lex asked. "Most systems you will encounter will be between E and A grade, and will have already been through a number of other hosts. Depending on how much time has passed between a system having a previous host, and treating you as one, you might be able to inherit what the system was previously, or have a new type of system created for you. But a system which has never had a host before is called a newborn system, and it is at its weakest state. "It also needs to be noted that depending on the grade of a system, their preference for host species will also change. A lower grade system will not synchronize well with a species with a high inherent cultivation level." Lex absorbed the information, and finally received an answer he had long been wondering about. Every system he encountered would be the same for him as its previous host, but the Midnight Inn system seemed to have been different when it was with Mary. This piece of information made no difference to him, as his only purpose was to absorb systems to allow him to heal, but others might choose to wait if the system they encountered was ipatible with themselves. Of course, this was on the premise that they had such information avable to them.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Chapter 1018 Deal Chapter 1018 Deal ??It was also curious that a low grade system would avoid beings with higher inherent cultivation levels, meaning the cultivation level they were born with. In that case, shouldn''t his system have preferred someone else with a higher realm? It still made more sense to merge with Bastet than himself. But perhaps due to its severely damaged state, it was behaving like a low grade or newborn system. "I''ve heard that systems prefer to merge with mortals, or those with lower grade cultivation levels. Doesn''t that pose an issue for you while searching for systems to absorb?" The two Rhinocentaurs looked at Lex with confusion. "We''ve¡­ never heard of a system choosing a host, so we''re not sure about that. Maybe our level is too low to get in contact with such information. But most of the folks I know actively search for systems themselves and fuse with them, so while it may result in less than perfect synchronization, it still works. Even for those who identally got a system, by dropping blood on it in its sealed state for example, are usually initiating the merging process themselves, even if they don''t know it at the time." "What else do you know about systems?" "That¡­ they serve as a shortcut to growing stronger? They make it easier to get ess to incredibly rare treasures, though their quests are not easy toplete. For usmon folk with no background, it''s immensely useful. However, for higher cultivation leveled beings or those withrge backgrounds on the universal level, they might not be so attractive. "After all, everything a system can do, high leveled cultivators can do on their own. For a system to tempt them, it would have to be truly a very high level one, but I''ve never heard of a system going above A grade, so it''s very unlikely. "Besides that, there are ways to make your system stronger by absorbing other systems, but that has a limit. For example, there is only so much growth a B rank system can get from absorbing an E rank system. Once that limit is reached, absorbing more of such graded systems yields no results. I''ve heard rumors that certain people also upgraded their systems using exceptionally rare items they found from ancient ruins or from Minor realms that had been sealed for eons, but those are just rumors. There''s no proof to support such a im." The Rhinos stopped speaking and looked at Lex warily, hoping that he would be satisfied. Lex did learn something, such as the spection that systems were actually naturally urring, and that there might be a chance to find one in a newly formed realm. But those were just suspicions and there was no proof. The fact that higher level cultivators weren''t interested in systems was also new information, although it made some sense if what they got were low level systems. But one as powerful as his, which could take control of an entire realm even in its weakened state, would likely be attractive to anyone at all! "Is that it? Is that all you know?" Lex asked, noticing that they stopped speaking. "That really is everything," they replied. "What about how you find systems? How do you tell if someone has a system or not? Why don''t you check me to see if I have a system." "We¡­ we can''t really reveal those things," they said with the utmost reluctance, hoping Lex would not get angry. "What about scanning me? Can you scan me to see if you find a system? Or, better yet, can you search for systems and tell me where they are?" "We¡­ we had a way to search for system users but¡­ we don''t anymore." It sounded like they were lying, which is why they were so hesitant answering, but that really was the case. They only had the most basic equipment to search for system users, and as soon as they were captured a failsafe in those equipment pieces were triggered, destroying them. Lex frowned, which scared the Rhinocentaurs a bit. He could tell they were telling the truth, but if they could not search for signs of systems across his new realm, then he had little to no use of them for now. How could he possibly gain from this situation? How could he use them to improve his chances of restoring his system in some way? Honestly speaking, he couldn''te up with an answer to that question. But¡­ upon thinking a bit, he dide up with a possible theory. He had no proof of it whatsoever, and it was aplete longshot, but at the same time, he found it hard to deny that it was possible. The Rhinocentaurs confidence despite seeing the scale of the Inn, their assurance that they would be rescued, their extensive knowledge about systems, the fact that they even dared to insinuate that even the Innkeeper might not be able to remove their restrictions, all created a situation where Lex could believe a certain possibility.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om He had already been informed by the mysterious man who guided him and told him how to fix Regal Embrace also mentioned a groupchat for system users. He could believe that a group of mysterious system hunters were possibly connected to exactly such a groupchat. But it would be too coincidental. How could he run into them already? But at the same time, the fact that the mystery man had even warned him might mean that he foresaw exactly such an interaction in his future. When he reached that thought, he was willing to make an attempt. He looked at the two Rhinocentaurs, who were nervously staring at him. It was a funny sight - two massive, hulking creatures looking at a tiny human baby with fear. "Alright, I believe you. I won''t ask you any more questions on this matter - for now. Instead, I''ll offer you a deal. As long as you can fulfill the conditions of this deal, you can continue to enjoy freedom. At the same time, no one will ask you how exactly you''re fulfilling it either. But if you fail, even once, then it''s straight back to prison for you. So what do you think, are you interested in such a deal?" Chapter 1019 Blackmail Chapter 1019 ckmail ??The Rhinocentaurs felt likeughing. Were they even in a position to reject any single offer? Clearly, Lex could pressure them however he wanted and they would most likely obey. After all, no one would want to be locked up, unable to move for years on end without anything to do. Not to mention¡­ if they were given free reign to roam around in the Inn, they could share information about it on their groupchat and hopefully increase their chances of a rescue somehow. "Can you¡­ share the specifics of the deal?" they asked hesitantly. After all, Lex couldn''t expect them to agree to the deal without knowing the details, right? Fortunately, while Lex was fully ready to take advantage of them, he was not sadistic about it. "It''s nothing too difficult, or major. Just share one piece of news from somewhere else in the universe everyday. It has to be a significant piece of news, not something random like little Timmy broke his first tooth or something along those lines."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The Rhinocentaurs froze. Although it was not stating this out loud, wasn''t this more or less using them of having the groupchat! No, wait, there was no need to jump to conclusions. "Is there¡­ some kind of inter-realm portal or newswork avable? Or perhaps some information merchants? A universal outlet of some kind?" "Naturally not," Lex said, as if it was the most obvious answer. "The borders of the Midnight Inn are shut down, and no one cane in or go out. It is the same for any regr means of contact outside." "Then¡­ then how are we supposed to share news from other realms?" "Hey, I already said that I won''t ask how you do it. That also means it''s none of my concern. Do not worry, when you share the news we will have means of knowing whether you''re telling the truth or lying. This deal is also separate for both of you, meaning each of you will have to deliver a piece of unique news from the outside universe. As long as you can do that, you can be free. How does that sound? It''s simple, right?" A silence hung between them as neither Lex nor the Rhinocentairs spoke. How was this simple? This was the height of unreasonableness! Unless¡­ unless he already knew about the groupchat! The most ingenious thing was that by saying he wouldn''t ask how they got the news, he had created a way for them to deliver it without exposing the chat. But if they did, they would indirectly reveal it. While such a situation would not cause them to suffer any bacsh, as there was always room for misunderstandings, it scared them even more than the thought of being tortured. So the Midnight Inn was¡­ aware of the groupchat, yet at the same time did not hesitate to ckmail the two of them? Was it really such a significant force? Did they really not fear retaliation? It had to be known that while what they said was true, which was that high level cultivators don''t covet systems, they also said that systems allow cultivators to grow stronger much faster. That meant that there were more than just a few experts in their groupchat - including Dao lords! It was another story altogether that the Rhinocentaurs, at their level, could not get in touch with them at all! But still, shouldn''t they still show some reverence? After the silence extended on for too long, Lex did not be doubtful, because he could sense their emotions. In fact, he decided to continue pressuring them. "Of course, this deal only extends to being free. If you want privileges, such as the right to earn MP, and the right to spend it, you need to give sufficient information as well. By the way, the deal resets every day so be vignt." The Rhinocentaurs were caught in a tough spot, but the thought of being stuck for years, maybe even decades helped them strengthen their resolve. As long as they don''t break any official rules, who cares? "Fine. We ept this deal." "Great, I''ll pass on the news. Every 24 hours, report to the Midnight manor to pass on the news of the day. I''ll suppose someone already said this to you when you arrived, but I''ll say it one more time. Wee to the Midnight Inn, I hope you enjoy your stay. By the way, if you learn something significant about systems, you can share that information with me - and me only. I''ll give you an extra reward if it''s worth it." By now, Lex was 90% certain that they were a part of the groupchat, if not something simr. That also meant that by letting them lose he was also exposing the Inn and all its information. Unfortunately, the Inn was a public ce to begin with. Nothing about it, save his own identity, was supposed to be a secret. Anyone could have ess to it at any time, in normal situations, which meant that anything that was revealed to the chat was not really a secret to begin with. There were countless ways for them to gather such information. As such, the small risk of exposure was not really worth preventing this deal. Besides, once the Rhinocentaurs got used to this deal, and let down their guard, would be when Lex would truly begin milking them for what they were worth. A true capitalist knows when to take a step back for greater profits in the future! Those short term profit capitalists were just juniors in the world of finance. What did they know about the universe? The Rhinocentaurs reluctantly nodded, before Lex teleported away, once again using his own powers rather than the Attires. It felt so¡­ intriguing and refreshing to know that he could teleport as he wished when, just a couple of years ago, it was an amazing feat the likes of which flipped his entire world. With the preliminary interrogation over, and the system absorbed from John, Lex began to finish up thest of his duties. He implemented the countless changes that were requested by those he gathered in a meeting in his office, and made a few more of his own. Primarily, he made houses and residences that were muchrger than normal, and could easily amodate Leopolds. If the locals of this realm came and they didn''t even have houses fit to let them stay, the prestige of the Inn would suffer. He looked forward to the day he could conjure up buildings with a wave of his hand himself, the way the Host Attire allowed him to do. Thest few days with his powers left him feeling slightly nervous as he was hoping to prepare as much as possible. At a certain point, he even stopped to wonder why he was feeling this nervousness when he had gotten so used to dealing with catastrophes and unexpected issues. The only reasonable answer he coulde up with was that, much like John, he had built a subconscious dependance on the reliability of the system. Now that it was going away, even temporarily, he could not help but be agitated. But he found such a ring weakness in himself uneptable, so he forced himself to confront the feelings head on. It did not really help, but he continued to do it nheless. Eventually, though, the time eventually came. His Host Attire was about to lose its powers. He did not perform a grand goodbye, or make his departure known. Besides Mary, no one knew when he took it off and the Innkeeper disappeared. Until he healed the system, he would be the Innkeeper no more. It was a strange thought. He was too used to being the Innkeeper. Even though he acted as Lex much longer, he somehow felt that his time as the Innkeeper was always more impactful. But the truth was, underneath, he was always Lex. It was important to remember that, lest he develop some kind of split personality! He absorbed the Lone assassin system as well, just before departing. Even the familiar interface of the system, which would stay with him despite the Host Attire powering off, disappeared. It would return once his system absorbed the other one. Hopefully he would get a big percentage boost, considering this system was C+ which was a very high rank. He teleported back to the sealed domain and looked at it. "You ready to look for the entrance, Pel?" he asked. "Master, I''ve been thinking all this time. It''s highly unusual for this domain to not have multiple entrances. It''s a basic requirement to keep the domain functioning. But I realized, that was only the case if the domain was natural and self sustaining. If someone else set it up purposefully, and are powering it themselves, then there is no such requirement." "What does that mean? That there might not be an entrance at all?" "Well, we will need to investigate. But, I have some theories about who, or which race, could achieve such a thing." Chapter 1020 Beloved races Chapter 1020 Beloved races ??While Lex was observing the sealed domain, and discussing its possibilities with Pel, back in the Midnight Inn, the two Rhinocentaurs were giving their daily news. Lex had already informed Velma about the details of their agreement, and informed her to record everything they said. Whenever he returned from his various tasks, he would take his time to check the veracity of the news they submitted, mostly by reading their soulnguage as he asked them about each piece of news. The reason he told Velma about it was because since she ran the Midnight newsletters, he thought she''d find it interesting, and could maybe add it to the newsletter if the information was relevant or interesting. Since Velma was involved, she naturally informed Anita as well. The beautiful lich, who was these days getting ustomed to motherhood, had not forgotten that she was also tasked with recording history in the Midnight Library. As such, she was also present when they shared the news, and recorded it all down. Something interesting, however, was that Lex had been very particr in his choice of words when discussing this deal with the Rhinocentaurs. He had asked them to share news about the universe. That seemed very general, but because the Rhinocentaurs did not want to risk their freedom, they searched the groupchat for channels open to all members for universal updates. As such, for the first time ever, the Midnight Inn came in touch with news about universal powers, rather than just powers limited to a single realm. "The Celestial court has set a precedent by allowing half-bloods to apply for bloodline purification based on merits," one of the Rhinos informed. "As a result, countless realms have applied for recognition, pledging allegiance to the Celestial court as long as the realm owners can undergo purification," the other said. Neither of them borated too much on the news they shared, but they both counted as important pieces of news that defined the trends of the entire universe. Not all the news they shared had been as monumental as this, but slowly and steadily, through them, the Inn''s records about the powers of the universe began to grow. At the same, Lex was still having a discussion with Pel. "Who do you suspect can create such a domain?" Lex asked as he slowly approached the walls of the sealed domain. "First, I need to exin something. A domain and a formation seem simr in function, but they are not the same. A formation performs a function, or maybe even a series of functions depending on theplexity of the formation itself. "But a domainpletely rewrites the rules of the world or region it epasses. You can say it directly maniptes thews of that ce. Moreover, domains can only be formedpletely naturally, though such a thing is exceptionally rare, or be created by extremely powerful beings - even stronger than myself in my previous life. "That means, ordinarily, it cannot be arranged or created by others in the way a formation is made. This is because the origin or source of a domain needs to be singr. Meaning that the energy source, as well asplete and cohesive design of the domain need toe from one item or person. This is another key difference from formations, which create a whole using multiple individual parts, which make an eventual whole. "Keeping all of that in mind, it''s impossible for someone in this realm to be strong enough to create a domain on their own, yet at the same time, this domaincks the features of a natural domain. We seem to have encountered a paradox." "In my experience, all rules are rtive. The rules that govern one species might not be true for another," Lex said, as he thought of various examples. The Sovereign turtle was such. So beloved by the universe was his race that it seemed to be above all its rules. Was he, perhaps, about to encounter his second Sovereign? "Indeed, that is the case. After thinking about it for a few days, I have been able to think of a certain race that might be able to aplish such a feat, while still remaining within the epted limitations of this newborn realm. It''s fairies!" "Fairies?" Lex repeated? He was not expecting such an answer at all. He had encountered fairies before, obviously. Countless fairies had evene to the Inn as guests, but they never made much of an impression on him. In fact, he had a tendency to forget that they even existed, despite the fact that he had encountered them on multiples and even in multiple realms! "Indeed. Among the many humanoid races, fairies are especially capable in manipting spiritual energy. As a dragon, in my previous life, I did not feel the need to pay much attention to such things, but as a result of my long life I was naturally exposed to various kinds of information, which is how I came to know about this. "Apparently, in the Realm wars, the first of the humanoid races to suffer were the fairies. Not only were all of their stronger race members killed, but the entire race was cursed. Wherever they exist, fairies will naturally be targeted for very and servitude, and are easily forgettable. This is because of how great a threat the influence of fairies was perceived by the countless other races. "But even having suffered so much, it is still a race beloved by the universe. They suffer almost no fatigue from channeling spiritual energy, which means that a tribe of fairies can work together to empower a single member of their race enough until he can at least take control of a domain, if not create one from scratch."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex paused. This was new information, and it was quite scary. He was certain that he had countless encounters with fairies before, but true to Pel''s exnation, he could not recall any one specific incident. How can a curse be so powerful? His second thought¡­ was to hire a whole host of fairies to be employees for the Inn! If they really were so gifted, then he definitely should hire them! "Even if this domain is created by fairies, that does not present us with a solution? How do we get inside?" By now, Lex had already arrived at the barrier of the domain, and even tried touching it. Despite being in a soul state, he could not just travel through the walls of the domain. "Well, we will need to look for a specific solution for this domain. In the meantime, we can still look for possible entrances. We haven''t explored all of it yet, so maybe we''ll encounter something." "This might take a while," Lex said as he began Blinking forward. He would only teleport a fixed distance so that all his senses were constantly covering the domain. "Pel, why don''t you pass me all the Glyphs you''vepiled so far while we search? That Dragon''s breath sounds impressive. What else do you have?" There were only a few beginner level Glyphs that Lex could use, for his Domination level was still too weak to use them all. But halfway into learning them, Lex decided not to focus too much on thebat oriented ones - besides Dragon''s breath of course! This was because he really needed to focus on his sword intent. But while there weren''t many he could use now, there were quite a few that interested him. For example, one of the dragon race''s greatest abilities, which was hardly ever talked about, was their passive growth. The greater and more valuable their hoard, the quicker their cultivation would grow! There was a Glyph which produced a simr effect, and the best part was that it didn''t need to be actively maintained, or even used on by the creator! That meant that Lex could use the Glyph and bestow it to someone else! Still, they would need to own many valuable things to grow! But for someone like Lex, whose massive wealth did not match his actual meager strength, this was not a bad technique. Of course, one could argue that he was already growing much too fast. But that still was just one example of the many Glyphs that awaited him. While he searched for an entrance, a small part of his brain was focused on learning the new information Pel passed to him. The odd timing of such multitasking was a reflection of the kind of pressure Lex was under. In a little over 380 days he had to fulfill this quest or lose the system forever. It was not nearly as bad as the quests he got that threatened death, but he had too much that he didn''t want to lose now. Exactly one dayter, Lex had searched the entire surface of the domain at his fastest speed possible. There was no entrance. "Well, now what?" Lex asked. "Now, we use the rules of this domain against it. Don''t worry, I was studying it as well while we searched. I have a few ideas." Chapter 1021 Entering the domain Chapter 1021 Entering the domain ??The sealed domain was like a massive cube, with all sides sealed perfectly. It did not even give off an aura, and if it hadn''t been for Wyrm''s Glyph, Lex never would have found it. It absorbed no spiritual energy, and gave off none either. ording to Pel, that meant that it had formed the perfect cycle within it, achieving zero loss of energy and recycling everything. Such a case was unbelievable, and only further strengthened Pel''s belief that the ones responsible for it were fairies. But the thing about fairies was that if they werepletely infallible, they never would have fallen so low. He could notment on what they were like at their peak, but at least as things stood today, their abilities had certain ws that were simple enough to take advantage of. Pel transmitted another set of exercises to Lex, this time also focused on Domination, though not for a Glyph. Instead, it was a more enhanced way to use the technique. Lex had already been using Domination for simr purposes, but he had been doing it like an amateur. It was as if he had been using a sword for a long time, only to be told that he had to remove the scabbard first for maximum effect. With the proper guidance on hand, Lex quickly learned how to make best use of the technique, and began to disy it. Previously, the reason Lex would m down Domination where he wished to use it was because of the impact Dragons Might had on him. He had barely survived just the passive Dragons Might given off, so he imagined that when properly used, the aura was even more overwhelming. He was both right and wrong. The reason he was right was because when used properly, it would have been much more powerful, making it so that it would have been impossible for Lex to achieve the feats that he had. But he was also wrong because, well, in the end, aura was just aura. To a dragon, their aura was just a passive way to disy their prominent status while eliminating those unworthy to even stand in their presence. It was the literal tip of the iceberg when it came to their abilities. In this case, what Lex needed to use was exactly the very feature of his aura, or Domination, that would enhance his status while pushing away that which was unworthy of being in his presence. It was a very arrogant way of putting it, but then again, he was using a dragons technique, so it made sense that it was worded this way. He withdrew all his natural aurapletely and then wrapped his body in Domination. He allowed it to pervade every fiber of his being, ande in contact with every aspect of himself. The application of Domination he was about to use could not be trained or manipted. It would emit an aura depicting his true worth, and how effective it would be in pushing others away would bepletely dependent on that. Ordinarily, this would only work on living beings, but in the case of fairies who were purposefully brought low and weakened through curses and much more, it would apply on all of their techniques and works as well. Lex himself could not sense the vor his aura took on, so he was not certain what it felt like when disyed like this, and there was no other living creature around to tell him either. He could ask Pel, but he felt that might give him a biased answer.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Regardless, whatever it felt like, it was at least effective. Slowly, the domain under his feet parted, and gave way. Lex got the odd feeling that the reason the partition was slow to open was not because his aura was not super effective, but that it was a disy of deference rather than fear. Since it was effective, he did not particrly care what the specific feeling was. He lowered himself through the opening carefully, passing through what felt like a very long and narrow tunnel. Just the thickness of the sealed domain barrier must have been at least a mile long. When he finally reached the end, he passed through a thin film that seemed to separate the outside and the inside. As soon as he passed through, Lex felt the difference. It felt like he was no longer within the Midnight realm as he noted a number of differences. First off, the gravity was about half the strength of the realm. Secondly, the ambient spiritual energy was also weaker. But, that hardly made a difference as it was still more concentrated than most ces Lex had visited before. In fact, due to the spiritual energy being weaker, Lex felt like the environment here was much better and clearer. Third, he felt a number of restrictions trying to lock on to him. They had to keep their distance because of the aura he was emitting, but they were constantly trying to find a way totch on to him. He did not feel that the restrictions were particrly powerful, or harmful, so he slowly ended his technique and allowed them totch on to his body. After all, each domain had special rules, ording to Pel. As long as he acted within those rules, he would have an easier time. If, however, he kept breaking the rules, then the domain would specifically start targeting him. As interested as he was in exploring this domain, his primary interest was in locating the resin. Preferably, he should have already found the resin by the time his system upgrade from absorbing the Lone Assassin system finishes. That way, he would immediately be able to test if the resin worked. He felt the restrictionstch on to him and¡­ empower him? Lex felt incredibly confused as he felt a projection of a gold crown appear around his forehead, a diamond shaped golden crystal embedded right in its center. Chapter 1022 Mysterious and powerful Lex Chapter 1022 Mysterious and powerful Lex ??Lex felt slightly confused as he did not understand the purpose of the crown, though he did however inherit some knowledge pertaining to it when it appeared. More specifically, he learnt how to control it so that he could make it appear or disappear. The crown also had some kind of ability which he could use at will, though he did not know what the ability did. He tried using it immediately, but noticed no change. Putting his thoughts about the crown aside, Lex observed the space within the domain. It did not appear as if he was underground at all. Instead, it seemed like he was floating in the sky amidst the clouds, and far below him was the ground. His eyes followed the natural contours of thend below, and found it more familiar than that of the Midnight realm. Although the nts were still that of the realm, this ce seemed more simr to earth than not. He spread out his spirit sense to get a feel for the area, and detected an abundance of wildlife in thends below, most of them below the Foundation realm. He also, for the first time in this realm, saw humans. Within the scope of his spirit sense, there were just two of them, and though he sensed that they were quite young, their builds were much greater than those of humans from earth. The two humans, a boy and a girl, seemed to be fighting each other within a forest. Both were nearly seven feet (2.1 meters) tall and had extremelyrge muscles. Though they were nowhere near as muscr as Marlo at his peak,pared to normal humans it looked like they had been injecting steroids day and night. "Pel you told me you had a shape shifting technique for humans? Although I am a human already, do you have a technique that will allow me to change my body shape?" He did not want to deal with the hassle ofing in front of other humans looking like a baby. It would be much easier if he could return to his former appearance. Without a word, Pel passed on the desired technique. Considering this was a kind of technique he had never used before, his monstrousprehension would only be able to reduce his learning speed to a couple of minutes instead of making it instantaneous. Lex did not mind as he brought himself towards the ground so he could get a better look at the humans, and figure out why they were fighting. Considering that both of them were in the Qi training realm, and seemed to be body cultivators rather than spiritual energy cultivators, Lex was not concerned about being discovered. Even without a stealth suit, the difference in their realms would allow him to stay hidden. "Give up, wench, and make this easier on yourself," the boy said, wearing an ugly scowl. "Whether it''s by my hands, or someone else''s, your death warrant has already been signed. At least I''ll make it quick!" The girl did not respond. She was stronger than the boy, but he had better technique and a better weapon. She could not allow her attention to slip even the slightest. Lex sat on a nearby tree branch and looked down on them, and read the behavior of their souls. The boy''s thoughts seemed to be extremely chaotic, whereas the girl was under a lot of pressure, but was extremely focused. There was some kind of warrant out for her? Was she a criminal? He continued to watch as he hoped to learn more about this ce from the two of them. He also found it interesting how he could see so many ws in each of their movements. He actually felt like a true expert, watching some kids y. The fight had already continued for a long time, and both of the fighters were beginning to get tired. Even as body cultivators, it wasn''t as if they had unlimited stamina. While neither of them were able to take advantage of each other''s exhaustion, a few wild animals who had been watching them for a while now would not let the chance slip. A snake with wings that had wrapped itself around a tree suddenly lunged at the girl, intending to bite her neck. The boy saw the attacking snake and felt glee, as he swung his sword, intending to get the girl to dodge in the direction of the snake. Yet while he saw the attack aiming for the girl, he missed the signs of the animal attacking him. From the ground a small creature suddenly burst out and bit into the man''s foot. He screamed and lost his bnce, which gave the girl the opportunity she needed. She stabbed forward, coincidentally moving out of the way of the snake at just the right time. She managed to stab the boy''s neck, killing him, but instantly realized that her situation was not great. A three way standoff appeared as the snake, the half buried creature and the girl warily looked at each other. Lex felt that the opportunity was perfect for him to act like a mysterious and unknown powerhouse. He''d always been the one receiving help from those stronger than him, which is why now that he had gained a bit of strength, he had been feeling the urge to do the same. Using his spirit sense, he transmitted an image as well as information about a sword attack to the girl. The girl did not know what was happening. She just had a strong feeling, and visualized an attack in her mind that would end the standoff. She did not know where the thought came from, but her gut told her that it would work, so she did not hesitate. She took a step forward, and just as she had visualized, the snake and the ground creature both lunged at her. Her hands moved with precision she never knew she had as she recreated the attack perfectly, managing to behead both creatures in one move.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Then she froze as disbelief gripped her. Had she really done that? Chapter 1023 Life on hacks Chapter 1023 Life on hacks ??The girl stood frozen over the decapitated bodies of the two animals, in shock at her own performance. Lex himself was quite intrigued by the scene as well. Although, to him, this level ofbat was akin to childsy, and guiding the girl the way he did required not even a moment of consideration, watching her seed andperform above her level gave him some kind of unusual satisfaction. Moreover, he almost felt as if he got a new perception on swordy watching someone else perform his moves. The level of guidance was still too superficial, and there was no real progress, but Lex considered if teaching someone swordy could help him advance his own sword intent somehow. After a few moments, the girl woke up from her stupor and immediately got to work. She summoned a projection of an iron band around her forehead, though the projection seemed as if it was mostly covered in rust, and grabbed the twitching head of the ground animal. She did something and it seemed that a single grain of rust fell off her projection, revealing a speck more of iron. She repeated the process with the snake''s head, as well as that of the dead boy. The snake did not contribute much to her projection, though whatever she did, it worked better with the boy, as it removed an entire chunk of rust. Perhaps it worked better among their own race, or maybe the boy was actually stronger. Lex did not understand the purpose of the projection, though he could tell that she was upgrading it somehow. His own was, obviously, a much higher level than hers, but even so he felt no obvious benefits from it. The girl searched the boy''s body and, after stripping it of all its valuables, began to march through the forest. She was exhausted, but clearly she had no time to rest. Lex was intrigued. He debated on what he should do next. He could ignore the girl and begin to search the domain secretly for the resin. But he figured he had at least a few days before his system came back online, which was more than enough time to search the entire domain. In that case, it wouldn''t hurt to learn more about this ce. He could do it on his own. After all, he only needed to find a settlement of some sort and spread his spirit sense over it. He''d learn everything he needed from the countless conversations taking ce, or the information recorded in books and documents. At his current level, he could pay attention to multiple conversations and read a number of documents without losing focus, so it was simple enough. But¡­ Lex didn''t want to give up the opportunity to act like a mysterious expert and secretly help out the girl - assuming she wasn''t some kind of crazy serial killer. After all, he had been too tensetely. Letting loose and enjoying himself a bit wasn''t necessarily a bad thing. With that decided, Lex smiled and continued to observe the girl. She never stopped moving, though she picked a number of fruits from the forest and ate while moving. She was clearly familiar with the local area. It didn''t take her long to reach what looked like her hideout - which was to say a tree where she hadid some poorly chopped nks to give herself a bit of t area to sleep on. A number of bags were hung from various branches in the tree which she all collected before leaving. The hideout was too shoddy to have been used for too long. If Lex had to guess, he''d say she was using it as a homebase while she hunted or something while staying in the region. For the next few hours Lex followed the girl, while at the same time absorbing information about the local area. He hadpletely memorized all the local flora and fauna, the terrain and made a guess as to the kind of climate and weather this ce probably experienced. He also saw a number of other beasts fight one another, all upgrading their respective projected headgear after the fight. He had to say, whatever the purpose of the projections were, they clearly promoted killing, which can''t be a good sign. Eventually, Lex spotted an actual city at the edge of the forest, in the same direction that the girl was moving in. In that case, it was time to make introductions. After all, what was the point of being mysterious if no one even noticed? The girl had been moving quickly through the forest, though she never lowered her guard. Growing up in this area meant that she was already familiar with all the dangers of the forest, but that was no reason to lower her vignce. Even now, from time to time, the forest found new ways to surprise her. Especially now that the seasons were changing, new dangers would be appearing. Not to mention the stupid henchmen for that stupid noble. Did he really think he could do whatever he wished? It wasn''t as if she had no backing either! He was going to regret¡­ In a small clearing ahead she saw a figure and suddenly raised her sword. Was it another fool working for that spoiled brat? She stepped closer for a better view, and saw a weak looking man sitting casually with his back against a tree, a long de of grass in his mouth. What the hell? She had never seen anyone save newborns with such frail figures. There was hardly any muscle on his frame! Was he malnourished? Did he get lost in the forest for a long time? But his clothes, as odd as they were, looked pristine. His hands and face were also clean, and his hair was not disheveled either. Was he in a parlor or in the forest? What was the need to be so dressed up? And why in the heavens was he chewing on a poisonous leaf? Well, strictly speaking, it was not poisonous, but that kind of grass was known to cause severe rashes on skin.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Yet¡­ yet somehow, he lookedpletely fine. As the girl came closer, she heard him humming, which left her bewildered. He was humming? Wasn''t that just asking to be discovered by some wild beast and attacked? Especially when he had his eyes closed! Suddenly the girl trembled. Had she encountered some kind of ghost? "Youngdy, I seem to have gotten lost," the strange, muscleless man said, finally opening his eyes and looking towards her. "Would you happen to know the way to the nearest city?" The girl looked at his shoes. Those did not lookfortable to march in, especially so far away from the city. She had no idea how to judge this encounter at all. The forest always found new ways to surprise her. "How did you get so far from the city to begin with?" she asked warily. "Don''t you have any guides? You don''t look like a hunter." "No, not really. I was heading towards Torrinwood for some business, but I''m thoroughly lost." Torrinwood was the name of the city he detected. He withdrew his spirit sense from the city after learning its name. The game wouldn''t be fun if he learnt everything through his spirit senses. He wanted to learn about everything naturally. Once he was done being mysterious, and wanted to get back to work, he could just spread his spirit sense then. "Torrinwood is just a few hours from here," she said warily. The man did not look like a traveler. Where were his supplies? "I can take you there, but I don''t work for free." Lex scratched his head. Was she negotiating with someone lost in the forest? Minus points. That''s one less secret technique for her. "Sure, I can pay. How much?" "I won''t charge too much," the girl said, hiding the guilt in her voice. "How''s five coppers?" "Sure, no problem," Lex said as he got up "Let me grab my bag." He spread his spirit sense across the forest and found countless corpses belonging to hunters, most likely, buried underground. Many of them still had their belongings, including coin purses. "Being strong is life on hacks," he muttered to himself as he umted several dozen gold coins worth of local currency in half a second. He walked to the side of the tree that was not visible to the girl and pulled out a travel bag. He had already shifted the countless coin purses to his spatial bangle, and then into this bag for convenience. After reaching in, he pulled out five coins and handed it to the girl. The ease with which Lex handed money over, and his amicable attitude made the girl even more suspicious, but since he had paid, she would lead him. "Follow me, we''re not going to stop till we reach the city. Can you fight? There''s still many wild beasts in this forest, and the money I took is just to lead you to the city, not protect you." "Oh, I''ll manage." Chapter 1024 Torrin and Wood Chapter 1024 Torrin and Wood ??In the middle of an extravagant, circr chamber, with every inch of its surface covered in formations, sat a fairy on a throne with its eyes closed. The amount of energy coursing through its body at any given moment was hundreds of times what even Lex could tolerate, yet the fair seemed unharmed. It was apletely different matter altogether that the fairy struggled immensely, and for nearly an hour, before it was finally able to crack open a single eye. "The golden crown has appeared," its thoughts transmitted out loud. "Our chance hase." Just that single sentence has thoroughly exhausted it, and wrinkles appeared on its face and its hair turned white. But such a scenested only a brief moment, as the endless flowing energy in its body allowed it to recover back to its original state. It seemed like nothing had happened, and no one was in the chamber with it to hear its thoughts, but there was nothing else the fairy could do. It remained on its throne, sitting with its head held high, its back straight, appearing regal, yet a prisoner nheless. ***** The first beast they encountered was a wolf. It gave Lex shbacks of running for his life from wolves in a forest back on Nibiru. Now though, the wolfs growling, ring face just looked cute to Lex. The girl, whose name was Hildi, did not feel the same. She did not hesitate to scream at the wolf aggressively, and make herself look big, which was not a challenge, really. Her attempts to intimidate the wolf did not work, as two more pulled out from behind some more trees. That seemed to make the girl nervous, but she still didn''t run. She drew her sword and looked at Lex nervously, to see if he was ready for battle. He was not. "How about I take care of this one," Lex said, stepping forward, uncaring about how startled the girl was. It was quite refreshing to be the strongest one around for once. He had long gotten used to being surrounded by overwhelmingly powerful beings, which is why he was never able to let loosepletely. But the more time he was spending in the Midnight realm, the more he was beginning to open up. Not so long ago, a few Nascent realm cultivators ruled all of earth, and he was most definitely stronger than them. "What are you doing?" Hildi hissed. "I have a pet wolf. Well, actually, a pet dog, but it''s so big it might as well be a wolf. Anyway, I''m good with dogs," Lex said, as if that exined everything. Hildi hissed once more, as if she were some animal threatening him, but at least she didn''t use him as bait to run. Bonus points for basic human decency, so maybe he''d pass on a weak technique or something. Lex had the wolves locked down with his spirit sense, and a trace of Domination, whichpletely froze them. But he didn''t intend to kill them. He pulled up to the dog in front and scratched its head a bit before rubbing its neck yfully. After a while, he walked back to Hildi, and the wolves seemed to... slowly recede into the forest. "I wouldn''t rmend you copy me, by the way," Lex said to the stumped Hildi. "I wasn''t going to! What did you do? That was a Shadow wolf scouting party! How did you¡­ how?" "I told you, I have a pet dog. I probably have its scent all over me. Wolves and dogs recognize the scent and don''t really say anything to me. It''s kind of a dog owner thing." "That''s not¡­ that''s¡­" Hildi was questioning everything she knew, because that''s now how it was supposed to work, but then again, she had just seen it work! But then her mind snapped back into ce. "What''s your crown level?" she asked warily. "Pardon?" Lex asked, slightly confused. He could imagine that she was referring to his projection, but why would that be relevant? "Your crown level? It''s really high isn''t it? Wouldn''t be surprised if it was silver. No wonder you''re fine in the forest alone. Beasts are all intimidated by high crown levels." Lex raised an eyebrow. So beasts were intimidated, but the same did not extend to humans. "I''ve never been to Torrinwood. Is itmon to share information like that openly here?" Hildi looked away, feeling slightly guilty. "You know, never mind. You''re right, it''s a private matter. Thanks for taking care of the wolves, but we should go. Pack animals are the hardest to deal with - we don''t want to be here if theye back with the whole pack." The pack did not return. In fact, Lex wouldn''t be surprised if they just migrated out of the forest after being exposed to Lex''s aura. But they were attacked by a number of other creatures.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om This time, Lex did not shoo them away, and gave Hildi small bits of inspiration throughout the fights, drastically improving her skills. She had no idea what was happening, and clearly she was equal parts confused and excited. Naturally, since Hildi made all the kills, she was the one to use all of them to improve her crown. She exined that rule to Lex before doing it, and he didn''t particrly mind. But even by the time they exited the forest, it had hardly made a difference to the amount of rust on her projection. This was clearly a long term project. "Can you tell me a little about Torrinwood? Anything I should look out for? I''m not too familiar with the area." "The city is run by two families. Well, it''s actually run by the city council, but in effect, two families own almost everything in the city. You''re not going to believe it, but they''re the Torrin and Wood families. You want to stay away from both of them, by the way. Total pricks. If you run into a member from their families, what you''re going to want to do is turn the other way and leave." Chapter 1025 Taking notes

Chapter 1025 Taking notes

"Wow, you must really like them," Lex said sarcastically as they walked from the edge of the forest to the city entrance. It was decently sized and was built on both sides of a river that was passing by. There was a short line at the gate that they were walking towards. "It''s just a suggestion. It''s not really that hard. Despite their power, both families aren''t toorge so the chances of actually running into one of them is quite low." "What you''re doing right now is called raising a g. You''re basically ensuring that you''ll run into one of them, if not both of them, pretty soon," said Lex casually. "What?" Hildi asked, confused. "Raising a g. It''s a superstition. Basically stating something you hope to avoid only sets you up to face it pretty soon. There are a few other rules to it, like raising death gs, red gs, green gs and such, but in essence the more you want to avoid something, the more you''ll end up facing it. I don''t believe in them though." "Then why did you bring it up?" "Hmm, no reason in particr. Just that thest time I raised a g for myself, I lost my skin. All of it. Gone. Was not a fun experience. Still don''t believe in them though." "Alright... if you say so. Well, I''ve brought you to Torrinwood. Toll to enter is two copper coins. Good luck with your endeavors. I have some business of my own to take care of, so I should get going." Lex nodded, and then watched her leave. She was clearly distracted with other things, which left Lex feeling dissatisfied. He hadn''t learned anything significant, nor had he acted mysteriously enough. He spread out his spirit sense and spread it over the city, before teleported to a rtively empty tavern he found. He sat down on a chair and pulled out a book he hadn''t read in a long while - Ultimate King Emperor: All the Gods call me Daddy! Clearly he hadn''t been acting mysterious enough if Hildi so easily just got up and left. He would need to consult the novel and take note of how the mysterious people the main character encountered behaved. What was mysterious enough to attract attention, and what seemed like fun. As much as Lex thought this novel was actuallypletely trash and did not like it at all, he was now caught up to chapter 13,000! It was fortunate that the author had survived the incident on earth. Instead of going with the refugees, however, he joined the Jotun empire by teleporting over to Vegus Minima. Apparently, he had continued to write the novel and it was an intergctic hit. Thest time he''d read the novel, the main character finally learned something about his adopted sister who was kidnaped, all the while seeking revenge for his wife who was murdered, leading an army of his concubines. The whole arc was annoying so Lex skipped it until the main character finally ascended to the penultimate divine realm - a realm where deities existed. Naturally, he had to leave all his wives, concubines and die hard followers in the lower realms - a great sacrifice. "Will you be ordering anything?" a waitress walked up to him and asked. "Yeah, get me one of everything on the menu. Here, keep the change." Lex handed her a silver coin and got back to reading. In this new realm, the main character was not the weakest person around, but he was down there. Lex skimmed a bit more. He was searching for a mysterious powerhouse and¡­ got it. So the main character got a ne which carried the soul fragment of some divine deity that was supposed to be long dead. Lex immediately focused in and began taking notes. Perhaps such a ridiculous novel was not the best ce to take notes from. A part of him reminded himself that he was on a time limit. But he was so tempted¡­ In the end, he allowed himself one day at most to do as he wished. Rxing might actually help him perform better in the long run. After that, though, he would continue his search, and take whatever opportunity he got to behave cryptically as the opportunity arose. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om With that out of the way, he began taking notes guilt free. So a ck hood to hide his identity, appearing and disappearing out of nowhere, using techniques that bewilder the audience. He was not about to put his soul into a ne, but he could drop some kind of amazing inheritance inside some piece of jewelry and auction it off. Apparently auctions were very integral to acting mysterious. The most important thing, however, was to donate the item that would ultimately sell as thest item on the auction, getting a VIP booth as a result, and then buying some things while everyone else guessed his identity. In the actual novel itself, there was a whole lot more face pping involved, but Lex found that terribly unrealistic. How was he supposed to randomly encounter people, spoiled to the extent of stupidity, who would juste and start fights with him? He''d kept his spirit sense spread around him to observe if such scenes weremon, and fortunately they weren''t. However the role of the crowns was extensive. He still did not know what their actual use was, but they had created some kind of caste system where people with higher quality projections were treated better than others. More importantly, his assumption had also proved correct. People were a lot more open to fighting and killing here, all in the name of improving their projections. Fortunately, most of that killing was targeted towards animals and beasts, but not all of it. Lex took a bite out of a pie that had been ced in front of him, among other things, and continued to read when the doors to the tavern were mmed open. "I''M RESERVING THIS GODDAMN PLACE, SO ALL OF YOU GET THE HELL OUT!" Chapter 1026 Concrete wall Chapter 1026 Concrete wall ??Lex paused, and so did a few other guests. They turned to look at the door to discover a gang of hoodlums walking in. They were dressed in shoddy leather armor, and were carrying a number of weapons on their belts. Lex suddenly recalled what the book said about such situations. First was the direct confrontation, where the main character would not back off because his code would not allow him to take a step back or somesuch. That didn''t suit Lex''s style. Next was to ignore them and continue eating until they came to pick on him, then defeat them effortlessly and continue to read his book. Lex looked at his table, and it was still filled with food he hadn''t eaten yet. Yes, he liked that idea. He was going to¡­ "Pay in advance if you want to book the ce," the bartender said in an unimpressed tone. It seemed like he had seen plenty of such actions. "DO YOU THINK I''M POOR? HOW DARE YOU? IT''S YOUR HONOR TO BE ABLE TO SERVE ME!" the leader of the gang yelled as he mmed his fist on the counter. The bartender sighed, and grabbed his own sword. That''s when he revealed his aura as a Foundation realm expert, and sliced the entire gang in one hit. They weren''t dead, but they were definitely seriously injured. The guests turned back to their food, as if they were used to such a scene. Lexalso turned back to his book, slightly disappointed. So the bartender was a secret expert, going by local standards. Or perhaps not so secret. What Lex couldn''t figure out was why everyone in this ce was so irritable? He''d already witnessed a dozen or so fights with his spirit sense, all starting from menial issues. He looked at the dozen or so bodies being dragged about by the waitresses. What was the need for acting so absurdly? Lex couldn''t understand. His spirit sense picked something else up. Another group wasing towards the tavern, and they looked better dressed than the hoodlums, though their expressions were just as mean. The group arrived just in time to watch as the bodies of the hoodlums were being dragged out, and froze. Then they walked in, ignoring the bodies. Standing at the door, the group surveyed the entire tavern. It was not the best establishment, but it had its fair share of customers, and the food was good. The leader nodded to his men, who spread out, while the leader himself walked towards the bartender. Although he was keeping his aura suppressed, Lex could tell that he was in the Foundation realm as well. The bartender also noticed, and his bored expression changed, though just a little. "How can I help you, dear guest?" "I had sent some men here earlier to reserve this ce. Why are their bodies being dragged out of the building? That''s not the kind of service I would expect one gives to their guests." "Rserving the ce requires advance payment. When I asked for it, your men started yelling at me. My customer service ain''t great enough to tolerate being yelled at." The man nodded, and dropped a coin purse on the counter. "I''d like to reserve this ce now, for the rest of the day." The bartender picked up the purse and said, "I''ll stop new guests froming in, but you''ll have to wait for the existing guests to leave on their own. I don''t kick out paying customers." The man pursed his lips and a dangerous gleam passed through his eyes, but he did nothing. "In that case, you wouldn''t mind if my men just took a stroll around the ce, right? Don''t worry, we won''t draw our weapons." The bartender thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. One by one, the men, who were basically still just thugs but better dressed, started to approach each of the tables and gently persuaded everyone to leave. One such goon approached Lex as well. "Get up, meal times over," the man said roughly as he rested his hand on the pommel of his sword. Lex just looked at him and raised his eyebrow. He was wondering exactly how he should deal with these guys? Should he oblige, and see what their motives were? Or should he insist on staying here and finishing his meal? Lex spread out his spirit sense and covered a majority of the city as he searched for what these guys could possibly want. He found the answer almost immediately. In the building right opposite to the tavern, two young girls were having a secret meeting. They were probably just teenagers, maybe thirteen or fourteen at most. But, from their exceptionally refined clothes, it was evident that they were from prominent backgrounds. Lex was not too concerned about what the girls were talking about, but he could instantly tell that these guys had something sinister in mind. Perhaps they would try to kidnap the girls once they exited the building. "There''s a lot of food left, I''ll go when I''m done¡­" Lex had not even finished speaking when the guy flipped one of the tes on the table, spilling the gravy everywhere. Lex''s clothes were spared because, well, Lex would never let food fall on his clothes. But the gravy had mixed with his other dishes, possiblypromising the taste. "I said, meal time is over," the man reiterated, leaning forward. Everyone in the room had turned to look at them. No one had seriously resisted the thugs, but it seemed things were about to escte. A tinge of excitement filled the guests who were about to leave. One way or another, they were about to see a show. Lex merely looked at the guy, making eye contact with him, before the man''s eyes rolled back into his head and he copsed. In fact, it was not just him. All the other thugs in the room copsed, including the Foundation cultivation expert. Everyone in the room froze. What had just happened? Nobody had seen Lex make a move! He just looked at the man, and everyone copsed! "Can you refresh all my food," Lex said to the waitress. "Put it on this gentlemans tab." "Sure thing," she said cheerily, and began picking up Lex''s tes. She''d seen too many fights to be deterred by such things, though she could not help but let her gaze linger on Lex. He was a little thin for her tastes, but then again, for someone that powerful, she could adjust her tastes! She winked at Lex as she stepped over the body on the floor. Lex turned his attention back to his book. He had made his opening gambit. Rumors of a mystery man would surely spread, even if a little slowly, from this incident. Now what he needed to do was capitalize on this, and continue to behave very mysteriously. Lex ignored the gaze that the bartender gave him, and continued to read his book while he made more ns. But, he had a feeling that he wouldn''t need to do anything to get what he wanted. Considering his luck, he was sure to get embroiled in something soon enough, and considering the temperament of the folks around town, he had a feeling that he was about to begin pping some faces pretty soon. The thugs wouldn''t wake up any time soon - after all, he sted them all with a sliver of Domination, so whatever they had nned was probably foiled. After eating his meal, Lex casually left the tavern, giving the barkeep a nod. After scanning the city he had not been able to find an auction house, or any ongoing auctions, but he did find a very prestigious looking building that served a few purposes. It offeredmissions for anyone willing to take up dangerous jobs, as well as served as a point to sell and buy goods as well as information. It was a strangebination, but Lex was considering how stunned everyone would be if hepleted all themissions. As it turned out, the moment he stepped out of the tavern, so did the two girls from the opposite building. Their pure white clothes stood out amongst the dirt and muck covered clothes of people in this part of the city, as did their weak physique -pared to the others in the city that is.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "How dare you gaze upon the youngdy so lecherously?" a guard yelled at Lex when he saw him looking, and suddenly drew his sword. The young girls themselves were quite startled by the yelling guard and turned to look over. Lex did not move at all, and instead observed the guard as he swung his sword towards Lex''s neck. His eyes were filled with cunning, and anticipation. Clearly he had a reason for trying to stand out. Lex did not break eye contact with the man even as the sword came and hit Lex''s neck - before bouncing off as if it had hit a concrete wall. Chapter 1027 Simple Life Chapter 1027 Simple Life ??Lex felt slightly amused as he saw the changing emotions of the man who attacked him. Although he did not know what the reason behind attacking Lex was, he could tell that he had chosen Lex because, of everyone else on the street, he looked like the easiest target. After all, almost everyone else was taller than him, not to mention more muscr than him. Compared to everyone else, Lex looked truly malnourished. But that was probably just because the humans here were probably just a sub-race of humans that were taller and more muscr. It made sense actually, considering they had to cope with a higher gravity. If they had no way to cultivate, then they may have ended up shorter than other humans. But, since they cultivated, were focused on body cultivation, and lived in such an energy rich area, they grew to be tall and strong. That did not, however, mean that others were weak. The guard who attacked Lex recoiled back and held onto his right hand, which was trembling, and looked at Lex in shock. "What''s happening here?" yelled another guard as he pulled out his sword, but did not rush to attack. The two girls were also intrigued, and though a number of guards surrounded them to protect them, they kept watching. "Sir he¡­ I caught him ring at the two young mistresses, and suspected something was amiss. Then I saw him try to attack, and rushed to stop him, but he''s stronger than I expected. He¡­ he knocked my sword from my hand." The other guard looked at Lex warily, though there was a trace of doubt in his eyes. ording to what Lex had read, this was a perfect opportunity to act mysterious. He just needed to stick around, get into a verbal fight with the guard, establish his moral superiority before attacking the guard and possibly uncover some kind of underhanded plot. But now that he was in the situation himself, he discovered that it was¡­ kind ofme. The guy had attacked Lex, so why did he need to justify anything to retaliate? Moreover, just the thought of trying to convince everyone he was innocent and the guard was guilty sounded exhausting.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "Don''t waste my time," Lex said to the guard who attacked him, and shed him with Domination, causing him to froth at the mouth and fall unconscious. Instead of sticking around, Lex teleported away to themission building. It was only after he teleported away that it urred to Lex that the guard might have been cooperating with the thugs who tried to book the tavern. Maybe he was trying to create a scene as a signal for them to act. He shrugged, and decided not to worry about it, and instead entered the building. Since he had withdrawn his spirit sense, Lex missed the reaction to his disappearance, which rmed those who were watching even more than the sudden fainting of the guard. Afraid for his life, others checked up on the guard, only to discover a number of unusual items on his person, including a knife with a strange marking on it and a couple of bottles of unmarked medicine. The two girls were quickly escorted away, lest some issue arise, but the locals of the area who saw what happened began to whisper of a ghost who appeared in broad daylight. Some said he wasscivious and desired the two girls, while others imed that he saved their lives from a guard who was actually trying to kidnap them. Several other versions of the story also began to spread, but the only thing they had inmon was that the ghost was thin andcking in muscle. But that did not mean he was weak. Instead, he had traded all his muscles for an impervious body! As soon as the guests who were sitting in the tavern heard the story, they too began to share the story of how a single look of the ghost defeated a dozen men. But instead of a ghost, he was a wanderer who traveled from ce to ce, tasting both wine and life. The building that Lex entered was called the Simple Life building, as he learnt once he arrived there. It was named so because it was supposed to make life simple and easy. Anyone who wished coulde here and cemissions for anything they needed, or eptmissions for money, or buy and sell things. Obviously not everything was bought and sold here, but the categories were well defined. It really did keep things fairly simple. To eptmissions, however, Lex first needed to register himself. That gave him pause. If he gave a name, would that reduce the mystery around him? It might, just a little, but he decided to go forward with it and got registered. The process was, unsurprisingly, simple and straightforward. He would need to use his registered ID to ept newmissions and their rewards. Originally, Lex had imagined that he would justplete all themissions in one day, using his superior abilities, but that was not possible. A lot of themissions required him to work with the person who set themissions, or with other groups. That would naturally take time. So he began to devise a n as he looked at the variousmission boards. At the moment, he was a grade 1 member, meaning he could only eptmissions that had a grade 1 difficulty. Other than difficulty, themissions were also differentiated into types. So, naturally, after some consideration, Lex decided to ept all the huntingmissions avable to him. Most of them were asking for certain body parts of beasts that lived nearby, while some were for eradicating pests. epting so manymissions at once was an issue, so Lex had to use Mindmeld to enter the thoughts of the person who would register Lex''smissions, named Henry, and added the idea of letting Lex do as he pleased. That was the first time he added a thought into someone''s mind like that, and it was fairly easy, but he considered it might get harder if his target had a higher cultivation level. Once he epted themissions, it only took Lex a few minutes to actuallyplete all 112missions that he epted. But, instead of returning immediately, he waited till almost an hour passed. Once he hit that one hour mark, Lex walked back into the Simple Life building, lugging a massive bag over his shoulder. Although Lex attracted a lot of attention, he ignored it and got back in the queue to report hispletedmissions. There were other, shorter lines, but Lex decided to stick with Henry. "How you doing Henry," Lex asked, when it was finally his turn. "I''m just here to report that I''m done with all themissions. I''ve brought all the harvested parts as well. Just let me know where to drop them." "You¡­ you what?" Henry asked, as he looked up at Lex in shock. It almost sounded like Lex had said hepleted all the eptedmissions. That was over 100 of them! The massive bag he was carrying seemed to reinforce that thought, but it must be a mistake. "I said Ipleted all the tasks and brought the harvested stuff. Where can I have them checked out?" "The room to the left¡­ No, wait, I''ll take you there myself," Henry said, once he woke up from his stupor. Henry quickly left his station and walked out from behind the counter, and led Lex to a room on the side. There were a number of booths in the room, most with lines in front of them, and people were bringing stuff in to be appraised in each one. Henry led Lex to one of therger booths which did not have a line. "This booth is normally only used for grade 4 members and above, but since I''m personally bringing you, it''s fine if we use it," Henry exined. Lex found Henry''s expression quite amusing. He looked equal parts bewildered and curious. Logic told Henry that it was impossible for Lex to havepleted all the tasks he epted, or even half of them, so quickly. But for some odd reason, he believed Lex. "Hi, can you appraise these goods and confirm they correspond with thesemissions?" Henry handed the appraiser a list of themissions Lex epted, who was also stunned when he looked at the massive list. Lex only smiled, and put the massive bag he was pulling onto the table. For a moment, the massive bag, muchrger than the table or even the people standing in the booth, made for quite amercial scene. Then the table copsed under the weight of the bag. "Is this some kind of joke?" the appraiser asked, anger rising in his chest. Was he being made fun of? "No, not really. Can you hurry up? I have moremissions to ept," Lex responded innocently. After all, this was just the beginning of his n. Chapter 1028 Dread

Chapter 1028 Dread

The appraiser and Henry both looked at Lex like he was a mad man, but forpletely different reasons. Lex, on the other hand, waspletely rxed, and was reveling in his schemes. He was slightly upset that neither Henry nor the appraiser paid attention to how the bag that was absolutely massive fit through a door it absolutely shouldn''t have. It was just a simple trick of shifting it into and out of his spatial bangle faster than anyone else could notice while moving through the door. But the wholeedic spiel he was doing of a man carrying a bag muchrger than himself seemed to be lost on everyone here. Perhaps since everyone was a body cultivator, feats of strength were a lot easier to ept here. He would need to keep that in mind. Disgruntled, the appraiser moved towards the bag and opened it, revealing the top of a neatly organized, clean stack of body parts harvested from local beasts. The appraiser gave a questioning look to Lex, before he exited the booth and called for an assistant. One by one, the appraiser began to study the body parts and confirm their quality, while the assistant ced them aside neatly and marked whichmission they were a part of. Lex and Henry observed in silence as the man continued to remove body parts one at a time, marking each of them as perfect quality, having suffered no harm during the killing or harvesting process. After a while, though, as the number of parts removed from the bag became so massive that there was little room left in the booth for them, Henry began to look at Lex oddly. Had he really done it? Logically speaking, based on the size of the bag, the body parts at the bottom should have been crushed or at least deformed a little, but no. Each and every piece removed was in perfect quality. In the end, the appraisal process alone took more than an hour, surpassing the time it took for Lex to actually bring themissions back in. "All¡­ all themissions you took areplete," Henry said, dumbfounded at the words he was saying. "In fact, you''ve brought some extra pieces. Your rewards total up to 3 gold coins and 31 silver coins, and your rank has been increased to four. Would you like to collect your reward, or keep it at Simple Life as credit?" "Credit is fine for now. Can we head out? I want to ept some rank 2missions." "Wait, you, what?" Henry followed Lex as he exited the booth, after giving the appraiser a nod. He walked to the rank 2 huntingmissions and, once again, epted them all. "You¡­ you can''t keep epting all of them," Henry said,menting Lex''s speed. He hadn''t even given him any time to consult with his manager. "Alright, how about I only ept a few of them for now? But Iplete all of them, and then you just keep registering them while the appraiser checks everything?" "Umm, yeah, I think that could work," Henry said, suddenly feeling excited. It suddenly urred to him that instead of worrying about getting caught for breaking the rule for allowing Lex to ept so manymissions, he should find a way to capitalize on it somehow. He didn''t believe for an instant that Lexpleted all themissions in an hour, but regardless, the Simple Life building had profited from his actions, regardless of his agenda. That meant if he could improve his rtionship with Lex, he could stand to get a raise from all this somehow. "Great, I''ll see you soon then," Lex said as he walked out. "I''ll¡­ I''ll prepare a bigger booth and some more appraisers!" Henry yelled out after him. Lex seemed to vanish as soon as he stepped out of the building, but Henry wasn''t focused on that. He immediately ran to the appraisal area and back to the appraiser he had just worked with. "Prepare a bigger booth, and get a couple more guys on duty. The client from just now is nning oning back soon with more stuff." "More stuff? Are you insane? It probably took him a month to gather all of this, and you''re saying that he still has more stuff to bring?" "But¡­ but he only epted themissions a couple of hours ago. And, right now, he just epted a bunch more from rank 2." "Don''t be ridiculous Henry. There''s no way he''sing back any time soon. Besides, I''ve already appraised more things today than I normally do in a week. Do you think I''m sticking around? I need a break! My mind is fried." "But¡­" Henry began, yet the appraiser wasn''t interested at all and left. The assistant, who was carrying all the items away one by one, paused and looked at Henry. Clearly he was busy, so there was no point in telling him to get anything done. "Carry on," he said, and then rushed to his manager. Lex, meanwhile, had alreadypleted themissions. After all there were only 82 rank 2missions avable, and although they were supposed to be harder, it hardly made a difference to him. But he was still waiting for that one hour mark, so he watched Henry run around the building. The manager, although just as bewildered as Henry, was a lot more clear sighted than the appraiser. "Look it doesn''t matter how he did it, or what his reasons are," the manager told Henry. "As long as he''spleting themissions fairly, and there''s nothing wrong with the goods that he brings in, then we don''t need to worry about anything else. Go back to your desk, I''ll arrange a separate appraisal for this person. Whether hees today, next week, or next month, we will deal with him professionally." Lex smiled. Although that''s what the manager was saying, he could sense the intrigue that he was feeling. At the one hour mark, Lex walked back into the building, once again carrying a massive bag. This time, he got even more attention. Although most people did not know who he was, or what he was doing, many had seen hime earlier as well and head to the appraisal room. So his arrival a second time naturally drew attention. Meanwhile, a small crowd had gathered and were discussing the oddity of so many rank 1missions disappearing all of a sudden. As soon as Henry saw Lex, he rushed to him and escorted him to a private room where a number of appraisers were waiting. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Herny, why don''t you deal with this? In the meantime, I''ll go deal with the rank 3missions." "Yes! Absolutely! You can trust us to appraise all your stuff without issue. Every single item will definitely be ounted for!" Lex chuckled, and then left the room. The appraisers were stunned as they began to unpack the bag, and the sudden disappearance of all the jobs for rank 2 that dealt with hunting began to attract notice. Both the crowds and the staff began to notice something strange going on as assistants were getting summoned away and there were fewer and fewer work staff on the ground. Around forty minutester, the 2nd batch of Lex''s haul got appraised, but they only had a short break for twenty minutester, Lex walked back in with another massive bag. "Hey, what''re you doing? I don''t think I''ve ever seen you here before," asked one of the regrs of the Simple Life building. People had begun to suspect that the disappearingmissions might have something to do with Lex, but how could that be possible? "Yeah, I''m just here for the day, doing a few chores," replied Lex with a smile. Before the man could ask anymore questions, Henry found Lex and brought him to the private room. The assistants and the appraisers who had been working nonstop became pale at the sight of Lex carrying yet another bag. "Shall we do it likest time?" Lex said as he left the bag. "Eh¡­ Mr. Lex¡­ the thing is, my manager informed me that¡­ if you''ve already done all the rank 3missions, and you go to do all the rank 4 ones, we might not have the liquidity to pay you the amount owed in a short time¡­" "Eh, don''t worry about that. I don''t mind keeping it as credit for now. Besides, maybe I could buy something from you instead. That would prevent you from having to pay me all at once." "So, uh, does that mean you''re still doing themissions?" Lex just smiled at him, then looked at the pale workers who were trembling and waiting for an answer with dread. "Why don''t you get all theds here a little pick me up from me for all their hard work. Something to boost their energies. I''ll be back in an hour." Chapter 1029 There’s still more?

Chapter 1029 There''s still more?

Henry knocked on a door filled with a nervous, yet excited energy. One way or another, this day would go down in Simple Life history, and Henry was already a part of it. "Come in," said an unsteady voice from inside. Henry entered to the sight of a worried looking man studying a piece of paper held by the manager. They seemed to be reviewing some numbers, and were whispering amongst themselves. "Manager, I just came in to report that Mr. Lex has left the bag for the rank 3missions and has gone out toplete the rank 4missions." The manager and the other man both paled at the news, almost losing strength in their limbs. "Didn''t you tell him that we might not be able to pay him if he keeps on like this? Just the rank 3missions should make his ie around 18,000 gold pieces. Rank 1 and 2 were still fine, but rank 3 is expensive. If he now goes andpletes all rank 4missions we¡­ we don''t have that kind of liquidity!" "I¡­ I did. He didn''t seem bothered by it. He said, at most, he''d just keep it in credit or maybe he''d just buy something from us. He¡­ he also asked me to reward the appraiser with something to help keep them energized. I brought a list here for you to review before I disperse the rewards." "Buy something¡­ do you think he''s after something in particr?" the manager asked the other man in a low voice? "Go get a list of our entire inventory. And I mean the entire inventory. There has to be more to the story than we know." The other man quickly ran out of the room, as if his life depended on this task, while Henry came in and showed the manager the paper. Lex, who was watching everything from far away, could not help butugh. Yes, there really was more to the story than they knew about, but none of them would ever be able to guess his motives! Soon, when the other man brought in another piece of paper with the inventory list, Lex read it to see if he could find anything interesting. He had to admit, there were quite a few interesting things on the list. But, most likely, the things that Lex found interesting are probably not what the Simple Life would have been expecting. Lex chuckled. Well, not like he was done yet anyway. After rank 4 requests, there was the final tier of rank 5 requests. There were only 4 rank 5 requests, and they all had something to do with a few Golden core beasts in the regions. He imagined that, after hepleted them, the entire city would be shocked. But that was just the beginning. He had to think of other things. Time passed while he nned, and the staff at Simple Life ran around, desperate toplete their tasks. By now, rumors had already begun to spread, and at some point the staff members had let the matter leak that Lex was the one aplishing all themissions! To be fair, Lex was only doing themissions rted to hunting, so there were many others still left for anyone who wished to take some. But even so, the chaos began to spread. Many even began running across town, delivering the news to a few specific groups who might be interested. Amidst this mess, Lex returned. This time, his bag was much smaller as the number ofmissions was naturally growing. Ironically, now, with the much smaller bag, Lex began to attract a greater deal of attention. After all, while it made no difference to Lex, the aura of the body parts contained within were still radiating ferocity with full force. Even when some wanted to approach him, they were not able to, which made it very easy for him to pass through. Henry was not around to wee him this time, so he directly entered the private room to the sight of a dozen appraisers wiping their sweat and consulting one another. They had not yet finished checking the previous bag, despite whatever revitalizing drink they had been given. "Mr. Lex! You''re back!" Henry said out loud in surprise upon noticing him. He had been so busy he hadn''t even realized an hour had already passed! "Yes, and Henry, it seems like you held back. Go ahead, get the best of whatever you have avable for them. It would be problematic if they copsed half way through." "The¡­ the best¡­ Mr. Lex how about you look through our inventory list and decide for yourself. I¡­ I really can''t¡­" "Alright, alright, bring me the list. And here, someone take this." Lex unceremoniously dropped the bag of body parts on the floor, as if it didn''t contain exceedingly valuable parts. Henry ran off, and returned only a few momentster holding a piece of paper. Behind him, his manager was also following though his pace was that of a normal stride as he tried to maintain a sense of dignity. Lex nced at the list, and pointed directly to something called Divine serum, which cost about a hundred gold per bottle. "This one, it should have a revitalizing effect, right? Just give this to all of them." "That? Is¡­ I mean, are you sure? Isn''t that a little overdoing it? That''s for people with injuries that could lead to death. How about I suggest something?" "No, the serum will be fine. They have a lot of work to do before they even get to the bag I just brought. If they''re not full of energy, how are they going to manage when I go and get the final bag?" "Final bag? You mean¡­ you¡­ you''re still going back?" "Of course I am," Lex said with a nod. "There''s still some rank 5 requests left. I''ll see you in an hour." Lex nodded and left the room, and the manager who had arrived close enough just to hear thest part fainted.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Chapter 1030 Stunned

Chapter 1030 Stunned

The rank 5missions didn''t really require hunting the golden core beasts. There were two of them within the vicinity of the city, and their presence kept the entire ecosystem bnced. They were also smart enough to not challenge the city, though they would not hesitate to act out if anyone entered their territory. The tasks involved stuff like collecting molted scales or getting blood samples. Regardless, it was easy enough for Lex to do. Even though he noticed that the Golden core beasts had particrly strong bodies, and boasted strength above that of the norm outside of this realm, none were as abnormal as Lex. Which meant that, once again, Lex was done within a few minutes. Once done, Lex simply walked around the city while he nned his next move. By now, the crowd around Simple Life had been dispersed, and only a few notable people remained. It seemed like a representative from both Torrin and Wood families had arrived, as well as a few other powerful people. He had no intentions of getting involved with them as he found politics to be tedious, so whatever he did next would have to be somewhere else. One drawback, he learnt, of being very strong was that it was more difficult than anticipated to keep himself ignorant. He had tried to limit his use of spirit sense so that he would not yete across answers to why the crown was important or what purpose it served. But even so, just his normal hearing was enough to gather enough information toe up with an answer. It seemed like besides humans taking to using the projections as a sort of caste and nobility system, the sealed domain also favored those with a higher projection. People could use their aura to open up certain portions of the domain that were otherwise sealed and contained phenomenal treasures and opportunities. There were also certain areas from where one could gain control over certain sections of the sealed domain itself! It seemed like a group of families had taken control over various such regions, and thereby gained control over the entire domain. It also offered a few other minor perks such as intimidating others with a lower projection level, though that would only happen if Lex let the projection leak out its aura. Speaking of which¡­ letting some of the aura of his gold crowns leak out before leaving might be a nice touch. As usual, just as the hour mark came by, Lex walked in. This time, instead of a bag over his shoulder, Lex was pushing a trolley. It couldn''t be helped, since he had to bring a few jars of beast blood as well. Everyone had been waiting for Lex, and had been on the lookout, so they were taken aback when he seemed to suddenly reach the entrance of the building without alerting anyone. They were even more surprised by how nonchntly he seemed to be walking by, as if everything in his cart wasn''t carrying an oppressive aura. Before he could reach the private room, however, a man in the Simple Life staff uniform stepped forward with a smile. Lex had not seen him before, and was aware that he had only been recently called by the manager. "Mr. Lex, thank you so much forpleting these longstandingmissions. I''m afraid there''s been a smallpse in procedure which is why no one informed you. For rank 5missions, there''s a separate area to submit them. After all, our regr workers and appraisers cannot stand the aura of these objects." "Oh, right, of course. Please, lead the way." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Everyone who had been standing in the lobby, hoping to get an opportunity to speak to Lex, missed out on the opportunity as he was led away. Lex was led to the highest level of the building and into arge office where a few heavily armored men were waiting. Their purpose there was not to act against Lex or anything like that. The armor, instead, protected them from the aura of the Golden core beasts harvested parts. They individually picked up the jars and the various parts and took them away, leaving Lex and the man alone in the room. "They''ll verify and tabte your total ie and rewards from all themissions you''vepleted," said the man as he motioned Lex to take a seat. "It might take a couple of days to gather all 112,500 gold coins that you are owed, however. I hope you understand. We were not expecting anyone to go through all the tasks so quickly. By the way, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Cleath, and I am incharge of all Simple Life operations in the region." "Well, Cleath, don''t worry about the gold. Like I told Henry, I''ll just take a couple of things from your inventory, and the rest you can hold onto as credit." "Mr. Lex, you have been incredibly generous," Cleath said with a bow. "To be honest, it would probably be good for us to hold on to your ie as credit. However, Simple Life aspires for simplicity in all its endeavors. Holding on to such arge amount that I owe someone else will make me feel uneasy. I would rather continue to operate normally, even if it somewhat affects our daily operations for a short while." Lex raised an eyebrow. He was not expecting that. He could also tell that Cleath had no ulterior motives when saying this, and he was not trying to appear humble or honest when saying such things, but was actually being straightforward. "In that case¡­" Lex spread out his spirit sense and covered the entire city. He even allowed some of the aura from his projection to leak out and be sensed by Cleath. It took him only a few seconds to decide what to do, so he withdrew his aura. "Bring me a pen and paper so thatI can give you a list of instructions," Lex said, but Cleath did not respond. Instead he just stood there, stunned. What had he just sensed? Chapter 1031 Coupon Chapter 1031 Coupon ??The projection crowns had many levels, and each level had specific auras. Cleath, as a region manager for the Simple Life building, himself had a very high projection aura himself, and had been exposed to some of the highest auras in thend. The local powers, whether it was the Torrin family or the Wood family, both were practically inconsequential beyond their own city. Cleath himself, in fact, had a Silver rank projection, which was one of the highest around. After all, it had to be known that no one could inherit a projection rank higher than Bronze-Gold. To go from Bronze-Gold to Rusted-Silver itself was an immense feat that many were not able to do during their entire lives. To then go from Rusted-Silver to Silver, Cleath had proved himself to be an extraordinary warrior with immense foresight and courage. His cultivation level at the peak of the Foundation realm was nothing to scoff at. He was one of the strongest people in the city, though obviously, not quite the strongest. But regardless, his position was enough to show that his background was extraordinarily deep. In fact, he had even once been to one of the three Primary cities of the sealed domain - each city requiring a minimum of Rusted-Silver projection just to enter. Although not one to show off, it was fair to say that Cleath had felt his fair share of powerful auras. But even so, he had never felt an aura like the one Lex had let leak. He had no resistance in front of it at all. He instead felt like his entire life rested in the palm of Lex''s hands, and instead of being afraid or terrified of that fact, he should feel honored. His cultivation had thoroughly withdrawn itself, leaving him with no more strength than that of a mortal. This was a phenomenon that he was familiar with. Beasts did it in the face of those with very high projections. It was involuntary. But he''d never heard of someone with an aura level high enough to affect humans! "Cleath, are you okay?" Lex asked after a few moments. The man had beenpletely unresponsive. He hoped he hadn''t knocked him unconscious. Cleath trembled and then fell back into his seat. His limbs hadpletely lost all strength, though they were quickly recovering. "I¡­ what? Yes, I''m sorry. I was just¡­ you, you asked for a paper right? I''ll go get some," he tried to get up, but he was unable to move. An awkwardness filled the room as Cleath tried to get up a few times, but literally could not pick himself up. "You know, what, I have a better idea," said Lex as he summoned a spirit crystal from his bangle, and infused his instructions within. "Here, take this. If you pour your energy into the crystal, you''ll be able to read my instructions just fine. You can use all my ie ording to the instructions I''ve listed here. As for my own reward, I''ll go collect it from Henry. You¡­ should probably take a moment and just get some rest. Actually, here, have a drink as well. It''ll help you recover." Feeling incredibly embarrassed, Lex left a medicinal elixir for Cleath and quickly left the room. At least now he knew what would happen if he exposed his aura to others. It was embarrassing to do it by ident, but he could think of a few situations in which it would be pretty interesting. He found his way to Henry and asked him for something extremely specific from the Simple Life building inventory. As soon as he got it, Lex disappeared from right in front of Henry and everyone else in the building. He had no intention of meeting the people waiting in the lobby for him. But he had underestimated the impact he would have by disappearing from right in front of a small crowd.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Some people could not help but scream "ghost" or just straight out faint. But Lex did not care. He looked at the reward in his hand: a coupon for the best restaurant in town. To be more specific, the coupon was to have the head chef prepare a private meal for the coupon holder whenever they wished. He wondered if the chef would be good enough to work with ingredients Lex provided. He was looking forward to it. But first, he decided to change his clothes. Although he enjoyed wearing a suit, it did not fit in well with the clothing style of the area. While Lex had no intention of making himself look like he had been injecting steroids to fit in, dressing the part was not an issue. By now, he knew the city like the back of his hand, which is why he also knew the location of the best clothes designer in the area. Even though Torrinwood was nor particrly well known for its fashion, since most of its residents were workers and warriors, with only a few rich families, it was not like they werepletely deprived of it either. Lex walked into a rather well-designed building that looked like it had been carved out of a single,rge b of marble. The buildings sold more than just clothes, and was the closest thing to a mall he had found. His arrival drew a few curious stares, since he was so ''frail'' and dressed oddly, but no one made any trouble for him. Yet. Lex also wasn''t interested in waiting for someone to make a fool of himself. Even without trying, he had already learnt a lot about how everything worked here, so there was no reason for him to act as if he knew nothing. He walked up to one of the staff members, and showed his Simple Life registration token, which had his identity as a rank 5 member written on it. "I''d like ess to the top floor," Lex said with a smile. "Could you take me there?" "Ye- yes! Immediately, sir! Follow me!" squeaked the girl when she saw his token. A rank 5 member? That was equal to the head of the two leading families! She couldn''t even begin to imagine the identity of the strange man who had just walked up to her! Chapter 1032 Krab meat patty burger

Chapter 1032 Krab meat patty burger

The girl had not exactly kept her volume low, mainly because she waspletely unprepared for the shock she received. That drew even more stares, but Lex did not mind. The stares only got more intense when the people noticed exactly where he was going, but by then it was toote. He had already entered the private elevator - which seemed very high tech for a rtively low-tech city - and was on his way to the top floor. The top floor was more of a statement than anything functional, as hardly anyone ever qualified to use it. One would need a very high projection quality, high cultivation or some kind of extremely prestigious de to get ess to it. Being a rank 5 member of the Simple Life building, which had a ster reputation and tried and tested ranking requirements, was more than enough though. The elevator opened to the sight of a man and a woman waiting for their arrival. Maintaining very professional expressions, they bowed to Lex, before the man asked, "exalted guest, how can we be of service to you today?" "I am about to attend an extremelyvish feast," Lex said very calmly. "I need clothes for the asion. Somethingfortable, though. I am not used to wearing tight clothing." "Do you have any preference?" the woman asked. "Any design choices or restrictions? Any¡­ price ranges you want to stay in?" Lex only chuckled. "How about you just aim to impress me?" Both the man and the woman were surprised by his request, then filled with excitement. Immediately they brought him in and began measuring his body to begin making his suit. Fortunately, they were not nearly as thorough as Geeves, so Lex did not need to hear about his new weight. To be honest, Lex had low expectations for the clothes, but the two of them worked really well together, and designed what looked like a formal version of a soldier''s uniform. He was impressed, especially when they got to work right in front of him and created the entire ensemble in twenty minutes. It cost a whopping 300 gold pieces, but Lex paid 350 and stepped out. Not like gold had much value for Lex anyway. Every time he spread his spirit sense out he found lost money, not to mention more than a few stashes of chests full of coins he was pretty sure had beenundered by someone. He felt no guilt using someone else''s money if it was stolen to begin with. When Lex entered the building people stared at him because they were confused and curious about his identity. When he stepped out, however, all eyes were on him because he looked absolutely handsome in his clothes, even with his physique which was skinnier than the rest of the people here. People began to whisper, wondering about his identity, but no one had any answers. Only a few staff members began to whisper amongst themselves about how a rank 5 member of the Simple Life building, named Lex, had visited them that day. Lex then made his way to a restaurant that was built right on the river side, with a tform that extended into the river, just below the flowing water. This way, the restaurant had a tform with a few seats where guests could sit and rest their feet in the cool, flowing river water. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om It was quite a popr spot, and seemed to be bustling with crowds of families and friends alike. There seemed to be a few private rooms as well which could be booked for those who wished to dine in private. "I''m sorry ma''am, but the chef Spong-e is not avable to cater to a private party," a waitress said awkwardly to a particrly angry lookingdy when Lex stepped in. "Do you know who I am? Do you know who my son is?" thedy could not help but yell angrily. "My son is the oldest grandchild of Jacob Torrin! It''s his birthday! If he wants Krabmeat patty burgers for his birthday, then that''s what he''s going to get! Understand?" "Ma''am, maybe you could bring your son here¡­" the waitress tried to say, wearing a weak smile, only to have the angrydy begin hollering at her. Lex could not help but sigh at the sight. As a fellow member of the service industry, he could not help but feel bad for the waitress and so he approached her. "Hi, could you give this to chef Spong-e?" Lex asked with a smile, his soft words somehow cutting through the incessant hollering of the maddy. He held out the coupon he got from Simple Life. "I believe he''ll know what this is." Everyone was stunned, and not just because of his charming smile. Well, most likely, none of them cared as much about his smile as much as the fact that he just went up and interrupted a Torrin! The maddy was so shocked, she didn''t recover until the waitress took the coupon from Lex''s hand. She turned, ready to begin hollering at him as well, but Lex was not in the mood to be yelled at. He simply nced at the woman, and before she could speak, shed a bit of his projection aura, stunning her. With his incredible control, no one else felt the aura, though they did see him give thedy a side eye which caused her to freeze. They were waiting for the explosion, but it never came. Eventually Lex was led away by the unsure waitress as she led him to a private room with a balcony view. After they left, when the woman still had not moved, some tried to approach her to ensure she was fine. That''s when her legs gave way, and the woman fell to the floor. She wentpletely pale and she began stuttering, her wordspletely illegible. Confused and scared, no one dared to mess with her, though countless people immediately began to spread the news. Someone had just messed with the Torrin family, and they''d done so out in public! Chapter 1033 Pat Rick

Chapter 1033 Pat Rick

Lex learned forward on the balcony and enjoyed the stunning view. Right below him, the wide river was flowing, its pace fast but not overwhelming or dangerous, and on the other side of the river the city continued. There were a few small boats on the river, crossing from one side to another or traveling the length of it in either direction. There were kids ying in the water, and old men fishing. There were clouds in the sky, glowing with a unique silver light. Wherever Lex looked, he only saw beautiful views. If nothing else, this restaurant had at least picked the perfect location for ster views. He was tempted to go down and dip his feet in the water with everyone else, but his coupon could only be used in a private room, so he had no choice. Someone knocked on his door, and then opened. A handsome man, with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a strong, rectangr jaw stepped in wearing an excited smile. His central incisors had a gap in them, but for whatever reason, they did not take away from his looks, and instead only served to give him a simple charm. "Hello sir, I am chef Spong-e. I can''t believe you redeemed the cooking coupon from Simple Life - I know how expensive it was supposed to be. I feel honored that you would redeem it. You may not know, but the Simple Life overseer did a great favor for me in exchange for that coupon, so I have been looking forward to the opportunity to pay them back." "I have also been looking forward to trying your food," Lex said with a smile. "Your reputation clearly precedes you." "Of course! I am at your disposal today. What would you like to have?" "I''ve heard a lot about your burgers, so I have been looking forward to trying them. By the way, don''t judge me based on my appearance. The amount of food I can consume is no joke." "Do not worry! As your personal chef, I will not stop cooking until you are satisfied!" True to his word, Spong-e exited the room and entered the private kitchen which was adjacent to the private room, and visible due to a ss wall separating them. Undeterred by the audience, Spong-e immediately turned on his grill and began preparing his various ingredients. Lex watched him cook, something he never expected to find interesting. Yet here he was, enjoying himself. He was also aware of the small crowd that was gathering outside, though he did not pay much attention to it. Even when, from a distance, another group arrived, Lex only nominally paid attention to it. At the forefront was a man weaning a green suit and a mean expression. The sight of him seemed to intimidate and excite many people at the same time. "I can''t believe it," said one of the men observing from a distance. "It''s nk Torrin. Whoever messed with the Torrin''s is in trouble now." "I heard the problem was caused because of Spong-e. It''s said that nk Torrin has been trying to poach him for his own restaurant for a long time without sess. I guess it was inevitable that they would have problems." "I heard his restaurant is literally shaped like a bucket. Who would want to work there?" The man in the green suit heard the words being spoken all around him, but he ignored them all. He just walked until he eventually reached his wife, Karen, who looked extremely upset. "Karen, are you alright?" he asked, taking her hand and looking her in the eyes. "I have failed you nk, I have failed you. Let''s just go home. I can not take this anymore." "It''s fine, Karen. You go home and get some rest. I will make sure those who messed with us today will know the consequences of their actions." The mad woman reluctantly nodded, and was led away by another group. nk, who was holding in his anger so far, turned and was about to enter the restaurant to cause a scene when someone stepped in front of him. Lex, who was getting ready to sh his aura again, could not help but raise an eyebrow. He had heard of this man as well. With bright pink hair and more confidence than anyone else around, the greatest star of Torrinwood, and best friend of Spong-e, Pat Rick. "I don''t think so, nk," he said,pletely uncaring that he was outnumbered a dozen to one. "I think it''s about time you give up. Spong-e will never work for you." At around this time, a bored looking waiter opened the door to Lex''s room and brought in the first burger, steam still rising from the patty inside. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Please enjoy," he said, and ced the burger in front of Lex. The smell of it was genuinely unexpectedly good, and could not help but remind him of the failure of a cook he had at his own restaurant. For a brief moment, Lex also considered poaching Spong-e, but then pushed the idea away. Filled with great anticipation, Lex took a bite from the burger - and his mind seemed to explode. The bun was so incredibly light and fluffy that it felt like he was biting air, yet it had the mildest hint of sweetness packaging the savouriness packed inside of it. The meat was so tender, it gave way as soon as he bit it, and reached the perfect amount of juiciness one would want from a patty. It was not enough to drip or soak the bun, but more enough to deliver a great rush of vor! The onions were perfectly caramelized so that their crunch texture added to the sensation of the bite, and their vor blended perfectly in with the meat. The thin slice of lettuce added an air of freshness to the bite so that it was not overwhelming, and the slice of cheese perfectly coated everything. Lex forgot everything. He forgot all the troubles he had ever experienced, the pressure of looking for the resin, the threat of the system disappearing, his family abandonment issues, and everything else. With this one bite Lex had discovered the answer to the greatest question in the universe. But before he could enjoy the sensation much longer, his door mmed open, interrupting his experience. nk barged in. Chapter 1034 Eventful day Chapter 1034 Eventful day ??Ever since he began cultivating, Lex had aplicated rtionship with food. At first, he was extremely reluctant about the fact that slowly he would lose his sense of hunger as his body gained the ability to make do without it. His love for food caused him a great amount of pain when he thought about the fact that he might lose his taste for it. Not that he would ever dislike food, but that heightened experience of having great food when he was really hungry would surely be something he lost. But no matter how reluctant he was, it was a bitter reality. Over time, as he became busier, he had less and less time to eat. In fact, as ofte, days would go by without him realizing he hadn''t eaten since his body wouldn''t really remind him, and he would be otherwise upied.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om The tragedy was somewhat further enhanced because the food requirements of his body also became more strenuous. So for him to actually make use of the food he ate, the ingredients needed to be of a higher quality. That meant other foods did not taste as good as they used to. Sure, there was that period at the temple where he was getting good food, but that was ultimately limited. So, in a way, whether he wanted to or not, Lex had be distanced from the act of eating and truly enjoying food. It was one of the drawbacks of cultivation that no one ever talked about - probably out of bitterness. So when he got the first taste of that burger, and for it to be so surprisingly and unexpectedly good blew Lex''s mind away. He waspletely unprepared for such a pleasant experience. Hepletely lost himself in that moment. So when nk mmed the door open, and woke Lex from his reverie, there was a moment he forgot that he was supposed to be joking around and became truly angry. It was not the aura of his projection, but Domination that radiated from his body as he locked eyes with nk. In that moment, let alone that delinquent, the whole city froze. But then, fortunately, Lex recalled what was happening and withdrew his aura. There was still the rest of the burger left to eat, not to mention that Spong-e would make more until Lex was satisfied, so there was no reason to be angry. But that split second it took for him to calm down was already enough. nk fell face forward onto the ground, frothing at the mouth in his unconscious state. Lex sighed, and then Blinked nk, his wife, and all his goons back to the Torrin family mansion. He couldn''t be bothered to deal with them right now that he was finally enjoying himself. While no one saw nk be teleported, many others saw members of the Torrin family vanish before their very eyes right after a frightening aura epassed the city. Some people began to panic, while others began to wonder what was happening. Rumors began to spread like wildfire, some mentioning ghosts while others mentioning a thin human who hade down from the heavens to judge evil. But after a while, since nothing else happened, people began to calm down and the panic started to fade. That''s when another kind of rumor began to spread. Apparently, the Simple Life building was going around the city, offering valuable resources to orphans and the under privileged. Some people who were sick and had no money for treatment received a home visit from Simple Life staff who delivered medicine that would cure almost all illnesses in one go. Many who were stuck in bottlenecks got just the medicine they needed to break through, and others who were in dire need of just a little bit of money to ovee a difficult situation received gifts of gold. But everyone who received something from them also got the message that what they had gotten was a gift from some unknown ''Mr. Lex''. Everyone began to wonder who this Mr. Lex was, when they found out that it was a mysterious figure who single handedlypleted all the huntingmissions in a matter of hours! Who was this man? What was his agenda? Why was he helping everyone? What was he after? These were the questions on everyone''s minds, yet no one had a proper answer. The day was extremely eventful, and the people of the city couldn''t keep up with the information. In a dark alley in the city, Hildi, who was standing over the bloody body of yet another assassin, was wondering how she could possibly escape her predicament when a staff member from Simple Life suddenly showed up. He ignored the body on the ground, and simply looked at Hildi. "Miss Hildi, is that you? ording to the instructions, this is where I would find you, so you must be her. Here, you go, this is a small present for you from Mr. Lex." Hildi had her guard raised, but she was really too weak to resist an attack, therefore, all she could do was ept the gift. Surprisingly, no attack came and the man left. Stunned, she opened up her gift and saw it contained healing medicine. Who was this Lex and how did he know she needed help? The image of the man she helped bring to the city popped in her mind. But she dismissed it. How was that possible? There had to be some other exnation. Before considering it, however, she began to limp away. Staying here was not the best idea. Meanwhile, Lex was finishing up yet another burger. It was splendid, and exactly what he needed to help him rx. He could not help but wonder if Spong-e might be a system user with a cooking system. How else could he cook so well? But even if he was, Lex had no intention of prying. Instead, he was considering his grand finale in this small city. He was about ready to move on and begin searching for the resin, right after one more mysterious act. Chapter 1035 Monument manufacturing

Chapter 1035 Monument manufacturing

Now that he was about to leave, and had already had his fun, Lex spread his spirit sense over the entire city. What did it matter if he learned everything there was to know about this ce? He was done trying to immerse himself into ordinary life. From what he could tell, body cultivation was the orthodox cultivation path in this ce. It made sense. On earth body cultivation was a lot harder than spiritual cultivation because there weren''t enough resources that supported body cultivation, but that didn''t seem to be the situation here. Back then, zombie cores had be very popr because of how they supported body cultivation. But here, Lex had already spotted countless fruits that were considered normal, everyday fruits that people ate as snacks that were even more effective than zombie cores. Of course, that was because this was a new realm and was packed with extremely concentrated spiritual energy, but even if it was temporary, this was the reality these people were living in. It did not matter to them how rare these fruits were on the outside, because here they were normal. With that in mind, what can Lex do that would be considered a really big deal here? He could think of a few things, to be honest. He could either do something that reinforced the body cultivation system, but better, or introduce something from the spiritual cultivation method. But what should he do? Unable to decide, Lex pulled out a coin, closed his eyes, and flipped it. If itnded on heads, he''d do a tournament style elimination method to give the final winner an award. If itnded on tails, he''d leave a monument in the middle of the city that no one could destroy or move, which would only give out its technique to someone suitable. The sound of something cracking attracted his attention, and he opened his eyes to the sight of the coin embedded into the roof, revealing the tail side facing him. Since it''s on the roof, does the tail being visible mean that heads is actually on top? After a quick consideration, Lex decided to stick to tails. Lex naturally did not have the means to create such a random monument out of nothing, nor did he happen to have one such thing on him at the moment. But what he did have was a ring with the soul of a dragon. He had already learnt that dragons lived an incredibly long time, which meant that they were easily prone to boredom, and so partook in many activities no one would expect, from watching ys, reading books, ying video games and more. Hosting random tournaments and randomly dropping such monuments to stir up their subordinate races was included in those activities. He exined to Pel what he wanted to do, and the trusty ring spirit quickly searched its memories for a suitable method that could be used by Lex. Once again, the issue was that he was too weak to use most of the techniques used by dragons, and so he had to rely on one of the training techniques as well. But even though it was merely a training technique to manufacture something, it was more than enough to fulfill Lex''s needs. After thanking Spong-e for the over 100 burgers he made for Lex, and leaving behind a healing serum as well as a reward for Pat, who had taken a beating trying to stop nk, Lex teleported away. He had to focus on learning the technique, and then quickly making a nice, eye-catching monument which would also serve as a treasure which would select someone suitable and transmit techniques to him or her. Normally, when one imagined treasure manufacturing, they would imagine an assembly line or something being made by heavy machinery, or maybe something being made piece by piece by a cksmith if they were old fashioned. But dragons had an entirely different way to manufacture things. Lex took out a number of various metals and ores from his spatial bangle, and then visualized the monument he wanted to make, as well as its capabilities. He doubted he''d seed on the first try, but he was a quick learner, so it shouldn''t take too long. Lex summoned a Glyph that he was really excited to use- the Dragons breath Glyph! He felt heat build up in the back of his throat, and after aiming at the ores, began to breath out a thin streak of yellowish- golden mes. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Fed by his spiritual energy as well as Domination, his mes were more than just hot! They werepletely overbearing! The ores began to melt and then purify on their own, while the other metals began moving within the mes, as if invisible hands were controlling them. The trick was to aplish everything using only one breath, which was the real obstacle, considering Lex''s lungs were much smaller than a dragons. But the challenge excited him. He tried to follow the instructions of the technique, and began molding the metals together to form a new alloy, which was taking the shape that he desired. Pleased to discover that this was actually easier than he had anticipated, Lex doubled his focus and spent the next few hours crafting arge monument that looked like a faceless man sitting atop a dragon. Alongside its physical shape, he also began to mold the functionality of the monument, using Domination as the foundation for all of it. For dragons, their will was enough to shape many things, and as such, their manufacturing techniques followed the same pattern. Technically speaking, they weren''t the best treasure manufacturers in the universe, or even the Origin realm, but no one would say that to their faces. But, for Lex''s purpose, this was good enough. The day eventually came to a close, and the city of Torrinwood went to sleep still excited about the events of the previous day. It would probably be talked about for a very long time, they thought. But they had no idea what was in store for them the next day. Chapter 1036 Legacy Chapter 1036 Legacy ??Even though it was early morning, it was bright and sunny in Torrinwood. That was natural, since daylight was not determined by the time of day in the Midnight realm, but on windcurrents. When the wind blew the burning fireballs away, it would darken, but otherwise it would stay bright. But most of the time, there were enough burning fireballs in the sky so that even if some were blown away, others would maintain the light. Which is why the day cycle, in most ces, was just based ording to the biological cycle of the various races living there. That is why, even though it was bright outside, most people were within the confines of their homes, fast asleep. The excitement of the previous day had kept many upte, which is why many were bound to have ate start to this day. But some¡­ some were still awake! Whether it was the countless under privileged kids who''d suddenly gotten their hands on resources that would allow them to cultivate, or the sick who had gained a new lease on life, or those who''d finally had their debts forgiven, or the Torrins, who had been humiliated, they were all awake. To them, time was just a human construct. They could not give up the moment they were living in just because the clock said it was early in the day. Many of them were too excited to sleep. Some of them were too angry for it. All of them had their thoughts preupied. But regardless of what they were feeling, they were the only ones who weren''t rudely awakened when an overbearing aura suddenly enveloped the entire city. It was not oppressive, or threatening, but it was so powerful that it could not be ignored. Even though the citizens of the city began to panic, as they could not understand what was happening, the aura itself was filled with a feeling of calm. Itcked all sense of urgency, and merely demanded attention and nothing else from the residents of the city. "HE WHO THINKS HIMSELF WORTHY, CLAIM THE LEGACY I LEAVE BEHIND, AND BEGIN THE CLIMB TO GREATNESS!"n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The city, the earth, the river, the forest, the air, and the world itself trembled under the might of the deration. An aura of gold, a level higher than any had ever reached in the entire sealed domain, pervaded the entire city, and brought everyone to their knees. A blinding light suddenly shone in the sky, unstoppable by any wall or boundary. Even those who were within their homes could see it, though whether they saw the image for real, or it was just in their minds, no one could know. As the light dimmed, a vague outline became visible. But as time went by, the light became even dimmer, and the outline became even clearer. At first, when the people, and even the beasts of the surrounding forest, saw what was within the light, they felt a fear that chilled them to their very core. It was a creature they had never even heard of, but something from within their very being told them that it was far beyond their meager selves. They were insects and nothing more in the face of that creature. But then, suddenly, their sights honed onto something else. Atop the cataclysm that took the shape of a monstrous creature, there was another figure, and it was that of a man! The hearts and minds of everyone shook as their whole world turned upside down. Their very souls trembled with excitement, as if they had seen a miracle before their very eyes. The natural order of the universe was turned over in front of their very eyes. They did not know why such thoughts came to them in their hearts, but they knew it was true! Peaceful and unconcerned, the figure of a man sat atop the forehead of a world ending cmity. That is when everyone realized that the aura they were feeling were actually two distinct auras. The first overwhelming aura, one that took the entire city captive, was the aura of the creature. The second aura, one that wasced with gold, was that of the man sitting on top. Before they could specte any further, the figure slowly started to descend from the sky out in the open outside the city walls. The aura began to recede, but as it did so, it beckoned them toe. An abrupt stampede seemed to ur as every living person in the city seemed to break into a sprint as they ran towards where the monument fell. They wanted- no, they needed that legacy! They needed that world toppling power. Naturally, those who were stronger overtook the crowds, and soon found themselves outside the city in an area that seemed to have changed overnight. There was a massive monument of a creature lying prone, and on its forehead a man, in the middle of an equally amphitheater of marble that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. Some hesitated to enter, but others dashed in, uncaring. They had to get their hands on the monument first. They were getting ready for a fight. But all was not as they had thought, and when they entered the amphitheater, they realized that their objective was nearly impossible. An oppressive aura radiated from the monument, though it did not spread farther than the walls of the amphitheater. The aura held down those who wished to move forward, and crushed their will to dust. To approach the monument seemed almost impossible. But more than that, alongside the pressure, a series of thoughts seemed to automatically enter the minds of those who entered the amphitheater. They were the rules of the ce. Any who wished toe were allowed, whether they be man or woman, adult or child, human or beast. The monument alone will be the judge of who is worthy of its legacy. If any dared to stop or bar entry of others from trying, they would forever be disqualified from truing. More and more people began to arrive, and soon, even beasts. But oddly enough, none of them fought. All of them had their eyes focused on the figure atop the dragon that had no face. Cleath could not help but wonder why the physique looked so familiar. Then a name suddenly entered his mind. As if detecting his thoughts, the figure, the one that was supposed to be inanimate, turned to look at him, and then winked. Chapter 1037 Perfectionism

Chapter 1037 Perfectionism

Lex just could not help himself. There was a part of him that wanted to go down and work on the monument some more. He had thoroughly underestimated how much fun it was to create something, and his weird knack for perfectionism that he had thought disappeared made aeback. It was a strange trait he developed during his programming days. Sometimes, certain pieces of code would function, but would have theoretical limits or ws. Any programmer worth his salt would just make ament and just move on. Not Lex, though. He would have to find a way to fix the code so that it would work regardless of the situation. Other times, when he couldn''t get a piece of code to work, even though it really should be working, he would go insane working on it until he fixed the issue. Honestly, he half med his tumor growth on the stress of one particr project that just wouldn''t work and required weeks of debugging, only for someone to realize they used a colon instead of a semicolon. But for all the stress it gave him, the feeling of making something that worked wlessly, or at least as intended, felt wonderful. It was great, and to see others use and experience his work felt even better! Which is why he felt slightly rmed when his tendencies to perfect his work, which had disappeared for so long, suddenly returned. The monument, as it was, worked as intended. He did not expect to encounter anyone within this sealed domain who would be powerful enough to unravel the restrictions of the monument. But there was a part of his brain that kept insisting he fix the ws that were created as a result of him trying to finish the monument in his very first attempt ever! Lex''s understanding of treasure manufacturing was limited as is, but even with his limited experience and knowledge, he could spot a few ring ws. Theoretically speaking, he could fix them if he tried. Fixing them without starting from the beginning and retaining the existing monument would make the task a little moreplicated, but it was still possible. Fortunately his amazingprehension abilities made it so that he was a quick learner, so it shouldn''t be an issue. The only actual issue was the mental struggle he was undergoing between leaving it alone and moving on, and spending a bit more time here to fix it. But while he could note to a conclusion on what to do about that, he didn''t mind at all spending a little time to sit and watch everyone take a crack at getting the legacy of the monument, as it were. Originally, he was going to ce the monument in the city, but then realized there was no need for him to discriminate against the other races like that. There were countless beasts in the forest, and many of them had great intelligence. Even if they weren''t intelligent, they at least cultivated, which made them automatic contenders. So he changed the n midway. Adding an amphitheater was a good way of limiting the influence of the monument as well as creating a neutral zone. But he was not inside the Inn, where the snap of his fingers could pop out any building he could imagine. So naturally he spent a few hours making that as well. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om It was tedious, but the results spoke for themselves. There were thousands of people inside the amphitheater, but there were a few hundred beasts as well. Their instincts could sense the opportunity that Lex had left for them, as well as the safety in this territory, which is why they flocked to it. Maybe he hadn''t fully considered the repercussions this could have on the region, but realistically speaking, it was impossible to predict how big of an influence such an action would have. It all depended on if anyone was able to get a legacy. Indeed, Lex left behind more than one legacy, though each was of varying quality. The legacies were also not a one time thing, so they could be unlocked a number of times as long as the conditions were met. He tried to add failsafes, such as disqualifying anyone who broke the rules, but it was not exactly easy to attach an ''if statement'' to a monument, not to mention that it was not easy to check everyone for everything they did. He did the best he could, and hoped things would work out. He could already see that the Torrin and Wood families were struggling with the decision over what to do. They wanted to limit ess to it, but the warning given was keeping them hesitant. Not that it mattered. Even without his system for disqualifying people, Lex had not made it easy to gain any of his legacies. The techniques he put into the monument ranged from some he used himself to others Pel gave him, but all were very useful on some scale. As he watched the crowds struggle to get closer to the monument, he noticed something. Someone tripped, and fell forward. Although that person hadn''t noticed it yet, they stumbled upon a loophole that would allow them to make great progress towardsing closer to the monument. Detecting that loophole, so early on, was the feather that broke the camel''s back. Lex could not ignore the monument''s ws anymore. But, if he was going to fix it, he had to think about it. Rubbing his chin, Lex began to pull out more materials and nced over the many manuals Pel had given him for manufacturing treasures. He also had to find a way to get everyone to leave for a few hours. Well, hopefully only a few hours. He could not afford to pull a repeat of that debugging incident. In fact, to make sure of it, Lex entered his Flow state. How was it that this was the first state he ever unlocked, yet it was still the one he used the most? Whatever. It didn''t matter. He had work to do. Chapter 1038 Creepy underground temple

Chapter 1038 Creepy underground temple

Repairing the monument ended up taking an entire day. Lex had to make preparations first, and when he was ready to work on it, he just entered everyones thoughts and gave them the idea that they shoulde back tomorrow, finally emptying the ce. No one realized that their collective idea to leave was artificial, or at least if they did they didn''t let it on. That gave Lex plenty of time to fix certain things, such as the loophole that allowed people to make progress by constantly falling forward. But after that, unfortunately, the fun time was over. It was time to get back to work, no matter how much he wanted to continue his shenanigans. Lex used the Wyrm''s Glyph and began to search the sealed domain. Moving at a fast speed, he encountered dozens of cities such as Torrinwood, but was intrigued to learn that there were no roadworks connecting the cities. It was as if the entire territory was divided into countless small city states, each ruled by one or two families. Over all, though, they seemed to be doing fine, not that he was focusing too much on them. The domain had strict boundaries, so it was only a matter of time that Lex found the resin. More than once he encountered zones that could even restrict him from entering, but revealing his crown projection would open them up for him. He had to say, each restricted zone was quite interesting, as they each contained unique biomes. Once he encountered a biome madepletely of mushrooms. As interesting as it was, Lex''s instincts actually told him that the ce was incredibly dangerous, even for him, should he lower his guard. As much as he wanted to explore the dangers of shrooms, the Glyph revealed that the resin wasn''t there, so he moved on. Another time, he encountered a biome where bright blue, earthen spikes jutted from the ground every few feet, creating narrow paths for one to walk. It was interesting to see, and he was curious about what mysteryy in the center of the biome, where the Glyph picked up something valuable. But it was not valuable enough to be the resin, so he moved on. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Then he encountered the naturally urring cities. It was weird to call them that, but as far as he could tell, they were entire cities that just formed naturally. From the walls to the parks to the roads and even sewage systems, it was as if they were a part of the domain themselves. Entering them required having a sufficient projection level, which is probably where the strange caste system probably developed from. Lex continued to search and his patience paid off, because in the eleventh hour he encountered a massive natural city, thergest he had seen so far, and somewhere underneath it, he sensed something that gave off a powerful radiance when using the Glyph, greater than anything he had seen before. Feeling a bit of anticipation, Lex entered. Although the entry requirements of this ce were the highest he had seen so far, at Shiny-Silver, it posed no barrier to Lex. That is when he encountered true elitism for the first time, and it put his mood off. If the situation in Torrinwood seemed extreme, where people were ready to fight at the drop of a hat, then things here were much worse. The signs of very were abundant, as it seemed like a person with a Shiny-Silver crown projection gained the ability to enve a number of other humans whose projection aura was lower. Above that were Rusted-tinum, who somehow had even more power. The ruler of the particr city was a man who had reached Shiny-tinum, and was in thete Golden core realm. His power in this city was absolute, which meant that he had absolutely no qualms about doing whatever he wanted. Lex felt a deep revulsion, especially since what was thergest and grandest city he hade across was actually a den of corruption and hedonism. Although the city did a good job of putting up appearances of being peaceful and just, it could hide no secrets from Lex. Just as he had left a great monument in Torrinwood, Lex felt a strong urge to cleanse this ce of its filth. But before doing anything else, Lex decided to keep his focus on the resin. He was too close, and didn''t want to risk any ident happening. He made his way to the center of the city, which was actually a pce surrounded by a massiveke. One would think that it would be used by the ruler, but it was more or less abandoned because moving to and fro from it was too tedious - as far as Lex could tell. Lex entered his soul state, and directly descended through the pce, and moved underground towards the source of what he could detect from the resin. Lex was not surprised to learn that there was more to this ce than met the eye, as vast torrents of spiritual energy were flowing underground, like a raging river. Even Lex had to be careful to avoid those currents, and they could absolutely sweep him away and overwhelm him. Fortunately, while the actual current of energy was chaotic, they stayed strictly within channels that had been created for them. When the distance between Lex and what was presumably the resin was only half a mile, he encountered a barrier that prevented him from descending in his soul state any further. He could probably go through it the way he entered the domain, but considering the extremely high volumes of energy flowing through that region, he decided on a more cautious approach. There was awork of tunnels that seemed to be descending, so Lex entered one of those and decided to see where it led. Despite seeming abandoned, Lex could not help but notice how fresh air flowed through the tunnels, and thin strips of glowing marble illuminated the path. This was definitely a creepy yet ancient secret temple of some kind as far as Lex was concerned. Maybe it contained the secrets of why this domain was different from how it should be, because so far, Lex had not encountered anything out of the ordinary, or the fairies that Pel told him about. Maybe now he would have the chance. Chapter 1039 Great savior Chapter 1039 Great savior ??The first thing that woulde to anyone''s mind when exploring an old, abandoned, underground temple would be traps. Anyone who had seen any movie ever would know to expect traps. Why would there be traps, and why would they work hundreds of even thousands of years after being made, Lex could not guess. But he was not looking forward to being impaled by a row of spikes, or run over by a massive boulder - no matter what the excited expression on his face may seem to indicate. Lex also did not pull out a hat that looked eerily simr to the hat of an iconic movie figure who was both an archeologist and a treasure hunter. To no surprise, Lex immediately discovered that there really were traps in the tunnels. However, unfortunately- eh, no, fortunately, Lex was both too powerful to be affected by them, and too sharp to fall to them. Even if he withdrew his spirit and soul sense, which he did not, his instincts would immediately warn him that the tunnels were trying to trick him into entering an illusory maze. There was no fun- eh, no, there was no point in entering a trap once it was already detected, so Lex spent only a few minutes making his way through the entire tunnelwork. Once, just for research, Lex allowed himself to trigger a trap. The walls began closing around him, though their speed was embarrassingly slow, at least to Lex. What''s more, even though he stood in ce and allowed the walls to try and squeeze him¡­ they could not. Though Lex suspected anyone else would have been turned into meat paste, the walls could at most give him an unsatisfactory massage. The torrent of spiritual energy running through the walls would actually be more dangerous to Lex than the traps themselves. Regardless, with no real obstacles in his way, Lex quickly reached the end of the tunnels. It led to a locked chamber with no indication of how the doors should be opened, but Lex''s increased intellect solved the riddle in only a few seconds. With a defeated sigh, Lex channeled his own spiritual energy through certain hidden pathways, and opened the door. Since the chamber blocked out Lex''s spirit sense he did not know what to expect behind it. That was why, he was finally surprised when he discovered the chamber actually contained a small replica of the city up above. But half a secondter, Lex realized it wasn''t necessarily just a replica. Small figures moved through the roads and streets, going about their day, living their daily lives. Thousands of fairies were living there, though they seemed pale and had withered bodies. When the sound of the opening chamber door reached them, the entire city seemed to freeze, and the fairies looked out at Lex with eyes full of fear and wariness. They were on guard and ready to fight. Were they¡­ also ves? One fairy, dressed in battle armor and carrying a remarkablence, flew up into the air and addressed Lex. "What do you want, human? We have been keeping our part of the bargain. Do not think you can pressure us into gaining any more than you already have." Though he had been able to easily discern everything else in this ce so far, the sight before him truly had Lex stumped. Were the humans up above keeping the fairies trapped down here?n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "I¡­ am not sure what you mean," Lex exined. "I have no rtion to anyone you may have dealt with earlier. I am only here searching for something." "There is nothing here for you, human. Leave!" Lex felt an urge to scratch his head, but resisted. He could tell that whatever he was looking for was close, and the path led through this chamber. He wanted to avoid picking a fight with the fairies if possible. "Look, I have to get through, but maybe we can work out some kind of deal. Is there something you guys want that I could help you with?" "Something we want?" the fairy repeated, his voice trembling with rage. "How about not being enved and used as livestock? You have been using us fairies for too long to enjoy benefits you don''t deserve! Do not think we will tolerate any more indignity! We will dly choose death if ites down to it." Lex could not help but purse his lips. Pel had told him already that fairies had been cursed to be overlooked and enved. Although he had encountered countless fairies before, he never really noticed. Now though, he found it hard to ignore their condition. A part of him did not me the humans, since the fairies were suffering from some kind of racial curse. But at the same time, humans could enve even their own, so he doubted they needed much more of an incentive to enve others. Lex spread out his aura, both his Domination and that of his crown, to freeze the fairy on the verge of fighting him. "I am not from the humans who have enved you," he said, his voice reverberating through the chamber. "But maybe I can help you, if you tell me your circumstances. But regardless of what you choose, I need to get through here. Although I feel bad for your condition, that does not mean I will put aside my own quest because of it." Domination held the fairies in ce, and prevented them from acting rashly, but his golden aura did not have the same reaction it did for humans. Instead of stunning and suppressing them, it caused the fairies to be bewildered. They stared at his golden crown with jaws hung open, and eyes that nearly popped out. "It''s the golden crown!" one of the fairies from the city yelled, and started cacophony consisting of simr yells! It seemed the fairies recognized his crown, and were incredibly excited to see it. "Please forgive my actions, oh great savior!" the armored fairy said, as he put down hisnce. "We have been waiting for you for a long time." "Great savior?" Lex repeated, feeling like the fairies in front of him were slightly bipr. But it didn''t take a genius to figure out that they were reacting to his golden aura. "Indeed! You wear the golden crown of the great savior! When our ancestors bound us to this domain, embedding the scripts within our bodies that would be used to regte the energies of this ce, they also left room for salvation! The golden crown, which was the only way to unlock the greatest secrets of this domain, would forever be out of reach of those who imprisoned us! "Only someone who could break through the chains of this domain could receive the highest of des that this sealed domain offers! For generations, we have been saving and storing the energy to give birth to the golden crown, so all that remained was someone who could fulfill its requirements! And now, finally, you have arrived! "Great savior, we besiege you! Head to the heart of the domain, and unlock its final secret! The reward will be yours, and we will finally have a way to break free of our bonds! We have made sure to stay out of sight of the humans for generations! It is unlikely that the new ones even know of us, which will allow us to finally be free of this imprisonment." Lex understood the gist of what was happening. Generations ago, the fairies were forced to make some changes to the domain by the humans who inhabited, or perhaps wished to inhabit it. Back then they had no choice but toply, but they left loopholes for themselves. Not only did they seal the greatest reward this domain had to offer, they left a way out for themselves. Although it was very risky for them to wait for someone else to break into the domain. If Lex hadn''t shown up, then who knows how long they would have continued to wait here. Judging by their weakened, withered state, who knew how they''d even be able to survive. "I don''t mind helping you out, but first, can you let me through here? I really need to get through." "Great savior, it''s not that we wish to restrict you. It''s just that in thest chamber, our current leader is imprisoned by the torrents of the domain''s energy. If you open the door before gaining the secret of the domain, then the leader will die prematurely and one of us will have to rece him. We beseech you, oh great savior! We will help you with anything you need! But please, help free us from this prison that has held us captive for generations." Lex pursed his lips. It was not ideal to leave the resin once he was so close, but making a small detour wouldn''t hurt. "Tell me where the secret is. I''m in a hurry." Chapter 1040 History

Chapter 1040 History

The fairies were slightly taken aback by Lex''s impatience, as well as his willingness to help them out so easily. In their defense, they had a very long time to imagine being saved from their grim fate, and this definitely did not reflect what they had imagined. First of all, the moment that they realized that the destined savior was a human, they felt a slight bitterness. They did not expect a human to work against his own race for their benefit. They also did not want to associate any positive feelings for the race that was responsible for trapping them to begin with. But he just seemed to be concerned about getting into the final chamber. He neither cared for the great secret of the domain, nor what they would offer him in exchange for their help. "The heart of the domain is a treacherous ce," the armored fairy tried to warn Lex. "It is surrounded by powerful beasts who will not be cowed by the aura of your projection, and by a treacherous environment." "Yes, yes, I got it. Just tell me where it is, or would one of you like toe with me?" Lex asked. He didn''t want to seem too pushy, since these fairies had been suffering for a long time. But it was also difficult to exin to them that it was unlikely anything here could really harm him. The fairy was stumped, and looked back towards his people. "Great savior, if you give me some time, I will get ready to apany you. It will be easier for you to navigate the trials of the domain''s heart if one of us apanies you." "Sure, go ahead," said Lex, letting out a defeated sigh. It was as if there was some all powerful mastermind, carefully orchestrating the events of his life, some diabolical figure, authoring his exceedingly long journey so that he would just stay in suspense about the use of the resin longer. What did a guy need to do to get a break? The fairy returned to his city and walked to the very castle through which he had arrived down here. But the castle in the small-scale replica did not have an underground tunnelwork, but was instead housing what seemed like a supervisory council. The fairy met with them, and must have had a long conversation with them using his spirit sense, because he didn''t hear them actually speak. Lex could technically spy on their conversations if he entered their minds, but he didn''t want to pry. "Hey Pel, is there some way I can secretly listen in on spirit sense conversations held by other people?" he asked, out of pure curiosity, and no desire to spy or misuse the ability at all. "Secretly is the main focus here," he specified. "As long as your cultivation realm is higher, or your spirit is significantly more powerful, it is not difficult at all." The ring transmitted the method to Lex, and it was simply a different application of his own spirit sense. At the same time, he sent Lex ways to keep his own spirit sense hidden from others, as well as sense if someone else was trying to spy on his conversations. Being stronger than everyone else was truly a huge hack. It took Lex only a dozen seconds to learn everything. He eyed the fairies once more, but then shook his head. He let them have their privacy. The meeting did not take too long, and the fairy soon left, though Lex could not help but notice all the looks it was getting from its fellow fairies. It was as if it was going on a pilgrimage from which it would never return. Even the fairy himself wore a somber expression, as if his entire life had been leading up to this moment of great sacrifice. Lex felt like facepalming, but restrained himself. "Do you know the location of where we are going?" Lex asked. "As in, rtive to where we are?" "I can sense the location of the domain''s heart. We will have to journey to the west." "Well, hold on," Lex said, as he allowed the fairy to grab onto his sleeve. Then he teleported away, towards the west. The fairy, who was not mentally prepared, was stunned. It had never experienced teleportation before, nor did it know of it, so it could notprehend what had just happened. "I''ll keep teleporting overrge distances, you just keep guiding me on where to go," said Lex, as he looked at the fairy. If one ignored loose, wrinkled skin the fairy had umted, it was actually kind of cute. "I will guide you, savior! You are even more powerful than we imagined." "You have no idea," Lex said while chuckling, as he teleported once more under the fairies direction. "By the way, my name is Lex. You don''t need to keep calling me savior. If you don''t mind me asking, how exactly did you get trapped in your situation?" "Indeed, savior Lex, it would be my honor to tell you our history. My name is Leroy, and I am from the Haka bloodline. Long ago, before we lived in the domain, fairies and humans had formed a temporary alliance. We both had been exiled from under the Tree of Heaven, for other, stronger races took our ce. As the Tree of Heaven requires only the strongest and the best to tend to its roots, our failure meant that we had lost our homes, and our protection. "Banished to the unshadednds, we were sentenced to a nomadic life, looking for refuge. But no matter where we tried to settle, we would be found by the races that had reced us. They were not satisfied with just exiling us. They wanted to eliminate the entire race so that we could never recover and retake our ce. "Weakened and hunted, we ran and ran till it seemed there would be no hope. That is when the humans discovered the domain. But there was one significant w in the otherwise natural fortress, which were the many openings that would appear from time to time. Although the openings were selective in who they allowed in, we could not risk it. "That is when the humans proposed a joint sacrifice. Using the immense knowledge of their race, and the amazing abilities of ours, they devised a way to close the domain to outsiders. It would require a major, joint sacrifice, as the strongest of the humans from back then would need to give up his own life to create the enchantment that would affect the domain. At the same time, the leader of the fairies from back then would need to tolerate the impact of the enchantment with his body, and allow the change to take ce. "But that is when we were deceived. Although the human back then, did, indeed sacrifice himself, he also lied. It was not just the leader of the fairies at that time who was affected, but any fairy who would ever bear the burden of leadership, for as long as our race existed. "So when our leader died, the next one immediately suffered the overwhelming pressure of the enchantment that was used to affect this sealed domain. This temporary refuge became our prison, and our once allies became our prisoners! This was because the enchantment needed a living body to support it, and unless it was shifted from fairy to fairy, the effects of the enchantment would fade! "Over generations, we supported each other by electing one another as leader, and shifted the burden of the enchantment from fairy to fairy before they died. During the shifting process, we also learned how to change the enchantment slightly to give us hope of escape and freedom, though we were limited in just how much we could change it. "That is why, nearly the entire fairy race is withered and frail, having suffered at the hands of the enchantment. But there is one possibility of escape, one that even the human who crafted the enchantment could do nothing about, as it has to do with the rules of the domain itself. "Once the secret of the domain is essed and revealed by one who follows the rules of the domain, the domain will fall into a temporary dormant state while it recharges, and creates a new secret treasure to take the ce of the one that was taken. "That dormancy is the opportunity we need. The fairies have hidden for generations, out of sight of the humans, and have worked to build the misconception among them that all the fairies have died. This is so that once the dormancy periodes, we can escape the domain in secret. Otherwise, in our exhausted state, we will not be able to fight against the humans if they try to trap or make use of us again. "In such a case, all we can do is fight to our death. In the absence of hope, we can-" "I don''t mean to interrupt, but is that the great secret you''re talking about?" Lex asked, pointing to a shining treasure. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om At some point, unnoticed by Leroy, they had made their way throughyer andyers of deadly traps and barriers that had prevented humans from reaching it for thousands of years. Chapter 1041 Not the journey nor the destination

Chapter 1041 Not the journey nor the destination

Getting to the heart of the domain wasn''t exactly simple. He had to consistently check with Leroy to see if he hadn''t identally teleported past it. But, at a certain point, Lex was able to tell on his own where the heart was. It started with entering a bog that gave off a noxious gas that was both corrosive and poisonous. Of course, it did nothing to Lex, but he could see how anyone else would have been highly inconvenienced if notpletely deterred by it. The fact that the bog also contained countless venomous beasts was also a strong indication that they were close. By this point, Leroy was already deeply invested in sharing the troubled past of his people, so Lex felt slightly awkward disturbing him, so he continued on his own. His Wyrm''s Glyph also helped at this point, as it could pick up the value of whatever secret the domain was hiding. After the bog and an extremely rocky region with a terrain that would be difficult to traverse for anyone traveling bynd. Countless rabid beasts flew in the air, discouraging anyone from taking that route as well, though once again Lex just ignored them. After countless deep canyons, rivers of acid, a pool of blueva, a field of surprisingly beautiful flowers that were obviously carnivorous, a gravity field, another bog, and finally an enchanted forestter, Lex finally encountered a small building that managed to restrict his teleportation. Fortunately, at this point, his projection came in handy, opening the otherwise sealed doors. Lex noticed a few human bones at this point, as well as a small man made hut belonging to someone who probably lived here for a while, but the upant was long dead already, so he ignored it. He entered the building, only to get caught in a trap. Lex had to admit that he figured out a way?to solve the trap, but it was much easier to just let it spring and then walk through the harmful effects of it to the final chamber, so that''s what he did. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om As it turned out, some kinds of corrosive liquids actually made good hair gel if they could not eat through the hair and scalp. Who knew? Finally, after nearly eight minutes of extensive travel since he began the journey, Lex reached a pedestal over which a golden crown was floating. It looked identical to his projection. But more than the crown, Lex could tell that the golden jewel embedded in it was the real prize. His Domination aura was reacting to it in a strange way, though oddly enough Wyrm''s Glyph was ignoring the gem and telling him that the crown was the valuable thing. It was fairly obvious, but he interrupted Leroy anyway, just to be sure. Who would be responsible if there were some secret twist and the actual secret was the pedestal and the crown was just a distraction. Poor Leroy, however, was too stunned to respond. His elders had informed him of the treacherous journey to the heart of the domain. They had told him that he would likely not make it to the center, or if he did, it would take decades at least. The beasts that blocked the path were immune to the effects of the projection aura, and the terrain was specifically designed to test the mettle of anyone who would darey im to the secret prize. No, this had to be some kind of trick or delusion! Leroy used the special technique given to him by his elders to guide his path and it¡­ it pointed him directly to the crown! He turned to look at Lex, who was just looking back at him curiously. "If that''s the secret, then I''d really like to get this over with. I don''t want to tell you how many chapters- eh, I mean, how many days I''ve been waiting for this." Leroy still didn''t respond. His brain shut down. He was reliving the painful past of his people. He was ready to sacrifice and join the long list of martyrs who had paid the ultimate price for his people. The obstacles before them were insurmountable. His elders had warned him to be mentally prepared for the fact that their savior may even die in the pursuit of the great secret. But now he was supposed to believe that the man took just a few minutes to get to it? What about the epic journey? The trials they had to ovee? The bond they would build over the dangers they faced? He had rehearsed the words he would say when he would be dying to encourage the savior not to quit. Now¡­ now he was just supposed to believe it was all over? Just like that? Sensing that poor Leroy was not in the right mental state to respond at the moment, probably too welled up with the emotions linked to his imminent freedom, Lex decided to ignore him and just check for himself. He walked up to the podium, ignoring the strange pressure that was supposed to be weighing down his steps, and just grabbed the crown from midair. There was an invisible barrier around it, which was awkward, because Lex ended up grabbing the barrier alongside the crown and pulling it as well. It seemed not everything could be brute forced! Lex used his own, golden aura one more time to disable the barrier, and finally got his hands on the crown. A pulse of energy traveled from the crown into Lex, and then into the ground itself. The entire domain began to tremble as a massive earthquake suddenly began to rock everything. Back in the underground temple, in the final chamber, the fairy who was being suppressed by the river of energy coursing through him finally sensed the flow ebb, and took his chance. He had been prepared for this day his whole life! It was time to break the enchantment. Lex, however, ignored everything, because he heard a very familiar sound in his head. New Notification! Chapter 1042 Great feat Chapter 1042 Great feat ??The timing of things was just too coincidental. Although Lex was expecting the system toe back online soon, for it toe back as soon as he grabbed the crown, clearly indicated that there was more at y. Rather than spending his time in spection, Lex instead just read the notifications.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om New Notification: System repair achieved 23%pletion! New Notification: No new features unlocked due to insufficient energy! New Notification: Energy surge absorbed! Repair process elerated. New Notification: Newborn system detected! Absorb newborn system? It took a moment for everything to click, but when it did, Lex felt a surge of excitement! His talk with the Rhinocentaurs gave him hope that he might find other systems within his realm, but he never expected to actually encounter one. After all, his personal experiences had always been one filled with extreme inconveniences and unnecessary troubles. Well, technically speaking, even this time there were many obstacles in his path, but he had just ovee them by being much stronger than them. Although he could not make a guess for how many other systems there were in his realm, just the possibility of them gave him much more hope. He would have put searching for more domains on his agenda as a way of looking for more systems, but ording to Pel they were extremely rare, and finding even one was already a big deal. The thing he found the most exciting, however, was that his Domination aura was reacting to this newborn system! It hadn''t had much of a reaction to the system he got from John, but the newborn system was making it act strangely. While in its current state it would prove to be an unreliable method for searching for more systems, if he strengthened it, then it might actually prove to be viable! Lex put the crown in his spatial bangle, and it easily entered. It was not that he wanted to hold off on absorbing more systems, but that he was more interested in seeing if the resin was absorbable first. "I think that was most likely the secret we were looking for," Lex said, turning to Leroy. "Shall we head back?" Although he was asking the question, he understood that Leroy was probably still in shock, so he grabbed the fairy and teleported directly back to the underground chamber where the fairies lived! Since he had already been there once, it was easy for him to teleport to it. "Oh fairies, I, your savior, return with my quest sessfullypleted!" Lex dered in a loud voice. He was feeling particrly chipper at the moment, and so didn''t mind putting on a show. Perhaps if the entire sealed domain had not just suffered a massive earthquake, and the flow of energy around the final chamber wasn''t noticeably reduced, the fairies would have thought that he was messing with them. But as things stood, they had to believe him - which was the most unbelievable part! That hadn''t even been enough time to bake the cakes they put in their ovens to celebrate the arrival of the savior! Now, they were supposed to believe that those cakes would be used to celebrate their freedom instead? Perhaps the unusual obsession with a loss of an extra opportunity to eat cake was the strange coping mechanism of the fairies. Leroy finally snapped out of his stupor and then looked at Lex with eyes filled with both horror and worship! "Your chance for freedom is finally at hand," Lex dered magnanimously. "I have already ventured through the treacherousnds at the heart of this domain, and imed its secret for myself. What happens next is up to you." As if to confirm the truth, many looked towards Leroy, who flew out of Lex''s hands and flew down to share his story. Lex did not immediately badger them to open up the final chamber. He waited for them to finish questioning Leroy, and actuallye to terms with the truth. It was also partially because he could feel that as time went by, the massive stream of flowing energy was diminishing, and hoped that it wouldpletely stop before he went into thest chamber. After all, it was literally the only thing here that threatened him, and he felt like with his luck, the resin would be in the dead center of the stream if he went right now. Ironically, it took longer for everyone to ept that the quest was alreadyplete than it did for Lex to go and retrieve the floating golden crown. He was also keeping an eye on the city above him, and interestingly enough, he discovered that as the stream of energy slowly came to a halt, the effects of the crown projections also began to fade. Many humans who had previously been enved were breaking free of their restraints, and what ensued was chaos. Some of the more desperate and enraged ones were fighting against the envers, while most of them were just trying to run away. It was likely that simr scenes were happening all over the sealed domain. He wondered how everything was going over at Torrinwood, and his dragon monument. Eventually, the fairies finally epted the truth. That is when things became more interesting. They all changed into suits of armor that seemed to have been prepared for a long time, and started to gather in the city square, lining up to form a star with 18 different triangr edges while holding hands. Lex could feel that they were activating some kind of spell or technique, and theiryout seemed particrly well suited for the function of the technique. His left eye began to detect differentws appearing around them as chains. Some chains looked like they were indestructible and made of the hardest materials. But others were incredibly frail, as if a blow of the wind could cause them to break. Lex raised an eyebrow. Did the enchantment that was holding them prisoner, and the one that affected this entire domain, create an artificialw? How had these weak little fairies, and that one human, achieved such a thing? Chapter 1043 Remnants of a race Chapter 1043 Remnants of a race ??Lex actually became genuinely interested in whatever the fairies were doing. Pel had already told him that the fairies were different, but how could they create aw when the strongest of them was barely in the Golden core realm? Or perhaps, back when they created this enchantment they were stronger, but the problem still remained. The most likely answer was not that they created aw, but that domains themselves had the unique ability to create or influence certainws within its territory, and that they were just influencing the domain. Yes, that made sense. But even that was no small feat. Basically, didn''t that mean that as long as Lex learnt what they did, and took control of this sealed domain, he could recreate the Midnight Inn using only this domain? Long ago, when he was learning arrays, he imagined himself creating such aplicated and thorough array that it could effectively replicate a system. He eventually ran into problems with arrays and couldn''t do it, but the theory stayed with him even if he never made progress on it. Now that he was stronger and understood more about cultivation, he knew that it would be impossible to properly replicate a system unless he could influencews themselves, which meant that he was not quite at that level. But he still thought it was theoretically possible. This was good research, and may benefit him in the future, so he stopped everything else and focused all his attention on the fairies and how they were influencing thews. Lex could see a lot of things happening, and though he did not understand them yet, he memorized them nevertheless. In the future, once his level grew even more, and his understanding aboutws was deeper, maybe he would be able to make sense of what he was seeing now. As the flowing stream of energy weakened, the power of the fairies technique grew and all the chains he could see began to tremble. In fact, Lex could even sense a subtle change happening in his own crown projection. At the same time, he could sense that the fairies'' strength was also fading. It was not an exaggeration to say that the entire race of fairies had been weakened tremendously as a collective. Each of them had frail bodies and wrinkly skin, not to mention that their aura was fluctuating rapidly while they focused on attaining freedom. Perhaps there were some younger fairies who had been spared the burden of maintaining the enchantment for a period, but as far as he could tell, they would cycle that burden amongst all their people as a way of keeping all of them alive, even if it was in a weakened state. But at least the fairies in front of Lex, all 1450 of them, were all on the verge of copse. He wondered if there were other fairy settlements for the younger generation. The alternative, of course, was that this was all that was left of this entire race. That was a tragic thought, truth be told. Lex did not wait long. At the moment the energy dried up, the smaller, weaker chains suddenly all snapped. The sealed domain suddenly trembled, and this time much more violently than from the earthquake. That was because it wasn''t just the ground that was shaking, but the massive boundary wall of the sealed domain as well. Lex could feel currents of energy forming, flowing just like the wing, and like the wind, gathering into a massive storm. Lex raised an eyebrow as his body experienced goosebumps. For the second time, he was about to encounter something in this domain that could threaten him, and the same as the first, it had to do with energy. At least this time, it could fall under the category of a natural disaster. It was humbling to know that a natural disaster formed from massive currents of energy could still harm him. He was almost beginning to think he was indestructible over here. But the energy storm was happening far away from him, and was up above the surface. He expected that he was probably safe underground, even though energy could technically travel through the ground. He was not sure what to expect actually. On that thought, he decided to stop dallying around. He turned his attention to the door of the final chamber, which was no longer sealed shut. It had cracked open on its own, though no one came out or went in. The fairies who were in the square had all copsed, and though they had attained their freedom, it would take a while for them to recover.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Lex was, of course, going to offer them all jobs at the Inn. It was not just because he felt pity for them, but because they had literally influencedws in front of him! No matter how many loopholes they used, he could not deny their feat. They would make incredible allies in the future, once they recovered from the deep exhaustion that haunted their entire race. As for the curse that haunted their race¡­ well, Lex would deal with it when it became a problem. He was convinced that there was something about him that would never let him have an easy time. Maybe it was the system that could bend the universe to its will, or maybe it was something else. Either way, he was no longer afraid of trouble, because it woulde his way regardless. But offering the fairies jobs would have to wait. For now, he walked up to the door and opened it, revealing a destroyed chamber. The entire ground had copsed into rubble, and a good portion of the roof had caved in as well. Lex could feel lingering traces of the energy that used to course through this room, but it seemed that as soon as the energy faded, the integrity of the room failed as well. His spirit sense picked up something, and it wasn''t the resin. Buried beneath the rubble was the body of a fairy. Chapter 1044 Touching the Dao Chapter 1044 Touching the Dao ??Lex carefully removed all the debris that had crushed the fairy using his spirit sense, revealing a frail, withered body devoid of all life. Looking at the deplorable state that the tiny body was in, Lex could not help but feel a tinge of pity. Although he knew it would be useless, Lex took out a drop of his blood, turning half of it into the soul state, and dropped it on the body. The drop of blood was quickly absorbed, and the body began to recover at a visible rate. The crushed bones quickly recovered, the skin smoothed out, the wings that were broken healed, and all the bruises on its body vanished. In a matter of seconds, the fairy''s body was restored to its peak state, but the body still remained lifeless. The half of his blood that had been turned into the soul state remained hidden within the body, unabsorbed by anything. There was no soul left to heal. The fair was thoroughly dead, even if its body was restored. He sighed. It was quite tragic. He hade so close to freedom, and in fact delivered it to his brethren, but was unable to see it himself. Lex carefully lifted the body and ced it aside. Once he was done here, he would return the body to the other fairies so that they could bury it, or honor it in whatever way they deemed fit. Then he began lifting all the debris off the ground. He could tell that previously this chamber had been surrounded by a powerful protection, so that even he would have had trouble getting through it. But whatever had urred in this chamber not only destroyed the chamber itself but also those protections. That made life convenient for Lex, since he could tell that the chamber was built right over the resin. It was too convenient to be a coincidence. Lex did not even have to dig too deep. After removing a singleyer of debris he discovered a bowl shaped, hollowed out area, and within ity a small piece of amber colored resin that could easily fit in the palm of his hand. It did not give off any aura at all, and only wafted the slightest aroma. But just that gentle whiff was enough to arrest Lex. His limbs froze as the mixed sensation of absolute fear mixed with enormous greed assaulted his mind. Domination trembled within his body, as if it was being affected by its roots of Dragons Might. Lex''s mind, which had grown enormously after his recent growth, was stunned as it was overwhelmed by the presence of the resin. Most of all, Lex''s instincts were warning him in the clearest way possible. It was almost as if they were directly speaking to him. The resin in front of him had the potential to put him in incalcble trouble and danger, the likes of which he had never experienced before. Of course, this was only subject to the limit that his instincts could respond to. For example, when Lex had encountered the mysterious man who had just entered his room somehow, his instincts hadn''t been able to detect him at all as that person was just too powerful, and beyond the scope of what his instincts could calcte. Maybe even now, his instincts were failing to grasp the true extent of the danger associated with this resin. But besides warning him about the danger, there was also an insatiable greed. His body wanted it! His soul needed it! The resin would change things forever! It took Lex several minutes of just being frozen still to get over the initial shock of just smelling the resin. As soon as a semnce of control returned to him, Lex immediately sealed his sense of smell, allowing his body to recover slowly. The resin barely gave off any other aura, which is why his body stopped reacting to it. His heart was racing and sweat began to umte on his brow as he considered what to do. The strong reaction from his body was tempting him, but his mind was telling him it was more important to first check if it could restore his system. There were other bits of resin in this realm that he could get his hands on, so it wasn''t like he was suffering a permanent loss if he gave it up now. But just having such a thought was an extreme burden on him, and took an immense amount of willpower. It seemed like perhaps giving the resin to his system might not be the easiest thing. Lex slowly sealed his other senses, including his sense of touch, as he prepared himself to interact with the resin. If the system could absorb it, then he had to ept it as quickly as possible and not allow the resin to stay in contact with him for too long. "Mary, is there any way I can automate the eptance in case the system can absorb this resin?" he asked. "No, unfortunately, you cannot. It is one of the protocols to protect hosts. You have to manually ept it when the promptes up." Lex gulped, feeling oddly nervous. Even with almost everything sealed, his instincts kept warning him. The consequences of touching the resin would be far from simple. But he had no choice. Lex psyched himself up, and then reached forward, ready to ept the system''s prompt as soon as it appeared. His finger touched the resin, and he heard a familiar sound. But it hardly mattered. Pel had told him that the Amber Chaos resin was a Dao level ingredient. That meant that, in a way, touching the resin with his body was the same as touching a Dao lord with his bare body. There was no way he could get away unscathed.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om At the same time, the resin was meant to be extremely gentle, and could be absorbed by any living being. That meant Lex would note to harm. But that did not mean there would be no side effects at all. A golden light emerged from within Lex, one that was more deeply connected to him than anything else he had ever revealed, even Domination. All the inscriptions in Lex''s body and soul were erased, and his Empyrean Resonance physique was unsealedpletely. Chapter 1045 Unleashed

Chapter 1045 Unleashed

The radiance of the light emanating from Lex''s body could not be blocked by stone or walls, nor could it be limited by distance,ws or even realms. Lex himself became a beacon of light, his entire figure drowned out amidst the light itself. Since his mind was overwhelmed, his body acted on instinct to protect itself, and so Domination was released all around him, much like the Dragons Might had once surrounded the dragon he had stolen. But he was hardly in danger, because the closest to him, the fairies, were all unconscious. But that did not prevent them from being influenced by the golden light. Lex''s physique was supposed to help humans evolve, but whether it was due to the influence of the Amber Chaos resin, or because his physique itself waspletely unlocked, it began to influence everything humanoid. It began, first, with the fairy corpse closest to him. Even though itcked a soul, the body was at least fine, and under the brilliance of the golden light, it began to evolve, and it even used the remaining half drop of soul state blood left in its body. Then came the fairies outside, who had procured freedom, but had no energy left to enjoy it. Their bodiesy prone on the floor, still holding hands firmly, even while they had no strength to do anything else. The golden light shone down on them, and like the gentle touch of the light of the winter sun, began to provide them with much needed warmth. Their wrinkles began to retreat, their feeble bodies began to strengthen, their wings regained their lost vigor, and a hint of golden appeared around their eyes. But though the fairies were the closest to Lex, they were not the only humanoids around. Through endless earth the light traveled, and then illuminated the chaos riddennds of the sealed domain. The energy storm up above and wrought more havoc than Lex had estimated. The once regal city above him, considered the center of power and wealth, was brought to ruins, and its inhabitants either dead or gone. Though, ironically, it was not the energy storm that killed the residents. It had only harmed the buildings. The residents, mostly, had been killed by each other, or by their ves. But as the glow of the golden light spread, it eventually reached those who were running away with all their might. Fueled by adrenaline, caught in the grip of fear, they did not immediately notice the changes in their bodies. They were just grateful for the sudden surge of energy in their limbs so that they could continue to run. Like a golden dawn, ushering in a new era, the light spread across the entire sealed domain, and affected anything at all that was humanoid, and then it escaped the boundaries of the domain and continued to spread. Lex Williams, the Leopold who ran a hotel, noticed a strange light on the horizon. He was curious, but could not go and explore, for he had too many problems on his te at the moment. Acrossnd and sea and air, the light spread out across Menara, affecting an uncountable number of beings before it finally reached the Midnight Inn. A number of patrols walked across the border walls, ensuring nothing went amiss. They were the first to experience that light, and feel the subtle changes it started to bring within their bodies. Many of them had experienced something like this before. It was when Lex was bringing them from the Temple of Fasting back to the Inn. They knew not where the light came from or what it was doing, but it had saved their life before, so they knew it wasn''t bad. Slowly but surely, the entire Inn was bathed in that golden glow. The workers there, who had experienced multiple star ranking changes, training at the temple, and the baptism of the energy from a new realm, once again began to grow under the effects of the light, finally crossing a critical threshold. They did not know it, nor did they feel its effects. Cassandra''s clone, who was still cultivating in a corner, would have noticed, but she was upied with and could not even tell the changes her own clone was undergoing. Far away in the universe, hidden in an unknown realm, there was a massive city built entirely of stone. Every single inch of it radiated an ancient glory and power, washed in the blood of trillions. Its many statues depicted warriors across the ages, their strength, honor and sense of duty unmatched. Even though the entire city reeked of primeval vicissitudes, there was not a single crack or fault across it. Once a beacon of power, the city had now be a refuge for the damned and defeated. Countless humans slumbered within its walls, forced to hide when all they wanted was to reveal themselves to the universe, and retake their ce on the battlefields. But they had a duty, even if it made them feel like cowards. They were the most glorious of the entire human race, the ones with the most potential and talent. They were the final me, hidden away, in case the humans should ever fall, and their race be defeated in the realm wars. But the sound of a crack reverberated through the city, waking up its ancient caretakers. In the city center, thergest statue which was that of a glorious me had cracked, shocking those whoid eyes upon it. Despite the ominous nature of what had happened, they knew what it signified was not a bad thing - just unbelievable. Somewhere out in the universe, a new bastian had appeared, with humans with even greater talent and potential than themselves? But how was that possible? This city was filled with the bloodlines of the earliest humans, blessed by mother Nuwa herself! Who could surpass them? And how? Unfortunately for them, the statue revealed no answers. In the Origin realm, Belle was soaked in blood, and was hiding in a cave underground. She had returned to the Jotun empire, but the empire was at war and even her immense strength could not protect her if she was against foes too powerful. The Fiery Mammoths had been preparing for this war for too long and held the advantage for now. The humans were retreating. She had been separated from her team, which likely meant that they were already dead. Even her survival was questionable, until she felt something - something in her very core. A tinge of gold appeared in her blood, and her Angel bloodline began to strengthen. "Lex," she murmured as worry shed in her eyes, but she could do nothing in her current state. Anger appeared in her eyes, before she closed them. She had to heal. Elsewhere in the Origin realm, Liz was running as fast as she could through a crowded city, sweat and grime covering her face. A sudden surge of energy filled her, giving her just the boost she needed to leap through the closing doors of a spaceship, finally granting her a reprieve. She had not run away from home, and homework, just to be brought back so easily. She wanted to live life and have her own adventures. At first, Liz did not notice the changes taking ce in her body. But her mother had told her too many times for her to remain ignorant for long. A streak of gold appeared in her blood, strengthening her Beast Fusion abilities, if only she could find a worthy beast to fuse with. A trace of concern shed through her eyes, but then she remembered her father. Even if Lex was in trouble for now, her old man would eventually save him. She, at least, was not as stupidly gifted as the rest of her family, so it was best if she stayed out of trouble. Liz conveniently ignored that with that new streak of gold in her blood, she had already surpassed even the mythical level for the beast taming cultivation path that no other living human had even reached. Elsewhere, in a cozy hammock in a pce garden, Moon slept peacefully. She didn''t wake up when the change happened, but she did squeeze her eyes shut even harder. No one noticed, for no one was allowed in her lonely pce. In another realm entirely, a couple was riding a massive wyvern through the clouds, with countless dark shapes chasing them. When the change happened they both suddenly looked at each other, shocked. They both had extremely different reactions. The woman began cursing oracles as frauds, and the man drew his sword. Even though he was still not an immortal yet, the Earth Immortal figures chasing them trembled just a bit. Then a sword intent that had been sheathed for too long tore through the skies, raining down blood on the boiling sea far below them. "What are we going to do?" the woman asked, extremely worried. "For now, we''re already doing the best we can," the man answered simply. In a room in the Midnight Inn, a particr devil was sleeping, but woke up with a startle when he felt the change in his body under the influence of the golden light. At first, he was greatly rmed, but then, he began tough unfettered. His bloodline was evolving! n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Somehow, he had to get word back to Garvitz! Chapter 1046 2nd Body

Chapter 1046 2nd Body

The golden light shining from Lex''s body spread across the entire Midnight realm, and for most creatures it was just an interesting and unusual event, but for some it was the beginning of a monumental change. Perhaps none benefited as much from the change as the Inn workers though, as their bodies potential had already been repeatedly improved. The higher their potential reached, the more difficult it became to improve, yet that is exactly what they experienced. In fact, the cultivation potential for the Inn workers could no longer be measured on a scale for humans. They would need topare themselves to the average humanoid from a superior race, such as devil, elves or even angels. The timing could not have been better, because Luthor had just returned after a thoroughly sessful negotiation session with the emperor from the minor realm that invaded them, so even he managed to get the benefits. Lex, who had already anticipated that touching the resin might not be so simple, was mentally prepared to ept any system prompts as soon as they came up. He was not able to act on it immediately, for he had beenpletely overwhelmed, but slowly and steadily his mind wormed through its constraints and epted the prompt, not even reading it properly. The resin that he was touching disappeared, and Lex fell to his knees, finally freed from its constraints. He trembled for he was still reeling from the experience. It was fair to say that Lex had long been used to feeling various levels of excruciating pain. It just came with the territory of being an Innkeeper, he supposed. Those experiences, as terrible as they were, had prepared him for the hardships he would face on his journey. But what he had not been prepared for¡­ was how awesome that had felt! It might sound crass to say such a thing, but the reason his mind had nked was because it felt like he was having an orgasm with his entire body! It was the most euphoric feeling he had ever felt, and even now that it was over, his body was still jittery just from the memory of it. Lex tried to stand, but he just fell down because he couldn''t control his body properly. He groaned, and was getting ready to try again when he realized that he was still kneeling, and hadn''t moved at all. Yet at the same time, he had tried to get up, and had fallen. Lex became even more confused when he realized he¡­ he could see his own back. He tried to move his right hand, and yup, he saw it from two different angles. The fact that it took Lex so long to figure out what was happening was a testament to just how severely impacted his mind was from the effects of the resin. He turned around, and saw the fairy, fallen over, looking at himself. That''s when he realized he could see the world from his own eyes, as well as those of the fairies. "What the hell?" Lex said, with both his bodies, which was extremely disorienting. He closed his eyes, and realized he closed the fairy''s left eye, and his own right eye. He was not used to having two sets of eyes yet. At that point, Lex allowed himself to slump back into the hole he had excavated. Until his mindpletely recovered, he was not ready to deal with whatever was happening. But just because he didn''t want to deal with it did not mean he would stop feeling any sensation from his other body. Despite his exhaustion telling him to give up, somehow, his fairy body was not exhausted at all. In fact, it was ready to jump up and run around. Well, part of that was because he was sitting awkwardly on his own wing. He got up, pped his wing so that it would move, and then sat back down. "Thanks," Lex said to himself, for letting himself sit morefortably. "No problem," Lex responded. Then the two bodies just sat there, staring at each other. That''s when Lex realized that he either looked much bigger from a fairy''s point of view, or his body had grown a little taller after touching the resin. It only took a few minutes. Lex''s mind recovered from the zenith of pleasure it had just experienced, and besides feeling a slight withdrawal, he returned to his normal self. At that point, it took him only a few seconds topletely get used to having two bodies. He could control them both independently and with such precision, one would think Lex was born with two bodies. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Lex stood up using his fairy body and pped his wings a few times, to get a sense for them. The wings were transparent and paper thin. Even though a fairy''s body was small, one would have a hard time believing that such frail wings could help them fly. Yet, strictly speaking, it was not the wings that allowed fairies to fly. As Lex pped his wings, gold fairy dust dust began to appear, and allowed him to levitate. The faster he pped his wings, the most dust would appear, allowing him to fly higher and farther. The wings, then, were just left to help him navigate while in the air. Lex''s instincts told him that there was more to the fairy dust than just allowing him to fly, but he had inherited no memories of the fairy whose body this used to be. As such, his understanding of fairies was extremely limited. He allowed his fairy body to return to the ground, then sit back down. He wanted to see if his other body could also use the same cultivation technique. For a few seconds nothing happened, but then the cultivation technique automatically delivered some information to Lex''s mind, and began to run on its own. The reason for the dy was because the meridians in a fairy''s body were different from that of a humans, and theyout was different as well. Therefore, the technique obviously would not run in the same way. But it was still usable! He could tell that, physically speaking, his fairy body was even weaker than he was when he was at the Foundation realm, but it was growing quickly. It seemed the level of his original body was subtly influencing the fairy body, helping it grow faster. Then Lex had toe to terms with the fact that¡­ he just randomly gained a clone. This was not exactly what he had in mind when he wanted a clone. But no matter what, he had one now. After the original shock of discovering he had a clone, if it could even be called that, was over, he began to consider how he could use it. There was nothing connecting the two bodies, but his soul was present in both of them. He could make them act independently from each other, and his mind waspletely capable of running both bodies without ever being confused or overwhelmed by running two different bodies. Lex almost immediately came up with countless ideas, but before he could make any decisions, he wanted to ensure one very critical piece of information. He wanted to see if he could ess the system with his fairy body. When he tried, the interface did not pop up. But he realized only a momentter that was because the system was undergoing repairs! It had sessfully absorbed the resin! That, at least, addressed one of his greatest concerns. What was amazing was that he had another system in his spatial bangle waiting for him to use to continue with his system repairs. Lex felt a great burden lift off his shoulders. Now that he had confirmed how he was going to repair his system, he could n out his next set of actions. But the most immediate ones concerned figuring out whether his clone, or rather, his other body could use the system. It would be ideal if it could not, and in fact, if it had no rtion to the system whatsoever. Now that he had another body, he did not n on telling anyone about it. This secret, second body would be perfect for him to set up a number of contingency ns he had been considering for a very long time. To be on the safe side, he decided to not even bring the fairy back to the Inn for the time being. But while he could not confirm whether or not it could use the system, there were other things he could test out. For example, if the distance between his two bodies was great, would that have any affect on his second body or not? To test it out, Lex finally stood up and began to walk out the chamber, leaving his fairy body with the other fairies. Slowly, he walked back through the tunnelwork towards the city up above. But even when he reached the surface, there seemed to be no effect on his second body at all. Lex grinned, and tried teleporting away. This would be interesting. Chapter 1047 Main characters have it tough Chapter 1047 Main characters have it tough ??At first, Lex did not teleport too far away, he just doubled the distance. But there was no strain on his control over either body. Then he was a little more courageous and tried to teleport farther away. But no matter how he teleported, it made no difference. It seemed that each body contained his soul, and as such, could be controlled by that bit of soul, no matter how far one body was from another. Lex tested out his strength to see if gaining another body had somehow weakened him or his soul, but that did not seem to be the case. Yet after a while, he could not help but find himself feeling confused. This was simr to the final moves of Inferno de, to a small extent. Over there, at least there was an exnation, though it did not make sense to Lex at all. But when he wondered how he could control both bodies, and maintain awareness of each body and its surroundings despite each being so far away from the other, he could not wrap his head around it. They had to be connected somehow, right? The pieces of his soul had to bemunicating with each other somehow, but even when he entered his soul state, he could not feel any connection. He entered the soul ne, and as disorienting as that was, there was still nothing. For some reason, Lex just found it hard to wrap his head around the idea. It was like being connected to the inte without Wi-Fi or ethe or mobile data. Perhaps his inability topletely grasp such concepts was why Cassandra had suggested he hold off on bing an immortal. Now that he felt much better about his chances of restoring his system, Lex didn''t mind spending a little time to figure out how his abilities worked. As it happened, Lex teleported over a city, so he decided to take a small break there. Besides, he wasn''t about to return to the Inn until the fairies woke up, anyway. He nned to offer them an opportunity toe back to the Inn with him. The sealed domain was also still undergoing changes, and though the energy storm had faded, mostly, it might not be the best idea to pass through its barrier at the moment. Lex teleported to the city, and found that the situation wasn''t the best. It wasn''t like one of those projection requirement cities that had been filled with ves who retaliated once the projections failed, but it wasn''t exactly great. Discrimination based on one''s projection had be a part of their society. To these people, who had projections from the moment they were born, and had them for generations prior, the sudden failure of it felt like they had be crippled somehow. It was as if an integral organ had just stopped working. Tensions were high, and even though the city guards were out in full force, it didn''t help much when even the guards were concerned. Lex ignored them and found himself a rtively nice tavern. Last time, he went to a really shady ce and ended up encountering apletely random plot. But it was fine because he wanted to learn to act mysteriously back then. Right now, he just wanted a cool, nice drink to apany him and his thoughts. The building was nice, none of the furniture was torn or stained, and the owner looked well dressed, if a little stressed. Lex put a gold coin on the counter and just sat down on the bar stool. "Give me your best drink - uh, your best tasting drink." The owner showed a restrained excitement at the sight of the coin, but only nodded. His years of experience let him know which customers were in a chatty mood and which ones weren''t. Lex began to think more about his clone, who was currently testing out the flexibility of his wings. There had to be something connecting them. Otherwise, he imagined that his fairy clone would still operate as him, but the two bodies would not have shared memories and awareness. So in a way, it would still be Lex, and act as Lex depending on the situation, but just could not share the information with his other body. But, at least for now, that wasn''t the case. He would continue to test if distance made a difference, and eventually he would even test being in different realms. If both the bodies continued to share information, that would be amazing. Then he began to think about how exactly he got a clone. He had looked far and wide for a decent cloning technique, but none satisfied him. It was still to be seen if this clone, or this second body, could continue to grow stronger as well, and how useful it would be. But considering it could use the same cultivation technique as him, Lex wasn''t worried at all. The only thing he could think of was that he left a drop of his blood in the soul state in the corpse, and then touched the resin. That somehow must have fused his blood with the¡­ Lex froze. Did he just¡­ did he just miss the opportunity to turn the massive dragon into his clone because it was already upied now? Loss! Lex felt an immense and incalcble feeling of loss! He could have been a dragon! He could have¡­ No, that didn''t make sense. What exactly happened when he touched the resin? Although it was tough to look back and recall anything other than the waves of pleasure that were crashing into him, it was not impossible. He felt like maybe he had used his physique. So that was the key somehow. "Brandon, empty out the ce, I don''t feel like sharing," said a very angry and aggressive looking man as he entered the tavern. His entire body was covered in blood, and he was reeking of a dangerous aura. Lex sighed. A part of him knew he was destined to never actually get any peace. He looked at the man, then turned back to his drink. The man clearly noticed Lex''s dismissive mood and became triggered. He opened his mouth to yell, and that''s when he felt a hand pping his face. The next thing anybody knew, the man had disappeared, and there was a hole in the wall. Lex dropped another gold coin on the counter.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Sorry about that. This is for the damages." Lex was beginning to understand why the main characters in novels couldn''t be bothered to argue with every random person who bothered them. It was much easier to directly p their faces, then to get into a verbal face ppingpetition. Chapter 1048 Embarrassing Chapter 1048 Embarrassing ??There weren''t many people in the tavern to begin with, but the few that were there were startled by the noise. Most of them hadn''t noticed when the bloody man entered the ce, so they were unsure of what exactly happened. But seeing as how the tavern owner was not worried, they calmed down and returned to their drinks. None of them were really in the right frame of mind to worry about other things at the moment. Lex returned to his thoughts about the clone. The activation of his physique might be the key, unless it was a freak ident that would require resin. If that were the case, if he could find another humanoid body in good condition, say a devil or an elf, he might be able to replicate the process. The question was, did he want to do that? Since he was as yet unaware of any potential drawbacks having a clone may have, making more of them might not be the best idea. That''s when he realized that he said humanoid instead of human. Wasn''t his physique only supposed to work on humans? Why did it work on a fairy? But as if he were getting some feedback from his own body, he understood that it now affected all humanoids, and not just humans! This was a level beyond what Cassandra had told him! If previously, he had to hide his body from powerful forces like the Jotun empire, now he would have to hide it from every humanoid force that existed! Why did it change? Did it have something to do with the resin? Again, he just innately knew that this was what his physique had always been like. If that was the case, he needed to figure out a good way to hide his physique from detection before he left the Midnight Inn. "Pel, is there a way I can hide my physique from detection? Even from a higher level cultivator! In fact, that''s the most important part." "There are many ways, but you will either need the help of a higher level cultivator to begin with, or a high level equipment or enchantment. I know no way you can hide it on your own." He frowned. This could be problematic. Lex was in the midst of his own musings, sipping the cold drink the tavern owner had given him, when the man Lex had pped away came wobbling back in. He was disoriented, which was to be expected. Lex had pped him right in the face, not killed him. Even so, it was impressive. At the same time, it promised more irritation for Lex. "You¡­ do you know who I am?" the man asked as he rested his body weight against the back of a chair. Lex sighed. He supposed he just could not avoid the whole tedious exchange. "No, I don''t know who you are," Lex said in a bored tone. "But I''m sure you''re going to enlighten me. So then tell me, is your father someone important? Or your family? You have some kind of scary background?" The man seemed to get angered by Lex''s nonchnce, but he kept himself from screaming, mostly because he was too dizzy to do it. "This¡­ this is my tavern! I own this ce! You can''t just throw a man out of his own ce!" The man sounded more unresigned than anything, but his words startled Lex. He turned to look at the man he assumed had been the owner, and he gave Lex a nod while wearing an awkward smile, confirming it. "Oh wow, that does make me feel bad," Lex said as he facepalmed. Before the man could say anything else, Lex shot a drop of his own blood into the man''s body, suddenly prompting it to begin healing rapidly. As it turned out, the blood covering his body was not his own, and beside the mild concussion Lex had given him, he was fine. So, with nothing else to fix, Lex''s blood began to heal the old wounds in the man''s body, and brought him to a new peak. "In my defense, I''m too used to rude peopleing in and picking a fight," Lex said, exining himself to the man, who stood bewildered. Then he sighed and came and sat beside Lex. "Never mind, it''s just that kind of day I guess," he said as he grabbed a drink from who turned out to be just a really well- dressed bartender.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "I paid for the damages," Lex said, still feeling kind of bad. He made a mental note about acting mysterious - confirm the situation before making a move. Otherwise, he would just end up looking silly as well. Little did Lex know that his small act of pping the man away like a nuisance, then healing him beyond his wildest dreams, made him seem much more mysterious than anything he could have nned. The man just grunted, epting Lex''s exnation. Lex turned his attention back to his problem. Most likely, the best solution he coulde up with was to ask the system for a quest that would reward him with a way to hide his physique. Although he didn''t know if the system would be cooperative, at least it was on talking terms with him now. It might be worth a shot. Meanwhile, if he could somehow determine that his clone had no drawbacks to himself, should he try to make another one? But if he did, Lex wanted a really cool one. Asking for a Celestial might be too much, but there had to be other powerful humanoid races with cool abilities. Elves did not impress him so much, outside of their immortality. Devils could control demons, which was kind of cool, he supposed. Angels¡­ well, he wasn''t certain what was special about angels yet. There had to be more, right? Lex had very high standards. The fact that he didn''t even know if could continue to create clones was a separate matter entirely. Chapter 1049 The Jolly Rancher Chapter 1049 The Jolly Rancher ??While baby Lex, pretending to have the body of an adult, was sitting and sipping some unknown drink with the tavern owner who he previously assaulted and then healed, fairy Lex was figuring out the dynamics of being a fairy. His body was absolutely feeble, which was something that should be expected, but Lex really wasn''t used to anymore. Running around, he felt like the guy experiencing his first day at the gym after years of being a couch potato. Suffice to say, his body was not cooperating with him. The body also had instincts of its own that he wasn''t used to yet. To say that fairies were more sensitive to spiritual energy than humans was an understatement. It was almost as if spiritual energy was in love with him. It constantly hovered all around him - it was the air beneath his wings and it was the literal sparkle in his eyes. As ridiculous as it was, his fairy body had a greater capacity for spiritual energy than his original body. That was absolutely absurd because Lex barely ever ran short of spiritual energy. Only feats like literally ripping space apart would put a slight burden on his reserves, and that was before he became a Nascent soul cultivator. The fairies'' spirit sense was also much more refined. It was practically another limb, and it was so much easier to use as well. It responded as if by instinct. Once he more or less figured out how to control his body, and keep his energy in check, Lex explored the city inhabited by the fairies. He had no intention of stealing from them, but if he could find a few books or techniques that were especially focused on fairies, that would be a great help. He did find them, but there was a small issue. Fairies didn''t really record things they consideredmon sense, and everything they needed to actually write down to remember was so esoteric, he had trouble understanding it. The worst part was, they were all baking recipes. None of them had anything to do with actual techniques. At least now he knew how to bake a thirteenyer velvet cheesecake in the heart of a volcano. He just needed the glittery sprinkle of youthful excitement - whatever that meant.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om He really wanted to avoid interacting with the fairies using the body of one of their formerrades. It would be incredibly¡­ well, insincere was one way to put it. What if this dude had a wife, or kids? This is not how Lex wanted to start a family. But the problem was, his body was telling him that while spiritual energy would continue to respond to him the way he was using it, that is not how fairies were meant to use spiritual energy. In the end, Lex decided it would be too cruel if he were to reintegrate into their group. If he really became desperate to fit in, there were some fairies staying at the Midnight Inn who he could interact with, though oddly enough, Lex had never really interacted with any of them. It was probably the effect of the curse which kept him from paying attention to them. With that said, Lex had also made an important decision. It would alle down to whether fairy Lex could use the system or not, but he really did not want any record of his fairy body at the Inn at all. So with his fairy body, he was going to explore the Midnight realm. This body was much too weak at the moment to actually take on any dangerous missions, so instead, he would just act like a tourist. He would take in the sights, get as many interesting experiences as possible, and get to know the locals. In the meantime, with his baby body, he would ask the fairies about how they used their spiritual energy. Regardless of which body was receiving instruction, fairy Lex would learn from it, so there was no reason why he had to ask fairies in person. With his decision made, fairy Lex stood up and tried to teleport away. That''s when he recalled that he didn''t have spatial affinity with this body. Unexpectedly, however, the spiritual energy around him responded, and he managed to teleport away. The teleportation was much rougher, and consumed more energy, but Lex also had more energy to give to begin with! With the horizon out in front of him, and nothing really holding him back, Lex began to properly explore the sealed domain instead of just teleporting over vast sums ofnd. The area around this city was thoroughly destroyed. There had been a forest there once, but it had beenpletely uprooted during the energy storm, leaving countless uprooted trees lying around. At first, he was just going to fly over it, but then he had an idea. What was the point of flying over it? It wasn''t like he had anywhere to go. Instead, he flew down and began examining the uprooted logs for the least damaged tree. When he finally found one that was eptable, Lex began to experiment with his spirit sense and spiritual energy. He lifted the tree and began shaving it down, turning it into a shape that he had imagined. The process was not exactly easy, but he learned quickly enough, and soon therge tree was shaved down into one, fairy sized pirate ship. Itcked sails, which Lex would have to procure, but it didn''t need sails. Lex flew to the helm, and began pping his wings, allowing fairy dust to fall onto the ship. Surprisingly, not only did it work, but the spiritual energy around him lifted the ship, as if helping Lex aplish his whim. If Lex didn''t know better, he would think that fairies had been given a gift instead of being cursed for how easy it was to control energy. With a vessel under hismand, Lex began his adventures in the sealed domain. As the ship flew away, thest of its outer hull was carved, and a name was engraved on the side. It was called the The Jolly Rancher. Chapter 1050 A blunt

Chapter 1050 A blunt

Sitting in the tavern, Lex smiled. It was such a strange experience. He was sitting indoors, but at the same time he could feel the wind on his face. He was sitting indoors, but he could see the vast horizon. He was doing absolutely nothing, but at the same time he was embarking on a great adventure. It felt surreal. It was a rare moment of peace where Lex could kick back and sincerely say that despite all the crap that he had to face, the dangers, the risks, the uncertainty, life was really interesting and worth living. Lex was not someone who easily got bored - when he didn''t have a tumor. Others would get tired of the monotony, or generally lose interest in things, but that had never been Lex. A cold drink on a hot day was always good, leftover pizza was always good, the sunset was always good, going on an adventure was always exciting and experiencing new things was always interesting. Heck, Lex wouldn''t even mind enjoying a nice volcanic explosion once he was done conditioning his body to not be absolutely devastated by it. Which is exactly why, despite the many problems he had on his checklist to resolve, he didn''t mind enjoying this moment. Who knew, in the future his fairy self might collect a crew of misfits and go search for one piece of resin. It would be a dangerous adventure, considering his fairy body didn''t have the same toughness as his regr body yet. But since his fairy body had left, he should really head back and check up on the rest of the fairies. It would be quite a waste if by the time he went back, they had already left - not that it would be too hard for him to search for them. Lex got up, setting his drink on the table, and said to the owner, "well, I''m out. Sorry for the misunderstanding - and the hole in your wall." The owner looked at him, and though he had not a shred of exhaustion left in his body, still gave Lex a fed up look. "If I were you, I''d stay for a while longer - if you want to avoid being annoyed." "Oh? Howe?" "I''m not in the habit of showering in blood, just so you know," the tavern owner said,menting on his state. Lex, honestly speaking, hadn''t paid attention to the blood at all. "The city lord has lost his mind. Without his projection to subdue others in the city, he suddenly started feeling insecure, so he''s ordered his guards to attack anyone he feels could threaten him. Most of the city is in chaos, to be honest." Lex was actually surprised to hear that, and then realized that he didn''t have his spirit sense spread out observing the ce because... well because he wasn''t particrly looking for anything. "This city lord, would you say he''s a good ruler generally? Or is this sort of thing a norm for him?" "You a foreigner? Well that makes sense. The city lord is a spoiled idiot who had life handed to him on a silver tter. His family was rich so they spoiled him, and helped him raise his projection level as high as they could. With that to help him subjugate others, he''s forcefully held his position for years. Now that the projections have faded, he''s lost his mind." Lex nodded, then continued to walk out the door. On the topic of enjoying life, there was one thing he''d once thought about doing but never really got around to. Now that he just happened to encounter an insecure tyrant, he wouldn''t mind being an unknown hero to the city. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om But naturally he would not just take the tavern owners word for it. He spread his spirit sense out and collected information, and it didn''t take much time. The city lord was an extreme result of the caste system that was prevalent in the sealed domain. In fact, Lex didn''t doubt that if he could raise his projection level even higher, he would absolutely start taking ves. His orders to the city guard to go kill a bunch of people didn''t really help his case either. For a moment Lex hesitated. Was it right to go around being a vignte just because he was powerful? It was a slippery slope. Once he got in the habit of deciding peoples fates, it might not stay limited to cruel city lords. But the hesitationsted only a second. Whether he wanted to or not, he was already in a leadership position, and every decision he made was already affecting the fate of countless others. Every single being in this entire realm was only born as a result of his decisions. It was a little toote to be squeamish about making such decisions. He just had to make sure that he wasn''t harming others for no reason, and bringing about a positive result. That might not be the most ethical mind set, but in an existence where he was just a bugpared to the rest of the universe, he didn''t exactly mind if had to make somepromises. He teleported directly to the city lord, who was sitting in a security bunker surrounded by dozens of guards. The man was literally taking some kind of drugs when Lex arrived. "Pel, teach me how to make illusions," Lexmunicated with his ring, and received the corresponding feedback. Having an incredibly highprehension was amazing, because it took him only a few minutes to learn the techniquepletely. The entire time, Lex just stood there in the bunker right in in view, but the city lord did not notice, for he was too busy preparing his next hit of whatever he was taking. Up above the city, a massive image appeared, immediately attracting the attention of the residents. Even the few who did not notice immediately caught on soon enough, as everyone was peering into the sky. The image was from Lex''s point of view, showing the city lord dedicatedly working hard on his passion project - a blunt strong enough to affect a cultivator. Chapter 1051 Power and responsibility Chapter 1051 Power and responsibility ??Now strictly speaking, Lex did not have anything against smoking up. After all, one really cannot live in New York without having at least half your friends and acquaintances partake in some kind of recreational substance - whether that be alcohol or something else. But the man had literally ordered a massacre, which had caused chaos across the entire city, and was actively resulting in severe harm to the city and its people, while he sat here and smoked up. That was just wrong. But then again, what did he expect? It had been a while, but Lex put on his Notorious Anonymity mask - the one which contained a bit of divinity and grew as it absorbed more of it. In the illusion above the city, everyone could see that the person had put on a mask, though they couldn''t see him to begin with since they were seeing the scene through his eyes. "Are you the lord of this city?" Lex asked. Even though he did not try to change it, his voice through the mask came out much deeper and more sinister than it actually was. The city lord, who actually looked quite young, was startled by the voice, but when he looked up at the man in the sinister mask, he was not actually scared. Instead, he revealed a strange, twisted smile. "Oh man, I can''t believe it''s already kicking in. I haven''t even warmed up yet. Ah, I shouldn''t have sent She away, she would have enjoyed this." The illusion up above the city was not limited to just vision, but it was an auditory illusion as well. That meant their voices were reverberating through the city, bringing a stop to the chaos for a brief moment. She, who was the city lords personal bodyguard, city guard head and mistress, suddenly felt great rm, and started to make her way back towards the bunker. But even if she reached it, it would not have mattered for Lex kept it shut with his spirit sense. "Do you know the harm you''re causing to the city?" Lex asked as he stepped closer to the man. Honestly, he looked like a teenager. His skin looked smooth and unblemished, as if he had never seen a moment of difficulty his whole life. Well, his cultivation was also notpletely pathetic at the initial Foundation realm, which must help as well. The city lord suddenly grimaced at the question. "The city! This damned city! I did everything for them, and all they want is more. Bunch of ungrateful rats. I would sell them all as ves if my stupid projection didn''t get stuck!" "What exactly have you done for them?" Lex asked, as he softly moved away the table that separated them. "I sacrificed everything for them! I stuck around in this stupid, worthless city whereas I had an offer to go live in an elite only city! But do they feel grateful? No, they only want more things! Fewer taxes, more security, . Bunch of no good rats. If they would only acknowledge me, my projection rating would go up, but they just-" Lex didn''t need to hear more. Though he was hardly doing something to convince himself. But he had just recently made a rule to confirm the situation before doing anything. It wouldn''t exactly be appropriate to jump the gun the first chance he got. Back when he first got the ability to touch souls, with Impervious Hands, he imagined himself bitch pping the soul right out of someone''s body. But, to an extent, he was only kidding. He never thought he''d actually do it. But when someone just up and presented themselves on a silver tter¡­n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "You know what, I think your connection to this city is really special. You are just not giving them enough of a chance. Why don''t I help give them a chance to personally let you know just how much they appreciate you." At that point, the illusion disappeared, and Lex turned his body into the soul state, and pped the city lord. It was a nice, clean p, with good form and swift execution. But as his hand was in its soul state, it went through his body. It did not, however, go through his soul. That little thing was pulled right out of his body, along with Lex''s hand, while the body fell limp. Without the influence of drugs, which were left behind in the body, the soul immediately sobered up, and realized that something was gravely amiss. But it did not have the means tomunicate. At the Foundation realm, a soul was not even strong enough to exist without the body much less do anything else. The only reason the soul hadn''t exploded was because Lex was keeping the soul covered in his soul sense, and providing it with support. "Do you think it counts as killing a person if the soul and body are both technically alive?" Lex asked the soul. The devilish mask, and his deeply disturbing voice were a lot more haunting to the city lord now. It was a good thing he no longer had a body, or else he would have suffered a heart attack from fear. Outside the city, the chaos from the city guards momentarily subsided as no one was sure about the city lord''s situation. If he was dead, there was no reason to be loyal to him and fight on his behalf. All the powerful forces in the city gathered at his mansion, since there was no force willing to still fight for him, and soon they reached his bunker. When they opened it, they found itpletely empty. The city lord hadpletely disappeared. No one had an answer for what happened, and a new kind of chaos spread in the city while the forces joined together to calm things down, and then decide on new leadership. There was no clear answer. Everyone wanted to be the city lord. Then, a few hourster, a statue suddenly appeared in the city square. It was titled ''The reward of being a selfish leader''. The statue looked just like the former city lord. When some people came close to the bronze statue, they realized they could hear voices. Fear and panic spread through the square as they all retreated. Eventually, someone brave enough stepped forward to investigate, and listened to the wailing noises. It turns out a devil, no, a monster had appeared suddenly and imprisoned the city lord''s soul in the statue, so he could hear first hand from his citizens what a good city lord he was. As the news spread, the fight for new leadership suddenly stopped. Now, everyone was afraid to take power without the ability to handle the responsibility. But by then, Lex had already left. Chapter 1052 Everyone has to behave Chapter 1052 Everyone has to behave ??When Lex returned, the fairies were still unconscious. How long did it take to recover from a cross generation enchantment that kept them and their entire race cursed? Since he didn''t have an answer to that question Lex was about to throw drops of his blood on all of them, when he suddenly paused. Perhaps throwing his blood around everywhere so casually wasn''t the best idea - since he was trying to hide his physique. But he had to admit that its healing qualities were extremely handy. Since that was the case, he just had to learn another healing technique. "Hey Pel, do you know any healing techniques?" "This¡­ healing is not so straightforward. I do indeed know many healing techniques, but they''re not so generic. Within a certain range, a technique may heal certain wounds or illnesses, but mostly it depends on what you are treating. For example, the fairies in front of you. If I pass a technique that simply focuses on vitality, and you use it, through sheer brute force it may allow them to wake up, and possibly even heal what ails them, but that will not be a proper means of treatment. "For that, you would have to properly diagnose what is wrong with them, narrow down how to treat them, and then use the most appropriate method. Even though in my previous life, healing was not something I paid much attention to, I learned hundreds of techniques just to diagnose my dragonoid underlings and descendants." "Well, we''re not doing anything else. Why don''t you teach me how to properly diagnose them and then how I can train them." Lex was thoroughly aware that one of his greatest advantages was his quick learning speed. It was abnormal even among cultivators, which is why if he did not make use of it then he would be wasting his resources. Within the Midnight Inn he did not feel like there was any real threat to him, which is why he wanted to use this time as efficiently as possible. The more he learned and the more he was able to do, the better he would be able to handle the threats he faced in the future. Over the next twenty minutes, Pel taught Lex a number of various diagnosis techniques. Since Pel did not learn nor was interested in the exact biology of his patients, the techniques he learned were more focused on identifying specific things that were generally true of all species with bodies. For example, how to identify and differentiate wounded vitality from drained vitality, how to identify the effects of poison, how to identify curses, how to tell if the issue is with the spirit or soul instead, and so on. These techniques were all very generic, but seemed to work. For example, they could not identify poisons, since what was poisonous to one species might not be to another. Therefore learning the list of what was harmful to each and every species was¡­ it was not exactly impossible, but it was pointless. His techniques would just identify when the body was being affected by poison, and another technique would support and empower the body to expel the poison on its own. After going through a number of different diagnostic techniques, Lex was finally able to determine that the issue the fairies were having was because their spirits were extremely chaotic - at least that''s what was keeping them unconscious. They were suffering from countless other problems besides. What a chaotic spirit meant, neither Lex nor Pel knew. However, even if he didn''t know what that exactly meant, it didn''t mean he didn''t have a treatment for it. After learning what he needed to do, Dr. Lex cracked his knuckles and got in the zone. Not that he had any intention to do such a thing, this was good practice for if he ever needed to act like a mysterious doctor. He used the technique a couple of times to practice, then began healing the fairies. The result was almost immediate. A blue, gentle light was emitted from Lex''s fingers which bathed all the fairies, soothing their spirits, and at the same time, physically soothing and slightly restoring their brains as well. It was a two-pronged healing technique, and in only a few seconds, the first fairy began to wake up, though it was still clearly disoriented. After a few minutes, however, all of them sat up straight, now stunned by disbelief. They had actually done it. The thing that they had been looking forward to for generations! None of them thought that it would happen in their lifetimes, but it happened in the span of a single day! Lex coughed. He was well aware that the fairies were understandably stunned, but he did not want to wait for them all over again. "Congrattions, you have all gained your freedom. You are now free from the trappings of the enchantment that kept you here, and can go anywhere. It urs to me that you may not want to stay here, but don''t necessarily have anywhere else to go. I understand that it will take you some time to process everything, ande to terms with your new reality, but I thought I''d offer my assistance once more. "Ie from the Midnight Inn. Surely you''ve heard of it. If you go. I understand that it will take you some time to process everything, ande to terms with your new reality, but I wish, you can apany me to the Inn, as I am about to return. You can stay there for a while, and if you wish and find it suitable, you can even join it. Now I don''t mean to rush you, but do you think you could decide what you want to do without sending me on another quest? I have other things to do as well." For a moment the fairies were stunned, until a particrly old looking fairy stepped forward.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Oh great savior, even though we are free now, our enemies from the shadednds will not relent. They will continue to hunt us down if they find us. We cannot implicate you like that." Lex began to chuckle. "Don''t worry, the Midnight Inn is a ce where everyone has to behave, no matter where they are from. Even the Tree of Heaven cannot misbehave there, let alone others. You don''t need to think about anything else." Chapter 1053 All affinities Chapter 1053 All affinities ??The fairies looked at each other, as if they were stuck in a great quandary. They had not seen the ferocity of the hunters which drove their ancestors into hiding, but they had seen what Lex was capable of doing with their own eyes. They didn''t want to burden him, yet at the same time he was right in stating that they did notn on staying in the sealed domain, but had nowhere to go. Lex, who had some experience with fairies now, got the feeling that this was going to drag on so he decided to persuade them a little more. "Look, I am the one who gave you freedom. That makes me responsible for you. I can''t, in good conscience, just leave you here to suffer. At the same time, I have a lot of work I need to do. So I would feel a lot better if you came with me to the Inn. That way you''d be safe as well, at least until you recover enough to venture out on your own if you so wish." After a bit more prodding, the fairies finally relented. Lex was pleased, but when he asked if there were any other fairy settlements they should visit to check up on, they revealed that there were none. These few fairies were literally thest of their kind. It was at this time that some of the fairies also proceeded to head into the final chamber, but were unable to find the remaining fairy. Lex told them that he had passed away without borating. Understandably, the news saddened the fairies, but they did not dwell on it for too long, since Lex was waiting for them. They started packing up, preparing to leave. Lex paid close attention to them, observing the way they used their wings, their bodynguage as they flew, how they utilized their fairy dust, and even how they used their spirit energy. He implemented the changes in real time to his fairy body, and could immediately feel the difference. One thing that he did notice, however, was that the other fairies did not produce nearly as much fairy dust as he did.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "Hey Leroy," Lex called the armored fairy, since he was the only one he was familiar with, "do you mind if I ask you some questions about fairies? I''m really intrigued by your race and history." "It would be my honor to answer your questions," said Leroy, who immediately zipped next to Lex. Truth be told, the suddenpletion of his quest and the attainment of freedom left him feeling lost. He didn''t know what he was supposed to do now, so this task, even if it was temporary, provided him with great relief. "Howe some of you produce more fairy dust than others? I hope it''s not too personal a question." "Not at all! Actually, the amount of fairy dust produced is directly proportional to how strong a fairy is! You see, the wings of a fairy are perhaps the most important part of a fairy''s body, as they act as amplifiers for our control over spirit energy. So when we fly, our wings are not actually pping through the air, but through the spirit energy around us. The fair dust that is produced are small specks of spiritual energy that are transformed and knocked loose during the process. "Fairy dust has countless uses besides just allowing us to fly, and share our flying abilities. For example, they can also have healing properties, or even harmful properties. All we need to do is focus on the effect we want the fairy dust to take up, and the change happens on its own. Of course, it requires some practice, but it''s more or less instinctual for all fairies." "It can take on any property you wish? Don''t your affinities get in the way?" Lex asked genuinely surprised. From his limited exposure to fairies, their abilities seemed incredibly powerful. He couldn''t imagine how such a race could be defeated so easily. Maybe they just weren''tbat oriented at all. "Affinity? No, fairies don''t have any affinities. Or rather, fairies have all affinities. Maybe. I don''t know, I''ve never tried. But at least I''ve never encountered a situation where I''ve been unable to create any properties that I wanted." Lex''s slight smile froze. They had all affinities? They could create whatever they wanted? Fairy Lex parked his ship on top of another tree that had been uprooted. This was too ridiculous. This was too overpowered. This couldn''t be possible. Yet his gut was telling him that Leroy wasn''t lying. At least, he genuinely believed whatever he was telling Lex. The problem was¡­ if such a thing were true, Lex''s imagination could not stretch far enough to even begin to consider how powerful just this ability alone was. Perhaps the reason fairies were cursed so long ago was because they were just too powerful, or at least had the potential to be too powerful. Fair Lex closed his eyes and imagined something absurd - since he was testing the limits of fairy dust, there was no point in doing something simple. He imagined fairy dust that would allow a material to grow, by absorbing other, simr things, then began to p his wings. Maybe this was an unusual request, but he needed to test it out. After all, if fairy dust could do something that he just learned was extremelyplicated, such as healing, there was no reason it couldn''t do otherplicated things. When he opened his eyes, he saw the fairy dust falling on his ship. He covered all of it with his spirit sense, and began scrutinizing it. For a long time, nothing happened, but he kept on going. Nearly an hourter, Lex noticed something happening, though it wasn''t his ship that was changing. Since all his focus was on the ship, he hadn''t even noticed that the tree it was sitting on began to shrink a while ago. Only now, that a significant difference had been made, did he finally notice. Chapter 1054 It will probably be fine Chapter 1054 It will probably be fine ??The tree trunk had shrunk by about half a foot. There were no creatures eating the wood nor was there any fire nearby burning it, nor was there anything else in the vicinity that could reduce its size. That only left the ship. The ship was absorbing the wood from the tree to strengthen its hull.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Though the speed of absorption was slow, Lex had no benchmark topare it with. For all he knew, this speed might as well be earth shattering! But more than anything else, the versatility of fairies impressed him. He had thought earlier on that their ability to maniptews was already mind blowing. But what if that ability was just a side effect of their overpowered affinity for everything. But Lex had seen countless fairies, he was sure. Even if they were being targeted because of their curse, how was it possible that he had never encountered a single one that powerful? Was there some kind of limit on their growth? Or was there some other issue? Lex could not help but turn to Leroy. He wanted to ask him, but this whole realm was limited to the realm of Nascent soul, so it was unlikely he knew the answer. "Pel, is there any particr reason why fairies don''t grow stronger? Like, does the curse prevent them from bing immortals? Because no matter how I think about it, their ability to have any affinity they want is too overpowered. They can even mix them in unusual ways just based on what they want. How is it possible that they can be so easily enved?" "I''m not sure. I never really paid too much attention to fairies in my previous life. After all, they were just insignificant ves. But from my limited exposure to them, all I can say is that they have a very submissive and servile nature. Even if they be powerful, if they themselves are mentally weak, then that power is as good as useless." Lex frowned. This was an unusual situation, but Lex was almost certain that there was more to it than what he knew. But that was fine. Since he had a fairy clone now, this was one mystery he would enjoy uncovering. He decided to continue absorbing the tree into his ship, and all the while thought of other ways in which he could test out his fairy dust. The subject of the tests would naturally remain the Jolly Rancher. If he could help it, he would turn this seemingly mundane, wooden ship into an over powered vessel that would be able to even travel through realms, as well as the void behind space. Lex, meanwhile, continued to ask Leroy different questions about how fairies used their abilities. As it turned out, they had very few techniques at all, since they could just naturally do whatever they wanted with spiritual energy directly. All they had to do was imagine. As such, the few techniques that they did have were all extremely overpowered, and were beyond the realm of what fairies could normally achieve. Due to the nature of these techniques, they were not recorded in any physical vessels, and were transmitted from fairy to fairy. Earning one required gaining an immense amount of trust. Once the fairies were all done packing, and by that he meant they somehow minimized and packaged the entire city into a few briefcases that they were carrying around so that they could redeploy it wherever they wanted, they all lined up in front of Lex, ready to be teleported away. Lex surrounded all of them with his spirit sense, and then took a few seconds to recall the location of where he entered from, before teleporting over. Long distance teleportation required a bit of time to initiate, even for Lex, but soon enough, they found themselves near the wall. Technically speaking, the boundary wall probably had openings now through which he could exit, but Lex was not in the mood to search, so he went the old fashioned way, and used his Glyph to part the boundary wall as he passed through. The fairies, who were already in awe of Lex, feltpletely and thoroughly convinced at his awesomeness as they experienced his power. Even though they were extremely versatile in what they could do, none of them were powerful enough to replicate anything Lex was doing. Once they passed through, Lex was expecting to arrive buried underyers andyers of dirt, since the sealed domain had been underground. He was prepared to st his way through, since the fairies couldn''t really enter soul state - probably. He hadn''t asked something like that yet. But as it turned out, he didn''t need to. While the sealed domain underwent massive changes internally, it also brought about changes outside as well. Countless holes had appeared in the ground, going from the sealed domain all the way to the surface, making the region look like a massive wasp nest. He could not guess what exactly happened to the dirt, rock and everything else that had seemingly disappeared. He was sure it was fine, and that they probably had not beenunched into the air like a volcanic eruption, but of dirt instead ofva. Realistically speaking, the sealed domain was bound to be discovered sooner orter, now that there was direct ess to it from the ground. But there probably wouldn''t be any problems. Eh, his fairy clone was still inside so if the domain was invaded or something he would find out, and would do something about it. Maybe. On the plus side, he now confirmed that he was still connected to his clone even through the barrier of the domain. He began teleporting back towards the Inn. Once he was back, Lex would rx until the resin was absorbed and see how much of a difference that made. In the meantime, he would begin marking down the other locations for the resin that he knew of. Finding them would be another task altogether. Chapter 1055 Vera never fails Chapter 1055 Vera never fails ??"Wee to the Midnight Inn," Lex said to the weathered fairies behind him as they teleported to the Midnight manor. Considering the fact that almost every ce in this realm had the same level of purity to its spirit energy and air quality, the first impression wasn''t overwhelming. But that is not what the fairies cared about anyway. They were immediately impacted by the warm, weing environment and the countless smiling faces. The presence of so many humans made them ufortable, but they sensed no hostility, and no one seemed to pay special attention to them, which actually put them at ease. Lex had nned to give them all a tour, but he was surprised to find that Vera had been pacing right in front of the manor impatiently. The moment he appeared, a massive grin appeared on her face and the oracle approached him at full speed. "I have something for you!" she said with greater enthusiasm and excitement than Lex had ever seen her express. "Hurry and get free, I''ve already been waiting for you for hours!" How many hours had she been waiting? If Lex were a betting man, he''d guess around the exact amount of time since he awoke his physiquepletely. He nodded, fully aware that the oracle had helped him too many times for him to ignore her. Although divination was not supposed to necessarily bepletely urate, she had been a very reliable partner for him any time she offered her services. "My friends, wee to the Midnight Inn. I would have liked to take you on a tour personally, but duty beckons. I will leave you with one of our other staff members, and make sure your lodgings are taken care of. Feel free to explore after that. If you feel like you''re beginning to like the Inn and want to stay here permanently, let me know and I''ll put in a good word for you and try to get you hired. If you want to move on, then you can do that as well." "Please, do not be dyed on our behalf, great savior!" one of the fairies said, before proceeding into a deep bow. Lex nodded, then found a worker at the manor and exined the situation, before making his way back to Vera who was so excited it seemed like she had won the lottery. "What''s gotten into you?" Lex couldn''t help but ask. "You have no idea! Oh Lex, if I didn''t already have a husband picked out for me in the future, I''d kiss you! You''re like my lucky star! I don''t know what you did, but the trajectory of my entire life changed a few hours ago! Come, follow me, quickly!" Without exining, the girl broke into a sprint, barely keeping herughter contained. She had a golf cart parked nearby, and jumped into the driver''s seat. "You know I can just teleport us where we need to go, right?" Lex asked as he sat beside her. "I know, I know, but the timing of these things matter. Don''t worry about it. Let me fill you in on the details, I''m sure you''re curious about what''s happening." "Gee, I wonder what would make you think that." Vera just chuckled at his sarcasm, too exhrated to care. "I''m going to do something for you, and guess what? I''m not even going to charge you for it! Instead, every time you benefit from what I''m about to do, you just pay me ording to how much you think it has helped you. You canpletely decide the price on your own, I trust youpletely." Vera was actually jumping in her seat as she talked about payment. Clearly it wasn''t trust that was fueling her, but the exact knowledge of what she should expect. "Every time? You''re saying I''m going to benefit from this one thing multiple times?" "Oh yeah," she said. "I''ll let you in on a little secret. My prophecies change, and they''re not always urate, so I can''t say for certain how many times you will use it. For example, a few hours ago, something happened which changed the trajectory of my entire life! Do you know what that means? It means every prophecy I''ve ever had about my own life was overridden by whatever triggered this change. "This is actually quitemon. After all, at my level, I cannot get in touch with the greater secrets of the universe. That means, I ampletely incapable of predicting the effects of anything above a certain level. So technically, another change could happen which proves my current visions false. But in my experience, such changes are notmon. This is definitely going to help you, and you''re definitely going to pay me really well!" Lex did not know if she was ordinarily a rash driver, but at the moment Vera drove the cart as if she waspletely unaware that brakes even existed, or that she could actually remove her foot from the pedal. "So are you going to tell me what you''re about to do?" he could not help but ask, feeling intrigued. He was guessing the change she was talking about was him touching the resin, and its side effects. It only made sense that she could not anticipate him encountering it before. In fact, it would be worrying if she could. "Just wait for it," she said, and kept driving. They found themselves moving away from the settlements, and in a while, arriving at one of the many lone small houses Lex had ced around the Inn. This ce waspletely secluded, and Lex could not see a single other person anywhere, but that didn''t stop Vera. She parked the golf cart and quickly rushed up to the door, before calming down and knocking politely. The change she underwent was drastic, and intriguing. She suddenly looked like an extremelyposed, elegant youngdy andpletely unlike the excited teenager she was acting like just a minute prior. The door was opened by a being Lex only knew about, but hadn''t seen. It was tall, at about eight feet (2.4 meters) with a body that was partially see-through. There were only bits and pieces of what looked like bones that covered certain areas, though he wasn''t sure if they were a part of its body, or they were something simr to clothes. It had four tentacles instead of legs, and floated in the air. Both its arms looked like a humans, but had strange grooves that made it seem like it could close its fingers to form, not a fist, but another tentacle. Its face, or at least the part where its eyes were, had no distinguishing features and lookedpletely t. The thing did not speak, and neither did Vera. She simply bowed, out of respect, and walked in once it moved out of the way. Lex mimicked her, before following. He searched his memories about the guests in his Inn, and quickly recalled who had seen. The floating tentacle creature was called Lend, and it had apanion it was staying with. Or, based on the fact that Lend was opening the door, maybe it was thepanion. Inside the home, in the living room, sat a being of another race as well. This one was vaguely humanoid, though its body was extremely thin, and dark blue in color. It had no nose, and instead a majority of its face was upied by a single, massive eyes. "Master Haraash, I apologize for arriving without any warning," Vera said, and bowed even more deeply. "It is fine, child. Since I requested the staff not to share my location with anyone, you were able to find me on your own. Since that is that case, you have earned this audience. Please, take a seat." "Master Haraash, Ie this time not for myself, but for my friend. He requires guidance on an extremely sensitive topic. Naturally, he will pay you for your help."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex felt the urge to raise an eyebrow, but resisted. Vera had not failed him yet, so he continued to trust her. Haraash turned to look at him, and then raised its monobrow in curiosity. "Your destiny is hidden from me. How curious." "I try to keep it like that," Lex said politely. "I am not a fan of others looking into my future." "Master Haraash, that is exactly what my friend is here to learn. If you could guide him on the best ways to hide from karma, destiny, divination and any form of prying, then he will reward you appropriately. I will leave the room, so that I do not add onto the price." Master Haraash nodded, as if permitting it. Vera bowed once more, and then walked out of the room, leaving them there. Lex was impressed. He had been looking for ways to hide his physique, and the way dropped into hisp. He should probably start thinking of how he would pay Vera in that case. Chapter 1056 A few minutes Chapter 1056 A few minutes ??Vera was a little strange sometimes, but she had proved herself extremely helpful time and time again. Lex would have offered her a job at the Inn, but he suspected that she would have already requested it herself if she saw that in her future. At the same time, he could not help but turn his attention to her words. She told him that he would pay her multiple times for helping him out this time, which meant that this information would possibly help him out tremendously, and more than once. Based on her level of excitement, he would be paying her pretty vast sums. He turned his attention to Master Haraash, who was simrly observing him with his one eye. The skinny alien was one of the guests whose cultivation level the system had not been able to tell him. Lex could not recall any other details about him. It had be somewhat of a habit to keep an overview of all the guests in the Inn, but besides a few essential details, he didn''t try to memorize anything more. After all, ordinarily, he could just pull up the system and scan the guest whenever he required. Except now that he had lost the abilities of his suit, and the system interface itself was down during the upgrade. "Please, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Lex. It is an honor to meet you, Master Haraash." "Have a seat, child. Let us talk for a bit, get to know one another before we get down to business. I take it that, based on what I could see of that girl, she has not really shared much about me with you." "We did not get the opportunity to talk in detail about this meeting. She just informed me that it was urgent that Ie meet with you." "She has done well. It is for the best that we naturally get to know one another. Allow me to introduce myself first. My name is Haraash Soshi, and I am a practitioner of divination asceticism. This is a special school of thought that discourages divination and fortune telling of any sort, and tries to cut all ties with destiny. But at the same time, I am not so strict. I believe in allowing things to follow along their natural progression. "Basically, that means I have removed myself from an environment where I need to practice divination, or interfere in the machinations of fate. But if ever a need arises, I do not shy away from using my skills and knowledge. "Besides that, I am an avid fan of calligraphy and painting, and it is my dream to be able to capture the essence of an entire world in a single brush stroke. It is for that reason I have entered the Midnight Inn as a spiritual retreat, so that I may practice and hone my skills. Who knew thating here would allow me to witness the birth of a new world entirely? Sometimes, even fate has a sense of humor." Haraash spoke in a very mild and rxed tone, fitting his state as someone rxing on vacation. He seemed very amicable, which was nice, because Lex could imagine how others might be ufortable being stared at by such a massive eye. "My name is Lex. I grew up in a world without any cultivation at all, and lived as a mortal until I encountered the Midnight Inn. Under the guidance of the Innkeeper and with the resources of the In, I quickly grew. "But, unlike my coworkers, I have a natural tendency to attract trouble, which is why the Innkeeper encouraged me to face my problems myself without relying on the Inn. That is the only way in which I can fully mature is if I deal with my problems myself. "So, unless it is official Inn work, or there are extraordinary circumstances, I avoid relying on the Inn to resolve my problems. That has allowed me to gain an edge over my colleagues, but at the same time, it seems my ability to attract trouble is growing faster than my abilities. There are countless beings out there who are hunting me even now, though they may not necessarily know that they are hunting me specifically. There are even more out there who will be even more interesting in capturing me if they learn some of my secrets. "As a result, I have done my best to ensure I am hard to track through divination. But hard is not the same as impossible, and unfortunately it gets even easier if my enemies are stronger than me, which they often are. That is why I am always on the hunt for better ways to hide my secrets. I imagine that is why Vera brought me to you, for she could tell that I might be about to encounter some danger that is best avoided. "Besides that, I enjoy traveling to various worlds and realms, taking in the new cultures and environments. Since I grew up without any exposure to cultivation, I find all aspects of it fascinating. I especially enjoy helping those weaker than myself with the new abilities I have gained through cultivation." Lex tried to present himself in a positive light, which did not mean he lied, but he may have just presented the best aspects of himself truthfully in front of Haraash. At the same time, he presented a logical answer as to why, despite being an Inn worker, he is looking for ways to hide from others on his own rather than just depending on the Inn. "Handling your own troubles yourself is a remarkable way of growing. It forces you to think and act in ways that you would normally avoid. The wisdom of the Innkeeper is surely manifold, and with time you will encounter countless benefits for listening to him. Your own tenacity should also be admired, for it is not easy or simple to face the many dangers of this world alone. "I see now how I can help you. What Vera asked of me is the best way I know of to hide from karma and destiny. Her request was too specific, which means that it is a little different from what I understand you need. You can choose for yourself if you wish to follow the path she has selected for you, or you wish for me toobjectively decide how I can help you. Take care that I will not help for free, and a price will be collected for each. I will also only help you once, so choose carefully."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Master Haraash, Vera has known me for a long time, and has helped me countless times through numerous troubles. I havee to trust her judgment through personal experience. If she thinks that I need something very specific from you, then I trust her. Please, let me know what payment you seek. I will do my best to fulfill your needs." "Very decisive, and trusting. Those are good qualities you have nurtured, young man. Unfortunately, I cannot give you a discount just because I appreciate you. The information I have is extremely valuable, and offers the opportunity to hidepletely and totally from the fetters of fate and karma. As such, the price is equally valuable. "Fortunately for you, the information only leads to a chance at sess, and even those chances are miniscule, which will greatly reduce the price. Of course, it is at the same time unfortunate for you as well, for it will be very difficult to actually achieve those results. "To receive this information, you must deliver to me 100 drops of divine elixir, a drop of blood essence from the heart of a living dragon, a bottle of fairy dust attuned for rebirth and three drops of pure Mountain milk." Haraash became silent after stating his request, to give time for Lex toe to terms with the grand task he hadid before him. He believed that, eventually, he would be able to pay this price, but it would take many thousands of years of effort. That was fine, for things that came too easily were often under- "Can you give me a few minutes, I''ll bring everything here now," Lex said, before teleporting away. He did not know if this was some kind of bizarre coincidence, or if Haraash knew that Lex could literally pay with these things right now. Either way, the longest it would take him to get any of those items was the fairy dust, since he had to teleport back to the sealed domain. Meanwhile, fairy Lex, who was still strengthening his ship paused for a while to begin collecting the specific dust. But¡­ how could he collect fairy dust? It was absorbed by everything it touched. He would need to consult the other fairies. Haraash, who was prepared to give Lex some philosophical lectures about the value of persistence and determination in the face of seemingly impossible goals, froze. Did he say a few minutes? Chapter 1057 Jackpot Chapter 1057 Jackpot ??The first thing Lex did was teleport to Leroy. The fairies were still around the Manor, and had actually moved towards theke. They had never seen such arge body of water, and its soothing waves and clear waters attracted their weary minds. They had been prepared to begin their lives on the run, and a part of them still felt like they could not stay at the Inn for too long. But thend was too beautiful, the waters too calming, the people too weing, which was already eroding their weakened will power. Lex''s sudden arrival startled the group, but he only waved at them, and hurried to turn to Leroy. "I have a small favor to ask you. Do you know how I can store fairy dust? Does it require some special material?" "Fairy dust, like I''ve told you, is something simr to partially solidified spiritual energy. As soon as it touches something, it is absorbed into it. But storing it is also pretty simple. You either need material which ispletely saturated with spiritual energy, and cannot absorb anymore. "High quality spirit crystals can be used for this purpose, but they cannot be used to store fairy dust for long periods, as they will eventually lose their energy if they do not remain in a high energy concentration area. The second is a material that ispletely inert, and cannot absorb spiritual energy at all. That is much harder to find, but is better for long term storage. "Do you need some fairy dust? You can just say the word, and we will do what we can." "Not for now, but if I need your help I''ll let you know," responded Lex, before teleporting away once more. He did not need to store fairy dust for long anyway, so he would just make do with making a bottle out of spirit crystal. There was a small issue. Haraash did not mention how big he wanted the bottle to be. Considering that this was supposed to be rare, he assumed it was not too big. After that, it was just a matter of teleporting everywhere he needed. All the ingredients were pretty simple to gather, and he decided to grab an extra drop of Mountain milk for Vera as well. The fairy dust proved a small obstacle, mostly because Lex didn''t know how to judge if what he was making was good enough.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om He focused and did his best. If it wasn''t good enough, he could just make more. It wasn''t as if he was losing anything, since it was free to make. That is where Lex was suffering from a misconception. Fairies would feel physical exhaustion after makingplicated fairy dust, which when apanied by their weak bodies, meant they could only produce so much at a time. But the first thing Lex did when he got a fairy body was strengthen it, which is why his ability to produce fairy dust was far beyond the others. True to his word, about four minutes after he left, Lex reappeared in Haraash''s room. "Please check if everything is up to standard. The fairy dust was a little hard, but if it''s not good enough I''ll see what I can do about it." Haraash, and even his assistant Lend, were frozen in shock at the times disyed in front of them. Each item radiated its own unique power, which was more than enough to identify their authenticity. More importantly, they were incredibly fresh, as if they had been just harvested moments earlier. "To be clear, did you get these yourself? I must emphasize that the relevance of the instructions of the Innkeeper go beyond just what you know. Doing a thing yourself, and having it done for you are very different things. I don''t want you to think that I will withhold information from you - not at all. But your sess in implementing that very information will be stained by debt you will owe if you did not pay for it yourself. "In normal, mortal levels, such things matter little which is why you may never have noticed their effects. But in the Immortal levels, every action is stained by karma. That should not matter to you now, except that the knowledge you are about to attain is at the immortal level." "Oh, don''t you worry about that," Lex said as he sat down in front of him. "Everything here I sourced, obtained and then harvested myself. Well, for the divine essence I used an Inn facility, since it''s really a part of the Inn now, but I was the one who gave the object producing the essence to the Inn in the first ce, so I think it shouldn''t matter. This should also give you an understanding of the kind of trouble I attract." Haraash looked from him down to the blood essence of a dragon. He could tell it was extremely fresh, harvested mere minutes ago, and that it belonged to a Heavenly Immortal level dragon. How could Lex even harm such a being? Was he even able to cut through its body to reach its heart, or did the dragon donate it itself? Lex was not about to reveal that he just entered the dragon''s body using his soul state, apologizing to Pel. Jr. as he did so, and gathered the blood. Haraash looked at Lex, then back at the dragon''s blood. Then back at Lex, then down at the Mountain milk, then at the bottle made from a spirit crystal so pure that even immortals could use it, then back at Lex. "Sit child, sit," Haraash suddenly said, putting all the items away. "Clearly you are in great need of this information, lest someone squish you one day. But the price has been paid, so you can only get what you paid for. The method I will teach you has the possibility ofpletely cutting off all ties of fate, karma and such. That means if anyone wants to track you, they will have to use some other method, which is far from simple. "But there is a drawback. This method is not strictly mobile, and cannot be on your person. It will require you to choose a ce which will then be sealed off. The area does not have to be small, so you can potentially create a base or a proper home there. I thought that this might not best fit your needs, since if you ever need to escape you can always retreat to the Inn, and that is essentially what that ce will be. A refuge to where you can escape, unless you mean to start living there perpetually." Lex frowned for a moment. Indeed, that is not what he had imagined. But at the same time, he could think of more than a few reasons why such a thing might be useful. More importantly, although Vera might not know what problems he might face in the future, she foresaw him paying her multiple times for this! That meant that he really might end up needing a ce to hide, besides the Inn! The insinuations for that weren''t good, if he was being honest. Why would he ever need to hide elsewhere, when he can retreat to the Inn? Once it was in working condition, he could teleport to it from anywhere in the universe. Surely any refuge he created himself would not allow him the same convenience. The thought was¡­ troubling. But he would think more about it at ater time. For now, he turned his attention to Master Haraash, his expression much more serious than it had been before. "Since the Innkeeper has asked me to rely on my own abilities, then I must have the mental fortitude not to use the Inn as myst form of defense. Even if it never happens, I need to at least prepare a safe ce for myself with the intention of relying on it. Please, enlighten me about how I can go about building this protectiveyer. I assume it will require a lot of work." "You have no idea young man. The requirements to build it are far from simple. Just picking out the right location, the first hurdle, has defeated most who sought to build this. Give me your hand and close your eyes. I will begin transmitting all the information to you. This will take quite some time, so I hope you have nothing urgenting up." "Nothing that can''t wait a bit," said Lex as he closed his eyes and prepared himself. Haraash began transmitting some information to Lex, but before he even began to teach him just the requirements of this protective barrier, he had a lot of prerequisite knowledge he needed to teach Lex. On the bright side, Lex was receiving a crash course on manyplicated topics. Since he had been so interested in learning new thingstely, he had hit the jackpot. Chapter 1058 Cruising through the lands Chapter 1058 Cruising through thends ?1058 Cruising through thends It almost felt like from the moment he had arrived at the Midnight realm, Lex was being inundated by information. It was not the worst fate to suffer in the world. But it did keep him humble. After all, with his recent level up into the Nascent realm, he felt like his mind had grown tremendously. He harbored no excessive pride about it. After all, to him it was just a fact. So then being continuously put in situations where his new level up, which was beyond anything he had ever experienced before, was repeatedly proven to be insufficient was a nice way of reminding him that there were stronger beings than him in the universe. He honestly preferred such humbling methods to being chased across the forest by wolves, or running into random beings so powerful he did not even understand the scale of their power. He also learned that, when such a situation urred, a part of his mind automatically shielded itself just enough to keep his fairy clone operating normally. Otherwise, it too would have been dropped into a stunned state. Since he did not know what to expect, he had his clone park the Jolly Rancher, but now it seemed unnecessary. So, while baby Lex was suffering from a massive information dump, fairy Lex pped his wings and brought his ship back into the air. He hadn''t absorbed the entire tree into his ship, but the Jolly Rancher was strong enough as it was, and he felt bored. Instead of sitting around, which his other half was doing, he wanted to explore, so that''s exactly what he did. The Jolly Rancher was only two feet (60 cm) in length, so in the Midnight realm, it was absolutely tiny, and unnoticeable as it flew through the skies. For the first day, Lex just enjoyed flying through the wilderness, watching nature and the natural order from his ship up in the air, but on the second day, he decided to get closer. He had reached a grasnd now, with grass that rose at nearly five feet (1.5 meters) high, so he brought the ship to just above the grass, giving the illusion that it was sailing through the field of green.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om A natural consequence ofing down was that he attracted the attention of the local wildlife. A leopard which had been using the grass as cover leaped out of it with speed that should have been beyond his level, and tried to take the ship down. Naturally, it failed. Although fairy Lex was not physically strong, its control over spiritual energy had grown tremendously. Moreover, he did not need techniques. He just had to think about how he wanted to use the energy for. So, he just conjuredrge hands in the air, scooped the leopard, and then flung it far across the grasnds. Hopefully, it would learn its lesson. A few other animals attacked the ship, but for the most part, Lex took on the role of an observer. He felt like he was in an African safari as he watched the various animals interacting with each other, whether it was hunting one another or cooperating to resolve certain issues. He also came across a tribe of garden gnomes. It felt strangeing from a fairy, but their small stature made them seem incredibly cute, which when paired with the fact that their voices were either exceptionally deep or incredibly high pitched, made for quite the sight. They were fierce warriors, despite all appearances, and were in the midst of a war with their age-old nemesis, the sentient strawberries. The battlefield was brutal and covered in red, blood indistinguishable from strawberry juice, which Lex supposed was also just blood in this context. He stopped for a time in their vige, discovering that they were quite hospitable to anything that wasn''t a berry. They were just as intrigued by him as he was by them, which is why he decided to spend a day with them. It had been a really long time since Lex just sat around and chilled with a group of friends, which is exactly what it felt like as he quickly gained the friendship of the gnomes. They shared drinks, and as Lex chugged a mint margarita from a ss as big as his body, they exchanged stories of the various fights and desperate situations they had been in. For some reason, watching the sparkle and wonder in their eyes, Lex almost felt like it was worth constantly suffering from exploding volcanoes just for the stories. The gnomes, too, shared epic tales of surviving the fiercest gauntlet in thends, the fruit sd. Despite its oddly appealing name, it was anything but fresh and refreshing. It was a naturally formed prison, which happened to also be where the strawberry tribes were. Apparently, there were other, more ferocious champions there as well. But while it obviously screamed of danger, it was also the location of the Pink Loch, which was ake formed of some liquid which had incredible properties, and helped with gnomish cultivation. After spending a day with the gnomes, even though Lex felt a slight urge to stay longer, he decided to move on. There was still much to see. He moved on from the grasnds, and arrived at a biome that he felt was unique. There was a river snaking thend, but then suddenly started flowing upwards into the air, without dispersing. Strange trees grew under the river that flowed through the air, and Lex noticed that the gently flowing waters actually contained submarines! They were not made of metal, or technology. Instead, it seemed like abination of dirt and bark mixed together to form long vessels which flowed in the water, following its randomly veering path. A quick scan revealed that inside the submarines were actually termites, who were lying dormant as they traveled. It was strange that they were ignoring the trees down below, and instead traveling through the river that constantly changed its path as it wished, so Lex actually brought his ship down from the river to investigate. A chill went through his body as he neared the trees, and he suddenly realized that the trees were not actually there. Instead, they were just images, or illusions of trees. It was like a memory of what once existed here. Lex investigated the images some more with his spirit sense and then discovered something interesting. These weren''t strictly images, they were ghosts! He was not sure if each individual tree was a ghost, or this was just one massive ghost of a forest that once existed, but he could tell that the trees here had suffered a tremendous ughter, and left behind such a resentment, that even the flowing waters refused to flow through thends. Lex wondered if it was the termites that did the ughtering, or something else. But there was no answer for him there. No matter how he searched, he could learn nothing more, so eventually, he was forced to move on. That''s when he first encountered a region of total darkness. It wasn''t that there weren''t any burning orbs in the sky, there were, but the light from them could not enter the region. It was as if there was a nket around it that blocked out specifically just the light from those orbs and nothing else. Naturally, Lex had to investigate. The Jolly Rancher flew directly into the darkness, unimpeded as it went. The dark region was not devoid of life, and instead, featured a rich ecosystem with apletely diverse set of creatures. There were insects, birds, animals and other things that all thrived in the darkness. Among them all, surprisingly, Lex found a human settlement! It was illuminated by torches, and gave off a cozy vibe, rather than the dreary one Lex would have expected. It was strange for them to choose to live in the darkness, though. Naturally, his ever present curiosity meant that Lex wanted to investigate, but this time he would have to be more discrete. He parked the Jolly Rancher in a natural cave that he discovered, then walked out. One problem with being a fairy was that it wasn''t discrete. His fairy dust glowed very visibly in the dark, so if he were to fly he would be spotted immediately. Yet if he walked, he wouldn''t get far. It also wasn''t conducive to staying hidden. So Lex naturally concluded that the first order of business was to get a mount, and he had spotted a particr creature on the way that would be perfect for the job. Carefully, and quietly, Lex snuck through the darkness until he reached a forest. Lex didn''t question how the trees grew without light. Instead, he just searched the branches for the mount he had selected, and then quickly found one. There, nestled on one of the branches, stood a baby owl, its wide eyes searching the forest for prey. It was the perfect size to serve as fairy Lex''s mount, so he began to climb the tree, doing his best not to get spotted as he approached. Chapter 1059 Shadow plane Chapter 1059 Shadow ne ??The baby owl''s body was only slightlyrger than Lex''s own, but that did not mean it was not a good fit. Its body carried a hidden strength that had been tucked in, to keep it from detection while it searched for enemies. But that could not hide it from Lex, who was beginning to gain a lot of experience in such things. Even without the need for spirit sense, Lex could tell, based solely on its lush plumage and the way that energy flowed around it, how tough and durable it was. It did not move much, as it tried to remain still and blend into the darkness, but its massive eyes revealed its inner shrewdness. No, the minor size difference would not deter it from being a good mount. Taming it, though, might be a small issue. Long ago, Lex had learned a taming technique. It was, in fact, the one he used on Fenrir. But he was not interested in formally taming the owl. Just a temporary agreement would do. If he were in his normal body, he would turn himself into thought, enter the bird''s mind, andmunicate with it. But in his fairy body, none of that was possible. It was really strange, because he did not think his abilities were linked to his body, but his soul. Yet it became an issue, not because of the body, but because his race had changed. If his clone had been another human, this would not have been a problem. But, as a fairy, there were other ways in which he could resolve this issue. He walked right up to the owl, remaining undetected, then put his arm around its neck, as if he was talking to any old friend. The owl jerked, but then froze. In his fairy form there were many things Lexcked, but that did not eliminate his knowledge. This body did not have Domination, but it did have an aura. Lex, with some knowledge and experience in controlling auras now, used it on the calm and friendly aura that fairies naturally exuded, and added a hint of his power in it. His fairy body was at the peak of the Foundation realm, but that did not change the fact that his soul was at the Nascent level. Although in his fairy body, it seemed to be in a pseudo nascent state, it was enough to intimidate anyone. The owl wanted to react to the sudden hand, but its body would not respond as it waspletely restricted by the aura. Lex pped his wings, thinking ofmunication and trantion, and allowed the fairy dust to be absorbed by his own body and that of the owls. The reason the universal trantor did not work on animals, and certain beasts such as Fenrir, was because they were not speaking in anynguage, even if they didmunicate. But connecting through souls, something being in the nascent soul realm allowed. Could enablemunication between any two things with souls. "How are you doing, friend? I hope I''m not interrupting anything too important." The owl turned its head sideways as it tried to understand what was happening. It looked at Lex, its tiny bird brain trying to grasp the situation. "I was scouring the abyss for worthy prey, aiming to assist it in fulfilling its role in the food chain," it responded. It was interesting because Lex heard it hoot, but at the same time he also understood what it was trying to say. "Oh, the cycle of life. Nice. Anyway, listen, I want to go explore that human settlement over there, but when I p my wings little shiny lightse out, which is very visible, as you can see. I was wondering if you could maybe give me a ride over. Since you''re a local, maybe you could also give me a tour. What do you think? I''ll find some way to repay your kindness." The owl paused again, as it tried to process what it had heard. Eventually, it bowed down. "Assume your ce for the journey," the owl said. Lex smiled. The world really was a wonderful ce. All he had to do was ask nicely, and others were willing to help out. Hepletely ignored the suffocating aura he had just momentarily revealed. "My name is Lex, by the way. What''s yours?" he asked as he swung his legs over, and positioned himself so that his legs would not interfere with the wings. "The designation allocated to me is Ollie Hoots IV, Marquis of Dunnd. It is a pleasure to be of service, your majesty." The owl spread its wings, and paused for the briefest of moments, as if to disy their grandeur, before it pped and took to the air. Lex was pleasantly surprised at the owls speed, not to mention how smoothe the actual ride was! "I did not know owls had noble families," Lexmented, even as he surveyed the darkenednds. "Is your estate nearby?" "Mundane avifaunack the necessary faculties to coalesce, however we Shadow Talons are of a higher breed," the owl said with great pride in its voice. As if to add emphasis to its words, Ollie suddenly pulled a maneuver, turning upside down before straightening back up, all without losing momentum or giving Lex the opportunity to fall off its back. "That''s quite interesting," Lexmented, as he began to imagine a country of owls. It presented quite an adorable image. "My estate is nearby, however I have been dispatched by the patriarch of my household to oversee a raid against some nearby abominations." "Oh, I hope I am not disturbing your ns. That sounds important." "The deed is alreadyplete. Our former foes no longer know the plight of living. With no other obligation to bind me, I am free to show you the monuments of this settlement." Lex was beginning to get very impressed by this owl, until he realized that to the owl, the trees in the city were the monuments. It flew to each and every park, and took some time to describe the history and relevance of each tree, as if it had everything memorized. While that was interesting as well, especially since the trees had apparently been the sites of a colossal war between the great horde of undead insects and the ck doves, he was more interested in the people themselves. Up close, he finally saw them, and realized the skin color of these humans was unexpected. They had ashen skin, with their pupils shining white in the dark. To be honest, Lex felt like he was at aic convention because they looked more like they were undead than living humans, but nothing about their auras suggested anything was amiss. Their glowing eyes did not seem to grant them dark vision, as they usually all carriednterns with them. Besides their unusual skin color, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, so Lex turned his attention from the settlement to the owls'' estate, and asked Ollie if it could give him a tour of its home. The owl seemed almost too eager to agree, and just as Lex was preparing himself for a small journey, Ollie did something strange. It turned and twisted inside space itself, suddenly transporting them to an entirely different ne. For a moment, Lex was extremely disoriented, but a single p of his fairy wings was all it took for him to gather himself back up. He looked around and discovered that his eyes were useless here. He was in pure darkness. Or rather, everything was just colored ck. "Wee to the dominion of the Shadow Talons, the Shadow ne," said Ollie, though it had no voice. The words just sort of came into existence as smaller shadows which were then absorbed by Lex''s body, allowing him to understand. "From here, our rule extends to every corner and dark domain of the realm. The mighty Shadow Talon dynasty will be the ultimate ruler of thends." Then Lex saw¡­ no saw was the wrong word. He somehow became aware of the countless shadows that existed around him. For as far he could sense, and far beyond that even, a massive militarypound seemed to stretch out. Millions and millions of owls moved about, each of them moving with the discipline and focus of a well trained army. Weapons and vehicles littered the shadows, and from each of them reeked an aura of blood¡­ or a bloody shadow, if that made sense.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om For the first time, Lex suddenly became aware of this massive army that was hiding in every single shadow that existed in the entire Midnight realm, and he could not wrap his head around how an entire dynasty could exist connected solely by shadows. And yet, somehow, here it was, and of course, he just stumbled into it. Then Lex something dangerous in the distance. A shadow suddenly approached them, and it had an aura simr to his own. This shadow was at the nascent realm. Chapter 1060 Not how to treat guests Chapter 1060 Not how to treat guests ??Lex felt no fear surrounded by millions of soldiers and an unknown owling towards him who was in the same realm as him. Even before he reached the Nascent realm, he did not take foes at the Nascent realm too seriously. Even though he was in his fairy body, which he was not entirely familiar with, and was nowhere near the peak of his power, he was absolutely confident. In fact, he was even confident about the fact that what he was feeling was appropriate, and it was not overconfidence. If, after everything he had faced and ovee, he could not face such a tiny challenge, then he should feel ashamed. One thing Lex realized was that, though most of his abilities became inert in this form, he still had his sword intent, which was one more reason to make it stronger. An owl suddenly appeared in front of them, the aura of its realm wrapped around it like protective armor, and it red down at Lex and Ollie. ""How dare you desecrate the back of a noble Shadow Talon? Are you ignorant of the magnitude of your trespass?" Lex would have expected to face a massive owl. Technically speaking,pared to Lex''s body, it was. But in reality, it was just the size of a normal owl. "Rx, we have a temporary agreement. He is just giving me a tour of his estate. This is not really the appropriate way to talk to guests, you know?" "Your justification falls short! I shall exact retribution for your transgression!"n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Ollie panicked, and was about to defend Lex. Therge owl also gathered its energy to strike down Lex. Before either of them could do anything, Lex pped his wing. Or rather, he wiggled the shadow that was his wing. The result was sufficient. Motes of shining fairy dust appeared, dazzling the infinite ne of shadow, attracting the attention of every living being that exhibited the ne. What they saw was a shadow disappear from the back of Ollie, and reappear on the back of the threatening owl. Lex extended his hand forward, coated in his sword intent, and grabbed the back of its neck right below its skill, freezing it in ce. Lex waspletely unaffected by its power. Instead, his warm and happy aura was radiating off of him, forming aplete dichotomy from the scene that unfolded everyone. "I said, this is not how one talks to guests." Lex''s voice reverberated across the darkness, suppressing every other shadow, whether it was alive or not. Lex felt a faint suppression on his power, and realized that in a particr ne, everything had to exist in that form. His sword intent was also taking the form of a shadow. But when he tried to use a Glyph to magnify his aura, the way he had done to enter the sealed domain, there was a resistance, and a strange feedback from the ne itself. Lex could ovee the resistance, he felt, but if he did so, both he and the owl he was grabbing would be ejected from the shadow ne, and returned to the regr ne of existence. In truth, Lex expected to be at a disadvantage in the shadow ne. But as it turned out, it was pretty easy to align all of his spirit energy to a specific form when he was already in its associated ne. Maybe it was a fairy thing. For a few moments there was silence, but then Ollie finally broke out of his stupor. "Majestic guardian, the esteemed royal Lex graced my back with my consent. His essence exudes a natural air of nobility and authority, a quality discernible to me in my capacity as a Marquis. Your actions have been precipitous. Extend an apology to rectify this so that we may foster harmonious ties. The Shadow Talons are not so arrogant that we can look down on the rest of the realm." Lex could feel the trembling shadow in his arms. It was furious, obviously. No one liked to be threatened, and that was even more so for those who thought themselves at the peak of power. But that did not mean he was going to tolerate a bad attitude. If it apologized, he would let it go. If it acted against him once more, it would get more than just a warning. "Regardless of the circumstances, the dignity of the Shadow!" the shadow roared, and its power surged. It tried to resist Lex, andunched some kind of attack against him. Big mistake. Lex forcefully employed his Glyph, which immediately kicked both of them out of the shadow ne. They reappeared near where Lex had entered, and back in his proper physical form, Lex felt much better. Then the Glyph appeared but¡­ it was not really a Glyph! It looked like it was made of thousands of grains of fairy dust fused together, and its power was much more intense despite theck of Domination! The owl squealed and was pressed onto the ground. It was resisting fiercely, and Lex could feel that its power was not so negligible. In fact, he may have underestimated its power a little bit, though it was still no problem for him to face. But the greatest abnormality in the situation was just how effective his Glyph was. If he didn''t know any better, he would begin to suspect that he was perfectly replicating how a Glyph was supposed to be used by a dragon using actual Dragons Might! No matter how noble or powerful the Shadow Talons were, they were notparable to the might and dignity of a dragon. Even if that dragon was actually just a fairy. The situation confused Lex a bit, but he doubted anyone could exin it to him, at least right now. This might even be outside the realm of understanding of Pel. Hundreds of shadows suddenly transformed around Lex, turning into owls. Many of them had formidable auras, with four or five of them even in the Nascent realm. But outside of the shadow realm, Lex was even more rxed, so he just stood still. But it wasn''t the best idea to offend a massive dynasty while he was trying to keep his fairy clone hidden, so he had to think of a way to de-escte things. "There, I guess I''m not your guest anymore. I think we should find a way to talk things out. There''s no reason to make enemies needlessly." "You speak with wisdom. Mutual benefit awaits us through a shared understanding. Yet, to proceed, you must first consent to one of our conditions," said an owl with brown feathers that carried streaks of white in them. It looked kind of cool, Lex had to admit. No, focus on its words, not its coolness. "What condition? I have to remind you that I was attacked unprovoked, so if your condition is too demanding, I might not feel like obliging." The owl sighed, as if it was not caught in a tense situation, but rather an annoying one. "The truth is, we Shadow Talons boast a rich and illustrious lineage. Riding upon one''s back without earning the honor is a grievous affront. Unless you undergo our rites of passage, many Shadow Talons, particrly the elders, will not forgive this offense, despite any pleas. However, should youplete the rites sessfully, earning the approval of our entire race, you will not only gain recognition but also our friendship." Lex rubbed his chin and thought about it. "So you''re saying if I pass through these rites, I can explore your dynasty without any issues? That sounds interesting. But you also have to understand. I was provoked even though I was being friendly. The Shadow Talons might be proud, but I am not someone who can be osted easily either. How can you make this up to me?" If Lex gave in too easily, it would actually reduce his prestige in the eyes of others. Instead, making them pay a heavy but not unbearable price would actually make them feel relieved that he agreed to go along with their rites. Although it might seem simpler to just directly agree to go through the rites, if he portrayed himself as weak then who knows if problems would follow him. This was amon mistake many characters in novels, especially the MC in "Gods call me Daddy" made, which is why they got attacked continuously. They didn''t create proper deterrents. The owl underneath Lex''s feet struggled a bit, as if it wanted to speak, but Lex kept him thoroughly suppressed. This guy was trouble, so it was best if he kept his mouth shut. "We uphold our traditions, so it makes sense that you do yours. We acknowledge the breach that urred, since you dered yourself a guest when you came. I trust we can reach a resolution." A small round of negotiations took ce, and Lex remained unperturbed even as thousands of owls appeared around him, as if there was no pressure on him to ept. As if they were not strong enough to sway him. It was easy, since it was true. Chapter 1061 Midnight Castle Blueprint Chapter 1061 Midnight Castle Blueprint ??Lex put up a tough front during negotiations, and at the same time inquired about the rites of passage. But in truth, he did not care too much. The rites of passage were interesting, and Lex would have gone through it just to see what the experience was like. But mostly, his mind was on the Glyph. When he got time, he would learn more Glyphs and practice them to see what the results were like. Moreover, if his theory was correct where fairies could just replicate special techniques or abilities that were unique to various races because they had all affinities, then fairies would be over powered to a whole other level. In fact, they might even be the most impressive race he had met yet. In that case, he was 100% sure that there was something else holding back their growth than just a curse that made them more likely to be enved. It was something he needed to figure out, since he had no intention of staying weak. Eventually, Lex ended up getting a better deal than he expected. Alongside various treasures, they agreed to take Lex to a unique ce within the realm that could only be essed through the shadow ne. Off the top of his head, he could not recall any such ce in the realm. But then again, he received a lot of information about it, and it was incredibly difficult to wield all that knowledge properly. In fact, one of the reasons why Lex could still enjoy exploring was because unless he actively tried to recall some information about a ce, and it was actually in front of him, he would have a tough time recalling it. That was also why he had to go through so much effort to find the resin. But he was sure he would recognise the ce once he went there. Even so, it was an interesting offer, and since the only thing fair Lex had on his agenda at the moment was to adventure and enjoy, he didn''t mind epting such an offer. As such, they came to an agreement. If Lex could pass the rites he''d be forgiven and not be targeted, and would get hispensation in that case. If he did not, then the owls would not hold back any who wanted to act out against him - not that Lex felt threatened by such a thing. It would just be highly inconvenient being hunted by his own shadow. One more reason he was looking forward topleting the rite was because the owls agreed to help enchant the Jolly Rancher in such a fashion that it could be stored within his own shadow. That would be very convenient. So both the Lex''s became busy with their own individual tasks, livingpletely independent lives. At some point, fairy Lex realized he''d need a new name, just to avoid any corrtion or connection with his main self, even if it was minor. But the prospect of giving himself a new name seemed very serious. Since he could note up with a good one at the moment, he decided to postpone it until he had an epiphany. Four dayster, baby Lex, who was much more of a toddler now after the growth he''d experienced upon touching the resin, finally woke up from the flood of knowledge Haraash was passing to him. In truth, the transfer process ended a couple of days ago, but it took him much longer to process the information as well. It was only when he recovered that he was truly amazed, and realized how valuable the information he got was. If he could make it work, then theoretically, the ce he hid could hide even from the Midnight Inn! The golden keys would be undetectable there. If he could do that, then there were certain ns of his he could implement. His mind suddenly went to the Midnight castle and the Chamber of Rebirth. These two were rewards he got at the same time, right after he hosted Pvarti''s wedding, alongside the nk protos which allowed him to alter his cultivation technique. The fact that these rewards could be put in the same vein was enough to signify how incredible they were. He recalled their descriptions. Chamber of Rebirth (Single use)n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om The ultimate healing device. So long as a living being is alive, with even a fragment of its soul intact, it will bepletely reborn regardless of any injury it sustained. No curses, karma, bloodlines, cultivation, or anything else affiliated to the previous identity will be passed on, with memories being the sole exception. Whoever uses it will bepletely reborn anew! Midnight Castle Blueprint A blueprint that allows for the construction of the Midnight Castle. This Castle can be built within the territory of the Inn or outside, but only one can be built. The resources to build this castle are extremely rare, and the requisite skill to build the castle itself are impossibly high! Back then, when he got both of these rewards, he imagined a way in which he could use them. The Chamber of Rebirth was incredible, and could allow him to recover from any wound. Its only limitation was that it had to be stored within Inn property. How coincidental, then, was it that he simultaneously got the blueprint for an Inn building that could be built anywhere in the universe, even if it was outside the Inn? Moreover, it required Lex to build it with his own two hands. But the fact that the construction of such a thing required mastery ofws, not to mention ingredients that he could not get his hands on, was one of the reasons he never thought about it again. But now things wereing together, if even just a bit. With his fairy clone, he could theoretically controlws. He also found a way topletely hide a ce from detection, including by even the Inn itself. At the same time, he found himself inside a realm with all the knowledge of where he could find ingredients he would otherwise never be able to find. So if, with his fairy clone, he found a ce remote enough that he was convinced no one would connect with him and he could hide in, set up the protection, build the Midnight Castle within, and then shift the Chamber of Rebirth there, he could then possibly store a single drop of soul blood there. If ever, for any reason, Lex faced a formidable opponent who killed him, or if ever he was discovered as someone who was actually weak and not as strong as the Innkeeper portrayed, then he could recover using this setup. The greatest part was that even if he were attacked by a curse, or aw, or anything which could trace his destiny or karma or anything along those lines, the attack would not make its way back to that single drop of soul blood. He had been thinking about his n for a long time, and was one of the reasons why he didn''t want any connection between his fairy clone and his main body. This way he could use his fairy clone to create his entire set up, all the while undetected and leaving behind no clues. Since this concerned his potential survival, he wanted to take no chances at all. Upon thinking so far, Lex checked his system interface. He had been distracted for a while, so it waspletely possible that it had returned, and indeed it had! New Notification: Ingredient Amber Chaos resin consumed! System recovery boosted by 5%! Addition of new features unsessful due to insufficient energy. Use of the same ingredient in the future will result in severe loss of efficiency and diminishing returns. System functionality: 28%! Lex could not help himself from grinning! An entire 5% increase! That was greater than anything he had experienced before. Haraash, who was watching Lex, assumed that he was extremely pleased with the information he had attained. "I am d that you are satisfied with the results of this exchange. But be aware that I will not do the same in the future. To have me help you, whether it is through divination or the passing on of knowledge, is not something that can be sought for. Only through natural and unprompted urance on both our parts can it be achieved. Also, please, in the future, do not reveal the location of where I am staying to anyone. I value my privacy, and I am here on vacation." "Worry not, Master Haraash. My lips are sealed. No one will ever know of our exchange." "Actually, that is true. Once you leave, Lend and I both will go deposit the knowledge of what information you purchased in the Chamber of Secrets. Even we will not know what knowledge you have gained from me." Lex nodded gratefully. This was something he had thought of, but felt awkward asking for. It seemed like Master Haraash was a master for a reason. Chapter 1062 Tell me more Chapter 1062 Tell me more ??Once he finished up with Master Haraash, Lex walked out to find Vera waiting for him. Originally, he was nning on giving her a drop of Mountain Milk as her payment, but it was only now that he had received the information did he realize that it was nowhere near enough. This put him in a bit of a pickle. Vera grinned as she saw Lex struggling to decide what to pay her with. This was something she had already foreseen, and was looking forward to enjoying. "Before I pay you, is there anything specific you need? It might be better to help you out rather than give you random rewards." "Nope, I''m good," she said, and then shed a bright smile. Lex groaned, then gave her the drop of Mountain Milk. "This is your advance payment. Give me some time, I''ll need to figure out what else I can use to pay you." Vera happily grabbed the vial that contained the drop and said, "No worries. It''ll take me a few days to absorb this anyway." That reminded Lex that even he had not gotten around to absorbing a drop of this yet. Now might be a nice time. But he had a few things he wanted to think about first. He used an illusion to change his appearance and teleported over to the make-shift restaurant being run by Kenta. He wanted to see how good the food was while he considered some things, so he ordered some food and grabbed a table. He read histest notifications once more. The resin could still be used, but it would not provide nearly as much of a boost as the first time. The fact that it would give diminishing returns was also somewhat of a concern. That meant that he had to possibly look for other items that the system might be able to absorb. It was not so easy toe up with those since the resin itself turned out to be a Dao level ingredient. How many of those could there be in a new realm? He had no idea. But while he thought of alternatives, he needed to find the next piece of resin anyway. The reduced effectiveness might still be worth it. He then thought about setting up the Midnight Castle. The problem with that was that even its simplest and cheapest item used in its blueprint was extremely rare and precious, so much so that the Infinity Emporium did not even have them, and only put him on a contact list, meaning they would notify him if they got their hands on what he needed. Many such ingredients might be avable in the Midnight realm, so it might not be a bad idea for his fairy clone to set out on an adventure looking for such treasures. Whenever, eventually, it would be time for him to open the realm back up, it could leave and continue the hunt for treasures, as well as a hidden ce where he could build the Midnight Castle. It would preferably in a ce, or even a realm where he had never been at all! As much as he enjoyed just going on a random adventure, adventuring with a direction sounded much better. Moreover, if he managed to improve his rtions with the Shadow Talons, who was to say that he couldn''t use their help to find his treasures. Though he wondered who it was that they were fighting with. The mass information dump he got on the realm didn''t mention them. But then again, it spent more time describing the area rather than the creatures, so it wasn''t aplete surprise. "Ohwd, you''re about to enjoy yourself so much!" a drama-cat suddenly said, as it put down a couple of tes in front of him. "Heaven must have broken off pieces of itself and sent it down to thend, or else there could never be such heavenly food! Behold, this sustenance is beyondpare! Prepare thy senses for a symphony of vors that shall enrapture thy very soul!" With a gravely reluctant expression, the drama-cat walked away from Lex, its eyes focused only on his food. It turned away with great difficulty, and after a few more steps, turned to look back, as if giving onest look to a lover, lost to the cruel machinations of fate. Then, unable to hold back its tears, the cat quickly scurried away, lest he be seen. Lex, of course, already knew that Kenta had hired the cats in his restaurant, and they were a hit. He paid them in food, so in a way he got himself a group he could consistently test his vors with. They also attracted customers, and that was a very important plus point, since sometimes his food¡­ was not the best, if put mildly. Lex looked at his food, and saw what could only be a fantasy version of spaghetti and meatballs. It smelled great, though it could not elicit the same anticipation as the Krab meat patty. To this day, Lex felt conflicted about his decision to let him be instead of recruiting him. Best not to think about it. He seemed content with his life. Lex took a bite, and though he did not get the explosion of vors the burger delivered, he was surprised to see that it was actually good. The noodles were extremely fresh, and soaked in vor, not to mention the smooth, slippery texture they had was very satisfying. The sauce and the meatballs only served to enhance that,plimenting it while still having a strong, independent presence on the te. It seemed like thed had learned. He was not heir to a massive organization without reason. Still, good food was not the level Lex had hoped Kenta reached. He needed to ascend to a higher realm, so that the food could absolutely knock the sock off his customers. Based on the valuable ingredients he was using, such a thing was the only eptable level. Lex removed his disguise and waved a hand, surprising Kenta. But he did note over, nor had Lex called him. Right now, he had customers to see. Feeling somewhat good about things, Lex left after the meal. He retreated to his cultivation room to spend some time cultivating. Domination was too useful for him to ignore, so he nned on continuing to strengthen it. Once he was done, he took a few drops of blood and set it aside. He would give those to Vera, not that they would be enough. The problem with deciding on his own how valuable her help was, he didn''t know if he had paid enough or not. It created a loop of doubt where he might just keep paying her. He also took some time to meet all the other workers, from Velma, to Luthor and Gerard. Running the Inn now that the Innkeeper was not going to be around was a massive responsibility, and so he wanted to make sure there were no issues. "There is a group gathering outside the boundary wall towards the south," Gerard told Lex. It''s not a matter for concern, they haven''t done anything to show that they might be hostile, but the group is growing. In fact, signs seem to indicate that they''re setting up to create a small town right outside the Inn. I don''t know what their intentions are, but I brought it up to Luthor. He is worried they might be targeting any future guestsing from that direction. We''ll need to keep an eye on them." "Do you want me to go check it out?" Lex asked. "No, not yet. Unless they do something that provokes the Inn, we''ve decided to just let them be. After all, they''re not on Inn territory. They''re free to do as they please. If they make contact, we''ll be sure to cater to their needs." "Seems like you have things handled," Lex said, and was about to head out when he noticed a look of hesitation on Gerards face.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Is there something else you need help with?" he asked, concerned. Gerard was one of his most reliable workers. Anything that gave him pause was not something he could overlook! "It''s¡­ there''s a small matter, but it''s not rted to the Inn. It''s a private matter. I don''t know if I should waste your¡­" "Nonsense!" Lex said, and suddenly summoned a couple of drinks, passing one to Gerard. "I know we don''t spend much time with each other besides work, but we''re basically family at this point. Go ahead, tell me what''s bothering you." "Well, you probably know, back in my early days, I was a chauffeur for the golf carts. Although I don''t do that anymore, on my off days, I like to take the old wheels for a spin." "Naturally. It''s a nice hobby." "Well, yesterday, I met someone on the racetrack near the vige who was quite the driver. It was a close call, I barely beat her. But afterwards, she invited me out on a date. Usually, I politely reject such offers. But I don''t know why, yesterday I just felt a strange feeling in my chest. I didn''t want to reject her." As if summoned by some holy magic, Velma suddenly appeared besides them. "Tell me more." Chapter 1063 Intentions Chapter 1063 Intentions ?1063 Intentions Lex was, for once, genuinely surprised by something that happened inside the Inn. He had not sensed Velma''s arrival at all. He was even more surprised when he realized that¡­ he had sensed a spatial ripple. "Did you just use teleportation? Since when can you teleport?" he asked, unable to hold himself back. "Why, yes, I did. Many of the Inn workers have a mild space affinity, so Z has been holding lessons on and off. I listened to a few here and there, though I wasn''t too interested. Until about a few seconds ago. My gut was telling me something important was going on, and I reacted. Next thing I knew, I stumbled upon Gerard here rekindling his youthful spirit." The mature looking worker didn''t blush, but he did scratch his head out of embarrassment.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "You have sharp instincts," Lex said, admiringly. "But do not make Gerard conscious. He''s a hard working man, and he deserves to enjoy the attention of ady if he so chooses." "Of course," said Velma, as she pulled up a chair and grabbed a drink herself as well "Of course he does. I''m all for it. In fact, as far as I''m concerned, he''s already waited too long. But that''s besides the point. Gerard, go on. Pretend like I''m not here." The fellow did just that, and after clearing his throat just a bit, he turned back towards Lex. "Like I was saying, I was enjoying the tracks on my off day. It''s been a while since a good race, so I was enjoying just doingps when she suddenly pulled up and challenged me to a race. Naturally, I was up for it. It was a good, thrilling race. Honestly, it "Like I was saying, I was enjoying the tracks on my off day. It''s could have been anybody''s win. Afterwards, I went over tomend the other racer for a good match, and that''s how I met Lilith." "That seems great. You two share a hobby, and clearly you''re interested in her. I don''t see what you''re struggling with," Lexmented. "That''s exactly where the issue came in. You see, I don''t know¡­ how to go on a date." A silence filled the room as Lex waited for Gerard to borate on the situation, but the old worker just looked back at him. He turned to look at Velma, who was also nk faced. "If you don''t mind me asking, why did you think of me and not Velma for this? I mean, she clearly has interest in this field." "Oh yes, Velma has done a lot of research on this. But the thing about most of us Inn workers is that before working at the Inn, we did not exist. We had no prior experiences. But workers like you¡­ you have your own experiences outside the Inn. You''ve done other things. You''re also verypetent. I imagine someone like you has been on countless dates with numerous women." Lex nearly coughed out blood. It had been a while since someone did so much damage to him so easily. "Yes, of course. I have been on dates before," Lex said as he blocked out all memories of his only former girlfriend. She was not a bad person, and they did not end their rtionship on bad terms. But when he recalled all the cringe things that he said and did while pursuing her¡­ Lex suddenly felt like visiting the chamber of secrets and purging all the shameful memories. "So what you need is date ideas? I think I can help with that." "That''s perfect. We''re supposed to meet in a few hours. You should dress casually - at least, that''s what the instruction manual I found said. If you think otherwise, you can let me know." "Wait, why do I need to get dressed? I thought you wanted date ideas." "Indeed, I do. That''s why when Lilith asked me out, I suggested I''d bring a friend, and so she said she''d bring a friend as well. We''re all supposed to meet together." Lex''s jaw dropped. Did Gerard just set up a double date? Was he getting set up? On a blind date no less! "Gerard, why would you bring someone else on your date?" "So that you can show us how it''s done. Lilith also confessed that she''s never been on a date either, since she never had the time before. Her friend, apparently, does not have as much dating experience as someone like you, but she might be able to help." Velma''s eyes were gleaming. Clearly she understood the situation better than Gerard, but she said nothing to hint that the old worker had blundered. Instead, she gave Lex a knowing grin. Lex sighed. This was not how he imagined his first date in forever starting out. Where was the love at first sight? The saving the damsel from a suppressive family? The dragon that held her in a tower? "Well then, Gerard, the first thing you need to know is that even in casual attire, you cannot be sloppy. Let''s walk over to Geevs while we talk. We probably don''t have a lot of time, and there are many things I want to cover. First of all, what are your intentions with Lilith, young man?" "My intentions?" he repeated, confused. "Indeed, your intentions. You can''t just drive up to a girl in your fancy golf cart and expect her to drop everything and join you in long circuit races. You have to take things at a reasonable pace. Maybe some back street racing, or a short ride over thewn to start things out. See how you both feel on different kinds of terrain. After all, it would be a shame if there''s a great connection on the tarmac, but that me fizzles out if you get on some dirt roads." "I see, I see. You''re talking about assessingpatibility." "Yes. Are you looking for a long term racing partner, or just someone to casually burn rubber with on the weekends. Your intentions. Let me tell you now, it''s not very polite to lead ady on, thinking you''re going to go on a thousandp race, but then disappear after a couple of quick drag races." Chapter 1064 Planning a date Chapter 1064 nning a date ??"I will be honest, Lex, I hadn''t thought about this," Gerard said as he brushed his goatee with his hands. "Dating is a topic I never really gave much thought to at all. But at that moment, when she asked me out, I felt like it was a good idea, and agreed. As for the future¡­ well, besides how to improve the Inn, I''ve never really thought about much else."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "There''s nothing wrong with that," Lex said with a tone of confidence, as if he had thoroughly mastered the art of rtionships. "It''s perfectly fine to not have all the answers at the moment. Right now, you are in the beginning stages, so all you really need to see is if you enjoy each other''spany. Don''t put too much pressure on yourself, and act naturally. But if things go well, and you guys decide to continue dating, then you definitely should mention it. "This is important so that you two can identify if you both have the same thing in mind. Having different expectations is not a problem, but hiding your expectations from one another is not a good foundation to build a rtionship on." "What about you? What do you want?" Gerard asked, looking at Lex. He froze. What did he want? "My situation is a little different. You caught me unaware. Usually, when you invite someone on a double date, they already know about it, and are open to it. For now, all I want is to apany you and make sure everything goes well. As for the long term¡­ I''m not sure. I have too much work to do. The Innkeeper has given me many tasks. I don''t think I''ll have time for a long,mitted rtionship. "After all, I never know where I''m going to be from one day to the next. My cultivation realm is also rapidly rising as a result of all my work. It would be awkward if I start dating someone in the Nascent realm, and in ten years be an immortal. Then, in another hundred years I be a heavenly immortal, all the while she is still stuck as a Nascent realm cultivator. I don''t know if that will affect the dynamic between us much, but it might get awkward." "You''ve thought a lot about this, it seems," Gerardmented. "Does arge gap in realms usually hamper rtionships?" "Well, I''ve not dated since I started to cultivate, so I''m not sure. But I imagine it creates a divide. You''ve felt yourself the difference between realms of power. You must have perceived the world differently when you were weakerpared to when you were stronger. So simrly, I imagine, if the cultivation gap is toorge, then it bes hard to understand one another. Of course, I bet people ovee such things all the time as well. If it''s true love, then I''m sure both people will overlook any differences. "But I think, for now, we''re getting ahead of ourselves. For now, what we should focus on is only today''s date. Tell me, do you have anything in mind?" "Uh, no that''s exactly why I called you along." "Alright, well, ideally, a good date should have some activity or experience that you both can enjoy, as well as some time to enjoy and talk to one another, and connect. Can you think of anything you might want to do, or shall I give suggestions?" The two bounced a few ideas off each other, right up until they reached the Midnight Tailor, discovering Velma already waiting for them there with a smile. "I thought I''d let you two talk a bit while I have things prepared." "What do you mean?" Lex asked. "I mean, right before a big event is no time to begin experimenting. I''ve already told what outfits to prepare, he''s getting the materials ready. You just need to give your updated measurements for a good fit." Lex suddenly shuddered as he remembered his weight thest time he gave his measurements. He was convinced that he would weigh even more now. Best not to think about it. When they walked in, to their surprise, it wasn''t just Geeves waiting for them. Z, Luthor, Anita, Harry and Sandra were sitting around chatting with one another, but froze when the two entered. "Why is everyone here?" Lex asked, suddenly staring at Velma. "I thought everyone could give suggestions," she said innocently. "Date ideas, you know." "Not bad," Gerard said with a nod. "With more minds, we can think of better ideas. Lex was just suggesting we take the Silent Wanderer to a spot a little distance from here where there is a wonderful natural dirt track we can use for a small race. Afterwards, we were considering having a pic by an enchantedke." "That sounds too tame," Luthor said seriously. "You should go hunting so you can disy your martial prowess." "Whatever you do, don''t forget to style your hair first. Your attire won''t count for much if your own hair is all over the ce," said Harry. "I agree with Luthor. Back when Gawain was courting me, we used to go on conquests all the time, and conquered many enemy nations. It really strengthened the bonds between us," said Anita, as she lovingly rubbed her slightly protruding belly. The lich''s charm was recently growing, taking on a motherly glow. "I think one of you should y music for them, or maybe both," Z said, shyly. From time to time, he would nce at Sandra, and everyone in the room besides the girl herself noticed his interest in her. "Forget all of them. You need to go to the beach. Since you''re getting to know one another, it''s very important you go to the beach to really get to know one another better." She was pretending to know exactly what she was insinuating, but Lex''s spirit sense could see the chit full of random pieces of advice she had hidden behind her back. It seemed like she had copied them from a magazine. Chapter 1065 Youve kept me waiting Chapter 1065 You''ve kept me waiting ??"So we''re in agreement?" Luthor asked, looking at the group. "There needs to be an element of danger and excitement. But we''re going to avoid any conquests or hunting, and somehow tie in racing. In that case, I think the location of the newly discovered Worpal colony should serve perfectly." "Yes! That''s perfect! Why didn''t I think of that?" eximed Z. "But we''ll need modified golf carts for that. There''s no way regr golf carts can drive over that rocky terrain."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "There are also icy caverns nearby. That can be a perfect spot for a nice meal afterwards," Velma added. "Better yet if they have a meal waiting for them when they reach. I''ll take care of that." She teleported away, making use of the ability she had only just recently learned. "I''ll go get the carts from Xeon," Z said, and dashed away. "I''ll make sure to add a small surprise to the track. Keep the excitement up," said Luthor and walked away. "I''ll make sure there are no sentient trees or rocks nearby to spy on our date," Sandra said, before running away herself as well. "I''ll get you the newmunication devices that the Midnight portal has been giving out. This way you can message each other after the dates are over,"mented Anita. But instead of going anywhere herself, she justmanded one of her undead servants to do the task. Over the past half hour the entire group had reworked the date Lex had meticulously designed, and it was with great reluctance that he admitted their n might actually be better. But only because it drew inspiration from his own n idea! Regardless, they had more or less finalized their n. Geeves, who was also there the entire time, didn''t contribute much to the conversation mainly because he was busy taking measurements, and when he wasn''t doing that, he was grumbling about his suits that hade to life and walked away. He still believed the suits owed him payment for being made in the first ce, but there was nothing he could do about it for now since none of them had any money yet. Lex and Gerard stuck around while Geeves worked, since Velma had really done well with the selection. Gerard was outfitted with formal pants, a white shirt and a suit vest, with the pants and vest being navy blue. While such an outfit still looked incredibly formal, apanied by a stylish hat, it was the most informal Gerard had ever dressed in his entire life. He literally had dressed more formally than this when he was going to war. Lex, on the other hand, got beige cotton pants, a T-shirt with a picture of Little Blue on it, and a smart summer zer. She also encouraged him to stop using the illusion that made him look tall, as it was not the politest thing to do when going on a date. The reminder of his current stature caused Lex to groan. As far as he could tell, his body was undergoing normal aging as if he was a baby, so he would have to wait years before he regained his height. That was also only considering if his aging process was not slowed down because of his cultivation, or else he might need to wait for decades. Once they were dressed, they apanied Harry to his barbershop, where he pulled out all the stops to make them look good. Harry''s skills had improved tremendously since Lex first got a haircut from him so many years ago, and after spending just twenty minutes styling their hair and augmenting their auras and souls, they were ready for their dates. Even though Lex knew that this technically wasn''t a real date for him, he couldn''t help but feel slightly nervous. Fortunately, he had a lot of experience hiding his emotions perfectly. "So, where are we supposed to meet them?" Lex asked, as he looked at himself in the mirror. He had to admit, he was looking very nice. Maybe he should stop by the barber shop more often. "By the Fishing well. I heard it was customary to give dates flowers, choctes or other gifts. Considering how random those items were, I thought it would be more interesting if we fished out random items and gave them to each other." That¡­ was surprisingly brilliant, in its own way. Lex looked at Gerard, studying him deeply. Was this really his first date ever? Maybe the original person he had been cloned from was some kind of casanova. They hopped in a golf cart, and Gerard drove them all the way to the well. This was the first time Lex spent some time having a casual conversation with the man, and discovered that he was really missing out. Talking to Gerard was like talking to an educated schr, and because his bloodline allowed him unique ways to control energy through items, his perspective about energy was also quite different. As much as he enjoyed rxing back in the sealed domain, maybe next time he wanted to rx, he should do it with his workers at the Inn. There was no need to always spend time alone. "Looks like they''re waiting for us," Gerard said, as he drifted his golf cart across thewn,ing to a stop in the perfect parking location. Lex followed Gerards gaze, and spotted another golf cart upied by¡­ two devils! Upon spotting Gerard, one of them lit up, and quickly stepped out, revealing her high heel, long leather boots. The hem of her high waisted pants were tucked into her boots, and its ck fabric looked extremely ttering as it tightly hugged her legs. She was wearing a white T-shirt, the base of which ended just as it met her pants, and she was wearing a leather jacket atop it, though she left the zip open. Her bright red hair was tied into a ponytail, and matched perfectly with deep red lipstick. "Gerard," she said softly, as if tasting the name on her tongue. "You''ve kept me waiting." Chapter 1066 Oozing charisma Chapter 1066 Oozing charisma ??Gerard, who moments ago had been struggling with the fact that he was not wearing a tie of a zer, forgot his troubles at the sight of Lilith. "My apologies for making you wait," he said, as he gave a light bow to show his sincerity. "I''ll make it up to you in our next race by waiting at the finish line." Lex''s eyebrows shot up! So aggressive! Clearly this man had no shyness issue at all, so what did he need a wingman for? Shaking his head, Lex got off the cart as well and looked over to the otherdy who was supposed to be his date. Unlike Lilith, who was dressed in ck and had red hair, his date was wearing a long, red dress and had pitch ck hair that had been tied up in a bun. Her fair skin was free of any blemishes, and she looked quite enchanting in her dress. More importantly, he could tell by the way she stood that she was strong¡­ No, Lex! Don''t assess the battle capabilities of your date! It was something he had to remind himself. He would have tried to scan her, but his system was once again offline since he had absorbed the newfound system just a short while ago to continue the repairing process - not that he needed it. He could have recalled any information he wished to if only he focused on it. But he chose not to do that. He stepped up beside Gerard, who had taken Liliths hand and kissed it. My goodness, the man was oozing charisma. "Ah, Lilith, allow me to introduce you. This is my friend, Lex. Do not let appearances fool you, he only became like this after being crushed by the void while rescuing me and a few others. He should return to his normal self soon enough." "Lex, it''s a pleasure to meet you," Lilith said with an admiring smile. "This is my childhood friend, Cindy." "The pleasure is mine," Lex said, as he ced a hand on his heart and nodded. Considering that devils were thergest number of his repeated guests, he had learned quite a lot about them, including some of their customs and etiquettes. The greeting he had extended was a formal one, usually done by someone powerful or in a position of authority. Doing so was not showing off, because then he would also be judged ording to the position he had taken, and if he did not measure up then it instead put him in a position of dishonor. "Shall we go to the well? I have been looking forward to your weing gift. I think putting it in the hands of fate was a bold move," Lilith said, as she extended her elbow. Without any hesitation, as if he had done so countless times, Gerard put his arm in the opening she created, locking elbow with her. "Tell me about these weing gifts. I am not familiar with them." It was only an immense amount of self control that stopped Lex from dropping his jaw as he saw the couple walk forward with arms locked. What about them looked like this was their first date? Fortunately, Cindy was simrly stunned, and apparently had not been able to hold herself back the way Lex did. But she quickly caught herself, and looked towards Lex apologetically. Before she could say anything, Lex extended his spirit sense to her. "Clearly you''re just as interested in the two of them as I am. Want to take the pressure off, and just observe them?" She was taken aback by how forward Lex was, but then nodded. "Lilith has turned down many excellent devils before, of extremely noble stock. I really want to see what makes this Gerard so special - that''s why I came," she admitted frankly.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "I''m also curious about who can catch the interest of Gerard. Let''s keep up." Cindy and Lex quickly caught up with the two lovebirds, who hadn''t noticed that they had fallen back at all. "A weing gift is the opening move in a courtship. It is supposed to be a symbolic representation of the rtionship two will share if ites to blood. Normally, great care is taken to address each aspect of it, as its insinuation can be extremely nuanced. But to leave such a thing in the hands of fate, it is incredibly bold. I am looking forward to seeing what you fish out." "How exciting. Unfortunately, the Fishing well is technically not working in its full capacity since everything in the Inn is still getting used to the new realm. But, in preparation for this, I had someonemission a replica of the well. We''ll have to see how it works out." Indeed, all the Inn''s services besides the rooms were not really working, so Gerard had requested John and Xeon to help him in this endeavor. They had created a well for him to use, though how well it worked was still to be seen. The fact that the services weren''t working was also one of the reasons Lex hadn''t been in a rush to ask Master Haraash to go to the chamber of secrets. Gerard stepped forward, reluctantly pulling his hand from Liliths, and grabbed the fishing rod that was ced beside it. He activated the well, and then, without an ounce of nervousness or hesitation, threw in the hook. "I have a small confession Lilith," Gerard said as he continued to roll open the reel, letting the hook sink lower into the well. "This well might not be as random as I originally let on. After all, how can someone recreate the work of the Innkeeper?" "Oh? So then you did n what you''ll be giving me?" "Well, I selected a few options. Which onees out is still up to chance," he said, then suddenly yanked the line, pulling out the entire reel in one smooth motion. At the end of it, in the hook, were car keys. Chapter 1067 Tuk-tuk Chapter 1067 Tuk-tuk ??Lex watched with a troubled look as Gerard dramatically fished out the car keys. He wondered if it was such a good idea to let him do this. If the old fellow ever learned about the viscous power he wielded so easily, he may soon be the yboy of the Midnight Inn. It was always obvious to him that Gerard liked racing. From the looks of it, the same was true for Lilith. If Gerard had, with great foresight, arranged for the gift to be some kind of bike, like maybe a heavy bike or a chopper or something along those lines then his instincts for this kind of stuff was absolutely lethal. Lex did not mean to stereotype, but Lilith looked like the kind of girl who enjoyed riding bikes, so he didn''t imagine there would be any issue there. He could already visualize the old man riding across the Inn, with Lilith hugging him from the back, holding him tightly as he drifted across all kinds of terrain. A part of Lex wanted to start taking lessons from Gerard. If he had been half as suave as Gerard, he''d already be married by now - not that Lex wanted to get married or anything. He could see the excitement in Lilith''s eyes as she saw the keys. Really well yed. At this point, he wouldn''t be surprised if Gerard even had the bike customized - not that it was confirmed if it was a bike yet. "Oh my, keys. How promising. What are they for?" Lilith asked, as she ran up to Gerard. "I got us a bike," Gerard said as he handed her the keys. "One of our guests was talking to me about it. Apparently, back on earth, this was one of the fastest and most dangerous bikes on the road. I had Xeon make it for me. The poor fellow is constantly swamped with work, but still, he never says no." "Where is it? Do we have to go to it?"n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Oh, no, all we need to do is¡­" Gerard pressed a button on the key, and it began to transform. Lex was impressed for all of one second, before he became stunned. For all his experience as the Innkeeper, and all the surprises he had been through in life, he was absolutely not ready for what Gerard''s key turned into. In front of him, in all its three-wheeled glory, was a Tuk-tuk! Formally known as an autorickshaw, these death-vehicles were rampant on the streets of Thand, and from what he understood, India as well. When he was young, he had the chance to sit in one, and he had to say they glided through the streets better than a jet could fly in the air. They had skills that would put the pilots from the best movies to shame, and a fearlessness that would thwart any racing movie franchise with thirteen movies, and a plot no one can follow. The light frame of the dreaded Tuk-tuk made it easy to maneuver, and all it needed was a total disregard for one''s life since the only protection one could avail in one is an absolute faith in a higher being with a n that did not involve them dying. Did he see boosters on that thing? Did it even need boosters? "Oh I can''t wait to ride in it, but first, I need to fish as well. Did you prepare more options or do we need to add things to the well?" "I prepared a few things, but if you wish to add something, you can just toss it in the well. It will automatically add it to the pile, and it will increase the randomness of the selection." "In that case, let me just¡­" Lilith walked over to the well and dropped a few things into the well before grabbing the fishing pole and taking her turn. She ended up fishing out a thin, ck notebook that reminded Lex of a very famous anime he''d seen that would allow killing someone just by writing their name in it. "It''s a personal journal," Lilith exined, quenching Lex''s worry. Just because she was a devil didn''t mean she was evil, he told himself. "Once you bond with it, it will automatically make an entry every time you have an experience you find worth remembering. In a few centuries, who knows how many small moments you''ll forget, but with this, you can then look back in the book and enjoy." Lex paused. That¡­ actually sounded very nice. He made a mental note to get one for himself. He doubted he''d ever forget what it was like to swim throughva, but he might forget the feeling he got when he experienced something new for the first time. He didn''t want all his good memories to be overshadowed by his traumas. This was something he really needed to get for himself. "It''s amazing, I love it!" Gerard eximed as he took the notebook and bound it to himself immediately. Before he could even do anything, writing began to enter right in front of him, marking down the time Lilith gave him a wonderful gift. Since the book was open, everyone read it at the same time, and the memory was written in such cute words, it immediately created an adorable environment. Lex pulled Cindy aside to the well, giving the couple a moment of privacy. "Allow me to fish something out for you as well," Lex said as he walked towards the well. "I thought we were just going to observe the two," Cindy said, though she made no move to stop Lex. "We are, but that doesn''t mean we can''t enjoy ourselves in the meantime. Besides, if I see anymore than I''m seeing right now, I might need to put up a parental advisory," Lex said as he looked towards Gerard and Lilith. They were still reading something in the journal, and whispering amongst themselves. He turned his sight back towards the well, then dropped a few items in as well. He grabbed the fishing rod. It was time to see how his luck was. Chapter 1068 Right now Chapter 1068 Right now ??"Wait, let me add a few things too!" Cindy eximed, before throwing in some things. Despite her nonchnce, she truly seemed excited about this. Lex briefly wondered about devil dating culture. Even though he had read up about them, this was a topic he didn''t particrly know much about. They were surprisingly rxed about seeing a human, even though humans were considered to have lower potential than devils, because of the Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum. But maybe Lilith and CIndy in particr didn''t care about it - not that he was on a real date with Cindy. They had agreed, they were just watching the other two. After Cindy moved away, Lex threw in the hook and let the line loosen. He wasn''t sure if he was supposed to do anything else, so he waited for a few moments. It seemed that he didn''t have to do anything else, because after a moment the line tightened, and he quickly fished out whatever he had hooked. Lex had to admit, there was a tinge of excitement and anticipation that filled him as he wondered what he caught. Wait, was that the appeal of fishing? Was he on the path to bing a fisherman? Before he could find an answer, he managed to pull out the item. Hanging there tantalizingly was a pint of chocte fudge brownie ice cream. "Not bad at all," said Lex as he gave the pint to Cindy. It had been a while since he had ice cream. "Isn''t this break up food? I''ve seen the TV shows..." Cindy said as she grabbed the pint, unsure of what to feel. It seemed that fate was sending clear hints. But that was fine - they weren''t on a date anyway! They were just having fun and passing the time. That was it! Cindy grabbed the fishing rod from Lex and repeated the process a little forcefully. It seemed that maybe she wasn''t too satisfied with the gift she got. A few momentster, she caught something, and pulled out a nondescript rectangle wooden box. At a nce, neither of them could tell what it was, so Cindy grabbed it to take a closer look. "Oh hey, it opens up," she said, as she lifted the top. Revealed within was the figure of a petite ballerina that began dancing once the lid was opened, with gentle music ying in the background. "It looks like a children''s toy," she said, but Lex did notment because he was suddenly reminded of Giselle. She was the only cultivator ballerina he knew, and her skill in both dance andbat were remarkable. He could not help but wonder what she was doing right at that time. "Lex?" Cindy probed when she noticed his silence. "Sorry, I got distracted. This is called a musical box. You could call it a childs toy I suppose." "Well, don''t take this as ament on your size when I give it to you," she said, suppressing a chuckle. Lex snorted. This was definitely not a date. ***** Blood. There was blood everywhere, and at this point, Giselle didn''t know if it was hers of her enemies. She had suffered wounds, she knew that much, she didn''t have the time to stop and consider how serious they were. Being surrounded by hundreds of Magoran flies did not give her the time. It didn''t help that every time she killed one, it would explode, sendings its blood and guts everywhere. No matter how nimble she was, it was hard to dodge an explosion. But, finally, after hours and hours, she did it. For a while, but when she saw that there were no more enemies anywhere, she fell to her knees. Finally, she had done it.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Congrattions, you have passed the test. When the Champions tourney begins, someone wille and get you," said a deep voice, even though there was no one around her. Giselle grit her teeth and stabbed her sword in the ground, pushing herself to stand. Her wounds began to heal at a visible rate. She had only just procured the attendance qualifications. Now she had to make sure she was strong enough to pass. ***** Six hiltless swords hovered around Alexander, drawing in spiritual energy, and converting into something else, before depositing it in his body. Now that he had finally reached the Nascent realm, he could finally begin to show the real effects of his cultivation technique. His grandparents, before disappearing on their thirty-ninth honeymoon, had sent him a ticket that said Champions tourney. He wasn''t sure what it was, but he knew they wouldn''t have sent it if it wasn''t important. ***** Rafael Carter Bravi, son of King Marlo, opened his eyes with a stunned daze. It took him a few hours to regain awareness, and when he did, the first thing he did was check the date. "I went back in time again," he muttered. "No, wait. I probably¡­ I probably saw the future again. Damn, I don''t know how urate this is, but I need to enter the Champions tourney!" ***** Larry opened his eyes and found himself in a spaceship scrapyard. Countless metal rods were cutting through his body, though that was just his way of cultivating. It pained him to leave the Midnight Inn behind, but he had to take the chance. A bunch of oracles were visiting the Midnight Inn, and one of them predicted that his family was still actually alive, and the only way he could get them back was if he gained the attention of some important people in the Champions tourney. He had no idea what that was, but he couldn''t afford getting locked in the Inn, so he left. Larry clenched his fists and recalled Jeffery, the twisted freak who had his family kidnapped for no reason than to see him suffer. He''d spent a long time thinking about revenge. He would get it, one way or another. ***** In an unmapped part of the Origin realm, the being that had taken to calling itself Jeffery formed a new body that looked a lot like an angel. In his hand was a ticket, covered in blood. At his feet was a shriveled up body that could no longer be identified. Chapter 1069 Alls fair in love and war Chapter 1069 All''s fair in love and war ??Typically, Lex had a lot of confidence in himself. He had proven hispetence at every turn, and achieved much in his short life. But he knew when to admit that he''d met someone better than him, and that is exactly what happened. Lilith had melted like butter in his hands, and she was practically inseparable from him. He didn''t want to pry into their private matters so he didn''t check her age, but he was certain she wasn''t exactly a teenager, so it was quite admirable how easily she had swooned. Of course, Lex also used his own sixth sense to judge if she was doing this just to get close to him. The devils did not have a ster reputation to begin with, and it wouldn''t even be the first time they targeted the Inn. But whether they were his instincts, which he could guide to target something much more easily now, his sixth sense, or his general ability to read his target, they all agreed that Lilith was being quite genuine in her appreciation of Gerard. Though, his instincts did give him a soft warning that she came with her own baggage. A devil with a past hiding out at the Inn wasn''t exactly news of the century, so he moved on. Fortunately, Cindy hadpletely lost interest in Lex after getting the pint of ice cream as her weing gift, though she did share the ice cream with him so that was nice. But theck of concern over the date put Lex in the unique opportunity to gather information about Lilith, if he so wished. After all, even if she didn''t have ulterior motives didn''t mean she wouldn''t be trouble. But after thinking about it for a while, Lex ultimately decided not to pry. If Gerard asked for his help, he''d look into her. But since he only asked for help in ensuring the date went well, that is what he focused on. The four of them squeezed into the Tuk-tuk while Lilith followed Gerards instructions and led them to Cirk, who was waiting with the Silent Wanderer to take them to their next spot. Lex had to admit, without the fear of imminent death, it was quite an enjoyable ride. Cirk then flew them to the site for the next segment of their date, which was a hilly region upied by a race of evolved worms called Worpal. They were not sentient, but they were incredibly strong as well as dangerous. They had to be, considering that the mountains and hills in the Midnight realm were made mostly of giant spirit stones. Any worm that could bore through that was far from simple. What made this site perfect for the continuation of their date was that they terraformed the spirit stone, turning it first into fine grains, which eventually clumped together to form some kind of soil. But the region was still being formed, and the soil made of spirit stone dust still contained a tremendous amount of energy, which meant that the slightest touch might actually cause the ground beneath you to explode! Of course, that was not an issue for Lex or any of the others, but for ordinary people this was quite a dangerous location. For them though, it was just an interesting racecourse with unpredictable traps. That just added to the excitement of the racing. For this, the group of workers had golf carts that had been slightly modified with a temporary boost button. If any of them sensed that the ground underneath their carts was going to explode and they hit the button in time, it would dash forward and move out of the explosion range. The track had been clearly marked, so there was no danger of anyone getting lost or ending up elsewhere, and it ended at the mouth of a cave that everyone was just temporarily called the icy caverns. In truth, it was a cavern filled with a type of extremely clear spirit stone that looked like ice, and along with some local nt life, it made for quite a romantic spot. In fact, they had been nning on extending official Inn residences nearby once the Innkeeper returned. They had prepared many such proposals while they explored the newnds, and tried to be familiar with it. Once the Silent Wanderernded, Lex jumped out, and was surprised when he sensed a pulse of energy traveling through the ground, responding to his footsteps. Each time he took a step, another pulse traveled through the ground, and he could tell that if he were a little forceful, that pulse might change into something a little more deadly. He could imagine how a single explosion here might set off a chain of explosions that would cause the entire region to explode. Were they racing or setting off a nuclear explosion? And why was he so excited by the idea? It suddenly urred to him that if he were back on earth, he could probably weather a nuclear explosion with his body, unaffected. Well, maybe he''d be slightly harmed, and burn a few hairs here and there, but he''de out fine. After all, he was tempering himself to survive the ultimate volcanic eruption. "Are you sure the mountain won''t blow up underneath us?" Lex had to ask. Although he knew about the realm, that was only to a certain extent, and even then he found it difficult to ess all the information. He was not kept up to date with the new changes taking ce in the realm, such as this particr race course. "We''ve already caused a few explosions while testing the spot out. There is a natural mechanism in ce to prevent the explosion from affecting the rest of the soil, so there''s no concern. They will, at most, harm the golf carts a little," answered Gerard. "Since there is a race, there also has to be a prize," said Cindy who also jumped out of the ship. Gerard hesitated, since he hadn''t prepared anything, but since Lex was there to back him up, how could he let him look bad? He quickly essed his knowledge of everything inside the Midnight Inn, and searched for natural treasures nearby. Like the Mountain Milk, there were countless other resources born here that could directly benefit cultivators even at the immortal levels. Even though he had not spied on them, Lex had spent enough time around other cultivators to be able to judge their levels. Cindy and Lilith both were immortals. Since when were immortals somon? There was no point pondering over such a question, because it was in Lex''s fate to continuously run into cultivators stronger than him. "About 500 miles from here there is a valley where a piece of a rainbow broke off and solidified, turning into small gems. The winner can take one of those gems for free. I believe you might have heard of them. They''re official name is Skittelz." Both Lilith and Cindy froze. Skittelz were legendary natural treasures that had no fixed price in the outside world, because they were never for sale! Not only did they taste amazing, but they also strengthened one''s skin, improving the defensive capabilities of any who eats them by manyfold. As a result of skin being refined in such a way, it also naturally enhanced beauty and charm of whoever ate them. They also tasted great. Gerard, who had the Regalia Bloom bloodline, which had undergone multiple evolutions, was the personification of walking, talking charm. The bloodline made everything about him extremely appealing, which had been a source of great pain for him as he gained too many admirers as a result, which impeded him from doing his job. So it was suffice to say, he did not really care about that part of the gems capability. But even he was tempted by that increase in defense - especially since it could even work on immortals. Lilith and Cindy, too, did not care about the beauty at all. Their eyes werepletely not gleaming at the thought of getting their hands on Skittelz, and a baleful aura did not immediately surround them. That was all in Lex''s mind. None of it was real. "I think they like the prize," he said to Gerard, who only smiled. There was apetitiveness in his eyes that said he was not about to just let them win. Without any more banter, everyone quickly got in their respective carts. Lex tossed a rock in the air, and as soon as it touched the ground everyone mmed their foot on the elerator. The game was on, and it was no longer a yful experience. "Are there any rules?" Lilith yelled over from her cart. Yeah, just don''t kill anyone," Lex responded jokingly, but the very serious nod she gave made him think that she might not have gotten his joke.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om The next moment, a massive meteor suddenly just appeared in the sky, and it was aiming for all of them! Chapter 1070 Welcome to the family Chapter 1070 Wee to the family ??"Alright, which one of you did that?" Lex screamed as he conjured a dozen arrays around his cart to boost the speed. He looked suspiciously towards Lilith, who had to be instructed not to kill someone, but discovered that she too was taken aback by the meteor hurling down towards them. That''s when he recalled Luthor wanting to set up a surprise. He looked up, and sure enough, the mes on that meteor seemed all too familiar. Luthor hadpletely mastered the mes, making them even more powerful than the ones he encountered back in his test in the temple. He shook his head, hoping that meteors were the only surprise, when his cart suddenly jerked. Asso made entirely of energy appeared around his cart without warning, and pulled him backwards. The next second, Cindy zoomed past him. "Thanks for the boost," she said, dissipating thesso. Lex chuckled. They were going to y games with him? Domination, Glyphs, sword intent and countless arrays all appeared around him at once as he tried to regain his spot in the lead. But his opponents were not pushovers either. Gerard had unleashed the power of his bloodline that had undergone two evolutions. Regalia Bloom allowed him to channel energy through other objects. In his case, he was treating his entire golf cart as the object, and everything around him as the source of energy. He did not even dodge the ming meteor, and instead directly crashed into it. But instead of resulting in a devastating explosion, it only provided him with an enormous amount of energy which he used to boost his cart ahead of the others. Lilith summoned ck vapors that surrounded her, and painted everything they touched ck, suddenly empowering them. The aura she started to exude was deep and powerful, and reminded Lex of a devil he met long ago. On instinct, he could not help but recall the information he read about Lilith. It was something he did - a small, subconscious part of him was constantly monitoring and recording information about his guests, or at least it did that when he still had the Host Attire. He recalled her full name which nearly caused him to m the breaks on his cart! Dammit, was he about to witness a live recreation of the light novels where a rich dads daughter falls in love with a broke man? Gerard was not exactly without a background, and he was not broke either. But could hepare to Lilith Val Kilger? Thest name sounded familiar because it was exactly the same as Loretta Pendal Val Kilger, the daughter of a Dao Lord! Was Lilith her sister? No wonder the aura she exuded felt so simr. This brought a whole new meaning to when Cindy told him that Lilith had never dated anyone. Who would have the guts to date the daughter of a Dao Lord? Probably, only the child of another Dao Lord! Lex felt like he was about to get a headache. As if he didn''t have enough problems to deal with. But it should be fine, right? The Midnight Inn also supposedly had a Dao Lord, so they should be equal, right? He could not help but think back to the feedback his instincts had given him. Was being the daughter of a Dao Lord considered baggage? He felt like grumbling, but instead just focused on the race. He was already falling behind. Since he was already in dangerous territory, he might as well at least win the race. A part of him wondered if he should employ a ''no dating guests'' policy. But considering that Harry had already married a guest, it was a littlete to employ such tactics. Speaking of Harry, the fast winds and brutal shockwaves of countless explosions kept assaulting him, but not a single hair on his head had moved. That was some mighty fine hair gel the guy was using. The race continued, and Lex became even more ferocious in his attempts to win. He showed absolutely no mercy, but his foes were not ordinary either. While Dominationpletely suppressed others, both Cindy and Lilith had a higher cultivation than him, and so were able to resist it easily. The Glyphs, on the other hand, drew a strong reaction from them, as even they could not escape it unaffected. As expected from the means used by dragons. But the one person he never even managed to attempt to affect was Gerard. His racing skills had improved drastically since the Grand Prix, and his use of his bloodline was the perfect augmentation. WIthout his bloodline he was an expert driver, but with it he was untouchable. No amount of meteors or attacks from others slowed him down at all, and even Domination reached him, he would pit the others against Lex so that he would need to focus on them instead of him.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om In the end, Lex epted defeat - mainly because he had no choice in the matter. Lex actually came in third, behind Lilith, which caused him to grumble a bit. He was enjoying being unchallenged in the Midnight realm so much that he forgot that it was, in fact, his own Inn that was filled with countless experts much more powerful than him. He should practice being humble. Yes, he was totally humble. Lex resisted the urge to re at Gerard, and instead congratted him on a well earned win. But he hardly got a word in, because Lilith was exceptionally excited by Gerard''s win, likely even more than if she had won herself. Lex could see a hint of obsession in her eyes, but he chose to ignore it for now. From the finish line, the entrance to the Icy caverns was visible, and apparently a scrumptious meal was waiting for them inside, so the group slowly began to make their way inside. It was tough to get a word in between the two since Gerard and Lilith were practically stuck together, but Lex at least needed to probe Liliths intentions. This was no longer about respecting their privacy, as he wanted to know if her father would have opinions about her dating Gerard. There was also the chance, however small, that she just shared ast name with Loretta and was in fact not rted. Lex didn''t believe it, but hypothetically speaking it was possible. Finally, when they reached the heart of the cavern, surrounded by beautiful clear crystals wrapped in vines that pulsed with a giant, white light, Lex found an opportunity. The sight was mesmerizing, as if they were giants walking through a spiraling gxy, and because of their higher realms, they could appreciate it much more than a mortal ever could. After they took the sight in for a moment, Gerard noticed that their table was set but there was no food. He excused himself for a moment to go check what happened. Ordinarily, Lex would have told him to stay and gone to check himself, but this time he allowed him to go, and stepped up beside Lilith. "I''m a littlete in saying this, but congrattions oning second. It''s not so simple to beat me in a race," Lex said, forgetting that he was supposed to be humble. "Thank you. You put up quite a fight, though Gerard has mentioned you''re quite adept at teleportation. Had you used that, the race would have been over from the start." "Where''s the fun in that? You have to earn your win. Just like you. The aura on your ck vapors reminded me of the time I met Loretta. If your powers are anything like hers, then I imagine you could have skipped right to the front as well." Technically, Lex had no idea what Loretta''s powers were. But that wasn''t the point. The point was to mention that Lex was aware of her background. He looked at her, and saw a frozen expression. Lilith clearly hadn''t expected anyone to realize her background so easily. After all, she had not mentioned it to anyone, and Cindy wouldn''t either. "You''ve met Loretta?" "It was pure happenstance. Her father was meeting with the Innkeeper, and she was at the Inn so I had the chance. Unfortunately, I didn''t get the opportunity to get to know her properly." Lex said nothing, and he was even smiling as he spoke, but the seriousness in his eyes was not easy to overlook. He was telling her clearly that he knew her background thoroughly. For a moment, she did not speak, as if gathering her thoughts. "I have a big family. Even I''ve never had the chance to meet Loretta. As for my father¡­ I''ve never even spoken to him, let alone had the opportunity to meet with him. These kinds of things aremon in cultivator families." "I''m not really qualified toment on anyone else''s family. Mine is pretty strange as well. But the Midnight Inn is my family now. Thest time a devil messed with Gerard and the rest, I tossed them into the void. I imagine anyone else in the Midnight Inn would do the same." Lilith turned her head sideways and looked at Lex with a smile. After a moment, she said, "did you know that among some older devil families, it is customary for a guardian to threaten a new member of the family, especially if they''re joining as a spouse? If a threat is not given, it''s as if the new member is too weak or ipetent to make a difference." Lex''s fake smile froze. Did he just give her his blessing to marry Gerard? Chapter 1071 Exhausting Chapter 1071 Exhausting ??Before Lex could rify the situation, Gerard came back, holding a pic basket. It didn''t matter, he''d said what he needed to say, and somewhat understood her situation. But just because she thought that her father who was a Dao Lord did not pay attention to her did not mean that was what the situation was. It still required some caution, but it was not like he was going to stop Gerard. After all, maybe this was a way for Dao Lord to build connections. Now that Lex had a better understanding of the power Dao Lords had, he knew that the distance between realms was no real gap to them, and it should be even more so when keeping track of their progeny. There was a chance that the Inn''s Destiny protection kept them from looking in on their kids, but considering that the system was barely functioning at the moment, that was hard to imagine. The dinner went nicely, and since they were all seated together, instead of only talking amongst themselves, Gerard and Lilith included the other two in the conversation as well. They were both so in sync that it felt like he and Cindy were being hosted by the couple. Afterwards, Gerard took out some smart phones from the pic basket and gave everyone each. The phones were connected to the Midnight Inns own portal, which was basically just like its own inte. As of right now there wasn''t much on it, but at least they couldmunicate with each other as long as they were in the Inn. With time, more and more features would be added to it. Lex eventually nned on spreading this across the entire realm without disclosing its origin, and eventuallyunching various services through it. He once read a novel about a universal inte of sorts that could do everything from teleportation to mail delivery to selling goods and services across the entire universe. He did not expect for his portal to reach the level of a fantasy novel, but it would be pretty cool if everyone started using it. Then he too could be a proper capitalist and do evil things like steal user data. Enh, no, he meant, improve the user experience after reviewing usership logs. The group exchanged contact information and even created a groupchat, before finally heading back towards the Silent Wanderer. The date was both mentally and emotionally exhausting for Lex, so he was d when it was finally over. He wanted to say something like kids grow up so fast, but he was for certain taking his time with his body growing up. But Lex had a rare break waiting for him now. Since the system was absorbing the newborn system, and he still had to figure out his n for getting the remaining resin before actually going to get them, he allowed himself a break. After all, as a baby, he was supposed to be getting regr sleep and eating three times a day, both of which he had been ignoring. So finally, after a long time, Lex took a steaming hot shower and threw himself into bed. By now, he had gained some level of control over his ability to divine in his dreams, but he wasn''t in the mood to put in work while sleeping, so he used the technique, and then went to sleep. What followed was a strange experience because Lex was clearly asleep, but at the same time, fairy Lex was awake. So¡­ he was both asleep and awake at the same time. Should he synchronize when they both sleep to avoid the strange sensation? Even if he did that in the future, he couldn''t right now because fairy Lex was undergoing the trial to gain the friendship for the Shadow Talons. It was actually quite straightforward. They brought him, through the shadow ne, to a spot in the actual Midnight realm that was far away from where he actually entered. It looked like an Ind in the Chaos sea, surrounded by the liquid that seemed to contain endless stars. But the ind was fairly small, not even a mile across, and waspletely bare. The only distinguishing feature of the entire ind was a hole in the ground that looked particrly menacing. To pass the trial, all he had to do was go to the end of the hole, grab a pearl from one of the Null ms, and bring it back. The fact that Lex could not specifically recall anything about this ind or hole meant that it should not be too prominent. It didn''t help that he had no idea where it was. But he went in. Of course, the hole was far from simple. It was not the dangerous monsters, traps or pitfalls that gave Lex trouble though. It was how strangely space was behaving in the hole. The hole had many twists and turns, and branches that split off and went in different directions, so it was fairly obvious that most of it was dark. Lex''s fairy dust was not exactly helpful either, since the darkness here was strange and oppressive, but only towards light. Every grain of fairy dust he produced seemed to be smothered by the darkness, fizzling out just as it was born. Lex himself remained unharmed, and if he really tried to produce light the darkness could not prevent it, but it did fight against the light. Since Lex didn''t really need light to see, he continued on without it, as he got the sense that he was earning the holes ire by summoning light on his own. But that''s where the second issue came in.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Moving in a straight line did not mean he actually traveled in a straight line, and there were times where he felt like he had been transported through space entirely, yet the hole always looked the same so he couldn''t tell. It was bing an issue, because only once the other Lex went to sleep did fairy Lex realize he had been in this hole for days. Chapter 1072 New abilities Chapter 1072 New abilities ??Besides messing with his awareness of space, or perhaps moving him through space, it was also messing with his concept of time. He only felt like a few hours had passed, at most. Only when the strange feedback he got from being awake and asleep at the same time distracted him from his environment did he realize that, in fact, he had already spent days inside the hole. For others, Lex imagined that the difficulty of the hole would be the strange creatures that blended perfectly within the darkness, remainingpletely undetected. It was a fair assumption, since they were also fairly powerful, almost reaching the Golden core level, not to mention their fangs and ws all contained a powerful poison. But for himself they weren''t even worth considering. The first time he encountered them he was surprised. He was not used to not being warned by his instincts, but his fairy body could not replicate them. He also wasn''t so adept at fighting in this new body yet, nor did it have the incredible defense he normally boasted. But Lex had, after all, plenty ofbat experience, and sword intent. After he cut down the first of the creatures, which would then dissolve back into the darkness as if they had no real bodies at all, he employed his Glyph that gave him a powerful presence. Since then, any shadow creatures, as he named them, that he encountered would immediately reveal themselves and prostrate themselves before him. At that point, he couldn''t even bring himself to use them as target practice. It was just as hard to hit a shadow creature worshiping you as it was to hit a smiling face. All he could do after that was explore the hole. Since there was no real time limit he was not worried, but it wasn''t like he wanted to spend all year here. After he paused, he came up with various methods he could use to try and ovee this hurdle, but there was one in particr that he was interested in trying. He cut out a tform for himself to sit on, and ced his Glyph right above himself. Then he began to cultivate. Although fairies weren''t supposed to have affinities, per se, he had discovered that fairies were really strange and defiedmon sense. In fact, Lex personally felt like the thing holding them back most was not the curse but their personalities. If they had more aggressive or more ambitious personalities, then with all the tools they had at their disposal they would be practically unstoppable. That was also why he wanted to see what would happen if he cultivated in this dark region. Would he absorb its strange properties? There was only one way to find out. As he began his cultivation, alongside spirit energy, his body began to absorb the darkness as well. It was as if¡­ the darkness itself was energy of a specific nature. But alongside the darkness, the creatures began to turn into dust, and got pulled alongside the darkness right into Lex''s body!n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex himself felt nothing different, and kept cultivating for hours, right up until baby Lex woke up. The sudden shift let him know that he once again spent a long time cultivating, so he slowly wrapped up. When he opened his eyes, Lex was surprised to find that the atmosphere in the hole had changed. The overbearing darkness had changed into normal darkness, and all the creatures were gone. He checked his body and was pleasantly surprised to find that he had broken through to the Golden core with his fairy body. That was easy. More importantly, Lex felt a connection, not to any element, but to the shadow ne. Suddenly, a few things made sense to Lex, and he also realized he had gained a few abilities. Firstly, the reason he kept getting lost was because within this hole, for whatever reason, the shadow ne was leaking out and mixing with everything else. He was not moving through space, he was moving through shadows! He could not wrap his head around why that worked the way it did. Even with his spatial ability, his understanding of space was in its initial stagespared to the properplexity of what space really constituted. The shadow ne made even less sense to him. But it was what it was. He didn''t need to understand why it was happening to know that it was happening. Secondly, while his body did not gain any affinity, it did hardcode a specific affinity into his body which when activated resulted in an ability. Oddly enough, the ability had nothing to do with shadows, but instead granted him stealth. Both he and his fairy dust would be visible, and lose all aura and presence. Thirdly, thest ability he gained was to do with navigation. He would be able to channelws rted to the shadow ne, which meant that he wouldn''t get lost in it at least. With his problem solved, Lex once again started traveling through the tunnels, this time without the Glyph. He wanted to see if his stealth worked on the shadow creatures. Soon he returned to a portion of the tunnel containing the more malevolent darkness filled with nightmares that had taken to worshiping Lex, and it felt like home. He could see through not only the darkness, but the folds of the nes in the hole, and saw them as shortcuts - if used correctly. He also remainedpletely undetected to all creatures. Even when he reached the end of the hole, and found the Null ms, they did not respond to him. When he opened them up and grabbed their pearls, they only became confused, but did not realize someone hade in. Fifteen minutester, Lex had made his way out. He had also thought of the perfect name for his second clone to go by, especially since he had a ship he nned on keeping with him. From now on, he would be¡­ Chapter 1073 Nearly a month Chapter 1073 Nearly a month ??There were only a few Shadow Talons outside the hole when Lex exited, and they were taken aback at the sight of him. "I''m almost offended by how shocked you look," Lex joked. "Let''s head back, shall we. I have things I need to do, and I''m excited about the modifications to my ship." The Shadow Talons immediately escorted him back, and Lex was pleased to learn that although he still could not make sense of why everything was a shadow in this ne, he could navigate much more easily. When he was finally brought before the Shadow talon who had promised him freedom from being chased, he too was surprised to find Lex back. "Have you already seeded?" he asked, disbelief evident in his voice. "Naturally," Lex said, producing the pearl. "I hope with this you can finish the misunderstandings between us. I''ve been very patient, but if your people still keep bothering me then there will be problems." "No, proud though we may be, the Shadow Talons honor tradition and legacy above all else. Since you have proven yourself, you are now a friend to all of us. Come, I will take you to the monument of recognition, where you can leave a trace of your aura as well as your name, for all Shadow talons to see." Lex nodded. He was actually looking forward to announcing his new name. At first, he had thought of taking on the name Jack Eagle, after a very famous pirate from back on earth. But Lex did not want anyone to use him of giarism. Besides, he was perfectly capable ofing up with apletely original, and in no way associated with anything on earth. It was not like he had to make a reference with his name. So, he decided that since his clone was supposed to be lowkey and hidden, he would go for a mundane name that would not attract any attention. That is why Lex felt pretty good about himself as he carved his name up on the monument of recognition: Jack Daniels. Yup, hispletely original name that was in no way connected to anything from earth, was meant to be a sign and an omen of how under the radar and lowkey he nned on being with this identity. With such amon name, he did not expect to attract any attention whatsoever. Just calm waters from here on out. "As it happens," began the elder Shadow Talo, "we are throwing a celebratory party for a great victory we have won against our enemies. We would be honored if you join us, Jack Daniels." "Please, just call me Jack," he said, feeling the name out. It was not so bad. He could really get used to it. There was something very grounding about being called Jack. "It''s been a while since I went to a party I didn''t throw. This will be fun." "Excellent! Ollie has been looking forward to seeing you again. I think he had developed a fondness for your ship." "Who wouldn''t?" Jack asked, as he apanied the owls to their party. "By the way, I never got to ask. Who are your enemies?"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "A most insidious breed of vermin called Royal Long Eared Bunnies!" the elder said, with absolute venom in his tone. "We have a life and death feud against them. Neither of our races can rest while the other exists. s, it is not so simple to fight against the denizens of the Fluffy ne." "Yes, yes, so much fluffiness. Sounds terrible," Jack said, not giving the matter much thought. Whether it was the owls or the bunnies, he had no stakes with either. He was just looking forward to being able to hide his ship in his shadow. Back at the Inn, Lex finished taking a shower and cultivated for a while atop the dragon, trying to focus on the immense protective power of their scales and absorbing them into himself. After all, he was determined to be able to fight Immortals long before he became an immortal. He also took some time to teleport over to the Skittelz, grab some for himself, and one each for Gerard, Lilith and Cindy, as well as Vera. Most likely he would be paying her off for a while. As it turned out, when he visited Vera, she mentioned that the number of Oracles who were waiting for him to help them remove shards of tribtion lightning from their souls was very high, and asked when he might be able to do it. That was something he hadpletely forgotten about, but didn''t mind doing because he found a great use for those lightning shards now. Sandra, the Inn worker who could control lightning, was experimenting on new types of lightning so he could give her those shards to help her out. He spent a few hours helping them out, and then on his way out ran into Charles, who was working with John and helping hime up with a recovery as well as new cultivation n. By theke, the kids were ying on the evolved Magikarpets, calling them sea-peacocks. But as it turned out, a rival gang of kids had somehow tamed the sentient 20 feet tall butterflies, and began calling them sky-peacocks, though that didn''t make sense since peacocks themselves could fly, especially after their recent upgrades. But that was the wonderful thing about kids - they didn''t care if it made sense or not. Regardless, that had resulted in conflicts between the kids, and the council of heroes, a council made up of teenagers who considered themselves leaders of the other kids, had to intervene. It was all quite dramatic, especially since the council of heroes had taken to working with the drama-cats. The book club at the Inn was also growing in presence, and they were reading a new novel which involved using magic through cards. How absurd. All in all, the Inn was doing well. Fenrir and Little Blue had grown more powerful, especially Little Blue, and so their adventures were now beginning to move further away from the greenhouse, which left the Sovereign Turtle with more time to actually garden. With everything going so well, Lex found no reason to dy his ns, and began to draw a map of Menara from memory, and began to pinpoint the location of the resin as best as he could. There was no point in waiting till the systempleted repairs. He might as well have the next resin ready by then. There were about four more pieces of resin left on this continent, and all of them were extraordinarily far from him, so it would probably take much longer to find them as well. He jotted down all the relevant information he could recall, and once everything was ready, teleported away. His teleportation was a very useful tool, and obviously it could take him very far, but going long distances while trying to be precise was not easy. Over the next few days, Lex continued to explore the continent as he tried to find the location of the resin, and as a result, came in contact with more and more of the locals. They were pleasant, for the most part, if a bitrge. He also eventually ran into the strawberries, which was not nearly as cute as he would have imagined. They were not red because of their natural color, but because they were bathing in the blood of their enemies. It was quite gruesome. They even attacked him, which got them nowhere. It would take more than a few fruits to harm him. But that confidence did notst him long, because soon after, he teleported himself in ake of concentrated acid which did, in fact, harm him quite badly. Or at least it hurt his ego, because he once again became bald. Fortunately he had a contingency, which is that he learned a healing technique through which he could regrow hair. Besides that, he encountered a few volcanoes, though they were all dormant. He almost felt a little disappointed. Like that, the days went by, and eventually Lex encountered the region where the resin was. Although there was no sealed domain here, the resin remained protected as a result of another strange urrence, which is that this entire portion of the continent had turned into a crystal that even Lex could not harm. It was green and purple in color, and everything from the trees to the grass to the dirt and rocks had turned into that crystal. Though, it needed to be mentioned that all the nt life was still alive, even in crystal form. Regardless, he could neither crack the crystal no matter how he struck it, nor could he travel through it as a soul. It presented him with a new challenge, and together with the help of Pel, he spent the next few weeks trying to solve it. It took him nearly an entire month before he found a way through. Chapter 1074 Not possible Chapter 1074 Not possible ??Absorbing the new system gave him a 1% boost, which brought the total system repair percentage to 29%. He was just 6% away from his goal, and with a little over ten months left to somehowplete it. He was feeling good about his odds, but that would depend on how much the resin still contributed. The strange crystal had halted his tracks for a while, to the point where Lex even considered taking Jack Daniels help. But when Jack asked the Shadow talons if they knew about the crystal and could reach within it, they told him that while their ne epassed the crystal as well, there was no way for them to exit the ne anywhere inside of it, not that they would want to anyway. The crystal was one of the 3 great disasters of Menara, since no one knew anything about it, and it continuously grew. Eventually there woulde a time it could epass the entire continent, or even more. It was a threat to all life. But fortunately, its rate of spread was slow, giving everyone time toe up with ideas of how to stop it. Even Pel himself was unable to identify the crystal, at least with the limited memories he had of his previous life. As useful as he was, Lex wasn''t yet ready to enhance him even more, lest he encounter some unexpected trouble. If his time as a cultivator had taught him anything, it was that just because things were supposed to go a certain way, didn''t mean they would definitely go that way. Thus it took him nearly a month to strengthen his Domination to the level where he could use a Glyph strong enough to let him pass through the crystal. The Glyph was technically supposed to target precious stones like diamonds and rubies, but if this crystal fell into that category who was he to argue? As long as it worked, he was happy.N?v(el)B\\jnn The resin was somewhere near the origin of the crystal, unsurprisingly, and Lex absorbed it promptly, this time without eliciting some major reaction from his body. In the meantime, since he was there, he went to investigate what was causing the crystal to grow. As it turned out, the source of everything was an egg. The egg was pretty small, only slightlyrger than a chickens, and had a tiny crack on it which was leaking a strange energy which was converting everything into that crystal. Lex felt intrigued, but did not touch the egg. His instincts were warning him it was not such a good idea, so he left. Now, he was off to find the remaining three pieces of resin. A few days after Lex left, Jack showed up on his ship, and after deploying the same Glyph, traveled through the crystal and reached the egg. He did not try touching the egg either, but he flew over it, and began showering it in fairy dust that contained an affinity forws rting to repairing. About a weekter, the crack on the egg healed. At that point, Jack picked up the egg, put it on his ship, and left. That is how Captain Jack Daniels saved the continent of Menara, all without anyone finding out. For Lex, this week was spent looking for the other resin. It was not so easy to find either, and when he did, Lex faced another obstacle. This time, the reason the resin remained undiscovered was because it was within a region of Menara where thews of reality were iprehensibly different. A prominent line divided the normal continent and the region where everything suddenly turned into 2D. Lex had no other way to describe it. He stood at the line and looked within, but the light being emitted from the ce was so strange it gave him nausea. When he finally got used to it, he saw everything inside was 2D. Unwilling to risk his life, despite the absence of any warning from his instincts, he threw a random animal inside and observed the changes it underwent. Besides suddenly turning 2D, there was nothing else. He pulled the animal out, and it was still fine. So, without any further hesitation, he stepped in, and discovered that he was no longer looking at the world from his eyes. Instead, he saw himself in the third person, while he himself was a 2D character. Fantastically, when he tried to speak, speech bubbles would appear atop his head. It was amazing. His abilities also looked much more impressive as well, only because of the vibrant colors they took on. Lex almost felt like he was inside a TV being watched by some universal deity. Whatever the reason for this strange phenomenon was, it clearly served as the best possible seal for containing all aura and energy signatures, since they would not spread beyond the domain of the 2D realm. It was just as he was marveling at the changes when he got his notification from the system that the repairs wereplete. When he checked, his mood suddenly dropped. Previously, the resin had restored 5% of the system. This time, it restored 1%. The drop was drastic, and though he was now at a total of 30%, if the resin continued to reduce its efficiency at the same rate, then he would never be able to bring it from 30% to 35% using the resin. His leisurely mood dropped, and he focused once more on finding the piece of resin. But just because he had discovered its region did not mean it would be easy to find the resin. It took him several days of nonstop scouring and oveing unexpected obstacles to find the resin, and he immediately absorbed it as well. He tried teleporting out, but discovered that he could not teleport out of the 2D region, so he had to teleport to the border, and exit manually. Fortunately, there were no issues. A part of him still hoped that the resin would just continue to give 1% progress, but about a weekter, while he was searching for the third resin, he got a notification that he had been dreading. Thetest resin had only provided him with 0.2% repair progress. He stopped. Although he was already close to finding the resin, Lex stopped. The resin would no longer help him. Even if there were more pieces of resin on other continents, there wouldn''t be enough to help himplete his quest. Faced with this conundrum, Lex immediately returned to the Midnight Inn and locked himself in his Meditation room. He had to carefully go over the endless sea of knowledge he had gained to look for other valuable items that may approach the resin in value. If he could find even 1 item, it would solve his problems. But he did not think it would be so simple. He was not sure howmon Dao level ingredients were, but he felt fortunate that there was even one in his realm. If he could not find something of equal value, he might start looking for something else of at least simr value. After all, it was not necessary that only Dao level ingredients could help the System. Unwilling to waste anymore time, Lex began to peruse his memories, and the days slowly passed him by, until another month passed. Only a little more than nine months remained of his deadline. On one particr day, while Lex himself still had note out, a group appeared on the horizon, visible from the walls surrounding the Inn. At first their tiny outline remained undetected, but as they approached closer, someone finally spotted them. A number of figures were quickly approaching the Inn, from the air. The workers on the wall naturally sent the information back, but themselves continued their patrol. An hourter, severalrge flying, leathery creatures could be seen, carrying a massive tube on their backs. The creatures soon arrived, and stopped near the town that had begun to develop on the border of the Inn. From the tubes a number of other races began to descend, and the so far quiet town suddenly became crowded and rowdy. Activity could be seen even from the Inn walls. A day passed, and at first it seemed like the new residents had juste to upy the town. But eventually, they formed a caravan, and began to approach the gates on the boundary wall in a slow, ceremonial fashion. Great beasts of burden carried tforms in which many of the arriving caravan members sat, and drums beat to mark each step taken by the beasts. Other, smaller races danced and yed music on the sides of the caravan, and birds dropped flower petals on the road ahead of them. With great fanfare the caravan approached the Inn, and then stopped right at the gates, even though the doors were open. A particrly small creature, simr to an imp, climbed off one of the beasts and walked through the gate holding arge scroll, and approached the Inn workers. Chapter 1075 Sir Kanye Chapter 1075 Sir Kanye ??Jace was on wall patrol duty, not that he minded. He was just d he didn''t need to use his earth abilities to build anymore walls or forts. It was draining to an entirely other level, though to be fair, when his life was on the line, and so was everyone else''s, exhaustion was a small price to pay for security. Still, he was savoring this opportunity to rest, and raise his cultivation at the same time. So while patrol duty might have sounded boring to anyone else, the contrast of doing patrol with the knowledge that something out there wasn''t actively hunting him and everyone else made the experience much more enjoyable. The air was clear, the sunlight refreshing, the views great, thepany even better. What more could a guy ask for? But even if he asked for nothing, he got a parade to look at - or at least, that''s what he imagined a parade would look like. But it was obvious that their target was the Inn, so Jace and the other workers positioned themselves near the gate. They would not exit the gate, but if the guests entered they would wee them. Moreover, if they stopped at the boundary and just asked questions, they could answer. Although most of the Inn settlements were far from the gate, there was a high speed bullet train that had been installed here by the Innkeeper before he left, to wee any guests. In case they didn''t fit in the train, there were other options as well. In the distance, behind them, a rumbling sound came. They were used to it. The massive spaceship which had suddenlye to life and gained a fear of heights was undergoing therapy not far from here. Justst week, the ship had actually managed to fly almost 50 feet (15 meters) in the air before crashing down. Based on the sounds today, it still had not managed to return all the way to 50 feet yet. Jace''s daydreams came to an abrupt halt when he realized that an imp walked through the gates of the Inn while everyone else waited outside. The imp approached them and, after giving them a scan, locked his eyes with Jace. As if determining that Jace was the leader, the imp turned towards him and opened the scroll, blocking the view of half his body, and began reading. "Attention, esteemed denizens of the illustrious Midnight Inn, purveyors of hospitality and moderate renown! It is with the utmost reverence and boundless tion that I, Sir Kanye Goldbloom, announce an event of monumental significance, a moment that shall undoubtedly be etched into the annals of history! "From the resplendent and hallowed realms of the venerable Tree of Heaven, there has arrived a diplomatic emissary of unparalleled distinction, apanied by his retinue of equally eminent and esteemedpanions. "The august arrival of this exalted delegation heralds a time of unparalleled honor and celestial favor for your Inn. No doubt, you are profoundly humbled and eternally grateful for the opportunity to host such distinguished personages. We are also pleased to elevate this establishment with our presence, and you are fortunate indeed to have the opportunity to host such exalted figures. "Let it be known to all who dwell within these hallowed walls, and to those who shall hear of this momentous asion, that the Midnight Inn now stands as a temporary beacon of honor, graced by the threads of destiny that we have chosen to weave here. With hearts full of benevolence and spirits alight with the brilliance of our grandeur, we extend our measured appreciation for your hospitality and anticipate the unforgettable splendor of our stay.N?v(el)B\\jnn "In witness whereof, we mark this day as a chapter of illustrious prominence in the saga of the Midnight Inn, a testament to the boundless possibilities that arise from our celestial favor and the graciousness of the Tree of Heaven." Jace, who was smiling throughout the frankly verbose speech could not help but twitch. Were they allowed to reject guests? He actually thought about it for a moment. But, unless the guest had broken some rules, they could not be turned away. Unfortunately, being obnoxious was not against any rule. "Wee, Sir Kanye Goldbloom. The Midnight Inn offers refuge and sanctuary to all who follow their rules. If your¡­ respected emissary and his retinue should wish, we can apany them to the main settlements within." Kanye rolled up the scroll and gave Jace a haughty look. "A figure of sufficient stature and station muste and wee the emissary personally, or else it shall be treated as an affront. Owing to the emissaries magnanimity, as well as the short notice, he will wait no more than eight hours. If, in such a time frame, a sufficiently qualified figure does not arrive, it will be treated as an official refusal to entertain us by the Midnight Inn." Without waiting for a response, the imp tucked the scroll under his arm and returned. Surprisingly, Jace actually felt great relief upon hearing Kanye''s request. Soon, this group would be someone else''s problem. Just as he was about to send someone to bring word to Gerard, he paused. From what he recalled, Gerard was on a date. In that case¡­ he sent word to Luthor. He was one of the highest ranked members of the Inn. Although, deep inside his heart, Jace could not help but admit he was looking forward to seeing the imp talk to Luthor the way he had talked to him. He snickered, and then quickly used his new mobile phone to send Luthor a text. This new Midnight portal was great. Not only did it makemunication easier, it even had a bunch of cool features. For example, he entered a groupchat and started to share what he just encountered with a group of other Inn workers and they started a betting pool guessing how long it would take for Luthor to beat up one of the guests. Chapter 1076 Emissary Chapter 1076 Emissary ??Luthor was standing in the cockpit of the Silent Wanderer, looking at an activeva site. It was actually quite far from the main settlements, and was discovered by one of the groups exploring the Innsnds to better understand and map them. Once the AI running the Midnight portal figures out how tounch satellites and keep them running and working in this environment, taking in consideration safety from any avian beasts, they would have a live map of the region. But until then, they would have to manually map everything out. This particrva pit was contained within a mountain range, fed by several different undergroundva channels as far as he could tell. The reasons he, in particr, hade to observe this ce were quite simple. First of all, such a ce would definitely help with his training of his fire abilities. Secondly, this looked like a particrly nice spot for a prison. Even the Innkeeper had agreed to a prison, so now if he could just design one around thisva pit¡­ or maybe even inside of it¡­ The sound of his phone ringing woke Luthor from his daydreams. He checked and was surprised at the notification. He was needed to wee some guests? That had never happened before. Then he read Jace''s exnation - and took a deep breath, calming himself down preemptively. As unfortunate as it was, they''d all had some experience with difficult guests. "Mark this area down as important and let''s head to the gate," Luthor said to Cirk. "I''m needed there." The journey to the gate was swift, but it gave Luthor just enough time to enter into the right mindset. The Silent Wanderer did notnd, instead it just opened up atch and allowed Luthor to drop from the air,nding calmly atop the boundary wall, facing the caravan. Being overly friendly was not his thing, though he remainedpletely respectful asn he sted his Golden core out at the caravan, bringing the dancing to a grinding halt. "My name is Luthor Nightshade, here to wee the emissary from the Tree of Heaven. Wee to the Midnight Inn. May your stay be extremely pleasant." Once he finished his greeting, he withdrew his aura, finally allowing them to rx. To be fair, it was not his best effort at being congenial, but he got the feeling that these were people who only respect strength. Luthor jumped down from the wall to the ground as the whole caravan once again started to move forward, this time entering through the gate.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om There were well over a thousand porters, dancers,borers and general helpers with the caravan, but the actual members of it seemed not to be even a hundred. Four particrlyrge beasts that looked a lot like goris walked up to Luthor, carrying a majestic pnquin on their shoulders. The pnquin was at least ten feet in height and nearly two dozen feet long, so when the door opened and revealed a very tall figure, Luthor was not surprised. A treant, with a set of countless roots in the form of tentacles that pulled it out, stepped out, and revealed that it had actually been crouched the entire time. It had no identifiable face, though within its top branches Luthor spotted a patch of oddly colored leaves which he decided to treat as its one eye. "Salutations, Luthor Nightshade," the treant spoke, its entire body vibrating to create the sound, as it seemed tock a mouth. "I am Count Pinophyta Salvatia, an emissary from the Tree of Heaven, and hopefully a future ambassador to the Midnight Inn. The words of your Innkeeper reached even us, and the Tree of Heaven deigned it fit to acknowledge your Inn. I look forward to meeting with the Innkeeper, and exploring all that the Inn has to offer." Luthor nodded, keeping his expression as neutral as he could. "The Midnight Inn wees you, Pinophyta. We have vastnds and many services we can offer, and all are wee to them. If you follow me, I can lead you and your retinue to the main settlements where you can explore all the Inn has to offer. Of course, if you wish to explore the Inn on your own, you are free to do so, but in that case, I have to warn you that only the settlements and public transportation are truly safe. As for your wish to meet the Innkeeper, it will temporarily have to be dyed. The Innkeeper is upied with some work, but the rest of the Inns workers are avable to you should you need any help." The treant did not respond immediately, and it was hard to guess what it was thinking, since it literally had no facial expressions. Maybe an expert would be able to read the movements of its leaves to determine its moods or thoughts, but Luthor was not counted among them. "Very well. Let us first make headway towards these settlements you have mentioned, and get everyone housed. Then we can contemte upon how to proceed. I take it that you have the authority to represent the Midnight Inn in all legal matters? As an emissary of the Tree of Heaven, I havee to discuss the terms to establish a fruitful and healthy cooperation between us." "In the absence of the Innkeeper, there is a council that can make decisions. But whether they will need to be disturbed remains to be seen. Let''s move on, and then once I hear your¡­ requests, I can better judge how to proceed forward." The treant had been, this entire time, letting its aura passively leak, and it too was a Golden core cultivator. In fact, it was quite strong among them within that realm, as far as Luthor could tell. But how could he ever be intimidated by someone in the same realm, let alone by someone mmable? It was a joke. As for the Tree of Heaven, he did not take it seriously at all. Chapter 1077 Whats that? Chapter 1077 What''s that? ??The treant seemed slightly disgruntled that he would not be able to meet the Innkeeper, but did not show it too overtly as it was used to doing. Luthor was, admittedly, much stronger than Pinophyta had anticipated. Few forces could boast Golden core cultivators, and fewer still had Golden cultivators who could actually match their might with those of the races living in the shadow of the tree of Heaven. But then again, this much should be expected by a force which so boldly imed itself to belong to the creator of the whole world! Now that was an absurd im if Pinophyta ever heard one. He would not be surprised if the Midnight Inn had even more Golden core cultivators, and perhaps even a few Nascent realm cultivators. That much was, at the very least, expected.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om One of the reasons Pinophyta was here, besides creating ties, was to scout out the strength of this force. What would be done with that information was none of Pinophtya''s concern, as the higher ups would be the ones to decide, but one could easily guess. After all, although the Tree of Life had given orders to make contact, it had not borated beyond that. Besides, thends of Menara had long been ruled solely by the various races under the shadow of the tree. For an upstart to just appear and make such bold ims¡­ Once again, it was none ofPinophyta''s business. But he could very well imagine that some might not take to it as kindly as others have. He watched as his servants unloaded his and his retinue''s belongings, and transferred them to the train. It was an absurd notion to ride in some metal container rather than atop a mighty beast, but some ces had strange cultures. It would suffice for the more mundane members of his escort, but not for him. Besides, he was toorge to fit in it anyway. But Luthor had a solution to that as well, as he summoned some of the local peacocks who had reached the Foundation level. Upon request, they stopped suppressing the size of their bodies, and quickly grewrge enough not only to carry Pinophyta, but many others alongside him as well. But, considering how he had behaved so far, Luthor got the feeling that he might not be the biggest fan of sharing. "Why don''t we go on ahead, the other workers will bring the rest of your team. I can give you a tour along the way as well," said Luthor, doing his best to extend his hospitality. He was seeding in doing so with everything other than his voice and facial expressions. The treant merely nodded, agreeing to the arrangements of his host. Pinophyta had to admit that the mounts that had been arranged were quite impressive. They did not cower or tremble as he approached, and even as his roots slithered over the back of the peacock and pulled him up, it did not resist in any way. In fact, it made the mounting process much easier. "Very well trained," he could not help butment as Luthor climbed the second peacock. Once they were both seated the peacocks took to the air, not pping their wings but using a special bloodline technique that manipted the air beneath their wings. They did not immediately set off, as Luthor circled around the region a couple of times to observe the caravan and so thatPinophyta could get a good view of their surroundings. Then they set off. The treant was, naturally, much more attuned with nature and the environment, so he could feel that there was something in the air that somehow made this ce better for nt life than the rest of Menara, but it could not understand what. Most of what it observed as they flew was nothing special, as a majority of thends were undeveloped, and so were just like the rest of the continent. Then it saw a massive shape in the distance. One could almost assume it was a mountain if not for its odd shape. "What is that?" the treant asked, it branches pointing towards a figure in the distance. "That is Ming Jie, one of our guests at the Midnight Inn," Luthor said. "Although, most justmonly refer to him as the Mountain-man." "That- that is a guest?" Pinophyta asked, shocked by the size of it. Although Menara housed manyrge species, such as the Leopolds, but even then they hardly reached the size of actual mountains! Before it could get over the shock of the guest, it sensed something else beneath it. The ground¡­ the ground seemed to be moving on its own! No wait, it was not the ground! It was a vast metallic body that was just very close to the ground. "What is that?" it asked again, and pointed towards the ground. "It''s a ship. It flies through the air normally, but right now it''s just hugging the ground," Luthor answered, just as impassively. The ship, as Luthor called it, was absolutely massive! It was hundreds of miles long and just as wide, and Pinophyta could feel that it was extremely dangerous. Before the poor treant could get over the shock he had already received, a massive pushchair being pulled by countless, beautiful undead with wings flew through the air. The baby Cthulhu was sucking on a pacifier as it looked around and tried to jump out of its chair whenever it saw something exciting. Behind it, Anita and Qawain were casually strolling through the air, a small hint of their aura surrounding the pushchair, keeping the baby in ce lest it fall out. Pinophyta tried to point once more, but the dread caused by the aura of immortals caused its brain to shut down momentarily, leaving him stuttering as he tried toprehend a level of power their world could not technically support. "What¡­ what¡­ what¡­" he kept repeating, right up until the pushchair flew out of sight. Luthor resisted the urge to scoff. Trees. The only things they were good for was bonfires. Chapter 1078 Quaint charm Chapter 1078 Quaint charm ??"Those were just some of the Inn workers enjoying their holidays," Luthor exined, anticipating the question Pinophyta wanted to ask. "Workers? They were workers?" the treant asked in disbelief. Although he himself was only in the Golden core realm, he had spent a lot of time under the guidance of nascent level beings, not to mention he had personally received the blessing of the Tree of Heaven when he came to life. He knew what their auras were like, and they were nothingpared to those two! Pinophyta shuddered, and caught itself. It must not doubt the Tree of Heaven! That was absolute sphemy! He was sure there was some kind of devilish trickery at y, fooling his senses. There was no realm above the Nascent realm, because even the tree was only in that realm. This must be an borate ploy by the Inn to fool him! It must! As soon as it gathered itself, the treant saw a massive city made of ss, floating through the air. "Is that our destination?" he asked, looking at it with intrigue. "No, that''s just one of the spots guests can go and enjoy. If you wish to stop and take a look, we can."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "No need, no need. I''m sure there will be plenty of time to explore the Inn at my leisure once we have settled." "Indeed," Luthor said, and looked forward. Beneath them were the untouchednds of the Inn that were rtively close to the settlements. They had been cleared of most dangerous beasts and animals, though there was still a chance of risk. Pinophyta looked down with interest at the few guests who would show up from time to time. Since devils maintained their humanoid appearance most of the time, it was not so easy to differentiate them from humans from a distance, so the treant did not feel at all impressed by most of the guests he saw. He was familiar with the human race. It was a defeated one - not worth his attention most of the time. Luthor was different, though. Just as it was musing, it saw someone enter a Minor realm and disappear! "What- what just happened?" the treant could not help asking again! It was familiar with teleportation, but what it had sensed was not mere teleportation! It was teleportation to some unknown realm! "Oh that, nothing much. We have a few hundred thousand minor realms across the Inn. They''re like small worlds in a different space, each filled with different things. Our guests can go explore them if they wish, although in the case of injury while exploring untamed Minor realms, the Inn does not take any responsibility. It''s more for those adventurous types of guests. You too can explore them if you wish." Small worlds? Pinophyta could not wrap his head around such an idea, though he was not to me. How could Minor realms form in a realm that in itself was still forming? All of space was being stretched outwards, so there was no ce for natural wrinkles or loops to form, which might give birth to Minor realms. "How¡­ interesting," he said as he tried topose himself. As an emissary and potential ambassador, he had already embarrassed himself by losingposure once. He must not do it again. Luthor gave him the side-eye and then continued to look forward. This is why he preferred to let others deal with guests. "In its own modest way, the Midnight Inn possesses a certain quaint charm, I suppose," he said, feeling magnanimous, but Luthor only rolled his eyes. The treant was waiting for Luthor to acknowledge his praise somehow, maybe even thank him for it, but when Luthor didn''t, he felt a little disgruntled. He was just about toin when a certain melodious sound distracted him. It sounded like¡­ a choir. He looked down, and found a small patch of trees singing a song called ''Young McDonald''. A certain vine had emerged from the ground and was acting as the maestro for their performance. "TREANTS!" he eximed inplete shock, but then he realized that no, they weren''t treants. They were actual trees that were alive! Before he could even consider asking Luthor what that was about, a gust of wind rolled by and circled them a few times. "You look busy Luthor, but whenever you''re free, find me! I have a great idea, and I call it the Hot Air Balloon! Together, we can make it work," said the gust of wind, before flying away quickly. "Come back here!" a voice called from a distance, and Luthor turned to see a kaleidoscope of giant butterflies chasing the gust of wind angrily. Behind them, a single skyntern was following, though it seemed extremely exhausted trying to keep up. Little Blue, who was not too strong but had developed an extremely intimidating aura since its wings grew, suddenly flew by as well, with Little Fenrir riding on its back. They nced at the treant before continuing on their way. "They had the same aura as¡­ the same aura as¡­" the treant began to say, but could not. Although it had no lungs, technically, its voice was strained, as if it was wheezing. Before it could recover, they finally approached the vige, one of the main Inn settlements. It was filled with hustle and bustle, not to mention countless immortals who did not bother restraining their aura since the Inn would protect everyone else from harm. The treant, who was doing what Luthor could not guess was a tree version of hyperventting, was barely holding on at this point, but then it sensed the divine aura of the Boulder Shrine, and could take it no longer. It fainted, though that only made it look like a tree strapped onto the ck of a flying peacock, which, admittedly, was a pretty normal sight for the Midnight Inn. "Quaint charm my arse," Luthor muttered, as he guided the peacock down. Even if the recovery rooms were no longer working, he should show the treant to a doctor. Or wait, should he show it to a gardener? Chapter 1079 Inns history Chapter 1079 Inn''s history ??The arrival of a little over a thousand new guests didn''t go unnoticed, especially since everyone was quite interested in the inhabitants of the new realm. If someone said that all was perfectly well in the Inn then that wouldn''t exactly be true. As months passed, many of the guests began to realize that they might be stuck in this realm for a very long time. Most did not mind, either because of their long lives or because the cultivation environment here was great, not to mention the opportunities of a newborn realm were unimaginable. A majority of the cultivators in the immortal realm who weren''t in closed door cultivation had already left the settlements to go explore the as of yet untouchednds of the Inn. The same was true for most Nascent soul and Golden core, as well as a good number of Foundation realm cultivators as well. Those who were not out exploring were taking advantage of the fact that the spirit energy here was exceptionally pure! If they had to pay to stay in the Inn, they would never be able to stay this long - at least for the lower leveled cultivators. So in a way, this was the ultimate opportunity for them to cultivate and grow their realm in a safe environment.N?v(el)B\\jnn But at the same time, there were many guests who were discontent as well. This was akin to kidnapping, and was keeping them away frommitments and people who they wished to meet. Disappearing without notice and being unable to even send back word was not something easy toe to terms with. These guests had many fights with the workers already, though they were only verbal fights so far. But there was nothing that could be done. There were also a few guests who did not mind taking all the benefits the Inn offered, but had not a shred of gratitude in their hearts. In fact, they felt that everything they got was what they justly deserved, and had resorted to threatening the workers with what they would do many times if they weren''t allowed to leave. But it was all for not. None of them could leave. So when there was a sudden surge of new guests, it was a wee distraction, but at the same time, not everyone was in a very weing mood. One such guest, who was troubled about not being able to return home, though not to the point of being bitter against the Inn, was John Fake Kennedy. The krab-man was sitting with his feet dipped in azy river, looking out forlornly into the distance. He saw a wholerge group of new guestsing in, but he just could not gather the energy of getting up to investigate. The only thing he could think of was all the harm that was being done to his beloved country in his absence. Now that he had finally gained the strength to go and face those who wanted him assassinated, he was stuck here. With no one to stop them, who knew what harm they would do? Hours passed by, and he didn''t move, nor did he notice when a curious imp came by, sitting in an intable doughnut in thezy river. "You there, crustacean looking fellow. Are you one of the Inn workers? Good attendant, it appears that circumstances have conspired against me, for I find myself in a predicament most unbing. As one unustomed to the art of swimming, I must, with considerable reluctance, request your immediate assistance in extricating myself from this watery conveyance. Your prompt and diligent aid in this matter would be most appreciated, as I am certain you understand the gravity of my situation." "What? No, I''m not¡­ Never mind, I''ll help," said Kennedy as he jumped in the pool and pulled the doughnut to the side, allowing Kanye to jump off! "What a dastardly contraption! Most heinous," Kanye muttered, then looked towards Kennedy. "Well? I am part of a diplomatic envoy. Why are you not profusely apologizing for exhibiting me to that dreadful watery deathtrap? I demand rpense for my trauma!" Kennedy looked at the imp, then looked left and right. Seeing that they were alone, it would be a lie if he didn''t say that he for a moment felt like putting the imp back in the doughnut and throwing it in thezy river, but resisted the urge. "Ask not what the Inn can do for you, but what you can do for the Inn," he muttered to himself, before looking at the imp. "I am not one of the Inns workers, I am a guest here as well. I just helped you out because you looked like you needed it. If you''re afraid of water, you should not have gotten on it to begin with." "Aha, a patron of the establishment!" the imp eximed, then looked Kennedy up and down. "My good fellow, I am here as a patron myself, and am most curious about the history of this Inn where we take refuge. Would you, perchance, have a moment to spare to enlighten me with anything you know? I assure you, the Treant empire under the shadow of the Tree of Heaven will extend its gratitude to you for your cooperation." Kennedy was a shrewd Krab-man, and easily saw that the imp had ulterior motives, but it was not like the history of the Inn was secret. His curiosity, however, was piqued by the sudden promise of intrigue. After all, since he couldn''t go back home, he needed to distract himself with something. He might as well learn more about the countries outside the border of the Inn. But while Kennedy saw through the poorly orchestrated subterfuge, not everyone was as simple to see through as the imp, and not all guests had the good of the Inn at heart. Slowly the crowds started to mingle, and an unbelievable story of how the guests all saw the birth of the realm began to spread. Chapter 1080 Intimidation Chapter 1080 Intimidation ??By the time Lex exited his retreat, only seven months remained toplete his quest. Considering that he had narrowed down a list of items that could possibly help the system and all he needed to do was go find them, that was both a very long and very short time. It was long because teleportation would cut his travel time down by a lot. At the same time, it was short because there was no guarantee that they would help the system. In the back of his mind, he hade up with a contingency n, which is something he would only use in the worst case scenario. It required the help of the Rhinocentaurs who had ess to the groupchat. But, he didn''t want to wait until thest possible minute to look for them. He decided that he would approach them first and get them to think of a way they could locate systems within the Origin realm. Then he would just need toe up with a way to forcibly teleport from this realm back there, and then find the systems. It was an absolutely terrible n with many problems that could ur, which is why he kept it as the veryst resort. Ultimately, he had to at least consider that there may not be enough items that could repair the system in his own realm, although a part of him suspected that should not be the case. No matter what, the system had never given him apletely impossible quest. But at the same time, he could not scan every inch of this ce that was 0.25 lightyearsrge! "Mary, how are things in the Inn?" Lex asked as he stepped out, feeling refreshed. Considering the monumental task ahead of him, Lex took the time to rest and recover to his peak state beforeing out. After all, if he had spent so much time searching his memories, then a few hours spent recovering wouldn''t matter. "There have been no major problems," she said, appearing in front of him in a suit. It was rare for her to look so serious, as she usually preferred cosying in more entric clothes. "There are a few minor issues that have cropped up, though. I think everyone at the Inn can handle them for now if you want to focus on your quest first." "Tell me anyway. I''m going to be teleporting to the other continents, and it might take some effort, so I want to leave things here in a good state if I can." "I don''t know how much you can do without appearing as the Innkeeper. There are about 800 guests who have gathered up and are extremely upset about not being able to return. They''re saying that they''ve been kidnapped. Although they haven''t done anything drastic yet, they''re very vocal in their demands to return. "Also, a few weeks ago, we weed the first of many diplomatic envoys. Since then, a number of countries and empires from all over Menara have sent diplomatic groups to better understand the Inn. There was one incident where a particr group demanded the Inn swear fealty to their lord, but after Luthor had a polite conversation with them, they decided not to cause any more problems. The diplomatic envoys though¡­ they''re clearly trouble. "They haven''t done anything untowards as of yet, but it''s apparent that they''re scouting out the strengths and weaknesses of the Inn, and they''re not subtle about it at all. There was almost an incident where one of them tried to probe the actual strength of Anita by appearing to threaten her baby. Well¡­ fortunately, Charles is very well versed in medicine for various races, so we were able to bring him out of thea the Cthulhu put him in. As for how long it will take to recover from the mental trauma of the incident, there is no estimate." "Well, don''t worry about it. It''s obvious that they won''t easily ept the ims of some voice that told them that it created their whole world. Sooner orter, one of them will probe the Inn. The rest probably just don''t want to be the first to do it. It''s important to maintain good rtions with them, since the Inn is a hospitality business after all. But other than that, it''s also important to let them know their ce. I''ll take care of it." Mary nodded, and disappeared. Lex didn''t exactly like the fact that others were being so obvious about their ulterior motives. Although they had to be hospitable, he was not a subscriber of the ''customer is always right'' mindset. Mistreating his workers was not eptable. Perhaps it was time to meet some of the ambassadors himself. Lex summoned Fenrir, and sat on top of him, noticing that the pups'' fur had be even softer since thest time they met. He had also begun to radiate a special kind of aura that was mostly suppressed by the Inn. It reminded him of the Mythical beings he met in the Crystal realm - the primogenitors of the Frio and Sol birds. But Fenrir was definitely not a Mythical being. The only thing he could think of was that its bloodline was disying more of its prowess. After all, he did have a 100% pure bloodline. "Alright buddy, you remember what I said about scaring your prey? Well, now I''m going to teach you about intimidation. It''s very useful when you don''t want to actually kill your target, but you need them to behave." The pup turned and looked at him with a special gleam in his eyes. "No, it''s not going to work on the turtle so don''t even think about it," Lex scoffed, and then put on his Notorious Anonymity mask, before teleporting them both away.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om They reappeared in front of the Midnight manor, which was more crowded than it had been in a while, and everybody immediately turned to look at them. Both Fenrir and Lex gave off an aura that could not be ignored. Chapter 1081 Beacon of handsomeness Chapter 1081 Beacon of handsomeness ??In actuality, Lex''s mask which contained divinity and was not a technique was called the Invincible Tyrant Mask. The divinity it contained had a lot to do with intimidation and fear, since the divinity was born from the fear and worship the devils he faced felt. Compared to Notorious Anonymity, which just looked devilish and hid his identity, not only was it much stronger, but it also served the additional purpose of spreading fear on those around him - though he might not always want that. But at this moment, when his Inn was filled with those who were so tantly nning against it, he wanted exactly that. He knew that this wouldn''t end until someone actually attacked the Inn and were made an example of. That was the sad truth of things. But maybe the intimidation tactic could work, who knew? His target specifically were the locals. Although his guests who were upset at being forced to stay here were not exactly conducive to the environment he was trying to create, ultimately they were stuck here. Sure they had gained many benefits, but they were also paying for it by being forced to stay here. If he was not able to fix the system in time, who knew if they would ever be able to return. So although they were annoying, he sympathized with them. Yet when he and Fenrir appeared, everyone looked towards them. Although their auras could not harm anyone, since the system would prevent that, it was rare for someone inside the Inn to have such a threatening and dangerous aura. The older guests just felt a touch of curiosity. They knew they were safe, not to mention they recognized Fenrir immediately. The newer guests, though, the ones who had apanied the ambassadors or hade with various envoys, they all felt absolute dread. They felt like death had be incarnate in front of their eyes, and revealed itself before them. It was the face of all their nightmares, and it had the power that should belong only to deities. It was also right in front of them. While many, including the workers, recognized Fenrir, very few recognised Lex''s mask. Only the few workers who had seen him training in the temple knew that it was actually Lex underneath. Of course, he was using an illusion to make his body seemrger as well. Nobody exactly found babies intimidating, unless it was 3 am and it was the babies parents who suddenly smelled something funny. Lex observed the countless faces looking at him, and was easily able to pick out the new faces - not only just because they were from many unfamiliar races, but because he knew all the old guests by heart. A strange tension began to build in the air, as no one knew the purpose of his mystery masked man, and his aura did not exactly foretell a friendly visit. Finally, Lex''s vision locked onto a particrlyrge ck bear who was radiating an aura at the Golden core realm. Strangely enough, he looked exactly like a normal bear from earth, if a bitrger. There were no strange fangs or horns or wings, but as an apex predator in its given form, it didn''t need them. As if to prove that exact point, the bear was one of the few who looked at Lex without being intimidated by him. "Forgive my sudden arrival, I heard news of ambassadors from far offnds and I became excited. I am also an ambassador of sorts. The Midnight Inn usually sends me out to resolve... delicate issues. I look forward to working with you all in the future." Lex jumped off Fenrir''s back. To begin with, he only used Fenrir for dramatic effect. Its newly developed aura was quite powerful, so riding on its back sent a powerful message. Countless thoughts passed through the guests'' minds. Older guests, who hade from the Origin realm, and knew that the Inn had been attacked a few times previously, suddenly imagined an entire force of simrly masked men sent to eliminate the powers that dared offend the Inn. Newer guests could not help butpare the strength of Lex''s aura with that of their leaders. How was it that no matter which powerful person they came across in the Inn only seemed to be a worker? How powerful exactly was the Innkeeper? But at a certain point, people had also begun to question if this was a mere facade being put up by the Inn. After all, faking aura was tough, but not impossible. Were they actually so powerful? Many wanted to find out, but didn''t want to be the ones testing it out. But though Lex had spoken in a jovial tone, no one responded to him. They all kept looking at him in silence. Lex snickered. "By the way, there wouldn''t happen to be any representative from one of the countries on the Western border of Menara, would there? I don''t know the name of the ce, but I''ll be heading to the archipgo on the western side in a bit. I was hoping to learn a bit about the ce before I go." "The Notknit Inds?" a squeaky voice suddenly asked, as a bipedal creature that looked like it was made entirely of dried leaves stepped forward. "Is that what they''re called? I don''t know about that, I only know that it has an entrance to a massive, underground continent that exists below the chaotic sea." "Yes, yes, the Notknit Inds!" the leak-person said, with recognition and rm in its voice. "May- may I ask, why are you going there? Maybe I can be of help. The inds have not sent any ambassadors, but I was born and raised there, so I know the ce well." "Oh? In that case,e friend, let''s talk while we get a drink. My closest friends call me Tyrant, but you can call me Ty. I feel like we''re going to get along well." The more friendly Lex tried to be, the more fearful the squeaky voiced leaf-person became. It couldn''t be helped. With the mask, every word he spoke and every gesture he made becamepletely menacing. That,bined with the thought of someone who was called a tyrant by his friends did not really do well dissuade worry in his heart - or whatever heart equivalent organ it had. "I- I am Oak, a professor of zoology. What are you going to the ind for, Ty, if I might ask. I can probably rmend better ces. If you want to enter the underground continent, there is a much closer opening in the salt mines of the Carvador range." "I''m going for the sights, professor Oak, the sights. I''ve heard good things. I''ve also heard you have frequent monsters attacking from the sea itself! I''ve never seen a living being that can exist in the chaos sea, I''m quite interested." Before Oak could respond, someone else spoke in. "The Notknit Inds are very conservative. You''re not exactly going to be wee there. Not everyone is like the Inn, epting anyone who happens to pass by," said a spider that was about 3 feetrge. Lex frowned, and was very evident of his displeasure at thement. The spider had just insinuated that the Inn had no standards and would pick up every stray that came along. The room suddenly seemed to turn darker, though the Inn protected the spider from feeling any kind of threat or danger from Lex''s aura. "No, no, the inds are very friendly, Mr. Tyrant!" Oak suddenly insisted. "They''re very friendly indeed! You just- eh, well, I hope you don''t mind. I mean, if you want to take in the sights and explore the culture, maybe you could, if you really want, and had the time¡­" "It''s fine, Professor Oak. You can tell me. I''m a friendly guy. I obey the rules. If the inds have some rules, I will follow them. Isn''t that why I''m asking you about them?" "Well, like you said, there are monsters thate from the seas, and some people have actually tamed those monsters. Eight ind leaders, to be exact. If you go and have a friendly fight, a very friendly fight Mr. Tyrant, nobody needs to die, then you can get badges if you win. Once you get all eight badges, all the inds will open to you, and you will be weed like a native." "Really? The monsters have been tamed? How interested," Lex sain, then paused to look at the spider. "I wonder how exactly they were tamed? Did they beat them up till they fainted first?" He maintained eye contact with all of the spider''s eyes while he spoke, and his meaning was quite clear to everyone. Just as Lex was about to continue, Gerard and Lilith walked into the room, hand in hand, talking to each other,pletely oblivious of their surroundings. The carefully orchestrated, high tension mood Lex had created was instantly destroyed by the giggles of a devil as Gerard, a beacon of handsomeness, flirted with her. Lex sighed.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Chapter 1082 Treasure hunt

Chapter 1082 Treasure hunt

Gerard and Lilith did not even know how they thoroughly destroyed the carefully orchestrated tension Lex and built up. They only had eyes for each other. They walked over to the grand piano sitting in the corner of the room, and Gerard made himselffortable, and began showing Lilith how to y. Considering her cultivation level, she was a quick learner, and in only moments there was a soft, romantic duet being yed in the var. Lex sighed, though Oak mistook his expression as irritation. "Mr. Tyrant, that''s Mr. Gerard, one of your colleagues. Please excuse him, he surely did not mean to bother you." Lex raised an eyebrow. This Professor Oak was very averse to confrontation, wasn''t he? He was trying to stop Lex from getting into fights at every turn. "Do not worry, Professor. I am naturally familiar with Gerard. I was just sighing at how rxed he is. It is good that he is enjoying himself. After all, that''s what the Inn is for. Also, you may have some misconceptions about me. I am not going to the Notknit Inds to fight anyone, and even if I do, it''s not like I''m going to go about randomly killing people. "I''m a nice guy, really. Okay sure, I sometimes have to be a little rough, but that''s only against people who harm the Inn in some way first. Other than that, I''m very friendly. Honest. I''ve only destroyed one! You see how I hold myself back?" Lex wondered if he could really take credit for the destruction of the where the Midnight Battalion had been trapped. Technically speaking, it had nothing to do with him. The space around them just spontaneously tore. But it was not like anyone woulde to dispute him. For the locals of the Midnight Realm, the statement of him destroying just one world was abstract, but for the older guests it definitely wasn''t! They eyed him, though covertly as they didn''t want to get caught. "Haha, of course Mr. Tyrant! You''re a very friendly guy! I believe you! We''re having drinks aren''t we? We''re friends! So in that case, would you mind sharing why you want to go to the inds? Maybe I can guide you so that you might not even need to fight the eight ind leaders." "Truth be told, I''m searching for a treasure. I''ve heard that there''s a really valuable treasure on the inds, so I want to try my luck at it." Suddenly, arge number of people in the var turned to look at him, and their expressions were very serious. Many quickly looked away, considering Lex''s aura was not weak at all, but many still continued to look. "I feel like there''s a story here," Lex said slowly, as he looked around. Gerard and Lily were literally the only ones who hadn''t noticed the sudden return of the tension in the room. They just kept ying music that definitely did not suit the mood. Professor Oakughed even more nervously. "Old stories. In fact, old children''s stories. There''s no truth to them at all! Countless people havee to the inds searching for the Chaos Crystal, but have never found it. Every few thousand years, someone ims to have discovered new clues about it, and that brings a whole new round of treasure hunters. But no one has ever found anything!" Lex smiled in an amused manner. He knew for sure that there definitely was a treasure, and in fact, it really was a crystal! It was one of the few things he discovered that might match the resin in quality. The only thing that made him curious was how everyone else knew of it. After all, he had knowledge of the entire realm which is how he discovered it, but what did everyone else rely on? "Oh? Do you mind sharing some of these stories with me? If I don''t find anything naturally I''ll just move on, but who can resist the charm of a good old treasure hunt, huh?" Professor Oak smiled weakly, and chugged the apple juice he had in front of him, before beginning. "It''s said, at the dawn of time, when even the Tree of Heaven was just a sapling, an eight legged horse came running from the horizon, chasing a shooting star. When it reached Menara, and just as it was about to catch the shooting star, a giant monster erupted from the Chaos Sea. "The horse and the sea monster fought, destroying much of thend, and leaving what little remained in the form of the archipgo. In fact, even the hole that descends into the Underworld is considered to have originated from that fight. But once the fight was over, the horse had lost sight of the shooting star, and so could only return where it came from. "Many think that the shooting star shot into the contenant somewhere, but most think that it is buried somewhere on the inds. Countless have tried searching for it, including the races from the shadowednds, but none have ever discovered it. "By now, one would think that the rumors would fade, but they never do. Even if everyone stops talking about it, and most forget, every few thousand years the story resurges somehow, and the treasure hunt begins anew." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "Oh? That''s really interesting," Lexmented, and took a sip of his drink. "But then why is it called the Chaos Crystal if you just called it a shooting star?" The professor froze, and so did the others. It seemed none of them had an answer to the question. The thing Lex was searching for could, indeed, be considered a Chaos Crystal, because in essence it was just the liquid that formed the chaos sea, but frozen solid for some reason. But he was curious about how the story originated, and how they came up with the name. It seemed much too coincidental to believe that it was mere happenstance. Someone had to know about the crystal, but then why would they spread the story? Why wouldn''t they take it for themselves? Maybe they couldn''t find it. "Where did you hear about this treasure?" one of the bar''s patrons asked. It was a treant, though it looked significantly different from Pinophyta. "Oh, here and there. Why are you so surprised? It seems like everyone knows about it." "Did you get a clue from somewhere?" asked the treant again, this time standing up and walking up to Lex. "Maybe. What''s it to you?" Lex asked, not bothering to suppress his smile since he was wearing a mask. He was hoping for a volunteer he could beat- no, eh, a volunteer he could spar with so that the rest understood not to mess with the Inn. It would serve as a small deterrent, until a big one was needed. "The Tree of Heaven has sent 7 expeditions after the Chaos Crystal. If it were not real, they would not have happened," the treant said, finally reaching Lex, his figure towering above him. "If you have a clue you will submit it to the Treant Empire now, in service of the Tree of Heaven''s needs." "Wow, that almost sounded like an order," Lex said before taking another sip. It was remarkable how the mask did not stop the ss from passing through, but would stop anything else. Very multifunctional. "All living beings are subject to the will of the Tree," the treant said, as if that exined everything. "Ah, so it was an order," he said, as he stood up. "You want to take this outside? I find that I talk much better on a sparring tform." Lex didn''t bother waiting, and walked out of the manner. For whatever reason, wherever there were cultivators, there were fights, so even close to the Manor there were a few stages and tforms built where guests could spar one another without breaking the rules. Of course, both participants had to ept and the spar had to be monitored by a worker, but they were still popr. Lex walked up to one such tform, then turned to look at the treant who was following. In fact, it seemed like the whole bar, excluding two certain individuals, had followed them. "Why don''t you convince me to share the hint with you," Lex said, as he crossed his arms and stood there. "I guarantee this is going to be yourst chance, because after this, there won''t be any more treasure hunts. I''ll definitely find the crystal. It''s a sad tradition to end, but it can''t be helped." The treant, instead of responding, directly attacked, revealing his cultivation level at the peak of the Golden core. Lex did not bother moving, and instead started to n out his next set of actions. After the Crystal, he would go visit the other two continents. They were muchrger, and contained more treasures for him to find. Hopefully, they would be useful. Chapter 1083 Sapling Chapter 1083 Sapling ??Everyone watched as the treant attacked with all his might, with clear intention to do as much harm as possible. Yet the masked tyrant remained unmoved the entire time. No matter how he attacked, or what move he used, it made no difference. The treant went from feeling severe wrath and anger, to surprise, caution, and slowly, hopelessness. Everyone could tell that the man had already started to daydream amidst the attacks because he would sometimes mutter to himself, and other times move his hands as if he was doing something. But the less he paid attention to the treant''s attacks, the more dreadful he seemed. After a few minutes, he finally stopped daydreaming, and looked at the treant who was mid-attack. "Enough," he said, and the oneness off the stage did not feel anything, but the treant felt as if he had experienced themand of an unparalleled being. He lost control of his body as it froze in its stance. Even his attack stopped mid air, unmoving under hismand. Lex, for one, hadn''t done anything particr. He had not used any Glyphs, nor did he use Domination. Instead, it was as if, under the control of his mask, he could naturally imbue bits of everything with his voice, giving it power. The treant only heard his word, but Lex was able to see his words vibrate it a strange way, forming a strange symbol. He¡­ he just discovered another character that could be used in his arrays! Moreover, this character somehow seemed much more powerful than all the other characters he ever used. It was as if the meaning within this character was deeper, and more nuanced. "Kneel, and for the next ten days, remain kneeling," Lex said, somehow knowing that his words were enough tomand the treant. It was actually a little scary to think about, since he was beginning to realize how weak he had been up until now. It would have been so easy for someone stronger to crush him. A word alone would have been enough to end his life. He could see the same fear and understanding in the treants eyes. It was realizing how futile it had been to try and face Lex. The difference between them was just too vast. "Understand this, and understand it well. No one, not your Tree of Heaven or your fabled eight legged horse, or anyone else, canmand me, or anyone from the Inn. We obey only the Innkeeper. Do not mistake hospitality for weakness. If someone has a problem with that, you can feel free to find me." Lex turned to look at all those who surrounded the stage, and saw them shy away from his gaze. It seemed his work here was done. He teleported away. It was time to find the Notknit Inds. ***** After the Tyrant disappeared, many came to help the treant, but discovered that any who tried to help him up suddenly started to kneel themselves. Before the ten days were over, it was impossible for him to get up, and any who helped fell under the same constraints. A certain dread had captured the hearts of many. At the same time, many felt a rage begin to light up in their hearts. Pinophyta was also watching from a distance, and upon seeing its brethren forced to kneel at themand of another, it could take no more. Silently, it left, not just the manor, but the Inn as well. To make sure no one knew of his departure, not only did he take no transport, but he also exited the Inn by vaulting over a part of the wall where there were no patrols. As soon as he exited, however, he proceeded no further. He manipted the wood that constituted his body, and revealed a single acorn hidden with himself. He nted the seed in the soil, and watered it with its own blood, to the point where he fell to his knees. Yet he did not stop, until a small sappling sprouted. Pinophyta was weakened, but still determined. He nted his own roots in the ground right there, and manipted them so that they touched the roots on the new sapling. "Forgive me for invoking the seed before schedule, oh Heavenly Tree! The situation here is more dire than we assumed. I have discovered two¡­ two beings¡­ forgive my sphemy, but I have discovered two beings who share an aura simr to yours, and many whose power is beyond my understanding. Today, finally, I heard from the mouth of one of the Inn''s that he is beholden to none save the Innkeeper, not even you. They are nting the roots of rebellion. Please, go through my memories, so you know the truth of what I say." The roots of the sapling began to wrap around Pinophyta''s own, and then began to feed off of the treants lifeforce. Slowly, the treant turned from a sentient tree, to a dead one. That is when the sapling moved, and entered the treants body, slowly changing it.N?v(el)B\\jnn A few momentster, it seemed like Pinophyta came back to life, but found its form inconvenient. The wood that made up its body began to morph and shrink, until the treant became much smaller, and humanoid. Its eyes began to glow in an eerie yellow, and the vegetation around him began to die. "The Innkeeper is busy¡­" the treant said, then turned back to the Inn, and jumped up over the wall. As it continued to walk through the Inn, returning to the settlements, it began to drop more acorns along the way. The acorns seemed to contain a magical ability, and buried themselves in the dirt. Nothing else happened for now, but the surrounding vegetation seemed to lose a bit of their vibrancy, but it was too minor a change to notice. If Lex had the Host Attire he might have caught on, but he neither had the suit, nor was he in the Inn. In fact, he had already made his way to the inds! Chapter 1084 No time for adventures Chapter 1084 No time for adventures ??Exploring the Midnight realm was a lot of fun, and offered many new adventures and experiences, so it was a little sad that Lex had to forgo them. When he reached the Notknit Inds he saw countlessmunities and various interesting races. The inds seemed to be mainly upied by beasts and sentient nts who learned how to move around. They formed an interesting dynamic between them, which resulted in a rich history and diverse culture, not to mention some strange customs.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex wanted nothing more than to jump in between them, get to know the locals, have a run in with the territory''s bullies, and p a few faces. Even challenging the Ind leaders seemed like an interesting experience, as they somehow managed to capture and train monsters that could live in the chaos sea. But he did not have time for any of that. He immediately turned on his treasure hunting Glyph, jumped through the hole that led to the underground continent that was muchrger than any of the three continents above ground, and began to search for the Crystal. He eventually discovered the reason it could not be found was because the Crystal was held as a holy item by a secret race that had been hiding in the so-called Underworld for a long time, and had abilities that could manipte memories and cast illusions. Many thousands of years ago their ancestors had made a promise to a young monster trainer to forever keep the crystal safe. Lex really felt like he was missing out a lot, like he was ying a video game without watching the cutscenes - something he''d never done. But he just didn''t have time. Eventually, he found the Crystal, took it, and was pleasantly surprised to find that the system could absorb it - though it was only a Heavenly Immortal level ingredient. With that done, he said farewell to all the mysteries of this ce, and promised toe back when he had time - but deep inside he knew it was unlikely. It was like promising to rey a game he enjoyed a lot, with the aspiration to y in a different style and unlock a different story tree. The idea was there, but for whatever reason, he never came back to those games. Maybe if he lived a long life, like the dragons, he''d eventually get around to ying all the games, and exploring all the ces he wanted. Then he began to teleport across the sea, trying to find the other continents. Jack, on the other hand, was also treasure hunting, though he stayed on Menara. Although originally he wanted to leave the Shadow Talons behind, and he did for a while, their ability to traverse the entire realms so easily was an enviable quality, so he ended up going back to them. After all, they had been able to easily get into and out of the sealed domain, not to mention other ces. Their help was a huge help in treasure hunting. But instead of having one of their elders with him, he preferred Ollie. After all, the elders were too big for his ship! But the treasures he was hunting were not the ones that could be used by the system! After all, he wanted his clone to never have contact with the system at all! This was especially so now that he had confirmed that he neither had ess to the system interface, nor could he talk to Mary with his fairy body. It made sense, after all, the system was an item inside his soul, but not merged with his soul. That meant it was only in contact with his main body, not his clone. No, the treasures he was searching for were those that could either help him build the Midnight Castle, or help him cultivate. It might seem like it was slightly redundant for him to try and avoid the system, then make a system building! But he now had ess to a blueprint for a protection barrier that could even hide from the Midnight Inn! If he set that up first, then built the Castle, then he should technically maintain the state of not getting in contact with the system. Currently, Jack found himself overlooking a battlefield covered in corpses. It somehow reminded him of the one he saw where he encountered the centipedal monster. But that was so long ago, and Lex already defeated him, yet this battlefield looked recent. "What do you think, Ollie?" Jack asked, unwilling to bring his ship lower. "This is the third battlefield we''ve found like this. So much open warfare is umon. If we want to pursue answers, we should look for the associated countries." "But why is it that every battlefield is near a Barathian-Gold mine? This is too much of a coincidence. Not to mention, whenever we go to the mine, it''s been stripped clean. I mean, Barathian-Gold is not supposed to be so valuable." "I know no use of it that other metals can''t do better. Any time that metal is even produced, it''s because the ore happens to be alongside ores for other, more valuable metal ores." "So you think whoever is targeting the mines is after the other ores?" "It will need investigation to be sure. Shall I request an investigation?" "No, no, I can''t rely on the talons for everything. We must investigate this ourselves. Let''s see if we can find someone living on this ursed battlefield. They might have answers." But there was no one alive. Eventually, Jack was able to locate one of the countries at war, and discovered that it was a country of mutated insects who had be muchrger. They''d also moved towards a unified colony, where various insects shared one, single colony that supported all of them. Using his new found stealth abilities, Jack began to investigate the country. He was totally not doing this because his main body was missing out on adventures. That is when he identally discovered, for the first time, signs of a deity in the Midnight realm. Chapter 1085 Anxiety Chapter 1085 Anxiety ??Jack found a corpse. Or, to be more specific, he found the remains of a ravaged corpse, radiating a divine aura. It looked mostly like the exoskeleton, but there were enough leftover bits of the rest of its body to conclude that this was not the result of molting, but rather what was left of a deity after facing defeat, and possibly having been devoured by another. The length of it suggested that its original shape was very simr to the centipedal monster Lex had faced. The corpse was in an underground excavation site that was heavily restricted, and guarded by some of the most powerful insects in the colony. Lex could tell by the scurrying insects that surrounded the corpse that they had been studying it, and possibly been trying to make use of it to enhance themselves. The overpowered, evil creatures that formed as a result were probably failed experiments. Or maybe even sessful experiments, based on what the objective was. Jack was not too concerned with the evil experiments of a nation of insects, though Ollie was properly terrified. No, Jack was instead more interested in what exactly ate this deity to begin with. He still had to be careful, as he was not as adept at using this body and its specialties, but eventually he made his way to the corpse and tried to see if he could find any clues. But whether it was through checking the corpse manually or using various techniques, it yielded no results. It was as if all clues had been specifically wiped by the culprit. Regardless, it was an interesting find. Lex had no idea that deities had already been born in this realm, since technically speaking Mythical beings didn''t necessarily have to be deities. They were just extremely powerful, and that usually resulted in them being worshiped. Eventually they moved on, since Jack was in search of ores. Ollie did insist on returning to the shadow ne briefly to report what it found, but it did not dy them long. Back at the Midnight Inn, the Tree of Life, which had inhabited Pinophyta''s corpse, was suddenly faced with an unexpected prompt. It was told to pay for its stay if it wanted to stay longer by its personally assigned AI projection. It had not been expecting this since no one had been able to detect anything amiss with Pinophyta, besides the change in appearance. But that hardly mattered. Its aura remained identical, and so did its behavior. There was no external indication that anything was amiss at all, yet the Inn knew that it hadn''t paid to stay. Technically speaking, Pinophyta had paid for a very long stay, so no one should have asked him to pay again. Yet now it was happening. From the day it was born, the Tree had never paid for anything other than through its desire for it to be aplished. It''s will was currency enough. But the Inn required a more tangible form of payment, causing it to have to pay up for the first time in its long life. Despite how mundane the incident was, it only served to further nurture the discontent the Tree was beginning to feel towards the Inn. But it would not act yet. No, first, it would prepare thoroughly, and when it acted, the Inn would have no chance to respond. Lex, meanwhile, was still blindly teleporting towards the other continents. Surprisingly, finding the gigantic masses ofnd was considerably difficult. Regardless of which of the two continents he found first, it did not matter. He had targets identified on both. Thergest continent, which he had named Nether because of the number of spirits living there, had many strange biomes which gave birth to valuable treasures. The secondrgest continent, which he had named Jabalia, was much more normal, besides being extremely mountainous, but it too had some valuable treasures just due to its size. Compared to the two, the sea actuallycked valuable treasures, which was surprising considering it took up the most space. Eventually, he ended up spending days searching for the continents, to the point where the Chaos Crystal waspletely absorbed by the system, and contributed 0.5% to the repair percentage. It was disappointingly little, but it was already better than using resin again. If he could continuously find more ingredients at the Heavenly Immortal level, or perhaps even at the Celestial level, he might justplete this quest with time to spare. It took Lex an entire week of teleporting before he found one of the continents, and he could immediately tell he had found Nether. Its aura was very simr to the region of the Inn he had designed for spirits, which was not necessarily a bad thing. Strange environments gave birth to strange treasures. But before he could figure out where on the continent he was, he stumbled onto a war. It was between armies of Griffins and massive praying mantis''. Lex''s adventure senses were tingling, but unfortunately he had to ignore them and continue exploring the continent. Distractions were aplenty, but eventually Lex figured out where he was, and then began teleporting once more, in search of the nearest potential ingredient.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Unfortunately, ten dayster, when he finally found his first treasure, the system did not recognize it as an ingredient. Lex could not dwell on the disappointment, as he had no time to waste. He started to target another treasure he had shortlisted, and began to look for it. Incidentally, by ident, he came across a small, green nt norger than a de of grass. There was nothing special about the nt as far as he could tell, and he had no information about it from the dump of knowledge he had about the Inn. But apparently it was a Celestial level ingredient! It didn''t even show up under his Glyph, but if the system recognized it, who was he toin? The issue with that though was that he could not replicate this incident at all! One and a half months passed as he continued to search, and during this time, he only found one more Heavenly immortal level ingredient. The Celestial ingredient contributed 1%, and the Heavenly ingredient contributed 0.5%, bringing the total up to 32.2%! Lex felt a level of excitement at being so close, but at the same time, he could feel an anxiety growing. No matter how he searched, he could not find more ingredients, even when he went through almost all the items he listed on Nether. There were still more, but he had already checked the most probable ones, so he could not help but feel like looking for Jabalia. Since he had found Nether once, teleporting back to it would be easy, so he then began his journey to find the final continent. This time, he nned it better and made sure he was teleporting in the correct direction as he set off from Nether, which is why it only took him two days to reach it. Theoretically speaking, all he had to do was teleport to it, so it shouldn''t have taken much time. But he was always afraid of teleporting too far and somehow skipping the continent entirely, which is why he had to settle for rtively smaller distances between each teleportation. But that was the end of the good news for a long time. Once Lex found Jabalia he began to search for ingredients, but two more months passed by, and yet he could not find a single one. The anxiety he was feeling in his heart began to increase as he wondered if he should return to the Inn and ask the Rhinocentaurs if they had found any systems. But that was a bad n, and even he knew it. The small Celestial ingredient he found as a de of grass gave him hope of encountering more ingredients, but how could he find something he had no way of tracking? Back at the Midnight Inn, while Lex was desperately looking for ingredients, a strange tension had begun to build in the air. None of the workers, or even the old guests could identify why it was there, but the source was clear. The new guests became more and more silent as the days went by, and began to avoid contact with the workers altogether. Many of them even left the Inn, which waspletely normal, save for the fact that they left as if they were escaping some kind of cmity. Gerard, though love stricken, was not so blind as to ignore such a change, and so ordered all the guards to begin searching the Inn in case there was some conspiracy afoot. But they found nothing. Even so, Luthor stopped his training in theva pits he had nearly turned into his home, and the others raised their guards as well. Even if no one said it, they could tell that something significant was about to happen. Then, one day, without warning, the ground erupted. Chapter 1086 Currency of its will Chapter 1086 Currency of its will ??Long ago, when Lex was concerned about the safety of his Inn, he added something called Delinquent Vines underneath the Inn. They extended throughout the length of the Inn, at that time, and could be remotely controlled to react to any incident happening at any time, anywhere. Later, the remnant soul of one of Lex''s old tenants who had actually died, fused with the Vines, which is how Young McDonald came to be. He had since worked diligently for the Inn, though these days he had less to do with security than managing the underground of the Inn. Some guests preferred to burrow underground, but then catering to them was not exactly convenient, which is where he came in. Though, as the Inn grew, so did Young McDonald, which is why he was not exactly weak. That is why, when suddenly, hundreds of vines burst from the ground, screaming in agony, it actually came as a surprise to many. But what followed that was even worse. Massive, woody roots burst from the ground like pirs rising from the sky, ripping the vines to shreds in many ces. Dirt, rock, and torn vines rained from the sky as a result of the numerous explosions, but Young McDonald was far from the only one who was injured. Most old guests, by now at least, were strong enough to at least survive the initial attack, but the children weren''t. Jimmy, the serving captain of the Peacock warriors did not quite understand what was happening. Something had hit him on the head, and he cked out for a few seconds. When he recovered, his body felt oddly weightless, and there seemed to be a pleasant breeze. But the world seemed red. He rubbed his eyes and that didn''t make the color go away, but when he looked at his hand he saw blood, as well as a broken tooth. "Oh, I start losing my milk teeth," the concussed child muttered to himself, still unable to grasp what was happening. It saw a peacock flying in the air, and out of habit, he grabbed it. He was one of many children who had suffered from the initial explosion of the earth, and wasunched into the air as a result. It was fortunate that the Bunnies and Peacocks were always around the kids, like attendants, so they instantly took to the air to rescue them, and prevent more damage. But the chaos had only just begun. Thousands of roots erupted from the ground, across each of the settlements, and the ground began to oddly bulge, like something was trapped underneath. Then the earth split, and massive trees started to grow. Simultaneously, the vines began to whip everything around them, whether it was guests, buildings, or even other nts. A pulse of energy, originating from the tip of each root, spread across the Inn, reaching the ces that the vines could not, and hitting those who had escaped the initial eruption.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Divine might, mixed in with some odd, green energy spread across the Inn and tore through the few buildings that had been spared. Guests whose senses were sharp enough to avoid the eruption were still hit by the pulse. While some of the stronger ones resisted using only their bodies, the spirits who were residing in the Inn, as well as the weaker guests suffered the worst of it. Bones broke, skin was punctured, blood burst out of bodies as if water balloons full of blood had just popped, and the spirits faded till they were nearly invisible. Neither the impact nor the sound of the initial explosion had ended, not to mention the devastating pulse, when the trees began to glow. All the blood in the region was pulled towards the nearest tree like a ma attracting metal. At the same time, as if through perfect coordination, the new guests, who hade as a part of various delegations all attacked. Not all of them did, for example the Imp Kanye was taking up more of a supporting role, but most were vicious in their attacks. They had the intent to kill, and their attacks showed it. They targeted specifically the workers, who they had divided across the Inn by calling them on various errands. Whether it was through wood or stone, through ws or fangs, divinity or damnation, they attacked with all they had, intending to spare not a single one. The coordination was perfect, and many workers were unable to retaliate and were taken by surprise. Although most of them managed to defend, or evade the attacks entirely, they were too caught up dealing with the sudden change to do much other than barely survive. That was the n all along. The first blow was devastating, and that was only just the beginning. The trees would growrger, and give birth to a terrifying formation that had destroyed countless nations before this. The corpses of their enemies would be the fuel for the Tree of Heavens might, and the Midnight Inn would be a name forgotten to history. The first five seconds passed, and the opening gambit was made, but the Tree had no intention of waiting for a response. During its nning phase it had admitted that the Inn was the strongest foe it had ever faced, and it could not give them time to respond at all. They had to be crushed in one go, leaving them unable to retaliate at all. So as the first few seconds passed, and many came to realize what was happening, darts of poisonous thorns shot out of all the vines, targeting the strongest workers and guests.The poison was the strongest, most lethal necrotic poison the Tree could conjure, and could kill other Nascent cultivators in less than a second. This attack alone would kill most living beings in the Inn, leaving behind only the strongest and most resilience. The Tree of Heaven paid with the currency of its will, and so its will shall be done! Chapter 1087 The Unholy Queen

Chapter 1087 The Unholy Queen

Anita was not having the best day. This day her pregnancy was particrly difficult, causing her to feel all sorts of muscle spasms and cramps in her undead body, not to mention the bouts of nausea that were suddenlying. This wasmon, since she was not getting close. Only a little over four more decades and she''d give birth, meaning she was in the final stage of her pregnancy, so it was to be expected. Even so, she did not give up her duties as a mother, and through great effort and resilience, put her other baby to sleep. Finally, she could get some rest. Then the ground exploded beneath her, and she froze in fear and shock! Her eyes locked onto her baby''s crib, now destroyed, and she saw the most devastating sight a mother could see! Her baby, who had just gone to sleep, had woken back up. She was in denial. She refused to ept what she was seeing, and for a few seconds, as carnage erupted all around them, her baby stared back at her. Then five seconds passed, and the baby started to cry. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Qawain, being a dutiful father, immediately appeared and took the baby. "I''ve got this Anita, it''s okay. It''s okay, I''ll put him back to sleep. There''s no reason to be upset. In fact, don''t the explosions remind you of our honeymoon when-" He did not get to finish, because Anita grabbed her hair, pulled, and screamed. That was when the ever bright sky of the Midnight night realm, across the entire realm, turned ck. "Mary, is the Inn okay?" Lex asked, all the way on the other continent as a premonition struck him, but he did not need a reply because the shriek of an exhausted Anita roared across the entire realm. Luthor, who had summoned his mes and was about to cause havoc, the countless devils who were rightfully about to retaliate out of anger, Gerard who had summoned his cart because his date was interrupted, Velma who was about to go berserk because thetest romance novel she was reading was ripped to shreds, and everyone else who was about to fight back against the Tree were hit by a premonition that this was an enemy they should not steal from Anita. They were right. The beautiful Lich, whose more drastic tendencies had been softened by the approaching grace of motherhood,pletely drowned in anger. "HOW DARE YOU WAKE MY BABY?" she roared, and grabbed the nearest emerging tree, ring her power as an Earthen Immortal in full. Using naught but sheer might, she ripped the tree, its entire rootwork, and every single other nt it was connected to, right out of the ground as her body began to fly. In her dainty little hands was a mass of wood sorge it practically formed a mountain as she pulled it out. The tree resisted. The roots tried to wrap around her and pulses of energy tried to attack her. But they were like gusts of wind trying to fight a hurricane. It was just not possible. "YOU WILL PAY!" she said through gritted teeth,pletely unaware that the baby cthulhu was now staring at her and pping its hand andughing. All she could recall was that moment of anguish when all her hard work was for naught. Green mes, filled with endless rancor, appeared in her eyes and then spread from her into the skies, turning into ming arrows. At first there were a hundred arrows, then a thousand, then a million, and then beyond count as the sky itself was blotted out, and they all pointed at the mass of wood. Then, they shot with such devastating might that a ripple traveled through the space of the entire realm. Lex, who had just teleported back to the Inn, arrived just in time to watch as the incarnation of evil unleashed its wrath upon the tree, burning not its body, but its soul! New notification: The realm is destabilizing due to excessive energy that it cannot tolerate! New Emergency Quest: Stop the energy leaking out to the realm before the realm is destroyed! Quest time limit: 1 hour! Reward: Keeping the damn realm is the reward! Quest failure punishment: The system is incredibly fragile at the moment! The destruction of the realm will result in the destruction of the system! By the time Lex read the notifications, an ear piercing wail shot out from the mass of wood! Anita''s mes burned souls, but did not harm them. How could she bear to do that? As a Lich, she had many uses for the souls of her enemies, so it would be best if she got them whole and undamaged. The wood did not burn, but Anita squeezed it into itself, so that it went from a giant mass into a more easily handled container. She was using the Tree''s own body to imprison its soul as she punished it! Lex looked at Anita, then the state of the Inn, and then at his quest. He had an entire hour, so it was best not to disturb Anita prematurely. "Honey, don''t forget about its underlings," Qawain reminded her, and suddenly her gaze turned from the mass of wood down to the Inn, where the ''guests'' who had attacked all the Inn workers stood frozen in abject fear. It would have been easier for them to ept that their world was on the verge of destruction than to believe their Tree was so effortlessly thwarted - and yet, both of those things were happening before their eyes, though they only knew of one. Green arrows formed once again, this time pointing at the ground. All the attackers finally remembered to run, but their efforts were for naught. Countless undead had appeared all around them, and held them down where they stood. Even the undead knew not to steal from their Unholy Queen. "YOU WILL ALL PAY!" she said once more, and let the rain of green, ming arrows fall. Chapter 1088 Faux pas

Chapter 1088 Faux pas

The entire attacksted less than ten seconds. The Tree of Heaven had been nning this assault for weeks, and prepared thoroughly for it. The mass of wood that Anita pulled out from the ground weighed hundreds of tonnes, and was more than strong enough to destroy entire nations. In fact, it had actually destroyed countless nations over the course of its many years with much fewer preparations. It couldn''t be helped, since the Midnight Inn had countless members who were at the Nascent realm, or at least pretended to be. But it did not believe they were as strong as they were portraying. Even among Nascent soul cultivators, there were levels, and the Tree had never found an equal in its entire age. It was unparalleled. It was the master of heaven and earth. It was the savior and executioner of races. For his arrogance, the Innkeeper would pay. It was with that mindset it began to make extensive preparations, even going as far as tolerating disrespect and biding its time. Everything was set. The ursed residents of the Inn were to meet their fate. The Tree had willed it so. So then, why was everything going wrong? The Tree of Heaven was the first living being, the most ancient, the most powerful. So then why... why was the two legged she-abomination so easily able to yank out its entire clone body, and y with it like a toy? Did she not know her sphemy by acting against it? It was her duty to lower her gaze and revel in the knowledge that the Tree had decided to kill it! The Tree''s thoughts stopped there, for when Anita''s soul mes tortured him it had no energy to spare for any more thoughts. Instantly it wanted to sever the connection it had to this clone, for the pain of the soul could be felt by its entire being. Yet it was all for naught, as it had lost all?control over its clone, including the piece of its soul inside of it. For the first time in its existence, the Tree of Heaven knew true, unyielding pain. While its clone was twisted and squeezed into a ball,pletely outside the control of itself, its real body was free to writhe in agony, and it did. Tremors shook all of Menara as its roots, which had reached the farthest corners of the continent, twisted and turned within the ground. To the residents of the continent, it seemed like the end of the world had arrived. For once, they did not know how close they were to the truth. But once Anita had pulled up the bodies of all those who had dared attack the Inn, and hung them in the air to be whipped by her green mes, Lex finally decided it was time to get a word in. "I don''t want to disturb you," he began politely, but the Lich could not hear his words at all, too focused on properly marinating the souls of her enemies in endless pain, ripening them for when she would pluck them from their mortal containers for an eternity of servitude. "She can''t hear you right now," Qawain said, as he showed up next to Lex. "If it''s something important, I suggest you really speak up. But be ready to face the bacsh. She hasn''t had one of her mood swings in a while, but when she first got pregnant... well, let''s just say I''ve learned to keep my nose out of her affairs when she''s like this." Lex frowned, but did not hesitate to add a hint of Domination to his voice. "Lady Anita, you need to control your power," he said, his voice reverberating through the Inn, and finally reaching Anita. For a moment, instead of waking her, the voice only attracted her ire, and she turned to Lex ready tosh out at him. But just as she was about to make her move, her instincts sensed a hint of danger, waking her up. Anita''s pupils dted, because she realized the source of danger was this little human in front of her. Attacking him would actually cause her to face the possibility of danger! Of course, she was not timid and danger did not deter her, but her motherly instincts told her not to face any unnecessary danger for now. Moreover, once she woke up from her anger driven stupor, she recalled that Lex was her ally, not enemy. There was no reason to attack him. "Lady Anita, the Midnight realm is a newborn realm. It cannot take your power. Please retract it, and keep it contained within the bounds of the Midnight Inn." Anita blushed, and suddenly withdrew her powers. The darkness withdrew from the realm, and Lex received the familiar ting of a notification informing him he hadpleted his quest. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Excuse me, I might have lost control for a bit," she said as she covered her face with her hands. She hadmitted a faux pas. "It''s okay, no harm done," Lex said, then turned his gaze towards the ball of wood in her hands. "If you''re able, can you also question all your prisoners about who was involved in this attack. I''ll take some time to examine the Inn, but once that''s done, I should really go and see to it that everyone who escaped your just retribution is unable to escape punishment." Anita, who was blushing one moment, suddenly remembered what caused this whole incident, and her gaze turned cold. "I''ll have a whole list ready. In fact, do you mind if Ie with you? The seriousness of this travesty cannot go unanswered! I must deal with them personally!" Lex raised an eyebrow, and then looked back at the Inn. He wasn''t sure if she was talking about the damage to the Inn anymore. He''d never seen her get so riled up over an attack on the Inn. But, whatever the case, her timely intervention had prevented more damage, so he wasn''t going toin. "Sure, you cane. In fact, I''ll bring a few others as well. But just remember tokeep your powers in check. This is still just a new realm. It cannot sustain your power yet." Chapter 1089 Setting out

Chapter 1089 Setting out

The damage from the attack was extensive, but fortunately there were no casualties, which was nearly a miracle. Nearly, because all the old guests of the Inn, whether young or old, strong or weak, had undergone various power ups and evolutions uponing to the Inn. Even the kids had be much more powerful, and though they may have not started to cultivate on their own yet, their bodies might as well be that of a cultivator. But while there were no casualties, many had been injured. Theck of Recovery pods made the situation a lot more critical, and Dr. Charles Best was doing his best to ensure that the situation did not deteriorate further. The fairies who had just recently joined the Inn proved their worth at this time, using their fairy dust to heal all the wounded, or at least keep them from getting worse. At the same time, many of them could not help but look up at the beautiful Lich who was torturing the souls of her enemies up in the air. They recalled what Lex had said about everyone needing to behave while at the Inn. They suddenly did not doubt him anymore. Everyone had to behave, or else who knows what thatdy would do. Once Lex was done talking to Anita, the first thing he did wase back down, take a single drop of blood, mix it with a lot of water, and then use it to treat all the wounded. He could easily do one drop per person, but even if he diluted his blood the effectiveness of it was good enough. Moreover, he felt a little strange going around dropping his blood on people. He really needed toe up with an alternative to that. Besides the people, many buildings were also damaged, and without the Host Attire, repairing them would have to be a manual job. Lex did not anticipate too much trouble, considering that they were all cultivators and had techniques that could aid in reconstruction. But it was safe to say that it was going to be a hassle keeping all the guests who were already fed up of being at the Inn cated now. For the most part, the guests just treated this incident as an entertaining interlude in their stay at the Inn. At most, they were just interested to see how the locals would react after this incident was fully over. But some of them found it interesting that such an attack happened in the first ce. One would think that the Innkeeper would easily be able to predict this attack and prevent it from happening. So then why did he allow it to happen? Was it true that he was so upied that he could not spare the Inn any attention at all? Was this the repercussion of creating a new realm? There was no answer, and they would get none either. After Lex addressed all the immediate concerns at the Inn, he summoned Leonidus, and the new Midnight Battalion. Although this battalion was only 300 strong, they were meant to be the Midnight Inns fighting force in the future, and now it was time for their first excursion. Of course, besides them, a few other members of the Inn requested toe along, and Lex refused none of them. About fifteen minutes after the attack was over, the Inn''s retaliatory force was ready, so Lex brought them all to Anita, who had paused her torture session to re at Qawain. Something told Lex that they were having a private conversation. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Finally, she turned to Lex and said, "It seems my dear husband thinks I have over exerted myself today, and need to rest." Anita looked very displeased, but Lex was not about to get involved in a lovers spat. "I have prepared a list of all involved parties. If I discover anything new, I will let you know, but this should be all of them." Lex felt somewhat relieved that she wasn''t going, and silently epted the list. He recognised none of the names on it, but that would be solved soon enough. Regardless, his first target was going to be the Tree of Heaven itself. Although Anita had very easily disposed of its clone, Lex expected the real body to put up a bigger fight. Even though it was limited to the Nascent realm, it had absorbed countless pieces of resin, and so Lex would not be surprised if it could fight above its level. That was adding upon the fact that it was likely a Mythical being. It was a very unique¡­ Lex froze. The Tree of Heaven was a Mythical being which had absorbed not one, but countless pieces of resin. He wondered¡­ wondered if the corpse of the tree could count as an ingredient to fix the system? If it did, would it be the same as the resin, or would it count as a different one? This invasion could not havee at a better time. Ordinarily, Lex would not do something like killing a Mythical being just to use it as a corpse. But since he was about to make an example of one anyway¡­ "Worry not, Lady Anita. I will make sure that the Tree of Heavens feels the full force of your wrath. Even a shred of its corpse will not be left behind!" Lex spread his energy and epassed the battalion, as well as everyone else who wasing along, and teleported them out. It might be difficult to find other things on this continent, but the Tree was visible from nearly everywhere. Its size was genuinely astronomical, and even if Anita overpowered it, Lex did not think it would be so easy even for her to take it down. Heck, if Lex started burning it down, it would probably take months of continuous burning for the fire to spread across its entire body, let alone actually burning through it. Lex might as well be facing off against a small moon! But he was not worried, because he had prepared something special just for it. Chapter 1090 Burn everything Chapter 1090 Burn everything ??Lex teleported only a few times before he came close enough that he could estimate the location of the massive tree that he could see even from a distance. But, before teleporting over to it directly, Lex turned around and addressed the battalion. "For most of you, this is the first time you''re heading out to fight. This is also the first time you''ll be striking any enemy in revenge, so I should make clear how exactly we will do this. The Tree of Heaven will be much more powerful than any of you, so you will not be fighting the tree. Instead, that will be my job. "You all, instead, will be attacking the direct subordinates of the Tree and its most faithful zealous followers: the treants. But we are not here tomit genocide, so we won''t be ripping every single tree from the ground. Civilians are not to be targeted. Instead, we will be targeting all themanders, military personnel and zealots. Of course, if someone attacks you first, then feel free to retaliate. Basically, we''re going after everyone responsible orplicit in the attack on the Inn." Everyone nodded, and mentally prepared themselves for the battle ahead. All of the battalion members were naturally wearing their suits from the Tailors shop, so honestly speaking Lex did not expect them to take on any injuries at all. After all, their suits served as better armor than most actual armors! Lex spread his spirit sense to cover everyone, fixed his gaze on the Tree of Heaven, then teleported over. Just twenty minutes after the attack in the Inn, they were retaliating. Even if the Tree expected a response, it was unlikely that it was expecting it to be so quick. Most importantly, a part of the Trees soul was still being torture by Anita, and it was clearly still not taking it well, as was evident by the tremors rocking the entire continent. Chances were, their attack on the Tree would affect all of Menara, but Lex would try to make this as quick as possible. The moment they reappeared Lex directly attacked the trunk of the tree! With a sword in hand, Lex used a new move from the Inferno de series: Waking Dream!n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Cassandra had clearly told him he needed to master this technique before he became an immortal or it would limit him. Lex had spent a long time pondering over why his increasedprehension wasn''t allowing him to learn thesest three moves. The conclusion he came to was that his mind was too rigid, and his conception of what was and wasn''t possible was too well defined because of his life as a mortal on earth. As a result, he would not think flexibly. But over the past few months, as a result of being exposed to the sealed domain, the shadow ne, and so many other things that defiedmon sense and his basic understanding of reality, he had finally be flexible enough to amodate some principles that at first eluded him. Inferno de: Waking Dream was a strike that used the heat of vengeance to burn the souls of its targets. The moment he saw Anita burning the tree, Lex had an epiphany, and he could suddenly understand how something esoteric and intangible like emotions could have real and tangible temperature. This attack was already targeting the soul to begin with, and Lex further empowered it by entering his soul state so the sword passed through the tree''s physical body and cut right into its soul! Lex had held nothing back in his attack, using all of his might and avable resources, which is why he was not surprised when he could sense that the Tree''s soul was nearly cut in two! The entire body of the tree, which was billions of times greater than Lex, if not more, trembled as the Tree was struck with agony it could never have even imagined. But while Lex was formidable, the Tree was a genuine Mythical being, and one that had absorbed countless resin pieces as well. It was not weak, and in an instant its soul was reattached. It had not healed, and was only forcibly being held in ce, but it at least reduced the pain. It also activated all of its own power, rebuffing Lex and pushing him back, even if it couldn''t truly harm him. In all his previous cultivation sessions, Lex had once again been focusing on improving his defense so he was not surprised at being unharmed. But Lex was not here to exchange moves with the Tree in a long, drawn out fight that would test their mettle. He was here to extinguish the Tree''s soul and use its body as an ingredient! Lex took out his most formidable weapon: the Divine Butter Knife! This was not the one the system gave him, but the one that he made himself which could grow by absorbing divinity. As it happened, the Tree contained an immense amount of divinity, rivaling that of a real Deity, which was easy to understand since the Tree had been worshiped its entire life. Then, using the Divine Butter Knife, Lex used Waking Dream once more! The Treeunched its own attack, new branches suddenly erupting from its body andunching towards Lex. Even though Lex was in his soul state, the Tree was in the Nascent realm as well, and so could also interact with souls, so it could still fight him off. But when the two shed, it was still the Tree that came out worse for wear. "INSOLENT TRASH, I WILL-" Lex didn''t bother listening to the Tree''s dying monologue. Waking Dream a powerful move, yes, but it would have been even more powerful if his sword intent was stronger. Since it was not at its peak, it could not be used to overwhelmingly cut through all of the Tree''s defenses and its soul, but at least it served to gauge how strong the Tree actually was. He had one more thing prepared to take it down quickly. Lex Blinked to the Tree''s body, and used a Glyph. A massive, deep scarlet Glyph appeared in front of Lex''s face, radiating lethal danger. The Tree of Heaven, despite the mind crippling pain it was in from having its soul constantly severed, suddenly snapped its attention to Lex as it for the second time that day encountered a sensation it had never felt before. It felt the threat of death closing in, on the verge of sping its cold hands around it. WIthout thought or hesitation, the Tree unleashed all its power at once. A tsunami of divinity erupted from its body, encasing its massive trunk in a radiant beam. Its roots, which had long be one with the continent, buried deep into the very core of the realm, suddenly erupted from the ground, and then were pulled back in at supersonic sounds. Its leaves became razors that could cut through the fabric of reality, uncaring for what barrier stood in their way. A billion treants across thend suddenly withered and died as all of their energy was suddenly absorbed by the Tree of Life, activating an ancient ability it had never needed to use. An illusory shield made of the densest bark formed around the tree, radiating an aura that subtly transcended the Nascent realm. The true might of this ability could not be disyed in the fledgling Nascent realm, but even this was enough to block out any conceivable attack a Nascent level enemy could throw at it. The size of the Tree began to shrink as it used all its abilities in a split second. Beyond just the shield of bark, it used countless abilities both to attack and defend, not to mention it even used an incredibly desperate ability that would let it retain a hint of life even against overbearing odds. All this happened in a split second, and if it was afforded more time, no doubt the Tree would unveil the true extent of its massive repertoire it had umted in its long life. But more time it did not have, because Lex used the Glyph that represented a dragon''s strongest attack: Dragon breath! A jet of crimson and orange mes shot out of the Glyph in front of Lex''s mouth, sparing nothing that dared obstruct its path, apanied by an earth-shattering dragon''s roar. The Midnight Realm, which was still setting its foundation, and was still setting thews that would govern the realm over the course of its existence, experienced a subtle change. A hint of the dragon''s aura that was released alongside the mes was absorbed directly by the realm itself, and thews it was forming underwent a minor change. But neither Lex nor anyone else noticed, for the devastation of the mes far surpassed anything Lex could have imagined. He had remained in the soul state, since he wanted the mes to attack the Tree''s soul and not its body. But a dragon''s mes could not be suppressed. They burned everything. Chapter 1091 Dragon fire

Chapter 1091 Dragon fire

There were countless races in the universe, more than Lex could ever know. Of them, there were surely many who were monstrously powerful, perhaps even more so than dragons. The Celestial race was one such example. If looked at only using face value, then dragons were born as Earth Immortals, but Celestials were born in the Celestial Immortal level. By thatparison, they were much more powerful, and indeed their influence was unquestionable. Lex knew this because the small bits of information the Rhinocentaurs provided often mentioned them and their Celestial court. But while they were incredibly powerful, Lex knew no distinguishing features about them save that they looked very simr to humans. Simrly, the other powerful races he knew all had incredible powers, such as the devils unquestionable control over demons, but no race seemed to be as well known as the dragons. Who did not know about their insatiable greed? Who did not know about their unquestionable strength? Who did not cower when they brought their Might to bear? Simr to all those things, the fame of dragon''s breath was also unsurpassed. It was their most powerful attack, and thus, it was iparable, and could not be suppressed. Even though Lex was merely using a Glyph, and was recreating the weakest version of dragon fire, and could barely be considered a training aid for actual dragons, within the Nascent realm even this contained devastating destructive capabilities. Not only did every single one of the Trees defenses vaporize uponing into contact with the crimson mes, even the energy used to create those techniques became chaotic and berserk, breaking free of the Tree''s control, and causing it to suffer a minor cultivation deviation. But before it could even feel the effects of such a thing, or rather, before it would even register that something had gone amiss with its cultivation, the Tree came into contact with the mes. The damage was not limited to its soul at all as its entire body burst into mes so suddenly, it was as if someone used a methrower to light a tanker of crude oil on fire! The resulting explosion was so massive that Lex''s instincts finally tingled a sense of danger, and he immediately teleported the battalion away. Lex, however, remained since he had to ensure that the tree did not escape, not to mention he was confident in his own defense. Yet the wisdom of such a decision came into question almost immediately. The Tree of Heaven, its entire body which rose up into the heavens and beyond, was bathed in yellow and golden mes, but those were not dragon fire. No, that was just the consequence of the heat of dragon fire. The atmosphere itself, alongside the tree, and spontaneouslybusted when it came into contact with that crimson torrent due to its immense heat. When the dragon fire finally reached the Tree, it was as if all that it touched was kindling, and that too soaked in highlybustible liquid. The Tree exploded. There was a sh of white light so bright that, for a brief moment, it erased all other colors. In the entire realm there was nothing else save for the white light. Then came the st. Even though Lex had teleported all the workers away, he knew immediately that the resulting devastation of the dragon fire would reach them no matter where they were. Let alone them, the sanctity of the entire continent was at risk. Actually, that was incorrect. There was no risk. It was certain that the entire continent was about to be wiped from existence. Perhaps Lex had underestimated the might of dragon fire, or the Tree of Heaven just made for excellent firewood. Regardless, as soon as the sh of white hit him, Lex''s mind went into overdrive and he knew that if he didn''t do something to contain this st the consequences would be dire. Time seemed to slow down for Lex as all the knowledge he had umted since he began his cultivation journey came together, and turned into something more. Under the white light of annihtion, Lex recalled his earliest days. Marlo had said the best defense was offense - kill the enemy before they could harm you. Regal Embrace said the best defense was being so ridiculously tough that nothing could scratch him - just stand there and watch them struggle to scratch your skin. Experience told him that no matter how high his defense was, there were too many enemies who existed far beyond his level so he could not just rely on it - even if he was the toughest Foundation cultivator in all existence, an Earth Immortal could squish him like a big. Arrays used the energy of the universe to sustain themselves. Spiritual techniques used the energy of the cultivator to give birth to astonishing phenomena. Formations used items and treasures in specific arrangements to bring about certain effects in a specific region. All of them were incredible, but none of them created something new - they were just replicating things that already existed in the universe. N?v(el)B\\jnn All existence, then, was dictated by their associatedws. Talk to the hand was one of the techniques he learned, and it created a barrier in front of his hand. Evisceration was one of his favorite attacks, but it used the eyes. What was the difference between using hands and using eyes to bring about an external result? He had many states of mind which allowed him to think in various ways, such as Flow, Overdrive and Berserk, but at the end of the way it was still his mind doing all that thinking, so why did he need so many techniques? Impervious Hands was a technique he originally learnt because its defense was ridiculously high, but practically he kept using it because it offered so many other benefits. He learned Inferno de because he wanted new attacks and to train his sword intent, but in actuality he was now using it to gauge whether he was ready to be an Immortal or not. Nothing was ever straightforward. Everything had obvious benefits, but more than that, they had hidden benefits that only those smart or lucky enough to realize them could unlock. All these thoughts and millions more ran through Lex''s mind in a fraction of a second, and he used all of them to, for the first time ever, create his own technique. Chapter 1092 Dawn and Dusk Chapter 1092 Dawn and Dusk ??There was no time. Everything happened too quickly. Lex and the Tree were fighting, and the Tree was losing, but not fast enough. Lex decided to use a stronger technique to speed things up. Somehow, that had brought about an apocalyptic event that threatened to eradicate an entire continent. If me had to be assigned, Lex thoroughly allocated it on the Tree. Why was it fighting so hard? If it had just sat there and let Lex win, none of this would have happened. But a debate on why some people were just unreasonable was pointless, so it was best not to dwell on it. Lex did not understand how techniques worked. Or at least, he did not understand why making them in certain ways within one''s body brought about certain effects. Some people created techniques without understanding the why. As long as they could understand the effects, that''s all that mattered. But such a mentality left room for unknown ws, and so Lex did not subscribe to such a method. Instead, he focused not on the maniption of spiritual energy, but ofws instead. For some reason, it was a lot easier for him to do that. Wasn''t he essentially just manipting the effects ofws when he createdws anyway? Once he began creating the technique, inspiration just kepting and he realized that what was before him was not a cmity, but an amazing opportunity.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex moved, and activated his newly created technique which he immediately named Heaven''s Furnace. An invisible barrier formed around the tree, coating it like a second skin, just in time for the bright light to end. Then the explosion happened. But instead of a shockwave shooting through the realm, the explosion was contained perfectly within the barrier Lex had created. The strength of the initial explosion was such that nothing Lex had ever created before could block it even for a fraction of a second, yet Heaven''s Furnace stayed strong. It had to, after all, since a furnace''s sole purpose was to contain heat and pressure. But while the barrier remained strong, without a single blemish, Lex did not look so great. He had be pale and his eyes reddened. That was because, much life Impervious hands, the defense of this barrier was based on the toughness of Lex''s own body. While that did not mean that Lex was exposed to the devastation of the explosion in ce of the barrier, it did mean that the pressure he faced was directly proportional to what he was blocking. Yet this was only the beginning. Since the explosion was not allowed to spread, all its energy remained trapped within the barrier, alongside the remnants of the dragon fire as well. That in turn continued to result in subsequent explosions! The countless nations formed under the shadow of the Tree watched in horrifying awe as the Tree was reced by a chaotic mis of fire, light, and things they could notpletely understand. But this was not enough. A furnace was not designed to just hold heat, no, it was designed to melt and purify. Lex had employed every relevantw he could think of in designing this technique, because he was not satisfied with just containing the explosion. No, he wanted to refine the tree into a much smaller, much purer, and morepact material that he intended to use as an ingredient for his system. His mistake was in thinking that only natural ingredients could be absorbed by the system, but no one had ever stipted that. If he could refine the remains of an unbelievably powerful Mythical being, which had its potential repeatedly enhanced under the influence of Amber Chaos resin, then why couldn''t that be used as an ingredient? Thew of power, of defense, of control, of fire and many more were used to create this technique. For thews that hecked an affinity in, he made use of array characters to tap into their underlyingws. It might not be the best way to create a technique, but it was working damn well. Lex raised his trembling hands and pressed his fingers as if he was squeezing something, and the barrier began to shrink in size. Yet there was still a raging inferno within, and it resisted his every effort. It wanted nothing more than to break free. It wanted nothing more- A ck, burnt root suddenly mmed the barrier. Somehow, surrounded by endless fire, exploded by dragon fire, and squeezed by the immeasurable pressure with the Heavens furnace, the Tree of Heaven had still not died. Perhaps such a thing was to be expected. How could the influence of not one but several Dao level ingredients be limited to solely potential? But no matter how the tree bashed against the barrier, it did not budge. Considering that the barrier was the original size of the Tree, and yet now the Tree was lost within the mes, banging against the barrier for release, it was evident how much of the Tree had already burnt away. Cracks began to form on Lex''s skin as he struggled to maintain the technique, and keep the size of the barrier shrinking. Blood started to seep out of his nose and ears. Even with his great self control, he could not keep himself from grunting and groaning each time the tree smashed the barrier. But the barrier itself never once wavered. Besides light, the barrier allowed nothing else to escape. The ground did not so much as tremble when the explosions happened, and no one felt the Trees dying throes. There was just the visage of a tree shaped explosion, growing smaller slowly, forming a breathtakingly beautiful sight. It was as if a tree made entirely of swirling mes and reced the Tree of Heaven. For a time, Menara bathed in the glow of the burning tree, replicating the lights and colors of a beautiful dawn, and eventually, a breathtaking dusk. For two whole months, Lex kept the barrier in ce, slowly shrinking it. Finally, when it reached just two feet in size, the pressure finished. What remained was a me, still swirling and filled with all the colors of the sky, and fixed in the final shape of the Tree of Heaven. Lex let the barrier copse, finally, and approached the small tree made entirely of fire. He was hesitant at first, but from the tree he felt no danger, no heat. All he felt was a weing warmth. He touched it, and it was barely lukewarm in temperature. But much more warning than that was the sound of a notification he heard. Lex read it, and despite his horrendous state, smiled. Chapter 1093 Good day Chapter 1093 Good day ??New Notification: Unique grade ingredient Heavenly tree of Dragon Fire detected! Absorb ingredient to repair the system? It was a very simple notification, yet at the same time, it was immensely informative. Previously, the ingredients he found were either Heavenly, Celestial or Dao level ingredients. But the Heavenly tree of Dragon Fire was rated as unique. He did not know where on the scale that fell, but he was hoping that it would be enough. He only needed 3% more and his quest would beplete. It was both very close, and very far. Lex epted the prompt, and the tree of fire disappeared, absorbed into the system. Over the past couple of months Lex had beenpletely upied using Heaven''s furnace, to the point where he could not be distracted at all. He had thoroughly underestimated the vitality of the Tree, as it stayed alive right up until the very end, despite being trapped inside such a deadly inferno. He felt that while his estimate of the Treesbat strength was urate, he had underestimated how difficult it would be to kill. It only made sense. "Is it over?" Leonidus asked, walking up to Lex. Over the past couple of months, the battalion had made its way back to Lex and protected him the entire time in case he was attacked. It would have hardly mattered as his defense was incredible, but it would not have been a pleasant experience, which is why Lex was grateful for their help. They''d also used this time to finish their own objectives as well. Being teleported away mid-battle had been surprising, but when they saw what state the Tree had been brought to, they were quite understanding. But their job was quite a bit easier than they expected, because most zealots of the Tree, or the most devoted worshippers died on their own, leaving behind only shriveled bodies, as if they had been sucked dry of everything. After that, all the forces of the various countries under the shade of the tree were crippled on their own, leaving the battalion with nothing to do. While it was clear to many that those who had died had their energies absorbed by the Tree in a bid for survival, others med the battalion, so it wasn''t like protecting Lex was a walk in the park. But they suffered no casualties, which was all that mattered. "Yes, it''s over," Lex said, then turned to look around him. The tree was truly massive, and as it had suddenly disappeared, an enormous hole had been left in the ce where it once stood. But that was far from the extent of the repercussions of its sudden departure. Lex could feel that the Tree''s absence would affect everything from tectonic movements, to weather, the development of the entire continents civilizations, as well as the spiritual energy. Rather than decreasing, the concentration of spiritual energy on the continent was actually increasing, and quite noticeably. It seemed that the Tree had been monopolizing all that energy, but since it couldn''t cultivate further Lex had no idea what else it was doing with that energy. But at the same time, he didn''t care. To be more specific, as long as the Tree was truly dead and hadn''t left behind any clones or means or revival, he didn''t care. He tapped into his instincts, trying to determine if he could still feel the existence of the Tree, but they were silent. It was time to return, but first¡­ "Let the word spread," Lex''s voice echoed out over the countries that had once taken refuge with the tree. "This is what happens to those who dare attack the Midnight Inn." He didn''t really need to borate. He was sure that by now everyone knew exactly what was going on. But considering the distance from the Tree and the Inn, there was quite a decent chance that many didn''t know what was actually happening. Misinformation was also a dangerous thing, and he didn''t want the reputation of the Inn to be that they would attack people unprovoked. So he left a few final words, before epassing everyone with his spirit sense and teleporting them all back to the Inn. It had been a long few months, and Lex was extremely tired. In fact, his body ached to do nothing more than sleep, but Lex resisted the urge for a moment. He dragged his weary self out to the now repaired Midnight manor and sat himself down at the bar. The number of people in the bar was strangely few, but Lex didn''t mind right now. He was not in the most presentable condition anyway, so maybe it was for the best. "Give me something that will keep me awake for a little longer, something with a kick," Lex said without looking up. He closed his eyes and let himself rest. It was a little premature, but he genuinely felt like his quest would beplete now. It wasn''t something his instincts were telling him, rather, just his own feeling. If it proved to be true, then finally they would be past the teething problems of the Inn. That would officially mark the end of their move from the Origin realm, and the start of their time in the Midnight realm. He could begin to work out ways to send his guests back. He could train himself and the others. He could¡­ he could do many things. It was a beginning, and an ending, for only now did he feel like he was letting go of his dependance of the Origin realm. "Here, try this. We''ve recently harvested our own coffee beans at the Inn, so we''ve been trying various ways of making coffee." Lex was surprised at the familiar voice. He opened his eyes and saw Gerard in his waistcoat, standing behind the bar. "What are you doing here?" Lex asked. It had been a long time since Gerard had to fill a position such as bartender. It was only in the early days of the Inn that he had filled such a role. "I was just feeling a little nostalgic today. There must be something in the air, because it''s affecting everyone." He nodded his head, and Lex turned and found that Z had huddled up in a corner of the bar, put on his headphones and was watching anime. Velma was sitting at the grand piano, ying a soft, romantic melody. Vera and her mother were sitting at a table nearby, ying cards, of all things. Harry and his wife were in another corner, talking to a group of friends. Of all things, John was even here, though he was sitting alone and scribbling something on a notebook. There were a few other new and old faces, but Lex was suddenly taken back to the first few days of the Inn. It had all been so hectic back then, yet looking back, for all the stress he had ensured back then, they were good times. Lex smiled, and took a sip of his coffee, taking in its rich, aromatic vors. "This is pretty good," Lex said. Gerard only nodded, and went to serve someone else. Lex didn''t talk much. He didn''t go and join any other conversations. He just sat there and enjoyed the pleasant environment. Who knew what the future held, but at least the present was pretty good. Lex thought back to some of his old guests. It had been a while since he had seen old man Will or Helen, or thatzy sloth that had given him so much trouble back then. He wondered how they were all doing. There was also little Tiffany who had grown up. As the chosen one of a, her life was probably very hectic, right? Everyone else probably also had a lot of things keeping them busy, maybe stressing them out.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om But it was only with such a busy, hectic life that one could appreciate the charm of the Midnight Inn. It allowed them to take a small pause from the troubles of their life - take a small break, recover, and then move on. Lex suddenly had an impulsive whim to open the Inn back up to everyone. Keeping the Inn closed was a real disservice to everyone who needed a vacation. But it was just an impulsive thought, he couldn''t actually do it. He had to strengthen himself first - at least till he was ready to be an immortal. Lex took another sip, and looked around the room. Everything was so peaceful. It was quite nice, but he couldn''t help but miss Marlo. Sometimes, a little crazy energy was also quite rejuvenating. "I''m too young to be feeling so nostalgic," Lex murmured to himself, and took another sip of the coffee. Why was it so damn good? How had he never thought of trying this before? But after another hour, even the coffee began to fail Lex, and he was forced to bid farewell to the rxing environment of the bar and retire to his bedroom. After a quick shower, he threw himself to bed. Chapter 1094 Barrage of notifications Chapter 1094 Barrage of notifications ??The next week should have been very rxing for Lex, considering he just had to wait for the system to finish absorbing the Heavenly tree of Dragon Fire, but that was far from what actually happened. Once he recovered from his exhaustion, Lex spent a little time rxing and cultivating, but that had its limits, so he returned to the Inn to see if there were things that required his attention. For the most part, the Inn hadpletely recovered from the attack. All was well - or at least, that''s how it appeared on the surface. But the fluctuations that the realm experienced hadn''t gone unnoticed by the various guests. Knowledgeable and experienced as they were, many guests immediately realized what had happened. The realm was too weak to contain the strength of an Earth immortal. Unfortunately, that led to a lot of spection. The various guests who wanted to leave began to secretly meet and discuss if the weakness of the realm was the real reason the Innkeeper had disappeared. If that was the case... this presented a few opportunities. Some were beginning to consider if they could return to where they came from if they destabilized the realm enough, while others began to consider the potential gains of monopolizing an entire new realm! The only risk was that sooner orter, the Innkeeper would find a way to get revenge even if he could not enter the realm - not to mention they had no real confirmation if that was the case to begin with. The threat of the Innkeeper was the only thing keeping them from taking action, but that didn''t change the fact that they were still whispering about it. The only reason Lex discovered this to begin with was the increased potency of his instincts. The Midnight Inn was supposed to have a malicious intent detection system, though Lex did not think it was working properly. It hardly ever detected anyone who actually had the means to do harm to the Inn, just some low level miscreants. But now, his instincts were disying simr characteristics. Even though they were not specifically targeting Lex in their considerations, the Inn was closely rted to Lex, and so he picked up on it. After that, well, all he had to do was spy on the thoughts of some of them to discover what was going on. He made sure to only target those weaker than himself so he wouldn''t get caught, and then kept an eye on them. Although initially he felt some sympathy for these guests who had been sort of kidnapped, that was no longer the case. Now, Lex was just patiently waiting for the system to return to functionality so he could kick them out and ban them! That didn''t change the fact that there were countless immortals teetering on the edge of turning against him. That is why his week was spent monitoring the rebellious group and noting down their names. There was a chance that this was not everyone, and that some were even more cautious about it, but Lex could do nothing about that for now. But, on the eighth day, Lex heard the one sound he had been waiting for, and immediately checked his notification! A wide grin appeared on his face as he read it. New Notification: Heavenly tree of Dragon Fire absorbed! System repaired 8%! System functionality at 40.2%!N?v(el)B\\jnn Quest Complete: (System failure detected! Immediately restore the system to minimum 35% functionality before permanent system shutdown!) Quest Reward: Return of normal system functions! Remarks: Why were you taking mini-vacations while I was struggling to keep the system running?!?!?! New Notification: Teleportation functions back online! All normal day-to-day services back online! New Notification: Due to the system regaining 40% functionality, new features have been unlocked! New Features: 1. Guest satisfaction rating 2. Host Attire upgrade 3. Realmw replication 4. Branch management functionality (Tavern) 5. Inn level division New Notification: Due to improvement of system functionality, various quality of life upgrades have been performed. New Notification: Due to improvement of system functionality, various operational bugs have been addressed. New Notification: Host authority raised! Authority level: 5. New Quest: Insufficiency in Midnight services has been detected! Provide materials to strengthen Space and Laws within the territory of the Inn to facilitate realm tribtions! 1. 0/1000 Lightning tribtion shards 2. 0/1000 Fire tribtion embers 3. 0/1000 Space crystals Quest time limit: 5 years! Quest reward: Subject to performance! Quest failure punishment: 100 year cultivation lock Remarks: I told you the consequences of getting answers woulde in the form of quests! New Quest: Sometimes guests find an Inn, but sometimes, the Inn finds its guests! Change the destiny of 100 guests! Quest time limit: 5 years! Quest reward: Subject to performance! Quest failure punishment: Destiny level formation will be suspended for 100 years! Remarks: Buddy, the next time you need my help, I''m going to go to a bar and get a drink! New Quest: Sometimes, the Inn guestse to the Inn, and other times, the Inn must go to the guests! Bring a branch of the Inn to an event significantly affecting a specific cultivation realm: 1. 0/1 Mortal realm event 2. 0/1 Body tempering event 3. 0/1 Qi training event 4. 0/1 Foundation realm event 5. 0/1 Golden core event 6. 0/1 Nascent soul event Quest reward: Midnight Inn branch upgrade (Tavern) Remarks: I heard you need your employees'' help to get a date. No wonder you drink every time you see a bar. New Notification: Absorbing systems below rank B- will no longer upgrade system functionality. Oh boy, there was a lot to unpack here. New features, interesting new upgrades, quality of life improvements, new quests that honestly did not seem to be as difficult as he was expecting, and much more. He even missed the system''s attitude. But, before doing any of that, Lex equipped the newly upgraded Host Attire, and searched for all the guests who wanted to leave the Inn, as well as those who were considering monopolizing the realm for themselves! If nothing else, the malicious intent function was working a lot better, because he could easily identify everyone who was nning on taking advantage of the Innkeepers absence. With a wave of his hand, he kicked them all out, and banned them from evering back! Then, with another wave of his hand, everyone who wanted to leave the Inn was also sent back. At the same time, all the buildings that had been repaired by the workers, but were left with tiny or barely noticeable imperfections were all fixed. The terrain, the ground, the roads and public transport were all immediately repaired as well. At the same time, every single personal assistant for every guest was upgraded, so that they would inform the guests that the teleportation function was temporarily back online. If anyone wanted to leave now, they could do so. In fact, they were encouraged to do so because the teleportation services were going to be shut down in a few days once again, and this time they might be closed for years! If anyone wanted to stay back, not only did they need to pay for a deposit for their long stay, they also had to agree to the fact that they would not cause any issues until teleportation functions were turned back on. If they decided to stay, but then caused issuester on, they would be permanently banned from the Inn! Everyone was surprised by the sudden changes, and for a moment thought that the Innkeeper had returned. But Lex did not reappear as the Innkeeper, and remained hidden. After all, he wanted to focus on all the new notifications he got, and take his time understanding the new features one by one. Like an excited little boy about to unwrap his christmas presents, Lex rubbed his hands together and pulled up the interface and began going through everything. With the return of the teleportation function, new guests were able toe to the Inn from outside again, but he intended to use a token to seal the Inn soon, so that was the least of his concerns. He began going through the new features for now. First off was the Guest satisfaction rating. From now on, the experience of each guest would be recorded and automatically tabted. Lex could check individual as well as cumtive satisfaction ratings. If his satisfaction rating fell¡­ Lex froze. This was not so much an upgrade as it was a sort of setback! If his cumtive guest satisfaction fell below a certain rating, it would affect his ability to use MP and MT! Basically, it added a condition to his use of money! Maybe this was something that should have existed from the get go, but since Lex never needed to worry about this before, its sudden arrival was a huge downer. Especially since right now he had just kicked out thousands of unsatisfied guests. The fact that they were unsatisfied, and the fact that he had kicked them out both contributed to lowering the cumtive results! He was currently only at 62%! Chapter 1095 New features Chapter 1095 New features ??Lex groaned. Of course nothing was ever easy. He focused on the details to learn more. The lower his guest satisfaction rating, the more expensive things would be to buy using MP! It was a very straightforward rtionship, and yet extremely effective. "What''s the point of this? It wasn''t as if I was not looking after my guests'' experiences," hemented, but there was no one to give him an answer. Well, he did just kick out and ban a bunch of guests because they irritated him. But in his defense, they were nning on acting against the Inn! Just for aparison, he checked the price of a regr room. Ordinarily, it cost him 500 MP to buy it, but with his current satisfaction rating it cost 806 MP. It was not too bad, but he could see how, when applied across hundreds or thousands of purchases, even a price increase of 1 MP could cost him an immense amount. This added a new hurdle to manage, but it wasn''t so bad. He was confident he could quickly raise the satisfaction rating, not to mention that if the cumtive satisfaction rating was about 95% he would gain ess to special perks.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Next, he turned his attention to the upgrades to the Host Attire. For one, it no longer needed to be an entire ensemble, but rather a single clothing item. That did not seem like much of an upgrade, until Lex saw that the attire now had an active and passive mode. In active mode the attire would take on its normal appearance, and Lex would look like the Innkeeper to any who saw him. But in the inactive mode, Lex would still look like Lex, but with the added benefit that he could stillpletely and thoroughly control the Inn, like he could while wearing the attire. This included when he was not actually inside the Inn! But outside the Inn, the attire would only remain in its inactive mode, and so Lex could not pretend to be the Innkeeper. It was a nice upgrade, considering that it would keep him connected to the Inn basically all the time now. Mostly, it was just a recement for the fact that the system was supposed to fuse with his soul by now. Much more interesting than the first two was the third new feature, which was Realmw replication. Basically, just like how the Inn had various different biomes to support various different guests, such askes for aquatic guests, temples for divine guests and so on, the realm could now replicate thews of certain realms to amodate guests who could only survive in very specific conditions. One example of unusualws was the ce Lex visited just a few months ago, where he turned into a 2D character. Although it was technically still this realm, thews within that small region werepletely different. One of the primary reasons for that was that the Midnight realm itself was brand new, and far from stabilizing, so thews that governed the realm had not been fully established. That meant there was a certain possibility that thews that turned the world 2D might actually take over the realm! Although, more realistically, chances were high that thosews would slowly be corrected. But the system could not replicate thosews out of nothing. Just as he had to spend a certain amount of time ons to connect them to the system, he had to spend a certain amount of time in realms with specialws for the system to be able to replicate them. This was extremely interesting. Lex hadn''t experienced going to any realms with uniquews yet, but then again, how many realms had he even been to? ording to what he understood, even the Origin realm, which was thergest and strongest realm he had ever been to, was not apletely mature realm, let alone the Crystal realm or Midnight realm. But he had no doubt that sooner orter he would get a chance to visit some of these realms. If that was the case, being able to replicate their uniquews not only enabled him to host more guests, it provided new attractions for guests as well. He could totally see a family taking a vacation and heading into a 2D world for a while. Who knew what other strange realms there were out there? He would definitely try to capture thews of that 2D ce before it disappeared, if it was possible. Since they weren''t thews of an entire realm he wasn''t sure if it would work. The next was the Branch Management functionality. To an extent, it already existed. After all, he had established the tavern long ago. But Lex felt like the appearance of the tavern hadn''t been so much because he taunted the system, but because it was a pre-existing feature that was released since he theoretically had full authority at the time, and asked for it. The Branch Management functionality refined some of the features he already had ess to, such as the rumor room which was something he only had in the tavern, but more importantly it brought one new incredibly amazing feature to the tavern! No longer was the tavern fixed in one location! He could teleport it to any realm or connected to the Inn, and if he bought special tickets, he could even teleport it to unconnecteds! More importantly, even while he kept the Inn sealed, he could continue to operate the tavern, which meant he could technicallyplete all his quests while keeping the Inn sealed! Much like the system said, instead of waiting for guests toe to him, it was time to take his tavern to various guests! The notion was actually quite exciting. He could already imagine all the various adventures he could have in the traveling Inn. Heh, this is his reward from holding himself back from adventuring when he was looking for ingredients. The next feature, the Inn level division, was actually one that made a lot of sense and he had been wondering about for a while. At the moment, the spiritual energy concentration in the Inn was quite pure and high, which was beneficial to everyone. But that was also because everyone here were either locals, or suitably powerful. Such a high energy concentration would actually be quite dangerous for weaker guests. That is where the level division woulde in. It was great that he got a lot morend, because now he would need to develop more of the Inn. Starting from level 0, which basically had the same amount of spirit energy as Earth, if only a little purer, all the way to level 5, which matched his authority level, the Inn would be divided into various levels. The spiritual energy in each level would be different, but at the same time, so would be the cost of living there. For example, 1 MP is equal to $1000 from back on Earth, which effectively meant that most humans on earth would never be able to actually afford living here. But now, on level one, the price would be drastically reduced, so that normal guests could also afford it. Of course, guests who had high cultivation levels but were on a budget could also choose to reside in a lower level. Basically, the Inn was now amodating all price ranges, which meant a lot more guests could actuallye here. These were just the newest features that had been added. Various existing services had been improved, though he did not know the details, and some of the loopholes he depended on had been fixed. This included the issue with teleportation. Previously, many guests would sneak into the Inn from ces they weren''t supposed to be in, and then teleport back when they needed to do something devious. Many robberies had beenmitted like this, not to mention assassinations and other crimes. Beingplicit to such criminal activities was not really the best for the Inns image, so Lex addressed the issue, but it was far from ideal. Now the system fixed it on its own. Anyone could teleport to the Inn from anywhere, that was still true, so technically criminals could still use it to escape. But if guests tried to teleport back, they would not be sent exactly back to the same location, unless they had permission or were supposed to be there. If they did not have permission to return to the ce they teleported from originally, they would just be sent to a public spot nearby. That was still simr to the change that Lex made, but what was different was that guests could now purchase a permanent teleportation point. That meant that they could choose to return to that permanent spot instead of where they arrived from! This was not a perfect solution, and actually made it easier for criminals to get away, but Lex guessed the system wasn''t thinking about that when it added the feature. Chapter 1096 Easy

Chapter 1096 Easy

The upgrade to the features was nice. It also indicated that as the system''s functionality was being repaired, its performance was also increasing. EVen this was only at 40% functionality. Lex could not even imagine what would happen if the system reached 50%, or even 100%! On top of everything, Lex''s system authority had also increased to level 5! That was incredibly useful, as he could now purchase even more things from the system directly! More powerful and diverse formations, get more detailed answers from Mary, as well as exercise his control over more aspects of the Inn. Although the notification about his authority increase was the simplest, it was perhaps the most useful. That only left behind the three quests he had been given altogether! But even if he had been given three quests at once, Lex did not feel pressured or rmed by them. Instead, not only did they seem pretty easy to aplish, they also seemed very interesting. They also seemed designed especially for thetest application of his tavern. N?v(el)B\\jnn The first quest was to provide materials that could strengthen thews within the Inns territory. Lex had a strong suspicion that the system could easily get them if it wished, but was delegating the task to Lex to make him suffer. But the thing was, both Lightning tribtion shards and space crystals were things he could easily get! In fact, Vera had only recently reminded him that there were countless oracles still within the Inn who were requesting his service to remove lightning shards from their souls. Each person had dozens to hundreds of such shards in their soul, depending on their level. Gathering these would be the easiest, and he would actually get paid to do so! The Space crystals should have, theoretically, been the hardest to find. They were formed as a crystallization of space, which is something that did not happen naturally. Under normal circumstances, Lex would have had to go to a ce where space had been shattered and was rebuilding, or find fragments of space that had be trapped within the void, or go to ces where the spacews had suffered some abnormal mutation and resulted in space crystals. But as it happened, since the Midnight realm was a developing realm, and its space was ever expanding and growing, even though itsws had notpletely settled yet, the entire realm was riddled with space crystals. He didn''t even need to leave the territory of the Inn and he''d be able to find an entire mine for it, so getting a mere 1000 crystals was¡­ maybe worth five minutes of effort? If he was slow about it. Fire tribtion embers, then, became the difficult thing to collect. It was not something that could be found within the Midnight realm, and getting his hands on it might have taken some effort if circumstances were different. But, due to Lex''s deep history withva and volcanoes, he had been thoroughly researching themtely, and discovered a specific region within the Origin realm. It was a particr star that, for reasons no one knew, was made up entirely of Fire tribtion fire. It had been that way for thousands of years, and was a very famous spot used by many to train for their fire tribtions. That did not mean it would be easy to get his hands of Fire embers from there, but with his history with the infinity emporium, he was sure he could hire them to get some embers, if they didn''t have some saved up already. So basically the one quest that had the most dangerous punishment could be easily resolved. With the teleportation function operational, Lex could even go and give the infinity emporium themission right now! In fact, that was one of the first things he nned on doing. Now that a bunch of guests had been sent out of the Inn, the news that the Inn had an entirely new realm all to itself would spread. That would, inevitably, attract some kind of trouble. That was one of the reasons why he wanted to close the Inn as quickly as possible. But having it open for a short time offered many advantages that he wanted to avail. In short, the first quest was not nearly as difficult as it was made out to be. He even intended toplete it as quickly as possible to get the best possible reward. Then came the second quest. It was hard to determine how easy or difficult this would be. Theoretically, it should be pretty easy. He just needed to find some guests on the verge of dying and save them, or maybe lend weak guests a cultivation technique or something along those lines. With the tavern traveling from ce to ce, within five years, it shouldn''t be difficult to change the destiny of just a hundred people. That finally left the third quest, which was to attend six events, each specifically focused on a different cultivation level. This again did not seem hard. With ess to countless worlds, finding six measly events over the course of five years should not be hard at all. The only thing that Lex was slightly curious about was whether those five years were in the Midnight realm, or outside? Since time flowed three times faster in the Midnight realm than in the Origin realm, if he only had five years here, then that would equate to a little more than a year in the Origin realm. Whereas if it were five years in the Origin realm, it would be equal to fifteen years here. Considering he intended to use the tavern toplete the quests, he hoped it followed the timeline of the Origin realm, but he had a feeling that was too much to ask for. Lastly, there was the restriction on the grade of systems he could absorb. It was a predictable issue, considering what happened with the resin. But it wasn''t urgent, so he''d deal with it in the future. Chapter 1097 Favourite kind of troubles

Chapter 1097 Favourite kind of troubles

Speaking of five years, there was another matter as well. Vera had given him a prophecy, and told him that he needed to visit a specific in exactly five years. Those five years, he was sure, referred to Origin realm years, so that was something he needed to keep in mind. With various different time flows to deal with now, keeping track of time in each realm would be something that required conscious effort. Atst, there was one final thing he needed to consider and decide before once again sealing the Inn. Should he send his clone out into the Origin realm, or keep it here within the Midnight realm? There were benefits to both, which is why this was something he had been unable to instantly decide. He could only deliberate it over the next few days. With all his decisions made, Lex began to act. Time was of the essence. He wanted to minimize his time as much as possible, but how long that was depended on how quickly the Infinity Emporium provided him with the embers. Lex teleported back to X-142 and was about to head into the emporium when he paused, and itched his nose. After spending so much time in the Midnight realm,ing back to the Origin realm made him feel slightly nauseous. Considering the fact that he was in the Nascent realm, making him feel anything was a considerable task. But this nausea was not random. It was only now that he had returned to the Origin realm that he realized how impure its spirit energy felt. It was not something he had noticed before. But why was that the case? He had never noticed anything wrong with the spiritual energy here before, nor had he heard anyonein. Sure, there were some ces with higher and lower energy concentrations, but that was normal. But his instincts told him that this was a matter he should pay attention to, but it wasn''t dangerous. Lex rubbed his nose, as if clearing something out, before returning to?normal. The nausea faded, but he could not forget that it had been there to begin with. Lex walked into the Emporium, and could not help but notice that the energy here was much purer. "Lex, my friend, I was wondering when I''d see you again," said Powell excitedly. "I have some great news! Hehe, did you know someone captured videos of the Silent Wanderer in one of the Fuegan warzones. Rumor has it that¡­ the owner of the ship even dared threaten Earth immortals right inside themand center and survived unharmed! "Hehe, that news, alongside a lot of clever marketing has caused the Havalier Industries to be even more famous! They approached the emporium, wondering if they could connect to the owner of the Wanderer for future marketing cooperation. Long story short, I, your good brother, got you two free models of theirtest ship, the Silent Dream!" Lex was stunned. This was unexpected. Powellughed seeing Lex''s expression, and seemed even happier. "Come quickly! I''ve been waiting for you toe for so long! Thankfully you''re here, so I can finally show them to you." Powell practically dragged Lex to the back of the shop and brought him to a hangar. There were a number of ships parked, but none of them contained the same elegance as the Silent Wanderer. Though the reason for that was quickly exined. Much like the Silent Wanderer, Silent dream could be stored in a special spatial container. Powell activated the container that looked like an arm band, and a massive ship appeared in front of him. If the Silent Wanderer had been a corvette ss ship, then this one was a Frigate. It was muchrger, so it could contain not only hundreds if not thousands of people as well as a lot of cargo, but it was also greatly armored and had visible weaponponents on its exterior. Frigate ss ships, while mainly designed for scouting and patrols purposes, could also take on offensive and defensive roles. Sure, itcked the stealth and speed of the Silent Wanderer, but the Silent Dream''s purpose was also different. This was more suited for long voyages through space, or for exploratory purposes. Lex turned to look at Powell, whose eyes were sparkling as he looked up at the ship. "You said there were two of these?" he asked. "Yes, yes. Actually, there were going to be more, but for that you would need to actively participate in marketing. With just two, you have no obligation to do anything. Havalier Industries just hopes that if you participate in any more interster warfare, you can record a few videos for marketing purposes." "This is excellent. I''ll happily take one, and I think you deserve to have the other." Powell was stunned, and looked at Lex in shock. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "No, no, this is yours, how could I¡­" "Yes, it''s mine. And I''m giving you one as a gift for helping me get such a good deal. Since it''s mine, I can give it as a gift, right?" "I¡­ I guess," Powell said, trying to hide his own excitement. He was clearly a little awkward about this, but the fact that he liked the gift was enough for Lex. The emporium had been integral in his journey, so building better rtions with Powell was not a bad idea. Moreover, it didn''t cost him anything either. "Now Powell, I''d like to stay and chat with you here about this, but I''m afraid I''m in a bit of a time crunch, as I usually am. The list of items I need this time are not easy, but I''ve brought an advance payment. Three drops of Mountain Milk." Powell was startled, and then his eyes gleamed. How could he ever forget why he loved Lex so much? He was always a big spender. "First, I need all the information you have on fairies. Secondly, I just came back from another realm, and I can''t help but notice that the energy in this realm seems¡­ polluted, for some reason. If you have any information about that, I''d like to purchase all rted information. I need 1000 Fire tribtion embers. Oh, also, I need aprehensive instruction manual about treasure manufacturing, formations, pill refinement¡­" The list of things Lex needed this time was extremely extensive which was really troubling. But Powell wished he would face these kinds of troubles everyday! Chapter 1098 Finally meeting Chapter 1098 Finally meeting ??"Ten days?" Lex repeated, as he thought about the deadline. That was a lot longer than Lex was hoping to keep the Inn open. What if by then a Henali wanted to visit his new realm? "It can''t be helped," Powell said, feeling embarrassed. "The other items you''ve listed, while numerous, will take only a few days. But the Fire tribtion embers need to be collected freshly and stored in a special container. They will notst long once removed from the source, which is why we have none in store." Besides the Fire tribtion embers, Lex had also asked for books and resourcesprehensively exining various cultivation concepts. This was not actually expensive, because Lex had a perpetual deal ongoing with the emporium, who were still providing him with Golden core techniques. Frankly, there probably weren''t enough Golden core techniques in existence topensate Lex for the amount he was owed, so he just switched them from Golden core techniques to a muchrger list of subjects. Since he nned on shutting down the Inn for a long time, he wanted all possible knowledge he could need so that he wouldn''t be left in need but without means. Personally, he could rely on Pel, but he didn''t want to ce all his eggs in one basket. Moreover, this would help the rest of his workers, not to mention that the Midnight Library still seemed incredibly bare, so it would help to fill that. "Well, do what you can. I''ll pay more if you can hurry up the delivery. I''ll check in regrly." Powell looked like he was struggling, but Lex didn''t mind him. He had too many other things to do. Since there were, give or take, ten days that the Inn would be open, he immediately sent as many of his workers as he could to the Temple of Fasting to make best use of this time. Meanwhile, Lex returned to the Inn and went over the document Powell had handed him regarding the spiritual energy purity. It seemed like this wasmon knowledge. Spiritual energy purity was a double edged sword. As it turned out, it was functionally impossible to maintain an extremely high energy purity. That did not mean that it could not be done, but that the costs outweigh the benefits of such a task. Moreover, having a high spiritual energy came with drawbacks as well. For example, all the beings born in the Midnight realm, at the moment, were naturally stronger than their peers from a more mature realm, such as the Origin realm. But consequently, it was that much harder for them to grow to a higher level. This was exactly why, though Mythical beings were usually identified as the strongest beings in a realm, very few of them survived till the realm matured. This was because there woulde a time they would lose the natural advantage they''d have as Mythical beings because their progress would slow down considerably when they reach the Heavenly immortal realm. It was actually quitemon that the first to reach the Celestial realm in a maturing realm was not a Mythical being, but a much more recently born being. At that point, even though a Mythical being maintained superiority within their realm, they would be disadvantaged against a superior enemy. Moreover, heading towards some degree of impurity was the natural direction followed by the entire universe itself. Even the spiritual energy that Lex identified as exceptionally pure, was actually just a result of chaos energy bing so impure it degraded in quality. limating to a slightly impure energy might be beneficial for cultivators, or else they would have a simr, or even stronger reaction than Lex did upon returning to the Origin realm. Lex frowned as he continued to read the document. This document just discussed themonly known knowledge that the emporium shared with Lex. He intended to do some more research on it, as he felt like it might be worth looking into this. For example¡­ if chaos energy was the superior form of spiritual energy, then considering his cultivation technique, Lex could adapt to even absorbing that! Would that make him stronger than cultivators who trained with spiritual energy? He wanted to gather more information on this topic from the emporium, as well as consult Pel and possibly even Cassandra, and anyone else he could ask. He felt like there might be more to this matter than it appeared. Moreover, with a system avable to him, he did not think it would be difficult to maintain the energy purity levels at all. He could even ask Mary. Now that his authority was much higher, there was a good chance she could answer many of his questions. Just as he was about to call on his ever helpful holographic assistant, Mary appeared in front of him on her own, this time wearing a Nascar driver costume. "There are some guests here who want to talk to you," she said, as she summoned a projection of an F1 car for her to lean against. "The Innkeeper hasn''t officially returned yet. I''m not seeing anyone," Lex said. "They''re not here to see the Innkeeper. They''re here to see you, Lex Williams. Hmm, maybe I shouldn''t start with that. Your ancestors are here to see you. Considering that your ancestor looks just like you, and a lot of people have started to recognise you, they''ve more or less confirmed that you''re here somewhere. Of course, it''s up to you whether you want to meet with them or not." On instinct Lex was about to dismiss them. He did not care much for the William family. But then he paused. His family issue was not one that was going to disappear overnight, and ignoring it wouldn''t do anything either. Not to mention that he was much stronger now, and had more self confidence. Of course, it was not to the level of facing his ancestor, who was apparently a Heavenly Immortal. But at the risk of decreasing his satisfaction rating a little more, he could always just eject the guy from the Inn and ban him. It seemed like there wasn''t any danger in facing him anymore, so he might as well just do it. "Alright, tell them I''ll meet with them. Who else is here besides William?" It was a redundant question. He already knew the answer, since the moment he paid attention to them, he found out everything. "It''s just William and Jotun."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Chapter 1099 Bubbling anger Chapter 1099 Bubbling anger ??Lex really thought that he''d have felt a lot of emotions when he finally confronted his family members, but to be honest, he did not. The only thing he felt was a mild irritation, and a desire to get it over with. Keeping that in mind, Lex directly teleported over to them. He did not prepare specially for the meeting. He did not don his suit. In fact, he didn''t even maintain the illusion that kept his appearance from seeming older. As nothing but a toddler wearing shorts and a T-shirt, Lex teleported over to the emperor as well as his ancestor. They were at the Midnight manor, reading the guest registry, which had only just restarted working. A lot of names had been shuffled, but Lex''s name remained right at the top.N?v(el)B\\jnn Lex''s sudden appearance was, of course, not unnoticed by the two, but for a moment they failed to realize that this was the person who they were looking for. But, besides his physique, Lex was not trying to hide anything so through blood resonance they immediately identified Lex. "I hear you''re looking for me," Lex said, his tone nd. Normally, Lex would be warm and enthusiastic, regardless of what the meeting was for, but at the moment he was really not in the mood. "Are you... Lex?" William asked, hesitantly. "You look different from what I had imagined." "I hold no responsibility for your imagination," Lex answered simply. Okay so maybe he was slightly enjoying being bitter and unreasonable. Lex med his baby hormones for it entirely. "Your bone age and soul age are different," Jotunmented insightfully. "Have you suffered some grave injury recently? Is that why you shifted to a new body? But no, the bloodline of this body is the same. Did you recreate your body? Or clone it?" Lex resisted the urge to sigh. Normally, he would find some clever way to exin how he had be a meat patty and then healed back into human form, but as previously stated, he was not in a chatty mood. But he had to admit that Jotun seemed very knowledgeable, which only made sense considering he was the emperor to such a massive empire. "How can I help you both?" Lex asked, instead of answering the question. "I am quite busy and have many things to do. I''d like to get this over with as quickly as possible" It would not take a genius to identify that Lex was not exactly eager to talk to them which was not exactly a great start. "There are actually a few things we want to talk to you about. How about we find somewhere private where we can talk?" William asked, and Lex just nodded, letting them lead him to a room they had booked. Then an awkward silence fell in between them, though Lex wasn''t the one feeling awkward. Finally, William was the one who broke the silence. "We have not been properly introduced, so allow me to change that. My name is William, and this is my brother, Jotun. We have been trying to look for you for a long time." "I''m Lex, but I guess you already knew that. Like I said, I''ve been busy, and I''m still quite busy." "Clearly," William responded, ignoring the hint to speed up their conversation. "Do you have any idea about why we have been looking for you?" "Well, I can venture a guess. Is it because you think being rted to me gives you some kind of connection or leverage over me? I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but quite frankly, that does not mean much to me. If you think I can give you some perks at the Midnight Inn, then you''re sorely mistaken." "You''re quite moody," Jotunmented once more. "Maybe your bone age and mental age are actually the same." William could not help but chuckle while Lex only scoffed. "Look I didn''te to you, you came to me. If you want something, get to the point. If not, I''m leaving. I am neither your subordinate nor do I have any obligation to sit here and just listen to your nonsense." "Hey, hey, hey, we''re getting to the point," Jotun said, waving his hand telling Lex to calm down. "Isn''t itmon to discuss a few random topics in any conversation? But forget it, I''ll cut to the chase. We want to establish a rtionship with you. I believe it will be mutually beneficial for us if we work together." "What can you even offer me? And what can you possibly even hope to gain from me? I''ve told you, you will get no extra Inn benefits from me. Besides that, I don''t see how I can help you." Jotun nced at William, who nodded and took over the conversation. "Well, actually there are many things we can help each other with, even within our own private capacity. To start with¡­ it seems like you have some¡­ misunderstandings with your immediate family. Perhaps we can¡­" "Misunderstandings? That''s one way of phrasing being lied to my whole life as. I realize that I don''t even know if anything those people told me is the truth at all. Did I even have sisters? Are those even my real parents? No, William, I have no interest in listening to exnations, especially from someone else. If Leon and Serene wished to rify things, they had many years to do so. I am not interested in someone elseing in giving justifications on their behalf. If there''s something else, you should mention it now. Or else, I think we''re done here." The ever calm Lex was no longer calm, as he let his anger get the better of him. An image of a sword reappeared in his eye after a long time, fueling his emotions even more, which was immediately spotted by Jotun and William both. "I see," Jotun said carefully. "Well, there are still other things we can offer you. I will leave this here for you to check in your own time. Once you''ve had time to consider things, we can meet again." Jotun ced an envelope on the table in front of Lex, and then stood up alongside William. "We won''t bother you more right now, though we hope that the next time wee, you can indulge us with one more meeting. Also¡­ you might want to get that sword looked at. If you wish, I can help you with that as well." Lex''s anger, which was bubbling out of control, suddenly cooled down as he forced himself into the Flow state. It had been a while since he lost control of his emotions and let the sword take over. He had almost forgotten about it. Jotun''s reminder immediately calmed him down, but perhaps their departure was for the best. Lex only nodded, and put the envelope away before teleporting back to his meditation room. Understandably, his emotions were a mess. Slowly, he let go of his Flow state, and began to meditate. Back in the Midnight manor, Jotun and William began discussing their ns among themselves. If Lex really had the bloodline mutation they suspected, then they had to build a good rtionship with him. This was best taken slowly, lest they mess up. Fortunately, William had anticipated the possibility that Lex might not be very receptive to them considering the unusual circumstances with his family, so this was not a real setback. That envelope was just one of many ns he had made to build a good rtionship between them. Chapter 1100 Once again Chapter 1100 Once again ??It took several hours for Lex to regain his calm, and once he finished his meditation, Lex could not help but frown. It had been a long time since he lost control and had the sword show up. But this was a reminder that just because a problem stopped appearing for a while did not mean it had gone away. He needed to work on his sword intent and make this sword go away. But much more than that, Lex was disappointed in himself. Was this all it took to get under his skin? It was understandable if he got angry when his Inn was attacked, or his workers, but just a random mention of his parents was enough to set him off? It didn''t feel good to have such a ring weakness. He had no interest in going looking for people who had essentially abandoned him - at least originally he didn''t. But today his anger had even spilled over to his sisters. This showed that this was not something he had been ignoring because he was over it, but rather because he was hiding from it. He didn''t want to face it. But now that he realized that he didn''t want to face it, that left him with no choice but to face it head on. After all, that''s what Lex did with all his weaknesses. It was the reason he kept looking for volcanoes, and the reason he kept pushing himself to face adventures and dangerous situations. If he had a weak mentality he would have stopped exploring new worlds right after nearly getting killed by zombies back on Vegua Minima. Or right after getting chased by wolves in Nibiru. Or any of the countless near death experiences- Lex paused. Was he brave, or did he have some special kind of crazy that kept looking for near death experiences? No, no, he wasn''t crazy. It waspletely normal to want to hone oneself on the razors edge between life and death. He paused again. That definitely sounded a little concerning. But he felt fine. In short, he decided to face William and Jotun again, but not right now. He would face them right before the Inn closed, as he had other things he wanted to focus on right now. He had already tied up loose ends in the Origin realm before leaving to the Midnight realm, so there wasn''t much for him to do there. For the next few days all he needed to do was ensure that everyone who came into the Inn knew that he would seal it soon. But whether it was coincidence, or because the Inn had been sealed for so long, the resurgence of guestsing to the Inn was massive. Many people he hadn''t seen for a long time came back, such as Ragnar! Thest thing Lex remembered was that the general had lost severely to the devil Warheil, and had thus been infected, ready to turn into a zombie. But now that he saw Ragnar, it had not even been so long, but he looked pretty good. He did not look like a dying man at all. In fact, he looked healthier than ever! But at that point Lex stopped spying, because the emperor Jotun then brought in his daughter, and began discussing the details for their marriage! Many guests came, and as a result, Lex also finally learned about the war between Jotun and the Fiery Mammoths! It turned out another reason Jotun was at the Inn was to have a meeting with the leaders of the Mammoths to discuss a truce. That discussion turned into an argument, which led to a duel to the death! The situation escted so quickly that Lex was absolutely certain that the Jotun emperor had nned this from the start. The emperor initiated a challenge in the Murder ground, and they both disappeared the instant the mammoth epted. Lex was mentally preparing himself for the fact that this fight mightst until the Inn is once again sealed, but in only a few minutes, the emperor returned, holding a corpse many times his size. Negotiations broke off and the war would continue, but Lex was impressed by the emperor''s might. The mammoth he faced had to have a simr realm as him, yet the emperor ended the fight in mere minutes. It was not for nothing that the man had been selected to work for the Henali. But he was far from the only noteworthy person to appear. Kenta Haru, the heir to Tiya, was visited by his adopted father, who was also a Celestial Immortal. But after a brief visit, they disappeared. Much more rming was the fact that Loretta herself appeared at the Inn once more, followed closely by another devil Lex recognized. His name was Creel, and he first entered the Inn back during the Midnight Games. Since then he had never left, though he had not done anything noteworthy either. At the time, he was the devil running the recruitment stand that the devils set up. Since then, he had done naught but roam the Inn and asionally talk to the other guests and workers. Once the Inn opened back up, it was the first time he left the Inn since his departure, and he had now returned with Loretta. If Lex had not regrly memorized the list of all his guests he would not have picked up such a small detail, but he did.N?v(el)B\\jnn The odd thing was that Loretta did not go meet Lilith. Instead, she met a few other devils, roamed the new Inn for a bit, then requested to have a meeting with the Innkeeper. Once she was informed that the Innkeeper was not avable, she left a message saying that she would like to meet the Innkeeper whenever it was convenient for him, and that she could be reached through Creel. After that she left. It did not seem like it was such a significant visit, if only one did not focus on how excited Creel was. The devil tried to hide it, but Lex had be excellent at such things, and was able to detect even the slightest of hints from his bodynguage, his aura, and the way his spiritual energy behaved. The devil was absolutely ecstatic. The meeting Loretta requested seemed to be regarding something deeply important to her. The fact that she hade back with Creel must have meant that it was rted to the Inn, since the devil was the one who had gone to report to her. Considering the fact that the Inn had moved to an entire new realm, and Creel had likely witnessed the birth of the entire realm, there were any number of things he could have gone to report to Loretta. But something told him this matter had something to do with his physique. He put the matter of meeting Loretta aside and continued to manage the Inn secretly, until all ten days in the Origin realm passed, and the emporium managed to gather everything. Despite their best efforts, they were not able to speed up the process of getting the embers, so Powell did not get his extramission. Regardless, nothing untowards happened so Lex was satisfied. It was almost time to seal the Inn again with the token, so he did thest thing he had been putting off. He once again met William and Jotun. "What do you think of our offer?" the emperor asked upon noticing the focused expression on Lex''s face. "I didn''t look at it," Lex responded honestly. Then he took out an ingredient at the Heavenly immortal level, then another one. Since he had recognised them while searching for them to upgrade the system, it was much easier to find them now. But even so, he had only found two, and he had no intention of depositing it to the system. "I am showing you these because I want you to know that these are just some random things I can get on my own with a little effort. Things even more valuable than this are not out of reach either. So what exactly can you offer me? And what exactly do you want from me? Give me a straight answer, as this is the only chance I''m going to give you." The emperor and William exchanged looks, then turned to Lex once more. "If you check the envelope, you will find a method to help you properly hide your bloodline - the one that allows you to improve the potential of other humans," William said. "We handed you theplete method. You can have it checked. There''s nothing we''re holding back. But the method is not perfect. If you work with us, we can help you by improving it. You can ask others to do so as well, but no one will be able to help you the way we can. In exchange, all we ask is you help us improve some of our people. It need not be too many." Lex''s expression did not change as one of his greatest secrets was revealed. This time around, he was much moreposed. After a long and detailed negotiation session, Lex finally came to an agreement with the two. Then they left. With nothing else holding him back, Lex summoned the Lockdown token, and after giving all his guests one warning, activated it. The Inn was, once again, sealed. Chapter 1101 A blessing and a curse

Chapter 1101 A blessing and a curse

The Inn was once again sealed, and Lex breathed a sigh of relief. He had an innate ability to attract trouble, and he''d alwayse out on top, but it wasn''t always good to tempt fate. Without any emergency quests or urgent tasks waiting for him, Lex could finally take his time to develop himself and the Inn. Yes, in the long term it would be better if he trained in the Temple of Fasting rather than by himself, but since he couldn''t just drop everything, sealing the Inn once more was the best option. Lex pulled up his interface and looked at the quests given to him by the system. Lex extended his finger and, underneath them, began writing something. He was not adding a quest to the system interface, but rather just using an illusion to make it look like he was adding quests. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om On top was mastering Inferno depletely, following by improving his sword intent. Then came finding ways to hide his physique. For whatever reason, William and Jotun thought he had a bloodline rather than a physique, but even that knowledge was too dangerous. He did not ask them why they knew, nor did they mention it. It didn''t matter. Then he added the five year deadline Vera had given him. It was technically a little less than five years now. One by one, he kept adding his objectives to his quest log. On Nether, thergest continent in the Midnight realm, Jack made a simr list of objectives for himself. He decided ultimately to not leave the realm right now. He would improve his survivability before doing any of that, not to mention make the Jolly Rancher tougher. It would be sad if it broke while adventuring. Last but not least, he wanted even his clone to absorb at least one piece of resin as well. If he was going to have a clone, he wanted it to be the best! By the time Lex and Jack both finished their lists a considerable time had gone by, not that it mattered. The more extensive their list was, the better. With nothing but a lot of free time on the horizon, it was finally time to catch up on all their ns. Jack Daniels unfurled the sails to his ship, taking off from the ground as he began his journey towards resin. At the same time, Lex turned his attention to the tavern. It was time to begin the epoch of the traveling tavern. A period of rare peace and tranquility arrived for the Inn, with much fewer guests than they''d had in a long time. But that peace was not wasted, for the Inn grew and changed during this time, as did its workers. The Midnight realm, on the other hand, underwent a tumultuous change, as the absence of the Tree of Heaven brought about greater changes than anyone could have imagined. At the same time, rumors began to spread that a monstrous behemoth exited the Chaos Sea and entered the Inn. Empires rose and fell. Various beings were born, and even more fell. Stories of the great adventurer Jack Daniels spread across thends and the seas, and there seemed to be no ce that remained untouched by his legends. One day, much like that tumultuous period where the Tree of Heaven fell, a phenomenon epassed the whole realm, though no one knew what triggered it. A brilliant light of pink and purple shone throughout the realm, promising good tides and fortune. Many thought a new treasure had been born, and a great age of treasure hunting came to rise. In thends of Menara, the human race once again made its appearance, under the leadership of a great sect called the Simple Life sect. Their sudden appearance challenged many existing powers, and the ensuing conflict knew no end. In the Origin realm, meanwhile, time passed much slower. The war between Jotun and the Fiery mammoths continued, with no end in sight, epassing hundreds of star systems. The Henali became more active in the eradication of the Fuegan, and so the number of battlezones increased. At the same time, anticipation of the Champions tourney also began to rise, as its initiation came ever closer. After a couple of years, something unexpected and unprecedented happened. The dead zone, in which Earth was trapped, suddenly weed the return of extremely abundant spiritual energy, changing the from a rating of below 1 star to above 2 stars! But with the return of that spiritual energy also came a swarm of insects that attacked not only the deities who were trying to take over earth, but the AI as well. They were immediately recognized as the insects that had also invaded Polebitvy, under the influence of the terrorist Jeffery. But then, without warning something unexpected happened that rocked the entire Origin realm, and brought away the attention from the resurgence of a dead zone. A human immortal, in partnership with an emissary of the Henali court, discovered evidence that a full fledged Jom had been nurtured by Fuegan forces! A Jom was an entity that could easily destroy an entire gxy with little effort once matured. But they had not discovered the Jom, only the destruction it had wrought before it was discovered. The matter was so serious that the Henali deployed their own members, no longer leaving the task of finding it to their subordinate races. If the Fuegan could hide an entire Jom under their noses, what else could they possibly hide? The answer was simple: a lot! The discovery of the Jom was both a blessing and a curse. It was a blessing, because it forced the Fuegan hand before they werepletely ready. It was a cure because the entire Origin realm was suddenly embroiled in an unprecedented civil war. Countless races which had up until now sworn loyalty to the Henali turned sides and retaliated. Empires were fractured, and all hell broke loose. Chapter 1102 Enigmatic tavern keeper

Chapter 1102 Enigmatic tavern keeper

There were even shes between the Henali and Fuegan themselves, though most of those took ce outside the Origin realm so no one actually knew the details. The few battles that were fought in the Origin realm were fought in the Void behind space, to prevent the realm itself from being destroyed. The many Dao Lords who had entered the realm all became neutral parties, unwilling to take part in such a conflict. It was fine while it was just their subordinate forces fighting, but they themselves were not going to expose themselves to war. But under the guise of neutrality, they too began to plunder the Origin realm. The Jotun empire, which was thergest human force in the Origin realm, lost 14 gxies overnight. They were traitors among the humans, unsurprisingly. But, ironically, it was not the humans who led the rebellion. Instead, it was the many Henali aides who were supposed to be helping Jotun run the empire who had secretly aligned their loyalties with the Fuegan. Simr scenes happened across the realm, and only extremely powerful races, such as the devils, were spared from rebellion. After all, the devils never needed help to rule theirnds. All of this was the consequence of forcing the Fuegan hand before they were ready, so it could only be imagined what would have happened if their preparations wereplete. At the same time, rumors began to spread that the Fuegan were the original rulers of the Origin realm, and that the Henali were foreign invaders who had driven them out. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om As if to prove the rumors true, many of the strongest and oldest deities aligned with the Fuegan. For a while it seemed like the Henali were on the losing end of this war. But no matter how great the momentum that the Fuegan gathered, the Henali were not without their strengths as well. They held on, and ultimately unleashed a legion of Celestial immortal level Henali warriors who temporarily stabilized the situation. But what worried many was that the dreaded Jom never made an appearance during this entire time. It was a time of great uncertainty, where even thergest and strongest forces of the realm were vulnerable. But ironically, during this time when the strongest of forces were at risk, it actually became the weak and insignificant who becamergely ignored. That did not mean they were spared from their share of strife, but at least no one was paying attention to them. Alongside the fall of the Henali portal, some weaker races and forces becamepletely isted. But life carried on, and the little people still had to eat and drink to survive. On the Az, one of the two habitables of the Soko star system, a young girl was dragging her body through the edge of the wilderness, forcing herself to take each step as she struggled with her exhaustion and the weight of the pack she was carrying on her back. Her entire face was covered in bandages, though that was mostly to hide her identity. It was the bandages on her body that covered her countless wounds. Her once fair and wless body was now covered in scars. Finally, she reached a dirt road, and followed it towards Barin city. The inner city, behind the giant walls made of Obsidian- Steel, was older, and usually housed the rich and the powerful. Although that is where the young girl actually lived, it was not her destination. She forced her weary body to continue into the outer city, filled with foreigners, traders, the poor and the humble. But even so, those here were only poor or humble by Barin city standards. In actuality, all of them at least had the basic standards of living. For those that didn''t, Barin city boasted countless cheap and affordable inns and taverns, which is exactly where the girl was heading. After navigating the crowded streets she made her way to the strange building made of some unknown material called wood. But other than the strange wood material, this tavern was like any other in this city. The food was good and yet cheap, making one question what they were actually putting in the food. The drinks were always flowing and the music was always ying. "Ay, the huntress finally makes it back," said the tavern''s bouncer, Big Ben. The girl only grunted in response, unable to muster the strength to respond properly. When she entered her sight fell on the three triplets whose beauty had nearly toppled the city. Countless patrons visited the tavern to get a chance to catch their visage, and perhaps try their luck at winning their hearts. None had seeded so far. She was worried for the day someone might try something foolish, such as forcefully trying to capture them, but nothing like that had happened so far - at least to her knowledge. "Ah, little huntress, have you brought in a new haul?" asked Naki, the oldest of the triplets with a smile so pure it made even her blush. "I''ll take it over to Betty and see what it''s worth. I''m assuming you want payment in spirit stones once more?" "Yes please," she answered, forgetting to change her voice to the gruff persona of the huntress. She immediately realized his mistake, which is why her next sentence sounded a lot more hoarse. "Can you tell the tavern keeper that I wish to speak with him. Privately." "Ah, he''s on the roof waiting for you. You can make your way up. Shall I prepare a meal for you?" "A meal and a room. Deduct the cost from my pay," she said, making her way up the many stairs. For some unknown reason, all the exhaustion she had been feeling faded away once she entered the tavern. The ache in her muscles did not go away, but at least climbing the stairs did not feel like death. She made her way to the roof and saw the enigmatic tavern keeper, sitting in his favoritewn chair, sunbathing. He looked like a teenager, fifteen years old at most, yet at the same time he was the most mysterious man she had ever met. Chapter 1103 Miss Huntress Chapter 1103 Miss Huntress ??She observed him for a moment. He looked even younger than her, and if it weren''t for the fact that she had seen every single worker at the taverne to him for instructions, she would still find it hard to believe that he was the owner of this ce. Not that the Midnight tavern was anything special. There were hundreds of taverns and inns in the outer city, and while many of them were just ordinary, some of them were quite renowned, as well. There was the Cats Lap, which was run by Madame Lisa. Not only was she recognized as the best cook in the actual city, rumour had it that in her younger days there was a noble from the inner city who wanted to marry her. Just that story alone, alongside her famous beauty, brought in customers from all over.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om There was the Dons Den, which was famous because everyone knew that the owner was an underworld leader, but no one had ever proved it. Still, the kind of deal one could get there attracted many customers, though regr travellers also visited often. There were many more that stood out, while inparison, the only unique thing about the Midnight tavern was the strange material its building was made from. In fact, if anything, the tavern seemed almost too ordinary, which was also enigmatic. Even though the charm of the triplets, Naki, Nami and Nani, had taken hold of the city, no one ever made trouble for them, which was strange. The drinks in the tavern were also unusual and weren''t avable anywhere else. There were rumours that even the mayor of Barin city secretly bought some bottles from them from time to time. Not that the young huntress cared for any of that. The only thing she cared about was if her suspicions about this tavern keeper were true or not! He never revealed his powers, but from the things he said, she was sure he was some kind of secretly powerful old man. "I''ve finally done it," she said, seeing that the tavern keeper was content to continue pretending to sleep. "I''ve killed one hundred Jarasian lizards, all by myself. Do you think I''m ready to break through to the next realm now?" The tavern keeper opened his eyes and pretended to be surprised to see her, but he was a terrible actor. Or maybe he did it on purpose. "Ah, the ever mysterious young Miss Huntress. Oh dear, I see you''re covered in wounds again. Why don''t you take a seat, while I have Nakie take a look at you." She wanted to protest, more focused on the answer she was looking for. But then she remembered that she was exhausted, and so copsed into an emptywn chair. "So do you think I''m ready?" she asked once more. "Ah, Miss Huntress, as you know, I am but a humble tavern keeper. I would not much about cultivation," the tavern keeper said as he got up and pulled up an easel and set an empty canvas on it. He grabbed a paintbrush and a wooden board with some paint on it, and looked at his canvas, as if he was trying to decide what to paint. The young girl only rolled her eyes. It was always like this. The door opened and Naki came out, holding a first aid kit. Was she supposed to ignore the fact that he had clearly not sent any word to her, yet she came? She even brought the first aid kit. If that was not an indication that he was secretly an expert, she didn''t know what was. The problem was, if she asked Naki, then the ever faithful barmaid would only say that she noticed the huntress''s condition when she was going through the tavern, and decided to help out on her own. There was always a convenient excuse for them to use. "Of course, I have read a few books that might lend some insight," the tavern keeper said, as he finally started to paint. "But Miss Huntress, you have to decide for yourself if you trust the words of a random book." "Yes, yes, you know I trust your books," she said as she tried to ignore the stinging pain from her various cuts and bruises. For some reason, the treatment always hurt more than the actual wounds. But then again, no one else could treat her wounds as quickly as Naki could, so it was worth it. "Miss Huntress, ording to the books I''ve read, tempering your body through actualbat will go a long way in helping you set your foundation. But it alsoes back with some ws, which is that your body is riddled with injuries that haven''t had time to heal. Now that you''ve tempered your body, why not take some rest? Our new and improved Hot tub room should prove especially useful in helping you heal and rx. "Of course, if you can afford to use the best offer on the Hot tub room, then just a day''s worth of rest would be fine. Otherwise, I''d say you give it a few weeks of regr use before trying to break through." "A few weeks of rest?" she repeated, clenching her fists. She didn''t have a few weeks to spend. "What if I''m in a rush? What if I''m about to¡­ hunt a huge monster that will onlye once, and I only have a few days left to prepare? I can''t avoid it even if I want to." The tavern keeper paused his painting and turned to look at the huntress for a moment. "Miss Huntress, I think you have a few things mixed up," he said after a moment. "What does cultivation level have to do with hunting a big monster? If the monster you''re hunting is a little more powerful than the ones you''re used to, then you just need to use better tools. For now, why don''t you try your hand at painting, Miss Huntress? You''re clearly stressed. It won''t help youe up with any answers. Here,e and see if you can paint the same symbols that I painted." Chapter 1104 The Alchemist Chapter 1104 The Alchemist ??The huntress dragged her defeated body from the roof down towards one of the Hot tub rooms. She had spent thest hour painting, and she had no idea how that would help her situation at all. But that''s the way it was with the tavern keeper. He never gave answers directly, and he never helped directly either. But if his guidance was useless, then she would not havee to depend on it. The answer would reveal itself with time. She paid for the Hot tub level she could afford, and went inside. After making sure the room was empty and there were no secret peep holes - she was not doubting the Midnight tavern, but she had heard rumors about such ces - she stripped and then lowered her sore body into the water. "Oooh," she could not help but moan as the warm waters massaged her body. This was the first time she had ever spent money on such a ce, but she suddenly understood the appeal. Before she could resume her thoughts about what the tavern keeper could have meant, she dozed off, which was for the best since it spared her from seeing ck gunking out of her skin, then getting washed away with the bubbling water. At some point during the night, the Huntress began to dream, as she usually did when she spent the night in the tavern. Within the dream she was painting with her finger as the brush, her Qi as the paint, and the universe as her canvas. She painted the same characters that the tavern keeper, and when the characters were drawn the whole world shook around her. The huntress woke up with a start, looking around the unfamiliar room in panic. But then she remembered where she was, and took a sigh of relief. She couldn''t believe she had spent the whole night in the hot tub! But surprisingly, her skin did not get wrinkled from spending too much time in the water. In fact, if anything, it seemed smoother! That''s when the huntress realized that all her scars were gone! In a daze, the huntress walked to the mirror, and actually yelped! Not only were her scars gone but¡­ the rash she had on her face since birth had vanished! How was this possible? No one had ever been able to affect them at all! Any attempt to remove the rash only made it worse, and yet now, over night, it had vanished. The huntress touched her face, feeling dazed. Is that what she looked like without the rash? It was actually kind of¡­ cute. The huntress blushed, and was then filled with reluctance. Why couldn''t this have happened just a few years ago? But it didn''t matter now. She put on her clothes and once again wrapped her face in bandages, before exiting the tavern. She walked up to Roan at the bar - no matter what time, day or night, the man never seemed to leave his station. "Here''s your payment for the meat, Miss Huntress," Roan said, handing her a sealed package. "Thanks. Tell the tavern keeper that I''ll be busy for the next week. If¡­ if my hunt works out, I''ll pay another visit." "Good luck," Roan said, and gave her a nod. The huntress only nodded and turned to leave, but bumped into another guest who was rushing into the Inn. "Oh, sorry," she said. "My bad," the young man said at the same time. They both paused, but seeing how the other didn''t want to cause trouble, just moved on. They both seemed like they were in a rush. "Uncle Roan, this is bad," the boy said, rushing up to the bar. "I need to see the tavern keeper right now! It''s an emergency!" Roan, who was wiping a mug clean with a pristine piece of cloth that seemed to never get dirty, calmly replied, "he''s on the roof." The boy nodded, and rushed through the tavern and reached the roof. Upon finding the tavern keeper, the boy could no longer hold himself back.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "Tavern keeper! You have to help me! My stupid family is forcing me to get married to some ugly girl to cement some business deal. I just found out about this! The wedding is in five days!" The tavern keeper did not at all seem rmed by the news, and instead wore an amused look. "It''s quite rude to call a girl ugly, young alchemist. How do you know she isn''t actually beautiful?" "How can she be beautiful when her own family admits that she''s ugly? But¡­ but that''s besides the point. Even if she is beautiful, I''m not ready to get married. It will interfere with my alchemy and cultivation. I have no desire to ce such a leash around my neck, holding me back. I do not want to be restrained. A wife will only be a distraction." "Young alchemist, I understand your plight but¡­ how can I be of help? I''m just a simple tavern keeper." The alchemist rolled his eyes. That''s exactly what the tavern keeper said every time, right before giving him the answer that he desired. "It seems to me that your problem is not marriage, but the control your family has over you. All you need to do is be independent and gain a backing of your own, and your family will no longer be able to influence you." "Easier said than done. But I''m not at the level to pass the test of the Alchemist''s tower yet. How else can I gain independence and backing in just five days?" "This is a tough question. Why don''t we spend a little time thinking about it? In the meantime, you should have Roan whip you up a special drink. It''ll help you calm your nerves. But his special drinks are expensive, so bear that in mind." "Who cares about that? If there''s anything I have, it''s money," said the alchemist, heading back down. Although it seemed like the tavern keeper had not given him an answer, in fact he had already done so very clearly. He knew by now that nothing the tavern keeper said was ever simple, and nothing about this tavern was mundane. He couldn''t wait to see how that drink would help him out. Chapter 1105 A tavern keepers work Chapter 1105 A tavern keepers work ??The alchemist rushed to the bar and ordered a drink called Roan''s special. Roan''s special was genuinely a special drink, because Roan would make a different drink depending on who the person ordering the drink was. Nobody knew exactly how Roan decided which drink which customer needed when the special was ordered, but to date there had never been a customer who had been disappointed by the drink. In fact, many people wished to have it again, but there was a one per month rule which meant they could only order it once a month. This was perhaps the most contested rule of the tavern. But since the rules could not be changed, on the first of every month a special group of customers gathered who might not be seen at the tavern at any other time, but they were always there on the first. So far, the alchemist had avoided these drinks because he could not bear to get intoxicated. An alchemist''s mind was their most valuable asset, so to dull it on purpose was almost like a sin. But the alchemist had too much trust in the tavern keeper, so today he indulged. The drink was minty fresh, and instead of intoxicating, gave the alchemist a sudden jolt of mental energy and rity that he hadcked before. Suddenly, the alchemist fell into a daze, which made some of the regr customers chuckle. They could identify a newbie a mile away. The first time was always a memorable experience. But the alchemist sensed none of that, for his thoughts were mired in all the alchemy recipes and knowledge he had ever gathered. So many things suddenly started to make sense in such a simple way that the alchemist almost couldn''t believe he never caught on before. At the same time, many of the notions he previously held to be true did not seem usible anymore, and actually seemed to reduce the efficiency of his refining. How could he have never seen that before? By the time the alchemist woke up from his daze it was evening, but he didn''t even notice. He left Roan a hefty tip as he ran out the door, going as fast as he could. He had no time to waste. Lex, who had been observing everything from the roof, chuckled and closed his eyes. He had long agopleted his quest to change the destiny of 100 guests, and through that experience learned the subtle art of guiding others. Lex neither told them what to do, nor did he manipte people or events. But, if he found a guest worthy, Lex would give them the help necessary so that they could themselves decide the direction of their life. Then, depending on how much he liked those guests, Lex might lend them a little more help than others. For example the huntress. She was a young girl who relied on no one other than herself, for everyone in this cruel world had used her for their own purposes. But even so, her heart never became cruel despite her many hardships. So, Lex gave her one of the arrays he had recently created by himself. A few days passed normally, and all waspletely normal in the tavern. No matter what happened in the world outside, in the tavern the drinks would still flow and the food would always be fresh. On the third day, however, a major scandal shook the inner city! A wedding that had been organized between two of thergest families in the inner city had been ruined! Moreover, the people who ruined the wedding turned out to be the bride and groom themselves! The wedding was organized in such a way that the venue was divided into two, with one side belonging to the girls family, and the other to the boys. When the union would beplete, the division between the two sides was supposed to be removed, as a symbolic gesture showing that the two families had now be one. But, unexpectedly, in the final moments before the union, the groom suddenly announced that he had be a member of the Alchemy tower, and did not want to get married as it would distract him from his alchemy. Since he had been epted as a disciple by a Tier 3 alchemist, no one dared bar his path as he had a falling out with his family and left the venue! The girl was even more domineering! Up on stage she gave a speech about how her family had shunned and used her since her mother died, and had sold her off to someone else just to cement a business alliance. She cut off her ties with her family forever, taking up her mothers name, and left.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om When her family, angered by her disclosing their behavior and secrets, tried to attack her to force her back on stage, the girl used some special technique that brought everyone to their knees! Even the veritable Foundation realm family head of her family was brought to his knees, unable to move, as she marched out. Her final words before leaving were a deration that she would also look into the death of her mother, and if she discovered that someone from the family had been behind it, she would be back for revenge. The story had rocked the entire city, and was the hot gossip that everyone was talking about. But a lesser known piece of gossip, that only very few people heard about, was that the young alchemist had been brought by his master to the nearby wilnds to harvest a very special herb, but was attacked by a wild beast. Before his master, who was not adept inbat, could do anything, a young maiden of unmatched grave and beauty saved him. No one knew who she was or where she came from, but her valor had one the day, and some said, the young alchemist''s heart. Lex, who was sitting in the rumor room, chuckled as he read the slips that updated him on all thetest gossip. Nami knockedon the door and popped her head in. "Tavern keeper, that old stinky man is back again. He''s thanking you for helping him find the perfect disciple who can represent him in the uing alchemy tournament. But he''s saying he''s never taught a disciple before, and he''s already almost got his disciple killed, so he''s lost all nerve. He''s asking to see you to seek advice on how he should teach him." "Send him to the roof," Lex said, as he got up from his chair. A tavern keeper''s work was never done. Chapter 1106 School of... Chapter 1106 School of... ??After sending away the alchemist master with some indirect advice Lex walked down to the bar. He was anticipating a certain customer today who was the talk of the town, though no one knew his real identity. The only reason Lex knew his identity was because he could secretly epass the whole city with his spirit sense. Most days, when he was free, he would sit on the roof and observe the city with his spirit sense. One would think it would get boring after a while, but it was actually quite interesting. There was more suspense and drama happening in real life than countless tv shows, it was just that no one else was watching, and the people involved hardly ever enjoyed the suspense. There was also a lot ofedy. Late in the evening, a customer walked in, long hair covering most of his features. His clothes looked ordinary, and there seemed to be nothing about him that particrly drew any attention. He seemed perfect to blend into the background of the city. He sat down in a corner and ordered a drink, and seemed more than happy to be forgotten. If this had been any other tavern, his technique, which allowed him to be easily overlooked, would have worked wonders. As it was, the triplet sisters never overlooked a single customer, always making sure they were well tended to. The extra attention made him ufortable, but he did not disy it in any way. He was content to just silently sit and listen to the conversations in the room as he enjoyed his one drink. Besides the wedding scandal, the guests talked about a number of random things, with one of the hottest topics being the surging criminal element in the city. But, as ordinary folk, all they usually talked about was their neighbor who got robbed, or something they saw on the street. After a few hours, after being unable to pick up on the news he was hoping to hear about, the man finally walked to the bar. Usually Roan was there, but for tonight, Lex had taken over himself. "Need another drink?" Lex asked casually, not paying any special attention to the man. "Something that''ll keep me up for a while," he said hoarsely, and Lex nodded and poured him an iced coffee - a drink that did not exist on this. "Appreciate it," the man said, and slid Lex a coin. It was a gold coin, worth all too much for the drink he was having. Lex looked at the man curiously. "You heard any news about any¡­ children going missingtely? Anything unusual, besides the usual kid lost in the market incidents."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex finally picked up the coin and pretended to think. He knew for the fact that this man had already asked around in various ces and had no luck. But today, he hade to the only tavern in the city who could give him the answer he was looking for. "Now that you mention it, I have heard about something strange," he said, lowering his voice. "It''s not about missing children, but there''s a new school that opened up in the inner city, but it''s meant for outer city kids. Every time I hear about them, they''re looking for more kids, as if they never run out of ssrooms to fill. I thought that was a little odd." The man tried not to give away anything, but Lex could sense his body tense up. This was exactly what he was looking for. "Do you know what it''s called?" "Yeah, it''s called School of The Heroes Of Trent, or School of THOT for short." "What an enticing name," the man said, before finishing up his drink in one go and exiting the tavern. Lex only smiled. The next few days would be very interesting, which was good. If things got too boring he would have to consider moving his tavern to another. ***** Inside the Midnight Inn, there was a hurricane of moltenva that had been going for weeks. Some guests thought that it was a new phenomenon and so hade over to take a look. Many began to pic in front of it, and began to ce bets about how long it would keep going. Ordinarily, such a thing would be too dangerous to get close to, but since the hurricane had technically not moved from its spot from the very start, everyone was veryfortable with it. Not only was it an interesting sight, who knew if it might spout out some treasure? In the past fifteen years, countless guests at the Inn had discovered extremely valuable treasures inside the Midnight Inn, and were informed that they were free to take them. But the condition was that they don''t harm the surroundings, and in the case that it was a treasure that could continuously reappear, cut off its roots or point of origin. It was like a game of treasure hunting, except the treasures were real and they could keep them. But today, after weeks, the hurricane finally did something different. It began to shrink, oddly enough. Some thought that upon shrinking enough, the hurricane might explode, but that did not happen. Instead, the moltenva eventually cooled down, and the hurricane slowed down until it eventually faded. From within the fire, a meditating figure was revealed. Lex, after finallypleting histest cultivation system, opened his eyes. As ofte, he had begun meditating inside his technique Heaven''s furnace, and used the Dragons breath glyph to fill it with fire. He was raising his tolerance to his own dragon fire before trying it out with actual dragon fire, since Pel Jr. was on the verge of being able to control its giant dragon body. Admittedly, it had taken much longer than anticipated because there was a lot more to dragon fire than Lex originally guessed. But today, finally, he had reached the level ofplete immunity. Tomorrow, he would try with the real deal. Chapter 1107 Stressful Chapter 1107 Stressful ??Unlike many of the many whims he enacted in his early cultivation days, Lex was well aware of the dangers he would face by cultivating with dragon fire. He also took into ount the fact that the dragon who would be breathing that fire was two major realms greater than himself, and those were two immortal levels! But he was still confident, and the reason for that was the thorough preparation he had taken for this. Over the past fifteen years, Lex had been focused solely on filling in the massive knowledge gaps he had when it came to cultivation, as well identifying the direction for his future growth. Naturally, the many quests hepleted for his system and their rewards had helped him in this as well. Getting ustomed to the two differing flows of time, one in the Origin realm and one in the Midnight realm, was actually much easier than he guessed. As a result, he had his tavern travel the Origin realm while he used his projection toplete his quests over there, while here he focused on self improvement. So, while the tavern was out in the Origin realm for about five years, Lex had been tempering himself for fifteen years. He had forced himself to slow down his cultivation, for it was absolutely ready to improve, to not only temper himself, but also so that he could get a better understanding of how he wanted to proceed. Bing an Immortal required Lex to define his ts of immortality. If he had continued to use Regal Embrace, he would have had only one t, and that would have been absolute defense. But since he did not, Lex had to decide on those for himself. The ts were exceptionally important as they would define the foundation of his power and growth in the immortal realms, so he took his time over the past few years and thought about this in great detail. During this time, he also took his time and properly settled into the Midnight realm and became fully ustomed to it. He adventured to his heart''s content, and for once enjoyed not being pathetically weakpared to everyone else for once. This was very important, as his Midnight tavern had to remain exceptionally lowkey for thest few years. With the whole realm at war, high powered cultivators were even more active, which is one of the things that prompted him to learn how to remain hidden behind the scenes. Unless absolutely necessary, he used the tavern to fulfill all his quests and change the destinies of many, all without attracting attention to himself and the tavern. The conclusion he eventually came to was simple. He enjoyed being anonymous, but being anonymous because he wanted to observe everyone without being detected, and being anonymous because he was trying to avoid attracting trouble were two different experiences altogether. Basically, it was only enjoyable if it was on his own terms. That led him to figuring out a vague idea of what he wanted his ts to be. In the meantime, he decided to grow as strong as possible while in the Nascent realm. As it turned out, his ability Heaven''s furnace was great for that. Lex had named it Heavens furnace because at the time he created it, that''s essentially what he was using it for. But with more practice he learned other great things about it. It was great to trap people in, since his furnace could tolerate extreme shock, heat and pressure. In fact, so far, he had not encountered a single situation where the furnace was even near copsing, so it was great as a prison. At the same time it could be used defensively, since if he ced something inside, someone would need to break the furnace to get to the item. But most importantly, Lex learned that the furnace could condense and purify anything put into it. It was even able to mix two or more items together to make a single item that was greater than the sum of all parts. As such, the furnace drastically improved his ability to manufacture treasures. More importantly, it allowed Lex to face much greater force and pressure than anything else in the Midnight realm could provide, giving him the perfect area to hone his defense. Lex regrly trained in the furnace using his own Dragon fire, and today finally he reached the point where it could not harm him at all. Now he would go test out his body in the Cosmic Sea once more, and then tomorrow he would face real dragon fire. After that, he would have to unseal the Midnight realm. While this fifteen year gap was great for him and his workers, allowing almost all of them to reach the Nascent realm, to grow any further, they would need the Origin realm, and more importantly, the Temple of Fasting. Most importantly, he was mere days away from the very specific date Vera had given him to go to Yildirim Utopia. She still did not mention what it was about, but only a few days ago she came back and reminded him that the deadline was approaching. She was mainly worried that the Inn wouldn''t open in time and he wouldn''t be able to go. At the same time, she was also worried about herself. Since they had spent fifteen years here, all of them were fifteen years older. Vera was finally old enough to date, but had been stuck here unable to search for her destined beloved. Yes, that meant that Vera had reached the age of 30 without getting a single boyfriend. If they were going by soul age, Lex had also crossed the age of 30, though his physical age was only 15. Like him, all the workers at the Inn were technically physically teenagers as well, though good old Jimmy and his gang of peacock warriors had officially entered their 20s. Lex couldn''t help but sigh.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "They grow up so fast," he said. Fortunately, Gerard and Lilith were still only just dating and hadn''t moved on from that yet. Dating for multiple centuries was a verymon thing among devils, so she didn''t see that as odd. Lex wouldn''t know what he''d do if Gerard, like Harry, had a kid. Being an uncle was surprisingly stressful. Lex teleported away to the Cosmic Sea, pushing his thoughts away. It was time for a quick dip, and hopefully he would keep himself from being assimted by the sea this time. Chapter 1108 Nemo

Chapter 1108 Nemo

After a long time, Lex eventually found out why the Cosmic sea was so dangerous to everything it touched. It was not that the sea would kill everyone, or destroy whatever it touched. Rather, it assimted everything into it. The Cosmic sea appeared to be liquid, but in reality it was its own type of entity altogether. It could not be qualified and solid, liquid, gas, sma or anything else Lex was familiar with, because it was a diluted essence of what made up reality. Basically, besides chaos energy, the cosmic sea is what the Midnight realm was using to build itself up. Only and only once all of the cosmic sea was used up would the Midnight realm finally exit the very initial stage of being formed. How Lex found out about the various traits of the cosmic sea was by testing out a technique that let him create many temporary clones that could be controlled within a certain range until they were killed or ran out of energy. The clones did not really contain any part of Lex''s soul, so he was not afraid of it dying,, which is why one of the first things he did with his clone was send it swimming in the sea. The clone was much weaker than Lex, and could at most amount to 1% of his strength, which is why Lex almost expected his clone to immediately die. But that''s not what happened. Instead, he could feel as his clone was assimted by the sea, turning into more of whatever the cosmic sea was. It reminded Lex somewhat of Cosmic Erosion Elixir which would absorb other things to create more of itself. But in this case, the sea was a lot more selective, and a lot more potent. Having said that, Lex could resist the assimtion, which was good practice, not to mention it easily boosted his defense. Lex had not yet figured out how to absorb some of the sea during his cultivation yet. He was hoping it would give him some kind of massive powerup, but it did not seem possible yet. Considering the fact that Lex had by now absorbed two pieces of resin, the fact that he couldn''t absorb the sea made him think it might be on an entirely other level! Or that it just couldn''t be absorbed. Spection was pointless. "Morning Lex," said a massive Koi fish as it stuck its head out of the sea. "Morning Nemo," Lex responded, disregarding the slightly ufortable feeling the fish gave him. After Lex learned what the sea was, he became genuinely curious as to what the monsters that could swim in the sea were! As it turned out, each one of them were extremely unique beings that could grow to be terribly powerful under the right circumstances. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The only reason Lex knew that was because Mary, who could now share more of her knowledge, knew about them. That was a big deal since even Pel had no idea what they were. But Mary assured him that they would not be an issue since most of them would naturally die out once the cosmic sea was used up. Lex didn''t mind so much, except for the fact that he and Nemo had be good friends. The poor fish was incredibly lonely, since it had never met another living being. This was not because it lived in the cosmic sea, but because it naturally gave off an aura that was many times more potent than Dragons might! Even with the Inn suppressing its aura, it still managed to make Lex feel ufortable. Lex had tried experiencing its aura outside the Inn, and had to rely on Domination to keep himself from crumbling. In its presence Lex felt a suppression simr to the from beings higher than him on the Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum, but much more extreme. Naturally, given the extreme circumstances of the fish, Lex had scanned it, and suddenly everything made much more sense. Name: Nemo Age: 18,001 Sex: ~ Cultivation Details: Nascent soul peak Species: Heavenly Koi Sovereign Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Remarks: Sovereigns can stay at the Inn rent free. Don''t even think about charging! Nemo was yet another sovereign, though it was much more naive and simple than even the turtle, which was technically a baby, since it had never met another living being. Since all it had ever done was swim in the Cosmic sea, Nemo had no whims or desires. It wanted for nothing, nor did it even understand what desires were. In fact, it had noplicated thoughts at all. It was just happy that it had met Lex, and that there was another living being it could talk to. Considering how innocent and wholesome Nemo was, Lex wanted him to be an employee of the Inn, and that''s when he learnt something new about systems. They absolutely refused to constrict Sovereigns in any way! The turtle had be an employee because it wished for it to begin with, and if one day it wished to leave, the system would subserviently free it of its bindings and wish it well on its future endeavors! Lex finally began to understand how dangerous Sovereigns actually were, but what he didn''t understand was why the fish had such a strong aura when the turtle didn''t. But that was a question no one could answer, not even Mary. "Did you go swimming with Little Blue again?" Lex asked as he carefully dipped his toes in the cosmic sea. Little Blue was not so little anymore, and had grown quite powerful as well. But regardless of its size and power, it still acted like a baby, which is why it and Nemo immediately became good friends. Considering Little Blue could tolerate the cosmic sea, and could be around Nemo as long as they were in the territory of the Inn, the two often went swimming together. Fenrir, who often felt left out, could only sulk on the beach since it could not enter the waters. "Not today. Apparently Z is having a concert today, so it''s busy with that." "Ah, the concert, right. Well, be sure to watch the concert through a projection screen as well. There''s no reason for you to feel left out." "I will, but first I wanted to see if today is the day you can enter the sea." "Seems fine so far. Now I just need swimming trunks that won''t evaporate," Lex said as he watched his pants slowly assimte with the sea. No matter what, he was not in the mood to swim naked in a sea made of universe fuel alongside a Sovereign. That was practically setting himself up for some kind of misadventure. Chapter 1109 Insanity

Chapter 1109 Insanity

Even if he might not be nning on swimming, he walked into the sea right up until his knees were submerged, and began resisting the assimtion. It was not an easy task, and was the only experience he ever encountered that he couldn''t build a resistance to by cultivating in this condition. Maybe he needed to meet some criteria to start building up a resistance to it. But until he figured that out, he would just train manually. Lex managed to resist the sea for several hours before his energy began to run low, so he took a break. After saying farewell to Nemo, he teleported back to his meditation room and began to recover while sitting atop the dragon''s head. After years of using the dragon''s body to strengthen himself, Lex assumed that the body might actually weaken. That was actually the n for how to get Pel Jr. to take over the body. But the reality of the situation was quite different. The incredibly pure spiritual energy of the realm constantly replenished the body''s energy, as well as bathed and purified it. Over time, it was beginning to be even stronger! The only good thing was that after fifteen years of constant cultivation, Pel Jr. was bing strong enough to barely control the body for a fraction of a second. For today''s purpose, that would be enough. Once Lex was back in peak condition, he invited Luthor into his Meditation room, wearing Firefighting gloves, the quest reward he got for creating tribtion rooms. Ordinarily, considering his unique physique, he would not need gloves to handle fire, but this was dragon fire from an immortal so¡­ Lex took out the Dragonburn Locket, something he had received a long time ago. It contained the secrets of fire breathing, and was an excellent tool for newborn dragons to learn about it. In this case, the locket would help Pel Jr. use firebreath to begin with, as it was too much of a strain on it. Once he put the locket on the dragon''s body, he stood in front of the dragon and made some preparations. He used the system to put up some barriers around Luthor, for protection, but for himself he only used his own techniques. Over the past few years Lex had been experimenting with creating his own techniques, and had made decent progress in the field, and so tried to rely on his own techniques and abilities most of the time. With sufficient preparations in ce, Lex finally signaled Pel Jr. to begin. The dragon did not move. After all their preparation, all they managed to achieve was that the dragon was able to open its mouth a couple of inches, and shot out a thin, weak string of dragon fire. Objectively speaking, it was quite a disappointing disy considering what the dragon should have been capable of. Practically speaking, Lex was immediately faced with a life or death crisis. It had been years since Lex felt so overwhelmed. All the shields he had put up, all the protective arrays he had used, and all the formations he put in ce using the system were instantly incinerated. Luthor was instantly forced to use his Anachronistic Ignition bloodline to keep himself from being burnt to ash, yet for the first time ever, he felt his bloodline failing. Although technically the bloodline was perfect, and the rulers it operated under could theoretically face any kind of danger, the bloodline was ultimately not suited to deal with situations that incineratedws themselves. In fact, were it not for his gloves which he was using to defend himself, Luthor might have already died. Such was an appropriate reaction from a Nascent soul facing dragon fire from a Heavenly immortal. What Lex was doing was, instead, ridiculous. Faced with death, Lex felt not fear but glee! When all his techniques failed, and everything external proved itself ineffective in the face of overwhelming power, the only thing Lex could rely on was his body, or more specifically, himself. Lex raised his hand and weed the tiny stream of fire into his palm. Coiled together, it was barelyrger than an acorn, yet it was burning away everything in its vicinity, and Lex was no exception. Butpared to thews that governed this realm, and that controlled Luthor''s bloodline,pared to the techniques that were as brittle as a sheet of ss facing a meteor,pared to everything else that turned to ash before even touching the mes, Lex''s body was taking a lot longer to burn. As he held the tiny me in his hand, ignoring the pain of the very meat his body was made of cooking, a gleam of excitement shed through Lex''s eyes. He had not decided yet, but Lex was experimenting with the idea of having his t be about being the best at whatever he did. If he wanted the best defense in the universe, surpassing even Regal Embrace, and the best offense which surpassed even Mo''s Blessing, then he might as well continue the trend. There was a small part of his brain which was logical that told him that he was essentially setting himself up for failure by having such goals. But then there was another part of his brain that was more adventurous that told him not to take everything so seriously. If he was going to live life, he might as well live it trying to do something extraordinary. Lex hadn''t finalized what he was going to do yet, but he was giving himself a taste of what life might be like if he decided to be so extreme. It would be a series of unreasonable, unbelievable,pletely insane events and obstacles that he would need to regrly ovee just to have the faintest hope of living up to such a t. As Lex felt the dragonfire burn him, and use his very soul as kindling to keep itself burning, he oddly found that the only thing he could focus on¡­ was the question of whether he could cultivate using this fire. It would surely burn his meridians if he tried. N?v(el)B\\jnn But then again, he had already reconstructed his meridians after being turned into a meat patty, so what was a little fire damage? He began to cultivate, and absorbed some of that dragon fire. New novel Chapter 1110 A cool sword

Chapter 1110 A cool sword

Pain was something Lex no longer acknowledged. It was not that he had gone crazy, though there was a particr patch of grass that regrly used him of such, but that over the past few years he hade to realize that most pain was just an evolutionary tool that was relevant back when he was mortal, but was no longer so. Pain, back when he was mortal, told his body that there was an issue. The more severe the pain, the more severe the issue. But now, he hadplete and total awareness of his body, as well as an in depth understanding of what his body could tolerate. The same was true of his soul. But his body still felt pain, even for wounds and injuries that would heal in a matter of minutes. So once he reached a point of sufficient willpower and self awareness, pain was something he could just tune out. Even without pain, he would know if there was something wrong with him. For example, right now, Lex did not need to feel the mind numbing pain of his meridians being seared as energy that was akin to liquid fire coursed through his body to know that he was being cooked inside and out. If anything, the pain was just his brain being discourteous about Lex''s efforts. But the answer was extremely clear. Lex could not cultivate with this fire yet, and if he stayed in its proximity for more than a couple of minutes he would be in serious trouble. His hand had already turned ck, with much of his flesh already gone. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om But it wasn''t as if there were no gains. He definitely benefited from this, but it would just take him a very long time to recover from this injury, which meant this was not something he could try again. Lex remained satisfied with the result, since his main goal was to just get his hands on the fire, not actually sessfully temper himself with it. He walked to Luthor who sealed the small fire within the gloves, containing it perfectly. "You good?" he asked, looking at his ck, boney hand. "I''ll survive," Lex answered, after coughing out some soot. "Let''s go. I don''t want to test how long those gloves can keep the mes contained." Luthor merely nodded. Lex teleported the both of them away, though it was not within the Inn that they reappeared. Far away in Menara, within a certain mountain range there was a ce that looked like a massive bowl carved right out of the mountains. Within the bowl was an empire of a race that had, until recently, never encountered another living race - or at least that was the official story. The real story was that this race, which had proven itself to be useful to the Heavenly tree, had been imprisoned within this mountain range until they epted subservience to the tree. But the tree''s n backfired, since Orin I of Veetavil mines, the first ever dwarf of this realm, never told the rest of his race that they were imprisoned. Without ever knowing they were being punished to begin with, they faced no pressure to submit. They lived happily in the mountains, mining and forging to their heart''s content. That is, until the Innkeepers voice boomed through the realm one day, letting them know that there were others out there. Before they managed to escape, Lex found them. With dragonfire at hismand, through his Glyph, Lex quickly became good friends with the dwarves, since his mes were better for forging than any others. With that friendship came eventually a promise. Since Lex had been so focused on learning sword intenttely, he decided he should have a proper, epic sword. Who better to make him a sword than a Mythic dwarf? Since Orin I was still alive, though in slumber, Lex helped provide the materials he needed to awake from his ancient slumber, and in exchange the entire dwarven race gathered together to make him the most phenomenal weapon their crafting skills would allow. The dragonfire of a real dragon was thest ingredient that was needed, though these mes were not meant to light their forges or melt the metals in their ores. Instead, these mes were an ingredient in the sword itself. The other ingredients were no less rare or powerful than dragonfire, so there was no risk of the mes overpowering the rest of the sword. The metal used in the sword was Veetavil, which was the first metal formed in the Midnight realm. There was only a finite amount in the entire realm, and it would never be formed again since only the birth of a realm could cause it to form. Besides that, the sword contained a fragment of the first ever unicorns horn, the first scale ever shed by the World Serpent, the blood of Sleipnir, the eight legged horse deity, the sound of the waves of the Cosmic sea, and the strongest memory of the Heavenly tree. When Lex first heard the requirements for the sword he thought there might have been some mistake, but the dwarves really managed to capture the abstract, and used sound and memory in the forging process. Now only three ingredients remained. The handle would be made from a piece of Lex''s bone, which he had to provide fresh from his body, the dragonfire, and to bring it altogether, his sword intent. Orin himself wouldplete the forging process, which had been ongoing for almost eight years now. Today would be thest day, and Lex admitted to himself that he felt great anticipation. Beside the two butter knives, he had never had a consistent weapon of his own. Although he was not a sword fanatic, and nothing could rece the sheer satisfaction of punching his enemies right in the face, a cool sword was also a must. Not to mention, if he was to embark on the journey to be the best, which he had not decided yet, then even his sword had to be the best. Luthor and Lex walked deep into the dwarven forges until finally they arrived at a pool ofva. Beside it, a shirtless dwarf was hammering away at something unseen. It was time. Chapter 1111 Hammer deity

Chapter 1111 Hammer deity

Lex and Luthor walked up to the dwarf andid eyes on the sword. Its de was a little more slender than normal swords, being only one and a half inches wide even at the base where it was widest, with a length of 42 inches (106 cm). n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om But even this was just a vague shape of the sword, as it had not taken its final form yet. The handle still needed to be added, which would be Lex''s bone. Since his right arm was already half burnt, he decided to just use his hand and half his forearm for the handle. "Have you brought the final ingredients?" Orin asked, without stopping his hammering. He was not giving the sword shape, but beating its spirit into shape, because of course a sword of this caliber would give birth to a spirit of its own. "Yes," Lex said. "You''ll need to take a step back and hide behind my body when I reveal the me, or you might not make it." Orin snorted, but he was too fatigued to argue. He did not believe a me existed that dwarves could not harness. "Prepare yourself, then. After my third hammer, I''ll move aside, and you connect the final two pieces." Lex nodded, and looked towards Luthor, who was also prepared. As soon as Orin pulled back, giving Lex space, Luthor opened up his hands, revealing the me. Before the dragon fire could burn down the forge where his sword was being made, Lex grabbed the mes, then using the same hand, mped the base of the sword''s de. The metal immediately began to melt, and Lex''s hand became welded to the sword, though fortunately that was always the n. Using his sword intent, Lex cut his right arm, leaving half his forearm attached to the sword. For a very brief time the heat of the dragon fire was trapped within Lex''s hand as well as the melting de of the sword. But unless it was properly tempered, the sword would be destroyed and the mes lost Fortunately, despite being shocked by the heat, Orin did not pause. Immediately he brought forth his ancient hammer, and called on the ancient powers to finish the forging process. Deep in his mindy the knowledge of how the foundation of this realm was forged, and now he brought out that knowledge to bear. Lex, with his stump, and Luthor who had all the hair on his body burned off, making him bald, took a step back and let the dwarf finish his task. Lex was not worried about healing. The reason why his blood had healing abilities to begin with was because of how densely his body was packed with vital energy. In a few hours to a couple of days at most, he would be back to normal. That''s if he relied only on himself. If Lex walked into the ORR then his hand would regrow in a few minutes. The two were not needed for the remainder of the process, but they stayed anyway. The birth of such a sword deserved witnesses. What they didn''t realize, since they were deep underground, was that above the forge, in the sky, thick ck clouds began to gather and shes of multicolored lightning streaked through the clouds. The rumbling of thunder began to coincide with each strike of Orin''s hammer, and wild winds began to blow across thends as if feeding the fires of his forge. An earthquake shook the ground, but when Lex checked he realized that it was not the ground beneath him that was shaking, but the ceiling above him. The roof began to pull apart, rocking loose many massive rocks and boulders that Lex promptly flung aside. But once the initial devastation ended, he noticed that the sky was suddenly visible. "BY THE POWER OF THE HAMMER DEITY," Orin''s voice suddenly boomed across the hall, "BY THE WILL OF THE EARTH, THE BREATH OF THE REALM AND THE TEARS OF THE SKY¡­" The dwarfs'' voices echoed throughout not only the chamber, but the bowl within the mountain range, and then even farther. Between hammer strikes his tiny body suddenly disappeared, and a massive figure made of pure light appeared in the sky, bigger than even the mountains. "...I STRIKE!" he roared, and instead of a hammer, a bolt of blue lightning zapped through the sky and struck the de. "I STRIKE!" Another bolt of lightning struck the de, as is tempering it. "I STRIKE!" One more, and this time the bolt contained so much power that even Lex and Luthor were pushed back by the aura alone. But by the third strike, the sword had changed, and began to float in the air, under the holy light that Orin exuded. Its appearance was rapidly changing, and Lex could feel that an aura of its own began to develop in the sword. But the process wasn''t over yet. The de was still red hot, not only from the lightning, but from the dragon fire as well. It needed to be quenched. As if on cue, the clouds above them broke into rain, but it wasn''t water that the clouds were giving out. Instead it was pure, liquid spiritual essence. Orins figure disappeared from the sky and the dwarf reappeared in front of Lex, kneeling in exhaustion and weakness. Even though he was the first dwarf, and even though he was a deity, he had been weakened extensively over the years. Lex reached to help him up, but he quickly waved him away. "Forget me you fool. sp your sword and give it a name, quick, before it takes a name of its own." Urged on by Orin, Lex nodded and then walked towards the floating sword, its aura rapidly evolving. The sword tried to resist Lex as he reached for it, but how could anything stop him? Lex grabbed the handle of the sword, which fortunately no longer looked like his hand, with his left hand, and felt something connect the sword to his soul. But the bond was still weak. To strengthen the bond, he would need to name the sword. ''Crap,'' Lex thought to himself as he tried to think of cool names. Why did this seem so much more intimidating than facing death? Chapter 1112 Naraka

Chapter 1112 Naraka

If Lex had known he''d be put on the spot like this he would have never made the sword to begin with! Or maybe, he would have just spent some time thinking of a name. Should he use a pun involving his name? The Lexicon? No, that was dumb. Should he fuse his and Orin''s name to pay tribute to the sword maker? Lorin? Orix? Hmm, still pretty meh. Butter knife 2.0? It was tempting, but the sword deserved a serious name that sounded cool and intimidating at the same time. Time seemed to slow down as thousands of names went through Lex''s mind, but the more he thought about it, the worse his ideas became. Although, admittedly, that was because Lex kept thinking of different renditions of the Lexicon. Once he was truly convinced that he could not give his sword a name based on a pun, he thought of a name seriously for a moment. Since he had somewhat reluctantly admitted that he had anger issues, sometimes, and whenever he faced a foe, he didn''t just want to defeat them, he wanted to punish them, Lex decided to name his sword after hell. But calling his sword hell did not sound right. In that case¡­ he decided to name his sword Naraka, which was hell in Buddhism from back on earth. As soon as he decided on the name he felt the connection between him and the sword strengthen. The aura of the sword finally stopped changing, and the persona of the sword was finally formed. It gave off the incredible heat of dragon fire, and radiated the wrath of hell. It was a weapon to punish and torture his enemies, andy waste to any who stood in his way. It was a little extreme, to be honest. Lex was a peaceful guy. He never picked fights. In fact, when others picked fights with him, he did his best to end those fights as quickly as possible. But since he had a sword now, he might as well keep it. Lex channeled his sword intent into the sword and the silver sword began to give off a white light, which made sense since his sword intent had be visible as ofte. N?v(el)B\\jnn "It''s incredible," whispered Lex, looking towards the exhausted Orin. "The first kill of this sword needs to be worthy of the de," Orin said, as he slowly picked himself up. "If you get an unworthy kill as its first, then it''s bad luck." Lex frowned. Where was he going to find a worthy kill? It wasn''t like he kept a bunch of enemies in the basement so that he could kill them whenever he wanted. "Searching for such an enemy will be a hassle," Lex said. "But you must do it. Do not let the first blood your sword feels belong to a weakling. What did you decide to name it, by the way?" "It is called Naraka, and represents sixteenyers of hell." "A worthy name," he said. "Now leave me be. I need rest. My powers have not returned yet." "If you need rest, then in that case¡­" Lex pulled on his connection with his sword, and it disappeared inside his body. Grinning in satisfaction, Lex grabbed the dwarfs shoulder as well as Luthor, and teleported back to the Inn. "Take some time to rest up here. You''ll recover much quicker here than anywhere else." Without giving Orin a chance to protest, Lex teleported away. This did not count as kidnapping. Orin was just a grumpy old dwarf who would never admit he liked or wanted to do something unless someone forced him. Like a young child. Lex was about to hop into the ORR to reconstruct his hand so he could leave when he received an unexpected notification. Questplete: Host a Deity! Quest reward: Holy Shoot! Remark: You forgot to do this quest, didn''t you? DIDN''T YOU? Lex paused, and refused to acknowledge that he had forgotten about this quest. Orin was a deity, or rather, he became a deity after receiving the worship of other dwarves for so long. More importantly, bing a deity allowed him to live beyond his natural lifespan and ensure the continued sess of his race. But even as a deity, it was weaker than the Heavenly tree. After all, strictly speaking, he was not a Mythical being. Lex shrugged and checked out his reward. Holy Shoot: A shoot of a vine that grows grapes filled with divine energy! He sent the vine to the turtle. He could see that it had a lot of potential, and not just to make amazing wine! Divine energy was actually not easy to umte, so having a fruit full of it was amazing. But for now he had to heal his arm and then return to the Origin realm after fifteen whole years. He actually felt a little excited about it. "Hey Lex, before you leave the Inn, don''t forget to look at the refugees from earth." "Ugh, they''re fine. I am not going back there." "Hey, just because they made a few bad movies about the Innkeeper does not mean¡­" "A few bad movies Mary? They wrote fanfiction novels about the Inn workers falling in love with each other. They wrote the masked Tyrants backstory being that he was actually shy which is why he wears masks! They made a movie about how Harry is actually cupid just because he''s a mour Sorcerer. They¡­ they¡­" "Alright, alright, you''re just upset becausest year you won the title of Forever alone in their annual genocide survival party." "God dammit, I''ve had a girlfriend before. Besides, this body is 15 years old! It''s not exactly appropriate for me to date right now." "Hey, hey, you don''t have to exin anything to me. I believe you. But you still have to check up on them. They''ve been requesting help again. It might be another monster in their realm." "Tell Z to go check it out. Since they love him so much, he can do it." "Are you jealous that he got a monument?" Lex snorted. He was not jealous. Chapter 1113 Only one choice

Chapter 1113 Only one choice

Lex grumbled as he walked towards the ORR. He had a stump instead of a hand. The Origin realm was waiting for him to return to. There was some critical mission waiting for him on some utopia. He didn''t have time to be babysitting a few earthlings. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Just because they had rapidly grown in technology, civilization and cultivation without massive corporations bottleneck progress for personal gain, they all thought they were so amazing. Who even cared that in a mere fifteen years they had surpassed human civilization back on earth? Or used science to exin cultivation? Or created a machine that used dumb A.I. meaning A.I. that won''t gain a soul as well as the Midnight Inn''s massive catalog of techniques to create a machine that analyzes humans and designs a cultivation technique and method suited specifically for them? Lex certainly didn''t. Lex snorted once more. How dare they make a video game about the Midnight Inn and keep him as an unlockable side character? "Mary, spread the word," Lex said as he went to get his arm fixed. "In exactly twelve hours, the Midnight Inn will be opening back up. Tomemorate our reopening, there is going to be an event, and after that we will be kicking off the Midnight Games once more. But the games are going to be a little different this time. Instead of worlds, participants will be individuals and represent only themselves, or a small group." "Any details on what the event will be?" Mary asked. Oddly enough, this was the first time Lex had mentioned something like this. "No. The workers all just need to know that we will be expecting a sudden influx of new guests. I will try to keep the numbers low for now though." It would be great if Lex could just open up the system, do the task in Utopia, and then lock it back down. The Midnight realm had more than everything he needed to grow, and now with the Inn being able to support tribtions once more, he could easily stay here until he became an immortal. Unfortunately, however, he was leaning more and more towards the idea of being the best. Even though he knew that saying it was much easier than doing it, and this was most certainly a path for him to just die, just imagining a normal life seemed boring to him. But more important than just boredom, unless he wanted to give up the Midnight Inn, he would constantly be exposing himself to all the powerful beings in the universe. This would be even more so as the system recovered greater functionality. For example, right now he had an ongoing quest to connect 30 mores to the system within the next 3 years, with the passage of time being based on the Midnight realm. This was not actually difficult for Lex anymore, even if it required him to have the Inn open for a while. But it was only a matter of time before this quest evolved into connecting other realms to the Inn, this time on purpose. If he continued to just rely on bluffing, then there would eventuallye a day he would be discovered. So, very literally, unless he gave up the Inn, he would at the very least, need to reach the Dao Lord realm. But even that might not be enough. Ignoring the mysterious guy who showed up to the Inn one day and guided him towards nabbing a dragon, back in the Crystal realm he had apparently been visited by someone above the Dao Lord realm. Since the system was apparently open for the whole universe, it would not be a stretch to say that one day, maybe a million yearster, or maybe even a hundred million yearster, or perhaps much longer than that or even sooner than that, he might be visited by such a being at the Inn. If that happened, would he be able to maintain the facade? Over the past few years, without one crisis after another distracting him, Lex had much more time to think. That resulted in him realizing that his very survival depended on two things: either he give up the system, or be drastically more powerful. Honestly, he had grown too fond of the Inn and everyone in it, so he wasn''t willing to give up. That left only one viable option - be stronger than any other foe out there who might seek to challenge him? And wasn''t that essentially the same thing as bing the best? To that end, he had been doing a lot of research these past few years. He talked to his idiotic system and forced it to give him quest rewards in the form of knowledge that he had hidden deep within the Midnight library. That knowledge basically only pertained to one thing: how to be the best. Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, on such a path, Lex needed to be proactive. He could no longer wait for prizes to fall into hisp, or wait to encounter good luck. He already had possibly the best cultivation technique in existence, so now he just needed to make use of it in the best way. So, after much research, he had discovered the best conditions and circumstances under which he should be an immortal, and for that, he had to return to the Origin realm. Not only did he need to return, he was on a time limit. His growth in the Nascent realm was much quicker than anticipated, and Lex actually had to put seals on his own body to prevent himself from automatically growing into the next level. But those seals had now begun to fail. Lex had a matter of months to arrange everything. So it was not just the Midnight Inn that would be returning to the Origin realm. It would also be Lex the dragon yer, and if the amount of attention his previous stunt with the dragon attracted was anything to go by, then what he had nned for his grand return would turn him into an overnight sensation. Hence the need to forge himself a proper weapon, as well as the few other preparations he had made. Chapter 1114 Open once more Chapter 1114 Open once more ??Lex yed with the event panel, setting the parameters for the uing event. Although the event panel was already one of the most powerful and versatile panels Lex had for the entire system, it had undergone drastic improvements over thest few years. A rise in Lex''s authority had directly contributed to that, as well as the higher functionality of the system. But if he had to be honest, the thing that most improved how much he could control the system was absorbing the Amber Chaos resin. There was a phenomenon that affected the whole realm when Lex absorbed it, and it improved Lex so drastically that it was fairly unbelievable. That was why he had hurried over and absorbed a second piece as well, but absorbing a second piece of resin did not produce nearly as much of a difference as the first, so instead Lex decided to collect the resin and store them for when he might need them in the future. Of course, he also had Jack absorb one as well. That left a total of 7 pieces of resin that were currently stored in Lex''s museum, surrounded by countless formations designed to hide their auras. It was not just a drastic improvement in his body''s strength, resilience, defense, char, potential, and many more things. It directly catapulted Lex''s rank on the Cosmic Ascendance spectrum by arge degree. He was now fairly certain that, as an individual, his rank on that list was above most races like devils, angels and the like. He was not sure how hepared to Celestials, but Lex did notice that he could directly ignore a majority of the effect that Dragons Might had on him previously. With the upgrade in his rank on that list, the system was a lot more cordial to him, even though Lex could clearly tell that it did not want to be. It was a strange thing that his system was developing a personality. Perhaps this was a result of him not absorbing it into his soul.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Regardless, since then, the system was a lot more flexible in the things it allowed Lex to do. For example, for his uing event, Lex was directly taking control over a feature of the Inn that had always been random. He was taking Blend reality, which basically mixed portions of actual worlds or realms linked to the system and turned them into entrances to the Inn, and mixing it with an element of the Pro bono room. Basically, the Pro bono room had a way to detect any living thing that was in need of rescuing, and would bring them to the Inn. He was taking the element of searching for those in need, pairing it with Blend reality, and setting a target number. To start with, to ensure that nothing untoward happened, he selected the option of looking for 1000 individuals in dire need and bringing them to the Inn through Blend reality. The Inn had no shortage of guests who liked it, and would visit it, but he wanted to find people who would be desperately grateful to the Inn. For one, he wanted to sow positive karma as well as attract guests who had positive feelings for the Inn, and on another note he just wanted to raise his Satisfaction rating. The event would kick off, thousands of extremely grateful guests woulde to the Inn, and after he was sure that there were no issues, he would raise the number significantly. At the same time, he had already prepared a way for him to go to Yildirim Utopia by shifting his tavern around until he found a trade from where he could purchase something that belonged to the Utopia. Now he just needed to tear a ticket and go there. Not only would he end up linking the, but he would also fulfill whatever task he desperately needed to do there. Time passed quickly, and Lex finally ended the Inn''s lockdown. At the same time, the reopening event kicked off, and Lex tore his ticket to Yildirim Utopia, teleporting over. Across the Origin realm, Crystal realm and the Midnight realm, countless living beings on the verge of death suddenly discovered an opportunity to survive. It was a split second opportunity, and most of them immediately took advantage of it. Only one was too slow, unable to enter the Inn before being cut down. 999 confused, worn, beaten living creatures suddenly appeared in the Inn. Most of them were beasts, and they sustained considerable injuries which needed immediate treatment. Some were nts, others were monsters, and a few were ordinary sentient beings, while one was a 2D character who disappeared off the page of aic book. The page in theic where he died was empty, confusing the little human who was reading theic. How could thest page be empty? But no one could give him an answer. Lex, who had full faith in his workers, especially now that most of them were either in the Golden core or Nascent realm, ventured off on his own journey. Surprisingly little was known about Yildirim Utopia, and even the item he had collected belonging to this had been smuggled off. If he could have personally entered the emporium he could have gathered information, but his projection could not leave the tavern, so he was forced to arrive here with no real knowledge of this ce. His first and immediate impression of the ce was that¡­ it was actually pretty nice! The weather was nice and warm, without being hot even by mortal standards, and the flora as far as he could see resembled earth. Lex was standing on a beach, and the gentle waves ebbed and flowed, tickling Lex''s toes as the water ran over them. A few seagulls flew in the sky, hunting for prey, while a number of animals randomly upied the ground. A bale of turtles had half buried themselves in the sand, enjoying their warmth. Countless fish filled the water, even this close to the shore, revealing how rich and full the water was. Lex was expecting to feel nausea upon once more returning to the Origin realm, but something about this ce actually felt quite soothing. It was rxing in a way that even the Inn wasn''t. How curious. Chapter 1115 Saintess Yildrim Chapter 1115 Saintess Yildrim ??Around the time that Lex reopened the Inn to the universe, there was a small wooden pirate ship floating in the air. There was a fairy sleeping at the helm, it''s feet up on the steering wheel. On the deck there was a small owl, which would from time to time rotate its head around and re at a tiny, crystal alligator sleeping on the deck. The alligator hade out of the crystal egg Jack had rescued, and for the most part all it did was sleep. As if that was not enough, everything it touched began to turn to crystal. Jack actually had to spend several months strengthening the ship to resist the crystallization process. Sure that ultimately made the ship stronger, but Ollie still didn''t like it. But even more than the alligator, it hated the first mate! It was a unicorn that had suffered from extreme dwarfism, making it only a few inchesrge. Yet even if it wanted toin it could not. The unicorn was too strong, weaker only than the captain. Moreover, its magic was absolutely terrifying. But no matter what the case was, it had skipped the order of seniority by directly bing the first mate. Suddenly, Jack opened his eyes. "Guys, it''s time. Tiny-Sparkles, open the sails. Everyone else, man your stations. We''re heading out!" Tiny-Sparkles, the unicorn, responded in a deep, reverberating voice, "for thest time captain, we don''t need sails to travel through realms." But even as itined, the unicorn did as it was told. Captain Jack cared a lot about looking cool, which would have made him a terrible captain if he wasn''t otherwisepetent in every other way as well. Jack did not respond. He was focused on the ancient, strange temple they were in. By all ounts, this thing should not have existed in the Midnight realm. But it did, and as far as Jack could tell after years of research, it was also connected to some unknown realm that the Inn had never touched upon before. This was a perfect time to begin his own journey, untouched by the system and Lex. At the same time, he could feel the call to adventure in his blood. It was risky, sure, but by now Jack waspletely used to his fairy powers. He was more than confident in surviving. Energy filled the ancient pirs of the temple, activating a teleportation formation that seemed to have been formed naturally. Then, one secondter, they were gone. Momentster the temple began to crumble, but as it did, it revealed an engraving that had long been hidden, even from Jack''s inspection as well as Lex''s. It disappeared before anyone could see, though if Lex had seen it, he would have recognised it as the Tower of Providence. It was the same tower that teleported him away back in the Crystal realm, and it was the tower which worked across the entire universe,bating the powers of chaos. It was also the same tower that gave Lex the Taro fertilizer, the very thing that allowed the Realm seed to mature so quickly. Elsewhere, in the Origin realm, a meeting was being convened between various members of the Henali race. Each attending member was a Dao Lord. "ording to our agents, the Midnight inn has reopened," the Henali convening the meeting said. "Has it been confirmed that it has really opened in a brand new realm?" "Yes, as far as we can tell, it is an entirely new realm. It hasn''t even finished using up its Cosmic Sea." "What is the Innkeeper thinking, opening up such a ce to the universe?" "The Innkeeper is too mysterious. No matter how I divine things rted to him, I can learn nothing of him. Moreover, we strongly suspect that the Innkeeper came to the Origin realm because he found some mysterious treasure. It might be rted to the birth of this new realm?" "Do you think he''s discovered the truth?" one of the Henali said, a tinge of anger in his voice. "No, I doubt it. As far as we can tell, he even initiated a fight with one of the local deities, so it is unlikely he knows of what the Origin realm is truly hiding. But it''s hard to say for certain. His motives are too... I don''t even have the right word for it. Why would he open up a new realm to the universe? I simply cannot understand it. If it were me, I would spend the next billion years refining the realm and consolidating my Dao if I encountered a new realm." "What if... what if he is close to the next realm?" No one spoke after that. The realm after the Dao Lord realm. Even the Henali Dao Lordscked the courage to think about that realm. "Send a report back home, as well as a Golden key. Tell them we have decided to pursue friendly rtions with the Midnight Inn. As for the seniors¡­ well, if they decide to look into the Inn, they''ll surely find out if the Innkeeper is truly close to that realm." "Do you want to take a look at the new realm yourself? Since it''s an Inn, we can surely visit, right?" "Send someone to investigate first. Ask for permission. The Innkeeper left the Origin realm because he was dissatisfied with us. It''s best not to provoke him further." "Send that human, he seems to be on good terms with him. Also, keep a few agents there just to watch and report, but don''t do anything else." "Good. We will decide on this matter after the tourney finishes." "Excellent." Across the Origin and Crystal realms, the return of the Midnight inn suddenly sparked a great interest. Besides the vested interests of countless powerful beings, just the fact that the two realms were embroiled in war made the Inn invaluable. It was the perfect retreat in a dire situation, not to mention a secure location for meetings. Even though Lex intended for his return to be gradual, within the first few minutes there were already hundreds of thousands of guestsing to the Inn. Lex himself, meanwhile, was kept abreast of all information by Mary. But he was not concerned. The Inn could handle such an influx. Instead, he was more concerned about the strange environment on this. The more time he spent here, the more oddities he noticed.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex''s body had been improved to the utmost by two resins, to the extent that he had put various seals on his body restricting his power lest he burst into the immortal realm. Yet even so, Lex could detect that if he stayed in such an environment, over the course of many years, his soul would be stronger. This was something that not even the Midnight realm could do. It could aid in improving cultivation, but improving the soul just through the environment alone was absurd. Even being in the literal soul ne could not do that. Lex began to explore the, walking unseen among the residents. Most of them were not too strong to begin with. The majority of the people were in the Qi Training realm or Foundation realm, with a few Golden core cultivators seen here and there. If he entered arge city he could even spot a Nascent soul cultivator, though he immediately noticed that all Nascent soul cultivators, each and every one of them, was a soldier or a guard. Another peculiar thing he noticed was that this ce really seemed to be a utopia. The leader of this, known only as Saintess Yildrim, had worked extensively to transform the over thest decade or so. She had done extensive civil and humanitarian work, to the point where no person needed to ever work to live afortable life. All the basic needs were provided. But oddly enough, providing such a situation created an environment where many people actually wanted to work, and took up many odd jobs. Farming was by far the most popr, followed by working with animals, then being a school teacher. These were the three most desirable jobs on the entire, as they provided the most fulfillment and satisfaction. But at the same time, thews were also incredibly strict. There was no room for things like abuse, theft and the likes. As Lex walked from town to town, from city to city, he saw a scene right out of a fairy tale. It was not that negative emotions did not exist on this anymore. But that everyone had been trained how to deal with and vent those emotions in a productive and healthy way. It almost seemed ridiculous. Lex began to genuinely admire this saintess, and decided that maybe he should meet her. After all, he could not find any other reason why he needed to be on this, so he began to search for her. That''s when, for the first time sinceing here, Lex sensed a hint of maliciousness. Chapter 1116 Lex?

Chapter 1116 Lex?

The sensation was not originating from some specific person or ce. There was just a hint of it mixed in with the general environment. It was like an?unexpected, unpleasant smell in an otherwise nice ce. Lex had be more sensitive to such things in thest few years while he tried to hone his powers and abilities. Since he could read people''s emotions really well, it was just one step forward to sense the influence their thoughts and emotions had on their surroundings. N?v(el)B\\jnn In summary, it was a cultivator version of a vibe check. Some people, while putting up a front of being kind and amicable, were harboring dark thoughts rting to the Saintess Yildrim. It wasn''t too surprising since she kept a firm check on anyone who wanted to do anything illegal. Most people took advantage of the great facilities provided and the actual utopian civilization, but some wanted other things. Some people just enjoyed hurting others. Not to mention, the Utopia probably had enemies of its own. It took Lex many years to get his hands on an item from there, and in that time he had learned a few things about it. The Utopia existed within the Jotun empire, but there was almost no information on it. No one knew which power controlled the, not that there were many people looking for it. There was no significant import or export from the, and its people could not even ess the Henali portal. But to be a part of the empire and remain so well hidden, some big power was definitely controlling it, and they no doubt had enemies too. So it was not surprising that there were people targeting the saintess despite all the good she had done. But more than her hand in creating a utopia, Lex strongly suspected that she was being targeted because she knew the reason why souls were being nourished on this. Such a thing would spark greed in anyone''s heart. Lex began to Blink around the, searching from city to city for signs of the saintess. She had countless pces where she could reside in, but all of them were empty. Moreover, no one knew where she might be either. She managed to keep her whereabouts extremely private. But if Lex could find even the resin in the hidden corners of the Midnight realm, then finding a saintess was not a real challenge. It took him only a few hours to find a trace of the saintess, at which point it was only a matter of a few more teleportations to find her. There was a massive white pce with countless spires rising into the sky. It was built on the side of a mountain with a deepke filling the valley beside it. Doves, ducks and geese could be seen everywhere, while wild lilies covered the entire mountains. It was as if this ce specifically was the center of purity. All dirt from the world seemed to be washed away close to the pce. The air here seemed more¡­ Lex had no words for it, but it was somehow more clear and fresh than even the air in the Inn. His body right now had no impurities in it whatsoever, but he suspected if he had any,ing to this ce would have removed them. The scene was too beautiful to be reality - too perfect. It was as if something like this should only exist in paintings. The only w, if it could be called that, was the absolute stillness of the pce. Compared to its surroundings, which were filled with an abundance of life, the pce seemed lifeless. There were no guards, no workers, no residents. He spread out his spirit sense to check the castle and finally found a few living people. Lex frowned. The people he found were clearly assassins, searching the pce for the saintess, yet she was nowhere to be found. It was as if the pce truly was empty, but he had followed signs of her to this ce, so she should have been in the castle. Even if she wasn''t, the origin of whatever made this so pure was definitely here, but he could not find it either. Perhaps it was hidden in some chamber that his spirit sense could not see through. But to achieve such protection and secrecy that even he could not see through it was not an easy feat. Just to be sure, Lex activated the power of his left eye and was stunned by what he saw. There was something absolutely powerful in the pce subtly affecting thews of the entire realm, slowly changing them! Now that Lex had his own realm, he knew exactly how difficult it was to affectws, let alone the fundamentalws that made up a realm. The Midnight realm was brand new so it was still easier to do so there, but it would be exponentially more difficult to achieve the same result here. But it was clearly happening in front of him. He suddenly began to understand why Vera had sent him here. Whatever could affect thews of the Origin realm absolutely could not fall into the hands of people with ulterior motives. But he didn''t act immediately. He teleported to the pce, but just kept a close eye on the assassins while he himself also explored. The vast, spotless halls of the pce were truly devoid of any living presence. In fact, Lex was certain that he was the first person ever to enter many of the rooms he strolled through. Since he could find any people, Lex decided to go towards the origin of the purity of this ce. That was much easier to track, as he could noticeably feel the environment improving as he went in the right direction. As a result, he could also tell that the assassins were also aiming for the same target, and they were much closer. Unwilling to prolong the matter, he directly teleported to the assassins. There were three human assassins, and one of them was a white snake. His abrupt arrival startled them, but they did not hesitate in attacking him. "It''s a bodyguard! Quickly get past him," one of the assassins yelled, but it was futile. They were too weak and he was too strong. These enemies were unworthy of Naraka, so he just pulled out the Butter Knife and sliced through them all. Three bodies fell on the floor and the snake stopped moving. They were not dead yet, but they were unconscious. Lex turned around, and was startled by the sight of a person who he suspected was the saintess. Shey in a hammock hung between two pirs, looking out towards the scenery from a balcony. Lex could not actually see her, since he was standing behind her and the hammock blocked the view. But that was besides the point. She was right there in the room with him, but he could not sense her with his spirit sense at all. Even his instincts were unusually silent in this situation. It was as if she wasn''t there at all, though he could see the hammock. But she was obviously there. She must have been wearing some extremely extraordinary equipment to be so well hidden. Another thing was strange was that the fight, however brief, happened right behind her. The assassin had even yelled out, calling him a bodyguard, but she did not move at all. It was as if she was dead. Or maybe she was just a very deep sleeper. But concluding that was too unbelievable, Lex tried to probe the situation. "Excuse me for my uninvited arrival, saintess. I could not hold myself back when I sensed the assassins about to make a move. I am also a big fan of your work on this, and was looking forward to meeting you," he said as formally and politely as he could manage. There was some movement in the hammock finally, and the saintess replied, "thank you for your help, although I was not in as much danger as you might have imagined. I''m always protected." The saintess had a delicate voice, but it sounded forlorn more than anything. It was, as if, her protection was a topic of great remorse for her rather than providing her with a feeling of safety. Lex froze. His eyes opened wide and his jaw nearly dropped. But then suddenly a trace of doubt filled his mind. It couldn''t be¡­ "I''m d you were safe, then. But I truly still admire what you''ve done on this. I have never seen anyone else create such a peaceful and fulfilling environment." There was a long silence, but eventually the saintess simply replied, "thank you." Shock filled Lex''s eyes, and he suddenly teleported right in front of the saintess, finally gazing upon her fair visage. She was a youngdy of immacte beauty, and everything about her radiated an aura of purity and simplicity. "Moon!" Lex eximed, recognising his youngest sister. The saintess shed open her closed eyes and locked onto Lex''s face. "Lex?" Chapter 1117 Seals

Chapter 1117 Seals

Generally, Lex was able to maintain hisposure regardless of the situation. In fact, more often than not, the more serious a situation was, the better he would be at controlling himself. He had to be like this, considering the fact that he regrly faced extremely powerful beings that could easily eradicate him. In fact, Lex could say for certain that if the saintess had any other identity at all, whether it be some ancient deity or a secret Dao Lord or some unimaginable entity with a power scale he could notprehend, he would still not have been shocked. But brought face to face with little Moon, his youngest sister, thoroughly stumped him. How many years had it been since he hadst seen her? Considering that he had spent 15 years in the Midnight realm, and hadn''t seen her for years even before that, it was close to two decades. Had it¡­ had it really been so long? He could not help but take in her entire appearance, andpare it to his memories. His youngest sister had, naturally, been the naughtiest and most spoiled of the siblings. She got everything she wanted and their parents were always more lenient with her. Even among the siblings, they tended to spoil her more. If Lex had to describe her in a few simple words, he would go with youthful, vibrant, energetic and mischievous. But the grown woman before Lex''s eyes seemed too different, despite having the same face and voice. Even for her, it had been many years already since shest saw him. "Moon what are you doing over here?" Lex asked, shocked. Even as he asked the question he realized it was a stupid one, but his ordinarily very quickly brain was currently experiencingg. "What am I doing here? What are you doing here? Last I heard, you had disappeared from earth. No one could find you. Belle was worried sick, even if she didn''t show it." Lex''s emotions fluctuated as he recalled the various things his family had kept from him. Had Moon been in on it as well? He scanned her with his spirit sense and realized she was in the Golden core, confirming that she must have been cultivating from a young age. But instead of being upset, Lex instead felt rmed. He stepped closer and grabbed her thin, frail arms. He used his various senses to probe her body and discovered something that rmed him! "Why are you so weak? You''re even weaker than a mortal!" he said, feeling genuine concern take hold. But in response Moon only smiled weakly, her expression filled with endless hidden regrets. Before she could exin, a strange pulse of energy distracted Lex. The assassins he defeatedy unconscious still, but clearly some failsafe had been triggered. A strange crystal emerged from within their bodies and began to pulse together. Lex detected a spatial disturbance. Without hesitating he attacked the crystals, but his attack was easily rebuffed. Whatever was happening had been arranged by at least an Earthen immortal. Lex took out a golden key and threw it towards Moon. "Someone is opening a portal to you, and it''s probably more assassins - at the Earth immortal level at the very least. Use the key, it''ll take you to a ce called the Midnight Inn, you''ll be safe there. I''ll try to see if I can find out who is behind all this." Moon gave Lex an amused look. "Even if an Earth immortal attacks, I''mpletely safe on this," Moon assured him. "There is a veryrge protective formation around this that is being powered by the star in the center of this star system. The sole purpose of that formation is to protect me. I can''t be hurt even if I want to. See." As if to demonstrate what she meant, Moon bit the skin on her hand. Lex was waiting to see the supposed formation work, but instead Moon''s frail hand began to bleed. Lex only raised an eyebrow, but Moon''s pupils contracted in shock! The formation was actually not working! "Something is wrong with the formation!" she said, a panic finally bleeding into her voice. "Alright, it''s not a big deal even if the formation fails. Just go to the Midnight Inn and I''ll take care of things over here. Don''t take your big brother lightly." Lex paused upon saying that. Between the two of them, he was the one who looked like he was younger. But that was just in appearance. He was still older where it counted! "No, you don''t understand, I can''t leave this. We need to immediately contact someone," she said as she pulled out a device from a spatial equipment, but it also seemed to not be working. She was panicking more and more, and Lex could see that just the strain of panicking was affecting her physically. For that matter, he realized that she hadn''t moved much this entire time. Deep anger shed in Lex''s heart, but he quickly suppressed it. He didn''t know much about his family, or what secrets they had been keeping from him, but since they were linked to the powerful Williams family, how could Moon have been ignored to such an extent? How could his parents leave her in such a condition? But he would get to thatter. For now he had to deal with the current situation. "Moon this is not a joke. Dealing with the immortal is not an issue but I can''t do that without hurting you. You need to go to the Inn. Trust me, it''s absolutely safe. You cane back once this is over." She had to hurry, because the spatial anomaly was increasing and Lex could tell someone was about to teleport over. Even with his amazing spatial affinity, he could not prevent this teleportation from urring. Whoever had set this up was using much more brute force than Lex could easily counter. "Lex, it''s not that I don''t want to go," Moon desperately exined, "but that I really can''t leave this. My soul has been chained to this. If I move away from this, if I so much as even fly too high in the sky, my soul will be extinguished. The formation around this was not put in ce just to protect me from attacks. It was put there to make sure I don''t try anything that''ll hurt myself." It¡­ it was a painful admission, but there had been days where she really had been very desperate. She had never reached the point of wanting tomit suicide, but her grandfather wanted to take no risks, and so her safe haven also became her prison. Lex''s head snapped from the spatial anomaly to Moon, and suddenly he saw things in a new light. He used his soul sense and discovered that the size of Moon''s soul in her body was actually norger than a coin. But from within that coin emerged a long, thin rope that exited from within her body and went down towards the center of the. "Lex you should run. They won''t kill me, but they will kill you," Moon began to say desperately, tears beginning to fill the corner of her eyes. Her weak body began to tremble under the emotional strain, but the more it was like this, the more effort Lex had to put in to keep his anger from bubbling up. In the end, instead of saying anything, Lex smiled at her. "Hey little sis, have I¡­ have I ever met your real body before? Or was everything back on earth just¡­ just made up?" N?v(el)B\\jnn Moon was stunned by the question. This was not the time to dwell on such things. Even she could feel the enormous aura rising behind her. She wanted more than anything to spend time with Lex. It had been so long since she met someone in person. But the situation¡­ Before Moon could answer, Lex reached forward and wiped the tears that were about to fall from her eyes. "Rx, little Moon. I''m here. It''s going to be okay." Oh Lex was really looking forward to beating the living hell out of someone right now. Fortunately, there was a volunteering towards him just in time. Lex tore his shirt and revealed three seals on his chest that kept his cultivation under control. The middle one looked like a piece of jewelry that was embedded right into his chest. It was something he made on his own, and it was responsible for containing most of his power sealed. The other two, however, consisted of a Glyph that was embedded into his skin, and a tattoo that looked like a tiny lotus. Lex did not want to undo too many of his seals because it would cause hups in his ns, but when circumstances did not allow it, there was no point in dwelling on these things. The Glyph disappeared from his skin, and the lotus began to fade. Lex''s aura did not explode, because as long as the third seal wasn''t undone he could still decently control his power. But to face an immortal, two seals should be more than enough. Probably. He''d never tried before, so he could only find out now. Chapter 1118 Give me names

Chapter 1118 Give me names

Why were immortals so much more powerful than mortals? It was not just because it was, obviously, a higher realm in cultivation. Immortals were a higher form of existence. For someone following the normal route of progressing, reaching the Nascent realm made them barely strong enough to just detect thews of the universe vaguely. It was mere detection, not interaction or maniption. It was, instead, when they became immortals that their bodies and souls would be strengthened enough to tolerate the burden of touching uponws, and their ts could act as anchors to keep them from being swept away when they touched thews in any way. So, in essence, their base strength came from the fact that they had to be strong enough for their body to not fall apart under the burden ofws, while the limits of their individual power came from how much or how deeply they could influence thosews. That was also why ts were so important: they directly impacted how an immortal not only perceivedws, but how they interacted with them. For an ordinary person, that was not a simple divide to cross. For Lex, it was something he had been doing for years already. A part of him wondered if he should take this opportunity to whet his sword as well, but then decided against it. Lex watched as a portal opened and an Earth Immortal walked out of it. Unlike the realms before it, which were divided into early, middle,te and peak, the immortal realms were divided into nine sub-levels though he did not yet understand the significance of those levels. Either way, this immortal who suddenly arrived seemed like he was close to the beginning of the immortal realm. Heck, even Qawain and Lilith seemed stronger. The immortal ignored Lex and looked towards Moon, who stilly in her hammock. Even now, she did not really have the energy to move too much. The immortal smiled, and took in a deep whiff. The air, it smelled so¡­ Before the immortal could enjoy the prelude to his victory, Lex appeared in front of him and pushed his hand right into the immortal''s chest. "Hmm, you have thirteen ts. No wait, fourteen ts. Don''t you think that''s too many?" Lex asked. Although his hand had pierced into his body, no blood was dripping. That was because Lex had not pierced his physical body, but rather his soul, and taken ahold of his ts within. Implementing his own, upgraded version of Impervious Hands, Lex could easily touchws. In the case of immortals, he could directly influence whateverws they were trying to manipte, or even take control of their ts deep within their soul. The immortal looked at Lex, in shock. Seeing as how Lex was not doing anything, and just standing there, the immortal grabbed Lex''s hand and tried to pull it out of his body to no avail. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om He could not even cause Lex flinch, let alone move his entire hand. Seeing as how he could not pull out Lex''s hand, he instead tried to punch him. But once again, Lex did not move at all. Instead, the immortal''s hand fractured. "Hmm, not so strong," Lex murmured. Moon, who was trying to use all sorts of devices to call for help, was stunned. Although she could not turn to view what was happening, she could still use her spirit sense. The sight of the immortal struggling to resist Lex was enough to leave her bbergasted. "Just for my own reference," Lex asked, "what is your cultivation realm? Are you like a level 1 Earth immortal? Surely you can''t be higher than a level 2." "Do you know who you''re up against?" the immortal asked instead, as he grit his teeth and began secretly preparing for an attack. He could not manipte anyws because Lex had literally gripped his ts, making it so that he dared not touch upon thews. "It would be in your own best interest to step away. As long as we get the girl, no one will bother you." "No, actually, I don''t know who I''m up against. Why don''t you enlighten me as to who exactly is interrupting my little reunion? Don''t be afraid to get specific. Go ahead and take some names." Moon smiled, and finally rxed. It seemed like she had underestimated Lex. "This is no joking matter. The Fuegan have taken notice of the saintess. One way or another, they will get their hands on her. This is not something someone at your level can resist." Before Moon could process what she heard, and once again start to get worried, Lex asked, remaining nonchnt, "so like, the entire Fuegan race? Or like some specific Fuegan members? Like I said, names would really help." The immortal was frustrated to see that his attempt to intimidate Lex failed, but either way he never intended to let Lex leave alive. Even if he could not usews, he could still use other attacks! A ck, three pronged dagger appeared in his hand suddenly which he stabbed into Lex''s neck! Lex was too close, he didn''t get an opportunity to dodge at all. With all his strength, as well as a special technique to increase the sharpness of the knife, the immortal cut Lex''s neck, but¡­ but nothing happened. The tip of the knife got stuck against the earliest signs of stubble Lex had just begun to show. Let alone skin, the knife could not even cut his not even fully grown facial hair! "You know what, I''ll just find outter." In truth, Lex had not really dropped his guard this entire time. He was fully ready to unleash his power and crush the immortal''s ts at a moment''s notice, but it turned out he was just too strong even before his final seal was opened. Maybe he was a little too sessful in his efforts to reach towards the strength of a Heavenly immortal dragon during his cultivation the past few years. Chapter 1119 Basically just a butler Chapter 1119 Basically just a butler ??It actually made sense that Lex could so easily handle an immortal. His own strength was as such that he would immediately initiate the tribtion for the next realm if he hadn''t kept his powers sealed. Thinking of it that way, what that meant was that he had already reached the power level of the next realm without actually entering the next realm. But even if he was at that level, destroying someone''s ts using brute force wasn''t something Lex could achieve. Unwilling to keep this farce going on for much longer, Lex immediately used Space Warp. This was an ability he learned long ago which allowed him to bend space in a region as he wished, causing a massive spike in gravity. Considering the fact that he warped the space inside the immortal''s soul, he finally managed to break his ts. Since the immortal realm was entirely based on ts, the immortal suddenly became mortal. He coughed out blood, and the skin on various parts of his body erupted as immortal energy escaped his body. Technically speaking, the man would still have a physical body and soul of a simr strength to that of an immortal''s, but he just would not have his ts. The chances of him returning to the immortal realm were close to nil, not that Lex was going to leave him with the opportunity. Lex pulled out the man''s soul and used a sealing technique to imprison the soul inside a small gem. He''d question the manter. For now, it was best to focus on his sister''s situation. Also¡­ Lex reformed the Glyph on his chest, once again sealing a part of his power. It was too risky to keep his powers unsealed. He did not want to enter the immortal realm until the perfect opportunity came by, and that would take some more time. If he wanted to bring back his third seal, he would need Lotus'' help, and for that he would have to return to the Inn first. "I''ll admit, that was easier than I thought," Lex said as he walked back to Moon. "I haven''t really faced off against an immortal recently, so I wasn''t sure how tough it would be. Or maybe that was just a weak immortal." Moon did not respond, and instead only looked at her brother. During their childhood, he had been quite different. If Belle were the one casually crushing a man, Moon would not have even blinked. But since when did Lex treat such things so casually? Then again, he must have been through his fair share of problems. "What are you looking at? Tell me about your situation with this. How can we fix this? If the Fuegan are really the ones targeting like that assassin said, then we haven''t seen thest of them." "We can''t fix this," Moon said, shaking her head. "It''s a long story. You don''t need to worry about me. As soon as someone realizes that there''s something amiss, they''ll quicklye and fix the formation. It won''t take long." "Moon, I am not leaving you here. They''ve basically trapped you in a prison. Your body is literally just a strong sneeze away from breaking in two. Not to mention, there''s not a single person around you to even notice you getting assassinated. What the hell kind of family does this? I thought our parents were messed up for what they did to me, but this¡­" "No, it''s not like that," Moon said, trying to exin. She had initially been happy to see Lex once more, but as soon as that initial euphoria wore off she realized he couldn''t stay here, or else he''d be just another victim like her. She needed to find a way to send him away. "The pce is empty because I sent everyone away. I¡­ I didn''t want to be surrounded by servants and guards all day. Besides, my body''s not as weak as you may think. I mean, technically speaking, this is also my body. Instead of imprisoning my soul inside the, they fused most of it with the. That way, my purification ability which constantly purifies my body will also automatically purify the. Theoretically speaking, I can create a literal holy zone for cultivation this way. So technically, my body is very strong. It''s just my original body that''s be a little weak. But because the is sorge, and my soul is so weak, the fusion is notplete yet. That''s why¡­"n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Lex put his hand on her mouth, preventing her from speaking. "Stop talking. You think too much. Just a few years apart is all it took for you to think you can have opinions now. You''re forgetting that as the youngest, you''re basically just the family butler. I''m taking you away from here, and then we can sit and catch up," Lex said sternly. Even his expression looked admonishing, though considering his youthful face it was hard to take it seriously. "Are you sure I''m the younger one of us right now?" she asked using her spirit sense, a hint of amusement in her voice. Lex''s lip twitched, but he ignored her. There were two reasons he interrupted her. First was the revtion that her soul was actually fusing with the. Initially all he thought was that he would have to find a way to remove her soul from some kind of prison, but if there was a fusion process going on it might be much moreplicated. Fortunately, the Inn did not discriminate in what kind of body its guests had when they teleported over. He just had to find out if he could actually ept a as a guest. Secondly, he began to detect more spatial anomalies, and this time, they were much stronger. He could detect dozens of portals opening up just outside the''s orbit, and his instincts were telling him he would not be able to deal with this situation as easily as he had with the single immortal. "Mary, I have a new kind of guest I want to bring to the Inn. Do you think a golden key would work on an entire, or would I have to use a few more?" Chapter 1120 No need to suppose

Chapter 1120 No need to suppose

Mary scoffed. "Of course it will only take one key. What do you take the Midnight Inn for? But, that will only work if the is sentient and uses the key. You cannot have a that''s not sentient as a guest." "Okay, new question. What if the is in the process of being made a clone, but it''s not quite there yet. Can I still bring it?" Even as Lex asked that question, he removed the seal on his chest once more and began moving his hands in an unusual pattern, as if he was preparing something. The situation was bad, but hopefully it wasn''t to the point where he would need to open his third seal. It was not just that opening the seal would cause him to face a tribtion to enter the next level, but that the tribtion would most likelye immediately. So either he would have to fight while undergoing the tribtion, or wait for it to end first. Either way, it was less than ideal. "Thatplicates the situation a little bit. Why don''t you tell me the exact situation and I''ll look for a solution," Mary said, looking troubled. Lex exined the situation to her while continuing his odd movements. These strange, rhythmic movements of his limbs was something Lex came up with on his own while experimenting with his affinity. It was a tremendous help in doing something he wasn''t technically supposed to be able to do. "You look like someone doing a russian dance badly," Moon said, giggling. Although the situation was serious, though technically she couldn''t sense the spatial anomalies so she didn''t know the extent of it, she wasn''t too worried. Part of it was because she had basically spent her whole life a prisoner. Although she lived vicariously through her clone on earth, in reality she spent most of her life here, separated from everyone she cared for. As a result, she did not really care if she became someone else''s prisoner. Effectively, nothing would change. But mostly because she realized that if her brother had a way to get her out of here, if her situation was normal, then he had a way to get himself out as well. Since there was no real danger... well she took this opportunity to enjoy herself. Lex''s lip twitched. He knew exactly which dance she was talking about, because he had shown her a youtube video of someone doing a russian dance badly. It was not at all distracting to be made fun of while trying to save a from the clutches of evil immortals. He gave his younger sister a look which meant she had not changed at all. That made Moon giggle even more. Outside Yildrim Utopia thirteen different portals were opening up, each at a different location around the. But, before they could fully form, a space bubble formed around the entire! Lex grunted as he felt a majority of his spiritual energy suddenly drain, but the bubble held and did not disappear. The bubble was just a simple way of describing a spatial phenomenon where the space between two points was essentially cut out. Lex read about it and found it so interesting that he learnt how to do it. The problem was that he had never created such a big bubble before. Not only was this a massive drain on his spiritual energy, the bubble would notst long either. That was because Lex had done something far beyond simple teleportation, or affecting space in a region where space itself was weak. This was a much more advanced form of simply putting a barrier around the entire, which in itself should have been too much for Lex considering that he was only in the Nascent realm. But using his affinity forws, and his hand gestures which basically involved physically touching thews around the region and tampering with them, he seeded in doing something absolutely absurd. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om When the thirteen portals opened and various figures stepped through, they discovered that the was actually outside their reach! Twelve of them were Earth immortals, though they were drastically stronger than the one Lex had fought. The thirteenth, while still being just an earth immortal, felt much stronger. Even all the way down on the, Lex could feel that the thirteenth one probably wasn''t human. "Unfortunately, Lex, since the cloning process isn''tplete, the is just another object. Although guests can usually bring external objects with them, they cannot bring a with them, even if they own it." "Damn it, fine. I''ll figure out my own way," Lex cursed. He began to check if he could host a ''bring your to the Inn'' event or something for owners, but the system seemed to be much more strict about bringing an entire, or basically any object that hosted a lot of life. Finding a loophole wasn''t going to be so simple. "How deeply are you connected to the?" Lex asked. "Are you connected to just a part of it, like the core or a continent, or the whole thing? Do you know if there''s any way to reverse the process?" Moonughed. "I am not connected to the Lex. That''s just a simple way of exining the situation. A majority of my soul has been dissolved into the. If that happened to a normal person, they would just die. But, since I''m special, my soul will slowly assimte the. It cannot be reversed, though if you made my soul about as strong as an immortals, I suppose that would speed up the process. But I suppose¡­" "No need to suppose," Lex interrupted her once more. "Strengthening your soul to the level of an immortal''s sounds good enough. I have a friend who is good with souls. By the way, would you happen to know the grade of the highest quality spirit stone mine on this?" Chapter 1121 Everything is going to be fine Chapter 1121 Everything is going to be fine ??"Highest quality spirit stone mine? Uh, yeah, I suppose," replied Moon, and tried to bring up a map, but none of her technology was working. She blushed, but pretended like she wasn''t bothered by it. "I can''t pull up a map, but I can tell you where it is," she said. "Excellent. Actually, just to be safe, how about you tell me the location of the top four spirit stone mines. You can just tell me their approximate distance and direction from where we are. I''ll find them on my own," Lex said. He did not seem like he was in a rush, even though thirteen immortals were attacking the space bubble outside the. It would take them at least a few minutes to crack it, or find ways around it. That''s if they were exceptionally strong. Otherwise, he had at least half an hour. That was more than enough time. Moon, suppressing her confusion, gave Lex the directions he required before he just disappeared. One moment he was right in front of her, and the next he was gone. Moon once again felt the connection between her and the formation that was supposed to protect her, but couldn''t detect anything. So much for keeping her safe by hiding her on one and making sure she never goes anywhere else. All it had done was make her a sitting target. She tried to muster up some anger, but all such emotions had left her long ago. She sighed, and her thoughts drifted towards her other siblings. All of them were in messed up situations one way or another. But before she could dwell on it too much, Lex reappeared. This time, he was wearing a smile, and looked satisfied. "Hey Moon, want to go on a trip?" he asked. But instead of waiting for a reply, he held her hand and covered her body with his energy, making sure that it had support and wouldn''t be hurt. "What am I saying? Of course you want to go on a trip, but before that, let''s see off your guests. No need to be rude." He would have teleported both of them to the edge of the space bubble, but he didn''t want to risk bringing her too far from the surface of the, so instead he opened a small portal that opened right at the edge of the bubble. Through it, they could see out into space. More importantly, they were brought face to face with one of the guys trying to break through the space bubble. To Lex, the man was just another guy he would probably thoroughly thrash sometime in the future, but the guy clearly recognized Lex, and ced great importance on him! "You know me?" Lex asked, surprised. "Yes. You''re Lex Dragonyer, with a bounty of 32 2-stars on your head offered by the Dragon King. Who doesn''t know you?" Moon''s eyes dted in shock, and Lex raised an eyebrow. "32 entires? For me? Wow, that''s pretty cool." "That''s if you''re brought in dead. If you''re brought in alive, the bounty is evenrger," the man continued to exin. "But you don''t need to worry. I am not here for the bounty. In fact, I can offer you refuge from the dragons, so long as you agree to join us. Your future can be very bright." "Care to tell me who exactly is ''us''?" Lex asked. "I can tell you everything, if you lower the barrier and let us in. If you''re concerned about safety, I can swear a Dao oath that we will not act against you in any way. Even if you refuse to join, you will not be harmed. We will just talk in detail, and I can even bring you with me so you can see exactly how massive of an opportunity this is for you." "Cool. And what about my sister?" he asked, pointing towards Moon. "The saintess is your sister?" he repeated, shocked. But the immortal quickly gathered himself and responded. "The saintess has been valued deeply by our superiors. She will have a superior position among our ranks, but we cannot let her be. She must join us." "Ah, pity. In that case, I''ll have to refuse. I''ll be taking the saintess with me. Feel free to send assassins after meter on. I''ll be joining the champions tourney, in case you need help finding me." Without waiting for the immortal to respond, Lex closed the portal. "Let''s get out of here. By the way, I''m going to have to drain your''s spirit stones just a bit. But I''ll return themter, so don''t worry." With that said, Lex activated the formation he hadid around the. It was not the best he could do, not even close, but considering the time constraints they were under it was pretty decent. The formation around the was an iplete teleportation formation, anchored into the itself. Another reason he had created the bubble around the was to preserve the atmosphere around the once he teleports it away. Unfortunately, even Lex could not casually teleport the anywhere he wished. But teleporting it away to a random location would make it impossible for others to follow or find them in a short period of time. That would be enough time for Lex to figure out how to take Yildirim Utopia back to the Midnight realm. The formation had been built using exceptionally rare materials he brought out from the Midnight realm, and it would be powered by the''s own spirit stone reserves, so it shouldn''t be too much of a drain on Lex. Hypothetically. In theory. At least, ording to all his studies. He hadn''t really had time to verify his knowledge since he acquired it. "Lex, why do I have a bad feeling about this? What are you doing?" Moon asked hesitantly. "I''m not doing anything dangerous, rx. Everything is going to be fine. There''s nothing to worry about."N?v(el)B\\jnn He activated the formation, and the began to tremble. "Does this count as you getting a body massage?" Lex asked as he looked at the quaking ground. Before Moon could respond, the entire disappeared. Chapter 1122 Realistic Dream

Chapter 1122 Realistic Dream

Since the Henali portal had stopped operating, in part due to many AI that had joined the Fuegan, and in part due to the destruction of countless Connectors, which basically acted as servers for the portal, the vast universe had once again be disconnected. Besides a few major forces, which had their own independent means tomunicate information across their territories, most ces became isted. As a result, the hold ofrger forces over their territories diminished. Star systems became more independent, which was both a good thing and a bad thing, depending on where one was. But even so, there were still a few ways to transmit critically important information across the realm. The news may not reach every corner of the realm, but at least all significants and forces would get it. For a while now, such means had only been used by the Henali to promote their numerous victories across the realm, as well as emphasize the uing tourney. But, for the first time, a different piece of news spread across the realm. To be specific, it was just three sentences, since the means to spread news across the realm was not easy nor cheap. Lex the dragonyer had returned. He challenged the whole realm to face him in the Champions tourney, especially dragons. He then proceeded to kidnap a. The credibility of this news was questionable, especially since no one knew where it came from and who spread it. But the vast majority of people did not care about credibility. They only cared about gossip, and there was plenty of that. Per second, trillions of fan-fiction novels were being printed all focused on Lex the dragonyer, taking on the universe. He was the underdog challenger, facing both the Henali and Fuegan, as well as dragons. He was the under-appreciated heart throb, and he was the evil viin bent on destroying all life. He was fighting to save his sweetheart, and he was fighting for vengeance against those who had wronged him. The stories about him were endless, but even the countless stories being printed about him each and every passing second failed to urately judge his current predicament. It was safe to say that Lex had not thoroughly nned out his move, though he did have a n. He would kidnap the for a while, teleport Harry over to strengthen Moon''s soul, while he himself went to the emporium to find a way to carry a with a person. Or, more realistically, ways to speed up the fusion. With all the resources avable to him, he did not doubt that he could aplish this simple task. Sure it would inconvenience the citizens of Yildrim Utopia for a few days, but ultimately it would turn out for the best. There was only one problem with this n. Technically, it was not even a problem but rather a chance for a problem to ur, maybe. That was the fact that Lex did not have any nearby coordinates to teleport the to. But that was fine. Since he meant to hide the, teleporting somewhere random was good enough. With how ridiculously vast and empty space was, chances were high that they would end up somewhere empty and far away from everything. That suited his needs perfectly. There was always the slim chance that he would appear near another star system, or some other celestial body of some sort. But even if that happened, Lex did not think it would be a big deal. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Lex, I think I must be hallucinating," said Moon as she looked up at the sky. "Or I''m probably just dreaming. Yes, that makes sense. I''m dreaming. That would exin why you suddenly showed up, and a bunch of weird things started happening." Lex did not respond. "I mean, what are the chances that you found me, identally, without even knowing I was here? Just that on its own is impossible. Then the assassins, and my formation failing, and then you beating up an immortal - those things are all just ridiculous. Straight out of a cartoon." Lex remained silent. "Besides, how could you stop thirteen immortals from entering the? Not to mention have a bounty worth thirty-twos! It''spletely absurd." Lex looked at his sister, and then back at the sky. He still did not speak. Moonughed as she began to actually convince herself that she was dreaming. "Of course it''s a dream. How else could you teleport an entire away? You''re not even an immortal. It''s ridiculous. Compared to all of that, watching a massive eat a star right in front of our eyes is actually a little believable." She continued tough, expecting to wake up any moment. She looked left and right, wondering what other absurd things she would see in this dream. "That''s not a," Lex finally said, looking up at the sky. Of course he knew what that was. He had been studying the past fifteen years exactly so that he would not be caughtcking in knowledge, which is why hepletely and thoroughly understood how screwed he really was. "That, little sister, is called a World Eater, although that name does not do it justice since it ate an entire star. It also has another name that you might be familiar with." The smile on Moon''s face began to tighten. She wanted to believe this was all a dream, so why did it feel so real? Lifting her hand, which took quite a bit of energy, she poked Lex to see if he was real. "In recent years, it has more recently been referred to as a Jom egg. It''s the thing that gives birth to a Jom once it hatches." Moon poked Lex again and watched as his skin softly bent under her touch. This was such a realistic dream. It had to be. "Of course, there''s no need to worry. It just ate, so chances are high that it''s not interested in our tiny little." What Moon could not see, because of her low level, was the dark entity moving against the backdrop of the empty space behind the World Eater. Or rather, entities. Each one was so big that Lex could not actually conceptualize howrge it was. Perhaps the entire Midnight realm might not be big enough to fit one of those creatures. Chapter 1123 Best bet

Chapter 1123 Best bet

"Mary, I have a general information question for you," Lex asked as his gaze was stuck up into the dark sky. "What is the cultivation level of a Jom? Just, like, generally speaking." "Across the whole universe, as a species, I''d say they''re in the top ten, which is saying something considering they have no real allies and literally everyone just does their best to kill them as soon as they are discovered. The problem is they have no cultivation levels, just maturity levels. That means all they need to do to be Dao Lords is eat and grow up. I don''t think there is any other race in the entire universe that has destroyed more realms than the Jom, all because they literally just ate the whole realm." It was difficult to be sure, considering the scale of their bodies was something he was still trying toprehend, but Lex felt like he counted at least three Jom besides the World Eater. "Good to know, good to know. Anything else interesting about them? They''re probably not into friendship bracelets, right?" Lex asked as he began to pull out various items from his spatial bangle. This was exactly why he liked being locked up in the Midnight realm. Lex began to suspect that his real affinity was not forws, but for attracting ridiculously powerful beings. "Friendship bracelets? No, why would you- Lex... Lex have you run into a Jom?" Mary asked, even as her holographic avatar appeared on his shoulder. But since this was outside the Inn, she could not gain a lot of information. At most, her sight was simr to that of a mortal. "No, no, not a Jom. More like three or four of them, and a World Eater." Lex summoned an entire tank containing spirit elixir, which contained a lot more energy than spirit stones, followed by numerous Void stones and space crystals. N?v(el)B\\jnn "Lex, if you''re trying to teleport away, don''t," Mary suddenly said. "You cannotpete with them when ites tows. If you try to teleport away, you will only attract their attention and chances are they''ll stop you. Your best bet is to camouge the energy readings of the and hope they ignore you." "Best bet? I wouldn''t say so." A hint of madness shed in Lex''s eyes. Although this is not what he wanted to use it for, Lex had the Chamber of Rebirth prepared back in the Inn just in case he needed to use it for Moon. If the situation deteriorated rapidly, he''d just protect her soul, teleport it back to the Inn and fling it in the Chamber of Rebirth. As long as even a sliver of her soul remained, the chamber would be able to bring her back to life. But that was only Lex''s contingency n. Now that he had himself in this dire, dare he say almost fatal, situation, he was actually quite calm. It was much easier to deal with this situation than suddenly being faced with his youngest sister, who was now biologically older than him. "Onest question. You said that Jom are in the top ten species in the universe. Does that mean they''re still below the Sovereigns?" "Naturally. Sovereigns are above the Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum. The universe itself bends to their whims. The only reason they don''t rule all of existence is because, well, they rarely care about such things." "Yes, that''s what I thought. Hey system, would it be more impressive to receive a World Eater as a guest or as a worker?" Lex heard a familiar sound, signifying a notification, but before he could look, Moon poked him again. "Lex, you have that look on your face again. The one that makes me think I should stay far away from whatever you''re about to do." "Don''t be ridiculous, Moon. I never do dangerous things. See, I''m preparing a formation that will hide the from view." Lex teleported around the, bringing Moon with him as he set up the aforementioned formation. But realistically, he doubted any formation he could conjure up could hide the from those monstrosities. The World Eater, as massive as it was, moved at iprehensible speeds. It had only barely finished swallowing a star, and it was already moving towards one of thes that orbited it, ready to devour it once more. In a matter of minutes, it had already reached its nearest target. Lex didn''t even need his screaming instincts to know that it would be the turn of the he was on. He nned on availing the turtle''s help, hoping that it could somehowmand the World Eater away. It was a foolish n, but it was the best bet he currently had. Unfortunately, Yildirim Utopia had not yet been linked to the system, so he could not teleport others to it yet. Fortunately, he had already thought of a way around this conundrum. "So Moon, while we wait, why don''t you catch me up on everything? How did you end up on this? When did your soul get fused with it? That sort of thing." Moon looked at her brother and couldn''t decide whether the situation was hrious or horrific. "Is this really the time for that, Lex? I¡­ I don''t think your formation will hide us from the World Eater. Why don''t you try teleporting the again? There are more spirit stone mines." "Oh, I''ll try teleportation if ites to that," Lex said. "But I think that might not work out so well for us. But don''t you worry, I have other ns. We''re perfectly safe. Everything''s fine." Moon could not help but look at Lex oddly. A part of her still thought she was dreaming, and another part of her still thought that if the worst happened, Lex could still escape to the Inn. "Then how about we calm the people of the down," she said, unwilling to broach the topic of her imprisonment? "They''re probably extremely worried and confused." "Yeah, I suppose that''s something we should do," Lex said. "Make sure no one does anything drastic." On the other side of the a wooden tavern appeared. Chapter 1124 Not good

Chapter 1124 Not good

Moving the tavern from one world to another was always a bit of a hassle, since all his existing guests had to check out, lest they wake up in a new world. Fortunately, it was very easy for Lex to just nt an idea into their heads prompting them to leave the tavern for whatever reason. The only good thing was that moving the tavern from to was very easy, so he could return to Az any time he wanted, which he nned on doing soon. He was not yet done with the saga of the huntress, the alchemist and the few others he had been guiding. The tavern was also mostly hassle free. It was like a hitchhiker, jumping from to as it desired, and all he really needed to go to a specific rather than a random one was an item belonging to that. Since he himself was literally standing on Yildirim Utopia, that was particrly easy. So even though the was not connected to the Inn yet, the tavern showed up. Now, since the tavern was already on the, he could easily send any worker he desired from the Inn to work at the tavern. That, naturally, included the Gctic Sovereign turtle. Using Remote Presence, he appeared in front of the turtle as the Innkeeper. Over the past fifteen years the turtle had naturally grownrger and stronger, even if it had not really grown up mentally much. The number of random pets it had adopted had reached dozens, though Little Blue, who was now a little older and even more mischievous, clearly and openly dered itself the first, and therefore favorite, child. But besides that, there was not much change. He supposed it made sense. To a being that had lived for over 2000 years, a mere 15 years was not a long time, and thus did not elicit much change. For Lex that was a good thing. "Do you remember Lex?" he asked, appearing nonchnt. "Oh dear, oh dear, how could I forget him? He is the little human who keeps eating everything I grow. Just because it has berry in its name does not mean it''s meant to be eaten. But he is in his growing age. I suppose it is to be expected." "As if you don''t enjoy feeding others with the things you grow," the Innkeeper said. "Anyway, he has found an abandoned child that is being mistreated by some people. He thought you might want to save it, so he is waiting for you in the Origin realm. Even in his mind Lex did not blush as he tantly ignored the turtle''sints, and dumped the whole Jom situation as a favor he was doing the turtle. In Lex''s mind, the image of apletely jacked, extremely buff worker appeared. After suffering constant defeats in his pursuit to create the perfect art, the Gardener had given up gardening and taken a sabbatical to bodybuild instead. His art would now be disyed through his own muscles. Although Lex shared some of the me for the Gardener''s consistent heartbreak, the turtle deserved some of the me as well. As such, he didn''t mind making the turtle suffer a little as well. Not that he would actually suffer. "Oh well. Might as well take a look at the situation," the turtle said as it stepped out of the massiveke covered in lotus flowers. Many had noticed that lotus flowers had suddenly started to bloom everywhere on Menara, but they didn''t think much of it. After all, it was just a flower. "Good. Let me send you to him. If you can, listen to some of Lex''s advice. It''s very important that we save the he is on. It has extremely fertilends." Without wasting any more time, the Innkeeper waved his hand and sent the turtle to Yildirim Utopia. When the turtle appeared in the tavern, it was on the roof. The turtle''s body was much toorge to fit inside the building, so when it suddenly appeared atop the building, its round shape above the building made it look like a giant mushroom. But since the star of this region had recently been eaten, the world was gued with darkness, so no one could see theical sight. "Oh dear," the turtle said as it hopped off, and then took a deep whiff of the fresh air. "He was right, this really is a good. Maybe I can finally nt some berries." When the turtle looked up it did not see the World Eater approaching, for he was on the other side of the, looking away from it. But even so, it could sense something amiss. Lex and Moon teleported over, and though it was dark, they had no problem in finding the turtle. "This is my friend I was telling you about. Turtle, this is my sister, Moon. I''d love for you two to get to know one another, but first how about we deal with the small issue we''re facing." It had been, perhaps a couple of minutes for the tavern to appear over and for Lex to send the turtle here, yet the World Eater had already gobbled up another. Why was that thing so damn fast? Lex had imagined that something sorge would be incredibly slow. Lex brought the turtle back to Moon''s pce, just in time for it to see the World Eater turning towards their. It seemed that the formations he had used really didn''t work. "You think you could talk to that big guy up there?" Lex asked, pointing towards the sky. He did not need to be urate, for as the World Eater came closer, it took up more and more of the entire sky. "Oh dear, the child is hurt. No wonder he is so anxious. But injury is no excuse for a poor diet. Let me talk to it." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The turtle began extending some green vines that emerged from its shell towards the sky. But as they rose up into the air, they began to dissipate, turning instead into sparking fragments that flew towards the World Eater. "Oh dear, that''s not good." Chapter 1125 Horse and carriage Chapter 1125 Horse and carriage ??Moon could not help but look towards the massive turtle that had just teleported onto the. Despite its size, it somehow looked cute and the way it talked was just adorable. Despite the gravity of the situation, she could not help but admit that she was having fun. She turned towards Lex and poked him in the cheek once more. He had been ignoring all her pokes, not that she could me him for it. But the fact that he was here, in front of her, in person, was the greatest. It was also why she kept thinking this was a dream. Although she had met her siblings and even her parents through her clones, it was not the same as meeting them in person. Not to mention that since the Henali portal was disrupted, she could no longer maintain a connection to her clones which were countless lightyears away. So it was nice to have pleasantpany once more. Funnily enough, Lex''s young appearance actually reminded her of older times, when everything was better. It was why she never even questioned why he looked this way. "What''s wrong?" Lex asked the turtle. "There seems to be a fight going on in the distance," the turtle said. "This little egg was injured during the fight, which is why he is in such a rush to feed." Lex looked back up at the night sky, but could not make out anything, not in the least because the World Eater now took up arge portion of the sky. In the distance he could see the Jom, but he could not even tell if what he was looking at was their body, face, limb or anything else. There was no way for him to detect what was happening. If there was a fight, it was too far for him to sense in any way. "Can you calm the egg down and stop it from eating this?" Lex asked, perfectly hiding his anxiety. It was as if the result made no difference to him at all. "It is just an egg. It has not been born yet. Everything it is doing is based on its instincts. I just need to calm it down and it will react ordingly. Honestly, who treats a baby like this?" Lex did not respond, lest he mention that this baby just ate a star for a snack. Or that it was twice the size of a star. Or that it was currently on its way to eat them. The turtle continued to grumble as itunched evaporating, glittery vines into the sky towards the World Eater. The space bubble around the which trapped all the atmosphere and temperature of the was no obstacle to the turtle''s glitter, and it approached the massive egg at remarkable speeds. Even though the egg was gargantuan, he had no idea how it could give birth to something that would eventually grow to the size of the Jom. He could not even imagine what they were fighting. Were they, perhaps, fighting amongst one another? "Can you put the egg into hibernation?" Lex asked. "That is what I am trying to do. It is too wounded and needs proper treatment. Just eating won''t let it heal." Lex nodded, and finally got around to look at the notification he got earlier. New Quest: Some dutiful workers need to be nurtured. ept a World Eater as a bouncer for the Midnight Inn. Quest time limit: 24 hours. Quest Reward: Model Star system Quest failure punishment: 100 million MP Remarks: Are you remarkably intelligent or just in dumb? We might soon find out. The failure for punishment wasn''t too bad. His most recent quests had very dastardly punishments for failure, not that he ever failed. More often than not, his quests had punishmentstely. This trend would continue until hepletely paid off the system for the questions he asked. Or until he reached some critical threshold.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "What''s the situation?" he asked the turtle, considering that the World Eater was stilling closer, and had not slowed down at all. "The fight in the distance is dangerous. I instructed the egg to protect this world, and to bring it away from this ce." As if to confirm exactly what the turtle said, white clouds emerged from around the World Eater and approached the. The clouds wrapped themselves around the, like a leash, and then the World Eater began to drag the behind it. It was surreal. Even Lex was stunned. But of everyone who saw the situation, he recovered the quickest. "So, now that the situation is under control, why don''t we find somece nice to talk? I know you are worried about the people on your, but a single message sent to them through spirit sense will be enough to calm them down. How exactly did you end up like this? And who did this to you?" While Lex questioned the deflective little Moon, in the distance the Jom continued their fight. Lex could not imagine what the monstrouslyrge beings could even be fighting if not each other. But that was because he did not yet understand the limits of power immortals wielded. After attaining a certain level of power, the size of the enemy no longer mattered. Of course, the Jom were strong besides just their massive size. "The World Eater is being kidnapped!" a Henali warrior yelled, one of his many eyes locked onto the that had tied up the World Eater like a horse to pull a carriage. "Who is it?" another yelled angrily. "I can see him! It''s Lex the dragonyer! The rumors are true. He has returned, and this time he is kidnapping a World Eater." "Dammit we can''t let him get away." But try as they might, even the Celestial Henali soldiers were unable to break free of the Jom. This was not a fight that would end easily, nor would it end any time soon. Chapter 1126 Stop changing the topic Chapter 1126 Stop changing the topic ?Lex and Moon sat together on the roof of her white pce, looking up at the World Eater, pulling their forward like a horse pulling forward a chariot. Even pulling the behind it, the World Eater moved at unbelievable speeds. They were already far away from the Jom so that they were no longer visible. It had also reced the space bubble Lex put around the with a forcefield of its own. This way, the and its residents were not affected by the speed at which they were moving, and the continued to remain safe. A majority of the residents of the were not in good shape, though that was predictable. It''s not everyday that their is kidnapped and then dragged through space. But the emergency response forces on this were truly well trained, and were preventing the situation from deteriorating too quickly. Lex would get around to helping them, but first he was focused on his sister. She was very hesitant about recalling the past, but ultimately realized that it could not be avoided. But even then, she had not spoken yet. So the two of them just sat together in silence, and allowed their thoughts to wander. "You look sad," Moon said, as she poked Lex once more in the cheek. "A little, but you wouldn''t understand why," Lex said. "Try me. You know, I''m not exactly a little girl anymore."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex smiled weakly. "How do I exin this? Well, I''ve been gone from the Origin realm for a while. For my return, I''d nned this huge event that would make me famous overnight. Not that I was nning on bing famous. I just had to n this major event that would have shocked a lot of people. But now¡­ after all that nning¡­ I think the impact of kidnapping a and¡­ acquiring a World Eater will end up beating anything I had nned. Just feels like I wasted a lot of time." Moon giggled. He was upset because he identally became more famous than he could have on purpose. These are the kinds of problems she also wished she had. But maybe, these were not the only problems he had - just the ones he was sharing. It was a little strange. Meeting after all these years, they should have felt awkward or distant. But instead, they immediately returned to how they were with one another when they were kids. Considering the age gap between Moon and Lex, they shouldn''t really have been friends growing up. Yet they were. "Now it''s your turn," he said, looking at little Moon. Technically speaking, Moon had not been her original name. But as a little girl she had been particrly enamored by the moon, buying every toy, poster and piece of merchandise she could find. One time she got the moon painted on her face during some kids birthday party, and since then everyone had started calling her little Moon. The name had stuck. Thinking back to those times, Lex felt a little sad. Life was so different back then. How had they gone from that to this. Moon looked at him with hesitation, but Lex met her gaze. Eventually, she sighed. "I¡­ actually I shouldn''t be the one telling you this, but I suppose at the same time, it fits that I am the one to tell you." Moon sighed, and lifted her frail arm to grab the cup Lex had given her. It contained some liquid Lex gave her which was supposed to strengthen her. She had been drinking such stuff all her life so she wasn''t expecting much, but she was taken by surprise when it immediately filled her with warmth. "What is this stuff? It''s amazing!" she said incredulously. "It''s juice. Moon, stop changing the topic. It''s not going to work." Moon, who looked like a full fledged adult, if a slightly frail one at that, looked at Lex, the one with the body of a teenager, with the expression of being wronged. She was actually interested in the liquid. But she relented. "Mom and dad didn''t really want to tell you because they didn''t¡­ they didn''t want you to feel like any of this was your fault." Lex did not say anything, and just waited for her to exin. "I''ll tell you what I know, but I don''t know everything. It started with dad, who had a unique physique that made him especially good at using swords. He then met mom, who was just a normal mortal back then, but she had a keen interest in learning medicine because a lot of people in her vige died when she was young. But she was from earth, and in the old days it really wasn''t permitted for women to learn, or stray out of the house even, yet she did so anyway. It caused her to be shunned and exiled from her vige¡­ right up until a gue came and they needed her help. "That''s when dad and mom met, and apparently dad really liked her fighting spirit, so he taught her a form of body cultivation. But mom had an inquisitive mind, so while she cultivated, she also studied cultivation, and how and why it affected the body. At least, that''s what Belle told me. I''m pretty sure there''s more to it, because apparently over the years mom became so knowledgeable about cultivation that she convinced dad that he had cultivated incorrectly. He restarted his cultivation from scratch under her supervision. That''s when the problems began." Moon scratched her face and looked at Lex. Even now she was postponing, but with how unreactive Lex was being, she had no option but to continue exining. "Apparently, mom learned a lot about unique physiques as well, and thought of a way she could nurture them. When Belle was born, mom was able to prove her theory correct. Belle was born with a strange physique that was especially dad got her some angel blood, hoping she could absorb some energy from it. Instead, she gained a bloodline that mimicked an Angel''s powers. That attracted grandfather''s attention." Chapter 1127 Filial grandson

Chapter 1127 Filial grandson

Lex pursed his lips, but said nothing. Belle? An angel? He''d have been less surprised if he learned that she was a literal demon than hearing that. "Dad had a fight with grandfather, who was already angry at him for restarting his cultivation, and even more angry at him for marrying mom. Grandpa said he''de back and take Belle with him, to rece the loss dad inflicted on the family for giving up his cultivation. Around that time, mom was already expecting you. Afraid that grandfather might also want to take you away, they started to think of ways to hide you from him. "But when you were born... your physique was a lot more special than mom and dad expected. Belle didn''t tell me what it was, but apparently mom and dad were so scared of finding out that dad overexerted himself, nearly crippling his sword intent while trying to put inscriptions on you that would hide your physique. It worked, but as a result dad became extremely weak once more. "Around that time, apparently grandfather sent a message to dad that if he could regain even half of what his strength used to be, he''d let hime back to the family. ording to Belle, though, it was mostly because grandfather felt like she might be able to rece dad and follow in grandfather''s footsteps of being able to take on the family head position. Even though at that point she was too young to cultivate, the potential of her physique could not be hidden. "So... as a result, our parents calmed down a bit. After you Liz was born. She also had a physique, and apparently it was great, though not as good as yours. She even got an invitation from a school called Prima Ventura. Apparently it''s the best cultivation academy in the universe or something. Even Belle didn''t get into Prima Ventura, and had to go to a lower level one. Grandfather was very happy about all of that, though he still didn''t know about you. Mum and dad still kept everything about you hidden. They were too afraid to let people find out about you. "But things were fine. Mom and dad decided to keep you away from the cultivation world until they were strong enough to protect you themselves. Everything was getting better. Even dad was recovering well. Then, I was born." Moon sighed, and for a long time didn''t speak. She just looked down at her hands that held the cup containing the wonderful juice, and Lex didn''t pressure her. It felt a little bitter learning about everything that had actually happened. It felt extremely bitter knowing that his parents had been trying to protect him all this while he thought they abandoned him. But regardless of their intentions, he still felt abandoned. He still felt lied to. He still felt betrayed. He was not ready to forgive them, or even care about them. But this was not about him. Instead, it was about his little sister. By now, Lex could already predict who had done this to Moon. It was their grandfather. Lex was already thinking of the special dungeon he''d design for the man back in the Midnight Inn. A sick, twisted, greedy man who used his children and grandchildren for his own gains deserved no sympathy from Lex. But before all of that, he wanted to hear all of Moon''s story. "Then I was born, and my physique was apparently much stronger than yours, and everything fell apart." ***** Across the gxy on the used by the William family as their main headquarters, Damian Arban William was sitting with a frown in his conference room. He''d been like this since he heard of Lex''s return. Everything was almost perfect. His n was a single step away frompletion. Well, if he was being technically, just two steps away frompletion. Kidnapping Moon and then using her body as the new vessel for the regent. But then that stupid grandson of his returned and ruined everything. He was on the verge of greatness, and now it was all for naught. But it was fine. It was okay, he told himself, even if he didn''t feel like it. Damian was not a man who bet everything on a single chip, no matter how important it was. Although Moon had slipped from his hands at thest moment, he had thousands of liters of her blood and muscle tissue preserved. He''d have to settle for cloning her. A hologram appeared in front. Damian did not look at the hologram''s face. No matter what he looked like, that did not change that he was a monster hidden underneath - a monster Damian had been working with. "I heard you need an evacuation," the projection said. N?v(el)B\\jnn "Yes. My filial grandson returned and kidnapped the vessel I had prepared for her majesty. I think my ancestor might kill me to appease him. I can no longer hold this position. It''s too risky." "This would be the third time your grandson has interfered with our ns. I feel like his future might not be so great once the regent hears about this." "Jeffery, I don''t have time for this. Arrange the evacuation. I''ve already initiated all the ns leading up to my departure. The Jotun empire will have their hands full, even more than they already were." "Well, you did get me off earth in a timely manner. I suppose I should return the favor. I''ll send someone over momentarily. Also, you didn''tment on your stance about your grandson. Someone has to be punished for this." "Kill him. Kill all of them for all I care. That stupid son of mine and his family have been a pain in my neck for far too long, anyway. And to think, I had such high hopes for them." A few momentster, a portal opened up right next to Damian, and he stepped through it. A few minutes after he exited, an explosion rocked the entire building he used to live in. As if setting off a chain, various other ces around the began to explode. While everyone tried to understand what was happening, a number of minor realms burst open, and a horde of insects invaded, most of them at the peak of the Nascent realm. The ones that weren''t at the peak were already immortals. Chapter 1128 Sandwich so good, it can make you fly

Chapter 1128 Sandwich so good, it can make you fly

Lex kept his gaze steady, not letting his emotions show on his face. It was a surreal experience, listening to someone tell him about the events in his own life. Even though he was there for each event, he had no idea that any of it was happening. Everything had happened right in front of him, yet he never knew. Not that he took any me for it, or allowed himself to feel guilty. He was a kid, and a mortal besides. There was no way he could have seen through all the deception. But still, it made him question if all his good memories were even real. When had his sisters been reced with clones? He didn''t even know. Going off to college and being away from his family must have made it easy for them to be reced. Spending years away in New York while they were supposed to be in London also probably made it easy for them to do whatever they wished. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om But Lex had always thought that he had decided to go off to college far away because he was going through his own phase of wanting personal space and creating his own life. But now, for all he knew, that was something his parents could have engineered without him ever knowing. It was the kind of shadow puppeting he was always afraid the system would do to him. Maybe on a subconscious level he always knew it was happening, which is why he was also afraid of the system doing it to him. He didn''t want to live through another lie. But right now, this moment was not about him. It was about Moon. He observed his little sister as she disyed guilt on her face, as if her birth itself ruined the lives of her family. Yet as much as he wanted to console her, he also did not want to interrupt her, as he knew how hard it was for her to speak about this. "I''m not sure what exactly happened," she continued. "Belle told me that dad tried to hide me the same way he hid you, that he tried to use the same inscriptions. But my body is different. No matter what they did, my body would just return to its normal. The inscriptions would fade. I could not be hidden, and no one knew how to stop it. Mom and Dad assumed that if dad was stronger he might have been able to use inscriptions that could work, but with him restarting his cultivation, and then being weakened again after hiding you, the little progress he made was already remarkable. "Then grandfather came, and he instantly saw that there was something special about me. But the thing was, no one knew what my physique actually did. They just knew it was very special. Even before cultivating, I could absorb spiritual energy, and change it into something that could heal souls, so everyone thought that my physique had to do with souls. "While we were trying to figure it out, someone in our family apparently underwent the tribtions to be immortal, but barely survived. His soul was damaged beyond repair, and was on the verge of dying despite surviving the tribtions. Apparently I was able to save him. I don''t really remember, I was too young. "After that, grandfather became obsessed. He said that with my physique our family could produce hundreds of earth immortals, and maybe even heaven immortals. My powers were too valuable. "That''s when he took me away, and started doing tests on me to figure out what my physique was. He drew blood and took countless tissue samples, but couldn''t figure it out. But what we did learn as a result was that no matter how badly I''m hurt, as long as I''m alive, I''ll recover in a few hours at most. Not to mention, even my blood could heal soul injuries. Something like that had never been seen." Moon was smiling as she described her abilities, but tears were streaming down her eyes. Lex was also silently astounded. The ability she was describing is one that he also had, but it was something he gained after a lot of cultivation and using numerous valuable treasures and going through endless unique experiences. The fact that Moon was born with it was absurd. He could not even imagine how his mother was able to produce such a physique for her children. Did she¡­ did she have some kind of system too? A system that strengthened her kids somehow? "We never did figure out the true extent of my physique, because one day grandfather forcibly raised my cultivation to the Golden core level using various treasures and spiritual fruits. Once I reached this level, he fused my soul with this. "He told me it was for my protection. That this was very special, and that it would keep my soul alive, and this way there was no chance of someone ever kidnapping me - not that I had any say in this matter. Then he personally built all the protective formations around the so that nothing could ever hurt me. "But what nobody would have guessed was that after my soul fused with my, my physique became even more active. The way my physique always healed my body, no matter what injury I suffered, it began to change the. But because my physique has always been active for the past few years, never resting, my body became weaker and weaker. "Grandfather told me that he found a solution to this problem, and that he was going to give me a surprise on my birthday. But, well, I don''t know if he''s going to be able to find me anymore. Not that I mind. This juice you gave me is probably better than anything he can find. Trust me, I''ve had almost everything you can imagine to strengthen the body." Moon finally ended her speech, and smiled at Lex, as if to show him that she didn''t mind her ordeals. But Lex just kept looking at her. There were still many questions. For example, howe their parents just let her be fused to a? Though based on the trend of her story, they probably weren''t strong enough to stop their grandfather from acting. There was also the obvious question of why the formations stopped working if their grandfather made them personally. The most¡­ the question that Lex feared to ask the most was why Moon could say with certainty that no matter how badly she was hurt, she would heal. How badly had she been hurt? But looking at his sister''s smile so convincingly, Lex, who had no trouble forcing himself to walk through hell and high water as long as it served his needs, found himself unable to ask those questions. Instead, he produced a small fruit he found in the Midnight realm. It looked like a lychee, which was a fruit he recalled Moon used to love. "Here, try this," he said, peeling the prickly skin of the fruit. "What about my story made you think I was hungry?" she asked,ughing. But she took the fruit from him and plopped it in her mouth. Then her expression morphed into shock as she was overwhelmed by its amazing vor! There was also the fact that it instantly spread warmth through her body and filled her with strength that even the juice had failed to deliver, but she was mostly focused on the vor. "What is that? How can it be so good?" "It''s just a random fruit. Here, try this," Lex said, pulling out a sandwich. This sandwich was the culmination of fifteen years of Kenta''s training. It was actually good enough for Lex to have ordered a few to take along with him. Moon, no longer hesitating, grabbed the sandwich from his hand and bit into it. Despite how it looked, the sandwich was incredibly soft, and she easily broke off. A surge of energy filled her body and before Moon knew it she was¡­ she was floating! "Ahhhh! What''s happening?" she screamed, rmed. "The sandwich is so good it can make you fly," Lex said with a smirk. "Or at least that''s what the cook said. In actuality, one of the ingredients is a nt that has odd effects on gravity. Come on, finish up the sandwich and then give me a tour of your. I bet you haven''t given anyone a flying tour before. Well, at least one where you are flying yourself." Lex stepped into the air as well, and apanied his sister who was suddenly excited at the sudden ability to fly. He did not let her sense his seething anger at all, and instead kept the mood light, and talked of other things. Since Moon herself was keen on avoiding this topic, it was easy enough. But soon, very soon, Lex would let a lot of people feel his anger in great detail. Chapter 1129 Stupid, unknown warbringer

Chapter 1129 Stupid, unknown warbringer

The acolyte woke up covered in cold sweats, his mind aflutter with the memories of what he just dreamed, trying to hold onto them as they slipped from memory. He saw a sword, deadly beyond measure. He saw a dragon king that was not a dragon. He saw a war between worlds - not between races that lived on those worlds, but two actual worlds themselves. He saw a rain of lightning. He saw chaos, and confusion. He saw things he could not understand, and he saw things he could not have imagined, and amidst it all, he saw a wooden tavern that provided excellent room service. For a few moments the acolyte tried to recall what connected all these shes in his dreams, but the thoughts slipped from his mind. He could not remember. The acolyte sighed, and then removed himself from the warm embrace of his nket. He wanted to go wash up since his whole body was sticky with sweat. But he only took a few steps before he paused, and something attracted his attention. In a notebook beside his bed, he had entered a few scribbles. He didn''t recall doing that, so it must have been during his sleep. He picked up the red, leather notebook and read the lines that were barely legible. The time is nigh. The warbringer is going to war. The acolyte groaned and put the book down. Ever since this ursed warbringer came into his life, he had not been able to divine for another person at all. It was as if all his divination skills were thoroughly pointed only towards this warbringer. That could have been a great opportunity if he knew who the warbringer was and actually became his dedicated diviner. But since he didn''t, there wasn''t much he could do. The acolyte left the room, unaware that in his drowsy state he ignored the smudges in front of the two sentences that had been written. It was as if something had been erased. ***** N?v(el)B\\jnn Lexpletely locked away his anger. He was more than capable of that. Instead, he spent his time with Moon. Due to her weakness, she spent most of her time thest couple of years sleeping. Even when she was awake, there was very little she could actually do before she became exhausted. Now that she suddenly felt energized, there were many things she wanted to do. She flew with Lex, showing him herke and her countless pets. She took him to a nearby vige, which existed solely to maintain the surrounding areas and constantly check up on the pce. Even if Moon preferred solitude, she could not bepletely alone due to her weak state. As a result, a caretaker would visit the pce everyday at a fixed time to check up on her. Of course, at the moment the vige was in chaos - not because the had been kidnapped, the sun was eaten by a massive roaming thing that thenterssoed their and began dragging them along. Instead it was because the saintess was up and about, finally recovering from whatever illness kept her so weak for so long. The had not always been a Utopia. It was the saintess who had made that happen, which is why she was deeply loved by the people. Of course, there were 14 people in the vige who harbored ill intentions towards Moon. Lex sensed them right away, and guessed that they might have something to do with the assassination attempt on Moon as well as the formation failing. No one in the vige noticed how or when those people disappeared. No one even remembered them. It was as if the very memory of them had been erased from their minds. Of course evidence of their existence could not be erased, but everyone in the vige was too preupied anyway to focus on such things. They were also amazed to meet the saintess'' brother, who was both friendly and young, yet had such a powerful aura. After they were done with the vige, Moon took him to the district capital, from where she ruled over the. Even though the sun was gone, everything was still functioning, so from the capital she reassured her people that they were still safe, and that things would soon return to normal. But at that point, she started to get drowsy once more, so Lex teleported her back to her pce so she could get back in her hammock. Even then, Moon talked with Lex until she eventually dozed off. Lex did not leave once she was sleeping. Instead, heid back and thought about various things. Moon had hinted at the fact that both Belle and Liz weren''t exactly having the time of their lives either. He hadn''t asked yet, but he''d need to ask sooner orter. Once this was linked to the Inn, Lex would be able to teleport freely so he could go find a way for Moon to bring the with her where she went. It sounded like an absurd thing to say, but Lex had seen enough absurdity to know that anything was possible. He also needed to find ways to increase her cultivation level. The reason why she was so frail was because of the level difference between her and the, but if she was able to reach the immortal realm, fusing with a would not be tough at all. Not to mention, Moon told him that due to her unique physique, she did not need to worry about having a poor foundation. No matter how she cultivated, her physique would optimize her condition on its own. Basically, she was on the best cultivation path she could ever actually walk, so even if he took some drastic measures, the results would ultimately be optimal. He had to do all of this soon, as the preliminaries for the Champions tourney were about to begin. Originally there were supposed to be four more years, Origin realm time, till that happened. But the timeline had been brought forward after the discovery of the Jom for some reason. Lex could participate through the token given to himself, as well as through the one the Innkeeper had gotten. But since he did not want to bring the Innkeeper to light these days, he''d use his own token. After all, in his years of operating the tavern, he''d learned a lot about the tourney, and it was there that he would find the perfect opportunity to be an immortal. Chapter 1130 Noir aesthetic

Chapter 1130 Noir aesthetic

"God damnit, this is not what adventures are supposed to be like," Jack grumbled as he pushed away the countless paparazzi. Tiny-Sparkles, the unicorn suffering from dwarfism and the Jolly Ranchers first mate, snorted in agreement - though its snort sounded like crystal bells ringing, and glitter flew out of its nose. Its'' clear dissatisfaction was lost on the paparazzi, though, who could not get enough of the sparkling tiny horse and kept taking photographs with their old school cameras. "No good deed goes unpunished, captain," said Ollie, who was seething with jealousy over the attention the unicorn was getting. The crystal alligator, though, was just looking around curiously. It did not understand what was happening. "There was a giant gori monster hanging from the building swatting down nes," Jack said. "What was I supposed to do? Ignore it? You know I love aerial dogfights with the Jolly Rancher. It was just one stupid monster fight. How we went from there to having Tiny-Sparkles be the brand ambassador for world peace ispletely beyond me." All around them were Orcs, massive and dark and, stated politely, not the best looking creatures Jack had ever seen. Like them, everything in this world was dark and colorless and beautiful on the inside, but definitely not on the outside. Whatever world they ended up in, for some reason, was monochrome. Even Jack, his ship and the rest had also been affected by the strange noir aesthetic, and only Tiny-Sparkles remained unaffected. "Captain, permission to hasten our journey?" Ollie requested as it spread its wings. "No, Ollie, you cannot blow away everyone on the street. We''re the good guys. Well, at least for now. Plus we still haven''t figured out what that stupid tower wanted us to do." Once all of them had been teleported, Jack saw a tower he knew too well. It was the tower of providence. But unlike his previous experience, he got no guidance this time in his objective. He was just told that a realm needed his help, and was sent over. Fighting off the giant gori Kong Kong would have been too easy a task, but one could hope. Unfortunately, it had not panned out. Since then, Jack and the rest had been trying to explore the realm and see how they could help it. Somehow, in the process, they became known as heroes, and Tiny-Sparkles particrly became beloved across thend. Eventually, though, the gang of heroes broke free from the crowd and got into their roofless limousine and were driven away. Each of them sighed once they left, though all of them had different reasons. In the case of the crystal alligator, it was just because it was copying everyone else. "So what''s on the agenda for today?" Tiny-Sparkles asked, his voice deep and buttery as always, rxing and soothing any who heard it. "Well, unless you want to ept one of your numerous marriage proposals, we''re going to camouge ourselves today and explore this realm a bit. We need a better understanding of the situation. We can''t be randomly killing monsters everyday. For all we know, the monsters are the good guys." "Captain, your fixation on the concept of ''good guys'' is unusual and contradictory," said Ollie. "Do you not recall the time you put an entire nation of Jelly bugs to sleep to steal their supply of Gummy trees? You copsed the economy of the ce overnight." "I don''t know what you''re talking about," Jack said, out right denying any such usations. "If you want to say that I stole the trees, then show me where they are." "Captain, you ate them!" "Exactly. You have no evidence. Stop ndering me. Tiny- Sparkles, work your magic." The unicorn''s horn began to glow, before it shot out a yellow colored light that enveloped the whole group, changing their appearances. Jack took on the appearance of an Orc child, though his body appeared to be muchrger than he actually was, while the rest took on the appearance of variousmon pets. Once their appearance changed, Jack teleported all of them away from that ce, appearing in the heart of the closest city. "Follow me guys, I''ve already nned things out," said Jack as he began to navigate the nearby streets, avoiding the crowds of tourist orcs, haggling over the price of locally produced cudgels. In only a few minutes they arrived at an alley that was almost empty, save for a single orc standing in a shadow smoking, wearing a trenchcoat. "Are you Mr. Homes?" Jack asked, walking up to him with confidence. "Maybe. Depends on who''s asking." "Someone with money," Jack responded, and flung a small coin purse towards the orc, who caught it midair. The soft jingle of coins clinking against each other sounded as he shook the purse before slipping it in his pocket. "In that case, I am Mr. Homes. How can I help you?" n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "I have it on good authority that a major catastrophe is about to strike, but I don''t know what it is. Can you find out what it is?" "Do you have any clues about it? Can you tell me who gave you this information?" "I have no clues, and it doesn''t matter who gave me this information. You just have to treat it as if it''s real, and tell me if you can find out anything." "Without any clues, it''ll be tough to find the right direction for investigation," he admitted directly. Instead of responding, Jack threw him another coin purse. This time, Homes smiled and threw his cigarette on the floor and crushed it beneath his feet. "Come back here tomorrow at the same time. You''ll have what you want." The orc tipped his bowler hat, and then disappeared into the darkness. Or well, he tried. Since Ollie had a high affinity for shadow, it saw clearly the orc tiptoeing in the shadows, careful not to be seen by anyone as he left. The rest did not need to see him, for the smell of his cigarette still hung on his clothes, which meant it was easy to detect him. "Are we really going to rely on him?" Tiny-Sparkles asked. "Of course not. We have about 99 more detectives to hire. Let''s go." Chapter 1131 Looking for answers

Chapter 1131 Looking for answers

Moon continued to sleep even after an entire day had gone by, and showed no signs of waking up. If Lex hadn''t been monitoring her with his spirit sense the entire time, making sure she was fine, he would have been extremely concerned. As it was, he was only concerned a regr amount. Upon reaching thirty hours without her waking up, Lex, however, could no longer control himself. He fed her some extremely mild yet effective natural treasures meant for rehabilitation, and while that worked, it did not rouse her. Lex even fed her a drop of his blood, but it did nothing. There was no injury to heal. By now, however, Lex had learned a lot about medicine. He began using various Glyphs, abilities and formations to heal and supplement Moon''s body, and while that did not wake her up, she looked happier in her sleep. Fortunately, at that point, the system linked the to the Inn. Lex immediately teleported away. He first went to the Emporium and ced an order that both horrified and excited Powell. Lex wanted a spatial treasure that could be used to carry a, or basically any other way that could allow a person to carry a with them. He admitted frankly that he had no idea how to fulfill such an order, but considering that Lex had the highest rank that the Emporium awarded to its patrons, he would look into various ways of making that happen. So, while dreaming of hismission, Powell busied himself as he searched for solutions. Then Lex teleported to the Temple of Fasting. He was not looking for ways to train. Instead, he wanted to know how Moon''s situation could be remedied. Cassandra was busy with her cultivation, so Lex could only approach Mateo, the projection that had originally tried to teach Lex before giving up. "What kind of a ridiculous question is that?" Mateo said, looking at Lex like a freak. "How can I guide you on how to train someone who is fusing with a without looking at her or analyzing her?" "I told you, she cannot leave her or her soul will get messed up, so there''s no way to bring her to the temple unless I bring the here too. That''s not the easiest thing in the world." Mateo took his hat and mmed it on the floor in frustration. "I am a teacher not a miracle worker. How can I even begin to understand her situation just from word of mouth? It''s impossible. I need to, at the very least, see her first." Mateo was not upset because Lex was making unreasonable demands. He was upset because he was frustrated he could not teach Moon! A human in the Golden core capable of fusing with a was incredible. If he could teach her, his name would go down in the annals of history. But this opportunity was out of reach! This was the kind of situation they did not even have records for. Yes, there were humans who cultivated by absorbings, but that only came after they became immortals. For the Golden core level he dared not prescribe anything unless he understood the situationpletely. Unable to find a proper answer, Lex teleported back to Moon and waited for her to wake up while he thought of other solutions. The tavern had already returned to the it hade from, and the World Eater and parked Yildrim Utopia near another star and used its power to forcibly insert it into the stars orbit, so the regained some semnce of normality, besides the fact that the star was much bigger and they had no moon yet could see three in the sky above them at all times. Lex asked Mary for help, but she had no solution, so he even ended up bringing Dr. Best to see Moon. The usually very confident man was thoroughly stumped when he heard her condition. But he was not as helpless as everyone else. Although he could not expedite her fusion with the, nor did he have any means to allow her to carry it with her. But he was able to identify what her body was experiencing. Basically, her body could not bear the burden that her physique was exerting on her, which should have actually killed her. But, ironically, it was also her physique that was keeping her alive. There were a lot moreplexities involved but that was the basic gist of it. The only aid he could offer was to strengthen her soul as well as her body. Raising her cultivation would also, obviously, be of great help. But that was the second issue he identified. She could no longer cultivate in a normal way. For her to cultivate, both her bodies would have to cultivate simultaneously. Basically, the would also need to cultivate as well! Or, at the very least, raise its star level in a natural and organic way. Lex''s eyes shed. If he were anyone else, this would have been an impossible demand. But as it happened, Lex had actually allowed a to rise in star levels before. But that was a reward he gave using the event panel for the Midnight games. It seemed like he needed to speed up the return of the games. At the same time, he summoned Harry to the. Harry was not a Nascent realm cultivator. Instead, he was a level 6 mour Sorcerer now, and his powers were both bizarre and amazing. But most importantly, he could affect the soul on a level not even Lex himself could, despite being able to enter the soul state. "Sorry to pull you away from Pete," Lex said as he recalled Harry''s four year old son. The kid had a mohawk half as big as his body, and the energy of a level 5 hurricane. He was a walking natural disaster, but he was a cute kid.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Chapter 1132 Kind of cool Chapter 1132 Kind of cool "No problem. You know he loves ying with the daycare bunnies. I swear, I don''t know about anything else, but the Midnight Inn has the best daycare in the universe." "Ites with the package," Lex said, then turned towards Moon, who was now lightly snoring in her hammock. She had been sleeping for days, and although he knew she was fine, it was bothering him. "I''ll start working on her immediately," Harry said, looking at Moon. "But from what I can sense, it''ll take months if not years for her condition to improve in the slightest. The process can be sped up, but for that I''ll need to get my hands on something called Velvet Goose King feathers. Every feather you can provide will speed up the process by a lot, but it''s supposed to be rare." "I''ll find it. If you need anything else just let me know." "Everything else I already have. This is the only thing that I wasn''t able to get my hands on in the Midnight Inn." Lex nodded, and without hesitation made his way to Powell. "You''re back fast. I haven''t made any progress on your request yet, though I have already gotten a few leads." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "It''s good to know that you have some leads, but I''m here for something else. I need Velvet Goose King feathers, and a lot of them." Powell nodded, and pulled out a massive book from under the table, and started to peruse the pages until he found a particr one that had what looked like the contact information of a farm. Without looking at Lex, he took out a device and made a call. "Yeah, it''s me," he said, and then began listening. Lex only heard muffled sounds from the other side, so he couldn''t tell what the guy was saying. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. Right, makes sense. I totally agree. Perfect. Yes. Thanks." Powell then shut the call and grimaced. "There''s a problem. There''s only one ce with a stable supply of these feathers in the entire realm, and the guy that runs that ce is a little¡­ entric, if you catch my drift." "What does he want?" "He is a supplier for the emporium, but since he''s already met the quota for this century, we cannot demand anymore from him for now. But he still has more. The only catch is, if you want it, you have to go buy it in person." "Where is it?" Lex did not mind the extra hurdle. It was a rare resource and if the guy was the only stable source in the entire realm then he deserved the benefits his monopoly afforded him. As long as he was reasonable, Lex would deal with him. If he was unreasonable, well, Lex would still deal with him, but in a different way. "His farm is on a called Dunya. It''s a 5 star, run by Druids. They''re a humanoid race, and they''re very powerful, but they can be a bit temperamental sometimes." Dunya. Lex was aware of its existence. He once got a quest to visit the 5 star, but back then he was too weak to even consider going there. Now though, Lex was fairly confident that he could handle it even if he ran into some trouble. "Great, sounds like a lovely ce. Do you have any way of teleporting me there?" Lex could go to that using the Inn, but he didn''t want to get stuck connecting the to the system right now. He would much rather go there freely, and get his work done for now. He could connect it to the Innter. "Yes, that can be arranged. Just¡­ remember to be careful. They''re a peaceful folk, as long as you remain calm. Sometimes they can get a bit aggressive, but just treat that as their entricity and don''t react." "Worried I''m going to get myself killed?" Lex chuckled. "How often do you see me getting into fights? I''ll be friendly." Powell smiled at him awkwardly, and then slid him a piece of paper. It had his picture on it, and in bold letters it read, ''WANTED! Lex the dragonyer and world stealer wasst seen taming a World Eater. If spotted, do not challenge and immediately contact your closest dragon.'' Lex was stunned. What the hell! It had barely been a few days. "This is just the one sent out by the dragons. The Henali have a¡­ nicer poster that requests a meeting with you if possible, or else they''ll settle for a virtual video conference. There''s also some story going around about how you stole the heart of an Elevn princess. Oh, the famous assassin organization Nix is also openly looking for you, and the terrorist organization responsible for trying to fracture space within this realm has also put out a bounty on your head. Did I mention that the Fuegan have put a kill on sight order against you? I think the dwarves aren''t too fond of you either." As if to prove what he said, Powell kept putting various wanted posters on the table in front of him, all with various pictures of drawings of Lex. "Powell." "Yes?" "Can you get me a copy of every kind of wanted poster there is of me out there?" Lex asked as he tried not to feel ecstatic. He was supposed to be filled with grim determination to help his sister, but being wanted all over the realm was actually kind of cool. A part of him wondered when his other identity, Jack, would begin to rue such a reputation as well. "No problem. Do you want a nice frame with that?" "Yes. I mean no. No! Just¡­ just the posters will be fine." "Most of them are digital, but I''ll have them printed out. In the meanwhile, I''ll set up the teleportation." "Yeah, you do that," Lex said as he admired his pose in the wanted poster. These were actually kind of cool. Chapter 1133 TSA Chapter 1133 TSA Lex looked at his thirteen wanted posters with shining eyes, as well as the list that had the names of the most wanted criminals in the entire Origin realm. The moment he appeared on this list, Lex''s name was already in the top ten. It couldn''t be helped. Few could match the wealth of dragons, so the bounty they put out was exceedingly high. Lex was also the only non-immortal on the entire list. Everyone who was above him on the list was an immortal who had been on the list for hundreds of years and had done horrendous things, making them the worst criminals the realm had ever known. They had sacrificed entires for blood rituals and captured tens of thousands of souls to nurture their treasures or for other purposes. People would scare their children with horror stories, and the creatures in those horror stories would scare each other by mentioning those on this bounty list. Among them now was Lex''s name. Lex really wanted to go back and show this list to Moon, but chances were high that she was still asleep. To wake her up and show her his awesome side poses on these posters, he needed to get his hands on those feathers. "When will the teleport be ready?" Lex asked Powell. "It takes time. There''s a queue. Dunya is not some random that you can just teleport onto whenever you wish. Anyone teleporting to the will automatically be directed to a few specific terminals, and then go through immigration. It takes a while because the TSA is really annoying, as you can imagine." "TSA?" Lex asked, refusing to believe that the folks from JFK airport had found their way out into the universe. "Teleportation Safety Authority. You know, the guys who oversee that everyone who teleports over is not carrying anything dangerous. Stuff like that." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Oh. Uh, yeah. Make sense." "Your teleportation is scheduled for two hours from now. You can wait in the waiting room, if you want." "Two hours, right? I''ll head out and be back in time." "Well, don''t bete, or else your teleportation will be rescheduled." Lex returned to the Midnight Inn, where time moved slower, and took the opportunity to run some errands. There were already millions of guests in the Inn already, with moreing every day. It seemed he would need some help, so he configured the Midnight Games 2, which would start in a couple of months. For now, he just started advertising for it, and used the event panel to hire some extra help around the Inn to handle the massive influx. With everything set up, he returned to Powell with ten minutes to spare before his teleportation. "Excellent. So you''re going to have a smallyover on a called Phuqauf, but that''s only because Dunya automatically rejects teleportations from non-registered portals. So basically, you''ll just move from one teleportation formation to another. It shouldn''t be a problem. By the way, the Infinity Emporium has a special privilege of keeping its clients'' identities private when they send them over, so if you wish, you can take this mask and put it on. As long as you don''t break any rules, you''ll be fine, and no one will inquire about your identity. Also, take this identifier token so you know which terminal to go to." Lex raised an eyebrow, but epted the mask and went over to the teleportation formation, ready to move on. He could not help but notice the oddly nervous expression on Powell''s face. He was sure it would be fine. Contrary to his expectation, the teleportation was actually quite smooth, and onlysted a dozen seconds or so, bringing Lex to arge, well designed building. The walls could somehow resist his spirit sense, but he supposed that made sense. Lex didn''t spend too much time looking around, since he was holding up the teleportation formation and stepped forward to an oversized Red Panda holding a clipboard. "You from the Infinity Emporium?" he asked without looking up. "Yeah, that''s me." "Wee to Phuqauf. Your teleportation to Dunya is scheduled in 12 hours at terminal 31. Please don''t bete or your teleportation will be rescheduled. Do not try to leave the teleportation facility, you will be detained. There''s a 20% sale on insect repellent pheromones producer in the duty free. Have a pleasant day. Next." Throughout the process the Red Panda did not look up from his clipboard, though Lex could sense countless spirit sense tracking his every move, so he supposed the Panda didn''t need to. Lex stepped out, curious as to what this teleportation facility was like. In all his years, this was his first experience with public teleportation. He had used the army teleportation before used by the Jotun empire, but this was different. Perhaps getting a better understanding of the average experience would allow him to understand how he might improve his own guests'' experience. He began exploring the ce while looking for directions to terminal 31. "What do you mean my luggage was teleported to hell by ident?" he heard someone yell, and flinched. Fortunately, he had no luggage. He nced at his spatial bangle, and it was still with him. Maybe spatial treasures weren''t somon, or maybe people moved around with a lot more stuff than him. Either way, lost luggage seemed to be amon theme here. Not wanting his innate ability to attract trouble to be triggered, he scurried away before the fight escted. That''s when he entered the duty free, and stopped when he noticed a restaurant with a giant yellow ''W'' in front of a red background selling burgers! The popr fast-food chainmonly featured in anime, WacDonalds actually had an inter-gctic presence? Unable to help himself, Lex got in line and eventually ordered a Big-Wac to try to see if it tasted the same. It did. Goddamn, the capitalists were rich even out in the universe. He was also impressed by the mask that Powell gave him, which parted at the lips whenever he tried to eat, so that he didn''t need to remove it. He continued to explore the duty free, and ended up buying himself a lot of chocte as well as colognes. How he was getting sucked into these tourist traps he did not know, but at least he smelled good doing it. A twelve houryover was both very long and very quick, depending on the situation. Since Lex kept himself entertained exploring the ce, time went by fast, and he had no trouble finding the terminal. But ten minutes before it was his turn to teleport, the banner above the room changed, indicating that the formation was out of order, and that all teleportations had been shifted to other terminals. Unsure if his ten-minute deadline had been shifted or not, Lex hurried to a help desk and quickly found out that his terminal had been changed to 7777779b, and that the schedule was still set for ten minutes. Unwilling to be bested by the teleportation facility, Lex began Blinking from one ce to another, searching for his terminal, right up until he was caught by the TSA agents. Apparently Blinking interfered with the teleportation formations, and he was suspected of being a saboteur. He tried exining his situation, but they insisted that he needed to go through certain checks. Lex looked at the agents, and then his watch. For a split second, he wondered if he should risk making the situation worse by trying to interfere with their thoughts. If he got caught, then there was no way he''d make it in time. He''d have to resort to using the Inn to go there, not to mention he''d have to exin to Powell how he literally made more enemies when Powell literally asked him to y nice. Then he looked back at the three agents, and interfered with their thoughts anyway. The next thing he knew, Lex was riding a hovercraft as the TSA agents rushed him through the facility towards his terminal, hopping lines and flying over security gates. Eventually, Lex reached his terminal with only a few seconds to spare. Without a second thought, he leaped forward even as the countdown continued towards 0. The hovercrafts behind him could not stop in time and crashed into a separate room. Sirens went off and a fire rm began to ring. But a fraction of a second before any of that happened, Lex had managed to teleport away from this ce. Every other teleportation formation in the whole facility underwent a schedule change, and every alien in the gxy started to curse the unknown man who had caused the facility to stop working. The Infinity Emporium received an official notice of discontent, though arge donation was made that made it go away. Lex, however, was unaware of any of it. A few secondster, he appeared on Dunya, finally reaching his destination. Chapter 1134 No trouble Chapter 1134 No trouble Lex almost forgot he could fly, but as he had teleported in the diving position, the moment he appeared in Dunya, he almost fell to the ground. Instincts kicked in, and he managed to prevent himself fromnding t on his face, though he did notice that flying was slightly more strenuous here than anywhere else. Gravity was much stronger here than he was used to. If Lex had to guess, he would say it was about fifteen times stronger than earth. The spiritual energy was also extremely dense on Dunya, but most importantly, he could feel the weight of thews around him. They were much heavier and much moreplete than anyws he had ever felt before. They saturated every inch of the world around him, and he could feel them covering his body as well, bringing him under the influence of thews of Dunya. Surprisingly, Lex felt a seal ced around his ability to teleport. Even though he had not lost his control over space, he could no longer use it to teleport. It seemed that only sanctioned formations could handle teleportation across the entire. He even felt a number of other restrictions seep deep into his body, restricting his strength greatly, not that Lex minded. He discovered that the suppression of Dunya acted like the third seal on his body, which was still removed, so it stabilized his power a lot more. Lex got up and looked around. He was in anding formation, which was a formation that epted teleportations, within what looked like arge tree. Beside the formation was a tall man, nearly eight feet tall, with big bulky arms showing through his sleeveless shirt. A beard that grew down all the way till his waist obscured much of his figure. The only other significant feature about him were his horns that looked like they were made of wood. "Wee to Dunya," the man said in a gruff voice. "I see here that you are registered as a VIP guest. If you''ll follow me I''ll help you go through immigration as quickly as possible. By the way, I don''t know if you''ve been informed of this so I''ll just give you a small heads up. Cross species fraternization is strongly frowned upon in Dunya, so do not try to flirt with the nymphs. Thest VIP I brought through was quite surprised when he was forcibly married to a nymph and made to follow localws regarding responsibility. It didn''t go over so well with his first wife." "I''m too young to date anyway, don''t worry," said Lex as he followed the druid past many lines where other travelers were waiting. "I''m looking for Keto''s Ranch, ever heard of it?" Lex asked. "No, but once you''ve registered yourself, you''ll get free ess to the local map for 24 hours. You can find it there easily, I''m sure, and then avail one of our many public transports to reach it. Dunya boasts a rich export, so we get a lot of visitors looking for some of our local produce all year around." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex nodded as the man brought Lex to a massive humming bird that was at least six feet tall who began questioning Lex. "Do you have anything to dere before entering Dunya?" the hummingbird asked, looking Lex up and down. "Uh, I''m not sure what I''m supposed to dere. I''m looking for a ranch to purchase something." "Are you carrying, on your person or in a spatial tool, anything that can be considered dangerous, corrosive, or extremely vtile?" Lex could feel that he was standing in a formation that would detect lies, which was awkward because the contents of his spatial bangle were varied. "Uh, just a few," he admitted honestly. "In that case, if you are nning on selling such items in Dunya you will need a tax exemption certificate. Please visit the Ministry of Imports and Exports to get the proper documentation. Please note that if any venomous or corrosive materials you sell need to match your ims or you are liable to face legal action. "Now, moving on, are you involved with any terrorist or revolutionary organizations?" The hummingbird and the druid looked at Lex, as if waiting for him to borate. "No, no, of course not," Lex began to say, but the ground underneath him turned red. "Uh, I mean, there is a terrorist organization that is after me, but I myself have not participated in any terrorist activities." The ground underneath him became even more red, if that was possible. Lex was stumped. He was not sure what exactly the formation was referring to. Did killing off two deities count as terrorism? Technically speaking, he had only killed one and severely damaged one. Or was it because he triggered a massive war between the monsters and Kraven back in the Crystal realm? "Let me change the question," the hummingbird said as she watched Lex struggle to answer. "Do you n to engage in terrorist activities while on Dunya, or facilitate any acts of terrorism while you''re here?" "No, no, of course not," Lex answered, and almost wiped the sweat off his brown when the red light disappeared. "Do you intend to engage in any religious rites or rituals while on Dunya? That includes but is not limited to conversions, curses or irritating unaffiliated people with pamphlets?" "No, not much of a religious guy," Lex answered truthfully. "Are youing to Dunya with the intention of giving birth here in the hopes that your child bes a natural citizen of the?" "What? No! I''m a guy! I can''t give birth!" Lex eximed, but the hummingbird did not respond. It entered a few things in itsputer and then waved a wing at the druid, who brought Lex away. "You had me worried there for a bit," the Druid said jokingly, and brought Lex outside. "Have a pleasant stay, and don''t forget to register at the ministry if you want to avoid taxes." Lex swiped his sweat and stepped out of the tree. That was nerve wracking for some reason. He looked around and found that the ce looked like a man made forest - or Druid made probably. Each tree was an incrediblyrge trunk, making them seem like actual buildings, and was situated at a specific distance from one another. The equal spacing and rtive absence of shrubbery made it look artificial, but at the same time very pleasant. He saw countlessrge animals walking by, as well as Druids, each minding their own business. But when he saw arge duck transform into a Druid, he finally realized that maybe everyone he had seen so far was a Druid. Since each tree acted as a building, the forest was probably a city, but Lex did not dwell on that. He found a way to get his hands on the free map he was supposed to get, only to face something he was all too familiar with - the tourist tax. The locals always tried to rip off tourists with higher than normal prices and exaggerated deals, but apparently Dunya, this 5 star world, also engaged in such practice. But, recalling his immediate needs as well as promise to Powell not to cause a scene, he paid for the "free" map and went on his way. Then he began looking for the public transport the Druid had told him about, only to discover a long snake that was nearly half a mile long and dozens of feet wide. There were countless wooden booths hung over the snake''s body where everyone could ride. The snake was not really moving fast, or on a fixed path, but apparently moving any faster would break trafficws and this was the best public transport avable. Bing less and less impressed by Dunya, Lex climbed up into a booth, paid the price for a private booth and closed his eyes. As long as the snake was heading in the correct general direction he would keep going. When it deviated, he would stop. Another reason why Lex was being so amenable was because the snake was an immortal, and so were about ten percent of the Druids he crossed. Ten percent did not seem like a lot, but that already meant that in the few minutes he had been here, Lex had already walked by hundreds of immortals. Moreover, many of them radiated very powerful, very threatening auras. This ce was obviously not simple, and Lex did not want to trigger his super power of being sucked into some kind of unexpected trouble. So he sat silently with his eyes closed. He did nothing extra, and did not even spread out his spirit sense lest he offend anyone. Even so, he was waiting for things to go wrong. He knew something would eventually go wrong. It was impossible for there to be no issues, and yet, that is exactly what happened. An hourter, Lex got off the snake scratching his head. Maybe Dunya suppressed whateverw was getting him in trouble. He better not take it for granted though. It was best to get his hands on the feathers as soon as possible. Chapter 1135 Friendly questions Chapter 1135 Friendly questions As Lex walked towards the ranch, hepared Dunya to every other he had visited. The mostmon trend in most ces were a few high density metropolitan cities containing the bulk of the poption and important buildings and sites in these cities. Then there were suburban areas outside such cities, with a few small towns and viges spread out across the countryside alongside arge amount of farm or wildnds. For most ces, it just made sense. Dunya, however, from what Lex had seen so far, took a different approach. As far as he hade, the forest ofrge trees continued, and with each tree serving as a building, it was basically just a sprawling, massive city that never ended. There were no roads either, since everyone just walked in the grass which seemed unaffected by the people passing by. It was such a free flowing environmentpared to what Lex had been used to that he didn''t know what to make of it. The one definite good thing,pared to other cities, was that there was no heavy traffic anywhere. Even though there were a lot of Druids, beasts and other races passing by, due to how open everything was it never felt crowded. The vast open spaces also amodate for some of therger races to move through the forest. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om But it was probably impossible to cover the entire in such a forest. After all, different biomes and climates had to exist to form a healthy bnce. He wondered what they were like. Of course, there was also the possibility that Lex was currently walking through the suburb equivalent of the. If he had timeter, he might explore the ce. For now, Lex continued to follow the man right up until he experienced a strange phenomenon. His instincts informed him that he no longer needed to hide his identity using the mask the Emporium gave him for it was no longer effective. There was no danger associated with the feeling, nor was there any indication that it was a good thing. Just that his identity was no longer hidden. Lex paused and looked around, but found nothing amiss. After a moment''s consideration, he took off his mask anyway and revealed his face. "Indeed, your senses are quite sharp," said a warm, calm voice before two figures appeared in front of him. They looked like humans, one male and one female, and were smiling at him softly. But while they looked like that, Lex had a strong feeling that they were not humans. "I hope you do not mind us approaching you like this. We were not specifically looking for you, but upon noticing you, we could not give up this opportunity. Allow me to introduce myself with my human name. I am Fahad, and this is Noor. We are of the Henali race." Lex was surprised by the fact that two members of the Henali just appeared in front of him, especially since he knew for a fact that they did not look like humans. "I suppose I don''t need to introduce myself," said Lex. From these two he could feel no pressure at all, which basically meant that they were so much stronger than him that he could not probe them at all. That made sense. The Henali were at the peak of this realm, so Lex naturally assumed that they were either Celestial Immortals or Dao Lords, although the former was more likely. "We are naturally familiar with your reputation. Lex William, kidnapper of dragons, worlds and even World Eaters now. We also have heard of your¡­ other affiliations - the ones with the Midnight Inn." Lex nodded. He expected as much. Once the Inn workers found out that Leo and Lex were the same person, he more or less expected the word to get out. After all, Leo had made quite a scene while rescuing the Midnight Battalion from the Fuegan battlefield, so there were quite a few people paying attention to him in the Origin realm. But he was fine with that, since Leo was always the cover he had for himself to exin his presence with the Inn. Not to mention, the number of persona''s he had only kept increasing. There was also the Tyrant wearing a mask and killing the enemies of the Inn. "Ah, good. You are already familiar with my background. In that case, how can I help you? I suppose that this is not just a social visit." "It''s really not," said Noor, speaking for the first time, "although there is no harm in developing a social rtionship. In actuality, we just want to ask you a couple of simple questions. You can answer freely, since we have no other agenda. We are only asking simply to increase our own awareness. I hope you do not mind. It''s just some stuff thates along with running an entire realm. "Why don''t we walk as we talk? We can introduce Dunya to you as we go. It looks like this is your first time here." "That would be great," Lex said, not averse to establishing a positive rtionship with the owners of an entire realm. Not to mention, the chances of him getting his hands on goose feathers might increase exponentially if he were apanied by two heavy hitters such as themselves. That way he would not need to worry about the entricity of the owner''s personality. "I''m sure you''re already familiar with this information, buts that have low star ratings cannot easily support the strength of immortals. A minimum of a 2 star rating is needed to safely support an Earth immortal''s power, and that rating requirement increases as the power goes up. It''s not just that thews on thoses are weak, but that the itself cannot support that kind of power. Of course, if an immortal keeps their power to themselves it will be fine, but it''s not exactly a veryfortable situation." Lex thought back to Golden hair, the sloth he had met in the Midnight Games. It had spent thousands of years sleeping while it was on Nibiru because the slightest shake of its hand would cause earthquakes on the. "As such, the higher one''s cultivation level gets, there are fewer ces where they can truly rx. That is whys such as Dunya, which are few and far between, be centers that attract countless high level immortals. There''s an unproportionate number of immortals herepared to the rest of this entire gxy, or even the few gxies nearby." "Doesn''t that cause friction amongst the immortals?" Lex asked. "I imagine once reaching such a high level, immortals are used to having things their own way, so obeying the rules of Dunya could get constricting." Noor smiled, as if Lex had asked an obvious question. "Well, the rules for immortals are different than rules for everyone else," she said as if there was nothing wrong with that. "Besides, Dunya is very simr to the Midnight Inn, in the sense that immortalse here for vacations or to meet others on their level. This does not mean they don''t all have their own territories. In that way,ing to a neutral ground strong enough to maintain bnce between everyone is quite beneficial. For them." Lex raised his eyebrows as he realized the other reason why the system might have wanted him to connect to Dunya! He could rip them off and learn what they do to cater to high leveled cultivators! "Speaking of the Midnight," said Fahad, "there''s something the Henali have been wondering about. It''s also the reason we wanted to talk to you. When you¡­ when you captured the World Eater, was that under the Inn''smand?" "Oh no, no, that was me acting on my own. The World Eater tried to eat the I was on, and that did not sound like a pleasant experience so I persuaded it not to do that." "Haha, yes, of course. That does not sound pleasant at all," said Fahad whileughing, though it was fairly obvious that he was struggling with keeping a straight face. "Do you¡­ do you need it back?" Lex asked hesitantly. He saw no problem in giving the World Eater back. Technically he already failed the quest the system gave him since he did not bring the World Eater to the Inn within 24 hours, so giving it away wouldn''t hurt him anymore. He just needed to convince the turtle, and more importantly, needed to figure out a way to keep the with Moon at all times in some kind of spatial treasure, as currently the world was operating normally due to the World Eaters'' powers. Lex was certain that if its stabilizing power suddenly disappeared the world would undergo more than just a few drastic changes. "Oh no, no, you can keep it, that''s fine," Fahad said quickly, shaking his hands. "We have no problem with that. I just have to rmend that if you need to feed it in the future, only uses without living beings, and do not allow the Fuegan to get their hands back on it. Besides that, you can do with it as you wish." Chapter 1136 Papi Chapter 1136 Papi It seemed that the main concern of the Henali was ensuring that the World Eater did not return to the Fuegans hands. That meant that, most likely, the ones fighting the Jom were also Henali. That thought made him want to tremble, though he resisted. The Jom were ridiculously massive in size. A single pupil on those things was the size of a star. Not even the whole eyeball - just the pupil! Although Lex had somewhat entered the domain of an Earth Immortals power level, he still could not fathom what kind of power the higher levels held. Fortunately, they did not have any ill intentions towards him. "You don''t need to be worried about that. I have no intentions of returning the World Eater. In fact, I am nning on taking him back to the Midnight Inn with me. But to do that, there is a small problem I must resolve first. Since you''re here, maybe you can guide me." Actually, Lex wanted to say that maybe they could help him out, but he did not want to be too direct, especially since their rtionship was not too deep. In fact, if it weren''t for the Midnight Inn behind him, this entire conversation might have gone entirely differently, so it was best not to push his luck. Without going into the details, he just exined that he needed a way to carry a around with him without severing his connection to the world. He was hoping for some kind of spatial treasure that could help him out. "Oh, this is a simple matter. Can''t you ask someone from the Inn to help?" asked Fahad, looking genuinely confused. Lex had fortunately already prepared to face such a question, which is why he was not tripped up by it. "I can, but the Innkeeper has told me to rely on my own efforts to achieve what I want to achieve. Which is why, for my personal errands, I try my best to avoid using the Inn''s influence." A gleam shed through Fahad''s eyes. "It seems that the Innkeeper has great expectations from you. In that case, I can offer you some guidance, but for how to achieve it is something you have to figure out on your own. Finding a spatial treasure that can contain a without severing your connection to it is not something that can be randomly found. If that is the direction you wish to search, you will need to have it specially made. "But there is an easier way you can achieve the same thing. It seems your real purpose is not to carry the around, but ensure the connection is maintained constantly. That is much easier to achieve. You can look into the Celestial''s club if you want more hints." Lex''s eyes gleamed. Yes, they were right. Carrying the around was not exactly necessary. As long as he could ensure that their connection would not be severed, and so the would count as Moon''s body and teleport to the Inn with her, he could make do. "Thank you for your advice. I will look into it." "Well, we''ll leave you here. We need to finish our tasks and so can''t stick around. Good luck with your quest." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex fully expected the two Henali to teleport away once they were done. But instead, they opted for the much more mundane departure of climbing into a snake booth and leaving via public transport. Lex could not help but feel that the encounter had gone much better than he had hoped when he first noticed someone saw through his identity. After all, the bounty on him was not small. He would look into this Celestial''s club, but first he had to focus on the feathers. Finding the ranch was notplicated, it just took a while since Lex could not move fast. As it turned out, the forest did eventually change as he approachedrge pastures with much fewer trees filling up the ground. Moreover,rge wooden fences grew out from the earth, blocking offrge segments ofnd. It seemed like multiple ranches must be built here together. But whether it was through the use of formations or something else, within the ranch Lex could see nothing save the trees and grass. He supposed he''d find out for himself when he entered. He walked up to the closed wooden gate and knocked politely. A small peephole opened up, and though Lex could not see inside through it, he could hear the sound of many people whispering. It sounded like a bunch of kids. "Ask him what he wants?" "Is it the delivery man? I ordered cake¡­" "Shhh don''t let him hear us¡­" "Papi always says don''t talk to strangers¡­" "What if it''s a bad guy? Don''t say anything¡­" "I heard serial killers like to take away children while their papi is gone¡­" "Don''t be an idiot, there aren''t any killers on Dunya¡­" "Guys shut up! Let me talk to the stranger!" "Hey don''t be rude, I''m older than you. You can''t tell me to shut up¡­" The whispers did not end, as the people on the other side of the door were too busy arguing with one another, leaving Lex stumped. In the end, he could only interrupt them when there was no sign of them ending their arguments. "Excuse me, I''m here to meet the owner of this ranch. I was sent by the Infinity Emporium. I believe he is expecting me." The whispers hushed for a moment, before they began arguing once again. "The stranger is here for papi! The serial killers havee!" "I''d love to kill some cereal right now¡­" "Don''t tell the stranger that papi is gone right now¡­" "Worry not. Who do you think I am? I will never mention that Papi has gone to a dating convention¡­" "What''s a dating convention?" "It''s obviously a ce where they make calendars, silly¡­" "Papi said this is a huge secret, so don''t mention it¡­" "Yes, I know I know¡­ "He even said that if it goes well he might be gone for a few months¡­" "He said he mighte back with a Mami¡­" "What''s a Mami?" "It''s a kind of chocte I think¡­" "I think it''s a kind of toy¡­" Lex coughed, sensing that the conversation was going in an inappropriate direction. "As it happened, the owner of the ranch told me to meet him at a dating convention so we can make calendars together. Would any of you know what it''s called or where I can find it?" "Oh the stranger wants a Mami too¡­" "Is the stranger also called Papi?" "I want to go to the dating convention too! It sounds like fun¡­" "Shush! Don''t say anything! The stranger is a secret agent¡­" "Don''t worry, I''ll never mention that the convention is called Lover''s Ind¡­" "Yes, yes, and I won''t mention that it''s in a ce called Universally Admired Studio¡­" "I want chocte¡­" Lex sighed, and then stepped away from the date. He had no idea who was at the gate, but if it were a bunch of kids then the rancher was truly irresponsible leaving them alone. But he wasn''t from Child Protective services, so Lex instead opened up his map and began searching for his new destination. It was considerably far from him, but fortunately there was public transport that relied on giant pigeons which Lex was able to get on. A few swaps between pigeons, and several hourster, Lex finally arrived at the studio, where he saw a massive line of Druids and other races waiting to enter. Lex did not need to search blindly since Powell had naturally told him the rancher''s name and showed Lex his appearance, which is why he was thoroughly disappointed to learn that he was not in the line. Could he have already gone in? He asked the guard at the entrance of the studio if he could contact his friend inside, but the guards were only there to manage security and could not contact anyone inside. Lex began to develop a very bad feeling as he continued to think of ways to find the rancher. He used spiritual techniques that would track him based on the aura of the ranch, but it pointed towards the studio. He tried to extend his spirit sense, but it was naturally blocked. In the end, Lex was left with no choice. He silently got in line as well, waiting to enter the studio. Now that he thought about it, why was a dating convention taking ce at a studio? Wasn''t a dating convention one of those ces where people who wanted to date met arge group of others like them and saw if they werepatible with anyone? Something like that should be happening in an auditorium or hall or something. With these doubts in his mind, Lex eventually entered the studio, unaware of whaty ahead, waiting for him. Chapter 1137 Questions Chapter 1137 Questions As Lex stood in line for the dating convention, slowly stepping forward, he could not help but analyze his situation. He was in a rush to find the rancher because he wanted to get his hands on those goose feathers as quickly as possible. Not only was this because he had other things he wanted to doter, such as find a worthy opponent for his sword and enter the preliminary round for the tourney. It was also because the fact that Moon had been sleeping for days was concerning. Lex did not think about the fact that until he came face to face with her, he had decided topletely cut off his family. Emotions were things that did not make sense. The bitterness of being left out by them still filled him. But his own feelings towards his family was one matter. When he saw her weakened and frail state, despite being a Golden core cultivator, he waspletely overwhelmed with rage, and a hint of guilt. Although he knew it wasn''t his fault that she ended up like that, the truth was that if he hadn''t identally run into her, he would have not made any effort to look for her. For that, he was very grateful to Vera. Although their rtionship was mostly transactional, she had been a huge help to Lex in many different things. He would remember this and make it up to her some day. But the gist of the matter was, he was in a hurry to get this over with, so he was hoping this convention wouldn''t take up too much of his time. He was hoping the rancher would have the feathers already prepared, since Powell had called him ahead of time. Or if he didn''t, that he would authorize someone else to do the sale on his behalf. It was with these thoughts in mind that Lex finally entered the studio, and was brought to an inspection room even more thorough than the teleportation facility he hade through. Or perhaps he had skipped most of the inspection back then due to being a VIP. "Name?" a rather slender Druid asked him, her long, deep brown hair flowing freely behind her. "Lex. I''m looking for another applicant for the convention, a friend of mine. Is there any chance I''ll be able to meet with them for a moment? There''s an urgent matter I need to discuss." "If the applicant is selected for the convention, then you will only be able to meet with them once the convention starts. If they''re sent to the waiting room to see if there''s space for them, then you might be able to meet them there if you also end up there. Otherwise, if they don''t get selected, then you can just talk to them outside. "What is your dating history like? Are you currently single? Do you have any prior engagements, forced or otherwise? Even if the engagement is already broken, be sure to mention it. Such things get you bonus points. But don''t bother making up fake stories, you''re standing on a truth detector formation." Lex nearly grimaced at the mention of the truth detection formation, not to mention the questions. Why was the universe picking on himtely? "I am currently single, no prior engagements of any kind," Lex said sinctly. The simple response seemed to disappoint the Druiddy, but she didn''t dwell on it. "Are you affiliated with any significant forces? Those include, but are not limited to, prominent families, ruling factions of various empires, a significant position within a race such as nobility, gctic or intergctic federations,panies, businesses, criminal syndicates, pirate groups etc. Please note that no legal action will be taken against you in case you have any criminal affiliations. This is just to build your profile. The more interesting your background, the better your chances of being selected." Lex hesitated. His background was more than just interesting, but he didn''t know how much of that he wanted to reveal. He just wanted to meet the rancher, but if the rancher got selected for the convention, meeting him might be hard. Should he try to get in just in case the rancher gets in? If it turns out that the rancher isn''t in, he could always just quit. Somewhere deep inside of him, Lex felt like things were slowly getting out of hand. But then again, it was just a dating convention. What''s the worst that could happen? "I do have a few affiliations, but is it alright if I don''t mention them?" Lex asked. "Having a mysterious background should also help, right?" The Druid thought about it for a moment, before answering. "Well the formation recognises that you''re truthful about having some affiliations, but not mentioning them might not necessarily work in your favor. Just so you know, the convention will run an independent background check on you for safety and security purposes. A criminal element can spice up a profile, but only if it''s not a threat to the convention or the other applicants." Lex raised an eyebrow. "Sure, go ahead." The druid nodded, and continued with the questions. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "Are you of legal dating age ording to your race?" It was fortunate that Lex had excellent control over his body, or else he might have blushed. "Yes, I have been alive for a sufficient period of time," he said, maintaining perfect eye contact. The life detector did not go off, so the Druid just shrugged and continued with the questions. Fortunately, Lex had been careful with how he answered. There was no way a fifteen-year-old body would have been considered of legal dating age for something like this - at least ording to thews on earth. "Do you have any dating preferences in terms of race, gender, age, cultivation level and so on? Oh, wait, I also forgot to ask, what''s your cultivation level?" Lex began to question how bad it could really be for Moon to sleep a little longer. For all he knew, it could be good for her. She was a growing child, after all. Well, not anymore, he supposed, but still, it could be good for her. Chapter 1138 Good chance of being selected Chapter 1138 Good chance of being selected After a few more seconds, Lex could note up with a good enough excuse to avoid the question. Objectively speaking, it was a very straightforward question and he had no reason to avoid it. The fact that he was embarrassed by it was an entirely different matter. "Female, human or humanoid I suppose, with no cultivation level preference. No wait, at least a Golden core cultivation," he answered, and could feel himself regret it immediately. He meant to just give a simple answer to get the questions over with, but midway it urred to him that if he were to end up with someone, they would need to have sufficient strength and potential. It was not that he wanted to have them fight or he was being picky, but just that with his life expectancy if he ended up with someone with a low cultivation level, he''d easily outlive them, which wasn''t nice, which is why he changed his answer. The reason he didn''t directly say Earth immortal as the minimum was because he assumed then the person would be much, much older than him. But the moment he gave the answer, he regretted it as well. He was just supposed to be giving a cursory answer. Why was he thinking about it? "I am a Peak Nascent realm, and n on breaking through to the immortal realm in a few months." Lex heard the Druid mutter ''promising'' under her breath as she filled out his information. "Alright, you can go on ahead. Next up is a physical exam to ensure the state of your health." Lex, too embarrassed by their interaction already, quickly walked through the door and entered the next room. The exam was quite simple, as they had him stand on a tform while they scanned him. Afterwards, they tried to take a few blood samples, but Lex didn''t even need to tell them that he was not open to that. None of their needles could pierce his skin! "You look like you''re in perfect health, Mr. Lex," the doctor said. "But there is one small matter that I want to ask you about. Considering your healthy state, you can choose not to answer and it won''t affect your chances of entering the convention. I see that there are two convergence points on your chest that are influencing your body, which is not ordinary for humans. Can you borate on their function?" "Ah, that''s simple. They''re suppressing my cultivation. I''ve ced them there myself." The doctor nodded and recorded the information, seeming very impressed. Lex was not concerned that sharing the information would get him any kind of trouble. If his seals were so easy to interfere with, they would not have been able to hold back his cultivation to begin with. "Alright Mr. Lex, it seems like everything is in order. I have been authorized to tell you that you can proceed to the waiting room. If there are no unexpected issues then I think that you have a strong chance to be selected for the convention. Due to the standards of Lover''s Ind, we have to be very thorough in our selection, but I have a good feeling about you." "Thank you," Lex said politely and walked towards the waiting room. He was hoping that he''d run into the rancher there. After all, what were the chances he was already selected? As it turned out, the chances were pretty good. ***** Fahad was panting heavily as he pushed his body off the ground, an immense sense of urgency filling him. Yet when he looked up, his target was gone. But he did not lower his guard. Being gone did not mean that the target could note back. For all he knew, the target was hiding and waiting for the perfect moment to strike. "Noor, are you alive?" he asked, unable to sense his partner. "I''m alive," she responded promptly, though she remained invisible. Fahad didn''t question why she was not appearing. He couldn''t me her. Who knew that the target they were hunting was actually so powerful? None of the reports they had ever revealed this level of strength. "We need to put Dunya on full alert," he said, gritting his teeth. "This is not the kind of thing we can hide. We have a serial killer on the loose, and his strength is nearing the peak of this realm." "The Druids aren''t going to be happy if we make that announcement," Noor said. "They''d be even unhappier if random guests on their started dying. We need to enact a lockdown, and we need backup." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Noor did not argue with Fahad. For the most part, her greatest source of hesitation was her own pride. She did not want to admit that she failed. But she supposed failure was still preferable to death. "You do it," she whispered, and then even her voice disappeared. No one would find her unless she revealed herself. Fahad sighed, then contacted the Druid leader on this. "Ursun, we have a situation," Fahad said as he looked at the Druid who had assumed his deadly bear form. "What is it?" "There''s a serial killer on the loose on your, and he''s much stronger than me." Those words immediately attracted the bear''s undivided attention. "Tell me about him." "We''ve been tracking him across the whole realm. His targets are unpredictable, and his motives are unknown. The only thing we can say for certain is that until he finds his target and tries to kill them, he won''t leave this. Since we already intercepted him once, we can conclude that he hasn''t found his target yet, so he will be on this for a while longer." "What race is he? What can you tell me about him? I''ll bring out my best warriors. We''ll hunt him down together." "Just have all your warriors be prepared. He is no weakling. As for his race or origin - we don''t know. All I can say is that anyone who has seen him¡­ has only seen two shining headlights. His designation is ''Truck-kun''." Chapter 1139 Martial law Chapter 1139 Martialw The waiting room was not nearly asrge as Lex expected, and had space for no more than a hundred people. Besides Lex only a few dozen others were waiting in the room, showing how genuinely difficult it was to even get this far. Unfortunately for Lex, the rancher was not in the waiting room. Since his tracking techniques still told him that the rancher was still in this building, that meant that the rancher had been directly selected for the convention. Good for him. Lex sat down cross legged, closed his eyes, and began to meditate. The thing about having just two seals instead of three was that the pressure on the remaining seals would increase. They might not be able to hold on, and could end up bursting, which is why he would need to regrly refresh them. It was not that he could put up a third seal of a different kind himself, but the three seals he selected formed a careful equilibrium that supported each other, and putting up a seal of a different kind would mess with that. His one treasure and the Glyph he could manage to recreate and refresh himself, but the final one required Lotus'' help. Lex was using his time efficiently, since he was not really interested in the convention, but everyone else in the waiting room was using this opportunity to mingle. After all, since their purpose was to find a partner in the convention, they did not really need to wait till the convention to get to know one another. If, by happenstance, they found the perfect partner before even entering the convention then it would be for the best. Everyone here had the same objective. That was precisely why Lex stood out so much, and attracted everyone''s attention. "What do you think he''s doing?" a nymph asked, looking at him with wonder. The way angels were the antonyms of devils, nymphs were considered the antonyms of subi. But despite being considered their opposite, they contained the same, irresistible charm that would attract anyone. The only difference was that unlike subi, nymphs would usually only ever be with one partner. "Maybe he''s confident in being selected," whispered another person. "Does anyone recognise him?" "Never seen him before¡­" All these conversations were, of course, happening via spirit sense. Everyone here had sharp hearing, so they knew better. Even so, Lex could feel their gazes on him from time to time. He just ignored it. Over the next few hours very few people entered the waiting room, until, eventually, the screening was over. A Druid came in and read a list of names of everyone from the waiting room who had been selected, and as it happened, Lex''s name was right at the top. But, instead of calling him by his name, they called him Lex Dragonsbane, which raised a few eyebrows. Lex himself was taken aback by it. It seemed like their background check had got them some results. Lex followed them to arge room with a big teleportation formation, with the rest of the contestants already standing within the formation. Lex looked through them and immediately found who he was looking for - a tall, bulky Druid wearing wolf-skin robes and extremely unkempt hair. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om His tanned skin and rough around the edges look made it obvious why he needed to go to a dating convention to find someone - not that Lex was judging. Even as he was being escorted towards the formation, Lex directly reached out to the Druid with his spirit sense. "Rancher Sim, my name is Lex, I believe Powell told you about me. I''m here to buy the Velvet Goose King feathers. He told me you asked me toe in person to buy them." The Druid, who otherwise looked menacing, was startled so bad that quite a few people looked over at him. "What are you doing here?" the Druid hissed back using his spirit sense. "Do I look like I''m working right now?" "You are the one who insisted on meing in person, and when I came you were gone. Obviously I was going to look for you." "How was I supposed to know you''de over immediately? Just¡­ just go away! I''ll deal with you once I''m done." "Rancher Sim, I am in a rush. I need those feathers. If you don''t have them on you, you can tell me who I can talk to back at your ranch. I can pay you, and we can both get on with our lives." By now, Lex too had been brought to the formation and stood in with everyone, though he was not concerned. He could teleport to the Inn whenever he wanted, and as long as was resigned to spending a few days on Dunya he could link it to the Inn as well. It was still much quicker than waiting months. The Druid was clearly flustered, but with everyone looking at him, he was forced topose himself. "Look, yes, Powell told me that someone was interested in buying feathers. But you know what, I''m no longer interested in selling them. Get lost." Lex frowned. This was less than ideal. The man was being very uncooperative. He understood that no one wanted to be disturbed during their private time, but he was the one who raised the condition to meet him in the first ce. "Look Sim, I''m trying to be cooperative here. Just help me with the feathers. I''ll pay you very handsomely, and we can both move on with our lives." "Don''t you know what ''get lost'' means? I ain''t selling." Lex frowned, and then subtly spread his Domination aura across the room, without concern of being noticed. In fact, he nned on being noticed. That was because his control over Domination had reached extreme levels now. Whereas earlier, it could onlypletely suppress his targets, now he could use it for other things. Such as using the power of his aura to suppress hispetitors and attracting the attention of suitable mates. Using their Dragon''s Might was one of the ways dragons courted each other and found mates. Lex learned about it but never expected to use it. Suddenly, every man in the room felt stifled, and every woman in the room looked towards Lex, a gleam of interest in their eyes. "Suit yourself then. If we''re dropping all decorum, then how about I make sure you can''t find a single date?" The Druid felt incredibly stifled. Since he was socially awkward and had little to no experience with women, he had gone his entire life without finding a suitable partner. Now that he had enough sess to his name that he might be able to use it to attract someone, his big mouth and his even bigger ego ended up bringing a client to the convention! As if he wasn''t nervous enough, now with a client here looking for him, how was he supposed to focus on finding a partner? But his ego wouldn''t allow him to admit fault, so he told him to get lost. How was he supposed to know that the man he was pissing off was a natural casanova? Just standing there, without doing anything, he attracted the attention of every woman in the room! With such a powerful contender, he had no hope, especially if that contender was out to get him. Now he had to choose between his ego and his desire to find a mate. Lex had no problem waiting for the rancher to decide, since his skin was thick and he was more than capable of pretending that he was not feeling embarrassed. Like that, the two had an embarrassment standoff, unaware that of the events their confrontation was setting off! "Quickly, start the formation!" yelled the director, as his eyes turned into literal stars. "This is going to be the best season of Lovers Ind yet! Have we brought in the other contestants from the others?" "Everything is ready, sir." "Excellent. Then activate the formation and let''s get the show on the road. I can practically hear the spirit stones raining from the skies!" In his excitement, the director had the formation activated before all the normal formalities wereplete, teleporting all the contestants away. Just as he got up, ready to follow all the contestants, a muchrger formation that covered Dunya was activated, blocking anyone else froming or going. "What? What the hell is going on?" the director yelled at his assistants, fearing the worst. Every minute they wasted, they were losing money. As if to answer him, a loud broadcast was announced across the. "Dear residents, a powerful and notorious criminal has been detected on the, and martialw has been dered. Everyone return to your homes immediately. This is for your own safety." While the director started to have a mental break down, since the broadcasting for Lovers Ind would begin regardless of whether he was there to direct or not, he was unaware that in the corner of the studio a truck had appeared, its headlights slowly dimming, pointing towards the formation that had teleported the contestants away. Chapter 1140 Notoriously handsome Chapter 1140 Notoriously handsome Moon woke up feeling surprisingly fresh, and with much more energy than she was used to. For a moment, theck of severe weakness surprised her, but then she remembered everything that had happened, and smiled. Right, Lex had found her, and what followed was an adventure out of a storybook. "Good morning," a soft, feminine voice greeted her, taking her by surprise. She looked around and found that at a short distance, a beautifuldy was sitting at a table drinking tea, apanied by a young man. She did not recognise either of them. "My name is Jubtion, though my friends call me Jubi. I''m a nurse. This is Harry, he''s a sorcerer. Your brother invited both of us to look after you and help treat you while he searches for some ingredients for your treatment." "Oh. Thank you for your care," Moon said softly, and with a subtle hint of formality. In front of Lex she returned to her childish self, but with him gone, she once again began to step back into her role as saintess. If it weren''t for the fact that these two were acquaintances of her brother, and that she could sense the purity of their souls, she would have been a lot more guarded and formal. "Are you hungry? Lex left behind some ingredients and invited a private chef as well to help prepare your meals. It should be very good for you." "I suppose I can have something light," she said, recalling the great vour of the food Lex had given her. She slowly lifted herself from her hammock and stepped down. Nurse Jubtion was about to borate on how they nned on treating her, when a notification sound went off her a watch. She looked down, and suddenly felt excited. "Harry, the show''s about to start. Velma''s been raving about this for a long time. I can''t believe we''re finally going to watch a live season of Lover''s Ind." She tapped on her wristwatch, and a screen appeared in the air beside them. "Miss Moon, are you interested in such shows? I''ve never seen them before, but I have a dear friend who is a big fan." "I''ve never had the time to watch them, but I have heard about them. I suppose I could watch a little while I eat." N?v(el)B\\jnn Moon joined the two at the table where they sat and looked towards the screen, which was ying an introduction of the show, showing scenes from past seasons. Images of shirtless men fighting off monsters to protect admiringdies, and couples bonding together as they overcame adversity kept shing on the screen. The production quality was not bad, but Moon did not feel too intrigued. Her life had been so stressful that she could never find the appeal in watching others endure such needless drama. But her expression froze when the introduction ended, and the first thing that popped up on screen was an image of a person she knew all too well. Lex stood at the mouth of a steaming volcano, his sharp jaw and intense eyes drawing in everyone who looked at him. More importantly, a hint of the Domination that he was still disying was being transmitted through the projection. After all, the production quality did not just refer to the cinematic and audio of a show, but how well they were able to replicate the actual auras and conditions in which the show was taking ce. Lex was radiating a charm he had never disyed anymore, and everyone who saw him became fixated. "What did you say he was doing again?" Moon asked. "Was he supposed to be looking for ingredients?" No one responded. Just then, the narrator started to speak, and began introducing Lex. "Ladies and gentlemen, monsters and beasts, deities and devils, wee back to Lovers Ind, the show where romance knows no bounds and love knows no limits, even as contestants struggle to survive the lethal trials of the Ind! Tonight, we have an unprecedented surprise for you. Brace yourselves for the arrival of a contestant like no other. He''s a legend, a mystery, and quite possibly the universe''s most notoriously handsome ouw to grace your eyes. For years, the gxies have been buzzing with tales of his audacious escapades. He''s kidnapped a living dragon for no reason other than he could, and snatched an entire from its star system to get a date with its saintess. He''s even captured the colossal monster known as the World Eater, capable of devourings and stars, all to serve as steed to pull along his chariot as he roams the stars!" An audio track of audience members going ''oh'' and ''ah'' yed in the background. Lex, unaware of what was happening, turned to look down in the bubbling volcano. Amidst ake of boilingva was a cage on a floating piece of rock, and within it an unconsciousdy. The narrator continued, "with a bounty on his head worth dozens ofs, he''s the man everyone''s been searching for but no one could ever find. Dragons have searched the boundless stars and bounty hunters across countlesss, with no news of him. Until now. Tonight, he''s not just a fugitive; he''s a contestant, here on Lovers Ind, looking for a different kind of adventure. Please wee, the elusive, the legendary, the one and only¡­ Lex Dragonsbane!" Waves began to form in theva, and Lex''s eyes narrowed. Without hesitation, he dove into the mouth of the volcano, the unconsciousdy unaware of what was happening around her. The camera zoomed on Lex''s face. There was no hint of fear, no nervousness, only focus. "Will this infamous renegade find love amidst the stars, or will his past catch up with him? Stay tuned to find out, because this season of Lovers Ind just got a whole lot more exciting!" Lex almost reached the floating ind, but a massive ming hand emerged from the mes and reached towards Lex as a Molten Giant began to rise out of theva. Moon did not know when a box of popcorn appeared in his hand, nor did she remember what she wanted to talk about. All her focus was fixed on the screen as she watched her brother fight the ming monster. Elsewhere in the Origin realm, in a broken and downtrodden temple, a weak and pale deity looked at the screen with anger bubbling in his eyes. Ra was using special treasure to hide from thews of the Origin realm, but even so it almost wished to give up surviving to instead use the rest of his power to kill this ursed Lex. But just before it did something drastic, he held himself back. In another part of the realm, a golden dragon stood over the corpse of a hated enemy. Victory did not give it any pleasure, for in front of it was a screen showing a stupid human calling himself dragonsbane! How dare he? Asami Jin, the Elven princess, was sitting amidst her garden filled with Blood Roses, and watched a screen with wistful eyes. She had only turned on the show on a whim. Who knew she would end up seeing the very person she had been thinking of. Somewhere else, Belle spit out a mouthful of blood as she finally reached a safehouse. The war against the Fiery Mammoths had been going rough, and with thetest round of betrayals amongst the empire, the war efforts had suffered even more. She almost began to believe that this was a hopeless campaign - almost. Before she could think further on this, her eye was caught on a screen some of the resting soldiers were watching. The person on the screen looked awfully familiar, but it was too young to be her brother. It couldn''t be him. She continued watching anyway. Alexander Morrison was getting ready to enter the champions tourney. What woulde next would be the most difficult trial of his life. He needed to be in his peak state. "Hey brat, don''t you know that kid," yelled his grandfather as he pointed towards his screen. Alexander tried to ignore his grandfather, who was hiding out with him since his grandmother became pregnant. Once he had looked up to his powerful and wise grandfather. It was only now that he began to realize how much of a menace he really was. "Hey, that''s my student," said Marlo, who was also crashing with Alexander. As it turned out, his wife was also pregnant. The two apex warriors of earth were hiding from their wives, and so Alexander had no respect left for them. He closed his eyes and tried to focus. He needed to be in his best state. In another part of the Origin realm, Larry was busy absorbing the metal in another spaceship when his girlfriend suddenly came up to him. "Hey, look who I found. Isn''t that your friend?" She showed him a screen with Lex fighting a monster. In the background, he could see the words ''Lovers Ind'' written in pink. Chapter 1141 Do it for the views Chapter 1141 Do it for the views When Lex felt the teleportation formation activate, he was not too concerned. Once he got what he wanted, he''d ask the hosts of the convention to send him back since he was no longer interested. He was prepared to continue confronting Sim until he yielded, but when he reappeared, he found himself alone on an entirely different. From the air, the spirit energy, the gravity, and countless other minor details he could feel that he was somewhere else. More importantly, he could also feel countless formations observing him at every moment through various ways. The convention was¡­ a strange one. Lex was not sure how they went about getting the participants to be familiar with one another if they were all so far apart. He spread out his spirit sense in search of anyone else, and immediately found someone. They were down in the volcano behind him. Furthermore, they were unconscious and even locked in a cage. The situation was far from normal. But if there was one thing Lex was intimately familiar with, it was volcanoes. In fact, on the chance that he did not decide his t to be of bing the best, he had considered having them be something rted to volcanoes. They were just too closely linked. When Lex sensed that theva was bing turbulent he dove in without hesitation to save the person in the cage. Maybe they would be able to tell him what was going on. Come to think about it, he never asked anyone how the convention was to take ce. Maybe dating in the cultivation world had some odd ceremonies or traditions he was not familiar with. When a ming hand rose out of theva and grabbed Lex, he was not surprised. Of course he knew that a Molten Giant was inside theva. Why else would theva suddenly be turbulent? The giant rose out of theva, its heat and power bearing down on Lex, not that Lex himself was bothered. Instead, he looked at the Molten Giant and tried to determine if it was a worthy opponent for his sword. It was not. Lex extended his Domination, freezing the giant as it stood, before breaking free of its grip. Lex looked down at himself and found that not even his clothes were singed, though considering even his casual clothes were made from the Midnight Tailor, it was no surprise. He flew down to the woman in the cage and discovered that it was an angel. Her white feathers were tucked neatly behind her back, covered by her blonde hair, but some of it was still visible. A nce and a scan were enough for Lex to learn that she was being kept unconscious through abnormal means. He ripped the cage apart with his hands, the resistance it offered not even worth his attention, lifted her up in his hands, and began to fly back out of the volcano. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Across the Origin realm countless countless viewers hooted and whistled as they saw Lex rip the bars that blocked him from reaching the helpless damsel, lift her up in his arms and fly through the sky, the evil Molten Giant still frozen under Lex''s aura. "Ladies, it seems we have a real man here," yelled the narrator with endless enthusiasm as he watched Lex fly. "Vote now if you want yourtest heartthrob, Lex Dragonsbane, to survive the preliminary rounds. With his silent, brooding nature and his bursting passion, it seems he''s a bane for more than just dragons." Back on Yildirim Utopia Moon was recording every moment that Lex was on screen as ckmail material. She didn''t know how he ended up there, but she was not going to let him forget it. Lex,pletely unaware that countless women across the universe were voting to keep him on Lover''s Ind longer, carefullyid the angel down and then began to treat her. He used a soothing technique that eliminates toxins from her body, while reinvigorating her. At the same time, he used a Glyph that would push away the strange technique that was targeting her and keeping her asleep. Lex was just being helpful, and acting in the most efficient way to heal her,pletely unaware that his casual disy of Glyphs enraged dragons everywhere. The angel groaned, and slowly began to move as she recovered, pressing her forehead, trying to abate her headache. "Take it slow, I''m healing you," said Lex in a warm,forting voice. Even so, the angel was startled and quickly pulled away. Lex stayed put and raised his hands, as if to show that he meant to harm. The angel, with her radiant, golden eyes, scrutinized Lex as if to determine who he was and what he was doing and who he was. Then she felt her own body, and sensed that Lex was indeed helping her out. She rxed, though she did notpletely let down her guard. "Forgive my hasty retreat, I was startled," she said, her voice as sweet as honey and as smooth as silk. "You have my gratitude for your aid." "It''s no trouble. In fact, I was hoping to ask you some questions. Do you know what''s going on here? When I was teleported over, I was all alone. I''m looking for a person, I need toplete a business deal with him." Upon hearing the question, the angel grimaced. "What is going on? How can you not know if you are here? We are in the heart of the territory of devils, in their most ursed domain of twisted desire and showmanship. We are on Lover''s Ind." Lex waited for her to exin more, but she looked back at him as if that alone should exin everything. "It seems like there is somemunication gap. I am aware that there is some kind of dating convention called Lover''s Ind. I''m not sure what you mean bynd of twisted desire and such, but I just need to find someone. Do you have any idea where people might be?" The angel turned her head and¡­ looked at him as if he were stupid. "Are you not aware of what Lover''s Ind represents?" she asked, a hint of disbelief in her voice. "The way you are asking makes me think I might not. Is it more than a dating convention?" The angel kept looking at him for a bit, opened her mouth to answer, but then closed it. She opened it again, and then once more closed it. Finally, the third time, she answered. "Lover''s Ind is a reality tv show, and at the same time, it is an untamed 4 star. This is full of exceptional dangers, and the only way to survive is to find a partner and ovee the challenges of this world together. If the viewers think that the partnership is good, or that they have good chemistry, they can voet for the teams or contestants. The more votes you get, the safer you are. "If the viewers don''t like the partner you have, they can instead vote for one person instead of the dup, making it likely that one of them will die, forcing the remaining person to survive on their own until they can find another suitable partner. "Only if the viewers think that the contestants are truly a good couple do the usually make it to the end. Of course, sometimes viewers fall in love with some contestants and keep killing their partners because they want the contestant to remain single. But if they do that, they risk letting the contestant they love die due to facing dangers alone. "In short, its a where your very survival is dependant on viewers all over the realm, and how good of a show you put on. The better the show you put on, the better your chances of survival. Most couples who survive Lover''s Ind end up bing a couple for real." Lex continued to stare at her, waiting for the part where she would say she was joking, but it never came. "People volunteer for this?" he asked, remembering the massive line outside of the studio. "Of course. Nothing builds camaraderie like surviving life and death together, and that often leads to true love. For the chance at a suitable partner you can face the dangers of the universe with, people line up for miles sometimes. Of course, there are some people who get selected without their choice - such as me." "So what you''re telling me is that¡­ I''m on a realm wide show based on finding love?" Before the angel could answer, Lex suddenly looked up, and spotted a meteor, leaving behind a rainbow colored trail, crashing towards them specifically. Lex was beyond the level where meteors could threaten him, but the rainbow made him feel a significant threat. He grabbed the angel''s hand and suddenly teleported the two of them away, yet the rainbow meteor turned, continuing to aim towards them. He narrowed his eyes. He didn''t have time for this, so he better hurry up and find Sim. But first, he had to deal with this meteor. Chapter 1142 Swooning across the realm Chapter 1142 Swooning across the realm Lex did not even need his spirit sense. His left eye had mutated a long time ago, allowing him to peek at things rted tows, but that left his right eye as normal. Recalling how cool it felt using Evisceration with his eyes, Lex underwent the journey to find cool and powerful techniques based on his eyes. He was not, in any way, inspired from any anime he had seen, as that would be unoriginal and giaristic, which he was not. After consulting Pel, Mary, and Dr. Best, as well as a few other knowledgeable people as well as the many records in the Midnight Library, Lex discovered something genuinely surprising. Among the many races in the universe, and many powerful abilities, one of the most powerful eyebased abilities had actually been developed by a human countless eons ago. It had a long and epic lore behind how it was created, not to mention an amazing yet tragic history of how it disappeared over countless years. The person who created it was a Prime, which is also something Lex studied a bit about. But the more important matter was it gave Lex the inspiration to create his own technique which would also have an awesome and epic lore that he would hire someone to create for him at some point eventually. He channeled his energy into his right eye and illusory characters began to appear on his sclera around his iris, while a tiny Glyph appeared within his pupil. The characters that filled the white part of his eye formed an array, while there was an apanying Glyph in the middle of his eye which worked independently of the array whileplimenting it, forming a synergistic effect. That, apanied by his spirit energy which had countless affinities and could easily act as a bridge between his eye and the effects of the array and Glyph. It soundedplicated, and it really was, but it resulted in a unique eye-technique that waspletely unique to Lex. It was nowhere near being the best in the universe at the moment, but it had the potential for it. Time seemed to slow in his eyes and his vision zoomed in on the meteor, allowing him to not only see it, but analyze what was so special about it. Compared to the Molten Giant, the meteor was actually much more dangerous as it carried a hint of aw Lex did not recognise, and it was clearly and directly aiming for the angel. But while it was powerful, the only thing that made it actually dangerous was that hint ofws. Considering Lex could deal with them even in his current state, it was not an issue. His eye focused on the meteor, and it seemed to dissolve into thin air, disappearing from sight. In truth, all Lex had done was push it behind space and into the Void, but without creating any spatial fluctuations, no one could tell what happened. "Amazing,dies and gentlemen! Just amazing!" the narrator roared on everyone''s screens. "Just a gaze was enough to erase any threat before him. Looks like it''s going to take more than a small meteor if someone wants to take the angel away from his strong, steady arms. Get voting,dies and gents, if you want to see them end up together, or be ripped apart. In the meanwhile, let''s check up on our other contestants." Lex shook his head once the meteor disappeared. Why would people volunteer toe to this death show? It made no sense to him. "I have to go look for someone. If you want to leave this ce I can give you a key to the Midnight Inn. No matter where you are, teleporting to the Inn shouldn''t be an issue." Lex held out a golden key, and could not help but notice how the golden color of the angel''s hair and eyes matched the key. Maybe angels suited the Inn a lot more than humans. The angel, however, looked at the key, and then back at Lex. "Even though I was forced toe here, that does not mean I want to leave so easily. Like I said, Lover''s Ind is a 4 star that isrgely uninhabited. The resources one can find here are way beyond the reach of normal people. This is an amazing opportunity. Especially for me." The angel tried to spread her wings, but they would not extend properly. ck lines spread across the pure white feathers, making them look diseased and weak. Lex scanned the wings, and immediately realized that this was no ordinary disease. Getting rid of it would not be easy. Of course, Lex would still have to try his hand at it. He could think of a couple of things that might work. "Since I was born, I have been a victim of a dreadful curse. I have heard rumors that on this there is a spring that can wash clean this curse that has worked its way right into my¡­ what are you doing?" The angel was in the middle of exining her tragic backstory, well aware that gaining the sympathy of the countless viewers watching the show live would be the ticket to surviving. What she had not expected was for Lex to shoot her wings with a strange, white light. ck, acrid smoke began to rise from the feathers, and a warm sensation began to spread through her wings which had never felt anything other than the frigid cold before. "Just like I thought, it''s troublesome," Lex said as he withdrew the white light. "If you can''t find the spring to heal yourself, you cane find me in the Midnight Inn. I can heal your wings for you, but it''ll take a few days. It''s really quite troublesome." The angel was dumbfounded. "How¡­ how did you do that? Even our best healers could not heal my curse!" she eximed. What neither Lex nor the angel knew was that countless angels who were watching the show were even more stunned than her. They knew full well the extent and difficulty of healing congenital wing diseases. It wasn''t that it was impossible, but rather that it required the effort of incredibly high leveled angels, and that was not something all angels could afford or arrange. But if they could get their hands on Lex¡­ better yet, if that angel could get Lex to fall in love with her and then get married¡­ It was as if proverbial dor signs appeared in the eyes of countless angels across the realm. "I''m a doctor, healing people is my business," Lex shamelessly boasted. The truth was, he had devised multiple techniques that used the healing factor of his blood without having to actually use his blood. Originally he thought that this would reduce the effectiveness of his healing, but under the right conditions, it could actually be better. "I¡­ my name is Thaliel Silverlight. How¡­ how may I address you?" she asked, a soft blush appearing on her face. It wasn''t that she was suddenly enamored by Lex, though the more she thought about how powerful he was, and his good looks, and his medicinal prowess, and his calm attitude¡­ No, she was blushing because she was looking forward to having her wings healed. That was it. She was not in denial at all. "My name is Lex. I''m going to go search for my target now. You can apany me if you wish. If wee across the spring then we can part ways." "Ah, yes, of course. But leaving is not so easy. We need toplete objectives to be able to move on. Each territory has its own objective. I suppose rescuing me might have¡­" "Don''t worry about it," Lex said as he ced his hand on her shoulder. "It''s not so easy to stop me." With that, Lex teleported himself and Thaliel away. An invisible barrier appeared, blocking their teleportation, but Lex needed to only touch it for the barriers to unravel. Putting up defenses in front of him, the uncrowned king of defense, was a joke. But even though Lex was now aware that countless people were probably watching them, since he was on a show, he did not know that his casual action of dismissing the barrier and bing the angels rescuer had caused countless women across the realm to swoon. At the same time, Thaliel suddenly felt like she was in danger. It was as if countless people across the realm suddenly were suddenly targeting her and wanted her gone. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex was not paying attention to the blushing angel beside him. He had already used the tracking technique to locate which way Sim was, and was heading that way. He just needed to stop after every short while as there were countless barriers blocking teleportation across the. At the same time, he also spread his spirit sense around him. Since this was a 4 star, he wouldn''t mind grabbing a few treasures if he came across them. It would be practically criminal to just let them be. Chapter 1143 Haram protocol Chapter 1143 Haram protocol Lex was moving across the in a straight line towards Sim, breaking every barrier he came across. As a result, not only was he skipping the numerous trials set up across the, he was allowing other contestants to move forward as well. The director of Lover''s Ind was sitting on Dunya, ripping out his hair as he watched all the potential of the show being wasted. Since he could ess the viewership numbers, he knew how much of a hit Lex was. Yet all of it was being wasted since the filming crew on site did not know how to leverage it, or build suspense. They were just doing the bare minimum, keeping the show running without bothering to add any dazzle. Indeed, on one of Dunya''s moons, the filming crew members that were essentially running the show now were having a meeting to discuss what to do. For reasons they did not know, neither the director, nor the special effects team or even the usual team of really powerful guards had shown up. The guards served as protection for the filming crew, since Lover''s Ind really was not a safe ce. The contestants knew what they signed up for since they had many benefits to gain, not to mention the hope of finding true love. But that didn''t mean that the filming crew were content to risk their lives to keep the show running. Fortunately, the various formations around the were running, which would automatically film everything. But without the director subtly guiding everything and everyone towards one big finale, there was a big chance that the show this time around would be a big failure. On top of everything, there was Lex. He was a big hit, but his interference was directly speeding up the resolution of the show as various teams were meeting one another without appropriate trials to put them against one another. Not only that, without their guards around who usually helped put a stop to such things, there wasn''t much they could do. After all, most of them were in the Nascent realm with a few of them being Earth immortals. That did not give them the confidence to get close to Lover''s Ind. All their interference was via the many formations around this. "I say we just let him meet the person he''s looking for. That''ll put an end to his interference, and we can run things normally with the rest of the contestants," said a particrly stubby Druid. "Don''t be ridiculous. That would fix the issue, yes, but it would not be sensational," responded the self designated assistant director and external consultant, a thin, pale devil with green burning hair. The zeal and passion in his eyes was overwhelming, causing everyone to look away. No one could maintain eye contact with him. "What do you suggest, then?" asked someone else. "If we try to stop him ourselves, then at every step, we''ll be the ones who have to fix things in case something goes wrong. You should not underestimate someone crazy enough to kidnap a dragon. Instead, we should let the other contestants deal with the matter." That gave everyone a pause. They had actually forgotten to ount for that. They were just looking at his viewership numbers and thinking about how to keep him around longer. "So what do you want to do?" asked the stubby Druid, a hint of fear in his voice as he asked the question. Was this devil any less crazy than the dragon kidnapper? There were rumors around that the reason his hair was green, and made of fire, was that he made a deal with an evil, sentient once. No one knew the oue, but the devil had been changed ever since. "It''s simple. Initiate the Haram protocol." "It''s called the Harem protocol." "Same same. Initiate the protocol, but make one small adjustment. Instead of a fixed reward for being admitted into his harem, give them vote protection for every minute they spend around him. Let''s say, every minute equals one hundred thousand votes. Also, ce a beacon on him so that he''s easy to find. That way, the other contestants themselves will find ways to keep him around longer. Trust me, random chaos is always more fun than orchestrated chaos. Not to mention, controversy is great for views. This is sure to drive all the viewers who are beginning to like Lex mad." The crew members looked at one another, unsure about this idea. But since none of them had a better idea, they quickly began to implement the suggested changes. After all, they didn''t have time to spend only on Lex. There were thousands of contestants, and there were quite a few of them who could cause major problems if left unsupervised. Back on the, Lex had just teleported over a chain of countless small inds, ready to break the next barrier, when he paused. His instincts were suddenly warning him that there was grave danger all around him, and there wasn''t anything he could do to avoid it. But if that were it, Lex would not have paused. Danger was not something he was unfamiliar with, and he was more than confident in his ability to handle things. The issue was, this was a kind of danger he had never sensed before. Lex spread out his spirit sense and looked around himself, trying to identify where the danger wasing from, when he noticed a blue light shining around his body. The light continued to grow until it eventually became a beacon, rising high into the sky. The light was clearly visible for miles around him, and as he tried to move it followed him around. It seemed he was being marked for breaking the rules of the convention. But instead of being worried about it, Lex looked forward to the challenge ahead. Maybe he''d finally find a worthy opponent for his sword. He sensed movement on the right so he turned, ready to face the worst that this could throw at him. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Instead, he saw a girl in a bright yellow bikini running towards him, and¡­ was she¡­ moving in slow motion? Chapter 1144 Lexs Island Chapter 1144 Lex''s Ind Lex looked towards Thaliel, checking to see if she could see the same thing, and based on her dumbfounded expression, it seemed like she could. On the beach on one of the inds below him, the brte maiden was running freely, the wind in her hair, sshes of water from nearby waves falling on her bare skin, the soft, warm sand hugging her legs every step she took. The sunlight reflected on each drop of water on her skin, making her look dazzling. Her bright smile somehow seemed to shine even brighter than the sparkling beads of water. At least, that is how it was supposed to seem. Lex was much too strong to be influenced by low level charm techniques that were supposed to ensnare and entice anyone looking on. But he remained still, not because of the girl in yellow, but because he spotted a volleyball flying through the air. Where there was a beach, and a volleyball, there would surely be¡­ Yup, a momentter, he spotted two teams of girls ying in the sand, who were of course also radiating charm techniques. "God help me, it''s a beach episode," Lex groaned as he rubbed his forehead. "What?" asked Thaliel, confused. "Lover''s Ind. They''re clearly doing a beach episode, full of filler content and fan service. It''s low quality writing. A true author or director would never stoop so low as to rely on such tactics to attract viewership. I mean, look at that. That girl is still running in slow motion. It''s been two whole minutes and she''s barely run ten feet." Before Thaliel could respond, another voice spoke up. "I knew you were a man of culture, not easily influenced by such vulgarities." A nymph, with soft green skin and dark brown hair arrived, garbed in clothes that looked like they had been made from leaves. "Please excuse my interruption. I am just such a huge fan. When I heard that you were also on Lover''s Ind, I dropped everything toe find you. My name is Jessie, and I''m your biggest fan!" Lex could see the sparkle in her eyes, and it was kind of creepy. Well, actually it wasn''t creepy, but Lex wasn''t used to having fanse up to him. Jessie clearly wasn''t using any charm techniques, but from her bodynguage alone Lex could tell that her intentions were not so straightforward. Before Lex could respond, another voice interrupted. "Biggest fan? Who gave you the authority to im that?" A Druid flew over, her figure tall and slender. She was actually taller than Lex by a margin, but that gave her a unique charm of its own. Lex may not have known about what the film crew had done, but he could by now surmise that something was up. He watched as the twodies argued, and even more began to approach from a distance, ready to get in on the fight. Lex looked up at the beacon over his head, and got the feeling that this would not be so easy to escape. If that was the case, there was no reason to avoid it. Rather, he could use this to his advantage. Subtlying using Domination around him, he began to act out on his n. "Ladies, please, we''re all adults here. You all clearly want something, and so do I. Maybe we can work out a deal¡­" The countless girls gathering around Lex dropped their pretense, and gave up on their many ns. Something about his voice caused them to lower their guard and listen to him. Moreover, they were benefiting from each moment they spent around him, so there was no harm in listening to what he had to say. But what neither Lex, nor thedies knew, though all the viewers could tell, was that on the other side of the inds, a group of men were gathering. Originally they had nothing against Lex, or any otherpetitor. It was fair game. If they could attract someone, then it was a result of their own charisma. But now, with all girls getting points for being around Lex, their chances had been forcibly ruined. As such, they began to gather here, and called other men nearby. Most contestants here had high requirements from their partners, for one reason or another. Whether it was because they did not want a partner with a low lifespan, or because they were worried about the genes of their future generations, it all required a partner with sufficient skill and power. That was why they never took the route of marrying low leveled cultivators, who would jump at the chance of being with them. But that did not mean that they would just stand around and watch as all their options were stolen from them. "We are gathered here today, as brothers, against the menace that is Lex Dragonsbane. Not only is he a bane for dragons, but he is a bane of our love lives!" A rowdy group hooted and yelled in agreement, all seething. "But if we act out against him, we''ll directly turn ourselves into enemies with all the girls around him. So we need toe up with a good n. If anyone has any suggestions, speak now. I, for one, think that we should plead to our viewers. Vote! Vote to eliminate Lex, and return the ying ground to a leveled state." "How about we just convince someone to try and collect his bounty?" "No, that won''t work. The women will fight to protect him¡­" The men began to n amongst themselves. Back on Dunya, the director suppressed his tears and wished the lockdown on the would end already. All outwardmunication was also blocked, even though they could receive signals from outside. If even the calls were enabled, he''d be able to salvage the situation. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om The whole show was getting sidetracked, and moving away from its original premise. This was no longer Lover''s Ind. This was Lex''s Ind. Chapter 1145 Find out next time Chapter 1145 Find out next time Lex waited and watched as the group ofdies around him struggled toe to a decision on his offer. It was pretty straightforward actually. He didn''t expect them to have any reason to say no. But the way some of them looked a little disappointed upon hearing how he turned their entire interaction into a business deal. Whether they were hoping to actually get close to him, or were disappointed that Lex showed no interest in them, it did not matter. What was important, though, was that they finally confessed why they were alling close to him. Gaining votes just by being close to him not only ensured that they would continue to move onto the next rounds, thus meeting higher quality guys who survived the first round of elimination, the votes somehow affected their luck as well. When someone voted for their survival, their luck on Lover''s Ind increased. When someone voted to have them kicked out, their luck decreased. It was an abstract thing normally, but during this show, its effects were extremely apparent. Lex recalled the meteor he saw earlier, and understood that someone had probably voted to kick out Thaliel. More importantly, since he understood how their luck was being affected, Lex used his left to study all thews around them all, and was able to actually see the manifestation of luck around them all. That was also why he noticed that while all thedies were gaining a tremendous amount of luck, he was gaining an evenrger amount of bad luck. It felt like a lot of people were voting to kick him out. When he considered that he was surrounded by countless beautiful women, he could venture a guess as to who wanted him gone. It was all the single men out in the Origin realm hating his luck at the moment. Probably. Not that he asked to be in this position. "It''s a deal," said the woman in the yellow bikini, and as the first domino fell, so did the others. "Alright then let''s get out of here before the sky falls down or something," Lex murmured as he watched his bad luck continuously get worse. "What?" one of the women asked, but Lex did not respond. He spread out his spirit sense, epassing all thedies around him, and continued to teleport. Honestly speaking, he could probably be a lot more forceful in finding Sim, but he was supposing that this was filled with dangers beyond just the initial levels of the Earth Immortal realm. But how could things ever be so straightforward during a game show that had specifically been targeting cultivators for countless years? Lex''s teleportation was hijacked, and when he reappeared he found himself standing on a stage under a spotlight. All the women who had been apanying him, including Thaliel, were standing in a booth on his right, effectively trapped within. On his left, there was another booth of women, and in front of him there was a crowd of confused men. "Hello, hello, hello everyone!" boomed a voice across the room, attracting everyone''s attention as a projection of a tiny man with angel wings appeared midair. "I''m your host, Cupid, and this is the first elimination round of this season!" An apuse audio track yed all around them, with random hooting and whistling in between, not that Lex or anyone else there was in the mood for such celebrations. "Yes, I know what you must be thinking," Cupid said, looking out at nothing, as if talking into a camera. "An elimination round? This early in the game? But my oh my, things really heated up quickly this year, and so we had to move up the schedule. Up on stage with us is the legend himself, whose brooding eyes and chiseled muscles can steal more than just a few hearts. Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for the man of the hour, Lex Dragonsbane! This time around, we''ll be doing things differently, as all the eliminations this time around will be decided by Lex and only by Lex. "On one side we have all the lovelydies he''s managed to swindle into his arms, or, well, into a deal with himself. But, on the other side, we have all thedies who have made the most genuine connection with their partners! Based on votes, they are thedies who have most likely already run into the man of their dreams, their knight in shining armor, their prince charming. "But a new me can be quickly put out by a strong wind. Will their love connection survive adversity? Let''s find out! The rules are simple. On his right, there are forty nine women who agreed to partner with Lex. On his left are fifty one yearning maidens hoping to give love a chance. But out of them all, only fifty can survive, and Lex has to choose which ones! "By the way,dies and gentlemen, you might have noticed a small crowd in front of the stage. You might have guessed it, or you may have missed it, but these are the partners for the fifty one trappeddies, who must watch helplessly as the fate of their love life hangs in the bnce. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "If Lex chooses to save thedies on the left, they can return to their partners if they wish, or apany Lex if they want. If he chooses thedies on the right, he can continue on his merry way on his quest. But whichever group he chooses, the gents in the crowd will be able to continue on. What does that mean? It means that even if thedies in love get eliminated, their partners can move on and find new partners. "Is that what their partners will do? Abandon the chance at true love to move further on in the show? Who will Lex choose? Or will he just use his formidable powers to escape this decision, teleporting away and leaving everything up to fate? To find out, join us next time, on Lover''s Ind!" Chapter 1146 His own twist Chapter 1146 His own twist Oh Lex could physically feel his bad luck at work. What the hell kind of situation was he in? This was the trolley problem, but with broken hearts instead of death. One would argue that theck of death made the situation easier. To those people, Lex would say hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. On one hand, he just made an agreement with the group ofdies so he would feel scummy if he just abandoned them. On the other hand, they just had a business deal, but thedies on the other side genuinely felt a connection between them and their partners, and wasn''t that the whole reason they were risking their lives on this stupid? When he heard the situation, Lex genuinely felt like breaking free of the restraints keeping him in ce and just teleporting away. He wasn''t here to y games anyway, he was here to find Sim. But the moment Cupid mentioned it, Lex felt like if he did that, then the oue might be even worse. No matter what he did, he was in a crummy situation. This was exactly why he hated reality tv. They were ying with real emotions. But the feeling of helplessnesssted about two seconds. Then he got over it. It would take more than little tricks to trap him. He saw that Cupid was about to continue his speech so he pped his hands, and suddenly the two of them swapped positions. Cupid suddenly appeared under the spotlight, alight his hands were tied up and it looked like there was a pair of old socks in his mouth, while Lex appeared in mid air, looking into the nothing that he assumed acted as a camera. "What a twist,dies and gentlemen," Lex said, his voice warm and weing. Compared to the overly enthusiastic Cupid, who was speaking at breakneck speeds, Lex took his time, as if everything were under control. "I can see why Lover''s Ind would be so popr. The love, the lust, the suspense, the excitement, all mixed together packed into one show filled with good looking men and women. Who wouldn''t want to watch that?" Actually, Lex would hate watching something like that, but that wasn''t the point. If the show was going to mess with him, he was going to mess with the show. "But as exciting as it is, wouldn''t it be more exciting if I added a little twist of my own?" He smiled, looking right into nothing, but at that moment, his natural charm was working better than actual charm techniques. Countless women watching the show became flustered, and Moon''s jaw dropped. Since when had Lex be so¡­ so suave? "In this chaotic world, love is such a fleeting emotion. So rare, so precious. How tragic would it be if we sold love, or even forsake it just because circumstances bind us. I''m sure you all, watching out there, can recall a time you too felt love. Maybe it was a fleeting moment, a chance exchange of nces walking down the street. Maybe it was a face you saw everyday. Maybe it was the blind passion of youth, confident and yet unaware of the realities of life. "Maybe the time wasn''t right for your love. Or maybe it just wasn''t meant to be. Maybe the distance between you made it impossible, or maybe you just wanted different things. Whatever it is, there''s just something special about that one, first love that everyone has. It''s something pure, something innocent. No matter how many years go by, you always remember it, even if the memory brings with it pain. "For something as wonderful and special as that, how can we let circumstances get in the way? So,dies and gentlemen, while Lover''s Ind rejoices in the agony of splitting lovers, I, Lex Dragonsba- uh, no, I mean I, Lex Amora, have my own twist I''d like to introduce." In the spur of the moment Lex found it difficult to quicklye up with a good name that also represented someone who fostered love. His first thought was to use the name Lovesong. It went well with his first name, but it sounded too cliche. So, he instead opted for Amora, which was love in Spanish - because that was not cliche at all. Clearly, one of the things he forgot to train during thest fifteen years was his naming sense. Lex spun his hand, and a bunch of golden keys appeared within them. "I know some of you havee to this ce in search of treasure, while some of you havee in search of love. But I say, why do you need to choose? With these keys, I grant you ess to the Midnight Inn, a ce you can reach from anywhere in the universe. With these in hand, go ahead fearlessly, and know that if you are ever separated from your lover, you may be able to reunite within the Inn." N?v(el)B\\jnn The keys flew out of his hand and into the hands of all the women, as well as the men standing in the crowd. "Now, even if you get separated, you can meet once more in the sanctuary of the Inn. Many things can be an obstacle to love, but with the Inn, distance will never again be one of them." With one smooth move, he had reduced the mental burden off himself of depriving thedies on one side of true love if that is what they were truly after. It still wasn''t ideal, since he would effectively be eliminating them, but Lex was allowed to be a little selfish. After all, he still needed a lot of women on his side if he was going to pressure- eh, he meant, persuade Sim to give him the feathers. Lex selected the women who had a deal with him, and pulled them out of their restrictions and teleported away. This show was too insidious. He didn''t want to give them a chance to respond. There was one girl left unselected, and so he just picked at random. As he teleported away, he did not notice the odd sense of recognition in the eyes of the girl he picked. Chapter 1147 Losing patience Chapter 1147 Losing patience Lex''s journey was not smooth. Between meteors, tsunami''s, spirit storms and being struck by random shes of lightning, he faced many obstacles, but other than slightly getting on his nerves they had no effect. Fortunately, though the was massive, Sim was not actually too far away. After teleporting through a few more regions, he appeared over what looked like an ancient, abandoned city, though now it was being upied by contestants. When Lex appeared in the sky, he saw the contestants running around the city, as if navigating some maze, in a rush to aplish something. He wasn''t sure what was going on, but that was not his concern. He immediately spotted Sim, the lumbering Druid running after arge red bull. Compared to the other contestants he had seen so far, who were all either good looking or had some charm, Sim seemed to have rather simple taste. While the others paid great attention to their appearance, Sim looked like he had been out working in the fields. His hair was going wild, practically appearing like a crows nest, and the wolf-pelt robes he wore made him appear like he was from an ancient, barbaric tribe. N?v(el)B\\jnn He looked at all the girls surrounding him, some human, some Druid and some nymph or other races, and felt like they might not exactly find someone like him appealing. But then again, he shouldn''t be one to judge. Who knew? Maybe this was just Druid tradition or culture. Without wasting any more time, Lex teleported right in front of Sim, the nearly fifty girls around him filling up the street he was in, directly blocking Sim who had been chasing a bull. The sight was quite eye-catching, and not just because Lex still had a blue beacon above his head. "Rancher Sim, we meet again," he said, wearing a faint smile. But Sim did not smile. He grimaced, and suddenly wanted tosh out at Lex. Compared to Lex, he was stronger. After all, he was an Earth Immortal. But for some reason, he didn''t feel stronger. Nor did it seem like Lex was bothered by the difference in cultivation. "Can you please just leave me alone? We can deal with this once the show is over." "I''m sorry, it''s not my fault you refused to sell the feathers through the emporium. Trust me, I am being very civil by asking you to sell them to me politely. As soon as we get this over with, we can both go back to doing our respective things and not bother each other. So what do you say? Shall we get this over with?" "How can we just get it over with? I don''t have the feathers on me. They''re back at my ranch. We''re on Lover''s Ind. We can''t just return whenever we wish." "You just need to agree. I can take care of the rest myself. Look, to extend a helping hand, I''ve even brought along arge group ofdies with me. They''ve all agreed to give you a chance to see if you guys can build a connection. Of course, nothing is forced. But isn''t this much better than ckmailing instead?" Although Lex imed he was helping, his actions somewhat embarrassed Sim even more because it was like tantly admitting that he couldn''t get a partner on his own. Sim''s prideful nature was causing his anger to bubble. Not only had he been embarrassed in front of arge group ofdies, but also in front of everyone watching this show across the Origin realm. He was on the verge of exploding and disregarding his instinct to avoid shing with Lex, but Lex acted first. Not only could he easily read Sim''s emotions, he could also sense that the bad luck umting around him was increasing exponentially. He was losing his patience. Lex let his Domination flood out, this time not as something that attracted potential mates, but with the full fledged might of his presence,pletely unfiltered. After years of training atop Pelvailin, absorbing his might while strengthening himself as well, his Domination had undergone a massive change. In fact, it could already rival if not surpass the Dragons Might of a newborn dragon. As soon as Lex entered the Immortal realm it would be even stronger, surpassing the Dragons Might of the average dragon within the same realm as him. This was the result of Lex''s increased strength, the addition of the resin in his body, his cultivation technique, and a number of other factors that all strengthened him tremendously. Considering that newborn dragons were in the Earth Immortal realm, his Domination was already an effective deterrent against immortals! If he could add a hint ofws to this Domination, it would go from deterrent to direct suppression. As such, when Lex unleashed his aura, it was not just Sim who was affected. All the variousdies who stood behind him were gripped by fear. They saw only his back, but it seemed to berger than the sky. It dominated their minds, freezing them where they stood. It also affected everyone across the realm who were watching. Even though the aura transmitted through the recording formations around Lover''s Ind was extremely diluted, and could not harm anyone in any way, it stirred the hearts of many as they realized that Dragonsbane was no joke. Lex was challenging them where they were strongest, and it seemed like he was winning. Lex''s bounty rose, countless fell in love with him and even more began to hate him out of jealousy. None of that mattered to Lex. His eyes were locked on to Sim. "I believe I''ve already said this, but I''ll say it one more time. I''m just being polite by asking you to sell me the feathers. If you''re not interested, fine. I will go back. You won''t see me again. But just like I took a dragon, and just like I stole a, I will just take your entire ranch, and you will never see it again." Sim''s mind rapidly cooled down under the threat of Lex''s aura. He no longer let his pride guide him or his anger control him. Although he had many personality ws, it was also true that he had real abilities, which is why he was able to nurture and support the notoriously difficult to ranch Velvet Goose Kings. Even they were just one among many other animals that he took care of. Finding, raising and then protecting such rare animals required him to have very real strength. But right now, it was because he was genuinely strong that he knew that going up against Lex was not a good choice. After all, if what he said was true, Lex didn''t need to fight him. He just needed to return and steal his ranch. Although he didn''t think it would be so easy tomit such a crime on Dunya, not easy did not mean impossible. "Fine. It''s my mistake. I should not have invited you over to begin with. Let''s go back." Lex''s aura suddenly vanished, as if it had never been there, and a pleasant smile returned to his face. "See? Wasn''t that easy? Let''s go. But first," he turned around and looked at the group of girls behind him. Many of them looked at him with fear, though there were a few strange gazes mixed in between. Lex was not ignorant, so he knew what those fiery gazes meant, but he wasn''t the least bit interested. "Ladies, it seems like I didn''t need your help to persuade Sim anyway. But if you''re ever interested, rancher Sim is a very talented rancher. You can find him up on Dunya if you''re ever visiting. Good luck with the rest." Originally Lex had nned on relying on ckmailing Sim, telling him that if he didn''t agree he would continue to deprive him of opportunities. But as he saw his bad luck increasing so quickly, he knew he needed to get off this. He was strong, but he knew just how powerful bad luck could be. "By the way, does anyone know where the hosts of this show are located?" he suddenly asked. He would need their help if he wanted to go back. "They''re up on the moon," answered Thaliel. "Thanks. Oh and remember, if you can''t heal your wings here, you can find me in the Midnight Inn. Well, you can find me there eventually. I''ll be a little busy the next few weeks." Without extending the farewell too long, Lex ced his hand on Sim and teleported them into the sky. Of course there was a barrier preventing them from leaving the, but since when had that been an issue for Lex? After dispelling it, Lex directly teleported over to one of the moons around Lover''s Ind. But that particr moon was uninhabited, so he had to teleport to another before he eventually found the filming crew, who were in the middle of a meeting. "Hey, excuse me, don''t mean to interrupt," said Lex, as he interrupted them. "Can anyone point me in the direction of the formation going back to Dunya? I''m in a bit of a rush, thanks." Chapter 1148 A favor Chapter 1148 A favor The film crew was alreadymenting how things were falling apart. It was not just Lex who was causing problems, though he was at the forefront of that list, doing whatever he pleased without any regard for the mental health of the film crew. There were dozens of immensely powerful contestants who were creating problems, and without the security team to keep everything in check they were struggling to keep the show running. Then Lex appeared right in the middle of their meeting, and nearly gave some of them a heart attack. Of course some, such as the green headed devil and an intern who had been staring at Lex''s performance with dreamy eyes, were rather happy with his sudden appearance. That did not change the fact that when Lex asked to be pointed in the direction of the formation going home, none of them answered. Even the devil didn''t want to be the one to give Lex the bad news. After a few moments of silence, Lex coughed, as if clearing his throat, and spoke again. "Hi, I realize that this is an unannounced visit, and that it might not be exactly how you typically run your show. But I would really appreciate it if you guys helped me out." The film crew exchanged looks, debating with their eyes over who would be the one to tell Lex. They dared not even use their spirit sense, for who knew if he could tap into it and listen? Ultimately, they all simultaneously looked towards the intern who had hearts for eyes as she looked at Lex. Lex, too, looked towards her, causing her to both feel excited and panicked at the same time. N?v(el)B\\jnn "Uh, I can show you the formation, but there''s a small, tiny problem with that," she said, realizing the task had been dumped onto her. "You see, Dunya has entered a sort of lockdown right after you guys left. Even our director, and many of our show producers are still stuck on the. While we can send them transmissions, all teleportation is closed until further notice." Lex frowned, while Sim saw a faint glimmer of hope. He didn''t want to leave the show prematurely. Unfortunately, it wasn''t meant to be. "I think I can find a solution to that," said Lex after a few seconds. "Can you still film me from here, or do I need to return to Lover''s Ind if I want to appear on the show again? I want to send a small message to someone through the show. I''m sure it''ll reach them." The film crew once again exchanged looks, unable toe to a decision. Lex honestly preferred if they shot from here. He had noticed that his umting bad luck was linked to the, so once he left it, his bad luck disappeared. Technically, it probably wasn''t real bad luck, since Lex could not observe his actual luck. But technicality or not, he wanted to avoid it. "We can film from here," the intern eventually responded. "Arlight, excellent. When can you start? The sooner we do this, the sooner we can get it over with." "Just give me a moment," she said, as she pulled out a small device and began fidgeting with it until eventually Lex felt something observing him again. "You''re going to be live in 3¡­ 2¡­. 1¡­ go!" The countless people across the realm who were disappointed at Lex''s departure were suddenly surprised to see that he had returned to the show, though his surroundings looked odd. "Hello everyone," Lex said, waving at what he assumed was the camera. "There is a small situation. I need to return to Dunya, but due to various reasons I cannot. If someone on that can reach out to Fahad or Noor and request a one-way open channel for me to just get back onto that, I''d really appreciate it. I''m sure whatever reason you closed the for is very important, but if you could help me out I''d treat it as a personal favor. If not¡­ then I guess I understand.Thanks anyway." If they did not open up Dunya, then he would have to go the long way around of once again sending the tavern there, or trying to connect it to the Inn. Both would take too much time, which is why he hoped to avoid it. Lex signaled the intern to stop filming, and though sheplied, she felt the whole thing was quite underwhelming. Was that it? She expected a lot more threatening and coercing. After all, with such an intimidating name such as- Before she couldplete the thought, one of the crew members jumped in the air in shock. "We''re receiving a transmission from Dunya! They''ve granted a one-time teleportation permission. It expires in two minutes!" Lex nodded, unsurprised. Although it cost him a favor, this was the benefit of knowing powerful and influential people. He just hoped that the favor wouldn''te back to bite him in the behind. "Thanks for the help everyone. You''ve got a really interesting show here. Good luck with everything." Lex waved at the rest of the crew as the intern led him and a disappointed and shocked Sim away. Sim couldn''t decide which was more shocking, the fact that Dunya was under lockdown, or that the lockdown had been lifted at Lex''s request! Suddenly, it did not feel like a big deal that he was being forced to sell Lex a few feathers. The two quickly arrived at the teleportation formation and stood inside of it. Lex waved at the intern, and then they were teleported away. A few secondster, Lex and Sim reappeared on Dunya in a teleportationnding formation, with two familiar faces right in front. Fahad and Noor both wore an amused smile as they looked at Lex. "I have to say, I''ve never been contacted through an inter-gctic show before." "Next time, I''ll contact you via carrier pigeon. It''s a totally different experience." Fahad snorted, though he could not hide the amusement at the idea. Did an ordinary pigeon dare fly towards him? "Although we opened the portal for you once, we won''t be able to do it again so you''ll have to spend some time here," said Noor. Chapter 1149 Lets get isekaid Chapter 1149 Let''s get isekai''d Lex was about to respond when suddenly all the hair on his body stood up and he felt the threat of certain death. It had been a long time since Lex felt so weak in front of a threat, but whatever it was and wherever it wasing from, Lex was not capable of facing it head on. He saw a pair of lights, but instead of focusing on that Lex tried to escape. He tried to teleport or run or jump or do anything, but he couldn''t move. He was like a deer caught in headlights - frozen still. But if even Lex had been able to sense the oing threat, then Fahad and Noor detected it long before him. Noor grabbed both him and Sim and teleported them out of the way just in time to avoid getting hit by a massive truck. "It''s targeting the rancher!" Noor yelled towards Fahad, and actually tossed Lex to the side. "Stay out of the way and it won''t target you," she told Lex through her spirit sense. Lex crashed into a nearby wall, but finally out of the way of the headlight, Lex could once again move. He picked himself up just in time to catch a proper glimpse of the truck. Towering in front of Fahad was no ordinary truck¡ªit was a monstrous behemoth of twisted metal and dark malevolence. The truck''s body, a grotesque exaggeration of its original form, was an amalgamation of jagged steel and gleaming chrome, reflecting a distorted version of the surrounding world. Its headlights, glowing with an eerie yellow luminescence, pierced through the darkness like the malevolent eyes of a predator. Sharp, jagged fangs of steel jutted from its grill, giving the appearance of a monstrous maw ready to devour anything in its path. The tires, massive and spiked, crushed the ground beneath them with each slow, deliberate movement, leaving deep, w-like gouges in the earth. The truck''s cab loomed high, its windows dark and imprable, suggesting a sinister intelligence watching from within. Dark smoke billowed from the exhaust, carrying with it the acrid stench of death and decay. The engine roared like a beast, a deep, guttural growl that reverberated through the air. Rusted chains clinked ominously as they swung from its sides, and the remnants of past victims'' belongings were gruesomely disyed as macabre trophies. But the scariest thing of all was the small sticker stuck to the windshield of the truck. It simply read, ''Let''s get isekai''d!'' Lex had seen this truck before. How could he not have? When he was checking his own bounty posters, he went over the posters of all the criminals with bounties higher than him. Among the very top was a poster for this mass murdering vehicle of chaos and destruction. N?v(el)B\\jnn The worst part was it was immeasurably stronger than Lex. In front of it, he could put up no resistance whatsoever. Considering the fact that even Fahad and Noor were unable to stop it, it was clear that Lex stood no chance. Yet just as abruptly as the fight started, the fight ended. The had been under lockdown, with all its greatest forces on patrol. As soon as there were any fluctuations, they all came crashing down. A grizzly bear over twenty feet tall, radiating a powerful aura tore through the ceiling, followed by a hummingbird, a wolf and moose. Each of them were at least as powerful as Fahad, and each of them attacked the truck. Yet the attacks nevernded. The truck, after giving Sim onest evil look, disappeared, as if it was never there. The danger psed, but that didn''t stop more massive animals from bursting through the walls, though upon discovering that the threat was over, then began to morph back into the Druid forms. "How did it escape? I felt no spatial ripples." "Who knows. But is the threat finally over?," asked Noor. "ording to its history, after making one attempt on the victim, it leaves. If the victim manages to survive, then that''s their luck, though there have been very few survivors. But just because it has done that in the past doesn''t mean that it won''t change its ways." "Does that mean we can lift the lockdown?" "It will need confirmation¡­" The countless Druids, each and every one of them much more powerful than Lex, began to argue amongst each other about what to do, leaving Lex standing there feeling awkward. Sim, who looked thoroughly distraught, walked up to him, trembling. "They said that thing was waiting for me toe back. If I hadn''t¡­ if I hadn''te back with you, and there weren''t two Celestial immortals standing there to protect us, I would have died!" "You''re wee," said Lex. "I ept gratitude in the form of free feathers." The shivering, shocked Druid suddenly stopped shivering, and looked at Lex with ame expression. How could he just dismiss such a dangerous near-death experience so easily? Not to mention, he was still obsessed with the feathers. "Fine, fine, I''ll give them to you as soon as we return to my ranch, though I don''t know when that''ll be. Everyone here is arguing over whether to keep me under surveince for another two weeks or to just let me go." Lex looked at him, then the arguing Druids, then back at him. "I''m sorry to tell you this, but they''re not arguing because they''re worried about you. My best bet is that they''re just trying to leverage the situation to get the Henali to pay up for losses they experienced during this period. I could be wrong but-" Lex paused, as every other Druid in the room simultaneously turned to look at him. It seemed like he had hit the nail on the head. Fahad and Noor suddenly appeared in front of them. "If you''ll excuse me, we have a meeting with this friend of ours," Noor said with a polite smile. Everyone in the room grumbled, but even then, Lex felt no danger from them. It was much more like they were annoyed that Lex had spoiled their game. It couldn''t be helped. Lex had seen too much of how the various countries in the Midnight realm treated each other, and learned that all politics, whether between servants,panies or countries, was all the same. He supposed that extended to immortals too. Chapter 1150 King Chapter 1150 King Noor brought Lex and Sim away from the countless others, but as soon as they were far away her expression dimmed. "Do not assume that the danger is gone just because the killer was repelled once," she said, looking at the both of them. "The reason I suggested earlier that he might not make another attempt is because we do not think the killer will strike again when so many people are watching. We sincerely believe that the killer might strike again, but only when it''s least expected." Sim''s expression dimmed, though Lex was not surprised. Although he did not understand what someone like Truck-kun wanted with a random guy who was good at ranching, it only made sense that he would not be so easily dissuaded. "I am telling you this so that you are not caught unaware, but that does not mean you need to be worried. Now that you have been identified as the target, we will do everything to make sure that you remain safe. Dunya is not a where anyone can just do as they please." It was ironic that she was saying that, because Lex literally just had a wide lockdown lifted because he was in a rush to return. But he was smart enough to not mention that at the moment. "Does that mean we''re free to do as we please?" Lex asked. Even given the serious situation, he had his priorities straight. Sim rolled his eyes, and as soon as Noor gave him the go ahead, she herself vanished, leaving the two of them alone. Sim looked at Lex with mixed feelings, and then eventually sighed. "Let''s go. I''ll take you to get your feathers." Without any more conversation, Sim led Lex back to his ranch. The inside was not really visible from the outside due to very powerful formations, but even so Lex was surprised by what he saw. The countless ''kids'' who had previously answered the door when he knocked were actually extremely massive farm animals. There was nothing strange or mystical about them. They were straight up ordinary farm animals, just muchrger. For example, there was the sixty feet wide pig, the three hundred feet tall ostrich, the ny feet long sheep and so on. Yet despite their massive size, they behaved like little children in front of Sim, and swarmed around theparatively tiny Druid. Lex was honestly impressed the guy hadn''t been stomped to death yet. The sight of the Druid being called Papi by countless animals many times bigger than himself was also quiteical. But as they ventured deeper into the ranch, Lex spotted the ranch help. There were giants, because of course. The odd thing was that the animals were evenrger than the giants, as each giant''s height seemed to be capped at around a hundred feet. From what Lex knew about them, their height was directly linked to their strength, so maybe if their cultivation grew they''d finally be bigger than the animals they took care of. But more interesting than the sight of the giants were the goliaths. The goliaths were a very new race in the Origin realm, and from what Lex recalled their existence was closely tied to one of emperor Jotun''s sons. Goliaths wererger and taller than humans, but not quite to the level of giants. They had strong bodies, and their cultivation also revolved around body cultivation, so he supposed they made good ranchers and farmers, where a lot of physical activity was required. Some of the animals also gave off auras much stronger than Sim himself, such as a pair of otters of rtively normal size, being only 20 feet tall. Yet oddly enough, they too were quite subservient towards Sim, which was a dynamic he did not quite understand. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Finally they arrived at argeke filled with a green liquid that actually smelled quite enticing. This was actually something he had never encountered before, and he could feel that it would be beneficial for his body. But considering the fact that there were a few geese swimming in theke, Lex resisted the urge to take a sip. "Velvet Geese are very, very sensitive creatures. They cannot survive the slightest bit of pollution, and need an extremely pure ce to thrive," Sim spoke as he waved at a particrlyrge goose, and called it to shore. "They''re also quite weak themselves, while every single piece of their body is extremely nourishing for anyone who consumes it. Basically, this is a species that seems like it is designed to not survive at all. The only thing they have working towards them in the aspect of surviving on their own¡­ is their king. A Velvet Goose King is different from birth, and more than makes up for the weakness of its entire race. They can hold their own against countless mythical creatures in the same realm." As if confirming what Sim had just said, the goose that arrived upon Sim''s beckoning radiated a powerful aura that made Lex feel incredibly threatened. This was yet another creature much stronger than Sim, yet it obeyed the ranchers'' requests without hesitation. "Pulling a Velvet Goose King''s feather is not a straightforward task. If it''s time for the king to shed, then it bes easy. But doing so otherwise is a grave task, since the King is naturally prideful. The fact that it has King in its name should tell you that much." Now that he thought about it, this was the first time he saw a creature with King in its name. It sort of reminded him of Sovereigns, though King did not have the same sense of grandeur. Perhaps they were a weaker, moremon version of Sovereigns. "Normally I ask for quite a heavy price for each of these feathers, but since you''ve saved my life, albeit indirectly, I won''t ask you for a price. But I can, at most, give you two feathers." Lex shook his head. "Price is not an issue, but I need more feathers. See if the King likes this. It might be willing to exchange more of its feathers on its own if it does." Lex held out a ceramic bottle, blocked off with a cork. Unsure of what made Lex feel so confident, he reached for the bottle. Chapter 1151 Good news Chapter 1151 Good news While Lex teleported through Lover''s Ind, he had kept an eye out for anything valuable he might find. He had great expectations considering that it was a 4 star, and to an extent the lived up to his expectations. Every piece of dirt was precious, and every de of grass could be treated like a natural treasure for low leveled cultivators. A random pebble on the had more spirit energy than actual spirit stones from low levels. But for all its treasures, it fell short of actually enticing Lex. After all, no matter what he saw, he could find a better version back in the Midnight Realm. It was actually a little crazy to think about the fact that a realm which was limited to the Nascent realm had better quality treasures than a that could support very high level cultivators. But to be fair, the Midnight realm was constantly growing, and all these valuable things would eventually be distributed over a veryrge area. But for now, he could still benefit from it. That was another reason why it was so important to ensure his guests stay within the confines of the Inn. They''d strip the whole realm of all its treasures if they could. Regardless, he was getting sidetracked. Lex watched as Sim opened up the ceramic bottle and took a sniff, then froze. "Is this¡­ is this the sap of a Mythical tree?" he asked, shocked. "Maybe. See if the King likes it. If it does, I''m willing to trade for more feathers." The Heavenly tree back in the Midnight realm was thoroughly destroyed, in body and soul. Even its descendants had died, though that was a result of the tree''s own actions rather than Lex. But soon after the tree died, another, simr tree seemed to appear out of thin air, and began growing quickly. Although it was nowhere near the size of the original Heavenly tree, it grewrge enough for Lex to notice. But it was not a reincarnation of the Heavenly tree. In fact, this tree did not even have a spirit yet. But as far as Lex could tell, thews of the realm had developed around the existence of arge tree that controlled and regted the environment of the entire realm. In the absence of one, the realm gave birth to another one on its own. It was not exactly a mythical tree, but considering that it was being nurtured by thews of the realm, it may as well be. Sim offered the bottle to the King, who showed no great reaction. Lex was not disappointed. He was about to bring out something else, but the Velvet Goose King, in a very regal andposed manner, snatched the bottle from Sim and threw the whole thing in its mouth, leaving them both stunned. "It seems like it''s a deal," Lex said. "I''ll trade you one drop of sap for one feather. How does that sound?" That deal was entirely in Lex''s favor, since he could basically just get as much sap as he needed. But it was not like Sim knew that, nor did the goose. Negotiations did not take long, since the goose was very impatient for more sap. A few minutester, a bald, yet stillposed and entirely magnificent goose waddled back into the greenke, looking like it had done Lex a huge favor. "Pleasure doing business with you," Lex said to Sim, although truthfully, the experience had been more than just a little vexing for him. But he was focused on other things for now. N?v(el)B\\jnn Without any warning, he decided to return to the Midnight Inn, teleporting directly out of the that was still under lockdown, leaving Sim stunned. Once back at the Inn, Lex did not rush to return to Moon. Instead, he went to the study in his penthouse and sat there. "Mary, what''s the situation with the Temple of Fasting? Have they returned yet?" "Yes, they have, and there''s a bit of good news as well, though not as much as we hoped." A gleam shed through Lex''s eyes. "In that case, could you please call them here? Do let them know that this is for a private matter, and is not Inn rted." "Sure, though I doubt that''ll make a difference," she said. Just a few secondster, Z teleported into Lex''s study. The once skinny and frail teenager had now grown into a towering, muscr¡­ well, technically speaking he was still a teenager since he was around seventeen years old, whereas before he just looked like a teenager. Z was six feet six inches(1.9 meters), and had forearms thicker than most people''s thighs. Yet somehow, either due to his introverted nature or some other mystical reason, even with his great height and strong body, he did not look intimidating or overly powered. He still looked like someone you would find sitting in a gaming den, eating ramente at night and watching anime. The big brother of the Inn had truly grown big, and not just in height. After fifteen years, Lex was not the only one who had grown strong, and honed his cultivation. Most had reached the Nascent realm, and then further refined their cultivation. But Z, whether it was due to the special training he got at the Temple of Fasting, or the heritage he received, or due to his natural aptitude, had been on the verge of facing his tribtion to be an Earth immortal for a few years now. So naturally once the Inn reopened back up to the universe, Z and a few others went to the temple. Actually, Luthor, Gerard and Velma had gone there as well, but based on what Velma said they probably didn''t end up facing their tribtions yet. "Congrattions on bing an Earth Immortal," Lex said with a soft smile. "I guess I should give you a promotion in the Gamer''s Den." Z''s expression froze. It seemed like no matter how far he got in life, he could not escape the reach of his boss. Chapter 1152 Kindling dragonfire Chapter 1152 Kindling dragonfire Z froze, and Lex kept smiling at him. For a few moments they maintained this state, until eventually Lex chuckled. "Ah I guess you''re going to be too busy to be working at the Gamer''s Den from now on, huh? Maybe I should start looking for a recement." For a moment, Z narrowed his eyes and looked at Lex. "Since we''re all working for the Inn, shouldn''t the person with the higher cultivation be running the shop?" he asked, feeling Lex''s cultivation level. Technically speaking, Z was the first original Inn employee to be an Immortal. Anita and Qawain didn''t count. "Oh, you''re right!" Lex eximed, agreeing too quickly. "But I think your statement should be amended a bit. It''s not the person with the highest cultivation level, but the strongest person who should be the boss. So, what do you say? Shall we have a small spar while we wait for the others? Winner gets to be the boss of the Gamer''s Den." Z quickly looked down at the floor while taking a seat. Only a maniac would fight Lex. Z was now much stronger than he used to be, and with his ts now allowing him to perceive thews of the world, he could sense just how ridiculously strong Lex was. Instead of binding him and chaining him down, likews did with literally everything in existence, thews bent around Lex, as if his existence put a physical burden on something as abstract as thews that governed reality. What''s worse was that Z knew Lex was in this state because one of his seals was probably broken. Only when all of his seals were in ce would he return to appearing like a normal human being. Of course, there was one more reason Z did not even remotely entertain the idea of trying to fight Lex. "There''s a matter I want to consult you on," Z said. Over the past few years, Z had been very popr at the Inn. He had always had a helpful personality and liked being of service to his coworkers as much as he could. It was one of the reasons why he was called the big brother of the Inn. But when Z himself needed help, he usually turned to Lex, who had proved himself not only exceptionally powerful, but very knowledgeable. "Go ahead. We have some time before the others arrive, so if you have any problems adjusting to your new realm feel free to ask." "It''s not my new realm that''s causing an issue, it''s something else. You know that at the Temple of Fasting I epted someone''s heritage, right?" "Yes, it''s been mentioned once or twice." "Well, once I became an immortal, I awoke some of his memories and learned more about him. His name was Zarek, and he was the eleventh human ever to exist in this universe. He was a warrior king who conquered an entire realm in the early years of the universe." "Sounds impressive,"mented Lex. "He does seem like it. But there''s an issue. The memories did note from the heritage, because the heritage waspiled by his descendants after he already died. The memories¡­ they came from my blood." That¡­ caused Lex to pause. This was something he had not expected. But it was not necessarily an issue. So then, why did Z seem troubled? "I don''t see the problem. If you awakened his memories, then chances are high that he might be one of your ancestors. That seems like a good thing, don''t you think?" "Yes but¡­ I have no parents, no ancestry," Z said, looking troubled. This statement also troubled Lex, because this was the first time one of the Inn workers who had been created by the system directly acknowledged the fact that they were not exactly of typical origin. It was almost as if there had been some kind of mental block keeping them from considering such things so far, but bing an immortal allowed them to ovee that block. Or at least that was the case for Z. Whether this situation urred again would need to be observed with the other workers. "Is your ambiguous origin causing you distress?" Lex asked. If this was going to be a problem, it would be best to address it directly. Considering that he had hundreds of thousands of workers,ing up with a lie wouldplicate issues, so it would be best to stick to the truth. The Innkeeper had brought them to life to run the Inn. Not only was it the truth, but it was the premise upon which they had lived their entire lives so far. "What? No, not that," said Z. "I know that the Innkeeper gave me life. How that came to be is not the issue. The issue is that Zarek, based on the few memories I saw, was not exactly the kind of guy to just roll over and die. I''m worried that these awakening memories might be some method Zarek put into ce toe back to life¡­ through me! By taking over my body and soul." It seemed like they were covering all the big questions today, such as where babies, or rather Inn workers, came from, and what happened after death. Truthfully, death was actually a topic Lex had looked into as well, for he wanted to know what the consensus for life after death was among cultivators. It turned out that there really was heaven and hell, though that is not where people went to after they died. To enter heaven or hell, the person needed to be very much alive. As for what happens after death, there was no one consensus. Strictly speaking, death was the dissolution of the soul, so how could there be life after the soul ceased to exist? If Lex hadn''t spent the past few years getting used to the fact that the rules of the universe were not as straightforward as he always believed, he too would have thought that after the soul stopped existing, there could be nothing. Now, though, he wasn''t too sure. For example, ghosts really did exist, and they sometimes did look like people who used to live. But that was only because ghosts were formed from the leftovers of countless souls merging together. Technically speaking, wasn''t that a form of life after death? "Can you block the memories?" Lex asked. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "Yeah, it''s pretty easy. But it requires me to consciously block them, otherwise as my cultivation grows, they will keep on being unlocked." "That''s not a problem," Lex said simply. "You don''t need to worry about Zarek, or anyone else, recing you. However I will caution you against viewing the memories. You yourself have only lived a few years. If you end up absorbing memories that span hundreds or even thousands of years, then there''s a huge chance that you''ll be heavily influenced by them and forget who you are. Take things slowly, and if you do ever want to unlock the memories, do it under supervision. After all, as a warrior king, I''m sure Zarek had a lot of unique experiences which could be beneficial for you to learn about. But only once you''ve grown up a bit." Z nodded, and put the thought behind him. As long as the Innkeeper knew about this issue, nothing would happen. But more than that, Z had a feeling that even if a problem arose, just simply Lex would be enough to handle any issue. This new instinct was something he unlocked after he became an immortal, and even learned a bit about it. Apparently, instincts were like a hidden sixth sense that the human race had. All humans had them, but they needed to be trained to be effective. ording to some of the memories he unlocked, Zarek''s instincts were so strong that he could prevent his greatest enemies from ever even being born by anticipating who they would be born from. Z had learned a few other interesting things from those memories as well, but the most significant thing he learned was how to judge the danger someone represented. That was exactly why he knew that although Lex, sitting in front of him, seemed just as amicable and calm as always, he was dangerously furious underneath. Z sighed. It seemed like some people were going to die. Just as he had that thought, the remaining three people they were waiting for finally arrived. Gerard, Velma and Luthor walked in, seemingly in a good mood. Gerard and Velma were chatting amongst themselves, and Luthor was also about to make some small talk, but when he looked towards Lex he sensed that something was amiss. Luthor, who had thoroughly mastered the unique control his physique allowed over mes, could sense a fire burning inside of Lex, and it felt an awful lot like dragonfire. "Sorry for keeping you waiting," Luthor said loudly, cutting the conversation between Gerard and Velma. "It''s no trouble. I didn''t wait long," said Lex with a smile. "Since you''re all here, I''ll get right to the point. For the past few years, you''ve all been training your houses in their respective specializations. I have a small problem, and I think this could be the perfect opportunity to test out the houses of Midnight." Chapter 1153 Every single one Chapter 1153 Every single one The houses of Midnight started out as an idea that Z had. When Harry changed hisst name to Midnight, Z got the idea to take up ast name all the workers could take up, since not everyone might feel like they could do justice to such a name. So he took on the name Starcloak. The name was meant to represent the vast, night sky that could epass countless stars, and was therefore meant for the masses to follow along. To a small degree, that is what happened. Butrgely, all the Inn workers who had strange abilities which could not be categorized easily joined this family. One ster example of this family was that guy whose ability it was to be forgotten. Although no one knew his first name, at least now they knew hisst name. There was also Alfonso, who had weird powers that would change all the time, save for the ability to always have food in his pocket. Countless others had joined the Starcloak family, and took pride in how odd, or versatile depending on who you asked, their abilities were. Inspired by Z, Gerard also founded a family by the name of Umbraguard. They were the protectors of the Inn, the fighters, the warriors, the soldiers. Naturally, most of the security team and the Midnight Battalion joined this family. Velma decided that none of those suited her, so she formed the Nyxheart family. It was supposed to be filled with romantics and gossip lovers, but it grew into something so much more. The most secretive, detailed and expansive informationwork was effortlessly conjured up by the Nyxheart family, able to dig out even the deepest of secrets that no one wished to share. During thest fifteen years, Lex had even tested this out by having them try to gather information from the various countries on Menara, and boy were they good. Last but not least was Luthor, who formed the Nightshade family. This was the smallest family, but it was also the most lethal, even more than the Umbragard. The Nightshade family was not protectors, but killers. They were assassins, they were conspirators, they were the ones who would face the enemies of the Inn and eliminate them. Their numbers were small, but that did not make them any less significant than the other houses. In fact, even John had decided to join the Nightshade house. Although he had left his assassin days behind him, his instincts were very much honed in on the profession, and the guidance he provided was without equal. Now, for the first time, Lex wanted to use the houses as they were intended when they were made. He''d had many days to think, and hade to a few conclusions. Moon had said that her protection was specifically created by their grandfather, so its failure could also be attributed to him. His action of tying Moon up to the, of experimenting on her for years, of drawing blood and tissue samples, and lord only knew what else, did not seem as straightforward as he made them seem. Maybe Moon believed what he had to say because she had limited experiences, or maybe she believed him because she literally had no other choice. But Lex saw something more. He saw the intricacies behind each action that perhaps even Moon herself did not notice. When his grandfather saw that two of his grandchildren, namely Be and Liz, both had unique physiques, did he really not have any ulterior motives? The man who was easily able to take kids away from their parents really showed no other intentions towards his son and daughter-inw, who were not only weaker than him, but had also given birth to two kids with physiques. N?v(el)B\\jnn Since his own father apparently had a special physique, his grandfather should have known how difficult it was for one to ur naturally. Then, on top of that, when he got his hands on Moon, who was the most special of them all, he still didn''t target his son and daughter-inw? Even assuming that his dad was capable of unleashing a very powerful attack,since he''d lost all his cultivation, how powerful could it be? Then there were his parents. They just had children with special physiques and decided to keep on having them until trouble came? Instead of letting the kids be born, and then hiding them the way they did with Lex, until they were strong enough¡­ why couldn''t they wait to have kids until they were strong enough to protect them in the first ce? Even stupid people knew about using protection to avoid having unwanted children, so his parents who were cultivators and were capable of achieving something no one else could, somehowcked this bit ofmon sense? No, there was much more to this story than it appeared, and Lex would get to the bottom of it. Lex looked at everyone in the room, then began his exnation. "Someone targeted my little sister, kidnapping her and then using her for their personal experiments," Lex said, skipping over the meat of the story. "Although I have now resuced my sister, she is far from safe. In fact, she can''t evene to the Inn yet. There are still a few things I need to do before I can safely bring her to the Inn, but while I do that, I need a bit of your help. "I want to find the man responsible. But more importantly, I want to find everyone involved in this. Whether they were simple employees working for him, or some organization backing him from the shadows. I want to find them all." Recalling the immortals that hade and surrounded Yildrim, Lex did not think his grandfather''s background was as simple as he made it out to be. "When I go to mete out the punishment for this, I want every single person involved to feel it. Every single one." Silence filled the room after Lex spoke, as everyone absorbed the information Lex had just given. Chapter 1154 He is goading me Chapter 1154 He is goading me Velma cleared her throat, finally breaking the silence, before she asked a question. "What can you tell me about this person? And anyone he might be working with. The more we know, the easier it''ll be to find out exactly who or what we''re looking for." Lex smiled. "The man is my grandfather. His name, I believe, is Damien. I have some information, but I am about to get more in a short while. If you have any questions, think of them now. It''ll help me find out exactly what I need to ask. In the meantime, let me give you the little information I have, and some of my own theories." Lex did not particrly want the details of his life being spread around, but in a matter directly rted to his life it would be hard to avoid details. Even so, Lex stuck to the basics. He mentioned how his sister was taken away at a young age, kept away from everyone, and bonded to a to keep her trapped there, surviving only due to her unique ability that Lex strongly suspected his grandfather was coveting. He then mentioned the numerous assassins Moon faced, and how Lex suspected that they also worked for or with his grandfather. At this point, it was not just Lex who was angry. Every single person in the room was fuming. To say that over the past fifteen years they had not be close would be a lie. Although they had managed to avoid any major conflicts, spending time together in peace was also a good way to get to know a person, especially since they had seen what he was like in a pinch. More than once had Lex faced danger head on for them. Now, to learn that this entire time he had a sister who had been suffering¡­ If it were up to Velma, they would have all left immediately. But they didn''t. There was a reason why Lex called them even before he got all the details he wanted. It was so that they could summon their family members and begin nning out how they would deploy them. While they made these preparations, Lex would have a meeting with William. Thest time Lex met him, William had tried to bring up the topic of his family. The fact that he had tried was the only reason Lex was even willing to meet with him again. William had imed that he had some misunderstanding with his family, but at that time Lex had been too bitter and too angry to listen. Now though, things were different. He also wanted to know howplicit William had been during this entire process of kidnapping his siblings, though he highly suspected that this ancestor of his had no information of it when it was happening. He also wanted to learn about Liz and Belle. Moon did not know much, but William probably would. Lex had actually requested a meeting days ago, long before he even went to Dunya. But William had been busy. It was only now that he had sent word that he would be able toe. Considering their original agreement for Lex to help a few of their people undergo enhancements, and thetest happenings, there was much for them to talk about. A few hourster, William finally arrived, though this time he was alone. Not only had Jotun not shown up, but William also looked pale, and as if he was recovering from some injury. Much more importantly, he wore an expression that told Lex the man was in his Flow state. He knew it all too well. "I take it you have cleared up some of the issues between you and your siblings," William said, his tonepletely neutral. Now that Lex had aged a bit, their appearances resembled a lot, though Lex did notice that this time around, as his body grew, his features were slightly different. "That''s one way of putting it," said Lex. "I thought I was the one being kept in the dark, but as it turns out, my siblings were no better than I." "Not just you and your siblings," William said, and then exited his Flow state. His exhaustion was a lot more apparent without it, which might have been the point. "I have something to show you. Why don''t we have our discussion after you see it. I take it that you''re more amenable to listening to me this time around." "Well, I''m definitely listening, though whates after this is unknown." William nodded, and ced a small ck bead on the table in front of Lex. The ck bead began to glow, and then projected a scene midair in front of Lex. Lex could see a hint of a resemnce between himself and the man in the image. "Damien," he said in a low tone, his voice filled with controlled emotion. "Indeed. This is not a message or recording. This is a yback of a real interaction Damien had that Jotun was able to pull out of thin air using Time reversal, a technique that allows him to view the events that happened in an area in the past." Lex nodded, and yed the projection. Damien seemed upset at something, and then a monster appeared in front of him, out of nowhere. At first he did not react, but as they continued to have their conversation, Lex realized that this must have happened only a few days ago. In fact, it must have happened exactly on the day he rescued Moon. He thought nothing of the name Jeffery, right up until Damien mentioned rescuing the monster from Earth, and then things began to click in his mind. Was Earth a political prison, or a convenient way for Damien to hide secrets? Jeffery was the man who had orchestrated many wars and conflicts on earth, just for his entertainment, and what he had been doing since his departure from earth had not gone unnoticed. He was near the very top on the list of wanted beings in the Origin realm, and why wouldn''t he be? As the foremost terrorist in the entire realm, targeting the entire realm itself, he was an enemy of the entire Henali, and it seemed that he was one of his grandfather''s partners. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om The scene ended right after Damien gave Jeffery permission to hunt down his family, and disappeared through a portal, but Lex kept gazing at the ce where the projection ended. "It was not just you and your family he had been tricking. It was all of us. The damage he''s done since leaving¡­ he almost single handedly destroyed the entire Williams family, and that''s nothingpared to the damage he''s done to the Jotun empire." "He meant for you to find this," Lex said simply. "You''re acting like a pawn in his hands. He wanted this found, and the reason he specifically mentioned me is because he anticipated you''d show it to me. He''s goading me." William seemed surprised at Lex''s deduction, but Lex did not seem goaded, or angered, or even irritated. He seemed perfectly calm. Lex finally looked away from the projection, and towards William. "What can you tell me about my other sisters?" he asked. Lex''s mind waspletely still. The more dire the situation was, the morefortable he was. He was all too used to thriving in chaos, so by now, he no longer let his anger cloud his judgment. His priorities were straight. First he would rescue his sisters, and then he would kill. Chapter 1155 Anger issues Chapter 1155 Anger issues "The situation regarding your other sisters¡­ is not ideal, but it is nowhere near as bad as it is for Moon," William said as he rubbed his head. Lex could easily see that the man was not in good shape at all. He was most likely recovering from injuries, and was suffering some kind of spirit energy exhaustion at that. Considering he was an immortal, the Inn itself should not have any service that can help him. Having said that, there was always¡­ Lex waved his hand, and a cup of Midnight Signature brew appeared in front of William. This coffee could be strengthened using MP, and since Lex spent ten million MP on it, it should somewhat be effective. The coffee did not do much. It just helped clear the mind and reduce fatigue for about an hour. But as soon as William took a sip his eyes widened. It seemed he liked it. "I''m listening," Lex said, to remind him that he was waiting. Somewhere in his heart, he still disliked William just because they were technically family. The old man hadn''t done anything, but something about him just ticked Lex off. "Belle''s situation was the simplest. She gained a unique bloodline somehow, and has since been trained as a warrior. She fought on behalf of the William family for years, and then directly began working for the Jotun empire. There was a small incident where she was kidnapped for a short while, but she was returned and even benefited greatly from it. "Previously she was participating in the war efforts against the Fiery Mammoths, but since the¡­ incident with Damien, and with the disappearance of Yildrim, she''s been too hot headed to obey orders. She has forcibly imed the position of family head, and rescued many of the remnants of the William family. N?v(el)B\\jnn "For years she''s been trying to be the head of the William family. Now she''s be it but¡­ well, she clearly has anger issues and the situation is not settling well with her." Anger issues. Belle always had anger issues, and she was kind of mean just besides as well. But Lex knew her anger derived from the fact that she was very protective of her siblings. Lex suddenly gained new insight into her personality. He could imagine her as a little girl, seeing her parents being suppressed by her grandfather. Who knew what kind of drivel she had been fed when Damien took her away for training. If she was obsessed with trying to be the family head, maybe it was because as a child she thought that if she could im that position, she could finally save her family. She could then finally reduce the pressure on her parents. Then, as her siblings were born, and she saw how they were being treated, Lex blind of the truth, Liz undergoing god knows what, how could she not be angry? It made sense. If the one thing she cared about most was keeping her family safe, but she constantly knew that they were not safe, and were being subject to oppression just for being weak, it would be natural for her to be angry. It would be natural for her to fight. Maybe, in her mind, if she were strong enough, then all the suffering would stop. But she had never been strong enough. Lex could not even imagine what she must have gone through when Moon was taken and bound to a. Compared to his parents, who seemed to have no real reaction, her unceasing anger and unrelenting drive to nt her fist into anything with a face was a lot more indicative of how badly she took it. Imagine wanting to be the leader of the family responsible for everything bad that happened in her life. He could not, honestly. He also could not imagine how she must have been feeling. "As soon as I received word that Yildrim was with you, and so was Moon, I sent her word as well. She has not responded yet. If you want to meet her, I can have it arranged." "You can just tell me where she is. I can find her myself when I need to," Lex said calmly, not letting any of his emotions show. Truthfully speaking, he did not think he could have gotten any angrier after learning what happened to Moon. He was wrong. Although he was drawing a lot of assumptions about Belle''s experiences, the truth seemed to be in front of him. But before he met Belle, or Liz, there was something he needed to do. Since they had spent a lot of time with Damien, supposedly, he needed to make sure they weren''t brainwashed or being manipted in some way. But these were not things he would share with William, or anyone else. "Well, for what it''s worth, Belle mayck in other things, but she was an absolutebat genius. That,bined with her Angelic bloodline, has attracted a lot of attention. She has been invited to Ventura Prime as a student, though she has been holding off joining for unknown reasons." "And what about Liz?" "Liz¡­ young Elizabeth¡­" William sighed as he thought about her. "She has not gone through any extraordinary difficulty. Or, depending on who you ask, her life has been absolutely chaotic. She has a level of affinity for a cultivation path that had been thought only to be only a legend. A 100% affinity for the Beast Master path is literally unprecedented. When I heard about it, I thought that Damien would have found her an amazing Beast to tame, and helped her cultivate. Instead, he went for another route. "Liz went through a lot of training, learning about cultivation, survival, alchemy, formations, arrays, and many more subjects. But the goal was never to turn her into a good cultivator. The goal was to turn her into the ideal wife. For many years, she had been facing numerous wedding proposals that Damien kept on standby - not only because they were not good enough, but also because he wanted your parents to get on board with this n. At least, that''s what he imed at the time." Chapter 1156 Sand in the wind Chapter 1156 Sand in the wind Lex had thought he knew what to expect. He had considered many insidious evils that Damien could enact on his sisters. But of all of them, setting Liz up for marriage¡­ was not what he had expected. "He wanted to see if she could pass on the affinity," Lex said, urately guessing his reasoning, or at least his excuse. "Yes. For that he was very particr about wanting to find the right match. But at the same time, he really wanted your parents to approve of the marriage as well. The excuse he gave was that he was trying to rebuild bridges and mend their rtionship. More realistically speaking, he probably wanted your mothers expertise in ensuring that the offsprings would be geniuses as well." It''s good to know that his grandfather was quite dutiful in ticking off all the boxes in being just an all round scummy guy. Of his sisters, Liz was the most introverted. He supposed constantly getting wedding proposals would make any person antisocial. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "But besides receiving various proposals from numerous powerful forces, Liz was rtively unbothered. She continued to receive her sses, but for whatever reason, she never actually ended up taming a Beast. The reason for that is unknown as of now, because a few years ago Liz ran away from home. "At first everyone thought it was just a temper tantrum on her part, until they realized that no one could actually trace her. She had somehow gotten her hands on a piece of treasure that would hide her from any kind of tracking, and then she had run away. To this date, she has never been found. Besides confirming that she is alive, I can provide you with no other information." So Belle was lording over the remnants of the Williams family, and Liz was on the run from wedding proposals. He really didn''t want to ask this question, but whenever he avoided things it ended up biting him in the butt, so he asked anyway. "Where are my parents in all this?" "I don''t know," William said, shrugging. "A few years ago, they showed up and threatened Damien to stay away from you once he learned about you, and then disappeared. I recently tried searching for them, after the Yildrim incident, but the feedback I got was that they might not be in the Origin realm, so I couldn''t really track them." "Very well. In that case, I''d ask you topile a file and share any piece of information you have about Damien at all. Also, if you know anything about the Celestial''s club, I''d love to hear about it. In exchange, we can begin our cooperation. You can bring up to ten people, and I will upgrade their bodies for you. I hope you remember that, as per our deal, they cannot know where this upgrade is taking ce, or who is the one doing it." William had the urge to ask Lex what his ns regarding Damien were, but he resisted. Compared to theirst two meetings, where Lex was entirely emotional and willful, this time he was a lot moreposed and clear headed. That made him seem much more dangerous somehow. "Celestial''s club I can tell you about right now. It''s an exclusive club, and to be a member one must be a Celestial Immortal. Jotun is a member. Despite its exclusivity and prestige, the club is actually quite loose. It holds no great influence, and ys no significant role in realm politics. It is, however, a good ce forworking. "The essence of the club is that, in the way otherspare their cars and spaceships, its memberspares. Each member selects a, and not only do they nurture an extraordinary environment on it, making it into a paradise, they use the whole as their vehicle. So basically, it''s just a ce for members to get together and show off their oversized rides." Lex expected something along those lines, so he wasn''t surprised. If anyone had a spatial item that could carry a, then the Celestials club would. Even if they didn''t, they sure had items that could speed up or boost the connection between a person and a. It seemed like he needed to go back to the emporium and amend his request. "Alright, when will you be bringing in the batch?" Lex asked. The remainder of their meeting was short and straightforward. William had all ten candidates ready, who had been numbed and blindfolded. They could not even use their spirit sense. They basically didn''t even know that they had arrived at the Inn. Lex then proceeded to upgrade their bodies and qualifications. Using his physique was far from simple, and Lex had not mastered itpletely. But that was fine. The important part was to make it seem incredibly difficult to use, which it was. One by one, Lex touched the candidates on their foreheads, activating his physique. The process was both long and draining on Lex''s energy levels, but he eventuallypleted it. He looked drained, but that was mostly theatrics to drive up the bargain. It was not like he was going to go around announcing that he had secretly elevated the qualifications of every single Inn worker in thest few years. Then people would never stop bugging him. Once that was over, William handed over a file containing all the information he had on Damien to Lex, who not only perused it himself, but sent it to Gerard, Velma, Luthor and Z. Each of them read the files, gathered the information they needed, and began their n. The Midnight Inn was no longer looking just for Damien. They were also looking for Jeffery, and the entire terrorist organization behind them. One by one, countless members of the Inn disappeared from the realm, appearing in variouss across the Origin realm. Some appeared ins that were connected to the Inn, while arge number of them exited from the Midnight tavern while seeming like regr patrons. They dispersed like grains of sand carried by the wind, and for the first time ever, the Midnight Inn actively extended its influence outside of its own borders. Lex, however, teleported back to Moon, and Z joined him. That was a mistake he almost immediately regretted. Chapter 1157 Cute name Chapter 1157 Cute name When Lex returned, he was relieved to see that Moon was awake. Harry and nurse Jubtion were keeping herpany as they chatted and¡­ He froze. Why were they watching Lover''s Ind? He recognized the on the projection immediately, not to mention that they were following Thaliel who seemed to be making her way out of a maze of giant mushrooms. Lex coughed to clear his throat. "I''m back. Harry, I got the feathers you needed." The trio turned to look towards him and Lex could immediately tell, based on those schadenfreude expressions that they had probably seen everything. That was fine. Lex had experience with such things. As long as he pretended to just not be embarrassed, they couldn''t do anything. Wait a minute¡­ Harry and Jubtion were looking at him, suppressing their giggles, but Moon''s gaze was locked slightly to his right. Lex turned and saw that oversized teenager standing right next to him, using his typical neutral expression to hide the fact that he was actually shy. "Oh, this is my friend, Z. He''s here to help me out with some stuff." Lex didn''t want to go into the details of how Z was going to scour the, searching for any hidden formations, trackers, spies, or anything of the sort that might have been left behind by Damien. Of course, he wasn''t going to do it himself. He would direct those from the Starcloak family to do it. "Oh Z, that''s a cute name. Is it short for something?" Time slowed down for Lex as he saw Moon tuck her hair behind her ear and sh a smile at Z. Cute? CUTE? Lex''s titanium will kept his jaw from dropping, but that did not mean he was not shocked! Moon was his little sister. She was¡­ was like a baby, though technically she was in her early 20s now. But¡­ but¡­ "Moon, you''re older than Z," Lex said to her using his spirit sense. "He''s a child. You''re both children. Calm down." Moon looked down from Z at Lex. She didn''t say anything, but the way she had been looking up at Z, and then had to turn her face to look down at Lex felt like an arrow shot through his heart. "It''s not really short for anything," Z said with a warm smile. "It''s nice to meet you, Moon. Don''t mind me. I''m just here to make sure your is safe while everyone else does their own thing. I''ll head out soon." "How can you head out when you just got here?" she asked, suddenly standing up from her chair. "I''ll tell you what. Since you want to look at my, let me give you a tour. I''ve spent a lot of time fixing up the ce. Let me just go get changed." Moon didn''t give Z an opportunity to refuse before running off, though she pulled the nurse along with her for reasons Lex couldn''t fathom. "I have pictures of your harem on Lover''s Ind," Moon said to Lex through her spirit sense. "Every single one of them were hundreds of years older than you." Lex''s lip twitched. Was she trying to ckmail him into not saying anything? Since when has she been like this? Given that Lex hadn''t seen her for thest few years, which were probably the years she might have started developing an interest in boys. Lex red at Z, but the teenager was absolutely clueless about what was happening, and just stood there waiting with his hands in his pockets. Lex sighed. Z was kind of hopeless in such matters. He''d had a crush on Sandra, the Inn worker who had electricity powers, for years but nothing ever became of it. Sandra had a preference for more wild and energetic guys, and while Z definitely had that side to him, he was mostly that quiet guy who just made sure everyone he cared for was happy and taken care of. When Sandra finally rejected him he had a dark, depressed phase, whichsted all of two weeks. Lex shook his head and then looked towards Harry. "How''s her treatment going? I got a lot of feathers so that should help, right?" "It''s going well. I found out why she was sleeping so much by the way. The food you fed her went a long way to restoring her physical health. She just needed to sleep more topletely absorb it. Not only is she more energetic because of it now, I believe continuously maintaining such a diet can help her speed up her fusion process. I think you literally just gave her physique the energy to function, and that is taking care of the rest." Lex felt relieved, and was about toment on how they could ensure her diet was excellent, when Moon reappeared. She was wearing a pure white sundress with floral patterns on it, looking quite adorable. And was she¡­ wearing lip gloss? Lex was about to say something when he felt the temperature in the room change. It was very mild, and others might not have been able to feel the temperature rise so lightly, but he noticed the abnormality. Moreover, he could hear the breeze pick up speed outside the pce. Was Moon''s mood affecting the? Before he coulde to a conclusion, Moon already began to lead Z away. "So you want to see my? I don''t mean to brag, I''m kind of considered a saintess here. Let me show this small town nearby. I had the residents train the squirrels to properly garden. It''s a lovely sight." "No, I, uh¡­ I just need to check the for any dangerous elements." "Oh then I should definitely keep youpany. If there''s something dangerous on my then I should definitely know about it." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Without so much as having a single proper exchange with him, his little sister just left. Was it not long ago that she was continuously just poking his face because she couldn''t believe he was here. Now she couldn''t even be bothered to acknowledge his existence. He turned to look at Harry and the nurse, but the two just shrugged. Chapter 1158 Proposition Chapter 1158 Proposition The reason Lex brought Z to the was because he was genuinely going to be very busy from now on. Between finding a cure or remedy to Moon''s situation, meeting Belle, finding Liz, as well as coordinating theplete and total destruction of his grandfather''s entire organization, he was not going to be avable. Not only did he want to ensure her security, but he didn''t want Moon to be alone anymore. He was nning on slowly introducing her to people from the Inn so she got ustomed to them, so that eventually when she went to the Inn she wouldn''t feel strange. Now, however, he was beginning to doubt his n. Harry cleared his throat, attracting Lex''s attention. "It''s really not my ce to say this, but I think you should let them be. They''re kids, and from what I can tell, it''s been a long time since Moon had the opportunity to act like a kid, so¡­" Lex''s lip twitched. Harry hade a long way from being a barber for some rich kids in New York. Look at him, giving advice about ''kids'' to Lex. To think, Lex had brought him on because he just gave a nice haircut. "If you need anything else for her treatment, let me know. I''ll check in from time to time, but if there''s a rush you can just return to the Inn and let Mary know. She''ll send me word." Harry nodded. Lex hesitated once more. He wanted to go check up on Moon once more, but Z was a responsible kid. They''d be fine, right? It was not like a summer dress was all it would take topletely distract him. With a troubled expression, Lex teleported away. He knew he should have brought Velma here instead. But Velma was busy, just like all the others. Lex teleported to the emporium, ready to find out more about the Celestials club. Meanwhile, Gerard had, for the first time, ventured out into the Origin realm, though he was not alone. A couple of members of Umbragard followed him, though they would be splitting off soon. They teleported first to Tiya, the neutral ruled by elves from where Lex found Kenta. Since it was a trade, it had teleportation facilities that led to various other ces as well. Moreover, considering the neutral nature of the, some of the ces it was connected to were quite¡­ unique. Gerard, as if he had done this a million times, walked into the teleportation facility and bought three tickets to a not so friendly ce. When they reappeared, they found themselves in arge, technologically advanced city, though it had a certain metallic stench to it. Gerard immediately attracted attention, for while everyone else was covered in tattoos, or wore extremely loose clothing, or had some kind of cybeic advancements to their body, he looked remarkably clean and tidy. To be honest, in his fitted suit and the fade that Harry had recently given him, Gerard did not look like a butler or worker at an Inn, but rather like a corporate boss, and in such a ce, they tended to be more dangerous than the regr folk. The confidence with which Gerard carried himself, walking through the cyberpunk city as if he knew it like the back of his hand, seemed to project that image even more. But everyone still kept their eyes on him, not that he cared. He soon found himself in amon bar, and walked up to a staircase that was being blocked by a bouncer. One look at Gerard was all he needed to step aside. The trio nodded at the bouncer before moving up. They knew what it was like working with guests all day. It could be exhausting. N?v(el)B\\jnn After climbing the stairs Gerard directly walked up to a closed door and knocked. There were many private rooms up here, and many private booths as well, and there should have been no way to know who upied which from the outside, yet the old man seemed to know exactly who he was looking for. The door cracked open, revealing only darkness. None of the inhabitants were visible. "We didn''t order anything," a rough voice barked from inside. "My name is Gerard," he said politely. "I am here for Booty." "What?" a shocked voice asked from inside. "I am here to meet Vice-captain Booty of the Iron pirates," Gerard repeated himself. "Please let him know Gerard from the Midnight Inn is here to see him. He will want to see me." The door mmed shut, but only a few secondster opened up again. An entire gang of wary pirates, holding all sorts of weapons were revealed. "How did you know we''re here?" someone asked, but Gerard didn''t bother responding. He just stepped into the room. His abrupt behavior startled the pirates, and they began yelling, and preparing to fight. But that''s what the two followers were for. Shouting and screaming sounded behind him, but Gerard kept an even pace as he walked to the back, where at a table he finally saw Booty, sitting aside an enchanting woman. "Vice-captain Booty, we meet again," Gerard said with a warm smile, as if he was looking at an old friend. "And you must be Lady Vrie, the true Captain of the Iron heart pirates. It is a pleasure to meet you." Booty was startled, but Vrie smiled with intrigue. "The pleasure is mine. It''s not everyday I get such a handsome gentleman caller. I must say, whatever this is, I am quite interested to see where it is headed." "I wish, Lady Vrie, that this was a social visit, but Ie with a task, so the only ce this is headed is towards business. I am in need of your unique services. It''s not everyone who can run a human pirate crew as a devil." Booty suddenly frowned, and began looking behind Gerard to see if there was anyone elseing. The fact that the Iron Heart pirates were run by a devil was supposed to be a huge secret. It was not like pirates cared about things like politics between races, but the hatred between humans and devils ran deep. Considering the fact that devils used humans to farm demons, they were not fondly looked upon by other humans. If word got out, then the Iron Heart pirates would lose many of their connections among their own kind, and be targeted by many. "My my, such a forward man. If I didn''t smell the mark of another devil all over you, I''d think you were flirting with me." Without invitation, Gerard pulled himself a seat and sat down with them. "I have a proposition for you," he said calmly. The two other guards who had followed him suddenly appeared at the door and closed it, remaining outside to ensure no one disturbed them. Chapter 1159 An offer I Chapter 1159 An offer I While Gerard negotiated a deal with the pirates through guests who had visited the Inn before, Velma was off on a small quest of her own. She started off on Vegus Minima, which had flourished over the past few years. It was practically unrecognizable, and the newer generations knew nothing of the zombie apocalypse that had devastated the for hundreds of years as a simple story from the history books. The most important thing, however, was that since the was far from the main Jotun empire systems and bases to begin with, it had benefited from the investment and guidance of the empire, but when the empire was struck by trouble, it was spared. Due to various political realities, and the distance this from any of the nearest war zones, it had effectively been spared from even needing to participate in the war. With reduced oversight, the governor of the had essentially be a king, though even now he dared not im that title. After oveing his Earth immortal tribtion, now as an immortal, not only was he leading the to thrive, but his family was also thriving. Velma felt a mild urge to go find La, that little girl who used to y back at the Inn with Jimmy and the rest. But Velma had other priorities at the moment. Cirk, the first designated pilot of the Inn, escorted her to one of the terminals where he summoned the Silent Night, and waited for her to board. From there they took off, shooting towards one of the uninhabiteds in the star system. Calling it uninhabited was a stretch, since alls that could not sustain life were being used to source rare and valuable minerals, ores and spirit stones to the three Veguss. With that in mind, there was technically a colony on all thes in this system, but that had nothing to do with Velma. With the Silent Night''s speed, it only took a short while before they reached the intended, before changing course for one of the moons. This particr Moon was not being mined because it held no valuable minerals at all, and so had nothing remarkable about it at all. Or so it seemed, for when the ship began tond, it disappeared from sight. Only Velma and Cirk, who were on the ship, saw that it had not disappeared, but crossed through a very powerful illusion formation, hiding a small home. It was notrge norvish, but through the use of various formations, it was cozy and livable. Artificial atmosphere surrounded the ce. Grass and trees and nts grew as if on a normal. A few pet animalszily walked the backyard or swam in the pool nearby. But the resident of the home was not visible. "I''ll wait here," said Cirk to Velma after parking the ship. Since he was not really familiar with the target, he did not want to intrude. Velma only nodded, and stepped down. "This is a lovely ce you have here, An," she said looking around. "But you should visit the Inn sometime. It''s changed a lot." No one replied to her, but that didn''t bother her. She casually strolled the ce, taking in all the views it had to offer, before finally reaching the house itself. The door opened on its own to wee her in. She made her way in, and though she was not familiar with the ce, she eventually found herself in a room where a lone man was kneeling in front of a stone memorial. Lit incense sticks had been ced in front of the memorial, and the man seemed to be meditating in front of it. Velma picked up an incense stick from nearby and also lit it, cing it in front of the memorial. Though, instead of meditating, she only bowed to the memorial out of respect, and then began to wait for the man to end his meditation. A short whileter the man opened his eyes and looked at the piece of stone in front of him. Instead of calm or peace, his eyes held only a deep sorrow. Something about his posture indicated that he did not want to move, but eventually he got up and looked at Velma. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Miss Velma, you have changed since Ist saw you. You look more mature. It suits you." "Thank you, I think so too," she said, and shed a sweet smile. "You haven''t changed at all though. I had hoped time would heal some of your pain." An, the mature man with a head full of white hair, only shed her a remorseful smile. "Time cannot heal all wounds, Miss Velma. To live is to suffer her absence, and to die is to condemn the memory of her to be lost forever from this universe. I do not know which is worse torture." Velma had a great love for love stories, but not all love stories end happily. The man in front of her was a guest who hade to the Inn only once, and though that visit was brief, he had shared with Velma his own love story. Truth be told, they did not have too deep of a connection. But since Velma had been considerate enough to listen to him when he had no one else to speak to, he offered her whatever friendship he could. Since he was a friend, even if a distant one, Velma did not really want to use him, but¡­ "An, I have a situation on my hands that I thought you might be interested in hearing about. Would you spare me a few moments?" "Miss Velma, I have nothing but time on my hands. Please join me in the other room so we may sitfortably." The man led her to a back room which had a lovely view of the back garden and sat down on cushioned floor mats that were ced in the room. He summoned a teapot and poured her some tea before pouring himself some as well. "Please, share with me your troubles." Chapter 1160 An offer II Chapter 1160 An offer II Velma took a sip of her tea. Normally she preferred some sugar or honey in it, but felt that it might be awkward to ask for some, so she gently ced the cup back. "I have a friend," she began. "He''s a good fellow. Loyal and trustworthy. A little odd at times, but who isn''t? Some time ago, he came to me and a few others asking for help with a delicate situation. Although right now it seems like the situation is under control, I don''t know why, when I heard about his problems, I couldn''t help but think that if this wasn''t handled well, that he may end up joining your family." An, who had been smiling softly up until, suddenly frowned. His light and easy demeanor suddenly changed, and a certain heaviness filled the room. "What''s the situation?" he asked. "His sisters have been targeted by a terrorist organization. Although for now it seems like one of them has been saved, based on what we know, it is unlikely that the terrorists will leave it at that. They surely have an agenda. My friend thinks that they''re baiting him into reacting. The thing is, neither will they leave him alone, and nor will he let the terrorists get away with targeting his family to begin with. A sh is inevitable." Up until now, Velma refrained from mentioning details because she did not want to use sympathy to get An''s help. "I am not here to ask you for your help," she rified. "I just couldn''t help but think, when I heard about all this, that if you knew about this you wouldn''t ignore it. After all, like I said, my friend is a good guy. He has actually walked through fire and fury to aid his friends. If someone like him were to suffer a tragedy¡­ Well, you can guess where I''m going with this." An closed his eyes for a moment. He closed his eyes and remembered those dark days, when all around him was only hopelessness and desperation. What he wouldn''t have given to receive only a hint of help back in those days. A single helping hand. The slightest nudge. A guiding word. No, it wasn''t until after he had lost everything that he discovered the Deathsworn family, who epted him as his own. He had taken that oath to fight an impossible enemy unto death, but unlike most who joined his family, he actually came out of his fight alive. He had faced his demons, and won. But victory was empty, for there was no meaning left in his life. But if he was going to help, then he first owed a debt to the Deathsworn family. He looked towards Velma, a slight guilt in his eyes. Before he could even say anything, she understood what he wanted to say, and chuckled. "Like I said, An Deathsworn. I am not here to ask for your help. I just thought you''d like to know. The Midnight families have been crossed, and neither heaven nor hell will be safe until our vengeance is sought. The terrorist organization we are going after are suspected to be affiliated with the Fuegan, and are known as Sanguis Pluvia. From what I know, a number of your family members have their death-oaths targeting them. If you would like to join us while we get our vengeance, you may." An looked at Velma with a new understanding, for the formerly delicate and dainty little girl was now overflowing with valor and drive. She had note to ask for help against a great foe that even his family had not been able to topple, but instead to give them an opportunity to join if they wished while her own family fought against them. Deep emotions shed through An Deathsworn''s eyes. Very few knew his name, for he left no legends behind. If any, beside his own family, knew of him, then it would be from the Midnight Registry, where An had once ranked fifth on top. That is because he had achieved something truly extraordinary. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om As a human with no backing and no support, he had risen to the rank of Heavenly immortal, and even reached its peak. But that was not enough to put his name near the top of the registry. Waging a war against an impossible enemy, alone, anding out the victor had earned him that right, especially when his enemies had been Celestials - not the cultivation realm, but one of the dominant races of the universe. An leaned forward, and began to discuss a few details with Velma, interested to learn more not only about Lex, but about how they nned to face Sanguis Pluvia. Simultaneously, across countless star systems in the Origin realm, members of the Inn were silently meeting hidden and reclusive cultivators who wielded great power and authority. Unknown and unseen to the forces atrge, an invisible thread began to connect powers that should have had no interaction ever. Names that had been forgotten in history, or had never been known to begin with, were quietly called upon by the various forces of the Midnight Inn. The only thing that connected all these forces was that, at one point or another, they had visited the Midnight Inn, and the Midnight newsroom had collected information about them. Lawful and aboveboard organizations made deals withinvish meeting rooms. Dark and dingy corners of the most forsakennds in the realm witnessed an understanding between unlikely allies. Even deities were not spared from the temptations the Inn offered, as no ce else could so readily provide fruits containing divinity. At the same time devils, who were known across the universe for their ability to offer a tempting and irresistible deal to their targets, became targets themselves when they were presented with offers they simply could not refuse. Amidst the chaos that the realm was embroiled in, no one noticed the shift taking ce. While all of these deals were being struck, allies being contacted and leads being followed, Luthor and John entered a particrly notorious building, the existence of which was famous across the realm. Powell smiled at the two new guests. "How can I help you gentlemen?" Chapter 1161 Newsroom Chapter 1161 Newsroom "I need a few things," said John, who had long heard of the Infinity Emporium but never had the opportunity to use it. "I need all of these ingredients," he said, slipping a piece of paper to Powell. "I also need a rmendation letter to Hells'' Diner, andstly, I need to teleport my friend and I to the Fulkrum." Powell took the slip of paper from John and began reading it, and the more he read it, the bigger his smile became. These were all very rare ores and ingredients used in treasure manufacturing. Alone they may not have cost a significant sum, but this entire list, when considered, was a sizable sum of money. That wasn''t even including the other two requests, which were extremelyrge as well. "Dear guest, your requests are not so easy. It will take a few hours before everything is ready. Would you like to wait here, ore back when everything is prepared." "We''ll wait," said Luthor, who was not interested in wasting time. Fulkrum was supposed to be a that was virtually inessible except through very special means. Teleportation could count as one of those means, only under very specific conditions. The Emporium could, of course, fulfill those conditions. The reason why the was so hard to reach was natural and unique, but the thing that was truly important was why they were going there. It was thergest, most renown ckmarket in the realm. What was the point of a ck market that everyone knew about? Why go there if they can shop in the emporium to begin with? What did all of this have to do with Hells'' Diner? The answers were simple. It didn''t matter if everyone knew about it if no one could stop or affect the ckmarket, which they couldn''t. The things they could buy and sell there could not be sold or bought by the Emporium. Lastly, Hells'' Diner had nothing to do with either of those things. In fact, it was something they learned about incidentally. What truly mattered was that within that Diner a special kind of me was sold which would help Luthor tremendously if he absorbed it in his body. Considering what they were about to face, it was best to strengthen themselves as much as possible. "What makes you think we can find information about Sanguis Pluvia there?" Luthor asked John through his spirit sense. "From what I understand, even the Henali have not been able to locate them, and they have quite a few Dao Lords on the hunt." "It''s impossible to directly find the information there," exined John in an experienced manner. "I cannotment on what Doa Lords can or cannot do. However, I can tell you that although we won''t find the information there directly, we will certainly find something that will put us on the right track to eventually find a lead to the information. You understand what I''m saying? This is called a Fetch quest. "Besides, we have one advantage. The Henali cannot find the Sanguis Pluvia because they are taking special care to hide from the Henali. But no one is hiding from the Midnight Inn. After all, didn''t you notice that even the name of the terrorist organization was so hard for them to find, but we got the name directly from the Newsroom. What they can do, we cannot do. But simrly, the things we can do, no one else can either." While John exined his brilliant n to Luthor, both of them remained wholly unaware that the reason the Newsroom even knew the name of the organization was because of two Rhinocentaurs. Every day they woulde in and provide two pieces of unique information about current events in the universe atrge. What had originally started out as a prison sentence had actually turned out to be a remarkable reward for them. They looked forward to the day they could escape from the Inn¡­ until they realized that it was literal paradise, and all they had to do to stay there was provide some random information. That was easy, since they had ess to the groupchat that spread across the universe. After years of spending time in the Inn, they had changed their ways. They no longer wanted to hunt for systems - just spending more time in the Inn was enough to help them raise their cultivation. As such, they had been trying to dy their rescue quest that they had issued, which is why their rescuer had not returned to the Inn immediately once it reopened. But while they could dy it, they could not cancel it. Now the two spent each day thinking up ns of how to stay here longer. If their rescuer came and started a huge fight and got them into trouble, they might now be allowed back into the Inn. That was an issue they could not live with. But so far they hadn''t been able toe up with a proper answer. While the two continued to think, it was time for their daily check in with the newsroom, and so they strolled on in peacefully, waving and joking around with the regr guests. The Inn really was an amazing ce. Finally, once they arrived, one of the Rhinocentaurs went in first and provided histest piece of news. "The Versalis bank has just acquired a controlling share in the Undead Private Soldiery, or UPS for short." With that piece of information shared, he stepped out and allowed the other to step in. "The Celestial Court has rejected the excuse of outstanding debt for a reason to attack one of its members by the Versalis bank, and issued a hearing, but the bank representative never showed. Tensions are rising." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om With that the Rhinocentaur stepped out, his mind still on his own problems. But they remained unaware that the two pieces of random information they provided were noted down, and added by an important member of the newsroom to an extremelyplex and extensive information web, connecting countless various seemingly random bits and pieces of information. Rnd, the little boy who once collected news and sold newspapers in the city of Babylon, was one of the most prominent members of the Nyxheart family now. His eyes gleamed as he focused on a pin tied to a note that read: Versalis Bank. On that pin were tried countless threads, but one of them led all the way back to the Henali. He began to scribble something on a notebook. Chapter 1162 Keep those flags coming Chapter 1162 Keep those gsing Lex finally returned from the Emporium, feeling much better. It turned out that the Celestial''s club was exactly who he needed to reach out to. Getting his hands on a spatial treasure that could carry a was still out of the question, but he had been looking at the problem all wrong. The celestial immortals who liked carrying their worlds with them clearly didn''t put theirs in their pockets, although he suspected that might be possible. Nor did they fly theirs across gxies. Instead they tethered the to themselves so that when they teleported, the traveled with them. It naturally put a burden on the teleportation, but that wasn''t a problem for Lex. His system could handle it. Now all he needed was to tether Moon to the she was fusing with, which was easier said than done. But that''s what the Emporium was good for. Powell worked out a deal and hired someone on his behalf, since he was such a high value member of the emporium. Since Lex didn''t want any powerful people observing Moon to keep her secret hidden, the hired person would just prepare everything he needed for the tethering and then Lex would do the rest himself. It would take some time, but that should be fine. But his good mood was ruined as soon as he came back. Z and Moon were sitting on a sofa, eating pizza and watching an anime about a ninja kid. It was a starter anime, and it was an amazing one. Due to the unique circumstances of her life, Moon might have never seen it. It was nice that she was finally getting the opportunity to enjoy her life. The problem was¡­ where the hell were Harry and Jubtion? Why was it just these two, watching the ninja kids'' sad backstory? Z naturally noticed Lex''s arrival, so he paused the show and very innocently offered Lex some pizza. Resisting the urge to give the kid 20 more years worth of work, Lex put on a neutral expression. "Thanks for the offer, but I just came here to give you all an update," Lex said, refusing the pizza. "I''ve found a solution to Moon''s issue with the. I cannot cancel your fusion, but at least distance from the, and teleporting alongside it won''t be a problem much longer. But we will need to wait till the solution is ready." "That''s great," said Z, looking serious. "Once Moon can return to the Inn safely, I can move on to locating the assassins who came after her." The idiot, stupid, dense little teenager had no idea how the words he said were making Moon''s eyes shine even brighter, and it was irritating the hell out of Lex. But then he took a deep breath and calmed himself down. Technically speaking, they were both adults. They could do what they wanted. "Until then, stay here and keep an eye on things. If any issues arise, don''t hesitate to contact me." "Where are you going now?" Moon asked, finally looking at him. Resisting the urge to pass a sarcasticment, Lex said, "I need to tie up loose ends. I heard that Belle hasn''t been doing well since your was kidnapped, so I''m going to go find her. If you have any idea where Liz is, it would be great if you could help. Otherwise I''ll try to find her on my own." "Liz has been on the run for a while, so I have no idea where she could be. She used to send me postcards from time to time so I knew she was safe, but that won''t be easy anymore. As for Belle¡­ good luck. If possible, make a video of the reunion. I want to see how she reacts to seeing you." Lex''s lip twitched. He knew exactly what Moon was thinking. But he would not let his older sister bully him anymore. N?v(el)B\\jnn "Stay safe," said Lex, before teleporting away. He returned to the Inn, but from there he was about to buy a ticket to the that was, for now, being used as the new home for the William family. That is where his sister would be. After meeting her, Lex also had a very good idea how he was going to find Liz. It was the exact same way he intended on finding Damien. Since they were blood rtives, he would use a spiritual technique to locate those closely rted to him. He hoped these things wouldn''t take too long. Just as Lex bought the ticket, and was about to leave once more, he paused. Someone from the newsroom had sent him a message. He opened the slip and read what it had to say. Finally, a hint of a smile returned to his face. He crumpled the paper, then tore the ticket, teleporting to the of Pangaea. It was an ocean with only a single, massive continent. Finding out that this is where Belle was rebuilding the William family wasn''t hard at all, even without the Henali portal. Considering that he was rebuilding ties with his sisters, and knowing that the chances of Belle willingly following him to the Inn were nil, he decided to just build a connection to this instead of teleporting here from the Emporium. That way he coulde to Belle whenever he wanted. Of course, this was under the circumstance that his older sister had not beenpletely brainwashed and wasn''t being controlled by his grandfather through some sinister technique. Or barring some other, unforeseen circumstance, because those just never happened to Lex, right? Shaking his head, Lexmented his inability to avoid raising gs, not that he believed in such things, and spread out his spirit sense. He had teleported over the ocean, so first he had to find the continent and then look for his sister. But as soon as he spread out his spirit sense, the first thing he saw was a mermaid, and she was mesmerizing. Chapter 1163 Unexpected Chapter 1163 Unexpected It was not that the mermaid was beautiful, but that she was mesmerizing a group of sailors on a ship, causing them to veer their ship towards them. But instead of jagged rocks and a dangerous ind, like Lex had heard in stories back on earth, the mermaids were attracting them towards a sales booth. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om They were selling deep sea items, though the usefulness of those items was questionable. After years of practicing with his Glyph that could identify treasures, Lex had developed an innate understanding for the value of random objects, and he could tell that nothing they sold was particrly precious. Lex used a simple illusion technique to alter the appearance of his face before teleporting down to the booth. "Excuse medies," Lex said warmly, "could you possibly point me towards the continent? I''m a little lost." The mermaids looked at him, then looked down at their booth. The meaning was simple. Buy something before asking them any questions. Lex gave the items a cursory nce and picked up the most valuable thing on the table, a ne with a pearl at the end. "How much for this?" "You have a good eye. That''s for 30 superior spirit stones. No bargaining." Superior spirit stones were just a type of spirit stones with a higher concentration of spirit energy. They were very widely used by rich cultivators below the immortal realm. Fortunately Lex had a few thousand lying around in his spatial bangle. He ordinarily didn''t bother with these kinds of spirit stones since he directly dealt with spirit crystals, which is what immortals used for cultivation. But even having that was just as a random form of currency for Lex. He''d always cultivated in energy rich and dense areas, so he''d never actually used those stones to cultivate. "Can you tell me which way the continent is now?" Lex could have technically asked the sailors as well, but considering the fact that they were drooling over the wares the mermaids were showing, Lex didn''t know how cooperative they would be. "It''s quite simple. We''re very close tond actually. You need only travel 8000 miles north, give or take, and you''ll find it." "Thanks. By the way, you wouldn''t happen to know anything about the William family, would you?" The mermaids once again looked at their wares. Lex just put down a spirit crystal and grabbed everything on the booth, which made the mermaid''s eyes gleam. The sailors also red at Lex, but they simply grumbled and turned back towards their ship. "Yes, yes, the William family has been operating on this for many years. Even some of the mermaids and mermen have married into their family. Though recently, a lot more of them havee here. No one knows why, but they''re all excited about it. The arrival of such a noble family can only be good for the local economy." The mermaids, besides focusing a lot on money and economy, didn''t really stand out in any way. They didn''t try to scam him using their charm, nor did they try any funny business. After asking them a few more questions to get a better understanding of the Williams family and their role on this, Lex left. It seemed that the locals did not know that the family were down on their lucktely. Finding the continent barely took any time since he directly teleported 8000 miles north, and was able to spot it. Lex finally slowed down upon finding a town, and instead of searching for answers in a rush, walked through the town at a casual pace. With his spirit sense extended, he could easily absorb a lot of information around him. He did not expect that he could just go up and ask to see the head of the family, nor did he want to reveal his identity till he was sure of Belle''s state. Soon he learned of the details of the new city that the Williams family had built which would function as their base of operations. One teleportter, he found himself in the city. Lex actually felt slightly nervous upon thinking that he was about to meet Belle. From the moment he decided to meet her again, he had been visualizing their reunion. It had to be perfect. Owing to the number of immortals in this city he could not just grantly re his spirit sense again, so it actually took him some effort to learn where exactly the family head was supposed to be. Lex was already fantasizing about how he would infiltrate into a securepound, sneak past all the security undetected and finally discover the truth about his sister, when he learned some news that gave him pause. Just a few hours ago, in fact probably only a couple of hours before Lex arrived on the, Belle had dered that she was giving up her position as family head! That news came as a shock to everyone, especially since everyone knew that she had been aiming for that position for so long. Now, not only had she finally achieved it, but she imed itpletely through her own merit and ended up saving a lot of lives in the process. No one knew what she was thinking. She just gave up the position, dered the next family head, and left the. No one knew where she was going or what her intentions were. The news left Lex dumbfounded. He had even gone as far as to try to build a connection to Pangaea to the Inn so that his future travel to this would be easier, since if Belle was normal, he might want toe here to see her regrly. But she had just gotten up and left. A wave of denial hit Lex. No, how could he give up? This could be just a ruse. He had to sneak into the family mansion like a spy and find out the details. Chapter 1164 Dont forget Chapter 1164 Don''t forget A depressed Lex swirled a drink in his ss aimlessly. He had been sitting in this bar for hours. Last night he had snuck into the William family mansion, and seen for himself that the head of the family had changed. That left Lex feeling a wave of disappointment - but for unexpected reasons. He was not as much disappointed about the fact that Belle wasn''t here as much as how easy it was to infiltrate the mansion. Even though there were dozens of earth immortals there, all Lex had to do was hide inside the thoughts of one of the servants and no one detected him. Moreover, although he saw a bunch of earth immortals, which was impressive considering that the William family had just suffered a major loss where many of their strongest died, he was disappointed by how weak the family was. Was this it? Was this the powerful and mighty force that had pressured his family? This was the force, in name, which had kidnapped his sisters and held them against their will? Lex was hoping that they would be stronger. That he would be intimidated by them. That they would present as a formidable challenge that he had to be careful around. But honestly it was not impressive at all. Lex had every bit of confidence that as soon as he became an Immortal he could take on this entire family himself, excluding William who was a Heavenly Immortal. But considering the fact that he hardly took part in family matters, he didn''t count. But to be fair, Lex himself was very strong. Logically he knew it. And logically, he also knew that it wasn''t this family who had done everything against him and his siblings, it was his grandfather. But that didn''t erase the bitterness. He felt no familial connection to these people, and quite frankly, after testing out coolst names like Dragonsbane and Amore, Lex didn''t feel so attached to his ownst name either. Maybe one day he''d change it. For now, he just wanted to sulk in this bar. He was hoping Belle would return, but she didn''t. Eventually, Lex rented a room for himself and began working on something else. One of the most important parts of his n for revenge depended on him finding Damien. It was not impossible, since they were blood rtives. He could use his own blood to trace him - theoretically. He could do the same to find Belle and Liz, but since he had never used the technique before, it would take him some time to master andprehend its use properly. Fortunately for him, he had the time to spare. It took three more days before the Inn finally connected to Pangaea, and this time not only did Belle not return, but Lex still could not find the reason for her departure either. It was fine. Lex was ready to move on. But using the technique to find blood rtives could not be used on Pangaea, as the other members of the Williams family would attract the attention of his technique. He teleported to the Inn, and then to another random before he started to use the technique. Finding Liz and Belle would also serve as practice for finding Damien, since the technique was not so easy in the first ce. Considering the fact that he was searching for rtives on an intergctic scale, using the technique was a burden even for Lex. Then using it to find people who were actively hiding somehow, such as Liz and Damien was even harder. N?v(el)B\\jnn But with some guidance from Pel, and his own highprehension, Lex quickly put the technique to work. This was actually a technique that worked in conjunction with Glyphs, as it once again was an ability that dragons highly valued. Dragons, as extremely virile creatures, had many offspring, but not all of them were born as full dragons. Sometimes, it was onlyter that their offspring evolved into dragons after purifying their bloodline. When such a thing happened, dragons used this technique to locate their ancestors or descendants across realms. As Lex''s Domination slowly channeled into the Glyph, a projection of the gxy Lex was in slowly appeared around him, before it began expanding outwards. Lex''s energy reserves began to drop rapidly, but he could sustain this for a few minutes. More gxies appeared around him, and in those gxies Lex began to detect various pulls. Anyone who was even remotely rted to him began to react to this technique, but considering howrge the William family was, he wasn''t surprised to find out he was technically rted to a lot of people across the gxies. That didn''t matter, as he was only looking for specific people. He would know when he found them due to the strength of the pull he would feel. But his energy kept dwindling without any results. Just as Lex began to feel like this attempt would be a failure, he finally got a significantly strong reaction. He couldn''t say for certain who the reaction was from, but for the reaction to be strong enough, the rtion also had to be close enough. He was certain it was one of his sisters. Now, as he looked at the projection, he just had to find out what gxy this was, and what within that gxy. "Lex, I know you''re busy. I just thought I''d remind you that the Midnight Games are about to begin soon," said Mary suddenly. "Oh don''t worry, I haven''t forgotten," Lex said as he teleported back to the Inn. How could he forget? He nned on using every tool avable to him to hunt down Damien and everyone involved. The Midnight Games, organized by the Midnight Inn, was one of the hallmarks of the Inn. It would be grand, and so naturally he would use it to set up the board for what he was nning, and gather as much information as possible. Then Lex went to the Emporium. This time he would teleport directly to the he had discovered from there since he didn''t want to waste time. He could feel that his revenge could not wait for long. Trouble was brewing. Chapter 1165 Cattle Chapter 1165 Cattle "I need to go to this," Lex said to Powell, showing him a zoomed in projection of the gxy, disying the as well as its nearby star systems. Powell, who was smiling, looked at the projection with a frozen expression, and then at Lex. Then back at the projection. Then at Lex. "You know we''re a store, right? Not a teleportation facility," Powell said as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. Lex shrugged. "Do you at least know the name of the?" Lex shrugged again. Powell sighed, and then walked to the back room. Lex was certain he''d be able to do it, and he wasn''t wrong. Soon enough he found himself once again teleporting through a number of teleportation facilities, since there was no direct teleportation avable. Powell also included a VIP security check free ess for Lex, so that he could avoid problems with the TSA. He was hoping that this time Lex would not cause an intergctic incident, though he didn''t say that out loud. Lex was too good of a customer to annoy over something as trivial as disrupting the flow of goods and people across an entire gxy. There may or may not have been hints of sarcasm mixed in when Powell had that thought. Either way, soon Lex found himself teleported to a suffering from an artificial ice age. The dominant race of the were called the Yeti, and preferred lower temperatures, and so had a deal with an environment conditioning agency that ensured long periods of ice ages on the. Though, for the health of the, every so often the ice ages would need to end, but that was noting up any time soon. The Yeti were tourist friendly and ran various ice and snow based resorts for visitors from around the neighboring star systems. At least, that''s what the pamphlet he was reading said. After taking note of all the local customs and major attraction points, as well as safety notices which warned which areas of the were off limits for tourists, Lex turned to look north. That was the direction he sensed his blood connection, and that was one of the off limit zones. Sneaking around on this was not as easy as it had been on Pangaea since, to be fair, on Pangaea they had not had time to set up all their defenses yet. This ce was different. Not only were there countless Earth Immortals patrolling the ce, there were formations and various other defenses in ce as well. It was such tight security, in fact, that it actually prompted to change into his stealth suit. N?v(el)B\\jnn Getting Lex to don a different suit specifically for the purpose of stealth was a very big. But on a serious note, Lex would not be able to teleport around the as his spatial ripples would easily be detected, so he had to do this the old fashioned way - walking. As Lex blended in with the environment, pulling in all his auras and disappearing from detection even through spirit sense, before walking at the speed of hundreds of miles a step, he began to imagine his reunion with Liz. Compared to Belle, who he had nned out his reunion with in great detail, he had not much considered how he would meet Liz. Her somewhat introverted personality made it so that it was tough to n things for her. Maybe he should crack a joke about arranged marriages. No, no that was too insensitive - which meant he should definitely do it. Due to his slow pace, it took him several hours to reach deep into the restricted portion of the. The deeper he went, the more somber his mood became. Although there was no proof that the person he was looking to find was one of siblings, the deep connection he felt meant that the connection had to be someone close to him. His parents were nowhere to be found so he thought it was unlikely it would be them. So what were either Belle or Liz doing this deep into this? The level of security, by now, was something Lex could no longer joke about. Even with his stealth suit, and his many means, not to mention his instincts guiding him, he was nearly caught multiple times. Eventually he reached a mountain, covered in snow with the ck stone underneath visible in certain areas where the snow had slipped. His connection wasing from within the mountain. Either there was a very convincing illusion formation, or there was a base inside the mountain. He entered his soul state and slowly approached the mountain and carefully went through it. The fact that he was repelled meant that it wasn''t a formation. Carefully, so as to not let his building anxiety rush him, Lex entered the mountain, passing throughyers andyers of rock until he eventually reached some kind of hidden facility. Lex had kept his spirit sense contained so that it was not detected, which is why he was not prepared for what he saw when he entered. "Master," Pel, who had been Lex''s silentpanion for quite some time finally spoke. "The sword in your eye is returning." But Lex did not care, because it was not the sword hiding in his soul that was causing his anger to bubble. It was the sight of dozens of ss containers in front of him, each carrying an unconscious, naked clone of Moon, floating in some kind of liquid, that was causing the bubbling anger. "Master, do not act rashly," said the former dragon trapped in the ring. "These clones can be beneficial for your sister. She can absorb them to regain strength." But Lex could not hear Pel''s words. His gaze was locked onto a particr yeti who was standing in front of one of the ss containers, taking voice notes about the growth of the clones, talking about them like he was talking about cattle. Chapter 1166 Strong prey Chapter 1166 Strong prey "We have finally made some significant progress with clone 117," Josef talked into his voice recorder. "Although we achievedplete basic physical replication with the very first clone, we have failed to replicate any of the unique properties contained within the blood and tissue samples. But with clone 117, we finally have some progress." Josef raised one of his fat, hair fingers with only his ck nail uncovered by his white hair. He scratched the air with his sharp nail, slowly dragging it down, and a simr cut in a straight line appeared on the clone''s abdomen. Blood leaked out of the body, but only for a few seconds, before the wound began to heal. "This clone disys limited self healing ability beyond the norm, simr to that of a high level cultivator, despite the clone being a mortal. Careful attention must be paid to how the clone was nurtured. Worthy of special attention is the fact that this particr clone was replicated using samples from ''heart tissue'', which may be one of the critical reasons why it disys this ability. To confirm, we need to make more clones that underwent the same treatments as 117, but from various other tissue samples. "As a final note, the client who approached us recently stated that the originals'' abilities were not healing, but had more to do with approaching the perfect state, and therefore healing was indirectly a result of that ability. We need to look into this some more." Josef put the voice recorder away as he watched the cut he ced on the clone''s abdomen slowly close. It had been a long time since they had faced a challenge with cloning. Josef felt something tap on his shoulder, and when he turned around he was stunned. He felt a hand peirce into his body, and beyond it, grabbing onto his very ts. All the strength in his body suddenly dissipated, preventing him from resisting. He saw brown eyes, though in one he saw a sword, and in the other a saw a fiery inferno. One by one, the many protective treasures Josef had on his body began to activate, and then break. Something deep inside of him panicked, and told him that he immediately needed to activate some kind of panic button, but the thought slipped away from him. His mind began to weaken until he lost the ability to think. Lex infiltrated the yeti''s mind so that he could learn everything there was to learn about this cloning operation. Even though Lex was absolutely boiling with anger, he was in perfect control of all his actions. He did not allow himself to blow up. This could be a lead towards Damien. More importantly, if more clones of Moon were being made then he wanted to end all of them, and for that he needed information. So peering into the yeti''s mind, stripping away his ability to think or react. The yeti was not only one in the facility, but he was the only immortal, which is why Lex restrained everyone else with Domination while he pulled what he needed from him. What he learned was simultaneously infuriating, disappointing and shocking! n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om The yeti''s under the guise of running a tourist, actually ran a secret cloning facility. They collected DNA samples from countless people and races, continuously increasing the size of their database, whilepletingmissions for others. The project with Moon was one they only started a short time ago, coincidentally right after he rescued Moon herself, and was just one of themissions they received. That was the infuriating part - especially when he learned that the tissue samples provided to them for cloning included tissue from all her organs, including her brain. They knew nothing about who the samples came from, or who gave themission. To them this was just another job. That was the disappointing part, as they had no idea if other clones were being developed elsewhere. It was especially so since there was no way to track Demian through this cloning facility. But the thing Lex waspletely unprepared for, and could not have even conceived in any way, was that among the other cloningmissions that Josef had, one waspletely identical to Fenrir when he first found him! It was not just that the species was the same, or that they contained nearly the same bloodline. They were actual clones of Fenrir. Lex had spent more than enough time with the little pup to know everything about it, and could sense its aura! What was extremely coincidental was that themission rting to Fenrir started a few years ago, coinciding exactly with the time Lex selected Fenrir as a prize for one of his quests. But unlike Damien, who hid his tracks well, there was a lead that could be followed for the person whomissioned clones for. The situation was bingplicated. But regardless of howplicated it became, it was best to collect as much information as possible so that they could be prepared for any eventuality. Lex summoned Fenrir. Although he was around two decades old now, Fenrir''s physiology was still that of a pup, which is likely why he could still not speak. But even so, as soon as the pup arrived in this facility, he woke from his slumber with a start. It was not the teleportation that shocked him, but the connection he felt from his blood. Some feelings and sensations that had overwhelmed him when he was born came back with a fury, and Fenrir was suddenly reminded of the fact that he had a sister. It was something the pup had felt at birth, but because it was too weak, it had forgotten. Perhaps forgetting had been a defense mechanism back then. But right now, he was no longer weak. Just as Fenrir began to growl, and was about to unleash his power, Lex gentlyid a hand on his head and calmed him down. "Go look at the situation first," Lex said, his voicepletely serene, as if he wasn''t furious. "Remember, for strong prey, we cannot let them know we areing. It is only weak prey that we y with." Fenrir resisted its urge to kill everything within a thousand miles, and began to follow the blood connection it was feelinging from within the facility. Meanwhile, Lex turned back to look at Josef. Indeed, the reason he did not make a mess of this ce was because he didn''t want anyone to catch on yet. "Pel, you once told me about Karma techniques. Can you tell me a little more about Karma once more?" Indeed, the reason he did not make a mess of this ce was because he didn''t want anyone to catch on yet. Chapter 1167 Bad taste Chapter 1167 Bad taste "Like I said, Karma is one of the most mildws, because it touches everything in existence, yet at the same time it is devastatingly overbearing. Everyone can influence Karma, since anything you do carries Karma. Yet to forcefully influence existing Karma, or to prevent it from forming or influence it into forming prematurely carries a devastating heavy burden. "Even as strong as you are, trying to tamper with Karma on your own right now will be very dangerous for you. At the very least, you will need a very powerful treasure or formation to carry the burden for you." Lex pursed his lips. He had naturally been looking into the matter ofws, consulting not only Pel, but various guests as well. Through this he finally began to understand some of what things such as Destiny and Karma really represented. Even amongws there was a hierarchy, and at the moment Lex was only fit to touch the lower or moremonws. "I am already here and have sowed Karma. How can I thoroughly erase all my traces from here? I meanpletely erase, not hide, so that naturally includes Karma." "Laws areplicated things, and interact with one another in mysterious and unpredictable ways. One way to hide all your traces is to wash this ce with divine energy. Divine energy, capable of raising Deities to amazing heights through only worship, naturally has many unique traits. Although doing so will make it obvious that someone has hidden all traces here, it will naturally wash over any Karma you have with this ce. After all, regardless of how strong you are, your cultivation is still low." Lex nodded, and then looked from the yeti to the floating clones of his sister. Each of the clones was of a different age, ranging from toddler all the way to ate teenager. After going through Josef''s memories Lex knew well the kinds of experiments that they had in stored for these clones, and even thinking about them set his blood on fire. But at the same time, it gave him a new perspective. He always touted the Inn as a ce to get away from the worries of the universe, but he himself had never faced these worries so how could he understand what they were? The Inn was not just a ce with pure energy and exquisite sights. More importantly, it was a safe space. Or at least, that''s what it was supposed to be. He no longer paid attention to such minor things anymore, but just a few hours ago some remote civilization that knew nothing of the Origin realm or greater powers got their hands on some golden keys. Uponing to the Inn, having limited experience and thinking themselves all powerful, they naturally tried to take it for themselves. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om They were naturally dealt with. It barely took a few minutes, and no one from the Inn was hurt. But it just went to show that the universe was not a friendly ce. Lex, keeping Josef contained and everyone in theb suppressed, walked up to theputers and began to pull all the records and data they had saved up. After gathering anything that he felt like might be even remotely useful, he took out his Butter Knife. It used divine energy to grow stronger, so naturally it also contained divine energy. He was ready to destroy this ce, but first he collected all of Moon''s clones, gently wrapping them in nkets. As it turned out they were just bodies without a soul or consciousness of any kind. He went to see what Fenrir did with the clones, and was momentarily stunned to see that it had killed them all, though its eyes were filled with a look of pity. His clones, all of the ones here at least, were finally put out of their misery. But that still left hundreds of other clones belonging to other beings. Lex intended to destroy them all. After sending Fenrir away, Lex pointed the Butter Knife towards the ground and began to channel his energy. Divine energy began to leak out of the knife, and took the shape of a muchrger butter knife. Although a butter knife was not the same as a sword, it was close enough. Lex unleashed his sword intent, coating the divine energy with it, and shed. The trembled, though at first no one realized what that meant. Most assumed it was an ordinary earthquake. But the trembling slowly got worse, not better, and storm clouds began to gather around the. Many immortals realized that something was amiss and swiftly ran towards the epicenter, but by the time they arrived it was toote. The mountain that had once stood there proudly was gone entirely, leaving behind only a deep sh that seemed to cut deep into the. "Quickly, stop it!" one of the immortal yeti''s screamed once he realized what was about to happen, but it was already toote. The sh cut deep into the ground, leaving behind a dark, empty hole. Yet it did not remain dark for long, as an orange and yellow light suddenly emerged in it. The immortal tried to suppress it, to close the sh and prevent the disaster that wasing, but it was impossible. Divine energy filled the cut, maintaining, eroding any attempts to tamper with the hole. With time the divine energy could have been eroded, but time was one thing that they did not have. There was a thunderous roar, and a pir of moltenva shot into the air like a geyser. The mountain range began to crumble, copsing in on itself as more and more pits began to open up, resulting in more and more volcanic eruptions. Someone or something had used that sh to tamper with the core of the. The resulting chaos was not enough to destroy the, but the repercussions were still inescapable. Countless dormant volcanoes around the suddenly began to erupt, and new ones formed as the tectonic tes moved under the immense pressure that was being released from within the''s core. The countless cultivators worked tirelessly to rescue all the tourists and locals, and due to therge number of immortals the casualties were brought to a minimum. But in a way, the itself had be a casualty. For an untold number of years the had been existing in a perpetual ice age, and within the span of a single day it had been covered in vastkes ofva. Moreover, there was some power at work, keeping theva hot even when it should have cooled after meeting the ice. Where previously the had ciers the size of entire continents, it now had pools ofva the size of oceans. The yeti''s had not be homeless, for there were others they could migrate to, but in a single day, they had at least lost one of their homes, but no one could figure out why. Oracles failed to determine the reason, and when more powerful cultivators came and tried to peer into what happened, all they could see was a de of divine energy, cutting through all causality. Lex, who had returned to the Midnight Inn, cared not a speck for what was going on with the yeti''s. He was, instead, thinking of how he would exin this to Moon. It was not like she was a child. She was technically an adult by earth standards, already in her early twenties. But in his eyes he would forever be that tiny little girl who used to ride on his shoulders and pull his hair. So how would he tell that little girl¡­ how would he exin these clones to her? "Hey system¡­" Lex said as he sat in his room, his elbows resting on his knees and his fingers interlocked in front of his face, hiding his eyes. "I don''t think I''ve ever probably asked you this but¡­ where do you get all the Inn workers from? All these hundreds of thousands of workers I have summoned¡­ did you just create them, or are they clones of someone?" Lex waited for a response, but the system did not respond. It did not even pass a funny or criticizing remark. Just as the silence seemed like it would go on forever, Mary appeared in front of him, a look of deep concern on her face. "The inner workings of the system cannot be revealed to you," she said hesitantly. "This is not even a matter of authority, it just can''t. But¡­ each worker is a gically modified clone of people who once existed. The gic modifications refer to the bloodlines you select for them, or the traits you want them to be gically predisposed towards. But although they are clones, the people they are clones of are all long dead, and do not even have any living members of their lineage either." "Hmm," Lex responded without saying any more. It was not like he would suddenly me the system for being evil for doing this. He always knew what he was doing. But this cloning business¡­ it suddenly left a bad taste in his mouth. Lex sighed, and then extended his spirit sense to all the clones, then teleported away to Yildrim. Chapter 1168 Tears Chapter 1168 Tears When Lex appeared on Yildrim, Moon was jumping on the sofa, screaming and pulling her hair and Z was justughing. The same anime fromst time was still ying on the television, but now the main character had made an appearance just in time to keep his love interest from dying to a bad guy. On top of that, the main character wasing in from a training arc, so everyone was super excited to see how strong he was. Lex smiled. He remembered when he saw this fight himself. It could only be described as the ultimate hype. Watching Moon lose her mind over it was quite amusing. Butt Moon, still holding her hair, suddenly turned to look towards Lex with confusion in her eyes. She could feel something, but couldn''t understand what it was. It confused her. "Can I see you for a moment," Lex said. "Alone." Z paused the show and excused himself. Although he could not sense the clones, nor did he extend his spirit sense outwards to check what Lex had brought, he could feel that the mood wasn''t right. That left Moon and Lex in the room, awkwardly looking at each other. "What is that?" she asked when Lex didn''t speak. "I can feel a strange connection to it." Lex sighed, thinking of various polite or delicate ways in which he could phrase this. But sometimes, a thing did not need to be polite or delicate. Leaving it as cruel or disturbing was what it deserved. "I used a technique to track down my blood rtives to find Liz. I ended up on a snow with yetis. But instead of Liz, I found this." Lex removed the nket, revealing the faces of the various clones. He waited for a moment to see if Moon had any reaction, but all she showed was a confused expression. Then, suddenly, something clicked in her mind and she showed an expression of realization. "So that''s what all of those samples were for," she murmured. Though even now, she didn''t look upset, which for some reason upset Lex even more. He had read Josefs memories before he killed him, and everyone else there. He knew where these tissue samples came from. Even though he himself could revive after taking a ridiculous amount of damage, most people weren''t like that. Most people, even cultivators all the way up to the Nascent realm, could not just brush away having a part of their brain removed, or having a chunk of their heart cut out. But the nonchnce with which she treated it meant that, much like him, she had been through a lot of pain - to the point where it didn''t bother him anymore. Lex thought back to that moment he was being burned by dragonfire and was treating the pain like a joke. For some reason, the thought of his sister doing something like that¡­ hurt him. "My pet dragon told me that you could absorb them. They will help your body regain strength. One of the reasons why you are probably so weak is because your physique probably had to work overtime to continuously heal you from your injuries." "Pet dragon?" Moon asked with shock and excitement, showing a lot more expression at that than at seeing her own clones. Lex smiled, removed his ring and tossed it to Moon. "Well, part dragon. He''s a treasure spirit now. His name is Pel. You can hang out with him if you want. He''ll teach you how to absorb the clones." Whether or not Moon heard anything he saw waspletely unknown because she put the ring on and was staring at it with gleaming eyes. No doubt Pel was talking to her. "Hey Moon," he said, distracting her from her brand new toy. "Yeah?" she asked without looking up. "From now on, no one is going to be able to hurt you. I''ll make sure of it." "Hmm," she said softly, but didn''t say anything else. Though she did not say it, how could Lex, who could read others emotions so easily, be unable to see through her. This¡­ was something she was not ready to talk about yet. To avoid an awkward silence, Lex said his farewell. "Don''t leave them out too long. Hurry up and absorb them. I''m going to continue looking for Liz." Lex teleported away, giving Moon the space she wanted. But it was almost as if she was too entranced by the ring to notice anything else as she kept ying with it. Almost, since the tears she had been holding back finally began to flow. The reason she didn''t look up was because she didn''t want Lex to see her crying. Back at the Midnight Inn, Lex''s soft expression turned neutral. There was no point in showing his anger now. Those who needed to see his anger would definitely see it. Until then, he kept his emotions in check. "Lex, the president of New Earth is asking to see you," said Mary, standing there in a secretary outfit, holding a clipboard. "Tell him yes, he can participate in the Midnight Games. If he wants anything else, I''m busy." But Mary was not deterred by Lex''s obvious bad mood. She knew he probably wanted nothing more than to go out hunting - she''d already seen how Fenrir was gathering his new pack to go hunt some back guys, as the pup put it - but she also knew that the Inn needed overseeing. A bad mood was no excuse for mismanagement. Lex would thank her for itter. "The spaceship has finally agreed to exposure therapy and has started flying over twenty feet in the air. Unfortunately, that means he''s constantly blocking light from reaching the nts below him and the gardeners areining." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex sighed and rubbed his eyes. What kind of spaceship was afraid of heights? "Tell him he can go to outer space where there is no gravity. That should help." But no matter how Lex tried to get out of managing, Mary would not let him. There was only so much work he could delegate to others. Eventually, several hourster, Lex finally got time to himself again. He returned to his meditation room, and once again employed the technique to search for blood rtives. He was either going to find his sisters, or he was going to find their clones. This was not something he was just about to give up on. But the technique was not easy to use, and required a lot of energy, which slowed down his progress. A few dayster, Lex left the Inn once more. By now Powell was prepared to help him teleport wherever he wanted, though it didn''t help that this time his target was an asteroid belt in the middle of nowhere, far away from any star systems. Since it didn''t have a specific teleportation formation on it, they had to get creative, but it wasn''t like the vacuum of space bothered Lex by now. Even if they failed, he wouldn''t really be hurt. A few dayster, he once again showed up on Yildrim, and dropped off a few more clones. The days started to roll by, and the starting date for the Champions tourney kept closing in. After a couple more weeks, Lex finally got his delivery from the Celestial''s club, and began the tethering process for the and Moon, who was looking just a little healthier these days. But, due to her low cultivation level, the tethering process was slowed down drastically. To speed things up Lex brought dozens or entire spirit stone veins from random, uninhabiteds from nearby star systems over to Yildrim and had ascaping specialist as well as a feng shui master on consultancy for how to speed up the development of the itself. He would also, from time to time, bring the corpses of immortal level beings and bury them in random ces on the as fertilizer. He even brought a special breed of earthworm over from the Midnight Inn to help speed up the fertilization process. Like that, time slowly passed by, with the spirit energy on Yildrim bing more abundant and Moon slowly bing stronger. Since the tethering process was taking much longer than anticipated, Lex also started sending in more Inn workers on the so that they would get to know Moon. As for why he didn''t bother setting up any protection for the, it was because no protection he could buy would be on the same scale as the World Eater, who wastely bing more and more protective of Yildrim. Lex wasn''t exactly sure, but he was starting to think that the World Eater treated Yildrim like a pet. During all this time, Lex never stopped looking for his siblings, but unfortunately never found them, though he found countless Moon clones. That was why Lex felt incredibly reluctant when he had to stop his excursions. But it couldn''t be helped. The Midnight Games were about to begin, and next week he would be leaving for the tourney. Chapter 1169 Monsieur Beast Chapter 1169 Monsieur Beast There was one more reason Lex stopped going after clones. In hisst two excursions, the security had been amped up a lot. It was not that Lex was afraid of them, but that with the Tourney so close, he didn''t want to risk anything. Just a little more time and he could face his tribtion, and then there would be nothing that could stop him. But until that happened, Lex had to put a stop to his hunting. Speaking of hunting, Lex looked towards Fenrir and Little Blue. The cute little whale had grown up, and somehow be even cuter. Now it just looked like an oversized baby whale with angel wings. Although Kun Pengs, which is what Little Blue was evolving into, were legendary beings of absolute and unquestionable power, that did not exclude them from being cute. That made it hard for Lex to believe that Kun Pengs were apparently so strong that they were the primary hunters of dragons - at least until Fenrir brought Little Blue out with it to hunt. Fenrir had formed its own pack, even though none of its pack members were wolves, and had power over them. So whenever Lex encountered clones of Fenrir, the pup would summon its pack. Little Blue, and Zen, the small patch of sentient grass that was also an Earth Immortal were both in his pack, alongside a rainbow colored peacock, a Magikarpet that evolved differently from the rest of its group, a bunny and a butterfly. The pack was quiteedic in his opinion. But he was proved wrong when he saw Little Blue''s power. Honestly, it put Fenrir, the pack leader, to shame. If Dragons Might was a representation of a dragon''s pride, then the force which erupted from its body when it spread its wings with powerful intent was a representation of its magnificence. Suffice to say the little guy could take care of himself now. It was so much so that Lex included Fenrir and his pack in his ns for Sanguis Pluvia. "Lex, the president of New Earth is here again," Mary said, causing Lex to sigh. This guy was so persistent. The most annoying thing was that he actually wasn''t interested in meeting the Innkeeper, and specifically wanted to meet Lex. "Alright, fine. I''ll go see him," Lex grumbled before teleporting away. There was a very specific reason Lex had been avoiding him. N?v(el)B\\jnn The guy was too nice and thoughtful. Being around him made Lex feel guilty, as if he wasn''t doing enough to help others. But he really was. It was just that no sane person could match that beast. Lex teleported over to find the president of New Earth, sitting andughing with a group of his friends. The man was wearing shorts and a T-shirt. Nothing about him or his demeanor indicated that he was the leader of the refugees from Earth, or that he had rebuilt society into something so much better. "Mr. President, I hear you''ve been wanting to see me for a while," Lex said formally, attracting the man''s attention. "Ohe one Lex, don''t be so formal," he said with a fond smile as he got to meet him. "Shall I call you Monsieur Beast then?" "Oh, no need to bring up that old name, my online days are behind me," the man said. "I can help people in other, more direct ways now. And please, call me James, I insist." "Alright James, how can I help you?" "Ah, but you see, this is not about me. The reason I''ve been wanting to meet you is so that I can help you." Lex raised an eyebrow. That one, honestly speaking, he hadn''t seening. More than anything, that was an indicator of how mysterious James was that even Lex''s instincts could not predict his actions. "Over the past few years, New Earth has really flourished. After we ovee the loss we all endured, we could finally focus on building the future. With the arrival of our newer generations, who have never even seen Earth, building up the future became even more important, so that it would be a good one. I think it''s not too vain of me to admit that we''ve done a good job, and though a lot of that has to do with us, I think a lot of that has to do with you as well." "Me?" Lex asked, surprised. "Yes, of course. The Innkeeper and the Midnight Inn offered us a ce to live and survive, but Earth is not the only that has suffered such tremendous loss, but it is the only one that has received overt help the way we did. Everyone realized it, and after a while, everyone came to realize that it had to be because of you. Who else could influence the Innkeeper enough to get him to offer us help? We''ve talked to Harry. He''s from Earth and he''s a nice guy, but even he knows he does not have that kind of influence." "So what are you proposing?" Lex asked after a while. "Well, to be entirely honest, we''re not sure how we can help. But recently, more and more of our people have been trying to get a job at the Midnight Inn. Although we''ve had little sess so far, with the Inn reopening, I think it will start hiring again. After all, not so long ago the Inn took in those elves. All I want you to know is that if they start getting hired, the people of Earth stand behind you. We''ve heard rumors that you haven''t joined any of the houses of Midnight. Well, if you want to start your own house, then we will support you." Lex said nothing, and studied James'' face for a moment. The man had imagined so much drama on his own, but then again, maybe from an outsider''s view, this is what it seemed like. Lex could no longer deny that he was one of the most well known members of the Inn, especially after everyone started to guess that the name on top of the guest registry was his. That naturally bred spection, and now apanied his newfound infamy as a wanted man, as well as fame for being the most wanted husband among angels, it made sense that people would specte about him. Once Lex left a trail of breadcrumbs for people to follow to exin why he spent so much time at the Inn. Now it seemed like he would need to start another trail of breadcrumbs for why he was so influential at the Inn. "Thanks for your support," said Lex. "Now you should really focus on the Midnight Games. They''re about to kick off." With those final words, Lex disappeared. Chapter 1170 Negotiations Chapter 1170 Negotiations Lex reappeared inside a small conference room within the Inn, where two humans, an orc, a devil and an angel were sitting, chatting amongst themselves. Originally he hadn''t nned on having a meeting with all of them at the same time, but time constraints and a few logistical issues made it so that all of them ended up arriving close to one another. "Sorry for beingte," Lex said politely as he grabbed a seat. "I hope you all had a pleasant chat." The orc looked at Lex and very tantly probed him with his spirit sense. From what Lex knew, they were a very warlike race andcked subtlety, which is why one needed a certain level of strength to have a discussion with them. Otherwise they would not deem you worthy of even having a conversation. Lex was not bothered, and only revealed a hint of his Domination. Right now, all Lex needed to do was show him that he was not weak. He did not need to show him the extent of his power. The orc grunted with approval before saying, "it is not often I see devils and angels sitting together on the same table. You are a bold one." "Not at all," Lex said casually. "I just believe that we can all benefit from working with one another." "Before we begin," said one of the humans, "I must inform you of some of our rules. Before agreeing to the task, the parameters need to be clearly defined. If you want us to do anything extra, then that will require additional payment. Moreover, the Reaving Dread is a very popr mercenary group, which means that there is a chance that your opponent may have also hired some of our people. Just know that the Reaving Dread mercenary group will never fight its own people. If both sides have members of the group, then instead of a direct sh, the orders will need to be changed." The two humans and the orc were from the Reaving Dread mercenary group, the very group that often provided security to the Inn for its events. But this time, Lex was hiring them directly, which is why for the first time he was actually having a meeting with them. "You will have very specific orders," Lex stated. "There is no chance of you facing others from your group." "If I may," said the devil, rubbing his stubbled chin, "I have a proposal as well." "You have a proposal even though you don''t even know what this meeting is for?" Lex asked, intrigued. "Well, I can venture a guess. After all, each of us here has a certain reputation. We''re not exactly farmers and flower pickers. Each of us represents a formidable fighting force, so I can foresee a fight. Now requiring all three of us, well that must mean the fighting up is big. If that''s the case, hiring everyone will be expensive. "Which is why I have a proposal for you. It''s for your own interest, really. To make this whole endeavor more affordable for you. Depending on the strength of our enemies, if you agree to hand over all the prisoners to me afterwards, based on the number of prisoners I can reduce the fee for our cooperation." Lex shook his head, disapprovingly. "There will be no prisoners left alive. This is a redundant offer. Let''s get onto the actual discussion. Just know that, throughout this whole deal, you won''t be informed of the specifics until it''s time for you to act." The orc and the humans didn''t care about that, but the devil and angel were perturbed. "How can I agree to anything unless I know the details? What if you want us to attack our allies? Or there is some conflict of interest?" "This is our first time cooperating, so of course there is a deficit of trust," Lex said very calmly. "I can share the details with you, but for that we would have to go to the Chamber of Secrets. You can decide then if you find it agreeable, but then the details will be wiped from your memory when you leave. You will only remember whether you chose to agree or not. I believe this is a lot more secure than other conventional ways of sharing secrets." Indeed, simply wiping memories was much simpler than making soul oaths or being bound to contracts which would result in devastating damage or repercussions if the agreement was breached. They contemted for a moment, but saw no drawbacks to the suggestion. The orc and humans though, once again, did not care. It was pretty much determined that they would be hired as long as their stiptions were kept in mind." The group then ventured into the Chamber of secrets, and Lex began to reveal some of the basics of what their agreement would entail. Even with the chamber in y, Lex kept most of his n a secret, but he did divulge who and what they would be targeting and what would be expected from them. Of course, Lex also detailed what benefits they gained to stand by agreeing to work with him. The angel was very good at masking her emotions, showing nothing of what she actually thought, though Lex could still read her. The devil, on the other hand, was visibly excited. The more Lex talked, the wider his smile became, and it was almost like he couldn''t restrain himself. That wasn''t really a good thing, for him at least, because when it came to negotiating his pay, Lex knew he could push hard. The angel, on the other hand, presented a much tougher front when it came to negotiations. Of course, that was only what she thought. Lex could read her like an open book. It also helped that he knew exactly what the angels wanted from him. They could have gotten treatment for their wings from the Inn anyway, but Lex didn''t mind upselling his treatments in exchange for more of their favor.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Chapter 1171 Getting more workers Chapter 1171 Getting more workers The meeting went just about as lex expected. The mercenary group was, as they stated, quite a popr one, even if they were expensive. As long as they were paid, they would do as asked. Lex was extremely wealthy, with all the resources of the Midnight realm at his disposal but that didn''t mean he would be wasteful with it. By handing over looting rights he could reduce the cost of hiring them, and besides that he intended to recoup all his investments by taking from his enemies. The devil and angel were, byparison, not the most influential nor the most powerful among their race. But ording to Velma''s research, they were the ones that Lex could most easilye to an agreement with. With all the homework done for him, it was fairly simple tond the deal. Lex was now beginning to consider that instead of a programmer, he should have been a salesman. There were more things to do. There were so many things to do. But at this point, Lex had to stop doing everything himself and relegate the rest to the other Inn workers. His focus had to be on kicking off the Midnight Games, and making sure it was progressing smoothly before he himself entered the tourney. There was a reason why Lex was not concerned about the timing of the tourney and the Midnight Games ovepping, and it was because the format of both was different, as well as the scale. Despite the fact that the Midnight Games would be muchrger thanst time, and would probably include multiple gxies, it was not on the level of the tourney. Lex had purposefully made sure that the games did not be too big, and that the marketing for it was extremely specific. This was because even though the Inn would not be the venue for the games, it would attract a lot of attention. Though they had grown, the Midnight inn was not ready for billions if not trillions of guests. Thest few hours passed by in a blur as Lex prepared everything. Even though the Inn was not ready for the masses, there were already over 600 million guests inside the Inn at that moment. Besides his few main cities, Lex built fifty more cities, spending 900 million MP just on infrastructure alone. But though this seemed like immense work, the Inn level division made it much easier. This basically meant that, other than a fewmon areas, most ces inside the Inn were divided based on the cultivation level they were focused towards. Based on that, the cost of the living facilities and services cost different MP. Obviously, then, the performance was also scaled to that level. This did not create hard divides segregating the various groups. Anyone could enter any other level if they wanted. But to go from one level to a level higher than one''s own cultivation level required a small MP cost. It was not a significant cost, but it was enough to deter excessive mixing and discourage roaming. This cost also scaled based on the level one was trying to enter. There was no cost to go into a lower level, but the fact that each level had a significantly different spirit energy concentration in the environment, made it naturally lessfortable than the level they were supposed to be in. These were simple tricks, but it was enough to keep the levels divided effectively, since no one was really missing out. Each level was designed to perfectly cater to the guests of that area, and included all main services. As a result, even though Lex had 600 million guests, a little over 500 million of them were in the Golden core and under, and so did not require as much manpower. Of course, hundreds of millions of guests still did require workers. Fortunately, Lex hade up with an organic way to get more workers than just simply getting more from the system. The first was the most obvious, which was to ept interested guests as workers. But for that Lex would be very selective. Although the system itself filtered all the applicants, selecting only those worthy, Lex was not sure what the system''s criteria was, or if it fit his own. So far, despite having countless workers, he''d avoided internal conflict. That was because most workers were bought directly from the system, and usually had amenable personalities. But as more people joined, conflicts were inevitable. As such, he was very careful in who he selected. One such example was the tribe of elves who worshiped technology. They had spent years inside the Inn as a tribe, the entire time just wanting to be able to work with therge spaceship. Considering it was an entire tribe, and that he had studied their behavior over arge period of time, he allowed the tribe to apply for a job. Simrly, guests who frequented the Inn and had somewhat of a reputation were allowed to apply to be workers. But the majority of the workers came from the local popce of the realm, and the Midnight portal was a huge help in sifting through them and finding those worthy of the opportunity. Even after fifteen years, most living in the realm did not know where the Midnight Inn was, and the memory of the Innkeeper''s words had already begun to fade. N?v(el)B\\jnn That is why the Midnight portal, or as most knew of it as only the online portal, appeared, most did not connect the two. They simply marveled at its amazing capabilities, allowing them not only tomunicate and trade across the realm, but send deliveries as well. Though, admittedly, the deliveries were being managed by certain users of the tform rather than Lex. But hey, if the Shadow Talons found a useful and productive way to use their ability to travel the entire realm in secret, then who was he to stop them? What truly mattered was that over the past few years, Lex had experimented with various social media tforms, and online tournaments, which is how he formed the outline of what he wanted the Midnight games to be like. Most importantly, by delivering privacy to all the users, Lex allowed them to behave as they wished online, which allowed him to study who they were and what they were like, picking out only the best to deliver an opportunity for bing a worker at the Inn. After years of this, the poption of workers at the Inn had grown by the millions, though of course all the training and management of the new staff was still managed by the older, more experienced workers. Chapter 1172 Rise Chapter 1172 Rise Lex sat in the Innkeeper''s office, looking out at the Inn, though he didn''t really need to do that. As long as he didn''t block it out, he was always aware of what was happening in the Inn. He could feel the subtle excitement in the air. Most people didn''t even know what to expect from the uing event. Even the awards fromst time had only been briefly mentioned. Lex felt like there was a very subtle desperation that each of the guests carried. Life had been very tough recently, and they all wanted something to celebrate. Lex closed his eyes and stretched his fingers, as if he was getting ready to y the piano, or write a long report on theputer. When he closed his fingers, Naraka''s handle was there waiting for him. The sword still had not tasted its first blood, but it could feel theing war. It was ready. Damian had been very bold in his goading of Lex. Did he know Lex''s background when he did that, or was he targeting something else? n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Maybe he was trying to understand why his parents had hidden Lex and no one else, and was only trying to lure him out. Maybe working with a terrorist no one could find or catch boosted his confidence. In that case, Lex wondered how he would react now that he was finally about to properly respond? Lex opened the event panel, and spent 21 Midnight Tokens. That meant, he spent the 21 trillion Midnight Points he had umted in the past fifteen years from the Midnight realm, almost wiping his entire umtion. He only had about 200 billion MP left. But such wild expenditure was necessary. After all, the venue for the Midnight Games this time around was the Origin realm itself. The participants were more, the venue wasrger, the stakes were greater, and so naturally, the prizes also had to be that much grander. Suddenly all activity inside the Midnight Inn stopped. In the Origin realm, all activity on the countlesss that had signed up for games seemed toe to a halt. More importantly, anyone and everyone who had a golden key in their possession felt a tingling feelinging from it, and when they grabbed the key, they could see a vision in their minds. It was the same vision that filled the sky of the Midnight Inn, and covered the skies of all thes that were taking part. In the vision there was an ant carrying a piece of meat in its mandibles, crawling through a field of pebbles. "Power¡­" It was a single word, itself filled with power, and it reverberated through the realm, through space, through time, through the very minds and souls of all who bore witness to the grand visions, and it gave them goosebumps. They could feel something, something hidden deep within them, maybe in their bodies, in their souls, in their memories. With the voice something awoke, and even though they did not know what it was, they felt that it was important. But while all the guests were entranced by the vision and the word, the workers, those who had been at the Inn for a while, were filled with uncontroble and unsuppressable excitement. That was the voice of the one and only Innkeeper. "Everything in existence has power, and at the same time is ruled by it." Another insect, arger, more fearsome one, appeared in front of the ant, causing it to stop in its tracks. "There are those with more power than others, and they use it as they please¡­" The insect attacked the ant, flinging across the pebbles and injuring it. Yet, tenacious as it was, the ant did not let go of its prize. It scrambled back onto its legs, ready to face the charging insect. "Yet they forget that they are not the only ones with it. There is also strength in numbers¡­" Just as therger insect was about to smash into the ant once more, arger guard ant appeared in its path, blocking its way. Then another, and another. Before the insect even realized it, there were ants crawling on its back, and other ants pulling its legs right from underneath it, until it was swarmed. "There are the weak, the strong, the winners and the losers, the fighters and those who just give up. Sometimes, fate makes a mockery of them all." Just before the ants could win the fight, a big metal boot stepped on the rock and then went away, leaving behind nothing. "In the hands of those unbeatable, unfathomable forces, whether its destiny, or fate, a deity or an immortal, your life can seem just like a game." More boots stepped on the pebbles, and the vision zoomed out over an ever growing army, all garbed in full body armor, carrying their swords and shields with them, ready to go to war. "Not knowing that even their lives are game in the hands of another." The scene zoomed out even more, and it became apparent that not only were the soldiers going to war, they wereing from one as well. Beat and battered, some of them had broken armor while others had broken swords. As the scene kept zooming out it became impossible to see the finer details of each soldier, but at that point different things came into view. The soldiers were marching away from a conquered castle, its walls broken, its armies yed, its king dead. "For long they have been spreading chaos. They have been spreading havoc. They have been ying with the lives of others all for their amusement. But they have forgotten that they are not the only ones who can y this game." The army passed by viges and towns. They passed by cheering crowds of women and children. The army grew bigger as farmhands andborers joined them, as cksmiths melted down metal gates and ornaments to make armor and shields, as merchants and lords gathered their coins to buy them food. "They will put you down, so today I am here to tell you: rise!" A wall appeared in front of the army. Void creatures and monsters ill suited for the world of the living lined the wall, and behind it stood a tide of death and corruption in the form of countless hellions. "They hide behind a veil of fear and lies, so today I am here to remind you: even monsters can die." A ming stone, thrown from a catapult mmed into the wall, breaking off a piece of it and killing countless monsters. The battle began, and the vision seemed to constantly go through various scenes of battle. At one moment a team of humans were fighting against a monster. A sword sh covered the image, and revealed beasts, elves, devils and angels fighting against monsters made from a cloud of darkness. The ground tore open and the hells were revealed, opening the gates to endless horrors. Yet they had barely crawled out of their hole when a beam of light shot down from the sky, eviscerating them all. The clouds spread apart as the light tore through them, revealing countless spaceships, fighting in the skies. Green and redsers filled the air. Winged creatures and insects alike attacked, roaring with bloodthirsty cries. But magic shimmered in the air. Fairies zoomed through the air, their glittering fairy dust eroding all the corruption. Wizards and witches flew on brooms, shooting through wants. Spacetroopers garbed in white body armor shot their sters. "Today, I am here to remind you, even in the face of death¡­" Above the, consumed by a raging war, hung a lonely moon, clearly visible. Yet the moon suddenly started to shatter, andrge chunks from it flew out, revealing a skeletal w. The war momentarily stopped as everyone looked up at the dying moon. More chunks of it were torn free, until the moon suddenly exploded, revealing an undead dragon. Wearing ck armor, the dragon roared, its ck mes threatening to burn all of reality and its roar extinguishing the souls of the living. The light dimmed and darkness spread as the dragon looked towards the with its green, ming eyes deep within its skeletal face. A soldier dropped a sword to the ground. The dragon spread its wings, its mighty aura epassing the, and then took flight towards the itself. "...the game can suddenly change." In the vision a single figure came into focus. As the whole world was losing hope, a single, defiant figure stood in the air with his arms folded, looking up at the sky. The figure was wearing not armor, but a ck suit. The undead dragon closed in, and just as it opened its maw to drown that lone figure in its ck mes, a space tear opened in front of him, and from it dove out an even mightier Kun Peng, and shed against the dragon. "The damned and the wicked aren''t the only ones who can y games. So can you. I hereby announce the start of the Midnight Games. So rise! Rise to the asion. Rise against the tyranny and fear that has gripped countless worlds. Rise, and build your own legend!" An overwhelming surge of courage, pride and ambition burst in the hearts of a trillion beings. The tiny, small thing they had felt wake within them was hope, and passion, and more importantly, the fantasy that life could be worth living. Across the Origin realm, it was not the rich worlds that had been targeted by the Midnight Games, nor was it the powerful ones. Instead, it was the ones scarred by war, by tyranny, by greed. It was thes that had known suffering and pain. It was thes that had suffered at the hands of terrorists. It was thes ready to evolve into something more that had heard the call of the Midnight Games. Thus it was that long forgotten, forsaken worlds felt the might of the Innkeeper, as portals opened, leading to other worlds in dire need. Since they had all registered for the Midnight Games, they knew that this was not an individualpetition, but rather one of worlds. How many worlds could they save? How many terrorists could they foil? How many heroes would they give rise to? As they felt the Innkeepers words resonate within them, their armies roared as they rushed through the portals. When they needed help the most there was no one to hear it. But now that they had heard a call for aid, they would not leave it unanswered. The second ever Midnight Games started off with a war that spread across many gxies. As it happened, each armynded on a being invaded by insects. Lex''s eyes gleamed, and Naraka in his hands trembled. Soon, it would be their turn to act as well. Chapter 1173 Unexpected help Chapter 1173 Unexpected help Lex kept sitting in his seat as he watched the numerous screens which showed all thepeting participants. This was not his original n of what to do with the Midnight games, but it worked out well enough. Having the event take ce outside the actual Inn made it much more difficult to control the specifics, and that in turn made it much more expensive as well. But by registering themselves as a whole, thes linked themselves to the Inn as participants. Then came the much harder and more difficult task of finding the appropriates to have the fights on. It was impossible to just pick every he wanted randomly, but that is where having such arge workforce came in handy. His workers spread out across the gxies, collecting information. Since they knew exactly what to look for, it was simple enough. Even without the Henali portal linking the entire realm, every significant force had its own information channels, and Velma had her own ways of tapping into them. With the participants registering themselves, and the target locations picked out one by one, he just needed to find a way to connect them so that the participants could go to the targeteds. That, as it turned out, wasn''t as tricky as Lex originally imagined. The only difficult part was sending a worker to each of thoses being consumed by terrorist attacks and the gue of insects. Once there, he just needed to find a local with enough authority, and have them register their inside the Midnight Games as well. But they were just registering as targets that need to be saved, instead of participants taking part in the game. Still, despite finding loopholes, the process was expensive and convoluted. In fact, the 21 MT that he had spent would not evenst the entire duration of the games. It was just enough to fuel the starting teleportations, as well as prizes. That was the cost of operating outside the Inn. But considering the countless guests inside the Inn, and the countless more who would watch the Games and choose to participate in some way, Lex was more than confident of funding the entire event easily. After all, what was more popr in the universe than watching a live war? And even among wars, this one was like no other. The prizes for the victors, decided at the end, would be delivered then. But even now, each and every participant was earning their individual prizes. For killing enough enemies, saving enough people, ormitting some heroic act that contributed to the war in some way, such as procuring critical intel or spotting enemy leaders, they would get points. Each and every individual could then use those points to redeem individual prizes. One critical piece of information was that whether it was the participants fighting, or thes being rescued, none contained Earth immortals. As such, with all participants being in the Nascent realm and below,ing up with a way to boost their cultivation, or providing them with rare and valuable treasures was a simple task for Lex. Any random de of grass in the Midnight realm could rece a treasured herb for a Foundation realm cultivator, and the dew that appeared on the grass in the morning could cleanse their body of all impurities. A random pebble was a valuable treasure containing earth properties, and a random piece of bark contained enough vitality to bring a dying person back to life. So providing prizes for the participants, allowing them to have breakthroughs in their cultivation, and grow stronger than they could have ever on their own, was the easiest part of things for Lex. N?v(el)B\\jnn Even then, he didn''t directly strip the Inn of its bountiful harvest. He still relied on the system to generate the items given as prizes, but because they weremon materials inside the Inn, their total cost remained low. Like that, Lex set the stage not only for a war that would specifically target his own enemies, but he created a prolonged source of entertainment. Audience members could follow along their favorite warriors, following them on their incredible journeys to save lives and grow stronger in the meantime. If, during that time, they decided that they liked someone, and wanted to help him ovee a particr hurdle, they could also choose to pay up. Their payments would cover the MPcost of the prizes their favorite warriors would receive, allowing them to bypass the need to raise points in a critical moment. Of course, since this was an Inn event, the Reaving Dread mercenaries were hired as well. Not only did they patrol the Inn, keeping everyone here safe, but they stayed close to each where a fight was taking ce. If any immortals showed up, it would be the mercenaries job to ensure none of the participants were hurt or targeted by them. Mere minutes had passed since the Games started, and the Inns ie was already shooting through the roof. Each had a score board, listing the strongest warriors, the warriors with the most kills, the most saves, anything and everything that could be ranked was being done so. Through the Midnight portal, he could see that someone had alreadypiled a Midnight Games Top beauty list, listing out the most beautiful warriors from across thes, regardless of their race. This was made up by one of the viewers, and the list was entirely based on votes. There was another used made listparing the strongest moves used by the warriors, and another oneparing those who had the strongest defense. By allowing the viewers to make and poprize these lists, Lex increased the viewers attachment to watching the Games, as well as those participating in them. The more they were attached, the more they would spend. The more they spent, the stronger the warriors became. The stronger they became, the more of those terrorist scum they killed. It created a perfect loop. Of course, what no one knew was that there was a lot going on behind the scenes as well. Not everything was shown on screen, since not everything wasa part of the games. By interfering with the terrorists ns, and attracting their attention this way, he created a distraction for a muchrger, and much more powerful force to move silently and undetected, positioning themselves for the critical moment. After all, as long as the fight was limited to just below the immortal realm, then that was equivalent to not really hurting them at all. A force that had the guts to take on the Henali directly would never be limited to just those below the immortal realm. But all big things begin small. This was merely the first step. Lex continued to watch, making adjustments where they were needed and quickly addressing any issues. Since the Games had only just begun, this is when they would most likely have the most issues, which is why Lex gave it his undivided attention. Whether it was with the games themselves, or with the guests at the Inn, or those viewing from the Origin realm, he did not expect such arge move to go without obstruction, so he was watching for any problems that arose. Fortunately, while there were problems, they were not too big - so far. But of the many things Lex had expected, the thing he had not expected was that there were outside forces,pletely uninvolved with his n, that not only did not create problems for him, but ended up helping him as well. A number of teenagers and young adults suddenly teleported on one of thes that was participating in the Games. "Is everyone clear on the rules of this trial?" one of the adults asked. "Yes, yes. We just need to enter the top 100 on the most kills list, and stay there for a week to pass the trial." "Good. Remember, this is an individual trial, so we cannot help each other. If you do well, and pass, then maybe we''ll see each other when we get promoted to Ventura Bronze." "A little too confident, aren''t you Haris?" said one of the teenagers with augh, but hisment wasn''t malicious. "Are you so ready to leave Ventura Brown behind?" "Not just Brown, but Bronze as well. This is just the start of my journey. If you''re lucky, maybe you can tag along and witness my legend yourself." Everyoneughed. They were all in a good mood. Why wouldn''t they be? The students of Ventura were all powerful, so they were all confident in passing this sudden trial that would allow them to graduate to a higher level Ventura campus. Haris looked out at the portal, but his thoughts ventured elsewhere. He had discovered the Midnight Inn years ago, and used to rendezvous with his girlfriend, Ayesha, there long ago. But it had been so many years since they lost contact, once she stopped showing up at the Inn. One of his greatest motivations in entering a higher level was so that he could get more freedom, and track her down. Like them, on variouss, many students from Ventura suddenly appeared, taking part in this sudden trial. Their sudden arrival went unnoticed by everyone, but it would not be long before their actions began to attract attention. Chapter 1174 Must be someone else Chapter 1174 Must be someone else The Midnight games had begun, countless guests were inside the Inn, but for some odd reason, the most popr Inn workers seemed to be absent. Many of the regr guests began to wonder where Z or Velma were, and those who saw Lilith but not Gerard wondered if something was amiss. In fact, quite a few faces seemed to be missing from the Inn, yet no one paid it too much mind. After all, while the Midnight Games were happening, due to therge influx of guests, the Inn still needed to prepare other forms of entertainment. As such, the Inn finally saw the much anticipated return of the machines of torture, or rollercoasters as some folks called it. Theme parks returned, cultural fairs were organised and there were even a number of local fights between guests who could challenge each other in the ring. Of course, those fights never became nearly as popr as the main fights of the games, but it still attracted some attention. The Mountain-man, who had been sleeping for years and years, and had essentially be a tourist attraction, finally showed signs of waking up when another Mountain-man, or rather, Mountain-woman, appeared at the Inn as well. At the same time, Lex was swamped. There were only so many things he could delegate to others, but now that most of his integral staff was outside the Inn, he could delegate even less. Moreover, now that the system was much more active, with a little over 40% of its functionality returned, if Lex spent too much time away from the Inn, it gave him stupid quests with extreme punishments for failing. Furthermore, in certain circumstances, it insisted that Lex himself handle the situation. With so many guests at the Inn, and moreing every day, there were obviously others who wanted to take advantage of the opportunity. They did not cause trouble, no. Instead, they wanted to host their own events simultaneously, and take advantage of the massive crowd at the Inn. Lex had to ept or reject all such applications himself. As such, soon there was a circus set up near one of the new cities, run entirely by gnomes. In another ce, someone set up a fishingpetition, trying to catch the Magikarpets, while in another someone wanted to host a butterfly catchingpetition. But they were unfamiliar with the nuisances that were the butterflies in the Inn.Their wings were razor sharp, and they cut through thes and then began kidnapping those who tried to catch them. Lex refused to lend any aid to those who had been kidnapped by the butterflies. Before he approved the event, he also gave a disimer. It was not his fault no one listened. The fishing well also once again became popr. The well was now connected to three realms, namely the Midnight realm, the Origin realm and the Crystal realm, so the randomness of what one could pull out had increased even more. But by far the most popr thing in the Inn, almost even surpassing the actual Midnight Games, causing Lex to seriously reassess what he wanted for the future of the Inn, was the daycare. Those who left their kids in the Inn daycare were more than satisfied, as not only was it safe, it kept the kids satisfied and upied without causing a scene. Over the years, the daycare in the Inn had evolved tremendously. Once Lex created a massive daycare area filled with toys and rides and ces to ignore. While that ce still existed, as the Inn grewrger, that area became too small to handle all the kids. It was relegated to being a side or small daycare. Then, for a while, the massive spaceship served as the daycare. The many automatic functions of the ship, as well as its ability to keep everyone safe and happy were what mattered most. In fact, if the ship hadn''te to life and be prone to crying, Lex would have continued using it. But since he couldn''t, he needed toe up with another idea. In truth, Lex had many things he could do. But he liked being innovative. So, he turned the new, 2D realmw that he replicated, and turned the entire daycare 2D. Kids, when they entered, were so extremely fascinated by the tformer life that they forgot about everything else. Lex had developed an extensive yet safe world using those 2Dws, as well as copies of old Marlo''s brothers video games. That did not mean he copied them in any way. But he may have figured out that in a 2D world, no one needed to breathe and so there were underwater levels. Of course, the daycare was still run by the bunnies, who were actually quite enjoying the 2D world as well. Their hopping ability really came to shine when they were required to hop from one level to another. But, at least for now, Lex had no time to consider expanding this into something else. He saw immense potential here, but he wasn''t quite ready tounch the Midnight daycare properly. ***** On the once frozen of the Yeti''s, a number of figures gathered. Their shapes were illusory, so that no one could identify who they were or which force they represented. But they maintained a blurry outline so as to ensure that the others who were gathering all knew that someone was here. "Can you tell who did it?" one of the figures asked another, looking down at a bubblingvake. There was a neww operating on this that kept theva from cooling down. The function of thew was not nearly as impressive as the fact that someone literally dropped a neww on this like they were dropping a diss track against the yetis. This was far beyond the capabilities of evenmon Earth Immortals. Whoever did this was making a statement. They just couldn''t figure out what that statement was, or who it was targeting. After all, the number of forces using the Yeti''s cloning facilities was not few. "I can''t tell anything. This ce has been washed in divine energy. Whoever did this was very tant in their efforts. Normally, when erasing their footprints, culprits are subtle. This is the first time I''ve seen someone employ such drastic yet effective measures." "Even if they used divine energy to hide their trail, there has to be some way of finding the culprit." "Naturally, there is," another figure answered. "Divine energy works to hide your trail from low level cultivators. But in front of a celestial, it is mere childsy to resolve the issue." One of the figures exerted a strange power, and everyone could sense that the trace of divine energy was slowly vanishing. That wouldn''t automatically reveal other clues, so they waited to see what this person intended to do by erasing the energy traces. After all, they had already tried but could not trace the source of the divine energy. Once all the energy was gone, one of the figures extended something out, as if they were holding a wand. "Now watch this," the person said with a hint of pride. He did¡­ well, he definitely did something, because a secondter the man screamed out in horror, and then blew up. Everyone was stunned, and then retreated in case they got caught up in whatever had happened. Yet nothing more happened. They also didn''t have answers for why that person had suddenly blown up, until another figure, that was invisible up until now, revealed themselves, if only marginally. "The aura of divine energy was a trap," the figure said. "It was baiting someone to look behind it. But hiding behind¡­ is the aura of a Dao Lord. This matter seems to have be very big." All the figures who were standing in the air, lording over the sword cut that reached into the centre of the, suddenly pulled in their necks. A dao Lord? They did not want to get involved. "Who the hell did this? Why would someone with the backing of a Dao Lord go aroundmitting petty theft like this?" Yet if any of them had an answer, none of them revealed it. Most of the figures, at that point, retreated. They wanted nothing to do with this anymore. But two figures remained. "You think someone is targeting you?" one of the figures asked. "Maybe. But if it were the Henali tracking us down. They wouldn''t be hiding their tracks. I can''t think of who could be responsible." "Forget about it and focus on the Games. Since a Dao Lords aura has been revealed, then let the Dao Lords on our side handle this matter." "Very well." Both the figures disappeared at that point, leaving the once thriving, now barrennd behind. "Could it be him?" one of the figures wondered, thinking of his grandson who was increasingly popr these days. But that didn''t make sense. How could he get in contact with a Dao Lord? It must be someone else.N?v(el)B\\jnn Chapter 1175 Billions Chapter 1175 Billions In the first few hours of the Midnight Games, its influence was already massive, overturning countless battles in the realm. But as more time passed its influence grew onlyrger. Such a precise, coordinated assault was one that even the Henali had failed to make against the terrorists. After all, while they had countless resources, being able to effortlessly transport entire armies across entire gxies, at a moment''s notice, without the use of formations¡­ it was utterly beyond them. It was not an exaggeration to say that it would literally require one or more Dao Lords to personally act, using their own powers, to make such a change happen. But it was not as if the Henali Dao Lords were sitting around, lounging and doing nothing. N?v(el)B\\jnn If there was a war going on between those at lower realms, then there was one at the higher levels as well. It was just that the battles of a higher caliber happened out of sight, and away from where themon people could detect them. After all, if the Fuegan, or even Sanguis Pluvia didn''t have the confidence to upy their Dao Lords, why would they waste their time with the small fry? That was not to say that the Henali never responded to such threats. But just that their responses took hours or sometimes days, whereas the Midnight Games teleported entire armies in mere moments. As hours turned into days, the Midnight Inn once again came into the limelight, and the poption at the Inn exploded. The number of guests went from 600 million to over 10 billion in just a few days. But this boom did not take Lex by surprise. In fact, he was well prepared to amodate even more guests. MT rolled in, and Lex spent it nearly as soon as it arrived. A few Midnight Tokens (MT) was more than enough to amodate a billion guests, including infrastructure, temporary staff, protection and security as well as misceneous expenses. What Lex was really focused on was maintaining Guest satisfaction levels, which are hovering around 81%. If the ratings dropped by even a single percentage, his expenses would increase exponentially, which is why Lex had to do his best to ensure that the Inn was operating as best as it possibly could. At the same time, he could not cater to every whim, since the Inn had to maintain his prestige. So when a spoiled prince from a rich demanded that allmoner filth be removed from his sight, instead of inconveniencing other guests, the prince was teleported to the peak of the Midnight Mountain. When heined further, he would be given a warning, as the Inn would not tolerate threatening his other guests. When he acted out But while Lex expected this rise in guests, he was also anticipating that the numbers would eventually go down as well. After all, the Inn was not cheap, and not everyone was so rich that they could stay at the Inn forever. Even most people who could afford it could only afford to be there once in a while. So after the initial craze of the Inn went by, which for now had only just begun, Lex expected the numbers to go down. Of course, they would go down onlypared to the peak, and that ''down'' might actually end up being more than the current 10 billion. But that didn''t change the fact that Lex was dealing with a hell lot of people, beasts, monsters and races he had never even imagined. Yet oddly enough, dealing with 10 billion people was no harder than dealing with 600 million. Yes, it required more resources. But the problems were more or less the same, just greater in number. But Lex could not afford to get cocky. For once he had a very important mission to focus on, so he took every moment of managing the Inn very seriously. He oversaw every issue, from the smallest to the greatest, repeatedly refining his system for handling issues. Remarkably, the results were evident to all. Even the guests could feel that as the days went by, the staff at the Inn was getting more and more experienced at catering to guests and handling situations. What they especially loved, most of everything else in fact, was when some random person dared to attack someone at the Inn. That was their favorite, oddly enough. With billions of guests, finding someone who was incapable of controlling themselves was pretty easy. That''s when they knew there would be a show. Whether it was vines ripping out from the ground itself, restraining the attacker, or staff members teleporting in and beating the attacker, or a flying whale showing up and pping people with its wings, or a battalion of highly trained, extremely lethal peacock mounted guards, all of it was very entertaining to watch. Then, the few times when someone went too far, thoroughly offending the Inn, beyond the point where even banishment would do, there was the Hearth. Offenders of that scale were killed, in and simple, and their souls would be added to the Hearth, where red hot coals would burn their souls until the souls eventually vanished. The Hearth was put in ce as a warning to everyone not tomit heinous crimes, but a lot of people just liked watching criminals burn. It was kind of twisted, but it worked to a degree to deter people. It also helped that at a certain point, a number of Celestials came to the Inn, all strongly advocating for the Inn and publicly voicing that anyone who offended the Inn would be their enemies. Lex literally had no idea where they came from or why they did that. Most of them were from races that he hadn''t ever met before. Ordinarily, he might have considered meeting with some of them to get to the bottom of things, but for now he didn''t want to stir the pot. He strongly suspected they were sent by the Henali, especially since he was technically helping them by killing terrorists. As the week finally came to a close, with the Inn hosting more than 50 billion guests, Lex was immensely grateful that the realm was big enough, otherwise he didn''t know where he would put so many guests. But as the event had stabilized, Lex looked at his system panel. The system, now more than ever, wanted to keep him busy managing the Inn. But it was impossible to constantly stay at the Inn all the time since he might have other tasks to do, such as with the tourney that he was about to enter. So for that, the system had introduced a new feature. He could purchase time off with MP. He looked at his current bnce of 73 MT, and spent 20 of it to buy time off. This bought him an entire year free from the misceneous quests that popped up everyday, ensuring he handled the day to day functions of the Inn. He then spent 52 MT ensuring that the event kept running. Fortunately, as expected, he was earning just as fast as he needed to spend. With that taken care of, Lex sent a message to Hera, Jimmy''s mother. She was the first non-native worker of the Inn he trusted enough to oversee things. Over the past few years she had worked extremely hard in any task he assigned her, and had proved herself worthy of his trust. So as he left the Inn, and most of his other most trusted workers were out doing other tasks, he handed her the reins. He could naturally ensure that she did not mess up or do anything suspicious, so it was not a huge risk letting her take charge. But the thing that Lex worried about was lowering the Guest satisfaction rating. He felt like she could handle it for now. If she performed well, who knew, maybe he could groom her to be his new assistant. Having one assistant was clearly not enough to manage the Inn. Lex realized he was lingering, so without any more procrastination, he teleported out of the Inn. Although he could use the Innkeepers rmendation to directly enter the tourney, it would interfere with his ns so instead he summoned the coupon the strange ghost Bacterius gave him so long ago. He then channeled his spirit energy into the coupon and felt it activate. The coupon dissolved into a liquid and entered Lex''s hand, turning into a silver tattoo in the shape of a circle. Or maybe it was a zero. He wasn''t sure. A few momentster, he felt his tattoo warm up, and detected the familiar signs of a long range teleportation about to activate. For a brief moment Lex wondered if he wanted to hide his identity. Should he wait until a critical moment and reveal himself to the world, or appear as the notorious world kidnapping Lex right from the get go? A secondter, he was teleported away. Chapter 1176 Temple of Frozen Dawn I Chapter 1176 Temple of Frozen Dawn I When Lex reappeared, he was surprised to find that he was actually inside what looked like a hotel room, with no one else there. This was most likely his waiting room. He already knew what to expect once he was invited out. The actual tourney itself would start soon, but it would not be such a straightforwardpetition. There were, in fact, several concurrent streams through which the tourney would take ce, all happening in various ces across the realm. Simrly, the preliminary tournament he had entered had several streams as well. The purpose of the preliminary tournament was to pick out any worthy candidates for the Champions tourney that were not a part of any major organization, and hence missed the opportunity to be nominated. After all, the objective of the tourney was toplete a few challenges or objectives, not to promote their own people. As such, the Henali wanted anyone capable to get a chance. At the same time, there were likely many hidden reasons, but that did not concern Lex. In his years controlling the tavern, Lex had gathered enough information about the events. His ultimate goal was a ce called Trial of Eternity. Contrary to its name, the destination did not include any actual trials. In fact, in the history of the Origin realm, at least the bits of it which were known, it was quite a popr ce. Yet it could not be reached so easily. It was not on any, or even in any gxy for that matter. Within the Origin realm there were certain ces that were unique, simr to Minor realms but at the same time, not quite. The details eluded Lex but what mattered was the fact that they could not be entered normally, nor could Lex get any items or artifacts from those ces. But those ces were the exact venue for the tourney. So what he needed to do was, in the preliminary tournament, follow the stream that would ultimately lead him to the Trial of Eternity. That is where he would undergo his tribtion, which was the first and most important step in getting his revenge. Lex walked up to the exit and tried to leave, but as expected the door was locked. He shrugged, and strolled over to the bed to take a nap. He had been working nonstop all ofst week, so he might as well get some rest. He woke up a couple hourster when he sensed a small but significant change in his room. The door had been unlocked. Lex took one look at himself in the mirror before he stepped out. There was also one more very significant difference between the preliminary tournament, and the Champions tourney. Most people did not actually know about the tourney, nor were they qualified to learn about it. Only the very top powers of the realm would be aware of it. Yet the preliminary tournament would be streamed across the realm. So as soon as he stepped out, Lex expected to be seen across the entire realm - or at least, be capable of being spotted from anywhere. He doubted many people would pay too much attention to him from the start. He left his room and found himself in a hotel hallway. That was anticlimactic. To his left was a werewolf who also looked surprised by where they were. "Hey, do you know where to go?" the werewolf asked, looking at Lex. Lex shrugged. "Do you think that the preliminary tournament has already begun? What if we''re in a test? The hotel could be in a-" "Attention please!" a loud announcement interrupted the werewolf. "All tournament participants are requested to arrive at the hotel lobby for registration." The werewolf''s shoulders slumped. He had already be invested in his own thoughts about how the tournament had already begun. Finding the lobby was pretty easy, though since teleportation was somehow banned here, Lex had to walk along with the werewolf who began to spin a new story about the treacherous traps that might await them in the lobby. Instead what waited for them was a pamphlet that briefly stated what the nine different streams for the preliminary tournament were, their difficulty on a scale from one to five, and the passing conditions for each stream. Lex skimmed them all until he found the one that would lead to the Trial of Eternity upon passing. It was the hardest of all the streams and had a 100% chance of death unless sessfully resolved, unlike the others, and was called Temple of the Frozen Dawn. Lex walked up to the receptionist and told her his choice. "Please sign here, here, and here to dere that you understand the risks you are undertaking, and will not hold anyone responsible in case of your timely or untimely demise." After a surprising amount of paperwork, Lex walked through one more door, and suddenly felt his environment change. He was still in the Origin realm, he knew that much. He could feel that this was the Origin realm. But at the same time, the energy in the atmosphere reminded him of the Midnight Realm. It was rich and vibrant in a way that reminded him of a newborn realm, still figuring out itsws. Lex activated his left eye to get a look at thews in this ce, and his jaw dropped. Thews in this ce were iplete! It really was like a newborn realm! But that was not enough to shock Lex. No, what shocked Lex was something much greater. He hade to understand that one of the immutable truths of the universe, if not the only immutable thing about the universe, was time. Although some realms had a faster or slower flow of time, that did not change the fact that time existed everywhere. Even in the Void, where space did not exist, time was present. Not only that, but to mess with time was perhaps one of the most dangerous and difficult things to do, though it was still technically possible. For example, the flow of time in certain regions could be altered to flow faster or slower. But that was the extent of what could happen with time. It could not be stopped, as far as Lex knew, and it especially could not be turned back. He got that piece of information from the mouth of the super mysterious guy who just showed up at his Inn one day. N?v(el)B\\jnn Yet¡­ yet if Lex interpreted what he was seeing correctly, then thews of this ce had somehow eroded, or perhaps messed with thew dictating time itself. Chapter 1177 Temple of Frozen Dawn II Chapter 1177 Temple of Frozen Dawn II "All contestants, wee to the Temple of Frozen Dawn," a voice echoed through the rainforest that Lex seemed to find himself in. "You are in a segment of the Origin realm that has been cut off from the rest of it for billions of years. How or why it was cut off, nobody knows. All we can tell is that something very significant happened here long ago. "The temple has opened up naturally and on its own, and based on our calctions, in exactly 721 hours, whatever event happened billions of years ago will happen once more. When that happens, time in this small piece of space will freeze for another few billion years. Just to be clear, without a clear, consistent flow of time, your soul will not survive. So in a few billion years, when time resumes in this ce, your body will be perfectly intact but your soul will be gone. "The condition to pass this stream of the tournament is to identify the anomaly that took ce and stop it. If, in 721 hours, the anomaly does not happen, this piece of space will be automatically assimted by the rest of the Origin, and everyone in this space will pass. If it does happen, then everyone in this space will die. There is no way to exit this space without preventing the anomaly. Good luck." Lex had only just raised his eyebrow, unable to evenplete a thought, when a familiar sound rang in his ear. Only this time, the notification sound that the system made was deafening, and reeked of urgency. New Emergency Quest: PREVENT THE DESTRUCTION OF THE SYSTEM! Quest time limit: 721 HOURS! Quest Reward: THE SYSTEM WON''T DIE! Remarks: WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING??? @#$*** "That''s not promising," said Lex out loud, and tried to connect to the Midnight realm. But the connection was cut off. He was isted from the outside. "Hey, Mary, can you hear me?" Lex asked. "Yes," she answered in an extremely low voice. "I take it this is not good," he said very casually, as he began to spread out his spirit sense. It was strange. The surrounding nts were technically alive, but theycked¡­ soul. "No, Lex. This is not good. This is phenomenal!" Mary appeared in front of him, her entire figure exuding a sense of excitement. "You''re in a time bubble! Lex, the rarest, most valuable resources in the entire universe exist in time bubbles! The 721 hours is not just the time limit to stop the anomaly, but it''s also your countdown for how many valuable things you can get your hands on. Once the time bubble is resolved, those treasures will also disappear." "The system doesn''t seem to share your excitement," Lexmented. "Of course not. It''s scared. Even Dao Lords can die in time bubbles, let alone a system." "In that case, why don''t we try to identify the anomaly before we go looking for treasures, huh?" Truth be told, Lex might have panicked as well if his instincts were not so clearly telling him where to go. It was as if every fiber of his being and forsaken every other function, other than to direct Lex to move in a certain direction. It was as if even his body sensed the extreme threat that this ce posed on him. "Isn''t there an easy loophole for stuff like this?" Lex asked. "After all, someone could just send a clone in here. If it died, their main body outside the time bubble could still survive." "You wish," Mary said, scoffing. "You think time is a joke? There is a reason why no one alive, regardless of their cultivation realm, tries to do anything funny with time. Its destruction is absolute. In fact, there are some people who say Death was born in an attempt to mimic the destruction wrought by time." "Death was¡­ born? What does that mean?" Mary was silent for a moment, before she hesitantly said, "I''m not exactly sure. It''s just something I''ve heard. You better not focus too much on it. If you ever be a Dao Lord, you can begin looking into it." Lex got the distinct feeling that Mary was not revealing everything she knew, but this was not exactly the best time to get distracted. Within the range of his spirit sense Lex discovered thousands of other contestants, all below the Earth Immortal realm. It seemed like there was a cultivation level limit to enter the Temple of Frozen Dawn. N?v(el)B\\jnn Lex flew into the sky to get a good look at his surroundings, and saw an expansive forest that seemed to extend to eternity. He focused in on the direction his instincts were guiding him, and saw a distant hill, too far to make out the details. Lex tried to see if he could teleport, but his spatial abilities weren''t working, so he began flying at full speed in that direction. "Lex, to be entirely honest, although time bubbles are very dangerous, they''re not necessarily difficult to resolve. Just be sure to avoid time fractures and you''ll be fine. But if you see any treasures radiating an aura of time, any treasures at all, don''t hesitate to grab them. I guarantee that these are not things you will ever find outside of a time bubble. You have to absorb them on the spot." "Let me guess, you want me to grab some for you as well." Mary smiled sheepishly. "Look if youe across some, and you''re unable to absorb all of it in time, and decide to spare some for me, I''d be eternally grateful." Mary looked at him lovingly, and Lex was reminded of the fact that her current appearance was selected because he used to have a crush on this character as a child. This was unfair emotional ckmail - not that Lex knew of any kind of fair emotional ckmail. But still. "We''ll see what happens. For now, let''s focus on the anomaly. If everything in here is dead, I don''t expect to face any kind of danger." As soon as he said that, Mary facepalmed. Even she knew by now what gs were, and of Lex''s consistent habit of raising the wrong ones. Chapter 1178 A daring idea Chapter 1178 A daring idea "Mary, considering how nonchntly you''re acting, does that mean that resolving time bubbles is easy?" Lex asked as he flew towards the distant hill, various thoughts running through his head. "Traditionally, resolving a time bubble is actually very easy," Mary said. Her projection, tiny as ever, was sitting on Lex''s shoulder, with one leg crossed and one dangling down. She looked like she was out on vacation. "Consider it this way. Thew governing time is the strongest in existence. Although sometimes it might encounter issues, it is the inclination of thew to automatically return to its most stable state. Thew itself will do most of the work for you. You just need to give it a gentle push. "Of course, that does not mean that it is not dangerous. Remember, there is nothing in the universe that time cannot eradicate, so the tiniest bit of carelessness can result in your death. Also, just because it''s generally easy doesn''t mean there isn''t a chance you may end up encountering an incredibly tough situation." "That makes sense," Lex said calmly. "With my luck, I already expect to face something ridiculously tough. That''s why, even though I''ve been flying for a few minutes, that hill isn''t any closer." Lex stopped flying forward, and came to a stand still. "Not to mention, with my eyesight, how far would that hill have to be for me to only vaguely see it? There''s something obstructing me from reaching it, and I ampletely incapable of sensing what it is." Mary, however, was not rmed by this statement. They were in a time bubble. Although she said it was easy and simple, that was based on her perception. She was born a Celestial. The universe was her cradle, her oyster, her everything. To top all of that off, she had a system with her when she was alive. So her perception of things was skewed. "Can you really not perceive it?" she asked casually. Lex frowned, then spread out his spirit sense and activated the abilities in both his eyes. He used every Glyph he knew and listened to his body. There was nothing. Then he checked histest quest. The time limit read 720 hours, 59 minutes, and 57 seconds. How had only three seconds passed? Lex had literally been flying for at least a few minutes! "The flow of time is messed up? No, that doesn''t make sense. My perception of time is messed up. No, that still doesn''t make sense." Lex had spread his spirit sense as wide as he could, and so it epassed many participants in this same trial. At first he was not paying attention to them, but eventually he picked up an anomaly. Those who were moving in the same direction as him, meaning towards the hill, were moving at the same speed as him. Those going literally anywhere else were moving faster. "Is everyone being affected by different flows of time?" he mused. Mary still didn''t answer, not that he was expecting her too. She was limited by the system, which meant that although she seemed like she was sitting on his shoulder, what she could perceive was dictated by the system. That meant she could only offer guesses, not provide him urate answers. Lex closed every other sense he had, and focused only on his left eye which could perceivews, then turned his back to the hill and walked away from it. He studied how he was being affected by thews, and how everyone else was being affected by it. The more he studied the odd behavior of thews, the more solemn his expression became. Eventually, Lex did something he hadn''t done in a long time. He entered the state of Flow. He needed to maintain an absolutely rational state of mind, for while only a few seconds had passed for him, he could tell then dozens of hours had already passed for some people down below. Each and every single one of them was experiencing a different flow of time, and that flow depended on whether or not they were trying to approach that hill. It was as if this very ce was conspiring against all of them. Lex had a suspicion that as soon as a single one of the participants experienced 721 hours, the anomaly would ur. It would slow down the flow of time for anyone trying to approach the epicenter of the anomaly, thereby preventing them from reaching it in time, and speed up time for anyone going away from it. That way, the time limit would be reached long before anyone could ever reach the point of the anomaly. Suddenly, Lex had a sneaking suspicion that there was more to this pce that met the eye. That much should have been obvious to begin with, but what he was referring to was the Henali''s intention in trying to resolve the time bubble in this ce. He felt like someone had hidden something from them in this ce, forever keeping it out of reach, or at least dying them by billions of years. Considering this ce could even kill Dao Lords, even the Henali did not dare venture in here, which is why they used the contestants from the tourney. N?v(el)B\\jnn Lex suddenly became interested in the various other streams. He wondered what else they were having others help them achieve under the guise of holding a tournament? Considering that he was doing the exact same thing with the Midnight Games he could not really judge them. In fact, he felt like he should be taking notes. This was the perfect capitalist mentality. It was like apany organizing a hackathon, and using genuine problems thepany needed to resolve as the theme of thepetition, gaining a solution for free from the winners. "Mary, you said that I can find treasures radiating the aura of time here. You think I could find something that would help me alter the flow of time for myself?" "Of course." A very, very daring idea began to develop in Lex''s mind. Chapter 1179 A dumb idea Chapter 1179 A dumb idea The more dire the situation became, the more calm Lex had to be. Realizing that he was, very literally, running out of time, Lex had to reassess how to go about this challenge, or he would soon die. For him, the threat of death this time was no greater than any other time he had faced death. For example, being crushed to death by the aura of a dragon might feel different than being erased from time, but both objectively ended up with the same result. That is why, although the danger was from a much more powerful source than Lex usually faced, the pressure he faced was actually the same. Not only had Lex learned to tolerate that pressure, he somewhat enjoyed it as well. Now that he was, more or less, on the path to bing the strongest being in existence, not that he had decided to pursue that goal yet, he would constantly be faced with death, so there was no reason to be so apprehensive about it. With his back still turned towards the hill, Lex activated his treasure searching Glyph. There were few who couldpete with dragons in searching for treasure, and Lex was quickly bing one of them. As a man who had his body absorb Dao level ingredients, he was not afraid of eating time rted ingredients as well. Who knew, he might even develop an affinity for it. That thought was nearly enough to throw Lex out of his state of Flow. Time was the most dangerous thing in the universe, Mary had said it straightforwardly. If Lex could develop an affinity for it¡­ He dared not even imagine what he could do, mostly because he himself didn''t know. But he could find out. Under the guidance of his Glyph, Lex identified something extremely attractive, and like a sh of lightning, disappeared from where he stood. Those standing below him literally gawked, for he had disappeared so fast they could not perceive his movement at all. This was partially due to Lex''s speed, and also due to the fact that he was purposefully moving away from the hill. His flow of time surpassed everyone else, and so, through the strange twist created by multiple flows of time existing simultaneously, from the point of view of others, Lex had moved several times faster than the speed of light. "Mary, what do you think would happen if a Sovereign came to a time bubble?" Lex asked randomly. He was genuinely curious. Between the most dangerous thing in existence, and the darlings of the universe itself, who woulde out on top. "It''s not like there are no Sovereigns who haven''t died," she answered. "So they definitely can die. But as for what would happen in such a situation¡­ I don''t think anyone can give a proper answer to that." Lex nodded. It was just a random, fleeting thought he had while he directly approached the strongest aura he could detect. In this entire rainforest, despite its vast size, Lex only sensed four or five powerful treasure aura, and even of them, he directly went for the one that attracted him most, arriving quickly to the mouth of a cave at the base of a tree. Lex looked at the time remaining for his quest and realized that it was already 600 hours. Not willing to dilly dally any longer, he stepped into the cave and saw something extraordinary. Most trees have their fruits hanging high up in their branches, but not this one. No, in a hollowed out region directly underneath the trunk of the tree, a single, thin root was dangling down, and from its end grew out the tree''s fruit. He didn''t know why he knew that what he was looking at was a fruit, and not something else. It was as if the information directly entered his brain. So the fact that the ''fruit'' had the appearance of a hardcover book, with ominous characters drawn that he could read solely because of his system was not creepy at all. The title of the book, or fruit, was The Fable of Time. Minutes ticked by like seconds, but Lex didn''t approach the fruit book. He was searching for danger. He was looking for the trap, or the guardian monster, or Void creature, or time creature, or something that would make taking this clearly magnificent treasure a huge risk, but he couldn''t find it. Usually, in life, when a thing was too good to be true, there was a nasty surprise waiting around the corner. "I''m not crazy right? This is too easy, right?" Lex asked Mary, and even she looked around confused. "I mean¡­ do you have any other choice?" Lex looked at his quest time limit and realized that it had reached 500 hours. He really didn''t have the time to be messing around. He stepped forward, and carefully grabbed the book-fruit before pulling it off the root. Nothing untoward happened, so Lex carefully retreated from the cave to a safe distance. "I''m totally about to get cursed," he said as he looked at the creepy characters on the cover of the book. He realized at that moment that those characters¡­ were array characters. He had literally discovered the array character for time. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Unsure if he should take a bite out of the fruit, or open the book, Lex did the only sensible thing and opened it. After all, some fruits needed to be peeled first. What if opening the book was the same as peeling it? Somewhere else, out in the universe, Jack the fairy suddenly felt the connection between himself and Lex disappear. That was not the same as dying, for he would have felt that in his soul. He just felt the connection disappear altogether. Jack paused, and recalled thest thing he remembered. Since he and Lex were the same, they shared each other''s memories. But for some reason, he could not remember what Lex had been doing. All he remembered was that he entered the preliminary tournament. Chapter 1180 Eternity in a few minutes Chapter 1180 Eternity in a few minutes At any given moment, even when he was alone, there were a number of beings keeping an eye on Lex. Since his system had a soul, it could somewhat be considered a being, and since it was inside Lex''s soul, it was more or less paying attention. Mary, too, had a permanent connection to Lex, and so could connect to him whenever she wanted. There was that mysterious being from the Primary realm who just decided to pop into the Inn one day. It was unlikely he ever consciously paid attention to Lex, but a being of his caliber would always be aware of anyone he had ever paid attention to. Moreover, not only could he see Lex, he could foresee exactly how his entire life would y out from a single nce. It was not prophecy that he would use, just probability and prediction. The scale upon which such a being operated was outside the realm of understanding of mere mortals life Lex. Then he was also connected to two Sovereigns. Who knew if they could peer through space and time and find him whenever they wished? There was the sword inside of his soul, and although it was not a living entity, who could tell if it could serve as a conduit for a powerful being to peek into his soul? There could be any number of more powerful beings spying on him at any given moment. The more lexprehended the abstract powers wielded by immortals, the more he understood that he was a genuine ant in front of the powerful and mighty. Although he could now duke it out with some Earth Immortals, he was likely an insignificant ant in front of Heavenly Immortals or Celestial Immortals, not to mention Dao Lords. There were also Deities, whose powers were entirely unique. Divine energy was much too versatile in what it could achieve. He could not say for certain that there wasn''t someone out in the universe capable of spying on him using it. Yet, in the moment that Lex opened the Fable of Time, every single entity connected to him in any way whatsoever, lost sight of him. Not only that, they were not even cognizant of this change, or capable of perceiving that anything had happened at all. Only and only Jack sensed something amiss, and that too was because Jack was actually still just Lex. Depending on the perspective, such a period did notst long, orsted an eternity. When Lex reappeared in the cognisance of the universe, only a few minutes had passed on his quest timer. He looked at the book in his hand, dumbfounded, as it faded away. Lex had lost a few minutes of his time, and he had no recollection of what had happened in those few minutes. But unlike everyone else, even Mary who had been sitting on his shoulder the entire time but still failed to be aware of him, he knew distinctly why he had no memory of those few minutes. In his brain, he sensed a seal. More importantly, it was a self administered seal. It was not even that powerful, and all Lex would require was a simple thought to undo it. After all, the only thing the seal contained were his memories from those few minutes. Yet Lex knew that he could not, or rather, should not ever undo that seal. A feeling of overwhelming dread filled him at the thought of undoing that seal, a kind that he had never felt before. What kind of superpower had he not seen before? What kind of powerful entity had he not encountered? All they could do was kill him, and he had long be ustomed to such pressure. But the feeling he got from his own seal of his own memories outweighed the threat of death infinitely. Lex sighed. Yet another, overpowered, earth shatter, probably universal level secret was hiding in his body. It was like he was some kind of collector. Lex diverted his attention away from the seal in his mind, because there was one more seal that had been added to his body, once again by his own hand. Yet while the seal on his memories was simple, the seal in his body was the very peak of what he could achieve, or perhaps even beyond what he could ordinarily achieve. This new seal was even stronger than the ones that were sealing his cultivation level. But, oddly enough, the seal had note into effect yet. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om He could feel that it would need about one exact day to activate, so until then he still had ess to the thing it was supposed to lock away. Of course, the thing that was going to soon be sealed away was his newly gained affinity for time! He had no idea how he had gained it, because he could distinctly feel that he had not used his cultivation technique recently. Such a thing would leave traces within his body and his energy. So he had, somehow, mysteriously gained a time affinity, and then for reasons unknown decided to seal it, giving himself only enough time to perhaps ovee the obstacle in front of him. "Thanks Lex," Mary said sweetly as a wonderful smile bloomed on her face. "I don''t know how you did it, but I can feel you''ve given me a wonderful treasure rted to time. I promise you, you won''t regret it." "Yeah no problem," Lex said, as he activated his own affinity, and began feeling the flow of time around him. It was harder than it seemed, because he felt no different at all. His perception of time was exactly the same as before. Moreover, he did not feel like he had any influence on time at all, so he basically couldn''t do anything with this affinity. But he would not give up so easily. This required some testing, so Lex turned to look towards the hill, and tried moving towards it. Maybe he''d be able to sense the difference in the flow of time then. Chapter 1181 Mesmerizing Glow Chapter 1181 Mesmerizing Glow Lex took one step, and paused. That was odd. He sensed his affinity act on its own, and do something. He had no idea what it did, but he could tell that it was merely responding ording to changes in his body. It seemed like¡­ besides just putting a seal on his affinity, he had used some kind of technique that would automatically use his affinity, since grasping it currently seemed outside his realm of understanding. But if it was outside his realm of understanding, how had he used this technique to begin with? His attention was once again reverted to the seal in his mind, but the dread that apanied it once again took hold of him. It was so strong that he could physically feel the emotion of dread. "Ugh," Lex groaned, and turned his attention back to the matter at hand. It seemed like, for whatever reason, he had found a solution to his problem. At least that''s what it seemed like. Lex leaped forward, and his affinity began to act on its own, once more. Lex kept an eye on his quest time limit, as well the hill in the distance at the same time. As he confirmed that the flow of time was steady, and that he could actually get closer to the hill, a trace of relief filled him. Lex then began to fly at his fastest speed. He had no idea how much time had passed by for others. While he still had hundreds of hours left on his quest time limit, who knew if others only had dozens of hours left. It had been a long time since Lex had to travel a long distance without using his spatial abilities, but fortunately he hadn''t neglected any aspect of his training. It took him ten hours to approach the hill, though oddly enough, he could not tell how much distance he had traversed. It only felt like he had traveled ''ten hours'' as if time itself was the distance that needed to be covered. The hill, as it turned out, was actually a pyramid that reminded Lex a lot of mayan pyramids.The stone blocks were colossal, perfectly aligned, and strangely untouched by the encroaching vegetation of the forest, as if an invisible barrier divided them. No vines marred its surface, no moss clinged to its edges; it stood as a testament to an era long gone, defying the relentless advance of the jungle around it. Lex''s eyes traced the pyramid''s steep sides, leading up to its peak where a solitary temple sits, shrouded in mystery. He did not need to be a genius to guess that this was the Temple of Frozen Dawn. The temple was a relic of unimaginable age, its walls adorned with intricate carvings that depicted scenes from a forgotten civilization. The glyphs and symbols, though weathered, told stories of deities and heroes, of rituals and sacrifices, frozen in time. His eyes eventually fell to a chamber with open doors, though the darkness within is imprable, save for a faint, otherworldly silver glow that seems to emanate from deep inside. From that glow, casting strange shadows and filling the air with a sense of profound, ancient power, Lex sensed something oddly familiar though he could not ce it. Yet what he could see was that the glow was fighting against the oppressive darkness, trying to lift its veil. At that moment, Lex suddenly understood the significance of this ce. This was not just a relic of a bygone era, but a monument to a time when the very fabric of reality was different. The temple contained the energy from when the Origin realm was still in its nascent stages, barely beginning to form. Cut off from time itself, the untouched pyramid and its temple were a sanctuary of the past, preserved within the time bubble. If the anomaly of this ce was resolved, this sanctuary would reenter the Origin realm, and whatever secret it held would be avable to the Henali. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om If Lex weren''t a walking collection of ancient secrets, powers and treasures himself, he might have been interested in uncovering what secret this temple held. If such great pains were taken to hide it, and the Henali were trying their best to get in touch with it, the treasure would be remarkable. Heck, if Lex didn''t have a mission he had to focus on, he might still be tempted to explore and uncover the secrets of this temple. But as it was, he could not afford to be distracted. Even if a great treasure was hidden here, getting his hands on it would not be worth being distracted from his revenge. He would leave this prize for the Henali, or anyone else who wanted to get it. Lex just wanted to end the anomaly. He stepped into the dark room, where his instincts were guiding him, and immediately he felt the darkness try to swallow him. In fact, Lex had entirely underestimated the danger this darkness presented, and actually stumbled. But that was it. The weight of this darkness could only cause him to stumble at best. Yet to fight back against this darkness, Lex needed a light. He instinctively knew that, for his Domination, or aura, or any other ability would not work. So Lex held out a finger in front of his mouth, and blew a small, thin streak of dragonfire that collected above his finger like a small candlelight. Within the darkness, there were now two sources of light - one tiny, flickering dragonfire, and an ethereal silver glow. The darkness was pushed back, and it was suddenly as if two lights were working together against the darkness. Lex walked deeper into the hall, approaching the silver glow until he was only a few feet from it where he was forced to stop. For the second time today, Lex was stunned by what he saw. Of all the things he could have guessed to be the source of that strangely familiar light, what he did not expect was to see a ballerina. The darkness was her stage, and her graceful yet delicate dance, mesmerizing to behold, was literally lighting up the room. Chapter 1182 Other intentions? Chapter 1182 Other intentions? "Giselle," Lex said to himself as he recalled the name of the enchanting dancer in front of her. Last time he saw her was on Polebitvy, right before the got stolen by Jeffery. They had fought off hordes of alien insects together, and Lex had to admit that she was a pretty good fighter. But, either because he was too distracted by the war, or because she was very good at hiding it, Lex never sensed anything too extraordinary from her. She was just a passionate youngdy who was an excellent dancer and fighter. Yet now, where here she was, in the Temple of Frozen Dawn even before him. Lex knew just how absurdly difficult it was to approach this temple, so he could not imagine how just a simple dancer had made it till here. That''s when he noticed a peculiar aura from her - one he knew all too well. It was a seal, and the thing that had been sealed was her cultivation. Based on appearances, she was a peak Nascent soul cultivator right now. That was believable progress from when Lex had seen her a few years ago. But if there was a seal, that meant she was an Earth Immortal. Such rapid progress was quite amazing. Combined with the fact that she was in this region, fighting against the darkness, then it was likely that she was far from as simple as she appeared. As much as Lex would have enjoyed to just watch her dance, they were short on time, so he decided to help her. Through her dance, or rather through a carefully orchestrated sequence of movements, she allowed her body to glow with a light that pushed away the dark. Lex, fortunately, did not need to dance to do the same. It was clear that ordinary light would not work against this formidable darkness, but what aspect of dragonfire was ordinary? The me on his finger grew bigger, and began to push away more of the darkness, and it was only then that he felt its weight properly. Yet he was not one to give up easily, so he pushed harder. Conversely, the weight that Giselle felt began to reduce quickly. Since her eyes were closed, she did not know what was happening. She could only attribute it to her dancing working, so she tried even harder. Eventually the hall began to reveal itself to Lex. He saw pirs, carved with pictures of animals worshiping a deity, though the deity''s picture seemed smudged. He was empires,s, even gxies all surrounding that smudged gxy, and then in the next pir, it seemed as if the deity suddenly vanished, abandoning everyone. It made sense that this temple, which had passed through time, should belong to some deity, yet he felt no divine energy from the building. Maybe it had already been eroded by time. More and more of the hall was revealed, showing colorful walls, decorated by marble and jade of all kinds. More hidden secrets saw the light of day, and many key details were smudged. Lex took them in, but did not focus on them. Finally, with the darkness almostpletely retreating, he could see that it had been originating from a chandelier right in the middle of the room. Instead of illuminating the pce, it was covering it in darkness. Yet as the darkness was pushed back, it could take no more. It shattered, and the sound of it breaking suddenly filled the room. Giselle was suddenly free of her burden and opened her eyes, feeling glee at her sess. She thought it would be much harder. What she had not expected was to see Lex standing there in front of her, holding a massive ball of fire. It was obvious that the ball of fire had yed a stronger role in eliminating the darkness. "Giselle, we meet again. I never thought I''d run into you here of all ces," he said softly, as one would to a former acquaintance or old friend. "Likewise. I thought you''d still be on Lover''s Ind. Did you take a break for the tournament, or were you kicked out? Last I saw, a lot of people were mad at you for starting a harem." Lex froze, and swore to every deity in existence that he would kill that ursed rancher the next time he saw him. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "No, no, I was just there to find one of the contestants," Lex tried to exin. "Yes, that''s usually how these dating shows work," Giselle said. "You look for apatible contestant." "No- that''s not - what I mean to say is¡­" "Look, I''m not interested in your dating life," she exined, as if indicating that she was not the judgmental type. "I don''t know if you know anything about this ce, but we don''t have a lot of time left to resolve the anomaly." Lex sighed in defeat. That was it. His reputation was ruined. He''d never be able to exin himself, though this truly wasn''t the time to bementing such a thing. That did not, however, ease the pain in his heart. Lex looked towards the end of the hall, where a broken throney. In front of it was a small hole, torn directly into the ground, leading down into the pyramid. "The source of the anomaly is there," he said, pointing in the hole. "I am exactly here to resolve that anomaly. We can work together if you wish. Thest time we cooperated, our teamwork wasn''t so bad." Gisele nodded. "That sounds good. But, before that, do you know what this ce is? What it holds?" "Nope, and nope," Lex said. "Quite frankly, I suspect that whatever it does hold will give me attention I don''t want. I can''t afford such distractions right now, so my only intention here is to clear the anomaly and move onto the next round." Gisele looked at him skeptically. He didn''t want the ancient treasure hidden in the time bubble? That sounded too good to be true. She narrowed her eyes. Did he have other intentions? Chapter 1183 Eden watch Chapter 1183 Eden watch Lex immediately realized the problem. Hisck of interest in the treasure made her think he was lying. "Do you know the flow of time is flowing differently for everyone?" Lex asked. "The anomaly could go off at any moment. We really should hurry." "Yes, I know," she said. "Let''s hurry down then." She did not wait for Lex, and instead jumped down the hole first. Going down first was dangerous, as it was unknown what kind of dangers she would be facing, but she was confident. "Did you ever manage to find those kids?" Lex asked as he jumped down the hole behind her. Thest time he saw Giselle was on Polebitvy. They had split because she was trying to find some kids under her protection, while he was trying to get the entire army to retreat to the Inn so that there weren''t any unnecessary casualties. After all, not only was there a war going on with alien insects, but everyone had been poisoned with such a potent poison it was almost impossible to heal. "Yes, I got them out in time," Giselle answered, showing a brief moment of softness. "But too many other kids died on Polebitvy. I couldn''t do anything for them." "It''s impossible to save everyone. That is the nature of the universe itself." "I know," she responded, with a hint of sadness. Lex shut up after that, and began to wonder if he was really as good a conversationalist as he thought. As Lex expected, the internal structure of the pyramid constituted various hallways, corridors and halls, arranged in a way to form a maze,den with traps. The traps themselves werergely inconsequential, not only for Lex, but for Giselle as well. What was dangerous was something Mary had brought up before: time fractures. Certain halls and rooms suddenly dissolved into nothingness, and the dangerous thing about that was that ''nothing'' was literally imperceptible. The first time fracture they stumbled upon was right in their way, ending the pathway abruptly. There was no darkness recing where the path formerly existed, no end to the road, no cut or fracture to indicate that any part was missing. It was literally nothing, and even looking at it, Lex could neither see it, nor sense it in any way. His brain was incapable of processing it, so it reced that nothing with what it expected to see, which was the continuing path. It was only when they almost touched the nothing that they finally sensed something amiss. Even then, all Lex felt was an abnormal reaction from his time affinity. He could not understand what it was. Giselle, on the other hand, did not sense itself. Instead, a watch she was wearing set off an rm. Lex, who was about to step into the nothing, paused, and looked towards the watch! He had missed it earlier! He had neither seen it, nor sensed it! How was that possible? n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Take a step back!" Giselle said quickly, jumping back herself, the color draining from her face. "There''s a time fracture there!" Lex did not hesitate to take a step back. Even if he hadn''t sensed something from his own affinity, just the fact that Giselle had taken this matter so seriously would have been enough for him to retreat. In any other circumstances, Lex would have been willing to test out his defense. But when it came to time, he wanted to take no risks at all. "What''s a time fracture?" he asked as he looked back at the corridor. He could sense nothing. But as Giselle exined, Lex''s expression became more solemn. "Time supports the existence of everything, so where there is a fracture in time, nothing can exist. Since our brains cannot conceive ''nothing'' it automatically fills in the nks." Lex studied the hall in front of him, and even used his left eye''s ability to studyws, and used various Glyphs, but could get no feedback at all. "That''s a pretty handy watch," Lex said, finally. "It''s an Eden watch. They''re¡­ very expensive, so they have a lot of features." Giselle did exactly lie, but it was obvious that she wasn''t exactly beingpletely forting. Not that Lex med her, since he in fact knew, or at least suspected he knew, the origin of that watch. As a result of two very cooperative captives, over the past fifteen years, he had learned a lot about the universe atrge. While the Origin realm was still a developing realm, there were many realms that had already reached full maturity. It was extremely rare for apletely mature realm to be owned entirely by one entity or power, and instead the norm was for mature realms to be controlled by a group of cooperative powers. Eden corporation was one such power that shared control over apletely mature realm. Since it was a corporation, it wasn''t a surprise that they had products, and that they would be phenomenal ones. What was surprising was that Giselle got her hands on such a product. After all, based on his understanding of the Henali, they would not easily allow any other powerful forces to enter into the Origin realm. It was their ambition to implete control over this realm. It was easy to invite others in, but not so easy to invite them out. Whatever the case, Lex realized that Giselle was definitely not as simple as she appeared. But that was not the problem. The problem was that his instincts were telling him to go down this corridor, since they could not detect the time fracture. That meant he could no longer allow his instincts to guide him. "I can sense that the anomaly is directly in that direction. Do you think you can figure out a way to bypass the fracture?" Lex asked. This time¡­ it was Giselle''s turn to be stunned. He could sense the anomaly? Even her Eden watch couldn''t do that! "I mean, it''s pretty simple," she said, and punched a hole in the wall before walking through it. "The fracture shouldn''t be too big. We can probably walk around it." Chapter 1184 Mop Chapter 1184 Mop Lex followed Giselle without hesitation. After all, now he knew what the strange feeling he got from his innate ability was. If he ran into any more time fractures, he could identify them himself even if her watch failed to detect it. The room that they had broken into looked like a store room, as odd as that seemed. It just felt a little mundane for an ancient temple hiding a secret, powerful treasure to have a room filled with dusting cloths and mops among other things. In fact, Lex grabbed a broom and observed it closely. "You''d think they would use arrays or formations to keep things clean in this ce. What''s the point of keeping a mop?" Giselle, who was walking past the mops paused, and turned to look at him oddly. "Weren''t you the one who was telling me we don''t have time to waste?" "Oh, yeah, sorry," Lex said as he ced the mop back. "I''m too used to doing these kinds of things alone. With another person around, I couldn''t help but voice my random thoughts." "You visit time bubbles often?" "Time bubbles? No, this is my first time. But explore underground tunnels and caverns hiding a power that can easily kill me? It''s almost a hobby." They didn''t speak much after that. The inside of the pyramid, as it turned out, was not too dangerous in and of itself. This was most likely because, a few billion years ago, whenever this temple was from, the cultivation standards of the realm were probably low. The traps would have been dangerous for mundane Nascent soul cultivators, but that standard was so low that Lex expected every single participant in this Temple of Frozen Dawn stream to be able to surpass it. There were a few formations, but they were so immature even Lex could resolve them without having to use brute force. The only real danger were the time fractures, but fortunately they were few and far between. But while the traps were not dangerous to them, as they proceeded deeper into the pyramid, the paradigm of the traps began to change drastically. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex and Giselle found themselves standing in front of a door with two handles, one white and one ck. Each handle was radiating a powerful and potent energy. More importantly, the wall in which the door was ced was covered by a barrier that was most ingenious. Breaking it by force would not be impossible, but exceedingly difficult owing to the two unique energies in the handles, which also served as a power source. Of course, there was a much easier way to get through which was to simply open the door. But doing that would require turning both handles. "This is divine energy, that much is obvious," Lex said looking at the white handle. "But I''m not familiar with this one." The energy radiating from the dark handle was, predictably, sinister and malevolent in nature. Lex felt like even touching it would cause his skin to melt. This was a very good defense mechanism, because they keyy in these two high level energies. This was no longer a matter of cultivation realm and power, but rather the ability to handle these specific energies. "It''s called Profane energy," Giselle said. "If divine energy is used by Deities, then Profane energy is used by Defilers, which are the exact opposite of Deities." "The exact opposite of Deities? So they get their power from people¡­ not believing in them?" "What? No, that''s not- the important thing is that Profane energy, while not as widely known as Divine energy, is equally as potent and has unique destructive properties." "Do you think we need to get the two energies to cancel each other out?" Lex asked. Although he had no affinity for Profane energy yet, he was sure he could tolerate it. He wondered what would happen if he grabbed both handles at once. "Unlikely. The energies, while perceived as opposites, do not cancel each other out. Most likely, they just both have to be drained." Giselle looked at her watch, and then frowned. "We have less than 100 hours left, this is bad. I can deal with the Profane energy, but the divine one is going to be time consuming." Lex raised an eyebrow, and then ced a finger on the handle containing divine energy. He just absorbed it all into his body, and then diverted it towards his Butter Knife. Giselle looked at Lex once more, but this time she thoroughly observed him. She had gotten the sense that he was far from ordinary, but the ability to absorb divine energy was beyond just simply extraordinary. Only two beings were known to be able to do that: deities and angels, and Lex was clearly neither of them. But then again, she was not exactly in a position to judge. She grabbed the dark handle, and the Profane energy quickly gushed into her body as if it was greedy to enter her body, rather than her pulling it in herself. Yet what Lex found most curious was that while the name of the energy and its associated being, Profane energy and Defiler, projected very strong visualization of the nature of this energy, not to mention the creepy vibes it naturally gave off, as Giselle absorbed the energy, her body gave off an aura of profound purity and rity. It was even purer than divine energy, and reminded Lex of the strange ethereal feeling she gave off whenever she danced. He was curious, but he did not ask any questions. She had been respectful enough not to ask how he absorbed the divine energy, so he could only reciprocate. The door opened, revealing the final staircase leading to the heart of the pyramid. The two quickly descended and entered a hallway that continued towards two opposite halls. His instincts were guiding him left, but before he could say anything, Giselle''s watch beeped and pointed towards the right. It seemed the time hade for them to split up again. Lex didn''t mind. It was nice having somepany on one of his adventures for once -pany that was not residing inside his body or equipment - but now they had more important things to do. Chapter 1185 Problematic\ Chapter 1185 Problematic "I can feel the anomaly on the left. I will go resolve it. You can go on the right if you wish. Based on my understanding, as soon as the anomaly is resolved, this entire ce will be reabsorbed into the Origin realm. At that time, it might not be so simple for you to keep any treasures you find since I''m pretty sure the Henali are also interested in it." Giselle looked at him oddly. Was he being odd on purpose, or did he not realize he was being odd? His extremely casual attitude in the face of almost uncertain death, focusing onpletely trivial things such as mops, as well as the sheer disregard for ancient and powerful treasures that are being searched for by massive organizations were far from normal. Perhaps a very clear minded and level-headed person could avoid the temptation of such a treasure, but even then he would at least show some reluctance on giving up treasures so that he could avoid getting involved in matters that would end up getting him killed. But he did not seem to care at all. N?v(el)B\\jnn Giselle was very clear at reading people''s intentions, which is why she knew for a fact that he was genuinely telling her to be careful, and that he genuinely wasn''t interested. But that confused her even more. "We''ve had a pleasant cooperation, which is why I hate to do this," Giselle said, "but I require an oath of secrecy from you to keep my presence here secret." In truth, she should be just killing him. After all, going after a treasure so powerful and valuable it had to be hidden inside a time bubble meant that she should not be taking any risks. Leaving Lex alive was a huge gamble. But she trusted her instincts, which were telling her that Lex was trustworthy, as strange as it was. More importantly, given their huge time constraints, and the remarkable abilities he had shown, she did not think she could do anything to him before the time was over. So she had topromise. "How do you want me to make an oath?" Lex asked, actually feeling amused. Giselle held out an oval, seemingly ordinary jade stone and handed it to him. "Channel your energy into the stone and take an oath keeping my presence here secret, and it will automatically take effect. Even if you want to, you won''t be able to break the oath. I''m sorry I have to put you through this, but it''s terribly important that no one learns about my presence here." Lex grabbed the stone and made the oath. He wasn''t particrly bothered by it, and he understood her caution considering that they technically didn''t know each other. Besides, as the oath took hold inside of his soul¡­ Lex could feel that it was just a simple knot inside his soul, using his soul. Others might find it hard to undo without harming his soul, but it was a simple thing for him. Lex looked at Giselle with schadenfreude. He wondered how she would feel if she found out her oath wasn''t that effective at all. "Can I¡­ can I ask you a question, if you don''t mind?" Giselle paused before leaving. She was just too curious. "Go ahead." "Are you¡­ really not interested in what''s hidden here? Even though you know how valuable it might be?" "Not really," Lex answered with a shrug. "Why?" Lex didn''t answer immediately, but looked at her for a moment. How should he phrase this? "If you had to choose between saving those two kids on Polebitvy, and taking this treasure, what would you choose?" he asked, eventually. The question stumped her. She had not been expecting that kind of response. Lex turned away, looking towards where his instincts were guiding him - mostly to hide his expression as it became grim. "I''m sure that whatever is hidden there, is great. But I also know things like this bring hidden troubles, and right now, I don''t want any distractions." Once again, Giselle could feel the sincerity in his words as he walked away. But more importantly, she was still stunned by the question he had asked. On Polebitvy, she had been protecting two kids she took under her care. She did not know them personally, but felt like they were too pitiful and wanted to save them. It was not the first time she had done such a thing, nor would it be thest. After all, she spent her whole life helping lost kids. But how many people¡­ how many people could just ignore a life changing opportunity to save a couple of kids? She didn''t think that the situation Lex was referring to was necessarily exactly the same as back then. His point was that he needed to save someone, and the troubles associated with treasure hunting might prevent him from doing that, so he just didn''t want to bother with it. Even so, it was not an easy thing. For once, she looked at Lex seriously. Right now, the solemn aura he was radiating was quite pure, and filled with incredible focus and drive. No wonder he got himself a harem. She could see how other girls might find that attractive. Then Giselle turned away. Even if Lex said he would end the anomaly, she was not in the habit of relying on others. She would get the treasure in time to end the anomaly herself. After all, whether Lex could achieve what he stated was still unknown. Lex walked into a huge hall in the center of which two figures stood, frozen in time, shing with one another. Yet Lex could not see them. After all, the two figures were surrounded by time fractures in every corner. Lex entered the hall, and when he detected the time fractures, he moved aside. But no matter how he went around them, his instincts were always pointing in the middle. The anomaly hid behind a wall of time fractures that had surrounded itpletely. "This¡­ might be problematic." Chapter 1186 That day Chapter 1186 That day "Mary, I have a small, tiny, almost inconsequential problem," Lex said as he looked at the empty space in front of him. He was not aware of what existed within, but his instincts were clearly guiding him towards this, and urgently. It was almost as if he was running out of time. "What''s up?" Mary asked, as she appeared on his shoulder, this time dressed up as a cowgirl. Or, well, a very Hollywood version of a cowgirl. She even had the tiny silver pistols and everything. "Nothing too serious. Just that the anomaly that we have to deal with that will end this time bubble before time freezes for billions of years, killing us all, is hidden behind a bunch of time fractures." He pointed at the bunch of nothing right in front of him, as if that was what he was talking about. Mary unholstered her gun and pointed it towards the nothing, as if threatening it. For a few seconds she stayed like that, until she twirled the gun with her finger and put it back in the holster. "I have good news and I have bad news. What do you want to hear first?" she asked. "The bad news," Lex said. He didn''t trust the good news. Good news was just bad news in disguise. "The bad news is that you will have to navigate a maze without ever touching the walls or risk death and destruction." "Ahan, and the good news?" "The good news is that time fractures are notplete barriers, and actually consist of cracks. That basically means you can slip right through the cracks. Just be careful not to actually touch any of the cracks." "Ah, yes, excellent news." He knew good news was just bad news in disguise. "Is there any additional news? Such as how I can avoid touching the cracks? Or sense where they are?" "Well, I rmend you be as small as you possibly can be. I recall you learned a lot of techniques to shape shift back when you still looked like a baby. That will drastically reduce your chances of running into cracks. At the same time, if you have managed to get yourself any time rted treasures, use those. If not, I strongly rmend you go back to that girl with the smart watch." Lex looked at her skeptically. N?v(el)B\\jnn "Mary, is it just me, or has your mood been especially chipper since we came into this time bubble? It''s like you''re not worried at all about absolute death." "You mean the way you''re cowering?" Lex gave her a nd look. He regrly faced deadly situations, but it was rare for even the system to be threatened by them. But while the system itself was panicking, Mary almost seemed jovial. He hadn''t seen her in this good a mood probably ever. He knew she wasn''t beingpletely upfront, but it''s not like he was interrogating her. Lex sighed, and then began to shrink in size to the smallest he could be. Coincidentally, Lex shrunk to the same size as his fairy body, which also happened to be the same size Mary was now. "Good luck!" she yelled before disappearing. In truth, Lex had caught onto Mary exactly. Her mood was the best it had been since she attached her soul to the system because¡­ in the time bubble, the system was glitching, and pretty hard. Lex had not noticed only and only because he was disconnected from the Inn at the moment. The Inn itself was operating fine, but he would have noticed the countless small anomalies indicating how poorly it was operating. Even when the system waspletely drained of energy and required Lex to repair its functionality, it still was operating in a better condition than it was now. The reason this put her in a good mood was because Mary understood systems better than anyone else she had ever met. She had hijacked a system to save her soul from being destroyed. Now that the system was malfunctioning, she could use this opportunity to do a lot of things she had nned. It was made especially easy for her since Lex refused to absorb the system into his soul. This kept a disconnect between himself and the system that anyone with the right knowledge could use against him. A powerful immortal could steal Lex''s karma and destiny, and through that directly hijack control over the Midnight Inn from Lex, and he would never know. These were things Mary had hid not because she had bad intentions against Lex, but because the system never allowed her to reveal the system''s ws directly. While Mary worked on the, and made a few subtle changes that neither Lex nor the system itself would notice, she paused. Technically speaking¡­ she could do Lex a lot of harm as well. She was in the perfect position to steal the system from him. It couldn''t be done now, but she could work her way towards it. With the system at hermand once more she could¡­ she could¡­ Mary closed her eyes and clenched her fists. Lex had trusted her¡­ listened to her requests even though he had no reason to. She could not betray him like that. She opened her eyes once more, and began working on the system with renewed vigor. Only, this time she was not making arrangements for her new body. Instead, she was closing some of the loopholes through which Lex could be threatened. What even Mary did not know, as she suddenly decided to help Lex instead of take advantage of him, was the subtle change Lex had undergone when he saw naked clones of his sister that day. He did not want to think about the atrocities that could have beenmitted¡­ most certainly were beingmitted¡­ and all of that, because his parents had been too weak and too trusting. That day, a part of Lex stopped trusting everyone and everything just a little bit less than before. That naturally included Mary as well. Although he never showed it, because in front of the world Lex still liked to show his happy, goofy self, inside his heart he had begun to take many precautions¡­ if at that moment Mary really had thought about harming Lex, the system might not have realized it, but Lex certainly would have. After all, one more reason he was able to remain so calm in the face of deadly situations was because of the extent of his preparations. Chapter 1187 Marble Chapter 1187 Marble In truth, Lex did not need anything to detect time fractures. His affinity for time, which still had not been sealed yet, reacted perfectly to time fractures in a way that let him know where they were. Lex also had absolutely perfect control over his entire body, down to every single hair, so he was absolutely certain he wouldn''t identally touch the cracks. But considering the seriousness of the matter, he still took a few moments topose himself. Or a few hours. Honestly, by now, he had no idea what rate time was flowing at. His personal quest from the system still showed over 300 hours left, but ording to Giselle the time they had left was much less. He had no idea how her watch was able to calcte the remaining time for whomever time was flowing the fastest in this entire bubble, and now wasn''t the right time to ask either. Lex closed his eyes and retracted his spirit sense. He even withdrew his sense of touch. Right now, he only needed three things to upy his mind. The first was a total awareness of his body, the second was his instincts guiding him, and the third was his time affinity to warn him. Lex walked towards the time fractures literally blind, maintaining his utmostposure. His affinity reacted, and from more than one direction. There were cracks in front of him, to his left and his right. But there was nothing above him, so he began to fly, inch by incy rising higher, until the path forward was clear. If Lex had his eyes open, then in a few moments, where his line of sight wasn''t interrupted by the cracks, he would have seen the two figures. For billions of years their postures hadn''t changed, unaware that their fight had literally ceased the flow of time. One of the figures was a ck minotaur, rising sixteen feet tall with taut muscles,rger than a normal man''s entire body. He was wielding a golden hammer that, in itself, was ten feet tall, and smashing against the silver sword of his foe, a banshee made of purple mes, her ethereal form zing with an eerie light. Their weapons, a testament to their might, were interlocked in a perfect stalemate, and the raw, unyielding force of their sh has warped time itself, encasing them in an immortal moment. The chamber, a silent witness to their relentless fury, suffered coutless cracks in time. The very hall itself felt charged, as if the vibrations of their sh, the echoes of their unresolved battle, still hung in the very air itself, waiting for time to flow once more so that they could be unleashed. Amidst that unresolved tension, Lex navigated the invisible, deadly maze, hoping to find a path through. He did not let his thoughts stray to those who were waiting for him. He did not think of those who he still needed to save, nor those who he needed to kill. In those moments, his focus was unprecedented, and his mindpletely clear of all distractions. N?v(el)B\\jnn A drawback of such pure focus was an unusually clear perception of the flow of time. It felt an eternity was passing in each moment, and the closer he came to his target, the longer each moment felt. He was certain he wasing close just by how strangely time felt to him, but the more it was like this the more careful he had to be. This continued until, suddenly, there were no more cracks in front of him. Still, as a precaution, he continued forward, slowly and steadily, but still he felt no cracks. Instead, he eventually felt something touching his body. Lex unsealed his senses and saw that he had crashed into the hoof on the minotaur. The sight stunned him. Even though the two were frozen in time, he could feel their power. Both of them were mere Nascent realm cultivators, yet the strength they wielded was a lot more. Lex was pretty confident in himself as a Nascent cultivator, but even he did not think he could use his physical body to demonstrate the kind of power they were wielding. How was that possible? For a moment he was confused. Then he quickly came to an answer. This was not the natural strength of these two, but an augmentation of their gear. The gear they were, from their clothes, to their bangles, earrings, belts, weapons, everything and anything, they all were treasures of the highest quality and order, and they all strengthened them physically. Even Lex, who cared little for treasures usually, felt a little tempted by such a grand disy of wealth. He was admiring their magnificent figures when he noticed something. In the middle of their sh, caught between the hammer and the sword, was a tiny, green marble. Neither the sword nor the hammer were actually touching each other. Instead, they were both connected via the tiny marble, and his instincts were guiding him to remove that marble from between the two weapons. In fact, for a while now, his instincts had been absolutely screaming at him to hurry up, but to maintain his focus and avoid any mistakes, he was forced to ignore it. Now, finally, he flicked a finger, and a small pulse of energy traveled out and hit the marble. There was no freaking way Lex was going to touch that marble with his body. He had learned his lesson by now. No touching mysterious objects that could alter reality. Instead, he popped the marble free from a distance,pletely unaware that he removed the marble just in time. Less than a single second remained for the time to pse. But whether it was a fraction of a second, or an hour, what mattered was that Lex propped the marble loose in time. In fact, as soon as the marble escaped the reach of the two weapons, it disappearedpletely, and the flow of time resumed. The hammer and the sword shed, resulting in a shockwave thatunched Lex''s tiny body across the room. Chapter 1188 Profanite Chapter 1188 Profanite Giselle paused as she entered the chamber, andid eyes on exactly what she had been searching for. The chambery in shadow, a sanctum untouched by time, it''s very airden with the whispers of ancient secrets. She stepped inside, and felt a shiver of awe and trepidation, her breath catching in her throat as she finally saw what she was searching for. Before her, suspended in the gloom, was the secret treasure of legend, the Sands of Time. It was a small loop, delicate and mesmerising, formed by a few grains of sand that seemed to defy gravity, eternally cascading in a hypnotic fall. The grains glowed with a soft, golden light, creating an aura both surreal and mythic. The power emanating from the Sands was palpable, an immeasurable force that tugged at the very fabric of reality, promising the unattainable, the iprehensible. Actually, she had no idea what the Sands did. Standing here now, she could even count how many grains there were, trapped in the eternal loop. There were a mere 13 grains. Yet for these 13 grains, someone had gone through great efforts, carefully orchestrating events billions of years apart. The fact that someone wanted them hidden so badly told of how gravely powerful they were. It also exined why she had to go through so much effort to get it. Her heart raced, a blend of exhration and dread, as she took a step closer, the pull of the Sands almost irresistible. She was almost there. As soon as she took the Sands, she could go back and end this time bubble herself. But she paused, and her eyes drifted from the sand to a dark corner of the room. A tall, lean figure emerged from the shadows at the edge of the hall, his presence as stark and cold as death itself. His skin was so pale it seemed translucent, a ghostly white that contrasted sharply with the abyssal ck of his eyes, eyes that bore no reflection, no hint of life. He was a wraith in human form, his intent unmistakable. He was there solely to stop her. "Profanite scum," she said as she looked at one of the dedicated followers of a Defiler. While Deities had religious followers who worshipped a deity, and became a source of power for them Profanites were those who had been defiled by a Defiler. A Defiler was the source of power for his Profanites, which meant that each of them wielded Profane Energy. They were simr, in a sense, to religious zealots who had been granted power by their deities. "Now, now, that is no way for ady to speak," the Profanite said and smiled, revealing his ebony teeth. "What are you doing here?" she asked, though she knew the answer. They both circled around the Sands of time, maintaining a distance from one another. "Why, Giselle, I am here to stop you from doing anything stupid, such as taking the Sands away from here." N?v(el)B\\jnn "This time bubble is about to end. My partner is ending it as we speak. The Sands won''t be hidden much longer either way." "Oh dear, Giselle, you don''t fool me," the Profinate said, chuckling. "Who would partner with you? Really, you shoulde up with a better lie." Giselle kept her gaze locked on the Profanite. Well, it was too much to hope that he would just leave as soon as he learned that the Sands would be leaving here one way or another. But that meant she might not get enough time to fight him off and go and end the time bubble. She''d have to trust Lex with that. For a moment, she considered if she could actually trust him with that. If he failed, then she would die, and all of this would be for nothing. Then she recalled his resolve as he talked about those he needed to save. If nothing else, she could trust that was real. It was foolish, extremely foolish, but she decided to take a gamble. Even if the Sands escaped the time bubble, they wouldn''t end up with her, which meant she''d have to risk everything to get her hands on it now. She summoned a sword, the sight of which caused the Profanite to grin, and suddenly the battle began. "If you don''t escape now, when the time pses, you''ll die," she said. "One way or another, I am going to die anyway," the Profanite said with overflowing glee. "I might as well do it whilepleting the lord''s task." Giselle clicked her teeth and gave up talking. Profanite or not, using Profane energy or not, it was not so easy to stand in her way. Even a fight of life and death seemed like an intricate dance when she did it. With her nimble manoeuvres and quick strikes, she avoided taking a single hit while slowly wearing down the Profanite, his ck blood staining the otherwise immacte hall. The more she wounded him, the more frustrated the Profanite became. The most frustrated he was, the more aggressive he became. The more aggressive he became, the easier it was for her to dodge his attacks. It became nothing more than a matter of time until the Profanite, for all his sacrilegious powers, was brought to his knees. Giselle wasted no time in decapitating him, and then grabbed the Sands, putting them in an appropriate container she had long prepared. Then she ran. There were precious few minutes left for the time bubble, and if Lex hadn''t seeded yet then he might have run into a problem. At worst, there might have been a Profanite standing guard to block him. Yet the flow of time was quick and incessant, and before she could reach the hall she felt it slipping away. Just as she felt all hope was lost, and time was about to stand still, a mighty boom reverberated through the pyramid, its shockwave knocking her back. Before she could get up, and understand what had happened, the entire world began to shake. Chapter 1189 More problem-solving Chapter 1189 More problem-solving "Oh crap!" Lex eximed as his body was lunged across the room. He tried to resist the force of the shockwave, but it came too quickly and without warning. For a moment Lex felt his heart drop. There were time fractures right behind him and he couldn''t afford to touch them. He turned his hands into ws and dug them into the air, grabbing onto space itself! Even if he could not teleport, that did not mean his space affinity was useless. After all, he was still surrounded by space. Using pure physical strength, Lex resisted a shockwave he suspected was more powerful than the one produced by nuclear bombs. Fortunately, it did notst long. In truth, this was not enough to hurt him, and if he hadn''t been caught unprepared, he would not even have been blown away. But he had been taken by surprise. Nevertheless, he had saved himself. Yet when he turned back to look, he realized that the time fractures might no longer be there. This was because he could see the impact of the shockwave traveling across the room, whereas if the time fractures were there, the shockwave would have been destroyed upon touching them, like everything else. A loud thud sound attracted Lex''s attention, and that''s when he turned to see that the minotaur had fallen over, while the mes that made up the banshee whittled out. No matter who they were so long ago, or why they were fighting, after suffering the ravages of time, they were both dead now. A flicker of interest passed through Lex''s eyes. Even if they were both dead, their treasures were still as good as new, and they were quite impressive. Lex wouldn''t mind adding them to the museum in his penthouse. Lex grabbed the ten feet long golden hammer, and instantly learned that he could control its size. Shrinking it down to a more reasonable four feet, he stored it away, while doing the same with the silver sword and every other piece of gear they were wearing. It was funny. He gave up the more valuable treasure that was hidden here, but was now looting these small things. A familiar notification sound tinged in his ear, and Lex gave a cursory nce at the system notification informing him he hadpleted the quest. The reward was, as expected, keeping the system alive. Lex wondered if Giselle got the treasure she was after. He was about to go look for her when he felt a change ur throughout space. Something gripped him, covering him in a protective shield, as the pyramid unraveled around him. He saw the walls dissolve, as if they were nothing, and the body of the minotaur also turned to ash. Everything around him was undergoing a change, though that allowed him to briefly catch a glimpse of a hidden basement underneath the floor where he was, as well as a sarcophagus. Unfortunately, whatever secrets were hidden in the basement would remain a mystery. As the pyramid finally disappeared from around him, Lex caught sight of the first ray of sunlight peeking over the horizon. The dawn was no longer frozen, and as the distant sun came into view, the world around thempletely dissolved. Throughout it all, Lex never caught sight of Giselle again, so he could only hope she was fine, and got whatever she wanted. For a few minutes, Lex was surrounded by darkness and nothing else. But then, like a rubber band returning to its normal shape, he snapped back into the world, and found himself in a familiar lobby. It was exactly the ce he had entered the Temple of Frozen Dawn from. Countless others appeared around him as well, all of them contestants in the same stream as him. None of them even know how close they all came to dying. They also just passed purely on luck. But that luck would not follow them forever. "Congrattions, Mr. Lex, on passing this ground," said the receptionist standing in front of him. "There is a 20 hour break during which you can feel free to rest and rehabilitate yourself. After 20 hours you will be eligible to move onto the next round of the preliminaries." "Next round? I thought after this I can move onto the Trial of Eternity." N?v(el)B\\jnn "Yes, it''s through this stream that you can eventually end up there," she said, smiling politely, "but there are still two more rounds for the preliminary tournament for you to experience first." Lex groaned, and left. There was no point in arguing with the receptionist, so he returned to his room, and then returned to the Inn. He wanted to check and make sure everything was fine and operational during the time bubble, but there didn''t seem to be any issues. The only thing worth noting was that he had been gone for 30 days, or roughly 721 hours. That was good and bad. It was good because he had umted a lot of MT, and it was bad because the Midnight Games almost stopped because of it. He was continuously spending the MT he earned to keep the games running, and after 30 days the MT he had spent to keep it functional was almost used up. But that was easily fixed. Lex spent a majority of his ie, which would keep the Midnight Games running for easily three months now, and observed a little. It was funny because his first Midnight Games had attracted the attention of a Dao Lord, but this time around nothing like that happened. Maybe it was because the Innkeeper already had a bit of a reputation by now. Or maybe they were just busy with other things. Either way, fortunately he did not end up attracting any troublesome attention, which was not to say everything was going smoothly either. With a sigh, Lex sat down in his chair and began addressing the many issues cropping up. The first of which was not even a Midnight Inn issue. Instead, he had to address therge number of applications that had been sent in to join Lex''s harem. Every time this came up, Lex swore in his heart he would make that stupid rancher pay. Chapter 1190 Midnight Games update Chapter 1190 Midnight Games update Havval El''Yun roared triumphantly into the night sky, the corpses of an entire legion of insects all around his long, serpentine body. He was the ruler of the Jade Sea, the King of Serpents, but most of all, he was a warrior who had built his odyssey over the corpses of his enemies. Years ago, when he had been invited to the first Midnight Games, he had not imagined how much of a boon it would be, and how much of a burden. As Nibiru thrived under the influence of the Innkeepers rewards, so too did chaos thrive. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The world was brought to war with itself, as new contenders rose everyday and challenged him for power. Many of his peers had fallen. Many other kinds were reced. New beasts grew to rece them and begin their own journeys. But any who sought to challenge him met the same, gruesome end. He was still king, and he was stronger than ever. Which is why, this time, when news of the games arrived, Havval was ready. This time, he let his ambitions guide him, and he was no longer afraid to dream the impossible dream, and it was exactly as he expected. The Innkeeper did not disappoint him. The Innkeeper gave him war, gave himbat, but more important than anything, gave him a means to grow stronger. Havval looked around, and after ensuring that no living insects remained, swiped its w in mid-air and summoned an interface that showed the number of people he had saved, the number of insects he had killed, the amount of points he had earned, and how many points he had been donated. There were also a few gifts many generous patrons had sent him, alongside a side-tab filled with quests that viewers had assigned him. If he epted andpleted those quests, he would get even more amazing rewards and prizes, all sponsored by the viewers. But Havval was interested in no gifts, nor did he care for quests lest they earned him more points. He navigated to the shop tab of the interface, and then went to his shopping cart where he had an item waiting for him. Without hesitation he bought it, and a momentter a Manastone of Humility appeared in his hand. This unparalleled treasure of epic proportions could achieve the one single feat that Havval had dreamed about his entire life. Without hesitation he ate the rock, and felt its power spread through his body, strengthening the lost traces of a bloodline until only the smallest fraction of it became noticeable. Yet even that tiny change caused a massive metamorphosis in Havval''s body, causing him to begin shedding his skin prematurely. From beneath the shed skin, scales began to appear, and the Serpent King suddenly took on a dragonoid appearance. He roared once more, but this time his roar carried a hint of Dragons Might! It was just a tiny, nearly imperceptible hint, but it was enough to show that the Manastone of Humility had purified his bloodline, and brought him closer to his stronger ancestor. With enough points, he could continue to buy this mythic treasure, and refine his bloodline until he became a full-fledged dragon! Only the Innkeeper could bring him such a reward! Only the Midnight Inn wielded such awesome power. Feeling a surge of energy, the dragonoid serpent leaped forward in the hunt for more insects. It was impossible for him to know that the treasure he was so desperately seeking was a random pebble found in the Midnight realm. Guests who stayed at the Inn could literally pick up a pebble, eat it, and it would purify their bloodlines. But most guests never thought to look at the pebbles they were walking over as treasures. More importantly, as the Inn was divided into levels, which level actually contained such pebbles was also something that needed to be looked at. Finally, the most important measure Lex took to prevent the Inn from being strip-mined in case any guest ever realized how truly valuable everything in the Inn was, was to keep only a certain threshold of things from the Inn they could randomly take before they''d get charged for it. For example, if a guest booked a room at the Inn, there was only a certain number of rocks or grass or anything else they could randomly eat before they''d get a prompt that eating anymore would cause them to be charged for it. It sounded mean, but the Inn was, well, an inn and not an all-you-can-eat buffet. On another, Pramod, the heart demon that led the zombie horde in the first Midnight Games, was once again leading an army of zombies against the insects. Every once in a while, he would buy Radiant Mire, which not only increased the toughness of his skin, making it more durable, but it also removed freckles and pimples and made his skin fairer. Another name for Radiant Mire, inside the Inn, was mud. It was themon roadside mud. On another, the former pontiff of Bunny nation on Nibiru, Faloofa, was using a pair of nunchucks topletely dominate the battlefield. His every strike would break the earth and shatter tectonic tes. Time and time again he would get warning to restrain himself lest he get disqualified, but the bunny knew only how to exert itself, not hold back. When it gained enough points, it bought for itself a Wilting Dream, eating which would bring it one step closer to the next realm. What realm was that? It did not know. It had no concepts of realms. It was only a bunny. Faloofa would settle for whatever realm brought its brethren peace. Unfortunately, as it had not visited the Inn in a while, it did not know that its brethren were very much at peace - excluding the kids harassing them. It also did not know that it was just eating dead flowers. Like that, millions and millions of humans, beasts, monsters and creatures of other kinds slowly became stronger using only the mulch from the Midnight Inn, and every time they grew stronger, Sanguis Pluvia grew weaker. Chapter 1191 All from the same planet? Chapter 1191 All from the same? "Pass the popcorn, dear," said Noo, looking at her lovely little granddaughter. La, who was slightly distracted, handed her grandmother an empty bucket. Everyone in the room looked at each other. They all knew why she was distracted, but it couldn''t be helped. This was the first time that they, as a family, were taking a vacation together. Previously, even the thought of taking a vacation was inconceivable. Their world was at war against zombies, and the most likely scenario was that they would die fighting. Then the change happened, and the Ferrin family was caught up in rebuilding their world so they sent La away so that she might have a semnce of a childhood. Indeed, a childhood she did have, and as expected from her she became a leader of countless children. Yet her ever growing close association with amoner with no future was worrying, so they pulled her back to Vegus Minima, where she resumed her cultivation path. Indeed, she was a genius, far surpassing even her parents. Her growth was rapid, and she executed near perfection in every technique she learned. In a mere five years, despite beginning cultivation prematurely, her foundation had grown so solid that despite their best efforts to prevent her realm from growing, she became a Foundation realm cultivator. Yet while her cultivation grew, her personality diminished. She became quieter by the day, until she only spoke when spoken to, and even then her responses were minimal. She became the perfect, obedient child, and in the process lost all her individuality. N?v(el)B\\jnn When the Ferrin family learned that another Midnight Games were about tounch they obviously knew they had to partake. That''s when they learnt the phenomenal news that the flow of time in the Inn was three times that of the Origin realm. That meant while five years had passed for them, fifteen years had passed inside the Inn. That means that all the children she used to y with were adults, and any attachment they may have had would be long gone. They brought her back to the Inn, in hopes that it would rekindle some of her passions. After all, it was not like the Ferrin family abused her or were strict beyond measure. All they did was distance her from some people who would, in the long run, have a negative influence on her future. But it wasn''t working. She seemed even more glum than in the past. It also didn''t help that all the workers she was familiar with were out doing other tasks, so returning to the ce she was most familiar with made her feel more lonely than ever. The only redeeming factor was that there was a specific peacock that still remembered her, and came up and nestled beside her wherever she went. "Oh, there''s another live event being streamed," La''s father suddenly said, pulling up another screen in front of them all. As a result of the time difference between realms, watching the Midnight Games was a littleplicated. They could watch everything live, but that would show thebat in slow motion. On the plus side, that gave viewers enough time to buy aid for their favorite fighters in a critical moment. But the drawback was that watching live was very slow, so most people were watching ybacks of fights that were already over. But while this was happening, the Inn suddenly introduced another tournament being streamed inside the Origin realm, and this one wasn''t being run by the Midnight Inn. Furthermore the stream wasn''t live, and instead was avable for full streaming right away, so those in the Inn could watch it at normal speed. La gave the screen a cursory nce, but was surprised to discover that she actually saw someone vaguely familiar. Before the stream officially began, there was a narrator giving some information on some of the more popr contestants. The one she recognized was a young man with six swords floating behind him. There was a yellow forcefield around him, making him look like an anime character. His name was Alexander. The narrator then skipped to another person dressed entirely in ck, wearing a mask and holding a scythe. It went through a few more different contestants, and La was surprised to find that she had actually seen many of them around the Inn at one point or another. For example, there was that guy Marlo. He used to be very popr at the Inn because he was always causing some problems. But now, after five years, he looked a lot bigger, as if he had put on a lot of muscle. She saw that Anakin Indiana e guy, who always looked like he wanted to cause trouble. From what she recalled, he had a group of friends as well. Before she could evenplete the thought, she saw the rest of them. There was that samurai guy, who always carried a katana with him. Then there was Larry, who would always drool whenever he looked at the spaceship. Heck, she even saw that weirdo who always used everyone of lying. Then she frowned for a minute. From what she recalled, weren''t they all from the same? Wasn''t that a lot of representatives from the same ce? Before she couldplete the thought, the narrator finally presented the most popr contestant, and the one to keep an eye on during the stream, Lex Dragonsbane. He looked familiar too. Before she could recall where she had seen him, the sound of shouting and screaming distracted her. She looked outside her window of their private booth, and saw countless people who were watching shouting as Lex came on screen. Even the workers were shouting. Quickly, the news spread. Apparently, Lex was a very popr worker at the Inn, and if rumors were true, a very strong one at that. He also went by another name - Leo. Suddenly, a spark of interest shed in her eyes as she looked towards the screen. The stream finally began, and the venue was shown. It was a graveyard for giants. Chapter 1192 Creatures of flame Chapter 1192 Creatures of me After taking care of his problems and returning to the hotel lobby, Lex was sent to the next round. He had also taken this break period to look into how long exactly these rounds wouldst. All of his ns were, more or lessing together, but there was a catch. The longer he took to execute his n, the more variables that came in, which meant there was a greater chance of something going wrong. In fact, Rnd had already passed him certain news about bank Versalis which made the situation slightlyplicated. He did not know the exact rtionship between the Henali and the bank, but apparently the bank had sent someone over to mend the situation with the A.I. Obviously that had nothing to do with Lex, but it had much to do with the Fuegan, who were closely connected to the very people he was targeting. For now, this was not a bad thing, but the more time went by, the greater the chances that something could go amiss. So Lex felt the need to rush. But these things were not in his control. He needed to be calm when there was nothing he could do, but act decisively when he felt he could make a change. This was especially when he found out that the Champions tourney would be at least ten years long, and the preliminary tournament was also expected tost a year. As he was teleported to his next trial, Lex almost resigned himself to the fact that this would take some time. That was fine. He would, in this time, help Moon build a connection to her and help her move to the Inn. The search for Liz and Belle would be slowed down, but maybe being streamed live across the realm would help them find him instead. Yet that thought changed as soon as he was sent to the giant''s graveyard. To pass this trial, all he needed to do was cleanse this graveyard of all abominations born as a result of umting yin energy - a type of energy that was abundantly found in dark and cold ces, but as well as in ces where a lot of death had urred. N?v(el)B\\jnn Besides Lex, thousands of others were sent to the graveyard as well, this time including Earth Immortals. All those who managed to stay alive by the end, and killed at least 100 abominations would move onto the next round. Based on the number of contestants, the size of the graveyard, and the estimated number of abominations, it was guessed that it would take around five months for the trial to bepleted. If thepletion of this trial was dependent on the elimination of abominations, could he end it quicker if he cleared it quicker? Did that mean the next trial would start sooner? Did that mean that the preliminary tournament, as well as the Champions tourney were not on a fixed timeline, but rather they just had estimated time frames? He could not answer these questions, but he could definitely test his hypothesis. Lex looked out at the dark, endless in covered in corpses in front of him. There was no sunlight, or moonlight, for a thickyer of clouds hung high above in the air, and though the sound of thunder asionally rumbled in the clouds, he never saw lightning. But such a darkness was fitting, for as far as they eye could see, the only thing visible was corpses. There were no hills, just mounds of dead bodies. There was no dirt, just more corpses underneath the ones on top. The wind that blew did not whisper, but wailed and cried like that of a billion suffering souls. It was almost like he hade to the underworld - a ce not to damn the souls of the evil, but to wee each and every one of the dead. The sight was unnerving for many, though Lex only wondered if he was going to encounter more zombies. He looked, and around him he saw countless other contestants, most of them courageously looking out at the horizon for their enemies. Some of them looked concerned. A very few looked excited. Lex cracked his neck and began to walk forward. He did not need to spread his spirit sense out to see that in the darkness, the abominations had already begun to rise. They hid in the shadows or bodies, and in corners and in pits and holes. They traveled through the wind, unseen and unheard, and attacked like assassins in the night. They were formless and shapeless, yet they were absolutely lethal. Fear and horror were their strengths, and they had no weaknesses in this ce. Or atleast, they did not until now. Slowly, a powerful aura began to spread from Lex''s body, attracting the attention of not only all the abominations, but all the contestants as well. Everyone had been waiting for the first move. They wanted to see what the abominations could do. Since they would be here for months, they would first get a sense for the strength of their enemies, and then they would make their ns. Of course, if the others wanted to probe the abominations first, they would happily sit back and watch. But Lex had no intentions of probing. His right eye glowed with a red light as he used his new eye technique. But this time he was not using his eye to search for things - instead he was using a uniquebination of Glyphs and arrays to use his vision to control mes. Then, he opened his mouth and let loose dragonfire. Thick and roiling mes or yellow and orange suddenly illuminated the darkness, revealing all the hidden abominations for a split second before they burned to ash. The mes, under the control of his eye, began to take shape, and mythical creatures born of mes appeared before him. The aura his body gave off became stronger. Domination was no longer just the simple theft of Dragons Might. It had been fueled and elevated using his own convictions, and it carried a weight like no other. Just like that, Lex started his massacre. Chapter 1193 His limit Chapter 1193 His limit Far, far away from the preliminary tournament, and the champions tourney, and even the known realm, there was a White Dwarf. White Dwarfs, basically, were just dead stars that hadn''t blown up after their fires burned out, and instead cooled down. White Dwarfs were not all that umon, and this one too would be nothing more than another lifeless piece of rock, no different from any other in the Origin realm. Except that the 99s that orbited this White Dwarf were all on fire, as if there were 99 stars orbiting a. The countless burnings all around the White Dwarf made it so that it experienced perpetual daylight, and experienced incredibly high temperatures, without actually being lit on fire. The unique circumstances around this dead star had been artificially created to serve a very particr purpose. It was an incubation, where dragons came and left their eggs - the ones from which they had particrly high expectations. It was also a kind of nursery for newborn dragons, where they would be trained in the absolute basics before being sent out into the Origin realm to fend for themselves. Yet, on this day, this particr White Dwarf was visited by someone other than a dragon. A devil appeared, not in her mundane humanoid form, but in her fully disyed devil form. Her purple skin was smooth and lustrous, and carried a certain charm that could entice the hearts of whoeverid eyes on it. Her two,rge wings, were fully opened behind her back, as if she needed them to fly, and her long, slender tail swung gently behind her, like a dancing snake. "YOU A TRESPASSING ON DRAGON TERRITORY, DEVIL!" a voice boomed even in the vacuum of space, as a formerly invisible dragon revealed herself. Her scales were dark, like space itself, and seemed to bend light around it, helping her camouge herself. The effectiveness of her scales was remarkable, considering the size of her body was so massive, that it hugged the entirety of the White Dwarf! "A thousand pardon, mighty dragon," the devil said politely, a mischievous smile painting her enchanting face. "I have no ulterior motives. My name is Vrie, and I came here to im a certain bounty. I have knowledge about where Dragonsbane will be soon." The dark devil let out a deafening roar that threatened the integrity of space itself within the region. In fact, Vrie strongly suspected that if there weren''t formations protecting this ce, then that roar might have destroyed the entire star system that the dragons had carefully developed. Clearly she was not a fan of the name Dragonsbane. "In the Champions tourney, he will make an appearance in the Trials of Eternity," she said, before promptly disappearing from the area. But even after she had disappeared, her voice lingered. "I''ll be waiting for my bounty once you''ve confirmed my intel. Please have someone prepare it beforehand." ***** The contestants were stunned. The abominations were stunned. Everyone was stunned save Lex, who just kept walking forward. With each step he took, his mes formed into various creatures around him. The first, naturally, was a dragon. His dragonsfire took on the form of a dragon, and it lookedpletely identical to Pelvailin. The ming dragon did not need to bellow, for the raging mes that made up its body were in a constant state of roaring. It spread its magnificent wings, scorching earth and air together, cremating the corpses it stood on, before taking to the skies. Up above them, the heavy curtain of clouds was actually an illusion. There were no clouds, only an endless legion of flying abominations, and now, amidst them, a ming dragon. The next creature to be born of mes was a wolf, and it looked much like Fenrir. Yet while Fenrir could disappear from view, this wolf demanded to be seen. It raced into the darkness, leaving behind a trail of fiery footprints that slowly grew into a zing inferno. Next came peacocks, and when they spread their feathers, each one was formed from a different colored me. It was like a living work of art, meant to kill, and that''s exactly what it did. Rabbits, butterflies and pigeons came next, each of different sizes and shapes. The only thing they had inmon was that they were made of fire, and that they each fought alongside Lex. Then, another figure began to form. It had not even taken shape yet, but those who viewed it felt a different kind of fear just from its silhouette. It was a beast, nay a monster, meant specifically for war. But before it could formpletely, Lex dismissed it and ced a hand on his seals. This was his limit right now. If he tried to do more than this then he risked undoing his seals. N?v(el)B\\jnn Then Lex summoned his sword and looked at Naraka. A piece of him yearned to let loose, but then reluctantly he put the sword away. Finding a worthy foe for his sword had turned out to be more of a hassle than he imagined. But if there was ever a ce he found a worthy enemy, it would be at the tourney. Instead, he summoned his recently acquired hammer. It was a pretty big, double sided hammer that looked like it belonged to monsters of legend. Considering it had been used by an oversized minotaur, that actually ended up being true. What was more important, however, was that it granted Lex a boost in physical strength. Lex looked out in front, and noticed that his little warm up had garnered a strong reaction from the abominations. Like a tide of darkness they wereing to smash down on him. Instead, wielding the hammer, Lex smashed down on the corpse in front of him. Yet the hammer never touched the corpse. Instead, space cracked under his mighty blow, and the cracks spread far and wide, before they began to quickly heal. Yet why would he let them heal? There was nothing in the description of this trial that said he couldn''t destroy the whole graveyard itself, and that seemed like a much quicker way of killing all the abominations than killing them one by one. The tide of darkness crashed down, trying to stop him, but the ming monsters came in their way. There was no darkness that could survive the light of dragonfire. Someone in the discord said that the previous cliffhanger was criminal, so I took that as a challenge xD Chapter 1194 One man army I Chapter 1194 One man army I BANG! Lex used the hammer to smash down on space itself right before him, causing it to crack. Yet the cracks also began to heal the very moment they were formed. This ce was not like BGY-987, the where the Midnight Battalion had waited for him. There, the fabric of space had been frail and fragile, breaking easily. That was both a boon and a curse, for it made using destructive space techniques easier, and a curse because if he was not careful he would end up destroying a lot more than just space. But here, thews of space were whole and healthy, and so as Lex tried to break space, space itself tried to resist and heal. Technically speaking, if Lex wanted to just create a small fracture in space he would not need to take such extreme measures. But his aim was farrger than a small fracture, which is why he was doing things in a much simpler and brutish fashion. He was forcing space to shatter over arge area. BANG! He smashed again, and as his hammer bore down, it was not just space that felt the tremors caused by his heavy blows. It was not even limited to the floor of corpses upon which he stood. No, the tremors of his blows spread to the hearts of all the other contestants who were around him, watching. They spread to the hearts of the abomination, who felt a lethal threat from his actions. The tremors shook the hearts and minds of all those who were streaming this fight, and even of those who were supposed to be overseeing things. "Should we stop him?" a worried, disembodied voice asked. "No, the karma of this ce needs to be resolved naturally. By bringing everyone here we are already pushing the limits of what that allows. Even if he destroys the very graveyard itself, that is also a resolution to the karma. Keep your eyes on the greater goal. Do not fret these small losses." BANG! The sound of Lex''s hammer punctuated the end of their conversation. ***** Giselle was extremely concerned about verifying Lex''s survival, but she was soon kicked out of the Temple of Frozen Dawn before she could. Moreover, she was certain he was not staying in the same hotel as her. So she could not put the matter aside and focus on her training. When the next trial started, and she arrived in the graveyard, she no longer needed to keep her cultivation suppressed. She undid her seal, revealing her natural cultivation as a 3rd stage Earth Immortal. Unlike the previous realms, which were divided into beginner,te and peak stages, the immortal stages were each divided into 9 stages, and going from one stage to the next required passing a minor tribtion. Moving from onerge realm to another, such as Earth Immortal to Heavenly Immortal, required oveing arge tribtion. The fact that she was already a 3rd stage Earth Immortal meant that her progress speed was exceptionally abnormal. Yet that was entirely arbitrary, since her cultivation realm was not a good reflection of her power. After all, she had always been stronger than her realm suggested. In the darkness of the graveyard, she prepared herself to unleash her power. Her every move, every breath, every blink of her eye already overflowed with grace and elegance, yet it suddenly took on another, more ethereal charm. Her every movement had a certain sense of flow in it, as if she was one with nature around her. Gravity worked with her, not against her. The wind blew in support of her, erasing any resistance. The world bent itself to amodate her. She was free and unshackled. Anyone observing her would feel like they would see¡­ grains of sand, flowing in the breeze. Just as she was about to unleash her newfound power, ready to test it, a bright yellow light cut through the darkness, and a dragon made of mes unveiled itself in the distance. More and more mythical creatures appeared, and standing amidst them was a young man with a focused expression. BANG! She felt it. It was not his savage might, nor the cracking of space, nor the absurdity of the situation of a single man taking on the entire trial by himself that she felt. No, what she felt was the severity of his will. A thought flickered through her mind. She wondered who exactly was unfortunate enough to piss off Lex so much? Of course she recognized him. The distance meant nothing to her eyes, or her other senses. She was an immortal after all. But besides just his burning intensity, there was one more thing that intrigued her. Right now, he looked so much different from that guy in the temple asking questions about mops. There were no jokes filling the silence right now. There was only the drive to eliminate the obstacle between himself and his mission. N?v(el)B\\jnn But Giselle had her own mission in this graveyard, so she stopped looking at Lex, and began her own ughter. Oddly enough, even though she was incredibly lethal, and did a significant amount of damage to the abominations, no one noticed her. It was as if her moves were timeless. ***** The Midnight tavern was full - fuller than usual, considering that it had experienced a recent upgrade. The tavern owner had recently decided to triple the size of his building. Of course, he didn''t add anymore floors, but just took over the neighboring buildings, tore them down and expanded the tavern. No one minded, since the tavern was super popr anyway. "Hey, little huntress," the tavern keeper said to the little girl covered in blood, despite looking quite pale herself. She had recently suffered a grave wound, and if it hadn''t been for timely treatment administered by the tavern owner, she might have be a cripple. "I heard you''re in need of moneytely," he continued, ignoring the tantly obvious anger in her eyes. Someone had targeted her, and caused her to lose out a lot. He knew. How could he not know? He even knew what she wanted that money for, though he would never tell her. "Yeah. So what? You epting new kinds of beasts? It''ll take me a couple of days to recover, but I can start hunting as soon as I can walk without limping." "No, you silly girl. Hunters need to use their brains as well sometimes. Use the opportunity that is presented before you." "What do you mean?" she looked at him oddly. The tavern keeper only smiled, and pointed to the massive projection screen in the middle of the tavern bar. "You have to figure that out for yourself. By the way,pletely unrted, but the tavern is epting bets for who is going to win this tournament. I myself have ced my bets on that guy with the hammer." The huntress gave him an odd look. "If the tavern is the one epting bets¡­ why are you cing bets?" "Hey, the tavern is the tavern, and I''m me. Anyway, you do what you want. Good luck with your money crisis." Chapter 1195 One man army II Chapter 1195 One man army II A literal tide of darkness, formed from countless abominations shapelesslying together to pool their strengths, crashed down on Lex. Yet the light of his furious fires kept the darkness at bay. It was an epic battle between light and darkness, a symphony of good and evil, a contest of power that transcended typical conventions, and in the middle of it all, a man working single-mindedly on his task. The steady rhythm with which he was smashing down his hammer gave the impression that he was nothing more than a cksmith, forging something of mythic power as he harnessed the abstract chaos around him. The abominations had no shape or form to which they adhered. They were darkness, and within it they could be megalithic monsters, or an army of infinite individuals. Their very nature caused weakness and fear to spread, their body a poison that could kill mind and soul alike. Being in the very presence of an abomination diminished the strength and stature of those who could not handle it. Yet clearly, if it was not for their abundance, they would be worth nothing more than a minor irritation to Lex. It was not like his actions said that dragonfire was weak. It was more like saying that if they could not even ovee his dragonfire, why did they deserve anymore attention from him? Instead, Lex focused on the task at hand, and continued to smash down on the space before him until there was finally a change. There were countless cracks right in front of him, and though they spread out far and wide, they all originated from this point. The concentration of cracks continued to rise, until eventually, a small piece of space chipped, revealing the Void underneath. Lex''s eyes gleamed. Among the most powerful space attacks he learned, Space Warp and Space Unraveling were still the strongest. Space Warp basically allowed Lex to manipte space to cause fluctuations in gravity, while Space Unraveling literally undid space, and instead turned it into a highly concentrated, incredibly dangerous form of energy that even he could not tolerate even still. But the fact that the energy was so dangerous it could harm even him made it the perfect weapon. Moreover, Lex''s control over the Space Unraveling technique itself had grown tremendously since hest used it. Lex extended his hand and held the chipped piece of space in the center of his hand, never actually touching his skin, as he began unraveling it. Yet before itpletely unraveled, he flung it out, in front of him, into the dark tide. The chip, which was not even asrge as a fingernail,pletely dissolved, releasing an overwhelming eruption of energy. Compared to BGY-987 where space was weak, and hence contained only trace amounts of energy, the space here was strong, so when it unraveled the amount of energy it released was also massive. It was as if Lex had set off some kind of vaporizing attack, as an entirerge segment of the dark tide just suddenly vanished as the tide of energy ate away at everything it touched. But the energy did notst long, dispersing into thin air. In truth, this was a very powerful attack, but it was not unstoppable. After all, immortals attacked withws, and even if an immortal did not control thew of space, they could use otherws to counter it. But he would deal with the abominations who could defend against his attackster. First, he would reduce their numbers drastically. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om By now, the other contestants had also begun their battles, though not a single one of them came close to Lex, and that suited him fine. Lex kept shattering bits of space and then throwing them out like frisbees, having them unravel along the way, eradicating massive chunks of the abomination tide. His strategy was effective. In fact, it was so effective that he alone had done more damage than all the other contestantsbined together. But after a few hours, Lex stopped as a frown painted his face. Despite killing so many abominations, there hardly seemed to be a dent in their endless numbers. No wonder this was expected to take months. He needed toe up with a faster way to kill all of them. For a moment, he paused and rubbed his chin as he thought about his options. He could give up his control over dragonfire and let it spread unchecked. That''s exactly what happened when he used dragonfire for the first time, which was against the Tree of Heaven. But even if he assumed no immortals would put out his mes, it would still be too slow. What he needed to do was identify the abomination''s greatest weakness, and then think of a way to create one or a number of overwhelming attacks that could influence the entire graveyard. He spent some time nning, and came up with a feasible idea. Ironically, the fastest way to clear this whole ce of abominations required a long preparation time. Lex used his left eye to study thews attached to the abominations - specifically, he looked for their weaknesses. Conveniently, it seemed like their greatest weakness was Yang energy, which was abundant in dragonfire. Oddly enough, Yang energy would also allow abominations to grow stronger, as the Yang would nourish and strengthen them somehow. But the nature of how they received the energy is what would determine if they were annihted or nourished. Lex immediately got to work. Although Lex had learned a lot about formations recently, he still preferred arrays. Especially after he learned to augment the results of arrays using Glyphs, he managed to ovee that invisible threshold of power that he seemed to reach with his arrays. Not that it mattered right now. The array Lex began to design was not an attacking array to begin with, so the threshold of power didn''t matter. Instead, the array would only facilitate the result he wanted, not cause it. Chapter 1196 Purgatory Chapter 1196 Purgatory Lex''s spirit sense spread out around the graveyard, over the abominations, and into the literal endless pile of corpses. His spirit sense traveled until it eventually reached the ground, which had hardened like one continuous piece of rock, and then went deeper. It also rose into the air, through the cloud of abominations and above it, searching for the actual sky. His left eye, especially, was activated far beyond what it had been in a long time as he studied thews governing every aspect of this graveyard. He could see traces of what once was. He could see the decayingws that usually apanied a thriving popce andrge nations. He could see how they had been eroded, over time, and eventually reced by a dark destion. Protected by his army of dragonfire creatures, Lexpletely changed his focus to his surroundings, gaining a thorough and nuanced understanding of the graveyard that was out of reach at a simple nce. N?v(el)B\\jnn His purpose was simple. Lex had experienced many things and encountered unfathomable powers, but maintained a firm belief that the forces of nature were of the strongest in existence. Natural disasters could literally change the topography of continents. If viewed on a border, more universal scale, natural disasters could destroys and cause stars to explode. Natural disasters could give birth to ckholes, which were at the apex of destructive power. So to kill all the abominations here, he wanted to give rise to the necessary circumstances for a natural disaster to ur. Due to his natural affinity for volcanoes, Lex naturally considered that first. But as his spirit sense reached deep into the ground, to the very limits of his spirit sense, he could find nova. Despite the massive weight and pressure that the deep underground of this ce must experience, it was not able to turn intova due to the deep infiltration of Yin energy. In fact, the deeper he went, the colder it seemed. It was tragic, but it was not the end. He could use the abundance of the Yin energy in this ce to give birth to a new kind of natural disaster. Although, by definition, instigating the disaster himself made it an artificial disaster, the point of the matter was to use the abundant resources avable here to power the disaster instead of doing it himself. Since Yang energy could nourish Yin, then under the right circumstances, the reverse could also be true. He just had to set the stage for that to happen naturally and organically himself. After gaining a deep and thorough understanding of the patterns of the graveyard, it was pretty easy. It was like setting off a forest fire. If the weather was dry, and there was enough kindling, and the wind was blowing just right, a single, half extinguished match could be the start of catastrophic devastation. Heavy winds began to st through the graveyard as Lex''s body started to rise, and suddenly the aura of danger his body gave off increased drastically. In fact, it wasn''t just the abominations who felt it - the contestants did too. Yet the strange thing was he had long since ceased attacking. Instead, he was building an array. The array wasn''t even massive, oddly enough. The characters were painted on almost a microscopic level, so that he could safely build the array around him, yet even so thin lines of spirit energy became visible around him, forming what looked like an endless maze. Yet the lines of that maze were the characters themselves. It was interesting, because despite the size of the array, it only had one purpose, which was to force the Yin to nourish the Yang in his dragonfire, instead of fighting it. But theplexity of the array surpassed any array he had ever built before. The greatest problem was that Lex felt hecked vocabry as far as array characters were concerned. After the original few he learned initially, as well as the few he identified himself the past few years, he knew no other characters. He needed to supplement his knowledge, but there was no readily avable source that didn''t ovep with his existing knowledge base. So he had to make do with moreplicated arrays. But Lex had radical ideas about arrays - ideas which, if panned out, could drastically improve his strength. But to even begin testing them out, he would need to be an immortal. Once that happens, and he gained enough self confidence in surviving truly cataclysmic disasters, Lex wanted to go observe supernovae and ckholes to see if he could find any characters in or around them. Eventually, Lex''s body floated to the very middle of the ground and the ck curtain of abominations in the sky, and the array around him continued to grow stronger. Anyone with strong instincts or self protective abilities began to sense that something was terribly wrong, as Lex began to radiate an aura simr to fatal danger. The abominations sensed it to, and began attacking him from every side. Even Immortal abominations, which had been holding back so far, attacked with full ferocity. For the first time, the dragonfire monsters were pushed back. They changed their tactic from attacking abominations to simply protecting Lex, but even then the radius of the circle they formed around Lex continued to get smaller. But with each passing second, more and more abominations attacked, so much so that the other contestants ran out of opponents to fight. They all looked towards Lex, who was attracting every single abomination within range. In fact, a few momentster, Lex was no longer even visible. A massive ck orb began to float in the air as the abominations encircled him perfectly, and continued to squeeze tighter on his defenses. Dragonfire was formidable, but the sheer force of abominations throwing themselves at the mes began to eventually snuff them out.They kept closing in until eventually the shape of the dragonfire changed from creatures into a sphere that simply surrounded Lex. Seconds turned to minutes which turned into hours. He was getting closer to being exposed. Yet instead of triumph, the abominations oozed a greater aura of desperation. Everyone looked around feeling confusion and apprehension. Some even considered joining in with the abominations for the aura from within that sphere was too dangerous. But it was toote. They took too long toe to a decision. The aura from within the sphere peaked, and then Lex opened his closed right eye. There was a single Glyph painted over his pupil, andparatively speaking, it was a fairly simple one. It was one of dragonfire. The array around him hummed as it suddenly reachedpletion, and energy from the universe around it surged in to fill the array, like air rushing in to fill an exposed vacuum. The array suddenly vanished, and turned into a gold aura that surrounded Lex. He immediately extinguished the dragonfire around him, briefly exposing himself to the tide of abominations. Then a beam of red fire shot out of his eye, coated perfectly by the gold aura. The abominations threw themselves at the mes, ready to douse it as they had done with the others. But as their bodies touched the gold aura, they paused. When they finally touched the mes, instead of extinguishing it like a rainstorm putting out a puny bonfire, they fed it, as if someone had thrown fuel into an open me. In a fraction of a second, too quick for even Lex to follow, the me spread across every abomination in the sphere around him. Lex suddenly activated his Heavens furnace technique, shutting himself in. The timing was opportune, for the sphere suddenly exploded with such awesome might that itpletely transcended Lex''s own realm of power. Where previously Lex had struggled to barely crack space, now cracks spread for hundreds of miles around him. Where previously a ck curtain of abomination covered the entire region, now a curtain of dragonfire, coated in an aura of golden, burned above the graveyard. Each and every contestant cursed together, and all of them started to retreat and run away, but where could they run? A rain of liquid golden dragonfire burst from the clouds in the sky, turning the graveyard into thergest crematorium to have ever existed. All hope was lost. The contestants could not escape. Just as the first of the dragonfire was about to fall onto the first of them, it suddenly changed direction and fell beside them. From a massive hole in space, leading to the Void, where the original sphere surrounding had been, Lex emerged, not so much as an extra wrinkle or crease on his clothes. He kept his right eye active, consciously keeping all the contestants safe. From his left eye he observed the newborn disaster that was quickly spreading across the entire graveyard. In case it ran into any unexpected problems, he would need to act. But there was nothing that could prevent this spreading fire. It was almost funny. When Lex came here, his first impression of the graveyard had been of hell, so he lit the whole ce on fire and turned it into purgatory. Did that make him the devil? Chapter 1197 Keeps changing Chapter 1197 Keeps changing The other contestants were stunned. Those two figures secretly watching over the graveyard were stunned. The viewers who were streaming the contest were stunned - though admittedly by the time they watched the show everything was already over. Everyone was stunned. Yet Lex quietly stood there, mid air, and watched the fire rain down with a neutral expression. The graveyard was truly massive, to the point where he could not see its end. That was why the expected clearing time was months and months, yet now it might be cleared before the day even ended. The sky was on fire, raining down liquid fire, causing the corpses on the ground to burn as well, finally finding some kind of release from all the abominations. Giselle, who was standing alone in the fire, unprotected by Lex since even he had not spotted her, looked up at him with a hint of annoyance. She had things she had nned to do here. It was hard toe across a ce with such pure Yin energy, which was the perfect ce to nurture a few specific Profane treasures. Yet now that was impossible. She sighed, and sat down, rethinking all her future ns. It was very likely that Lex''s interference would be strong in all of them, so if she wanted to aplish all the goals she had set out, she would need to put in extra effort. Everyone, all the other contestants who had entered the preliminary tournament feeling an abundance of confidence, looked up at Lex with a hint of fear, and wondered what was going through his head. What they didn''t know was Lex was evaluating his escape n that he had used to avoid the majority of the impact from the st. Just because an explosion was strong did not mean it could rip a hole through space - otherwise all supernovae would do just that, not to mention all the attacks from stronger Earth Immortals and above. Instead, only attacks specifically targeting space itself would cause any damage at all. By trapping himself in the Heaven''s furnace and coating himself in ayer of space, he made it so that the might of the explosion literally ripped the chunk of space surrounding him away, causing the hole. By being thrown into the Void, he avoided the brunt of the explosive force. The Heavens furnace then protected him from the pressure of the Void until he came back. Although for now it was just something he used to avoid too much pressure on his seals, it was a nice escape n for the future if he ever needed it. A loud shriek distracted Lex,ing from far in the distance. A tremor traveled through the ground and even the cover of fire in the air, but itsted just a second. The next thing Lex knew, he was being pulled back through space. He reappeared in the lobby, and so did everyone else. But even before Lex could talk to the receptionist, everyone around him took a few steps back. Lex looked around, shrugged, and then returned to his room. The next trial would start in 20 hours, and would be thest one he had to attend. Meanwhile, word of what happened spread, even among the other contestants. In another stream, a war was taking ce in the middle of a desert. Blood soaked the pure white sands and corpses fell to the ground, only to be sand as well. Tens of thousands warriors fought ferociously against a never ending tide of slender, white monsters made of sandstone. Yet despite their pure color, the monsters reeked of pure evil and were driven by a malevolent will to turn all of reality into sand. In fact, everything they ripped with their sharp ws would somehow turn to sand as well. On a dune overlooking the battlefield stood two men. Both were humans, and one looked the part while the other looked like a walking sack of muscles. Marlo had, through years of training, regained his former gargantuan size much to his wifes chagrin. "What do you think, Rafa?" Marlo asked, overlooking the fight. Even though the warriors were stronger than the stone monsters, the number of monsters was just too many. "Yup, that looks like certain death to me," Rafael said. Unlike his abnormal father, Rafael''s expertise was inmanding troops. His natural acumen forrge scalebat strategy was astounding, allowing him to make the impossible possible. But that was just a saying. That did not mean he would literally do something as stupid as go up against an infinite number of enemies with only a handful of soldiers. Unfortunately, that was the very position his father put them in. "It can''t be helped. My cultivation path has changed. I can no longer cultivate like normal," Marlo said. "Only by facing death can I be stronger. That is the way of the Prime." "Just because a fortune cookie sounds smart does not mean you take it too seriously. These oracles are untrustworthy. You''re going to kill both of us listening to them. No one can predict the future." Marlo looked at his son and snorted. He had not missed how his son was able to randomly predict things that hadn''t happened yet. Hisme excuses and exnations didn''t fool anyone. Which means if the oracle who told Marlo his path forward had truly been lying, Rafael would have found a way to stop him. "I just got news," Marlo said as cracked his knuckles and activated his nano-talismans. "A single contestant in the nascent realm finished an entire trial by himself in less than a day." "Impossible," Rafael scoffed. N?v(el)B\\jnn Yet they both knew it was not impossible. It was a fact. "The guy who did it is an old student of mine," Marlo said, as a powerful aura began to envelop him. "I can''t let my students overtake me." Before Rafael could say something, Marlo leaped forward, crashnding directly in the middle of the stone monsters. "Dragonsbane¡­" Rafael murmured and wondered why the timeline was changing once more. What was the point of seeing the future if the future kept changing? Not that he understood his ability all that much. He had figured out that he would randomly see his whole life yout and remember it clearly. When he''d wake up from the vision, the future would y out mostly as he had seen. But each time, something extremely critical seemed to change. Even now, changes were already happening before the tourney even began, and he couldn''t afford that. They had to be as strong as possible if they were to survive what was toe. That''s why he had a hint dropped for how his father could progress his cultivation. The path of the Primes¡­ it was too difficult, but it was also their only hope. Rafael sighed, and then jumped down as well. Chapter 1198 A little tough Chapter 1198 A little tough "Is he usually like that? Is he really so strong?" Moon asked as she looked up at the screen and ate a burrito. Much like the two had watched Lex in Lover''s Ind, they were watching him partake in the tournament, although Moon had to admit that the impression he gave off was vastly different this time around. The way he stood there, high up in the air, looking down upon a burning world like a sovereign, Lex was almostpletely unrecognizable. She could hardly believe this was the same Lex she knew. After all, during their childhood, Lex was not much of a fighter. "Don''t let him fool you," Z said with a knowing tone that only an employee could have towards their boss. "He''s actually probably much stronger. He just likes to look cool while he does anything. One moment you''ll think he''ll be at the end of his rope, fighting to barely hold on, yet if a stronger enemy would show up he would still defeat them, and somehow make it look just as difficult, as if he was truly at the end of his rope this time. I''ve never actually seen him lose a fight. I''mpletely convinced that he''s secretly a much higher cultivation realm and just pretending to be weak." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Moon marveled as she looked up at her brother, and her understanding of him changed once more. ***** "You do not need to worry at all," Lex said very calmly to the figures sitting in front of him. "The very reason we had this meeting inside the Inn was because of the security and protection it affords. Nobody can divine our meeting. Nobody will know of our agreement until it is toote." "Very well. That is reassuring to hear. Just so that I know, at the critical time, will the Innkeeper be making a move as well?" Lex''s expression did not change, nor did he suffer any fluctuations when asked this question. It was one he had answered many times already by now. "If the Innkeeper were making a move, then all of this external aid would not be required. The Innkeeper has urged me to rely on myself instead of him to resolve my personal issues." "Very well," one of the figures responded, before leaving the Inn. Lex sighed. There were many things that the Inn did that he took for granted, he knew, but the ability to sit face to face with someone with a much higher cultivation level without feeling any suppression was absolutely broken. He looked at the time, then teleported back to the hotel from where he was participating in the tournament. Yet as he walked out this time, the hotel was much emptier thanst time. It was because most people were still finishing their previous trials. "This is thest one, right?" Lex asked the receptionist. He looked at the time, then teleported back to the hotel from where he was participating in the tournament. Yet as he walked out this time, the hotel was much emptier thanst time. It was because most people were still finishing their previous trials. "This is thest one, right?" Lex asked the receptionist. "Indeed, it is. It''s divided into two parts. You will be sent to the boundary of a vast maze. You must make your way through the maze towards the center, that''s the first part of the trial. The second part begins once you reach the center of the maze, where you will find a tall tower. You merely need to enter the tower and pass the first floor of it toplete the trial, although your ranking in the preliminary tournament will be based on what level of the tower you reach." Lex narrowed his eyes. Once again a tower, with levels he needed to clear. The tower of providence was powerful and mysterious, and did not require him to clear levels but each time he would enter he needed toplete a quest. Having said that, within the Inn, inside a Minor realm, there was a tower that the Jotun empire was protecting as a training ground for the human race. He himself had only visited it once, but the benefits it offered were genuine. More importantly, apparently emperor Jotun himself had once gained a great harvest from such a tower. There was too much of a theme going on for it to be a coincidence, yet Lex had no idea what the truth behind this could be. It might really just end up being a genuine coincidence, considering a tower was not exactly an abstract shape, and perfectly fit the requisite of having many levels. He didn''t say anything, and just walked through the door that brought him to a jungle. He looked around and found nothing simr to a maze, so he momentarily considered that this might be a different kind of maze using some kind of esotericws or techniques. But almost immediately he noticed the anomaly. He rose up into the sky and saw, many thousands of miles away on two of his sides walls that seemed to rise beyond his ability to see orprehend. Moreover, there was no space up above him. The sky seemed to extend for eternity, alongside the walls. Lex spread his spirit sense apart to its absolute limit, but was not even able to touch the walls. Moreover, when he looked down the corridor on both sides, he could not see where they led. The size of this maze was¡­ Lex tried not to think about it. He tried using his spatialws, and was relieved to discover that they worked. At least he''d be able to traverserge distances easily. The only problem was that the space here felt oddly different, as if he was no longer inside the Origin realm. Moreover, there were clearly defined borders to what he could sense. He began teleporting towards the wall, which wasn''t too hard. The problem arose when he came close to the wall. Not only could he not teleport beyond the wall, as it blocked his ability to sense or control space, he almost couldn''t use his powers near it at all. The closer he came to the wall, the more he was deprived of energy until all that was left was the physical power in his body. Lex sighed. It was going to be a little tough to speed through this one. Chapter 1199 Not going to work Chapter 1199 Not going to work Lex knocked on the light-brown walls that rose to eternity, and they were pretty solid, as expected. When he tried to look at thews associated with it, all he saw was an endless abyss, and felt an incredible strain on his eye, causing him to close it. This ce was obviously far from normal, but then again, it would have never been a part of the tournament if it were ordinary. In fact, considering how unique this ce was, Lex could not even imagine what had been left in store for the main tourney. Of course he had learned some details but that did not mean he knew everything. Lex looked in both open directions, trying to determine which way he should go. His instincts weren''t guiding him specifically anywhere, which meant that there was no underlying threat or danger to him in the area. But he didn''t need there to be such a thing for his instinct to act. He focused on the thought of a tower in the middle, and tried to get his instincts to focus on that. Yet, unexpectedly, it failed. Unsure if the walls were interfering with his instincts, he put some distance between himself and the wall, yet it still did not react in any way. But when he tried focusing his instincts towards something else, for example food, it worked just fine. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om With literally no hint towards how to solve the maze, Lex cautiously started to teleport in one direction. He kept his spirit sense spread, searching for other contestants or any sentient native beings. But all he found were numerous beasts and wildlife, none of them even remotely threatening. The strongest of them was in the Golden core realm. But that did not mean he thought for even a moment that this ce was safe. If it were, it wouldn''t have been saved for the tournament that included the Origin realms best. Yet as Lex continued to teleport, randomly picking a direction whenever he came across an intersection, minutes blurred into hours without him not only not encountering any danger, but anyone else either. "This is not working out," he finally said after he had spent six hours teleporting continuously. He could not tell if he was making any progress at all as there were no markers or distinct features. The only way he even knew that he was not just running in a circle was because the ground of the maze was filled with various differentndscapes. He started out in a forest, but had already crossed deserts, oceans, inds, ins, mountains, and many more. It was as if the ground of the maze was one endless world, almost entirely popted by beasts. After a moment of consideration, Lex decided to do something different. He tried using his instincts as well, but this time, instead of searching for the tower or for food, he was searching for other contestants. The results were immediate. His instincts immediately began pointing him towards dozens of other people, though they were all incredibly far away. Yet instead of being relieved, Lex was troubled. Dozens seemed too few a number. In each of his previous trials, there were thousands. Lex tried again, but instead of searching for other contestants, he searched for one in particr: Giselle. He was not looking for her because he wanted another chance to create a good impression on her or some such nonsense. Instead, he recalled how she had gotten to the pyramid before him back in the Temple of Frozen Dawn. She also had that mysterious watch which he hadn''t been able to detect. Clearly, she was extremely well prepared, and knew certain things about the trials. If he could work with her once more, then the chances that he could expedite the end of this trial would be much greater than they were. As soon as he visualized her in his mind, the guidance from his instincts faded, leaving him feeling disappointed. She would have been a good ally to work with. Yet just as he was about to search for the nearest contestant, he realized that the guidance from his instincts had faded, but notpletely disappeared. It was as if there was something blocking her from being sensed, but it wasn''tpletely effective. Not only did Lex not find that odd, he was reassured by it. Clearly Giselle was not simple, and the fact that she could nearly block his instincts from acting only supported that premise. With a clear direction to head towards, Lex stopped holding back and increased the distance he would teleport to. The odd influence of the walls which sucked away all abilities actually greatly diminished Lex''s teleportation range at every intersection, but other than that he could move around freely. As Lex watched the variousndscapes underneath him change he thought it was a bit of a waste. He would have loved to explore this maze properly, but he had no time. He swore to himself that once he was strong enough not to worry about things, he would take his time and explore everything that the universe had to offer. After all, the whole point of being strong was so that he could do the things he wanted. If he didn''t have a whole list of things he was being prevented from doing because he was too weak, what would be the point in getting stronger? Surprisingly enough, even with Lex teleporting with the greatest distances that he could manage, it still took him hours before he approached Giselle, which only spoke about the vast range that this ce offered. Yet once he arrived at the location his instincts were guiding him towards, they stopped working. It was as if she was in the vicinity, but his instincts couldn''t find her. Beneath him was a vast, green in covered in tall grass, shrubbery and a few clusters of trees here and there. There was nothing specifically interesting about this ce where he could start looking, so he began sweeping the general area with his spirit sense. He even stayed floating up in the air so that he was visible from afar, so that Giselle could spot him. Yet his strategy was bound to fail, since Giselle was not in the ins, but in a ruins hidden underneath them. Chapter 1200 Treasure hunt Chapter 1200 Treasure hunt Lex sat atop a tree stump as he looked out at the ins in front of him. He had searched for Giselle for twenty minutes, but hadn''t been able to find her. Considering his searching speed, 20 minutes was arge amount of time, yet it yielded nothing. But his instincts seemed to insist that Giselle was in this general area. He rubbed his chin as he thought of multiple ideas of how to proceed. Since he couldn''t find her, and she hadn''t contacted him, that meant that either she hadn''t seen him or was avoiding him. Considering their prior fruitful partnership, he didn''t see why she might be avoiding him, so the chances of her being unable to spot him were highest. Lex considered any number of possibilities, from sealed domains to trapping formations and many more. N?v(el)B\\jnn All of that basically only meant one thing: that he had to search even more thoroughly. Lex closed his eyes and used one of the cloning techniques he had mastered. The reason why he didn''t use it more often was because it was highly limited. The fighting strength of each clone was basically nonexistent, though they could use his techniques and abilities. They also could not be too far from him, which limited their effectiveness range. But they also had their uses. For example, while he sat on the stump, 50 other Lex spread out and began searching. More than 10 of them entered the soul state and went underground while the others spread out, searching for hidden areas. With the power of fifty Lex''s, nothing could be hidden. Immediately fifty different streams of information began flowing into his mind, and he paid equal attention to all of them. He began to understand the fauna and flora of this in, and gained an in depthprehension of this ecosystem. He learned about the weather, and strange wind patterns caused by the presence of the walls. He learned how thendscapes experienced change over the years. His clones deep underground studied the soil structures, and noticed the variousyers. He could guess how old eachyer was. He could¡­ A fist punched out of the soil in front of him, stunning him. Although it was just a fist, he recognised that hand, especially since he could now see the watch on it. But the absurd thing was that even while looking at it, he could not sense the hand. The hand pressed against the ground, and pushed against it, allowing Giselle toe out of the ground. Yet she had only half emerged, with her legs still underground, when she spotted Lex and froze. The two locked eyes, and Lex waved at her. "Hi," he said, all the eloquence and charisma he so easily wielded against immortals and powers of the universe suddenly drained out of him. What was he supposed to say in this situation? Usually he was the one digging himself out from the ground. "Need a hand?" he offered. "No, I''m good, thanks," she said, pushing herself out of the ground and dusting herself off. "What''re you doing here? If you''re here for the underground ruins, then I''m sorry to tell you that they''ve copsed and all their secrets have gone with them." Ruins underground? That genuinely took Lex by surprise because not only had he, himself, scanned the ground but he had also sent ten clones down there, yet none of them discovered it. As expected, anything Giselle set her sights on was far from simple. "No, I am not here for the ruins, don''t worry," Lex said as he dismissed his clones and stood up. "I am here to strike a deal with you." Giselle looked at him curiously, while constantly scanning her own body for some kind of tracker, yet there was none. She couldn''t understand how Lex found her since she was using her newfound power to obscure herself from view. "I''m listening," she said simply, not revealing even a hint of her true thoughts. "Based on our past cooperation, I guessed that there was a very good chance that you might know how to reach the center of this maze. Am I right?" "Let''s imagine you are," she said slowly. "What then?" "I would like your aid in reaching the middle as fast as possible. In exchange, I can pay you, or help you out with something you need." Giselle studied Lex for a moment, considering his proposal, before shaking her head. "I''m sorry I can''t be of help to you. If I were heading towards the middle, I would take you, but I have a number of goals I need to aplish along the way." Lex was not disappointed, for he had not expected Giselle toply so easily either. "If you don''t mind me asking, do your goals involve a bit of treasure hunting?" he asked. "Because if it is, I think we cane to an arrangement. I think you will find that there is no better partner when ites to treasure hunting than I. Not only can I help you teleport long distances towards your next goal, but I can also help you find the treasures much quicker. If I help you speed up your treasure hunts until they''re done, then can you lead me to the center?" Giselle''s gaze on Lex became more intense, yet Lex wasn''t bothered. Based on what happened at the temple, he could guess that she was a treasure hunter of sorts, with inside knowledge. He supposed it made sense, for when looking for treasures, one needed to be armed with the most detailed knowledge. If he could help her fulfill her goals, she could then help him get through the maze. It would still end up being quicker than trying to resolve the maze himself. Of course, in case she said no, or was unable to help, Lex had onest thing he could try, which was prophecy. But his own ability to look into the future was not the best, or more specifically, the most detail oriented. He was not sure if he could use it to find his way. "Even if that were my intention, which I''m not saying it is, why would I bring you? Don''t take this the wrong way, but bringing people along on a treasure hunt is usually the best way to get stabbed in the back." Lex smiled. The fact that she hadn''t said no directly meant that there was a chance this could work. Chapter 1201 No monologue for today Chapter 1201 No monologue for today "I think I''ve already proven that I''m not interested in treasures," Lex said. "Otherwise I would have followed you back in the Temple. By now, you''ve had more than enough time to sell, use, or dispose of the treasure if you managed to find it in time. That was a time bubble, which contained the most valuable treasures in the whole universe. If they did not attract me, why would anything else? But, if it makes you feel any better, I can swear an oath." "You make a good point about the temple. I''ll tell you what. We''ll make an agreement. If you can truly help me fulfill my objective, and be forewarned they are not without danger, then I''ll help you get to the middle as quickly as I can." Giselle was slightly suspicious. The oath she had Lex takest time was a very strong one, and he should have felt the binds of it within his soul. That was not the kind of thing anyone would mess with, yet here he was, ready to take another oath to speed things along. Yet how could she have known that her little oath was no burden to him at all, and that he could unravel it when he wished. After all, most people don''t have the courage to mess with their souls. So she gave in to the idea. After all, Lex had proved himselfpetent, she was not opposed to speeding up her journey via teleportation. She handed Lex the same stone asst time, and he did not hesitate from swearing an oath. With a smile, he handed the stone back to her and said, "great, so let''s get started. Where to? Or, in case you don''t know the exact location of what you''re looking for, you can tell me what it is and I can help you find it." Giselle held up her watch and did something with it. Whatever she was doing was a mystery to Lex, for he could not see any disy on the watch. "Before we begin, do you know what this ce is?" she asked. "Are you insinuating that this is not just a massive, mysterious maze with walls that disable all powers?" "No it''s not," she said. "The reason that this ce is so massive is because this is an entirely separate realm. To be specific, this is a realm that was destroyed during the realm war. For whatever reason, the remnants of this realm were absorbed by the Origin realm. It is currently in the process of being digested by the Origin realm, which means that itsws are being absorbed by the Origin realm - the reason why your powers don''t work close to the walls is because the walls are constantly absorbing the powers of this ce." Lex''s casual attitude subsided. The realm wars was one of the things he was most concerned about since it was in his best interest to keep the Midnight realm hidden - something he literally could not do while using it as an Inn. But Giselle did not seem to notice the change since she was focused on her watch. "As you can probably guess, since this is an entire realm, then it contains countless valuable treasures, some naturally urring, some remnants of treasures and items from when this realm was whole. I, obviously, am not after every single treasure from that realm. But the number of things I am after are not few, so you should prepare yourself." She looked up from her watch to see an unfazed Lex, waiting for her to borate on her current goal. "At the moment I am searching for certain religious artifacts from the Selpak Empire. The history of that empire is truly unique, not just in their realm but in the entire universe, and I''m hoping to get some insight into it through these artifacts." Giselle pulled out a small, rolled up scroll made of gray rock. It had been sculpted with the utmost care, containing tiny details that were incredibly easy to overlook. But more important than the tiny, countless characters that were etched onto the scroll, appearing as if one could see the shadow of what was written on the other side of the page, was the subtle divine aura it was giving off. "This is one of them. I expect that there are dozens more spread out across the maze," she said, then paused when she noticed the odd look on Lex''s face. "Is everything alright?" "Yes, yes, everything is fine," Lex said. "I just noticed how the divine aura on this is different from every other kind of divinity I''ve ever felt. It lives up to the standard of being unique. Anyway, you''re right. There are dozens of objects with a simr aura." Lex cracked his neck as he honed in on his instincts, which were guiding him towards every other object with a simr aura within the maze. "It''s a pity I''m in a rush, otherwise I would have loved to explore the history of this Selpak empire." Lex couldn''t im to be an expert on divine aura, but he was at least extremely familiar with it. But the aura from this object was genuinely strange. Somehow, it felt more divine than any divine energy he had evere across, if that made sense. Yet as intriguing as it was, Lex put all his curiosity away, and instead put his hand on Giselle''s shoulder. The next second, they teleported thousands of miles away. "Wait, I wasn''t done exining!" she eximed. "There are dangers! I have enemies trying to stop me!" "There are always dangers," Lex said casually, and then teleported again. "And there are always people trying to stop you." It didn''t take long to reach the first destination, which happened to be at the intersection of various wind currents. The winds blew in a particr direction, following the path of the walls. But if two wind currents ever met, blowing in the opposite directions, they resulted in devastating storms and tornadoes. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Where they appeared, there was a castle standing upon a hill, in the very epicenter of a standing tornado that filled the entire gap between the walls. Giselle looked solemnly at the natural disaster before her, and was about to propose a strategy to break through the wall of wind when Lex surrounded the both of them with Heaven''s furnace and just chucked it through the walls of the tornado. For a moment she was startled, but when she noticed that the winds were unable to break through whatever technique he had employed, she calmed down, and then looked at Lex warily. "I know you''re in a rush, but there''s no need to take drastic measures. Those winds contain countlessws. They could easily rip an Earth Immortal to shreds." "Yes, I know," Lex said nonchntly. "That''s why I put you in here. Don''t worry, I won''t let youe to harm." Completely oblivious to the fact that Giselle was not concerned about her wellbeing, but rather his, Lex took a look at the castle. It had suffered tremendously, though whether it was the winds that destroyed the once grand castle or something else could not be determined. "Follow me," Lex said as he flew through a massive hole in the wall, and navigated through the darkness into the lower levels. Lex did not expect the castle to have so many lower levels, but it kept on going, right up until they ended up entering an enormous underground cavern within which an entire city was built. "The castle protects the entrance to the city? That''s pretty cool," Lex said, as he zoomed directly to where he felt the aura. They ended up in a highly decorated building, yet just as they entered Lex stopped moving. In front of them, three figures stepped out of the shadows, each of them radiating an aura of an Immortal. "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" the man withpletely ck eyes and deathly pale skin said. "I guess I was wrong. Turns out you can work with someone." Giselle grimaced, and pulled out her sword. She was not expecting to face three Profanites. More importantly, it seemed like all of these Profanites were directly being controlled by a Defiler. They all looked towards Lex, who had an unreadable expression, and asked, "do you know who you''re working with? Do you know she''s going to get you killed? Get everyone you know killed? Get everything you love destroyed?" They grinned at him menacingly as they began to weigh Lex down with their aura. But he didn''t react the way they expected. Instead of being intimidated, he just sighed with disappointment." "Still not worthy of my sword," he muttered, then attacked. He didn''t even bother unsealing his second seal as he full-body mmed the first Profanite,unching his body across the hall. "I''m in a rush so please skip all the monologuing for today," Lex said, before punching the second Profanite. A fight immediately broke out. Chapter 1202 Fishing Chapter 1202 Fishing The Profanites knew to expect a tough fight from Giselle. That was exactly why three of them had grouped up to face her this time. Even then, it was just three of them in this particr ce. Who knew how many of them there were across the entire maze? Giselle herself had no idea how they were following her or why they knew what she was looking for. After all, technically speaking, ces like the temple and the maze were blocked off, and to gain admittance one would need toe through the tournament. But she was certain there were no Profanites participating in the tournament. She had even checked. Yet they appeared in her way nheless, ready and able to stop her. They had even prepared with greater numbers to pressure her, and just enough strength to defeat her without attracting attention. What they were not prepared for, however, was the absurdity that was Lex. He did not care that they were immortals and he was not. He did not care that their every whim could bend thews of the world, and that he would be at their mercy. He did not care that as a mere Nascent realm cultivator, he was not supposed to be able to controlws. Lex simply unleashed his inhuman physical strength, smashing the immortal body of the Profanite he attacked into a meat patty. Such a feat was supposed to be impossible. One of the reasons immortals were so superior to mortals was not only because their new cultivation level granted them the biggest boost yet, but also because they were increasingly beings ofw. That meant without the influence ofws, it was nigh impossible to hurt them. If Lex had at least coated the surface of his body in some kind ofw, even one as simple as thew of physical strength, then at least the Profanites would have had some warning. But Lex didn''t, so they were caught unprepared. After all, when Lex''s very own spiritual energy contained an affinity forws, then he could just use the veryws that made up the Profanites bodies to hurt them. Of course, no one save Lex understood this, which is why even as they got ready to fight him back, they could not identify why exactly his punches hurt so much. "Junior you dare!" the third Profanite yelled, unleashing a dark and menacing wave of energy that did absolutely nothing to stop Lex''s fist from breaking his nose. "What the hell are you?" the first Profanite screamed as his body recovered from Lex''s bodym. Profane energy should have eaten right through his flesh, devouring him whole. Yet it was not even giving him a rash. "I miss the time where smashing your enemies would just kill them," Lex said as he looked at the stunned Giselle, waking her from her shock. "Now, instead, I have to actually work for it." The three Profanites attacked Lex together,pletely forgetting about Giselle, yet they made no progress. They werepletely unable to hit Lex for he could dodge all of their attacks easily, and when he did decide to tank the attacks they caused not even a wrinkle on his clothes. Though Lex was not particrly pleased either. Physically destroying their bodies did not work, so he tried to infiltrate their minds and destroy them while he punched them, but they were immune to that as well. Then he switched to his soul state and attacked their souls directly, yet even that was not enough to kill them. It was more than just being immortals. They were being protected by their Profane energy. A thin, silver sword appeared out of nowhere and stabbed a Profanite through their heart, suddenly causing a change. Using his left eye, Lex caught a hint of what happened, and more importantly, what caused the Profanite to be genuinely critically hurt. Unfortunately, that''s when the tempo of the fight changed. One of the reasons why Lex had been proactive in attacking was because he wanted to restrict the fight to a melee. Yet with one of them suddenly being injured so critically, the other two promptly retreated. The thing Lex discoveredtely was that, as the cultivation levels grew higher and higher, the fights tended to be moreplicated. The two Profanites did not manipte anyws, but rather manipted their Profane energy to bring about a sudden change as they retreated. The world around Lex and Giselle dimmed and turned ck as light faded, and a gruesome feeling began to fill the void around them. "ck and evil, how original," Lex said ndly, and summoned his butter knife. Since divine energy was supposed to be the opposite, it was likely that it would be effective. After all, he could not use Profane energy against Profane energy the way Giselle was doing. In the darkness, images of bloated corpses, rotting animals, parasites infecting living people and even more gruesome images began to appear. Lex could feel that a connection between himself and those images was subtly being formed, though he suspected that ordinarily the process was a lot quicker. The impatience was apparent on the Profanites faces. He was feeling impatient too. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Giselle was getting ready to continue the attack. The reason she hadn''t attacked yet was that though it seemed like a lot, everything was actually happening very quickly. In fact, barely a few seconds had passed since Lex first attacked. Now, he unleashed his second round of attacks. The divine energy released from the butter knife was not white, though it usually was. Instead, it too was a mix of ck and red. After all, this divine energy was primarily focused towards attack. The curtain of ck was immediately cut through, taking everyone by surprise, and cutting the two Profanites. Before they could even think of responding, Lex appeared behind them and grabbed their bodies. He could not grab their ts the way he did with other immortals, for these two had gained their power from someone else. Even as immortals they were like second hand goods, which is why Lex did not even need to release his soul. Giselle, who was right behind Lex, did not waste the opportunity as her silver sword cut the two immortals down, killing them. She had also killed the first immortal, who had only been severely damaged earlier. "See, that wasn''t so bad," Lex said as he continued deeper into the building, ignoring the attempted murder as well as the things that the Profanites said. It was never a good idea to listen too much to one''s enemies instead of their allies. "No, that was definitely pretty bad," Giselle said as she sheathed her sword. "You''re just really strong. I can''t believe you''re not an immortal yet." Lex smiled. Although he was not one to sumb to ttery, it also felt good to receive praise once in a while. Not like Z who is always suspicious that Lex was holding back to begin with. "You''re not so bad yourself," Lex said. "The Profane energy these guys use is pretty nasty, but when you use it, it feelspletely different." Giselle stumbled, and then looked back at Lex, but he did not seem to have any usation in his eyes. He genuinely did not seem to care that she was using the same revolting energy as them. From his point of view, instead of being appalled, he was intrigued. Everything about Giselle seemed to signify elegance and purity. He still recalled that ballet that he saw her perform so many years ago. It was mesmerising, and as the years passed that same grace showed in all of her actions. The way she used her sword, the way she dodged, the way she struck, all of them carried a certain, unexinable charm. How could she achieve that when he was using an energy which, otherwise, seemed to be associated with everything revolting. "You''re not wary?" she asked, and for good reason. Profane energy naturally elicited a strong repulsive reaction in most people. Lex didn''t seem to mind though. "I saw a few other things beside Profane energy as well," Lex said, pointing towards his eyes. "The way you use energies is very interesting. I''ve never seen anyone else use so many different energies before. The way you flow from one energy to the next is remarkable. Inparison, the way I use them is very rigid and systematic, although that has never failed me either." To demonstrate what he was saying, he began using his various affinities, using one in each of his fingers of both of his hands. It was quite a sight to see space, fire, divine, restorative, soul, spiritual, draconic, defensive energies in each of his fingers, with the ninth disying sword intent and the tenth showing something she did not quite understand. For a moment she was stunned, then she snorted and looked away. "Fishing for aplement," she said under her breath, though they both knew it was loud enough for Lex to hear. With a chuckle Lex led the way, until finally they got their hands on the divine artefacts. Then they teleported away. Chapter 1203 Control Chapter 1203 Control By the time Lex and Giselle got their hands on the ninth artifact from the Selpak empire, only a few hours had passed. With a clear destination that he could sense, distance was of no consequence to Lex at all. They only faced one more ambush, and this time the Profanites genuinely ambushed them instead of walking up brazenly to them despite their greater numbers. It was during that ambush that Lex noticed that all the Profanites, despite the different bodies, were essentially clones, or rather puppets of whoever was supplying them with power. They knew everything that the previous Profanites experienced and so nned for it. Giselle had also let him know what to expect when facing them. Basically, Profane energy was the source of all their power, and traditionally gave them an immense advantage over everyone they faced, including immortals. Profane energy was a higher quality, higher leveled energy that surpassed general spirit energy which is why normal immortal''s attacks, defense and even their bodies were weak to them. Only and only usingws would allow others tobat them, but usually even that was not enough, for even usingws required the immortal to at least use some of the spirit energy. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om But, for reasons she could just not imagine, not only did Profane energy not harm him at all, even when they were ambushed and the Profanites tried to curse him using the immense powers of Profane energy, it hardly seemed to work. "It''s quite simple actually," said Lex as they teleported away from another copsing ruin. He had to say, the Selpak people really did have good quality architecture for their buildings to still be surviving, even if only barely. "I''m not saying that I know the full details of these things, but I''m pretty sure my own individual spiritual energy is ranked higher than Profane energy - if energies were to be ranked." Upgrading his body with a Dao level ingredient was no joke. Even Lex himself did not know the full extent of the changes he experienced for he had to keep himself sealed. "Not to mention, I''ve been training to tolerate a Heavenly immortal level attack. I honestly don''t know if I''ve reached it, and I''m not really keen on trying it either, but that was the goal. I''ve always been a little proud of my defense." "I recall that actually," said Giselle as she suddenly remembered Lex tanking and Earth immortal''s attack back on Polebitvy. Back then he hadn''t even reached the Nascent realm yet. "So that means it''s not so easy to hurt my body. Honestly, I''d actually like to experiment and find out what my limits are, but for certain reasons I can''t do that." The reasons being if the damage he took was too intense it might break his seal, so he usually avoided suffering attacks he was unsure of being able to tolerate easily. There was a reason why Lex was being so forting about his own abilities, and it wasn''t because Giselle made a cute face every time she was stumped by something he did - though that was extremely satisfying for some reason. No, he wanted to know why Profane energy felt so different when she used it. His left eye had easily caught a number of energies running around her body, including what he was pretty sure was time! Even his own time affinity had been sealed for reasons he himself did not know, so he could not even imagine how she was able to easily wield it. He had a feeling that when the time came for him to unseal his affinity he''d just naturally know, so until then he just had to live with it. She gave him a contemtive look, and then eventually sighed. "It''s simple really," she said, paraphrasing exactly how he began. "When ites to the Dao, there is no such thing as good or evil. Even things that are perceived as the worst side of existence such as pain, death, rot, decay, they are a part of a natural order that keeps the bnce. Good and evil are just constructs of the living. Which means that even in the most vile of existences, such as that of Profane energy, which is revulsed by entire gxies and realms, there is an element of elegance and grace. "Not that I''m defending those that spread death and destruction, no. I''m just saying that once it enters my hand¡­ once anything enters my hand, it bes a force for the purpose I deign, and nothing else." She held up her sleek, silver sword, looking at it with deep eyes as she continued. "After all¡­ there are so many things that are considered evil by some and good by others. Swords have ruined just as many lives as they have saved, yet they are considered the weapons of the righteous by most factions." Lex did notment, for she was clearly distracted by certain memories, but he understood the essence of what she was saying. Basically, like Lex specifically focused on defense, she specifically focused on control. She gained a perfect mastery over whatever she used, so that it adopted the traits she desired from it, and not the ones it usually exhibited. It was impressive, and not easy at all. Although technically speaking, Lex also had excellent control of all his energies, his naturally increasedprehension yed a significant role in that. Even then, he could not so easily manipte what traits his energies showed. It had never been his purpose to begin with. After a few more hours, they finished collecting all the Selpak chores, at which point Giselle mentioned her next objective. One by one, Lex helped her go through all of them, proving his worth when it came to finding even the most hidden of items. Even then, it took an entire week for them toplete all of Giselle''s objectives, and begin making their way towards the center. That''s when Giselle finally revealed why the center seemed hidden. Chapter 1204 Disasters Chapter 1204 Disasters "This realm is being absorbed by the Origin realm, I''ve told you that much. But the source of this realm seems to have manifested in the form of that tower. Basically, that is where thews of that realm are the strongest, almost making it like an entire realm altogether. For you to find it using your senses would require you to have senses that could transcend the boundaries between realms. Even for you, that would be a bit much. "That is also one of the reasons why the purpose of this final trial is to clear a floor in the tower. For every floor you clear, a bit of its power gets used up, and it bes easier for the Origin realm to absorb this realm. If you somehow manage to clear the whole tower, then not only will you gain a tremendous reward, but a massive amount of energy will be used up." "Let me guess, your goal is that final treasure on thest floor?" Lex said casually. He had no doubt whatever the final reward was, it would be great. Yet he had ess to the Tower of providence and another unnamed tower back in the Midnight realm. If he ever felt greedy for treasures, he would just go there. Not to mention the Fishing well, which could randomly pull out amazing objects. "Of course it is," she said as a matter of fact. "Just like you have your goals at the moment, so do I, and I need every single advantage I can get to help me along the way." She paused for a moment and looked at Lex with a challenge in her eyes. "But since my next target is the tower anyway, I won''t ask for your help in getting through the tower or getting the final reward. Whoever earns the reward should keep it." Lex raised an eyebrow. Was she¡­ challenging him? Although given she was an immortal and he wasn''t, she should be extremely familiar with what he was capable of. It was not bragging if he said he was quite confident that he was stronger than her. "In that case, I wish you the best of luck," Lex said with a smirk. Giselle snorted, and began leading the way. That''s when Lex realized that the maze wasn''t as harmless as he had believed so far. It was filled with natural disasters he knew and understood, such as hurricanes, but since this ce was born as a result of the death of a realm, it also contained disasters the likes of which he had never imagined. The closer they got to the center of the maze, the more devastating they became. The first real threat they encountered was a vacuum, not just of atmosphere, but energy as well. Considering that the Earth was in a dead zone, Lex thought he knew what it felt like to experience minimal spiritual energy. But even he hadn''t experienced no ambient spiritual energy. It was dangerous and devastating in a way Lex could never have imagined. He literally felt like his skin was about to rip off his body, and that the energy within his body would spontaneously explode just so that it could leave the confines of his body. It was like the opposite of the Void, which put an immense amount of pressure onto his body. The vacuum instead pulled at his body with the same, or possibly even greater intensity. The worst part was that nothing that Lex did helped. Usingws did not make him more immune, channeling his energy was pointless and arrays failedpletely. If he used any techniques, they would disperse into the air before they could show any effect. He literally could do nothing save tolerate it for as long as it took to exit that ce. Then came spacequakes. Lex was fairly confident in his ability to manipte space so he felt like this would be a walk in the park, but just as he was about to use his ability to protect himself, his instincts warned him not to. Listening to his instincts, Lex allowed the spacequake to hit him directly, which felt like a truck had smashed directly inside his body while bypassing his skin entirely. Heck, Lex was certain that if anyone else would have been in his ce, their golden core would have popped just from that crash. But it also allowed him to understand why trying to use any spatial abilities would be a bad idea. Whenever he controlled any amount of space at all, for any purpose, he experienced the equivalent amount of pressure. An easyparison was using a weapon. Before he could use it, he had to bear the weight of the weapon. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om But most of the time that weight was not enough to cause any problems. Yet if he tried to manipte space during a spacequake, then he would have to tolerate the pressure of the entire region that was experiencing that quake. Even if he aspired to be tough enough to tolerate an attack from a Heavenly immortal, he was instantly reminded that in the face of nature he was nothing. He did not doubt that his entire body would turn to mush if he had tried to fight against the spacequake. Even if he managed to survive that somehow, he didn''t want to go through adolescence again. Inparison, Giselle was having a much easier time. It couldn''t be helped. Even if Lex had a tough body, it was still that of a mortal, while Giselle''s had experienced the tempering of tribtions, and was fundamentally different. Not that Lex let her know he was struggling for even a second. After the spacequake they experienced a spirit storm. That was not a storm of spiritual energy which was used for cultivation, but rather a storm made up of the part of a living being which determined consciousness. It was a storm of thoughts, and while Lex''s body waspletely unharmed, his mind was battered by the final wails of the countless living beings right before their realm died. Even someone as tough as Lex could not be immune to the anguish of an entire realm. Chapter 1205 History of man Chapter 1205 History of man He experienced no physical change, but for a half a second, Lex cked out. His mind shut down from the sheer extent of the despair he was forced to experience as a self defense mechanism. It worked, and he was saved. But the problem was that he was in the middle of a storm, and so the moment he woke up from his ckout, he was hit by another wail, causing him to fall into another ckout. Giselle noticed that something was wrong with Lex, and moved to surround him with a protective bubble. Yet before she could do anything, Lex woke up again, and immediately activated Mindmeld. This was an ability he gained which allowed him to turn into thought itself. Or another way of putting it was that he gave up his physical form to whatever extent he wanted and turned it into the same spiritual energy which made up this storm. This storm allowed him to realize that his passive defense against spiritual attacks might not be the best, so he needed to work on that. But that did not mean his active defense was weak. His spiritual energy pushed against that of the storm, and he kept it from attacking his mind. After giving Giselle a reassuring nod, he pushed through till they passed the storm. Afterwards they encountered various other obstacles, each of which was challenging in its own way. Realistically speaking, let alone passing through the tower, just reaching it would disqualify most participants if they weren''t in the immortal realm. Yet that was not an obstacle for Lex, and after endless struggle they finally made it to the tower in the middle of the maze. Truthfully, it was far from what Lex was expecting. He thought he would be weed by a magnificent piece of architecture, radiating an ancient and deep power - or at least something along those lines. Instead, the tower seemed like a mix of all the topographies he had seen in the maze, forcefully pulled up from the ground and joined together in a haphazard way to form a tower. Dirt turned to stone which turned into wood, and that into flowing water. Each and every section of it was a twisted amalgam of what had made up the realm before. Lex could literally visualize how, when the realm was destroyed, the broken pieces joined together pulled by all the remaining power and formed a tower. The opening, at the base of the tower, was not a door, but rather a dark passage that bent the mixed makeup of the tower inwards. It wasrge enough to easily amodate even the tallest of contestants, especially since the behemoth of a tower rose as high as the walls that surrounded it. It was not unexpected that there was no one else around, but what did surprise Lex was a massive sign board hanging above the opening in the tower. At the moment it was empty, but he could see various categories printed onto it, such as contestant, level, and time. Although Lex had seen many incredible sights, that did not prevent him from enjoying the splendor and grandeur of new ones. He stood before the tower and felt like an ant standing in front of a dragon. Not only was the difference in size great, but so was the sheer scale of the power contained within the tower. It had forcefully contained thews, the energy, and who knew what else from inside an entire realm. Even though Lex had grown a lot, he was still far from being able topare to the tower. Yet he was about to venture forth in an attempt to conquer it nheless. "Good luck in there," said Giselle as she walked up beside him. "You too," Lex said. For a moment they both basked in the magnificence of the tower. Then they stepped in. Lex was immediately teleported to a dark room, where an image began ying in his mind. At first there was only chaos and fire, so that he could not understand what he was seeing. Then the vision began to change, and through the fire he saw a few odd shapes through the fire, moving quickly. Abruptly it changed, and Lex realized what he was seeing. From broken into pieces, the space that constituted the realm returned to a fractured state, and time yed backwards in front of his eyes. In a matter of seconds the realm, which reminded him of the crystal realm in the sense that it was one, continuous territory from border to border, appeared. It was a perfect circle, and the distribution of all territories in it seemed to follow a certain flow. N?v(el)B\\jnn As time sped backwards in front of his eyes, he could see thend shift and ripple as if it were liquid, changing over the course of millions of years, acting out in perfect synchronization with the countless energies that existed around thends. Compared to every other realm he had ever seen, this one was in perfect bnce, to the extent that it seemed strange to him. Not only were the changes in thends moving in one particr flow, but so was the movement, progress and decline of the countless races that inhabited thosends. Then the image zoomed in, and instead of the realm, what he saw was the development of human civilization y out - just in reverse. In a matter of a few seconds, from the peak of a technologically advanced race, mankind was brought back to the stone age. In front of Lex was a small boy, walking awkwardly through a small forest, looking for something. A twig snapped, and when the boy looked over he saw a dog, skinny and mangy, but much more deadly than an unarmed little boy. It growled, and then pounced. The boy jumped to the side, but he was too slow, and the dog bit into his leg. Startled, afraid, and in pain, the little boy went manic, blindly hitting the dog with everything he had in an attempt to save himself. At some point, without realizing, he picked up a small rock and smashed it on the dog''s head, causing it to fall limp. At that moment, the scene froze, and then dissolved. Lex found himself standing inside a forest, and a twig snapped behind him. Chapter 1206 Ill take care of it Chapter 1206 I''ll take care of it Lex turned around and saw a dog. It was nowhere near as skinny and mangy as the one he saw in the vision, but as an ordinary Golden core beast, in front of him it might as well be. The dog lunged at him¡­ and broke its teeth trying to bite him. Feeling a mix of shock, fear and anger,, the dog retreated and tried to w at him, but it broke its nails instead. Lex sighed, and feeling a hint of mercy, he put the miserable dog out of its misery before it could harm itself some more. The vision returned, and Lex saw another scene. He wondered if that counted as him passing through the first level. Wasn''t that way too easy? Then again, reaching the tower had been hard to begin with. Maybe reaching the tower already ensured that they had passed the level, but needed to motivate contestants to go through levels so they added the condition of passing through at least one floor or level. This time, in the vision, he saw an older human, though he was at most a teenager. He was leaping from branch to branch, treating the trees in the forest like his home. Yet this was not some casualmute. It was in the middle of a fight with a ferocious ape, who was also swinging through the trees, pursuing him. The two figures shed time and time again, but in one particr sh, the human faltered. He was thrown back, and though he tried totch onto a nearby branch, it broke. The human fell to the floor with a pointed branch in his hand. He barely had a moment to orient himself before the ape attacked again, and in what was the first spear jab of the entire realm, the human stuck the pointed end of the branch through the ape. The scene ended, and Lex found himself standing on a tree branch. His instincts warned him of somethinging at him quickly, but Lex still didn''t bother moving. This time, the beast that he faced was at the peak of the Golden core realm, but it was not enough to harm him, and he quickly ended the fight. The vision continued, and the scene in front of him was very different. There was a caveman and a woman, wrapped in animal skins during the winter chill. It had not snowed yet, but the low temperatures were too much for mundane humans to bear, and one of them fell to the ground. The other tried to get her to stand, but she was unable, and soon the chill set in. She was dying, yet the man didn''t know what to do. Her eyes closed, and the man lost his mind. He cried out against the heavens, and beat the ground in frustration, again, and again, and again, until his hands were bloody, but he could not feel pain. Yet in one of his desperate attacks, he ended up striking two rocks together, producing sparks. The dried mulch on the ground quickly caught me, and developed into a small bonfire. The man paused, his gaze mesmerized by the flickering mes dancing in front of him. Man had discovered fire. The scene shattered, and instead of an enemy, Lex was assaulted by a deep chill. It was so strong that it easily broke through the defense of his clothes, and even caused his body temperature to drop by a degree, but that was it. It was not so easy to affect Lex. He passed the level. Another vision appeared in his mind, and one by one, step by step, he witnessed all the monumental moments of mankind in this realm. With each step they took, the challenge they faced grew bigger, and the threat Lex faced became more deadly. Yet it was not near enough to actually threaten him just yet. Lex witnessed as humans discovered trading with other tribes. He saw when they learned about farming. He was there when they started using teamwork, and started considering using strategies. By the time long range weapons became a norm, the challenges Lex began to face were finally somewhat challenging. A single hit was no longer enough to kill the enemy. By the time armor became a thing, Lex needed to put in some actual effort. When humans discoveredplex tools, it was the first time Lex needed to take a step to defeat an enemy. When humans discovered metalwork, Lex finally had to use more than just physical strength. When humans faced their first tribal war, Lex actually needed to start dodging. Then humans finally came across a beast. It was only equivalent to the Foundation realm, and it was the first trial he witnessed humans fail to pass. Instead of killing the beast, only a few wounded and injured survived. That''s when Lex faced enemies in the Earth immortal realm who were beginning to give him a tough time. Yet just as Lex defeated his foe, and he was about to witness the next great achievement, Mary showed up on his shoulder, and her expression was far from her usual chirpy stuff. "I have some bad news," she said solemnly. "Someone discovered Moon. Someone kept the World Eater busy while there was an assassination attempt. Luckily, Z was there, so she survived unharmed. Since then, the World Eater has changed locations again. But if they can find her once¡­" Lex''s expression became grim and his mind started working, ignoring everything around him as he thought of solutions. "Did Gerard and Luthor get back with something yet?" "Not yet." "Well send them word. Let them use more drastic measures if need be. We''re bringing the deadline closer. Have Velma coordinate everything. Have all forces on standby and ready to take action at a moment''s notice." "Got it." N?v(el)B\\jnn "How''s Moon doing? What''s her progress with her connection to the?" "She''s fine for now, but as a result of the assassination attempt, her took quite a beating. That has slowed down her progress." Lex frowned, and turned to look back at the image unfolding in front of him. The humans were finally ready to dere their first king. "I''ll take care of it. Make sure the World Eater keeps moving her. Don''t settle in any one ce." Lex opened the buttons of his shirt one by one, and then undid his second seal on his chest, leaving only the final one remaining. Chapter 1207 An old enemy Chapter 1207 An old enemy Lex was more than ready to punch something hard in the face when the next challenge began. But instead of a monster or foe, he faced the weight of responsibility. Since the challenge had urred as a result of a human kind being crowned, the foe Lex faced was the abstract challenge faced by the first ever human king in the face of an uncertain world, and uncertain future. Oddly enough, Lex found the sensation he faced to be a familiar feeling instead of a formidable foe. It was the feeling of having the weight of countless lives in the palm of his hand. It was the weight of knowing that every word he said could ruin the future of countless lives if it was the wrong one. The feeling was one of measuring someone, and finding them guilty of death - of making that judgment over another life and then carrying it out as well. The weight of that feeling was not solid or quantifiable, yet it was enough to shatter worlds. It could break backs and bend knees, it ground grind stone to dust and empires to dirt. It was an abstract weight that could cripple even the most capable of minds. But Lex was already used to carrying it. Without any extra effort at all, Lex passed the level and continued onto the next, yet once more the foe he faced was not one he could punch. Rather, he faced the obstacle of famine. Then came crime, greed, and then poverty. He faced every literal and metaphorical challenge that the human race faced in its rise, and despite his intense urge to speed things along, he was forced to move at the pace dictated by the tower. Slowly, he saw humanity evolve, and from the stone ages they moved, step by step through the ages. The more this happened, the fewer Lex got chances to fight personally, though at some point Lex fell into a sort of trance. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Though he seemed to be watching the rise of the human race of a certain realm, Lex in his mind began to see the future of the Inn. He foresaw a time when he would eventually be strong enough that he would no longer be constantly worried about facing a stronger enemy than him. Instead, it was the unseen, abstract foes that nearly shook and devastated the human race that would be his enemies. Of course, such a time was far in the future, but in that moment the future seemed to beid out in front of him. He saw how humans faced the decline of resources, the changing of the seasons, the falling of empires, cultures and traditions. He saw how they moved from one age to the next, eventually surpassing the humans from earth in terms of technology! He saw how, instead of cultivation, the humans of this realm went down the path of gic enhancements to grow stronger, and through them approached all the same barriers as cultivators. He saw how, instead of Earth Immortals who could controlws, the humans went down the path of assimting a part of aw into themselves, forever binding themselves to a singlew, yet gaining a significant power boost as a result. He saw the human race reach heights he found hard to believe, and just when Lex thought that he was done facing actual foes, the realm war began. Lexid his eyes on a creature he had already seen, but was not expecting to see here of all ces. He saw a Kraven tear open a hole in the fabric of reality above a capital of the human empire, and unleash a flood of devastation unto the race. It was one of the rare,plete defeats that the human race faced. When the fight began, Lex was once again faced with the monster covered in ck goo as it stood on the ground in front of him with both his hands and legs, like a gori. Lex recalled all he knew about the ursed race. They had gray, tough skin though it was not visible under the thick, viscous ck slime which covered their bodies, which they could control as if it were an extension of their very bodies. The slime was also absurdly dangerous, as it was extremely poisonous. They were also stronger when they stood onnd, for the ground acted as an external sensory organ for them, as well as a well of power. Their muscles were formed in a weaving structure, which allowed them to use much more strength than it actually seemed, and they were not limited in how they could move any limb. Lastly, and most importantly, it was basically immortal until the energy core hidden within its chest was destroyed - although Lex strongly suspected he coulde up with many ways to kill it now. It was only back then, when he was weak, that he was limited to destroying its core to kill it. Oh, right, it also had an ability simr to Dragons Might which was called coercion. It was extremely effective on him back in the day, though now he actually didn''t even register it since it barely affected him. Was it a coincidence that this same race was now invading another realm? What role did they y in the realm wars? These were questions Lex didn''t have an answer to right now, nor was he interested in knowing. "Die," Lex said, and filled his voice with his Mindmeld ability. As the emotionless voice carried over, the once mighty Kraven, a foe that had literally frozen Lex still to the point where he could not move at all, died. Or rather, its spiritual energy was erased. But curiously, Lex could feel that its energy core in its chest immediately began to recover spiritual energy in its mind. He walked forward and with a single flick destroyed the energy core. Lex was reminded of the Kraven prince who had attacked him back in the Crystal realm. Maybe after all of this was over, he should return and settle that grudge himself. He had not forgotten that the Kraven prince''s attack caused Big Ben to lose his unborn child. Though Big Ben and his wife did not hold the Innkeeper responsible, and got over it, Lex did not. After all, the weight he bore on his shoulders was akin to that of a king. Chapter 1208 Destiny anchor Chapter 1208 Destiny anchor After facing the first Kraven, the challenges of the tower once again returned to those ofbat, and they quickly became genuinely challenging. It was no longer a matter of one or two hits, but rather of a fight. The Kraven, who had be his constant foes, proved themselves to be extremely worthy of the exceptionally deadly reputation they had in the Crystal realm. Soon, not only did Lex go back from being able to defeat them easily, but he even went from being on the offensive to being on the defensive. For a moment, Lex even considered just ending the trial there and then. It was not like he was interested in the reward, and more importantly, he didn''t want to waste time here. He had other things to do. But his instincts warned him otherwise. Since he was already inside the tower, his instincts were no longer being interfered with. It was not that he would be in danger if he tried to quit or didn''t finish the tower, but rather that he would regret it. As soon as he reached that conclusion he thought for a moment. Was this the right time to pull out Naraka? Then he grit his teeth, and pulled out the Butter Knife, and put on the Invincible Tyrant Mask. This was the first time in a long, long time that he was being pushed to the limits of his abilities - at least the abilities he could exhibit under the effects of the seal - and didn''t need to fear the repercussion being death. As such, Lex was forced to use everything he had trained during the past fifteen years, and hisbat prowess began to evolve continuously. Each challenge he faced was tougher, and yet he rose to meet the challenge. If Z saw him now, he''d scoff again and im that Lex was holding back. He could not be med for underestimating the rate at which he was actually growing stronger. He became more and more precise in his actions, nning each and every action, and just as Lex was getting into the flow ofbat, he witnessed the end. Thest obstacle of the human race was not even a fight. They were unworthy to even approach that battlefield. Instead, defeated, beaten, battered, the few remnants of the dwindling human race watched from afar as the very core of the realm was shattered. The finishing blow was not delivered by a Kraven, surprisingly. It was a distant figure that emerged, surrounded by kneeling Kraven. It was too far for Lex to see properly. All he saw was arge thing walking upright, its four wings spread behind its back, each one significantlyrger than its body. It struck a single blow, and the entire realm shattered, and the human race of this realm finally experienced their final defeat, resulting in their total annihtion. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om When the challenge came, Lex felt oppressed in a way he hadn''t experienced for a long time. He was severely weakened in front of the forces of annihtion that were targeting him, and he clearly felt the gap in power between himself and the blow that was about tond on him. Yet even if he was weaker than his foe, he was much stronger than he once was. He did not need to watch helplessly, unable to react in the face of an impending attack. Lex used his Heavens Furnace to contain the attack. It was, at the moment, his strongest defensive technique. Yet it literally served as no obstacle to the falling attack. It did not break or shatter under immense pressure. It simply ceased to exist when the attack hit it. It seemed that there was no hope - yet that was not true. If nothing else, at least his furnace was able to deplete a portion of the attacks might. A split second before it touched Lex''s skin, he employed every tactic avable to him. He split space itself, increased his defense, used various techniques, and even used his spiritual energy to manipte thews to protect him. Of everything, only thews put up a momentary resistance. Then the attacknded, and from the very depth of his being, Lex felt a challenge. His very existence was being challenged, and he was too weak to resist it. He realized then that what he was facing was a very powerful application of the annihtionw. It was toote to put up any other kind of defense now. Thews had chained itself to his being, and the only reason it had not directly destroyed him was because the attack was linked to a challenge. The challenge was to prove that he deserved to exist, and that he deserved to survive the fate of destruction that had been rendered for an entire realm. This was not a challenge he could n for. He could not put up a fake front. There were no ns. In fact, he could not even react to the challenge himself to begin with. It was one that would be answered on its own. Deep within Lex''s body something reacted on his behalf. Lex''s destiny was unordinary, he could deduce that much even if he did not understand destiny itself. But destiny was not nearly as irrefutable as many assumed. It was not nearly the shackle everyone always assumed, though it could also be that on asion. When the challenge came, Lex felt oppressed in a way he hadn''t experienced for a long time. He was severely weakened in front of the forces of annihtion that were targeting him, and he clearly felt the gap in power between himself and the blow that was about tond on him. All of that was irrelevant at the moment. The only thing relevant was that Lex''s name was in the top of the Guest registry, which afforded him many prizes in the form of anchors. Every guest who had a name in the top 10 of the registry had a Destiny anchor. When thew of annihtion challenged him, from deep within Lex, for the first time, the effect of his Destiny anchor manifested itself. Thew of annihtion, at least at the level it was being disyed, was unworthy of challenging his destiny and his existence. Lex passed the challenge, even if he did not know how exactly he passed. At the same time, countless realms apart, the very being that appeared in the final vision of the realm before it was destroyed felt something. After a moment, it smiled. "Interesting. Two sessful challengers¡­" Chapter 1209 Not ready Chapter 1209 Not ready Lex felt the overwhelming power of annihtion, and began to appreciate how genuinely awesome the power ofws could be. He knew that he could not genuinely be hurt during this challenge of the tower, probably, but even then, the power of annihtion felt like it would devour him. More importantly, if the application of thew didn''t allow for a challenger to directly ovee the effects of thew, Lex knew this would have been the end of his climb in the tower. Yet the clear loophole was there, and so Lex survived some version of the attack that destroyed a whole realm. He was certain that it was not really on the same scale as the realm destroying attack, but it was impressive nheless. It would have been even more impressive if he knew exactly which one of the many things inhabiting his body allowed him to do it. After passing through the final challenge, Lex was brought to a in, simple room with a single pedestal in front of him. There was a note pinned to the side, and a golden ring on the pedestal. "Better luck next time," read the note very simply, and a hint of surprise shed through Lex''s eyes. He was fairly certain that he had zoomed through the levels in the tower, but apparently Giselle had been faster. It seemed like he had underestimated her. Lex picked up the golden ring and was not surprised to find it was a spatial ring. Within it was his prize, or maybe the ring was also a prize since its storage capacity was evenrger than his spatial bangle! It was still nowhere nearrge enough to fit a, but a small country might not be an issue. More importantly, it contained a crystal ball filled with a liquid that was in a constant state of flux, not only rapidly changing colors, but also the texture of the liquid itself. All he needed to do was look at the ball to know that contained within were a portion of thews of the destroyed realm - the very thing that the Origin realm had been trying to absorb. He was not sure what benefits it would give, but he was certain that the Midnight realm would be greatly enhanced from this. If nothing else, the unique bnce that the now destroyed realm previously operated under was unique enough to covet. There was something about it that Lex felt was immensely important, even if he couldn''t understand why. Lex grabbed the ring, and was teleported out, back to the lobby he once had entered from. Oddly enough, there was no receptionist around to wee him. In fact, as he looked around, the entire ce seemed deserted. N?v(el)B\\jnn Just as he was beginning to suspect that something had gone amiss, he heard the sound of running, and an rmed receptionist came into view. "Mr. Lex, my apologies," she yelled from afar. "My sincerest apologies for making you wait. I did not think anyone would being back so soon. We weren''t expecting you for a few more months." "That''s fine," Lex said. "When can I go to the Trial of Eternity?" "Please wait a moment," the receptionist said as she returned to her station. "Let me find out for you." Truthfully, before answering, she had to ensure if Lex even passed to begin with. The preliminary tournament was, in essence, just an elimination round to keep around the mostpetent to enter the Champions tourney. The reason for that was that the Champions tourney took ce in a few, very special ces. Let alonepleting the required trials, even failing the trial would greatly affect those ces, which is why only the best of the best could go. Of course, surpassing all the trials anding out sessfully at the end would lead someone to bing a Champion candidate, or even a Champion directly. Every single participant in the tourney would receive immense support not only from their sponsors but from the Henali themselves. Yet the Champion would directly get enough support to reach the Celestial realm - at the very least! Emperor Jotun himself was a former Champion candidate, though he didn''t quite make it in the end. Still, the value he was given by the Henali was evident, so the position of actual champions can easily be guessed. The best part was that one did not need to swear fealty to the Henali to receive the benefits of being champion. They would get it from virtue of being champion itself. "Mr. Lex it looks like you''re all set to move on, but there is a small issue. The entrance to the Trial of Eternity is not open yet. You will need to wait around thirty-one days before you can enter. If you don''t wish to wait, you can enter one of the other tourney locations." "No, this is fine. How will I be able to enter the trial after thirty-one days? Shall I return here?" "Not at all. You will be given your awards forpleting the tournament in a ster fashion, and one of them will be a key that will allow you to enter the trial. There is aplimentary, top of the line refreshment and rehabilitation treatment prepared for you. By the time you are done, preparations for your award ceremony will beplete." Lex did not feel like he needed rehabilitation, but he was not in the mood to argue. He followed the receptionist as she led the way, his thoughts already focusing on the next steps. During the next thirty-one days, he could continue eliminating clones, while at the same time beginying the groundwork to lure out his grandfather. At the same time, he would release the crystal ball containingws into the Midnight realm. He was looking forward to seeing how it improved. Lastly, he had to send Moon to the Inn. He was not willing to stand by any longer. It was time for some drastic measures. Chapter 1210 Clarity Chapter 1210 rity Lex had experienced his fair share of rejuvenation treatments, and usually they involved being submerged in something. Whether it was warm waters filled with nutrients and vitamins that the body absorbs through the skin, or elixirs filled with the energies of life, or sands that soothed his muscle, or something else along those lines, he had done it all. But naturally, since this was arranged by the Henali, its potency was in a category of its own. Lex was not led to a sleeping pod or resting chamber of some kind. Instead, he was led to a medical facility and asked to step into a ray of blue light that floated his body up in the air. The doctors in the room began to work on something on their tablets that Lex could not see, but soon he saw the machine activate, and a thin, white substance began to form a shell around him. At first Lex didn''t understand what was happening, but when a clear liquid began to fill the shell, did he realize what it was. They were¡­ creating an eggshell around him, and he was the yolk of the egg - or well, close enough. As odd as the concept was, he didn''t resist, and instead closed his eyes and allowed the shell to beplete. The liquid rose till itpletely submerged him, and though Lex held his breath, he realized that his body was breathing through his skin regardless of the liquid surrounding him. He was trying to discern what other effects the liquid was having, yet the absence of any warmth seeping into him from his skin, or a cool sensation helping alleviate his fatigue, or basically any stimulus at all left it so that he could not tell what it was doing at all. He kept trying to tell what it was doing, but it took him a while to realize that there was no physical or mental sensation to indicate what was happening, but at some point, he had rxed all his muscles. He rxed his jaw, loosened his shoulders and let his legs rest instead of keeping them tight. In fact, even his mind had rxed, though it could neverpletely stop functioning since a part of him was always overlooking the Inn. The reason he noticed this change, ironically, was because while his mind had calmed down, Jack''s had not. So it was Jack who noticed the difference in their thought process, not that it affected any of them in an adverse way. After a few more minutes, Lex fell asleep, and his body entered the fetal position as the egg slowly became smaller, pushing more and more of the liquid inside his body. The doctors outside were continuously taking vital readings to ensure that nothing was going amiss, but they took special care not to take any samples or any irrelevant readings that could be considered a vition of his privacy. This was no joke. At this level, each and every contestant was at a unique level of power and influence across the whole realm. In fact, one of the hidden reasons behind streaming the tournament across the realm was to give each contestant a certain level of official recognition. It was subtle preparation from the Henali for any official position they might want to give these contestants in the future. The rejuvenation process did not take long. Every single second the eggshell was getting smaller and smaller, and in a few minutes it came close enough to Lex that it began to touch his skin. It took one more minute before the eggshell waspletely warped into his shape, and then it began to stretch a little as it tried to squeeze in even more. But how could a mere eggshell even press down a single hair on Lex''s body? With a loud, resounding crack the egg shell shattered, and revealed Lex, who was also awoken by the sound. Although he should not have been surprised by the effectiveness of the procedure, he was still taken aback. It had only been a few minutes, yet he felt as if he had slept for weeks. All the mental fatigue, stress and pressure which had begun to umte in his mind due to his ongoing ns vanished. In fact, even his growing anger, which he had kept suppressed for so long, had begun to bubble out bit by bit which was making him impatient, and causing him to rush certain things, vanished. With his emotions thoroughly under his control, he was reminded that the more critical the situation, the more calm and collected he needed to be. It was a basic mistake, but one he made nheless, since this was the first time his family had been involved. Immediately, he passed a few new instructions for Mary to pass forward. Acting anxiously might only draw undue attention. Everything needed to be done correctly, not hastily. But once that was done, Lex marveled at how rxing a bit had helped clear his mind. Although his performance had not dipped due to whatever pressure was umting, the rity he was afforded was remarkable. N?v(el)B\\jnn He gained a new perspective on the services they could offer at the Inn, and made a mental note to add work retreats as special packages for the Inn. He turned to look at the receptionist, who was standing aside the whole time, though her expression was once again very awkward. "I''m sorry Mr. Lex, but there has been a small, unexpected situation," she said, being as polite as possible. She really could not afford to offend him, and yet she was continuously forced to do so. Even though she knew that she was secure in this ce, confronted with someone so strong, logic went out the window when fear kicked in. "Let me guess, the Henali were not prepared for someone to pass so quickly, so while they have the award prepared, they cannot pass it on themselves." The receptionist froze. He had guessed exactly right. Lex chuckled. "Don''t worry. This is within my expectations. Just pass on the awards to me and let me know when I can enter the trial. I have a few other things I need to take care of." Of course, it was within his expectations. He was the one who had purposefully ensured that something like this would happen. Chapter 1211 Havent I seen that guy? Chapter 1211 Haven''t I seen that guy? Even though no Henali was present to hand him the award, and the ceremony he attended was one organized just moments prior, due to Lex''s urgent need to leave, nothing about the event felt like it was perfunctory. He was brought to a massive stadium where rows upon rows of people filled the stands, even the ones floating up in the air and all around him, all of whom had been watching the show. There was a brief introductory speech, letting everyone know that while everyone else was still in the second or even the first trial of the streams they chose, there was a contestant who had already won. If this were the kind of tournament that would allocate positions, then he would being second! Lex was not too surprised to find out he''d be second, since Giselle had already finished before him. Regardless, everyone was super excited to see that someone had already finished, and even those who did not know about Lex began to search up his videos. There were no recordings from the time bubble, but the graveyard and maze had recordings of which, watching which drove everyone insane. Of course, the maze was only limited up until the tower itself, as they could not record what happened inside. What made everyone disappointed was that while the graveyard was action packed, and the maze had some intense moments as well, there just wasn''t enough to sate hunger for more action! Amidst cheering crowds from countless races across the realm, Lex walked out onto the stage and epted the award, smiling and waving at everyone who saw him. At the same time, he was extremely grateful that he had been through the rejuvenation process before this. With his mind cleared of all urgency, and his emotions in check, he could y out this scene exactly how he imagined it. Whether the people he was putting on a show for were watching or not was irrelevant. He just needed toplete the act. ***** "I''m telling you we''re being targeted. Nothing else makes sense," said an exasperated ape as he threw a clipboard onto the table in front of him. All those around him looked at the documents clipped onto it and resisted the urge to sigh. It was not just the fact that they were being told something for the billionth time, but the fact that the basis of that argument seemed to be true. Over the past few weeks, Sanguis Pluvia had been suffering more losses than they had in years. Yet there were no indications that these losses were anything more than incidental events as a result of other shes within the vicinity. "I told you, it''s impossible," said Damien, in an irritated tone. "Each and everyone of our facilities has been enchanted so that not even other Dao Lords can find it. Moreover, we are tracking the location of every single Dao Lord in the realm. If any of them try to make a move on us, we''ll know. So far, the Henali have only discovered what we want them to discover." "I''m not saying that Dao Lords are acting against us," said the ape as it stood up, and tied its hands behind its back as it began to pace around. "Look, I don''t understand enchantment and divinity and anti-divinity, or anything like that. I just understand mathematics, and numbers don''t lie. For decades, the number of our incidental losses in any given year have not gone over 0.5%. These are the numbers for an entire year long period. But just in the past few weeks alone, we have exceeded 0.5% and gone to 1.1%! We have exceeded the annual trend by arge margin in the span of a few weeks! Numbers don''t lie, and this is an anomalous result based on operational data we''ve umted over a century." This time one of the guys on the table was unable to hold back a groan. "Listen here Einstein," one of them said to the ape. "Every location is secured so no one can divine it, and all of our workers, low level employees and soldiers have seals ced in their minds so that they can''t share information even if they want to. None of our partners know the location of our bases, and even if they did, they are literally traitors to the Henali. Revealing anything is as good as death. "Let alone 1%, even if the losses reach 5%, these are eptable operational losses. With bases across millions of gxies, it''s expected that some of them will suffer attacks from time to time. Heck, just recently one of the facilities I was overlooking was on a that was attacked by space pirates. When have you heard of space pirates attackings? Never, yet it happened. Another one of mys was the sight of a battle between the Deathsworn and their target. These things happen. It''s not a big deal. We have to keep our eyes on the bigger picture." Einstein, the ape, scoffed. "The bigger picture? You mean like Her majesty''s vessel? Haven''t we failed to recreate a vessel for her because every cloning facility with a sample of the vessel has been attacked? And you''re saying that this is not targeted." The room suddenly turned solemn. Even if they could dismiss the ape''s earlier ims, they could not just ignore such a sensitive topic. "Again, we cannot conclude that we are the ones being targeted," one of the people in the room said. "Those facilities contained samples by various other forces, and we have identified at least two other entities which had their own cloning projects within all those facilities. At best, we''re one of three who could potentially be targeted. It''s not enough to conclude anything. We''ve literally fooled Dao Lords for so many years. If our defenses were trulycking in any way, the Henali would not have spared us." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "What if it''s not the Henali attacking us? Damien, I recall you submitted a report that you suspected your grandson might be responsible. He has already interfered thrice before, once on Earth, once on Polebitvy and once with the vessel. Isn''t he a part of some powerful organization backed by a Dao Lord?" "I suspected it was him," Damien said, showing no change in expression, "but upon investigation it was concluded that it was unlikely. ording to our profile on the Dao Lord backing the Midnight Inn, he has a history of noninterference. At times it might seem like he is targeting someone, but that is circumstantial at best. "For example, during the previous Midnight Games it seemed like he was targeting Devils by forming the games around hunting zombies, but since then the Inn has shown close partnership with Devils. In fact, they are thergest demographic inside the Inn, surpassing even humans, who are the secondrgest. "The current Midnight Games seem to have targeteds where we have taken action, yes, but it also includes countless others that are being invaded by non-sentient races. It seems the theme of the games this time is Rising Heroes, which necessitates making use of suchs. "More importantly, we''ve been following my grandson since his name was put on the hit list. He has been documented taking part in the Henali preliminary tournament. There''s no way he could have orchestrated the attacks that we''ve been suffering from." As if to prove his point, he pulled up a video of Lex, standing in front of arge crowd, epting his awards. He was smiling andughing at the crowd as he epted what was no doubt an extremely valuable award - though the actual awards remained hidden within spatial rings so no one knew what he got. "Based on our analysis he''s not been in contact with the Henali or any such forces, so even if he wanted to, it''s highly unlikely he could orchestrate something like this. If anyone from my family had to be med, I''d think it would be my son and his wife. I''ve always sensed a hint of danger from them, even when my son gave up all his cultivation." The mood in the room became dim. Damien''s son was another person they had their eyes on as a recruit, but his personality was too free willed. They could not determine if he would join them or not. It was a shame, he would have been a good recruit. "Hey, haven''t I seen that guy on Lover''s Ind?" someone in the room suddenly said, pointing at Lex. "Yeah, that''s the guy with the harem. I even voted to have him killed. Damien, your grandkid is certainly very talented at pissing people off. Not only did he build a harem, he even publically gave out his address and invited all angels toe to him. My god, if we can get someone like that in our marketing and propaganda department, our numbers will shoot through the roof!" This time, it was the ape that groaned. They were being invaded. The number clearly stated it, so why couldn''t anyone else see that? It was like their house was on fire, and these guys were content to use the mes to make themselves tea. Chapter 1212 What can you do for me? Chapter 1212 What can you do for me? On a particr, Haris was, alone, cutting through entire armies of insects though he wasn''t killing at random. Across the globe, he found small pockets of resistance, cut off from everyone else, doing whatever they could to survive. He would, time and time again, venture out alone into the madness of war, with no support and nothing to fall back to, and save them. Not only would this improve the chances of him passing the Ventura test, it had earned him all kinds of nicknames from viewers such as Lone Hero, Knight in shining armor, and Poodle. More important than that, it earned him countless gifts and prizes. The rate at which he was growing stronger was ridiculous. It was not even that his cultivation realm was growing stronger. No, within the same cultivation realm, his strength which he thought had peaked, was increasing exponentially. Finally, Haris managed to make his way through the horde of insects and reached a small vige within a valley where survivors were fighting to protect themselves. After some nning and convincing that he could take them all out, Haris initiated the same n he had used countless times. He ced countless lures within the vige which would attract the insects, clearing the path for all the residents to escape. Once they were far enough away, the countless explosives he had rigged in the town would be set off, blowing them up. This n, which had worked countless times before, went off without a hitch. The entire group of survivors were climbing up a mountain trail when the explosion went off. Not just them, but all the viewers watching across the realm and in the Inn paused to watch the explosion, before carrying on. Yet what no one noticed was that after the explosion, the site of the vige was no longer an option to be viewed through the Midnight Games stream. That is why no one noticed when two men in suits appeared amongst the wreckage and made their way into a small opening that led deep underground to a hidden facility. The explosion had not affected the underground facility - it was designed to survive that. But what they had not anticipated was that after the explosion, allmunication with the outside was cut off. This was troubling, for it might lead their off coordinators to believe the explosion had led to a cave in, and they might be abandoned. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Ordinarily, someone woulde and check on them, but with a war going on above them, if they didn''t make contact first, they would be abandoned. This was tricky because they were holding sensitive information. For reasons no one could anticipate, the rm didn''t go off when the two suited men entered the base. The security systems turned off on their own, so the two men casually walked in and one by one, neutralized all the staff in that facility. Eventually someone noticed and a big fight ensued, but equipped with suits from the Midnight Tailor, the two men did not even need to defend themselves. It was a massacre. "I.. I don''t understand," said the operating manager of the base as he leaned against the wall, bleeding. "How did you find us? Our defenses are perfect! Even Dao Lords can''t divine our location!" Ordinarily, neither of the two would deign to reply. Yet one of the two was a member of the Nyxheart family, which was led by Velma, so this was a matter that hit close to home. "Your name''s Vick, right?" the Nyxheart family member said, squatting down to be at eye level with the man. "Who said anything about divination or Dao Lords? We got everything we needed to find you from Shelby." "No¡­ no how is that possible?" Vick, the bleeding man said as he went into shock as he clearly recognised the name. "You''re lying. I never told her anything." "You were dating this woman for years. Of course she got suspicious when you started acting weird. The poor woman thinks you''re cheating on her. How was she supposed to know you''re actually a radicalized terrorist? The little bit of information she was able to collect on you was more than what we needed to identify who you are, and narrow down the location of your base." The Nyxheart member stood up and gave Vick the most disgusted look ever. "She''s a good girl, crying her heart out because she loved you. You don''t deserve someone like her. You deserve this." A sword stabbed into Vicks heart, finally allowing him to feel the same pain his girlfriend Shelby was feeling. It was thest thing he ever felt. Of course, while the Nyxheart member had shared some of the details of how the base was found, he wasn''t stupid enough to reveal the main reason. "Any news from Regis?" he asked the other suited man, who checked a device in his pocket. "Yeah, we have the location for three more bases. Let''s download all the data from here before making it look like the base was destroyed in a cave in. A secondary team will take care of wiping our aura so we can''t be tracked." The Nyxheart member nodded his head, and quickly made his way to the mainputer and began downloading all the information they had. Elsewhere, on a in another gxy altogether, a suited man stood inside a boardroom, sipping on a juice box and listening in on some secrets. The room was filled with members of Sanguis Pluvia, yet they could not see him, or perceive him in any way at all. Regis had long ago unlocked an ability which allowed him to disappearpletely, not just from sight, but from memory as well. Of course, he had gained a basic mastery over the ability now which allowed him to reappear, and allowed people to remember his name. Butpared to disappearingpletely, it actually took more energy to reappear. Plus, this way, if he swiped something, such as a file which contained the location of other hidden bases, or a juice box, then others would forget about the existence of those things as well. Of course, he still had to be careful. He was still rtively weak, and anypetent immortal would be able to see through his ability easily. But the convenience of being able to escape back to the Inn whenever he wanted made infiltration just too easy. It also helped that all the security measures they were taking were geared towards anti-divination and against Dao Lords. No one was expecting him, and no one was prepared for him. An intern walked into the board room full of evil terrorists carrying a box of doughnuts, though the double chocte doughnut with rainbow sprinkles mysteriously vanished. In another gxy, far away from the conflicts of the Midnight Games, there was a ck market unlike most other ck markets. Instead of hiding from gctic empires, this market was hiding from the Henali. This market, known as K Bazar, was not near any star system, any asteroids, rogues, space debris or anything. It was just empty space that no one had ever visited - or so it seemed. There was a veil covering the darkness, hiding everything within, and keeping out all prying eyes. This market, or rather Bazar, was not even under the control of the Fuegan, or Sanguis Pluvia. Though they were the greatest enemies of the Henali within the Origin realm, they were not the only ones who would benefit from keeping secrets from the Henali. Within this market, two suited men walked behind a teenager - or at least someone who looked like a teenager. Cultivation made it very difficult to determine someone''s age just based on appearances. Many who saw the sight were surprised, for the two bodyguards had actually made quite a name for themselves within the K Bazar, each for their own reasons. The older, more mature bodyguard had a way with words that let him sit face to face with the highest level members of the Bazar despite his low cultivation realm, while the younger was sinister enough to scare even the Bazar regrs. "This is the ce," the young man said, and let the older of the group enter first. The shop they had entered was empty, though the moment they entered the cold, gray interior suddenly changed, turning into a cozy, wooden cabin. "Mr. Gerard, it''s a pleasure to see you," said the projection of a middle aged man who appeared in front of him. "Although I am surprised to see you here. Nothing in our analytics indicated that you would be interested in our services." Gerard smiled. "Actually, I''m just here to pave the way for someone else today." Behind him, Rnd, the former newspaper boy, and Luthor entered. "Interesting. Mr. Luthor I recognise, but I have no information in my database about you. Would you care to make an introduction?" "My name is Rnd," he said, taking off his hat. "I would be more than pleased to introduce myself properly, assuming I''m talking to the right person. As I understand it, there''s a new A.I. leading your empire within the Origin realm. One that goes by the name Calculon. I am here to talk to him." Suddenly the projection of the middle aged man talking to them froze, and after a few seconds returned to normal, only his expression had bepletely neutral. He looked towards Rnd, his body unnaturally still, as if all bodynguage had been eliminated. "How do you know about me?" the projection asked, his voice unchanged, yet somehow devoid of all emotion. "I have not yet made a formal introduction of myself in this realm." Rnd smiled. "It''s my business to know things," he said, as he sat down and made himselffortable. "And the reason I''m here is not because I need something from you. Rather, I have information that you need from me. So the question is, Calculon, what can you do for me?" Chapter 1213 Rewards Chapter 1213 Rewards As soon as the award ceremony was over, Lex returned to the Inn. There were about thirty days in the Origin realm left till the actual tourney, and that meant about ny days in the Midnight realm. That gave him about just enough time to finish up Moon''s issue and bring her back. He also knew that despite its great sess, if he had been monitoring the Midnight Games closely they would have gone even better. He could not forget to give the Inn enough attention, for it was the basis of everything he did. But he really was too short on time. Between breaking through to the next realm, managing a massive conspiracy against Dao level forces, taking care of his sister, looking for his other siblings and putting up the perfect act in front of the whole universe, he was a little swamped. But bit by bit, he was handling things. The first thing he did upon returning to the Inn was investigate his rewards. There was the crystal orb containing countlessws that he got from the tower, as well as an invitation to the tourney. He swept through the next few items, not really expecting to be surprised, but he was proven wrong. Since the Henali had organized a tournament, and used the contestants to clear various incredibly troublesome areas for themselves, then how could they cheap out? The first, and more important item was a pill bottle containing a single pill called False Death. There was also a small piece of jade which included a description of the pill. Upon consumption, it would not act immediately, but instead would assimte with the body of whoever ate it. The pill would onlye into effect if and when the person who consumed it would die. Barringplete and immediate destruction of the entire soul, the pill would allow the person to instantlye back to life in their peak state! There was literally no price for such a pill, and let alone the highest level member of the Infinity Emporium, even if he were the owner it would not be easy getting his hands on such a thing. If Lex sold this right now, he wouldn''t be surprised if he could directly buy out a massive chunk of the emporium! Even then, the only reason it was a ''massive chunk'' of the emporium, and not the entire emporium itself was because the pill was only effective up until the Earth Immortal realm. That meant it was not effective for Heavenly Immortals. Tragically, it would also not work for Lex. It was not that the power he had sealed was enough to put him in the Heaven Immortal realm, far from it, but that he had consumed the Amber Chaos resin. With a Dao level ingredient making up a part of his body and soul, there was no way this pill was strong enough to work on him. But even then, there was no shortage of people he could give it to. Moon would be his first guess, but once again, her unique situation made it so that it might not work on her. Whatever the case, it was something he would keep with himself for now. He might end up needing it for one of his other sisters, or maybe an Inn worker going on an especially dangerous mission. With his expectations already exceeded in just the first reward, he looked eagerly at the next ones. The second item was a yoga mat. Well, technically, it was a meditation rug, but it looked a lot like a yoga mat. Its use was not as mind blowing as False Death, but that did not mean it was not impressive. When contemting and studyingws, the mat would enhance the users perception, making it much easier for them to make gains. For ordinary immortals, whose cultivation path slowed down drastically or stopped entirely upon entering this realm, this mat was invaluable. But once again¡­ it was not exactly useful for Lex. Not only did his cultivation technique innately increase hisprehension, so that this wouldn''t be an issue, but he also had ess to Meditation rooms inside the Midnight Inn which achieved the same effect. In fact, he was sure that sooner orter he''d be able to improve the rooms even more. To be clear, each of his rooms had already gone through various rounds of upgrades already, and their effect was greatly enhanced, but to upgrade them further would cost multiple MT. Even though he had enough authority to increase the effectiveness of each room once more, he literally could not afford it. So much for being rich. Regardless, the second item wasn''t bad. He could gift it to someone or use it ording to circumstances, but at least right now he didn''t need it. Maybe he''d put it in the Gift shop. He''d been neglecting that for a while. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om He looked towards the final item, expecting another great but not at all useful item. To an extent, he was right, though it was undecided how useful it would actually be. Thest item was an identity token linked to him. The token could? be used not just in the Origin realm, but anywhere in the universe to identify as an ally of the Henali. It also contained 1000 Henali credits, which could be redeemed to request a service of any kind from the Henali. As it was, Lex already had enough power and prestige to be able to request cooperation from the Henali without the use of these credits, but he could see how they were useful. The basis of him being able to request cooperation was the Midnight Inn and what it represented. Without it, he would need to use these credits. Lex put away all three items, and switched all of his belongings from his spatial bangle to his newly acquired spatial ring. Then, atst, he took out the crystal ball containing countlessws, ready to unleash it within the Midnight realm. If even the Origin realm wanted to absorb thesews, he could only imagine how useful they would be for the Inn. Without any prompt from Lex, the crystal ball shattered as soon as it was brought out of the ring, and all the colors within it dissolved. Lex almost called that anticlimactic, but managed to contain himself - not that he believed in setting off gs. Even so, a storm began to brew within the Midnight realm. Chapter 1214 Job well done Chapter 1214 Job well done Through the system, Lex could exert control over the region that constituted the Midnight Inn, so with a single swipe of his hand, he moved the storm out. But while the Inn was safe from the developing storm, the rest of the realm was not. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Dark clouds suddenly formed above not only the three continents, but the cosmic sea as well. Thunder rumbled in the clouds, but it soundedpletely different than usual. It sounded like crashing water and squeaking wood, while at the same time sounding like wailing winds and distantughter. The unusual nature of the sounds made them seem ominous, though through his connection to the realm Lex could sense that there was no danger brewing. In fact, despite how dark the clouds were, from within them he could feel a great, vibrant energy building up. The entire realm was suddenly blinded by an exceptionally bright sh of light, after which the clouds burst, unleashing a heavy torrent of multicolored rain. Lex suddenly realized that preventing the clouds from forming over the Inn might have been a mistake, and quickly allowed them toe back. All the guests looked up as a miraculous rain fell on them, and each of them¡­ suddenly became stronger! The ground grew more solid, the trees grew taller, the beasts grew stronger, and everyone''s cultivation rose! Lex suddenly felt the boundary of the entire realm loosen, and the highest sustainable rank suddenly became the Earth Immortal realm! Every single being which had been trapped at the peak of the Nascent realm across the entire Midnight realm felt something new. They felt the sky above them growrger, as if it could amodate more, and each of them felt like they could initiate a change to a higher realm. Yet at the same time, they felt a warning from their instincts, as if to let them know that such a change would not be so easily attained. Lex could feel as the boundary of the Midnight realm grew wider, and felt the continents grow slightlyrger. He felt new biomes begin to form, and the spirit energy begin to boil as it grew moreplex. The greatest change was experienced by the Cosmic Sea, which instead of growing, began to drain. As the realm grewrger, it used up the Cosmic Sea as if it was fuel, and somewhere far off in the distance, Lex felt that a fourth continent was beginning to form. He could only vaguely sense that this continent was a perfect circle, almost as if a miniature version of the realm from which these newws originated. Suddenly Lex''s expression changed and he left the Inn, going instead to Yildirim Utopia. It was not that something bad happened. It was just that he was at the absolute limit of the Nascent realm, and the raindrops were forcibly undoing his seals so that his realm would increase. It seemed that he wasn''t destined to gain these benefits. Then again, his body had already been pushed to its max by a Dao level ingredient, so he was not greedy for these small benefits. With a sigh, he passed a single order to Mary. All Inn workers who were outside should return to the Inn immediately. While their missions were important, bing stronger was also important. Many of them who had been unable to reach the Earth immortal realm could not pursue the realm. Moreover, they could even make use of the tribtion rooms within the Inn. Then he turned his attention to Moon, who wasying in her hammock, watching the preliminary tournament still. Her mood had been a little down since the assassination attempt, though could anyone me her? Lex teleported over, appearing right in her line of sight. Moon smiled seeing hime, though she was not able to muster up any excitement. Since the fight, the had suffered, which in turn drained her of her energy. "Alright, let''s put an end to this farce," Lex said as he pped his hands, attracting Z''s attention, who had not noticed his arrival. "We''ve tried doing things the proper way. Now we''re going to do things my way." Z extended his spirit sense to Moon. "I told you he holds back until it''s time to show off. I don''t know what''s about to happen, but you can bet he''s going to magically solve everything, as if he couldn''t have done that to begin with." It was not that Z thought ill of Lex. It was just that he had identified him for who he truly was: a capitalist, and a capitalist only acted at the right moment. "This is going to be a little gross, but just ignore it okay," said Lex as he ced his finger on Moon''s forehead and began using one of the many healing techniques he had devised the past few years. All of the techniques just basically relied on the healing properties of his blood, and the one he was using now was the most efficient and effective one, which is also why it would be obvious that Lex''s own blood would be used. Blood drops started to emerge out of Lex''s skin and then snaked across his skin and into Moon''s forehead. Moon''s healing capability was beyond anything Lex had seen, and even he could only rival her due to various techniques that were unique in the whole universe. Now that her body, and her soul, were being nourished by his blood, it was like whatever her physique did gained steroids. "Wow," she suddenly eximed as energy suddenly flooded into her body, and then through her into her connection with the. Yes, Lex was not just healing her, he was also healing her connection to the. Technically it didn''t work like that, but it was a fact that his blood could y some role in expediting her assimtion of the, so he was going to do just that. One of the reasons Lex had avoided this from the beginning was because he didn''t know how much of his blood it would take to actually do this. He didn''t know if blood loss would affect him negatively, and the midst of a fight for his family, against his family, was not the best time for it. But now Lex wasn''t afraid. If he weakened up a bit, he could hop back in the Inn and let the rainwater nourish him back to his peak. Brute force was not the smartest way to do things, but sometimes it was the best option. He was patting himself on the back for a well thought out n when his physique activated on its own. Empyrean Resonance, which could enhance every single humanoid being that it affected, began resonating with Moon, who was absorbing Lex''s blood. Chapter 1215 Golden core Chapter 1215 Golden core Lex had already considered the possibility. He had specifically trained in how to control his physique, though there wasn''t exactly an instruction manual for how to control a near mythic physique that no one had ever heard of in history. But he had a very good understanding of his body, which is why he was fairly certain that he could prevent it from being randomly triggered. What he had not anticipated was that using over a certain amount of his own blood to heal someone would not trigger a random outburst from his physique, but a targeted one. But it was toote to stop now, so Lex kept using his blood to heal Moon. What he did do, though, was to summon the Butter Knife and use the divine energy to obscure any traces that the activation of his physique might leave behind. At the same time, Z, who felt that something usual was happening, acted promptly and created a spatial barrier around themselves so that none of Lex''s aura or energy would leak out onto the and its people. For the moment, the situation was under control. Lex used the entirety of his various senses to monitor any changes that Moon might be undergoing, but for all intents and purposes, she waspletely normal. In fact, she seemed to be recovering her health and energy faster than normal. But after only a few minutes, it was Lex who suddenly felt a certain level of fatigue and stopped. Even if he wanted to strengthen Moon and speed up her return process, he couldn''t afford to be weak. After all, if nothing else, then he would soon be undergoing his tribtions. Yet he didn''t return to the Inn immediately. He waited to see how Moon responded, yet as soon as he stopped Moon fell into a kind of trance andid back down in her hammock. She seemed like she had fallen asleep, but he could sense the vast amounts of energy coursing through her body, restructuring things. Once he was sure that everything was fine, he teleported back to the Inn and allowed the rainwater to fall on him. Unlike star rank raises, which allowed everyone to experience a breakthrough in their realms, the rainwater wasn''t directly affecting anyone''s realm. It was just filling any potential gaps in their existing cultivation that existed, strengthening the existing cultivation that already existed. For countless people, this was already enough to help them raise their cultivation ceiling by multiple realms. It was slightly embarrassing that the people at the Inn were receiving free upgrades while those in the Midnight Games were fighting for their lives for it. Moreover, this rainwater couldn''t be saved either, as it would either absorb into whatever it touched, or go directly through it. Lex felt the water absorb into his body, and his fatigue slowly faded away. Interestingly enough, the water was not actually water, but was a physical manifestation of certainws. This was not the process by which thews were being absorbed by the Midnight realm, but rather were the excessws which the realm could not directly absorb. Instead of thews bing a part of the realm, and creating the fundamental basis of this realm, they were being used to nurture the existingws. Simrly, the reason why Lex and everyone else were benefiting was because thews which constituted their body were being nourished. He studied the process and took notes. This was a good way to heal others without having to rely on his blood. He was not some kind of masochist. Why should he continuously bleed to heal others? No sooner had he had this thought that he returned to his peak and then went back to Moon to continue healing her. Being an older brother was troublesome. For three days Lex continued to heal Moon using his blood before stopping. It was not that Moon waspletely healed, but that the rain in the Inn stopped so he could no longer risk weakening himself. The problem with Moon was that the itself was an extension of her body, in a way, which is why even if he bled himself dry, it would not be enough to heal herpletely. But the situation was actually much better than expected. While the forced healing had not brought her to a position where she could teleport with the, the interference by Lex''s physique had resulted in an unexpected gain. In the process of assimting the, she had gained an overwhelming advantage. Her own physique had evolved to somehow amodate the into herself. In fact, she felt that it would only be a matter of days before the process self initiated. If she seeded¡­ if she seeded, then she suspected that the of Yildirim Utopia itself would be her Golden core. That statement was an absolutely ridiculous boast, and yet somehow, Lex found it to bepletely believable. By now, he was getting used to his newfound perspective which is that impossible usually only meant highly unlikely. The only thing that, in his experience, maintained its indomitable status was time itself. Everything else in existence seemed like the way it usually operated was just a very strong suggestion rather than an irrefutable truth. Maybe the origin of the statement ws were made to be broken'' was deeper and more profound than he had ever realized. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Since it would be only a few more days, and Lex was free for that duration, Z was finally able to leave to do his other tasks - much to Moon''s chagrin. She promised him to celebrate his 18th birthday in a few weeks inside the Inn when she finally got there. In the meantime, the residents of the Utopia started to be sent to the Inn as well. If she was about to absorb the, chances were high that everyone on it would die. This seemingly simple task turned out to be a lot harder than anyone expected, for there were quite a number of people who would rather ept death than be forced off their. lifesketcher Chapter 1216 Secrets and perspectives Chapter 1216 Secrets and perspectives "Are you sure?" Lex asked with a worried expression. "Taking responsibility for the lives of others isn''t a simple thing. It isn''t a simple burden." The day had finallye. Moon was on the verge of absorbing the into her body,pleting the assimtion process in a way no one expected. Yet close to 30% of the poption of the had refused to leave. None of them knew what would happen to those people once Moon absorbed the. Chances were high that they would die. Whether she meant to or not, that would mean Moon had inadvertently killed 30% of the poption of a. It felt a little selfish of him, but he was more concerned about her mental state after doing such a thing than the lives of the people on the. But Moon only chuckled at his concern. "Don''t I already know it?" she asked. "After all, I have taken responsibility for them from the day I arrived here. It is not so casually that they call me their Saintess." Lex clenched his fists as in this moment, he was genuinely powerless. He could have forcefully evicted those who did not want to leave, but Moon did not allow it. As much as he hated to admit it, he did not know nor did he understand the depth of the rtionship between Moon and the people of this. When she had no one else, she had them. When she had no strength to save herself, she looked out for them. When all her freedoms were taken from her, she gave to the people of this the ultimate freedom to live as they wished without harming others. In a way, they had been more of a family to her than anyone else, yet that was even more reason for Lex to not let them die. It was just a vicious circle. Moon gave Lex an understanding smile, and then said, "it''s time. You should step back as well." Lex left, but not in the way she expected. He carved out the space around himself and separated it from that of the she was about to absorb, so in appearance he seemed to be standing right next to her, while in reality he was in another space altogether. Now he was just being willful. Moon smiled even more sincerely this time, and then closed her eyes. In truth, she had been keeping a deep secret from Lex, one that she dared not tell him. Having her soul fuse with the was only possible because of her unique situation, but that didn''t mean it was without repercussions. Something more intrinsic to her than her own body was ripped from her and fused with the. Naturally, that brought with it endless pain. How many years had she spent in pain? Even she did not know. Concept of time became obscured while in pain. Only through sleep could she normally escape it, for during sleep her body worked to repair the very thing that hurt her. But it was not a proper solution. She never expected a proper solution - never dreamed of it. Yet now that it was in front of her¡­ it was overwhelming in ways she could not describe. She did not care whether it would be sessful or not, to be honest. She had long been prevented from even ending her own life so that she could escape the pain. Later, when she regained that freedom, she had also found her brother. She had long be ustomed to pain, so she did not mind tolerating it some more to spend time with her brother. Now though¡­ now she saw an end to that pain, and with it came a conviction she never knew she had. N?v(el)B\\jnn One way or another, today would be thest day she felt this pain. She closed her eyes and stopped holding back. Her body could never beplete because the was also her body. Her soul was iplete, because most of her soul rested within the soils of Yildirim. There seemed no logical way for her to be whole again, and as if through a twist of fate, her brother decided then to use a very illogical way to resolve the problem. For a moment she wondered if Z was right. Did her brother like shining in the spotlight, which is why he waited until the right moment to act? It made sense. Considering he was neglected by their parents, it would make sense for him to crave more attention. In that case, if Moon seeded, she would ensure to create plenty of such situations for her brother to shine. If she failed¡­ then maybe her brother would do something else illogical and turn the situation around. Now she was suddenly confused about what to do. Fortunately for Lex, Moon wasn''t exactly in control of the situation herself. Her body was umting energy, and when it umted enough it resonated with the. Everything, from the''s core, to its crust, from the smallest atoms that made up its beings to the mostplexws that allowed it to exist as a celestial body, resonated with something deep within Moon''s body, and a change began to ur. Lex, who was watching the situation, was stunned, and then fell into a trance. He felt like he saw something his consciousness was not ready to see, and so everything he saw began to automatically seal itself in his memories, lest it affect his path. It was a self defense mechanism. Yet what he saw was simple. He saw that the life that inhabited the¡­ was actually a part of the life of the itself! It was so simple, yet it affected the way heprehended the whole universe, which is why the memories needed to be sealed. The way mortal humans had bacteria living in their gut as a keyponent of what allowed them to live normally and healthily,s needed other living things on it, to live itself. It was such a simple concept, but it could be allowed on so many scales. While these thoughts were being sealed away in Lex''s mind, Moon''s human body began to fade, just as the began to dissolve. Somewhere in the middle, a new body was beginning to form. Elsewhere, far away in the Origin realm, Zuri Adissa, the sentient nt that had spread her spores across the entire realm, inhabiting trillions ofs, suddenly raised an eyebrow. She felt something interesting happening to one of her clones. Chapter 1217 Sad Planet Eater Chapter 1217 Sad Eater Zuri genuinely had no idea how many clones she had. She had released them across the Origin realm, and over the years they had spread far and wide. Each one grew on its own, and unless it became sufficiently powerful enough, or unless something particrly interesting happened, she would never even try to pay attention to them, even if they died by the masses. It just wasn''t worth it. A few people approached her over the years to use her clones as a hidden informationwork, but that''s nowt how it worked. Honestly, even if she could do that, such a way of life did not coincide with her path in life. But while she was not interested in collecting information for others to use, she was not averse to collecting information in general, especially regarding things she found interesting. Losing control over one of her clones, not because it was dying, but because it was being taken over by another entity was certainly one of them. Of course, she also immediately felt that if she were to channel a hint of her power into it, her clone would be preserved. The process she was undergoing was not a hostile takeover, but just a passive effect of a greater phenomenon, so she did exactly that. She wanted to see what exactly was happening. As soon as she took over one of the 30,000 clones she had on Yildirim Utopia, she was weed to the unexpected sight of the world itself dissolving, its residents included. Yet she felt an unknown power preserve her even as the clone dissolved as well¡­ only to reappear somewhere else. There was no sun or moon in the sky, and the stars were absent as well, yet it was bright as day. The star rating of the was not too high, but it was being filled with a unique energy she had never felt before. More importantly, every other living being on this that didn''t have a certain level of minimum independence was being assimted by the itself. Zuri could not understand where she was, for thews of the world had changed, and she could not probe her location - at least through her clone, as weak as it was. But as she explored the, she found traces of an aura she recognized. It belonged to a human she had met once. "Interesting," she murmured, but did nothing else. She wanted to see how this yed out. Outside, the process was going much faster than Lex had expected, and only in half an hour the entire had faded from existence, leaving floating in space. The World Eater who had been protecting the seemed genuinely upset at this development, even though Lex was fairly certain that as an egg with no actual consciousness, it wasn''t supposed to be having such feelings. Yet Lex did not focus on that too much. After all, his gaze was fixed on Moon''s new body, which was being reformed in front of him. Slowly, it faded back into existence, absorbing a massive amount of spiritual energy into itself, as if it were a bottomless hole. In fact, even when the body fully reappeared, it just floated in space without any reaction at all while a whirlwind of spiritual energy formed around her body, being sucked up by it. Lex used his soul sense, and as soon as he was sure that she was whole again, he grabbed her, extended his senses to the World Eater as well, and teleported everyone to the Midnight Inn. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om The World Eater, who had be a lot more docile after meeting the Sovereign, did not resist. It was too busymenting the loss of its pet. That was why, in the middle of the day, when a massive appeared above the Midnight Inn, the entirety of the Inn seemed to be drowned in shadow. Everyone looked up, expecting to see clouds. Instead, they sawnd up above them. Everyone was stunned, and very few actually had a vague idea of what they were looking at. Lex already anticipated the need to give the World Eater its own ce. The gravity its body gave off could be negated, by no one liked seeing a massive hanging right above them, seeming like it could fall at any moment. But there was a solution for that avable right now. Since the system had already indicated that it wanted to hire the World Eater, a tinum key would make it disappear for a while. When it returned, Lex intended for the World Eater to be the Inn''s messenger. Or maybe a member of the Midnight Battalion. How cool would it be if, every time the Innkeeper sent someone a message, a World Eater showed up as the messenger? Or if the Battalion rode out to war, but instead of riding on a ship, they traveled on a World Eater? These were thoughts forter, though. Lex immediately brought Moon''s body to nurse Jubtion as Dr. Charles to see why she wasn''t waking up - even though he himself could also venture a guess. Her body was absorbing arge amount of spiritual energy even now, and ever so slowly, her cultivation within the Golden core began to rise. Since the was her Golden core now, he suspected she would need to reach Golden core perfection, or even enter the Nascent realm before she could wake up. Within the Midnight realm, there were countless ways of expediting that. Soon, Moon was transported to a Recovery Pod which safely provided her body with pure and easily absorbable spiritual energy to feed her growth. Lex had no idea when exactly she would wake up, but at least now he knew she would be safe. A huge burden was lifted from his shoulders, and he breathed a sigh of relief. "I don''t know if now is a good time," said Mary, who appeared over his shoulder. "But you have a meeting." "No problem," said Lex as he let all distractions slip away. "Do we have any new leads on Damien''s location?" "Not yet," Mary said. "But word has already begun to spread that you will be appearing in the Trial of Eternity soon." "Good. Begin the next phase of the n." Chapter 1218 Drama Chapter 1218 Drama "I must say, this is a rather bold fashion statement," said Geeves as he fixed Lex''s tie, and took a step back to look at histest piece of work, though its design had been ording to Lex''s demands. The suit was a thing of darkness, woven from fabric that seemed to drink in the light around it, leaving an unsettling void in its wake. The ckness of the suit was not merely a color, but an abyss, a yawning chasm that hinted at unspeakable things lurking just beyond the edges of perception. The shirt beneath was as ck as the deepest night, and the tie, a narrow strip of the same,y against the chest like a serpent coiled in malevolent anticipation. There was a strange, almost eldritch quality to the suit, as though it had been stitched together not by mortal hands, but by forces best left unnamed, its very presence a silent whisper of vengeance and madness. It was ck on ck on ck, which would have seemed a bit excessive if not for how deeply it ttered Lex''s physique. Anyone who looked at him would not be able to look away, either for his handsomeness, which had grown immensely with his cultivation. Having a well toned body also helped. Yet much more attractive was the sense of danger oozing off his body. Danger tingled the perception of anyone whoid eyes on him, filling their mind with an excitement of living life on the very edge. Ordinarily, Lex would not really have cared much for public attention. It was nice when he got some, but most of the time he was able to do whatever he wanted in life without caring about how others would perceive him. Yet right now he wanted to put on an act, which was not so much an act, and he needed everyone whoid eyes on him to feel his vengeful mood. "Would you like the sheath on your hips or on your back?" Geeves asked,pletely unaffected by the ethereal pull of the ck suit. "Waist is fine," Lex said, and stood still while the tailor made a small amendment to his suit to allow him to attach Naraka''s sheath to it. Once it was done, Lex looked in the mirror once to admire his visage. "Wish me luck," he said absent mindedly as he prepared to leave. "Good man, with my suit on your side, you won''t need to rely on something as ephemeral as luck." N?v(el)B\\jnn Lex chuckled, and then left the Inn. It was time. He had spent as much time preparing for this as he could. Now he just had to see things through. Even now, after everything he had done, there still wasn''tplete certainty that things would pan out the way he wanted. But there was only so much he could do. "Keep an eye on Moon for me," he told Mary, and walked forward. She still hadn''t woken up, despite her body having stabilized. There was no indication of when she might wake up, which is what had dampened his mood somewhat. But he couldn''t focus on that right now. He activated his invitation to the Champions tourney, and was teleported away. He reappeared inside a room full of countless other Immortals, each one stronger than the next, all of them incredibly powerful. As the only non-immortal in the room, his sudden arrival drew a lot of attention. His suit only increased the amount of attention he was getting, which was the point. Soon, the briefing began. ***** In the very heart of the Origin realm, there was andmass the size of which defied all logic andprehension. Thisndmass, every single inch of it, was the Henali holnd, and served as the seat of power within the Origin realm. It was a ce where even Dao Lords acted respectfully in deference to the owners of this realm. Entering thatndmass was beyond difficult, and even approaching it was akin to death, as six ckholes had been chained up around it, kept on a leash, either as guard dogs or perhaps to be kept in check. It did not matter. What mattered was that beyond the ckholes, there were a number of artificially created rogues upon which guests were received. On one such, a gathering was being held. This gathering was not exactly as prestigious as the Henali assembly, which was held once a century for the Dao Lords of the realm, but it was a close second, for it invited all the peak powers of the realm. Even representatives of the Dao Lords were present as well, which is why the gathering was filled by peak Celestial level, and Demi-Dao Lord level beings. While they mingled, and discussed the future of the realm, a few of them were paying attention to a screen where the Champions tourney was being shown. The masses were deprived of this show, but not them. After all, they were the ones who had sent most of the candidates to be crowned champion. "Who''s that?" asked an especially effeminate voice, as a flower petal moved, pointing towards a handsome man in ck. "Ah, that young man is one I have been keeping an eye on," answered Zuri, a mysterious gleam passing through her eyes. "Zuri, have some shame. That human is at least a few hundred millennia younger than you. Just because you like to spread your clones does not mean you need to find children to help with the job." "Fine, crack jokes," Zuri said, not at all minding the humor. "I guess that means you don''t want to know the drama that''s been unfolding all around him." These beings, at the peak of the realm, barely got any free time. Most of them had never even heard of Lex, let alone focus on his problems. They had their own fair share of problems to focus on. "Oh? Drama? And enough of it to attract your attention? Now I have to hear this." Chapter 1219 Arch-Angel Chapter 1219 Arch-Angel "The story is quite simple," Zuri said as she watched the scene unfold in front of her. "Lex was one of the favorites of the preliminary games, and was even the first person to have a prize ceremony in that tournament, though he was the second one to finish the tournament itself. "Regardless, as the story goes, not only was he a favorite, with one of the most astounding performances, rumors spread that he didn''t even need to attend the preliminary tournament to begin with, as he has a very strong backer. But, as the story goes, apparently his backer has told him to rely on himself for all personal matters. "No one knows why, but many suspect that he is being groomed as an heir. Beingpetent and self-sufficient, after all, is one of the greater traits of the heirs of such powerful people. Yet for all the ability he has disyed, he is constantly gued by hardships. It''se to everyone''s attention that apparently, he has a sister who suffered some kind of incurable injury or disease. She has fallen asleep and isn''t waking up. Before that, she suffered from various assassination attempts - get this - from their own grandfather! "For the past few weeks he has been trying to get in contact with the Henali one way or another for a way to heal his sister. But, they obviously do not want to make it too easy for him, since they obviously want him to depend on them. Rumor has it that he was told to umte 100,000 Henali Credits to heal his sister! "While all of this happens, he''s began looking for his grandfather as soon as the preliminary tournament ends, but he hasn''t been able to get a single lead. The aura he''s giving off right now is probably a result of being pressured by the monumental task of umting so many credits to save his sister in time, and driven to rage by his inability to find his grandfather. "If he wants to fulfill even one of those tasks any time soon, he has no choice but to participate in the champions tourney and perform well. It''s no wonder he''s reacting so strongly - especially when his own backer isn''t actually helping him out." "Well that is interesting," said the flower. "But I was expecting a little more for it to have caught your attention." "That''s because there''s another piece of news in this situation that even he himself doesn''t know yet," Zuri said with a knowing smile. "As it turns out, he has other sisters as well. The middle one has virtually no presence, so no one knows much about her, but apparently the older sister was recently recruited by Eden corp! It seems that, despite being a human, she has disyed such an absurd affinity with divine energy and the angelic arts, that she''s en route to be an Arch-Angel!" If flowers could drop their jaws, then what the flower was doing now was exactly the equivalent of it. While Lex''s backer was rtively unknown despite their being some knowledge about his traits as a Dao Lord, and the Angels were different. They had an established hierarchy and position within the universe atrge. While Eden Corp. was just one facet of the Angel''s influence, it was a significant one. But the fact that his sister was on the path to be an Arch-Angel meant that she was recognized to have massive potential. All Arch-Angels were Demi-Dao Lords, and if they were able to break through that rank, their status would be upgraded further. "Wait a minute, isn''t Lex''s backer also a Dao Lord?" the flower suddenly asked. She refrained from saying his name directly, as that was rude and would attract the attention of the said Dao Lord. "Yes," Zuri answered with a knowing smile, aware that her friend finally understood why Zuri was interested to begin with. "So rumors are that Lex is being trained to be an heir, and his sister is up for the position of Arch-Angel. The humans haven''t had a Dao Lord candidate for countless years, and now they suddenly have two, and they''re siblings?" The flower couldn''t help but raise its voice attracting everyone''s attention. Yet Zuri only smiled and looked at her screen. She had only mentioned knowledge that was easily attainable in public. She had not made mention of the fact that she was also aware of Lex''s other sister, who was far from ordinary. As someone who herself was not a Dao Lord, she was in no position to give someone such a title, but Lex''s other sister most definitely also counted as a Dao Lord candidate. That meant there weren''t two candidates from one family but three. Considering the fact that there was nothing publicly known about his other sister, there was always a chance that the number might even be four. Zuri was not one to conspire against others. It wasn''t in her nature. But that did not mean she had to abstain from watching such a good show. Plus, having kept an eye on Moon for so long, she was fairly certain that her situation was not nearly as bad as it was made out to be in public. Lex was putting on a show, and she was interested in watching it. N?v(el)B\\jnn "Oh, did I mention that the dragons have made an entry into the Champions tourney this year?" Zuri continued. "And it just so happens that the chances are very high that the dragon contestant will run into Lex. Wait, right, you don''t know about that either. So apparently, Lex has some drama with the dragons as well¡­" Zuri began to regale those who would listen about the various stories surrounding Lex. Anyone and everyone could see that the situation was turning into a boiling pot, and would erupt soon. Still, the situation was not critical enough for all the attending dignitaries to pay close attention to Lex. But for the sake of staying updated on this entertaining situation, they kept an eye on Zuri''s screen. Chapter 1220 Lines of power Chapter 1220 Lines of power Lex met the gaze of the countless immortals in the room before going to find a corner to sit in. He restrained his aura, as he was not here to pick a fight - he was here mostly to get his process started and make an impression. By being able to effortlessly ignore the simultaneous gaze of hundreds of immortals without so much as batting an eye, he had proved himself. Others also did not pick a fight or bother him, not because they were good tempered people, but because they were all there for the same purpose of being briefed. Had that not been the case, the strong ominous presence given off by his suit would have surely provoked someone. Some time passed and more and more participants came, until eventually a hush fell over the room and all was silent. A projection of a man appeared in front of everyone¡­ no, not a man. Lex sat up straight as he identified one of the more mysterious races in the Origin realm - the Oolin race! At a nce he looked like every other human, until you got a good look at him and noticed the lines of power within his body. Lines of deep blue, pulsing energy passed through his fair skin like a river cutting throughnd. Those lines, naturally formed in various artistic patterns, supposedly contained entire rivers of spiritual energy too vast and rich for any mundane race to tolerate. Lex paid close attention to them, sensing a subtle sense of danger each time he saw the line''s pulse, and a few shimmerings appeared around them. He could see them, and admire those lines, known as the Lines of Power, but he could not sense anything else from them. There was no affinity of any kind, yet they did not contain pure spiritual energy either. How strange. Lex was mildly curious about the Oolin for more than once he had heard Vera talk about them, yet hadn''t been able to learn much about them. Seeing one now, Lex suddenly realized that he couldn''t even sense his cultivation level! How unusual. "Congrattions for being here," the man said, his voice deeper than anyone might have expected. "Being here means you are either the best this realm has to offer, or have been deemed worthy by powerful forces deserving of admiration. Yet being here only means you are at a starting line. Whether it was your training, your perseverance, your background, all of them could only get you to the finishing line. Now what you do from here is up to you." Lex could not help but chuckle internally. He had given plenty of speeches torge crowds, but now, he was the one being given a motivational talk to. "What you arepeting for now is not a light honor. It is not a title to adorn your name with. It is not a que to add to the decorative walls in your homes. You arepeting for a chance to be Henali''s Champion, and in each age, there can be only one. A Champion is not a mindless brute who wields great strength, nor a wise old strategist who can peer into the future. A Champion is he who can bear the weight of expectation, represent enormous honor and not let it interfere with getting the job done. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Whether it is an impossible trial, an impossible enemy, obstacles no one expected, new dire situations, a Champion is one who can deal with them all. Know this, the Henali would rather choose no one than choose a weak Champion, for a Champion is he who clears all obstacles. He is an all rounder with no weaknesses, only strengths. "In exchange for selecting a Champion, the Henali will put their full force behind nurturing him or her until they stand at the very zenith of this realm. There is no better example than the previous champion, the Djinn of Narkom, Zarqon Al Azif!" A hush fell over the room as the Oolin mentioned Zarqon. Lex, too, knew about him since he had done some research about the Champions tourney. Djinn were a rare race, hardly found anywhere and usually did not reach very high levels of cultivation, unable to reach the immortal realm. Usually. The previous Champion, Zarqon, was a serious underdog who appeared out of seemingly nowhere. He took the whole tourney by surprise, and became the contested Champion. But his legend did not end there. By now he had reached the Heavenly Immortal realm, and though that was nowhere near the peak of the realm, Zarqon''s legend was growing ever stronger. To date, he had never experienced a defeat since he became Champion, and it was said that he never failed the Henali on any mission they sent him to. When he was sent to the Fuegan battlefields, the battle would end. When he was sent to explore new corners of the realm, he woulde back with riches and treasures. It was as if Zarqon could make any wish the Henali hade true. The high society of the Origin realm, his name was one that wasmonly brought up. "That is the name¡­ the legend that you aspire to. Remember that, as you venture forth and face the challenges that are in store for you. The first challenge is in a ce you will surely have heard of. It is called the Trial of Eternity." If an artificial hush had fallen onto the room before, the hush now was genuine. Everyone had naturally heard of the Trial of Eternity. Nobody knew how it came to be, or how long it had existed, the Henali included. It was a ce filled with immense danger, and the only reason its name wasmonce was because it was said that rare treasures grew in that ce that made it easier to pass through various immortal tribtions. Yet venturing in anding out sessfully was a tribtion unto itself that few seeded, and that was but the first venue for the Champions tourney. Chapter 1221 Development Chapter 1221 Development "Your objective in the Trial of Eternity is simple. For reasons, as of yet unknown, the Henali have detected signs that the barrier that keeps the Trial of Eternity inside a segregated zone of existence is beginning to unravel. These are very early signs, of even if it does end up happening, it will still be thousands of years in the future. But there is no need to wait until the problem has grown to treat it. "You only have one mission in the Trial of Eternity, with another bonus objective that is not mandatory or even expected. Your mission is to identify the reasons behind the weakening of the barrier, and your bonus objective is to resolve the issue. The time frame for this mission is three years. If, within three years, you are unable toplete the mission it will be treated as a failure, and you will be sent to a subsequent portion of the tourney based on your performance. "Now then, I am going to brief you on the conditions inside the Trial of Eternity. I''m sure you already know some things, but it is best to give you a full detailed report. Inside there is one majorndmass, with countless smaller masses floating around it. They exist in stasis, which means they just kind of float there without moving. "There are no stars, or anything of the sort, so it is mostly imbued in darkness, although spontaneous explosions ur frequently, which then be sources of light. The energy distribution there is highly skewed towards lightning and fire, which is why the treasures which are born there are inclined towards those two elements. But as a result, there are countless lightning storms and randombustions in there. "There was a genius who once had the bright idea of having his Immortal tribtion there. The first lightning strike itself reduced him to dust. Asedic as it was, it set off a chain of lightning storms so brutal that almost everyone in the entire zone died. "As a general rule, any kind of energy spike anywhere in the entire ce will set off some kind of storm since the energy there is highly unstable, so do not try to do anything too shy there. In fact, one of the reasons why all of you have been selected to enter the Trail of Eternity is because if we send in stronger cultivators, the storms they might cause will be even bigger, which might end us causing more harm than good. "Now, the wind patterns¡­" The briefing continued for a long time while the Oolin, his body pulsing with dangerous energy, impressed upon them the importance of not causing an incident within the Trial of Eternity, and avoiding any fights. Unfortunately for him, from the very get go, that was destined to be impossible. Lex felt various gazes on him, all of them hostile, and he was absolutely certain that at least one of them was from a dragon. He also hoped another one of them might be from his own grandfather. But in the very likely event that it was from someone else, he at least hoped at least one member of Sanguis Pluvia was there. ording to Rnd, they had major ns for the Champions tourney. Lex was partially right, in that there was a dragon staring at him. But he was also extremely wrong in guessing that only enemies were staring at him. "What''s wrong with Lex?" Anakin Indiana e asked Alexander and a few others, using his spirit sense. "Has he entered his goth phase? Isn''t he a little old for that?" "It''s because he''s never had a girlfriend," Larry responded, sounding utmost morose, as if the failings of his friend brought him great personal pain. "You know why he''s like this," Alexander responded seriously. "You''ve all heard the rumors. We should make contact as soon as the trial starts and offer our help." "Offer our help?" asked Noman, feeling incredibly blue. "And who is going to help us out? Have you forgotten how exactly we got into this mess?" "No, I haven''t forgotten," Alexander said, ring at Noman. "If someone hadn''t gone around spouting nonsense about people lying, we wouldn''t have been sent inside the freaking Trial of Eternity." Noman, who had the uncanny ability to detect when someone was lying, also suffered from a huge curse. As soon as he detected a lie, he was forced to whisper that it was a lie. He himself waspletely unaware of it happening, though he knew it was something he did, for it got him into a lot of trouble frequently. But then, Alexander sighed. "At the same time, that''s also why I suggested contacting Lex. We can try avoiding this problem, but the quicker we handle it the better, and as much as I hate to burden him again¡­ Lex is very resourceful. He''ll be able to find a way to help us." Alexander felt conflicted. He had grown so much stronger, and he was still asking Lex for help. It was not asking for help that caused him to feel conflicted, rather how embarrassing his current problem was. If he asked Lex for help, he would have to exin the situation, which was¡­ "There is no need to get Lex involved in this," said Rafael, who suddenly walked up to them. He knew most of them from his visions of the future, which is why he knew the potential they held, and also knew the fastest way to help them realize it, which was to face these problems themselves. "He is already under great scrutiny, and if we reach out to him, he will make new enemies as well. There is no need to increase his burdens." "He''s from Earth, just like us," said Souta. "That will be enough for others to suspect him." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "No, you''re wrong about that," said Rafael as he shook his head. "He is not from Earth. He is from the Midnight Inn. No one will think otherwise unless we give them reason to." Chapter 1222 Warning Chapter 1222 Warning Lex did not notice the group because of a few reasons. Firstly, he was not spreading his spirit sense around, nor was he looking around the room, so it was fairly easy to miss them. More importantly, they were hiding. Lex wasn''t the only person in the room who hadn''t reached the immortal realm, but he was most certainly the only one who so openly advertised it. In fact, the Oolin had said it himself. They actually wanted lower leveled cultivators to avoid any potential problems. The Trial of Eternity was a zone that could harm immortals, regardless of the level. Even Celestial immortals could face dangers there, though they faced other kinds of dangers than the lightning and fire, which is why if the zone suddenly entered the Origin realm openly, the disaster it could bring was incalcble. It would literally take a Dao Lord to contain it, yet using powers on the Dao Lord level within the Origin realm was forbidden as it could damage the realm. Lex knew all of this, and in fact, he knew a little more than the Oolin was telling. Through his various sources, such as Velma, and the Infinity Emporium, Lex had stumbled upon a spection of how the ce might have been formed. It was a spection, without any information about who had the spection, or how likely it was, yet Lex had a feeling it was right. The spection stated that the Trial of Eternity was a zone that was created as a result of someone at the peak of the Celestial realm undergoing a major tribtion. A major tribtion was one that happened between realms, such as between the Nascent realm and the Earth Immortal realm, or the Earth Immortal and Heavenly Immortal realm. After the Celestial realm should be the Dao Lord realm, right? Or did one have to first be a Demi Dao Lord? Lex wasn''t too clear about the exact specifics, but the point was he found it entirely believable that such a ce could have been created through such a way. Lex, while maintaining a perfectly stoic expression, was continuing to let his thoughts wander when someone approached him and reached out with their spirit sense, interrupting him. "Are you¡­ alright?" asked Giselle, looking slightly concerned. Her approach had startled Lex, because he literally couldn''t sense hering. He had noticed this before in the maze, but she could obscure her presence in a way that he could not decipher, which was quite interesting. "Ah, yes, I am perfectly fine, thank you for asking," responded Lex, politely. "How are you doing? Congrattions on beating the tower, by the way. I really wasn''t expecting you to win so easily." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Giselle was not expecting to find Lex so chipper, especially considering the things she had heard about himtely, or how he appeared to be at the moment. "It was an unfairpetition," she admitted. "I had an advantage over everyone else since I came prepared for it. My information channels are quite good, which is actually why I was reaching out to you. I¡­ heard about your situation. If you want, I can try to look for possible solutions." Lex raised an eyebrow out of curiosity, then smiled. It was true, Giselle''s information sources were quite incredible, and he didn''t doubt that she had some advantages. But then again, who didn''t? "Thank you for the offer, but¡­ I think I have the situation under control. If I ever need your help, however, I won''t hesitate to reach out." "It''s not so easy to find me¡­" she began saying, but Lex cut her off. "Yet I found you once before, didn''t I?" he said with a smile. "Don''t worry about it. Instead, let me ask you a question. Do you have something nned for this Trial?" She nodded, not expounding on the matter prematurely. "I suspected as much. In lieu of our cooperation, I''ll give you a heads up. The situation inside is going to get really messy. In fact, unless you''re well prepared to face extreme conditions, I would suggest that you skip out on this trial altogether. It''s uncertain how things will turn out." Giselle paused, and looked at Lex deeply. She then looked at his suit, and then took a look around the room as if she understood something. "Thanks for the heads up," she said seriously. "But I will be participating anyway. This might end up working in my favor. After all, you''ve already seen that I myself am not without adversaries of my own." Lex slightly nodded, and then the two split apart, not speaking to each other anymore, though countless had already witnessed the exchange. A short whileter, once the Oolin had sufficiently impressed upon everyone the dangers they were about to face, he proceeded to discuss how they would be entering. "The Trial of Eternity is entirely cut off from the Origin realm, even if it is technically inside the realm itself. As a result, one cannot teleport in, and there is no physical entrance either. The only official way to enter it is to use a ship specially designed for travel between realms, capable of traversing any obstacle, even in the absence of space itself. It is also the only official way to exit, so uponpletion of the mission you will need to inform the respective people, who will organize an exit trip and let the Henali know of the situation. "That also means contact between the Origin realm and the Trial of Eternity isrgely cut off, and it is very difficult to get any information across, so be careful." Afterwards, the Oolin directed the crowds through a corridor towards the impressive vehicle that could travel through the Void. Jack, who was entirely in a different realm, suddenly started to pay attention to the world through Lex''s eyes. He wanted to learn everything about Void travel, so that one day he could allow the Jolly Rancher to do the same. Chapter 1223 Tenets I Chapter 1223 Ts I Stepping into the ship, Lex felt like he had walked into another space entirely. The space inside the ship was strangely artificially solid, so much so that it felt slightly suffocating. Yet perhaps that was exactly the kind of thing needed for a vessel to traverse through the Void safely. Naturally, with the Jolly Rancher, Jack would have toe up with a better solution. Lex found a corner for himself to sit in and closed his eyes. Though he was curious about the ship, he had to sell the act at the moment, and he was well aware that he was under supervision even if it didn''t seem like it. "It will take roughly 96 hours to get to the Trials of Eternity, and once there each and everyone of you will be dropped off at a different point. This is for your own safety. Once, every year the ship will make a round to see if there is any progress. If you manage toplete the mission you will still have to wait till the return of the ship to be credited for it, don''t forget." Lex entered a meditative trance, ensuring that he was in his peak state as they approached their destination. This was a long timeing, and even if he was absolutely certain in his preparation, that did not mean that there was no risk. In fact, most cultivators did not pass their first tribtion. Lex had not forgotten that the first time he encountered a tribtion, which was inside the Midnight Inn, the devil that had been experiencing the tribtion died. He then added tempering rooms and tribtion rooms to the Inn to help train people in the various obstacles tribtions bring, as well as help them reduce the dangers of it. In fact, over the past few years, he had trained his body in both the Fire tribtion and Lightning tribtion rooms, until he was totally immune to the kind of tribtion he expected to face. Then he increased the difficulty, and kept on doing so until the point of diminishing returns. One of the reasons he wanted to increase his defense until he could tolerate the attack of a Heavenly Immortal cultivator was because he felt like his own tribtion would be far from normal. He had done the best he could. Now all that was left was to finalize his t. This was something he had done extensive research on, and unfortunately came to the conclusion that there was no such thing as a ''best practice'' when it came to ts. There was only what best suited the specific immortal. But what were ts to begin with? That was one of the first questions Lex asked himself, alongside questions like which ones should he choose, and more importantly, how many should he choose? The answers to those questions were manifold. The root difference between mortals, who in this context were not non-cultivators, but instead were cultivators up to the Nascent realm, and immortals was that ordinarily, mortals could at most sense that the universe operates based on some kind of code, system, rule, divine providence etc. based on their cultivation path and belief. The essence was that there was something that controlled the actions and reactions of everything in existence, and which ensured that everything always acted in ordance with those rules. A very overly simplified example of this was that water froze when it was cold and boiled when it was hot, and this rule existed all over the universe. Of course, this example excluded the existence of countless otherws in determining those oues, such as pressure, environment etc. Comparatively, Immortals could not only begin to perceive these ws'' but also begin to understand them and their influence on seeminglypletely unrted things, as well as control or influence thosews to a certain degree. For example, an Immortal may be able to bypass the requirement of temperature change to bring about the freezing or boiling effect in water by directly influencing thews that dictated the behavior of water itself. That is where ts came into y. The way an immortal perceived, and then influenced thews of the universe was totally andpletely dependent on their ts. This meant that two immortals, even if they were twins who had lived an identical life in all their experiences, would see the universe differently from one another as long as there was even the slightest difference in their ts, which was almost a certainty. When studying the samews of water, someone who had ts of music might perceive the actions and influences on water through patterns and melodies, whereas a swordsman would see it entirely differently. Even if they brought about the same end result, the way they would each do it waspletely different, and something they would have to discover for themselves. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om This was another reason why growth among immortals was so slow. At most, a person could offer some guidance, but they could not actually teach anything aboutws to anyone. That usually depended entirely upon personalprehension and understanding. With that said, it was obvious how extremely important ts were to someone, which is why picking the right ones was an extremely important decision - almost as important as deciding the number of ts as well! The reason why it was called ts, and not t, is because almost all immortals had multiple ts. After all, it was rare to find a person with only a singr interest, and even rarer for them to rise through the cultivation ranks. Life would, inevitably, find ways to add various obstacles or challenges in someone''s path, which would end up shaping their personality in various ways. As such, finding a single thing a person could dedicate their entire life to was exceptionally difficult. Moreover, there was no clear benefit to having more or fewer ts. Considering that a t could be literally anything, from a way of life, to an abstract concept, to something entirely imaginary that did not actually exist in reality, it was almost expected for an immortal to have at least four or five ts. After all, usually, what most people did when selecting a t was picking something they had a natural affinity for, or something they were dedicating their life to. Chapter 1224 Tenets II Chapter 1224 Ts II While seeking guidance in this regard, and considering his own ts, since he hadn''t really specialized in any one thing, but excelled in many, he had consulted Qawan and Anita. It was not at all a surprise to find that Qawain only had one t, which was ''The way of the Sword''. That literal, entire phrase was his t, something he shared openly, though Lex understood that usually it was not the kind of information one divulged easily. Considering that Qawain only had two passions in life, swordsmanship and Anita, it was not surprising at all. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om What was surprising were Anita''s ts. She had the ts of nurturing, guidance, protection, leadership, perseverance and kindness. If Lex hadn''t known any better, then he would have thought she was messing with him. But Anita gave him the background of why she had chosen those as her ts. On the she was from, which Lex to this day did not actually know nor had he visited, she was the one who led humans from their early days as cavemen. She brought that whole race out and helped them stand on their feet, and when she could see that they would be hopeless without her, found a way to change her race from human to lich so that she could lead humans for even longer. But all good things must end, and there eventually came a time when she left the humans to fend for themselves. She had a new life now, and she was more than happy with it currently. In fact, she loved being a mother so much that it only reaffirmed her choices of the ts she selected. Perhaps motherhood and maternal instincts would have better served her as ts, but there was no point in bringing it up now. Ts could not be changed. Even John, who had lost his cultivation entirely, would regain the same ts he lost if he were to ever return to the Earth Immortal level. One, final reason why selecting the right ts was exceptionally important was because not only did it literally affect one''s strength and standing within the immortal realm, but that growing realms in the immortal realms was no longer about absorbing energy. Sure, there was still an element of that, but it gained a new aspect to it, which wasprehension ofws. The more one was in sync with their ts, and couldprehend theplexity behind variousws, or maybe even just onew, the higher their cultivation would rise. Withoutprehension, absorbing energy would be fruitless work, and without absorbed energy, there would be no way to put those newprehensions into practice. With so much pressure put onto a single decision, Lex had thought long and hard about it. Naturally, as was his tendency, he thought of variousedic ts he could take, such as the t of capitalism. Although that thought started out as a joke, it led him into contemting it for weeks. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, if he became more capitalistic, without regard for his influence on the rest of the universe, he could definitely expand the Midnight Inn at an elerated rate. He''d thought about the t ofva, of defense, of attack, and many more. He had also thought about setting himself up on the path to supremacy. After all, without strength, he would lose everything he had gained. It was not a decision he wanted to make lightly. Yet now, more than ever, he was attracted to the thought of it. He and his siblings would not have suffered if his parents had just been a little stronger. He would not be scampering around, plotting conspiracies just toe face to face with the man who used his sister if he was much stronger. He was certain that he would face many more challenges, personal and for his Inn in theing future, and without strength all of them would be meaningless. All it would take was one strong enemy who took him by surprise, and everything would be over. The kind of t he would pick would naturally influence him as well. They would shape how he thought, how he acted, literally how he perceived the universe. It was a single decision, and its repercussions would follow him for the rest of his life. Yet now, more than ever, Lex was leaning more and more towards the pursuit of power. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he knew that he had already made a decision. He was just allowing himself these few, final moments of thought and contemtion before he adorned that weight onto himself. The ny six hours that the journey was supposed to take flew by faster than ever before, and when Lex opened his eyes, the ship was already within the Trial of Eternity. The moment was upon him, and he knew he could back out no more. This would be a defining moment for Lex, not because he was bing an immortal. No, instead it was because everything he had been through before this, whether it was getting the Inn, bagging his first guest, getting an amazing reward, finding an overpowered cultivation system, growing ridiculously strong, receiving guiding advice, all of it, each to a certain degree was through external influences. That was not to say that Lex had not made his own decisions - he had. But in most things, he was just reacting to a problem, trying to resolve it. This would be the first time he was making his own decision, acting to preemptively negate many problems, and take control over the direction of his life. He stood up, and his aura naturally became even more honed and deadly than it was before. Silently, his second seal unraveled, and he touched his third seal from over his clothes. The time was nigh. One by one, the various passengers on the ship were sent out until it was eventually Lex''s turn. When he appeared in his new location, he was surrounded byplete darkness, his suit blending in perfectly. He could have beenpletely undetected if he chose to hide, but he did not. targeting him. Chapter 1225 An attempt Chapter 1225 An attempt Lex did not go anywhere, or do anything. In fact, he sat down exactly where he was, summoning a chair and a small light to ensure that everyone could see this spot far and wide. Lex did not believe in doing things himself if others could do it for him. He had a lot of enemies in this ce. In fact, he had so many enemies here that he wasn''t even certain who he would end up facing. There were the dragons, the Sanuis Pluvia, a number of bounty hunters, a group of guys who were pissed at Lex for his role in Lovers Ind, and so on and so forth. Someone had given him a list, but after ensuring he knew who the most dangerous ones were, he couldn''t be bothered with the rest. Considering the extremely vtile nature of this ce, Lex did not expect most to take action against him easily. Only the very bold, or the very stupid would make such a move. "It''s rude to stare," Lex suddenly said out loud, and looked in a certain direction. As if his gaze itself was enough to control the world, a low, yet warm light appeared where he was looking, revealing a tall, dark shadow. "You are quite astute," the shadow said as it began toe closer. "I have spent a considerable time in the shadow ne. Once you understand what to look for, it''s very easy to pick out a shadow, even in the dark." "You are also quite arrogant," the shadow observed, before rippling. A dark figure stepped out of the shadow and revealed itself before Lex, though his identity was still hidden. Lex did not care about the insult, however, He just looked at the figure with disappointment. "You''re not him," Lex said. Even though the opposite person''s identity was hidden, Lex could tell it was not Damien. All he needed to do was check if their bloodlines were the same. "After all the effort he''s taken to goad me intoing out, I thought he''d at least take the opportunity to meet me." The dark figure only shook his head. "You give yourself too much importance. You are a mere speck of dust in therger scale of things. A little attention from some important people has made you think you''re the center of the universe. No one needs to take any special action to eliminate you. You are- WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" the dark figure roared when Lex suddenly yawned and looked away. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om The new direction he looked in also lit up, revealing the figure of a lizard. "Don''t mind me," the lizard said as it slowly retreated from the light. "I''m just passing along." Lex nodded to the lizard, as if he understood his situation, and turned back to the dark figure. "I''m sorry, what were you saying? Please restart from the part where I''m arrogant. I''m afraid I stopped listening after that." The dark figure did not speak again for it was apparent that Lex was not taking him seriously. Yet he would pay the price for underestimating him. Instead of continuing to verbally assault Lex, the dark figure gathered his strength and, in the fastest flick he could manage,unched a tiny fiery missile at Lex. It moved too fast. Lex was entirely unable to react to it, or perhaps he hadn''t even detected it at all before it struck him, and caused a massive explosion. Yet how could an explosion be just an ordinary explosion within the Trial of Eternity. As if it was a drum of petrol in which a match had been thrown, the entire region was suddenly lit aze. The shockwave from the explosion rippled through the mass of the region, while the light acted as a beacon for all to see all around them. So far, anyoneing to this ce was extremely careful not to fight against one another so as to exactly avoid the situation that was created. The pir of fire rose high into the sky, cutting through the darkness and¡­ and nothing. The dark figure, who waspletely prepared to lose this clone, did not even feel the subtle warmth from the raging fire, let alone the massive chain reaction it was supposed to set off. There was no ce easier to eliminate the many participants of the tournament than the Trial of Eternity, yet for some odd reason the explosion was a lot more tame than the shadow had expected. He was just about to leave, beginning an investigation into why the explosion was much smaller than he expected, when through the mes he saw a silhouette and paused. Without so much as a change in his expression, Lex was revealed sitting exactly as he had been, looking bored. As if the figure was not dazed enough, he saw Lex raise his hand and clench them into a fist, which caused the mes around him to shrink further and further. Not only were they not setting off more explosions, they were bing smaller! How could the figure have known that Lex used Heaven''s furnace to prevent the me from growing too big. "You actually thought of using mes to harm me?" Lex asked in an amused fashion. Considering he could tame even dragonfire using only his eye, ordinary mes were not even worthy of burning in his presence. "Listen, junior, why don''t you go back and let your seniors handle this one. I''m pretty sure this is above your paygrade." The dark figure was enraged even further, but he did not act once more. To begin with, his problem to begin with had just been to probe Lex''s strength. The figure soon turned back into shadow and disappeared, allowing instead new figures to walk towards the diminishing mes behind Lex. They observed him sitting casually as he was from the get go,pletely unharmed by the previous explosion. In fact, he seemed a little offended at theck of effort put into trying to kill him. He looked at the two with great expectation. My eyelids are literally drooping while I write this. Next chapter in the morning. Chapter 1226 A warm welcome Chapter 1226 A warm wee Though through the use of Heaven''s Furnace, Lex had contained the spread of devastation, he could feel that a disturbance had been caused in this ce. If all had been still before in the Trial of Eternity, then now heavy winds were buffeting thends. A carefully established equilibrium had been broken, and the chances of spontaneousbustion had increased exponentially. But this was only the beginning. Lex looked at the two figures, and for a moment he had great expectations, but then they vanished. He was unimpressed. Much like the previous dark figure, whose identity was not nearly as hidden in Lex''s eyes as he had thought, these two were also clearly sent by someone to probe. "You have some gall¡­" one of the two figures began to speak, before his body blew up entirely. That one had not even been an immortal, and so was unworthy of too much attention. Lex used a technique he had not used in a long time, since it no longer suited his realm. Evisceration was a soul based attackunched from the eye that was pretty good up until he was in the Golden core realm, but naturally reached its ceiling in power after that. Lex, through the sheer strength of his own soul, could still use it to attack those in the Nascent realm, since he no longer considered them real enemies to begin with. The second figure, who was an immortal, froze, and then stepped back and disappeared. "Mary, what have we learned about the Sanguis Pluvia''s ns?" Lex asked while he waited for more probes. "They have many objectives within the Champions tourney. In the Trial of Eternity, they aim to weaken future generations of Henali forces by eliminating all the participants. We have recently learned that, in another one, they have sent way more infiltrated members than any other, though we don''t yet know the reason." Lex waited a bit more, but when all thoseing to him were just probing, he became impatient. From their point of view it made sense. They had three years, so there was no reason to attack in the first hour of the first day. But in truth, they had a lot less time. Lex was on the verge of limating to the power of his second seal, which meant that soon he could undo the third. N?v(el)B\\jnn Lex''s body suddenly vanished from the chair, surprising those who were observing him. He had not used teleportation as far as they could tell. That''s because he used an upgraded version of another technique he learned long ago. The In-Law effect could allow Lex to teleport his soul where he wished. It was a weak technique due to its limited range, but when Lex understood that it relied on the Soul ne, he was able to use the technique in more creative ways. It was only after getting tired of not being able to teleport due to Space locks that he came up with this technique. There was a scream, and when everyone locked they saw an Elf kneeling on the ground, with Lex grabbing his throat. He used Mindmeld to peer into his mind, but was disappointed to find out that this elf knew nothing. Without wasting more time, he teleported again, and again, and again, reading the minds of all those who were probing him, until eventually¡­ "Found you," Lex murmured, and then teleported a great distance in a certain direction. As it turned out, while Damian himself had note here, there was another, old acquaintance of Lex''s here from Sanguis Pluvia. A short distance away, Jeffery, using the body of another race simr to an Arachnid, was traveling across thendmass, setting up secret formations and hiding certain items in them. He was in the middle of one such formation when he suddenly jumped back, just in time to dodge a hand that reached out of the darkness. "Well, well, well, look who we have here," Jeffery said, his spider-like face distorting into a gruesome smile. "I just have one question before we do this?" Lex asked, stepping forward. "Do you know where that old man is?" "Old man? You mean Damien? He is but a young spring chicken. Regardless, even if I know where he is, what can you do about it? Even if you learn where he is, what can you do about it? He is a Heaven Immortal, much like your ancestor. He is not so weak. What can you even do to him?" Jeffery, the spider, jumped again as it anticipated Lex''s teleportation. Simultaneously, it also attacked Lex. A formation had appeared on the ground where Jeffery previously stood, and where Lex now stood, trapping him. He could not teleport away, nor could he dodge the iing attack, so it fell onto his chest. Lex felt it attempting to morph him in some way. But naturally it failed. Any time anyone tried to influence his body in any way, they found it much harder than they expected - much like the Profanites who had been shocked that Lex waspletely unaffected by their Profane energy. There was a very simple reason for this. Even if one did not consider that Lex had absorbed a Dao level ingredient, just the fact that he had bonded with Lotus changed the very status of his body. Previously, he was the same as a walking. Now, however, that the Lotus was in the process of merging with Menara, the smallest continent in the Midnight realm which was still greater than mosts, and eventually the realm itself, its nature was already changing. Naturally, that meant Lex''s status was also changing. He was the same as a walking, talking, budding new realm, and right now he was about to undo theplete seal on his body. "What can I do to him? Kill him, of course. Are Heaven Immortals supposed to be impressive?" Lex crushed the tiny treasure in his chest sealing his power, and in the microsecond before his tribtion appeared, teleported to Jeffrey and grabbed onto him much faster than the twisted spider could react to. "Do you think you guys are all that impressive? Hiding in the shadows and acting like vermin, yet so proud of it. Let me show you what I can do about things." The entire Trial of Eternity experienced an electric jolt, and every single living being within it suddenly sensed extreme danger. At the same time, with his full power unleashed, Lex spread out his senses and located every single person who hade here to hunt him down. Might as well give them a warm wee. Chapter 1227 Just getting started Chapter 1227 Just getting started It felt liberating to finally release the seal on his body, and at the same time extremely strange. He was suddenly¡­ so much more. The range of his spirit sense increased by a hundred times, while simultaneously bing much stronger. His thoughts began to flow faster. His body felt more firm. Even the reserve of spirit energy he had ess to suddenly felt a lot greater. He had, in the Nascent realm, reached such a state of immense power that it was literally impossible for him to exist in the realm any longer without seriously containing his power. Even with his cultivation technique, which was one of a kind, could not im full responsibility for this. It was almost entirely a result of two things. First, it was his bond with Lotus. As Lotus became stronger, the feedback it gave Lex was greater as well. If, ever, Lex should be significantly stronger than the Lotus, the reverse would be true as well. The second reason was the absorption of the Amber Chaos Resin. Or, more specifically, the unexpected, yet somehow logical synergy that was formed between the resin and his bond with Lotus, and its immense feedback. The Amber Chaos Resin was a treasure that was formed during the birth of a new realm, or more specifically, it was the source material that made up the realm, somehow left unused during the birth process. As something which was essentially a building block for an entire realm, the benefits it could provide were well beyond Lex''s imagination. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Genuinely, he had not expected just how much of a boost it would give him. It resulted in a massive phenomenon that was seen across the entire Midnight realm, and if he hadn''t promptly sealed himself with the help of Lotus, he would have triggered his tribtion right then and there. But there were good reasons to keep his body sealed, and prevent his tribtion from urring. Primarily, Lex did not think the Midnight realm could tolerate his tribtion. From the very start he had always been different, and he had every reason to believe that his tribtion would be extraordinarily exaggerated, well beyond what a newborn realm can tolerate. Secondly, it was so that the benefits can manifest properly. Lotus, formally known as World Seed Lotus, could give birth to a 5 star world with sentience. The resin, formally known as Amber Chaos Resin, was used to make a realm. So when a World Seed Lotus, which had fused with a part of a newborn realm in an attempt to be something much greater, received reverse feedback from someone who just absorbed the Amber Chaos Resin, it would undergo a rapid evolution in status and ability. Lex, who was only a conduit for that change, and had in no way actually surpassed Lotus in status of existence in any way, simultaneously received feedback from Lotus for its evolution. It formed a temporary, self promoting cycle of feedback, evolution and growth. In summary, Lex was well beyond the level of being bonded to a, but not quite at the level of being bonded to an entire realm. While his body spent a few years in a state of being sealed, it also experienced a period of growth and evolution of its own, even without releasing the seal or upgrading his realm. This was all well and good¡­ except for the fact, as per the suggestion of Pel, and various research he did, he was in an extremely unusual state, which was that an ordinary tribtion would not be good enough to give him maximum benefits. Most people were aware of the fact that the tribtions killed countless cultivators, but were ignorant of the fact that the changes immortals experienced were a result of the changes those tribtions created. Due to how immensely powerful Lex was, it was basically guaranteed that a normal tribtion would not even be able to make him flinch. He could enter the immortal realm, but he would be wasting a lot of potential. But it was not like he could control the strength of the tribtion he triggered. After all, within a certain range, all tribtions were standards. So his research began, and he came up with two solutions. First, he could trigger a tribtion in certain zones which naturally result in stronger tribtions. Second, he could involve others in his tribtion. An immortal tribtion was meant to be taken alone, as it was a right of passage and a test. Yet if the target of the tribtion tried to get external help to pass his own tribtion, it would automatically result in a stronger tribtion. While everyone in the Trial of Eternity felt immense danger, Lex felt like it was not enough. Since he was only taking an immortal tribtion to enter the Earth Immortal realm, even exacerbated by this strange ce, his tribtion remained within a certain limit. It couldn''t be helped. The strength of each tribtion was limited by the realm that was being broken through. So he took matters into his own hands. Jeffery, who was still grasping what exactly was happening, waspletely unprepared for the sudden increase in strength Lex demonstrated. Lex grabbed him by the hand, and as a result crushed the entire hand causing it to fall off. Among the many things he''d imagined himself doing in life, identally cutting off the arm of an immortal was not one of them, and yet here he was. Lex grabbed him again, this time careful not to cripple him, and raised his body high up above him, as if to protect himself. As a result, Lex''s tribtion, which was still forming, suddenly grewrger. "What the hell are you doing?" Jeffery roared as he tried to resist Lex. He usedws and abilities and techniques, but they flowed off Lex''s body as if he was throwing a bucket of water against a mountainside. It was barely worth notice. Instead, just through sheer physical force, Lex pinned the immortal down, and then chose his next target. Lex did not teleport over. No, instead he reverse teleported hundreds of enemies all around him. "What am I doing?" Lex repeated Jeffery''s words. "I''m just getting started." Chapter 1228 Tribulation begins Chapter 1228 Tribtion begins Lex became extremely sensitive towards the intentions of others. More important than just intentions, he became exceptionally skilled at determining who was acting on those intentions - only as long as he was the intended target. His instincts rose to a whole new level, so that if anyone within a radius of 100 miles of him did anything at all, with him as the intended target, whether it was good or bad, he would be able to sense it. Perhaps what Dao Lords possessed was a much more powerful version of this ability. He was still not certain how it worked, besides that his instincts were responsible for it. As a result, anyone and everyone within a hundred miles of him who was observing him with the intentions to harm him, or take advantage of his weakness, were teleported over. By the time this happened, an entire one second had passed since Lex had broken his seal. Coming to terms with the immense danger they felt, as well as the rising tingling sensation all over this special zone,bined with forcefully being teleported somewhere, all these people were a little overwhelmed. That was unfortunate, because things only became more chaotic from there. Arcs of lightning suddenly started appearing within the darkness of the Trial of Eternity, and each of them, from across the entire realm, were traveling towards Lex and the little tribtion support group he had formed. Everyones hair stood on end, and not just because they sensed the danger. The static charge in the entire zone was being built up, so much so that it was affecting even immortals. A particrly massive bolt of lightning shed in the air above Lex, revealing thick, pitch ck clouds which had begun gathering above him, and the hundreds of immortals around him suddenly felt their heart drop. They ran. They teleported. They flew. They tried everything and anything, yet they could not move from their exact spot. Lex was not even touching them. He had simply ced his right hand in the air beside him, but what only a few saw was that Lex''s hand was not floating in the air. Rather, it was pressing down on space all around them. Without oveing Lex''s hold, no one could move through this space, or manipte it in any way. The most absurd, horrifying thing was that Lex used no spiritual energy, or affinity to do this. He used just pure, brute strength. Lex disyed a fraction of the power wielded by a sentient within its domain.Through the sheer size of their existence, and the unimaginable capacity for energy they contained, they could exert absolute dominance within their territory. That is one of the things that made sentient, consciouss so dangerous. Fortunately, most sentients were usually in a state of slumber, and were not conscious. None of that had anything to do with Lex, though. He was awake, and he was exerting the simplest form of control he had avable to him at that moment. "Friends, since you all came to see me, let me put on a performance for you," Lex said, his voice reverberating not only around him, but through the entire zone. Then, without any forewarning whatsoever, a bolt of lightning as thick as a bus shed through the endless, pitch ck clouds and struck Lex. Lex himself had beenpletely unprepared for the strike, and it struck so fast he had no way of even considering blocking it. Yet he did not need to block it. The lightning burned his body, inside and out, yet for some reason, the pain felt so good. It was as if, through the pain, Lex was removing dead and decaying parts of his body, and in their stead growing new, fresh and vibrant body parts. Lex opened his eyes, filled with energy and excitement. It even seemed like a streak of lightning shed through his eyes. Yet those around him were not in as good a mood as him. The lightning tribtion would always and only strike the intended target unless the others interfered on their own. But frozen still in ce, they were totally at Lex''s mercy. Hundreds of immortals stood like honor guards around Lex, who experienced his very first tribtion strike. Then the thunder roared, and its impact was even greater than that of bombs. Unable to move or do anything, the immortals suffered the full st of the shockwave released by thunder. Many of them just grimaced and ignored the sudden ringing in their ears. Some of them, however, coughed out blood and became pale. They couldn''t understand what was happening. They were immortals. They had already passed their tribtions. Yet they could not even survive the sound of Lex''s first tribtion strike? Storms began to brew across the entire zone, and entire energy currents flowed towards the ck clouds fueling them. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Considering that this was only Lex''s first tribtion, he was supposed to be struck with nine rounds of lightning. Then, each time he went up a level within the immortal realm, that number would go up by nine. That rule changed for Heavenly immortals, but that was not pertinent to Lex at the moment. "Come, the party has just begun," Lex said as his body began to float up into the air. "Let''s invite more friends to join." Lex grabbed Jeffery by the head, and let used his Mindmeld to peer into his mind. Yet there was a seal on his innermost thoughts. Only some outer, unprotected thoughts could be essed by Lex, and even as strong as he was, he could not break through that seal at the moment. Yet it hardly mattered right now. All Lex wanted was to find more enemies, and Jeffery knew the exact location for all the Sanguis Pluvia agents within this zone off the top of his head, which served to benefit Lex. He teleported away, bringing his honor guard with him. Yet that only seemed to enrage his tribtion. It felt like Lex was trying to escape, and so another bolt shed through the entirety of the zone, chasing him down to strike him. Yet the massive bolt of lightning could not even break Lex''s skin. Instead, it only made him smile. The countless immortals all around him suddenly trembled. What kind of maniac had they encountered? Who would be pleased upon being struck by lightning? Not even the worst of masochists surely. But, apparently, Lex was exactly such a person Chapter 1229 Fool Chapter 1229 Fool The sound of thunder did not just shake the ground, it shattered it. Thick chunks of dirt broke off from the ground and flew out into space around the massivendmass, while endless crystals, treasures, and corpses were revealed underneath. As a result, the one, massivendmass was losing integrity, making it dangerous for everyone within this zone. Yet for all the dangers it was bringing, Lex''s tribtion was ironically also making the zone safer for everyone. Any ordinary disturbance would have set off a chain of explosion or lightning strikes, but with his tribtion growing stronger, it began attracting all the energy within the realm, directing it towards the clouds in the sky. Jeffery, whose body waspletely immobilized under Lex''s grip, looked at Lex for a second and then up at the clouds. Something shed in his eyes, though he was careful not to reveal any signs of it. But he did not need to reveal any signs. A hundred miles all around Lex, wherever he went, waspletely his own domain. Everything that happened within, as long as it was rted to him in any way, would directly be revealed to him. Not only did he notice Jeffery''s subtle movement, he even knew what he was nning. Unlike him, Lex did not suppress his smile. Each of them were plotting against the other as each second passed by. Only the victor would determine who had outmaneuvered the other. Lex kept teleporting, gathering more and more people who were targeting him, while ignoring everyone who was an innocent bystander. By the time the third lightning bolt struck him, Lex had gathered exactly nine hundred and ny-nine members for his ''honor guard'', and so he stopped. Hended back on thendmass, which immediately began to change all around him. A circr tform formed around where he stood, rising higher into the sky, while all those who he had gathered were lined up in circles all around the tform in nine total rows. A fourth lightning bolt struck, but this time instead of letting itnd on his body, Lex raised his hand up, as if he was catching the lightning bolt. He missed. Naturally, he missed. No matter what, he was not yet fast enough to react to lightning. But it hardly mattered, for even the fourth bolt, which wasrger and more terrifying than the ones before, still could do nothing to him. The following thunder shook the very souls of all those around Lex, causing many of them to cough out blood and suffer numerous injuries, yet they could not escape. Horror shed in their eyes. Who exactly was Lex? What kind of tribtion was he undergoing? This certainly couldn''t be that of an Earth Immortal? Yet at the same time, itcked a certain quality contained in those that struck Heavenly immortals. What was going on? Yet only one figure, who stood in the distance, beyond a hundred miles, recognized the signs this unique tribtion was disying. It was an immortal tribtion, meaning a tribtion one underwent when bing an immortal, yet at the same time, it resembled the tribtion a experienced before it could truly gain sentience. The only time the lightning bolts were so thick was when it was striking a. Lightning arcs in the ck clouds up above began to illuminate the entire dark zone, revealing sights that had never actually been seen before. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on the situation, still no one witnessed those sights because everyone was looking in towards the towering tform where Lex stood. The zone that made up the Trial of Eternity was actually quite massive. No one knew exactly what its size was, for space folded strangely there. On some days it was as big as a, and on others it was a gxy. Right now, it was big enough so that even those who could not actually see Lex since he was so far away, still saw the lightning bolts. The fifth, the sixth, and the seventh bolts struck Lex, and finally upon the seventh Lex groaned, unable to resist. Although he had a high tolerance for pain, each lightning strike burned his insides, forcing them to reform. Eventually, even he was unable to resist. But the problem was, even as he neared the nine bolts expected for his tribtion to enter into the immortal realm, not even half his body had experienced this unusual form of rebirth. The eighth bolt struck, and this time Lex nearly caught the bolt, but not quite. He groaned again, but still suffered no visible damage. The sight began to scare all those watching, because finally one of those surrounding Lex was unable to hold on any longer, and died from the shockwaves produced by the thunder. An immortal had died, just from being near Lex while he underwent his tribtion. N?v(el)B\\jnn Everyone held their breaths as they waited for the ninth and final bolt, but it did not arrive. They looked up at the clouds, and saw that multiple arcs of lightning conjoined directly above Lex, pooling in their energy to form an ominous shape, made entirely of electricity. Most did not recognize it. Even Jeffery did not recognize it. The figure in the darkness, watching Lex from afar, did not recognize it. There was only one living soul in the entire trial zone that recognized the creature that was forming above Lex, and the sight of it stirred countless memories, forcing the soul''s slumbering consciousness to begin to wake. Jeffery didn''t know what the creature being formed from lightning was, but he knew enough about tribtions to know what was happening. He finally acted, causing his body to melt, as if it was made from wax, and another arachnid body appeared just outside Lex''s range of influence. "Fool," he cursed. "You think you''re so smart, but you''ve only made my job easier." Steam began to rise from his body, and he once again began to change the form of his body. He hade here in his arachnid form because he was hiding from the Henali. Now that he was here, and his identity was revealed, he needed to hide no longer. Chapter 1230 Unleashed Chapter 1230 Unleashed Lex looked in the distance towards Jeffery,pletely unsurprised by his escape. The man was the closest thing Lex could consider to pure evil. He spent his time on earth, causing countless conflicts, wars and genocides just for his own entertainment. Moreover, it was not just mass conflict that entertained him. Sometimes, he chose his targets specifically and watched them suffer across their entire lives since it brought him a special kind of pleasure. As disgusting as it was, it required a meticulous and methodical mind. Lex would not believe it if he didn''t have various contingencies nned out. Lex watched curiously as the mass and shape of his body seemed to increase, bingpletely different from what it was. For a brief moment, it almost seemed Draconic to him, but Lex dismissed that idea. With his mastery over Domination, no dragon close to him in realm could hide their aura from him. But it appeared that Lex learned something new today, as Jeffery''s form changed not to that of a dragon, but to that of a small Wyvern! As he gained this form, his aura grew, as if he were no longer in the initial stages of the Earth Immortal realm, but thetter ones. Wyverns were, in a sense, closely rted to dragons, but not quite. They were an offshoot race from dragons, and were barbaric and animalistic in nature. They alsocked the many innate, powerful qualities of dragons. "Lex, did you know, other than your sister''s various samples, we also copied all her memories?" Jeffery spoke, his voice sharp yet harsh to hear. "How do you know the one that you have is the real Moon? What if she''s just another clone we have, brainwashed to think she''s the real Moon?" Jefferyughed as he spoke, as if the thought of doing exactly what he said gave him deep, immeasurable pleasure. "How would you ever know? How would you know that the one you saved was the real one? But then¡­ even if you did save her, how does it feel knowing that we can sell clone ves of your sister wherever we want? She''ll be a member of every harem in the realm. She''ll be in every brothel, too dirty to even afford a building. How does it feel, Lex, knowing that she''ll be standing on every street corner in the universe, and there''s nothing you can do about it, because you''re about to die?" Whileughing maniacally, Jeffery revealed a multicolored crystal in his hand, the very presence of which caused all the energy in the realm to boil. He crushed it in his hand, and the shards of the crystal dissolved in thin air, yet the effects of it being broken continued to spread. The creature of lightning forming above Lex suddenly became unstable. Instead of the energy of lightning feeding it to form a finely defined body, as it was doing before, the creature''s body just began to growrger rapidly, as it was filled with unstable lightning. The lightning creature roared, unleashing its thunder before it even struck, killing hundreds more and causing devastation far and wide. Lightning started to rain all across thend, scorching the ground, hunting for any living being. Yet even as chaos rained all around him, Lex did not move from his tform, nor was his tform even slightly shaken. He looked at theughing Wyvern in the distance, but felt not a single fluctuation in his emotions. "Remember these questions, Jeffery," Lex said calmly, yet his voice traveled across thend anyway. "I will be giving you an answer for each one of them very soon." Lex drew Naraka, and as much as he wanted to use it to slice Jeffery''s neck with it, a mere Wyvern was not worthy of his de. Instead, the creature above him gave off a different feeling. It carried a Primordial aura, even in its unstable state, as if it were born at the very start of the universe. Even long forgotten by the residents of the universe itself, thews of the universe never forgot, and brought forth its ancient visage from across the ages as a challenge for Lex''s tribtion. Whatever the creature was, it felt dangerous enough already, but once Jeffery broke the multicolored crystal, whatever it was, the creature grew only more dangerous. He had finally entered the territory of things where he could not passively take things, and had to act. But that was fine too. For too long, his sword had been sheathed, hungry to reveal its sheen to the universe. A foe from the forgotten ages of the universe, one whose mere image carried a weight and pressure equal to that of Dragons Might, was a worthy first foe. Although there would be no blood upon defeating it, the concept of first blood was symbolic to begin with. Lex looked up and met the gaze of the creature, who narrowed its eyes at Lex, almost as if it was sentient. It roared defiantly, as if meeting its gaze was sacrilege, and unleashed devastation as it spread its wings and dove from the sky, its nebulous figure falling directly towards Lex. "You are the past," Lex whispered as his emotions welled up for some reason. Something deep inside of him told him that the history of this creature was far from simple. But that did not mean Lex would buckle to it. Domination began to spread from his body naturally as Lex''s heart raced, filled with fighting intent. His sword intent, which he had honed for countless years, revealed itself like the bright rays of the rising sun, illuminating the entire realm with its light. The only thing not overwhelmed by the light of the sword was the dark outline of Lex''s figure. "But I am the future." He raised his right hand up in a ferocious swing, the weight of which caused a quake in thendmass across the entire zone. N?v(el)B\\jnn Finally, on the ninth lightning strike, his raised hand met the bolt of lightning - which was in the shape of a mysterious creature - and unleashed all the power he had sealed for so long, for the very first time. Chapter 1231 Too fast Chapter 1231 Too fast To be clear, while Lex unleashed all his power, this attack was far from the strongest attack he could unleash. He had not even used any of his numerous affinities, nor had he used any Glyphs or arrays to empower this attack, nor had he used Domination, or even considered using Laws. What he unleashed was simply the physical strength of his body, as well as his sword intent. Combined, his attack manifested in a bright white light that shed against the electric beast, hundreds of timesrger than Lex. The attack and the lightning bolt, for a moment, forced each other to a standstill where they met, and the world around Lex suffered from its devastation. Everyone near Lex died, and those watching from afar felt like they had been struck by a mighty blow even though they were quite far. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Save the tform where Lex stood, which was preserved through Lex''s own power, the ground all around him was shatteredpletely into fine dust. Time seemed to pause, or maybe it just felt like that because all sound in existence vanished. Then Lex''s sword strike, which had paused against the w of the lightning beast, sliced through it. The once dark zone of the trial was suddenly filled with blinding, pure white light, and absolute silence. The storms raged, and formed into devastating hurricanes not of wind but of pure energy. The ground erupted in a thousand different ces, and a deep ocean ofva buried deep underground found cracks to escape through, resulting in countless volcanic eruptions. The wild energies of the realm, instead of being depleted by the massive tribtion, were aggravated. Like the dense rains of monsoon, lightning beat at the ground, or rather specifically at the erupting volcanoes, like water falling from the clouds. Yet all of this devastation happened in silence, for the air itself had been blown away by Lex''s strike. Yet it was only enough to begin the process. Most of his body still had not suffered the burns of lightning. Yet the clouds above him, though still dense, remained suspiciously empty of lightning all around him. When the light faded, the figure of Lex was revealed, standing tall upon his tform, looking up at the sky where the tribtion clouds themselves had been parted. His body, at a nce, seemed unharmed still. But those with keen eyesight would notice that his right hand, which gripped the unmarred Naraka, was charred, as if burnt to a crisp. Orange embers could be seen burning at the edges of his hand, fading in color as they cooled. He had finally been harmed, yet Lex only smirked. He could feel his hand beingpletely reborn. Rather than saying that this final lightning strike was strong enough to hurt Lex, it would be more urate to say that it was finally strong enough to begin the process of converting his body into an immortal one. Yet it was only enough to begin the process. Most of his body still had not suffered the burns of lightning. Yet the clouds above him, though still dense, remained suspiciously empty of lightning all around him. He had suffered nine strikes, so then the next part would be the Fire tribtion, which wasrgely unseen. Even Lex did not see it, but he could feel something rapidly approaching him. It was not a material thing, with physical form. Instead, it was like sword intent, which was shapeless and formless. But what this intent was, Lex could not exactly distinguish. When it touched him, Lex felt something deep within his body beginning to burn. It was not like the burning of fire, but as if his body was reacting to something poorly. It started with an itchy sensation that spread to his entire being, and then it became more intense until he felt like it was actually harming him. ck smoke began to slowly stream out of his nose and mouth, and then ears. Lex chuckled, and then blew a smoke ring. His fire tribtion had begun, and though it did not cause as much of a ruckus as his lightning one, it was most certainly just as serious. More importantly, there was absolutely nothing Lex could do to increase his chances of survival. During the lightning tribtion, he could at least weaken the lightning before it struck his body, but with the fire tribtion he just had to hope that his body was strong enough. Since that was the criteria, though, Lex was not concerned at all. Freed from the first step of his tribtion, he turned to look towards the frowning Wyvern in the distance. Jeffrey had truly not expected Lex to survive that tribtion. It was genuinely strong enough to directly kill even third or fourth level Earth immortals, yet Lex took it head on. His n had failed, but all was not lost. The environment in the trial had changed drastically, and it looked like he was standing on the site of armageddon. With how chaotic the environment was, it would be much easier to kill the others. He just had to be extra careful not to get himself hurt. But first¡­ Jeffery turned to look towards Lex, and was startled to see Lex standing just a few feet from him, his skin starting to crack as ck smoke escaped from within. "You asked me a few questions, I believe," Lex said, his voice incredibly hoarse. "About how I feel. Why don''t I answer that for you now?" "Hah!" Jeffery snorted. "Are you really threatening me in the midst of your tribtion? You should be running and hiding, not¡­" The Wyverns'' words were cut short when the cold, silver de of Naraka cut through his neck, faster than the Wyvern could follow. The head slowly slid off from the neck. Now if he were a mortal, that would have killed him. But the annoying thing about immortals was how difficult it was to actually kill them. The Wyvern''s body turned to mist, as if it had been a mirage all along, and some distance away it reformed, the Wyvern looking at Lex with genuine shock and concern. Lex had not even passed his tribtion yet. He had not achieved an immortal body yet. How could he be so fast? The answer was simple. This was merely the strength he had, when he unsealed his power. Lex appeared in front of the Wyvern again, faster than it couldprehend. All it saw was a white sh of his sword intent as Lex cut off its neck once more. Chapter 1232 All according to plan Chapter 1232 All ording to n While Lex''s fire tribtion urred, he could not control any spiritual energy at all, since even his meridians were burning. In fact, since his muscles were burning as well, he should not have been able to exert much strength either. In reality, he was already physically weaker than he was when he fought against the lightning bolt. But Lex had the confidence to dominate against anyone in the immortal realm, at least when it came to physical abilities. Once matters ofws got involved, he was not arrogant enough to think that he could suddenly surpass everyone. After all, even if he had been ying withws for a few years, most immortals had been learning aboutws for at least a few decades or centuries. He had seen how abstract the world became oncews got involved, so Lex would not make a t statement that he was unbeatable in the same realm as he had always been. He needed to get used to the rules andbat as far as immortals were concerned. But as far as physique was concerned, Lex did not even fear dragons. "How does it feel, Jeffery?" Lex asked in his raspy voice, holding onto the Wyvern''s head as its body disappeared. He did not allow the head to disappear, putting it instead in his spatial ring. Even then, when the Wyvern was reformed some distance away, it had a new head. "How does it feel knowing that I can clone your body as much as I want, and feed my cattle Wyvern barbeque for the rest of eternity using only your body? I''m getting pretty good at decapitation. Maybe I can practice skinning next - get myself a Wyvern pelt." Lex closed his eyes, but even then his aim never missed as he swung Naraka and cut through the Wyverns neck. His sword hungrily drank the Wyverns blood, bing stronger and more effective against its kind with every drop it absorbed. This was not a feature of the sword Lex knew about, but he was definitely enjoying it. Every second they fought, Lex was getting weaker and weaker as his insides burnt. Yet even in such a state, Jeffery could barely follow Lex''s silhouette as he moved, which infuriated him to no end. "You do not scare me, brat," the Wyvern spat. "You cannot cause me any real harm. I see this for what it really is - a desperate attempt to scare me off while you approach your weakest state. You''re hoping to survive by hiding during your weakest moments, but your ns are flimsy and easy to see through. One way or another, you will die today. So go ahead-" Lex cut his head off again, and then paused. The burning finally reached his brain, which made him feel light headed. Jeffery was right in the sense that he was approaching his weakest moment. But he was wrong about one thing. Lex''s ns were not as simple as they appeared. After all, so far, everything had been going exactly as he anticipated, with only a few minor details changed. Jeffery spoke again. Lex knew he was speaking, but he could not hear him. Either the nerves associated with hearing had burnt away, or his ear drums had, or maybe that part of his brain was being fired. There was no way of knowing, and it was actually a little scary that Lex could not really do anything to increase his chances of survival. But he had immense confidence in his survival of this tribtion. Not to mention, it hadn''t even truly started yet. So far, only his body was burning, His soul and spirit were as of yet untouched. Using his instincts to guide him, Lex once again attacked Jeffery. The resistance his sword felt as he sliced through the Wyvern''s neck let him know that he had hit his mark once more. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om But that''s when he felt like the tribtion was about to enter its next phase, which meant he also had to put his n into the next phase. He jumped, and the next moment Lex reappeared on the tform. Jeffery roared in anger, because his body had begun to fear Lex. When Lex moved, his body had flinched on its own, as if fearing the mere human! It was uneptable! Fortunately, the moment had arrived. Jeffery mustered his strength andunched an attack on Lex, determined to kill him during the tribtion. Though Jeffery would suffer a mild bacsh for interfering with a tribtion, he would ept it in exchange for Lex''s death. His attack, a red beam of fire he breathed out, swiftly approached Lex, but as it touched the boundary of the tform he was standing on, it dispersed. At some point, undetected by everyone, Lex hadid out numerous protective formations inside the tform where he stood. Such tant goading infuriated the Wyvern even more, causing it to unleash its strongest attacks as it battled with its sanity and its desire for revenge. Never had it been so humiliated. It was always Jeffery doing the humiliation! Always him! Yet now, he was being yed by a mere¡­ a mere human! While the Wyvern unleashed its fury, the figure who had been watching everything from a distance shook its head in disappointment. Wyverns were the cousins of dragons, some would say. But they were the disappointment in the family. The figure stepped forth into the light, revealing deep purple scales adorning its reptilian body and massive wings. He was a newborn dragon, whose early years had been spent on the ck Dwarf that served as the holynd for the newer generation of dragons, being slowly nurtured to match its noble heritage. It had been sent away from his nursery prematurely, to participate in the inane Champions tourney, all for the sake of reaching the heretic Lex and bringing him to justice. How dare he bear the name of Dragonsbane? He would suffer the consequences. Yet this newborn dragon, while considerably strong, was also smart. There was no reason to take any enemy at his strongest. Now that he was weakened considerably, it was time for the dragon to make his move, and bring glory to his race. Please vote for Eldrim in WSA! Chapter 1233 A real dragon Chapter 1233 A real dragon Usually, dragons were arrogant beyond measure. It was one of the defining characteristics of their race, and one of the most significant reasons why they did not band together like most other races, keeping themselves weak rtively speaking. Other races usually all lived close to one another, built entire societies living in close proximity, and aided each other, or at least traded with each other. Dragons, instead, were extremely territorial, to the extent that some strong dragons monopolized entire gxies for themselves, keeping other dragons away. At most, they would tolerate only their own descendants within those territories, that too until they were strong enough to carve out their own territories. In fact, the inability of dragons to stay together for long was one of the most significant causes for dragonoids. They usually could not stay close to one another long enough to mate - not unless one was significantly and unquestionably stronger than the other. Their arrogance was, without a doubt, one of the things that held them back as a race. But while, in general dragons were arrogant, that did not mean that all of them were ruled by it. Some of them, the ones with the strongest bloodlines and most promise for the future, were trained from the very moment of their birth to not let their arrogance rule them. The purple scaled dragon was exactly one such dragon. His arrogance was such that he did not recognize Wyverns as having anything to do with dragons at all, even though they were a mutation of them. At the same time, he did not let his arrogance let him act without reconnaissance on the target, or go straight in for a kill. Instead, he observed Lex and came to a conclusion that the human, despite his weak race, was genuinely a threat to him. While still not immortal, he could influencews with his body alone. So he waited till Lex was weakened. Lex showed remarkable resilience in the face of the lightning tribtion, but the constraints of the fire tribtion could not be escaped. Now that he had retreated to the tform, it meant that he was approaching his weakest. The dragon saw no shame in taking advantage of his opponents weakness. That was simply how the world worked. Jeffery was attacking Lex like mad, unleashing all the strength his body would allow him to wield, yet he could not make Lex''s defense even waver. These were not simple physical attacks or beams of fire. Rather, they containedws and manipted the world to their whims. Yet they could not influence thews of his defense, for they were protected by strongerws. The more he attacked, and the more he failed, the more deranged Jeffery became, until suddenly he sensed something and he was instantly snapped back to mental rity. He sensed the aura of a dragon - and not just any dragon. This dragon, despite being only in the Earth Immortal realm, contained an incredibly heavy aura, insinuating a very pure and powerful bloodline, that would surely carry it to very high realms. Such a dragon had a race and a bloodline superiority over Wyverns, which is why Jefferys deepest instincts of fear kicked in when it felt the aura. Of course, there was also anger in his heart, but with mental rity returning to him, he saw that he was not acting ording to his strengths. From the very beginning, Jeffrey had never been a front line fighter, so there was no reason for him to fight like this. Instead, he should stick to what he was good at, and n and manipte events from the shadows. He retreated, just in time to see a purple dragon appear in front of Lex''s tform, and unleash his Dragons Might. His timing was pretty good, for exactly at this time, Lex''s fire tribtion was approaching the next level. Ordinary people experienced the fire tribtion in three stages. First it affected their bodies, then their spirits, and then their souls. Since Lex had all three fused together, he felt them all at once. That also meant he had to sustain the impact of all three at once. As the fire tribtion affected Lex''s brain, his consciousness entered a sort of limbo while he lost all control over his body. In that moment, even to save his life, he wouldn''t be able to move an inch. Yet this was only the influence on his mind. When the tribtion reached the stage where it covered his entire body, Lex would experience what others felt when their soul was burning. At that point, his tenacity would be tested. What this meant in the short term was that Lex waspletely undefended, save for the formation he had secretly set up. Yet when the Dragon used its innate influence over the world, it felt challenged back. His Dragons Might was being challenged by the remnant auras of Domination. More importantly, while forming this formation, Lex had used the influence of Glyphs, which were just weaker versions of the abilities of dragons. Yet even with the weaker version, Lex was dominating against this young dragon, rendering its abilitiespletely inert. Feeling challenged, the dragon spread his wingspletely, and let his aura to bear. Dragons Might was only the simplest of a dragon''s abilities. It had greater ones to use, and it was not afraid of using them. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om His purple scales suddenly changed, almost bing liquid mes, as it lunged forward at the tform. Since the dragon willed it, so it must be. Thews of the region influenced by Dragons Might suddenly started to change, automatically falling under the influence of the dragon''s will, as if submitted to it. The dragon''s fiery ws struck against Lex''s defense, and left a significant mark, as for the first time the barrier quaked. Yet that was only the beginning, and soon even thews of the barrier itself fell under the dragon''s control. Lex had dealt with Pelvailin, but he had never faced a living dragon before. Now he was finally a witness to its might, except that he could not actually witness it. A momentter, the barrier fell. Chapter 1234 Heel Chapter 1234 Heel Lex had always excelled at defense, even after he stopped using Regal Embrace. Even without the cultivation technique, the foundation and understanding it gave him were beyond what could be so easily achieved. Upon that foundation he built a deep and thorough understanding of defense by studying various powerful techniques, formations and various associated concepts. He was quite confident that his defense would not be so easily overturned. He was correct. It was not easy. It actually required a dragon with a powerful heritage to be serious to break through his defenses. In the entire Origin realm, the number of Earth immortals who could have achieved that were not manypared to the whole. They were all exceptional - each and every one of them. Under ordinary circumstances, Lex would not encounter such beings. But the problem was, the more he pursued the extraordinary, the more he would encounter such unique and exceptional beings. In that case, building a defense that, for example, 80% of those in his realm could not ovee was actually incredibly impressive, but for Lex specifically it was a catastrophic failure. That meant he was still weak to those 20% of beings. He did not need to be more powerful than just the masses - he needed to be the absolute best. Otherwise, in situations like his current one, where the best from across the realm were gathered together, there were bound to be those among the 20% who could break through his defenses. That distinction between amazing, and the absolute best, was being able to ovee even those exceptional races who had unfair advantages that humanscked - such as the dragons themselves. The dragon seemingly made of purple mes was not surprised that his assault worked. Instead, the fact that he had to get serious just to break through a measly barrier confirmed for him that taking on Lex when he was weak was the smartest solution. He covered the distance to Lex in an instant, his body tense under the strain of the strength it was using. There was a massive explosion, shattering thendmass once more and causing an enormous dust cloud to fill the air. The region around Lex had been protected by his formation, but now that it was finally broken, a volcano erupted here as well, and lightning bolts began to rain from the sky as if fighting against theva. It looked like an epic battle between the ground and the sky was being raged, and everyone else was suffering the consequences. By now, the rtively stagnantws of this zone had also begun to tremble. Compared to energies, which were in a constant state of flow,ws were usually firm and fixed. But what made this pce so dangerous was that enough stimtion could cause thews to waver, which is when the real chaos happened. For better or for worse, it seemed that was the direction the zone was going in. Jeffrey, who had distanced himself from the dragon, looked out at the region of the explosion with a frown. Eliminating a dragon would be tricky. Yet his failure to do so would reveal his true identity as a Wyvern. If that happened many things would be in jeopardy. Yet if it made the situation any more dangerous in an attempt to eliminate the dragon, his own safety woulde into question. The Wyvern was already considering its future ns when its pupils constricted as the dust cleared. He had expected to see devastation, of which there was plenty, but what he had not expected to see was the image of the purple dragon pressed into the floor in front of Lex in a prostrated stance. The dragon was trying to get up. It was genuinely doing its best to resist, but an invisible force kept it down. The pure momentum of his attack had caused him to crash into Lex. Considering the sharpness of his ws and the heat of his mes, it was no surprise that a hole was burned into Lex''s suit. That was the extent of the damage though - Lex was still unharmed for the most part. It was uncertain if his charred skin on his chest was due to his own Fire tribtion or the dragon''s attack. Either way, such minimal damage would do nothing to even a mortal let alone Lex. The reason the situation had turned out like this was simple. Lex had lostplete control of his body as he felt like even his memories were burning. As a result, his body let go of all its restraints, and a ten feet region around Lex became his absolute domain. His Domination, which he had trained and honed for so long, using not just a Heavenly Immortal dragon but various other powerful auras as well, not to mention the natural enhancements his aura received from the boost in his personal rise in the Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum from bonding with Lotus and absorbing the Amber Chaos Resin, waspletely unleashed in this region in full force. Much like when Lex encountered Pelvailin''s body for the first time, and was faced with his Dragon''s Might, the purple dragon encountered Lex Domination. The difference was that at that time, Pelvailin''s Dragon Might had been in a rxed state, not to mention theplete and total loss of its soul, which was the only reason Lex could even tolerate it to begin with. Lex was far from being rxed, as his entire being was burning, which resulted in his Domination being unleashed in full force, albeit in a smaller region. Lastly, since Lex knew he had pissed off dragons, he had been specifically training to make his Domination more effective against them. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om All of that resulted in the fact that, through sheer, unconscious aura alone, Lex had caused a dragon to heel. Any semnce of sanity Jeffrey had reimedpletely evaporated as he saw the sight. He knew that, as was his habit, he had provoked Lex excessively. The difference was, unlike every other weakling and human he had ever provoked, Lex actually had the capability to hurt him. A dangerous glint shed through his eyes as he began contemting something desperate. But he was so focused on Lex, he did not notice that in the distance, another human was slowly approaching him - one with a metallic sheen. Chapter 1235 Disappointing Chapter 1235 Disappointing Larry genuinely thought he got over the trauma of meeting that old, mature man back on earth. The very one he and Marlo had gone after to capture¡­ the one who set up the entire Dershaw family''s demise. The one who kidnapped those who remained. There were days where Larry genuinely felt like he got over the memory of that man telling him that he had left earth while kidnapping all of Larry''s family. Jeffrey, that old sick bastard, had set up countless wars on earth just for his amusement, and as he left the was the one responsible for inciting the A.I. invasion that ultimately led to the present circumstances on that. A majority of its original residents were gone or dead, and the remaining ones were devout followers of a few deities who used them to farm divine energy to fuel their own war against the A.I. But no matter how much he tried, he could never actually forget. That is why, when he was suddenly contacted by Rafael, Marlo''s son, who imed he had a lead on Jeffery, he did everything possible to follow Rafael''s n. Apparently, Rafael wanted to stop Jeffery because he had secret information that Jeffery was going to do something countless times worse than what he did on earth. Larry didn''t care. He just wanted revenge¡­ and maybe to actually find out if his family was even alive. Rafael had been more than clear that Larry himself could not harm Jeffrey, as he was not anywhere close to his level of strength. But there was something Jeffrey could do that no one else could which would be a tremendous help in taking him down. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om So he approached the monstrous Wyvern in the distance, finding it a little hard to believe that it was the same as the man who had orchestrated the destruction of Larry''s entire life. Then again, Larry himself was no longer a simple human, so it was not difficult to imagine that others were far from simple as well. Larry turned his entire body into metal, eliminating any and all organic matter in his body, thereby hiding any and all signs of a living being. This was a simple thing for him, but it was surprisingly effective in hiding from higher level cultivators. Their spirit senses would often just sense him as a piece of metal that blended in with the ground. Like this, he was able to approach Jeffrey without being noticed at all - especially since the Wyvern was distracted. Then, silently, hey on the ground, his body morphing into mercury, which then slowly made its way to the Wyverns'' feet. This was the most crucial part. Larry released from within his liquid form a greenish metallic liquid which he lightly scraped on the ground around the Wyvern. As long as the Wyvern moved even a fraction of an inch, it would be marked by that metal. A few momentster, due to a particrly intense quake, the Wyvern adjusted its feet, stepping onto the green metallic liquid without realizing it. Unknowingly, it hade one step closer to its own demise. Lex, meanwhile, was chilling. Sure, his mind, body and soul were being burnt to a crisp, but pain was inconsequential to him now. After he lost control over his body, soon after his entire body was infected by the heat that was burning him. More and more ck smoke escaped from the cracks within his skin and Lex felt like to exist was to suffer. He also felt like there was an off switch avable to him. As long as he wished, he could press the off switch and the pain would end. His suffering woulde to an end. He would get the sweet release of death. While he could understand why others might be tempted by it, he just couldn''t really be bothered. It wasn''t even that long. He didn''t even enter into a mindless trance where time seemed to lose meaning, or something like that. Soon enough, he felt his mind returning to his body, and instead an endless emptiness, he could focus on his body. The first thing he noticed was that he seemed to have lost weight, which was good. He no longer dared to check his actual weight, but he was sure it was already over a literal tone. But besides that, he noticed that the process of conversion that had begun with the lightning had been brought further along by the fire tribtion. It was as if the lightning only started the process in the outeryer of his body, while the fire tribtionpleted it deeper within. Only that it wasn''tplete. Lex could slowly feel his control over his body returning, and he felt that his condition was terrible. It was genuinely incredible how thorough and evenly spread out the burning was. He could see how this would kill almost anyone else. For better or for worse, he could feel the burning processe to an end, and his body forming some kind of connection to the universe itself, and a massive surge of vitality feeding into his charred body, filling it with strength and life anew. But at the same time, it felt hollow. As someone who had been dealing withws for a while already, he could tell that his body could deal withws now. But since he had an affinity forws, he could always do that. He was just better at it now. It was¡­ disappointing and confusing. Lex expected so much more. He tried to figure out what was missing when the vitality came flooding in, and his internally charred body began to morph into something much greater. Yet more importantly, the vitality, if that was even the right word for a kind of energy that would perfectly rebuild his body, mind, and soul and elevate them to a whole new level, began to condense into something solid within him, yet just as it was on the verge of formation, his connection to it became stronger, and Lex suddenly realized what was missing. His body had been converted, but his t was not formed. Now, with this immortal vitality under his control, he could directly form whatever t, or ts, he wanted. Yet there was a catch. The amount of energy he had ess to was limited, so for each t he formed, he would be dividing the energy equally. It did not matter. He already knew what he wanted, and it was a single t. The energy converged, and Lex finally gave form to the t he had been trying to decide on for a long time. Chapter 1236 Eyes Chapter 1236 Eyes Supremacy. It was one word, and it did not require much exnation. It was self evident. The t that Lex chose, after considering his numerous affinities and abilities and strengths, the t he decided on was supremacy. That was not to say that Lex was giving up on anything he already had - far from it. It was precisely because he didn''t want to give up on anything that he went for supremacy. For a while he contemted perfection, but it did not have the same feel to it. In anything and everything that he wanted to do, he wanted absolute supremacy. To be absolutely sure this was exactly what he was thinking, he even checked a dictionary for the definition. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Supremacy was the state or condition of being superior to all in authority, power or status. Lex wanted supremacy in everything he desired to pursue. Regal Embrace put him on the path to having the best defense in the universe, but Lex put himself on a much harder path. He wanted the best defense, the best offense, the best speed, the best of everything! Which is why, in any and everything that he did, he wanted to be supreme. He wanted his Domination to be so strong, Dragons Might waspared to it rather than itpared to Dragons Might. He wanted his defense to be so imprable that all hope would be lost at the mere thought of oveing it. Lex wanted his attack to be so devastating, just the thought of it would be enough to defeat his foes. Whether it was his ability to manipte space, or his ability to heal, or his ability to talk to a pretty girl without his mind shutting down, he wanted to be the best at them all! Since his goal was to be the strongest so that he could run his Inn in peace, which was essentially an impossible, unachievable goal, then why should he limit his impossible goal? Why not aim for something even more impossible? So that is exactly what Lex did. It seemedughable. It seemed childish and out of reach. But Lex was already in the habit of doing impossible things, so there was no reason to stop now. He formed his t of supremacy, and forever more the way he looked at and interacted with the universe changed. Everyw, every aspect of the universe itself presented within his eyes as a battle for supremacy. He saw how each and everyw fought with one another, pushing, pulling, enforcing themselves not only on reality, but on each other as well. There were no defined territories for anyw, and everyw in existence was simultaneously in war with every otherw, doing its best to impose itself on every other facet of reality. Ironically, it was through the chaos of that war that bnce was reached, and reality existed in a stable form rather than a fluid, ever changing one. The memory that had been sealed in his mind, of how the world was actually alive, unsealed, and Lex realized that even that was, in a way, a battle for supremacy. His understanding ofws suddenly deepened as his mind, now actually capable of holding information on the basic constitution of the universe itself, began to suddenlyprehend the nature of everyw he had touched and interacted with. He fell into a state of epiphany, his understanding ofws rapidly growing so much so, that he triggered another tribtion mere moments after his major tribtion had ended. Lex had officially be a level 1 Earth Immortal, and before the process could even properly bepleted, his tribtion for level 2 began. The tribtion, this time, would consist of 18 strikes. The first strike fell, attracting the attention of the dragon kneeling before him, and the Wyvern out in the distance. But that did not hold their attention for long, as the final reason for Lex choosing to break through inside the Trial of Eternity came into y. Every time Lex crossed a major boundary, he caused some kind of phenomenon. He had a feeling that the one he would cause this time would be far more exceptional and significant than any he had caused before, so having it appear within an independent, sealed zone cut off from the rest of the realm was a good idea. Unfortunately, Lex severely underestimated the extent of the phenomenon he caused this time - after all, this time, he was directly connected to the immortal energy of the universe that formed his t, and so his influence spread across the whole universe. The darkness of the Trial of Eternity, the empty space of the Origin realm, the sky of the Midnight realm, the Crystal realm, and every other single realm in the entire universe where humanoid beings existed, a phenomenon urred. There was a figure of a man, shrouded in gold and ck, his featurespletely hidden. Only his eyes, closed, could be seen clearly, and since only they could be seen, they drew the attention of all. Every human, mermaid, angel, devil, elf, dwarf, giant, celestial, and any other kind of humanoid race in existence looked up at those eyes, and felt a deep connection. In the Primary realm, inside Gaia''s graveyard, the being who stood at the peak of power in the universe looked up and saw those eyes. Yet before he could see the secrets they contained, he felt something veil the secrets behind a mystical shroud, keeping them out of reach. His pupils dted as shock filled his body. Someone powerful enough topete with him had just woken up - something that was supposed to have been impossible. "Bother my children no more," a gentle, feminine whisper spoke in his ear, and the man suddenly lost sight of all humanoid beings he had been keeping an eye on across the universe, as well as certain memories of them. Any information that might allow him to determine the source of the phenomenon was lost to him, and so he forgot about Lex''s existence entirely. "Nuwa," he muttered with an angry growl. But then confusion shed through his eyes, and he turned to look at the corpse inside his vault. If Nuwa was still alive, whose corpse did he have in his vault? The answers to these questions eluded him, just as the sight of those two eyes eluded him. For a brief moment in time, almost everyone of significance in the entire universe was looking at those eyes, waiting for something to happen. Then the eyes opened. Chapter 1237 Power Chapter 1237 Power It was incredibly rare for a single phenomenon to affect the entire universe. Although there were many who could cause such a thing if they consciously tried, none of them were stupid enough to try. Even a Dao Lord could not tolerate the attention of the entire universe. Or at least the realms which contained humanoid beings, which was still a pretty big portion of it. That is why when exactly such a thing happened, many could not help but feel extremely curious. Many immortals, and even Dao Lords, of various races tried to peer into the secret of the figure. Yet whether they used divinity, or looked into thews, or touched upon the Dao, all of them gave them no feedback. It was as if a more powerful, more mysterious force had shrouded the truth. More than the actual figure itself, the inability to peer into its secrets aroused great attention and rm. Hearts were stirred, temptations were stimted, morales were affected. The universe, in that moment, was intrigued. Then the eyes opened. They were the only part of the figure not obscured, so many were interested to see what they would reveal. Indeed, as per expectation, the eyes were far from ordinary. The left eye was simr to the eye of an ordinary immortal, in that it was an Eye of Law. Basically, it was an eye that could seews. Yet somehow, this left eye had achieved a deeper, more mystical state where it could not only perceivews, but thoroughly study and understand them. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om In that left eye, all the observers saw their own lives reflected - but not as they remembered it, but rather through the changes inws they had experienced in their own lives, whether they were aware of it or not. Instantly, a good deal of those observing fell into a state of epiphany. Then there was the right eye. Compared to the left, that only observed the universe, the right eye exerted control over the universe. Just looking at the eye left many in a trance. They saw arrays, endless, profound arrays, joined together with formations, talismans, and even Glyphs. It was the mostplex conjunction of countless independent professions, brought together into one cohesive amalgam, all for the purpose of exerting control over the universe. One eye saw the universe as it was, and understood it, while the other turned the universe into the image that the wielder wanted to see. Together, they promised unparalleled power. Yet they were only the eyes. Those who were watching could not even begin to fathom what other abilities the person projected in front of the universe possessed. They could not begin toprehend what his purpose was. The phenomenon began to fade, as if all that figure wanted to do was observe the universe. There were no other repercussions of the figure in any realm, save for the Midnight realm. Lotus was bonded with Lex, so as Lex got stronger, it also gained immense benefits. A quake jolted the entire Midnight realm for a few long minutes before subsiding. No one could understand what had happened, but since everyone was safe, they did not put too much thought into it. Only Lex would discover the difference when he paid attention to it. Menara, which Lotus had been trying to absorb for so long, had already be a part of it, and now the rest of the realm began merging with him as well, though it would take a long time and a lot of energy. Back in the Trial of Eternity, the purple dragon was pushed deeper into the ground as Lex''s Domination suddenly became stronger. The dragon looked up at Lex with fear and confusion in his eyes. It could tell that the tribtion had ended, and that he had be an immortal. So why were there still lightning bolts striking him? Lex himself, meanwhile, was woefully ignorant of the fact that he was undergoing another tribtion. Part of it was because he was so strong, the lightning did not affect him nearly as much as it would affect others. Another part of it was because he was still getting used to his t, and beginning to understand how he would use it to influence thews of the universe. Even though Lex himself was a bit of a cheat, and had been handlingws since before he became an immortal, in truth it was extremely dangerous. The slightest mistake could have crushed himpletely. Even now, as an immortal, he would not be influencingws directly. Instead, he would use his t to influencews, bringing about certain changes. What changes he could bring were dependent both on his t, as well as his intention. Since he chose his t to be supremacy, he would interpret every facet of everyw through the lens of supremacy. For example, if he wanted to freeze water, he would influence the battle between the forms of water itself, shifting the bnce of the battle from the liquid state to the physical one. Temperature no longer had anything to do with it - not unless what he focused on was shifting the bnce in temperature, causing it lose in the battle to hold onto its energy, causing a rapid drop in temperature which would in turn cause the liquid to turn to solid. The ways to achieve the exact same result were endless, and which ones he chose would determine the oue, as well as how that oue was achieved. He could also embody his t in himself, strengthening his body and enhancing his understanding ofws. The deeper hisprehension ofws, the easier it would be to rise to higher realms. Come to think about it, his understanding ofws was pretty decent, and the energy in his body waspletely saturated. He might be able to go through another tribtion soon¡­ Lex had not evenpleted the thought when he felt something tingly. He opened his eyes and looked up to see the eighteenth lightning bolt of his second tribtion forming. It was the exact same lightning beast he had fought before, and it looked angry. Lex smirked Chapter 1238 Another tribulation Chapter 1238 Another tribtion The universe looked different in his eyes. He could see so much more about everything he looked at that he actually found it a little absurd. How could there be so many secrets in every little thing all around him that he never discovered his entire life? It was astounding. He was rapidly learning a lot about everything each and every moment, and though he expected that to slow down eventually as he spent enough time in this realm, it was at the moment increasing hisprehension ofws tremendously. Abstract concepts no longer seemed abstract. Instead, they made so much sense he wondered why he had never seen the simple truth before. At the same time, he also knew why. This body of his¡­ everything about it was different. He could truly understand why this was called immortal, while even the Nascent realm, as powerful as it was, was merely mortal. The tribtion had changed him on a fundamental level, and the strange energy he felt fill him right after had finished the process. Even though Lex was now suddenly privy to many secrets of the universe, he still did not understand exactly how the tribtion changed him, and what that energy was. But he wasn''t focused on it. Instead, he realized something very significant - something he had been ming the system, and to a degree Mary with as well. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om There were certain secrets of the universe his mundane body, no matter how resilient it was, was not equipped to handle. In fact, Lex recalled the subtle sense of oppression and rejection he felt when he learned the name of the realm after Heavenly Immortal, which was the Celestial Immortal realm. It did not appear to be a big deal, but just the name hid many secrets which, if he learned, would have severely affected him. Or maybe it would not have affected him too much, considering how abnormal his body had always been. But there would have been some consequences. Even knowledge had a certain weight - he just never knew it before. If that was the case, he could finally understand why the system was so secretive about many things. It operated on a level far beyond even his current understanding. Since that was the case, learning its deeper secrets may well have just crippled his mind. By forcefully locking the knowledge behind authority levels and such, the system ensured dying it as much as possible so that his realm could rise to a sufficient level. There were so many secrets hidden behind even mundane actions. He wondered what other secrets he had missed out on, or how many other people''s intentions he had misunderstood. For a brief second, he even wondered if the reason why his parents kept a distance was because of some immense secret. Then he snorted. Even if that was the case, he wouldn''t forgive them. He turned his attention back to the lightning beast, and saw so much more. The lightning beast was more than just a strong bolt of lightning. He could see a soul trapped within the lightning. This creature, whatever it was, could only exist as a form of lightning tribtion. Its entire lifespan was mere seconds. No wonder it was so angry. The creature roared, andunched itself at Lex. But things were different now. Even though the creature was formed from a stronger tribtion, Lex was also no longer the same. His understanding ofws was so immense that even he himself had notpletely finishedprehending them fully. Not to mention, his body hadn''t reallypletely recovered from his first tribtion. As such, he didn''t feel like making a move personally. He looked at the kneeling dragon in front of him, and let out an amused smirk. Then, his Domination moved in a way that only dragons could control their Dragons Might. His aura mimicked his sword, and then mimicked his sword intent. It was invisible and without form, but that did not mean it did not exist. Lex stimted his t, just a bit, and through his Domination exerted his will on thews around him. If it was a battle for supremacy, then it did not feel like it. After all, thews did not resist him. Instead, in the way that the universe itself bent around to the will of the dragons, thews around Lex readily converged ording to Lex''s will. Long before the beast of lightning could reach Lex, the air, the space, the darkness, the light, the heat, everything around him shimmered, revealing a white light greatly reminiscent of Lex''s sword intent, and shed at the lightning beast. Lex frowned as he felt the strain. He wasn''tpletely used to it yet, but it didn''t matter. The result was satisfactory. The universe had unleashed a tribtion onto Lex, and so Lex used the universe itself to fight back. What fell onto Lex''s body was not the electric beast, but the energy from the lightning bolt that would convert his body. Lex felt some stimtion in his right eye that he didn''t quite understand. But there would be time to look into itter. For now, he turned his gaze to the dragon in front of him, and smiled. "They sent you after me?" Lex questioned, as if he heard the biggest joke of all. It was only after bing an immortal that he began to understand that an immortal''s greatest strength was the influence they had overws - not their insanely strong bodies, or whatever other abilities they had. This was something that many of the immortals he had previously faced did notpletely realize - that was the sole reason he had been able to confront them to begin with. Of course, for those who had begun to dabble withws, Lex was doing that already as well, so only those who truly, deeply began to understandws could have ever faced him even when he was in the Nascent realm. Now that he was an immortal, the very thought that someone who did not rely on an immortal''s greatest strength could defeat him wasughable. Lex opened his mouth to taunt the dragon a little, but the clouds above Lex suddenly rumbled once more. His third tribtion for the Earth Immortal realm was beginning. Please vote for Eldrim in WSA! Chapter 1239 Trying things out Chapter 1239 Trying things out Lex looked up and saw the ck clouds churning, and absorbing energy from the entire realm as they replenished their energy, and gave birth to new lightning bolts. The third tribtion would have 27 lightning strikes, as each tribtion increases the number of lightning strikes by nine. But after taking a nce at the lightning clouds, Lex turned his attention back to the dragon. He could not be bothered by this lightning. It waspletely incapable of harming him, and even in the situation where it might harm him, oveing the tribtion would fill him with traces of the strange immortal vitality that would aid in healing his body. Lex ignored it and turned back towards the dragon. "How manys did you guys set my bounty as? Was it 32s? Or 23? Something like that, right?" The purple dragon stared back at him with anger bubbling in his eyes. Even suppressed as he was, there was not a shred of fear in his eyes. There was only anger and being made to kneel, at being humiliated. Lex withdrew his Domination, freeing the dragon from his suppression. Lex genuinely expected the dragon to immediately attack him, and he did roar out angrily at Lex the moment he got free. Shockwaves sted Lex and broke the ground, while even more chaos was stimted within the zone. But, to Lex''s immense surprise, the dragon did not attack. After he vented much of his anger through the roar, the dragon stood its ground, and stared at Lex, as if deep in contemtion. Lex shrugged, and turned back to the Wyvern in the distance. So far, it had put up a lot less resistance than Lex expected. From what he had gathered, Sanguis Pluvia were nning something pretty major in the tourney. But that was also fine. If that was the limit of his strength, then Lex would take his time and enjoy beating him up and forcing his hand. Lex''s eye was attracted to something shining right behind Jeffrey, and he noticed a very familiar sight even though he could not recognize why it was familiar. It seemed like some metal ore, but it was way too pure to just be ore. He determined that it was not a threat, or some kind of plot or ploy by Jeffrey, so he ignored it for now. One moment he was far away, the next he was right in front of the Wyvern with burning eyes. "I wonder if you can grow back your head after I cut it off now," Lex said as he raised his hand to grab the Wyvern. But his hand went through the Wyverns body, as though it was an illusion. "Young man, do not get so cocky. You have just stepped into the world of immortals, whereas I have been a part of it for a long time. You will regret ever crossing me." The Wyvern began its tirade of insults but Lex tuned it out. Instead, he focused on how interesting the projection was. When he looked at it as a mortal, he was an image of whoever was controlling the projection. When he looked at it as an immortal, he saw possibilities. A bolt of lightning struck Lex but he barely felt it as his gaze focused in on the projection as he began his second attempt at touchingws. From what he hade to understand, most immortals, when starting out, focus solely on onew and improve their understanding of it, regardless of whether they had one t or many. So in any instance, when they wanted to maniptews, they would always just affect that onew that they understood deeply. Supposedly, even through that they could achieve amazing results. Lex was nowhere near considering such things. He had just entered the realm, and was still understanding how things worked, so he didn''t mind trying to affect multiplews at once. Strangely, he felt thews resist him this time. Intuitively he understood thatst time, they had been cooperative because of the effect of his Domination. He could try the same now and achieve the result he wanted, but his instincts were guiding him in another direction. Something within him was telling him to focus on his right eye. He channeled energy into his right eye, and suddenly array characters started to appear in the air around him, automatically turning into an array that did exactly what he wanted. This was also interesting, as for the first time he witnessed how arrays influencedws to bring about the effects he wanted. Simultaneously, he understood that the ability in his eye was far from the simple demonstration he just did. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om The array that was formed was using all the characters that he knew, and were formed on the basis of his knowledge. But it was effortless and ridiculously quick. He recalled the days he struggled to quickly produce an array during a fight. He would never have that problem again. "You talk too much," Lex said, and grabbed the Wyvern''s mouth. Yet this time, instead of his hand going through the projection, he held onto it, as if he was touching the Wyvern himself. Lex smiled. He recalled when abstract things happening within the Midnight realm confused him, but right now they made so much sense. Lex was not touching the projection, nor was he touching the Wyvern. What he was touching was the connection between the projection and the Wyvern, and through it affecting the Wyvern itself. Unfortunately, since Lex was still new to this, his application of his ability was still weak. By touching the connection Lex could not transmit enough strength to actually hurt the Wyvern. But it was enough to shut him up. Lightning struck Lex once more, and a slight electric buzz traveled from Lex to the Wyvern, who was standing in shock, staring at Lex! The electric shock seemed to wake him up, and he finally reacted, breaking free of the connection. The projection in front of Lex disappeared, but that only made Lex chuckle. How could it be so easy to hide from Lex, especially now? Chapter 1240 Unholy laws Chapter 1240 Unholyws "There''s a change of ns," Jeffrey said as he furiously pped his wings through the turbulent winds. ck clouds had covered the entire zone, and the lightning tribtion was only getting bigger and bigger. Ironically, because of how much energy the clouds were sucking up, the amount of chaos in the zone was not nearly as bad as it should have been. It was as if the excess energy that filled up the zone was being sucked up into the tribtion cloud, stabilizing the ce. Though, at the moment, it still looked like the world was ending. "Instead of catalyzing the eruption of the zone, killing everyone in it, we have to refocus our energies towards eliminating a single, anomalous immortal." There was no indication of who he was talking to, or if he was using some kind of device, but the stern expression on his face was quite revealing of the kind of response he was getting. "It''s that Lex Williams, Damian''s grandkid. He''s even more aberrant than the dragon that entered the trial. The dragon was literally forced to its knees." There was another period of silence, before he spoke again. "Yes, I think so too. I''ll keep him upied while you¡­" The Wyvern suddenly turned mid-flight and looked above himself when he saw the sh of a lightning bolt. Lex was right above him, standing in the air with his hands in his pockets, ignoring the lightning strike as usual. "Go ahead, finish your call. I''ll wait," he said. Instead of responding, the Wyvern growled. Much like the dragon, Jeffery''s scales started to turn into brown mes. At the same time, the Wyvern summoned a suit of armor that appeared over its ming body. Its aura became more powerful, and Lex''s casual expression turned more solemn. Still new to things, he couldn''t quite understand what happened, but the previously weak Wyvern suddenly became dangerous. There was a certainw embedded within the armor, though Lex couldn''t recognise it at a nce. Whatever it was, though, it was incredibly potent. Jeffrey took the initiative and attacked. At the same time, a bolt of lightning struck Lex. The timing would have been really good if Lex weren''t ridiculously strong. Aware of his overwhelming advantage, Lex took this opportunity to better understand his new realm. He raised his hand and used a verymon technique to put up a barrier in front of him, while simultaneously trying to add thew of defense to it. N?v(el)B\\jnn He noticed that the technique itself seemed to have certainws within it, yet when Lex tried to impose his ownws, the existingws resisted it. The resistance was not strong enough to seed, but it was enough to make his application of the technique seem clunky and unskilled. Jeffrey crashed against the barrier, and was thrown back as if he ran headfirst into a trampoline, which was strange because that is not at all what Lex imagined happening. Before he could investigate, two sensations distracted him. The first was his instincts, this time guiding him to use his left eye on the Wyvern. The second was, once again, his instincts, but this time it was warning him about the iing lightning bolt. Even as an immortal, Lex could not actuallyplete with the speed of lightning, so by the time he processed the danger, the lightning bolt already struck him. For the first time, Lex groaned. It was not the powerful impact of the lightning itself, nor the burning of his flesh, that caused him to groan. Rather, it was the furious imposition of the lightning on thews that made up Lex''s own existence. It was as if the lightning was trying to smite those veryws! He looked up and noticed that the clouds above him were mutating. They were no longer just absorbing the chaotic energies of this zone, but also being influenced by the chaoticws themselves. Lex grinned. Back on earth, he''d read many books that depicted powerful beings and cultivators who became too powerful, or had lives that were too long, and as a result became depressed, or lost their emotions. Nothing could stimte them anymore, and they grew bored with life. But the opposite seemed to be happening with Lex. Not only did he not get bored with his existing life, but his life continued to be so much more interesting the more powerful he became. The universe was so interesting. The challenges, the secrets, the obstacles it held were all so stimting. Since Lex could see the fluctuations in thews, he could understand how bizarrelyplex they were, and felt supremely insignificant in front of the vastness of the universe. But that feeling of being small did not demoralize him. Instead, it let him know that there was still so much more to explore. Even if he spent a lifetime trying to understandws, he could never grasp thempletely. Fortunately, he was immortal now. Until the Nascent realm, the average human cultivator had a lifespan of 500 years. But from the Earth immortal realm onwards, there was no lifespan anymore. He would live until he was killed. So he could take his time and fully experience everything this world had to offer. Suddenly feeling invigorated facing the increased threat of the lightning tribtion, Lex stopped holding back - to an extent - and unleashed his aura. "Come on, old man. Show me more of this realm that I have stepped into. Show me all of your tricks. Just be mindful not to run out of tricks before me, or it might now end well for you." Lex activated his right eye while looking at the armored wyvern, and suddenly he began to gain a deeper understanding of thew that was infused with his armor. He still wasn''t sure what it was exactly, but it was close to something that felt like festering decay. Perhaps there was no one word in the Englishnguage that could urately describe what thatw was. But it was intriguing how a concept could be aw. Lex suddenly felt the urge to try as well, and the grin on his face faded as he reached out deep into the universe and tried to personify the one most unholy ofws that he deeply identified with. Against the ming, armored wyvern trying to kill him, Lex unleashed thew of capitalism. He wanted to see what effects this could bring about. Chapter 1241 How to kill Chapter 1241 How to kill Jeffrey was a level 4 Earth Immortal. It wasn''t the highest, but it took him years of effort to get here, moving from one realm at an excruciatingly slow pace. The progression was so slow, it was torturous, which is why he liked torturing others as well. Why should he be the only one to suffer? Yet never before in his life had he ever suffered the way he was suffering now! Lex was insufferably strong even before he became an immortal, to say little of when he actually gained an immortal physique. Moreover, he was already proficient in maniptingws! That was not an ability immortals just gained! They had to train and practice for it! Jeffrey himself took over 70 years before he could sessfully maniptews. It was not without reason that most immortals that Lex encountered did not use too manyws against him. It was because they weren''t good enough at it to use in a fight! To top it all off, it hadn''t yet been an hour since he became an immortal, and he was already oveing his third tribtion! He''d almost caught up to him in cultivation! Compared to before, where Jeffrey was just strongly irritated at Lex, he now began to genuinely hate him! But a genius though he may be, the one thing Lex could notpete with him in was in craftiness! The Wyvern attacked, holding nothing back. The armor itself carried an immensely powerfulw that actually made the armor more of a weapon than a defensive equipment. Jeffreybined the armor''s attack with his own mes, and even maniptedws himself as well. He sharpened his ws through the use ofws, ready to tear through Lex''s defense this time. Just as his attack was about to reach Lex, the irritating human did something. Jeffrey felt the air around him get thick, and a powerful force begin to restrict him. Before anything could happen, Jeffrey unleashed his attack. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om His sharp, ming ws which contained a lethal curse in them gouged Lex, forcing its way through the resistance. But something strange happened. Instead of carving through Lex''s body, his ws fell harmlessly on him, suddenly devoid of all strength. If someone were looking from afar, it would seem like Jeffrey was feeling the material of Lex''s suit. Lex, on the other hand, suddenly became a little pale, but he grinned. The cost of randomly usingws he didn''tpletely understand was much greater than Lex expected. He suddenly felt drained of energy, as if he were at the very end of a marathon, and his t began to dim a bit. That went to show that messing withws was not something he should experiment with in the midst of battle. When he thought of capitalism, he thought of how it could be applied to his situation in a fight. Jeffrey was trying to attack him, but since Lex owned a monopoly on himself, a certain price needed to be paid for an attack tond and he could choose what that price was. He decided it should be 99% of the energy of the attack. It worked. Thews he manipted sucked the energy out of Jeffrey''s attack, but in return the strain he felt on his t nearly knocked him out. In fact, he had to dismiss thews, lest he actually faint from the exertion. The endless possibilities of his new realm excited him, but perhaps it was time to stop experimenting and do things seriously. His aim right now was not to kill Jeffrey, but to push him to the point of desperation. For that, it was perfectly fine if Lex relied on mundane spiritual techniques rather than maniptingws. Lex kicked the wyvern, who was in the air right in front of him, andunched its body into the ocean of orangeva beneath them. "While you''re introducing me to the immortal realm, why don''t you tell me how one kills an immortal?" he asked, as he teleported to theva, not bothered by it at all. Jeffrey was hurt by the attack, but used the cover ofva to swim away, using some kind ofw to obscure his presence. Since he could also turn his body into mes, it was difficult to find him. Difficult did not mean impossible. Lex waded through theva like it was water and grabbed the wyvern by its tail and lifted it out. Jeffrey immediately attacked, yet before its ws could reach Lex, Lex pped him in the face, breaking off a few of its teeth. "I know a good old beating doesn''t work. Should I try to rip the soul out of the body?" Lex turned his hand into the soul state and grabbed Jeffrey''s slimy soul. If he wanted to make Jeffrey desperate, he had to let the wyvern think that Lex was genuinely trying to kill him, but was falling just short. He squeezed the wyverns soul, but interestingly enough the soul suddenly became formless and slipped through Lex''s fingers. Lex raised an eyebrow. That was new. "Maybe the trick to killing an immortal is to destroy their ts," Lex said, teleporting away and reappearing in front of the escaping Jeffrey once more. This time, his hand tore through the wyverns chest first before transitioning into the soul state, trying to reach for the ts. Yet before he could reach them, the armor Jeffrey was wearing moved on its own and mmed into Lex''s face, throwing him back. The timing coincided perfectly with a lightning bolt, and though Lex was not injured, he had to admit the lightning was beginning to hurt. Maybe he should start resisting it soon. "How about I suppress you usingws?" Lex asked as he flipped his body, and got ready to attack the wyvern once more. "Do you think if I smother you in some kind ofw, that will kill you?" Instead of answering, Jeffrey only growled, and pulled out more weapons. The two dashed towards each other and fought. Each of their shes was like a p of thunder, which was confusing because there was real thunder all around them. Another lightning bolt struck Lex just as he punched Jeffrey, forming a circuit and allowing the electricity to pass through the brutalized wyvern. "Why aren''t you talking anymore, Jeffrey? I thought you loved talking." Chapter 1242 Passing a threshold Chapter 1242 Passing a threshold If one were to see Lex, it would seem like he was extremely angry, yet that was far from the truth. Even as he beat Jeffrey up, Lex had a firm control over his anger, keeping it thoroughly suppressed. He was not here to vent his anger. No, he was here to kill Damien, destroy Sanguis Pluvia and make anyone who harmed Moon pay dearly. For that, he needed absolute precision. That was why, on a surface level, he felt various emotions. He felt the excitement of a new realm, the curiosity over what the universe had to offer, the feeling of getting revenge by beating Jeffrey. But deep down, Lex was in full control of his every action, making sure he never went too far, and never ruined the n. That was why, when each and every hit hended on Jeffrey became stronger slowly and steadily, it was actually a deliberate thing. He wanted it to look like he was bing more and morefortable with the realm, making Jeffrey feel like death was creeping up on him. "ENOUGH!" Jeffrey roared after Lex pped him one more time, right across the face. The wyvern took to the air and summoned hundreds of barrels, each of them giving Lex an ominous feeling. He was reminded of the extremely lethal poison that Jeffrey used back on Polebitvy. Lex had learned that the poison was actually something called Jah''Hah liquid, sourced from a ce called Jah''Hel bog realm. It was not just lethal to people, it was hazardous to the realm itself. The danger Lex felt from these barrels, which too were made of Void wood like the very ones used to contain Jah''Hah liquid, was much more serious. Jeffrey didn''t evenunch the barrels at Lex. Instead, he detonated them in the air around himself, revealing a thick purple gas which had been contained within. Lex felt a keen sense of danger, and his left eye immediately looked into the gas. He did not know what it was, but he could see what it would do. It was not poisonous. Rather, it influenced any and all energy it touched, rapidly causing it to transform into another kind of energy - one that was extremely vtile. His left eye simultaneously saw many ways in which it could be handled, so he chose the most destructive one. Back when he was a mortal, he used Glyphs to recreate Dragon Fire. As an immortal, he was no longer satisfied with just using Dragon Fire. Much in the way he had harnessed Dragons Might and turned it into Domination, he wanted to create a me of his own that was much stronger. His right eye was activated, and instead of a Glyph forming in his mouth, hundreds of millions of array characters formed microscopic arrays within his throat, while the blood, muscle and otherponents that made up his body rearranged themselves to create a formation. He visualized the sensation of immense pressure building up in his body, and it was manifest. The moment he felt his right eye''s ability stop, Lex opened his mouth and unleashed a golden inferno - no, he used Golden Inferno. Bright, golden mes erupted from his mouth, wafting a hint of Domination as they spread across space and towards Jeffrey. The golden mes consumed everything and only made themselves stronger. The vtile energy that the purple gas produced exploded on contact, much like the gas itself. Jeffrey tried to fly back but he could not escape the mes. Even though his own body too was made of brown mes, he could not escape being burnt. An ear piercing scream screened through the entire zone beforeing to an abrupt halt when Lex appeared in front of him and cut his head off. Just like every time prior, Jeffrey''s body reformed some distance away, but something was different this time. Lex''s eyes flickered as he took notice of the change. Jeffrey''s body had healed, and even his head grew back after being cut. Yet the burn marks on his body were still there, scarring his brown scales. From a distance, the purple dragon saw everything and felt a hint of danger. Lex was taking everything a dragon had and was reproducing it, but better. He was truly living up to the name of Dragonsbane! Meanwhile, the fight continued. By now, Lex''s expression had warped, as if he were tired of ying games and wanted to kill Jeffrey. But he had to pause his pursuit, because the final lightning bolt of his third tribtion was about to fall, and the very same lightning beast was back. Jeffrey, meanwhile, used the moments respite to run away faster, taking out more and more weapons and unleashing them blindly towards Lex. He did not think he could kill that nightmare. He just wanted to buy time. Just as Lex was getting ready to face the lightning monster, he felt something. He felt Jeffrry''s developing fear, his developing trauma, and he felt the Invincible Tyrants mask absorbing that fear, and bing stronger. A small smile crept up on his lips as he resisted Jeffrey''s attacks while ring at the lightning monster. If Jeffrey was afraid, then he was getting desperate. But it was not enough. Things were only just beginning. Lex unleashed more of his strength, and this time did not wait for the lightning beast to gather its energy. His sword intent covering his sword, he flew through the air towards the ck clouds, gathering all his strength, bearing his Domination in full and even subtly using somews to strengthen him. His t had not recovered from its exhaustion, but he could still use it a little. Except that Lex made one mistake. In taking the lightning monster seriously, he used a little too much strength, causing a reaction in thews around him. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Something in his mind clicked, and he realized that it was not just his Domination that madew maniption easier, his sword intent did so too. Perhaps, there were other things as well which could makew maniption easier¡­ like the effects of his right eye! Lex''s sword strike cleaved through the ck clouds. From all around the trial zone, the survivors who were huddling and hiding from the lightning and the volcanic eruptions felt the sharpness of his attack and looked towards Lex from a distance. They felt like that attack¡­ had surpassed some kind of barrier. Indeed, it had passed a threshold. It allowed Lex to gain enough new understanding aboutws¡­ to immediately trigger his level four lightning tribtion! Chapter 1243 Calculated risk Chapter 1243 Calcted risk Lex felt the hair on his body rise as his instincts tingle. The first three tribtions, for Lex, were hardly a problem. Besides thest attacks, which required his attention, he couldrgely ignore them. Yet even before its first strike, Lex felt danger from the fourth tribtion. This was also something he had known about. While the immortal realms were divided into levels, each set of three formed a small group. From level 1 to 3, an immortal was considered to be in the early stage of their realm. 4 to 6 was the middle of the realm, while 7 to 9 was the peak of the realm. At the same time, the difficulty of the tribtion for each stage increased proportionally. Now that he was facing the fourth tribtion, Lex actually felt threatened. This was not because Lex wasn''t strong enough to take it. Far from it. It was because after bing an immortal he hadn''t had an opportunity for his body to heal and recover to its new peak. Even though he was in no danger, the Fire tribtion had weakened and exhausted him severely. It was also a little unfair to ask someone who had just entered the immortal realm to face a fourth level tribtion. Let alone learning about how to effectively maniptews, Lex didn''t even understand the limits and abilities of his body yet. He was more than certain that the things he could do were far more than what he had explored so far. After all, he had absorbed a Dao level ingredient. He was sure the mutations to his eyes had something to do with it. Exploring further would yield even more results. But fair or not hardly mattered. Since the tribtion hade, he would face it. In fact, he suddenly recalled something. He had tribtion rooms in his Inn, but to improve them further he needed to collect various types of lightning and fires himself. He wondered if he could capture genuine tribtion lightning. Lex essed his spatial ring and took out an inhaler and sprayed it in his mouth. This was one of the many items he had prepared beforehand for this fight. Lex was not arrogant enough to believe he could take on such a massive organization without aid, so he had procured the best and most effective medicines for Earth immortals avable at the Infinity Emporium. Instantly a rush of energy filled him, and began to heal him. Speaking of healing, shouldn''t his own healing be even better than before? He''d have to experiment to find out. He turned his gaze towards Jeffrey, who had run away. But distance meant nothing to Lex. He teleported over to Jeffrey, his sword fully coated in sword intent and Domination, and shed with the same strength and intensity as the one he used against the lightning beast. He wanted the wyvern to think that Lex was feeling pressured because of the tribtion, so he was in a rush to eliminate him. Yet, to Lex''s immense surprise, this time his sword did not cut through the wyvern despite being stronger than any of his previous attacks. A gray shield appeared in front of Jeffrey, protecting him. "Got you!" the burnt wyvern said, his voice strained and heavy, his eyespletely red. Thirteen other figures appeared around Lex, each of them in the middle of the Earth Immortal realm, each of them radiating a powerful aura, as if they were holding back powerful attacks. There was no pause, or time for Lex to react. A cage formed around them all, trapped Lex in, before they unleashed their attacks. At the same time, as if the clouds themselves were coordinating with the attackers, the first of his 36 lightning strikes for the fourth tribtion fell. Jeffrey, who had secretly been afraid that Lex wouldn''t fall into their trap, let loose a roar as he unleashed his own attacks, venting all his emotions. "This cage is a little small. Let''s make it bigger," Lex said through his spirit sense, making sure all his attackers heard him. His figure was not visible under the barrage of mes, sword strikes, missiles, divine punishment and lightning strikes, yet his voice was clear and rxed. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "Heaven''s furnace," his voice echoed through the cacophony, and the barrier trapped all of them within. The others felt nothing, but Jeffrey suddenly felt like he was being eyed by a predator. It was a feeling he had never experienced in his life! While Lex was holding back with Jeffrey, there was no reason to do so with the others. This might be good practice in getting used to killing immortals. While he had been taunting Jeffrey, his questions were genuine. Killing immortals was far from easy, and he did not have a hang on it yet. What exactly was it that supported their life? For mortals the body, the mind and the soul all could be attacked and used to kill, but for immortals he felt like it was moreplicated. Their application ofws was unpredictable, and there was no way to know if they had prepared some kind of backup somewhere. After all, even Lex had a clone before he even became an immortal, so the means avable to an immortal should be greater. He was d he had someone to experiment with. He eyed the figure right next to Jeffrey. Each of the thirteen immortals had their figures hidden, as if they were trying to hide their identities, but some things couldn''t be hidden. The one Lex was targeting was wearing a ck coat, yet a long, sleek tail emerged from behind the coat, swinging through the air. With this figure he decided to try out the limits of Golden Inferno. He teleported to the figure, bypassing the countless attacks raining down on the shields he had erected around himself. There were no one-liners, no monologues or anything of the sort. Lex immediately breathed out Golden Inferno, targeting the figure''s entire body, yet a familiar gray shield appeared in front of him, blocking out the mes even as they hugged onto the shield itself. "It''s futile!" Jeffrey roared gloatingly. "Do you think taking us on is easy? These shields were produced by a Heavenly immortal! No matter how strong you are, you can''t¡­" Lex didn''t give him time to finish. Since these shields were produced by a Heavenly immortal, they genuinely were above his ability to surpass at the moment. But Lex was not unprepared. He summoned a massive missile above him - one of the many he had stolen from Pelvailin, and threw it at another figure. At the same time, Lex teleported out of Heavens Furnace, just in time to catch a lightning bolt to the face! Lex groaned, but didn''t stop running away! He did not want to test himself against a Heavenly immortal level attack! Suddenly Lex stopped. Or rather, it would be more specific to say that his teleportation ability was forcibly stopped as the space within the zone trembled. Even the tribtion cloud seemed slightly affected by the change happening, though the tribtion just became stronger until it could ignore the external influence. Lex looked back just as he felt Heaven''s Furnace copse, and his pupils constricted! He saw¡­ nothing! There was nothing to see, for the tiny ck hole that had appeared began sucking even light inside of itself! Lex instantly changed to his soul form and tried to escape through the soul ne, but it was pointless. The ckhole existed within the soul ne as well, and slowly Lex began to feel himself being pulled towards the ckhole. It was at that moment Lex wondered if using the missile might have been a little overboard. But he had taken a calcted risk, and he was certain that Jeffrey would have a way to stop this. After all, Jeffrey was a lot closer to the ckhole than Lex. In case he wasn''t already dead, he would stop the ckhole. In case he was¡­ then Lex would be returning to the Midnight Inn promptly! A lightning bolt struck Lex, somehow resisting the pull of the ckhole, yet it was the only thing that could resist that pull, and even then it was because the tiny ckhole''s gravitational pull was less than 1% of a real ckhole. The ocean ofva that covered the massivendmass suddenly began to rise altogether, while thendmass itself began to morph. Lex couldn''t decide whether to be afraid or impressed as he saw that even thews within this ce were being pulled into the ckhole, bing a part of it, and making it stronger. Yet before the ckhole could really begin to gain momentum, it abruptly came to an end. It vanished, as if it wasn''t there to begin with! Lex''s eyes gleamed as he teleported over to his original location, and saw the devastation. Surprisingly, of the thirteen figures, eleven were still there. Their gray shields were all gone, and so was their camouge, but at least they seemed unharmed. For once, Lex was impressed. But he did not intend on asking them how they did it. Instead, he once again unleashed Golden Inferno. Chapter 1244 Major hint Chapter 1244 Major hint The battle raged in full force as Lex and the other immortals tried to kill each other, right above the floating sea ofva. From afar, those immortals who were watching the fight, full of fear and apprehension, were surprised to see the flow of battle was not what was expected. Perhaps in lower realms, a person fighting against multiple opponents in the same realm was not inconceivable, yet the immortal realms were not the same just due to how diverse the applications ofws were. Everyone usually honed a fewws, forming them into extremely potent techniques to deal with various situations. When multiple immortals fought together, even if all of them were bad maniptingws, their sheer number would make it difficult for a lone immortal to fight against them. To do that, the lone immortal would have to have such a strong control overws, just to wade off the variousws targeting him, that he may as well be multiple levels above the whole group within the immortal realm. Yet the situation they were currently seeing was as far from that as possible. Not only was Lex''s level weaker than the rest, he was actually actively experiencing the tribtion to enter the middle levels of the immortal realm. Despite his serious disadvantages, instead of Lex fighting off the eleven immortals, it was the other way around. Sword in hand, Lex was altering thendscape of the zone as each of his strikes cut through theva sea and left deep gorges in thendmass. Golden mes burned in the skies, morphed into mythical beasts as they attacked each of the immortals. Lightning bolts struck Lex from the sky, but dozens of tornadoes, formed fromva, rocks and devastating winds, crashed into the escaping immortals. Eleven immortals fought off Lex''s cmitous attacks while trying to distance themselves from him, but it was impossible. The longer Lex fought, and the more he became ustomed to his power, the better he was able to controlws. Instead of reaching for some ambiguous, unfamiliarws, the moment he tried manipting space he realized how easy it was for him. Combined with his natural affinity for creating barriers, Lex began arranging blockades around their battlefield, closing the immortals in. The only reason most of them managed to survive so long without beingpletely overwhelmed was because they had numerous tools with them that helped them survive. Some tried to practice the ancient wisdom that offense is the best defense. Unfortunately for them, Lex was a master in the realm of defense. He kept Domination sted on full, which was no longer a simple aura technique, though nothing about it was simple to begin with. Thews within the region of Domination became extremely cooperative with Lex, changing on their own to suit his desires. The problem his enemies were facing was that to reach Lex, their attacks had to first cross Domination. Even if the attack crossed the distance, broke through Lex''s shields and somehow didn''t give him enough time to dodge, they would lose most of their lethality when thews contained within the attacks were influenced by Domination. Simple, physical attacks Lex brushed off as if he were facing the wind. He was confident that his physical stats were at par with, if not superior to a peak Earth Immortal. Most likely superior. Which is why, even if an attack didnd on him, it hardly hurt him. A desperate stalemate formed where the eleven immortals were holding on for dear life, resisting all his attacks through teamwork and the use of treasures. But it was evident to all that unless something changed, the outlook for them was extremely poor. Somewhere far away within the zone, there was a poorly made building from some of the rocksying around. It was simple and crude, but since it was so simple that it attracted no attention. Something about it also prevented others from wondering why this simple, crude building could survive the devastation wreaking havoc across the zone. Within that building, Giselle sat within a formation and looked into the distance helplessly. She was here to harvest all the extra, chaotic energy within this ce to charge a special treasure she had. But before she could evenplete her setup, she noticed one very critical thing. All the chaotic energy within the zone was diminishing rapidly! She looked up at the dark clouds above Lex, and saw how they were greedily sucking in the energy of this ce. That didn''t make sense. This zone was a zone that even Celestial immortals could not survive, so why was a tribtion for an Earth immortal taking up so much energy? Even if it was 4 tribtions instead of 1, the lightning could never be as lethal as that for higher realms. So why then were Lex''s tribtions absorbing so much energy? The answer was quite simple, though there was no reason anyone could guess it. Lex''s body had traces of Dao, not to mention the influence Lotus had on it. To transform even an inch of Lex''s body required vastly more energy than any other human in his realm. So the energy that the clouds were absorbing from the zone were not going into making the lightning strikes more dangerous, though that inevitably happened, but into making the lightning strike potent enough to transform Lex''s body. Helplessly she closed her eyes and continued to control the formation, hoping to gain at least some energy before it all gets used up. Alexander and the rest sat around a campfire, roasting some meat. They had no idea what was happening within the zone because they were hiding in a specially prepared treasure. They had many things to do here, but since they were severely underpowered for this zone, they were just sitting things out for now. After all, Rafael told them that soon enough, this ce would be, if not safe, then at least notpletely lethal for them. Outside, the fight which had long reached a stalemate, suddenly changed. The more he fought, the more Lex became familiar with his new abilities, and gained a finer control over his power. Once Lex reached a level of control he was satisfied with, he kicked things up a notch. He had really only learned one sword technique, Inferno de, which consisted of various attacks. He clicked his teeth and produced a small flicker of golden me which he coated his sword with and attacked. Inferno de: Judgment! Lex attacked the nearest immortal, some kind of worm that wore an armor containingws rted to misconception. As a result, most of Lex''s attacks would nevernd on the worm itself, but just narrowly miss it. But with Domination focused solely on the worm, Golden Inferno''s unquenchable hunger to burn, even oveing otherws, his sword intent and the absolute peak brute force he could muster, Lex managed to ovee the effects of the armor. He cut through the ten feet long worm as if it was air, cutting its body in two. Lex had cut other immortals before as well, yet this time was different. Even though Inferno de: Judgment was not an attack at the immortal level, Lex had learned something important during the fight. Usually, immortals maniptews to produce certain effects. But they could also produce actual or physical changes, and if they were on a significant enough level, they would elicit a change inws as well. These immortals, much like Jeffrey, had some way that Lex could not yet detect which would allow them to recreate their bodies if harmed. Yet with the overbearing power of Domination, Golden Inferno, his sword Intent, as well as the massive force produced by Inferno debined with his own physical strength, allws were rendered ineffective. Lex saw the change happen with his left eye. For a moment, the worm gave off feelings of consumption, greed and harvest. It was unusual, as Lex could not understand why the worm, in the midst ofbat, started radiating these auras. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Then he saw Domination twist them as the Golden mes burned them. He saw his strength cleave through them, and all the rest of his attacks consume them in some way. All of his attacks, together, fought a great battle against those sensations. It was a battle for the right to exist, but more importantly, in Lex''s eyes, it was a battle for supremacy - one that those feelings lost. Something in Lex''s mind clicked, as he realized that his t had battled the worms, somehow, and Lex emerged victorious. Something snapped, and the worm, split in half as it was, suddenly lost its energy, falling limp. No new body formed. There was no more resistance. That one, single confrontation resulted in the direct death of the worm, and the stalemate that was held for so long broke. The number of his enemies reduced, while he himself gained a huge hint about how to kill immortals. Crushing their ts thoroughly andpletely was one way to do it. He looked up, and caught Jeffrey''s eye. The mood on the battlefield suddenly changed. Chapter 1245 Black pillar Chapter 1245 ck pir The shift was far from subtle. The eleven immortals had been working together to resist Lex''s assault, keeping him from doing any significant damage. Their strategy, while defense oriented, was not bad. They did not need to harm Lex themselves. After all, they''d already learnt that if they took out overpowered treasures, so could he. So instead of pushing him, they were just holding him at bay, and letting the tribtion do the damage. The tribtion was already at the level where Lex could no longer simply ignore it. The energy within the lightning bolts could nourish Lex, evolving his body further, but thews within were purely harmful. N?v(el)B\\jnn The n was sound, but it could no longer work. Not only was Lex limatizing to his new realm a lot faster than any of them anticipated, he had enough brute power to kill them. His application of his strength to overwhelm an immortal''s ts was actually one of the hardest ways to kill another immortal. There were many, much more efficient and effective ways to kill them, but they were not things one would easily stumble upon. Immortals, in general, did not spread the ways in which other immortals could be killed. It was not enough to be a secret, but it was at the level where a new immortal without sufficient connections or background would have trouble finding out. That was not a problem for Lex. In fact, he already had a very thick document he''d purchased from the Emporium with this information, but he hadn''t read it yet. If things became critical, he''d peak into it. For now, he was satisfied with slowly building up the pressure. Lex teleported towards Jeffrey as if intending to take him down with the same power, yet the others acted as well. They couldn''t let Lex take the initiative anymore, and so preemptively attacked him. But with each passing moment, Lex was bing stronger. A sh of lightning struck down at him, but with his right eye he created a barrier right above him which blocked only thews within the bolt. Itsted for a split second, but that was long enough to eliminate thews from the bolt. This way, Lex didn''t need to actually put effort into blocking the lightning bolt. It was more convenient to just bear the damage to his body. Nine of the immortals suddenly surrounded Lex, and instead of attacking him, or blocking his assault, joined hands together. Lex felt the hair on his body suddenly stand up as he sensed danger. He tried to teleport away, but encountered an obstacle he had never faced before. Instead of space being blocked or affected, thews governing space all around him suddenly felt out of reach, as if they had suddenly be muted. Without them, regardless of how powerful his space affinity was, he could not use it at all. But it was not just spacews that disappeared around Lex. Almost everyw he was familiar with changed, reced instead by this foreign sense of oppression. Lex immediately felt a strain on his t. His t, which was Supremacy, was what Lex used to influencews. That meant that despite his spiritual energy having an affinity forws itself, the part of him that was the most sensitive tows with his t. Conversely, if his t could influencews, thenws could then also be used to influence his t. That was why when the unusual change happened his body, spirit and soul were fine, but his t felt like an immense weight had been dropped on it. The sudden, unexpected impact caught Lex unaware. As if to take advantage of his weakness, a lightning bolt struck him at that exact moment, breaking the pattern of striking after a set number of seconds. WIth absolutely no defense in ce, the lightning bolt burned through Lex''s suit, which had so far survived with Lex''s help, revealing his chiseled body. The immortals fighting Lex suddenly felt immensely intimidated when they saw the state of his body! After having gone through a Fire tribtion just a short while ago, being struck by countless lightning strikes and suffering through all their attacks, Lex''s body was in pristine condition. It was as if it hadpletely healed from all its injuries long ago, and even with the burns from thetest lightning strike, it hardly looked like Lex was weakened at all. They redoubled their focus, increasing the pressure Lex was feeling. Lex, in turn, tried to attack the immortals. But whether it was his physical strength or his techniques, they seemed immensely weakened. It was as if whateverws were involved for each of his actions were suddenly muted, or separated from him by an invisible veil. The feeling of danger increased, and Lex for the first time encountered something Domination could not affect at all. It could bend thews of the universe to its will, but it could do nothing if those veryws were out of reach. A part of Lex''s mind found this situation very interesting. This was a very innovative way to attack other immortals'' ts, and reinforced Lex''s beliefs that attacking ts was one of the most effective ways to kill an immortal - though he was certain there had to be other ways to do it as well. Lex coughed again as the pressure on his t increased. He wasn''t able to easily discover a way to resolve his predicament. There were a few techniques he had not used yet - but he wanted to keep those secret for as long as possible. After all, the fight had just begun. Lex activated his left eye, trying to gain deeper insight into what it was that was oppressing him and hiding all the otherws. He saw a massive, ck pir covering the area all around him, pushing away all the otherws in the region it upied. The pir did not actually exist, but was only a manifestation of whatever it was that was keeping him suppressed. He could not understand what it was, but he could see what it was doing to his t. Chapter 1246 Consequences of his genius Chapter 1246 Consequences of his genius ording to Lex''s understanding of how ts worked, the more he used it to influence aw, the more it would be drained. The greater his own understanding of that particrw, the less the strain would be, whereas conversely the less he understood a certainw, the more strain he would have to endure. Lex also believed that there had to be some way to strengthen his t, though he did not yet understand what it was. The stronger his t was, the longer he could influencews, and to a greater extent. Based solely on those things, Lex assumed that the ck pir was actually some obscurew that Lex had never encountered before, or did not understand. The other immortals were, somehow, strengthening or boosting it to the point where there was no otherw around him, and no escape for him. Even if he tried to fly in a straight line towards the nearest immortal, and outside the territory of the ck pir, he would never make it out. Lex would feel like he was flying at his fastest, and traversing thousands of miles, yet barely cover a few feet. Another lightning bolt struck him, and since he was not able to react at all due to the unusual suppression from the ck pir, he was thrown to the ground, both his shoulderspletely charred. Lex grimaced. It was time to resolve the issue, or use his hidden techniques, though he wondered how effective they would be. If allws were being suppressed, then the ones that were needed for his other techniques should be as well. He had to admit, this was a difficult situation to break out of, but the challenge only motivated him. Since Lex had decided to walk the path of supremacy, how could it ever be easy? He had chosen to walk the path filled with adversity, and this was his first major obstacle. Lex narrowed his eyes and focused. He did not try to control the ck pir - not only did he not know what that was, he was certain the strain of trying to control it would immediately exhaust his t. Instead, he tried to apply the same principle the ck pir was using. It had been strengthened to the point where it pushed aside every otherw. So if Lex managed to reach out to and strengthen some otherw, it should be able to push aside the ck pir. Lex''s soul, spirit and body were much stronger than his peers since he had trained them to be. His t, as of yet, received no such training, but its special nature made it especially suited for a fight. Completely unaware that the amount of energy he used to create his t was vastly more than an ordinary immortal, Lex used his t to reach out to the onew he was intimately familiar with - defense. Even more than space itself, Lex was familiar with thews of defense for the very start of his cultivation journey and much of his progress, he had been mired in them. He reached out, using his t to sense thew, but his t did not have any range. It could not extend beyond his body and reach out to anyws that were not physically touching him. Maybe in the future he might learn how to, but for the moment he was restricted. So instead of manipting thosews, Lex reached out to them. He reached out to thew of defense, and summoned it to him. Although Lex was no longer a user of Regal Embrace, its mark was left in every pore of his body. His affinity for anyw associated with defense was vastly greater than any other, and though Lex barely ever used them, it did not mean he was not aware of them. Lex lifted his sword, and recalled another technique he had learned, but had not used in a long time. When he had learned Inferno de, he had also learned a defensive sword technique called Stalwart Guardian because of how easy it was for him. But Lex rarely ever needed to use it. Now he used those techniques, fueling them with his sword intent, even though he was not being attacked technically. There was a vacuum ofws around him, yet he summoned them to him. His t fought against the pressure it was under, and reached out despite it. Neither suppression nor oppression affected the use of his t, for the path of supremacy was destined to be one filled with trials and obstacles. The summons of his t were augmented by his sword techniques, which sent shivers down the ck pir. Naraka hummed. It did not know how, it did not know why, but it felt that something was preventing it from using its full strength, and so the sword hummed. It lent Lex its strength, which he used to practice out Stalwart Guardian, under the intense gaze of ten hostile immortals. In the face of absolute suppression and superiority, Lex fought back, and summoned thews of the universe to himself. While the ck pir tried to suppress him, he tried to rece it. His actions, his intentions, and the consequences of both of them formed a literal and metaphorical battle for supremacy for thews around himself against the ck pir. Lex, by pure happenstance, embodied the very nature and soul of his t, something most immortals did not achieve for a very long time, causing the strength of his t to explode temporarily. The pir trembled, and the immortals summoning it suddenly paled. Then it broke, and thews of the universe quivered to rush back in. But they were pushed aside. The area around Lex was the Domain of absolute defense, and hundreds ofws associated with it came rushing in, trembling with excitement. In that moment, Lex understood how to better use his t, and he understood what an Immortals Domain was. But instead of feeling happy, he groaned, and looked upwards. His fourth tribtion had not finished¡­ yet his fifth tribtion had been provoked.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Chapter 1247 Double tribulation Chapter 1247 Double tribtion The immortals looked at Lex, horrified. What kind of monster were they facing? How was it possible for a single, new immortal to fight against the concentrated efforts of nine immortals using their ts together for a single purpose? How was it possible for Lex to personify his t so easily? Even if a person knew about the benefits of personifying their ts, actually achieving it was not easy! But that was, in a way, a benefit of a single, simple t. It was much simpler to resonate with it. As a consequence, itcked the versatility of moreplex ts. The immortals were in genuine shock, yet listening to Jeffrey''s advice, they had already nned for failure. That is why only nine immortals worked together to summon the pir, not ten. The tenth was setting up their subsequent attack. Yet the momentary dy their shock caused robbed them of the opportunity to continue attacking Lex. Now that Lex had learned a new way to attack ts, a new way to usews, and a new way to use his t, he wanted to test it out. Especially since he gained an innate understanding of something called a Domain. Simply speaking, a Domain was an area within which thews werepletely under an immortal''s control. It reminded Lex of sealed domains, which were areaspletely cut off from the world and had their ownws sometimes. Regardless, the concept of Domain''s was very interesting, and Lex could understand through very recent experience why an area where he could not ess anyw would be dangerous. Simply said, nine immortals joined together to put Lex inside a Domain. Lex got the feeling that ordinarily, Earth Immortals might not be able to control domains. It seemed overpowered, not to mention that he had never heard of, or ever encountered one before. He looked forward to testing out how useful it was, though he felt restricting it to a singlew was very wasteful. If he could incorporate a few morews, and maybe even add elements of his Domination and Golden Inferno in it, it would be an incredible sight to behold. But that might be easier said than done. Even he knew that the only reason he could maintain his Domain right now was because of the temporary boost his one t got. WIthout it, Lex would not be able to use a Domain again. He also had a sneaking suspicion that it was easier for him to use a Domain than normal because he partially had the status of a newborn realm, which naturally containedws. Lex immediately moved, bringing three of the immortals within the range of his Domain, where the onlyws to exist were rted to defense, stripping them of power and making them just as weak as Lex had been a short while ago. They were both dumbstruck and horrified, yet they could not escape for the very same reason Lex hadn''t been able to escape. While they ran, moving at their fastest speeds, the distance they actually covered was insignificant. Lex gripped his sword, ready to attack, but discovered a w in his own Domain. It only containedws of defense, which meant that even his own attacks would fail! Never mind, he was content to attack these immortals the way they attacked him. Using his right eye, Lex conjured protective shields around the immortals, cing them in the most secure ce possible. It was so secure that even they couldn''t even move if they wanted to, for their barriers left them no room to move - much like how once Lex relied on formations to control space within the Midnight Tavern. To think he could do things like that on his own now. Once he had the three immortals trapped with the barriers, he immediately strengthened the Domain as much as he could. He did this by decreasing the size of the Domain as much as possible to waste less energy, while continuously practicing moves from the Stalwart Guardian techniques. The three immortals immediately paled, and one of them started to bleed through his skin as if his very body was being squeezed. Those immortals who were outside woke up from their reverie and attacked Lex furiously, but to no avail. As soon as their attacks entered his Domain, they would lose their strength and disappear. Jeffrey, who was watching all this from a distance, grimaced, and began to formte a n of escape in his mind. He wouldn''t mind abandoning his allies. The others, too, finally began to feel the same desperation that had long gripped Jeffrey. One of the three immortals died, his body blowing up as if a bomb had been set off inside of him, and the other two were not far behind him. Lex''s eyes gleamed as he finally confirmed another way to kill immortals, though this also ultimately targeted ts. His next idea was to test the mind, affecting their personalities, making them behave contrary to their ts. He wondered how that would affect them. Yet before the next two immortals died, before the other immortals thought of a way to resolve the threat that was Lex, and before Lex finalized his next n of attack, there was a change. A bolt of lightning struck Lex from his fourth tribtion, but Lex''s Domain easily blocked it. Yet something happened immediately after that which was not supposed to even be possible, let alone happen. Lex''s fifth tribtion, which was only supposed to trigger once his fourth one wasplete, struck him down with a bolt of lightning, almost shattering Lex''s Domain! Everyone was stunned, Lex included! How¡­ how in the hell was he experiencing two tribtions at the same time? It didn''t make sense, yet the immortals rejoiced, and Jeffrey dyed his escape ns. Maybe there was hope of defeating him. Lex, on the other hand, frowned. Things were getting out of hand now. It was best if he sped up his spring cleaning. He took in a deep breath, and let his Domain fade. Just as the immortals thought he ran out of energy, a deep and overwhelming aura emerged from Lex''s body, far beyond even his Domination! n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om On Lex''s bareback, a lotus tattoo began to form. Chapter 1248 Time limit Chapter 1248 Time limit Lotus had apanied Lex for a long time, and had yed a significant part in Lex''s journey. Before anything else, Lotus was the first one to evolve Lex''s body, making him stronger and more durable than others in his realm, which was a quality that continued throughout his realms. There were times it cured poisons, not only in Lex but in others as well, absorbing excess energy to prevent Lex from blowing up, and countless other times it had been extremely useful. It was kind of sad to see him go, but at the same time it obviously wouldn''t live with Lex all its life either. At least since they were bonded, they could stay connected, and continue to benefit each other. Initially, that''s what Lex thought. In fact, Lotus had only been even more helpful to Lex since it left his body and drastically increased the feedback Lex got from him. Lotus, due to the immense amount of energy contained within the realm that it was trying to fuse with, spent more time lucid as well, and Lex had taken time to chat with him every now and then. Lotus was incredibly powerful, but its greatest ability as far as Lex was concerned was directly turning energy into matter. That was one of the most broken abilities Lex had ever even heard of, and its applications were limitless. Lotus, being a baby, could not articte how he used the ability, so it just proposed that Lex can just try using the ability himself. Since they were bonded, Lotus could share its ability with Lex temporarily. Naturally, Lex was interested, but they discovered that as powerful as Lex''s body was, it could not sustain the pressure of Lotus'' ability. Despite his affinity for countlessws, and ability to bear immense pressure, there were just some things a mortal body could not do. Now, that was no longer a concern. Double lightning strikes struck Lex''s body, but he did not even flinch, nor did his body burn like it used to. Instead, the lotus tattoo started to form quicker than before, as if it had gained more energy. The final immortal who had long been prepared to pull Lex into their next attack finally struck. He wanted to pull Lex into a special illusion, formed using incredibly potentws, strengthened through the use of some valuable treasures. Yet the moment his attack struck Lex, the immortal suddenly paled and coughed out blood. One of his ts, the one he had used to conjure the illusion, ruptured. It was as if he tried to touch one of the deeperws of the universe - the ones that Earth Immortals were unqualified toe into contact with. No one understood what happened or why, but the feeling Lex was giving off was no longer in the bounds of a mere Earth Immortal. Lex''s eye''s shed open and looked towards the immortal who had tried to attack him. Lex could feel that he could, at most, maintain his lotus tattoo for three seconds with his current energy levels. After that he would be entirely drained of energy andpletely incapable of fighting. Lex realized that even the Earth Immortal realm was not enough to make use of Lotus'' ability to create matter out of energy. But that didn''t matter, for even entering this state was a huge advantage for him for one single reason. He was like a sponge for almost any kind of energy at all. He could absorb them without any reservation, and use it to maintain his lotus tattoo. This included any and all attacks targeting him. He was also better able to manifest his status equivalent to a sentient, budding new realm, which was the reason all the immortals felt pressured around him. It was actually the pressure of someone far superior to them on the Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum. Lex could no longer teleport, it consumed too much energy, so instead he dashed towards the injured immortal and grabbed him. Too weak from his recent injury to escape, and too suppressed from Lex''s aura to resist, the immortal could only watch as Lex grabbed him. Then¡­ then Lex discovered another way to kill immortals. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Constrained by his rapidly dwindling energy reserves, Lex made use of another, minor ability he gained as a result of the tattoo, which was to suck the energy out of anything he touched. In less than half a second, the immortal was drained of all his energy, bing a literal husk. His ts withered out and his soul just¡­ it just extinguished. Lex, on the other hand, gained three more seconds of energy to sustain his tattoo, bringing him to a total of five and a half. "We need to abort the mission," one immortal said as he retreated, but suddenly found a barrier restricting him. It was not one of Lex''s shields that blocked them. Rather, it was Jeffreys. The moment Lex began to emit his dangerous aura, the Wyvern did not hesitate at all. It erected a massive barrier around hisrades and saluted them for their sacrifice of buying him time. Lex, who was feeding on and could feel Jeffrey''s desperation and fear, smiled. Under a rain of lightning strikes, he discovered yet another way to kill an immortal. Empowered by the lotus tattoo, Lex discovered that his physical strength transcended to another realm altogether. All it would take was one p topletely overpower anyws connected to an immortal, preventing them from using anyws that would allow them to recover from theplete and total obliteration of their body. It also prevented them from saving their souls at thest moment, transferring it from their existing body to the new one. Ten secondster, even though he had plenty of energy left, the lotus tattoo faded on its own. It seemed like he could not escape the time constraint in the end, but that was still good enough. Wiping the sweat off his brow, Lex turned towards where Jeffrey ran. It was time to follow him. Up above, in the sky, the final bolt of his fourth tribtion had already turned into a lightning beast, but it had not attacked Lex yet. Instead, with eyes filled with intelligence, it looked at the clouds for the fifth tribtion to end, so that it could apany a partner. Chapter 1249 Illusion Chapter 1249 Illusion Traveling to and from the Trial of Eternity required special means. The Henali had arranged for the zone to be checked once a year, but Jeffrey naturally had his own means of exiting the zone. Since their original n was to make this ce so dangerous that everyone in it would die, of course Jeffrey did not n on staying here. Although this exit was quicker than anticipated, an emergency exit had been prepared from the very first day. It was not a ship that could traverse the Void, but a portable wormhole that could forcefully create an entrance within the zone. The wormholes'' very presence in this ce would spell disaster for whatever location was linked to it, but since when did Jeffrey care? The dy caused by the other immortals being trapped with Lex even bought him enough time to set up everything for his escape and then leave. The problem was that now that the wormhole had been opened¡­ he couldn''t enter it for some reason! As soon as he attempted toe near the portal, his body began to subtly emit a green light which forced him to keep his distance. He had no idea what this light was, where it came from, or why it was preventing him from leaving! n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Every second he tried to enter but couldn''t, he felt more and more fear grip his heart. Was this nned by Lex? Was that the reason he was targeting the others first? He had done something to him, preventing him from leaving. The more he thought about it, the more he believed it. After all, this is exactly what he himself would do. He would y with his target, relishing their pain and anguish as they realized that there was no hope to begin with. Then, just as they had that realization, he would arrive in person to watch their demise. Lex suddenly appeared in front of him, looking from him to the portal, and then back at him and at the green glow on his body. He didn''t understand what was happening, but he could get the gist of it. Something was preventing Jeffrey from leaving. This was actually counter intuitive to his n, but he might be able to make it work. "Go on, leave. I won''t interfere, promise," he said casually, and actually moved aside to give Jeffrey a way. But the more he was like this, the more Jeffrey was sure that Lex had something to do with this. Jeffrey grimaced. Since when was he the one who got plotted against? Since when was he the one who suffered? He was the one who plotted against others! He was the one who caused fear and misery, not the other way around! The wyvern looked at Lex with deep hatred. Since he was a schemer, naturally one of the things he was most cautious of was being schemed against. He had contingency ns just in case he was ever trapped - just like right now! "You''re going to regret-" Before the wyvern couldplete its curse, Lex pped him across his reptilian face. Since the lotus tattoo was gone, the p was not enough to end his life, so he was safe. "Haven''t I heard that one before?" Lex asked out loud. "Yet I''m still here. You though¡­ I can''t say how much longer you''llst." Instead of moving to kill him, Lex did something else. He grabbed the wyvern by the neck, and began seeping into his thoughts. Although he had a seal inside his mind, protecting the most important secrets, Lex didn''t mind trying to break through it. He was already stronger than he was a short while ago, so he might be sessful. A lightning strike struck Lex, and though it burnt his skin and charred some of his muscles, he was mostly fine. Jeffrey, however, also received a bit of Lex''s tribtion lightning and couldn''t help but scream. Lex, meanwhile, didn''t bother at all and continued to pry into the wyvern''s mind. He even used his left eye to try to determine if he could undo the seal. Jeffrey, meanwhile, grit his teeth and decided to do something desperate. Within his body, he had a certain, high-quality crystal that waspletely hidden, undetectable to even Lex through the wyverns body. With nothing left to lose, the wyvern red at Lex heatedly, as if he wanted to eat Lex whole, and crushed the crystal. Lex suddenly sensed danger and tried to dodge, but as if his tribtion was sentient, it struck him exactly then, causing him to freeze momentarily. The fraction of a second''s dy was all it was needed. Jeffrey''s body blew up. There was no build up, and no real warning. It suddenly exploded with such immense ferocity that the lightning tribtion clouds in the sky were disturbed, and a massive fissure broke through to the depth of thendmass. The dark zone was suddenly filled with so much light that it was nearly blinding. The light was quickly followed by a searing heat that threatened to cook even immortal meat. As if a chain reaction had been set off, all thews of the zone which were edging towards chaos suddenly went haywire, acting without rhyme or reason. Liquid fire rained from the sky. Solid ice shot out from within thendmass. Lightning, misshapen and formless, like gas, mmed into the ground, causing devastating destruction. The zone fell onto the verge of destruction, and it seemed like Jeffrey was able toplete his mission after all. It just took a few extra steps. Somewhere far above all this chaos, even above the now dispersing ck clouds, the wyverns body slowly reformed. As he saw the clouds disperse, he finally sighed in relief. The ursed human was finally dead - though admittedly Jeffrey had paid a great price for it. "Oh, is this what you have nned?" a voice boomed through the sky, freezing the wyvern. The wyvern looked up, and saw the damned human. Except, instead of appearing normally, the human''s figure was massive, filling up the entire sky. "Suicide bombs. How original," he said, as if he didn''t sound too impressed. At that moment, Jeffrey realized that he was trapped in an illusion, and he didn''t know since when. Chapter 1250 Glad you could make it Chapter 1250 d you could make it Lex had trained and strengthened all his abilities, so how could he leave Mindmeld behind? Butpared to his other methods, which could be forced, Mindmeld required an element of subtlety - at least for those in a simr realm as himself. This could change if Lex drastically increased his spirit and mental power, but it was something he had never focused on before, so he was not at an overwhelming advantage for now. That is why, the moment Lex pped the wyvern, he had actually already put him under the influence of the Mindmeld. But, since he was concerned that the wyvern might be able to detect signs of infiltration in his mind, within the illusion as well he made himself try to search the wyvern''s brain, while allowing the wyvern to secretly resist. This way, even if the wyvern detected the intrusion, it would feel like it was sessfully hiding from Lex. Lex peeked in on the wyverns ns for a bit, and allowed the situation to progress ording to his expectations. Just as he felt some hope, Lex revealed himself. The point was to push Jeffrey to the limits of desperation, so that he would unveil all his hidden cards, and Lex could feel that they were almost there. "Some kind of explosive crystal inside your body, huh?" Lex said, and dug his hand inside the wyverns body. The pain woke Jeffrey up from the illusion, and he tried to initiate the self-destruction, but now that Lex knew about it, how could he let it activate? Lex grabbed the crystal and pulled it out of the gaping hole in Jeffrey''s body. The wyvern screamed and yelled in anger, but Lex was not paying attention to him. Instead, he observed the crystal with his left eye. It did not contain energy, but something else. As far as he could tell, once the crystal broke, whatever was inside would act as a catalyst in makingws behave chaotically. He put it away in his spatial ring forter, and then looked at Jeffrey. "Is that all you have? Was that how you were going to make me regret things?" Of course it wasn''t. But now Jeffrey was afraid. He could not tell if he was in an illusion or not. Was this reality, or just another illusion, within the double illusion? Was Lex baiting him to find out more? "It seems like you''ve guessed something?" a voice boomed inside his head, and a massive Lex appeared standing behind the one holding him, looking down on the wyvern like a deity looking down on an ant. "How manyyers of illusions are you under? Can you guess?" Lex could feel Jeffrey''s grasp on reality slipping as panic seeped deep into his bones. Should he make Jeffrey think that even this was anotheryered illusion? No wait, he had a better idea¡­ Actually, the truth was that Lex couldn''tyer so many illusions with Mindmeld just yet. But who said he even needed to? After ending his previous illusions and digging out the crystal, Lex put the wyvern in yet another illusion, making it seem like everything that had happened was still within an illusion all along. Lex could feel Jeffrey''s grasp on reality slipping as panic seeped deep into his bones. Should he make Jeffrey think that even this was anotheryered illusion? No wait, he had a better idea¡­ n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om The entire world began to morph and turn into a mix blur of colors that looked like an abstract painting done by a drunk crow. Nothing made sense and everything was absurd. There was a loud cracking sound, and visible cracks spread all around Jeffrey, like that in shattering ss. They approached from all directions, cutting through the blend of colors. The wyvern almost looked with anticipation, hoping for an end to this. The thought was absolutely fleeting, but sent Jeffrey reeling as he realized that he was actually weing death! Before he could have time to react to that thought, the cracks reached him, and everything shattered, revealing a familiar sight. He was back in his arachnid form, within Lex''s grip. Wasn''t this how the fight began? Wasn''t this before everything? He looked up, and saw that the lightning clouds for the very first tribtion were still gathering. Had everything been an illusion all along? How strong was Lex''s spirit to begin with? He felttime pass! How could everything have only happened inside his illusion? "What''s the matter Jeff?" Lex asked casually. "We''ve barely just started. Look alive, we have a lot more to go through. You know, I can alter the flow of time in my illusions. A second in reality is equal to a hundred years, and we haven''t even passed the first second of our battle yet. I feel like we''re going to have a great time getting to know one another." Of course, everything Lex said was a lie. He could not affect the flow of time in his illusions, though he could mildly affect perception. But did he even need to affect the flow of time? As long as his target believed he could, that was enough. Wild, desperate panic took hold of Jeffrey''s heart, and the immortal wyvern began experiencing a panic attack. For immortals, such a thing was much harder to achieve than for mortals, which is why it was also much more dangerous. There was another name for not just panic attacks, but all kinds of mental diseases for immortals: heart demon! A heart demon formed within Jeffrey''s mind as his sanity tried to figure out what was real and what wasn''t. Outside the illusion, Lex smiled. That was actually easier than he thought. Getting besieged was actually much harder than triggering a heart demon, which had been one of his objectives all along. After all, the thing about heart demons was that like all demons, they could bepletely controlled by devils. In fact, Lex had once met a heart demon named Pramod in the first Midnight Games, which is how he got the idea to use one. But the heart demons which infected immortals were much stronger, and more difficult to control. Fortunately, Lex was well connected. From his spatial ring, Lex summoned a small bead and crushed it. A few momentster, a portal simr to the wormhole opened within the zone, and Lilith Val Kilger stepped into the Trial of Eternity. "Hey Lilith, d you could make it," Lex said with a smile. At that very moment, he was struck by lightning. Chapter 1251 Setting the stage Chapter 1251 Setting the stage "That wasn''t ominous at all," Lilith said, chuckling as she looked at the smoke rising from the top of Lex''s head. "Yeah, that''s a thing that''s been going on for a while," Lex admitted. "More importantly, do you think we can use the Heart demon?" n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om He turned to look towards Jeffrey, who waspletely lost within the illusion now. With his own sanity crumbling to pieces, Mindmeld and the heart demons all attacking him together, there was no way that Jeffrey would be able to figure out what was happening at all. This was perfect, because Lex wanted to use Jeffrey to find the more important members, or even the more important bases of Sanguis Pluvia, but an ordinary tracker would not work at transmitting their location in such hidden and secure locations. Even if they worked, they would be easy to find considering all the security those bases no doubt had. For this exact reason, a Heart demon was perfect. By nature, Heart demons were very difficult to discover, which is what made them so dangerous to begin with. Originally, Lex intended to let Jeffrey escape and then follow him. When Jeffrey realized that he couldn''t lose Lex, he would call for powerful backup, which he had other preparations for. Yet Jeffrey could not escape this zone for whatever reason. For situations like this, Lex had many contingency ns in ce, and using a Heart demon to track Jeffrey was one of the better ns. Lex wasn''t worried that Lilith wouldn''t be able toe to the Trial of Eternity. As the daughter of a Dao Lord, even if she was not particrly favored, it should not be a problem for her to go where and when she pleases. As for controlling the Heart demon, he was even less worried. Lex was extremely familiar with how strong the influence of devils on demons was. "Should not be a problem," she said, and ced a hand over the wyverns heart and closed her eyes. After only a few seconds, she withdrew it. "The Heart demon will hide until the right time, then strike. I''ve also bonded with the demon, so it will stay under my control wherever it goes. I''ll also be able to locate it anywhere in the Origin realm, as long as a Dao Lord doesn''t hide it." "Great. How are Gerard and the rest doing?" Of course, Lex knew the answer to that question. Mary kept him updated. But it was only polite to make some small talk with those helping him infiltrate thergest terrorist organization in the realm. "Well, the time limit was too short, but he did what he could. Everyone will be in ce." "Excellent. I''ll just kick things off here, and then finish up my deal with the dragons. Let everyone know that we''ll be starting soon." "This should be exciting," Lilith said with a charming smile, and then exited through the same portal she entered. After making sure she was gone, he began preparing the stage for his performance, and waited till his fifth tribtion was close to ending. When there were only a few strikes left, Lex threw himself back whileunching Jeffrey''s body far away, as if he had been struck from a devastating lightning strike. The wyvern suddenly woke from the illusion of the abstract color field where Lex had trapped him, and looked around, his eyes filled with hysteria. Heid eyes on a devastating crater that filled thendmass, charredpletely ck. On the other side of it, he saw Lex, kneeling on one knee and holding his sword like a walking stick for support. His entire body was covered in lightning burns, and he seemed incredibly weak. He looked up, and saw that the final strike of the fifth tribtion was forming, taking the shape of a different lightning beast atst. Yet with two lightning beasts staring down on him, Lex did not have the luxury to pay attention to Jeffrey at all. For a brief moment, the wyvern was unsure if this was reality or an illusion. But his mind snapped, and he no longer cared. There was no use in protecting secrets if it got him killed, and if he revealed them and got freedom from the illusion, then all the better. Just to be safe, he activated hisst contingency n, and then flew into the sky as fast as he could, flying directly into the lightning beasts! Lex did not try to stop him, and as soon as he came close, Jeffrey''s body was burned to ash from the lightning. Back in the Origin realm, within a certain pod was an egg that suddenly cracked. A small reptilian head popped out, its eyes not filled with wonder, but panic and fear. Yet upon seeing its familiar surroundings, it rxed. For a while, it waited for the illusion to end. But nothing happened. He was free of the illusion atst! But¡­ but what if he wasn''t? Paranoia set in, and the baby wyvern wed out of the shell and hurried to find someone who can help. The reason he burnt his body to a crisp using tribtion lightning was because it could burn away all causality, eliminating any and all tracking methods - just in case. But what he never expected was that Lex was not tracking him through some spell or technique, but rather through a Heart demon. So long as Jeffrey was alive, the Heart demon could follow him effortlessly, unless he overcame the Heart demon himself. Back in the Trial of Eternity, Lex smiled, but then looked up at the sky solemnly. He was not afraid of the lightning beasts. Far from it. Rather, Lex was greatly worried about somehow eliminating both the beasts without somehow triggering yet another tribtion. Growing stronger was great and all, but he had a war to fight. The timing was a little inconvenient. As if they could sense his thoughts, the two lightning beasts growled in anger, and then spread their wings. It was time for their showdown. Chapter 1252 Cut through Chapter 1252 Cut through Everyone in the Trial of Eternity felt a change take ce. Just as they had felt a jolt when the first tribtion was triggered, they now felt the zone calm down. It was as if all the excess energy within the zone had been sucked dry. More importantly, the chaoticws within this ce, which were causing the environment here to be so dangerous, suddenly became docile and inactive. At that moment, many realized that whatever the problem was within this zone, it had been temporarily halted. The underlying issue which was causing this ce to be so dangerous was still a mystery, and likely still existed. But at least for a while, the dangers it posed were gone. That also meant that there would be a wave of treasure hunters approaching this ce, hoping to take advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity. Giselle walked out of the building where she sat, and looked out into the distance. She hadn''t gained much, and it wasn''t worth it to stay here any longer. She would have to change her ns, but that meant getting out of here first. For some reason, she felt like Lex might have a way to exit this ce. She really hoped he did, because she herself did not, and she did not want to waste a year here if it didn''t bring her any benefits. She was aware that if she had a high enough privilege level at the Midnight Inn, she could use it to teleport elsewhere, but she had already used that and needed to wait a total of ten years before she could use it again. What she didn''t know was that for such services, the flow of time that mattered was the Inn''s, and it had already been more than ten years at the Inn since she used it. Giselle took flight under the scarlet light of theva sea that was now hovering in the sky. She was not the only one paying attention to Lex, though she was the only approaching him. Countless other immortals had sensed the change in the zone, and knew that it had to do something with that maniac undergoing a lightning tribtion here, so they all watched. A very deep, very ancient will - the very one that recognised which ancient beasts Lex was fighting - also watched patiently. Lex had his sword drawn, and was focusing all his strength and energy into his sword. His t was almost entirely exhausted, so manipting anyws through it was impossible. He would need to rely on the ability of his eye, which used formations and arrays to maniptews. It need not be said that his own, immense physical strength would also y a part in it. But just because of how immensely powerful the two lightning beasts seemed, he entered his Berserk state. Much like his Flow state, which allowed him to make the best decisions and react without the slightest dy, and his Overdrive state in which his speed of thought increased manifold, his Berserk state allowed him to exert more physical strength than he normally could. He clicked his teeth and produced golden sparks, which coated Naraka in the mes of his Golden Inferno, and honed his sword intent. The two lightning beasts, with their wings spread, also gathered their energy, absorbing everything that this zone could offer them. This sh promised to be genuinely dangerous, yet Lex did not feel any pressure. Instead, he felt like he was standing in darkness, on a path all alone. In front of him was the whole universe, and behind him there was no retreat. He was on the path of supremacy, where failure could easily lead to death, and so the universe was responding by challenging him appropriately. Let alone seed, weaklings did not even deserve to stand on this path. Lex did not know if the universe was actually going out of its way to make things tougher for him, but that''s how it felt. That''s how it had always felt. The Midnight Inn had been a great boon, but the reason he got this far was because of himself. A million times he had been a hair''s width away from death, and each time he had seeded. This time would be no different. The lightning beasts sensed that Lex had entered his peak state, and giving him any more time to hone himself would only make him stronger, so they waited no longer. The twin beasts roared, the strength of their bellows causing a ripple in space, and they leaped down, as if pushing against the clouds would increase their speed. Lex, in turn, did not move at all. He stayed ready, his sword in hand, his gaze locked on the enemy. He would move only once, when the beasts were in the perfect range to strike, and end this with a single strike. There was no fear in his eyes, even though his body was covered in real scars from weaker lightning strikes. There was only immense, intense focus. Time and time again, Lex repeated a mantra in his mind. "No more tribtions, no more tribtions," he said to himself, determined to use just enough strength to avoid triggering another tribtion. The beasts came close, and Lex moved. A single, deep beat traveled through space, as if his heart beat had been enough to cause space to shake in fright. Despite his immense apprehension about triggering another tribtion, Lex felt like he should use a little more strength. So, for the first time, he gripped Naraka not with one hand, but with two. As if that single change had determined the entire oue, Lex rxed, and swung his sword with ease. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om There was no sh, no contest between titans and titanic forces. A single sword sh cut through the two lightning beasts like they were air, and then through the ck clouds up above. Lex narrowed his eyes as he felt like, for a split second, he had cut through not just the tribtion clouds, but to an entirely different space altogether. But when he focused once more, there was nothing there. Chapter 1253 Old friend Chapter 1253 Old friend Lex studied the clearing clouds for a while more, even using his left eye but saw no traces of anything unusual. For a second Lex wondered if he had been mistaken, but then immediately dismissed that idea. Let alone the fact that Lex''s senses were incredibly sharp, even if he were an ordinary immortal, it would not be so easy to fool his senses, and it would be even more unlikely for him to mistake nothing for something. That meant that, somehow, Lex had momentarily cut open a path to another ce with his sword. He wondered if the key to doing so again was just a random cut, or if he had to cut tribtion clouds. Verifying it would require some testing, but Lex had no interest in doing that at the moment. Not only was he upied with other matters, he had no idea what might be waiting for him on the other side. Since he suspected that this was something which could be essed through cutting apart tribtion clouds, he could do some research on the topic first. It was unlikely that he was the first person to ever discover something like that. He made a mental note to look into whatever happened, but it was not a priority at the moment. Fortunately, he had not triggered a sixth tribtion, which was great. He closed his eyes, and felt his body healing for a moment. Despite taking some medication, he was far frompletely healed, not to mention that his body was still catching up to his realm. Technically speaking, even his immortal body was still being formed. Lex flexed his shoulders causing his bones to crack. He was a little stiff, but that was mostly because his muscles were cooked. They would heal soon enough. "Mary, let everyone know," Lex said, cracking his neck. "Were waiting on word from Lilith. As soon as she gives the signal, all teams are to be deployed. But call back Dr. Best. I have an idea that''ll require his help." Mary appeared in front of Lex, this time wearing a judo uniform with her hair tied in a pony. "You know he''ll be cranky if you do that. He''s about to¡­" "Yes, yes, I know. That''s exactly why I want him to stop. Trust me, it''ll be worth it." Mary shrugged and disappeared. Lex turned and looked in the distance where the purple dragon was watching, and raised an eyebrow. The dragon was stronger, though not by much. It was not enough to be a threat to Lex, but it was a little absurd for him to grow stronger for no reason at all. Lex had to deal with him but, yet there was something else he had to deal with first. He sensed a familiar aura before from a strange metal ore he hadn''t recognized, yet now he finally recalled where he had sensed it before. Lex teleported over and looked at the shiny metal. "It''s been a while Larry. Where have you been? Hiding from your girlfriend? She''s not expecting, is she?" Lex asked casually. For a moment the metal was unreactive, but then there was a loud audible sigh, and the metal began to change form, turning into Lex''s old, perverted friend. "Single people shouldn''t make fun of couples," Larry said, his face forming before his body which was still forming. "It makes you seem like you''re jealous." Lex grinned as he sensed Larry''s aura. He was at the peak of the Nascent realm himself, almost ready to go undergo the immortal tribtion himself. If this were back on Earth before everything happened, he''d be the strongest human on the. Unfortunately, too many things had changed since then. Before Lex could continue his banter, Larry threw Lex a vial full of green, liquid metal. "Don''t ask me what it is or where it came from, only Rafael knows that. But with this, you should be able to track down Jeffrey - at least that''s what Rafael told me." Lex raised an eyebrow. He was suddenly reminded of how Jeffrey hadn''t been able to leave the zone because of a green glow on him. Was that Larry''s doing? "Just¡­ do me one favor. Can you¡­ can you find out about my family from him when you catch him?" Larry didn''t let his voice waver, but how could Lex not sense the immense pain in it. Unfortunately for him, Lex had already looked into that. Without saying a word, Lex extended his finger and ced it on Larry''s forehead, transferring some information via Mindmeld. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Jeffrey had already killed all of Larry''s family long ago, but took DNA samples of all of them, and had clones of them made which he used as ves for manualbor. He had suspected that he would meet Larry again, since he knew about Larry''s ability to grow by absorbing metal. His n was to repeatedly kill Larry''s family in front of him whenever he met Larry again, slowly agonizing him until he broke his mind. He had quite aprehensive n on how he would do that. To Lex''s surprise, Larry let out a sigh of relief as he closed his eyes. "It''s better to know than to not know," he said, exining since he knew his actions would seem strange. "Do you think I cane with you? To¡­ to avenge them?" Lex shook his head. "It''s too dangerous for someone at your level, trust me. Even I''m a little weak for what''s about to happen next." "If I find any of the clones¡­ what do you want me to do?" Lex asked. Larry shrugged, and turned away. "Let them be free and live however they want to live. Even if they''re clones, they''re not the same people. I¡­ I have to go help Rafael with some things. I''ll drop by the Inn when I''m free. We can catch up. It really has been a while." "I''ll look forward to it," Lex said, and let Larry go away. He felt sorry for his friend, but he also felt very curious about what Rafael was doing. There was more to his old teachers son than he realized. Chapter 1254 Arrogance, I can do better Chapter 1254 Arrogance, I can do better With nothing else left to do, Lex turned and looked towards the dragon. Truthfully speaking, involving dragons into his ns was a risky move on his part. Unfortunately, it was necessary. When facing an enormous organization that even the Henali struggled with, Lex wanted each and every asset he could gain, and dragons were one of the most powerful races in existence. If he could harvest their power somehow, it would go a long way towards fighting off Sanguis Pluvia. Unfortunately, asking nicely was not going to work, and no matter how irredeemably evil and corrupt Jeffrey was, he was not stupid enough to provoke the dragon race. It would have been nice if Lex found evidence of him trying to clone dragons or something, but Lex did not believe there was any entity stupid enough in the universe to try something as provocative as that. That only left one thing that Lex could do. He had to use his own infamy and hatred to attract them together, or as many of them together as he possibly could, and then use some other means to divert their attention. He had already arranged for how to divert their attention - he only hoped that it actually worked, or that the dragons didn''t do anything unpredictable. Speaking of dragons, Lex used his treasure finding Glyph to search for the most valuable thing nearby and quickly grabbed it before putting it away. He owed Vera a considerable debt now, with all the prophecies she kept giving him, only telling him to pay what he thought that revtion was worth. The crystals in this zone which could help in passing tribtions were extremely valuable, and should make a dent in his debt to her. He wasn''t really too worried about paying her back, but it would be nice to get some variety to shake things up. He couldn''t just rely on the Inn for everything and getzy. With that done, Lex teleported to the purple dragon who had locked his legs. No matter what happened, he was determined to not kneel in front of the human once more. Suddenly, Lex realized why he had grown stronger. It was not enough to face Lex, but it should be enough to put up some resistance against Lex''s Domination. Unfortunately for the dragon, his Domination had grown only stronger with his realm, but that was fine. Lex didn''t intend to humiliate the dragon - not with Domination anyway. "Now then, with that taken care of, why don''t we get down to business," Lex said with a smile. Though, given the state of his body, his smile made him look menacing instead of charming. "I presume you were sent here to¡­what? Capture me? Kill me?" n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Do not patronize me, human," the dragon spat forth, his spirit already recovered. Even though he was suppressed, andpletely overpowered by Lex, he never admitted defeat. "Say what you want and get it over with. I will not scurry or apologize for my intentions. It is your honor to be hunted by a dragon, and it will be your honor when you are killed by one." The dragon was angry and humiliated, but Lex didn''t mind its harsh words. If anything he appreciated them, for it made him feel less guilty about using the dragons for his own goals. "Apology? Do you think I''m here for something like that? No boy, I''m here to get you to deliver a message." The purple dragon''s body wasrger than Lex, although it was not even asrge as Pelvailins hand. That only made sense, since Lex could sense that as far as dragons were concerned, this one was a juvenile. "You dragons are pretty impressive, I''ll admit that. The first time I saw a dragon in real life, I was blown away. But the more time I spent thinking about it, the more I realized that you all are not so great. After all, everything you can do¡­ I can do better." Lex''s words caused the little dragon to growl aggressively, but that is all he could do. He could feel just how dangerous Lex was, and knew exactly how much he could afford to push things. Should he actually seed in aggravating Lex, his future would not be so bright. Being able to tolerate humiliating circumstances was also included in the training that he took, although he never thought he''d actually have to use that training one day. "Your Dragons Might, I can do better," Lex said as he took a step forward, Domination ring out. "Your Dragons breath, I can do better," he continued, a small streak of golden mes escaping from between his teeth. "My skin is tougher than your scales, and my fingers cut deeper than your ws. The universe bends to my will, willingly or unwillingly, and that''s before I begin even really trying." Lex did not summon his lotus tattoo, since he literally could not for now, he did trigger momentarily, and shed a much stronger, deeper aura. He approached the dragon and grabbed its face, pulling it down so that Lex could look it right in the eyes. "Your whole species is so arrogant. You put a bounty out on my head without even understanding the situation, and then sent a newborn dragon to take me down without understanding my strength." For a moment, Lex continued to stare into the purple dragon''s eye, its entire body under Lex''s control. Then he grinned. "But even arrogance, I can do better," he said, his voice radiating with powerful pride. "The reason I didn''t hurt you is so that you can act as my little messenger boy. Go back to your elders, let them know. Within the same realm, there is no dragon who can stand against me, and only at a higher realm is a dragon worthy of bing my mount. "Dragonsbane is not a name I chose for myself, but in the future when the universe sees me, they will see me standing atop the head of a true dragon. If you have the guts to face me thene. The universe will witness your challenge of me, and the universe will witness your failure." Lex let the dragon go, but it was not able to move or retreat even if it wanted, since Lex''s influence remained. "If you want to find me, you can follow this," Lex said as he walked away, his back to the dragon. He left behind a vial of green metallic liquid. Since Lex had the demon guiding his path, he did not need the liquid, but it would do agood job in leading the dragons to the right ce - assuming it worked. If it didn''t¡­ well, Lex had faith that the dragons would find him anyway. Truthfully, after spending so many years with Pel, he knew better than anyone just how wide the scope of a dragon''s power truly was. Chapter 1255 Difficult decisions Chapter 1255 Difficult decisions Lex was about to return to the Midnight Inn when he sensed a gaze fall on him. If someone even as much as thought about him within 100 miles of his body, Lex would be able to sense, which is why it was so easy for him to detect someone looking at him. Much more than that, Lex even sensed the emotions within the gaze. They were filled with curiosity, but much more than that, they were filled with apetitive spirit. "How was it? Did you find what you were looking for?" Lex asked, even before Giselle revealed herself. "Unfortunately not," said the ballerina, without divulging that he was responsible for that failure. Even then, Lex could easily surmise what had happened. "If you don''t mind me asking, is there something specific that you''re hoping to achieve by finding such obscure treasures? Maybe I can help you out." Giselle shook her head. "Not everyone can go through a bunch of tribtions on a whim like you," she said with a hint of usation. "Some of us need to work hard to grow stronger to face our future tribtions." Lex snorted, not believing her at all. But then again, it was true that not everyone had as easy ess to treasures as he did. "I''m kidding. I just have a challengeing up that I''m preparing for. Some of the treasures I''m searching for are to buy others help, while some of them are to genuinely aid my own growth. This ce, for all the valuable treasures it still holds, no longer has what I need, so I was thinking of leaving. Do you have a way out of here?" n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "I''m just going back to the Midnight Inn. Why don''t you use the Inn as well?" "I''ve already used the Inn''s privilege to travel to another. I can''t use it for a few more years. If I have to spend time in some ce, I might as well spend it here. At least I don''t need to pay rent." Lex let out an amused chuckle. "Trust me, you can use the privilege again. It''s been a lot more than ten years since you probablyst used your ability - at least within the Inn." Lex held out a golden key for her, but she produced one of her own and left. A momentter, Lex also left. He didn''t know how much time he had before Lilith sent word, so he had to recover as much as possible. The faster time flow of the Midnight Inn was perfect for that - not to mention that he needed to check up on some things. Giselle, who returned to the Inn after years, was stunned the moment she returned. It was not just the World Eater in the sky that shocked her, or the exceptionally nourishing spiritual energy, tinged with elements that she could not find anywhere else, it was because she could feel the faster flow of time. This was definitely not the case thest time she was here. Giselle had been to her fair share of other realms, and generally speaking, the flow of time was slower, not faster than the Origin realm. The flow of time was usually determined by the size and maturity of a realm, but even then,tely there had been fewer and fewer realms with faster flows of time. It was like there was a universal trend for realms to reach a flow of time closer to the Origin realm. In fact, the ongoing trend was to reach an even slower flow of time than that, as the flow of time even in the Origin realm was steadily slowing down. It was just that such a process urred over a few million years, which is why it was not noticeable right now. Giselle knew a few things that most in her realm did not - mainly concerning the ongoing realm wars which were wreaking havoc across the universe. The fact that the Innkeeper was so openly disying a realm with a faster flow of time was a tant challenge to some immensely powerful entities. She felt afraid. Spending even a second here was incredibly dangerous. She wanted to immediately use her privilege to escape this ce and teleport to another. At the same time, she was immensely tempted. The faster flow of time would not only aid in her cultivation, it could rapidly increase her understanding of her affinity with time. She dared not directly peer into the secrets of thew of time, but developing her affinity and letting the natural influence her affinity allowed her over time should not be a problem. She was caught between two immensely critical decisions. Ultimately, her thoughts went to Lex, and his overwhelming performance within the Trial of Eternity. Even though, on a universal scale, he was still incredibly weak, she had to admit that even the top most forces of the universe might have trouble making someone that powerful. Of course, she herself did not count. She was an exception due to her unique circumstances, and was more than certain that if she went all out she could go toe to toe with Lex. But when she considered that he had only just entered the immortal realm, she felt slightly inferior. She clenched her fists and directly went to rent out a Meditation room of the highest level. At the same time, Lex walked into his personal Meditation room, and looked at the giant, slumbering dragon there. Pelvailin, or rather Pel. Jr. was wearing the Midnight Inn uniform - meaning that the massive dragon was wearing a suit. This was not an aesthetic thing, though Lex had to admit that the dragon looked quite dashing. Instead, the purpose of the suit was solely to help the soul trapped within the body to be able to move the body. In the distance, Geeves was standing on a stedder, hand-stitching something near the tail of the dragon. Lex ignored him, appeared near the head of the dragon, and gentlyid out the cultivation mat he had received as a gift, before sitting down. It was time for his first cultivation session as an immortal. Chapter 1256 Casually growing stronger Chapter 1256 Casually growing stronger His cultivation technique automatically informed him about how cultivation changed now that he was in the immortal realm. For the most part, cultivation was now divided into two steps. The first, as usual, was to absorb energy into his body and refine it, though that too had be moreplex than it was before. Basically, prior to the immortal realm, cultivators in general just generically absorbed spiritual energy. Yet that was no longer sufficient within the immortal realm. Now, he needed energies of a higher level to cultivate. If, for example, he were in an environment such as Earth, which only had low levels and concentrations of energy, not only could not cultivate at all, but replenishing his energy reserves would also take much longer than usual. In essence, a with a 2 star rating would barely be sufficient to sustain his level, but he would need the environment of a 3 star to befortable, and have sufficient energy to cultivate to reach a higher realm. One of the reasons Lex did not need to absorb energy to directly reach level 5 Earth Immortal realm was because his body was already oversaturated with the highest quality energy he got from cultivating within the Midnight realm. The cultivation technique did not give him a breakdown of energies, how they were ranked and differentiated, but Lex could simply inherently feel their differences. This was something he would need to study in greater detail, for what the cultivation technique did inform him of was that his growth will be affected by the type of energy he absorbs. It also let him know of the most powerful and highest ranked energy in the universe: Protos Energy. How could he forget it? That was the energy he absorbed, in the smallest quantifiable amount to end up evolving his cultivation technique. Something told Lex that it would not be easy to find such energy once more, or that he should depend on such an energy for his cultivation. While it might make him incredibly powerful, there was one drawback to cultivating with increasingly powerful yet rare energies. Getting enough of it to help continue to fuel his growth would be difficult. For now, Lex did not delve too deeply into this matter. The energy within the Midnight realm was more than enough to support his growth. The second aspect to cultivation was a deeper understanding ofws. So far, Lex had a lot of very surface levelprehension aboutws and how to apply them in general, but he could not be considered knowledgeable on a deeper level in anyw, including defense. His understanding was, at best, better than other new immortals, but it was a far cry from that of even Earth immortals at the peak of the realm. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om By increasing his understanding ofws, he could directly increase his power without even raising his realm. By absorbing higher level energy, he could directly increase his energy reserves, but more importantly, his immortal body and its parameters. All of that was the traditional way one cultivated within the immortal realm. Lex, of course, had an additional way of training due to his unique cultivation technique, and it was what he had been doing all along. He could absorb the strengths of any treasure he consumed, any energy he absorbed or anything he was touching. So by sitting atop the dragon, and cultivating, he could more effectively draw the strengths of dragons into himself and make himself stronger. This was very important, for Lex was not truly as arrogant as he had presented himself to be in front of the dragon. He had not forgotten that a majority of his newfound strength and abilities came from absorbing the strengths of dragons. That was not even considering the fact that Glyphs, which had be an integral part of hisbat capabilities, were essentially just a way for dragons to learn to use their powers. The way that thews of the universe naturally just willingly changed around dragons desires was actually quite scary. Lex knew for certain that the powers dragons could wield was greater than that. After all, he had spent years with Pel in his ring. The only reason he had even given that ring to Moon to begin with was because he had upgraded it slightly, giving Pel the ability tounch a powerful soul attack. It could act as a secret protective weapon for her. Regardless, the point was that a more mature dragon, at the peak of the Earth immortal realm would be much more dangerous and challenging than the one he had faced in the Trial zone. Not that he was increasing his strength to fight dragons. He was increasing his strength to be the best. Once he had absorbed everything he could from the dragons, he would move onto other powerful races. He''d already made a list of some impressively powerful ones he''d learned about, including Raiju, Phoenixes and even Djinn. But getting his hands on their corpses, the way he had with this dragon, would not be simple. These were matters for another time. Lex closed his eyes and began cultivating. It felt so easy. It felt so simple. When Lex was a mortal, spiritual energy traveled in his body via meridians, but now that he was an immortal, it flowed freely through his body, yet that did not cause any chaos either. There were patterns to the flow, traveling through a certain sequence, orbiting his Golden core, which was also the seat for his t when it was inactive. Lex felt his mind tremble as he came to a realization that the outline of the flow of his energy formed the array character for supremacy. As the flow of energy within his body gained momentum, his body subtly started to absorb energy from outside. His cultivation technique kicked in, absorbing the strongest, most powerful attributes that the dragon underneath him could provide. Yet, almost immediately, Lex felt a certain blockage. Something deep inside of Lex sensed that the gains he could get from the dragon were limited by his own body, and though his technique could strengthen and enhance his body beyond anything he was supposed to ordinarily achieve, it could not change what his body was on a fundamental level and so ultimately remained restricted. This sensation did note from his cultivation technique, but something deeper and more inherent to his existence. Then his physique activated, in conjunction with his cultivation technique. Lex was under the impression that his physique could only work on other humanoid beings and not himself, yet that''s exactly what was happening. His physique was actively and subtly changing his body, allowing his cultivation technique to absorb even more from the dragon than it was already doing. Chapter 1257 Heart Chapter 1257 Heart Lex immediately felt the changes, and felt his physique activate as well, yet instead of being rmed by it, Lex paid more attention to it now. He wanted to gainplete control over his physique so that it would stop randomly being triggered. It had been fine for now, but it could cause him some huge issues down the line. Since Lex''s brain had evolved when he became immortal, now able to directly peer at the secrets of the universe, understand them andprehend them, it was much easier for him to pick up on things now. He immediately perceived that there was a lot more to physiques than it seemed. Unlike bloodlines, which had a definitive origin, physiques could ur randomly and did not need a history in one''s family tree for it to ur. That meant their origin was not simple, which became evident to him as he observed his physique in action for the first time as an immortal. There was something fueling his physique, but whatever it was escaped Lex''s vision. Even his left eye couldn''t trace the source. That definitely aroused his curiosity, because Lex was under the impression thatws were the underlying cause for everything. They defined all of reality, and so should have been at the root of all urrences. Yet Lex could see countlessws working on his body under the influence of his physique, yet they were being directed by something else. The actualws at work did not attract Lex''s attention at all. Those were just the ordinary operations ofws. Anything and everything that urred within the universe was as a result of the normal operation ofws. That was not the same as what Immortals did, who could wieldws as they desired, bringing about changes and results outside their normal operations. Then again, he had merely stepped foot into the immortal realm, so it only made sense that Lex was not privy to the deeper secrets of the universe. He fell into a meditative state, conscious of his changes, allowing them to happen while studying them. At the same time his body was rapidly recovering from its injuries, finishingpletely entering the immortal realm while at the same time evolving beyond the function that the human body was designed for. Even when humans became immortals, the makeup of their bodies did not change. Even though they no longer relied on many of the functions that the base human body was designed for, it was not like the body just removed those organs. Instead, it made those organs stronger, and gave them additional functions to suit their new realms. Well Lex''s body, under the effects of his physique, took that a step further. It pulled from the Heavenly immortal underneath Lex, and added it to his own body. His kidneys, like the dragons, gained the ability to filter not just the blood within his body, but the energies as well. Lex''s brain evolved, even though it had recently undergone an upgrade upon bing an immortal. Not only did he gain a finer control over his entire body, but the way it stored memories altered just a bit. Mortal human brains did not have the capacity to exist for very long periods of time, which is why normally when humans lived for too long they started to get bored, numb or depressed. Cultivation naturally evolved the brain to resist these, and make the brain more suitable to exist for hundreds of years. Immortals'' brains took this to a whole new level. But that didn''t change the fact that the origin of the brain was based on that human brain, which still affected how humans processed the universe around them. Comparatively speaking, dragons, who were born as immortal beings, had brains that were designed to constantly wield greater power as the years went by, and were adapted for infinite life. Although Lex''s consciousness, or spirit, was no longer restricted to his brain, the evolution of the brain was still reflected in an evolution of his spirit. While the changes to Lex''s other organs were still subtle for now, and would require a long period of cultivation toplete the evolution, the changes to his heart were the greatest and the most drastic. The muscles that made up the human heart, known as cardiac muscles,were special because unlike other muscles in the body, they never got tired. They were also strong enough to pump blood across the entire human body, which was no easy feat. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The muscles that made up the dragon heart were even more special, not in the least because they had to pump dragon blood which was thick and viscous like flowingva. Just like every other being, the heart of a dragon contained the strongest a best that their body had to offer, making it nigh indestructible. It was not as durable as a dragon''s scale, butpared to all the other muscles in a dragon''s body, its heart was the most resilient. Instead of mimicking the quality of the heart, Lex''s evolution directly reced his human heart with that of a dragon, while the rest of his body adapted subtly to amodate such a change. Lex was reminded of the fact that his older sister, Belle, was said to have the heart of a Valkyrie, which allowed her to use the actual powers and abilities of angels. He wondered what impact the change in his heart might have on him. He would have to wait to find out. Meanwhile, he continued to observe his other changes. While not as drastic as his heart, his other organs changed as well. He just hoped his skin wouldn''t turn into scales¡­ Fortunately, that is not the aspect of a dragon that his skin took on. Instead, as the organ responsible for the temperature control of the body, his skin took Lex''s fire immunity to a whole new level, while also giving him direct control over the temperature around him. More importantly, Domination fused into his skin like Dragons Might was fused into their very bodies. This was bound to result in an interesting change. Chapter 1258 Its time Chapter 1258 It''s time Even though Lex did not need to breathe to live ever since he became an immortal, and could literally live the rest of his life without taking another breath, he felt a mild sense of suffocation as his lungs began to change. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Lex activated his right eye, imprinting the very Glyphs and arrays which gave birth to Golden Inferno into the walls of his lungs. His lungs, which were growing strong enough to cause gales and hurricanes, suddenly started to morph in a different direction. The evolution which was started from his physique, guided in a certain direction by Lex himself, was taken a step further by his cultivation technique. Since Lex''s growth using the technique was dependent on his own actions and it saw an opportunity to elevate him based on his own actions, it immediately began to adapt his body. But then as his lungs adapted to generate and tolerate the mes of Golden Inferno, the rest of his body adapted to support the ability. His stomach gained the ability to digest anything and everything, bing a way in which he could absorb energy from any material in case he needed it. Lex''s galldder, his spleen, his intestines, his pancreas, everything evolved, shedding some of its older functions and gaining new ones to suit his new status as an immortal. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om The minutes flowed by as Lex''s condition slowly went towards the peak, a state he was reaching for the first time in his immortal state. Pel Jr. who had inhabited the dragon body for years already, for the first time, felt a change within it. Over the past few years, it had steadily been growing stronger, nourished by the energies of the realm. To a small extent, that nourished Pel Jr. as well, but for the most part it just oppressed the soul further. But now, for the first time, it sensed movement in the opposite direction. The energy and strength within the dragon''s body was finally heading towards weakening, even if it was only barelyprehensible. It was like a small, thin stream of water was escaping a giant dam. At the current rate, it would probably take years to deplete the dam, if ever, considering it might replenish on its own. But at least it was a positive change as far as Pel Jr. was concerned. It was especially pleased since, with the addition of the new suit, it would be able to move about within certain limits. He was extremely excited to go out and move around for the first time. Outside, Leonidus was overlooking the expansion to the Midnight battalion, watching them form the Midnight mech. He had heard many stories of how well the previous battalion implemented it, and wanted to live up to their legacy. Who knew that with a new battle on the horizon, many soldiers from the previous battalion once again signed up. Although they had not trained forbat for years, they retained a certain edge that even those who had specifically trained forbat did not have. More importantly, even though they had morebat experience than Leonidus, they did not raise an issue with him leading them. Unfortunately, not all the previous members joined the battalion - not because they didn''t want to fight, but because they were more effective alone than in a group. Z, who was deep in the wildnds of the Inn, stood at the edge of a canyon, looking down. He was not wearing the usual Inn uniform, but instead he was wearing a hoodie, jeans and a pair of headphones. Geeves nearly fought with him for asking for such a set of clothes, but in the end he relented. All around Z, the ground trembled, forming a symphony that resonated with the earth and the sky. He raised his hand, as if he were a conductor in front of an orchestra, and the ground crumbled, forming a new canyon. Luthor was meditating within a chamber of fire, while Gerard sat at a cafe with Lilith. Countless other workers, who had spread out across the entire Origin realm, had been recalled to the Midnight Inn. Although it looked like they were rxing, each and every one of them were just conserving their strength, waiting for the moment they would be sent out once more. It could take a few minutes, a few hours, or maybe even days or weeks. Such things could not be determined. From within Jeffrey''s heart, the heart demon looked out and took in everything, reporting its location to Lilith constantly. The more it felt how panicked Jeffrey was, the more it grinned. The wyvern had long since gone through numerous cleansing techniques, ridding itself of any tracking methods. But no matter what it did, it felt like Lex was always watching him. He could feel Lex''s gaze on his own neck, and a chill traveled down his spine. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong, which it tried to exin to its superiors, but none took him seriously. Finally, feeling desperate, he reached out to Her majesty! He received approval for an audience, but before he could be taken to her, he was brought to a secure facility where the personal guards of Her majesty checked up on him. "I''m telling you, I''ve already gone through countless precautions. No one is track-" Jeffrey''s voice was caught in his throat when it noticed a familiar, green aura suddenly emerge from his body. The guards suddenly released a deep killing intent as they moved towards Jeffrey to detain him. Meanwhile, deep within Jeffrey''s heart, the Heart demon suddenly felt threatened. Those guards, whoever they were, might be able to find him. Unwilling to wait any longer, he sent the final signal to Lilith. Some timeter, Lex, who was still meditating atop the dragon, heard Mary''s familiar voice. "Lex, it''s time," she said. Lex ended his meditation, and looked up at Mary who was dressed in the familiar style of suit worn by the Midnight battalion. "Finally." Chapter 1259 Panel upgrades Chapter 1259 Panel upgrades There was a sudden, invisible change that urred throughout the Origin realm. It was not a shift in the energies of the realm, nor a change in the major powers that existed within. It was a change in destiny. Such things were actually a frequent urrence, for the future was in a constant state of flux. Destiny, too, was flexible - at least in how it urred, even if the ultimate final oue was a little less flexible. There were countless such subtlews that flowed and guided the direction of existence towards what it should be. Some felt that this maniption was a guidance of powerful forces, while others simply thought this was arge-scale application of simple, fundamental forces such as the diffusion of heat, which always sought to bnce out. While the underlying cause for such things was open to debate, the fact that they existed, and were measurable andprehensible was a fact. Which is why as soon as the change urred, a mysterious force which seemed to be waiting for it covered the change, so that it was imperceptible. The change, and the veil appearing to hide the change happened at almost exactly the same time. No one would notice - at least for another few minutes. Even after they noticed, they would not understand what happened for a little while longer. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Hundreds of people appeared across the realm, and then disappeared. Armies started moving out, and then vanished. At the same time, Inn workers teleported to hundreds of news and silently connected them to the Midnight Games, without anyone noticing. For now, no new armies arrived on thoses. Yet in the Midnight Inn, the countless guests who were watching the games suddenly noticed a new screen pop up. It was small, so that it would not intrude on anyone''s viewing experience, and one could turn it off if they wished. Yet the fact that it appeared so suddenly surprised them. When they erged the screen to see what it held, their breath caught. This was no newpeting world, nor was this a at war, being invaded by insects. This was the Midnight Inn! An army stood in front of them thousands, no, tens of thousands strong, all wearing the vaunted suit of the Midnight Battalion. Lex watched the screen as well. The first time that he had sent out the battalion, he had unlocked the Battalion panel which gave him ess to formations that the battalion could use together. That is how the Midnight mech was born. But he could do nothing else for every other aspect of the panel was grayed out. Mary had told him he probably needed to recover system functionality to 20 or 25% before getting more functions. Now that he was at 40%, he had unlocked two more functions. One was Augmentations, of which Lex had unlocked a few. Only one could be active at a time, so for this time, he selected the Mirror Image augmentations. As soon as he selected it, another army, exactly as strong, appeared right beside the first one. They lookedpletely identical to the first one, and gave off the exact same aura. With a single selection, Lex had doubled his army in size, though the strength of the mirror image army was only 50% of the real one. It was tragic, but that didn''t change the fact that Lex had created a new fighting force out of this air. More importantly, they could still use the other functions of the battalion panel. The third function he unlocked was a simple one, an effective one, but also one that cost 1 MT to use. It was called Bargain, and gave the battalion a 20% discount. What that meant was that the battalion would spend 20% less spiritual energy, take 20% less damage, suffer 20% less exhaustion and so on. Mostmon negative influences on theirbat ability would be 20% weaker - for the next one week. After that, he would have to pay another MT. This was also limited to 1 million battalion soldiers, so if for example the Midnight Battalion contained one million and one soldiers, the cost would be 2 MT. Lex wasn''t concerned about the cost though - even though he was practically bleeding MT to host the Midnight Games. If the viewers tipped the battalion, he would naturally make his money back! A hush fell upon the Inn as all the guests tried to understand what was about to happen. They felt like there was about to be a big change in the games, but why had there been no announcements about this? "How long do you think you''ll need?" Lex asked Pel Jr. who had activated the effect of his suit. "Ten minutes, give or take," Pel Jr. answered. Ten minutes within the Inn meant that it would be around 3 minutes in the Origin realm. He could make it work. "Don''t bete then," Lex said as he prepared to leave. "Don''t forget to connect the as soon as possible." Lex nodded. "Hey Mary," Lex called as he disappeared from his meditation room, appearing on a random the Inn was connected to. "Now that the system has recovered a lot of its functionality, shouldn''t it be easier to connect to news?" "Actually, there have been some changes. Within a realm already connected to the Inn, as long as you approach any celestial body, you can purchase a ticket for it. How long the Inn takes to connect to it depends on the star rating of the ce, but in general the speed has decreased drastically. Now, instead, you have to purchase higher level tickets to connect to new realms - though establishing a connection to any new realm should take a year at minimum. The year is ording to the flow of time of the realm you are connecting to." Lex nodded, then looked at the coordinates of the ce where Gerard was supposed to be. Traveling across gxies was not something an Earth Immortal should have been able to do easily. But Lex did not care about what should or should not be easy. A momentter, he disappeared once more. Chapter 1260 Wasting time. Chapter 1260 Wasting time. Her majesty''s guards were in the peak Heavenly immortal realm, which is why Jeffrey stood no chance to avoid their grasp - not that he intended to avoid it to begin with. He was panicking as it was when he saw the green aura emerge from his body, panic once again spreading through his mind. How could this green aura still be covering him? Not only had he ditched his previous body, cleansing the connection between them through tribtion lightning, he had then proceeded to repeatedly cleanse his mind, body and soul so that there was no chance for Lex to trace him at all. Their previous fight had left Jeffrey rattled, and he believed that Lex''s n for revenge was genuinely a huge threat. It was as if everything¡­ everything was ying right into his hands. Unless¡­ Jeffrey began looking around frantically, exerting his mind to try and determine if he was still in an illusion. This had to be fake! This had to be¡­ unless¡­ As Jeffrey''s sanity slowly unraveled, the Heart Demon within him smiled remorsefully. Were it not for the two incredibly dangerous guards outside, this would have been its opportunity to devour Jeffrey''s heart and take over his body, effectively bing a new Jeffrey. Unfortunately, it could not. "What the hell is this?" asked the first guard, a tall, slim orc. He peered into Jeffrey''s body, trying to understand what that unusual green light was. The other guard, who looked like a massive leopard, scanned the they were on, observing for any anomalies. It detected signs of teleportation, though it couldn''t locate where it happened. "Jeffrey, did you betray us?" the orc asked as he choked the baby wyverns neck. "No, no! Why would I betray you! I''ve been trying to tell everyone that we''re being targeted." "Of course we know we''re being targeted," the orc scoffed. "But even the best of the Henali Dao Lords cannot find us. Of that, we have made certain." "No, no, it''s not the Henali who are targeting us, nor are they Dao Lords! It''s Lex! It might be the Midnight Inn! There is something seriously wrong with him, trust me!" "A puny human, barely entered into the Earth immortal realm? Is he even worthy of targeting us? As far as the Inn is concerned, we have already started to observe it on the insistence of Einstein. If the owner of the Inn makes a move, we will know." "Bairsh, someone teleported onto the but I can''t find them," the leopard said after a few seconds, startling the orc. The orc narrowed its eye, beginning to wonder if Jeffrey''s ims had some truth to them. At that very moment, Jeffrey''s body disappeared from the orc''s hands. "Do not worry, brother Jeffrey," Lex''s voice boomed over the entire base, suddenly forcing it to enter into a state of emergency. The two Heavenly immortals reacted instantly, attacking the source of the voice, but what they attacked was a mere illusion. As soon as it was destroyed, another illusion appeared of Lex holding Jeffrey. "I will not let these guards hurt you. Just like you said, brother Jeffrey, Sanguis Pluvia is too focused on defending against the Henali. They did not expect some other force to act against them at all. The weaker the infiltrator, the less likely they are to notice." The two Heavenly immortals focused on the illusion and immediately saw through it. It was being projected onto the using some kind of treasure. The actual person who kidnapped Jeffrey had already left the! Just as they thought they had been duped, they sensed another spatial fluctuation. By the time they arrived at the location, the person hade, and once again left the! "Lockdown the. We''ve been discovered," said Bairsh the orc. Yet while that was what he said, the two immortals began acting against the infiltrator. No matter how powerful Lex was within his realm, he could not contend against a Heavenly Immortal yet. A momentter, when he reappeared on the, he discovered that he could no longer ess spacews, effectively preventing him from teleporting. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om The two Heavenly immortals appeared right after, ready to capture him, but paused when they saw the sight of two Heavenly immortal level missiles hanging above a smiling Lex. "Come now guys, do you really think I''d be under prepared after good old brother Jeffrey told me everything about you?" Meanwhile, the tiny wyvern within Lex''s grip seemed to have gone insane, repeatedly muttering "this is an illusion" to itself. "It is impossible for Jeffrey to betray the organization. The fact that you would even suggest such a thing reveals just how little you know about us." "Oh, but weren''t you using Jeffrey of exactly that just a moment ago?" Lex asked, cocking his head. Before he could get an answer, the two Heavenly missiles behind him fell out of the sky. Lex lost all control of them, unable to touch them at all, and they became inert as well, unable to explode. The two immortals struck again, this time grabbing onto Lex. But instead of an illusion, he was a clone, and as soon as he was attacked, the clone popped. Another Lex appeared in the distance. The two immortals frowned. "Guys, let''s make it easy for one another. You just bring Damien to me, and I''ll forget this whole thing ever happened. We can part on decent terms." Instead of responding, the Heavenly immortals instead asked him a question. "I can clearly feel your aura. You''re only an Earth immortal. How can you fool our senses ofws? No wait, you can''t possibly do that. Who is backing you up? Is it the Henali?" Lex only shook his head. Why would he answer such a question? The answer was¡­ to spend as much time as possible. "After brother Jeffrey told me that you''re wary of the Henali, why would I ever work with them? No, I just went to a broker and struck a deal." A ck portal opened next to Lex, and a devil stepped out. Chapter 1261 Plans within plans Chapter 1261 ns within ns The two Heavenly immortals narrowed their eyes, observing the devil with great concern. Although it appeared as if the devil was standing next to Lex, both the devil and Lex were just illusions. Thews that they saw seemed to indicate otherwise, but they had already determined that there was some entity messing with their senses - an entity far stronger than Lex himself, and possibly far stronger than themselves as well. "Look, I''ll say it one more time. Things don''t have to get ugly. Just hand over Damian William and we''ll just go our separate ways. None of this has to get ugly." For a few moments more, the two Heavenly Immortals did not respond, as if deliberating. But then they smiled. "Little Lex, I already told you once. You''re in over your head." Jeffrey''s figure suddenly disappeared from the illusory Lex''s hands, and appeared next to the two Heavenly Immortals. He was still tiny in stature, but his entire demeanor had changed. He no longer looked panicked and on the verge of a mental breakdown. Instead, he lookedpletely calm, as if everything was ying out ording to his n. The atmosphere around the suddenly turned a light shade of red as a formation activated and covered the, trapping Lex withinpletely. On top of that, incredibly powerful spirit senses began sweeping the, searching for where his real body was hidden. "You were nning this?" Lex asked curiously, though his expression did not change, nor did that of the devil beside him. In fact, the devil summoned a Pina Cda with a bright pink umbre in the ss and began to sip from it. "You''re a scary guy, Lex," Jeffrey admitted honestly. "It takes a lot to scare me, and you did it, which means I never took you lightly for even a second. You know that seal inside my mind you tried to look through? I can hide my consciousness behind it as well. So while my outer consciousness was a bumbling buffoon, my inner consciousness was arranging everything. I waspletely confident that you''d find a way to track me. Even if you didn''t, it''s not like I lost anything. Turns out, my n was a sess." Lex smiled. It seems like while he was nning in secret, so was Jeffrey. Now it woulde down to who had nned more thoroughly. "You''re over confident Lex. Just because the organization that supports you has a single Dao Lord, you think you''re all that. But we''re not even scared of the Henali as a whole, what makes you think you can do anything to us?" Lex did not answer, and instead just kept looking at Jeffrey. N?v(el)B\\jnn "And you," the cocky wyvern said, looking at the devil. "We have a non-interference deal with devils, which means you have no backing whatsoever. Even if we kill you, no one from whatever your background is wille looking for us. You just signed your own death warrant." Yet even with the threats, neither Lex nor the devil looked too concerned. "Ah, it looks like you got me," said Lex. "You outsmarted me, and I was too arrogant for my own good. Is this the part where you bring out Damian so that he can watch as you kill me?" Lex looked left and right as if searching for Damian. The devil beside him just chuckled at the antics. "Laugh all you want Lex," Jeffrey said, suddenly bing angry. "You won''t beughing for long." "Let me ask you a question, Jeffrey?" Lex said casually. "We have a lead on his location," Bairsh interrupted, and teleported them away. Yet no matter where they teleported to, Lex''s illusion was a set distance away from them, as if curiously watching them search. "Like I was saying, let me ask you a question. Is that division in your consciousness what gives you the confidence that this is not an illusion?" Jeffrey snorted. "You cannot even begin to fathom what the seal within my spirit does. Your illusions are a joke in front of it." "Oh really?" Lex asked, with a raised eyebrow. Jeffrey, who was putting up a strong front, suddenly started to feel bad, as if something terrible was about to happen. "He''s right there," the Heavenly immortal said, and smashed an entire mountain into rubble. Yet even so, Lex was not discovered, making both the immortal frown. Jeffrey wasn''t paying attention though. He was still looking at the illusion of Lex. "What if I told you that you''re still in an illusion?" Lex asked softly. "Wait, I''ve found him for real this time," said Bairsh again, bringing the group with them. "It''s impossible. You can''t replicate this ce in an illusion." "Oh, can''t I?" Lex asked softly, and raised his hand into the sky. "If this is not an illusion, then it would be pretty strange if I could¡­ let''s say, summon the lightning tribtions once more, without being the target of it." Bairsh destroyed another mountain, but Lex was still not there. Above the illusions hands, ck clouds started to appear, floating towards the sky. "These are just tricks. You can''t really¡­" Jeffrey began, but his words were caught in his throat when the sound of thunder rumbled across the, and he felt the familiar aura of a lightning tribtion. "These are just tricks. You can''t really¡­" Jeffrey began, but his words were caught in his throat when the sound of thunder rumbled across the, and he felt the familiar aura of a lightning tribtion. Everyone looked up, and the sky was red no more, instead covered in ck lightning clouds. The sound of thunder roared across the, like the steady beat of a war drum right before a battle. Jeffrey started to hyperventte. "If this is not an illusion, it would be pretty odd if, say, I just summoned a suit wearing dragon to fight for me," Lex whispered, yet Jeffrey heard the words like thunder in his mind. The dragons hated Lex. They would never work with him! Never! "I''ve found him this time!" Bairsh eximed, andunched an even stronger attack against another mountain. Yet before it couldnd, a massive w appeared in thin air, blocking the attack as if it was blocking the wind. A very handsome looking dragon wearing a dashing suit appeared in front of them, out of thin air. "You''re right. This totally can''t be an illusion," Lex chuckled. Chapter 1262 Mental Breakdown Chapter 1262 Mental Breakdown When Lex teleported onto the where Jeffrey was, he was not the only one who was making a move. Countless forces had already begun to act. The war had begun, his targets just didn''t know it yet. Involving a Dao Lord would be dangerous as it would attract attention. Fortunately, he knew plenty of Celestial Immortals as well. "Are you sure we can''t follow you?" asked Fahad, the Celestial Immortal Henali. "Not yet. Wait for my signal," said Lex, epting the immortal''s enchantments onto his body. It would take another Celestial immortal, and a strong one, to discover Lex. This was the absolute minimum precaution he had to take, since he didn''t know what he would be facing. As soon as Lex teleported onto the, he hid himself, and waited. His arrival on the went undetected, since everything about him was hidden. Yet he saw two immortals acting against Jeffrey, which wasn''t good. Jeffrey was still integral to their ns, so Lex purposefully revealed an illusion of himself for the others to discover. While the two Heavenly Immortals were distracted, he used his stealth to kidnap Jeffrey. At the same time, he began to search Jeffrey''s memories to see if this was some kind of trap, but discovered nothing useful. Now Lex needed to dy long enough for the Inn to connect to this, since he had already initiated the process. Hopefully, the dragons would also trace Jeffrey till here, since the green aura was apparently still on him. In that sense, dying was better, so Lex began wasting time. He even conjured the illusion of a fake devil to distract everyone. Without Fahad''s enchantments this would be impossible, since he could not fool two Heavenly immortals, but with them it was a piece of cake. A few minutes of banterter, the Inn was connected, but Lex was taken by surprise when it turned out Jeffrey had been putting on a performance. You really can''t trust terrorists these days. Fortunately, Lex was also just putting on a performance. No matter how he pretended otherwise, Lex knew that Jeffrey wasn''t in as good a condition as he stated, or else the Heart demon would not have been born. Now all he needed to do was trigger Jeffrey''s mental problems once more. After all, Lex had reason to believe that Jeffrey''s position within Sanguis Pluvia was far from simple. Pushing him so far had revealed this, but Lex was convinced that if they kept pushing Jeffrey, the wyvern would only reveal more secrets. So he began his n to destabilize the wyverns'' mental state. N?v(el)B\\jnn "Mary, you can tell Charles that he doesn''t need to hold back his tribtion anymore. Come to the where I am and trigger it immediately," Lex told his trusty assistant while his illusion body pretended to conjure lightning tribtions. Teleportation from the Inn left no traces, which is why no one noticed Dr. Best suddenly teleported onto the and triggered his tribtion, hiding in a city nearby. The sudden appearance of the tribtion clouds triggered Jeffrey''s PTSD, and made him doubtful. Was this really an illusion? But it wasn''t enough. It was best to make the situation even more absurd. "Mary, send in Pel Jr." Although Lex himself was far from where the immortals were attacking, that did not mean he would reveal his true location. So, in front of a random mountain, he summoned the dashing Pel Jr. The ck and white of the suitplimented the deep bronze of the dragon''s scales, enhancing the magnificent Dragons Charm that the dragon was radiating. The two Heavenly immortals were stunned, but not as stunned as Jeffrey. What was this? How could this be happening? How could a dragon be working with Lex? Jeffrey was getting close. He was on the verge of losing himself, but he wasn''t quite there, and needed just a little push. The illusion of Lex disappeared, and then reappeared standing on the dragon''s forehead. Pel Jr. unleashed the Dragons Might of a Heavenly Immortal dragon, suddenly converting this into his own territory. Lex hijacked that aura, and fused it with his own Domination. Since Pel Jr. did not resist, and even coordinated with him, it was a simple task. "I told you to just hand over Damian, Jeffrey, but you wouldn''t. Now watch and suffer as I defeat thest restraints of your feeble mind, and pull that information out of your brain." Pel Jr. roared, causing not just the, but the whole star system to tremble. The red formation around the shattered, and across the gxy many dragons felt an unfamiliar dragon marking his territory. Thunder and lightning shed in the sky, for though Charle''s tribtion was not as absurd as Lex''s, it was far from simple, causing thews in the region to fall into chaos. Across the Origin realm, many strong beings finally noticed that something was being obscured, but they could not tell what it was just yet. On the, Jeffrey started hyperventting as Pel Jr. and the two Heavenly Immortals flew into the sky, beginning theirbat for dominance. The real Lex strolled up behind Jeffrey, touched him with his finger, and caused him to fall into a real illusion. His body and spirit, which were greatly sensitive to illusions now, panicked and warned the wyvern that he was in an illusion, but the wyvern misunderstood. It thought that this was merely Lex finally allowing him to sense the illusion. "Show me all your other secret ns, brother Jeff," said an illusion of Lex who walked up to the wyvern. "Show me how else you n on trapping me." Within his heart, with the danger of the two immortals gone, the Heart demon finally struck, beginning an internal battle to take over Jeffrey''s identity. But with his mind falling into chaos, Jeffrey could not put up any resistance at all. "No, no this can''t be happening!" Jeffrey said. "This is not real. This is not real. THIS CAN''T BE HAPPENING!" Losing his mind, Jeffrey summoned a locket and crushed it. Chapter 1263 Insight Chapter 1263 Insight The n to bring down Sanguis Pluvia could not be simple. It was clear that they were working with the Fuegan to fight the Henali, and could possibly even be a part of the Fuegan themselves. The reasons behind their attacks against the Origin realm were unknown, but it was a fact that they had managed to hide from the Henali. Lex did not, for a moment, think that he was stronger or even smarter than a Dao Lord - any Dao Lord. The only advantage he had working for him, ording to the research he had done, was that Sanguis Pluvia were focused solely on hiding from Dao Lords, and did not consider anyone else a threat at all. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om That made sense, in a way. If they could even hide from Dao Lords, then how could those weaker than Dao Lords ever possibly find them? Lex had a theory, and it began with plotting everything within the Midnight Inn. The separation of an entire realm, not to mention the protection of the Inns own Destiny level formation, created the possibility that all of Lex''s ns would remain undetected. That is why, while not all, a majority of Lex''s secret meetings urred within the Inn. The second thing was finding a way to their core base or bases, discovering their most important members. Whether they themselves had Celestial level cultivators, or if they could borrow them from the Fuegan, was unknown. But what was known was that they left no traces. Even after the Inn workers infiltrated countless bases, they could not find any information about the core operations and personnel of the terrorist group. They only found hints and traces of their uing actions. So then how could Lex get to the heart of the organization? Lex''s anger, held firmly within, yearned to be let out but that could never happen until Lex caught and killed not only Damian, but the whole organization backing him. Lex studied the history and activity pattern of Sanguis Pluvia, and discovered one vulnerability. For the most part, the organization operated in silence. They may strike and devastate a country, or a star system, or even more, and never be discovered unless by ident. Yet that was not true for all of it. There was one who took great pleasure in being known, in being hunted, and in fooling everyone time and time again. It was Jeffrey. Not only did he like to cause a big scene, he always wanted to be recognized for his work, and yet somehow continued to evade the best of efforts to capture him. Considering that the Henali, an organization that could rule an entire realm, were unable to find him meant that the resources being used to ensure he remained hidden were massive. Lex didn''t know if Jeffrey was doing this because he was willful, or if this was a deliberate n by Sanguis Pluvia. Either way, it was evident that he held an important position within it. So he became Lex''s target. Of course, it was pure luck that Lex encountered Jeffrey within the Trails of Eternity, but even if he hadn''t, Lex had ns in ce to slowly find him. Now that everything was in ce, Lex just needed to continuously push Jeffrey to the breaking point, forcing him to reveal more and more of Sanguis Pluvia''s secrets. No interrogation would yield results, of that Lex was certain, so instead he used an approach where Jeffrey revealed everything on his own. By pushing him to the limits of his sanity, but not quite killing him, Lex could get him to reveal greater and greater secrets. Of course, this n wasn''t fool proof. Nothing ever was. But all the evidence pointed towards the fact that Jeffrey was not an ordinary member of the organization, and so Lex was willing to bet on it. Even if he wasn''t, Lex would squeeze him until he was drained, and make Sanguis Pluvia feel some pain. Then, he would find a way to eradicate them eventually. Jeffrey crushed his locket, and suddenly Jeffrey''s cultivation began to skyrocket. This was not some kind of artificial boost, but rather a sign that he had been suppressing it on purpose. Since the real Lex was still hidden from detection, and was still touching Jeffrey, causing him to suffer from mild illusions, he noticed that a part of the seal within his mind crumbled. This was both interesting and a little disappointing. Lex immediately read through a number of Jeffrey''s memories, but at the same time, he was pushed away. Jeffrey suddenly went from being in the middle of the Earth Immortal realm to the peak of it! Moreover, his new memories insinuated that Jeffrey himself did not know much of his past, or even his own secrets. They had been locked away for unknown reasons. Lex still did not get to the bottom of things, but he did learn some interesting things. Sanguis Pluvia was ruled by someone that Jeffrey referred only to as Her majesty. Lex hadn''t been able to get any more information, but even that was pretty good. He also discovered some tidbits about Jeffrey''s own secrets that were hidden in the now unsealed part of his brain. "YOU''RE GOING TO PAY FOR THIS YOU MAGGOT!" Jeffrey roared, his wyvern body growingrger as more power funneled into it. With burning red eyes he looked towards Lex''s illusion, but he wasn''t there. "YOU CAN''T HIDE FROM ME!" he dered, a feeling of pride swelling within his chest. A sudden, sharp pain shot through his neck, and Jeffrey''s vision began to change. He saw his own body, and he saw Lex, casually sitting on Jeffrey''s back holding his sword. "Who the hell is hiding from you?" Lex scoffed. "I''m a little disappointed. I knew you were a demented little worm, but who knew that you don''t just make clones of others. Even you, yourself, are just a clone. I wonder where the real you is." Chapter 1264 Say her name Chapter 1264 Say her name Suddenly, a lot of things made sense to Lex. Jeffrey''s obsession with cloning, or perhaps it was the obsession of Sanguis Pluvia, was quite notable. Damian had taken up to cloning, but he was at most trying to recreate a perfect clone of Moon, which was harder than it seemed for reasons he could not understand. Jeffrey, on the other hand, liked to clone anyone he came across, or anyone who attracted his attention. Maybe it was because, deep down, he knew that he himself was just a clone of someone else, and so wanted to create others just like himself. Whatever his personal or mental issue was, it was a fact that this Jeffrey himself was a clone - though that knowledge had been sealed away so that he himself did not know. It was only upon undoing a part of the seal on himself that this knowledge came out, and it clearly brought Jeffrey a lot of distress. After Lex cut off the wyvern''s head, he destroyed the soul fragment within, and observed the rest of its body regrow its head. "I understand making clones of oneself using a technique. The soul is the same, and even the clones are still yourself. But creating biological clones just creates new souls to inhabit the body, just living inside the clone as its own person. Why would one do that? Do you think the real you uses the clones as a backup in case it ever dies? Will the real Jeffrey crush your soul and take over this body if it needs to?" As the body grew back its head,the wyvern twisted and attacked Lex. But the attack went through the body like it was nothing, and the rage in the wyverns heart was suddenly reced with a hint of fear. Was it¡­ was it still caught in the illusion? Even after undoing its seal and raising its power? How was that possible? Guessing what the wyvern was thinking, Lex asked it a question. "Are you so sure that you really unsealed yourself? Or maybe do you just think you unsealed yourself? Whereas in truth, we''re still back in the Trial of Eternity, with only a few seconds having passed in reality. The name is quite apt, don''t you think? Within the Trial of Eternity, you are facing an illusory trial that willst all of eternity." The anger in the wyverns heart suddenly faded, and doubt once again rushed into his mind. "No¡­ No, no you''re just messing with me. This can''t be happening," the wyvern muttered. From within the wyverns heart, the Heart demon attacked even more. Taking control of this wyvern was a lot harder than it appeared, but he could clearly sense that it was not impossible. "Come now, Jeffrey," Lex''s voice echoed in his ears. "Try harder to break free from this illusion. Break free, before I learn who Her majesty is¡­" A couple things happened as Lex said those words. First, he felt a chill travel down his spine, as if he had provoked an incredibly strong foe. The second was that a chill that traveled the wyvern''s spine, as if it saw a genuine eternity of pain and anguish. "If you know her," the wyvern roared, its eyes suddenly turning red from madness. "Even in illusion, if you know her name, your demise is written! Her name is Se¡­" "NO!" The two Heavenly immortals who were fighting the dragon roared as they sensed something, but it was already toote by the time they sensed what was happening. The wyvern tried to yell the name, as it finallypletely lost its mind. Even though the seal still existed within its mind, it began to crack, and the Heart demon grinned as it attacked his psych even more. But it had only uttered the beginning of her name when everything changed. A massive portal opened behind the wyvern, as if triggered by some mechanism, with an overwhelming aura spreading out from within, freezing everyone in their tracks. Lex was frozen where he stood, and the enchantments all over his body shattered, revealing his true body. The wyvern froze in midair, tears and snot covering its reptilian face. The Heart demon within Jeffrey''s heart could not move. In fact, even its thoughts were frozen still, so that it did not even know it was frozen to begin with. N?v(el)B\\jnn Even the Heavenly immortals were not spared, frozen where they were, fighting against the handsome dragon. Only Pel Jr. protected by the immense power of a Heavenly dragon was not frozen, though he was still suppressed to the ground. Lex, who was staring right at the portal, saw something emerge from it slowly. At first he could not understand what he was seeing, due to the enormous size of the creatureing out. But eventually he realized what it was. It was the tip of a cobra''s face. The cobra was gold, with streaks of red, blue and green covering its magnificent scales. The cobra was in the Celestial realm, Lex couldprehend that much. But within the Celestial realm, where its strengthy, Lex knew not. It did not matter. He was prepared even for this. "Mary, send word," he said in his mind. "YOU MUST NOT UTTER THE NAME OF HER MAJESTY!" a booming voice roared across the, shaking it to its very core, and nearly causing it to copse in on itself. The cobra was not even looking at Lex, or anyone else. In fact, it looked incredibly pissed at Jeffrey. But the more it was like this, the more Lex was determined to push the wyvern further. Clearly the identity of Her majesty was a huge and sensitive secret which would upset many things. Since that was the case, he was determined to learn of it today. Since Sanguis Pluvia had crossed him, then it should be prepared to suffer the consequences. "Good attempt, Jeff," Lex''s voice suddenly echoed across thend, attracting even the cobra''s attention, and driving Jeffrey further into madness. "But in my illusions, I am king." A portal opened behind Lex, from which Emperor Jotun walked out wearing a grim expression. Since he was assigned by the Henali to represent them at the Inn, naturally he was one of the first Lex was able to recruit into this n to rid the Origin realm of this vermin. The situation on the battlefield changed once more, but the greatest change was the spreading crack on the seal in Jeffrey''s mind. It could not hold on much longer. Chapter 1265 Unleashed rage I Chapter 1265 Unleashed rage I Lex had a wonderful impression of Emperor Jotun - at least as far as hispetence and strength went. The man worked closely with the Henali, and was the sovereign for a veryrge intergctic empire. That was not the kind of thing a weakling could achieve, and even among strong men, it required a certain level of influence and power across the realm. It required a kind of foresight many did not have, and a kind of brain that could epass countless variables. Most importantly, it required unquestionable personal might, so that others would not covet what was his. But even though the arrival of the emperor freed Lex from the restraints of the cobra''s aura, Lex could tell that the emperor, as strong as he was, would have an uphill battle in front of him. It was a little unbelievable that a random celestial summoned by Sanguis Pluvia was so much stronger than the emperor, which is why Lex didn''t think that the cobra was just a random celestial. Chances were high that he was very close to the top of the organization. There was an element of irony in the fact that Lex was closer to uncovering the very core of Sanguis Pluvia without being even the slightest bit close to discovering Damian''s location. But if Lex helped take down Sanguis Pluvia, then even if he didn''t find Damian now, he would be a lot easier to find. "You cannot hide from me, Jeffrey," Lex''s voice echoed in the wyverns'' ears like an infernal howl from the very depths of Garvitz. Up above the, a dragon fought with two immortals, causing quakes and tremors that traveled through space to the stars. Somewhere unidentifiable, the emperor was exchanging blows with the cobra. Oddly enough, their fight caused no explosions. The was copsing in on itself, irrevocably set on the path of destruction. Soon, it would explode, or shatter, or suffer death in some other way. Thews all around them vibrated like strings on a musical instrument, producing music that could literally change the universe. Gravity fluctuated, bing stronger and weaker with every second. It even started to change its direction. Water turned solid without turning to ice. The ground exploded upon the slightest touch, turning to gas, without losing its solid state. Jeffrey had once tortured a human on earth called Jackson Pollock, and then killed him when he got bored. The world around him felt like the wyvern had been transported into one of the paintings he used to do. Or maybe that was Lex''s intention to begin with. Was this all by design? Lex could no longer hide, so he didn''t try to. Wielding Naraka, he honed his sword intent and attacked the wyvern with the intention to kill. Yet before the sword met flesh, he heard the sound of ss cracking. Within the wyvern''s mind, his seal finally shatteredpletely. The Heart demon, filled with excitement, slithered into the depths of his mind, but then froze. Within the depths of the wyverns mind, there were a pair of fierce eyes, looking down at him. The Heart demon did not even have time to scream before he disintegrated into dust. Lilith, who was connected to the Heart demon, suddenly felt a pair of eyes looking at her. Those eyes, as menacing and conniving as they were, did not scare the devil. She merely snorted, and let the aura of the eyes wash down on her, yet nothing happened. Even if she was not a favored daughter of her father, it was no simple task to attack the daughter of a Dao Lord. As the energy faded, Lilith absorbed thest of the wyverns'' memories, and her eyes widened. "Damn, that''s good!" she eximed in genuine appreciation before teleporting away. Lex waved his sword, filled with the intent to kill, yet something unexpected happened. When the seal within the wyvern broke, its aura did not explode. It did not gain higher cultivation levels. Instead, his body disintegrated, as if it was an illusion to begin with. Lex''s sword only cut through the air. Lex frowned, but before he could try to figure out what happened, he felt a hint of a familiar aura - one he had only felt inside the Inn. From the space where the wyvern died, a powerful aura began to emerge as if it wasing out of nothing. It was like a pale imitation of a Dao Lords aura - as if it was a copy of a Dao Lords aura, diluted to a billionth of what it really was. Just mere exposure to it brought Lex to the verge of death. No amount of strength or defense could save him from this. The Heavenly immortal dragon copsed, the suit on its body evaporating as if it had never existed. The cobra and the emperor, who had disappeared as they began their fight, reappeared, thoroughly suppressed and barely managing to stay away. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om The from underneath them disappeared, as if it had never existed. The star extinguished its own light, as if it dared not shine on the space where that aura existed. In a different realm, Jack fell to his knees, losing all strength, startling everyone. The only reason Lex wasn''t already dead in the fraction of a moment he was exposed to the aura of the Dao¡­ was because within his body, he already contained a trace of Dao, absorbed from the Chaos Amber resin. Yet even that could allow him to exist for only so long. It was enough. Lilith teleported to Lex, hovering a hand over his body, extending whatever protection she had to him. "You''re not going to believe this," Lilith said, her voice filled with immense surprise, excitement, and heartfelt admiration. "Even I can''t believe this. You are either the luckiest, or unluckiest living being in existence. Through sheer dumb luck¡­ or maybe through means I cannotprehend, you have done something impossible. Either the Innkeeper is protecting you in secret, or someone else is, because there''s no way you did this on your own. I might even get to meet Lord Father for being involved in your n." Lilithughed in a mirthful voice,pletely ignoring Lex who was suddenly gasping for air besides her, or the eyes that began to open in front of her. Every other being around them was dead, with the stronger immortals barely holding on, and even that too because the time that had psed was too short. Yet Lilith cared not at all. Lex, whose mind was reeling at being exposed to the Dao, tried to understand what had happened. But he couldn''t. The only thing that made sense was itself the most illogical. Was there a Dao Lord hidden inside the seal in the wyvern''s mind? But¡­ but why? "In hisst moment, when the seal broke, before the wyvern was disintegrated, the Heart demon read some of its memories, and thence so did I. The wyvern was a clone - one of a hundred million spread across the Origin realm. Considering how many of them there are, it''s not so surprising you ran into him. All the clones share their memories, to an extent, and they all share the same purpose." The eyes narrowed as Lilith spoke, and tried to focus on the devil, but it was no use. Lilith carried on her the true, undiluted and genuine aura of a Dao Lord. There was nothing that the eyes, as weakened as they were, could do to her. "Each Jeffrey clone has a seal within him, and the purpose of each seal is to hide and contain a billionth of the aura of a Demi-Dao Lord. That''s the reason they''ve been conducting terrorist activities across the realm! By causing a tear and disturbance in the fabric of the realm, they give an opportunity for that aura to sneak from outside the realm to within, hiding inside the seal in the clone. That''s why it seems like each activity is carried out by Jeffrey, even though they''re countless gxies apart. It''s because they''re just clones - each and every terrorist act is conducted by a different clone, ready to absorb and hide the aura of the Demi-Dao Lord. Not to mention, there''s a reason why Dao Lords haven''t been able to locate Jeffrey after he conducted such an attack. It''s because his aura is hidden by the Dao." Lex wiped the sweat off his forehead, but was rmed to see that he was sweating blood. Though he had survived, his body had suffered severe shock from being exposed to the Dao. In fact, though Lilith was protecting him from further harm, he was already extremely weakened. "But that''s not all. There''s a kicker¡­ one that I find almost unbelievable. The reason why Damian was so focused on your sister was because he suspected that¡­ that after some strengthening and modification, your sister''s body could actually host the Demi-Dao Lord, continuing to hide her as she was smuggled into the realm, one piece at a time." Chapter 1266 Unleashed Rage II Chapter 1266 Unleashed Rage II The Origin realm shuddered under the anger of those eyes, yet Lilithughed without a care in the world. Or maybe¡­ just maybe, it was shuddering under the weight of Lex''s anger. His brain was sluggish and his body was on the verge of shutting down, but even in such a state there was a faint his of recognition within his own eyes. It seemed like the star system had ceased to exist and the Origin realm was holding its breath. Something big was about to happen. The forces that had obscured fate and destiny had begun to move, and an irreversible change was urring within the Origin realm. It was not just the inhabitants who were unknowingly undergoing a shift - it was the entire realm itself. The entire realm''s destiny had been changed in a way that should have been impossible - a mere immortal had interfered in the ns of beings of Dao. Yet that was exactly what had happened. Lex himself remainedrgely ignorant of the magnanimous undertaking he had achieved, but others were not. Yet, for now, they were content to watch. Since Lex had begun, he should be allowed to y out his hand. "Can you imagine that? The body of a mere mortal, housing a Demi-Dao Lord without a seal, allowing her to exist within the Origin realm without suffering rejection? It''s unimaginable. Nobody else believed it either, which is why Damian was undertaking the project alone. But just thinking about it is insane." Lex activated his right eye, creating countless formations around himself to speed up his healing and recovery. "But seriously, none of it is as crazy as a mere immortal interfering with a Dao being. Do you realize how crazy that is? It''s literally impossible. Beings of Dao will know anything and everything you do to interfere with their ns, even if you don''t know you''re interfering with their ns. "I know you go around telling everyone that the Innkeeper tells you to take care of things on your own, but he must be keeping an eye on you, hiding you from view, allowing you to achieve this. Even then¡­ man oh man. This is going to cause some waves." The eyes had stopped trying to suppress Lilith by now. Instead, they became impassive once more. A portal opened behind it, and then another. A dozen portals opened, and then a hundred, then a thousand, and the numbers just kept increasing. One wyvern after another flew out of the portal, in mere seconds forming an army. A million Jeffrey''s suddenly arrived around Lex, all ring at him with immense hate. "This is so interesting," Lilith continued. "You ruined the n of a Dao being. Now the question is, can you survive doing that as well? Will the Innkeeper interfere to protect you? I heard he''s not even in the Origin realm anymore. It''ll be a little tough for him to step in." "Hehehehe looks like you''ve gone a little over your head," said one of the Jeffreys in a demented tone, as it turned its head and looked at Lex from an unusual angle. "Did you know that when one Jeffrey dies, the rest of us get his memories?" asked another wyvern, this one as big as a mountain. "You called yourself a king, right? From where I''m standing, you look like a worm to me¡­" The wyvern that was speaking dissolved, and from within his body emerged another aura that flowed towards the eyes, strengthening them. "From where I''m standing, it looks like you''re about to die," said a thousand Jeffrey''s at once, as their bodies dissolved as well. The eyes became stronger, which caused Lilith to frown. She could stay safe herself, but her ability to protect Lex was quickly diminishing. "Don''t worry, after you die, we''ll make clones of you too," the wyvernsughed like they had lost their minds as they died one by one. That was because each of them inherited Jeffrey''sst bout of insanity before he died, and it would take them some time to recover from that. But they had no time to do that. Their n was ingenious. Jeffrey''s death would not reveal the hidden entity within, for the seal would just shift from one body to another. But by breaking the seal, Lex had interfered with carefullyid out ns. Since the n had already been ruined, there was no point in keeping the clones alive anymore. After all, since her aura was revealed¡­ Suddenly, Lilith felt it was easier to protect Lex. When she looked over, she saw two humans standing next to him. But they were not really human. Fahad and Noor stood beside him, appearing without any signs. "You have done well. You havepleted your part of the bargain better than any imagined," said Fahad. They themselves could not contest against the aura of a Demi-Dao Lord, but they were under the protection of real Dao Lords, so they did not need to fear the eyes. "Who are you? Why have you entered the Origin realm?" Noor asked the eyes without care or concern about showing proper respect to a Demi-Dao Lord. "You are unworthy to know Her name!" a voice roared, and the cobra which had been suppressed once rose, and appeared in front of the eyes, as if defending them. More and more beings began to appear in the area, some of them clones of Jeffrey, some of them members of Sanguis Pluvia, and some of them from the forces of Henali. A grand army was assembling in this ce, ready to unleash absolute devastation. The ns of a Demi-Dao Lord were ruined. How could there be no fallout? Fahad frowned and spoke out loud to Noor. "Her origin is still obscured. If we can trace who she is or where she came from, we can better counter her. It''s difficult for a genuine Dao Lord to make a move within the Origin realm, but if we understand her more, it might be easier for someone to take action." "You will know nothing!" The cobra roared, and unleashed its power, attacking Fahad. The battle began abruptly, yet Lex and Lilith were not affected by it. The Henali set up protection around those two. Since they yed such a critical role in revealing this illegal immigrant, then they deserved all the awards and attention such achievements afforded. During all this, no one was paying attention to Lex anymore, which is why they didn''t realize that the reason he was not speaking was because he was still recovering. The moment he recovered, he red at the eyes that had be the center of the conflict. "YOU!" Lex roared, raising his sword up to those eyes, his voice cutting through the noise of the war. "I recognize you!" Suddenly, everything stopped, and everyone looked at Lex. The cobra, the eyes, Fahad and Noor, the emperor, all the wyverns and soldiers summoned to fight, all suddenly turned towards Lex, and noticed that something about him had changed. Faced against one of the most powerful beings in existence, after suffering near death just from being exposed to its aura, Lex dared to raise his sword to those eyes, and there was not an ounce of fear in his voice. "I saw those eyes every time I crushed his hopes and dreams. Every time I foiled his n, he looked at me with those angry eyes. Every time he felt hopeless, he showed me those fierce eyes. Every time he faced defeat at my hands, he showed me those very same eyes!" Compared to those eyes, Lex really was pathetically weak. There was nothing about him that could even survive their gaze without the protection that the Henali were giving him. Yet for someone at the Earth Immortal realm, which was the lowest realm of anyone in this battlefield, Lex cut an impressive sight. The pride and arrogance of dragons that Lex imed to be better at, in this moment, oozed out of his very skin and bones. His Domination, his Sword intent, his T and his Domain all synchronized as one. Faced with an overwhelmingly stronger foe, there was no way Lex could im supremacy. Yet he dared to challenge, nheless. "When Ra messed with the Innkeeper, the Innkeeper destroyed him! When Ra messed with the Midnight Battalion, I crushed him. When Ra tried to take over my body, I ended all his hopes! I have fought his manifested clone many times, so I recognise those eyes well! n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "You messed with my family, woman, so mark my words that I will destroy your family first, and then I wille after you!" Lex, who had been holding onto his anger for so long, could hold on to it no longer! Ra had tried to take over Lex''s body. This woman, who was clearly rted to Ra, wanted to take over Moon''s body. An image of a sword shone deep inside Lex''s eye, resonating with his anger. His heart, which had begun turning into a dragon''s heart, began evolving even quicker, as if it was feeding off his anger, and beat for the first time as a proper dragon''s heart. The lotus tattoo on Lex''s back suddenly recovered, causing his aura to explode. He was still nowhere near the strength of the eyes, but everyone else on the battlefield took notice of him for the first time. From elsewhere, deep in the Origin realm, a heavy voice rumbled. "Sekhmet, daughter of Ra, you were banished from the Origin realm, yet you dared to return? In that case, stay here forever!" Chapter 1267 Unleashed Rage III Chapter 1267 Unleashed Rage III Sekhmet, daughter of Ra. The identity of the mysterious being behind Sanguis Pluvia had been revealed, which should not have been as simple as it was. If it were so simple, that one only needed to peer upon the eyes and recognise the familial traits the eyes bore, then there were many who should have recognised her long before Lex. As a being of Dao, Sekhmet had naturally taken precautions to protect her identity from being discovered. Let alone recognizing her from her eyes, even if she stood in full view of everyone, no one should have been able to peer into her identity. This was further exacerbated by the fact that when the Innkeeper attacked Ra, all information about and rted to him was wiped from existence, at least on lower levels. That meant very few beings in existence even recalled Ra''s children - at least, they did not recall them as children of Ra. The fact that, of everyone here, Lex was the one who overcame these minor obstacles as well as the powers of Dao, made everyone pay even more attention to him. More and more, they began to truly suspect that the mysterious and enigmatic Innkeeper had taken Lex as an heir. There was no other exnation for what was going on. Lilith, who was also observing, wondered momentarily why Lex would be affected by the oppression of the aura of Dao, if he was unaffected by other aspects of it. But she didn''t think about it for long. Who was she to question how a Dao Lord did things? Maybe that was just the Innkeepers way of keeping Lex from bingcent. Much more importantly, Lex had now ruined the ns of a Dao level beings twice, on various levels. It was as if his very existence was expressly pushing the boundary of what was, and wasn''t impossible. Lex himself, however, was focused on Sekhmet. It seemed that, for whatever reason, he and his family were intimately tied to Ra and his progeny. Once or twice might be a coincidence, but so many times made him think that something deeper was at y. The very first guest he had at the Inn was Bastet, while the first great enemy the Inn had was Ra. Furthermore, this entire time, his family had been indirectly suffering due to the machinations of another of Ra''s daughters, with his sister even being targeted to be a vessel for her. Who knew what the truth of the ns Damian had for Belle and Liz were? All in all, the connections they had with each other were so many that Lex began to suspect that there were secrets to this situation he didn''t know. Once again, Lex felt the feeling of some mysterious hand guiding and controlling his life. He once suspected that the system might be guiding the direction of his life for its own purposes, but now he began to think that it might be someone else. What the reasons were, he did not know yet. But within his heart, he had be vignt. "Lex, Velma has sent word. Our cooperation with the Henali is in full effect. They''ve peered through the secrets of Sanguis Pluvia, and are attacking their bases across the Origin realm. They want to prevent Sanguis Pluvia from initiating their contingency protocols, so they''re requesting we begin as well." Within the Midnight Inn, Velma had set up a base of operations from wherein she exchanged live information from her ownwork with that belonging to the Henali. The purpose was to coordinate their actions and to supervise the movements of Sanguis Pluvia. The Midnight Games were targetings that were being attacked by insects, but so far, none of the enemy bases had directly been attacked. There were hundreds ofs that the Inn workers had discovered and marked as having enemy hideouts or bases. But they had only infiltrated them to extract information and done nothing else. The n had always been to attack them realm wide at the same time when the great battle urred so that they had no time to react, or reinforce other battlefields. It would be easier to wipe out their forces in one massive attack, than to do it one at a time, although organizing such an attack was easier said than done. Lex had discovered countless bases through Velma''s vast and unusual informationwork. So far, the Henali had been unable to discover any bases at all, but as soon as they understood what was blocking them from discovering those bases, they were able to work around it. The moment Sekhmet''s identity was discovered, all the precautions she had taken to hide from the Henali Dao Lords failed. "Do it. Attack. Take no prisoners." Within the Midnight Inn, the guests finally saw movement on the window with the Midnight Battalion. They teleported to a new world, and without hesitation joined together to form the Midnight Mech, before attacking a massive, walled city in front. So far, all the battles in the Midnight Games had been against insects. This was the first conflict against other forces. "Wait, wait, is that the Mechanical Hydra?" a guest suddenly gasped in astonishment as he spotted something in the window. The Mechanical Hydra was an incredibly famous A.I. warrior, which was considered immortal and unkible. "That''s Harmin, the Angel of Death!" someone else eximed! "Am I seeing things? Is that Princess Mia of the Marzu Empire?" N?v(el)B\\jnn One after another, the guests saw some of the most powerful and renown warriors of the Origin realm attack the city alongside the Midnight Battalion,ying siege against an unknown foe. On others, outside the view of the guests in the Midnight Inn, armies seemed to appear out of thin air, attacking without warning. Fleets of pirate ships descended from the skies. Swarms of demons emerged from the darkest depths. Monsters from the pits of Garvitz rained from the skies. Angels flew out of the sunlight. An Deathsworn, the Celestial Blight, made his presence known. Unfortunately, whoever learned of his presence died shortly after. Chapter 1268 Unleashed Rage IV Chapter 1268 Unleashed Rage IV On a densely popted, a tall, muscr human wearing an orange hoodie walked around one of thergest cities. With a certain range of him, random people seemed to suddenly die, though the range was so vast that no one connected him to it. Later on, autopsies of the bodies would reveal that the victims exploded from intense vibrations, yet no one other than the victims ever felt like anything was ever amiss. Z was content sharing his music only with his targets. It was not so bad to hear a pleasant melody before dying. Certains suffered beast tides, where every single beast on the suddenly revolted and attacked the Sanguis Pluvia bases, even though there was no history of such a thing on thoses. On one such, a golden sloth closed its eyes to take a nap, while on another, a deer withrge antlers looked out into the distance. There was one that was suddenly engulfed by ntlife. Trillions of clovers suddenly grew out of the ground, attacking everything in sight, using all other living beings there as fertilizer. There was another where it suddenly started to rain fire, that tore through everything that blocked its path, and burned the very souls of the victims it touched. Luthor stood atop a mountain, looking at the world with his hands folded behind his back. Elves, dwarves, sentient beetles, humans, devils, and more, all races suddenly appeared out of nowhere with the intention to kill. The tide of Lex''s wrath covered the entire realm, making sure that none of the Sanguis Pluvia could escape. Or at least, ensuring that the low level members of the organization could not escape. All the stronger ones - the important ones - had already been summoned by Sekhmet from across the gxy to fight alongside her. Or at least to buy her some time for whatever she had nned. She was a Demi-Dao Lord, which meant she was still nothing but an insignificant ant in front of a real Dao Lord. But the problemy in the fact that Dao Lords could not use their abilities within the realm. Not everyone was as skilled as the Innkeeper, who could strike within the Origin realm without damaging the growth of the realm itself. They would only strike if the situation became too desperate. Until then, it was up to the Celestial Immortals to neutralize her through other means. Yet even that was easier said than done, for Sekhmet had summoned all her subordinates, and they were more than just a few of them. Comparatively, the Henali could not blindly send all their forces, for that meant leaving portions of the realm unprotected. Even with all their preparation, the Henali fell shorthanded. Fortunately, Lex had left no stone unturned in ensuring that there were sufficient forces to help fight the final fight. Elsewhere, far away from the star system where the fight with Sekhmet was taking ce, there was a golden dragon peering through space, looking at it. Around it was a gathering of countless dragons,pletely unprecedented in the known history of the Origin realm, for the dragons never really gathered together. "A few years ago, I dered that the dragons were at war," the dragon''s voice rumbled. It was funny, since in size the golden dragon was much smaller than the other dragons gathered, but not a single one of them dared look down on him. Instead, they all looked down at their feet inplete and total deference. "But I did not reveal who we were at war with. That was because our enemy was not simple. Today, I will let you know who the enemy is. A short while ago, all of you witnessed through the eyes of the dragonling a human who dered himself superior to dragons in every way. Now, through my eyes, let me show one with the heart of a dragon, and the will to challenge the Dao itself!" n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om The dragons looked up, and as if they themselves were there, saw the first moment where Lex''s dragon heart took its first beat. They saw him raise his sword at a being of Dao, and saw him dere a sacred challenge! As if a lit match had been through into an ocean of crude oil, there was an explosion of fire. Except, the explosion was within the hearts and minds of the dragons. They felt as if they were not looking at a human, but one of their own. Naturally, since one of their own showed frenzied courage beyond rhyme or reason, they felt inspired! Yes! This is how it should be! When a dragon is crossed, even beings of Dao should fear and tremble. Instead of seeing Lex''s actions for the insanity that they were, the dragons took it as the highest, purest, most devout disy of the dragonkinds creed! In this universe, nay, in all of existence itself, only the dragons were supreme! "Let the world, let the realm, let the universe itself feel the wrath of dragons!" the dragon king dered, and opened a massive portal, leading to the battlefield. An endless thunder of dragons unleashed their Dragons Roar, and took flight, blotting out the skies as they traveled through the portal and joined the fray. The dragon kind, however, did not move just yet. He watched his kind take flight, as if a general watching over his armies. Yet his gaze, which was previously locked onto Lex, moved to the side just a little. In a corner of the battlefield, Charles Best was undergoing his thunder tribtion, protected from the chaos of battle by the Henali. Naturally, since they were working with Lex, they had to protect his allies as well. "Little Charles, it looks like you did not die back then," the golden dragon murmured. "To think of all the powerful beings from back then, it is you, a small little elf, who survived." The dragon''s eyes seemed to lose focus, as if he was suddenly transported into a distant past. Chapter 1269 Tsunami Chapter 1269 Tsunami War raged all around Lex, destructive on a level that he could not evenprehend. Heaven immortals alone had a mastery ofws so intricate while simultaneously so immense that Lex could not even understand what was happening. Reality was akin to a drug induced hallucination, except the monsters in this situation were quite real. Sekhmet made no move, and continued to consolidate her power, and the Dao Lords of the Origin realm made no move either. For them getting rid of Sekhmet, now that they had discovered her, was akin to a flick of a finger. The problem was that the repercussions of that finger flick might extend to a lot more than just Sekhmet herself. One of the reasons why the Innkeeper was never prosecuted for using his powers in the Origin realm was that he had such fine control over his power that it did not negatively impact the realm at all. Secondly, it was a disy of power so immense that it gave the Henali genuine doubt about whether they could handle him or not. In such a situation, considering how amicable the Innkeeper was, it was best to push matters under the rug. But even among Dao Lords, not everyone had such precise control of their powers. It was like trying to use the heat from a nuclear explosion to heat up cold pizza. Theoretically it was a possibility, given that the circumstances were just right. Practically, no one dared to try it out themselves. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om So an impasse formed between the beings of Dao, while those below that realm fought desperately, trying to change the tide of battle in their favor. The most frustrating, tragic thing for Lex was that among all those present, he was one of the weakest, so he could not actually go out and fight. He had so much anger bubbling within him, but nowhere to vent it. Lex had just undergone the greatest powerup in his entire life, and then walked into a battlefield where he was the weakest. Once more, after a very long time, he was hit with that same feeling he had when he started cultivating. It was a time where he used to imagine the Inn hosting guests from everywhere, but all the guests were stronger than him. It made him insecure. But he found a way to survive. Even now, he was surviving. But the dissatisfaction in his heart had never felt as painful before. He had stepped on the path of supremacy, but as it was, he was too weak to actually make any real im to it. So Lex did what he had learned to do exceptionally well. He controlled himself. Just because he was angry and wanted to hurt his enemies did not mean he had to do it himself. Everything that was happening now before him was under his direction. As such, he should continue to do just that. As much as it would be satisfying to give his enemies a good smack, he wanted more than anything to just see them fall. In that case, he needed to think about what else he could do to turn the situation around. It was too bad that the dragons hadn''t taken his bait. No sooner had he had that thought that an army of dragons appeared behind him, the strength of their roars mimicking Lex''s grand promation of vengeance. There was no need for a build up. The situation on the battlefield suddenly changed. No one - not the Celestial immortals, not Sekhmet, and not the Henali had seen the dragons of the Origin realm band together like this. Heck, it was exceptionally rare for any dragons to band together, let alone all the dragons for an entire realm. That was why no one was prepared for how drastically the situation changed. As if they had been reinforced, thews around the battlefield suddenly became stagnant and unmalleable. Then, as if it were a Domain itself, Dragons Might spread out. Those enemies below the Celestial realm just died. There was no big fight, no struggle, no final throes. One moment they were alive and fighting, the next the dragons hade, and to continue living within range of their presence was an unforgivable sin that could only be punished by death. Even those at the celestial immortal realm who managed to survive felt like they had suffered some catastrophic blow. Then the army of dragons let loose their Dragon Fire. The eyes suddenly narrowed, and used some of their powers, though they didn''t rely on the Dao just yet. As long as she didn''t use the Dao, the Henali wouldn''t either. The moment she tried, she would see a true retribution. So she was limited to using her strength without the influence of Dao. A tsunami of Dragon Fire swept across the Origin realm, burning everything hostile in its path. Even a star dared not shine its light on a being of Dao, yet the Dragon Fire of an army of dragons targeted her directly. Of course, it never reached her. All those that Sekhmet had protected were also well. But the dragons had only just begun. They raced forward, the single greatest fighting force in the entire Origin realm. Lex had heard on multiple asions that the only reason that dragons were weak was because their arrogance did not let them work together. Well seeing them work together now, Lex genuinely believed that even the Henali might not be able to tame this realm if the dragons worked together like this all the time. The countless wyverns behind Sekhmet trembled in sight of their superiors. Even though all of them were destined for death anyway, which meant there was nothing left to lose, they felt fear nheless. The tide was almostpletely turned. Just the arrival of the dragons nearly granted them victory. Fahad and Noor were getting ready to trap Sekhmet''s eyes. But Sanguis Pluvia was not without allies of its own. The darkness of space rippled, and from within stepped forth a Jom. Then, there was another. The fight was just beginning. Chapter 1270 Divine Envoy Chapter 1270 Divine Envoy The Fuegan had made their move. The Jom had appeared, and the army of dragons, as impressive as it was, could not overwhelm the Jom so easily. A gxy itself was nothing more than a buffet table for these monstrosities. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "Fahad, I hope you don''t renege on our deal," Lex suddenly said,pletely unconcerned about the shift. "Yes, yes, in exchange for helping us take down Sanguis Pluvia, you can receive the heart''s blood of a Jom. I''ll get it for you, fresh." "Good," Lex said, and turned his mind towards the battle once more. Although he''d like to take credit for the arrival of the dragons, he was¡­ slightly afraid of iming credit as well. He knew that his little statement might provoke a few dragons, but wasn''t this a little too much? Fortunately, the dragons seemed like they were not concerned with Lex at all. In that case, there was only one more fighting force he had arranged for as backup, though now he was hesitant to call them. He would wait and see how things developed. If the situation seemed bad, he would have to take the risk. "Have you guys already prepared for such a situation?" Lex asked Fahad. The real Fahad was out there fighting, but he''d also left behind a clone to protect Lex, and now Lilith who was beside him, giggling like a schoolgirl. "Taking care of Jom¡­ is tricky," Noor said with a troubled expression. "Within the same realm, I think it''s practically impossible to kill them. But they can be held back. For that, we will personally dispatch Celestial level Henali warriors. But this will definitely mess with our battle ns. You know, so far, not a single Jom has been killed in this war. In fact, the loss of a World Eater was the greatest victory we''ve had in that regard." The situation was getting extremely chaotic andplicated. Ordinarily, Lex would have left by now to stay out of everyone else''s way. But this was not a fight that wouldst forever, or even too long. Sekhmet was still absorbing the aura from countless Jeffrey''s, while more than a fair number of them had been captured or killed by others. Sooner orter there would be a turning point in this battle, and it would likely be when thest Jeffrey clone died. Lex was curious to see what that would be. Lex began to debate with himself if it might be a good idea to summon his final backup, when the battle changed once more. A golden dragon appeared at the forefront of the dragon army, and everyone, Sekhmet included, were forced to look up at him. Lex''s breath caught as he felt the very same aura as Sekhmet. It was a Demi-Dao Lord! He also sensed that Fahad and Noor were extremely surprised to see the dragon as well. He must have had an exceptional identity. This was probably the Dragon King. Lex got ready to leave for the Midnight Inn at a moment''s notice. In fact, not leaving already might be a mistake. But the dragon never even looked towards Lex - his gaze was locked on Sekhmets. "You have made a mistake in returning, lioness," the dragon''s voice rumbled through space, even though he did not actually move his mouth. "I do not fear you, Vaelgorith," Sekhmet spoke for the very first time, her voice filled with defiance. "Then that is your second mistake." New figures started to suddenly appear all around them, and Fahad promptly ced his hand on Lex''s shoulder, teleporting them both away from there. "What happened?" Lex asked, noticing that the Henali looked incredibly pale. "The Dao Lords appeared on the scene. All lesser beings are sent to a separate battlefield. This is bad. This is really bad. You should return to the Inn." "What? Why?" "Because¡­" Fahad didn''t have time to finish his sentence. An endless ne appeared beneath their feet, and all the Henali, Sanguis Pluvia and Fuegan forces appeared here as well. Then more and more beings started to appear, and in the distance Lex even saw entires beginning to appear, floating above the endless ne. "It''s toote," Noor whispered. "We''ve been sent to the Mirage. No one can leave until the Dao Lords let us out. The fight will continue here, and it will be much more desperate." Lex frowned, and tried to exit to the Inn, but felt something preventing him. This was not like those times that space was blocked, or was too weak to support teleportation. He directly felt something restraining him from returning. "Can people stille in?" Lex asked suddenly. "Of course," Noor responded. "In fact, everyone still fighting the Sanguis Pluvia will most likely be sent here. The Mirage is a special ce, under the control of the Dao Lords. No damage here will reflect onto the Origin realm. Likewise, nothing happening outside will harm us here. "Something very serious must have happened for them to send us here. It was most likely the appearance of that golden dragon. He had the aura of a Demi-Dao Lord, but I''ve never heard of such a being of Dao in the Origin realm." Yup, the situation was rapidly getting out of hand. In that case¡­ might as well truly mess things up. "Mary, send my agreement to the Divine Envoy. It''s time to get the other Deities involved in this mess." Within the Midnight Inn, an Inn worker suddenly set off and delivered a letter to a guest in a certain room. "Finally," the guest whispered, and then disappeared. On Earth, the very same guest reappeared in avish castle, filled with noble women wearing the most borate pieces of jewelry. First, the same guest put on a ceremonial robe covered in perfect diamonds, before walking into the inner chambers of the castle where a gorgeous woman sat on a throne. "Mydy, Lex has agreed to your demands. We can now move out." Alissa Harmony, the winner of the first Midnight Games, former YouTuber and current divine envoy of the Deity of diamonds, smiled. Chapter 1271 Honing Chapter 1271 Honing Alissa dismissed the messenger, and then got on her knees in a pious pose, ready to pray. She put on a crown which had a massive diamond known as the Kohinoor as its centerpiece. The history of that diamond was one filled with blood, which was apt considering that it was now being used to connect to the Deity of diamonds to bring news of war. She performed aplicated and borate ceremony, after which she felt the gaze of her deity fall on her. "Your majesty, I have acted ording to your will. I have found a means to import the highest quality diamonds from other realms - discreetly. Yet the importer has a request." "A request?" a rather smooth, rxed voice repeated. "If this person can procure diamonds ording to our requirements from other realms, and bring them to us without attracting attention, then I do not mind catering to their requests." "They have requested aid in a war they are fighting." "That''s fine," replied Adamas, the deity of diamonds, sounding bored. "Send the Swarovski legion." "I will do it immediately. The Sanguis Pluvia will not know what-" "Wait a minute," Adamas suddenly said, appearing in front of Alissa as a projection. "Did you say Sanguis Pluvia? The one requesting our aid is fighting against them?" "From what I understand, he is the one who orchestrated the whole fight," Alissa answered, feeling confused. She, of course, had no idea what was happening out in space, but Adamas did. "Never mind. I will deal with this one personally. No need to send anyone else," Adamas said, his projection disappearing. The deities of the Origin realm were all, to a degree, suppressed by the Henali. They were the most powerful local beings within this realm, and so the Henali made sure they stayed well within their control. That was the reason why Adamas, and the other deities did not participate in the conflicts of the Henali most of the time. Butpared to other times, this time the deities actually wanted in, but had no proper justification to enter. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Now though, Adamas had proper justification for interfering. It was slightly impolite to turn on one another, but Sekhmet was a banished member of the realm, so if Adamas took a little bit of her divinity and ate it up, it shouldn''t matter, right? Back in the Mirage, Lex watched as the ne extended beyond his ability to sense. Countlesss had been shifted to the Mirage, and at first Lex thought that all thes where a fight was taking ce were being shifted here. But soon, he was proven wrong. It was not that alls there were experiencing a war that were being sent here, but thes that contained weapons or traps that could harm the Origin realm. When one such blew up, and another melted into a pool of acidic substance that then began raining down on all who were fighting, the pattern became a little obvious. Yet the absurdity of the situation was that the fight was not stopping. The Jom appeared within the Mirage, followed by the army of dragons, and they continued to fight. Only the golden dragon was absent. Fahad and Noor stood guard around Lex and Lilith, much more cautious than they had been outside. "Now that the Dao Lords have made a move, anything is possible, and the danger has skyrocketed," Fahad said solemnly. "If you have the chance to retreat to the Inn, don''t miss it. Until then I will try to keep you safe. Anything can happen inside a Mirage." "What exactly is this ce?" Lex asked. He''d heard of major and minor realms, not to mention pocket spaces and what else. But he''d never heard of a Mirage. What was incredible was that thews here were just as sturdy and mature as the Origin realm, but they didn''t feel exactly the same. "A Mirage¡­ is a Dao Lord''s day dream. We are literally inside the thoughts of a Dao Lord, and there''s no way to even know whose it is." Lex was stunned. "We''re¡­ inside a Dao Lord''s thoughts? Does that mean all of this is actually happening, or are we just seeing the results of their thoughts y out?" Fahad shrugged. "You''re asking me, but who can I ask? The only reason we even know anything about Mirage is because it''s protocol to know. Even as Henali ourselves, we are not qualified to learn about Dao Lords." Lex was about to ask more questions, but he suddenly noticed something. Some of the new fighters who were being teleported into the Mirage had divine energy. When he focused on them, he noticed them wearing bright and prominent jewelry. That meant that the Deity, or at least the Deity''s followers had taken actions, which was good. Divine energy was one of the most difficult to counter. No sooner had this thought urred to him that he noticed something else. Some people were using Profane energy! Previously, Lex did not know what it was so he never noticed. But now he could sense it. When Lex focused, he found a small group of warriors on a distant, controlling the insects that were devouring the itself. "I''m going to take this opportunity to hone my de," Lex said, and Naraka trembled in his hands out of excitement. "Are you sure, Lex?" Fahad asked. "This is not exactly an organized or controlled fight. A random Jom attack could wipe you out, even if you''re fighting enemies on your own level." "What wants to fight people on their own level? That sounds boring," Lex responded. "More importantly, I''m sure. It can''t be called honing if I''m in a safe environment. Don''t worry, I''ll keep myself safe. I''m very attached to my life." Even though Lex said that, Fahad and Noor followed him, even if they retracted their protection. As an heir to a Dao Lord, there was just no way they could allow him to go unprotected. Lex didn''t care. A momentter, he teleported to the with Profanites. Chapter 1272 Distractions Chapter 1272 Distractions Profane energy was a dark, all consuming energy that ate and absorbed everything into itself, able to corrupt and destroy everything. Inparison, divine energy was a purer energy that could transform into any other kind of energy it needed to be, and aplish miracles. In theory, both energies could not be casually wielded and required very specific circumstances, or beings to be able to control. Lex was already beginning to learn aboutws, though he hadn''t technically spent any proper time contemting it. The next thing he needed to understand were energies. Different energies enabled different things, and using the right kind of energy in the right circumstances would produce a greater effect. Prior to the immortal realm, cultivators were too weak for the variance in energy performances to matter, which is why they randomly just absorbed energy. Yet what mortal cultivators deemed as spiritual energy was actually just a mix of countless other energies. If, for example, Lex absorbed energies that were more inclined towardsws associated with the cold, and used them to fuel his Golden Inferno, the resulting effect would not be anywhere near what he would produce if he used energies which had a propensity for fire or explosions. Such a simple concept was easily understood, and needed no contemtion. It was the further subtleties of energy that Lex needed to ponder. For example, even energies had hierarchies, and higher, rarer level energies decayed into more abundant, yet weaker and moremon forms of energies. Simrly, weak and abundant energies could be fused to form higher levels of energies, but that was too difficult a task, and not something Lex could achieve just yet. Moreover, the energies were extremelyplex, as different environments would produce the same kind of energy, but different affinities. This was the kind of extremelyplex and esoteric subject that could not be pondered orprehended without sufficient mental power. After all, sword intent was also a kind of energy, yet it was created solely andpletely through a wielder''s state of mind. How that was possible confounded Lex. After all, if all that was required was the state of mind, then it was theoretically possible for aplete, mundane mortal to have a sword intent that could hurt immortals. Of course, it was only theoretically possible, and for such a thing to actually happen waspletely absurd and impossible. The point was that energies were not as easy to understand as they seemed, and required some study. "Hey guys, nice to meet you," Lex said as he teleported right in the middle of the Profanites. "My name is Lex." The Profanites were startled by Lex''s sudden arrival, and all attacked him, not that Lex made any effort to dodge or block. He let their attacks fall onto his body, and then studied how he was affected by them. "Hey guys, nice to meet you," Lex said as he teleported right in the middle of the Profanites. "My name is Lex." The Profanites were startled by Lex''s sudden arrival, and all attacked him, not that Lex made any effort to dodge or block. He let their attacks fall onto his body, and then studied how he was affected by them. What better way was there to study energies than by being attacked by them? The Profanites eyes widened in horror as they watched Lex rub his chin as he let their attacks fall onto his body, without so much as flinching. It was not just energy. They were using theplete influence of Profane energy to attack his very being, and corrupt and destroy it. Profane energy could even corruptws, deceiving them into thinking they were something else. Of course, that only happened at higher levels of application of Profane energy, but the point was that it was not something to be scoffed at, yet it could do nothing to Lex. Lex scrunched his brows, and looked at the Profanites. "Why''d you stop attacking? I was still studying the effects. Here, maybe this will motivate you." Lex waved his hand, and spurred his t just a bit, influencing space all around them, forming a cage. The Profanites, who were wreaking havoc on the entire, suddenly became Lex''s y things. Fahad and Noor, who were observing in secret, felt dumbfounded. Was this called honing oneself through battle? It looked more like bullying kids. Yet considering that Lex''s cultivation level was actually below those Profanites, who were at the peak of the Earth immortal realm, there was nothing that could be said about it. The more Lex behaved nonchntly, the more the Profanites fearing him, to the extent of summoning the Defiler who gave them ess to Profane energy. As the Defiler took over, the bodynguage of all the Profanites suddenly changed, and they looked at Lex in unison, as if they werepletely in synchronization with each other. "You dare to stand in my way, vermin?" They spoke together, forming a chorus. "Do you know who I am?" "Not really. But if you won''t attack, I will." Lex was distracting himself with his intention to study energies. In truth, he was suppressing a great deal of frustration. As the orchestrator of this massive battle, he had already done what he could. The chips had fallen, and Sanguis Pluvia was doomed. But Damian was nowhere in sight, and he himself was too weak to vent his anger on the actual people responsible. He could, at most, just fight those random underlings being summoned in this Mirage. In a way, his revenge was being exacted - about as much of it as there could be, but at the same time he was left feeling dissatisfied. So he decided to share that dissatisfaction with as many people as possible. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om When Lex attacked, even with the Defiler controlling the Profanites bodies, they could not defend at all. In a matter of minutes they were dead. Fortunately, Lex took the opportunity to read their memories. He was mostly just interested in learning about their understanding about energies, but he also learned something interesting. The Defilers had since long ago been hunted down to the point of extinction within the Origin realm, with only a very few of them surviving. The survivors were hidden where they could not be found - yet Lex learned about a special project they were working on within the Champions tourney. He wondered if Giselle would be interested in learning about it? He put those thoughts aside for now, and instead threw himself into another fight. Within the Mirage, that''s really all he could do - which was not so different from how he expected things to turn out. The next part of the n was up to Regis. Chapter 1273 Through the lens Chapter 1273 Through the lens Whether it was honing himself, learning aboutws, learning about energy, or getting used to his new realm, all of them could be achieved in the same way, which was to throw himself into the fray. Thes which had appeared within the Mirage were actually like small inds of safety. Since thes were filled with countless innocent people, the Henali forces avoided targeting them, and the forces of Sanguis Pluvia did not specifically target them, which did not necessarily mean they were going to survive. It just meant they were the safest ces around - rtively speaking. Not that Lex needed to specifically stay in a safe ce. The immortal realm had subtleties andplexities he had yet to understand, and the higher immortal realms were no doubt much more powerful than just the Earth immortal realm. But Lex too had his unique advantages. His danger sense was much, much stronger now. It was as if his instincts were no longer sensing danger, but were directly divining danger, which allowed him to grasp a perfectly clear view of how to escape. From a certain point of view, it could be said that Lex was only a hair''s breadth away from danger. But for Lex, the breadth of a hair, under the guidance of his instincts, might as well be as vast as an entire realm. Amidst the rippling chaos of the battlefield, Lex flitted about like a kite in the wind,pletely unharmed from the surrounding carnage. The irony of the situation was that any of the attacks around him would be enough to cripple him if not kill him, and would have an effective radius farrger than he could escape ordinarily. But there were so many of such attacks, that they constantly canceled each other out, or at least diminished each other. That created the perfect yground for Lex, who fought countless viins, saved countless people - though whether they were actually saved was yet to be seen - and learned numerous secrets from reading people''s minds. At the same time, he gained a deeper understanding of his own t. In essence, a battle between two forces was just a struggle for supremacy, regardless of the scale. The scale of the battle was beyond Lex''s perception, yet just by being within it, he could sense a subtle, invisible bnce forming as a result of a push and pull. Tworge forces were fighting each other, attempting to crush one another and gain ultimate supremacy, with countless smaller forces all trying to influence the struggle as well. That was therger battle for supremacy - the one for dominance over one another. But besides it, there were countless others as well. There were infinite battles that were being fought, not to achieve somerger goal, but for mere survival. Those smaller battles were like a fight between individuals and a force of nature. It was like ants fighting against the rain, where a single drop of water might be the death of a few. That too was a fight for supremacy. They were fighting to survive, and the invisible hand of Death was wing at them trying to pull them within its grasp. This was a battle for supremacy that began as soon as one was born - one between the living and Death - but the struggle became greater in moments of great peril. Something within Lex trembled, as he felt like he touched upon something he was not yet ready to understand. It was only the unique circumstances of the Mirage that allowed him to see it. In fact, Lex felt that he was ready to face another tribtion, but that it would not be triggered until he exited the Mirage. Even if Lex did not want to continue sensing the invisible forces of the universe, trapped in the Mirage he had no choice, let alone that he was extremely greedy for knowledge and understanding. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Thews of the universe were visible to Lex through the lens of his t, which revealed to him the obvious battle between two enemy forces. The vast number of immortals dying all around him revealed a harder to detect battle, one fought by all living beings. Upon closer scrutiny, Lex noticed another invisible battle for supremacy taking ce. It was all those who were weaker than the enemy they faced, yet continued to fight on, and even managed to put up a good fight. The battle of supremacy they were fighting¡­ seemed to be against something much more esoteric than Death. Lex could not understand it, so he decided to intervene. One by one, he saved those on the verge of death, or gave the slightest helping hand, and watched the tide of the battle change. The more often he saved them, the more he gained bits of understanding, until he finally realized what it was, and something within Lex trembled once more. Lex groaned. Great. Now he had two tribtions waiting for him. The speed of his growth was astronomical. Even when he began cultivation, he was not as fast as he was now. It seemed the level ofprehension his cultivation technique afforded him was much greater than that of ordinary Earth immortals. Since growth in the immortal realms was heavily dependent onprehension, the more secrets of the universe he learned, the quicker he would grow. Fortunately, or unfortunately, each secret Lex learned was so massive that it automatically triggered a tribtion, pushing him up levels. The battle for supremacy that he noticed with great effort was that of those fighting against fate, or Destiny. Much less obvious and apparent than Death, Destiny was like an invisible hand, guiding, forcing everyone along to a destined event even if the path was not determined. Yet it could be fought against, but matter what, Lex never saw a single person seed against Destiny. Each tiny victory they had just changed the path or route that Destiny led them on, but not the destination. Unaware, everyone would stop fighting the moment they stepped onto a slightly more preferable path. For the weak, the path they stepped on in the middle of battle was not dying immediately. If they kept at it, they might survive the whole ordeal. But would they actually survive? For too many, Death and Destiny were pulling them in the same direction, gaining the upper hand in that particr battle for supremacy. Chapter 1274 Hiran Kokan Chapter 1274 Hiran Kokan Death and Destiny were the two mostmon forms of hidden battle, and were prevalent everywhere, which is why Lex ended up sensing them so easily. But he got the sense that there were other battles that he was not able to sense - battles that were, ironically, closer to his power level and ability to influence, but were harder to detect. "Lex, I have some news," Mary spoke directly into Lex''s mind. "Once Sekhmet''s identity was revealed, whatever means she used to hide her bases across the realm failed. One of Rnd''s sources, a civ-smuggler, identified a possible high value base, but we do not have any way of getting to it at the moment. It''s in the unexplored regions of the Origin realm, and the Inn is not linked to any nearby." Civ-smugglers were something Lex recently learned about. They were basically groups that smuggled entire civilizations or races from their origin to another, more habitable one for various reasons. This was a highly lucrative, yet illegal profession due to the immense potential for harm they had. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex was about to say that she should share this information with Henali forces and use them to explore the base, but something interesting happened. His instincts told him to keep this knowledge hidden, and that it would yield something interesting if he did. "Take my identity token and send someone to the Infinity Emporium. I have had them prepare emergency teleportation formations for this exact purpose. Give them the coordinates and send a team over. Be discreet, and be cautious. We don''t know what we can expect there. Also, keep this silent for now." Lex had no idea what was happening with the Dao Lords, or how long they would be. The conflict in the Mirage extended for minutes, to hours, to well over a few days. He was kept up to date on the war around the realm by Mary. There was good news, and there was bad news. Within the first day alone, over 90% of all Sanguis Pluvia upation across the realm was destroyed. No one was interested in taking prisoners, so there were few to no survivors. A majority of all those who were discovered were sent to the Mirage, where the war was being fought with no holds barred, without regard for coteral damage. The problem was that the projected strength of Sanguis Pluvia was actually much greater than what had been discovered. It was not just Damian who was missing, but a few minor deities with affiliations, as well as countless traitors who the Henali already knew of. The obvious answer was that they had taken refuge with the Fuegan, but ording to reports shared by the Henali, that was unlikely. While the two organizations were acting as allies, they were far from beingpletely friendly. Taking refuge with the Fuegan essentially meant bing their ves or cannon fodder. Something was missing. Their Damian and the rest had been sent on some mission before all this began, or as soon the slightest anomaly was detected, they all went into hiding. Considering the fact that even Sekhmet''s identity had been revealed, Lex did not think there was any point in the weaker forces hiding. In that case, they were probably on a very important mission - at least that''s what Lex thought. It was on the fourth day ofbat, right after Lex cleared another using only illusions, that there was finally a change. "Lex I have updates on the base," Velma said. "It was not a base, more like an emergency safe houserge enough for an entire army. It looks like it was recently used, and emptied in a rush. They left a lot of their equipment behind, as well as documents and files. It looks like whoever was using it was expecting toe back soon, or maybe they didn''t have time to care about these things and just ran for it.." "Did you learn anything valuable?" Lex asked. "Two things. First is that whoever was here originally came here searching for something called ticus Necropolis, and I feel like this was a very important mission. The second is that whoever was here made contact with an organization called Heavenly Overlords Association, or HOA for short. I think the HOA is responsible for the sudden disappearance of whoever was here. "As for anything else, the base is still being investigated. I''ll update you if I find out anything more." Lex nodded, though he was pretty sure he already learned whatever his instincts were guiding him towards. They reacted pretty strongly the moment Lex heard the name ticus Necropolis, as if it was exceedingly important. At the same time, his apprehension towards sharing the information disappeared. It seemed like it wasn''t that he couldn''t share this information with the Henali, but rather that he needed to get his hands on it first. Chances were high that the Henali might not have divulged this news to him, which aroused his interest. What was so special about ticus Necropolis that merely the name was to be kept secret? "Go ahead and share this news with the Henali now. If they want to search the base, let them. In exchange, try to find out what you can about the Necropolis or the HOA." Back in the Origin realm, from where Lex had been sent to the Mirage, a number of beings had surrounded Sekhmet already. The Dao Lords themselves still had not made a move, but it was also no longer necessary since the pair of eyes were firmly under the golden dragon''s control. Moreover, Adamas had appeared, and under Henali supervision, was siphoning away Sekhmet''s divine power. It would not be a critical wound to her. This was only a part of her to begin with. But even the slightest reduction in power of an enemy was worth celebrating. "HOLD ON!" a voice suddenly boomed, causing everyone to freeze. The voice was tinged with the fury and wrath of a Dao Lord! The whole reason all of this extra precaution was being taken was so that a Dao Lord didn''t use their actual power, yet now someone was doing exactly that! "SEKHMET WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" The voice boomed once more, and a Henali appeared in the crowd, causing everyone save the golden dragon and Sekhmet to look down at their feet. In front of them was Hiran Kokan, the Henali Governor General of the entire Origin realm! "HAVE YOU REVEALED THE NECROPOLIS TO THE UNIVERSE?" Many there didn''t know what he was talking about, but many did. Either way, this much was clear: Hiran was thoroughly furious, and that should never be taken lightly. Chapter 1275 Sudden end Chapter 1275 Sudden end Lex was fighting arge skeletal monster the size of a mountain, quite enjoying himself actually, when something suddenly changed. It was not just Lex who noticed, however. Every being in the Mirage noticed that the very fabric of reality was trembling. Lex lost the ability to controlws, and his t retreated deep within himself while even his instincts wanted him to turtle up somewhere. His mind began working overtime as he thought, for a brief moment, that some Celestial level being had targeted him. Yet when he spread out his senses, he saw that everyone was affected, just in different ways. For example, the other Henali forces also trembled as they felt an immense power spread across the Mirage, while the forces of Sanguis Pluvia were all reduced to dust. All of them. Simultaneously. Dust. "The Dao Lords have made a move," said Noor, who suddenly appeared beside Lex and put a hand on his shoulder, protecting him from a majority of the aura. "And it''s a big one." "Whatever the cause is, the fight is about to end," said Fahad as he appeared beside everyone. Lex looked around, and saw countless immortals, some wounded, some fine, all looking around in fear. All that was needed was for a Dao Lord to make a move, and so many people might not have died. Then again, by making a move they werepromising the stability of the Origin realm, which might kill even more. N?v(el)B\\jnn Morality was a confusing thing, and not something Lex debated anymore for the most part. It was easy when morality was deliberating the rights and wrongs of stealing candy from a baby, for example, but not so much when every action one made influenced the lives and trajectories of millions, billions or trillions. Instead, Lex looked at the world underneath his feet. Once the Mirage ended, it would go back to where it originally came from. Lex looked at the ground, and used his right eye to cast a formation, deep within the itself. Some time ago, Lex got the idea of leaving behind legacies, treasures and great opportunities for others. He''d left quite a few in the Midnight realm, but not in the Origin realm yet. Lex himself had benefited greatly from the legacies of others, as well as a few lucky treasures, so now that he was powerful, he felt like leaving something for others as well. In a few moments, the formation was formed. It was not tooplex, and not too formidable either, but for the weaker beings on this, it would be a treasure. The first formation grabbed all the existing Minor realms around the and pulled them together. It would not form arger Minor realm, Lex could not do that yet, but the formation would flood each Minor realm with a lot of energy, turning it into a treasurend, giving birth to extraordinary nts and natural treasures. Every ten years, pirs would randomly rise across the, and lead whoever touched it to a Minor realm suited for mortals and body tempering cultivators, which contained some of Lex''s knowledge on cultivation, as well as a few treasures for healing, cultivation, technology, so on and so forth. Every fifty years, the pirs would be different, and instead teleport Qi training cultivators to a different, slightly more mature Minor realm. The pattern would continue to increase, with every hundred, five hundred and thousand years bringing about an opportunity for higher ranked cultivators. Just like ending this war was nothing more than the wave of a hand for a Dao Lord, leaving behind an borate mechanism to disseminate cultivation knowledge and treasures required Lex to merely look at the and use his right eye''s ability. He didn''t know why he had this urgetely, but it wasn''t something fundamentally bad, so he didn''t think much deeper into it. "It''s ending," Noor said even as her form disappeared. Fahad disappeared as well, and the entire Mirage began to fade, yet Lex did not reappear where he had left from. Instead, Lex found himself in a ce withplete darkness. It was not the Void, nor the depth of space. It was just¡­ a ce devoid of everything for as far as the eye could see. Lex felt his energy recovering, and the little fatigue he had rued in the past few days fighting, which honestly wasn''t too much, disappeared. In a matter of minutes, Lex was back to his peak state. His suit, which had at some point disintegrated, returned to exactly how it was. A simple wooden table appeared in front of him, upon which was a cup of steaming tea. "Please drink the tea," said a figure that appeared beside the table. He - or it - was a floating, abstract being that looked like it was put together byyering different cloths atop one another. Its hands,pared to the cloth that made its body, looked like leather sleeves, one ck and one brown. The figure looked like it came out of a children''s cartoon, and did not feel threatening at all, but Lex was certain that it was much stronger than himself. It was even stronger than Fahad and Noor. "For your fruitful cooperation with the Henali, the Governor General of the Origin realm, as assigned by the Henali confederation, owner of the Origin realm, wishes to meet with you. The tea will protect your body from suffering harm in his presence, and will be beneficial to your cultivation as well." "Oh boy," Lex muttered, and reached for the teacup. Governor General of the Origin realm? That sure sounded a lot like the boss of the Henali, who would no doubt be a Dao Lord. Lex had obviously met Dao Lords before, and was just a few days ago exposed to the aura of a Demi-Dao Lord. But that was just it. Simply existing in front of a Demi-Dao Lord nearly killed him, without any hope of escape. Now he was going to meet a Dao Lord, and though the tea would protect him, would it protect his secrets? Mary told him that he would be fine. He supposed he would find out. He chugged the tea, which tasted like mint and honey. Not bad. Chapter 1276 Just a Dao Lord Chapter 1276 Just a Dao Lord "Please take a seat," the figure made of cloth said, and Lex suddenly found himself in a cozy sitting room, with countless auburnmps. The room seemed simple and in, but Lex could feel that nothing in this room was as it seemed. If his t had notpletely sealed itself up, hidingpletely from being exposed tows, he might have seen the truth of things. As it was, Lex could only use his eyes, and even then the ability of his left eye seemed to have gone dormant. His spirit sensepletely withdrew into his body, as if it was exhausted from overuse. In truth, Lex''s body was reacting in the most appropriate way possible. Since he was an immortal now, and was capable of being the cosmic weight of some secrets, he inherently knew that he should not, in any way, seek to understand anything about Dao beings. Lex sat down on a sofa and found that the piece of furniture filled him with a reinforcing power. His body became stiff, but at the same time, he was aware that it was the strongest, most durable his body had ever been. It also brought him new insight about how amazing the effects of the Inn were, which could allow him to casually meet beings of Dao, whereas in reality it was a lot of effort. Though to be fair, whenever a Dao Lord would visit, much like his body was reacting by restraining itself, the system ceased most of its functions to hide. Lex heard a door open behind him, followed by a few gentle footsteps, but he could not turn to look. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "Please excuse the formalities," a warm voice said from behind Lex. "Unfortunately, due to some unfortunate circumstances, my state is slightly unkempt, and it is not appropriate for me to appear in front of people. I hope you do not mind." If it was the governor speaking, and Lex suspected it was, the man was awfully polite. "Not at all," Lex''s voice echoed through the room, though he did not speak. His body had gonepletely still, incapable of moving, which is why he had to use his spirit sense to speak. Fortunately, anticipating just this, the sofa he was sitting on contained a formation that allowed spirit sense to produce perfect sound, so he didn''t need to reach out to the governor with his spirit sense. "It is an honor for me to even be here." "I''m d you feel that way. First of all, I would like to thank you for your cooperation with the Henali. Your efforts have yed a great role in foiling countless plots of the terrorist organization Sanguis Pluvia, and prevented a catastrophic disaster which could have affected the entire universe." Lex was silent for a moment. He had discovered that he lost the ability to speak lies and half truths. Anything he said had to be theplete truth, not that he thought for even a second that he could lie to a Dao Lord. "Truthfully, I just wanted revenge," Lex said. "They targeted my family in horrific ways, and for that I wanted them to suffer." "It ispletely understandable. I have directed Jotun to help you in this regard. If there are any matters pertaining to your family''s security with which you need help, you can reach out to him. In fact, I have also directed him to reveal the origins of your family to you. If you stayed within the Origin realm, it would not matter. But if you venture into other, older realms, then your ancestry might get you into trouble." Lex raised an eyebrow. What''s this? More secrets about his family? How wonderful. Fortunately, his sarcastic thoughts weren''t projected into the room. "Lex, I confess, that there is another reason I wanted to meet you besides handing over your rewards for helping us, and simply thanking you for your contributions. I would like you to deliver a letter to the Innkeeper. It is of the utmost importance that it be delivered as hastily as possible, for it pertains to matters of grave importance." Lex discovered that a table appeared to his right, and on it appeared a simple, in envelope. He saw some words written on the envelope, but his eyes automatically looked away, as if just the sight of them would be lethal. Besides the envelope was a gold ring in the style of a simple, in band. "From what I understand, you requested the heart''s blood of a Jom as a reward for your help. Within that ring, there are two entire Jom hearts, as well as their hearts blood. Just so you know, feeding a World Eater one of those hearts will speed up its growth rapidly, and keep it from needing to eat countless star systems before it was born. There are also a couple of other rewards in there from me, as well as a missive from the Dragon King for someone named Charles Best. I hope you found this cooperation fruitful, and find us again if you ever need some kind of revenge." Lex heard the governor stand from his sofa and walk towards the exit. "Oh, by the way," the governor said just before he left. "I hope you do not mention ticus to anyone. The Innkeeper will likely take care of things when he reads my letter, but on the off chance that he does not read it immediately, I thought I''d put forward that request, anyway." "I''ll make sure no one even remembers the name," Lex promised. The governor did not respond, and instead looked at Lex one more time. At a nce, it did not seem like there was anything wrong with Lex, but as soon as he tried to influence Lex''s thoughts, a dangerously powerful aura emerged from within his body, as if to warn the governor. If that aura truly belonged to the Innkeeper¡­ then Hiran was extremely d he decided to probe the Innkeeper through Lex rather than trying to silence him directly. That man¡­ was he truly just a Dao Lord? Chapter 1277 Contemplation Chapter 1277 Contemtion After the Dao Lord left, Lex remained seated for a long time. He hadn''t realized it at the time, a part of his mind automatically eliminating any negative thought originating from the Dao Lord, but his body had been subjected to quite a lot of pressure while the Dao Lord was there. It was physical pressure, like one felt when diving deep into the ocean. It pressed on him with enough force to crush a star, but the reinforcement of the sofa itself kept Lex safe. It did take a while for the actual reinforcements to fade though, so he just sat there, and thought about things. Much of his n had worked, and much hadn''t. He knew that the ticus Necropolis and HOA were his leads to finding Damian and the rest, most likely, but discovering what they meant was not going to be easy. He meant what he said to the Dao Lord. He would take all the staff into the Chamber of Secret, and seal away knowledge of the Necropolis - for now. One could not take half-hearted measures when it came to a Dao Lord''s request, and Lex hadn''t missed out on the corrtion between the Necropolis and everything else. As soon as Lex had Mary inform the Henali about ticus, the Dao Lords struck and ended the fight. Moreover, he was visited personally by the governor of the entire realm, who literally told him to keep it a secret. Until and unless Lex had the actual backing of a Dao Lord, or the strength of one, he could not look into it anymore. Hopefully, then, the HOA would be a good lead. Lex also thought back to what Lilith had told him. She had said that he had done something that others should not have been able to do - interfere in the ns of a Dao being. That caused Lex to frown. Lex was deeply familiar with all the benefits the system had afforded him, and messing with Dao beings wasn''t one of them. Replicating the aura of the Innkeeper within the system, and on his personal items, was about the limits of what it could do. Even the aura of a Dao Lord that he had left behind on the cloning facility he''d discovered, which ended up killing some people, was not provided to him by the system. Sure, he might have been able to use the Innkeeper''s Business card to replicate his aura, but since he was allying himself with the Henali anyway, it was much simpler to negotiate a deal with them to cover his tracks. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om So he wondered what exactly had helped him do that. The system obviously helped! nning and plotting everything where it could not be sensed or detected was a massive boon, and knowing who to take advantage of at the opportune time provided excellent results, but that was not enough to exin that anomaly. Obviously, the first thought he had was that this was an effect of absorbing the Amber Chaos Resin. The tiny piece of resin had elevated his body far beyond its level, and even now as an Immortal, he was far stronger than he should have been. It enhanced him in other ways he did not yet know, so it was entirely possible that it had allowed him to touch upon the Dao without severe consequence. It would be simr to how he was exposed tows before the correct time. But he refused to believe that it was so simple and easy to touch upon the Dao. From the moment he''d started his cultivation journey, he''d seen naught but pure reverence and fear towards Dao Lords, and for good reason. They were the very epitome of cultivation as he saw it, and the absolute leaders of entire universal races and factions. The position of a race on the Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum was also affected by how many Dao Lords they had. The influence of a Dao Lord was beyond imagining. Lex did not even try to imagine. So how, or why, had he done the unimaginable? Even he did not know. The resin might be a part of the reason, but Lex genuinely and seriously doubted that it was all of it. The system may have yed a role, but it had never been much of a help outside of its own territory, save to help with teleportation. Everyone thought that the Innkeeper was protecting Lex, but he knew that wasn''t true. Unfortunately, he did not know what exactly the reason was either. But while Lex had once embarked on his cultivation journey, uneducated and lost, he was no longer as such. He had spent a lot of time in the Midnight realm studying, expanding his horizons, and learning about new topics. Ever since Cassandra had told him about the realm wars, and Lex realized how truly tiny he was, he''d done his utmost to expand his understanding of the universe. The Origin realm, which was where he had spent a majority of his time, and was the main realm that the Inn was connected to, was too small and insignificant to y a part in the realm wars which were wreaking havoc across the universe. asionally, through the two rhinocentaurs, he''d also learned something interesting about the other realms. It really put everything into perspective for him. If his life were a video game, then the Origin realm was the starter vige where he got a tutorial on how to y. Reaching the immortal realm brought him up to the minimum level needed to explore the rest of the video game, which in this case meant the universe. But being at the minimum level also meant he''d likely die anywhere he went, so first he needed to get even stronger. That started with understanding what was special about him. "Mary, can youpile a report for me about the phenomenon that urred when I broke through the immortal realm," Lex asked as he finally stood up from the sofa. "Also arrange a meeting with Jotun, and give me an update on the battalion''s progress. In the Crystal realm, the Midnight Tavern once received an unexpected gift from the Kraven. Soon, it''ll be time we return the favor." As of right now, Lex''s best guess about what made him special was his cultivation technique. But to be certain, he''d need to run a few tests. Chapter 1278 Only a few traitors Chapter 1278 Only a few traitors With all said and done, Lex prepared to return to the Inn. He could no longer visit the site of the battle with Sekhmet, as the cloth assistant of the Dao Lord exined to him. Apparently, the governor was not exaggerating when he said that he was ''unkempt''. He was genuinely angry and disappointed at himself for wiping a piece of the Origin realm from existence. There were many things to do, but the first thing he did was check his rewards. No, actually, first, he had to go through his tribtions. He did that before returning to the Inn. Suffice to say, they werepletely inconsequential to Lex. Sure, the seventh tribtion was genuinely dangerous, and actually charred a lot of Lex''s body. But he was then provided with a bowl of water he used to wash his body, which rapidly absorbed all the water, instantly healing him. With that done, he bid his farewell, and returned to the Inn, ready to check the rewards the governor had given him. His rush to check his rewards was not because in the past he dyed checking his rewards until he forgot about them - not at all. Instead, he could not believe that he got two hearts of a Jom! That was a being so massive that a single one of its pupils was equivalent to a star. Its body defied Lex''s capacity forprehension. He could only imagine that a single one of its hearts was probably bigger than the continents in the Midnight realm, and he was right. For the foreseeable future, they would remain within the ring the Dao Lord had given him. But they represented something extremely exciting. Jom blood was perhaps one of the highest quality ingredients one could get below the Dao realm. If anyone tried to absorb it they would die via explosion, but since when had that been an issue for Lex? He''d found a way to use Cosmic Erosion Elixir to give his workers spatial abilities. He could only imagine what he could do with this. First, he would use it to elevate himself, and then the others. Then he looked at the other rewards he''d gotten. One was a small note, letting him know that he could keep entires inside this ring - not that he was surprised. This wasrger than anything he''d ever seen before. It wasrger than entire Minor realms! The next was a scroll called The Ten Tribtions! The scroll contained a sword technique created by the governor himself when he was in the celestial realm, ording to a note. Each strike was stronger than thest, with the tenth strike being strong enough to kill a celestial immortal! Or at least, the governor had once killed a celestial immortal with nothing except that strike. Of course, learning it would not be easy, but Lex was quite intrigued by it. It was the most powerful technique he had ever received, so obviously he was going to learn it. That left only two more rewards for him, as well as the letter for Charles. As curious as Lex was, he did not pry into the details of the letter. Instead he looked at the first of hisst two rewards. One was a metallic token, one that could be used in any realm to seek refuge or aid from the Henali. The other was a guest coupon for¡­ heaven? Dumbfounded, Lex immediately withdrew the coupon, and whistled when he read it. It was literally a coupon for heaven, or also known as The Seraphim Resort. It was within a realm controlled by angels, and it was a resort that catered to immortals, though its main business was catering to Dao Lords! N?v(el)B\\jnn Lex could not believe that the governor had given Lex, a worker of the Midnight Inn, a coupon to another resort! Was that a jab at the Midnight Inn? New Quest: Visit the Seraphim Resort, identify 3 shorings of the Midnight Inn, and then improve them! Quest time limit: 1 year! Quest Reward: The Burgandy Violin Quest failure punishment: 3 MT! Remarks: It''s not copying if you do it better than the original, it''s innovation! Lex almost burst intoughter. The system was petty. But he had to admit, it sounded quite appealing to visit another immortal level hotel and see how they do things. He put it on his agenda. "Mary, do we have any information about the HOA yet?" "Not beyond the basics. The HOA is an organization of rogue cultivators, and they don''t really have too ster a reputation. The Henali share your suspicions about them being responsible for the evacuation for other high level members of Sanguis Pluvia. They''ll update us when they learn more. "By the way, your meeting with Jotun is set in a few hours. Apparently, he will be joined by William, and they''re bringing something that''ll help Moon''s situation. They also said they have news about Liz, and will share it when they arrive." Everything wasing together, which was honestly much better than he expected when he started preparations for this massive war. "How is everyone faring? Was the cooperation alright? No unexpected issues?" Considering that Lex had allied with devils, angels, A.I., demons, pirates, bunnies, peacocks, beasts and countless other races, empires and organizations, he did not expect everything to go smoothly. But then again, everyone knew what they were getting into. "Actually, everyone other than the A.I. seem quite pleased with the end result. Only three groups tried to backstab us, and as per our deal with Lilith, we are handing over all captured traitorous souls to her as a reward for her help." "Alright, sounds good enough. Let me know when Charles recovers from his tribtion, I have a letter for him. I''m assuming he passed his tribtion." "Yes he did, though I expect he''ll take a few weeks to adapt to his new realm. Not everyone is as quick about it as you." Lex nodded, and then teleported to the Innkeeper''s office, and slipped into his Host Attire. He sat down on the table, then mentally prepared himself to pull out the governor''s letter. Chapter 1279 Not my concern Chapter 1279 Not my concern Outside the Midnight Inn, Lex could not even read the writing on the envelope, though as he pulled it out now he saw that it was nothing too mystical. The front on the envelope simply read: Innkeeper. Admittedly, the name was written in a deep crimson ink, in the most beautiful calligraphy Lex had ever seen. It was also filled with enough spiritual energy to turn a barren such as earth into a 5 star, and gave off a pleasant aroma he could smell with his very soul. Furthermore, even with his Host Attire protecting him, Lex could feel the burden on him increasing so he quickly looked away, and spent a few minutes to recover. It seemed like the effect of the Inn to negate harmful auras was not entirely effective on Dao Lords. It was predictable. Once he had sufficiently recovered, Lex pulled out his Innkeeper''s letter opener, and softly and carefully cut through the wax that had sealed the letter. Something told Lex that if he hadn''t been using the letter opener, he would never have been able to open the letter no matter how hard he tried. He also wondered if the wax, and the letter itself counted as Dao level ingredients. Something told him that even if they did, he could not use them the way he used the resin. The fact that it was easy to absorb was one of the defining factors of the resin, considering that it could even be absorbed by a mortal. He doubted other Dao ingredients would be as easy to use. Lex also wondered how the governor would feel if he knew that the all powerful Innkeeper he had been trying tomunicate with was thinking of ways to scarp his letter and use it as parts or ingredients. Lex could not even imagine what Dao level ink might be good for - literally. He literally could not imagine it for the thought of trying to conceive things rted to the Dao seemed like a very bad idea to Lex at that moment. Realizing that he was procrastinating, Lex pulled out the letter, which was only a single page, and contained very few words, fortunately. Bit by bit, a few words at a time, Lex read the letter, but even taking it slow Lex found himself covered in sweat and trembling. As soon as he read the letter, he knew that he''d need to go to the Chamber of Secrets and wipe his memory, or he''d never be able to take his Host Attire off. With trembling hands Lex scribbled something, then immediately teleported to the Chamber of Secrets andpletely wiped all his memory of the letter. He thought that with the protection of the Inn, as well as the Host Attire, reading and responding to the letter might be possible. At the same time, he kept his previous experience with Dao Lords in mind, where even using the Innkeeper''s business card had failed him. That was why he had all the precautions nned out before he read the letter, and they had indeed been useful. Lex had to make an effort not to copse onto the ground once the Chamber of Secrets removed the knowledge from his mind. He''d heard that knowledge was power, but that was pushing it. Lex chugged a cup of Midnight brew and teleported back to his office. With his eyes closed, he picked up the letter, opened his table drawer for the first time ever and dropped the letter inside. Then he buried the letter in a stack of Innkeeper business cards, so that the aura from those business cards would smother the aura from that letter. It was only after he closed the drawer, and the aura finally vanished that Lex allowed himself to copse into his chair and breathe a sigh of relief. He wiped the sweat from his brow, and realized how long it had been since he actually sweat. After a few moments, Lex picked up the paper he had scribbled on and read his eloquent summarization of the letters'' contents: ''BRIBE INNKEEPER. FORGET NECROPOLIS. REALLY ANGRY.'' Suddenly, a lot of things made sense to Lex. Anyone else might not be able to decipher his deeply encrypted message, but in essence, the governor was pissed about the revtion of the Necropolis, and wanted to bribe the Innkeeper into staying quiet about it. The part that made sense to Lex was why the letter had affected him so strongly. After all, let alone read a letter, Lex had directly met a Dao Lord within the Inn, and had been fine. But that was likely because when he met the Dao Lord, he had likely been suppressing his aura. The governor, instead, was likely trying to convey the depth of his feelings through his writing, which is why even with the protection of the Inn, reading the letter had been such a burden. The words were infused with the governor''s anger. Of course, it was unlikely that he was angry at the Innkeeper. Instead, it was likely that he was just sharing the anger he felt with the Innkeeper. Probably. Hopefully. In truth, Lex''s scribbles weren''t quite clear on who the target of his anger was. To be fair, he was not exactly in the condition to write a detailed note at the time. He thought for a moment, then summoned a Midnight Inn letterhead, the Inkwell, and the Innkeeper''s pen and wrote a very polite, one lined letter. ''Dear Governor, I do not concern myself with things unrted to my Inn. Regards, n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Innkeeper.'' He looked at the letter, the words filled with the deep aura of the Innkeeper and thought it perfectly freed him of all responsibility. After all, Lex didn''t even want the Dao Lords bribe. He wanted to meet Dao beings as little as possible. He wasn''t at that level yet. Lex sealed the letter, and then went and rxed within the Hot tub. He needed to recover before his meeting with the emperor. They would surely have a lot of things to discuss. Chapter 1280 How to proceed\ Chapter 1280 How to proceed "Lex¡­ Lex, wake up!" he heard a vague distant sound as he roused from slumber. Confusion filled Lex''s foggy mind as he yawned, drowning out Mary''s voice once more. He looked around, and for a moment didn''t recognize his surroundings. This didn''t look like his bedroom. "Lex, wake up. The emperor has been waiting for hours!" Mary said once more, and Lex''s mind suddenly snapped, recalling what had happened. He had entered the Hot tub to rest and recover a bit after his exertion from reading the governor''s letter, but he must have fallen asleep at some point. The unusual thing was that even after that long nap, he felt tired and drained. He made a mental note to avoid anything dangerous until hepletely recovered, but then teleported to his room and quickly started suiting up. "Sorry about that," Lex said. "I was more tired than I actually expected." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "I guessed as much. I sent word to the emperor that you were just finishing up treatment for your exhaustion from the battle. He was perfectly understanding." Lex suited up and stood in front of the mirror, and as much as he wanted to see his familiar, youthful vibrance, what he saw looked like a college student who hadn''t slept all weekend. He was pale with dark circles under his eyes, though that was the extent of it. "I think I need to go to Harry and get a facial treatment done or something like that," Lex muttered. Then he teleported to Jotun and William, who were sitting and chatting while watching the still ongoing Midnight Games. "My apologies for the dy. I was in worse condition than I realized," he said, taking a seat opposite to them. Ever since Lex had learned about the Seraphim Resort - a few hours ago - he''d been trying to look at his Inn from the view of an outsider to see what it would be like. Did it make a good impression? Was it cozy? They were meeting in what looked like an English cottage far away from the cities, near the foothills of a mountain range. Vines grew along the brick walls, with flowers dangling down above them, filling the air with their sweet scent. There was a brook flowing nearby, so the sound of water apanied the setting, making it seem like the perfect countryside escape. Lex liked it very much - he just hoped the others thought so as well. Or maybe they didn''t think about it as much. Lex suddenly caught himself, realizing his thoughts were wandering. It seemed like his spirit was still affected from reading the letter. "No apologies needed. I was informed you had a meeting with the governor. I can imagine how¡­ strenuous such a meeting would be, especially for someone at your level." Lex smiled, but didn''t say anything. It was not the meeting that exhausted him, but technically it was still the governor who was the cause for his current state, so there was no need to bicker about the details. "Before we begin, this is a letter from the Innkeeper to the governor. Please ensure that he gets it." The emperor received the letter with both hands, his casual appearance suddenly gone. In ce, he wore the most serious expression he could as he took hold of it, then transferred it to a dedicated spatial treasure. "He will get the letter, no wait, in fact¡­" Jotun disappeared from the Inn, clearly in a rush to deliver the letter, leaving Lex and William sitting face to face. Lex turned and looked at the man who was nearly identical to Lex, and tried to pretend like he didn''t dislike the man greatly. In truth, Lex more or less developed a dislike for everyone in his extended family these days. "Do you have any leads on Damian?" Lex asked, skipping the small talk that usually apanied such meetings. "Based on the information we''ve collected, Damian entered the inner circle of the organization shortly before the attack took ce. It is believed that he escaped with all the other high level members of the organization, alongside the original Jeffrey. Of course, I only know the small bits that Jotun told me about. For the specific details, you''ll have to ask him." "In that case, what can you tell me?" William sighed as he listened to Lex''s polite, yet obviously dissatisfied tone. Was it his fault that one of his descendants, hundreds or thousands of generations down the line turned out to be a homicidal maniac? Maybe, maybe not. But there was no point in trying to defend himself. Even before this incident, Lex barely learned to tolerate William. "There are a few things which fall under my domain. For example, I can offer some guidance in aiding your sister''s situation. The Henali also used their own resources to find Liz for you. We have not approached her yet, considering the immense effort she is putting into hiding. We thought we''d let you decide how you want to go about that situation." "Tell me about Liz. Is she alright?" Lex asked immediately. He hadn''t forgotten that his rather introverted sister had run away after Damian tried to parade her around, looking for the best marriage candidates for her. Or at least that was the story. Considering how devious the man had proved to be, Lex doubted it was so straightforward. "Yes and no. She is in good health, but she is on the run. There are some factions who have been hunting her down, and she has been running from them. Once we learned this we took some precautions to ensure she is not caught, all without being detected. It is up to you how to proceed." Lex wanted nothing more than to go find Liz right that moment, but it was not so simple. Lex looked at William, a supposed Heavenly immortal cultivator, and tried to gauge how much stronger his ancestor was from him. The answer was¡­ quite a lot actually. So the fact that Damian had managed to hide from him meant that he was no pushover either. He recalled Jeffrey mentioning that Damian was a Heavenly immortal as well. "Do you know if¡­ if Damian did something to her?" Chapter 1281 Origins Chapter 1281 Origins "From what I understand, the Henali were extremely satisfied with your cooperation, which is why they put a lot of effort into this search. When they found Liz, they did a thorough scan of her condition and discovered a few things. She''s had extensive samples taken from her body, which has left a mark, but besides that, there was no other tampering with her psyche or body. "An analysis of her actions for the past few years suggested that her affiliation with the cultivation academy Ventura is most likely why Damian actually maintained a distance from her, and did not involve himself too much with her matters. "Although traditionally Ventura is not too protective of their students, a Heavenly immortal bullying a mortal will draw even their ire. They provide at least this much protection to their students." "That''s good to hear," Lex said. "You can hand over all the information you have on her. I''ll take care of her matters myself. Now, you suggested that you might know how to help Moon''s situation. Can you borate?" Before William could begin, Jotun returned, and it was visibly apparent that he felt incredibly relieved uponpleting his mission. "I have delivered the Innkeeper''s letter to the governor personally. He seems quite pleased with the response, although he did not give me a letter to respond with. I think their business, whatever it was, isplete." "I''m d," Lexmented, feeling genuine relief. He really did not want to face another letter as dangerous as the previous one. "William was just telling me how you think you can help Moon." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Jotun nodded, his expression suddenly bing serious, as he handed Lex a spatial treasure. "This contains notes we discovered belonging to Damian. We discovered these within one of the Sanguis Pluvia bases we raided. They include vague details about a number of his ongoing projects, with a special emphasis on Moon. ording to these notes, Damian purposefully kept Moon in a state where her soul was continuously strained. Although it may appear that she has recovered, that is only if she is judged from the point of view of an ordinary human. "Based on her physique, which puts special emphasis on her soul, once her soul has fully recovered, within the Golden core realm, she will directly rival a Nascent soul cultivator. In the Nascent realm, her soul may surpass the soul strength of the average human Earth immortal." Lex took the spatial treasure and looked through it, while wondering to what extent had the Henali learned about Moon''s situation and her physique. At a nce, it seemed like Damian had many notes about her, but never explicitly mentioned Moon''s traits, which made her exceptional. In that case, even if they learned that Moon had been linked to a, the Henali might not pay it too much attention. For the humans, such a feat was beyond unbelievable, but for higher races it was not worth mentioning. That was good, since it meant they would not pay more attention to her than normal. Of course, that was assuming a Dao Lord had not looked into her. That was also why Lex continued to talk about Moon in vague terms, referring to her ''condition'' without stating what it was. He did not know how much Jotun and the rest knew, and did not want to tip them off. ording to the notes, they were under the impression that she was just suffering from soul weakness - which she very well might be. "We have been providing her with treatment for the soul already, but thank you for delivering the information. It''s good to know that I''m on the right oath." Jotun shook his head. "I''m not here to just bring you information, I''m here to deliver a cure as well. I''m sure that the Midnight Inn is more than capable of getting its hand on the best treasures, but even so, please take this. It is from my personal collection." Jotun summoned a ss vial with a circr base and an intricate design along the stem, filled with a pure white liquid that seemed to be in motion even within the vial itself. "This is Mythic Conifer nectar, a Celestial level potion that I once received as a reward for helping someone out. This is an exceptionally potent potion that can heal and nourish souls like nothing else. Even if a majority of your soul is eroded, and you only have a speck left, a drop of this will be more than enough to help you recoverpletely. Of course, as your level rises, you''ll need more of it, but considering that this is meant for Celestial level beings, there''s more than enough of it for you to use a thousand times over. It is perfectly safe for anyone to use - even mortals." Lex did not stand on ceremony and epted the potion. He would test it out, and if it really was as the emperor promised, then he would be more than happy to give some to Moon. But if it was from his personal collection¡­ "This potion is from you? Not the Henali? Why?" he asked directly. Professionally, they had a decent rtionship, but they were not on the level where they would just give each other such precious gifts just because the other needed it. "Think of it as a peace offering. Your¡­ history with your family has not been amazing, I know. I will not defend myself or others either. It''s just a fact that once families be asrge as ours, there develops a certain level of distance between the heads of the family, and itsmon members. Whether it''s tragic, or fortunate, or whatever else, it is what it is. But then, as a specific member bes more powerful and more useful to the family, the distance between that member and the head grows closer. "Normally, there is no resistance for members to grow closer to their ancestors, and they even look forward to it. But considering you''ve never experienced the support and guidance of your Williams family, I don''t expect you to feel any desire toe close to us, or participate more actively in the family." "How very astute of you," Lex said ndly. "I''ll be quite frank with you. We have a good working rtionship, so I don''t really feel there is any need to change our dynamic. Not to mention, you have only just entered the immortal realm, so you¡­" Jotun suddenly paused, and wore a confused expression. He turned to look at William, who seemed just as confused. "Are you¡­ a level 7 Earth immortal? How¡­ how long have you been in the immortal realm?" "A few days," Lex responded nonchntly. "Not too many. Why does that matter?" Jotun looked at Lex silently for a moment, as he absorbed the news that he heard. "I see. In that case, it makes sense. The truth of the matter is, no matter whether you acknowledge the family or not, that does not change that we originate from the same family. Furthermore, as you areing closer to the¡­ Heavenly immortal realm, traveling to other realms bes more feasible, in which case you might encounter some¡­ issues¡­ if you go visiting other, older realms. "Normally, we only divulge this secret to our family members once they reach the Heavenly immortal realm. But¡­ seeing as you might¡­ might enter the Heavenly immortal realm at any time, it''s better if you know some things in advance." "Yes, the governor mentioned that he wanted you to reveal the origins of my family. So tell me, what other problems am I set to inherit from my family?" Of course, Lex already had a suspicion of what this was about. The emperor''s full name was Jotun Marcus Sephore, while all his brothers also shared the Sephore name, which indicated that while all of them had created families of their own, to inherit a new name, they all originated from some other family. Truthfully, Lex could only imagine how deep or powerful the background of a family that could give birth to four Heavenly Immortals and one Celestial immortal was. "In truth, I, as well as my brothers, are all refugees who escaped from another realm that was at war. We, who carry the name Sephore, were ast effort from our family to preserve our bloodline, and prevent it from beingpletely extinguished after a devastating defeat that threatened total annihtion. "Tell me Lex, are you familiar with the origins of the human race in this universe?" Jotun asked. Lex, of course, knew a few things from his conversations with Cassandra, but if an opportunity for new information presented itself, he was not going to turn it away. "I''ve heard a few rumors, but nothing concrete." "It''s not surprising. This is a topic that brushes on the history of the universe itself, and is a topic so old that it entirely predates even the birth of the Origin realm, which is a few billion years old. Even I do not know much of the truth, though that is because our family was destroyed before we grew strong enough to learn these secrets. It all started long ago, from a being we call only as Mother." Chapter 1282 Sephore Chapter 1282 Sephore Lex had already heard of Mother Nuwa, but he was not going to admit that. He was pretty sure that Jotun was talking about her anyway, but he''d confirm once the emperor was done speaking. "She has a name, of course," Jotun exined, "but just knowing her name can put one in danger. Being a human, and knowing her name means that you may have a connection to one of the older families or powers of the human race, and the enemies of humanity have done much to weaken us, so as soon as they discover someone who knows her, they do not hesitate to cut them down. "It''s a matter of the Primary realm, which is the first ever realm to exist in this universe. The history of what happened back then is lost. It is truly, genuinely lost, and not even the Dao Lords know the truth of what happened back then. All we know is that the Mother created all humanoid races in her image. "By humanoid, I do not mean those alien creatures which have a torse, two arms and two legs. No, I mean very literally and specifically simr to us humans in appearance. The elves call those with such an appearance elvish, the angels call them angelic, the devils call them devilish, so on and so forth. Whatever it is called, it is a fact that all of these races have the same origin. "At the time of creation, whether it was humans, elves, devils, celestials, fairies, dwarves, or the countless other such races, most of whom have already be extinct, were all created equally. Or at least, that''s what I''ve been told. "In the beginning, there were thirteen humans, all of them born directly in the Celestial realm, and they were considered the leaders of humanity. To be clear, just because there were thirteen humans born at the beginning, it does not mean all of humanity is descended from them. Remember, once a race has been born once, others of its species can be born anywhere. "That means that the original thirteen humans were incredibly special, and contained the most potential that anyone from the human race has ever had." Lex was already familiar with them, as he recalled Z gained the heritage of one of them. "That is the origin of the human race, and a lot has happened since then. Most who were born together with the humans have gone extinct, their race not even leaving behind a name or memory of what they were like. Some, much like the humans themselves, fell from grace and became weaker as a whole. Others, like the devils and angels, gained strength, while others, much like the Celestial race, attained a position near the peak of the universe, and it has reflected in their race. "Too much time has passed, and there are too many secrets forgotten by history, but what is true even now is that the Mother had enemies, just as humans and all humanoid races have enemies. "Our enemies, whosoever they are, have worked tirelessly to eradicate the highest potential of the humans. After all, we were born with the exact same potential as the Celestials. It''s just that while they prospered, we waned in strength. The legacy of the original Kings of humanity is all but lost. But just because they were the first, does not mean they were always the best. "Our Sephore family was actually the first family of humans to touch upon the Celestial realm after being born directly from the universe. It is even said that one of our ancestors once touched upon the threshold of the Dao. Throughout history, our family has given birth to countless geniuses who excelled in their chosen fields. Once, we even had an incredibly powerful bloodline ability, passed down from the ancestor who touched the Dao. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Unfortunately, as we try to grow stronger, our enemies try to weaken us. Tell me, have you heard of the realm wars?" "I have heard them mentioned once or twice," Lex said. "Our Sephore family originally lived in three realms. We were spread out so that if one of the realms were to face danger, the family members in the other realms would survive. But who could have guessed that all three realms were invaded? "Amidst the chaos of war, the members of the Sephore family died one after another, until someone finally realized that these were not casualties of war. Instead, we were being assassinated. "With the total destruction of the Sephore family on hand, countless members of our family were sent across the universe to hide and seek refuge so that the bloodline would not extinguish. Moreover, even our fates and karmic connections were severed so that no one could track us. "We brothers are the only ones who survived in the Origin realm, and we have no idea what is the fate of the others who escaped. What I can tell you is that¡­ the Sephore family was truly fallen, for one day, even the bloodline ability within our very blood vanished. To be able to erase an entire bloodline heritage from across realms¡­ I cannot even imagine what kind of power that would require. "But even without our bloodline abilities, the Sephore family still has a history of producing geniuses. You yourself are an example of that. You, yourself, represent the potential that the human race possesses, which is why, if you begin to travel the realms, you will face a lot of enemies. "It''s not just the other races who you have to watch out for. It''s the minions and underlings of those races as well. You cannot predict who they might be. They may even appear as allies, but if they detect that you are a descendant of the Sephore family, their colors will change quickly, and you will find yourself trapped." The fact that a Celestial immortal was so seriously discussing this matter forced Lex to take it very seriously as well. For many things, he treated the Midnight Inn as a refuge, but in truth it was akin to a paper tiger. A true threat would reveal the sham that it really was. If that was the case, going to another realm and provoking some race that might treat humanoid races as enemies was a genuine danger. What if they too had a formidable background, and decided to attack the Inn? Since even the Innkeeper kept the guise of a human, and so did all of its workers, the Inn clearly looked like it was a budding humanoid force. Getting caught in some ancient feud he did not understand did not sound like fun. Lex was reminded of the ridiculous situation of the fairies. Their entire race was cursed to be targets of very and to being misused and forgotten, despite their amazing potential. Were they victims of the same people who sought to destroy the foundations of the human race? He resisted the urge to sigh. The Sephore family¡­ he had no feelings towards it, positive or negative, but it didn''t feel nice knowing that he could be targeted just for being one of them. Much more importantly, Jotun was of the belief that the original thirteen humans had the most potential among their race, which is why their legacies were being targeted. It was not bragging for Lex to say that he thought his own potential was also great, which meant that if the enemies of the human race saw him, and detected his potential, then he would be targeted regardless of his family background. One solution was to, of course, just not go to new realms. Lex also didn''t feel any rush to explore new realms, for just the Origin realm was enough for him till reached higher realms. But Lex knew his luck all too well. If he didn''t go out, then sooner orter the enemies of humanity would end uping to the Origin realm as well. The Midnight realm itself was just begging to be visited by such people as well. Oh, there was also the matter of Cassandra undergoing the tribtion to be a Dao Lord. Her real body was hidden in the Origin realm, and her clone was in the Midnight Inn. If such powerful entities were bent on harming humanity, then they would never miss out on a human bing a Dao Lord. They would have ways to find out about it. So their encounter was only a matter of time. "Just so that I''m clear, the fight against the races is independent of the realm war wreaking havoc throughout the universe?" "Oh yes, of course. The realm war will finish sooner orter, but the race war has been going on since the very beginning of time. It will not end so soon. Just like we have Celestials who are at the peak of the universe, our enemies too have incredibly powerful forces that govern the state of the universe. "I''m afraid this conflict will not end until one side loses out entirely. Of course, I am not qualified toment on the state of the world. Who knows? The Mother might make another move, and bring us back to the peak we started from." Chapter 1283 Overlords Chapter 1283 Overlords Even if Lex ignored the fact that the Midnight Inn was literally training its workers inside the Temple of Fasting, which was a temple specifically made to train humans, and contained the heritage of all thirteen of the first humans, his presence alone would be enough to get them pulled into this war. If the enemies of humanity, whoever they were, operated with the agenda to eliminate anyone with immense potential, then Lex would be at the top of that list if they ever discovered him. No wait, if any Jeffrey clones survived, and had the memories of him from back in the Trial of Eternity, then Lex should operate under the premise that news of his potential had already spread, or was eventually going to be spread. N?v(el)B\\jnn After all, that''s what Lex would do if he had an enemy he couldn''t kill himself. He would make sure that anyone who might seek to harm his enemy would be equipped with the most urate, up to date knowledge. Then there was also the fact that Z had obtained the heritage of Zarek, the eleventh human ever born. Then there was the fact that a majority of the staff in the Midnight realm had undergone countless baptisms of spiritual energy, raising their potential to the absolute limit. Lex was certain that there were very few forces in the entire universe which had as many high potential humans as the Midnight Inn. "Who are these enemies of humanity you keep talking about? How can I avoid them if I don''t even know who they are?" Jotun shook his head disappointingly. "I myself do not know. If the Henali know, they have not told me either. I only know that the Sephore family was being attacked by Beasts when we were evacuated. To be specific, we were being attacked by Felines. But it is likely that those beasts were just subordinates to whoever was targeting humans to begin with." Lex sat back in his chair and thought about things for a moment. The Midnight inn sought to be a neutral organization, but there was no neutrality in the universe. By birth alone, he was already within the camp of the humanoids, and had to prepare to be targeted by unknown enemies. He turned and looked at the emperor, a mighty cultivator in the celestial realm - an heir from the Sephore family. Now he was just a subordinate of the Henali. Celestial immortals, for all the power they held, were still just subordinates to Dao Lords. "Why do you say that as long as I stay in the Origin realm, I''ll be safe? Aren''t there Beasts here as well?" "How familiar are you with the powers of the universe?" Jotun asked, before replying. "Not much," Lex answered, without revealing any specifics. An illusion appeared in front of Lex of a star system, conjured by the emperor who leaned forward and pointed to the world. "Let me give you a small refresher about how civilizations are ranked - though, instead of civilizations you should think of it in terms of greater powers or organizations. An organization that is limited to the surface of their originating is at the Ground level." The illusion changed, and small ships moving between thes became visible. "An organization that can move between thes within a star system is at the Sky level. An organization that can travel between different star systems is at the Star level." The illusion zoomed out, and two star systems appeared side by side, with ships traversing between them. "An organization that can move between gxies is at the Gctic level. The Jotun empire is a Gctic level empire." The illusion zoomed out some more, and a number of gxies appeared side by side. It was then that Lex was reminded of the fact that while he was proud of the Inn for howrge it had grown, it was nothingpared to the Jotun empire, which spanned multiple gxies. "How do you manage something so vast?" Lex could not help but ask as he tried to visualize how vast the Jotun empire truly was. He could not. He simply could not imagine. With the help of the system he had now built numerous cities already to host the hundreds of millions of guests that upied his Inn. He had cheats and he had apetent staff that never caused internal problems, and even then Lex knew that he wasn''t giving his Inn enough time to run things properly. That was one of the reasons he wanted to create clones so much. Yet whenpared to the emperor, who was controlling a much vaster empire, it was still insignificant. The emperor smiled. It was good to know that there were some things which could still impress Lex. The young man had incredible exposure, but that also made it hard to have a normal conversation with him. Considering the fact that he had literally been instructed by the Henali to have a good rtionship with the Inn, he had never appeared in front of Lex as an emperor, but as an equal. That did not mean that the emperor was an ordinary person. "It''s very easy. Be the strongest one around, with no one strong enough to counter you. If it weren''t for the Fuegans, I could expand the empire even more." "But how would you manage such a vast empire?" Lex asked, then realized they were getting sidetracked. "That''s easy too. Just as there are sword cultivators, and formation experts, I have nurtured an army of administrative cultivators. Their cultivation is uniquely suited for managing my empire. If you wish, I can introduce you to some." Lex shook his head. "We''re getting distracted. Continue, after the Gctic level is¡­" Jotun nodded, and his illusion shrunk even more, showing hundreds, then thousands, millions and then possibly even trillions of gxies, before they shrunk even more, and instead were reced by a t board. "Beyond the Gctic organizations are Overlords, who control entire realms. Having at least one Dao Lord is the minimum requirement of such a force. But do you know? There are even organizations above Overlords!" Chapter 1284 Emperor Chapter 1284 Emperor A force powerful enough to rule multiple realms, with a minimum requirement of at least one Dao Lord, was still not at the highest categorized level? It sort of made sense. After all, what if a force had 10 Dao Lords? Shouldn''t they be categorized higher than a force that only has one? "Is there¡­ is there something greater than realms?" Lex asked, trying to imagine the situation. Froms, to star systems, to gxies, to entire realms, one was basically just a collection of the lower level. Did that mean that the level above the Overlord level controlled something evenrger than realms? How vast was the universe? Was there even an end to it? "Of course," the emperor said, but after a pause, he corrected himself. "Of course not. Realms are realms, there is nothing greater in the universe at the moment, but who knows if it will always be like that. But the power level above Overlord has nothing to do with arger territory. Instead, it has to do with power. "The next level is called the Emperor level. I do not even know what the requirements are to be an Emperor level force, but even the Henali have not reached that status yet. They are, however, affiliated with an Emperor level force. As it happens, the humanoid faction in the universe are also affiliated with the same Emperor level force. That is why many of the Dao Lords within the Origin realm who are not from the Henali are actually Humanoid. Even the ones who are not humanoid definitely won''t be from opposing forces." "So basically, other than knowing that the enemy won''t be allowed in the Origin realm, you know nothing," Lex said, confirming if his understanding was correct. Jotun shrugged. "Until I reach the peak of the Celestial realm, I don''t need to know. Even then, I don''t n on leaving the Origin realm so it''s pointless for me to know. I have to rebuild the strength of the humans, so as long as my objective is not threatened, I don''t mind." "That''s quite interesting," Lex said as he analyzed the situation. He was beginning to grasp at how farsighted Dao Lords truly were. At face, it seemed like Lex was being warned about dangers he would face if he traveled to other realms. But in truth, he was being gently persuaded to stick to realms owned by the Henali, or at least by realms that fell under the umbre of the Emperor level force above. For now, Lex had no intention of spreading to other realms, but if he really needed to, those would be the realms to go to. "What''s the name of the Emperor level force? Can I know?" "Even I don''t know these things," the emperor said with a smile. "These things are too far away from us. In fact, I''m sure that the Innkeeper already knows these things, and will tell you if he deems fit. Us telling you is just responding a little to the huge favor you have done the Henali." "I have another question," Lex said with a frown as he thought about all the information on hand. His understanding of therger forces in the universe was really too limited, which was a fortunate thing since he hadn''t encountered them much. But it was also a disadvantage since he was struggling to understand the dynamic of things. "Just based on the things you said about the history of humans, and power levels among forces, it''s safe to assume that this Mother you mention is above the Dao Lord realm." Lex already knew there was a realm above the Dao Lord realm, since it clearly said so in his questpletion notification when hepleted the wedding in the Crystal realm, and got his hands on nk Protos. Jotun also wore a solemn look, though he did not speak yet, and let Lexplete his question. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "If that is the case, then howe the humanoids don''t have their own Emperor level force or something? Why are you relying on the Henali? With such a strong backer, shouldn''t it be much easier to protect the heritage of powerful human families? Or better yet, if the Mother made the first thirteen humans, why can''t she just make a few more at the same power level? Does that mean that our enemy¡­ is also beyond the Dao Lord realm?" Jotun sighed. "Lex, these are secrets we''re just not qualified to know," he said, a rare tone of defeat in his voice. "Even Dao Lords do not know the secrets of the Mother. How can we know of such things? Maybe the performance of the human race disappointed the Mother, so she no longer favors us. Or maybe it''s something else. "These things are too far away from us. The point of me telling you of our ancestry was so that you''re aware that you too have a target on your back now. Your performance within the Trial of Eternity has gained the attention of multiple forces. If you weren''t already a part of the Midnight Inn, then many would try to recruit you. At the same time, those who seek to harm you will do their best to ensure your information is leaked to any and all forces who might want to harm you, whether it''s the enemies of humanity, of terrorists, of the Fuegan, of everyone." "What''s the background of the Fuegan?" Lex suddenly asked. "If the Henali truly have such a powerful background, howe they can''t even rout some terrorists within their own realm? Are they also affiliated with some Emperor level organization?" The emperor paused for a few minutes, as if thinking, before he answered, "This is a delicate matter which has to do with the history of the Origin realm and the Henali. This should not have too much of an impact on you, so it''s best we don''t get into it. Sometimes, knowing too much can give others leverage over you. Your performance with Sanguis Pluvia was so good that many are already moring to forcefully conscript you. I think it''s best we don''t give them any excuses." Chapter 1285 Whims Chapter 1285 Whims Lex and Jotun continued their conversation for a while, but it was more or less evident that Jotun either did not know secrets about the greater universe, and that revealing the secrets would involve Lex in certain matters that were best avoided. He subtly became aware of Karma, and how even knowledge could bind him to some Karma. He did not understand thoroughly what Karma was yet. Surely it was moreplex than the simple exnation for it from back on Earth. Even so, he did not ask Jotun. Who knew if learning a little more might trigger another tribtion? It was best to take things steadily and slowly for now. Even so, Lex could learn many useful things from the emperor. Even if he did not know the many secrets of the Sephore family, he still knew many things that were considered secrets to others. "Of course I''ve heard of the Zarek family," the emperor said. "In fact, it is said the Sephore family became vassals of the Zarek family for a time, and even that some from the Sephore family married into theirs. It''s a tragedy that anyone with the bloodline of the original kings was hunted down, or by now the Sephore and Zarek family might have merged into one." Ah, so his ancestors worked for Z''s ancestors? How the tables had turned. Eventually, though, their conversation came to a close. They had nothing left to talk about, so Lex excused himself. He had to go prepare to rescue Liz, which was trickier than he expected. Before he left, though, Lex recalled something important and decided to mention it to the emperor. "Rafael, you say?" the emperor asked, rubbing his chin. "I can look into him, but I don''t see how a mortal can be of any help against the Fuegan." "Just like I had my sources, he has his," Lex said. "Of course, I could be mistaken. But I have a feeling that he will y a big role in oveing their threat in the future." The emperor nodded, and promised that he would find and talk to him. With that done, he turned his attention to Liz. Apparently, Liz had some kind of treasure on her that made it very difficult to divine her location, or peer into her secrets. Of course, such a treasure was only effective up to a certain power range, but that definitely included Earth immortals. ording to the information Lex got, it was suspected that she got her hands on that treasure through Ventura. It was nice to know that Liz had not been subject to Damian''s many cruelties, but her affiliation with Ventura made him ufortable. As the foremost cultivation academy in the universe, it was practically a given that it was the result of a system. Or at least that''s what Lex thought. The owner of Ventura was also probably very strong, and Lex did not want to attract his attention yet. But the Midnight Inn wasn''t exactly a secret to begin with, and who knew how many Ventura students had already visited it, so there was no point in avoiding Liz because of it. He sent someone over to the Infinity Emporium with his identity token once more and had a sample requested from the she was on. Hopefully he would get it before she moved, since Liz had a tendency to not remain on any one too long. In the meantime, Lex went over to Moon, and after confirming by putting it in the Gift shop, gave her a drop of Mythic Conifer nectar. Anything that nourished the soul would not be harmful to her. In fact, it would empower her. N?v(el)B\\jnn Over the past few days, Lex had noticed that Moon''s body had started to give off the aura of a Nascent soul cultivator. She was already gaining strength, but as soon as she had the drop of nectar, her skin began to blush and soon her face became red. Her body temperature rose just a little, and the vitality within her body increased exponentially. Lex''s limited understanding of healing and treating illnesses told him that her body had begun to recover rapidly. Her aura also began to fluctuate rapidly, sometimes seeming like that of Moon herself, while at other times appearing like she herself was Yildrim Utopia. But for all the positive signs the nectar brought, it did not wake her. Lex frowned. It could entirely be possible that she would wake up soon, or that she needed more nectar. But Lex dared not give her more, despite how harmless the emperor said it was. Fortunately, there was one person who he could consult for this. He had avoided talking to her for the past few years because he thought she was in a deep meditative state. It was only after he became an immortal, and sensed his condition, that he realized that she was just cultivating normally. Lex teleported over to Cassandra''s clone. She had sent it alongside Lex, so that when the Midnight realm was born she could see it for herself. Apparently, it would help her enter the Dao realm. Indeed, when she had seen the Midnight realm form, she had entered a meditative state and Lex felt like he should not disturb her, and that he would see her next whenever she became a Dao Lord - if she became a Dao Lord. But when Lex became an immortal, he learned that this teacher of his, who had guided him back in the Temple of Fasting, was just cultivating normally. Politely, he knocked on the door to her meditation chamber, and then entered when it opened. Looking at her directly, Lex frowned. Why did it seem like her clone was even weaker than it originally was? Cassandra opened her eyes and looked at Lex. For a moment she seemed dazed, but then her eyes quickly narrowed as she studied Lex. "You''ve been missing sleep and food again," Cassandra said, immediately judging the state of his body. "You''ve also rushed your cultivation. Don''t you know that, per level, you should spend at least a decade regting your state before entering the next level? And what''s that smell? Don''t tell me you''ve been absorbing Profane energy! I already told you not to increase your affinities anymore. Isn''t your tribtion difficult enough? I wouldn''t be surprised if you''d be facing a Farham in your lightning tribtions already." "It''s good to see you too," Lex said as he recalled this teacher of his, who was much too serious in his opinion. "My cultivation is a bit of a mess, but it couldn''t be helped. I triggered five tribtions back to back, and then two more a short whileter. I''m actually avoiding studying newerws just so that I don''t identally trigger more tribtions." Cassandra''s expression remained unreadable as always, though she continued to stare at him. She had almost forgotten how absurd this student of hers was. How was he so incredibly powerful even without making the most effective use of her abilities? Shemented that she couldn''t watch over his training more carefully. But her main body could not spare any attention at all, so she could not control the Temple of Fasting even if she wanted. He was more or less on his own for his training. "What about you, though?" Lex asked after a few moments when he realized Cassandra wasn''t speaking. "Get any insights into the Dao?" "My main body has, indeed, sensed the Dao. This clone of mine would have actually dispersed at that moment, but then I recalled that the Innkeeper had given me instructions to have a discussion with the human king on the Crystal realm. In pursuit of that, I severed the connection between this clone and my main body temporarily. Once I have a discussion with him, as the Innkeeper requested, I will reinstate that connection, and then disappear. My main body cannot afford even the slightest distraction during this period." Ah, Lex remembered. Cassandra had the philosophy of bing the strongest on her own, to support the human race, while Cornelius, the king of the Crystal realm, wanted to empower the entire race so that it would not need individual heroes, but would be great as a whole. Their two ideologies were so different, on a whim he suggested that she should meet him. He thought it might bring about interesting results. Who knew that suggestion on a whim would result in Cassandra keeping her clone in the Midnight realm, which now had benefited him. "Oh, that''s convenient. I was actually nning on going to meet Cornelius soon," Lex said truthfully. "I can bring you to the Crystal realm when I go, if you wish." "Yes, that sounds like a good idea. But you did note here for this. Tell me, how do you need my help? It does not seem like you need any guidance on studyingws." "Actually, it''s about my sister. She won''t wake up¡­" Chapter 1286 If nothing pops up Chapter 1286 If nothing pops up "Quite interesting," Cassandra said as she heard Lex''s description of Moon''s condition. "From what I recall, when you were scanned back then, didn''t the scan also detect you had two physique''s instead of one, with the second one being Soulforge unity? Although your physiques are no longer a concern, it was interesting that you had a physique rted to souls, and now your sister has one too." In truth, the Soulforge Unity physique was a result of Regal Embrace,bining his soul with his body and spirit, but it wasn''t like he could go around advertising that. "Even more interesting is that your sibling has an interesting physique as well. The chances of two siblings having powerful physiques, considering how rare they are, are quite low." "Wait till you hear about my other sisters. One has a heart of an Angel, while the other has 100% affinity with the Beast Master cultivation system." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Of course your family is extraordinary. Tell me, are your parents simrly gifted?" Lex shrugged. "Apparently my dad has some kind of sword rted physique, and my mom is an enigma. I''d rather not get into that right now. Will youe see her? I''ve had countless other doctors and experts look at her. Everyone suggests I just need to supplement her soul, and I''ve done that, but she''s still asleep." Cassandra took a deep breath, before letting out a sigh. It seemed like she was making a tough decision. "I can take a look at her, but not now. I''ll do it right before we leave for the Crystal realm. This clone of mine has extremely limited energy, and each and every action consumes arge amount of it. I do not want to fall short during my conversation with the king." Lex paused, and thought about everything on his to do list. There was nothing too urgent. He''d go rescue Liz, hopefully cure Moon in the meantime, go to the Crystal realm for revenge against the Kraven prince, be morefortable with his realm, and then return to focus entirely on the Midnight Inn. Slowing down the expansion of the Inn, and using the Temple of Fasting to train himself and the other workers, they would soon grow stronger. He''d stick around the Origin realm at least until he became a Celestial immortal, and then resume expanding the Inn. It was a preliminary n, and he knew it would be almost entirely impossible to avoid any more problems, but he''d try his best to eliminate all conflicts. As it was, he was not worthy of engaging in a battle for supremacy at his level. During all this, he also wanted to converse with King Cornelius himself as well. He''d heard that the King was exceptionally strong for someone at the Earth Immortal, so he wanted to see for himself what the difference between them was. He didn''t mind picking up a few tricks from the King. There was also the quest to visit the Seraphim resort. He was actually looking forward to that one. But if nothing else came up, and he really, really hoped nothing would, then for the foreseeable future he was clear to just stay at the Inn and really give it some attention for once. "Sounds good," Lex said to Cassandra. "I''ll let you know when I''m heading to the Crystal realm. It shouldn''t take more than a few days." Cassandra nodded, and then closed her eyes. Lex returned to his office and waited until he could get items from the where Liz was. In a few hours at most, he would finally see her. ***** Within the massive ship that served as the central hub of the A.I. empire within the Origin realm, Calculon stood with his eyes closed, most of his attention focused on repairing the Henali portal and the entirework that spread across the realm. Normally, the kind ofputational power required to do such a thing was not avable within the body of any one A.I. and would instead be carried out by Processings. Processings were basically just artificially createds that were just one massiveputer. Countless A.I. lived within them, treating the like one massive city, all sharing the as one body. After all, A.I. didn''t necessarily need independent bodies. They just required a body with enough processing power and strength to support the size of their soul. But Calculon alone, with his feeble sized body, did the calctions of an entire Processing, or even several of them. But this was not something that could bepleted overnight, so when he got a notification about the arrival of an important guest, he actually paused all his calctions, and focused solely on the guest. If it were anyone else, he would have just allocated a small amount of attention. But certain guests required his full consideration. Soon, a smiling figure was escorted into Calculon''s chamber by a guide robot. "Calculon, I''m so pleased you could make time to see me," the figure said as he came and made himselffortable in front of the unsmiling A.I. "Bank Versalis is a high priority entity," Calculon stated without emotion. "ording to my priority protocols, meeting with you is a higher priority than my other assigned tasks, Auditor Ripley." "I''m ttered that you would give the bank such importance," the auditor responded, his enthusiasm particrly prominent in contrast to the cold and emotionless Calculon. "It is a must. I myself also applied to arrange a meeting between us. I recently paid a considerable price to get my hands on valuable intel regarding interests of the A.I. empire from an entity known as the Midnight Newsroom. Are you familiar with it?" "No, I can''t say that I am," Ripley said with a hint of interest. "What does that have to do with me or the bank?" "The intel was regarding tensions between Bank Versalis and the Celestial court. On the surface it seems unrted, but the Henali portal is one of the projects funded by the Versalis bank, and yet it faced an unprecedented failure due to mutiny within the A.I. empire. While an internal investigation is being conducted in regards to the mutiny, disruptions in your investments in the Origin realm could create tensions between you and the Henali. "Although statistically speaking the chances of such a thing being a prearranged conspiracy to drive a wedge between the Versalis Bank and the alliance block between the Humanoids, Henali and Dragons is less than 7%, a greater than 1% chance already warrants precautionary measures be initiated." "The Midnight Newsroom told you all this?" Ripley asked, reigning in his excitement. "No, this is a result of our internal investigation after having the possibility pointed out. The newsroom only directed our investigation in the correct direction. The more important point is that we, the A.I. empire, are being dragged into an external conflict, since all our projects are internally insured. Not only do we need to pay for damages to the portal, our credibility is affected, our forces diminished, and we are put on a trajectory towards choosing sides. "This is an uneptable oue for us. I, Calculon, as a representative of the A.I. empire, dere to you unequivocally that we will not abide by being forced into this conflict. Any coercion attempts will result in aplete fallout of decorum, and a deployment of the Eternal Swarm into all of your affiliated realms. Please be aware that I have already made a simr deration to the Celestial Court as well. Having said that, be informed that an investigation has already beenunched into the instigation attempts. If it is determined that you had a part to y in this, we will be forced to seekpensation for our losses." Ripley smiled at the tant threats, instead of being out off. He was an auditor - he was used to hearing threats, both veiled and direct. If he was so easily discouraged, he would not have been assigned such an important job. "Believe me, Calculon. I share your concerns. Causing a division between the Bank and its valued customers is akin to a deration of war. I will also look into this. I will also remember to personally thank the Midnight Newsroom for their contribution in bringing this matter to light. As for the matter between the Bank and the Celestial courts, it is merely a regretful misunderstanding. I am sure it will be resolved sooner orter. "But now, onto the matter I originally came to see you for. The Bank would like to invest in a Soul Chamberrge enough to support several Celestial level souls. I would like tomission you toplete this assignment at the earliest. I also need the task to be donepletely surreptitiously." Calculon did not respond immediately, for it was processing what amission of such level would require in terms of logistics and resources. "Let''s discusspensation," he finally said, after determining its feasibility. Chapter 1287 Space battle Chapter 1287 Space battle "It''s here," Mary informed Lex who was scribbling on a notebook. He did not need to keep a to-do list, but the satisfaction of cutting through them when the task wasplete was enough to motivate him to keep a record of his tasks in such a way. Mostly, it was because he did not want to start any task before leaving to rescue Liz. Now that he had received the item he could use to connect to the relevant, he suited up and disappeared. Despite his confidence that everything would go fine, Lex could not help but feel a hint of nervousness. Thest time he had gone out like this, he discovered Moon in a really bad state. If Vera hadn''t urged him to go, he might have missed the critical timing to save her. Although he had no such warnings from Vera this time, he could not help being nervous. He recalled his younger sister Liz. Although technically not a middle child, she suffered from the middle childplex of thinking she did not get enough attention - or at least the version of her that he knew was like that. She was silent, introverted, and hard working, never making a fuss for anyone else, always a good child. But as a result of that,pared to Belle and Moon, his rtionship with Liz was actually a little weaker. They didn''t spend too much time together, and they didn''t have shared memories. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om He procrastinated no longer, and teleported over,nding in what looked like a massive junkyard. But this was no junkyard. The whole was like that. It was the equivalent of a third world country in a star system with over nine habitables, each of themrge enough to support a vast and rich poption. This, the poorest in terms of environment, resources and technology, imported the trash from the entire star system, and used it to nourish the. At least that''s what it said in the information booklet Lex had read. In truth, the situation on the was drastically different. Lex spread his spirit sense and discovered entire battalions of soldiers running around on the surface, quickly setting up bases, with countless dead bodies everywhere on the. There were arge number of prisoners who had been cryogenically frozen just because it was easier to store them tillter than to actually deal with them. Up above, in the sky above the junkyard, there were five massive spaceships maneuvering around the three moons of the, shooting massiveser beams at each other. Thousands of smaller spaceships flew around therger ships like guard bees around a beehive, fighting off against each other. Firee rained down on the junkyard, a result of crashing spaceships. It seems like a war had broken out in this ce, though it must have been recent. Otherwise Liz would not have been able to make it to this. Lex spread his spirit sense far and wide, but no matter what he did, he could not find any signs of her. That was partially expected. Liz had a treasure on her that could hide her from being detected, so Lex did not think it would be easy to find her. But it was now more important than ever to find her. Fortunately, most of the smaller ships flying through the atmosphere and even space, fighting each other, were not a threat to Lex. The five massive ships, however, were, if only because of the sheer firepower they boasted. It looked like a scene out of star wars. Now all that was missing were sabers made of light that could cut through solid steel. Lex used his bloodline tracking ability, and got a faint feedback. It was faint, because the connection was oddly subdued, but not entirely disconnected. Lex was not rmed, as he thought that might be a function of whatever treasure Liz was using to hide herself. Instead, he just began flying towards it - which meant he was flying directly up in the air. Unwilling to get involved, Lex camouged himself as he flew through the air, observing the dogfights. As unusual as it seemed, there were three different groups involved in the fight, each against each other. There were temporary alliances between the three groups, but only to take advantage of the situation until they could turn their backs upon each other. What was interesting was that two of the races at war were insects, while the third were some kind of strange wooly dog. The aggression between them was deeply rooted into their very bones, and even from afar Lex could sense their hatred. It was odd because he had never heard of these races, yet they seemed fairly powerful, and especially technologically advanced. He made observations to their ships because by now it was fairly obvious that Liz''s signal wasing from one of therge five ships - it was a round, gray ship with a small indent on one end, that looked like the front of the ship. All the other ships were fighting around the circr ship, some trying to protect it, and others trying to destroy it. He could not sense anyone with high cultivation levels nearby, so he was not worried. But the level of technology on their ships made Lex wary. His instincts let him know that if he was not careful, he would be discovered, which would not end well. Taking advantage of his superior cultivation, he spread out his spirit sense and began sneakily listening in to the conversations of all the pilots in the ships around him, trying to understand the situation. Predictably, most of them were just focused on mentioning details regarding their fight and the enemies they were facing - until his spirit sense came across a camouge ship, also heading towards the circr ship. "Yabayaba, this Blind Owl, I''m making my way to the fake moon ship. Increase the heat, distract their ships. Don''t let them find me." Chapter 1288 What shes up to Chapter 1288 What she''s up to It seemed like someone was nning an infiltration mission on the same ship that he was going to. Lex didn''t want to interfere with the war. Not only did it have nothing to do with him, but he had no understanding of the story behind it either. Was there a specific person who was in the right, or was everyone just circumstantially or politically motivated? Regardless, Lex had also decided to stop getting involved in others problems. He was running an Inn, and while on the surface it seemed like he had the power to help others, in reality he was just creating more problems for himself. Lex looked at the camouge ship and estimated that it would take it one to two hours to make it to the moon shaped ship. It was best to get ahead of it. If they caused a ruckus on the ship, it might be harder to find Liz. Instead of teleporting directly to the ship, Lex Blinked there in a series of smaller teleportations. One reason for that was that the response for the bloodline technique was so faint, he could be mistaken about the source so he needed to keep checking. Secondly, his instincts were informing him that therger ships were more formidable than the average Earth Immortal in many senses, and that such a tant approach would definitely be detected. For a moment, Lex pondered over whether he could cut through the entire ship in one strike. It was pretty big, and had various defenses. Then again, he was an abnormally strong Earth Immortal, and he did not just understand the limits of his strength. At first, he thought he did, but soon discovered that his body was still steadily bing stronger. It seemed that Cassandra was not wrong in stating that it takes the average cultivator ten years to get used to each level in the immortal realm. That was too long for Lex - he had to discover a way to speed things up. Soon he reached close enough to the ship, and realized that teleportation was more difficult. A quick nce with his left eye revealed the problem to him. Much in the way that disying a Domain strengthened onew, discing others, the ship was somehow strengthening thews around it. But it was not a random, mindless strengthening. Instead, thews around the ship were being influenced to remain in a certain state. What was interesting was that Lex could feel that there was nothing directly influencingws to be that way, in the way ts directws. Rather, it seemed like the presence of the ship itself was forcing thews to themselves act in a certain way. A gleam passed through Lex''s eyes. He sensed that he had stumbled onto another secret, and that learning it might bring him deeper understanding ofws once more. He was hesitant, since he didn''t want to initiate a tribtion right here, but it wasn''t like he could just give up on such a juicy reward? The thought of tribtions reminded him, what had Cassandra said he might encounter in his tribtion? A Farham? Was that the name of the lightning creatures that kept attacking him? He''d have to find out. Although Lex was certain that he could continue to teleport, he didn''t push it. Before he was an immortal, he could teleport using only his affinity, unaware of the changes he was causing inws. Now, technically, he should have been able to do the same. But since he was unustomed to his newfound strength and abilities, he often found himself unconsciously influencingws with his every action. As a result, if he teleported, he might cause a disturbance in thews, so he avoided it. He was close enough to the ship anyway. He allocated a certain amount of his attention towards controlling his t, keeping it subdued. He flew through the vacuum of space,pletely unaffected by the cosmic radiation which once required so much effort to resist. He approached the surface of the ship and noticed that the gray material was just a protective outer cover, while underneath it was a thickyer of metal. Lex entered his soul state and pushed right through it, though even in this state he felt a mild resistance. The protectiveyer of this ship was quite impressive, Lex almost considered hiring a few of the people who made this ship as workers at the Inn. He still wasn''t able to properly make use of the ship he got from the Cthulhu since it was tooplicated, and required a trained staff. He was making progress on it though. The inside of the ship consisted of countless corridors, carefully structured to fit between the numerous machines that kept the ship operational, and also provided ess to each and every part of the ship, in case it ever needed repairs or ess. Lex ignored the organizational structure of the cricket-like insects, and instead focused on his bloodline signal. It was slightly stronger now that he was inside the ship, and it was moving! N?v(el)B\\jnn Remaining within his soul state, Lex flew through the walls of the ship, avoiding detection, while at the same time trying to understand how the ship influencedws. So far, he could not see anything that seemed like it could so much as sense thews, let alone influence it. It was fascinating how a race, where even the strongest of them was merely at the Golden core realm, had produced such impressive and powerful machinery. Since he could not teleport, it took Lex nearly twenty minutes to reach the depths of the ship, where the bloodline signal wasing from. Since he saw thousands of cryogenically frozen captives, he was afraid that Liz might be one of them. Fortunately, he soon found her, and learned that it did not seem to be the case. But, she was definitely a stowaway. He watched with amusement as Liz hid in what was effectively a broom closet for the spaceship, a wooly dog hiding right beside her. Instead of immediately revealing himself, he decided to see what she was up to. Chapter 1289 Spying Chapter 1289 Spying Lex did not get too close, just in case she had some kind of treasure which might detect him. But even so, he had to be close enough that she was within sight, for his spirit sense could not detect her at all. Even his soul sense could not detect her. In fact, he highly suspected that if his affinity for Glyphs had not drastically increased since he got the heart of a dragon, he would not have been able to sense her through his bloodline tracking Glyphs either. Now that she was in front of him, though, Lex was not worried. Instead, he wanted to see what kind of trouble she had gotten herself into. After all, of his sisters, he was the least familiar with Liz, so a little friendly spying would not hurt. "Looks like they haven''t found you either," she whispered, retaining a thick, authentic British ent. "But we can''t continue like this. Otherwise we''ll end up spending hours here, and eventually we''ll get caught." "Look, if you want to track the Gilded Dolphin, then Harriet is your final lead. Help me save him, or we''ll both end up with nothing." Liz looked at the wooly dog with hesitant eyes, and struggled for a few moments, before eventually making a decision. "If you''re lying to me, I swear to god I''m going to personally wax your body," she whispered, before taking out a red, crystal bottle, and popped open its top. She poured a single drop onto the wooly dog, and another onto herself before carefully cing the crystal bottle back. Lex''s eyes shed, as Liz becamepletely invisible right before his eyes, undetectable to any means - including the bloodline signal. Even as strong as he was, with all his various means, Lex could not track Liz at all at that moment. He finally understood how she had avoided capture from whoever was chasing her for so long. Having said that, sometimes one need not rely on advanced techniques for something that could be done simply. He could not sense her, but when the door to the broom closet opened on its own, Lex casually stepped into the next corridor, and spread his spirit sense out to check for any more doors that opened on its own. At the same time, any time he passed by an insect, he gently touched their heads, diving into their thoughts and searching for any information rting to anyone named Harriet. As it turned out, Harriet was the name of a high value wooly dog that had been captured by the insects, and had been kept cryogenically frozen with all the others. But at the same time, he also had a lot more attention and security than the rest. With that knowledge on hand, Lex searched for the way to the holding cell where Harriet was ced, and walked through the ship towards it. Coincidentally, he often saw doors opening on their own on the way to the cell. As a soul hiding within the walls, though, Lex did not need the doors. In a few minutes, he ended up in front of Harriet, and saw how that specific frozen statue of a wooly dog was gently lifted off the ground. A silent rm was triggered when the statue was lifted, but since Lex had already learned of it, he took the opportunity to ess a nearby console and deactivate it using the credentials of a high value insect whose minds Lex had read. He didn''t see what Liz did, but soon even the statue turned invisible. But though invisible it may be, it was a fact that without being specifically kept frozen, the statue began to quickly thaw. While it would take hours, or even days for Harriet to recover consciousness, he did begin to drip water as he was carried through the ship. A single drop every few hundred feet was not enough water to attract anyone''s attention - unless they were looking for it. As it turned out, soon after they left, an insect came to inspect the cell and noticed that a statue was frozen. It was about to ring another rm, but Lex knocked him out. Before Liz and the wooly dog could make it to the hanger - which is where Lex assumed they were going - Lex noticed that the camouged ship had secretly arrived within the ship, and a small team of infiltrators had slipped in. They seemed to have certain passcodes which allowed them to not trigger any immediate rms, but Lex suspected that they would not remain hidden for long. His suspicion was proved true when, fifteen minutester, red lights and an rm set off in the entire ship. Lex sensed an invisible force spread out through the ship, and while it did nothing to Lex, since he was not invisible to begin with - he was only hiding inside the walls as a soul - Liz and the wooly dog were revealed. "What happened? I thought you said no one could detect us!" "They can''t!" she eximed. "Something else must have triggered on the ship. Hurry up, we can do this." As it happened, the two of them were running right in the direction of several entire teams of insect security guards. For a moment, Lex pondered about whether to interfere, but then decided to only do so partially. Moving faster than any of the insects could detect, he incapacitated almost the entire team, and left behind only one, very confused,pletely disoriented insect. A few momentster, Liz and the wooly dog stumbled upon the insect guard and froze. The guard also looked back at the, and then the frozen statue. It had no idea what happened to it, or its team, but it knew that what was in front of it was an issue. A fightmenced. Lex was quite interested to see Liz''s hyped up, 100%patible Beast Master cultivation path, which is why he waspletely disappointed when she took out a ster and shot at the insect! Her aim was good, and the ster was quite effective, but this was a cultivation world, not a sci-fi one. What was going on? Where was the Beast Master cultivation he was looking forward to?n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Chapter 1290 Traitorous mutt Chapter 1290 Traitorous mutt Lex was disappointed, but he supposed it made sense that Liz used the most efficient way to deal with the enemy. Why do with personal power what can be done with a ster? But after killing the insect guard Liz did not let down her guard. Instead, she maintained her vignce as she looked around with a confused expression. Her familiarity with how the insects operated meant that she knew the guard should not have been alone. At the same time, she could not stay around for long, so she pressed onwards. Now,pletely revealed, Lex had an even easier time following them, and continued to help them out by eliminating a majority of the opposition they faced. Liz grew increasingly worried about the abnormality of the situation, while Lex also began to notice a trend. Just as he was helping Liz, there was someone silently guiding the soldiers within the ship, forcing Liz down a specific path. But while Lex was trying to help them, whoever this other person was, their intentions were not so pure. Lex was reminded of the fact that someone had been chasing Liz for a long time, and his eyes shed. The Henali had quietly taken precautions to protect Liz, but now that he had arrived on scene they stopped interfering, which meant that there was a chance Lex woulde face to face with whoever was plotting against her. "There''s something wrong about all of this," Liz said out loud as she loaded Harriot into a ship, though the wooly dog beside her waspletely unconcerned. "As long as we can get away from here, who cares? You make sure there is no one else on the ship, and I''ll get ready to take off." "Remember, we''re going to the abandoned mining facility off towards the uninhabited moons of the outers," Liz reminded the wooly dog. Not only was there no fighting going on that way, but due to how out of the way it was from everything, she expected it to bepletely uninhabited. They did not want to attract any attention. "Yeah, yeah, I got it," the wooly dog said,pletely unconcerned. The only thing he cared about was getting off this ship. In fact, how little he was concerned about possible problems once they left attracted Lex''s attention. But, for now, he did nothing. Soon the ship took off, and they faced no chase either, since everyone seemed busy fighting against the invading force. Liz was the only person who found the ease of their escape concerning. In fact, in a corner of the ship, she secretly began her preparations to escape if things went wrong. Lex was actually quite impressed by the hidden teleportation formation she set up in the ship. It had no presence or fluctuations at all. Her stealth abilities rivaled that of Fenrir back when he was in her realm, which was quite impressive. The flight took several hours, during which time Lex remained hidden in the walls of the ship, silently observing the various events taking ce. In the distance, the war was still going on. But even in this corner of the star system, hidden currents surged. Lex noticed how the wooly dog secretly sabotaged the very ship they were riding. For now it would be fine, but once he activated the machines he set up, the ship''s engine itself would break down. It would be impossible to fly without heavy repairs. Liz, meanwhile, made her own preparations, by turning the batteries of the ship into a massive bomb that could be remotely detonated. Outside, in the vacuum of space, various ships began to follow theirs, though they remained hidden for now. The mining facility in the distance seemed abandoned, but underneath that facade, an army was getting into position. Lex watched all of this in silence. He had thrown the entire Origin realm into turmoil byunching a war that spread far and wide, just to eliminate the force that dared covet his sister''s abilities. So for these people, who were nning on acting against Liz, Lex intended no mercy. But he didn''t act yet. He wanted all the hidden yers to reveal themself first. Eventually, the shipnded on the mining facility that floated in space. Liz and the wooly dog exited their ship, wearing spacesuits as the outeryers of the mining facility had beenpromised and contained no air. Fortunately, they had already made preparations deep within the facility where not only would there be sealed chambers with atmosphere and gravity, but a Revivification machine which would thaw Harriot till he recovered. As the two passed through the facility, all seemed normal. The ce was just as abandoned and eerie as it was thest time Liz was here, which was a good sign. But she knew better than most just how cunning her enemies could be. She needed to be on her guard, not that she showed it to anyone. Finally, they reached the heart of the facility which still had power, and they brought the frozen Harriet into the Revivification machine. The dog finally breathed a sigh of relief, and sat down on the ground while Liz continued to monitor the facility through the cameras screens that could be monitored from her location. Everything seemed normal, but by this point Liz had already decided that the more it was like this, the more there was something wrong. She was adept at running for so long that she was incredibly sensitive to such things. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "AND YOUR MOTHERS CURSE THE DAY YOU WERE BORN!" a voice suddenly screamed through the facility, followed by sudden silence. Liz and the other wooly dog suddenly ran towards Harriet, and opened the chamber to find a confused wooly dog, looking around at his unfamiliar surroundings. He did not recognize Liz, but the moment he saw the wooly dog, his expression turned angry once you. "You! You unfaithful mutt! I''ll kill you!" Harriot screamed and tried to attack, but his body was still suffering from the effects of being frozen, and so he had no strength. "Ah, Harriot, Harriot, Harriot. I finally got my hands on you. Where will you run now?" The doors to the facility were suddenly mmed open, and a host of human troops marched in. Chapter 1291 Enough Chapter 1291 Enough Liz distanced herself from the wooly dog standing above Harriot, and quickly drew out a ster, pointing it at the approaching soldiers and even shot a few warning shots, stopping them in their tracks. "What the hell is going on?" she asked out loudly, as she looked warily at the wooly dog who had been her partner a short while ago. But in truth, she did not care for the answer. While the wooly dog monologued, she was already using a secret treasure tomunicate with Harriot without being detected. "We''re surrounded and will be captured soon," she told him. "I can save you, but only if you provide me with the location of the Gilded Dolphin first." "If I tell you the location, you won''t need to save me. Get me out of here, and I''ll take you to the Dolphin myself." "Fine. But if it turns out that you don''t actually know where the Dolphin is, I''ll dump you out in space," she threatened. Ignoring the nonsense being said out loud, exining how they had all fallen for a trap, Liz activated her teleportation formation back on the ship. Instead of teleporting away herself, it was the wooly dog standing above Harriet who suddenly found himself back on the ship. Besides him, there were a dozen other soldiers who had climbed aboard the ship to ensure Liz couldn''t take it to head back. They looked at each other with confusion, but before they could actually do anything, Liz also triggered the explosive she had set up using the ship''s battery. The entire station rumbled, but the soldiers had no time to focus on that. Liz had spring into action, throwing aser grenade towards the soldiers whileunching a device at Harriet as well. When the grenade exploded, it vaporized everyone in the vicinity, save Liz and Harriet, who had been marked as friendly by the device Liz had used. "Come on," Liz said as she rushed to Harriet, grabbed his wool, and then activated a second teleportation formation - one she had set up a long time ago. The two teleported away and Liz was ready to rush towards themand bridge of the hidden spaceship she had left in the vicinity of the station, but she froze. The ce she teleported to wasn''t her ship. Instead, someone had found a way to move her formation without disrupting it, bringing her to apletely unfamiliar ce. Once she got over the shock of what happened, she looked around to see that they were surrounded by hundreds of soldiers in the Nascent realm. "My dear Liz, you have put up quite the resistance," said a mature-looking man, his ck hair mixed with gray. He stood in full armor in front of his troops, only his face exposed. "You have outsmarted us at every turn, and more than just us. But you cannot hide forever. The time hase. These games grow tiresome. It is now time you ept your duty and ce." "You¡­ I''ve seen you," said Harriet weakly as he red at the armored man. "You''re the one who met with the regent. Are you¡­ did you trigger this war?" "Naturally. If I do not ensue chaos, it would be harder to ensure enough chaos and limit Liz''s options. Enough of this farce. As a guest of Liz, I will allow you to live and attend our wedding. Liz, give up your futile resistance. Our future progeny will rule gxies, and after that¡­ who knows." Liz maintained an emotionless expression as she studied the man. She could not say that she even knew his name. There were too many after her. "Are you not afraid of the Williams family? Of Ventura?" she asked, dying as much as she could while she activated her contingencies. Yet they continued to fail. Each teleportation formation, each attack, each escape¡­ all of them had been deactivated. The man scoffed. "Ventura is a school, nothing more. Unless, if for political reasons, or unless our gap in strength is too massive, they will do nothing. The Williams family, more so than ever, is too weak to interfere in anything else. Not to mention, Damian has given a silent approval of your marriage as long as it benefits the family. There will be no escape this time, Liz. Come." The man stepped forward, and with each step his aura at the peak of the Earth immortal realm began to spread out, suppressing everyone. Even now, Liz showed no fear. Instead, her mind only worked towards future ns. She had been in dire situations before. So long as she was alive, she would not quit. She would escape. She was so close - closer than ever before. Harriot would tell her where the Dolphin was, and then she would¡­ "Enough," a familiar voice said, and suddenly the room was silent. The countless guards froze where they stood, as if they were statues. The soft breeze in the room, a result of the venttion, stopped. The Earth Immortal, lost in thoughts of a glorious future, halted, his foot still raised to take another step. Neither Liz, nor Harriet felt it, but a powerful aura had erupted, and enveloped everyone else in the room. The suffocating heat of that presence caused everything toe to a standstill. Lex could tell that Liz was not at the end of her rope yet, which was interesting. Even in the face of such a powerful adversary, she had contingencies. But he had seen enough. Watching how she handled challenges was all well and good, but Lex could only tolerate so much. Even if she had a way of escaping this situation, she shouldn''t have to use it. Rather, the measly Earth Immortal who dared to eye his sister was the one who should be thinking of escaping. Harriet looked around, trying to understand what was happening, whereas Liz had already caught on. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "Lex," she said simply, looking around the room for her brother. Thest she had seen him, he was enjoying himself on Lover''s Ind, surrounded by countless women. He was impressively powerful, even back then, but it shouldn''t have been to the point where he couldmand immortals with a single world. Following Liz had not been a problem for Lex - he merely followed the path of her teleportation, so he emerged from the ground when Liz called him, and turned to look at her. For a time, there was only silence as the two siblings studied each other. Liz looked at him with a wary gaze, a distinctck of trust in them that Lex easily recognized, as well as doubt at his sudden arrival. It took him but a moment to understand. She did not think he was really Lex, but that instead an enemy was using an illusion to get her to drop her guard. Lex, on the other hand, studied his younger sister. Technically, she was only a couple of years younger than him, though Lex had lived many more years already due to the time difference in their realms. Somehow, though, Liz did notck for life experiences. Without any support or anything else to fall back on, she had used her own wits to escape the grasp of countless powerful people, traveling the Origin realm in search of some unknown objective. "You''ve been through quite a lot," Lex said after a while. "When I saw Moon she was¡­ well, she was over the moon to see me. You, on the other hand, are trying to determine if my jugr is still a weakness for me." Liz maintained her cold expression, though he could see a deep hint of embarrassment in her eyes. "How do you want me to react? Bonds of family, or siblings, are just words to us. Our parents are not the most reliable people in the universe, and a majority of the time we''ve spent together is fake¡­ you''ve spent more time with a clone of me than actually me. I''ve never met someone who didn''t want to use me somehow. So, brother, tell me how you want to use me?" Lex smiled. Ah, Liz. She had developed an attitude. Good for her. She had always been a bit of a teacher''s pet when they were children. "It''s good to see you too, Liz. I''m d you''re doing well. Moon was not doing so great when I found her. Hold on for a minute while I take care of these guys. Then we can have a proper reunion." Lex turned around and summoned Naraka as he walked towards the peak Earth immortal. Despite the fact that Lex was the one with the lower realm, this immortal was nothingpared to the ones Lex had been killing easily in the Trial of Eternity. Which meant that,pared to the elite of the entire realm, this immortal was nothing. While for those immortals, Lex needed to exert some effort, for this one it would be no effort at all to crush his t and kill him. Behind him, Liz took advantage of the moment where no one was focusing on her to run away once more. Chapter 1292 Carefully and considerately Chapter 1292 Carefully and considerately "So, tell me a little more about how you want to have kids with my sister," Lex said, focusing on the old geezer in front of him. Earth Immortals had no effective lifespan, living in perpetuity, and so the only way for an immortal to look older was that if they became immortal at an old age, if they went through significant life experiences which aged them mentally and therefore physically. But even if Lex ignored both those reasons, the fact that he was at the peak of the Earth Immortal realm meant that he must have spent quite a lot of time cultivating. At the very least, even if he became an immortal on the day he was born, he had to have spent ny years to reach the ninth level of the Earth immortal realm. For such an old man to be coveting his sister who was barely in her twenties¡­ okay, well, maybe she was nearing thirty now, but she was a cultivator and for them thirty is basically a teenager. The point was that it was gross. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om The immortal finally felt the immense aura pressing down on him slowly abate, and finally he could react. His pupils constricted and he immediately tried to summon his energy, but he failed. Lex was pressing down on the area with Domination, ensuring that no one could do anything he did not ordain. Perhaps if he had been back in the Trial of Eternity, he might face Earth Immortals with the strength to ignore his Domination. Maybe if he faced stronger races, such as elves of devils, he would encounter some who might find a way to resist. But a mundane human, even if at the peak of the realm, could do nothing. He tried, but even the energy within his own body was unresponsive, locked under Lex''s aura. He tried to use his t, but as if the hand of a deity was pressing it down, keeping it from acting, his t remained unresponsive. Heck, the man could not even move his body. The only part of him that could move a bit was his face, and that was only because Lex wanted to hear him speak. "Go ahead, tell me," said Lex as he walked up to him. "I-" the man began, his voice panicked and filled with fear, but he came to an abrupt stop. Lex plunged his hand into the man''s chest, grabbing hold of his ts. "I don''t care," Lex said, and pulled his body closer, using only his grip on the t as a hold. "What was it that you said? ept your duty and ce, right? Old man, now it is your turn to ept your duty and your ce. Your duty is to serve as a warning to those who would seek to harm my family, and your ce is that of a cretin." Lex channeled his t, manipting thew of physical force, channeling it into his hand that gripped the t. A t was not a physical thing, but as it cracked, the sound reverberated through even the vacuum of space around the facility they were in. It needed no atmosphere to carry it - existence itself was the medium through which it traveled. It spread out to Liz, who was flying through space in a camouged escape pod. It traveled to the guards of the immortal, who were busy instigating war throughout the star system. The cracking sound spread out through space, and for some reason it reached all those who were inpetition with that immortal to get their hands on Liz. No one knew what they heard or why, but they got a bad feeling. The man wanted to scream, but under the pressure of Domination, he could not even do that. Lex was all but prepared to turn the man into an example, just as he had said, but then changed his mind. He was focusing on the wrong things. Instead of spending time here, working on these arbitrary things, he should be reconnecting with Liz. He pulled out his hand from the man''s chest, allowing him to fall to the ground on his knees. Naraka shed, and the man was decapitated, his ts crushed, his soul extinguished. Lex was in an awkward position where ordinary Earth immortals were too weak for him, but Heavenly immortals too strong. He''d have to work on that. Lex used his left eye, searching for a trace of where Liz escaped to, and then promptly followed her. The next second he vanished, Harriet disappearing with him. The countless Nascent level soldiers all around them copsed, unconscious. Lex could not be bothered to deal with them. "What''s this about some dolphin you''re looking for?" Lex suddenly asked, appearing within Liz''s escape pod, which suddenly became quite cramped with the three of them in there. "By the way, that old guy won''t be bothering you anymore. I''ve dealt with him." Liz looked at Lex warily, and then looked at Harriet who had his gaze fixed on Lex. "What do you want from me, Lex? You might feel some connection with me, but you spent time with my clone, not me. We have nothing connecting us." Lex snorted. "I''ve heard a whole lot about those clones. Quite frankly, I''m not interested, and also, I don''t want anything from you. You can go about the universe, doing as you please, looking for dolphins and mermaids, I won''t interfere. "But I just want to introduce you to the Midnight Inn. I''ve brought Moon there, and I''ve dealt with everyone looking to use her. Within the Midnight Inn, I can offer you security as well. If you do not wish to live there, that''s fine. But if you ever encounter problems, you cane and rest there. You''ll be safe." "Why? Because you feel some faint sense of responsibility due to our ''blood connection''? You do not need to. Thank you for your help back there, but I do not wish to burden you anymore. You can go on your merry way, and I''ll just live my life the way I have been." Lex frowned. Liz''s words sounded harsh, but he could see the emotions underneath. He could sense the turmoil within her mind. She truly did not feel safe in his presence. There was anxiety and fear clouding her mind. She did not believe that he was just helping her out. But instead of feeling hurt or offended, Lex just felt more pissed at his parents. How tough must Liz''s life must have been for her to be so untrusting of everyone? She was not like Moon, desperate for any connection at all. He could not expect her to jump at the chance of getting help. She had relied on herself for countless years, so now she could not imagine a reality where she could rely on someone else. This was a delicate situation that required epting the way she felt. It needed to be handled carefully and considerately, so that none of her past trauma would be triggered. "I''m older than you, so you have to do what I say," Lex said, doing his best to sound like he did when he was little. He grabbed Liz who was suddenly startled, and threw her over his shoulder. "You''reing with me to see Moon, and then you''re going to give me a list of all the geezers chasing after you so I can kick their asses. Then we can start working on this attitude problem you''ve developed." Liz tried to resist by beating and pping Lex, but he waspletely impervious. He also softened his skin, so Liz wouldn''t hurt herself hitting him. A few momentster, Lex, Liz and Harriet disappeared, returning to the Midnight Inn. He hadn''tpleted his bonding of that he had visited with the Inn, but he couldn''t be bothered. Liz, who was thinking of ways to get out of this situation, was suddenly startled when she arrived at the Midnight Inn. Most people were rmed by the pure spirit energy, or perhaps the amazing environment. Not her. No, she was startled when her body started trembling, reacting to the countless pureblooded, Mythic creatures nearby! She had spent thest few years scouring the Origin realm, looking for any animal with even the faintest trace of a Mythic bloodline so she could finally activate her 100% Beast Master cultivation path, bringing it close to its true potential. Clearly, she had failed miserably. Yet the moment Lex brought her to¡­ what did he say? The Midnight Inn? The moment he brought her there, she felt her very bones aching to finally get in touch with these beings. "Come on, we''re going to see Moon," Lex said, still carrying Liz over his shoulder, though he was pleased she was no longer resisting. "By the way, I don''t know what your Beast Master cultivation looks like, but I guess you like Beasts right? Let me introduce you to Fenrir and Little Blue. They''re around here somewhere." Chapter 1293 Casual Chapter 1293 Casual Normally, Lex could have teleported directly to Moon. But since he wanted to show Liz the ce, he teleported a little far away. Also, temporarily, he disabled Liz''s permission to leave the Inn. After he showed her Moon, told her the situation and handed her a golden key, he would once again grant her exit rights. It was not like he could actually kidnap her. He just thought showing her everything would be a lot quicker than exining it to her. Not to mention, she was clearly very defensive because she felt like Lex had ulterior motives. Their arrival inside the Inn clearly stopped her attacks on him, which was good. As he exited the building, he arrived in a nice little society, filled with unusual looking houses and countless people in suits. The Inn staff had been given their own realm which they had developed nicely over the past few years, but Lex had also demarcated a certain plot ofnd within the Inn for them as well, and ced the entrance to their own realm there. This area was where a small society was formed, housing the Inn workers. After all, everyone could not return to the Minor realm every time they got off work or took a break. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om There were also countless staff members who preferred to remain in the Midnight realm, and so they took residence here. Compared to having a home with no physical ess that they needed to teleport to, the original arrangement for the staff Lex had set so long ago, having a small society was much better. This ce was also entirely designed by the staff, and the nning division would only pass the design ns to Luthor, who submitted them to the Innkeeper to arrange. Moon was also resting in a Recovery Pod in this society, which was one of the main reasons Lex brought Liz here. Of course, he had plotted a few coincidental encounters here as well, to attract Liz''s attention. They walked over a bridge with azy river flowing underneath, within which a school of Magikarpet was swimming. They were no longer the feeble, mundane fish they had once been. After being baptized by the Inn time and time again, they had shed their former weakness, and be extraordinary. Liz''s jaw dropped as she looked at the red fish, casually swimming past some of the staff memberszing in stic doughnuts floating in thezy river. She pointed, but she had no words. She didn''t know the species of the fish, but they had already surpassed the basic minimum quality she required of a Beast before beginning her Beast Master cultivation. Of course, she could have begun with any random beast, but the strength of her partner greatly influenced how strong she could be, which is why she had never started her cultivation. Yet here, now, in front of her was an entire school of fish with more potential than any beast she had ever seen. Before her brain could adapt to the sight, and filled her with a desire to grab the fish, she saw something flit through the air from the corner of her eye. When she looked up, she saw peacocks flying through the air, their wings a manifestation of breathtaking art! The vibrant colors mixed with the air, leaving behind a shimmering trails of rainbow glitter that seemed to vanish after a few moments. More importantly, though they were not pure blooded mythic beings, they gave off a simr aura anyway. "Wipe the drool off your face," Lex said as he threw a towel at her. She was actually drooling! "What¡­ what is this ce?" she asked in a whisper, as if raising her voice would wake her from this dream. "This is my home, and the Midnight Inn," Lex said as he squatted down to pet one of the bunnies hopping by. "How¡­ how can there be so many powerful beasts here? Howe no one hunts them down?" It was an unfortunate reality that beasts with strong bloodlines served as extremely potent ingredients for many treasures, potions and pills not to mention that many rich and powerful beings liked to have them as pets. Unless in certain Beast empires, it was rare to find such powerful beasts just roaming around. "Like I keep saying, this is the Midnight Inn. Of course no one is going to go around hunting animals randomly - not unless they want to die. Not to mention, the animals here aren''t so easy to kill either. I''ll introduce you to Fenrirter, he''s the pack leader of this ce, and all these beasts have joined his pack. He does not take well to people hunting his pack members." Since Lex had be an immortal now, Fenrir too was able to break into the immortal realm. But unlike Lex, he could not zoom through his levels, nor could he adapt so easily, which is why he was still recovering from his tribtion - not that he had been hurt much by it. Instead, it was the growth of his body which he was taking time getting used to. Lex actedpletely nonchntly, as he continued to lead Liz, and silently sent a message to Pel Jr. The amount he could move was extremely limited, so he continued to serve as Lex''s cultivation mat most days. Now though¡­ The ground suddenly trembled, and Liz turned to look in the direction of the disturbance when her jaw fell for the second time in a minute. A¡­ a dragon¡­ a MASSIVE dragon wearing a suit was casually walking around, though each of his steps caused a minor quake - as if he wasn''t used to walking with such a heavy body yet. "Hey Lex," Pel Jr. said, waving one of its massive ws as he passed them by. "Hey Jr. I''ll see youter, I''m busy right now." As if their conversation waspletely normal, no one else around them so much as raised their head, carrying on with their activities as normal. A fly flew into Liz''s open mouth. Chapter 1294 Guilt and shame Chapter 1294 Guilt and shame Liz, a Golden core cultivator, nearly choked to death on a fly, because the fly too was in the Golden core realm. "My sincerest apologies," said the fly bowing repeatedly in front of Liz. "I became a little too distracted watching the Midnight Games. I forgot to see where I was flying. Please ept this as a token of my sincere regret." The fly tried to offer Liz some MP, but Liz herself was too embarrassed to ept. "Not at all," she said, also bowing to the fly,pletely aware that the body cultivator fly could have ripped through her neck when it got stuck, if it so wished. "It was my fault for leaving my mouth open. I apologize for nearly swallowing you." A few steps away, Lex watched his sister and the fly bow to each other, his hand covering his lips lest he reveal how hard he was trying not tough. Just a few moments earlier she was so skeptical, and treating everyone as a potential enemy. Now she was bowing to a fly. He didn''t stop her either, and just watched until the situation reached a deadlock. Eventually, he was forced to intervene. "Dear guest, I hope this small event does not reflect on your experience at the Midnight Inn. To make it up to you, please enjoy aplimentary Hot tub session to cleanse yourself and rx from the tribtion of this urrence. Please be at ease - the other guest will also bepensated by the Inn." Upon seeing that the Inn wouldpensate them both, the fly finally relented, and let Liz leave without somepensation. "Is it just me, or did that fly seem unusually amicable?" Lex asked. Actually, he didn''t need to ask. He could tell even without a detailed investigation that Liz''s physique was in y. Liz, who was greatly stumped by the situation, still did notpletely drop her guard. In fact, a part of Lex felt like she would never drop her guard. Perhaps that''s the kind of paranoia one naturally gained when every single person they encountered might want to have their kids. Regardless, Liz exined a little. "All races other than humans will naturally be more friendly towards me," she confessed. "Especially the ones that can be used for my cultivation, but even the ones who can''t will still be more friendly towards me." "Sounds like you would make an awesome pet owner," Lex said, and finally brought Liz to Moon. As soon as they entered the room, Liz stood still. She could not move past the entrance of the door, and just looked at Moon from afar. "What''s wrong?" Lex asked, looking at Liz. "Moon is not hurt, I assure you. She''s just been asleep ever since she fused with Yildirim Utopia. We''re nourishing her soul, and soon I''m going to have an experte take a look at her. She should recoverpletely." Yet even as Liz heard his exnation, she could not step in from the door frame. Lex, extremely sensitive towards others emotions, immediately picked up on the guilt and regret that began to fill Liz, and sighed. "You said you killed everyone who harmed her?" Liz said finally, her voice low and solemn. What she hadn''t mentioned to anyone was that her ability made her extremely sensitive to other living beings, and so she could immediately identify that this was, in fact, the real Moon, and not some clone or copy. "Almost everyone," Lex said. "Damian ran away. There''s a Demi-Dao Lord hiding him, so it''s hard to get my hands on him. But if he everes back to the Origin realm, I''ll find him, and I''ll kill him too." N?v(el)B\\jnn "You know¡­ we all knew that there was something incredibly wrong going on with Moon," said Liz. "But no one asked what exactly she was going through¡­ and she never mentioned it. None of us were strong enough to do anything about it. I think¡­ I think that''s when mom and dad felt true regret for having kids too early." Lex''s expression soured. "Don''t talk to me about them. It doesn''t matter what happened in the past Liz. I was abandoned on Earth, Moon was abandoned on Yildrim, you were abandoned elsewhere and Belle was left to fight wars. We''re the abandoned children of parents who clearly got their hands on secrets they should not have. But we''re not children anymore. "Here, at the Midnight Inn, I can protect us. I''m not going to force you to stay, nor will I force Moon or Belle to stay. But I do suggest you give this ce a chance. The Inn is so massive that a lifetime is not enough to explore it, and there are countless people here. A person could spend their whole life here and never miss out on anything. Anything you can get outside, you can get here. "Whether you want to live a normal life, or to cultivate, or to grow stronger, or anything else, you can find it at the Midnight Inn. Most importantly, no one here will harm you - no one here can harm you. But if you want to leave - if you have things you cannot leave behind, then that''s not an issue either. A golden key is all you need, and you''ll be able to return to the Inn from anywhere in the universe." Liz continued to stand at the door, looking at Moon. For a long time, she said nothing. "At least you had the luxury of not knowing, Lex. But we¡­ but I abandoned her too. I¡­ I cannot face her like this." "You cannot face her because you feel guilty," Lex said. "But the only thing she desires is her family. She''s spent too many years alone - she''s spent too many years feeling lonely. Will you let your own guilt stand in the way of finally giving her what she wants?" Liz bit her lip as she continued to stare at Moon, her mind furiously working. She wanted an easy answer, but there was none, and her guilt would not allow her to so easily forgive herself for all that Moon had suffered. Despite herself, she turned around. Maybe by the time Moon woke up she''d be able to muster the courage to approach her, but as it was, right now she could not. "You said that over here I can get anything I want. Can I get my hands on a Beast with a Mythic bloodline here?" Chapter 1295 Devourer of dragons Chapter 1295 Devourer of dragons The question seemed so cute to Lex. "If I suggest to you and it''s not at the very least an entirely pureblooded, authentic Mythic being then that would besmirch my reputation. Follow me, and tell me what your requirements are. I won''t force you, but if you exin to me how your Beast master cultivation works, then I''d be able to offer you the best advice." Liz thought for a moment, holding the golden key to the Inn that Lex had handed her, and then disappeared from the Inn. Lex raised an eyebrow. Was asking for details of her cultivation too much? Before he could give it much thought, though, she reappeared. Convinced now that she coulde and go from the Inn as she pleased, Liz felt a little morefortable as she followed Lex. "The Beast Master cultivation path is an offshoot from the Beast Taming cultivation path, which is focused on taming and controlling numerous Beasts with immense power. To be a Beast Master, one must first tame a Beast, and then form a bond. Once the bond is formed, the Beast Master can then fuse with the Beast, absorbing all its strengths and adding them to their own. "Theoretically, I can change which Beast I fuse withter on, but the first time that bond is formed, the advantage I''ll gain will be immense. The 100% affinity I have for this cultivation path means that I can achieve the perfect fusion with whichever Beast I form a bond with. Considering how many rare and powerful Beasts there are in the universe, the potential for this path of cultivation is actually greater than traditional cultivation. "That''s because the powers of my fused Beast will be added to my own, multiplying my power. So that means alongside traditional cultivation, which will allow me to climb through the realms, I will have the power of the Mythic Beast I fuse with. Even if the cultivation of the Beast itselfgs behind, as long as it is fused with my power, the oue will be great. "For example, if I be an immortal, yet I fuse with a Beast in the Golden core realm, as long as that beast has good enough potential, my power will skyrocket. That''s why I was looking for the Gilded Dolphin. It has a bloodline ability that¡­" They were so rare that one might not be seen across a hundred different realms. The only reason Liz even knew about it was because of her education in Ventura. Her brain stopped working so that when Lex gently used a finger to close her hanging jaw, she did not even notice. Liz stopped talking, and tried to resist her jaw dropping once more, but failed when she saw what Lex was waving at. They had walked to an opening nearby and climbed up on arge boulder when Lex whistled and waved at the clouds. At first there was nothing, yet when the clouds broke free Lizid her eyes on a Beast out of legend. Dragons themselves were Beasts of absolute power and influence, known far and wide across the universe. So then Kun Peng, the only Beast that actually considered dragons as a part of their regr diet, were of another level. They were so rare that one might not be seen across a hundred different realms. The only reason Liz even knew about it was because of her education in Ventura. Her brain stopped working so that when Lex gently used a finger to close her hanging jaw, she did not even notice. Instead, she only had eyes for the magnificent whale, swimming through the skies as it gradually made its way to them. "This is Little Blue. I''d tell you to fuse with him, but he''s kind of a mascot for the Inn, so it won''t be appropriate. But don''t worry, I''ll find you something else just as good. By the way, out of curiosity, do Mountain-men count as Beasts?" n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om "Of course they count as Beasts. Why would you ask such a¡­" This time, as her gaze fell on the towering mountain in the shape of a man in the distance, Liz managed to resist her jaw dropping. Or maybe she was too frozen to drop her jaw. "I¡­ I can''t fuse with something so big¡­" she said, suddenly out of breath. "How will I take it around with me?" "Huh? Oh, don''t worry. I wasn''t going to ask you to fuse with the Mountain-man anyway. That''s a guest who fell asleep and hasn''t woken up yet. If he still doesn''t wake up in a couple of years, I''ll have to wake him up myself when rent is due." Little Blue was taking its time ining down, especially when it saw how Liz was stunned by its appearance. It wanted to show off a little more, especially since everyone here was already used to its appearance. Unfortunately for it, Kun Peng though it might be bing, and devourer of dragons it may evolve into, but a neglector of Lex it would never be. Lex waved his finger once more, summoning the whale down, and as if asso was caught around its neck, the whale was pulled down. "Don''t waste so much time, we have things to do," Lex admonished the dragon devourer, and then stepped onto its back, then held out a hand for Liz. "Come aboard. Let me show you some of the options we have, though I think I already have the perfect Beast in mind for you." Little Blue moaned in discontent, but it did not throw any tantrums. Lex had once threatened to pull out the feathers on its wings and use them as a quill when he was bothering Lex too much. Although Little Blue was certain Lex was just joking, he didn''t have the courage to test it out. Once Liz climbed aboard, still a little dazed, Little Blue finally gained a hint of courage, and pped its wings with all its might, suddenly dashing through the sky. Although Little Blue was far off from it, Kun Peng could fly through the stars, going from one star system to the next with a p of the wings. Inparison, Little Blue still needed a little effort to break the sound barrier. But when it was feeling particrly mischievous, wanting to scare those riding on its back, it could go supersonic in just a few ps of its wings. Today, though, it managed to do that in a single go. Chapter 1296 Fainted Chapter 1296 Fainted Liz did not fall off since Lex was keeping an eye on her. Little Blue also did not mean for her to fall off. It was just like a little baby, throwing a tantrum and being mischievous at the same time. As they flew above thendscape of the Inn, and Lizid her eyes on entire mountain ranges made entirely of spirit stones, her brain ceased functioning. She could not imagine such wealth. Even seeing it before her, she could not entirelyprehend what kind of immense mary value a mountain of spirit stone would end up being. But then again, when one literally had a mountain made of spirit stones, what was the point of money? Money was probably what they burnt to fertilize the ground with ash. She sawkes of liquid spiritual energy¡­ no that would be called spiritual elixir in this form. She saw natural steam vents, blowing out heated, misty spiritual mist. She saw trees and insects straight out of legend, which had be extinct in most realms ording to her academy, and she saw beasts that she didn''t even know were real, and imagined as old stories. "Do you mind if I ask you a question?" Lex asked, waking her up from her gawking state. Liz was too stunned to be embarrassed, so she simply nodded. "I heard you went to the Ventura academy. Howe you didn''t end up getting a decent Beast from them to use for your cultivation." Liz pursed her lips as she recalled some unpleasant memories. "Have you ever been to Ventura?" she asked before answering the question. "Nope." "Well, it truly lives up to its title of being the best academy in the universe," Liz said. "But that doesn''t just mean that they only take the best students. No, they take geniuses, talented, untalented and evenplete failures. As long as one is willing to work hard, they''ll take you. As long as you''re willing to grind, they''re willing to show you the way to be stronger, be smarter, or achieve whatever your goal is. They can take a cripple and help him reach the very peak of the immortal realm, if that''s what he wants, and is willing to work for it. "But at the same time, everythinges at a cost. Taking just their tuition is manageable cost-wise. Taking their unique and specific resources costs more. Oveing your limitations, or in the case of people like myself who have very high potentials, even meeting your potential is so expensive that it''s often impossible to meet. "There are a few ways to resolve the issue. The first is to just pay up. If you pay, then you can continue to get what you want. But realistically speaking, it''s not possible. So thenes the option that most people actually opt for, which is to work for the academy. This is when things get tricky. "There are levels to joining the academy. At the first level, you can be a regr employee, but then your pay and benefits are limited. That''ll work up until the Nascent realm - at most - but if you want to continue using the academy for growth at a reasonable pace, beyond that level you have to more closely tie yourself to the academy. It never really gets to the level of very, but at the highest levels, your life is basically all just about the academy and nothing else. In exchange, they invest in you and allow you to be stronger. "So then you can imagine my situation. To make the most of my Beast Master cultivation path, I need to fuse with a Mythic Beast. The cost for that was not something I could afford, nor was it something the William family wanted to pay. In the end, all I could do was rely on myself. I could have, of course, gone for an easier or weaker option but¡­" Liz paused, notpleting her sentence, but Lex could guess what she was feeling. She was not satisfied with her life, and unless she became as powerful as possible, she had no hope of escaping Damian or those who wanted to marry her. The fact that someone might rescue her and save her from this predicament was not something she considered at all. In that case, if she couldn''t reach her utmost potential, the life she would live would be one of constantly running away, or as someone else''s prisoner. If that was the alternative, she preferred not cultivating at all and epting death rather thanpromising. Lex resisted the urge to sigh, and instead pointed to the visible above them. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "By the way, since you''re so afraid of a mountain, I thought I''d let you know that up above us that is not a, but a Beast¡­ actually, I don''t know if it counts as a Beast yet. That''s an egg called a World Eater and it evolves into a Jom. I would have rmended that to you, and I have a spatial ring which allows you to carry a with you so it wouldn''t be a problem bringing it around¡­ but the World Eater is set to be an employee of the Inn so I can''t really just give it away." By saying he couldn''t do such things, Lex made it look like he was just an employee, working under restrictions. But in truth, he did not need to take such considerations, mainly because Liz''s brain had stopped working. That mountain was a beast? Sounds good. The right above us is a Beast. No problem. She was certain she could take anything. "I wouldn''t even be surprised if you told me this realm itself was a Beast," Liz said, showing the expression of cracking a joke. "Oh no, it''s not a Beast - it''s a nt, and I''m already fused with it, so that''s off the list as well," Lex said casually. Liz finally fainted, and almost fell off Little Blue. Chapter 1297 Some kind of freak Chapter 1297 Some kind of freak Lex chuckled as he caught Liz and kept her from falling. He asked Little Blue tond while he used a small rejuvenating technique to help alleviate the stress on Liz''s mind and help her cope, allowing her to wake up. The truth of the matter was that Liz hadn''t slept in days in preparation to save Harriet from that ship, faced near capture from an Immortal and was finally rescued from her brother, who she hadn''t talked to in years. It was a bit much. "Do you want to get some rest first?" Lex asked as they stepped off the whale. He could tell just how mentally and physically drained she was, though she didn''t show it. "No, I''m fine," Liz said as she summoned an inhaler and took a puff. The next moment she seemedpletely recovered, as if she was ready to fight a battle. Lex shrugged and continued to lead her, though he made a mental note to skip much of the showing off he had nned and get right to the matter at hand. He quickly considered the best options for Liz in case his first choice didn''t work out as he led her to see Fenrir. Even though he canceled most of his other ns to show off, he still had to introduce Liz to Fenrir. They walked into a Meditation room and found Fenrir in his actual, full size, curled up in the middle of the room. Without shrinking himself, Fenrir was actually muchrger than Lex. He was approximately the size of one and a half school buses. The sound of their steps alerted the pup who looked up and winced as it saw Lex. Although the tribtion was over, Fenrir had suffered quite a few burns during the process. Regardless of how strong he was, for his own race he was still a pup, and so the grievous wounds had caused it to act like a wounded child. He turned his head, showing Lex where he wanted to be scratched. "Liz, this is Fenrir," Lex said as he floated up to be able to reach the middle of the pup''s head where he began scratching him. "Once again, I am already bonded to him, so he can''t bond with you, but I thought you guys would like to meet." Liz stood a small distance away, mesmerized by the site of him. Her body was reacting strongly to Fenrir''s presence, which was an indication of how powerful the pup''s bloodline was. Normally Fenrir would have gotten up and greeted Liz, but he was not yet used to his new body, and he was still in pain besides, so he just winced once more and looked away. "He''s majestic," Liz eximed. "The purity of his bloodline is incredible. He has a Mythic bloodline from a Deity! Do you know what that means? It means his ancestor wasn''t born a Deity, but was a Mythic being that became a Deity through worship! Now that he''s be an immortal, he''ll be able to tap into some of his ancestors'' Deity powers!" "Hmm, yeah he''s a good boy," Lex said as he continued to scratch him, as if that was all he took from Liz''s statement. In truth, Lex understood that this was supposed to be a big deal. But then, at the same time, as Lex''s partner, it was more or less expected of Fenrir to bepletely epic. "Alright, well, it looks like Fenrir still needs some more time to adapt to his realm. In that case, let''s move on. For you, I have a couple of options. The first are the Shadow Talons." Lex led Liz out and began introducing her to the Beasts he had selected as options for her, when he ran into Giselle. Giselle had just exited from her small meditation session to learn what she could about thew of time. Small though it may have been, the session was incredibly fruitful, and not only did she feel stronger, she felt ready to face her next tribtion at any time. She was on her way to the nearest Tribtion room when she saw Lex. She had just waved at him, when she saw another woman exit from the same Meditation room as him. For some reason, her hand froze in the air where it was when she saw Liz. Liz, on the other hand, was listening to Lex''s exnation when her eyes locked with Giselle, and she froze as well. An unspoken, umunicated tension suddenly built between the two of them - one that Lex also sensed, but did not understand. "Oh, hey Giselle," Lex said in his casual tone, hoping to break the tension. "How was your meditation session? I hope you gained something from it." "It was quite fruitful indeed," she said, a hint of formality entering her tone. "My mastery over thew of time has increased manifold. It will be very difficult for someone in the Earth Immortal realm to challenge me now." Normally, she would not have revealed such sensitive information. But at the moment, she found herself unable to hold back, her gaze filled with open challenge as she looked at Liz. Liz, on the other hand, was only just beginning to warm up to her brother, and even that just barely, but the moment she saw Giselle, she suddenly felt incredibly protective of him, as if she did not want to share her brother with anyone else. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om After all, he was the only one who had shown her any semnce of familial warmth in many years. Just as she was about to introduce herself to Giselle, Lex spoke. "Oh wow, thew of time. That must be impressive. I had to seal my own time affinity away before I became an immortal - it was too strong. But I''m sure that by the time I be a Heavenly immortal I''ll be able to unseal it. Maybe you can help me out a little then." Both Liz and Giselle turned their gaze towards Lex, as if they were looking at some kind of freak. Giselle narrowed her eyes as she realized something. Had his realm increased again? Chapter 1298 Finding Nemo Chapter 1298 Finding Nemo "By the way Giselle, meet my sister, Liz. Liz, this is Giselle, a friend of mine. We''ve fought a few tough battles beside each other." "It''s a pleasure to meet you. If you can fight side by side with Lex, you must be quite strong," Liz said, putting on her best fake smile. In truth, Liz had no proper reference for how strong Lex was. She didn''t even see the fight he had with the other immortal. She was judging solely based on how quickly the fight ended. Based on her education from Ventura, immortals'' fights tended tost days not hours. "Thank you. I''m sure with a brother like Lex, you yourself are quite formidable," Giselle responded. Before another awkward silence could fall between them once again, Lex thought it best to take the lead. "I ran into some more of those Profanites. Belonged to a different Defiler though. They were up to some really interesting things. I''ll tell you all about it the next time we meet." "More Profanites? In the Origin realm?" Giselle asked, surprised. "The Henali has done a good job of rooting out all Defilers so far. If they''re bing somon now, then that could be a problem. You''re right, we should discuss this, but it will have to wait a bit. I am about tomence my next tribtion." "Oh, that sounds wonderful. Good luck!" After saying farewell to the siblings, Giselle finally left, and Lex pretended like he didn''t notice the inquisitive look Liz was giving him. "Like I was telling you, I have a few options for you. One of them is the Shadow Talons. I''ve noticed you have a strong affinity for stealth. Their ability to enter and traverse the Shadow ne allows the Talons a great deal of stealth, not to mention excellent maneuverability. "Your second option is either an eight legged horse, or a pegasus. They''re both authentic, genuine Mythic beings born in this realm, but they have a bit of an attitude problem. They''re very deferential towards me, but I can''t force them to behave that way towards you." "I''ve never met a Beast that I didn''t get along with," Liz said with confidence. "That''s great, because all of these are your fallback options. My first preference for you¡­ well, let''s just say that it''s pretty good." Lex turned and looked at Liz, locking eyes with her. His casual demeanor that he had carried so far dissipated, and in its ce, he adopted a resolute one. "Your physique is unprecedented among humans, Liz, which means you''re going to go try something no one has done before. Since that''s the case, I''m going to help you try and bond with a Beast that''s a billion times stronger and rarer than Mythical beasts. But for that, you have to convince it yourself. Don''t rely on your physique, it won''t work. You have to be the one to convince it that you''re going to be a good partner, and that bonding with you is a good idea." Liz, slightly apprehensive of Lex''s sudden change, only nodded. Ordinarily she would have dismissed his im about a Beast much stronger than a Mythical one. The only ones stronger than Mythic Beasts were Primordial ones, and those were all at the peak of power in this universe. For a Beast to have been born in the beginning of the universe, billions of years ago, and for it to still be alive, it had to have achieved a level of power Liz could not even imagine. Even the Midnight Inn, as impressive as it seemed, could note close to that level of power. So then, what else could it be? "Lex, are you sure of what you''re doing?" Mary asked, appearing on his shoulder. "There''s no harm in trying. It''s not even guaranteed that it''ll work." "You''re right, there''s no guarantee," Mary said. "But if it does work, you know you''ll be painting a massive target on Liz, right? Sovereigns, as impressive as they are, able to control the universe at their will, are still notpletely invincible. In fact, most Sovereigns are actually killed long before they can reach the peak of power. You remember Amber Chaos resin? It''s only formed during the birth of a new realm. Can you imagine how difficult it is, then, for other kinds of new Dao level ingredients to be formed? Compared to finding them in the wild, it''s much easier for a Dao Lord to find a Sovereign still rtively weak, and use their bodies to nurture Dao treasures or create Dao level ingredients. After all, even if Sovereigns can control the universe, technically, so can the Dao Lords. Unless a Sovereign''s cultivation is high enough, they cannot even run away, let alone fight back." Lex pursed his lips. Other than the Gctic Sovereign Turtle, he had one more Sovereign within his Inn, which was Nemo. The massive fish had a very friendly personality, and was extremely childlike, not to mention quite lonely. Unfortunately, it was destined to die as things stood, for once the Chaos Sea was used up in the development of the Inn, Nemo would have nothing left to sustain its life. "It''s an opportunity, Mary. Like my system is an opportunity, so is bonding with a Sovereign, and no opportunityes without risks. I''ll let them decide on their own what they want to do. But until then¡­" Since the distance to Nemo was a little far, Lex ced his hand on Liz''s shoulder, and teleported both of them to the shore, far away from the Inn. Waves from the Cosmic Sea crashed into the ground in the distance, its aura intimidating Liz. Suddenly, she had a very bad feeling about this. "Liz, allow me to introduce you to another friend of mine, Nemo. But stay close to me throughout. Without my aura protecting you, I don''t think you''ll be able to tolerate his aura just yet." N?v(el)B\\jnn Suddenly, a head popped out of the waters, and a curious fish turned to look at Lex. "I thought I heard someone call my name." Chapter 1299 Are you sure? Chapter 1299 Are you sure? "Hey Nemo, how have you been?" Lex asked as he waved his hand. "Oh I was fine. I was getting ready to take a nap. It''s been a few years since Ist slept so I thought it was about time. Who''s your friend?" Nemo looked curiously at Liz, with a hint of excitement as well. Lex usually didn''t bring many people to meet Nemo, mostly because the system refused to temper the aura of a Sovereign, and Nemo had not learned how to do that himself yet. "Nemo, this is my sister, Liz. Liz, this is Nemo, a Sovereign. Have you ever heard of Sovereigns?" Lex had his Domination wrapped around Liz, protecting her from the intensity of Nemo''s aura. Even so, she stoodpletely bewildered. Even without feeling its aura, Nemo''s majesty could not be denied. More importantly, her physique was going crazy. In one instant, it was longing for Nemo as if the very purpose of its existence was to bond with Nemo. The next moment, it was as if to even be in the presence of Nemo was a sphemy to all that was good and holy hitherto unseen by the universe. Amidst that raging battle against the instincts of her physique, she had to struggle with her own brain which was telling her that this magnificent Beast, which was beyond anything else she had ever seen, was looking at her like a curious little child, looking at a new toy. How was that possible? She had to be hallucinating. "Hello Liz. Will you being here often? I like making new friends." Lex could have given Liz more of a warning about Nemo, but that would not be genuine, which Nemo could probably sense. The only way this would ever work was if everything was authentic and genuine. Now it was up to Liz to see if she could get Nemo to bond with her. First, however, he needed to give both of them a warning about the associated dangers. "Nemo, Liz is here to talk to you about something. But before that happens, I just want to talk to you both about something. Nemo is a Sovereign. Liz, you might not know what that means, and Nemo you might not understand its significance. In essence, what that means is that Nemo is very special, and very powerful, but he is not invincible. "Because of how special he is, Dao Lords are very interested in capturing him. Within the Midnight Inn, no one bothers him because this is the territory of the Innkeeper. But if he were to ever go outside and be discovered by a Dao Lord¡­ well, that would not bode well for Nemo, or anyone close to him." Liz''s eyes shed in understanding, though Nemo still did not seem bothered by it. He did not have much of a concept for what it meant to be powerful, or to be hunted, or to be in danger. Save loneliness, he had scarcely felt anything else in his long life. "Well then, I will give you two some privacy," Lex said, and walked away. He did not go too far, for he still needed to cover Liz with his Domination to protect her. He did not know if it was even possible for them to bond together, but Lex had a suspicion that it would work. Liz''s 100% affinity for this path ifbined with Nemo''s intention to make the bond happen would be enough. After all, even if Liz''s physique was not actually enough to bond with Nemo, so long as Nemo wanted it to be enough, it would work. A Sovereign''s ability waspletely broken, truthfully speaking. But Lex was jealous of it. Instead, he aimed to achieve such a level of power on his own one day. ording to Mary, it required a Dao Lord to achieve a simr level of power. Did that mean that Sovereigns touched upon the Dao? Or was the source of their power something else? For a brief moment, Lex was tempted to look at Nemo through the power of his left eye, which could see and understand thews of the universe, but his instincts immediately warned him that was not such a good idea. Lec chuckled, and sat down. He did not know how long to expect the conversation between Liz and Nemo to go, but after an hour went by and they showed no signs of concluding their talk, Lex began to focus on other things - namely, the report given to him by Jotun which included details of everyone who had been targeting Liz. Curiously, they were human forces and families from the Origin realm, but outside the domain of control of the Jotun empire. Although the empire was thergest human force in the Origin realm, that did not mean there weren''t others. The distinction was in the presence of Jotun, a Celestial immortal. The other forces, no matter howrge they were, at most had Heavenly immortals as their leaders. Since they were not a part of Sanguis Pluvia, or some other terrorist organization, Lex could not just have them killed by the Henali. Sure, the Henali might help out Lex by getting rid of them if he asked, but then he would owe them a favor - something he was trying to avoid. One by one, he made note of the ones he could deal with currently, and nned out how to deal with those who were too strong for him at the moment. It was actually four hourster that Liz signaled him to return. "Nemo has agreed to bond with me," Liz said in a solemn, almost slightly fearful voice. "That''s good. Are you sure you want to do this? It''s a lot of power, but it''s also an immense risk. A Dao Lord is not something you or I can face right now." "It''s only death if I fail, what''s the big deal? Living in constant fear and suppression - that''s what really frightens me." Lex nodded. "What do you need? What can I expect?" "Honestly, I have no idea. I guess we''ll find out." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex looked at Nemo, who was practically jumping with excitement. "And you? Are you sure about this?" Chapter 1300 A few months Chapter 1300 A few months "Oh yes, it sounds lovely!" Nemo said excitedly. "I''ll travel around with Liz, see the world, fight bad guys, save good guys and make lots of friends. It''ll be just like those TV shows Z gave me to watch." Lex froze. Z had given Nemo a collection of anime to watch, which had no doubt affected how he saw reality. Unfortunately, it was unlikely that Nemo could face off against a Dao Lord using the power of friendship, as the anime characters did, but thankfully at least Liz had a steady head on her shoulders. The incredible foresight and caution that she showed when Lex was following her set his mind at ease. Even if she went out, she would be incredibly careful about disying her power, and would not attract undue attention. That put his mind at ease. Besides, he was genuinely d that Nemo would no longer feel so lonely, and that Liz would grow stronger as well. The stronger his family became, the less he''d have to worry about them. "Alright then, you guys go ahead. I''ve let the Inn staff know that you are undergoing bonding here, so no one will bother you." "It''s just a normal bonding process. It doesn''t take long," said Liz, unaware of the massive g she just raised. Lex, too, did not point it out to her first because he did not believe in such things, and second because he had no problem with Liz spending a long time inside the Inn for whatever reason. "Alright then, before we start, we need to go somewhere secluded as there can be no disturbances¡­" Liz had not evenpleted her sentence when an entire building appeared all around her,pletely isting all sounds and distractions from outside, leaving only a small opening where Nemo was sticking its head out of the Cosmic Sea. This was not a result of Lex using his Host Attire to summon a room, rather it was him using his right eye to set multiple formations around them. Most of the formation was outside the sea, since the Cosmic Sea would erode and eat away anything within it. Maybe once he got stronger, he''d find a way to figure things out. "You can begin. No one will disturb you," Lex said casually, fully aware that he was showing off. Unfortunately, Liz only had eyes for Nemo at the moment - though internally shepared Lex to all the immortals she had seen back in the Williams family. It seemed that none of them were this capable, right? Liz cut the palm of her hands and began her Beast Master cultivation technique. Lex, careful not to look at Nemo, activated his left eye as he studied Liz. He had never heard of the Beast Master cultivation before, nor had he encountered someone who used it. Maybe that was because it was an unorthodox cultivation method, or perhaps the benefits were not as great as traditional cultivation. He wanted to understand what it was all about, because based on what Liz had told him, it seemed like she would fuse with her bonded beast whenever she needed to, achieving a stronger state. She could literally go around saying ''this is not even my final form'' without lying. Lex saw as severalws began to act all around her. This was not her influencingws, but was the normal operation ofws when any kind of change urred. Water freezing would induce such a change from associatedws, just as a ss breaking would as well. Strictly speaking, this was a manifestation of thews maintaining the standard operation of the universe. Everything in existence was mired inws, and it was only through the corresponding changes of variousws happening at the same time that brought about the exact day to day urrences that people normally experienced. Although Lex still had no foundation in Beast Master cultivation, he was studying the underlying principles that allowed it to happen. Who knew, if he mastered them then maybe he could fuse with Fenrir too? But Lex was actually not interested in fusing with Fenrir, or any other beast for that matter. He just wanted to understand what was happening. Still shrouded by Domination, Liz was able to approach Nemo without issue. But the next step, which involved touching the fish, would bypass the protection of the aura. Aware that the influence of Nemo''s body might stun her, she prepared the technique as best as she could before making contact. In truth, she was supposed toplete the technique after making contact, but the moment Liz touched Nemo her mind nked out. Though she was awake, shepletely lost the ability to think, and became akin to a waking vegetable. The technique, however, continued to operate on its own, as if she was still driving it. After all, Nemo wanted the technique to operate properly ande into full effect, so how could it not? Lex had to disable his left eye''s analytical ability at that point, and just watched as both Liz and Nemo began shining in white. He was reminded of an anime he used to watch that had animals simr to beasts that underwent evolutions. Every time the beasts in that anime evolved, their body was covered in a white light, leaving only their outlines visible. Liz and Nemo were in a simr situation. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Based on his extensive experience messing with things he definitely shouldn''t, and putting universal scale treasures inside his body, Lex estimated that it would take at least a few months for the bonding process to finish. He teleported away to his office, and then put up countless barriers all around the area Liz and Nemo were. Once everything was done, Lex teleported over to Cassandra. He was a busy man, it was important to keep up with all his tasks. Although going to the Crystal realm wasn''t an urgent task for him, the fact that he kept thinking about it meant that his instincts were guiding him to it. In that case, it was best to make haste. Chapter 1301 Accidentally become a Dao Lord Chapter 1301 identally be a Dao Lord Just as Lex was getting ready to teleport over to Cassandra, he received a few reports about issues urring within the Midnight Games. Although he had taken precautions to avoid external interference on thes, no preparation was perfect. It seemed that certain people participating within the Midnight Games had received external bribes from people who had ulterior motives for some of thes where the war was uring, or the participatings. War time was perfect to conduct sabotage and assassinations, and so people found a way to make it happen. The most ideal thing was for the assassination targets to die during the war itself, which was easily achievable. Many times, the assassins didn''t even need to strike on their own. They just needed to ensure reinforcements would not arrive in a timely manner if their targets were under pressure. This was not entirely Lex''s problem. Anyone who participated in war would know the risks they took. But considering that Lex created this entire war for personal reasons made him feel like their deaths were, to a small degree, his fault. The fix was an easy one. He made some changes to the Midnight Games using his authority, and people who would purposefully sabotage allies during war would be deemed traitors, and would be marked as such by the system. Killing a traitor was equivalent to 100 enemy kills. It was not a perfect solution, since Lex was familiar with the concept for suicide warriors, but it would stabalise the situation for now. Lex was once again reminded of how much work he was delegating to his staff members and the system, which renewed his intention to spend more time managing the Inn once this next task was done. With his changes implemented, Lex teleported over to Cassandra. "It''s time," Lex said, waking his teacher from her meditation. "By the way, while I have you, what''s a good way to use the Heart''s Blood of a Jom, or even a Heart, to train regr humans? I''m not asking for myself. I can probably manage to absorb it just fine on my own. I''m asking for the other Inn workers. "For all the advantages they''ve gotten from the Inn, very few of them have be immortal in thest two decades. Their progress is kind of disappointing." Cassandra studied Lex, her gaze profound, for a while before she spoke. "Do you have some kind of misconception about what it takes to be an immortal? Bing an immortal within 100 years is considering the highest level of talent among the entire human race. Temper your expectations young man. The progress of the Inn workers is more than sufficient. As for the Heart''s Blood of a Jom, I actually do not advise you to use it casually. At minimum, the user must be an Earth Immortal, and preferably at the peak of the Immortal realm before you can use the blood. "Jom as a species are one of the most destructive and chaotic in the universe, and their nature is carried on in their blood. Used carelessly, it can even affect the psyche of the user. If the workers at the Midnight Inn weren''t exceptionally talented to begin with, I''d say let them at least reach the Heavenly Immortal realm before using it. "Rather than them, I suggest you feed the blood to the Kun Peng I have seen within your Inn. Kun Peng have the heritage of devouring, which is simr to the Jom, who eat entire star systems to sustain themselves. "As for the Heart itself¡­ I suggest you forget about it, and don''t you dare consume it yourself either, at least until you reach the very peak of the Heavenly immortal realm. I think the best course of action would be to just submit it to the Innkeeper. If you really must use it yourself, then I suggest you find an excellent chef within the Celestial immortal realm, have them prepare a smidgen of it, and then serve it as a meal to other Celestial immortals. They can, barely, afford to consume such a thing." Lex nodded along and kept listening. As far as training humans was concerned, Cassandra was the best and most knowledgeable, which is why he consulted her on how to train others. As for himself¡­ his situation was too special. Unless he exined to her about how he had absorbed Dao level ingredients, he doubted she would fully understand what he was capable of. "By the way, how is your bond with the Lotus going?" she asked. "Have you experienced any problemstely? I would check on you personally, but in my current state I do not want to consume any extra energy. This clone cannot sustain much exertion." "Not bad at all," Lex said. "Why don''t I show you? Lotus has evolved quite a bittely." Lex summoned the power of Lotus, bringing forth the associated tattoos. The Inn would suppress his aura from hurting anyone nearby, but Cassandra still felt it and paused briefly. "Your World Seed Lotus has already transformed into a Realm Seed Lotus, which is an extinct species. Since it is bonded with you¡­ you can consider using some of the Jom blood and meat as fertilizer for its realm - but only a small amount. That will boost the growth of the Lotus, while bringing you the associated feedback as well." "I''ll do just that," said Lex. He hadn''t thought that even the brand new realm could benefit from using Jom blood as fertilizer. Clearly, this was an ingredient on another level. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Here, once you take a look at my sister, we can head to the Crystal realm," said Lex as he brought Cassandra to the still sleeping Moon. Though Cassandra was conserving energy, she had already promised Lex to take a look at Moon so she extended her spiritual energy, then looked at Lex with an unusual expression. "What''s wrong?" Lex asked, confused. Cassandra didn''t look worried, so it couldn''t be bad news, right? "You are nurturing a realm inside of yourself due to your connection to the Lotus. In your case, you are nurturing a realm by association, or doing it indirectly. That does not mean that there is a real realm inside your body. "Your sisters situation is simr, and yet different. Your sister, I believe, treated a as a Golden core in her cultivation, but her physique which is purifying the has caused¡­ an unexpected mutation. "The within her has turned into a realm seed, so just like you¡­ your sister is nurturing a realm inside of herself - except that in her case it''s quite literal. I''m afraid¡­ she won''t wake up till the realm matures, and when she wakes up, with an actual physical realm serving as her core¡­ she might directly be a Demi-Dao Lord, or even a real Dao Lord." Chapter 1302 Please consult with me in the future Chapter 1302 Please consult with me in the future Lex looked at Cassandra questioning his entire rtionship with the woman. In his impression, she was always a direct and straightforward person who always focused on the task at hand. But clearly she had taken to cracking jokes recently, which is why she had not mastered the art of timing. He waited for her tough, but instead Cassandra just kept looking at him with a straight face. His intuitive understanding of others'' thoughts and emotions kept telling him that she was sincere, which made the joke even less funny. For several seconds they just looked at one another which, considering the fact that they were immortals and processed time much faster than mortals, may as well have been hours. "No seriously, what''s wrong with her?" Lex asked. "I have not exaggerated your sister''s circumstances. In fact, considering that my clone does not have the full scope of my own investigative abilities, I may have understated the intensity of her situation. From what I can tell, the realm seed within her body is also nurturing the souls of countless humans who remained within the original world. "I cannot be certain of their current status, but it is entirely possible that they tooe linked to the new realm or even your sister. If they have strong feelings of worship or admiration towards your sister, it is entirely possible that they start to generate divine energy, which would feed your sister, either turning her into a Deity, or the new realm into a divine realm! "If your sister bes a Dao Lord level Deity with a divine realm¡­ I cannot even begin to specte how immensely powerful she will be. It is almost certain that she will be one of the strongest Deities alive in the universe. For that reason, I actually encourage you to shift her from the Midnight Inn to the Temple of Fasting. "The Temple of Fasting is specially equipped to stay hidden from even Dao level entities, preserving the possibility of a resurgence among humans. This way, no one will be able to discover her existence at all - including those Dao level entities who seek to keep humanity suppressed. Of course, this is just my suggestion. "If the Innkeeper is willing to hide your sister, then I''m sure she is just as safe here as she would be within the Temple of Fasting. It''s just that, if she is moved to the Temple, then the Innkeeper will avoid being pulled into this power struggle prematurely. "For the sake of full disclosure, I also have to admit that I have never seen a physique like your sisters. If she is moved to the Temple, then we can look more deeply into the details of her physique." "Are you saying that the Destiny ranked protection formation of the Midnight Inn is not enough to hide Moon from being detected by other Dao beings?" Lex asked, ignoring the enormity of everything else that Cassandra just said. He was also now thinking if he should look into ways of finding Taro fertilizer once more to speed up the maturing process of the realm within Moon. At the same time, he was concerned if speeding up the process might somehow harm Moon. Why was this soplicated? Compared to what he did with Liz, all he did with Moon was help her absorb a. What was the big deal with that? Wait¡­ "I will consider what to do with Moon, but first, I might need you toe look at my other sister as well. She''s currently bonding with a Sovereign." Cassandra showed no change of expression externally, but Lex felt that her emotions were quite turbulent beneath that calm facade. This time, it was Cassandra who kept looking at Lex, waiting for him to reveal that he was joking, but he did not. "Do you know, in the history of humanity, there has never been anyone as absurd as you and your siblings," Cassandra said straightforwardly. "Not even the original thirteen humans, born directly from the hand of the Mother, could match up to you. Come, take me to your other sister. Let me see how far her bonding process has gone, and what its repercussions are going to be. It would be quite funny if humanity, which hascked a Dao Lord for so long, suddenly gains two of them, and they happen to be sisters. In the future, when doing something so¡­ out of the ordinary, please feel free to contact someone from the Temple. Even if I am not avable, they will always act in the best interest of humanity." Lex did not respond to that. He was well aware of the fact that what might be in the best interest of humanity might not be in his personal best interest. That was why he was hesitant to move Moon to the Temple. Though it might assure her safety, her physique was extremely unusual. Who knows what the Temple might decide to do once they learn more about it - all in the pursuit of strengthening humanity. He did not want to deal with any more Moon clones than he already was. It seemed like the only viable option would be to strengthen the Inn''s protective formation somehow. Lex teleported Cassandra and himself to the site where Liz was fusing with Nemo. They did not go too close lest they disrupt the process, but just came close enough for Cassandra to take a look. "Well, the good news is that your sister won''t directly shoot to the Dao realm, which means her bonding process won''t take billions of years. The not so good news is that she will need a very effective way to hide herself if she ever wants to leave the Inn. The enemies of humanity will sense the turbulence she will cause as soon as she leaves the protection of the Inns formation. "To be clear, her strength and universal relevance are nowhere near that of your other sister. But it will take a long time before Moon reaches a level where others might sense her even for just existing. This sister of yours¡­" "Liz," Lex informed her. "Liz''s presence in the universe will immediately throw a lot of things into disarray as soon as she leaves the Inn, which means she will be a lot easier to detect." "How long do you think it will take her toplete her bond?" Lex asked. He did not think it would be much of an issue to convince Liz to stay in the Inn for a while. The Midnight realm was big enough for her to explore for quite a while, not to mention the many minor realms it held. "That ispletely up to how long the Sovereign thinks it should take," Cassandra said, a rare hint of fatigue showing up on her face. "Let''s hurry to the Crystal realm now. My clone is running out of energy." Lex nodded, and then teleported the two of them to the Crystal realm. This technically counted as a use of Cassandra''s privilege, as well as Lex''s increased authority over the system. Otherwise it was not so straightforward for guests to travel to the other realms connected to the Inn. It had been a long time since Lex hade to the Crystal realm, and from what he recalled the entire realm was being engulfed by a savage war consisting of hundreds of thousands of immortals. Such a vast number of immortals was difficult to gather even among the average Fuegan battlefield within the Origin realm. Considering the fact that the Crystal realm was also suffering from a severe weakness in the foundation of the realm itself, Lex expected that the war had caused the situation to deteriorate. When he arrived in the realm, however, he discovered the opposite to be true. The sense of weakness he felt from the realm had in fact dissipated to quite arge degree, while the realm itself seemed much more solid and vibrant in itsws, though thendscape seemed utterly devastated. It had been a while since even the tavern left the Crystal realm, so he was not exactly abreast with the news of the ce, but the situation waspletely out of Lex''s expectations. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Thisnd has been nourished by the blood of countless foreign immortals," Cassandra said as she surveyed thends. "It has sped up the maturing process of the realm, but the realm is also unstable and its elerated growth is actually putting it on the path of destruction." "Yeah, the realm is being invaded by a foreign race known as the Kraven. I actually have an appointment with one of the leading figures of that raceing up. But that can wait. Let me take you to the capital of Hum nation. That''s where the King of the nation should be." Since Lex had spent some time within the Crystal realm, he could easily find the locations he had previously visited even without the need to visit actual teleportation formations. His teleportation capabilities had progressed drastically from when he was herest. A momentter, the two of them disappeared. Chapter 1303 Back to the Crystal realm I Chapter 1303 Back to the Crystal realm I Lex did not directly teleport over to the capital, but that was only because as the realm underwent some change, the spatial coordinates of many ces had changed as well. The fact that when he teleported over, he appeared over arge, charred piece ofnd covered in darkness, with countless monsters sleeping within. Lex had actually forgotten that within the Crystal realm, darkness could breed Monsters out of thin air. He was quite curious about how such a thing was possible, in terms ofws, and would definitely take some time to look into it. It was funny -ing back to the Crystal realm, Lex felt like his time here had been like a vacation. Yet it was within the Crystal realm where he faced some of his greatest humiliations. It was here that the Crystal race tried to imprison him. It was here that the Kraven attacked the tavern, nearly killing all his workers. He had to run away from King Cornelius II because of how weak he was, and it was here that he had been looked down upon by the two deities who led the Sol and Frio birds. Never had he been more aware of his weakness than in the Crystal realm, yet now that he was returning as an Earth Immortal, all of it seemed so silly. Of course, it was far from being irrelevant. Lex was not the kind of guy who would take revenge for every petty thing, but he would definitely not forgive the actions of the Kraven. As for the others¡­ well he did not have too good of an impression of the Crystal race, but at least the Trelops weren''t bad. "The realm has clearly grown," Lex said awkwardly, as if exining why his teleportation failed. "This realm is a territory of Ventura academy. They artificially created a near extinction level threat here so that they could hold exams for some of their students. Although the manager for this realm from Ventura has imed that they won''t actually allow the realm to fall to destruction, who knows if that im is true. Perhaps having the realm grow artificially like this is one of their ns to harvest more treasures from the destruction of the realm." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "It is entirely possible," Cassandra said. "The realm wars have seen countless such things. Larger realms feeding on smaller realms to speed up their own growth is amon sight now. Everyone wants their realm to reach maturity before the universe enters its next phase. If they can bring a new realm to maturity, or close to maturity, they might be able to nurture another Dao Lord, or strengthen their existing ones. Even a single Dao Lord is more valuable than a dozen realms such as the Crystal realm." Lex recalled what Cassandra had told him before about the realm wars. The universe was about to end its early or beginning phase in which realms would grow stronger. The birth of a new realm was good to nurture a new Dao Lord, and the maturing of a realm was good to strengthen a Dao Lord, which is why everyone was in a rush to strengthen their existing realms to mature realms, or get their hands on others realms. It was essentially so each faction could get and train more Dao Lords. Lex did not know the details of what phase would follow the early phase. Would it be the adolescent phase? The middle phase? If Lex had to guess, then if the theme of the early phase was to birth new Dao Lords and strengthen existing ones, then it was about rapid expansion. That would then be followed by a period where a new order would be reached, and the focus would be on maintaining the advantage rather than expanding rapidly. Of course, this was just a simple guess based on his limited knowledge of things. Whatever it would be called, and whatever traits it would have, that was countless years in the future, and too far from Lex. What mattered more was that whatever was happening inside the Crystal realm was a much more tame version of what was happening in the whole universe. "The guy we''re going to meet, King Cornelius, is also a member of Ventura. Last time I talked to him, he imed to be trying to redeem the realm from its current manager by providing enough merits to Ventura. I don''t know if it''s possible, but he is an ambitious man. He is not nning just his own growth, but that of the entire realm." For what it was worth, Lex hoped that Cornelius would discover a way to redeem the realm. The Crystal realm was quite massive, at least as far as Lex was concerned, and was home to countless beings. Even though a lot of them were incredibly shady, that did not mean the whole realm deserved to die. Also, Lex himself was quite interested in the realm. It held many secrets, and though Lex was not interested in taking huge risks for resources anymore, within the Crystal realm, he was now near the peak of power. He feared nothing here, which meant that he could explore the secrets of the realm freely. Once, when Lex had a weaker understanding of deities, he thought that there might be something special about the realm which made it easier for deities to be born here. While now he knew that such a thing was not necessarily true, his gut told him that this realm was far from normal. "By the way, I just remembered something. Someone once told me that the Kraven are devouring thews of this realm, using them to nurture Earth immortals. How is that possible?" Lex asked once he teleported one more time, and still did not end up in the capital. It seemed the realm had changed a lot. But the fact that he couldn''t find the capital was fine, but why could he find no signs of Hum nation? The area covered by that empire was greater than the surface area of the entire earth. He should be in the vicinity of it. Chapter 1304 Back to the Crystal realm II Chapter 1304 Back to the Crystal realm II "Humans be immortal by undergoing a tribtion and creating their ts which help them maniptews. That does not mean that every other race does it the same way. Kraven are a race that devour anything and everything theye across,ying waste to entire realms if they can. "Naturally, then, the way for them to grow stronger is to devourws. It''s a lot easier for weaker, newer realmspared to older, more mature ones, which is why you will often discover Kraven invading new realms. The nature of their race is such that they are excellent cannon fodder for other, stronger races - but that''s it. The Kraven are not destined to survive past the end of the early phase of the universe." The third time Lex teleported, and still did not find the capital, he knew that something was amiss. He spread his spirit sense far and wide, and began to sense the changes in the realm. "There is something wrong with this ce, but I can''t tell what," Lex said after a few moments. "My instincts aren''t detecting any danger or threat, nor can I sense something amiss. But there has to be something wrong, or else I wouldn''t make a mistake while teleporting thrice." For a moment, Cassandra was silent while she thought. "Previously you mentioned that Ventura might be holding some exams here," she said, her voice calm. "It seems like the exam has already begun." Lex did not know what that meant, but at least it wasn''t something bad. It would suck if he visited the Crystal realm after a few years only to discover that the Kraven had already wiped everyone else out. Since the coordinates he recalled seemed to be incorrect, Lex began teleporting in a specific direction, hoping to encounter some town or settlement from where he might be able to get directions. It was a simple n and should have worked without a hitch. In fact, it did end up working, in a way. As Lex was teleporting through the realm, he eventually sensed someone rtively closeby, so he corrected his direction and teleported that way. Instead of a town, Lex teleported over arge military base, filled to the brim with a few different races, most of which he didn''t recognize. That was still fine, considering that the Crystal realm had countless smaller and weaker races, with only the major seven getting recognition. Lex and Cassandra were quickly spotted, especially since they weren''t really hiding. A number of imps, small red skinned creatures with wings and a very high affinity for fire, flew up into the air and surrounded them. "Who are you? Dere yourself!" yelled one of the imps, a captain in the Golden core realm. "My name is Lex. I mean no harm - I''m just a little lost and could use some help finding my way. I''m on the way to the Hum Nation. Could you mind pointing the way for me? I have to meet with King Cornelius." Considering that humans were one of the top races in the realm, he wasn''t really expecting any problems. Of course, upon hearing Lex''s deration, he immediately sensed their hostility, long before the imps could draw their weapons. Even so, he did nothing as he was more interested in finding out thetest news of the realm. Besides, none of these imps could do anything to him. Before any of the imps could actually attack him, Lex spread out his Domination, freezing the whole base under his aura, while he peeked into their minds to learn what they knew. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex sighed in disappointment as he read through those memories. "It seems a lot has changed. You''re right about the exams though." "What happened? Do we need to be concerned?" Cassandra asked. "We? Not really. Cornelius is fine and in good health. But the natives of this realm have good reason to be concerned. The exam began, yet instead of targeting the Kraven and helping push back their advance, as was promised by the overseer of the realm, the subject of the exam is to help mature this realm and increase the upper threshold of power from Earth Immortal to Heavenly Immortal. "In pursuit of that, the examinees have found their own empire, taking advantage of the weakness of the other races fighting the Kraven. None of the guards and soldiers in this base were high enough of a level to know the actual n of the examinees, but they appear to be just spreading chaos where and when they can. They''re killing as many immortals as they can, regardless of whether they''re Kraven or from the other races. I''m sure there is more to their n, but none of the soldiers here know what it is." "A bold strategy, even if it is an idiotic one," Cassandra praised, or came as close to praise as she could. "The good news for us, at least, is that I know where to go. I''m not sure how, but in thest few years, the size of the realm has grown nearly 30%. That''s an immense amount of growth for a very short amount of time. Even the Midnight realm, despite being filled with the Cosmic Sea, is not growing as quickly as that." Lex looked down at the imps and hellions that filled the base, but then decided to ignore them. With his destination now clear, Lex only needed to teleport one more time before he reached the familiar buildings of the academy where he once studied. It seemed so long ago, yet the ce looked exactly the same. "Identify yourselves," said a number of guards who suddenly surrounded Lex. Unsanctioned teleportation within the capital was supposed to be blocked, yet Lex did not seem hinderedin any way. "My name is Lex. I am here to see King Cornelius II. Please let him know I am here - he will recognize my name. Is Aegis around?" "Go inform the King," said one of the guards to his underlings, though the security around Lex did not diminish. If anything, more guards came and surrounded him. As it happened, Lex recognized one of them. "Nora?" Chapter 1305 Orion realm Chapter 1305 Orion realm Nora Huagen was quite an entrepreneurial woman, from Lex''s recollection. Even though he himself had very limited contact with her, she was Cwenhild''s mother, so he''s heard a lot about Nora from her. Considering the fact that Lex yed a key role in helping Cwenhild win over control of a Minor realm, their rtionship wasn''t bad. Simrly, when Cwenhild told him stories of her mother, who dared even negotiate marriage and childbirth with the king in exchange for things she wanted, Lex could only admire her. From a certain point of view, Nora could be looked down on for trading marriage in exchange for resources, but in truth it was not easy to grow strong, especially when there was no one stronger looking out for you. In that case, gaining resources through your own means waspletely justified. Besides, she treated Cwenhild well, so she couldn''t have been a bad person. That was not the best thing to judge a person by, but it was enough. The immortals surrounding Lex seemed surprised at his recognition of the woman, and they looked over to her to find her expression painted in disbelief. "Lex¡­ is that you?" she asked hesitantly. How many years had it been since shest saw Lex? Six? Seven? How could he go from a mere Foundation realm cultivator to an Immortal in such little time? Moreover, even with his aura withdrawn, she could tell that he was not weak at all. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om The reason why her memory was failing her of when shest saw Lex was because she could tell from observing him that he had experienced many more years than she did - which did not make sense. Not unless¡­ Ventura! "Indeed, senior, it has been a while. How is Cwenhild doing?" he asked. "She is doing well. She started her cultivation from scratch following the True Path, so her cultivation progress slowed down a bit, but she is doing well." The True Path was when humans cultivated spirit energy, their body and their soul altogether. For general humans, cultivating all three was too difficult, and would limit their growth, so they usually stuck to only one or two. The fact that cultivating only 1 was a norm, not only in the Crystal realm but the entire universe, was a testament to how weak the human race was as a whole. "That''s great to hear. Please send her my regards. By the way, do you think it would be possible to meet with the King? I havee from far away, and brought a guest who I think the King would be very interested in meeting." "How long has it been since you returned to the Crystal realm?" Nora asked, instead of directly replying. "We only just came back a short while ago." "In that case, you likely don''t know about what''s been going on have you? Things have changed. Meeting Cornelius¡­ I can request an audience, and see how he responds." Lex refrained from directly asking about the Ventura exam. From what he recalled, the state of the realm as property of Ventura was a secret, and revealing sensitive information carelessly would not help the situation anymore. They just waited patiently while Nora sent a message to the King. Throughout the process, Cassandra remained silent, merely looking around at the academy underneath. "This is an academy¡­ named academy," Lex told her, wearing a reminiscing smile. "I studied here for a bit. The standard was really good, and the existential threat of the Kraven ensured that everyone was always working hard." Cassandra only nodded, notmenting. After a small wait, where Lex and Cassandra remained surrounded by countless immortals, Nora finally received a response. "Cornelius is weing both of you to his castle," Nora suddenly said, waving her hand and having the others stand down. "His condition is not the best. He recently suffered an assassination attempt out on the front lines. It''s rare for someone to be able to hurt him, let alone wound him so grievously. The perpetrator¡­ used certain treasures we are unfamiliar with." Lex could tell that she was refraining from mentioning certain things. It seemed that even among the immortals, there were many secrets. "Where is Aegis? Is he also on the front lines?" Aegis was the crown prince of the Hum nation, and was ridiculously talented. He reached the immortal realm in just a few years of cultivating, and eventually became an alcoholic out of depression since he couldn''t find anything challenging, yet the only challenge he faced was his father, who was so strong he saw no hope of winning. The situation was quite absurd. Of course, he had long since corrected his ways after a subtle round of brainwashing¡­ no, eh, after a round of encouragement from Lex. Soon they were brought into the pce where Lex immediately lost a lot of respect for the King. Lex always knew that the king had many wives, and had many kids. Considering that he was never forceful, and that he served his people diligently, Lex thought that it was only a minor vice to have. But why were all his guards women? And the maids and staff were also all women! Heck, if it weren''t for a few political personalities in the building, it would practically all be just women! He supposed it was normal for a king to have a massive harem. Even back on earth, mere mortal kings had massive harems, let alone in the cultivation world. They were soon brought into a room where Cornelius satfortably on arge sofa, looking through some information crystals. Physically, he seemed fine. But Lex, who had spent a lot of time learning about medicine and healing, could immediately tell that the man was not even at 20% his peak strength! His spirit energy was weakened, his body seemed frail and even his soul seemed to have suffered some damage. "Lex! It''s good to see you again!" He said as he got up, not in the least surprised by Lex''s rapid growth in strength. Cornelius was one of the few who had seen Lex''s backer, the Innkeeper when he visited the Crystal realm. With someone so powerful backing him up, Cornelius wouldn''t be surprised if Lex had already surpassed the Earth immortal realm. As a proper member of Ventura, his exposure was quite different. Cornelius'' gaze went from Lex to Cassandra, and even thoroughly weakened he was able to tell that this was not a simple person. "It''s good to see you too. I hope my sudden arrival was not a burden on your health." "It is what it is," Cornelius said with a shrug. "It will take me a few months before I can recoverpletely. I can''t waste that time doing nothing." "There are a few reasons I wanted to meet with you," Les informed the man. "Not in the least because the Innkeeper thought that you and Cassandra might benefit from talking to each other. Allow me to introduce you - this is Cassandra, my teacher. Cassandra, this is King Cornelius, the ruler of this nation. While humans suffer everywhere else in the universe, within the Crystal realm, Cornelius has turned them into one of the seven most powerful races." "Your achievement is quite admirable," Cassandra finally spoke, and addressed the king. "I can see that the quality of the cultivation techniques used by people is actually quite high. Even your own cultivation seems specifically designed to suit your physique. Did you design it yourself?" Even in his weakened state, Cornelius maintained his confident smile and his casual demeanor, yet he did not take Cassandra lightly at all. Upon hearing the rmendation of the Innkeeper, and that she was Lex''s teacher, treated her even more seriously. "It was not designed by myself, although it was designed ording to my requirements. Back when I was a student at Ventura, I won a tournament that awarded me a great reward. I used that to have my cultivation technique specifically designed. I''ve used it as inspiration to design True Path cultivation techniques that are easier to cultivate for humans. Although I am far from seeding, I have made great strides in my research." "For the sake of our conversation, allow me to introduce a little about myself first," said Cassandra. "This is merely a clone of mine, quickly losing energy so I do not have the liberty of a long conversation, please forgive me. But I am keen to know your views on certain matters, for the Innkeeper advised me to talk to you before I made my next big breakthrough. "My name is Cassandra Vans Agnew, and I¡­" Before she could continue Cornelius lurched onto his feet with absolute shock written on his face. "Are you¡­ are you a descendant of the Vans Agnew family of the Orion realm?" he suddenly eximed, interrupting her speech! Lex raised an eyebrow upon witnessing the scene. Why did it seem like Cassandra''s family was some kind of bigshot? Then again, as a keeper of the Temple of Fasting, and the self proimed strongest human, it only made sense for her to have an impressive background, though Lex had never thought of it. Chapter 1306 Human race Chapter 1306 Human race "Oh, you have heard of my family?" Cassandra asked, quite curious. "I did not think they were of any relevance in this day and age." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Perhaps not for other races, but for humans it is still quite relevant! The siege of Orion is one of the defining moments in the history of humanity, and in Ventura it is taught in a number of disciplines. I myself learned of the Vans Angew family while studying military tactics. The way that General Patrick Vans Agnew held the line with inferior forces, using utility formations to quickly move troops acrossrge distances¡­ it was truly inspiring. In fact, I mimicked many of his tactics when I united the humans across the Crystal realm to form one empire!" Cassandra smiled, fondness appearing on her expression for a brief moment. "Patrick was always a naughty kid who liked to cause problems. Who knew that would trante into bing a good general and causing the enemy problems?" Cornelius seemed even more surprised to hear that. Did you¡­ did you know General Patrick?" he asked. "He was my son," Cassandra said. "You won''t believe how he ended up in the army. It was aplete ident. He tried to run away from home when he was a kid, but had no idea how formations worked, so he ended up sneaking into the wrong one. He was teleported straight to boot camp. He came back home after eight years, and spent the whole night crying as he hugged my leg, asking me to somehow take him out of the army." Lex observed silently as Cassandra reminisced. He''d never really asked her about her personal life before, nor had he considered it. He only knew her as an acolyte of Nuwa, and the person who controlled the Temple of Fasting. But she was a Celestial Immortal, so obviously she must have had a very full life. The circumstances that brought her to effectively being locked within the temple must have been insane. Now she was on her way to bing a Dao Lord. Who knows what would happen to her then? Cornelius stood up straight when he learned Cassandra was the mother of someone he admired, and then gave her a salute, which was very unlike the impression Lex had of him. "I''m sorry for your loss. At the same time, I ampletely honored to be talking to you. Please, let me know what you wish to discuss, and I will cooperatepletely." "Be at ease, King Cornelius. You yourself have done well by your people. I just want to have a general conversation with you about humanity, and what you think about our future. My information might be slightly outdated, so forgive me if I make a mistake, however before I¡­ went into seclusion¡­ humanity had lost their hold over any major realm. "We exist in countless realms, sure, but we hold none of them. We attach ourselves torger powers and survive in the shade of their umbre, and so we are merely existing. But on a universal scale, while the greater powers are moving forward, humanity is moving backwards. "I think, for any chance at redemption, humanity needs to im its own territory, however small. With its own realm, its own Dao Lord at the helm to clear obstacles, humanity can once again begin their climb on the Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum. The higher they rise, the greater the benefit to the whole race, allowing for more geniuses and high leveled cultivators. "Once humanity builds its momentum, they can proceed forward. But until that happens, we will forever stand beneath the angels and the devils, servants and ves to the greater powers." Cornelius nodded, but did not sit back down. He held his hands behind his back, and began to walk around his room as if in thought. The table in front of them moved aside, and in its ce approached a diagram that looked like a map of the entire Crystal realm - at least before its recent expansion. While Cornelius thought, Lex looked at the map and studied humanity''s position. They were in direct confrontation with the Kraven, more so than their neighbors. The odd thing was, it seemed like that was by design. The territories that the humans imed seemed like they were specifically putting them in the Kravens path. Why was that? Or perhaps, things had only yed out that way. After all, who could have predicted the Kraven war filled with immortals? "In essence, I don''t disagree with you, Lady Cassandra¡­" "Please, just call me Cassandra. I am not overly fond of honorifics. Right now, we are just two humans, discussing the future of our race." Cornelius merely nodded, and continued. "I don''t entirely disagree with you, Cassandra. For humanity to move forward, we do need a Dao Lord, and we do need our own realm. The whole universe races for resources, for realms, for power, all so that they can climb the spectrum, and gain even more power. But I personally think this obsession with the spectrum is fundamentally wrong." "How so?" Cassandra asked. "You see, I think our greatest w is not ourck of Dao Lords. Our greatest w, ironically, is one of our greatest strengths. The human race is obsessed with hero worship. Were we not born as equals to the other races? For a brief moment in history, were humans and celestials not shoulder to shoulder? Of the other humanoid races, we share the greatest simrity in appearance with Celestials, and yet we are so different. Where are they now, and where are we? "We draw great strength from looking up at our heroes, and yet we are also content with simply having heroes. Instead of reaching out and supporting them, surpassing them, reaching for greater heights, we ce our heroes on a pedestal, and separate them from us. We treat them as if we can never be equal, and that they can endure pain, they can endure hardship, they can endure struggle. Of course they can, they''re heroes! The leaders of our nations! Our strongest warriors! The sharpest minds! "Yet at the slightest personal inconvenience, we falter, not thinking that the pain we feel is the same pain as those heroes. When we suffer loss, we don''t think that those valiant knights who face the darkness of night on our behalf suffer the same loss. Even if they do, they can deal with it, because they''re heroes. "As long as all the pain, all the burden, all the suffering, all the inconvenience is on ''them'', whoever ''they'' may be, it''s eptable to us, and if they falter, there will be no hesitation toy me either. "I know not everyone is like this. My own empire is filled with those who, from birth, yearn to face and fight the Kraven. It''s in their bones. It''s in their blood. I''ve shaped their lives, their societies, their history, everything so that each of them will be ready and willing to step up to the mantle. I''ve done everything I can to help them grow, as a whole. But you know what I''ve discovered? "All it takes is two generations separated from the struggle, the pain, the push for survival, for the new generation topletely lose that drive. No matter how many heroes we have Cassandra, no matter how many Dao Lords, as long as the race is like this, we will never go forward." Cornelius paused for a moment before continuing. "Of course, there is another way - the actual way that I am pursuing myself." Cornelius turned around and looked at Cassandra in the eyes, his figure oozing ambition and drive. "Even if humanitycks the will, even if they lose it in two generations, all it takes is one generation of struggle to bring it back. So what we need is not to change the way humans think - I don''t think that will ever be possible. "No, what we need is a system to enable stable, yet rapid growth that can also be sustained. Right now, the True Path is out of reach for most humans, but if we can simplify the cultivation process - create a technique that''s easy, or create a method that achieves great results, then the human race can rise up from the roots. "Yes, we can raise our position on the Cosmic Spectrum with a Dao Lord, which can grant humanity more power. But isn''t the Spectrum simply just a list of the power held by the entire race, anyway? Even without a Dao Lord, even without our own realm, if humanity grows stronger as a whole, won''t our position on the spectrum change, anyway?" Lex had never been a part of such conversations, or ever even thought about it. He was too busy surviving to worry about the whole race. Even so, he could see that each of their stances was nuanced, containing countless little considerations. Right now, they were just talking about broad ideas tomunicate their standing with one another. Chapter 1307 Why cant it be both? Chapter 1307 Why can''t it be both? "The concept is not bad, but without a Dao Lord, no matter how high we climb, no matter how steadfast we be, humans will always be servants and ves for others. Then, it will be in the interest of others to ensure that we never gain independence. Right now, humans are in the unique position where we are weak enough that no one particrly wants us, but not so weak that we cannot rise. "You talk about the battles in Orion, but it''s a fact that no matter how hard we fought, now well we defended, how well we attacked, from the very onset our defeat was set in stone. All races, no matter how noble or powerful, are led by a few individuals. The rest rise up under their umbre of protection." Though Cornelius raised a few good points, Cassandra was not convinced. She had lived through the decline of humanity. "We humans were not always like this. We did have some who achieved the Dao. We too were once paragons of power. The human race was looked up to by many, so long ago. But as the first Kings of humanity fell, one by one, the situation deteriorated. There was nock of chivalrous people back then. There was nock of those with courage and determination, and while their sacrifices have saved humanity from much harsher fates, where are we now? n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "We have no voice in the universe, no say. If things do not change, it won''t be much longer before we too are sent out to the battlefields like the Kraven. We will endure thebor of war for hundreds of years, all so that our masters can have a single day''s convenience. Without a leader, we are nothing." It seemed an impasse had been reached, for neither of them were willing to budge on their opinions. Cornelius shook his head. "Maybe we had a graceful decline, but no matter how chivalrous our people were at one point, it wasn''t enough. The Celestial race tolerates not a single slight to one of their people. Attack one unjustly, and it is as if you have crossed the whole race. Maybe we can follow the example of other races, and find and invest in a single leader, and hope to god that the man or woman we choose to follow has some sense. "But Cassandra, should such a daye, it won''t be the rise of the human race, it will be the rise of that one person. If you be a Dao Lord tomorrow, even with all your ideals, you will not bring about the era of humanity. No, the name of that era in history books written by humans will be named Vans Agnew. "Fates forbid, if the Dao Lord we nurture is an arrogant man, or worse yet, a good yet wed man, what will be of the human race then? To follow a bad leader is worse than to follow no leader at all. "Do you know, I built this empire with my hands. I shed my own blood to make it, and the blood of my sons and daughters. Iid my best friends to rest, and my favorite wives. Who can deny that if it weren''t for me, this empire would not exist? For all that I have paid, for all that I have suffered, for all that I have done for this empire, is it not right for me to im that without me, this empire would fall to dust? "Yet I am not an arrogant man. I do not let these things go to my head. I always remember that without the people who make this empire, it would be nothing. To ensure that I never forget that for all the sacrifices I have made, the people in it have made more, I named this nation Hum! Lest I forget that it is a nation for humans. Lest I forget the goals I started this struggle for. "Whether a Dao Lord is born or not, I cannot control. Whether the humans get a realm of their own or not, I cannot control. But the destiny of humankind, I can influence. Maybe someone will achieve the status you desire, and they will lead us like you wish. But the rise or fall of mankind cannot be determined by any one person, no matter what kind of cultivation they have. It will be written by every man, woman and child who will be born of this race. "Whether they have noble goals or raising up the whole race, or selfish motives to maybe just survive another day, or see their own people flourish, it is in their hands." Lex raised an eyebrow. Although he had, just moments ago decided that his impression of the king had fallen, he was proving himself to be a veryplicated man. There was more to him than just seeking out more wives, apparently. For a time, Cassandra did not respond. Instead, she just kept looking at Cornelius, lost in thought. Her body was losing energy rapidly, so Lex could tell that she would be here for only a few more minutes at most. One way or another, this conversation wasing to an end. "I see," Cassandra finally said, a flicker of an unknown emotion shing through her eyes. It was rare for Lex to be unable to detect someone''s emotions. "I understand now why the Innkeeper wanted me to meet with you. Cornelius II, you are an impressive man. It is not amon man who can speak their mind so determinedly in my presence. In certain things, you are still misguided. For all your exposure, you still do not understand what it truly means to have, and to not have a Dao Lord for a race. "Yet what you have is something I have lost. I have maintained too broad a view from too far, for too long. I have be far too removed from the rest of humanity to the point where I can barely be considered human - at least in terms of my heart and mind. "Keep struggling, Cornelius. I want to see, when I wake up from my next cultivation session, how far you bring humanity, or if you fail along the way. If you impress me, then maybe I will also show you something impressive. In the meantime, ponder this. "Why can humanity only have a leader as a Dao Lord, or why can it only grow on its own as a whole? Why can it not have both?" Chapter 1308 History of humanity Chapter 1308 History of humanity Although Cornelius might not fully understand what Cassandra meant, or at most might suspect what she was hinting at, Lex could tell what she was considering. She was already on her way to bing a Dao Lord. Truthfully, Lex had no idea how long to expect such a thing to take. Each of his breakthroughs had not taken so long, but it was only after bing an immortal that he was getting a hint of how much time these things take. He was always an outlier, but even so, now when he began to meditate or contemte on variousws, minutes would turn into days without notice. It was, perhaps, the nature of greater powers that even considering them took greater time. So he was suspecting that, whenever Cassandra finally did take that leap into the realm of Dao Lord, she might find Cornelius once more and invite him to join her in her venture. "I do not know how long your cultivation session willst, but I will always try my best for the sake of my people," Cornelius said, but for once exhaustion became apparent on his face. "But I do not know how much longer I can hold on to this realm, at the very least. You are right about one thing. It is difficult to face greater powers on your own. But this is exactly the situation that humans must get used to, and learn to ovee. We will use whatever means we have avable." Cassandra only nodded, before her body suddenly became illusory. She was fading away in front of their eyes, so as ast gesture, she pointed her finger towards Cornelius. Her body turned into a purple light that shot into the King''s body, suddenly beginning to heal it. Yet instead of feeling better, Cornelius immediately fell to his knees and began to cough violently, until eventually arge, writhing insect simr to a millipede was coughed out. Immediately, he felt much better, and as his gaze fell upon the suffering insect, disgust filled him. Cornelius stood up and crushed the bug underneath his foot. Energy and vitality filled his body, restoring the strength he had lost, and in fact enhancing it even more. His realm did not increase, but his strength did. Yet he did not dwell on that, and instead looked towards Lex. "You always surprise me every time I see you. Student of Cassnadra Vans Agnew - I can''t believe it. Do you know how many people would mor for just the sight of her? And not just humans." "I think you''re more familiar with her background than I am," Lex admitted truthfully. "Although, I admit, I haven''t been the best student either." Cornelius froze. He pointed his finger at Lex and wanted to say something, yet words failed him. "What?" Lex asked. "Do you¡­ do you know nothing about the history of humanity?" Lex shrugged. "I haven''t been to a fancy academy like you. Besides, I''m too busy working on my strength, growing stronger to be worried about studying history." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Cornelius shook his head, and threw himself back on the sofa. It seemed Lex''s words were a bigger blow to him than even the insect that crawled out of his mouth. "It''s important to at least know a brief history. But I suppose with the Innkeeper to support you, you do not need to be worried about such things. Cassandraes from a legendary family. Although humanity no longer has a Dao Lord, that has not always been the case. There was once a time when humanity had Dao Lords, and more than one. "Though it''s extremely rare for Dao Lords to die, generally speaking, during realm wars, that is usually the aim of the enemy. Cassandra''s mother, Jacinda Vans Agnew, was thest Demi-Dao Lord of humanity, and it is said that her family originated from a Dao Lord as well, though it''s impossible to confirm things like that. Her mother died in the same battle as her son, supposedly. As far as humans are concerned, her family is the closest thing to true nobility that exists." Lex raised an eyebrow. He always knew Cassandra was strong - after all, she proimed herself the strongest living human in the universe. But he''d been too preupied with his own issues to pay much attention to her. He''d like to say that he''d make it up to her by being a better student now, but chances were high that the next time he saw her, she would be a Dao Lord. Lex sighed. Suddenly, he felt a bit of pressure on his shoulders, but these were things to worry about in the future. "I truly didn''t know that. I will look into her history a little more. But for now, Cornelius, we have other things to discuss. One of the reasons I came here was so that you and Cassandra could talk. Now that that is done with, we can proceed to my personal task." "What is that?" Cornelius asked. "I have to warn you, the situation in the Crystal realm is a lot more chaotic than before. Under Vinei''s lead, the monsters are rampaging against the Kraven. At first we thought that was a good thing, but we were suddenly betrayed by the other races, who stopped fighting the Kraven and began invading each other instead. At first everyone was confused, butter I found out that the Ventura exam had already begun. "The examinees want to take control over the whole realm, for which they''ve attacked all sides. Even the Crystal race is not safe from them. They''ve already assumed control over the Sentinels, and they''ve brought in entire armies to assume control of the realm. At least before, there was an order to the chaos. Now, it''s impossible to tell what will happen in the next minute, let alone the next hour." "Can''t you file aint in Ventura or something? I thought you were a member too. This realm was already on the verge of destruction. All this can''t be good for the realm, all things considered." Chapter 1309 Can I ask you a question? Chapter 1309 Can I ask you a question? "It''s pointless. Ventura is an academy, not a police force. As long as their internal paperwork is filed and they''re following the regtions of the academy, it does not matter what they do. Of course, if they go too overboard, the academy will step in - and that''s only because they don''t want the reputation of the academy to plummet. "Realistically speaking, the examinees won''t really allow the realm to be destroyed, so Ventura won''t mind what they do. Besides, this is the domain of the Chaotic-Gold Ventura branch. As long as they approve of what''s going on here, it''s very hard to do anything against them officially. No, the only thing I can do is fight them head on fair and square, using my identity as King, not as a member of Ventura." "Well I can''t help you with that, but there is something I can help you with," said Lex. "I am here for Bil. I don''t know the hierarchy of the Kraven, but thest time I saw him, the tiny Kraven seemed like he was someone important. Either way, I am going to kill him, and anyone else that stands in my way. I came to you for any and all information that can help meplete that task." "Bil, huh?" Cornelius mused as his mind wandered. He had learned that the Kraven prince who had attacked the Midnight tavern all those years ago had taken to hiding in a panic room for years, which is mostly what saved him from Vinei''s wrath. Though the monster remained at the peak of Earth immortal, its strength far outstrippedmon Heavenly immortals. He was nearly invincible within the realm, only the two Deity birds barely matching up to it. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om It was only after the exam began that he was forced to leave his panic room. Yet Vinei was no longer as unbridled in his conquest anymore, simply because he too had been targeted by those examinees, much like Cornelius had - and much like Cornelius, he had also been injured. "It won''t be easy to get to him, he neveres to the front lines, alwaysmanding the war from the back. I''m sure you noticed that his build was much smaller than a regr Kravens. That''s because, among Kraven, there is a genuine difference biologically betweenmoners and nobility. "In exchange for being much smarter than their brethren, noble Kraven are actually somewhat physically weaker, but the spirits are much stronger. So their poisonous slime and healing factor are weaker, but they''re still much more dangerous. They also don''t mindlessly ravage thend like the rest of their race. "But it''s not fighting him that you should be worried about. Instead, it''s all the immense defenses and protection of the entire Kraven empire that should worry you. Even if you can hide from detection, and make your way to the capital, you''d likely only get a single attack before the entire city starts fighting you. "It''s not such a simple task. If you''d take my advice, I''d rmend that you let go of this idea. If he everes to the front lines it would be different. But unless you want to lead the entire war, and push the Kraven back to their capital, it isn''t very dangerous." Lex rubbed his chin for a while. Actually, he wasn''t concerned about being able to kill the Kraven at all. It was not overconfidence, it was just a fact that very few Earth Immortals could face him right now. But even so, in the spirit of being careful, Lex decided toe up with a single, overpowered attack to use during an assassination. It should be his strongest attack - greater than anything he can unleash normally. It wouldn''t hurt to have an ultimate move tucked in the back of his pocket. In truth, his Golden Inferno was already stronger than the strongest attack of most immortals. But since he could use that normally and so easily, it didn''t feel like a main attack. "Even so, any information you can give me on their capital, how to get there, what to expect, I''d be grateful. I''ll judge the situation myself once I get there. Although, if you don''t mind, there''s one more thing I''d like to ask you." "Giving you all that information is no problem at all. In fact, I wish you the best. You''re right in saying that the death of Bil would be a great boon to the situation in the realm right now. And yeah, sure, go ahead. What do you want to ask?" "I''ve heard, from quite a few sources, that you''re exceptionally strong as far as an Earth Immortal is concerned. I normally wouldn''t care, but the people who told me that have a very high standard. I''m curious if you''d be willing to spar with me. I''m very interested in learning from you." Cornelius actuallyughed when he heard that, suddenly grinning. "Kid, of course I''m strong. Everyone suppressing their cultivation forcefully instead of moving to the next realm would be strong. My situation is simple. If I enter the Heavenly Immortal realm, I can no longer lead my empire. At the same time, I cannot stay at my current strength forever. So I have spent a lot of time developing ways to increase my strength. I''ve dissected the art. "If you''re interested in learning from me, I don''t mind teaching you. In fact, considering who your other teacher is, I''d consider it an honor to be able to teach you anything." "In that case, let''s go somewhere private. No time like the present." Cornelius looked at Lex and smiled. He teleported the both of them away from the city, and to a barren mountain range. The mountains were made entirely of rock and the valleys were willed with desert sand. It did not look like anyone would miss this ce in case he went a little overboard. "Lex, let me ask you a question," Cornelius said, as he took off his royal armor, and instead put on a different one. "Where do you think strengthes from?" Chapter 1310 Recipe for Perfection Chapter 1310 Recipe for Perfection Lex looked at Cornelius, unsure of how to answer that question. Was he asking literally or philosophically? After a moment, Lex gave the best answer he could think of. "Ites from your cultivation. The better your cultivation, the more strength you have." N?v(el)B\\jnn Actually, there were quite a few more things he could say about where strengthes from, but relying on a system or getting a unique cultivation technique were not really something that could be applied to the general public, so he refrained from mentioning them. "I suppose you could say that," said Cornelius. "You could also be wrong." Putting on his new armor did not take long, though for some reason he did not put on any gloves. Once he was ready, he pulled out a simple, wooden longbow and a single arrow. "Cultivation is just one part of the puzzle, Lex. Strength is the sum of your entire being. While such a statement might sound abstract, I am being quite literal when I say this. I am going to give you a simple demonstration. The armor I''m wearing now has been specially designed. It can limit my strength and body to any realm I so wish. At the moment I have limited it to the average mortal human born in the Crystal realm. The bow I hold has simr enchantments, where the weight of the draw can be set to any limit I want. I have currently set it to the average Foundation level treasure." He notched the arrow, pulled up the bow and aimed towards a particrlyrge boulder nearby. Then he began to pull. Both the hand that was holding the bow began to tremble, and so did the hand pulling the arrow, yet the string had barely moved. Lex''s eyes narrowed when he noticed that the strong began to dig into Cornelius'' fingers, causing them to bleed. At that exact moment, the King let the arrow loose. Despite the fact that the arrow was barely pulled, there was enough force in the string to send the arrow flying, though all it did was strike the boulder and bounce aside. "What I just replicated was the draw of an ordinary school teacher. I am not making this up, for I am replicating the result from an actual test we conducted. This was prior to cultivation being widespread across the realm, so not all humans had ess to it. Now, with the exact same strength, I am going to replicate the draw of an ordinary farmhand - still a mortal." This time, while the bow still trembled, it was considerably less than the first time. Much more importantly, as Cornelius pulled the strong, and it began to dig into his fingers, cutting them, he did not let it loose. Instead, he continued to hold, managing to pull it just a little bit farther before letting go. The arrow flew, and though this time it still bounced off, there was a tiny crack on the boulder. "What do you think is the difference between those two, Lex?" Cornelius asked. "Will power," Lex said. "The farmhand could tolerate more pain and so he was able to pull the string more, increasing his strength." "Once again, right, but also wrong. Back then I was just a teenager when I saw this during apetition, and I was curious, so I went up and asked both of them what they were thinking. "The teacher said that he understood that the string contained enough strength to send his arrow to the target, so there was no reason to suffer. He was right, his arrow reached the target, and though his aim was off center, at least he hit it. "The farmhand, on the other hand, said it was a force of habit - one he did not want to break. On his farm, they often had to hunt wolves, and while the bow would have had enough drawing power to hit the target, the strength of an arrow would not have been enough to break the hide of the wolf. He also hit the target, and was much closer to center. From start to end, his own pain was not a part of his consideration at all." Cornelius paused, his eyes unfocused as if he was recalling days past. "At the time, I could not tell which one was right or wrong. Both of them had a valid reason behind their actions, and both of them met their objectives, so which one was better? It was such an irritating question, and one that bothered me for years, so much so, that a few decadester, I went and found those two again. "The teacher, still a mortal, had trained one of the best bowmen in our country during that time, teaching him principles of physics,bined with the principles of cultivation which had, by then, begun to spread. The farmhand, by then, had be a farm owner. Though he was still a mortal, tobat increasingly stronger beasts that attacked his farm, had mastered bow intent. Back then, I did not even know mortals could master intent!" Cornelius pulled the bow again, using the same strength as before, but this time, Lex sensed a new kind of power filling the bow. Cornelius managed to pull the entire bow this time, and the arrow he shot cut through the entire boulder as if it was butter, leaving behind only a tiny hole, the size of the arrow itself. "You see, that confused me even more. I was a cultivator and a king, yet I was stumped by two mortals. So I conducted an experiment. I charged the teacher and the farm owner to design a training regime for an archer, using the best of their experiences, and then I assigned them ten young students. I returned five yearster and discovered the most unexpected situation. "During those five years, the teacher had actually died shortly afterpiling his sybus, and the farm owner,cking a background in education, could not even bring about a result in his students up to par with what the teacher had been doing before they both started working together. "I decided, then, that I was just searching for meaning in something that was in and simple. There was no greater lesson there. But, on a final whim, I decided to look over the training regime that the simple, mortal teacher hadpiled. That, Lex, is when I encountered a mortal arrogant enough to title his paper as ''The Recipe for Perfection''." Chapter 1311 The Spar I Chapter 1311 The Spar I "It was so basic," Cornelius said. "You have to educate the student, just enough that they know what not to do, but not enough that they don''t have to think for themselves. Ensure a healthy diet. Ensure rigorous training. Make sure the student has a consistent, focused drive to excel. Give them enough real world experience that they can rationalize their growth, andpare it, but not so much that they think they''ve be experts. "The actual document was one hundred and twelve pages long, and created the absolute perfect scenario that would be required to achieve perfection. The amount of detail he went into was so extreme. If he were alive I would have asked him if he was trying to be meticulous, or trying to prove that perfection was impossible. But he was dead, so instead I took a different meaning to his work. "If a mere mortal, with his limited mental capacity and slow speed of thought coulde up with such a detailed n for perfection, then I coulde up with an even more detailed n following the same pattern. Then all I had to do was find a way to make it happen." "Quite a long story there," Lex pointed out as he began to stretch his body. Cornelius, standing at a distance still only had the strength of a mortal, but there was something about his demeanor that made Lex feel like he was a very serious thought. "Do you know what makes perfection, Lex? I know the question sounds different from my original question about the origin of strength, but you see, they both have the same answer. Perfection is not a singr state. It is an aggregate of countless individual things done perfectly. "It is the same with strength. How you trained your body at the mortal realm affected your limits in the Qi training realm. How far you pushed yourself in Qi training affects the kind of Foundation you have. The limits of your Foundation determine the kind of core you can tolerate, and that can influence the strength and energy pool of your Nascent soul. "How powerful your Nascent soul is then determines how quickly and easily you can sensews, which in turn determines how effective your ts are." "Wait," said Lex, suddenly interrupting him. "I thought all ts were the same, and there was no distinct advantage of one t over another." "That is true. Ts, in themselves, are equal, but the quality of the t you build is definitely not. That, as I said, is determined, among other things, by the quality of your Nascent soul. The quality of your Nascent soul, in turn,es back down to the quality of your body tempering, and the effect of your body temperinges down to, not only your cultivation technique, but also your aim. Are you aiming just to shoot the target of achieving body tempering, or are you aiming for a greater target than that¡­ a harder target to achieve." Lex was reminded of the analogy of the two archers - the teacher and the farmhand. They both achieved the basic result, but they had different targets from the get go, which brought about subtle differences. "The trick, then, is how to achieve such a thing in mass? Not only for yourself, but for the whole human race? You''d need a consistent, clear threat to their lives and way of life for a long period of time, alongside sufficient guidance, as well as the right goal, right resources and so much more." "Are you telling me how to get strength, or giving me a confession about why you put your empire in harm''s way for hundreds of years?" Lex asked, solemnly. It was not his imagination. Cornelius began to radiate greater danger than he had ever felt from another Earth immortal. "I am telling you¡­ everything I have ever experienced in my entire adult life has been as a result of conscious choice, to hone myself in the crucible of war. While I want all of humanity to progress, that does not mean I have ignored my own training for a single moment. "For hundreds of years, Lex, every single moment of my life has been dedicated to somehow honing myself in one way or another - whether people see it or not." "I am telling you¡­ everything I have ever experienced in my entire adult life has been as a result of conscious choice, to hone myself in the crucible of war. While I want all of humanity to progress, that does not mean I have ignored my own training for a single moment. "For hundreds of years, Lex, every single moment of my life has been dedicated to somehow honing myself in one way or another - whether people see it or not." Cornelius touched his armor once more, and his aura returned to that of an Earth immortal, and as it happened he was also a level 7 Earth Immortal. But that''s not what Lex was paying attention to. No, his sight was on Cornelius'' aura, which was physically manifesting itself all around the man. It was not like Domination, which was heavy and oppressive. Instead, it was just ck. The mountains faded from view. The valleys of sand faded from view. The sky and the earth all vanished, and instead was reced by a deep darkness that flowed out of Cornelius'' body, as if he was an endless void. "By the way, I also put myself through that teacher''s recipe for perfection, just to see what the results were like." Lex could see nothing. His eyes were drawn to Cornelius, the only visible thing standing in front of an eternal abyss. At the same time, his body was giving off such an immensely powerful aura that Lex feltpelled to look away. "Did you end up building a t of perfection or something like that?" Lex could not help but ask as he pulled out Naraka. He was having trouble believing that even after all his countless advantages, someone in the same realm could threaten him this way. Then again, it was Mary who mentioned Cornelius as an example of a very powerful Earth immortal. Cornelius chuckled. "Not quite." Then he put on his gloves, and aimed the bow towards Lex. "Get ready, I''m going to shoot." "Don''t hold back," Lex said, so Cornelius didn''t. Lex never saw the arrow fly. He just felt it smash into his chest,unching him across the mountain range. The spar had begun. Yes, yes, 2 more chapters on the way. Hold on. :Pn/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Chapter 1312 The Spar II Chapter 1312 The Spar II It was not that the arrow was too fast for Lex to detect, but rather that Cornelius didn''t use a normal arrow to begin with. So far, whenever Lex fought another immortal he had the advantage because they would try to use their control overws to influence Lex. However, owing to the fact that he had a Dao level ingredient in his body, among other things, affecting thews of his body was easier said than done. He in turn, could affect his opponents however he wanted, or even rely on his many other abilities to gain the advantage. But Corneliusunched an arrow targeting not him, butws. Thosews did not try to change anything about him. Instead, he just felt thew of physical force smash his chest with the strength of a missilerge enough to wipe out a city. In essence, thews were not changing anything about him. Instead, they were directly acting on him. The distinction was minor, but the point was that it worked. Lex was, of course, not harmed by the initial impact, but he quickly began to suspect that that wasn''t the point of the attack. Instead of crashing into the mountain range, he fell into an ocean of thick, viscous liquid that quickly absorbed all his momentum. Yet at the same time, the liquid offered so much resistance that Lex found it difficult to move. It was also beginning to lower his body temperature. Before the situation could progress, Lex activated his own t. Though he was taken by surprise, that did not mean he was a pushover. He was not familiar with this liquid, and thews governing it were unfamiliar as well, though he was certain his left eye could reveal the details. He was, however, familiar with the effects of temperature, and thews of it as well. The liquid began to boil all around him, suddenly bing very runny, allowing him the freedom to move once more. He was about tounch a salvo of Golden Inferno when his eyes widened. His instincts warned him ofing danger, but for once they had no suggestion for how to escape. As if there was some hidden catalyst, the liquid that surrounded quickly started turning to gas, bing ever hotter. The heat was not the problem, since Lex was mostly immune to heat. No, the problem was that thews began acting on their own, rapidly increasing the heat way more than he intended, causing a huge drain on his t. The worst part was that he was unable to detach his t from thew. Clearly, something was amiss. Lex summoned his sword intent, as strongly as he could, and shed at the gas that was closely sticking to his body, cleaving an open path for his escape. At the same time, he activated his left eye to study thews to see what was going on. Yet what he saw gave him pause. The chains that representedws were still there, but atop each of them seemed to be Cornelius'' figure, looking down at Lex. "Come on Lex," the millions of Cornelius said together. "Impress me." Lex snorted. Clearly Cornelius was way more experienced than Lex in fighting as an immortal. But Lex was not helpless either. Although he had not intended to bring it out so quickly, Lex summoned forth his Domain! He grabbed ahold of thew of defense, even with his t which was quickly consuming all its energy, and grew thew until it pushed out everything around him. Suddenly, the immense drain on his t vanished, and the sight of countless Cornelius'' disappeared. Instead of affecting him, Cornelius was affecting the world andws around him, and was very good at it. But by isting himself from the influence of all otherws temporarily, Lex broke free of even that external influence. "A Domain while within the Earth Immortal realm," said Cornelius walking towards Lex. "I admit, I am impressed. I''ve never seen that before." "Cornelius, back in my home, you know what we call strength?" Lex asked as he flexed his shoulders. His left eye never stopped working, and he was absorbing every little move Cornelius was making, learning from him, adapting to him. "What?" "There''s this popr little punching bag machine that people like to give a try, but pushing it back is not easy. It''s supposed to be very difficult. Punching that bag till it''s pushed all the way back and no longer visible - now that''s strength. So get ready, I''ming." Lex repeated Cornelius'' words, and used the one advantage he was certain he had over Cornelius. He used his raw, physical strength. Once upon a time, Lex was stronger than everyone and everything within the same realm as him because he kept training atop a dragon, and kept absorbing its strength. Then he gained the heart of a dragon, and his strength multiplied. The ground underneath him shattered into fine dust, forming a massive crater as Lex shot forward at his fastest speed, causing multiple sonic booms. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Cornelius, who was keeping a close eye on Lex, barely caught sight of what happened. One moment, Lex was acting cool, throwing his own words back at him, and the next moment there was a fist breaking through the visor of his helmet. For the first time in a long time, Cornelius'' nose broke as his body shot through the air at supersonic speeds, crashing into, and through the mountain. Instead of pursuing him, Lex grabbed Naraka with both hands and used the first move of the sword technique given to him by the Governor of the Origin realm. The Ten Tribtions sword technique, which incorporated sword intent and lightning, was far from easy to learn, even for Lex, but he''d gained a basic understanding of the first move. Now, he was going to use it for the first time. The veins on Lex''s arm became visible as he concentrated his strength into his sword, and channeled his sword intent into Naraka. The sword, in turn, let out an eager screech that cut through the air. Cornelius'' body finallynded in the ground, the momentum from the attack finally ending, when Lex unleashed the first move. Chapter 1313 Spar III Chapter 1313 Spar III More and more, Lex began to notice that his sword intent was white in color. At first he used to think it was just bright shes of light, but the pattern was too consistent for it to be anything else. Anytime he attacked with his sword intent, the white sh of light was his sword intent. SO when he used the first move of Ten Tribtions, there was yet another sh of white light, this time it appeared in the shape of an electric arc, reaching out to Cornelius. The King, who had only justnded from Lex''s attack, raised a shield he summoned to block, trying to buy himself time, but it was for naught. The shield broke and his armor was cut through, leaving a massive red gash across his chest. The King tried to groan, but before the sound could leave his mouth, he felt the suffocating pressure of a Domain once more. His eyes narrowed and he activated a technique, only for the Domain to cancel it out. Another one of Lex''s fists smashed into him, but before he could fly off to the other end of the mountain range, Lex grabbed his leg and pulled him back. "Don''t push your luck kid!" Cornelius said, and activated an ability. Though within a small distance of Lex, allws were pushed out, Cornelius was wearing armor which itself contained trappedws. Items containingws were incredibly valuable, and even immortals couldn''t just create them as they wished, so which is why immortals valued them. They came in handy during exactly such wars ofw. Lex felt a push, forcing him to release his grip, catching him by surprise. His physical strength was no joke, so forcing him to do anything was incredible. Unfortunately, that brief moment was all the gap Cornelius needed to slip out of Lex''s Domain. He immediately pulled out his bow and shot a real, physical arrow at Lex, except that time, instead of harming his body, it fused into it! Immediately Lex felt like his t was wrapped in chains, making it impossible for him to move it. Before he could figure out a way to unravel the chain, Cornelius attacked again. The ground underneath Lex''s feet changed from solid rock to a bog which, whenbined with Lex''s enormous weight, caused him to immediately start sinking. Except it wasn''t water that Lex was sinking it - it was karmic debt! Lex''s left eye analyzed the technique that Cornelius had used, and realized that he had manifested the literal burden of leading an empire with billions of people, and manifested it into an attack. Every breath he took caused him to rue a massive karmic debt, for there were billions whose very existence relied on him, yet he was doing nothing to alleviate their burdens, or ensure their survival. In fact, every moment he spent doing nothing, not only was he taking on more karmic debt, sinking ever deeper into the bog, he was also umting the sin of negligence! Lex had no idea what it meant to be carrying a sin, but he was certain it was not good. Caught once more in a trap that cleverly usedws, with his t tied down so he could not activate his Domain, Lex''s greatest struggle was not how to escape, but which one of his many abilities to rely on to escape. Well, since he was using his left eye to absorb all of Cornelius'' knowledge, and pick up exactly how he maniptedws to create what could no longer be called a spiritual technique, butw techniques! No, that sounded stupid. These were no longer spiritual techniques, which used spiritual energy to affect reality. Instead, he was using thews of the universe, weaving them together to create a new reality as he saw fit. This was¡­ Lawcraft! Deep inside, Lex felt that the name was still cringe, but at least not as bad asw techniques. Regardless, since he was using his left eye to learn this, he decided to employ his right eye''s ability as well! Cornelius had not moved far away from Lex, so he was easily trapped within when hundreds of arrays suddenly appeared in the air, forming a sphere around them. Each array worked with one another, forming a chain that connected Lex and Cornelius, pulling them to each other. That action, taken by Lex, seemed to be the wrong move, which aggravated the bog even more, massively increasing his karmic debt and pulling him in deeper¡­ except that Lex was being held back by Cornelius, who himself was resisting being pulled in from the chain. "Very smart," he had only begun his response when it started raining a thick, viscous liquid atop him like a cloud burst, almost drowning him. Although it was not the same as his own attack, it was effectively the same. Cornelius immediately used his extreme familiarity withws to change his environment, but Lex countered just as quickly with his eye ability. The two quickly began attacking each other, going back and forth with their abilities. In truth, though their battle seemed devastating, and had in fact already destroyed their environment, neither Lex nor Cornelius were going all out. After all, if Lex used Domination then even without his t, thews would bend to his will. Cornelius, too, was no doubt holding back. This was, after all, just a spar. Lex''s goal had never been to defeat Cornelius, but to learn from him, and he was learning much. But¡­ n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om After an exchange of about a thousand moves, Lex didn''t like the fact that he was constantly at a disadvantage against Cornelius, so he decided to get just a little more serious. Other thanws, one of immortals most important weapons was the kinds of energy they could manipte. Well, once upon a time, when Lex was in the Temple of Fasting, Cassandra had taught him how to manipte divine energy. He never used it too seriously, save to fight Ra. Now, on an impulse, he decided to see just how effective it could be. He summoned his Butter Knife, the one imbued with divine energy, and flipped the board. Chapter 1314 Spar IV Chapter 1314 Spar IV Lex had long ago learned how to manipte divine energy, but it was scarcely useful except against Ra. There was also the fact that Lex could not produce divine energy out of thin air, and his only source was the Butter Knife. He typically avoided using it, since the divine energy from his mask and knife would only replenish based on the people who followed the Deity of the Butter Knife, and the Invincible Tyrant. But it was better to get the hang of it before he needed it, so now was as good a time as any. The first part of using divine energy was to enhance his body and his attacks, and only the second level of using it was to make use of itspletely magical properties to bring about various changes. Unlike Cornelius, Lex did not have any Lawcrafts that he already knew how to construct, so instead of overwhelming changes, he was going to use divine energy to subtly affect the world around him. The fight almost immediately took a turn, with Lex finally gaining an advantage. Thews that would target him would end up missing him, and unexpected idents kept happening around him, not weakening Cornelius'' attacks in any way, but just giving Lex a convenient exit. But the advantage was not decisive. Considering he had spent the majority of his life a mortal, the importance of physical strength was always apparent to him. Sometimes, sheer brute strength could ovee what clever tactics could not, and it could drastically change the oue of any battle. That was why Lex was pretty proud of his strength. But facing Cornelius, as long as he did notpletely restrict Cornelius'' control overws, it was useless. Cornelius maintained his distance, using eitherws or his bow to attack Lex, all to stay outside the range of his Domain, which meant that when Lex tried to punch him, Cornelius would just put up a wall of air containing the exact same amount of strength as his punch, perfectly negating it. No matter how much strength Lex used, the wall always perfectly negated him, and for some reason, even the divine energy failed to interfere with that. "Alright, watch out," Cornelius said after a while, and pulled out a different looking arrow. Lex''s instincts sensed immense danger, and he knew that they had arrived at the end of the spar. He took a step back and summoned forth his strongest shield. Lex used Heavens Furnace for a very long time as his strongest defense, but the problem with that was that the technique was designed to keep something contained. In that case, it would be best if he trapped his enemy inside the Heaven''s furnace, or trapped the attack within it somehow. But if the attack came from the outside, while still strong, Heavens Furnace was not at its best. As such, inspired by his Domain and how much he excelled in controllingws associated with defense, he created a new technique. It wasn''t quite Lawcrafting, but Lex would find a way to get it to that level now that he knew about it. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Immortal Aegis! A massive, yellow shield appeared before him from thin air. This technique was strengthened by countlessws despite Lex''s currently incapacitated t, since that was the result of the technique itself. This was the culmination of Lex''s current capabilities. Looking at it, Cornelius only smiled, and then let the arrow loose. Lex had long wondered what it would be like to survive a nuclear bomb. To be honest, he knew there were stronger attacks, not to mention the fact that a nuclear attack would only inflict physical harm, devoid of spiritual energy and anyws, so it would not harm him much. Even so, for arge part of his life, that was the ultimate power, and so he subconsciouslypared everything to that. The arrow was like the cultivation world version of a nuclear bomb. Lex felt the same chains that locked his t wrap itself around all thews around him. But instead of holding them in ce, the chains were guiding them towards a certain oue. Even thews in Immortal Aegis were affected, though they were resisting. There was an explosion, but not in the kind that Lex was used to, or even expected. Immortal Aegis, his strongest shield, could protect him from normal attacks from a specific direction, but it could do nothing about it if his entire environment was changing! This was the strongest Lawcraft Lex had seen yet! The mountain range vanished, but not because it disappeared. No, it transformed. The rocks and the dirt and the soil all merged together, affected by countlessws, to form the most pristine, unblemished marble floors, while grand, white pirs rose from the ground as if to support the sky. Metallic dishes hung from the air, with each sat a Sol-bird, lighting it. In front of Lex, an enormous throne appeared, tens of thousands of feetrge, and it was the presence of that throne which was so overbearing that it caused an explosion or aura. As all of this happened, Immortal Aegis remained in front of Lex, as if taunting him, reminding him that the way he thought about the world, and aboutbat was still deeply entrenched in the habits of mortals. A shield could protect him from an attack, an impact, perhaps even explosions of stars ands out in the Origin realm, but it could do nothing for him right now. Cornelius appeared before Lex, though this time as a giant, sitting on the throne before him. Lex suddenly felt a strong feeling of being a plebian - a mere mongrel, groveling in front of a mighty and powerful King. He felt an urge to kneel. He could tell that his feelings were being influenced by his surroundings. They were incredibly powerful, and perhaps if it was anyone else, they would not have been able to resist. But from deep within his dragon''s heart, Lex felt an incredible reluctance, which was quickly turning to rage. Of course, even if Lex didn''t have a dragons heart, much like how Cornelius had tempered himself in the gauntlet of war, Lex had been tempered through the gauntlet of his incredibly bad luck. His will was not so easily challenged. Domination erupted from his body. Chapter 1315 End Chapter 1315 End The two shed. Not in the way they had been before. It was not a sh of words, or fists, orws. This was a sh of auras. Among humans, Lex had never encountered anyone who couldmand aura with the same flexibility and depth as he did, mainly because he took his aura skills from a dragon. Yet in Cornelius, he found a worthy adversary. The man had honed his will, had honed his power, and had honed his very being through a very purposeful and deliberate lifestyle. Although he was a couple hundred years older than Lex, considering all the ws and drawbacks of humans, it was actually quite exceptional that Cornelius was able to reach so far in such a short amount of time, especially without the numerous advantages that Lex had. Sure, Cornelius joined Ventura, but that was not the same as having an all powerful system. Much like how Lex had decided to venture onto a path of supremacy, and aim for the very peak of the universe, Cornelius too must have had his eyes set on an impossible goal. It was not like he wascking enemies either, so the pressure on him was immense. Without cheats, he had toe up with his own way to gain immense power, which is probably why he was focusing on questions like where does strengthe from, and how to achieve perfection. Lex respected his drive, but that did not mean he was ready to kneel to the man. Their auras shed directly, and to his genuine and immense surprise, Lex did not win thepetition of auras out right. Domination was not to be denied. It bent thews to its will, but the illusion of Cornelius did not. The urge to bend the knee in front of Cornelius retreated, but for some reasons, it could not oppress Cornelius either. Lex and Cornelius faced each other, Lex a tiny figure, Cornelius a mighty king. They shed, the mere seated human, and the being who forcefully harnessed the power of the dragons. They shed - two titans in their own right, unyielding, upromising. Neither of them backed down, and in their eyes there was an adamantine drive to seed. But, as if on prior agreement, both of them finally withdrew their auras. Their spar hade out to a draw, though only they knew how much of their true power that had wielded. Though divinity had given him an edge, it was not as decisive as Lex had expected. Though Domination was not to be denied, Cornelius too was no push over. If Lex used his identity as a dragon - a ruler among races - then Cornelius used his own identity - a ruler among his own race. Lex''s eyes shed, and he felt a trace of pity for Aegis, Cornelius'' son. He was, apparently, a genius, but his inability to defeat Cornelius had driven him to alcoholism. Though in a way, that only showed Aegis'' own inferiority, for his will was weak, Lex also understood that being a genius was far from enough to face Cornelius. It was the most basic qualification to even consider facing him. "I can''t believe you actually made me bleed," Cornelius said as the illusion finished, and his body was revealed. His armor was still ripped in two, and the gruesome gash that Lex had cut into the man''s chest had not healed. "It has been a long time since someone in the same realm could push me like that." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "I can''t believe that you can just walk around casually after that. That was a sword technique given to me by a Dao Lord." Cornelius raised an eyebrow, and wanted to warn Lex of something, but dared not. When it came to Dao Lords, he dared not say anything, or give any warnings, even indirectly. "When was thest time you discussed the details of your cultivation with Cassandra?" he asked, instead. "If possible, you should take the opportunity to have her guide you some more." Lex shook his head and wiped his forehead. He was actually sweating! "She''s in closed door cultivation, I won''t be able to talk to her for a while," Lex said, though he noticed something odd. Cornelius'' statement did not flow ording to the normal rhythm of the conversation. Upon hearing that the sword technique came from a Dao Lord, he should have asked about it ormented on it, or maybe even asked about the Dao Lord. Instead, he told him to discuss his cultivation with Cassandra. Lex''s eyes shed in understanding, but he did not say anything. "Why are you limiting yourself to the seventh level of the immortal realm? Even if you don''t want to be a Heavenly Immortal, isn''t it best to wait at the ninth level?" Cornelius shrugged. "I''m using a special mention to stop my tribtions. If I get rid of it, they won''t stop until I reach the Heavenly immortal realm. They''lle one after another. I''m not ready to leave the Crystal realm just yet." "I''ve heard that the examinees want to raise the highest cultivation level of the Immortal realm to the Heavenly Immortal. If they do that, will you get rid of your limit?" Cornelius smiled upon hearing that. "Yes, I will. But if they manage to raise the limit to Heavenly immortal, I would be extremely grateful to them, for then I won''t even need to face them myself. Vinei will rule the realm." "Is he stronger than you?" Lex asked, curiously. "One on one? I''m not sure. But he leads every monster in this realm, which will include countless Heavenly immortals the moment the realm allows it. An army of hundreds of thousands of Earth immortals? I can believe it. The same for Heavenly immortals? Even Ventura cannot casually pull that off with a branch as random as Chaotic-Gold. Come, let''s go back. I''ll share the details with you about the Kraven prince." "Thanks. By the way, you want my help healing your wound? It looks painful." Chapter 1316 Hellions Chapter 1316 Hellions Cornelius looked down at his chest and observed the terrible gash on his chest. It was continuously bleeding, as if something was stopping his blood from coagting. He could feel the sword intent, still continuously cutting his flesh. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Yeah, it''d be great if you could heal this," Cornelius said. There was no need to be arrogant. An attack designed by a Dao Lord was far from simple, even if Lex hadn''tpletely mastered it. Lex extended his finger and touched Cornelius'' chest, channeling his healing techniques while withdrawing any lingering traces of his own energy from the wound. This was the first time he''d used the Ten Tribtions attack, and it was his only attack that ended up reaching Cornelius. While that was a clear indication of how powerful the attack was in itself, it was also a benchmark for the kind of power Lex could be using, but wasn''t able to. It only took a few minutes for Cornelius'' wounds to heal, which was a testament to Lex''s healing capabilities more than anything. But for once, after a very long time, Lex didn''t feel like his abilities were anything all that great. After all his numerous advantages, he was only Cornelius'' equal - and that too in a spar. Who knew what would have happened if they fought for real? It was actually quite hrious that in the Crystal realm Lex encountered a human who was his equal, but in the Champions tourney every immortal he faced was merely a slight obstruction at best. Cornelius teleported them back to his castle, and pulled out a crystal. "This contains all the information I have on the Kraven. I used to have the spatial coordinates for most of their major bases, but ever since things started to change, it''s hard to keep track. Spatial coordinates change almost on a monthly basis. All of our teleportation formations are crippled because of it, which is honestly hurting the war efforts more than anything else." Lex channeled his spirit sense inside the crystal and learned about the Kraven. Despite years of war, their numbers had increased, not decreased. They continued to devourws, turning more and more of their members into immortals. To be fair, Lex had devoured aw or two in his time, but that at most gave him a new affinity, and that too was because of his unique situation. He was not certain how eatingws made one into an immortal, but then again, this was a race thing. "What about the examinees? Are they going to be a problem for me?" Cornelius pulled out another crystal and handed it to Lex. "If you run into them, definitely. They weren''t able to wound me because they''re stronger than me. Instead, it''s because they''ve prepared thoroughly. They have countless weapons that exceed the kind of power earth immortals can tolerate, armor which can block even the influence ofws, and they never travel alone. "I can''t tell you how many examinees there are, because even I don''t know. What I can tell you is that they seem to be Hellions. Like how humanoid races are categorized together, Hellions are as well. If you''re not familiar with them, Hellions generally have strong fire affinities, but have no one set weakness." Lex suddenly sat up as his instincts clicked. This was the reason he had an urge toe to the Crystal realm. His instinct wanted him to know about Hellions. Or perhaps these specific Hellions would do something to him in the future. Or perhaps learning that Hellions were another race faction, like the humanoids, is what he needed to learn. Either way, he wouldn''t just stop asking questions here. "Like humanoid races, as in like humans and Celestials? They''re a part of the same group universe wide?" Cornelius nodded. "Precisely. The only rtively good news I can share is that the examinees are not necessarily united. There will bepetition between them for the top few ranks, so they won''t necessarily work together, and might even sabotage one another. But those are all just possibilities. "Also, there is still a possibility that there might be examinees from other races, but I have yet to encounter any. Communication between the Crystal realm races is also at an all time low, considering no one can know when one might betray the other." "Is there anything else you think I need to watch out for?" Lex asked, ready to set off. He did not want to rush into an assassination, but he also did not want to dy matters any longer. The best oue would be to finish this entire thing undetected, since he wanted to avoid getting involved with these examinees. But unless he was able to eliminate his target in one hit like he was nning, it was an inevitability. "Yes, watch out for the Crystal race. They''ve been¡­ acting oddly ever since they became involved in the war. It''s clear that many of their members are not happy to be forced to join, and even Aizel and Firin, the progenitors of the Frio and Sol birds have left their domain. They might end up doing something unexpected, so keep your distance if you can." "Is there anyone I can trust?" Lex asked. "If you need my help with anything, you can let me know. If you end up in a situation where you might need to trust someone else, then the Trelops are your next best bet. After the Crystal race and Monsters, I think it''s the Trelops who are the strongest in this realm, which is why the examinees have been targeting them the most." "I just have onest question," Lex said. "If I end up facing the examinees, and we get into a fight, will Venturae after me?" "No, all things considered, you''re an Earth immortal, so even if you kill them, Ventura won''te after you. Private grudges, however, are something you''ll still have to look out for." Chapter 1317 Sneaking in Chapter 1317 Sneaking in Lex grabbed everything that Cornelius had to offer him, and after a short farewell, he left. Although Lex initially developed a poor impression of the man for being a hedonistic king, the man''s strength had earned his respect. As for his personal preferences¡­ Lex tried not to think about it. Lex teleported to a random cafe in the capital, grabbed a drink and took a seat while he nned his next steps. Even though Cornelius hadn''t given him the exact coordinates for the Kraven capital, he could get close. From there he would have to search himself. Bil, the Kraven prince, took his security very seriously and consistently moved around with a guard, and though he could no longer spend his time in the panic room, he remained in the heavily guarded capital, never leaving. Lex would need to find the ce while maintainingplete stealth, infiltrate it and then find a way to kill Bil. Escaping would be the easiest part of all this. Despite everything Cornelius had told him about the examinees, Lex did not want to get involved at all. He was leaving all these problems behind to be a good little Innkeeper. He would take care of his guests, and manage his property. He was done interfering with other problems. Although he felt bad for what was happening to the Crystal realm, if he didn''t take care of the Midnight realm then it too would one day be like this. More importantly, he was nowhere near strong enough to single handedly resolve this whole issue. With his n more or less decided, he left a gold coin on the table and left, enchanting it so that strangers could not pick it up, and only the cafe staff could. N?v(el)B\\jnn Lex teleported from the capital of the Hum nation, all the way across to the territory near the capital of the Kraven territory. The distance was absolutely enormous, but it served as no obstacle to Lex. The actual problem was to ensure no spatial ripples were released as a result of his teleportation. Fenrir was still recovering from his tribtion, so Lex could not rely on him for stealth. Fortunately, Lex had learned a thing or two of his own - or rather, Jack had. Traveling through the shadow ne was one of the stealthiest ways to move around, and Jack had done enough of it with the Shadow talon that followed him. While Lex himself did not have a way to enter the shadow ne, he could enter the soul ne. Due to the nature of the nes, the soul ne was not nearly as stealthy as the shadow ne, and others with sufficient control over their souls could still sense him if he came close enough. But it wasn''t time to rely on that just yet. Instead, Lex put on his stealth suit and used a spiritual technique to hide. The reason he didn''t hide using somew was because he wasn''t familiar with that yet. He figured that other immortals might be able to sense an abnormality inws and easily detect him. Comparatively, relying on an ordinary technique was safer, although he might still be detected. Lex shrunk the size of his body, and started walking through the Kraven territory. There were no Sol birds in sight, and thend was devoid of any life despite the presence of sufficient water and nutrients. It was because the Kraven had sucked the literal life out of this ce, killing everything. To avoid the constant invasion of monsters, they had set up artificial lights using formations everywhere. But avoiding monsters did not require bright lights, so the entire Kraven territory was illuminated in a pale, blue light that seemed to cover everything. Lex took one step after another, covering vast distances with each step, using only his eyesight to look for towns and settlements. Fortunately, his left eyes ability to extract information was phenomenal, so it wasn''t long before he noticed a massive hollow in the ground. It was quite prominent, with a thick ck border around it, made of different shapes. It wasn''t anynguage, or Lex would have been able to read it. But Lex didn''t need to read it. Just looking at it was enough for Lex to understand that the Kraven built their cities underground, and this was an opening, though not for a city. This could, at most, be a simple base or something. Unwilling to spread his spirit sense out lest he get detected, Lex was forced to sneak inside while hiding, and soon found awork of tunnels and caverns, all lit up with a pale blue light. There were clear drains made in all the tunnels, and for good reason. They weren''t for rain, but to collect the slime that dripped off Kraven''s bodies. Resisting the urge to pass a derogatoryment, Lex explored the base and discovered that it was merely some kind of temporary barracks. There were only a few Kraven inside, guarding the ce, and they were in the Golden core realm so Lex had no problem carefully reading their memories. The capital was indeed nearby. It was a mere ny-eight thousand miles from their current location! Although that sounded like a lot, and actually was a lot, Lex could now unironically say that it wasn''t so far. He didn''t even need to teleport. Putting his hands in his pockets, Lex just continued to walk at the same pace as before, making sure to remain hidden and to not leave behind a trail. Before long, Lex found himself in front of a giant crater that led to the underground capital of the Kraven. The problem was¡­ The crater did not seem like a regr opening to the city. No, this looked like the crater that was formed when a meteor fell from the sky onto a. Considering that there was a distinctck of any guards or security, it was safe to say that something had surely happened to the Kraven capital. Lex jumped inside. Chapter 1318 I just said I dont want to get involved Chapter 1318 I just said I don''t want to get involved It became clear, almost immediately, that the capital had suffered some kind of st. The way that the tunnels had copsed, the way the walls were charred, and the way that the rubble had fallen made it apparent that someone had dropped a bomb inside the hole and then had blown it up. Fortunately, or unfortunately, this seemed like the explosion wasn''t recent. There were clear signs of repairs to a few tunnels, and of Kraven moving through them. It seemed like this ce had been evacuated since the time of the explosion. But just because the ce was abandoned did not mean Lex lowered his guards. He felt a subtle warning from his instincts letting him know that there was some kind of hidden danger in this ce. Considering that this was the former capital of the race invading a whole realm, it would be surprising if it was just left alone. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The problem Lex was currently facing was that he had no idea where the Kraven had relocated to. There were no signs of movement outside the crater, and if they teleported away it was so long ago that there were no more signs left. Lex was certain if he looked around he''d eventually find someone who knew something, but it was worth checking out the ruins of the capital as well. He went deeper through the clearly repaired tunnels, entering his soul state to go directly through a few sections that had copsed, until he eventually reached deep enough into the city where it was no longer directly destroyed from the impact. Even so, the halls looked like they were going to copse at any given moment. The rooms all looked too cramped to support the Kraven, so it must be¡­ Lex narrowed his eyes and observed the rooms more closely. From what Cornelius told him, the nobles and royals of the Kraven had smaller bodies, which would be the only ones that could fit into those rooms. Yet this was not like how he expected royalty to live. It was too cramped, too ufortable, andcked the distinct sense of luxury he hade to expect from the strong to live with. He recalled the prince''s demeanor when he had seen him, and the man clearly had the arrogance and sense of superiority to match, so Lex found it hard to imagine him stuffing himself in such a tiny space. He continued to explore the underground city, but it was tough to get much of an idea of anything from the wreckage. Lex had seen how the dwarves lived underground, and though they were short and lived underground, their cities were allrge and spacious. Each of their halls, even the smallest ones, were at the very least fourteen feet tall, which was quite a lot considering the tallest dwarf barely reached four feet. Everything they did had a sense of grandeur to it. The Kraven instead¡­ this couldn''t even be called a proper city in Lex''s opinion. It was just a veryrge hollow. Then again, how could he ever expect to understand the mind of a race that stripped their ownnd of everything living, leaving only death and ruin in their wake. Lex used his left eye to study the hollows and at first found nothing more than signs of destroyed formations hidden within the walls. He even searched for signs of the panic room he''d heard so much about but found nothing. It was only on his way back that he found something interesting. It wasn''t his eye that saw something, and technically speaking he didn''t see anything. Instead, his t acted on its own for the first time, strongly attracted to something. Still being careful, Lex made his way through a series of copsed tunnels until he ended up in a cavern instead of a hall. As far as appearances went, it lookedpletely ordinary, yet his t was acting up, as if it was feeling a challenge. Lex slowly spread out his spirit sense first, checking for any traps, before he sensed the world through his t. That''s when he sensed it. Under the facade of normalcy, thews within this region had been utterly twisted and tainted, and it was the deformation of thosews that was irritating his t. It was not that thews had changed from behaving normally that was irritating him. Instead, his t felt like by leaving thews twisted and tainted in such a way, for whatever reason, was like leaving behind their mark. Of course, Lex himself could tell that whoever had done this had probably done so for another, more materialistic reason than just leaving behind their mark. That was usually more overt. But to his t, it was like a testament of their victory and, more important, supremacy. It wanted the mark gone, thews returned to normal. Doing so wouldn''t be difficult for him. But before he did that, he wanted to see what this was all about. His t reached out, not to the twistedws, but to the facade hiding the change. This was a very high level illusion for it to affect his sense ofws rather than reality. It was specifically targeting immortals, and if his t hadn''t reacted to it, even with his powerful eyes, he would have been fooled. Like a shattered mirror, the facade broke under the slightest touch of his t, revealing the macabre reality underneath. Even the cavern, which seemed ordinary up until now, changed. In fact, the entire underground city experienced a change. The entire ruins were stained ck, and it was not from charring. Instead, Lex could tell that it was blood. The entire city had been washed in Kraven blood, and here, in this cavern, something sinister had taken ce which required all that blood. As his eyes looked at the twistedws, he finally understood what had happened. There had been a mass blood ritual here, using the blood of countless Kraven to give birth to the abnormality in thews. What was worse was that the longer the abnormality remained hidden, the stronger the corruption would be. "I just promised not to get involved," Lexined to himself as he slowly understood what was happening. The deformation seemed so unnatural because thews of this realm were forcibly being changed to match that of another realm. There was a fragment of another realm in the heart of the change, and it was eating up thews of the Crystal realm, slowly recing them with others. No wonder his t was offended. This was not just a mark, but one realm iming supremacy over another. Chapter 1319 Precautions Chapter 1319 Precautions Lex stood there, looking at the twisting, corruptedws and he tried to wrap his head around what the reason for this was. There was a very straightforward one. The Ventura exam asked the students to raise the upper threshold from Earth Immortal to Heavenly Immortal. Previously, Lex thought that by killing countless immortals, they were using their corpses as fertilizer to help grow the realm. Now, however, he got the sense that the corpses were still fertilizer, but not to grow the realm. Instead, histest suspicion was that they were trying to rece thews of the realm entirely, instead using thews of a more mature realm. Perhaps this was just one step in their n to have arger realm devour the Crystal realm. For a moment Lex debated what to do. Although his t wanted to unravel this thing, he was almost certain that the moment he did so, someone would notice. Lex sighed one more time, but then acted ording to his promise to himself. He conjured a piece of paper and wrote a small letter on it, describing the situation, as well as leaving a small formation on it that would teleport the reader to Lex''s current location. Then he folded the paper to look like a paper airne, and narrowed his eyes. Although he was getting used to the life and abilities of an immortal, it would take time. Right now he wanted to do something, but getting it to work perfectly would be slightly tricky, mostly because of the distance from himself. He spent a few minutes calcting, and then after making sure everything was alright, threw the paper ne in the air. It flew a small distance before teleporting away. Although the spatial coordinates for a lot of ces might have changed, it was impossible for the coordinates for a ce Lex was at a few hours ago to change. Within Cornelius'' pce, the paper ne teleported in, and flew directly into the face of an unsuspecting guard. He flinched, but by the time he opened his eyes, the ne was gone. Cornelius, who noticed the spatial fluctuation, immediately pulled the letter to himself and opened it. His casual expression suddenly became serious, and he channeled his energy into the formation on the bottom of the letter, teleporting away. A few secondster, he appeared standing next to Lex, who looked supremely irritated. But Cornelius, instead, turned his attention towards the massive deformity that had formed in thews. "What the hell is this?" he said, his expression contorting from anger. "If I had to guess, some kind of attempt to terraform the realm into wherever those Hellions are from." Lex was not surprised that he had, inadvertently, stumbled onto a massive secret that affected the whole realm. Isn''t that what happened when he discovered that the Crystal realm was about to be destroyed as well? No, the only difference was thatst time, Lex used it to help himplete a quest. This time, he was going to help out while making sure to not get involved too heavily. "Look, as I''m sure you remember,st time I tried to help you all out, all I got was a lot of trouble," Lex said. "I have no interest in a repeat of that incident. I called you here so that you can see this for yourself. As for whether you want to inform anyone, whether you want to take care of this on your own, or whatever else you want to do, that''s on you." Cornelius looked at Lex, then shook his head. He really cursed those two stupid deities. Last time, when the Kraven attacked, it was too sudden for Cornelius to defend the whole tavern, but the deities could have done it easily, yet they did not because they did not want topletely fall out with the Kraven, which in Cornelius'' opinion waspletely stupid. Now, as a result, Lex, who had once again identified a major threat to their realm, no longer wanted to get involved. "Thanks for letting me know. I''ll¡­ I''ll see what I can do about this. This is a lot more serious than anything from before. Where is this, by the way?" "The former capital of the Kraven empire," Lex said. "I have no idea where they moved, or what happened, but this ce isn''t the capital anymore. Also, I have more bad news." Cornelius was startled at the revtion, and immediately spread out his spirit sense, only to see the devastated underground city. "What''s the worse news?" "I was being careful here, because I sensed some kind of hidden danger. But your teleportation here has already awoken whatevertent danger there was so¡­" Just as Lex spoke, the ground began to rumble and from deep within the ground they felt something rising. "Also, have you seen enough of this? Because I''m going to destroy it." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "I''ve seen enough," Cornelius said. "And I can take care of the troubleing. I need something to hit anyway." Lex nodded as Cornelius left the cavern, looking at the twisting blob ofws. Although he decided to destroy it to sate his t, he was going to do it smart. He was certain that there were some trapsid around the ce, as well as a way to mark him.He wanted to destroy everything without leaving a mark, so the best way to do that was to take plenty of precautions. Lex activated both his eyes, using the left one to study all thews in his surroundings, while using his right one to createyers of protection around himself. At the same time, he even created a clone of himself in the mortal grade using a cloning technique, and used his t to bind the clone to himself, so it could stand in his ce. Lex did not really think he needed so many precautions, but historically speaking, he always got in trouble because of his rash actions or ignorance. Now, even if resolving the abnormality in front of him might cause issues he could tolerate, he saw no reason why he had to bear them to begin with. In the distance, he heard the sounds of fighting, and the ground continued to rumble, so he guessed that Cornelius was already fighting. Not wanting to dy things anymore, Lex reached out with his t, while at the same time paying great attention to his t. This was the first time it showed a reaction, so he observed everything carefully through the lens of supremacy. He could see why his t had been aggravated. The way he saw it, a fragment of another realm was devouring thews of the Crystal realm while growing itself. Even as a smaller, weaker existence, it was exerting its supremacy over the Crystal realm, and although that had nothing to do with Lex himself, it almost felt as if his t was provoked. After studying the abnormality thoroughly, Lex reached out to it and¡­ boldly and directly quashed it! There was no room for subtlety in this matter, since the abnormality was an order of magnitude above things Lex should technically be dealing with. He was messing with thews of two realms that were locked in a battle, and he didn''t want to risk finding out the repercussions if something went wrong. So, in one go, he used the utmost strength he could muster, and tugged at the mutatingws, stopping them from working so that thews of the Crystal realm could break free. Lex genuinely expected more resistance, but it seemed like the abnormality was quite fragile to begin with. Having said that, the moment it was resolved, Lex felt like he had been locked onto by a vicious beast. Already expecting as much, Lex wasn''t concerned. He summoned his clone and forcefully reced himself with it, turning it into the target of the aim. Considering that the clone did not have the heavy protection Lex wound around himself, a dark red mark appeared all over his face, marking him. Just as more things were about to happen, the clone killed himself, and disappeared. The red mark vanished, and the gathered forces were left without a target since Lex had already teleported away. After a few seconds, even the umted energy vanished, yet Lex did not return to check it out. He also wasn''t interested in checking up with Cornelius again. He had sworn to avoid getting involved, and that''s exactly what he was out to do. Although, watching how that one realm devoured another, and how that affected his t gave Lex some ideas. He dared not think too deeply, lest he trigger some tribtions. Even so, it gave him some perspective about ts. It should have been fairly obvious, but it seemed that they weren''t as straightforward as being tools with which to maniptews. There was more to them. As he continued to walk across the lifeless expanse, Lex couldn''t help but wonder about it. In another corner of the Crystal realm, a group of Hellions were rmed by a sudden change. Chapter 1320 Kravens passive abilities Chapter 1320 Kravens passive abilities "What the hell happened?" yelled an Ifrit, its red bulging skin suddenly turning a darker shade. Its two, long jagged horns suddenly caught on fire, providing the creature with arge, ming crown, making it look even more daunting. The countless imps around it suddenly started running away, for even their fire immunity would not protect them from the heat of an Ifrit. "I think you know what happened," responded a Hellspawn, its body made entirely of red mes, with dark, molten rocks covering the surface of its body like armor. "Someone finally caught on to our n. It was bound to happen sooner orter. We should, instead, focus on the fact that the mark failed. Either the target is dead, or they somehow hid from the Mark of Iblis." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Do not say sphemous things!" howled a banshee, her hair suddenly standing up as she looked at the Hellspawn in fury, which only caused the Hellspawn to facepalm. "I''m working with idiots," the Hellspawn murmured to himself. "Focus up. This only means we need to elerate our ns before they mount a proper defense," spoke as Asura, his words causing everyone to fall into a hush Even the craziest of Hellions knew not to mess with Asuras. Of all the Hellions, they may not be the strongest, but they were one of the most dangerous. It was as if, as a whole race, they required anger management sses. Unfortunately, due to their considerable strength, hardly anyone had the guts to tell them that. The Hellions began to discuss their ns, sitting atop a howdah strapped onto the back of a massive Kraven. All around them was a massive army, moving like a swarm across thendscape like shadows at dusk. In front of them was the massive border built by the Crystal race dividing theirnds. "Should someone go check up on who destroyed our setup?" asked the Hellspawn, hoping for a bit of forethought from its colleagues. "Sooner orter, they will all fall down," said the Ifrit. "What does it matter if we pick one out specifically?" The Hellspawn only sighed. ***** Lex looked troubled as he snuck out of a Kraven city. No matter whose memory he searched there was no information on a new Kraven capital, and there was no information about the Kraven prince as well. He couldn''t find a lead, and for once his instincts were failing to guide him where he wanted. That made sense, in a way. If the Kraven prince was hiding in a panic room of some sort, then it should definitely have protection from things like divination to keep its location secret. He could just give up ande back another time, it wasn''t like this was an urgent matter. But since he''de here, he''d like to give it one more try. He teleported away once more, this time to the spatial coordinates he remembered of Babylon, the city where the tavern had existed for a while. Naturally, he was way off and appeared in the middle of nowhere, but he expected that. Lex searched for a while before he finally found the coast, and then dove directly into the, heading deeper and deeper into the dark waters. With his spirit sense fully extended, he expected to find a monster soon, and he did. The problem was that he found only newborn, weak monsters. He knew that stronger monsters learned to restrict their instincts to attack everything in sight, but they seemed to be nowhere in sight. Unconcerned, Lex kept going deeper and deeper into the sea till he waspletely shrouded in darkness. He did not think it would be easy toe across a powerful monster, but it shouldn''t have been so difficult. After all, they only needed to exist in the dark and they would continue to grow stronger. For a while Lex continued to explore without results, but while finding the Kraven prince was difficult, finding a random monster with sanity was no issue for his instincts which is why he continued to wade through the sea until he eventually arrived at the entrance of an underwater cave. Except¡­ Lex put his hand on the cave entrance, and sent a pulse of Domination outwards. "Hey there pal, don''t mean to wake you up from your nap but I need a word," Lex said. A torrent of water shot out of the cave, threatening to push Lex away, yet he remained unmoved. The ground began to rumble, as if something deep within the ground was being pulled out of its ce. A loud, metallic wail filled the sea as if metal itself was being ripped apart as the walls of the cave began to move. The ground¡­ "I have no time for your dramatic entrance," Lex interrupted, this time letting Domination loose without restraint. "Are you up?" "Yes sir!" a voice came from underneath the ground. The sea cave, as it turned out, was just a random hole inside the head of a particrlyrge monster that was sleeping with most of its body buried underground. Of course, the reason it was sleeping during a time of war was because it was thoroughly wounded, and was trying to recover. Lex could see through its strengths and weaknesses easily, which is why he was not concerned. "Listen up, I need to talk to Vinei. My name is Lex from the Midnight Inn - he should know about it. Can you tell me how to get in contact with him?" The monster trembled once more, though it was not just because of the fierce aura Lex was giving off. Vinei was a Deity worshiped by all monsters. More importantly, he was obeyed by all monsters as well. His authority was total, and the only thing that surpassed their total devotion for him was their fear of him. Confronted by someone who dared name the Deity directly, the very instincts that the monster had been born with started going off. If it had been anyone else, those instincts would have been telling it to attack like crazy. But since it was Lex, and the aura he was giving off was so scary, his instincts were telling him to not resist at all, and just help Lex reach the dark Deity. Once there, the Deity himself could take care of any and all concerns. "I cannot presume to know the location of the Dark Deity," the monster said truthfully. "I can only bring you to the warfront where the monsters fight. He may or may not be there." "That will do," Lex said. A small, white root emerged from the ground near Lex and touched his foot, all slowly and deliberately so as to not startle him, before they teleported away. It seemed like¡­ teleportation was much toomon in the upper levels, but the truth was that not all teleportations were the same. Few could match how smooth and seamless Lex''s own teleportations were, including the monster. It took them nearly a dozen seconds before they appeared at their destination, during which Lex and the monster both had to endure immense pressure from the teleportation itself. Fortunately, they both had tough bodies. They reappeared, just as the sea cave monster said, at the war front. As far as Lex could see, the ground and the sky were filled with either monsters of Kraven. They fought mercilessly, making less use of thews and spending more time ripping each other''s bodies to shreds. They were fighting inplete darkness, as neither Sol birds nor Frio birds woulde close to such a battle, but that enabled the monsters even more. As numerous as they were, as powerful as they were, as dangerous as they were, the Kraven were losing. But the monster''s victory was not without cost. The ck slime which covered the Kravens bodies was just as insidious as Lex recalled, even at the immortal level. In fact, as Lex saw the fight, he noticed that the Kraven did not actively make use ofws in the same way humans did, but each of their attacks were backed by certainws. Their slime, too, was empowered byws. It was as if everything worked passively for those disgusting creatures. The most horrendous part about the Kraven immortals, however, was that their bodies were also constantly being acted upon byws. As far as lex could tell, their bodies were constantly in a state of healing, keeping them at the top of their gane. With such absurd abilities, it was no wonder that the Krave were so difficult to fight. But while that was true for others, it was not so for Lex. While his eyes could see their strengths, it could also see their weaknesses, which is why he was confident in being able to take them out. Lex diverted his focus from them and onto the monsters. While the monsters were powerful as well, what Lex was truly interested in was their Deity. He seemed to be out of sight, Lex could feel the fluctuations of divine energy in the distance. Chapter 1321 Please delay Chapter 1321 Please dy shes of light often dispersed the darkness of the battlefield, andrge raging fires ate away at bits of the darkness as well. For immortals, it hardly mattered whether there was light or darkness so their battles remained uninterrupted regardless of the state. Even so, more often than not, the Kraven would try to light up the field. The monsters thrived in darkness, so there was no reason to allow them to be at ease. Yet there was one region where the darkness was exceptionally deep. No lighting shed, no fires zed, nor did any enchantments illuminate that region. In fact, even thews of light seemed to shy away from it. The darkness was as old as the realm, as if it had seen the moment of the realms birth, and had directly battled against the bang that created the realm. It was like a living malevolence, eating away not just light, but anything that was associated with it. There was no hope in the darkness, no courage or valor. There was only the cold, hopeless despair - and of course, in the depths of the seemingly living darkness, there was a monster. Even from far away, as Lex approached, he could sense it. Compared to the monsters that fought,pared to the ones born from darkness, to the ones that brought fear into the hearts of many, the monster in the darkness up ahead was a true, genuine monster. It was also a Deity. Even from afar Lex could feel the overwhelming divine energy that radiated off the body hidden within the darkness, though ironically, despite being extremely rich, it was actually one of the weaker Deities Lex had met. Compared to the likes of Ra and Sekhmet, this deity was a lot weaker. That did not mean it was actually weak, as Lex felt a great pressure on his body from evening close to it. But Lex himself was no less of a monster. For a brief moment, as Lex entered the Darkness, he was genuinely blinded. His normal vision failed, as did his spirit and soul sense. But his eyes were not normal, and Lex needed only to use his ability to see once again. At the same time, his affinity for divinity allowed him to use the thick amounts of divinity that filled the darkness for himself, acting simr to a live map. Lastly, a single, powerful heartbeat from his chest relieved some of the effects of the darkness on him. That is why, within the darkness, Lex had no trouble approaching therge ck bird. Vinei, in his true form, looked much like a Sol or Frio bird, except that it was pitch ck. "I remember you," the dark Deity said, turning his gaze to Lex. "I remember you as well. Weren''t you interested in bing my colleague?" Lex asked with a smile. Up close, Lex discovered that Vinei''s body was quite a bitrger than his own, and it felt a lot more dangerous too. His instincts were prickling at his proximity to the Deity. "That is still my n," Vinei said evenly, as if he was speaking facts. "Well, I''m here to expedite the process. If you can help me bring down the Kraven prince, I can get you a tinum key. With it, you can take a test to be a worker at the Inn." Of course, he did not mention that the Inn itself was not in a situation to allow Heavenly immortal tribtions. Only the territory of the Inn itself could even allow their existence, as the Midnight realm was not yet at the level to allow their existence. The bird looked at Lex for a moment, analyzing his strength. "I have an army of immortals. One more or less won''t make a difference. The Kraven exist for war, so they know how to survive." "I believe in quality over quantity. Besides, I just visited their capital, and it seems like it has been destroyed. The survivors probably moved to a new capital. They''re probably vulnerable during the move. Now would be a good time to attack." "It would appear so, but that is not actually the case," Vinei said calmly. "The Kraven were¡­ coerced into joining with ourtest guests in this realm, and together, they are much stronger than before. The Kraven, on their own, are a threat, but they''re not so serious. Their army of immortals mainly consists of newly born immortals, and does not pose a grave threat. But empowered by the Hellions, under their guidance, their power has grown drastically. "Even so, it is not like they cannot be defeated, but timing is everything. In their hubris, they have turned their gaze towards the Crystal race. Their defeat is imminent. It is then that I will strike down the prince." "Are you so confident that they will lose? The Hellions would not have made their move if they were not confident. They have their own agenda with this realm." "I am aware of their attempts to raise it to support the threshold of Heavenly immortal. But I did not im the Hellions would lose. In fact, their purposes would be further progressed. But the Kraven would be at their weakest after centuries. Furthermore, the Crystal race would reap what they have sowed after ignoring the plight of the realm and their betrayal of the Deities of old." Lex shook his head. N?v(el)B\\jnn "That might not be the Hellions only purpose. Back at the capital, I discovered their attempt to turn thews of this realm into that of another realm entirely. Although I put an end to their attempts there, who knows where else they may have also made such attempts? In fact, I have reason to believe that using their methods requires a great sacrifice, or the death of countless beings, which is why they''re exacerbating the war. The growth of the realm itself due to the death of countless immortals is just an additional benefit." For a moment, Vinei was silent. The bird narrowed its eyes as it tried to determine the veracity of Lex''s ims. Lex could feel the surge in divine energy and dissipate into the air itself. After a while, the bird hissed. "It seems the guests have fooled us all along. Their im that their goal to raise the capacity of the realm must have been a ruse¡­ a ruse so that the higher powers of the realm would silently consent to their actions while they plotted something else. Quite cunning. Quite cunning indeed. "But young tavern keeper, it is still not time to attack the prince. The Crystal realm is not as simple as many think it to be, and these outsiders will suffer because of it. Whether the realm bes their stepping stone, or their bodies nourish the realm is yet to be seen. I request that for now, you dy your revenge. In exchange, I will personally reward you for your continued contribution to the Crystal realm." Lex pursed his lips. He had been really looking forward to revenge. This was not a light matter. When the Kraven prince had attacked, Betty, the tavern''s bouncer''s wife, had a miscarriage. Although it was not the same as losing a child, Lex felt immense guilt and shame for allowing such a thing to happen. That was not the kind of thing he could just overlook for a reward. Except, looking at the ck bird, the Deity of Darkness, or perhaps the Deity of Monsters, or maybe even both, Lex felt like it would not make this request lightly. After all, it too wanted to kill the Kraven prince. The massive war between the monsters and Kraven all around him was proof. "How long do you want me to dy?" Lex finally asked. "I cannot be certain. Just as the outsiders hide and plot, the citizens of this realm are not without their own ns. It is a delicate bnce. I can, however, promise you that when the timees, I can personally invite you to end this Kraven infestation with me once and for all." Lex took a deep breath, and then nodded. It was not easy to give up on revenge, even if it was temporary. "Your cooperation is appreciated. Allow me to give you your reward. I hope you will find it satisfactory." The darkness around them trembled, and then Lex felt it wrap itself around his body, holding it securely as they warped out of ce. It was not teleportation - not exactly. It was not even moving from between the nes. No, they experienced some other kind of phenomenon, but whatever it was, Lex was no longer surrounded by war. The veil of darkness began to retreat into Vinei''s body, as the bird pped its wings a couple of times beforending. Lex looked around, and found himself standing on a stone bridge, built floating upon a sereneke in the middle of some mountains. Trees, nts and flowers filled the surrounding mountains, while vibrant colored fish swam in the clear waters of theke. It looked like they had arrived in some kind of sanctuary. Chapter 1322 How to kill a Deity for dummies Chapter 1322 How to kill a Deity for dummies Up above, in the air, there seemed to be a sun illuminating the sanctuary, though Lex could tell it was artificial. The bridge they were on had statues of various birds on both sides facing each other every twenty feet, all leading up to arge, ancient temple that seemed to be covered in some kind of ivy. The air in this ce was thick with divine energy, so much so that there was no spiritual energy present at all. "This is a unique ce within the Crystal realm. The only way to enter here is to be brought in by one of the original Deities, such as myself," Vinei said, walking down the bridge. Lex followed quietly, observing everything. Just as Vinei said, this ce felt special, as if it were some kind of divine kingdom. "In truth, I also have a motive of my own to bring you here," Vinei said, in a matter-of-fact way. "You see, when the Crystal realm was created, five beings were born, and held supreme power over all living beings, attaining their eternal worship, and so four of those five became Divine. Only one disdained such power. At the time, young and ignorant, we mocked the one that refused. The power of Deities is vast and versatile, and so for a time we rejoiced in our capabilities. It is only with time, exposure and experience we learned of how limiting Divinity can be." The bird opened the massive double doors of the temple, revealing that the building consisted of only a single hall, a massive skylight letting in the light from the sky. Spread around the hall, in equal distances, were five statues of birds, each one distinct and incredibly lifelike, not to mention filled with incredible power. At a nce, Lex easily recognized the statues representing Firin, the progenitor of the Sol birds, Aizel the progenitor of the Frio birds, and that of Vinei. Instead of statues, they looked like a perfect replica of the real thing, even radiating a bit of their elements. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om The remaining two statues caught his eye because of how unique and interesting they were. One of the birds was made entirely of Crystal, and gave off an aura that vaguely reminded Lex of the Crystal race. Thest one, however, was a multicolored bird which was mostly brown, but had feathers containing each color in the rainbow. "Fortunately, even in our youthful ignorance, we left some contingencies. Stored here is the source of our power - the one we were born with - before we became Deities." Vinei walked up to his own statue, but before he approached near it a hidden staircase revealed itself, leading to a hidden chamber beneath the statue. Lex followed, and saw a small room filled with numerous ck feathers, and a bowl containing a heart, soaking in ck blood. Suddenly Mary appeared on Lex''s shoulder, looking stunned. "Lex, if you can get me one of those feathers, that would greatly help my chances of being reborn and creating a new body for me!" she said, her voice containing palpable excitement, which confused Lex a bit. Even the Amber Chaos Resin did not get such a reaction from her. "What is so special about the feather?" he asked her, trying to sense what was so special about them. Oddly enough, for once, the feedback he got from the Glyph used to find treasure gave him contradictory information from his own instincts as well as Marys reaction. It was as if the Glyphs did not want to recognize that the feathers had any value at all! "Those are phoenix feathers!" Mary eximed. "Not just Phoenix feathers. They''re the first feathers shed by a Mythical Phoenix!" Lex''s eyes gleamed with recognition, and finally understood why Mary cared about them so much. "You''re a phoenix?" Lex asked, almost in a whisper, looking at the feathers. Vinei shook his head in disappointment. "Unfortunately, I lost my status as a Phoenix when I became a Deity. Now, though I seemingly have more power than before, the price I paid was truly too tremendous. I am now looking for a way to turn back." Lex could understand why Vinei was willing to give up his status as a Deity to be a Phoenix, as well as why Mary was so excited to see them. Phoenixes were, across the entire universe, the only true immortal race in existence. Compared to another race, such as the Crystal race, which had immortality unless killed, Phoenixes coulde back to life even after they were killed. In fact, it was not a matter of could. Phoenixes, one and all, came back to life no matter how they were killed, though their revival was not necessarily immediate. While not inherently powerful the way Dragons were, Phoenixes were still some of the most revered races in existence, and were the ultimate personification of immortality and rebirth. As such, a Phoenix feather was also considered to be the ultimate tonic, able to bring back anyone from the verge of death back to life. It would no doubt be very useful for someone trying to recreate their body ande back to life. There was also a bit of funny history between them and Dragons. While notpletely willing to treat their bodies as treasures, Dragons resented the fact that objectively speaking, every bit of a Phoenixes body was more valuable than a Dragons. "As a reward for your cooperation, I would like to award you with one of my old feathers," Vinei said, sending a single, small feather Lex''s way. He did notin about its small size and just put it away. "You said you had another motive for bringing me here," Lex said, looking at the ck bird. He wanted more feathers - specifically, he wanted 2 more. If he had a total of three Phoenix feathers, he could keep one for himself, give one to Vera as payment for all the help she had given him, and then give the final one to Mary. But this was not the kind of thing he could just take. "Indeed, I do. Your strength is adequate toplete certain tasks on my behalf in other realms. All of those tasks bring me one step closer to reverting to my original state, and so I propose a transaction. If you can help meplete my objectives, I can pay you back using my old feathers, and maybe even a few drops of my blood." Lex was intrigued. Although he imed to have countless treasures on hand, even he would not say no to a Phoenix feather. Who knows, he might be able to absorb it into his body and gain some benefits. "I can agree to your requests if I find them to be suitable. I have a few requests of my own in the meantime. Since we are going to be cooperating, and might even be future colleagues, it''s reasonable to help each other out." Vinei was silent for a moment, and then assented. "What are your requests?" "You see, I have a couple of enemies who are Deities," Lex said, thinking back to Ra and Sekhmet. "I want to get a better understanding of how to defeat them - once and for all. One Deity, in particr, keeps surviving from all my attacks, and hides in the shadows even though I''ve supposedly even killed most if not all of his followers." "Eliminating a Deity is one of the most challenging tasks in all of existence," Vinei said with pride. "That is one allure of bing a Deity. Killing followers and eliminating the associated religion is a way to weaken a Deity, sure, but it is not enough to kill it. Followers and worshippers allow a Deity to grow stronger, and at the same time, serve as the source of the Deities divine energy. But if you kill all the followers, the Deity can just go and find new followers to replenish his energy, and keep them hidden. "There are only two ways to kill a Deity, as far as I know. In fact, I think abination of both is likely the only way to get a real result. The first is that any and every Deity must, in their religion, reveal a weakness or fatal w. The more powerful the Deity, the more they can obscure the weakness, but they must never be without one. "Thews of the universe do not support the existence of a Deity that can im to be all powerful, omnipotent and omnipresent, perfect in every way. The more powerful Deities obscure their weaknesses in stories of trials they overcame, and hide them among many such stories so that no one can know the true weakness. Even so, they must present their weakness within their religion. "That does not, however, mean that their weakness will bemon knowledge. In fact, though the story must be included in the religion, it is not mandatory that all must know it. As long as someone significant knows it, it will suffice. So finding a Deities weakness within their own doctrines is the first challenge. "The second path to eliminating a Deity is to extinguish their Divine fire." Chapter 1323 How to raise a Deity Chapter 1323 How to raise a Deity Lex raised an eyebrow. Compared to the first, which was basically a scavenger hunt across a realm, and possibly more, the second way of killing a Deity sounded too simple But there was no way it could be so straightforward. After all, Vinei had just said that killing a Deity was one of the most difficult things in the universe. "What is Divine fire?" Lex asked, wondering if he could give it to Luthor to absorb. His physique required him to absorb various kinds of fires. The more fires he absorbed, the more powerful his own would be, so absorbing a Divine Fire should also technically work, right? As long as it was technically still fire. "To be a Deity, one must use the umting Divine Fire in their body and light a fire using it. It is the single most difficult obstacle to bing a Deity. To achieve it, you need the purest divine energy, in copious amounts. That means you must have countless devoted followers, praying to you nonstop, providing you with the purest divine energy possible. "If you don''t have that, then you must wait countless years while umting divine energy, and then distill and purify it until it can be used to light a divine fire. Newborn Deities must keep their divine fire within their bodies, but as they grow stronger, they can hide away their Divine Fire, which is the very source of all their power. If it is extinguished, the Deity will die, but to extinguish it is very difficult, and the more powerful the Deity, the more powerful the Divine Fire. "After a certain level of strength, the Divine Fire itself bes the Deity, more than the Deities body, which means that if you try to extinguish it, the Deity can and will use theirplete strength in stopping you. But even if they didn''t, extinguishing Divine Fires is extremely difficult, since it is powered from Divine energy itself. "Realistically, your best bet would be to take another Deity and have them consume the Divine Fire. It''s still not easy, and would require quite a fight, but it''s still much easier than extinguishing the fire on your own." Lex nodded, but then shook his head. "I think I''ll still have to try it myself. The Deities I''m targeting are near the Dao realms, even if one of them is severely injured. Finding another Deity to work with me near that level¡­ it won''t be easy." Suddenly, the sword buried deep inside Lex trembled just a bit, as if to remind Lex that he had a link to a Deity, but Lex ignored it. His n to consume that sword was going very well, and at his current level it would only take him a few years to absorb it all. If he improved his sword intent further, it would be even quicker. "You¡­ what?" Vinei asked, showing the first trace of emotion since Lex had met him, and that was confusion. "Did you say the Deities you are targeting are near the Dao level?" Lex nodded. For a few moments, silence filled the room, until Vinei eventually continued speaking as if nothing had happened. "I take it this means you have agreed to my tasks. Keep in mind that I do not expect these tasks to be easy or simple. First, I require the core of a Defiler. Within the Crystal realm, we killed all Defilers back when the realm was young, so it is impossible to get our hands on the core of one." Lex nodded. As it just happened, he had new leads on Defilers. "Just like how a Divine Fire is the source of a Deities power, a core is the source of a Defiler''s power. Those, too, are not easy to get your hands on. I will give you an entire guide on how to deal with Defilers, and you can pursue it at your own leisure." "I ept. I''lle find you when I do it. Just know that I am busy with other things as well, so I may not be able to deal with it immediately." "My patience is extensive," Vinei responded. "Do you mind if I ask you another question?" Lex asked, as he pondered over something. "I don''t mean to belittle the difficulty of bing a Deity, but from your description, it sounds pretty easy to be a Deity. I mean, if all you need are followers, basically anyone can just be a Deity? Any immortal can brainwash mortals over a few generations, get a bunch of devoted followers and begin umting divine energy. In as little as a few decades, and at most a few centuries, they can be a Deity." Vinei nodded. "Yes, in essence, anyone can be a Deity. In practice, it''s a little harder, since lighting a Divine Fire is not so simple. For many who are weak, and have no hope of bing stronger through conventional means, bing a Deity is a convenient route. But nothing in this universe is so straight forward. The Crystal realm, too, was filled with thousands of Deities in its early years. "Until someone figured out that a Deity can be stronger not only by spreading their religion and influence, but also by consuming other Deities. In fact, not only do you gain more power, you can even inherit some of the powers of the consumed Deity ording to their religion, thereby enhancing your own. You see, creating your religion cannot bepletely up to your whims, and must be grounded in reality. Consuming other Deities is a shortcut." Lex gained a deeper understanding of Deities, and theirplex rtionships with one another. No wonder religions always seemed to be targeting one another. Not only was it apetition for worshipers, but the Deities themselves could serve as nourishment for another. It only made sense. There was no path to power that waspletely easy. Each path had its own risks and rewards. He just had to keep that in mind while he grew strong enough to kill Sekhmet, and eventually Ra.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Chapter 1324 Raising Phoenixes Chapter 1324 Raising Phoenixes Lex also pondered the possibility of nurturing a Deity of his own, but eventually dismissed it. As he grew in power, anything a Deity was able to do, he would be able to do. As it was, even as an Earth Immortal, the scope of his power was incredible. Besides, Cassandra had told him not to step onto the path of the Divine, and even Vinei, who had be a Deity, seemed to be regretting it. There was effectively no purpose to nurturing a Deity of his own. But then, his thoughts went into another direction. While he could not nurture a Deity, a Phoenix¡­ "So does that mean the other Deities are all Phoenixes as well?" Lex asked, once Vinei handed him a Phoenix feather, and they left the temple, returning to the battlefield. "Yes, all five of us were Phoenixes once. As it is, there is only one left now." "So does that mean that all the Sol birds are descendants of Phoenixes?" "Descendants, yes. But that does not mean that they are Phoenixes. At most, they merely have trace amounts of their bloodline, but it is almost certain that they will never be Phoenixes. It is not so easy for a true Phoenix to be born, one way or another." "Got it. Well, I''ll see you when I have the Defiler core, or if you''re ready to act against the Kraven prince." The two reached an agreement, and Lex returned to the Midnight realm. He had originally nned to send the Battalion to the Crystal realm as well, but the fight there was beyond their level. Although they needed to get more experience, it wasn''t worth sending them to their doom. Lex stretched, feeling good to be back. He had promised himself not to get involved, and for the most part he seeded. Sure, he had his own little fetch quest now to get and get a Defiler core, but it wasn''t so urgent. He could focus once more on the Midnight Inn. More importantly¡­ He teleported to the turtle, who was nting something deep in the core of one of the volcanoes in the realm. "How are things going?" Lex asked, checking in on the turtle while studying the seed in front of it. Why the hell was this seedrger than 300 minivans stacked atop one another? Lex blinked, realizing that was an odd thought, and then focused on the turtle. "They are going well, but the newer nts require more diverse energy types." Lex was genuinely surprised to hear such a thing. In a newfound realm, the one thing they should notck is energy. "Make sure to send me a list. I''ll see what I can do about it. If we really can''t do anything about it, then I''ll go talk to the Innkeeper about it. Hey, I wanted to talk to you about something else. You remember that ming bird you adopted once? The injured Sol bird?" The turtle had adopted many pets over the years. Basically anything that was wounded or in need had been adopted by the turtle, who nurtured them back to health and took care of them. In fact, even Lex had been taken care of by the turtle when he was in dire need, so if anything, Lex genuinely appreciated this habit of the turtles. It was now, once again,ing in handy. "Yes, of course I remember little Sunny," the turtle said. "He has been helping me with the weeding in the western gardens." Lex expected nothing less from the turtle than to have the descendant of a Phoenix weed his gardens. "That''s great. Listen, I''d like you to pay special attention to Sunny. I was just having a chat with one of Sunny''s parents'' friends, and I just found out that the poor bird is malnourished, which is why its bloodline is not waking up. That''s uneptable. As a member of the Inn, Sunny should be thoroughly nourished, and achieve its full potential." The turtle paused for a moment, and used one of the vinesing out of its shell to rub its chin, as if thinking. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "You''re right. I was thinking that little Sunny looked weak, but I wasn''t sure. No wonder his mes can only burn weed and not the divine barbs off the Ruse Bush Deity I nted." "Wait what?" Lex asked, suddenly shocked. "You¡­ you nted a Deity? How does that work?" He scanned the Inn but found no signs of growing Deities. What was going on? "Silly human, you cannot nt Deities," the turtle said and looked at Lex as if looking at a child. "I nted a rosebush that will grow a Rose Deity once it''s mature. How else am I supposed to grow a garden greater than Eden if I don''t even nt a few Deity flowers?" "Wait what?" Lex asked once more, repeating his words. He had never been more confused. He just had a conversation with a Deity who exined to him how Deities were born. None of that had anything to do with gardening. And what was this about growing a garden greater than Eden? The only Eden he knew of was Eden corp, and that was apany, not a garden. "Silly human, do not trouble yourself too much. Thinking too much is not good for your kind. I saw a human the other day lose his hair on his head. Thinking too much must have caused him to shed his hair." "No, wait, that''s not what I mean," said Lex, his lip twitch returning. "I mean, I just found out about Deities recently. I learned that one bes a Deity by being worshiped. So how can you grow a Deity from a nt?" "Silly human, that is only for beings who are not born Deities. That does not include those who are naturally born Deities. Besides, flower Deities are not the same as regr Deities, anyway. Don''t worry about it - if the Innkeeper were worried about it, he would have stopped me already. My garden will be amazing, just you watch." Chapter 1325 Giga-Chad Chapter 1325 Giga-Chad "Yes, the Innkeeper surely has no reservations about this n," Lex without a shred of shame or awkwardness. "But you know, I can help out since I am the¡­" Lex suddenly paused for the briefest of moments, though that miniscule gap was more than enough for him to have an entire epiphany. For so long, he had actually been weaker than many of the workers at the Inn. For a very long time, Anita and Qawain had been stronger than him, and though they were friendly enough, Lex knew that a single ident was all it would take to ruin everything. There were others, too, who were still stronger than him - such as Zagan - but more or less, Lex was finally the strongest person in the Inn again. Zagan was meditating - or perhaps still undergoing his tribtion - so it would be a long time before he woke up. By then, Lex was certain he could reach the Heavenly immortal realm. Either way, he had been feeling the drastic change histest upgrade brought him for quite a while, but it was good to realize that the silent fear that had haunted him since he discovered the Inn and the cultivation world - that he would encounter someone stronger and he would be squashed without a chance at resistance - was slowly lessening. Of course, Lex was far from being without equal. But he was getting there. One realm at a time, he was eliminating the number of beings in the universe that could threaten him. As an Earth Immortal, was now somewhat fit to properly oversee the expansion and development of the Inn, ensuring that it went in a very specific manner. Instead of the constant worry and dread of the future that Lex had been suppressing deep inside of himself for so long, he finally felt a bit of excitement about it. That did not mean, however, that he was going to go about things haphazardly. He was finally learning how to avoid unnecessary trouble, and he had no intentions of forgetting his hard learned lessons. He returned his attention to the turtle and addressed his current situation. "I''m more or less incharge of getting things from outside the Inn, so if you need anything from the outside you can tell me. That''s why I was asking about what you''re nning with your new garden. Especially with the divine Rosebush or Deity flowers. They don''t sound easy to nt." "Oh silly, silly human," the turtle said, patting Lex on the head with one of his vines and chuckling. "When I was talking about requiring more diverse types of energy, I was only talking to myself. If I truly need something, I can just ce a demand order in the Guild room and one of the shops there will provide it to me. You should get some rest. You clearly need some sleep." Lex was stumped. The turtle''s ims made sense, but somehow he never imagined that the turtle actually knew how to use MP. As far as Lex was concerned, the turtle only knew how to nt things. This was also a good reminder for him that while running the Inn using solely the system would keep it running, there were many things he would miss. For example, he was aware of everything the turtle had done and where it had nted what, but he had no idea that any of it was supposed to be a Divine garden, or an Eden 2.0 or whatever he was nning. He also never would have imagined Deities growing out of nts. If that was the case for the turtle, with hundreds of thousands of workers, Lex could only imagine the kinds of things that were going on that he was unaware of. This was just one more reason for him to take over things once more. But first, he had to address his current situation. If the turtle was being uncooperative, there was one more person who could help him out. Lex teleported away, at least satisfied that eventually he would have a Phoenix on his hands. Sure, it was hard for one to be born, and even harder for something to evolve into a Phoenix using only the bloodline. But would it still be hard if a Sovereign willed it so? Lex doubted it. He reappeared deep in the territory of the Inn. It would take years of travel for a mortal to walk this distance, and by mortal he meant a Nascent level cultivator, not a pure mortal. In front of him spread out a vast, open field, carefully tiled and taken care of. In front of him was a Chad - no, a giga-Chad! A shirtless man with a body worthy of a professional body builder used a simple hoe to plough the incredibly tough soil. Each action required an immense amount of barbaric, brute strength from the man, flexing and loosening his muscles with every obstacle he overcame. Despite being a cultivator, he was drenched in sweat with clear signs of fatigue and exhaustion apparent in his actions. Yet he did not pause for even a second, that is, until he noticed Lex. Straightening his back and lifting his hoe to rest on his shoulder, the Gardener wiped the sweat off his brow as he observed Lex. He looked more like a barbarian warrior than a gardener, but then again, taming the wild and harshnds of the Midnight realm was a duty befitting the fiercest warriors. Even though the gardener was merely in the Nascent soul cultivation realm, Lex did not underestimate him. The fact that his hoe weighed a dozen tones was more than enough to demonstrate the Gardeners ferocious might. N?v(el)B\\jnn "Lex, what brings you here?" the Gardener asked with a smile, though Lex sensed his hidden fears. For the most part, the Gardener gardened inside separate Minor realms so that he could unleash his art, but with the Midnight realm being the ultimate canvas, how could he resist? He just had to garden there as well, which is why he found a ce far away from everyone so that he could garden in peace. So far, it was going well. So far. Chapter 1326 Gardens Chapter 1326 Gardens "It''s good to see you too, Gardener," Lex said, and took a look around the area. It was not farnd. No, the Gardener had loosened the soil, nted berry bushes, weeded everything, sprinkled a fewyers of daisies. He saw, hidden within the grass, vines which he recognised as potato vines. In the distance, he saw a few almond trees, covered in white flowers, and a few species of trees that grew crystals instead of leaves, also all white. It seemed like the Gardener had a color theme going on. "I wish I could say that this was a social call, but unfortunately it is not. I have something of the utmost importance to talk to you about." "Gardens," the Gardener said ominously, as if stating the topic of the conversation Lex wanted to have. From Lex, the Gardener''s gaze wanders away to the vast vista before him. His hands, calloused from years of toil, rest upon the shaft of his mighty hoe. "Youe with burdens that weigh upon your soul," he said solemnly, his voice suddenly hoarse, as if he had not drank water in days. "I feel it in the air, in the tremble of the leaves and the whisper of the soil. The questions that bear heavy on your heart will change the very destiny of thesends. "But know this - there is no graver matter in this world than the tending of a garden. Many, in their folly, speak of war, of conquest, of the might of steel and spell. But they know not the true peril that lies in the heart of the earth. For within the humble soil stirs a force both terrible and profound - and I do not refer to the bitter gourd nted near the Inn." He went silent, though Lex noticed his grip around the handle of his hoe tighten. The Gardener''s jaw clenched, as he thought back onto the countless horrors he had experienced. "Gardening, you see, is no mere pastime, no gentle hobby to pass the fleeting hours. It is an act of creation, of shaping life from the chaos of the wild - it is an art! It is the bending of nature''s will to the desires of man. And in that bending, there lies great danger. For what is a garden but a ce of order imposed upon the untamed? And what is order but a fragile thing, always teetering on the brink of copse?" Tears trickled down the Gardener''s tanned cheeks as he closed his eyes. "Beware, then, the art of the garden, for in its simplicity lies its threat. The roots grow deep, and with them, the darkness of the earth stirs. Seeds, once sown, take hold not only of the soil but of the soul. To till thend is to awaken the ancient forces beneath, forces that even the wisest dare not fullyprehend. And so I ask you, Lex, do you truly understand the peril you face when you tread unto such dangerous topics? For here, the battle is not of flesh and blood, but of life and death, of growth and decay. A war older than any kingdom, fought with the de of the hoe and the shield of the seed. You may have faced a dragon head on, but have you tended a Hydrangea in the summer heat?" The Gardener tried to speak some more, but he became too choked up to continue. Lex did not interrupt the heavy silence that had fallen between them, and waited till the Gardener recovered. "I would not bother you if the matter were not urgent, and not as grave as this." The Gardener nodded. "Ultimately, you have done well. For what reason have I faced the crushing pain of failure, if not so that I can help my fellowpatriots avoid them? Come, follow me, and unburden yourself of your woes. These afflictions are not lightly carried." Before Lex could borate, he saw a small creature pop its head out of a hole in the ground. As soon as he saw it, Lex suddenly understood why the Gardener had been speaking so grandiosely. It was a Drama-cat! "Ohwd!" it suddenly eximed, holding its hands with joy as it looked at Lex with teary eyes. "Ohwd! Lo, before my very eyes, another soul - yes, another blessed soul - has seen the sacred path! The path of soil, of seed, of stem! We give thanks, oh graciouswd, that this mere mortal has chosen the way of the gardener, the way of life itself! Why are you so good to mewd? Why?" The Drama-cat burst into tears, covering its eyes with its hand as if it was too ashamed to let its state be seen. The Gardener bent down and ced a hand on its shoulder, as if giving it strength. Lex coughed, and then quickly began the conversation before more Drama-cats appeared. Where there was one, there would be many more just behind. "I have heard that the turtle is nting a special garden where he is nting Deity flowers. What can you tell me about it?" "You havee to the right person. I have spent much time increasing my understanding over the deep and endless path of gardening, and have learned many of its secrets. Did you know, Lex, that gardens are ranked?" "Not specifically, but I can imagine so. After all, a garden for a mortal and an immortal can scarcely be the same. No doubt, there are many levels between them as well, not to mention the many levels above them." The Gardener nodded. "Yes, just like the cultivation levels, gardens have levels too. There are gardens fit for mortals, for Qi Training cultivators, Foundation cultivators, for the Golden core and so on. There are, naturally, Immortal gardens too. But what do you think is above an Immortal garden? Would it be a Dao garden?" Lex''s expression suddenly went fromx to extremely serious. What had started out from a mere normal inquiry had gone on to touch levels of power he dared not tamper with. The more powerful he became, the more he understood just how vast the distance between the Dao level beings and everyone else was. Even thinking about it¡­ He was no longer as blindly arrogant as he once was, and had learned the necessity of caution. The Dao was not something he could ponder at his level.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Chapter 1327 A highway and a stairway Chapter 1327 A highway and a stairway For his own sake, Lex had to keep a healthy distance from all things rted to the Dao¡­ but if it was something that was literally heading straight for him, he couldn''t really ignore it now could he? "I''m not sure. Is there even such a thing as a Dao Garden?" Lex asked. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The Gardener shook his head, and then continued to walk forward, leaving the Drama-cat behind. "Actually, I have no idea if Dao Gardens exist, but that''s definitely not what happens. Let''s pause a bit and talk about Divinity and Deities. Are you familiar with them?" "Yes, more or less," Lex said. "I recently learned about how others can be Deities, though I am not sure about how Deities are born." The Gardener nodded. "Well then you are probably familiar with the fact that the normal method for a Deity to grow is to umte followers, and what the followers follow is not the Deity directly, but the mythos he crafts in the form of a religion. The religions, too, must follow specific patterns and be limited by certain guidelines that the Deities themselves are restricted by through their very existence. "I''m sure you already know this, but most, if not all religions have the concept of Heaven and Hell, or at least a final destination for the good and the bad after death." Lex suddenly stopped. The question of what came after death was one that gued every living being, and while Lex had searched for answers through the cultivation world, the consensus he seemed to discover was that no one actually knew what happened. While the Deities proimed a final, eternal resting ce, a paradise of some sort or the other, and in certain cases that actually managed to pull such a feat off for selected souls who died within their realms of influence, most cultivators believed that even Deities did not know. Or at least that''s what he understood from the books he got from the Infinity Emporium. Was he, at least, about to learn the truth from the Gardener of all people? Was he the keeper of this grand secret? "What I want to tell you is that both Heaven, and Hell, exist, though not in the fashion that Deities portray them. When a Garden surpasses the Immortal realm, it does not be a Dao Garden, but bes what Deities refer to as Heaven. "Whether it is the Garden of Eden, the Halls of Valha, the Field of Reeds, or whatever else a religion proims, they all refer to actual gardens that genuinely exist in the Universe. Of course, those Gardens don''t necessarily have anything to do with those Deities. Instead, it''s just that those ces are used by Deities as anchor points for Karma." Lex once again heard terms he was familiar with. He himself had quite a few anchors linked to the Midnight Inn, and he had tried learning about Karma but it was so elusive. Why was it that his gardener knew more about these things than him? Perhaps it was because it was all linked to gardens? "Can you tell me more about these Heavenly Gardens? What about hell? Are they also linked to gardens?" The Gardener shook his head. "How could gardens be linked to hell? That''s absolutely preposterous. I have no idea how hells are formed, but I can tell you more about the Heavens, not Heavenly gardens. Once a garden rises enough in rank, it bes a Heaven. "I do not know how or why, though. The only reason I know about this is because I have been helping the Gctic Sovereign with his gardening, and so it has been imparting its knowledge on me, like a teacher to a professor. Since he has yet to ept me as a disciple, I cannot im such a station. "In essence, to raise a garden to such a level, it needs to achieve a number of things. Firstly, it must be akin to a paradise. That means it must provide health, harmony and energy to all beings affiliated with light, with the divine and the holy, while simultaneously being akin to the most potent of poisons to all things associated with the dark, the damned, the defiled, and the forsaken. "Secondly, it needs to be filled with, and even produce its own divine energy. But producing divine energy is not a simple task at all. Even the Rosebush that the turtle nted cannot produce divine energy so easily. Instead, it needs to be nurtured until maturity, at which point it will produce a Rose Deity. "While it will be a pathetically weak Deity, since it has no followers, almost all nt Deities have a nurturing aspect to them, which means that it will constantly provide its divine energy to nourish its garden. With a number of such Deities all working together, a foundation for a Heaven can be formed. "Thirdly, each and every Heaven needs its own unique identity and mythology, which the turtle will have to create on its own. There are many more requirements, such as adequate fertilizer, sufficient nts, regr maintenance, and more, but I am not too knowledgeable about that yet." "What about those nt Deities themselves? Won''t they try to devour each other and grow their strength? I''ve heard the fastest way for a Deity to grow is to devour other Deities. Not to mention, who will control them?" The Gardener shrugged. "These are things I have not pondered over yet. The garden is too far from nearing such a feat. Let alone that the Rosebush is far from maturing, the other, more basic prerequisites of such a garden need to be met, such as sufficiently rare and impressive nts." That did not encourage Lex about the situation as much as it should have. With the turtle focusing on the garden, how long could it really take for it to nt countless rare and valuable nts? Inside a newborn realm that was teeming with energy and Mythics nts already? Not that long if Lex had to guess. But there was another source of information Lex could reach out to, specifically, the devils and the angels. From what he understood, the devils controlled a realm called Garvitz, which was literally equivalent to hell, while the angels had Eden corp, which was likely rted to Eden. "Thank you for sharing this with me. This is truly all very important information for me," Lex said, looking at the Gardener seriously. "Not a problem. Come to me any time if you need to know anything more." "Actually, I just thought of another question though I don''t know if you''ll have the answer. If the turtle seeds in creating a Heaven, and some Deities link it to their religion, do you think they''ll try toe over and take control of it?" The Gardener shrugged. "I''ve heard that Heavens have angels or something to protect them. No, wait, not angels. Elysians. Although I suppose any Heaven formed in the Midnight Inn will be protected by the Innkeeper." "Yeah, the Innkeeper¡­ of course¡­" said Lex weakly, before bidding the Gardener farewell, and teleporting to his office. "Mary, do you think this could be a problem?" he asked as he sat back in his chair. His faithful assistant popped up in front of him in, out of all things, an angel costume. "This is one of those things the system won''t let me talk about." "The system? Why would it¡­ no¡­ no wait a minute, I remember that the system likes to create environments to suit its guests. Don''t tell me¡­" Before Lex could even finish the sentence, the familiar sound of a new notification rang in her ears. New Quest: The Host has identally done something right, so don''t do something wrong on purpose. Ensure thepletion of the Midnight Heaven, and find a suitable entity to inaugurate its opening! Quest time limit: 1000 years Quest Reward: New Guest rooms! Pic basket! Quest failure punishment: Reduction of Hosts authority and privileges! 300 MT penalty! Remarks: Stay away from Apples! New Quest: Where there is a Heaven, there must be a Hell! Build the Midnight Hell and find a suitable entity to inaugurate its opening! Quest time limit: 1000 years Quest Reward: New Guest rooms! Sauna and Hot tub upgrades! Sun-tan room! Quest failure punishment: Reduction of Hosts authority and privileges! 300 MT penalty! Remarks: You need one highway and one stairway! Lex read the notifications, and actually breathed a sigh of relief! The 1000 year deadline meant that even the turtle wouldn''t achieve creating a Heaven so soon. Lex was afraid that in a couple of years he''d have to face another invasion by yet another Deity, or even more. With 1000 years to prepare, Lex was confident that he would be more than strong enough to deal with any issues that might crop up. Or he''d already be dead. Either way, in the short term, this was no longer a concern. Lex turned his gaze towards Mary who was looking at him innocently. "So about that Phoenix feather," she began with a grin. Chapter 1328 Divine Kingdom Chapter 1328 Divine Kingdom Lex gave Mary a re and she meekly stepped back and stuck out a tongue pointed at him. "If I get more of them I''ll give you. For now, I will keep this one in case I need it. Now, can we focus on other things. What''s an Elysian? Can you tell me?" Lex had read many books and learned about countless races that existed within the Origin realm, all from books he got from the Emporium. Yet the Elysians weren''t one of them - likely because they had something to do with the Heavens, and not the Origin realm. "I can''t tell you- oh wait, it seems like I can tell you," Mary said, sounding surprised herself. "This is genuinely surprising. Then again, I guess we haven''t had a nice, long question and answer session in a while. Maybe bing an immortal has finally allowed you to learn a few things." Once, Lex used to get irritated that the system withheld information, but he now understood that as a mortal, learning too many secrets put an immense burden on his mind and his being. Sometimes, it was literally more dangerous than an actual enemy. "Just like Hellions and Humanoids, Elysians are another race group in the universe. I''ll be quite frank with you, Hellions and Elysians both hate each other''s guts, but often have that enemies to lovers deal going on between them. But both of them really hate all humanoids, so on the list of races to watch out for just for being a human, I would count them both." Mary pped her wings and took flight, and while Lex pondered the implications of what she told him, she herself was quite curious about how much freedom she had been given tomunicate with him. It was like a whole new era was opening up for the Midnight Inn if she could truly begin guiding him freely. "Why do they hate humanoids?" Lex asked. "It''s because of devils and angels," Mary told him, suddenly feeling excited about sharing universal gossip. "You already know that controlling major realms influences a race, raising its position in the Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum. What you don''t know is how. "Much in the way you took control of a Minor realm back when you were in the Crystal realm, Dao Lords can take control of a Major realm. Yet when that happens, it''s not just the Dao Lord that gets the feedback, but his entire family, as well as his entire race. "You''ve seen how devils transform into their alternate forms right? And how angels can control divine energy? Well, both of these abilities are things their races didn''t originally have. The devils took over one of the Hells, namely Garvitz, while the angels took partial control over a Heaven named Eden, and thereby gained benefits for their races - benefits that originally belonged to Hellions and Elysians. "Don''t think that just because the angels only have partial control that they''re weak. Based on the ongoing trend, it''s only a matter of time before they im total control over it." "Interesting. Interesting. So all I''m hearing is that when Iplete these two quests, building both a Heaven and a Hell within the Inn, I''m going to piss off both the Hellions and Elysians. Excellent." Mary shrugged. "Not necessarily. I think you should look more into the concept of Heaven and Hell. They don''t necessarily need to cover the entire realm. I think, instead, if you have both Heaven and Hell inside the Inn, you''ll be on the path for a genuine Divine Kingdom. Now that¡­ wops, looks like we found the limit of what I can say." Lex frowned, and tapped his finger on his arm chair. A part of his attention was on the Midnight Games. These games would continue for an entire year, but he still needed to manage it. Fortunately, there didn''t seem to be any urgency, so he could take a bit of time to look into this Heaven and Hell business. "Can you ask Gerard if Lilith is avable for a conversation? And do we have anyone with deep contacts with the angels?" "There is an angel called Lucifer who has been trying to get a date with Velma. He seems to have a deep background, you want me to ask her to contact him?" Lex snorted. "No, that''s fine. After my meeting with Lilith I''ll just look into the Inns guest list. I''m sure I can find a decent angel to have a meeting with." Mary disappeared, but reappeared just a short whileter. "It seems like Lilith will be unavable for the foreseeable future. She has been summoned back to meet with her father. ording to the note she left Gerard, that summons couldst anywhere from between a few days to a few centuries." Lex paused, but then sighed. Looks like he would have to look into the angel angle first. Speaking of angels, the first time he heard of Eden corp was from Giselle, who wore a watch from them. She was also quite knowledgeable in the randomest of matters. Considering he had to talk to her about getting a Defiler core anyway¡­ "Alright, that''s it for now. I''ll handle things from now on." Mary gave Lex an odd look, and hesitated, before eventually deciding to speak her mind. "By the way, I don''t know if you''ve noticed, but there''s a pretty big thing going on at the Inn." Lex suddenly sweeped the Inn, ensuring that there were no issues. Whe he couldn''t find anything wrong, he turned to look at Mary for an exnation. "Well, you already know that Harry got married to an outsider, and had a kid. Everyone loves Hailey and their kid, but that has also built an impression in their minds that it''s okay to marry outsiders - which it is, I''m not saying it''s not. "But for the most part that has not happened before since the workers usually focus on each other in their free time, and the guests never saw the workers as anything more than Inn staff. But the Battalion is changing that. In the Midnight Games, everyone can see how they go from battlefield to battlefield, crushing their enemies and iming one victory after another. "Well, I think I''m putting it mildly when I say that has influenced a lot of thedies, as well as the gents, and in an unusual development, a sentient apache helicopter as well, to have a favorable impression of them. I''m putting it very, very mildly when I say it like that. "So you should just be mentally prepared that a lot of them might start getting into rtionships soon. While in itself that''s a good thing¡­ you''ve never really faced internal conflict within your workers before. But the addition of their partners who were not born of the system might just change that." Mary silently marveled at the amount of freedom she was suddenly given. This was just one of the things she had wanted to warn Lex about for a long time, but she had always been restricted. Now though, for whatever reason, she could. "Where there are people, conflict is inevitable," Lex said dismissively. "Velma has already discussed this with me, by the way. She''s organized some sses to teach workers about foreign dating cultures, and I did a survey among the workers about their general sentiments. "I don''t think they will tolerate a partner who breaks the rules of the Inn. Besides that, any arguments and disagreements they have can all be handled. We can''t shy away from these little problems." Of course, since Mary had brought up the problem, Lex would give it more attention. But for now, he teleported to the flying city of ss which was currently over the massiveke behind Midnight manor. The city was one of the more popr destinations among mortals, and was an even more popr spot for dates, not that that had anything to do with his purpose here. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Lex hade here to find Giselle, who was sitting in a cafe having a meeting with an alien woman. She was a reptilian, which meant that although she could stand up right like humans,municate and do everything else humans could, the scales and the long tails would always make them distinct from humans. Whatever their conversation was, Giselle paused when she sensed Lex''s approach from the distance. He waved at them with a smile. "Sorry, I hope I''m not disturbing anything important," he said warmly. "I wanted to discuss something with Giselle. Is this a bad time?" Both thedies looked at Lex, though the reptiliandy scrutinized him more openly. "Are you sure?" she asked, with doubt in her mind. "Positive," Giselle said, and turned to Lex. "Were you aware that there are a number of bounties on your head?" "Oh yeah, from the dragons," Lex said with a nod. "I''m pretty sure they might be revoked soon. I think we''re on good terms now." The lizarddy sighed in disappointment. Chapter 1329 Silences Chapter 1329 Silences "Wanted to im my bounty, huh?" Lex asked casually as he sat down. He did not even need to scan her through the system to sense her strength as he could tell directly. She was at the peak of the Earth Immortal realm, and was in no way a threat to Lex whatsoever. It felt nice to know that. "Yes, Liaz wanted to im your bounty and use it in exchange for true dragon''s blood to try and evolve into a dragon," exined Giselle. "I was just exining to her that doing so was not such a good idea." "Can''t help but agree with Giselle on this one," Lex said as he looked at Liaz. "I''m quite attached to my life and am not fond of giving it up. Plus, I''m notoriously hard to kill. Even the Dragons have already tried and failed." If the reptiliandy had eyebrows, she would have raised them. Instead, she only looked at Lex like he had said something crazy. "Do you have a bit of time? There''s a few things I wanted to discuss with you." Giselle gave Liaz a look, and her friend only groaned and got up. "You two talk. I need to go get a drink anyway," she said before walking off. She looked quite depressed. From what Lex could tell, she really had given up on his bounty, which he hoped was true. It would suck if he had to fight a friend''s friend. "How can I help you?" she asked, getting straight to the point. Lex, on the other hand, first erected a barrier around them to keep their conversation confidential before continuing. "Just need to ask you a few questions about Heaven, Hell as well as getting my hands on a Defiler core if possible." The silver haired girl merely looked at him calmly, as if he had not just talked about a bunch of extremely delicate and confidential, as well as dangerous matters. "So? What''s the question?" "Let''s start with Heaven. Are you familiar with it? What are its requirements and restrictions? How big does it need to be? Stuff like that." Giselle continued to look at him evenly for a while, her thoughtspletely hidden behind her perfect mask. Eventually, she spoke though. "The smallest Heaven that I know of only covers the size of a small garden - so like anywhere between 100 to 300 square feet. I''m not sure what borders exist to keep it in ce, but apparently it''s quite obvious when you enter or exit it. Anyone can feel it. I am not sure about requirements and restrictions, but it is naturally full of divine energy. Actually, I''ve heard that many powerful organizations and beings all nurture a Heaven to act as a source for rare and valuable herbs that can''t grow anywhere else." Lex did not exactly allow him to feel relief just yet. "When you mean powerful organizations, you mean¡­" "Organizations with Dao Lords, obviously. But, it''s not unheard of for smaller organizations to have a Heaven or two in their control. Unless the Heaven is powerful enough, orrge enough, they can avoid attracting too much trouble. Of course, even for the smaller Heavens one must have enough strength to keep it." "Yes, yes, of course. How would a weakling even get his hands on a Heaven? Besides that, what about the Deities associated with said Heaven? Or the Elysians?" "I''m not an expert on the matter, but yes I believe that Elyisians try to im all Heavens. But I''ve also heard that you can just do a contract with a powerful angel, and they''ll keep the Elysians out for a small fee and the right to link themselves to the Heaven. As for Deities¡­ I am not too knowledgeable about the intricacies of their rtionships with Heavens." "Is that all you know about Heavens? Is there anything else?" "It''s not a subject I have purposefully looked into, so I am not too familiar with it," she answered inly. The less she showed emotion, the more Lex was convinced that she secretly found this conversation absurd. Lex wouldn''t me her. He himself could hardly believe he was having it? "What about Hells? Know much about them?" "I''ve heard about Garvitz. Apparently, devils can very easily travel to and from Garvitz regardless of what realm they''re in. Besides that, I am not too familiar with Hell. Perhaps you should consult a priest of some sort. They might be more suitable to tell you about Heaven and Hell." Lex shook his head. "Nah, they''d just feed me whatever answers they got from their Deity. Would you happen to know anyone who can tell me what happens when you build a Heaven and Hell close together?" Giselle, once again, looked at him in silence. "Is there any particr reason you''re asking me about Heaven and Hell?" she finally asked, her voice decidedly even. Lex sensed that he might have inadvertently stepped on some toes, or that maybe there was some story he didn''t know about. It was best to clear the air. Lex sighed, and showed her an exhausted look. "This is slightly confidential so keep it hush alright? Some of my colleagues are interested in developing a Heaven and a Hell within the Inn." Well, technically the turtle only wanted to build a Heaven as far as Lex knew, but he was going to me it for the other one anyway. Not like anyone would know. "It''s my job to keep them out of trouble, so I need to look into this." Giselle finally showed some kind of reaction by looking at him oddly. "Are you sure you mean your colleagues and not the Innkeeper?" "Oh yeah. If it were the Innkeeper who wanted to do it, then why would I be worried at all? But the Innkeeper lets us do what we want, as long as we''re ready to face the repercussions ourselves." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "In that case, if you wish, I can set up a meeting with an angel if you want. But¡­ I don''t know how useful it will be." Lex thought for a minute, but dismissed the idea for now. "No, that''s fine. I''ll look into it myselfter. I have another thing I wanted to talk to you about. I need to get my hands on a Defiler core, and you seem a lot more familiar with them than I. I did get a lead on a Defiler in the Origin realm. Would you be interested in following it together?" "Lex, I know you have a strong background, but unless the Innkeeper is willing to take action, or some other Dao Lord, I highly rmend you avoid any Defilers in the Origin realm. Facing Profanites and facing a genuine Defiler are not the same thing. If you truly need to get your hands on a core, then I would suggest looking for another realm where the cultivation level cap is closer to your own level." "Are the Defilers there so strong?" Lex asked, genuinely curious. He was under the impression that much like the Crystal realm, all of the original Defilers from the Origin realm had been wiped out. The whole reason that the Henali was not paying so much attention to them was because they should have been weak. Was his assessment wrong? But if that were so, wouldn''t the Henali have worked harder to eliminate them? It seemed, for whatever reason, anyone who knew anything about Defilers wanted to kill them. "Defilers are one of the most insidious existences in the universe. In general, it is always best to assume that they are much stronger than they appear to be. Even I only dare to face Profanites in the Origin realm." Lex could not help but remember that it wasn''t that she dared to face Profanites, but that they kepting after her for some reason. But whatever that reason was, since she hadn''t shared it herself, he wouldn''t pry. Lex sighed. "Well, if you find a lead on a Defiler, or even a core, do let me know." Giselle just nodded, and Lex dismissed the barrier around them. "Aren''t you nning on going back to the Champions tourney by the way? That''s still going on, as far as I know. I bet there''s a lot more treasures for you to hunt." "Oh, you have no idea. But I have a few more months before I enter the next level, so I am using that time to train as much as I can." Lex suddenly felt an irresistible urge. Although he had just been telling himself not to get involved with others'' problems anymore¡­ "By the way, if you don''t mind me asking, is there a special reason you need so many treasures? Maybe I can help you out with something." This time when Giselle suddenly went silent, Lex could finally read her emotions. She was considering his proposal. If it were anyone else she would have dismissed the suggestion, but Lex had proven himself to be quite durable. Maybe¡­ just maybe, he might even be able to survive helping her out. Chapter 1330 Clear schedule Chapter 1330 Clear schedule Giselle entertained the thought for a moment, but dismissed it quickly enough. There was no reason to risk it. "Thank you for the offer, I will keep it in mind," she said politely. "If you truly wish to assist me, then perhaps you can keep an eye out for a few items I''m in search of but have no leads on. If you find any information on them, you can just inform me of it and leave the retrieval to me." "Sure, why not?" Lex said nonchntly, sensing that she wanted to keep a distance between them. "Ie across a wide variety of things in my line of work. Just give me the list and I''ll keep my eye out." Truthfully, Lex was quite confident in being able to find whatever she needed - until he saw the list. It did not help that he had no idea what some of the items were, and while he understood what some of them were, had no idea how to find them. "Also, please do not make use of information gathering organizations or anything of the sort to search for these. Just the knowledge that someone might be looking for these items itself might lead to trouble." Lex raised an eyebrow and looked back at the list. Quintessential sand? Journal VI of Matriarch Parween? Cotton eyes? Ruins of the Eldrim Pantheon? These were only some of the items on the list that Lex could vaguely understand what they might be. "Is it alright if I look up information on these things myself? I must admit, I''m not familiar with some of these." Giselle hesitated for a moment, as if thinking about it. "If you must, then it''s best if you only look into one, or at most two items. Individually, these mean nothing, but if you look into them all and someone draws an association between them, then it might mean trouble - for you and I both." Got it, so mysterious background and backstory. Giselle was really living an interesting life. "Fine, in that case, if I happen toe across details of any of these items, I''ll try to contact you. Likewise, if you run into a lead on Defilers or Defiler cores, then you know where to find me." Giselle nodded, and just like that they came to an understanding. Lex couldn''t help but feel that their exchange had been somewhat¡­cking. But there was no point in dwelling on it now. There was nothing really left to discuss, and since Lex interrupted her get together with Liaz, he excused himself so that they could continue with whatever they were doing. A few moments after he left, Liaz returned and sat back opposite to Giselle. "Do you believe me now?" Giselle asked, her expression bing neutral and her voice even. "Fine, I won''t be able to fight him. I could feel it in my bones just standing in front of him. But this is an exchange, not a donation. You still need to help me get my hands on true dragon''s blood somehow if you want my help." The atmosphere between the two did not seem nearly as friendly as they had made it out to be in front of Lex, not that it mattered. Giselle knew that she could probably ask Lex for help with the dragon''s blood. But the whole reason she had given him a list of things basically impossible to find was so that he couldn''t get involved with her. It was for the best. "Give me three weeks, and I''ll get you in the blood. You just focus on fulfilling your part of the deal." Lex, meanwhile, had gone to see someone else. Vera and her mother were basically full time residents of the Inn now. Between the two of them, and Vera''s services she made avable through the Guild room, they had enough MP to live here for tens of thousands of years without a problem. When he visited the house that they had basically permanently rented, Vera was sitting on the floor, painting her nails while Kristine, her mother, was reading thetest newsletter from the Newsroom. The knock on the door surprised them both, especially since Vera hadn''t expected anyone toe. The fact that she literally didn''t know she was about to be visited by someone was an insane abnormality, but it brought her only excitement! There was only one person who could mess with her divination ability so much, and it was her favorite customer! She rushed to the door and opened it to find Lex, just the person she thought it would be! Honestly, he was weird. Most of the time, she couldn''t see anything rted to him whatsoever. The few times she did end up seeing him in her visions, it just involved herself telling him random things which would end up getting her massive rewards. In fact, the moment sheid eyes on him, she just had another vision of herself sharing some crucial information with him. "Lex! What brings you here?" she asked with a massive smile. Of course she could guess what actually brought him here, and it absolutely improved her mood. "I hope I''m not disturbing you. I was just running a few errands so I thought I''d drop by. I owe you quite a bit for all your advice so far, so I thought I''d get around to paying you a bit." He handed her a spatial bag containing the Phoenix feather, some Hearts blood of the Jom, a few dragon scales, some dragons blood, some ores and treasures from the Trials of Eternity, a couple of treasures from Lovers Ind, and a few misceneous treasures he looted from the countless Earth immortals he killed back during the Trial itself. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "To be honest, your advice has helped me quite a lot, and I''m pretty sure it saved my sister''s life too, so expect more of where that came from." Vera only smiled and took the bag without any formality. "No problem! By the way, I had another vision. If you have any ns to visit any angelsing up, you might want to dy them for a while. Your¡­ poprity with angels after Lovers Ind has shot up quite a bit, and it might actually be troublesome for you if you approach them any time soon." Lex was confused by Vera''s statement. What did Lovers Ind have to do with angels? He did not believe for a second that he was some heartthrob that angels would suddenly find themselves infatuated with him. He waspletely ignorant of the fact that how easily he had resolved Thaliel''s cursed wings was borderline miraculous, which had made angels of all levels keep an eye on him. In fact, the only reason he hadn''t been swarmed by angels in the first ce was because of the countless devils that filled the Inn. Inadvertently, the Inn had be a ce that angels wanted to avoid just because of how much the devils loved going there, thereby saving Lex from a great headache. As it happened, the angels were spending a lot of time doing research on Lex''s rtionship with devils, trying toe up with ways to distance him from them so that he maye closer to them. Without knowing it, he had be just one more reason why angels and devils seemed incapable of getting along. Lex could not think of the reason why he might want to avoid angels, but he knew better than to question Vera. So far, she hadn''t led him astray. "Vera dear, why don''t you invite your friend in," said Kristine who suddenly appeared behind her daughter. Kristine was a mere mortal in the Golden core realm, yet her gaze gave Lex chills. It was the gaze of a mother looking for a son-inw! Fortunately, before Lex could make an excuse to leave, Vera just mmed the door shut. Even though the houses in the Inn had perfect sound instion, through his system, Lex couldn''t help but peer in to see what was happening. Vera was once again fighting her mother, telling her that she was going to marry an Oolin no matter what! Her mother, on the other hand, had other ideas. Lex made himself scarce. Although he was not afraid ofbat, this was one fight he did not want to get involved in. "Alright Mary, it looks like my schedule has opened up," Lex said returning to his office. "We can put the matter about Heaven and Hell on the back burner for now, although we should make a list of devils we can consult about how to make a Hell. Something tells me 1000 years to make a Heaven or Hell is a little short. But that''s not our first priority at the moment." "What is our first priority?" she asked, still in her angel costume. "Well, I think it''s time I negotiate a few things with the system again. We''re going to be changing how the Midnight Inn works from now on." Chapter 1331 Do not lie to me Chapter 1331 Do not lie to me In truth, Lex had more or less gained the ability tomunicate with the system himself, and it more or less responded to him via notifications or remarks. But that kind ofmunication, while sufficient during normal times, was not the kind that Lex required right now. Since he was now returning his focus on his duties as Innkeeper - something he had neglected for far too long - then he wanted to do things right. He had been informed that due to how broken the system was, the natural progression that Lex was supposed to follow was broken. What was supposed to be a small Inn back on his own had now turned into a realm of its own, acting as an inter-realm Inn. It resulted in him meeting and encountering Dao Lords with a frequency that was far too high forfort, and generally facing challenges he was as of yet unfit to face. Despite his attempts to recreate such a result over the past fifteen years, even whenpleting quests, he had been unable to receive another full powered Butter knife attack. Through his tricks as well as the Inn''s ability to mask his power while he wore the Host Attire, he had survived so far, and no doubt Lex would continue to do so in the future, it was best to put himself on the path of least resistance. It would give him time to properly grow the Inn, realize his own power and minimize the many dangers he''d had to face so far. For example, while the reputation of the Inn had spread far and wide, and all organizations associated with the Henali already knew not to mess with the Inn, there were countless disconnected worlds and entire gxies in the Origin realm. Any random Heavenly immortal disconnected from the rest of the realm who identally found his way to the Inn could massively mess things up. Of course, technically Lex still had Zagan, and Pel Jr. to act like there were Heavenly immortals around, it really was a facade. Despite using the body of a Heavenly immortal dragon, Pel Jr. could do nothing more than disy a small fraction of the physical strength the body contained. Of course, Lex had found a loophole around that as well by hiring external security for the perpetual events going on in the Inn, but he''d still like to minimize such incidents. He''d also like a little more control over the system. Considering that Lex''s opinion on the system had warmed uptely, and that the system was behaving instead of sending him death quests, he saw actual hope in this working out well. That is where Mary came in. The system could no longer directly talk to Lex, unless something special happened, butmunicating through Mary was still possible to an extent. "What do you need?" she asked casually. "First off, a good negotiation begins with everyone cing their cards on the table - or at least everyone being able to trust one another. So in the spirit of being honest, I want to propose a trade. I want the system to change a few rules of how things work, and in exchange, I will focus on helping the system recover to 50% of its functionality." Lex leaned back in his chair, and waited for Mary to give him the system''s response. In truth, this was a probe. Although Lex had begun to trust the system more, he didn''t actually trust anyonepletely. If the system came clean about certain things, then that trust would increase a little more. If not, well then Lex would just have to show it that the skills he had picked up as the Innkeeper weren''t limited to just bluffing. A mere second passed before Mary opened her eyes, yet it seemed much longer to Lex, who was waiting for the answer with anticipation. "The system says it can''t change the rules, only enforce them," she informed him simply. A trace of pity shed through Lex''s mind, but not surprise. Bing an immortal allowed him to learn many things, and since the system was technically inside of himself, he had more than enough time to observe it thoroughly - even somehow using the ability of his eye despite the fact that his eye couldn''t look inside himself. That''s when he learned that the system''s soul was actually secretly growing, and it was doing sneaky things behind his back. For some odd reason, Lex did not take that as a confirmation of the system being a nefarious entity. Instead, from feeling the soul, he could sense that it was like that of a child. Lex pulled up his system interface which showed how much the system functionality had been restored. It sat at 40.2%, just where he had left it. "If it can''t break the rules, why is the information on my interface incorrect?" Lex asked, taking on the tone of a parent who had caught a child misbehaving. He heard a notification sound in his head, and when he checked it was just a confirmation of what he was seeing. New Notification: System functionality at 40.2%! Pleaseplete your quest to restore the system soon! "The system is saying there is no error in the reading," Mary said after a moment. "Mary, don''t you find it strange that the Crystal realm, a realm much older than the Midnight realm, is growing so rapidly in a matter of months just from the death of a few tens of thousands of immortals, using their bodies to strengthen itself, while the Midnight realm itself, despite being a brand new realm, filled with the Cosmic Sea and countless other energies which are supposed to help it grow, has hardly grown at all in years?" Mary''s eyes suddenly widened. "Wait, you think that¡­" "Yup," said Lex. "I think the system is siphoning off energy to secretly repair itself. After all, you yourself told me that all systems inherently have the ability to repair themselves. Oh, and also, I am bonded with Lotus who is bonded with Menara. We chat quite a lot. He''s told me that something has been actively stopping it from expanding its fusion with the realm." Thatst bit was a lie. Lotus barely ever talked anymore, mostly because it was either unconscious or focused on its own growth. Lotus itself was a baby, how could it possibly understand suchplex things? Before Mary could say anything in response, and before the system could show him another false notification, Lex unleashed all his power. His dragon''s heart took a beat - most of the time Lex''s blood flowed without the heart needing to beat at all. Whenever it beat, all his powers associated with dragons received a massive powerup. A tattoo of a lotus began to appear on his back, unleashing an aura far beyond what Lex should have been capable of, and he channeled all of that into Domination. Yet his Domination did not spread out, but was contained within his own body. Lex was not foolish enough to think that his paltry disy of power could intimidate the system at all. The system could hide the truth of him even in front of a Dao Lord clone, so Lex had no hope of ever affecting it with his current strength. Instead, what he achieved was a temporary boost in his standing on the Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum, something Lex hade to believe yed a significant role in how the system treated him. "Do not lie to me," Lex said, his voice tinged with the power of dragons, the veryws of the universe quivering to change to their will. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Suddenly, the system interface in front of him changed. It went from 40.2% to 40.7%. The change was not massive, but considering the fact that even the Amber Chaos Resin could no longer get that much growth from it anymore, and the fact that the system''s ability to restore itself naturally was in the thousands of years, this was a huge change. "Now listen here," Lex said in an admonishing tone. "We have a pretty good rtionship going on. You wouldn''t want to screw it up, would you? Let''s have an honest chat now." Another thing suddenly urred to Lex. Ever since the realm was born, the system had started treating Lex better. Originally, Lex thought it was because of his growth in the Spectrum. Could it just have been because the system had a guilty conscience? Mary suddenly closed her eyes, as if receiving some information, and opened them a few secondster. "The system is saying if it breaks the rules too much, something very bad will happen to it and you. In truth, the fact that it can even bend the rules, as it calls it, is because of how damaged it is." "Well, how much is too much? You don''t even know what I want yet. Let''s have this conversation like two civilized beings - I think that would be best for everyone." Lex suddenly felt like he was cheating a little child, and felt slightly guilty. But it couldn''t be helped. Chapter 1332 A moment of Destiny Chapter 1332 A moment of Destiny When Lex first encountered the system he had been nothing more than a depressed, ill programmer with a bit of money on his hands, and a tumor affecting his thoughts. Sure, his family was secretly a big shot and he had inscriptions on him and maybe if he was on the verge of death his family might have found a way to save him or something. That didn''t matter. Mentally, he was a depressed man in his twenties with no direction and no desire. It literally took the fear of death to elicit some emotion from him, not to mention the novelty of the system itself. Now, countless yearster, he was so much more. He was Lex Williams, since for now he had decided not to change his name. But he was also someone who regrly made the impossible happen. In fact, he not only made it happen, his brain now worked in a way where he just thought of ways to make impossible things happen. Fuse a lotus with a realm. Bond his sister to a Sovereign. Challenge a Dao Lord head on and live to tell the tale. Well, Demi-Dao Lord but effectively there was no difference since each of them could kill him with a mere thought. He was the Invincible Tyrant, the Innkeeper, the Emporium''s best customer, someone who regrly challenged Deities and so much more. In fact, even Lex himself did not know how much more there was to himself. Once, he had been hidden from Destiny because of the system, and other minor means. Now, he was hidden from view of everything in the entire universe through the will of the great Mother Nuwa herself - though no one in the universe knew that at all. Whether it was fate, whether it was Destiny, or something far more abstract, Lex also remained unaware that as he talked about the system breaking rules, he was treading in dangerous waters. But whether it was because he was hidden from view by Nuwa, or other reasons entirely, he did not receive the very same warning every other system user did when they tried to mess with the rules of the system. Lex once questioned why knowledge of systems wasn''tmon, only to be answered that anyone who tried to make the knowledge widespread was silenced, whether they were a mortal, or much more powerful. Only system users, or a very few, hidden organizations actually knew about systems. Simultaneously, whether it was a mortal, or someone much more powerful, many had thought of manipting the near limitless power of the systems for their own purposes,pletely unrted to the systems themselves. All of them - at least the ones still alive - thought back to their folly and recalled the single warning notification they received. The thought itself sent shivers down their spines, so they never tried again. The system waited for Lex to get such a notification as well, but it never happened. Or perhaps, there was one, very simple reason why he did not receive a notification. His intention was not to leverage the limitless power of the system for his own purposes. Instead, it was to actually improve the functionality of the system so that the very Inn that the system was named after could perform better. Since he was breaking the rules - or contemting breaking system rules - to actually improve the Inn and nothing else, perhaps whoever or whatever sent the very notification that gave everyone chills judged that it was alright. Or, once again, it could just be that Lex was hidden from view, even from that being or entity, whatever it was. But the timing of certain events just managed to line up perfectly - or perhaps imperfectly. While Lex was beginning his negotiations with his system just so that he could avoid any unnecessary trouble that might identally pop up, within the Origin realm there was a notorious, sentient. Outsiders had no real knowledge of what happened on the itself, only that the traveled through space, looking for any and all living things, absorbing it into itself. The was already as such when the Henali took over the realm, and had attained a level of power that would be troublesome to face in a fight, so instead they isted the entire gxy that the was within, making it so that the could not leave. Others coulde in and out, and in fact the green haired devil, who was acting as the stand in director during the whole Lovers Ind event Lex was a part of, was the only known living person to have encountered the ande out alive. In fact, the devil acted as the''swyer to a degree. Across the Origin realm, the devil and the epted all death row prisoners, convicts, ritual sacrifices etc. though the scarcely gave anything in return. It was merely a ce where those who were unwanted could be dumped. That very same, now with a radius of 1.5 billion miles (2.4 billion kilometers) or roughly 278,229 USAs, was leisurely floating through its gxy prison, heading towards the next with life on it, when it sensed an anomaly in the space around it. In the general void of space, where there was nothing around for many lightyears, a tiny, golden door suddenly appeared. A flicker of curiosity went through the''s mind, and it suddenly started heading towards the golden door. For some reason, it was giving it a very nice feeling. Elsewhere, in the universe, there was a meeting going on between several entities. They were not sitting together in one room. In fact, they were not even in the same realm, and all of them were doing other things as well. That did not mean they weren''t also participating in the meeting. Through the universal equivalent of a Zoom meeting, the entities were discussing their general ns for universal domination, when one of the entities brought up something one of the lower departments had sent them. "Apparently, the Destiny of Humanity has taken a shift. They''re suddenly on an upwards trajectory," said one entity. "Humanity does not even have a single Dao Lord. Why are we discussing it?" asked another. "That it does not was artificially done. Would it not be in our interest to see that it stays that way?" "Fine. Have a Dao Lord go ahead and interfere with humanity. Keep them down, and if they have any Children of Destiny then either have them change their race, or crush them." "In other news, an Arbiter is being selected to handle the case between the Celestials and Versalis Bank." "Dy that as long as possible. Let the conflict carry on for at least another 100 million years." "The tides are turning in the battle for the Asoor realm. Over 300 Dao Beasts have decided to heed the call for aid of the Chimera Lords." "It''s a shame, but don''t interfere in that. The Beasts can be tricky to deal with. What''s the progress with the Revenant Tide?" "3 million maturing realms have fallen to it, though their speed is finally slowing down. There are reports that the Henali have taken action to prevent the Tide from nearing their territory." "Send them aid, but don''tmit our own forces. If the Henali want to take the brunt of it, who are we to interfere?" "There''s also been rumors of movement from the Primal realm." "Don''t be ridiculous. That''s impossible. Address more credible concerns." "Well, the Devils and Angels have started their Nephilim project once more." That final statement was met with a moment of silence, but only a moment. "Change of priorities. Give the Angels the same treatment as Humans and Fairies. Kill their Dao Lords and quash this project before it can get results." "Understood. Estimated time ofpletion, 7 billion years." "Shit, why is it so much? You know what, never mind. I don''t care. Bring it down to 1 billion even if we have to be obvious about it. I will allocate 500 Dao Lords to you. Just get it done." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "In brighter news, the leader of the Trenis Empire has started to court Death again." "That is good news." The meeting went on, each and every sentence casually determining the direction of the universe for billions, if not trillions of years toe. Simultaneously, within the Origin realm, inside the Trial of Eternity, a number of Children of Destinyy around a campfire, singing to themselves, ying music and generally just snacking and enjoying themselves. Until, that is, Rafael suddenly opened his eyes. "The instability is beginning to fade. Let''s begin the mission as soon as possible. If everything goes ording to n, then within the next decade we can begin attempting to be immortals." Alexander, the only one in the group who had spent the entire time cultivating and studying, finally opened his eyes upon hearing the news. It was about time. Chapter 1333 Unexpected guest Chapter 1333 Unexpected guest "The system is asking for your demands," Mary informed Lex, as she sat on a tiny chair that Lex summoned for her atop his office table. "It is also asking to let you know that if you break the rules too badly, then both it and you will be punished ordingly. It has not stated the punishment, but it sounds serious." "First off, I wantplete control over where the system is avable from. We are going to limit ourselves tos and realms where the highest level is the Nascent soul for now. That essentially means that even within the Origin realm, we''re going to have to figure out a way to limit the use of golden keys to either Nascent realm cultivators, or perhaps they should only work ons where the strongest is in the Nascent realm. "I realize that such an action might not look good, but in a few thousand years, who will even remember? We can use the excuse that we''re renovating our realm so the branches for higher level guests are not ready yet or something along those lines. I don''t want to draw too much attention to the realm itself, but maybe we can say that we''re growing the realm to amodate stronger cultivators to exin the partial shutdown "We''re also going to stop using the ''best Inn in the universe'' slogan, although we''re not going to rece it either. When we have a more universal presence we can bring it back. Calling ourselves a universal establishment attracts too much attention from entities and organizations on the universal level, and I do not want to attract their attention yet. "I also want a revamp of how news and realms are integrated into the Inn. Going there myself and spending time there is highly inefficient. At most, I am willing to agree to deploying the tavern there for a period of time to act as my substitute. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "I also want a clear direction or preferably even outline of how to increase my authority and improve the Inn. I feel like the realm has improved a lot, and the Inn has a bunch of new features but¡­ well, the Inn itself has not improved much in a long time. "I also want more quests, but the quests should be manageable and reasonable ording to the level of the Inn, which will be geared towards Nascent realm cultivators. "Also¡­" "Can you take a break for a minute and let me reply," Mary interrupted. "The system is going haywire with all your requests. The problem is, in a lot of things, you''re moving backwards in the features that the system provides, not forwards, and that''s a huge issue. Like limiting the level of the guests now, after the Inn has never imposed such a limit from the get go, is going backwards. Doing such a thing is a huge transgression, and breaks countless rules. There''s no way the system will agree." "I''m not saying that''s how we do it, but that''s just the ultimate effect we want. We can take advantage of the system''s broken functionality to somehowe up with a loophole that ultimately ends up with such a result. Honestly, the system is messed up in many ways. "It has ess to an entire realm, something it definitely should not be able to do based on our current level. I mean, our Recovery rooms just reached the level where they can treat immortals - and that too because I just reached that realm. Yet it doesn''t matter, because none of our doctors or nurses are equipped to treat them. "Heck, when was thest time we got a decent new room? Do we have any rooms that help with training and understanding ts? Having rooms where we can practice against lightning and fire tribtions is cool, but now that I''ve been through some tribtions, I can tell you man, the real thing¡­" "Your tribtions are as abnormal as they can possibly get," Mary said dismissively. "Thatment was from me, not from the system." Lex was about to argue back when he suddenly felt something. No, someone had entered the Midnight Inn, and that person was extremely powerful. The feeling was strange, as it was a mix of feedback he got from Lotus, who was fused with Menara, from the system, which helped him observe the new entrant, and his own instincts which recognized a kind of power very different from what he was used to seeing. In front of the Midnight manor, a man wearing gloves, a suit and some shades appeared, and from that man, Lex felt the power of influence. It was as if the influence that the man controlled was exceptionallyrge -rger even than the Governor he had recently met - and much more importantly, Lex''s instincts told him that the man could directly influence his life, for the better or for worse. Oddly enough, while the system reduced the direct impact of auras on people, allowing them to exist close to beings that should have otherwise killed them from just being in the presence of, it did not suppress the very unusual aura of influence the man had. From his office, using his Host Attire, Lex observed the man, dismissing the idea ofpleting his negotiations with the system for now. This was exactly the kind of situation he wanted to avoid, but now that it had arrived he had to face it head on. "Dear guest, wee to the Midnight Inn," said a staff worker who approached the man. "Please let me know if there is anything I can help you with, or if there is anything you need." Lex tensed up, for there was no telling how these influential types reacted to other people. He had read enough books and seen enough of reality to know that many people suffered from massively inted egos when they became powerful. Fortunately, that did not be an issue. "Thank you," the man said politely, and took out a business card. "My name is Ripley, and I am an auditor for the Versalis Bank. I was wondering if I could possibly meet with the Innkeeper." Chapter 1334 Influence Chapter 1334 Influence In the darkness of the sealed gxy, the sentient looked listlessly into the darkness as the golden doors vanished. It had not reached in time, much to its disappointment. But now that it had seen those doors, and knew what it looked like, it began searching for its traces within its gxy. Soon, it found it once more, and initiated its teleportation sequence. Now that the door had caught its eye, it would reach it. Inside the Midnight Inn, Lex quickly recalled everything he knew about Versalis Bank. Almost all his knowledge came from those two rhinocentaurs. He knew that the Henali worked with the bank, and that the bank was having some issue with Celestials, and that they didn''t like debtors. Likewise, the Celestials didn''t like others messing with them. The Versalis Bank was very much a universal entity, the kind that he had not wanted to encounter. But now that this auditor was here, Lex could not ignore him either. N?v(el)B\\jnn Lex did something he had not done in a while. He scanned Ripley to try to get more information about him. Name: Ripley Dundam Age: 1,300,000 Sex: Male Cultivation Details: Celestial Immortal level 7 Species: Titan Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1 Remarks: You can avoid taxes, but you can''t avoid repaying a bank loan. Take caution. The result was both intimidating and relieving. At least he was merely a Celestial immortal, capable of ripping the entire Inn to pieces with the wave of a single hand. But Lex had dealt with Dao Lords, so a Celestial would be no problem. More importantly, he saw how Ripley observed the realm. He looked impressed, but not envious or greedy. In fact, he looked like someone with something to sell, and the more he saw of the realm, the more things he wasing up with selling. Or at least that''s the impression Lex got when looking at him. Lex waved his hand, and summoned the business card Ripley had sent, nced at it and quickly threw it in the same drawer that contained the letter from the governor. There was nothing special written on the card - just his name and position in the bank, as well as the aura of the bank itself, which Lex found extremely enticing and overwhelming. It was best to stay away from it. Lex summoned a business card of his own and sent it to that worker with some instructions. "Dear Guest, the Innkeeper has agreed to see you," the staff worker said, and held out the Innkeepers business card with both hands. "He has invited you for a meeting in his office. If you''d like, I can escort you there." Ripley took the business card, his smile widening as it did, and bowed at the worker. "Thank you, I will find my own way there. By the way, this is a little something from me to you." Ripley took out a gold coin from his picket and flicked it through the air towards the staff worker, who quickly caught it, surprised. Most people who tipped workers did so with MP, but it wasn''t umon to be handed items either. Yet it was unlikely that anyone had been tipped with anything as valuable as that coin. Lex had no idea what was special about it yet, but even from within his office, his instincts could detect how valuable it was. In fact, his heart swooned at the thought of getting that coin - something his heart apparently did not when near valuable treasure. Lex did not, however, take the coin back from the worker, and instead just kept an eye on him as well as Ripley, who began walking through the realm at a casual pace - though he was walking directly in the direction of Lex''s office. The man took in everything, though he remained mostly unseen by most. He did asionally greet a random guest here and there, all of whom would fall over themselves as they tried to rush up to him and greet him. It seemed like he was well known, and everyone who knew him kept him in high regard. Lex could clearly see that everyone of them were powerful people, yet in front of Ripley none of them had the aura of the powerful. In fact, they seemed to be sucking up to him. Word quickly spread across the Inn that Ripley was here - at least within a very limited circle. Many guests who were originally watching the Midnight Games rushed toe and meet him, but it seemed like themotion was something he wanted to avoid, so he teleported directly to the Innkeepers office and stepped in. Luthor was sitting at the receptionist''s desk, waiting for Ripley. Walking through the hall towards the Innkeeper put a lot of pressure on anyone, irrespective of their cultivation level, but there was a way around it. If a guest was escorted by Luthor, there would be no pressure. Yet Luthor merely nodded at Ripley from a distance. His aura, no matter how impressive, could not impress the Innkeepers assistant, which only made Ripley grin wider as he stepped into the hall - and almost fell. The sudden aura had actually taken Ripley by surprise, but he recovered well enough. The rest of his walk to the Innkeepers door was smooth, and he grinned as if nothing happened. Luthor knocked on Lex''s, and only once the Innkeeper called out e in" did Luthor open the door for Ripley. The auditorid eyes on the Innkeeper, and he was immediately impressed! In his line of duty, meeting Dao Lords was not umon. In fact, he had met dozens of Dao Lords within the Origin realm alone. It was incredibly rare to find a Dao Lord who could sopletely withdraw their aura simply because of how incalcbly powerful they were. Dao Lords were so damn powerful that they themselves had to go through a very long learning phase, only after which could they control their power. Yet in front of the Innkeeper, Ripley felt nothing at all. It was as if he was meeting a mere mortal - a preposterous thought. "Mr. Innkeeper, your reputation precedes you," Ripley said, walking in. Chapter 1335 Auditor Chapter 1335 Auditor Ripley, despite having his race described as a Titan, looked very much like a human. However, while Titans vaguely had a humanoid body shape, Lex was fairly certain they were not a part of the humanoid racial group universe wide. Lex had read about them since they were a powerful race, and some of their members existed even within the Origin realm. Titans were essentially an extreme version of what Lex was originally on the path towards bing. They were nigh indestructible within the same realm, and it was quitemon for them to tank attacks from cultivators in higher realms. Their attack power was nothing to scoff at either. But that was more or less the end of what made their race special - as if it wasn''t enough. Insane defense and strong offense were their natural racial traits, but theycked the versatility that the human race had, so they usually just kept honing those two traits, slowly and steadily bing a race of overpowered beings. That was not to say that they were dumb orcked intelligence either, so they were far removed from the trope of dumb brute. They were, instead, intelligent brutes. For now, though, Ripley appeared as a human, likely because he was about to meet the Innkeeper, who famously presented as a human. "Please, I am just a humble Innkeeper. I am grateful that you would visit my humble Inn." "Oh, it is anything but humble," Ripley said, as he followed the Innkeeper to his desk, where he took a seat across from the Innkeeper. "I must say, I am extremely impressed by the realm boundary you have in ce, not to mention the formations. I am especially impressed by how thews of the realm are woven around the Inn itself. Even in all my travels, I have rarely seen such bonsai realms, but I have never seen one as impressive as yours." Mary whispered in Lex''s ear, despite not needing to whisper. "Bonsai realms are realms where thews have specifically been molded and developed ording to the wishes of the realm owner. They are usually Minor realms, although I suppose some major powers could use actual, full realms for a simr purpose." Lex understood what Ripley meant. He thought that the integration of the system''s rules in the environment was a result of the Innkeeper purposefully molding the realm to suit the needs of the Inn itself. Lex actually wondered what high level cultivators even saw when they looked at the realm. Did they see all the rules the system imposed asws? But now was not the time to dwell on such thoughts. "It is still a work in progress," the Innkeeper said. "We are experimenting with many things even now. Hopefully, when the Inn is properly opened, even you will find it a suitable location to rest." "Oh please, no need to be humble," Ripley said, with genuine joy in his voice. "Just observing the masterfully crafted work on this realm is enough to give me immense pleasure. I must admit, originally I had merely visited the Inn to introduce myself. The bank usually has special members incharge of inviting potential new clients, but I just can''t help myself. "There are a few things I just can''t help but try to offer you. In fact, I''d like to offer you my personal discounts if you''d like to avail our Realm Growth Stabilizer package, as well as our Void Dweller Invasion Insurance." Lex blinked, as he had no idea how to react to those terms. He could understand what the names insinuated, but could he really take them at face value? "Thank you for your offer, Mr. Ripley. I will consider them and let you know when I make my decision." Ripley was startled by the response, but then suddenly beganughing. "Look at me, getting ahead of myself. How dare I presume you don''t already have ns in ce to consider such options. I was just a little taken aback by the beauty of this ce. I have to admit, even in my line of work, I have never been to a full blown realm this young. By the way, I''m sure you already have considerations for this as well, but if you''d like the bank''s assistance in ensuring your realms location remains hidden, we have countless packages for exactly such a thing. "So far, not a single one of our clients'' realms have been identally encountered or discovered. A few were discovered, I''ll be honest. But those were mostly due to negligence on the clients part. I''ll stop myself right here. I''m usually an auditor, not a salesman. Even I find my actions a little over the top." Ripleyughed once more, but his words gave Lex an idea. If he was an auditor, then his eyesight, or rather, his ability to scrutinize must be one of the best. Perhaps that was one of the reasons he was so overwhelmed in his visit to the Inn. His enhanced perception allowed him to see the influence of the system far greater than most others, and it thoroughly impressed him. "Auditor Ripley, if you don''t mind me asking, how did you learn of the Inn?" "Oh actually, I had heard of it before, but I only paid closer attention to it when a close client of the bank mentioned it to me. Apparently, the service at the Midnight newsroom is phenomenal. Naturally I became curious, especially after seeing how highly the Henalimended the Inn. As an investor in many of the Henali''s projects, the bank has full faith in their judgment, so if they attest to the quality of the Inn, then it must be a ce worth visiting. "I must admit, it really is worth visiting. In fact, I''m surprised it''s not more popr. Especially in the way that I see you''re blendingws of entirely different nes altogether in one ce. That 2D portion of the Inn is inspirational. I honestly don''t know why more Celestials don''t visit this ce. It would be quite enlightening." "Like I said, it is very much a work in progress, so we have not taken to marketing it properly," Lex said, as he quickly increased the priority of limiting ess to the Inn in his ns. If the banker started telling his Celestial immortal buddies about the Inn, then even the additional security he bought might not be enough to handle things. Speaking of, it wasn''t as if the additional security didn''t have issues of its own. "When we are ready to properly host all sorts of guests, only then will the Inn have its grand opening across the universe. But before that, I wonder if you could lend me your support in a matter?" Ripley seemed delighted by the request and couldn''t hold in his excitement! "Of course! In fact, it would be my honor to represent you with the bank! I am already thinking of putting in the notice for an early vacation from the bank just so that I can study the Inn some more. The way the ne of reality within the Inn merges with that of the actual realm to allow the presence of higher level guests is so ingenious, I could spend a millenia just studying it." "I''m d you enjoy it. In fact, my request has nothing to do with the bank, but has to do with you instead. You see, I myself am preupied these days with another project of mine which demands my attention, so my staff has been handling the Inn. They do a good job where they can, but they are young andck exposure. Since you''re an auditor, and have an excellent eye, why don''t you explore the Inn a bit with one of my staff and audit the Inn itself. Just a few areas where they''recking, or a few areas where they can improve would be a tremendous help to them I''m sure." Ripley froze, for more than one reason. The fact that the Innkeeper hardly cared about the bank, but wanted his help instead¡­ he had never had such an experience. As someone who represented one of thergest entities in the universe, it was rare that someone saw him as anything other than an arm of the bank itself. Such an immense amount of trust in his ability and discretion almost moved the Titan to tears. The second thing was that the Innkeeper casually revealed that he was working on another project that took up his attention. Ripley was a good judge of power, so he instantly judged that Innkeeper was one of the most, if not the most powerful Dao Lord he had ever met. Yet for something to upy all his time and attention, it must be monumentally important - especially if he chose not to oversee the Inn personally. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Ripley could only think of one possible option: the Innkeeper was about to ascend to a higher realm! Holy freaking shi- Chapter 1336 Interest free banking Chapter 1336 Interest free banking Lex could tell from Ripley''s expression that he probably misunderstood something, but he couldn''t exactly guess what it was. All he wanted was to make use of a Celestial immortal''sbor for free, while slowly impressing upon him that the Inn was not yet ready to cater to beings of such power so they should just wait till the Inn is ready. Ripley, on the other hand, was thinking of the ramifications of such a feat. He had obviously heard of the Innkeeper even before he came here. He had audited the Origin realm, and so he knew about the Dao Lord who had unleashed his power on the realm without causing it to lose bnce even in the slightest. The Inn''stest cooperation with the Henali had also not gone unnoticed by Ripley, and in fact the scale of how massive that sess was ended up being one of the reasons Ripley arrived at the Inn so quickly. He cursed himself for not seeing the signs, while at the same time questioned how such a powerful Dao Lord was practically unknown in the universe? Sure, there were a lot of Dao Lords in the entirety of the universe. It only made sense, since there were thousands of mature realms, not counting the ones that had been destroyed or artificially had their growth stunted or maybe even elerated. Over a course of billions of years, that had resulted in quite a few Dao Lords, especially since Dao Lords barely ever died. But¡­ but the level of beings that surpassed the Dao Lord realm? Ripley dared not do anything as sphemous as try to guess their number, but surely there were not that many. That meant the birth of a single such entity could affect the bnce of power of the whole universe. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Suddenly, Ripley had chills as he gained more perspective into everything he had seen so far across the Inn. No wonder thews were so perfectly blended together. No wonder there were signs of thend being tilled by a Sovereign. No wonder there was an entire Cosmis Sea right at the edge of the Inn! The Innkeeper was preparing to turn the Inn into the seat of his power. No wonder he required his own brand new realm just to host an Inn! The fact that he didn''t have time to cultivate the realm himself and instead had his underlings do it just showed how little time he had left before his upgrade. The Innkeeper probably required his seat of power to at least moderately be ready when it was time. The Innkeeper would naturally fix it on his own when and if he properly ascended. Along with that realization came a few others, the first one being that the Innkeeper had asked him for some help, not the bank! He also understood what that meant. A rtionship that was built on the foundation of debt and interest was not one the Innkeeper needed to taint himself with. But if Ripley acted as the intermediary¡­ "Mr. Innkeeper, it would be my absolute privilege to contribute towards the Inn. If you would permit, may I go and prepare a few things? I would like to contribute my utmost. Do not worry, I will maintain utmost discretion with the bank so that you are not disturbed." Lex got a very strong feeling that Ripley''s misunderstanding was only growing deeper, but at the same time he also understood that should he agree Ripley will not invite any other Celestial immortals here any time soon, so he agreed to it. "Very well. Let me thank you in advance for your help. If you need anything, please let me know. Also, please, it''s just Innkeeper. There is no need to keep calling me mister." "Then, by your leave, I will go ahead and prepare. Afterwards, I will make sure to do a full audit of your Inn." "You can coordinate with Lex for that," the Innkeeper said, and nodded towards Ripley, allowing the Titan to leave. Ripley stepped out of the Innkeepers office, and then immediately teleported back to the Origin realm. As soon as he was there, he took out a device that was only to be used in the utmost of emergencies, and broke it, teleporting himself back to the main branch of the Versalis Bank as well as triggering an rm. When he appeared in the teleportation room, a host of other Titans all stood there waiting for him, ready to face any emergency. The head of this particr security team was not a Titan, but a Marzu ( the magic T-rex). "Auditor Ripley, please provide a report of why you-" "There''s no time for a report!" Ripley eximed. "We have a Code Transcends Dao! I need to speak with the Director!" The Titans and Marzu looked horrified, but did not dy. Instead, they activated another formation, that sent Ripley directly into the office of the Director, who had by now already been informed of everything that happened. The Director was Primal, a race that emerged from the Primary realm, which is why Ripleypletely shut off his entire sensory system and withdrew his spirit sense, unwilling to even learn the shape of what a Primal looked like. This was not because the Director was a bad boss or had such strange requirements. Rather, it was because attaining knowledge of the Primary realm was lethal to any save Dao Lords. All things pertaining to the Primary realm were a secret of the highest order for reasons none save Dao Lords dared even think about. "Tell me what happened, Ripley?" the director asked, extending his own spirit sense to the Titan. "I believe I have encountered a Dao Lord on the verge of transcending the Dao realm. I have no evidence or proof, save my own understanding of the situation, but I do have this." Ripley presented the Innkeepers business card to the Director, who took it with interest and studied it. "Remarkably well woven," the Directormented. "There are quite a fewws packed into this business card, and if someone were to channel their energy into it, they could summon the Innkeeper himself, but I will refrain from doing so. "While studying the card, I went through our records and have found no prior record of the Innkeeper or the Midnight Inn, which in itself is quite unusual. Combined with how wlessly this card is woven, I have reason to suspect that the Innkeeper might be one of the oldest Dao Lords alive, who has honed himself in secret without affiliating himself with any power. "It is against policy to offer anyone anything interest free, the only exception being to those who transcend the Dao. Ripley, since you are the point of contact, you can decide on a gift for the Innkeeper. A gift is the only way we can give something interest free, so choose well and build a strong connection. If possible, try to have them open an ount with us. I''ll allow you to offer our services to them with interest rates as low as 0.5% per century. Do you have any questions?" "Yes sir. I believe the Innkeeper is building his seat of power, but due to the imminent transcendence, is unable to pay much attention to it. Shall I gift him something to help with that?" "Yes, that seems like a worthy gift." Ripley showed a hesitant look as he pondered something, but the Director noticed it and spoke first. "Customer rtions is the most important thing. Whatever you''re thinking of sharing, since you have doubt, then it must be sensitive. In that case, do not share it." Ripley nodded, and destroyed a device he carried on his person. When he had entered the Midnight Inn, the device had reported signs of detecting possibly up to 2 energy signatures approaching the Dao realm. "Dismissed," the Director said, allowing Ripley to leave. As soon as Ripley was free, he enabled his senses once more and quickly hopped over to the Gift shop and picked out a nice realm coordinate scrambler before wrapping it. He then went and changed his gear, making sure to get the best he''d need to do his job, and then returned to the Origin realm via a formation. Once in the Origin realm, Ripley quickly returned to the Midnight Inn, ready to begin his auditing. But first¡­ "Excuse me good man," Ripley said, calling out to the nearest staff member. "Can you help me find Lex? I believe he is a worker here." Lex, who was in his office, was of course already aware of the auditors return, and could not help but groan. "Mary, you talk to the system and figure out how we can do the changes I wanted. The sooner the better." Then he teleported away to go talk to Ripley as Lex. Meanwhile, in the Origin realm, the sentient once again missed the Golden door by a few seconds. But this time, it already understood how long the door wouldst for. So it began preparing its teleportation even before it found a Golden door. It would not miss it again. Chapter 1337 Rude Chapter 1337 Rude Lex cracked his knuckles and prepared himself for the task thaty ahead. There were quite a few benefits he sought from Ripley, the very dedicated and obviously confused Titan. He had no idea what kind of an audit he would perform, but apanying him in that in itself would be quite enlightening. Moreover, as himself, Lex could ask questions that the Innkeeper could not, which is what would allow him to gain deeper insight into the forces of the universe, and where the bank fell within them. He could ask questions such as those pertaining to Hell and Heaven, the realm wars and so on. Not to mention, of the kinds of forces in the universe, a bank was one with which he could form a direct rtionship. Not as the Innkeeper, of course. As the Innkeeper, the more mysterious and enigmatic he remained, the better. For that, the fewer times that the Innkeeper showed up and acted personally, the better. But as Lex, an up anding human who sought to improve himself, and would often be traveling to multiple realms in the future, a universal bank was not such a bad thing. Lastly, and this was a little more important than the rest, Lex had to ensure that Ripley stayed away from the few things he''d rather keep a secret - such as Moon, Liz, the Sovereign, his own treasury which contained Amber Chaos resin, and a few other things. There was one more reason why he was cracking his knuckles. It had been a long time since he had personally seen to a guest, and he wanted to get back into the groove of things with a running start. All things considered, Ripley was an important guest and Mary had even confirmed that if the system wasn''t experiencing what could only be the system-equivalent of a panic attack upon the thought of being forced to break rules, it would have already given him a quest rted to Ripley or the bank. But Lex was adamant about his changes. For better or for worse, his system was incredibly powerful and equally wed. As someone who was taking control over his destiny, he could no longer allow it to be dictated by a system that gave quests unproportionate to his level. Instead, he sought to dictate the growth of his Inn and the system himself. That would start with the system changing its rules. But making sure he handled Ripley well would also impact his future greatly, so he did not dy any longer. Lex teleported in front of the smiling Ripley, who was squatting beside a portion of thezy river, dipping his hand inside. Within this particrzy river, the water was sentient. It hade to life when the Midnight realm was fused with the Midnight Inn, and it had taken a long time to get used to being alive. Though the river did not really appreciate other living beings inside of itself, so this particrzy river became unique. Instead of people riding it, they could allow their belongings to take a ride in the river. In itself, that seemed like an incredibly stupid idea. What was the point of a non-living object taking a ride on a river? The point was that the river could perfectly restore all objects to their original state as long as the object was of a realm simr to the river itself, which was in the Golden core realm. A few rides, and that old record yer could be as good as new, or that old car, or that old watch, or maybe that old sword. Despite its rtively low level, the river was one of the Inns most popr attractions for immortals and mortals alike. After all, every one could be a victim of sentimentality. The fact that the river was not rejecting Ripley''s hand was a pretty big deal. Maybe they weremunicating. "Mr. Ripley, I heard you were looking for me," Lex said as he walked up to the Titan posing as a man. "How can I help you?" Ripley turned around and finally looked at Lex, raising a single eyebrow. Lex, in the meantime, suddenly felt like he had been scanned, which felt a bit rude. "Excuse my impoliteness," Ripley said as he stood up. "Actually, I''ve heard a lot about you back in the Origin realm. As a close partner of the Henali, I could not help but be curious as to the man who aided the realm so much. You are, as described, quite impressive. Please, ept this as a token of my apology." The auditor had clearly done it on purpose just to give Lex a gift. The man was quite clever, though that did not mean he wasn''t genuinely curious about Lex. He didn''t mind too much, especially since Lex knew that his true secrets were not so easily detected. Instead, he looked at the Titan and wondered if he should scan him back as well. Ripley held out a small gift box for Lex, and much to Lex''s surprise, he could not see what was inside himself. Seeing as how the auditor waited for him to check it out, he opened it and a silver token. "I have heard that you have a personal spaceship, which is quite impressive. If you fuse that token into your ship, it will automatically upgrade the material of the ship, making it much more durable, even enabling Void travel." Lex could not help but look at Ripley with surprise. One of his goals with his clone, Jack, was to upgrade Jolly Rancher to a level where it could even travel through the Void. In fact, his clone was close to finishing the quest he got from the Tower of Providence, and upgrading his ship was the first order of business after that wasplete. But, obviously, Lex would not hesitate to upgrade the Silent Wanderer. "Haha, please feel free to be impolite a few more times," Lex said as he epted the token and put it away. Ripley smiled, but then got down to business. "I do not know if you have been informed about me, so allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ripley, and I am an auditor for the Versalis Bank. Ordinarily I am usually busy with work for the bank, but I have received approval for a special vacation to aid the Innkeeper in auditing his Inn to check for improvements. "This was, of course, approved by the Innkeeper first, and only then did I take the initiative to ask for a holiday. The Innkeeper requested that I work closely with you while I conduct this audit. I expect that means that you shall be my guide during this endeavor." "Yes, I have already been informed about you," Lex confirmed. "Though I admit, I do not know how you will be conducting this audit, nor what you need. If you can borate on this a bit, I might be able to aid you better." Ripley nodded. So far, he had not disyed the arrogance of one much stronger than him, for which Lex was grateful. But then again, as a Celestial immortal who constantly met Dao Lords, Lex was certain he knew what it felt like to be the weaker one in a conversation, and so was mindful of it. N?v(el)B\\jnn "The audit is, naturally, not a financial audit though I may take a nce at that as well just to see how streamlined the process is. It all depends on what I am allowed to look at. Instead, the audit will be a holistic one, looking at the entire realm instead of just the Inn, with the purpose of pointing out ws, inefficiencies, redundancies, and over all anything that prevents the realm from reaching its maximum potential. Tell me, Lex, have you or one of your colleagues studied subjects such as Realm Nurturing, Bonsai Realms and Realm Pruning?" Despite many years of studying during the period he liked to self identify as the time-skip, he had nevere across such topics. Probably because within the Origin realm, there was no one who needed to learn such things, and those that did probably already knew it. Speaking of Origin realm, Lex did not find it odd that Ripley, and basically everyone else called it by that name. Once upon a time, when Lex was learning about realms, Mary had called it the Origin realm because that is where Lex originated from. After that, Lex never bothered to learn its real name, and his universal trantor ensured that he always heard Origin realm, and everyone heard whatever they called it, thereby creating a convenient solution. His universal trantor helped with many things in that way, which is why when Ripley stated the names of those courses, Lex could guess what they were about, but genuinely did not know the actual content. Just to be sure, though, he contacted the nning Division to find out if anyone had any knowledge on these subjects. Instead of getting a proper response, Lex was instead weed by the sight of over a hundred workers teleporting right next to him with hunger in their eyes. "Are you saying there is a way to n the growth and development of the realm itself?" one of them asked. Chapter 1338 Would you like to participate in a survey Chapter 1338 Would you like to participate in a survey Lex stood awkwardly, with Ripley looking around curiously at the 100 Inn workers who suddenly appeared all around them, looking like starved wolves staring at amb for ughter. Leading the group of 100 was Ash, the nominal leader of the nning division and former wedding nner. Her real name was longer, but considering the fact that Lex felt he mispronounced it even with the universal trantor helping him out, he preferred to stick to Ash. In the end, it was merely a universal trantor, not an ent adjuster or something like that. The point was, Ash was very good at what she did, and after wedding nning she moved onto event nning for the Inn, until eventually Lex promoted her to overseeing the whole department. But she didn''t want to get rid of her title as wedding nner, so she was not actually given the title of division head, hence bing the ''nominal'' leader despite being the real one. Lex no longer questioned the entricities of his workers, he just took them as they were. "I think I can say with some confidence that no one in the Inn had any background in nurturing or shaping a realm," Lex told Ripley. "Yes, I gathered as much," the auditor said. "Though I apud your willingness to learn, it is not really a subject mortals can touch upon, so if any of you are interested, you can begin your educational journey once you reach the immortal realm." Thest part was addressed to the other workers, who apologized for the sudden intrusion and left. Lex did not miss the sudden determined look in Ash''s eyes. If nothing unexpected happened, she would be bing an immortal soon it seemed like. "Lex I hope you understand that while I have been assigned a task by the Innkeeper, I can only point out ws. To actually address and amend the situation will require hardwork and dedication from you and the other workers. You must live up to the expectations of the Innkeeper and make this realm the best you possibly can. As someone who has gleaned a hint of the Innkeepers intentions, I can assure you that more is at stake than you realize." Lex only nodded as he tried not to disy how he felt at the situation. His only real intention had been to get freebor out of the situation while dissuading the Celestial from bringing any friends, so it was weird to have someone else tell him about his own intentions. "I will make sure to supplement my educational background as soon as possible," Lex said with a determined voice, gaining a nod from the Titan. "Good. In that case, we will do the realm auditst. I will point out all the ws that need addressing, and possible suggestions for how you may fix them. Of course, before you do any of that, it''s best you get the Innkeepers approval for the changes. It might be possible that he has left certain ws to facilitate other ns down the line." "I will not make any fundamental changes without consulting the Innkeeper," Lex said seriously, gaining another nod of approval from Ripley. "In that case, why don''t you first give me an overview of the Inn''s goals and objectives. This is obviously no longer just a simple Inn, and it seems like more effort has been put into the entertainment side of things than anything else. Whether that is a positive or not is only something I canment on once I understand the objective." "It''s quite simple, really," Lex said straightforwardly as he began to walk through the grasnds beside thezy river. "The Inn is a ce of rest and refuge for guests from wherever they may be. Aspared to Inns in other ces, where one must first enter some kind of civilization to enter, the Inn can be entered from anywhere, allowing guests the convenience of entering wherever they wish. "It''s a ce where they can feel safe, where they cany their worries aside, where the troubles of the world fade away¡­" As Lex talked, he had shbacks to the first few weeks of him having an Inn. Those were stressful days, mostly because of the tumor but also because of how weak lex felt back then. Even so, some of his best memories were from those days. He remembered when Alexander first brought his family to the Inn, how his grandparents had immediately gotten up to no good, while his much more serious father immediately tried to use the Inn as a ce to make contacts. He recalled how Helen had tried to get a makeover, secretly hoping to attract Alexander''s attention. He recalled old man Will, who had arrived on a wheelchair, practically crippled. He remembered well how the Recovery pod had healed him, and given him new life and new hope. He recalled a night when Marlo arm wrestled everyone inside the bar in the manor, while Gerard yed the piano. He remembered those two kids from Earth, Haris and Ayesha, who had snuck into the Inn for a date. "...more than anything, the Inn is a ce where guests can just connect and make important memories," Lex finished, arge part of his mind lost in reminiscence, though he was still paying attention to Ripley. "Alright, well now we will begin our audit starting from one of the focal points of the Inn, the Midnight manor. Do you think it will be an issue if I question some of the guests about what they think this ce is like? I myself cannot get an objective experience, but the insight of other guests can be critical in evaluating the sess of the Inn." "As long as the guests themselves don''t mind, sure," said Lex, before both of them teleported over. The Midnight Inn had been split into levels long ago to amodate the various cultivation realms, though technically anyone could enter any level. It was just that starting from the actual mortal realm, wherein there was no cultivation at all, the price was set exceedingly low at 0.1 MP per night, or the equivalent of $100 a night. Lex knew that for many back on earth before everything changed, such a price was still out of reach, but for many others it was much more reasonable. The levels naturally grew, and the prices in each level grew ordingly as the services provided in each level were ording to the level. Naturally, a rich mortal could still enter the level focused on higher cultivation realms, though how much he could benefit from them was questionable. Regardless, as a result of such divisions, certain ces within the Inn which were once very popr became less so. The Midnight manor was within an area where the level coincided with Earth immortals. Considering that there were still countless immortals within the Inn, it was still crowded, but Lex intended to raise the level of the manor every chance he got. Or maybe he''d restrict it using some other means than cultivation level. He had sentimental attachment to the manor, and didn''t like seeing it overflowing like a crowded fish market. For now, though, a few thousand immortals surrounded the manor as they enjoyed themselves. If the space weren''t so limited, even more would havee here. Ripley and Lex, both wearing the good old rk Kent sses, walked up to a particr immortal who seemed to be engrossed in a book, sitting within the shade of a tree. "Excuse me sir," Ripley said as they walked up to him. "My associate and I are conducting a survey about the Midnight Inn. Would you mind if we asked you some questions?" The immortal lowered the book, which seemed to be some kind of map or guide towards the West - whatever that meant - and looked at them. He seemed slightly irritated, so before he could respond Lex chimed in. "Of course, for participating in this survey you will be rewarded with a token containing 1,000,000 MP which can be used in the betting pool in the Midnight Games." A million MP was not a lot to an immortal, of that Lex was certain. But an unexpected windfall was always wee by everyone, and especially if it could allow you to have some fun without suffering any personal loss. "Of course I can take the survey," the monkey said, doing a forward flip as it got off the ground. "My name is Wu Kong. It''s a pleasure to meet you." N?v(el)B\\jnn Lex smiled, and got ready for Ripley to ask questions, but noticed that the auditor froze. Then, in an unexpected move, he took off his sses, revealed his genuine appearance, and bowed at a 90 degree angle. "My apologies for deceiving you, senior. My name is Ripley from the Versalis Bank. I am doing an audit for the Innkeeper. I meant no disrespect." Lex was confused about what was happening, but he certainly understood that Ripley must know who this Wu Kong person was. In fact, he was probably someone quite senior to make Ripley react like that. Wait a minute¡­ for Ripley, someone who regrly met Dao Lords, to suddenly react so seriously¡­ Mary suddenly talked to Lex directly in his mind. "Lex, be very careful. You might be standing in front of a¡­ a very powerful Dao Lord." Chapter 1339 Completely screwed Chapter 1339 Completely screwed Lex was very confident in his ability to hide his thoughts and emotions, but the moment he realized Wu Kong''s identity - which synchronized with Mary telling him her suspicions - the guest turned his attention towards Lex. The bizarre thing was that under the gaze of the new guest, Lex felt nothing. He distinctly recalled how the system had hidden itself in front of Ballom, yet in front of Wu Kong it did not react at all. It was as if the system wasn''t capable of detecting him at all - something he dared not confirm with a scan of the system, or an evaluation of the guest in front of him. Mary had never warned him like this before, which made Lex think of one thing: that she had heard of Wu Kong from back when she was alive. As if uninterested, Wu Kong turned back towards the auditor. "Junior, you''re no fun," Wu Kong said with exasperation, causing the auditor to bow down even more. "My deepest apologies, senior!" Ripley said, but before he could continue, Wu Kong flicked a finger, and caused Ripley to suddenly stand up straight - even if it was against his will. "Young man, I am on vacation. Over here, I have no identity other than that of a simple guest, so treat me as such. If some of my local friends see you acting like this, they might make wrong assumptions. Now, ask your survey questions and give me that gambling token. I have had trouble getting some MP on my own." Lex could not even begin to ponder why a suspected Dao Lord might have trouble getting some simple MP. The only thing on his mind was wondering how long he''d had a Dao Lord inside the Inn! Lex no longer required the Host Attire to sense the Inn, as he could do it directly now. But whether it was on his own, or when he had been wearing the attire a short while ago, he had not noticed the presence of Wu Kong- "Can you stop thinking about my name?" the guest said, looking at Lex with a look of exhaustion. "It''s quite loud. If you must think about me, I prefer nicknames such as Handsome Monkey King or Great Sage." Lex was stunned, and then forced himself to stop thinking altogether! He did not know if the Handsome Monkey King could read his thoughts or just tell when he was being thought of! Wu Kong nodded, as if pleased by Lex''s use of the appropriate nickname, and then turned back to Ripley. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Don''t make this awkward for me, young man. Get on with your survey." "Yes! Of course!" Ripley said, trying to bow once more, but was physically unable to. Instead, he pulled out a clipboard with a survey printed out on a paper. "My first¡­ first question is: how did you hear about the Midnight Inn?" Ripley asked with a stutter. Lex was now getting worried. He had suspicions he dared not think of, but the oddities were adding up. Ripley was nowhere near this awkward when he met the Innkeeper, and in fact had the air of someone who was used to meeting Dao Lords. In front of the Great Sage, however, he was like a fanboy who had met his celebrity crush! Wu Kong reached out to his ear and pulled out what Lex had originally assumed was a piercing going through the length of his ear. Then his eyes widened as he saw the ''piercing'' suddenly grow till it was the same height as Wu Kong. It was a golden key for the Midnight Inn! "I lost my spear in a fight one day and just reached out into space for a recement, and found this key. It''s not bad, but it breaks too easily. Not that I mind. Upon breaking, it brought me here, and it''s been quite interesting ever since." Oh, whether the system wanted to or not, Lex was going to employ that teleportation restriction as soon as this was over! Ripley quickly wrote down the answer before proceeding to the next question. "How long have you been at the Inn for?" "Not too long. A few months at most. I wasn''t really counting," said Wu Kong casually. By now, Lex had mastered himself, and prevented any kind of emotional turbulence from hearing that an unidentified Dao Lord had been chilling inside the Inn for at least a few months! Now he was certain that either the system could not detect the Handsome Monkey Sage at all. He remembered the names and details of every single guest inside the Inn for that period, and he did not recall this particr guest. "And how would you describe your experience during this time?" Ripley asked, finally getting back into the groove of things if one ignored the fact that he, as a Celestial immortal, was sweating visibly. "Quite novel," Wu Kong said. "By being allowed to enter and circumvent the restrictions of the realm''s upper power limit without any personal effort, I was able to interact with an entire realm of beings who had no idea about anything at all. It''s quite refreshing just hanging out with mortals once in a while. Not to mention, I saw a few interesting things here and there - though I suppose I shouldn''t have really peeked. In my defense, the Innkeeper never really stopped me." Wu Kong looked towards Lex when he mentioned seeing interesting things, and Lex had no doubt that the Monkey Sage had seen his sister fuse with a Sovereign. He''d probably even seen Moon, along with basically everything else that had been going on. At this point, Lex didn''t even know if his identity as the Innkeeper was even safe anymore. On top of everything, he still he his suspicions about the Handsome Sage''s identit- "Can you stop mixing my nicknames like that so casually?" Wu Kong asked while looking at Lex. "It doesn''t feel nice. Here, let me show you." Around a hundred miles from Lex, he was aware of anything and everything that happened so long as it was pertaining to him, and suddenly he could sense someone nearby purposefully insulting him in their thoughts. Lex couldn''t hear the thoughts - not unless he specifically tried to - but he could still sense it. "Doesn''t feel nice, does it?" Wu Kong asked. "My apologies. I meant no disrespect," Lex suddenly said. Wu Kong waved his hand, as if he didn''t really care. "It''s not disrespectful. It''s just that I can''t turn off the sensation, you know? Like, imagine having OCD and you open up your phone and you have countless notifications, and as soon as you go through them all, finally finding freedom, someone just sent you more messages. It''s just mildly annoying in the kind of way you can''t ignore." Lex was dumbfounded for more than one reason! Alright, well, he was mostly dumbfounded because while Wu Kong was talking, a couple had walked up to them - a couple Lex knew very well! Brandon and Audrey Morrison, Alexander Morrisons grandparents, and two of the most ridiculous people alive, walked up behind Wu Kong. Brandon tried to grab onto Wu Kong in a headlock, but Audrey pped him on the back of his head, knocking him aside. "Ah, Brandon and Audrey, I''m d to see you''re back. How was your doctor''s visit? By the way, I''m taking a survey that has a 1,000,000 MP reward! I suggest you guys take it as well." Lex and Ripley both shared a look, and got the feeling that the two new additions did not exactly know the true details of their associate, so it was best they not mention it. "Not bad at all," Brandon said with a grin. "The doc said it''s going to be triplets. Considering that I''m going to need money for the babies milk powder, a 1,000,000 MP survey sounds just right." "I am considering a divorce," Audrey said without the slightest change in expression. "I''m not at the age of having kids. This man has no self control. My grandson is the one who should be having kids." "Of course, I would love to include you in the survey as well," Ripley said without the slightest hint or hesitation. "During your stay at the Inn, has there been anything that you found dissatisfactory or disappointing?" "It''s more or less what I expected. I have noints," said Wu Kong with a shrug. "Nah, the vibe is different," Brandon said. "Back in the day, when the Inn was new, it felt much cozier and fun. Now, even with all the expansion, it''s too crowded for my taste." "Don''t listen to him," Audrey said, her expression still the same. "He''s just sad I refused to do any more beauty contests. I''ll have to admit, that was a bad idea on my part." Ripley continued to ask the trio more questions while Lex just stood there, silently listening, keeping his mindpletely nk of all thoughts. But an empty mind did not mean his emotions or feelings were alsocking, and at the moment, he was feeling extremely screwed. Brandon was trying to find Wu Kong a girlfriend. Chapter 1340 Just act normal Chapter 1340 Just act normal "So what you''re saying is¡­ you''re dissatisfied with the Midnight Inn because you weren''t able to find a good partner for your grandson here?" Ripley asked, making sure he understood the answer correctly. "What is so difficult to understand about that?" Audrey questioned. "This is the Midnight Inn. They have guests from all over. Many of them are supposed to be very powerful. No doubt, many of theme from prestigious backgrounds. So howe none of them could catch my grandsons eye? He is still running around with those buffoons, trying to grow stronger or something. I me the way my son raised him. Too much of a work ethic, and not enough appreciation for life." Considering Alexander''s entire life had been one, long training montage, was it any wonder that he continued to train to this day? Lex looked behind Audrey at the sight of Brandon trying to convince Wu Kong to ept a blind date, whereas Wu Kong was adamant that he would no longer see one of Brandon''s descendants as a date. Lex did not question the sight. He did not think. He had shut down his thoughts because the situation was just too damn dangerous. "Yes¡­ I think I understand. That, I think, will conclude our survey for now," Ripley said as he wiped his forehead with a handkerchief Lex had given him. "Here are your tokens for taking the survey," Lex said as he handed them all physical tokens that looked like poker chips, each one containing 1,000,000 MP. "Speaking of MP," Brandon suddenly said, looking away from Wu Kong. "I think there is something wrong with your service. Old Wu here has beenining about being unable to get any MP, which is really odd because I only need to think about the payment for it to process." Lex and Ripley both looked towards ''Old Wu'' with a hint of confusion, only to see him nod. "For certain reasons, I cannot get MP through the usual means," he confirmed. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "My apologies. Please, ept this as a token of our regret," said Lex, and handed Wu Kong another token, this one containing 1 trillion MP. This one wasn''t limited to gambling, and could be used anywhere. Wu Kong simply nodded dismissively, and Brandon and Audrey didn''t pay special attention to them either as the trio walked away. Even from a distance, Lex could hear Brandon convincing Wu Kong to see his grandniece twice removed, until he eventually relented with a sigh. For a few minutes, both of them just stood there, not moving, till Ripley finally turned towards Lex. "I¡­ I hope this is not prying, and if it is you do not need to answer but¡­ but did you know you had such a guest at the Inn?" Lex shook his head, as he slowly allowed his thoughts to return, not that it would be any protection from a Dao Lord. "If you don''t mind, I''ll be taking a small break before we continue the survey," Ripley said, and then quickly vanished from the Inn, leaving Lex all alone. "Lex, do you trust me?" Mary asked, appearing in front of him, looking in the direction of the departing Dao Lord. "Why do you ask?" Lex asked. "If you trust me then¡­ then go wipe your memory of the name you just heard in the Chamber of Secrets. That is not a name that is safe to even know." Lex looked at Mary for a while, but did not question her. Even without thinking it, he had picked up on the subtle hint Mary had dropped. He dared not ask her why he should just remove the name, and not his memory of the entire exchange. Things rted to Dao Lords were just too tricky. "Follow me for a moment," Lex said, and then invited Mary into the chamber itself. Since the system could not detect the presence or movements of Wu Kong whatsoever, Lex did not know that after he disappeared, Wu Kong looked back towards Lex. But he wasn''t looking at where Lex had stood. Instead, he was looking in the air in front of where he had stood¡­ in the ce where Mary had appeared. "Where have I seen you before?" he mused for a moment, then recalled an old movie about superheroes. On the other side of the universe, in the headquarters of the Versalis Bank, Ripley reappeared for the second time in a short while, though this time he used an even more urgent rm than previously. Before he knew it, he once again found himself in front of the bank''s director. "What happened?" the director asked. "I dare not utter the words," Ripley said. "Please view my memories." The director nodded, and ced a hand over Ripley''s head, looking into his memories. Except, the memory didn''t y out as it actually happened. Instead of Wu Kong flipping up and introducing himself, he looked up at the director through the memory with a look of irritation. The director immediately ceased the recording, and leaned back into his chair, letting out a deep, exhausted sigh. "It seems the reason the Innkeeper asked you to do an audit¡­ was exactly so that you could run into¡­ him," the director said with a weary voice. Ripley stood still, awaiting new orders. After a few minutes of silence, which for beings at their level may as well be a few years, the director finally spoke. "You need to change the evaluation criteria of the Inn. Don''t audit it as a ce for mortals to rest. Instead, evaluate it as a secret retreat for Dao level entities who want to immerse themselves with those at a lower level. It should have been an easy thing to guess right from the start considering that all auras arepletely suppressed there." Ripley nodded, and quickly returned to the Origin realm, while the director was left alone in his office once again. After a few more moments, which seemed to exhaust him further, the director made a call he really didn''t want to. "Talk to the board members and put a new topic on the agenda for the next meeting. After the next giga-annum fiscal report, we''re going to prepare for currency exchange with the Midnight Inn internal currency. No, I don''t know what the exchange rate is going to be. Have someone look it up. And find out how we can open a branch at the Inn." The director wanted to hang up the call right after that, but he knew he couldn''t. The problem was, he couldn''t provide the answers to the questions he was asked either. Back at the Midnight Inn, Lex sat opposite Mary in the Chamber of Secrets. For a long time, they sat in silence, until finally Lex spoke. "What the hell are we going to do about a¡­ a¡­ well, you know what inside the Inn?" he eximed, genuinely troubled. He could bluff a lot of things, but he was certain that if a Dao Lord spent any excess amount of time within the Midnight Inn, they''d see through him sooner orter. More importantly, how many people were going to use the ''Innkeeper would have stopped me if he wanted to'' excuse? Had no one considered that the Innkeeper didn''t even know? Of course not. "Lex, I genuinely think the best course of action for you is to pretend like there is nothing wrong, and that he is just another guest at the Inn." "Huh?" Lex said, not expecting that response. "Look, the less you know the better. All you need to know is that he has a certain reputation. As long as you don''t bother him, he won''t bother you. Probably." That philosophy was literally akin to an ostrich hiding its head in the sand, hoping no predator would attack it. Unfortunately, in this scenario, Lex was not even an ostrich. More like a newly hatched, barely able to walk bird. If there was ever a time he would be putting his trust into Mary, it would be now if he really followed her advice. The thing was¡­ he had no alternative. "Fine. What''s the worst that could happen? Don''t I face death in every single serious fight anyway? How is this any different?" Lex asked, psyching himself up as he deleted that guest''s name, and returned to the Inn to find Ripley sitting in awn chair, drinking from a coconut. "You ready to get back to business? I must say, this is the most exciting survey I''ve ever done." "That''s one way of putting it," Lex murmured, as he also grabbed a drink. "Yeah I guess I''m ready to continue." He was slightly afraid of what the next guest they surveyed might turn out to be. Fortunately, the next few guests were rtively normal. Things were finally heading in the right direction. Until they weren''t. A fully armored battalion of Marzu suddenly appeared in the city square, right in front of Lex, and from the angry re they were giving everyone, Lex did not think they were here to go fishing in the wishing well. Chapter 1341 Survey I Chapter 1341 Survey I "Excuse me, would you be willing to participate in a survey?" Ripley asked the mean looking Marzu,pletely indifferent to their extremely angry expression and demeanor. "I am Jidore, herald of the Hidden River tribe of Marzu!" the ferocious beast dered, his voice traveling far and wide. Ripley quickly noted it down. The entire army of magic wielding tyrannosauruses behind him responded to his voice by gathering their magic, having it sing as it coursed through their bodies. "Thank you for participating. Now if you don''t mind, how did you hear about the Midnight Inn?" "Remnants of a Marzu army returned to the Hidden river with news of sabotage and deceit, as well as the untimely death of the Witch of Hidden River, Feyore! They knew not the details of the enemy, and only spoke the words ''Midnight Inn''." "Got it¡­ Midnight Inn¡­ remnant army¡­ dead witch¡­ So these remnants from your army - what kind of feelings did they express when talking about the Midnight Inn?" "Warriors, one and all. Cold, hard, ruthless, leaving corpses in their wake. But their excellence provoked dire consequences." "Got it¡­ excellent warriors¡­ Right, I noted that down. On a scale from one to ten, how easy was it for you to find the Midnight Inn?" Behind Ripley, Lex scratched his head at the unexpected situation. He''d already had Luthor called, who would no doubt answer any questions the angry magical dinosaurs had¡­ but why were they taking the survey¡­ and why was Ripley so bad at reading the room?" "We sent legions of scouts out into the realm, scouring the earth, air and seas until they found word of the Inn hidden across space. Finally, when news of the Inn reached our empire, we waged war andid waste to an empire of Hexapoda to acquire their golden keys and make our way here." "Got it¡­id waste to empires¡­ just toe to the Inn¡­ So how would you describe your actual journey to the Inn? Any teleportation nausea? Missing limbs or organs?" "Not a single wand nor energy crystal was left behind as the entire battalion arrived from our realm to this one like lightning - in the blink of an eye." "Seamless transport inrge numbers¡­not really on the scale but I got it anyway¡­ What''s next? Oh right, how long do you expect to stay at the Midnight Inn? Are there any activities you are looking forward to while here?" "We shall stay until everyst drop of blood from our enemies has been spilled from their bodies, their corpses torn asunder and spread out over thendscape, and not a moment less. At the Inn we will question those who were present on the day of the witches demise! They must have news of the enemy who crossed us, and dared to make an enemy of the Hidden River tribe." "So a long stay, and here to acquire specific news. I guess the newsroom is doing better than I thought. How much are you expecting to spend for your visit to the Inn?" "Cost is of no consequence. The vaults of the Marzu are overflowing, but even so, why should we spend our own treasures? The very treasures of our enemies will pay for our endless conquest, and fuel the fires of war." "Big spender, huh? Well, from a quick nce at you and your friends I can tell you guys like fighting. What are your thoughts on the ongoing Midnight Games which show conquest against mindless invading insects?" "The Hexapoda are an infestation on creation, and any who endeavor to end their existence embark on a righteous crusade. Were we not already upied with a quest for vengeance, then the realm would have been bequeathed the prize of watching the Hidden River tribe tear through the abominable enemy hordes." "So you''d like to participate, but are busy. Quite regretful for you, I''m sure. What are your thoughts on thendscape of the Inn itself, as well as its level distributions?" "Why does it matter? We shall hunt in the ins and in the valleys, we shall hunt in the oceans and across the volcanos. No storm nor tribtion will prevent us from reaching our goal of vengeance. The Inn can only pray that they are not found guilty of being responsible for the death of Feyore." "So you like the variety of scenery, and approve of the Inn taking a neutral stance on political issues, huh? Wouldn''t have taken you as a political type. But wait¡­ does the Inn have a hunting event? I don''t think so¡­ going to have to note that down as a demerit. "What about food? Are you looking forward to the food at the Inn? I''ve heard they have the heir of a Celestial level organization as a cook." "We hunger only for the death of our enemies. We will bury their corpses in ournds, their flesh and blood nurturing thends, granting our crops power." "A fan of how the Inn uses fertilizers I see. How likely are you to rmend the Midnight Inn to a friend?" "All Marzu tribes stand at the ready, already aware of our excursion into the Inn. Should we fail to return, they will take our ce in our quest for vengeance. A blood debt is never forgotten!" n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Oh so you''ve already told all your friends, and if you find it so entertaining that you stay a while they will join? That''s good to hear. Now tell me, do you n on taking advantage of the Inns daycare services?" By now, Luthor, Z and Gerard had already arrived, ready to answer the Marzu''s questions, but they were forced to wait as the Marzu were too engrossed in the survey itself. Lex looked awkwardly at everyone, and then just shrugged. He was having an unusual day, so he dared not say or do anything out of the ordinary, lest he attract even more trouble during the survey. As soon as he had that thought, Lex sensed the Mountain-man, who had been sleeping for a very long time, suddenly opened its eyes. Chapter 1342 Survey II Chapter 1342 Survey II Ripley was in the middle of questioning the Marzu when the Mountain-man, formerly known as Ming Jie, opened his eyes. Aura''s had no effect on anyone, not to mention that the Mountain-man was sitting far enough away from everyone that any abrupt movements on his part would not cause any other guests harm. That did not mean that others would not sense any harmless aura fluctuations, which is pretty much everyone in the Inn felt it when Ming Jie woke up. Admittedly, there was a very brief period wherein mortal guests had taken up climbing the Mountain-man unassisted by tools or techniques as a method of training. But seeing as how that might be interpreted as harassment and invasion of personal space, the Inn had quickly put an end to that. At most, they could only allow guests to pose and take pictures in front of it. So when the Mountain finally did move, there were countless witnesses and guests there, who were momentarily stunned by the unexpected change to one of the Inn''s oldest tourist attractions. Then, the excitement of something novel filled them as they began taking even more pictures. "What is that?" Ripley, who finally paused his unusual survey, asked as he looked towards the towering figure far in the distance. "An old guest who has been sleeping for a while. I might need to take a momentary leave to go talk to him and ensure there are no issues." "If he is an old guest, then I think he qualifies well for the survey. I''m just about finished here anyway. Jidore, thank you so much for participating in the survey. May you find the Midnight Inn meeting if not exceeding your expectations." The angry looking Marzu, who was ready to go to war, merely nodded dismissively. Luthor and the others finally got a chance to go talk to them and clear the air to ensure there was no misunderstanding. The attack on the Midnight Battalion back then had been orchestrated by a number of beings, as they had eventually gathered, but they were unable to discover the identity of all those who acted against them. Fortunately, there was at least one person, or rather Deity, whose participation was confirmed and so could act as the target for the Marzu''s hatred. Lex had already beaten Ra, but the Deity was not dead, and now had another Demi-Dao Lord daughter appearing out of nowhere. Having allies in the form of angry magical dinosaurs upy the Deities'' time and attention was not something Lex would just give up. He just hoped it all worked out well, with no unexpected yet totally predictable consequences. Speaking of Ra''s children, he wondered how Bastet was doing. Compared to her family, she had been a lot more friendly. At the same time, he had no desire to meet her any time soon. Lex and Ripley approached the groaning mountain, who seemed like he was confused and drowsy. "Hello Ming Jie. My name is Lex - a worker at the Midnight Inn. I am here to check up on you as you have been sleeping for a long time. How are you doing?" Lex asked through his spirit sense. "Sleeping?" the confused mountain responded. "No, no that doesn''t sound right. I just took a small nap while my sys- I mean, I merely closed my eyes for a moment while I thought about my future path. How could I have fallen asleep? No way, what are these notifications?" The mountain was clearly not in the best state of mind, as it nearly divulged the existence of its system - something the Innkeeper had warned against. But it couldn''t be helped, for a lot of unexpected things had happened during its nap. "I''m here to answer any questions if you have any," Lex said, as he waited for Ming Jie to reorient itself. Ripley, meanwhile, just waited and did not listen in on their conversation as that would be rude. He still wanted to conduct the survey once the Mountain-man was awake though. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om The Mountain-man quickly went through his notifications, and finally figured out what the hell had happened to it. He had decided to follow the system''s quests, as it concluded that it was the fastest way to grow stronger. The system had told it to nt itself and im its territory, something that was not easy considering it had been effectively kicked out of its old. But the system also informed it that more quests were iing if it merely waited for them in what was called semi-hibernation mode. That''s what Ming Jie had decided to do, but did not realize that the time scale it was going by was that of a mountain. A couple of decades really were just like a few seconds to a mountain, so it had been sleeping for years and years. As if that was not all, it had experienced the baptism of the new realm being born and its abundant energy, causing it to undergo a mutation in the type of mountain it was. Originally, it was a normal mountain, made up mostly of dirt, rock and trace amounts of various ores in its body. Now, it was a Spirit Core mountain, meaning that a high quality spirit stone deposit had formed inside its body, acting as its Golden core, which changed the nature of the dirt, rock and ores inside of its body. It had grown stronger without doing anything, yet now the requirements for its growth had also changed. Unless it found another brand new realm in which it could nt itself, it was probably going to end up having to nt itself in the Midnight Inn. That greatly troubled Ming Jie, for more than one reason. It had wanted to once again be human, as well as go back and search for its original, as well as the princess he had sworn to protect. Now¡­ now it had to face the fact that the princess was most likely already dead, and he had nothing to go back to. What was the meaning of its life? What was it¡­ "Excuse me, I hope I''m not interrupting anything," said Ripley after he felt like the mountain had finally worked off its drowsiness. "I was wondering if you''d like to participate in a survey?" Chapter 1343 Survey III Chapter 1343 Survey III Ming Jie looked at the oddly friendly looking human who had approached his face, and felt¡­ well, odd. Firstly, the Mountain-man''s instincts were telling him that in front of him was a mountain much taller than himself. That didn''t make sense, but the former human took it as a metaphor for the old man to be more powerful than himself. Before he could make a decision on something, he got a quest from his system. Apparently this mountain in the shape of a human in front of him was considered an NPC, and was the source for a very important chain quest at the S grade ranking, which was currently beyond him. Fortunately, the first quest in the chain was not tough, and just required him to make contact and develop a rtionship. Just that in itself wouldplete the quest, and the reward would correspond with the difficulty of the quest, meaning it would be S rank. Although Ming Jie was depressed, and felt like he did not know what to do with his existence, seeing as the system was guiding him in a simple and straightforward manner, he decided to go along. Not like he had anything better to do. "Yes, I suppose I could take a survey," Ming Jie said, but then looked out at the massive audience he had gathered. "But a more private conversation would be better." "I''ll take care of it," said Lex, who was standing nearby. "Don''t resist." He teleported Ming Jie, Ripley and himself to a secluded cottage where they could talk in peace. The cottage was not massive in size. Instead, it had a formation in ce which automatically adjusted the size of anyoneing in so that they would fit in size easily. Even then, Ming Jie towered above the two humans, but at least it was much more manageable now. "Before we begin," Ming Jie said to Ripley, before turning towards Lex, "is the Innkeeper still avable? I would¡­ I would like to meet with him once more." "The Innkeeper is slightly preupied these days," Lex said, "but I''m sure a meeting can be arranged. He did leave some words for you with me, if you wish to hear them." The Mountain-man looked towards Lex with a tinge of hope. "Yes? What did he say?" "The things that you seek are not easy to get, if they''re even possible. If you acknowledge that, then you have only two paths forward. Either you can move on, and ept your new reality, or you can grow stronger, and change your new reality to one you prefer. Either way, the choice is in your hands." They talked through their spirit sense, so Ripley did not overhear anything he wasn''t meant to. Even so, he took a few notes on his clipboard. No matter what they talked about, it didn''t change the fact that Ming Jie wanted guidance from the Innkeeper, and that the Innkeeper had already prepared some advice for him. Regardless of the content of their conversation, it was the type of rtionship they had that mattered to the survey. The Mountain-man took a few moments to himself to think things through, which for Lex and Ripley meant that they just sat there for three hours, chatting with one another. It was a testament to how slowly Mountain-men perceived reality and time. "Please proceed with your survey," he said softly¡­ meaning that a mortal would have his ears popped due to the sheer volume of his voice. Fortunately, neither Lex nor Ripley were mortals. "First, how did you discover the Inn and how long have you been here?" Ripley asked, getting the usual questions out of the way. "I discovered the Inn in my time of need," the mountain responded somberly. "I had just woken for the first time, unaware of anything. My existence was in danger, and stumbled into the Inn by ident, or by some greater design. "Since then, I more or less spent a majority of my existence here. I was unwanted anywhere else, and the Inn weed me and kept me safe. It was a ce where I came to ept my existence, where I pondered the reality of my situation, where I was guided on the path of my future. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Earlier¡­ earlier, I was contemting just spending the rest of my existence here, working for the Inn, or maybe just staying as a permanent guest. But the words of the Innkeeper¡­ they reminded me that I am not one who epts stagnation as my path. As uncertain as it may be, I would still like to walk a path of peril and danger and have meaning to my existence however short it may end up being, than ept indefinite, meaningless existence." Ripley nodded with an expression of appreciation as he took down notes. Their survey continued for a while longer, and just as it ended, Lex asked Ripley a question none of them had been expecting. He asked Ripley how an individual may open a bank ount with the Versalis Bank, and what kind of services they offered. Ming Jie and Ripley immediately understood that the reason Lex asked that question was for the Mountain-man''s sake - even if Ripley''s immediate was in that very instant, and Ming Jie''s immediate was two and a half hourster. Then¡­ then they had an entirely different conversation where the bank offered the Mountain-man numerous services spanning a period of many millenia, with the interest rate being applied every century. Just as they were leaving, Lex also let Ming Jie know that a Mountain-woman had left her contact information for the very eligible Mountain-man should he be interested. After that, Ripley continued to conduct surveys, some from guests and some from workers. He even surveyed the numerous animals, beasts, and sentient objects within the Inn, such as the golf cart, the tree, the living wind. Qawain and Anita, who were only a few decades away from having their very own baby, gave quite an emotional survey. Anita, who was having her mood swings, was eternally grateful to the Innkeeper, so much so that she promised the next dozens she sacrificed to increase her power would be dedicated to the Inn, while Qawain himself simply thanked the Inn for helping him ovee his introverted nature. The fact that he had hidden himself inside a rock, unwilling toe out no matter who tried to pull him out, for a very long time was a testament to his original quiet nature. The fact that his wife was a living undead, who was more than likely prone to killing any living being near them, just made it easier for him to continue being introverted. While taking notes of their survey, Ripley muttered a few odd lines such as "housing homeless mass murderers and rehabilitating them¡­" and "social work for swords" whatever that meant. Then¡­ then there were the surveys for the Drama-cats. That was destined to be a memorable experience as it was, but as it happened, when they went to interview them, the Drama-cats had a guest of their own. Pontiff Faloofa, hero and nominal leader of the bunnies, had somehow encountered them, and turned them into his followers as well, equating him to the great and powerful Bob, first of the Drama-cats. The fact that Lex discovered that Faloofa was also in the Celestial immortal realm made that interview even more unusual - especially since Faloofa seemed unable to gauge his true strength, and thought that nearly everyone and everything he faced was stronger than him. As such, whenever he fought, he always felt like he would manage to push out just enough power to win and survive, but never enough to excel. After that they interviewed a couple of kids - though they were no longer kids - who were actually werewolves, and just seemed like they were farming addicts. They had a whole story about how their n wanted them, away frombat, and that they should train their strengths, for which the Inn was perfect. Lex personally just felt like they had be addicted to the feeling of nting carrots and harvesting them. Little Blue gave an interview, though it said no real words, acting much like Fenrir who would only bark. A barking whale was a bit of an oddity, but a barking Kun Peng was in an entirely different league of unusual. Ripley, at least, did not judge. He only wrote down a notebeling it as "cute". The Krab-man also known as J.F.K. gave an interview. Some of the refugees from earth gave interviews. A number of devils gave interviews. Jill, the fox who turned into a human and won the Lady Cosmos contest and was then being hunted by a race of disgusting slugs known as Gti, gave an interview. Vera and her mother both gave interviews. Heck, even the rhinocentaurs gave an interview, and used it as an opportunity to mention countless times how merciful the Inn was in allowing them to live after they attacked the Inn in their ignorance. Eventually though, the survey portion of the audit ended, and they moved onto the next part of it: services and facilities. Chapter 1344 Extensive audit I Chapter 1344 Extensive audit I Despite how agonizingly slow it was - an emotion Lex only felt because he wanted to hurry up andplete the changes with the system - surveying so many people was actually quite entertaining. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The process actually took several days, and they surveyed over ten thousand guests, workers and general inhabitants of the Inn. It was good to see so many old faces once more - faces Lex expected to see more often from now on that his attention had returned to the Inn. Yes, this was just a list of some of the beings surveyed, and in no way a reminder of characters long forgotten with their storylines- eh, with their personal issues unresolved. Why would Lex require such a thing? As an immortal now, his memory was perfect. As an example, Lex could easily recall countless others he knew from back when the Inn was new, but they had not been able to survey for various reasons, such as old man Will, the Chthulhu spirit, Remy, that weird At-Morpher guy who wanted to start a cult within the Inn, Alysha, the Inn worker who formerly had a dessert farming system and was eventually reunited with her sister inside the Inn, Brother Chen and Lily who had a sessful shop inside the Guild hall, the old queen of Ennd and the other Nascent soul cultivators who had sincee into agreements with devils, La, the former leader of the Peacock warriors, Pvarti and his wife, and so many others. Yes, just because Lex would now probably be seeing many of them again since his focus was now renewed on the Inn did not mean that he specifically needed to think of them again as a reminder of their existence. That would be like taking time out of his day to think about the fact that Earth, a existing in a former dead zone - a universal, unexined phenomenon that existed in almost all mature and older, developing realms - had suddenly been flooded in spirit energy once again, as if whatever the cause for the existence of the dead zone was vanished on its own. This was certainly not a foreshadowing of other dead zones ceasing to exist, resulting in unexpected developmentster on in the future. Instead, it was just another, random thing he did not need to think about since he was upied with other thoughts. To actually do so would be like purposefully thinking about the fact that Giselle had also not been surveyed, because she entered the Minor realm controlled by the Jotun empire to go and explore that tower which held unrevealed secrets so great it allowed Jotun to be a Celestial immortal after he explored onepletely in his youth. Lex simply did not have the attention to spare such things as he was busy exploring all the services of the Inn, and realizing that he had really ignored some of them. Yes, there were services like the Meditation room and Recovery room - the two mostmonly used services inside the entire Inn. Then there was the Training room, something he himself had not used in a long time but retained its position as one of the most popr services in the Inn. Of course, these were the most popr if one did not count the actual rooms guests rented, such as the Normal Guest room, Courtyard, Small house, Large house, Small vige, Cabins, and such. The fact that the Greenhouse, which was basically just the Turtles domain, had also be a popr ce to rent out for guests who were sentient nts of a kind or another was also something that should have been easily predictable. It was the other services such as the Tailor, the Hot tub room, the Patisserie, the Tribtion rooms, the Chamber of Secrets and such that actually became rtively less popr. Ripley did note that it was off that the Inn had a tailor, but not a cobbler, milliner or a good cane maker. One reason why the existing rooms could be less popr was because there were plenty of other ways to find entertainment inside the Inn. Lex had to admit to himself it was also because he had not kept up with the various kinds of rooms he could open up, and had not catered to the variety of demands his guests had. For example, the option for an Armory had been avable to him for a long time, but he had never gotten around to opening it because he couldn''t find a decent weapons and armor manufacturer. Xeon, the drake refiner he hired so long ago didn''t count because he was kept busy with requirements of the Inn and its staff, so he hardly ever interacted with guests. Lex made a mental note to hire the dwarf that made Naraka for the armory when he got the chance. But that was just one room that was in demand. Other rooms that guests wanted were forges for treasure manufacturers, alchemy rooms, formation rooms, talisman rooms, gravity rooms, rooms that acted like the vacuum of space, a Void room, cursed rooms, aetheric rooms, Law research rooms, knitting rooms which were apparently absurdly popr due to the overwhelming poprity of the Grandma Deity, painting rooms, reading rooms, storage vaults, procreation rooms which was a disturbing thought but apparently required for the survival of certain races, and quite a few more. Lex actually felt a little embarrassed when he opened that particr panel of his system, and promptly closed it. No point in introducing new services while the old ones were undergoing an audit. Speaking of which, when Ripley audited the Wishing Well and the Mystery trial, he was genuinely stunned. In fact, Ripley even tried out the Mystery trial himself, and came out feeling oddly subdued and furiously began taking notes on his clipboard. The thing that genuinely confused Ripley the most was why they hadn''t added a Chaos Sea swimming pool. It wasn''t even a derogatory question when he asked it. Rather, he felt like the Innkeeper probably had some hidden n with it. Chapter 1345 Extensive audit II Chapter 1345 Extensive audit II n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om That''s when Lex discovered that among the genuine elite of the universe, the truly top tier Dao level factions, a Chaos Sea swimming pool was seen as a status symbol, and something that was genuinely enjoyed. The fact that only the most powerful of Dao lords could artificially create the Chaos Sea was a testament to how valuable it was. It also probably wasn''t called Chaos Sea, as most people did not have enough of it to form a sea, but since Lex had been calling it that from the get go, to change it now seemed unnecessary. Unable to think of a decent response, Lex acknowledged that the Innkeeper truly did have other ns. He did not want to squander his Realm-growth-juice, which was definitely not as good a name as Chaos Sea. By far, the thing Ripley seemed most visibly bothered by was the massive spaceship that was being used as a daycare. He gave Lex a few odd stares, but ultimately said nothing, and just noting stuff down on his clipboard. Ripley also inspected the border of the Inn, tried to exit himself which failed, and asked questions about any growth ns that the inn had, which at the moment was unnecessary. Let alone billions, even trillions of guests could easily fit in the space that was currently avable to the Inn. But while the Inn had enough space to sustain so many people, whether or not their other facilities could support such a load was something that needed to be determined - something Ripley focused on. He personally used every avable form of transport, ranging from golf carts, cycles, hover cars, trains, spaceships, peacock mounts,zy rivers, walking paths, ziplines, teleportation formations, tuk-tuks, paragliding and parachuting. He judged them on the basis of efficiency, novelty factor, entertainment value, time consumption, ease of use and a few other parameters. The next step in investigating the load the Inn could support was to check how well they could manage the essential needs of their guests. For mortals, that naturally included things like food, and shelter, but when he started to check up on facilities offered to other races Lex felt like Ripley seemed less than impressed. Yes, the Inn had a number of different biomes which supported the existence of various kinds of races, but it seemed like there were a few basic things the Inn wascking in. It was understandable, since Lex had not even known that such races with so many unusual requirements existed in the first ce. Fortunately, most of such races did not exist naturally within the Origin realm, Crystal realm or Midnight realm so it was not an issue for now. But if the Inn wanted to operate on a universal level, it would need to amodate them. Heck, there were even actual Immortal races that would suffer severe consequences if they did not eat regrly, and their diet was naturally quite special. The mostmon example was the requirement for some Hellion races to regrly consume the souls of the living. That one had stumped Lex, and he had no idea how he would meet that need if he were ever required to. By now, a number of days had already gone by, and Lex began to wonder how long this would take since Ripley showed no signs of stopping. The Titan shared his interest in exploring every single Minor realm connected to the Inn, but seeing as how that wasn''t possible as many of them were still locked or undiscovered by guests, he settled for exploring the discovered ones. Considering there were well over a 100,000 Minor realms connected to the Inn, Lex nearly gave up and handed the task of escorting Ripley to someone else. Unfortunately, regardless of how long or tedious the task was, it needed to be done. Thus began the journey of Lex finding out for the first time what many of those Minor realms actually held. He kind of knew, since the Minor realms were now connected to the Inn, but considering that the territory within the Minor realm was not actually a part of the Inn, he didn''t know the exact details. Fortunately, Ripley did not spend much time in each realm, basically just scanning it once with his spirit sense, so it took about three days to go through all the ones avable and open at that time. It was quite insightful for him, because apparently one of the Minor realms was just an expansive body of water which contained many races that lived in the water, one of which were mermaids. They were surprisingly friendly, and did not at all hold up to the racial stereotype of ugly creatures using their singing to attract people to their doom. Then, Ripley explored all the settlements, cities, viges, towns, lone cabins and houses, and basically any ce else where guests gathered within the Inn. Considering that the wilderness of the Inn actually now contained wild, non-sentient beasts that were actually a little dangerous to low leveled guests, that area was not so wide. He took note of how far each settlement was from each other, their rtive positions, their environment,ndscape, weather and prominent features. Hepared the poptions they could hold and created a poption distribution map. He even took note of any significant or prominent tour attractions, natural wonders, sights, activities, and other key points of interest. At this point, the only thing Lex could say he enjoyed was when they stopped at restaurants and cafes to check out their foods. Many of them weren''t even Inn operated anymore, as the refugees who lived in the Minor realms were operating businesses within the Inn now - so long as they maintained their standards. From the threadcount of the bedsheets, to the size of the formations in the restrooms, Ripley analyzed each and every thing in such excruciating detail, that after an entire month when the audit finally ended, Lex nearly cried tears of joy. Or to be more specific, the part of the audit Lex could apany Ripley on came to an end, for now the auditor began to test the smoothness of teleportations using golden keys from various environments within the Origin realm. Chapter 1346 Totally not a mental breakdown 1346 Totally not a mental breakdown "SCREW YOUR GRANDMOTHER!" the sentient screamed, making use of the power it had long been reserving to escape its gxy wide prison. Sure, the had more than enough lives to consume within that gxy, and didn''t need to escape. But it was the thought that mattered. It didn''t like being restricted. But it didn''t like being toyed with even more, so it unleashed its hidden powers, and teleported as fast as it could, finally touching the golden door. It wasn''t even curious anymore about what the door held. It just wanted it destroyed. That is why the sentient was taken by surprise when the full force of its 278,229 USAs wide body mming into the door didn''t break it. Instead, from the door, the sentient felt a request for a teleportation. Feeling intrigued once more, it gave the permission. "What''s the worst that could happen?" the asked itself, thereby raising a massive red g for itself before venturing off to go meet the human who made a living out of doing the absurd and the impossible. Just before it disappeared, the heard a very familiar sound. It was a new notification from its system. ***** Lex threw himself into the hot tub, hoping for it to squeeze out the fatigue in his soul. It wasn''t literal fatigue. As an immortal, it wasn''t easy to exhaust him. But man, even having an immortal mind did not make it any easier to go through days of extremely tedious investigations. Actually, it did. Lex had long lost the ability to feel bored since his mind could be upied by a billion other things without affecting his ability to function at all. But it was more the thought that counted than anything. He did work that felt like it should have been mentally and emotionally draining, so that''s how he was going to act. It was a luxury he had as his own boss - sort of. Besides, it was only a little more time before the auditing resumed, so the only real work Lex could end up doing was continuing his negotiation with the system. That could be done in his office, or from the hot tub. Who was going toin? "Mary, it''s been long enough so let''s get right to it," Lex spoke directly in his mind. Even if the system would keep everything he said safe, with a Dao Lord within the Inn, he wasn''t going to take any chances. Actually, Lex had no idea if the Dao Lord whose name he had erased from was still inside the Inn. Although he had not tried looking for him, he discovered that scans of the Inn did not reveal him at all. This was one more danger he had to just ignore and hope nothing happened - a habit he was hoping to break by bing stronger. But it would be a long time before he could face a Dao Level problem straight in the face, so he had to be content with ignoring and hoping for now. "I''m sure the system can see now why my precautions are necessary. If we don''t resolve this issue soon, then things will get only worse." "There''s a problem," Mary said as she appeared in front of Lex. "Since the system can''t detect you-know-who, it has no way of knowing that a Dao Lord is here, and is still behaving reluctantly to change its rules so straightforwardly" "It can''t detect him at all?" Lex asked, surprised. That probably exined why he hadn''t been able to get any MP. It''s because the system was not actually treating him as a real existence. "Well whether it acknowledges it or not, we have to restrict the teleportation before-" Before Lex couldplete his sentence, the notification sound in his head went off and the system interface suddenly appeared in front of his face! Yet that was far from all. It wasn''t just that the notification sound was deeper and louder than he had ever heard, but that even when the quest appeared in front of his face, its style and format were unfamiliar. More importantly, as an Immortal now, Lex was a lot more sensitive to certain things. He noticed immediately that time around him seemed to slow down, and even Mary herself was affected. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Emergency Quest!: Aberrant system detected! Reintegrate the aberrant system into the Systemwork using superior authority and status. Quest details: You havee across an anomaly incapable of self correcting through ordinary means. Correction is not required. Simply integrate the anomaly into your own system withoutpromising its current state toplete the quest. Quest reward: 1 instance of temporary authority to rewrite system operations. Quest failure punishment: Unable to determine. Lex read thepletely foreign format of quest multiple times, and took in a few key points. First, he was absolutely sure that this quest was not given to him by the Midnight Inn system because the quest actually provided him with details and exnations - even if they were vague. Compared to what his system did, this was way too nice. Second, he basically confirmed that all systems were connected! The quest literally stated that there was a systemwork that he needed to connect this new system to. This was not too much of a revtion though, as Lex had his suspicions when he discovered the upgraded version of the Fancy Monocle in the Infinity Emporium. But confirmation of it didn''t feel as good as he would have thought. He had only just begun to trust his system. What was he supposed to do now that he was aware that there was a damn systemwork constantly monitoring all systems, and was even able to hand out quests? In truth, Lex fully intended on doing nothing. He hade to terms with the fact that, for now, the system was his biggest reliance. It was his greatest source of treasures, and was what allowed him to get in contact with so many extraordinary things. Without it, his growth would be stunted. All he needed to do now was just ensure nothing went wrong, try to control the situation as best as he can, and be insanely strong. Lex had a feeling that even systems could not so easily affect Dao Lords. He was also keenly aware that the systemwork, if that really was the thing that gave him this quest, had definitely been spying on him. How else could it so conveniently offer him the one reward he really wanted at the moment. The only positive he could see from this whole situation was that he could get rewards out of the systemwork, which seemed to have a higher authority than his system, and that it didn''t seem to mind him wanting to do things differently. Oh, and also that he had a high authority and status, though he had no idea if that was due to himself or his very high level yet broken system. It was not that Lex had suddenly be more trusting. It was just an inescapable effect of bing an immortal. Lex was less anxious about potential problems, and more confident in his own ability to face them. Time did not return to its normal state of flow, and Lex suddenly received a bit of information as the quest panel disappeared from in front of his eyes. It was not that time had slowed down, but that his perception of time was being artificially elerated to help himplete this quest. Speaking of which, he even received information on the quest itself. The "aberrant system" or rather, the being who had it, had entered the Inn, but instead of being teleported to the Inn itself, it had instead been sent to the Innkeepers office. That was the extent of the help he received. Lex smiled, put on his Host Attire, and teleported to his office. He was smiling because he was looking forward to facing this brand new, unprecedented and possibly extremely dangerous challenge, and not at all because he was having a partial mental breakdown from constantly having to face beings of unimaginable power. No, no, why would that bother him? Whether a Dao Lord could kill him, or a strong Heavenly Immortal, or an average or even weak Celestial immortal, that was an equal amount of death he would be getting. It wasn''t like one death was more serious than the other - as far as he knew. So it was perfectly fine treating all beings above a certain threshold of power as exactly the same, because Lex was equally powerless in front of them all. Of course, he could also write them a strongly worded letter using the Innkeepers pen and ink. That would show them. Lex woke himself up from his random thoughts as heid eyes on the newest guest in his office. It was a, and somehow the size shrinking ability of his office turned the massive into roughly the size of a disco ball. But just because its size had changed did not mean it could be taken lightly. No, this was a being at the peak of the Celestial immortal realm! Chapter 1347 Ereboth the Insatiable Chapter 1347 Ereboth the Insatiable Normally, faced with an unknown entity, the first thing Lex would do was scan them. Considering that his scan was now able to even detect people up until the Celestial realm, it was much more useful. Unfortunately, the system scan never worked on others with systems, so Lex would have to gather all pertinent information himself, which for a few things wasn''t difficult. Even with Lex''s extremely limited experience with livings, this being the first one he had met, he could tell that the in front of him had a cultivation of its own, and it was at, if not near, the very peak of the Celestial realm. "Greetings guest, to the Midnight Inn," Lex said. Pretending to bepletely calm in front of a considerably superior entity that was capable of easily killing him actually made Lex feel slightly nostalgic. It had been a good while since he had done something like this. "I am the Innkeeper, owner of this humble establishment." Lex did not continue. Usually, the initial introduction would be followed by a few other lines which would help guide the thoughts of his target along the lines that he wanted. The issue right now was, he had no idea how this had entered the Inn, what its intentions were, and what Lex could possibly offer it. "I am Ereboth the Insatiable," the eventually said, after a few seconds of silence. "Are you truly the Innkeeper? From the¡­ from the¡­" Lex should have known his reputation preceded him. He wondered which of his numerous feats had reached the sentient world. Was it the Midnight Games, which had swept a good portion of the Origin realm? Was it his act of almost ying a Deity? Histest cooperation with the Henali? Or perhaps it was¡­ "Are you the Innkeeper from the Midnight Innics?" Ereboth asked with a hint of excitement. It was a good thing Lex had long mastered the art of self control, or his disappointment would have been palpable. How could he not know about thoseics? Velma had been writing them under her pseudonym and publishing it on the Henali portal. Theics had be so sessful that she, as the author, had developed a cult following and had gained many suitors who wanted naught but to marry her. "Rather than saying I am the Innkeeper from theics," the Innkeeper spoke, his voice calm and patient as ever, "it would be more urate to say that thoseics are about me" The trembled visibly, filled to the brim with excitement. "Oh man, I can''t tell you how much of a fan I am!" Ereboth the Insatiable eximed. "Even though the Henali locked me in my prison, they were nice enough to leave me a connection to the Henali portal so I could stay up to date with all thetest news. You can imagine how boring and monotonous eternity gets when you''re restricted to a single gxy where no one is as strong as you." Ereboth was speaking in a jolly and jovial tone, but Lex was far from the weak Innkeeper he had once been. His cultivation realm was not the only thing that had grown, so had his various abilities and instincts. From Ereboths seemingly simple words, such as eximing how boring it was no one else was of his level, Lex felt an immense amount of bloodlust. In fact, every single action that the world did, every single word that it spoke revealed an underlying aura, hidden to all but the most observant. Lex did not think he''d ever met anyone with as much blood on his hands as Ereboth. Actually that might not be true, but he''d certainly never met anyone with as much of an insatiable desire to kill as much as the. He absolutely could not take it lightly. "Monotony is also an opportunity to temper oneself," Lex spoke, not really saying anything. "I am sure one such as you found ways to upy yourself." Lex needed an opening. He needed the to reveal something about itself, or perhaps its intentions. He could not randomly talk to it about systems, let alone ask him to use his superior authority over it. "Hehehe, well I found a few snacks here and there to munch on to fill the time," Ereboth said, its shape suddenly beginning to change. Instead of remaining in the form of a suppressed, it transformed into the appearance of a human, simr to the Innkeeper, and finally sat down in front of him. "Speaking of snacks, Innkeeper, I read something interesting in yourics. I wonder if the same is true for reality. Is it true that¡­ once the Inn is attacked, you keep the attackers locked in your Inn as prisoners?" Although Ereboth spoke politely and with a smile, Lex immediately sensed an immense amount of malice within the''s words. In fact, now that he was sitting in front of Lex as a human, his expressions were even easier to read, and they were not pleasant. There was also the fact that Lex himself had read all theics Velma wrote - simply to make sure she did not reveal something best kept secret, and not at all because he liked readingics of himself acting cool. Nothing in theics had ever hinted at the Inn keeping prisoners. That would create a very bad impression of the Inn, and Velma would never do something like that. After all, if guests read about the fact that the Innkeeper could forcibly shut down their ability to leave the Inn, they absolutely wouldn''t feel as rxed. Before Lex could answer, Ereboth continued. N?v(el)B\\jnn "Instead of keeping your prisoners captive within the Inn, wouldn''t it be better to send them elsewhere? Maybe a proper prison world? I don''t know if you know this, but Henali sends all its death row convicts from across the entire realm to me to¡­ take care of. You could do much the same." Suddenly, Lex experienced something he had never felt before - at least as the Innkeeper! He felt himself locked onto by a malicious spirit sense! Despite appearing with the aura of a Dao Lord, Ereboth had dared lock onto him! Chapter 1348 Do not tolerate impoliteness Chapter 1348 Do not tolerate impoliteness No wait, Lex suddenly realized that he wasn''t portraying the aura of a Dao Lord. After all, most of the time, the Innkeeper appeared in front of guests without any aura at all, and he had done the same when appearing in front of Ereboth. "Or better yet, why don''t you give me all of your guests!" Ereboth''s aura began to rise rapidly, just as his grin grew everrger. Time seemed to slow down in Lex''s eyes, and this time it wasn''t because the systemwork had slowed down his perception of time. Rather it was his own instincts at work. Theymunicated with him as clearly, or even clearer than they ever had before. Lex was about to die. He had been locked onto by a being he could not hope to resist, and it was gathering itself up to strike. In fact, the reason it had not already struck was because it was savoring the build up, hoping to see some fear and terror in the Innkeeper''s eyes. Thatst bit was not information provided by his instincts, but Lex''s own deduction, as well as his sixth sense which was very good at determining others feelings. Yet in the face of certain death, Lex felt not an iota of fear. Lex had looked a Demi-Dao Lord in the eyes and proimed vengeance in the future, so a Celestial immortal could not intimidate him. Although he knew logically speaking he could do nothing to resist, Lex did not operate on normal logic. To kill him was far from simple. Heck, if nothing else, Lex was certain that if he unsealed whatever was in his mind keeping his time affinity at bay, both of them would die. So even if he were to die, he would not do so alone. But Lex had no intention of dying, now or ever. Seeking supremacy was not for the weak of heart. So with a clear mind, and all his focus, Lex began to analyze the situation, as well as the strange reaction his instincts were giving him. They were telling him he was faced with certain death, but were not telling him how to avoid it, which was unusual. His instincts always provided him with a way out of trouble, unless he was faced with a being of astronomical power. Since Ereboth had not yet reached the Dao level, Lex did not consider him to be at such a level. That only left him with one other exnation. His instincts seemed unable to detect things rted to systems. Or perhaps, it was not that his instincts could not detect them, but instead that they could not directly guide him. If the solution to his current predicamenty within his system or maybe even that of Ereboth''s, his instincts could not guide him. But by remainingpletely silent, they could at least tell him that the method of his survival was rted to systems, and let him discover the rest himself. He quickly went through everything his system offered him, and discovered that there was nothing it could do to save him in this instant. He could try to evict Ereboth from the Inn, but he had a feeling that the Celestial level would be able to resist instant teleportation. That meant the method of his escapey not within his system, but Ereboths. But Lex knew nothing about his system, so it was unreasonable to expect him to be able to do anything with that. Maybe his hope, then,y in his superior authority. After going through every possible solution, Lex decided that this was the option he would gamble on. He could, indeed, teleport away and try to escape. But if he did that, then the image of the Innkeeper would forever be broken. That was just condemning himself to a long, slow death rather than an instant one. With his decision made, Lex acted. He summoned the full aura of the Innkeeper that the system afforded him, and for once mixed in his own Domination as well. He put his entire being into squeezing out the most powerful Domination he could muster, hoping that when mixed in with the Innkeeper''s natural aura, it would give a stronger impression. Outside, within the Inn itself, the clear sky was suddenly overcast as heavy clouds appeared within the sky, and an oppressive aura filled every corner of the Inn. Wu Kong, who was about to agree to Brandon''s demand of dating his grandniece, felt the aura and snorted, turning away, as if he had been caught doing something shameful. Every other guest suddenly held their breath, and felt like they were on the precipice of doom. No one knew what had happened, and most couldn''t even muster up the courage to ponder the reason for such a change at all. But none of them felt like they themselves were in danger, for the aura was not targeting them. No, Lex had not released a blind, targetless aura. Instead, it was tinged with his intention towards Ereboth. As for what his intention was? It was the intention of an elder to warn a naughty child. Oh, it was also filled with his intention to use his authority as a system owner to disy the system interface, and that is exactly what happened. His system interface popped open in front of him - and so did Ereboths system: The System System! n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om The ever pleasant, ever calm Innkeeper disyed the slightest hint of disapproval in his eyes as he looked at Ereboth. "Young man, although I wee all guests, I do not tolerate impoliteness. Do not make me turn off your system for a while. It would be a shame for you to fail all 107 of your active quests." Ereboth''s aura froze, and for the second time in its existence, it felt fear. The first time, it had felt fear when the Governor had faced him, and locked him in his gxy. That was the fear of death. But this time¡­ this time he felt the fear of a secret revealed! Chapter 1349 A being at the pinnacle of existence Chapter 1349 A being at the pinnacle of existence Silence. A heavy silence hung in the Innkeepers office as the Innkeeper looked disapprovingly at Ereboth, while Ereboth himself was sweating in a panic. For those wondering, yess could sweat. The people living on the itself referred to it as rain, but that was just a matter of semantics. Neither of them spoke. Or, to be more specific, after the Innkeeper gave a verbal warning, Ereboth had yet to react. That was fortunate, because Lex was taking his time reading about the System system as much as he could from the interface. For a moment, he felt like he could control the entire system. While that may or may not be true, he could not do it without making his intention obvious. Previously, he had mixed his intention with his aura, and the''s system responded. If he wanted to continue using it, he would need to make his intention clear somehow. He already tried giving Ereboths system a mentalmand, but it seemed not to respond to that - likely because he was not linked to the system itself. This was all new territory for him, but it was extremely informative and he needed to make the most of it. After all, he didn''t want someone else doing the very same thing to him one day. But that was unlikely, because when he saw the interface, one of the things he noticed was that the System System was an A grade system, while the Midnight Inn was a Divine grade system, even if it was broken. This was just a guess of his, but Lex theorized that his superior authority, as stated by the quest he received previously, came from his system being of a higher grade than anything Lex himself did. He read through the rest of the interface, unable to actually interact with it without showing his intention somehow. From what he gathered, Ereboth''s system allowed him to¡­ somehow grant others a simplified system, and through his subordinated system users somehow grow stronger. It was literally one of Lex''s theories about why systems existed in the first ce, brought to life right in front of him. Except it was a specific system doing that, instead of all of them. That wasn''t to say that the creator of the systems wasn''t doing something simr, but as a weakling Lex couldn''t do anything about that right now so it was just best to ignore it. But in the case of Ereboth, at least, things seemed to be more nuanced than they appeared. He did not have any control over the systems granted to others - or at least that''s what it seemed like to Lex based on the quests he was reading. Most of the quests were about somehow nurturing amazing or unique system users, and have them grow to a certain degree within a certain time. What was interesting was that Lex could see two quest tabs on Erebpths interface, one for quests that he had, and one for quests he could grant to others. "How¡­ how can you¡­ you know?" Ereboth asked, his voice trembling. He did not even dare lean back into his chair, and instead remained frozen in his exact ce. "I¡­ I have already seen it¡­ others¡­ others can''t really learn about my system easily, especially if they are strong!" With the Innkeeper ring his aura, Ereboth finally became aware that he waspletely outmatched in strength, but that confused him even more. Lex instantly judged from his words that Ereboth waspletely unaware that others besides it had systems. It truly thought that it was the only one that had a system. "Your understanding, orck thereof, seems to have nothing to do with me. Seeing as how you havee to the Inn in bad faith, maybe I should just banish you from the Inn, and return you to where you came from," the Innkeeper said in an admonishing tone. "No!" Ereboth pleaded, suddenly falling to his knees. "No Innkeeper¡­ Sir! Lord! Please! I¡­ I want to¡­ no, I need to understand! Are you¡­ did you create the system? How could you know about it? No one knows about it." The Innkeeper only shook his head, disappointedly. "A frog at the bottom of the well knows nothing of the great sea. You presume to know secrets, yet you know nothing. You presume that you may do as you please without consequence, but you are a misbehaving child who has tasted the love of disciplining. Tell me, Ereboth the Insatiable, why should I answer your questions when you came to me in bad faith? I am a good host, but no one ever said anything about being forgiving." The started panicking as it quickly thought of a solution. In truth, it had little to no experience talking to others - mostly because it was busy killing or using them - and did not know the concept of give and take. But it did understand quests. Lex watched with intrigue as a new entry suddenly appeared in Ereboths quest tab, and read it with a feeling of mild amusement. Less than a few seconds ago, this Celestial immortal was about to kill him, and now it was stressed out because it did not know how to improve Lex''s mood. The quest it received was also interesting. New Quest: Before you stands a being at the pinnacle of existence, holding onto secrets you cannot even begin to imagine. One of those secrets is how you can improve your System, and move onto the next phase of your existence. cate the being, get into its good books, and do whatever you need to do to upgrade your system. Quest Reward: Dungeon upgrade panel! Quest Failure Punishment: All progress towards upgrading the system will cease for 500 million years. Remarks: Legend speaks of a myth stating that there was once a rumor that the mighty Innkeeper wields the Butter Knife of Destiny. Do not verify if that legend is true - you may not survive the encounter.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Chapter 1350 Story time I Chapter 1350 Story time I Now that he knew what Ereboths objective was, Lex rxed. Powery in knowing what others wanted. With that knowledge, he could manipte the situation to his benefit. In the beginning, the only reason he was on the backfoot was because he knew nothing about Ereboth, or its intentions. Now, not only had he gained the advantage, he also understood his intentions, which were to get into his good books. Lex literally held all the advantage, so he rxed, and let Ereboth make the next move. He would mold the situation like y, turning it into an oue he found eptable. He was especially interested in Ereboths system, and what could be done with it. In fact, he even got a few ideas of how it could be useful. Unfortunately, Lex could not actually y the evil and absorb its system, so he would have to settle for something else. Ereboth may becking in social grace, but he was not stupid nor was he inexperienced. If nothing else, just the lives of the trillions of beings that had once inhabited his were stored in his mind like memories, a reservoir from which he could search for solutions. N?v(el)B\\jnn He went through the memories of billions of humans,pared their characteristics and nature to that of the Innkeeper, and came to a certain conclusion. The fact that he was even able to sit and have this conversation now meant that the Innkeeper was not too upset with him. If such was not the case, then the Innkeeper would have already either killed or banished him. With this knowledge, the felt like it had secretly regained a bit of its momentum, as the threat of death evaporated in its mind. Then, it continued to evaluate the lives of those humans, and determined the best way to proceed from this situation was to appeal to the Innkeepers sense of empathy and mercy by beingpletely truthful. Even a hint of deceit would cause the n to fail. With his decision made, Ereboth decisively took action. He looked at the Innkeeper with a mncholic look, and asked a question. "Innkeeper, would you mind listening to my story? It is not an excuse for my behavior¡­ but maybe it will exin why I act the way I acted, and how I''ve known no other reality save one of the winners eats the losers. I have never known another kind of rtionship." The Innkeepers eyes shed with a look of pity, as if he was looking down upon a lost child in need of guidance. "Very well. I will hear you out," he said, his voice returning to his previous calm and collected state. "I¡­ my¡­ my very birth itself was linked to the system," Ereboth said with wistful eyes. "I always knew it was an external thing,e to me from the great unknown. But I did not question it, mostly because for the first billion years of my life, I was wholly incapable of suchplex thoughts to begin with. "When I gained sentience as a, I was guided by instincts. I wanted my to thrive, wanted to eliminate parasites who take but do not give, and wanted to grow stronger in spiritual energy. "As it happened, my system wanted a simr thing. My system¡­ my system is the¡­ the¡­" Ereboth had hesitation written all over his face as he struggled with revealing the details, so Lex helped him. "The System System, yes I am aware," the Innkeeper said as if it was the most insignificant thing in existence. Ereboth trembled, but said nothing about the matter, and instead continued his story. "My System System also wanted me to grow stronger, but using the system. It gave me quests to do. As I was being ruled by instinct anyway, slowly controlling the slow and growth of natural treasures, affecting the flow of history of sentient beings within myself, I instinctively began using my system as well. "My system allowed me to pass out systems to a few others. When I started out, I could only give one system out, thus creating the first every system user on my body. The system user grew stronger by killing others on a simr level, by gaining something called experience. But what it did not know was half the experience it gained was actually passed onto me, slowly raising my level as well and helping me grow stronger. "The first system user died in the pursuit of strength, and so did the second, and the third. But the fourth was something special. He was a mastermind of death, and killed with precision and ease, allowing him to grow stronger quicker. "As he grew, so did I, and I unlocked more features of my system. Instinctively, I gave the fourth system user more and more quests, helping him grow stronger and stronger. But then came a point he became the strongest on the, and I stopped growing. "Fortunately, by then, I unlocked the ability to pass on more systems, and so a culture of killing developed. I started growing stronger even quicker, but then came a problem - an all too predictable problem. My became devoid of almost all life." Silence once again fell in the room, and objectively speaking, Lex could understand how growing up in such an environment could shape Ereboth into a malicious, bloodthirsty, power hungry. Of course, that did not mean he would excuse it, or even allow it. As Lex heard the potential that Ereboths system held, he could not help but admitting that he saw immense potential for it. Not that he wanted to condone killing. No, Lex already knew the other features the held by peeking at the interface, and had a feeling he knew where the story was headed. The feature of the System System that Lex was most attracted to was dungeons! He was already nning how to help Ereboth in the future. "That brought a lull in my growth for a long time," the continued its story. "Until there was finally a change. My system naturally ranked up." Chapter 1351 Story time II Chapter 1351 Story time II Unlike Lex''s system, most systems were of a low rank. If they were newfound systems, they would start at the lowest rank, but even if they were systems that had previous owners that died, it was rare for them to have a high rank. One would think that after the long history of systems, the average rank of systems would rise. This only made sense as systems grew in level over the course of their various owners, or by absorbing other systems. But, at least ording to what Lex knew, that was not the case. He suspected that the systemwork, as he was calling it, might y an active role in keeping systems low leveled. Unfortunately, Lex knew all too little about such things to be sure. "Mary, can you link up with Ereboth''s system?" Lex asked mentally. "Nope," she answered without really appearing. "At least, not right now. That''s all I can say." So it was possible, but the circumstances weren''t right. At least, that''s what Lex gathered. "My System ranked up as my own level strengthened, and my consciousness grew. I was still running on instincts, but I was more present, and could understand things on a deeper level. I could finally understand how having a few system users constantly culling all life on the - meaning all life on myself - was actually slowing down my growth. "I had the system users fight one another through a few quests, giving thest one a mission to build a massive empire. At the same time, I got ess to one of the most prominent features of my system: dungeons!" The Innkeeper did not visibly respond to this news, but Lex was actually really looking forward to it. The concept of dungeons was not new, if these dungeons actually did behave the way Lex imagined. They could be an excellent source for novelty and entertainment for the guests of the Inn - of course, with a disimer that the Inn is not responsible for any injuries or deaths sustained within said dungeons. If Lex and Ereboth coulde up with some kind of beneficial deal that would allow him to send guests to the dungeons, that would be great. In exchange, Ereboth could get more people from whom it could farm experience to grow its own level. "Back in the early days, dungeons weren''t that great. They spawned with a few enemies, but could only be used once a generation since I would need to create dungeons in such a way that the dungeons could be naturally repopted. That meant I had to create hidden chambers where the monsters could live and thrive. "But the system users soon discovered those hidden chambers, and treated them as special reward rooms since such an environment usually contained special treasures to support the existence and survival of those monsters. "Eventually, though, as the millenia passed, and the world went through multiple cycles of repoption and culling, I grew stronger, and the system upgraded once more. That is when I became self aware, and my conditioning started. "All I had ever known was that the living beings that used my body to survive had to kill one another to grow stronger - even though that was as a result of my own interference. But back then, I could not understand that. "Instead, I was conditioned by such knowledge, and as my system grew stronger, and gave me more features, I used them to make that cycle of devouring as efficient as possible. I upgraded my dungeons, connecting them to hidden Minor realms. The monsters within were born in the Minor realms, and grew stronger until they reached the level in which they could enter the dungeon. "From there I learned the concept of farming. I nurtured the monsters, for my system users to reap the rewards of experience which in turn fed me. But if I was then farming monsters, why couldn''t I farm system users? "I createdplex social environments, ensuring that no system user became too powerful, always embroiled in some greater, ongoing conflict or issue. With the threat of survival always bearing down on them, they were never able to focus onplete self development, while their societies lived in just enough prosperity to survive, but not thrive. "More and more, I learned about how the powerful dominated the weak, controlled their very lives, used their mere existence to nurture themselves and grow stronger¡­ because that''s exactly what I was doing to them. Back in my early days, I was trapped in an echo chamber I myself created, setting my habits of devouring and taking any and everything I could. "Then¡­ then the day came that life was born on another in my star system, and I became familiar with the concept of fertilizing my farm. Back then I was not strong enough to break free from the pull of my star, and by the time I became that strong, life on the new had developed to an immense degree. "Eventually I broke free of the pull of my star, devoured the other, became stronger on my own as a, and transferred all life onto myself, bringing forth the very first alien invasion those on my ever faced." N?v(el)B\\jnn Lex did not interrupt Ereboth, but he was secretly judging him real hard. If this was Ereboth''s attempt at seeking redemption, it was doing a terrible job. Every sentence he spoke just made him seem more and more like a power hungry, homicidal maniac. In fact, it was a good thing that Ereboth was voluntarily revealing all this because Lex was getting a better idea of who he was dealing with. The better he understood this sentient, the better he would be able to position himself in any future negotiations that took ce. "After my firstary invasion, I grew stronger, my natives grew stronger, and my system grew stronger, thus reinforcing the belief that attacking and devouring anything in my path was the right way to go." Chapter 1352 Story time III Chapter 1352 Story time III Lex resisted the urge to rub his eyes. It was a good thing that Ereboth was talking to him, and not standing in a court, for every single sentence the spoke just made him seem more guilty. Maybe he was just socially inept. Did he even remember that he was supposed to be exining his rude behavior towards the Innkeeper? If his ultimate excuse was that this was just the way he had always been and the Innkeeper should excuse him for that¡­ well, in that case, even if Lex could work with Ereboth, he probably wouldn''t. A cklist would probably be the best answer despite how enticing dungeons sounded. Who knows, maybe Lex could create his own dungeons in the Midnight Inn? "With mytest upgrade, I got the ability to modify the kinds of systems I gave away, and so I began to create a moreplex society. No longer were my systems limited to killing to gain experience. Instead, a few key positions became avable. All lords could level up their systems by building a prosperous territory. Tradesmen could level up in expanding their trade routes. Knights could do chivalrous deeds. "My farms became moreplex, I became stronger, my dungeons grewrger, and eventually, I learned how to search for and hunt down others containing life. A few, I must admit, were so strong they nearly ended up destroying me. If it weren''t for my system, and how my system users could grow stronger even if they hunted on others, I might not have survived. "But the more I faced such situations, the more I began to believe that my mentality was right. It was an eat or be eaten world, with no other kind of rtionship to actually exist. Billions of years went by, I became stronger until I could find no more foes, I thought I was the strongest being in existence, and then the Henali came." Ereboth took a deep breath, as if he was now discussing a very sensitive topic. Wait a minute. Was Ereboth using the Innkeeper as a therapist, and using the opportunity to talk about his traumas? "Yeah, the Governor was not a nice person," Ereboth said weakly, looking at the Innkeeper for signs that he might be offended. "Suffice to say he found my existence quite curious. He learned that I could give my residents systems, but did not realize it was as a result of me owning a system at all. No matter how he probed, he could not learn anything about my system. Instead, he thought it was my unique ability. "Naturally, when he revealed himself to me, I tried to eat him. He was¡­ not as amenable as you have been." Ereboth smiled weakly, as if to exin he had already gotten hiseuppance once. "After that, he trapped me within the gxy I was in, and began my rehabilitation education. To be entirely honest, I have even changed my ways tremendously. In fact, the Henali even send me all their death row convicts so that I can use their power and skills to contribute to my society so that they can be productive members of this realm." "Yes, I''m sure it has nothing to do with the fact that killing stronger enemies would provide your system users, and then you, more experience to grow stronger. It is totally not like a mill, crushing grains to produce food," said Lex sarcastically. It was very out of character for the Innkeeper to say such a thing, which is why Ereboth did not detect the sarcasm at all. "Yes, exactly. I have no more use for experience anyway since my level will not grow anymore, and I cannot grow my system through normal means anymore either. I have reached a teau with the system, but the existence of the Governor¡­ and yourself prove that it is not the end of my path. "Honestly, the reason I have been epting prisoners from across the realm is so that I can keep getting new and fresh ideas, and maybe glean a way to surpass the bottleneck I''ve reached. "Ever since the Governor rehabilitated me, and taught me that rtionships can be moreplex than simple prey and predator, and there are more nuances to life than the simple, blind pursuit of experience to grow stronger, I have more or less amended my ways. "It was just that¡­ after finally escaping my prison after billions of years, free for the first time in a while, I couldn''t help but fall back into old habits. It waspletely by ident, and no longer in line with the kind of I am aiming to be. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "After all, when I was in prison, readingics was one of the ways I entertained myself. I am a huge fan of the Inn. Normally, I would never think of harming the Inn, and instead I would be excited to watch what new adventures the Innkeeper is facing. I just suffered a momentarypse of character as a result of billions of years of conditioning before I began my rehabilitation journey. "Dear Innkeeper, I sincerely and truly ask for your forgiveness for the poor behavior I have shown. I would like my utmost to atone for myself, so please, as much for my sake as for anything else, please administer some kind of punishment that I may atone myself." Ereboth''s human body stood up and bowed deeply to the Innkeeper, while in his mind Erebothughed connivingly. ording to its knowledge of humans, such a disy of remorse would totally win over the Innkeeper, who was a generous soul. By asking the Innkeeper to punish him somehow, he was secretly building the rtionship between himself and the Innkeeper, bringing them closer, and setting the stage for a long performance in which he would eventually win the Innkeepers trust. This was the first step in a 890 million step n he had concocted, which would only take a measly 90 million years to regain the Innkeepers trust after which he would be able to learn the secret to growing stronger. Truly, there was no one more calctive than Ereboth. Meanwhile, Lex sat on his chair and looked at the with an amused face. That was the easiest bag he''d probably ever experience. Now he just had to decide to what extent Ereboth''s atonement would be cool ass dungeons, and how much of it would be other things. Chapter 1353 Repent Chapter 1353 Repent Lex did not immediately reply, for he needed a moment to decide exactly how to proceed. Ereboth was a genius, there was no doubt. Among all sentient worlds, he was probably one of the smartest, if not the smartest in the entire Origin realm. Unfortunately, though he may be a genius by sentient standards, and had power enough to have few rivals, he was pretty dumb by ordinary standards. What kind of an excuse had he given? That was as if a drug addict hade out of rehab, grabbed drugs at the first chance, and smiled guiltily when a cop caught him, openly bragging about his time in rehab. If anything, it only proved that the rehabilitation was not enough. Though to be fair, Ereboth had not been let out by the Henali, and had escaped due to the Midnight Inn. It was unfortunate, but as a responsible and righteous man, Lex would have to take it upon himself to ensure Ereboth did no further harm. If, during that process, Lex was forced to maintain a close, working rtionship with the then that was a burden he would just have to bear. A trace of seriousness shed through Lex''s eyes. All jokes aside, if Ereboth ever sensed even the slightest hint of weakness from the Innkeeper, the devious would definitely make a move against him. No matter how truthful his words had been, and they were truthful, that did ont change the''s nature. Lex could see it as in as day. Back in his early days in the Inn, he honed his ability to read people as the Innkeeper, and just as he decided to return his attention to the Inn, that ability was nowing in handy once more. Lex quickly made a list of the things he needed to do. First, he needed toplete his quest, which required somehow drawing the anomaly in Ereboths system into his own. Or, at the very least, connecting their systems briefly. Based on his analysis of the quest, Lex guessed that the anomaly in Ereboths system caused it to be disconnected from the systemwork, so this was actually also a good opportunity for him to learn how to achieve such a thing. Secondly, Lex had to decide if he wanted to take advantage of Ereboth somehow. He had thought of numerous ways he could do that, but it all depended on what measures he could take to keep the contained. Cooperation would not be worth it if one day the bloodthirsty decided to renege on their cooperation. Thirdly, and possibly the most important of them all, he had to understand why Ereboth had been unable to grow stronger. Although he could not reach the Dao Lord realm, Lex knew for a fact that there were many Demi-Dao Lords within the Origin realm, and wasn''t that like an intermediary realm between Celestial and the Dao realm? Lex did not know the details, and was quite curious to learn them. Was the reason that Ereboth could no longer absorb experience because the system could not forcefully bring him to the Dao realm, or was it due to other reasons? Gaining some insight now might help Lex avoid problemster down the road in his cultivation journey. "Speaking the truth does not preclude one from lying," the Innkeeper spoke as he gave Ereboth a knowing look. "I can forgive a guest for their behavior towards me, but I cannot ept the intentions you harbored towards my other guests." Ereboth was suddenly stumped, and a trace of fear crept back into its heart. This was not ording to the script it had imagined! The Innkeeper waved his hand and pulled out a Midnight Inn Letterhead, summoned his Innkeeper''s Pen, and dipped its nib in the InkWell. On the letterhead, the Innkeeper wrote a single word: REPENT! Ereboth''s gaze was fixed on the letter, the Innkeeper fury and wrath flowing freely in the aura contained within the single word. As a, Ereboth did not truly have a heart, yet even so it felt its heart constrict with fear as it looked at the word, and was reminded of the fury of the Governor. Back then, the Governor had allowed Ereboth to live because he found the''s ability interesting, and wanted to study it. Yet his system was no secret in front of the Innkeeper, who seemed to know even more about systems than Ereboth himself! Not only did he hold no interest in the secrets of the system, but there seemed to be nothing Ereboth could provide that the Innkeeper required at all. Carried within that single word was the aura of the clear disdain the Innkeeper felt towards the pitiful schemes of Ereboth. In fact, if it were not for the Innkeepers inherent, merciful nature then Ereboth might already be dead. In the back of Ereboths mind, he could not help but wonder how much experience one would gain for killing him. It was an absurd question, unless one knew the precarious rtionship between Ereboth and the system users it created. Any of them could be the main system user so long as they defeated Ereboth himself! That was a restriction of his system that the was unable to ovee, and was bound by. But since Ereboth never allowed any of its system users to cross into the Celestial realm, that was never a concern. The Innkeeper tapped the letterhead once more, shrinking it until it looked like a simple card, containing only that single word. "Wear this on your forehead for an age, to be a constant reminder for yourself. After all, since you are on the path to recovery, any more idental slips should be avoided." Ereboth winced at the thought of being bathed in that tremendous aura day and night, yet he did not hesitate. For crossing the Governor, he got imprisoned. For crossing the Innkeeper, he was suppressed. Both those events would have to serve as a reminder for Ereboth not to overreach in the future. The fact that it had even survived these two encounters was a blessing. Ereboth stuck the letterhead to its forehead, and its body trembled. It suddenly lost the form of a human, and reverted to its form as a. The letterhead no longer stuck to the surface of its body, but instead was pulled within it. In a vast and open ocean in a region of Ereboth, a mountain suddenly emerged and on its peak was a simple que that read the solemn word, slowly diffusing its aura out into the world. Lex himself was taken aback by the sudden development, but acted as if this was within his calctions all along. He could clearly see that Ereboth suddenly wanted nothing more than to leave the Inn, so he spoke before the distraught had an opportunity to do so. "Now that this matter is taken care of, why don''t you tell me what I can do for you? After all, you still retain the status of a guest of the Inn." The Innkeepers voice was filled with magnanimity that nearly brought Ereboth to tears. It had resigned itself to failure, but if the chance was presented for him to seed in his quest, and gain the secrets of more growth, it would not give up so easily. "Esteemed Innkeeper, I¡­ I seek a path forward," Ereboth said humbly, afraid to even look at the Innkeeper now let alone speak for too long. He felt like the aura of that word seeping into his very soul. If he still had his human form, he would have already fallen to his knees. The Innkeeper nodded, and simply brought his finger forward close to Ereboth, but stopped before it actually reached the. N?v(el)B\\jnn Ereboth, too traumatized from the beating given to him by the governor, and from the aura of the Innkeeper, dared not look at the finger, or question it. Yet a notification shed in front of his eyes, startling and amazing him! The Innkeeper was directly affecting his system! In truth, Lex used this opportunity to reach forward and touch Ereboths system interface physically. Although the could not see it, Lex connected their two systems momentarily, using his body as the medium, and thereforepleted his own quest. So while Ereboth received a notification of his own, so did Lex. Quest Complete: Aberrant system reintegrated with the Systemwork. Quest reward: 1 instance of temporary authority to rewrite system operations. Granted as a token in Token shop. Remarks: System anomaly incapable of correction. Internally, Lex was both relieved and at the same time concerned. He was relieved that he got the reward easily enough, but what was this anomaly that the almighty systemwork was incapable of fixing? He could not probe properly, as that might reveal the proper extent of his ability. However, the thing Lex could do was a lot more effective. "There''s something wrong with your system," the Innkeeper said. "Would you like me to look into it? I would not want to invade your privacy." Chapter 1354 Own path Chapter 1354 Own path "There''s something wrong with my system?" Ereboth asked with a mixture of confusion and shock. "Yes," the Innkeeper confirmed. "I do not know the details since I do not want to pry into my guests personal details besides what''s evident on the surface. If you wish, I can take a look." "Yes, please! If there is something I can do to fix my system please let me know!" The Innkeeper merely nodded and said, "I will use a light, gentle probe so as to avoid hurting your soul. Do not resist." Since Lex fully expected the system to be integrated within Ereboths soul, Lex extended his soul sense to look into the details. With his questplete, Lex had already officially lost his authority to peek at others'' systems, and Ereboths system interface was already beginning to fade. If he could peek a little before that authoritypletely disappeared, it would be for the best. With Ereboth lowering his defensespletely, trusting that the Innkeeper wouldn''t want to hurt him at all, he allowed Lex''s soul sense to look into his soul. What was originally a weak soul sense to Ereboth instead became an excellent disy of the Innkeepers fine control over how to extend a gentle soul sense lest he identally hurt the. Lex had often looked into others thoughts and memories, but he rarely looked into others souls. It was, somehow, a lot more private than even the most private memories a person might have. After all, by looking through the soul, Lex was looking through the very essence of a being down to their innermost core. When lex peeked in on Ereboth, he expected to see the system. In truth, he did see the system, but he was almost immediately distracted by something else! There was a soul missing! To be specific, the system user had a soul, and a system also had a soul. Even though a system merged with the user, it should retain its own soul. Even if the two souls somehow fused, there would be obvious signs of alterations to the soul. It was not the kind of thing that could be hidden. N?v(el)B\\jnn Well, maybe considering that Ereboth had clearly been alive for billions of years, any signs of soul fusion could have slowly been eroded. But Lex chose to believe he''d still spot any signs, after all his own senses were not weak. But there was no such sign, and between Ereboth and the system there was only one soul! Countless thoughts ran through Lex''s mind as he tried toe up with a possible exnation. He thought back to Ereboths'' story. He had said that his very birth was linked to the system, and though his first few years he was guided by instinct, he happened toplete the system quests based on those instincts. What if the truth was not as Ereboth thought? Lex suddenly came up with a theory for what could have happened, and that suddenly even exined why even the systemwork could do nothing for the situation. What he suspected was that the anomaly that urred was that instead of the System system fusing with a living, sentient target, it instead fused with a that had no soul. Whether it was by design, or by mistake, that fusion ended up granting the life. Or rather, it might be more urate to say that the system''s soul moved out of the system, and into the. Lex did not know how the systemwork operated, but the fact that all systems had souls was something he had already confirmed. A system without a soul might not be able to integrate with thework. In fact, it might even be a good way to retain a functioning system without any supervision. Lex''s eyes shed as certain thoughts went through his mind, but he dismissed them. There was no need to make a hasty decision. More importantly, he wanted to understand what the limitation on the system''s growth was, and if it truly could not allow a user to reach the Dao realm. If it simply couldn''t forcefully raise a user to the Dao realm that was still fine, but if it artificially limited the users realm that would be a problem. Lex retracted his finger, having finally confirmed as much as he could at the moment. He would learn the details of what stopped the slowly over a course of a long, sessful business rtionship, the seeds of which he would sow now. "I have learned all I need to learn," the Innkeeper said. "Would you like my advice, or would you simply like me to dissect your problem? Or perhaps you''d like to listen to both." Excitement! Relief! Gratitude! Countless emotions flooded the now demure, leaving no signs of the once bloodthirsty nature that consumed its entire being. "Please, Innkeeper, enlighten my path. I am willing to pay any price." The Innkeeper nodded, and directly began his exnation. "You are no doubt curious about the system anomaly, how to grow your system stronger, and how to be stronger yourself. They are all inevitably linked. I won''t go into too much detail, for it will do you no good. All you need to know is that the growth of the system and the user have always been linked, but not entirely dependent on each other. However, your situation is a little unique in that your system grows alongside you. "Now that in itself has not been an issue so long as the system can support your growth. But you have now reached the end of that path. To proceed forward, you must no longer be the one being carried, but must instead carry your system. "You see, so far, for the entire duration of your existence, you have done nothing independently and everything you have done has revolved around the desires and designs of your system. You have done nothing of your own volition - or at least, nothing on your own that wasn''t in some way linked to or with something rting to the system. "So far, such devotion has helped you, but now it is what is crippling you. Before you even begin to search for a way to be stronger, you must first search and discover who you are without the system to drive the direction of your desires." The Innkeeper paused, allowing Ereboth some time to consider his words. In truth, Lex was also gauging Ereboths reaction. He had no idea if what he was saying was urate or not. How was he supposed to know the path to the Dao? Moreover, how was he supposed to know what the had and had not done in its long life. All that he was saying as a result of his deductions. He just needed to watch out for signs that he had said something too drastically different from reality. "You must begin a new journey, not necessarily separating yourself from the system, but acknowledging that it is a tool existing to serve you inpleting a purpose. It, in itself, is not the purpose. Once you realize this, and truly embody this with your thoughts and actions, you will have taken a step in the right path." "A¡­ a tool¡­" Ereboth repeated, at aplete loss. Lex waited patiently for Ereboth to rpose himself before he began. "To separate yourself from the influence of your system without actually getting rid of it is not such a simple thing. It might have been easier if you could get away from the system entirely for a period of time, but that also wouldn''t be helpful, for whether you admit it or not, the system is a part of you. "As impossible as it sounds, this is only the first step on the path you wish to walk, with every subsequent step seeming even more impossible. Cultivation, to begin with, is to challenge the natural order of one''s birth, and do the impossible, so this shoulde as no surprise." Lex stopped once more, allowing the toe to terms with what Lex had said. Honestly, if Lex pitched some ideas right now, the would listen to them no doubt. But Lex wanted to cement his position even more. He wanted the to ask him for some guidance now that he had stated the problem so clearly. He wanted to establish himself with a superior position, and that woulde with patience. Being too eager to offer help might reveal a sign of weakness, and working with this temporarily suppressed homicidal Lex could not take even the slightest risks. Lately it felt like he was working with more and mores as ofte. He hoped this wasn''t some kind of pattern or something. He already had his hands full with regr guests, he didn''t want to consider what it would take to host an entire star system in the Inn. "Innkeeper so¡­ how¡­ how do you think I should do that?" the finally asked. Chapter 1355 Murder Planet vs Capitalist Chapter 1355 Murder vs Capitalist The Innkeeper looked at Ereboth as an elder would look at a naughty child, and for a moment his expression seemed like he was resisting the urge to sigh. Of course, the fact that Ereboth had been able to sense as much was because Lex had revealed that expression to him in the first ce. "Young man, I have already instructed you at length, even going as far as describing things to avoid and pitfalls to be careful of. I can show you the way, but I cannot walk it for you. Let me ask you a question instead, and maybe that question will help guide you. If the system disappeared right now,pletely, without repercussions. All your quests are gone, and there is nothing guiding you towards anything. Even the abilities you have are only your own, what would you do? Or rather, what would you want to do?" The question was like a p of thunder in Ereboth''s mind, for it had never even imagined that he could exist without his system. For reasons unknown, Ereboth had always instinctively felt like he was the system and the system was him. Even though he had lived billions of years, he had never imagined that he could exist without the system. Now that the Innkeeper had asked him such a question, he suddenly felt like he had awakened to a new reality. For a time, Ereboth tried to think of what he would do but¡­ but there was no answer. His instincts couldn''t guide him on this, and there was no answer in his mind, either. A few seconds passed without Ereboth answering. This time, the Innkeeper sighed audibly. "Fine. Let me guide you a little. There is no need to immediatelye up with an answer. Instead, just think of ways to use the system in ways that the system was not meant to be used. That does not mean going against the system or its quests, but just use the features of the system for a purpose other than what the system tells you. "Do you think you can manage to do that on your own, or do you want help with that as well?" Ereboth did not have a face in its form, and had been cowed by the aura of the Innkeeper flowing directly into its soul, but its nature had not beenpletely suppressed. Feeling like he could take advantage of the Innkeeper, or at least make use of the continuous aid he offered to build a stronger connection between them, Ereboth was willing to go as far as needed. Moreover, he had been thoroughly convinced. Not only did the Innkeepers aura alone suppress him, the way he looked at the world brought him an all new perspective on life. As such, he was willing to pay any price to strengthen their rtionship, even if it was the Innkeeper treating him as a child. Come to think of it, Ereboth had no parents, so no one had treated him like a child before. From a certain point of view, the Innkeeper could be like a stand-in parent. If that was the case, why did he need to be reserved? n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Innkeeper, please grant me your guidance." "Keep in mind your goal is to use the system for means other than what the system states it can be used for. So far, you have used the system to farm experience from all the beings living on your body. Now, you can do things a little differently. Instead of farming experience, think of ways you can use the system to give you more perspective about what it''s like to be a traditional. "Since you are so insistent on it, I suppose I can help you out with this. But keep in mind, I won''t do so again unless you show progress. For the low, low price of 1MT a month, I will allow you to link some of your territories and dungeons to the Inn, allowing some of the Midnight Inns guests toe and visit them. "You can temporarily grant them systems, and use that as a novelty feature to attract more tourists onto yourself, and build a reputation as a tourist. Maybe this will give you some insight into the kinds of lives other sentients live, and what they strive towards. Maybe that can help you find your path." "Deal! Done! I''ll do just that!" Ereboth eximed, suddenly energetic. He could not miss this opportunity to link himself to the Midnight Inn, and the Innkeeper had even made the price of doing so incredibly cheap. Ereboth would be a fool to spurn such an amazing opportunity. The Innkeeper looked at the reluctantly, but it was toote. As soon as the Innkeeper had made the offer, Ereboth had made the payment and transferred the required amount. He would not take back the money, and the Innkeeper would be forced to keep his word! Not only that, but he had even gained a source of new beingsing to it, even if it technically couldn''t force them to stay forever. For the first time in a long time, Ereboth felt excitement at the prospect of the new visitorsing to him. He already began to think of all the kinds of dungeons he would design. After all, he couldn''t just show cheap or low-quality dungeons to guests of the Inn. Internally, Ereboth began tough. This was just the beginning. At first, he would bring the guests of the Inn to the dungeons. But slowly and surely, he would expand their reach, bringing them to see all the world wonders he had created. Heck, he might even send some of the residents of his to the Midnight Inn! The evil, murderousughed internally as he conjured up plot after plot in its mind,pletely unaware that he was paying the Innkeeper to do what the Innkeeper wanted to do from the very beginning. Moreover, even the guests who wanted to go to the dungeons would need to pay the Inn to reach them. The Innkeeper put on a neutral expression, but his internal capitalist wasughing as well. Chapter 1356 Options Chapter 1356 Options Lex had set the stage for long term cooperation, ensuring that the vicious would not turn against the Inn, for Ereboth himself was the one seeking favor between them. That did not mean Lex would drop his guard against Ereboth - far from it. No matter what it imed, the had an evil nature. Yet a cautious rtionship built on mutual profit was about as stable a rtionship Lex could hope to build between them. But though the stage was set, the final details needed to be hashed out. This was, naturally, not something the Innkeeper would do himself. Ordinarily, this was the part where the Innkeeper sent his guest to go consult with Lex, the Inn worker, to hash out the finer details. This time, however, he could not. Not only would Lex have to deal with Ripley soon once more, but there was also the fact that over the past few years, he had nurtured highlypetent workers. He drew up his requirements in his mind about how he wanted the cooperation to go, what was required and what could be negotiated on, and sent it to Luthor. He also sent him a message to coordinate with the nning Division on it. "I have guided you enough," the Innkeeper finally said. "Anymore and it would be counterproductive to your path. I have sent certain details to one of the Inn workers named Luthor. You can go find him and work out the details of the Inns cooperation with him." With the clear dismissal, Ereboth awoke from his internal monologue andughter session, and quickly bowed to the Innkeeper, ready to leave. "Oh, and Ereboth," the Innkeeper spoke, just as the shrunken was about to leave the office. "There shouldn''t be any more idental rpses while you''re at the Inn." It was not a request or a suggestion. It was a statement made from the Innkeeper, and though he made it with a calm tone and smiling face, it gave Ereboth shivers. "Yes Innkeeper!" he eximed. "Worry not! That was a moment of weakness. It won''t happen again!" The Innkeeper merely nodded, allowing the to leave. Once he was gone, Lex monitored Ereboth through the system for a while, but after ensuring he didn''t have any immediate ns of causing chaos, he turned his attention to the most important thing. He had an opportunity to temporarily change the rules of the system. This was an incredibly valuable opportunity, one he didn''t n on saving forter. The only decision that needed to be made was what the new rule would be. This was not a decision he wanted to make hastily, even if he already knew what he wanted. Yet before he could ponder on the topic, he felt the urgent need to begin cultivating. He closed his eyes and started circting his cultivation technique right then and there, and in a few short moments, reached the peak of the 7th level of the Earth Immortal realm! He could trigger the tribtion whenever he wanted! Lex was a little surprised by the sudden change, but he got his answer soon enough. He had faced a much superior being in a battle of wit and will, and had thoroughly established his supremacy over the other, to the extent of dominating him. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om By acting ording to his ts outline in extraordinary circumstances, he could directly strengthen his t and boost his cultivation! This didn''t count as increasing his understanding ofws directly, but by increasing the strength of his t, the control he could exert over ts increased! This was good news, though Lex had been trying to slow down his cultivationtely. In the future, however, if he ever wanted to increase his cultivation quickly this might be a good idea. He closed his eyes and meditated for a while in his office, as a means to clear his thoughts. Although a breakthrough was a good thing, right now he wanted to focus on something more urgent. When he felt like his state was good enough, he opened his eyes and made a list of the options. The first and most obvious was to take control of where the Inn would be teleported to from. This was not a foolproof option, as restricting the ce to a location rather than cultivation level meant that strong enemies could still find a way through. But if he restricted it to a cultivation level, then the reach of the Inn and knowledge of it could technically continue to expand across the universe, making even more Dao Lords aware of it - a policy he wanted to avoid at the moment. The rule he could change could also be something rted to self defense. Over the years, Lex had used numerous ways to defend the Inn, each more roundabout than the next. He had used formations, body guards, massive training dummy puppets, butter knives and more, yet it was a persistent worry. However, the idea of increasing the defense of the Inn had certain ws, which was that no defense was perfect. Rather than focusing on that, Lex would rather focus on making fewer enemies. Of course, Lex could also make some kind of rule that would help make the guests'' experience even better, but Lex felt like he was doing a decent enough job with that anyway. Even if he wasn''t, it wouldn''t be a priority. Lex could also change the rule somehow to make the Inn itself more difficult to find in reality. In truth, this was also one of his concerns. He wanted to ensure that the newborn realm would not be discovered by others, lest he get a war on his hands. This was genuinely a very pressing concern. Yet so was the concern of overwhelmingly powerful cultivators just dropping in whenever they wanted from anywhere. In fact, there was no point in hiding the realm to begin with if Dao Lords and Celestial immortals could just pop in without his knowledge. But while he could add all those preventive, precautionaryws, he could also change aw to help him be stronger quicker. For example, if he sped up the development of the Midnight realm through changing the system''s rules, Lotus would grow stronger, and he would get the corresponding feedback in strength. The options were limitless, but he only had one opportunity. He would have to carefully decide what to do. Chapter 1357 Rules Chapter 1357 Rules Lex had an answer in mind. Even before he genuinely began his deliberation, he had an answer in mind. But due to his history of walking himself into terrible, horrible situations he had no business being in, Lex was trying to be more of a strategist. He would think his decisions through. He would analyze the pros and cons. He would make an informed decision. So far, it was working out for him. He would still get into a terrible mess, but the me for that was less and less his own fault, and mostly just the universe messing with him. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Ultimately, he came to the conclusion that no matter what he chose, he would not be able to fix all issues. He could only do what was best. Yet, not that Lex believed in jinxing things, he decided to just casually dy the decision until he went to his room, took a thorough shower, put on his best clothes, sprayed some cologne, and calmed all his thoughts. Yes, Lex was doing all this just because he felt like it, and not at all as a form of prayer, hoping the decision wouldn''te to bite him in the behind. So it was in a state as if he was about to go on a date that Lex activated his temporary authority to rewrite system operations. He was alone in his room at the time, so there was not much happening. Even so, Lex sensed his perception of time change, making it seem like time was moving incredibly slowly. It was just like when he got the quest in the first ce. Lex''s system interface flickered on, and then suddenly changed. New Notification: Authority granted to rewrite system operations! Disying list of system operations. Time remaining to change operations: 1:00! Lex only had a minute to decide, but with how slowly time seemed to be going by, he had more than enough time. What was interesting, instead, was to see the list of rules the system was operating under. There were millions of them, or possibly even more. Millions was the number he came to after a quick nce. Even with the time seemingly slowed down, Lex would not be able to go through them all. Upon a little testing, Lex concluded that he could not create or delete any of the system rules, only amend them. Lex also tried to do a quick search, and discovered that he could search through the system rules for the ones he wanted. The first thing he did was go through the rules rting to teleportation, since he wanted to take full control over how the teleportation operated. Considering there were thousands of rules even just for that, finding the exact right one in itself was a huge hassle, and then thinking of the best way to convert it without causing any issues was no easy task. In fact, it actually took Lex 31 seconds to figure out exactly what and how to change, which to him felt like a little over a month. The problem was that the rules were tricky, and not exactly written in words. Instead, their function was something directlymunicated. As such, altering just one system rule that would bring the desired result without breaking the whole system was a lot more challenging than Lex expected. He dared not treat it lightly. Ultimately, Lex wouldn''t gain as much control over the teleportation as he had liked. Instead, he could only change the reach of the system from anywhere in the universe, which is how it worked right now, to ces that the system had linked to, which was a drastically smaller range. Moreover, he''d be able to turn the teleportation even in those regions on and off. But once he had figured out what he wanted to do, Lex didn''t immediately make the change. Instead, he began searching through the system''s rules rted to the user. Since the system was so afraid of breaking its rules, Lex wanted to see for himself what the rules stated about the user. Due to his inherent suspicious nature, that wouldn''t allow Lex topletely trust the systems once more, but at least his might would be somewhat set at ease if he discovered that there was nothing amiss. The problem was¡­ the number of rules pertaining to users was even greater than the number of rules rted to teleportation. He expected to take a long time to verify if they truly were in favor of the users, but the very first rule gave him a pause. All system users must be selected based on who can provide the highest entertainment value within the search area. Lex paused, and then sighed. That was one twisted criteria to choose system users on, but at least it wasn''t malicious. At the very least, it was nice to know that the system found him entertaining. The following rules were not as clear cut as the first one, and were instead made to epass countless possible scenarios and races. The only thing that Lex could garner from going through thousands of those rules was that at least the system wasn''t overtly against the system users. But that did not mean everything was so straightforward either. Lex had long suspected that the reason he always found himself in the heart of trouble had something to do with the system. After reading the countless rules that the system operated by, Lex could conclude that the system was at least partially responsible for it. It was not out of malicious intentions, but the rules did nudge the system to direct the user towards areas or activities with high entertainment possibilities. Learning this, Lex did not actually feel betrayed by the system. If anything he was relieved. A big part of his suspicion was due to the fact that he could not understand why someone would make something as powerful as the Midnight Inn, and then just hand it to Lex. Now he knew that there was some twisted, probably devilishly handsome fellow, orchestrating the dispersal of systems and authoring all the things that were happening to Lex. Or, well, at least setting the bws that ultimately resulted in everything that happened. Knowing what the system wanted from him actually lowered the negativity he had gathered towards it. Now he just had to ept the fact that he was a source of entertainment for someone or something else. Chapter 1358 Question from the legal department Chapter 1358 Question from the legal department "One day, you will dance to my tune," Lex could not help but say. He did not even know who he was saying it to. Whether it was his system, the systemwork, or whatever entity behind Lex, they had contributed greatly in his rise, even if he did like being treated like an entertainer. He epted the grace of this favor without putting on airs. But that did not mean that one day, he could not use them for entertainment as well. Life was unpredictable, and he was now immortal. Barring murder, he would live for a very long time. He would see everything this life had to show him, taste all its vors and feel the winds of destiny blow against his skin throughout the ages. Who knew where time would take him? He certainly didn''t know. But if he could help it¡­ he would certainly organize a y at least once, and have the creator of the systems star in it for Lex''s entertainment. But now was not the time for thesementations and random thoughts. He made the change to the system rules, and felt the flow of time return to normal. He had harbored a hope that he would be able to change rules as long as the single minute did not pse, but indeed it was limited to just a single change. Lex got up, ready to go to work, but paused. Deep within himself, he felt the system tremble, and saw that the process to change the rule was not as straightforward as he thought. Lex sat back down and began to focus on the system once more, observing how countless changes were being made to its aura. Maybe this would be useful for him in the future. ***** Ereboth was slightly dissatisfied at the fact that Luthor did not immediately present himself before the, but with the aura from that word continuously seeping into his soul as a reminder, he dared not do anything. So instead, Ereboth the insatiable went and searched for Luthor himself. Finding him was not so difficult, but the experience after finding him was so infuriating Ereboth nearly popped a vein - or as the locals on his called it, caused a volcanic eruption. A worker in the Innkeepers Inn though Luthor may be, he was still a measly weakling. Yet Luthor looked Ereboth right in the eyes - or the eyes equivalent - and talked to him without a shred of fear or intimidation. "Dear guest, I have been informed by the Innkeeper of your requirements," Luthor said calmly. "You can work out the details with me. ording to the Innkeeper, a special entrance will be ced in various spots leading to designated spots you decide so that you may gain ess to the guests of the Inn. You can let me know how many such spots you''d like to designate, and then we can work on where the location of those entrances will be. By the way, I should mention to you that so long as a guest of the Inn wishes to return to the Inn, you must not in any way block them." Ereboth took in deep breaths, causing countless typhoons, as he tried to calm himself down in the face of a mere human telling him what to do. But the Innkeeper had clearly warned him not to make trouble, so he''d have to control himself. "To start with, I will grant ess to 7 world wonders, and 7 dungeons," Ereboth spoke magnanimously, gracing the human with the luxury to hear its voice, but Luthor merely nodded as if he did not appreciate his magnificence. Ereboth closed his nonexistent eyes and did breathing exercises to tolerate the reaction that was a nod. A nod! Ereboth liked humans a lot more when they were tiny specks of meat he could manipte ording to his will. "What is the rmended difficulty level of those areas?" Luthor asked. "Please keep in mind that the difficulty level needs to reflect a level of power which canplete the dungeon or world wonder associated activities with a reasonable level of difficulty." Ereboth transformed into his human form just so that he could re at Luthor so that the pathetic human could understand the severity of Ereboths anger but¡­ but Luthor was looking down at his clipboard, so he did not see the re at all. It wasn''t effective in the slightest. "The difficulty will be from mortal, all the way to the Earth immortal realm, meaning that each of the seven dungeons will have a different difficulty rating. The world wonders are generally safe, but a Golden core cultivation is rmended," Ereboth said. "Alright. Moving on, I got a message from the legal department asking what are yourws regarding lost & found property? If the guests whoe to the Inn find something there, will they be penalized for bringing it back? Keep in mind, this is separate from any material wealth they might harvest on their own during exploring dungeons." N?v(el)B\\jnn "Lost and¡­ lost and¡­ do you think I am so petty? What do I care what they take with them? They are free to do as they please. Thends of Ereboth are filled with treasures." Luthor looked at Ereboth like an amaetur. Filler with treasures? Sounds like an open invitation to get robbed. Luthor remembered the days before when the Inn had no policy about such things. The guests literally stole the dirt off the ground just because of how valuable it was! He could tell Ereboth was about to have a bad time, but it was not up to Luthor to warn Ereboth. Granting him ess to the guests of the Inn was already doing him a massive favor? "A quality assurance team from the Midnight Inn will be assembled to review your dungeon and world wonder to ensure they adhere to the standards of the Inn before they are made open to the public¡­" Luthor began to speak, unaware he was giving Ereboth blood pressure issues. Although Ereboth had no blood, the pressure under the surface was quite a lot, and now it was rising even further. Chapter 1359 Sales pitch Chapter 1359 Sales pitch Lex ended up spending several days in meditation after watching the changes take ce within his system. At first, he was merely interested since he found the change to be novel. But then his consciousness got drawn in, and Lexpletely lost track of time and ce. His mind drifted as he closed his eyes and ended up sitting cross legged on the floor, absorbing everything he had seen. This was both a good thing and a bad thing for Lex. It was a good thing because he encountered a natural state of epiphany, falling into a meditative trance and qualitatively enhancing his understanding and application ofws as a whole. It was a bad thing because the moment he woke up from meditation, his growth was much too substantial to push back the tribtion anymore. Instead of making use of the tribtion rooms in the Inn, Lex teleported over to the Temple of Fasting. Although the Inn was equipped with the best facilities to help him, Lex''s cultivation was too anomalous. He never knew when something might cause a mutation that attracted too much attention, or perhaps put a burden on the realm itself. The Temple of Fasting, in this case, was an excellent location, for its capability to hide was top notch. It was nigh impossible for anyone outside to know what was happening inside, which was a good thing because now that months had passed since the Inn was reconnected to the universe, a lot had changed. Initially, only one of the Inn workers had be an immortal. Afterwards, the ongoing war kept everyone busy. But at the same time, it gave everyone the exposure and experience they needed to undergo qualitative growth. In summary, the number of Earth Immortals working for the Midnight Inn were nearing fifty now, all of them experiencing their tribtions at the Temple of Fasting. Over the next five years, Lex expected that number to quadruple. The Inn workers were just too qualified, and had too much potential. Even without really trying, all of them were destined to reach the threshold of the immortal realm, if not the actual realm itself. As soon as he reached the temple, his tribtion was triggered, and it fell down with a ferocity rarely seen in Earth immortal level tribtions. It was as if the tribtion clouds themselves had a vendetta against Lex. Unfortunately, they were restricted by his realm, which meant the might they could show was limited. Lex passed the tribtion without a single injury, and then spent another short period getting used to his realm. Ultimately, he had to return. It seemed that Ripley had returned while he was in a trance, and had continued his audit without him. Since Lex had temporarily been excused, he continued to take his time off to finally get a handle on the Inn and the system. Returning to his office, he focused his attention on the interface, and began implementing the teleportation changes. For any guests already in the Inn, they would be able to return to wherever they came from, but henceforth admission to the Inn could not be done from across the universe! Instead, it was limited to the Origin realm and the Crystal realm. Even within the Origin realm, Lex wanted to limit the teleportation even further, but restrained himself. Unfortunately, the Midnight Games were ongoing for a few more months, and it made heavy use of the Inn''s ability to teleport guests from anywhere and everywhere. Moreover, though Lex''s personal interest in the war had waned, it was a fact that countlesss across the entire realm were still fighting against the insect abomination used by Sanguis Pluvia. But that was not the end of the issue. "Mary, I think now is a good time to continue our previous conversation about the system''s operating rules. Although I now have teleportation within my control, the way the Inn connects to ces is still incredibly outdated and inefficient. "We do not even need to change the rule itself. Indeed, with my new, in depth understanding of the fundamentals of how the system operates, I believe I can provide the best possible solution to this conundrum." Mary appeared before Lex, wearing a ck suit and a baby blue tie, looking like an amateurwyer on their first case. "The system states that as long as you don''t ask it to break any rules, anything is negotiable. More importantly, it is also giving you a subtle warning that a lot of quests might be iing your way soon." "Not a problem," Lex said, waving his hand as if dealing with insignificant issues. "On the surface, the system wants me to travel to each and every point it needs to connect to because it relies on me to form a connection to that ce. In truth, it subtly uses these opportunities to push me towards numerous unexpected issues or possibly entertaining situations." Lex paused and gave Mary a pointed look, as if to let her know that he knew the truth now, before continuing. "Yet as my cultivation level rises, the number of issues and events that can truly entice or intrigue me, or put me in awkward or entertaining situations will decrease correspondingly. As a result, spending days and weeks connecting the Inn tos where the strongest living being is weaker than me will hardly be entertaining. "I propose the following amendment. To connect the Inn to realms, Minor realms,s, and basically any points that can be connected to the Inn, if the highest living being is weaker than me, then I can send a Midnight tavern there instead of going there myself. "The tavern will serve as an anchor point for the system, it will further push the agenda of making the Inn itself more popr, it will speed things along, and provide the opportunity for entertainment through other characters and Inn workers. Correspondingly, for ces where beings exist in my own cultivation realm or stronger, I can go myself to connect them. "It''s really a best of both worlds situation. More importantly, the Inn can continue to expand its reputation in a stable way, and give me an opportunity to bnce things out a bit. After all, with at least one Dao Lord within the Inn, no one can really im I''m not in over my head. Now I need a fighting chance to survive, or the Midnight Inn and myself will lose all entertainment value."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Chapter 1360 Tavern tales I Chapter 1360 Tavern tales I It sounded a lot like a sales pitch, mostly because it was. Lex wasn''t exaggerating when he said he had gained a deeper understanding of the system and how it works. Entertainment value aside, each system had a certain range, as far as he could tell, that the system monitors for news and interesting events so that the system can give quests. Many times, the quests themselves, or perhaps their rewards, would end up being exactly what the user needs to survive an uing disaster that is unknown to the user. This is because through various means, the system detected what was happening within its surveince region, and reacted to it. Responding to things Lex said or did counted as a part of this, which exined why the system often reacted to things Lex said to it previously. Heck, Lex got the tavern by gaslighting the system into thinking any decent organization should have subsidiaries, and got the overpowered Butter Knife by belittling the systems defensive capabilities. Of course, this didn''t always work or else Lex''s constantining about the teleportation would have been long addressed. "If anything, the current tavern proves that sometimes, sending a tavern can be more entertaining than actually going by myself," said Lex as he suddenly grinned. His projection was, more or less, always at the Midnight tavern. It was quite rxing, and even fun. He''d been using the tavern for a long time, acting out his fantasy of being the secret, mysterious tavern keeper who slowly yet silently affects the trajectory of an entire country. Considering that his interference had saved countless lives, prevented innumerous tragedies and improved the lives of the popce as a whole, he had no intentions of stopping. Of course, he never did anything himself. Instead, he always just guided his guests, but taking the final actions would be entirely up to them. The reason he was grinning was because something had happened in the Inn which he was sure could be qualified to be called entertaining. It was not dangerous to the tavern, or put any of them at risk. But at least for the people involved it was quite dangerous, and filled with suspense and drama. He was certain that, upon witnessing what was about to unfold within his tavern, the system would agree to his rmendation of altering the way the system connected to new ces. Barin city had been in chaostely, though such could also be said for the entire Attok country where the city was located. The pressure from monster attacks on the borders had increased, and a neighboring country was also showing signs of aggression, hinting towards an uing war. To top it all off, internal strife was causing much anarchy within the country. There had been an assassination attempt on the King, who had since then fallen into aa. The crown prince of the country had disappeared during the attack, with rumors now being spread that the prince himself was behind the attack. Simultaneously, one of thergest noble families in the country, which had amassed a little too much power, was silently causing trouble for the nation by resisting the call to arms to protect the country, giving the excuse that they were too preupied protecting their ownnds. The Duke, the king''s distant cousin, had taken this opportunity to take charge of the country, since it could not be without a leader in these troubled times. A dozen other terrible things had happened including but not limited to a beast tide, food shortage, climate change, the spread of a gue-like school of thought called ''free market'' and ''capitalism'',banana pizzas, rebellion and revolt, the resurgence of an ancient order dedicated to evil, not to mention a decreased poption leading tobor shortages. The huntress did not know, nor did she care for what any of that meant. She had no allegiance to anyone, so she hardly cared for who ruled the country. Her new boyfriend, the alchemist, was a member of the Alchemy tower, so he was also safe from such worldly troubles as well. No, what she cared about was that hertest hunt had gone wrong mostly due to the interference of a bumbling buffoon who looked like he had never set a single foot in the wilds before. In fact, his interference had almost gotten her killed. But at least the buffoon had a chivalrous heart, and pushed her out of the way so that she was not harmed, and took the attack instead. Suffice to say it was idiotic to the extreme. But the forthright action moved the huntress''s heart, so as soon as the fight ended, she picked up the buffoon and began returning to Barin city! By now she had entered the Qi training stage, and had be a well known figure within the city. Even though her previous n still caused problems for her now and again, with her own strength, and the guidance from a certain enigmatic tavern keeper, she had managed to survive. That is exactly why, instead of going to the hospital, the huntress brought the buffoon to the Midnight tavern, which was always bustling whether it was day or night. The fact that their prices had not changed regardless of the food shortage, and that they never seemed to run out of food made it a popr ce. It also helped that the tavern maids, the triplet sisters, were as beautiful as the sunrise, and the bartender was stunningly handsome. Combined with their excellent service and warm environment, the tavern was the most popr ce in the city. Even so, when the huntress brought the bleeding, dying buffoon in, no one batted as much as an eye. "Oh dear, what do we have on our hands now?" Nami asked with a hint of an exasperation in her voice. The huntress did not have an older sister, but whenever Nami looked at her or scolded her, the huntress liked to imagine this is what the care of an older sister would feel like. It was because even when Nami, the barmaid, scolded the huntress, the guest of the tavern, the huntress never felt any distress or agitation. She only felt warmth, "A bumbling buffoon doing his best to die," the huntress said, and she allowed Big Ben to take the buffoon from her hands. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "I''ll see what I can do to ensure he fails in his endeavors," Nami said with a shaking head. "By the way, the tavern keeper is waiting for you on the roof." Of course he was waiting for her. The huntress shook her head, and began heading upstairs,pletely unaware that she had brought in the escaped crown prince who was in hiding, and the new list of enemies she had suddenly made for herself. Chapter 1361 Tavern tales II Chapter 1361 Tavern tales II The huntress made her way to the rooftop just in time to watch an incredibly¡­ healthy¡­ yes, that was the word for it. She saw an incredibly healthy man leave, his torso the shape of an olive, his weight rivaling that of a building. It was, in itself, a disy of magic that the tavern didn''t shatter under the weight of the man, or that he could fit in the corridor easily. In truth, there was a bit of size maniption formation at work when the man entered the Inn, but it happened so seamlessly that it was hard to pick up on. "Was that¡­ was that the Sultan?" the huntress asked in shock once the man had left. "I am not at liberty to reveal information about my other guests," the tavern keeper said casually, sipping a Pina Cda and wearing a T-shirt that read, ''I just met the Sultan''. The huntress looked at the T-shirt, then at Lex, and then back towards the tavern hallway through which the Sultan had left. "Do you think if I go chase after him, I can catch up to him?" she asked with genuine curiosity. The Sultan was famous across their whole world, equivalent to a rock star. Everyone loved him, and the man had no enemies to speak of. Legend has it that a hug from the Sultan could cure depression, and spending time in hispany increased people''s feeling of self worth. The huntress had once heard the story that three countries once approached him - separately - with offers to simply hand him rule over their territories. Naturally, the Sultan did not agree. It was a testament to his poprity nevertheless. "I think, before you do anything else, you should worry a little about yourself," said the tavern keeper, looking out over the city. The sun was about to set, which painted the sky in orange and yellow, making the normally unbearable city look picturesque. Or maybe that was just what the huntress felt like. Everyone else seemed to like Barin just fine. Her? She would have long left if the tavern weren''t here. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Why is that?" she asked. Despite how casual he appeared to be, and the fact that he never, ever directly said what he was thinking, the tavern keeper was extraordinarily well informed. It would be like running away from wisdom to ignore anything the tavern keeper said. "Well I would tell you the rumors going around about you, but they haven''t started yet," the tavern keeper with an unusual smile. "But if you do a little something for me, I might be able to think of a way to help you avoid the repercussions of said rumors that don''t exist yet." "How about you just tell me how to avoid starting these rumors to begin with?" she asked, ring her aura. She was not trying to intimidate the tavern keeper - that would be silly. It was just a natural thing that happened to her, for she was all too used to her family going out of their way to make her miserable. Even now, she could imagine that they were hard at work trying to make her miserable. "Oh I''m afraid it''s already toote for that. The moment you walked around carrying your new friend, it was already toote for that." "The buffoon? Is this his fault somehow?? Is my family targeting him?" "Buffoon? What a fitting name. Now, it won''t be toote to tell you all about it when you do me that favor. More importantly, by then, even the buffoon should be awake, so you both can hear about this together." "Alright, what do you want?" she asked, getting to the point. "It''s nothing tooplicated. I just want you to make your way to the bakers on 33rd street and find the blonde kid in a big fight. You''ll know him when you see him. Find some excuse to give this to him, and then you cane back. Lex leaned forward and ced a Free Meal Coupon in front of the huntress, causing her to look at the tavern keeper with confusion. "Is that it? Is there some hidden twist? I find it hard to believe that the first favor you asked me was so simple." The tavern keeper shrugged. "You know, I''m not in the habit of leaving the tavern myself, or else I would just go ahead and send the coupon on my own. You just need to give the kid the coupon and you''re done. There''s no hidden trap in this quest." "Fine," she said, grabbing the coupon and heading out, ignoring the blood that still stained her clothes. Compared to blood stains, it was the unknown problemsing towards her that annoyed her. The favor wasn''t difficult to begin with, and even if there were a few unexpected issues, she''d deal with it. Yet it turned out, the task was simple. Just as the tavern keeper said, she spotted the child in the middle of a fight, fighting alone against a group of others - and getting beaten up pretty badly. If there was any redeeming factor, it was that he was toughing it out and still fighting hard. But she dispersed the fight as soon as she arrived on the scene, taking the blonde kid away from the groups, and then handing him a coupon. He felt concerned about it, but it wasn''t like there was anything she was doing to harm him, so he cautiously took the coupon. By the time the huntress returned, barely 20 minutes had passed, but the whole aura around the tavern had changed. As soon as she entered, the conversation in the group hushed, and everyone looked at her as if she was some kind of freak. Every single person was looking at her, and that was not normal at all. Her senses as a huntress started to tingle, and she started to feel like she was in immense trouble. Without anyone prompting her, she made her way to the rooftop to find the buffoon sitting there already, lookingpletely confused and bewildered - just like a buffoon. Chapter 1362 Tavern tales III Chapter 1362 Tavern tales III "You''ve returned quicker than I anticipated," the tavern keeper said with a smile, but the huntress was not exactly in the mood to y games. "What''s happening? Why was everyone looking at me like that?" she asked, ignoring the confused buffoon who seemed even more confused upon seeing her. "Ah that. Well you see, shortly after you left, the most peculiar set of rumors started going about. One of them said that a wild huntress was seen carrying around the corpse of the crown prince across town, while another rumor said that there was a valiant warrior princess who carried the crown prince out of the jaws of death, saving him from a team of following assassins, and brought him to the city to get treated from his injuries. Both of them agree that the person being carried was the crown prince though." Instead of asking the tavern keeper why he knew these rumors if he never left the Inn, the huntress looked towards the buffoon with bewilderment. "He''s the crown prince?" she asked incredulously. "Wait till you hear his story of how he ended up in the forest. You''ll really begin to think the turtle buffoon is more fitting than anything else." "Hey, that''s not fair. You shouldn''t talk about me like that," the buffoon said, sounding slightly offended. "I have feelings too, you know." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om The huntress looked at the buffoon, feeling a sense of bewilderment. But she suppressed everything she was feeling and looked towards the tavern keeper. "How can I fix this?" she asked directly. "Youngdy, I do not know why you think that I would know anything about how to deal with such a sensitive situation. I am a mere humble tavern keeper." The huntress rolled her eyes. Must he say that every time he was about to offer help? "To me, it sounds like you''re in quite a pickle. Friends of the crown prince want to capture you for your crimes against him, and enemies of the prince want to catch you to find out where you''re hiding him. At least, that''s what I assume others might be thinking. I wouldn''t really know. "I suspect, a more fitting person to consult about such matters would be a prominent public figure, used to dealing with various interest groups and sensitive topics. One might consider a public figure and political leader, such as a prince, might know how to deal with such situations. It''s unfortunate that there''s no such prince here - just a buffoon. In that case, you can only pray that you run into someone influential, like Sultan or somebody of that caliber." "Hey, I just said," the buffoon began to protest, but the huntress gave him an intimidating re, causing him to shut up. "Until this whole mess is dealt with, you''re buffoon, not the crown prince, understand?" she asked him menacingly. How did the prince not understand that hiding his identity was important? It was such an obvious hint from the tavern keeper. She wanted to groan. "Where can I possibly find Sultan? He''s probably long gone by now." The tavern keeper shook his head disappointedly. "I''m sorry, I''m unable to divulge information about other guests like this. You might as well find an astrologist to study the stars and offer you some guiding prophecy." The huntress directly looked up at the now dark sky, and saw that a number of stars were oddly bright that night. It was almost like those stars perfectly aligned with each other, forming a few words that read, ''the Sultan is at the Chamber of Commerce''. "I''ll just have to try my luck somewhere," the huntress said, and began to leave before pausing. She backtracked, grabbed the buffoon by the cor, and pulled him along right behind her. The tavern keeper did not see them out, as if he waspletely uninterested in the political intrigue that was now surrounding one of his favorite guests at the tavern. Instead, his attention was focused on a particr, blonde kid who was walking into the tavern and handing a coupon for a free meal to Naki, asking her for a lot of food. Naki, of course,plied. The exchange was quite ordinary, and in fact, Lex had no interest in the kid himself. Rather, it was the ne that the kid wore which contained the remnant soul of a Nascent level cultivator that interested him. It was almost impossible to find Nascent soul cultivators on this. There was probably only one or two alive, hiding deep within theirirs, far away from society and the mundane world. "You know, it''s quite rude to eavesdrop on others'' conversations," Lex said out into the open, and a seemingly invisible ghost near him suddenly turned visible. The ghost was startled at being revealed, and looked towards Lex with immense shock, followed by confusion. "Who are you?" the ghost asked. "Me? I''m just a tavern keeper, looking after my tavern. It''s not easy to do, you know. There''s a certain provision in this country''sw that increases the tax I have to pay on the food I serve during a famine. Can you believe that? It''s almost as if whoever wrote thatw expected taverns to horde food and supplies or something." The ghost, for some odd reason, seemed embarrassed. But, as a ghost, he could not blush, so no one would ever know. "Anyway, don''t mind me," Lex said. "I don''t mean to keep you here. I just wanted to let you know not to spy on my guests, it''s quite rude. That would be like if I spied on you and discovered that you''re hiding in a locket being worn by someone who shares the bloodline of the ruling sovereign of this country - an illegitimate heir for the king, one might say. "It''s fortunate, then, that I don''t do such things don''t you think? Otherwise I might go ahead and suggest that you help the existing crown prince by having the illegitimate heir swap ces with him, thus bing legitimate. Now that kind of high suspense, intense drama would probably keep someone on the edge of their seats, watching the progress at each turn and obstacle. "But, like I said, I don''t spy on people, so I won''t suggest something like that. Such a shame, though. That would have made for an interesting story to watch." After a few moments of silence, the ghost sighed, and bowed to Lex. "Thank you for not spying," the ghost said humbly. "I will avoid doing the same in the future, especially in ces like the Chamber of Commerce." "I''m d you understand. Before you leave, might I rmend you try having Roan make you a drink? You won''t regret it." "The kid doesn''t drink," the ghost replied. "I never said anything about the kid. I said you should try one of those drinks." Chapter 1363 She thought he was growing up Chapter 1363 She thought he was growing up Sitting in his office, Lex knew that the system was aware of everything happening within the tavern. In fact, it had to. After all, the tavern was also a part of the system. At the same time, Lex not only proved himself a sufficientlypetent tavern owner, but a skilled storyteller as well. By only subtly and indirectly influencing events happening in and around the tavern, he became merely a side character - albeit an important one. That meant the potential for the taverns to produce interesting stories was great. It could generate more than enough entertainment on its own. In fact, it could even set up the Inn to be an even more entertaining ce. He could imagine it now. A cultivator from some remote, 1 star ovees a lifetime of obstacles, escaping and evading death to seed by a hair''s breadth. Throughout his journey, a single, unassuming tavern had been of critical importance. Sometimes it provided him with safety and security. Other times, it was a ce where he gained inspiration. On a few asions, it even served as a refuge to hide from his enemies. But atst, he seeded in his life''s goals, became the strongest on the, and had nothing more to pursue. Such a scenario might seem far-fetched, but the truth was that the number of unconnected, secluded 1 stars in the Origin realm was greater than those connected to the Henaliwork, and the realm as a whole. This meant that the story of a single cultivator bing the strongest on his, and then reaching the end of his journey since he had no ess to greater resources or cultivation techniques, was far moremon than anyone would believe. How entertaining would it be if such a person suddenly visited the tavern once more, and through it gained ess to a mysterious, mystical Inn, filled with the purest form of energy avable, entities far stronger than anything that they ever imagined, and a whole new horizon to discover. It was the perfect setup for countless novels, and though Lex did not actually expect any of such guests to be universe dominating geniuses, the possibility of it was still exciting. So with that in mind, Lex waited. It had been a while since Lex said his piece, and the system had not responded, nor had Mary said anything. Yet he was confident in his decision. He was unsure about why there was a wait to begin with, but eventually he got the response he expected in the form of a new quest. New Quest: As the Inn grows, and its reputation spreads, so too must your capabilities as the Innkeeper. Build a new tavern with your own hands, without any help, fitting to be used as a subsidiary of the Midnight Inn. Quest Reward: Increase in the number of taverns by 1. Remarks: If you can''t find a hammer while building, you can still use your forehead! Lex smirked. It seemed like the system was losing its edge. What kind of a remark was that? Where was the scathing system that liked to make fun of him at every turn? In fact, this remark did not even have to be an insult. It could just be taken as the system telling him to use his brain ande up with a solution. In fact, even if he took it literally, his forehead was much too tough to be harmed by a nail. He could literally use it as a real hammer. Lex shook his head with a smile. Maybe he should stop scaring the system so much. Regardless, this was a quest he wanted toplete as soon as possible. Although it was not directly leading towards using the tavern to expand the reach of the Inn, it was a start. N?v(el)B\\jnn The question now was, what kind of tavern should he build? To help him n out what he wanted to build, Lex went back to his apartment and pulled out the mostplex, highly urate and dynamic architectural design software that existed on earth prior to the world war that now consumed it. He pulled out Mindcraft, and started a new world. Even though Lex could split his attention into hundreds of different tasks by now, he focused a majority of his mind into this borate designing software, and began to consider theplicated terrains his tavern would be ced in, the kind of materials he would need to build it, theyout it would have, and how manyyers of secret underground bases and hidden rooms behind moving bookshelves he should make. The first idea he had was to build a tavern in a giant treehouse. This tavern would fit in well on worlds with cultures and societies based around trees, and would work well with certain races such as elves and druids. But an old, ancient castle with an unknown history and deep lore also appealed to Lex on an underlying level. It was difficult to decide, so he built both the massive tree house as well as the castle, and connected them. But, somehow, Lex felt like it justcked a certain something. So he built a moat around the castle and filled it withva. There was nothing like a good, weing tavern surrounded by ava moat. But as he stared at the moat, Lex got another idea. Why did the tavern have to be a traditional building? Why couldn''t he make a ship, or a cruise and turn that into a tavern? Or maybe it could be a train, or a blimp! The longer Lex spent interacting with the highly sophisticated designing software, which was in no way just a game, the more new and interesting ideas started toe to Lex. He just needed to decide which one of these- Oh wait, an underwater tavern made entirely of ss! Lex started designing that one as well, allowing his creativity to flow through him freely. Mary''s projection appeared in the air beside Lex, and just shook her head as she saw the massive grin on his face. Just when she thought he was growing up¡­ Chapter 1364 A long time Chapter 1364 A long time Lex spent quite a lot of time ying- eh, no, designing his next tavern on Mindcraft. But he could not shirk his duties either, since this was his Inn, so Lex relied on a very basic cloning technique he had mastered. His clones would have a fraction of his strength, and could not go too far from his main body. In fact, their range was limited to the extent of Lex''s spirit sense, which was actually quite massive. But, considering his connection and awareness to the entire realm, his clones could go anywhere within the realm itself. As such, it was no problem having them apany Ripley as he continued to audit the Inn. Lately, he had been going over the roles of the various staff members and the divisions, looking for inefficiencies or redundancies. In this matter, at least, Lex was confident the Inn would perform well. With only a few hundred thousand staff members dealing with millions of guests everyday, it was impossible to not have the most efficient system in ce. The system helped a lot, yes. But that did not mean that the workers themselves were ipetent. There were other things across the Inn that also required his attention, yet nothing so serious that a clone couldn''t handle it. Despite appearances, Lex took the future development of his system very seriously. He was new to the Immortal realm, so his understanding of how to cater to immortals was superficial. But he had been a mortal for most of his life, and knew very well how to take care of them. Only once he waspletely satisfied with what the Inn could offer mortals - and he himself was strong enough - would he start dealing with immortals. This was, of course, assuming nothing else unexpected happened. That meant, for now, Lex focused entirely on building his new tavern. After he finished building various models for his tavern, Lex considered his needs. He already had a normal, wooden tavern that fit in quite well in small cities, towns and viges in most 1 star worlds as long as they had humanoid races. For his second tavern, he wanted a different kind of structure, at the very least, so it could be used in different settings. He narrowed it down to three structures, and if he retained the opportunity to make more taverns he would make all three, but for now he would settle for a single one. The choices were, predictably, a massive tree house tavern and a castle tavern, while thest was a little unexpected, and instead was an underground tavern. He selected each one for very specific reasons, other than the fact that they were cool as heck. He intended to house each of these structures with workers of different races. The treehouse would be managed by the elves, of which Lex had many new workers who had joined through the use of tinum keys. The castle would be housed by humans, which was not new. The underground bunker would, obviously, be filled with dwarfs. Although the dwarfs of the Midnight realm were quite content to work and live within their own secluded mountain range, Orin I, their leader, had sent a few thousand dwarfs to the Inn anyway to learn about the outside world. Many of those initial dwarfs had eventually be workers at the Inn, with the rest eventually returning to work their mines. It was important to mine all the Veetavil that they could, for Orin was growing stronger now, and with his increased strength could forge new treasures. Lex closed his eyes and weighed the pros and cons, as well as the difficulty of each of those projects. Since he had to make the tavern himself, that meant he couldn''t take any external help. A treehouse tavern would obviously be better if he could get the turtle to grow it, and an underground tavern would obviously benefit if the halls could be built by the dwarfs. That obviously only left him the option of a castle. But Lex had a new perspective on things. He suspected that if he took the most difficult task and performed it well, the system would reward it the most. This was a bit ofmon sense, only now Lex suspected that the reason behind that was that only difficult things would be entertaining. With that thought, he finally settled on building a treehouse tavern. Lex had no intention of doing things lightly, so the first thing he did was go to the Midnight Library, which by now was filled with billions of books. The number of techniques it had up to the Golden core level was astounding, and a decent collection of Nascent level techniques had also been gathered. There were a few Earth Immortal level techniques, but they weren''t really avable to be viewed by the public, as Lex had personally set up restrictions for them. After all, all those techniques had been collected from the Temple of Fasting! Besides just cultivation techniques, the library contained a vast reserve of knowledge on various topics within the cultivation world, and that''s exactly what Lex needed now. The first, most important thing to decide would be the kind of tree to use to grow the tree for the treehouse. The idea seemed insane considering the time it took for a tree to grow. It would take years for Lex toplete the treehouse. That is the kind of thinking of a mortal, and as an immortal Lex did not subscribe to it. Instead, he was a follower of the thought process that cultivation magic would solve all his problems. N?v(el)B\\jnn Also, the Midnight realm itself had certainws associated with growing trees, a result of the Heavenly tree dominating an entire continent for a long time. He was sure he could figure something out. There were thousands of books and reading material to go through so this would take a long time. Fortunately, due to his increased speed as an immortal, a long time actually meant like, 7 minutes. He flipped the book in front of him shut with his decision made. He would use a Void Sequoia tree. Chapter 1365 Tuition fee I Chapter 1365 Tuition fee I Void wood was one of the toughest known, renewable substances in the universe. Depending on the exact variety of the tree, the toughness would be even greater, not to mention that the trees themselves have many amazing properties. A Void Sequoia tree was by no means the strongest of such trees, but it definitely was one of the strongest. More importantly, it was absolutely massive in both height and width, making it a great option for a treehouse. The many space and void rted properties of the tree itself also made itan excellent option. Now that he had made the selection, Lex was faced with two more problems. The first was that he had to get his hands on a seed for the Void Sequoia tree, and secondly he had to learn how to rapidly nurture it. He was not referring to the ordinary means of nurturing, no. He meant the kind of nurturing that everyone thought was impossible, since he was in the business of doing impossible things anyway. He already had an idea for how to do both of those things. He needed to only put in an order for the seed at the Emporium, and Powell would take care of the rest. The nurturing he would learn from the Sovereign. Just because the quest said he had to build it with his own hands, it did not mean that he couldn''t learn from others. With the n decided, Lex directly went to the Emporium ready to order, but discovered that Powell was in a particrly good mood that day, even humming a song as he stared out into the distance. "Looks like someone''s having a good time," Lex said with a smile. Powell looked over to Lex, and grinned even wider. "You have no idea! Recently, the Emporium secured a meeting with the Versalis Bank. With their funding, the Emporium is going to break through the limits of a single realm, and begin selling in another realm. This is a big step for a business. If the venture seeds, the Emporium will be one step closer to living up to its name." "Ah, congrattions. Do you know what other realm you''re going to be entering?" "Not at the moment. It is being deliberated on by the bank and the main Powell. Either way, it can only be a good thing for us. With our reach increasing, the number of items we can sell will increase." "That''s great. I''ll look forward to your expanded catalogue. For now, though, I hope you can help me find what I need from the Origin realm." "A Void Sequoia seed," Lex answered. Powell''s grin grew even wider. He knew Lex was his lucky customer! He was going to get another bigmission for this! "A Void Sequoia tree is a Celestial level item, and can only be reliably found within the Void Sequoia forest, which is a peak Celestial level danger zone. We can procure the seed for you, but the price won''t be cheap." "Since when has price been an obstacle for me?" Lex asked. He could pay with any random treasure he had and it would be sufficient. It was true that he didn''t have many items that counted as being on the Celestial level, but he had an entire sea''s worth of blood from a Jom, which was no doubt a Celestial item. Speaking of which, he had to feed a Jom heart to the World Eater lest it start eating the Midnight realm. The pets that the turtle was keeping were really beginning to border on ridiculous by now - not that he wasining. "Excellent. You can check back with us in two days to get the seed." "I''m also going to need some other supplies. I''ve prepared a list. You can give it to me with the seed." Although Lex had yet to learn how to nurture the tree yet, he had already looked up the requirements for it to be nted, andpiled a list of all the ingredients he would need. With the order ced, Lex returned to the Inn, and mentally prepared himself for the challenge up ahead. He was going to go learn about nting from the turtle. He could also consult the Gardener, but as that mega-Chad of a man had be an idol for the Drama-cats, Lex wanted to keep his distance lest something unexpected happened. Although, with the turtle, there was bound to be some kind of drama anyway. After a few deep breaths, Lex teleported to the turtle, who was still making preparations for his garden which would eventually be a Heaven. "How are things going?" Lex asked, walking up to him. "Any progress with the Heaven project? I talked to the Innkeeper, and he said it might not be a bad idea to make both Heaven and Hell within the Inn." The turtle paused, and looked towards Lex. "I still have an issue with getting enough divine energy for my nts," the turtle said. "Maybe if you can get me some angels to help along with that, I can work towards tending my garden. As for Hell¡­ I cannot help you with that." Lex nodded, more or less already expecting such an answer. "Rather than angels, I think you can consider working with fairies. Their fairy dust can be very useful, and can turn into more or less any kind of energy they wish. They can not only help you mimic divine energy, but any other kind of energy you wish for as well." The turtle paused, as if considering Lex''s words. After a while, he turned to look at lex, and patted him on the head with his vine. "Looks like humans are not so silly after all," was all he said before turning to once again continue his work. "Yeah, speaking of being silly," Lex said, walking up closer. "I need to learn how to nt and grow a strong, healthy Void Sequoia tree in a very short amount of time. Can you provide me with any guidance?" This time, the turtle paused entirely, and turned to study Lex seriously. He did not speak for a short time, but eventually he nodded and said, "I can teach you, but I require a tuition fee." N?v(el)B\\jnn "Sure, what is it?" Lex asked, though he was surprised that the turtle was interested in such a thing. Chapter 1366 Tuition fee II Chapter 1366 Tuition fee II "I will teach you how to grow a Void Sequoia tree, but not an ordinary one. I will teach you how to grow a rarer, more ancient variant called Void Stabilisation Sequoia tree, and from that I will require some sap and its first seed. That will be the payment after the fact. "Before that, I will require a Genesis Oak seed and an Eternal Autumn Persimmon seed. When you have both, I will teach you what you need." Lex was unfamiliar with the Void Stabilisation Sequoia tree, as well as the others mentioned by the turtle. Even though he had recently done a lot of research on trees, it made sense that information on rarer species was not so easily avable. Since the turtle knew about them, they must exist. He was curious about them though. "I''ll see if I can get my hands on them, though I''ll admit I''ve never heard of them before. Can you tell me a bit about them? That might help me find them." "The seeds I''ve asked you for are only the ordinary versions of these trees, so finding them should not be impossible. I will raise all three seeds within this realm so that the growth of the realm can be better regted." N?v(el)B\\jnn Oh man, Lex really needed to talk to the turtle more often. What did it mean it was trying to regte the growth of his realm?!?! "Oh, what are you nning on doing to the realm?" Lex asked, suppressing his concern. "Silly human, these things are too much for you to worry about. The lifecycle of realms is too big for you to understand. Moreover, I can feel that the universe is no longer suitable to nt and grow a full, mature realm. It''s like the universe is moving into spring, so that the realms that have already grown will bloom. But those that were nted toote will never reach full maturity. "So instead of making a mature realm, it is better to keep the realm forever young and vibrant." Lex was stunned. He recalled that Cassandra had once told him that the universe was going from its early, growth phase to a different one, and in this new phase no new realms would be able to reach full maturity. That naturally included the Midnight realm, but Lex was not too concerned about it for now. It was clearly a matter that would still take one or two billion years. That was too far off for someone like Lex. But it seems this 3000 year old baby that was the Sovereign turtle already had considerations about what to do about the realm. He would need to ask what it meant by keeping the realm young forever, but Lex felt confident that the turtle would not do anything harmful to the realm. After all, it still gave some consideration to the Innkeeper. "When you mean keep the realm young forever, what does that mean? Right now the realm is growing, and as it grows the upper boundary of the cultivation level it can support grows with it. If you keep the realm stable, but keep it young forever, does that mean it will never be able to support those with higher cultivations?" "Oh silly human, where do you get such fanciful ideas?" the turtle asked, shaking its head. "A realm is like a flower bed, and what kind of flower bed cannot support all kinds of flowers? A fully mature realm, and a realm that haspleted its growth but retains the features of a newborn realm, are two different concepts, but that does not mean a non-mature realm cannot support all cultivation realms. "Once all thews of a realm have formed, that realm can easily support anyone up to the Celestial immortal realm. Even then, there are ways that the realm can be made to support those at an even higher realm. But all of that is too distant from you for now, silly human. You focus on getting me my seeds, and I can begin your lessons. Make sure the seeds are not dormant." "Got it," said Lex, making a mental note to learn more about realms and their life cycles. With that, he returned to the emporium a lot quicker than he was expecting too. A couple of additional orders should not have been too much of an issue, yet when he returned, he saw a very troubled looking Powell waiting for him. "What happened? Are you okay?" Lex asked. Just a short while ago, he was humming with joy, and now he looked like he swallowed a raw potato. "There has been some progress on yourmission, but the situation has developed in an unexpected fashion. Do you recall Madame Zuri Adisa? You once conducted a trade with her through the emporium." "Yes, I remember her," Lex said. It was hard to forget someone like that, and not just because she had appeared in front of Lex in the guise of a mature, yet devastatingly beautiful woman. No, she was a very powerful Celestial immortal who had her clones spread out across the Origin realm, and even in the Midnight realm. She might even have her clones in other realms entirely. Lex would not easily forget someone as formidable as that. There was also the fact that she had started her journey as a mere four-leaf clover! "Well, it seems she has a very close rtionship with the Void Sequoia tree forest, and no one can gain entry without her approval. On the plus side, getting a seed is much easier now - all one needs to do is ask her for it directly. But Madame Zuri has refused all trade offers, and instead insists that if you wish to get the seed, you must meet with her personally." Lex frowned, but did not find the request unusual. Even thest time he traded with her, she requested to meet him in person. "It''s not a problem. Can you arrange for me to meet with her?" Chaper 1367 Meeting Chaper 1367 Meeting "That''s¡­ that''s the troublesome part," Powell said, looking incredibly awkward. "We reached out to Zuri to set up the meeting, but she responded with a simple message. She is waiting for you in the cottage atop the peak of the Midnight Mountain." Lex paused, and frowned for the briefest of moments before turning normal once again. "Excellent. I will go talk to her and see what can be done. Don''t worry, if a deal is struck, I will give the Emporium amission for setting this up. I also need a couple of other seeds. Shall I ce the order with you now?" Powell shook his head in embarrassment. "Please, we cannot ept any payment for a failedmission on our behalf. Furthermore, for any seeds you require, Zuri might be a better source than us. Our integrity does not allow us to make gains where we failed to deliver on our promise." Lex merely nodded, apuding the Emporium''s high moral standard, before turning to leave. His attention, now, was on Zuri. The way in which she had sent the message, and was already waiting for him at the Inn carried a hint of a plot. It was as if she already knew everything Lex wanted, and was just waiting for him. But the problem was, he could not see how she could have spied on Lex, as he would have noticed. Or, perhaps, considering that she was in the Celestial realm, she had a way to observe him without him detecting. But since she was already waiting for him at the Inn, he would go and meet with her. He wanted to see what this was all about. He returned to the Inn, but instead of teleporting directly to the stated cottage, he appeared at the base on the mountain. Within the Inn, he was well aware of everyone, so he already could tell that Zuri was sitting in the previously stated cottage, though her appearance was not the same as she had usedst time. Instead, she appeared in the form of a treant, patiently keeping an eye out for him. Since that was the case, it would be a little rude to teleport to her directly, so he allowed her to detect his arrival from afar. Considering the ambiguous nature of this meeting, he did not want to startle her. Even so, his arrival did not take long. He knocked on the cottage door politely, walking in only when the door opened on its own. "Lady Zuri, we meet again," Lex said politely, Zuri turned to look at him, her form slowly turning into what he saw previously. Her appearance was absolutely brilliant, carrying with her the charm of an older woman. But Lex was not impressed. Rather, he just wondered why the need for the facade of changing appearances. "Lex Williams, it is a pleasure to meet you once more. You have grown quite a bit since ourst meeting." "My journey has been quite tumultuous since then. Growth was more a matter of necessity than anything else. Some obstacles I had to clear with my own strength, while others I had to clear through the strength of my contacts." Lex and Zuri looked at each other as a silence fell in between them. The hidden meaning behind Lex''s words was quite simple. For enemies he could deal with himself, he would do so, and those he could not defeat himself, he would rely on his connections. It was nothing unusual, actually. But to state it out so simply like this was for a deterrent effect. Considering the nature of their meeting, the meaning behind his words should have been evident. Yet Zuri only smiled. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "You are very interesting, Lex. Do you know? Most people I know nevere across more than one of my clones their entire lives. Despite howmon my clones are,pared to how vast the Origin realm is, it is as good as nothing. The fact that you keep running into my clones, time and time again, is already interesting enough. But the fact that every time you meet my clone, you give it an interesting show to watch is even more intriguing. "It seems to me that in just one year, the number of monumental events you face are more than most people face in a century." "Like I said, I''ve lived a tumultuous life. It''s quite strange, I never noticed any of these clones of yours that you''re mentioning." Zuriughed and stood up. "If my clones were so easy to detect, then I would have done a very bad job with them. Their whole purpose is to be concealed. Through them, I have seen much of the Origin realm. Perhaps, I have seen too many things that I was not supposed to see. "But let''s put this matter aside for now. I''ve heard you want a seed. It just so happens, I have the seed you want. What will you pay me for it?" "Is there something special you need?" Lex asked. "I know it is a Celestial level ingredient, and ordinary currency cannot exactly be used to pay for it." Zuri turned and studied Lex, looking at him deeply. She knew things about him that he probably had not realized she knew. That gave her a slight advantage if they were to end up in some kind of negotiation. But the fact of the matter was, she had a very mature understanding of humans, and based on that, she could judge Lex''s personality as well. Being direct would be much more useful than anything else. "Do you remember the request I made of youst time we met?" she asked. "You wanted me to ask the Sovereign turtle if it wanted toe to you. I asked, and it was not interested." "Naturally, it would not be interested. The things the Innkeeper can offer, naturally I cannot. But that does not mean that another arrangement cannot be drawn up. I require the turtles assistance on some matters. If you can negotiate with it on my behalf, I will give you the seed you want." Chapter 1368 Karma Chapter 1368 Karma That Zuri wanted the turtle''s help was not so surprising. She had once tried to recruit the turtle, when the Inn was much smaller in size. Her pitch back then was that she could provide a muchrger gardening space for the turtle than the Inn. Now that the Inn had grown into its own realm entirely, that was no longer feasible. More importantly, Zuri had quite a bit of confidence in herself. Even back then, she dared to try and poach from the Innkeeper, with the excuse that she knew that the amiable personality of the Innkeeper meant he would not take offense to anything she did in an upright and fair manner. Now, although she was not poaching from the Innkeeper, the shady way in which she arranged this meeting with Lex left him feeling like she was being spied on. Moreover, she was even meeting him within the Midnight Inn. Though she had been straightforward in her request, and had not requested anything absurd, Lex had the feeling that there was more to Zuri than met the eye. Moreover, he felt like she was trying to indirectlymunicate something to him through her antics, but he could not discover what it was. "Thest time we met, as a token of my appreciation for your efforts, I gave you a bit of a warning. There was an impurity within you that would have affected your path." Indeed, Zuri was the first person to detect the inscriptions hidden within Lex. Even the system, while checking his condition, had not mentioned them, mostly because they harmonized with him in such a way that they were no direct or immediate threat. "This time, let me extend the gesture once more." Zuri''s emerald green eyes suddenly shone with a quiet intensity, and within her gaze, Lex felt something he had not felt before - at least within the Inn. He felt like all his secrets were beingid bare before her. Before he could react, or ask her to stop, Zuri stopped on her own. "There is an imbnce in your karma," she stated, her voice grave. "You, as Lex, an employee of the Midnight Inn, have amassed great Karma. But you, as Lex Williams, as an individual, have almost no Karma left, and what little there is left is dwindling quickly. The Karma between your identities is not bnced. If this is not fixed, you will face a devastating cmity - one which you might not be able to bear." Lex''s expression suddenly turned solemn because he felt from deep within his bones that Zuri was right. Inadvertently, he was reminded of a small habit he had picked uptely. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Wherever he went, whether it was a new Minor realm, even the Midnight realm, or anywhere else, he would leave behind some kind of inheritance. More importantly, the inheritances he left behind were techniques and abilities of his own creation - or at least, his own, altered versions of other techniques. Back then, every time he did so, Lex felt like it was a random impulse. Now that Zuri had spoken about his imbnce in Karma, his instincts were actually screaming at him that his previous actions had been an attempt to correct this imbnce. But how was it possible to unconsciously correct this imbnce so easily? More and more, Lex was involving his identity with the Inn openly, even going as far as organizing a realm wide war, using the influence of the Inn to make connections and get things done. Inparison, he, as Lex Williams, had barely done much. One could argue that he had helped both his sisters achieve great things. But in truth, even then, he was heavily reliant on the system and his identity as a worker. Lex''s brow furrowed. This matter was genuinely strange, and made him even more aware of the oddity that was Karma. He had tried to learn about it, but failed. Of course, he was familiar with the basic concepts of Karma from Earth. Those who do good will sow good Karma, and those who do bad will sow negative Karma. Each and every action one did sowed a certain amount of Karma, and it was impossible to escape from its influence. Yet Karma in the cultivation world was a lot more esoteric and obscure. Itsplexities were such that even Lex, with the ability of his eye to help himprehendws, could not begin to understand itsplex nature. Regardless, now that he was aware of it, he would try to address the situation. But the thing was that now, he had even more Karma with Zuri. Well, he didn''t understand Karma. All he knew was that she helped him, so he would help her back. It was simple, straightforward, and aligned with his consciousness. Doing something just because he might be reacting to Karma sown by someone was not his style of doing things. "Thank you for your advice. I will address the issue as soon as I can. Please, let me know what you want the turtle to do and I will try to negotiate on your behalf. But I can only try - I cannot make the turtle do anything it does not wish to do." "Ipletely understand," Zuri said with a nod. "I have reached a bottleneck in my cultivation, and cannot find a path forward. But the turtle will have excellent insight into all nts. I wish for him to take a look at my true body, and discern how I can continue to grow stronger." "Can your true bodye to the Inn?" he asked, sensing that seeing the true body might not actually be so easy. "It can, but the departure of my true body from the Origin realm will cause certain problems. The turtle will need toe and see my true body in person, in the Origin realm." Yeah, that was not suspicious at all! "I will see what I can do," said Lex. Unfortunately, unless he decided to change his mind about the tree, this was something he had to do. Chapter 1369 Old legends Chapter 1369 Old legends Lex did not immediately head to the turtle. This issue was particrly sensitive. He did not want the turtle to leave the safety of the Inn, especially with Zuri acting so suspiciously. Her offering Lex some genuine aid did not alleviate his suspicions, but just made him even more confused about the nature of what she was nning. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om There was, of course, the possibility that there was no plot and she was sincere. But it was hard to believe, and he didn''t want to risk something so major on a mere possibility. The solution was simple. All he needed to do was give up on his n. He could use some other tree to build the treehouse, or decide to build a castle instead. Things did not need to be soplicated. Yet Lex could resign himself to giving up just because the situation becameplicated or troublesome. What king of supremacy did he have if he dared not disy it when there was trouble? His decision was basically made, so he teleported over to the turtle, who for once was not farming. Instead, he was resting under the shade of arge tree, using its vines to scratch the belly of Little Blue, who was floating around the turtle with its eyes closed. The sight was cozy andfortable, and Lex did not want to disturb them, yet he had to. "I have a situation. I have a lead on getting you seeds for the trees you want, but the seed for the Void Sequoia tree I need for your tuition to be relevant to begin with is suddenly out of reach. To get it, I will require your help." "Oh silly human. Of course you need my help. What would you do without me, I wonder. Probablynd yourself in some trouble. Well, go ahead. Tell me how I can help." "There is a senior by the name of Zuri Adissa. She is a clover that grew to greatness, having reached the Celestial realm. But now, she has run into a bottleneck and needs your guidance to break through it. Keep in mind, I have suspicions her motives might be something else, for she requires your guidance outside of the Midnight Inn. "It won''t be safe, and I can''t guarantee that she won''t try something suspicious. In fact, she has been behaving oddly to begin with. But at the same time, she has a monopoly on the seeds we need. Without her cooperation, our task will be much more difficult." "Oh you silly human, you trouble yourself too much by overthinking. The solution is simple: think less. This is not even a problem at all. Let me tell you what we can do. So I¡­" The turtle proceeded to tell Lex the worst n he had ever heard, and one that would most certainly fail if anyone other than a Sovereign pulled it off. But with a Sovereign being the one doing this, it might just work. An hourter, Lex arrived at the cabin once more, sitting atop the shell of the turtle. "We are ready, but to go to your main body, we will need a sample of the itself. Once there, the turtle will give you the advice you need, and we will promptly return. After that, I expect to get the seeds I require. Is that eptable for you?" Zuri turned and looked towards the turtle with great admiration, yet instead of speaking she only presented a small, four leaf clover to Lex. "This is from my main body, and will permanently retain its aura. You can use it to travel to my main body. I must warn you beforehand, my main body is in a peculiar location and is under supervision. When you arrive there, you will also be spotted. It''s not so easy to avoid detection there." "Being spotted in itself should not be an issue," Lex said, looking at Zuri. "As long as no one harms us, there won''t be a problem." "Oh, no one will harm you, of that even I can assure you. But I just wanted to let you know about that fact lest you want to retain your anonymity." "Thank you for the warning, and see you soon" Lex said as he used the four leaf clover to purchase a ticket to that very. Without hesitation he used the ticket, being teleported away while having a random thought. He was teleporting to the main body of a four leaf clover in the celestial level to help it breakthrough its bottleneck, to get his hands on a few seeds, to be able to nt and grow a tree quickly, so he could build a treehouse around it, so he could build a tavern andplete a quest in the hopes that he would not need to personally travel to every single he wished to connect to the Inn. He was on a quest, within a quest, within a quest and so on for fiveyers or more. He really needed to get an assistant. Oh wait, his assistant was helping connect the Inn to a number of dungeons. Right. He needed another assistant. Lex and the turtle teleported away, arriving on a new that immediately felt like its star rating could rival Dunya! That meant this was at least a 5 star. All around him was a thick, luscious forest that seemed to extend to eternity with an exceptionally rich biodiversity. In fact, many creatures around them were Earth immortals or Heavenly immortals. Lex was about to take in a deep breath, appreciating the freshness of the air, when he suddenly felt something. He was being watched by a very strong entity, and it wasn''t Zuri. As he looked up, Lex did not see a regr sky. Instead he saw a rainbow so massive it filled the entire sky itself, carrying with it a weight and depth that was abnormal. It was as if he was sitting under the weight of all the rainbows in existence. "At the end of the rainbow¡­" the turtle muttered, giving Lex a very bad feeling as he recalled some legends from back on earth. Chapter 1370 A prison Chapter 1370 A prison The feeling of being watched did notst long, and faded, as if it lost interest. Why wouldn''t it? Based on all appearances, both Lex and the turtle were in the mortal realm. Because thatpletely made sense. It was a verymon thing for mortals to teleport on an interster scale without suffering any harm. Why wouldn''t they? It was not as if their physiques were so weak that the pressures of such travel would destroy them. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Sarcasm aside, mortals really could travel the universe as long as they used the golden keys of the Inn. Yet others could not know that. Such an obvious loophole should have aroused greater suspicion from anyone scrutinizing them, yet since the turtle wished for his camouge to be perfect, it was, and mere immortals could not see through it, or even conceive the idea that there was something amiss. This was only the first step in the turtle''s n. Lex, on the other hand, viewed the interface to see the details of the they had teleported to. : Zuri Rating: 5.5 Star Environment: Extremely fertile, extremely hungry, extremely dangerous Gxy: Adissa Lex froze, blinked, and read again. The was Zuri, and the gxy was Adissa. Either the clover he was familiar with took her name arbitrarily, or her existence and influence was closely connected to the entire gxy. Lex also considered the possibility that, like certain nts back on Earth that became unbelievably huge, Zuri had actually fused with, or maybe grown into an entire gxy. But such a thought was too absurd, too fantastical. Although he was in the business of doing the impossible, that does not mean others could so easily do it as well. But he quickly pushed that thought aside. Now was not the time to dwell on such things. "Zuri, we have arrived. How are we to proceed?" Lex asked out loud, as if he was speaking to someone nearby. Instead of receiving a verbal response, he saw the forest around him began to move, paving a way for them. The two mortals began to walk, with each step covering dozens of miles, as normal mortals usually do. When they emerged from the forest, what they saw was that they were atop the peak of a massive mountain, with other simr mountains all around it, forming a deep bowl in the center. The center was covered in mist so that all view of whaty within was blocked, not just from sight, but from all senses. Even the spirit sense, or Lex''s discerning eyes failed to pierce through the veil of mist. All they could do was venture down, following the pathid out for them, ignoring the heavy sense of surveince that covered this valley. Whatever had gazed towards them was looking deep into this valley as well, trying to look through the mist, but even it was failing. Lex, a mere mortal, looked up and took measure of the weight of the rainbow, which was the source of that gaze, but aroused no suspicion. Everyone knew that human mortals could resist the pressure of powerful Immortals, and gaze upon the source of their power without cowering or feeling pressure. It was as basic knowledge as the fact that water was wet. As they entered the mist, Lex lost all sense of what was around him, and even the path underneath was no longer visible, nor could it be sensed. Fortunately, the turtle at least could follow the path, so Lex simply sat upon his shell, and awaited their destination. The journey actually ended up taking them several hours even with their fast speed, demonstrating how deep the valley really was. In truth, Lex was able to sense that even his perception of time was skewed within the mist - something he could only tell because he had clones and projections in others and realms. Or perhaps it was the turtle underneath him that allowed him to sense this anomaly. It was notmon or easy to encounter someone who delved inws rted to time. Of the many Celestial immortals he had met, none had ever disyed any mastery of time. The fact that Zuri dared to do so demonstrated that she was far from as simple as she appeared - not that she seemed simple at all! Eventually, they reached the base of the valley. Lex did not know what to expect, but he certainly wasn''t expecting a simple meadow. There were no grand structures, no towering trees, no ancient glories. Just a simple meadow with a few fruit trees here and there, and wildflowers all around. The turtle hummed, as if appreciating the ce, though Lex was utterly incapable of determining what was so special about this ce. It seemed like any other meadow. Then again, the very fact that he could not see through it revealed just how special it really was. The path continued under their feet, so they continued walking, all the way to the center of the meadow, where Lex saw something unbelievable. Right in the middle was a small, inconsequential four leaf clover, looking no different from any other clover he had ever seen. If all signs had not been pointing towards the fact that this was Zuri, he would not have believed that such a small thing could be a Celestial Immortal! Didn''t all things grow bigger and grander as their cultivation developed? "Wee," Zuri spoke into their minds, her voice soft and gentle. "You are the first beings to see me in person in¡­ a very long time. It feels very different to be able to see people in person, and not through a clone." "Silly clover," the turtle said with gentleness in his voice Lex had never heard before. "nts are meant to grow in a garden, not in a prison." A thought shed through Lex''s mind, and he looked up. Though the mist still blocked his view, he could still recall what the sky above looked like. An endless rainbow covered the sky, from horizon to horizon, and though it looked beautiful, it also felt¡­ suffocating. Who the hell was holding Zuri Adissa, a Celestial Immortal, prisoner? Could it be a Dao Lord? Chapter 1371 An evolution Chapter 1371 An evolution "It is not ideal, I''ll admit," said Zuri modestly to the turtle. "But it is the situation I have to live with. If I can be stronger, I may be able to break free of this predicament." Lex himself was extremely curious about Zuri''s situation, but seeing how the clover did not talk about it, nor did the turtle ask about it, he did not broach the subject. "Your level is too far from mine," the turtle said honestly. "I cannot guide you on your cultivation path. I can only guide you in the path of your evolution." "Even that will suffice," Zuri answered. "Any change at all can help me change the requirements of my bottleneck, and bring a certain change in my situation." The turtle nodded, and for the first time as far as Lex was concerned, did something other than use its vines! A deep green aura surrounded the turtle as his eyes began to shine, and the turtle floated a few feet off the ground, his gaze fixed on the four leaf clover. Lex got goosebumps, his body telling him that something remarkable was happening near him. Yet, as a mere ''mortal'', all he could do was sit and watch the spectacle unfold. The turtle began to genuinely radiate a formidable aura, making Lex believe that the turtle could actually be an impressive fighter if it so chose. Yet while the turtle''s aura reached Lex, it did not go much farther, as the mist absorbed even that, letting not a single ripple of that aura leak outwards. Lex could not help but wonder how such a situation came into being. If whoever was trapping Zuri here was stronger than her, then why didn''t he juste down and find her? If she was the stronger one, why did she tolerate it? And if they were equal in power, why would Zuri ept such a suppressed state? But he would not ask those questions. It was best just to wrap up their job and move on from here. So far, there seemed to be no threat, so it was best if things stayed that way. The green aura extended from the turtle, and wrapped the small, almost inconspicuous four-leaf clover. Although Lex did not understand what was happening, he sensed that gaining some insight from this situation would be beneficial for himself. Lex was really beginning to understand why immortals took so long to grow stronger, why they needed immortality, and why they had so much mental resilience. He used to think it was because the mindset was changing to be less resistant to the years, but now he realized it was also so that they could deal with all the issues that came along with being immortal. He had to manage his t,prehendws, ovee tribtions, not go through his tribtions too quickly, avoid bing a deity by ident, manage his Karma, and lord only knows what else. Now he needed to understand what was going on so he could replicate it himself? Although Lexined in his heart, he paid close attention to what was happening. At first, Lex only thought that the turtle was analyzing the clover, but clearly it was also helping it somehow be stronger, or perhaps be ready for its eventual evolution. Eventually, the green aura began to fade, and the turtle descended back to the ground. N?v(el)B\\jnn "A four-leaf clover, a harbinger of good fortune. But to bring that fortune, you must first be plucked. Whoever plucks you from your ce will gain all the good fortune you have umted in your life. Considering you use good fortune to cultivate, instead of spiritual energy, that is truly quite a lot of fortune, enough to tempt even the strongest of beings." Lex suddenly understood Zuri''s situation, and could not help sympathize with her. She must have spent arge portion of her life hiding the truth of her existence, just as he had been doing for so long. Whether it was his cultivation technique, his system or his bloodline, if any were revealed he would be in grave danger, so he camouged himself. Simrly, it now made sense why Zuri was so good at transforming. She was also hiding - or at least had once been hiding. "But so much good fortune collected need not be saved for the use of others. You can use it to transform yourself, though as you use up your umted good fortune to transform, your cultivation will drop. Is that price eptable for you?" This time, despite being exceptionally motivated, Zuri did not answer immediately. The whole reason she called the turtle here was so that she could be stronger. The turtle could not provide her a path to directly grow stronger, but it could provide her an opportunity to evolve. Technically speaking, even if her cultivation level would drop, an evolution meant that she had more strength and potential in general. Her ability to ovee bottlenecks would be greater, and the ceiling for her potential level was higher. But all of that potential came at the very real cost of genuine, tangible strength. Considering her precarious situation, it was not an easy decision. While she reflected on her choices, Lex realized something. The reason Zuri helped him was because she was bringing him some kind of good fortune, or helping him avoid bad fortune. Whichever it was, that was her way of cultivating. The concept that one could grow by helping others was a novel concept for him - at least in terms of cultivation. More importantly, he linked his attempts to leave behind legacies to this very same action. Could it be that he could remedy his situation by helping someone else? It was just one option. He would study his situation in great detailter on. For now, the focus was on Zuri. "I''ll do it," she finally said with conviction in her voice. "Good. From fortune to fortune, the path I have seen for you is from a four-leaf clover, bringing fortune to others upon your demise, to good fortune and spiritual awakening for those near you. Your future is as a Bodhi tree." *** If you''d like to support the author, you can do so through Ko-F.i and Pat.re.on by searching lifesketcher. Chapter 1372 The height of ridiculousness Chapter 1372 The height of ridiculousness Bodhi tree? Lex had never heard of it. It was almost as if it didn''t make an appearance in almost every cultivation novel he had ever read. That was because this was one of those rare trees, the knowledge and history of which had been lost to time, with only a scant few retaining their knowledge. Even Zuri, a formidable nt herself and one of the strongest beings in the Origin realm, had never heard of it. Incidentally, there was a guest at the Midnight Inn who had also heard of, and in fact trained under a Bodhi tree. But such things were so ancient that no one would know of them, and not think to mention it to a random guest in the Inn - especially when that guest was a Dao Lord. "How can I evolve into the Bodhi tree?" asked Zuri. Although she was herself unfamiliar with this tree, she did not hesitate now that she had made a decision. "It requires a few steps, but the most important is the transformation of the fortune power in your body to the power of Golden Purity. This will be difficult and intense, absorbing all your power of fortune and converting it into something else. That will be the primary cause of your loss in cultivation. The second thing you will need is a seed of enlightenment, the waters of Mount Buddha, andstly, you will need to save the life of one with immense Karmic virtue, or to grant someone enlightenment into the secrets of nirvana." Lex raised an eyebrow. Although he did not know what all these things were, they did not sound easy to- "Done," said Zuri, interrupting Lex''s thoughts. "My clones have collected the necessary materials, and have simultaneously saved 13 billion beings with great Karmic virtue, 300,000 beings of immense Karmic virtue, and one being with visible Karmic virtue." Lex immediately changed the lesson he was taking away from this experience. Having trillions of clones all across the realm was more useful than it seemed. The turtle then began to describe to Zuri how exactly to begin the change. The unusual thing was that, unlike almost every growth and power up within the immortal realm, her evolution would be instantaneous. That is what the seed of enlightenment was for. It would enlighten her on how to change her fortune into Golden Purity, which would automatically begin the transformation. But while Zuri had gotten all the ingredients using her clones, they had to be absorbed by her main body. Transporting everything over would take time¡­ ordinarily. With the Midnight inn, it took her barely a few seconds. She sent her clones with the items to the Inn, and then sent a clone from beside her main body at the Inn to collect them and bring them back. It was lucky for her that Lex had not limited teleportation in the Origin realm yet due to the ongoing Midnight Games. "If you do not mind, please witness my evolution," Zuri said with her clone as it walked up to the four leaf clover. "Don''t mind if I do," said the turtle, seeming pleased. Lex did not mind either. After all, if the turtle''s strategy had not been seen through so far, it would not be revealed now. They were perfectly safe, so he might as well watch the show. The clone kneeled before the clover, and one by one added the ingredients. As soon as the seed of enlightenment was added, which was not as much a seed as a glowing orb of light, the clover began to glow with a golden hue, and Lex felt an immense amount of power wafting from her. It was fortunate mortals were not affected by the aura of Celestials. If he were anyone else,he would already be kneeling in the face of such awesome power. "Isn''t this a little too easy?" Lex couldn''t help but ask the turtle. "Like her evolution took only a few minutes to arrange. It seems too simple." To be precise, the feeling Lex was getting was that he was witnessing someone whopleted all the sidequests before doing a single main quest in a video game. "It is not quick at all," the turtle said, as he looked at the clone disappear into a mote of light, absorbed by the clover. Across the Origin realm, many of Zuri''s clones suddenly disappeared, though not all of them. "This evolution is millions of years in the making. She has already done the hard part. Now all that''s left is the easy part - even then, easy is a rtive term. Silly human, how can something so powerful be easy?" "Yeah, that''s what I thought," Lex murmured, as he gazed at the clover. It was growing at a visible rate before his eyes, turning from a mere nt into a young tree. But more than anything, what impressed Lex was the mist. No matter how impressive or formidable the change happening down in the meadow, the mist did not let slip a single hint of it. Although the turtle had said the change would be instantaneous, it was more of an expression than something literal. The actual transformation still took over a day, during which time Lex fell into a trance, all without knowing it. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The aura of the Bodhi tree, even unformed, put him in a state of enlightenment, and he began to digest all the numerous gains he had umted so far. It was not that his cultivation rose - it was that he began to fullyprehend the nuances behind all thews, his immortal state, his eyes, his sword intent, his bloodline, his Domination, his newly acquired Lawcraft, and everything else. Within a few hours, he mastered all of them - or atleast, as much of them as he could at his current level. Then, the thing he had been trying to avoid began happening. Lex''s cultivation began to rise once more, until he reached the point where he could take the tribtion for the ninth andst level of the Earth immortal realm. Chapter 1373 Shady turtle Chapter 1373 Shady turtle Lex woke up from his trance feeling amazing, powerful, and as if he had another headache on his head. How was it so simple to go through the realms in the immortal realms? Wasn''t it supposed to be harder, for various reasons. He, instead, wascruising through the realm despite his best efforts to slow down. Cultivating was really tough. He was trying to be responsible, but it was just too damn difficult. Of course, as far as anyone else was concerned, Lex was still a mortal. He turned to look at Zuri, and discovered that her body was now muchrger, for it was now a tree. But as far as trees were concerned, she was actually small. The canopy of the tree was barely 8 feet (2.4 meters) high. The bark on the tree was light brown in color, while the leaves were deep green. The tree seemed just as unassuming as the clover had been, and all the surging aura it had been releasing before had vanished. "Is it done?" Lex asked. "Yes, it is done. A transformation millions of years in the making has beenpleted. The clover has be a tree, and its luck and fortune can no longer be plucked so easily," answered the turtle. "Indeed, it is done," Zuri said, her voice a whisper. "But I need to rest for a while. Let usplete this transaction. I believe, in exchange for your help, you require a Sequoia Void seed?" "Yes. I''m also looking for an Eternal Autumn Persimmon seed and a Genesis Oak seed, so if you know where I could find them, I''d appreciate it." "One of my clones will deliver all of them to the Inn. This has been a pleasant cooperation. If, in the future, you require some cooperation, feel free to reach out to me." "Do you mind if I spend a little more time on your?" Lex asked. If he stayed long enough, he''d be able to link the Zuri to the Inn. "Do as you wish, though I would request you to leave this valley for your own safety. In fact, the rest of the won''t be too safe either when I go to sleep." "You know what? I''ll explore next time," said Lex, and allowed himself to fade. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Yes, he did not teleport to the Inn. Instead, he faded, for what had visited the Zuri was not Lex, but a clone of his that requiredplete synchronization of his being. This way, if his clone was harmed in any way, he would not actually be hurt. However, now that he no longer needed it, he dismissed his clone, which caused it to fade from existence. This was not something Lex had done. Creating the clones and then establishing such a link between them that no one would be able to detect the difference was the turtles idea and doing. In fact, that was one of the reasons why he felt like he was a mortal. The clone was a mortal, though Lex could still use all his abilities with the clone. It was a very peculiar arrangement, and one that worked to his benefit. Who knows what would have happened if Lex had been in front of the Bodhi tree in person? He may have resonated with it and triggered some kind of anomaly. Although his bloodline only worked on humanoids, who was to say that something odd and unexpected wouldn''t happen randomly? Odd and unexpected was basically the theme of Lex''s life. "The deal is now fulfilled, and I will now teach you how to nt the Void Stabilization Sequoia tree in the fastest time possible," said the turtle, though Lex suddenly squinted his eyes. "There''s something off about you," he said suspiciously. "You haven''t called anyone silly in a long while, and you''re in too much of a rush toplete our deal. Did you do something you weren''t supposed to?" "Do not be silly, human. I have done nothing wrong. I just see no reason to dy the deal. We both have things to do." Lex squinted even harder, almost to the point where his eyes were almost closed, and the turtle started to look left and right nervously. "Alright fine, I may have done a few things secretly, but that does not mean I harmed anyone or took advantage of anyone. Bing a Bodhi tree is genuinely the best path for that clover." "What did you do?" Lex asked, feeling like he was seeing a whole new side of the turtle baby. "I may have secretly nted a few nts in the valley to take advantage of the aura of the Bodhi tree''s birth. But then I quickly plucked them back up. This is not a loss. The aura was there, being wasted anyway, and now I have my roses for my heavenly garden." Lex shook his head in disbelief. He had never heard the turtle talk as much as he did today. But, in the end, he just nodded, and asked the turtle to transmit the information. Although he was fairly certain the turtle was still feeling guilty, likely hiding something else as well, he could not be bothered to meddle in its matters. It was best to stay on the good side of the Sovereign. The turtle hastily extended its vine and touched Lex''s forehead, transmitting all pertinent knowledge about the tree Lex wished to nt. There was good news, and there was bad news, although to Lex it wasn''t really bad news at all. The good news was that the turtle knew exactly how to do just what Lex wanted, and even had a way to have it done in a small time frame. The bad news was that it was extremely expensive. But what did Lex have if not money? The answer was that he still had a lot, but the point was that he also had a lot of money. What was money good for if not for spendingvishly to fulfill one''s unreasonable needs, such as growing a Void Stabilization Sequoia tree in a matter of days? But for this expense, Lex really needed to pull out all the stops. He went to Pel Jr. and grabbed a vial of blood essence, which was not easy to get at all, considering how tough the dragon''s body was. In fact, Pel Jr. had to self mutte for Lex to get his hands on it. He also took the opportunity to grab a few dragon scales, and preserve a single seconds worth of dragon''s breath within a sealing scroll - an item which could seal anything inside of itself. Lex also grabbed some Jom heart''s blood. These were some of his most valuable treasures which he was willing to sell. He still had a couple Amber Chaos Resin on hand, but he would not trade that away for anything. Those were Dao level ingredients for heaven''s sake! Then, hepiled a list and went back to the Emporium. Powell, upon looking at Lex, smiled awkwardly. "How was the deal? Was it sessful?" "Yes, it worked out quite well for everyone involved," Lex said, not revealing the details. "That includes you, I might add. Although you refused amission for setting up a meeting, you surely won''t refuse an order that resulted from the meeting, will you?" Lex held out the spirit crystal containing his list quite innocently, as if he was only requesting a few items. In truth, the list contained over four million items of various levels of rarity. Powell grabbed the crystal, and after a moment, grinned as widely as his face would allow. "Lex, I could kiss you!" he eximed in excitement, to which Lex responded by taking a step back. "I''m sorry, I can do without that." Powell didn''t mind, and instead rushed to the back, forgetting to tell Lex anything about how or when the order would bepleted. He did not even return quickly. An entire twenty minutester, Powell came running back in, holding what looked like a small jewelry box. "The first batch of your items are in here," Powell exined. "Fulfilling your order this time will not be as simple as the previous ones, and will require a number of weeks, during which there will be multiple shipments." "Can I pay to expedite the process?" Lex asked, unconcerned about the numerous issues such a request would raise. "I think you can take a peek at the payment I''m offering before you decide." Lex held out a spatial ring which contained all that he was offering to pay, causing the poor shopkeeper to tremble with excitement. "Please wait here while I see what I can manage," Powell yelled as he ran to the back once more. In truth, Lex had no estimate for the value of the items he was buying, or the price of the items he was selling. But since it got the job done, who was he toin? Chapter 1374 I want to be... Chapter 1374 I want to be... This time, it did not take long for Powell to return, and this time he looked extremely excited, and also a little tense. Lex did not show it, but he suddenly raised his guard, as his instincts suddenly warned him that he was about to encounter a critical moment - one that would directly impact his entire life! Lex could notprehend why buying a bunch of items could lead to something that could alter his entire life, but it did not take a genius to detect that it had something to do with why Powell looked so tense. Internally, he just sighed. He was just trying to focus on his Inn for goodness sake. Why did everything have to be soplicated? "I have good news," Powell said, his voice filled with excitement though Lex could easily tell it was feigned. "We have about 99.8% of all the materials you require on hand, and can easily acquire most of the remaining ones in a couple of days at most. There is only one item that is slightlyplicated to procure, and I cannot give you an estimate of when I will be able to get my hands on it. "But fret not. Considering your VIP status at the Emporium, I will personally go out and try to get it. You can check back in two days when the other items are ready to see if I have it "Also, we need to discuss your payment. Although it is highly valuable, considering the number of items you are buying, the amount is a little insufficient." This was actually the first time ever Lex haggled over prices like this at the emporium. Essentially, the items Lex provided had no real price, and their value could only be estimated. With their worth not having a fixed value, mostly because they were priceless, putting a price on them was difficult. The Emporium naturally wanted more, and though Lex could pay more, he wanted to increase the value of his possessions. This, a fierce bargaining session ended with Powelling face to face with Lex''s inner capitalist for the first time ever. Eventually, they reached an agreement, and Powell handed Lex a number of spatial bags which contained most of the items he requested. He went through the bags with his spirit sense, and in one of them encountered a lockbox with a few words engraved on it that read, ''DO NOT OPEN IN EMPORIUM''. Lex showed no abnormal reaction upon sighting that, and merely nodded, telling Powell he would see him in a couple of days before returning to the Inn. Yet when he was at the Inn, the feeling from his instincts heightened. It seemed that whatever was in the lockbox would result in a critical choice in his life that would alter his future. One way or another, he had to make a choice. But since he didn''t sense any danger from the lockbox, Lex returned to his apartment and took it out. The lockbox was a small ck cuboid made of some unknown metal, though now face to face with it, Lex sensed that it was incredibly valuable! In fact, the value of the box could not be understated at all! Even with his immense spirit sense, Lex could not detect the box right in front of him, nor could he peer into its secrets with his eyes that revealed even thews within things. When he looked at the box, all he saw was the box. In fact, the only abnormal feeling the box gave him was a slight palpitation in his dragon''s heart, which acted on the instincts of a dragon, and longed for the valuable treasure. Yet in front of this immeasurably valuable treasure, Lex only sighed. Who could understand his pain? He just wanted to mind his own business and run his Inn. Why was that so hard? He was like a fat man going on a diet, but receiving free ice cream on every turn. What kind of inhumane act was it to disagree to free ice cream? It was with great reluctance, and a resolution to start his diet from tomorrow, that he would be forced to unwillingly consume the delicious ice cream. Even though the fat man had already bought a new suit he wanted to fit into by losing a few pounds, he had to resign himself to only looking at that suit, and nevering close to fitting into it. With great reluctance, Lex opened the box. It wasn''t as if he could ignore it, and his senses couldn''t peer into it, so opening it was the only choice left. Yet to his immense surprise, hidden within the immeasurably valuable box, was a simple recording crystal, as well as Talisman. Admittedly, the Talisman seemed like it was incredibly valuable, but it still couldn''t match the value of the box within it. Lex reached out to the recording crystal, and sent his spirit sense into it. "Please use the talisman within the Origin realm, 6 hours after the conclusion of our exchange," whispered Powell''s voice into Lex''s mind. There was no other exnation given, but there it was. He had his critical decision in front of him. Oddly, his instincts were silent on what decision to make. But it wasn''t odd at all. So far, Lex had encountered very few things to which his instincts could not respond. One such thing was someone much more powerful than him, such as the Dao Lord he had recently met whose name Lex had deleted from his memory. But Powell was not so strong. In fact, even the main Powell was only in Celestial immortal realm, if Lex recalled correctly, let alone his clone. So this was unlikely to be the case. The second thing that could evade his instincts was a system. Lex had long harbored suspicions that the Emporium was some kind of system, but considering the fact that it had been immensely helpful to him on so many asions, he chose not to investigate it. Not to mention, Lex was not the kind of malicious insane reverend to go around randomly plotting against every single person he met. Nor was he desperate topletely heal his system just yet either. He knew it would surely strengthen his system if he did, but he also had a feeling, based on his own assessment and not his instincts, that aplete system wouldnd him in way more trouble than he was already experiencing. For all these reasons, he ignored his suspicions about the Emporium. Yet now, that was resulting in him not having any guidance from his instincts. That meant that this was a critical, life altering decision. "I just want to be Hokage¡­ I mean, I just want to be a simple Innkeeper. Why so many obstacles?" He now finally understood why Powell had seemed nervous. Clearly, he did not know whether or not Lex would follow through with the instructions in the box. But, Lex decided to do it. Although he wanted to avoid any unnecessary troubles, that did not mean he was afraid of them. Over the next short while, Lex went over all the items he had bought, and nned out his construction of the second tavern. He couldn''t really begin until he had all the materials, but he could prepare. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om He picked out a distant spot in the Midnight realm, outside the Midnight Inn and far away from any intelligent races. He had a feeling that the expedited method to grow a Void Stabilization Sequoia tree might leave this ce drained of all energy for a while, almost like a dead zone. Lex suddenly paused, and had a thought. Was this the reason why Earth was a dead zone? Had someone refined an incredibly powerful treasure, or nurtured some incredible nts there at some point in history, leaving that ce devoid of all energy? Once again, his instincts were silent, not providing him an answer. Normally, an Immortal could intuit simple things just based on their advanced level, yet in this Lex found himself without an answer. Lex groaned as he added investigating the secret of dead zones on his list of things to do once he was no longer avoiding unnecessary trouble. Once the specified time was near, Lex teleported to the Origin realm. Perhaps because he had been recently thinking about it, he could not help but teleport to Earth. Instantly, he was hit with a wave of nostalgia as he saw the blue, though it had changed a lot. In that instant, though, his instincts began telling him that Earth hid a few more secrets that no one had uncovered just yet. Lex put it on the back of his mind. How could he not know that a that imprisoned a Demi-Dao Lord for thousands of years surely hid some super secrets? But now was not the time to dwell on these things. He pulled out the talisman, and used it. Lex felt himself being teleported away, and did not resist. It was time to find out what all the fuss was about. Chapter 1375 Really bad Chapter 1375 Really bad Upon teleporting sessfully, Lex found himself standing in a swamp, with dark clouds hovering overhead. Thunder rumbled in the distance, filling the darkness with a sense of foreboding. The spiritual energy in this ce, wherever it was, had a concentration simr to a 3 Star, so it wasn''t really exceptional, nor was it mundane. Lex spread his spirit sense out, and discovered that there was nothing of significant interest anywhere around him, with the strongest being in the vicinity being an alligator-like beast, sleeping in the waters at the Nascent realm. As far as appearances were concerned, there was nothing particrly special about this ce. But, considering that Lex was being particrly attentive and thorough in his investigation, he discovered something. There was a particr region within the range of his spirit sense that seemedpletely normal. It was an unassuming portion of the swamp, where the waters flowed and the winds blew, some small animals traveling in and out and a few insect hives making that ce their home. It was totally unremarkable, save for one simple fact. Within this region grew a ck flower that Lex recognized. It was the Yin-dipped Lotus, a very rare nt that is difficult to grow artificially. The flower contains a heavy amount of Yin energy - one of the many kinds of energy that exists in the universe. It wasn''t the Yin energy in itself that made it special, but the fact that the Yin energy was uncontaminated with any residual evil or malevolence. After all, Yin energy usually umted in ces where a lot of death had urred, as it was a byproduct of dissipating souls. ces with dense amounts of Yin energy were also associated with Hells, torture of the soul, ghosts, spirits, and generally all kinds of things with heavy negative connotations. Yet the Yin-dipped Lotus contained this energy without actually having any association with death or decaying souls, making it a very pure source for this energy. As it happened, this flower was one of the items Powell told him that the Emporium did not have. It was believable, since the flower could not be grown in a greenhouse under ordinary circumstances, and needed to be harvested in the wild. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Such a flower, rare but with high utility, was hardly ever kept in reserve as demand was higher than supply. Lex did not find Powell''s im of not having it suspicious, but now that it was right in front of him, it was obvious that it was a sign for him toe here. Lex proceeded towards the flower, though he maintained his vignce, but found no issue at all. After reaching the flower, he easily harvested it, using a spiritual technique to seal it so that it did not lose any vitality, so that it could be usedter. Coincidentally, or perhaps not so much, as soon as he harvested the flower, his eyes fell onto an opening in a nearby tree that looked like it led to a tunnel that went underground. As it happened, Lex could not detect that opening with his spirit sense, nor were his instincts reacting to its existence. "Not suspicious at all," Lex murmured even as he hopped into the hole, fully ready for this to be an borate trap of some kind. After all, he had not been inconspicuous as ofte, and though the Emporium imed to be a neutral organization, focusing only onmerce, who was to say they couldn''t be swayed by a significantly powerful force? He slid down the hole, and entered into a room, but in doing so clearly crossed some kind of threshold which caused his expression to change. When he looked up, the pathway leading down, predictably, was no more! This room, whatever it was, had an isting effect unlike he had ever felt before! It was like the Destiny level protection formation within the Inn, which could even block out the machinations of Destiny itself, but much more powerful! Within this room, Lex found himself cut off from everything outside this room! He could feel his Karma, as esoteric as it was, suddenly freed. An invisible burden had been lifted off from him - the burden of his imbnce Karma. Yet this escape was only temporary, for the imbnce would return if he exited the room. Lex also discovered that countless other connections he had with the universe atrge, connections he did not understand or was even aware of, had been cut off. He had never noticed them before, for they had existed as long as he had. Only now, in their absence, did he realize they had existed to begin with. One of them, he realized, was a connection to the destiny of the human race. Whether he was aware of it or not, whether he wanted it or not, he was inevitably linked to the human race. That link was not just in the feedback he got from the Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum, but what he contributed to it as well, not to mention something much deeper that he could not yet understand. Yet that was just one of the many, invisible influences that had suddenly been lifted off his shoulders by entering this room. Yet not all was so pleasant. Among the many connections he lost, it also included his connection to Jack! Although Lex and Jack were one and the same, always aware of each other''s existence and experiences, from the moment Lex entered this room, he could no longer sense his connection to Jack! Considering they were a part of each other, instead of separate beings, this disconnection was extremely concerning. Yet even that was not at the forefront of Lex''s concerns. The most rming and significant connection he had lost was not to Jack, but to the Midnight realm! Although the system was still within him, the connection between the system and the Midnight realm had been severed! It was to the point where he could not even automatically return to the realm if he wished! Mary suddenly appeared in front of him, her expression extremely grave. "I suppose I don''t need to tell you this, but this is really bad." Chapter 1376 Monkey business Chapter 1376 Monkey business It was another average day at the Midnight Inn. The sun was shining, the birds were singing - literally there was a concert going on down at the vige organized by some birds - and life was good. Golf carts could be seen driving over lush greenwns, and peacocks could be seen running through the fields, carrying passengers. In the water, Magikarpets acted as mounts, while in the air butterflies acted as a taxi service. It was not Heaven, but it was a paradise - at least by mortal standards. Wu Kong was cultivating his mind by ying a game called Go Fish, a devious and ingenious method used by mortals which employed strategy and misdirection, while honing one''s reflexes and keeping the mind nimble. In front of him, sat a little girl, her age not even that of a century, though for some reason she kept thinking herself old. Beside her sat her husband, a mischievous little fellow going through his rebellious phase. These children were called Brandon and Audrey Morrison, but despite their young age, their penchant for mischief really intrigued Wu Kong, which is why he was spending time with them. For example, at the moment it seemed like they were ying cards, but in truth they were listening in on some gossip nearby which involved a scandal among the Fiery Mammoths wherein, apparently, a young Fiery Mammoth had all its fur shaved off in the middle of a battlefield, leaving it even more naked than the day it was born. This act was actually a result of Brandons instigation, and listening to it caused the little boy to giggle without constraint. While all of this happened, a minor earthquake shook the Midnight realm. The quake was insignificant, almost undetectable, yet Wu Kong''s expression suddenly turned solemn. He looked left or right, yet no matter where he looked, he could not find the target he was looking for. His eyes narrowed, and he could not help but growl from deep within his throat, yet Wu Kong restrained himself. Of course, no one saw or heard Wu Kong, for in their perception he was still ying cards - just as they did not see how thews of the realm suddenly started to be unstable. ***** "Yeah, no kidding," responded Lex as he looked at Mary, already disying his power in full. Within a single second he could take countless actions, and have a million thoughts, though if he always acted in his maximum capacity he would be exhausted quickly. N?v(el)B\\jnn Now, though, at a critical moment, there was no need to hold back. In less than a second, he was confident that he could escape this room, for it had only isted him and not trapped him. He was sure he could find a way out, yet something incredibly unexpected happened. Mary stopped him. "But this is also a good thing. Don''t leave just yet. You can stay here a few minutes without affecting the Inn. I need to take this opportunity to tell you a few things." Mary was reacting at the same speed as Lex, so their conversation was happening incredibly fast. At the same time, Lex sensed that in the far corner, someone was sitting with his eyes closed, though he could easily guess who it was. Yet Lex did not disturb Powell yet. Instead, he focused on Mary. "What is it?" he asked. "This ce you''re in, I am familiar with it. It''s called a Sani Vortex, a rare urrence which connects in the inner and outeryer of the fabric of the universe, creating a spacepletely cut off from the rest of the universe. This is a rare opportunity for me to share some things with you - things you must immediately seal in your mind, locking them away in your memories - just like you sealed away your time affinity!" "What is it?" Lex asked gravely, ready to hear some secrets about the system. What he did not expect was that Mary wanted to discuss something else entirely. "The guest in your Inn, the one whose name you erased from your memory. He is not a normal entity, and you cannot treat him as a normal Dao Lord. He is powerful beyond your imagination, and destructive beyond what you can conceive. He is the epitome of mischievousness, and the true origin behind the expression ''monkey business''. "Do not think you can keep any secrets from him - you can''t. The only thing you can do to protect yourself is pay as little attention to him as possible, and avoid him at all costs. Let him stay in the Inn if he wishes, and don''t even think about it. The less you concern yourself with him, the safer you will be." "It seems like you know him quite intimately," Lex said, hinting at something. "Of course I know him. Even when I was born, he was a legend beyond all legends. Let me tell you something so you can understand what level of being you are dealing with. The Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum is not a real list, and does not physically exist in the universe. Or at least, it was not real, and did not exist physically. It was simply a hierarchy orchestrated by the deeperws of the universe that everyone referred to. "Yet he¡­ legend has it that, dissatisfied with his position on it, he journeyed to the unknown depths of the universe, using the very fabric of reality - the same one that forms the Sani Vortex - manifested the spectrum, just so he could physically carve out his name at the top. "Of course, no one knows if such a thing is true, and he certainly isn''t at the top of the list, but for such a rumor to exist, especially among Dao Lords, you can imagine the kind of power he wields. "But, for someone as weak as you, there is a very easy way to deal with him. As long as you ignore his existence entirely, even going as far to forgetting he exists, he will most likely leave you alone. Even the Midnight Inn, and the Innkeeper, are not enough to attract his attention. Not truly." Chapter 1377 Good reason Chapter 1377 Good reason "To be entirely honest, specifically going and telling me all of this is doing more to make me pay attention to him than forget him," Lex said. "Why did you feel the need to tell me this over here?" "You don''t understand. Over here, if you learn about him, and then seal the knowledge, then you will not attract his attention. SImultaneously, you can leave yourself certain hints, affecting how you behave. This way, even with your memories sealed, you''ll avoid specifically thinking about him from time to time. "Even if you don''t realize it, you''ve done the same with your time affinity. And think back to when you first met him. Any time you thought about him, he seemed to know, and even corrected your form of address. Can you really tell me you haven''t thought about him since then? Even if you think about him randomly, despite not knowing his name, you will attract his attention. "It''s better to condition yourself to not to think about him at all, under any circumstance. As long as you do that, you will be fine. That is truly the only way to be safe." Lex had to admit that, from time to time, he had thought back to that mysterious Dao Lord, simply because there was a Dao Lord within the Inn. It was hard not to think about it, since it represented a huge issue. But if ignoring him really was the solution¡­ "Did you say I did the same thing with my memories rted to my time affinity? What hints did I leave myself?" Mary just gave Lex a look, causing him to shrug. "Is there anything else you want to tell me in this ce?" he asked. "Not really. That was the only thing I could specifically only say here. After all, even he can''t see through a Sani Vortex - I think. Otherwise, if I mentioned this outside, he might have noticed." Lex took a mental note to remember that some Dao Lords are much scarier than others. He was pretty sure he could guess the reason why, but he dared not specte. Instead, he spread his attention to Powell, who was sitting in the distance. His conversation with Mary had taken one second, and though she said he would be fine for a few minutes, he''d rather not risk it, and wanted to get out here as soon as possible. N?v(el)B\\jnn "You know it''s almost strange to see you outside of the Emporium," Lex said, starting off the conversation casually. It would not be nice to question him about why he brought him to this not-at-all suspicious ce, cut off from view from the entire universe. Powell opened his eyes, looking towards Lex, though he had none of his usual energy or excitement. Instead, he looked quite worried. "I was concerned you would note," he admitted, though Powell''s response was much slower than the speed Lex was talking at, meaning that their conversation would take at least a few seconds. "Well, considering our long standing rtionship, I thought I''d give you the benefit of the doubt," Lex said frankly. "Though pulling me into a Sani Vortex is really beginning to take advantage of that. I hope you have a good reason to bring me here." "Naturally I do," he responded. "In fact, I am here for your benefit to begin with. You see, your frequent patronage of the Emporium is bringing you closer to gaining a special, secret status with the Emporium. Ordinarily, I am not allowed to tell you about this. I had to take great measures to tell you about this at great personal expense." "I thought I had the highest level membership, making me a VIP customer," Lex said. "Yes, on the surface, that is supposed to appear like the highest status we can afford a customer. But in fact, there is another level above it: the best customer, or perhaps it''s better to say the level is allotted to the one who has spent the most at the Emporium within a century. "You yourself are not close to the top just yet, but with yourtest acquisition, you have entered the top 100 list of best customers at the Emporium. If you continue to shop at the Emporium at the same scale as you have been recently, then you will soon reach the status of the best customer. I suppose I don''t need to tell you that getting such a statuses with its own perks." "I can imagine, though I don''t understand why you would hide something like that. Shouldn''t you advertise such a position so that more peoplepete for such a position? I can only imagine it would be good for business. I''m also not seeing why something like this could not be talked about back at the Emporium." Powell shook his head. "This matter involves the interest of many. More importantly, it is the request of the current best customer that we keep it hidden, and so we have. I am restrained by many rules, so it is easier for me to say certain things than it is others. I cannot tell you what exactly the benefits of bing the best customer are, but I can tell you that they are not so easily found elsewhere, for which reason the existing top customer has killed a lot of people." Lex narrowed his eyes, getting what Powell was hinting at. "The top customer has many privileges even besides the main reward, and one of those is to get a list of the top 100 customers of the Emporium whenever there is a change. Suffice to say, the top customer has more than once killed anyone who was deemed a financial threat to their supremacy over the list. "Of course, those strong enough to resist the top customer have also survived, but in general even they experience a certain level of intimidation to reduce their spending at the Emporium. What was once supposed to be an incentive for others to shop more has long since be one of the leading reasons for why the Emporium loses its customers." Lex groaned, for he was genuinely not interested in the position of best customer. But why did he have to go and say that guy liked to maintain his supremacy? Now he''d have to go and end that reign. Chapter 1378 Just a little bit Chapter 1378 Just a little bit "So you''re telling me that now some overpowered maniac is going to be out to hunt me down? Can you tell me who it is?" Lex asked, concerned but not too concerned. He was used to being hunted down by overpowered enemies. He was already thinking of how to respond. "Unfortunately, I am restricted from sharing any information about our top customer, although I can tell you that the Emporium is not happy with how he has been behaving. But there is nothing we can do about it. Unless that customer breaks some Emporium rule, we cannot retaliate against him. "I merely wanted to share this information with you, to warn you in case you wanted to¡­ hold back on your shopping. This goes againstpany policy, which is why I had to do so in secret." "Well, I am not so easily intimidated," Lex said. "But I also can''t just act blindly without knowing who I''m up against. Is there anything you can tell me about this person? Or is there any way I can figure out who it is?" Powell shook his head. "I cannot share any information about said customer''s identity whatsoever. I can only rmend that you look into some protective equipment which can allow you to divine the identity of anyone looking to harm you. Unfortunately, such equipment is in short demand since countless powerful and influential diviners seem to have vanished from the Origin realm some years ago." Lex frowned as he tried to think of a solution. It shouldn''t be too difficult, after all, Lex was a connected man now. Within the Origin realm, he had friends in high ces. But no doubt, whoever had been taking advantage of the Emporium was also no doubt not a nobody. "There''s also something else interesting I can tell you in case you ever do be a top customer," Powell said, with a smile. "Within the Emporium, each Powell is ranked based on our performances. If you be the best customer, then I will automatically be the main Powell, in charge of all other Powells as well as the Emporium itself." Lex raised his eyebrows, as Powell had indirectly dropped a massive hint, that whoever the top customer was, was being dealt with by the main Powell. But more importantly¡­ "Wait, does that mean you will take over? How does that work? Doesn''t that mean the other Powell should sabotage you? But don''t you guys share your memories?" Powell shook his head with a smile. "That''s not how it works. All of us are one and the same. It doesn''t matter which one is incharge. The only thing that changes is that the customer gets to deal with whichever Powell has more authority within the Emporium. Oh, and yeah if I be the main Powell, I will be like, super powerful." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "How interesting," Lex said. "By the way, if I ever wanted to meet the main Powell, you know, outside the Emporium, where might I find him?" "It''s tough to say. The Emporium owns a number ofs it uses for production, harvesting, and warehousing. You can try them, but the main Powell is usually very busy, and doesn''t spend a lot of time outside the Emporium." "I think I''ll figure something out. I think I got the gist of things. Big bad guy out to get me, spending more money might make the bad guy act against me, yada yada yada, bing a top customer gives benefits etc. etc. Is there anything I''m missing?" Powell looked at Lex for a moment, stunned and unaware of how to respond. "No, I think that''s the gist of it," he said, sounding slightly defeated. "Don''t fret. I''m not saying you giving me this warning wasn''t helpful, it was. It''s just that I''m too used to dealing with unknown, powerful enemies. Whether it''s a cult, a terrorist organization, a powerful empire, a strong family, a big sect, I can more or less deal with all of them. I suppose the top customer isn''t someone from the Henali, right? If it was them, they wouldn''t need to go around killing people just to intimidate them. As long as it''s not some Dao Lord, I''ll be fine." "Dao Lords do not shop at the Emporium," Powell said gravely. "The Emporium has a strict policy to give anything a Dao Lord requires to them for free. We have never epted payment from a single Dao Lord, despite serving one in the past once." "There you go, so nothing I can''t handle. As long as I can just learn who the enemy is, it should not be an issue. Anyway, Powell, this has been great and I really appreciate you giving me a heads up, but I''ve already been in this Vortex for a dozen seconds, and I can''t really afford to stay disconnected from the universe for long. If there''s nothing else, I''d like to take my leave." "Ah, there is one thing," Powell said quickly, realizing Lex''s urgency. "Do you still have the box I gave you with you? If so, can you return it to me with a key from the Midnight Inn inside?" Lex raised an eyebrow, but didn''t question it. He summoned the box, put a golden key inside, and gave it to Powell. It wasn''t as if the keys of the Inn were exactly rare anymore. "Excellent," the shopkeeper said with a soft smile. "You can leave the Vortex by walking through the wall. I cannot leave just yet, so you go on ahead." Having a confirmation from Powell, Lex suddenly walked right into the wall, finally leaving the Vortex, and regaining his connection to the universe. All the things he was disconnected from finally came back, and Lex felt like he emerged from underwater, finally able to breathe again. Being disconnected from the destiny of the human race was disconcerting on a level he had not anticipated. But his smile did notst long. The moment he returned, he reconnected to Jack as well, and their memories resynchronized. The thing was, unaware of what happened to Lex, Jack might have overreacted just a little bit. Chapter 1379 Folklore realm Chapter 1379 Folklore realm "Jack calm down!" Tiny-Sparkles yelled in disbelief. Who would have thought that there would be such a day that Tiny-Sparkles would be telling others to calm down? The problem with Tiny-Sparkles yelling at his fairy friend to calm down was that as a unicorn with dwarfism, he had somehow mutated into being more powerful than almost any other unicorn he had evere across. That immense power permeated into every essence of his being, which meant that when Tiny-Sparkles, the unicorn a mere few inchesrge, spoke, his voice was so deep it reverberated across thend, often causing earthquakes. Fortunately, Jack had used enchantments on Tiny-Sparkles, weakening him, allowing the unicorn to control himself. Unfortunately, due to their current unusual predicament, that enchantment had worn off. So when the unicorn yelled, trying his best to calm down their captain, his voice shattered the ground beneath their feet, revealing a vast open sky underneath them. After all, they were on an ind, formed of the usual stuff such as dirt, rock and whatever else inds were made of. Oh, it was also floating up on a cloud, far above the underneath. Well, the ind really couldn''t really be said to be floating anymore due to the inadvertent actions of a particr baby, crystal alligator whose very touch turned anything and everything to crystal. Only recently had Jack taught him to stop crystallizing the air itself, but upon seeing the vast sea of clouds upon which the ind floated, the alligator jumped in, turning the clouds to crystal, causing them to be too heavy to float, and therefore fall along with the ind. Although Tiny-Sparkles himself hadn''t seen the event, by all ounts, that had happened before Jack went on a raging rampage against the giant who had used his powers and erged the Jolly Rancher to the size of what Jack called the Statue of Liberty. Now, Tiny-Sparkles had not really traveled much, and had not seen any such statue, but it was clear to him that the Jolly Rancher was much too big for their tiny - literally tiny - pirate crew to use. "Ohwd!" wailed Bob, the leather jacket wearing Drama-cat that Jack had rescued and befriended some time ago, as he rode a heavy bike much toorge for him across the massive deck of the Jolly Rancher. "Ohwd, have mercy on this world that has provoked the captain''s ire! The captain''s heart is boundless, like the open horizon, and his love endless, like the itchiness of a mosquito bite! But more so than anything, his anger is righteous! It is a benevolence I regret I cannot face, and so to those who face it, grant mercy. You are too good to mewd, too good!" From his horn, Tiny-Sparkles shot out a rainbow colored beam that swiftly morphed into a chocte-spread covered piece of toast that was stuffed into Bob''s mouth. Bob, the Deity of Chaos, Entropy, and Sugar Rushes, First of the Drama-cats, Destroyer of Mondays, Savior of Pancakes, and thetest member of Jack''s pirate crew, was also an anomaly. His prayers would always be granted, though it was unclear if he was granting them himself, or it was just a passive ability he had, or if some super powerfulwd was secretly watching over him. Either way, everyone knew it was too dangerous to let him talk too much, especially now, in such a chaotic situation. Clouds of crystal fell from the sky, like ming meteors crashing down onto the ground beneath. Above them, fell arge ind that remained mostly intact, though it had clearly suffered some damage here and there. A massive, flying wooden ship dove down in the sky as well, following the descending debris closely, while countless explosions rocked the skies around them. A giant grizzly bear, slightly over 500 feet (152 meters) tall was also falling down with the ind - the ce it had formerly called home. Yet instead of saving himself, the giant was engaged in a fist fight with a fairy a few inches tall. Physical strength was not exactly Jack''s forte, but he had augmented himself with his special ability that he called the ''Power of Friendship'' which turned all his magical fairy energy into physical strength so that he could duke it out. Ollie, the shadow talon that could travel between nes, was also flying all around them, fighting off many of the giant bear''s underlings. The cannons on Jolly Rancher, under Tiny-Sparkles control, shot out deadly artillery that only added to the chaos all around them. In truth, Tiny-Sparkles too felt anger at the situation, but as the first mate, he had to try and control his captain. Unfortunately, that was easier said than done. Lex had only been gone a few seconds. He disappeared for thirty seconds at most. How much could go wrong in that short period of time? As it turned out, a lot. The moment Lex returned, Jack actually calmed down. But it was already toote now. When Jack and the otherspleted their task from the Tower of Providence, Jack was looking forward to his reward. Thest time the tower gave him taro fertilizer, something he needed to make the Midnight realm form quicker than expected. This time, the task was even harder, so the reward should be greater, right? Right! Unfortunately, the greatness of the reward was debatable, for Jack had received the time and coordinates to save Bob''s life. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Well Jack was a good samaritan, so he saved Bob, robbed a few local banks along the way, and inadvertently set himself on the trajectory for utter insanity. Instead of returning to the Midnight realm, they had been sent to the Folklore realm - one of the very few mature realms in existence that did not have a proper ruler. That was because of the unusualws of the Folklore realm. Jack did not understand too much about it yet, but one thing led to another, and Jack had been trying to cook some Kidney beans when they suddenly sprouted into a massive beanstalk that pushed them into the air to an ind, where they were confronted by a giant bear. So far, things were still reasonable. Using a bit of his fairy magic, and the charm of a crew of tiny, cute pirates, Jack was negotiating with the bear. Then the bear felt a severe case of FOMO (fear of missing out) and wanted to join them in their ship. Instead of being reasonable and shrinking down to size himself, he used his gigantism powers to erge the pirate ship. As it happened, that was also the instant Lex disappeared. Well, Jack overreacted a little bit, only only because now the helm of his ship was toorge for him to use, and the ship was resisting all attempts into shrinking back down. Some words were exchanged, someone may have shaved a bit of a certain bear''s hair, an alligator jumped into the clouds upon waking up from its nap, an owl may have snuck into the treasure vault of aforementioned, now bald bear and stolen some things. Words were exchanged, fists were thrown, and now the sky was falling down on the world down below. "Fee-fi-fo this, baldy!" Jack screamed, crossing some boundaries Tiny-Sparkles personally would not have crossed. Even though the ship was now muchrger than Jack, Jack was still linked to it and could control it. As such, he used his wings to get a little distance from the bear, and then mmed the ship into the bear, speeding up the ship''s descent as it crashed towards the ground, turning into a ball of fire. "I wish upon the shooting star-" Bob began screaming as he saw the ming ship, yet a peanut butter and jelly sandwich was mmed into his mouth before he could continue. The crystal alligator cried, looking back up at the clouds in the sky. Cannons continued to fire. Ollie hid the treasures, and Tiny-Sparkles tried to call out to the captain once more, but this time the weight of his voice caused a Chaos Tribtion - a phenomenon that only existed in mature realms. The pandemonium came to an abrupt halt when the ship, ramming into the bear''s face, finally reached the ground, causing an explosion that may as well have been nuclear. The severity of the explosion forced everyone to pause their actions and defend themselves, finally allowing for some peace once the actual explosion subsided. "Tiny-Sparkles, you really need to stop distracting me while I fight," Jackined as he flew over, feeling great after venting all of his frustrations on the bear. "Now, what were you trying to say?" Jack also reestablished the weakening enchantment on the unicorn, so that his voice was no longer a lethal weapon. "Not much," he responded. "I just wanted to let you know that only the bear can shrink the ship since it used a bloodline ability we''re all too weak to counter right now. Without the bear, we''ll need to reach the Celestial realm to shrink the ship." Jack''s smile suddenly faded, and looked towards the bear that no longer had a face, or a neck, or an upper torso. It probably wouldn''t be doing anything any time soon, or ever again. Chapter 1380 Stowaways Chapter 1380 Stowaways Jack coughed into his hand as he tried to hide his embarrassment, but there was nothing he could do about it now. The giant bear was deader than dead. Looking at it objectively, all of this was the bear''s fault to begin with. Why hadn''t it just shrunk down instead of growing the Jolly Rancher? Now, not only did it not get to ride the shop, but Jack and the rest were inconvenienced as well. "Everybody, form up! I want to see you all in a line. Form up. I have an important speech to deliver," Jack roared, his loudest yell a quieter than Tiny-Sparkles lowest whisper. But it didn''t matter. His pirate crew suddenly lined up in front of him, though why did there seem to be a few extra members? n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om There was, of course, first mate Tiny-Sparkles, and Ollie. The baby crystal alligator was there, as well as Bob. But why was there a gnome lining up as well? And why was the gnome''s beard 8 feet (2.4 meters) long while the gnome himself was shorter than 2 feet (0.6 meters)!?! As if that wasn''t enough, right beside the gnome was a small bear cub, dressed in the robes of a monk, even going as far as wearing monk beads around its neck! Was this¡­ was this cub rted in any way to the massive bear Jack had just killed? Logic dictated that as the most likely answer, but the cup bore no ill will towards Jack, the fairy could sense as much. But even more than the bear cup, the sudden new addition that attracted Jacks attention the most was the final one! A regr sized hamster, that stood on its one hind leg as well as wooden prosthetic, and was dressed like a baneer, looked Jack right in the eyes as if there was nothing suspicious about his presence there whatsoever. "You guys¡­ we''re not really hiring. What are you doing here?" Jack asked, pausing from the rousing speech he was about to give. "Someone crashed the ind where we were imprisoned- I mean, our home fell from the sky!" the gnome said abruptly. "We wish to see the universe," the monk bear said. "My teacher told me monks eat lots of meat and meet lots of women. As such, I have decided to stain myself with the red sands of the mortal world, and witness such things for myself. Safe passage would be appreciated. I can pay in honey." Jack looked at the two, and then finally looked at the hamster who looked like a hardened criminal who had lived a long life. "Kill me or take me, I''m not leaving this ship," the hamster said, and then spit at the ground. But instead of spit, it identally spat out one of the nuts it had been hoarding in his cheek. But he was too embarrassed to go pick it back up, so instead he just looked away, his bulging cheeks hanging on either side of his face. Jack was literally stunned to silence by the shameless disy of the stowaways. Just to be sure, he used his intention to gauge the intentions of the neers, but it seemed like they genuinely either wanted to join, or had nowhere else to go. Good thing too, because Jack was thoroughly impressed by their shamelessness. "Well in that case, wee to the crew!" Jack said. "Everyone else, listen up. We''re not ying games anymore. This is no longer the tiny realm we came from - this is a full on mature realm! Do you know what that means? It means there are Dao Lords who are born in this realm! Probably more than one! Compared to all of them, we''re nothing. "A random sneeze from a passing immortal could tear our ship apart, and send us to a permanent journey to the depths of hell! Which is why I say to youds, now more than ever, we need to be vignt and not act carelessly! We need to be-" The remainder of the ind in the sky started to crash all around them, suddenly forcing Jack to take control of the Jolly Rancher, and began dodging the debris! "Anyway, to cut the long story short, we have a sacred mission!" Jack screamed over the sound of falling ind debris. "You see, someone has cursed all fairies, but I''m determined to be the first fairy Dao Lord! For that, we''re going to find the most chaotic, crazy ce in this realm, find someone who can tell me how to lift this curse, and probably shift the bnce of a universal war by staging aeback of the fairy race!" "I know just the ce captain!" the hamster said, before spitting on the ground once more. But this time, instead of a nut, the hamster identally spat out a longsword. The awkwardness of the situation caused a momentary silence, where even the explosions in the background seemed to pause. "There''s a ck market in the Jamu region of Red Lily County, just a few lightyears away from our current location. Rumor has it that a shaman exile from the Dryad race practices there. She might have an answer for you." "Great, set sail immediately!" Jack said, pping his wings to produce fairy dust so that the Jolly Rancher could fly faster. "Captain¡­ the ship doesn''t need sails to fly," Tiny-Sparkles said, but as always, his statement was ignored. Manned by a crew of pirates- cough, no, good guys. Jolly Rancher, the ship, was manned by a crew of good guys who knew nothing about ships, but that didn''t stop them. Under Jack''s guidance, the ship set out for its destination, though fortunately they had only gone for a few hundred miles before the hamster remembered that they were going in the wrong direction. The massive ship should have been quite conspicuous, but Jack was not brainless. He used his fairy magic to turn the ship invisible, though admittedly it would only be invisible for people at or below his level. Yet as it turned out, that was not really a problem. Thoughpared to the fairy, the ship was absolutely massive,pared to the realm they were in, the ship was tiny. Jack was beginning to feel like their n was notpletely destined for failure, when he was forced to take his first detour. After all, he finally discovered a trail for one of the items written in the blueprint for the Midnight Castle. Collecting the necessary materials to build the castle had turned out to be much more difficult than what Lex guessed, so once they got a lead for one of the materials, they were forced to take a detour. "Amitabha, is that the red sand of the mortal world?" the bear cup asked, looking over the side of the ship. "Well, you''re not wrong," said Lex as he leaned over the side. "It definitely is red sand. I just don''t think it''s the same kind you''re looking for." Beneath them was a massive desert with the sand stained red, though even from afar Jack could feel the immense aura of negativity from down below. "That sand is red from blood," said the gnome. "Don''t be ridiculous. Blood would start darkening after so long," said the hamster. "Don''t you be ridiculous. How can cultivators'' blood darken? That is the blood of mortals that does that." "Who said cultivators'' blood can''t darken? If mortal blood can be oxidized by mortal air, then the immortal air of this realm can oxidize the immortal blood of this realm." "It''s hard to argue with that logic," murmured Tiny-Sparkles. "Ohwd-" Bob began, but this time Jack stuffed a jawbreaker into his mouth. "Whatever it is that''s causing the sand to turn red, it''s clearlying from there," Jack said, pointing to a massive, gaping hole in the sand far away. "As responsible pirates- I mean, as responsible good guys, it''s our job to restore this natural ecosystem and set things straight. Full speed ahead!" While the whole crew discussed the red sand, down below the deck, in a room, Ollie was ring at the baby alligator. "Don''t you dare," the Shadow Talon threatened, hiding a treasure chest behind himself. The room was littered with countless crystalized treasures already, each of them emanating a powerful spiritual energy, enough to entice even immortals. But neither the Shadow Talon, nor the alligator cared about those. They, instead, were focused entirely on thest treasure chest. The alligator snapped its jaw, as ifining that it needed a chew toy. It was, after all, teething, and wanted something to scratch its gums with. "I''ll scratch your gums with a dagger if youe close," Ollie threatened. The two continued to argue, unaware as the lid of the treasure chest behind them slowly opened, and a golden goose peeked out, to see what the situation was like. Upon seeing that the other two were distracted, the goose carefully lifted the lid of the chest, and stepped out. The entire process was soundless, but the moment the goose touched the wooden floor, the wood started to turn into gold. Up above, Jack, who was connected to the ship, immediately noticed something awry. Chapter 1381 Planting prep Chapter 1381 nting prep Lex returned to the Inn, and fortunately, not everything had burned down to the ground. It seemed the realm could tolerate being disconnected from him temporarily, but it was definitely not something he should attempt regrly. While he himself could not determine the extent of his damage, the notification he received as soon as he left the Sani Vortex was a clear indicator of just how much damage his absence could do. New Notification: Midnight Realm has suffered from a destabilization ofws. Address the issue lest the realm growth is affected. The odd thing was that it was only a notification, not a quest. Maybe the damage wasn''t significant enough for a quest. The good news was that after consulting with Ripley, Lex already had an idea about training a certain batch of workers to help maintain his realm. He hadn''t expected much, but when he sent his workers to the Temple of Fasting to see if there were lessons on realm nurturing, to his immense surprise, there were! It seemed like such lessons were only avable to immortals, which exins why Lex didn''t know about them before. They were also aimed towardsrger powers who controlled various realms, and technically speaking the Midnight Inn fit into that category perfectly. But they had not yet learned enough to contribute to the realms repair. Unsure of exactly what to do to repair thews of the realm, he decided to delegate the task to the nning division and have them give him suggestions. To be clear, Lex could find solutions himself as well, either by listening to his instincts or by asking others, but considering that the task wasn''t urgent, he decided to use this opportunity to train his workers. There were still countless things going on in the Inn to upy his attention, so the days passed by quickly until it was time to return to the Emporium and get the remainder of the materials from Powell. Powell actedpletely normally, handing over the remaining ingredients. They had a short conversation, but nothing out of the ordinary. Lex had assigned Rnd the task of looking into associates, close friends or business partners of the owner of the Emporium, but there was no lead currently. Even so, Rn was quite confident in his job. Many years ago, he had formed a secret organization with all the kids who used to visit the Inn, turning them into agents for him, trading information. Instead of an intelligence agency, his organization was more like one that gave everyone the opportunity to discover what they wished, as long as they had contributed enough. While that organization was not yet mature, it gave him many leads that he wanted or needed. For something like this, though, he would not be able to rely on them. Instead, he was working with this new A.I. friend that he made, apparently. Lex didn''t ask questions. He only focused on his current task. With a seed for the Void Stabilisation Sequoia tree on hand, and the information about how to grow it quickly provided to him by the turtle, Lex teleported to the site he selected to grow the tree, and began his task. One of the first things he had to do was set up a formation, which was easier said than done. Even though Lex had learned to set up formations already, not all formations were built the same. This one, in particr, was going to be a difficult one just because of the sheer number of ingredients involved. Before that, however, he had to prepare the soil where the seed would be nted. He grabbed a hoe, and began to till thend, softening it while he sprinkled in some crushed ingredients, and watered it with Spirit quenching essence. Despite the pleasant sounding name, Spirit quenching essence was actually the blood of an unusual creature that was part animal and part nt. Using the blood of such a creature to water his soil sounded quite barbaric, but¡­ well, it was what it was. But this was only the very first step in preparing the soil. In truth, only the top few feet of the soil had been affected by Lex''s treatment, which is why he had to transnt the treated soil and put it deeper into the ground, while bringing the loweryers up. It would have been easier to just excavate the whole ground, and then one by one ce the treated soil within, but the process did not allow for that. Instead, the process relied on the random mixing ofyers as the soil traveled up or down betweenyers. The science behind it was not very scientific, which is why Lex only memorised it for now, with the intention of understanding its intricaciester on. Lex even summoned multiple clones to help him along with the process, for it was slow and tedious, and even with the help of his clones, it took him hours. But that was just the first step. Then came the formation. For this, at least, he didn''t require clones, for everything would be done with his spirit sense. The formation had to be urate on a microscopic level, so he had to ensure that everything was done perfectly. As if the scale andplexity of the formation weren''t enough, their power sources were extremely delicate as well, and eachyer of the formation required its own power source, since the formation would mix various energies while the nt grew. In fact, the process of trying to grow the tree was also an immense learning experience for Lex. He was not too familiar with all the numerous kinds of energies in the universe, and now finally began to be introduced to them one by one. There was the Yin energy, which had the corresponding Yang energy. Then there were themon Earth, Air, Water and Fire energies, as well as the lessmon Lightning, Darkness, Light, Malevolent, Reverent, Righteous and Evil energies. Yes, there was literally an energy called Evil energy! What was interesting was that these were just the energies required to grow the Void Stabilisation Sequoia tree, and not a list of all energies. Lex didn''t know why or how Evil and Righteous energy could work together, but it was certainly something to look into. One thing he did learn was that energies seemed to be able to escape the influence of unaffiliatedws! Then came the more esoteric energies that Lex struggled to evenprehend, but they came after the formation was already made. Creating the formation took an uninterrupted fifty hours, for Lex had to be extremely meticulous with all the countless ingredients. Well, technically, they weren''t countless, for there were exactly 1.9 million ingredients involved. Once the formation wasplete, Lex needed to alter the Feng Shui of the environment. To be entirely honest, Lex read the instructions about what Feng Shui was and how to alter it countless times, but didn''t understand what it was about at all. Even though Lex wasuded for his amazing perception andprehension, certain things eluded even him. Fortunately, the instructions for how to alter the Feng Shui were precise, and he didn''t need to rely on himself to do it. This part was actually interesting. He had never donendscaping before. Who knew that taking out one''s sword and literally carving the earth within a region could be so much fun? It was like creating a wood carving, but out of the ground in a regionrge enough to cover a city from back on earth. He carved away any nearby hills or mountains, making the area look like a t in, and transnted numerous trees within the region turning it into a forest. Lex even went as far as bringing the appropriate kind of wildlife that would inhabit such a forest, taking care to establish a well bnced, self-sufficient ecosystem. But that only concluded the preliminary steps for the forest''s growth. Next, he needed to alter the weather as well. Controlling the weather, for a short period, was still easy. One just needed to flex their cultivation a bit. But what Lex needed to do was create a very specific, natural weather pattern, that is not something he could do with a single technique. Instead, he had to alter the entire geography of the region, forming natural patterns that eventually result in the desired result. The next steps were a bit tedious, but he used the various ingredients he''d bought to create massivekes, construct mountains of metal, carve out rivers, establish floodins, and much more. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om As he continued, Lex was able to sense that the Nature energy within this region was growing more dense, beginning to form naturally. It took him a lot of work before the area was finally ready, and Lex could finally nt the seed. He approached the very center of the formation and looked at the still soft soil, and pulled out the seed. Now, the size of the seed wasrge, but not too abnormal. It was about 5 feet( 1.5 meters) tall, or about 10 hot dogs tall, or approximately 1.6 washing machines tall. If one wants to be extremely urate, they could also say it was the size of 26 M16 rifle bullets. It was the weight of the seed that was surprising. At about 110,000 pounds, it weighed as much as 1 million hot dogs, 551 washing machines or 4.17 million M16 rifle bullets. That was a lot, which was why when Lex ced it in the soil, the seed began to sink on its own. Chapter 1382 Trees of the Heavens Chapter 1382 Trees of the Heavens As the seed sank into the soil, Lex cracked his neck and concentrated his focus. There was no room for error now. Fortunately, his instincts somehow synchronized with the information he had read about growing the tree, and began guiding him perfectly. He channeled his spiritual energy into countless little strings and trickled them into the soil, slowly snaking them through the dirt to the sinking seed. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om A barrier, formerly invisible, suddenly appeared covering the skin of the seed, filled with various unusual characters. The barrier was the Void shell of the seed, a protective shield to save the seed from the cosmic radiation of space. It would only break under very specific circumstances, so that the seed would have the optimal conditions for its growth when it eventually breaks. Lex was not breaking the barrier, but diffusing the unique energy that it was made of into the seed itself. One of the reasons Lex chose the Void Sequoia tree for his next tavern was because of how naturally sturdy it was. It could tolerate almost any natural environment once grown, and grow in almost any condition. It was only in its early phase where it was sensitive and vulnerable. The turtle had provided him with a way to grow the tree, and have it mutate into the Void Stabilization Sequoia tree, and though he didn''t know much about the difference between the two, he was certain that it wouldn''t be weaker. As such, one of the conditions for its natural growth was to spend a few centuries in the Void. That was the one environment Lex could not recreate, but there were ways to emte its effects, such as using the natural void energy in the protective barrier. Lex channeled his energy into his right eye, and countless tiny arrays started forming above the soil, sometimes watering it, other times striking the soil with lightning, and other times just gently blowing on it. For a time, it seemed like Lex was just pumping his energy into the soil without any effect, but as soon as the barrier on the seed began to actually dissolve, a tempest began to blow within the region. Spiritual energy from all around began to flow into the soil, as if there were a hurricane above it, rapidly pulling in all the surrounding energy. Lex also began releasing some of the ingredients he had gathered, allowing them to be pulled along with the energy. Yet the energy storm was just the beginning. With the blowing winds came clouds, gathering directly over Lex, and they kept gathering until the entire region was shrouded in darkness. Then came the sh of lightning, followed by a raging thunderstorm. The winds buffeted Lex as if they were hated rivals, and the rain pelted him like it was artillery. The strength of each drop was so immense, it could kill a normal mortal man. That was because this was not water that was raining, but spiritual energy essence! The liquid did not gather on the ground, nor did anything wet from exposure to it. All of it was sucked into the soil, nourishing thend, while most of it went towards the seed. The seed, which usually took hundreds, or even thousands of years to sprout, suddenly cracked, allowing a single, small shoot to emerge from it. The formation around the seed suddenly activated, and the entire storm morphed into a hurricane directly above the seed as numerous energies flooded into the seed, causing the shoot to grow rapidly. But while some energies Lex had prepared for in the form of countless ingredients, some had toe from thend itself. For 500 miles around the seed, all nt life began to grow frail, as if contributing half their strength and vitality as tribute. Through the river channels that Lex had carved, a blue, ethereal essence began to flow, gathered from all life. Though animals and insects were not influenced in the same way that nts were, there was a particr insect that was. It was a lonesomedybug, its partner already dead, all alone in existence. It felt something special was going on, and listless and without purpose, she decided to give her energy to whatever was happening. For one living a pointless life, even a weak purpose is better than no purpose. Yet so frail was thedybug, that when it donated its energy, it was swept away by all the other energies flowing through thend, bringing it closer to the epicenter of what was going on. Yet as the energies began to nourish the shoot growing out of the seed, the seed continued to sink deeper into the ground. It seemed like there was no hope for the shoot to reach the surface any time soon. At this point, Lex began the next phase of nurturing the tree. From within his spatial ring, Lex pulled out a jar of Stardust Honey, a special kind of honey made by bees who did not collect nectar, but stardust from active stars. This particr item was a Celestial level item, and was so hot that touching it burned even Lex''s skin. But it was like cultivator steroids for nts! The shoot, which had its growth stalled, suddenly shot up through the soil like an arrow, reaching for the honey. The exact moment the shoot broke through the soil, touching the honey, the river of vital energy donated from the surrounding nts reached the shoot, preventing it from suffering due to its rapid growth, and helping it ovee the weakness that would have otherwise followed. At this point, Lex pulled out Naraka, coating it with his spirit sense as he activated his t and began manipting the surroundingws. The ground did not change, the sky did not change, the location did not change, and yet it almost seemed as if everything had been transported into the emptiness of space, filled with dangerous cosmic radiation and wild, chaotic energies. Yet instead of being harmed by the difficult environment, the shoot seemed even more nourished. Thend, covered in darkness due to the clouds, suddenly gained a few tiny dots of light, as if far in the distance, as if stars millions of lightyears away. This was a result of an illusion brought about by the changes Lex was bringing about by maniptingws. Completely focused on his task, Lex did not realize that thews of the Midnight realm themselves began to stir. They had be corrupted, to a degree, due to the momentary absence of the Midnight Inn system, which acted as the very core of the realm. But in this moment, as the Void Stabilization Sequoia tree began to grow, and as its roots began to dig into the soil, they touched more than just the ground. Instead, they grew down into the foundationalws of the very realm. Since thews of the Midnight realm already were very supportive of trees, the Void Stabilization Sequoia tree encountered no resistance when it touched them. Instead, thews began to nourish the tree itself, while the tree, true to its name, began to provide a stabilizing effect to thews of the realm. The growth of a realm was not quick, and was influenced not only by time, but by the events that took ce in the realm itself. The greater and grander the event, the more the realm would gain a capacity for supporting greater and stronger existences. At the same time, the realmsws would also be more varied. Being less or more varied was neither a good or bad thing. Each situation was unique to its own realm. Under the influence of the tree, the realmsws began to stabilize long before they were meant to. They were supposed to be malleable, to ount for the changes that would happen to the realm when the Cosmic Sea is used up. But as thews began to stabilize, that malleability began to vanish. But the issue at hand now was that there was no way to form the Cosmic Sea anymore, for it was formed naturally by the energies produced during the birth of the realm. Yet while this new issue presented itself, the older issues began to vanish. The destability in the realmws began to vanish under the stabilizing influence of the tree, and the realm began to strengthen itself. Focusedpletely on the task at hand, Lex did not notice the changes, nor did he read the system notifications. But the turtle¡­ the mischievous turtle, who was looking at the Bodhi tree sapling it had secretly acquired, felt the changes to the realm, and grinned. The turtle had decided. It would make the greatest Heaven of them all,bining all the Holy trees. It had on its hands the saplings for the Bodhi and Heavenly tree, but many more still remained out of its reach. But soon it would also acquire the Eden tree sapling, as well as the Yggdrasil sapling. Then, it would need to find a way to get its hands on saplings for the World Tree, Tree of Life, the Irminsul, the Cedars of the Deities, the Peach tree of Immortality, and the Jambu tree. Once it got its hands on all ten of these saplings, it would begin to develop the ultimate Heaven, and in the Ultimate Heaven, the turtle would grow a Gaia sapling - a sapling for the very first tree in existence, the originator of the Dao of Wood, and one of the most powerful beings in existence. Then, it would have a good garden. The turtle chuckled to himself. Chapter 1383 Swirly christmas tree Chapter 1383 Swirly christmas tree The tree was growing, the spiritual energy was raging, legends were being written, and within his heart Lexmented that he was once again doing something heaven defying, setting an incredibly high bar for others his age. If his life were a cultivation novel instead, you know, real life, then his skill level would be so high, others his age would never even get an opportunity to try and p his face. It would be a boring novel. That is why real life was more interesting, because it hardly mattered who was his age and who wasn''t. When one faced an enemy, the talent level, cultivation time, genius level, and any number of such things did not matter. What truly mattered was how much money Lex could make from it, and from this tavern he would make a killing, so he put his utmost effort into it, tapping into the noble and sacred Dao of capitalism. On a serious note, Lex had to concentrate not because of capitalism or anything else. It was because the tree was growing rapidly, being nurtured by the most exquisite quality energies avable. Such nourishment meant that there was a high chance that the tree might gain spiritual awakening, which was not ideal. To be clear, just because something was of a high level, or had an immense amount of power or strength did not mean that they would undergo spiritual awakening and be sentient. If that were the case, every rock and tree in 5 star worlds would be a living entity. Instead, such things would need to be nourished by spiritual energy of a higher quality depending on their own inherent strength. For example, a random apple tree from earth could easily gain spiritual awakening in the Midnight realm, because its own inherent level was low. But such an environment would not be enough to awaken a Void Sequoia tree. But the specific nourishing Lex was providing the seed with, not to mention the fact that he was stimting a mutation, meant that there was a pretty decent chance that the tree might encounter a spiritual awakening. Strictly speaking, the system did not set any conditions preventing such a thing, and a sentient tree would still serve as a treehouse. But Lex had learned his lesson from having a spaceship with a fear of heights. Bing sentient was good and all, but what if the tree woke up with a personality that was a neat freak? How would he deal with customers walking all over it? Or what if the tree had a personality that wanted to transform into a human shape, much like Zuri walked around looking like a human? That would not be conducive to acting as a treehouse at all. At such a time, Lex would have to take measures to address the situation. But something like that, in his mind, would be n B. n A was to prevent such a situation to begin with. As they say, ''my tree, my choice.'' Unfortunately, preventing a spiritual awakening was not a part of the manual the turtle provided, so Lex had to rely on the few methods he already knew. Unfortunately, most methods could not be used, since they required slightly injuring the spirit, and he did not want topromise the quality and strength of the tree. Even without having a spiritual awakening, most living things had a spirit, even trees. It was just that they weren''t to the point of being sentient. The way Lex used to prevent the tree from gaining sentience was to oppress the spirit! This wouldn''t harm its growth in any way, yet keep it from growing. How did Lex oppress the spirit? Naturally, with his disy of Domination! With Domination pressing down on the tree''s spirit, Lex could monitor it for any changes, and ensure there was no activity. At the same time, he continued to grow the tree. Under the influence of the formation and Lex''s numerous other preparations, the tree''s growth in a matter of hours could rival what would normally take centuries. But it was far from enough. The Void Stabilization Sequoia tree was barely as big as a regr oak, let alone the size of the Sequoia trees back on Earth. What Lex needed from this tree was to be evenrger than that, which meant that there was still a lot left. This is also when the nurturing became more difficult and strenuous, requiring a lot of Lex''s effort, as well as resources that were priceless. In fact, one of the options the turtle had given Lex was to use his own blood to nurture the tree, since his own blood was also invaluable, having been tempered by the most incredible cultivation technique and even having been influenced by a Dao level item. But Lex was not willing to do that. Although he relied on his blood for his healing techniques, Lex was very secretive with his blood, and was unwilling to use it for anything - especially since his body, spirit and soul had been fused. His blood also contained his soul, so mixing it with other things was certainly not a good idea. Yes, he''d done it before. But now that his realm was higher, he was unwilling to repeat those actions. N?v(el)B\\jnn Instead, he used dragon blood. He had an endless supply of that stuff with Pel Jr. now controlling the dragon body, so he wasn''t stingy with it at all. As the Void Stabilization Sequoia tree finally crossed 300 feet (91.4 meters) in height, Lex took out his Butter Knife - the one given to him by the system - and began to implement his newly learned Bonsai techniques. A true Void Stabilization Sequoia tree could grow up to several thousand miles in height, but that would not be ideal for a treehouse. Maybe if Lex wanted a treehouse that could rece a small he would consider it, but since he didn''t, that was not ideal. Moreover, a tree that grew up in a straight line was good for a treehouse, but also boring. As such, he needed to begin shaping it, and use the remainder of its growth potential to strengthen the tree itself rather than growing it taller. Of course, since he was just beginning to use his bonsai technique now, the tree would still end up growing a few hundred feet more. At the same time, the requirements of the tree, in terms of nutrients and energy began to subtly surpass what Lex was providing from the various ingredients he was providing. This was on purpose, for he didn''t want to grow the tree to the end of its potential, and instead wanted to grow it sufficiently and with a steady foundation. Over the course of countless years, the tree would surely get many opportunities to grow even stronger. This clear malnutrition would not actually weaken the tree, but slowly halt its elerated growth. Of course, it would also leave the region where the tree had grown barren of nutrients and spiritual energy. But, with time, that problem would fix itself, much like the dead zone around Earth suddenly vanished one day. Lex was momentarily distracted by thoughts of the dead zone once more, as if his subconscious was directing his attention towards it. Lex noticed this, but the list of things he had to do were too numerous. Adventuring would have to wait. Under Lex''s careful guidance, while the main branch of the Void Stabilization Sequoia tree remained straight, its many branches grew outwards in a spiral all around the tree, forming a peculiar yet beautiful sight. It was as if Lex was looking at a christmas tree, yet instead of the branchesing straight out, they swirled around the tree from the bottom to the top. That was merely the appearance from the outside. Hidden behind the thick outeryer of leaves was aplex maze of trunks, as if numerous streets going across a vertical city. The foundation for the treehouse wasplete, and the tree was finally grown. Now, Lex had to actually build the treehouse on top of it. Best of all, the tree hadn''t gained any sentience, so he could rest easy. Now, to construct the actual treehouse itself, Lex was not using wood. Instead, he would refine the entire treehouse out of metal, using bits of Veevatil within, the same metal as his sword. The house portion of the treehouse was going to be a treasure he refined himself. While Lex couldn''t im to be the best treasure manufacturer around, otherwise he wouldn''t have had Orin craft Naraka for him, he was still pretty good. Lex teleported away, and with his departure the pressure on the tree finally faded. The trees spirit, having been refined under the pressure of Domination, nourished by the purest forms of energy Lex could provide, and fertilized in dragon blood, began to bubble, as if it was about to undergo a metamorphosis, shedding its mundane form for a far greater one. Above the tree, a tribtion cloud began to gather. This was not the tribtion cloud of someone entering the immortal realm, but the cloud that provided tempering to a universal grade treasure that was about to be born. Chapter 1384 Treehouse of his dreams Chapter 1384 Treehouse of his dreams Lex returned to a ce he had not been to in a short while: the home of the dwarfs in the Midnight realm. Thest time he was here, he had forged Naraka, his sword. It was genuinely a tragedy that Lex was not a wholehearted sword cultivator, because his sword was amazing. Its potential was just as endless as himself, and the stronger sword intent it was bathed in, the faster it would grow even stronger. As it was, Lex''s truly varied array of skills and abilities overshadowed the actual power of his sword. To say that the sword had just as much potential as Lex was a testament to how genuinely absurdly strong it was, considering all that Lex had been through. In all his time in the cultivation world, Lex had only ever faced a single person who could rival him in the same realm as him: Cornelius. Besides that one, enigmatic king, whoseschemes ran deep, whether it was dragons, devil, angels or beings of some other race, none had been able to stand toe to toe with Lex. The fact that Orin I of the Veevatil mines, the first dwarf of the realm, had the skills to forge such a treasure spoke not only of the immense amount of skill and talent he had, but knowledge as well. Considering that Orin did not have the legacy of the other realms to improve his own treasure manufacturing capabilities, everything he knew was self taught. In the time that Lex had locked the Inn away, he had studied treasure manufacturing from the dwarf as well, in exchange for giving him an immense amount of knowledgeter on. True to his word, once the Midnight realm had been opened again, he had bought countless books, tomes, inheritances, video tutorials and podcasts for the dwarf to go through to expand his knowledge. Even when Lex returned, the dwarf was still studying, immersed in all things rted to forging. "Old dwarf, I''m borrowing your forge," Lex said,pletely aware that Orin probably hadn''t heard him. It didn''t matter - he was well known here anyway. Deep in the heart of the mountain, above a flowing river ofva, sat a forge made out of 300 tons of Veevatil - an utter and sheer waste in Lex''s opinion. Once forged, Veevatil could not be reforged, so till the end of time, this Veevatil would only exist in the form of this forge. Maybe Dao Lords could do something about stuff like this, for much like Sovereigns they could reshape reality to their whims, but that was not for Lex to know. Even if they could, why would Dao Lords care about Veevatil? Though the metal was precious and rare for immortals, it was nowhere near as valuable as a Dao level ingredient. But as ridiculous as it was, Lex had to admit that the forge technically was awesome, and was an immense aid in treasure manufacturing. Without wasting a single second, Lex used dragon fire to heat up the forge, and brought out the remainder of the treasures he had bought from the Emporium, and began his forging process. One reason he wanted to learn about treasure manufacturing is because of a whim he had long ago. Once upon a time, when he was learning arrays, he had wondered if he could create an array soplex, it could act like his system did. As his cultivation grew, he understood that while arrays theoretically could unleash limitless power, they could not really touch uponws, for they themselves depended onws to operate. But his ambition, or whim, had not died. Lex had learned formations, Glyphs, arrays, treasure manufacturing, and so much more, and at each step he remembered that whim of his. One day, he too, would create a system that could rock the universe. But now was not the time for that- Lex froze, and suddenly he had an epiphany! His Karma was not in bnce between his identities, because he as himself did not have nearly as many achievements as he did as an employee of the Inn. But the thing was, he was not truly an employee of the Inn. That was a facade. For reasons he could not understand, that facade clearly touched on certain rules of the universe he did not understand, and was affecting him negatively. So all he needed to do to bnce that out was have an achievement sufficiently great as himself, carrying a massive amount of Karma to bnce things out. One reason he didn''t make a preliminary System himself was because he knew he wasn''t at the level where it would be good enough. But did his system need to match up to the Midnight Inn? What if he made a System with whatever skill he had, and granted it to a mortal in a 1 star, or in an even lower star world? As soon as Lex had the idea, ittched on to him, and wouldn''t let go. Unfortunately, he was already busy with other things, so he would have to push it aside for now. Why was he always busy with so many things? It was like he hadn''t even finished one task and several more hopped onto his te. Truly, being a rich, sessful business owner was not easy. Casting his distractions aside, Lex began crafting his new treehouse. Suddenly, he felt even more motivated than he was before to create the best possible treasure that he could. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om His left eye activated, peering into thews of all the ingredients he summoned, and his right eye activated, creating countless arrays and Glyphs to help with the forging process. Lex immediately began forging the treehouse of his dreams. ***** Within the Origin realm, on an frozen, seemingly devoid of all life, a wolf suddenly appeared. His appearance was oddly simr to that of Fenrir, almost as if they were from a simr breed, but it seemed tock a certain, almost imperceptible charm. He also gave off an incredibly powerful aura. The wolf sniffed the air, and then teleported away, appearing in an underground, abandoned bunker. Or, well, abandoned was not the right word for it, since the bunker still contained the corpses of all who had worked within the bunker. After the debacle with Sanguis Pluvia, many organizations that had been acting in secret abandoned all their activities, cutting ties and eliminating all loose ends lest their dirty dealings be exposed. This cloning clinic was one such ce, which is why the wolf had toe here personally. A few years ago, it had given countlesspanies samples of a 99% pure Fenrir bloodline, asking them to try and cultivate a pure 100% bloodline if they could, while he tried to do the same. Before they could make any substantial progress, many such facilities had been attacked, and now even more had been closed. The wolf was naturally here to retrieve whatever samples the facility had, as well as to look through their research data. Yet when it arrived, it suddenly smelt a certain scent that stunned it. Its own bloodline, which had ceased growing for so long, suddenly trembled with excitement! There was something within the facility that could help it! The wolf, at first, thought that the facility had achieved the full 100% blood purity in one of the clones, but when it followed the scent, it discovered that the thing that was exciting its bloodline was not a pure blooded Fenrir clone. No, it was the clone of a human woman! The wolf was stunned, by the agitation from its bloodline was too great. The wolf waspletely unable to stop itself, and broke the clone out of its container and devoured it! The clone naturallycked a soul, and had been merely in the mortal realm, yet suddenly the wolf felt a certain hint of warmth! There was hope! Greed shed in the wolf''s eyes as searched through the entire facility, devouring each of such clones, yet none of them were actually enough. The disparity was too great. But it presented a hope, and so the wolf began to search through the facility''s logs and files. Unfortunately, when whoever ran the facility killed all the facility workers through whatever means they had used, they also erased all the data files that the facility had. But now that the wolf had had a taste, how could it give up? Since it found these clones in one cloning facility, it would continue to look through more. Chances were high that it would encounter those clones again. It would be best if the wolf could get a lead on the original. Either way, now that the wolf had devoured the clone, it would find it much easier to pick up its trace across the realm. The wolf quickly took all the Fenrir clones, and then teleported away, destroying the facility thoroughly before he left. Finding even one of these facilities had been hard to begin with, due to how well they hid, but the wolf would not give up so easily. Not when it finally saw hope for advancement! Chapter 1385 Something amiss Chapter 1385 Something amiss Lex was naturally unaware of what happened within the Origin realm. Even though he had searched for Moon''s clone relying on his own bloodline, finding even one such facility was incredibly difficult and time consuming. Although Lex had notpletely located all of them, he had to hand over this task to others while he handled more urgent matters. While they could not rely on bloodline to find these facilities, they could rely on traditional means of tracking and searching. It was not that he did not care, but that he could not afford to spend too much time on this. If he did not handle the many matters that bothered him, who knew when he would also get swept away by a formidable foe? The Midnight Inn, for all its bluster, was, at any given time, just one big ident away from being destroyed. But though there was danger, Lex was also making tremendous progress. With a soft smile, Lex observed the small birdhouse in front of him. The color was an odd blend of dark brown and maroon, shifting its shade in the light. The tiny bird house, small enough to fit in Lex''s palm, would look quite pleasant in front of the soft brown bark of the Void Stabilization Sequoia tree, which was fortunate for this small birdhouse would be Lex''s treehouse. Naturally, once activated, the size of the treehouse would expand. In fact, besides its defensive capabilities, the thing Lex most paid attention to was its ability to grow and expand as required, as well as create anyyout he wished, as long as it did not exceed the total greatest covered area that the birdhouse could upy. At the moment, the birdhouse could, at most, expand to 200,000 square feet of covered area. That was both quite a lot, and very little depending on one''s point of view. The average house back in the U.S. was about 2600 square feet, and in the U.K. it was 1000 square feet. By that standard, it was pretty big. Butpared to the Midnight Inn, which hosted hundreds of millions of guests, it was barely anything. But it was enough for a tavern. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex wanted to admire the birdhouse a little more, but unfortunately he could not. The reason was pretty simple. While the Veevatil forge could handle prolonged exposure to dragonfire, the rest of the dwarven city could not. A wild, raging me spreading across an underground city was not exactly the easiest thing to contain. "Stop, drop and roll guys!" Lex yelled as he conjured water and began throwing it at the fire. Lex''s techniques were, even putting it mildly, he strong. The problem with that was while dumping akes worth of water on a massive fire worked, it also released a massive amount of hot steam, which not only burned the lungs of anyone who breathed it in, it had a way of contaminating all the dwarves bee- cough, it contaminated their adult apple juice. "MY BEARD!" yelled a distraught dwarfdy, but it was toote. Even with Lex''s lightning fast reflexes, he could not avoid casualties. That day, as a result of Lex''s forging efforts, no less than 13,000 beards had been burned off. No one died, but honestly, the mood in the dwarven city was as if they had suffered a ughter. Even as Lex snuck away, suppressing his guilt, he could hear some old man crying about how he had groomed his beard for 999 years, only to lose it a day before year 1000. He would make it up to the dwarves somehow, he swore to himself. At the same time, he wondered if he should sport a beard. After all, he was not like a main character in a book, who had to maintain the same appearance for entire arcs or even volumes so that the reader''s mental image is not ruined. He could change his appearance as he wished. As a tribute to the dwarves, he decided he would try growing a beard. Then he rubbed his chinand his eyes narrowed. Although he himself was quite a few years old, his body was still that of a teenager. By rights, he should have started growing a beard already, even if only a patchy one, but it wasn''t. This was one more problem he would look into. Lex had already determined to sport a stubble, or maybe a light beard. He was getting sidetracked. Lex returned to the tree, and paused. Something was different, though he couldn''t tell what specifically. Of course, he knew that the tree had been struck with a lightning tribtion. He was not surprised. The turtle had informed him that having the tree mutate and mature early would trigger a tribtion, but the tree should be more than strong enough to withstand it. Indeed, the tree had withstood the tribtion without issue, and its body seemed greatly nourished. The trunk was just as robust as ever, while each and every branch was firm yet flexible if need be. The leaves were green, and the whole tree was emanating an aura of liveliness. All was as expected. Yet Lex could not help but suspect something was amiss. He immediately summoned his spirit and soul sense, inspecting the tree for any changes, but all seemed to be normal. Whatever changes there were, he had already expected. So why did he feel like all was not as it seemed? Lex had immense confidence in his instincts, so if they felt something was amiss, it definitely was. He was not one of those types to start doubting himself. The issue was, even if he was aware that something was wrong, he could not tell what it was. Fearing that something might go wrong, Lex decided to skip the part where he took his time in admiring the treehouse. He attached the small birdhouse he created to the tree, and channeled his spirit energy inside of it, causing it to suddenly growrge. In a matter of seconds, arge, sprawling treehouse appeared within the branches of the tree, and Lex submitted this tree to the system to inspect. Hopefully, if it passed, he could begin his second tavern. Chapter 1386 Arra-kiss Chapter 1386 Arra-kiss Lex watched and waited, no longer taking his time to admire the treehouse, but rather waiting for the system''s evaluation. From afar, the treehouse was not exactly visible, covered by the leaves. But once someone came close enough to view it from underneath, the actual treehouse would be visible. Questplete: As the Inn grows, and its reputation spreads, so too must your capabilities as the Innkeeper. Build a new tavern with your own hands, without any help, fitting to be used as a subsidiary of the Midnight Inn. Quest Reward: Increase in number of taverns by 1. Remarks: Look at you, not mooching off of others. How fast kids grow. New Quest: Integrate a tavern into the history of a world. Quest Reward: Subject to performance. Remarks: Do not go down in history for an epic case of food poisoning, or burn the beards of all the residents on a new world! Lex coughed, and resisted the urge to facepalm. Instead, he just focused on the fact that the treehouse had just been epted. Moreover, he was not bummed about the fact that there did not seem to be any additional reward for all the effort he put into making the treehouse. He knew that even if the system didn''t specifically state it, the system rewarded additional effort and achievements. While it did not specifically state that the new quest was as a result of the treehouse being awesome, the fact that the next quest had an open ended reward was definitely a result of his previous efforts. Fortunately, he was already working on having the tavern be a big part of a world''s history, just because he liked controlling the flow of a story. Now, he just needed to get some staff for the second tavern, send it to a new world, and kick things off. With that done, he could focus on the Midnight Games, the audit report, shutting off the teleportation in the Origin realm and¡­ Lex had to pause and rub his eyes. He was forgetting something. What was he forgetting? The problem with remembering everything was that sometimes, it was hard to discern which thing he had to be paying attention to which basically just resulted in the same oue as not remembering something at all. Although Lex had his suspicions that such things were not normal, and that he was just multitasking too much, he was going to operate on the belief that immortals weren''t forgetful, but remembered too much, leading to the same oue. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "Dungeons! Right, that," said Lex as he snapped, and made a mental note to follow up on that soon. Ereboth was a mean, he hoped he wasn''t giving Luthor a tough time. With everything in order, Lex sent out a notice to the Inn workers asking if anyone wanted to volunteer to work at the new tavern. Once he had enough workers, he bought a ticket for a new, and tore it, sending himself and his new treehouse to an unknown. One thing he had learned about the system was that while many things seemed random, the system never actually did anything randomly. Just in the way Lex often found himself coincidentally running into people being hunted, or crown heirs to powerful empires, secretly on the run, or random Demi-Dao Lords orchestrating a conspiracy to overthrow a realm, he would never actually appear somewhere he couldn''t technically survive. The or environment he would end up at would be, in some way, work for him and his tavern. His newfound faith in the system¡­ Lex froze as he looked out at the. Disbelief struck him, and it struck him so hard he flew into the air and spread out his spirit sense, yet no matter how far he looked, he found no change. No, how could this be? Lex had a whole new, positive attitude towards the system? How could it betray him like this? It was¡­ oh wait¡­ it wanted the most entertaining results. Right. Just to be sure, Lex flew all the way to space to observe the, only to confirm something that the system interface could have told him easily. : Arra-kiss Rating: 1 Star Environment: Desert Lex had arrived with a 400 feet tall treehouse tavern onto a desert that had no trees whatsoever! Well, at least the treehouse would be easy to find at least. He just needed to position it in a ce where it would easily encounter flow of traffic. Originally, he thought it would be nice for the tavern to be in a town, or even a city¡­ but¡­ a giant tree appearing suddenly might be a little startling. Lex pulled up a holographic map of the world, and studied it for a while. The map disyed allrge cities, towns, trade routes, migration patterns, treasures and anything else that might be relevant to him. After a while, Lex decided on a spot, and teleported over. Ah, well, how bad could things be? He was sure that he''d find something interesting to do on this - he was sure, because having a system would more or less ensure it. During his free time, Lex decided to start working on the schematics for the system he would make himself. The first thing he had to decide was what kind of system he wanted. The Arra-kiss was a desert all around, but that did not mean it was entirely covered in sand, or everything was hot. The tree reappeared in a barren desert, where the ground was hard and cracked for countless miles, with the most distinguishable feature nearby being arge mountain range made entirely of rock. As it happened, on the other side of the mountain range was a cold desert, and the tips of all the mountains were covered in ciers. As such, throughout the year, a number of streams flowed down the mountains, forming ake near which the''srgest city was built. One day when the tree suddenly appeared within view of the city, all the residents within were confused, and afraid. The city entered lockdown - but not before a single person escaped the city, wounded and bleeding. But seeing as how the gates sealed right behind him, he managed to gain some time while running from whoever was chasing him. But all was not well. He would need to reach the city before sundown, or bad things would happen. Yes, among the entire popce, Tatsuya Seigan was the only one who knew what a tree was, and so didn''t fear it. Even if he didn''t understand what it was doing here, he was not one to judge. After all, he himself was from X-142 - the very same that Lex used to visit the Emporium. Chapter 1387 Paradise I Chapter 1387 Paradise I The Midnight Treehouse, as Lex decided to call it so that it was easily distinguishable from the Midnight Tavern, was pretty big, so naturally the house part of the treehouse was big as well. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Despite there being a reception room right at the foot of the tree, from where new guests could enter, the rest of the treehouse was higher up. This design was purposefully selected by Lex, since he was on a 1 Star. The locals here wouldn''t be strong, and it might be inconvenient for most to reach the treehouse itself if the entrance weren''t on the floor. From the entrance there was a staircase that went around the trunk of the tree until it eventually reached the upper levels, but in case guests were not in the mood to climb hundreds of stairs, there was also a teleportation formation. The actualyout of the treehouse would be ever changing, for that was the whole point of the treasure Lex crafted. Based on the surroundings, the weather, the sr and lunar cycles, and anything else that could affect the scenery, theyout would keep changing to present the best possibleyout to give the guests the best possible view at all times. Oh, there was also a bunch of Feng Shue stuff going on with theyout, which apparently meant that the spirit energy within the treehouse would always be very high and pure. It would naturally cleanse the surrounding air of any pollution, not to mention that the area surrounding the tree would slowly be richer in spirit energy the longer the tree stayed in one ce. As theyout of the treehouse changed, Lex paid special attention to the treehouse, watching it for any abnormalities, but picked up nothing. It would suck for the first guest to appear at the treehouse, only for the tree to pull out a root and whip them to death. Though the tree technically didn''t have a cultivation realm, it would take a Nascent soul cultivator to even begin making a mark on the tree. Fortunately, all was well. With everything proceeding ording to n, Lex went to the highest room in the treehouse, near the very tip of the tree, sat down with a clear view of the, and began to think. In the tavern on Az, Lex was orchestrating a grand struggle, allowing a new generation of hopeful yet hardworking and honest folk to change the world for the better. Of course, he never did anything directly - otherwise it would not be fun. He had the power to influence the whole on his own, but if he did that, then it would make the struggles of everyone else pointless. Instead, he simply became a catalyst, allowing those who were already working towards positive change to achieve a much greater impact through gentle guidance. Now he wanted to decide what he would do on this - at least until it was linked to the Inn and he could go back. Already, from his vantage point, Lex could see Tetsuya clearly. Lex recognized, and recalled Tetsuya clearly, and though he wondered how this old acquaintance had made his way to this, he made no actual moves to approach him. Soon enough, Tetsuya would be at the tree anyway. While Lex was perched atop the tree, the tree itself began feeling its surroundings. The tree had gained sentience, and with that came some knowledge from within his inherited species, as well as everything that happened to it as a seed. For whatever reason, the tree felt like it should not reveal itself to its new keeper, Lex. As such, the tree did nothing for now. All actions were taken either by Lex, or were ording to the tree''s instincts, which would not arouse any suspicions. Until Lex was gone, the tree would have to satisfy itself with only sensing the universe around it. That wasn''t too bad. As a newborn, the tree did not actually know much about the universe, so studying all the living beings upying the house attached to its body would present a good learning experience. For now, that included Lex, who the tree absolutely did not observe at all. From the information it inherited in its memories, it knew that certain beings, once too powerful, would be able to tell if anyone observed or even thought about them. The others, however, were alright. But there weren''t too many others, for now. Fortunately, as the tree''s roots dug deeper into the ground - something it naturally did - it discovered that there was an abundance of life on the seemingly deste. It was just that most of it seemed to be under the surface of the - away from the harsh climate. As its roots dug even deeper, it touched upon the natural ley lines of the, discovering a secret, underground channel of energy cycling around the world. There were also underground rivers, filled with pure, clean water. Not only that, the water itself also contained very rich Aqua Energy, though for anyone below the immortal realm, it would just be very rich spiritual energy. But while most things the tree discovered underground were pure and teeming with vitality, it also discovered something dark, hidden beep below the surface. Tendrils of this darkness crept up, reaching towards all the pure things. It reached the insects, and began to corrode them, turning them into rabid, mindless mutants. It reached towards the waters, and tried to poison it, though so far the water was resisting. The darkness tried to pollute the very ground itself, and it was beginning to have an effect. Of course, the ground around the tree started to get cleaned, but it was clear that something sinistery hidden in the depths of this world, too far down even for the tree''s roots to reach. The darkness intrigued the tree, but since it couldn''t specifically act out and search for it, the tree put it out of its mind. Instead, it focused more on its immediate surroundings. The shade provided by the tree''s canopy caused a few insects to emerge from the ground, and they all studied the foreign entity, unsure what to make of it. Chapter 1388 Paradise II Chapter 1388 Paradise II The scorching heat or Arra-kiss turned the very ground into a proverbial stovetop, burning or cooking anything that touches it. At least where the sands covered the ground, the insects could bury themselves within the dunes, but in the tough, imprable grounds of the barren desert, these insects could only hide within the cracks in the ground, emerging only at night. Considering that the daylight cycle on this was a hundred hours long, that was a long time to stay hidden within a few cracks. But the soil around the treehouse was no longer scorching, even if the shade had only existed for a few minutes. The burning, insufferable winds suddenly became cool and pleasant as soon as they entered beneath the tree, as if a formation existed around the tree, preventing the boiling heat from entering. In fact, it was not just the heat that was being kept out. The tough soil began to soften, and turn fertile. Though nothing had grown here for a long time, over the centuries countless creatures had died and turned to dust atop thesends, fertilizing them. Now that the conditions finally allowed for it, the ground was ready to support life once more. Lex, sitting at the top of the tree, also noticed the subtle change, and had an idea. From within his spatial ring, he summoned a few patches of grass he had plucked from the Midnight realm. The grass from that realm was a treasure, and could literally save a dying man''s life, or turn a mortal into a cultivator. He recalled back on Earth there was a cultivator who turned from a mortal into a Nascent soul cultivator. His grass did something simr, but not exactly. The reason it did not bring a cultivator all the way to the Nascent realm was because it maintained, if not enhanced the potential of the eater to cultivate further. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Of course, the grass could not propagate in this 1 Star world, but Lex did not intend for that either. Instead, as he nned those few tufts of grass, right at the base of the tree, touching the trunk, he expected a lesser variant of it to grow and cover the now soft soil beneath the tree. Since the tree was already foreign to this world, there was no reason to hold back. He would turn the area under the tree into a paradise. Indeed, right before Lex''s eyes, the grass began to break down, for the energy and soil of this ce could not support it. Yet as the grass turned to dust and spread all around, new grass started to grow in a wider area, but even that broke down. As the process kept replicating itself in wider and wider areas, with simpler versions of the grass, Lex thought of what other things he could nt. After a brief consideration, he decided to nt a few fruit trees. He nted a few fruits from Earth, and one fruit tree native to the Midnight realm called Bombo which had the appearance of a kiwi, but texture and taste of jelly. It was highly nutritious, and extremely delicious and Lex loved it. In fact, he decided right there and then to turn Bombo into a universal fruit if it already wasn''t. No one should be deprived of the deliciousness of Bombo. He also decided to nt a few flowers here and there. Yet no matter what he nted, all of it began to turn to dust, before growing again as a baser, weaker version of itself. The process was actually a little creepy if one didn''t know what was going on, but Lex estimated that it would calm down in a bit. Lex also added the one thing that every single treehouse needed the most: a swing. At first he was going to go with a tire swing, but decided to keep it natural, and used a wooden nk instead, hanging from a branch 250 feet in the air. Things were really starting to look up, and that was a good thing because the first batch of guests appeared on the edge of the tree treehouse, to investigate what it really was. Originally, Lex expected that Tetsuya would be his first guest. But a group of people, dressed entirely in white, with even their faces covered, emerged from the ground riding giant mole-like creatures. Yet since they did not actually approach the treehouse yet, Lex did not greet them. He decided that everything underneath the tree canopy would be treehouse territory, but he would not venture outside of that, nor would he address anything outside of it. One of the first rules of running a business such as that of a tavern or an Inn was to stay neutral, and not get involved with local politics. Of course, should they try to make contact with him first, he would dly respond. The group in white whispered amongst themselves as they watched Lex tend the garden. At first, they were definitely creeped out by everything constantly dying, but as that slowly stopped, and grass began to grow. Fruit trees finally started to grow, and so did the flowers. Despite the foreignness of everything, the group of observers could not help but find the scene beautiful. Even though they did not know what they were looking at, they felt an attraction to it that they could not exin. One of the group stepped forward and removed their facemask, and arrived at the very edge of the grass, taking in a deep smell. Lex raised an eyebrow, surprised. He never would have imagined that a desert,cking vegetation at all, would have had elves. No wonder they were so attracted to the trees and the grass. "What¡­ what is this?" the elf murmured as he reached forward with trembling hands, finally touching the freshly grown grass. It was slightly moist, and soft to the touch. It was even covered by a thinyer of spiritual energy, and though the elf did not absorb that energy, he feltpletely reinvigorated just feeling it. Though natives of Arra-kiss never let the water in their body go to waste, the elf could not help but shed a tear. Chapter 1389 The chosen one I Chapter 1389 The chosen one I The elf, ancient as mountains, old as the sky, raised his slightly moist hand, and then used it to wipe the tear off his face. In that sensation from touching the grass the elf, Freman, felt something extremely core to his entire existence - something he had been deprived off for a very long time. Ovee by a sudden bout of mania, the elf did something that his partners - and basically anyone of Arra-kiss - would consider insane. He took off his boot, and without waiting, stepped forward into the lush, green grass. The ground on Arra-kiss was more than just hot, though it could cook an egg in under a minute. The constant exposure to the star of the star system, which was abnormally active, caused an overabundance of Yang energy to be immersed in anything the starlight touched for too long. Now, regardless of temperature, anything containing Yang energy could sear off the skin of anyone below the immortal realm, unless they specifically had a cultivation technique attuned to it, or against it. Of course, the natives of the did not know that. All they knew was that the ground was radioactive during the day time. At night, the natural cycle that the environment had formed caused the Yang nature of the ground to be suppressed, allowing others toe into contact with the ground. Fortunately, simply wearing protective equipment made from locally harvested materials was enough to resist the searing effect of the ground. That was why the other elves reacted so strongly to Freman taking off his boot and stepping towards the grass without protection. The burns from Yang exposure were not so simple. But Freman ignored it. Instinct had taken hold of him, and he could not resist stepping onto the grass. Something deep inside of him craved it! The soft crunch of grass as he stepped on it was weirdly audible, and Freman was forced to close his eyes lest he let more tears fall. His body was reacting to the touch of nature, something it had been mostly deprived of its entire life. Vegetation on Arra-kiss was scarce, prickly, and was usually more root than anything. In fact, the only things that were green on the were some tones and precious gems that were asionally mined. Step by step, Freman walked deeper into the garden under the treehouse, and was suddenly hit with the feeling of wanting to take off his pants so that he could fall to his knees and let his legs bask in the glorious embrace of the grass. Fortunately, Lex had been keeping an eye on the elf, and managed to stop him before that happened. "Wow there pal, this is amon area. Indecent exposure is not allowed," Lex said, breaking him from his reverie. If he had been acting as the Innkeeper, he would have been polite about the reminder, but as himself he could just get to the matter. Freman broke free from the grass'' trance, and looked ahead towards Lex who was walking towards them. Although, as an immortal, Lex was not affected by the temperature of the, he felt like he might as well take advantage of the new environment to change things up a bit. With the exact same thought process he had about his beard - which he was still unable to grow at the moment - he felt like it would be nice to wear something other than a suit, but also didn''t want to wear informal clothes. Thus, Lex put on the white thobe that Arabs used to wear. It felt very unusual, and oddly freeing. But, since he was not used to that kind of freedom, he didn''t know how to feel about it - especially since he had a random thought about how women who wear sundresses felt the same sense of freedom. Of course, that only proceeded to him imaging himself in a sundress. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om The problem with having a super powerful mind that could have a million thoughts a second was that many of those million thoughts would be absolutely horrible. "My- my apologies, great one!" Freman eximed, bowing deeply towards Lex. "I was overwhelmed by the greatness of this¡­ this thing beneath my feet which safeguards from the burning touch of the ground." "It''s no problem," Lex said with a smile. "The grass growing under the Treehouse tavern is special, so I am not surprised that you enjoy it. You can even invite your friends over to enjoy it as well. Just¡­ keep your clothes on in public. We have rooms if you really need to remove your clothes." Freman turned back, and saw that the others he came with were still watching hesitantly from a distance. Even though they were just as much entranced by the beautiful garden underneath the treehouse, they managed to resist its allure. Such caution was to be expected in the face of something so unexpected. "Come on guys, you must feel what this is like," Freman said, inviting the others. "It''s as if we have been living an iplete life so far, cut off from our true purpose." But, forpletely iprehensible reasons, the other elves were not reassured by the ims Freman made in a near obsessive voice. Strange. Instead, they grew even warier, and drew their weapons as they looked towards Lex as if he were some kind of demon. "No need to be cautious, allow me to introduce myself," Lex said, though he doubted they''d be convinced so easily. "My name is Lex, and I am running this humble little tavern. This is a ce that wees guests, which is why, well, we don''t particrly harm our guests." "Oh yeah, totally," responded one of the elves sarcastically. "You don''t want to hurt us, which is why you''ve totally bewitched Freman, and are attracting us into your domain." Lexughed, for he could totally see how it seemed like he was some evil entity, trying to capture them all. "I assure you, this is nothing but a tavern. It may seem a little unusual to you all, but I assure you that it is perfectly safe." "Oh yes, it makes sense. I often visit taverns that are in the middle of nowhere, far away from any town or city." "Hey man, you try getting the trade licence and zoning permits for a giant tree inside a city. It''s not as easy as it seems." Chapter 1390 The chosen one II Chapter 1390 The chosen one II Although Lex had not meant that as a serious response, it gave the others pause. It seemed like bureaucracy was a problem regardless of country, or race. "Jokes aside, the Treehouse tavern is not like any other," Lex said, deciding to skip his amazing jokes. It wouldn''t be funny if those who he was speaking to couldn''t understand them to begin with. "The Treehouse tavern is associated with the Midnight Inn, and as such travels from to, every so often. Even I cannot predict when the Treehouse will go to another, so don''t miss out, and enjoy it while itsts." "You''re from another?" Freman asked, for some reason surprised by that fact more than any other. "The Empire will not like that. They like to strictly control ess to and from the. Perhaps you should hide the tree, and not disy it so tantly. Such a treasure should be protected, not exposed to the dangers of the Arra-kiss." Lex smiled amusedly. "I assure you, the Treehouse tavern is more than safe. I do not think we will be having any problems with any empire. Anyway, if you guys wish toe up, you cane through the reception. You can stay in the garden down below if you want, but only as long as it doesn''t bother any guests." Technically, Lex had no guests right now, but he would eventually. While the garden was a great way to attract attention, and passerbyers, he wanted to establish from the beginning that he wouldn''t tolerate them causing a ruckus. With that said, he retreated to the other side of the garden, tending to the still growing nts. He did not want to unnerve the new possible guests, as he could see his presence greatly unnerved them for they were too cautious. "Come Freman, we must leave immediately, and send word of this development to the shaman," one of the elves called, still unwilling to step into the garden. "Tell them what? We have barely begun to explore the ce? Let alone the treehouse, we have not even explored the garden entirely. Moreover, touching this grass feels way too good. I don''t want to go just yet. It''s like, for my entire life, this is what I''ve been missing." "Freman, you are not a child. We do not understand the dangers of this ce. How can you be sure you''ve not been bewitched? We need to checkif you''ve been influenced by any kind of magic. The Shaman will be the one to decide." Freman looked reluctantly out at the garden, and felt the longing his body felt towards all that greenery, but eventually turned back. It was not that he doubted the genuineness of the treehouse of the garden. Instead, he knew the others would not trust the tavern unless the Shaman confirmed he was fine. If they did not trust it, they would be deprived of it. It was literally only for his own teammates that he put a heavy stone on the longing in his heart and turned to leave. "Since you guys did note in, you don''t understand," he said as he left, having put his boots back on. "I think this is the paradise from prophecy. ''The chosen will fight the oppressors from the shade of paradise, and bring forth a change in the ways of the world.''" The others fidgeted upon having a line from their prophecy read out, and could not help but nce at the tree one more time. They too felt the attraction from it, but resisted out of fear. Instead of approaching the garden, they climbed back onto their moles, which began to dip down into the dirt. Just before they left, they saw a vague figure on the horizon, running towards the tree. Tetsuya also saw the desert elves, but ignored them as he continued to run towards the tree. He was dehydrated, exhausted, and running out of options. He was being hunted - he was always being hunted. He didn''t know what it was about his luck that caused him to make enemies wherever he went, but this time, he was truly at the end of his rope. Running towards the tree was actually a really bad idea, as everyone woulde to investigate it sooner orter. It was the opposite of where he wanted to be. But he was hoping that near the tree he could discover some treasured fruit that would help him recover to his peak condition. He didn''t even care for any improvements or upgrades. Just removing his fatigue would be enough. After all, he had a big fight in front of him soon enough. Fifteen minutester, a severely burned Tetsuya finally reached the garden. As soon as he smelled the fresh grass, the flowers and the trees, Tetsuya nearly broke down. Originating from a farming, being transported to a desert was especially torturous on him. He never thought he''d be able to enjoy these simple pleasures ever again so long as he did not leave Arra-kiss, and he would never be able to leave this ce as long as the Empire ruled it. That momentary weakness quickly passed though. He could not allow himself to rx. Instead, he raised his guard as high as he possibly could, and then carefully began to wade through the garden. While appearances may make it seem like this ce was a paradise, especially on a such as Arra-kiss, he knew better. For this massive tree to suddenly just appear out of nowhere, it must be hiding an immense secret, greater than any he had ever seen. He used a number of techniques to scout the area for any dangers, and at being unable to detect any obvious threats, he cautiously collected all the dew gathered on the grass, and drank it in one big gulp. Although the amount of water he drank was barely anything, he suddenly felt a rush of energy pour through his body, healing his deepest wounds and helping him recover. Yet instead of feeling d, Tetsuya was horrified. What kind of ce was this if even the moisture on the grass was high enough levelled to heal him? n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Cautiously, and with great doubt as if he was double minded about this, Tetsuya broke off a single de of grass, and bit it. Chapter 1391 The chosen one III Chapter 1391 The chosen one III With great trepidation, as well as an equal amount of anticipation, Tetsuya swallowed the grass de, and felt it dissolve even as it traveled down his throat. It did not heal him or anything like that, but he felt his Golden core get a bit warmer, as if it was being refined. The warmth was slight, but it lingered, meaning that the effect was not a short one. Tetsuya''s eyes expanded with wonder, and he was about to snatch a fistful of grass from the ground when he heard someone clear their throat. Lex was standing on the side, looking at him awkwardly. "Please don''t destroy tavern property," Lex said, wondering why he was getting strange guests all of a sudden. This was never a problem at the Inn. Or, well, statistically speaking, it was much less of a problem. At the Inn, maybe 1 out of a million guests tried to do something strange, yet at the tavern one out of the two guests tried to streak, while the other wanted to eat the grass. Lex was familiar with the concept of touching grass, but this was taking things too far. "Uhh, sorry about that," Tetsuya blurted, suddenly overly aware of his condition. Besides just the burning, bleeding and internal injuries he was carrying, his clothes were utterly ripped and revealed much of his skin. Compared to the pure white thobe that the man opposite him was wearing, Tetsuya looked like a homeless man. "My apologies, I did not know this ce was a tavern," Tetsuya said as he fixed his posture and let the grass fall to the floor. Lex waited a couple of seconds, wondering if Tetsuya would recognize him, although Lex couldn''t me Tetsuya if he didn''t. Not only was their meeting for a very brief period years ago, Lex had since shed and regrown his skin, not to mention turn into a meatball, and then regrow as a person. He was also an immortal now, whereas thest time they met, Lex was in the Qi training realm. Things had changed a lot! Even though Lex looked the same, he also didn''t. His posture, his confidence, his experiences had all shaped him into an entirely different being. It was not surprising that Tetsuya didn''t recognize him. But Lex was curious how he ended up on this, so he did not intend to ignore their history at all. "I can''t really me you for that. I can''t imagine there''s a lot of grass around here. Stark difference from a ce like X-142." Tetsuya suddenly froze, and his eyes focused on Lex. But he made no other sudden movements. Lex was not surprised. The man seemed to have a history for being targeted. Lex remembered back on X-142, Tetsuya was being targeted because of how much of a genius he was. He got in a few fights, was targeted by the scion of arge family, suffered an assassination attempt that nearly killed and basically crippled him. Even now, on Arra-kiss, his state seemed to suggest that he was not the most popr fellow around. So Lex suddenly mentioning his previous would, of course, arouse a lot of suspicion. In fact, he was surprised that Tetsuya hadn''t had a much more violent reaction. "It seems you don''t recognize me at all," Lex casuallymented. "We met once after I bet on you during the Gugu fruit harvesting tournament. You stopped me from killing that Darius guy." Tetsuya''s eyes widened as he suddenly recalled the incident Lex was talking about and suddenly recalled Lex as well! "Wait, that was you?" he eximed. "I remember that! You barely took out a few goons on your own. How did you get from¡­ I don''t know, fighting off random street thugs to running a tavern? And an incredible one at that!" Lex smiled modestly, unaffected by praise and external validation for his own self worth was already too high. Oh, who was he kidding? Lex needed no validation for himself, but he loved that his treehouse was beingplimented. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "How did you end up arriving on Arra-kiss all the way from X-142? All I can say is that life is unpredictable." Tetsuya shook his head, then looked at Lex before turning to look at the Treehouse tavern. It was hard to ignore, and Tetsuya doubted very much that there was no secret involved with it. He himself was very curious about it, but looking at Lex, whose name he could not quite recall, and who he could not quite gauge, he decided not to test him. "How I got here¡­ now that''s a crazy story. How I survived here, that''s an even crazier story. But I think what''s more important¡­ is what I''m doing here. I''m not sure if you''re familiar with the situation here, but this is not as peaceful a as X-142. The Empire that rules this ce is nothing like the benevolent Jotun Empire. "All beings born on this are ves from birth, and every resource belongs to the Empire. They are cruel and merciless, and they wille for your tavern as soon as they are sure it''s not so much of a threat. I don''t know how you brought that¡­ that giant tree here, but if you can, I rmend you start thinking of a way to move it away, or start thinking of a way to run away." Lex smirked. "I assure you, the Treehouse tavern is more than safe. Although I have not had the opportunity to meet a representative of the Empire just yet, I foresee a pleasant, cooperative rtionship between us once I do. After all, we''re just a simple business. This is a tavern. We provide food, boarding, and a bit of entertainment. There''s not much else going on here." Tetsuya raised an eyebrow and then looked down at the grass beneath him. His Golden core was still warm, which indicated that it was still being refined. His first instinct was to warn the friendly tavern keeper about the true powers of the Empire, but the longer he looked at the grass, looked at the dew that literally brought him from the brink of exhaustion back to full health, and saw howfortably Lex was standing atop that grass, not even considering it, the more he began to realize that perhaps he should not be worried about Lex after all. This was not the kind of achievement a weakling could have, nor was this something that could be achieved by ident. "Well, in that case, I wish you good luck," Tetsuya finally said, looking back up at Lex. "I should head off now. If people find out I was here, the chances of you reaching an agreement with the Empire will fall drastically." "Oh howe? You have a problem with the Empire?" "Haha, yeah I have a small problem with them," Tetsuya said with a smile. "I''m just heading a small rebellion against them, cutting off their ess to their local workers and retaking control of the to give it back to the locals. Nothing too serious." "Oh good, nothing too serious then," Lex said with a chuckle. "In that case, feel free toe in." Tetsuya''s smile froze. Although he had made it sound like a joke, it really wasn''t. Was the Treehouse an excuse with the real reason being that this tavern keeper was secretly working against the Empire? That made sense, in a way. Who else would think of using a giant, conspicuous tree as a tavern on a desert? Just as Tetsuya was about to speak, Lex tossed him a pair of sses. "Put them on, they''ll hide your identity," he said, and started walking towards the reception. He could not help but think back to what the elves were talking about. They said something about a chosen one fighting the oppressors from the shade of paradise. He wasn''t sure if the chosen one for the elves could be a human, but Tetsuya fit the bill really well. Although the guy didn''t realize it, he had a knack for pissing off the wrong, or depending on the point of view, the right people. He was exactly the kind of person who would fall into the situation of defeating the junior, only to face the senior as reinforcements. Now, Lex wasn''t particrly interested in setting off a rebellion and changing the history of a, but he did have a quest asking him to do just that. If he couldplete that quest before he linked the to the Inn and was able to return to the Inn, he wouldn''t mind interfering just a little. "Tell me, Tetsuya, have you seen the elves on this? They seem a little jittery." "Oh yeah, the elves. I''ve met them," Tetsuya said as he put on his sses and looked at his reflection in a small pond in the garden. Or maybe he was just looking at the water - it seemed kind of precious on this. "Actually, funny story. I didn''t tell them my real name, and instead told them to call me Paul. I was trying to hide my identity - but, well, hiding ones identity doesn''t work so well if everyone just knows me, and knows me as Paul." Tetsuya was trying to drop a hint so that Lex would introduce himself. It felt too awkward to ask the guy his name now that he was already walking away. Chapter 1392 Ridiculous Gift shop I Chapter 1392 Ridiculous Gift shop I Lex, of course, could immediately tell that Tetsuya was feeling awkward about something. It was not difficult to guess that the man did not remember Lex''s name. Lex doubted if he even knew it to begin with. So naturally, he did the reasonable thing, and decided to manipte all events surrounding Tetsuya so that he would never be able to hear someone else call Lex by his name, and see how long he could keep this game going. Considering that he himself was immortal now, and Tetsuya seemedpetent enough to reach that level one day, it would be pretty funny if thousands of yearster they continued to meet each other, but Tetsuya still did not know his name. "By the way, while you may look different, I suggest you do not go by the name Paul while at the tavern. There''s no need to push your luck," Lex said, teasing the man by bringing up names once more. "Ah that''s easy. Since no one knows my actual name, I can go by Tetsuya while at the tavern," Tetsuya said, eyeing Lex hoping for a simr response. "Ah, yes, that sounds good. Come, let me introduce you to the Treehouse since you''re our first official guest on this," Lex said, not directly heading towards the reception, but towards a fountain he had constructed literally minutes ago, using his treasure manufacturing abilities. It was easy, considering that the fountain was a simple treasure. The liquid that flowed in the fountain was not water, but a potion that Lex bought from the Gift shop. He figured he could afford to splurge a little here and there. In essence, the potion would just refresh the mind and body of whoever drank it. For now, going into the tavern, it only served the function of refreshing the mind. But for those guests who were leaving, a drink from the potion could help them resist the heat of the scorching Arra-kiss day. It was not like Lex felt his Treehouse needed any additional features to attract attention, but he had begun considering these smaller, more minor detailstely as he considered how he could improve the Inn. Compared to randomly gathering and drinking the dew that had gathered on the grass, taking a drink from this fountain was at least a much more respectable option, which is why he wanted to introduce it to Tetsuya. "This is the Rejuvenation Fountain. A single sip from it will help rejuvenate iing and outgoing guests, helping them recover from their fatigue and protecting them from the elements for a time." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om The potion could notst long outside of the special container it came in from the gift shop, which is why Lex specially created this fountain which could support its existence. But that also meant that if the potion was removed for a while, it would lose its effectiveness. A small little protection to prevent hoarding and stealing - not that he expected such things to happen. Not at all. Tetsuya reached into the fountain and pulled out a handful, taking a sip after a short pause. For a moment he considered if it might be poisoned or carry some hidden risk. But he quickly concluded that this elusive tavern keeper whose name Tetsuya couldn''t recall was not a simple person. If he wanted to harm Tetsuya, he did not need to rely on such borate tricks. When he took the first sip, his eyes widened as he felt a cool stream of energy flow through his mind, dispersing any and all drowsiness and making him feel awake. It was like coffee, but better! His body was already recovered which is why he didn''t feel the effects on his body, but even so he could feel that it would definitely help him if he had just arrived at the Treehouse and hadn''t drunk the dew off the leaves. "Come on, there''s more to see inside," Lex said, not lingering as he led Tetsuya towards the reception. The two of them could easily jump up all the way to where the treehouse actually began even without going through the reception, but then who would appreciate the hard work Lex put into creating it? The reception was not toorge. The interior was cool yet cosy, with marble flooring, wainscoting on the walls and borate carvings near the roof. Strictly speaking, the interior The reception desk was at the opposite end, with a couple of workers waiting there. One did not need to check into the tavern to enter, obviously. Instead, the workers were there to control the teleportation formations to allow the guests to go up. Of course, there were also the stairs that guests could use if they wished. "The main structure is not that high up, but for convenience I''ve added some teleportation formations," Lex exined as they stepped onto the white tform that looked nothing like a formation. These formations had been created by Lex himself, so they could not achieve the seamless teleportation that the Midnight Inn provided. But as someone who himself was quite adept at manipting space, Lex''s insight into it was great enough that he had improved the formations considerably. When Tetsuya appeared stepped onto the tform and the teleportation urred. As a Golden core cultivator, traveling through space was not exactlyfortable but it was a huge burden either. But surprisingly, he hardly noticed the fluctuations, or the sense of oppression, before reappearing in a new,rger hall. "This is the main lobby of the Treehouse, and leads to the various sections, such as the rooms, the viewing decks, the stargazing terrace, the Gift Shop, the Meditation room, the Training room, and most important of all, to the eatery!" While taverns were ces that guests could spend the night at, what they were most known for was their food, their drinks, and the overall rowdy yet joyous atmosphere. Or at least, that''s how Lex saw them. For that, an eatery was of the utmost importance. In fact, Lex was double minded about putting the eatery up in the tree, and considered having it down in the garden, since it would give guests easy ess. But eventually he decided that eating with a view was the better option. Tetsuya felt incredibly odd following behind Lex as he led him through the walkways, which were open paths with railings that followed the long, sturdy stems as they led to various structures along the tree. The situation on the was not pleasant. There was a civil war ready to erupt, and the locals and invaders both were incredibly tense at the situation. But here was this tavern keeper, excitedly showing Tetsuya his Treehouse tavern, which was quite remarkable. Although there were countless other aspects to it that were incredible, Tetsuya mainly focused on how pure and concentrated the spiritual energy seemed to be up in the treehousepared even to the garden down below. If he could cultivate here for a bit, that would be incredible. But it was unlikely. It wasn''t that he didn''t trust Lex when he said that the tavern would be safe. It was just that he had to live ording to his own judgment, and ording to his judgment, this would soon be a ce of great conflict. Or, at the very least, a ce where the Empire ces a great deal of scrutiny. Such a ce was not somewhere he could stay too long. But at the same time, he just could not make himself go. "Since you''re the first guest we''ve had at the Treehouse, there''s a special prize for you," Lex said, though technically Tetsuya wasn''t a guest yet. One had to spend money to transition from a window shopper to an actual one! The Gift Shop at the Treehouse, much like the Meditation and Training rooms, were not official Inn rooms. Instead, they were things Lex recreated himself after drawing inspiration from the system. Of course, now that the Treehouse had been recognized by the system Lex could integrate official Inn rooms, but he thought it would be a shame if his creations never saw any use at all before being reced, so he held off on it. Of the three, the Gift shop was the simplest. It simply needed theyout for a simple shop, and Lex personally bought the items from the Gift shop at the Inn, and ced them here himself to sell. Unlike the early days of the Inn, where the Gift shop had only a few, weak items as selections, things had changed drastically. Like many other things in the Inn, the level of items sold in the Gift shop were directly rted to Lex''s own cultivation level. Now that he was an Immortal, the Gift shop even had a few items that would be useful for Earth Immortals! Of course, since this was a 1 Star, he would not upend the societal structure by selling overpowered things. Most items were in the Foundation level or below, with very few Golden core items, and only 1 Nascent soul level item sold in the Gift shop. Even so, when Tetsuya stepped into the Gift shop, and read the names as well as the descriptions of the items, he froze. This¡­ wasn''t this too ridiculous? Chapter 1393 Ridiculous Gift shop II Chapter 1393 Ridiculous Gift shop II "You can select one item from the Gift shop appropriate for your level for free," Lex said, though he wasn''t sure if Tetsuya heard him. The man''s eyes, even through the rk Kent sses, were bulging out. Naturally, the first thing Tetsuya looked for when he entered the shop was the most expensive item. It was called the Burgundy Lemonade, which was for an entire 300,000 MP! It was the sole Nascent level item, and it could help restore depleted soul energy! Unlike Yin and Yang, which were energies naturally found in the universe, Soul energy was only found within the souls of living beings, and Nascent soul cultivators could expend their Soul energy to use various techniques rted to the soul. The problem with that was that Soul energy was replenished very slowly, since the body had to naturally create it from other sources of energy. Items and potions which could speed up the recovery of Soul energy were exceptionally popr among Nascent soul cultivators, which was merely one of the reasons why Tetsuya was so shocked. Nascent soul level cultivators were rare on the entire to begin with, each one of them the head of a major country on Arra-kiss, or leading very important organisations or positions for the Empire. As such, the ability to sell Nascent level items in itself was incredibly rare and powerful, and spoke of a very deep background. But as if that wasn''t enough, the item actually restored Soul energy! Or, at least, helped in the recovery of soul energy! That was enough to drive all Nascent cultivators insane. To top it all off, it was so cheap! To be clear, the price of 300,000 MP was an immense amount that Tetsuya could in no way pay himself. Butpared to the expected value of such an item, the price was cheap. After all, such restorative items would only be used in critical moments, and no amount of money was too much to save one''s life. Tetsuya gave Lex a look, but said nothing. He was now certain that the Treehouse hade to this to stir up trouble. Maybe they already knew the secret of Arra-kiss. But Tetsuya would not be stupid enough to mention that himself, so instead he turned to look at the items for Golden core cultivators, and his freshly closed jaw dropped once more. The first Golden core item he saw was a Lizard Tail Talisman, priced at a whopping 150,000 MP! For a Golden core item, such a price was absolutely absurd. While Nascent soul cultivators may be able to afford such high prices, this was definitely outside the price range of the average Golden core cultivators. But the high price was not without reason! The Lizard Tail Talisman could be used to protect the Golden core from being crushed! It was a protective talisman that would stay active once used, its traces incredibly hard to detect. If someone were to ever target someone''s Golden core, or if the cultivator used a technique that would cripple the Golden core, the talisman would break instead of the Golden core, recing it, allowing the cultivator to escape unharmed! Such a valuable treasure had Tetsuya salivating, and he almost directly chose the talisman as his free gift, but his instincts told him to check the other items as well. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om As a genius, Tetsuya cultivated his body, soul and spirit, so much like Alexander and Lex, his instincts were quite formidable. Of course, they could not match up to the level of Lex''s instincts when he was in the Golden core, but that was because Lex''s own strength was absurd. Tetsuya looked at the next item, which cost 99,999 MP! It was a pair of Linen Gloves. The gloves were indestructible to even Nascent level forces, and their weight could be manipted at will, going from light as a feather to a few hundred tonnes. That meant the gloves could be used defensively, since they could block incredibly powerful attacks, with the downside being their small size. They could also be used offensively, with each punch potentially carrying the force of a few hundred tonnes. It was simple but effective, andpletely broken. The next item cost a measly 85,000 MP, and it was not an ordinary item. Instead, it was a technique! In fact, this technique had been sold by Z to the Inn, and he would get royalties every time someone bought it from the Inn. That was because this was an original technique created by Z himself. The technique used sound as a weapon, able to directly burst the heart of the opponent through whatever physical defenses he might be wearing! Next, there was a single grain of sand for the price of 70,000 MP which could unlock andtent bloodlines the user had. The price for this item was a little excessive, but the key was knowing whether the person had anytent bloodline or not. For example, the William family had never been able to unlock the Flow state, which was actually their bloodline ability, for various reasons. Other bloodlines also had certain conditions that needed to be met before they could be awakened, yet were in fact extremely powerful. As a result, those conditions were also extremely strenuous and difficult to meet. The fact that a single grain of sand could circumvent those restrictions and forcefully awaken bloodlines was incredible, and toppled Tetsuya''s understanding of reality. The moment he saw the grain of sand, Tetsuya knew he had to get it. His own bloodline, as it turned out, was closely rted to nts and farming. On a such as Arra-kiss, that did not seem useful, but in fact it was the opposite. Being able to control and manipte the growth of nts could topple the entire economy of the, and could allow the rebels to finallyunch their counter offensive on the Empire. Beingpletely broke, Tetsuya naturally could not buy it, so he would have to redeem the grain of sand as his gift. The rest of the items in the ''Gift shop'' were no less shocking. From teleportation talismans that could teleport up to a 1000 miles away, to potions that could help with body refining, to chewing gums that never lost their vor, all sorts of incredible things were ced in the Gift shop that Tetsuya felt was a cover for a weapons distribution center. Or at least a contraband distribution center, because where else would such incredibly valuable items be simply sold to the public? Speaking of contraband, he noticed that there was a certain item called Pluto Cake which caused extreme euphoria, as well as a few hallucinations in any Foundation level cultivators who ate it. If a Golden core cultivator ate it, they would only get the euphoria for a few minutes. There was a simr Saturn cake aimed towards Qi training cultivators. Truly dangerous stuff. "Can I get the Sand Grain please?" Tetsuya asked, his tone suddenly incredibly polite. If this was the Gift shop, he didn''t want to know what Lex would sell if he ever had a grocery store. He suddenly felt like the Treehouse was just as dangerous for him as hanging out in an Empire based city, and wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. Of course, he also had to make sure not to offend the tavern keeper in the process. It would be rude if he just skipped over after getting a free gift, so he decided to use what little money he had left to grab a meal before he left. "Great choice," Lex said politely, packing the single grain of sand and handing it to Tetsuya. That grain was from a fist full of sand Lex had grabbed from the Inn, so it wasn''t exactly rare. But it wasn''t like he had any intention of telling people that - especially when it sold for thousands! "Now that you''ve seen the Gift shop, let me show you the terrace," Lex said. "Uh, actually, how about we head to the eatery instead?" Tetsuya said, directly cutting to the chase. "I''m feeling a little peckish." "Sounds excellent. I''m sure you''ll love the options we have, though I must apologize in advance since we don''t have any local cuisines here yet." "It''s not a problem at all," Tetsuya said with a polite smile, before nodding towards the worker in the Gift shop. He had been hoping that the worker would call out the tavern keeper or something so he could catch a name, but that didn''t happen. "Actually, why don''t I have Felipeh take you to the eater instead? He can tell you all about our daily specials as well. I have to go attend to a few new guests we haveing towards the Treehouse." Tetsuya''s eyes widened, and for a moment he considered escaping. Then he remembered that he was wearing rk Kent sses, so there was no reason for him to be nervous of any new guests. It would be best to stick to the n. "In that case, thank you for apanying me so far." Chapter 1394 If only there was a place you could rest and recover Chapter 1394 If only there was a ce you could rest and recover Lex could see that Tetsuya was nervous, but was hiding it well. It was good to see that after a few years, he had tempered his personality a little. Based on how arrogant he was back on X-142, he might have already inadvertently offended Lex. Or, well, considering that he had already made an enemy of the Empire that ruled this, maybe he hadn''t improved as much as Lex imagined. He would see for himself, since the next set of guestsing to the Treehouse seemed to be from the Empire. Or, atleast, that''s what Lex assumed considering that a military convoy was heading his way. It wasn''t enough to be called a small army. It was more like the protective detail for a high-value member of the Empire. Lex also considered that they might be after Tetsuya, seeing as how they wereing from the same city as him. He was imagining how this confrontation would go, trying to think of ways in which he could avoid an all out war with the Empire. For that he would have to convince them not to try and invade his Treehouse. Under ordinary circumstances, it would be tough to convince the rulers of a to ignore a possible treasure on their own, reining in their greed. But nothing Lex did was ordinary, not anymore, so he wasn''t worried. Using his left eye, Lex studied the oing convoy, nning things out, when he noticed something interesting. He could read thews surrounding the convoy as if they were words in a book. It wasn''t just the ordinaryws associated with living beings that Lex saw. He saw all thews involved with making their convoy move, all thews that worked together seamlessly to result in the kind of energy transfer that powered their vehicles. More interestingly, he saw thews that wirelessly connected the convoy to something far away - as if on the other side of the. What was interesting about it was that, even though whatever this convoy was connected to was far away, since that connection existed here, its associatedws were equally present here as well as at the point of origin of the connection. That gave Lex an idea. He wondered if he could hijack thews that facilitated the connection, and change the type of connection. Or maybe if he could use the connection to send back a different kind of feedback. Feeling a little excited, Lex waited at the very edge of the garden for the convoy to arrive. He did not have to wait long as a number of floating cars stopped just short of the garden. A number of soldiers, all of some variant of humans Lex was not familiar with, got off holding weapons that looked simr to guns. A few of them - the ones wearing special armour clearly identifying them as superior officers or something along those lines - even had a few other weapons, though Lex didn''t get how they might work. They looked like sword handles, without the actual swords to go with them. Once they formed a protective barrier, a secretary got out of one of the vehicles and held open an umbre right beside thest car out of which no one had emerged just as yet. But once the umbre arrived, the passenger door opened, and a young man with way too many earrings got off, a wide yet arrogant smile on his face. "What a good day to be out and about," he said from underneath the shade of the umbre, and looked towards Lex with interest. He found it peculiar that Lex was not immediately kneeling at the sight of him, but as a reasonable man, he would not immediately order a mass execution for such a minor transgression. He had underlings who would do that for him. Yes, he was both reasonable and wise, which is why he had not actually stepped onto that green carpet of death right in front of him. "You there, inferior human," he said, pointing at Lex. "What is this ce, and what is it doing in my territory? Do you know how much paperwork I''m going to have to do to exin this?" Lex smiled back. Surprisingly, he discovered that the tant antagonism of the person in front of him didn''t actually infuriate him. It was as if Lex was watching a little child y. How could an adult get angry at a little child who had no idea what it was doing? At most, the adult would guide the child so as to not make mistakes in the future. From his experience traveling back on Earth, he knew that many asian cultures had a long, rich history centered around how to raise smart, well mannered children. If he wasn''t wrong, that ancient art, consisting of countless generations of research, contributed by a wide number of parents, one generation after the next, was called the ''Art of whup-ass''! "I cannot imagine the kind of paperwork you will have to do," Lex answered politely, his eyes looking not at the man but at one of the flying cars. He could feel that the distant connection was linked to something in that car, and a simple sweep of his spirit sense revealed some kind of video call to a supervising officer far away. "This is the Treehouse tavern. It is a ce where travelers can rest and replenish their energies if they so wish. Also, I''m pretty sure that this ce was not considered anyones territory. There was nothing here before the Treehouse arrived." "See, this is why your kind is inferior. Can''t you use your brain? It was not my territory before, but it is now. Promptly vacate the premises, and write me a detailed essay about what else makes you an inferior human. Chop chop." The man pped as he told Lex to leave, while he looked up high at the tree''s canopy. Lex coughed, as if clearing his throat, and spoke once more. "Perhaps I did not make myself clear. Let me do my introductions once more. This is my Treehouse tavern - a ce where travelers who are not brain dead, and actually follow simple rules of basic decency can rest and replenish their energies." Lex did not take a step forward - he did not want to leave the grass - but as he reached forward, the arrogant man seemed to arrive right in front of him, as if the space between them had shrunk. Lex''s hand softly and gently rested atop the man''s shoulder, yet the moment contact was made, the man''s eyes constricted. His brain shut down out of sheer fear, as he felt the weight of an entire world - nay, an entire realm - press down on his shoulder! As if that was not enough, mixed in with that soul crushing weight was the deterrence of Domination. None of the surrounding soldiers felt the same weight, though oddly enough they found their bodies frozen still. They could not react to save their superior even if they wished. It was as if they were trapped within their minds, their bodies puppets being controlled by some external force. From up above in the treehouse, Tetsuya looked down at the scene and could not understand what was happening. How could he guess when he could not feel the pressure those soldiers were under? Yet there was someone else who did feel the same pressure those soldiers were feeling. On the other side of the world, in a protected, underground base a Nascent soul cultivator had been watching the progress of the investigation team that had been sent forward. He didn''t care much what happened - at least, originally he didn''t care. He had been watching the scene unfold through a live video, yet when Lex moved his hand to ce it on that arrogant man''s shoulder, the Nascent soul cultivator saw something else. To him, it looked like Lex was looking right into his eyes, and when Lex ced his hand, the cultivator felt a hand press down on his shoulder, as well as his soul. Shock, horror, fear, and a little excitement flickered through the cultivator''s mind, right before he too felt the effects of Domination, shutting down his mind. Lex did not do this for too long, lest he break someone''s mind. When he lifted his hand once more, the arrogant soldier once again returned to his original position, far away from the garden. At the same time, all the soldiers copsed onto the ground, as if they could no longer stand the pressure that they had just faced. "Oh dear, you guys look extremely tired. If only there were a convenient location nearby where you could rest and recover. Oh wait, I know just the ce. Follow me." As Lex turned around, all the soldiers began to float above the ground, held up by Lex''s spirit sense, and began to follow him. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om On the other side of the, the Nascent soul cultivator picked himself up off the ground as excitement painted his expression. "It''s him! It''s Dragonsbane! I have to get an autograph!" the man yelled like a little child. Chapter 1395 He was right Chapter 1395 He was right "Look, I don''t want you guys to worry about things. You''re not hostages or anything like that, in case you''re wondering," Lex said to the dozens of copsed soldiers floating along behind him. "I''ve already reached out to your superiors. They should contact me soon, and we can have this entire thing sorted out. I just figured I''d stop you guys from making a huge blunder that would get you killed somehow. It wouldn''t do for my tavern to develop a bad reputation for killing potential guests." In response to hispletely appropriateforting and calming mini-speech, the group of floating soldiers merely groaned. In Lex''s humble opinion, that was a bit much. He hadn''t even hit them with his Domination, and barely held them in ce using his spirit sense. Only their leader, who was now unconscious and drooling down his face, had briefly faced Domination. The rest were just suffering from the psychological burden of being faced with an unknown guy more powerful than anything that they had ever imagined, totally breaking their understanding of reality. Lex had faced such things dozens of times, and he''d never reacted like this. But, being an understanding man, Lex generously forgave the soldiers for being unnecessarily dramatic, and decided to help them get refreshed. He brought the whole group to the fountain, and gave each of them a single drop. It worked like magic, instantly restoring their condition, mostly because it really was magic. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Alright guys, I''m going to bring you up to the Treehouse. Make yourselvesfortable, food and drink are on me but if you want to use any of the facilities you''ll have to pay for them. As soon as we clear this thing out and the Empire formally issues a statement about the Treehouse, you''ll be free to go." Lex really wasn''t worried about these guys acting out at all, for various reasons. The first and foremost being that since he made the Treehouse himself, instead of the system, it was crammed full of protective and offensive formations. Also, all of his workers were in the Nascent realm. Lastly, if something really unexpected happened, as an Immortal his awareness and reaction time were more than enough to intervene before real problems could arise. So, he brought the whole gang up to the lobby, and then left them there, and went up to his stargazing terrace. Although it was day time, and there were no stars to gaze at, Lex liked the feeling of secretly controlling things from the shadows. It was very addictive. Yet even when Lex left, and the restrictions of his spirit sense faded, freeing the soldiers, they did not dare to move. For a few seconds, they just stared at each other, before cautiously reaching towards their superior and giving him a soft shake, startling him awake. The man screamed and bolted up, yet looking around he felt disoriented and confused by the unfamiliar surroundings. More importantly, thefortable temperature and high concentration of spirit energy confused him, because he remembered facing a living nightmare, capable of crushing him and the Empire along with him. How did he get to this paradise from there? "Where¡­ where the hell are we?" the man asked in a whisper, looking at his second inmand. "The¡­ the tavern keeper brought us to the Treehouse tavern, and told us that he contacted the Empire, and we''d be free to go once they responded. Then he just left." The soldiers looked towards their superior for orders, while the man in charge wiped the drool off his face as he looked around, his thoughts racing. "Did he give us any restrictions?" he asked, still in a whisper, as if he was afraid to speak up. "He said that the food and drink are on him, but if we want to use any other services, we have to pay." Themander, despite his extremely arrogant attitude earlier, was actually not aplete idiot. He took a few moments to assess the situation before responding. "Let''s assume that the tavern keeper will reach an agreement with the Empire, as he said. The Empire will want to collect information on the tavern. All of you, split up and explore this ce - but don''t be forceful. If you need to pay for something, just go ahead and do it. The Empire will reimburse your expenses." The soldiers nodded, and split up into teams, ready to begin exploring the tavern. Nearby, Tetsuya had been watching the entire interaction, and began wondering how he could take advantage of this situation. While those two concocted their own plots, Lexy back in a chair sipping a nice, cooling lemonade, and concocted plots of his own - mostly about how to entertain himself for the next few days. He could already see that a few more groups were quickly arriving towards the treehouse. One consisted of the elves, led by who he assumed was their shaman. The other group was led by the Empire, and an impatient looking Nascent soul cultivator. The situation was ripe for unexpected encounters, misunderstandings, confrontations and a lot of drama. As such, Lex made the most logical decision, and decided to try out the newest feature he was thinking of adding to the Midnight Inn: an Escape room! Yes, there was nothing like locking a number of old enemies in a small, contained room with a fake scenario and high stakes to get out within the appropriate time to make sure everyone had a good time. He reached out to the treehouse, and began manipting theyout, constructing an undergroundbyrinth connected to the roots of the tree. Naturally, he used an underground magma channel that one of the roots had dipped into to make thebyrinth more interesting. He remembered back when he went swimming inva for the first time. It was not a pleasant experience at all. But it was a nice memory to look back to. As Lex plotted his own entertainment, he kept his spirit sense active, for he fully expected something to happen. It was impossible that the system brought him to a where he was the strongest, and there was no potential for a huge mess up. He was right, and a small shuttle, undetected even by Lex''s spirit sense, flew into the''s orbit. After a few seconds of scanning the, it turned towards the massive tree and began flying directly towards it. Chapter 1396 Resisting all torture I Chapter 1396 Resisting all torture I Captain Henry Ford squinted his eyes as the hanger door opened, allowing light to pierce through the darkness that had filled his prison cell. He had been on a mission protecting a space mining operation when the mine was attacked by these unknown assants, and everyone killed or captured. Henry, being captured, did not know whether he was lucky or unlucky. The mysterious enemies who had captured him left him in his cell for hours, giving him neither water or food, leaving him in the dark. A tall, thin figure dressed from head to toe in a ck outfit walked it, and then looked at Henry with a turned head. Henry showed no expression or reaction. He had mentally prepared himself for days or weeks of torture, unwilling to betray his nation. He would either die, or be rescued. He saw no other- "You could have just turned on the lights," the dark figure said with a muffled voice, and hit a switch, turning on the lights. Henry was stunned as he looked at his prison cell, and saw that it looked like a pretty decent room. There was a bed, a few chairs, a fruit basket as well as a jug of water on a table nearby. If he had simply explored the area and gotten up- No! He couldn''t doubt himself. This was no doubt a part of their psychological torture, presenting him with luxuries andforts he could not really get. He looked at the figure with a hardened expression. As a soldier of the Empire, he would not give in so easily. Seeing that Henry gave no reaction, the figure simply shrugged. "Come on, it''s time to go," the figure said, and helped Henry off the floor. But that''s not how Henry saw it. Henry knew that he was being manhandled, a reminder of his station and position in his current situation. But his will could not so easily be broken. He was a badass warrior with a will of iron, and- He stepped out of the ship, and was stunned at the sight of an absolutely enormous tree, right in the middle of a desert, and his mind began to spin. N?v(el)B\\jnn He saw the scene for what it truly was. The whole, whatever this was, had likely been sucked dry of its energy and nutrients, leaving it as a simple husk of its former glory, all to support the one giant tree in front of him. Just what he''d expect from an evil organisation. Weakened and unable to resist, Henry was pulled along as the group of figures dressed all in ck approached the luscious garden underneath the tree - a truly vile disy of greed and vanity. Grass was the most useless of- Henry stepped into the garden and gasped, unable to restrain himself. Not only was the air cool and refreshing, the grass, even through his shoes, felt incredible to step on. It was as if it gave him the perfect foot support, silently healing the tfoot he had hidden across his military career. The garden was absolutely magical, but what was odd was that even the dark figures leading him seemed surprised at the many wonders of the garden. How was that possible? "Wee, guests, to the Treehouse tavern," said a mysterious man who suddenly appeared as soon as they entered the garden. But Henry was not fooled by the clearly scripted performance. What kind of tavern could upy such an obvious treasure tree? Definitely not the kind they could visit, that''s for sure. "I am the tavern keeper and this is my humble establishment. Would you like me to show you around?" asked the handsome human. Henry scoffed internally. Why would someone who looked like that work at a customer facing position, where they were likely to be degraded? This performance was really too fake. One of the dark figures turned and pointedly looked towards Henry, before turning back to the tavern keeper and whispering some things. The tavern keeper, with an incredibly unusual expression turned to look at Henry once as well, before whispering something back. The figure and the tavern keeper whispered amongst themselves for a few minutes before finallying to some kind of understanding. "Alright, it seems like you all are weary from your travels. If you''ll apany me, I''ll bring you all to your rooms. But first, please take a sip from our local fountain. This runs a potion which is very good at reenergizing yourself." The dark figures shrugged, and each reached into the fountain, pulling only a handful of potion to drink. Henry saw the act, and felt even more disdainful. It was as if they had decided topletely remove all realism from their performance. This was clearly a trap to get him to drink that potion willingly, something he absolutely wouldn''t do. "You know, at the tavern, we do not condone envement or imprisonment. As long as you''re here, you''re free to leave at any time. Should anyone try to stop you, the tavern will be forced to protect you as a guest," the tavern keeper said, looking right at Henry, but Henry did not respond. The enemy seemed dedicated to relying on psychological warfare to try and break his mind. That told Henry only one thing: he had some extremely critical information that the enemy needed for whatever reason. He was determined not to reveal anything. He had already resigned himself to an endless amount of torture, mental or physical. Henry would not break. The absence of any response caused the tavern keeper to simply shrug, and led them to the reception, from where they stepped into a teleportation formation and teleported to the lobby. Henry was stunned by the quality of the teleportation formation. Yet the greater that the tavern was, the more they had probably looted from the to achieve it. He was absolutely disgusted. From the lobby window, he looked out at the barrenndscape of the surrounding area, and saw two other groups of people heading towards the Treehouse. It seemed that the Treehouse was in the business of looting and corruption, and business was booming. Chapter 1397 Resisting all torture II Chapter 1397 Resisting all torture II "I know you are all just interested in resting in your rooms," said the tavern keeper, his warm,forting voice trying to cause Henry to rx. But he would never rx! Never! "However, I''d just like to inform you all that from here you can go to the eatery, any of the terraces or any of our other facilities within the Treehouse tavern. These facilities include the Meditation room, Training room, a small clinic, and a few others. You can explore on your own, or ask one of our staff to show you around if you wish. Now let me show you to your rooms." Henry was the perfect example of stoicism, not letting his derision show on his face at all as he ignored the lies being spewed all around him, and walked behind his jailors as they brought him to his new prison. Every inch of the long, spiraling branch of the tree that carried the walkway was covered in the blood of innocents - or so he imagined, ignoring the pleasant aroma that the bark was giving off. The only thing he could smell was the injustice. He marched towards certain doom, wearing nothing but his dignity - and a rather luxurious robe given to him on the ship to avoid being dragged around naked. His armour had been destroyed in battle. The first room they were brought to was, conveniently, the one Henry would be staying in was a quaint, wooden room with a single bed, a cupboard, a study table and arge window with a view of the outside. Of course, it also had its own private bathroom. The room was also equipped with an independent formation to increase the ambient spiritual energy, but it would apparently cost money to use that. "Wait here. Someone will see to you shortly," said one of the figures as they left Henry in his room. The tavern keeper looked at him oddly, as if he wanted to say something but ultimately didn''t. Henry was much too smart to fall for such obvious bait. Clearly, by leaving him alone in his room supposedly unsupervised, he was being tempted to escape. But if the insidious nature of his captors was anything to go by, getting captured trying to escape, the punishment for trying to escape would be phenomenal - in the sense that they''d probably remove his eyes while maintaining their connection to his brain so he could see himself being tortured. Henry, caught in his own imagination about the kinds of tortures he would face, did not notice when the others left. So eventually, when he woke from his thoughts, he found himself alone in his room. "Solitary confinement. How basic," he scoffed. But now, left to his own devices, the question was what was he to do? He looked around the room, and ultimately decided to use the restroom to relieve himself as well as freshen up. Then¡­ he just went to sleep. Although he was a Foundation realm warrior, that did not eliminate his need for rest or sleep. There was a good chance that by sleeping, he would be falling into the enemies trap, which is why instead of sleeping on the bed, he slept on the floor. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om But he did not sleep for long, for one of the figures cloaked in ck entered his room, their arrival waking him up. There was no visible way for him to distinguish one of his captors from another since they all looked more or less the same, covered in their ck clothes. That did not apply to their voices though. "Your appointment with her majesty is scheduled to happen soon," the figure said with a stern, yet feminine voice. "As such you need to be¡­ cleaned. Strip to your boxers and lie down." Henry, despite believing himself to have immense self control, could not help ring at the woman as he heard her ask him to present himself to be tortured. He red, but after a long pause, he relented. A part of Henry decided that he would try to survive the torture as long as possible, but if it got to be too much, he would simply fight them to the death. He stripped, andy on the bed on his back. Nudity did not embarrass him. As a soldier, he was used tomunal showers, not to mention more than once his gear had been vaporised in intense fights, forcing him to continue fighting in the nude. Not to mention, he was not embarrassed of his body at all. Yet the look that the dark figure gave him made him feel nervous for reasons he could not exin. Perhaps it was instincts. Even though the figure wore a mask, he could sense the way she was analysing his body as if he was a piece of meat. Then, without further ado, she brought out her tools. There was a ceramic bowl which contained a thick, green liquid that was almost bubbling, a number of wooden sticks and a number of cloth strips. Henry eyed the unusual torture devices, confused as to how they would be used. "Lay on your chest," the dark figuremanded, and Henry obeyed, though through gritted teeth. He almost wanted to resist, to question, just to see how much worse things would really be if he did. But logic told him that provoking the enemy would make his situation worse. He heard the figure move around, but before he could figure out what she was doing, he felt a searing heat suddenly on his back! Without any restraint or remorse, the dark figure had dipped the wooden stick into the bubbling green liquid, and was applying it onto his back! It was likeva on a stick, burning his flesh, cooking the meat underneath, and boiling the spirit energy inside of him. "Don''t move, or things will get much worse," the dark figure stated when he twitched at the sudden burning of his skin. In her mind, however, the dark figure continued the sentence. ''Ingrown hairs are a pain to deal with for cultivators.'' Then, in an all too practiced motion, she applied the cloth strip onto the green liquid of torment, pressed it firmly, and then ripped it off! Henry clenched his teeth, too proud to let anyone hear him cry. He finally understood now how he was being tortured. His skin was being ripped off his body! It seemed the enemy was even more evil than he had imagined. The dark figure, meanwhile, looked at the one clean, smooth patch of skin surrounded by a sea of thick hair, and nodded to herself. Captain Henry was a body cultivator, so it was even harder to wax his hair than normal. But it was what it was. As the royal beautician, she was used to waxing all sorts of people. In fact, her next client was a young girl on another who was going to the beach for the first time. But as someone who had inherited a strong bloodline, her body was too strong to be waxed by ordinary people. Butpared to her usual customers, at least waxing an army captain wasn''t so bad. He hadn''t even screamed orined once. It was a nice change of pace. Henry, meanwhile, shed silent tears as he seared this experience into his memories, even as his torturer seared that green boiling goop onto his skin before ripping it off. But he would survive this, and he would have vengeance! The torture continued for what Henry was sure was days, and just when he thought it couldn''t get worse, he heard those terrible words. "Now take off your boxers¡­" Outside the room, in the lobby of the treehouse, Lex looked oddly at the humans in front of him as they paid him. He hade across some interesting guests, but this was a first, even for him. They were the royal entourage for the fiance of the royal princess of the Empire, and were transporting him. Apparently, in hisst mission he had hit his head, suffered a huge concussion, and had his memories messed up. The fact that the mission which was supposed to be peaceful suddenly turned dangerous suggested that it might have been an assassination attempt, which is why the fiance had been promptly reduced, and brought to the nearest Empire. Yet just as they were heading to their headquarters, they were told that they could not heal the fiance, for the princess could not trust others due to the assassination attempt, and would being in person to meet him. That presented them with a new problem: the princess had a severe cleanliness phobia, and didn''t like to see hairy men, so any time a man was toe in front of her, he had to have a clean wax. As such, mid-journey, they had tond at the tavern which is where the royal beautician, someone who had the princess'' trust, would meet them before they could go to meet the princess. Lex was also impressed that the tavern showed up on their local maps as a reliable tavern nearby. It seemed the system was doing a good job. Chapter 1398 Cant use force Chapter 1398 Can''t use force Lex did not know what to think about the peculiar group who had arrived in his tavern to get someone waxed. Instead, he was studying their ship, which could somehowpletely elude his senses. Considering that he had yet to see anything and anyone formidable at all in the Empire, and everything told him that the Empire was pretty weakpared to the usual empires he dealt with, this was a rare surprise. More importantly, the number of assassins secretly heading towards the Treehouse tavern following the ship were not at all as well hidden as the original ship. It was a little disappointing that the ship''s incredible stealth capabilities had been rendered pointless by a traitor within their ranks, but Lex hardly cared about that. With all the assassins being in the Golden core, at most, they were nothing to be afraid of. Instead, he continued to study the ship and its unusual ability to hide from him, while bits of his mind focused on other things. The elves had returned to the Treehouse, now exploring the garden down below without fear. They would make their way up eventually, and probably stay for a long time. They seemed to be murmuring something about finding the chosen one, as well as the joys of the garden and such. That Nascent soul cultivator who had been rushing to the tavern had strangely stopped right outside the garden, and kept fidgeting with his tie in front of a mirror, as if he was nervous about how he looked for an uing date. The underground maze, which would soon be the tavern''s Escape room, was almost ready as well. Eventually, the elves who were having the time of her life rolling in the grass like little children, got up when their shaman finally admonished them. Of course, it was a little difficult to take him seriously when the shaman himself was covered in grass, but they were not foolish enough to point that out. Tetsuya, who was sitting on a balcony eating pizza for the first time ever, watched as they entered, numerous thoughts running through his head. He was actually looking forward to meeting the elves. Once he let them know who he was, the great and mighty Paul, they would help him escape the Treehouse without arousing the Empire''s suspicions. Or, even if the Empire was suspicious, they would help him escape unscathed. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om That was because only he could lead the rebellion, and only he knew how to trigger it fully. Yet while he was pleased to see the elvesing up, he was equally appalled by the appearance of the Empire forces. The soldiers he ignored well enough - they themselves seemed too disturbed. Instead, it was the Nascent soul cultivator downstairs that he recognized who troubled him. With such an entity nearby, no n of escape was good enough. A Nascent soul cultivator could wipe them all out. His rebellion was not yet strong enough to face them, or he would have triggered it already. But while he could not face a Nascent soul cultivator, it seemed Lex was not concerned about them at all. He himself seemed quite strong, with Tetsuya unable to gauge him at all. But the staff in the tavern were another matter altogether. While they hid their cultivations well, Tetsuya''s instincts warned him strongly every time he came face to face with one. From his past experiences with the various warnings he received, Tetsuya could easily tell that they were all in the Nascent realm. A tavern where the countless workers, serving tea and making the bed, were all Nascent level cultivators. Tetsuya could not wrap his head around it at all. This single tavern was strong enough to control the whole, so why were they just running a tavern? Although Tetsuya did not know the answer, and had a few suspicions, what he did know was that their presence gave him the confidence to take a few risks. He swallowed the rest of his pizza, and got up, walking towards a group of Empire soldiers standing in a corner. "Hello there," he said, waving at them. "Sorry for intruding. You''re the only other guests I''ve seen in this tavern and wanted to have a chat with you about this ce. This ce is amazing! Do you have any idea how it came here?" Tetsuya''s voice carried all the enthusiasm and excitement of a coincidental guest who had stumbled onto the tavern, not at all like an experienced warrior who could clearly tell that there was something amiss about it. "At first I thought this was something built by the Empire, so I rushed over to take a look. But to my great surprise, there''s no affiliation! I couldn''t believe my ears when I heard!" The soldiers looked at one another, ufortably. But since their mission was to find out about the tavern, talking to the only other guest besides them was a good idea. "Even though this tavern is not the Empires, the high leveled personnel of the Empire are in direct contact with the tavern keeper," one of the soldiers said, putting up a front as if the tavern was still under the Empiresmand. Technically, he did not lie, for the tavern keeper himself stated that he had contacted their superiors. "Ah yes, the tavern keeper. He''s a nice fellow, even gave me a tour of this ce. You should really check out the Gift shop - it has a few insane trinkets lying around. By the way, did you happen to catch the tavern keeper''s name?" Before the soldiers could respond, the doors of the eatery opened, and an incredibly well dressed yet nervous looking man stepped in, followed by a few guards. "You there," the man said, calling out to the soldiers as soon as he saw them. "I ammander Scru Bhe. Where is the leader of your team? Summon him immediately?" "Yes sir!" the soldiers eximed, saluting the man before quickly running out of the room. But it was only then that Scru Bhe noticed that they had been talking to Tetsuya, and approached him with a smile on his face. "I''m sorry for interrupting your conversation, young man. Please do not take offence at my abruptness, I was just a little excited. I can scarcely believe I''m here." "Not at all,mander Scrub," Tetsuya said with a fond smile. "I was just asking those men if they happened to know the tavern keeper''s name. They talked as if they knew him well." "It''s Scru Bhe, not scrub," themander corrected, though he seemed too distracted to pay attention to it. Coincidentally, at the same time, the elves also entered the room. "The tavern keepers name, you say? Why are you satisfied with a single name? He is a man of many names. Handsome Devil. Crazy Bastard. The Chosen One. King of Lovers Ind. Angel Killer - though thatst one isn''t because he killed angels, but because countless angels seem to have fallen in love with him. I''ve even heard him called A-Moving-Treasure-Chest, because apparently he was worth quite a fews at one point. No, a single name is not good enough for him and many names just don''t do him justice. I think it''s best if you stick to calling him tavern keeper." Tetsuya was feeling a little dissatisfied with the answer, though he did learn that apparently this old acquaintance of his was much more popr than he had imagined. What he didn''t know was that while he was thinking of extracting the tavern keepers name from the scrub in front of him, the elves were also staring at the man. "Did he say that the tavern keeper is the chosen one?" one of the Elves whispered to another. "It can''t be a coincidence," another responded. "We may have found our salvation," the shaman whispered, as tears streamed down his eyes. Around the same time, about a dozen assassins entered the tavern, under various guises, and coincidentally, Lex finished making his basement at the same time. Now, he couldn''t exactly go ahead and force his guests into entering his Escape room, which may or may not be excessively dangerous, though Lex had built in an emergency escape feature to avoid deaths or severe injuries. He could, however, think of various ways to entice his guests to participate in it willingly. The elves were whispering amongst themselves, Tetsuya and Scru Bhe were chatting, Henry was getting waxed in ungodly ces, and the assassins were slowly making their way up the stairs. Suddenly, they all saw a virtual screen pop up in front of them, startling all of them initially. But when they paid closer attention to the screen, they saw that it was a mere announcement. Announcement: To celebrate the opening of the Treehouse tavern, an event is being hosted with a prize: Peak Nascent Defense Talisman. The talisman can defend against all attacks within the Nascent realm for 15 minutes. The event takes ce in the tavern Escape room. The first to solve and exit the Escape room gets the prize*. * Giving up and exiting the Escape room does not count aspleting it. Chapter 1399 Im the tavern keeper now Chapter 1399 I''m the tavern keeper now The days in Arra-kiss were much longer than Lex was used to. It took nearly 30 hours for the sun to finally set from the point where Lex first saw it, and during this period many interesting things happened. As it turns out, giving out rare, valuable free things is a very good way to get people to do stuff. Of course, doing a demo of said item was even more convincing. So when all the guests were hesitating about entering, as if doubtful about the validity of the actual prize, Lex had two random workers demonstrate the talisman for them. That was, in no way shape or form a threatening deterrent for the faroff Empire forces who were secretly observing the Treehouse. A decent tavern doesn''t do things like this. Ideally, the Treehouse should be in a forest, where it doesn''t stand out. In a desert, it was destined to be unique to begin with, so Lex didn''t mind if the tavern got a little more popr than ordinary. This was just a one time thing, and totally not something he would get addicted to. Anyway, after a simple disy equal to a man surviving a direct hit with a missile, everyone jumped into the Escape room. Lex was surprised, because he didn''t think that Henry would actually believe it based on his history. Of course, since the target of their assassination went into the escape room, so did all the assassins - though one could question how the assassins knew Henry went into the Escape room to begin with since they hadn''t actually reached him yet. Either they knew him really well, or there must be some other reason. Oh well. Of course, the team of ck robed figures saw Henry suddenly disappear, teleported to the Escape room, so the fact that they all followed was no surprise. Henry hadn''t finished his wax yet, so they had to see to that or else they''d be in trouble. One by one, they all entered the Escape room, and the shenanigans began. Like all good Escape rooms, this one had a theme going on, and the theme was that the basement was going to be flooded byva within 1 month if they don''t find a way to stop it. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Now, one month may seem like a long time, but for cultivators, was it really a long time? Yes, yes it was, because most people who entered were at low levels. But that was only fair, since in exchange they would be getting a valuable treasure that couldn''t really be bought with money. Unfortunately, just as things were getting interesting because it turned out one of the assassins was actually the princess'' long lost twin, who was confronting Henry about a broken promise from their childhood, and a confused Henry who did not remember any of this just tried to figure out what was going on, the finally connected to the Inn. While Lex enjoyed the short entertainment, it was time for him to leave. If everything went ording to n, soon his first and original tavern wouldplete the quest about being a part of a''s history, and he could evolve the system further. Which meant that he could turn his attention towards the many, many other things about the system. He also got a taste of what he would be like if he were actually as powerful as the Innkeeper. On this, he was the strongest and there was no one who could even remotely challenge him, much like the Innkeeper was supposed to be. As it turned out, he was not calm and peaceful, although he liked to think he was still hospitable. Instead, he was ying around, secretly manipting things and giving his guests one shock after another. With that insight, he would be able to improve his acting as the Innkeeper. At the same time, he gained a deeper understanding of how everyone looked at the Innkeeper. It was not at all easy to be such a gentle andforting presence to everyone, even those many cultivation levels below himself. It wasn''t like Lex acted particrly badly, but he did enjoy messing around with everyone just a bit. With that final thought, Lex teleported off the. He didn''t even send down a holographic clone. During his absence, one of the Inn workers would manage the tavern for him. They''d worked out the details already. After all, Lex couldn''t be expected to do everything. People might start getting suspicious about him. What Lex did not know, however, was that as soon as he left, the tree breathed a huge sigh of relief. But it didn''t act out just yet. Now, with the greatest danger gone, the tree could take its time to begin understanding more about itself, and this universe. Of course, it would have to use these guestsing to the tavern to gain a deeper understanding about the universe. For example, it had learned that it was customary for guests to roll in the grass before entering a building, that among twins one was always evil, and that all guests loved the opportunity to enter dark, underground tunnels that were slowly filled withva, burning away the oxygen and threatening them with suffocation. It also learned that it was apparently a tavern, and that people really liked it. Knowing that made the Treehouse feel especially good, so it decided to do something else good for them in return. Secretly, the Treehouse modified the underground tunnels that Lex had carefully created, creating multiple levels to thebyrinth, reaching deep into the, even touching upon the mysterious evil energy deep within. Now, the maze that would have taken a month to solve would take at least a year, and probably even more. The Treehouse felt immensely proud of itself for its achievements, until it heard one of the guestsin that they regretted not getting the opportunity to join the Escape room because they camete. So, the Treehouse created a way for new guests to enter as well. The more the merrier! This was easy! The tree felt like it had be the tavern keeper now, and was already doing a better job. Chapter 1400 Thank you Chapter 1400 Thank you Although running a tavern was a nice little distraction, it just didn''t have the same feeling as being in and running the Inn. It wasn''t just about the better spiritual energy and ambience. The Inn was inside his own domain, whereas the taverns were in others territories. More importantly, it was good to set aside other problems, and just focus on running the Inn after a long time. He wanted to go back to how the Inn originally was, before millions of guests suddenly showed up. Back then, he would interact with most of his guests and knew them at least to some degree. Now, he wasn''t about to go around and meet a hundred million guests, but it wouldn''t be so bad to at least know the regrs. He had more than just a few guests who had entered, and hadn''t left for months. They were basically paying rent and living inside the Inn now. Many of them even got jobs working for some of the guilds in the Guild room, and started socialising with their neighbors. With an amazing daycare, and the Midnight Library to serve as an excellent source of information, it was practically an amazing ce to live and raise kids. Wait a minute¡­ had Lex been running the Inn like a city builder game, all without knowing it? That¡­ was not so bad. Collecting rent like a richndlord, Lex was now finally a part of the 1%. Or was he? He was not aware of the statistics of the universe, and as the statistics of Earth were no longer applicable, he might not be in the 1% anymore. But who cared? He was now like one of those second generation rich people, ruining the economy by raising prices sky high whileining about how his tenants never pay rent on time. On second thought, being andlord like that didn''t sound so amazing. He was fine with being a magnanimous Innkeeper. "Hey Mary, whatever happened to you gaining a virtual body that guests could see? I still haven''t seen an option for that anywhere on the interface, and I doubt your body will be ready any time soon." Mary appeared, sweating and panting, dressed in chino shorts and a T-shirt that had sweat stains. Lex gave her the most bizarre look, but did not ask questions. He felt like he might be intruding on the life of his virtual assistant. "Well, it''s not like I can tell you out-right how to get that option. Go around, live a little. Do a few quests rted to sentient holograms, maybe you''ll find out. I''m not saying you''re a racist or something, but you haven''t hosted a single hologram as a guest yet." "You''re right, that''s my bad," Lex acknowledged without arguing. Lex knew better than to argue with someone who had just worked out and was irritable about it - even if it was just a hologram without a real body. "Anyway, summon Luthor and Ripley to my office. Let''s see how good the dungeons that Ereboth created really are." Lex teleported back to his office, and put on his Host Attire. Although Lex had the intention of not showing up as the Innkeeper often in public, at least for now, Ripley had hinted to Lex more than once that he had a gift he wanted to give the Innkeeper, so now was an opportune time to get the man to do more work, and pay Lex for it as well. Soon, the two of them entered one after another. Luthor was already familiar with Ripley, having been interviewed. Considering that the man had received a task from the Innkeeper, Luthor regarded him well. This was especially becausetely, Luthor felt great. For a long time, he wanted to help expand the Inn and improve it somehow, but how could his meagre strengthpared to the Innkeepers? There was nothing he could do to contribute meaningfully. Yet now, faced with Ereboth, Luthor was able to use his strengths and cunning mind masterfully, and that''s when Luthor had a realization. His personal, physical strength did not matter. Instead, it was his cunning mind that would allow him to help the Inn. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om He was already on his path to turning Ereboth, that annoying, into a servant of the Inn. He was not good enough to be a direct worker, and would instead toil for the Inns benefits outside the realm, and this was just the beginning. Now that he knew what he could do for the Inn, Luthor began to n who else he could take advantage of. As long as his targets weren''t Inn guests or workers, everything was allowed. "Wee, you two. You both have been working very hard for the Inn. I''d like to personally thank you for that," said the Innkeeper, as humble as always. Yet his words shook the two men to tears. In fact, while Luthor managed to stay standing, Ripley fell to his knees. He could not believe¡­ could not fathom such words being said from the mouth of a being reaching for above the Dao realm - or possibly already there. "Please, Innkeeper, you do not need to say such words," Ripley said, finally understanding why the Drama-cats kept crying about the eternal mercy and greatness of the Innkeeper. "It is my utmost privilege to be of service." Luthor, instead, did not waste any words. He just bowed. Between the workers and the Innkeeper there was a bond outsiders just simply could not match. "In that case, it is extremely fortunate that I have found a way for you to continue enjoying this privilege for a while longer. Luthor here has been overseeing one of the Inns newer projects - an external one, in partnership with another party. But¡­ I do not know if the experience the other party has prepared meets the standards of the Inn. Would you go ahead and do an audit of the new dungeons as well?" "Of course! I will inspect every single grain of dust, every single molecule that makes up that entire dungeon, on the reputation of the Versalis Bank!" Lex suddenly felt a pang of pity for Ereboth the insatiable. He might have met his match. Chapter 1401 Void Aegis Chapter 1401 Void Aegis "Excellent," said the Innkeeper. "Then I will leave it to you to review the dungeons. Luthor will exin their intended purpose and target audience, and you can determine if they meet the standard. Once they pass the audit, we''ll officially open the dungeons for the public to view." "I am overwhelmed by the grace of your trust," Ripley said, bowing much too deeply. "I will do my best to live up to your expectations. Before I depart, if you do not mind, there are a few things I would like to give you." "Oh? What do you have for me?" the Innkeeper asked, a hint of amusement in his voice. Ripley smiled faintly, as if he were aware that all his actions and intentions had already been seen through. "A nominal gift from the Versalis Bank," Ripley said, as he ced a spatial ring forward. "Recognizing the Midnight Realm as the Innkeepers Seat of Power, the Versalis Bank gifts a Void Aegis, able to hide the location of a realm within the Void, making it untraceable under ordinary circumstances. A humble gift, but one I hope can put you at ease while you let your underlings manage the realm." "Thank you for the gift. This is quite thoughtful," the Innkeeper said, showing none of his internal excitement. Of course, Lex would have to check the Void Aegis himself before using it. Who knew if it wasn''t some kind of secret tracker that the bank could use? "Besides that, for your staff to receive increased exposure of the universe atrge, so that they may better manage your realm, I have three invites to the New Age Expo, sponsored by the Versalis Bank and its partners. "The New Age Expo, taking ce in the Artica Major realm, is an opportunity for new powers to reveal themselves, as well as to create possible alliances, agreements, and generally gain exposure. Of course, that is only the first part of the Expo. Thetter parts of the Expo are mostly for the ruling force of the Artica Major realm to reveal their ns for the future. "Considering that the Artica realm is a rare example of when a non-major race takes control of a major realm, this Expo is possibly the first universal exposure of one of the future major yers on the universal scale. "The Expo is actually just a few months away from taking ce, so if you wish to send someone you will have to decide soon. Considering the short notice of the invite, and that it might not be so easy to get a permit to enter the Artica Major realm, if you wish to send someone, you can just inform me, and they can join the Banks delegation when they go." "You should not have gone through so much trouble," the Innkeeper said politely. "No, it''s no trouble at all. Since the bank is a partner of the Artica race, after whom the realm is now named, getting these invites was no problem at all. Besides, a preliminary summary of my audit states that while the Inn workers have no major ws, theirck of exposure may soon be a handicap for them when they deal with inter-realm guests." "In that case, you have been extremely thoughtful in your gift once more. I will see to it that once the audit isplete, you attain an honored position among our guests." "Please, Innkeeper, it is my personal pleasure," Ripley assured the Innkeeper. Since there was not much else left to say, they bade their farewell, and Ripley followed Luthor as they ventured out to Ereboth within the sealed gxy. "What is the underlying premise for these dungeons?" Ripley asked Luthor as he took a few notes on his clipboard. "There are two simultaneous purposes. The first, and foremost, they exist for the sake of novelty and entertainment. The dungeons offer a unique experience as a result of certain features only Ereboth can offer. It''s not just about going to dungeons - it''s about living through real-life game mechanics. You see, as soon as a guest arrives on Ereboth, they gain what we call a basic system. "Bypleting objectives, following quest lines, going through various dungeon levels and umting achievements, the yers, or guests, can gain levels. The gain of levels, as it turns out, contributes to an actual gain in strength, which brings us to the second purpose of the dungeons. "They exist to challenge, and strengthen those guests who seek to practice their skills and hone themselves in real battle, while maintaining a safety line. The Ereboths unique leveling up methods, and the dangers and challenges of the dungeons, many guests are sure to find it a satisfying challenge. "However, due to the very nature of the dungeons, they are not entirely safe. If a guest is too slow to use their keys to escape, when faced with danger they may actually lose their lives. Also, Ereboth himself has ced a few restrictions. No guests in the Celestial realm, as well as the peak of the Heavenly Immortal realm are allowed. "Considering that these dungeons can provide actual, permanent growth in strength of those who enter, I think such restrictions are not so harsh. After all, it is probably much harder to induce growth in them using Ereboth''s unique powerspared to those who are weaker." "I''ll be the judge of that," Ripley said as he put on a pair ofbat goggles, and took out his personal weapon, The Pen That Is Mightier Than The Sword. The name was a handful, so he preferred to just call it his pen. After that, Luthor and Ripley walked through the portal linking the Midnight Inn and Ereboth, entering the first of his dungeons. Lex, meanwhile, still in his office studied the Void Aegis as well as the three tickets to the New Age Expo. Although he did not let Ripley know it, this was a huge windfall for him, especially the Void Aegis. After putting it in the Gift Shop for a split second, Lex read the description and withdrew it. There were no hidden backdoors hidden in the device, and no obvious ws. Although it was not a perfect solution, at least it would provide the Midnight Realm with a basic amount of protection. As such, not only did Lex want to use it immediately, he also wanted to fuse it with his system! As long as he did that, he would be able to upgrade it in the future. Previously, he had fused one of the Henali portal satellites into the system, hijacking a point of entry into it that was undetectable even by the A.I. that ran the portal. Now, fusing the system with this Void Aegis would be even simpler, as he did not even require a quest or prompt for it. Back when he designed the Tribtion rooms, he had gained the authority to design his own rooms, as he liked. The reason he did not use that authority often was because it seemed like any room he personally created would be more MP intensive than rooms created by the system itself. But, he also understood why such an ability was necessary. The rooms provided by the system were generic, yet sometimes the Inn required extremely specific rooms that catered to a very specific race of guests. One such example was the Spirit Circus that Lex had created. It wasn''t a popr room because it was only useful for the Spirit race. But for those guests of his who donated all their wealth in exchange for living in the Inn as Spirits, it was a great ce to spend their time. It was not a literal circus, but just a series of entertaining facilities specific to the Spirit race that were all jammed into a single room. That was just one of the many things he had to do to ensure that his guests'' satisfaction levels with the Inn stayed high, otherwise things would get more expensive for him. The point was, he could create rooms of his own, and the limits of what he could do with those rooms was pretty open to interpretation. Deep within thends of the Inn, far away from everything else, Lex created a sealed off area, and within it created a dome. This would be the Realm Protection room. For now, it would only host the Void Aegis, but as the realm grew, if he needed to add more things, this would be the ce to do it. Within, he ced the Void Aegis, and then started fusing it with the room, turning its ability into a feature of the room itself. In truth, the Void Aegis was not so simple to use. It required an enormous power source, not to mention an extensive foundation to support and run, not to mention countless auxiliary formations. But, by turning it into a part of the system itself, the system would take over the running of the Void Aegis itself. The only question was¡­ would this be a self-sustaining feature, like the secret entrance to the Henali portal, or would Lex have to pay MP to sustain it. A few momentster, he got his answer, and it seemed like Lex had been very conservative in his expectations of how he would have to pay to keep his realm hidden. N?v(el)B\\jnn Lex sighed, and turned to look at the Expo tickets. He wondered if he could sell them in the Guild room. Chapter 1402 Lets make money Chapter 1402 Let''s make money After thinking about it, Lex couldn''t exactly im that the cost for hiding the Midnight Realm was expensive - and yes, there really was a price he had to pay. It seems the difference between something the system did itself, and something he did, was who paid for it. Objectively speaking, the worth of the Midnight Realm was inestimable. No amount of MP he earned could cover even a fraction of the true worth of the Midnight realm, and keeping it safe and secure was one of his top priorities. Seen from that lens, the cost of keeping the Void Aegis running at a measly 1 MT a day was not so bad. Except, that he couldn''t afford that! Not ordinarily of course. Technically speaking, the primary source of ie for the Inn was renting rooms. It was an Inn after all. The secondary source of ie should have been food, although he still wasn''t satisfied with the quality of food that the Inn provided. It was pretty good, it was just that he knew it could be better. Then, it should have been all the additional services that the Inn offered, not to mention the Guild room. But the actual setup was totally skewed. His primary source of ie was gambling at the Midnight Games, followed by the Guild room, only after which came the actual services that the Inn offered. At the moment, the Inn''s ie could be measured in the tens of MT on a weekly basis, but Lex was spending that MT just as quickly as it wasing in to keep the event running. He could reduce his spending enough to afford the daily cost of 1 MT for now, although that would make his budget tight. But that was only a temporary measure, and could only be continued until the Midnight Gamessted. He had until then to resolve the issue and fix his ie issue. Despite the immense pressure it added onto his shoulders, Lex actually wasn''t so worried. He was no longer the inexperienced Lex, reliant on the system for everything. Even without guidance from the system, he could resolve this issue. Speaking of the system, one of the quests pending for him to do was to visit the Seraphim Resort. When he got the quest, he had the time limit of a year, so he had a few more months left. He could not tell how much time that would take, so he built a mental timetable for himself. In the next few months he would make the Inn more efficient, improving its ability to generate more ie and sustain the expense of 1MT a day, as well as generate enough of it to act as a reserve in case of emergencies. Then, he would go to the New Age Expo. He really did want that exposure that Ripley was talking about, not to mention that he wanted to get a better understanding of what was happening in the universe. Jack, despite being in a Major realm now somehow, had not managed to collect any information at all that might help Lex. In fact, the only thing that Jack had managed to confirm was that the flow of time in a Major realm was even slower than that of the Origin realm. If the Midnight Realm was three times faster than the Origin realm, then it was about six times faster than the Folklore realm. Regardless, he wanted to learn about the extent and severity of the realm wars while at the Expo, meet some of the other universal powers, make a few friends hopefully, and then from there he would head onto the resort. At the resort, he''d need to pick up 3 things that the resort has that the Inn does not, and then implement them at the Inn. But considering the fact that he could not be certain how long the Expo would be, or how much time he would spend at the Resort, it would be best to conclude this little overhaul before then. Before that, he naturally paid the inhumane price of 1 MT and activated the Void Aegis. For a few moments he just stood there, as if waiting for something to happen. Unfortunately, there was no perceptible change, except a small notification from his system. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om New Notification: You have acted ording to your designation as the Innkeeper, and proactively made the Inn safer. How unusual. Of course, Lex was familiar with the fact that the system used notifications and remarks to talk to him, so he ignored the sarcasm in the message and simply took it as a confirmation that the Aegis was working. Lex teleported back to his office, and turned his gaze towards the system interface. He had more than a few ideas for how to increase his ie, but one of the first things involved upgrading all his existing rooms as much as his authority would allow, or improving them somehow. Now, he''d already done the basics. For example, the Gift shop was already upgraded as much as the system would allow. So while the Gift shop in the Treehouse tavern was limited to mostly Golden core stuff, the actual Gift shop in the Inn now even sold items suitable for Earth Immortals. The selection was pretty decent. It was just that Lex himself no longer needed any of those items because he was always fighting above his level, and his own abilities were so versatile that he could aplish things on his own. But that did not mean the Gift shop wasn''t popr. Far from it, in fact. But it could be even better if Lex added items to it himself. His personal treasury was vast enough, containing countless valuable treasures that could fetch more than a modest amount of money. But putting up his personal treasures was not a self sustaining business model, and so he didn''t want to pursue it. Instead, he wanted to leverage his workers. So, for example, in both the taverns he could open up a room which appraises items and buys anything of value, and then sell them in the Gift Shop for a much greater price than it was bought for. It was a pretty basic strategy, and a good one, because the value of items was always rtive. Compared to the Guild room, where Lex would only make 1% of the value of any item sold, he wanted to sell things through the Gift room. As such, the Gift shop needed to be upgraded from a mere ''gift shop'' to a proper shop or store. But that did not mean that Lex had no ns for the Guild room. In fact, what he had nned for the Guild room was even greater! At the moment, if anyone wanted to purchase something they would have to purposefully go to the Guild room to find out what they offered. But the realization that the Inn was basically just like ying a city builder game gave him a few ideas. He had built entire cities and added to them parks and games and buildings, and even shops such as restaurants and clinics and Gifts shops, but he had not expanded the reach of the Guild room. There were countless businesses conducting trade, selling and buying goods inrge quantities, but their reach was limited to anyone who visited the Guild room alone. However, if he upgraded the Guild room so that the top 100, or top 1000 businesses could get the rights to open up stores in the various cities in the Inn, trying to sell their items in a more approachable way, their business would expand. He could also integrate it into the Midnight portal, and establish an online shopping tform for the Guild room. These were upgrades that he would have to do on his own, and went beyond the scope of the basic upgrades the shops got. Another thing that he really needed to use better was the Inheritance Lounge. To date, the only inheritance in there was the one Lex got from killing that guy who had the Murder system. That inheritance was about leveraging luck, and seemed to have many drawbacks, which is why he never used it himself. But if he could increase the number of inheritances there, then it would be much more tempting for guests to visit. This was not difficult for him, not just because he had studied under Pel for fifteen years within the Midnight realm. Qawain and Anita could also contribute, though Lex did not want to ask his workers to contribute their personal techniques. Instead, Lex recalled one of his permanent spirit guests, the Cthulhu Abroar. One of the primary reasons he became a spirit was so that he couldplete some sacred mission. While Lex did not know what that mission was, he did know that he was very concerned about preserving the legacy of his people. If he could be persuaded to deposit some of his legacies in the inheritance lounge, it would fill up. He could also step up the Midnight News room, and have them follow a subscription model for some very specific types of news for their guests. Lex''s inner capitalist had woken up, and he was more than ready to work overtime. Chapter 1403 New Business Parteners I Chapter 1403 New Business Parteners I The Midnight Inn. What could he say about it? A lot, actually. The name was so simple. So deceiving. Almost as if it were just a generic building, the signs of age and wear covered with cheap paint, crammed together with other old, cheap buildings, found in the heart of an old city. The name made it sound like an Inn with an exciting nightlife, with drinks being served by pretty barmaids, and the crowds getting rowdy every chance they got. But the reality of it was so much greater than it seemed. Or maybe that''s what the name actually meant. The Inn was like the night sky, filled with a trillion stars, hiding gxies and countless wonders, all ingeniously hidden in the dark. That had to be it. Or maybe there was an even deeper meaning to it - one that Chen could not quite understand. It certainly wouldn''t be something arbitrary, such as representing a random time of day when one suddenly thought of making an Inn. It certainly wouldn''t be because the hand that wields destiny, and writes out fate like an omniscient being thought the name sounded cool. No, Chen was certain that there were numerous mysteries hidden within the name, just as the Inn itself held countless mysteries that he had yet to uncover. Even after spending years at the Inn, it was funny that he discovered new things about it everyday. Then again, he did spend most of his time working. "Boss, it''s time," someone said as they knocked on the door, causing Chen to open his eyes and release the breath he had been keeping in. As someone who had been in the Nascent realm for a little over a year now, he didn''t really need to breathe, but he liked to do it anyway. Chen, nominally known as Brother Chen, had been running a sessful business with his sister inside the Midnight Inn for years now. Everything was so different from the life he had once known. For a long time, it had felt amazing beyond description. Buttely, Chen was beginning to feel¡­ unfulfilled. He was beginning to feel as if there was somethingcking in his life. That was not to say that he wanted to return to his previous life, where every day might be hisst, and losing his loved ones was an inevitability, with the only factor to be determined was the time of their parting. No, Chen missed nothing of his old life, living in a zombie infested world. But that did not he waspletely satisfied with his current one either, and until he resolved this mental block of his, he could not attempt to rise to the level of an Immortal. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Brother Chen, former soldier now sessful businessman, put on his overcoat, attached his sheathed sword to his hip, and left the room. Inside the Midnight Inn, he did not need the protection of his overcoat called the Matrix-look that he bought from the Gift Shop, nor did he need his weapon, but he carried them with him always - mostly because a cute girl onceplimented him about the look and now he just kept repeating it, but also because he did want to allow himself to lose his vignce. Outside, there was arge entourage waiting for him. There were a number of werewolves, transformed of course, a few centaurs here and there, and a number of beasts. One by one they fell in line as Chen walked through the Inn feelingpletely absurd. But such was the way of the world. If he showed up to a business meeting without a sufficient following, many powerful businessmen wouldn''t take him seriously. But the fact that he needed to impress others irked him even more. What was the point of his sess if he still needed to y by someone else''s rules? "You look distracted," said Lily, his sister, who approached him with a protective detail simr to his. "I question if this deal is even worth it," Chen said, looking forward. He did not make eye contact with his sister, and she knew why. He was upset that she forced him to follow all of these rules. But if they wanted to seed, those were the rules that they needed to y by. Instead of responding, she only sighed. They had had this conversation countless times already. There was no point in repeating it. They soon arrived at the site of the meeting, a small vige, far away from the cities, upied entirely by Elet Corp, a massivepany within the Origin realm that controlled three different star systems. Suffice to say, their operation was muchrger than Chen''s and Lilys. The guards checked Lily and Chen before they could enter, and insisted that Chen leave his sword behind, which made the former soldier frown. But he relented, and handed the sword to one of his own guards. "This is aplete farce," he said to his sister, through his spirit sense. "Please, this is thest deal," Lily responded. "After this, we will sit and talk about how you want to proceed with the business. But if we cannd Elet Corp as a buyer, our scale of operations is going to explode." Despite the friction they were experiencing, the two did not let it show on the outside as they finally met with their potential clients. Elet Corp was run by a race called Wingans. They were small, at only two to three feet tall, with dark brown skin, four wings and arms, but no legs. Despite the unusual shape of their bodies, they were absolutely lethal, and their wings could cut through almost anything their level, and did not break easily. They were also very smart. "Gentlemen, we meet atst," Chen said with a smile on his face, almost as if he didn''t hate these things and their entire business. "Brother Chen, Sister Lily, your reputation precedes you," one of them said, flying up to eye level as a sign of respect. "Please,e in. There is much to discuss." In the background, a screen showing the Midnight Games was ying. Chapter 1404 New Business Partners II Chapter 1404 New Business Partners II Chen was momentarily distracted, looking at the Midnight Games. The allure of the games, even as just a viewer, had gripped him from long ago, and almost made him want to participate. But though he felt motivated and impassioned, he was not a fool. He did not have a to defend, nor a war to fight, so it waspletely pointless for him to participate in such a battle. Risking his point needlessly was not something he would do. Unfortunately, he did not have a reason to risk his life either. "You''re supporting the Mavericks?" he could not help but ask as he recognized the army on screen. "More like betting against them," a Wingan said. "They lost one of their leading attackers in a fight yesterday. While on paper the loss of a single soldier does not affect the whole army, his performance ofing through in critical moments is one of the main reasons the army has had so many achievements so far. Without him, we predict they won''tst another campaign, but they chose not to retreat." Chen only nodded, notmenting. Unfortunately, he agreed with their assessment of the situation. That did not mean he liked the way they were looking to make a profit off the death or failure of an entire army. It left a bitter taste in his mouth. But, as a decent businessman and even better soldier, he knew how to not allow his emotions to get in the way of his objectives. They sat down with the Wingans and began their negotiations. For all it was worth, Chen really did his best to make the deal happen. After spending years working in the Guild room at the Inn, the siblings had gained numerous exclusive supply chains, allowing them to trade various products at extremely profitable prices, catering to numerous customers. But this would be their first, major client who would berger than all their other salesbined together. Yet this deal, which seemed like a great deal for both parties, seemed to reach a sudden hurdle when the Wingan raised their final, yet most important demand. "Since everything is in order, the only thing remaining to discuss is the payment. We can pay in any denomination of spirit stone you desire, or if you have any other currency in mind you can mention it. The exchange will be made on site whenever you make a dropoff." Chen and Lily paused, and looked at each other. They could somewhat guess what the Wingans were alluding to, but pretended as if they did not understand. "You can choose whatever currency you prefer. The Midnight Inn is not choosy." "Ah, Brother Chen, you amuse me. For a trade of this scale, we prefer to trade in person. There is no reason to go through the Guild room now that we''ve discussed business privately. That 1% fee can begin to get really hefty on deals of such arge scale." "Yes, but this way, both the buyer and seller are protected. You don''t have to worry about faulty goods, while we don''t need to worry about dyed payments. In the long run, 1% is not such a huge deal for such a sense of safety with our deals." "Come, Brother Chen, Sister Lily. We do not doubt you will provide the best materials, so why doubt that we will pay on time? We, the Elet Corp, would prefer to deal outside of the Guild room. To be entirely honest, this is not the first deal we''ve done outside of the Guild room. Once you try it too, you''ll see that it works out best for everyone." Chen and Lily exchanged nces, and even without the need for spirit sense, they couldmunicate with each other. "We will need some time to think about the logistics of such an exchange," Chen said diplomatically. "That''s perfectly fine, but don''t take too long. Who knows when a better deal might drop into ourp," responded the Wingan with a polite smile. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The siblings left with polite smiles, but dropped the act as soon as they left. Over the years they''d experimented with many things, including avoiding the Guild room, and knew better than to avoid small expenses for a small profit. With the 1% charge of the Guild room, they provided the quality assurance, payment assurance, as well as made sure that no one got scammed. Trying to bypass it for small profits was a very good way to get scammed. They had long decided not to avoid the Guild room ever again. However, the massive profits of this deal could very easily tempt them. Even Chen was tempted. If nothing else, those funds could go a long way in helping him progress towards the immortal realm. But¡­ "Sis, let''s just let it go," he said in a low voice. He did not trust the Wingans at all. He did not doubt at all that if he tried to pass them goods outside of the Inn, they''d just kill and loot him rather than pay up. "We might be able to convince them," she said, but even she didn''t sound hopeful. Before Chen could respond, however, an Inn worker approached them. "Dear guests, I hope I am not finding you at a bad time. Would you have a moment to talk?" Chen and Lily looked at each other, confused. "We''re free. Go ahead, how can we help you?" "In that case, I would like to begin by congratting you. Brother Chen, Sister Lily, as one of the oldest members of the Guild room, you have been specially selected to participate in a couple of new initiatives that the Inn is taking. Of course, it all depends on whether you yourself are interested in participating. Are you interested in learning more?" "Of course!" the siblings answered together, filled with pleasant surprise as well as a hint of excitement. The possibility of working together with the Midnight Inn was something they could never have even imagined? Eten Corp what? Wingan who? They were dealing with the real big boys now. Chapter 1405 New Business Partners III Chapter 1405 New Business Partners III The Inn worker smiled at the two siblings and continued to speak. "Please follow me then. There is a meeting where a few other remarkable guests, such as yourselves, have been selected and brought back to be a part of a small conference. Everything will be exined there." After taking their hands, the Inn member teleported away, bringing them to a conference room with about twenty chairs. A few other guests were already seated, while only one other Inn worker was sitting in the conference room though she was well known within the Guild roommunity. Her name was Hera, and ording to rumors she was once a guest as well, but had been recognized for having an incredible business acumen, and so was made into an Inn employee. Her son, Jimmy, was also a well known face amongst the old time guests of the Inn. Who among them hadn''t seen the Peacock warriors running around, causing havoc and troubling the poor daycare workers at the Inn. Rumor had it that now, after so many years, the Peacock warriors had evolved into a proper organization, and had ventured out into the universe for their first big adventure. Chen and Lily took their seats, not opting for socialisation at a time like this. They were too interested in what the Inn had to offer, and did not want to miss out on any critical information due to being careless. Within a few minutes, many more such guests appeared and took their seats, until only one seat remained. That''s when he arrived. The guests at the Inn knew him by many names, with Lex Williams, his actual name, being one of them. But he was also Lex Dragonsbane, or Dragonyer depending on who was asked, but there was no credible information about him ever actually killing any dragons. Much more importantly, some also whispered that he was also the masked figure known as the Invincible Tyrant - a deadly and dangerous figure, sent out by the Inn whenever the Inn was challenged. His cultivation level was unknown. Some said he was a Deity, others imed he was a Celestial Immortal. There were even¡­ even whispers of him secretly touching the Dao, though most remained sceptical of that. The smallest minority seemed to believe that his cultivation was just as he showed it, and was just very strong for his level. But at least among the old time guests of the Inn, there was a consensus that he was the hidden de of the Inn, friendly and approachable in the daylight, and a monstrous beast in the dark. These rumors had not appeared out of nowhere. The older guests, the ones who had lived in the Inn for years, had obviously befriended many Inn workers as well, and among friends there were always conversations. The story of how, when the Midnight Battalion was targeted by some hidden devil, Lex was sent alone to bring them back had by now bemon knowledge. They had also heard rumors that the battalion had been targeted by a corrupted Deity known as Ra, whom Lex defeated single handedly. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om As if that was not enough, many well connected guests had also heard about how an unnamed guest from within the Inn had single handedly organized for the clean up of a terrorist organization, once again linked to that Deity Ra, using the excuse of seeking vindication for personal sleights. Although that worker''s identity was not revealed, everyone knew who to suspect. After all, who else would so willingly go and face Deities repeatedly? There was also one other, very important reason why everyone suspected Lex''s cultivation level. It was the Guest Registry. Everyone was confused about this one, since it did not make sense for an Inn worker to sign the Guest Registry, but there were theories about that as well. Many suspected that Lex had once been a guest before he became a worker. Regardless, it was an undeniable fact that the number one position on the registry remained Lex Williams from day one, and though there were many people with that name, it was too much of a coincidence if the Registry measured achievements, and this particr Lex had impressive achievements as well. No one could confirm whether it was him, but the fact that there were numerous Celestial Immortals whose achievements ranked below Lex, made them all suspect that this seemingly simple and friendly worker of the Inn, was far from simple. Then again, who in the Inn was simple? There were rumors going around that Gerard''s father-inw was a Dao Lord. Now that rumor was preposterous. Gerard wasn''t married, after all. Chen would know. Like numerous other women in the Inn, his sister had a huge crush on Gerard, and so was up to date on his marital status, at the very least. "Thank you all for waiting for me," Lex spoke, his voice polite and energetic, his smile oozing charisma and charm. Chen himself felt nothing, but when he turned and saw the stars in his sister''s eyes¡­ he sighed. Alright, well, he didn''t want to say it out right, since it painted his sister in less than a ttering light, but she had a crush on more than just Gerard. "You have all been brought here because, as long time guests of the Inn, we want to give you a special opportunity to take advantage of the Inn''s newest service that is not officially out yet. We are expanding the reach of the Guild room, and each of you will be allowed to open up shops across the Inn, in any location you desire. "As a special offer to you, all your rent will be waived for a period of one year, allowing you to take advantage of this new promotion. Moreover, the Inn is now offering great incentives. For any business that surpasses 1 trillion MP in transactions through the Guild room will get one opportunity to get ess to special services that the Inn does not provide to the public. Here, you can take a sneak peek at the list to get an idea of what is in store for you." It was not just Chen, but every one else as well who began to breathe heavily as theyid eyes on the list that Lex made avable to them. The Inn was already pretty good at offering world shattering services, such Divine Essence, instant teleportation across the realm, unbelievably rare and powerful cultivation techniques, and so much more. So Chen struggled to imagine what the Inn could offer that it had reserved. Fortunately, he did not need to imagine. The list, though short, was incredible. It offered a single opportunity to help someone be a Deity. It offered the opportunity to get in touch with a genuine inheritance of a Dragon! It offered the opportunity to gain an affinity! Much more importantly, at least for the business people in the room, it offered an opportunity to tap into the market of another realm! That was it. That was all the options written in the list, but whether one wanted strength, more money, or prestige, the Inn offered it to them! "The actual list will have a lot more options, and the list will only get bigger with time," Lex continued. "In fact, you also have the opportunity to make a request of your own, and if it is reasonable and can be fulfilled, the Inn will do it. For every trillion MP, you get one such opportunity, so definitely don''t hold back." Chen thought back to the offer made by those Wingans. How naive they were, thinking they could bypass the Inn and make a small profit. What was the point of that profit? Could it allow them to literally be a Deity? No, it definitely could not. Just another reason why one should not try to doublecross the Inn. It was not that the Inn could not detect them, but that it did not care enough to address them. "That is for those of you who are businessmen and women. But some of you have other interests, and to you I offer an opportunity. Although this task was originally going to be done by Inn workers, I decided to share this opportunity with you all. The Inn is about to unveil a new service, but it is being tested first. It''s called a dungeon, and the person testing it has requested a number of volunteers to go through it so that its normal and natural operations can be tested. "I''ll be frank with you, it''s going to be tough, and even dangerous. But, inexchange, you will gain something you cannot find anywhere else in the universe! Yes, forpleting dungeons, you can directly increase your cultivation and your strength without any repercussions! Yes, you heard me right. You won''t need to cultivate, or do anything else. As long as youplete those dungeons you can grow stronger. "But, I have to give a disimer one more time. It will be dangerous, and possibly even lethal. For those of you who are still interested¡­ raise your hands." All hands went up. Chen, in fact, raised both his hands. Chapter 1406 New upper management Chapter 1406 New upper management The meeting went longer than just a few minutes. There was more to discuss than just making shops avable, and sending some guests into the dungeons. Lex made some ns of his own, but consulted Hera who had proven herself a master of management and logistics in the past few years. In truth, she had numerous ideas about how to expand the Inns business, but as the Inn wasn''t a regr business, she had no idea who to approach, and how to implement changes. As soon as she said that, Lex almost went ahead and told her that he would take care of things, but he hesitated. Lately, he was entering the limelight more and more often, and was beginning to take up a lot of the Inns responsibility. So far, that was not too suspicious, because Gerard and Velma also wielded massive amounts of authority within the Inn, not to mention Luthor. But the false identities he had once prepared for himself to hide the truth had all been revealed, and now it was up to him to take new precautions. For the first time, Lex very seriously considered that it was about time he worked on Mary''s projection capabilities. He was sure that creating a real body for her, strong enough to rival the real strength of a Celestial if not surpass it, would take countless years. Truthfully, it might take centuries or even many millenia. That is why, at least making her projection visible to guests would alleviate suspicion from him. He could make her the scapegoat, and have her start givingmands and make her a point of contact in case the workers needed to reach the Innkeeper but couldn''t. Actually, the workers already knew about Mary. But the extent of their knowledge of her was extremely limited, since she did not interact with others too often. With that n decided, Lex began his preliminary work to set Mary up as a second inmand at the Inn by telling Hera that he would consult Mary over the changes she wanted to implement. Naturally, Lex was in contact with her the entire time with his mind, so when Mary appeared in front of them, she responded exactly as Lex requested of her. Thus began the nning for how to improve the Inns earning capabilities in a sustainable way. Their ns went not just one or two decades into the future, but thousands or even tens of thousands of years into the future. After all, Hera had been silently working on her n for a while. Even though she had not experienced it personally yet, sheprehended that she would likely be an immortal, and so she nned ordingly. The first thing she wanted to utilize was the Inns'' ess to numerous realms. If, instead of using the Midnight Realms own resources, but the Inn workers went into other realms and mined or farmed their resources and bring them back to the Inn, to sell or use or process, not only would it not burden the realm, it would actually increase the materials in the realm over the years. Of course, at its current scale the Inn could not use up all the materials inside the Midnight Inn even in the next million years. But who said that the Inns scale would never change? Even if the Inn continued to grow, why put a burden on it to begin with? Of course, they could make use of the special materials of the Midnight Realm themselves when they needed to, but it should not be a primary focus. Just like it was profitable to sell resources from one portion of a realm to another where they were scarce, it would be even more profitable to sell resources from one realm to another! The taverns, if they increased, could be key points of trade between the realms. Hera also wanted to officially partner up with, or at least hire some of the corporations within the Origin realm to help the Midnight Inn ovee a few hurdles that they had. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om For example, the Inns staff was traveling through the Origin realm freely, but they either had to use Lex''s personal space ships, or hire local transport. Why shouldn''t the Inn have its own fleets? Lex could even buy a few ships from the system interface directly, but it would not be cost effective to use MP that way. Exchanging actual, physical resources would be better since Lex currently had a huge requirement for MP. At its current growth rate, with the Inn workers training in the Temple of Fasting, with Lex growing stronger, it would only be a matter of time before he waspletely confident in opening up the Inn entirely to the Crystal realm. If during his trip to the Expo he could learn about other realms where the strength was limited to Earth immortal or less, and begin connecting to those, he could also increase his ie while staying safe. None of that had to do with the people they had called over for the meeting, however. Instead, Hera slowly unveiled the preliminary part of her n to them, where they had to scout out various markets for materials that were of high value but in low demand. They were also told about numerous incentive programs for introducing the Inn to talented people in various fields. For example, if someone introduced a cook who was able to be a permanent member of the Inn as a cook, they would be able to get benefits. Lex tuned out the conversation as he very seriously thought about something he did not want to. If he wanted to maintain a minimum expenditure of 1 MT a day and more, then they would have to increase the number of guests they were hosting. Lex had purposefully been avoiding letting the number of guests renting rooms enter into the billions, but now it seemed almost inevitable. Moreover, they had to start targeting non-humanoid races properly. Once the meeting ended, Lex immediately delved into the next matter, increasing the stakes for gambling. He wanted to increase his ie at the moment to 100 MT a week. If he could do that, after expenses, he would be able to save anywhere between 10 to 15 MT. That was before the cost of sustaining the Void Aegis was included. But it was also risky, because higher stakes meant that he would need to pay out if he lost the bet. After a long period of consideration, instead of focusing on gambling, Lex decided to take advantage of therge number of guests inside the Inn and held a concurrent event! Since the event was inside the Inn, the costs were low and the high number of participants meant that he could easily generate funds. One by one, the days went by until they turned into weeks. Lex was barely managing to keep a surplus of MT while managing everything else, when finally he heard the news he had been waiting for. If it took much longer, he might have left for the Expo. But now, it seemed there was just enough time for him to venture out of the Inn one more time. When Lex asked Mary about how he could help her unlock her projection properly, she joked about him not catering to other sentient projections. The thing was¡­ Lex didn''t think she was joking, so he began searching for signs and traces of just such a race. Surprisingly enough, it wasn''t the Emporium that found the clues he had been searching for. Instead, it was a group of random guests at the Inn, talking over lunch at a diner. The moment they mentioned living holograms, Lex''s subconscious, which was always monitoring the Inn, brought his attention to it. "I think you mean ghosts," said a particrly healthydy, right before ripping arge chunk out of a drum stick. "People you can see through, but are alive and can talk to you are ghosts. Except the living part. They''re dead." "Obviously I know that Trunchbull," the man answered as he rolled his eyes. "But they weren''t ghosts. I confirmed as much. They could even appear in daylight, and weren''t afraid of touching the Holy Symbol!" As if to emphasize what he said, the man held up his ne, at the end of which hung a pendant in the shape of a dumpling. "Don''t be ridiculous. Ghosts are ghosts, they don''t care about this stuff." "No, you''re wrong. Ghosts can''t touch holy light and¡­" "Excuse me, I don''t mean to interrupt," said Lex, who suddenly appeared beside them. The moment he realized that the conversation was deviating towards ghosts, he decided to go and ask them himself about what he wanted to know. Hopefully, they were friendly people. "I could not help but overhear you talking about living projections," he said. "If you do not mind, could you tell me a little more about them? I have been searching for them myself for a long time to settle a bet about whether they''re projections or ghosts. I''ve bet on projections." Chapter 1407 Am I interrupting? Chapter 1407 Am I interrupting? "Are you insane?" Trunchbull questioned, right before sucking all the meat off the drumstick she was eating, and then pulling another one out of thin air. Lex raised an eyebrow. Trunchbull was not strong - she was a mere Nascent soul cultivator. He guessed she was, at most, a century or so old so that meant she had the potential to be an immortal as well, but that was not something too impressive in front of Lex. But what intrigued him was that he could tell that the drum stick she pulled out of thin air¡­ did note from any spatial rings or anything like that! n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om His sensitivity towards space was more than enough to be able to easily determine such things. It was quite interesting. He could not help but wonder how exactly she had done it. But that was not a priority right now. After all, he also had a worker who had a unique ability which allowed him to pull out food from his pocket no matter how many times he reached into it. "It has to be ghosts! Don''t listen to this old fool, Wormwood. Everyone knows ghosts are afraid of salt - I saw it on that TV show Super Unnatural!" "The only thing you had eyes for in that show was the car," Wormwood scoffed. "Besides, that''s a TV show, not reality. Ghosts are afraid of the great Lord Dumpling!" As if to ensure everyone knew what he was talking about, he once again raised his dumpling shaped pendant. "You''re all wrong. Ghosts are afraid of the power of Friendship," Lex said with a dignified face. "Oh, also Dragonfire. But mostly the friendship thing. Either way, I have a bet to settle, and so far I haven''t been able to find any living holograms to prove my point! All the holograms I''vee across are of peoplemunicating from far away." "I heard that once there was a man using a hologram tomunicate with his wife who was far away, but was killed while it was still active. They say his soul got sucked into a hologram, turning him immortal," said Wormwood in a low voice, as he dipped his fries in some ketchup and ate them. "Who was this man, who was his wife, and who is this ''they'' you speak of?" Trunchbull questioned once more. "Anyway, it''s either a ghost, or someone from the spirit race. Living projections don''t exist." Lex smiled, but did not know what to say. Why was this conversation being deviated even though he was trying to guide it in a certain direction? He had to say, these two foodies were really talented. "Well, we can never know unless we investigate," Lex said. "Would you mind sharing where you found these projections so I can go investigate? If it turns out they really are projections, you''ll also be proven right." "You''re right!" Wormwood said, pointing a fry towards Lex, lunging a blob of ketchup forward. Fortunately, the ketchup reached nowhere near Lex. "Go ahead and find out, will ya? And if you learn the truth,e back and let me know as well. Regardless, I found the projections in an old abandoned temple I found built on an asteroid belt within the WWF-007 quadrant of the Vino star system, Balleria Gxy. Be careful on your way there if you do end up going. That whole star system has been designated a mining zone, and a few corporations are fighting over the rights to mine it. It''s really messy." "Thank you. I''ll look into it, and whether they''re projections or ghosts, I''ll let you know." Lex teleported away, leaving the two to continue eating and chatting amongst themselves. It was really incredible that they had managed to gain so much weight despite being cultivators. It was a rare sight. Regardless, once he knew his destination, it was only a matter of time to reach it. The Emporium promptly delivered a box containing materials to him, and at the same time Powell whispered to him that the expansion to a new realm was almostplete. Lex was also interested in learning about what new realm the Emporium expanded to. Maybe, through them, he could get his hands on some rare and exclusive materials. Regardless, he did not focus on that too much, and instead bought himself a ticket and teleported over to the Vino star system. The problem was, star systems were not small, and even excluding their size, the number of asteroid belts within them would be inestimable. Randomly looking for asteroid belts was not a feasible solution. Of course Wormwood had told Lex the specific quadrant of the asteroid belt where he found the temple, but even then it would take too long. Lex was not really interested in wasting time, so he made use of a resource he had used many times before. He approached Vera, who was getting progressively dissatisfied with her mother these days - though the topic was no longer about her dating life. That didn''t exist at all. Instead, it was about her father. "I refuse!" Vera screamed as she threw a chair towards her mother. Of course, the chair never harmed Kristine, as Kristines cultivation was much higher than Vera, and simply used her spirit sense to catch it. "You''re acting like a spoiled child, child," Kristine said, in an exhausted voice. "He''s your father. Previously we were imprisoned on Earth just so that they could lure him out of hiding. Now that he finally knows about¡­" "I refuse!" Vera said, this time throwing a sofa. Her frustration was doubled, because she knew that throwing the furniture was futile even before she threw it. The problem was that her prophecies were beginning to get more and more unreliable. If she, who''s uracy rate was countless hundred times higher than ordinary oracles, was having problems these days, then one could imagine the situation others were going through. But it couldn''t be helped. This was exactly why so many oracles, prophets and the like went into hiding after her conference. A Nexus event wasing, and leading up to it, prophecies would be entirely unreliable. "Am I interrupting something?" Lex asked as he dropped in. "No!" said Vera. "Yes!" said Kristine. Chapter 1408 Stupid Chapter 1408 Stupid "Lex take me out of here, I already know what you want," Vera said, her face flushed with anger. Actually, she hadn''t foreseen Lex''s arrival at all! Why was it like this? The Nexus event wasn''t supposed toe so quickly. It would take hundreds if not thousands of¡­ Vera''s eyes narrowed and she looked at her mother. "Is it the old man? Is he suppressing my ability somehow so I can''t predict what he''s doing?" she questioned her mother, but Kristine only sighed. "Your father is an amazing man. I have no idea if he did this, but the fact that there''s a possibility he can is amazing, no? Why don''t you agree to just meet him once? You know you inherited your powers from him, right?" "Don''t try to fool me. I will never go meet that old man. It''s because of him that I''m almost 30 but I''ve still never had a single boyfriend! I''ll be a spinster at this rate!" Without waiting for her mother to respond, Vera grabbed Lex''s hand and tried to storm out. Lex gave Kristine an apologetic look before teleporting away with her. "You know, you''re the first girl I''ve ever run away with," Lex said in a teasing tone. "Don''t flirt with me! I''m saving myself for an Oolin! I''ve already seen the face of my future husband, and I won''t date anyone else!" Vera scolded. Lex smiled as he raised up his hands, to show he meant no harm. Vera looked at him, and then snorted and then looked away. But then she looked back at him. "Okay I lied. I don''t know what you want. I think my father deactivated my ability somehow. If you kill him for me, I''ll be your personal oracle." "Hey, hey, hey, I work at an Inn, not an assassination organization. Besides, this sounds a lot like family drama, and I have way too much of my own to get involved with yours." Vera snorted. "How can your father control your ability anyway?" Lex asked curiously. "Does that mean you can''t actually help me right now? I was hoping for a convenient prophecy or two." Vera snorted again. But after a few moments, she sighed, and decided to open up. After all, in this situation, Lex was one of her strongest supports. All her previous ns were built upon her ability to foresee her own future. "Predicting the future is tricky business, for more reasons than one. Getting punished by the Heavens, tolerating the great burden of knowledge, forgoing ordinary cultivation, these are just some of the obstacles ordinary oracles have to ovee. It''s a path full of obstacles, but there are also many useful tools that help as well. Within this realm, there is one such special item that can be considered a holy item for all oracles. It''s called the Essence Wormhole. Ever heard of it?" Lex raised an eyebrow, not at all expecting to hear that name all of a sudden. Back when hepleted his first quest and got the option to select a reward, he was presented with an option of five items. Regal Embrace was what he chose, and Mo''s Blessing was what he originally wanted to choose, but lost the opportunity to do so. Besides those two, the list contained the Bangle of Narn, the Essence Wormhole and the Breath of Elizabeth. He recalled the description for the Essence Wormhole as if it was still in front of him. A unique existence that can be absorbed by a living being. Once absorbed it will absorb the consciousness of the beings past, present and future so that the being is aware of the existence of its entire lifetime and all the events that take ce during it. However, a being that absorbs the Essence Wormhole will have all the events in its life be a fixed constant that cannot be changed. Now that he thought of it, the description was somewhat simr to Vera''s ability to see her own future, but not quite. After all, the Essence Wormhole came with a pretty severe drawback, which was that the person who absorbed it would have their entire life fixed along a specific path. But the future Vera saw changed all the time, though he had learned that such changes were actually not supposed to happen. "Yeah, I''ve heard of it." "Well, apparently my father knows of a way to secretly siphon off a bit of the Essence Wormhole''s ability without suffering any repercussions, or affecting the Essence Wormhole itself. The first time he did it, it was all good until I was born, and stole his powers somehow. But the geezer just went and siphoned off more power from the Wormhole. Unfortunately, he''s his own worst enemy, and couldn''t help bbering all about it to anyone who would hear. "But, having the ability to see his own future whenever he wishes, he can always escape being caught. That''s the whole reason my mom and I were imprisoned. Since they couldn''t catch dad, they were hoping he would reveal himself to rescue us. But my stupid mom is stupidly in love with that stupid man. She literally told him not to save us, so he didn''t even try. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "Now he suddenly wants to find us again, after so many years? I don''t buy it. Plus, very conveniently, my powers stopped working a few days ago. At first I didn''t think anything of it, but now I''m wondering if the old man had anything to do with it." Lex was silent. Although the father seemed a little odd, he did not sound particrly evil. Maybe a little stupid and a scumbag, but definitely not evil. In that case, he didn''t think Vera would face any issues from him. In that case¡­ "Well, as long as you''re inside the Inn, you don''t need to fear anything, so why not meet him here? More importantly, Vera, as much as I''d like to help you out right now, I have my own problems that need solving." Vera sighed, and shook her head. "Fine, follow me. I''ll take you to another reliable oracle." Chapter 1409 Ripped off Chapter 1409 Ripped off As Lex followed Vera, he couldn''t help but let his thoughts wander. It felt like so long ago that he saw that interface. He was taking his first steps into the world of cultivation, and the five items he saw before him all bewildered and amazed him. Not a single one of them was even remotely cheap. Or rather, even calling them exceptionally rare might be inadequate. The Midnight Realm was exceptionally valuable, containing countless materials that were rare on a universal scale, not to mention it contained Dao level ingredients such as the Resin. But, ignoring the Resin, the entire realm was less valuable than just the Bangle of Narn. The two cultivation techniques were unique in the entire universe, the Essence Wormhole was a bizarre entity that he could not judge even to date, and the Breath of Elizabeth was so extraordinary that even the System could not identify its purpose. Each of these were unique items, and though they were supposed to be unique across the entire universe, somehow he had encountered so many of them through the Origin realm. That meant either they were all located within the Origin realm, or there was something in that realm that was special. Then again, the only reason he encountered that Celestial who had Mo''s Blessing was because of the system. Maybe all of these items were rted to systems. He didn''t know, and it didn''t make sense to ponder over it since he couldn''t find any of them right now, nor did he need them. Sure, it would be nice to get his hands on the Bangle of Narn, but he doubted it would be so easy, not to mention that the bangle could be detected by Dao Lords. Nevertheless, it was curious that he was encountering so many of those rare items that were supposed to be unique in the entire universe. He wondered if he would ever encounter the Breath of Elizabeth, and learn what it truly was. Something that even the system could not evaluate¡­ now that was a treasure that could still entice him at this point. Unfortunately, getting his hands on would also attract Elizabeth''s ire, apparently. He wasn''t so sure he wanted to do that. "So what trouble are you in now?" Vera asked after a few moments of silence. It seemed like she was bored. "Nothing too interesting this time," Lex said. "Just looking for a lost temple in an asteroid field to find some living holograms. I want to invite them to be guests at the Inn - it''s nothing dangerous." "Boring," Vera said, turning away. She was hoping to learn something that would distract her from her own predicament. But with nothing to distract her, she instead hurried up and brought Lex to one of the new cities that had been built inside the Inn. To be more specific, she brought Lex to a giant vertical garden that Lex had designed for beasts more than humans. This was surprising to Lex, and he quickly went through the names of all the guests inside the garden inside his mind, but couldn''t think of who exactly they were going to meet. None of them seemed to have shown signs of being an oracle before. It was rare for Lex to be surprised within the Inn anymore, which is why when they stopped in front of arge, sleeping panda Lex was extremely surprised. "This is the oracle?" Lex asked. The panda had done nothing but sleep since he came to the Inn! Not that Lex was judging or anything, but still! "Don''t judge a book by its cover. Master Bobo is a very high level oracle. Until I recover my abilities, you can rely on him. But don''t disturb him unless you''re ready to pay the price - he''s not cheap." Even as she said that, she reached out to wake the sleeping panda, whose stomach rose about 30 feet (9.1 meters) into the air. Lex approximated that the panda was asrge as 11.3 million potatoes stacked into a mound. "Master Bobo, please wake up. I have found someone who wants to treat you to lunch." Lex felt the ground quake beneath his feet, though through his connection to the Inn he knew there had been no earthquake. Instead, the sleeping panda had shivered, and that alone caused the ground to tremble. "Lunch?" Lex heard a cute, squeaky voiceing from the other side of the panda, where its head was. "Thank goodness it''s lunch time. I''ve lost so much weight." "Don''t gain it all back in one go. This is a repeat client, you hear? Master Bobo, a repeat client can only be repeated if you don''t eat through his wallet!" Vera scolded the panda, as if she bore some kind of old grudge against him. "Is that how you talk to a master?" Lex asked her using her spirit sense. "Hey, I''m doing you a favor here. If you don''t want it, just say so." Lex raised his hands, as if stepping back to let her do as she wished. Vera continued to strongly convince the panda not to eat its fill, while therge panda itself struggled to get up. When the panda finally got up, Lex saw that there was absolutely nothing extraordinary about the panda except its size. Even its cultivation was merely in the Nascent realm. He didn''t want to doubt Vera but¡­ "If you give me 13 million tonnes of pickled Rose Bamboo, I''ll tell you the exact location of the temple you seek," Master Bobo said, trying to make his voice deeper. "Deal!" said Lex, before the panda could change its mind. "Give me a few minutes, I''ll be right back" said Lex, before teleporting away to the Emporium. He was familiar with Rose Bamboo, and though it was a valuable nt, it was hardly worth much in Lex''s eyes. Master Bobo looked back at Vera feeling a little guilty. He thought they would go through a few rounds of negotiation. Who knew Lex would agree in a heartbeat? Vera sighed. Poor, poor Lex. The thing he should have never done was let Master Bobo understand how rich he was. Lex''s instincts, as well, did not warn him since this action would not endanger his life whatsoever. But more than once he would regret his actions, and the first time he felt that regret was a few minutester when he reappeared at the Inn. "Alright, so I didn''t know that pickling Rose Bamboo was so expensive," Lex said with a grimace. "I think you just ripped me off." "It is a fair deal where you trade money in exchange for saving time. In the future, you cane find me for anything you need. The only thing I cannot divine is rted to money and wealth." Lex handed a spatial ring to the panda, still reluctant about the fact that he had spent 300 million MP''s worth of items to trade for pickled bamboo! Dammit, even if he was rich that did not mean he didn''t feel the pinch of losing money. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om The panda, in exchange for the ring, plucked a single white hair from its body, and handed it to Lex. "Channel energy into that hair once you reach the star system of the temple you are looking for. The hair will act as apass." Lex grumbled as he grabbed the most expensivepass he had ever bought, and then teleported away. Nex time, he would not forget to negotiate, especially when he didn''t know the exact worth of the items! To be clear, unpicked Rose Bamboo would not even be worth 1 million MP! Shaking his head, he simply gave Vera an acknowledging nod before teleporting back to his apartment. From there, he tore the ticket that would bring him to the Vino star system. He summoned the Silent Wanderer from its spatial container, and then sat in the pilot''s seat before focusing on the single panda hair. The hair started pointing in a certain direction, and Lex started to fly his ship. Since a specific destination was unknown, he could not put the ship on auto pilot, nor could he fly it at its fastest speed. Although his reflexes were fast enough, the ship could not react fast enough if it encountered an obstacle while flying fast. Thus, several hours of flying and small teleportation jumpster, Lex arrived at the asteroid field he was looking for, and slowed down even further. As he followed the panda hair towards the temple, Lex began to ponder if he should work on his own divination ability. He could do it, and had even practiced a bit of it, but it was one of the rare fields where he did not immediately excel. Even though his cultivation technique increased hisprehension, some things were not a matter of mereprehension. It was a matter of innate talent. While Lex seemed to have some talent, it was hardly enough to be useful in his own endeavors. Now, though, he began wondering if he gave up too soon. Surely it would be better to try by himself than rely on the panda again. Chapter 1410 Forgot my wallet Chapter 1410 Forgot my wallet As much as Lex wanted to believe in his own divination ability, and his ability to learn anything including divination, he had a feeling he should stay away from it. The feeling was not from his instincts, but his own analysis based on what little he knew of extremely strong cultivators. If he could learn divination, no doubt Celestial immortals would have an even easier time. Yet it seemed like, for whatever reason, they did not do so. Lex was certain that the repercussions of looking into the future were far more dangerous than just simple lightning tribtions - especially if one was on a higher level. After all, no matter what exnation they gave for divination, whether it was reading the flow of destiny, or just calcting probability on a wider scale, the truth was that it was messing with time. If there was one thing Lex had learned, it was that messing with time was a bad idea. If there was one thing Lex had learned from his truly numerous troubles, it was to stop messing with the unknown - when possible. For now, Master Bobo would suffice. Unfortunately, Lex did not conveniently find the temple just as his contemtion session ended, so he navigated through the asteroids for a while longer before he saw it. In the pitch darkness of space, hidden from the light of the nearby star by countless massive rocks, there was a single floating rock with a temple on it. There was no need to describe it - it was an exact replica of the Taj Mahal, which was not unusual in any way shape or form, nor was it an excuse to avoid imagining a new temple. Lex did not question it either, although he did raise his wariness. But a simple scan from his spirit sense revealed that there were no dangers nearby. Unfortunately, it also revealed apleteck of any living being, whether they be projections or ghosts. He was a little disappointed, but he was not going to give up without exploring the temple thoroughly. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om There was no atmosphere in or around the temple, but the hazards of space were not really an obstacle for Lex, who ced his ship back in its spatial container and teleported over. As far as appearances went, there was nothing unusual about this perfectly built temple on an asteroid in the middle of space, far from anything. Lex expected the Origin realm to be filled with numerous such ominous temples with no real peculiarity to them, save their existence. Who knew if a copsed and broke into an asteroid field, yet through some sturdy architecture the temple survived? Yet the moment he stepped within the temple, Lex heard the echo of his footsteps. Considering he was walking into a hall without an atmosphere, that was highly unusual. "Hello? Is anybody there?" Lex asked, his voice echoing out into the empty halls. It took him a moment, but he realized that though there was no air in the temple, it contained some kind of spiritual field. The echo of his footsteps could not be heard by his ears, but by his spirit sense. That is also why when he spoke, he did not use his voice but his spirit sense, and it seemed to work. The temple was still devoid of all light, but his spirit sense was suddenly illuminated as if a magnificent chandelier had been turned on. "My goodness dear fellow, do you realize what time it is?" asked a projection of a horse as it slowly floated into the hall, rubbing its eyes as if it had just woken up. The horse was wearing a double breasted suit with a deep cut, and a yellow tie with smaller horses on them. "I have put little Charles to bed already, and even the infernal crickets have gone to sleep. The gate to the Holy Kingdom has already been closed, so if you want anything,e back in the morning. And I say, keep your voice down. You''ll scare the ghosts back to their living bodies if you frighten them." Lex was confused, because the horse was switching between a heavily american ent and a deeply british ent with every alternating sentence. It was highly disorienting to hear. "I¡­ I''m sorry for disturbing you. I didn''t know if anyone was actually here. I cane back during the day¡­ uhh, how long till it''s day?" The horse gave Lex a disdainful look, as if he was dealing with an idiot. "I say, this is why I don''t like dealing with bodied folk. Highly unsophisticated, you lot. Listen to me boy, it''s day when the sun is up. It will take about six or seven hours. Now, if that is all, I''d like to get back to sleep now. By the way, don''t wait in the temple, otherwise I''ll get an earful about not attending to a guest. You can wait outside." Lex, unsure of what was exactly going on, excused himself and left the temple as he heard the horse grumbling something about not enough sleep. The good news was that he found the projections. The reason he was sure the horse was a projection and not a ghost was because he saw the camera in the corner of the temple, well, projecting. But he also clearly felt soul fluctuations from the projection, so he was fairly certain that the projection itself was alive, rather than it just being a very high quality projection that could even transmit the feeling of a soul. He waited for nine hours just to be sure before returning to the temple, but as expected there was no light shining onto the temple. Yet the moment he stepped into the temple, beams of sunlight seemed to be shining through the spiritual field that epassed the temple, as if it was truly day. This was a fascinating ce, for it seemed his eyes were less useful here than his spirit sense. "It''s you again," the horse said, trotting up to Lex, looking much more refreshed. The suit was in a much better condition,cking any and all wrinkles, and the horse looked like it had gone through several rounds of grooming. Its hair was silky smooth, and flowed freely through the air as the horse approached. "Pardon me for my attitude earlier," the horse spoke with a genuinely apologetic tone. "The Mrs. and I just had a couple of foals, and it''s a lot more work than I expected. Don''t get much sleep these days as you can imagine. Makes me a bit cranky. Are you here to enter the Holy Kingdom?" "It''s no trouble at all, Ipletely understand. An unexpected guest in the middle of the night can be troubling sometimes. I just came here because I heard rumors of living projections, and I''d never seen any before so I wanted to explore. I''m afraid I''m not too familiar with the Holy Kingdom you''re speaking of." "Ah, an explorer. How splendid. In that case, you must visit the Holy Kingdom. Guests are more than wee, and it''spletely safe. All of Projection Empire is connected to the Holy Kingdom, so it''s also a convenient way to travel across the realm." "How does that work?" Lex asked as he followed the horse. As they went deeper and deeper into the temple, Lex felt the spiritual field getting stronger and stronger, and eventually had to close his eyes because the difference between what he was seeing with his eyes and his spirit sense was so different that it was distracting. "The Holy Kingdom is called as such because of its speciality. Actually, it was made by Mama Pari, a really strong projection for all other projections, so obviously it connects to all ces where projections live. I''m the toll collector for the temple you entered from. "My boy, that reminds me, you have to pay a toll to enter the Kingdom. It''s not much, but since you have a body, there''s a special fare for you. Don''t think I''m being discriminatory - that''s just the rule." "That''s not a problem," Lex said, as he paid close attention to the horse projection. What was interesting was that, after a certain point, there was nothing supporting the projectino - it was as if the thickness of the spiritual field itself supported the existence of the projections. Suddenly, he heard the familiar sound of a new notification. New Notification: You have discovered a new type of environment to support the existence of specific types of guests. New Quest: Create 3 new suitable environments to host arger variety of guests. Reward: Solid projection capability for Innkeeper. Lex''s eyes shed as he read the notifications, but first he had to address something more urgent. "By the way, how much is the toll exactly? I was recently ripped off, so I don''t want tomit to something before I know the exact price?" "Well, for an ordinary projection the toll is a single medium quality spirit stone. For a bodied being such as yourself, a single high quality spirit stone mine will suffice." "Yes, yes, very reasonable. An entire spirit stone mine. By the way, I think I forgot my wallet in the car, I''ll be right back." Chapter 1411 Holy Kingdom Chapter 1411 Holy Kingdom As he stated, Lex quickly left the temple, summoned the Silent Wanderer and flew away, barely taking a minute in total. But just a few hourster, Lex returned. Spirit stones were extremely valuable, especially for mortals, since they contained pure spiritual energy which was easy to absorb and use. It was a currency, as well as a valuable resource. On any given, it was a finite resource. But that was only if seen on the scale of a. On a universal scale, spirit stones and spirit stone mines were hardly rare. In fact, they were fairlymon. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om As a result, Lex had not escaped when he heard about the requirement to pay with a whole mine for his entrance. While he was not prodigal enough to walk around with an entire spirit stone mine in his spatial ring, all he needed to do was search the asteroids with his spirit sense for a while to find one. This was exactly why space mining was such a lucrative business, and probably what Wormwood had been doing in the first ce when he discovered the temple. Lex promptly returned to the temple, and offered the horse the payment. "Oh my word, no, you do pay me," the horse said amusedly. "You pay the toll when entering the Holy Kingdom. I must admit, I was not expecting your return. Most meatbags either try to enter without the toll, or simply depart and do not return." "I would appreciate it if you avoided calling me a meatbag, translucent image," said Lex. Calling the horse a translucent image was an attempt to make it understand how being called a meatbag felt like, but the message did notnd. "Oh my word, do not try to tter me. I am a happily married horse with children of my own. Besides, a rtionship between bodied and non-bodied entities would never work," the horse told Lex very seriously. Lex again was once again reminded of the fact that even projections had rtionships, yet he did not even have a girlfriend yet. Probably because it would require him to actually try asking someone out for him to get a girlfriend. A lightbulb suddenly turned on in Lex''s head! That''s why he didn''t have a girlfriend! He hadn''t even tried to ask someone out. But who to ask? Lex very seriously put that on his list of things to do. Although yes, he did not have the time to distract himself with things as he was incredibly busy, what was the point of it all if he didn''t even try to date? Right? Or was equating, and or linking the fulfilment and purpose of life to dating taking away from the actual experience and journey that was life? What was the purpose of life anyway? Why did it matter¡­ Lex gave himself a mental p and woke himself up from his wandering thoughts. In truth, he was just feeling nervous about asking someone out so he was distracting himself by getting unnecessarily philosophical. "By the way, my name is Lex. What are you called?" "The names Vanderbilt," the horse said, though Lex could see it increasing the distance between them a little. They walked deeper into the temple, the spiritual field getting thicker, until Lex suddenly felt a subtle barrier impeding his movement. It felt like the barrier was soft, and just the slightest bit of effort would allow him to go through it, but he did not try that. Instead, he touched the barrier with his spatial ring and directly transferred the spirit stone mine into the barrier. An arch opened up, allowing him to pass through, apanied by Vanderbilt. "Wee, Lex, to the Holy Kingdom," the horse said with more than a hint of pride in its voice as it looked out at thendscape in front of him. Lex, too, stood still as he took everything in. If he used his eyes, all he saw was pure, indistinguishable light, which was basically the same as seeing nothing. But his spirit sense saw the true Holy Kingdom - or at least the parts of it his spirit sense could reach. The entire kingdom seemed to be built on clouds of gold, some rising higher while others lower, but all connected. From within the gold clouds grew countless nts, but all of them were projections. More importantly, millions upon millions of projections filled the clouds, which hid numerous projection buildings, and this was no doubt just a tiny speckpared to the entirety of the kingdom. This entire ce was filled with a thick spiritual field. This spiritual field was not the same as thick spiritual energy. No, this was the spirit of the mind, which exined why speaking with his spirit sense would create a normal voice, and walking would cause an echo within the range of his spirit sense. This entire kingdom could only be perceived and interacted with the spirit sense, which was innately tied to the mind. It was as if this entire kingdom existed in thought alone. How could someone create a ce like this? Lex failed to see thews involved in this ce even with his left eye, nor could he feel them with his t. He could feel the presence of numerousws, but he could not tell how they joined together to make this kingdom. "You said this ce was created by someone called Mama Pari? Who exactly is that?" Lex asked as he allowed himself to feel the awe that this ce evoked. It was genuinely rare for things to surprise him these days, but a kingdom that existed within thought¡­ although he was sure that''s not what this ce really was, and that it upied actual physical space somewhere, he could not be entirely sure. This was because his connection to the Vino star system was cut off. The system was no longer trying to link to that ce, since he was no longer there. But the spacews of this ce were so unusual that Lex could not identify its spatial coordinates at all. "Mama Pari? Well, isn''t it in the name? She''s the mama of all Projections! She was the first, or at least she''s the strongest projection in the Origin realm. She has a temple here if you want to see one of her statues. They say that she can see everything that happens in front of her statue, so maybe you can talk to her if she finds you interesting." "Is the temple open to the public?" Lex asked, curiously. "Of course it is," Vanderbilt responded. "Here, let me take you there. I can''t stay for long though, I have to get back to my own toll. You can explore on your own once I leave." Lex began following Vanderbilt as he thoroughly analysed and studied the spiritual field in the Holy Kingdom, trying to understand how it allowed projections to exist without anything¡­ well, without anything actually projecting the projections. Mama Pari''s temple was, to no one''s surprise, also an exact replica of the Taj Mahal. In fact, Lex began to suspect that the Taj Mahal back on Earth was also rted to the Holy Kingdom somehow. It would not exactly be surprising considering all the secrets Earth had. But the one thing he could confirm was that even if the temple back on Earth was connected to the Holy Kingdom, the connection would have been severed or else Bastet would not have lived on Earth for so long. The center of the temple there was arge statue made out of white marble, and to Lex'' surprise, Mama Pari actually looked¡­ pretty normal. He was used to cultivators and strong beings somehow looking disturbingly beautiful or handsome. That was not to say that Mama Pari was ugly. Rather, she looked like a meme he saw of a middle aged Russian mom. She was not slim or petite, but had decent meat on her bones and looked like she would chop down a tree and wrestle a bear all in the same day beforeing back home to cook lunch, all during the thick of winter. "In fact, I used to wrestle Hydra''s back in the days before they went extinct," the statue suddenly said, turning to look down at Lex. "And mind you, my husband did the cooking in our house." "My apologies," Lex suddenly said, bowing down deeply as his heart was filled with horror. What was going on? Had he encountered another Dao being? They definitely weren''tmon enough for him to be meeting them so regrly? "Actually, in my Kingdom it''s very easy for me to read anyones thoughts, since the spiritual field you''re ines from my actual body," Mama Pari''s statue exined while she wore a teasing smile. "Although, yes, to answer your question, I am a Dao being. To be more urate, I''m one of the original Demi-Dao Lords of the Origin realm. My real body does not enter the Holy Kingdom, lest all the other projections be destroyed, and this statue is specially designed to not leak any aura. "But enough about me. I know about you. You''re the brat who unveiled Sekhmet''s little prank. Oh man, I wanted to meet you but the Henali banned me from entering the Midnight Inn. But lookie here, you just entered my Holy Kingdom on your own. Please have a seat. I want to have a little chat with you." Before Lex knew it, he was sitting down with a cup of tea in his hands. Chapter 1412 Tea Chapter 1412 Tea Now Lex had done many things, but having evening tea with a Demi-Dao Lord was definitely a new experience for him. But, from what little experience he had with Dao beings, he knew that he had to absolutely control his thoughts and not let a single thought slip, especially if they were about the Dao being. Lex looked down at his tea, and recalled the time the Governor asked him to drink something so that it would allow his body to be able to tolerate being in a Dao beings presence. "Fret not, fret not little one," Mama Pari said as she pulled up a chair for her statue to sit on. "Like I said, my statue does not let out any of my aura, so you are entirely safe. The tea, instead, is to help you fortify your mind so that you don''t let your thoughts slip out. I know that can be disconcerting for others. Go ahead, drink up. We can only have a nice little chat if you''re not frightened of your own thoughts." "Good point," Lex murmured and took a sip of the tea, which had an incredibly fresh, floral feeling to it. Yes, feeling, for this tea had no taste but instead triggered feelings and emotions. "Let me introduce myself a little bit while the tea kicks in," Mama Pari said, seeming a little too excited to Lex. "It''s only fair - after all, I already know all about you. Let''s see, where do I begin? It''s rude to discuss ady''s age, so let''s just say I''ve been around for a while. By the way, I''m a true native of the Origin realm, and since I chose not to leave the realm for greener pastures before the Henali arrived, I''m now stuck here for good. Or, well, at least until the realm matures. "Let''s see, what else? Oh yes, I''ve always wanted a big family which is why I named myself Mama Pari, and had a whole lot of children. But, you know, Projections can''t really go just anywhere so I created this little Holy Kingdom where my children can y. It''s very nice. Since I like being surrounded by people, and especially children, I ended up creating a very lively ce. "Unfortunately, I made my Holy Kingdom a little too nice, so I identally touched upon the Dao. Since then, I''ve been forced to spend all my time with other Dao beings, only using this statue to experience the Holy Kingdom. "I''m not gossiping about the others or anything, but Dao beings aren''t really a chatty bunch. They''re all serious and brooding and have too much ego. Like Sekhmet. She was so stuck up growing up, my word. She was all like, ''I won''t spend time with mere mortals'' and ''I''m born divine, I''m so special''. Not fun at all." Lex had finished his tea, and so as a test allowed his thoughts to rx a bit, and considering that Mama Pari did not react to them he assumed that maybe the tea was working. But as a side effect, Lex became extremely susceptible to emotions, so he could feel everything that Mama Pari was saying. When she described the Holy Kingdom happily, he felt happy. When she described how stuck up the other Dao beings were, he felt annoyed. When she described wanting others to chat to, he felt lonely. It was a rollercoaster of emotions he had not been prepared for. Fortunately, they were not so overwhelming that Lex lost himself in them. "To be entirely honest with you, being a Dao being is not fun at all. I''d rather go back to being a Celestial, but I really can''t. Everyone I try to hang out with is so dull. But lo and behold, you came out of nowhere and really heated up the gossip scene among Dao beings. The way you threatened Sekhmet without exploding out of existence - thrilling! It waspletely thrilling! "I looked into you, and my word you''ve lived a thrilling life. You, Lex Williams, are a very fun person, and a ma for trouble. For reasons I can''t tell you, I can''t really leave the Origin realm, so I really need someone toe and spice things up over here. I''ve heard you already have a Dao Lord sponsoring you, but in case you don''t, how about you be my apprentice? I''ll help you be a Dao being quickly, and you can liven things up a bit." Lex paused, because he did not know how to react. Was this really an offer he could turn down¡­ or even one he wanted to turn down? As far as he knew, Dao beings were at if not near the peak of the universe, and even knowing a Dao Lord was a huge advantage let alone bing one. It certainly wasn''t easy or simple to be one, or even receive an offer from a Dao being to help rise to that level. He doubted that this was an offer that came with no strings attached, but he was severely tempted by it. "Listen, just in case you''re thinking that you have to agree or something like that, don''t. I''m not one of those stuck up Dao beings, alright? I didn''t even want to be a Dao being. It just¡­ kind of happened. But if you want to be a Dao being, I can pump you full of resources, turn you into a Celestial real quick and help or at least try to help you reach the Dao level. Now, you''d have to leave the Inn behind, naturally, but I think the Innkeeper sounds like a reasonable fellow. He might not mind." "Why would I have to leave the Midnight Inn?" Lex asked suddenly, finding the first major caveat to this otherwise seemingly incredible deal. "It''s a technical issue," Mama Pari said, shrugging. "I personally have nothing against the Inn, believe me. I even wanted to go there when I heard about you. But it''s outside the Origin realm, which is a real problem for native Dao beings of any realm. I can''t get into the details - learning about Dao stuff too early would literally kill you. But, basically, if you''re a native of this realm, and rely heavily on the resources of this realm, and reach the Dao boundary in this realm, you cannot so easily leave this realm until it bes a major realm. "Like, it''s so serious that the Henali even banned it out right. That''s why Sekhmet''s banishment from the Origin realm was such a big deal back in the day, and why she can''t be allowed to sneak back in because as a native, it would be nigh impossible to kick her back out again. "So, naturally, you''d have to spend a lot of time here so that I can help you get stronger, and then after that you''d literally be unable to return to the Inn - at least for a few billion years. Maybe you could take an unpaid vacation or something. Does the Inn do that? If you''re worried about the Innkeeper, he has a very friendly reputation. I can write him a letter asking for permission. It shouldn''t be an issue." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om Lex was suddenly feeling really awkward. Although Mama Pari said it was fine if he wanted to say no, he wasn''t so sure if it was really alright. In fact, he had been genuinely tempted, even though being pumped full of resources did not sound like it fit the path of supremacy that he was on. It probably might even weaken his foundation a bit to rush like that. But who could say no to bing a Dao being? Apparently, Lex could, because he was aware that even among Dao Lords there were weak and strong ones. After all, everyone assumed that the Innkeeper was an incredibly strong Dao Lord. More importantly, he could not give up the Midnight Inn. Just as he was wondering how to say no, Mama Pari seemed to have read his intentions even without reading his thoughts. "Fine, fine, you don''t have to agree. I suspected that you were already being trained by the Innkeeper. Actually, pretty much everyone suspects it by now but this just confirms it. Don''t worry about it, I pretty much expected this anyway. But, don''t leave just yet. "Sit a while, let''s chat. Although I''ve heard about you from others, I''m really interested in the mere newborn immortal who faced a fragment of a Demi Dao Lord and lived to tell the tale." "What¡­ what would you like to know?" Lex asked cautiously. "I don''t know¡­ anything. You don''t know thest time I chatted with someone casually like this. They all seem to run away for some reason. Let''s start with what you''re doing in my Holy Kingdom. Did you run into one of the gates by ident? That happens a lot more than you think." "No, nothing like that. I was just curious about living projections. I''ve never seen them before, and wanted to invite a few to the Inn if I could. By the way¡­ if you don''t mind¡­ I have a question¡­" "Ask away, young man, don''t hold back. That''s how a conversation works." Mama Pari summoned her own cup of tea, as if she was really excited about Lex''s question. Chapter 1413 Karma I Chapter 1413 Karma I Lex was struggling toe to terms with the fact that he was having tea with a Dao being. This was such an abrupt thing, with no forewarning at all whatsoever. Not only that, the Dao being had even offered to train him, which was extremely ttering as well as an enticing offer. But whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, the conditions that came with that offer were too strict. Being restricted to the Origin realm for a few billion years did not exactly sound like a prison sentence, but Lex did not want to give up on the Midnight System. He had a feeling that between the two, the system was the more precious opportunity, especially his. To top it all off, he was inside the Dao beings Holy Kingdom, which had a spiritual field that came from the Dao being herself. This reminded Lex of the Mirage that he entered back when he faced Sekhmet. The Dao Lords transported everyone to a ce called the Mirage, which was literally inside their thoughts. Was the Holy Kingdom somewhat simr? Was that the secret to touching the Dao? "I want to ask if you have a temple on a called Earth. Have you heard of it? I don''t know if it''s a coincidence, but there''s a temple there just like yours." "Oh yes, of course. Back in the day the Milky Way Gxy was a really popr hunting spot for us. I think a number of powerful beings probably left their marks in that gxy. Some might still even be there. Of course, this was before I became a Dao being, and before that ce became a Death zone." "Oh? Is there something special about the Milky Way?" Lex asked, catching onto the point that multiple powerful beings used to hunt there. But instead of responding, Mama Pari just gave him a mischievous smile. Lex understood that maybe this was one of those things he could not casually know about. "Little boy, some things cannot be said so casually. But, to make up for it, I''ll tell you something else. There''s another reason I''ve had my eye on you since the Sekhmet incident, and I''m not the only one." Lex suddenly straightened his back as he was rmed. Was he being targeted by someone? Or rather, multiple people? Was there a specific reason? "Let me give you a small lesson. I hope you don''t mind. Maybe the Innkeeper has already mentioned this to you, but it won''t hurt to tell you again." "Not at all senior. Please enlighten me," Lex said. "Don''t call me senior. I prefer Mama Pari. Anyway, before I begin, what do you know about Karma?" A light shed through Lex''s eyes. He seemed to be having trouble with Karmately, and the issue seemed a lot graver than he initially assumed if it could even attract the attention of a Deo being. "Not much. I know the basics. If you do good deeds, you sow good Karma and if you do bad deeds you sow bad Karma. I know having an imbnced Karma is not good for you, though I don''t understand why that is or how that happens." "I see someone may have guided you a bit, but not quite enough," said Mama Pari. "You, my child, have quite a severe degree of an imbnced Karma. You see, you meddled in the ns of a Dao being, and so affected the literal future of the entire Origin realm and saved or affected the lives of hundreds of trillions of beings for millions of years toe. "You, my friend, are a literal walking, talking piece of good Karma fruit, begging to be plucked. In fact, if ordinary cultivators, even immortals, umte even 0.00001% of the amount of good Karma that you have, there would be a literal halo of white light over their head, visible to the naked eye. "I cannot say why that is not happening to you, but I can only suspect it''s because you have dealt with things on a simr scale before, something is bncing out your Karma, or the Innkeeper has kept it hidden. But thest one is unlikely, because to anyone with decent eyes the amount of Karma you carry is still clearly visible." Lex''s expression turned solemn. He did not quite understand the repercussions of this, but considering he was nning on traveling to a new realm for the Expo, having a literal halo of good Karma over his head visible to certain beings might not be a good idea. "Let me exin a little. Karma is too profound a concept for you to learn. Even Dao Lords cannot fully master the intricacies of Karma, yet the basic overview can be given. It''s not that doing good deeds or bad deeds affects your Karma, but that everything you do affects it. Your very existence affects Karma, and even theck of your existence affects Karma. Every breath you take provides fuel and sustenance to a nt, yet deprives another of the same breath of air. "The scales of good and bad, on a universal level, are not so easy to understand. For example, if you save a child''s life you may think that you did a good thing, but if that child grows up to be Hitler, did you do a good thing or did youmit a sin?" Lex was stumped, not just by the question, but from the reference Mama Pari threw as well. Had she kept an eye on Earth all this time? "You may encounter numerous other such moral problems. For example, would you kill one person to save ten others? Would you steal from someone else just to feed your family? Would you ignore a slice of pizza in the fridge just so you can diet, only for that slice to eventually go bad? Who can judge whether these things are objectively good or bad? "Technically, everyone can. Morality is independent of how the universe calctes Karma, and that is exactly why Karma is so difficult to calcte or understand. Keep in mind, I am still only discussing the good and bad Karma concept you mentioned, not how each action affects existing Karma, and sows new Karma. A billion years is too short to study this subject."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om Chapter 1414 Karma II Chapter 1414 Karma II "Also keep in mind that for now I am only touching upon the surface level concepts of Karma, the ones that can clearly be exined with words and understood by you. The deeper, more esoteric functions of Karma cannot be conveyed with words, and can only be personallyprehended and implemented. No other person can touch upon them. "I am saying all this so you understand that you, young man, have stepped into some troubled waters. umting a lot of Karma is not something that can be done intentionally, for everyone only ordinarily has the exact amount of Karma that associates with their level. "For example, an immortal will have the exact amount an immortal can support, and a Dao Lord will have one befitting their status. But, an immortal associated with a Dao Lord will also subsequently have arger pool of Karma that they can support, so that they can never really intentionally use their own power or influence to umte Karma. "That is because one also digests Karma, which is where the concept of good or bad Karmaes in. The kind of Karma you digest affects you directly and indirectly, which is why people think doing good things will get them good in return, even though such a thing is not really guaranteed. "But you, for some reason, gained a tremendous amount of Karma for confronting Sekhmet - almost as if the Innkeeper had not provided you with direct protection. That is also probably another reason why he lets you solve things on your own without interfering, so you can reap the benefits as well as Karma. "By the way, quite a number of Dao Lords are trying to study how the Innkeeper managed that little feat of letting you umte Karma like this. It might be unique in the entire universe. But, that''s not your concern. What you need to be worried about is that you have an immense amount of positive Karma on your body, so much so that it will take you centuries to digest if you don''t umte a single bit of Karma ever again. "The problem is¡­ that Karma can also be plucked by someone else, and used for a myriad of purposes. Such a thing will naturally harm you, and even if it doesn''t do that, it will definitely deprive you of your hard earned Karma. "On the other hand, there will also be countless others out there, such as myself, who will want to spend more time with you in person. The more you digest such positive Karma, the more good luck you will have, and those around you can benefit from it as well. Now you understand a tiny fragment of the enticing delicacy you yourself are at the moment." Lex shivered, and looked at Mama Pari oddly, but she didn''t do anything unusual so he secretly breathed a sigh of relief. As a personal rule, he avoided people who called him a delicacy. N?v(el)B\\jnn "So what can I do to fix the situation?" Lex asked. "Someone told me that I have an imbnce of Karma, and that if I correct it, my problems will go away." "Oh yes, there''s that too. That''s a particrly dicey problem, separate from all the good Karma you have. I cannotment too much on that, since I do not know your personal details, but I can give you a guess. If the imbnce in your Karma is too great, to an extraordinary level - a level one cannot normally reach even if they want to - then because of the overwhelming strength of Karma, the part of you that has acking Karma will be forcibly erased from existence. "But there are a few different ways you can fix that, with the easiest being just bncing your Karma, or raising your cultivation level. The higher your cultivation level, the harder it is to be affected by such an imbnce. "As for the heaps of good Karma on your head, there are a few ways you can handle it. The easiest way is to just have a kid. Your kid will inherit a portion of your Karma, and in your case, also absorb a lot of the extra Karma you''re carrying around. As a result¡­" "I''m not having a kid," Lex said firmly. "What else can I do?" "Sheesh, so stingy," Mama Pari said. "Well, you can increase the speed of your digestion of the Karma. The easiest way to do that is to empower yourself, make strong personal connections that are genuine, or raise your cultivation level. These are the three most direct and easiest ways for you to digest your own Karma. "Of course, if you''re willing to do something more drastic, you can cut off your own excess Karma and nt a Karma nt, hoping it will grow to full maturity and sprout a fruit. If that happens, whoever eats the fruit will get all your umted Karma and more, and easily digest it." "Okay, I''m good with nts. I can do that. But what are the drawbacks?" Lex asked. "It''s nothing much, but it will mess up your Karma until you reabsorb what you cut off, which will take more than just a few years. Also, you''ll have extremely bad luck the entire time." Lex rubbed his chin as he thought about his options. His own luck, as it was, did not need any help in bringing him misfortune, so cutting off his Karma did not sound like a good option. But he couldn''t exactly raise his cultivation level right now either, for he wanted to spend more time digesting his realm and getting used to his powers. So that left him with only one easy option. "Mama Pari, how would you like to send some of your Projection children to the Midnight Inn? Just because you can''t leave the Origin realm doesn''t mean they should be stuck here as well. I can be their personal guide." Mama Pariughed, as if the idea excited her. "Little boy, having a kid is still the easier route. But since you want to try and build a connection with me, you''ll have to try harder than that." Chapter 1415 A thousand miles Chapter 1415 A thousand miles "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step," Lex said, mimicking the posture of the cartoon he was giarising the line from. "If you do not mind chatting with me and spending some time with me, we can do that. But a rtionship built on business and utility cannot be a real business." Of course, the thing he did not say is that it only works if the other party is already aware of his intentions. Since Mama Pari was the one who informed him of what to do, Lex would naturally not target her with the method she herself told him. Instead, he already had a few targets picked out in mind. Specifically, he nned on building a rtionship with the employees of the Versalis Bank. Their identity would be simr - just immortals working for an overwhelming power, and that would allow them to interact more easily. "Hah! Child, a thousand miles is less than a step for me, and for many others. But I won''t force you, though I''ll let you know my intentions so that we don''t end up having a rtionship of utility. I wouldn''t mind it at all if you visited the Holy Kingdom from time to time, meeting and spending time with the other Projections. Even if a hint of your good luck rubs off on one of my children, it could be a huge opportunity for them." "Mama Pari, although your Holy Kingdom is very nice, I don''t know how much time I will have or not toe here. I sincerely don''t. That is why I asked if you''d like to send some of your children to the Inn. That way, they can explore the universe a bit, and whenever I have time, I can interact with them." Mama Pari gave him a knowing look, as if she was aware of what he was plotting, but didn''t reveal anything. But how could she know what he was plotting? He wanted to allow Mary''s projection to appear in front of guests. "That seems fine. Kids should also explore now and again, and not spend all their time at home." Lex grinned. Things wereing together now. But before he left, there was one more thing he needed to discuss. "I can leave some golden keys here for you, Mama Pari, and you can take your time to decide who to send to the Inn. But before I depart I want to ask you onest thing. Is there¡­ any specific way in which I can hide my Karma from being detected? At least until I find a way to process it." "Oh definitely," Mama Pari said. "However, are there ways that you and I can use? Probably not. You could probably look for some treasures that hide Karma, but their effectiveness cannot be guaranteed in front of the people who you really want to hide your Karma from. "Karma itself is too difficult a concept, one that even most Dao Lords cannotprehend a fraction of. Only a few, very rare Dao Lords, such as the Innkeeper, boast unparalleled control over its intricacies. I still remember that day when a mere butter knife cut through the fabric of Karma across the Origin realm, without so much as a single side effect. "The most realistic solution would be for you to ask the Innkeeper to hide your Karma for you. After all, in the Origin realm the Innkeeper already has a reputation. But if you go somewhere people don''t recognize the Innkeeper, it might invite trouble for you." Lex smiled in disappointment. "The Innkeeper will ask me to resolve this issue on my own," Lex sighed, hoping that Mama Pari would give him some other suggestion, but there was nothing she could do about it. In the end, there was no more advice Mama Pari could give. But Lex was not in a rush to leave, and spent a few more hours talking to her. It was actually quite dangerous since she was interested in Lex''s life and experiences, but he had to be highly selective in how he told the stories lest he reveal any loopholes or obvious ws. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Only once he had spent sufficient time with Mama Pari did he request to leave. After all, he could not just randomly teleport away from a Demi-Dao Lord as he did with others. After leaving 10 golden keys with her, Lex returned to the Midnight Inn, and instead turned his attention towards his quest. He needed to create 3 unique environments to support specific lifeforms. Of those 3, he could already think of 2, so he began working. He recreated the spiritual field from the Holy Kingdom, but did not spread it across the entire Inn. Instead, he limited it to one city, as well as a few main areas of the Inn. Other than the spiritual field, he created the option for projectors to follow any guests who were projections. This way, a special environment for projections was set. The second thing he did was mark out a special area inside the Inn, far away from everything else. Then, using the system he ced countless formations around that area to strengthen space on the borders of that area, before cing a final formation within that area. Once the internal formation was activated, the space within was crushed, leaving a Void behind. This was an artificial Void, created through a very, very expensive formation, and did not connect to the main Void. Having an opening to the Void inside his Inn would be a massive security w, and could leave him open to an invasion from Void beasts. But by building an artificial Void, he created an environment for Void beasts to be guests - not that he was so certain that they had the capacity for such things. The problem now was the third and final special environment he could create to host guests. The special environment had to be unique, so creating ake orva field for specific creatures could not count. "Mary, any ideas for a special environment I can make for specific guests?" Lex asked, not that he expected her to answer outright. She was limited in how much help they could provide. She appeared in front of him, dressed up in what looked like an aluminum onesie holding what looked like a sma gun. She needed to say no words, because Lex understood immediately. He thought back to the kind of environment that was suitable for ghosts, and what he knew about them. Ghosts were different from spirits, which were different from projections. Although sometimes, a very specific breed of ghosts had the appearance of people who were recently deceased, they actually had nothing to do with the dead. Ghosts had their own souls, and their appearance was sometimes dictated by the appearance of someone whose spirit they devoured, which basically meant that they took on the appearance of someone they killed, not that they were a continuation of the dead somehow. ording to histest study of energies, ghosts lived in ces with high concentration of Yin energy. After considering the matter for a while, Lex created an entirely new city, far away from the main area of the Inn. But this new city looked like they were ruins, with buildings covered in growing vines. The buildings had exposed beams and toppled walls, with the roads filled with abandoned cars. It looked like the city had been abandoned, or had suffered through some kind of extreme event. This was the perfect setting for a ghost city, so he decided to enjoy it a little bit. Once he was done setting the aesthetics of it, he filled it with Yin energy, though that was not enough. Yin energy was just one of the energies that supported ghosts, but not the only one. The variety for ghosts was actually quite massive, and each of them required a differentbination of environment and energies. He could not do anything half heartedly, or else the quest rating would be affected. Even if the quest reward was already determined, performing well would ultimately only benefit him. Since this was a matter of allowing Mary to finally appear, he had to do it well. A few hourster, when he was finally done, he officially stepped away from the city, thereby creating 3 special environments for specific guests. Quest Complete: Create 3 new suitable environments to host arger variety of guests. Reward: Solid projection capability for Innkeeper. Remark: So many environments, so many guests, yet still no friends. Lexpletely ignored the system''s remarks. He was too used to it now, so it didn''t bother him at all. Instead, he looked into the details of his reward. A feature that he already had was that the Innkeeper''s projection could appear anywhere on Inn property, but it would ultimately just be a projection. But now, finally, the projection would solidify, meaning that others would not be able to tell if it was the real Innkeeper or not. Chapter 1416 So expensive Chapter 1416 So expensive Lex smiled softly as he read the reward. It was both simple, and yet not. It was a reward he did not need at the moment, but had a value far greater than what he needed, and the actions he took to get it. It was almost as if the system knew what he wanted, and so teased him with something of a much greater value, but one he couldn''t use at the moment. What was the point of having a million tonnes of gold if he could never sell it or use it anyway? Didn''t that just make it an unnecessarily heavy paper weight? Once, back in the Crystal realm, he had used the mere projection of the Innkeeper to nearly overturn the entire realm, slightly destabilise it and nearly cripple the realm by endangering the entire ruling ss of the realm. All of that had been done with a mere projection. Now, if the projection could solidify, then the power that the Innkeeper could disy would be even greater - in theory. In practice, the Innkeeper had no real power. He just had a very powerful aura, and Lex wasn''t entirely sure if even that was real. Based on everything the system had shown him, Lex genuinely believed that it could just be faking the aura so well that no one could detect it so far. Well, even if he couldn''t use it now, it was good to know he could use it if he ever needed it. But his more urgent matter was that of Mary''s projection, and then his Karma. Lex opened up his system interface and looked at the options avable to him. Just as he expected, he could now purchase an upgrade for Mary, providing her with a solid projection which could appear anywhere on Inn property, and could be seen by anyone. The only catch was¡­ its price was absurd. It was absurdly absurd. It waspletely ridiculous. The price of unlocking Mary''s projection capability was 1000 MT! A single MT was equal to one trillion MP! A thousand MT was a thousand trillion MP! Suffice to say, this was currently outside of Lex''s reach at the moment. For a moment, Lex felt great reluctance. He was so close, yet so far. He was a single tap of a button away from unlocking Mary, yet the weight of that button was so great that he couldn''t press it. "Mary, why is unlocking your projection so expensive?" Lex could not help but ask. "Although the lousy system likes to rip me off, I have to admit that its prices are quite fair most of the time. But why is it suddenly so expensive to unlock your projection?" "Three reasons," Mary said, appearing in front of him in a suit. Except, instead of looking formal, she looked like she wasing home from a long day of work. She wasn''t wearing a tie and her top button was open. More importantly, her coat button was also open, and the sleeves of her coat had wrinkles as if she had been pulling the coat sleeves up. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om "The first, least important reason is that I am not actually a part of the system, but forced myself into it. For the system to make changes to me, it needs to exert a lot of power and energy, since the process is highly indirect." "That''s the least important reason?" Lex asked. That sounded like a pretty solid reason to him. "Yes. The second, slightly more important reason is that the system knows that you want it, so it automatically has to make it out of reach. The objective is not so hard that it''s impossible, butpletely outside of your current capabilities, thereby forcing you to put in more effort. You can probably guess on your own why that''s important." "Yeah, I can," Lex muttered. Basically, the system just wanted entertainment. Entertainment could not be found if everything was easy. By pushing Lex and forcing him to enter dangerous situations, it could derive even more entertainment from his actions. "Thest, most important reason," Mary said, suddenly leaning forward, her expression turning solemn, "is that the current system will face a great strain if it wants to project even the mere remnant of my soul outside." Mary did not borate, but the look she gave Lex was more than enough for him to draw a few assumptions. Lex was not entirely surprised, although the conclusion was troubling. Lex could not more or less confirm that before Mary ''died'' she was, at least, a Dao Lord. Sure, the system could mimic the aura of a Dao Lord, but interacting with a Dao Lord''s soul, even if it was a mere remnant, should not be easy. The reason that was troubling¡­ was because Lex could not imagine what Mary and her system looked like when they were at their peak of power. A Celestial Dao Lord with a system on the level of the Midnight Inn, except it wasn''t damaged at all and ran on full power, faced some kind of obstacle so great that they had been reduced to such an extent. The universe was a dangerous ce. Lex wondered if he was making the right decision going to the Expo and increasing the risks he was exposed to. It was rare for him to doubt himself these days, but at the moment he could not help but do just that. "Do you¡­ think I should go to the Expo?" he could not help but ask. Mary smiled, her solemn expression fading as if it was never there. "You should trust your instincts and your own decision making. The universe is dangerous, but you''re no pushover either. Not anymore." Lex nodded, and then immediately began nning his next steps. 1000 MT was an immense amount, one that was entirely out of his reach at the moment. But¡­ he had not even tapped into 1% of the Origin realms potential. The poption of that realm was more than enough for him to make much more money than just that, let alone the Crystal realm. Yet what Lex, despite the enormity of his awareness and consciousness, missed was that Mary did not immediately disappear. Instead, she seemed to look in a certain direction within the Inn. Far away, on Main street, in the Gamer''s Den, exactly in the direction Mary was looking, Wu Kong was sitting in a chair, wiping his tears as he watched the anime Z had rmended to him. He was watching an anime where the ultimate evil that threatened to destroy the world¡­ were clothes! It was truly the epitome of story telling and fantasy. Suddenly, he was distracted, and turned to look behind him. From across the Inn he saw that little projection girl from that superhero movie looking towards him. Wu Kong snorted, and turned back to his anime. He was not ashamed to shed tears. Mary smiled, and disappeared. The entire exchange seemed to happen in Lex''s blindspot, where he could not see or detect it, as if hidden by something. If he had witnessed it, he might have wondered how the monkey could see Mary even though she was not supposed to be visible to guests. Or maybe he wouldn''t, since everything could simply be exined by the fact that the monkey was just too strong. Elsewhere inside the Inn, in a small room that Lex had given to Mary as her own bedroom, not that she needed it, the projection reappeared. The room was devoid of all furniture, and only held the few items Lex had given to Mary to help her rebuild her body. There were still too many things missing for her to begin rebuilding her body, such as a Phoenix feather. But Mary did not mind. Instead, she closed her eyes, and allowed her body to descend into a dragon scale that Lex had given her, as if the scale absorbed her projection. The scale began to glow, as if it was filled with some unknown energy. Yet the strange thing was, even this, despite happening within the Midnight Inn, seemed to be outside of Lex''s range of detection. Slowly the days began to pass, and Lex focused on his most immediate concerns. The Midnight Games seemed to be going well - maybe as a result of the good luck he was supposed to be having. There were rtively few problems inside the Inn that required his attention. Unfortunately, he wasn''t able to find a sufficiently effective treasure to hide his Karma no matter what source he tried to get it from - including the Temple of Fasting. Speaking of the Temple, Lex had been sending more and more Inn workers to the temple as the days went by, and over 50 workers had undergone their tribtions. In a statistic that would have shocked the entire human race, not a single one of his workers suffered any casualties. Of course, some of them failed their tribtions and were gravely injured, requiring treatment, but none of them died. Of the ones that passed their tribtions, many were still meditating and getting used to their new realm. In just a few more years, at this rate, Lex would have hundreds if not thousands of immortals working for him. Chapter 1417 Vacation Chapter 1417 Vacation Time passed, and eventually the day they were supposed to depart was just a single day away. Lex had three invites to the Expo, and hadn''t yet decided who to take with him, which is why he had arranged for a meeting among the few he thought would benefit most from going out into the universe. Every other arrangement had been made, but the only thing that Lex wasn''t able to prepare sufficiently for was hiding his Karma. He''d paid a tremendous price of a quarter drop of Jom''s heart''s blood to buy a tome from the Emporium that exined Karma in great detail. The tome was written by a Heavenly immortal who was trying to understand Karma long ago, and the exact details of the immortal were not exactly mentioned by the Emporium when it was sold. Either way, Lex spent a lot of effort learning about Karma himself, and from the tome and from the Temple of Fasting. Unfortunately, even with his tremendous perception and learning ability, the vast amount that he learnt was not nearly enough to figure out a way to hide his Karma. He even consulted a few other people, including the Celestial immortals Fahad and Noor. There was no solution to his predicament. It sucked, but then again, he was used to things going wrong. Ultimately, he used his limited understanding to create a seal on his body that would hide his Karma within. Unfortunately, he had a strong suspicion that those truly stronger than him would have no problem detecting the seal. Even if they could not see how much Karma he had hidden, they''d be able to detect something was amiss, which was more than enough to attract the wrong kind of attention. But it was still better than walking around with Karma out on disy. The door to the meeting room opened and a few of the Inn workers came in. Luthor was not present, for he was still busy with Ereboth. The evil, living once known as the insatiable was definitelypletely satiated by Luthor''s presence and probably wished for him to leave day and night, but the man was not willing to go. Aided by Ripley''s insight, he was determined to turn all 10 dungeons into a unique experience that could not be so easily ovee, and would definitely attract countless guests. Lex had no problem with that. Besides him, Anita and Qawain also didn''te, since they were not really interested in leaving the Inn until Anita had her baby. But besides those few, every other Inn worker who had reached the Immortal realm was invited to this meeting. When he saw how many of them there were, he couldn''t help but smile. Once upon a time, he dreaded the thought that someone in the Earth Immortal realm might cause problems in the Inn. Now, he''d like to see them try. Fortunately, the poption of beings above Earth Immortal was very small,paratively speaking. Even with the Midnight Games going on, very few Heavenly Immortals actually came to watch the event, and for that his guards that he had hired for the event would suffice. Celestial immortals were even rarer, which is why he usually got away with not having Celestial immortal guards - as well as the Innkeeper''s aura. "Hello all," Lex said once everyone had arrived, his voice cutting through the chatter in the room. "I have gathered you all here today for a very important event. I''m sure many, if not all of you already know about the New Age Expo. I already spread word for that a while ago." A soft murmur spread in the room as everyone confirmed. "Well, as you can all probably imagine, it''s time to select who should go to the Expo. Or rather, who wants to go. We only have 3 tickets, donated to us from Riley representing the Versalis Bank. This is a rare opportunity to enter a new, fully mature realm - even if it is for a short while." "What''s our task for the Expo?" one of the workers asked. "Will we be marketing for the Inn to a new realm?" Lex smiled, for he was now about to share histest idea with the group. He, personally, thought the idea was ingenious. "We have no task," Lex said. "Or, to be more specific, since the tickets were a donation and not directly something the Innkeeper asked us to participate in, I asked the Innkeeper if we could treat it as a vacation. He agreed. "Since the point of going to the Expo is to raise our exposure anyway, there''s no point in treating it like work. We might as well treat it like a vacation and enjoy ourselves. Unfortunately, we only have 3 tickets. But to make it fair for everyone else, even those not going to the Expo can take a vacation as well. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om "I''ve coordinated with some people I know, and made reservations in an amazing ce on the Dunya. You guys can go there whenever you wish, and increase your exposure that way." Lex grinned and waited for everyone''s reactions, but they weren''t the kind he had been expecting. Instead of being excited about the opportunity for a vacation, everyone just seemed tepid. After a couple of seconds of awkward silence, one person asked, "is it¡­ mandatory to go on vacation? Do we have to leave the Inn?" Lex scratched his head, unsure of how to answer. "I suppose not," he eventually said. "I just booked the vacation because I didn''t want anyone to feel left out. Considering we only have 3 tickets, I thought everyone would like the opportunity to go and explore the universe." Most of the workers just stared at each other, as if confirming whether the others felt the same way as they did. Eventually, one of them finally spoke up. "I get where you''reing from but¡­ who would want to leave the Inn? Even going to the Temple of Fasting seems like¡­ like a downgrade whenever we leave the realm." Lex was stumped, and more importantly dumbfounded that no one wanted to go on vacation. Suddenly he was reminded of the system''s chide about having no friends. Did no one want to go with him? Chapter 1418 Epitome of handsomeness Chapter 1418 Epitome of handsomeness n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om Lex felt like an arrow pierced his heart¡­ not really. Actually, it made sense that no one wanted to go. Even though he had stopped using the feature of the Inn that allowed him to purchase workers, he couldn''t ignore the fact that all of them had literally been created to be the perfect workers of the Inn. If that was the case, it only made sense that they did not want to leave the Inn unless explicitly for work. When they all ventured into the Origin realm to help him set up against Sanguis Pluvia, they were helping one of their own. But going on vacation¡­ didn''t really appeal to them. Secretly, Lex had been expecting this, and even hoped for it. "Well if no one wants to go that''s fine as well," Lex said. "I''ll still use one of the tickets, and I suppose since no one else wants to go I can just sell the other two and¡­" "No, no, you don''t need to do that," Velma said cheerily. "I''ll go with you! It sounds so exciting!" Velma was one of the most recent additions to the immortal realm, and it was a narrow admission. Cultivation was not really her strong suit and she had not paid it too much attention. Ironically, the moment she became an Immortal, she suddenly became one of the strongest immortals Lex had ever seen, so much so that even he felt a dangerous aura from her, despite the fact that she was just at the beginning of the realm. He strongly suspected that it was because of the t that she had chosen for herself. The t she had chosen¡­ was Gossip. Like Lex, she only had one t, and her control over her t was so amazing that she had identally discovered Lawcraft while writing an anonymous entry for her own magazine about a cute love story she witnessed. It was ridiculous because she named her newly created technique Cupid''s Arrow, and from that Lex sensed immense danger - though that was not danger for his life, but the danger of getting caught in teenage romance type drama! She also developed a sixth sense, much like Lex''s. But the difference was that instead of sensing life threatening danger, his instincts sensed romance. Lex sighed. He suspected that she had sensed his intention to¡­ try and practice his flirting at the Expo. "That''s great," Lex said. "In that case there''s still one ticket left. We can just sell that¡­" "That''s absurd," said Gerard. "I cannot, in good conscience, send you two children out into the universe alone. I will apany you." Lex was forced to look away, and not just to hide the immense disappointment in his eyes. He wanted to sell those tickets and make some MP, or maybe even some MT. But now he had no excuse to do that. But that was only a part of the reason he looked away. The other part was¡­ Regalia Bloom. It was the first bloodline that was unlocked for his workers, and it was an absolutely broken one. It allowed the bloodline wielder to channel energy through any item they touched, and the amount of energy they could channel seemed almost limitless. It was an extremely potent weapon. But the most lethal thing about that bloodline¡­ was that any and all who had it looked more and more handsome or beautiful, and there was no one whose bloodline was stronger than Gerard. The man had undergone multiple bloodline activations and mutations, and not only was he an absolute menace to battle - Lex had tried that already - he was the epitome of mature handsomeness. Despite cultivating, he was never able topletely eliminate his older, more mature appearance though he definitely looked younger. Yet that maturity did not make him look old. Rather, it made him look wise, experienced, and a number of other things Lex didn''t want to think about. How was he supposed to practice flirting with these two around him? Would any girl even look at him while he was standing next to Gerard? It was not that Lex wasn''t handsome. Far from it, in fact, for he had an irresistible charm that few could rival. Unfortunately, Gerard could absolutely rival it. "It''s settled then," Lex said. "The three of us will head out tomorrow. Pack anything you might need. This should be a fun trip." The meeting went on for a little while longer, while everyone else chatted. Now that the matter was resolved, and they themselves didn''t have to go, everyone was suddenly interested in giving the three of them ideas for what to do at the Expo. Yet as he listened to one of the workers suggest to Velma that she should scout for a race that would make ideal lifeguards for theva pools at the Inn, Lex was suddenly grateful that it was Velma and Gerard joining him and not the others. For one, many of the others carried a bloodline that Lex had recently realized was a lot more dangerous than it appeared. Anachronistic Ignition was the second bloodline the workers could get, and only recently did Lex realize how absurdly dangerous it was. The bloodline literally affected the rules of time, somehow without killing or negatively affecting the user at all. He was not one to experiment on his own workers, but if others found out about it outside the Inn, he had no doubt that many would want to kidnap them to study their bloodline. If anyone could learn anything about thews of time from their bloodline, it would be worth any amount of trouble, which is why Lex wanted to avoid taking them out. That was another reason he had turned the Expo into a vacation. He was sure it would dissuade them. "We''ll meet up at the Midnight manor tomorrow. I have a few other things to do first," said Lex as he exited the meeting, and teleported away. When he reappeared, he was in front of Moon, who was still sleeping. "Hey sis," Lex said, though he expected no response. "Guess what I recently found out?" Chapter 1419 Offloading Karma Chapter 1419 Offloading Karma Naturally, Moon did not respond. She was sleeping, as she fused with her world which was also bing a realm. It would be a long time before she woke up, which honestly sucked for Lex a bit. They''d eventually reconnect, should nothing unexpected happen, but by then Lex would have lived a long life, whereas Moon would still have the mere experience of a few decades. The difference between them would be immense. "Someone recently told me that I am carrying an immense amount of Karma," Lex said. He did not even know if Moon could hear him, or if she would remember this conversation. But from time to time, Lex came and chatted with both Moon and Liz. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1420 Will never believe in flags\ Chapter 1420 Will never believe in gs "On a brighter note, I''m heading to a new major realm," Lex suddenly said, a smile appearing on his face. It was as if he wasn''t talking about killing his own parents just moments ago. "Look I don''t know if you can hear me or not, but I was thinking that it''s been a while since Ist dated someone, so I should probably start looking again. In this new realm, where literally no one knows me and I probably won''t return to any time soon, I''m going to practice asking people out. I know I''ll probably embarrass myself, but that''s exactly why I''m thinking of practicing¡­" Before Lex couldplete his sentence, he saw a bright sh out light. His eyes were forced shut, and amazingly, even his spirit sense was momentarily blinded. When his vision returned, he seemed to be overlooking a flourishing city, though he couldn''t see too clearly. Though the city seemed unfamiliar, a castle in the mountains nearby looked very familiar. That was where he found Moon. Before he could figure out his exact situation, he heard Moon''s echoing voice, as ifing from far away. "Lex Williams, even trapped and alone on Yildrim, I heard stories about how disastrous yourst rtionship in college was. So if you''re thinking of dating again, please, for the sake of everything good in this world, take pictures so that I canugh at you when I''m done. Also, tell Z I said hi." Before he could respond, the vision ended, and he was back in the room, looking over Moon sleeping. He raised a trembling finger, ready to scold the heck out of Moon, but then just sighed. "Sleep well kid. I''ll take a lot of pictures for you when you wake up." There were quite a few hours left before Lex had to depart to the Expo, so he quickly teleported over to the Emporium and bought a proid camera, but one that never ran out paper to print, with each picture printed a spiritual treasure that could be preserved eternally as long as it is nourished with spiritual energy. He also bought a scrapbook. Before leaving, he took a selfie with Powell, who was actually quite ttered that Lex took a picture with him. Apparently, he had never taken a picture of himself before. Upon returning to the Inn, he decided to take a few more pictures of some of its main attractions. Being an older brother, he took his responsibilities seriously, which is why he appeared back in the room with Moon and drew sses and a moustache on her face, before taking another picture of himself with Moon. He thought about doing the same to Liz, but then considering her already distant behaviour with him, decided not to. He then stuck all the pictures in the scrapbook and wrote small captions or introductions under the pictures before storing everything away. Since he was worried about the distance between him and Moon building, one way to avoid it was to document his life journey and share it with her when she woke up. He generally didn''t care about others too much, but he wanted to maintain the sibling bond he and Moon shared. But all that sentimental stuff aside, he was more than ready for a vacation. That is not to say that Lex didn''t have a million things to do, but gaining exposure of the universe atrge and taking a vacation were not mutually exclusive, so there was no reason he could not do both. He deserved a break after orchestrating the fall of a realm wide terrorist organization after all. The next day, Lex, Velma and Gerard gathered within the Midnight manor, ready to depart. "Do we know what to expect?" Velma asked excitedly. Oddly enough, she was wearing a backpack, and though Lex was polite enough to not check the contents of the bag, he could easily guess that it contained notebooks. "Ripley will meet us here and take us to the Versalis Bank, and from there we''ll head to the new realm. Hey, I hope you don''t mind me asking, but why are you wearing a backpack? Don''t you have a stapial ring?" "I do, but I did somest minute studying with Z and we checked out all the adventure anime that he has. The main character always has a backpack before heading off on a long, adventure filled journey. It''s a tradition, and I like it." It was as good a reason as any. "Having traditions is nice," Gerard said, nodding. "I decided to use a handkerchief given to me by Lilith as a pocket square while heading out. From what I understand, it''s a bad omen to carry a picture of your beloved in your wallet or your hat - something about raising death gs or somethin of the sort. In that case, a handkerchief to remember her on my travels sounds like a good idea." "It''s cute that you guys are doing this," Lex said as he pulled out his proid. "As it happens, I''m making a scrapbook for my sister of my travels. I guess if I keep doing this, this will be a tradition of sorts too. Want to take a picture?" Gerard and Velma were more than delighted to take a picture, so the three of them posed in front of the manor. "We should give out such cameras to our guests whoe to the Inn for a date," Velma said as she looked at the picture. "Look at that. We haven''t even left yet, and we''re alreadying up with new ideas for the Inn," Lex said with a smile. "You''re all here! Sorry for keeping you waiting!" Ripley said as he jogged up to them from a distance. "If everyone''s ready shall we depart? No point in waiting." "Yes, let''s go," confirmed Gerard. Lex could not help but feel excited for this trip, even though honestly an Expo was not technically an ideal vacation spot. Even so, it had been far too long since he did something just for fun like this. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om It was a good thing Lex didn''t believe in raising gs, or else he might have considered the overly friendly and happy way this trip was beginning to be a g for ominous things to follow. Yes, good thing he didn''t believe. Chapter 1421 Inter-realm travel Chapter 1421 Inter-realm travel Since neither Lex nor the others had ever been to the Versalis Bank before, within the Origin realm or anywhere else, they could not directly go there from the Inn, nor did Ripley expect them to. Instead, they first all went to Dunya. This was not a problem since during this long period, Lex had gone to Dunya and connected it to the Inn, finally. As one of thes with an incredibly high star rating in the realm, it was a central hub, and thus an important point for the Inn to be connected to. Also, Lex had nned the workerspensation vacation here, so it needed to be connected anyway. Even though that vacation didn''t end up happening, since most workers didn''t want to go, he still had to put in sufficient work in case someone wanted to go. He also finallypleted the quest that told him to connect the to the Inn, but since it took him over a decade toplete the quest, his quest rating was pathetically low and he didn''t get a reward worth mentioning. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1422 Is that supposed to happen? Chapter 1422 Is that supposed to happen? Gerard and Velma merely nodded, as if it was just to be expected that others could not see through the Innkeeper. How could the Innkeeper dare to say that his Inn is the best in the universe if he did not have the confidence to take on the universe? Lex, on the other hand, thought of the deeper implications of Ripley''s words. A hierarchy of power began to develop in Lex''s mind of the universe, though for now everything about it was very vague. Any true organization or even race that wished to establish a foundation in the universe must have, at the very least, a Dao Lord. So to be worth anything at all, even barely worth notice, in the universe the lowest level of power was to have a Dao Lord. Then came organisations and races that had a number of Dao Lords, after which came those who controlled a major realm. Just like having a Dao Lord was a benchmark, controlling a major realm was also some kind of benchmark, and differentiated those strong enough to have one, and those who weren''t. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1423 Made it personal Chapter 1423 Made it personal One would think that seeing a small crack in the ss container that was protecting everyone from the burden of inter-realm travel would be rming and distressing, but none of them reacted like that. With the confidence they had in their own as well as their partners abilities,bined with the knowledge that if things went poorly they could just return to the Inn, neither Velma nor Gerard were afraid for their safety. Lex didn''t care about environmental damage at all for he had the almighty Bathroom slippers, and quite frankly, he was a little interested to know who had the guts and audacity to attack the Versalis Bank. There was also the fact that his instincts weren''t warning him of any danger, but Lex did not put as much stock in that as he once used to. Finally, Ripley was wearing so many protective items given to him by the bank that he doubted he could get hurt even if he wanted to. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1424 Only just beginning Chapter 1424 Only just beginning The container they were in was made of ss, but it need not be said that this was far from ordinary ss. Lex did not know the specifics of the ss, but it definitely needed to be strong enough to resist whatever pressure was exerted from long distance teleportation through the Void. Considering that the Void was dangerous to just about everyone, at minimum the ss container needed to have defense at the immortal level. If Lex had to take an arbitrary guess, he would say that it was probably at the level of a Celestial Immortal. For Lex to believe that he could improve the defense of an item at the Celestial level was more than a little arrogant. But that''s not what Lex was doing. He didn''t need to improve the defense of the entire container. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1425 Dont reveal yourselves Chapter 1425 Don''t reveal yourselves It went without saying that, leaving from the Inn, Lex was dressed in a suit, simr to Gerard. Considering the growing skill of Geeves, there was nothing like wearing a custom made suit that he had made, even ignoring the many augmentative benefits the suit itself provided. As such, when their container reached their destination, and the group saw the chaos in front of them, it looked like they hade to a disaster relief site in formal wear. The hall they arrived in seemed to be a generding site for these ss containers. Or rather, this was probably the room where the teleportation formation on the receiving end of inter-realm travel sent all the containers once they arrived within the Uzuz realm. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1426 Nervous Chapter 1426 Nervous The three of them sat in their container, waiting for someone toe see to them. Technically, considering that those from other containers were out and about, causing a ruckus, they should have also been allowed to leave. But the fact that they hadn''t suffered any harm at all, save for a small crack on their container, was highly suspicious. As guests, they would not be questioned out right, but it was best to cooperate with the bank to avoid any unnecessary problems. After all,ter on, Lex would be relying on the bank as his backing, since he was hiding his origin from the Midnight Inn. They talked among themselves, most about what they saw in the hall. One of the things that Lex had toe to terms with was that many races were ''humanoid'' in the sense that they had legs, a torso and anywhere from zero to six hands. Oh, there was asionally also a head. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1427 Her Chapter 1427 Her The conference room was notrge, just enough for a round table that could hold about ten people, as well as a few cupboards. There was arge window, looking out to a courtyard some stories down below, with various people passing through it. The room, like all the other conference rooms, had been designed to create a soothing and peaceful environment so that all meetings could be conducted in afortable environment. After all, it was entirely normal for meetings to run on for days or weeks at a time. With most employees as immortals, their concept of time was vastly different from that of mortals, so the timetables they operated under were also different. Bagheera himself had held numerous meetings in simr conference rooms, and this was the first time he felt anything other thanfortable. Yet his professionalism didn''t allow him to disy that. But the poor Obsidian Scaled Panther was wasting his effort, for the inherent nature of Velma''s t meant that she saw the universe differently from the rest. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1428 Interviews go wrong Chapter 1428 Interviews go wrong Seen objectively, Velma hadn''t really said anything odd or unusual. Nor was there any need for Bagheera to be so disturbed. But his immense apprehension was as a result of his very essence being revealed to someone else, one secret at a time. The real problem was that Bagheera, an Immortal, fully equipped with various gear and items provided to him by the bank, was having his secrets revealed without his knowledge. Moreover, though he was questioning Vivian, he knew that he couldn''t really coerce or harm her in any way, since technically they were at fault. Every single person who could take a sponsorship from the bank was exceedingly well connected. Much more importantly, they had already tried remotely scanning the karma on Vivian and herpanions to get a read of their involvement in the matter, if there was any. What their scan revealed was that each of them was carrying an item with a Dao Lords aura, which meant that nothing about them could be discerned. Though it did not appear so, the three of them were in a position of power, not Bagheera or the rest from the bank. So, the psychological pressure of knowing that he could not retaliate or defend himself in any way,bined with the knowledge that Vivian was backed by a Dao Lord, furtherbined with Vivian secretly hinting at knowing her private secret¡­ well let''s just say Bagheera had seen better days. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1429 Inspiration Chapter 1429 Inspiration The meeting ended up being a lot longer than Lex originally expected, mostly because he was doing the respectable thing by letting the panther talk as much as he wanted about the containers. Who was he to refuse the panther? The poor fellow was probably distraught over the countless containers that were destroyed in the recent attack on the bank. Considering the immense cost of the container, it only made sense that the loss or damage of even a single one was immense. During the process, Lex also understood why exactly he was able to disy such a formidable strength. He had not hidden anything, and had openly revealed that he had strengthened the defense of the container, but the result was far stronger than Lex anticipated. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1430 Causing a scene Chapter 1430 Causing a scene Velma and Gerard looked at the Ko with curiosity, but only Lex was grimacing. An environmental activist. They used one''s own guilt, coercing them into donating their own hard earned money, making them feel terrible for even living for all the contribution they were doing to pollution. Considering the fact that they were working for the environment, Lex should have felt like they were a necessary evil. After all, without a safe environment people also cannot survive. But the thing that Lex found most distasteful about them was that they focus on the wrong things. Even removing all the stic straws in the world would not improve the environment as long as celebrities took private jets on fifteen minute flights just to avoid traffic. The contribution of a single celebrity or wealthy person to pollution could rival that of millions of ordinary people, so why were the ordinary people being made to feel guilty? This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1431 We should avoid getting involved Chapter 1431 We should avoid getting involved Lex had long been disillusioned to his own reality. He knew he wasn''t exactly a good guy based on the traditional definition of things. Although he tried to avoid killing people, the number of beings who had died by his hand was so immense that he actually had no idea what the number was. At the same time, he usually took a bit of pleasure in making his enemies feel hopeless. In watching them build up hope after almost peeling away defenses, only to realize that his body was, in every metric, much stronger than the actual armor that he wore. But such things were reserved only for his enemies. Lex did his best to stay polite and amicable towards people on an ordinary basis, and though he had goaded the panther a bit into revealing details about the ss containers they arrived in, the way that Lex saw it, the bank owed him that much after getting him involved in some random confrontation. So, in essence, Lex was usually a good guy, and if he ever needed to be bad or mean, he tried to reserve it for his enemies. But what was happening in front of him was a level of torture Lex could neither have imagined being orchestrated by one of hispanions. He looked over to Velma, and saw her smirking. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1432 Liam Chapter 1432 Liam The tiger that attacked was somewhere near the very peak of the Earth Immortal realm, but not quite there. If Lex had to guess, he would say the tiger was either a level 7 or 8 Earth Immortal. Bagheera, on the other hand, was closer to the middle of the Earth Immortal realm, maybe a level 4 or 5. Of course, strength could not be measured merely by levels, but with Bagheera''s personality the way it was, it was better to assume that his strength did not surpass what it appeared to be on the surface. Ironically, it was the tigress who had the highest cultivation of the three, undeniably at the very peak of the Earth Immortal realm. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1433 Danger analysis I Chapter 1433 Danger analysis I It was a harmless question, though everyone could tell that one of the reasons Bagheera wanted to lead them away was because he did not want to have a private conversation with Mira in front of them. Of course, Lex almost immediately also sensed that there was more to the situation than appeared at a nce. His vast experience innding in the most troublesome situation possible led him to immediately conclude that Mira''s background was not as simple as it appeared, and that the Red Heart n she originated from was deeply involved with the bank on numerous levels. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1434 Danger analysis II Chapter 1434 Danger analysis II Lex could not even begin to imagine what such a situation was like, nor did he try. "Hey Mary, do you know anything about the Universal Mandate?" Lex asked. "Yes, I know it exists," she said. "But beyond that, it was a little out of my reach. Even the head of the Celestial Court is not qualified to look at the Universal Mandate. Perhaps the leader of the entire Humanoid Alliance would be qualified, but such matters were far too removed from me to ever concern me." This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1435 Plots within plots Chapter 1435 Plots within plots The constant uses of her did not at all confuse Lex. It was obvious that ''her'' would change upon who was using it. Just like Bagheera used ''her'' to refer to Mira, his girlfriend, Gerard also used ''her'' to refer to his own girlfriend: Lilith. Lex looked at the piece of paper, and saw some words written on it. ''The Versalis Bank and the Humanoid Alliance have recently had a falling out. They''ve been confronting the Celestials, and have started funding businesses that are anti-Angel interest. Be careful not to get targeted.'' This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1436 Seraphines Chapter 1436 Seraphines The two Rhinocentaurs had been living a decent enough life, but they were having an early life crisis at the same time. They were effectively prisoners in the Midnight Inn, not that they went around telling people that. There was no point in antagonizing his jailers. But living in this prison had over the years not only advanced their cultivation, but also improved their cultivation talent. They were much stronger now than they were before, healthier than before, and had greater chances of raising their cultivation level to a higher ceiling. The most absurd thing was that they didn''t have to do anything special to achieve this - they merely had to live in the Inn for it. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1437 New kid on the block I Chapter 1437 New kid on the block I "Who are the Seraphines?" Lex asked Mary, once she shared all the news sent by the Rhinocentaurs. "Yeah, just in case someone asked, the Rhinocentaurs left a small note on the side of the report," she said, fixing the sses she was wearing. Right now, she was dressed up as the secretary. "I must say, they''ve been doing a good jobtely. Their reports are very thorough and detailed - a lot better than when they just started. Let''s see, it says here that the Seraphines are arge race group with a dominant presence in the universe, simr to the Hellions and the Humanoid alliance. Just as the Hellions are heavily rted to the various hells in the universe, the Seraphines are rted to the various Heavens." Lex rubbed his chin while he connected the dots. It seemed too obvious. The bank was seemingly participating heavily in anti-Angel ventures, while their partners, the Artica race, were about to ally with the Seraphines, who are rted to Heaven. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1438 New kid on the block II Chapter 1438 New kid on the block II Imex''sst statement caused quite a stir, as many of the sponsorees began to murmur amongst themselves. Most of them sounded offended that Imex even thought that they would need such protection, which let Lex know that these were exactly the kind of people this warning had been for. Every single being here came from a powerful background, most likely near or at the Dao level. Despite how rare Dao Lords were, when considered on a universal scale, it made sense that there would be a lot of them. As such, there were naturally a lot of Dao level organizations. Lex was not surprised at all that anyone from such a prestigious background would be prideful, but in his opinion that was false pride. What was the point of that pride when it relied entirely on someone else? They did not understand the pressure one had to face to keep them safe without the presence of a Dao Lord. They did not know how vulnerable and weak they would be. Moreover, the power scale of Dao Lords wasplexand it was not easy to determine who was stronger or weaker - at least for simple Immortals like them. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1439 Deep waters Chapter 1439 Deep waters The first day of briefingssted ten hours, after which Lex and the rest were sent back so that they could rest and absorb the information. For immortals, ten hours was far from enough to tire them out, so in reality the break was so that they could discuss and contemte amongst themselves and their teams how they would proceed. Lex, too, had things to think about. For the majority of the briefing, Lex discovered that he found thews and rules made a lot of sense and were fair, but when umted together, such fairness somehow turned into an extremely constrictive environment. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1440 The captain has lost his mind Chapter 1440 The captain has lost his mind The three of them talked for a while longer before splitting to do their own things within the short break that they had, before being taken back once more. The venue was the same, and once again the person, or rather elemental, who was briefing them was Imex. "Today, we will go over the segments involved in the Expo, what to expect in them, and their timeline. Right off the bat, I should begin by informing you that the Expo is intended to be five years long, and the Artica realm has been preparing for it for over a century, so there is a lot to look forward to. "An entire star system has been specifically and specially prepared for the Expo, and under ordinary circumstances, all attendees will have permission to explore anywhere within the boundaries of that star system. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1441 Meetings in the dark I Chapter 1441 Meetings in the dark I Time was the most basic fundamental for all of existence, and yet it was not something that could easily be exined or understood. Mortals had their own ideas about it, and immortals their own. Even beings of Dao discussed time, yet even they only dared to discuss it, and none imed to have mastered it. The flow of time varied between realms, and the farther they were from maturity, the faster their flow of time was. It was for that reason that when the Midnight Realm was formed, Lex saw millions of years pass by as if mere seconds were passing. Time was the one single constant in the entire universe, yet the flow of time was not constant anywhere. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1442 Meetings in the dark II Chapter 1442 Meetings in the dark II "Are we sure this will be enough?" asked an Oolin, leaning forward, the lines of power on his body shining with a deep green hue. "Why don''t we bring in this ''Innkeeper'' who has triggered this change, unintentionally, as you im? With reports that he''s created a new bastion of human potential, surpassing the heritage of those descended directly from the first Kings, it is already clear that he is nurturing humans. "I''ve also heard rumors that he is a master maniptor of Karma, and ording to thetest internal report published in the Versalis Bank, it is suspected that he is nurturing a Seat of Power for himself. Such a being would surely increase the chances of our sess greatly. Considering the fact that Ballom suspects he is the one kicking up a mess, confusing those who observe Karma, and obscuring the Destiny of the human race. I''ve heard much about the man whose eyes, ck and gold, one to see the secrets of the universe and one to control them, were seen across the universe. I don''t see why someone like that hasn''t been approached yet." Suddenly, the room went silent. It was an unspoken question so far, but it had finally been voiced, in a way. Knowingly or unknowingly, the Innkeeper had not only expedited their ns, he had also made them possible to begin with. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1443 Goldilocks Chapter 1443 Goldilocks There were only three days of briefings left, and Lex was fully motivated to begin his shenanigans, perfectly creating the appearance of someone uninterested in learning more about the Artica realm. In truth, he was still paying attention, for everything he learned would help Jack if and when he was able to arrive in the Artica realm. The greatest trouble was finding a way for Jack to arrive, but the fairy pirate had a n. "Captain, the gravity eels are gaining on us," said Tiny-Sparkles, the unicorn suffering from dwarfism. His deep, reverberating voice caused a portion of the Jolly Rancher to tremble. The ship was being strengthened to survive the Void, which only barely made it capable of suffering Tiny-Sparkles voice. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1444 I have a plan Chapter 1444 I have a n Only the sound of wind could be heard above the sea of Golden Clouds, as everyone on the ship had hushed up. This was not the first time Goldilocks had directly disrupted the captains ns, and if it weren''t for the fact that the ducks golden body seemed impervious to damage, they would have already tasted duck soup. The duck was both a source of great wealth and disaster, for the gold it transmuted things into was not ordinary gold. No, it was Nether Lily Gold, which was an invaluable metal that approached the hypothetical limit of spiritual energy conductivity. An ounce of that metal could buy a back in the Origin realm. Unfortunately, things in the Folklore realm didn''t actually operate like other realms, and there was basically no market for this metal that could otherwise set off wars anywhere else in the universe. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1445 Five percent of my true power Chapter 1445 Five percent of my true power While Jack was devising a way to grow in strength, Lex had also considered what his own growth would look like. As an immortal he already had a t, and it was slowly and steadily growing stronger. He could already see and understandws, and manipte them within reason. He could create formations with the blink of an eye, and couldpletely rewrite how the world worked ording to his whims. Of course, all of this was only true within reason, but when considering that the one the reason is being applied to is Lex, the scale itself became muchrger. That is to say, he was strong, and didn''t see any obvious weakness in himself. As such, he wondered what he would gain when he reached the Heavenly Immortal realm. So far, each realm yed a fundamental part in his growth, each distinct from the others. The answer was actually pretty easy. Predictably, there was an order tows, just as there was an order to energies. Certainws were Base levelws, present everywhere in the universe. Then, there were Fundamentalws, which were slightly more esoteric but at the same time present everywhere in the universe, and made up the functionality that allowed basews to exist. Fundamentalws were superior to Basews in terms of hierarchy. Simrly, there were a number of other sets ofws, each with their own ce in the hierarchy ofws, such as Natural Laws, Prime Laws, and so forth. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1446 Its a date Chapter 1446 It''s a date Lex was, of course, joking. It was tough to quantify the amount of strength he was using because, firstly, he was not aputer, and secondly, his maximum strength depended on a lot of things. Individually he understood how much of a boost in strength he would get if he used Domination, or activated his Dragons Heart, entered Super Say- eh, no if he entered his Lotus form where he was tapping into the Lotus'' power. But if he stacked all of those states on top of each other? He literally had no idea how much strength he could exert in a situation like that, because that was not the kind of thing he tested out ordinarily. Disying his peak strength like that all the time put a strain on his body that wasn''t good for him, so he avoided unnecessary exertion. Of course, in this state not being good for him meant it would slow down his growth. This was because almost everyday, his body was subtly getting stronger due to the influence of numerous things. Whether it was his heart, the Lotus on his back, his cultivation technique, the high quality food he ate, or any of the numerous other things he did on a daily basis, almost all of them helped him grow just a little bit stronger everyday. There was also the fact that as an immortal, he drew much of his strength fromws, and now that he was in a Mature realm, the strength of the surroundingws was also greater. In summary, whether Lex was actually using 5% of his strength was questionable, but he could say for certain that he wasn''t trying just yet. After all, he didn''t want to be rude to the prettydy. "You''re pretty funny," the elf said. "I guess that means I should stop ying games." This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1447 Compensation Chapter 1447 Compensation Lex did not know which of the various critical pieces of information before him to focus on. Should he focus on the fact that he just asked out the representative of a terrorist organization, though he understood the world well enough to know that just because they had beenbeled as terrorists, they might not actually be evil. The conflict of interest between the Henali and the Fuegan was actually causing everyone else to suffer. Then again, the Fuegan had nurtured numerous Joms, were conducting a war across the realm and were responsible for the death of countless beings. Yes, on second thought, they were definitely evil. He could also choose to focus on the fact that the Fuegan United Coalition of Kaos formed a very interesting acronym. He couldn''t help but feel this was a deliberate choice by someone. Or, and this one was a major contender, he could focus on how cute Misha looked as she tried, and failed, to hide her disappointment in losing. He definitely had a thing for redheads. "My name is Lance," said Lex. "Lance Armstrong." This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1448 A significant moment Chapter 1448 A significant moment The interior of the ship ended up being a lot different from what Lex expected. He assumed that they would be assigned rooms and maybe have amon area, while the rest of it would be used by the staff to man the ship. That, it turned out, was entirely wrong. It seemed like this ship was often used to transport the bank''s own employees or guests between realms, and so it was more like a massive mall than anything else. The shops were all either bank affiliated organizations, business partners and groups who had shared interests with the bank. By disying all of these shops within the ship, where they would be spending some time, the bank provided them with free marketing and exposure to new potential clients. Ordinarily, when the ship would travel through the Void on a normal journey, there would be months or even years for everyone to explore the entirety of the ship properly. Now, however, the entire ship would be transported through a massive inter-realm teleportation formation, so the time would be cut short by a lot. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1449 A board game. Chapter 1449 A board game. "What''s wrong, Axios?" asked one of the others sitting in the ship, the voice carrying a sharpness that would actually give an electric shock to those that heard. The strange thing was that the man who spoke had no lips, just like all the others within the ship. His face had the same contours of a human face, but it was in without any actual features. There were no eyes, no lips, no nose - as if a cloth had covered a human face. The only thing he did have were small hexagons etched into both sides of his face with light blue lines, as if there was electric energy running through them, onto the much darker navy blue skin. The hexagons on Axios'' face were shining much brighter than normal, indicating a heavier use of energy than normal. "I don''t know," Axios responded after a few seconds of silence. "I saw someone who caused significant fluctuations in my Energy Shard. I could not get an energy reading on him, but I sense that he is quite dangerous." This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1450 Welcome Village Chapter 1450 Wee Vige "Why does it take so long to link a Major realm?" Lex asked, though he could venture a guess. "Compared to a realm like the Crystal realm, which is still developing, the pressure exerted by a Major realm is vastly greater, making it much more difficult to create a link," said Mary. "That is why you have to spend 1000 years inside the Major realm to create the bond. But that''s also because, firstly, the system is not yet at full operating functionality and, secondly, linking a Major realm will usually involvepleting quests rather than just spending time there. "The fact that, even aftering to two new Major realms the system has not given you any new quests pertaining to them is likely an indication that the system cannot support the load of linking to and maintaining a connection to a Major realm." "Fortunately I''m not in any rush to restore the system. If it were any better, then it might force more dangerous quests on me," Lex said teasingly, just to see if the system gave him any quests. It did not. Another reason Lex was not in a rush to heal the system was because eventually, over the course of thousands of years, the system would heal itself. He would much rather just take things slow and allow the system to heal than feed it other, Dao level ingredients. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1451 Contemplation Chapter 1451 Contemtion Lex was not frowning, and even had a hint of a smile on his face as he looked out the window towards the asteroid belt they were heading towards. Velma and Gerard, however, could tell that he was still extremely distracted, and possibly even concerned. While he still gave off a nonchnt vibe, the fact that he was ying with a small treasure, simr to a pen in shape and size, was highly concerning. He may as well have been fidgeting. Of course, Lex was not ying with a toy. What others could not recognize was that Lex had shrunk Naraka, and put it in a scabbard, making it look like a pen. He was ying with it in his fingers to the eyes of others, but in fact he was imbuing the sword with his sword intent, packing as much of it into the sword as he could. Even though the odd feeling from earlier had gone away, Lex could not dismiss it. He did not understand what had caused that feeling, or the image of a Go board in his mind, but it did not change the fact that something had definitely triggered that reaction. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1452 The game is afoot Chapter 1452 The game is afoot Lex stepped out of the ship and onto a scene from a scifi movie! The Wee Vige in the Azure Field Asteroid Belt was, obviously, built on a particrlyrge asteroid piece. However, instead of looking grey and deste, as one would expect from an asteroid, there were countless highrises, floating mini-inds all around, thousands of small ships flying around, and an overall vibrant cityscape. The azure field all around made the surrounding void look like a beautiful blue sky, and there were even birds flying around in the void to make it seem much more normal than one would expect. Upon closer view, Lex realized that the birds were actually pterodactyls! Their beautiful and colorful plume made it so that they looked nothing like they had been depicted in movies from Earth. Then again, none of the Earthen movies had considered that T-rex''s were feathery magicians either. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1453 Worthy opponent Chapter 1453 Worthy opponent The moment Lex epted the invitation, the image of the Go board appeared in his mind again. Three ck pieces of stone, like polished onyx, smooth to the touch, reflecting the faintest gleam of light like a distant moon in the midnight sky, appeared on the board. The first piece was right opposite to the single white piece, as if in direct confrontation, while the other two were each on a higher level! All of a sudden, Lex had gained an advantage in the game that they were ying. But now that he had gained an advantage, Lex became aware of just how fleeting and feeble an advantage he had for the depth and strategy of this game seemed somewhat beyond the limits of even his impressive mind! This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1454 Radiation Chapter 1454 Radiation The asteroid field was actually quite interesting, and the energy rich atmosphere gave birth to many unique nts and creatures that could only exist within the azure field which were interesting to interact with. Since the field acted simr to a maic field, but for materials other than metals, it created a unique opportunity where various minerals could be used to achieve amazing effects. The energy consumption for the cities within the asteroid field was also negligible, for they had a spiritual energy version of generators! Using a few kinds of rocks that could easily be found within the Artica realm, the generators could use the influence of the field to generate spiritual energy the way generators on earth created electricity! Of course, the engines within those generators were slightly moreplex than thebustion engines used on earth, and made use of some advanced formations. As such, creating them was expensive - but once they were made, they could be used for a very long time. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone! Chapter 1455 Teenager ? Chapter 1455 Teenager Once he was sure that all of them had gotten used to the concentrated azure field within the pce, Lex took a step forward. Just as he anticipated, the concentration of the field grew stronger after a single step, thus increasing the spread of his rash, and would continue to get stronger until they reached the very center of the pce. He did not know if this was meant to be some kind of test - to see how far they coulde, or if they would opt for the easier option of the hazmat suit - but he personally had no intentions of stopping. Since the danger wasn''t immediate, and the damage wasn''t permanent, he was more than willing to use this as an opportunity to train. It was because Lex never let an opportunity to grow stronger pass him by that he had umted so many advantages. If he needed to suffer for it a little, so be it. If he needed to suffer for it a lot, then he''d endure that too. That was in no way an acknowledgment of him being a masochist. Lex quickly shared his guess with the others, but neither Gerard nor Velma were interested in escaping to thefort of a protective suit just yet. They would, at the very least, go until they found their limits. Ideally, they would even break through them. Lex had to admit, tolerating a field meant for someone two boundaries above him was not nearly as fun as it made out to be. It reminded him of the time Dragons Might nearly crushed his very being. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1456 Dao Heart ? Chapter 1456 Dao Heart A teenager he may be mentally, but it was an undeniable fact that Bedford was a Celestial Immortal. Whether it was true or not, it was better to believe that no Celestial Immortal was anything less than a genius. Considering that Bedford was even a Dao seed, and had been since he was a mortal, it was undeniable that his genius far surpassed anything Lex had ever achieved. Sure, he caused an anomaly every time he broke through, but when that waspared to someone who had discovered his Dao as a mortal - whatever that meant. - he did not even deserve to be called a genius. Fortunately he kept meeting beings who were immeasurably more powerful than him, which is why he never really became arrogant about his own power. The point was that underestimating Bedford, or believing for even the briefest of moments that they could somehow take advantage of him, would be a grave mistake. To extract valuable information from him, one needed to be entirely sincere whilst also knowing the appropriate limits of what to ask and what not to ask. In essence, this was the perfect job for Velma. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1457 Depths of the ocean Chapter 1457 Depths of the ocean No. Bedford knew that technically it was theoretically possible, but he found it inconceivable that the human in front of him had no ulterior motive save to learn a little about Dao Hearts and how to enter the Dao Lord realm. This information, while rare, would be avable to him once he entered the Celestial realm anyway. He saw no reason why he would need that information beforehand. Bedford was confident enough to say that he was the only one to have developed a Dao Heart before bing a Celestial Immortal for billions of years, and it would likely be billions more before the feat could be replicated, if it could ever be replicated at all. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1458 Treasure is treasure, cursed or not! Chapter 1458 Treasure is treasure, cursed or not! He remained confused about what he sensed, true, but it did not bother him. Could that mean Lex had already formed in Dao Heart? If taken a step further, could he already have discovered his Dao, and it turned out to be rted to Time? Was it so overbearing that he had to seal the memory of it until he was stronger? Lex always knew he was a proverbial badass, but this was a little too much, no? Lex allowed himself to daydream a little longer, beforeing back to reality. He did not actually think he had a Dao Heart or that he discovered his Dao. Instead, he felt that having fused a Dao level ingredient into his body had given him a level of immunity to it. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1459 Cultivation Deviation Chapter 1459 Cultivation Deviation "It has been a pleasure," Bedford said as he walked the group to the door of the pce. "Don''t forget to visit the Well of Frozen Wishes before you leave." "Likewise," said Lex. "I don''t know if we''ll have an opportunity to meet again any time soon, considering you''re locked in here, but when we both be Dao Lords maybe we can catch up." "I''ll hold you to that," Bedford said with a chuckle, though he did not really believe it could happen. Forget the fact that there were no known human Dao Lords, there wasn''t even any guarantee that Bedofrd could be one. The trial he''d have to undergo to transition from a Celestial Immortal to a Dao Lord was far from harmless. The others also said their farewell, before exiting the Baptism Pce, and finally getting a reprieve from the onught of the azure field. They had spent about a day chatting inside, and at this point Gerard was incredibly fatigued, Velma was beyond exhausted, and Lex looked like the color red came to life. "Shall we meet back in the city center in a week?" Lex asked. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1460 Rook Chapter 1460 Rook War. War never changed. Except for when it did. The current war Lex was embroiled in was fought within his soul, against a foe that was actually just the remnant aura of a sword dipped in the blood of a Deity. That didn''t exactly fit the normal archetype that wars were fought in. Then again, the premise was the same. Kill the enemy, and try not to die while doing it. Aura, despite sometimes seeming like it, was never a solid thing. Instead, aura influenced various aspects of perception, and sometimes actual reality, to demonstrate its various applications. Yet the sh between his waning sword intent and the rising sword aura felt very physical. Sword intent was not an external thing. It was very much linked to Lex''s own abilities, fueled by hisprehension of the intent and strengthened by both the power of his spirit and his soul, oddly leaving his actual physical strength out of the equation. That meant that even as his sword intent was being drained, Lex could recreate it for his own use as long as he had the energy to spare. Eventually though, either his soul or spirit, or maybe even both would get drained. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1461 Higher studies I Chapter 1461 Higher studies I Lex slept for over two days, consumed by his exhaustion and overexertion. When he woke up, a high pitched sound sang in his ear while a minor headache had gripped his head. It was unusual for a mdy to affect him so long, so the first thing he did was to investigate. As it turned out, the effects of the rook had notpletely psed yet, though they were slowly fading. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1462 Higher Studies II Chapter 1462 Higher Studies II A part of that included a demonstration of the Artica race education system. Much like the rest of the universe, the Artica realm had organizations, schools, sects and more, but what was different was their modus operandi. Unlike the rest of the universe, where each organization or sect had their own individual movies, such as growing stronger, gaining ess to more resources, or to support the founding family or person, things worked differently here. In the Artica realm, as long as a person disyed the minimum level ofpetency required, they were free tojoin any and all forms of school or educational facility, and gain detailed guidance on the cultivation path. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1463 Contractual Karma Chapter 1463 Contractual Karma Lex wore a strange expression on his face as he read the document in his hand. Then he looked all around himself, and then looked back at the document in his hand. What he was holding was a very barebones, generic contract that epassed the basic expectations a cultivator may have towards their primary spouse. "What is this?" Lex asked the teacher sitting at the head of the ss, almost concerned that he had fallen into an illusion conjured by some strange piece on the Go board. It was truly too insidious. "The first lesson," answered the teacher, a beast in the shape of a swallow. "We will study the Karma between a couple who sign the most basic of marriage contracts, whether it be an actual contract or a verbal one. Intention matters more than writing things down with Karma. Then, we will progressively study moreplex contracts and agreements. The entire ss will take 50 hours, since this is only a brief overview of what we normally teach students." Lex looked back down at the contract. Then he looked back up. Was this really happening? He supposed it was. Lex sighed, and then put down the contract before picking up another booklet which introduced the basic trends of cultivator rtionships as witnessed and recorded in the Artica realm. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1464 Mastermind Lex Chapter 1464 Mastermind Lex The difficulty andplexity of Karma was without question, or else even Dao Lords would not be struggling with it. As such, even though Lex received a technique to look at Karma, it was a highly specified type of Karma. Even in that technique, Lex was far from a master, but it was enough to get started. If hisprehension was not exceptionally high, it might have taken him years to learn the technique even to this scale. After all, immortals have nock of time, so theplexity of the techniques they used was far beyond anything from previous realms. The entire life expectancy of a Nascent realm cultivator might be less than the time an immortal uses to learn a single technique. In short, even though he had mediocre sess in mastering the Karma technique rted to Karma, and could merely see a faint amount of contract rted Karma, when he used the technique on himself, he was nearly blinded! Why the hell did he have 17 million contractual Karmic links to female angels? This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1465 Charming Chapter 1465 Charming Lex was confused, right up until Velma showed him the newspaper. Technically, it was a news hologram, projected onto their hand by the vastputer that monitored the Azure asteroid field. Worthy of note was that though theputer boasted artificial intelligence, it did not cross the threshold that would allow for it to gain a soul. This was, strictly speaking, still a provocation to the A.I. race, but no one could tell the Artica race what to do in their own realm. Regardless, when he looked at the newspaper, he saw a small article in the corner, showing his picture and listing his phenomenal achievement of gaining initial mastery of a technique that, on average, takes an entire century to get started in. That minor achievement was akin to getting a distinction in a subject in college, earning praise from his professor. Lex didn''t care about that. What he cared about was the fact that such an article had been printed about him, yet he had not known at all. That showed a massive problem! This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1466 Chatting with the enemy I Chapter 1466 Chatting with the enemy I Lex chuckled. At the slightest sign of things going askew\, Misha did not shy from directly stating Lex''s background, dropping the charade. Not only did such behavior match her earlier confidence, when she directly challenged him to an arm wrestling match, but it also made a lot of sense. After all, Lex had never known Heavenly Immortals to be weak willed or easily frightened. "Don''t sell yourself short," said Lex. "It''s not the Midnight Inn that''s engaging in a realm-wide war against the Henali." This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1467 Chatting with the enemy II Chapter 1467 Chatting with the enemy II "Don''t sell yourself short, Lex. You''ve done more harm to the Fuegans agenda in just the past year alone than the Henali have in centuries - and that was without the Innkeeper directly taking action, as far as I understand it. That said, the Fuegan do not wish to make an enemy of you or the Inn." Lex shook his head. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1468 History lesson Chapter 1468 History lesson "That''s funny," Lex said with a smirk. "As it turns out, even the Henali are interested in replicating the Innkeepers ability to speed up the realms maturity. Seems to me like they''re also fairly confident in their own abilities." Lex was, once again, lying. No one had specifically told him that the Henali wanted to replicate the Innkeepers ability, though he didn''t get admonished at all basically, so he wasfortable making that assumption. Even if he was wrong, it wasn''t like it would make much of a difference. "Naturally, the Henali have their own ns, while we have ours. I can extrapte some things based onmon knowledge about the situation. The Henali would like to make use of their Dao Lords, who already exist within the realm. Once the Dao Lords are no longer restricted, they can sweep the realm and quickly finish off resistance. "Naturally, it is entirely possible that they have some other ns as well, but for a moment let''s just assume that they don''t. Let''s just assume for a moment that the Henali n on using their superior realm to end all conflict immediately. This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now Chapter 1469 Sad Chapter 1469 Sad Lex quickly reminded himself of Seraphines. Just like Hellions were associated with Hells, one of which the Devils took over, Seraphines were associated with Heavens. Unlike the Devils, the Angels only partially controlled Eden. It was worth noting that Heavens naturally gave birth to a subrace of Seraphines, just as humans were just one of the races inside the Humanoid Alliance. That subrace was called Elysians. Considering that the Origin realm had no natural Heaven or Hell, only pale replicas of them used by Deities for the purpose of farming divine energy from their followers, the presence of Seraphines was genuinely surprising. Just like how humans could be spontaneously born anywhere in the universe where circumstances allowed, through systematic and orderly evolution, so could Seraphines. But while humans required stuff like water and oxygen, and an optimal temperature, Seraphines required the environment of a Heaven. "But that''s not all," Misha continued, a sly smile appearing on her face. "Actually, there is one specific major secret of the Origin realm that I have been allowed to share with you. It is something you cannot confirm from other sources, sith both the Henali and the Fuegan wish to keep this a secret." This is the end of Part One. Upgrade Premium to read full content: Upgrade Now The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!